Bajazet Emperor of the Turks Enclosed in an Iron Cage by K. Tamerlane  
Extraordinary ADVENTURES Discoveries And EVENTS By R B.   
London Printed for Nath: Crouch   

EXTRAORDINARY ADVENTURES AND DISCOVERIES Of several Famous MEN.  
With the Strange Events, and Signal Mutations and Changes in the Fortunes of many Illustrious Places and Persons in all Ages.  
Being an Account of a Multitude of Stupendious Revolutions, Accidents, and Observable Matters in many Kingdoms, States and Provinces throughout the whole World.  
With divers Remarkable Particulars Lively described in Picture for their better Illustration.  
By R. B. Author of the History of the Wars of Enggland; Remarks of London; Wonderful Prodigies; and Admirable Curiosities, etc.  
London, Printed by J. Richardson, for Nath. Crouch at the Bell in Exchange-Alley, next to Kemp's Coffeehouse, over against the Royal Exchange in Cornhill, 1683.   

To the READER.  
IT is a saying, That the greatest Divertisement to a Soldier or Traveller, is to discourse of their former Dangers and Adventures; And if the relating of them be so pleasant, certainly the hearing thereof is no less divertive. Now in this little Volume you may meet with variety of Accidents of all kinds, for here you may see on the one side Pompous Greatness laid as low as Contempt itself, and on the other hand Baseness and Obscurity raised up to amazing and Prodigious Heights; Here you may find some such noble Spirits, that they could not rest satisfied, till by their own hazards they had discovered New Worlds, and brought one Hemisphere to some Acquaintance with the other; Here you may observe, That though amongst the Romans the Temple of Honour was so contrived, that therein was no Passage to it but through that other of Virtue, yet that things are far otherwise than they ought to be, and that Virtue is as familiarly persecuted as rewarded, nor have Persons of worth been always barely beholden to their Merit for their Preferment, but perhaps some petty Accident, or inconsiderable Circumstance hath been the occasion of their Advancement. Here you may remark, That as some men who have received the Sentence of Condemnation in themselves, have had unlooked for Deliverance, and have miraculously escaped when in all Humane Reason they might be numbered among the Dead; So others have been the hasteners of their own Downfalls and Destruction, and have made their own Graves with their own Tongues, by their Temerity and rashness in Talking; Here lastly we may be seriously informed, that their is no Creature so small and inconsiderable in our Eyes, but if the Almighty please may be able to afflict, yea and ruin us, when we are in the fullness of our sufficiency; These with a multitude of other Instances of various natures and kinds are the subject matter of this small Treatise, which being duly contemplated are sufficient proofs to a considering Mind of a Superior and Divine Power, that visibly discovers itself in the Occurrences and Transactions of this lower World, and disposes of Men and Things as it pleaseth, even beyond either their Hopes or Fears; and if the Perusal of these Stupendious Examples produce such a real Belief in the Reader, the Publisher will think himself sufficiently recompensed for his Labour and Pains; and may conclude with the Poet, That 
Omne tulit punctum qui miscuit utile dulci  
He certainly does hit the white,  
Who mingles Profit with Delight.  And that this may have such a lasting and effectual Impression is the real wish of  
R. B.   

Extraordinary Adventures, Discoveries and Events.  
THE Surprising Adventures and Events that daily assail Mankind, are so Numerous and Extraordinary, that nothing seems more inseparable to our Mortal state, than constant and continual Vicissitudes, Changes and Alterations; But since we find in History, that some more Remarkable Accidents have happened to some Places and Persons than to others, it must needs be very delightful among such a multitude of Instances, to give an Account of the most Considerable Relations I have met with in many credible Writers, and that is the design of this small Tract; wherein I shall not so much regard the Method, Order, or other Circumstances of an exact Historian, as in the whole to divert the Reader with what may be both pleasant and profitable, wherein it may be he may more fully inform himself of several matters, which he had formerly heard of, but yet did not so clearly understand; This without any further Preface is that which I now aim at, wherein I will impose nothing upon any man's belief, but leave every one at his full Liberty what degree of Faith he will exercise therein, it being sufficient that I have cited my Authors, who are generally such as have been accounted Men of Veracity and Honesty in the Accounts they give, and may therefore challenge as much Credit as is due to any Humane History.  
I. Strange were the Adventures of Christopher Columbus, who discovered a New World in the last Age, which is now called America; He was born at Nervi in the Seignory of Genoa, who being a man of excellent Abilities; and born to undertake great matters, could not persuade himself, but that, considering the Motion of the Sun, there must needs be another World to which that Glorious Planet did impart both his Life, and Heat, when he went from us; This World he purposed to seek after, and in 1486 he discovered his Design to the State of Genoa, who rejecting his Proposals, he sent his Brother Bartholomew to King Henry the seventh of England, who in his Voyage hither unhappily fell into the hands of Pirates, by whom he was long kept Prisoner, but having at last obtained his Liberty, he repaired to the Court of England, where he found such cheerful entertainment at the hands of that King, that Christopher Columbus was sent for to come thither also; But Christopher not knowing of his Brother's Imprisonment, and not hearing from him, conceived the offer of his service to have been neglected, and thereupon made his desires known at the Court of Castille, where after many delays, and six years' attendance upon the business, he was at last furnished with three ships only, and those not for Conquest but Discovery.  
With this small strength he sailed on the Ocean sixty days, and yet could see no land, so that the discontented Spaniards began to Mutiny, and refused to move a foot forward; Just at which time it happened that Columbus discerned the Clouds to carry a clearer colour than they did before, and therefore entreated them to expect only three days longer, in which time, if they saw not land he promised to return; Toward the end of the third day, one of the Company descried Fire, which was an evident token that they drew near to some shore; The Place they discovered was an Island on the Coast of Florida called by Columbus St. Salvador; Having Landed his Men, he caused a Tree to be cut down, and made a Cross thereof which he set up near the place where he came on Land, and by that Ceremony took Possession of the New World for the Kings of Spain, Octob. 11. 1492. Afterwards he discovered and took Possession of Hispaniola, and with much Treasure and Content returned to Spain, and was preferred by the King for this good Service, first to be Admiral of the Indies, and in conclusion to the Title of the Duke De la Vega in the Island of Jamaica; The next year he was furnished with 18 Ships for further Discovery; in this second Voyage he discovered the Islands of Cuba and Jamaica, and built the Town of Isabel, after called Domingo in Hispaniola, from whence for some severities used against the mutinous Spaniards, he was sent Prisoner to Castille, but very honourably entertained, and cleared from all Crimes imputed to him.  
In 1497. he began his Third Voyage; in which he discovered the Countries of Paria and Cumana on the firm Land, with the Islands of Cubagna, and Margarita, and many other Islands, Capes and Provinces; In 1500 he began his fourth and last Voyage, in the course whereof coming to Hispaniola, he was unworthily denied entrance into the City of Domingo, after which scouring the Seacoasts, he returned back to Cuba and Jamaica, and from thence to Spain, where six years after he died, and was buried Honourably at Sevil, where to this day an Epitaph remaineth on his Tomb, far short of his merit, which is to this purpose.  

Christophorus genuit quem Genoa clara Columbus, etc.   

I Christopher Columbus whom the Land  
Of Genoa first brought forth, first took in hand  
I know not by what Deity incited,  
To scour the western Seas, and was delighted  
To seek for Countries never known before,  
Crowned with success, I first descried the shore.  
Of the New World, then destined to sustain  
The future yoke of Philip Lord of Spain;  
And yet I greater matters left behind  
For men of more means, and a braver mind.   
Columbus dying left two Sons behind him, of which the youngest called Ferdinand died unmarried, the the eldest named Diego, succeeded his Father in the Admiralty of the Indies, and the Dukedom of Vega, and married the Duke of Alva's Daughter, but having no issue by her, he spent the greatest part of his Estate in Founding a famous Library in Sevil, which he furnished with Twelve thousand Volumes, and endowed with a liberal Revenue to maintain the same; But though his Family be extinct, yet his Fame shall live renowned to all Posterities, as the first Discoverer of this New World, and consequently the greatest and most Fortunate Advancer of the Spanish Monarchy, though in his life-time so envied and maligned by most of the Spaniards, that Bobadilla being sent into those parts for redress of Greivances, loaded him with Irons, and returned him Prisoner into Spain; Nor did they only endeavour to deprive him of the honour of this Discovery after his Death, by pretending that he had seen the Charts and Descriptions of some unknown Spaniard, but in his Life-time they would often say, That it was a matter of no such difficulty to have found these countries', and that if he had not done it then, some body else would have done it for him; But he confuted their peevishness by this modest Artifice, desiring some of them who had insolently enough contended with him about this Discovery to make an Egg stand firmly upon one of its ends, which when after many Trials they could not do, he gently bruising one end of it, made it stand upright, letting them see thereby without any further reprehension, how easy it is to do that thing which we see another do before us. Heylin's Cosmography Lib. 4.  
II. Columbus having thus led the way, was seconded by Americus Vespusuis, an adventurous Florentine, employed therein by Emanuel King of Portugal in 1501 on a design to find out a nearer way to the Molucca's than by the Cape of Good Hope; who though he passed no further than the Cape, without having so much as a sight of the great River De la Plata, which washeth the South parts of that Country, yet from him (to the Great Injury and neglect of the first Discoverer) the Continent or Main Land of this Country hath the name of America, by which it is still known and commonly called; To him succeeded John Cabot a Venetian in the behalf of King Henry the seventh of England, who discovered all the North-East Coasts thereof from the Cape of Florida in the South to New-foundland in the North, causing the American Royale's or little Kings to turn Homagers to the King and Crown of England. After whom there followed divers private Adventurers and Undertakers out of all parts of Europe bordering on the Ocean; Ferdinando Magellanus was the first that compassed the whole World, and found the South Passage called Fretum Magellanicum, or the Magellan Streights to this day. Heylin's Cosmog. Lib. 4.  
III. But the most famous of all the Spaniards (as I suppose saith P. Jovius) for the Discovery of New Lands and People, was Ferdinando Cortesius, or Corter, to whom the Spaniards stand indebted for the Kingdom of Mexico; He was born in Medeline a Town of Estremadura in Spain 1485, and in the 19 year of his Age, employed himself in the Trade, and business of America for the improvement of his Fortune; In 1511, he went as Clerk to the Treasurer for the Isle of Cuba, where he so well husbanded his Affairs by carrying over Kine, Sheep and Mares, and bringing Gold for them in Exchange, that in short time he very much improved his stock, and now resolving to venture all his Credit both in Friends and Money, he furnished himself with eleven Ships, and with 550 Men, set sail from Spain, and arrived at the Island of Santa Cruse, and sailing up the River Tabasco sacked the Town of Pontoncon, the Inhabitants refusing to sell him Victuals; After this, by the help of his Horse and Ordinance, he discomfited forty Thousand of the naked Indians, who were gathered together to revenge themselves for the plundering their Town; he than received the King thereof in Vassalage to the Crown of Spain.  
Being told that Westward he should meet with some Mines of Gold, he turned his Course for the Haven of St. John de Vlloa, where landing he was entertained by the Governor of Montezuma King of Mexico, who understanding of his coming, and that he was a Servant of so Great an Emperor as Charles the fifth, he sent him many rich Presents both of Gold and Silver; Cortes inflamed at the sight thereof, resolved to go unto the place where such Treasures were, and took Possession of the Country in the Name of Charles the fifth King of Spain, and Emperor of Germany; and building there the Town De la Crux, he left 150 of his men therein, and attended with only 400 Foot, 15 Horsemen, and 6 pieces of Ordinance, he pursued his Enterprise, and having cunningly gained to his assistance those of Zempoallan, Tlascala, who were ill affected to Montezuma, he marched on toward Mexico, plundering in his way the Town of Chololla consisting of Forty Thousand Households; He was kindly received into Mexico by the affrighted King, whom he caused to acknowledge himself a Vassal to Spain, and to present him in the name of a Tribute with so much Treasure as amounted to an hundred and threescore thousand Castellins of Gold; A quarrel growing not long after, the Spaniards were driven out of the Town; But Cortes aided with the whole Forces of the Tlascalans, and a recruit of more Spaniards, sent thither upon a design against himself) he made up an Army of an hundred Thousand Indians, 900 Spanish Foot, 80 Horse, 17 pieces of Ordinance, and having with great Diligence made ready a Navy of 13 Galliots, and 6000 Canoes or Boats, he laid siege to Mexico by Sea and Land, wherein the Admirable Courage of that King is very remarkable, for having for three Months most valiantly defended the City, and endured therein all manner of inconveniencies, he was at the taking thereof unhappily delivered up alive into the hands of the Spaniards his Enemies, upon condition to be used as became a King, during his Imprisonment he said or did nothing but what became that Title, but after the Victory, the Spaniards not finding that quantity of Gold which they had promised themselves, though they had left no place unsearched to discover it, they then proceeded by the most cruel and horrible Tortures, to force those Prisoners they had taken to confess where they had hid it.  
But unable to prevail this way, finding the Indians hearts more strong than their Torments, they thereby grew so enraged, that contrary to all Law of Nations, and against their solemn Vows and Promises, they condemned the King himself, and one of the Chiefest Princes of his Court to the Rack in the sight of each other; The Prince being encompassed with hot burning Coals, and being overcome with the extraordinary Torment, at last turned his dying Eyes in a most lamentable manner toward his Master, as if he begged his Pardon that he could endure the pain no longer; The King fixing his Eyes fiercely upon him, seemed to upbraid him with pusillanimity and want of Courage, and with a stern, and settled voice spoke thus to him, What? Supposest thou that I am in a cold Bath? Am I at more ease than thou art? Whereat the miserable Prince immediately fainted under the Torture, and gave up the Ghost. The King being half roasted was carried away, not so much for Pity, for what Compassion could enter into such Barbarous Wretches, who only upon supposing to get some odd Vessel or piece of Gold, would broyl a Man to death before their Eyes; and not only a Man, but a King, and a King of such mighty Grandeur and Renown; but because his undaunted Constancy baffled their inhuman Cruelties, they afterward hanged him for Courageously attemping by Arms to deliver himself from his long Captivity and miserable subjection; and thus he ended his wretched life. Wonderful even to Amazement was the Magnificence of the famous Cities of Cusco, and Mexico, and admirable the Curiosities of this King, who had all the Trees, Fruits, Herbs, Plants according to their Order and full bigness in the Garden, most Artificially framed in Gold; He had likewise in his Cabinet all the Living Creatures that his Country or his Seas produced cast in Gold, besides abundance of exquisite Works in Precious Stones, Feathers, Cotton, and Painting. After a siege of three Months Mexico was Taken, Plundered and Burnt, Aug. 13. 1521. but afterward rebuilt more beautifully than before, and thus fell this mighty Kingdom into the hands of the Spaniards, by the Valour and good Fortune of Cortes a private Adventurer, who was rewarded for that Service by Charles the fifth, with many fair Estates in the Province of Mexico, and dignified with the Title of Marquis de Valla. Montaigne's Essays, Lib. 3.  
The woeful deaths of the 2 Mighty Emperors of Peru & Mexico by the Spaniards Page. ●.  
Atabaliba came with Twenty five Thousand unarmed Men in Ostentation of his greatness, and without any design of making resistance, of which this treacherous Pizarro, taking the advantage, picked a quarrel with him, and suddenly charged upon him with his Horse, and Ordnance, slaying his Guard without resistance, and coming near the King's Person, who was carried upon men's Shoulders upon Rafters or Beams of Massy Gold, in a Chair of State also all of Gold, they killed several of the Bearers to make him fall, endeavouring to take him alive, but as soon as one of them fell another presently succeeded in his place, so that he could never be brought down, or made to fall what slaughter soever was made of these People till a Horseman furiously rid up, and taking him by his Clothes pulled him down, and took him Prisoner; They took as much Gold with him as amounted to fourscore Thousand Castellans, and as much Silver as amounted to seven Thousand Marks of his Household Plate, every Mark weighing eight Ounces, and in the soil of Caxamala they found almost infinite Riches. The wretched King they set at so excessive a ransom as exexceedeth all belief, which though he truly paid, and though by his Conversation he had given apparent Signs of a great and undaunted Soul, and of a generous and ingenious Mind, yet these insolent Conquerors having exacted from him an House piled upon all sides with Gold and Silver, amounting to a Million three hundred Twenty five thousand and five Hundred pound weight in Gold, besides the silver and other precious things which came to as much more, so that even their Horses were shod with Massy Gold; yet they Villainously and Traitorously contrived a false Accusation against him, pretending that he designed to raise his Subjects against them for procuring his Liberty, upon which they condemned him to be publicly hanged and strangled, having first made him to be baptised as he went to Execution, thereby to prevent the Torment of being burned alive, wherewith they threatened him; He took his Death patiently, and with a Royal Gravity and undismayed Constancy, without the least discomposure either in Words or Countenance. The Treasures here gotten were so great, that besides the fifth part which Pizarro sent to the Emperor, and that which Pizarro, and his Brethren kept to themselves, every Footman had 7 Thousand 200 Ducats, and every Horseman ' twice as much for their part of the Spoil, beside what they had gotten in way of Plunder; But Vengeance pursued these horrid Murderers (though the Spaniards put many fair pretences upon their Actions) few of the greatest undertakers going to the Grave in peace, for all that were consenting or accessary to the death of this King came to wretched ends, but especially his four Brethren, Ferdinand, Gonsal, John, Martin of Al●antara, and Diego of Almagro, who as they were principal in the Actions so were they in the punishment; and first John Pizarro was surprised in the City of Cusco, and slain by some of King Atabaliba's Soldiers; then there happened such differences between Francis Pizarro and Almagro, that after they had wasted this rich Country of Peru, and divided the Spoil among them, yet they destroyed one another; for Pizarro envying Almagro for being Governor of Cusco and not himself, sent his Brother Ferdinand to Challenge him, who was so fortunate as to take Almagro Prisoner, and delivered him bound to Francis his Brother, who cused him to be strangled privately in Prison, and afterward publicly beheaded. Ferdinand was after sent to Spain with a great Mass of Gold to clear himself of the death of Almagro, yet could not so well justify himself, but that all his Treasure was seized, and himself secretly made away in Prison. Soon after this, the kindred and Friends of Almagro (whose Estate Pizarro had seized) consulted with Don Diego Almagro his Son to revenge the death of his Father; Twelve of them undertook the Business, who coming into Francis Pizarro's house at Lima (he being then Marquis and Governor of Peru) they suddenbroke into it, and immediately killed a Captain who guarded the entrance of the Hall and Martin of Alcantara, so that he fell dead at his brother the Marquis his Feet; who though he saw his men thus slain before his eyes, and himself left alone in the midst of his Enemies, yet he still made a stout defence, till all falling upon him at once, he was stabbed into the Throat, and died; Lastly, Gonsal had his head cut off by the Emperor's Command, and thus finished they their wretched days answerable to their cruel Deserts.  
Thus have we seen the deplorable Ends of Two of the most mighty and glorious Monarches of this New World, and peradventure of all our Western parts, who were Kings over so many Kingdoms; And these are the cursed Fruits of Covetousness and Ambition, for which so many goodly Cities were ruined and destroyed, so many Nations made desolate, such infinite Millions of harmless innocent People of all Conditions, Sexes and Ages woefully Massacred and Murdered, and the richest, fairest, and best part of the World turned to a Field of Blood; And though we have the Vanity to call those Nations Barbarous who are not so wickedly knowing as ourselves, yet the ingenious discourse and Replies of these naked Americans, show that their Honesty, Truth and Integrity have been the chief occasions of exposing them to the Slavery and Barbarity of these wicked Treacherous and Idolatrous Spanish Christians; of which it may not be amiss to give the following Instance.  
Certain Spaniards coasting along the Sea in search of Mines, happened to Land in a very Fruitful, Pleasant, and well peopled Country, who declaring to the Inhabitants, That they were quiet and well meaning People, coming from far Countries, being sent from the King of Castille, the greatest King on the Habitable Earth, unto whom the Pope representing God on Earth had given the Kingdoms and Dominions of all the Indies, and that if they would become Tributary to him, they should be kindly used, and courteously dealt withal. They likewise desired them to give them some Victuals to eat, and some Gold wherewith to make certain Physical Experiments; They also declared to them, That they ought to believe in one God, and to embrace the Catholic Religion, adding withal some Threats thereunto; The Indians having patiently heard them, one of them returned this Ingenious answer.  
That possibly they might be quiet and well meaning People, though their Countenances shown them to be otherwise. And as for their King, since he seemed to beg, he appeared to be poor and needy; And for the Pope who had made that distribution, he seemed to be a man who loved mischief and dissension, in going about to give that to a third man which was none of his own, and so to make it questionable and raise quarrels among the ancient Possessors thereof; As for Victuals they should have part of their store; and for Gold they had but little, and that it was a thing they very little valued as being utterly unprofitable for the service of their lives, whereas all their care was to pass their time happily and pleasantly, and therefore what quantity soever they should find of it, except what was employed in the service of their Gods they should freely take it; As touching one only God, the discourse of him had very well pleased them, but they were resolved by no means to change their Religion, in which they had so long time lived so happily; neither indeed did they use to take advice or Counsel but from their Friends and Acquaintance; As concerning their high words, it was a sign of great want of Judgement to threaten those, whose nature, condition, strength and power was utterly unknown to them; And that therefore they should with all speed hasten out of their Country and Dominions, since they were used to take in good part the kindnesses and discourses of Strangers, but if they did not suddenly departed, they would deal with them as they had done with some others; showing them the Heads of divers Persons lately executed, sticking upon Stakes about their City. montaigne's Essays, Lib. 3.  
V John Cabot succeeded Columbus in this Country, who on the behalf of King Henry the seventh of England discovered all the North-East Coasts of America, from the Cape of Florida in the South, to Newfoundland in the North, causing the American Royolets or petty Kings to turn Homagers, and swear Allegiance to the King and Crown of England. In 1496 Sebastian Cabot his Son, rigged up two Ships at the charge of the same King Henry, who intended to go to the Land of Cathay, and from thence to turn towards India; to this purpose he aimed at a passage by the Northwest, but after certain days he found the Land ran toward the North; He followed the Continent to the 56 Degree under our Pole; and there finding the Coast to turn toward the East, and the Sea covered with Ice, he turned back again, Sailing down by the Coast of that Land towards the Equinoctial, which he called Batalaos, from the number of Fishes found in that Sea like Tunnies, which the Inhabitants call Bacalaos. Afterward he Sailed along the Coasts to 38 Degrees, and Provisions failing he returned into England, and was made Grand Pilot of England by King Edward the sixth, with the allowance of a large Pension of 166 pound 13 shillings four pence a year. Hackluits Voyages, Vol. 3.  
VI Sir Francis Drake was born nigh South Tavestock in Devonshire, and brought up in Kent, being the Son of a Minister who fled into Kent for fear of the six Bloody Articles in the Reign of King Henry the Eighth, and bound his Son to the Master of a small Bark which Traded into France and Zealand; his Master dying unmarried, bequeathed his Bark to him, which he sold, and put himself into farther Employment, at first with Sir John Hawkins, and afterward upon his own Account, In the year 1577 Dec. 13. He with a Fleet of five Ships and Barks, and 174 Men, Gentlemen and Saylors, began that Famous Navigation of his, wherein he Sailed round the World, with many Changes of Fortunes, and Strange Adventures; He finished that Voyage the third year after his setting out, arriving in England Nou. 3. 1580. and though he was a curious searcher after the Time, yet through the Variation of several Climates he lost one day. He feasted Queen Elizabeth in his Ship at Deptford, who Knighted him for this Service, being the first who had accomplished so great a design; He is therefore said to have given for his Device, a Globe with this Motto, Tu primus circumdedisti me, Thou first didst sail round me. He died at Sea, and was buried there. Fuller's Holy State, Lib, 2. Mr. Thomas Candish (or Cavendish) of Trimley in Suffolk Esquire, departed out of Plymouth, Thursday July 21, 1586. with the Desire, a Ship of 120 Tun, and the Hugh Gallant a Bark of 40 Tun, with 123 Persons of all sorts, with these he made an admirable and successful Voyage into the South-Sea; and from thence about the Circumference of the whole Earth; and Sept. 9 1588. after a Terrible Tempest, which carried away most part of their Sails, they recovered their long wished for Port of Plymouth in England. Stow's Chronicle, pag. 720.  
VII. Strange were the Adventures of one T. S. an Englishman taken Prisoner by the Turks of Algiers, as they are published by himself, wherein he gives an Account of the Customs of those Barbarians and their manner of selling Christians, which I shall Epitomise in his own words; My name (saith he) will be useless to the Judicious Reader, I will only tell him that I was first designed for a Scholar, but an old Schoolmaster soon frighted me from my Studies by his extraordinary Rigour; he gave me such an Aversion from Learning which formerly I esteemed, that I could not endure the sight of a Book; My Estate being that of a younger Brother, and but very small, I was bound Apprentice to a Merchant in London, who after five years resolved to send me as his Factor to Smyrna, and other places within the straits; At which thime 1648, my Father dying, and my elder Brother being killed in our unhappy Troubles, they left me an Estate which might have obliged me to have kept at home, had not the desire of seeing foreign Places, and the Vainglory of being called a Traveller, with my Master's commands, forced me abroad. Before I went I sold part of my Estate, and bought a Cargo of Goods of above 2000 pounds; with which and some Goods belonging to my Master I embarked in the River of Thames in July 1648 in a Vessel of Hamburgh; the wind favoured us very much out of the Channel, and though we met with contratrary Gusts we reached Cape St. Vincent in 20 days, designing to unload some Goods at Cales; when we came near the Cape, we espied two Ships to Windward making toward us, upon which we cleared our Decks, charged our Guns, and prepared all things for our defence, some imagined them to be French, because they put out French Colours, but when they came within half a League of us they discovered themselves to be Turk's Men of War by their bloody Colours, which they put out instead of the white; Then began our Captain to be amazed, our Company to be affrighted, and every one to bestir himself; I observed one Fellow who before had some disease in his Legs and Hands, much like the Gout, which made him hitherto useless, yet now in danger he skipped about, and handled the Guns as if nothing had ailed him. We had then aboard about an 100 men, with Passengers of several Nations, and 30 Great pieces of Ordnance, with other small Guns.  
About seven afternoon, the Turks overtook us, and the foremost Vessel gave us a Broadside, the other followed, and saluted us in the same manner, and we returned them the like, the Fight was furious and Bloody for four hours, our Men behaved themselves gallantly, neither Death nor wounds could force them from their Charge nor Posts, some when their Limbs were all bruised, their Bones shattered, and their Bodies all torn with Splinters, did obstinately continue to manage the Guns, every one resolved to die with his weapons in his hands rather than to shrink in the least from the Fight. In this four hours we received near 50 Broadsides, and our Enemies were as obstinate as we; Our number was at last reduced to eighteen men, most of them wounded so that we could no longer resist the Numbers, and Fury of our Enemies, who continued to pour in upon us great and small Shot, and withal our Ship was shot through between Wind and Water, which caused us to make but weak resistance, and the Turks perceiving it, were afraid the Sea would at last swallow us and deprive them of their Booty, and therefore resolved to board us, grappling on both sides of us, and their men entering, but we from our Forecastle and Steerage with our Murdering Pieces forced them back again, at last for fear our obstinacy should cause our Ship to sink under us, and deliver us into the hands of a more merciless enemy the raging Sea, we called for Quarter, which the Turks willingly gave, almost despairing of Success; We found near 300 of our Men killed, myself was shot through the Right Arm, and the Enemy's ships were miserably rend and torn; One thing during the Fight I judged an ill Omen, that at a broadside, one great shot was forced back again, and split in pieces, which we conceived had met with a more violent one that had driven it upon us; The Turks treated us more generously than we could expect from Enemies whom we had angered by so long resistance, commending our Courage, and admiring our Resolution and when they saw the rich Loading they had gained, they soon pardoned the injuries we had done them.  
The Captains of the Turks called to me and the Skipper for our Bills of Lading, which we were forced to deliver; I made some Reflections on my former Condition, and wished myself, as poor as Job upon a Christian shore; Liberty was dear to me that was taken a slave, I remembered then that excellent advice, Trust not in uncertain riches; I then condemned the Joy I had felt for the rich Patrimony that was left me, and the earnest desire to see Foreign Places, and sorrowfully recalled to mind my former Condition, but all these Reflections and Regrets could not turn the Wind, nor stop our Course towards Algiers where we were next bound, for we christian's who were left alive were disposed into the Enemy's Ships, and stripped of our best attire, which some lusty Rogues did us the kindness to wear for our sakes before our Eyes; The dead bodies and those past Recovery were stripped naked and sent to feed Sharks, and other ravenous Fishes of the Sea, which we saw at that instant waiting as we thought, being it may be as sensible of dead Bodies amongst us, as Vultures, who in these Countries constantly hover about a House or Tent, where sick People who will there infallibly die, are, in hopes to enjoy the Prey, the dead bodies being exposed to that purpose; we were used as civilly a Shipboard as we could expect from Turks, feeding with them on Garlic, Rusk, poor John, Rice and the like; I observed them very inquisitive to examine us apart about our Qualities, and Friends, which we were forewarned of, and therefore I persuaded all our Company to represent me as a poor Fellow, only entrusted by my Master, which satisfied them, till by discourse with some English Renegadoes, one of them suspected me; after which they set a higher value on me as expecting a greater ransom; we sailed into the straits, and the next day Anchored in the Bay of Algiers; some Officers thereof coming to take notice of our number and the Price; One of them was a Cornish man, who by his Apostasy had got great wealth being a Trader in slaves, well knowing how to make advantage by his own Nation; He inquired in what part of England we were born, but I desired him as a Countryman to show us some favour, and buy us for himself which he promised to do if we did give him hopes of returning our Money, to prevent as he said our falling into severer hands to the endangering of our lives, since if we came on shore we should be led to the Market and sold like Horses, and might be bought by those that would use us inhumanely, and exact from us the remainder of our Estates, but he being our Countryman would be our Friend, and take no more for us than it cost him if we would freely discover ourselves to him; we with our Eyes on each other discovered how inclinable we were to comply with him, though we were something Jealous of this Turks Faith, judging that he who was not True to his God, would scarce be so to us, which we afterward found too true, for those that were poor and had few friends were left to their ill Fortune, and the others the Owners set a high value on, so that we repeated our Credulity in this Wretch, but not agreeing on the Price we were set on shore.  
Great Companies came flocking to see us, upon report of our Courage, some whose Relations had been slain, gave us such welcome as became the Cruelty and Impertinency of Heathens, loading us with Curses and Imprecations, and insulting strangely over us, so that had we not been guarded, we had been torn in pieces; a Spanish Renegado was so transported with rage for the loss of his Comrade of the same Nation, that he drew his Scimitar, and begged Liberty to sacrifice one of us, promising to pay his Ransom; which being denied, he then desired only cut off one of our ears, it chanced he came near one of us, and with a blow struck off a part of the Cheek of a Germane, which he greedily swallowed down, affirming that he never tasted so sweet a Morsel in his days, so strangely had Vengeance possessed him, that he desired to feed upon us. But our keepers safely conveyed us into the City, where we found our Chains ready made waiting for us; Every one of us had a strong Chain about 20 pound weight linked to our Legs, and tied to our Girdles, that if we did meditate an escape, it should not be without difficulty. In this strange Equipage we were conducted with our gingling Chains to the King's Palace, much wondering what they intended to do with us in a place of so much honour. We passed the first Guard, and came into a spacious Court paved with White Marble, whereof there is great quantity near old Carthage or Tunis in this Country, it was enclosed with a high brick Wall, wherein was a large Gate checkered with divers Colours, which led us into a Great Hall, where we stayed till the King of Algiers came to visit us, an honour we did not expect, but it seems 'tis the Custom for him to view all the Slaves when they first land, out of whom he chooses for himself the Tenth Person, and likewise one more whom he pleases; we were placed round about the Hall ready for his coming in, which was not speedily, for being about Noon, he had been Bathing himself, and then taking another Recreation which is usual at that time of day in these hot Climates. About two a Clock in comes a lusty Officer clothed in Scarlet, with a Rod in his hand and a great Turban about his head, who was the King's Gentleman-Usher, followed by six Persons of good Mien and Appearance, armed with Scymiters; Next came a Grave Fellow with a Turban almost as big as our English half Bushel, at one side he had a set of Diamonds which did sparkle like his Eyes, his Garment was green, his Legs were bare, and on his feet he wore Sandals; we had time to observe him as he entered the door, for his pace was slow and Grave, I could have numbered 20 between every step; He marched in that manner to the upper end, where there was a Canopy of State over his Head, and two Turkey Carpets with a large Damask Pillow under him upon which he sat; then the Owners of the Ships presented themselves before him, kissing the Hem of his Garment, they discoursed among themselves about an hour, and then presented the King (who only sat, all the rest standing about him) with a Considerable Present in Cloth and other rich Commodities; The King then veiwed every one of us with a Stern Countenance, and took notice of our Features and Stature, for the Turks are excellent in Physiognomy, and know a man's Temper and Inclinations at first view as well as an expert Farrier does the good and ill Qualities of a Horse, which indeed concerns those who Trade in Slaves; He cast a Jest upon every one, which gave the Company a great deal of Mirth, but increased our Sadness; He chose out of the Company myself, the Skipper, and a pretty ruddy Germane Boy, which I wondered at, since he could expect no ransom for him, but I after understood the good old man was a great Lover of his pleasures, and therefore pitched on him to give him some in his old Age, a strange fancy possessing the Minds of all the Southern People, so that they burn with the Fire which consumed Sodom and Gomorrah.  
I was glad to be in possession of the King hoping to get my Freedom, who enquiring of my Quality, I told him I was a Cook, which he was glad of, as wanting one; but I proved a mad Cook, putting in sometimes Oil instead of Vinegar, and Salt instead of Pepper, yet I handled my meat so nimbly, that they all believed I had been used to Cookery; But I lost my Place on this occasion; at a Feast my Master made, I had several sorts of Fishes that I never saw before, the Liver of one hath a most loathsome Taste, I thought it good in the Sauce, and therefore I sent it up stewed under the Fish, in a Dish garnished with Flowers; The Guests seeing such a pleasant Appearance, expected the Fish to be extraordinary, and prepared their Stomaches to feed thereon, neglecting others much better, but tasting the Sauce they thought it a Sir reverence, and all began to spew and spit. I angered the King so much with this Masterpiece of Cookery, that he ordered I should receive ten Bastinadoes for my Salary, I vainly pretending Ignorance and our Country Fashion, being forced to endure it with patience; For this, and being likewise Jealous of me about one of his Women, who was indeed very kind to me, he was resolved to part with me, and gave order I should be led into the Marketplace, and there Sold; When I saw myself with an ill-favoured Turk, leading me with a Chain like a Horse or Bullock through the Streets I began to lament my hard Fate, doubting what surly Master I should have next; The Turk that led me, cried before me in Lingua Franca; Who will buy a Christian? Who will buy a Christian? It was a grievous change of Fortune to be reduced in one year from my Father's Honourable Estate to the lowest misery even that of a Slave, to be sold as a Beast in a strange Country where I had no Friends that durst own me. Their manner of selling slaves is thus, They lead them up and down the Market, and when any bids Money, they cry, a Rache, a Rache, that is, Here's so much money bidden, who bids more? The buyers are very subtle, and first look into their mouths, and a strong set of Grinders will much advance the price, arguing rationally, That those who have no Teeth cannot eat, and they that cannot eat cannot work, and therefore are not for their turn, nor their Money; For they intent to keep them at hard meat all the year, and therefore it must not be Gums but solid, and if possible case hardened Teeth that must chew it, and an Ostriches Stomach to digest it; next they feel their Limbs, whether any Fracture or Dislocation, which will much lower the price; and therefore to be clean Limbed, close Coupled, and well jointed, will advance it as much; The Age is also very considerable, but the Slaves not being obliged to discover it, and they not breeding them that sell them, they judge by the Face, Hair or Beard, but a good set of Teeth will make one 10 years younger, and a bad set as much older; The seller commends his Goods to the sky; O says he, Mark what a Back he has, what a breadth between the Shoulders, what a Chest! how strong set! how fitted on purpose for Burdens, He'll do but e'en too much work; The Buyer on the other hand as much undervalues him, Pish, says he, he looks like a Pilliard, a very Meacock at his Provender, and one that seems to be surfeited. But they are very curious in examining the Hands, for if they be hard and brawny, they will shrewdly guests they have been enured to Labour, if delicate and tender, they will suspect him to be some Merchant, and then the hopes of a good price for Redemption makes him saleable; When any are sold they must be brought back once more to the King's Palace that he may view them again, and if he likes any at the prizes they went off at, there is no more dispute, they are his own.  
When I was come into the Marketplace, a Fellow offers my Keeper money for me, and several others came about me, and among the rest that illnatured Englishman aforementioned, I trembled for fear of falling into his hands, knowing how cruelly he had handled some of my Comrades; My keeper made advantage of the Crowd, and asked an 100 Dollars more for me than he was ordered; The first who seemed by his looks to be a good Man, though of no great appearance would not let me slip out of his hands, but paid the Money, and led me to a House next the Grand Mosque or Church of the City, near the King's Palace; My loving Lady having employed this Fellow to buy me for her Service, became very devout after my coming to that place, seldom missing a day without coming to her Devotions at the Mosquette, from whence there was a Passage into my Lodgings. By this frequent and constant attendance at Public Prayer, she purchased a great esteem with the People, and a favour with her Husband, and ever after she was counted a Saint, I continued her Slave about two years, employing myself in some Slavish work, but not above measure, so that I had opportunity to view the City of Algiers, and took special notice of many remarkable particulars.  
It is a City not so large as populous, Fortified by Art and Nature, the Walls are sixty foot high, and in some places 70 or 80; Built with square Stones or Flints about 12 foot broad; It is not above a Mile round: On the East-side, on the top of an high Hill stands a strong Citadel, very well Fortified, built at first by the Spaniards, having 40 or 50 Pieces of Ordnance, and Garrisoned by 300 Renegadoes. Another Castle somewhat less on the West overlooks the Town; There is a very commodious Mould in the Harbour able to contain above 200 ships; upon which stands a strong Fort threatening destruction to all Assaillants Three Tyer of Guns being planted in it, the lowest is level with the water; The Mould is so crooked that no ships can come in with full sail without turning; so that it is very difficult to break the Chain, and enter by force; This Nest of Pirates are very well prepared against the attempts of an enemy, none can hardly do them any injury either by Land or Sea, so that they retreat hither like wild Beasts to their Dens, to enjoy their Thefts and Prey; The Town is built on a Rock hard to be undermined. The Emperor Charles the 5th. attempted to drive them out of their nests, but in vain, though he came with a Navy by Sea, and a puissant Army by Land to besiege the Town; The violence of a Storm broke his vessels to pieces, and forced him to raise the siege, with the loss of an 100 ships, and many Thousand men; since which Algiers is much stronger and better Fortified daily, so that unless the European Princes join together, or some powerful Monarch lay siege to it by Sea and Land, it will be one day Impregnable unless by Famine. The Houses of the City are very pleasant, and more beautiful within and without than in other parts of Africa; the greater lie open in the middle with handsome Galleries and Turrets; several Mosquets are built for Public Devotion, into which no Christian must enter unless he turn Turk, or else he will be burnt, or for handling the book of their Law before witness, or repeating their Prayer, Illa Alla Mahumet, etc.  
Others have a great Number of their Talubs, or Religious men to read Public Prayers, and others to expound the Mahometan Law; Over all is placed a Marabut, who is to Judge matters of Equity between Persons; Besides the King, and Bashaw, the Lagaw, is the next chief man in this City, who is the first Person of the Divan or Council, and General of the Armies abroad, under whom are the Chenses like our Sheriffs or Justices of Peace; next are the Boulgebushes, like our Bailiffs, who are Servants to the Divan, and remain 3 years in their places, going out after with the Armies as Comptrollers of the rest. There are also other Bushes, Captains and Officers of the Militia, who wear a badge of Honour on their heads, and are distinguished from the rest by their Turban, which is wound about in the form of a Sugar-loaf, behind which a Redcross falls down, and is a badge of their Office, which others must not wear, as the Red-scarf is a sign of Command among Christians; In the Camp are other Great Officers as Daventees, Mouchees, etc.  
An Achabasha is an experienced man among them, who hath been in several Encounters, and commands a Party when it is separated from the main Body; He must be an old Man, and when he once comes to that Employment he can rise no higher as other Officers can. There are most pleasant Gardens and Orchards about Algiers, and very good Corn upon the Hills near it, with plenty of all things but wine, which is forbidden to the Turks and Moors, yet those of Algiers, have not such scrupulous Consciences, but that they will be drunk with wine when they take good store of Prizes. Toward the East of the City is a very strong House built, and some soldiers to keep Guard, it being the Public Treasury House wherein they every year cast in vast sums of Money according to their success against the Christians, which they never take out, so that its thought there are many Millions in that Hold; When the ships come in, there is always something for the Treasury, and a good Portion for Mahomet, and those that read Prayers, which is put into the hands of a Treasurer, whom if they find to have converted the least part thereof to his private use, he is cruelly put to death in this manner; He is stripped naked, and at the door of the Marabut, he is impaled alive, that is a stake is thrust into his Fundament and driven leisurely up through his body; In this manner he is raised to the top of the steeple of a Mosquet or Church, where he is exposed to Public view for three days, and then his body is carried out of the City to be given for food to the wild beasts, and his Estate sold for the benefit of the Religious men; There are excellent Orders to stir them up to their Worship, they are often called to Prayers that is in the Morning, at twelve a Clock, at four afternoon, at Sunsetting, at Twilight, and at Midnight, at all which times great numbers of all sorts re●ort to their Mosquetts, and there in an humble manner on their Faces pray to God and Mahomet; Those that are negligent in coming to Prayers, are taken notice of, and if formerly Christians are excluded from all hopes of Employment, and for the least offence severely Treated; The Ceremonies used at Consecrating their Priests are observable; The Father of the young man brings him before the Marabut, or Chief Priest, who sits in the Principal Mosquette of the City with a numerous attendance to be Witnesses of his Dedication to that Service, entering the place the Father holding his son on the right hand, they both approach the Marabut and kiss the Him of his Garment, who asks the Father whether he can read; He answers yes, and a book is immediately brought usually the Alcoran, who reads a page in it; If he miss not a word but read it distinctly, he is then admitted; and his name enrolled in the Order; Then a Fellow with a sharp Knife cuts in his right Arm the Figure of an half Moon, into the wound is put Gunpowder, which being blown up, leaves a blue Impression that nothing can take away unless the place be cut off, After some Prayers for Confirmation, he is obliged to swear by Mahomet's Lock to observe certain Rules; He is then clothed in another manner before the People, and the Marabut takes him into his Arms, and gives him a Kiss, which sanctifies him for ever; The Solemnity ends in Music and Dancing; Their Marriages, Circumcisions, and other Customs are not much different from the Turks.  
Many other particulars I observed during the Happy time of my Slavery, having liberty to walk up and down my business and work being only to wait upon my Lady at the time of her Devotions; But after two years she departed this Life, leaving me sufficient cause to Lament; Another of the King's Wives was supposed to have poisoned her, because he had a greater love for her by reason of her constant Devotions than for the other; About six months before her Death, she was brought to bed of a Girl somewhat whiter than ordinary, which the old Fool thought himself to be the Father of; During her sickness she sent to her Cousin's house, where I lay, to speak with him, whom she engaged to release me after her Burial in requital of my good Service, and sent me by her Gentlewoman a considerable present in Gold which I did not possess long; After her death her Cousin did not perform her request, but led me to the Market, where I was sold for 300 Dollars, I durst not anger him for fear he should publish the Mystery which would infallibly cost me my head; My next Master was a Gardener, who put me into his Orchards, and there with a good Cudgel made me understand a new Trade I never knew before, I endured much with him, for he made me labour above my strength, and often threatened to stab and kill me, therefore fear of Death made me endeavour my escape; I was sometimes sent for Lime, for a building he had in hand near the Seashore; A Vessel was lately arrived from France to redeem the Captives, and lay without the Mould, at what time I was on the shore it was dusky, a Frenchman offered me his assistance, I accepted of it and went into his Boat, but was discovered before I could get off the Mould and sent back to my Master, who punished me with an 100 blows on the soles of my Feet, whereby I became unserviceable many days; He was soon weary of my Company; and sold me to the English Renegado aforesaid, I expected from him a kinder entertainment but found worse, he was cruel & severe to me, making me work night and day; I often treated for my ransom, but his demands were so high, that I could not comply with him; He abused we wretchedly about five Months, and then death put an end to his Tyranny; His Executors sold me again among his Goods and Chattels; I fell next into the hands of an Italian Renegado, who was no kinder to me than my former Masters, my work was painful, my Diet mean, my Labour continual, and my Rewards the blows of a hard Cudgel; I could not long endure this Service, and therefore sought to displease my Patron, and make him sell me to another; He gave me next to an Officer of the Militia, who was so well pleased with my Person and Countenance that he resolved not to part with me for any Money I offered him 800 Dollars, he told me, I should first go with him into the Country, and at his return I should have Liberty to be redeemed if I behaved myself well; The Turks about this time sent a strong Army to gather the Contributions, of the People, and to relieve Tremisen or Climsan, a strong Populous City in the Inland parts of Africa, which commands all the rest of Country, and was now besieged by the Arabs their deadly Enemies;  
Having run through so many strange and unexpected Fortunes and Adventures, I doubted not but to meet with as much variety in this Expedition, my Master was Commander of an 100 men, he was very passionate and Lascivious, but withal valiant; Our Army was composed of a thousand Horse, and two thousand Foot, besides Slaves and Servants; with which strong Party we set forward, and found the Country very fruitful of Corn and Fodder; As we passed by a Wood, we had the sight of several wild Beasts that returned from seeking their Prey; Our Vanguard shot at many of them, one of our Company to show his Valour, met a Lion that advanced toward us, and with his Scymiter in his hand encountered him, but the sport almost cost the Fellow his Life, for the Lion was very strong, and struck him down twice with his Paws, and the last time in a rage bitten off part of his Arm, and would have instantly devoured him, had we not all shot at him and fixed above an hundred Bullets in his Body; We found the Fellow almost dead with fear under the Lion; He was glad with the loss of some of his Flesh to have so happily escaped, none pitying him since his rashness deserved it. In three Leagues we came to a little Valley fruitful of Palms and Olivetrees, with a small Rivulet covered with Strawberry Bushes, and a Grove at the end; Wherein I saw a flying Serpent about the bigness of an ordinary Dog, with a large mouth and Tongue about four foot long, we shot at it but could not kill it; It threatened some of our men, who ventured to go near it, and would not go till a great number came toward it; I saw it near a pleasant Fountain, but could not learn the name; It had Wings of divers colours, especially Red and White, bigger than those of our winged Fowls, but I could not discern the substance of them; It hovered long over our heads, and had not the noise of our Guns frighted it away, I think it had ventured among us again, all the Birds that saw it at a distance fled away. I imagined it to be a kind of Basilisk; a desperate Serpent, and extraordinary venomous, it was admired by all of us having never seen the like, which made me believe it some Inland Creature not usually seen near the Seacoasts.  
Our business in this Journey was to gather Contribution of the Inhabitants, who do not willingly pay, and therefore the Turks are forced to go in great numbers to oblige them to it; The third day we passed over high Mountains fenced on all sides with craggy Rocks, so that we were forced to climb over them. Our Horse took a Compass about by a way more easy; About noon the Sun was extraordinary hot which caused us to seek a repose under the shady Trees that grew in this stony ground, as I was resting myself between sleep and waking, a great venomous Scorpion fixed her sting in my naked Leg, so gently that I had not felt it, had I not been told thereof. I had heard much of this Serpent, and being stung began to fear the increase of the Venom, but some had already killed it, and brought the blood to me to apply to the Wound, which wonderfully gave present Cure, for it had no sooner touched the Tumour but it began to decrease, and out of the little wound came forth a Liquor white as Milk, by which I found the blood of the Scorpion hath an attractive Virtue; I had no sooner escaped this Adventure but I fell into a worse, My Master had sent me to the Rear of the Army to buy Victuals for himself it being there sold ready dressed; As I was returning loaded, I fell down a steep Rock with my Burden, but for fear my Master should Cudgel me, I soon recovered myself. From this unhappy place we removed up a Hill into a Country uninhabited, but by Monsters and wild Beasts, whereof we saw a great many; This Mountain is part of the Atlas and runs through all this Kingdom and Fez as far as the Main Ocean, part thereof being in the second Region of the Air, and so cold that in some Corners which are not exposed to the Sun, there was a great deal of Ice and Snow; Here we found plenty of Woods and Trees, and several sorts of Birds, we killed one that had 4 Legs like a Beast; Its body was as big as a Turkeycock, and the head like an Owl, its Tail was extreme broad, the Feathers Grey, and the head black, it flies slowly, and was therefore killed without difficulty.  
Toward Evening we saw several sorts of Lions go out of their Dens, when the Jackals began to bark, the Noblest is called the Royal Lion, of shape bigger and stronger, and a more courageous Voice; when any of the rest meet such a one, they seem to yield a respect to him, He is graver in his motion, fiercer in the Encounter, and undaunted in the greatest danger, others are smaller; every night we were visited with several Companies of wild Creatures, some of whom had the boldness to break in upon us, but never returned back to tell news. One Evening we discovered a great Beast afar off, and some of us went nearer to discharge our Guns at it; It was a Monster of a large size, the head like a Lion, the Paws like a Bear, the hinder parts much like an Ass. When it was killed every one in the Army had a sight thereof, and I then remembered the saying of the Romans, Africa always produces something new, for there is every year some strange Creature or other to be seen in those remote places; some make it their business to watch them when they come into the World, and employ all their Art to catch them, and show them for money; In this wild place were several other sorts of Beasts and Serpents, one of a strange nature seeming like a white Lamb, which fled before us; Our Captain thought it to be so, and that it had straggled, and therefore we had order to pursue it, and coming near, it made more haste than ordinary to shift among the Trees, but being very weary and overfat, it could not escape us, yet ran into one of the Bushes, where to prevent discovery its white colour was changed in an instant into that of the Bush, which alteration gave us much trouble, and we had never found it again if one of the Company had not discharged a Musket, at the noise whereof it risen affrighted, and run for its life, we did not think it the same, yet some ventured after it, and others stayed in the place seeking the white beast. The Pursuers shot off one of its Legs, and then cried to us to forbear seeking, and that the Counterfeit Lamb was caught. It was the same shaped Beast, but the colour was no more white as before, but changed into a blackish Grace; Its Coat was a Fine Wool the head like a Wolf, but not quite so long, with very sharp Teeth, and a fierce look, the hinder parts like a sheep, we wondered at this change of colour, and imagined it to be that Beast mentioned by by the Learned, and is a good Emblem of a Hypocrite.  
Having in three days got over these Mountains and lying down to refresh ourselves, in the Morning an Alarm was sounded, at which we all ran to our Arms, and put ourselves in Order, expecting the coming of the Arabs, but no Enemy appeared, only a Company of Apes pursued by a few Jackalls who made such a noise in running about the branches of the Wood near us, yet those upon the skirts of the Army thought them to be the Enemy, who had taken the advantage of the place to fall upon us; their needless fear did as soon appear as the nimble Creatures recovered the tops of the highest Trees, to whose protection they durst commit themselves; yet the Alarm continued, and ran as nimbly as the Apes all over the Army, which could not be stopped till every one was informed of the true cause of the Fright.  
The Cruelties upon the Slaves at Algiers & their manner of selling Christians &c Page 33  
After we had taken all the Country which was revolted, we returned to the Maritime City of Algiers, My Master was grown very rich, and powerful, and had got great honour, and great wealth for his Services. And I having likewise served him faithfully all this time, and helped him out of many straits, and difficulties by my Advice and Council, with whom he constantly consulted in any Exigency, according to his promise often made me, he gave me my Liberty, and a sum of Money to carry me home; so that after so many strange Adventures and Discoveries which I had made in this my long time of Slavery, I met with a French Vessel of Marseilles in the Harbour, wherein I embarked for my Native Country. Adventures T. S. 1670.  
VIII. The Adventures, Dangers and Troubles of Katherine Duchess Dowager of Suffolk are very remarkable, as we find them recorded in the Book of Martyrs. This Duchess was the Widow of Charles Brandon Duke of Suffolk, and after his death was married to Richard Berty Esq. In the first year of Queen Mary, Stephen Gardiner Bishop of Winchester, knowing this Duchess to be a zealous Protestant, and no good Friend of his, resolved to be revenged of her husband first, and subpoena'd him before him, alleging, That it was the Queen's pleasure he should presently pay 4000 pound due to her Father from D. Charles late husband to his Duchess, whose Executrix she was. Mr. Berty replied, That Debt was already truly satisfied. The Bishop answered, The Queen would not be put off with payments in the time of Kets Government, (so he in scorn called King Edward the sixth's Reign;) Mr. Berty said, It was acknowledged to be paid by K. Henry the Eighth. If that be true, said the Bishop; I will show you favour, but Mr. Berty, says he, I must tell you another thing because I intent you well; I hear ill of your Religion, and pray is your Lady now as forward to set up Mass as she was to pull it down, when she caused a Dog in a Rochet to be carried with her, which she called by my name, or doth she now think her Lambs as safe, as when she saw me veil my Bonnet to her out of the Tower window, at which time she said, That it was merry with the Lambs when the Wolves were shut up. And at another time when my Lord her husband invited me amongst other Lords to Dinner, desiring every Lady to choose him whom she liked best, and so place themselves together, your Lady taking me by the hand said, That since she might not sit by her husband whom she loved best, she had chosen me whom she loved worst. To which Mr. Berty replied; My Lord, Of the device of the Dog, she was neither the Author nor Allower. As for her words she can answer herself, and for the Mass she hath been taught by learned men to abhor it, and therefore if she should outwardly pretend to it, she would be a false Christian to Christ, and a masking Subject to her Prince, you know my Lord, one Judgement reform is better than a Thousand Transformed Time-servers. Yea marry, says the Bishop, deliberation is good, if she were to come from an old Religion to a New, but she is to return from a new one to an old one; when I was her Ghostly Father she was as earnest a Papist as any My Lord, said Mr. Berty, she told a Friend lately, That Religion went not by Age, but by Truth, and therefore she was to be converted by Argument and not by Compulsion. Pray do you think it possible, says the Bishop, to persuade her? I hope, said Mr. Berty, you will find no fruits of Infidelity in her. The Bishop then persuaded Mr. Berty to take pains in her Conversion, promising him large Favours to effect it, and so dismissed him.  
When Mr. Berty came home he had frequent intimations from his Friends, That the Bishop intended to call his Duchess to an Account for her Faith, and therefore they designed to go beyond Sea. In pursuance whereof Mr. Berty made such Friends to the Queen, as to obtain her Licence to pass and repass at pleasure, to receive several sums of money due to Duke Charles from the Emperor of Germany; Mr. Berty went beyond Sea accordingly, but without his Duchess who yet by agreement was to follow, and made her escape from this desperate danger in the manner following.  
She dwelled at that time in Barbiean, and acquainted none of her Servants with her design but only one old Gentleman, neither did she take any but the meanest of her Servants with her, fearing the others would not run so dangerous an adventure, she took also her young Daughter of a year old with her. Upon New-years-day, about four a Clock in the Morning she went from her own house, and an Herald of the Queens who lay in her house to guard her hearing the noise, rose up, and came down with a lighted Torch in his hand, so that for fear of discovery she was forced to leave most of her Child's necessaries behind, and ordered her Servants to make haste to Lion Key, taking with her only two Women and her Child; she was no sooner out of doors but the Herald followed, whereupon she stepped into the Charterhouse Gate, so that he could not see her, the Herald finding some things she had lost, fell to ransacking them, and in the mean time she hasted away knowing the place only by name, where she should take boat. Her Servants also divided themselves, and only one of them knew the way thither; Thus she attired in a mean habit, and they that were with her, took their way into Finsbury Fields, where by the special Providence of Heaven, near Moregate she and all her Company met, and went together to Lion-key, a Barge was there ready for her; but the morning was so extreme misty that the Steersman would not venture out without great entreaty. Soon after the Council were informed of her departure, whereupon some came presently to her house to inquire out the manner of her escape, and to take an Inventory of her Goods, and Orders were issued to apprehend her, so that the noise of her Flight, was at Leigh in Essex before her Arrival.  
When she came thither, the old Gentleman her Servant carried her privately to a Merchant's house near Leigh, naming her Mistress White, where she stayed till she had made some new Provision for her Child in the room of that left behind her at Barbican. When the time came she was to take Shipping, she hardly escaped Discovery, and being ' twice carried into the Seas almost within sight of Zealand, by contrary Winds was driven back to the place whence she came; And at her last return the searchers suspecting she might be in that Ship, examined her Servant that came to buy Victuals, who told them such an innocent Story of a Merchant's Wife which was on Shipboard, that they searched no further; and so at last the safely arrived in Brabant, where she met with her Husband, who apparelling her and her Women like Dutch Froes, they traveled to Santon, and had leave from the Magistrates to live privately there, but it being reported they were greater Personages than they pretended, the Bishop and Magistrates resolved to seize and examine them both of their Condition and Religion; but Mr. Berty having secret notice thereof, took his Duchess, his Child, and the two Women, and about three Afternoon in February walked out as if to take the Air, intending that Night to get to Wesel, and the better to conceal his design they went on Foot, and left the rest of their Family at Santon: They had not gone above an English Mile, but there fell a mighty Rain, which dissolved the Frost and Ice; and so made the ways deep and slippery, which proved extreme tedious to these new Lackeys, and no Wagon to be gotten, so that Mr. Berty was forced to carry the Child, and the Duchess his Cloak and Rapier, the Women being sent before. At last, near seven a Clock in the dark Evening, they came to Wesel, seeking after such a tedious Journey to repose and refresh their wearied Limbs in an Inn, but they all refused to entertain them, though they offered a considerable sum for the same, judging them to be ill People.  
In the mean time the poor Babe cried bitterly, the Duchess wept as fast, the Wether was extreme Cold, and the Heavens reigned as fast as the Clouds could pour. Mr. Berty destitute of all Worldly Succour and relief for him and his, in this deplorable Condition, resolved to carry the Duchess with her Infant into the Porch of the great Church, and so to buy some Coals, Food and Straw for their Repose that night, or at least till he could procure some better Lodging; Mr. Berty could speak little Dutch, and could meet with none who understood either English, French, Italian, or Latin, till going toward the Church he heard two Boys speaking in Latin, who stepping to them, promised them two Stivers if they would bring him to a Walloons house, and so it pleased God he happened into a house where Mounsieur Rivers a Minister was at Supper, he had formerly been in England, and received some Courtesies from this good Duchess; Mounsieur Rivers going to the door, and seeing Mr. Berty, his Duchess and Infant in that lamentable Case with Rain, Mire and Dirt, and in Apparel so unlike what he had seen them in England, was so overwhelmed with sorrow, and tears, that for some time he could neither speak to them, nor they to him: At last they saluted each other, and he brought them to his house, into which God knows they entered joyfully, Mr. Berty changing his Clothes with the good Man of the House, the Duchess with his Wife, and their Infant with the Child of the House. Here they continued some time, and then hired a House, where they discovered themselves freely, and lived in good fashion, but whilst they passed the time here with some content, in hope of resting after their Tedious Travels, Sir John Mason, Queen Mary's Ambassador in the Netherlands gave them private notice of a design for seizing and carrying them back to England, managed by the L. Paget. For the D. of Brunswick being to pass by that City with ten Companies of Soldiers to assist the Emperor against the French, it was contrived that he should suddenly apprehend them, and carry them away from Wesel.  
Upon this Information Mr. Berty with his Duchess, & Child, presently fly into the Palatinate, and found Protection in Wincheim, but the money which they brought out of England being almost spent, they began to faint under their heavy burden, being almost out of heart and hope in this their distressed condition, at which time it pleased God to provide wonderfully for them by the following means. One John a Lasco, being driven out of England at Queen Mary's coming to the Crown, after many troubles and adventures returned into Poland his Native Country, where he found great favour with that King, and understanding the Condition of Mr. Berty and his Duchess whom he had known in England, he gave an account thereof to the King of Poland, and the Palatine of Vilna, who presently wrote to them to come thither with great offers of kindness. They returned Letters full of Thanks to the King, and Palatine, and sent with them all the remainder of the Jewels which they had brought from England; and having received Letters of Conduct for their Security, in April 1557 the Duchess with her Husband and Family began their Journey toward Poland. By the way they met with many dangers; One was occasioned by a Captain of the Lantgraves who quarrelled with Mr. Berty about a Spaniel of his, and with his Horsemen set upon them by the way, thrusting their Boar-spears through the sides of the Wagon where the Children and Women were, yet it pleased God none of them were hurt; Mr. Berty had only four Horsemen with him, and in the quarrel the Captain's Horse was slain under him, upon which a Rumour was presently spread about the Country, that the Lantgraves' Captain was slain by the Walloons, which much enraged the Common people against them. The Duchess understanding their danger, persuaded her husband to leave them, and by the swiftness of his horse to recover some Town for his Security; which Mr. Berty attempting to do, was eagerly pursued by the Countrymen, and the Captain's Brother, who thought he had been slain indeed. And in the pursuit they came so near him that he had certainly been murdered, but that as God would have it, spying a Ladder standing against a Window, he leapt off his Horse and ran up the Ladder, whereby he got into a Garret on the top of the house where he defended himself for some time with his Sword, and dagger, till the Magistrates came and persuaded him to submit to the Law; Mr. Berty knowing himself to be clear and the Captain alive, yielded himself upon condition to be protected from the rude multitude, and delivering up his weapons was committed to Custody till the Case should be heard; Mr. Berty then writ to the Landgrave and the Earl of Erbagh, declaring his Case to them, and the next morning the Earl came to Town, where the Duchess was now arrived in the Wagon; The Earl having before heard of the Duchess, came to see her, showing much civility, and respect toward her; which the Townsmen observing, and finding the Captain was alive, they began to shrink away and make Friends to Mr. Berty, and the Duchess not to represent their Actions at the worst.  
And thus through Divine Providence escaping this great danger also, they proceeded in their Journey, and at last arrived safely in Poland, where they were entertained by the King with all humanity and kindness; The King likewise settling them safely and Honourably in the Earldom of Crozan, where they had as absolute a Power in Government as the King himself, so that it proved to them a quiet Haven, after so many Troubles in a Tempestuous Sea, and there they lived with much Honour and Comfort till the Death of bloody Q. Marry, and then returned together with the Protestant Religion into their native Country in the Reign of Q. Elizabeth of Glorious Memory. Clarks Martyr. 521.  
IX. A. B. Spotswood gives a very notable Relation of the Adventures and Dangers of Mr. John Craig, as followeth; In the year 1600. Mr. John Craig, who had been Minister to King James in Scotland (but through Age was compelled to quit the charge) departed this Life; whilst he lived he was had in great esteem, a great Divine, and an excellent Preacher, of a grave behaviour, sincere and inclining to no Faction; and which increased his Reputation, he lived honestly, without Ostentation or desire of outward Glory; Many toss and troubles he endured in his life-time; For in his younger years having passed his course in Philosophy in the University of St. Andrews, he went from thence into England, and waited on the Lord Dacres Children as a Tutor for two years; But Wars then happening between England and Scotland, he returned home and became a Friar of the Dominican Order; He had not lived long among them, when upon suspicion of Heresy he was put into Prison, after his Release he went back to England, hoping by means of the L. Dacres to have got a place in Cambridge, but his expectation being frustrated, he went into France and from thence to Rome. There he won such favour with Cardinal Pool that by his recommendation he was received among the Dominicans of Bononia, and by them was first appointed to instruct the Novices of the Cloister; Afterwards when they perceived his diligence and dexterity in business, he was employed in their Affairs throughout Italy, and was sent in Commission to Chios an Island in the jonick Sea, to redress things that were amiss among those of their Order.  
Herein he discharged himself so well, that at his return he was made Rector of the School, and thereby had access to the Libraries, especially to that of the Inquisition, where meeting with calvin's Institutions, he was taken with a great liking thereof; and one day discoursing with a Reverend Old Man of the Monastery, he was by him confirmed in the opinion he had entertained; but withal was warned by no means to discover himself, or to make his mind known, because the times were dangerous. But he neglecting the Counsel of the old Man, and disclosing his Opinions too freely, was accused of Heresy, and being sent to Rome, after Examination he was Imprisoned for Nine Months, at the end whereof being brought before the Judge of the Inquisition, and making a clear Confession of his Faith, he was condemned to be burnt the next day, being the 29 of August.  
It happened that the same night Pope Paul 4 died; upon the noise of whose death, the People came in a Tumult to the place where his Statue in Marble was erected, and pulling it down, did for the space of three days drag it through the Streets, and in the end threw it into the River of Tiber; During this Tumult all the Prisons were broke open, and the Prisoners set free, and among others Mr. Craig had his Liberty; And as he endeavoured to escape, as not thinking it safe to continue in the City, two things happened to him not unworthy relating; First in the Suburbs as he passed along he met a sort of Outlawed People, whom they call Banditi; One of the Company taking him aside demanded if he had ever been at Bononia, He answered, That he had been sometime there; Do you not remember, said he, that walking on a time in the Fields with some young Noblemen, there came a poor maimed Soldier to you entreating some releiss. Mr. Craig said, He did not well remember it; But I do, said he, and I am the man to whom you then shown kindness, be not afraid of us, for you shall incur no danger, and so conveying him through the Suburbs and directing him the securest way, he gave him so much money as might bear his Charges to Bononia; for he intended to go thither, thinking to find entertainment among his acquaintance there; but at his coming to them, they looked strangely upon him, whereupon being afraid to be betrayed by them, he got secretly away intending his Course for Milan; By the way another Accident befell him, which he afterwards often related to many Persons of Quality as a singular Testimony of God's Providence, and care over him, and thus it was; when he had traveled some days, going out of the Highways for fear of Discovery, he came into a wild and desert Forest, and being sorely tired, he lay down among some Bushes on the side of a little Brook to refresh himself, lying there Pensive, and full of thoughts, not knowing where he was, nor having money to bear his Charges, a Dog with a Purse in his Teeth, came fawning upon him, and laid it down before him; He being struck with fear risen up, and judging it to proceed from God's favourable Providence toward him, he followed his way, till he came to a little Village where he met with some who were travelling to Vienna in Austria, whereupon changing his former intentions he went in their Company to that City.  
Whilst he continued there, professing himself one of the Dominican Order, he was brought to preach before Maximilian 2. Emperor of Germany, who liking the Man, and his manner of Preaching, would have retained him, if by Letters from Pope Paul 3. he had not been required to send him back to Rome, as one that was condemned for Heresy; The Emperor being unwilling to deliver him, and on the other hand not willing to quarrel with the Pope, sent him privately away with Letters of safe Conduct, and so travelling through Germany, he came into England, where being informed of the Reformation begun in his own Country, he went into Scotland, and offered his Service to the Church, but the long disuse of his Native Language (having lived abroad 24 years,) made him unuseful at the first; only now and then he preached a Sermon in Latin to the Learned in magdalen's Chapel in Edinburgh, ●nd in the year 1567. having recovered the use of ●he language, he was appointed Minister of Holy-rood House. Next year he was removed to Edinburgh, and was joined as Colleague with Mr. Knox for Nine years' space; Then by Order of the General Assembly he was removed to Montress, where he continued two years, and upon the Death of Adam Heriot was removed from thence to Aberdeen, having the inspection of the Churches of Mar and Buchan committed to his care; In 1579 he was called to be K. James his Minister, and served in that charge till born down with the weight of years he was forced to retire himself; After which time forbearing all Public exercises, he lived privately at home, comforting himself with the remembrance of the Mercies of God that he had experienced in his life past, and this year Decemb. 12. without any pain, he died peaceably at Edenburg in the 88 year of his Age. A. B. Spotswood History of Scotland, pag. 461.  
X. The Great King Henry the Fourth of France, saith Mr. Howell, was as remarkable an Example of the Lubricity and unstableness of Mundane Affairs, and of the Sandy Foundation whereon the highest Pomp and purposes of men are grounded as almost any Age can Parallel; For this Illustrious Prince having a most potent and irresistible Army, composed of Forty Thousand Combatants, all choice men led by Old Commanders and the most expert, Europe could afford, in a perfect Equipage, having also a Mount of Gold as high as a Lance, estimated at sixteen Millions to maintain this Army, having assured his Confederates abroad, settled all things at home, caused his Queen to be Crowned with the highest Magnificence imaginable, and appointed her Regent in his absence, behold this mighty King amongst these Triumphs of his Queens, being to go next day ●o his Army, when his Spirits were at the highest elevation, and his heart swelling with assurances rather than hopes of Success and Glory; going one Afternoon to his Armoury, he was stopped in a small stre●t by so contemptible a thing as a Colliers Car● and there from amongst the Arms of his Nobles he was thrust out of the World by the meanest of his own Vassals the Villain Ravilliac, who with a Prodigious Confidence put his Foot upon the Coach-wheel reached him over the Shoulders of one of his greatest Lords, and stabbed him to the very heart, and with a monstrous undauntedness of Resolution making good his first stab with a second, dispatched him suddenly from off the Earth, as if a Mouse had strangled an Elephant.  
— Sic parvis pereunt ingentia rebus  
And thus the smallest things  
Can stop the Breath of Kings.  
Let us now see the deserved punishment of this Notorious bloody Wretch; This Francis Ravillac was born in Angoulesme, by Profession a Lawyer, who after the committing of that Horrid Fact being siezed and put upon the Rack, May 25. the 27 he had Sentence of Death passed on him; and was executed accordingly in the manner following; He was brought out of Prison in his Shirt with a Torch of two pound weight lighted in one hand, and the Knife, wherewith he Murdered the King, chained to the other, he was then set upright in a Dung-cart, wherein he was carried to the Greve or place of Execution, where a strong Scaffold was built; At his coming upon the Scaffold he crossed himself, a sign that he died a Papist, than he was bound to an Engine of wood made like St. Andrew's Cross, which done, his hand with the Knife chained to it was put into a Furnace then flaming with Fire and Brimstone, wherein it was in a most Terrible manner consumed, at which he cast forth horrible cries like one tormented in Hell, yet would he not confess any thing; After which the Executioner having made Pincers Red hot in the same Furnace, they did pinch his Paps, the brawns of his Arms and Thighs, the Calves of his Legs, with other fleshy parts of his Body, pulling out Collops of Flesh, and burning them before his Face, than they poured into those wounds scalding Oil, Rosin, Pitch and Brimstone melted together, after which they set a hard Roundel of Clay upon his Navel, having a hole in the middle, into which they poured melted Lead; at which he again roared out most horribly, yet confessed nothing; But to make the last act of his Tragedy equal in Torments to the rest, they caused four strong Horses to be brought to tear his body in pieces, where being ready to suffer his last Torment he was again questioned but would not reveal any thing, and so died without calling upon God, or speaking one word concerning Heaven; His Flesh and Joints were so strongly knit together that those four Horses could not in a long time dismember him, but one of them fainting a Gentleman who was present, mounted upon a mighty strong Horse, alighted, and tied him to one of the Wretch's Limbs, yet for all this they were constrained to cut the flesh under his Arms and Thighs with a sharp Razor, whereby his body was the easier torn in pieces; which done the Fury of the People was so great, that they pulled his dismembered Carcase out of the Executioners hands, which they dragged up and down the dirt, and cutting off the flesh with their Knives, the Bones which remained were brought to the place of Execution and there burnt, the Ashes were cast in the Wind, being judged unworthy of Earth's Burial; By the same Sentence all his Goods were forfeit to the King. It was also ordained that the House where he had been born, should be beaten down a recompense being given the owner thereof, and never any house to be built again on that ground; That within fifteen days after the Publication of the Sentence by sound of Trumpet in the Town of Angoulesme, his Father and Mother should departed the Realm never to return again, if they did to be hanged up presently; His Brethren, Sisters, and other kindred were forbidden to carry the name of Ravillac, but to take some other, and the Substitute of the King's Attorney General had charge to see the Execution of the said sentence at his Peril. De Serres Hist. France lib. ult.  
XI. Darius' King of Persia entitled himself King of Kings, and Kinsman to the gods; and having notice of Alexander's landing in Asia, he so much scorned him and his Macedonians, that he gave Order to his Lieutenants of the lesser Asia, that they should take Alexander alive, whip him with Rods, and then convey him to his Presence, that they should sink his Ships, and send the Macedonian Prisoners beyond the Red Sea. In this manner spoke the glorious King, in a vain Confidence of the multitudes over whom he commanded, but observe here a a wonderful Revolution, his vast Armies were successively routed by the Macedonians: His Riches which were hardly to be reckoned up, were seized, his Mother, Wife and Daughters made Prisoners, and himself by the Treachery of Bessus his Vassal taken from the ground where he lay bewailing his misfortune, and bound in a Cart covered with hides of Beasts, and to add derision and scorn to his adversity, he was fastened to the Cart with Chains of Gold, and thus drawn on among the ordinary Carriages. But the Traitor Bessus being hastily pursued by Alexander, he brought a Horse to the Cart where Darius lay bound, persuading him to mount thereon; The unfortunate King refusing to follow those that had betrayed him, they cast darts at him, wounded him to Death, wounded the Beasts that drew him, and killed his two Servants that attended him, which done they all fled; Polystratus a Maceaonian being by pursuit pressed with thirst, while he was refreshing himself with water spied a Cart with wounded Beasts breathing for Life, and not able to move. He searched the same, and there found the miserable Darius bathing in his own blood, Impatient Death pressing out his few remaining Spirits, he desired a draught of cold water, which Polystratus presented him with, after which he lived but to tell him, That of all the best things that the world had, and which were lately in his power, he had nothing remaining but his last breath, wherewith to desire Heaven to reward his Compassion. Raleigh Hist. of the World, Lib. 4.  
XII. As unfortunate was the end of Philip King of Macedon, Father of Alexander the Great; who after many famous exploits by him performed, and being chosen by all Greece as their General in the Asian Expedition, (an honour he had long thirsted after) consulted the Oracle of Apollo, and from thence received as he did interpret it, a very favourable answer about his success against the Persians; He therefore ordains great and solemn Sacrifices to the Gods, marries his Daughter Cleopatra to the King of Epirus, and that he might appear amongst the Greeks in his greatest Glory and Magnificence, he invites divers Great Persons throughout all Greece to this Nuptial Feast, and desires them to bring as many as they pleased with them, whom he would also entertain as his Guests; There was therefore a marvellous Confluence of People from all parts to these Royal Nuptials, and the Musical Contests which he had also ordained; At Egis a City in Macedonia was this great Solemnity, where he than received divers Crowns of Gold from several Illustrious Persons, as also others that were sent to him in his honour from the most famous Cities in Greece, even from Athens itself; Now was the Feast over, and the Musical Concertation deferred till the next day, a multitude of People were assembled in the Theatre in the Morning before it was light, and at the first appearance of Day, than began the Pomp to set forth, in which besides other glorious preparations there were twelve Statues of the Gods carried upon huge and Triumphant Arches, and together with these a Thirteenth, which was the Statue of Philip himself adorned with Divine Habit, by which he would have it understood, That he was in dignity equal with the Gods themselves; The Theatre being now crowded, Philip himself appears all clothed in white having ordered his Guards to keep at a distance from him that the Greeks might know he thought himself sufficiently guarded with their Love; At this his glorious appearance he was openly extolled, and looked upon as the happiest Person amongst all other Mortals; But this his dazleing brightness was soon overcast with a black Cloud, and all the Pageant of his Glory wrapped up in the Sables of Death; For while his Guards kept at their commanded distance, there ran up to him Pausanias, one of those who had the nearest charge of his body, and with a short  Sword he had hid about him for that purpose, smote him into the fide, and laid him dead at his Foot in the sight of Thousands of his Soldiers and Friends. Diodorus Siculus. Lib. 16.  
XIII. Bajazet Emperor of the Turks for his fierceness was surnamed Gilderun, that is Lightning, a Prince of a great Spirit, and who for ten years' space had been exceeding fortunate in his greatest Erterprises; This Great Monarch was invaded by Tamerlane the Great Cham of Tartary, overthrown in the Battle, his Son Mustapha slain and he himself made Prisoner. At the first Tamerlane gave him a civil Reception, and sitting together he thus said to him; O Emperor we are each of us exceedingly indebted to the Divine Bounty, I that am thus lame, to have received an Empire extending many Thousand miles, even from the Borders of India to Sebaste, and thou who from the same hand hast another, reaching from the same Sebaste to the Confines of Hungary, so that we almost part the whole world betwixt us; we own therefore our praises to Heaven, which I both have and will be always ready to render accordingly; but thou, it may be hast been less mindful, and of a more ungrateful disposition, and therefore thou art now brought into this Calamity; But let that pass, and now my Friend tell me freely and truly what thou wouldst have done with me in case I had fallen under thy power. Bajazet who was of a fierce and haughty Spirit, is said thus to reply; Had Fortune given me the Victory I would have enclosed thee in an Iron Cage, and carried thee about with me as a spectacle of derision to all men. Tamerlane hearing this, passed the same Sentence upon him. Three years almost the miserable Creature lived enclosed in this manner; at last, hearing he was to be carried into Tartary, despairing then to obtain his Freedom, he struck head with such Violence against the Bars of his Cage that he beat his Brains out. Turkish History pag. 220.  
XIV. Charles the Gross, the 29th. King of France, and Emperor of the West, began to Reign in the year 885. The eyes of the French were fixed upon him as the man that should restore their Estate, after many disorders and confusions. He went into Italy, and expelled the Saracens that threatened Rome, being returned, he found the Normans dispersed in divers Coasts of his Realm; Charles marches with his Army against them, but at the first encounter is overthrown; this Check, though the loss was small, struck a great Terror, and at last caused an apparent impossibility to secure the City of Neustria, then besieged by them with very great Forces. He was therefore advised to Treat with them, and to make them of Enemy's Friends, and to leave them that which he could not take from them; Whereupon he yielded Neustria to them by his own Authority, without the consent of the Estates, and the Normans called the Country Normandy; By this and some other things he fell into a deep hatred with the French; upon which Charles fell sick, and that sickness was accompanied with a distemper of the mind thorough Jealousy conceived against his Queen Richarda. After this the Germans dispossess him of his Empire, and give it to Arnold and the French reject him from governing that Realm, electing in his room Odo Duke of Angiers; This poor Prince deposed from all his Dignities was forsaken of every man, having so ill provided for himself in prosperity, that he had not a house wherein to shroud himself, and being banished the Court, he was driven to a poor Village in Swevia, where he lived some days in extreme want without any means of his own, or relief from any man. In the end he died neither pitied nor lamented of any man, in a Corner unknown, till now made famous, as being the Theatre of so extraordinary a Tragedy. And surely for one of the greatest Monarches in the World thus to die without House, without Bread, without Honour, without Mourning, and without Memory is a singular instance of the Vanity and inconstancy of this uncertain World, Hist. France. pag. 72.  
XV. Dionysius the younger, King of Sicily, had his Kingdom in good constitution, and sufficiently fortified; having no less than 400 Ships of five or six Oars in a Seat, He had one hundred Thousand Foot, and Nine Thousand Horse; His City of Syracuse had strong Gates, and was compassed with high Walls, he had in readiness all manner of Warlike Provisions to furnish out 500 Ships more; He had Granaries wherein he laid up an 100 Myriads of that measure which contains 6 bushels of Bread Corn. He had a Magazine filled with all sorts of Arms, Offensive and Defensive; He was also fortified with Confederates and Allies, so that he himself thought the Government was fastened to him with Chains of Adamant; But being invaded by Dion in his absence, his People revolted, and behold what a fatal Revolution fell out in his Family; Himself had before slain his Brothers, and in this Insurrection against him, his Sons were cruelly put to death, his Daughters were first ravished, then stripped naked, and in short none of his Progeny obtained so much as a decent Burial, for some were burnt, others cut in pieces, and some cast into the Sea, and he himself died old in extreme Poverty, his manner being to 〈◊〉 in Barber's Shops, and as a Jester to move men to ●aughter. Thus in the midst of Greece, in a very mean and low condition he wore out the miserable remains of a wretched Life. Aelian. var. Hist.  
k. Cambuses cruelly kills the Son of One of his Principal Favourites Page: 54.  
After the death of Cyrus, Cambyses his Son reigned King of Persia, and King Croesus still remained in that Court. Now it happened that King Cambyses had slain twelve Persians of Principal rank, whom K. Croesus thus admonished, Do not O King, said he, indulge thine Anger and Rage in every thing, but refrain yourself; It will be for your advantage to be prudent and provident, and foresight is the part of a wise man, but you upon slight occasions put to death your Countrymen, and spare not so much as young Children, If you shall go on to do often in this manner, consider if you will not give occasion to the Persians to revolt from you; your Father Cyrus laid his strict Commands upon me that as often as occasion should require I should put you in mind of those things which might conduce to your profit and welfare. Cambyses snatch up a bow and arrow with intention to have shot Croesus through therewith, but he hastily fled; Cambyses thus prevented, commanded his Ministers to put him to death, but they supposing the King would repent himself, and then they should be rewarded for his safety, kept him privately alive; It was not long before Cambyses wanted the Counsel of Croesus, and when his Servants told him that he yet lived, Cambyses rejoiced thereat, but ordered them to be slain who had disobeyed his Commandment in preserving him whom he had condemned to Death.  
This Cambyses was a very bloody Tyrant which might be partly occasioned by his Flatterers, for having a mind to marry his Sister, he was told by his Lawyers, That they knew no Law which admitted such Marriages, but that there was a Law that the Persian Kings might do what they listed; which Maxim he often put in Practice; For on a time desiring to be truly informed by Prexaspes his beloved Favourite what the Persians his Subjects thought of his Conditions, He answered, They were followed with abundance of praise from all men, only it was observed by many that he took more than usual delight in the Taste of Wine; Cambyses being enraged at this reproof, replied, And are the Persians double Tongued then, who also tell me that I have in all things excelled my Father Cyrus? Thou Prexaspes shalt be my witness whether in this report they have done me right. For if at the first shot I pierce thy son's heart with an Arrow than it is false that hath been spoken, but if I miss the mark I am then pleased that the same be counted True and my Subjects believed; And immediately he shot an Arrow at the innocent Child, who falling down dead with the stroke, Cambyses commanded, the body to be opened, and his heart was found sticking upon the Arrow, at which this monstrous Tyrant greatly rejoicing showed it to his Father with this saying instead of an Epitaph; Now, Prexaspes, thou mayst resolve thyself and conclude that I have not lost my wits with wine, but the Persians there's, who report such things of me; He died miserably afterward in Egypt without any Son or Successor of his Family. Raleigh Hist. World, Lib. 3.  
XVII. Strange and bloody was the Consequence of a small accident at Lisbon in Portugal. Upon April 10, 1506. many of the City went to the Church of St. Dominick to hear Mass; On the left side of this Church there is a Chapel much reverenced by those of the Country, and called Jesus Chapel; Upon the Altar there stands a Crucifix, the wound of whose side is covered over with a piece of Glass, some of those who came thither to do their Devotions casting their eyes upon this hole, it seemed to them that a kind of Glimmering Light came out of it; Then happy was he who could first cry a Miracle, and every one said, That God shown the Testimony of his presence; A Jew who was but lately become a Christian there, denied that it was any Miracle, saying, It was not likely that out of a dry piece of wood there should come such a Light. Now though many of the Spectators doubted of the Miracle, yet hearing a Jew deny it, they began to murmur, calling him, wicked Apostate and a detestable Enemy to Jesus Christ; After they had sufficiently reviled him in words, all the Multitude, foaming with rage, fall upon him, pluck off the hair of his head and Beard, tread upon him, and drawing him into the Churchyard, beat him to death, and kindling a great Fire, they cast the dead body into it, and burned it to Ashes; All the residue of the People in the City ran to this mutinous Company, and among them, a certain Friar made a Sermon, wherein he vehemently stirred up his Auditors to revenge the injury which, he said, our Lord had received; The People furious of themselves, grew even stark mad with this Exhortation, and besides this, two other Friars took and held up a Cross as high as they could, crying out, Revenge, Revenge, Heresy, Heresy, down with wicked Heresy, and destroy the wicked Nation. Hereupon the Rabble like hungry Dogs fall upon the miserable Jews, cut the throats of a great number, and drag them to the Fires half dead, many being kindled for that purpose; They regarded neither Age nor Sex, but murdered Men, Women, and Children, they broke open doors, rush into Rooms, dash out children's Brains against the Walls; They went insolently into Churches to pluck out thence the little Children, Old Men, and young Maids who had taken hold of the Altars, Crosses and Images of the Saints, who pitifully cried out, Mercy, Mercy; yet they either murdered them there presently, or drew them out and threw them alive into the Fire; Many that appeared, or looked like Jews, found themselves in great danger, some being killed, and others wounded before they could make proof they had no Relation to them. Some who had a grudge against others, did but cry, A Jew, a Jew, as they met them, and they were presently beaten down without having any Liberty or Leasure to answer for themselves. The Magistrates durst not oppose themselves against the Rage and Fury of the People, so that in three days time the Cutthroats murdered above a Thousand Jewish Persons. The King of Spain having notice of this horrible disturbance, was extremely angry, and immediately dispatched away Jaquez Almeida and Jaquez Lopez, with full power to punish so great Offences, who caused a great number of the Seditious to be executed, The Friars who had lifted up the Cross and animated the People to Murder were degraded, and afterward hanged and burnt. The Magistrates who had not been diligent to repress this Mutiny, were, some put out of Office, and others fined. The City also was deprived of many Privileges and Honours; Camerarius his Spare Hours. Cent 1.  
XVIII. Such another bloody Event happened in Sicily in 1281. For Charles of Anjou Reigning in that Kingdom, and his Soldiers being all Frenchmen lying in Garrisons in the Cities, grew so odious to the Sicilians, that they studied nothing so much as how to be revenged on them, and to free themselves from the slavish Yoke of the French. The Chief, and most Resolute in this business was called John Prochyto, who being justly incensed against the French, who had ravished his Wife, and likewise dispossessed him of an Island whereof he was Lord; Provoked with these two Abuses, the injured Gentleman plots with King Peter of Arragon to make him Master of the Isle of Sicily, and finding himself to be much favoured by the Sicilian Lords and Gentry, and the French by reason of their Lusts and Insolences having made the Natives ready for mischief, He by their Council and support gins to build a strange design for the entrapping all the French at once, and abolishing their Memory out of Sicily for ever; All which was so secretly carried for eighteen Months, that it hath ever since been accounted a prodigious thing, that a design of this Nature could possibly be so long and safely concealed by so many People, and so different in Humour. The Watchword or signal was, That upon Easter day, when the Bell should begin to toll to Evening prayers, all the Sicilians should presently run to Arms, and joining together with one accord, should fall upon all the French throughout Sicily; Accordingly all the Inhabitants of the Isle were joined together at the appointed hour, and armed, ran upon the French, cut all their throats without taking so much as one Prisoner, or sparing the Children, or Women who were got with Child by the French, that they might utterly extinguish the whole race of them; There were slain eight Thousand at that time, and there escaped but a very small number who fled into a Fort called Sperling, where for want of Victuals they were all starved to death; And Don Pedro having according to Agreement rigged out his Navy under pretence of some exploit against the Moors, came to an Anchor in the Port of Sardinia, there to expect how the Tragedy would be Acted, which falling out agreeably to his expectation, and coming in with his Navy just as the deed was done, he was by the General Consent of all sorts of People Crowned King of Sicily, and the Government thereof remains under the King of Spain to this day; This bloody Massacre is called The Sicilian Vespers or Even Song to this day. Heylin's Cosmog. Lib. 1.  
XIX. The following Accident related by Vincent le Blanc, may discover the danger of too much Curiosity. In the Land of Transiane in the East-Indies, there was a Prince Tributary to the King of Pegu, and his near Kinsman named Alfonge, who married a Sister of the Prince of Tazatai called Abelara, who was one of the greatest Beauties in all those countries'. They lived a sweet and happy life with entire Affection, and for their greater Felicity, they had two Twin Sons, who in their young Age discovered something of great and lofty Minds; and appeared singularly hopeful for the future, These Infants being now Ten years old, loved so cordially, that they could not live asunder, and the desires of the one still met with the consent of the other in all things; But the Devil the Enemy of Concord inspires a Curiosity into the minds of the Father and Mother to know their Fates, or Fortunes; and to their grief they were told, The time should come when these two Brothers that now loved so fond should cut one another's Throats; Which much astonished the poor Princes, and filled them with fearful Apprehensions; The two Princes being come to their 15 years, one said to the other; Brother it must needs be that you must murder me, for I will sooner die an hundred deaths than do you the least hurt imaginable. The other replied, Believe it not good Brother, I beseech you, for you are as dear or dearer to me than myself. But the Father to prevent the misfortune resolved to separate them, whereupon they grew so troubled and Melancholy, that he was constrained to delay his design till an occasion happened which invited all three, the Father and his two Sons to a War betwixt the Kings of Narsinga and Pegu, upon Title of Territories. But by the Mediation of some Persons a Peace was concluded upon Condition that these two young Princes should marry the two Daughters of the King of Narsinga, and that the King of Pegu should confer on him that married the elder all the Countries he took in the last War, with the Kingdom of Martaban; and the other Brother besides the Kingdom of Tazatai should have that of Verma; The Nuptials consummated, each departed to his Territory, Lands spaciously divided: Now it after happened that the King of Tazatai was engaged in a sharp War with the King of Mandranella, and sent to the two Brother Princes for Aid, who both hastened unknown to each other to his assistance. He from Verma came secretly to Town with one Servant only to visit a Lady who had been once their Ancient Mistress, and the other Brother being upon the same design, they met at the Lady's Gate by Night, not knowing one another, where furious with Jealousy, after some words they drew and killed each other; One of them dying gave humble thanks to Heaven for preventing the direful destiny foretold him, that he should kill his Brother; hereupon the other knowing by his Voice and Discourse, drawing near his end, himself crept to him and embraced him with Tears and Lamentations and so both dolefully ended their days together. The Father having tidings of it, and seeing his white hairs led by his own fault to so hard Fortune, overborne with Grief and despair, came and slew himself upon the Bodies of his Sons, and with the grief and Tears of all the People were buried all three in one Monument, which shows us the Danger of too much Curiosity. Le Blanc's Travels. Tom. 1.  
XX. There is a Remarkable History of one Abner an Eastern King in the Indies, who having a Son born, gave immediate Order for his Confinement to a stately and spacious Castle, where he should be delicately brought up and carefully kept from having any knowledge of Humane Calamities or Troubles. And gave special command that no distressed Person should come into his Company, nothing sad, nothing Lamentable, nothing unfortunate, no poor man, no old man, none weeping nor disconsolate was to come near his Palace; Youthfulness, Pleasures, and Joy were always in his Presence, nothing else was to be seen, nothing else discoursed of in his Company. But alas in process of time the Prince longed, this made him sad in the very midst of his Joys, and what should he long for, but not to be so cumbered with Delights; The grief of Pleasures made him request his Father to lose the Bonds of his miserable Felicity; This desire of the Son crossed the Intention of his Father, who was forced to give over his device to keep him from sadness, lest by continuing it he should make him sad; He therefore gave him his Liberty, but charged his Attendants to remove out of his way all objects of Sorrow; the blind, the maimed, the deformed and the old must not come near him. But what diligence is sufficient to conceal the Miseries of Mortality! The Prince in his Recreations meets with an old Man, Blind and Leprous; The sight astonishes him, he startles, trembles, and faints, like those that swound at the Apparition of a Spirit, and inquires of his Followers what that thing might be. And being told that it was Man, he was so extremely concerned thereat, that he disliked Pleasures, condemned Mirth, and despised Life, he rejected the Kingdom and Royal Dignity, and bid adieu to all the Blandishments of Fortune at once, spending the remainder of his days in a Religious Retirement from the vanities of the World, and in preparations for Eternity. Vaughan Florilegus, pag. 126.  
XXI. The Ingenious Dr. R. Plate in his Natural History of Oxfordshire, gives an Acconnt of two strange Accidents which as he saith are to be reckoned among those things which are unaccountable. One is, That in the year 1649 when the Commissioners for surveying the Manor House, Park, Deer, Woods and other the Demesnes belonging to Woodstock Manor in that County, came thither, and sat and lodged therein, they took up their Lodgings in the Bedchamber and withdrawing Room thereof, the former whereof they also made their Kitchen, The Council Hall their Brewhouse, The Chamber of Presence they sat in to dispatch business, and made a Woodhouse of the Dining-room; October 14 and 15 they had little disturbance, but on the 16 there came as they thought somewhat into the Bedchamber where two of the Commissioners and their Servants lay, in the shape of a Dog, which going under their Beds did as it were gnaw their Bed-cords, but on the morning finding them whole, and a quarter of Beef which lay on the ground untouched; they began to entertain other thoughts. Octob. 17. Something to their thinking removed all the Wood out of the Dining-room into the Presence-Chamber, and hurled the Chairs and Stools up and down that room; From thence it came into the two Chambers where the Commissioners and their Servants lay, and hoist up their Beds feet so much higher than their heads that they thought they should have been turned over and over, and then let them fall down with such a force that their bodies rebounded from the bed a good distance, and then shook the Bedsteads so violently that themselves confessed their Bodies were sore with it. October 18 something came into the Bedchamber and walked up and down, and fetching the Warming Pan out of the withdrawing Room made so much noise that they thought five Bells could not have made more; And Octob. 19 Trenchers were thrown up and down the Dining Room, and at them that lodged there, whereof one of them being shaken by the Shoulder and awakened, put forth his head to see what was the matter, but had Trenchers thrown at it; October 20. The Curtains of the Bed in the withdrawing Room were drawn to and fro, and the Bedstead much shaken, and eight great Pewter Dishes, and three dozen of Trenchers thrown about the Bedchamber again, whereof some fell upon the beds; this night they also thought whole Armfuls of Wood had been thrown down in their Chambers, but in the morning they found nothing moved.  
On the 21 of October the keeper of their Ordinary and his Bitch lay in one of the Rooms with them, which night they were not disturbed at all; But October 2. though the Bitch kenelled there again to whom they ascribed their former night's rest, both they and the Bitch were in a pitiful taking, the Bitch opening but once, and that with a whining fearful yelp. October 23. They had all their  plucked off them in the withdrawing Room, and the Bricks fell out of the Chimney into the Room, and the 24th. day they thought all the Wood had been brought thither, and thrown down close by their Bedside, which noise being heard by those of the withdrawing Room; one of them rose to see what was done, fearing indeed that his Fellow Commissioners had been killed, but found no such matter; whereupon returning to his bed again, he found two Dozen of Trenchers thrown into it, and handsomely covered with the Bed-clothes. October 25, The Curtains of the Bed in the withdrawing Room were drawn to and fro, and the Bedstead shaken as before, and in the Bedchamber, glass flew about so thick, that they thought it had been Money, (and yet not a pane of the Chamber Windows broken) but lighting a Candle, to their grief they found nothing but Glass, which they took up in the Morning and laid together. October 29, something walked in the withdrawing Room about an hour, and going to the Window opened and shut it, then going into the Bedchamber, it threw great Stones for about half an hours time, some whereof lighted on the High-bed, and others on the Truckle-bed, to the number in all of about Fourscore; This night there was also a very great noise as though 40 pieces of Ordnance had been shot off together; at two several knocks it astonished all the Neighbouring Dwellers, which its thought might have been heard a great way off; During these noises which were heard in both Rooms together, both Commissioners and Servants were struck with so great horror, that they cried out to one another for help, whereof one of them recovering himself out of a strange Agony he had been in, snatched up a Sword, and had like to have killed one of his Fellows, coming out of his bed in his shirt, whom took for the Spirit who did the mischief; However at length they got all together, yet the noise continued so great and Terrible, and shook the Walls so much, that they thought the whole House would have fallen on their Heads. At its departure it took all the Glass away with it.  
The 1. of November, something as they thought walked up and down the withdrawing Room, and then made a noise in the Dining-room; The Stones that were left before and laid up in the withdrawing room were all fetched away this night, and a great deal of Glass, not like the former thrown about again. November 2. came something into the withdrawing Room, treading as they conceived much like a Bear, which first only walking about a quarter of an hour, at length it made a noise about the Table, and threw the Warming-Pan so violently, that it quite spoiled it; It threw also glass and great Stones at them again, and the bones of Horses, and all so violently that the bedstead and walls were bruised by them. This night they set Candles all about the Rooms, and made Fires up to the Mantle Trees of the Chimneys; but all were put out, no body knew how, the Fire and Billets that made it being thrown up and down the Rooms; the Curtains torn with the Rods from their Beds, and the Bedposts pulled away, that the Tester fell down upon them, and the feet of the Bedstead was cloven in two; And upon the Servants in the Truckle Bed, who lay all the time sweeting for fear, there fell first a little water, which made them begin to stir; but before they could get out, there came a whole Tub full, as it were of stinking Ditch-water down upon them, so green that it made their Sheets and Shirts of the same colour too.  
The same night the Windows were all broken by throwing of Stones, and there were most terrible noises in three several places together, to the extraordinary wonder of all that lodged near them. Nay, the very Coney-stealers that were abroad that night, were so affrighted with the dismal Thundering that for hast they lest their Ferret in the Coney Burroughs behind them beyond Rosamond's Wells; notwithstanding all this, one of them had the boldness to ask, In the name of God, what it was? what it would have, and what they had done that they should be disturbed in this manner? To which no Answer was given, but the Noise ceased for a while; At length it came again, and as all of them said, brought seven Devils worse than itself; whereupon one of them lighted a Candle again, and set it between the two Chambers in the door way, on which another of them fixing his eyes, saw the similitude of a hoof striking the Candle and Candlestick into the midst of the Chamber, and afterwards making three scrapes on the snuff to put it out. Upon this the same Person was so bold as to draw his Sword, but he had scarce got it out but there was another invisible hand had hold of it too, and tugged with him for it, and getting it from him, struck him so violently with the Pummel that he was stunned with the Blow; Then began grievous noises again, insomuch that they called to one another, got together, and went into the Presence Chamber, where they said Prayers and sung Psalms, notwithstanding all which the thundering noise still continued in other Rooms. After this, Novemb. 3. they removed their Lodgings over the Gate; and next day being Sunday to Ewelm, but returning on Monday, the Devil, (for that was the name they gave their nightly Guest) left them not unvisited, nor on the Tuesday following, which was the last day they stayed. On Wednesday the Commissioners and their Dependants went quite away, and those that lived at the place affirm, that afterward several Persons of good quality lodged in the same room but were never disturbed.  
I had several Relations of these strange Passages (saith my Author) put into my hands, and one of them written by a learned and faithful Person then living upon the place, which being confirmed to me by several Eye-witnesses of many of the particulars, and all of them by one of the Commissioners themselves, who ingeniously confessed to me, that he could not deny but what was written by that Person  was all true, I was prevailed on at last to make the Relation Public, though I must confess, I have no great esteem for such kind of stories, many of them no question being performed by Combination, and so might some of these Transactions aforesaid: But there are others which are scarce reconcileable to Contrivance or Juggling. As 1. Such extraordinary Noises beyond the power of Man to make, without such Instruments as were not there. 2. The tearing down and splitting the Bedposts, and putting out so many Candles, and so great Fires no body knew how. 3. A visible shape seen of a Horse's hoof treading out the Candle; And 4. A tugging with one of them for his Sword, by an Invisible hand. All which being put together, perhaps may easily persuaded some man otherwise inclined, to believe that immaterial Being's might be concerned in this business; which if it do, it will abundantly satisfy for the trouble of this Relation, still provided the Speculative Theist, who believes a God, be not, after all, a Practical Atheist. Natural Hist. Oxfordshire. pag. 206.  
XXII. The same ingenious Dr. Platt gives a Relation of another strange and unaccountable accident, which he delivers with the same certainty as the former; That of the Family of one Captain Wood, formerly of Bampton, then of Brise Norton in Oxfordshire, Captain in the late Wars for the King; some of them have had signal warnings given them before their Deaths by a certain knockin either at the door without, or on the Tables and Shelves within, the number of Strokes and distance between them, and the place where, for the most part respecting the Circumstances of the Persons to die, or their deaths themselves, as will easily be collected from the following Instances; The first knocking that was heard or at least observed, was about a year after the Restauration of the King, 1661., in the afternoon, a little before night, at or upon the door, it being then open, as it was apprehended by Mrs. Eleano Wood, Mother to Captain Basil Wood, who only heard it, none being then by, or about the house but herself, at which she was very much disturbed, thinking it foretold some ill to her, or hers, and within fourteen days after she had news of the death of her Son in Law, Mr. George Smith, who died in London. About three years after that, there were three great knocks very audibly given, and heard by all then in the house; who were Mrs. Eleanor Wood aforesaid, Mr. Basil Wood, and his Wife, Mrs. Hester, and some Servants; which knocks were so remarkable, that one of the Maids came from the Well which was about 20 yards from the place, to see what was the matter; and Mrs. Eleanor Wood, and another Maid who was within the House saw three great Pans of Lard shake and totter so upon a shelf in the Milk-house that they were like to fall down. Upon this violent knocking Mr. Basil Wood and his Wife being then in the Hall, came presently into the Milkhouse to their Mother, where finding her somewhat disturbed, and enquiring the reason, she replied, God Almighty only knew the matter, she could tell nothing, but she heard the knocking; which being within doors, Mr. Basil Wood concluded it was a fatal warning to some of the Family at home; since the other upon the door without signified death to some Friend abroad, which accordingly fallen out, for three of the Family according to the number of the knocks died within half an year after, that is Mrs. Hester Wood, Wife to Mr. Basil Wood, a Child of Mr. Wood's Sister, and Mrs. Eleanor Wood his Mother. About August 1674, Mr. Basil Wood Junior, Son of Basil aforesaid, living at Exeter in Devonshire heard the same kind of knocking, at which being disturbed he writ word of it to his Father at Bampton in Oxfordshire, That one Sunday, He, his Wife, and her Sister, and his Brother did distinctly hear upon a Table in their Chamber, as they stood by it, two several knocks struck as it were with a Cudgel, one of them before and the other after Morning Prayer, a little before dinner; which Letter was shown by Mr. Wood Senior (as the other knockings before the deaths of any that died were beforehand told) to several Neighbouring Gentlemen, after which within about fourteen day's Mrs. Hester Wood, a second Wife of Mr. Basil Wood Senior, and about a quarter of a year after her Father Mr. Richard Lisset died both at Bampton, since which time they have heard nothing more as yet, Natural History Oxfordshire. pag. 206.  
XXIII. Of this kind of unaccountable Accidents we may reckon that which is related by Mr. Clark in his 2d. Vol. of Examples, which he entitles, A True and faithful Relation of one Samuel Wallas, who was restored to his perfect health after 13 years' sickness of a Consumption, taken from his own mouth, who for the last four years lay bedrid, and so weak that he could not turn himself therein without help, by which Distemper his body was so parched and dried that he was like an Anatomy, but upon this cure he recovered his former health and strength, whereby he was enabled to follow his Trade being a Shoemaker, and living at Stamford in Lincolnshire, whereof he gave this following Account with much affection and sensibleness of Divine Mercy and Goodness to him, upon April 7. 1659.  
Upon Whitsunday last before the date hereof, about six a Clock in the afternoon after evening Sermon, he finding himself a little lightsome, and able to get out of his Bed without help there being no body in the house then with him, his wife being gone in the Country to her Friends to seek some relief, he crept to the Fireside, and as he was reading in a book called, Abraham's suit for Sodom, he heard some body rap at the door, and thinking it to be some stranger, because he struck as it were with a stick, and being on the Lord's day; thereupon taking his stick in one hand, and holding by the Wall with the other, he went to the door and opening it, he saw a proper grave old man, who said unto him, Friend I pray thee give to an old Pilgrim a Cup of small Beer; to whom Wallas said, Pray Sir come in; He answered, Call me not Sir for I am none, but yet come in I must, for I cannot pass by thy door. To whom Wallas thinking he had been very dry, said, Come in Sir and welcome, which he did, and Wallas with the help of his stick drew him a Cup of Beer, who took it and drank a little, and then walked two or three times to and fro, and drank again, and so a third time before he dr●nk it all up, and setting down the pot, Wallas thought he was going, but he walked again backward and forward three or four times, neither of them speaking a word to each other; At last the old Man coming up to Wallas said, Friend I perceive thou art not well; No truly, said Wallas, I have not been well these many years. What is thy disease, said he? Wallas replied, a deep Consumption, and our Doctors say it is past cure; They said well, answered he; but what have they given thee for it? Truly nothing, said Wallas, for I am a very poor man, and not able to follow the Doctor's prescriptions, and so I have been willing to commit my sel● into the hands of Almighty God, to dispose of me as he pleaseth. The Old man answered, in that thou sayest very well; But I will tell thee by the Almighty power of God what thou shalt do, only remember my words, and observe them and do it; But whatsoever thou dost, fear God and serve him; To morrow morning go into thy Garden, and get there two red Sage Leaves, and one leaf of Bloodwort, and put these three leaves into a Cup of small Beer, and let them lie therein three days; and drink thereof as oft as thy need requireth, but let the leaves still remain in the Cup; and the fourth Morning cast them away, and put three fresh ones in their room, and thus do for 12 days together neither more nor less, and I pray remember what I say, and observe my words and do it; But above all whatsoever thou dost, Fear God, and serve him; And for the space of these 12 days thou must neither drink Ale nor strong Beer, yet afterward thou mayst to strengthen Nature, and thou shalt find that before these twelve days be expired, through the great Mercy and help of Almighty God, thy Disease will be cured, and the frame of thy body altered.  
But Wallas doubting the truth of these things said to the old man, Sir, is it good for all Consumptions? To which he replied, I tell thee, I tell thee, observe what I say unto thee and do it, but above all, whatsoever thou dost, Fear God and serve him. Yet, said he, this is not all, for thou must also change the Air for thy health's sake; To which Wallas replied, what do you mean Sir by changing the Air; He answered, Thou must go three or four miles off, or if it be twenty miles, the farther the better, and this thou must do as speedily as thou canst after the twelve days are over, or else thou wilt have a grievous fit of sickneiss which will suddenly seize upon thee, yet through God's Mercy by doing this, thou mayst avoid that, and thou shalt see that before the twelve days be ended, through the help of Almighty God thou wilt scarce be able to wear the  now on thy back with ease, thy body will be grown so much, and I pray thee remember my words and observe to do them, but above all whatsoever thou dost, Fear God and serve him.  
Then said Wallas, Pray Sir if it shall please God to enable me to go into our own Fields two or three times a day will not that serve the turn; The old man answered, Friend it will not, for that Air where the Infection is taken is not so proper for the Cure of the disease; said Wallas, I thought to have been let blood; No friend, said the old man, by no means, for before thy twelve days be expired thy blood will be as good as ever it was in all thy life, yet this one thing observe, Thy joints will be weak as long as thou livest; Now Friend I must be going, pray remember what I have said and do it, but above all fear God and serve him. Then Wallas asked him to eat; But he refused saying, No Friend I will not eat any thing, the Lord Christ is sufficient for me, neither do I drink any beer but very seldom, but that which comes from the Rock, and so friend the Lord in Heaven be with thee. When Wallas saw him go out of doors, he went to shut the door after him; But the old man returned half way into the entry again, and said, Friend, I pray remember what I have said unto thee and do it, But above all whatsoever thou dost, Fear God and serve him; and so they parted.  
Samuel Wallas saith, he saw him pass along the streets some sixty yards from his door, and so he went in; But this old man was not seen to pass along the Streets by any one else, though some Persons were standing in their doors opposite to Wallas his house; After Wallas had made use of the leaves aforementioned about four days, there arose a Scurff upon his Body, and when that was gone a new skin came under it like that of a sucking Child, and by the end of the twelve days he was as healthful and strong as ever he had been, only he said when he went to sit down his knees would smite together, so that he still found a weakness in his joints as was foretold him; He said likewise that one day within the time prescribed by the solicitation of some Friends he drank a little strong drink, and immediately his Speech was taken from him for the space of 24 hours. As for the Description of this old man's Person and Habit, he thus related it; He was tall and Ancient, his hair as white as Wool curled up, with a white broad beard, and of a fresh Complexion, he wore a fashionable Hat, and a little narrow band; His Coat and Hose were both of a purple Colour, his Stockings pure, with a pair of new black shoes tied with Ribbons of the same Colour with his , and though it reigned when he came into Wallas his house and all that day, as many remembered, yet he had not one spot of wet or dirt upon him; He had no Gloves, but his hands were as white as Snow; This strange accident being related abroad, several Reverend Divines met together about it at Stamford, to consider and consult about it, and for many reasons, saith Mr. Clark, were induced to believe that this Cure was wrought by the Ministry of a good Angel. Clark's Mirror, Vol. 2. pag. 18.  
XXIV. I will add one History more of this kind which I find related in a Germane Author; In the year 1626., there was in Silesia one Christopher Cotterus, whom the Famous Germane Divine, Johannes Comenius judges to be a Prophet; This man had many enemies and among the rest one David Wacksman, the Emperor's Perfect for gathering his Tributes in the lower Silesta, and Lusatia; He swore that he would never rest till he saw Cotterus, and Mincelius a Protestant Minister hanged upon the same Gallows in the City of Sprotovia where they lived; Their Friends informed them hereof, which caused them with greater fervency to commend themselves to God; yet Cotterus by a strong Impulse of Spirit resolved to go to Glogow, and though his Friends would have dissuaded him, yet Jan. 2. 1627., he went thither, where being known he was apprehended, and carried before the Count of Oppersdorf, and the aforesaid Perfect, who after Examination committed them to Prison. The next day a Commissary was sent to Sprotovia, with a Command to the Senate that he should before some of them search all the house and Coffers of Cotterus, for writings, and like- Mencelius his house in the same manner; This was done, and the Writings were by the Commissary carried to them, which they read and examined, but all his Prophecies were not found; January 25, Cotterus was again examined more strictly whence he had those Prophecies, He answered, Not from any mortal man, but from spirits that used to appear to him, but whether they were Good or Bad Angels, he left it to the learned to judge; The Count upon certain Conditions would have released him, but the Perfect strongly opposing it, charged him with Treason against the Emperor, and required that Mincelius might likewise be sent for; The Senate sent with him two of their Magistrates, in whose presence Mincelius was charged to be guilty of Death (who it seems writ out those Prophecies) which they said were Lies, and to the great dishonour of the Emperor; Mincelius pleaded, That he was enjoined by the Senate to do it, which the Magistrates also affirmed. The Perfect appealed then to the Council of Prague, and commanded that Mincelius should be kept under an Arrest till he had answered them; The Consuls that came with him protested against this, affirming, That their City could not want his Ministry, offering to stand bound for his appearance and at length they prevailed after having given a Bond of Two Thousand Crowns for his forth coming.  
Hereupon the Perfect poured out all his Indignation upon Cotterus, removing him from his former Prison into a Dungeon where Malefactors used to be Tortured, wherein he lay in Hunger, Dirt and Cold for above three Months; Now a special Providence from Heaven appeared, For Cotterus his Enemies understood that a complete Book of all his Prophecies was in the hand of a Citizen of Sprotovia; This they got, and carried it to the Governor of Oppersdorf, who after he had read it, was much taken with Cotterus, and would no more meddle against him; He also persuaded the Perfect to have his cause heard in the City of Glogow, and prevailed that Cotterus should have an Advocate allowed him. In the mean time the Perfect married a Noble Virgin, and at the weeks end his Office necessitated him to go Sagan, and in his return he was to lie at Sprotovia; but as soon as he came into the Suburbs of that City, he was taken with a violent pain in his Bowels; whereupon he sent for a Physician, who not knowing what to make of his Disease, forbore to administer any thing to him till the next Morning that he might see farther. But it pleased God the Praefect died that night, and in that very place where he had sworn to see these men hanged. This dreadful Judgement being known to the Enemies of Cotterus, they removed him out of the Dungeon into a better Prison, and after some Month's space they sentenced him, and brought him to the Town-Stocks, fastened a Collar of Iron about his Neck, and set over his head a Paper thus written; This is the false Prophet which foretold such things as came not to pass; There he stood an hour, after which he was banished out of all the Emperor's Dominions upon pain of death.  
From hence he went to Lusatia under the Jurisdiction of the Elector of Saxony, where he lived quietly till the day of his death, which was in the year 1647. But before this, that is in 1628. when the Persecution grew hot in Silesia, there was in the City of Spretovia, one Adam Pohl, a good Friend to Cotterus, who knowing the great want, and necessity he was brought unto, not through any fault of his own but by God's Providence, he entertained him at his house gratis, and Cotterus continued with him by the space of half a year to the time of his Imprisonment. During which time Adam Pohl fell dangerously sick, and after a while had his Nerves and Sinews so shrunk up, that he could make no use of his Legs, but for a half a year together was confined to his Bed; But it pleased God that the very morning before the Emperor's Commissioners came with Armed Troops to reform the City (as they called it) his Wife being risen and gone down, there appeared by his Bedside a young man in white Clothing, who after he had saluted him, said, Adam, This is the day wherein God hath decreed to take Vengeance upon the Citizens of this City for their Ingratitude, Arise go in the name of the Lord, put on thy , take thy wife and young Daughter, and fly from hence, make haste; and so he disappeared; After which Pohl prayed earnestly, and then began to move his hands and feet, and trying to rise, found that he could stand on his feet, whereupon he called to his Wife for his , which had been laid up in a Chest all that half year of his lameness, and when he was dressed, he fell down on his knees and praised God; Then taking his Wife and Daughter, he hasted to the City-gate, and having sent for Mincelius to meet him there (who was astonished to see him) with sighs and Tears they took Council together, and resolved to go to Gorlits (and by God's strength, and as he judged the Ministry of an Angel,) he and his little Daughter went afoot eight miles that day. Historia Prophetarum. pag. 22.  
XXV. Linschoten in his Discoveries and Voyages to the East-Indies, gives this Account; That in the Island of Ceylon, there is a high Hill, upon the top whereof standeth a great House as big as a Cloister; In this place in time past, shrined in Gold and precious Stones, was kept the Tooth of an Ape, which was esteemed the holiest thing in all India, and had the greatest resort to it from all the Countries round about it, so that it surpassed St. James in Gallicia, and St. Michael's Mount in France, by reason of the great Indulgences and Pardons that were there daily to be had; For which cause it was sought unto with much Devotion, by all the Indians within four or five hundred Miles round about in vast multitudes; But it happened that in the year 1554, when the Portugals made a Road out of India, and entered the Island of Ceylon, they went up upon the Hill, where they thought to find great Treasure, because of the Fame that was spread abroad of the great resort and Offerings in that place; They diligently searched the Cloister, and turned up every Stone thereof, yet found nothing but a little Coffer made fast with many precious Stones wherein lay the Ape's Tooth; This Relic they took with them to Goa, which when the Kings of Pegu, Siam, Bengala, Bisnagar, and others heard of, they were much grieved that so costly a Jewel was in that manner taken from them; Whereupon by Common Consent they sent their Ambassadors to the Viceroy of India, desiring him of all Friendship to send them their Ape's Tooth again, offering him for a Ransom (besides other Presents, which they then sent to him) seven Hundred Thousand Ducats in Gold, which the Viceroy for Covetousness of the Money did intent to do. But the Archbishop of Goa dissuaded him from it, saying; That they being Christians ought not to give it to them again, being a thing wherewith Idolatry might be furthered, and the Devil worshipped; but rather were bound by their Profession to root out, and abolish all Idolatry, and Superstition, By this means the Viceroy was persuaded to change his Mind, and flatly denied the Ambassadors Request, having in their Presence first burned the Ape's Tooth, the Ashes whereof he caused to be thrown into the Sea; The Ambassadors departed, astonished that he refused so great a sum of Money for a thing which he so little esteemed; Not long after there was a Benjane or Priest that had gotten another Ape's Tooth, and gave out that he had Miraculously found the same Ape's Tooth that the Viceroy had, and that it was revealed unto him 〈◊〉 a Pagod (that is one of their Gods) in a Vision tha● assured him it was the same, which he said the P●●tugals thought they had burned, but that he had been there invisible, and taken it away, laying another in the place. This the Heathens presently believed, so that it came unto the King of Bisnager's ears who thereupon desired the Benjane to send it him; With great Joy he received it, giving the Benjane a grea● sum of Gold for it; whereupon this Tooth was holden and kept in the same Honour and Estimation, a the other that was burnt had been. Linschotens Voyages, lib. 1.  
This Relation demonstrates that there is no Nation so void of Civility and Humanity, but they hav● always owned a Deity, or some Being which the adored, so that rather than they would have nothing t● Worship, they were contented to fall down to a● Onion; and a Multitude of other Ridiculous things wherein their Ignorance and Folly is chief to b● lamented, that they still made choice of any thi● to pay their Devotions to, rather than the True God And to discover the Mercy and Goodness of Heave● to us in this part of the World, I shall give some further Relations of this kind, that thereby we may be thankful to God for the Knowledge he has bestowed upon us.  
XXVI. The Egyptians amongst the many Animals which they esteemed as Gods did especially Worship an Ox which they called Apis; He was black, and remarkable for some spots of white; and in his Tongue and Tail different from all others. The day in which he was Calved was held as a Festival throughout the whole Nation. At Arsinoe they Worship the Crocodile; At the City of Hercules, the Ichneumon, a Creature that is an Enemy to the Crocodile; Others of them adore a Cat; some a Falcon; others the Bird Ibis; In the Island of Java they Worship whatsoever it is they first meet, and chance to see in the Morning, and pray to it all the day although it be a Hog, or a worse thing. They of Cale●ut Worship the Statue of the Devil; the Chapel in which he is adored is not above three paces from the ground, in the midst of it is a Throne, and a Brazen Statue that is framed sitting in it, with a Diadem about his head, like the Pontifical Mitre amongst the Romans; He hath 4 large Horns upon his Head, his Mouth stretched out to an unreasonable wideness, a crooked Nose, threatening Eyes, Cruel Countenance, crooked Hands and Feet like those of a Cock, which put together render the Devil wickedly deformed. Those of the Province of Manta Worship an Emerald, a great and beautiful Jewel, and this they esteem of as the True Deity, the sick come in Pilgrimage to visit it, and there offer their Gifts, which the Priests turn to their own profit. The Inhabitants of Nagapatan have a Massy Copper gilded Pagod, or Idol, mounted upon a Triumphant Chariot moved by eight mighty wheels, over-laid with pure Gold, The Ascent is easy, spacious, and by many steps, on which are placed on a solemn day the Priests, and many young Maidens, who to enrich the Devil Prostitute their Bodies to the lustful Flames of wicked men; Happy is that man, rich or poor, high or low, who can fasten an hand to draw the Chariot; yea, they account them happiest who out of a frantic zeal furiously throw their naked Bodies in the way, that by the vast weight of the Pagod and his Chariot their wretched Bodies may be crushed in pieces, being for this thought Martyrs; and such is the stupid folly of these Men, that they persuade their Daughters to become Strumpets to please their Pagods, insomuch that it is a great wonder to see so many Girls at such immaturity so impudently delighted with the impure Conversation of silthy Men. Herbert's Travels, lib. 3.  
XXVII. In the City of Meaco, the Metropolis of Japan, besides 70 Temples, wherein they number three Thousand three hundred thirty three Manadas or little Idols, there is one more notable than the rest, like the Rhodian Coloss, huge and wonderful; It was built by Tycho-zamnia, and without much pain and cost was not finished; It was framed of gilded Copper, its posture is sitting in a Chair of 70 Foot high, and 80 broad. His Head capable to support fifteen men, who may stand together upon it without pressing; His Thumb is 40 Inches about, and his other Limbs proportionable. At Dabys is another Manada or Idol no less infamous, and resorted unto; This Devil or Moloch is of Concave Copper, vast thick, and double gilded, its height is 24 foot, and would be more, but that they have form it kneeling; His Buttocks resting upon his Legs after the usual mode of the Eastern Pagans; His Arms are stretched to the uttermost, and at Solemn times is made Red hot within, and sacrificed unto by offering him a Child, which in his embraces is fried to death in an Infernal Torture. But more of note is T●uchedy Eastward thence, where Satan visibly plays the Impostor; The Fotigue or Temple there, is of a rare Structure, and daily served by a multitude of Hellish Bonzees or Priests, not admitted to attend there, except they be young, well shaped, and stout Disciples of Venus. Every New Moon they solemnly betrothe to the Devil a Damsel, whose Parents account the Ceremony happy and Honourable. If any be more fair and singular than another, she is chosen out by the lustful Priests, Devoted and brought into the Temple, and placed right against the Manada or Idol. The Room is first made glorious with Lamps of Burnished Gold, and a preparation by the Burning of Lignum vitae, Gums and perfumes, such as are most curious and costly; By and by the Lamps extinguish by a kind of pretended Miracle, and in a gross darkness the Prince of Darkness approaches, and enjoys her as she imagines, and it is the rather credited because the Devil leaves behind him certain Scales like those of Fishes, which is an Argument that it is no Phantasm, but by this Hellish Conjunction they swell not, unless the Bonzee or Priest second it; Satan is no sooner gone, but she is saluted by the Bonzees, who ravish her with Songs and pleasant Music, which ended she acquaints them with her Fortune, and resolves them in such questions as she by their instruction propounded to the Devil, and he satisfied her in; she comes out from thence with applause, and ever after is reputed Holy and Honourable. Herbert's Travels, lib. 3.  
XXVIII. We often read of Moloch, and other Idols of the Heathens, worshipped sometimes by the Jews, some of whom I shall here give an Account of according to the Judgement of the Learned Dr. Godwin and others; Moloch (so called quasi Melech, which in most of the Eastern Languages signifies a King) was the God of the Amorites to whom they offered their Sons and Daughters; not that this was his ordinary Sacrifice, but in extraordinary Cases and Distresses, and being reckoned as a work more meritorious. They generally caused their Children to pass through the Fire to him, that is betwixt two Fires made before him. The Carthaginians worshipped this Idol under the name of Saturn; and indeed Baal, and Saturn, and Moloch are reputed to be all one. The Image of this Idol was of Brass, wonderful for its greatness, having the face of a Bullock, and Arms spread abroad like a man that openeth his hands to receive something of another. This Image was hollow, and had seven Closets or Apartments within; One for Wheat-Flower of the finest, a second for Turtles, a third for a Sheep, a fourth for a Ram, a fifth for a Calf, a sixth for an Ox; and to him that would offer his Son or Daughter a seventh Concave or Chamber was opened; and than while the Child was burning in the Idol, with the Fire that was made under him, the Parents and such as were present were to Dance, and to play upon Timbrels, and beat upon Drums, that they might not hear the Sorrowful cries of their Child while thus Sacrificing. Anammeleck and Adrameleck the Gods of Sepharvaim mentioned 2 Kings 17, are supposed to be the same with this Idol, whose Priests were called Chemarim from their blackness; The place of this Idol amongst the Israelites was Tophet, the Valley of the Sons of Hinnom that is, Of Lamentation or Roaring, from the cries of them that were offered. The Carthaginians being greatly distressed by Agathocles, they barbarously at one time offered, or burnt to this Moloch (their Saturn) no less than two hundred choice Youths of their Nobility. This Idolatrous Custom continued to the days of Tiberius. The Philistines, and all that Seacoast were called Phoenicians, and they Worshipped Dagon; what Dagon was, saith P. Martyr is not well known, but by the derivation of his name, which signifieth a Fish, it seems he was a Sea-god; Above his Belly he was of Humane shape, beneath like a Fish. When Cicero saith, The Syrians worshipped a Fish, it may be supposed to be this Dagon, and it may be they intended Neptune (saith P. Martyr) or I know not what Devil; Lucian saith, he saw the Image of it in Phoenicia, not unlike that of a Mermaid the upper half like a Woman, and the lower like a Fish, in reverence of whom, the Phoenicians were said to abstain from Fish. They offer to it, Fishes of Gold and Silver, and the Priests all day long set before it true Fishes roasted and Boiled, which afterwards themselves did eat, At Ekron was worshipped Baalzebub, that is, The Lord of Flies; so called either from the abundance of Flies that attended the multitude of his Sacrifices, from which inconvenience it is said, the Sacrifices to the true God in the Temple of Jerusalem were wholly free, or because he was the God of their Larder or Buttery to drive away Flies, or for that he was Worshipped in the form of a Fly; though others writ, that it was a name given him in Scorn and Derision, calling him the Fly Lord. Godwins Antiquities, lib. 4. Purchas Pilgrim. Tom. 1.  
XXIX. Some Leagues from the Town of Junquilen in China (saith Ferd. Pinto in his Travels) we arrived at a place encompassed with great Iron Gates, in the midst whereof stood two mighty Statues of Brass upright, sustained by Pillars of Cast Metal of the bigness of a Bushel, and seven Fathom high, the one of a Man, the other of a Woman, both of them 74 spans in height, having their hands in their Mouths, their Cheeks horribly blown out, and their Eyes so staring that they affrighted all who looked upon them; Having demanded of the Chinese the meaning of these Figures, they told us, That the Male was he which with those mighty swollen Cheeks blew the Fire of Hell to torment all those miserable wretches that would not liberally bestow Alms in this Life; And for the other Monster that she was the Portress of Hell gates, where she would take notice of all those that did her good in this World, and letting them fly away into a River of very cold water would keep them hid there from being tormented by the Devils as other Damned were. At such time as we arrived there; we found twelve Bonzoes' or Priests upon the Place, and with Silver Censers full of Perfumes of Aloes and Benzoin, they smoke those two Devilish Monsters, and chanted out aloud, Help us even as we serve thee, whereunto divers other Priests answered in the name of the Idol with a great noise; So I promise to do like a good Lord. In this manner they went as it were in a Procession round about the place, singing with an ill-tuned Voice to the sound of a great many Bells that were in Steeples thereabout. In the mean time there were others that with Drums and Basins made such a noise, as I may truly say, put them all together, was most horrible to hear. Pinto's Travels, ch. 28.  
XXX. The same Author proceeds thus; We arrived, saith he, at the great Temple of Snignafatur in Tartary, where we saw an enclosure of above 3 Miles in Circuit, in which were built 164 Houses, very long and broad, after the fashion of Arsenals, all full of up to the very Tiles of Dead men's Skulls, whereof there was so great a number that I am loath to speak it, since it will hardly be credited, without each of these Houses were also great Piles of Bones belonging to these heads, which were three fathom higher than the Ridges of them, so that the Houses seemed to be buried, no other part of them appearing but the Frontispiece where the Gate stood. Not far from thence upon the Southside of them was a kind of Platform, whereunto the ascent was by certain Stairs of Iron winding about, and through four several doors; Upon this Platform was one of the Tallest, the most deformed, and dreadful Monsters that can possibly be imagined, standing upon his feet, and leaning against a mighty Tower of hewn Stone. It was made of cast Iron, and of so great and Prodigious a Stature that by guess he seemed to be above thirty fathom high, and more than six broad. This Monster held in both his hands a Globe of the same Iron, being thirty six spans in the compass of it; we demanded of the Tartar Ambassador the explication of so Monstrous a thing, You must know, said he, that this great Saint which you see here, is the Treasurer of the bones of all those that are born into the World, to the end that at the last day, he may give to every one the same bones which he had upon Earth, so that he who in this life shall be so ill advised as not to honour him, nor present him with something will be but in an ill case; For he will give him some of the rottenest bones he can meet withal, and one or two less than he should have, by means whereof he will become deformed, lame and crooked; The Globe he holdeth in his hands is to fling at the head of the Gluttonous Serpent that liveth in the profound Abyss of the house of smoke, when he shall come thither to steal away any of those bones. He told us moreover, That it was threescore and fourteen Thousand years since he was begotten on a Tortoise, called Migoma, by a Sea-horse that was an hundred and thirty fathom long, who had been formerly King of the Giants of Fanius. He also assured us, That the Gifts which were presented to this Idol amounted to a vast sum of Money in a year, besides other Revenues which was as much more; He added, That this Idol had ordinarily Twelve Thousand Priests attending on his Service, maintained with all necessaries only to pray for the Dead unto whom these bones belonged, who also had allowed them without the Temple six hundred Servants, who took care, for providing all conveniencies for them; As for the Priests themselves, they never went without the limits of the Temple but by permission of their Superiors. There was also a Seraglio wherein many Women appointed for that purpose were shut up, whom their Governesses permitted to have too near an Acquaintance with the Priests of this beastly and Diabolical Sect; Pinto's Travels, ch. 41.  
And thus will I conclude the ridiculous and Idolatrous ways of Worship among the Heathens in these dark parts of the World.  
XXXI. Many strange Events have happened by the Ingenious Stratagems of some men, as we find in divers Authors; Sir Walver Raleigh writes, That the Island of Sark joining to Guernsey, and belonging to that Government, was surprised by the French, and could never have been recovered again by strong hand, having Corn and Cattle enough upon the place to feed so many as would serve to defend it, and being every way so inaccessible as it might have held out against the Great Turk; Yet in the Reign of Q. Mary by the Industry of a Gentleman of the Netherlands it was in this manner regained; He Anchored in the Road with one ship of small burden, and pretending the death of his Merchant besought the French, (being about thirty in number) that they might bury their Merchant in hallowed ground, and in the Chapel of that Isle; offering the French a Present of such Commodities as they had aboard; whereunto the French yielded, upon Condition that they should not come ashore with any weapon, no not so much as a Knife; Then did the Flemings put a Coffin into their Boat, not filled with a dead Carcase, but with Swords, Targets, and Carabines; The French receiving them at their Landing, and searching every one so narrowly that they could not hid a Penknife, gave them leave to draw their Coffin up the Rocks with great difficulty; some of the French took the Flemish Boat, and rowed toward the Ship to fetch the Rewards promised them, and what else they pleased, but being come aboard, they were taken and bound. The Flemings on Land when they had carried their Coffin into the Chapel shut the door to them, and taking their weapons out of the Coffin set upon the French, who ran to the Cliff, and called to their Company Aboard the Ship to come to their assistance, but finding the Boat came back full of Flemings, they yielded themselves and the place. Raleighs History of the World, lib. 5.  
XXXII. Notable was the exploit of the surprising Breda in the Wars of the Low-Countries, A River called Merch runs by that City, upon which stands a Noble Castle rather for Habitation than Strength; Three Leagues from Breda, the River falls into a large Channel in Holland, and some Barks of Merchandise used to pass to and fro upon that River, having Passports for that purpose; The Governor of Breda under the Prince of Parma used sometimes to go to a place about nine Miles off, and in his absence his Son commanded in his stead; All the while the Father kept in Breda, he still caused diligent search to be made in every Boat that passed, lest by some trick or other he might be surprised, but his Son being young and inexperienced was neither so considerate nor careful as he should have been. Among other Boats which passed to and fro, some carried Turf, which instead of Wood is much used for firing in Friesland, Holland, and the lower Parts of Flanders, who coming from Holland into the River Merch, went to Breda, and some other Towns thereabout, At this time there was a Mariner, a Master of a Boat, who was well acquainted with the Soldiers that kept the Castle by which all these Boats used to pass, who went to Prince Maurice, and told him, That a considerable company of Soldiers might be hid under the Turf in his boat, and that he might thereby very probably surprise the Castle by night, and afterward with a supply of Soldiers might easily enter Breda. Prince Maurice liked the Stratagem very well, and resolved to make Trial of it. These Turf-boats are usually of a good length, thereby to supply their want of breadth, the lesser Rivers and Channels not being capable of Broader, The Boat being fitted, the Master came with it to Breda, and underneath the Turf which was upheld by great Poles, were placed fourscore Soldiers all choice men, and Captain Charles Harawger an old and Valiant Soldier commanded them; The Bark being come into the Castle, the young Governor gave Order that it should be searched according to Custom, but as that order was carelessly given, so it was carelessly executed; The Mariners hereby encouraged, passed from more serious affairs to Sport and Jollity, and so delayed the time till night came on, and invited those Soldiers which came to search the Boat to drink some Wine with them, and when they were well warmed with Wine, they soon fell asleep; The rest of the Soldiers were withdrawn into the Castle to take their rest; But on a sudden the Soldiers under the Turf Landed, and assaulted them on every side, being at first very much astonished, but were soon made sensible of the Surprisal, and as suddenly left the Castle to these New Guests; Some of them were hurt and some slain, and the young Governor was taken Prisoner; The Captains in the City were in so great Confusion that they could neither break down the Bridge whereby the Castle was joined to the Town, neither did they secure any one Gate of the City for some few hours, till succours could have come from the Neighbouring Garrison. In the mean time Count Hollack, and soon after Prince Maurice himself came, at whose entrance the Spanish Garrison marched basely and shamefully out, and left the City to the Hollanders in 1590. Bentivolio's History of Flanders, pag. 264.  
XXXIII. Plutarch relates, That Hannibal the General of Carthage intending to remove his Forces to Cassinas'; his Guides by a mistake of the Punic Tongue, led his Army to Cassilinum in Campania, which is very Mountainous, save a long Valley which stretches itself out into the Sea; Fabius the Roman General had shut up the way by which he should get out with Four Thousand Soldiers, and the rest of his Army he had securely placed upon the Mountains, or with a part of them troubled the Rear of his Enemy; Here Hannibal found himself in a Trap, and his Army was dejected with fear, apprehending an Impossibility of freeing themselves out of these straits. Hannibal therefore causes two Thousand Oxen of his Prey, that he drove along with him to be caught, and fastens to each of their Horns Torches, and Faggots of dry sticks; These being lighted, he caused the Oxen to be driven up to the top of the Mountains, and in the mean time with the main of his Army, silently and in the dark, Marches to the outlet of the Valley; The Oxen marched in order till the Fire about their Horns got to the quick, and then they ran up and down as mad, their Fronts and Tails blazing and firing the Bushes as they went; The Romans amazed at this unwonted and terrible Spectacle, supposing that they were on all sides shut in by the Enemy, quitted their Post, and thereby gave free Liberty for Hannibal to March through the narrow Passage. Fabius not knowing whereto this Subtlety of the Enemy tended, kept himself within his Camp in good Order, but by the first light in the Morning it was easily discerned that by this Stratagem Hannibal had made his escape. Plutarch in Fab. p. 178.  
XXXIV. Fernando Camero Governor of dourlan's in Flanders, for the Spaniand 1596, being advertised that the Citizens of Amiens, a proud People and little practised in Arms, would not receive the Garrison that the King offered them for the preservation of he Town, was resolved to do it by Policy, having also Intelligence with some within the Town, and thereupon attires 40 or 50 stout Soldiers like Country Peasants loaden with many burdens, and armed underneath with Daggers and short pieces; and Marching with about 700 Horse and 5000 Foot, he lays several Soldiers in Ambush near the Town, and the next day sends some of his disguised Soldiers to one of the City Gates following a Cart, which being under the Portcullis, one of the pretended Peasants cut the Horse-trace, which disordered the Horses and stopped the Gate; Upon which the others presently discover their Arms, seize upon their Corpse de Guard, and give a sign to those that lay in Ambush, who being both Horse and Foot, immediately enter the Town, go directly to the Marketplace, take the Fort and seize upon the Armoury and Ammunition which King Henry the 4th. of France had lately sent, and in the end forced the Townsmen to a Composition for the Redemption of their Goods. D'Avila's History of France, lib. 15.  
XXXV. Remarkable have been the escapes of some men from Death, and the Grave, of which I shall give some Instances. Aristomenes General of the Messenians had with too much courage adventured to set upon both the Kings of Sparta, and being in that fight wounded and fallen on the ground, was taken up senseless, and carried away with fifty of his Companions; There was a deep natural Cave into which the Spartans' used to cast headlong such as were condemned for the greatest Offences; To this Punishment were Aristomenes and his Companions adjudged; All the rest of these poor men died with their falls; Aristomenes, howsoever it came to pass, took no harm yet it was harm enough to be imprisoned in a deep dark Dungeon among dead Carcases, where he was likely to perish with hunger and stench; But a while after, he perceived by some small Glimmering of Light (which perhaps came in at the top) a Fox that was gnawing upon a dead body, hereupon he bethought himself that this Beast must needs know some way to enter the place and get out; for which cause he made shift to lay hold upon it, and catching it by the Tail with one hand, saved himself from biting with the other hand by thrusting his Coat into the mouth of it, so letting it creep whether it would he followed it, holding it as his Guide till the way was too straight for him, and then dismissed it. The Fox being let lose ran through an hole at which came a little Light, and there did Aristomenes dig so long with his Nails, that at last he clawed out his Passage, and so got home in safety, and afterwards became very famous and renowned as both the Corinthians and Spartans', afterward found to their cost. Heylin's Cosmog. pag. 580.  
XXXVI. In the year 1357, There was a great Plague at Colen in Germany, amongst many others who were infected with it, was a Noble Lady, her name was Reichmut Adolch, she lived in the Newmarket where her house is yet to be seen, she being supposed to die of it, was accordingly buried; The Sextons knew that she was buried with a Ring upon her Finger, and therefore the night following they came privately to the Grave, and digged up the Coffin and opened it; Upon which the buried Lady raised up herself, the Sextons ran away in a terrible Fright, and left their Lantern behind them, which she took up, and made haste to the house of her Husband, by whom she was known and received in; Afterwards being attended with all care and diligence she perfectly recovered, and lived to have three Sons by her husband, all whom she devoted to the Ministry; The Truth of all is confirmed by a public Monumental Inscription, erected in Memory of so strange a thing, and is yet to be seen in the entrance of the Apostles Church in that City. Wanly's Hist. Man. pag. 626.  
XXXVII. I cannot but contemplate, saith. N. Causin, upon that Prodigy so loudly proclaimed by the Greek Historians; There was a Father and a Son in a certain Ship, which as it fortuned Split upon the Rocks; The Father's Age not able to grapple with the Waves, was soon overwhelmed and drowned; The Son labouring to save his Life, saw a Carcase floating upon the Water, and mistrusting his own Strength, mounted himself upon it, and by this help reached the shore in safety, He was no sooner free of his danger, but he knew the Corpse to be that of his dead Father, who gave him life by his death, as he had afforded him birth by his Life.  
XXXVIII. I read in the Relations of Muscovia (saith the same N. Causin) published by the Ambassador Demetrius, of the Memorable Fortune of a Country Boor, The man seeking for honey, leapt down into an hollow Tree, where he fell into such plenty of it, that it sucked him in up to the Breast; He had lived two days upon Honey only, and finding that his Voice was not heard in that solitary Wood, he despaired of freeing himself from his Liquorish Captivity; but he was saved by a strange chance: A huge Bear came to the same Tree to eat of the Honey, whereof these Beasts are very greedy, he descended into the Tree, as a Man would do with his hinder parts forward; which being observed by the poor forlorn Creature, he desperately catcht hold of his Loins the Bear in a lamentable fright laboured with all his power to get out, and thereby drew out the Peasant from his sweet Prison, which otherwise had proved his Tomb. Causin's Holy Court. Tom. 1. and 3.  
XXXIX. Dr. Fuller, in his Worthies gives 3 notable instances of this kind; First, Sr. Richard Edgcomb being zealous in the cause of Henry Earl of Richmond, (afterward King Henry the seventh) was in the time of King Richard the Third, so hotly pursued, and narrowly searched for, that he was forced to hid himself in the thick woods, at his House at Cuttail in Cornwall; Here extremity taught him a sudden Policy, which was to put a stone in his Cap, and tumbled the same into the water, while these Pursuers were fast at his heels, who looking down after the noise, and seeing his Cap swimming thereon, supposed that he had desperately drowned himself, and deluded by this honest fraud, gave over their farther pursuit, leaving him at liberty to escape over into France.  
XL. A Second is of one John Thornborough, preferred by Queen Elizabeth to be Dean of York, and Bishop of Lymerick in Ireland, where he received a most remarkable deliverance in manner following; Lodging in an Old Castle in Ireland, in a large room partitioned but with Sheets or Curtains, with his Wife, Children, and Servants, in effect a whole Family; These all lying upon the ground on Mats, or such like; in the dead time of the night, the Floor over head being Earth and Plaster, (as in many places is used) and overcharged with weight, fell wholly down together, and crushing all to pieces that was above two foot high, as Cupboard, Table, Forms, Stools, rested at last on certain Chests, as God would have it, and hurt no living Creature; He was after made Bishop of Worcester, by King James.  
XLI. A Third Relation is concerning Sir Richard Edgcomb, who fight valiantly for the King at Edghil Battle, received twenty six wounds, and was left on the ground among the dead; Next day his Son Adrian Scroop obtained leave of the King to find, and fetch off his Father's Corpse, and his hopes pretended no higher than a decent interment thereof; Such a search was thought in vain amongst many naked bodies with wounds, disguised from themselves, and where pale death had confounded all Complexions together; However he having some general notice of the place where his Father fell, did meet with his Body, that had some heat left therein, which with rubbing, within a few Minutes increased to motion, that motion within some few hours into sense; that sense within a day into speech, that speech within certain weeks into a perfect recovery, living more than Ten Years after, a Monument of God's Mercy, and his Son's Affection; The Effect of this story I received from his own mouth in Lincoln College. Fuller's Worthies, Page 151. 175. 274.  
XLII. In the Year 1568 upon the Eve of All Saints, by the swelling of the Sea there was so great a deluge as covered certain Islands of Zealand, a great part of the Sea-Coast of Holland, and almost all Friezland, in which Province alone Two Thousand persons were drowned, many men who had got up to the tops of Hills and Trees, were ready to starve for hunger, but were in time saved by Boats; Among the rest, upon an Hill by Sneace, they found an Infant, carried thither by the water, in its Cradle, with a Cat lying by it, the poor Babe was sound sleeping without any fear, and then happily saved, Strada.  
XLIII. William of Nassau, Prince of Orange, as he lay in his Camp near the Duke of Alva's Army, some Spaniards in the night broke into his Camp, and some of them run as far as the Prince of Orange's Tent, where he lay fast asleep. He had a Dog lying by him on his Bed, that never left barking nor scratching of him on the face till he had awakened him, and by this means he escaped the danger. Strada.  
XLIV. In the Earthquake of Apulia in Italy, which happened in 1627., on the last day of July, one writeth, That in the City of St. Severine alone, Ten Thousand Souls were taken out of the World, and that in the horror of such infinite ruins, and Sepulchre of so many Mortals, a great Bell thrown out o● the Steeple by the Earthquake, fell so fitly over a child that it enclosed him, and doing him no harm made a Bulwark for him against any other danger; And who balanced the motion of this Metal, but the same fingers that distended the Heavens, even the Almighty Providence of God. Causin's Holy Court, Tom. 3.  
XLV. Mr. Lermouth, alias Williamson, Chaplain to the Lady Anne of Cleve, a Scotchman, being cast into Prison for the Protestant Religion, as he was on a time meditating, he heard a voice, (probably of an Angel,) saying to him, Arise, and go thy ways, whereunto when he gave no great heed at the first, he heard the voice a second time; upon this he fell to his Prayers, and about half an hour after, he heard a voice the third time, speaking the same words; whereupon rising up, immediately part of the Prison Wall fell down, and as the Officers came in at the outward Gate of the Prison, he went out at the breach, leapt over the Prison Ditch, and in his way meeting a Beggar he changed his Coat with him, and coming to the Sea shore, he found a Vessel ready to set Sail, into which he entered, and escaped. Clarks Examples, Vol. 1. Pag. 18.  
XLVI. Richard White, and John Hunt, being apprehended by the Mayor of Marlborough, in Queen Mary's Reign, they were sent to Salisbury, and kept a long time in Lollard's Tower, and at last were brought before Bishop Capon, and other Commissioners, and there examined of their faith, of which they made a stout and zealous Confession, from which they could not be removed, neither by frowns nor flatteries, so that at length they were Condemned at the Sessions to die, and with other Malefactors were delivered over to Sir Anthony Hungerford the High Sheriff to be Executed; But the Evening after Mr. Clifford Son in Law to Sir Anthony came to him, exhorting and entreating him earnestly in no case to have a hand in the death of those two innocent persons; Sir Anthony hearing him, went presently to one Justice Brown to ask advice, who told him, that if he had not a Writ from above for their Execution, he could not answer the doing it, but if he had he must then do his Office; The Sheriff hearing this took his Horse the next day, and went out of Town, leaving these men in Prison; Dr. Jefferies the Bishop's Chancellor hearing of it, rides after him, and overtaking him, told him, He had delivered two Condemned men into his hands, and wondered that he went away before he had Executed them, according to his Office; The Sheriff told him, He was no Babe to be taught what belonged to his Office; If you have (said he) a Wit to discharge me for the burning of them, I know what I have to do; Why, (said the Chancellor) did not I give you a Writ under my hand for it; Well, (said the Sheriff) that is not sufficient to discharge me, if I have not a Writ from the Superior Powers, I will not burn them for any of you all; Dr. Jefferies hearing this, returned home, and presently fell sick upon it; Not long after came down a Writ from above to the under Sheriff for their Execution; but he being a good Protestant, cast the Writ into the Fire, saying, I will not be guilty of these men's blood; Within four days after Jefferies died; About which time Richard White, and John Hunt being in a low and dark Dungeon were going to Prayer, but on a sudden knowing no reason for it, they burst forth into a great weeping, so that they could not speak a word, and the next Morning they understood just at the same time the Chancellor died; Presently after the Bishop died also, so that these two good men continued in Prison till Queen Mary's death, and by that means it pleased God to deliver them. Clarks Martyr. Pag. 510.  
XLVII. In the time of Queen Mary's sickness, one Cox a Promoter taking the Constable, and some others with him, went to the House of Mr. William Living, a Minister in Shoo-lane, and there searching amongst his books, found a book of Astronomy, made by Johannes de Sacro Bosco, wherein were many Figures, Cox taking this book, and seizing Mr. Living and his Wife, carried them away to the house of one Darbyshire, Chancellor to the Bishop of London, and by the way opening the Book, he said; I have found him at last, It's no marvel though the Queen be sick, when there are such Conjurers in corners, but now I hope he shall conjure no more; Then Darbyshire Examined him, and told him, that he was a Schismatic, and a Traitor; To whom Mr. Living answered, I should be sorry if that were true, but I know I am no Traitor, for I have always Preached Obedience according to the Tenor of God's Word, and when Tumults have been raised, I have suppressed the● by God's word; But (said the Chancellor) you deny th● Church of Rome; And therefore he bid Clunie the barbarous Jailor take him away, and put him into the Coal-house; Then did Clunie violently hale and draw him, and carrying him to his house, there rob him of all his Money, his Psalter, and New Testament, etc. After which he carried him to the Coal-house, and there put both his Arms and Legs into th● Stocks, saying, That except he gave him Forty Shillings, he would put a Collar of Iron about his Neck also; I am never able to pay so much, said Mr. Living, and so he was left in the Stocks; At Evening a Kinswoman of his brought him his Supper, who seeing how miserably he was used, told Clunie, That she would give him Ten groats to let him lose; Clunie took her Money, and so let him eat his Supper, but presently after set him in the Stocks again, within a few days he was removed, and put into Lollard's Tower, and there laid in Irons, where he remained a Prisoner, but the sudden death of Queen Mary, and the coming in of Queen Elizabeth, of happy Memory, prevented the cruel death designed to be inflicted on him. Clarks Martyrology. Pag. 511.  
XLVIII. Leo, Son to the Emperor Basilius Macedo, was accused by a Monk, as having designed upon the life of his Father, and was thereupon cast into Prison, in order to the taking away his life, from which he was freed by this strange means; The Emperor on a time feasted divers of the greatest Lords in his Court, who being all sat, a Parrot that was hung up in a Cage in the Hall, cried out in a mournful Tone, Alas, alas, poor Prince Leo, which words, it is like, he had frequently heard from Courtiers passing to and fro, who bewailed the Prince's misfortunes in those Terms; And when the Parrot had often repeated these words; The Lords at the Table were siezed with such a sudden sadness that all of them neglected their Meat; The Emperor observed it, and called to them to eat, enquiring the reason why they did not? When one of them with tears in his eyes replied; How should we eat Sir, being thus reproached by this bird, of our want of Duty to your Family? The brute Creature is mindful of his Lord, and we that have reason, have neglected to supplicate your Majesty in behalf of the Prince, whom we all believe to be innocent, and to suffer under Calumny, and false Accusation; The Emperor moved with these words, commanded to fetch Leo ●ut of Prison, admitted him to his Presence, and restored him first to his favour, and then to his former Dignity of Caesar. Wanly Hist. Man. Pag. 628.  
XLIX. In the Year 1552, Francis Pelusius of Six●y three Years old, digging a Well, Forty foot deep ●n the Hill of St. Sebastian, the Earth above him fell in upon him to Thirty five Foot depth; He was somewhat sensible before of what was coming, and opposed a plank, which by chance he had with him, against the Ruins, himself lying under it; By this means he was protected from the huge weight of Earth, and retained some room and breath to himself, by which he lived seven days and nights without food or sleep, supporting his Stomach only with his own Urine, without any pain or sorrow, being full of hope which he placed in God only; Ever and anon he called for help, as being yet safe, but was heard by none, though he could hear the motion, noise and words of those that were above him, and could count the hours as the Clock went. After the seventh day, he being all this while given for dead, they brought a Bier for his Corpse, and when a good part of the Well was digged up, on a sudden they heard the voice of one crying from the bottom; At first they were afraid, as if it had been the voice of a Subterranean Spirit, the voice continuing they had some hope of his life, and hastened to dig to him, till at last, after they had given him a glass of Wine, they drew him up, living, and well, his strength so entire, that to lift him out he would not suffer himself to be bound, nor would use any help of another; Yea, he was of so sound Understanding, that jesting, he drew out his Purse, and gave them Money, saying, He had been with such good Hosts, that for seven days it had not cost him a farthing. Soon after he returned to his work again, and was then alive when I writ this, saith Bartholomew Aumulus. Thus we see many have been providentially saved from death by very strange ways and means; And we likewise read that others have been as happily cured of very dangerous Diseases by very strange Accidents, of which the following Relations give an account.  
L. A certain Cardinal was sick of an Impostume, and at last the Collected matter was got in such manner into his Throat, that it caused great difficulty of breathing, and threatened to strangle him immediately; The Physicians had left him as a person whose case was utterly desperate, and his Servants eager after the spoil, enter his Chamber, and seize upon all the Ornaments of it; They took down the Hang, Pictures, Statues, carry out the Carpets, Cushions, and the very Clothes of their Master, yea his Cardinal's Gown, while he yet breathed and looked upon them; The Cardinal kept an Ape, and he observing how his Fellow servants had been busied, comes also himself into the Chamber, looks round about him to see what was left for him, he finds nothing but only the Cardinal's Cap which lay neglected upon the ground, this the Ape merrily takes up, and puts upon his own head. This Spectacle moved the almost dying Cardinal to an extreme laughter, the laughter broke the Impostume, and after he had well vomited, he was restored to his health, and to the recovery of his embezzled Goods. Wanly's Hist. Man. pag. 631.  
LI. In the year 1602. saith the famous Crollius, I saw at Prague a Bohemian Country Fellow named Matthew aged about 36 years; this man for 2 years together, with a strange and unheard of Dexterity in his Throat, used often in Company of such as sat drinking to take a knife of the usual bigness, with a haft of Horn, and this after the manner of a Juggler, he would put down his Throat and drink a good draught of Ale after it, which was given him for his pains; But he could recover it at his pleasure, and with a singular Art take it by the point and draw it out; But by I know not what misfortune the day after Easter the same year, he swallowed the same knife so far that it went down into his very Stomach, and by no Artifice of his could be drawn back any more; He was half dead through the apprehension of death that would undoubtedly follow, but after he had retained the knife in manner aforesaid for the space of seven weeks and two days entire, by the use and means of Attractive Plasters made up with Loadstone and other things, the knife point by a natural impulse began to make its way out near the Orifice of the Stomach, which the Patient perceiving, though by many persuaded to the contrary, because of the imminent hazard of his Life, was very earnest that incision might be made, and so the knife drawn out, which he at length obtained to be done by many entreaties, and upon Thursday after Whitsuntide about seven a Clock in the Morning all was happily performed by Florianus Mathis of Brandenburg, the chief Chirurgeon both of the City and Kingdom, The Knife is laid up amongst the Emperor's Rarities, and shown as an incredible miracle by the Courtiers and others in the City; the length of this Knife is nine Inches, and the colour of it was so changed as if it had all that time lain in the Fire; The Country Fellow in some few weeks by the care of his expert Chirurgeon, without any further Sickness or Trouble, and contrary to the Judgement of Physicians recovered his former health so perfectly that soon after he married, and lived many years. Crollius' Chemistry, pag. 125.  
LII. This man's Recovery was very admirable, but that which follows seems yet more strange, being much more likely to kill than cure, as having been the occasion of many a man's Death, but however since a credible Author reports it, I shall do the same. Paleologus the Second, Emperor of Constantinople was dangerously sick, and when Nature, nor the Art of his Physicians could any way help him, and that he had kept his Bed for a whole year, to the great prejudice of the State; His Empress was informed by an old Woman, that it was impossible her husband should recover, unless he was continually vexed and provoked by her harsh dealing and ill usage, for by that means the humours that were the occasion of his sickness, would be dissipated and discharged; This advice was approved, and by this way of contrary cure as one would think, the Empress proceeded; For she began continually to vex and torment him to an exceeding height, scarce observing him in any one thing that he commanded; with these frequent and incessant vexations, the malignant Humours were dispersed by the Augmentation of heat, and the Emperor did so perfectly recover, that throughout those twenty years in which he afterward lived, even to the sixtieth year of his Age, he remained sound and well. Camerarius' Spare Hours, Cent. 3.  
LIII. A certain man (saith Solenander) lay sick upon his Bed, and in all appearance entering upon the last moments of his life, at which time came an Enemy of his, and inquires of his Servant where his Master was, He is, said he, in his bed, and in such a condition, that he is not likely to live out this day; But he, as the manner of the Italians is, resolving he should die by his hands, enters his Chamber, and giving the sick Person a desperate Stab, departs, but by the Flux of Blood that issued from that wound, and the diligent attendance of his cure, the man recovered, receiving as it were a new life from him who came for no other purpose than to assure himself of his death; Schenk. Observat. lib. 5.  
LIV. Sir John Cheek was once one of the Tutors to King Edward the 6th. and afterwards Secretary of State, much did the Kingdom value him, but more the King, for being once desperately sick, the King carefully enquiring of him every day, at last his Physician told him, there was no hope of his Life, being given over by him for a dead man; No, said the King, He will not die this time, for this morning I begged his life from God in my prayers, and obtained it; which accordingly came to pass, and he soon after contrary to all expectation wonderfully recovered. This, saith Dr. Fuller, was attested by the old Earl of Huntingdon (bred up in his Childhood with King Edward) to Sir Thomas Cheek who was alive in 1654. and eighty years of Age. lloyd's State Worthies, pag. 194.  
LV. duff the Threescore and eighteenth King of Scotland, laboured with a new and unheard of Disease, no cause was apparent, all Remedies insignificant, his body languishing in a continual sweat, and his strength apparently decaying, insomuch that he was suspected to be bewitched, which was increased by a rumour that certain Witches of Forest in Murray practised his destruction, arising from a word which a Girl let fall, That the King should die shortly; who being examined by Donald Captain of the Castle, and Tortures shown her, Confessed the Truth, and how her Mother was one of the Assembly; And when certain Soldiers were sent in search, they surprised them roasting the waxed Image of the King before a soft Fire, to the end that as the wax melted by Degrees, so should the King dissolve by little and little, and his life should waste away with the Consumption of the other. But the Image being broken, and the Witches hanged for this Treason, the King recovered his wont health in a Moment. Sandy's Ovid's Met. lib. 8.  
LVI. And as by these Examples we may observe how strangely some Persons have been saved from death, so we find others have unwarily and unwittingly procured and hastened their own death and downfall; For we read in Josephus that Anthony being at Laodicea sent for King Herod to answer what was objected against him touching the death of young Aristobulus; Herod was an impotent Lover of his Wife Mariam, and suspecting that her Beauty was one cause of his danger, before he went he committed the care of his Kingdom to Joseph his Uncle, withal leaving him order to kill Mariam his Wife in case he should hear that any thing evil had befallen him; Herod took his Journey and Joseph in Conversation with the Queen acquainted her with the Order he had left with him. Herod having appeased Anthony, returned with Honour, and speaking to the Queen of the Truth and Greatness of his Love, in the midst of Embraces, Mariam said to him, It was not the part of a Lover to give Commandment that if any thing should befall thee otherwise than well with Anthony, I should presently be put to death. No sooner were these words out of her mouth, but the King entered into a strange Passion, and giving over his Embraces, he cried out with a loud Voice, and tore his hair, saying, That he had a most evident proof that Joseph had committed adultery with her, because he would not have discovered those things which had been spoken to him in secret, except they had greatly trusted each other. And in this emotion or rage of Jealousy he hardly contained from killing his Wife; yet he gave Order that Joseph should be slain, without admitting him Audience or Justification of his Innocence. Thus Joseph by his Imprudent revealing a dangerous Secret, unwarily procured his own death. Josephus Antiquit. lib. 15.  
LVII. The same Author relates, that Herod being overcome with pain and troubled with a vehement Cough, and almost pined with Fasting, was resolved to hasten his own death; and taking an Apple in his hand, called for a Knife, and then looking about him, lest any slander by should hinder him he lifted up his Arm to Stab himself; But Achiabus his Cousin ran hastily unto him, and stayed his hand, and presently there was great Lamentation made throughout all the King's Palace, as if the King had been dead; His Son Antipater then in Prison, having speedy news thereof was glad, and promised the Keeper's Money to release him; But the chiefest of them did not only deny to do it, but also went and immediately acquainted the King with it; Herod hearing this, commanded his Guard to go and kill Antipater, and Bury him in the Castle called Hircanium. Thus was that wicked man cast away by his own Temerity and Imprudence, who had he had more Patience and Discretion, might probably have secured both his Life and the Kingdom to himself, for Herod outlived his death but five days. Josephus Antiquities, Lib. 1.  
LVIII. King Francis of France had resolved upon the Murder of the Chief Lords of the Protestant Religion, this secret of Council had been imparted by the Duke of Anjou to Ligneroles his Familiar Friend; He being one time in the King's Chamber observed some Tokens of the King's displeasure, at the demands of some Protestant Lords, whom he had newly dismissed with a show of Favour; Ligneroles either moved with the Lightness incident to youth, which often over-shoots discretion, or moved with Ambition, not to be ignorant of the nearest Secrets, told the King in his ear; That His Majesty ought to quiet his mind with Patience, and laugh at their Insolence, for within a few days by that meeting which was almost ripe, they would be all in his Net, and might be punished at his pleasure. With which words the King's Mind being struck in the most tender sensible part of it, he made show not to understand his meaning, and retired to his private Lodgings, where full of Anger, Grief, and Trouble he sent to call the Duke of Anjou, charging him with the revealing this weighty secret; The Duke confessed he had imparted the business to Ligneroles, but assured him he need not fear he would ever open his Lips to discover it; No more he shall, answered the King, for I will take Order that he shall be dispatched before he have time to publish it. He then sent for George de Villequier Viscount of Guearchy, whom he knew boar a grudge against Ligneroles, and commanded him to endeavour by all means to kill him that day, which was accordingly executed by him and Count Charles of Mansfield as he hunted in the Field. D'Avila's Wars of France. Lib. 5.  
LIX. Fredegundis was a Woman of admirable Beauty, and for that Reason entertained by Chilperick King of France, over whose heart she had gained such an Empire that she procured the Banishment of his Queen and lawful Wife Andovera, & the death of his own Mother Galfinda; yet neither was she faithful to him, but prostituted her Body to Landric de la Tour, Duke of France, and Mayor of the Palace. Upon a day the King being to go a Hunting, came up first into her Chamber, and found her dressing her head with her Back towards him; He therefore went softly and struck her gently on the backpart with the hinder end of his Hunting Spear, she not looking back; What dost thou do my Landric, said she, It is the part of a good Knight, to charge a Lady before rather than behind; By this means the King found her Falsehood, and went to his purposed Hunting, but she perceiving herself discovered, sent for Landric, told him what had happened, and therefore enjoined him to kill the King for his and her safety, which he undertook and effected that night, as the King returned late from Hunting. Hist. France, pag. 23.  
LX. Muleasses the King of Tunis was skilled in Astrology, and had found that by a fatal influx of the Stars, he was to lose his Kingdom, and also to perish by a cruel death; when therefore he heard that Barbarossa, the Turkish Admiral, was preparing a Navy at Constantinople, concluding it was against himself, to withdraw from the danger he departed Africa, and Transported himself into Italy, to crave Aid of Charles the Emperor against the Turks, whom he thought had a design upon him; In the mean time he had committed the Government of his Kingdom to Amida his Son, who like an ungrateful Traitor assumed to himself the Name and Power of a King, and having taken his Father upon his return, he put out his Eyes. Thus Muleasses drew upon himself that Fate he expected, by those very means by which he hoped to have avoided it. Wanly's History of Man. pag. 458.  
LXI. There was an ginger, saith Wierus, who had often and truly predicted the event of divers weighty Affairs, who having intentively fixed his Eyes upon the Face of James Galleacius an Italian Duke, and contemplating the same; Dispose Sir, said he, of your Affairs with what speed you may, for it is impossible you should long live in this world; why so? said Galleacius? Because, replied the other, the Stars whose sight and Position on your Birthday, I have well observed, do threaten you, and that not obscurely with death before such time as you shall attain to maturity; Well, said Galleacius, you who believe in the Positions of the Birthday Stars as if they were so many Gods, How long are you to live through the bounty of the Fates; The ginger answered, I have a sufficient Tract of time allotted for my life. But, said Galleacius, that for the future out of a foolish belief of the bounty and Clemency of the Fates, thou mayst not presume farther upon the continuance of life than perhaps it is fit, thou shalt die presently contrary to thy own opinion, nor shall the combined force of all the Stars in Heaven be able to save the from destruction, who presumest in this manner to dally with the Destiny of Illustrious Persons; and thereupon commanded him to be carried to Prison and Strangled, whereby the poor ginger appeared to be fatally mistaken in his pretended Infallible Predictions. Wieri Opera, Lib. de Ira. pag. 148.  
LXII. The Emperor Probus a great and excellent Prince having well nigh brought the Empire into a quiet and peaceable, from a troublesome and Turbulent posture, was heard to say, That he would speedily take such a Course that there should be no more need of Men of War; This speech was so distasted by the Soldiers that they conspired against him, and procured his death. To the same purpose is the Relation of some Persons of Syracuse in Sicily, who discoursing in a Barber's shop concerning the Tyrant Dionysius, they said his Tyranny was Adamantine, and that he could not be destroyed; What, said the Barber, do we speak thus of Dionysius, under whose Throat I ever and anon hold a Razor? As soon as Dionysius was informed of this, he caused his Barber to be Crucified, and so he paid for his foolish words with the price of his Life. Plutarch, de Loquacitate. pag. 200.  
LXIII. The same Author relates a Passage of another Barber though not of such dangerous Consequence; A Barber who kept shop at the end of the Suburbs called Pyreum in Athens, had no sooner heard of the great discomfiture of the Athenians in Sicily, from a certain slave fled from thence out of the field, but leaving his Shop at six and seven, he ran directly into the City to carry the Tidings fresh and new, 
For fear some other might the honour win,  
And he too late, or second should come in.   
Now upon reporting of these unwelcome tidings, there was a great stir within the City; the people Assembled to the Market place, search was made for the Author of this rumour, hereupon the Barber was haled before the body of the People, and being examined hereof, he knew not so much as the name of the Party from whom he had heard the News; Upon which the whole Assembly were so moved to anger, that they cried out, Away with the Villain, set the Rascal upon the Rack, have him to the Wheel, who hath devised this Story of his own fingers ends; The Wheel of Torture was brought, and the Barber was tormented upon it; In the mean while there came certain News of that defeat, and thereupon the Assembly broke up, leaving the Barber racked out at length upon the Wheel, till it was late in the Evening, at which time he was let lose, yet was no sooner at liberty, but he must inquire News of the Executioner, what he had heard abroad of the General Nicias, and in what manner he was slain. Plutarch's Morals. Pag. 200.  
LXIV. Candaules King of Lydia doted so much upon the Beauty of his own Wife, that he could not be content to enjoy her, but would needs enforce one Gyges to behold her Naked Body, and placed the unwilling man secretly in her Chamber, where he might see her preparing to Bedward; This was not so closely carried but that the Queen perceived Gyges at his going forth, and understanding the matter, took it in such high disdain, that the forced him the next day to requite the King's folly with Treason; So that Gyges being brought again into the same Chamber by the Queen, slew King Candaules, and was rewarded not only with his Wife, but the Kingdom of Lydia, wherein he Reigned Thirty Eight Years. Justin Hist. Lib. 1.  
LXV. Fulvius, one of the Favourites and Minions of Augustus Caesar Emperor of Rome, having heard him toward his latter days, lamenting and bewailing the desolate estate of his House, because he had no Children of his body begotten, and that of his three Nephews or Sister's Children, two were dead, and Posthumius who only remained alive, upon an Accusation against him was sent away, and lived in banishment, whereupon he was enforced to bring in his Wife's Son, and declare him his Successor in the Empire. Notwithstanding upon a tender compassion he was sometime in deliberation with himself, and minded to call Posthumius from Banishment; Fulvius I say being privy to these means, and designs of his, went home and told his Wife all that he had heard; She could not hold, but went presently to the Empress Livia, Wife to Augustus, and reported what her Husband Fulvius had told her; Whereupon Livia in great Indignation did sharply expostulate with Caesar in these Terms; Seeing said she, you had so long projected such a thing as to call home your Nephew, why did you not send for him at first, but have exposed me to the hatred and enmity of Posthumius, who shall be Emperor after your Decease; The next morning betimes, when Fulvius came as his manner was to salute Caesar, and bid him good morrow, after he had said, God save you Caesar, Augustus' resaluted him with this, God make you wise Fulvius; Fulvius soon found him, and conceived presently what he meant thereby; He retired then to his house with all speed, and having called his wife, Caesar said he, is come to the knowledge that I have not concealed this secret, and therefore I am resolved to make away myself with my own hands; And well worthy, (quoth she) for justly have you deserved death, who having lived so long with me, knew not all this while the incontinency of my Tongue, nor would beware of it, yet suffer me first to die upon your Sword; And she accordingly killed herself, her Husband likewise following her in the same bloody fate; and thus we may see what mischief has befallen persons by their loquacity, and too much inconsiderateness in their words. Plutarch's Morals. Pag. 199.  
LXVI. Strange was the destiny, or rather the Divine Vengeance which fell on the Duke of Guise, a cruel Persecutor of the poor French Protestants, and a bloody instrument in the Massacre of Paris; For Advertisements came from all parts, both within and without the Realm, from Spain, Rome, Lorraine and Savoy, to give notice to this Henry of Lorraine Duke of Guise, in the Reign of King Henry the third of France, that a bloody Catastrophe would dissolve that Assembly he had then occasioned of the Estates; The Almanacs, had well observed it; It was generally reported in the Estates that the Exececution should be on St. Thomas his day, the very Evening before the Duke's death, the Duke himself sitting down to dinner, found a scroll under his Napkin, Advertising him of a secret design of the King, and his Party against him, but he writ underneath with his own hand, they dare not, and threw it under the Table; seeing therefore that no warning would abate his confidence, nor awake his security; This Murder was performed on this manner; Upon December 23. 1588. The King Assembles his Council, having before prepared seven of his Gentlemen that were near his Person, to Execute his Will; The Duke of Guise came, and attending the beginning of the Council, sends for an Handkerchief; Pericart his Secretary having fresh notice of the Plot, and not daring to commit the News to any man's report, ties a note to one of the Corners thereof, wherein was written; Come forth, and save yourself, or else you are but a dead man; But Larchant the Captain of the King's Guards, stayed the Page that carried it, and caused another Handkerchief to be given him by St. Prix the Chief Groom of the King's Chamber; The Spirit of man doth often Prophesy the mischief that doth pursue him; The Duke in the Council complains of strange alterations, and extraordinary distemperatures, and amidst his distrust a great fainting of his heart, St. Prix presents unto him some Prunes of Brignolles, he eats, and thereupon the King calls him into his Cabinet by Revol one of his Secretaries of State, as if to confer with him about some secret of importance; The Duke leaves the Council to pass into the Cabinet, and as he lift up the Tapestry with one hand to enter, no less than forty five persons waited with Poniards, Rapiers, and Partisans to dispatch him, and so he was there slain. Hist. France. Pag. 821.  
LXVII. As by the foregoing Instances, many mischiefs have happened by the intemperance of the tongue, so by taciturnity and secrecy great Erterprises have been conducted with safety, which might otherwise have proved frustrate or hazardous; The secret Counsels of the Senate of Rome, saith Valerius Maximus, were divulged by no Senators for many Ages together: Only Caius Fabius Maximus, (and he also through imprudence) meeting with Crassus as he went into the Country, told him of the Third Punic war secretly decreed ●n the Senate, for he knew he was made Questor three years before, but knew not that he was yet chosen into the order of the Senators by the Censors, which was the only way of admittance. But though this was an honest error of Fabius, yet he was severely reprehended by the Consuls for it, since they would not that Privacy, which is the best and safest bond in the Administration of Affairs, should be broke; Therefore when Eumenes King of Asia, a Friend to Rome, had declared to the Senate, that Perseus' King of Macedon was preparing to War upon the people of Rome, it could never be known what he had said in the Senate house, or what answer the Senators had made to him, till such time as it was known that King Perseus was a Prisoner; So that you would have thought that which was spoken in the ears of all, was heard by none. Valerius Maximus. Lib. 2.  
LXVIII. It was formerly a custom, that the Senators of Rome carried their Sons with them to the Senate house, and thither did Papirius Praetextatus follow his Father; Some great Affair was consulted of, and deferred to the next day, charge being given that none should disclose the Subject of their debate, before it was decreed; The Mother of the young Papirius at his return, inquired of him, what the Fathers had done that day in the Senate, who told her that it was a secret, and that he might not discover it; The woman was the more desirous to know for this answer he had made her, and therefore proceeds in her inquiry with more earnestness and violence; The boy finding himself urged, invented this witty Lie; It was, said he, debated in the Senate which would be most advantageous to the Common wealth, that one man should have two wives, or one woman should have two husbands; The woman in a terrible fright leaves the house, and acquaints divers other Ladies with what she had heard; The next day came a Troop of women to the door of the Senate house, crying and beseeching, That rather one woman might Marry two men, than that one man should Marry two women; The Senators entering the Court, inquire what meant this intemperance of the women, and what their request intended; Hereupon young Papirius stepped into the midst of the Court, and told them what his Mother had desired to know, and what answer he had given; They commended his wit and secrecy, and then made an order, that no Senators sons should enter their Court save only that one Papirius. Wanly Hist. Man. Pag. 232.  
LXIX. The Ambassadors of the King of Persia were at Athens invited to a Feast, whereat also were present divers Philosophers, who to improve the Conversation, discoursed of many things both for and against, amongst which was Zeno, who being observed to sit silent all the while, the Ambassadors pleasantly demanded what they should say of him to the King their Master; Nothing said he, farther than this, that you saw at Athens an Old Man, who knew how to hold his Tongue; Metellus the Roman General was once asked by a young Centurion what design he had now in hand, who told him, That if he thought his own shirt was privy to any part of his Counsel, he would immediately pluck it off, and burn it. Plutarch's Morals. 506.  
LXX. Leaena was an Athenian Strumpet, who could play well upon an Harp, and sing sweetly to it, she was familiarly acquainted with Harmodius, and Aristogiton, and privy to their Plot and Project, touching the murder of Pisistratus the Tyrant, yet would she never reveal this purpose or intention of theirs to the Tyrant, or his Favourites, though she was put to most cruel and painful torments about it; The Athenians therefore desirous to honour this woman for her resolute and constant secrecy, and yet loath to be thought to make so much of such an Harlot as she was, devised to represent the memorial of her, and her Act, by a Beast of her name, and that was a Lioness; the statue of which they gave order to Iphicrates to make, and that he should leave out the tongue in the head of this Lioness, for some say, That fearing lest her torment should cause her to betray her friends, she bitten it off, and spit it in the face of the Tyrant and Torments. Pliny. Lib. 3.  
LXXI. When the King of Ala goes to War, saith Mr. Purchas, he Assembles his chief men into a Grove near the Palace, where they dig a ditch in a round circle, and there every man declareth his opinion, after this consultation the ditch is closed, and under pain of Treason and Death, all which hath been spoken must be concealed, as if it were so buried as they had before represented in their Emblem. Purchas' Pilgrimage, Tom. 1.  
LXXII. Prodigious and Wonderful was the Revolution at Naples in Italy 1647. Translated from the Italian by James Howel Esq and thus contracted by Mr. Samuel Clark. The Duke of Arcos Viceroy of Naples under the King of Spain, having imposed many Gabels or Taxes upon several Commodities both vendible and edible, at last laid a Tax upon Fruit also, which more provoked and offended the Multitude than all the former, whereupon by their public Cries and Lamentations they daily solicited the Viceroy as he passed through the Marketplace to ease them of that Burden, using likewise the mediation of others, which not prevailing, they were ready to raise a Mutiny, which so affrighted the Viceroy, that he promised quite to take off the Gabel, but delaying to do it, some of the enraged People one night put fire to some Powder in the Marketplace where it was exacted, and blew it up; There were also daily bitter invectives and protests against the public Officers fixed in divers parts of the City; At which the Viceroy being Alarmed, often Assembled the six Precincts of the City to consult about the business, some being for, and others against easing the People, saying, They were but a Company of Tatterdemalions who made all this noise; Besides divers Great Men and Merchants of the City had advanced upon this Gabel above six hundred Thousand Crowns, and were to pay eighty five Thousand Crowns of Annual Rent; This was noised abroad, and likewise that if this were taken off another Tax would be set upon Corn and Wine, whereupon the enraged People protested they would never endure it; While these discontents were hot, July 7. 1647. This occasion suddenly presented itself.  
A young man of about twenty years old, brisk, pleasant, and of a middle Stature, in Linen Breeches, a blue Waistcoat, and barefoot, with a Seaman's Cap on his head, happened to be in the Marketplace; His Employment was to Angle for little Fishes, and also to buy Fish and carry them about to sell, he was vulgarly called Massanello, and being naturally Crafty, he observed the general Murmur of the People, and so went up and down to the Fruiterer's Shops, and advised them, that meeting together the next day in the Marketplace, they should tell the Country Fruiterers that they should buy no more Gabelled or Taxed fruit; Accordingly next day they refused to buy, but one of the City Officers persuaded them to buy it for the present and promised that the Gabel should be suddenly taken off, and so prevailed with them for that time; Massanello seeing his expectation frustrated, went up and down crying; Avaunt Gabel, Down with the Gabel, for which some jeered him, others considered well of his Words, About the same time many Boys being met in the Marketplace, he bid them say as he said, and do as he did, and then taught them to cry, Let God live, etc. Let the Pope live; Let the King of Spain live, and let the ill Government die. This the Boys cried up and down, which caused much Laughter and Jeering at their Master, as if he were Mad, or a Fool; But he told them, You laugh at me now, but you shall shortly see what Massanello can do; Let me alone, and if I do not free you from all your Slaveries, let me be held infamous for ever; Which words increased their Laughter the more; But he minding his business, listed about Two Thousand Boys about sixteen or seventeen years old, whom he prepared against a great Festival that was approaching; giving every one of them a little Cane in his hand.  
The day being come upon which a Feast used to be made by the Boys, and meaner sort of People in the Marketplace, they erected a Castle of Wood, which they battered with Sticks and Fruit, which drew a great Concourse of People together, and at the same time a Quarrel began between the Shopkeepers and Fruiterers, the former refusing to buy their Fruit; Whereupon a Chief Officer came to still the Commotion, and the better to quiet the Citizens, he reviled the Country Fruiterers, threatening to Bastinado them, and to send them to the Galleys; Amongst these was a Cousin of Massanello's, who according to the Instructions given him, threw his Baskets of Fruit upon the ground, crying out, God gives Plenty and the ill Government gives a Dearth, I care not a straw for my fruit, let every one take of it; Whereupon the Boys eagerly gathered it, and Massanello cried out, Without Gabel, without Gabel. So that the Officer threatened him with whipping and the Galleys, at which the People threw Figs, Apples, and other Fruit with Fury into the Officers Face; But Massanello hit him on the Breast with a Stone, encouraging his Militia of Boys to do the like; so that if the Officer had not speedily broken through with his Coach, and got away to the Palace, he had been torn in pieces or stoned to death. Upon this success the number of the People still increasing they exclaimed aloud against their oppressions, protesting not to pay any more Gabels, crying out, Let the King of Spain live, and let the ill Government die. Massanello being thus attended with his Boys, and an infinite Company of lose People, who were now armed with Pikes and Partisans. he leapt upon a Table and with a loud voice cried; Be joyful my Dear Companions, give God Thanks that the hour of your Redemption draws near; This poor barefooted Fellow as another Moses who freed the Israelites from Pharaoh's Rod, shall Redeem you from all Gabels and Taxes. Peter a Fisherman with his voice redeemed Rome; and with it a world from Satan's Slavery to the Liberty of Christ. Now another Fisherman which is Massanello, shall release Naples, and with it a whole Kingdom from the Tyranny of Gabels, etc. Nor to effect this do I care a rush to be torn in pieces, nor to be dragged up and down the kennels of Naples; Let all the blood of my body spin out of these veins; Let my head skip from my Shoulders by a fatal Steel, and be set up in the Marketplace on Pole, yet I shall die contentedly and gloriously; It will be honour enough to me to think that my blood and life perish in so glorious a Cause; With these and such like Words he so inflamed the People, that they were willing to join with him, and to begin the work, they fired the House next to the Tole-house for Fruit, which was burnt down with all the Books of Accounts and other Goods in it.  
This being done, the number so increased that every one shut up his Shop, being astonished at so sudden a Tumult, who burned down other Gabel-houses for all other Goods with their Books and Writings; wherein it was very observable, that in plundering those Houses wherein were such quantities of Money and rich Furniture, not one durst meddle with the least piece of any thing, but all was consumed in the Flames, being as they said, The Quintessence of their blood. The People meeting with no opposition, were encouraged and increased thereby; so that above Ten Thousand made toward the Palace of the Viceroy, carrying Loaves of Bread upon their Pikes and crying, Let the King of Spain live, and the ill Government die; and Massanello and his Boys with doleful and loud voices as they went along the Streets laboured to move all the People to join with them, and going to St. James' Prison, they freed all the Prisoners, and admitted them into their Society; when they came to the Palace, they cried out; That they would not only be freed from the Gabel upon Fruits, but from all other Gabels also; whereupon the Viceroy coming out into a Balcony, told them, That the Gabel should be abolished, and part of that upon Corn also. But they still cried out, That they would not be relieved in part, they would have the whole taken off; adding, May the King of Spain live, and the ill Government die; Many of them attempting to go up the Stairs to acquaint the Governor with the rest of their Grievances, they were kept back by the Guard of Soldiers; But with their Canes, Clubs, a great Cry, they forced their Passage, and demanded Audience of the Viceroy, but he had withdrawn himself. So that when they came to the Hall-door, and found it shut, they broke it open, and at his Chamber they met with some further resistance by Soldiers, but forcing them away, they had easy access into all other rooms, even to the very Closet where the Viceroy had hid himself, and though it was double bolted, yet by main force they broke it open, where he had certainly lost his life, but that two Noblemen with much ado, conveyed him away; Then he intended to have gone into the Castle, whither his Lady and Children had retired, but understanding that the Drawbridge was up, he took Sanctuary in a Church and Friary, and so out of a Window gave the People notice that he was willing to content them, and accordingly published divers Schedules for taking off the Gabel from Fruit, and part of that from Corn, yet were they not satisfied, but made signs for him to come down, and speak with them Face to Face, which he did accordingly in a Coach, but they upon pain of Death commanded him out, and some then said, Sir, for the Love of God disburden us at once of these Gabels, Let us have no more Slavery, Let us breathe; Then did the Viceroy grant their Request, yet thinking himself unsafe, he threw some pieces of Gold among them, which whilst they were scrambling for, he got into a Church, and fortified the passages both of that and the Monastery.  
The People furiously followed him, and though at a Window he promised them satisfaction, yet they had proceeded farther had not the Archbishop interposed, and obtained an Instrument under the hand and Seal of the Viceroy, which he shown to the People, and so drawing him after them along the Streets, he at last with a loud voice read the Instrument to them; But when it was read, they all cried out, That they were cheated, since it only contained the taking off the Gabel of Fruit, and part of that upon wheat; and it was thereupon resolved, That it was necessary for the Defence of the Faithful People of Naples to enrol some Armed men to procure a Total discharge of Gabels. They then disarmed all the Guards, and desired, yea beseeched the Prince of Basignano, Colonel General of the Battalions of Naples who was well beloved amongst them, to be their Defender and Intercessor to the Viceroy for the Total Abolishment of Gabels; This Request he could not refuse, and therefore mounting on Horseback, he went along with them, the number of Men and Boys still increasing till they were about fifty Thousand; The Prince used all possible means to quiet the People, swearing, That he would obtain for them what they desired; yet he prevailed nothing, for some of them ran to divers Prisons, breaking them open, freeing the Prisoners, and burning all the Books, and Processes of Prisoners that were found in the Offices; Then going to the Toll-houses for Corn, they burned it quite down, together with much Corn, Householdstuff and Money; Then they went to St. Lawrence's Church to ring the great Bell to warn all the people to Arm; but there they met with some Resistance; in which time the Prince being almost spent in the Crowd slipped away; which the People understanding, cried out to Massanello to be their Captain and Conductor, who accepting the Charge, by sound of Drum stirred up all the People of the City and Suburbs to take Arms.  
The day now declining, to prevent the infinite mischief that was like to ensue, it was thought fit by some, that the Monks and Friars should go in Procession through the City to implore the Divine help and if possible to quiet the People, which accordingly they did but without success; But the Viceroy and Nobility fearing the People should seize upon 16 pieces of Ordnance, Arms, etc. and Ring the Bells to increase the Uproar, they sent a good guard of Spaniards, and others to prevent them; and about Midnight the Vice Roy and other principal men removed to the Castle Nuovo, that was near the Palace, and the better to quiet the People, he published good Orders concerning bread, which being scarce 24 Ounces, should now be made above 33 Ounces, and that Considerable Guards should be set about the Castle; yet the People went on with their Fury, Ringing Bells, and dividing themselves into all Quarters; Some burning down the rest of the Toll-Houses; Others plundering the Shops for Swords, Muskets, Bullets, Match, etc. And one foolish Man resisting them, they put Fire to his house wherein were divers Barrels of Powder, which taking Fire blew up 87 Men, besides 44 that were hurt; To prevent the like mischief the Viceroy commanded, that all the Powder in other places should be made wet with water.  
The next day July 8. very early in the morning the People appeared in a warlike Equipage, amongst whom were mingled many Country Fellows with pitchforks, plowshares, shovels, and the like, and many Women with Fire-shovels, Tongues, Spits, etc. Yea the very Children with little Staves and Canes all in an enraged manner crying out; Let the Lord our King live, and the ill Government die; With such like cries the Air w●s filled. They then sent order to the 36 Wards of the City to Arm immediately, upon pain of having their Houses burnt down. But wanting Powder, they went to a House where they knew some was, who refusing to sell it them, they threw lighted Matches into it, blowing up the House and sixty Persons that were in it; Then they hastened to the Kings Powderhouse that was out of the City, but when they came thither found it all put in Water, and so were disappointed; In the mean time the Viceroy had strengthened his Guards with a Thousand Germans, eight hundred Spaniards, and a Thousand Italians, fortifying all places about him; He sent also for another Regiment of Germans from Pozzolo, which the People hearing of met them, slew some and took the rest Prisoners; That morning also the Spanish Guard had Imprisoned two mean fellows for some Insolences, but the people set upon the Guard, slew some, and threatened to tear in pieces all the Spaniards in Naples, if they were not released, to prevent which they were set free; Then the Viceroy sent some Lords to Massanello with an instrument, wherein he granted as much as they desired the day before, that is, To take off all the Gabels, but this satisfied not the people, they would now have more, and all his Officers and Nobles should oblige themselves to restore all their privileges granted by King Ferdinand and Frederick, and the Emperor Charles the fifth and also that a Law should be enacted, That never any more Gabels should be imposed upon them; The Viceroy perceiving that they still grew upon him, sent amongst them the Lords that were most Popular, who told them That his Excellency was ready to give them all satisfaction; The people answered, That by their forementioned Privileges, no New Tax was to be imposed without consent of the Pope, and if any were, that the City might defend their Liberties with the sword, without any mark of Rebellion against their Prince, and therefore they demanded the Original of those grants; With which answer the Lords returned to the Viceroy; who immediately summoned all the Councils to consider what return to make to them.  
In the mean time New Processions were made by the Priests, and the Sacrament and Relics were laid forth in the Churches to implore the Divine Assistance in such an Exigency; Then came a Lord from the Castle, and brought a Copy of their Privileges, assuring them that it agreed with the Original, this pleased them at first, but when it was read, it was found imperfect, whereupon the people raged exceedingly, saying, That they were mocked and betrayed, and that they would be revenged upon all the Nobility; and taking the Duke that brought it, they cast him into Prison, who hardly escaped, but by the intercession of Peronne, one of the Chiefs, who with a Priest called Julio Genovino, were joined in Assistance to Massanello; The first order they made, was to burn down the Houses of Sixty Persons who had been Projectors and Officers in the Custom-houses, and had enriched themselves by the blood of the people; This was performed so strictly, that one for taking a little Towel out of those Houses was killed, another for a Horse-crouper had Fifty lashes on his back, and some others for small Trifles were hanged by the Command of Massanello, and he that pitied the burning of those men's Houses or Goods was held no friend to the people, the houses were very stately, out of which they threw all sorts of Plate, Dishes, Stools, Tables, Chairs, Carpets, Tapestry, and abundance of Money, all which they carried into the Market place, and burned, crying out; These goods are our blood, and as these bourn, so the Souls of those Dogs that own them deserve to burn in Hell-fire; In one of these Palaces, besides all sorts of rich Furniture, were brought out Twenty Three great Trunks, which were full of Rich Cloth of Gold, Tissue, costly Embroideries, that dazzled the Eyes of the Beholders, a Cabinet of Pearls and Precious Stones, yet nothing was saved from the fire;  
The Vice Roy being desirous to put an end to these Combustions and Burn, sent a Printed Instrument for abolishing all Gabels with a General Pardon, which took no effect, because the pardon was not so full as they desired; but percieving that the Nobility in General were hated, he resolved to employ two Advocates of the people, committing to their care and prudence the quieting of them, who told him nothing would quiet them, unless the Original Charter of Privileges granted by Charles 5 were delivered to them, which he therefore ordered to be searched out; In the mean time Massanello commanded all the Merchants in the Name of the people to be ready in Arms for their service; And himself went with his Train to all the Houses of the Gentry, and others, to search for Arms, taking all they found of all sorts, which were many Thousands, with Nine Pieces of Ordnance, Two Canons they took out of a Ship, and Seven more out of another; all which they planted at the mouths of Principal Streets; Thus ended the second day, the Sun scarce appearing on the third Morning, when the enraged People ran to the house of a Rich Farmer of the Gabel upon Corn; and it is incredible what a world of Goods, very precious both for quantity and quality, were found in his house, all which they burned to Ashes, only two Boxes of Gold were preserved and deposited in the King's Bank; Then went they to the Palace of the Duke of Caivano, who was Secretary of the Kingdom, where they burned his Books, Writings and Library, with infinite store of Rich Movables and Utensils, Coaches, Sedans, Couches, rare silver Vessels and Jewels of all kinds, store of Curious Pictures, all which were burned, save some that they sent to Churches as counting them holy pieces, yet burned their Rich Frames; and harassed the house to the ground; The fire was so great that it took hold of a Neighbouring Monastery of Nuns, and burnt down a gallant Library; The like Desolations were made in all houses that Massanello appointed to destruction, which were many of the stateliest in all Naples; In one of them was found an inestimable Wardrobe, fit for a King, which was all destroyed; Others hide their Richest Movables in Monasteries, which were by the command of Massanello brought out and burned.  
Whilst the People were thus revenging themselves on their supposed Adversaries, by the diligence of those that were employed, the Original Charters of their Privileges were found out; which being carried to the Vice Roy, he immediately sent them word of it, promising all satisfaction, but they finding that delays were made, demanded to be Masters of the Tower, where the great Bell hung to sound to war at any time, as also of a Port which they thought might be prejudicial to them, and to have the use of the Artillery, and Arms of the City therein, and before they could have an answer, Ten Thousand of them Besieged and Assaulted the Tower, forcing the Soldiers to departed, leaving all their Arms behind them; Then by the Command of Massanello, the great Bell was rung, and the Arms brought forth, yet with a Protestation, That they intended not to rebel, but only to secure the people; The Charter not yet appearing, the People grew so furious that they drew forth other goods to be burnt, amongst which they found the Pictures of the then King of Spain, which they placed under a Rich Canopy, crying aloud, Let God live, let our King live, and let the ill Government die; Then they planted many pieces of Ordnance in all places, and set Guards, and amongst their Company marched many women in Warlike Equipage, like so many Amazons, and after them little Girls with batoons and sticks in their hands, and amongst all several Banditi or thiefs mingled themselves, under a pretence to help the people, but indeed to enrich themselves by plunder, or plot some Treason.  
During these stirs they kept all Provisions our of the Castle where the Viceroy was, and being Masters both of Sea and Land, they held him as it were Besieged; So that he at last delivered the Original Charter to the Archbishop, together with a Writing, wherein the Vice Roy promised firmly to observe it; With these he went to the Market place, not doubting but to give them satisfaction, and probably he had done it, but that at the same instant a Conspiracy was discovered for the cutting off Massanello, and when the Charter came to be read, they suspected it not to be real, whereupon the Archbishop was in danger of his Life, but he told Massanello it was the right, and one was appointed to examine it all night, which happened well for some, for otherwise thirty six stately Houses were appointed to have been burned down, but at the request of the Archbishop, Massanello preserved them; Again, when the Instrument from the Vice Roy came to be read, wherein was this passage, That be pardoned the People for whatsoever they had done, promising to obtain such pardon from his Catholic Majesty for any Act of Rebellion that had happened, they were greatly moved, and cried out; That they never committed any Act of Rebellion, but had always been his most faithful Vassals, praying that he might live a Thousand years, And so thinking they were cheated and betrayed, they went on in forming their Militia, amongst whom marched the women in great numbers armed, some with Battoons on their necks, some with naked swords in their hands, others with sword's, dagger's, and knives, strutted about the Streets, and marching before the Palace Royal, having a man in the Front, and another in the Rear, still crying out; Let the King of Spain live, but the ill Government die; These Commotions being reported abroad, the Spanish Soldiers quartered in the adjacent Villages, hastened toward Naples, which the People hearing of, sent out parties who disarmed them, and turned them back, the like they did to Five Hundred Germans, who were coming from Caprea; And Massianello made an order, That all those Houses wherein were the Pictures of the King and Queen of Spain, should be thrown down, and the Arms of the most faithful people of Naples should be set up under Canopies; And truly it was a wonder that he should have so much regard and respect, as to be able to rule things at his pleasure in such a City, wherein were so many Doctors, Merchants, Notaries, Scriveners, Proctors, Physicians, Lawyers, Soldiers, and worthy Artisans, with a multitude of others, who were men of Judgement, Wit, Wealth and Valour, the meanest of them far Superior to him in condition; But from this third day, when he went from the people, to negotiate with the Archbishop, the Prelate remained astonished at his Spirit and Parts; whereupon the People made him Captain General of all their Forces, and he erecting a Scaffold in the Market place, with two more that assisted him, gave public Audience, recieving from all sorts, whether Laics, or ecclesiastics, Petitions, Memorials; passing orders, decreeing Civil, Criminal, and Military Sentences, and had at his command an Army of an Hundred and Fifty Thousand Men, besides Women and Boys, who were an incredible number, and thus ended the Third day, which was Tuesday.  
The Fourth day early in the Morning, Massanello commanded his Lifeguard, consisting of Seven or Eight Thousand men, to repair upon pain of death to the Palace of the Duke of Caivano, who was accounted one of the People's greatest enemies, and again to plunder his house, notice being given of far richer goods than were before discovered; and accordingly when they had broken it open, they found two Chambers full of the richest Tapestry that could be seen, with much other costly goods, than they went into his Gardens, where they broke the Marble Statues, grubbed up the Trees, Flowers, etc. and putting fire to several places, they burned the house, and all down to the ground; From thence they went to the Palace of the young Duke his Son, to get the residue of his Father's Goods, preserved happily by him, and rushing in, they miserably spoilt every thing; and to quicken them the Women and Boys brought Faggots, Pitch, Oil and Straw, crying out, We have but this little Straw left in our Houses, and it shall serve to burn down the Kennels of these Dogs, who have imposed and exacted these cursed Taxes and Gabels from us, and thereby sucked out our blood; Other Women would bring their Children in their Arms, and putting fired Matches into their hands, they would make them throw them into the fire, saying, These poor Lambs shall take vengeance on these Thiefs, for the bread which they have taken out of their Mouths; Yea, sometimes they added, Let God live for ever, and our King, and let these Dogs die the death; While the People thus vented their discontents, the Archbishop had prevailed with the Viceroy for a Pacification, and it was agreed, that the Viceroy and Nobles should come to the Church of Carmine, and there Treat with Massanello, who consented to it, yet charged the People upon pain of Death to maintain their Station; The Viceroy in the mean time sent an Instrument, wherein he confirmed all the People's Privileges, which the Archbishop having received, He requested Massanello to call together all the Captains of the People to hear it read; and there were great hopes of a final Conclusion, which yet again was interrupted by this Accident; Peronne who was Massanello's Assistant, conspiring, with the Duke of Mataloni and his Brother, to destroy Massanello, hoping that then he might easily disperse the People, had sent five Hundred Banditi, who just then entered at one of the Gates on Horseback, and being brought before Massanello, they pretended to come for the Service of the People; Massanello welcomed them, and ordered them to serve in several Places on Foot; But Peronne would have them keep altogether on Horseback, whereupon Massanello suspecting somewhat, commanded peremptorily, that they should be on Foot, and keep the place which he assigned them to; The Banditi being vexed at this, discharged seven Harquebus Shot at him, but all miss him, though some of the Bullets burned part of his Shirt, which was esteemed a Miracle; The People being herewith enraged, fell upon th● Banditi, slew some, took others, and forced the rest to fly over the Walls for their safety; Peronne also was apprehended by Massanello's Order, and fettered till he was brought to his Trial which was presently after the Tumult was over; He was first put to the Rack, where he confessed, That by the Instigation of the Duke of Mataloni he had sent for those Banditi, that Massanello, should have been slain, That Mines were already made, and stored with Gunpowder to blow up many of the People, etc. After which Confession his head and his brothers were cut off, and pitched upon Poles in the Marketplace.  
One of the Banditi, that was taken, promised, That if his life might be spared he would make further Discoveries; which being granted, provided his discoveries proved True, He confessed, That if the Banditi had succeeded in their design, more Troops of Horse would have followed, and that they were to have set Fire to some Mines under the Great Marketplace at such time as there was the greatest Confluence of People, for which end a great quantity of powder was spread up and down in several places under ground, by which means beside the destruction of Churches and Houses, there would have been at least an hundred and fifty Thousand Persons blown up into the Air, and when this was effected, the Banditi joining with others of the Gentry should have fallen upon the rest of the People in several places, and put them all to the Sword; Massanello upon this discovery caused present search to be made, and the Vaults and Powder being accordingly found, he spared the Man's life, but banished him the City and Kingdom for ever, and the Powder served the People for their use; It was discovered also by another of the Banditi put upon the Rack, That by the Contrivance of the Duty of Mataloni and his brother Peronne, the Pipes, and Aquoe-ducts which brought water to the City were poisoned, as also the Corn; which being found to be true, especially the Cisterns of Rain-Water; Notice was given by sound of Trumpet, and Bills fixed in all Quarters of the City, that none should drink of them; Massanello likewise sent Soldiers through all the City to seize the rest of the Banditi, who had taken Sanctuary in divers Churches, and Monasteries, who being dragged out, their heads were chopped off, and set upon Poles up and down the Streets; They searched for the Duke of Mataloni, but he escaped to Benevento, yet whosoever of his Servants, Pages or Lackeys fell into their hands, they presently Murdered them; And next they vented their Rage against Guiseppe Caraffa, and Gregory, Brothers to the Duke, who were hidden in the Monastery of St. Mary's; Gregory foresaw the danger, and escaped betimes, and would have persuaded his Brother to have done the like, but he refused, and being taken by some of the Rabble, he offered them twelve Thousand pound in Gold to let him escape, but a Butcher's Son with a great Knife cut his Throat, and chopped off his head, which was fixed upon a Pike, with this Inscription This is Don Caraffa 's head, a Rebel to his Country, and a Traitor to the most Faithful People; They used his Body also very despitefully, as also of four others his Companions, whom they murdered with him, The head being carried to Massanello, he plucked him often by the Whiskers, using many opprobrious words against him and made a Speech to the People, wherein He told them of the Justice of God which comes surely though slowly to punish the Guilty, etc. The People still cried out, Let Traitors die, Let Traitors die, and nothing was heard up and down the Streets but shreiking, and howl, with horrible Curses, which made a hideous noise in the Air.  
At this Spectacle of Caraffa, the Cavaliers were much troubled, fearing lest the People would destroy them all, who were now increased to the Number of one hundred and Forty Thousand Fight men; Massanello supposing that the Viceroy had a hand in bringing in the Banditi, cut off all Provisions, and water from the Castle, whereby he, his Duchess, his Council and Nobles, etc. began to find themselves to be in an ill condition; whereupon the Viceroy sent a Letter to the Archbishop, desiring him to make known to the People his sincere Intentions toward them, and that he was not only a stranger but an Enemy to the Practices of the Banditi, and that if he could catch any of them he would deliver them to the People; This the Archbishop did, which somewhat allayed the Fury of the People, yet Massanello suspecting that there was a Plot to bring in more Banditi to join with the Soldiers for surprising the City, he caused Barricadoes to be made at the end of every Street, that one only might pass by them at a time, which was done with wonderful speed; He commanded also, That all Houses, Palaces, Monasteries, etc. should in the night hang out Lights in their Windows, and make Fires in the Streets that they might the more easily discern if any of the Banditi entered, and all this to be done upon pain of burning down their Houses, which terrified all men to obey; And now Massanello had an hundred and fifty Thousand armed men at his beck, so that he did no sooner signify his pleasure but it was done in a Minute; If he said, Bring me the head of such a man, or let such a Palace he burned, or the House of such a Prince be plundered, etc. It was instantly done without delay or contradiction, a Glory that no King or Emperor ever yet attained to; He also by sound of Trumpet Proclaimed, That the Duke of Mataloni, was a Rebel to his King and Country, and that whoever should bring him in, should have thirty Thousand Crowns in Gold, and that his head should be a Ransom for one hundred and fifty Banditi, etc. and thus ended the Fourth day being Wednesday.  
Thursday July 11. Massanello went on with his Imperious commands; and truly it is a wonder, and will scarcely be believed in after Ages that a poor barelegged Fisher-boy should have at his Command such a vast number of People as he had the very first day; and the second day he was attended by the Civiller and discreeter sort of Men. The third day he made himself Generalissimo over all who willingly obeyed his Commands; The fourth and fifth he won Admiration by his prudent and discreet Orders, ready dispatches, and quick Contrivances, and especially by his sprightfulness and Capacity in Negotiating businesses of so great importance; The Archbishop who often treated with him, wondering at the same, seeing him behave himself, not like an abject Fellow, but some Great Commander, having Threats in his Looks, Terror in his Gestures, and Revenge in his Countenance, whereby he subdued all Naples, which had in her six hundred Thousand Souls of all sorts. He made Trenches, set Sentinels, laid spies, gave signs, chastised the Banditi, condemned the guilty, viewed the Squadrons, ranked their Files, comforted the fearful, confirmed the stout, encouraged the bold, promised rewards, threatened the suspected, reproached the cowards, applauded the valiant, and wonderfully incited the minds of men by many degrees his Superiors, to battles, burn, plunder, spoil, blood and death; and it was admired that amongst such a confused multitude he could proceed so regularly in his orders, and have them so exactly observed; He was very observant to Ladies, and Churchmen, not suffering any outrage to them; yea among such mighty rich goods as were burnt, he would not suffer the value of a pin to be converted to his own private use; The first order Published by Massanello on Thursday Morning was, That none should wear Cloaks, Gowns, Cassocks, etc. nor women any Farthingales, and that when they went abroad they should tuck up their Petticoats, lest they should carry any Arms underneath; and it was strange to see what Universal Obedience was given to the same, then might you see even the Nobility, Churchmen, Religious Orders of all sorts, going up and down in querpo without upper Garments, during Massanello's Reign, every one submitting to so vile a fellow.  
This Morning likewise he caused the great Guns to be mounted, and planted in the most advantageous places of the City, and Guards of Horse and Foot placed near them; He commanded all Noble men, and Gentlemen to deliver their Arms to persons appointed, upon pain of death, and though this might expose them to the fury of the people, yet they durst not disobey; He also set a rate upon all edible Commodities; But now by the mediation of the Archbishop, Articles were drawn up between the Viceroy and the People, whereby their Privileges were confirmed, and a general pardon granted, and the people were acknowledged for the King's Children, and the most Loyal Subjects he had in all his Dominions; About Ten a Clock this day, it being reported that the Accord was finished, and that Massanello was to go to the Viceroy to the Castle, for confirming it, with the hands of the Viceroy, the Council Royal, and the Council of State, hereupon an incredible multitude of People Assembled together, and command was given under pain of Firing, That all Masters of Families should hang their Windows, Walls and Balconies, with the Richest Silks and Tapestryes that they had, and that all the ways to the Castle should be swept clean; Which was no sooner spoken than done by persons of all sorts and ranks.  
Massanello then sent one of his Captains, to acquaint the Viceroy of his purpose of coming to parley with him, who answered, That he might when he pleased, for he would gladly see him; Presently after clothing himself in Cloth of Silver, with a large Plume of White Feathers in his Hat, and a Naked Sword in his hand, he mounted on a Prancing Gelding, and marched toward the Castle attended by Fifty Thousand of the choicest of the people, some on Foot, others on Horseback, next after him followed the Archbishop in his Coach, on whose right hand road Massanello's Brother, in Cloth of Gold, etc. The cry was in every corner as they passed along, Let the King of Spain live, let the most faithful people of Naples live; When he came to the Castle he was met by the Captain of the Vice-Roys Guard, welcoming him in his Master's name to the Palace, where his Excellency expected him with great desire. Massanello returning a grave and short answer; stopped, and made a sign to the People that they should go no farther, there being Twenty Thousand already entered, and it was admirable to see how immovably they all stood, and with incredible silence; whereupon alighting, he began with a loud, yet gentle voice, to exhort them to return thanks for their good success in obtaining their Liberties, telling them, That for his own part he desired nothing but the public good; For, said he, I was offered Two Hundred Crowns a Month, all the time of my life, if I would have desisted, but I do refuse it; Moreover if the Archbishop had not enjoined me, and threatened me with Excommunication, I would not have apparelled myself as you now see me, I would never have altered my Seaman's , such a one I was born, such a one I lived, and such a one I mean to die, after I have once Established the public Liberty; But yet lay not down your Arms, till a Confirmation comes from the King of Spain, Trust not the Nobles they are Traitors, and our Enemies.  
After which he went into the Castle, and upon the Stairs the Viceroy met him, to whom he humbled himself, thanking him for condescending to their Articles, telling him, That he might dispose of him as he pleased, either to hang him, break him on the Wheel, or any other kind of death; But the Viceroy raised him up, telling him, That he knew not that he had committed any fault, nor had offended his Majesty, and therefore he should be cheerful, and that he should always respect him; And herewith he often embraced him; Whilst they were consulting together, a rumour arose among that infinite number of people which stayed without; That Massanello was arrested, or some hurt done to him, therefore the Viceroy took him with the Archbishop unto a Balcony, where he might be seen of all, who looking on the people, said to them, Lo I am here, I am alive and free, Peace, Peace, at which the multitude exceedingly rejoiced; Then said Massanello to the Viceroy; My Lord, you shall see how obedient the People be, and so he bid them cry, Let God live, let the King of Spain live, etc. which they immediately did; and then he added, Let the ill Government die, they all cried so likewise; Then putting his finger to his mouth, there was a profound universal silence, that scarce a man was seen to breath; He then with a loud voice commanded, that every one there present should departed from that Court, under pain of Rebellion and Death, which was punctually and presently obeyed, whereat the Viceroy was much astonished; After many discourses it was agreed, That the People's demands should be printed, and subscribed by the Viceroy and all his Councils, and that the Sunday following they should all come to the Cathedral, and there swear to observe them for ever; as also to procure the Confirmation thereof from his Catholic Majesty, after which Massanello took leave to departed; At his departure the Viceroy gave him a rich Chain of Gold worth three thousand Crowns, putting it about his neck with his own hands, and declared him to be the Duke of St. George, both which he would have refused, but that the Archbishop advised him to the contrary. Massanello then went with the Archbishop to his Palace, and whilst they were discoursing together, a Rumour was spread that many of the Banditi were coming into the City, but it proved to be the Marquis of St. Ermo, who with his Followers returned from his Country house to the City; yet had the jealous People almost pulled him to pieces had not Massanello at the request of a Lady interposed for his safety, and so ended the fifth day being Thursday, July, 11. 1647.  
On Friday Morning there came a Boat with 6 Mariners, and four men completely armed, which brought Letters from the Duke of Mataloni to his Secretary, and because they were written in dark Ciphers, Massanello caused the four men first to be racked, and then to have their heads chopped off. The same morning he erected another Tribunal of Justice, substituting a Lieutenant under him, who presently condemned four Banditi, and beheaded them. Massanello also having left off his Cloth of Silver, appeared in his old Mariner's habit, and yet was obeyed and feared by every one. He stood in a Window to give Audience, and to receive Petitions, which they reached up to him upon the ends of Pikes; All his Orders ran in these words, Under pain of Rebellion and Death; and it was wonderful to see so many Commands, Bans, Commissions and Orders published and affixed to Posts subscribed, Thomas Anello Captain General of the most faithful People of Naples; all which were executed with incredible readiness and exactness; This morning he issued out an order, That every one should cut off his great Lock, and wear no Periwigs; He likewise renewed his former Order, That Churchmen should not wear their upper Garment, because by that means many Banditi came into the City. There was another Order, That upon sounding the two a Clock Bell in the night, every one upon pain of death should retire to his Lodging; And because many of the Nobility and Ladies were retired into the Monasteries and Nunneries, he commanded, That upon pain of death they should all return to their Houses, which was presently obeyed; Then he commanded, That all the Inhabitants both Natives and Foreigners should set upon their Gates the King of Spain 's Arms on the right hand, and the City Arms on the left; which was suddenly put in Execution, though with much trouble to the Spaniards, Many Delinquents were put to death; He caused a Baker to be baked to death, because he made his bread too light. He had seven Secetaries, and ten Officers to punish whom he pleased, and he was feared and obeyed with as much exactness as if it had been the Great Turk,  
A Choice Horse being sent Massanello worth four Hundred Ducats, he sent him presently to the King's Stable, saying, That he was too good for his use; There were about an hundred Thousand Crowns discovered in a By-place, which he caused to be reserved for the Kings Use, withal offering the Viceroy five Millions, if need were; Many great Presents being sent him from Gentlemen, he would not receive the value of one farthing; He employed many to search after the Servants and Kindred of the Duke of Mataloni, and his Brother; and when they were brought to him, he examined them upon the Rack where their Persons and Goods were, and at last one confessing that their Goods were hidden in several Churches and Monasteries; He caused them immediately to be searched for, both above and under ground, whence were brought forth abundance of rich things, valued at five Hundred Thousand Crowns, besides four Thousand Crowns in ready Money; all which being brought to Massanello, he employed the Money to pay his Soldiers and laid up the Goods in a Magazine, none daring to touch a Rag of it; He sent also to make a new search in the Houses whence he had formerly taken and burnt their Goods, and found much more in Wells, Pits, Houses of Office, etc. with great quantities of Silver and Gold; He sent also armed men into the Country to burn the House, Goods, and Furniture of the the Duke of Caivano, which was done accordingly, as also the Palace of Mataloni, with all that was within, whom likewise they hanged in Effigy in the Marketplace, because they could not catch his Person; Then he commanded them to burn the Goods of divers other Officers, and particularly of the King's Visitors; yet at the request of the Archbishop it was not put in Execution; In the mean time the Viceroy being besieged in his Castle and deprived of Provisions, he sent to Massanello for some supply, which he readily consented to, sending him 50 Porters loaden with all sorts of Provision, and Shops were opened, and all People went up and down with as much security, as if there had been no Soldiers, nor disturbance in the City, so strict and rigorous was he in the Execution of Justice; At the same time 13 Galleys of Naples arriving at the Port, their Admiral sent to the Viceroy for a supply of Provisions; But he sent Messengers to Massanello, who promised them a supply, but on condition they should go farther off, and none of them come ashore, which was done accordingly; Presently after, came divers from the Castle, bringing Presents from the Viceroy to Massanello, with Thanks for the plentiful provision he had sent him, amongst which was a Rich Suit of Clothes for his own wearing; The Vicequeen also sent to know how he did, desiring him for her sake to make use of the things that were sent him.  
Saturday, July 13. Massanello knowing that his safety consisted in keeping the people in exact obedience, which hitherto he had done; he punished the least Act of disobedience with death, and understanding that the night before, some were employed in going about amongst the Shopkeepers, to make them sensible of their slavery under him; He sent out strict orders for apprehending them, and hanged them up before the shops where they had been, and among them two of the Duke of Mataloni's Servants were hanged, who had brought Letters in the soles of their shoes, written in Ciphers, which none could understand; Then being informed of a Burglary which was committed that night, and that it was done by some Banditi, who had taken Sanctuary in a Church, he caused them to be dragged out, and executed; A Young Maid complained to him, that one of his Soldiers had Murdered her Father, whereupon the Brother of the Murderer promised, that if the fault might be remitted, he would Marry the Maid; but she refusing, Massanello caused him to give her Two Hundred Crowns for a Dowry, and so pardoned him; Now Intelligence being brought, that the Banditi were joined together in divers places, to invade the City; He made Proclamation, That what Banditi soever should discover the Plot; he should be absolutely pardoned; and a Message of consequence being brought him by a Cavalier; He said, I will have nothing to do with the Cavaliers, God hath set me up for the people's good; and turning to them, he said, My People pray for me, and preserve me well, for if you lose me, woe be to you; The same Morning came in multitudes of People out of the Country round about, and amongst them, Women and Children, with swords and staves to do their Homage to Massanello, and to be redressed by him of their grievances; About the same time he sent to the Viceroy, to mind him of his promise of coming the next day, being Sunday, with all his Councillors, to confirm his grants by all their Oaths, which accordingly was done; For after dinner the Viceroy sent two of his best Horses with rich Furniture for Massanello, and his Brother, who mounting upon them, went towards the Castle, Massanello carrying in one hand a naked sword, and in the other the Charter of Charles 5. Emperor; His Brother carried the Capitulations made with the Viceroy, and being accompanied with a huge number of people, they arrived at the Castle, and being Conducted into the Palace, they entertain themselves a while with the Viceroy; And then all returned into the City with the Viceroy, and all his Councillors; The streets were clean swept by Massanello's Command, and the Houses adorned with the Richest Hang; and thus they went to the Archbishop's Palace, the People crying all the way as they went, Let the King of Spain live; but without Gabels; At the Arch-Bishops Palace they all alighted, and were met by him, and his Chaplains, in their Robes, and so going into the Church, and kneeling at the High Altar, the Secretary of the Kingdom read the Articles with a loud voice, Massanello standing by, and to the wonderment of all, added, altered, corrected, and interpreted them at his pleasure, no man presuming to contradict him; After which the Viceroy, with all the Officers of State, swore to observe, and keep the said Capitulations to perpetuity, and to get them confirmed by Oath of his Catholic Majesty; After which followed Music, and Te Deum was sung for this good agreement.  
When all was ended, Massanello told them, That in the last sixteen years the King of Spain had had of them above an Hundred Millions, but that the greatest part of it was consumed by his Officers, who enriched themselves by the Kings and People's losses, which he was resolved to redress for the time to come, and thereby prove himself a faithful Subject, and Friend to the King; Which he spoke with such earnestness, that all the multitude gave him a loud applause; Thus businesses being finished, he attended the Viceroy and his train back to the Castle, where all the Ordnance was discharged, and Massanello told them, That having now brought his honest intents to pass, he would return to be a Fisherman; and so tearing off his garments of Silver, he returned with all the People to the Market place, who wonderfully rejoiced for having thus attained their desires. This day being Sunday July 14. the Papers of the agreement were fixed up and down in all parts of Naples, which caused not only great joy in the hearts of the people, but every one extolled Massanello as the Instrument, and next to him the Archbishop, as the Mediator of that accord; And it was no small astonishment in the minds of many, to consider that such great things were effected, not by the power of a Mighty Emperor, and Conqueror, but by the conduct of a poor bare legged Fisher-boy; Now though peace seemed to be settled, yet it was not judged fit presently to dismiss the Soldiery, therefore Massanello commanded them to stand firm to their Guard; and withal made Proclamation, That every one upon pain of death should discover if any goods were deposited in their hands, of those whose houses had been burnt; Whereupon much wealth was brought out of Churches, Monasteries, Hospitals and Nunneries, and being informed that four Banditi had taken Sanctuary among the Jesuits, he sent some to fetch them thence, who having forced open the doors, found them, and chopped off their heads, and a Jesuit zealous of the Church's Privileges, making some resistance, they so wounded him that he presently after died; Notice being likewise given of much Goods hid in a Nunnery, he sent some Captains to fetch it into the Market place to be burnt, the Captains being denied entrance, forced the doors, and so behaved themselves, that one of the Nuns almost died through fear; which the Archbishop complaining of to Massanello, he sent for the Captains, and after Examination beheaded them; The same Morning he published a Proclamation, That none should go out of the City without his Licence; whereupon the Archbishop of St. Severine being to go into his Diocese went without a Cloak, according to former Order, to Massanello for a Pass; Massanello when he saw him, said, What wilt thou have my fine Lord? I desire with your good leave (saith the Archbishop) that I may safely pass to my Church; Go, saith he, and let four hundred of my men go to guard you thither; It needs not, said the Archbishop, for I go by Sea; Then, said he, Let forty Barges be provided to attend you; I have, said the Archbishop, four already for my Family which is sufficient; Well, said Massanello, you may do your pleasure, yet you shall not refuse this bag of double Pistoles to bear your charges. The Archbishop would have refused them, but he forced five hundred upon him, which he durst not but accept for fear of angering him.  
The same morning also he caused a Baker's house to be burnt for making bread too light, and chopped off the head of an Abbot and some others, as being Dependants upon the Duke of Matalone; He sent to the Jesuits and other Religious Orders, for a great sum of Money for the Service of the People; He sent to many Rich Men, and caused them to bind themselves to pay great Sums that he might make good his Promise to the King of Spain of a Donative of six Millions of Gold; This Morning a Kinsman of Massanello's in whom he much confided went to the Palace, complaining openly, That Massanello began to dote, and a Chaplain of the Archbishop came to him from his Lord, desiring him now things were at peace to disband his Soldiers, and to retire himself a while into a pleasant Island (whither they used to go for Recreation) to refresh himself; This pleased him well, and several Companies of superfluous Soldiers were disbanded, no man grumbling at any thing he did; which made him grow proud, and multiplicity of Businesses and want of sleep distempering his Brain, he gave forth many cruel Edicts for burning of Palaces, chopping off heads, etc. whereupon some of his Captains complained to the Archbishop that he grew intolerable, imprisoning, and commanding their Heads to be cut off to please his Humour; The Archbishop laboured to moderate and mollify him, at least to procure his deferring the Execution for that holy day, which he obtained; That afternoon Massanello went with a multitude of People following him to the Castle in an odd habit, desiring the Viceroy to go with him to that Island to take the fresh Air, but he excused it by reason of a pain in his head, yet commanded his Gondola to be made ready to wait upon Signior Massanello, into which he embarked himself with divers Mariners, and had forty Barges of Musicians to make him Merry; and as he sailed along he threw pieces of Gold into the Sea, which the Mariners dived to fetch up again for his Pastime, and all the afternoon he spent in Mirth, Eating and Drinking too freely of the Wine called Lachrymae Christi; and when he returned in the Evening, he gave all them that attended him 1O Measures of Wheat apiece. The same afternoon, Massanello's Wife, Mother and Sister, clad in Cloth of Silver, with Chains of Gold, and other Rich Jewels, went in a stately Coach valued at eight Thousand Crowns to give the Vicequeen a Visit, attended with divers other Gentlewomen, and when she came to the Palace, Sedans were sent for her and her Company, with a Guard of Halberdiers, Pages, and Lackeys to attend them; The Vicequeen presented her with a rich Diamond giving her great welcome, and many Dainties, and so returned, where they found Massanello so heated with his Wine that he scarce knew what he said or did, and thus ended Sunday.  
On Monday Morning he would have resigned his Power, but his Wife and Kindred dissuaded him, and himself conceived, that if he should do it, he could expect no other but death, but now when he came to manage his Authority, he committed so many Fopperies and Tyrannical Acts, as made him hated by those who before had adored him, and the reason of his distempered Brain was conceived to be from a fatal drink given him by the Viceroy the day before; To which may be added, want of Food and Sleep, for he was seldom at leisure to do either, in regard of multiplicity of business which wholly took him up, Early that morning he road into the Marketplace with a naked Sword in his hand, striking many, for no cause offered; A Captain who came to him about business he wounded in the Face; and meeting with one that was said to be a Spy, he caused his head presently to be chopped off: another complaining, that his Wife was gone away with another man, he caused the Woman to be hanged, and the Man to be broken on the wheel. Then going to the King's Stables, he took for himself and his Followers six of the best Horses, but before he had gone far, better bethinking himself, he sent them all back again. The Viceroy himself hearing of such Extravagancies trembled, and retired into the inner Palace, causing it to be fortified, and increased his Guard; Then Massanello sent to two Noblemen to come to him into the Marketplace, upon pain of burning their Palaces, if disobeying; who returned answer, That they would wait on him; But instead thereof, having secured their Goods, they went to the Viceroy to complain of their Slavish Condition, and whilst they were considering how to remedy it, there came two of his chief Friends and Counsellors making the same Complaint, saying, That they were in continual danger of their Lives, and that the People began to hate Massanello for his extreme Cruelty; whereupon it was concluded, That the People should be persuaded to make their Addresses to the Viceroy, and therein to declare that they would have no more dependence upon him, but upon his Excellency only, provided that they might be assured to enjoy their Privileges lately confirmed by Oath; This the Viceroy willingly assented to, and the People were persuaded to accept of the Conditions, and Massanello being gone abroad to take his pleasure, many of them met with the Viceroy, where it was concluded, That Massanello should be laid hold on, and kept in chains during his life, but not put to death because of the good he had done for the People; At Massanello's return, being extremely inflamed with Wine, he began to play many mad Pranks; whereupon the Captains of the People apprehended him, and put him in Custody under a Guard of Soldiers, and the People confederating with the Viceroy hastened his End.  
Tuesday July 16, in the Morning Massanello's Secretary meeting some Bands of men going towards the Castle, proudly asked them, By whose Authority they Acted, One of the Captains answered, By the Authority of the Viceroy; Well, said the Secretary, thy head shall pay for this; whereupon the Captain wounded him with his Sword, and another shot him through, and so they put him into a Sepulchre, But the people that adhered to the Viceroy drew him out, cut off his head, and dragged his body about the Streets; Presently after, Massanello escaping out of Prison, went to the Church of the Virgin of Carmine, and the Archbishop coming to sing Mass there, it being a great Festival day to that Saint, Massanello met him, saying, Most Eminent Lord I perceive that the People will now forsake me, and go about to take away my life, I desire that a Solemn Procession may be made to this most holy Lady, for being to die, I shall then die with greater content; The Church being full of People, Massanello went to the Altar, and taking a Crucifix in his hand, he commended, himself to the People, remembering then what great things he had done for them; the difficulties he had encountered with, and the hatred that he had procured to himself thereby, etc. and then prostrating himself at the Archbishop's Feet, he desired him to send the Viceroy word, That he would willingly renounce his Command, and resign it into his Excellency's hand; which the Archbishop promised him to do, and seeing him all in a sweat, he conveyed him into a Dormitory to be refreshed, and so he left him.  
Massanello after a while went into the Hall, and some that were hired to murder him, rushed into the room, crying aloud, Let the King of Spain live, and let none hereafter upon pain of death obey Massanello. Massanello seeing them, said, You go perhaps to search for me, behold me here my people; Whereupon some shot at him, and he crying out, Ah ingrateful Traitors, fell down dead; Then came a Butcher and cut off his Head, and carried it upon a Lance, first into the Church, and then to the Marketplace, crying out, Let the King of Spain live, Massanello is dead, Massanello is dead; and withal they discharged some Harquebuses, whereupon the affrighted people slunk away, not daring to Revenge their Captain's death; so that they carried his head up and down the City, and the Boys dragged his Body up and down the Streets, and at last his head was thrown into one Ditch, and his Body into another; And thus as the Almighty for the sins of the Egyptians punished them by small and inconsiderable means, so did he Correct, Humble, and Chastise the Stately, proud City of Naples by so mean a Person, who in ten day's time acted the part of the Greatest Monarch upon Earth, and then fell to the lowest Contempt, and died the most vile death of the greatest Malefactor. Thus Massanello being raised by the popular Air, slain and scorned by the same people, Honoured and Idolised by the same persons, may be compared to a Ball tossed up and down by Fortune; The voice went afterward that a Chapel should be built for him, and the prime Wits of Naples composed several Epitaphs upon him, amongst which, the following is thus Englished by J. H. Esq,  

Massanello's Lamentation concerning the People of Naples.  
I did expect from thee a better Fate  
Ingrateful City, People more ungrate;  
Thou chop'st his Neck who did thy Head unthrall;  
Faithful thou art, yet hast no Faith at all.  
I did not have my Fishing as some say,  
But still employed my Nets, to catch and lay  
The Gabels on the ground; The Royal Throne  
I brought into the Market; every Stone  
Can witness it; The Nobles I did quell  
Thou still shalt live, but I must fry in Hell:  
While my dragged body bleeds, so basely slain,  
Thou Triumphest in the Freedom I did gain.  
Learn hence ye Mortals all  
Be not too rash and bold  
To fight for other Men  
Lest you be bought and sold.   
Clarks Mirror, part 1. p. 518.  
LXXIII. And as Inferior Persons, so likewise small and Contemptible things, as Beasts, Birds, Infects, and the like, have been Scourges and wonderful Afflictions to several People and Nations; For we read, That Sapores King of Persia besieged the Christian City of Nisibis, but St. James the Holy Bishop thereof by his Prayers to Heaven, obtained that such an infinite number of Gnats came into his Army, as put it into the greatest disorder, these small Creatures flew upon the Eyes of their Horses and Tormented them in such a manner, that growing furious they threw off their Riders, and the whole Army was thereby so scattered and brought into confusion, that they were enforced to break up their siege and departed. Luther Colloquia, p. 245.  
LXXIV. Marcus Varro writeth, That there was a Town in Spain undermined with Rabbits. Another likewise in Thessaly by Moles or Molewarps. In Africa the people were compelled by Locusts to leave their Habitations; and out of Gyaros an Island, one of the Cycladeses, the Islanders were forced by Rats and Mice to fly away; Moreover in Italy the City Amyclae was destroyed by Serpents. In Ethiopia there is a great Country lies waste and Desert, by reason it was formerly dis-peopled by Scorpions and a sort of Pismires; And if it be True that Theophrast●s reporteth, the Treriens were chased away by certain worms called Scolopendres; Annius writes, that an Ancient City situate near the Volscian Lake, and called Contenebra was in times past overthrown by Pismires, and that the place is thereupon vulgarly called to this day, The Camp of Aunts; In Media, saith Diodorus Siculus, There was such an infinite number of Sparrows that eat up and devoured the seed which was cast into the ground, that men were constrained to departed their old Habitations, and remove to other places.  
LXXV. About the year of our Lord 872, came into France such an innumerable Company of Locusts, that the vast multitude of them darkened the very Light of the Sun, they were likewise of a very extraordinary Bigness, and had a six-fold Order of Wings, six feet, and two Teeth, the hardness whereof surpassed that of a Stone; These eat up every green thing in all the Fields of France; At last by the force of the Winds, they were carried into the Sea, and there drowned; After which by the Agitation of the Waves, the dead Bodies of them were cast upon the Shores; and from the Stench of them, together with the Famine they had made with their former devouring, there arose so great a Plague, that it was verily thought every third person in France died thereof. In one of the Cities of France the Inhabitants were driven out and forced to leave it by reason of the multitude of Frogs. Gualterus Chron. p. 599.  
LXXVI. The Island of Anaphe heretofore had not a Partridge in it, till such time as an Astypalaean brought thither a pair that were Male and Female, which couple in a short time did increase in such wonderful manner that oppressed with the number of them, the Inhabitants upon the point were enforced to departed from the Island; Astypalaea of old had no Hares in it, but when one of the Isle of Anaphe had put a brace into it, they in a short time so increased, that they almost destroyed whatever the Inhabitants had sowed; whereupon they sent, saith the Historian, to consult the Oracle concerning this their Calamity, which advised them to store themselves with Greyhounds, by the help of which they killed six Thousand Hares in the space of a year, and many more afterwards, whereby they were delivered from their Grievance. The Inhabitants of the Gymnesian Islands are reported to have sent their Ambassadors to Rome, to request some other place to be assigned them for their Habitation, because they were oppressed by the incredible number of Coneys among them; And the Baleares through an extraordinary increase of the same Creatures among them did Petition the Emperor Augustus, that he would send them some Soldiers against these Enemies of theirs which had already occasioned a Famine amongst them. Plin. Nat. Hist. lib. 8.  
LXXVII. Myas (saith Dr. Heylin) was a principal City in jonia upon an Arm of the Sea, but in aftertimes, the water drawing further off the Land, brought forth such an innumerable multitude of Fleas, that the Inhabitants were fain to forsake the City, and went with their Bag and Baggage to retire to Miletus, nothing hereof being left but the Name and Memory in the time of Pausanias. And Herodotus writes; That the Neuri a People bordering upon the Scythians, were forced out of their Habitation and Country by reason of Serpents. For whereas a multitude of Serpents are bred in the Soil itself, at that time there came upon them such an abundance of them, and so infested them, that they were constrained to quit the place, and to dwell among the Budini. Cassander in his return from Apollonia met with the People called Abderitae, who by reason of the multitude of Frogs and Mice were constrained to departed from their Native Soil, and to seek out Habitations for themselves elsewhere; The Country of Troas is exceedingly given to breed great store of Mice, so that already they have enforced the Inhabitants to quit the place and departed. Justin. Hist. Lib. 15.  
LXXVIII. In the 17th. year of the Reign of Alexander the third King of the Scots, such an incredible swarm of Palmer Worms, spread themselves over both Scotland and England, that they consumed the Fruits and Leaves of all Trees and Herbs, and eat up the Words and other Plants to the very Stalks and Stump of them; As also the same year by an unusual increase and swelling of the Sea, the Rivers overflowed their Banks, and there was such an Inundation especially of the Tweed and Forth, that divers Villages were overturned thereby, and a great number both of men, and all sorts of Cattle perished in the Waters, Zuinglius Theat. Vol. 3. Lib. 2.  
LXXIX. About the year 1610, the City of Constantinople and the countries' thereabouts were so plagued with Clouds of Grasshoppers that they darkened the beams of the Sun; they left not a green herb or leaf in all the Country, yea they entered into their very Bedchambers, to the great Annoyance of the Inhabitants, being almost as big as Dormice with red Wings. Knowls' Hist. of the Turks, p. 1308.  
Thus we see there is nothing so small and inconsiderable in our Eyes, but may be able to disturb, yea to destroy us even when we are in the fullness of our sufficiency.  
LXXX. Strange was the Accident which we find reported in the Treasury of Times as followed; In the year 1563, Upon St. Andrews Day in the presence of Mounsieur Brother to King Charles, and afterward Henry the third King of France, Monsieur de Humier made report of the following History, the sum of whose Relation I have thus abridged; In Picardy in the Forest of Arden, certain Gentlemen undertook a Hunting of Wolves, amongst others they slew a She-wolf, that was followed by a young Boy, aged about seven years, stark naked, of a strange Complexion, with fair curled hair, who seeing die Wolf dead, ran fiercely at them, but was beset and taken; the Nails of his Hands and Feet bowed inward, he spoke nothing, but sent out an inarticulate sound, they brought him thence to a Gentleman's House not far off, where they put Iron Manacles upon his Hands and Feet; in the end by being long kept Fasting, they had brought him to a Tameness, and in seven months had taught him to speak; He was afterward by Circumstance of time, and six Fingers he had on one hand, known to be the Child of a Woman, who stealing Wood was pursued by the Officers, and in her fright left her Chile then about nine Months old, which as is supposed was carried away by the She-wolf aforesaid, and by her nourished to the time of his taking. When his Guardians had got much money by showing him from place to place, he afterward was a Herdsman of Sheep and other Beasts for seven years; in all which time the Wolves never made any attempts on the Herds and Flocks committed to his charge, though he kept great store of Oxen, Kine, Calves, Horses, Mares, Sheep and Poultry; This was well observed by neighbouring Villages; and that they might participate of this Benefit they drove their Herds and Flocks where he kept his, and desired him but to struck his hands upon them, which he would do, with some of his phlegm or spittle upon them; after which done, (let others conjecture as they please) for the space of fifteen days, Dogs of the greatest fierceness, nor any Wolves would by any urgency touch them; By this means he got great store of money, for he would have a double Turnois, which is the value of twopences in that Country, for every Beast he so laid his hands on, or stroked their Ears; But as all things have a certain Period, so when he had attained to past fourteen years of Age, this Virtue which he had, left him; himself observed that the Wolves would not come so near him as before, but keep aloof off, as being fearful of him, which possibly might proceed from the change of his Complexion and Temperature through so long alteration from his Wolvish Diet, which was raw Flesh, etc. His gain by this means failed, and he went to the Wars, where he proved Brave, Bold, and Valiant; at length he fell to be a Thief, excelling all others in craft and subtlety, he was slain 1572. by the Soldiers of the Duke of Alva, though he sold his Life at a dear rate, even with the death of a great many of his Enemies. Treasury of Times, Lib. 7. ch. 37.  
LXXXI. In the year 1534. This notable piece of Fallacy was acted by the Franciscans at Orleans in France, a chief Judge's Wife dying, desired of her Husband that she might be buried in the Franciscans Church, which was done accordingly, and the Judge gave them six Pistols, which was a Reward far beneath their expectation and Avarice, but they hoped for some amends by the fall of a Wood, which the Judge was to cut, and accordingly they desired some Trees of him, which he denied them; This defeat did so exasperate the Franciscans, that they resolved to be revenged, and to that purpose, they reported abroad, That the Judge's Wife was damned in Hell for ever; To carry on this Villainy more secretly and effectual, they hired a young man to make hideous noises about the Church at the time of their Public Devotions; and the Prior of that Order (who had used many such cheats) was to play the Conjurer; and had so ordered it, that the young man should not answer to any Question but by signs, which were agreed upon between the Lad and the Prior, who was to explain them to the Spectators; Accordingly when the young man had amused and frighted the people with his dreadful Tricks; The Conjurer boldly asked him, whether he were a Spirit or not, and if a Spirit, whose Spirit he was; repeating the names of all such as had been buried there of late; and when he named the Judge's Wife, he made a sign, That he was his spirit; Then the Conjurer asked, if she were damned, and for what offence, whether for Covetousness, Lust, Pride, or Lutheranism, etc. and what he meant by those Clamours, and that unquietness which he made, whether the body must be digged up and carried elsewhere, etc. To all which the Spirit answered, Yea; But the Judge hearing of it, and knowing their Juggling, complained to the King and Parliament of Paris, procuring a Commission to examine the Business, whereby the Knavery of the Franciscans was discovered, and the Actors punished according to their deserts. Lavater de Spectris ch. 8.  
LXXXII. Notable has been the subtlety and prudence of some men in the Discovery of difficult matters; Lipsius writes, That Rodolphus Austriacus Emperor of Germany, being at Norimberg, intent upon the public Affairs of the Empire, a Merchant presented himself before him, imploring his Justice upon an Innkeeper well known in that City, who as he said had cheated him of two Hundred Marks in Silver, which having deposited in his hands, he had impudently denied the Receipt of any such sum; and withal did most injuriously detain it; The Emperor asked him, what Evidence he had of the Truth of what he had spoken, who replied (as it is usual in such Cases,) That he had none other but himself; The Emperor therefore considering the Thing, apprehended that some subtlety must be used to find but the Truth of the business; He inquires what manner of Bag it was wherein the pretended Money was delivered; The Merchant describes the Shape, Colour, and other particularities of it; The Emperor commands him to withdraw into the next room and there to attend; It was his purpose to send for the Innkeeper, but Fortune disposed it otherwise and more commodiously; For the chief men of the City, as it is usual, came to present and wait upon the Emperor, amongst whom was this Cozening Host; The Emperor knew him before, and (as he was very courteous,) in a jesting way said to him, Sir, you have a very handsome hat, pray give it me and let us change; The Innkeeper was proud of the Honour, and readily presented his Hat; The Emperor retired a while, as if he were called off by public business, and sends a Trusty and well known Inhabitant of the same City to the Wife of the Innkeeper, with Order he should say, Your Husband desires you would send him such a Bag of money, for he has special occasion for it, and by this token that this is his Hat. The Woman delivers it without scruple, and he returns with it to the Emperor, who then calling the Merchant, shows him the Bag, and asks if he knew it; The man owns it with Joy; The Emperor than calls in the Host, and says thus, This man complains of you, and accuses you of perfidiousness and falsehood, what say you to it? The Innkeeper replied, That the Merchant told him lies, or else was mad, and that he neither hath, nor ever had any thing to do with him; The Emperor upon this immediately produceth the Bag, at the sight of which the Host is confounded, his confidence and Tongue fail him, and thereupon he confessed the whole matter; The Merchant received his Money, and the Innkeeper, besides the shame and disgrace was fined by the Emperor in a good Sum of Money, & Rodolphus extolled for his Wisdom, the same of this Action spreading itself through all Germany. Lipsius' Monit. l. 2.  
LXXXIII. Of the like nature is the following History related by N. Causin; A Roman Lady left Widow by the death of her Husband, had a Son born of this Marriage secretly stolen from her, and bred up in Slavery in another Province, where being grown up to a young man; he had notice that he was the Son of such a Lady in Rome, which caused him to take a Voyage to Rome, with a purpose to make himself known to her, which he did by evident Tokens, so that the Mother received him into her house, with Joy and Tears for the recovery of her loss; She was at this time betrothed to a man who had often promised her Marriage, yet never accomplished it, and this Lover was then absent, detained by urgent Affairs far from Rome. At the end of thirty days he returned, and finding this New-Guest in her house, ●emanded who he was; She freely answered, He was her son; But he plainly told her, That if she sent not away this found Child from her Lodging, she should never have any share in his Affection; The unhappy Creature surprised with Love, to serve his Passion, renounceth her own Bowels, and banished her own Child from his Mother's House; The young man being in great necessity, hastens to require Justice of King Theodorick; He sends for the Lady, who stoutly denied all the pretensions of this young man, saying, That he was an ingrateful Impostor, who not content to have received the Charities and Benevolence of a poor Creature in her house, would needs challenge the Inheritance of Children, denying that she had any Motherly relation to him; The Son on the other side wept bitterly, and gave assurance, that she had acknowledged him as her own; very lively representing all the proofs which passion, and Interest put into his mind; The King tried all means to discover the design of this Lady, and asked her, Whether she were not resolved to marry again? She answered, That if she met with a man suitable to her, she would do what God should inspire her; The King replied, Behold this young man, whom since you have lodged as a Guest thirty days in your house, and have been so kind to him, what cause is there why you may not marry him, she answered, That he had no Estate, and she was worth a Thousand Crowns, which was a great Fortune in those days; Well, said Theodorick, I will give the young man as much for his Marriage, on this condition that you shall marry him. She much amazed, began to wax pale, blush, and tremble, seeking to excuse herself, but faltering in her speech, the King to affright her more, protested deeply, She should marry him presently, or tell the lawful Cause of the Impediment. The poor Woman condemned by the Voice of Nature which cried in her heart, and having horror of the Crime proposed to her, cast herself at the King's Feet with Tears, confessing her Love's Dissimulation and Mishap; Then this Great Prince taking the words from her, spoke thus; Are not you a miserable woman, said he, to renounce your own Flesh and blood for a Villain who hath so often deceived you; Get you to your house, forsake those fond Affections, and live in the condition of a good Widow, taking unto you such support, and assistance from your Son as he by nature ought to afford you. Causins' Holy Court. Tom. 1.  
LXXXIV, Josephus relates, There was a young Jew bred at Sydon with the freed man of a Roman Citizen, who having some resemblance of Alexander the son of Herod, (whom his Father had cruelly put to death) pretended he was the same Alexander, affirming That those to whom Herod had recommended this barbarous Execution, conceived such horror at it, that they resolved to save him, and to conceal him till after the death of his Father, in which time he remained at Sydon, and now was come as from the Gates of Death to demand his Right, as being the undoubted and lawful Heir of the Kingdom. This Impostor had gained a subtle Fellow, a Servant of Herod's Household, who taught him all the Affairs of the Court, the People embraced this Alexander as a man returned from the other World; when he saw himself strong in Credit and Coin, he was so confident as to go to Rome, to question the Right of the Crown against Herod's other Sons; He presented himself before Augustus Caesar, the distributer of Crowns, beseeching him to pity the Fortune of so wretched and poor a King, who threw himself at his Feet, as the Sanctuary of Justice and Mercy; Every one seemed already to favour him, as a Person much wronged; but Augustus a Monarch very penetrating, perceived this man tasted not of a Prince, for taking him by the hand he found his skin rough, as having exercised servile Labours; Hereupon the Emperor drew him aside, Saying, Content thyself to have hitherto abused all the world, but know thou art now before Augustus, I will pardon thee upon Condition thou discover the Truth of this matter, but if thou liest in any point, thou art utterly lost; The Man was so amazed at the Lustre of such Majesty, that throwing himself at his feet, he began to confess all the Contrivance; which done, the Emperor perceiving him to be none of the most impudent daring impostors, saved his life, but condemned him to the Galleys; The Tutor of this Counterfeit being observed by the Emperor to be of a Spirit more crafty, and accustomed to evil Practices, was ordered speedily to be put to death. Josephus Antiquit. lib. 17.  
LXXXV. Praxiteles the famous Artist in the making of Statues, had promised Phryne a beautiful Courtesan, the best and choice of all the pieces in his Shop, to take from thence one single Statue as should be most pleasing to her; but she not knowing which was most valuable, devised this Artifice to be satisfied therein, she caused one to come as in great haste, and to tell Praxiteles, That his Shop was on Fire; he being startled at the News, cried out, Is the picture of Cupid and the satire safe; By this Subtlety she found out, wherein the Artist himself believed he had expressed most skill, and thereupon she chose the Cupid. Zuinglius' Theatre, vol. 3. lib. 3.  
LXXXVI. Dr. Fuller relates this passage in his Holy State, That a poor Beggar in Paris being very hungry stayed so long in a Cook's Shop, who was dishing up his Meat till his Stomach was satisfied only with the smell thereof, The Choleric Cook demanded of him to pay for his Breakfast, the poor man denied it, and the Controversy was referred to the deciding of the next man who should pass by, which chanced to be the most notorious Idiot, and Changeling in the whole City, He, on the Relation of the matter determined, That the poor man's Money should be put between two empty dishes, and the Cook should be recompensed with the gingling of the poor man's Money, as he was satisfied with the smell only of the Cook's meat; and this is affirmed by credible Writers as no Fable but an undoubted Truth. Fuller's Holy State, lib. 3.  
LXXXVII. Antiochus the Son of Seleucus daily languished and wasted away under a disease, whereof the cause was uncertain, to the great Trouble and Affliction of his Father, who therefore sent for Erasistratus a famous Physician to attend the cure of his beloved Son; who addressing himself with his utmost dexterity to find out the root of his Infirmity, he perceived it was rather from the trouble of his Mind, than any effect of his Constitution; But when the Prince could not be prevailed with to make any such acknowledgement, by frequent feeling of his pulse, he observed it to beat with more Vigour and strength at the naming or presence of Stratonica, who was the beloved Concubine of his Father; Having made this discovery, and knowing the Prince would rather die than confess so dangerous a Love, he took this Course; He told Seleucus that his Son was a dead man, For, saith he, he languishes for the love of my Wife; And what said Seleucus, have I merited so little at thy hands that thou wilt have no respect to the Love of the young man? would you, said Erasistratus be content to serve the love of another in that manner? I would heaven, said Seleucus, would turn his love toward my dearest Stratonica; Well, said Erasistratus, you are his Father, and may be his Physician, he loves none but Stratonica. Seleucus immediately gave Stratonica to Antiochus, and Threescore Thousand Crowns as a reward to the prudent Physician. Camerarij Horae Sub. ch. 1.  
LXXXVIII. Camerarius tells out of Cedrenus, how the Queen of Sheba when she saw that Solomon had expounded all her hardest Riddles, caused one day certain young Boys and Girls apparelled all alike to be set before the King, none being able by their Faces and looks to discern the one Sex from the other, to the end that therein she might have further Trial of King Solomon's Wisdom; He knowing the Queen's intent, presently made some water to be brought in a great Basin, bidding them all to wash their Faces, by this device he easily discerned the Males from the Females, for the Boys rubbed their Faces hard and lustily, but the Girls being shamefaced did hardly touch theirs with their Finger's ends. Camerarii Horae subces. Cent 1.  
Thus we find Quickness of Apprehension and Maturity of Judgement are instead of the Cord and Pulley, whereby some men have prevailed to bring Truth to Light, when she hath lain reserved and concealed.  
LXXXIX. Various have been the means whereby some Persons have arrived to preferment, for I find, saith Muretus, it is related in the Commentaries of the Greeks, That Semiramis was the Concubine of one of the King of Assyria's Slaves; As soon as Ninus that Great Monarch had taken notice of her, he was so surprised with her Beauty and Wit, that he siezed her for himself, and by degrees she gained such an Empire over him that he could deny her nothing, nor was there any thing but she durst ask; And when once she had let fall in discourse, There was one thing she did earnestly desire, and he had bid her freely and openly speak it, whatever it was; I have desired, said she, to sit one day in your Throne and to do Justice, and that for that whole day all should obey me as they do you; The King smiling, granted her Request, and forthwith sent out his Edict, That on such a day all men whatsoever should obey the Commands of Semiramis, for such was the King's pleasure; When the day came, the Lady ascends the Throne in her Royal Apparel, a mighty Concourse there was, she at first to try their obedience, commands something to be done of no great moment; when she perceived she was exactly obeyed in all her Precepts, she commands the Guards of the King's Body, that they seize the King himself; It is done, the King is brought; She order him to be bound, it is performed, she commands that they strike off his head, she is presently obeyed, and though hereby we may observe the great Folly of this Prince, and the base Ingratitude of such kind of Cattle, she being advanced by him; Yet by this means she prolonged the date of her Empire many years, which she ruled with great wisdom, success and glory. Aelian. Vari. Hist. Lib. 7. Ch. 1.  
XC. In the time of William Rufus King of England, there was one Roger a poor Priest serving a cure in a Village near Caen in Normandy, It chanced that Henry the King's youngest brother passing that way, made some stay in the Village, and being desirous to hear Mass, this Roger then Curate, was the man to say it; which he dispatched with such speed and celerity, that the Soldiers who commonly love not long prayers, commended him for it, telling their Lord, That there could not be found a fit Priest for men of War than he; Whereupon Henry appointed him to follow him, and when he came to be King, preferred him to many great places, and at last to be Chancellor of England, and Bishop of Salisbury; When King Stephen came to the Crown, he held this man in as great account as his Predecessor King Henry had done, and perhaps in greater; He arrived to such wealth, that he built the Castles of Salisbury, the vieth, Sherburn, Malmsbury and Newark, to which there were no structures comparable in the Kingdom; He had also Forty Thousand Marks in Money, which together with his Castles, the King siezed into his own hands upon Displeasure. Baker's Chronicle. Page 71.  
XCI. There was in the City of Capua (saith Sir Walter Raleigh) an ambitious Noble man called Pacuvius Calavius, his credit grew, and was upheld by furthering all popular desires, there was at this time a Plebeian faction in the Town, and that so prevalent, that all was governed by the pleasure of the multitude; who likewise wholly followed the direction of this Pacuvius. The People had promised to yield up the Town to Hannibal, and to meet him on the way to them with so many of the Nobility; but they were unable to maintain any such Negotiation, without the consent of the Senate, and the Senate highly opposed it; The People therefore were incensed against the Senate, for having occasioned them to fail their new friend Hannibal; and withal since they had by this their promise discovered themselves, they feared lest their own Senate, together with the Romans, should hold them in stricter subjection than before; This fear being ready to break into some outrage, Pacuvius made use of to serve his own ambition thus; He discoursed to the Senate as they sat in Council, about these motions troubling their City, and said, That he himself had both married a Roman Lady, and given his Daughter in Marriage to a Roman; But that the danger of forsaking the Roman Party was not now the greatest, because the people were violently bend to Murder all the Senate, and after to join themselves with Hannibal, who should countenance the fact, and save them harmless; This he spoke as a man well known to be beloved by the People; Having throughly terrified the Senate, by laying open the danger hanging over them, he promised them nevertheless to deliver them all, and to set things in quiet, if they would freely put themselves into his hands, offering his Oath, or any other assurance they should demand, for his faithful meaning; To this they all agreed, and then shutting up the Court, and placing a guard of his own Followers about it, that none might enter or issue forth without his leave; He called the People to Assembly, and speaking as much evil of the Senate as he knew they would be glad to hear, he told them, That these wicked Governors were surprised by his policy, and all fast, ready to abide what sentence they should lay upon them; Only thus much he advised them, as a thing which necessity required, That they should choose a new Senate, before they satisfied their anger upon the old; So rehearsing to them the names of two or three Senators, he asked what their judgement was of these, all cried out, That they were worthy of death; Choose then, said he, first of all new ones in their places; Hereat the multitude unprovided for such an Election were silent, until at last some one or other adventured to name whom he thought fit; The men so nominated were utterly disliked by the whole Assembly, either for some fault, baseness, or insufficiency, or else even because they were obscure and unknown, and therefore held unworthy; The difficulty of the New Election appearing more and more, whilst more were to be chosen, and the fittest men who were first named, being already rejected, Pacuvius entreated, and easily persuaded the people, That the present Senate might at this time be spared, in hopes of amendment hereafter; which doubtless would be, having thus obtained pardon for all offences past; Henceforth not only the people, as in former times, honoured Pacuvius, and esteemed him their Patron; but the Senators also were wholly governed by him, as a person to whom they acknowledged themselves indebted for the safety of their lives. Raleigh's Hist. World. Lib. 5.  
XCII. Alfred King of the West Saxons, went one day on hunting, and passing by a certain wood, he heard as he supposed the cry of an Infant from the top of a Tree, he diligently inquired of the Huntsmen what that was, commanding one of them to climb the Tree, where in the top of it was found an eagle's Nest, and therein a pretty sweet faced Infant, wrapped up in a Purple Mantle, and upon each Arm a Bracelet of Gold, a sign of the Nobility of his Parents; This Child the King carried with him, caused him to be Baptised, and from the nest wherein he was found, he gave him the name of Nesting; after he had given him noble Education, he advanced him to the Dignity of an Earl. Monasticon Anglic. Tom. 1. Pag. 256.  
XCIII. Sir Walter Raleigh was born at Bewdly in Devonshire; His introduction to the Court was upon this occasion; This Captain Raleigh coming out of Ireland into the English Court in good habit, his  being then a considerable part of his Estate, found Queen Elizabeth walking, till meeting with a watery plashy place, she seemed to scruple going thereon, presently Raleigh spread his new plush Cloak on the ground, whereon the Queen trod gently, rewarding him afterwards with many suits for his so free and seasonable tender of so fair a foot-cloth; An advantageous admittance into the first notice of a Prince, is more than half a degree of preferment; When Sir Walter found some hopes of the Queen's favour reflecting on him, he wrote in a glass window, plain and obvious to the Queen's eye.  
Fain would I climb but that I fear to fall,  
The Queen espying, or else being shown it, did underwrite.  
If thy heart fail thee do not climb at all.  
Raleigh soon improved this stock of favour to a great advantage, and in a short time became a Minion to the Queen, obtaining her ear, is often consulted, and nothing done without him; and she being willing to encourage him, who, as Mr. Cambden saith, was never sufficiently to be commended for the great pains he took to discover remote Countries; and to advance the glory of the English Navigation and Trade, sent him on a Voyage to Sea; Nor did he make a vain and fruitless one, for at his return he brought news of a new Country discovered by him in the year 1584. called in honour of the Queen Virginia, being before named by the barbarous Inhabitants Wingandacoa; which hath been since of no inconsiderable profit to the Nation; But though Patents were granted to him to settle a Plantation there, it grew not famous till the Reign of King James, when this Nation found out the Excellency and fruitfulness of the place, so agreeable to English bodies, and profitable to the Exchequer; Nature is there prodigal, and makes amends for her parsimony in other parts of the world; an Acre there often yieldeth Forty Bushels of Corn, though (which is more strange) there be three Harvests in a year; for their Corn is sowed, ripe, and cut down in little more than two Months; For this and other beneficial Expeditions and Designs, he is Knighted by Queen Elizabeth; And in the year 1592. The Queen resolving to assault the Spaniard at a distance in revenge of his intended Invasion in 1588. She sent Raleigh to America with fifteen Men of War to possess himself of Panama, where the Spaniards Ship their Plate, or at least to fall upon, and intercept them in their Passage; but the King of Spain having Intelligence thereof, sent express command that no Ship should stir from the West-Indies that year so that this design was prevented; After this he set sail to Guiana, where he performed very considerable Service.  
In 1596. The Queen rigs out a brave Fleet consisting of 150 Ships, Manned with 6360 Soldiers, 1000 Volunteer Gentlemen, 6772 Seamen, with which she is resolved to fall upon the Spaniard at home; The Earl of Essex, and the Lord Howard were Commanders of equal Authority, having been both at excessive charge in carrying on the War; To these were joined a Council of War, consisting of several eminent Seamen and Soldiers, among whom was Sir Walter Raleigh; The Fleet was divided into four Squadrons, the first commanded by the Lord Admiral Howard, the second by the Earl of Essex; the Third by Sir Tho. Howard and the fourth by Sir Walter Raleigh; In the beginning of June they set sail for Cales, and soon got to Gades, their Design being perfectly unknown as well to their Enemies as their own men; The Ebbing waters would not permit the Great Ships to engage, the shelves being of greater hazard than the Enemy; Therefore Raleigh is pitched upon as the most proper Person, in the midst of the Channel to provoke them, who accordingly in a little Ship called the Warspight, directed his Prow against the Spanish Men of War, who thereupon presently fell back; Upon this the rest of the Fleet came in, and burnt and took several of their Ships; After this Victory at Sea, the Men were very importunate to go on shore, whom Essex landed at Puntal a League from the City; At first the Spaniards received them with a great deal of Courage, but the English charged them so warmly that they thought it the best way to retire with more speed than they came out; The English pursued so close, that they had almost recovered the City Gates as soon as they; The Earl got upon a Bulwark near the Gate, and from thence he espied an entrance into the Town, but very hazardous it being a precipice, but this did not affright several of our English, who leapt from thence into the Town, and engaged the Enemy in the Streets.  
In the mean time Sir W. Raleigh and others having forced the Gates, entered the Town, and the Castle was surrendered upon merciful Conditions, but Sir Walter was not Idle, or eager after the enjoyment of the Conquest; For whilst others were reaping the plentiful Harvest of War, he with some small Ships who could pass up the Channel, fired their Merchant Men, who were withdrawn to Port Real, altho' they offered two Million of Ducats for their Redemption; Great were the Losses of the Spaniards by this War; and if we may believe our Histories, amounted to no less than Twenty Millions of Ducats, upon Consultation it was resolved to quit the Town, though contrary to the Opinion of Essex, who was for keeping it as a future annoyance to the Spaniards; At their return the Queen welcomed and encouraged her Soldiers with new Honours; Raleigh continued in her Favour to the last; but when King James came to take possession of the Kingdom, Sir John Fortescue, the Lord Cobham, Sir Walter Raleigh and others, would have obliged the King by Articles before his coming to the Crown, that his Countreymens' numbers should be limited, but this was stopped by the Treasurer, and the Earl of Northumberland; Sir Walter feared, that the Scots like Locusts would quickly devour this Kingdom, It being probable, that like the Goths and Vandals they would settle in any Country rather than their own, and would make it their business to render our Nation as poor as their own, for this he with the rest of them, were afterwards frowned on by the King, and lost his Command of the Guards.  
However Sir Walter still pursued the good and Glory of his Country, and as formerly in active times, gave his Advice against the Peace with Spain, who might now with no great difficulty be brought on his knees; At the entrance of the King, he presented him with a Manuscript of his own Writing, with no weak Arguments against Peace; But Sir Walter was mistaken, for his Counsel was ill timed, and a new Part was now to be acted, the Scene being changed; Peace was the King's aim, whether out of Fear or Religious Principles is not determined; But with Spain a Peace is concluded, though an Enemy already humbled, who had now time to recover their Losses, and were as it were cherished to assault us with the greater Vigour; and the success thereof every one knows; and as if the King would go quite contrary to Queen Elizabeth's Politics, the Hollanders are despised, flighted, and deserted, under pretence, that it was of ill Example for a Monarch to protect them.  
And now (though somewhat contrary to my method) it may not be unuseful to give a brief Account of the fall of this once Great Favourite; King James is hardly warm in his Throne but there is a great noise of a Plot generally called Sir Walter Raleighs Treason, but upon what grounds is uncertain, since at his Trial it appeared he had the least hand in it; A Plot that is still a Mystery, and hath a Veil spread over it, A Plot composed of such a hodg-podg of Religion and Interests that the World stands amazed, Sir Walter Raleigh should be drawn into it; A Plot so unlikely to hurt others or benefit themselves, that as Osborn says, If ever Folly was capable of the Title, or Pity due to Innocence, theirs might claim so large a share as not possibly to be too severely condemned, or slightly enough punished; Envy and Disdain (as Sir Walter has told us in his Remains) seek Innovation by Faction; Discontent is the great Seducer which at first put him to search into a Plot he afterward was betrayed into; The chief Ingredients of this Medley were two Popish Priests, Watson and Clark, and Count Aremberg Ambassador Extraordinary from the Archduke of Austria, who brought in the Lord Cobham, and he his brother George Brook, both seeming Protestants; Brook drew in Sir Edward Parham and others, and they the Lord Grey of Wilton, a zealous Puritan; then came in Sir Walter Raleigh, the wisest of them all (says Mr. Sanderson) who dallilied, says he, like a fly in the Flame till it consumed him, Willing he was to know the Design, and thought by his Wit to overreach the Confederates, whom he knew well enough, though he dealt with none but Cobham; One Mr. Laurency an Antwerp Merchant was made use of by Count Aremberg, and was an intimate of the Lord Cobham's, these says Sanderson, carried on the contrivance a great while, which at last was betrayed by Laurency, and the Vigilancy of the Lord Cecil. And indeed it was morally impossible that so many disagreeing weak Souls should carry on a Project without taking Air, the least glimpse being enough to give Light to the Statesmen of those times.  
The Design they were charged with was, 1. To set the Crown on the head of the Lady Arabella Stewart, or to seize the King, and make him grant their desires, or a Pardon; and that Lord Cobham should say to Brook, It will never be well in England till the King and his Cubs be taken away. 2. To have a Toleration of Religion. 3. To procure Aid and Assistance, from Foreign Princes. 4. To turn out of the Court such as they disliked, and place themselves in Offices. Watson to be Lord Chancellor, George Brook Lord Treasurer, Sir Griffin Markham Secretary of State; Lord Grey to be Master of the Horse, and Earl Marshal of England; But it seems they made no Provision for Raleigh, which is no inconsiderable Argument of his Innocency, who could have deserved, and might have expected as great a reward as any of them had he been engaged in the Plot; To oblige to Secrecy, Watson draws up an Oath; But all is betrayed, they are Seized, Examined and Tried at Winchester, Nou. 17. 1603. and the Lord Cobham, George Brook, his Brother, Thomas Lord Grey of Wilton, Sir Walter Raleigh, Sir Griffith Markham, and Sir Edward Parham Knights, Bartholomew Brooksby, and Anthony Copley Gentlemen, W. Watson, W. Clark Priests, were all found guilty of Treason, (except Sir Edward Parham who was acquitted;) and Watson and Clark were executed Nou. 29. George Brook was beheaded, Decemb. 5. but here the hand of Justice stayed, the Lord Cobham, Lord Grey, and Sir Griffith Markham were pardoned at the place of Execution; Sir Walter Raleigh was left to the King's Mercy, who thought him too great a Malcontent to have his Freedom, and probably too innocent to lose his Life. Therefore he is confined to the Tower, where he writ that excellent History of the World, wherein the only fault or defect rather is, that it wanteth one half thereof, which was occasioned as it is commonly related, thus; Some few days before he suffered, he sent for Mr. Walter Burr, who formerly printed his first Volume of the History of the World, and ask him how it sold, Mr. Burr answered, It sold so slowly that it had undone him; At which words Sir Walter stepping to his Desk, reaches his other unprinted part of his History, which he had brought down to the times he lived in, and clapping his hand upon his breast said with a sigh; Ah my friend, hath the first part undone thee, the second Part shall undo no more; this ungrateful World is unworthy of it; and immediately going to the Fireside threw it in, and set his Foot upon it till it was consumed; As great a loss to Learning as Christendom could have sustained, and the greater because it could be repaired by no hand but his.  
While Sir Walter was thus confined, Death took away his Mortal Enemy Sir Robert Cecil, after Earl of Salisbury, who had purchased the Monopoly of Favour, and being jealous of Sir Welter's Abilities, had some fear he might supplant him, which was the cause, says Osborn, that he was brought to the aforementioned Trial; However Sir Walter outlived his Designs and Hatred, and for all kindnesses bestowed on him the following Epitaph, which is certainly affirmed to be his; King James was so taken with the smartness of them, that he hoped the Author would die before him; The Verses are these, 
Here lies Hobnial our Pastor while ere  
That once in a Quarter our Fleeces did share  
To please us, his Cur he kept under Clog  
And was ever after both Shepherd and Dog;  
For Oblation to Pan, his Custom was thus,  
He first gave a Trifle, then offered up us;  
And through his false worship such power he did gain  
As kept him o'th' Mountain, and us on the Plain;  
Where many an Hornpipe he tuned to his Phillis,  
And sweetly sung Walsingham to's Amaryllis,  
Till Atropos clapped him a P— on the Drab  
For spite of his Tar-box he died of the Scab.   
If the Reader desires a key to these Verses, he may have it in Osborn's Memoirs; Fourteen years Sir Walter had spent in the Tower, (of whom Prince Henry would say, That no King but his Father would keep such a Bird in a Cage) and being weary of Confinement, his Destiny brought him to his end by Liberty, which it could not do by Imprisonment; For out of a longing for Liberty, he propounded a Project to the King, upon which, being a well spoken man, and of great Capacity, he set such colours of Probability, especially guilding it over with the Gold he would fetch from a Mine Guiana in the West-Indies, without any wrong at all to the King of Spain, that the King granted him a limited Commission to undertake it, and thereupon with divers Ships accompanied with many Knights and Gentlemen of Quality, he set forward on the Voyage, but when after long search, no such Place nor Treasure could be found, he fell upon St. Thome, a Town belonging to the King of Spain, Sacked, Pillaged, and Burnt it; And here was the first part of his Tragical Voyage Acted, in the death of his Eldest Son, the last part was acted in his own death at his return; For Gundamore the Spanish Ambassador did so aggravate this Fact to the King against him, that it seemed nothing would give satisfaction but Raleighs head, without which he seemed to threaten a breach between the two Nations; Raleigh excused his Actions, and sent this Defence thereof in a Letter to King James;  
May it please your most Excellent Majesty,  
If in my Journey outward bound I had my men murdered at the Island of St. Thomas, and yet spared to take revenge; If I did discharge some Spanish Barks taken without Spoil; If I did forbear all Parts of the Spanish Indies, wherein I might have taken twenty of their Towns on the Seacoasts, and did only Fellow the Enterprise I undertook for Guiana, where without any directions from me a Spanish Village was burnt which was new set up within three miles of the Mine; by your Majesty's favour I find no reason why the Spanish Ambassador should complain of me; If it were lawful for the Spaniards to murder twenty six Englishmen, binding them back to back, and then cutting their Throats, when they had Traded with them a whole Month, and came to them on the Land without so much as one Sword, and that it may not be lawful for your Majesty's subjects being charged first by them, to repel Force by Force, we may justly say, Oh miserable English; If Parker and Metham took Campeach, and other Places in the Honduras, seated in the Heart of the Spanish Indies,  Towns, killed the Spaniards, and had nothing said to them at their return, and myself forbore to look into the Indies because I would not offend; I may justly say, O miserable Sir Walter Raleigh! If I spent my poor Estate, lost my Son, suffered by sickness and otherwise a World of Miseries; If I have resisted with the manifest hazard of my life, the Robberies and Spoils which my Company would have made; If when I was poor I have made myself Rich; If when I had gotten my Liberty (which all men and Nature itself do so much prize) I voluntarily lost it; If when I was sure of my life I rendered it again; If I might elsewhere have sold my Ship and Goods, and put five or six Thousand pound in my pocket, and yet have brought her into England; I beseech your Majesty to believe, that all this I have done, because it should not be said to your Majesty, That your Majesty had given Liberty and Trust to a Man, whose end was only the Recovery of his Liberty, and who had betrayed your Majesty's Trust; My Mutineers told me, ' That if I returned for England I should be undone; But I believed in your Majesty's Goodness more than in all their Arguments; Sure I am that I am the first that being free, and able to enrich myself, have embraced Poverty and Peril; and as sure I am that my Example shall make me the last; But your Majesty's Wisdom, and Goodness I have made my Judges, who have ever been and shall ever be  
Your Majesty's most humble Vassal, Walter Raleigh.  
Before Sir Walter made this Voyage, the King commanded him upon pain of his Allegiance to give him under his hand (promising on the word of a King to keep it secret) the number of his Men, the Burden and Strength of his Ships, together with the Country and River he was to enter, which being done accordingly by Sir Walter, That very Original Paper was found in the Spanish Governors' Closet at St. Thoma, so active were the Spanish Ministers that Advertisement was sent to Spain, and thence to the Indies before the English Fleet got out of the Thames; But now no Apology though never so persuasive could satisfy G●ndamores Rage, who as soon as news came of the firing St Thoma, desired Audience of the King, and 〈◊〉 he had but one word to say; His Majesty wondering 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 be delivered in one word, when he came before him he only bawled out, Pirates, Pirates, Pirates; And was therefore now resolved to sacrifice the only Favourite left of Queen Elizabeth, to the Spanish Interest, and who was the only Person of the Earl Essex's Enemies that died lamented, and the only Man of Note left alive that had helped to beat the Spaniard in 1588.  
When Sir Walter was arrived at Plymouth, Sir Lewes Steukly seized him, and was ordered by the King to bring him to London, which could add no Terror to a Person who could expect nothing less; and was now forced to use all the Arts imaginable to appease Hls Majesty and defer his Anger; To which intent Manowry a French Quack at Salisbury gave him several Vomits, and an Artificial Composition, which made him look Ghastly and Dreadful, full of Pimples and Blisters, and deceived even the Physicians themselves, who could not tell what to make of his Urine (though often inspected) it being adulterated with a Drug in the Glass that turned it even in their hands into an earthy humour of a blackish colour and of a very Offensive Savour; while he lay under this Politic disguise, he penned his Dedication and Apology aforementioned, when he was brought to London, he was confined only to his own house, but finding the Court wholly guided by Gundamore, he could hope for little Mercy, therefore he designed to escape into France, which Sir Lewes Steukly betrayed; but the Fate of Traitors pursued him and brought him to a Contemptible end, to die a poor distracted Beggar in the Isle of Lindey, having for a Bag of Money falsified his Faith, confirmed by the tye of the Holy Sacrament (as Mr. Howel relates) and also before the year came about was found clipping the same very Coin (in the Kings own Palace at Whitehal) which he had received for a reward of his Perfidiousness; for which being condemned to be hanged, he was forced to sell himself to his Shirt to purchase his Pardon of two Knights.  
The King being willing to Sacrifice the life of Sir Walter Raleigh to the advancement of the peace with Spain; Upon St. Simon and Judes day, the Lieutenant of the Tower had a Warrant to bring his Prisoner to the King's Bench Bar in Westminster-Hall, where the Attorney General demanded Execution according to the Judgement pronounced against him at Winchester; The Lord Chief Justice caused the Indictment, Verdict, and Judgement to be read, and after asked him, What he could say, why he should not die according to Law? His answer was, That this 15 Years he had lived upon the mere mercy of the King, and did now wonder how his mercy should be now turned into Judgement, he not knowing any thing wherein he had provoked His Majesty's displeasure, and did hope that he was clear from that Judgement by the King's Commission in making him General of the Voyage to Guiana; For, as he conceived, the words, to his trusty and well beloved Subject, etc. did in themselves imply a pardon; But the Attorney General told him, these words were not sufficient for that purpose; whereupon he desired the opinion of the Court; To which the Lord Chief Justice replied, That it was no pardon in Law; Then began Sir Walter to give an account of his Voyage; but was interrupted by the Lord Chief Justice, who told him, That it was not for any offence committed there, but for his first Fact that he was now called in question, and thereupon told him, That seeing he must prepare to die, he would not add to his affliction, nor aggravate his crime, knowing him to be a man full of misery, but with the good Samaritane, would administer Wine and Oil for the comfort of his distressed Soul; You have been, said he, a General, and a great Commander, imitate therefore that Noble Captain, who thrusting himself into the midst of a battle, cried out aloud; Mors me expectat, & ego Mortem expectabo, Death expects me, and I will expect Death. As you should not contemn, so neither should you fear death, the one shows too much boldness, the other no less cowardice; So with some few other Instructions, the Court arose, and Sir Walter was committed into the hands of the Sheriff of Middlesex, who presently conveyed him to the Gatehouse in Westminster;  
Yet it has been much wondered at, how that old sentence which had lain dormant 16 years and upward, against Sir Walter, could be now made use of to take off his head afterward; Considering that the then Lord Chancellor Bacon told him positively; (as Sir Walter was acquainting him that he could procure his pardon for a less sum of money, than his Guiana preparations amounted to) Sir said he, the Knee-timber of your Voyage is money, spare your Purse in this particular, for upon my life you have a sufficient pardon for all that is passed already, the King having under his Broad-Seal made you Admiral of your Fleet, and given you power of Martial Law, over the Officers and Soldiers; It was then likewise the opinion of many Lawyers, that he who by His Majesty's Patent had power of Life and Death over the King's Liege People, should be esteemed or Judged Rectus in curia, and free from all Old Convictions.  
Upon Thursday October 29. 1618. This courageous Knight was brought before the Parliament House in the Old Palace Yard Westminster, where a Scaffold was erected for his beheading, though it was reported over night that he should be hanged; His Attire was a wrought Nightcap, a Ruff band, a hair coloured Satin Doublet, with a black wrought Waistcoat under it, a pair of black cut Taffeta breeches, Ashcoloured silk Stockings, and a wrought black Velvet Nightgown; His first appearance on the Scaffold was with a smiling Countenance, saluting the Lords, Knights, Gentlemen, with others of his acquaintance there present, when after Proclamation of silence by an Officer, he addressed himself to speak in this manner. I desire to be born withal, because this is the third day of my Fever, And if I show any weakness, I beseech you attribute it to my Malady, for this is the hour I look for it; Then pausing a while directing himself toward a Window where the Lords Arundel, Doncaster, and other Lords and Knights sat, he with a loud voice spoke as followeth; I thank God of his infinite goodness that he hath sent me to die in the sight of so honourable an Assembly, and not in darkness; But by reason the place where they sat was some distance from the Scaffold, that they could not easily hear him, he said; I will strain myself, for I would willingly have your Honours hear me; The Lord Arundel answered, we will come upon the Scaffold; where after he had saluted every one of them severally, he proceeded as followeth.  
My Honourable Lords, and the rest of my good Friends who come to see me die; I thank my God hearty, that he hath brought me into the light to die, and not suffered me to die in the dark Prison of the Tower, where I have suffered a great deal of Adversity, and a long sickness, and I thank God that my Fever hath not taken me at this time, as I prayed God it might not; There are two main points of suspicion that his Majesty hath conceived against me, wherein he cannot be satisfied, which I desire to clear, and resolve you in; First, That I had a Plot with France, His Majesty had some cause, though grounded upon a weak Foundation, to suspect mine inclination to the French Faction, for not long before my departure from England, the French Agent took occasion passing by my house to visit me, and had some conference during the time of his abode, only concerning my Voyage, and nothing else, I take God to witness; Though it was reported I had a Commission from the King of France; But this I say, for a man to call God to witness to a falsehood at any time is a grievous sin, and what shall he hope for at the Tribunal of the day of Judgement? But to call God to witness to a falsehood at the time of death, is far more grievous and impious, and there is no hope for such a one; And what should I expect that am now going to render an account of my Faith, I do therefore call the Lord to witness, as I hope to be saved, and as I hope to see him in his Kingdom, which will be within a quarter of an hour, I never had any Commission from the King of France, nor any Treaty with the French Agent, nor with any other from the French King, neither knew I that there was an Agent, nor what he was, till I met him in my Gallery at my lodging, unlooked for; If I speak not true, O Lord let me not come into thy Kingdom; I cannot deny that when I came back from Guiana, being come to Plymouth I endeavoured to go to Rochel, which was, because I would fain have made my Peace before I came to England, having heard a rumour, that there was no hope of my life upon my return to London, I would have escaped for the safeguard of my life, and not for any ill intent, or conspiracy against the State.  
The second suspicion was, that his Majesty hath been informed I should speak dishonourably and disloyally of him, there is no witness against me but only one Mimical Frenchman, whom I entertained rather for his Jests than his Judgement; His way was to encroach himself into the favour of the Lords, and gaping after some great reward, hath falsely accused me of seditious speeches against His Majesty, against whom if I did either speak or think a thought hurtful or prejudicial, the Lord blot me out of the Book of Life. But in this now what have I to do with Kings? I have nothing to do with them, neither do I fear them; I have now to do with God, therefore to tell a Lie now, to get the favour of the King were in vain; It is not a time to flatter nor fear Princes, for I am subject to none but death, therefore have a charitable opinion of me, and think me not now rashly or untruly to confirm or protest any thing.  
Another suspicion arose of me, in that I persuaded Sir Lewes Steukly my Guardian to flee with me from London to France, but my answer to this is as to the other, that only for my safeguard, and nothing else was my intent, as I shall answer before the Almighty; It is alleged that I feigned myself sick, and by Art made my body full of blisters at Salisbury; True it is, I did so, the reason was, because I hoped thereby to defer my coming before the King and Council, and so by delaying might have got time to have gained my pardon; I have an example out of Scripture for my Warrant; The Prophet David in case of necessity, and for the safeguard of his life, feigned himself foolish and mad, yet it was not imputed to him for sin. As for other Objections, that I was brought by force into England, that I carried Sixteen Thousand Pounds in money out of England with me, more than I made known; That I should receive Letters from the French King, and such like; He with many Protestations utterly denied it; Concluding thus, And now I entreat you all to join with me in Prayer, that the great God of Heaven whom I have grievously offended, being a man full of all vanity, and have lived a sinful life in all sinful callings, having been a Soldier, a Captain, a Sea Captain, and a Courtier, which are all places of wickedness and vice; That God I say would forgive me, and cast away my sins from me, and that he would receive me into Everlasting Life, and so I take my leave of you all, making my peace with God.  
Then Proclamation being made that all men should departed the Scaffold, he prepared himself for death, giving away his hat, and wrought nightcap, and some money to such as he knew that stood near him, taking his leave of the Lords, Knights, and other Gentlemen, and thanking the Lord Arundel for his Company, entreating him to desire the King, That no scandalous Writing to defame him might be published after his death; adding, I have a long Journey to go, and therefore will take my leave; Then putting off his Gown and Doublet, he called to the Headsman to show him the Axe, which being not presently done, he said, Prithee let me see it, dost thou think that I am afraid of it, and having it in his hands, he felt along upon the edge of it, and smiling, spoke to the Sheriff, saying, This is a sharp Medicine, but it is a Physician for all diseases; Then going to and fro upon the Scaffold on every side, he prayed the company to pray to God to assist, and strengthen him; Being asked on which side of the block he would lay himself, he replied, So the heart be right, it is no matter which way the head lieth, and then praying, after he had forgiven the Executioner, having given him a sign when he should do his Office, at two blows he lost both head and life, his body never shrinking nor moving; His Head was shown on each side the Scaffold, and then put into a Red Leather Bag, and his wrought Velvet Gown thrown over it; which was afterward conveyed away in a mourning Coach of his Ladies; The large effusion of blood which proceeded from his Loins amazed the Spectators, who judged that he had a stock of nature sufficient to have lived much longer, though now near 80 years old. He behaved himself at his death with so high, and so Religious a resolution, as if a Christian had acted a Roman, or rather a Roman a Christian, and by the Magnanimity which was then conspicuous in him, he abundantly baffled their Calumnies who had accused him of Atheism. Various were the resentments of his death, and several Pasquil's, as it always happens on such occasions, were scattered abroad, of the gallantry of his behaviour on the Scaffold, these following Verses may give a confirmation, and a taste of the Poetry of those times, 
Great heart! who taught thee so to die?  
Death yielding thee the Victory;  
Where took'st thou leave of Life? If here,  
How couldst thou be so far from fear?  
But sure thou dyed'st, and left'st the State  
Of Flesh and Blood before that fate,  
Else what a miracle were wrought,  
To triumph both in Flesh and Thought?  
I saw in every slander by  
Pale Death; Life only in thine eye,  
Farewell, Truth shall this story say,  
We died, thou only liv'dst that day.   
These Verses were found in his Bible, in the Gatehouse at Westminster.  
Even such is time which takes in trust  
Our Youth, our Joys, and all we have,  
And pays us nought but Age and dust,  
Within the dark and silent grave,  
When we have wandered all our ways  
Shuts up the story of our days,  
Yet from this grave, this earth, this dust,  
The Lord shall raise me up I trust.  
These two lines Sir Walter writ on the Snuff of a Candle, the night before he suffered, 
Cowards do fear to die, but courage stout,  
Rather than live in snuff, will be put out.   
Thus died the great Sir Walter Raleigh, great sometimes in favour with Queen Elizabeth, and next to Drake, the great scourge and hate of the Spaniards and Gundamors Triumph; who had many things to be commended in his life, but none more than constancy in his death; A Person of so much worth and great Interest, that King James would not execute him without an Apology; Authors are perplexed under what Topick to place him, whether of Statesman, Seaman, Soldier, Chemist, or Chronologer, for in all these he did excel; He could make every thing he read or heard his own, and his own he could easily improve to the greatest Advantage; He seemed to be born to that only which he went about, so Dextrous was he in all his undertake in Court, Camp, by Land and Sea, with Sword and Pen. Raleigh's Life and Remains.  
XLIV. Mr. Howel in his Epistles relates the following pleasant Accident, which may be not ungrateful after the former Tragical Account; When the Duke of Alva was in Brussels, about the beginning of the Tumults in the Netherlands, he sat down before Hulst in Flanders, there was a Provost Marshal in his Army, who was a Favourite of his; this Provost had put some to death by secret Commission from the Duke; There was one Captain Bolea who was an intimate Friend of the Provosts; one Evening late, the Provost went to the Captain's Tent, accompanied with a Confessor and an Executioner, as his Custom was; and coming into his Presence, told the Captain, That he was come to execute the Duke's Commission, and Martial Law upon him; The Captain suddenly started up, so struck with amazement that his hair seemed to stand an end, ask him, wherein have I offended the Duke; The Provost replied Sir I am not to expostulate the business with you, but to execute my Commission, therefore pray prepare yourself, for here's your Ghostly Father, and your Executioner; The Captain hereupon fell on his knees before the Priest, and having finished his Confession, the Hangman was going to put the Halter about his Neck, but the Provost threw it away, and breaking out into a Laughter told him. There was no such thing, & that he had done this only to try his Courage, how he could bear the Terror of Death; The Captain looked ghastly upon him, and said, Then Sir get you out of my Tent, for you have done me a very ill Office; The next morning Captain Bolea, though a young Man about thirty, had his hair all turned Grey to the admiration of all the World; the Duke of Alva questioned him about it, but he would confess nothing; The next year the Duke was recalled, and in his Journey to the Court of Spain, he was to pass by Saragossa, and this Captain Bolea and the Provost went along with him as his Domestic Attendants; The Duke being to repose some days in Saragossa, the young old Captain Bolea told him; That there was a thing in that Town worthy to seen of his Excellency which was a Casa de Loco▪ a Bedlam-House, for there was not the like in Christendom; Well said the Duke, Go and tell the Warden I will be there to morrow in the afternoon. The Captain having obtained this, went to the Warden, and told him the Duke's Intention, and that the chief occasion which moved him to it, was because he had an unruly Provost about him, who was ofttimes subject to Fits of Frenzy, and because he wished him well, he had tried divers means to cure him, but all would not do, therefore he was resolved to try whether keeping him close in Bedlam for some days would do him any good; The next day the Duke came with a ruffling Train of Captains after him, amongst whom was the Provost very shining brave; Captain Bolea told the Warden, pointing to the Provost, That's the man, whereupon he took him aside into a Dark Lobby, where he had placed some of his men, who muffled him in his Cloak, seized upon his Sword, and so hurried him down into a Dungeon; The Provost lay there two nights and a day, after which it happened, that a Gentleman coming out of Curiosity to see the House, peeped into a small Grate where the Provost was; The Provost conjured him as a Christian to go and tell the Duke of Alva, That his Provost was there clapped up, nor could he imagine why; The Gentleman did his Errand, and the Duke being astonished, sent for the Warden, and his Prisoner; Hereupon the Provost was brought in Cuerpo, full of Straws and Feathers, Madman like, before the Duke, who at the sight of him breaking into a Laughter, asked the Warden, why he had made him a Prisoner; Sir, said the Warden, it was by Virtue of your Excellency's Commission brought me by Captain Bolea, Bolea stepped forth and told the Duke, Sir, you have often asked me how these hairs of mine grew so suddenly Grey; I have not revealed it to any Soul breathing, but now I will tell your Excellency; and so fell a relating the Passage in Flanders, and Sir, said he, I have been ever since beating my brains how to get an equal revenge of him, for making me old before my time; The Duke was so well pleased with the Story, and the wittiness of the Revenge, that he made them both Friends, and the Gentleman who told me this Passage (says Mr. Howel) said, that this Captain Bolea was then alive, so that he could not be less than ninety years of Age. Howel's Letters, Vol. 1.  
XCV. Not much unlike this, is another piece of Innocent Revenge, related by Mr. Chetwind; The Pope that he might congratulate Charles Cardinal of Lorraine for his great Zeal against the Protestants, sent him his Letters of Thanks, and withal the Picture of the Virgin with Christ in her Arms, being the curious Masterpiece of Michael Angelo; The Messenger in his Journey fell sick, and lighting upon a Merchant of Lucca, who pretended himself a Retainer to the Cardinal, delivered the Pope's Letter, and Present to him to convey to the Cardinal, who undertook it. This Merchant was a bitter Enemy to the Cardinal for divers injuries from him received, and therefore determined at this time to have upon him at least a moderate and bloodless Revenge; Being therefore arrived at Paris, he gets a Limner (who also owed ill will to the Cardinal) to draw a Picture of equal Bigness, in which instead of the V Mary, were drawn to the Life the Cardinal, the Queen his Niece, the Queen Mother, the Wife of the Duke of Guise, all stark naked, their Arms about his Neck, and their Legs twisted in his; This being put in the Case of the other, with the Pope's Letters, were delivered to one of the Cardinal's Secretaries while he was with the King in Council; At his return, the Cardinal having read the Letter, reserved the opening of the Case till the next day, where having invited those very Ladies, with many Nobles and Cardinals, they found themselves miserably deceived, disappointed, and exceedingly confounded and shamed; Chetwind's Hist. Collections. p. 359.  
XCVI. The same Author relates another, that, An ginger foretold the death of King Henry the seventh such a year, the King sent for him, and asked him if he could tell Fortunes, He said, Yes; The King then asked If he did not foresee some eminent danger which much about that time should hang over his own head, He replied, No; Then said the King, Thou art a foolish Figure-caster, and I am more skilful than thou, for as soon as I saw thee I instantly prophesied thou shouldst be in Prison before night, which thou shalt find True; and immediately sent him thither. He had not been long in Custody but the King sent for him again, enquiring if he could cast a Figure to know how long he should be in Prison? He still answered No; Then said the King, Thou art an illiterate Fellow, who canst not foretell the good or bad that shall befall thee, therefore I will conclude thou canst not tell of mine; And 〈◊〉 set him at Liberty. Chetwind's Hist. Collect p 327.  
XCVII I shall add one more, and so conclude this Subject. A certain Jeweller had sold the Wife of Galienus the Roman Emperor counterfeit and glass Jewels for true Ones; The Empress being informed of the Cozenage, requested that he might have due punishment; The Emperor having heard the Complaint of his Wife commands the man to be dragged from his Presence, with this sentence, That he should be exposed to a Lion to be torn to pieces. But while the Impostor fearfully, and the People greedily expect that some fierce and Terrible Lion should be let out of his Den to devour him, The Head of a man only appears from the Den, and it was a Crier, who by the Emperor's Order, proclaimed these words; He has played the Cheat, and now he is cheated himself; and thereupon he was immediately pardoned, and discharged; Wanly's Little World▪ pag. 177.  
XCVIII. Stupendious was the Tragedy Acted at the Hague upon Mr. John de Wit, Pentionary of Holland and West-Friesland, and his Brother Mounsieur Cornelius 
The Tragical Deaths of john and Cornelius de wit at the Hague in Holland Page. 180.  de Wit, Ancient Burgomaster of the City of Dort, & Ruwart of the Country of Putten, on the 20 of August 1672. which happened in the manner following. On the last day of July 1672, the Counsellor Fiscal having according to the Orders of the Court of Holland fetched Cornelius de Wit, called Ruwart Van Putten, from Dort to the Hague, secured him in the Castle, where he was accused by a Barber, who about a fortnight before had impeached him in the following manner; That Ruwart Van Putten would have hired and obliged him the said Barber called William Tichelaar to murder his Highness the Prince of Orange; Upon which, several Examinations having been made, the said Ruwart was ordered to be kept close Prisoner, and August 6, was removed from the Castle to the Prison Gate, as also the Barber, who voluntarily surrendered himself; August 15, in the Evening, a Report was spread in the Hague, that Ruwart had a design to break out of the Prison, which made divers Flock to the Prison Gate, and Guard the same all night; Yet nevertheless the People were so dissatisfied, fearing that by some means or other he might be got away; that they threatened to pull down the adjacent houses if they did not find him; which forced several Persons of Quality to go into the Prison, and at their return assured the enraged Multitude, that they had both seen and spoke with the said Ruwart; But this availing little, they resolved to be further satisfied, by making this Ruwart show himself to them all at a Window of the Prison, that they might both see and know him, which being done their Fury was somewhat allayed for that time; yet the Prison was guarded Night and Day by the Burghers. Aug. 20. The following Sentence was pronounced against Ruwart Van Putten by the Court of Holland and West-Friesland.  
The Court of Holland having seen and examined the several Points and Articles given ●n by the Procurator General of the same Court against Mounsieur Cornelius de Wit, Ancient Burgomaster of the Town of Dort, and Ruwart of The Country of Putten at present Prisoner in the Voorpoort, together with his Examination and Confession, and the Allegations of the several Witnesses, declare the said Prisoner to have forfeited all his Dignities and Employments, which he hath hitherto possessed; and banish him out of the Provinces of Holland and Westfriezland, never to return into the same on pain of greater punishment; And that he accordingly quit the said Countries with the first, and farther condemn him in the charges of his Trial; Actum by the Lords Adriaen Pauw Lord of Bennebrock, President, Aelbrecht Nierox, William Goes Lord of Boekhorstenburg, Frederick of Lieu, Lord of Zoetermeer, Cornelis Baen, and Matheus Gool, Counsellors of Holland and Westfriezland, pronounced in the Voorpoort Gate of the same Court. August the 20th. 1672.  
Before this sentence was published, the Barber Tichelaar being released out of Prison, reported through the Town, That he was the Person who had accused the Ruwart, who was banished for ever, when he as they might all see was set at liberty; Immediately after this, the sentence being Published, occasioned great murmur amongst the Burghers, who judged it to be unjust; since they saw the Barber was set at liberty, and that consequently his Accusation against the Ruwart must be real, which if it had been false, the Barber would undoubtedly have been punished, and the Ruwart van putten released; upon which they argued, that it appeared plainly, that the Ruwart had sufficient knowledge of the Treason plotted against the Person of His Highness the Prince of Orange, and therefore had justly forfeited his Life, and deserved to die; The late Council Pentionary, Mr. John de Wit, coming the same day with his Coach and two Horses to fetch his Brother Rewart out of Prison, he was no sooner alighted, and gone in, but the Burghers caused his Coach to drive away; About 11 a Clock the two Brothers coming down to take Coach, the Watch threatening to fire their Muskets on them, forced them to retire into the Prison again; Mean while the body of the Watch came to their Sentinels Assistance, and beating an Alarm, in a short time raised six Companies of Burghers, two whereof placed themselves round about, and before the Prison Gate, the rest were drawn out on the outward Court, while the three Troops of Horse, which were quartered in the Hague immediately mounted, and one of them repaired to their appointed Station; while the other two riding to the Burghers, desired to pass through the Gate, which they refused, stopping them with their Pikes from going farther; At this time it was reported, that the Boars were coming in great numbers from several places to plander the Hague; Whereupon all the Horse were sent to the Drawbridges and Trenches about the Town, to oppose all outward Assaults, but all this came to nothing;  
About six a Clock in the Evening the Burghers which guarded the Prison Gate, resolved to open the same by force, and take out the two brothers, they being jealous that either by subtle stratagem or violence they would be fetched from thence the approaching night; Whereupon they began to discharge their Muskets against the door of the Prison; which not opening, they fetched great Hammers and Chissels, and therewith broke open the doors and locks; being entered, several of them ran up stairs, and coming into the Chamber, they found Ruwart in his Japan Nightgown lying on his Bed, and the Council Pentionary his Brother sitting at the Beds feet, reading in a book, which laying aside, he asked the Burghers, what this violence meant? and what they would have? To which no other answer was made, but that they must both of them go down; Hereupon they pulled Ruwart from the Bed, not suffering him to put on any more , but with bitter Curses and Exclamations pushed them down stairss, in such a violent manner that one of the Burghers wounded. John de Wit in the Forehead with his Pike; No sooner were they come out into the Street, but the multitude fell a kicking and striking of them, resolving to carry them to the Scaffold, either there to shoo● them, or put them to a more cruel death; as indeed it soon happened; For some who could nor stay their furious and bloody hands so long. First knocked down Ruwart Van Putten, whilst above five or ●●●●ces from thence, John de Wit received a blow on his Forehead with the But end of a Musket and fell likewise down on the ground but being not quite dead, he was shot through the head with a P●●●ol, which made him give up the Ghost; Ruwart i● the mean time was stabbed in the body with several swords; After which both their bodies having received several wounds, as well by Musket shots as otherwise; The rude multitude broke in among the Burghers, tearing their  from their dead bodies, and dragged them naked by the Legs along the Streets to the Scaffold, where Rewart not being quite dead breathed his last.  
The Bodies thus m●ngled were hung up by the feet on a Gibbet, where they were kicked and spit on. On this bloody Stage, the last part of this Tragedy was Acted, by several inhuman, and most barbarous people, who first plucked off the hair from the heads of their Massacred Bodies, beat the Teeth out of their Mouths, pulled out their Tongues, cut off their Ears, Noses, and Privy parts, chopped off their Fingers and Toes, and that with such Hellish Oaths and Curses as were never before heard of; But this not sufficing, they ripped up their Breasts and Bellies, tore out their Hearts and Bowels, so that their Bodies had more resemblance to slaughtered Beasts, than of men; At last, the darkness of the night ended this horrible Tragedy, and all returned to their several Habitations; The bodies were by some certain persons, who came in disguise, taken from the Gibbet, carried home, and some days after privately buried, while the Members of the slain are sold up and down the Streets, a Finger for 15 Stivers, a Joint of a Finger for 12, an Ear for 25, a Toe for 10, and so proportionably; Their  were also sold by pieces, and kept as Relics of the Barbarity of popular rage and insolence.  
XCIX. To divert the Reader after this lamentable story, I will here insert the famous Relation of the Ephesian Matron, as it is written by Petronius, and divers other remarkable Authors. There was a Matron in Ephesus of so noted a chastity, that the Women of the neighbouring parts flocked thither to behold her; She when she buried her Husband, was not content with the common usages to follow the Hearse with dischevelled hair, or in the sight of the Assistants to beat upon her bare breasts, but she also followed the deceased into the very Monument, and having seen it laid there in its peculiar apartment, after the Greek manner, she remained there to keep the Body, and to lament it for whole nights and days together; Her Parents nor Kindred could not prevail to get her away, and the Magistrates themselves having in vain attempted it, departed from her: All men bewailed a woman of so singular an example, and it was the fifth day since she had tasted any food; Her faithful Maid sat by her mournful Mistress, and when her own tears were spent, lent her others, repairing also the light of the Monument, as oft as it required it; She was therefore the only discourse of the City, and it was confessed by all men, that she was the only true and most illustrious example of Conjugal Chastity and Love; In the mean time the Governor of the Province had commanded, that certain Thiefs should be Crucified near to that very Dormitory, where the Matron lamented her lately departed Husband; The next night therefore the Soldier (that was set to guard the Gibbets, lest any should steal the Bodies thence, and bury them) percieving a clear light amongst the Monuments, and hearing the sighs of some Mourner, in a curiosity that is incident to Humane Nature, he was desirous to know who was there, and what they did; He thereupon descends into the Monument, where beholding a most beautiful Woman, at first sight he stood ; Soon after espying the dead body, considering her Tears, and those injuries she had done to her Face with her Nails, judging of the matter as it was, that the Woman was not able to bear the death of her Husband; He went and fetched his Supper into the Monument; and began to exhort the Mourner that she would not persist in a vain Grief, or distend her heart with unprofitable sighs; He represented, that the same Fate waited upon them all, that all must come at last to that long home; and spoke such other things as serve to appease such Hearts as are exasperated with Grief; But she wounded with unknown Sorrow, rend her Breasts with greater Vehemence, and pulling off her hair threw it on the breast of her deceased Husband which lay before her; Notwithstanding all which, the Soldier left not the place, but with the same Exhortations, attempted to bring the Woman to the taste of some Food; At last the Maid (corrupted 'tis likely by the Odour of the Wine) reached out her Conquered hand to receive the Humanity of him that invited her, and having refreshed herself with meat and drink, she began to attempt upon the obstinacy of her Mistress; What, said she, will it advantage you if you shall perish with Famine, if you shall bury yourself alive, if you shall render up your uncondemned breath before your appointed time,  
Think you the Ghosts or Ashes of the Dead  
Regard what Tears their Superiors shed?  
Will you restore him to life again in despite of all the Destinies that oppose it? or will you rather forsaking a Feminine Error, enjoy the Comforts of Life as long as you may be permitted? That very Body which lies extended before you, aught to put you-in mind, that you should endeavour to live; No Person is unwilling to hear, when they are advised to save their Lives, and therefore the Lady being dry with several days abstinence, suffered her Obstinacy to be prevailed upon, and filled herself with meat as greedily as her Maid had done before; But with the same Blandishments wherewith the Soldier had prevailed with the Matron to live, with the same he attempts her Chastity also; The young Man seemed to this chaste One, neither unhandsome nor uneloquent and the Maid too seeking to get him into her favour repeated ever and anon; 
And will you still resist kind Love, nor care  
Within what solitary Fields we are;   
To be short, the woman abstained not from any kind of Familiarity, the victorious Soldier overcame, and they lay together not only that night, but the next and a third after; The entrance of the Monument being closed, that it might be supposed the most chaste Woman had expired upon the Corpse of her Husband. But the Soldier delighted with the Beauty of the Woman, and also with the Privacy, bought what he was able, and at the entrance of the night brought it to the Monument, where he continued till Morning; The Parents therefore of one of the Thiefs lately executed, perceiving how slightly the Bodies were guarded, took down their Son from the Gallows, and committed him to the Earth; But the Soldier in the Morning perceiving that one of the Gibbets was without its Carcase, and fearing the punishment of his neglect, told the Woman what had happened, and withal that he would not expect the Sentence, but would punish himself for his neglect with his own sword, beseeching her to afford him a place for Burial, and to make a fatal Repository for her Friend as well as for her Husband; The Woman, no less compassionate than chaste, cries out, Certainly said she, the Heavens will not suffer that at the same time I should behold the Funerals of two men the dearest unto me of all other, I had rather part with the dead than slaughter the Living; And having said this, she commands the body of her dead husband to be taken out of the Coffin, cuts off his Nose to disfigure his Face, and delivers him to be hanged on the Gibbet that was empty; The Soldier made use of the Wit of this Wise Woman, and the next day it was the wonder of the People which way the dead Thief was again got upon the Gallows; The Woman hereby discovering the instability and unconstancy of Humane Nature, in changing her extraordinary Grief for the dead into such an extreme doting on the Living, and so ●oon to expose the former to the disgrace of a Thief and Malefactor, for her kindness to the latter, whom she had known but a few days before. Wanly's Little World, pag. 415.  
One Hundred & Thirty Boys swallowed in a Mountain at Hamel in Germani Page. 188.  
CI. The Seven Provinces or the Commonwealth of Holland, were formerly under the Dominion of the King of Spain, as well as the other Ten in Flanders are now, and Charles the 5th. Emperor and King of Spain, had a Design to reduce them all to a Kingdom, which his Son Philip the second likewise attempted, but could never Effect, because of the multiplicity and difference of their Rights, Privileges and Immunities, which could not possibly be reduced under one Monarchy; Philip the second at his Inauguration into these Provinces was sworn to observe these Rights, and at his departure for Spain obliged himself by an Oath, still to send one of his own blood to Govern them; Moreover at the request of the Knights of the Golden Fleece, he promised that all Foreign Soldiers should be removed, and that he himself would come to visit them once in every seventh year; But being once gone, and leaving instead of a Sword, a Distaff, or unwieldy Woman to Govern them, He not only broke his promise with them, but procured a Dispensation from the Pope to be absolved and freed from his Oath, and all this by the Council of the Cardinal Granvil, who (as the State's Chronicler writes) was the first Firebrand who kindled that lamentable and long War, wherein the Netherlanders traded above fifty years in blood; For intending, To increase the number of Bishops, To establish the Decrees of the Council of Trent, and to destroy the Power of the Council of State, composed of the Natives of the Land, by making it appealable to the Council of Spain, and by adding to the former Oath of Allegiance many particulars for settling the Bloody Spanish Inquisition and curbing their Consciences in matters of Religion. These harsh, unreasonable and Illegal Invasions upon their Civil and Religious Rights and Liberties, were the first occasions of those dreadful Broils and Devastations which after happened.  
To appease which, Ambassadors were dispatched to Spain from the Netherlands, whereof the two first came to violent Deaths, the one being beheaded, and the other poisoned, but the two last, Count Egmond and Horn were still fed with false hopes, till Philip the second had prepared an Army under the Conduct of the D. of Alva, to compose the difference by Arms; For as soon as he came to the Government, he established the Bloet-Rad (as the Hollanders termed it) or Council of Blood, made up most of Spaniards; Count Egmond and Horn were apprehended, and afterward Beheaded; Citadels were erected, and the Oath of Allegiance, with the Political Government of the Country in divers things altered. This powered Oil on the Fire formerly kindled, and put all in Combustion. The Prince of Orange retires, thereupon his eldest Son was surprised, and sent as Hostage into Spain, and above 5000 Families leave the Country; Many Towns revolted which were afterward reduced to obedience; which made the Duke of Alva say; That the Netherlands belonged to the King of Spain, not only by Descent, but Conquest; After this he attempted to impose the Tenth Penny, for maintenance of the Garrisons in the Citadels he had erected at Grave, Vtretcht, and Antwerp (where he caused his Statue made of Canon Brass to be erected, trampling the Belgians under his Feet) but all the Towns withstood this Imposition, so that at last matters succeeding ill with him, and having had his dear Friend Pacecio hanged at the Gates of Flushing, after he had likewise traced out the Platform of a Citadel in that Town, he was recalled back to Spain; Don Lewes de Requiseus succeeded him, who came short of his Predecessors Exploits, and dying suddenly in the Field, the Government was invested for the time in the Council of State.  
The Spanish Soldiers being without a Head, gathered together to the number of 1600, and committed such Outrages up and down, that they were Proclaimed Enemies to the State, hereupon the Pacification at Gaunt was Transacted, one Article whereof was, That all Foreign Soldiers should quit the Country; This was ratified by the King, and observed by Don John of Austria who succeeded in the Government; yet Don John retained the Lands-Knights still, as some thought for Invading England; He kept the Spaniards also hover about the Frontiers for all occasions. Certain Letters were intercepted which made a Discovery of some Projects, and caused the War to bleed afresh; Don John was hereupon proclaimed an Enemy to the State, and the Archduke Mathias was sent for, who being a Man of small Performance, and improper for the Times, was dismissed, but upon Honourable Terms; Don John soon after dies, some said of the Pox, then comes in the Duke of Parma, a man as of a different Nation, (being an Italian,) so of a differing Temper, and more Moderate Spirit, and of greater performance than all the rest, reducing several Cities and great Towns to the Spanish Obedience; He had threescore Thousand Men in Pay, the choicest which Spain and Italy could afford. At this time the French and English Ambassadors interceding for a Peace, had a short answer of King Philip the second, who said, That he needed not the help of any to reconcile himself to his own Subjects, and reduce them to Conformity, but what difference there was, he would refer to his Cousin the Emperor; Hereupon the business was Treated at Colen, where the Spaniard stood as high a Tiptoe as ever, and notwithstanding the vast expense of Blood and Treasure he had been at for so many years, and that matters began to exasperate yet more, which would prolong the War for ever, he would abate nothing in point of Ecclesiastic Government, but would impose the bloody Spanish Inquisition upon their Souls, and Turkish Slavery upon their Bodies and Estates.  
Hereupon the States perceiving that King Philip could not be wrought either by the solicitations of other Princes, or their own supplications so often repeated, That they might enjoy the Freedom of Religion, with other Civil Rights, Freedoms, and Infranchisements, to which he was obliged by Oath; being provoked likewise by that Ban or Proclamation, which was published against the Prince of Orange, That whosoever killed him should have 5000 Crowns, They at last absolutely renounced and abjured the King of Spain for their Sovereign; They broke his Seals, changed the Oath of Allegiance, and fled into France for Succour; They set up the Duke of Anjou (recommended to them by Queen Elizabeth to whom he was a Suitor) for their Prince; who attempted to render himself Absolute, and so thought to surprise Antwerp, but received there an ill-favoured repulse; Yet nevertheless the United Provinces (for so they termed themselves ever after,) fearing to distaste their next great Neighbour France, made a second Offer to that King, To desire his Protection and Sovereignty; But he had too many Irons in the Fire at home, the Unholy League growing daily stronger against him, he therefore answered them, That his Shirt was nearer to him than his Doublet; Then had they recourse to Queen Elizabeth, who partly for her own Security, and partly for Interest in Religion reached them a supporting hand, and sent them Men, Money, and the Earl of Leicester for their Governor, who not agreeing with their Humour, was soon recalled, without any outward dislike on the Queen's side, for she left her Forces still with them, but upon their Expense; She lent them afterward some Considerable Sums of Money, and received the Towns of Brill and Flushing for her Security, and ever after the English were the best Sinews of their War, and the Atcheivers of the greatest exploits among them.  
Having thus made sure of the English; they held the Spaniard tack many years, and during those Traverses of War were very Fortunate against him; At last a Treaty of Peace was propounded, which the States or seven Provinces would not agree to singly with the King of Spain, unless the Provinces that yet remained under him would engage themselves to the performance of the Articles, besides they would not Treat either of Peace or Truce, unless they were declared Free-States, and Treated by the Title of The High and Mighty States of the United Provinces, all which was granted, and so a Truce was Concluded, which ended in a Peace that has continued without any considerable Interruption even to this day; These Wars did much drain and impoverish the King of Spain by reason of the distance from thence to the Netherlands, for every Soldier that he sent from Spain, and Italy, cost him near an Hundred Crowns before he came into Flanders; So that notwithstanding his Silver and Gold Mines of Mexico and Peru, it plunged him deeply in debt, insomuch that having taken up moneys in all the chief Banks of Christendom, he was forced to dispense with himself from Payment by a Declaration published to that purpose, alleging, That he could not pay it, having employed those moneys, as he said, for the Public Peace of Christendom; This broke many great Bankers, and his Credit was not good in his own Towns of Sevil and Lisbon; and which was worse, while he was thus wrestling with his own Subjects, the Turks took the Opportunity to seize the two strong Forts of Tunis and Goletta in Africa, which were the Trophies of Charles the fifth his Father.  
So eager was he in this Quarrel, that he employed the utmost of his strength and Industry to reduce this People to his Will, in regard he had an Intent to make these Provinces his Main Rendezvouz, and Magazine of Men of War, which his Neighbours perceiving, and that he had an Aim to be a Western Monarch, they stuck close to the Hollanders, not so much, it may be, out of Love, as Reasons of State; and this was that Bone which Secretary Walsingham told Q. Elizabeth, he would cast to the King of Spain, that should last him twenty years, and perhaps make his Teeth shake in his head; And so it happened, for it was said, That he might have paved the Streets of Madrid with Silver, and covered the Houses thereof with Gold, with the money that he spent in the Wars of the Netherlands. Thus this great Prince by embracing violent and unreasonable Counsels, and endeavouring to deprive his Subjects of their Liberties, contrary to the Obligations of Honour and Conscience, was unfortunate in all his Erterprises; and at last obliged to acknowledge them, who were willing to have been his Subjects, to be as it were his Equals and Competitors. Howels Letters, pag. 81.  
CII. The Adventures and Dangers of Mr. John Watts are no less remarkable than any yet mentioned, which are related by himself, as followeth, This John Watts being about 18 years of Age, shipped himself at Deal in the Peachtree of London, of about 60 Tun in June 1668; The Ship had not been long in the Downs but a fair Gale presenting, they hoist Sail; The first place they touched at was the Gold Coast, and from thence they went to Old Calabar, in the byth' of Guinney; They entered a River called Cross River into Pirate's Island; After they had taken in their Negroes and ready to Sail, the Master calls up the Boatswain and three men more, whereof Watts was one, and commands them to look out the Copper Bars that were left, and carry them on shore to try if they could sell them; The Boatswain with his small Company desired that they might have Arms with them, not believing the common Report, that they were an harmless, Innocent People; They took with them three Muskets and a Pistol, and so rowed toward the shore, but not far from it, our Match fell unhappily into the Water, and our ship being fallen down from that narrow part of the River nearer the Sea, quite out of our sight, we were consulting what would be safest for us to do, we were not willing voluntarily to destroy ourselves, and were ashamed to return to our Ship before we had dispatched our business; At length the Boatswain sent the Relator John Wats on shore to the first house to light our Match, that we had recovered out of the Water after it was extinct, which he readily obeyed; But before he was twenty Rods from the Waterside, he was seized on by two Blacks, or rather Tawny Moors, and by them haled above half a mile up into the Country, and thrown with great violence upon his Belly, and so compelled to lie till they stripped him, and more Company coming to them, they were so eager for his poor Canvas Apparel, that some they tore off, others they cut off, and with that several pieces of his Flesh, to his Intolerable pain; with these rags they made little children's Aprons to cover their Privities, Linen and Woollen being very scarce there.  
The Boatswain seeing John Wats thus carried away, was resolved with his two Companions to have him again, with the venture of their Lives; They Arm themselves; but whilst they were consulting whether to venture on shore or not; of a sudden they were beset with about a Dozen men in several Canoes, but they valiantly maintained their Boat for three hours, for after two or three Muskets were discharged they defended themselves with the Oars and Boathooks; The Boatswain received a mortal wound in his Groin, and fell down in the Boat; the other two adventured into the River, endeavouring by swimming to escape the merciless hands of Cruel Infidels; But the Negroes with their swift Canoes soon overtook them, and brought them on shore to the place where John Wats was; The Negroes took the Boatswain out of the Ships Boat, and instead of endeavouring to preserve his life, they presently cut off his head with a sharp weapon before his Companions Faces; and whilst he was yet reeking in his Blood, they barbarously cut off pieces of Flesh from his Buttocks, Thighs, Arms, and Shoulders, and broiling it on the Coals, they with great impatience, eagerly eat it before our faces as a most rare Banquet, to our great terror and astonishment; About fourteen days after, one of the Company fell sick, but instead of being Physicians to cure him, they were his Butchers to murder him; They served him as they did the Boatswain, cut off his head, and broiled and eat up his flesh, and rejoiced exceedingly at this pleasant Entertainment; Ten days after the third fell sick, whom they used in the same manner; These dreadful Executions much affected John Wats, who expected hourly to taste of the same Cruelty, but through Divine providence, notwithstanding the Alteration of the Climate, want of Clothes, and the strangeness of the Food which was only Herbs, he continued in good health, and the Natives who daily expected another Banquet were disappointed, either their Customs, or the overruling power of Heaven not suffering them to destroy him while he was well.  
His Master therefore resolved to sell him, with whom he was pretty free to discourse, Wats having about three years before been in the West-Indies, where he had learned the Tata Language, which is easily attained, being comprehended in a very few words, and all the Negroes speak it; He desired to know of his Master the reason of their Cruelty, who bid him be satisfied, since unless he were sick he should not have his head cut off. In the Boat with which they went first ashore one Musket of the three was saved, and had not been discharged, which his Master brought to him to teach him the use of it, which for fear of his Master's displeasure and their inhumanity he endeavoured to do, but they still professing their Ignorance, he was forced to shoot it off; But the Negroes who expected some delightful thing, being frustrated, and at the sudden noise and flash of fire, which they very much dread, fled from him greatly affrighted; yet soon after, hearing no more of that noise, they came up to him again, commanding him to do the like; He told them, he had not Powder which was the cause of the noise, but this would not satisfy these Barbarians; and therefore thinking it wilfulness, they would have murdered him, had not his Master rescued him; After this, in discourse with his Master, he told him, That naturally the people were civil, and simply honest, but if provoked, full of revenge; and that this their barbarous dealing was occasioned by some unhandsome action, of carrying a Native away from thence without their leave about a year before, they resolving if any came on shore, they should never go off alive.  
About 7 weeks after Wats had been in the Country, his Master presented him to his King, named Efnme King of the Buckamores, who immediately gave him to his Daughter, called Onijah; when the King went abroad, he attended him as his Page, throughout the whole Circuit of his Dominions, which was not above 12 Miles, yet he boasted extremely of his Power and Strength, glorying exceedingly that he had a White Man to attend him, whom he employed to carry his Bow and Arrows; In several places far from the Seaside, the people would run away from him for fear, others would fall down, and seem to worship him, using those Actions as they do to their Gods; Their progress was never so long, but they could return home at night, but never without a handsome load of a cup of the Creature; for he seldom or never went abroad, and came home sober; Their drink is of the best Palm Wine, and another sort of strong Liquor called Penrore; Wats knew quickly how to humour this profound Prince, and if any of the Natives abused him, upon his complaint he had Redress, as once by striving with a Negro, his Arm was broke, which by Providence more than skill was set again. After some Months, the King of Calamanch, whose name was Esn mancha, hearing of this beautiful White, Courted his Neighbour Prince to sell him to him; at length they struck a bargain, and Wats was sold for a Cow, and a Goat.  
This King was a very sober and moderate person, free from the treacheries and mischiefs that the other was subject to; He would often discourse Wats, and ask him of his King and Country; whether his Kingdoms and Dominions were as big as his, which were not above 25 Miles in length, and 15 in breadth; Wats told him as much as his understanding and years made him capable of, keeping still within the bounds of modesty, and yet relating as much as possible to the Honour and Dignity of his Sovereign; First informing him of the greatness of one of his Kingdoms, the several Shires and Counties it contained, with the number of its Cities, Towns and Castles, the strength of each, the infinite Inhabitants and valour of his Subjects; One of these Kingdoms was enough sufficiently to amaze this Petty Governor, that he had no need to mention any more of His Majesty's Glory and Dignity; It put him into such a profound Consternation, that he resolved to find out some way to show his respects to this Mighty Prince, and told John Wats, that if he could find but a Passage, he would let him go to England, to tell his Majesty of the great favour and respect he had for him; Which did not a little rejoice our Englishman; withal the King told him; He would send him a present which should be two Cabareets or Goats, which they value very highly, the King himself having not above 16 or 18 of them; Wats tells the King, that the King of England had many Thousands of his Subjects who were under the degree of Gentlemen, that had a Thousand Sheep apeice, the Flesh whereof they valued at a very much higher rate than Goats.  
Though our Englishman lived very handsomely with this King, yet his desires and hopes were for his Native Country, and at length he obtained a Promise from his King, That the first English Ship which came into the Road, should have liberty to release or purchase him; This very much rejoiced his heart, and now he thought every day a year, till he could hear of, or see some English Ship arrive, and oft did he walk to the Sea side to receive some comfort; which at length was observed by Jaga a Wizard, and the chiefest in 3 or 4 Kingdoms thereabout; They are persons that the Natives give very much credit to, and on any difficult occasion run to them for satisfaction; And though they have vast numbers of them in every place, yet this Jaga was the most renowned amongst them; One day he comes to Wats, and asked him very civilly, why he so often frequented that place, who told him; It was to see if he could discover any English Ship to come in there; But Wat's being unacquainted with his great fame, asked him, when he did believe there would one come in; Not that he was willing to give credit to any of their Divinations, but supposing hereby to please him, and answer his expectation; Jaga immediately told him, That 15 days after an English Ship should come into that Road; He than asked him, whether that Ship should carry him away; To which he answered very doubtfully, but told him, He should be offered to the Master of the Ship, and if they did not agree, so that he were brought to shore again; he should not be sold, but would die for grief.  
These 15 days seemed very tedious to Wats, who cast many a look on the Sea with an aching heart; The 14th. day he went to the highest Hill thereabout, but could discover no Ship; the next morning he went again 2 or 3 times, but saw none; About 2 or 3 hours after, some Moors came running, and told the King there was a Canoe coming, for so they called our Ships; At which our Englishman rejoiced hearty, in hope of release, yet durst not show it for fear of Punishment or Death, for though he lived better now than with his first Master, yet his service was far worse than the slaves in Turkey, and their Diet worse than Dog's meat; he had therefore cause enough of inward joy; The Ship came immediately in; and Wats goes presently to Jaga, to know if it were an English Ship, who assured him it was; It happened to be the St. Malo's Merchant, Captain Royden Commander, who hastened to dispatch his business, took in his Negroes, and was ready to sail, and our Englishman heard not a word what should become of him, the King never offering to sell him; This made him resolve on an escape, to which end he had prepared a piece of Timber near the waterside, on which he intended to paddle to the Ship, which then lay about a League from the Shore; Just as he was about to launch his little floating board, he espied a great Aligator, which will devour a man at a mouthful; This made him alter his resolution, and resolve rather to live with inhuman Infidels, than to throw himself into so imminent a danger; The next day God Almighty opened the heart of the King to let the poor Englishman go; He sent him in a Canoe placed betwixt a Negro's Legs, with some others to guide this small Vessel, for fear he should leap overboard, and swim to the Ship.  
At a distance from the Ship he haled her in the English Tongue, which made those aboard much admire; The Negroes gave him leave to stand up, and show himself to the Captain, to whom he gave an account how four were left there, and he only preserved; It was some time before they could bargain, though the Captain was resolved not to leave him behind; Several times the Negroes padled away with their Canoe, resolving not to part with him, but with promises and entreaties he persuaded them back to the Ship again, and they delivered him on board for 45 Copper and Iron Bars, the Copper being as big as a Youths little Finger, and the Iron somewhat bigger, now were his Joys completed, he could hardly persuade himself but it was a Dream or Vision, and that he did not really see English faces again, nor embrace English Bodies; It was some time before he could throw himself at the Captain's feet, to acknowledge his infinite obligations to him; When he came on board, his Hair was very long, and his Skin tawny, having gone naked all the time he was there, and frequently anointing himself with Palm Oil, he looked like a Tawny Moor; But the Seamen aboard, with Christian Hearts soon apparelled him; The Master hoist Sail for the Barbadoss, where he was to stay some time, but Wats earnestly desiring to see his Native Country, got passage in the Katherine of London, and by the Assistance of Heaven, in a few Weeks safely arrived in the Downs, and was entertained by his Uncle, Mr. Richard Wats of Deal with great joy, who took this Relation from his own mouth. Sea Deliverances. Pag. 73.  
103. The unparallelled revolution in Portugal in the year 1641, is very worthy to be remembered, whereby Philip the Second, King of Spain, lost that whole Kingdom as it were in one day; with almost all the Islands, Forts and Provinces, thereunto belonging. To give a particular account of this great Transaction, it will be necessary to look a little back upon the Original causes, and occasion thereof;  
In the Year 1573. Sebastian Grandchild of King John the 3d. and Sixteenth King of Portugal, Reigned in that Kingdom, being about 23 years old; Scarce was he well settled in his Throne, having Reigned not above a year an half, but Ambassadors from Mulai Mahamet, then turned out of his Kingdoms of Fez and Morocco by his Uncle Abdemelech, implored his Aid in the recovery of his Kingdom, with promise, That if he would assist him to drive out Abdemelech, he would freely resign to Sebastian, the Kingdom of Morocco, and content himself with that of Fez. Ambition of Glory and Dominion, makes Sebastian readily undertake the Enterprise, sending to Philip of Spain for Assistance, who promises him Ten Thousand men, but sailed, yet with the Forces that himself had levied, he resolves courageously to proceed; To which by accident, just as he was going, he got some addition; For Stukely an Englishman, as he was going with a small Fleet of Ships, and about Six Thousand Italian Soldiers to assist the Irish Rebels against Queen Elizabeth, was by Tempest driven into Lisbon; Whom King Sebastian with much entreaty, persuades to desist from his intended design, and accompany him into Barbary.  
Thus set forth, he arrives at Tangier with an Army of about Thirty Thousand men, where he meets Mulai Mahamet with a very small addition of Forces, and much less than he expected, yet he marches forward toward Abdemelech, who by Letters in vain, advised him to return in Peace; The 2 Armies meet in the Plains of Alcazar, where King Sebastian is utterly defeated, himself, Mulai Mahamet, Stukely, and several persons of quality slain; Three Kings fell in this field, for Abdemelech was slain in the hottest of the fight; This Battle was fought in August 1578, yet some have affirmed that Sebastian was not slain in this Battle, but that for shame and sorrow he returned not home, but wand'ring from one place to another, was at last discovered at Venice, and from thence by command of the King of Spain, was carried to Naples, where he was kept three days in a dark and dismal Dungeon, without any sustenance, but a Knife and an Halter, where he miserably died. Whether this were the true Sebastian or not, was not certainly known, but he was so like him, that the Spaniards used to say, if it were not he, it was the Devil in his likeness; But however he being thus lost to the Portugals, Henry the Cardinal (third Son to Emanual the first, who was Grandfather to Sebastian,) succeeded in the Kingdom, but he being both by reason of his Age, which was 67 years, and his Function, being a Churchman, deprived of all means to give the people any hope of Issue, it was the whole discourse not only of Portugal; but all Christendom, during the short time of his Reign, who of right aught, and who probably might succeed King Henry in the Kingdom; There were several pretenders thereunto, but Catherine Duchess of Braganza, and youngest Daughter to Don Edward, sixth Son of Emanual aforementioned, had the certain and undoubted Right; yet Philip 2. King of Spain likewise made his claim, though contrary to the Fundamental Laws of the Nation, which Philip knew very well; but having Power and Might on his side, he little regarded Rights and Titles, thinking them not strong enough against the infallible Arguments of Soldiers, Arms and Money; and therefore no sooner did the News of the death of King Henry arrive at the Spanish Court, but the Duke of Alva was commanded with an Army of Twenty Thousand men to march to Lisbon, and in the name and right of his Catholic Majesty, to make conquest of that Kingdom if he found opposition.  
But little resistance was made, only Don Antonio the Bastard, son of Lewes the Infante, having got into Lisbon, in the head of a Tumultuary Rabble, rather than a well form Army, endeavoured at first to make some defence, but was soon defeated, and the Suburbs of Lisbon being plundered to satisfy the Soldiers, the City was surrendered to him; Whither soon after King Philip came, and so by a mixed Title of Descent and Arms, took possession of the Kingdom in 1580. Katherine Duchess of Braganza, being enforced to surrender to him all her Interest and Pretensions to that Crown; The Nobility and People of Portugal were without doubt extremely amazed to see themselves so suddenly surprised, and made subject to a Foreign Prince, and especially to a Prince of that Nation against whom they had a natural hatred and antipathy, but finding themselves in a condition not able to make resistance, they thought they should gain more by freely submitting to the King, than to be forced to it; They therefore made their humble submission, which King Philip met as it were half way, and condescended in the Parliament, or General Assembly of Estates, of that Kingdom, to be sworn to these Articles or Capitulations following.  
1. That the said Philip King of Spain, etc. Should observe all the Laws, Liberties, Privileges, and Customs granted to the People by the former Kings of Portugal. 2. That the Vice King or Governor should be always the Son, Brother, Uncle, or Nephew of the King, or else a Native of Portugal. 3. That all the Chief Officers in Church or State should be bestowed upon the Natives of Portugal, and not upon strangers; Likewise the Governments of all Towns and Places. 4. That all countries' now belonging to the Portugals should so continue, to the Commodity and benefit of the Nation. 5. That the Portugal Nation should be admitted to all Offices in the King's House, as well as the Spaniards. 6. That because the King could not conveniently be always in Portugal, he should send the Prince to be bred up amongst them. These Articles were shut up, or concluded, with a Blessing upon such Kings as should observe and keep them, and a curse on those who should break or violate them; And some Authors likewise affirm, that there was another clause added to them signifying, That in case (which God forbidden) the King which then was, or his Successors should not observe this Agreement; or should procure a Dispensation for this Oath the Three Estates of the Kingdom might freely deny subjection, and obedience to the King, without being Guilty either of Perjury or Treason.  
Though these Articles were thus sworn to, and the Cardinal Albertus' Archduke of Austria, Son to the Emperor, and Nephew to the King of Spain, appointed Vice-King of Portugal, King Philip durst not yet in Person leave the Kingdom, for he perceived by their Murmurs and visible discontents, that their submission to him proceeded more out of Fear than Love; and that as he had in a moment gained that Kingdom, so he should as soon lose it, if he gave them but the least opportunity; For that the People were highly discontented, it did easily appear by their Attentive listening after Old Prophecies, among which was one of an Old Hermit, who told Alphonso the First King of Portugal of the great Victory he should obtain over the five Kings of the Moors, and That his Posterity should reign happily Kings of Portugal, but that in the sixteenth Generation, his Line should fail, but that God at length should have mercy again upon them, and restore them. Others had regard to a Letter written by St. Bernard to the same King Alphonso, (the Original of which is reported to have been given to the Portugal Ambassador by Lewis 13, King of France in 1641) the substance whereof was; That he rendered Thanks to him for the Lands bestowed upon him, and that in recompense thereof, God had declared unto him, that there should not fail a Native of Portugal to sit upon the Throne, unless for the greatness of their Sins, God would chastise them for a time, but that this time of Chastisement should not last above threescore years; Other Prophecies there were of this Nature, and to this Effect, which put the People in hope of a Deliverance, and many flattered themselves, that Don Sebastian was yet alive, and would come and deliver them; nay so foolish were some of them that though they believed him slain at the Battle of Alcazer in Barbary, yet they thought he should live again, and miraculously come to Redeem them.  
But that which most of all expressed the People's discontents, was what was publicly spoken by the Mouths of their Orators the Priests in their Pulpits, who would ordinarily in their Sermons utter Speeches much to the prejudice of the Spaniards Title, and in Favour of the Duchess of Braganza, nor did they spare to do so, even in the presence of King Philip himself, who would therefore often say, That the Portuguez Clergy had made the sharpest War with him; Father Lewes Alvarez a Jesuit, preaching one day before the Spanish Viceroy took his Text, Surge, & attolle Grabatum tuum & ambula, Take up thy Bed and walk; and turning himself to the Viceroy, Sir, said he, the meaning of this is, Arise, take up your pack, and be gone home; But above all, the discontents might be observed in the Nobleman's Chapels, especially in the Duke of Braganza's, where they were used to sing the Lamentations of Jeremiah, applying all the scorn and reproach of the Israelites to themselves, as Aquam nostram pecunia bibimus, We have drunken our water for money, etc. because of the Excise laid upon Wine and other necessaries by the Spaniards; And that other, Servi Dominati, etc. Servants have ruled over us, etc. And, The Crown is fallen from our Heads; Most commonly ending with this Prayer and Invocation, Recordare Domine, etc. Remember O Lord what is come upon us, consider and behold our Reproach, Our Inheritance is turned to Strangers, and our Houses to Aliens, etc.  
Yet did King Philip bear all these Affronts with an incomparable Patience, dissembling with an Admirable Prudence his Passion (if he had any) for these discontents; for he knew the only way to win this Nation to an Obedience and Compliance, must be mildness at first, whatever he intended to practise afterward, and that he had by his exact keeping his Word and Oath, won much upon this People appears, in that during his whole Reign, and that of his Successor King Philip the third, who followed his Father's Footsteps, though not with that Craft and Dissimulation, they made no Attempts, nor were inclinable to revolt, only some small bustles with Antonio the Bastard aforementioned, and one or two Sergeant Sebastian's, not worth mentioning, for they, as was said, keeping their words in most things, (though they infringed some of their Privileges) had almost brought the People to a willing Slavery; But King Philip the fourth committing the whole charge of the Government to his Favourite Count Olivarez, who though without doubt an able Statesman, yet would seem to have a way in Policy by himself, which no body else could understand the reasons of, and thereby lost this whole Kingdom and all its Territories; For such were the new rigorous ways which he used in the Government of Catalonia and Portugal, both People very tender of their Privileges, the least breach of which, should have been seconded by a potent Force to have suppressed them, in case they should attempt an Insurrection; When instead of having such Power in readiness, the Catalonians had rather opportunity given them to Rebel, and spurs to provoke them thereto; For some Soldiers being scatteringly quartered among them, but too few to curb them, they looked upon that as a greater Entrenchment upon their Liberties than any before, and a design utterly to enslave them; wherefore converting their Patience into Fury, they took Arms, Massacred the Soldiers, slew their Viceroy, and put themselves under the French Protection.  
This Revolt of the Catalonians was a Precedent to the Portugals, who had extremely suffered under the breach of their Privileges, for contrary to the second Article sworn to by King Philip the second, That the Viceroy or Governor should be either Son, Brother, Uncle or Nephew to the King of Spain; The Infanta Margarita di Mantova who had no relation at all to the Kings of Spain, was made Governess, which they might and perhaps would have born, had they not been incensed by a more feeling injury in 1636, when a Tax of the fifth part of their Estates was imposed upon all the Subjects of that Kingdom, an intolerable Grievance, and thought so insufferable by the Southern Parts of the Nation, that they risen in Arms to oppose it, and had set the whole Kingdom in a Flame if it had not been quenched by the timely care and Industry of the Governess. Yet this small stir gave an Item to the Court of Spain of the readiness of the People to Revolt, which made Olivarez endeavour by all ways to cut off the means of their being able to do it; and that was to allure thence John Duke of Braganza, whom the Portuguess looked upon as the Person who of Right aught to be their King, and the only Native of the Kingdom that might restore again the Line of Alphonso; Besides he was a Prince who for Power, Riches, and Number of Tenants, not only exceeded all the Nobles in Portugal, but even of Spain itself; And indeed the Duke of Braganza was one of the most Glorious Subjects in Europe, being allied to most Kings in Christendom, which made the Kings of Spain, though they were Competitors for the Crown of Portugal, Treat this Family with more Honour than any other of his Grandees, receiving them with almost as much respect as if they were Sovereign Princes, which appeared in King Philip 2. who most of all desired to abase this Family, yet always when the Duke of Braganza came to visit him, he would meet him in the middle of the Room, and not permitting him to kiss his hand, seat him with himself under the Canopy of Estate.  
To draw the Duke therefore out of Portugal, Olivarez first politicly offered him the Government of Milan, a place of great Trust and Honour; but he modestly refused it, as not in a Condition at that present to undertake so great a Command, and indeed expressing an unwillingness to go out of the Kingdom, which made the King of Spain and the Count more willing to draw him from thence, and to this end it was discoursed; That the King himself was resolved to go in Person to reduce the revolted Catalonians, and that therefore all the Nobility should be in readiness in four months' time to attend His Majesty in that Expedition; But the Duke of Braganza being suspicious of the Spaniards, because he knew himself suspected by them, and likely so to be, whilst the Portuguess so much affected him, to assure himself of the ones love, and if possible to prevent the others suspicion, retires himself to his Country House at Villa Viciosa, and there follows his sports of Hunting, etc. not at all regarding matters of State, withal sending an Excuse to Count Olivarez, That his Affairs were at present in so low and mean a Condition, that he could not appear to attend His Majesty in that Pomp and Splendour which became a Person of his Quality, and that therefore he should do His Majesty more service in staying at home when the other Nobles were abroad, than he could possibly do by attending him; This Plot thus failing, made the Court of Spain more suspicious of the Duke than ever before; Count Olivarez therefore resolves to employ his utmost Art of Dissimulation to entrap him, and that by such means as in reason might make the Duke Ambitious of the Throne; though it appeared Olivarez trusted the Duke, only because the Duke should trust him.  
In answer to the Duke of Braganza's Letter of Excuse, The Count assures him, That His Majesty was very well satisfied with the reasons of his not attending him to Catalonia, being very sensible of his good inclinations to his service That for his own part he was very sorry his Affairs were in such a low Condition, and could not but commiserate his Interest as his own; That His Majesty to let him know how great confidence he reposed in his Fidelity, had appointed him General of the Militia of the Kingdom, and had for his present supply sent him Threescore Thousand Crowns, leaving it to his Choice to reside in what place near Lisbon he pleased. This strange Confidence reposed in the Duke by the King of Spain much amazed the greatest Politicians, who thought it reasonable that the Spaniard should have permitted the Duke still to have kept retired in the Country, rather than to have given him such a Command, and called him to Lisbon into the continual view of the People, who looking on him as the Heir of that House, which had been ever represented to have the only Right to the Crown, might easily be inflamed with a desire to have a King of their own; And these things the Princ●● of Mantova was very sensible of, and therefore continually solicited the King to know his Reason, or to desire him to remove those apparent opportunities which he had given the Duke of Braganza, to effect a Revolt; But she not only received intricate and doubtful answers from the King and Olivarez; but had likewise the former Actions seconded with one, which made her think the King of Spain had a mind to toss the Kingdom of Portugal into Duke Braganza's hands whether he would or no; For on a sudden without any notice given her, all the Spanish Garrison in St. John's Castle which commanded the City of Lisbon, and indeed upon the strength of which the whole safety and security of the Kingdom depended, were suddenly drawn forth and the Castle left to the disposal of the Duke.  
But this was the last Act of Count Olivarez confidence in the Duke, for by trusting him so much, he now thought that he could not on the contrary but repose confidence in him, and therefore next Summer in 1640. he again by Letters solicits him to leave Portugal, and come to Madrid, assuring him, That his Catholic Majesty gave him many thanks, and greatly applauded his Loyalty in the exercise of the Office of General, and was very sensible of the good effects which his Authority had wrought on the Portugals; He next represented to him, the present declining condition of the Spanish Monarchy, not only by reason of the disorders in Flanders and Italy, and the preparations of the Turks, but more especially, because their most Potent Enemies the French, were now in Assistance of the revolted Catalonians entered Spain; That it highly concerned His Catholic Majesty to drive them out of his Territories, which could not be done without a very powerful Force. That he being one of the Prime Grandees of the Kingdom, might by his presence in the head of a good number of his Tenants, encourage others to a suitable Assistance; That to this purpose His Catholic Majesty expected him every moment, having designed for him great Honours, Privileges and Dignities suitable to his merit. But as cunning an Angler as Olivarez was, yet he failed of his Mark, this bait would not hook in the Fish; For though the Duke of Braganza was accounted no great Politician, yet his own safety taught him to know, that all these great Offices, and fair Promises, were but guilded allurements to draw him to his destruction; Having therefore supplied the King with a considerable number of his Tenants and Friends, he found excuses for his own not going in Person; And to prevent all suspicion, he retired again to his Countryhouse; Thus these 2 great Personages endeavoured by Craft and Dissimulation to supplant each other; only one strove the others destruction, the other only studied his own safety and preservation.  
During all these passages, the Vicequeen Margarita was very Vigilant in her Government, and foreseeing in reason what might be the issue of those proceed, writ very importunately to the King, assuring him, that if it were not suddenly prevented, the Kingdom would be infallibly lost; To which she received no answer, only Olivarez slighting her Judgement as fit to govern a private House than a Kingdom, sent her word, That if her capacity would not reach to the height and drift of those mysteries of State, yet that her wisdom would keep her from discovering them; But without doubt Olivarez was inwardly perplexed, to see all his Plots thus fail, and foul means he durst not openly attempt, such was both the Duke's Power, and the great Love the people bore him, he therefore at last had recourse to treachery, and gives secret order to Don Lopez de Ossis, and Don Ant. Oquendo, that when they had relieved Flanders with Men and Money, they should with their whole Fleet put into Portugal, and that as soon as the Duke should according to the duty of his new Place and Office come aboard, they should immediately set sail, and bring him away to Cales; But this Plot was by a strange Divine Providence prevented, for that Fleet was totally ruined by the Hollanders upon the Coast of England in 1639.  
And now was the time come, wherein according to St. Bernard's Prophecy, the Kingdom of Portugal was to be released from the Tyranny of Strangers, and restored again to the Government of a Native King, to which all things seemed so well to concur, that it cannot be imagined to have less than a Divine hand in it; for though all Plots failing against the Duke of Braganza, the Spaniards being fearful of somewhat, drew as many Portugal Soldiers out of the Kingdom, as conveniently they could, thinking to lessen the ill humours which began now to appear, yet thereby they did but the more inflame those discontents, which were taken at Vasconsello's managing all Affairs of State; For though Margarita of Mantova was a Princess of great Judgement and Knowledge in State Affairs, yet she was too much overruled by Vasconsellos' Secretary of State, whose Government was insufferable to the Portuguez, who hated as much his obscure birth, as his evil customs, being a man Composed of Pride, Cruelty and Covetousness, knowing no moderation but in excesses; Small faults were by him made Capital Crimes, using all severity to those whom he did but suspect to be dissatisfied with his Government, and exercising with all rigour the Spanish Inquisition, punished not only the actions, but the very thoughts of men; The infringing the greatest privileges of the Portugal Nation seeming to him but a Trifle; which continued oppressions, in the end so exasperated the whole people, that encouraged by the knowledge of their own strength, by the many distractions of the Spanish Nation, by the late example of the Catalonians, and stirred up by the absolute ruin which they saw hung over their heads, there being six Thousand Portugals listed every year, and forced to serve the Spaniard in his Foreign Wars; From all these considerations, they resolved to lose the yoke from off their Necks, and to disclaim all obedience to him, by the Election of a King of their own. Some thought that this conspiracy was of at least 10 years standing, and agreed to by most of the Grandees of Portugal but it being a State Mystery, is hard to be decided, I will therefore recount only what was publicly acted  
Upon Saturday Feb. 1. 1640. (and Saturdays have been often observed to be favourable to the Portuguess Nation) all the Nobility of that Kingdom, led on by the Marquesses of Ferriera, and the Earl of Vimioso took Arms, and assisted with a great multitude of the Inhabitants of Lisbon, and some Portuguez Soldiers, came to the Castle, situate in the midst of Lisbon, which was the Residence of the Vicequeen, and serves both for a Palace and a Castle, to which place all the Magistrates for Governing the Kingdom were Assembled; The Guards were 2 Companies of Spaniards, and 2 of High Dutch, who being either gained before by secret Intelligence, or affrighted with the great numbers of the Portugals, or else from a desire of Novelty, or perhaps unwilling to make resistance against those to whom most of them were joined by Friendship or Marriage, but however they forsook their Guard without the least opposition, and gave them free admittance into the Castle; At this time Vasconsellos was in the Chambers of his Office, upon some reasons he had to suspect an Insurrection, because of the discontents of the People; and was at that instant writing into Spain of the Alienation of the minds of the Portuguez Nobility from the Spanish Government, and earnestly pressing that some rigorous resolution might be taken to prevent it; which Letters being afterward seized, did sufficiently demonstrate his ill will to the Portuguez Nation; whilst he was thus busied, the confused noise of the Soldiers pierced his ears, and wondering at the cause thereof, he came forth accompanied only with one Dutchman, and one of the Guard, he would have gone down, but was hindered by the Portugals, who came running up, crying, kill the Traitor, kill the enemy of our blood; Whereupon not knowing where to save himself, he fled with those accompanying him into an inner Chamber, and there with his sword in his hand, assisted by those with him, disposed himself to sell his Life at the dearest rate he could; but his valour stood him in no stead, for those two who endeavoured to defend him, being slain with two Musket-shot; He seeing it in vain to defend himself there longer, leapt desperately out of the Window, rather to seek his death, than out of any hopes to save his life; for no sooner was he down, but numberless swords were imbrued in his blood, the very Women and Children running to tear in pieces his dead Body, with the same alacrity and cheerfulness that he used to torment them when alive.  
In the mean time the Marquis of Ferriera was gone to secure the Vicequeen, whom having committed to the Guard of 200 Musquetiers, he calls a Council, and in a short discourse, sets forth the miseries the Kingdom had endured, whilst subject to the Spanish Government, who sought nothing but their utter destruction, then reminding them of the valour and merits of their Nation, he exhorts them to condescend to the Election of a new King, nominating to them the Duke of Braganza, as the most worthy of the Crown, not so much for his Power, Riches, or the greatness of his House, as because the Kingdom was his undoubted Right, he being the only person left of that Line, which for so many years had gloriously governed Portugal; A long discourse was superfluous to those who were before persuaded; A public shout interrupted the Marquis' Speech, all of them crying with a loud voice; That they would have John Duke of Braganza for their King; In the whole multitude there was not a face, much less a voice, that did gainsay this general Vote, either because they did all really rejoice, that they should again have a King of their own Nation, or that none could without danger oppose themselves against the Torrent of so public a will.  
The Duke of Braganza was at this time at his Country House at Villa Viciosa, either by Accident or because he would always have had occasion to excuse himself, if the business had not succeeded; but by reason of his absence, they thought fit to make choice of two Governors, whom to avoid the pretences of others, they nominated to be the Archbishops of Lisbon, and Braganza; These began immediately to Exercise their Command, and were obeyed with so much quietness, that in all that great and Populous City of Lisbon, there was none slain, but only those aforementioned. The Prisons were opened, neither did any suffer wrong in their Goods or Life; All the Shops were opened as if there had not happened any change of Government; Only the House of Vasconsellos was plundered with so much Anger and Rage, that they did not Pardon the very Doors and Windows; nay such was the fury of the People, that had they not been hindered by the Soldiers of the Guard they had leveled it with the Ground; As for his Carcase, it suffered all those Indignities which a People wronged both in their Liberties and Estates could inflict; They ran like Madmen to express Living Sentiments of Revenge upon his dead and senseless Corpse, vaunting who could invent the newest ways of disgrace and scorn, till at length almost wearied with their inhuman sport, they left it in the Street so mangled, that it did not seem to have the least resemblance of a Man, from whence it was the next day carried by the Fraternity Della Misericordia, Of Mercy, and thrown into the burying-place of the Moors, and Infidels; The Marquis of Alemqua● after he had by Command from the Governors assured the strongest places in the City, sent several Soldiers into the Streets crying, Long live King John the Fourth; Which the People hearing, being distracted as it were with very Joy, leaving their Trades they ran up and down, proclaiming him with Voices of Jubilee, the greatest part through excess of passion not being able to refrain from Tears.  
The Messengers did not run, but fly to the Duke of Braganza, to give notice of his promotion to the Crown; The first arrived on Sunday morning before day; The Duke pretended a great Alteration at the News; whereupon some have presumed to say, That he had not any knowledge of the Design; He seemed at first not to believe it, but told the Messengers, That though he might have Desert, and a Spirit fit for the Crown of Portugal, yet he had neither Will nor Ambition to desire it; That his Enemies wronged him by tempting him with such stratagems, which were as far from his Genius and Humour, as from his Faith; But at the Arrival of the Count of Monte Santo, who came to accompany him to Lisbon, he seemed of another Mind, and having been with him in private discourse for about two hours, without any delay he departed with the Count attended with about 500 Persons.  
Yet others affirm, that he was not only acquainted with the Design of the Revolt, but of Council about it; And that some time before, the Nobility having had a private Meeting at Lisbon, it was at first propounded, That they should reduce the Kingdom into the Form of a Commonwealth; But that not being approved of by the Major part, the Archbishop of Lisbon stood up, and in an eloquent Speech having laid before them the Miseries they had endured under the Spanish Yoke, recommended to them John D. of Braganza as the undoubted Heir of the Crown, and their Lawful Sovereign; This Motion they all most willingly assented to, and concluded to send Gaston Cotigno a man of a fluent Tongue to acquaint the D. with their Intentions, and to persuade him to accept the Crown and deliver his Country; Gaston being arrived, with many well couched words acquaints him, That there was now a pregnant opportunity offered, to recover the indubitable Right of his Ancestors to the Crown of Portugal, That the Nobility and Clergy were wholly inclined to redeem themselves from the Tyranny of the Spaniards, by securing the Crown upon his head; That the Universal Odium, and hatred of the whole People to the Spanish Government, the present low Condition of the House of Austria, distracted on every side with War, The assured Assistance that France and other Nations, emulating the greatness of Spain, would lend, were as so many motives to persuade them, not to let slip so fair an opportunity to regain their Liberty. That if he by refusal should be the sole Enemy to his countries' Freedom, they would effect it themselves and reduce it to a Commonwealth; These and many other Arguments he used, which his Love to the House of Braganza, his hatred to the Castilians, or his own ingenuity prompted him to.  
The Duke's amazement permitted him not to return a sudden answer, but after a little Pause he replied; That he was highly obliged both to him, and all the Nobility for their Affections to him, but that this was a business required great deliberation; that there was not Medium between a Throne, and a Chair of Execution; That therefore he should first advise with himself, and not rashly attempt so hazardous a business; He therefore communicates the whole Affair to his Duchess Donna Lucia Sister to the D. of Medina Sidonia, a Woman of a Noble, Heroick, and Masculine Spirit; with her he consults, whether he were best accept of the Propositions of the Nobility, or to prevent all hazards, go to Madrid; and being anxious what course to take, his Wife generously told him, My Friend, said she, if thou goest to Madrid thou dost incur the danger of losing thy life, and if thou acceptest the Crown thou dost no more, consider then whether it be not better to die nobly at home than basely abroad; These words of his Lady, say some, animated him with a Resolution to accept the Crown; so he returned Gaston an answer; That he would conform himself to the Counsels of the Nobility, resolving to live and run all hazards whatever with them for the regaining his Country's Liberty. In the mean time the Marquis of Ferreira reduced all those Castles which held out for the K. of Spain, and then in the name of the K. of Portugal gave the Sacrament of Fidelity, or an Oath of Allegiance to all the Orders, that is to the Clergy, Nobility, and Commons, which was received with so much readiness, that had not the Marquis seen the necessary Orders observed, the People had run into certain inconveniencies, so much they strove to prevent each other in willingness to perform this duty.  
Upon Thursday Feb. 6, His Majesty made his entrance into Lisbon, with all those Applauses that a Beloved King can expect from his most Loving Subjects, the Rich Liveries given by the Nobles, the Triumphal Arches, the Streets hung with Tapestry, the multitudes of People flocking to see him, and the Excellent Fireworks, which were so many, that a Spaniard cried out, Es possible qu● etc. Is it possible that K. Philip should be deprived of a Kingdom only with Lights and Fireworks without a powerful Army! Certainly this is an evident Token that 'tis the Almighty hand of God; Yet these I say, were but the least demonstrations of that City's Love and Joy; For so great was the Concourse of those that crowded to see their New King, that though His Majesty entered into Lisbon by noon, he could not through the throng arrive at his Palace till two hours after Sunset; Curiosity and Love, which usually have the Force to stir up all Affections, made this People Flock so fast to the sight of their Prince, and even those who hated the House of Braganza, did accommodate themselves to the General Joy; His Majesty being arrived at the Palace, in stead of reposing himself, fell presently to consultation for preserving the Kingdom he had thus suddenly gotten, and the several Governors were commanded to their Countries to Levy Forces, who listed the Inhabitants from the Age of eighteen to sixty, in whom they found such a ready willingness, that many offered their Estates and their Lives, and would follow the Colours, though they had Liberty to departed; On the 25 of the same Month, followed the Coronation of His Majesty, which was accompanied with all those Applauses and Demonstrations of Joy, that could proceed from a People of infinite Riches, who weary of the Command of Strangers were consequently ambitious of a King of their own Nation; It was performed with all manner of Grandeur and Magnificence, the following Oath being administered to the King by the Archbishops of Lisbon and Braga; We swear and promise by the Grace of God, to Rule and Govern you well and justly, and to administer Justice as far as humane frailty will permit, to maintain unto you your Customs, Privileges, and Liberties granted unto you by the King's own Predecessors; So help us God, and this his Holy Gospel. This Oath being administered, the 3 Estates of the Clergy, Nobility and Commons took the following Oath of Allegiance to His Majesty, one for every one of the Estates, pronouncing these words: I swear by this Holy Gospel of God, touching corporally with my hand, That I receive for our King and Lawful Sovereign, the High and Mighty King Don John the Fourth our Sovereign, and do homage to him according to the use and customs of his Kingdoms.  
These, and the other Ceremonies being ended, the King accompanied with all his Nobles, returned from the Theatre, where the Coronation was performed, to the Palace, where notwithstanding it was a very great rain, all the Grandees went bareheaded; There was a sumptuous banquet prepared, but his Majesty gave himself wholly to consult of preparations for the War, and to show the magnanimity of his mind, he only displaced two Officers; That of the Proveditore of the Customhouse, because he was Brother in Law to the Secretary Vasconsellos lately deservedly slain, and that of the Count of Castanlie, who was Precedent of the Tribunal or Court of Conscience, because he was too much interested with the King of Spain; As for the Infanta Margarita late Vicequeen, and the Marquis Della Puella, Kinsman to Olivarez, the Castle called Pasos de Angiobregas was assigned them, with Fourteen Thousand Crowns a year for maintenance in that honourable Prison. Shortly after Lucia now Queen of Portugal, with her Son Prince Theodosio arrived at Lisbon, who were received with all imaginable expressions of Joy, the Q. being soon after solemnly Crowned, and the Prince installed.  
But let us a little recollect, how these Actions were resented in the Spanish Court! Most men's minds there, were struck with Consternation, but Count Olivarez came smiling to the King, saving, Sir, I pray give me, 'las Albricias, (or a Reward) to handsel the good News, for now you are more absolute King of Portugal than ever, for the people have forfeited all their privileges by this Rebellion, besides the Estate of the Duke of Braganza, with all his Complices, are yours by right of Confiscation, so that you have enough to distribute among your Loyal Subjects, by way of reward; But however Olivarez seemed to dissemble his Passion, it was believed than this News struck deeper into him than any. The King of Spain upon the first News of the Proclamation of K. John, sent a Letter to him to this purpose; Cousin and Duke, Some odd News are brought me lately, which I esteem but folly, considering the proof I have had of the fidelity of your House, give me Advertisement accordingly, because I ought to expect it from you, and hazard not the esteem I make of yourself, to the fury of a mutinous rabble, but let your wisdom comport you so, that your Person may escape the danger; My Council will advise you further; So God guard you,  
Your Cousin and King.  
To this Letter His Majesty of Portugal returned Answer;  
My Cousin; My Kingdom desiring its Natural King, and my Subjects being oppressed with Taxes, and New Impositions, have executed without Opposition that which they had often designed, by giving me possession of a Kingdom which appertains to me; wherefore if any will go about to take it from me, I will seek Justice in my Arms, God preserve your Majesty,  
Don John, the 4th. King of Portugal.  
And now King John to show that the good of his Subjects was his only care, called an Assembly of the 3 Estates of the Kingdom, who being convened, and the King seated in his Royal Throne, the Bishop of Elvas made a Speech to them to the following purpose. That one of the first Laws of Nature was the uniting men together, from whence Cities and Kingdoms had their Original, and by which they after defended themselves in War, and maintained themselves in Peace; That for this cause His Majesty had called this Assembly, to consult for the better service of God, defence in War, and Government in Peace; That there could be no service of God without Union in Religion, no defence without Union amongst men, no regular Government without Union of Councils; That His Majesty did expect to be informed by his Loyal Subjects what was for the good of the State; That they were to render thanks to the Almighty, who had given them a King that would govern them by known Laws; That His Majesty did not esteem those Tributes lawful which were paid with Tears; and therefore did from that present take off from his Subjects all Taxes that had been imposed by the Kings of Spain, because His Majesty was not willing to Reign over their goods, nor over their heads, nor over their Privileges, but over their hearts, hoping that they would find out a sweet expedient to defend their Country against their Potent Enemy, who threatened to make them all slaves, and to destroy, and annihilate their Nation; That they would therefore considering his Majesty's goodness, and their own Honour, manifest at once to the world, that as never Subjects had such a gracious King, so never King had such Loyal Subjects.  
The Bishop having ended his Speech, the most ancient Officer of the Chamber of Lisbon stood up, and in the name of all the 3 Estates, who stood up likewise, returned humble thanks to His Majesty for this gracious bounty, hearty professing, That they did not only offer up their Goods, but their Lives to His Majesty's service, earnestly entreating him to dispose of both as he pleased; And to manifest that their Hearts and Mouths agreed in this free offer of themselves to His Majesty, they presently voted, that two Millions should be immediately raised by this Kingdom; But the King wisely and politicly declined the imposing a Tax on his Subjects, choosing rather to accept of their Benevolence; which made every one strive who should offer most, so that instead of the Two Millions, there was in short time brought into the Treasury Four Millions of Gold; Nor was this Money intended by them, nor employed to any other use, then to maintain the Grandeza, and Splendour of the K. and Kingdom, there being no need of Money for the payment of Soldiers, every one offering to serve freely, and at their own charge, against their vowed enemies the Spaniards.  
Thus was this Kingdom utterly lost to the Spanish Monarchy; King Alphonso the 6th. (lately removed from the Government) and his Brother Don Pedro now Reigning, and likewise Her Majesty of England, Q. Katherine, being the Sons and Daughter of this K. John, in which Family the Government is like still to continue, and never to revert back to the Spaniard, who lost at this time not only Portugal, but with it all they enjoyed by that Kingdom in the East-Indies, the Terce●a Islands, and other Islands in the Atlantic Sea, the Kingdom of Algarve Brazile, with all they had in Africa, except the Town of Ceuta which was the whole that remained to the Spanish Nation of all those great Dominions. Hist. Portugal. Pag. 61.  
104. The remarkable revolutions in the Empire of China, and the entire Conquest thereof by the Tartars happened in the same year 1640; As if some fatal influence had inclined most Nations to changes and distractions at that time. It cannot therefore be unpleasant to give a brief account thereof; The Inhabitants of China enjoyed all the pleasures of peace under the Government of their last Emperor, who was the most absolute Monarch that ever ruled those vast Territories; when in the year 1640, a year fatal to several States, those Clouds began to gather, which shortly after produced such a storm as ruined the whole Empire; The name of the present Emperor was Zunchin, a deceitful, and unfortunate name, for in the Chinese Language, it signifies successful omen, or Sovereign Dominion, but how false a prognostic this was appeared quickly; This Emperor was of a most courteous and good disposition, and certainly his Subjects, who enjoyed great Plenty, and all the advantages of Peace, lived truly happy under so Excellent a Prince; But it is not sufficient for a Prince to be Good, and to govern mildly and peaceably, unless he likewise takes care not to have ill Officers, who make use of their Credit under him, to gratify their Private Passions and to extend their Ambition beyond all Bounds and Limits; yet some Authors have branded him for Covetousness, and that after a great Famine which happened in the Northern Provinces, occasioned by an unheard of number of Locusts, he imposed upon his Subjects as high Taxes, as they paid formerly in fruitful flourishing times, the former Money being all misspent, and the Soldiers not paid; Whereupon the number of the Mutineers daily increased, who enriched themselves by Plunder and Rapine. For as Semedo in his History of China intimates, Rebellion is the usual Effect of Extortion and Tyranny, especially where the Prince would have more from the People than they are able to give, And therefore Theopompus (saith he) King of the Lacedæmonians, when his wife told him, that because he had eased the People of many Taxes, he would leave his Son a poorer Kingdom, than he received from his Father; answered, Relinquo sed Diuturnius; that is, I shall leave him a more lasting Kingdom, Happy had it been for Zunchin Emperor of China had he been of Theopompus his Mind.  
But (saith my Author) though I find him charged with Covetousness, yet I am not very apt to suspect him so guilty of that Vice, as of another usually more fatal to Princes, which is a facile Nature, easy to be wrought upon by others, and too inclinable to favour and indulge themselves, and not willing to undergo the weight of Affairs; From whence it was, that though under the Reign of his Brother Thienking, who preceded him in the Imperial Throne, Zunchin so opposed his Darling Favourite the Eunuch Guei, and all the Eunuches his Partisans, that at last he prevailed with his brother to banish them all his Court, to the great Satisfaction of the whole Empire, and when his Brother dying without Issue the Imperial Crown fell to him, at his first taking possession thereof, he so persecuted the Eunuches who by abuse of their Authority under his Brother had made themselves abhorred by the whole Nation, that Guei in despair poisoned himself; yet at last this very Emperor suffered himself, by the crafty insinuation of some about him, contrary to his own Judgement, to be prevailed with to recall those insolent Extortioners, and most imprudently made his incensed Enemies, his reconciled Confidents. And entrusts them with the sole Management of all Affairs, who now conceal their Malice against him, but forgot not to Study revenge; and being backed with his Authority, by their Extortion they grind the face of the People, every themselves, render their Master odious to his Subjects, endeavour by all Arts to defraud him, keep back his Soldiers pay and Provision, thereby to occasion Mutinies; hold correspondence with the Rebels, not acquaint him with the danger that Threatened both him and his Empire, and at last admit the whole Army of the Traitors into the very Walls of the City Peking, the sad Consequences whereof we shall find hereafter.  
It was in the year 1640 when two Rebels at the same time revolted against their Lawful Sovereign, one of them was called Ly, or Licungz, the other Cham or Changien, and though they were but private Subjects of the Emperor of China, and Persons of no Consideration either by their Quality or Birth, yet they both equally aspired to the Supreme Dominion; And having drawn to them great numbers of the choicest Soldiers in the Empire, they began to make incursions upon the Northern Provinces which border upon Tartary; The Emperor in the mean time did not take sufficient care to stifle this Revolt; In all likelihood the Complaints and Informations of those Commanders who guarded the Frontiers never entered the Court so far as to reach the Emperor's Ears; The Ministers of State, and Officers of the Court stopped the Passage, having already sold the Empire and their Master, by abusing his mild Disposition; The saying of Dioclesian is but too True, That though a Prince be Good, Prudent, Observant, Careful, and Vigilant, yet he cannot prevent Treachery, if those who are in employment under Him, & who ought to serve and advise him Faithfully, do contrariwise combine together to surprise him, and make ill use of his Authority; Either the Ability and Fidelity of the Counsellors must strike a Terror into Rebels, or they will soon make themselves a Terror both to the Prince, and His Counsellors. The two chiefs of this Rebellion took such advantage by this Pernicious Negligence, that those Counsels which if at first executed would with great facility have put an end to these Troubles, became now both unfit, and impossible to be put in Execution; In a short time they gained themselves the Renown of Great and most Valiant Commanders, and by this advantage they quickly had Forces enough, not only to defend themselves, but to enlarge their Conquests, their Confederates increasing daily so that by force of Arms they made themselves Masters of Five Provinces.  
The Rebel Cham went to establish himself in that Province which of the five was the most remote from the Emperor's Court, and took upon him the Title of King, with full Resolution to extend his Conquests to the Neighbouring Provinces; The other Rebel called Ly, having, as it appeared, framed to himself greater designs, approached nearer the Court, and had already in his Imagination conquered the whole Empire; But judging from the advantage he had received from Cham's Confederacy with him at the beginning, how great an obstacle so powerful a Competitor might be to him in process of time, he did in all likelihood make him away, either by secret Treachery or open Violence, some Historians affirming he was cut off by a Party sent against him by Ly, or Lincungz, who having now no Competitor that could aspire to the Sovereignty, began to noise abroad his vast Projects, and settled himself in the Capital City of the Province Xensi, called Singansuase; He caused himself to be crowned, and took upon him the Title of Emp. of China, kept an Imperial Court, and acted like a Sovereign Prince, threatening in a short time to make himself Master of the Emperor's Court, and to join Pequin which is the Chief, to the five other Provinces; It is not certainly known what was the first rise of these 2 Usurpers, only it is famed that they were both Generals in the Emperor of China's Armies, who perceiving themselves, nor Soldiers to be neither regarded, nor recompensed for their Services, but to be ill used by the Ministers of State, they revolted against their King, and conspired together to be their own Paymasters; resolving to make the Grandees of the Court understand, That those who serve their Prince in his Armies are without Comparison better capacitated to serve or disserve the State, than those whose sole Employment it is by their Court Artifices to ingratiate themselves with their Prince: They began at first with Complaints, and from Complaints they came to Arms, and having once began the Treachery, they thought themselves engaged most vigorously to prosecute it.  
Whilst the Flame of Rebellion, and Civil War, which every day increased, threatened the whole Empire of China with a General Ruin and Revolution the Tartar did most attentively and vigilantly watch for some pretext to enter into some or all the Provinces, yet he would embrace none but what was honourable, having solemnly sworn Peace with the Royal Family of China; and therefore he could not resolve with himself, as great an Idolater as he was, to violate that Oath which he had taken in the presence of his Idols; A great Example to those, who boast of the True Religion, and yet swear and promise without regarding the performance either of their Oaths or Promises; Finally the Tartar judged very truly, that if he joined his Forces with any one of the 2 Parties, he should in a short time make himself Umpire and Master of one or both; he therefore joined with neither, but kept an Army under strict discipline on the Frontiers, hoping for some favourable Opportunity of passing into China without falsifying his Faith, which he desired to keep inviolable; Lie in the mean time resolved to secure the whole Empire to himself, though it could not be done without difficulty since the Chineses have such a tender and passionate Love to their Sovereigns, that they seem rather to Idolise than love them, and the present Prince was no less Beloved than any of his Ancestors, which the Tyrant being sensible of, for his own security took care to pay his Soldiers, and resolved with all possible speed to complete the entire Invasion of the whole Empire; But first he thought fit to acquaint his most resolute Commanders and his greatest Confidents, with his Resolutions, which he did in these Terms;  
My Friends, said he, the Lot is cast, we must now either gain all or lose all, we cannot hereafter be greater Rebels than we are already, therefore let us dispatch with all expedition the Conquest of the other Ten Provinces of China, now that we have made 5 Provinces feel the power of our Swords. But most assuredly when we shall have subdued the rest, none will be so audacious and rash to call us Rebels and Usurpers; Rebels if Victorious cease to be Rebels, and become the Right and Lawful Lords and Masters; What therefore now remains, but that I either make myself the Sovereign Monarch of China, or lose my Life in these Fields, and there become a Prey to Birds of the Air, and Beasts of the Field; there is nothing in all this spacious Empire can gratify me, but either a Throne or a Grave, and I will advance myself to such a pitch of Grandeur, that if I fall, it shall be with such a Crack as shall shiver the whole frame of Government, and bury the whole Empire under my Ruins. Thus Lie spoke to his Followers, that were entirely devoted to him, who finding their Resolution, he speedily entered upon a most bold and hazardous Design, but of high importance for the sudden accomplishing his Pretensions, which was to go directly against the very Person of the Emp. and with all his Forces to assault the Imperial Court, and Capital City of the Empire, fully determining to strike off the Emperor's head, and to place the Crown on his own; By this eminent exploit he knew he should possess himself of the King's Treasure, which would highly strengthen his Party, and besides cut off all Power from any of the Royal Family to raise any Forces, or to head any who should yet have any sparks of Loyalty in their Breast. To execute this Grand Attempt, he must make himself Master of the Great City of Pequin, where all the Court resided; But he could not hope to do this by open Force, and therefore resolves to do it by Stratagem, and so to surprise the Town, that the Thunderclap should be felt before the noise was heard. By this sudden surprise, he would not leave the Emp. time to prepare either for his defence or flight; Otherwise it would have been very difficult for  with all his Force he could have raised, to have so suddenly reduced this Great City; For beside the vast Extent of Pequin, it was very well fortified, and in time of Peace was guarded with 80000 of the Emp. best Soldiers; The Imperial Palace alone is above 2 Miles round, and defended with 2 or 3 Walls, Ditches and Bulwarks, which are all distinct from each other and very strongly guarded. Ly foresaw all these difficulties, and therefore he had already by Presents and fair Promises bribed several of the Grandees of the Court and Council, whereby he found it not difficult to engage them in his Interests. A strange thing, that when there was not one Person of the common people either in City or Court who could be drawn into this Treason, yet several of the Magistrates and Officers of the Court made themselves a detestable Example, by entering into a conspiracy against the State, and the Person of their Prince; The chief of the conspirators were the Eunuches of the Imperial Palace, who were then very potent, and considerable in the Court, and upon whose Fidelity the Emperor of China much presumed, entrusting them with the Guard of his Person and the Government of the State.  
The Tyrant Ly having thus laid his treasonable design, he sent into the imperial City of Pequin several of his Trusty, and most valiant Commanders, disguised like Merchants, with instructions to keep open shop, and to sell several Rich Merchandizes; These counterfeit Merchants were never suspected to be great Commanders, and their Apprentices and Servants choice Soldiers; But it concerned them to mind their Trade, for upon that depended the purchase of the greatest Empire in the world, which was put to sale by those who were most of all obliged to preserve and defend it; When the bargain was thus made and earnest mutually given, those in the City and Court, who kept Intelligence with the Tyrant, failed not upon several pretences to lessen the Guards, and to weaken as much as possible the strength of the place; And on a sudden Ly appeared, and found the Gates of the Town open, and his men victorious in the Conquest of this great City; the Inhabitants being so astonished, that before they could resist, they found themselves under the power of their enemies; The Emperor Zunchin did not perceive the deplorable condition of his State till it was past remedy, for now he knew that the rage of his enemies would not only take from him by violence his Empire and Crown, but his life also; and then too late percieved the design of those ill Counsellors, who advised him not to raise Forces, nor send Money nor Recruits to those Commanders, who guarded the Frontiers; He now poor Prince, saw himself besieged in his own Palace, and was fully convinced he was betrayed, and therefore thought of nothing but to departed out of this life by a death worthy of his Dignity and Courage; His desperate condition made him feelingly reflect, how much in him was to be pitied, the too facile and easy natures and disposition of Princes, which is usually attended with sad disasters both to themselves, and their States.  
The City of Pequin being of a vast extent, before the Traitors could by Force enter the Palace, which was very spacious, some of the most Loyal Officers, and Soldiers made a vigorous resistance, which the Emperor looked upon as a grateful Testimony of their Allegiance, since thereby he had liberty to choose his own death, which he considered as his last happiness; A frail and cruel satisfaction which the pride of man makes him seek out, to be his own Executioner, that thereby he may die with the greater renown and pomp. During the time of this resistance, the Emperor considered how speedily to dispose both of his Royal Family and Person, which was in the most Tragical manner that ever Histories related; He had but one only Daughter, very young, which till now had been the hope and desire of the Empire, his only Son dying before this direful disaster; The Emperor cut her Throat with his own hands, and at her own supplication, that she might not see her Honour and Illustrious Rank become a shameful Prey to a Tyrant and Traitor, who had nothing great and eminent in him, but his Treason and Rebellion against his Lawful Sovereign; After this horrid Execution, the Emperor with his hands, yet reeking with the blood of his Daughter, went into the Garden of the Palace, accompanied with his Lawful Spouse, the Empress, for whom he had forsaken six other Wives who had each of them the Title of Queen, 30 others who were the most illusttrious Ladies of the Empire, and 3000 others of lesser Quality; Some of their faithful servants understanding their cruel intentions, filled the Air in proclaiming their griefs, some cried, My Lord and my Husband, others, My King and my Master, and some my Father, every one accenting their sorrow in a tone suitable to their part in this scene of sorrow.  
The heart of this unfortunate Prince was penetrated with so great affliction, that it could admit of no Consolation, and only comforted himself that he should preserve the Honour of his Empress, being altogether unconcerned for his other Queens, and numerous Wives; Some few Courtiers, who among so many Traitors remained faithful to him, attended with a doleful silence upon the Emperor and Empress, who could neither speak a word, nor shed a tear, sorrow had taken such entire possession of their hearts. Zunchin was a young Prince, endowed with all the qualities that might render him amiable to his People; His Royal Spouse the Empress loved him with so tender an affection, that to testify the sincerity of her Passion to him, she resolved to die either with or before him; The Prince being very pensive, and solicitous how to prevent greater disgraces, went together with those who accompanied him towards a little Grove, at the entrance of which he stopped, and then the Empress guessing at his design, approached to him, and giving him her last embraces, she parted from that person which was the dearest to her of all things upon Earth, with all the grief and sorrow that Humane Nature is capable of, and then she entered all alone into the Grove, and with a Cord hanged herself upon one of the Trees; A dreadful spectacle which might make even those who were more senseless than the Trees, lament so direful a death of so great an Empress. Presently after, the Emperor went and placed himself near his Wife, whom he saw hanging upon a Tree, having finished her Life by a death as violent as that which he had inflicted upon his Daughter; Then poor Prince he asked a little Wine of one of the Lords which attended him, not that he was a lover of Wine, but on the contrary, was the most sober, and moderate in his pleasures of all the Princes which ever governed the Empire; And was so chaste toward women that he never frequented his Seraglio, which made his Subjects call him the  Prince; It was not therefore for the love of Wine, but a little to revive and refresh his Spirits; And doubtless he had need of great courage to put in Execution what he designed; When the Wine was presented to him he sipped a little of it, and then biting with violence one of his Fingers, and squeezing out his blood, he writ therewith these following words.  
The Mandorins (or Eunuches) are all Villains; they have perfidiously betrayed their Prince, they all deserve to be hanged, and it will be a laudable Act of Justice, to execute this Sentence upon them; It is fit they should all suffer death, that thereby they might instruct those who succeed them to serve their Prince more Loyally; As for the People they are not Criminal, and deserve not to be punished, and therefore to use them ill, will be injustice; I have lost my Kingdoms which I received in inheritance from my Ancestors; In me is finished the Royal Line, which so many Kings my Progenitors continued down to me, with all the Grandeur, and Fame suitable to their Majestic Dignity, I will therefore for ever close my eyes, that I may not see this Empire descended to me, thus ruined and ruled by a Tyrant; I will go and deprive myself of that Life for which I can never suffer myself to be indebted to the basest and vilest of my Subjects; I have not the confidence to appear before them, who being born Subjects are become my Enemies and Traitors; It is fit the Prince should die, since his whole State is now expiring; And how can I endure to live, having seen the loss and destruction of that which was dearer to me than Life.  
The Prince, after he had thus writ what his just grief dictated to him, he untied his Hair, and covering his face, presently with his own hands he hanged himself upon a Tree, near to that on which the Empress remained strangled; This was the Tragical Catastrophe of this unfortunate Monarch. The Emperor of China remained thus hanging on a Tree, the Prince who was the Idol of his people, at the very name of whom Millions of men trembled; The Sovereign of above an 100 Millions of Subjects, the Monarch of a Kingdom as spacious as all Europe; He who counted his Soldiers by Millions, and his Taxes and Tributes by hundreds of Millions; Finally, the Potent Emperor of the great Empire of China is hanged upon a tree, and his Royal Consort the Empress upon another near him; What a weighty load did the trunks of these trees support? But of what weight had it need be, to make the great men upon earth duly weigh what all their terrible and ambitious Grandeur is, which in so few moments passes from the height of the felicities of this Life to an Abyss of misery; This unhappy Monarch finished his Reign at the Age of 32 years; He died very soon, but it was his misfortune he died no sooner; For whatever King or Emperor he be who reckons his years which have been exposed to such direful Tragedies, cannot be said to have lived such a number of years, but to have undergone a far greater number of miseries and calamities.  
The Report of the Emperor's death being soon spread over the City, those Loyal Subjects, who had hitherto resisted, abandoned their resolution; So that Lie presently became Master both of the City and Court, taking up his quarters in the Imperial Palace, where he saw himself possessed of all the prodigious treasures of that vast State, and was soon after Crowned in the Court at Pequin, and Proclaimed Sovereign Emperor of China, yet he enjoyed his traitorous usurpation a very short time, for the Tartars reckoning all Obligations of the former League of peace, made void by the death of Zunchin, and all the Royal Family, Soon after invaded the Empire of China, and made an absolute conquest thereof, forcing the Tyrant Lie to fly, and hid himself in the Northern parts of the Kingdom, who has not since been heard of; Neither did the treacherous Eunuches escape vengeance, for they were in a little while most of them destroyed and cut off by the Tartars. History of China, etc.  
FINIS.   

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FINIS.