THE True and most miraculous Narrative, of a Child born WITH TWO TONGVES, At the lower end of East-Smithfeild, in the Suburbs of London, etc.  
Who three days after his Birth, was heard plainly, and expressly to cry out, A King, a King, a King, Which it hath ever since continued, to the admiration of all that hear it.  
As also its being sent for by divers Personages of the Greatest Dignity, and many Honourable Ladies in the Cities of London and Westminster, who not contented to behold, and but one time to hear it, have sent their Coaches for it again and again.  
Together with the many various Interpretations and Constructions that every where are made of it.  Horat. Serm. Lib. 1. 
Nec si quid miri fecit Natura, Deos id 
 Tristes ex alto coeli dimitere tecto.  
Printed for R. Harper near the Hospital Gate in Smithfield, 1659.   

The True and most Miraculous Narrative of a Child born with Two Tongues, At the lower End of East-Smithfield, in the Suburbs of London, etc.  
Who Three Days after his Birth, was heard plainly and expressly to cry out a King, a King, a King; Which it hath ever since continued, to the Admiration of all that hear it.  
TO have two Tongues is commonly the property of a Dissembler, that is to say, to have two Hearts, and one Tongue; for though the transgression of the Heart be laid to the dissimulation of the Tongue; the Tongue is not so much guilty of it, as is the Heart, that doth sign, and dictate to it. It is the property of a Wise man to have his Tongue in his Heart, (saith the wisest of men;) but if every man should have as many Tongues to express his thoughts, as he hath a heart that conspires with his head to contrive them, how many Monsters would there be in Nature?  
But though the Tongue be oftentimes a Dissembler, yet Truth itself (for the honour of the Tongue) will not have it to be dissembled; that the Tongue is a most Necessary Instrument, and attended with as much wonder, and prophecy, when God peculiarly doth please to move it, as it is with lies, and vanities, when God doth leave it to itself. We will descend by degrees to the observation of this Truth, and we will endeavour to be as plain as possibly we can, for we know to whom we writ.  
The first double Tongue that ever was in the World, was the Tongue of the Devil, when in the form of a Serpent he courted Adam and Eve, to transgress the Commandment of the Almighty. Adam before was as entire in his Tongue, as he was in his Innocence; There was then in the World but one Language. and there needed but one tongue to express that Language. Deceit was not known in Nature, unless it was only in the Nature of the Serpent, into which Nature the Devil did transform himself, and having tempted Man to sin by a secret tincture, and an Infection of as much Ambition as crawling Corruption, he hath ever since made Man almost as serpentine as himself.  
Man being thus infected with a double Tongue from the Devil, behold a punishment proportioned to the Nature of his Offence. It was the double or the forked Tongue of the Serpent that tempted Man to sin, and God will revenge it with his forked Thunderbolts, which indeed had sunk mankind into the Pit of eternal darkness, had he not in this wilderness of affliction been relieved with the Sight of a better Serpent, who after the immortal honour of his ignominious Death, by the wonder of cloven Tongues which appeared like Fire, did testify unto him the wonder of his Resurrection, so saving unto Mankind, that whosoever calleth on his Name shall be saved.  
The Israelites heretofore for their murmuring, had been bitten with fiery Serpents, the sins of their Tongues being punished with the Teeth of the Serpents, their murmuring Tongues being like fiery Serpents, by which their sins were chastised and expounded.  
And as the Brazen Serpent was lifted up in the Wilderness, so was the Son of Man lifted upon the Cross, and conferred the gift of Cloven Tongues on those that loved him, that all Nations might partake as well of the blessing, as they heard of the wonder of his Resurrection.  
In the Contemplation of this I stand amazed, I find a Wheel turned in a Wheel, a Sphere wrapped in a Sphere, especially when after this gift of a Cloven Tongue, I do read: That it shall come to pass in the last days, that the Lord will pour out his Spirit on all flesh, and their Sons and their Daughters shall prophesy: And on my Servants, and on my Handmaids, saith the Lord, I will pour out of my Spirit in those days, and they shall prophesy.  
The Beasts who had cloven Feet, were accounted clean in the Old Law, and we find the Cloven Tongues to be the mystical Tokens of much happiness to come in the new. They were the Interpreters of the Sheet which St. Peter saw, and what it contained before the four corners of it were knit together. They were the Prophets that foretold the Gospel of Salvation, which should be preached now as well unto the Gentiles as to the Jews.  
This is inserted, to take off the Imputation which the World doth commonly fasten on double Tongues, not that they are guiltless, for a double Tongue, and a double Heart, go oftentimes together. A double Tongue for the most part is a false Tongue, and the Devil is the Father of lies, and may have a Cloven Tongue, as well as a Cloven Foot. But the Child of whom we come now to speak, hath not as it seems a double Tongue, nor a cloven, or a divided Tongue, but two Tongues, one lapped over the other, and is as wonderful in his Language, both in the earliness, and the Sense of it, as he is in the Supernumerary Member.  
Michael Scotus in his Book De secretis Naturae, discourseth why some Men have six Fingers, and why many men have one Thumb joined to another, which is not of the same length and bigness, but subservient to the other; In this he gives you uncontrolled Reasons, to satisfy the exuberance of Nature. The great Scholar Fracanstorfius, who wrote many years after him, is more full and clear in his disquisitions on this Subject; If I do remember myself rightly, it is in the very same place or very near unto it, where he gives you his Reasons why David being an old Man, was advised by a Counsel of his Physicians to take a young Maid into his Bed; But I have yet never heard of any Philosopher that showeth Reasons why a man hath two Tongues, nor of any Historian who declareth that ever any one hath had them.  
True it is, I have heard many a man to say, that his own Wife, or his next Neighbour's Wife, hath a thousand Tongues, which modestly I conceive is not so much, by reason of the Number of so many Tongues, as by the perpetual motion of one Tongue. And this indeed is the noise and the complaints of every day, and every wind doth blow them over the face of the World, that now they are no sooner heard, then disregarded: but for an Infant to be born with two Tongues, and to speak almost as soon as it was born, is a wonder in earnest, a wonder as well to be seen, as heard, and the great wonder which I come now to declare unto you.  
In the Suburbs of London, in the lower end of East-smithfield, at a place called Knockfergus, a young woman was brought to bed with a Child that was born with two Tongues, the one in some measure covering the other, but the lower Tongue appearing to be the more natural, for it seemeth to be more firm and longer than the other. The father of it is a poor man, and of a poor trade, but such a one that the best Lady in the Land, when she is plagued with Corns, would be glad of his Assistance. Having a sharp Knife, and a good dexterity in this, he doth get a reasonable Subsistence to live in a hard world, and being a good Corn-cutter, he doth make his harvest, and thriftily brings it home, as well in Winter as in Summer. His Name is John Clerk, and he liveth at the next door to the Sign of the Soldier and Trumpet at Knockfergus. His Wife is a great Pains-taker, and well beloved amongst her neighbours, who were many of them with her, at the time of her delivery, and did assist her in her Childing throws.  
Three days after she was brought to bed, many of her neighbours came to give her a visit, and some of them were witnesses at the Christening of her Child, whose Name was John, after the Name of his Father; looking steadfastly on the Child and kissing it, the Child did open its mouth, and they plainly discerned that it had two Tongues, which they were loath to discover to the mother, who for all she gave it suck, had not then the least knowledge of it.  
Mrs. nichols her next Neighbour whispering to the Midwife, whose name is Mrs. Silk, concerning it, and the other Neighbours marveling at it, and desired that for the present it might be kept in private amongst themselves, because they were loath to disquiet the mother, who began to take a little rest after her hard Travail, with such melancholy News, the Child began to wail, and to cry out, A King, A King, A King;  
If they were surprised with wonder to see two Tongues, how may we think, they were now transported to hear one of them to speak, and to speak such a word, so unexpectedly and distinctly.  
In a silence full of amazement, they did now look on one another, the speaking Child had made the Women dumb, which more than all the Bells in the Town ringing at once, or the rattling of the brazen pans can do when the Moon is in labour: Being all of them for a little respite of time thus hushed as midnight, the Child began to speak again, and to repeat thosewords it did express before, which the Mother hearing, did call for the Child, and did partake of the Wonder with them; they entered into Council, and concluded that in regard the Name and Authority of a King had been abolished by the Parliament, it was not fit it should be divulged; the Mother, therefore did desire them that they would not make any mention of it, which they pronsised to perform; but what muzzle can silence the tongue of a woman?  
From whispers at the first, it began to grow into open Reports, and the more they did promise to suppress it, the more it was divulged; howsoever the Mother (as she saith herself) did tamper with the Child, and as much as she could to make it sensible of her, she did forbid it to speak in that Name, which neither she, nor others that did attempt it could ever effect.  
In a short time the Child with two tongues, and the words in the mouth of it were famous in the City, and divers Gentlewomen of the City did send their Coaches for the mother and the Child, who ever now and anon, would cry out A King, a King, a King; and if there were any company about it, that it did not like, it will put forth its hand and cry Away, away▪  
This being rumoured in the City, great Ladies and many personages of honour at Clerken-well have sent for the Mother and Child, who not knowing what to make of it, have nevertheless been beneficial to the poor Mother of it. It is observable, that whereas other Children go forward, this Child do what they can goes backward.  
The Age of the Child being three quarters of a year.  
FINIS.