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SIR THOMAS BROWNE'S WORKS,
VOLUME THE THIRD,
CONTAINING
PSEUDODOXIA EPIDEMICA— GARDEN OF CYRUS-
HYDRIOTAPHIA— BRAMPTON URNS.
Digitized by the Internet Archive
in 2012 with funding from
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
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THE WOEKS
,Al<3
v,3
OP
SIR THOMAS BROWNE.
HIS UNPUBLISHED CORRESPONDENCE,
AND A MEMOIR.
EDITED BY SIMON WILKIN, F.L.S.
VOL. III.
LONDON:
HENRY G. BOHN, YORK STREET, COVENT GARDEN.
1846.
*0
CONTENTS TO VOLUME THIRD.
PACE
PSEUDODOXIA EPIDEMICA, books 4 to 7... 1 to 374
The Fourth Book ; the particular part continued.
Of many popular and received tenets con-
cerning man.
Chap. 1. That only man hath an erect figure . 1 to 4
Chap. 2. That the heart is on the left side . 5 to 7
Chap. 3. That pleurisies are only on the left
side 7 to 8
Chap. 4. Of the ring finger 8 to 13
Chap. 5. Of the right and left hand . . . 13 to 23
Chap. 6. On swimming and floating . .24 to 27
Chap. 7. That men weigh heavier dead than
alive, and before meat than after . . . 28 to 31
Chap. 8. That there are several passages for
meat and drink 31 to 32
Chap. 9. On saluting upon sneezing . . . 33 to 36
Chap. 10. That Jews stink 36 to 43
Chap. 11. Of pygmies 43 to 47
Chap. 12. Of the great climacterical year, that
is, sixty-three 47 to 68
Chap. 13. Of the canicular or dog-days . . 69 to 85
The Fifth Book ; the particular part continued.
Of many things questionable as they are
commonly described in pictures; of many
popular customs, &c.
Chap. 1. Of the picture of the pelican . . 87 to 90
Chap. 2. Of the picture of dolphins . . . 90 to 92
Chap. 3. Of the picture of a grasshopper . 92 to 95
Chap. 4. Of the picture of the serpent tempt-
ing Eve 95 to 99
VI
PAGE
Chap. 5. Of the picture of Adam and Eve with
navels 99 to 102
Chap. 6. Of the pictures of the Jews and
Eastern Nations, at their feasts, especially
our Saviour at the Passover .... 102 to 110
Chap. 7. Of the picture of our Saviour with
long hair Ill to 112
Chap. 8. Of the picture of Abraham sacrificing
Isaac 113 to 114
Chap. 9. Of the picture of Moses with horns 114 to 116
Chap. 10. Of the scutcheons of the twelve
tribes of Israel 117 to 122
Chap. 11. Of the pictures of the sybils . 122 to 123
Chap. 12. Of the picture describing the death
of Cleopatra 124 to 126
Chap. 13. Of the pictures of the nine worthies 127 to 131
Chap. 14. Of the picture of Jephthah sacrific-
ing his daughter 131 to 134
Chap. 15. Of the picture of John the Baptist
in a camel's skin 134 to 136
Chap. 16. Of the picture of St. Christopher 136 to 138
Chap. 17. Of the picture of St. George . 138 to 140
Chap. 18. Of the picture of St. Jerome . 141 to 143
Chap. 19. Of the pictures of mermaids, uni-
corns, and some others 143 to 148
Chap. 20. Of the hieroglyphical pictures of the
Egyptians 148 to 152
Chap. 21. Of the picture of Haman hanged 153 to 155
Chap. 22. Of the picture of God the Father ;
of the sun, moon, and winds, with others 156 to 161
Chap. 23. Compendiously of many popular cus-
toms, opinions, &c 162 to 173
Chap. 24. Of popular customs, opinions, &c. 174 to 184
The Sixth Book; the particular part continued.
Of popular and received tenets, cosmographi-
cal, geographical, and historical.
Chap. 1. Concerning the beginning of the
world, that the time thereof is not precisely
known, as commonly it is presumed . . 185 to 200
Vll
i'A(;u:
Chap. 2. Of men's enquiries in what season or
point of the Zodiack it began, that, as they
are generally made, they are in vain, and as
particularly, uncertain . . . . . . 201 to 203
Chap. 3. Of the divisions of the seasons and
four quarters of the year, &c. . . . 204 to 209
Chap. 4. Of some computation of days and de-
ductions of one part of the year unto another 210 to 213
Chap. 5. A digression of the wisdom of God
in the site and motion of the sun . . 213 to 219
Chap. 6. Concerning the vulgar opinion that
the earth was slenderly peopled before the
flood 219 to 235
Chap. 7. Of east and west . . . . 236 to 246
Chap. 8. Of the river Nilus .... 246 to 259
Chap. 9. Of the red sea 259 to 262
Chap. 10. Of the blackness of Negroes . 263 to 275
Chap. 11. Of the same 275 to 280
Chap. 12. A digression concerning blackness 281 to 287
Chap. 13. Of gypsies 287 to 290
Chap. 14. Of some others 290 to 293
The Seventh Book ; the particular part concluded.
Of popular and received tenets, chiefly his-
torical, and some deduced from the Holy
Scriptures.
Chap. 1. That the forbidden fruit was an apple 295 to 299
Chap. 2. That a man hath one rib less than a
woman 299 to 301
Chap. 3. Of Methuselah 301 to 304
Chap. 4. That there was no rainbow before the
flood 304 to 308
Chap. 5. Of Shem, Ham, and Japheth . 308 to 310
Chap. 6. That the tower of Babel was erected
against a second deluge 310 to 312
Chap. 7. Of the mandrakes of Leah . . 312 to 317
Chap. 8. Of the three kings of Collein . 317 to 319
Chap. 9. Of the food of John Baptist, locust
and wild honey 319 to 321
Chap. 10. That John the Evangelist should
not die 321 to 326
Chap. 11. Of some others more briefly . . 326 to 329
Chap. 12. Of the cessation of oracles . . 329 to 332
Chap. 13. Of the death of Aristotle . . 332 to 338
Chap. 14. Of the wish of Philoxenus to have
the neck of a crane 338 to 341
Chap. 15. Of the lake Asphaltites . . 341 to 345
Chap. 16. Of clivers other relations : viz. of
the woman that conceived in a bath ; of
Crassus that never laughed but once, &c. 345 to 353
Chap. 17. Of some others : viz. of the poverty
of Belisarius ; of fluctus decumanus, or the
tenth wave ; of Parisatis that poisoned Sa-
tira by one side of a knife ; of the woman
fed with poison that should have poisoned
Alexander ; of the wandering Jew ; of Friar
Bacon's brazen head that spoke; of Epicurus 353 to 362
Chap. 18. More briefly of some others: viz.
that the army of Xerxes drank whole rivers
dry; that Hannibal cut through the Alps
with vinegar ; of Archimedes his burning; the
ships of Marcellus ; of the Fabii that were
all slain ; of the death of iEschylus ; of the
cities of Tarsus and Anthiale built in one
day ; of the great ship Syracusia or Alexan-
dria ; of the Spartan boys .... 362 to 369
Chap. 19. Of some relations whose truth we
fear 370 to 374
THE GARDEN OF CYRUS .... 375 to 448
Editor's preface to the Garden of Cyrus, Hy-
driotaphia, and Brampton Urns . . . 377 to 380
HYDRIOTAPHIA 449 to '496
BRAMPTON URNS ... 497 to 505
THE FOURTH BOOK.
THE PARTICULAR PART CONTINUED.
OP MANY POPULAR AND RECEIVED TENETS CONCERNING MAN.
CHAPTER I.
That only Man hath an erect figure.
That only man hath an erect figure, and for to behold and
look up toward heaven, according to that of the poet: *
Pronaque cum spectant animalia csetera terrain,
Os homini sublime dedit, ccelumque tueri
Jussit, et erectos ad sydera tollere vultus.
is a double assertion, whose first part may be true if we take
erectness strictly, and so as Galen hath defined it, for they
only, saith he, have an erect figure, whose spine and thigh bone
are carried in right lines, and so indeed, of any we yet know,
man only is erect.2 For the thighs of other animals do stand
at angles with their spine, and have rectangular positions in
birds, and perfect quadrupeds. Nor doth the frog, though
stretched out, or swimming, attain the rectitude of man, or
1 The poet.] Ovid. Met. i, 84. See ing a perfectly erect attitude, and though
also Cicero, De Nat. Deor. ii, 56. they occasionally assume aposition nearly
2 Man only is erect.] But itt is most so, yet even this they cannot long retain,
evident that baboones and apes doe not Their narrowness of pelvis, the con-
only .... as a man, but goe as erect figuration of their thighs and lower ex-
also. — Wr. tremities, the situation of their flex or
This is incorrect. Man alone, un- muscles, and the want of muscular calves
questionably, is constructed for an erect and buttocks, constitute together an in-
position. The apes, which resemble him capacity for perfect or continued verticity
in their conformation more closely than of attitude in the quadrimuna.
any other animals, are incapable of attain-
VOL. III. B
2 ENQUIRIES INTO VULGAR [BOOK IV.
carry its thigh without all angularity. And thus is it also
true, that man only sitteth, if we define sitting to be a firma-
tion of the body upon the ischias ; wherein, if the position
be just and natural, the thigh-bone lieth at right angles to
the spine, and the leg-bone or tibia to the thigh. For others,
when they seem to sit, as dogs, cats, or lions, do make unto
their spine acute angles with their thigh, and acute to the
thigh with their shank. Thus is it likewise true, what Aris-
totle allegeth in that problem, why man alone suffereth
pollutions in the night, because man only lieth upon his
back, — if we define not the same by every supine position,
but when the spine is in rectitude with the thigh, and both
with the arms lie parallel to the horizon, so that aline through
their navel will pass through the zenith and centre of the
earth. And so cannot other animals lie upon their backs,
for though the spine lie parallel with the horizon, yet will
their legs incline, and lie at angles unto it. And upon these
three divers positions in man, wherein the spine can only be
at right lines with the thigh, arise those remarkable postures,
prone, supine, and erect, which are but differenced in situa-
tion, or angular postures upon the back, the belly, and the feet.
But if erectness be popularly taken, and as it is largely op-
posed unto proneness, or the posture of animals looking
downwards, carrying their venters or opposite part of the
spine directly towards the earth, it may admit of question.
For though in serpents and lizards we may truly allow a
proneness, yet Galen acknowledgeth that perfect quadrupeds,
as horses, oxen, and camels, are but partly prone, and have
some part of erectness ; and birds, or flying animals, are so far
from this kind of proneness, that they are almost erect ; ad-
vancing the head and breast in their progression, and only
prone in the act of volitation or flying ; and if that be true
which is delivered of the penguin or anser Magellanicus, often
described in maps about those straits, that they go erect like
men, and with their breast and belly do make one line per-
pendicular unto the axis of the earth, it will almost make up
the exact erectness of man.* Nor will that insect come very
* Observe also the Vrias Bellonii and Mergus major.
CHAP. I.] AND COMMON ERRORS. 3
short, which we have often beheld, that is, one kind of locust
which stands not prone, or a little inclining upward, but in a
large erectness, elevating always the two fore legs, and sus-
taining itself in the middle of the other four; by zoographers
called mantis, and by the common people of Provence, Prega
Dio, the prophet and praying locust, as being generally found
in the posture of supplication, or such as resembleth ours,
when we lift up our hands to heaven.
As for the end of this erection, to look up toward heaven,
though confirmed by several testimonies, and the Greek
etymology of man, it is not so readily to be admitted; and, as
a popular and vain conceit, was anciently rejected by Galen,
who in his third De usu partium, determines that man is
erect, because he was made with hands, and was therewith
to exercise all arts, which in any other figure he could not
have performed, as he excellently declareth in that place
where he also proves that man could have been made neither
quadruped nor centaur.3
And for the accomplishment of that intention, that is, to
look up and behold the heavens, man hath a notable dis-
advantage in the eye-lid, whereof the upper is far greater
than the lower, which abridgeth the sight upwards contrary
to those of birds, who herein have the advantage of man;
insomuch that the learned Plempius * is bold to affirm, that if
he had had the formation of the eye-lids, he would have con-
trived them quite otherwise.4
The ground and occasion of that conceit was a literal
apprehension of a figurative expression in Plato, as Galen
thus delivers : to opinion that man is erect to look up and
behold heaven, is a conceit only fit for those that never saw
the fish ziranoscopus,5 that is, the beholder of heaven, which
* Ophthalmographia.
3 man could have been, SfC.~\ Why superior mechanical adaptation of the
not as well as an ape, if that reason be human hand to the exercise of the arts
good ; for an ape uses his hand as well and occupations of life. The opinion
as man, and yett hee is quadrupes too. quoted by our author that man could not
Wir. — Incorrect again. Apes cannot use become quadruped, is incontrovertible,
their hands as well as man, because des- 4 And for the accomplishment, fyc]
titute of the facility which man possesses This paragraph first added in 2nd edit,
for the free use of his hands and arms, 5 To opinion, 8fC.~\ This isapoorecavil,
in the erect position, and because of the for the end of mans lookinge upward is
B 2
4 ENQUIRIES INTO VULGAR [BOOK IV.
hath its eyes so placed, that it looks up directly to heaven
which man doth not, except he recline, or bend his head
backward ; and thus to look up to heaven agreeth not only
unto man but asses ; to omit birds with long necks, which
look not only upward, but round about at pleasure; and
therefore men of this opinion understood not Plato when he
saith, that man doth sursum aspicere ; for thereby was not
meant to gape, or look upward with the eye, but to have his
thoughts sublime, and not only to behold, but speculate their
nature with the eye of the understanding.6
Now although Galen in this place makes instance but in
one, yet are there other fishes whose eyes regard the heavens,
as plane and cartilaginous fishes, as pectinals, or such as have
their bones made literally like a comb, for when they apply
themselves to sleep or rest upon the white side, their eyes on
the other side look upward toward heaven. For birds, they
generally carry their heads erected like a man, and have ad-
vantage in their upper eye-lid, and many that have long
necks, and bear their heads somewhat backward, behold far
more of the heavens, and seem to look above the equinoctial
circle ; and so also in many quadrupeds, although their pro-
gression be partly prone, yet is the sight of their eye direct,
not respecting the earth but heaven, and makes an higher
arch of latitude than our own. The position of a frog with
his head above water exceedeth these ; for therein he seems
to behold a large part of the heavens, and the acies of his eye
to ascend as high as the tropic ; but he that hath beheld the
posture of a bittern, will not deny that it beholds almost the
very zenith.7
not the same with uranoscopus, to which sayd plainlye, Astronomie causa datos
the same is equivocal, bycause this pos- esse homini oculns, but not to other crea-
ture, being always at the botom, hee tures, though they have their heads more
lookes alwayes upwards, not to heaven, erect then hee, and far better sight. — Wr.
but as watching for his foode flooting 7 The posture of a bittern, $fc.~\ Which
over his head ; the question then is, not proceeds from his timorous and jealous
whether any other creatures have the nature, holding his head at hight, for
head erect as man, but whether to the discovery, not enduring any man to
same ende. — Wr. come neere : his neck is stretch out, but
6 Understood not Plato, §c.~\ This is his bill stands like the cranes, hem-
too pedanticall and captious: for Plato shawes, &c. — Wr.
CHAP. II.] AND COMMON ERRORS.
CHAPTER II.
That the Heart is on the left side.
That the heart of man is seated in the left side is an asse-
veration, which, strictly taken, is refutable by inspection,
whereby it appears the base and centre thereof is in the midst
of the chest ; true it [is, that the mucro or point thereof in-
clineth unto the left, for by this position it giveth way unto
the ascension of the midriff, and by reason of the hollow vein
could not commodiously deflect unto the right. From which
diversion, nevertheless, we cannot so properly say 'tis placed
in the left, as that it consisteth in the middle, that is, where
its centre riseth ; for so do we usually say a gnomon8 or needle
is in the middle of a dial, although the extremes may respect
the north or south, and approach the circumference thereof.
The ground of this mistake is a general observation from
the pulse or motion of the heart, which is more sensible on
this side; but the reason hereof is not to be drawn from the
situation of the heart, but the site of the left ventricle wherein
the vital spirits are laboured, and also the great artery that
conveyeth them out, both which are situated on the left.
Upon this reason epithems or cordial applications are justly
applied unto the left breast, and the wounds under the fifth
rib may be more suddenly destructive, if made on the sinister
side, and the spear of the soldier that pierced our Saviour,
is not improperly described, when painters direct it a little
towards the left.
The other ground is more particular and upon inspection ;
for in dead bodies, especially lying upon the spine, the heart
doth seem to incline upon the left ; which happeneth not
from its proper site, but besides its sinistrous gravity, is
8 Gnomon.'] There is not the same on the substilar line, which declines
reason of a gnomon and a needle. This east or west, as the place does, wherein
is ever in the midst, but a gnomon stands 'tis drawne. — Wr.
6 ENQUIRIES INTO VULGAR [BOOK IV.
drawn that way by the great artery, which then subsideth
and haleth the heart unto it ; and thereof strictly taken, the
heart is seated in the middle of the chest, but after a careless
and inconsiderate inspection, or according to the readiest
sense of pulsation, we shall not quarrel if any affirm it is
seated toward the left. And in these considerations must
Aristotle be salved, when he affirmeth the heart of man is
placed in the left side, and thus in a popular acception may
we receive the periphrasis of Persius, when he taketh the
part under the left pap for the heart,* and if rightly appre-
hended, it concerneth not this controversy, when it is said
in Ecclesiastes, the heart of a wise man is in the right side,
but that of a fool in the left ; for thereby may be implied,
that the heart of a wise man delighteth in the right way, or
in the path of virtue ; that of a fool in the left, or road of
vice, according to the mystery of the letter of Pythagoras,
or that expression in Jonah, concerning sixscore thousand,
that could not discern between their right hand and their
left, or knew not good from evil.9
That assertion also that man proportionally hath the
largest brain,1 I did I confess somewhat doubt, and conceived
it might have failed in birds, especially such as having little
bodies, have yet large cranies, and seem to contain much
brain, as snipes, woodcocks, &c. But upon trial I find it
very true. The brains of a man, Archangelus and Bauhinus
observe to weigh four pounds, and sometimes five and a half.
If therefore a man weigh one hundred and forty pounds, and
his brain but five, his weight is twenty seven times as much
as his brain, deducting the weight of that five pounds which
is allowed for it. Now in a snipe, which weighed four ounces
two drachms, I find the brains to weigh but half a drachm,
so that the weight of the body, allowing for the brain, ex-
ceeded the weight of the brain sixty-seven times and a half.
* Leva: in parte mamilla.
9 For thereby, #c] This concluding part of the brain," that is, of that part of this
of the sentence was first added in 2nd organ which serves as the principal in-
edition. strument of the intellectual operations. —
1 Man hath, $"c] This is most especially See Ciwier, by Griffiths, i, 86.
true when spoken of "the hemispheres
CHAP. III.] AND COMMON ERRORS. 7
More controvertible it seemeth in the brains of sparrows,
whose cranies are rounder, and so of larger capacity ; and
most of all in the heads of birds, upon the first formation in
the egg, wherein the head cQems larger than all the body,
and the very eyes almost as big as either. A sparrow in the
total we found to weigh seven drachms and four and twenty
grains, whereof the head a drachm, but the brain not fifteen
grains, which answereth not fully the proportion of the brain
of man ; and therefore it is to be taken of the whole head
with the brains, when Scaliger * objected that the head of a
man is the fifteenth part of his body, that of a sparrow scarce
the fifth.2
CHAPTER III.
That Pleurisies are only on the left side.
That pleurisies are only on the left side, is a popular tenet
not only absurd but dangerous : from the misapprehension
hereof men omitting the opportunity of remedies, which other-
wise they would not neglect. Chiefly occasioned by the ig-
norance of anatomy, and the extent of the part affected, which
in an exquisite pleurisy is determined to be the skin or mem-
brane which investeth the ribs for so it is defined, inflam-
matio membranes costas succingentis ; an inflammation, either
simple, consisting only of an hot and sanguineous affluxion,
or else denominable from other humours, according to the
predominancy of melancholy, phlegm, or choler. The mem-
brane thus inflamed, is properly called pleura, from whence
the disease hath its name ; and this investeth not only one
side, but over-spreadeth the cavity of the chest, and afford eth
a common coat unto the parts contained therein.
Now therefore the pleura being common unto both sides,
it is not reasonable to confine the inflammation unto one, nor
strictly to determine it is always in the side ; but sometimes
* Histor. Animal, lib. i.
, s More controvertible, Sfc.~\ This paragraph first added in 2nd edition.
8 ENQUIRIES INTO VULGAR [BOOK IV.
before and behind, that is, inclining to the spine or breast
bone, for thither this coat extendeth, and therefore with
equal propriety we may affirm that ulcers of the lungs, or
apostems of the brain, do happen only in the left side, or that
ruptures are confinable unto one side ; whereas the perito-
naeum or rim of the belly may be broke, or its perforations
relaxed in either.
CHAPTER IV.
Of the Ring-finger.
An opinion there is, which magnifies the fourth finger of the
left hand ; presuming therein a cordial relation, that a par-
ticular vessel, nerve, vein, or artery, is conferred thereto
from the heart, and therefore that especially hath the honour
to bear our rings. Which was not only the Christian practice
in nuptial contracts, but observed by heathens, as Alexander
ab Alexandro, Gellius, Macrobius andPierius have delivered,
as Levinus Lemnius hath confirmed, who affirms this peculiar
vessel to be an artery, and not a nerve, as antiquity hath con-
ceived it ; adding moreover that rings hereon peculiarly affect
the heart; that in lipothymies or swoonings he used the
frication of this finger with saffron and gold ; that the ancient
physicians mixed up their medicines herewith ; that this is
seldom or last of all affected with the gout, and when that
becometh nodous, men continue not long after. Notwith-
standing all which, we remain unsatisfied, nor can we think
the reasons alleged sufficiently establish the preeminency
of this finger.
For first, concerning the practice of antiquity, the custom
was not general to wear their rings either on this hand or
finger ; for it is said, and that emphatically in Jeremiah, si
fuerit Jeconias filius Joachim regis Judce annulus in manu
dextra mea, inde evettam earn : " though Coniah the son of
Joachim king of Judah, were the signet on my right hand,
yet would I pluck thee thence." So is it observed by Pliny,
CHAP. IV.]
AND COMMON ERRORS.
that in the portraits of their gods, the rings were worn on the
finger next the thumb ;3 that the Romans wore them also upon
their little finger, as Nero is described in Petronius : some
wore them on the middle finger, as the ancient Gauls and
Britons ; and some upon the forefinger, as is deducible from
Julius Pollux, who names that ring, corianos.
Again, that the practice of the ancients had any such
respect of cordiality or reference unto the heart, will much
be doubted, if we consider their rings were made of iron ;4
such was that of Prometheus, who is conceived the first that
brought them in use. So, as Pliny affirmeth, for many years
the senators of Rome did not wear any rings of gold,5 but
the slaves wore generally iron rings until their manumission
or preferment to some dignity. That the Lacedemonians
continued their iron rings unto his days, Pliny also delivereth,
3 finger next the thumb ;] Rings were
formerly worn upon the thumb; as ap-
pears from the portraits of some of our
English monarchs. Nieuhoff mentions
that the old viceroy of Canton wore an
ivory ring on his thumb, "as an emblem
signifying the undaunted courage of the
Tartar people." — Embassy to China,
p. 45.
4 will much be doubted, SfC.~] Yet
Pliny says, etiam nunc sponsce annulus
ferreus mittitur, isque sine gemma. — Nat.
Hist. 1. xxxiii, cap. 1.
At Silchester, in Hampshire, fthe Vin-
donum of the Romans,) was found an
iron ring, with a singular shaped key
attached to it ; — now in the possession
of Mrs. Keep, at the farm-house, where
I saw it, June 26, 1811.— Jeff.
5 the senators, <^c.] Juvenal, com-
paring the extravagance of his own
times with those of the old Romans, has
annulus in digilo non ferreus. — Sat. xi,
129. — Kennet observes that the Roman
knights were allowed a gold ring, and a
horse at the public charge, hence eques
auratus. Roman Antiquities. Tacitus
says, Be Mor. German, s. 31. — Fortis-
simus quisque (Cattorum) ferreum insu-
per annulum (ignominiosum id genti)
velut vinculum gestat, donee se caede
hostis absolvet." Among the Eastern
nations also was the ring worn as a
badge of slavery — See Lowth, note on
Isa. xlix, 23.— Jeff.
We may add that rings, were frequent-
ly used by medical practitioners, as
charms and talismans, against all sorts
of calamities inflicted by all kinds of
beings : — Hippocrates and Galen both
enjoin on physicians the use of rings.
See a curious paper on this subject in the
Archceologice, vol. xxi, p. 119.
Patriotism has, in our own days, in-
duced the exchange of gold for iron
rings. The women of Prussia, in 1813,
offered up their wedding-rings upon the
altars of their country, and the govern-
ment, in exchange, distributed iron rings
with this inscription, " I exchange gold
for iron."
Rings however have not only been
deemed badges of slavery, but very an-
ciently and far more generally they
denoted authority and government. Pha-
raoh in committing that of Egypt to
Joseph gave him his ring — so Ahasuerus
to Mordecai. With great probability
has it been conjectured, that, in con-
formity with the Scriptural examples of
this ancient usage, the Christian church
afterwards adopted the ring in marriage,
as a symbol of the authority which the
husband gave the wife .over his house-
hold, and over the " worldly goods "
with which he endowed her ; accom-
panying it, in many of the early Catho-
lic rituals, with the betrothing or earnest
penny, which was deposited either in
the bride's right hand, or in a purse
brought by her for the purpose.
10 ENQUIRIES INTO VULGAR [BOOK IV.
and surely they used few of gold ; for beside that Lycurgus
prohibited that metal, we read in Athenasus, that, having a
desire to gild the face of Apollo, they enquired of the oracle
where they might purchase so much gold ; and were directed
unto Croesus King of Lydia.
Moreover, whether the ancients had any such intention,
the grounds which they conceived in vein, nerve or artery,
are not to be justified, nor will inspection confirm a peculiar
vessel in this finger. For as anatomy informeth, the basilica
vein dividing into two branches below the cubit, the outward
sendeth two surcles unto the thumb, two unto the fore-finger,
and one unto the middle finger in the inward side ; the other
branch of the basilica sendeth one surcle unto the outside of
the middle finger, two unto the ring, and as many unto the
little fingers ; so that they all proceed from the basilica, and
are in equal numbers derived unto every one. In the same
manner are the branches of the axillary artery distributed
into the hand ; for below the cubit it divideth into two parts,
the one running along the radius, and, passing by the wrist
or pulse, is at the fingers subdivided into three branches;
whereof the first conveyeth two surcles unto the thumb, the
second as many to the forefinger, and the third one unto the
middle finger, and the other or lower division of the artery
descendeth by the ulna, and furnisheth the other fingers ;
that is the middle with one surcle, and the ring and little
fingers with two. As for the nerves, they are disposed much
after the same manner, and have their original from the brain,
and not the heart, as many of the ancients conceived,6 which
is so far from affording nerves unto other parts, that it
receiveth very few itself from the sixth conjugation, or pair
of nerves in the brain.
Lastly, these propagations being communicated unto both
hands, we have no greater reason to wear our rings on the
left, than on the right ; nor are there cordial considerations
in the one, more than the other. And therefore when Fores-
tus for the stanching of blood makes use of medical appli-
es many of the ancients conceived ,•] ed to agree. — Sec Arcana Microcosmi,
With whom Ross, as usual, is dispos- p. 35.
CHAP. IV.] AND COMMON ERRORS. 11
cations unto the fourth finger, he confines not that practice
unto the left, but varieth the side according to the nostril
bleeding. So in fevers, where the heart primarily sufTereth,
we apply medicines unto the wrists of either arms ; so we
touch the pulse of both, and judge of the affections of the
heart by the one as well as the other. And although in dis-
positions of liver or spleen, considerations are made in
phlebotomy respectively to their situation; yet when the
heart is affected, men have thought it as effectual to bleed
on the right as the left ; and although also it may be thought
a nearer respect is to be had of the left, because the great
artery proceeds from the left ventricle* and so is nearer that
arm, it admits not that consideration. For under the chan-
nel-bones the artery divideth into two great branches, from
which trunk or point of division, the distance unto either
hand is equal, and the consideration also answerable.
All which with many respective niceties, in order unto
parts, sides, and veins, are now become of less consideration,
by the new and noble doctrine of the circulation of the
blood.7
And therefore Macrobius, discussing the point, hath al-
leged another reason ; affirming that the gestation of rings
upon this hand and finger, might rather be used for their
conveniency and preservation, than any cordial relation. For
at first (saith he) it was both free and usual to wear rings on
either hand ; but after that luxury increased, when precious
gems and rich insculptures were added, the custom of wearing
them on the right hand was translated unto the left ; for, that
hand being less employed, thereby they were best preserved.
And for the same reason, they placed them on this finger :
for the thumb was too active a finger, and is commonly em-
ployed with either of the rest ; the index or forefinger was
too naked whereto to commit their precosities, and hath
the tuition of the thumb scarce unto the second joint : the
middle and little finger they rejected as extremes, and too big
or too little for their rings, and of all choose out the fourth,
as being least used of any, as being guarded on either side,
7 All which, #c] First added in Cth edition,
12 ENQUIRIES INTO VULGAR [BOOK IV.
and having in most this peculiar condition, that it cannot be
extended alone and by itself, but will be accompanied by
some finger on either side.8 And to this opinion assenteth
Alexander ab Alexandro, annulum nuptialem prior cetas in
sinistra ferebat, crediderim nt attereretur.
Now that which begat or promoted the common opinion,
was the common conceit that the heart was seated on the left
side ; but how far this is verified, we have before declared.
The Egyptian practice hath much advanced the same, who
unto this finger derived a nerve from the heart ; and there-
fore the priest anointed the same with precious oils before the
altar. But how weak anatomists they were, which were so
good embalmers, we have already shewed. And though this
reason took most place, yet had they another which more
commended that practice : and that was the number whereof
this finger was an hieroglyphick. For by holding down the
fourth finger of the left hand, while the rest were extended,
they signified the perfect and magnified number of six. For
as Pierius hath graphically declared, antiquity expressed
numbers by the fingers of either hand : on the left they ac-
counted their digits and articulate numbers unto an hundred ;
on the right hand hundreds and thousands ; the depressing
this finger, which in the left hand implied but six, in the
right indigitated six hundred. In this way of numeration,
may we construe that of Juvenal concerning Nestor.
Qui per tot ssecula mortem
Distulit, atque suos jam dextra computat annos.
And however it were intended, in this sense it will be very
elegant what is delivered of wisdom, Prov. iii. " Length of
days in her right hand, and in her left hand riches and
honour."
As for the observation of Lemnius, an eminent physician,
concerning the gout, however it happened in his country, we
may observe it otherwise in ours ; that is, chiragrical persons
do suffer in this finger as well as in the rest, and sometimes
first of all, and sometimes no where else. And for the mix-
S and having, ffc.~] This is not true. The annularis is the only finger in the
— Wr. human hand, not possessed of the power
But indeed, Mr. Dean, it is true, of separate movement.
CHAP. VI.] AND COMMON ERRORS. 13
ing up medicines herewith, it is rather an argument of opinion
than any considerable effect ; and we as highly conceive of
the practice in diapalma ,• that is, in the making of that plas-
ter to stir it with the stick of a palm.
CHAPTER V.
Of the Right and Left Hand.
It is also suspicious, and not with that certainty to be receiv-
ed, what is generally believed concerning the right and left
hand ; that men naturally make use of the right,9 and that
the use of the other is a digression or aberration from that
way which nature generally intendeth. We do not deny
that almost all nations have used this hand, and ascribed a
preeminence thereto : hereof a remarkable passage there is
in Genesis : " And Joseph took them both, Ephraim in his
right hand towards Israel's left hand, and Manasses in his
left hand towards Israel's right hand. And Israel stretched
out his right hand and laid it upon Ephraim's head, who was
the younger, and his left hand upon Manasses' head, guiding
his hand wittingly, for Manasses was the first-born. And
when Joseph saw that his father laid his right hand upon the
head of Ephraim, it displeased him, and he held up his
father's hand to remove it from Ephraim's head unto Manas-
ses' head ; and Joseph said, not so my father, for this is the
first-born: put thy right hand upon his head." The like
appeareth from the ordinance of Moses in the consecration
of their priests ; " Then shalt thou kill the ram, and take of
his blood, and put it upon the tip of the right ear of Aaron,
and upon the tip of the right ear of his sons, and upon the
thumb of the right hand, and upon the great toe of the right
foot, and sprinkle the blood on the altar round about." That
9 men naturally, 8fc.~\ Cann this be doe they not the more confirme itt?
denyed ? or yf there be some exceptions, Omnis exceptio stabilit regulam in non
i. e. aberrations from the general! rule, exceptis, is an axieme invincible. — Wr.
14 ENQUIRIES INTO VULGAR [BOOK IV.
the Persians were wont herewith to plight their faith, is tes-
tified by Diodorus ; that the Greeks and Romans made use
hereof, beside the testimony of divers authors, is evident
from their custom of discumbency at their meals, which was
upon their left side, for so their right was free, and ready for
all service. As also from the conjunction of the right hands
and not the left, observable in the Roman medals of concord.
Nor was this only in use with divers nations of men, but was
the custom of whole nations of women ; as is deducible from
the Amazons in the amputation of their right breast, whereby
they had the freer use of their bow. All which do seem to
declare a natural preferment a of the one unto motion before
the other ; wherein notwithstanding, in submission to future
information, we are unsatisfied unto great dubitation.
For first, if there were a determinate prepotency in the
right, and such as ariseth from a constant root in nature, we
might expect the same in other animals, whose parts are also
differenced by dextrality : wherein notwithstanding we can-
not discover a distinct and complying account ; for we find
not that horses, bulls, or mules, are generally stronger on this
side. As for animals whose fore-legs more sensibly supply
the use of arms, they hold, if not an equality in both, a pre-
valency ofttimes in the other, as squirrels, apes, and monkeys ;
the same is also discernable in parrots, who feed themselves
more commonly by the left leg ; and men observe that the
eye of a tumbler is biggest, not constantly in one, but in the
bearing side.
There is also in men a natural prepotency in the right, we
cannot with constancy affirm,2 if we make observation in
children ; who, permitted the freedom of both, do ofttimes
confine unto the left,3 and are not without great difficulty
1 natural preferment .] Ed. 1646 has sent, experience, and reason, unite in
" naturall preheminency and preferment." ascribing superior dignity, agility, and
— On which Dean Wren says, "Grant- strength, to the right side; "because,"
ing this natural preeminencye, confirmed (says he,) "on the right side is the
by Scripture soe evidentlye, all the rest liver, the cistern of blood," &c. &c." —
is but velitation : for that which God and Arcana, p. 153.
nature call right, must in reason bee soe 3 do ofttimes, eye] This vitiosity pro-
cald ; and whatsoever varys from thence ceeds from the maner of gestation : ser-
is an aberration from them bothe. vants and nurses usually carry them on
2 That there is, ^-c] Alex. Ross as- their left arme, soe that the child cannot
serts roundly, that Scripture, general con- use its right, and being accustomed to
CHAP. VI.] AND COMMON ERRORS. 15
restrained from it. And therefore this prevalency is either
uncertainly placed in the laterality, or custom determines its
indifferency. Which is the resolution of Aristotle, in that
problem which enquires why the right side, being better than
the left, is equal in the senses ; because, saith he, the right
and left do differ by use and custom, which have no place in
the senses. For right and left, as parts inservient unto the
motive faculty, are differenced by degrees from use and
assuefaction, according whereto the one grows stronger and
ofttimes bigger than the other. But in the senses it is other-
wise ; for they acquire not their perfection by use or custom,
but at the first we equally hear, and see with one eye, as well
as with another. And therefore, were this indifferency per-
mitted, or did not constitution, but nature, determine dex-
trality, there would be many more Scevolas than are de-
livered in story ; nor needed we to draw examples of the
left from the sons of the right hand, as we read of seven
thousand in the army of the Benjamites.* True it is, that
although there be an indifferency in either, or a prevalency
indifferent in one, yet is it most reasonable for uniformity
and sundry respective uses, that men should apply themselves
to the constant use of one ; 4 for there will otherwise arise
anomalous disturbances in manual actions, not only in civil
and artificial, but also in military affairs, and the several
actions of war.
Secondly, the grounds and reason alleged for the right are
not satisfactory, and afford no rest in their decision. Scali-
ger, finding a defect in the reason of Aristotle, introduceth
one of no less deficiency himself; ratio materialis, (saith he)
sanguinis crassitudo simul et multitudo, that is, the reason of
the vigour of this side is the crassitude and plenty of blood ;
* Benjamin Filius Dextrce.
the left, becomes left-handed. But among the heathen drew a superstitious conceyte
the Irishe, who cary their children astride from don* first on the left side rather then
rlieir neckes, you shall rarely see one the right, yet that sprang from an ap-
left-handed of either sex. — Wr. prehension of disorder in soe doing, and
4 the constant, 8fC.~\ Wise men count consequentlye (as they thought) unlucky,
them unlucky that use the left hand, as as in that of Augustus, Lcevum sibi pro-
going contrary to the generall course of didit cultrum prcBpostere indutum quo
nature in all places of the world and all die militari tumultu afflictus. — Wr.
times since the creation. And although * Some omission or error here.
16 ENQUIRIES INTO VULGAR [BOOK IV
but this is not sufficient ; for the crassitude or thickness of
blood affordeth no reason why one arm should be enabled
before the other, and the plenty thereof, why both not en-
abled equally. Fallopius is of another conceit, deducing the
reason from the azygos, or vena sine pari, a large and con-
siderable vein arising out of the cava or hollow vein, before
it enters the right ventricle of the heart, and placed only in
the right side. But neither is this persuasory ; for the azy-
gos communicates no branches unto the arms or legs on
either side, but disperseth into the ribs on both, and in its
descent doth furnish the left emulgent with one vein, and the
first vein of the loins on the right side with another ; which
manner of derivation doth not confer a peculiar addition unto
either. Caelius Rhodiginus, undertaking to give a reason of
ambidexters and left-handed men, delivereth a third opinion :
men, saith he, are ambidexters, and use both hands alike,
when the heat of the heart doth plentifully disperse into the
left side, and that of the liver into the right, and the spleen
be also much dilated ; but men are left-handed whenever it
happeneth that the heart and liver are seated on the left side,
or when the liver is on the right side, yet so obducted and
covered with thick skins that it cannot diffuse its virtue into
the right. Which reasons are no way satisfactory, for herein
the spleen is unjustly introduced to invigorate the sinister
side, which being dilated it would rather infirm and debili-
tate. As for any tunicles or skins which should hinder the
liver from enabling the dextral parts, we must not conceive it
diffuseth its virtue by mere irradiation, but by its veins and
proper vessels, which common skins and teguments cannot
impede. And for the seat of the heart and liver in one side,
whereby men become left-handed, it happeneth too rarely to
countenance an effect so common ; for the seat of the liver
on the left side is monstrous, and rarely to be met with in the
observations of physicians. Others, not considering ambi-
dexters and left-handed men, do totally submit unto the effi-
cacy of the liver; which, though seated on the right side,
yet by the subclavian division doth equidistantly communicate
its activity unto either arm ; nor will it salve the doubts of
observation ; for many are right-handed whose livers are
CHAP. V.] AND COMMON ERRORS. 17
weakly constituted, and many use the left in whom that part
is strongest ; and we observe in apes and other animals, whose
liver is in the right, no regular prevalence therein.
And therefore the brain, especially the spinal marrow,
which is but the brain prolonged, hath a fairer plea hereto ;
for these are the principles of motion, wherein dextrality
consists, and are divided within and without the crany. By
which division transmitting nerves respectively unto either
side, according to the indifrerency or original and native pre-
potency, there arise th an equality in both, or prevalency in
either side. And so may it be made out, what many may
wonder at, why some most actively use the contrary arm and
leg ; for the vigour of the one dependeth upon the upper
part of the spine, but the other upon the lower.
And therefore many things are philosophically delivered
concerning right and left, which admit of some suspension.
That a woman upon a masculine conception advanceth her
right leg,5 will not be found to answer strict observation.
That males are conceived in the right side of the womb, fe-
males in the left, though generally delivered, and supported
by ancient testimony, will make no infallible account ; it hap-
pening ofttimes that males and females do lie upon both sides,
and hermaphrodites, for aught we know, on either. It is
also suspicious what is delivered concerning the right and
left testicle, that males are begotten from the one, and females
from the other.6 For though the jeft seminal vein proceed-
eth from the emulgent, and is therefore conceived to carry
down a serous and feminine matter ; yet the seminal arteries
which send forth the active materials, are both derived from
the great artery. Beside, this original of the left vein was
thus contrived to avoid the pulsation of the great artery,
over which it must have passed to attain unto the testicle.
Nor can we easily infer such different effects from the diverse
situation of parts which have one end and office ; for in the
kidneys, which have one office, the right is seated lower than
5 That a woman, SfC.~\ This instance 6 That males, Sec.'] All this while hee
is most true, as I have often tryed upon does not disprove this : and the reason,
wager, whereas they sodenlye rise from is as good as 'tis, manifest. — Wr.
their seate, yf both feete be freee. — Wr.
VOL. III. C
18 ENQUIRIES INTO VULGAR [BOOK IV.
the left, whereby it lieth free, and giveth way unto the liver.
And therefore also that way which is delivered for masculine
generation, to make a strait ligature about the left testicle,
thereby to intercept the evacuation of that part, deserveth
consideration. For one sufficeth unto generation, as hath
been observed in semicastration, and ofttimes in carnous rup-
tures. Beside, the seminal ejaculation proceeds not immedi-
ately from the testicle, but from the spermatick glandules ;
and therefore Aristotle affirms (and reason cannot deny) that
although there be nothing diffused from the testicles, an
horse or bull may generate after castration ; that is, from the
stock and remainder of seminal matter, already prepared and
stored up in the prostates or glandules of generation.
Thirdly, although we should concede a right and left in
nature, yet in this common and received account we may
err from the proper acception : mistaking one side for ano-
ther;7 calling that in man and other animals the right which
is the left, and that the left which is the right, and that in
some things right and left, which is not properly either.
For first, the right and left are not defined by philosophers
according to common acception, that is, respectively from one
man unto another, or any constant site in each : as though
that should be the right in one, which upon confront or fac-
ing, stands athwart or diagonally unto the other, but were
distinguished according to the activity and predominant loco-
motion upon either side. Thus Aristotle, in his excellent
tract, De Incessu Animalium, ascribeth six positions unto
animals, answering the three dimensions, which he determin-
eth not by site or position unto the heavens, but by the
faculties and functions; and these are imam summum, ante
retro, dextra et sinistra ; that is the superior part, where the
aliment is received, that the lower extreme, where it is last
expelled ; so he termeth a man a plant inverted ; for he sup-
poseth the root of a tree the head or upper part thereof,
7 mistaking one side, Sfc] Wee take place, the name of d's^ia ut Ps. xc, v, 7,
that to be right and lefte which God and \% rojJ -/Xirovg Sou %/X/a£, %ai fivgiug
nature call soe : and all other reasons » «„£.;» „,., „■*'_ vl . „ „. „„,,.„,
are frivolous. VideLukei.il; Gal. ^ ^" ^u. zX/rog autem ut no.unt
ii, 9. Let itt be noted that God cals the erudltI' ProPne significat declinationem
left hand the side hand, i. e. beside the a rect0' et lllc' a recta--"r-
right hand, to which he gives in that very
J
CHAP. V.] AND COMMON ERRORS. 19
whereby it receiveth its aliment, although therewith it re-
spects the centre of the earth, but with the other the zenith ;
and this position is answerable unto longitude. Those parts
are anterior and measure profundity, where the senses, espe-
cially the eyes, are placed, and those posterior which are
opposite hereunto. The dextrous and sinistrous parts of the
body make up the latitude, and are not certain and inalterable
like the other; for that saith he, is the right side, from
whence the motion of the body beginneth, that is, the active
or moving side ; but that the sinister which is the weaker or
more quiescent part. Of the same determination were the
Platonicks and Pythagoreans before him; who, conceiving
the heavens an animated body, named the east the right or
dextrous part, from whence began their motion; and thus
the Greeks, from whence the Latins have borrowed their
appellations, have named this hand ti'sfyct, denominating it not
from the site, but office, from d's^owai, capio, that is, the hand
^hich receiveth, or is usually employed in that action.
Now upon these grounds we are most commonly mistaken,
defining that by situation which they determined by motion ;
and giving the term of right hand to that which doth not
properly admit it. For first, many in their infancy are sinis-
trously disposed, and divers continue all their life 'Ag/tfrsgo/, that
is, left-handed, and have but weak and imperfect use of the
right ; now unto these, that hand is properly the right, and
not the other esteemed so by situation.8 Thus may Aristotle
be made out, when he affirmeth the right claw of crabs and
lobsters is biggest, if we take the right for the most vigor-
ous side, and not regard the relative situation : for the one is
generally bigger than the other, yet not always upon the same
side. So may it be verified, what is delivered by Scaliger in his
Comment, that palsies do oftenest happen upon the left side,
if understood in this sense ; the most vigorous part protect-
S that hand is properly, 8fC.'\ This should hee else bee distinguished from
exception is soe far from destroying the all men that are right-handed. And
generall rule, that itt rather confirms itt. thoughe the left hand bee as useful to
For the most parte of all men in all na- some as the right to all others, yet itt is
tions of the world are right-handed, and still their left hand ; and by that name
in those that use the lefte hand, the they are distinguisht, and cald lefi-hand-
righte hand keepes the name ; how ed men. — Wr.
C 2
^0 ENQUIRIES INTO VULGAR [BOOK IV.
ing itself, and protruding the matter upon the weaker and
less resistive side. And thus the law of commonwealths, that
cut off the right hand of malefactors, if philosophically exe-
cuted, is impartial; otherwise the amputation not equally
punisheth all.
Some are 'A/xp/cSlg/o/, that is, ambidextrous or right-handed
on both sides ; which happeneth only unto strong and ath-
letical bodies, whose heat and spirits are able to afford an
ability unto both. And therefore Hippocrates saith, that
women are not ambidextrous, that is, not so often as men ;
for some are found which indifferently make use of both.
And so may Aristotle say, that only men are ambidextrous ;
of this constitution was Asteropaeus in Homer, and Parthe-
nopeus, the Theban captain, in Statius : and of the same do
some conceive our father Adam to have been, as being per-
fectly framed, and in a constitution admitting least defect.
Now in these men the right hand is on both sides, and that
is not the left which is opposite unto the right, according to
common acception.
Again,9 some are 'Aficpugigrigol, as Galen hath expressed it;
that is, ambilevous or left-handed on both sides ; such, as
with agility and vigour have not the use of either; who are
not gymnastically composed, nor actively use those parts.
Now in these there is no right hand : of this constitution are
many women, and some men, who, though they accustom
themselves unto either hand, do dextrously make use of
neither. And therefore, although the political advice of Aris-
totle be very good, that men should accustom themselves to
the command of either hand ; yet cannot the execution or
performance thereof be general : for though there be many
found that can use both, yet will there divers remain that can
strenuously make use of neither.
Lastly, these lateralities in man are not only fallible, if
9 Again, fyc.~\ In the use of string harpsicords, organs, which have all their
instruments both hands are dextrously ground from the harpe, layd along as it
used, yet the easiest and slowest parte is were in those instruments and supplied
alwayes put on the lefteside; bycause with keys (as that by the ringers) by
all men use it soe : and excepting the which they are mediately made to speake
harpe, there is scarce any string instru- as the harpe by the fingers immediately,
ment to fit both hands, or the virginals, — Wr.
CHAP. V.] AND COMMON ERRORS. 21
relatively determined unto each other, but made in reference
unto the heavens and quarters of the globe : for those parts
are not capable of these conditions in themselves, nor with
any certainty respectively derived from us, nor from them to
us again. And first, in regard of their proper nature, the
heavens admit not these sinister and dexter respects, there
being in them no diversity or difference, but a simplicity of
parts and equiformity in motion continually succeeding each
other ; so that from what point soever we compute, the ac-
count will be common unto the whole circularity. And there-
fore though it be plausible, it is not of consequence hereto
what is delivered by Solinus ; that man was therefore a micro-
cosm or little world, because the dimensions of his positions
were answerable unto the greater. For as in the heavens
the distance of the north and southern pole, which are es-
teemed the superior and inferior points, is equal unto the
space between the east and west, accounted the dextrous
and sinistrous parts thereof, so is it also in man ; for the
extent of his fathom or distance betwixt the extremity of the
fingers of either hand upon expansion, is equal unto the space
between the sole of the foot and the crown. But this doth
but petitionarily infer a dextrality in the heavens, and we
may as reasonably conclude a right and left laterality in the
ark or naval edifice of Noah. For the length thereof was
thirty cubits, the breadth fifty, and the height or profundity
thirty : which well agreeth unto the proportion of man ;
whose length, that is, a perpendicular from the vertex unto
the sole of the foot, is sextuple unto his breadth, or a right
line drawn from the ribs of one side to another, and decuple
unto his profundity, that is, a direct line between the breast-
bone and the spine.
Again, they receive not these conditions with any assurance
or stability from ourselves. For the relative foundations, and
points of denomination, are not fixed and certain, but vari-
- ously designed according to imagination. The philosopher
accounts that east from whence the heavens begin their mo-
tion. The astronomer, regarding the south and meridian sun,
calls that the dextrous part of heaven which respecteth his
right hand ; and that is the west. Poets, respecting the
22 ENQUIRIES INTO VULGAR [BOOK IV.
west, assign the name of right unto the north which regard-
eth their right hand ; and so must that of Ovid be explained,
utque, dues dextra zonae, totidtmque, sinistra. But augurs, or
soothsayers, turning their face to the east, did make the right
in the south ; x which was also observed by the Hebrews and
Chaldeans.* Now if we name the quarters of heaven re-
spectively unto our sides, it will be no certain or invariable
denomination. For, if we call that the right side of heaven
which is seated easterly unto us when we regard the me-
ridian sun, the inhabitants beyond the equator and southern
tropick, when they face us, regarding the meridian, will con-
trarily define it ; for unto them, the opposite part of heaven
will respect the left, and the sun arise to their right.
And thus have we at large declared, that although the
right be most commonly used, yet hath it no regular or
certain root in nature. Since it is not confirmable from
other animals : since in children it seems either indifferent or
more favourable in the other ; but more reasonable for uni-
formity in action, that men accustom unto one : since the
grounds and reasons urged for it do not sufficiently support
it : since, if there be a right and stronger side in nature, yet
may we mistake in its denomination ; calling that the right
which is the left, and the left which is the right. Since some
have one right, some both, some neither. And lastly, since
these affections in man are not only fallible in relation unto
one another, but made also in reference unto the heavens,
they being not capable of these conditions in themselves, nor
with any certainty from us, nor we from them again.
* Psalm lxxxix, 13.
1 But augurs, 8fc.~\ But Pomponius astronomers, or poets which respect their
Lsetus (in De Auguribus) sayes, if the owne artes more then the nobler scite of
augur versus orientem sedebat, tenens the world. Whose longitude, that is the
dextra lituum, i. e. curvum baculum, quo greatest distance, is accounted from east
in coelo regiones dividit et quce auguria to west, which are every where round
conveniunt prcedicit : si lcevafuerint,fa- the world. But the latitude, which is
licia pronunciat : not bycause what comes the least distance, is counted from the
to our left hand comes from the right sequator to each pole. And bycause the
hand of the gods, as some would say, but, northerne in all respects of habitation,
sayes he, quia a lava parte septcntrio est ; religion, learning, artes, government,
pars n. ilia orbis, quia allior est prospera wealth, honor, and all relations to hea-
putatur ; et a dextrti parte meridies, ven is infinitely more noble, and withall
quia depressior ivfelix. And this reason the higher parte of the world : therefore
is not particular, but generall, and such 't is justly cald the right side of the
as prevailes all the other of philosophers, world, — Wr.
CHAP. V.]
AND COMMON ERRORS.
23
And therefore what admission we owe unto many concep-
tions concerning right and left, requireth circumspection.
That is, how far we ought to rely upon the remedy in Kiran-
ides, that is, the left eye of an hedgehog fried in oil to pro-
cure sleep, and the right foot of a frog in a deer's skin for
the gout ; or, that to dream of the loss of right or left tooth
presageth the death of male or female kindred, according to
the doctrine of Artemidorus. What verity there is in that
numeral conceit in the lateral division of man by even and
odd, ascribing the odd unto the right side, and even unto the
left ; and so, by parity or imparity of letters in men's names
to determine misfortunes on either side of their bodies ; by
which account in Greek numeration, Hephaestus or Vulcan
was lame in the right foot, and Annibal lost his right eye.
And lastly, what substance there is in that auspicial princi-
ple, and fundamental doctrine of ariolation, that the left hand
is ominous, and that good things do pass sinistrously upon
us, because the left hand of man respected the right hand of
the gods, which handed their favours unto us.2
2 unto us.~\ This chapter is very cha-
racteristic of our author. It displays
remarkably the great pains he frequently
bestows on the elucidation of lesser points,
and the quaint and varied illustration
which his extensive and curious reading
enabled him to supply. The closing
paragraph may serve to exemplify this
latter remark ; while the former is justi-
fied, not only by individual passages in
the chapter, but by its great length, and
by the care and argumentative precision
with which he successively examines the
various opinions, more or less absurd,
which have been expressed on this most
momentous topic, — summing up at the
close, by a detail of the several reasons
for his conclusion thereon.
Brande's Journal notices, (vol. ii, page
423,) a discourse by Signor Zecchinelli,
on the reason of the prevalent custom of
using the right in preference to the left
hand. His theory is, first, that it was
obviously necessary, — in order to avoid
(what our author more felicitously terms)
" anomalous discordances in manual ac-
tions,"— that one hand should obtain a
general preference to the other. The
next question was, — which to prefer ?
The Signor decides that mankind must
have discovered that the left hand,
from its anatomical connection with the
most vital and important parts of the
animal economy, could not be the one
preferred. "For it must have been ob-
served, that when the left arm is long
used, or violently exercised, the left side
also of the chest is put more or less in
motion, and a consequent and corres-
ponding obstacle produced not only to
the free emission of the blood from the
heart, but also to its progress through
the aorta and its ramifications." The
editor goes on to observe, that the preva-
lence of the arterial system in the left
side of the body renders this opinion
quite plausible : and the painful sensa-
tions we experience, when we agitate
greatly the left arm, or attempt to run
while carrying a weight in the left hand,
proves in a certain manner the truth of
Signor Z's. assertion.
Dr. A. Clarke, on Gen. xlviii, 18, re-
marks, that " the right hand of God," in
the heavens, expresses the place of the
most exalted dignity. But among the
Turks, and in the north of China, the
left hand is most honourable.
24 ENQUIRIES INTO VULGAR [BOOK IV.
CHAPTER VI.
On Swimming and Floating.
That men swim naturally, if not disturbed by fear ; that men
being drowned and sunk do float the ninth day, when their
gall breaketh ; that women drowned swim prone, but men
supine, or upon their backs, are popular affirmations whereto
we cannot assent. And. first that man should swim naturally,
because we observe it is no lesson unto other animals, we
are not forward to conclude ; for other animals swim in the
same manner as they go, and need no other way of motion
for natation in the water, than for progression upon the land.
And this is true, whether they move per latera, that is, two
legs of one side together, which is tolutation or ambling, or
per diametrum, lifting one foot before, and the cross foot be-
hind, which is succussation or trotting ; or whether per fron-
tem, or quadratum, as Scaliger terms it, upon a square base,
the legs of both sides moving together, as frogs and salient
animals, which is properly called leaping. For by these mo-
tions they are able to support and impel themselves in the
water, without alteration in the stroke of their legs, or posi-
tion of their bodies.
But with man it is performed otherwise : for in regard of
site he alters his natural posture and swimmeth prone, where-
as he walketh erect.3 Again, in progression, the arms move
parallel to the legs, and the arms and legs unto each other ;
but in natation they intersect and make all sorts of angles.
And lastly, in progressive motion, the arms and legs do move
successively, but in natation both together ; all which aptly
to perform, and so as to support and advance the body, is a
point of art, and such as some in their young and docile years
3 he alters, tfc] " This is no reason," therefore, that this motion is not natural
says Ross; "for man alters his natural to man?" — See Arcana, p. J 55.
posture when he crawls ; will it follow,
CHAP. VI.] AND COMMON ERRORS. 25
could never attain. But although swimming be acquired by
art, yet is there somewhat more of nature in it than we ob-
serve in other habits, nor will it strictly fall under that de-
finition ; for once obtained, it is not to be removed ; nor is
there any who from disuse did ever yet forget it.
Secondly, that persons drowned arise and float the ninth
day, when their gall breaketh, is a questionable determina-
tion both in the time and cause. For the time of floating, it is
uncertain, according to the time of putrefaction, which shall
retard or accelerate according to the subject and season of
the year ; for as we observed, cats and mice will arise un-
equally, and at different times, though drowned at the same.
Such as are fat do commonly float soonest, for their bodies
soonest ferment, and that substance approacheth nearest unto
air : and this is one of Aristotle's reasons why dead eels will
not float, because saith he, they have but slender bellies and
little fat.
As for the cause, it is not so reasonably imputed unto the
breaking of the gall as the putrefaction or corruptive fermen-
tation of the body, whereby the unnatural heat prevailing,
the putrefying parts do suffer a turgescence and inflation,
and becoming aery and spumous affect to approach the air,
and ascend unto the surface of the water ; and this is also
evidenced in eggs, whereof the sound ones sink, and such as
are addled swim, as do also those which are termed hypenemia
or wind eggs, and this is also a way to separate seeds, whereof
such as are corrupted and sterile swim, and this agreeth not
only unto the seeds of plants locked up and capsulated in
their husks, but also unto the sperm and seminal humour of
man, for such a passage hath Aristotle upon the inquisition
and test of its fertility.
That the breaking of the gall is not the cause hereof,
experience hath informed us. For opening the abdomen,
and taking out the gall in cats and mice, they did notwith-
standing arise. And because Ave had read in Rhodiginus of
a tyrant, who to prevent the emergency of murdered bodies,
did use to cut off their lungs, and found men's minds possessed
with this reason, we committed some unto the water without
lungs, which notwithstanding floated with the others ; and to
26 ENQUIRIES INTO VULGAR [BOOK IV.
complete the experiment, although we took out the guts and
bladder, and also perforated the cranium, yet would they
arise, though in a longer time. From these observations in
other animals, it may not be unreasonable to conclude the
same in man, who is too noble a subject on whom to make
them expressly, and the casual opportunity too rare almost to
make any. Now if any shall ground this effect from gall or
choler, because it is the highest humour and will be above
the rest, or being the fiery humour will readiest surmount
the water, we must confess in the common putrescence it
may promote elevation, which the breaking of the bladder of
gall, so small a part in man, cannot considerably advantage.
Lastly, that women drowned float prone, that is, with their
bellies downward, but men supine or upward, is an assertion
wherein the fa or point itself is dubious, and, were it true,
the reason alleged for it is of no validity. The reason yet
current was first expressed by Pliny, veluti pudori defuncto-
rurn parcente tiatura, nature modestly ordaining this position
to conceal the shame of the dead, which hath been taken up
by Solinus, Rhodiginus, and many more. This indeed (as
Scaliger termeth it) is ratio chilis non philosophica, strong
enough for morality or rhetoricks, not for philosophy or
physicks. For first, in nature the concealment of secret parts
is the same in both sexes, and the shame of their reveal
equal; so Adam upon the taste of the fruit was ashamed of
his nakedness as well as Eve. And so likewise in America
and countries unacquainted with habits, where modesty con-
ceals these parts in one sex, it doth it also in the other, and
therefore had this been the intention of nature, not only
women but men also had swimmed downwards ; the posture
in reason being common unto both, where the intent is also
common.
Again, while herein we commend the modesty, we condemn
the wisdom of nature : for that prone position we make her
contrive unto the women, were best agreeable unto the man,
in whom the secret parts are very anterior and more dis-
coverable in a supine and upward posture ; and therefore
Scaliger declining this reason, hath recurred unto another
from the difference of parts in both sexes ; Quod ventre vasto
CHAP. VI.] AND COMMON ERRORS. 27
sunt mulieres plenoque intestinis, itaque minus impletur et
subsidet, inanior maribus quibus nates preponderant ; if so,
then men with great bellies will float downward, and only
Callipygce, and woman largely composed behind, upward.
But anatomists observe, that to make the larger cavity for
the infant, the haunch-bones in women, and consequently the
parts appendent are more protuberant than they are in men.
They who ascribe the cause unto the breasts of women, take
not away the doubt, for they resolve not why children float
downward, who are included in that sex, though not in the
reason alleged. But hereof we cease to discourse, lest we
undertake to afford a reason of the golden tooth, *. that is, to
invent or assign a cause, when we remain unsatisfied or un-
assured of the effect.
That a mare will sooner drown than a horse, though com-
monly opinioned, is not I fear experienced ; nor is the same
observed in the drowning of whelps and kitlings. But that a
man cannot shut or open his eyes under water, easy experi-
ment may convict. Whether cripples and mutilated persons,
who have lost the greatest part of their thighs, will not sink
but float, their lungs being abler to waft up their bodies,
which are in others overpoised by the hinder legs ; we have not
made experiment. Thus much we observe, that animals drown
downwards, and the same is observable in frogs, when the
hinder legs are cut off; but in the air most seem to perish
headlong from high places: however Vulcan thrown from
heaven be made to fall on his feet.4
* Of the cause whereof much dispute was made, and at last proved an imposture.
* That a mare, fyc] This paragraph added in 2nd edition.
2S ENQUIRIES INTO VULGAR [BOOK IV.
CHAPTER VII.
That Men weigh heavier dead than alive, and before meat
than after.
That men weigh heavier dead than alive, if experiment hath
not failed us, we cannot reasonably grant.5 For though the
trial hereof cannot so well be made on the body of man, nor
will the difference be sensible in the debate of scruples or
drachms, yet can we not confirm the same in lesser animals,
from whence the inference is good, and the affirmative of
Pliny saith, that it is true in all. For exactly weighing and
strangling a chicken in the scales, upon an immediate pon-
deration, we could discover no sensible difference in weight,
but suffering it to lie eight or ten hours, until it grew per-
fectly cold, it weighed most sensibly lighter; the like we
attempted and verified in mice, and performed their trials in
scales that would turn upon the eighth or tenth part of a
grain.
Now whereas some allege that spirits are lighter sub-
stances, and naturally ascending, do elevate and waft the
body upward, whereof dead bodies being destitute contract
a greater gravity; although we concede that spirits are light,
comparatively unto the body, yet that they are absolutely so,
5 That men weigh heavier, <$-c] What Atmospheric Pressure on the Animal
shall be said of the man who can use Frame, published in the 10th vol. of the
such an argument as the following : — Manchester Memoirs, thus sums up :
"Why doth a man fall down in his " Upon the whole lam inclined to believe
sleep, who stood upright when he was the true explanation of the difficulty will
awake, if he be not heavier than he was?" be found in this, that the whole substance
Ross Arcana, p. 100. Truly we may say, of the body is pervious to air, and that a
"Every man is not a proper champion considerable portion of it constantly exists
for truth, norfit to take up the gauntlet in the body during life subject to increase
in the cause of verity !" — Rel. Med. p. 9. and diminution according to the pressure
The result of modern investigation of the atmosphere, in the same manner
seems to confirm the opinion so pre- as it exists in water, and further, that
posterously advocated by Ross ; at least when life is extinct, this air in some
it shews that the specific gravity of the degree escapes and renders the parts
human body is in reality greater after specifically heavier than when the vital
death than it was while living. Dal ton, functions were in a state of activity."
in an interesting paper on the Effects of
CHAP. VII.] AND COMMON ERRORS. 29
or have no weight at all, we cannot readily allow. For since
philosophy affirmeth that spirits are middle substances be-
tween the soul and body, they must admit of some corporeity,
which supposeth weight or gravity. Beside in carcasses
warm, and bodies newly disanimated, while transpiration
remaineth, there do exhale and breathe out vaporous and
fluid parts, which carry away some power of gravitation.
Which though we allow we do not make answerable unto
living expiration, and therefore the chicken or mice were not
so light being dead, as they would have been after ten hours
kept alive, for in that space a man abateth many ounces:
nor if it had slept, for in that space of sleep, a man will
sometimes abate forty ounces : nor if it had been in the
middle of summer, for then a man weigheth some pounds
less than in the height of winter, according to experience,
and the statick aphorisms of Sanctorius.
Again, whereas men affirm they perceive an addition of
ponderosity in dead bodies, comparing them usually unto
blocks and stones, whensoever they lift or carry them ; this
accessional preponderancy is rather in appearance than reality.
For being destitute of any motion, they confer no relief unto
the agents or elevators, which make us meet with the same
complaints of gravity in animated and living bodies, where
the nerves subside, and the faculty locomotive seems abo-
lished, as may be observed in the lifting or supporting of per-
sons inebriated, apoplectical, or in lipothymies and swoonings.
Many are also of opinion, and some learned men maintain,
that men are lighter after meals than before, and that by a
supply and addition of spirits obscuring the gross ponderosity
of the aliment ingested; but the contrary hereof we have
found in the trial of sundry persons in different sex and
ages. And we conceive men may mistake, if they distin-
guish not the sense of levity unto themselves, and in regard
of the scale, or decision of trutination.6 For after a draught
of wine, a man may seem lighter in himself from sudden
refection, although he be heavier in the balance, from a cor-
poral and ponderous addition ; but a man in the morning is
G trutination^] The act of weighing in scales ; from truUna.
30 ENQUIRIES INTO VULGAR [BOOK IV,
lighter in the scale, because in sleep some pounds have
perspired; and is also lighter unto himself, because he is
refected.
And to speak strictly, a man that holds his breath is
weightier while his lungs are full, than upon expiration. For
a bladder blown is weightier than one empty ; and if it con-
tain a quart, expressed and emptied it will abate about a
quarter of a grain. And therefore we somewhat mistrust
the experiment of a pumice-stone taken up by Montanus, in
his comment upon Avicenna, where declaring how the rarity
of parts, and numerosity of pores, occasioneth a lightness in
bodies, he affirms that a pumice-stone powdered is lighter
than one entire ; which is an experiment beyond our satis-
faction; for, beside that abatement can hardly be avoided
in the trituration, if a bladder of good capacity will scarce
include a grain of air, a pumice of three or four drachms,
cannot be presumed to contain the hundredth part thereof;
which will not be sensible upon the exactest beams we use.
Nor is it to be taken strictly, what is delivered by the learned
Lord Verulam, and referred unto further experiment ; that
a dissolution of iron in aqua fortis, will bear as good weight
as their bodies did before, notwithstanding a great deal of
waste by a thick vapour that issueth during the working :
for we cannot find it to hold either in iron or copper, which
is dissolved with less ebullition ; and hereof we made trial
in scales of good exactness ; wherein if there be a defect, or
such as will not turn upon quarter grains, there may be
frequent mistakes in experiments of this nature. That also
may be considered which is delivered by Hamerus Poppius,
that antimony calcined or reduced to ashes by a burning
glass, although it emit a gross and ponderous exhalation,
doth rather exceed than abate its former gravity.7 Never-
theless, strange it is, how very little and almost insensible
abatement there will be sometimes in such operations, or
rather some increase, as in the refining of metals, in the test
of bone-ashes, according to experience : and in a burnt
7 that antimony, %c.~] This is like powdered weighs heavier then before,
that other refuted before, that a pumice — Wr.
CHAP. VIII.] AND COMMON ERRORS. 31
brick, as Monsieur de Calve,'* affirmeth. Mistake may be
made in this way of trial ; when the antimony is not weighed
immediately upon the calcination, but permitted the air, it
imbibeth the humidity thereof, and so repaireth its gravity.
CHAPTER VIII.
That there are several passages for Meat and Drink.
That there are different passages for meat and drink, the
meat or dry aliment descending by the one, the drink or
moistening vehicle by the other, is a popular tenet in our days,
but was the assertion of learned men of old. For the same
was affirmed by Plato, maintained by Eustathius in Macro-
bius, and is deducible from Eratosthenes, Eupolis and
Euripides. Now herein men contradict experience, not well
understanding anatomy, and the use of parts. For at the
throat there are two cavities or conducting parts ; the one
the oesophagus or gullet, seated next the spine, a part official
unto nutrition, and whereby the aliment both wet and dry is
conveyed unto the stomach; the other (by which 'tis con-
ceived the drink doth pass) is the weazand, rough artery, or
wind-pipe, a part inservient to voice and respiration; for
thereby the air descendeth into the lungs, and is communi-
cated unto the heart. And therefore, all animals that breathe
or have lungs, have also the weazand ; but many have the
gullet or feeding channel, which have no lungs or wind-pipe ;
as fishes which have gills, whereby the heart is refrigerated ;
for such thereof as have lungs and respiration, are not
without the weazand, as whales and cetaceous animals.
Again, beside these parts destined to divers offices, there
is a peculiar provision for the wind-pipe, that is, a cartilagi-
neous flap upon the opening of the larynx or throttle, which
hath an open cavity for the admission of the air ; but lest
thereby either meat or drink should descend, Providence
* Des Pierres.
32 ENQUIRIES INTO VULGAR [BOCK IV.
hath placed the epiglottis', ligula, or flap like an ivy leaf,
which always closeth when we swallow, or when the meat and
drink passeth over it into the gullet. Which part although all
have not that breathe, as all cetaceous and oviparous animals,
yet is the weazand secured some other way ; and therefore in
whales that breathe, lest the water should get into the lungs,
an ejection thereof is contrived by a fistula or spout at the
head. And therefore also, though birds have no epiglottis,
yet can they so contract the rim or chink of their larynx, as
to prevent the admission of wet or dry ingested; either
whereof getting in, occasioneth a cough, until it be ejected.
And this is the reason why a man cannot drink and breathe
at the same time ; why, if we laugh while we drink, the
drink flies out at the nostrils ; why, when the water enters
the weazand, men are suddenly drowned ; and thus must it be
understood, when we read of one that died by the seed of
a grape,'* and another by an hair in milk.8
Now if any shall affirm, that some truth there is in the
assertion, upon the experiment of Hippocrates, who, killing an
hog after a red potion, found the tincture thereof in the
larynx ; if any will urge the same from medical practice,
because in affections both of lungs and weazand, physicians
make use of syrups, and lambitive medicines ; 9 we are not
averse to acknowledge, that some may distil and insinuate into
the wind-pipe, and medicines may creep down, as well as the
rheum before them : yet to conclude from hence, that air and
water have both one common passage, were to state the
question upon the weaker side of the distinction, and from a
partial or guttulous irrigation to conclude a total descension.
* Anacreon the Poet, if the story be taken literally.
8 by an hair in milk.] And a woman downe with the rheumes, they may both
in Knowle,Wiltes, by a piece of the great abate and correct the cold crude salt
tendon in a neck of veale (which is com- corroding qualityes of rheumes: and
monly cald the Halifax) which getting withall by the heat of the ingredients,
sodenly within the larinx chokt her. — and the balmy benigne quality of sugar,
Wr. See my note relating the death of att once arme and warme the lungs, and
Lord Boringdon, at p. 336. withall thicken the rheum that fals, that
9 syrups.] In a dangerous catharr, itt may bee more easily expectorated. —
the end of giving syrupes is, that sliding Wr.
CHAP. IX.] AND COMMON ERRORS. S3
CHAPTER IX.
Of saluting upon Sneezing.
Concerning Sternutation or Sneezing, and the custom of
saluting or blessing upon that motion, it is pretended, and
generally believed, to derive its original from a disease,
wherein sternutation proved mortal, and such as sneezed,
died. And this may seem to be proved from Carolus Sigo-
nius, who in his History of Italy, makes mention of a pestilence
in the time of Gregory the Great, that proved pernicious
and deadly to those that sneezed. Which notwithstanding
will not sufficiently determine the grounds hereof, that custom
having an elder era than this chronology afFordeth.
For although the age of Gregory extend above a thou-
sand, yet is this custom mentioned by Apuleius, in the fable
of the fuller's wife, who lived three hundred years before,
by Pliny in that problem of his, cur sternutantes salutantur ;
and there are also reports that Tiberius the emperor, other-
wise a very sour man, would perform this rite most punctually
unto others, and expect the same from others unto himself,
Petronius Arbiter, who lived before them both, and was
proconsul of Bithynia in the reign of Nero, hath mentioned
it in these words, Gyton collectione spiritus plenus, ter con'
tinud ita sternutavit, ut grabatum concuteret, ad quern motum
Eumolpus conversus, Solvere Gytona jubet. Ccelius Rho-
diginus hath an example hereof among the Greeks, far an-
cienter than these, that is, in the time of Cyrus the younger,
when consulting about their retreat, it chanced that one
among them sneezed, at the noise whereof the rest of the
soldiers called upon Jupiter Soter. There is also in the
Greek Anthology a remarkable mention hereof in an epigram,
upon one Proclus ; the Latin whereof we shall deliver, as we
find it often translated.
VOL. Hi. d ,
34 ENQUIRIES INTO VULGAR [BOOK IV.
Non potis est Proclus digitis emungere nasum,
Namq ; est pro nasi mole pusilla manus :
Non vocat ille Jo vera sternutans, quippe nee audit
Sternutamentum, tarn procul aure sonat.
Froclus with his hand his nose can never wipe,
His hand too little is his nose to gripe ;
He sneezing calls not Jove, for why ? he hears
Himself not sneeze, the sound 's so far from 's ears.
Nor was this only an ancient custom among the Greeks
and Romans, and is still in force with us, but is received at
this day in remotest parts of Africa.1 For so we read in
Codignus,* that upon a sneeze of the Emperor of Mono-
motapa, there passed acclamations successive through the
city ; and as remarkable an example there is of the same
custom, in the remotest parts of the East, recorded in the
travels of Pinto.
But the history will run much higher, if we should take in
the rabbinical account hereof, that sneezing was a mortal sign
even from the first man, until it was taken off by the
special supplication of Jacob. From whence, as a thankful
acknowledgment, this salutation first began, and was after
continued by the expression of Tobim Chaiim, or vita bona,
by standers by, upon all occasion of sneezing.2
Now the ground of this ancient custom was probably the
opinion the ancients held of sternutation,3 which they gene-
rally conceived to be a good sign or a bad, and so upon this
motion accordingly used a salve or ZeD tfwtfov, as a gratulation
for the one, and a deprecation for the other. Now of the
ways whereby they enquired and determined its signality;
the first was natural, arising from physical causes, and conse-
quences oftentimes naturally succeeding this motion, and so
it might be justly esteemed a good sign ; for sneezing being
properly a motion of the brain, suddenly expelling through
the nostrils what is offensive unto it, it cannot but afford some
* De rebus Abassinorum.
1 Africa,'] And in Otaheite. — Jeff. define itt to be the trumpet of nature
2 And as remarkable, Sfc] This ssn- upon the ejection of a noxious vapour
tence and the following paragraph were from the braine, and therefore saye
added in 3rd edition. rightly itt is bonum signum mala causa,
3 sternutation.] Physitians generallye sc. deputes, — Wr.
CHAP. IX.] AND COMMON ERRORS. 35
evidence of its vigour, and therefore, saith Aristotle,* they
that hear it, irgooxvvovoiv ug hgov, 'honour it as somewhat sacred,'
and a sign of sanity in the diviner part, and this he illus-
trates from the practice of physicians, who in persons near
death, do use sternutatories, or such medicines as provoke
unto sneezing, when if the faculty awaketh, and sternutation
ensueth, they conceive hopes of life, and with gratulation
receive the signs of safety.f And so is it also of good signality,
according to that of Hippocrates, that sneezing cureth the
hiccough, and is profitable unto women in hard labour, and
so is it good in lethargies, apoplexies, catalepsies, and comas.
And in this natural way is it sometime likewise of bad effects
or signs, and may give hints of deprecation ; as in diseases
of the chest, for therein Hippocrates condemneth it as too
much exagitating ; in the beginning of catarrhs, according
unto Avicenna? as hindering concoction ; in new and tender
conceptions, as Pliny observeth, for then it endangers abor-
tion.
The second way was superstitious and augurial, as Ccelius
Rhodiginus hath illustrated in testimonies as ancient as
Theocritus and Homer; as appears from the Athenian master,
who would have retired because a boat-man sneezed ; and
the testimony of Austin, that the ancients were wont to go
to bed again if they sneezed while they put on their shoe.
And in this way it was also of good and bad signification ; so
Aristotle hath a problem, why sneezing from noon unto mid-
night was good, but from night to noon unlucky. So Eu-
stathius upon Homer observes, that sneezing to the left hand
was unlucky, but prosperous unto the right ; so, as Plutarch
relateth, when Themistocles sacrificed in his galley before
the battle of Xerxes, and one of the assistants upon the right
hand sneezed, Euphrantides, the soothsayer, presaged the
victory of the Greeks, and the overthrow of the Persians.
Thus we may perceive the custom is more ancient than
commonly conceived, and these opinions hereof in all ages,
not any one disease, to have been the occasion of this salute
and deprecation. Arising at first from this vehement and
* Problems, sect. 33. -f- 2 Kings iv, 35.
D 2
36 ENQUIRIES INTO VULGAR [BOOK IV.
affrighting motion of the brain, inevitably observable unto the
standers by ; from whence some finding dependent effects to
ensue, others ascribing hereto as a cause what perhaps but
casually or inconnexedly succeeded, they might proceed unto
forms of speeches, felicitating the good, or deprecating the
evil to follow.
CHAPTER X.
That Jews Stink.
That Jews stink 4 naturally, that is, that in their race and
nation there is an evil savour, is a received opinion we know
not how to admit, although we concede many questionable
points, and dispute not the verity of sundry opinions which
are of affinity hereto. We will acknowledge that certain
odours attend on animals, no less than certain colours ; that
pleasant smells are not confined unto vegetables, but found in
divers animals, and some more richly than in plants; and
though the problem of Aristotle enquires why no animal
smells sweet beside the pard, yet later discoveries add divers
sorts of monkeys, the civet cat and gazela,from which our musk
proceedeth. We confess that beside the smell of the species
there may be individual odours, and every man may have
a proper and peculiar savour, which although not perceptible
unto man, who hath this sense but weak, is yet sensible unto
dogs, who hereby can single out their masters in the dark.
We will not deny that particular men have sent forth a plea-
sant savour, as Theophrastus and Plutarch report of Alex-
4 That Jews slinlc] The Jews anxious- Howell, in a letter written to Lord
ly observing the prohibited eating of Clifford, in reply to his enquiries respect-
blood keepe their flesh covered with ing the Jews, does not hesitate to adopt
onyons and garleek till itt putrifie, and the common opinion as one so well known
contracte as bad a smell as that of rot- as to need no proof. " As they are,"
tenes from those strong sawces; and soe says he, " the most contemptible people,
by continual use thereof emit a loathsom and have a kind of fulsome scent, no
savour, as Mr. Fulham experimented in better than a stink, that distinguisheth
Italye at a Jewish meeting, with the them from others, so they are the most
hazard of life, till he removed into the timorous people on earth, &c." Familiar
fresh air. Testeipsofide dignissimo. — Wr. Letters, book I, § G, letter xv, p. 252.
CHAP. X.J AND COMMON ERRORS. 37
ander the Great, and Tzetzes and Cardan do testify of them-
selves. That some may also emit an unsavory odour, we
have no reason to deny ; for this may happen from the quality
of what they have taken, the fcetor whereof may discover
itself by sweat and urine, as being unmasterable by the
natural heat of man, not to be dulcified by concoction beyond
an unsavory condition ; the like may come to pass from
putrid humours, as is often discoverable in putrid and malig-
nant fevers ; and sometime also in gross and humid bodies
even in the latitude of sanity, the natural heat of the parts
being insufficient for a perfect and thorough digestion, and
the errors of one concoction not rectifiable by another. But
that an unsavory odour is gentilitious or national unto the
Jews, if rightly understood, we cannot well concede, nor will
the information of reason or sense induce it.
For first, upon consult of reason, there will be found no
easy assurance to fasten a material or temperamental pro-
priety upon any nation; there being scarce any condition
(but what depends upon clime) which is not exhausted or ob-
scured from the commixture of introvenient nations either by
commerce or conquest ; much more will it be difficult to make
out this affection in the Jews ; whose race however pretend-
ded to be pure, must needs have suffered inseparable com-
mixtures with nations of all sorts ; not only in regard of their
proselytes, but their universal dispersion ; some being posted
from several parts of the earth, others quite lost, and swal-
lowed up in those nations where they plantecL For the
tribes of Reuben, Gad, part of Manasses and Naphthali,
which were taken by Assur, and the rest at the sacking of
Samaria, which were led away by Salmanasser into Assyria,
and after a year and half arrived at Arsereth, as is delivered
in Esdras ; these I say never returned,5 and are by the Jews
5 For the tribes, fyc."\ The subsequent be found in the countries of their first
history of the ten tribes, who were car- captivity." In support of which opinion
ried into captivity at the fall of Samaria, he cites the following passage from a
has ever remained and must remain a speech of King Agrippa to the Jews, in
matter of conjecture — It is however the reign of Vespasian ; — " What, do you
most probable that our author's supposi- stretch your hopes beyond the river
tion is correct. Dr. Claudius Buchanan, Euphrates? — Do any of you think that
is satisfied " that the greater part of your fellow-tribes will come to your aid
the ten tribes, which now exist, are to out of Adiabenc ? Besides, if they would
38 ENQUIRIES INTO VULGAR [BOOK IV.
as vainly expected as their Messias. Of those of the tribe
of Judah and Benjamin, which were led captive into Baby-
lon by Nebuchadnezzar, many returned under Zorobabel ;
the rest remained, and from thence long after, upon invasion
of the Saracens, fled as far as India ; where yet they are
said to remain, but with little difference from the Gentiles.
The tribes that returned to Judea, were afterward widely
dispersed ; for beside sixteen thousand which Titus sent to
Rome under the triumph of his father Vespasian, he sold no
less than an hundred thousand for slaves. Not many years
after, Adrian the emperor, who ruined the whole country,
transplanted many thousands into Spain, from whence they
dispersed into divers countries, as into France and England,
but were banished after from both. From Spain they disper-
sed into Africa, Italy, Constantinople, and the dominions of
the Turk, where they remain as yet in very great numbers.
And if, (according to good relations,) where they may freely
speak it, they forbear not to boast that there are at present
many thousand Jews in Spain, France, and England, and
some dispensed withal even to the degree of priesthood ; it
is a matter very considerable, and could they be smelled out,
would much advantage, not only the church of Christ, but
also the coffers of princes.6
Now having thus lived in several countries, and always in
subjection, they must needs have suffered many commixtures ;
and we are sure they are not exempted from the common
come, the Parthian will not permit it. Christian Researches in Asia, p. 239.
" Joseph, de Bell. lib. ii, c. 2S, — a proof, The Samaritan traditions however
as the Dr. remarks, that the ten tribes might lead to the opinion that a con-
were still in captivity, in Media, under siderable remnant of the Israelites avoi-
the Persian princes, during the 1st ded captivity, and were left on the soil
century of the Christian era, 700 years of Palestine. The singular fact that they
after their transplantation. Again he have preserved the Mosaic law in the
adduces a passage from Jerome, written ruder and more ancient character, strong-
in the 5th century, in his notes on ly confirms this hypothesis, which de-
Hosea; — "unto this day the ten tribes rives additional support also from various
are subject to the Kings of the Persians, other considerations. — See History oj the
nor has their captivity ever been loosed." Jews, (Fam. Lib.) ii, 10.
He says also, " the ten tribes inhabit at c The tribes, fyc."] The subject of this
this day the cities and mountains of the paragraph is fully treated in the course
Medes,'' torn, vi, p. 80. To this day, of the History of the Jews, referred to
continues Dr. B., no family, Jew, or in the preceding note : the last chapter
Christian, is permitted to leave the Per- of which gives a very elaborate and
sian territories without the king's per- careful estimate of the present number
mission. — See Dr. Claudius Buchanan's of Jews in various countries.
CHAP. X.] AND COMMON ERRORS. 39
contagion of venery contracted first from Christians. Nor
are fornications unfrequent between them both ; there com-
monly passing opinions of invitement, that their women
desire copulation with them rather than their own nation,
and affect Christian carnality above circumcised venery. It
being therefore acknowledged, that some are lost, evident
that others are mixed, and not assured that any are distinct,
it will be hard to establish this quality upon the Jews, unless
we also transfer the same unto those whose generations are
mixed, whose genealogies are Jewish, and naturally derived
from them.
Again, if we concede a national unsavouriness in any
people, yet shall we find the Jews less subject hereto than
any, and that in those regards which most powerfully concur
to such effects, that is, their diet and generation. As for
their diet, whether in obedience unto the precepts of reason,
or the injunctions of parsimony, therein they are very tem-
perate, seldom offending in ebriety or excess of drink, nor
erring in gulosity or superfluity of meats ; whereby they
prevent indigestion and crudities,7 and consequently putre-
scence of humours. They have in abomination all flesh
maimed, or the inwards any way vitiated, and therefore eat
no meat but of their own killing. They observe not only
fasts at certain times, but are restrained unto very few dishes
at all times ; so few, that whereas S. Peter's sheet will hardly
cover our tables, their law doth scarce permit them to set
forth a lordly-feast ; nor any way to answer the luxury of our
times, or those of our fore-fathers. For of flesh their law
restrains them many sorts, and such as complete our feasts :
that animal, propter convivia natural they touch not, nor any
of its preparations or parts, so much in respect at Roman
tables, nor admit they unto their board, hares, conies, herons,
plovers or swans. Of fishes they only taste of such as have
both fins and scales, which are comparatively but few in num-
* Quanti est gula, qva sibi totos ponit apros ! Animal propter convivia natum.
7 indigestion and crudity es,~\ This hee who comes fasting into a great
cruditye of indigestion is soe cleerly dis- schoole shall soone perceave itt, to hi*
cernable in the breath of children; that smell, most odious. — Wr.
40 ENQUIRIES INTO VULGAR [BOOK IV.
ber ; such only, saith Aristotle, whose egg or spawn is arena-
ceous : whereby are excluded all cetaceous and cartilagineous
fishes ; many pectinal, whose ribs are rectilineal ; many
costal, which have their ribs embowed ; all spinal, or such as
have no ribs, but only a back-bone, or somewhat analogous
thereto, as eels, congers, lampreys ; all that are testaceous,
as oysters, cockles, wilks, scollops, muscles ; and likewise all
crustaceous, as crabs, shrimps and lobsters. So that, ob-
observing a spare and simple diet, whereby they prevent the
generation of crudities ; and fasting often, whereby they
might also digest them ; they must be less inclinable unto
this infirmity than any other nation, whose proceedings are
not so reasonable to avoid it.
As for their generations and conceptions, (which are the
purer from good diet,) they become more pure and perfect by
the strict observation of their law ; upon the injunctions
whereof, they severely observe the times of purification, and
avoid all copulation, either in the uncleanness of themselves,
or impurity of their women. A rule, I fear, not so well ob-
served by Christians ; whereby not only conceptions are
prevented, but if they proceed, so vitiated and defiled, that
durable inquinations remain upon the birth. Which, when
the conception meets with these impurities, must needs be
very potent ; since in the purest and most fair conceptions,
learned men derive the cause of pox and meazles, from prin-
ciples of that nature ; that is, the menstruous impurities in
the mother's blood, and virulent tinctures contracted by the
infant, in the nutriment of the womb.
Lastly, experience will convict it ; for this offensive odour
is no way discoverable in their synagogues where many are,8
and by reason of their number could not be concealed : nor
is the same discernable in commerce or conversation with
such as are cleanly in apparel, and decent in their houses.
Surely the Viziers and Turkish bashas are not of this opi-
nion ; who, as Sir Henry Blunt informeth, do generally keep
a Jew of their private council. And were this true, the
Jews themselves do not strictly make out the intention of their
8 many are,\ Sec the evidence hereof, p. 06, undeniably prooved. — Wr.
CHAP. X.] AND COMMON ERRORS. 41
law, for in vain do they scruple to approach the dead, who
livingly are cadaverous, or fear any outward pollution, whose
temper pollutes themselves. And lastly, were this true, yet
our opinion is not impartial ; for unto converted Jews who
are of the same seed, no man imputeth this unsavoury odour ;
as though aromatized by their conversion, they lost their
scent with their religion, and smelt no longer than they
savoured of the Jew.
Now the ground that begat or propagated this assertion,
might be the distasteful averseness of the Christian from the
Jew, upon the villany of that fact, which made them abomi-
nable and stink in the nostrils of all men. Which real prac-
tice and metaphorical expression did after proceed into a lit-
eral construction ; but was a fraudulent illation ; for such an
evil savour their father Jacob acknowledged in himself, when
he said his sons had made him stink in the land, that is, to be
abominable unto the inhabitants thereof.* Now how dan-
gerous it is in sensible things to use metaphorical expressions
unto the people, and what absurd conceits they will swallow
in their literals, an impatient 9 example we have in our own
profession ; who having called an eating ulcer by the name
of a wolf, common apprehension conceives a reality therein,
and against ourselves ocular affirmations are pretended to
confirm it.
The nastiness of that nation, and sluttish course of life,
hath much promoted the opinion, occasioned by their servile
condition at first, and inferior ways of parsimony ever since ;
as is delivered by Mr. Sandys : they are generally fat, saith
he, and rank of the savours which attend upon sluttish corpu-
lency.1 The epithets assigned them by ancient times, have
also advanced the same ; for Ammianus Marcellinus describ-
eth them in such language, and Martial more ancient, in
such a relative expression sets forth unsavoury Bassa.
Quod jejunia sabbatariorum
Mallem, quam quod oles, olere, Bassa.
* Gen. xxxiv.
9 impatient.'] Lege insufferable — Wr. enoughe, leaving the cause to further
1 rank, c<j-c] Which Mr. Fulham inquisition. — Wr.
confirmd as above, p. 36. This is
42 ENQUIRIES INTO VULGAR [BOOK IV.
From whence, notwithstanding, we cannot infer an inward
imperfection in the temper of that nation ; it being but an
effect in the breath from outward observation, in their strict
and tedious fasting ; and was a common effect in the breaths
of other nations, became a proverb among the Greeks* and
the reason thereof begot a problem in Aristotle. f
Lastly, if all were true, and were this savour conceded, yet
are the reasons alleged for it no way satisfactory. Huche-
rius,f and after him Alsarius Crucius, J imputes this effect
unto their abstinence from salt or salt meats ; ~ which how to
make good in the present diet of the Jews, we know not ;
nor shall we conceive it was observed of old, if we consider
they seasoned every sacrifice, and all oblations whatsoever ;
whereof we cannot deny a great part was eaten by the priests.
And if the offering were of flesh, it was salted no less than
thrice, that is, once in the common chamber of salt, at the
footstep of the altar, and upon the top thereof, as is at large
delivered by Maimonides. Nor, if they refrained all salt, is
the illation very urgent : for many there are not noted for
ill odours,3 which eat no salt at all ; as all carnivorous ani-
mals, most children, many whole nations, and probably our
fathers after the creation ; there being indeed, in every thing
we eat, a natural and concealed salt,4 which is separated by
digestions, as doth appear in our tears, sweat, and urines,
although we refrain all salt, or what doth seem to contain it.
Another cause is urged by Campegius, and much received
by Christians ; that this ill savour is a curse derived upon
them by Christ, and stands as a badge or brand of a genera-
tion that crucified their Saloator. But this is a conceit with-
out all warrant, and an easy way to take off dispute in what
point of obscurity soever. A method of many writers, which
much depreciates the esteem and value of miracles ; that is,
therewith to salve not only real verities, but also non-existen-
* Njjtfre/as oZflV. Jejunia olerc. f Be SterUitalc. % Cruc. Med. Epist.
2 salt meats."] Which they supply with But the many circulations of them ac-
onyons and garlick, ut supra. — Wr. quiring saltnes from the natural! heate,
3 not noted, S;c.~] This is contrarycd send out that unnecessary saltnes in
by experience. Supra, p. 36. — Wr. sweat and teares and urine, and gene-
4 salt.] The earthy being separat- rally in salivation. — Wr.
ed, leaves the other sweet, not salt.
CHAP. XI.] AND COMMON ERRORS. 43
cies. Thus have elder times not only ascribed the immunity
of Ireland from any venomous beast unto the staff or rod of
Patrick, but the long tails of Kent unto the malediction of
Austin.5
Thus therefore, although we concede that many opinions
are true which hold some conformity unto this, yet in assent-
ing hereto many difficulties must arise ; it being a dangerous
point to annex a constant property unto any nation, and
much more this unto the Jew ; since their quality is not veri-
fied by observation ;6 since the grounds are feeble that should
establish it ; and lastly, since if all were true, yet are the rea-
sons alleged for it of no sufficiency to maintain it.
CHAPTER XI.
Of Pygmies.
By pigmies we understand a dwarfish race of people, or low-
est diminution of mankind, comprehended in one cubit, or as
some will have it, in two foot or three spans ; not taking them
single, but nationally considering them, and as they make up
an aggregated habitation. Whereof, although affirmations
be many, and testimonies more frequent than in any other
point which wise men have cast into the list of fables, yet that
there is, or ever was such a race or nation, upon exact and
confirmed testimonies, our strictest enquiry receives no satis-
faction.7'
5 long-tails of Kent. ,] Bailey gives the of St. Thomas of Canterbury's horse,
following notice of these gentry : — " The who, being out of favour with King Hen-
Kentish men are said to have had long ry II, riding towards Canterbury upon
tails for some generations ; by way of a poor sorry horse, was so served by the
punishment, as some say, for the Kent- common people."
ish Pagans abusing Austin the monk and 6 not verifiable, <^c] It is, ut supra,
his associates, by beating them, and op- p. 36 Wr.
probriously tying fish-tails to their back- 1 By pygmies, <Sfc] Ross contends, —
sides; in revenge of which, such appen- as he almost invariably does — for the
dants grew to the hind parts of all that truth of the old saying. He argues that
generation. But the scene of this lying "it stands with reason there should be
wonder was not in Kent, but in Came, such, that God's wisdom might be seen
in Dorsetshire, many miles off. Others in all sorts of magnitudes ; for if there
again say it was for cutting off the tail have been giants, why not also pygmies
44 ENQUIRIES INTO VULGAR [BOOK IV.
I say " exact testimony," first, in regard of the authors
from whom we derive the account : for, though we meet
herewith in Herodotus, Philostratus, Mela, Pliny, Solinus,
and many more, yet were they derivative relators, and the
primitive author was Homer: who, using often similies, as
well to delight the ear, as to illustrate his matter, in the third
of his Iliads, compareth the Trojans unto cranes, when
they descend against the pigmies ; which was more largely
set out by Oppian, Juvenal, Mantuan, and many poets since,
and being only a pleasant figment in the fountain, became a
solemn story in the stream, and current still among us.
Again,8 many professed enquirers have rejected it. Strabo,
an exact and judicious geographer, hath largely condemned
it as a fabulous story. Julius Scaliger, a diligent enquirer,
accounts thereof but as a poetical fiction. Ulysses Aldro-
vandus, a most exact zoographer, in an express discourse
hereon, concludes the story fabulous, and a poetical account
of Homer ; and the same was formerly conceived by Eusta-
thius, his excellent commentator. Albertus Magnus, a man
ofttimes too credulous,' herein was more than dubious ; for he
affirmeth if any such dwarfs were' ever extant, they were
surely some kind of apes ; which is a conceit allowed by
Cardan,9 and not esteemed improbable by many others.
There are, I confess, two testimonies, which from their
authority, admit of consideration. The first, of Aristotle,*
whose words are these, hn 8s 6 roTtog, &c. That is, Hie locus
est quern incolunt pygmcei, non enim id fabula est, sed pusil-
lum genus ut aiunt. Wherein indeed Aristotle plays the
Aristotle, that is, the wary and evading assertor ; for though
with non est fabula he seem at first to confirm it, yet at the
last he claps in ut aiunt, and shakes the belief he put before
upon it. And therefore I observe Scaliger hath not trans-
* Hist. Animal, lib. viii.
nature being as prepense to the least, as cited below. — iVr.
to the greatest magnitude. He adduces 9 Cardan.] Rightly does he quote
the testimony of Buchanan, who, speak- Cardan, who in the 8th book, De Varie-
ing of the isles of Scotland, amongst the tate, cap. xl, p. 527, approves of Strabo's
rest sets down the Isle of Pygmies. judgement of Homer's fiction : and con-
8 Again.'] This paragraph is t;.ken eludes they were mistaken, being noe
almost verbatim from Cardan in the place other then apes. — Wr.
CHAP. XI.] AND COMMON ERRORS. 45
lated the first ; perhaps supposing it surreptitious or unwor-
thy so great an assertor. And truly for those books of
animals, or work of eight hundred talents, as Athenaeus
terms it, although ever to be admired, as containing most ex-
cellent truths, yet are many things therein delivered upon
relation, and some repugnant unto the history of our senses ;
as we are able to make out in some, and Scaliger hath ob-
served in many more, as he hath freely declared in his com-
ment upon that piece.
The second testimony is deduced from Holy Scripture,*
thus rendered in vulgar translation; Sed et Pygmcei qui
erant in turribus tuis, pharetras suas suspenderunt in muris
tuis per gyrum ; from whence notwithstanding we cannot
infer this assertion. For, first, the translators accord not,
and the Hebrew word gammadim is very variously rendered.
Though Aquila, Vatablus, and Lyra will have it pygmei, yet
in the Septuagint it is no more than watchmen, and so in the
Arabic and High Dutch. In the Chaldee, Cappadocians;
in Symmachus, Medes ; and in the French, those of Gamad.
Theodotion of old, and Tremellius of late, have retained
the textuary word, and so have the Italian, low Dutch and
English translators ; that is, the men of Arvad were upon
thy walls round about, and the Gammadims were in thy
towers. Nor do men only dissent in the translation of the
word, but in the exposition of the sense and meaning hereof;
for some by Gammadims understand a people of Syria, so
called from the city Gamala ;f some hereby understand the
Cappadocians, many the Medes ; and hereof Forerius hath a
singular exposition, conceiving the watchmen of Tyre might
well be called pygmies, the towers of that city being so high,
that unto men below they appeared in a cubital stature.
Others expounded it quite contrary to common acception,
that is, not men of the least, but of the largest size ; so doth
Cornelius construe pygmcei, ovviri cubitales,that is, not men of
a cubit high, but of the largest stature, whose height like that
of giants, is rather to be taken by the cubit than the foot ; in
which phrase we read the measure of Goliah, whose height is
* Ezek. xxvii, 12. f See Mr. Fuller's excellent description of Palestine.
46 ENQUIRIES INTO VULGAR [BOOK IV.
said to be six cubits and a span. Of affinity hereto is also the
exposition of Jerom ; not taking pygmies for dwarfs, but
stout and valiant champions ; not taking the sense of *vyM>
which signifies the cubit measure, but that which expresseth
pugils, that is, men fit for combat and the exercise of the
fist. Thus can there be no satisfying illation from this text,
the diversity or rather contrariety of expositions and inter-
pretations, distracting more than confirming the truth of the
story.1
Again, I say, exact testimonies, in reference unto circum-
stantial relations so diversely or contrarily delivered. Thus
the relation of Aristotle placeth them above Egypt towards
the head of the Nile in Africa. Philostratus affirms they are
about Ganges in Asia, and Pliny in a third place, that is,
Gerania in Scythia ; some write they fight with cranes, but
Menecles, in Athenseus, affirms they fight with partridges ;
some say they ride on partridges, and some on the backs of
rams.
Lastly, I say, confirmed testimonies ; for though Paulus
Jovius delivers there are pygmies beyond Japan, Pigafeta,
about the Moluccas, and Olaus Magnus placeth them in
Greenland, yet wanting frequent confirmation in a matter so
confirmable, their affirmation carrieth but slow persuasion,
and wise men may think there is as much reality in the
pygmies of Paracelsus, *" that is, his non-adamical men, or
middle natures betwixt men and spirits.
There being thus no sufficient confirmation of their verity,
some doubt may arise concerning their possibility, wherein,
since it is not defined in what dimensions the soul may exer-
cise her faculties, we shall not conclude impossibility, or that
there might not be a race of pygmies, as there is sometimes
of giants. So may we take in the opinion of Austin, and his
comment Ludovicus.2 But to believe they should be in the
stature of a foot or span, requires the preaspection of such a
* By pygmies intending fairies and other spirits about the earth ; as by nymphs
and salamanders, spirits of fire and water. Lib. Be Pygmceis, Nymphis, §c.
1 story.'] The least I suppose that ever immensce. Suetonius in Octavio, § 53.
was seen and lived long, was Lucius Certainly few apes come under this
Augustus his dwarfe, who was bipedali hight.
minor, librarum septendecitn, sed vocis 2 Ludovicus.'] Lud. Vives.
CHAP. XII.] AND COMMON ERRORS. 47
one as Philetas, the poet, in Athenaeus, who was fain to fasten
lead unto his feet, lest the wind should blow him away ; or
that other in the same author, who was so little ut ad obolum
accederet ; a story so strange, that we might herein excuse
the printer, did not the account of iElian accord unto it, as
Casaubon hath observed in his learned animadversions.
Lastly, if any such nation there were, yet it is ridiculous
what men have delivered of them ; that they fight with cranes
upon the backs of rams or patridges ; or what is delivered
by Ctesias, that they are negroes in the midst of India,
whereof the king of that country entertaineth three thousand
archers for his guard, which is a relation below the tale of
Oberon ; nor could they better defend him than the emblem
saith, they offended Hercules whilst he slept, that is, to
wound him no deeper than to awake him.
CHAPTER XII.
Of the Great Climacterical Year, that is, Sixty-three.
Concerning the eyes of the understanding, and those of the
sense, are differently deceived in their greatest objects. The
sense apprehending them in lesser magnitudes than their
dimensions require ; so it beholdeth the sun, the stars, and
the earth itself. But the understanding quite otherwise ;
for that ascribeth unto many things far larger horizons than
their due circumscriptions require, and receiveth them with
amplifications which their reality will not admit. Thus hath
it fared with many heroes and most worthy persons, who,
being sufficiently commendable from true and unquestionable
merits, have received advancement from falsehood and the
fruitful stock of fables. Thus hath it happened unto the
stars, and luminaries of heaven ; who, being sufficiently ad-
mirable in themselves, have been set out by effects, no way
dependent on their efficiencies, and advanced by amplifica-
tions to the questioning of their true endowments. Thus is
it not improbable it hath also fared with number, which
48 ENQUIRIES INTO VULGAR [BOOK IV.
though wonderful in itself, and sufficiently magnifiable from
its demonstrable affections, hath yet received adjections from
the multiplying conceits of men, and stands laden with addi-
tions which its equity will not admit.
And so perhaps hath it happened unto the numbers
seven and nine, which multiplied into themselves do make up
sixty-three, commonly esteemed the great climacterical of our
lives. For the days of men are usually cast up by septenaries,
and every seventh year conceived to carry some altering
character with it, either in the temper of body, mind, or both.
But among all other, three are most remarkable, that is, seven
times seven, or forty-nine ; nine times nine, or eighty-one ;
and seven times nine, or the year of sixty three, which is
conceived to carry with it the most considerable fatality, and
consisting of both the other numbers, was apprehended to
comprise the virtue of either, is therefore expected and enter-
tained with fear, and esteemed a favour of fate to pass it
over; which, notwithstanding, many suspect to be but a
panic terror, and men to fear they justly know not what, and
to speak indifferently I find no satisfaction, nor any sufficiency
in the received grounds to establish a rational fear.
Now herein to omit astrological considerations (which are
but rarely introduced,) the popular foundation whereby it
hath continued, is first, the extraordinary power and secret
virtue conceived to attend these numbers, whereof we must
confess there have not wanted, not only especial commenda-
tions, but very singular conceptions, Among philosophers,
Pythagoras seems to have played the leading part, which was
long after continued by his disciples and the Italick school.
The philosophy of Plato, and most of the Platonists, abounds
in numeral considerations. Above all, Philo, the learned
Jew, hath acted this part even to superstition, bestowing
divers pages in summing up every thing, which might ad-
vantage this number. Which, notwithstanding, when a serious
reader shall perpend, he will hardly find any thing that may
convince his judgment, or any further persuade than the
lenity of his belief, or prejudgment of reason inclineth.3
excellent
Which, notwithstanding, c^-c] The following brief and pious exclamation: —
(lent Bishop Hall sums up in the " Away with all niceties of Pythagorean
CHAP. XII.] AND COMMON ERRORS. 49
For first, not only the numbers seven and nine, from conside-
rations abstruse have been extolled by most, but all or most of
the other digits have been as mystically applauded. For the
numbers one and three have not been only admired by the
heathens, but from adorable grounds, the unity of God, and
mystery of the Trinity, admired by many Christians. The
number four stands much admired, not only in the quater-
nity of the elements, (which are the principles of bodies,)
but in the letters of the name of God, (which in the Greek,
Arabian, Persian, Hebrew and Egyptian, consisteth of that
number,) and was so venerable among the Pythagoreans,
that they swore by the number four.4 That of six hath
found many leaves in its favour ; not only for the days of the
creation, but its natural consideration, as being a perfect
number, and the first that is completed by its parts, that is
the sixth, the half, and the third, 1 , 2, 3, which drawn into
a sum make six. The number of ten hath been as highly
extolled, as containing even, odd, long, plain, quadrate and
cubical numbers ; and Aristotle observed with admiration,
that Barbarians, as well as Greeks, did use a numeration unto
ten, which being so general was not to be judged casual,
but to have a foundation in nature. So that not only seven
and nine, but all the rest have had their eulogies, as may be
observed at large in Rhodiginus, and in several writers since ;
every one extolling number, according to his subject, and as
it advantaged the present discourse in hand.
Again, they have been commended, not only from pretend-
ed grounds in nature, but from artificial, casual, or fabulous
foundations: so have some endeavoured to advance their
admiration, from the nine muses, from the seven wonders of
the world, from the seven gates of Thebes ; in that seven
cities contended for Homer, in that there are seven stars in
Ursa minor, and seven in Charles's wain, or Plaustrum of
Ursa major. Wherein indeed, although the ground be
natural, yet, either from constellations or their remarkable
calculations; all numbers are alike to man, dilated into a pentalpJia. — Wr.
me, save those which God himself hath It is not a little singular that, in this
chalked out to us!" — Bp. Hall's Works, enumeration, the author of the Quincunx
p. 510. should have omitted the number five.
4 four.~\ 5 : for the dimensions of
VOL III. E
50 ENQUIRIES INTO VULGAR [BOOK IV.
parts, there is the like occasion to commend any other num-
ber; the number five from the stars in Sagitta, three from
the girdle of Orion, and four from Equiculus, Crusero, or
the feet of the Centaur : yet are such as these clapped in by
very good authors, and some not omitted by Philo.
Nor are they only extolled from arbitrary and poetical
grounds, but from foundations and principles, false or dubious.
That women are menstruant, and men pubescent at the year
of twice seven is accounted a punctual truth ; which period
nevertheless we dare not precisely determine, as having
observed a variation and latitude in most, agreeable unto the
heat of clime or temper ; men arising variously unto virility,
according to the activity of causes that promote it. Sanguis
menstruosus ad diem, ut plurimum, septimum durat, saith
Philo : which notwithstanding is repugnant unto experience,
and the doctrine of Hippocrates ; who in his book, de diceta,
plainly affirmeth, it is thus but with few women, and only
such as abound with pituitous and watery humours.
It is further conceived to receive addition, in that there
are seven heads of Nile ; but we have made manifest else-
where,5 that by the description of geographers, they have
been sometime more,6 and are at present fewer ; in that there
were seven wise men of Greece ; which though generally re-
ceived, yet having enquired into the verity thereof we cannot
so readily determine it : for in the life of Thales, who was
accounted in that number, Diogenes Laertius plainly saith,
Magna de eorum numero discordia est, some holding but
four, some ten, others twelve, and none agreeing in their
names, though according in their number. In that there are
just seven7 planets or errant stars in the lower orbs of
heaven : but it is now demonstrable unto sense, that there
are many more, as Galileo * hath declared ; that is, two
* Nuncius Sydcrus.
5 elsewhere,] See book vi, c. 8. center of the universe fixte and immovea-
6 more,! Honterus reckoned of old, ble, as the Copernicans contend, then
noe fewer then 1C : whereof now the there arc but 5 primary e planets as they
slime of Nilus (since itt was banked in call them. For the moon they say is a
divers places) hath obstructed eleven. — secondary planet, and the earthe another.
Wr. — Wr. — We must suspect an error in
7 seven,] Yf the sun be sett in the this note.
CHAP. XII.] AND COMMON ERRORS. 51
more in the orb of Saturn, and no less than four or more in
the sphere of Jupiter. And the like may be said of the
pleiades or seven stars, which are also introduced to magnify
this number ; for whereas, scarce discerning six, we account
them seven, by his relation, there are no less than forty.8
That the heavens are encompassed with seven circles,9 is
also the allegation of Philo ; which are, in his account, the
arctick, antarctick, the summer and winter tropicks, the equa-
tor, zodiack, and the milky circle ; whereas by astronomers they
are received in greater number. For though we leave out the
lacteous circle, (which Aratus, Geminus, (and Proclus, out
of him,) hath numbered among the rest,) yet are there more
by four than Philo mentions ; that is, the horizon, meridian,
and both the colures ; circles very considerable, and general-
ly delivered, not only by Ptolemy, and the astronomers since
his time, but such as flourished long before, as Hipparchus
and Eudoxus. So that, for ought I know, if it make for our
purpose, or advance the theme in hand, with equal liberty
we may affirm there were seven sibyls, or but seven signs in
the zodiack circle of heaven.
That verse in Virgil, translated out of Homer,* O terque ;
quaterque beati, (that is, as men will have it, seven times hap-
py,) hath much advanced this number in critical apprehen-
sions. Yet is not this construction so indubitably to be
received, as not at all to be questioned : for, though Rhodi-
ginus, Beroaldus, and others, from the authority of Macro-
bius, so interpret it, yet Servius, his ancient commentator,
conceives no more thereby than a finite number for indefinite,
and that no more is implied than often happy. Strabo, the
ancientest of them all, conceives no more, by this in Homer,
than a full and excessive expression ; whereas, in common
phrase and received language, he should have termed them
thrice happy, herein, exceeding that number, he called them
* Tg/£ f/jCMagsg Aavcco/ xai rirgaiuc.
8 forty.~\ Discernable by a good tele- bee a tbirde : the zodiack, a fourth : the
scope. — Wr. horison a fifth; the colure of solstice
9 seven circles,] The 2 pole circles are (i.e. the meridian) a sixte : and the aequi-
in effect but as one, to this intention: noctial colure a seventhe. — Wr.
likewise the 2 tropicks : let the oequator
E 2
52 ENQUIRIES INTO VULGAR [BOOK IV.
four times happy, that is^ more than thrice. And this he
illustrates by the like expression of Homer, in the speech of
Circe, who, to express the dread and terror of the ocean,
sticks not unto the common form of speech in the strict ac-
count of its reciprocations, but largely speaking, saith, it ebbs
and flows no less than thrice a day, terque die revomitfluctas,
iterumque resorbet. And so when 't is said by Horace, feli-
■ces ter et amplius, the exposition is sufficient, if we conceive
no more than the letter fairly beareth, that is, four times, or
indefinitely more than thrice.
But the main considerations, which most set off this num-
ber, are observations drawn from the motions of the moon
supposed to be measured by sevens ; and the critical or
decretory days1 dependent on that number. As for the mo-
tion of the moon, though we grant it to be measured by-
sevens, yet will not this advance the same before its fellow
numbers ; for hereby the motion of other stars are not
measured, the fixed stars by many thousand years, the sun
by 365 days, the superior planets by more, the inferior by
somewhat less. And if we consider the revolution of the
first moveable, and the daily motion from east to west, com-
mon unto all the orbs, we shall find it measured by another
number, for being performed in four and twenty hours, it is
made up of four times six : and this is the measure and
standard of other parts of time, of months, of years, olym-
piads, lustres, indictions of cycles, jubilees, &c.
Again, months are not only lunary, and measured by the
moon, but also solary, and determined by the motion of the
sun; that is the space wherein the sun doth pass thirty
1 decretory days,] Dayes of 24 houres 6939 dayes, IS hours: the difference is
are properly the measure to which wee 1 hour, and 485 moments, which in 16
reduce months and yeares. The rest cycles, or every 304 yeares makes almost
are not reduced to dayes but years : a day of the moones anticipation. Of
saving, that in the compute of the these dayes, since the Nicene council,
sequinoctial procession caused by the we must accompt, noe less then 4 ; and
Julian excess, wee accompt the thirty- of the oth a 3rd parte : by which the
third bissextile daye supernumerary, and vernall full moone, cald the Terminus
to bee rejected. Likewise in the decen- Paschal/s does now anticipate in the
novall cycles. The true cycle of the Julian kalender. And this is that which
moon is 6939 dayes, 16 houres, — the Sreat Scaliger cals, WfO^yjJtf/y (WjXjJ-
1 ' ' 1080
moments. The Dionysian Paschal cycle vmx/lJV, II r.
of 19 years, cald the golden number, is
CHAP. XII.] AND COMMON ERRORS. 53
degrees of the ecliptick. By this month Hippocrates* com-
puted the time of the infant's gestation in the womb ; for
nine times thirty, that is, 270 days, or complete nine months,
make up forty weeks, the common compute of women. And
this is to be understood, when he saith, two days make the
fifteenth, and three the tenth part of the month. This was
the month of the ancient Hebrews, before their departure
out of Egypt :2 and hereby the compute will fall out right,
and the account concur, when in one place it is said, the
waters of the flood prevailed an hundred and fifty days, and
in another it is delivered, that they prevailed from the
seventeenth day of the second month, unto the seventeenth
day of the seventh. As for hebdomadal periods or weeks,
although in regard of their sabbaths they were observed by
the Hebrews, yet it is not apparent the ancient Greeks or
Romans used any ; but had another division of their months
into ides, nones, and calends.
Moreover, months, howsoever taken, are not exactly divis-
ible into septenaries or weeks, which fully contain seven
days ; whereof four times do make completely twenty-eight.
For, beside the usual or calendary month, there are but four
considerable : 3 the month of peragration, of apparition, of
consecution, and the medical or decretorial month ; whereof
some come short, others exceed this account. A month of
peragration is the time of the moon's revolution from any
part of the zodiack unto the same again, and this containeth
but twenty-seven days, and about eight hours ; which cometh
short to complete the septenary account. The month of
consecution, or as some will term it, of progression, is the
space between one conjunction of the moon with the sun unto
another: and this containeth twenty-nine days and an half;
for the moon returning unto the same point wherein it was
kindled by the sun, and not finding it there again, (for in the
meantime, by its proper motion it hath passed through two
* De Octomestri Partu.
2 Egypt.] For they used the jEgyp- rising of the dogg-star — Wr.
tian yeare of months, cald annus canica- 3 considerable. .] Considerable lunar
laris, from the sun's revolution to the months. — Wr.
54 ENQUIRIES INTO VULGAR [BOOK IV.
signs,4) it followeth after, and attains the sun in the space of
two days and four hours more, which added unto the account
of peragration, make twenty-nine days and an half; so that
this month exceedeth the latitude of septenaries, and the
fourth part comprehendeth more than seven days. A month
of apparition is the space wherein the moon appeareth, (de-
ducting three days wherein it commonly disappeared, and,
being in combustion with the sun, is presumed of less acti-
vity,) and this containeth but twenty-six days and twelve
hours. The medical month not much exceedeth this, con-
sisting of twenty-six days and twenty -two hours, and is made
up out of all the other months. For if, out of twenty-nine
and an half, the month of consecution, we deduct three days
of disappearance, there will remain the month of apparition
twenty-six days and twelve hours: whereto if we add twenty-
seven days and eight hours, the month of paragration, there
will arise fifty-three days and ten hours, which divided by
two, makes twenty-six days and twenty-two hours ; called by
physicians the medical month ; introduced by Galen against
Archigenes for the better compute of decretory or critical
days.
As for the critical days (such I mean wherein upon a decer-
tation between the disease and nature, there ensueth a sensi-
ble alteration, either to life or death,) the reasons thereof are
rather deduced from astrology than arithmetic : for, account-
ing from the beginning of the disease, and reckoning on unto
the seventh day, the moon will be in a tetragonal or quadrate
aspect,5 that is, four signs removed from that wherein the dis-
ease began ; in the fourteenth day it will be in an opposite
4 signs.] This was a mistake in the yet conveye their force conjoyntlye with
learned author ; for the moon goes but greater power. Of other aspects, some
one signe in 2 dayes and a half. And are cald happye, as the Trigon : first,
how could the sun get through a whole bycause when planets arc 4 signes dis-
signe in 27 days 8 hours? — Wr. tant, they are in signs of like nature,
5 aspect.'] Aspect is a certaine distance agreeinge in the same active and passive
of the planets wherein they are supposed qualityes. Next, Sextile, which is of
to hinder or promote the effects which signes agreeing in one qualitye, and dis-
they usually produce in the signes, and agreeing in another. But quadrate and
in the bodily parts subject to them ; ac- opposite are in signes of contrarye quali-
cording to which acception, conjunction tyes, and by their jarringe beames infest
cannot bee properly cald an aspect, though each other, and are therefore cald, (not
of all other postures in heaven to us it without great reason in nature) malefic,
bee the strongest, bycause the planets, — Wr.
however distant in altitude immensely,
CHAP. XII.] AND COMMON ERRORS. 55
aspect; and at the end of the third septenary, tetragonal
again ; as will most graphically appear in the figures of as-
trologers, especially Lucas Gauricus, De diebus decretoriis.
Again, (beside that, computing by the medical month, the
first hebdomade or septenary consists of six days, seventeen
hours and an half, the second happeneth in thirteen days and
eleven hours, and the third but in the twentieth natural day,) —
what Galen first, and Abenezra since observed, in his tract of
Critical Days, in regard of eccentricity and the epicycle or
lesser orb wherein it moveth, — the motion of the moon is va-
rious and unequal, whereby the critical account must also
vary. For though its middle motion be equal, and of thir-
teen degrees, yet in the other it moveth sometimes fifteen,
sometimes less than twelve. For, moving in the upper part
of its orb, it performeth its motion more slowly than in the
lower ; insomuch that, being at the height, it arriveth at the
tetragonal and opposite signs sooner, and the critical day will
be in six and thirteen ; and being at the lowest, the critical
account will be out of the latitude of seven, nor happen be-
fore the eighth or ninth day. Which are considerations not
to be neglected in the compute of decretory days, and mani-
festly declare that other numbers must have a respect herein
as well as seven and fourteen.
Lastly, some things to this intent are deduced from Holy
Scripture ; thus is the year of jubilee introduced to magnify
this number, as being a year made out of seven times seven ;
wherein notwithstanding there may be a misapprehension ;
for this ariseth not from seven times seven, that is, forty-nine,
but was observed the fiftieth year, as is expressed, " And you
shall hallow the fiftieth year, a jubilee shall that fiftieth year
be unto you." Answerable whereto is the exposition of the
Jews themselves, as is delivered by Ben-Maimon ; that is,
the year of jubilee cometh not into the account of the years
of seven, but the forty-ninth is the release, and the fiftieth
the year of jubilee. Thus is it also esteemed no small ad-
vancement unto this number, that the genealogy of our Sa-
viour is summed up by fourteen, that is, this number doubled,
according as is expressed, Matt. i. So all the generations,
from Abraham to David, are fourteen generations ; and from
56 ENQUIRIES INTO VULGAR [BOOK IV.
David unto the carrying away into Babylon, are fourteen
generations ; and from the carrying away into Babylon unto
Christ, are fourteen generations. Which nevertheless must
not be strictly understood as numeral relations require : for
from David unto Jeconiah are accounted by Matthew but
fourteen generations ; whereas according to the exact account
in the History of Kings, there were at least seventeen ; and
three in this account, that is, Ahazias, Joas, and Amazias, are
left out. For so it is delivered by the evangelist, — " And
Joram begat Ozias : " whereas in the regal genealogy there
are three successions between ; for Ozias or Uzziah was the
son of Amazias, Amazias of Joas, Joas of Azariah, and Aza-
riah of Joram; so that in strict account, Joram was the
abavus or grandfather twice removed, and not the father of
Ozias. And these two omitted descents made a very con-
siderable measure of time in the royal chronology of Judah;
for though Azariah reigned but one year, yet Joas reigned
forty, and Amazias no less than nine and twenty. However
therefore these were delivered by the evangelist, and carry
(no doubt) an incontrolable conformity unto the intention of
his delivery ; 6 yet are they not appliable unto precise nu-
merality, nor strictly to be drawn unto the rigid test of
numbers.
6 However, therefore, 8fC.~\ Whether ject which he had in view in giving such
this omission originated with the Evan- a genealogy, was to prove that Jesus
gelist, or existed in the Jewish registers, Christ, whom he was about to proclaim
from which he copied, must ever remain to the Jews as their Messiah, was indeed
the subject of conjecture ; as well as the descended from the stock of David, an-
probable motive of the omission, in either swering — in this important respect — the
case. That such publicly recognised ta- prophetic description of him ; a proof
bles of descent existed, even to the time which the omission of several names
of Jesus Christ, we know from Josephus, would in no degree affect. Now, as
De Vita Sua, p. 998, d. ; and that Mat- Matthew was addressing Jews, it is very
thew would use them, cannot be deemed likely that he would resort to a method
unlikely. The most probable ground usually adopted among them, (probably
for supposing the omission of these three for the facility of recollection which it af-
kings in the public tables, is the curse forded;) viz. that of dividing the gene-
denounced, on account of Ahab's awful alogy into classes, if possible of equal
idolatry, against his family (into which extent. The threefold state of the Jews,
Joram married,) even to the third or first, under patriarchs, prophets, and
fourth generation. If however it be judges, then under kings, and lastly un-
thought improbable that such hiatus ex- der princes and priests, rendered such a
isted in the public genealogies, it must classification additionally proper. The
then be attributed to the Evangelist him- reign of David, and the Babylonish cap-
self. Nor will this perhaps be deemed an tivity, presented the most obvious points
inadmissible hypothesis, if we fully con- of division : but when thus divided, the
sider the circumstances. The sole ob- classes were of unequal extent ; the second
CHAP- XII.] AND COMMON ERRORS. 57
Lastly, though many things have been delivered by authors
concerning number, and they transferred unto the advantage
of their nature, yet are they ofttimes otherwise to be under-
stood than as they are vulgarly received in active and casual
considerations; they being many times delivered hieroglyphi-
cally, metaphorically, illustratively, and not with reference
unto action or causality. True it is, that God made all
things in number, weight, and measure, yet nothing by them
or through the efficacy of either. Indeed our days, actions,
and motions being measured by time, (which is but motion
measured,) whatever is observable in any falls under the ac-
count of some number ; which notwithstanding cannot be
denominated the cause of those events. So do we unjustly
assign the power of action even unto time itself, nor do they
speak properly who say that time consumeth all things ; for
time is not effective, nor are bodies destroyed by it, but from
the action and passion of their elements in it ; whose account
it only affordeth, and measuring out their motion informs us
in the periods and terms of their duration, rather than eflfect-
eth or physically produceth the same.
A second consideration, which promoteth this opinion, are
confirmations drawn from writers who have made observa-
tions, or set down favourable reasons for this climacterical
year ; so have Henricus Ranzovius,* Baptista Codronchus, f
and Levinus Lemnius J much confirmed the same ; but above
all, that memorable letter of Augustus sent unto his nephew
Caius, wherein he encourageth him to celebrate his nativity,
for he had now escaped sixty-three, the great climacterical
and dangerous year unto man. Which notwithstanding,
rightly perpended, it can be no singularity to question it, nor
any new paradox to deny it.
* De Annis Climactericis. f De Occultis Nalura Miraculis.
% Bel. lib. v.
containing too many names for the narra- where six generations are omitted at
tor's purpose. In order to make it equal once. Nor does the literal incorrectness
to the others, he may therefore be sup- of the phrase " Joram begat Ozias," af-
posed to have adopted the direct expedi- ford a valid objection : this term being
ent of omitting the three names in ques- applied not only to immediate, but to
tion. Of which practice he had several more remote, descendants. See Jer.
examples, to justify him, in the Jewish xxxix.
Scriptures, particularly in Ezra, vii, 2 ;
58 ENQUIRIES INTO VULGAR [BOOK IV.
For first, it is implicitly, and upon consequence denied by
Aristotle in his Politicks, in that discourse against Plato, who
measured the vicissitude and mutation of states, by a periodi-
cal fatality of number. Ptloemy, that famous mathematician,
plainly saith, he will not deliver his doctrines by parts and
numbers, which are ineffectual, and have not the nature of
causes. Now by these numbers, saith Rhodiginus and Mi-
randula, he implieth climacterical years, that is, septenaries
and novenaries set down by the bare observation of numbers.
Censorinus, an author of great authority and sufficient anti-
quity, speaks yet more amply in his book, De die Natali,
wherein, expressly treating of climacterical days, he thus de-
livereth himself: — "Some maintain that seven times seven,
that is forty-nine, is most dangerous of any other, and this is
the most general opinion : others unto seven times seven add
nine times nine, that is, the year of eighty-one, both which,
consisting of square and quadrate numbers, were thought by
Plato and others to be of great consideration : as for this
year of sixty-three, or seven times nine, though some esteem
it of most danger, yet do I conceive it less dangerous than the
other; for though it containeth both numbers above named,
that is, seven and nine, yet neither of them square or quad-
rate ; and as it is different from them both, so is it not potent
in either." Nor is this year remarkable in the death of many
famous men. I find indeed, that Aristotle died this year ;
but he, by the vigour of his mind, a long time sustained a
natural infirmity of stomach ; so that it was a greater wonder
he attained unto sixty-three, than that he lived no longer.
The psalm of Moses hath mentioned a year of danger differ-
ing from all these ; and that is, ten times seven or seventy ;
for so it is said, the days of man are threescore and ten.T
And the very same is affirmed by Solon, as Herodotus relates
in a speech of his unto Crcesus, Ego annis septuaginta hn-
mancc vita? modum definio : and surely that year must be of
greatest danger which is the period of all the rest ; and few-
est safely pass through that which is set as a bound for few
or none to pass. And therefore, the consent of elder times
settling their conceits upon climacters, not only differing from
7 The psalm of Moses, Sfc.~] Psalm xc.
CHAP. XII.] AND COMMON ERRORS. 59
this of ours, but one another, though several nations and ages
do fancy unto themselves different years of danger, yet every
one expects the same event, and constant verity in each.
Again, though Varro divided the days of man into five por-
tions, Hippocrates into seven,8 and Solon into ten, yet pro-
bably their divisions were to be received with latitude, and
their considerations not strictly to be confined unto their last
unities. So when Varro extendeth Pueritia unto fifteen,
Adolescentla unto thirty, Juvenilis unto thirty-five, there is a
latitude between the terms or periods of compute, and the
verity holds good in the accidents of any years between them.
So when Hippocrates divideth our life into seven degrees or
stages, and maketh the end of the first seven, of the second
fourteen, of the third twenty-eight, of the fourth thirty-five,
of the fifth forty-seven, of the sixth fifty-six, and of the
seventh, the last year, whenever it happeneth ; herein we
may observe, he maketh not his divisions precisely by seven
and nine, and omits the great climacterical : beside there is
between every one at least the latitude of seven years, in
which space or interval, that is either in the third or fourth
year, whatever falleth out is equally verified of the whole
degree, as though it had happened in the seventh. Solon
divided it into ten septenaries, because in every one thereof,
a man received some sensible mutation ; in the first is deden-
tition or falling of teeth, in the second pubescence, in the
third the beard groweth, in the fourth strength prevails, in
the fifth maturity for issue, in the sixth moderation of appe-
tite, in the seventh prudence, &c, Now herein there is a
tolerable latitude, and though the division proceed by seven,
yet is not the total verity to be restrained unto the last year,
nor constantly to be expected the beard should be complete
at twenty-one, or wisdom acquired just in forty-nine ; and
thus also, though seven times nine contain one of those
septenaries, and doth also happen in our declining years,
8 Hippocrates into seven.~\ Proclus to 22 ; fourth, young manhood, to 42 ;
also divided them into seven ages, each fifth, mature manhood, to 56; sixth, old
supposed to be under distinct planetary age, to 68 ; seventh, decrepit age, to 88.
influence. The first four years he called All beyond that age he considers to be a
the age of infancy ; the second childhood, second infancy,
to 14 ; third, adolescence or youthhood,
60 ENQUIRIES INTO VULGAR [BOOK IV.
yet might the events thereof be imputed unto the whole
septenary, and be more reasonably entertained with some
latitude, than strictly reduced unto the last number, or all
the accidents from fifty-six imputed unto sixty-three.
Thirdly, although this opinion may seem confirmed by ob-
servation, and men may say it hath been so observed, yet we
speak also upon experience, and do believe that men from
observation will collect no satisfaction. That other years
may be taken against it, especially if they have the advantage
to proceed it, as sixty against sixty-three, and sixty-three
against sixty-six. For fewer attain to the latter than the
former, and so surely in the first septenary do most die, and
probably also in the very first year, for all that ever lived
were in the account of that year, beside the infirmities that
attend it are so many, and the body that receives them so
tender and inconfirmed, we scarce count any alive that is not
past it.
Fabritius Paduanius,* discoursing of the great climacterical,
attempts a numeration of eminent men who died in that year,
but in so small a number as not sufficient to make a con-
siderable induction. He mentioneth but four, Diogenes Cyni-
cus, Dionysius Heracleoticus, Xenocrates Platonicus, and
Plato. As for Dionysius, as Censorinus witnesseth, he
famished himself in the eighty-second year of his life ; Xeno-
crates, by the testimony of Laertius, fell into a cauldron, and
died the same year, and Diogenes the cynick, by the same
testimony, lived almost unto ninety. The date of Plato's death
is not exactly agreed on, but all dissent from this which he
determineth. Neanthes, in Laertius, extendeth his days unto
eighty-four, Suidas unto eighty-two, but Hermippus defineth
his death in eighty-one ; and this account seemeth most
exact, for if, as he delivereth, Plato was born in the eighty-
eighth olympiad, and died in the first year of the 108th, the
account will not surpass the year of eighty-one, and so in
his death he verified the opinion of his life, and of the life of
man, whose period, as Censorinus recordeth, he placeth in
the quadrate of nine, or nine times nine, that is, eighty-one ;
* De catena temporis.
CHAP. XII.] AND COMMON ERRORS. 61
and therefore, as Seneca delivereth, the magicians, at Athens,
did sacrifice unto him, as declaring in his death somewhat
above humanity, because he died in the day of his nativity,
and without deduction justly accomplished the year of eighty-
one. Bodine,'*' I confess, delivers a larger list of men that
died in this year ,• Moriuntur innumerabiles anno sexagesimo
tertio, Aristotle s, Chrysippus, Bocatius, Bernardus, Erasmus,
Lutherus, MelanctJwn, Sylvius, Alexander, Jacobus Stur-
mius, Nicolaus Cusanus, Thomas Linacer, eodem anno Cicero
ecesus est. Wherein, beside that it were not difficult to make
a larger catalogue of memorable persons that died in other
years, we cannot but doubt the verity of his induction. As
for Sylvius and Alexander, which of that name he meaneth
I know not, but for Chrysippus, by the testimony of Laertius,
he died in the 73rd year, Bocatius in the 62nd, Linacer the
64th, and Erasmus exceeded 70, as Paulus Jovius hath
delivered in his elegy of learned men ; and as for Cicero, as
Plutarch in his life affirmeth, he was slain in the year of 64,
and therefore sure the question is hard set, and we have no
easy 9 reason to doubt, when great and entire authors shall
introduce injustifiable examples, and authorize their asser-
tions by what is not authentical.
Fourthly, they which proceed upon strict numerations, and
will by such regular and determined ways measure out the
lives of men, and periodically define the alterations of their
tempers, conceive a regularity in mutations, with an equality
in constitutions, and forget that variety which physicians
therein discover ; for seeing we affirm that women do naturally
grow old before men, that the cholerick fall short in longevity
of the sanguine, that there is senium ante senectum, and many
grow old before they arrive at age, we cannot affix unto them
all one common point of danger, but should rather assign
a respective fatality unto each : which is concordant unto
the doctrine of the numerist, and such as maintain this
opinion, for they affirm that one number respecteth men,
another women ; as Bodin, explaining that of Seneca, Sep-
* Method. His.
9 easy."] Small, — IVr.
62 ENQUIRIES INTO VULGAR [BOOK IV.
timus quisque anmis cetati signum imprimit, subjoins, hoc de
maribus dictum oportuit, hoc primum intueri licet, perfectum
numerum, id est, sextum fceminas, septenarium mares immu-
tare.
Fifthly, since we esteem this opinion to have some ground
in nature, and that nine times seven revolutions of the sun
imprint a dangerous character on such as arrive unto it, it
will leave some doubt behind, in what subjection hereunto
were the lives of our forefathers presently after the flood,
and more especially before it, who, attaining unto 8 or 900
years, had not their climacters computable by digits, or as
we do account them, for the great climacterical was past
unto them before they begat children, or gave any testimony
of their virility, for we read not that any begat children before
the age of sixty-five.1 And this may also afford a hint to
enquire what are the climacters of other animated creatures,
whereof the life of some attains not so far as this of ours,
and that of others extends a considerable space beyond it.
Lastly, the imperfect accounts that men have kept of time,
and the difference thereof, both in the same and diverse com-
monwealths, will much distract the certainty of this assertion.
For though there were a fatality in this year, yet divers
were, and others might be, out in their account, aberring
several ways from the true and just compute ; and calling
that one year which perhaps might be another.
For first, they might be out in the commencement or be-
ginning of their account ; for every man is many months elder
than he computeth. For although we begin the same from
1 not that any, §"c] This is true years after the reation, thereby justly
of all the patriarchs before the flood, reproaching the incont'mency of after
whose long life needed noe hastening ages, not only for their precipitation,
of progenye; the delay whereof might but the lustfull desire of change without
be a concurrent cause of their longas- sufficient cause, viz. the adultery of the
vitye. For doubtless such as was their wife, whose life being taking off by the
longocvitye, such in proportion wee must law, lefte the man free to marrye againe.
think their strengthe, and such the de- That therefore we read not of the anti-
grees by wbich they grew unto itt. To diluvian fathers begetting children before
the forbearance from manage we may 05 is true of all ; for Lamech begat not
add their detestation of polygamye, to Noah till his lS2nd yeare. But after
which doubtless our Saviour gives that the flood, to repeople the world, all the
testimony. — Matth. xx, S. From the patriarchs till Terah begat children before
beginninge itt was not soe, that is, no 35, which is but halfe of the former time
one of the patriarchs used polygamy till of 65 yearcs. — Wr.
Lamech, the 9th from Adam, almost 900
CHAP. XII.] AND COMMON ERRORS. 03
our nativity, and conceive that no arbitrary, but natural term
of compute, yet for the duration of life or existence, we are
liable in the womb unto the usual distinctions of time, and
are not to be exempted from the account of age and life,
where we are subject to diseases, and often suffer death.
And therefore Pythagoras, Hippocrates, Diodes, Avicenna,
and others, have set upon us numeral relations and temporal
considerations in the womb ; not only affirming the birth of
the seventh month to be vital, that of the eighth mortal, but
the progression thereto to be measured by rule, and to hold
a proportion unto motion and formation. As what receiveth
motion in the seventh, to be perfected in triplicities ; that is,
the time of conformation unto motion is double, and that
from motion unto the birth, treble ; so what is formed the
thirty-fifth day, is moved the seventieth, and born the two
hundred and tenth day. And therefore if any invisible cau-
sality there be, that after so many years doth evidence itself
at sixty-three, it will be questionable whether its activity only
set out at our nativity, and begin not rather in the womb,
wherein we place the like considerations. Which doth not
only entangle this assertion, but hath already embroiled the
endeavours of astrology in the erection of schemes, and the
judgment of death or diseases ; for being not incontrolably
determined at what time to begin, whether at conception,
animation, or exclusion, (it being indifferent unto the influ-
ence of heaven to begin at either,) they have invented another
way, that is, to begin ab hora qucsstionis, as Haly, Messahal-
lach, Ganivetus, and Guido Bonatus, have delivered.
Again, in regard of the measure of time by months and
years, there will be no small difficulty ; and if we shall strictly
consider it, many have been and still may be, mistaken. For
neither the motion of the moon, whereby months are comput-
ed, nor of the sun, whereby years are accounted, consisteth
of whole numbers, but admits of fractions and broken parts,
as we have already declared concerning the moon. That of
the sun consisteth of three hundred and sixty-five days, and
almost six hours, that is, wanting eleven minutes ; which six
hours, omitted, or not taken notice of, will, in process of time,
largely deprave the compute ; and this is the occasion of the
G4 ENQUIRIES INTO VULGAR [BOOK IV.
bissextile or leap-year, which was not observed in all times,
nor punctually in all commonwealths; so that in sixty-three
years there may be lost almost eighteen days, omitting the
intercalation of one day every fourth year, allowed for this
quadrant, or six hours supernumerary. And though the
same were observed, yet to speak strictly, a man may be
somewhat out in the account of his age at sixty-three ; for
although every fourth year we insert one day, and so fetch
up the quadrant, yet those eleven minutes whereby the year
comes short of perfect six hours will, in the circuit of those
years, arise unto certain hours, and in a larger progression of
time unto certain days. Whereof at present we find experi-
ence in the calendar we observe. For the Julian year of
three hundred and sixty-five days being eleven minutes larger
than the annual revolution of the sun, there will arise an an-
ticipation in the equinoxes ; and as Junctinus computeth,* "
in every 136th year they will anticipate almost one day. And
therefore those ancient men and Nestors of old times, which
yearly observed their nativities, might be mistaken in the day ;
nor is that to be construed without a grain of salt, which is
* Comment, in Sphmram Job. de Sacro Bosco.
2 as Junctinus computeth.'] See a short The following is the "discussion"
but an exact discussion of this in Calce at the end of the dean's copy, but it seems
Libri, and Junctinus his error. — Wr. more appropriate to place it here. — Ed.
C Maxima. . . . 365d. 5h. 56' 57" nunquam assurgit ad 57'.
Quantitas j Minima 365 5 44 38 nunquam deficit ad 44'.
anni 1 Media, sen / 3(J5 4Q 0 alii addunt 15' 46".
(_ communis y
Cum igitur annus Julianus supponatur, correcto kalendario ad Christum natum,
superaddere quotannis 10' 48", necesse sc. 44, fiunt anni 1696 : in quibus la-
est, ut quolibet bissexto, sequinoctia re- bemus quater 3 dies, et quae excurrunt
trocedant in diebus Julianis 43' et 12" 96 dierum minuta: sc. 17' et 26", Per
adeo ut in 134 annis, retrocedant 24h. utrumque calculum, si 33us quilibet bis-
6' 52" et in 1644 (post Christum) annis sextus abjiciatur, manebunt sequinoctia
12d. 7h. 52' 22". Ita a correcto kalen- in sedibus suis in futurum. Sed 12 dies
dario, (44 annis ante c. n.) ad annum qui ex eo excessu creverunt, optime et
presentem, 1652, retrocesserunt 1 2d. sine tumuitu eximentur e mensibus di-
17h. 1 3' 22''. Supine igitur numeravit erum (31) duplus annis sequentibns ;
author e Junctino : in annis 136, retro- sc. ex Martio, Maio, Julio, Augusto, Oc-
cedere sequinoctia, diem integrum fere, tobri ct Decembri ; et sic duae anni me-
cum p raster integrum diem, colligantur dictates facient paria fere. Nam com-
totidem annis lh. 26'' 24". Alphonsini munibus annis currunt ab sequinoctio
dicunt in 400 annis sequinoctia retroce- verno ad autumnale 186d. Sh. 8' ab
dere 3 dies fere, quod proxime accedit autumnali ad vernum, 178d. 21h. 47'.
ad priorem calculum, si num addas (ad — Wr.
annos Christi elapsos sc. 1652,) annus a
CHAP. XII.] AND COMMON ERRORS. OO
delivered by Moses:3 "At the end of lour hundred years,
even the self-same day, all the host of Israel went out of the
land of Egypt." For in that space of time the equinoxes
had anticipated, and the eleven minutes had amounted far
above a day. And this compute rightly considered will fall
fouler on them who cast up the lives of kingdoms, and sum
up their duration by particular numbers ; as Plato first began ,
and some have endeavoured since by perfect and spherical num-
bers, by the square and cube of seven, and nine, and twelve,
the great number of Plato. Wherein indeed Bodine * hath
attempted a particular enumeration ; but (beside the mistakes
committable in the solary compute of years,) the difference
of chronology disturbs the satisfaction and quiet of his com-
putes; some adding, others detracting, and few punctually
according in any one year; whereby indeed such accounts
should be made up, for the variation in an unit destroys the
total illation.
Thirdly, the compute may be unjust, not only in a strict
acception, of few days or hours, but in the latitude also of
some years ; and this may happen from the different com-
pute of years in divers nations, and even such as did main-
tain the most probable way of account : their year being not
only different from one another, but the civil and common ac-
count disagreeing much from the natural year, whereon the
consideration is founded. Thus from the testimony of Herod-
otus, Censorinus, and others, the Greeks observed the lunary
year, that is, twelve revolutions of the moon, 354 days ;
but the Egyptians, and many others, adhered unto the
solary account, that is, 365 days, that is, eleven days longer.
Now hereby the account of the one would very much exceed
the other : a man in the one would account himself sixty-
three, when one in the other would think himself but sixty-
* Matt. Histor.
3 which is delivered by Moses.~] Moses that yeare in their accompts : by which
accounted by the old ^Egyptian yeare, they measure the Julian yeares. Soe
wherein he was most skilfull : and the then, his mention of the Julian excesse
^Egyptian yeare was a yeare of days 0f 11 minutes yearlye is airgocthiovvGov.
without any intercalation. Soe that the For Moses did not use the Julian yeare,
head of the yeare was vagrant, but the which had its original from the ^Egyp-
accompt of dayes most exact, insomuch tjan veares 1454 yeares after — Wr.
that the best astronomers to this day use
VOL. III. F
66 ENQUIRIES INTO VULGAR [BOOK IV.
one ; and so, although their nativities were under the same
hour, yet did they at different years believe the verity of that
which both esteemed affixed and certain unto one. The
like mistake there is in a tradition of our days ; men con-
ceiving a peculiar danger in the beginning days of May, set
out as a fatal period unto consumptions and chronical dis-
eases ; wherein, notwithstanding, we compute by calendars
not only different from our ancestors but one another, the
compute of the one anticipating that of the other ; so that
while we are in April, others begin May, and the danger is
past unto one, while it beginneth with another.
Fourthly, men were not only out in the number of some
days, the latitude of a few years, but might be wide by
whole olympiads and divers decads of years. For as Cen-
sorinus relateth, the ancient Arcadians observed a year of
three months, the Carians of six, the Iberians of four ; and
as Diodorus and Xenophon de JEqidvocis allege, the
ancient Egyptians have used a year of three, two, and one
month : so that the climacterical was not only different unto
those nations, but unreasonably distant from ours ; for sixty-
three will pass in their account, before they arrive so high
as ten in ours.
Nor, if we survey the account of Rome itself, may we
doubt they were mistaken, and if they feared climacterical
years, might err in their numeration. For the civil year,
whereof the people took notice, did sometimes come short,
and sometimes exceed the natural. For according to Varro,
Suetonius, and Censorinus, their year consisted first of ten
months; which comprehend but 304 days, that is, sixty-one
less than ours containeth ; after by Numa or Tarquin, from
a superstitious conceit of imparity, were added fifty-one days,
which made 355, one day more than twelve revolutions of the
moon. And thus a long time it continued, the civil compute
exceeding the natural; the correction whereof, and the due
ordering of the leap-year was referred unto the Pontifices ;
who either upon favour or malice, that some might continue
their offices a longer or shorter time, or from the magnitude
of the year, that men might be advantaged, or endamaged in
their contracts, by arbitrary intercalations, depraved the
CHAP. XII.] AND COMMON ERRORS. 67
whole account. Of this abuse Cicero accused Verres, which
at last proceeded so far, that when Julius Caesar came unto
that office, before the redress hereof he was fain to insert
two intercalary months unto November and December, when
he had already inserted twenty-three days unto February ;
so that the year consisted of 445 days ; a quarter of a year
longer than that we observed ; and though at the last the
year was reformed, yet in the mean time they might be out
wherein they summed up climacterical observations.
Lastly, one way more there may be of mistake, and that
not unusual among us, grounded upon a double compute of
the year ; the one beginning from the 25th of March, the
other from the day of our birth, unto the same again, which
is the natural account. Now hereupon many men frequent-
ly miscast their days ; for in their age they deduce the ac-
count not from the day of their birth, but the year of our
Lord, wherein they were born. So a man that was born in
January, 1582, if he live to fall sick in the latter end of
March, 1645, will sum up his age, and say I am now sixty
three, and in my climacterical and dangerous year ; for I was
born in the year 1582, and now it is 1645, whereas indeed he
wanteth many months of that year, considering the true and
natural account unto his birth ; and accounteth two months
for a year : and though the length of time and accumulation
of years do render the mistake insensible ; yet is it all one,
as if one born in January, 1644, should be accounted a year
old the 25th of March, 1645.4
All which perpended, it may be easily perceived with what
insecurity of truth we adhere unto this opinion ; ascribing
not only effects depending on the natural period of time,
unto arbitary calculations, and such as vary at pleasure ; but
confirming our tenets by the uncertain account of others and
ourselves, there being no positive or indisputable ground
where to begin our compute. That if there were, men have
been several ways mistaken ; the best in some latitude, others
4 shall be accounted a year old, §•«.] does it sound, to assert that on the
Whereas, if born on the first of January, 24th of March, 1645, he would be a
1 644, he would be only 85 days old on year older than on the 25th March of
the 25th of March, that being the first the same year,
day of the year 1645 : still more strange
F 2
68 ENQUIRIES INTO VULGAR [BOOK IV.
in greater, according to the different compute of divers
states, the short and irreconcileable years of some, the ex-
ceeding error in the natural frame of others, and the lapses
and false deductions of ordinary accountants in most.
Which duly considered, together with a strict account and
critical examen of reason, will also distract the witty deter-
minations of astrology. That Saturn, the enemy of life,
comes almost every seventh year, unto the quadrate or
malevolent place ; that as the moon about every seventh day
arriveth unto a contrary sign, so Saturn, which remaineth
about as many years as the moon doth days in one sign, and
holdeth the same consideration in years as the moon in days,
doth cause these periculous periods. Which together with
other planets, and profection of the horoscope, unto the
seventh house, or opposite signs every seventh year, oppres-
seth living natures, and causeth observable mutations in the
state of sublunary things.
Further satisfaction may yet be had from the learned dis-
course of Salmasius * lately published, if any desire to be
informed how different the present observations are from
those of the ancients ; how every one hath different cli-
mactericals; with many other observables, impugning the
present opinion.5
* De Annis Climactericis.
5 which duly, 8fC.~\ The two conclu- opportunity to avail myself of them,
ding paragraphs were added in 2nd See Pluche i, 266. — Vid. J. F. Ringel-
edition. bergii Lucubrationes de Annis Climac-
I subjoin several references here trans- tericis, p. 548. — Concerning an " odd
cribed from a copy belonging to my late number," see Stopford's Pagana-Papis-
friend Rev. Jos. Jefferson ; which may be mus, p. 262. — Jeff.
useful to others, though I have not had
CHAP. XIII.] AND COMMON ERRORS. 69
CHAPTER XIII.
Of the Canicular or Dog-days.
Whereof to speak distinctly. — Among the southern con-
stellations, two there are which bear the name of the dog ;
the one in sixteen degrees of latitude, containing on the left
thigh a star of the first magnitude, usually called Procyon or
Anticanis, because say some it riseth before the other ; which
if truly understood, must be restrained unto those habita-
tions, who have elevation of pole above thirty-two degrees.
Mention thereof there is in Horace,* who seems to mistake
or confound the one with the other ; and after him in Galen,
who is willing the remarkablest star of the other should be
called by this name ; because it is the first that ariseth in the
constellation ; which notwithstanding, to speak strictly, it is
not ; unless we except one of the third magnitude in the
right paw, in his own and our elevation, and two more on his
head in and beyond the degree of sixty. A second and
more considerable one there is, and neighbour unto the
other, in forty degrees of latitude, containing eighteen stars,
whereof that in his mouth, of the first magnitude, the Greeks
call Ityoc,, the Latins canis major, and we emphatically the
dog-star.
Now from the rising of this star, not cosmically, that is,
with the sun, but heliacally, that is, its emersion from the
rays of the sun, the ancients computed their canicular days ;
concerning which, there generally passeth an opinion, that
during those days all medication or use of physick is to be
declined, and the cure committed unto nature. And there-
fore as though there were any feriation6 in nature or justi-
tinms7 imaginable in professions, whose subject is natural, and
* Jam Procyon fuerit et stella vesani Leonis.
6 feriation.~] Vacations. 7 justitiums.'} Probably, statute laws.
70 ENQUIRIES INTO VULGAR [BOOK IV.
under no intermissive, but constant way of mutation, this season
is commonly termed the physician's vacation, and stands so
received by most men. Which conceit, however general,
is not only erroneous but unnatural, and, subsisting upon
foundations either false, uncertain, mistaken, or misapplied,
deserves not of mankind that indubitable assent it findeth.8
For first, which seems to be the ground of this assertion,
and not to be drawn into question, that is, the magnified
quality of this star, conceived to cause or intend the heat of
this season, whereby these days become more observable
than the rest, we find that wiser antiquity was not of this
opinion. For, seventeen hundred years ago it was a vulgar er-
ror rejected by Geminus, a learned mathematician, in his ele-
ments of astronomy, wherein he plainly affirmeth, that com-
mon opinion made that a cause, which was at first observed
but as a sign ; the rising and setting both of this star and
others being observed by the ancients, to denote and testify
certain points of mutation, rather than conceived to induce
or effect the same. For our fore-fathers, saith he, observing
the course of the sun, and marking certain mutations to hap-
pen in his progress through particular parts of the zodiack,
they registered and set them down in their parapegmes, or
astronomical canons ; and being not able to design these
times by days, months, or years, (the compute thereof, and the
beginning of the year being different, according unto dif-
ferent nations,) they thought best to settle a general account
unto all, and to determine these alterations by some known
and invariable signs ; and such did they conceive the rising
and setting of the fixed stars ; not ascribing thereto any part
of causality, but notice and signification. And thus much
seems implied in that expression of Homer, when speaking
of the dog-star he concludeth, xanfo ds n <j%mj rsrw.rai, Malum
8 there generally passelh, «.yc] In the from the concluding paragraph of this
present day, it is difficult to believe that chapter. Nor is his estimate of the evil
so absurd a position could have obtained resulting from such a "vulgar error in
general credence, even among the igno- practice " less forcibly proved by the
rant, much more that it could have exer- pains, ingenuity, and labour, with which
cised any influence on medical science, he attacks it, and from the great length
Yet that Sir Thomas knew it to have to which his very judicious investigation
that influence in his day, is evident not of the subject is here carried,
only from the present, but especially
CHAP. XIII.] AND COMMON ERRORS. 71
autem signum est; the same, as Petavius observeth, is im-
plied in the word of Ptolemy, and the ancients, tfsg< siTKtripuii&Vi
that is, of the signification of stars. The term of Scripture
also favours it ; as that of Isaiah, Nolite timere a signis caeli
and that in Genesis, ut sint hi signa et tempora, let there be
lights in the firmament, and let them be for signs and
for seasons.
The primitive and leading magnifiers of this star were the
Egyptians, the great admirers of dogs in earth and heaven ;
wherein they worshipped Anubis or Mercurius, the scribe of
Saturn, and counsellor of Osyris, the great inventor of their
religious rites, and promoter of good unto Egypt, who was
therefore translated into this star ; by the Egyptians called
Sothis, and Siris by the Ethiopians, from whence that Sirius
or the dog-star had its name is by some conjectured.9
And this they looked upon, not with reference unto heat,
but celestial influence upon the faculties of man, in order to
religion and all sagacious invention, and from hence derived
the abundance and great fertility of Egypt, the overflow of
Nilus happening about the ascent hereof; and therefore, in
hieroglyphical monuments, Anubis is described with a dog's
head, with a crocodile between his legs, with a sphere in his
hand, with two stars, and a water-pot standing by him, im-
plying thereby the rising and setting of the dog-star, and the
inundation of the river Nilus.
But if all were silent, Galen hath explained this point unto
the life ; who expounding the reason why Hippocrates de-
clared the affections of the year by the rising and setting of
stars ; it was, saith he, because he would proceed on signs
and principles best known unto all nations ; and upon his
words in the first of the epidemicks, In Thaso autummo
circa equinoctium et sub virgilias pluvice erant multce, he
thus enlargeth. If, saith he, the same compute of times and
months were observed by all nations, Hippocrates had never
made any mention either of arcturus, pleiades, or the dog-
star, but would have plainly said, in Macedonia, in the month
9 The primitive, ^c] This paragraph paragraph was added in the 3rd edition,
was added in 2nd edition; the next
72 ENQUIRIES INTO VULGAR [BOOK IV.
Dion,1 thus or thus was the air disposed. But for as much as
the month Dion is only known unto the Macedonians, but ob-
scure unto the Athenians and other nations, he found more
general distinctions of time, and instead of naming months,
would usually say, at the equinox, the rising of the pleiades,
or the dog-star ; and by this way did the ancients divide the
seasons of the year, the autumn, winter, spring, and summer.
By the rising of the pleiades denoting the beginning of sum-
mer, and by that of the dog-star the declination thereof. By
this way Aristotle, through all his books of animals, dis-
tinguished their times of generation, latitancy, migration,
sanity, and venation ; and this were an allowable way of com-
pute, and still to be retained, were the site of the stars as
inalterable, and their ascents as invariable, as primitive as-
tronomy conceived them ; and therefore though Aristotle
frequently mentioneth this star, and particularly affirmeth
that fishes in the Bosphorus are best catched from the arise
of the dog-star, we must not conceive the same a mere effect
thereof; nor though Scaliger from hence be willing to infer
the efficacy of this star, are we induced hereto, except (be-
cause the same philosopher affirmeth, that tunny is fat about
the rising of the pleiades, and departs upon arcturns, or that
most insects are latent from the setting of the seven stars,)
except, I say, he give us also leave to infer that these par-
ticular effects and alterations proceed from those stars, which
were indeed but designations of such quarters and portions
of the year, wherein the same were observed. Now what
Pliny affirmeth of the orix, that it seemeth to adore this star,
and taketh notice thereof by voice and sternutation, until we
be better assured of its verity, we shall not salve the sympathy.
Secondly, what slender opinion the ancients held of the
efficacy of this star, is declarable from their compute ; for as
Geminus affirmeth, and Petavius, his learned commentator,
proveth, they began their account from its heliacal emersion,
and not its cosmical ascent. The cosmical ascension of a
star we term that, when it ariseth together with the sun, or
the same degree of the ecliptick wherein the sun abideth ;
i Dion.'] Id is Dius, tiol Dion — ,Wr.
CHAP. XIII.] AND COMMON ERRORS. 73
and that the heliacal, when a star which before for the vicinity
of the sun, was not visible, being further removed, beginneth
to appear. For the annual motion of the sun from west to
east being far swifter than that of the fixed stars, he must of
necessity leave them on the east while he hasteneth forward,
and obscureth others to the west, and so the moon which
performs its motion swifter than the sun, (as may be observed
in their conjunctions and eclipses,) gets eastward out of his
rays, and appears when the sun is set.2 If therefore the
dog-star had this effectual heat which is ascribed unto it, it
would afford best evidence thereof, and the season would be
most fervent, when it ariseth in the probablest place of its
activity, that is, the cosmical ascent ; for therein it ariseth
with the sun, and is included in the same irradiation. But
the time observed by the ancients was long after this ascent,
and in the heliacal emersion, when it becomes at greatest
distance from the sun, neither rising with it nor near it ; and
therefore had they conceived any more than a bare signality
in this star, or ascribed the heat of the season thereunto,
they would not have computed from its heliacal ascent,
which was of inferior efficacy ; nor imputed the vehemency of
heat unto those points wherein it was more remiss, and where
with less probability they might make out its action.
Thirdly, although we derive the authority of these days
from observations of the ancients, yet are our computes very
different, and such as confirm not each other. For whereas
they observed it heliacally, we seem to observe it CDsmically,
for before it ariseth heliacally unto our latitude, the summer
is even at an end. Again, we compute not only from different
ascents, but also from diverse stars ; they from the greater
dog-star, we from the lesser ; 3 they from Orion's, we from
2 the moon, 8;c.~] This is obscurely 3 the lesser, 8fC.~\ The observation of
sayde. Nor though the moon gets east- the dog-star's rising came from the
ward of the sonne, i. e. to speak pro- ./Egyptians at Alexandria, lying under
perly, appears on the east from the new .30 degrees, where when the sun comes
to the full, yet from the full to the new to the tropicks in the [....] degree of
shee appeares west of him, which is Cancer, both the dog-stars rise with hirr
nothing else but that going throughe the together, begin to increase the heate,
twelve times for his once, she must of which afterwards the sun coming towards
necessity seeme sometimes eastward of Leo doubles, soe that they esteeme not
him, and sometimes west, according to of that heate from the dog-star's rise
the diurnal motion. — Wr. alone, but from their conjoynt rising
74 ENQUIRIES INTO VULGAR [BOOK VI.
Cephalus's dog ; they from Sirius, we from Crocyon ; for
the beginning of the dog-days with us is set down the 19th
of July, about which time the lesser dog-star ariseth with the
sun, whereas the star of the greater dog ascendeth not until
after that month. And this mistake will yet be larger, if
the compute be made stricter, and as Dr. Bainbrigge, * late
professor of astronomy in Oxford, hath set it down, who in
the year 1629 computed, that in the horizon of Oxford, the
dog-star arose not before the fifteenth day of August, when
in our almanack accounts those days are almost ended. So
that the common and received time not answering the true
compute, it frustrates the observations of ourselves; and
being also different from the calculations of the ancients, their
observations confirm not ours, nor ours theirs, but rather
confute each other.
Nor will the computes of the ancients be so authentic unto
those who shall take notice how commonly they applied the
celestial descriptions of other climes unto their own, wherein
the learned Bainbrigius justly reprehendeth Manilius, who
transferred the Egyptian descriptions unto the Roman ac-
count, confounding the observation of the Greek and Bar-
barick spheres.4
Fourthly, (which is the argument of Geminus,) were there
any such effectual heat in this star, yet could it but weakly
evidence the same in summer, it being about 40 degrees
distance from the sun, and should rather manifest its warming
power in the winter, when it remains conjoined with the sun
in its hybernal conversion. For about the 29th of October,
and in the 16th of Scorpius, and so again in January, the
sun performs his revolution in the same parallel with the
dog-star. Again, if we should impute the heat of this season
unto the co-operation of any stars with the sun, it seems
more favourable for our times to ascribe the same unto the
* Bainb. Canicularis-
with the sun in Leo. But the principall rising of the dog-star. — Wr.
observation of the dog-star rising was 4 And this mistake, §c.~\ The con-
from the course of their yeare, which elusion of this paragraph, with the next,
they therefore cald "Ero$ zwikov, as were first added in 3rd edition,
beginning always from the first cosmical
CHAP. XIII.] AND COMMON ERRORS. 75
constellation of Leo. Where besides that the sun is in his
proper house, it is conjoined with many stars, whereof two
of the first magnitude, and in the 8th of August is corporally
conjoined with Basiliscus, a star of eminent name in astrology,
and seated almost in the ecliptick.
Fifthly, if all were granted, that observation and reason
were also for it, and were it an undeniable truth that an
effectual fervour proceedeth from this star, yet would not
the same determine the opinion now in question, it necessarily
suffering such restrictions as to take off general illations.
For first, in regard of different latitudes, unto some the cani-
cular days are in the winter ; as unto such as have no latitude,
but live in a right sphere, that is, under the equinoctial line,
for unto them it ariseth when the sun is about the tropick of
Cancer, which season unto them is winter,5 and the sun re-
motest from them. Nor hath the same position in the sum-
mer, that is, in the equinoctial points, any advantage from it,
for in the one point the sun is at the meridian before the
dog-star ariseth; in the other the star is at the meridian
before the sun ascendeth.
Some latitudes have no canicular days at all ; as namely
all those which have more than seventy-three degrees of
northern elevation ; as the territory of Nova Zembla, part of
Greenland, and Tartary, for unto that habitation the dog-star
is invisible, and appeareth not above the horizon.
Unto such latitudes wherein it ariseth, it carrieth a various
and very different respect: unto some it ascendeth when
summer is over, whether we compute heliacally or cosmically ;
for, though unto Alexandria it ariseth in Cancer, yet it ariseth
not unto Biarmia cosmically before it be in Virgo, and heli-
acally about the autumnal equinox. Even unto the latitude
of fifty-two, the efficacy thereof is not much considerable, whe-
ther we consider its ascent, meridian altitude, or abode above
the horizon. For it ariseth very late in the year, about the
eighteenth of Leo, that is, the 31st of July. Of meridian
5 winter.'] They have two winters, ters the midst of Yf, and by his eccen-
viz. when the sonne is in either tropick, tricity is nearer to the earth there then
in which respect yf there be any difference when he is in Cancer. — Wr.
in the temper, itt is when the sonne en-
76 ENQUIRIES INTO VULGAR [BOOK IV.
altitude it hath but 23 degrees, so that it plays but obliquely
upon us, and as the sun doth about the 23rd of January.
And lastly, his abode above the horizon is not great ; for in
the eighteenth of Leo, the 31st of July, although they arise
together, yet doth it set above five hours before the sun, that
is, before two o'clock, after which time we are more sensible
of heat than all the day before.
Secondly, in regard of the variation of the longitude of the
stars, we are to consider (what the ancients observed not,)
that the site of the fixed stars is alterable, and that since
elder times they have suffered a large and considerable vari-
ation of their longitudes. The longitude of a star,6 to speak
plainly, is its distance from the first point of numeration to-
ward the east ; which first point unto the ancients was the
vernal equinox. Now by reason of their motion from west
to east, they have very much varied from this point. The
first star of Aries, in the time of Meton, the Athenian, was
placed in the very intersection, which is now elongated and
removed eastward twenty-eight degrees ; insomuch that now
the sign of Aries possesseth the place of Taurus, and Taurus
that of Gemini. Which variation of longitude must very
much distract the opinion of the dog-star ;6 not only in oui*
days, but in times before and after ; for since the world be-
gan it hath arisen in Taurus, and if the world last, may have
its ascent in Virgo ; so that we must place the canicular
days, that is, the hottest time of the year in the spring in the
first age, and in the autumn in ages to come.
Thirdly, the stars have not only varied their longitudes,
whereby their ascents have altered, but have also changed
their declinations, whereby their rising at all, that is their
appearing, hath varied. The declination of a star we call its
distance from the equator.7 Now though the poles of the
world and the equator be immoveable, yet because the stars in
their proper motions from west to east do move upon the
6 of the dog-star."] Not only of the confounded, and condemned of late by
dogg-star, but of all the imaginary houses all the learned astronomers : Tycho, plu-
of ,the astrologers, and consequently all ries ; Kepler, expresly in Comeioe anni
that heathenish structure of the fortitude, 1618 ; and Longomontany ubique. — Wr.
detriments, aspects, triciplicityes, and 7 equatnr.~\ Equinoctial,
such ridiculous stuff, utterly dasht, and
CHAP. XIII.] AND COMMON ERRORS. 77
poles of the ecliptick, distant twenty-three degrees and an
half from the poles of the equator, and describe circles paral-
lel not unto the equator, but the ecliptick ; they must be,
therefore, sometimes nearer, sometimes removed further from
the equator. All stars that have their distance from the
ecliptick northward not more than twenty-three degrees and
an half (which is the greatest distance of the ecliptic from the
equator) may in progression of time have declination south-
ward, and move beyond the equator ; but if any star hath
just this distance of twenty-three and an half (as hath Ca-
pella on the back of Ericthonius) it may hereafter move un-
der the equinoctial ; and the same will happen respectively
unto stars which have declination'southward. And therefore
many stars may be visible in our hemisphere which are not so
at present ; and many which are at present, shall take leave
of our horizon, and appear unto southern habitations. And
therefore the time may come that the dog-star may not be
visible in our horizon, and the time hath been when it hath
not shewed itself unto our neighbour latitudes. So that
canicular days there have been none, nor shall be ; yet cer-
tainly in all times some season of the year more notably hot
than other.
Lastly, we multiply causes in vain ; and for the reason
hereof we need not have recourse unto any star but the sun,
and continuity of its action. For the sun ascending into the
northern signs, begetteth first a temperate heat in the air ;
which by his approach unto the solstice he intendeth, and by
continuation increaseth the same even upon declination. For
running over 8 the same degrees again, that is, in Leo, which
he hath done in Taurus, in July which he did in May ; he
augmenteth the heat in the latter which he began in the first ;
and easily intendeth the same by continuation which was
well promoted before. So is it observed, that they which
dwell between the tropicks and the equator have their se-
cond summer hotter and more maturative of fruits than the
former.
8 For running oyer.] In those four they have a continual summer, hottest in
signes, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Leo, extremis Wr.
78 ENQUIRIES INTO VULGAR [BOOK IV.
So we observe in the day,9 (which is a short year,1) the great-
est heat about two in the afternoon, when the sun is past the
meridian, (which is his diurnal solstice,) and the same is evi-
dent from the thermometer or observations of the weather-
glass. So are the colds of the night sharper in the summer
about two or three after midnight, and the frosts in winter
stronger about those hours. So likewise in the year we
observe the cold to augment, when the days begin to increase,
though the sun be then ascensive and returning from the
winter tropick. And therefore if we rest not in this reason for
the heat in the declining part of summer, we must discover
freezing stars that may resolve the latter colds of winter ;
which whoever desires to invent, let him study the stars of
Andromeda, or the nearer constellation of Pegasus, which
are about that time ascendant.
It cannot therefore seem strange, or savour of singularity,
that we have examined this point, since the same hath been
already denied by some ; since the authority and observations
of the ancients, rightly understood, do not confirm it ; since
our present computes are different from those of the ancients,
whereon notwithstanding they depend ; since there is reason
against it, and if all were granted, yet must it be maintained
with manifold restraints, far otherwise than is received. And
lastly, since from plain and natural principles the doubt may
be fairly salved, and not clapt up from petitionary founda-
tions and principles unestablished.
But that which chiefly promoted the consideration of these
days, and medically advanced the same, was the doctrine of
Hippocrates, a physician of such repute that he received a
testimony from a Christian that might have been given unto
9 dayJ] Every day is an emblem of grees north or south : bycause with them
the yeare ; and therein the sun hath his sommer is twice doubled in 3 months ;
declination, or distance from the meridi- having the sona twice over their heads
an, as from the aequalor, his solstice in in that space: whereas they under the
itt, as in the tropicks; and his different sequator have him twice, but in 6 months
altitudes or azimuths every moment. — distance, and 2 winters between. For
Wr. the distance of the son from the center in
1 short year.] 'T is seemingly strange, his auge at summer is 1210 semidiame-
but most true, that they who lye be- ters of the earth: but his nearest dis-
tweene the a:quator and the tropic, have tance is never above 1122, every semi-
a hotter summer than they that lye un- diameter containing 7159j of our miles,
der the sequator; suppose under 12 de- — Wr.
CHAP. XIII.] AND COMMON ERRORS. 79
Christ.* The first in his book, De aere, aquis, et locis, syde-
rum ortu, 8fc. That is, we are to observe the rising of stars,
especially the dog-star, arcturus, and the setting of the
pleiades, or seven stars. From whence notwithstanding we
cannot infer the general efficacy of these stars, or co-efficacy
particular in medications. Probably expressing no more
hereby than if he should have plainly said, especial notice we
are to take of the hottest time in summer, of the beginning of
autumn and winter; for by the rising and setting of those
stars were these times and seasons defined. And therefore
subjoins this reason, quoniam his temporibus morbi Jiniuntur,
because at these times diseases have their ends, as physicians
well know, and he elsewhere afnrmeth, that seasons determine
diseases, beginning in their contraries; as the spring the dis-
eases of autumn, and the summer those of winter. Now
(what is very remarkable) whereas in the same place he ad-
viseth to observe the times of notable mutations, as the equi-
noxes and the solstices, and to decline medication ten days
before and after ; how precisely soever canicular cautions be
considered, this is not observed by physicians, nor taken
notice of by the people. And indeed should we blindly obey
the restraints both of physicians and astrologers, we should
contract the liberty of our prescriptions, and confine the
utility of physic unto a very few days. For, observing the
dog-days, and as is expressed, some days before, likewise ten
days before, and after the equinoctial and solstitial points,
by this observation alone are exempted an hundred days.
Whereunto if we add the two Egyptian days in every month,2
the interlunary and plenilunary exemptions, the eclipses of
sun and moon, conjunctions and oppositions plane tical, the
houses of planets, and the site of the luminaries under the
signs, (wherein some would induce a restraint of purgation or
phlebotomy,) there would arise above an hundred more ; so
that of the whole year the use of physic would not be secure
much above a quarter. Now as we do not strictly observe these
days, so need we not the other;3 and although consideration
* Qui nee fallere potest vec falli.
2 the two ^Egyptian days, <^c] Futi- 3 other,~\ i. e. canicular,
tissimae observationes. — Wr.
80 ENQUIRIES INTO VULGAR [BOOK IV.
be made hereof, yet must we prefer the nearer indication be-
fore those which are drawn from the time of the year, or
other celestial relations.
The second testimony is taken out of the last piece of his
age, and after the experience4 (as some think) of no less than an
hundred years, that is, his Book of Aphorisms, or short and
definitive determinations in physick. The Aphorism alleged
is this, Sub Cane et ante Canem difficiles sunt purgationes.
Sub Cane et Anticane, say some, including both the dog-
stars, but that cannot consist with the Greek, airb x,vm -/.a) angi
xuing, nor had that criticism been ever omitted by Galen.
Now how true this sentence was in the mouth of Hippocrates,
and with what restraint it must be understood by us, will
readily appear from the difference between us both in cir-
cumstantial relations.
And first, concerning his time and chronology ; he lived in
the reign of Artaxerxes Longimanus, about the 82nd olym-
piad, 450 years before Christ, and from our times above two
thousand. Now since that time, as we have already declared,
the stars have varied their longitudes, and having made
large progressions from west to east, the time of the dog-
star's ascent must also very much alter ; for it ariseth later
now in the year than it formerly did in the same latitude, and
far later unto us who have a greater elevation, for in the days
of Hippocrates this star ascended in Cancer, which now ari-
seth in Leo, and will in progression of time arise in Virgo ;
and therefore, in regard of the time wherein he lived, the
aphorism was more considerable in his days than in ours,
and in times far past than present, and in his country than
ours.
The place of his nativity was Coos, an island in the Myrtoan
sea, not far from Rhodes, described in maps by the name of
Lango, and called by the Turks, who are masters thereof,
Stancora, according unto Ptolemy, of northern latitude, 36
degrees. That he lived and writ in these parts is not impro-
bably collected from the epistles that passed betwixt him and
Artaxerxes, as also between the citizens of Abdera and Coos,
* experience.^ Experience of 100 yeares infers lie lived at least 120 in all. — Wr.
CHAP. XIII.] AND COMMON ERRORS. SI
in the behalf of Democritus ; which place being seated,
from our latitude of 52, 16 degrees southward, there will
arise a different consideration, and we may much deceive
ourselves, if we conform the ascent of stars in one place unto
another, or conceive they arise the same day of the month in
Coos and in England ; for, as Petavius computes, in the first
Julian year, at Alexandria, of latitude 31, the star arose cos-
mically in the twelfth degree of Cancer, heliacally the 26th ;
by the compute of Geminus, about this time at Rhodes, of
latitude 37, it ascended cosmically the 16tli of Cancer, helia-
cally the first of Leo ; and about that time at Rome, of lati-
tude 42, cosmically the 22nd of Cancer, and heliacally the
first of Leo ; for unto places of greater latitude it ariseth ever
later, so that in some latitudes the cosmical ascent happeneth
not before the twentieth degree of Virgo, ten days before the
autumnal equinox, and if they compute heliacally, after it in
Libra.
Again, should we allow all, and only compute unto the
latitude of Coos, yet would it not impose a total omission of
physick : for if in the hottest season of that clime, all physick
were to be declined, then surely in many other none were to
be used at any time whatsoever ; for unto many parts, not
only in the spring and autumn, but also in the winter, the sun
is nearer than unto the clime of Coos in the summer.
The third consideration concerneth purging medicines,
which are at present far different from those implied in this
aphorism, and such as were commonly used by Hippocrates.
For three degrees we make of purgative medicines ; the first
thereof is very benign, not far removed from the nature of
aliment, into which, upon defect of working, it is ofttimes
converted, and in this form do we account manna, cassia,
tamarinds, and many more, whereof we find no mention in
Hippocrates. The second is also gentle, having a familiarity
with some humour, into which it is but converted if it fail of
its operation ; of this sort are aloe, rhubarb, senna, &c.
whereof also few or none were known unto Hippocrates.
The third is of a violent and venomous quality, which, frus-
trate, of its action, assumes as it were the nature of poison,
such as scammoneum, colocynlhis-, elaterium, euphorbium,
vol III. G
82 ENQUIRIES INTO VULGAR [BOOK IV.
tithymallus, laureola, peplum, &c. Of this sort Hippocrates
made use even in fevers, pleurisies, and quinsies ; and that
composition is very remarkable which is ascribed unto Dio-
genes in iEtius, * that is, of pepper, sal-ammoniac, euphor-
bium, of each an ounce, the doses whereof four scruples and
an half, which whosoever should take, would find in his
bowels more than a canicular 5 heat, though in the depth
of winter. Many of the like nature may be observed in
.^Etius, or in the book De Dinamidiis, ascribed unto Galen,
which is the same verbatim with the other.
Now in regard of the second, and especially the first de-
gree of purgatives, the aphorism6 is not of force, but we
may safely use them, they being benign and of innoxious
qualities; and therefore Lucas Gauricus, who hath endea-
voured with many testimonies to advance this consideration
at length concedeth that lenitive physick may be used, espe-
cially when the moon is well affected in Cancer, or in the
watery signs. But in regard of the third degree, the apho-
rism is considerable ; purgations may be dangerous, and a
memorable example there is in the medical epistles of Crucius,
of a Roman prince that died upon an ounce of diaphcenicon
taken in this season ; from the use whereof we refrain not
only in hot seasons, but warily exhibit it at all times in hot
diseases; which when necessity requires, we can perform
more safely than the ancients, as having better ways ofpre-
* Tetrab. lib. i. Serm. 3.
s canicular.~\ Such as is the heate of that rule, for that noe wise man will defer
the dog-dayes in the hottest countreyes, the physick till the dog-dayes, having
where the dog-star sheweth his force fitter times in the spring, and the fall,
most. — Wr. wherein to take such physick with greater
6 aphorisin.~\ Aphorisme is a general advantage. Second, that the heate of the
rule grounded upon reason, ratified by dog-dayes in our clymates is not soe
experience ; but in this place he gives greate as that of the torrid zone in their
this name to that received opinion, that spring. Third, that in chronical diseases
during the dog-dayes all physicke is to be physick may safely bee deferred till those
declined; not bycause itt was grounded dayes bee over. Fourth, that the strength
upon truthe, but bycause itt was generally of the aphorisme is grounded cheefly upon
supposed to bee soe ; the ground whereof a point of wisdom; that itt must needs
relating to those countreyes onlye which bee dangerous to adde fire to fire, i. e.
lye under the torrid zone, bee refutes in when the bodye is overheated in the
this chapter most judiciouslye, and de- dog-dayes to adde the heat and acrimony
termines the state of the question most of purging medicines, but yet where the
excellentlye in the two following periods case is desperate, as in sharpe fits, wis-
in four propositions or conclusions. First, dom must give way to necessity ; belter
that in preventinge there is no use of purge than dye. — Wr.
CHAP. XIII.] AND COMMON ERRORS. 83
paration and correction, that is, not only by addition of other
bodies, but separation of noxious parts from their own.
But besides these differences between Hippocrates and us,
the physicians of these times and those of antiquity, the con-
dition of the disease and the intention of the physician hold
a main consideration in what time and place soever. For
physick is either curative or preventive ; preventive we call
that which by purging noxious humors, and the causes of
diseases, preventeth sickness in the healthy, or the recourse7
thereof in the valetudinary ; this is of common use at the
spring and fall, and we commend not the same at this sea-
son.8 Therapeutick or curative physick we term that which
restoreth the patient unto sanity, and taketh away diseases
actually affecting. Now of diseases some are chronical and
of long duration, as quartan agues, scurvy, &c. wherein, be-
cause they admit of delay, we defer the cure to more advan-
tageous seasons ; others we term acute, that is, of short dura-
tion and danger, as fevers, pleurisies, &c. in which, because
delay is dangerous, and they arise unto their state before the
dog-days determine, we apply present remedies according
unto indications, respecting rather the acuteness 9 of the
disease, and precipitancy x of occasion, than the rising or
setting of the stars, the effects of the one being disputable,
of the other assured and inevitable.
And although astrology may here put in, and plead the
secret influence of this star ; yet Galen in his comment makes
no such consideration, confirming the truth of the aphorism
from the heat of the year, and the operation of medicines
exhibited. In regard that bodies, being heated by the sum-
mer, cannot so well endure the acrimony of purging medicines
and because upon purgations contrary motions ensue, the
heat of the air attracting the humours outward, and the
action of the medicine retracting the same inwai'd. But these
7 recourse.'] Recurrence. headlong, hence itt signifies the soden
8 at this season.'] That is during the passings of occasions in diseases, which
dog days. — Wr. once let passe can never be redeemed,
9 acuteness.] i. e. the sharp and fierce and by those means endanger the life of
condition of the disease, admitting noede- the patient, by suffering the disease
lay of any requisite helpe in physic. — Wr. (which might have been timely pre-
1 precipitancy.] Precipitancy is pro- vented) to get such a masterye as noe
perly the swift motion of a man falling physick can quell. — Wr.
G 2
84 ENQUIRIES INTO VULGAR [BOOK IV.
are readily salved in the distinctions before alleged, and
particularly in the constitution of our climate and divers
others, wherein the air makes no such exhaustion of spirits,
and in the benignity of our medicines, whereof some in their
own nature, others well prepared, agitate not the humours,
nor make a sensible perturbation.
Nor do we hereby reject or condemn a sober and regulated
astrology ; we hold there is more truth therein, than in as-
trologers ; in some more than many allow, yet in none so much
as some pretend. We deny not the influence of the stars,
but often suspect the due application thereof; for though we
should affirm, that all things were in all things, that heaven
were but earth celestified, and earth but heaven terrestrified,
or that each part above had an influence upon its divided
affinity below ; yet how to single out these relations,* and
duly to apply their actions, is a work ofttimes to be effect-
ed by some revelation, and Cabala from above, rather than
any philosophy, or speculation here below. What power
soever they have upon our bodies, it is not requisite they
should destroy our reasons, that is, to make us rely on the
strength of nature, when she is least able to relieve us ; and
when we conceive the heaven against us, to refuse the as-
sistance of the earth created for us. This were to suffer
from the mouth of the dog above, what others do from the
teeth of the dogs below ; that is, to be afraid of their proper
remedy, and refuse to approach any water,2 though that
hath often proved a cure unto their disease.3 There is in
* Hie labor, hoc opus est.
2 refuse to approach any ivater,~\ The standers, she found herself capable of
horror of water in this disease, though a looking at the water, and even of drink-
very general, is not an invariable symp- ing it without choaking." — Good's Study
torn, even in the human subject. of Medicine, iii, 362.
3 hath often proved a cure, §c.~\ "Mo- Dr. Good enumerates a variety of
rin relates the case of a young woman, modes of treatment which have been
twenty years old, who, labouring under adopted, and medicines which have been
symptoms of hydrophobia, was plunged prescribed, with most uncertain and only
into a tub of water with a bushel of salt occasional success.
dissolved in it, and was harassed with An American plant (Scutellaria late-
repeated dippings till she became insen- riflora, or Virginian skullcap,) has been
sible and was at the point of death, when used with great success by several Ameri-
she was still left in the tub sitting against can practitioners : and so powerful has
its sides. In this state, we are told, she been its influence, that it has been made
was at length fortunate enough to recover the subject of a separate publication by
her senses : when, much to her own as- Dr. Spalding, of New York, in 1819.
tonishment, as well as that of the by- It appears to have been discovered by a
CHAP. XIII.] AND COMMON ERRORS. 85
wise men a power beyond the stars ; and Ptolemy encourag-
eth us, that by foreknowledge we may evade their actions ;
for, being but universal causes, they are determined by par-
ticular agents ; which being inclined not constrained, con-
tain within themselves the casting act, and a power to
command the conclusion.
Lastly, if all be conceded, and were there in this aphor-
ism an unrestrained truth, yet were it not reasonable from a
caution to infer a non-usance or abolition, from a thing to be
used with discretion, not to be used at all. Because the
apostle bids us beware of philosophy, heads of extremity
will have none at all ; an usual fallacy in vulgar and less dis-
tinctive brains, who having once overshot the mean, run
violently on, and find no rest but in the extremes.4
Now hereon we have the longer insisted, because the error
is material, and concerns ofttimes the life of man ; an error,
to be taken notice of by state, and provided against by
princes who are of the opinion of Solomon, that their riches
consist in the multitude of their subjects. An error worse
than some reputed heresies ; and of greater danger to the
body, than they unto the soul ; which whosoever is able to
reclaim, he shall save more in one summer, than Themison*
destroyed in any autumn ; he shall introduce a new way of
cure, preserving by theory, as well as practice, and men not
only from death, but from destroying themselves.
* A physician. Quot Themison cegros autumno occiderit uno.— Juvenal.
Dr. Lawrence Van Derveer, of New in each of these cases the quantity of the
Jersey, who used it successfully in hy- plant actually taken had been very in-
drophobia, as early as 1773. From him considerable. It had also been given to
the remedy was communicated through more than 1,100 animals under similar
his son to other practitioners : and was circumstances, and with nearly equal
very extensively used at the date of Dr. success.
Spalding's pamphlet. It is taken in a 4 extremes.'] This censure fitlye
decoction of the dried plant ; a tea-spoon- reaches all clymats of the worlde and all
ful and an half to a quart of boiling times for a prudent caution. For as in
water : — the patient taking half-a-pint of the state of corrupted nature, this fallacy
this infusion, morning and night. is (more then epidemical, that is) uni-
Dr. S. states that the Scutellaria has versall : soe (to the comforte of the
been given to more than 850 persons worlde) being once swalowed, and put
bitten by animals believed to be rabid, in practise, itt never failes to pay the
and that in only three instances had practisers in fine with their owne coigne,
hydrophobic symptoms supervened, and viz. destruction and ruin. — Wr.
THE FIFTH BOOK.
THE PARTICULAR PART CONTINUED.
OF MANY THINGS QUESTIONABLE AS THEY ARE COMMONLY DESCRIBED
IN PICTURES ; OF MANY POPULAR CUSTOMS, &c.
CHAPTER I.
Of the Picture of the Pelican.
And first, in every place we meet with the picture of the
pelican, opening her breast with her bill, and feeding her
young ones with the blood distilled from her. Thus is it set
forth not only in common signs, but in the crest and scutcheon
of many noble families ; hath been asserted by many holy
writers, and was an hieroglyphick of piety and pity among
the Egyptians ; on which consideration they spared them at
their tables.5
Notwithstanding, upon inquiry we find no mention hereof
in ancient zoographers, and such as have particularly dis-
5 And first, ^c] These singular birds As to its hieroglypliical import, Hora-
are said to fish in companies; they form polio says that it was used among the
a circle on the water, and having by the Egyptians as an emblem of folly ; on
flapping of their huge wings, driven the account of the little care it takes to de-
terrified fish towards the centre, they posit its eggs in a safe place. He relates
suddenly dive all at once as by consent, that it buries them in a hole ; that the
and soon fill their immense pouches with natives, observing the place, cover it with
their prey. In order subsequently to dry cow's dung, to which they set fire,
disgorge the contents, in feeding their The old birds immediately endeavouring
young, they have only to press the to extinguish the fire with their wings,
pouch on their breast. This operation get them burnt and so are easily caught.
may very probably have given rise to — Horap. Hlerogl. cura Pauw, 4to. Traj.
the fable, that the pelican opens ber ad Rh. 1727, pp. 67, 68.
breast to nourish her young.
88 ENQUIRIES INTO VULGAR [dOOK V
coursed upon animals, as Aristotle, /Elian, Pliny, Solinus,
and many more ; who seldom forget proprieties of such a
nature, and have been very punctual in less considerable re-
cords. Some ground hereof I confess we may allow, nor
need we deny a remarkable affection in pelicans toward their
young; for ./Elian discoursing of storks, and their affection
toward their brood, whom they instruct to fly, and unto
whom they redeliver up the provision of their bellies, con-
cludeth at last, that herons and pelicans do the like.
As for the testimonies of ancient fathers, and ecclesiastical
writers, we may more safely conceive therein some emblema-
tical, than any real, story : so doth Eucherius confess it to be
the emblem of Christ. And we are unwilling literally to
receive that account of Jerom, that perceiving her young
ones destroyed by serpents, she openeth her side with her
bill, by the blood whereof they revive and return unto life
again. By which relation they might indeed illustrate the
destruction of man by the old serpent, and his restorement
by the blood of Christ : and in this sense we shall not dis-
pute the like relations of Austin, Isidore, Albertus, and many
more ; and under an emblematical intention, we accept it in
coat-armour.
As for the hieroglyphick of the Egyptians, they erected the
same upon another consideration, which was parental affec-
tion ; manifested in the protection of her young ones, when
her nest was set on fire. For as for letting out her blood, it
was not the assertion of the Egyptians, but seems translated
unto the pelican from the vulture, as Pierius hath plainly
delivered. Sed quod pelicanum (ut etiam aliis plerisque per-
suasum est) rostro pectus dissecantem pingunt, ita ut suo
sanguine jilios alat, ah JEgyptiorum historia valde alienum
est, illi enim vulturem tantum idfacere tradlderunt.
And lastly, as concerning the picture, if naturally examined,
and not hieroglyphically conceived, it containeth many im-
proprieties, disagreeing almost in all things from the true and
proper description. For, whereas it is commonly set forth
green or yellow, in its proper colour it is inclining to white,
excepting the extremities or tops of the wing feathers, which
are brown. It is described in the bigness of a hen, whereas
CHAP. I.] AND COMMON ERRORS. 89
it approacheth and sometimes exceedeth the magnitude of a
swan,6 It is commonly painted with a short bill ; whereas
that of the pelican7 attaineth sometimes the length of two
spans. The bill is made acute or pointed at the end, whereas
it is flat and broad,8 though somewhat inverted at the ex-
treme. It is described like Jissipedes, or birds which have
their feet or claws divided : whereas it is palmipedous, or fin-
footed, like swans and geese, according to the method of
nature, in latirostrous or flat-billed birds, which being gene-
rally swimmers, the organ is wisely contrived unto the action,
and they are framed with fins or oars upon their feet, and
therefore they neither light, nor build on trees, if we except
cormorants, who make their nests like herons. Lastly, there
is one part omitted more remarkable than any other ; that is,
the chowle or crop adhering unto the lower side of the bill,
and so descending by the throat : a bag or satchel very ob-
servable, and of a capacity almost beyond credit; which, not-
withstanding, this animal could not want ; for therein it
receiveth oysters, cockles, scollops, and other testaceous
animals, which being not able to break, it retains them until
they open, and vomiting them up, takes out the meat con-
tained. This is that part preserved for a rarity, and wherein
(as Sanctius delivers) in one dissected, a negro child was
found.
A possibility there may be of opening and bleeding their
breast, for this may be done by the uncous and pointed ex-
tremity of their bill; and some probability also that they
sometimes do it for their own relief, though not for their
young ones ; that is, by nibbling and biting themselves on
their itching part of their breast, upon fulness or acrimony of
G whereas it approacheth, fyc] This from whence (doubtles) the author mak-
bird, says Buffon, would be the largest of eth this relation iS, avro-^iq.— Wr.
water-birds, were not the body of the * fiat and broad'] From hence itt is
albatross more thick, and the legs of the that many ancients call this bird the
flamingo so much longer. It is some- snove]ler: and the Greeks derive «reXs.
times six feet long from point of bill to , „ . , . ,
end of tail, and twelve feet from wing- *"» frora «**¥»» t0 ™°™das with an
tin to wing-tip. axe' which suites with the shape of his
7 that of the pelican.-] This descrip- }>eake in lenSth andbreadthe like a root-
tion of the authors agrees (per omnia) lnS axe> Per omnia. Wr.
with that live pellican, which was to bee But the term shoveller is now applied
seen in King Street, Westminster, 1647, t0 a sPecies of duck ; mms cJyPmta"
90 ENQUIRIES INTO VULGAR [BOOK V.
blood. And the same may be better made out, if (as some
relate) their feathers on that part are sometimes observed to
be red and tinctured with blood.9
CHAPTER II.
Of the Picture of Dolphins.
That dolphins are crooked, is not only affirmed by the hand
of the painter, but commonly conceived their natural and
proper figure, which is not only the opinion of our times, but
seems the belief of elder times before us. For, beside the
expressions of Ovid and Pliny, the portraits in some an-
cient coins are framed in this figure, as will appear in some
thereof in Gesner, others in Goltsius, and Laevinus Hulsius
in his description of coins from Julius Caesar unto Rodolphus
the second.
Notwithstanding, to speak strictly, in their natural figure
they are straight, nor have their spine convexed, or more
considerably embowed, than sharks, porpoises,1 whales, and
other cetaceous animals, as Scaliger plainly affirmeth ; Corpus
habet non magis curvum quam reliqui pisces. As ocular en-
quiry informeth ; and as, unto such as have not had the
opportunity to behold them, their proper portraits will dis-
9 A possibility, fyc.~] This paragraph ed by the dean, is probably the common
was first added in Cth edition, dolphin, — Dclphinus Delphis; but the
1 porpoises.'] Ileade porkpisces. The porpoise is a different animal, Delphis
porkpisce (that is the dolphin) hath his Phocesna, now constituted a distinct ge-
name from the hog hee resembles in con- nus. Ray, however, says, that the por-
vexity and curvitye of his backe, from the poise is the dolphin of the ancients. The
head to the tayle : nor is hee otherwise following passage from his Philosophical
curbe, then as a hog is : except that be- Letters, p. 46, corroborates the dean's
fore a storme, hee tumbles just as a hog proposed etymology. It occurs in a
runs. That which I once saw, cutt up letter to Dr. Martin Lister, May 7, 1669.
in Fish street, was of this forme and " Totam corpus copiosa et densa pingue-
above five foote longe : his skin notskaly, dine, (piscatores blubber vocant) duorum
but smoothe and black, like bacon in the plus minus digitorum crassitie undique
chimney ; and his bowels in all points integebatur, immediate sub cute, et su-
like a hog : and yf instead of his four pra carnem musculosam sita, ut in por-
fins you imagine four feete, hee would cis ; ob quam rationem, et quod porcorum
represent a black hog (ast it were) sweal'd grunnitum quadantcnus imitetur, por-
alive. — Wr. pesse, — i.e. porcum piscem, dictum eum
This creature, so graphically describ- existimo."
CHAP. II.] AND COMMON ERRORS. 91
cover in Rondeletius, Gesner, and Aldrovandus. And as
indeed is deducible from pictures themselves; for though
they be drawn repandous, or convexedly crooked in one
piece, yet the dolphin that carrieth Arion 2 is concavously in-
verted, and hath its spine depressed in another. And an-
■swerably hereunto may we behold them differently bowed in
medals, and the dolphins of Tarus and Fulius do make
another flexure from that of Commodus and Agrippa.3
And therefore what is delivered of their incurvity, must
either be taken emphatically, that is, not realiy, but in ap-
pearance ; which happeneth when they leap above water and
suddenly shoot down again : which is a fallacy in vision,
whereby straight bodies in a sudden motion protruded ob-
liquely downward, appear unto the eye crooked ; and this is
the construction of Bellonius : or, if it be taken really, it
must not universally and perpetually ; that is, not when they
swim and remain in their proper figures, but only when they
leap, or impetuously whirl their bodies any way ; and this is
the opinion of Gesnerus. Or lastly, it may be taken neither
really nor emphatically, but only emblematically ; for being
the hieroglyphick of celerity,4 and swifter than other animals,
men best expressed their velocity by incurvity, and under
some figure of a bow ; and in this sense probably do heralds
2 yet the dolphin that carrieth Arion.] being no fish else that loves the company
" The Persian authors of high antiquity of men."
say, that the delfin will take on his back " Some authors, more especially the an-
persons in danger of being drowned, cients, have asserted that dolphins have
from whence comes the fable of Arion. a lively and natural affection towards
The word is derived from vh"] stillare, the human species, with which they are
. , ,„ , ,',!,• easily led to familiarize. Thev have
fluere de f ; because the dolphin was recounted manv marvellous st(;iies on
considered as the king of the sea, and ^ t_ ^ ^ .g km)wn
Neptune a monarch represented under ce^{ . thaf. ^^
the image of this fish. Dolphins were , . , * , ... . . c
, f , . . . j •.• s'nP at sea, they rush in a crowd before
the symbols of mantime towns and cities. . summnd ^ e theh. confi_
See Spanheim, 4to. 141 ed. 1671. Dr. dence b id wrie* and
S. Weston's Specimen of the Conformity , .. J r .. . ,. , r .
" _ ' .„ ' „ . •' T J evolutions, sometimes bounding, leaping:,
of the European witn the Oriental Lan- , .... °'„ c °'
' c n ,ono », »,/. o and manceuvenng m all manner of ways ;
euascs, &c. 8vo. ISO.i, pp. /5, 76. bee .. . ° . ,. . , J.
b, b ' ? . _ ,, ' rr ' sometimes performing complicated cir-
also Alciaii hmblem. xc. , .. , -r-, ... , „
„ . , ., „ -, „. . ,, , cumvolutions, and exhibiting a degree of
" And answerably, Sec. I rirst added .... ' , . .. °, ." ,,
. n ^ i- • grace, agility, dexterity, and strength,
in Jrd edition. which is perfectly astonishing. Perhaps
4 the hieroglyphick of celerity. byl- , K c ,: __ , , .. r,
« - to - , • c i c/~i J however they follow the track of vessels
vanus Morgan, in his Sphere of Gentry, . , ,J , , , ~
/,. , , „„,n ln i a j i i- with no other view than the hopes of
(fol 1661) p. 69 says that the dolphin ^ SQmeM that M{ (lQm
is the hieroglyphick of society ! there kem».-C«wr, hy Griffiths.
92 ENQUIRIES INTO VULGAR [BOOK V.
also receive it, when, from a dolphin extended, they distin-
guish a dolphin embowed.
And thus also must that picture be taken of a dolphin
clasping an anchor ; 5 that is, not really, as is by most con-
ceived out of affection unto man, conveying the anchor unto
the ground ; but emblematically, according as Pierius hath
expressed it, the swiftest animal conjoined with that heavy
body, implying that common moral, festina lente : and that
celerity should always be contempered with cunctation.
CHAPTER III.
Of the Picture of a Grasshopper.
There is also among us a common description and picture of
a grasshopper, as may be observed in the pictures of emble-
matists, in the coats of several families, and as the word
cicada is usually translated in dictionaries. Wherein to speak
strictly, if by this word grasshopper, we understand that
animal which is implied by rerr/|* with the Greeks, and by
cicada with the Latins, we may with safety affirm the pic-
ture is widely mistaken, and that for aught enquiry can
inform, there is no such insect in England.6 Which how
paradoxical soever, upon a strict enquiry, will prove undenia-
ble truth.
5 a dolphin clasping an anchor.'] The cicaDjE ! Mr. John Curtis (since de-
device of the family of Manutius, cele- servedly well known as the author of
brated as learned printers at Venice and British Entomology, J was then residing
Rome. . See Alciati Emblem, cxliv. with me as draughtsman ; and no doubt
6 no such insect in England.'] It is our united examinations were diligently
perfectly true that, till recently, no spe- bestowed to find the little stranger among
cies of the true Linnasan Cicadse, (Tetti- the descrihed species of the continent;
gonia, Fab.) had been discovered in but in vain. I quite forget whether we
Great Britain. About twenty years bestowed a MS. name; probably not;
since, I had the pleasure of adding this as scarcely hoping that the first species dis-
classical and most interesting genus to covered to be indigenous, would also prove
the British Fauna. Having, about that to be peculiar to our country, and be
time, engaged Mr. Daniel Bydder, (a distinguished by the national appellation
weaver in Spitalfields, and a very enthu- of Cicada ANGLICA. Yet so it has prov-
siastic entomologist,) to collect for me in td : Mr. Samouelle, I believe, first gave
the New Forest, Hampshire, I received it that name ; and Mr. Curtis has given
from him thence many valuable insects an exquisite figure, and full description
from time to time, and at length, to my of it, in the 9th vol. of his British Ento-
surprise and great satisfaction, a pair of mology, No. 392. I cannot however speak
CHAP. 111.] AND COMMON ERRORS. 93
For first, that animal which the French term sauterelle,
we a grasshopper, and which under this name is commonly
described by us, is named "Axgig by the Greeks, by the Latins
locusta, and by ourselves in proper speech a locust ; as in the
diet of John Baptist, and in our translation, "the locusts have
no king, yet go they forth all of them by bands." * Again,
between the cicada and that we call a grasshopper, the dif-
ferences are very many, as may be observed in themselves, or
their descriptions in Matthiolus, Aldrovandus, and Muffetus.
For first, they are differently cucullated or capuched upon
the head and back, and in the cicadce the eyes are more pro-
minent: the locusts have antennae or long horns before, with
a long falcation or forcipated tail behind : and being ordained
for saltation, their hinder legs do far exceed the other. The
locust or our grasshopper hath teeth, the cicada none at all ;
nor any mouth, according unto Aristotle.7 The cicada is
most upon trees ; and lastly, the frittinnitus, or proper note
thereof, is far more shrill than that of the locust, and its life
so short in summer, that for provision it needs not have
recourse unto the providence of the pismire in winter.
And therefore where the cicada must be understood, the
pictures of heralds and emblematists are not exact, nor is it
safe to adhere unto the interpretation of dictionaries, and
we must with candour make out our own translations ; for in
the plague of Egypt, Exodus x, the word "Axgig is translated
a locust, but in the same sense and subject, Wisdom xvi, it is
translated a grasshopper; "for them the bitings of grass-
hoppers and flies killed ;" whereas we have declared before
the cicada hath no teeth, but is conceived to live upon dew,
* Proverbs xxx.
in so high terms of his account of its origi- events he ought to have recorded the
nal discovery. I cannot understand why name of the poor man by whose indus-
he has thus dryly noticed it:' " C. Anglica tryandperseverar.ee the discovery was
was first discovered in the New Forest, effected.
about twenty years ago." I should have 1 The locust, SfC."] Both the locusta
supposed that it might have given him and cicada are furnished with teeth — if
some pleasure to attach to his narrative by that term we are to understand mau-
the name of an old friend, from whom he dibula and maxilla. But in cicada they
had received early and valuable assistance, are not so obvious ; being enclosed in the
and to whom he was indebted for his labium. This conformation probably led
acquaintance with the art he has so long Aristotle to say they had no mouth,
and so successfully pursued. At all
94 ENQUIRIES INTO VULGAR [BOOK V.
and the possibility of its subsistence is disputed by Licetus-
Hereof I perceive MufFetus hath taken notice, dissenting from
Langius and Lycosthenes, while they deliver the cicadce
destroyed the fruits in Germany, where that insect is not
found, and therefore concludeth, Tarn ipsos qudni alios de-
ceptos fuisse autumo, dum locustas cicadas esse vidgari err ore
crederent.
And hereby there may be some mistake in the due dispen-
sation of medicines desumed from this animal, particularly of
diatettigon, commended by iEtius, in the affections of the
kidnies. It must be likewise understood with some restric-
tion what hath been affirmed by Isidore, and yet delivered
by many, that cicades are bred out of cuckoo-spittle or wood-
sear, that is, that spumous frothy dew or exudation, or both,
found upon plants, especially about the joints of lavender
and rosemary, observable with us about the latter end of
May. For here the true cicada is not bred ; but certain it
is, that out of this, some kind of locust doth proceed, for
herein may be discovered a little insect of a festucine or pale
green, resembling in all parts a locust, or what we call a
grasshopper.8
Lastly, the word itself is improper, and the term grass-
hopper not appliable unto the cicada ; for therein the organs
of motion are not contrived for saltation, nor have the hinder
legs of such extension, as is observable in salient animals,
and such as move by leaping. "Whereto the locust is very
well conformed, for therein the legs behind are longer than
all the body, and make at the second joint acute angles, at a
considerable advancement above their backs.
The mistake therefore with us might have its original from
a defect in our language, for having not the insect with us,
we have not fallen upon its proper name, and so make use of
a term common unto it and the locust ; whereas other coun-
tries have proper expressions for it. So the Italian calls it
S cicades are bred, #c] Here is ano- viz. homoptera, but very distinct in gene-
ther error. The froth spoken of is always ric character, and especially without the
found to contain the larva of a little power of sound. It has no great re-
skipping insect, frequently mis-called a semblance to locuslee, which belong to a
cicada, but properly cercopis ; allied in distinct order, viz. orthoptera.
form to cicada, and of the same order,
CHAP. IV.] AND COMMON ERRORS. 95
cicada, the Spaniard cigarra, and the French cigale ; all
which appellations conform unto the original, and properly
express this animal. Whereas our word is borrowed from
the Saxon gaersthoop, which our forefathers, who never be-
held the cicada, used for that insect which we yet call a
grasshopper.9
CHAPTER IV.
Of the Picture of the Serpent tempting Eve.
In the picture of paradise, and delusion of our first parents,
the serpent is often described with human visage,1 not unlike
unto Cadmus or his wife in the act of their metamorphosis.
Which is not a mere pictorial contrivance or invention of the
picturer, but an ancient tradition and conceived reality, as it
stands delivered by Beda and authors of some antiquity,2 that
is, that Satan appeared not unto Eve in the naked form of a
serpent, but with a virgin's head, that thereby he might be-
come more acceptable, and his temptation find the easier
entertainment. Which nevertheless is a conceit not to be
admitted, and the plain and received figure is with better
reason embraced.
For first, as Pierius observeth from Barcephas, the assump-
tion of human shape had proved a disadvantage unto Satan,
affording not only a suspicious amazement in Eve,3 before
9 Whereas our word, Sfc] This sen- went upright and spake. 'T is probable
tence was first added in 6th edition. — (and thwarteth noe truth) that the ser-
See vol. iv, 185. pent spake to Eve. Does not the text
1 visage.] See Munster's Hebrew expressly saye soe ? The devil had as
Bible, where in the letter which begins much power then as now, and yf now
the first If the serpent is made with a he can take upon him the forme of an
Virgin's face. Wr. angel of light, why not then the face of
In Munster's Hebrew and Latin Bible, a humane creature as well as the voice of
(Basil, 1535, ex Off. Bebelkma,) at the man?— Wr.
commencement of the Psalms, is the 3 Eve.] Eve might easier entertaine
initial letter B, which is a wood-cut of a suspicious amazement to heare a ser-
Adam, Eve, and the serpent between pent speake in a humane voyce, than to
them, with the face of a virgin. heare a humane voyce in ahumaneshape ;
2 antiquity.] See vol. ii, p. 230, where nor was itt more wonder for Sathan to as-
he quotes Basil saving, that the serpent sume one than both. It suited better with
96 ENQUIRIES INTO VULGAR [BOOK. V.
the fact, in beholding a third humanity beside herself and
Adam, but leaving some excuse unto the woman, which after-
ward the man took up with lesser reason, that is, to have
been deceived by another like herself.
Again, there is no inconvenience in the shape assumed, or
any considerable impediment that it might disturb that per-
formance in the common form of a serpent. For whereas it
is conceived the woman must needs be afraid thereof, and
rather fly than approach it, it was not agreeable unto the
condition of paradise and state of innocency therein ; if in
that place, as most determine, no creature was hurtful or
terrible unto man, and those destructive effects they now dis-
cover succeeded the curse, and came in with thorns and
briars ; and therefore Eugubinus (who affirmeth this serpent
was a basilisk) incurreth no absurdity, nor need we infer that
Eve should be destroyed immediately upon that vision. For
noxious animals could offend them no more in the garden
than Noah in the ark ; as they peaceably received their names,
so they friendly possessed their natures, and were their con-
ditions destructive unto each other, they were not so unto
man, whose constitutions then were antidotes, and needed not
fear poisons ; and if (as most conceive) there were but two
created of every kind, they could not at that time destroy
either man or themselves, for this had frustrated the com-
mand of multiplication, destroyed a species, and imperfected
the creation ; and therefore also if Cain were the first man
born, with him entered, not only the act, but the first power
of murder, for before that time neither could the serpent
nor Adam destroy Eve, nor Adam and Eve each other, for
that had overthrown the intention of the world, and put its
Creator to act the sixth day over again.
Moreover, whereas in regard of speech, and vocal con-
ference with Eve, it may be thought he would rather assume
an human shape and organs, than the improper form of a
his crafte to deliver his wile by a. face suit- thought not fit to reveale any more. Wee
able to the voice of man, and since we be- see the fathers differ in opinion, and
lieve the one, we may without error be- there is enough on either side to refute
leive the other. But itt is safest to believe the scorne of Julian, who payd deare
what we (in.de recorded of the human inoughc for his atheistical, or rather anti-
voyce, and leave the other to Him who theisticall blasphemye, — IVr.
AND COMMON ERRORS.
97
CHAP. IV.]
serpent, it implies no material impediment. Nor need we to
wonder how he contrived a voice out of the mouth of a ser-
pent, who hath done the like out of the belly of a Pythonissa,
and the trunk of an oak, as he did for many years at Dodona.
Lastly, whereas it might be conceived4 that an human
4 conceived.] Itt might wel bee con-
ceived (and soe it seemes itt was) by St.
Basil, that a virgin's head (hee does not
saye a humane shape) was fittest for this
intention of speakinge, itt being most
probable Eve would be more amazed to
heare such a creature as a serpent speake
with a humane voyce, then to heare a
human voyce passe through the mouth
of a virgin face. To hear a voice without
a head must needs (as the subtile serpent
knew full well) have started in Eve either
the supposition of a causeles miracle, or
the suspition of an imposture ; there-
fore to cut off those scruples, which might
have prevented and frustrated his ayme,
tis most probable the subtile tempter
assumed the face as well as the voice of
a Virgin to conveigh that temptation
which he supposed Eve would greedily
entertain.
Julius Scaliger, that magazin of all
various learninge, in his 183rd exercita-
tion and 4th section, speaking of certaine
strange kinds of serpents, reports that in
Malabar, there are serpents 8 foote long,
of a horrible aspect, but harmless unless
they bee provoked. These he cals boy-
lovers (psederotas,) for that they will for
manye houres together stand bolt upright
gazing on the boyes at their sportes, never
offring to hurte any of them.
These, saithe he, while they glide on
the ground are like other serpents or
eeles (like conger eeles,) but raising
themselves upright they spread them-
selves into such a corpulent breadthe, that
had they feet they would seeme to be
men, and therefore he cals them by a
coigned name, sy^sXavd^duTrovg, eele-
like men, though hee might more pro-
perly call them opiav6e(L<7rovg, dragon-
like men. Now though we can yeeld
noe greater beleefe to this story then the
Portuguez that traffique thither deserve,
yet bycause the world owes many ex-
cellent discoveryes of hidden truths to
his indefatigable diligence and learned
labors, seldome taxed for fabulous asser-
tions, why may we not think that itt
was this kinde of serpent, whose shape
Satan assumed when he spake to Eve.*
For since Moses tels us that God per-
mitted the serpent to deceive our grand-
mother by faigning the voyce of man,
wee may reasonably acquit St. Basil of
error, or offring violence to trueth, that
hee tooke it as granted by a paritye of
like reason, that the serpent would rather
assume such a face and appearance of
humane forme as might sute with a hu-
mane voyce, at least would frame a hu-
mane visage as well as a human tounge,
which is but a parte in the head of man,
for which the head (rather then for any
other sense) seemes to have been made
by God, that the spirits of men (which
till they discover themselves by language
cannot bee understood) might by the
benefit of this admirable instrument, have
mutual commerce and intelligence, and
conveighe their inwarde conceptions each
to other. Surely yf every such a strange
serpent as this which Scaliger describes
were scene in the world, we must per-
force grant that they are some of that
kinde which God at first created soe, and
that Satan subtily choose to enter into
that kinde which before the curse natu-
rally went upright (as they say the ha-
siliske now does,) and could soe easily,
soe nearly represent the appearance and
shew of man not only in gate but in voyce
as the Scripture speakes. That they
have no feete makes soe much the more
for the conjecture, and that however itt
seemes this kinde of serpent (which
Satan used as an instrument of his fraud)
did originally goe upwright, and can yet
frame himselfe into that posture, yet by
God's just doome is now forced to creep
on his belly in the duste ; where though
they strike at our heele, they are liable
to have their heade bruised and trampled
on by the foote of man. — Wr.
Respecting the basilisk, see note 9,
vol. ii. p. 414.
In one of the illustrations to Csedmon's
Paraphrase, mentioned p. 99, I find the
serpent standing "bolt upright" receiving
* See what I noted long since on Gen. Hi, i4, to this purpose in the Geneva Bible.
VOL. III. H
98
ENQUIRIES INTO VULGAR
[BOOK V.
shape was fitter for tins enterprise, it being more than
probable she would be amazed to hear a serpent speak ;
some conceive she might not yet be certain that only man
was privileged with speech, and being in the novity of
the creation, and inexperience of all things, might not be
affrighted to hear a serpent speak. Besides, she might be
ignorant of their natures, who was not versed in their names,
as being not present at the general survey of animals when
his sentence, and another figure of him
lying on the ground, to indicate his con-
demnation to subsequent reptility. Some
critics have complained of the painters
for representing him without feet in his
interview with Eve, whereas, say tbey,
his creeping on his belly was inflicted on
him as a punishment. Had those critics
been acquainted with professor Mayer's
assertion, that rudimental feet are found
in almost all the serpent tribe, they would
doubtless have regarded it as a confirma-
tion of their opinion, and would have
contended that these imperfect and un-
serviceable rudiments of feet were all the
traces left to them of those locomotive
powers which this, as well as other verte-
brated animals, had originally enjoyed.
Dr. Adam Clarke gives a very long and
elaborate article on the temptation of
Eve. His opinion is that the tempter-
was an ape; he builds his hypothesis on
the fact that the Hebrew word (nachash,
Gen. iii, 1,) is nearly the same with an
Arabic word, signifying an ape and THE
Devil! He thus sums up: " In this
account we find, 1. That whatever this
nachash was, he stood at the head of all
inferior animals for wisdom and under-
standing. 2. That he walked erect, for
this is necessarily implied in his punish-
ment— on thy belly (i. e. on all fours)
shalt thou go. ?>. That he was endued
with the gift of speech, for a conversation
is here related between him and the
woman. 4. That he was also endued
with the gift of reason, for we find him
reasoning and disputing with Eve. 5.
That these things were common to this
creature, the woman no doubt having
often seen him walk erect, talk, and
reason, and therefore she testifies no
kind of surprise when he accosts her in
the language related in the text." Grant-
ing, for a moment, the Doctor's five
positions, I would ask, does he mean
that the ape is a creature which now
answers the description 1 Most certainly
it does not, any more than the serpent.
If on the other hand he means that the
creature, through whom Satan tempted
Eve, had previously possessed those ad-
vantages, but lost them as a punishment
of that offence, then why not suppose it
to have been a serpent, or any other
creature, as well as the ape 1 The theory
itself stultifies any attempt to discover
the tempter among creatures noiv in exis-
tence, because we are required to suppose
their nature and habits to have totally
changed. The serpent certainly has one
claim, which the ape has not, namely,
that its present mode of going is (in ac-
cordance with the Scriptural description)
on its belly ; which, with deference to
the learned Doctor, " going on all fours"
is not, unless he can justify what he in
fact says, that quadrupeds and reptiles
move alike ! Moreover, his selection is
specially unfortunate in this very respect,
that of all animals the ape noiv approaches
most nearly to the human mode of walk-
ing, and exhibits therefore the most in-
complete example of the fulfilment of
the curse — "on thy belly shalt thou go."
Hadrian Beverland, in his Peccatum
Originate, l'2mo. 1676, has published
his strange speculations as to the nature
of the temptation, to which our mother
yielded. But after all, neither as one point
nor another, which has not been clearly
revealed, shall we be likely either to ob-
tain or communicate any useful informa-
tion. The indulgence of a prurient and
speculative imagination on points which,
not having been disclosed, cannot be dis-
covered, and the knowledge of which
would serve no good purpose, were far
better restrained. We know, alas, that
what constituted sin originally, has ever
been and ever will be its heinous feature
in the sight of the Great Lawgiver — viz.
disobedience to his known and under-
stood commands.
CHAP. V.J
AND COMMON ERRORS.
99
Adam assigned unto every one a name concordant unto its
nature. Nor is this only my opinion, but the determination
of Lombard and Tostatus, and also the reply of Cyril unto
the objection of Julian, who compared this story unto the
fables of the Greeks.
CHAPTER V.
Of the Picture of Adam and Eve with Navels.
Another mistake there may be in the picture of our first
parents, who after the manner of their posterity are both
delineated with a navel ; and this is observable not only in
ordinary and stained pieces, but in the authentic draughts of
Urbin, Angelo, and others.5 Which notwithstanding cannot
be allowed, except we impute that unto the first cause, which
we impose not on the second, or what we deny unto Nature,
we impute unto naturity itself, that is, that in the first and
most accomplished piece, the Creator affected superfluities,
or ordained parts without use or office.6
5 and others. ~\ It is observable in the
rude figures of Adam and Eve, among the
illuminations of Czedmon's Metrical Para-
phrase of Scripture History engraved in the
24th vol. of the Archceohgia. But worse
mistakes have been committed in depicting
" our first parents." In the gallery of
the convent of Jesuits, at Lisbon, there
is a fine picture of Adam in paradise,
dressed (qu. after the fall?) in blue
breeches with silver buckles, and Eve
with a striped petticoat. In the distance
appears a procession of capuchins bearing
the cross.
6 Which notwithstanding, <^c] It
seems to have been the intention of our
author, in this somewhat obscure sen-
tence, to object, that, in supposing Adam
to have been formed with a navel, we
suppose a superfluity in that which was
produced by nature (naturity,') while in
nature herself we affirm there is nothing
superfluous, or useless. It is, however,
somewhat hazardous to pronounce that
useless whose office may not be very
obvious to us. Who will venture to
point out the office of the mamma in
the male sex ? or to say wherefore some
of the serpent tribes are provided with
the rudiments of feet which can scarcely,
if at all, be of any use to them ? — a fact
which has been asserted recently by a
German naturalist of distinction, Dr.
Mayer, as the result of long and very
extensive anatomical examination of the
principal families of the serpents. He
thereon proposes a new division of the
order, — into Phj$:noptera, those snakes
whose rudimental feet are externally vi-
sible, and comprising Boa, Python, Eryx,
Clothonia, and Tortrix ; Cryptopoda,
in which the bony rudiments are entire-
ly concealed beneath the skin, containing
Anguis, Typhlops, and Amphisbana ; and
Chondropoda and Apoda, in which the
rudiments are scarcely, or not at all, ob-
servable.— Nova Acta Acad. Ctssar. Na-
ture Curiosorum, torn, xii, p. 2.
Respecting the singular subject of dis-
cussion in this chapter ; it appears to me
that not only Adam and Eve, but all
species, both of the animal, vegetable, and
mineral kingdoms, were created at once
in their perfect state ; and therefore all
exhibiting such remaining traces of a less
perfect state, as those species, in their
H 2
100 ENQUIRIES INTO VULGAR [BOOK V.
For the use of the navel is to continue the infant unto
the mother, and by the vessels thereof to convey its aliment
and sustentation. The vessels whereof it consisteth, are the
umbilical vein, which is a branch of the porta, and implanted
in the liver of the infant ; two arteries likewise arising from
the iliacal branches, by which the infant receiveth the purer
portion of blood and spirits from the mother ; and lastly, the
urachos or ligamental passage derived from the bottom of the
bladder, whereby it dischargeth the waterish and urinary
part of its aliment. Now upon the birth, when the infant
forsaketh the womb, although it dilacerate, and break the
involving membranes, yet do these vessels hold, and by the
mediation thereof the infant is connected unto the womb, not
only before, but awhile also after the birth. These therefore
the midwife cutteth off, contriving them into a knot close
unto the body of the infant ; from whence ensueth that
tortuosity or complicated nodosity we usually call the navel;
occasioned by the colligation of vessels before mentioned.
Now the navel being a part, not precedent, but subsequent
unto generation, nativity, or parturition, it cannot be well
imagined at the creation or extraordinary formation of Adam,
who immediately issued from the artifice of God ; nor also
that of Eve, who was not solemnly begotten, but suddenly
framed,?and anomalously proceeded from Adam.
And if we be led into conclusions that Adam had also this
part, because we behold the same in ourselves, the inference
is not reasonable ; for if we conceive the way of his forma-
tion, or of the first animals, did carry in all points a strict
conformity unto succeeding productions, we might fall into
imaginations that Adam was made without teeth ; or that he
ran through those notable alterations in the vessels of the
heart, which the infant suffereth after birth : we need not
maturity, retain. If so, Adam was ere- same work (p. 492,) Dr. B. also discus-
ated with the marks of an earlier stage ses at some length Sir Thomas's chapter
of existence, though he had never pass- on pygmies, (c. xi, hook IV.) See Ilel.
ed through that stage. Med. p. 2. § 10, where Adam is called,
Sir Thomas's opinion is cited and " the man without a navel." — Ross
adopted by Dr. John Bulwer, in his deems the part in question to have been
most curious work, entitled Anthropome- intended by the Creator merely for or-
tnmorphosis : Man 2'raiisformi'd : or the nament ; in support of which opinion he
Artificial Changling, Historically _ Pre- cites Canticles vii, 2!!
sented, fyc. 4to. 1053. p. 401. ' in the
CHAP. V.] AND COMMON ERRORS. 101
dispute whether the egg or bird were first ; and might con-
ceive that dogs were created blind, because we observe they
are littered so with us. Which to affirm, is to confound, at
least to regulate creation unto generation, the first acts of
God, unto the second of nature ; which were determined in
that general indulgence, increase and multiply, produce or
propagate each other ; that is, not answerably in all points,
but in a prolonged method according to seminal progression.
For the formation of things at first was different from their
generation after ; and although it had nothing to precede it,
was aptly contrived for that which should succeed it. And
therefore though Adam were framed without this part, as
having no other womb than that of his proper principles, yet
was not his posterity without the same ; for the seminality of
his fabrick contained the power thereof; and was endued
with the science of those parts whose predestinations upon
succession it did accomplish.
All the navel therefore and conjunctive part we can suppose
in Adam, was his dependency on his Maker, and the con-
nexion he must needs have unto heaven, who was the Son of
God. For, holding no dependence on any preceding effi-
cient but God, in the act of his production there may be
conceived some connexion, and Adam to have been in a mo-
mental navel with his Maker.7 And although from his car-
nality and corporal existence, the conjunction seemeth no
nearer than of causality and effect ; yet in his immortal and
diviner part he seemed to hold a nearer coherence, and an
umbilicality even with God himself. And so indeed although
the propriety of this part be found but in some animals, and
many species there are which have no navel at all ; yet is there
one link and common connexion, one general ligament, and
necessary obligation of all whatever unto God. Whereby,
although they act themselves at distance, and seem to be at
loose, yet do they hold a continuity with their Maker.
Which catenation or conserving union, whenever his pleasure
shall divide, let go, or separate, they shall fall from their
7 in a momental navel with his Maker.'] (or in an important sense, ) in a state of
Momental ; important. " Substantially, connexion with bis Maker."
102 ENQUIRIES INTO VULGAR [BOOK Y.
existence, essence, and operations ; in brief, they must retire
unto their primitive nothing, and shrink into their chaos
again.
They who hold the egg was before the bird, prevent this
doubt in many other animals, which also extendeth unto
them. For birds are nourished by umbilical vessels, and the
navel is manifest sometimes a day or two after exclusion.
The same is probable in all oviparous exclusions, if the lesser
part of eggs must serve for the formation, the greater part for
nutriment. The same is made out in the eggs of snakes ;
and is not improbable in the generation of porwiggles or
tadpoles, and may be also true in some vermiparous exclu-
sions : although (as we have observed in the daily progress in
some) the whole maggot is little enough to make a fly, without
any part remaining.8
CHAPTER VI.
Of the Pictures of the Jews and Eastern Nations, at their
Feasts, especially our Saviour at the Passover.
Concerning the pictures of the Jews, and eastern nations at
their feasts, concerning the gesture of our Saviour at the
passover, who is usually described sitting upon a stool or
bench at a square table, in the midst of the twelve, many
make great doubt ; and (though they concede a table gesture)
will hardly allow this usual way of session.9
Wherein, restraining no man's enquiry, it will appear that
accubation, or lying down at meals was a gesture used by
very many nations. That the Persians used it, beside the
testimony of humane writers, is deducible from that passage in
Esther.* " That when the king returned into the place of
the banquet of wine, Haman was fallen upon the bed where-
* Esther vii.
8 They who hold, 8fc.~\ This paragraph Glasg. 1750. — Jeff. I give this refer-
was first added in 2nd edition. ence, though I Lave not been able to
9 session.] See Fenclon's Letter to avail myself of it.
the French Academy ; § 8, p. 231.
CHAP. VI.] AND COMMON ERRORS. 103
on Esther was." That the Parthians used it, is evident from
Athengeus, who delivereth out of Possidonius, that their king
lay down at meals, on an higher bed than others.1 That
Cleopatra thus entertained Anthony, the same author mani-
fested, when he saith, she prepared twelve Tricliniums.
That it was in use among the Greeks, the word triclinium
implieth, and the same is also declarable from many places in
the Symposiacks of Plutarch. That it was not out of fashion
in the days of Aristotle, he declareth in his Politicks ; when
among the institutionary rules of youth, he adviseth they
might not be permitted to hear iambicks and tragedies before
they were admitted unto discumbency or lying along with
others at their meals. That the Romans used this gesture
at repast, beside many more, is evident from Lipsius, Mer-
curialis, Salmasius and Ciaconius, who have expressly and
distinctly treated hereof.
Now of their accumbing places, the one was called
stibadion and sigma, carrying the figure of an half-moon,
and of an uncertain capacity, whereupon it received the
name of hexaclinon, octoclinon, according unto that of
Martial,
Accipe Lunata scriptum testudine sigma:
Octo capit, veniat quisquis amicus erit.
Hereat in several ages the left and right hand were the
principal places, and the most honourable person, if he were
not master of the feast, possessed one of those rooms. The
other was termed triclinium, that is, three beds about a table,
as may be seen in the figures thereof, and particularly in the
Rhamnusian triclinium, set down by Mercurialis.* The cus-
tomary use hereof was probably deduced from the frequent
use of bathing, after which they commonly retired to bed,
and refected themselves with repast; and so that custom by
degrees changed their cubiculary beds into discubitor}', and
introduced a fashion to go from the baths unto these.
As for their gesture or position, the men lay down leaning
on their left elbow, their back being advanced by some pil-
* De Arte Gymnastica.
1 That the Persians, Sfc.] This sentence was first added in the 2nd edition.
104 ENQUIRIES INTO VULGAR [BOOK V.
low or soft substance: the second lay so with his back
towards the first, that his head attained about his bosom;2
and the rest in the same order. For women, they sat some-
times distinctly with their sex, sometimes promiscuously with
men, according to affection or favour, as is delivered by
Juvenal.
Gremio jacuit nova nupta mariti.
And by Suetonius, of Caligula, that at his feasts he placed
his sisters, with whom he had been incontinent, successively
in order below him.
Again, as their beds were three, so the guests did not
usually exceed that number in every one, according to the
ancient laws, and proverbial observations to begin with the
graces, and make up their feasts with the muses ; and there-
fore it was remarkable in the Emperor Lucius Verus, that he
lay down with twelve, which was, saith Julius Capitolinus,
prceter exempla majorum, not according to the custom of his
predecessors, except it were at public and nuptial suppers.
The regular number was also exceeded in the last supper,
whereat there were no less than thirteen, and in no place
fewer than ten, for as Josephus delivereth, it was not lawful
to celebrate the passover with fewer than that number.3
Lastly, for the disposing and ordering of the persons ; the
first and middle beds were for the guests, the third and
lowest for the master of the house and his family, he always
lying in the first place of the last bed, that is, next the middle
bed, but if the wife or children were absent, their rooms
were supplied by the umbrce, or hangers on, according to
that of Juvenal.4
Locus est et pluribus umbris.
For the guests, the honourablest place in every bed was the
first, excepting the middle or second bed, wherein the most
honourable guest of the feast was placed in the last place,
because by that position he might be next the master of the
2 bosom.~\ See note S, p. 10S. ii, 8, 22 : "■ — quos Maecenas adduxerat
3 the regular number, SfC.'] This sen- umbras," — " Porro et conviva ad ccenam
tence first added in 2nd edition. dicitur OTiiccv suum adducere, cum amicum
4 JuvenaU Not Juvenal, but Horace,) auqucm non invitatum sccum adducit."—
Epist. lib. i, S, 1. 2S. See also Ilor. Sal. pfal, 1 6.
CHAP. VI.] AND COMMON ERRORS. 105
feast. * For the master lying in the first of the last bed, and
the principal guest in the last place of the second, they must
needs be next each other, as this figure dotli plainly declare,
and whereby we may apprehend the feast of Perpenna made
unto Sertorius, described by Sallustius, whose words we shall
thus read with Salmasius : Igitur discubuere, Sertorius infe-
rior in medio lecto, supra Fabius ; Antonius in summo ; Infra
scriba Sertorii Versius ; alter scriba Meccenas in imo, medius
inter Tarquitium et dominum Perpennam.
vjfuj
snuttss'ifzu,
-ouoj-j snmi'iifi
2 2 |
** S 35
o 2
fen
8 s-
6-8
snipdfi
vudng
shiutung snoo'j
StlfOZtrj smpdj\[
snuofUdg (snnoioA snoorj) smqvjj ,rj
58
2 &a
8 *♦*
o s
si
so
° a e
*» 5s
g S
At this feast there were but seven, the middle places of
the highest and middle bed being vacant, and hereat was
Sertorius the general, and principal guest slain ; and so may
we make out what is delivered by Plutarch in his life, that
lying on his back and raising himself up, Perpenna cast him-
self upon his stomach, which he might very well do, being
master of the feast, and lying next unto him ; and thus also
* Jul. Scalig. Familiarum Exercitationum Problema I.
106 ENQUIRIES INTO VULGAR [BOOK V.
from this tricliniary disposure, we may illustrate that obscure
expression of Seneca ; that the north wind was in the middle,
the north-east on the higher side, and the north-west on the
lower. For as appeareth in the circle of the winds, the north-
east will answer the bed of Antonius, and the north-west
that of Perpenna.
That the custom of feasting upon beds was in use among
the Hebrews, many deduce from Ezekiel,* " Thou sattest
upon a stately bed, and a table prepared before it." The
custom of discalceation or putting off their shoes at meals,
is conceived to confirm the same ; as by that means keeping
their beds clean : and therefore they had a peculiar charge
to eat the passover with their shoes on; which injunc-
tion were needless, if they used not to put them off. How-
ever it were in times of high antiquity, probable it is that
in after ages they conformed unto the fashions of the Assy-
rians and eastern nations, and lastly of the Romans, being
reduced by Pompey unto a provincial subjection.5
That this discumbency at meals was in use in the days of
our Saviour, is conceived probable from several speeches of
his expressed in that phrase, even unto common auditors, as
Luke xiv, Cum invitatus fueris ad nuptias nan discumbas
in primo loco; and, besides many more, Matthew xxiii.
When reprehending the Scribes and Pharisees, he saith,
Amant protoclisias, id est, primos recubitus in coenis, et
protocathedrias, sive, primas cathedras, in synagogis ; where-
in the terms are very distinct, and by an antithesis do plainly
distinguish the posture of sitting, from this of lying on beds.
The consent of the Jews with the Romans in other cere-
monies and rites of feasting makes probable their conformity
in this. The Romans washed, were anointed, and wore a
cenatory garment : and that the same was practised by the
Jews, is deducible from that expostulation of our Saviour
with Simon,f that he washed not his feet, nor anointed his
head with oil ; the common civilities at festival entertainments :
and that expression of his concerning the cenatory or wed-
* Ezek. xxiii. f Luke vii.
* However it were, tyc. ] This sentence was first added in 2nd edition.
CHAP. VI.] AND COMMON ERRORS. 107
ding garment ;* and as some conceive of the linen garment
of the young man, or St. John ; which might be the same he
wore the night before at the last supper.6
That they used this gesture at the psssover, is more than
probable from the testimony of Jewish writers, and par-
ticularly of Ben-Maimon recorded by Scaliger, De Emenda-
tione temporimi. After the second cup according to the institu-
tion, the son asketh, what meaneth this service ? f then he that
maketh the declaration, saith, how different is this night from
all other nights ? for all other nights we wash but once, but
this night twice ; all other we eat leavened or unleavened
bread, but this only leavened ; all other we eat flesh roasted,
boiled, or baked, but this only roasted ; all other nights we
eat together lying or sitting, but this only lying along. And
this posture they used as a token of rest and security which
they enjoyed, far different from that at the eating of the
passover in Egypt.
That this gesture was used when our Saviour eat the pas-
sover, is not conceived improbable from the words whereby
the Evangelists express the same, that is, avaviKrw, dvaxs?adai,
xaraxs7ff@ou, dvaxXi^vai, which terms do properly signify this
gesture, in Aristotle, Athenaeus, Euripides, Sophocles, and
all humane authors ; and the like we meet with in the para-
phrastical expression of Nonnus.
Lastly, if it be not fully conceded, that this gesture was
used at the passover, yet that it was observed at the last
supper, seems almost incontrovertible : for at this feast or
cenatory convention, learned men make more than one sup-
per, or at least many parts thereof. The first was that legal
one of the passover, or eating of the paschal lamb with bitter
herbs, and ceremonies described by Moses.J Of this it is
said, " Then when the even was come, he sat down with the
twelve." § This is supposed when it is said, that the supper
being ended, our Saviour arose, took a towel and washed the
disciples' feet. The second was common and domestical,
consisting of ordinary and undefined provisions ; of this it
* Matt. xxii. f Exod. xii. J Matt. xxvi. § John xiii.
6 the consent of the Jews, S)-c.'] First added in 2nd edit.
108 ENQUIRIES INTO VULGAR [BOOK V.
may be said, that our Saviour took his garment, and sat down
again, after he had washed the disciples' feet, and performed
the preparative civilities of suppers; at this 'tis conceived
the sop was given unto Judas, the original word implying
some broth or decoction, not used at the passover. The third
or latter part was eucharistical, which began at the breaking
and blessing of the bread, according to that of Matthew,
"And as they were eating, Jesus took bread and blessed it."
Now although, at the passover or first supper, many have
doubted this reclining posture, and some have affirmed that
our Saviour stood, yet that he lay down at the other, the
same men have acknowledged, as Chrysostom,* Theophylact,
Austin, and many more. And if the tradition will hold, the
position is unquestionable ; for the very triclinium is to be
seen at Rome, brought thither by Vespasian, and graphically
set forth by Casalius.7
Thus may it properly be made out, what is delivered, John
xiii ; Erat recumbens units ex discipulus ejus in sinu Jesu
quern diligebat ; " Now there was leaning on Jesus' bosom
one of his disciples whom Jesus loved ;" which gesture will
not so well agree unto the position of sitting, but is natural,
and cannot be avoided in the laws of accubation.8 And the
very same expression is to be found in Pliny, concerning
the emperor Nerva and Veiento whom he favoured ; Ccena-
bat Nerva cum paucis, Veiento recumbebat propius atque
* De Veterum Ritibus.
? Lastly, if it be not, S)C.~\ This and scription of the table, &c. " The table
the next paragraph were first added in being placed in the middest, round about
the 2nd edition. the table were certain beds, sometimes
8 which gesture, <^c] I am not aware two, sometimes three, sometimes more,
whether our author had any authority according to the number of the guests ;
for saying that "the back was advanced upon these they lay down in manner as
by some pillow or soft substance." If it followeth : each bed contained three per-
was so, John could not very conveniently sons, sometimes more, — seldom or never
have leaned back upon the bosom of his more (qu.feu>er?J If one lay upon the
master. It seems probable that each bed, then he rested the upper part of his
person lay at an acute angle with the body upon the left elbow, the lower part
line of the table, (as seems implied in lying at length upon the bed: but if
the following quotation) in which case many lay on the bed, then the upper-
the head of John, as our author observes, most did lie at the bed's head, laying his
p. 104, would have attained to about his feet behinde the second's back : in like
master's bosom. It must also (as it seems manner the third or fourth did lye, eacli
to me) be supposed that the table was resting his head in the other's bosome.
scarcely, if at all, higher than the level Thus John leaned on Jesus' bosom,'' Mo-
of the couch. 1 subjoin Godwin's de- scs and Aaron, p, 93, 4to. 1667.
CHAP. VI.] AND COMMON ERRORS. 109
etiam in sinu; and from this custom arose the word e-rtdTrfiiog,
that is, a near and bosom friend. And therefore Casaubon*
justly rejecteth Theophylact;9 who not considering the ancient
manner of decumbency, imputed this gesture of the beloved dis-
ciple unto rusticity, or an act of incivility. And thus also, have
some conceived it may be more plainly made out what is deli-
vered of Mary Magdalen, that she " stood at Christ's feet be-
hind him weeping, and began to wash his feet with tears, and
did wipe them with the hairs of her head."f Which actions,
if our Saviour sat, she could not perform standing, and had
rather stood behind his back than at his feet. And therefore
it is not allowable, what is observable in many pieces, and
even of Raphael Urbin, wherein Mary Magdalen is pictured
before our Saviour washing his feet on her knees, which will
not consist with the strict description and letter of the text.
Now, whereas this position may seem to be discountenanc-
ed by our translation, which usually renders it sitting, it can-
not have that illation : for the French and Italian translations,
expressing neither position of session nor recubation, do only
say that he placed himself at the table ; and when ours ex-
presseth the same by sitting, it is in relation unto our custom,
time, and apprehension. The like upon occasion is not un-
usual : so when it is said, Luke iv, -rrv^ag rb fiiGTJov, and the
vulgate renders it, cum plicasset librum, ours translateth it, he
shut or closed the book ; which is an expression proper unto
the paginal books of our times, but not so agreeable unto
volumes or rolling books, in use among the Jews, not only in
elder times, but even unto this day. So when it is said, the
Samaritan delivered unto the host twopence for the provision
of the Levite, and when our Saviour agreed with the labour-
ers for a penny a day, in strict translation it should be seven-
pence halfpenny, and is not to be conceived our common
penny, the sixtieth part of an ounce. For the word in the
* Not. in Evang. f Luke vii.
9 Theophylact. ~\ Theophylact, bishop among the northern nations, gave the
of Bulgary, lived 930th yeare ofChriste, bishop occasion to taxe the Jewish and
in which time the empire being trans- Roman forme of lying as uncouth and
lated into Germanye, and the maner of uncivil: every nation preferring their
lying at all meales translated into the owne customes, and condemning all other
maner of sitting, which was most used as barbarians.' — Wr,
110 ENQUIRIES INTO VULGAR [BOOK V.
original is Sqvugiov, in Latin, denarius, and with the Romans did
value the eighth part of an ounce, which, after five shillings
the ounce, amounteth unto sevenpence halfpenny of our money.
Lastly, whereas it might be conceived that they ate the
passover, standing rather than sitting, or lying down, accord-
ing to the institution, Exodus xii, " Thus shall you eat with
your loins girded, your shoes on your feet, and your staff in
your hand ; " the Jews themselves reply, this was not requir-
ed of succeeding generations, and was not observed but in
the passover of Egypt. And so also many other injunctions
were afterward omitted : as the taking up of the paschal
lamb from the tenth day, the eating of it in their houses dis-
persed, the striking of the blood on the door-posts, and the
eating thereof in haste ; — solemnities and ceremonies primi-
tively enjoined, afterward omitted ; as was also this of station :
for the occasion ceasing, and being in security, they applied
themselves unto gestures in use among them.
Now in what order of recumbency Christ and the disciples
were disposed, is not so easily determined. Casalius, from
the Lateran triclinium, will tell us, that there being thirteen,
five lay down in the first bed, five in the last, and three in the
middle bed ; and that our Saviour possessed the upper place
thereof. That John lay in the same bed seems plain, be-
cause he leaned on our Saviour's bosom. That Peter made
the third in that bed, conjecture is made, because he beckon-
ed unto John, as being next him, to ask of Christ who it was
that should betray him? That Judas was not far off, seems
probable, not only because he dipped in the same dish, but
because he was so near that our Saviour could hand the sop
unto him.1
' Now in what order, ^-c] This paragraph was added in 2nd edition.
CHAP,
VII.]
AND COMMON ERRORS.
Ill
CHAPTER VII.
Of the Picture of our Saviour with Long Hair.
Another picture there is of our Saviour described with long
hair,2 according to the custom of the Jews, and his descrip-
tion sent by Lentulus unto the senate.3 Wherein indeed the
2 Another picture, 8fC.~\ A very beau-
tiful head of our Saviour has recently
been engraved in mezzotint, by J. Rogers.
It is a copy from a gem, said to have
been executed by order of Tiberius Cse-
sar, and subsequently to Pope Innocent
VIII by the emperor of the Turks as a
ransom for his brother.
Another error has been noticed by
some commentators in representing our
Lord with a crown of long thorns,
whereas it is supposed to have been made
of the acanthus, or bears-foot, a prickly
plant, very unlike a thorn. See Dr.
Adam Clarke, in lob.
3 his description sent by Lentulus, SfC.~\
Or rather said to have been sent by Len-
tulus, &c. ; for this letter is now known
to have been a forgery. The supposed
author was a Roman governor of Syria;
of whom it was pretended that he was a
follower of our Lord, and that he gave a
description of his person in a letter to
the senate. This was however obviously
insupposeable at a period when the go-
vernors of provinces addressed the em-
peror, and no longer the senate ; to say
nothing of the style, which is by no
means Augustan. The fact is, as has
been remarked to me, that when publick
opinion had been made up as to the pro-
bable appearance of our Lord's person,
this letter comes out to settle the point.
In No. 7026-4 of the Harleian MSS. is
preserved a copy of this letter, on vellum,
in the beautiful handwriting of the cele-
brated German dwarf. Math. Buchinger,
which he sent to his patron, Lord Ox-
ford. It contains also a portrait agreeing
with the description given in the letter.
This letter has been translated into Eng-
lish, and occurs, Christ. Mag. 1764,
p. 455, and other places.
Perhaps the most celebrated of the re-
puted original portraits of the Redeemer,
is that said to have been received by
Abgarus, King of Edessa, mentioned by
Evagrius. Eusebius gives a letter sent
by the said Abgar to Jesus Christ, pro-
fessing the conviction which the Redeem-
er's miracles had wrought in his mind
of the divine character of our Lord, and
entreating him to come to Edessa and
cure a disease under which the king
had long laboured ; — together with our
Lord's answer, declining to come, but
promising to send a disciple to heal the
king. For these letters see Hone's Apoc-
ryphal New Testament. In his Every-
day Book, Jan. 13th, he gives a wood-
cut of the portrait. In the London
Literary Gazette of Nov. 29, 1834, is a
much better account of the circumstance,
in a review of Baron Hubbojfs History
of Armenia, published -by the Oriental
Translation Society. I subjoin his account
of the picture. " Abgar sent a painter
to take the likeness of the Saviour, if he
would not vouchsafe to visit Edessa. The
painter made many vain attempts to draw
a correct likeness of our Saviour. But
Jesus, being willing to satisfy the desire
of King Abgar, took a clean handker-
chief and applied it to his countenance.
In that same hour, by a miraculous
power, his features and likeness were
represented on the handkerchief." The
picture thus miraculously produced, is
said to have been the means of deliver-
ing the city from the siege laid to it by
Chosroes, the Persian, 500 years after-
wards. Thaddeus went to Edessa after
Christ's ascension and healed Abgar.
See also Mr. W. Liuttmarts Life of
Christ, where will be found a copious
account of the portrait of Jesus Christ,
published in prints, coins, &c. Mr.
Huttman spells the name of the King of
Edessa, Agbar.
112 ENQUIRIES INTO VULGAR [BOOK V.
hand of the painter is not accusable, but the judgment of the
common spectator: conceiving he observed this fashion of
his hair, because he was a Nazarite ; and confounding a
Nazarite by vow, with those by birth or education.
The Nazarite by vow is declared, Numbers vi ; and was
to refrain three things, drinking of wine, cutting the hair, and
approaching unto the dead ; and such an one was Sampson.
Now that our Saviour was a Nazarite after this kind, we have
no reason to determine ; for he drank wine, and was there-
fore called by the Pharisees, a wine-bibber ; he approached
also the dead, as when he raised from death Lazarus, and
the daughter of Jairus.
The other Nazarite was a topical appellation, and applia-
ble unto such as were born in Nazareth, a city of Galilee, and
in the tribe of Napthali. Neither, if strictly taken, was our
Saviour in this sense a Nazarite, for he was born in Bethle-
hem in the tribe of Judah ; but might receive that name
because he abode in that city, and was not only conceived
therein, but there also passed the silent part of his life after
his return from Egypt ; as is delivered by Matthew, " And
he came and dwelt in a city called Nazareth, that it might be
fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, he shall be called
a Nazarene." Both which kinds of Nazarites, as they are
distinguishable by Zain, and Tsade in the Hebrew, so in the
Greek, by Alpha and Omega : for, as Jansenius observeth,*
where the votary Nazarite is mentioned, it is written, N«£a-
gatog, as Levit. vi and Lament, iv. Where it is spoken of our
Saviour, we read it, Na&wga&g, as in Matthew, Luke, and
John ; only Mark, who writ his gospel at Rome, did Latin-
ize and wrote it Na^agjjvog.
* Jans. Concordia Evamsclica.
CHAP. VIII.] AND COMMON ERRORS. 113
CHAPTER VIII.
Of the Picture of Abraham sacrificing Isaac.
In the picture of the immolation of Isaac, or Abraham sacrifi-
cing his son, Isaac is described as a little boy ;4 which not-
withstanding is not consentaneous unto the authority of
expositors, or the circumstance of the text. For therein it is
delivered that Isaac carried on his back the wood for the
sacrifice, which being an holocaust or burnt-offering to be
consumed unto ashes, we cannot well conceive a burthen for
a boy ; but such a one unto Isaac, as that which it typified
was unto Christ, that is, the wood or cross whereon he suf-
fered, which was too heavy a load for his shoulders, and was
fain to be relieved therein by Simon of Cyrene.5
Again he was so far from a boy, that he was a man grown,
and at his full stature, if we believe Josephus, who placeth
him in the last of adolescency, and makes him twenty-five
years old. And whereas in the vulgar translation he is term-
ed puer,6 it must not be strictly apprehended, (for that age
properly endeth in puberty, and extendeth but unto fourteen,)
4 as a little boy.] More absurd re- to the subject to which it relates : as when
presentations have been made of this it relates to a lord and master it signifies
event. Bourgoanne notices a painting a servant, and is to bee soe translated :
in Spain where Abraham is preparing to where itt relates to a father itt signifyes a
shoot Isaac with a pistol ! Phil. Rohr, sonne. The old translation is therefore
(Pictor Errans,) mentions one in which herein faulty, which takes the word in
Abraham's weapon was a sword. the prime grammatical sense for a child,
5 too heavy a load, ^c] Some paint- which is not always true. In the 4th
ers have accordingly represented Christ cap. of the Acts, vers. 25. itt renders
and Simon of Cyrene as both employed AaBiS rou-xaidog Gov, David pueri tui,
in carrying the cross— some have sup- and inthe mh lgg^& ffou'Ljtfouvpuerum
posed as Lipsms notices, that only a part . T , , ,,
K , . , X. .. a \ r ..l. tuum Iesum, in both places absurdly :
(probably the transverse portion) of the ,. , _, ', . K. . . J
vr ' . , r .A t- ■• which Beza observed and corrected ; ren-
cross was borne by our Lord. — Limn ■,.,„,. , j
Opera, vol. iii, p. 658. J"?^ lh* fil'f b* tbf word s?r.?*,nt' a"J
6puer.] In the Greeke the word he lat" b* tbtword sonne nghtlye and
r v.-,. J ,. , learnedlye. — Wr.
\tfaig J is ambiguous and, as wee say, po-
lysemon, signifying diverselye according
VOL HI. I
114 ENQUIRIES INTO VULGAR [BOOK V.
but respectively unto Abraham, who was at that time above
six score. And therefore also herein he was not unlike unto
him, who was after led dumb unto the slaughter, and com-
manded by others, who had legions at command ; that is, in
meekness and humble submission. For had he resisted, it
had not been in the power of his aged parent to have en-
forced ; and many at his years have performed such acts, as
few besides at any. David was too strong for a lion and a
bear ; Pompey had deserved the name of Great ; Alexander
of the same cognomination was generalissimo of Greece ; and
Annibal, but one year after, succeeded Asdrubal in that me-
morable war against the Romans.
CHAPTER IX.
Of the Picture of Moses with Horns,
In many pieces, and some of ancient bibles, Moses is describ-
ed with horns.7 The same description we find in a silver
medal; that is, upon one side Moses horned, and on the
reverse the commandment against sculptile images. Which
is conceived to be a coinage of some Jews, in derision of
Christians, who first began that portrait.8
The ground of this absurdity was surely a mistake of the
Hebrew text, in the history of Moses when he descended
from the mount, upon the affinity of kceren and Jcaran that,
is, an horn, and to shine, which is one quality of horn.
The vulgar translation conforming unto the former ; Ignorabat
quod comuta esset fades ejus.* Qui videbantfaciem Mosis
esse cornutam. But the Chaldee paraphrase, translated by
Paulus Fagius, hath otherwise expressed it: Moses nesciebat
quod multus esset splendor glorice vidtus ejus. Et viderunt
* Exod. xxxiv, 29, 30.
7 In many pieces, $fc.~\ And in Michael 8 The same description, §c.~\ This sen-
Angelo's Statue of Moses in St. Peter's tence was first added in 2nd edition,
at Rome.
CHAP. IX.] AND COMMON ERRORS. 115
filii Israel quod multa esset claritas glories faciei Mosis.9
The expression of the septuagint is as large, SsSp'gatfra/ n <H"S
rov xgwparog rov 7rgoau>7rov, Glorificatus est aspectus cutis, seu
coloris faciei.
And this passage of the Old Testament is well explained
by another of the New; wherein it is delivered, that "they
could not stedfastly behold the face of Moses,"* &a r%v 86%av
row vrgotuirov, that is, for the glory of his countenance. And
surely the exposition of one text is best performed by ano-
ther ; * men vainly interposing their constructions, where the
Scripture decideth the controversy. And therefore some
have seemed too active in their expositions, who in the story
of Rahab the harlot, have given notice that the word also
signifieth an hostess ; for in the epistle to the Hebrews, she
is plainly termed tfogvjj,2 which signifies not an hostess, but a
pecuniary and prostituting harlot f a term applied unto Lais by
the Greeks, and distinguished from Iratea, or arnica, as may
appear in the thirteenth of Athenaeus.
And therefore more allowable is the translation of Tre-
mellius, quod splendida facta esset cutis faciei ejus ; or as
Estius hath interpreted it, fades ejus erat radiosa, his face
was radiant, and dispersing beams like many horns and cones
about his head ; which is also consonant unto the original
signification, and yet observed in the pieces of our Saviour,
* 2 Cor. iii, 13. f What kind of harlot she was, read Camar. de Vita Elite.
9 But the Chaldee, Sj-c.'] First added by keeping a house of entertainment for
Sn 2nd edition. strangers." He proceeds however in this
1 another.'] This is a golden rule, as criticism, on a principle which he has else-
necessary as infallible. — Wr. where laid down, "that the writers of
2 in the epistle, <^c] Dr. Adam the New Testament scarcely ever quote
Clarke (on Joshua ii, 2,) admitting that the Old Testament, but from the Septua-
TOgw) generally signifies a prostitute, con- gint translation ;" thus he contents him-
tends nevertheless that it might not have self with a rabbinical version of the
been used in that sense here : he asks LXX— and to that interpretation would
why the derived meaning of the word, bind tne apostle.
from TTOgi/aw, to sell, may not have refer- Dr- Gil1 notices the rabbinical authori-
ence to goods, as well as to person ? In tlf}n J? ™°?the interPretation adoPt"
that sense he observes the Chaldee Tar- *d b? Dr" Clarke' but remarks that the
gum understood the word, and in their ^ews T™1? take Rahab, .t0 bf a har"
translation gave it accordingly the mean- !?1 ; and that Senerally speaking, in those
ing of a tavern keeper. He concludes ,tlmes and countlle.s such asy kept public
rather a long article by saying, « it is bousf were Plostltutes- . He no,t,ces the
most likely that she was a single woman, (?reek versl0n a1d de«dedly leans t0
or widow, who got her bread honestly, the usual accePtatlon of tlie term-
I 2
1 16 ENQUIRIES INTO VULGAR [BOOK V.
and the Virgin Mary, who are commonly drawn with scintil-
lations, or radiant halos about their head ; which, after the
French expression, are usually termed the glory.
Now if, besides this occasional mistake, any man shall con-
tend a propriety in this picture, and that no injury is done
unto truth by this description, because an horn is the hiero-
glyphick of authority, power, and dignity, and in this meta-
phor is often used in Scripture ; the piece I confess in this
acception is harmless and agreeable unto Moses ; and, under
such emblematical constructions, we find that Alexander the
Great, and Attila king of the Huns, in ancient medals are
described with horns. But if from the common mistake, or
any solary consideration, we persist in this description, we
vilify the mystery of the irradiation, and authorize a danger-
ous piece, conformable unto that of Jupiter Amnion ; which
was the sun, and therefore described with horns, as is
delivered by Macrobius ; Hammonem quern Deum solem oc-
cidentem Libyes existimant, arietinis cornibus jingunt, quibus
id animal valet, sicut radiis sol. We herein also imitate
the picture of Pan, and pagan emblem of nature. And if
(as Macrobius and very good authors concede) Bacchus, (who
is also described with horns,) be the same deity with the sun ;
and if (as Vossius well contendeth)* Moses and Bacchus
were the same person ; their descriptions must be relative, or
the tauricornous picture of the one, perhaps the same with
the other.3
* De Origine Idololatriee.
3 any solary consideration.] Solary, Taylor, in his Holy Dying, p. 17, de-
' relating to the sun.' — The Hebrew scribes the rising sun, as " peeping over
word used in this passage signifies to the eastern hills, thrusting out his golden
shoot forth, and may be applied perhaps horns, Sfc." — Jeff.
to rays of light, as well as to horns. Bp.
CHAP. X.] AND COMMON ERRORS. 117
CHAPTER X.
Of the Scutcheons of the Twelve Tribes of Israel.
We will not pass over the scutcheons of the tribes of Israel,
as they are usually described in the maps of Canaan and
several other pieces ; generally conceived to be the proper
coats, and distinctive badges of their several tribes. So
Reuben is conceived to bear three bars wave, Judah a lion
rampant, Dan a serpent nowed, Simeon a sword impale, the
point erected, &c* The ground whereof is the last benedic-
tion of Jacob, wherein he respectively draweth comparisons
from things here represented.
Now herein although we allow a considerable measure of
truth, yet whether, as they are usually described, these were
the proper cognizances, and coat-arms of the tribes ; whether
in this manner applied, and upon the grounds presumed,
material doubts remain.
For first, they are not strictly made out from the prophe-
tical blessing of Jacob ; for Simeon and Levi have distinct
coats, that is, a sword, and the two tables, yet are they by
Jacob included in one prophecy; "Simeon and Levi are
brethren, instruments of cruelty are in their habitations."
So Joseph beareth an ox, whereof notwithstanding there is
no mention in this prophecy ; for therein it is said, " Joseph
is a fruitful bough, even a fruitful bough by a well ; "
by which repetition are intimated the two tribes descen-
ding from him, Ephraim and Manasses ; whereof notwith-
standing Ephraim only beareth an ox. True it is, that
many years after, in the benediction of Moses, it is said of
Joseph, " His glory is like the firstlings of his bullock:" and
so we may concede, what Vossius learnedly declareth, that
the /Egyptians represented Joseph in the symbol of an ox ;
* Gen. xlix.
118 ENQUIRIES INTO VULGAR [BOOK V.
for thereby was best implied the dream of Pharaoh, which
he interpreted, the benefit by agriculture, and provident
provision of corn which he performed ; and therefore did
Serapis bear a bushel upon his head.
Again, if we take these two benedictions together, the
resemblances are not appropriate, and Moses therein con-
forms not unto Jacob ; for that which in the prophecy of
Jacob is appropriated unto one, is in the blessing of Moses
made common unto others. So, whereas Judah is compared
unto a lion by Jacob, Judah is a lion's whelp, the same is
applied unto Dan by Moses, " Dan is a lion's whelp, he shall
leap from Bashan ; " and also unto Gad, " he dwelleth as a
lion."
Thirdly, if a lion were the proper coat of Judah, yet were
it not probably a lion rampant, as it is commonly described, but
rather couchant or dormant, as some heralds and rabbins do
determine, according to the letter of the text, Recumbens
dormisti nt leo, "He couched as a lion, and as a young-
lion, who shall rouse him ? "
Lastly, when it is said, " Every man of the children of
Israel shall pitch by his own standard, with the ensign of
their father's house;"* upon enquiry what these standards
and ensigns were, there is no small incertainty, and men con-
form not unto the prophecy of Jacob. Christian expositors
are fain herein to rely upon the rabbins, who notwithstand-
ing are various in their traditions, and confirm not these com-
mon descriptions. For as for inferior ensigns, either of par-
ticular bands or houses, they determine nothing at all ; and
of the four principal or legionary standards, that is, of Judah,
Reuben, Ephraim, and Dan, (under every one whereof march-
ed three tribes,) they explain them very variously. Jonathan,
who compiled the Targum, conceives the colours of these
banners to answer the precious stones in the breast-plate,
and upon which the names of the tribes were engraven.f So
the standard for the camp of Judah was of three colours,
according unto the stones, chalcedony, sapphire, and sardo-
* Num. ii.
f The like also P. i'agius upon the Targum or Chaldee Paraphrase
of Onkelos, Num. i.
CHAP. X.] AND COMMON ERRORS. 119
nyx; and therein were expressed the names of the three
tribes, Judah, Issachar, and Zabulon; and in the midst
thereof was written, "Rise up, Lord, and let thy enemies be
scattered; and let them that hate thee, flee before thee :"* in it
was also the portrait of a lion. The standard of Reuben was
also of three colours, sardine, topaz, and amethyst ; therein
were expressed the names of Reuben, Simeon, and Gad^in
the midst was written, " Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God,
the Lord is one ;" f therein was also the portraiture of a
hart. But Abenezra and others, beside the colours of the
field, do set down other charges, in Reuben's the form of a
man or mandrake, in that of Judah a lion, in Ephraim's an
ox, in Dan's the figure of an eagle.
And thus indeed the four figures in the banners of the
principal squadrons of Israel, are answerable unto the cheru-
bims in the vision of Ezekiel ; J every one carrying the form of
all these. As for the likeness of their faces, they four had
the likeness of the face of a man, and the face of a lion on the
right side, and they four had the face of an ox on the left
side, they four had also the face of an eagle. And conform-
able hereunto the pictures of the evangelists (whose gospels
are the Christian banners) are set forth with the addition of
a man or angel, an ox, a lion, and an eagle. And these sym-
bolically represent the office of angels and ministers of God's
will, in whom is required understanding as in a man, courage
and vivacity as in the lion, sen ice and ministerial officiousness
as in the ox, expedition or celerity of execution as in the
eagle.4
* Num. x. f Deut. vi. % Ezek. i.
4 eagle."} The reasons which the fa- all the rest, hath therefore that bird set
thers give of these emblems is excellent by him. They were shortly, but excel-
and proper. St. Matthew insists on lently expresst by these four emblems at
those prophecyes in Christ, and therefore the pedestall of Prince Henrye's pillar,
hath an angel, as itt were revealing those each of them in a scroll uttering these
things to him. St. Marke insists most four wordes, which make up a verse,
upon his workes of wonder and miracles, Expecto, by the angel, impavidus, by the
and therefore hathe the lyon of Judah lion, paiienter, by the oxe, dum renova-
by him. St. Luke is most copious in bor, by the eagle. — Wr.
those storyes which set forthe his passive The dean's expose reminds us of that
obedience, and therefore hathe the beast of Victorinus, Bishop of Petau, mention-
of sacrifice by him. And lastly, St. Johr, ed by Dr. Clarke, (in his Concise View
whose gospel sores like the eagle up to of the Succession of Sacred Literature,
heaven, and expresses the divinity cf &c. p. 199, vol. i.) In his Comment on
Christe in such a sublime manner above the 4th chap, of Rev. v. 6, 7, the bishop
120 ENQUIRIES INTO VULGAR [BOOK V.
From hence, therefore, we may observe that these descrip-
tions, the most authentic of any, are neither agreeable unto
one another, nor unto the scutcheons in question. For
though they agree in Ephraim and Judah, that is, the ox and
the lion, yet do they differ in those of Dan and Reuben, as
far as an eagle is different from a serpent, and the figure of a
man, hart, or mandrake, from three bars wave. Wherein
notwithstanding we rather declare the incertainty of arms in
this particular,5 than any way question their antiquity ; for
hereof more ancient examples there are than the scutcheons
of the tribes, if Osyris, Mizraim, or Jupiter the Just, were the
son of Cham ; for of his two sons, as Diodorus delivereth,
remarks: — "The four living creatures
are the four gospels. The lion denotes
Mark, in whom the voice of a lion, roar-
ing in the wilderness, is heard; the voice
of one that crieth in the wilderness, fyc.
Matthew, who has the resemblance of
a man, endeavours to shew us the family
of Mary, from whom Christ took flesh ;
he speakes of him as a man ; the book
of the generations, Sfc. Luke, who re-
lates the priesthood of Zecharias offer-
ing sacrifice for the people, &c. has the
resemblance of a calf. John, like an
eagle with outstretched wings soaring
aloft, speaks concerning the Word of
God, &c." But here we find various
opinions ; for while St. Jerome, in his
Commentary on Matthew, and Gregory
in his 4th Homily on Ezekiel, give the
same version as Victorinus, St. Augus-
tine assigns the man to Mark, and the
lion to Matthew. And the dean, in the
preceding note, follows those who re-
gard Matthew's man to have been an
angel.
5 the incertainty of arms in this par-
ticular.] Not a few of our antiquarian
writers, theologians, as well as heralds,
have been anxious to trace the origin of
heraldry to the Bible. Bishop Hall, in
his Impresse of God, says, "If the tes-
tament of the patriarchs had as much
credit as antiquity, all the patriarchs had
their armes assigned them by Jacob :
Judah a lyon, Dan a serpent, Nepthali an
hinde, Benjamin a wolf, Joseph a bough,
and so of the rest." Works, fol. 1G48,
p. 406, E.
In Mr. Jefferson's copy occurs the fol-
lowing MS, note. " Sir John Prestwick,
'"" vis MS. history of the noble family of
Chichester, derives the practice of he-
raldry from Gen. i, 14. ' Let them be
for signs,' — which he refers to heraldic
signs."
Sylvanus Morgan begins with the cre-
ation; " deducing from the principles of
nature " his Sphere of Gentry, which he
divides into four books, the first entitled
Adam's shield, or nobility native ; the
2nd, Joseph's coat, or nobility dative,
&c. In the latter he gives a curiously
engraven representation, and a descrip-
tion of Joseph's whole achievement ; his
coat being per Jesse imbatled Argent and
Gules out of a Well a Tree growing Pro-
per, ensigned with a Helmet of a Knight
thereon, out of a crown Mural Gules, a
Wheatsheaf Or ; his Mantles being of
three sorts : the outmost being that of the
gown, being cloth of gold lined with Er-
mine, Erminees, Erminois, and Erminets;
the next being that of the Cloak, accom-
panying him in all his adversities, being
lined Vaire, Fairy, and Cuppa; the out-
side Purple : the third being the Mantle
for his funeral, being mantled Sable, lin-
ed Argent; his Motto, Nee Sorli nee
Fato: having his wife's armes in an In-
Escutcheon, she being the daughter and
heir of Potiphar, Prince and Priest of
On : his Sword and Girdle on the left
side. Thus he is a publick person,
conferring honours by Nobility Dative
to his brethren ! !" — Sphere of Gentry,
book ii, p. 72. Alas ! for poor Joseph's
coat of many colours, to be thus blazon-
ed !
Master Morgan, in setting forth the
Camp of Israel, seemeth not less exactly
informed as to the precise bearing of each
tribe. (Ibid. p. 78.)
CHAP. X.] AND COMMON ERRORS. 121
the one for his device gave a dog, the other a wolf. And,
beside the shield of Achilles, and many ancient Greeks, if we
receive the conjecture of Vossius, that the crow upon Corvi-
nus' head was but the figure of that animal upon his helmet,
it is an example of antiquity among the Romans.
But more widely must we walk if we follow the doctrine of
the Cabalists, who in each of the four banners inscribe a
letter of the tetragrammaton, or quadriliteral name of God ;
and mysterizing their ensigns, do make the particular ones
of the twelve tribes, accomrnodable unto the twelve signs in
the zodiack, and twelve months in the year ; but the tetrarchi-
cal or general banners of Judah, Reuben, Ephraim, and Dan,5
Judah bare Gules, a Lyon couchant or, ©SBt.
Zabulun's black Ship 's like to a man of vvarr.
Issachar's Asse between two burthens girt,
As Dan's Sly Snake lies in a field of vert. flovtf)
Ashur with azure a Cup of Gold sustains,
And Nepthali's Hind trips o'er the flowry plains.
Epi-iraim's strong Ox lyes with the couchant Hart, 2133egt.
Manasseh's Tree its branches doth impart.
Benjamin's Wolfe in the field gules resides,
Reuben's field argent and blew Barrs Waved glides. §>0Utt).
Simeon doth beare the Sword : and in that manner
Gad having pitched his Tent sets up his Banner.
Unfortunately, however, as our author several other writers have taken pains to
shrewdly remarks, the" descriptions" of establish the same theory. General Val-
the conoscenti are not "agreeable unto lancy, in his chapter on the astronomy of
one another." Andrew Favine, in his the ancient Irish ; i.e. Collectanea de Re-
Theater of Honor and Knighthood, fol. bus Hibernicis, vol. VI, ch. ix,) proposes
1623, p. 4, perfectly agrees with Mor- a scheme, which Dr. Hales has adopted,
gan as to the antiquity of armes and with some alterations, in his Chronology,
blazons, which he does not hesitate to vol. ii. At still greater length has Sir
say " have been in use from the creation Wm. Drummond investigated the sub-
of the world." But when he descends ject, in a paper on Gen. xlix, in the Clas-
to particulars, their disagreement is in- sical Journal, vol. iii, p. 387. But here
stantly apparent. To say nothing of again the authorities are at issue. Sir
tinctures, half the bearings are different. William thus arranges his zodiack : —
Favine makes Judah's lyon rampant in- Reuben, Aquarius ; Simeon and Levi,
stead of couchant; Reuben bears an arm- Pisces; Judah, Leo ; Zebulun, Capri-
ed man, instead of the bars wavy; in corn; Issachar, Cancer; Dan, Scorpius ;
Ephraim's standard he omits the hart ; Gad, Aries ; Asher, Libra ; Naphthali,
to Simeon he assigns two swords instead Virgo ; Joseph, Taurus ; Benjamin, Ge-
oione; to Gad a sword instead of a ban- mini; Manasseh, Sagittarius. General
ner ; (though I suspect the description Valiancy on the other hand assigns to
of Morgan intended a sword, but the Simeon and Levi the sign Gemini, to
artist, misunderstanding his doggrel, has Zebulon, Cancer ; to Issacher, Taurus ;
drawn a banner;) to Manasseh a crown- to Naphthali, Aries; to Joseph, Virgo;
ed sceptre instead of a tree ; and to Dan, and to Benjamin, Capricorn; omitting
ears of corn instead of a cup of gold. Gad, Asher, and Manasseh. Dr. Hales
5 do make the particular ones, ^-c] also omits Manasseh, but places Gad in
Browne most probably alludes to the Pisces, Asher in Virgo, and Joseph in
opinion of Kircher on this point. But Sagittarius. There are other variations.
122 ENQUIRIES INTO VULGAR [BOOK V.
unto the signs of Aries, Cancer, Libra, and Capricornus ; *
that is, the four cardinal parts of the zodiack and seasons
of the year.6
CHAPTER XI.
Of the Pictures of the Sybils.
The pictures of the sybils are very common, and for their
prophecies of Christ in high esteem with Christians ; describ-
ed commonly with youthful faces, and in a defined number.
Common pieces making twelve, and many precisely ten ; ob-
serving therein the account of Varro, that is, Sibylla Del-
phica, Erythrcea, Samia, Cumana, Cumcea, or Cimmeria,
Hellespontiaca, Libyca, Phrygia, Tiburtina, Persica. In
which enumeration I perceive learned men are not satisfi-
ed, and many conclude an irreconcilable incertainty ; some
making more, others fewer, and not this certain number.
For Suidas, though he affirm that in divers ages there were
ten, yet the same denomination he affordeth unto more ; Boy-
* Rectus de Caelesti Agricidiura, lib iv.
Some have given Levi an open bough, the probability of his favourite theory,
The banner of Gad, which in Morgan he commences by endeavouring to prove
bears a lion, is also given green, and with- that the patriarchs were tinctured with
out any device. Reuben has sometimes polytheism, and addicted to divination
a mandrake, instead of the bars or the and astrology ; and arrives, in the space
armed man. Dan's serpent is sometimes of half a dozen sentences, at the absurd
noived, sometimes curled. Manasseh has and revolting conclusion, that Jacob was
sometimes an ox, and Ephraim an uni- an astrologer, who believed himself un-
corn or a bough. But enough of this, der the influence of the planet Saturn !
Further examination of the various fanci- To what lengths will not some men go in
ful speculations of critics and antiquaries, support of a favourite hypothesis, how-
whether heraldic or astronomical, will ever fanciful ! What would be our feel-
only confirm our author's conclusion, ings of indignation against him who
"of the incertainty of arms," and the should demolish the classical remains of
irreconcilable discrepancy of those who Grecian antiquity, to make way for the
have written on the subjects of the pre- vagaries of modern architecture? Less
sent chapter ; — quot homines, tot sen- deep by far, than when we are asked to
tentice ; and how should it be otherwise sacrifice the hallowed and beautiful sirn-
in a case where nothing can be known, plicity of Scripture narrative to the base
and any thing may therefore be conjee- figments of rabbinical tradition, or the
tured ? Before I close this note, however, gratuitous assumptions of such critics as
I must be allowed to protest against Sir Sir Wm. Drummond.
Wm. Diummond's mode of conducting <"> But more widely, f-c] First added
his enquiry. With a view of enhancing in 2nd edition.
CHAP. XI.] AND COMMON ERRORS. 123
sardus, in his tract of Divination, hath set forth the icons of
these ten, yet addeth two others, Epirotica and /Egyptia ;
and some affirm that prophesying women were generally
named sibyls.
Others make them fewer : Martianus Capella two ; Pliny
and Solinus three ; iElian four ; and Salmasius in effect but
seven. For discoursing hereof in his Plinian Exercitations,
he thus determineth ; Ridere licet hodiernos pictores, qui
tabulas proponunt Cumance, Cumcece et Erythrcece, quasi
trium diversarum sibyllarum ; cum una eademque fuerit Cu-
mana, Cumcea, et Erythrcea, ex plurium et doctissimorum
authorum sententia. Boysardus gives us leave to opinion
there was no more than one ; for so doth he conclude, In
tanta scriptorum varietate liberum relinquimus lectori cre-
dere, an una et eadem in diversis regionibus peregrinata,
cognomen sortita sit ab its locis ubi oracida reddidisse com-
peritur, an <plures extiterint : and therefore not discovering a
resolution of their number from pens of the best writers, we
have no reason to determine the same from the hand and
pencil of painters.
As touching their age, that they are generally described as
young women, history will not allow ; for the sibyl whereof
Virgil speaketh, is termed by him longceva sacerdos, and
Servius, in his comment, amplifieth the same. The other,
that sold the books unto Tarquin, and whose history is
plainer than any, by Livy and Gellius is termed amis ; that
is, properly no woman of ordinary age, but full of years, and
in the days of dotage, according to the etymology of Festus,*
and consonant unto the history, wherein it is said, that Tarquin
thought she doated with old age. Which duly perpended,
the licentia pictoria is very large ; with the same reason they
may delineate old Nestor like Adonis, Hecuba with Helen's
face, and time with Absolom's head. But this absurdity thai
eminent artist, Michael Angelo, hath avoided, in the pictures
of the Cumean and Persian sybils, as they stand described
from the printed sculptures of Adam Mantuanus.7
* Amis, quasi Avovc, sine mente.
7 Mantuanus.'] On the subject of this Abbe Pluche, Hist, du del, Vol. i, p.
chapter, the origin of the Sybils, see the 2G3. — Jeff.
124
ENQUIRIES INTO VULGAR
[book V.
CHAPTER XII.
Of the Picture describing the death of Cleopatra.
The picture concerning the death of Cleopatra, with two
asps or venomous serpents unto her arms or breasts, or both,
requires consideration : 8 for therein (beside that this variety
is not excusable) the thing itself is questionable ; nor is it in-
8 The picture, SfC.~\ " An ancient en-
caustic pictute of Cleopatra has lately
been discovered, and detatched from a
wall, in which it had been hidden for
centuries, and supposed to be a real por-
trait, painted by a Greek artist. It is
done on blue slate. The colouring is
fresh, very like life. She is represented
applying the aspic to her bosom." Ex-
tract from a Letter from Paris ; Phil.
Gaz. Nov. 27, 1822.— Jeff.
The preceding notice refers in all pro-
bability to the painting which was after-
wards brought over to England by its
possessor, Signor Micheli, who valued it
at £10,000. He caused an engraving of
it to be executed, which I have had an
opportunity of seeing, in the hands of R.
R. Reinagle, Esq. R. A. by whose kind-
ness I have also been favoured with the
following very full and interesting histo-
ry and description of this curious work
of art, in compliance with my request:
" 17, Fitzroy Square, Dec. 2, 1834.
" Sir, — The painting was done on a
species of black slaty marble — was brok-
en in two or three places. It was said
by the Chev. Micheli, the proprietor,
who brought it from Florence to this
country, that it had been found in the
recesses of a great wine cellar, where
other fragments of antiquity had been de-
posited. That it was in a very thick
case of wood nearly mouldered away.
That it got into a broker's hands, by
the major domo of the house or palace
where it was discovered, having sold a
parcel of insignificant lumber, so called,
in which this painting was found. It
was generally incrusted with a sort of
tartar and decomposed varnish, which
was cleared off by certain eminent che-
mists of Florence. Parts of the colouring
were scraped off and analysed by three
or four persons. Formal attestations
were made by them before the consti-
tuted authorities, and the documents had
the stamps of authorized bodies and signa-
tures. The colours were found to be all
mineral, and few in number. The red was
the synopia of Greece ; another laky red,
put over the red mantle Cleopatra wore,
was of a nature not discovered ; — It had
the look of Venetian glazed red lake,
of the crimson colour ; — the white was a
calx, but I forget of what nature ; — the
yellow was of the nature of Naples yel-
low— it seemed a vitrification; — there
was also yellow ochre ; — the black was
charcoal. The green curtain was es-
teemed terra verd of Greece, passed over
with some unknown enriching yellow
colour. The hair was deep auburn co-
lour, and might be mangenese ; — the
curls, elaborately made out, were finished
hair by hair, with vivid curved lines on
the lighted parts, of the bright yellow
golden colour. The necklace consisted
of various stones set in gold : the amulet
was of gold, and a chain twice or thrice
round her right wrist. She wore a crown
with radiating points, and jewels between
each ; — also a forehead jewel, with a large
pearl at the four corners, worn lozenge-
ways on her forehead ; part of her front
hair was plaited, and two plaits were
brought round the neck, and tied in a
knot of the hair; — the red mantle was
fastened on both shoulders — no linen was
seen. She held the asp in her left hand;
it was of a green colour, and rather large.
Its head was fanciful, and partook of the
CHAP. XII.]
AND COMMON ERRORS.
125
disputably certain what manner of death she died.9 Plutarch,
in the life of Anthony, plainly delivereth, that no man knew
the manner of her death ; for some affirmed she perished by
poison, which she always carried in a little hollow comb, and
wore it in her hair. Beside, there were never any asps dis-
covered in the place of her death, although two of her maids
perished also with her ; only it was said, two small and
almost insensible pricks were found upon her arm; which
was all the ground that Caesar had to presume the manner of
whims of sculptors both ancient and mo-
dern, resembling the knobhead aud pout-
ing mouth of the dolphin. While wri-
thing, it seems as if preparing to give
a second bite ; two minute indents of
the fangs were imprinted on the inside
of the left breast, and a drop or two
of blood flowed. Cleopatra was looking
upwards ; a shuddering expression from
quivering lips, and heavy tears falling
down her cheeks, gave the countenance
a singular effect ; her right hand was
falling from the wrist as if life were de-
parting and convulsion commencing. The
composition of the figure was erect and
judiciously disposed for the confined space
it was placed in. The proportion of the
picture was about two feet nine inches,
and narrow, like that sized canvass which
artists in England call a kitcat. On de-
composing the colours, the learned men
of Florence and of Paris were fully per-
suaded that it was an encaustic painting ;
wax and a resinous gum were distinctly
separated. The whole picture presented
the strongest signs of antiquity ; but
whether it is a real antique, remains still
a doubt on many minds. It was attri-
buted to Timomachus, an artist of great
eminence and a traveller, who lived at
the court of Augustus Caesar. He fol-
lowed the encaustic style of Apelles, and
with him died or faded away that diffi-
cult art. The picture was painted (as is
surmised) by the above-named Greek
artist, from memory (for he had seen
Cleopatra often,) to supply her place in
the triumph of Augustus, when he cele-
brated his Egyptian victories over An-
thony and Cleopatra. She, by her des-
perate resolution, deprived him of the
honour of exposing her person to the
gaze of the Roman people. The picture
was said to have been taken, as a pre-
cious relic of art, by Constantine to By-
zantium, afterwards named Constantino-
ple, and restored to Rome on the return
of his successors to the ancient seat of
government. Among the very many
things in and relating to art, this picture
was overlooked, and remained in the
deep dark recesses of the wine cellar.
The Chevalier Micheli carried it back to
Italy, when he left England, about two
years ago. What has become of it since
I know not.
" The title of the print is as follows:
— ' Cleopatra, Queen of Egypt. The
original of which this present plate is a
faithful representation, is the only known
and hitherto discovered specimen of an-
cient Greek painting. It has given rise
to the most learned enquiries both in
Italy and France, and been universally
admitted by cognoscenti, assisted by ac-
tual analysis of the colours, to be an
encaustic painting. The picture is at-
tributed to Timomachus, and supposed
to have been painted by him for his
friend and patron, Augustus Caesar, 33
years before Christ, to adorn the triumph
that celebrated his Egyptian victories
over Anthony and Cleopatra, as a substi-
tute for the beautiful original, of whom
he was disappointed by the heroic death
she inflicted on herself. This plate is
dedicated to the virtuosi and lovers of
refined art in the British empire by the
author, who is also the possessor of this
inestimable relic of Grecian art.'
" I remain your very obedient servant,
"r. r. reinagle."
"To Mr. S. Wilkin."
9 the thing itself, fyc.~\ The painters
have however this justification, that they
follow authorities. " Caesar, from the
two small pricks presumed the manner
of her death." Suetonius and Eutro-
pius mention one asp ; Horace, Virgil,
Florus, and Propertius, two. — Boss and
Jeff.
126 ENQUIRIES INTO VULGAR [BOOK V.
her death. Galen, who was contemporary unto Piutareh,
delivereth two ways of her death ; that she killed herself by
the bite of an asp, or bit an hole in her arm and poured poi-
son therein. Strabo, that lived before them both, hath also
two opinions ; that she died by the bite of an asp, or else a
poisonous ointment.
We might question the length of the asps, which are
sometimes described exceeding short ; whereas the cherscea,
or land-asp, which most conceive she used, is above four
cubits long. Their number is not unquestionable ; for where-
as there are generally two described, Augustus (as Plutarch
relateth) did carry in his triumph the image of Cleopatra, but
with one asp unto her arm. As for the two pricks, or little
spots in her arm, they infer not their plurality ; for like the
viper the asp hath two teeth, whereby it left this impression,,
or double puncture behind it.
And lastly, we might question the place ; for some apply
them unto her breast, which notwithstanding will not consist
with the history, and Petrus Victorius hath well observed the
same. But herein the mistake was easy, it being the custom
in capital malefactors to apply them unto the breast ; as the
author De Theriaca ad Pisonem, an eye-witness hereof in
Alexandria, where Cleopatra died, determineth ; " I beheld,"
saith he, " in Alexandria, how suddenly these serpents bereave
a man of life ; for when any one is condemned to this kind of
death, if they intend to use him favourably, that is, to dis-
patch him suddenly, they fasten an asp unto his breast, and
bidding him walk about, he presently perisheth thereby."
CHAP. XIII.] AND COMMON ERRORS. 127
CHAPTER XIII.
Of the Pictures of the Nine Worthies.
The pictures of the nine worthies * are not unquestionable,
and to critical spectators may seem to contain sundry impro-
prieties. Some will enquire why Alexander the Great is de-
scribed upon an elephant : " for we do not find he used that
animal in his armies, much less in his own person ; but his
horse is famous in history, and its name alive to this day.3
Beside, he fought but one remarkable battle wherein there
were any elephants, and that was with Porus, king of India,
in which notwithstanding, as Curtius, Arrianus, and Plu-
tarch report, he was on horseback himself. And if because
he fought against elephants he is with propriety set upon
their backs, with no less (or greater) reason is the same de-
scription agreeable unto Judas Maccabeus, as may be ob-
served from the history of the Maccabees, and also unto
Julius Caesar, whose triumph was honoured with captive
elephants, as may be observed in the order thereof set forth
by Jacobus Laurus. * And if also we should admit this de-
scription upon an elephant, yet were not the manner thereof
unquestionable, that is, in his ruling the beast alone ; for be-
side the champion upon their back, there was also a guide
* In Splendore Urbis Antique.
1 the nine worthies,"] Namely, Joshua, ' AXi£,uv8gog 6 Aiog rov A'luvra, rip
Gideon, Sampson, David, Judas Macca- ,^'w . for be gave t0 this elephant the
basus, Alexander the Great, Julius Cae- nam'e of Ajax> and the inhabitants s0
sar, Charlemagne, and Godfrey of Bou- honoured this beast that th beset bim
logne.
round with garlands and ribbons. — Ar-
2 Some will enquire, <$c] Ross sug- cma j6Q
gests that " this picture hath reference 3 ^ Ms' h ^-j There is an
to that story of the elephant in Philos- e ■ of Alexander on Bucephalus,
tratus (lib i c. 61,) which from Alex- from an m<& g wUhont g£
ander to Tiberius, lived three hundred in ±e Youth's Magazine, tor May, 1820.
and fifty years. This huge elephant, j ™ ° J
Alexander, after he had overcome Porus, •" '
dedicated to the sun, in these words,
128 ENQUIRIES INTO VULGAR [BOOK V.
or ruler which sat more forward to command or guide the
beast. Thus did King Porus ride when he was overthrown
by Alexander ; and thus are also the towered elephants de-
scribed, Maccabees ii, 6. Upon the beasts 4 there were strong
towers of wood, which covered every one of them, and were
girt fast unto them by devices ; there were also upon every
one of them thirty-two strong men, beside the Indian that
ruled them.
Others will demand, not only why Alexander upon an ele-
phant, but Hector upon an horse ; whereas his manner of
fighting, or presenting himself in battle, was in a chariot,5
as did the other noble Trojans, who, as Pliny affirmeth, were
the first inventors thereof. The same way of fight is testi-
fied by Diodorus, and thus delivered by Sir Walter Raleigh.
" Of the vulgar, little reckoning was made, for they fought all
on foot, slightly armed, and commonly followed the success
of their captains, who rode not upon horses, but in chariots
drawn by two or three horses." And this was also the an-
cient way of fight among the Britons, as is delivered by Di-
odorus, Caesar, and Tacitus ; and there want not some who
have taken advantage hereof, and made it one argument of
their original from Troy.
Lastly, by any man versed in antiquity, the question can
hardly be avoided, why the horses of these worthies, especi-
ally of Caesar, are described with the furniture of great sad-
dles and stirrups ; for saddles, largely taken, though some
defence there may be, yet that they had not the use of stir-
rups, seemeth of lesser doubt ; as Pancirollus hath observed,
as Polydore Virgil and Petrus Victorius have confirmed,*
expressly discoursing hereon ; as is observable from Pliny,
and cannot escape our eyes in the ancient monuments, medals,
* De Inventione Rerum, Varice Lectiones.
4 upon the beasts.] Yf wee reckon 5 chariot.] The use of chariots and (in
but 3001b weight for every man and his warr) of iron, and in private travayle of
armour and weapons (which is the low- lighter substance is as olde as Jacob, as
est proportion) and allowing for the tower appeares Gen. xlv, 27. And in Gen.
and harnessing, but 5 or GOOftj more, the xiv, 7, the text sayes, that Pharoah had
burthenofeachelephantcannotbeesteem- in his army COO chosen chariots, besides
ed less than 10, lOOftj weight ; which is a all the chariots of /Egypt. Now the
thing almost incredible : for 4,0001b or former of these two storyes was 500
5,000]r5 is the greatest loade that 8 or 10 yeares before the Trojan war, and the
stronghorseareusuallyputtodrawe.-jr?-. later 300. — Wr.
CHAP. XIII.] AND COMMON ERRORS. 129
and triumphant arches of the Romans. Nor is there any
ancient classical word in Latin to express them. For staphia,
stapes, or stapeda, is not to be found in authors of this an-
tiquity. And divers words which may be urged of this sig-
nification, are either later, or signified not thus much in the
time of Caesar. And therefore, as Lipsius observeth, lest a
thing of common use should want a common word, Francis-
cus Philelphus named them stapedas, and Bodinus Subiecus,
pedanos. And whereas the name might promise some an-
tiquity, because among the three small bones in the auditory
organ, by physicians termed incus, malleus, and stapes, one
thereof from some resemblance doth bear this name ; these
bones were not observed, much less named by Hippocrates,
Galen, or any ancient physician. But as Laurentius observeth,
concerning the invention of the stapes or stirrup-bone, there
is some contention between Columbus and Ingrassias ; the
one of Sicilia, the other of Cremona, and both within the
compass of this century.
The same is also deducible from very approved authors.
Polybius, speaking of the way which Annibal marched into
Italy, useth the word /Se/S^kt usrai, that is, saith PetrusVictorius,
it was stored with devices for men to get upon their horses,
which assents were termed bemata, and in the life of Caius
Gracchus, Plutarch expresseth as much. For endeavouring
to ingratiate himself with the people, besides the placing of
stones at every mile's end, he made at nearer distances cer-
tain elevated places and scalary ascents, that by the help
thereof they might with better ease ascend or mount their
horses. Now if we demand how cavaliers, then destitute of
stirrups, did usually mount their horses, as Lipsius inform-
eth, the unable and softer sort of men had their avufiox$ig, or
stratores, which helped them upon horseback, as in the practice
of Crassus, in Plutarch, and Caracalla, in Spartianus, and
the later example of Valentinianus, who because his horse
rose before, that he could not be settled on his back, cut off
the right hand of his strator. But how the active and hardy
persons mounted, Vegetius * resolves us, that they used to
* De re Milit.
VOL. III. K
130 ENQUIRIES INTO VULGAR [BOOK V.
vault or leap up, and therefore they had wooden horses in
their houses and abroad, that thereby young men might en-
able themselves in this action ; wherein by instruction and
practice they grew so perfect, that they could vault up on the
right or left, and that with their sword in hand, according to
that of Virgil,
Poscit equos atque arma simul, sultuque superbus
Emicat.
And again,
Infraenant alii currus, et corpora saltu
Injiciunt in equos.
So Julius Pollux adviseth to teach horses to incline, dimit,
and bow down their bodies, that their riders may with better
ease ascend them. And thus may it more causally be made
out what Hippocrates affirmeth of the Scythians, that using
continual riding they were generally molested with the scia-
tica or hip gout. Or what Suetonius delivereth of Germa-
nicus, that he had slender legs, but increased them by riding
after meals; that is, the humours descending upon their
pendulosity, they having no support or suppedaneous sta-
bility.6
8 Or what Suetonius, <^c] Hippocra-
tes observes, that the Scythians, who
were much on horseback, were troubled
with defluxions and swellings in their
legs, occasioned by their dependent pos-
ture, and the want of something to sus-
tain their feet. Had stirrups been known,
this inconvenience could not have been
urged, and on this fact, together with
other arguments, Berenger much relies
in his opinion that stirrups were not
known to the ancients. See his History
and Art of Horsemanship, 2 vols. 4to.
Montfaucon attributes this ignorance to
the absence of saddles, and to the impos-
sibility of attaching stirrups to the horse-
cloths, or ephippia, which were anciently
used for saddles.
Beckman, in his chapter on stirrups,
{History of Inventions and Discoveries,
vol. ii, 270,) among other authorities,
refers to the present chapter in the French
translation. Nothing, he says, resemb-
ling stirrups, remains in ancient works
of artpr coins. Xenophon, in his chap-
ter on horsemanship, makes no mention
of them. Stone mounting-steps, he ob-
serves, were not only used among the
Romans, but are still to be found even
in England. Victorious generals used to
compel the vanquished even of the high-
est rank, to stoop that they might mount
by stepping on their backs. He men-
tions some spurious inscriptions and coins
which exhibit the stirrup. He names
Mauritius as the first writer who has ex-
pressly mentioned it, in the sixth cen-
tury, and from Eustathius it appears that
even in the 12th century, the use of
stirrups had not become common.
" Abdallah's friend found him with his
foot in the stirrup, just mounting his
camel." Sale's Koran, Prelim. Disc. p.
29. Abdallah lived in the sixth century.
-Jeff.
" Stirops. From the old English astige
or stighe, to ascend or mount up, and
ropes ; being first devised with cords or
ropes, before they were made with lea-
ther and iron fastened to it." Verstegan,
p. 209. " To have styed up from the
very centre of the earth." Bishop Hall's
Contemplations on the Ascension, vol. ii,
p. 2S5. Hinc Stigh-ropes. — Jeff.
CHAP. XIV.] AND COMMON ERRORS. 131
Now if any shall say that these are petty errors and minor
lapses, not considerably injurious unto truth, yet is it neither
reasonable nor safe to contemn inferior falsities, but rather as
between falsehood and truth there is no medium, so should
they be maintained in their distances ; nor the contagion of
the one approach the sincerity of the other.
CHAPTER XIV.
Of the Picture of Jephthah Sacrificing his Daughter .
The hand of the painter confidently setteth forth the picture of
Jephthah in the posture of Abraham, sacrificing his only daugh-
ter. Thus is it commonly received, and hath had the attest
of many worthy writers. Notwithstanding upon enquiry we
we find the matter doubtful, and many upon probable grounds
to have been of another opinion ; conceiving in this oblation
not a natural but a civil kind of death, and a separation only
unto the Lord. For that he pursued not his vow unto a
literal oblation, there want not arguments both from the text
and reason.7
According to Sir John Carr's " Cale- or friend's wife, son, or daughter, &c.
(Ionian Sketches," in his account of a had been returning from a visit to his
male equipage, that island is not yet "a family, his vow gave him no right over
land of bridles and saddles." — Mo. Rev. them. Besides, human sacrifices were
Sep. 1809. — Jeff. ever an abomination to the Lord; and
7 For that he pursued not, 8fC.~\ The this was one of the grand reasons why
observations of Dr. Adam Clarke on this God drave out the Canaanites, &c. be-
very interesting question, are so spirited cause they offered their sons and daugh-
and satisfactory, that I must insert them, ters to Moloch, in the fire; i.e. made
Judg. xi, 31 — " The translation of which, burnt-offerings of them, as is generally
according to the most accurate Hebrew supposed. That Jephthah was a deeply
scholars, is this — 'I will consecrate it to pious man, appears in the whole of his
the Lord ; or, I will offer it for a burnt- conduct; and that he was well acquaint-
offering :' that is, ' if it be a thing fit for ed with the law of Moses, — which prohi-
a burnt-offering, it shall be made one : if bited such sacrifices, and stated what was
fit/or the service of God, it shall be conse- to be offered in sacrifice, — is evident
crated to him.' That conditions of this enough from his expostulation with the
kind must have been implied in the vow king and people of Amnion, verse 14 to
is evident enough ; to have been made 27. Therefore it must be granted that
without them it must have been the vow he never made that rash vow which se-
of a heathen or a madman. If a dog had veral suppose he did ; nor was he capable,
met him, this could not have been made if he had, of executing it in that most
a burnt-offering : and if his neighbour's shocking manner which some Christian
K 2
132 ENQUIRIES INTO VULGAR [BOOK V.
For first, it is evident that she deplored her virginity, and
not her death ; " Let me go up and down the mountains and
bewail my virginity, I and my fellows."
Secondly, when it is said, that Jephthah did unto her ac-
cording unto his vow, it is immediately subjoined, et non
cognovit virum, and she knew no man ; which, as immediate
in words, was probably most near in sense unto the vow.
Thirdly it is said in the text, that the daughters of Israel
went yearly to talk with the daughter of Jephthah four days in
the year ; which had she been sacrificed they could not have
done : for whereas the word is sometime translated to lament,
yet doth it also signify to talk or have conference with one,
and by Tremellius, who was well able to judge of the original,
it is in this sense translated : Ibant Jilice Israelitarmn, ad
confabidandum cum Jilia Jephthaci, quatuor diebus quotan-
nis: and so it is also set down in the marginal notes of our
translation. And from this annual concourse of the daugh-
ters of Israel, it is not improbable in future ages the daugh-
ter of Jephthah came to be worshipped as a deity, and had by
the Samaritans an annual festivity observed unto her honour,
as Epiphanius hath left recorded in the heresy of the Mel-
chisedecians.
It is also repugnant unto reason ; for the offering of man-
kind was against the law of God, who so abhorred human
sacrifice, that he admitted not the oblation of unclean beasts,
and confined his altars but unto few kinds of animals, the ox,
the goat, the sheep, the pigeon, and its kinds. In the clean-
sing of the leper, there is, I confess, mention made of the
sparrow ; but great dispute may be made whether it be pro-
perly rendered. And therefore the Scripture with indigna-
tion ofttimes makes mention of human sacrifice among the
Gentiles ; whose oblations scarce made scruple of any ani-
mal, sacrificing not only man, but horses, lions, eagles ; and
though they come not into holocausts, yet do we read the
Syrians did make oblations of fishes unto the goddess Der-
ceto. It being therefore a sacrifice so abominable unto God,
writers (tell it not in Gath) have con- executor of God's justice to punish in
tended for. He could not commit a crime others."
which himself had just now been an
CHAP. XIV.] AND COMMON ERRORS. 133
although he had pursued it, it is not probable thp priests and
wisdom of Israel would have permitted it ; and that not only
in regard of the subject or sacrifice itself, but also the sacri-
ficator, which the picture makes to be Jephthah, who was
neither priest, nor capable of that office ; for he was a Gilead-
ite, and as the text affirmeth, the son also of an harlot. And
how hardly the priesthood would endure encroachment upon
their function, a notable example there is in the story of
Ozias.
Secondly, the offering up of his daughter was not only un-
lawful and entrenched upon his religion, but had been a
course that had much condemned his discretion ; that is, to
have punished himself in the strictest observance of his vow,
when as the law of God had allowed an evasion ; that is, by
way of commutation or redemption, according as is determin-
ed, Levit. xxvii. Whereby if she were between the age of
five and twenty, she was to be estimated but at ten shekels,
and if between twenty and sixty, not above thirty. A sum
that could never discourage an indulgent parent ; it being
but the value of a servant slain ; the inconsiderable salary of
Judas ; and will make no greater noise than three pounds
fifteen shillings with us. And therefore their conceit is not to be
exploded, who say that from the story of Jephthah's sacrificing
his own daughter, might spring the fable of Agamemnon,
delivering unto sacrifice his daughter Iphigenia, who was also
contemporary unto Jephthah ; wherein to answer the ground
that hinted it, Iphigenia was not sacrificed herself, but re-
deemed with an hart, which Diana accepted for her.8
Lastly, although his vow run generally for the words,
" Whatsoever shall come forth, &c." yet might it be restrain-
ed in the sense, for whatsoever was sacrificeable and justly
subject to lawful immolation ; and so would not have sacri-
ficed either horse or dog, if they had come out upon him. Nor
was he obliged by oath unto a strict observation of that which
promissorily was unlawful ; or could he be qualified by vow
to commit a fact which naturally was abominable. Which
8 Iphigenia, 8fc.~\ So the son of Ido- resting scene in Fcnclons Tdanachus,
nieneus, on whose late there is an intc- book v. — Jeff.
134' ENQUIRIES INTO VULGAR [BOOK V.
doctrine had Herod understood, it might have saved John
Baptist's head, when he promised by oath to give unto He-
rodias whatsoever she would ask ; that is, if it were in the
compass of things which he could lawfully grant. For his
oath made not that lawful which was illegal before ; and if it
were unjust to murder John, the supervenient oath did not
extenuate the fact, or oblige the juror unto it.9
Now the ground at least which much promoted the opi-
nion, might be the dubious words of the text, which contain
the sense of his vow ; most men adhering unto their common
and obvious acception. " Whatsoever shall come forth of
the doors of my house, shall surely be the Lord's, and I will
offer it up for a burnt-offering." Now whereas it is said, Erit
Jehovce, et offeram Mud holocaustum, the word signifying
both et and aid, it may be taken disjunctively ; aid offeram,
that is, it shall either be the Lord's by separation, or else, an
holocaust by common oblation ; even as our marginal trans-
lation advertiseth, and as Tremellius rendereth it, Erit in-
quam Jehovce, ant offeram illud holocaustum. And, for the
vulgar translation, it useth often et where aid must be pre-
sumed, as Exod. xxi ; Si quis percusserit patrem et matrem,
that is, not both, but either. There being therefore two
ways to dispose of her, either to separate her unto the Lord,
or offer her as a sacrifice, it is of no necessity the latter
should be necessary ; and surely less derogatory unto the
sacred text and history of the people of God must be the
former.
CHAPTER XV.
Of the Picture of John the Baptist in a Camel's Skin.
The picture of John the Baptist in a camel's skin is very
questionable,1 and many I perceive have condemned it. The
ground or occasion of this description are the words of the
9 Lastly, although his vow, c'j'c.j First usual, supports the opinion which Browne
added in 2nd edition. attacks. "It was tit the Baptist, who
1 in a camel's skin, fyc."] Ross, as came to preach repentance for sin, should
CHAP. XV.] AND COMMON ERRORS. 135
Holy Scripture, especially of Matthew and Mark, (for Luke
and John are silent herein ;) by them it is delivered, " his
garment was of camel's hair, and he had a leather girdle
about his loins." Now here it seems the camel's hair is
taken by painters for the skin or pelt with the hair upon it.
But this exposition will not so well consist with the strict ac-
ception of the words ; for Mark i, it is said, he was, evbsBu-
fjjivog rgfyag xttpyXov, and Matthew iii, iij} rb svSvfia avb rgiyZiv
xapfaov, that is, as the vulgar translation, that of Beza, that
of Sixtus Quintus, and Clement the Eighth hath rendered it,
vestimentam habebat t pills camelinis; which is, as ours
translateth it, a garment of camel's hair ; that is, made of
some texture of that hair, a coarse garment, a cilicious or sack-
cloth habit, suitable to the austerity of his life, — the severity
of his doctrine, repentance, — and the place thereof, the wil-
derness,— his food and diet, locusts and wild honey.2 Agree-
able unto the example of Elias,* who is said to be vir pilosus,
that is, as Tremellius interprets, Veste villosa cinctus, an-
swerable unto the habit of the ancient prophets, according to
that of Zachary : " In that day the prophets shall be asham-
ed, neither shall they wear a rough garment to deceive ;" f and
suitable to the cilicious and hairy vests of the strictest orders
of friarSj who derive the institution of their monastic life from
the example of John and Elias.
As for the wearing of skins, where that is properly intend-
ed, the expression of the Scripture is plain ; so is it said,
* 2 Kings iii, 18. f Zach. xiii.
wear a garment of skins, which was the hence by Claudian they are called pellita
first clothes that Adam wore after he had juventus. Great commanders also used
sinned ; for his fig-leaves were not pro- to wear them ; as Hercules the lion's
per, and this garment also shewed both skin, Acestes the bear's, Camilla the ti-
his poverty and humility. For as great ger's. John's garment, then, of camel's
men wear rich skins and costly furs, he hair, was not, as some fondly conceit, a
was contented with a camel's skin. By sackcloth or camblet, but a skin with the
this garment also he shews himself to hair on it."
be another Elijah, (2 Kings i,) who This is quaint and lively enough ; but
did wear such a garment, and to be one the most competent authorities agree
of those of whom the apostle speaks, who with our author in supposing John's gar -
went about in skins, of whom the world ment to have been made of a coarse sort
was not worthy. Neither was it unuse- of camel's hair camblet, or stuff : and
ful in John's time, and before, to wear Harmer has given several instances of
skins ; for the prophets among the Jews, such an article being worn,
the philosophers among the Indians, and " his food, fyc.~\ See book vii, eh. ix,
generally the Scythians did wear skins ;
136 ENQUIRIES INTO VULGAR [BOOK V.
Heb. xi, they wandered about h ouyslon Beg/Muav, that is, in
goat's skins ; and so it is said of our first parents, Gen. iii,
" That God made them ^iruvas Bsgfiurivovs, testes pelliceas, or
coats of skins ;" which though a natural habit unto all, before
the invention of texture, was something more unto Adam,
who had newly learned to die ; for unto him a garment from
the dead was but a dictate of death, and an habit of mortality.
Now if any man will say this habit of John was neither
of camel's skin, nor any coarse texture of its hair, but rather
some finer weave of camelot, grograin or the like, inasmuch
as these stuffs are supposed to be made of the hair of that
animal, or because that ./Elian affirmeth that camel's hair of
Persia is as fine as Milesian wool, wherewith the great ones
of that place were clothed ; they have discovered an habit
not only unsuitable unto his leathern cincture, and the coarse-
ness of his life, but not consistent with the words of our Sa-
viour, when reasoning with the people concerning John, he
saith, " What went you out into the wilderness to see ? A
man clothed in soft raiment? Behold, they that wear soft
raiment, are in king's houses."
CHAPTER XVI.
Of the Picture of Saint Christopher.
The picture of St. Christopher, that is, a man of a giant-like
stature, bearing upon his shoulders our Saviour Christ, and
with a staff in his hand, wading through the water, is known
unto children, common over all Europe, not only as a sign
unto houses, but is described in many churches,3 and stands
Colossus-like in the entrance of Notre Dame in Paris.4
Now from hence common eyes conceive an history suitable
3 is known unto children, <yc.] This tical figures of him, just as here describ-
gigantic saint is not so general an ac- ed, may be found in the Gent's. Mag.
quaintance in our nurseries, &c. as he for Oct. 1803.
seems to have been in days of yore. An 4 Notre Dame.] Also in the cathedral
amusing account of one of the ecclesias- of Christ's Church, Canterbury. — Jeff,
CHAP. XVI.] AND COMMON ERRORS. 137
unto this description, that he carried our Saviour in his mi-
nority over some river of water ; which notwithstanding we
cannot at all make out. For we read not thus much in any
good author, nor of any remarkable Christopher, before the
reign of Decius, who lived two hundred and fifty years after
Christ. This man indeed, according unto history, suffered
as a martyr in the second year of that Emperor, and in the
Roman calendar takes up the 21st of July.
The ground that begat or promoted this opinion, was first
the fabulous adjections of succeeding ages unto the veritable
acts of this martyr, who in the most probable accounts was
remarkable for his staff, and a man of a goodly stature.
The second might be a mistake or misapprehension of the
picture, most men conceiving that an history, which was con-
trived at first but as an emblem or symbolical fancy ; as from
the annotations of Baronius upon the Roman martyrology,
Lipellous,* in the life of St. Christopher, hath observed in
these words ; Acta S. CItristopheri a multis depravata inve-
niuntur : quod quidem non aliunde originem stimpsisse cer-
tum est, quam quod symbolicas jiguras imperiti ad veritatem
successu temporis transtulerint ; itaque cuncta ilia de Sancto
Christophero pingi consueta, symbola potius quam histories
alicujus existimandum est esse expressam imaginem ; that is,
" the acts of St. Christopher are depraved by many : which
surely began from no other ground than that in process of
time unskilful men translated symbolical figures unto real
verities : and therefore what is usually described in the pic-
ture of St. Christopher, is rather to be received as an emblem,
or symbolical description, than any real history." Now what
emblem this was, or what its signification, conjectures are
many ; Pierius hath set down one, that is, of the disciple of
Christ ; for he that will carry Christ upon his shoulders, must
rely upon the staff of his direction, whereon if he firmeth
himself he may be able to overcome the billows of resistance,
and in the virtue of this staff, like that of Jacob, pass over
the waters of Jordan. Or otherwise thus : he that will sub-
mit his shoulders unto Christ, shall by the concurrence of
* Lip. De Pitts Sanctorum.
138 ENQUIRIES INTO VULGAR [BOOK V.
his power increase into the strength of a giant ; and being
supported by the staff of his Holy Spirit, shall not be over-
whelmed by the waves of the world, but wade through all
resistance.
Add also the mystical reasons of this portrait alleged by
Vida and Xei'isanus ; and the recorded story of Christopher,
that before his martyrdom he requested of God, that wher-
ever his body were, the places should be freed from pestilence
and mischiefs, from infection. And therefore his picture or
portrait was usually placed in public ways, and at the en-
trance of towns and churches, according to the received
distich :5*
Christophorum videas, postea tutus eris.
CHAPTER XVII.
Of the Picture of St. George.
The picture of St. George killing the dragon, and as most
ancient draughts do run, with the daughter of a king stand-
ing by, is famous amongst Christians. And upon this
description dependeth a solemn story, how by this achieve-
ment he redeemed a king's daughter : which is more
especially believed by the English, whose protector he is ;
and in which form and history, according to his description
in the English college at Rome, he is set forth in the icons or
cuts of martyrs by Cevalerius, and all this according to the
Historia Lombardica, or golden legend of Jacobus de Vora-
gine.6 Now of what authority soever this piece be amongst
us, it is I perceive received with different beliefs : for some
believe the person and the story ; some the person, but not
the story ; and others deny both.7
* Anton. Caslellionce Antiqiiitatcs Mediolanenses.
5 Add also the mystical, §-c] First 7 Some beliivc the person, Sfc] Dr.
added in 3rd edition. Pettingal published a dissertation to prove
6 and all this, $-c] First added in both the person and the story to be fabu-
2nd edition. Ions, and the device of the order to be
CHAP. XVII.] AND COMMON ERRORS. lo9
That such a person there was, we shall not contend : for
besides others, Dr. Heylin hath clearly asserted it in his
History of St. George. The indistinction of many in the
community of name, or the misapplication of the acts of one
unto another, hath made some doubt thereof. For of this
name we meet with more than one in history, and no less than
two conceived of Cappadocia. The one an Arian, who was
slain by the Alexandrians in the time of Julian ; the other a
valiant soldier and Christian martyr, beheaded in the reign of
Dioclesian. This is the George conceived in this picture,
who hath his day in the Roman calendar, on whom so many
fables are delivered, whose story is set forth by Metaphrastes,
and his miracles by Turonensis.
As for the story depending hereon, some conceive as light-
ly thereof, as of that of Perseus and Andromeda, conjecturing
the one to be the father of the other ; and some too highly
assert it. Others with better moderation, do either entertain
the same as a fabulous addition unto the true and authentic
merely emblematical: and Dr. Byron
wrote an essay (in verse) to prove that St.
Gregory the Great, and not St. George
was the guardian saint of England.
Against these two, and other writers on
the same side, Dr. S. Pegge drew up a
paper which appeared in the 5th vol. of
the Archceologia : vindicating the honor
of the patron saint of these realms, and
vf that society ; asserting that he was a
Christian saint and martyr — George of
Cappadocia; and distinct from the
Arian bishop George of Alexandria, with
whom Dr. Reynolds had identified him.
In this paper Dr. Pegge has not mention-
ed the present chapter, which in all
probability only attracted his notice some
years after. — In his (posthumous work
called) Anonymiana, No. 54, he says,
that " the substance of Pettingal's disser-
tation on the original of the equestrian
figure of St. George (which the learned
author supposes to be all emblematical)
and of the Garter, may be found in
Browne's Vulgar Errors."
Browne, however, it must be observed,
is of the same opinion as Dr. Pegge as
to the reality of St. George, his identity
with George of Cappadocia, and his dis-
tinctness from the Arian bishop. All
these parties are agreed in declining as-
sent to the dragon part of the story.
It is very probable that Sir Thomas
was led partly by his residence at Nor-
wich, to investigate the story of St.
George, who is a personage of no small
importance there. Pegge mentions the
guild of St. George in that city, (in his
paper in the Archaeologia,) but he was
probably not aware that there has been
from time immemorial, on [" Lord]
Mayor's Day" at Norwich, an annual
pageant, the sole remnant of St.
George's guild, in which an immense
dragon, horrible to view, with hydra
head, and gaping jaws and wings, and
scales bedecked in gold and green, is
carried about by a luckless wight, whose
task it is, the live-long-day, by string and
pulley from within to ope and shut the
monster's jaws, by way of levying con-
tributions on the gaping multitude, es-
pecially of youthful gazers, with whom it
is matter of half terror, half joy, to pop
a half-penny into the opened mouth of
snap, (so is he called,) whose bow of
thanks, with long and forked tail high
waved in air, acknowledges the gift.
Throughout the rest of the year, fell Snap
lives on the forage of that memorable day :
quietly reposing in the hall of his con-
queror's sainted brother, St. Andrew,
where the civic feast is held.
140 ENQUIRIES INTO VULGAR [BOOK V.
story of St. George,8 or else, we conceive the literal accep-
tion to be a misconstruction of the symbolical expression;
apprehending a veritable history, in an emblem or piece of
Christian poesy. And this emblematical construction hath
been received by men not forward to extenuate the acts
of saints : as, from Baronius, Lipellous the Carthusian hath
delivered in the life of St George; Picturam Mam St.
Georgii qua, effingitur eqaes armatus, qui hastce cuspide hos.
tern interficit, juxta quern etiam virgo posita mantis supplices
tendens ejus explorat auxiliutn, symboli potiils quam histories
alicujus censenda expressa imago. Consuevit quidem ut
equestris milttice miles equestri imagine referri. That is, the
picture of St. George, wherein he is described like a Cuiras-
sier or horseman completely armed, &c. is rather a symbolical
image, than any proper figure.9
Now in the picture of this saint and soldier, might be
implied the Christian soldier, and true champion of Christ :
A horseman armed cap a pie, intimating the panoplia or com-
plete armour of a Christian combating with the dragon, that
is, with the devil, in defence of the king's daughter, that is
the Church of God.1 And therefore although the history
be not made out, it doth not disparage the knights and noble
order of St. George : whose cognisance is honourable in the
emblem of the soldier of Christ, and is a worthy memorial to
conform unto its mystery. Nor, were there no such person
at all, had they more reason to be ashamed, than the noble
order of Burgundy, and knights of the golden fleece ; whose
badge is a confessed fable.2
8 some conceive, 8fc.] First added in every Christian soule, and comprehen-
2nd edition. sively may signifye, the Church of God.
9 The picture, Sfc] First added in 2nd —Wr.
edition. -fable.'] Borowed from that old storye
1 Church of God.'] Or rather the soule, of the Argo-nauts, or Argo-knights, as
for soe in the picture and story shee is wee may call them, though the golden
called [psyche] that is the soul of man, fleece be ameer romance. — Wr.
which in a specificall sense is endeed
CHAP. XVIII.] AND COMMON ERRORS. 141
CHAPTER XVIII.
Of the Picture of Jerome.
The picture of Jerome usually described at his study, with a
clock hanging by, is not to be omitted ; for though the mean-
ing be allowable, and probable it is that industrious father
did not let slip his time without account, yet must not perhaps
that clock be set down to have been his measure thereof.
For clocks 3 or automatous organs, whereby we now distin-
guish of time, have found no mention in any ancient writers,
but are of late invention, as Pancirollus observeth. And
Polydore Virgil discoursing of new inventions whereof the
authors are not known, makes instance in clocks and guns.
Now Jerome is no late writer, but one of the ancient fathers,
and lived in the fourth century, in the reign of Theodosius
the first.
It is not to be denied that before the days of Jerome there
were horologies, and several accounts of time ; for they
measured the hours not only by drops of water in glasses
called clepsydrce, but also by sand in glasses called clepsam-
mia. There were also from great antiquity, scioterical or sun-
dials, by the shadow of a stile or gnomon denoting the hours
of the day ; an invention ascribed unto Anaximenes by Pliny.
Hereof a memorable one there was in Campus Martius, from
an obelisk erected, and golden figures placed horizontally
about it ; which was brought out of Egypt by Augustus, and
described by Jacobus Laurus.* And another of great an-
* A peculiar description and particular construction hereof out of K. Chomer,
is set down, Curios, de Caffarel. chap. ix.
3 clock s.~\ The ancient pictures of St. been senator and of a noble familye,
Hierom were naked, on his knees, in a picture him in the habit of the cardinals,
cave, with an hour-glasse and a scull by leaning on his arm at a desk in study
him, intimating his indefatigable con- with a clock hanging by him, and his
tinuance in prayers and studye while hee finger on a scull : and this they take to
lived in the cave at Bethleein. But the bee a more proper symbol of the cardinal
later painters at Rome, bycause hee had eminencye. — Wr.
142 ENQUIRIES INTO VULGAR [BOOK V.
tiquity we meet with in the story of Ezechias ; for so it is
delivered in 2 Kings xx. " That the Lord brought the
shadow backward ten degrees by which it had gone down
in the dial of Ahaz." That is, say some, ten degrees, not
lines ; for the hours were denoted by certain divisions or
steps in the dial, which others distinguished by lines, accord-
ing to that of Persius,
Stertimus indomitum quod despumare Falernum
Sufficiat, quinta dum linea tangitur umbra.
That is, the line next the meridian, or within an hour of
noon.
Of later years there succeeded new inventions, and horolo-
gies composed by trochilick or the artifice of wheels ; where-
of some are kept in motion by weight, others perform without
it. Now as one age instructs another, and time, that brings
all things to ruin, perfects also every thing; so are these
indeed of more general and ready use than any that went
before them. By the water glasses the account was not
regular ; for from attenuation and condensation, whereby that
element is altered, the hours were shorter in hot weather
than in cold, and in summer than in winter. As for scioteri-
cal dials, whether of the sun or moon, they are only of use in
the actual radiation of those luminaries, and are of little
advantage unto those inhabitants, which for many months
enjoy not the lustre of the sun.
It is I confess no easy wonder how the horometry of an-,
tiquity discovered not this artifice, how Architas, that con-
trived the moving dove, or rather the helicosophy of
Archimedes, fell not upon this way. Surely as in many
things, so in this particular, the present age hath far surpass-
ed antiquity ; whose ingenuity hath been so bold not only
to proceed below the account of minutes ; but to attempt
perpetual motions,4 and engines whose revolutions (could
their substance answer the design) might out-last the ex-
emplary mobility, and out-measure time itself. For such a
one is that mentioned by John Dee, whose words are these,
4 perpetual motions.'] John Romilly, neva, wrote a letter on the impossibility
a celebrated watch maker, born at Ge- of perpetual motion. — Jeff.
CHAP. XIX.] AND COMMON ERRORS. 143
in his learned preface unto Euclid : " By wheels, strange
works and incredible are done : a wondrous example was
seen in my time in a certain instrument, which by the inven-
tor and artificer was sold for twenty talents of gold ; and then
by chance had received some injury, and one Janellus of Cre-
mona did mend the same, and presented it unto the emperor
Charles the Fifth. Jeronymus Cardanus can be my witness,
that therein was one wheel that moved at such a rate, that in
seven thousand years only his own period should be finished ;
a thing almost incredible, but how far I keep within my
bounds many men yet alive can tell."
CHAPTER XIX.
Of the Pictures of Mermaids, Unicorns, and some others.
Few eyes have escaped the picture of mermaids ;5 that is,
according to Horace's monster, with a woman's head above,
and fishy extremity below ; and these are conceived to an-
swer the shape of the ancient sirens that attempted upon
5 mermaids.'] The existence of mer- salmon in poor Dr. Philip's " undoubted
maids has been so generally ridiculed, original," I persist in expecting one day
and high authorities have so repeatedly to have the pleasure of beholding — A
denounced as forgeries, delusions, or Meumaid !
traveller's wonders, the detailed narra- But what is a mermaid ? Aye, there
tives and exhibited specimens of these is the very gist of the question. Cicero
sea-nymphs, that it must be a Quixotic little dreamt of his classical rule being
venture to say a word in their defence, degraded by application to such a discus-
Yet am I not disposed to give up their sion as the present ; but I shall neverthe-
cause as altogether hopeless. I cannot less endeavour to avail myself of his
admit the probability of a belief in them maxim ; — Omnis disputatio debet a defi-
having existed from such remote anti- nitione proficisci. What is a mermaid ?
quity, and spread so widely, without Not the fair lady of the ocean, admiring
some foundation in truth. Nor can I herself in a hand-mirror, and bewitch-
consent to reject en masse such a host of ing the listener by her song ; — not the
delightfully pleasant stories as I find re- triton, dwelling in the ocean-cave, and
corded of these datighters of the sea, sounding his conch-like cornet or trum-
(as Illiger call the Dugongs) merely be- pet; — not the bishop-frocked creature of
cause it is the fashion to decry them. I Rondeletius ; nor Aldrovandus' mer-devil,
must be allowed, then, to hold my opi- with his horns and face of fury ; nor the
nion in abeyance for further evidence, howling and tempest-stirring monsters of
Unconvinced even by Sir Humphry Olaus Magnus — not, in short, the crea-
Davy's grave arguments to prove that ture of poetry or fiction: but a most sup-
such things cannot be, and undismayed posable, and probably often seen, though
by his asserted detection of the apes and hitherto undescribed, species of the her-
144
ENQUIRIES INTO VULGAR
[book V.
Ulysses. Which notwithstanding were of another descrip-
tion, containing no fishy composure, but made up of man and
bird : the human mediety variously placed not only above,
but below, according unto iElian, Suidas, Servius, Boccatius,
and Aldrovandus, who hath referred their description unto
bivorous cetacea, (the seals and laman-
tins,) more approaching, in several re-
spects, the human configuration, than
any species we know.
Let us hear and examine Sir Humphry's
arguments against the probability of such
a discovery. He says, that " a human
head, human hands, and human mammae,
are wholly inconsistent with a. fish's tail."
In one sense this is undeniable ; viz. —
since homo sapiens is (begging Lord Mon-
boddo's pardon) an incaudate animal, —
it follows that the head, hands, and mam-
ma of any creature furnished also with
a tail, could not be human: and so, con-
versely, the tail of such a creature could
not be a fish's tail. But this is a truism,
only to be paralleled by the exclama-
tion attributed by Peter Pindar to Sir
Joseph Banks, when he had boiled the
fleas and found they did not turn red, —
"Fleas are not lobsters! &c." Davy's
was not a nominal objection, a mere
play upon words : he goes on to say,
" the human head is adapted for an erect
posture, and in such a posture an ani-
mal with a fish's tail could not swim."
The head of our mermaid, however, may
more strongly resemble the human head,
than any described animal of its tribe,
and yet preserve at the same time the
power which they all have, of raising the
head perpendicularly out of the water
while swimming, as Sir Humphry him-
self probably did, when he was mistaken
by the fair ladies of Caithness for a mer-
maid ! Cuvier remarks, moreover, that
the tails of these herbivorous cetacea dif-
fer from those of fish in their greater
adaptation to maintain an erect posture.
Sir Humphry proceeds — " A creature
with lungs must be on the surface seve-
ral times in a day ; and the sea is an in-
convenient breathing place !" I must
take the liberty of confronting this most
singular observation with a much greater
authority. Cuvier says, (and surely Sir
Humphry must have for the moment
forgotten,) that the cetacea, though con-
stantly residing in the sea, "as they
respire by lungs, are obliged to rise fre-
quently to the surface to take in fresh
supplies of air." What is to be said of
a naturalist who argues against the possi-
bility of any creature provided with lungs
residing in the sea, in the face of so
important an example of the fact as we
have in the entire class of cetacea?
What would Cuvier, with all his readi-
ness to do homage to genius in any man,
and especially in so splendid an instance
as Davy, — what must he have thought,
had he read his preceding remarks ?
Magnus aliquando dormitat Homerus !
It is the more remarkable, as Sir
Humphry actually mentions some spe-
cies of this very tribe as having probably
given rise to some of the stories about
mermaids. And as to mamma and hands,
to which he also objects if in company
with the fish's tail, we must here again
have recourse to the protection of Cuvier
against our mighty assailant. " The first
family," (herbivorous cetacea,) says Cu-
vier, " frequently emerge from the water
to seek for pasture on the shore. They
have two mammas on the breast, and
hairs like mustachios, two circumstances
which, when they raise the anterior part
of the body above water, give them some
resemblance to men and women, and
have probably occasioned those fables of
the ancients concerning Tritons and Sy-
rens. Vestiges of claws may be disco-
vered on the edges of their fins, which
they use with dexterity in creeping, and
carrying their little ones. This has given
rise to a comparison of these organs with
hands, and hence these animals have
been called manatis," (or lamantins.)
Thus I have sketched the sort of crea-
ture, which may be supposed to exist :
nor can I deem it unreasonable to ex-
pect such a discovery, though Davy, after
saying, " It doubtless might please God
to make a mermaid; but I do not believe
God ever did make one :" — somewhat
arrogantly pronounces that " such an ani-
mal, if created, could not long exist, and,
with scarce any locomotive powers, would
be the prey of other fishes formed in a
manner more suited to their element."
It is singular that a writer in the Enc.
Mitropalitana should have concluded a
CHAP. XIX.] AND COMMON ERRORS. 145
the story of fabulous birds ; according to the description of
Ovid, and the account thereof in Hyginus, that they were
the daughters of Melpomene, and metamorphosed into the
shape of man and bird by Ceres.
And therefore these pieces, so common among us, do
rather derive their original, or are indeed the very descrip-
tions of Dagon, which was made with human figure above,
and fishy shape below ; whose stump, or, as Tremellius and
our margin render it, whose fishy part only remained, when
the hands and upper part fell before the ark. Of the shape
of Artergates, or Derceto, with the Phoenicians, in whose
fishy and feminine mixture, as some conceive, were implied
the moon and the sea, or the deity of the waters ; and there-
fore in their sacrifices, they made oblations of fishes. From
whence were probably occasioned the pictures of Nereides
and Tritons among the Grecians, and such as we read in
Macrobius, to have been placed on the top of the temple of
Saturn.
We are unwilling to question the royal supporters of Eng-
land, that is, the approved descriptions of the lion and the
unicorn. Although, if in the lion the position of the pizzle
long and amusing article with the margi- The ears, nose, lips, chin, breasts, fing-
nal note, "mermaids impossible animals;" ers, and nails, resemble the human sub-
supported solely by the very extraordinary ject. Eight incisores, four canine, eight
arguments of Sir Humphry. molares. The animal, though shrunk, is
Those who are desirous of seeing an about three feet long ; its resemblance to
enumeration of all the supposed mer- a man having ceased immediately under
maids and monsters, which have at vari- the mamma. On the line of separation,
ous times amused the public, may refer and immediately under the breast, are
to the article just quoted, and to a mis- two fins. Below, it resembles a salmon,
cellaneous volume, entitled the Working It is covered with scales — but which on
Bee, published by Fisher and Co. New- the upper part are scarcely perceptible:
gate street, in which is an Historical Me- it was caught somewhere on the north of
moir of Syrens or Mermaids. China by a fisherman, who sold it for a
In explanation of one or two allusions trifle. At Batavia it was bought by Capt.
in my preceding remarks, I may just Eades, in whose possession it then was.
mention that in the Evangelical Maga- This very specimen Davy pronounced to
zine, for Sept. 1822, is inserted part of a be composed of the head and bust from
letter from the Rev. Dr. Philip, dated two apes, fastened to the tail of the
Cape Town, April 20th, 1822. The kipper salmon, — salmo solar.
Dr. says, he had just seen a mermaid, He also notices another instance of
then exhibiting in that town. The head a supposed mermaid, seen off the coast
is about the size of a baboon's, thinly of Caithness, which turned out to have
covered with black hair ; a few hairs on been a gentleman bathing. He is as-
the upper lip. The forehead low, but serted to have intended himself. See his
with better proportioned and more like Salmonia.
human features than any of the baboons.
VOL. III. L
146 ENQUIRIES INTO VULGAR [BOOK V.
be proper, and that the natural situation, it will be hard to
make out their retrocopulation, or their coupling and pissing
backward, according to the determination of Aristotle; all
that urine backward do copulate vrvy7}$ov, clunatim, or aversely,
as lions, hares, lynxes.
As for the unicorn, if it have the head of a deer and the
tail of a boar, as Vertomannus describeth it, how agree-
able it is to this picture every eye may discern. If it be made
bisulcous or cloven-footed, it agreeth unto the description of
Vertomannus, but scarce of any other ; and Aristotle sup-
poseth that such as divide the hoof, do also double the
horn; they being both of the same nature, and admitting
division together. And lastly, if the horn have this situa-
tion and be so forwardly affixed, as is described, it will not
be easily conceived how it can feed from the ground ; and
therefore we observe that nature, in other cornigerous ani-
mals, hath placed the horns higher and reclining, as in bucks ;
in some inverted upwards, as in the rhinoceros, the Indian
ass, and unicornous beetles ; and thus have some affirmed it
is seated in this animal.
We cannot but observe that in the picture of Jonah and
others, whales are described with two prominent spouts on
their heads ; whereas indeed they have but one in the fore-
head, and terminating over the windpipe.6 Nor can we over-
look the picture of elephants with castles on their backs,
made in the form of land castles, or stationary fortifications,
and answerable unto the arms of Castile, or Sir John Old-
castle ; whereas the towers they bore were made of wood,
and girt unto their bodies, as is delivered in the books of
Maccabees, and as they were appointed in the army of An-
tiochus.
We will not dispute the pictures of retiary spiders, and
their position in the web, which is commonly made lateral,
and regarding the horizon, although, if observed, we shall
commonly find it downward, and their heads respecting the
centre. We will not controvert the picture of the seven
6 two prominent points, §c.~\ The ce- other, in others close together, and in
tacea have all two spiracles, but on some some so near that they seem to unite in
they are considerably remote from each one and the same opening.
CHAP. XIX.] AND COMMON ERRORS. 147
stars ; although if thereby be meant the Pleiades, or sub-
constellation upon the back of Taurus, with what congruity
they are described, either in site or magnitude, in a clear
night an ordinary eye may discover from July unto April.
We will not question the tongues of adders and vipers, de-
scribed like an anchor, nor the picture of the fleur-de-lis :
though how far they agree unto their natural draughts, let
every spectator determine.
Whether the cherubims about the ark be rightly describ-
ed in the common picture,* that is, only in human heads, with
two wings, or rather in the shape of angels or young men, or
somewhat at least with feet, as the Scripture seems to
imply. Whether the cross seen in the air by Constantine,
were of that figure wherein we represent it, or rather made
out of X and P, the two first letters of Xgiarog. Whether the
cross of Christ did answer the common figure ; whether so
far advanced above his head ; whether the feet were so dis-
posed, that is, one upon another, or separately nailed, as
some with reason describe it, we shall not at all contend.
Much less whether the house of Diogenes were a tub framed
of wood, and after the manner of ours, or rather made of
earth, as learned men conceive, and so more clearly make out
that expression of Juvenal.f We should be too critical to
question the letter Y, or bicornous element of Pythagoras,
that is, the making of the horns equal ;7 or the left less than
the right, and so destroying the symbolical intent of the
figure ; confounding the narrow line of virtue with the larger
road of vice, answerable unto the narrow door of heaven, and
the ample gates of hell, expressed by our Saviour, and not
forgotten by Homer in that epithet of Pluto's house.8 J
Many more there are whereof our pen shall take notice,
nor shall we urge their enquiry ; we shall not enlarge with
* 2 Chron. iii, 13. f Dolia magni non ardent Cynici, &c.
J 'EugiKruXjjg.
7 the letter Y, #c] An allusion to ing: with some excellent observations on
this letter, in Dr. Donne's sermon on the style of the old sermon writers. —
" Where your treasure is, there will your Jeff.
heart be also," is mentioned by Dr. Vi- 8 Whether the cherubims, #c] This
cesimus Knox in his 38th Winter Even- paragraph first added in 2nd edition.
L 2
148 ENQUIRIES INTO VULGAR [BOOK V.
what incongruity, and how dissenting from the pieces of
antiquity, the pictures of their gods and goddesses are de-
scribed, and how hereby their symbolical sense is lost ;
although herein it were not hard to be informed from Phor-
nutus,* Fulgentius, f and Albricus. J Whether Hercules be
more properly described strangling than tearing the lion, as
Victorius hath disputed ; nor how the characters and figures
of the signs and planets be now perverted, as Salmasius hath
learnedly declared. We will dispense with bears with long
tails, such as are described in the figures of heaven ; we shall
tolerate flying horses, black swans, hydras, centaurs, har-
pies, and satyrs, for these are monstrosities, rarities, or else
poetical fancies,9 whose shadowed moralities requite their
substantial falsities. Wherein indeed we must not deny a
liberty ; nor is the hand of the painter more restrainable than
the pen of the poet. But where the real works of nature, or
veritable acts of story are to be described, digressions are
abberrations ; and art being but the imitator or secondary
representor, it must not vary from the verity of the example,
or describe things otherwise than they truly are, or have
been. For hereby introducing false ideas of things, it per-
verts and deforms the face and symmetry of truth.
CHAPTER XX.
Of the Hieroghjphical Pictures of the Egyptians.
Certainly of all men that suffered from the confusion of
Babel, the Egyptians found the best evasion ; for, though
words were confounded, they invented a language1 of things,
* Phornut. Be Nalura Deorum. f Fulg. Mythologia.
X Albric. Be Deorum Imaginibus.
9 flying horses, fyc.] Modern disco- 1 a language, $)"c.~] A common lan-
veries have lessened this list. The black suage might possibly bee framed which
swan, though rara avis, is no longer a all should understand under one charac-
poetical fancy. There was a time when ter, in their own tongue, as well as all
the camelopard was deemed imaginary, understand in astronomy the 12 signes,
CHAP. XX.]
AND COMMON ERRORS.
149
and spake unto each other by common notions in nature.
Whereby they discoursed in silence, and were intuitively
understood from the theory of their expresses. For they
assumed the shapes of animals common unto all eyes, and by
their conjunctions and compositions " were able to communi-
cate their conceptions unto any that coapprehended the syn-
taxes of their natures. This many conceive to have been
the primitive way of writing, and of greater antiquity than
letters ; and this indeed might Adam well have spoken, who,
understanding the nature of things, had the advantage of
natural expressions. Which the Egyptians but taking upon
trust, upon their own or common opinion, from conceded
mistakes they authentically promoted errors ; describing in
their hieroglyphicks creatures of their own invention, or from
known and conceded animals, erecting significations not in-
ferible from their natures.3
the 7 planets, and the several aspects ;
or in Geometry, a triangle, a rhombe,
a square, a parallelogram, a helix, a de-
cussation, a cross, a circle, a sector, and
such like very many : or the Saracenicall
and algebraick characters in arithmetick,
or the notes of weight among physitians
and apothecaryes : or lastly, those marks
of punctuations and qualityes among
grammarians in Hebrew under, in Ara-
bick above, the words. To let pass Para-
celsus his particular marks, and the com-
mon practice of all trades. — Wr.
2 by their conjunctions, <^e.] More
clearly, " by the conjunction and compo-
sition of those shapes of animals, &c."
3 which the Egyptians, <^c] How lit-
tle, alas, do we know of the picture-
writing of the Egyptians, even after all
the profound researches of Young, Cham-
pollion, Klaproth, Akerblad, De Sacy,
and others : and how little (we may per-
haps add) can we hope ever to see ef-
fected. We are told by Clemens Alex-
andrinus (and subsequent researches have
done little more than enable us to com-
prehend his meaning,) that the Egyptians
used three modes of writing ; — the epis-
tolographic, (called demotic by Herodo-
tus and Diodorus, and enchorial in the
Rosetta inscription,) the hieratic, (em-
ployed by the sacred scribes,) and the
hieroglyphick, — consisting of the kuriolo-
gic, (subsequently termed phonetic?) and
the symbolic, of which there are several
kinds ; — one representing objects proper-
ly, another metaphorically, a third enig-
matically. The great discovery made
by Dr. T. Young, from the Rosetta in-
cription, was that some of the hieroglyphs
were the signs qfsotmds, each hieroglyph
signifying the first letter of the Egyptian
name of the object represented. Sup-
posing all their picture-writing to be
symbolical, then it would be manifestly
impossible to hope to read it. For ex-
ample, we are told that the figure of a
bee expressed the idea of royalty; but
who could have guessed this ? Supposing
on the other hand that the hieroglyphs
were entirely phonetic (which was not
the case, nor can we possibly ascertain
in what proportion they were so,) sup-
posing them also to be certain and deter-
minate signs of sounds, one and the same
sign always employed to represent one
and the same sound ; — supposing in short
that " we could spell syllables and dis-
tinguish words with as much certainty
and precision as if they had been written
in any of the improved alphabets of the
west, — there would yet always remain
one difficulty over which genius itself
could not triumph ; namely, to discover
the signification of the words, when it is
not known by tradition or otherwise :"
— when the original language has long
since utterly vanished ; — and when the
only instrument left wherewith we can
labour (the Coptic) is but the mutilated
150 ENQUIRIES INTO VULGAR [BOOK V.
And first, although there were more things in nature, than
words which did express them, yet even in these mute and
silent discourses, to express complexed significations, they
took a liberty to compound and piece together creatures of
allowable forms into mixtures inexistent. Thus began the
descriptions of griffins, basilisks, phoenix, and many more ;
which emblematists and heralds have entertained with signi-
cations answering their institutions ; hieroglyphically adding
martegres, wivernes, lion-fishes, with divers others. Pieces
of good and allowable invention unto the prudent spectator,
but are looked on by vulgar eyes as literal truths or absurd
impossibilities ; whereas indeed they are commendable inven-
tions, and of laudable significations.
Again, beside these pieces fictitiously set down, and hav-
ing no copy in nature, they had many unquestionably drawn,
of inconsequent signification, nor naturally verifying their
intention. We shall instance but in few, as they stand re-
corded by Orus. The male sex they expressed by a vulture,4
because of vultures all are females, and impregnated by the
wind ; which authentically transmitted hath passed many
pens, and became the assertion of iElian, Ambrose, Basil,
Isidore, Tzetzus, Philes, and others. Wherein notwithstand-
ing what injury is offered unto the creation in this confine-
and imperfect fragment of an extinct Ian- be entertained till it has been proved ; —
guage, itself when living the remnant and it would be no easy matter to shew
only of that elder form of speech which that many of the monsters enumerated,
we are seeking to decypher ; but of were really Egyptian : " Consider-
which, alas ! through so imperfect a me- ing how absurdly and monstrously com-
dium, but slight traces and lineaments plicated the Egyptian superstitions really
can be here and there faintly reflected, were, it becomes absolutely essential to
The article, Egypt, in the Sup. to Ency. separate that which is most fully estab-
Brit. and hieroglyphicks, in Ency. lished, or most generally admitted, from
Metrop. together with articles in the 45th the accidental or local varieties, which
and 57th vols, of the Edinburgh Review, may have been exaggerated by different
will give those disposed to go further into authors into established usages of the
the subject a full and interesting view of whole nation, and still more from those
all that has hitherto been effected in this which have been the fanciful productions
most difficult, if not hopeless, field of of their own inventive faculties." — Dr.
labour. Young, EGYPT, Sup. Ency. Brit, iv, 43.
But our author's special object in this The authors on whom Browne relies,
chapter is to bring against the Egyptians especially Pierius, are by no means to be
the twofold charge ; first, of " describing received without the caution expressed
in their hieroglyphicks creatures of their in the foregoing quotation,
own inventions;" and secondly, of" erect- * the male sex, <$'c] See Pierius,
ing, from known and conceded animals, Ilicroglyphica, fol. 1626, lxxiii, c. 1, 4.
significations not inferible from their Horapollo (4to. curd Pauw.) No. 12.
natures." No charge, however, can fairly
CHAP. XX.] AND COMMON ERRORS. 151
ment of sex, and what disturbance unto philosophy in the
concession of windy conceptions, we shall not here declare.
By two drachms they thought it sufficient to signify an
heart ; 5 because the heart at one year weigheth two drachms,
that is, a quarter of an ounce, and unto fifty years annually
increaseth the weight of one drachm, after which in the
same proportion it yearly decreaseth ; so that the life of a
man dolh not naturally extend above an hundred. And this
was not only a popular conceit, but consentaneous unto the
physical principles, as Hernius hath accounted it.*
A woman that hath but one child, they express by a lion-
ess ; for that conceiveth but once.6 Fecundity they set forth
by a goat, because but seven days old it beginneth to use
coition.7 The abortion of a woman they describe by an horse
kicking a wolf; because a mare will cast her foal if she
tread in the track of that animal.8 Deformity they signify by
a bear,9 and an unstable man by a hysena,1 because that ani-
mal yearly exchangeth its sex. A woman delivered of a
female child they imply by a bull looking over his left
* In his Philosophia Barbarica.
5 By two drachms, 8[C.~\ Pierius says for her young foale, she will never cease
that the Egyptians used the vulture to hunting with open mouth till shee drive
symbolize two drachms, or a heart : and him quite away : the wolfe avoyding the
he gives other reasons for the adoption gripe of her teeth, as much as the stroke
of the symbol, though he deems that of her heeles : and to make up the pro-
mentioned by Browne, the most proba- bability hereof, itt is certaine that a
ble. (Ibid. I. xviii, c. 20.) Horapollo generous horse will fasten on a dog with
says, they used the vulture to represent his teeth, as fell out anno 1653, in Octo-
two drachms, because unity was expressed ber, at Bletchinden (Oxon) a colt being
by two lines ; and, unity being the begin- bated by a mastive (that was set on by
ning of numbers, most fitly doth its sign his master to drive him out of a pasture)
express a vulture, because, like unity, tooke up the dog in his teeth by the
it is singly the author of its own increase, back, and rann away with him, and at
(Ibid. No. 12.) last flinging him over his head lefte the
6 A woman, <^e.] Pierius, lib. i, c. 14, dog soe bruised with the gripe and the
Horapollo, No. 82. fall, that hee lay half dead; but the ge-
7 Fecundity, 8fC.~\ Pierius, lib. x, c. 10, nerous colte leapt over the next hedge,
Horapollo, No. 48. and ran home to his own pasture un-
8 The abortion, Sfc.'] Pierius, lib. xi, hurt. — Wr.
c. 9, Horapollo, No. 45. 9 Deformity, 8fc.~\ Pierius, I. xi, c. 42.
Whether the tracke of the wolfe will Horapollo, No. 83, says, " Hominem,
cause abortion in a mare is hard to bee qui initio quidem informis natus sit, sed
knowne : but the mare does soe little postea formam acceperit, innuunt de-
feare the wolfe, that (as 1 have heard itt picta ursa pragannte."
from the mouth of a gentleman, an eye- ' an unstable, $c.~] Pierius, 1. xi, c.
witness of what he related) as soone as 24, Horapollo, No. 69.
shee perceaves the wolfe to lye in watch
152 ENQUIRIES INTO VULGAR [BOOK V
shoulder ; " because if in coition a bull part from a cow on
that side, the calf will prove a female.3
All which, with many more, how far they consent with
truth we shall not disparage our reader to dispute ; and
though some way allowable unto wiser conceits who could
distinctly receive their significations, yet carrying the majesty
of hieroglyphicks, and so transmitted by authors, they crept
into a belief with many, and favourable doubt with most.
And thus, I fear, it hath fared with the hieroglyphical sym-
bols of Scripture ; which, excellently intended in the species
of things sacrificed, in the prohibited meats, in the dreams of
Pharaoh, Joseph, and many other passages, are ofttimes
racked beyond their symbolizations, and enlarged into con-
structions disparaging their true intentions.4
3 A woman, Sfc.~\ Pierius, 1. iii, c. 6.
Horapollo, who adds also the converse of
the proposition, No. 43.
s '•female, ,1 I have heard this avowed
by auneient grave farmers. — Wr.
4 intentions. "\ Ross dispatches the
16th, 17th, 18th, 19th, and 20th chap-
ters in the following summary remarks :
" In some subsequent chapters the
doctor questions the pictures of St. Chris-
topher carrying Christ over the river ; of
St. George on horseback killing the dra-
gon ; of St. Jerom with a clock hanging
by; of mermaids, unicorns, and some
others ; with some hieroglyphick pictures
of the Egyptians. In this he doth luc-
tarl cum larvis, and with jEneas in the
poet, Irruit et frustra ferro diverberat
umbras. He wrestles with shadows :
for he may as well question all the po-
etical fictions, all the sacred parables, all
tropical speeches ; also escutcheons, or
coats of arms, signs hanging out at doors
— where he will find blue boars, white
lions, black swans, double-headed eagles,
and such like, devised only for distinc-
tion. The like devices are in military
ensigns. Felix, Prince of Salernum, had
for his device a tortoise with wings, fly-
ing, with this motto, amor addidit ; inti-
mating, that love gives wings to the
slowest spirits. Lewis of Anjou, King
of Naples, gave for his device, a hand
out of the clouds, holding a pair of scales,
with this motto, JEqua durant semper.
Henry the First, of Portugal, had a fly-
ing horse for his device. A thousand
such conceits I could allege, which are
symbolical, and therefore it were ridicu-
lous to question them, if they were his-
torical. As for the cherubims, I find
four different opinions. 1. Some write
they were angels in the form of birds.
2. Aben Ezra thinks the word cherub
signifieth any shape or form. 3. Jose-
phus will have them to be winged ani-
mals, but never seen by any. 4. The
most received opinion is, that they had
the shape of children : /or rub in He-
brew, and rabe in Chaldee, signifieth a
child ; and chc, as : so then, cherub sig-
nifieth as a child, and it is most likely
they were painted in this form."
CHAP. XXI.] AND COMMON ERRORS. 153
CHAPTER XXI.5
Of the Picture of Human Hanged.
In common draughts, Haman is hanged by the neck upon an
high gibbet, after the usual and now practised way of sus-
pension : but whether this description truly answereth the
original, learned pens consent not, and good grounds there
are to doubt. For it is not easily made out that this was an
ancient way of execution in the public punishment of malefac-
tors among the Persians, but we often read of crucifixion in
their stories. So we find that Orostes, a Persian governor,
crucified Polycrates the Samian tyrant. And hereof we have
an example in the life of Artaxerxes, King of Persia, (whom
some will have to be Ahasuerus in this story,) that his mo-
ther, Parysatis, flayed and crucified her eunuch. The same
also seems implied in the letters patent of King Cyrus : Om-
nis qui hanc mutaverit jussionem, tollatur lignum de domo
ejus, et erigatur, et configatur in eo.*
The same kind of punishment was in use among the Ro-
mans, Syrians, Egyptians, Carthaginians, and Grecians. For
though we find in Homer that Ulysses in a fury hanged the
strumpets of those who courted Penelope, yet is it not so easy
to discover that this was the public practice or open course
of justice among the Greeks.
And even that the Hebrews used this present way of
hanging, by illaqueation or pendulous suffocation, in public
justice and executions, the expressions and examples in
Scripture conclude not, beyond good doubt.
That the King of Hai was hanged, or destroyed by the
common way of suspension, is not conceded by the learned
Masius in his comment upon that text ; who conceiveth
* In Ezra vi.
5 Chtip xxi.] The whole chapter first added in 6th edition.
154 ENQUIRIES INTO VULGAR [BOOK V.
thereby rather some kind of crucifixion, at least some patibu-
lary affixion after he was slain, and so represented unto the
people until toward the evening.
Though we read in our translation that Pharoah hanged
the chief baker, yet learned expositors understand hereby
some kind of crucifixion, according to the mode of Egypt,
whereby he exemplarily hanged out till the fowls of the air
fed on his head or face, the first part of their prey being the
eyes. And perhaps according to the signal draught hereof
in a very old manuscript of Genesis, now kept in the Em-
peror's library at Vienna, and accordingly set down by the
learned Petrus Lambecius, in the second tome of the descrip-
tion of that library.
When the Gibeonites hanged the bodies of those of the
house of Saul, thereby was intended some kind of crucifying,6
according unto good expositors, and the vulgar translation ;
crucifixerunt eos in monte coram domino. Nor only these,
mentioned in Holy Scripture, but divers in human authors,
said to have suffered by way of suspension or crucifixion
might not perish by immediate crucifixion ; 7 but however
otherwise destroyed, their bodies might be afterward ap-
pended or fastened unto some elevated engine, as exemplary
objects unto the eyes of the people. So sometimes we read
of the crucifixion of only some part, as of the heads of Julia-
anus and Albinus, though their bodies were cast away.8
Besides, all crosses or engines of crucifixion were not of
the ordinary figure, nor compounded of transverse pieces,
which make out the name, but some were simple, and made
of one arrectarium serving for affixion or infixion, either fas-
tening or piercing through ; and some kind of crucifixion is
the setting of heads upon poles.
That legal text which seems to countenance the common
6 the Gibeonites, <^c] The Jews, as troduction, eye. part ii, ch. iii, § iv.
is just afterwards remarked, inflicted the 7 nor only, Sfc.~\ This sentence is in-
infamy (rather than punishment) of serted, in Ms. sloan. 1827, instead of the
hanging after death. And so might following : " Many, both in Scripture
these Gibeonites. But they were not Is- and human writers, might be said to be
raelites, as Rev. T. H. Home has observ- crucified, though they did not perish
ed, butCanaanites.and probably retained immediately by crucifixion."
their own laws. See his section on the 8 castaway.] The succeeding sentence
punishments mentioned in Scripture ; In- was added from ms. sloan. 1827.
CHAP. XXI.] AND COMMON ERRORS. 155
way of hanging, if a man hath committed a sin worthy of
death, and they hang him on a tree,* is not so received by
Christian and Jewish expositors. And, as a good annotator
of ours f delivereth, out of Maimonides : the Hebrews under-
stand not this of putting him to death by hanging, but of
hanging a man after he was stoned to death, and the man-
ner is thus described ; after he is stoned to death they fasten
a piece of timber in the earth, and out of it there cometh a
piece of wood, and then they tie both his hands one to ano-
ther, and hang him unto the setting of the sun.
Beside, the original word, hakany, determineth not the
doubt. For that by lexicographers or dictionary interpreters,
is rendered suspension and crucifixion, there being no He-
brew word peculiarly and fully expressing the proper word of
crucifixion, as it was used by the Romans ; nor easy to prove
it the custom of the Jewish nation to nail them by distinct
parts unto a cross, after the manner of our Saviour crucified ;
wherein it was a special favour indulged unto Joseph to take
down the body.
Lipsius lets fall a good caution to take off doubts about
suspension delivered by ancient authors, and also the ambi-
guous sense of Kgzpdtfai among the Greeks. Tale apud La-
tinos ipsum suspendere, quod in crucem referendum moneo
juventutem ; as that also may be understood of Seneca, La-
trocinium fecit aliquis, quid ergo meruit ? ut suspendatur.
And this way of crucifying he conceiveth to have been in
general use among the Romans, until the latter days of Con-
stantine, who in reverence unto our Saviour abrogated that
opprobrious and infamous way of crucifixion. Whereupon
succeeded the common and now practised way of suspension.
But long before this abrogation of the cross, the Jewish
nation had known the true sense of crucifixion : whereof no
nation had a sharper apprehension, while Adrian crucified
five hundred of them every day, until wood was wanting for
that service. So that they which had nothing but ' crucify' in
their mouths, were therewith paid home in their own bodies ;
early suffering the reward of their imprecations, and properly
in the same kind.
* Deut. xxi. f Ainsworth.
156 ENQUIRIES INTO VULGAR [BOOK V.
CHAPTER XXIV
Of the Picture of God the Father ; of the Sun, Moon,
and Winds, with others.
The picture of the Creator, or God the Father, in the shape
of an old man, is a dangerous piece,1 and in this fecundity of
sects may revive the anthropomorphites.* Which although
maintained from the expression of Daniel, " I beheld where
the ancient of days did sit, whose hair of his head was like
the pure wool ;" yet may it be also derivative from the hiero-
glyphical description of the Egyptians ; who to express their
eneph or Creator of the world, described an old man in a
blue mantle, with an egg in his mouth, which was the emblem
of the world. Surely those heathens, that notwithstanding
the exemplary advantage in heaven, would endure no pictures
of sun or moon, as being visible unto all the world, and need-
ing no representation, do evidently accuse the practice of
those pencils that will describe invisibles. And he that chal-
lenged the boldest hand unto the picture of an echo, must
laugh at this attempt, not only in the description of invisi-
bility, but circumscription of ubiquity, and fetching under
lines incomprehensible circularity.
* Certain hereticks who ascribed human figure unto God, after which they con-
ceived he created man in his likeness.
9 Chap, xxii.] The first and second 1 picce.~\ This is a very just and wor-
subjects of this chapter were Nos. 14 thy censure, and well followed with
and 15, of chapter xxii, in editions 1672 scorne in the close of this paragraph,
and 1686. There they were obviously St. Paul saw things in a vision which
out of their place, occurring in the midst himself could not utter : and therefore
of a very different class of observations, they are verye bold with God, who dare
I have therefore removed them: and hav- to picture him in any shape visible to the
ing found (in No. 1827 of the Sloanian eye of mortality, which Daniel himself
MSS. in the British Museum) some ad- behelde not, but in a rapture and an ex-
ditional instances of mistakes in " pictu- tatical vision : unlesse they can answere
ral draughts," I have formed the two that staggering question, " To what will
transplanted numbers, together with the you liken me ?" — Wr.
hitherto unpublished matter, into a new St. Augustine censures this impro-
chapter. priety ; Ep. exxii.
CHAP. XXII,] AND COMMON ERRORS. 157
The pictures of the Egyptians were more tolerable, and in
their sacred letters more veniably expressed the apprehen-
sion of divinity. For though they implied the same by an eye
upon a sceptre, by an eagle's head, a crocodile and the like, yet
did these manual descriptions pretend no corporal represen-
tations, nor could the people misconceive the same unto real
correspondencies. So, though the cherub carried some ap-
prehension of divinity, yet was it not conceived to be the
shape thereof; and so perhaps, because it is metaphorically
predicated of God that he is a consuming fire, he may be
harmlessly described by a flaming representation. Yet if, as
some will have it, all mediocrity of folly is foolish, and be-
cause an unrequitable evil may ensue, an indifferent conveni-
ence must be omitted, we shall not urge such representments ;
we could spare the Holy Lamb for the picture of our Savi-
our, and the dove or fiery tongues to represent the Holy
Ghost.
2. The sun and moon are usually described with human
faces ; whether herein there be not a Pagan imitation, and
those visages at first implied Apollo and Diana, we may
make some doubt ; and we find the statue of the sun was
framed with rays about the head, which were the indeciduous
and unshaven locks of Apollo. We should be too iconomical *
to question the pictures of the winds, as commonly drawn in
human heads, and with their cheeks distended ; which not-
withstanding we find condemned by Minutius, as answering
poetical fancies, and the Gentile description of iEolus, Boreas,
and the feigned deities of winds.
3.s In divers pieces, and that signal one of Testa,4 describ-
ing Hector dragged by Achilles about the walls of Troy, we
* Or quarrelsome with pictures. Dion. Ep. 1, a, ad Poliear. et Pet. Hall. not.
in vit. S. Dionys,
3.] The rest of this chapter is now — In divers pieces, &c."
first printed; — from ms. sloan, 1827, 4 Testa.] Pietro Testa, a painter of
3; — where it is thus prefaced; — " Though Lucca and Rome, drowned 1632, in the
some things we have elsewhere delivered Tyber, endeavouring to save his hat,
of the impropriety, falsity, or mistakes, which had been blown off by a gust of
in pictural draughts, yet to awaken your wind. — Gr.
curiosity, these may be also considered.
158 ENQUIRIES INTO VULGAR [BOOK V.
find him drawn by cords or fastenings about both his ancles ;
which notwithstanding is not strictly answerable unto the
account of Horner, concerning this act upon Hector, but
rather applicable unto that of Hippothous drawing away the
body of Patroclus, according to the expression of Homer :
Hippothous pede trahebat in forti pugna per acrern pugnam.
Ligatum loro ad malleolum circa tendines. — Horn, II. xvii, 289.
For that act performed by Achilles upon Hector is more
particularly described :
Amborum retro pedum perforavit tendines
Ad talum usque a calce, bubulaque innexuit lora
De curruque ligavit ; caput vero trahi sivit. — Horn. H. xxii, 396.
So that he bound not these ties about his feet, but made a
perforation behind them, through which he ran the thongs,
and so dragged him after his chariot : which was not hard to
effect ; the strength of those tendons being able to hold in
that tracture ; and is a common way practised by butchers,
thus to hang their sheep and oxen.5
This, though an unworthy act, and so delivered by Homer,
yet somewhat retaliated the intent of Hector himself towards
the body of Patroclus, the intimate of Achilles ; and stands
excused by Didymus upon the custom of the Thessalians, to
drag the body of the homicide unto the grave of their slain
friends ; and the example of Simon the Thessalian, who thus
dealt with the body of Eurodamus, who had before slain his
brother.
4. But, not to amuse you with pictures derived from Gen-
tile histories, the draught of Potiphar's lady lying on a bed,
and drawing Joseph unto her, seems additional unto the
text, nor strictly justifiable from it ; wherein it is only said*
that, after some former temptation, when Joseph came home
to dispatch or order his affairs, and there was no man of the
house then within, or with him, that she laid hold of his gar-
ment, and said, " lye with me," without such apt preparations
either of nakedness, or being in her bed, or the like opportu-
nities, which pictures thereof have described.
5 oxen."] In the royal library at Turin illuminations represents the burial of
is a curious volume, containing the Iliad, Hector, and a train of Benedictines as-
illustrated by the monks. One of the sisting in the funeral ceremony.
CHAP. XXII.] AND COMMON ERRORS. 159
5. The picture of Moses, praying between Hur and Aaron,
seems to have miscarried in some draughts ; while some omit
the rod which he should hold up in his hand ; and others
describe him on his knees, with his hands supported by them :
whereas it is plainly said in the text, that, when Moses was
weary of standing, he sat down upon the rock. And there-
fore, for the whole process, and full representation, there
must be more than one draught ; the one representing him
in station, the other in session, another in genuflexion. And
though in this piece Aaron is allowed to be present on the
hill at Rephidim, yet may he also challenge a place in the
other piece of mount Sinai, (wherein he is often omitted,)
according to the command of God unto Moses : " Thou shalt
come up, thou and Aaron with thee ; but let not the priests
nor the people break through, to come up unto the Lord."
6. The picture of Jael nailing the head of Sisera unto the
ground, seems questionable in some draughts ; while Sisera
is made to lie in a prone posture, and the nail driven into the
upper part of the head ; whereas it is plainly delivered that
Jael struck the nail through his temples, and fastened him to
the ground ; and which was the most proper and penetrable
part of the skull ; such as a woman's hand might pierce,
driving a large nail through, and longer than the breadth of
a head, according to the description, — that she took no ordi-
nary nail, but such as fastened her tent, and pierced his head,
and the ground under it.
7. An improper spectacle at a feast, and very incongruous
unto the birth-day of a prince, a time of pardon and relaxa-
tion, was the head of John the Baptist. More properly, in
the noble picture thereof, the hand of Reuben hath left out
the person of Herodias, who was not in the room, agreeably
unto the delivery of St. Mark ; that, after Herod had pro-
mised to grant her daughter whatever she would ask, she
went out to enquire of her mother, Herodias, what she should
demand. And that Salome, or her daughter, brought in the
head of John unto Herod, as he was sitting at the table,
though it well sets off the picture, is not expressed in the
text ; wherein it is only said that she brought it unto her
mother.
160 ENQUIRIES INTO VULGAR [BOOK V.
8. That King Ahasuerus feasted apart from the queen, is
confirmable from Scripture account. Whether the queen
were present at the fatal feast of Belshazzar seems of greater
doubt ; forasmuch as it is said in the text, that, upon the
fright and consternation of the king, when none of the Chal-
deans could read the handTwriting on the wall, the queen
came in, and recommended Daniel unto him. But if it be
only meant and understood of the queen-mother, the draught
may hold, and the licentia pictoria not culpable in that nota-
ble piece of Tintoret or Bassano describing the feast of Bel-
shazzar, wherein the queen is placed at the table with the
king.
9. Though some hands have failed, yet the draught of
St. Peter in the prison is properly designed by Rubens,
sleeping between two soldiers, and a chain on each arm ; and
so illustrateth the text, that is, with two chains fastened unto
his arms, and the one arm of each of the soldiers, according
to the custom of those times, to fasten the prisoner unto his
guard or keeper; and after which manner St. Paul is con-
ceived to have had the liberty of going about Rome.
10. In the picture of our Saviour sleeping in the ship,
while in many draughts he is placed not far from the middle,
or in the prow of the vessel, it is a variation from the text,
which distinctly saith " at the poop," which being the highest
part, was freest from the billows. Again, in some pieces he
is made sleeping with his head hanging down; in others, on
his elbow ; which amounteth not unto the textual expression,
" upon a pillow," or some soft support, or at least, (as some
conceive that emphatical expression may imply,) some part of
the ship convenient to lean down the head. Besides, this
picture might properly take in the concurrent account of the
Scripture, and not describe a single ship, since the same de-
livereth that there went off other navicular, or small vessels
with it.
11. Whilst the text delivereth that the tempter placed our
Saviour (as we read it) upon the pinnacle of the temple, some
draughts do place him upon the point of the highest turrets ;
which, notwithstanding, Josephus describeth to have been
made so sharp that birds might not light upon them ; and the
CHAP. XXII. AND COMMON ERRORS. ]G1
word irrsgvyiov signifying a pinna? or some projecture of the
building, it may probably be conceived to have been some
plain place or jetty, from whence he might well cast himself
down upon the ground, not falling upon any part of the tem-
ple ; if there were no wing or prominent part of the building
peculiarly called by that name.
12. That piece of the three children in the fiery furnace,
in several draughts, doth not conform unto the historical
accounts : while in some they are described naked and bare-
headed ; and in others with improper coverings on their
heads. Whereas the contrary is delivered in the text, under
all learned languages, and also by our own, with some expo-
sitions in the margin : not naked in their bodies, (according
to their figure in the Roma Sotterranea of Bosio,7 among the
sepulchral figures in the monument of St. Priscilla,) but hav-
ing a loose habit, after the Persian mode, upon them, whereby
it might be said that their garments did not so much as smell
of the fire ; nor bare on their heads, as described in the first
chamber of the cemetery of Priscilla, but having on it a
tiara, or cap, after the Persian fashion, made somewhat
reclining or falling agreeable unto the third table of the fifth
cemetery, and the mode of the Persian subjects ; not a
peaked, acuminated, and erected cap, proper unto their
kings, as is set down in the medal of Antoninus, with the
reverse, Armenin. A standard direction for this piece might
probably be that ancient description set down in the calendar
used by the Emperor Basilius Porphyrogenitus, and by Pope
Paul the Fifth, given unto the Vatican, where it is yet con-
served.8
6 the ivord, <^c] Unquestionably it ther be made to our author's collection of
could not have been any thing like a pictorial inaccuracies, if such were fairly
turret or pinnacle. Some commentators within our province. It rhay be allowed
(Le Clerc) consider it a projecting por- to us, at least, to give one or two referen-
tion of the building outside the parapet, ces to such additions. John Interian de
Others (Rosenmuller) call it the flat roof Avala, a Spanish Monk, who died at
of a portico. Madrid, in 1770, published a work on
7 Roma, ^c] Jacques Bosio, Roma Sot- the errors of painters in representing re-
terranea ; left imperfect by him, but pub- ligious subjects; it is entitled Pictor
lished by his executor, Aldrovandini, fol. Christianus Eruditus, fol. 1720.
1632; since translated into Latin, and In the European Magazine, for 178C,
reprinted several times, with additions, vol. ix, p. 241, is noticed a very curious
— Gr. work, (little known) by M. Phil. Rohr,
8 Numerous additions might yet fur- entitled Pictor Errans, which was a-
VOL. III. M
162 ENQUIRIES INTO VULGAR [BOOK V.
CHAPTER XXIII.
Compendiously of many popular Customs, Opinions, fyc. viz.
of an Hare crossing the High-way ; of the ominous
appearing of Owls and Ravens ; of the falling of Salt ; of
breaking the Egg-shell; of the True Lovers Knot ; of
the Cheek Burning or Ear Tingling; of speaking under
the Rose ; of Smoke following the fair ; of Sitting cross-
legged ; of hair upon Moles ; of the set time of paring of
Nails; of Lions' heads upon Spouts and Cisterns; of
the saying, Ungirt, Unblest ; of the Sun dancing on
Easter-day; of the Silly-how; of being Drunk once a
Month ; of the appearing of the Devil with a Cloven hoof.
If an hare cross the high-way,8 there are few above threescore
years that are not perplexed thereat ; which notwithstanding
is but an augurial terror, according to that received expres-
sion, Inauspicatum dat iter oblatus lepus. And the ground
of the conceit was probably no greater than this, that a fear-
ful animal passing by us, portended unto us something to be
feared : as upon the like consideration, the meeting of a fox
presaged some future imposture ; which was a superstitious
observation prohibited unto the Jews, as is expressed in the
idolatry of Maimonides, and is referred unto the sin of an
observer of fortunes, or one that abuseth events unto good or
bad signs ; forbidden by the law of Moses ; which notwith-
standing sometimes succeeding, according to fears or desires,
have left impressions and timorous expectations in credulous
minds for ever.
bridged by Mr. W. Bowyer. Mr. Sin- Illustrations which are constantly issuing
ger, in his Anecdotes of Spence, and Mr. from the hands of our artists, with the
D'Israeli, in his Curiosities of Literature, works they are intended to illustrate, in
have given some very amusing collecta- order to be frequently reminded of the
nea of the kind. In the Monthly Ma- proverbial conclusion of the whole mat-
gazine for 1812, are noticed several ter; — " it is even as pleaseth the painter,''
singular absurdities in costume ; and 8 hare."] When a hare crosseth us,
undoubtedly many other such examples wee thinke itt ill lucke shee should soe
would reward a diligent forage through neerely escape us, and we had not a dog
our numerous periodical publications: — as neerc to catch her, — Wr.
but it is only requisite to compare the
CHAP. XXIII.] AND COMMON ERRORS. 163
2. That owls and ravens9 are ominous appearers, and pre-
signifying unlucky events, as Christians yet conceit, was also
an augurial conception. Because many ravens were seen
when Alexander entered Babylon, they were thought to pre-
ominate his death ; and because an owl appeared before the
battle,1 it presaged the ruin of Crassus. Which, though
decrepit superstitions, and such as had their nativity in times
beyond all history, are fresh in the observation of many heads,
and by the credulous and feminine party still in some majesty
among us. And therefore the emblem of superstition was
well set out by Ripa,* in the picture of an owl, an hare, and
an old woman. And it no way confirmeth the augurial con-
sideration, that an owl is a forbidden food in the law of
Moses ; or that Jerusalem was threatened by the raven and
the owl, in that expression of Isa. xxxiv ; that it should be
" a court for owls, that the cormorant and the bittern should
possess it, and the owl and the raven dwell in it ;" for there-
by was only implied their ensuing desolation, as is expounded
in the words succeding ; " He shall draw upon it the line of
confusion, and the stones of emptiness."2
* Iconologia de Ccesare.
9 ravens] The raven by his accute place here. " Plinie writeth that if,
sense of smelling, discernes the savour when you first hear the cuckoo, you
of the dying bodyes at the tops of chim- mark well where your right foot stand-
nies, and that makes them flutter about eth, and take up of that earth, the
the windows, as they use to doe in the fleas will by no means breed, either in
searche of a carcasse. Now bycause your house or chamber, where any of
whereever they doe this, itt is an evident the same earth is thrown or scattered ! "
signe that the sick party seldome escapes Hill's Natural and Artificial Conclusions,
deathe : thence ignorant people counte 1650. In the North, and perhaps all
them ominous, as foreboding deathe, and over England, it is vulgarly accounted
in some kind as causing deathe, whereof an unlucky omen, if you have no money
they have a sense indeed, but are noe in your pocket, when you hear the
cause at all. Of owles there is not the cuckoo for the first time in a season,
same opinion, especially in country-men, Queen Bee, ii, 20. — Jeff.
who thinke as well of them in the barne It would perhaps be rather difficult to
as of the cat in the house : but in great say under what circumstances most peo-
cityes where they are not frequent, their pie would not consider such a state of
shriking and horrid note in the night is pocket an " unlucky omen."
offensive to women and children, and It is a still more common popular di-
such as are weake or sicklye. — Wr. vination, for those who are unmarried to
On the owl, as an ominous bird, see count the number of years yet allotted to
The Queen Bee, ii, 22. — Jeff. them of single blessedness, by the num-
1 the battle,'] With the Parthians ber of the cuckoo's notes which they
near Charrse. count when first they hear it in the
2 emptiness.] It is rather singular spring,
that the cuckoo is not honoured with a
M 2
164
ENQUIRIES INTO VULGAR
[dook V.
3. The falling of salt3 is an authentic presagement of ill-
luck, nor can every temper contemn it ; from whence not"
withstanding nothing can be naturally feared ; nor was the
same a general prognostick of future evil among the ancients,
but a particular omination concerning the breach of friend-
ship. For salt,4 as incorruptible, was the symbol of friendship,
and, before the other service, was offered unto their guests ;
which, if it casually fell, was accounted, ominous, and. their
amity of no duration. But whether salt5 were not only a
symbol of friendship with man, but also a figure of amity and
reconciliation with God, and was therefore observed in sacri-
fices, is an higher speculation.6
4. To break the egg-shell after the meat is out, we are
taught in our childhood, and practise it all our lives ; which
nevertheless is but a superstitious relique, according to the
judgment of Pliny ; Hue pertinet ovorum, ut exsorbuerit quis-
que calices protimisfrangi, aid eosdem cochlearibus perforari;
and the intent hereof was to prevent witchcraft ;7 for lest
witches8 should draw or prick their names herein, and vene-
3 salt] Where salt is deare, 'tis as ill
caste on the ground as bread. And soe
itt is in France, where they pay for every
bushel 40s. to the king ; and cannot
have itt elsewhere : and soe when a glass
is spilt 'tis ill lucke to loose a good cup
of wine. — Wr.
4 For salt, #c] The hospitality most
liberally shown by Mr. Ackerman of the
Strand, to the Cossack veteran, Alexan-
der Zemlenuten, in 1815, was highly
estimated by the stranger, who in de-
scribing his generous reception used the
exclamation, " He gave me bread and
salt." This is mentioned in the 41st
vol. of the Monthly Magazine — and il-
lustrated by a sketch of the opinions and
feelings of the ancients respecting this
"'incorruptible symbol of friendship." —
Leonardo da Vinci, in his picture of the
last supper, has represented Judas Is-
cariot as having overturned the salt. —
M-
Capt. M'Leod, in his voyage of the
Alceste, says that in an island near the
straits of Gaspar, " salt was received
with the same horror as arsenic."
6 But whether salt, fyc] First added
in 2nd edition.
6 also a figure] In the first vol. of
Blackwood's Magazine will be found a
paper on the symbolical uses of salt,
p. 579. In the same volume also occur
several papers on the use made formerly
of the salt-cellar (which was often large,
ornamented and valuable, and placed
in the centre of the table) as a point of
separation between guests of higher and
lower degree. — To drink heloiu the salt
was a condescension ; to attain a seat above
it, an object of ambition. — See Bishop
Hall's Satires, No. vi, b. 28.
Among the regalia used at the king's
coronation, is the salt of state, to be
placed in the centre of the dinner table,
in the form of a castle with towers,
richly embellished with various coloured
stones, elegantly chased, and of silver,
richly gilt. This, it is said, was presen-
ted to King Charles II. by the City of
Exeter.— Jeff.
7 to prevent witchcraft.] "To keep
the fairies out," as they say in Cumber-
land.— Jeff.
8 lest witches] Least they perchance
might use them for boates (as they
thought) to sayle in by night. — Wr.
CHAP. XXIII.] AND COMMON ERRORS. 1 05
ficiously mischief their persons, they broke the shell, as
Dalecampius hath observed.
5. The true lovers' knot 9 is very much magnified, and still
retained in presents of love among us ; which though in all
points it doth not make out, had perhaps its original from the
nodus Her culanus, or that which was called Hercules his knot,
resembling the snaky complication in the caduceus or rod of
Hermes ; and in which form the zone or woollen girdle of
the bride was fastened, as Turnebus observeth in his
Adversaria.
6. When our cheek burnetii or ear tingleth,1 we usually say
that some body is talking of us, which is an ancient conceit,
and ranked among superstitious opinions by Pliny ; Absentes
tinnitu aur'ium prcesentire sermones de se, receptum est ; ac-
cording to that distich noted by Dalecampius ;
Garrula quid totis resonas mihi noctibus auris ?
Nescio quern dicis nunc meminisse mei.
Which is a conceit hardly to be made out without the
concession of a signifying genius, or universal Mercury, con-
ducting sounds unto their distant subjects, and teaching us to
hear by touch.
7. When we desire to confine our words, we commonly say
they are spoken under the rose ;2 which expression is com-
mendable, if the rose from any natural property may be the
symbol of silence, as Nazianzen seems to imply in these
translated verses ;
9 lovers' knot] The true lovers' knot, thoughe (as of manye other such like)
is magnified, for the moral signification they know not the original!. — Wr.
not esilyuntyed; and for the natnrall, — Warburton, (says Brand) commenting
bycause itt is a knot both wayes, that is, on that passage of Shakspeare in Hen.
two knots in one. — Wr. VI.
1 tingleth,] The singing of the eare " From off this briar Pluck a white rose with
is frequent upon the least cold seizing jjj,epp0geg the present saying t0 have ori-
on the brame : but to make construction ginated in the struggle between the two
hereof, as yf itt were the silent liumme houses of york and Lancaster . ;n vvhich
of some absent friendly soule (especially se must v often have been en.
falling most to bee observed m the night, joined, on various occasions, and probably
when few friends are awake) is one of was g0 „under fhe rose>„
the dotages ofthe heathen.— tfr. In p ,g Anmymima the symbol
2 rose,] Of those that commonly of silence is referred t0 the ,.ose on a
use this proverb few, besides the learned, cleryman.s hat and derived from the
can give a reason why they use itt: itt is silence which popish priests kept as to
sufficient that all men kiiowe what wee the confessions of lheir people. _,/,#.
meane by that old forme of speechc,
166 ENQUIRIES INTO VULGAR [BOOK V.
Utque latet Rosa verna suo putamine clausa,
Sic os vincla ferat, validisque arctetur habenis,
Indicatque suis prolixa silentia labris:
And is also tolerable, if by desiring a secrecy to words
spoken under the rose, we only mean in society and compo-
tation, from the ancient custom in symposiack meetings, to
wear chaplets of roses about their heads : and so we condemn
not the German custom, which over the table describeth a
rose in the cieling. But more considerable it is, if the origi-
nal were such as Lemnius and others have recorded, that the
rose was the flower of Venus, which Cupid consecrated unto
Harpocrates the God of silence, and was therefore an em-
blem thereof, to conceal the pranks of venery, as is declared
in this tetrastich :
Est rosa flos Veneris, cujus qu6 facta laterent,
Harpocrati matris, dona dicavit amor ;
Inde rosam mensis hospes suspendit amicis,
Convivae ut sub ea dicta tacenda sciant.3
8. That smoke doth follow the fairest,4 is an usual saying
with us,5 and in many parts of Europe; whereof although
there seem no natural ground, yet is it the continuation of a
very ancient opinion, as Petrus, Victorius, and Casaubon have
observed from a passage in Atheneeus ; wherein a parasite thus
describeth himself:
To every table first I come,
Whence porridge I am call'd by some :
A Capaneus at stairs I am,
To enter any room a ram ;
Like whips and thongs to all I ply,
Like smoke unto the fair I fly.
9. To sit cross-legged,6 or with our fingers pectinated or
shut together, is accounted bad, and friends will persuade us
3 sciant.] The discourses of the table seems to imply that he considered the
among true loving friendes require as saying to have become extinct since the
stride silence, as those of the bed be- days of Browne. This is by no means
tween the married Wr. the case. It is still very common in
4 fairest,] The fairest and tenderest Norfolk.
complexions are soonest offended with 6 To sit cross-legged,'] There is more
itt: and therefore when they complain, incivilitye in this forme of sitting, then
men use this suppling proverb. — Wr. malice or superstition; and may sooner
5 an usual saying with us,] An ob- move our spleen to a smile then a chafe,
servation of Brand {Popular Antiquities) — Wr.
CHAP. XXIII.] AND COMMON ERRORS. 167
from it. The same conceit religiously possessed the ancients
as is observable from Pliny ; poplites alternis genibus impo-
nere nefas olim ; and also from Athenaeus, that it was an old
veneficious practice, and Juno is made in this posture to hin-
der the delivery of Alcmsena. And therefore, as Pierius
observeth, in the medal of Julia Pia, the right-hand of Venus
was made extended with the inscription of Venus Genitrix ;
for the complication or pectination of the fingers was an
hieroglyphick of impediment, as in that place he declareth.
10. The set and statary times of pairing of nails, and cut-
ting of hair,7 is thought by many a point of consideration •
which is perhaps but the continuation of an ancient supersti-
tion. For piaculous8 it was unto the Romans to pare their
nails upon the Nundinas, observed every ninth day ; and was
also feared by others in certain days of the week ; according
to that of Ausonius, Ungues Mercurio, Barbam Jove, Cy-
pride Crines ; and was one part of the wickedness that filled
up the measure of Manasses, when 'tis delivered that he ob-
served times.*
11. A common fashion is to nourish hair upon the moles ol
the face ; which is the perpetuation of a very ancient custom ;
and, though innocently practised among us, may have a super-
stitious original, according to that of Pliny : Ncevos in facie
tondere religiosum habent nunc multi. From the like might
proceed the fears of polling elvelocks 9 or complicated hairs
off the heads, and also of locks longer than the other hair ;
they being votary at first, and dedicated upon occasion ; pre-
served with great care, and accordingly esteemed by others,
as appears by that of Apuleius, adjuro per dulcem capilli tut
nodulum.
* 1 Chron. xxxv.
7 haire,~\ They that would encrease the applied to the nayles Wr. Oh! Mr.
haire maye doe well to observe the in- Dean !
creasing moone at all times, but especially 8 piaculous] Requiring expiation,
in Taurus or Cancer: they that would hin- 9 elvelocks] Such is the danger of cut-
der the growthe, in the decrease of the ting a haire in the Hungarian knot that
moone, especially in Capricomns or Scor- the blood will flow out of itt, as by a
pio : and this is soe far from superstitious quill, and will not bee stanched. And
folly that it savours of one guided by the thence perhaps the custome first sprange,
rules of the wise in physic. And what though since abused. — Wr.
is sayd of the haire may bee as fitly
168 ENQUIRIES INTO VULGAR [BOOK V.
12. A custom there is in some parts of Europe to adorn
aqueducts, spouts and cisterns with lions' heads ; which though
no illaudable ornament, is of an Egyptian genealogy, who
practised the same under a symbolical illation. For because,
the sun being in Leo, the flood of Nilus was at the full, and
water became conveyed into every part, they made the spouts
of their aqueducts through the head of a lion.1 And upon
some celestial respects it is not improbable the great Mogul
or Indian king both bear for his arms a lion and the sun.2
13. Many conceive there is somewhat amiss, and that as we
usually say, they are unblest, until they put on their girdle.
Wherein (although most know not what they say) there are
involved unknown considerations. For by a girdle or cincture
are symbolically implied truth, resolution, and readiness unto
action, which are parts and virtues required in the service of
God. According whereto we find that the Israelites did eat
the paschal lamb with their loins girded;3 and the Almighty
challenging Job, bids him gird up his loins like a man. So
runneth the expression of Peter, " Gird up the loins of your
minds, be sober and hope to the end;" so the high priest
was girt with the girdle of fine linen ; so is it part of the holy
habit to have our loins girt about with truth ; and so is it also
said concerning our Saviour, " Righteousness shall be the
girdle of his loins, and faithfulness the girdle of his reins."
Moreover by the girdle, the heart and parts which God
requires are divided from the inferior and concupiscential or-
gans ; implying thereby a memento, unto purification and
cleanness of heart, which is commonly defiled from the con-
cupiscence and affection of those parts ; and therefore unto
this day the Jews do bless themselves when they put on their
* Isa. xi.
1 l'wn.~\ Architects practise this forme tian, partly in observation of the old
still, for noe other reason then the beau- precept of St. Paule, [Ephes. vi, 14,]
tye of itt — Wr. and partly in imitation of him in the
2 sun,] These two are the emblems first of the revelation, who is described
ofmajestye: the sonne signifying singu- doubly girt, about the paps, and about
larity of incommunicable glory : the the loyns. See the Icon of St. Paul
lyon sole soveraintye, or monarchall before his Epistles, in the Italian Testa-
power; and therefore most sutable to ment, at Lions, 1556'. — Wr.
their grandour. — Wr. The Israelites ate the paschal lamb
3 girded] I suppose this innocent with their loins girt, as being in readiness
custome is most comely and most Chris- to take their journey (from Egypt).
CHAP. XXIII.] AND COMMON ERRORS. 169
zone or cincture. And thus may we make out the doctrine of
Pythagoras, to offer sacrifice with our feet naked, that is,
that our inferior parts, and farthest removed from reason,
might be free, and of no impediment unto us. Thus Achil-
les, though dipped in Styx, yet, having his heel untouched by
that water, although he were fortified elsewhere, he was slain
in that part, as only vulnerable in the inferior and brutal part
of man. This is that part of Eve and her posterity the
devil still doth bruise, that is, that part of the soul which
adhereth unto earth, and walks in the path thereof. And in
this secondary and symbolical sense it may be also understood,
when the priests in the law washed their feet before the
sacrifice ; when our Saviour washed the feet of his disciples,
and said unto Peter, " If I wash not thy feet, thou hast no
part in me." And thus is it symbolically explainable, and
implieth purification and cleanness, when in the burnt-offer-
ings the priest is commanded to wash the inwards and legs
thereof in water ; and in the peace and sin-offerings, to burn
the two kidneys, the fat which is about the flanks, and as we
translate it, the caul above the liver. But whether the Jews,
when they blessed themselves, had any eye unto the words
of Jeremy, wherein God makes them his girdle ; or had
therein any reference unto the girdle, which the prophet was
commanded to hide in the hole of the rock of Euphrates,
and which was the type of their captivity, we leave unto
higher conjecture.
14. We shall not, I hope, disparage the resurrection of
our Redeemer, if we say the sun doth not dance on Easter-
day. And though we would willingly assent unto any sym-
pathetical exultation, yet cannot conceive therein any more
than a tropical expression. Whether any such motion there
were in that day wherein Christ arose, Scripture hath not
revealed, which hath been punctual in other records concern-
ing solary miracles ; and the Areopagite, that was amazed at
the eclipse, took no notice of this. And if metaphorical ex-
pressions go so far, we may be bold to affirm, not only that
one sun danced, but two arose that day: — that light appear-
ed at his nativity, and darkness at his death, and yet a light
at both ; for even that darkness was a light unto the Gentiles,
170 ENQUIRIES INTO VULGAR [BOOK V.
illuminated by that obscurity: — that it was the first time the
sun set above the horizon : — that although there were darkness
above the earth, there was light beneath it ; nor dare we say
that hell was dark if he were in it.
15. Great conceits are raised of the involution or membra-
nous covering, commonly called the silly-how, that sometimes
is found about the heads of children upon their birth, and is
therefore preserved with great care, not only as medical in
diseases, but effectual in success, concerning the infant and
others, which is surely no more than a continued supersti-
tion. For hereof we read in the Life of Antoninus, delivered
by Spartianus, that children are born sometimes with this
natural cap ; which midwives were wont to sell unto credu-
lous lawyers, who had an opinion it advantaged their pro-
motion.4
But to speak strictly, the effect is natural, and thus may
be conceived : animal conceptions have (largely taken) three
teguments, or membranous films, which cover them in the
womb ; that is, the chorion, amnios, and allantois. The
chorion is the outward membrane, wherein are implanted the
veins, arteries, and umbilical vessels, whereby its nourishment
is conveyed. The allantois is a thin coat seated under the
chorion, wherein are received the watery separations convey-
ed by the urachus, that the acrimony thereof should not
offend the skin. The amnios is a general investment, con-
taining the sudorous or thin serosity perspirable through the
4 promotion.'] By making them gra- all accidents by sea and land, has long
cious in pleadinge : to whom I thinke itt been experienced, and is universally ac-
was sufficient punishment, that they knowledged : the present phenomenon
bought not wit, but folly so deare. — Wr. was produced on the 4th of March inst.
Even till recently the opinion has and covered not only the head, but the
been held, that a child's caul, (silly-how) whole body and limbs of a fine female
would preserve a person from drowning ! infant, the daughter of a respectable
In the Times of May Cth, 1814, were master tradesman. Apply at No. 49,
three advertisements of fine cauls to be Gee Street, Goswell Street, where a
sold at considerable prices specified. The reference will be given to the eminent
following appear at subsequent dates: — physician who officiated at the birth of
"To voyagers. A child's caul to be the child." Times, March 9th, 1820.
sold for 15 guineas. Apply, &c." Times, Another advertised, £6, Times, Sept. 5th,
Dec. 8th, IS 19. 1S20. Another for 12 guineas, ditto,
Another for 16 guineas: Times, Dec. Jan. 23rd, 1824. See New Monthly
16th, 1S29. Mag. May, July, Aug. 1814.
" A child's caul to be disposed of. The Intellect, surely, was not yet in full
efficacy of this wonderful production of inarch at this period,
nature, in preserving the possessor from
CHAP. XXIII.] AND COMMON ERRORS. 171
skin. Now about the time when the infant breaketh these
coverings, it sometimes carrieth with it, about the head, a part
of the amnois or nearest coat ; which, saith Spigelius,* either
proceedeth from the toughness of the membrane, or weakness
of the infant that cannot get clear thereof. And therefore,
herein significations are natural and concluding upon the
infant, but not to be extended unto magical signalities, or any
other person.
16. That it is good to be drunk once a month, is a com-
mon flattery of sensuality, supporting itself upon physick,
and the healthful effects of inebriation.5 This indeed seems
plainly affirmed by Avicenna, a physician of great authority,
and whose religion, prohibiting wine, could less extenuate
ebriety. But Averroes, a man of his own faith, was of ano-
ther belief; restraining his ebriety unto hilarity, and in effect
making no more thereof than Seneca commendeth, and was
allowable in Cato ; that is, a sober incalescence and regulat-
ed aestuation from wine ; or, what may be conceived between
Joseph and his brethren, when the text expresseth they were
merry, or drank largely ; and whereby indeed the commodi-
ties set down by Avicenna, that is, alleviation of spirits, reso-
lution of superfluities, provocation of sweat and urine, may
also ensue. But as for dementation, sopition of reason and
the diviner particle, from drink ; though American religion
approve, and Pagan piety of old hath practised it, even at
their sacrifices, Christian morality and the doctrine of Christ
will not allow. And surely that religion which excuseth the
fact of Noah, in the aged surprisal of six hundred years, and
unexpected inebriation from the unknown effects of wine,
* De Formato Fcetu.
5 inebriation.'] Noe man could more divine ofspring of the human soule, which
propevlye inveighe against this beastly is immortall, to put of itself for a mo-
sinn, then a grave and learned physi- ment, or to assume the shape, or much
tian, were itt for noe more but the ac- less the guise of (the uglyest beast) a
quitting his noble faculty from the guilt swine, for any supposable benefit accru-
of countenancinge a medicine soe loth- ing therby to this outward carcasse, es •
some and soe odious. Certainlye itt can- pecially when itt may bee far better
not but magnifie his sober spirit, that relieved by soe many excellent, easie,
does make his own facultye (as Hagar to warrantable wayes of physick. — Wr.
Sarah) vayle to divinity, the handmayd " Drunkenness (methinks) can neither
to her lady and mistresse : especially become a wise philosopher to prescribe,
seeinge the naturall man cannot but con- nor a virtuous man to practise." — Bp
fesse that itt is base, unworthye the Hall, Heaven upon Earth, § 3.
172 ENQUIRIES INTO VULGAR [BOOK V.
will neither acquit ebriosity6 nor ebriety, in their known and
intended perversions.
And indeed although sometimes effects succeed which may
relieve the body, yet if they carry mischief or peril unto the
soul, we are therein restrainable by divinity, which circum-
scribeth physick, and circumstantially determines the use
thereof. From natural considerations physick commendeth
the use of venery ; and haply incest, adultery, or stupration,
may prove as physically advantageous as conjugal copulation ;
which notwithstanding must not be drawn into practice.
And truly effects, consequents, or events which we commend,
arise ofttimes from ways which we all condemn. Thus from
the fact of Lot v/e derive the generation of Ruth and blessed
nativity of our Saviour ; which notwithstanding did not ex-
tenuate the incestuous ebriety of the generator. And if, as
is commonly urged, we think to extenuate ebriety from the
benefit of vomit oft succeeding, Egyptian sobriety will con-
demn us, which purged both ways twice a month without this
perturbation ; and we foolishly contemn the liberal hand of
God, and ample field of medicines which soberly produce
that action.
17. A conceit there is, that the devil commonly appeareth
with a cloven hoof:7 wherein, although it seem excessively
ridiculous, there may be somewhat of truth ; and the ground
thereof at first might be his frequent appearing in the shape
of a goat, which answers that description. This was the
opinion of ancient Christians concerning the apparition of
Panites, fauns, and satyrs ; and in this form we read of one
that appeared unto Antony in the wilderness. The same is
also confirmed from expositions of Holy Scriptures ; for
whereas it is said,* " Thou shalt not offer unto devils," the
* Levit. xvii.
6 ebriosity.~\ Habitual drunkenness. God cald those calves (raised by Jero-
7 hoof.~\ "f is remarkable that of all boam for worship) devils: 2 Chron. xi,
creatures the devil chose the cloven-foot- 15. And that he chose his priests of the
ed, wherein to appeare, as satyrs, and lowest of the people was very suitable,
goatishe monsters : the swine whereon For where their God was a calfe, ' twas
to worke his malice : and the calves not improper that a butcher should bee
wherein to bee worshiped as at Dan and the prcistc. — Wr.
Bethel. For which cause the Spirit of
CHAP XXIII.] AND COMMON ERRORS. 173
original word is seghnirim, that is, rough and hairy goats,
because in that shape the devil most often appeared ; as is
expounded by the Rabbins, and Tremellius hath also explain-
ed ; and as the word Ascimah, the god of Emath, is by some
conceived. Nor did he only assume this shape in elder times,
but commonly in latter times, especially in the place of his
worship, if there be any truth in the confession of witches,
and as in many stories it stands confirmed by Bodinus.* And
therefore a goat is not improperly made the hieroglyphick of
the devil, as Pierius hath expressed it. So might it be the
emblem of sin, as it was in the sin-offering ; and so likewise
of wicked and sinful men. according to the expression of
Scripture in the method of the last distribution ; when our
Saviour shall separate the sheep from the goats, that is, the
sons of the Lamb from the children of the devil.
* In his Dcemono mania-
174 ENQUIRIES INTO VULGAR [BOOK V.
CHAPTER XXIV.
Of Popular Customs, Opinions, <yc. ; of the Prediction of
the Year ensuing from the Insects in Oak Apples ; that
Children would naturally speak Hebrew ; of refraining to
hill Swallows ; of Lights burning dim at the Apparition of
Spirits ; of the wearing of Coral ; of Moses' Rod in the
Discovery of Mines ; of discovering doubtful matters by
Book or Staff.
1. That temperamental dignotions, and conjecture of preva-
lent humours, may be collected from spots in our nails, we
are not averse to concede ; but yet not ready to admit sun-
dry divinations vulgarly raised upon them. Nor do we ob-
serve it verified in others, what Cardan* discovered as a
property in himself; to have found therein some signs of
most events that ever happened unto him. Or that there is
much considerable in that doctrine of cheiromancy, that spots
in the top of the nails do signify things past ; in the middle,
things present ; and at the bottom, events to come. That
white specks presage our felicity ; blue ones our misfortunes.
That those in the nail of the thumb have significations of hon-
our; those in the forefinger of riches ; and so respectively in
other fingers, (according to planetical relations, from whence
they receive their names,) as Tricassus f hath taken up, and
Picciolus well rejecteth.8
We shall not proceed to query, what truth there is in
palmistry, or divination from those lines in our hands, of high
denomination. Although if any thing be therein, it seems
not confinable unto man ; but other creatures are also con-
* De Varielate Rerum. f De Inspectionc Mantis.
s spots, 8fC.~] This saying has remain- find their way into the nursery, shall
ed to the present day. Such supersti- have given place to the general diffusion
tions will only cease when the ignorance of knowledge — especially of religions
of the lower orders, through whom they knowledge.
CHAP. XX1V.J
AND COMMON ERRORS.
175
siderable ; as is the forefoot of the mole, and especially of the
monkey, wherein we have observed the table-line, that of life
and of the liver.
2. That children committed unto the school of nature,
without institution, would naturally speak the primitive lan-
guage of the world, was the opinion of ancient heathens, and
continued since by Christians ; who will have it our Hebrew
tongue, as being the language of Adam. That this were
true, were much to be desired, not only for the easy attain-
ment of that useful tongue, but to determine the true and
primitive Hebrew. For whether the present Hebrew be the
unconfounded language of Babel, and that which, remaining
in Heber, was continued by Abraham and his posterity ; 9 or
9 For whether the present Hebrew, &;c.~\
On the subject of this passage, patient
and learned ingenuity has been exercis-
ed in successive ages to afford us — only
hypothesis and conjectures. And though
it must be admitted that nothing more
satisfactory can, in the nature of things,
be expected, yet is it certain, that in
order to constitute a thorough competency
to propose even these, nothing less would
suffice than the most profound acquaint-
ance with history and geography from
their remotest traces ; and an erudition
competent to the analysis and classifica-
tion, not only of the languages of anti-
quity, but of those living tongues and
dialects which now cover the earth, and
to which modern discoveries are daily
making additions. On the question,
whether the confusion of tongues left one
section or family of the existing popula-
tion in possession of the pure and una-
dulterated antediluvian language, I can-
not perceive the materials for constructing
even a conjecture. As to the theory here
proposed, on which Abraham might un-
derstand those nations among whom he
sojourned, by his own means of philo-
logical approximation, I cannot help feel-
ing that it is almost like claiming for the
patriarch an exemption from the operation
of the confusion of tongues. Among the
most recent works on this general class
of questions, is Mr. Beke's Origines Bib-
licce, a work in which some novel hypo-
theses have called down on their author
the criticism of those who differ from
him ; while at the same time the tribute
of praise has not been denied to the
ability he has displayed, and especially
to that spirit of reverence for scriptural
authority which pervades his work.
Mr. Beke first states his opinion, — in
opposition to the more usual hypothesis
which considers the languages of the
Jews, Arabians, and other nations of
similar character, to be the Semitic or
Shemitish family of languages, — that this
origin may more probably be assigned to
those of Tibet, China, and all those na-
tions of the east and south-east of Asia,
which are manifestly distinct from the
Japhthitish Hindoos and Tartars ; in-
cluding the islands of the Indian Archi-
pelago and the South Seas. He subse-
quently gives the following reasons for
attributing to the usually-called Semitic
languages (namely, Hebrew, Chaldee,
Syriac, Arabic, and Ethiopic of Abys-
sinia,) " a Mitzrite, and therefore Hami-
tish origin." " When the Almighty was
pleased to call Abraham from his native
country, the land of the Arphaxidites, or
Chaldees, first into the country of Aram,
and afterwards into that of Canaan, one
of two things must necessarily have had
place ; either that the inhabitants of these
latter countries spoke the same language
as himself, or else that he acquired the
knowledge of the foreign tongues spoken
by these people during his residence in
the countries in which they were ver-
nacular. That they all made use of the
same language cannot be imagined. Even
if it be assumed that the descendants of
Arphaxad, Abraham's ancestor, and the
Aramites, in whose territories Terah and
his family first took up their residence,
spoke the same language, or, at the fur-
thest, merely dialects of the same original
176
ENQUIRIES INTO VULGAR
[book V.
rather the language of Phoenicia and Canaan, wherein he
lived, some learned men I perceive do yet remain unsatisfied.
Although I confess probability stands fairest for the former;
nor are they without all reason, who think that at the confu-
sion of tongues, there was no constitution of a new speech in
Shemitish tongue, we cannot suppose that
this language would have resembled those
which were spoken by the Hamitish Ca-
naanites, and Philistines, in whose coun-
tries Abraham afterwards sojourned, un-
less we at the same time contend that
the confusion of tongues at Babel was
practically inoperative ; a conclusion, I
apprehend, in which we should be di-
rectly opposed to the express words of
Scripture: Gen. xi, 1 — 9.
" We have no alternative, therefore, as
it would seem, but to consider (as, in
fact, is the plain and obvious interpreta-
tion of the circumstances,) that Abraham
having travelled from his native place
(a distance of above 500 miles,) to the
'south country,' the land of the Philis-
tines, where he 'sojourned many days,'
he and his family would have acquired
the language of the people amongst whom
they thus took up their residence. But
it may be objected that Abraham and his
descendants, although living in a foreign
country, and necessarily speaking the
language of that country in their com-
munications with its inhabitants, would
also have retained the Aramitish tongue
spoken in Haran, and that the inter-
course between the two countries having
been kept up, first by the marriage of
Isaac with his cousin Rebekah, and sub-
sequently by that of Jacob also with his
cousins Leah and Rachel, and more es-
pecially from the circumstance of Jacob's
having so long resided in Padan-Aram,
and of all his children, with the exception
of Benjamin, having been born there, the
family language of Jacob, at the time of
his return into the ' south country,' must
indisputably have been the Aramitish.
It may be argued farther, that although
for the purpose of holding communica-
tion with the Canaanities and the Philis-
tines, it was necessary to understand
their languages also, yet that the lan-
guage most familiar to Jacob and his
household continued to be the Aramitish,
until the period when they all left Ca-
naan to go down into Mitzraim ; and
hence it might be contended that no
good reason exists for opposing the gene-
rally received opinion, that the Hebrew-
is the same Aramitish tongue which was
taken by the Israelites into Mitzraim, it
being only necessary to suppose that the
language was preserved substantially
without corruption during the whole
time of their sojourning in that country.
" But even admitting this argument,
which however I am far from allowing
to be conclusive ; how are we to explain
the origin of the Arabic language ? This
is clearly not of Aramitish derivation. It
is the language which was spoken by the
countrymen of Hagar, amongst whom
Ishmael was taken by her to reside, and
with whom he and his descendants speed-
ily became mixed up and completely
identified. Among these people it is not
possible that the slightest portion of the
Aramitish tongue of Abraham should
have existed before the time of Ishmael ;
nor can be conceived that the Mitzritish
descendants of the latter would have ac-
quired that language through him, even
supposing (though I consider it to be far
from an established fact) that the Aram-
itish had continued to be the only lan-
guage which was spoken by Abraham's
family during the whole of his residence
in the south country among the Canaan-
ites and Philistines ; and supposing, also,
that Ishmael acquired a perfect know-
ledge of that language, and of no other,
(which, however, is very improbable, his
mother being a Mitzrite,) from the cir-
cumstance of his childhood having been
passed in his father's house.
"I apprehend, indeed, that the Mitz-
ritish origin of the Arabic language is a
fact which cannot he disputed ; and if
this fact be conceded, there remains no
alternative but to admit — indeed it is a
mere truism to say — that the Hebrew,
which is a cognate dialect with the Ara-
bic, must be of common origin with that
language, and consequently of Mitzritish
derivation also The fact of
the striking coincidences which may be
found in the language of the Berbers, in
Northern Africa, with the languages of
cognate origin with the Hebrew, is in the
highest degree confirmatory of the Hami-
tish origin which I attribute to the whole
of them ; and it becomes the more par-
CHAP. XXIV.] AND COMMON ERRORS. 177
every family, but a variation and permutation of the old ; out
of one common language raising several dialects, the primitive
tongue remaining still entire. Which they who retained,
might make a shift to understand most of the rest. By virtue
whereof in those primitive times and greener confusions,
Abraham, of the family of Heber, was able to converse with
the Chaldeans, to understand Mesopotamians, Canaanites,
Philistines, and Egyptians : whose several dialects he could
reduce unto the original and primitive tongue, and so be able
to understand them.
3. Though useless unto us, and rather of molestation, * we
commonly refrain from killing swallows, and esteem it un-
lucky ~ to destroy them : whether herein there be not a
Pagan relick, we have some reason to doubt. For we read in
yElian, that these birds were sacred unto the Penates or
household gods of the ancients, and therefore were preserv-
ed.* The same they also honoured as the nuncios of the
spring ; and we find in Athenseus that the Rhodians had a
solemn song to welcome in the swallow.
4. That candles and lights burn dim and blue at the ap-
parition of spirits, may be true, if the ambient air be full of
sulphureous spirits, as it happeneth ofttimes in mines, where
* The same is extant in the 8th of Athenaeus .
ticularly so, on the consideration that I historian and a philologist, — the Rev.
derive the Berbers themselves directly W. D. Conybeare, who supports, (in
from the country where I conceive the his Elementary Course of Lectures, on
Israelites to have acquired their Ian- the Criticism, Interpretation, and Lead-
guage." ing Doctrines of the Bible,) the more
As to the nature and degree of change usually received opinion, that Hebrew,
which took place in the existing language and the cognate languages, are of Shem-
at its confusion, Mr. Beke contends, itish origin.
" that the idea of an absolute and per- J useless, <^c] This is a most unde-
manent change of dialect is more strictly served censure. The swallows are very
in accordance with the literal meaning of useful in destroying myriads of insects,
the scriptural account of the confusion of which would be injurious,
tongues, than the supposition that the 2 and esteem it unlucky, 8fC.~\ A simi-
consequences of that miraculous occur- lar superstition attaches to the robin and
rence were of a temporary nature only, the wren ; — the tradition is, that if their
and that the whole of the present diver- nests are robbed, the cows will give
sities in the languages of the world are bloody milk; — schoolboys rarely are
to be referred to the gradual operation of found hardy enough to commit such a
subsequent causes." depredation on these birds, of which the
In the foregoing sentence, and still common people in some parts of Eng-
more in the disquisition which precedes land have this legend —
it, Mr. Beke's opinion is in opposition to „ ,. , y w
a very high authority both as a natural Are God Almighty's cocks and hens.
VOL. III. N
178 ENQUIRIES INTO VULGAR [BOOK V.
damps and acid exhalations are able to extinguish them.
And may be also verified, when spirits do make themselves
visible by bodies of such effluviums. But of lower consider-
ation is the common foretelling of strangers, from the fungous
parcels about the wicks of candles ; which only signifieth a
moist and pluvious air about them, hindering the avolation of
the light and favillous particles ; whereupon they are forced
to settle upon the snast.3
5. Though coral doth properly preserve and fasten the
teeth in men, yet is it used in children to make an easier
passage for them : and for that intent is worn about their
necks. But whether this custom were not superstitiously
founded, as presumed an amulet or defensative against fasci-
nation, is not beyond all doubt. For the same is delivered
by Pliny ;* Aruspices religiosum coralli gestamen amoliendis
periculis arbitrantur ; et surculi infantia alligati, tutelam
habere creduntur.4'
6 A strange kind of exploration and peculiar way of rhab-
domancy is that which is used in mineral discoveries ; that is,
with a forked hazel, commonly called Moses' rod, which
freely held forth, will stir and play if any mine be under it.
And though many there are who have attempted to make it
good, yet until better information, we are of opinion with
Agricola,-j- that in itself it is a fruitless exploration,5 strongly
* Lib. xxxii. f Be Re Metallica, lib. ii.
3 snast.'] The Norfolk (and perhaps — by a philosopher of unimpeachable ve-
other folk's) vulgar term, signifying the racity, and a chemist, Mr. Win. Cook-
burnt portion of the wick of the candle; worthy of Plymouth. Pryce also informs
which, when sufficiently lengthened by us, p. 123, of his Mineralogia Comubi-
want of snuffing, becomes crowned with ensis, that many mines have been disco-
a cap of the purest lamp-black, called vered by means of the rod, and quotes
here, "the fungous parcels, &c." several ; but, after a long account bf the
4 That temperamental, fyc] The first mode of cutting, tying, and using it,
five sections of this chapter were first interspersed with observations on the
added in the 2nd edit. discriminating faculties of constitutions
5 exploration.'] This is worthy of note and persons in its use, altogether rejects
bycause itt is averred by manye authors it, because ' Cornwall is so plentifully
of whom the world hath a great opinion, stored with tin and copper lodes, that
— Wr. some accident every week discovers to
From a paper by Mr. Wm. Philips, in us a fresh vein,' and because 'a grain of
Tilloch's Philosophical Magazine, vol. metal attracts the rod as strongly as a
xiii, p. 309, on the divining rod, it ap- pound,' for which reason 'it has been
pears that it was ably advocated by De found to dip equally to a poor as to a rich
Thouvenel, in France, in the 18th cen- lode.' — See Trans. Geol. Soc. ii, 123.
tury, and soon after— in our own country
CHAP. XXIV.] AND COMMON ERRORS. 179
scenting of Pagan derivation, and the virgula divina, prover-
bially magnified of old. The ground whereof were the magi-
cal rods in poets, that of Pallas in Homer, that of Mercury
that charmed Argus, and that of Circe which transformed
the followers of Ulysses. Too boldly usurping the name of
Moses' rod, from which notwithstanding, and that of Aaron,
were probably occasioned the fables of all the rest. For that
of Moses must needs be famous unto the Egyptians; and
that of Aaron unto many other nations, as being preserved
in the ark, until the destruction of the temple built by
Solomon.
7. A practice there is among us to determine doubtful
matters, by the opening6 of a book, and letting fall a staff,
which notwithstanding are ancient fragments of Pagan divi-
nations. The first an imitation of sortes Homerices, or Vir-
giliance? drawing determinations from verses casually occur-
ring. The same was practised by Severus, who entertained
ominous hopes of the empire, from that verse in Virgil, Tu
regere i?nperio popidos, Romane, memento ; and Gordianus,
who reigned but few days, was discouraged by another ; that
is, Ostendunt terris hunc tantum fata, nee ultra esse sinunt.8
6 opening.! For the casual opening of Nor Jet him then enjoy supreme command,!
„. , ° J ,» , , T, . . . But tall untimely bv some hostile hand, >
a Bible, see. Cardan, de f'arietate, p. And lie unburied in the common sand. )
1040.— W>.
' Virgiliance.~\ King Charles T. tried the It is said King Charles seemed con-
sort Virgiliana, as is related by Wei- cerned at this accident ; and that the
wood in the following passage:— Lord Falkland observing it, would like-
" The King being at Oxford during the wise try his own fortune in the same
civil wars, went one day to see the pub- manner ; hoping he might fall upon some
lie library, where he was showed among passage that could have no relation to
other books, a Virgil nobly printed, and his case, and thereby divert the king's
exquisitely bound. The Lord Falkland, thoughts from any impression the other
to divert the king, would have his ma- might have upon him ; But the place that
jesty make a trial of his fortune by the Falkland stumbled upon, was yet more
sortes Virgiliance, which every body suited to his destiny than the other had
knows was an usual kind of augury some been to the king's; being the following
ages past. Whereupon the king opening expressions of Evander, upon the un-
the book, the period which happened to timely death of his son Pallas, as they
come up, was that part of Dido's impre- are translated by the same hand.
cation aa-ainst iEneas ; which Mr. Dry- ..,,.*, ,■ , , j „,j
, . 8, . ., ' O Pallas ! thou hast fail'd thy plighted word,
(len translates tllUS : Xo fight with reason; not to tempt the sword.
Yet let a race untam'd, and haughty foes, I warn'd thee but in Tain, for well I knew
His peaceful entrance with dire arms oppose. V> hat perils youthiul ardour would pursue ,
Oppress'd with numbers in th' unequal field, J hat boiling blood would carry thee too tar,
His men disoourag'd and himself expell'd, Young as thou wert in dangers, raw to war.
Let him for succour sue from place to place, O curst essay of aims, disast rous doom,
Tom from his subjects, and his son's embrace, Prelude of bloody fields and fights to come.
First let him see his friends in battle slain,
And their untimely fate lament in vain : 8 sinunt.'] Of all Other, I cannot but
{M^J&^£2.t&Z m™ fe' admire that ominous dreame of Conslaus,
N 2
On hard conditions may he buy his peace ;
180 ENQUIRIES INTO VULGAR [BOOK V.
Nor was this only performed in heathen authors, but upon
the sacred text of Scripture, as Gregorius Turonensis hath
left some account ; and as the practice of the Emperor
Heraclius, before his expedition into Asia Minor, is delivered
by Cedrenus.
As for the divination or decision from the staff, it is an
augurial relick, and the practice thereof is accused by God
himself; " My people ask counsel of their stocks, and their
staff declareth unto them."* Of this kind of rhabdomancy
was that practised by Nebuchadnezzar in that Chaldean mis-
cellany, delivered by Ezekiel; " The King of Babylon stood
at the parting of the way, at the head of two ways to use
divination, he made his arrows bright, he consulted with
images, he looked in the liver ; at the right hand were the
divinations of Jerusalem."-]- That is, as Estius expounded
it, the left way leading unto Rabbah, the chief city of the
Ammonites, and the right unto Jerusalem, he consulted idols
and entrails, he threw up a bundle of arrows to see which
way they would light, and falling on the right hand he
marched towards Jerusalem. A like way of belomancy or
divination by arrows hath been in request with Scythians,
Alanes, Germans, with the Africans and Turks of Algier.
But of another nature was that which was practised by
Elisha, X when, by an arrow shot from an eastern window, he
presignified the destruction of Syria; or when, according
unto the three strokes of Joash, with an arrow upon the
ground, he foretold the number of his victories. For there-
by the Spirit of God particulared the same, and determined
the strokes of the king, unto three, which the hopes of the
prophet expected in twice that number.9
8. We cannot omit to observe the tenacity of ancient cus-
toms, in the nominal observation of the several days of the
week, according to Gentile and Pagan appellations ; § for the
* Hosca iv. f Ezek. xxiv.
X 2 Kings xiii, xv. § Dion. Cassii, lib. xxxvii.
the Emperor, the sonne of Heracleonas, dXXui N/X^i/, which the next day prov-
and father of Pogonatus, anno imperii, cti t00 true. Wr.
13, who beinge to fight with barbarians a jsfor (he divination, #e.] This pa-
the next morne, near Thessalomca, ragraph, and the three following, were
thought hee heard one eryinge ©=£ first added in the second edition.
CHAP. XXIV.] AND COMMON ERRORS. 181
original is very high, and as old as the ancient Egyptians,
who named the same according to the seven planets, the
admired stars of heaven, and reputed deities among them.
Unto every one assigning a several day; not according to
their celestial order, or as they are disposed in heaven, but
after a diatesseron or musical fourth. For beginning Saturday
with Saturn, the supremest planet, they accounted by Jupi-
ter and Mars unto Sol, making Sunday. From Sol in like
manner by Venus and Mercury unto Luna, making Monday :
and so through all the rest. And the same order they con-
firmed by numbering the hours of the day unto twenty- four,
according to the natural order of the planets. For beginning
to account from Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, and so about unto
twenty- four, the next day will fall unto Sol ; whence account-
ing twenty-four, the next will happen unto Luna, making
Monday : and so with the rest, according to the account and
order observed still among us.
The Jews themselves, in their astrological considerations,
concerning nativities and planetary hours, observe the same
order upon as witty foundations. Because, by an equal inter-
val, they make seven triangles, the bases whereof are the
seven sides of a septilateral figure, described Avithin a circle-
That is, if a figure of seven sides be described in a circle, and
at the angles thereof the names of the planets be placed in
their natural order on it ; if we begin with Saturn, and suc-
cessively draw lines from angle to angle, until seven equicru-
ral triangles be described, whose bases are the seven sides of
the septilateral figure; the triangles will be made by this
order.* The first being made by Saturn, Sol, and Luna,
that is, Saturday, Sunday, and Monday ; and so the rest in
the order still retained.
But thus much is observable, that however in celestial
considerations they embraced the received order of the
planets, yet did they not retain either characters, or names in
common use amongst us ; but declining human denomina-
tions, they assigned them names from some remarkable quali-
ties ; as is very observable in their red and splendent planets,
that is, of Mars and Venus. But the change of their names f
* Cujus icon apud Docl. Gaffarcl, cap. ii, et Fabrit. Pad. t Maadim. Nogah,
182
ENQUIRIES INTO VULGAR
[book V.
disparaged not the consideration of their natures ; nor did
they thereby reject all memory of these remarkable stars,
which God himself admitted in his tabernacle, if conjecture
will hold concerning the golden candlestick, whose shaft
resembled the sun, and six branches the planets about it.
9, We are unwilling to enlarge concerning many other ;
only referring unto sober examination, what natural effects
can reasonably be expected, when to prevent the ephialtes or
night-mare, we hang up an hollow stone in our stables ;
when for amulets against agues we use the chips of gallows
and places of execution.1 When for warts we rub our hands
before the moon,2 or commit any maculated part unto the
1 execution.'] See what the Lord St.
Alban's sayes for the certaintye of this
experimente made upon himself, in his
natural historye, centurye 10th, and
997 experiment. — Wr.
" The sympathy of individuals, that
have been entire, or have touched, is of
all others the most incredible ; yet accord-
ing unto our faithful manner of exami-
nation of nature, we will make some
little mention of it. The taking away
of warts, by rubbing them with somewhat
that afterwards is put to waste and con-
sume, is a common experiment ; and I
do apprehend it the rather because of my
own experience. I had from my child-
hood a wart upon one of my fingers:
afterwards, when I was about sixteen
years old, being then at Paris, there grew
upon both my hands a number of warts at
the least an hundred, in a month's space.
The English ambassador's lady, who was
a woman far from superstition, told me
one day, she would help me away with
my warts : whereupon she got a piece of
lard with the skin on, and rubbed the
warts all over with the fat side ; and
amongst the rest, that wart which I had
had from my childhood : then she nailed
the piece of lard, with the fat towards the
sun, upon a post of her chamber window,
which was to the south. The success
was, that within five weeks space all
the warts went quite away : and that
wart which I had so long endured, for
company. But at the rest I did little
marvel, because they came in a short
time, and might go away in a short
time again : but the going away of that
which had stayed so long doth yet stick
with me. They say the like is done by the
rubbing of warts with a green elder stick
and then burying the stick to rot in muck.
It would be tried with corns and wens,
and such other excrescences. I would
have it also tried with some parts of living
creatures that are nearest the nature of
excrescences ; as the combs of cocks, the
spurs of cocks, the horns of beasts, etc.
And I would have it tried both ways;
both by rubbing those parts with lard,
or elder, as before ; and by cutting off
some piece of those parts, and laying it
to consume: to see whether it will work
any effect towards the consumption of
that part which was once joined with it."
— Natural History, Cent, x, No. 997.
2 When for warts we rub our hands, iSj-c]
Hear what Sir Kenelme Digby says of
this matter in his Late Discourse, fyc.
Touching the Cure of wounds by the Pow-
der of Sympathy, &c. 12mo. 165S.
"I cannot omit to add hereunto ano-
ther experiment, which is, that we find
by the effects, how the rays of the moon
are cold and moist. It is without contro-
versy, that the luminous parts of those
rays come from the sun, the moon having
no light at all within her, as her eclipses
bear witness, which happen when the
earth is opposite betwixt her and the sun ;
which interposition suffers her not to have
light from his rays. The beams then
which come from the moon, are those of
the sun, which glancing upon her, reflect
upon us, and so bring with them the
atoms of that cold and humid star, which
participates of the source whence they
come : therefore if one should expose a
hollow bason, or glass, to assemble them,
one shall find, that whereas those of the
sun do burn by such a conjuncture, these
chap, xxiv.l
AND COMMON ERRORS.
183
touch of the dead. AVhat truth there is in those common
female doctrines, that the first rib of roast beef powdered, is
a peculiar remedy against fluxes ; — that to urine upon earth
newly cast up by a mole, bringeth down the menses in women •
— that if a child dieth, and the neck becometh not stiff, but for
many hours remaineth lithe and flaccid, some other in the
same house will die not long after ; — that if a woman with
child looketh upon a dead body, her child will be of a pale
complexion ; 3 — our learned and critical philosophers might
illustrate, whose exacter performances our adventures do but
solicit : meanwhile, I hope they will plausibly receive our
attempts, or candidly correct our misconjectures.4
Disce, sed ira cadat naso, rugosaque sanna,
Dum veteres avias tibi de pulmone vevello.
clean contrary do refresh and moisten in
a notable manner, leaving an aquatic and
viscous glutining kind of sweat upon the
glass. One would think it were a folly
that one should offer to wash his hands
in a well-polished silver bason, wherein
there is not a drop of water, yet this may
be done by the reflection of the moon-
beams only, which will afford a compe
tent humidity to do it; but they who
have tried this, have found their hands,
after they are wiped, to be much moister
than usually : but this is an infallible way
to take away warts from, the hands, if it
be often used."
3 What truth there is, 8)-c.'\ This sen-
tence was first added, and the arrange-
ment of the paragraphs in the chapter
altered, in the 6th edit.
4 misconjectures.'] The perusal of the
two preceding chapters, calls powerfully
to mind the following lively and eloquent
"character of the superstitions," drawn
by our author's pious and learned friend,
Bishop Hall.
" Superstition is godless religion, de-
vout impiety. The superstitious is fond
in observation, servile in fear : he wor-
ships God, but as he lists : he gives God
what he asks not, more than he asks,
and all but what he should give ; and
makes more sins than the ten command-
ments. This man dares not stir forth,
till his breast be crossed, and his face
sprinkled. If but a hare cross him the
way, he returns ; or, if his journey
began, unawares, on the dismal day, or
if he stumbled at the threshold. If he
see a snake unkilled, he fears a mis-
chief: if the salt fall towards him, he
looks pale and red ; and is not quiet, till
one of the waiters have poured wine on
his lap: and when he sneezeth, thinks
them not his friends that uncover not. In
the morning he listens whether the crow
crieth even or odd; and, by that token,
presages of the weather. If he hear but
a raven croak from the next roof, he
makes his will ; or if a bittour fly over
his head by night : but if his troubled
fancy shall second his thoughts with the
dream of a fair garden, or green rushes,
or the salutation of a dead friend, he
takes leave of the world, and says he
cannot live. He will never set to sea
but on a Sunday ; neither ever goes with-
out an erra pater in his pocket. St.
Paul's day, and St. Swithin's, with the
twelve, are his oracles ; which he dares
believe against the almanack. When he
lies sick on his death-bed, no sin trou-
bles him so much, as that he did once
eat flesh on a Friday : no repentance can
expiate that; the rest need none. There
is no dream of his, without an interpre-
tation, without a prediction ; and, if the
event answer not his exposition, he ex-
pounds it according to the event. Every
dark grove and pictured wall strikes him
with an awful, but carnal devotion. Old
wives and stars are his counsellors : his
night-spell is his guard, and charms, his
physicians. He wears Paracelsian cha-
racters for the tooth-ache: and a little
hallowed wax is his antidote for all evils.
This man is strangelv credulous ; and
184
ENQUIRIES INTO VULGAR ERRORS. [BOOK V.
calls impossible things, miraculous: if he
hear that some sacred block speaks,
moves, weeps, smiles, his bare feet carry
him thither with an offering ; and, if a
danger miss him in the way, his saint
hath the thanks. Some ways he will not
go, and some he dares not ; either there
are bugs, or he feigneth them: every
lantern is a ghost, and every noise is of
chains. He knows not why, but his
custom is to go a little about, and to
leave the cross still on the right hand.
One event is enough to make a rule :
out of these rules he concludes fashions
proper to himself; and nothing can turn
him out of his own course. If he have
done his task, he is safe: it matters not
with what affection. Finally, if God
would let him be the carver of his own
obedience, he could not have a better
subject : as he is, he cannot have a worse.' '
1 — Bishop Hall's Characters of Vices ;
Works by Pratt, vol. vii, 102.
THE SIXTH BOOK:
THE PARTICULAll PART CONTINUED.
OF POPULAR AND RECEIVED TENETS, COSMOGRAPHICAL, GEOGRAPHICAL,
AND HISTORICAL.
CHAPTER I.
Concerning the beginning of the World, that the time thereof
is not precisely known, as commonly it is presumed.
Concerning the world and its temporal circumscriptions,
whoever shall strictly examine both extremes, will easily per-
ceive, there is not only obscurity in its end, but its beginning ;
that as its period is inscrutable, so is its nativity indetermina-
ble ; that as it is presumption to enquire after the one, so is
there no rest or satisfactory decision in the other. And here-
unto we shall more readily assent, if we examine the informa-
tion, and take a view of the several difficulties in this point ;
which we shall more easily do, if we consider the different
conceits of men, and duly perpend the imperfections of their
discoveries.
And first, the histories of the Gentiles afford us slender
satisfaction, nor can they relate any story, or affix a probable
point to its beginning,1 For some thereof (and those of the
wisest amongst them) are so far from determining its begin-
ning, that they opinion and maintain it never had any at all ;
as the doctrine of Epicurus implieth, and more positively
3 Us beginning.] The beginning of the world.
186 ENQUIRIES INTO VULGAR [BOOK VI.
Aristotle, in his books De Coelo, declareth. Endeavouring
to confirm it with arguments of reason, and those appearingly
demonstrative ; wherein his labours are rational, and uncon-
trolable upon the grounds assumed, that is, of physical gene-
ration, and a primary or first matter, beyond which no other
hand was apprehended. But herein we remain sufficiently
satisfied from Moses, and the doctrine delivered of the crea-
tion ; that is, a production of all things out of nothing, a
formation not only of matter, but of form, and a materiation
even of matter itself.
Others are so far from defining the original of the world
or of mankind, that they have held opinions not only repug-
nant unto chronology, but philosophy ; that is, that they had.
their beginning in the soil where they inhabited ; assuming or
receiving appellations conformable unto such conceits. So
did the Athenians term themselves avr6jfiovss or Aborigines,
and in testimony thereof did wear a golden insect on their
heads : the same name is also given unto the Inlanders, or
Midland inhabitants of this island, by Caesar. But this a con-
ceit answerable unto the generation of the giants ; not ad-
mittable in philosophy, much less in divinity, which distinctly
informeth we are all the seed of Adam, that the whole world
perished, unto eight persons before the flood, and was after
peopled by the colonies of the sons of Noah. There was
therefore never any autochthon"' or man arising from the
earth, bat Adam ; for the woman being formed out of the
rib, was once removed from earth, and framed from that
element under incarnation. And so although her production
were not by copulation, yet was it in a manner seminal : for
if in every part from whence the seed doth flow, there be
contained the idea of the whole ; there was a seminality and
contracted Adam in the rib, which, by the information of a
soul, was individuated unto Eve. And therefore this conceit
applied unto the original of man, and the beginning of the
world, is more justly appropriable unto its end ; for then in-
- autochthon,'] Autochthon, [rising by God. The second Adam might bee
himselfe from the earthe] which was not trulyer called Autochthon, in a mystical
to bee granted of the first ; who did not sense, not only in respect of his birthe,
spring [as plants now doe] of himselfe. but of his resurrection alsoc. — Wr.
For Adam was created out of the dust
CHAP. I.] AND COMMON ERRORS. 187
deed men shall rise out of the earth : the graves shall shoot '
up their concealed seeds, and in that great autumn, men shall
spring up, and awake from their chaos again.
Others have been so blind in deducing the original of
things, or delivering their own beginnings, that when it hath
fallen into controversy, they have not recurred unto chrono-
logy or the records of time ; but betaken themselves unto
probabilities, and the conjecturalities of philosophy.* Thus
when the two ancient nations, Egyptians and Scythians, con-
tended for antiquity, the Egyptians pleaded their antiquity
from the fertility of their soil, inferri-ng that men there first
inhabited, where they were with most facility sustained ; and
such a land did they conceive was Egypt.
The Scythians, although a cold and heavier nation, urged
more acutely, deducing their arguments from the two active
elements and principles of all things, fire and water. For if
of all things there was first an union, and that fire over-ruled
the rest, surely that part of earth which was coldest would
first get free, and afford a place of habitation : but if all the
earth were first involved in water, those parts would surely
first appear, which were most high, and of most elevated
situation, and such was theirs. These reasons carried indeed
the antiquity from the Egyptians, but confirmed it not in the
Scythians : for, as Herodotus relateth, from Pargitaus their
first king unto Darius, they accounted but two thousand
years.
As for the Egyptians, they invented another way of trial ;
for as the same author relateth, Psammitichus their king
attempted this decision by a new and unknown experiment ;
bringing up two infants with goats, and where they never
heard the voice of man ; concluding that to be the ancientest
nation, whose language they should first deliver.3 But
herein he forgot, that speech was by instruction not instinct,
by imitation, not by nature ; that men do speak in some kind
* Diodor. Justin.
3 As for the Egyptians, 8fc.~\ " It is the Phrygian language signifyeth 'bread,'
said that after they were two years old, whence it was conjectured that the Phry-
one of the boys cried becchus, which in gians were the first people." — Jeff.
188 ENQUIRIES INTO VULGAR [BOOK VI.
but like parrots, and as they are instructed, that is, in simple
terms and words, expressing the open notions of things ;
which the second act of reason compoundeth into proposi-
tions, and the last into syllogisms and forms of ratiocination.
And howsoever the account of Manethon the Egyptian
priest run very high, and it be evident that Mizraim peopled
that country, (whose name with the Hebrews it beareth unto
this day,) and there be many things of great antiquity related
in Holy Scripture, yet was their exact account not very
ancient ; for Ptolemy their countryman beginneth his astro-
nomical compute no higher than Nabonasser, who is con-
ceived by some the same with Salmanasser. i\.s for the
argument deduced from the fertility of the soil, duly enquired
it rather overthroweth than promoteth their antiquity ; if that
country whose fertility they so advance, was in ancient times
no firm or open land, but some vast lake or part of the sea,
and became a gained ground by the mud and limous matter
brought down by the river Nilus, which settled by degrees
into a firm land, — according as is expressed by Strabo, and
more at large by Herodotus, both from the Egyptian tradi-
tion and probable inducements from reason ; called therefore
fluvii donum, an accession of earth, or tract of land acquired
by the river.
Lastly, some indeed there are, who have kept records of
time, and a considerable duration, yet do the exactest thereof
afford no satisfaction concerning the beginning of the world,
or any way point out the time of its creation. The most au-
thentick records and best approved antiquity are those of the
Chaldeans ; yet in the time of Alexander the Great they at-
tained not so high as the flood. For as Simplicius relateth,
Aristotle required of Calisthenes, who accompanied that
worthy in his expedition, that at his arrival at Babylon, he
would enquire of the antiquity of their records ; and those
upon compute he found to amount unto 1903 years, which
account notwithstanding ariseth no higher than ninety-five
years after the flood. The Arcadians, I confess, were es-
teemed of great antiquity, and it was usually said they were
before the moon; according unto that of Seneca; sidus
post veteres Arcades editum, and that of Ovid, luna gens
CHAP. I.] AND COMMON ERRORS. 189
prior ilia fait. But this, as Censorinus observeth, must not
be taken grossly, as though they were existent before that
luminary ; but were so esteemed, because they observed a set
course of year, before the Greeks conformed their year unto
the course and motion of the moon.
Thus the heathens affording no satisfaction herein, they
are most likely to manifest this truth, who have been ac-
quainted with Holy Scripture, and the sacred chronology
delivered by Moses, who distinctly sets down this account,
computing by certain intervals, by memorable asras, epochs
or terms of time : as, from the creation unto the flood, from
hence unto Abraham, from Abraham unto the departure
from Egypt, &c Now in this number have only been Sama-
ritans, Jews, and Christians.
For the Jews ; they agree not in their accounts, as Bodine
in his method of history hath observed, out of Baal Seder,
Rabbi Nassom, Gersom, and others ; in whose compute the
age of the world is not yet 5400 years. The same is more
evidently observable from two most learned Jews, Philo and
Josephus ; who very much differ in the accounts of time, and
variously sum up these intervals assented unto by all. Thus
Philo, from the departure out of Egypt unto the building of the
temple, accounts but 920 years ; but Josephus sets down
1062 : Philo, from the building of the temple, to its de-
struction, 44*0 ; Josephus, 470 : Philo, from the creation to
the destruction of the temple, 3373; but Josephus, 8513:
Philo, from the deluge to the destruction of the temple,
1718: but Josephus, 1913. In which computes there are
manifest disparities, and such as much divide the concordance
and harmony of times.
For the Samaritans ; their account is different from these
or any others ; for they account from the creation to the
deluge but 1302 years; which cometh to pass upon the
different account of the ages of the Patriarchs set down
when they begat children. For whereas the Hebrew, Greek,
and Latin texts account Jared 162 when he begat Enoch,
they account but sixty-two ; and so in others. Now the
Samaritans were no incompetent judges of times and the
chronology thereof; for they embrace the five books of
190 ENQUIRIES INTO VULGAR [BOOK VI.
Moses, and as it seemeth, preserve the text with far more
integrity than the Jews : who as Tertullian, Chrysostom, and
others oberve, did several ways corrupt the same, especially
in passages concerning the prophecies of Christ. So that,
as Jerome professeth, in his translation he was fain sometime
to relieve himself by the Samaritan Pentateuch ; as amongst
others in that text, Deuteronomy xxvii, 26 ; Maledictus om-
nis qui non permanserit in omnibus quce scripta simt in libra
legis. From hence Saint Paul, (Gal. iii, 10,) inferreth there is
no justification by the law, and urgeth the text according to the
Septuagint. Now the Jews, to afford a latitude unto them-
selves, in their copies expunged the word ^3 or syncategore-
matical term omnis : wherein lieth the strength of the law,
and of the apostle's argument ; but the Samaritan Bible re-
tained it right, and answerable unto what the apostle had
urged.4
As for Christians, from whom we should expect the
exactest and most concurring account, there is also in them
a manifest disagreement, and such as is not easily reconciled.
For first, the Latins accord not in their account ; to omit the
calculation of the ancients, of Austin, Bede, and others, the
chronology of the moderns doth manifestly dissent. Josephus
Scaliger, whom Helvicus seems to follow, accounts the crea-
tion in 765 of the Julian period ; and from thence unto the
nativity of our Saviour alloweth 3947 years ; but Dionysius
Petavius, a learned chronologer, dissenteth from this compute
almost forty years ; placing the creation in the 730th of the
Julian period, and from thence unto the incarnation account-
ed! 3983 years. For the Greeks ; their accounts are more,
anomalous : for if we recur unto ancient computes, we shall
find that Clemens Alexandrinus, an ancient father and pre-
ceptor unto Origen, accounted from the creation unto our
Saviour, 5664 years ; for in the first of his Stromaticks, he
collecteth the time from Adam unto the death of Commodus
to be 5858 years ; now the death of Commodus he placeth
in the year after Christ 194, which number deducted from
4 the Samaritan, fyc."] It is also pre- copies of the Chaldee Targum, and in
served in six MSS. in the collections of the LXX. — Jeff.
Dr. Kennicolt, and De Rossi, in several
CHAP. I.] AND COMMON ERRORS. 191
the former, there remaineth 5664. Theophilus, bishop of
Antioch, accounteth unto the nativity of Christ 5515, dedu-
cible from the like way of compute ; for in his first book
ad Autolyehum, he accounteth from Adam unto Aurelius
Verus 5695 years ; now that Emperor died in the year of
our Lord ISO, which deducted from the former sum, there
remaineth 5515. Julius Africanus, an ancient chronologer?
accounteth somewhat less, that is, 5500. Eusebius, Orosius
and others dissent not much from this, but all exceed five
thousand.
The latter compute of the Greeks, as Petavius observeth,
hath been reduced unto two or three accounts. The first
accounts unto our Saviour 5501, and this hath been observed
by Nicephorus, Theophanes, and Maximus. The other ac-
counts 5509 ; and this of all at present is generally received
by the church of Constantinople, observed also by the Mus-
covite, as I have seen in the date of the emperor's letters ;
wherein this year of ours, 1645, is from the year of the
world 7154, which doth exactly agree unto this last account
5509: for if unto that sum be added 1645, the product will
be 7154; by this chronology are many Greek authors to be
understood : and thus is Martinus Crusius to be made out,
when in his Turcogrecian history he delivers, the city of
Constantinople was taken by the Turks in the year ^6^a that
is, 6961. Now according unto these chronologists, the pro-
phecy of Elias the rabbin, so much in request with the Jews,
and in some credit also with Christians, that the world should
last but six thousand years ; unto these I say, it hath been
long and out of memory disproved ; for the sabbatical and
7000th year wherein the world should end (as did the creation
on the seventh day) unto them is long ago expired ; they are
proceeding in the eight thousandth year, and numbers exceed-
ing those days which men have made the types and shadows
of these. But certainly what Marcus Leo the Jew conceiv-
eth of the end of the heavens, exceedeth the account of all
that ever shall be ; for though he conceiveth the elemental
frame shall end in the seventh or sabbatical millenary, yet
cannot he opinion the heavens and more durable part of the
creation shall perish before seven times seven or forty-nine,
192 ENQUIRIES INTO VULGAR [BOOK VI.
that is, the quadrant of the other seven, and perfect jubilee
of thousands.5
Thus may we observe the difference and wide dissent of
men's opinions, and thereby the great incertainty in this es-
tablishment. The Hebrews not only dissenting from the
Samaritans, the Latins from the Greeks, but every one from
another. Insomuch that all can be in the right it is impossible
that any one is so, not with assurance determinable. And
therefore, as Petavius confesseth, to effect the same exactly
without inspiration, it is impossible, and beyond the arithme-
tick of any but God himself. And therefore also, what sa-
tisfaction may be obtained from those violent disputes, and
eager enquiries, in what day of the month the world began,
either of March or October ; likewise in what face or position
of the moon, whether at the prime or full, or soon after, let
our second and serious considerations determine.
Now the reason and ground of this dissent is the unhappy
difference between the Greek and Hebrew editions of the
bible, for unto these two languages have all translations con-
formed ; the Holy Scripture being first delivered in Hebrew,
and first translated into Greek. For the Hebrew ; it seems
the primitive and surest text to rely on, and to preserve the
same entire and uncorrupt there hath been used the highest
caution humanity could invent. For, as R. Ben Maimon
hath declared, if in the copying thereof one letter were
written twice, or if one letter but touched another, that copy
was not admitted into their synagogues, but only allowable to
be read in schools and private families. Neither were they
careful only in the exact number of their sections of the law,
but had also the curiosity to number every word, and affixed
the account unto their several books. Notwithstanding all
5 Marcus Leo the Jeiv.~] The text of the world into 3 partes. The begin-
convinceth this dotage of the Jew : St. ning of the world must bee counted as
Paule sayd 1500 years agoe, that the the first 2000 yeares : the midste 4000:
ends of the world were then coming, and the end C00O or perhaps not soe
which was spoken not of hundreds of much : for our Saviour sayes evidently
yeares but of thousands. Yf then Christ there shall be an abbreviation, viz. in
were borne in the 4000th yeare of the the last parte ; but when that shall bee
world, as the late learned Armachanus D eus novit. — Jl'r.
(Abp. Usher) opines, (not without excel- Our Lord's prediction is usually ap-
lent and undeniable reasons easie to plied to the destruction of Jerusalem,
bee made good) wee must divide the age
CHAP. I.J AND COMMON ERRORS. 103
which, clivers corruptions ensued, and several depravations
slipt in, arising from many and manifest grounds, as hath been
exactly noted by Morinus in his preface unto the Septuagint-
As for the Septuagint, it is the first and most ancient trans-
lation ; and of greater antiquity than the Chaldee version ;
occasioned by the request of Ptolemeus Philadelphus king
of Egypt, for the ornament of his memorable library, unto
whom the high priest addressed six Jews out of every tribe,
which amounteth unto 72 ; and by these was effected that
translation we usually term the septuagint, or translation of
seventy. Which name, however it obtain from the number
of their persons, yet in respect of one common spirit, it was
the translation but as it were of one man ; if, as the story
relateth, although they were set apart and severed from each
other, yet were their translations found to agree in every
point, according as is related by Philo and Josephus ; although
we find not the same in Aristaeas,* who hath expressly
treated thereof. But of the Greek compute there have
passed some learned dissertations not many years ago, where-
in the learned Isaac Vossius6 makes the nativity of the world
to anticipate the common account one thousand four hundred
and forty years.
This translation in ancient times was of great authority.
By this many of the heathens received some notions of the
creation and the mighty works of God. This in express
terms is often followed by the evangelists, by the apostles,
and by our Saviour himself in the quotations of the Old
Testament. This for many years was used by the Jews
themselves, that is, such as did Hellenize and dispersedly
dwelt out of Palestine with the Greeks ; and this also the
succeeding Christians and ancient fathers observed ; although
there succeeded other Greek versions, that is, of Aquila,
Theodosius, and Symmachus. For the Latin translation of
Jerome called now the vulgar, was about 800 years after
the Septuagint ; although there was also a Latin translation
* Aristaas ad PhUociat.orem de 72 interpretibus.
a Isaac Vossius] He contended for (he inspiration of the Septuagint. — Jeff.
VOL. III. O
194 ENQUIRIES INTO VULGAR, [BOOK VI.
before, called the Italic version, which was after lost upon the
general reception of the translation of Jerom. Which
notwithstanding, (as he himself acknowledgeth *) had been
needless, if the Septuagint copies had remained pure, and as
they were first translated. But (beside that different copies
were used, that Alexandria and Egypt followed the copy of
Hesychius, Antioch and Constantinople that of Lucian the
martyr, and others that of Origen,) the Septuagint was much
depraved, not only from the errors of scribes, and the emer-
gent corruptions of time, but malicious contrivance of the
Jews; as Justin Martyr hath declared, in his learned dialogue
with Tryphon, and Morinusf hath learnedly shewn from
many confirmations.7
Whatsoever interpretations there have been since have
been especially effected with reference unto these, that is, the
Greek and Hebrew text ; the translators sometimes following
the one, sometimes adhering unto the other, according as
they found them consonant unto truth, or most correspondent
unto the rules of faith. Now, however it cometh to pass,
these two are very different in the enumeration of genealo-
gies, and particular accounts of time : for in the second
interval, that is, between the flood and Abraham, there is by
the Septuagint introduced one Cainan8 to be the son of Ar-
phaxad and father of Salah ; whereas in the Hebrew there
is no mention of such a person, but Arphaxad is set down to
be the father of Salah. But in the first interval, that is,
from the creation unto the flood, their disagreement is more
considerable ; for therein the Greek exceedeth the Hebrew
and common account almost 600 years. And 't is indeed a
thing not very strange, to be at the difference of a third
part, in so large and collective an account, if we consider how
differently they are set forth in minor and less mistakable
* Prrefat. in Paralipom. f De Heirtsi et Grteei textus sinceritate.
7 Which ivas after lost, 8fc.~\ This calls KctlVUV deuTigoc ; Hee [meaning
concluding sentence was first added in Sir Thomas,] might have called him
the 2nd edit. Ysvdoxcuvav ; which had been most
Cainan,! How this second Cainan sutable to this learned worke> of dis.
was foisted into the translation of the
covering comon errors. — U'r.
Septuagint, see that learned tract in See a,so Dr Jfales,s New Analysh.
Grcgoryes Posthvma, p. ti, which hee v0] ] pp# 90 94,
CHAP. I.] AND COMMON ERRORS. 195
numbers. So in the prophecy of Jonah, both in the
Hebrew and Latin text, it is said, " Yet forty days and
Nineveh shall be overthrown;" but the Septuagint saith
plainly, and that in letters at length, r^?g j^uigag, that is, "yet
three days and Nineveh shall be destroyed." Which is a
difference not newly crept in, but an observation very ancient,
discussed by Austin and Theodoret, and was conceived an
error committed by the scribe.9 Men therefore have raised
different computes of time, according as they have followed
their different texts ; and so have left the history of times far
more perplexed than chronology hath reduced.
Again, however the texts were plain, and might in their
numerations agree, yet were there no small difficulty to set
down a determinable chronology or establish from hence any
fixed point of time. For the doubts concerning the time of
the judges are inexplicable ; that of the reigns and succes-
sion of kings is as perplexed ; it being uncertain whether
the years both of their lives and reigns ought to be taken as
complete, or in their beginning and but current accounts.
Nor is it unreasonable to make some doubt whether in the
first ages and long lives of our fathers, Moses doth not
sometime account by full and round numbers, whereas
strictly taken they might be some few years above or under ;
as in the age of Noah, it is delivered to be just five hundred
when he begat Sem ; whereas perhaps he might be somewhat
above or below that round and complete number. For the
same way of speech is usual in divers other expressions :
thus do we say the Septuagint, and using the full and ar-
ticulate number, do write the translation of seventy ; whereas
we have shewn before the precise number was seventy-two.
So is it said that Christ was three days in the grave ; accord-
ing to that of Matthew, " As Jonas was three days and three
nights in the whale's belly, so shall the Son of man be three
days and three nights in the heart of the earth :" which not-
withstanding must be taken synecdochically, or by under-
standing a part for a whole day ; for he remained but two
9 Scribe.'] Writing y for fh, which in the second transcript. — Wr
might easily bee, not in the original, but
O 2
196
ENQUIRIES INTO VULGAR
[BOOK VI.
nights in the grave : for he was buried in the afternoon of
the first day, and arose very early in the morning on the
third ; that is, he was interred in the eve of the sabbath, and
arose the morning after it.1
1 after it.~\ Before day : the whole
being scarce 34 houres while he was in
the grave, which is not the one halfe of
three days and three nights, nor can be
salved synechdochicallye.
' Tis strange to see how all the nation
of expositors, since Christe, as yf they
were infected with a disease of supinity,
thinke they have abundantly satisfied
the texte, by telling us, that speech of
Christe comparinge himself to Jonas,
must be understood synechdochically,
which is : 1. not only a weak interpreta-
tion ; 2. but ridiculous to Jews, Turks,
and Infidels ; 3. and consequently dero-
gatory to the trueth ; who expressly
puts in the reddition, 3 dayes and 3
nights, by an emphaticall expression.
Which as itt was punctually fortold, the
express time of 3 dayes and 3 nights ;
soe itt was as punctually performed (us-
que ad apices) for as Jonas was 3 days
and 3 nights in the whale, which admits
noe synechdoche ; soe the sonn of man
was in the grave 3 dayes and 3 nights
without any abatement of a moment.
That which begat this error was, a mis-
take of the dayes and nights, spoken of
Jonas. And from thence not only un-
warrantably but untruly applyed to
Christ's stay in the grave. Wee must
therefore distinguish of dayes and nights,
and take them either in Moses' sense,
for the whole revolution of the Q to the
eastern pointe after 24 houres : which
most men by like contagion of error,
call the natural day, wheras itt is rather
to bee cald artificiall, as being compound-
ed of a day and a night, wheras the
night is properly noe parte univocall of
a day, but acontradistinct member there-
to. Now in this sense yf the days and
nights bee conceived ; itt is impossible to
make good the one halfe of 3 dayes and
3 nights by any figurative or synechdo-
chical sense : for from the time of his en-
terring, very neer C at even on Friday to
6 at even on Saturday are but 24 houres:
to which adde from C at even to 3 or 4
next morne (for itt was yet darke, when
Mary Magd. came and saw the stone
remooved) viz. 10 houres more, they
will make in all but thirty foure houres,
that is but 1 i? day and night of sequi-
noctial revolution. Or else in our Saviour's
sense, Jo. xi. 9, where by the day
Christe understands, the very day-light,
or natural day, caused by the presence
of the sun ; to the which night is always
opposed as contradistinct, as is manifest
from that very place. For as itts alwayes
midday directly under the 0, soe there
is midnight alwayes opposite to mid-
noone through the world. And these 2
have runn opposite round the world,
simul et semel every 24 houres since the
creation, and soe shall doe, while time
shall bee noe more. I say therefore that
thoughe in respect of Jesus' grave in the
garden he lay but 36 houres in the earthe
yet in respect of the world for which he
suffered, there were 3 distincte dayes and
nights actually in being, while hee lay
in the bowels of the earthe : (which is
to be distinctly noted to justifie of him,
who did not, could not, Eequivocate.
Friday night in Judaea, and a day op-
posite therto in the other hemisphere,
just 12 houres; Saturday 12 houres in
Judaea, and the opposite night 12 hours ;
Saturday night in Judaea, and the opposite
day elsewhere at the same time. And
hee that denyes this, hath lost his sense :
for I ask were there not actually 3 essen-
tiall dayes and 3 nights (subcoelo) during
his sepulture. And yf this cannot be
denyed by any but a madman, I aske
againe did Christe suffer for Judaea only,
or for the whole world ? least of all for
Judaea, which for his unjust death was
exterminate and continues accursed. Soe
that henceforth wee shall need no sy-
nechdoche to make good the prophetick
speech of him that could not lie : who
sayde, sic erit Films hominis in corde
terra; tribus diebus et iribus noctibus :
and this was truly fulfilled usque ad mo-
mcnta, and therefore I dare believe it,
and noe Jew or Turk can contradict itt.
(Hee that made the several natures of
day and night in this sense : sayd hee
would lye in the grave 3 of these dayes
and 3 nights.) — Wr.
This is ingenious, and to its author it
seems abundantly satisfactory, proceed-
CHAP. I.]
AND COMMON ERRORS.
197
Moreover, although the number of years be determined
and rightly understood, and there be without doubt a certain
truth herein, yet the text speaking obscurely or dubiously,
there is oft-times no slender difficulty at what point to begin
or terminate the account. So when it is said, Exod. xii, the
sojourning of the children of Israel who dwelt in Egypt was
430 years, it cannot be taken strictly, and from their first
arrival into Egypt, for their habitation in that land was far
less ; but the account must begin from the covenant of God
with Abraham, and must also comprehend their sojourn in
the land of Canaan, according as is expressed Gal. iii, " The
covenant that was confirmed before of God in Christ, the
law which was 430 years after cannot disannul." Thus hath
it also happened in the account of the seventy years of their
captivity, according to that of Jeremy, " This whole land
shall be a desolation, and these nations shall serve the king
of Babylon seventy years."* Now where to begin or end
this compute, arise th no small difficulty; for there were three
remarkable captivities, and deportations of the Jews. The
* Chap. xx.
ing on the hypothesis that as our Lord
suffered for the whole world, the duration
of his suffering must be understood with
reference to the whole earth. The Dean
adds to the two nights and one day which
elapsed in Palestine, — the corresponding
two days and one night, which elapsed at
the antipodes of Judea. But this is
liable to objection. It is just as truly
synechdochical as the interpretation of Sir
Thomas : — only that it takes two points
on the earth's surface instead of one for
the whole. Besides the ingenuity is need-
less. The Jews were in the habit of
speaking syneclidocliically in that very
respect that they speak of each part of
a day and night (or of 24 hours) as a
day and night — VwOrtfteoa, So that if
Jonah was in the deep during less than
48 hours, provided that period comprised,
in addition to one entire 24 hours, a
portion of the preceding and of the fol-
lowing 24 hours, — then the Jews would
say that he had been in the deep 3 day-
nights or 3 days and 3 nights. As if we
should say of a person who had left
home on Friday afternoon and returned
on Sunday morning, that he was from
home Friday, Saturday, and Sunday —
this might be thought to imply consider-
able portions of the day of Friday and of
Sunday — but certainly it would not be
necessary to the accuracy of such a report
that he should have started immediately
after midnight of Thursday, and return-
ed at the same hour on Sunday. And
yet he would otherwise not have been
from home on Friday, Saturday, and
Sunday — but only during parts of those
days. With the Jews common parlance
would only require that our Redeemer
should have been in the heart of the
earth, from the eve of the (Jewish) sab-
bath, however late, to the morning of
the first day, however early, in order to
justify the terms in which they would
universally have spoken of the duration
of his abode there — as comprising three
days and three nights. We may observe
too, that three days are uniformly spoken
of as the time of our Lord's abode in the
grave, whether it is spoken of typically
or literally. Thus he says of himself,
" I do cures to day and to morrow, and
the third day I am perfected."
198 ENQUIRIES INTO VULGAR [BOOK VI.
first was in the third or fourth year of Joachim, and first of
Nabuchodonozor, when Daniel was carried away; the second
in the reign of Jeconiah, and the eighth year of the same
king ; the third and most deplorable in the reign of Zede-
chias, and in the nineteenth year of Nabuchodonozor, where-
at both the temple and city were burned. Now such is the
different conceit of these times, that men have computed from
all; but the probablest account and most concordant unto
the intention of Jeremy is from the first of Nabuchodonozor
unto the first of king Cyrus over Babylon ; although the
prophet Zachary accounteth from the last. " O Lord of
hosts, how long ! wilt thou not have mercy on Jerusalem,
against which thou hast had indignation these threescore
and ten years ? "* for he maketh this expostulation in the
second year of Darius Hystaspes, wherein he prophesied,
which is about eighteen years in account after the other.
Thus also although there be a certain truth therein, yet is
there no easy doubt concerning the seventy weeks, or seventy
times seven years of Daniel; whether they have reference,
unto the nativity or passion2 of our Saviour, and especially
from whence, or what point of time they are to be computed.
* Chap, i, 12.
2 nativity or passion."] The learned et Epochis, cap. xi, which was publisht
thinke they have reference [that is of this last year 1649, and is a work wor-
their determination] to neither of them, thye of a diligent reader Wr.
For most of the learned conceive, that On referring to Rev. T. H. Home's
those 70 weeks, or seven times seventy analytical view of Daniel, I find the fol-
[viz. 490 years] ended with the destruc- lowing brief summary of this period,
tion of the citye ; which was 70 yeares Its commencement "is fixed (Dan. ix,
after the nativitye, and 38 after the pas- 25,) to the time when the order was is-
sion of Christe : and then 'twill bee noe sued for rebuilding the temple in the
hard matter to compute the pointe from seventh year of the reign of Artaxerxes.
whence those 490 yeares must bee sup- (Ezra vii, 11,) seven weeks, or forty-
posed to begin : which wee shal find to nine years, was the temple in building
bee in the 6th yeare of Darius Nothus ; (Dan. ix, 25); sixty-two weeks, or four
at what time the temple being finished hundred and thirty-four years more,
by Artaxerxes commaund, formerly given bring us to the public manifestation of
Ao. Regni 20°. the commaund for the the Messiah, at the beginning of John
building of Jerusalem also was given by the Baptist's preaching ; and one pro-
this Darius Nothus, A0. Mundi, 3532, phetic week or seven years, added to
which agrees cxactlye with Scaligcr's this, will bring us to the time of our
irrefragable computation. But to see Saviour's passion, or the thirty-third
this difficult question fully decided, and year of the Christian aera, — in all 490
in a few lines, I can give no such dircc- years." — Introduction, $$c. vol. iv, p. 1 ,
tion, as that which Gregorye hath latch ch. VI, § 4.
"iven us in his excellent tract dc /Eris
CHAP. I.] AND COMMON ERRORS. 199
For thus it is delivered by the Angel Gabriel, " Seventy
weeks are determined upon thy people ;" and again in the
following verse; "Know therefore and understand, that from
the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build
Jerusalem,unto the Messiah the prince, shall be seven weeks,
and threescore and two weeks, the street shall be built again,
and the wall even in troublesome times ; and after threescore
and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off."3 Now the going out
of the commandment, to build the city, being the point from
whence to compute, there is no slender controversy when to
begin. For there are no less than four several edicts to this
effect, the one in the first year of Cyrus,4 the other in the
second of Darius, the third and fourth in the seventh, and
in the twentieth of Artaxerxes Longimanus ; although as
Petavius accounteth, it best accordeth unto the twentieth
year of Artaxerxes, from whence Nehemiah deriveth his
commission. Now that computes are made uncertainly with
reference unto Christ, it is no wonder, since I perceive the
time of his nativity is in controversy, and no less his age at
his passion. For Clemens and Tertullian conceive he suffered
at thirty ; but Irenaeus a father nearer his time, is further off
in his account, that is, between forty and fifty.
Longomontanus, a late astronomer, endeavours to discover
this secret from astronomical grounds, that is, the apogeum
of the sun ; conceiving the eccentricity invariable, and the
apogeum yearly to move one scruple, two seconds, fifty
thirds, &c. Wherefore if in the time of Hipparchus, that
is, in the year of the Julian period, 4557, it was in the fifth
degree of Gemini, and in the days of Tycho Brahe, that is?
in the year of our Lord, 1588, or of the world 5554, the
same was removed unto the fifth degree of Cancer ; by the
proportion of its motion, it was at the creation first in the
beginning of Aries, and the perigeum or nearest point in
Libra. But this conceit how ingenious or subtile soever, is
not of satisfaction ; it being not determinable, or yet agreed
3 know, Sfc.~\ Dan. ix, 25. These dates however different from
* the one in the first year, #c] A.M. those assigned by the most eminent of
3119; 3430; 3192; 3505. — Wr. our more recent chronologists.
200 ENQUIRIES INTO VULGAR [BOOK VI.
in what time precisely the apogeum absolveth one degree, as
Petavius* hath also delivered.
Lastly, however these or other difficulties intervene, and
that we cannot satisfy ourselves in the exact compute of
time, yet may we sit down with the common and usual ac-
count ; nor are these differences derogatory unto the advent
or passion of Christ, unto which indeed they all do seem to
point, for the prophecies concerning our Saviour were indefi-
nitely delivered before that of Daniel ; so was that pronounced
unto Eve in Paradise, that after of Balaam, those of Isaiah
and the prophets, and that memorable one of Jacob, " the
sceptre shall not depart from Israel until Shilo come;" which
time notwithstanding it did not define at all. In what year
therefore soever, either from the destruction of the temple,
from the re-edifying thereof, from the flood, or from the
creation, he appeared, certain it is, that in the fulness of time
he came. When he therefore came, is not so considerable,
as that he is come : in the one there is consolation, in the
other no satisfaction. The greater query is, when he will
come again ; and yet indeed it is no query at all ; for that is
never to be known, and therefore vainly enquired : t' is a pro-
fessed and authentick obscurity, unknown to all but to the
omniscience of the Almighty. Certainly the ends of things
are wrapt up in the hands of God, he that undertakes the
knowledge thereof forgets his own beginning, and disclaims
his principles of earth. No man knows the end of the
world, nor assuredly of any thing in it : God sees it, because
unto his eternity it is present; he knoweth the ends of us,
but not of himself; and because he knows not this, he
knoweth all things, and his knowledge is endless, even in the
object of himself.
* De Doctrina Temporum, 1. 4.
CHAP. II.] AND COMMON ERRORS. 201
CHAPTER II.
Of Mens Enquiries in what season or point of the Zodiack
it began, that, as they are generally made, they are in
vain, and as particularly, uncertain.
Concerning the seasons, that is, the quarters of the year,
some are ready to enquire, others to determine, in what
season, whether in the autumn, spring, winter, or summer,
the world had its beginning. Wherein we affirm, that, as the
question is generally and in respect of the whole earth
proposed, it is with manifest injury unto reason in any par-
ticular determined ; because whenever the world had its
beginning it was created in all these four. For, as we have
elsewhere delivered, whatsoever sign the sun possesseth
(whose recess or vicinity define th the quarters of the year)
those four seasons were actually existent ; it being the nature
of that luminary to distinguish the several seasons of the
year ; all which it maketh at one time in the whole earth, and
successively in any part thereof.4 Thus if we suppose the
sun created in Libra, in which sign unto some it maketh au-
tumn ; at the same time it had been winter unto the northern
pole, for unto them at that time the sun beginneth to be
invisible, and to shew itself again unto the pole of the south.
Unto the position of a right sphere, or directly under the
equator, it had been summer; for unto that situation the
sun is at that time vertical. Unto the latitude of Capricorn,
or the winter solstice, it had been spring ; for unto that
position it had been in a middle point, and that of ascent, or
4 thereof. .] According as he makes the tropicks, over whose heads he passes,
his access too, or recess from the several have tbeir summer, and those on the
[parts] of the earthe : now in that his ac- other side beyond the tropicke towards
cesse to the one is a recess from the other, whome hee goes have their new spring
it followes, that those from whom he beginning in exchange of their former,
partes have their autumnc, those within causd by his absence. — Wr.
202 ENQUIRIES INTO VULGAR [BOOK VI.
approximation ; but unto the latitude of Cancer, or the sum-
mer solstice, it had been autumn ; for then had it been placed
in a middle point, and that of descent, or elongation.
And if we shall take literally what Moses describeth po-
pularly, this was also the constitution of the first day. For
when it was evening unto one longitude, it was morning unto
another ; when night unto one, day unto another. And there,
fore that question, whether our Saviour shall come again in
the twilight (as is conceived he arose) or whether he shall
come upon us in the night, according to the comparison of a
thief, or the Jewish tradition, that he will come about the
time of their departure out of Egypt, when they eat the pas-
sover, and the angel passed by the doors of their houses •
this query I say needeth not further dispute. For if the
earth be almost every where inhabited, and his coming (as
divinity affirmeth) must needs be unto all ; then must the
time of his appearance be both in the day and night. For
if unto Jerusalem, or what part of the world soever he shall
appear in the night, at the same time unto the antipodes it
must be day ; if twilight unto them, broad day unto the
Indians : if noon unto them, yet night unto the Americans ;
and so with variety according unto various habitations, or
different positions of the sphere, as will be easily conceived
by those who understand the affections of different habita-
tions, and the conditions of Antceci, Periceci, and Antipodes.
And so, although he appear in the night, yet may the day of
judgment or dooms-day well retain that name ;* for that im-
plieth one revolution of the sun, which maketh the day and
night, and that one natural day. And yet to speak strictly,
if (as the apostle affirmeth) we shall be changed in the twink-
ling of an eye,5 and (as the schools determine) the destruction
5 twinkling, fyc.~\ Taking this for under him round the world perpetuallye:
granted [which noe man dare denye] soe in what parte of the world that
yet it is most truly saydc, that doomes course shal bee determind [and the day
day is the last daye, i. c. the last daye of therewith] is noe waye considerable,
the sons circling this lower world by his and much Jesse in what parte of the
daylye course : which as itt hath [in itt daye of 24 houres, that sodaine install I
selfe] noe rising or scttinge, but caryeth of change shall bee ; which of necessity
he daye and midnoone always directly must bee to some inhabitants of the
CHAP. III.] AND COMMON ERRORS. 20S
of the world shall not be successive but in an instant, we can-
not properly apply thereto the usual distinctions of time ;
calling that twelve hours, which admits not the parts thereof,
or use at all the name of time, when the nature thereof
shall perish.
But if the enquiry be made unto a particular place, and
the question determined unto some certain meridian ; as
namely, unto Mesopotamia6 wherein the seat of Paradise is
presumed, the query becomes more reasonable, and is indeed
in nature also determinable. Yet positively to define that
season, there is no slender difficulty ; for some contend that
it began in the spring ; as, (beside Eusebius, Ambrose, Bede}
and Theodoret,) some few years past, Henrico Philippi in his
chronology of the Scripture. Others are altogether for au-
tumn ; and from hence do our chronologers commence their
compute; as may be observed in Helvicus, Jo. Scaliger,
Calvisius, and Petavius.7
world at the time of his risinge, to others of the son. — Wr.
at midnoone, to others at his sittinge, G Mesopotamia] Most thinke the val-
and to others at midnight: for all these ley of Jehosaphat. — Wr.
are all at once, and in the very same in- The valley of Jehoshaphat was situated
stant, every day, in several partes of the east-ward of Jerusalem, between that
worlde : as for example : in April when city of the Mount of Olives ; and through
tis midday at London ; 't is just sonrise which ran the brook Kedron : — Mesopo-
at Virginia ; and just sonset at the tamia was a province between the Eu-
hithermost partes of Nova Guinea, and phrates and Tigris,
yet itt is the same daye to all these 3 1 Petavius. J And yet itt must bee
parcels of the world at once. But when confest, that the spring, or sonns entrance
that greate doome shall come, the course into Aries is verum caput et naturalc
of the son shall instantly cease, and con- Principium Anni, renewing and reviving
sequently the natural and usual course all things, as of old in Paradise, a?qual-
of day and night with itt : yet there ling dayes and nights in all places,
shall bee noewant of lighte in that parte within the pole circles especially ; and as
of the aire, or that parte of the earthe to this all astronomers agree, soe, conso-
. under the place, where the sonn of man nant thereto, all geographers consent,
shall call the world before his judgment that Paradise was neere under the JE-
seate ; unless any man bee soe simple to quinoctiall, or on this side of itt, under
thinke that in the presence of God there rise of the spring with the sonn. — Wr,
shall be lesse light then in the presence
204 ENQUIRIES INTO VULGAR [BOOK VI.
CHAPTER III.
Of the Divisions of the Seasons and Four Quarters of the
Year, according unto Astronomers and Physcians; that
the common compute of the Ancients, and which is still re-
tained by some, is very questionable.
As for the divisions of the year, and the quartering out this
remarkable standard of time, there have passed especially
two distinctions. The first in frequent use with astronomers
according to the cardinal intersections of the zodiack, that
is, the two gequinoctials and both the solstitial points, defining
that time to be the spring of the year, wherein the sun doth
pass from the equinox of Aries unto the solstice of Cancer;
the time between the solstice and the equinox of Libra,
summer ; from thence unto the solstice of Capricornus,
autumn ; and from thence unto the equinox of Aries again,
winter. Now this division, although it be regular and equal,
is not universal ; for it includeth not those latitudes which
have the seasons of the year double ; as have the inhabitants
under the equator, or else between the tropicks. For
unto them the sun is vertical twice a year, making two distinct
summers in the different points of vertically. So unto those
which live under the equator, when the sun is in the
equinox, it is summer, in which points it maketh spring or
autumn unto us ; and unto them it is also winter when the
sun is in either tropick, whereas unto us it maketh always
summer in the one. And the like will happen unto those
habitations, which are between the tropicks and the
equator.
A second and more sensible division there is observed by
Hippocrates, and most of the ancient Greeks, according to
the rising and setting of divers stars ; dividing the vcar, and
CHAP. III.] AND COMMON ERRORS. 205
establishing the account of seasons from usual alterations,
and sensible mutations in the air, discovered upon the rising
and setting of those stars : accounting the spring from the
equinoctial point of Aries ; from the rising of the Pleiades,
or the several stars on the back of Taurus, summer ; from
the rising of Arcturus, a star between the thighs of Boetes,
autumn ; and from the setting of the Pleiades, winter. Of
these divisions, because they were unequal, they were fain to
subdivide the two larger portions, that is, of the summer and
winter quarters ; the first part of the summer they named
S%>s, the second unto the rising of the dog-star, ^g«, from
thence unto the setting of Arcturus hv&oa. The winter they
divide also into three parts ; the first part, or that of seed-
time, they named ccrogsrov, the middle or proper winter, x^m,
the last, which was their planting or grafting time, tpvraXidv.
This way of division was in former ages received, is very
often mentioned in poets, translated from one nation to
another ; from the Greeks unto the Latins, as is received by
good authors ; and delivered by physicians, even unto our
times.
Now of these two, although the first in some latitude may
be retained, yet is not the other in any way to be admitted.
For in regard of time (as we elsewhere declare) the stars do
vary their longitudes, and consequently the times of their
ascension and descension. That star which is the term of
numeration, or point from whence we commence the account,
altering his site and longitude in process of time, and re-
moving from west to east, almost one degree in the space of
seventy-two years, so that the same star, since the age of
Hippocrates who used this account, is removed in consequent
tia about twenty-seven degrees. Which difference of their
longitudes doth much diversify the times of their ascents,
and rendereth the account unstable which shall proceed
thereby.
Again, in regard of different latitudes, this cannot be a
settled rule, or reasonably applied unto many nations. For,
whereas the setting of the Pleiades or seven stars is designed
the term of autumn, and the beginning of winter, unto some
latitudes these stars do never set, as unto all beyond 67 de-
206 ENQUIRIES INTO VULGAR [BOOK VI.
grees. And if in several and far distant latitudes we observe
the same star as a common term of account unto both, we
shall fall upon an unexpected, but an unsufferable absurdity ;
and by the same account it will be summer unto us in the
north, before it be so unto those, which unto us are south-
ward, and many degrees approaching nearer the sun. For
if we consult the doctrine of the sphere, and observe the
ascension of the Pleiades, which maketh the be^innincp of
summer, we shall discover that in the latitude of 40 these
stars arise in the 16th degree of Taurus, but in the latitude
of 50, they ascend in the eleventh degree of the same sign,
that is, five days sooner ; so shall it be summer unto London,
before it be unto Toledo, and begin to scorch in England,
before it grow hot in Spain.
This is therefore no general way of compute, nor reason-
able to be derived from one nation unto another ; the defect
of which consideration hath caused divers errors in Latin
poets, translating these expressions from the Greeks ; and
many difficulties even in the Greeks themselves, which, living
in divers latitudes, yet observed the same compute. So that,
to make them out, we are fain to use distinctions ; sometimes
computing cosmically what they intended heliacally, and
sometimes in the same expression accounting the rising helia-
cally, the setting cosmically. Otherwise it will be hardly made
out, what is delivered by approved authors ; and is an obser-
vation very considerable unto those which meet with such
expressions, as they are very frequent in the poets of elder
times, especially Hesiod, Aratus, Virgil, Ovid, Manilius, and
authors geoponical, or which have treated de re rustica, as
Constantine, Marcus Cato, Columella, Palladius and Varro.
Lastly, the absurdity in making common unto many nations
those considerations whose verity is but particular unto some,
will more evidently appear, if we examine the rules and pre-
cepts of some one climate, and fall upon consideration with
what incongruity they are transferable unto others.
Thus is it advised by Hesiod : —
Pleiadibus Altante natis orientibus
Incipe Mcssem, Arationem vero occidentibus. —
CHAP. III.] AND COMMON ERRORS. • 207
implying hereby the heliacal ascent and cosmical descent of
those stars. Now herein he setteth down a rule to begin
harvest at the arise of the Pleiades ; which in his time was
in the beginning of May. This indeed was consonant unto
the clime wherein he lived, and their harvest began about
that season ; but is not appliable unto our own, for therein we
are so far from expecting an harvest, that our barley seed is
not ended. Again, correspondent unto the rule of Hesiod,
Virgil affordeth another, —
Ante tibi Eocc Atlantides abscondantur,
Debita quam sulcis committas semina. —
understanding hereby their cosmical descent, or their setting
when the sun ariseth ; and not their heliacal obscuration, or
their inclusion in the lustre of the sun, as Servius upon this
place would have it ; for at that time these stars are many
signs removed from that luminary. Now herein he strictly
adviseth, not to begin to sow before the setting of these stars;
which notwithstanding, without injury to agriculture cannot
be observed in England ; for they set unto us about the 12th
of November, when our seed-time is almost ended.
And this diversity of clime and celestial observations,
precisely observed unto certain stars and months, hath not
only overthrown the deductions of one nation to another, but
hath perturbed the observation of festivities and statary
solemnities, even with the Jews themselves. For unto them
it was commanded, that at their entrance into the land of
Canaan, in the fourteenth of the first month, (that is Abib or
Nisan, which is spring with us,) they should observe the
celebration of the passover ; and on the morrow after, which
is the fifteenth day, the feast of unleavened bread ; and in
the sixteenth of the same month, that they should offer the
first sheaf of the harvest. Now all this was feasible and of
an easy possibility in the land of Canaan, or latitude of Jeru-
salem ; for so it is observed by several authors in later times;
and is also testified by Holy Scripture in times very far be-
fore.® For when the children of Israel passed the river
* Josh. Hi.
208 ENQUIRIES INTO VULGAR [BOOK VI.
Jordan, it is delivered by way of parenthesis, that the river
overfloweth its banks in the time of harvest ; which is con-
ceived the time wherein they passed ; and. it is after delivered,
that in the fourteenth day they celebrated the passover:*
which according to the law of Moses, was to be observed in
the first month, or month of Abib.
And therefore it is no wonder, what is related by Luke,
that the disciples upon the deuteroproton, as they passed by,
plucked the ears of corn. For the deuteroproton or second
first sabbath, was the first sabbath after the deutera or
second of the passover, which was the sixteenth of Nisan or
Abib. And this is also evidenced from the received construc-
tion of the first and latter rain : " I will give you the rain of
your land in his due season, the first rain and the latter
rain :"f for the first rain fell upon the seed-time about October,
and was to make the seed to root ; the latter was to fill the
ear, and fell in Abib or March, the first month ; according as
is expressed, " And he will cause to come down for you the
rain, the former rain and the latter rain in the first month,";};
that is, the month of Abib, wherein the passover was observ-
ed. This was the law of Moses, and this in the land of
Canaan was well observed, according to the first institution :
but since their dispersion, and habitation in countries, whose
constitutions admit not such tempestivity of harvests, (and
many not before the latter end of summer,) notwithstanding
the advantage of their lunary account, and intercalary month
Veader, affixed unto the beginning of the year, there will be
found a great disparity in their observations, nor can they
strictly, and at the same season with their forefathers, observe
the commands of God.
To add yet further, those geoponical rules and precepts of
agriculture, which are delivered by divers authors, are not to
be generally received, but respectively understood unto climes
whereto they are determined. For whereas one adviseth to
sow this or that grain at one season, a second to set this or
that at another, it must be conceived relatively, and every
nation must have its country farm ; for herein we may observe
* Josh. v. | Dcut, xi. { Joel ii.
CHAP III.]
AND COMMON ERRORS.
209
a manifest and visible difference, not only in the seasons of
harvest, but in the grains themselves. For with us barley-
harvest is made after wheat-harvest, but with the Israelites
and Egyptians it was otherwise. So is it expressed by way
of priority, Ruth ii ; " So Ruth kept fast by the maidens of
Boaz, to glean unto the end of barley-harvest and of wheat-
harvest;" which in the plague of hail in Egypt is more
plainly delivered, Exod. ix ; "And the flax and the barley
were smitten, for the barley was in the ear, and the flax was
boiled, but the wheat and the rye were not smitten, for they
were not grown up."
And thus we see, the account established upon the arise or
descent of the stars can be no reasonable rule unto distant
nations at all ; and, by reason of their retrogression, but
temporary unto any one. Nor must these respective expres-
sions be entertained in absolute consideration ; for so distinct
is the relation, and so artificial the habitude of this inferior
globe unto the superior, and even of one thing in each unto
the other, that general rules are dangerous, and applications
most safe that run with security of circumstance, which
rightly to effect, is beyond the subtilty of sense, and requires
the artifice of reason.8
8 reason.^ Hence itt may appeare
that those rules of prognostic and signi-
fication, which the iEgyptian, Arabian,
Graecian, yea and Italian astronomers,
have given concerning the Starrs, and
those clymates wherein they lived, can-
not bee applied to our remote and colder
clymes, nor to these later times (wherein
die coastellations of all the 12 signes
are moved eastward almost 30 degrees ;
Aries into Taurus and that into Gemini,
&c.) without manifest errors and grosse
deceptions, and are therefore of late re-
jected by the most famous astronomers,
Tycho, Copernicus, Longomontanus and
Kepler (as diabolical impostures) De
Comet a Anni, 1618. — Wr,
210 ENQUIRIES INTO VULGAR [BOOK VI.
CHAPTER IV.
Of some computation of days, and deductions of one part
of the year unto another.
Fourthly, there are certain vulgar opinions concerning days
of the year, and conclusions popularly deduced from certain
days of the month ; men commonly believing the days in-
crease and decrease equally in the whole year ; which not-
withstanding is very repugnant unto truth. For they increase
in the month of March, almost as much as in the two months
of January and February : and decrease as much in Septem-
ber, as they do in July and August. For the days increase
or decrease according to the declination of the sun, that is,
its deviation northward or southward from the equator.
Now this digression is not equal, but near the equinoxial
intersections, it is right and greater, near the solstices more
oblique and lesser. So from the eleventh of March the
vernal equinox, unto the eleventh of April, the sun decline th
to the north twelve degrees ; from the eleventh of April,
unto the eleventh of May, but eight, from thence unto the
fifteenth of June, or the summer solstice, but three and a
half: all which make twenty-two degrees and an half, the
greatest declination of the sun.
And this inequality in the declination of the sun in the
zodiack or line of life, is correspondent unto the growth or
declination of man. For setting out from infancy, we increase,
not equally, or regularly attain to our state or perfection ;
nor when we descend from our state, is our declination equal,
or carrieth us with even paces unto the grave. For as Hip-
pocrates affirmeth, a man is hottest in the first day of his
life, and coldest in the last ; his natural heat setteth forth
most vigorously at first, and declineth most sensibly at last.
And so though the growth of man end not perhaps until
CHAP. IV.] AND COMMON ERRORS. 211
twenty-one, yet is his stature more advanced in the first
septenary than in the second, and in the second more than in
the third, and more indeed in the first seven years, than in
the fourteen succeeding ; for what stature we attain unto at
seven years, we do sometimes but double, most times come
short of at one and twenty. And so do we decline again :
For in the latter age upon the tropick and first descension
from our solstice, we are scarce sensible of declination : but
declining further, our decrement accelerates, we set apace,
and in our last days precipitate into our graves. And thus
are also our progressions in the womb, that is, our formation,
motion, our birth or exclusion. For our formation is quickly
effected, our motion appeareth later, and our exclusion very
long after : if that be true which Hippocrates and Avicenna
have declared, that the time of our motion is double unto that
of formation, and that of exclusion treble unto that of motion.
As if the infant be formed at thirty-five days, it moveth at
seventy, and is born the two hundred and tenth day, that is,
the seventh month ; or if it receives not formation before
forty-five days, it moveth the ninetieth day, and is excluded
in the two hundred and seventieth, that is, the ninth month.
There are also certain popular prognosticks drawn from
festivals in the calendar, and conceived opinions of certain
days in months ; so is there a general tradition in most parts
of Europe, that inferreth the coldness of succeeding winter
from the shining of the sun upon Candlemas day, or the
purification of the Virgin Mary, according to the proverbial
distich,
Si Sol splendescat Maria purificante,
Major erit glacies post festum quam fuit ante.
So is it usual among us to qualify and conditionate the twelve
months of the year, answerable unto the temper of the twelve
days in Christmas ; and to ascribe unto March certain bor-
rowed days from April, all which men seem to believe upon
annual experience of their own, and the received traditions
of their forefathers.
Now it is manifest, and most men likewise know, that the
calendars of these computers, and the accounts of these days
P2
212 ENQUIRIES INTO VULGAR [BOOK VI.
are very different : the Greeks dissenting from the Latins,
and the Latins from each other : the one observing the
Julian or ancient account, as Great Britain and part of Ger-
many; the other adhering to the Gregorian or new account,
as Italy, France, Spain, and the United Provinces of the
Netherlands. Now this latter account, by ten clays at least,
anticipateth the other ; so that before the one beginneth the
account, the other is past it ; yet in the several calculations,
the same events seem true, and men with equal opinion of
verity, expect and confess a confirmation from them all.
Whereby is evident the oraculous authority of tradition, and
the easy seduction of men,9 neither enquiring into the verity
of the substance, nor reforming upon repugnance of cir-
cumstance.
And thus may divers easily be mistaken who superstitiously
observe certain times, or set down unto themselves an ob-
servation of unfortunate months, or days, or hours. As did
the Egyptians, two in every month, and the Romans the days
after the nones, ides, and calends. And thus the rules of
navigators must often fail, setting down, as Rhodiginus ob-
serveth, suspected and ominous days in every month, as the
first and seventh of March, and fifth and sixth of April, the
sixth, the twelfth, and fifteenth of February. For the
accounts hereof in these months are very different in our
days, and were different with several nations in ages past,
and how strictly soever the account be made, and even by
the selfsame calendar, yet it is possible that navigators may
be out. For so were the Hollanders, who passing westward
through fretum le Mayre, and compassing the globe, upon
their return into their own country found that they had lost
a day. For if two men at the same time travel from the same
place, the one eastward, the other westward, round about
the earth, and meet in the same place from whence they first
set forth, it will so fall out that he which hath moved east-
ward against the diurnal motion of the sun, by anticipating
daily something of its circle with its own motion, will gain
9 men."] By the jugling Priests in the " Quicquid Greccia mendax m awl at in
old mythologies of the heathen deytyes, historiis. — Wr.
trulye taxte by the poet under that
CHAP. V.] AND COMMON ERRORS. 213
one day ; but he that travelleth westward,1 with the motion
of the sun, by seconding its revolution, shall lose or come
short a day ; and therefore also upon these grounds that
Delos was seated in the middle of the earth, it was no exact
decision, because two eagles let fly east and west by 'Jupiter,
their meeting fell out just in the island Delos.
CHAPTER V.
A digression of the wisdom of God in the site and motion
of the Sun.
Having thus beheld the ignorance of man in some things,
his error and blindness in others, that is, in the measure of
duration both of years and seasons, let us awhile admire the
wisdom of God in this distinguisher of times, and visible deity
(as some have termed it) the sun, which, though some from its
glory adore, and all for its benefits admire, we shall advance
from other considerations, and such as illustrate the artifice
of its Maker. Nor do we think we can excuse the duty of
our knowledge, if we only bestow the flourish of poetry
hereon, or those commendatory conceits which popularly set
forth the eminency of this creature, except we ascend unto
subtiler considerations, and such, as rightly understood, con-
vincingly declare the wisdom of the Creator. Which since
a Spanish physician * hath begun, Ave will enlarge with our
* Valerius de Philos. Sacr.
1 wesiiuard.^\ Captain Bodraan, an voyage was from England to the Streits
auncient and discreete gentleman, and of Magellan, and soe round by the Mo-
learned, for his many services to the luccas and Cape of Good Hope, back to
State, being admitted a poore Knight at England, which was totalye with the
Windsor, was wont to tell mee, that at sonne, and therefore what they observed
their returne from surrounding the world with admiration, concerning the losse of
with Sir Francis Drake in the yeare a day in their accompt, had a manifest
1579, they found that they lost a daye reason and cause to justifie the trueth of
in their accomptes of their daylye sayl- that observation, and that itt could not
inge, which agrees with this excellent possiblye bee otherwise. — Wr,
observation of Dr. Browne; for their
214 ENQUIRIES INTO VULGAR [BOOK VI.
deductions, and this we shall endeavour from two considera-
tions, its proper situation and wisely ordered motion.
And first, we cannot pass over his providence, in that it
moveth at all, for had it stood still, and were it fixed like the
earth, there had been then no distinction of times, either of
day or year, of spring, of autumn, of summer, or of winter;
for these seasons are defined by the motions of the sun:
when that approacheth nearest our zenith, or vertical point,
we call it summer ; when furthest off, winter ; when in the
middle spaces, spring or autumn ; whereas, remaining in one
place, these distinctions had ceased, and consequently the
generation of all things, depending on their vicissitudes;
making in one hemisphere a perpetual summer, in the other
a deplorable and comfortless winter.2 And thus had it also
been continual day unto some, and perpetual night unto
others, for the day is defined by the abode of the sun above
the horizon, and the night by its continuance below ; so
should we have needed another sun, one to illustrate our
hemisphere, a second to enlighten the other, which inconve-
nience will ensue in what site soever we place it, whether in
the poles or the equator, or between them both ; no spheri-
cal body, of what bigness soever, illuminating the whole
2 winter.~\ All this must of necessity motion of inclination to the son the som-
evidentlye follow, unlesse (according to merhalfeyeare, and of inclination from the
the supposition of Copernicus, for I sup- son in the halfe halfe, from whence must
pose it was but a postulate of art, noe of necessity follow two vast and uncon-
parte of his creed) that the son is fixed cedable postulates. First, that as the
in the midst or center of this universal son, in his old sphere, is supposed in
frame of the world, altogether immoova- respect of his distance from the center to
ble, and that the earth, with all the vest moove noe lesse than 1S000 miles every
of the elements, is annually caryed round minute of an hour, yf the earth bee in
about the sonne in the sphere between the sons place, they must perforce ac-
Mars and Venus, parting that lovinge knowledge the same pernicitye in the
couple of godlings by its boysterous in- earth, and yet not perceptible to our
trusion, but the mischeef is that besides sense, nor to the wisest of the world,
this annual motion of the earth, mounted since the creation till our times. But to
like Phsethon in the chariot and throne salve this, as they thinke, they suppose
of the sonne, the Copernicans are forced, and postulate the second motion of rota-
contrary to their own principles, that tion or whirling on his owne center,
unius corporis ccclestis (for soe you must which others conceive to bee diametrally
nowe accompte itt, though a dul and opposite to Scripture: but then there
opacous planet, unius est mot us simplex,) recoyles upon them this strange conse-
to ascribe two other motions to the earth ; quence that the earthe being 21600 miles
the one a vertiginous rotation, whirling in compass, and whirling rounde every
about his own center, wherby turning twenty-four howres, caryes every towne
toward the son causeth daye, and turning and howse 89.5 miles every houre, and
from the son, night; both of them every yet not discernablye. — Wr.
twenty-lour hours; the other a tottering
CHAP. V. ] AND COMMON ERRORS. 215
sphere of another, although it illuminate something more
than half of a lesser, according unto the doctrine of the
opticks.
His wisdom is again discernible, not only in that it moveth
at all, and in its bare motion, but wonderful in contriving the
line of its revolution which is so prudently effected, that by
a vicissitude in one body and light it sufficeth the whole earth
affording thereby a possible or pleasurable habitation in every
part thereof, and that is the line ecliptick, all which to effect
by any other circle it had been impossible. For first, if we
imagine the sun to make its course out of the ecliptick, and
upon a line without any obliquity, let it be conceived within
that circle that is either on the equator, or else on either
side ; for if we should place it either in the meridian or colours,
beside the subversion of its course from east to west, there
would ensue the like incommodities. Now if we conceive
the sun to move between the obliquity of this ecliptick in a
line upon one side of the equator, then would the sun be
visible but unto one pole, that is the same which was nearest
unto it. So that unto the one it would be perpetual day,
unto the other perpetual night; the one would be oppressed
with constant heat, the other with insufferable cold, and so
the defect of alternation would utterly impugn the generation
of all things, which naturally require a vicissitude of heat to
their production, and no less to their increase and conser-
vation.
But if we conceive it to move in the equator, first unto a
parallel sphere, or such as have the pole for their zenith, it
would have made neither perfect day nor night. For being
in the equator it would intersect their horizon, and be half
above and half beneath it, or rather it would have made
perpetual night to both ; for though in regard of the rational
horizon, which bisecteth the globe into equal parts, the sun
in the equator would intersect the horizon ; yet in respect
of the sensible horizon, which is defined by the eye, the sun
would be visible unto neither. For if as ocular witnesses
report, and some also write, by reason of the convexity of
the earth, the eye of man under the equator cannot discover
both the poles, neither would the eye under the poles dis-
216 ENQUIRIES INTO VULGAR [BOOK VL
cover the sun in the equator. Thus would there nothing
fructify either near or under them, the sun being horizontal
to the poles, and of no considerable altitude unto parts a
reasonable distance from them. Again, unto a right sphere,
or such as dwell under the equator, although it made a
difference in day and night, yet would it not make any dis-
tinction of seasons ; for unto them it would be constant summer,
it being always vertical, and never deflecting from them. So
had there been no fructification at all, and the countries
subjected would be as unhabitable, as indeed antiquity con-
ceived them.
Lastly, it moving thus upon the equator, unto what position
soever, although it had made a day, yet could it have made
no year, for it could not have had those two motions3 now
ascribed unto it, that is, from east to west, whereby it makes
the day, and likewise from west to east, whereby the year is
computed. For according to received astronomy, the poles
of the equator are the same with those of the primiim mobile.
Now it is impossible that on the same circle,4 having the
same poles, both these motions, from opposite terms, should
be at the same time performed, all which is salved, if we allow
an obliquity in his annual motion, and conceive him to move
upon the poles of the zodiack, distant from those of the world,
twenty-three degrees and an half. Thus may we discern
3 two motions.'] The motion from east makes his angels, ov has he made his
to west is cald the motion of the world, owne bodye in his ascention, or as he
bycause by itt all the whole frame of the makes the lightning or the light itself,
universe is carved round every 24 howres, The compass of the earth, which is
and among the rest of thecselestial lights 21 COO miles divided by 24 leaves in the
the sun alsoe, to whom this motion does quotient 937 - i. e. 1 of miles, and soe
not belong but passively onlye, and there- , ^,-4 .
fore heere was noe feare of crossing that many the Copemicans thinke the earth
undoubted principle which unavoydablv turaes eve,T h?wre ! tbat ls, above ,5
recoyls upon the Copemicans, who to make ™les fer/ minute of an houre' and
good their hypothesis, fancye a rotation of ab?"1 4 of a mile every second, i. e.
dinetical, that is, a whirlinge rapture of the swlfter t1hen the .natural mot,on of ths
earthe about his owne axe every 24 heart' P™culdubio loca terra sub polis
houres, that is, 900 miles every howre, Slta\ ne1uei<nt ab squatoris subjectis
which is more impossible then for the fernl : cl,ra honson ferrestns nusquam
heaven which wee call the primum mobile ln 'P*0 oceano tranquillo CO miharmm visa
to turne about 400,000 miles every tei<rainftur : at polos cceli posse ab nsdem
houre; unless they thinke that he who terrce lncolls simul conspici, mamfestum
made itt soe infinitelye vast in com- enx rarefactione quae sydera attolht ultra
passe and in distance from us, could not distantiam honzontis raUonahs.— Wr.
make itt as swift in motion alsoe, as lie circle.} Globe. Wr.
CHAP. V.] AND COMMON ERRORS. 217
the necessity of its obliquity, and how inconvenient its motion
had been upon a circle parallel to the equator, or upon the
equator itself.
Now with what providence this obliquity is determined,
we shall perceive upon the ensuing inconveniences from any
deviation. For first, if its obliquity had been less (as instead
of twenty-three degrees, twelve or the half thereof) the
vicissitude of seasons appointed for the generation of all
things would surely have been too short ; for different seasons
would have huddled upon each other, and unto some it had
not been much better than if it had moved on the equator.
But had the obliquity been greater than now it is, as double,
or of 40 degrees, several parts of the earth had not been able
to endure the disproportionate differences of seasons, occa-
sioned by the great recess, and distance of the sun. For
unto some habitations the summer would have been extreme
hot, and the winter extreme cold; likewise the summer tem-
perate unto some, but excessive and in extremity unto others,
as unto those who should dwell under the tropick of Cancer,
as then would do some part of Spain, or ten degrees beyond,
as Germany, and some part of England, who would have
summers as now the Moors of Africa. For the sun would
sometime be vertical unto them ; but they would have winters
like those beyond tbe arctic circle, for in that season the sun
would be removed above 80 degrees from them. Again, it
would be temperate to some habitations in the summer, but
very extreme in the winter; temperate to those in two or
three degrees beyond the arctic circle, as now it is unto us,
for they would be equidistant from that tropic, even as we
are from this at present. But the winter would be extreme,
the sun being removed above an hundred degrees, and so
consequently would not be visible in their horizon, no position
of sphere discovering any star distant above 90 degrees, which
is the distance of every zenith from the horizon. And thus,
if the obliquity of this circle had been less, the vicissitude of
seasons had been so small as not to be distinguished ; if
greater, so large and disportionable as not to be endured.
Now for its situation, although it held this ecliptic line, yet
218 ENQUIRIES INTO VULGAR [BOOK VI.
had it been seated in any other orb,5 inconveniences would
ensue of condition unlike the former ; for had it been placed in
the lowest sphere of the moon, the year would have consisted
but of one month, for in that space of time it would have
passed through every part of the ecliptic; so would there
have been no reasonable distinction of seasons required for
the generation and fructifying of all things, contrary seasons
which destroy the effects of one another so suddenly succeed-
ing. Besides, by this vicinity unto the earth, its heat had
been intolerable ; for if, as many affirm,6 there is a different
sense of heat from the different points of its proper orb, and
that in the apogeum or highest point, which happeneth in
Cancer, it is not so hot under that tropic, on this side the
equator, as unto the other side in the perigeum or lowest
part of the eccentric, which happeneth in Capricornus, surely,
being placed in an orb far lower, its heat would be unsuffer-
able, nor needed we a fable to set the world on fire.
But had it been placed in the highest orb, or that of the
eighth sphere, there had been none but Plato's year, and a
far less distinction of seasons ; for one year had then been
many, and according unto the slow revolution of that orb
which absolveth not his course in many thousand years, no
man had lived to attain the account thereof. These are the
inconveniences ensuing upon its situation in the extreme
orbs, and had it been placed in the middle orbs of the planets,
there would have ensued absurdities of a middle nature unto
them.
Now whether we adhere unto the hypothesis of Copernicus,7
affirming the earth to move and the sun to stand still ; or
whether we hold, as some of late have concluded, from the
spots in the sun, which appear and disappear again, that
6 orb.~\ Orbit. was ever supposed to be, in a middle
6 as many affirm, ] Especially Scaliger, orbe between Venus and Mars; the
in that admirable work of his exercitations second not a motion of declination from
upon Cardan de Subtilitate. Excrcit. the aequator to bothe the tropicks onlye,
99, § 2, p. 342. — Wr, causinge the different seasons of the
7 Copzrnicus.~\ Copernicus, to make yeare, but more properlye a motion of
good his hypothesis, is forced to ascribe inclination likewise to the sonne. which
a triple motion to the earthe ; the first supposes also the poles of the earth to bee
annuall, round about the sonne, which mooved, and the third motion is that
hee places in the midst of the universe, called dineticall, or rotation upon his
and the earthe to bee caryed, as the sonne owne axis, causing day and night. — Wr.
CHAP. VI.] AND COMMON ERRORS. 219
besides the revolution it maketh with its orbs, it hath also a
dinetical8 motion, and rolls upon its own poles; whether I
say we affirm these or no, the illations before mentioned are
not thereby infringed. We therefore conclude this contem-
plation, and are not afraid to believe it may be literally said
of the wisdom of God, what men will have but figuratively
spoken of the works of Christ, that if the wonders thereof
were duly described, the whole world, that is, all within the
last circumference, would not contain them. For as his
wisdom is infinite, so cannot the due expressions thereof be
finite, and if the world comprise him not, neither can it
comprehend the story of him.
CHAPTER VI.
Concerning the vulgar opinion, that the earth was slenderly
peopled before the flood.
Beside the slender consideration, men of latter times do hold
of the first ages, it is commonly opinioned, and at first thought
generally imagined, that the earth was thinly inhabited, at
least not remotely planted, before the flood, whereof there
being two opinions, which seem to be of some extremity,
the one too largely extending, the other too narrowly con-
tracting the populosity of those times, we shall not pass over
this point without some enquiry into it. 9
8 dinetical.~\ Signifies whirlinge, from is not only injurious to the text, human
5/WJ, which in the Greeke is a whirlpole, history, and common reason, but also
soe that the dineticall motion of the son derogatory to the great work of God,
is such, in their opinion, as that of the the universal inundation, it will be need-
materiall globes, which wee make to turne ful to make some further inquisition ;
upon their axis in a frame. — Wr. ar>d although predetermined by opinion,
9 whereof, $c.~} Instead of this passage, whether many might not suffer in the
the first five editions have the following : first flood, as they shall in the last flame,
" So that some conceiving it needless to that is who knew not Adam nor his
be universal, have made the deluge par- offence, and many perish in the deluge,
ticular, and about those parts where Noah who never heard of Noah or the ark of
built his ark ; which opinion, because it his preservation."
220 ENQUIRIES INTO VULGAR [COOK VI.
Now for the true enquiry thereof, the means are as obscure
as the matter, which being naturally to be explored by
history, human or divine, receiveth thereby no small addi-
tion of obscurity. For as for human relations, they are so
fabulous in Deucalion's flood, that they are of little credit
about Ogyges' and Noah's. For the heathens, as Varro
accounteth, make three distinctions of time. The first from
the beginning of the world unto the general deluge of Ogyges,
they term Adelon,1 that is, a time not much unlike that which
was before time, immanifest and unknown ; because thereof
there is almost nothing or very obscurely delivered; for
though divers authors have made some mention of the deluge,
as Manethon the Egyptian Priest, Xenophon, De JEquivocis,
Fabius Pictor, De Aureo seculo, Mar. Cato, De Originibus,
and Archilochus the Greek, who introduced! also the testi-
mony of Moses, in his fragment De Temporibus ; yet have
they delivered no account of what preceded or went before.
Josephus, I confess, in his discourse against Appion, induceth
the antiquity of the Jews unto the flood, and before, from the
testimony of human writers, insisting especially upon Maseus
of Damascus, Jeronymus iEgyptius, and Berosus ; and con-
firming the long duration of their lives, not only from these,
but the authority of Hesiod, Erathius, Hellanicus, and Age-
silaus. Berosus, the Chaldean Priest, writes most plainly,
mentioning the city of Enos, the name of Noah and his sons,
the building of the ark, and also the place of its landing.
And Diodorus Siculus hath in his third book a passage,
which examined, advanceth as high as Adam ; for the Chal-
deans, saith he, derive the original of their astronomy and
letters forty three thousand years before the monarchy of
Alexander the Great ; now the years whereby they computed
the antiquity of their letters, being, as Xenophon interprets,
to be accounted lunary, the compute will arise unto the time
1 Adelon.} To the heathen who either importes, whereas in the church of God,
knew nothing of the creation, or at least the third, (which they call historicall, and
beleeved itt not, the first distinction of began not till after the 3000th yeare of
time must needs bee adriXov, that is the world's creation with them,) was con-
utterly unknowne, for the space of 1 656 tinued in a perfect narration and im-
from the creation to the flood, and the questionable historye from the beginning
second, the mythicon, little better, as the of time through those 3000 yeares.— It'r.
very name they give itt, (yt is fabulous,)
CHAP. VI.] AND COMMON ERRORS. 221
of Adam. For forty-three thousand lunary years make about
three thousand six hundred thirty-four years, which answereth
the chronology of time from the beginning of the world unto
the reign of Alexander, as Annius of Viterbo computeth, in
his comment upon Berosus.
The second space or interval of time is accounted from
the flood unto the first Olympiad, that is, the year of the
world 3174, which extendeth unto the days of Isaiah the
prophet, and some twenty years before the foundation of Rome.
This they term mythicon or fabulous, because the account
thereof, especially of the first part, is fabulously or imperfectly
delivered. Hereof some things have been briefly related by
the authors above mentioned, more particularly by Dares
Phrygius, Dictys Cretensis, Herodotus, Diodorus Siculus,
and Trogus Pompeius. The most famous Greek poets lived
also in this interval, as Orpheus, Linus, Museus, Homer,
Hesiod ; and herein are comprehended the grounds and first
invention of poetical fables, which were also taken up by
historical writers, perturbing the Chaldean and Egyptian
records with fabulous additions, and confounding their names
and stories with their own inventions.
The third time succeeding until their present ages, they
term historicon, that is, such wherein matters have been
more truly historificd, and may therefore be believed. Of
these times also have written Herodotus,2 Thucydides, Xeno-
phon, Diodorus, and both of these and the other preceding
such as have delivered universal histories or chronologies ; as
(to omit Philo, whose narrations concern the Hebrews) Euse-
bius, Julius Africanus, Orosius, Ado of Vienna, Marianus
Scotus, Historia tripartita, Urspergensis, Carion, Pineda,
Salian, and with us Sir Walter Raleigh.
Now from the first hereof, that most concerneth us, we
have little or no assistance, the fragments and broken records
2 Herodotus.'] Yet the first parte of his (which to them was most obscure and
historye begins not till the times of Apries, fabulous) the sacred storye is soe plaine
that is, Hophreas, whose reign began not that thence Eusebius tooke his argument
till the seige of Jerusalem by Nabu- to convince the heathen of their novel
chodonosor, 475 yeares after Said, the idolatryes, the most whereof sprang upp
first King of Israel, and at least 1224 in the end of these fabulous times Wr.
yeares after the flood, of all which time
222 ENQUIRIES INTO VULGAR [BOOK VI.
hereof inforcing not at all our purpose. And although some
things not usually observed may be from thence collected,
yet do they not advantage our discourse, nor any way make
evident the point in hand. For the second, though it directly
concerns us not, yet in regard of our last medium and
some illustrations therein, we shall be constrained to make
some use thereof. As for the last, it concerns us not at all;
for treating of times far below us, it can no way advantage us.
And though divers in this last age have also written of the
first, as all that have delivered the general accounts of time,
yet are their tractates little auxiliary unto ours, nor afford us
any light to detenebrate and clear this truth.
As for Holy Scripture and divine relation, there may also
seem therein but slender information, there being only left
a brief narration hereof by Moses, and such as affords no
positive determination. For the text delivereth but two
genealogies, that is, of Cain and Seth ; in the line of Seth
there are only ten descents, in that of Cain but seven, and
those in a right line with mention of father and son, except-
ing that of Lamech, where is also mention of wives, sons, and
a daughter. Notwithstanding, if we seriously consider what
is delivered therein, and what is also deducible, it will be
probably declared what is by us intended, that is, the popu-
lous and ample habitation of the earth before the flood.
Which we shall labour to induce not from postulates and
entreated maxims, but undeniable principles declared in Holy
Scripture, that is, the length of men's lives before the flood,
and the large extent of time from creation thereunto.
We shall only first crave notice, that although in the
relation of Moses there be very few persons mentioned, yet
are there many more to be presumed ; nor when the Scripture
in the line of Seth nominates but ten persons, are they to be
conceived all that were of this generation. The Scripture
singly delivering the holy line, wherein the world was to be
preserved, first in Noah, and afterward in our Saviour. For
in this line it is manifest there were many more born than are
named, for it is said of them all, that they begat sons and
daughters. And whereas it is very late before it is said they
CHAP. VI.] AND COMMON ERRORS. 223
begat those persons which are named in the Scripture, the
soonest at 65, it must not be understood that they had none
before, but not any in whom it pleased God the holy line
should be continued. And although the expression that they
begat sons and daughters, be not determined to be before or
after the mention of those, yet must it be before in some; for
before it is said that Adam begat Seth at the 130th year, it
is plainly affirmed that Cain knew his wife, and had a son,
which must be one of the daughters of Adam, one of those
whereof it is after said, he begat sons and daughters. And
so, for ought can be disproved, there might be more persons
upon earth than are commonly supposed when Cain slew
Abel, nor the fact so heinously to be aggravated in the cir-
cumstance of the fourth person living. And whereas it is
said, upon the nativity of Seth, God hath appointed me
another seed instead of Abel, it doth not imply he had no
other all this while ; but not any of that expectation, or
appointed (as his name implies) to make a progression in the
holy line, in whom the world was to be saved, and from whom
he should be born, that was mystically slain in Abel.
Now our first ground to induce the numerosity of people
before the flood, is the long duration of their lives, beyond
seven, eight, and nine hundred years. Which how it con-
duceth unto populosity, we shall make but little doubt, if we
consider there are two main causes of numerosity in any kind
or species, that is, a frequent and multiparous way of breed-
ing, whereby they fill the world with others, though they
exist not long themselves ; or a long duration and subsistence,
whereby they do not only replenish the world with a new
annumeration of others, but also maintain the former account
in themselves. From the first cause we may observe examples
in creatures oviparous, as birds and fishes ; in vermiparous,
as flies, locusts, and gnats ; in animals also viviparous, as
swine and conies. Of the first there is a great example in
the herd of swine in Galilee, although an unclean beast, and
forbidden unto the Jews. Of the other a remarkable one in
Athenaeus, in the isle Astipalea, one of the Cyclades, now
called Stampalia, wherein from two that were imported, the
224 ENQUIRIES* INTO VULGAR [BOOK VI.
number so increased, that the inhabitants were constrained
to have recourse unto the oracle of Delphos, for an invention
how to destroy them.
Others there are which make good the paucity of their
breed with the length and duration of their days, whereof
their want not examples in animals uniparous. First, in
bisulcous or cloven hoofed, as camels and beeves, whereof
there is above a million annually slain in England. It is also
said of Job, that he had a thousand yoke of oxen, and six
thousand camels, and of the children of Israel passing into
the land of Canaan, that they took from the Midianites
threescore and ten thousand beeves, and of the army of
Semiramis, that there were therein one hundred thousand
camels. For solipeds or firm hoofed animals, as horses,
asses, mules, &c. they are also in mighty numbers; so it is
delivered that Job had a thousand she asses ; that the Mi-
dianites lost sixty-one thousand asses. For horses, it is
affirmed by Diodorus, that Ninus brought against the Bac-
trians two hundred eighty thousand horses ; after him
Semiramis five hundred thousand horses, and chariots one
hundred thousand. Even in creatures sterile, and such as do
not generate, the length of life conduceth much unto the
multiplicity of the species ; for the number of mules which
live far longer than their dams or sires, in countries where
they are bred, is very remarkable, and far more common than
horses.
For animals multifidous, or such as are digitated or have
several divisions in their feet, there are but two that are
uniparous, that is, men and elephants, who, though their
productions be but single, are notwithstanding very numerous.
The elephant, as Aristotle affirmeth, carrieth the young two
years, and conceiveth not again, as Edvardus Lopez affirmeth,
in many years after, yet doth their age requite this disadvantage,
they living commonly one hundred, sometime two hundred
years. Now although they be rare with us in Europe, and
altogether unknown unto America, yet in the two other parts
of the world they are in great abundance, as appears by the
relation of Garcias ab Horto, physician to the Viceroy at
CHAP. VI.] AND COMMON ERRORS. c225
Goa, who relates that at one venation the King of Siam took
four thousand, and is of opinion they are in other parts in
greater number than herds of beeves in Europe. And though
this, delivered from a Spaniard unacquainted with our northern
droves, may seem very far to exceed, yet must we conceive
them very numerous, if we consider the number of teeth
transported from one country to another, they having only
two great teeth, and those not falling or renewing.
As for man, the disadvantage in his single issue is the same
with these, and in the lateness of his generation somewhat
greater than any ; yet in the continual and not interrupted
time hereof, and the extent of his days, he becomes at pre-
sent, if not than any other species, at least more numerous
than these before mentioned. Now being thus numerous at
present, and in the measure of threescore, fourscore, or an
hundred years, if their days extended unto six, seven, or
eight hundred, their generations would be proportionably
multiplied, their times of generation being not only multiplied,
but their subsistence continued. For though the great-grand-
child went on, the petrucius* and first original would subsist
and make one of the world, though he outlived all the terms
of consanguinity, and became a stranger unto his proper pro-
geny. So, by compute of Scripture, Adam lived unto the
ninth generation, unto the days of Lamech, the father of
Noah ; Methuselah unto the year of the flood, and Noah was
contemporary unto all from Enoch unto Abraham. So that
although some died, the father beholding so many descents,
the number of survivors must still be very great ; for if half
the men were now alive which lived in the last century, the
earth would scarce contain their number. Whereas in our
abridged and septuagesimal ages, it is very rare, and deserves
a distich f to behold the fourth generation. Xerxes' complaint
still remaining, and what he lamented in his army, being
almost deplorable in the whole world ; men seldom arriving
unto those years whereby Methuselah exceeded nine hundred,
and what Adam came short of a thousand, was defined long
ago to be the age of man.
* The term for that person for whom consanguineal relations are accounted, as in
the Arbor civilis. ■]■ Mater ait nata, die nates filia, fyc.
VOL. III. Q
226 ENQUIRIES INTO VULGAR [BOOK VI.
Now, although the length of days conduceth mainly unto
the numerosity of mankind, and it be manifest from Scripture
they lived very long, yet is not the period of their lives
determinable, and some might be longer livers than we
account that any were. For, to omit that conceit of some
that Adam was the oldest man, in as much as he is conceived
to be created in the maturity of mankind, that is at sixty, for
in that age it is set down they begat children, so that adding
this number unto his 930, he was 21 years older than any of
his posterity ; that even Methuselah was the longest liver of
all the children of Adam we need not grant, nor is it defi-
nitively set down by Moses. Indeed of those ten mentioned
\n Scripture, with their several ages, it must be true, but
whether those seven of the line of Cain and their progeny,
or any of the sons' and daughters' posterity after them out-
lived those, is not expressed in Holy Scripture, and it will
seem more probable that of the line of Cain some were longer
lived than any of Seth, if we concede that seven generations
of the one lived as long as nine of the other. As for what is
commonly alleged that God would not permit the life of any
unto a thousand, because, alluding unto that of David, no
man should live one day in the sight of the Lord, although
it be urged by divers, yet is it methinks an inference somewhat
rabbinical, and not of power to persuade a serious examiner.
Having thus declared how powerfully the length of lives
conduced unto the populosity of those times, it will yet be
easier acknowledged if we descend to particularities, and
consider how many in seven hundred years might descend
from one man; wherein considering the length of their days, we
may conceive the greatest number to have been alive together.
And this, that no reasonable spirit may contradict, we will
declare with manifest disadvantage : for whereas the duration
of the world unto the flood was above 1600 years, we will
make our compute in less than half that time. Nor will we
begin with the first man, but allow the earth to be provided
of women fit for marriage the second or third first centuries,
and will only take as granted, that they might beget children
at sixty, and at an hundred years have twenty, allowing for
that number forty years. Nor will we herein single out
CHAP. VI.] AND COMMON ERRORS. 227
Methuselah, or account from the longest livers, but make
choice of the shortest of any we find recorded in the text,
excepting Enoch, who, after he had lived as many years as
there be days in the year, was translated at 365. And thus
from one stock of seven hundred years, multiplying still by
twenty, we shall find the product to be one thousand three
hundred forty seven millions, three hundred sixty-eight
thousand, four hundred and twenty.
m 20.
Century-^ 4
Product
400.
8000.
y 160,000.
3,200,000.
64,000,000.
7 J 1,280,000,000.
I 1,347,368,420.
I
Now, if this account of the learned Petavius will be al-
lowed, it will make an unexpected increase, and a larger
number than may be found in Asia, Africa, and Europe ;
especially if in Constantinople, the greatest city thereof, there
be no more than Botero accounteth, seven hundred thousand
souls. Which duly considered, we shall rather admire how
the earth contained its inhabitants, than doubt its inhabitation ;
and might conceive the deluge not simply penal, but in some
way also necessary, as many have conceived of translations,3
if Adam had not sinned, and the race of man had remained
upon earth immortal.
Now, whereas some to make good their longevity, have
imagined that the years of their compute were lunary, unto
these we must reply ; that if by a lunary year they under-
stand twelve revolutions of the moon, that is, 354 days,
eleven fewer than in the solary year ; there will be no great
difference, at least not sufficient to convince or extenuate the
question. But if by a lunary year they mean one revolution
3 translations.'] That is, that after dye, but have been translated as Henoch
some terme of yeares they should not was, into Heaven. — Wr.
Q2
228 ENQUIRIES INTO VULGAR [BOCK VI.
of the moon, that is, a month ; they first introduce a year
never used by the Hebrews in their civil accounts ; and what
is delivered before of the Chaldean years (as Xenophon gives
a caution) was only received in the chronology of their arts.
Secondly, they contradict the Scripture, which makes a plain
enumeration of many months in the account of the deluge ; for
so it is expressed in the text. " In the tenth month, in the
first day of the month were the tops of the mountains seen."
Concordant whereunto is the relation of human authors ;
Inundationes plures fuere, prima nommestris inundatio terra-
rum sub prisco Ogyge. Meminisse hoc loco par est post
primum diluvium Ogygi temporibus notation, cum novem, et
amplius mensibus diem continua nox inwnbrasset, Delon ante
omnes terras radiis solis illuminatum sortitumque ex eo
no?nen.* And lastly, they fall upon an absurdity, for they
make Enoch to beget children about six years of age. For,
whereas it is said he begat Methuselah at sixty-five3 if we
shall account every month 4 a year, he was at that time some
six years and an half, for so many months are contained in
that space of time.
Having thus declared how much the length of men's lives
conduced unto the populosity of their kind, our second
foundation must be the large extent of time, from the crea-
tion unto the deluge, (that is, according unto received com-
putes about 1655 years,) almost as long a time as hath passed
since the nativity of our Saviour.5 And this we cannot but
* Xenophon de JEqidvocis. Solinus.
4 month] The spirit in many places (as tion, that is almost 6 dayes of the weeke,
of Daniel, and the Apocalyps) hy dayes and that the dayes of the world shal bee,
means yeares : but in noe place yeares as our Saviour foretold, much shortened,
for dayes or monthes. — Wr. i.e. shall not continue to the full end of
5 Saviour.^ And according to this num- 6000 yeares, i. e. 6 of God's dayes : they
ber there are, that take upon them to conclude that the seventh day of asternal
judge that when the yeares of the church's rest of the world and all the works
age comes to as many since Christ's therm cannot bee far of. But how
birthe, as those yeares of the world had far off, or how neere, is not for man
from the creation to the flood, the con- to enquire, much less to define otherwise
summation or consumption of the world then by way of Christian caution, to bee
by fireprophesyed by St. Peter, 2d. Epist. always readye for the coming of that
3 chap, v, 10, must needs bee then or kingdome, which wee every (day) pray,
thereabouts fulfilled, as itt was before by may come speedilye. For doubtles yf 1600
water at those years. For counting (say yeares agoe the Spirit thought itt requi-
they) as the Apostle there does, that site to rowse them up with that memen-
with God 1000 yeares are but as one to, "the Lord is at hand, bee yee there-
daye, and that (as all agree) in this yeare fore sober and watche," itt may well bee
of Christ, 1660, there arc just 5600 an alarum to us, on whom the ends of
yeares of the world past since the crea- the world are come. — Wr.
CHAP. VI.] AND COMMON ERRORS. 221)
conceive sufficient for a very large increase, if we do but
affirm what reasonable enquirers will not deny, — that the
earth might be as populous in that number of years before
the flood, as we can manifest it was in the same number after.
And, whereas there may be conceived some disadvantage, in
regard that at the creation the original of mankind was in
two persons, but after the flood their propagation issued at
least from six ; against this we might very well set the length
of their lives before the flood, which were abbreviated after,
and in half this space contracted into hundreds and three
scores. Notwithstanding, to equalize accounts, we will allow
three hundred years, and so long a time as we can manifest
from the Scripture, there were four men at least that begat
children, Adam, Cain, Seth, and Enos ; so shall we fairly and
favourably proceed, if we affirm the world to have been as
populous in sixteen hundred and fifty years before the flood,
as it was in thirteen hundred after. Now how populous and
largely inhabited it was within this period of time, we shall
declare from probabilities, and several testimonies of Scripture
and human authors.
And first, to manifest the same near those parts of the
earth where the ark is presumed to have rested, we have the
relation of Holy Scripture, accounting the genealogy of
Japhet, Cham, and Sem, and in this last, four descents unto
the division of the earth in the days of Peleg, which time
although it were not upon common compute much above an
hundred years, yet were men at this time mightily increased.
Nor can we well conceive it otherwise, if we consider they
began already to wander from their first habitation, and were
able to attempt so mighty a work as the building of a city
and a tower, whose top should reach unto the heavens.
Whereunto there was required no slender number of persons,
if we consider the magnitude thereof, expressed by some,
and conceived to be turris Bell in Herodotus ; 6 and the mul-
titudes of people recorded at the erecting of the like or
inferior structures, for at the building of Solomon's temple
6 conceived to he, #c] Mr. Beke and the Babel or Babylon of Nebuchad-
however, is of opinion that " the city and nezzar, were three totally distinctnlaces,"
tower of Babel, the Babel of Nimrod and Origencs Biblicce, p. 17.
230 ENQUIRIES INTO VULGAR [BOOK VI.
there were threescore and ten thousand that carried burdens,
and fourscore thousand hewers in the mountains, beside the
chief of his officers three thousand and three hundred ; and
at the erection of the pyramids in the reign of king Cheops,
as Herodotus reports, there were decern myriades, that is,
an hundred thousand men. And though it be said of the
Egyptians,
Porrum et cospe nefas violare et frangere morsu ;*
yet did the sums expended in garlick and onions amount
unto no less than one thousand six hundred talents.
The first monarchy or kingdom of Babylon is mentioned
in Scripture under the foundation of Nimrod, which is also
recorded in human history ; as beside Berosus, in Diodorus
and Justin; for Nimrod of the Scriptures is Belus of the
Gentiles, and Assur the same with Ninus his successor.
There is also mention of divers cities, particularly of Nineveh
and Resen, expressed emphatically in the text to be a
great city.
That other countries round about were also peopled, ap-
pears by the wars of the monarchs of Assyria with the
Bactrians, Indians, Scythians, Ethiopians, Armenians, Hyr-
canians, Parthians, Persians, Susians ; they vanquished (as
Diodorus relateth) Egypt, Syria, and all Asia Minor, even
from Bosphorus unto Tanais. And it is said, that Semiramis
in her expedition against the Indians brought along with her
the king of Arabia. About the same time of the Assyrian
monarchy, do authors place that of the Sycionians in Greece,
and soon after that of the Argives, and not very long after,
that of the Athenians under Cecrops ; and within our period
assumed are historified many memorable actions of the
Greeks, as the expedition of the Argonauts, with the most
famous wars of Thebes and Troy.
That Canaan also and Egypt were well peopled far within
this period, besides their plantation by Canaan and Misraim,
appeareth from the history of Abraham, who in less than
400 years after the flood, journeyed from Mesopotamia unto
Canaan and Egypt, both which he found well peopled and
* Juvenal.
CHAP. VI.] AND COMMON ERRORS. 231
policied into kingdoms. Wherein also in 430 years, from
threescore and ten persons which came with Jacob into
Egypt, he became a mighty nation ; for it is said, at their
departure, there journeyed from Rhamesis to Succoth about
six hundred thousand on foot, that were men, besides
children. Now how populous the land from whence they
came was, may be collected not only from their ability in
commanding such subjections and mighty powers under them,
but from the several accounts of that kingdom delivered by
Herodotus. And how soon it was peopled, is evidenced from
the pillar of their king Osyris, with this incription in Diodo-
rus ; Mild pater est Saturnus deorum junior, sum vcro
Osyris rex, qui totum peragravi orbem usque, ad Indorum
fines, ad eos quo que sum profectus qui septentrioni subjacent
usque ad Istri fontes, et alias partes usque ad Oceanum.
Now, according unto the best determinations, Osyris was
Misraim, and Saturnus Egyptius the same with Cham ; after
whose name Egypt is not only called in Scripture the land of
Ham, but thus much is also testified by Plutarch ; for in his
treatise de Osyride, he delivereth that Egypt was called
Chamia, a Chamo Noe filio, that is, from Cham the son of
Noah. And if, according to the consent of ancient fathers,
Adam was buried in the same place where Christ was cru-
cified, that is mount Calvary, the first man ranged far before
the flood, and laid his bones many miles from that place,
where it 's presumed he received them. And this migration
was the greater, if, as the text expresseth, he was cast out of
the east side of paradise to till the ground ; and as the po-
sition of the Cherubim implieth, who were placed at the
east end of the garden to keep him from the tree of life.
That the remoter parts of the earth were in this time
inhabited, is also inducible from the like testimonies, for
(omitting the numeration of Josephus, and the genealogies of
the sons of Noah,) that Italy was inhabited appeareth from
the records of Livy and Dionysius Halicarnasseus, the story
of iEneas, Evander and Janus, whom Annius of Viterbo,
and the chorographers of Italy, do make to be the same with
Noah. That Sicily was also peopled is made out from the
frequent mention thereof in Homer, the records of Diodorus
232 ENQUIRIES INTO VULGAR [lJOOK VI.
and others, but especially from a remarkable passage touched
by Aretius and Ranzanus, Bishop of Lucerium, but fully
explained by Thomas Fazelli, in his accurate history of Sicily,
that is, from ancient inscription in a stone at Panormo, ex-
pressed by him in its pi'oper characters, and by a Syrian thus
translated : Non est alius Deus prceter unum Deum, non
est alius potens prceter eundem Deum, neque est alius victor
prceter eundem quern colimus Deum ; Hujus turris prcefectus
est Sscpha Jilius Eliphat, Jilii Esau, fratris Jacob, jilii Isaac,
jilii Abraham ,• et turri quidem ipsi nomen est Baych, sed
turri huic proximce nomen est Pharath. The antiquity of
the inhabitation of Spain is also confirmable, not only from
Berosus in the plantation of Tubal, and a city continuing
yet in his name, but the story of Gerion, the travels of
Hercules and his pillars, and especially a passage in Strabo,
which advanceth unto the time of Ninus, thus delivered in
his fourth book ; the Spaniards (saith he) affirm that they
have had laws and letters above six thousand years. Now
the Spaniards or Iberians observing (as Xenophon hath
delivered) Annum quadrimestrem, four months unto a year,
this compute will make up 2000 solary years, which is about
the space of time from Strabo, who lived in the days of
Augustus, unto the reign of Ninus.
That Mauritania and the coast of Africa were peopled very
soon, is the conjecture of many wise men, and that by the
Phoenicians,7 who left their country upon the invasion of
Canaan by the Israelites. For beside the conformity of the
Punick or Carthaginian language with that of Phoenicia,
there is a pregnant and very remarkable testimony hereof in
Procopius, who in his second de hello Vandalico, recordeth
that in a town of Mauritania Tingitana, there was to be seen
upon two white columns in the Phoenician language these
ensuing words ; Nos Maurici sumus qui fugimus a facie
Jehoschue Jilii Nunis prcedatoris. The fortunate islands or
Canaries were not unknown ; for so doth Strabo interpret
that speech in Homer of Proteus unto Menelaus.
7 by the Phoenicians.'] " Tyrict Sidonis quasi Phceni appcllantur" Hieron. See
in Phoenicis litorc civitatum Carthago Sclden, De Dim Syiis, Prolegomena, cap.
colonia ; unde et Poeni, sermone corrupto 2, p. 10-24. — Jeff.
CHAP. VI.] AND COMMON ERRORS. 233
Sed te qua terrae postremus terminus extat,
Elysium in Campum ccelestia numina ducunt.
The like might we affirm from credible histories both of
France and Germany, and perhaps also of our own country.
For omitting the fabulous and Trojan original delivered by
Jeffrey of Monmouth, and the express text of Scripture,
that the race of Japhet did people the isles of the Gentiles ;
the British original was so obscure in Caesar's time, that he
affirmeth the inland inhabitants were Aborigines, that is,
such as reported that they had their beginning in the island.
That Ireland our neighbour island was not long time without
inhabitants, may be made probable by sundry accounts,
although we abate the tradition of Bartholanus the Scythian,
who arrived three hundred years8 after the flood, or the
relation of Giraldus, that Caesaria, the daughter of Noah,
dwelt there before.
Now should we call in the learned account of Bochartus,*
deducing the ancient names of countries from Phoenicians,
who by their plantations, discoveries, and sea negociations,
have left unto very many countries, Phoenician denominations,
the enquiry would be much shorter; and if Spain, in the
Phoenician original, be but the region of conies, Lusitania,
or Portugal, the country of almonds, if Britannica were at
first Baratanaca, or the land of tin, and Ibernia or Ireland
were but Ibernae, or the farthest inhabitation, and these
names imposed and dispersed by Phoenician colonies, in their
several navigations, the antiquity of habitations might be
more clearly advanced.
Thus though we have declared how largely the world was
inhabited within the space of 1300 years, yet must it be con-
ceived more populous than can be clearly evinced ; for a
greater part of the earth hath ever been peopled, than hath
* Bochart. Geog. Sacr. part. 2.
8 three hundred years.] This yeare, deducted out of the present yeare of the
1050, is the 5600 yeare of the worlde world 5600, there remaine 3644 yeares
since the creation ; out of which, yf you this yeare, since Bartolanus is said to
take the yeare of the floodd, viz. in the arrive in Irelande, which neither Scripture
yeare of the work' 1656, and also the nor any story mentions, and therefore is
300 yeares more here mentioned, the a feigned and foolish tradition. — Wr,
summe will be 1956, which being againe
234 ENQUIRIES INTO VULGAR [BOOK VI.
been known or described by geographers, as will appear by
the discoveries of all ages. For neither in Herodotus or
Thucydides do we find any mention of Rome, nor in Ptolemy
of many parts of Europe, Asia, or Africa; and because many
places we have declared of long plantation, of whose popu-
losity notwithstanding or memorable actions we have no
ancient story ; if we may conjecture of these by what we find
related of others, we shall not need many words, nor assume
the half of 1300 years. And this we might illustrate from
the mighty acts of the Assyrians, performed not long after
the flood, recorded by Justine and Diodorus, who makes
relation of expeditions by armies more numerous than have
been ever since. For Ninus,9 King of Assyria, brought
against the Bactrians 700,000 foot, 200,000 horse, 10,600
chariots. Semiramis, his successor, led against the Indians
1,300,000 foot, 500,000 horse, 100,000 chariots, and as many
upon camels.1 And it is said Staurobates, the Indian king,
met her with greater forces than she brought against him ;
all which was performed within less than four hundred years
after the flood.
Now if any imagine the unity of their language did hinder
their dispersion before the flood, we confess it some hindrance
at first, but not much afterward. For though it might restrain
their dispersion, it could not their populosity, which neces-
sarily requireth transmigration and emission of colonies ; as
we read of Romans, Greeks, Phoenicians in ages past, and
have beheld examples thereof in our days. We may also
observe that after the flood, before the confusion of tongues,
men began to disperse. For it is said they journeyed towards
the east, and the Scripture itself expresseth a necessity con-
ceived of their dispersion, for the intent of erecting the tower
9 Ninus.'] Soe Ninus had in his armye arniye, and as many or more on the
974,200, reckoning to every chariot six adverse side, what countryes could hold,
fightinge men (on each side three) be- much less feed them ? For Sennacherib's
sides the charioteer ; but Semiramis, her army did not reach to the twenlithe
army was not less then 2,000,000, i. e. parte of these conjoyned numbers, and
above twice soe manye ; and yf Stauro- yet he boasted to have drunk the rivers
bates his army were greater, doubtless drye. — Wr.
never any since that time came neere ' upon camels.'] 300,000 ox hides stuffed
those numbers. Then reckoninge at the to represent elephants, and carried upon
least of horses, 4 in each chariot, and of camels. — Jeff.
camels, in all 500,000 beasts in her
CHAP. VI.] AND COMMON ERRORS. 235
is so delivered in the text, " lest we be scattered abroad upon
the face of the earth."
Again, if any apprehend the plantation of the earth more
easy in regard of navigation and shipping discovered since
the flood, whereby the islands and divided parts of the earth
are now inhabited; he must consider that whether there
were islands or no before the flood, is not yet determined,
and is with probability denied by very learned authors.
Lastly, if we shall fall into apprehension that it was less
inhabited, because it is said in the sixth of Genesis, about
120 years before the flood, "And it came to pass that when
men began to multiply upon the face of the earth ;" beside
that this may be only meant of the race of Cain, it will not
import they were not multiplied before, but that they were at
that time plentifully increased ; for so is the same word used
in other parts of Scripture. And so is it afterward in the ninth
chapter said, that " Noah began to be an husbandman," that
is, he was so, or earnestly performed the acts thereof; so is
it said of our Saviour, that he " began to cast them out that
bought and sold in the temple." that is, he actually cast them
out, or with alacrity effected it.
Thus have I declared some private and probable concep-
tions in the enquiry of this truth ; but the certainty hereof
let the arithmetic of the last day determine, and therefore
expect no further belief than probability and reason induce.
Only desire men would not swallow dubiosities for certainties,
and receive as principles points mainly controvertible; for
we are to adhere unto things doubtful in a dubious and
opinionative way. It being reasonable for every man to vary
his opinion according to the variance of his reason, and to
affirm one day what he denied another. Wherein although
at last we miss of truth, we die notwithstanding in harmless
and inoffensive errors, because we adhere unto that, where-
unto the examen of our reasons, and honest inquiries induce
us.2
2 induce us.'] And whatsoever is beyond vincible ignorance.— Wr.
this search must bee imputed to an in-
236 ENQUIRIES INTO VULGAR [BOOK VI.
CHAPTER VII.
Of East and West,
The next shall be of east and west ; that is, the proprieties
and conditions ascribed unto regions respectively unto those
situations ; which hath been the obvious conception of phi-
losophers and geographers, magnifying the condition of
India, and the eastern countries, above the setting and occi-
dental climates : some ascribing hereto the generation of
gold, precious stones, and spices, others the civility and
natural endowments of men ; conceiving the bodies of this
situation to receive a special impression from the first salutes
of the sun, and some appropriate influence from his ascen-
dent and oriental radiations. But these proprieties, affixed
unto bodies, upon considerations reduced from east, west, or
those observable points of the sphere, how specious and
plausible soever, will not upon enquiry be justified from such
foundations.
For to speak strictly, there is no east and west in nature,
nor are those absolute and invariable, but respective and
mutable points, according unto different longitudes, or dis-
tant parts of habitation, whereby they suffer many and
considerable variations. For first, unto some the same part
will be east or west in respect of one another, that is, unto
such as inhabit the same parallel, or differently dwell from
east to west. Thus, as unto Spain Italy lieth east, unto
Italy Greece, unto Greece Persia, and unto Persia China; so
again, unto the country of China Persia lieth west, unto Persia
Greece, unto Greece Italy, and unto Italy Spain. So that
the same country is sometimes east and sometimes west ; and
Persia though east unto Greece, yet is it west unto China.
Unto other habitations the same point will be both east
and west ; as unto those that are Antipodes or seated in
points of the globe diametrically opposed. So the Americans
CHAP. VII.] AND COMMON ERRORS. 237
are antipodal unto the Indians, and some part of India is both
east and west unto America, according as it shall be regard-
ed from one side or the other, to the right or to the left ; and
setting out from any middle point, either by east or west, the
distance unto the place intended is equal, and in the same
space of time in nature also performable.
To a third that have the poles for their vertex 3 or dwell
in the position of a parallel sphere, there will be neither east
nor west, at least the greatest part of the year. For if, (as
the name oriental implieth) they shall account that part to be
east wherever the sun ariseth, or that west where the sun is
occidental or setteth ; almost half the year they have neither
the one nor the other. For half the year it is below the
horizon, and the other half it is continually above it, and cir-
cling4 round about them intersecteth not the horizon, nor
leaveth any part for this compute. And if (which will seem
very reasonable) that part should be termed the eastern point
where the sun at equinox, and but once in the year, ariseth,
yet will this also disturb the cardinal accounts, nor will it with
propriety admit that appellation. For that surely cannot be
accounted east which hath the south on both sides ; which
notwithstanding this position must have. For if, unto such as
live under the pole, that be only north which is above them,
that must be southerly which is below them, which is all the
other portion of the globe, beside that part possessed by
them. And thus, these points of east and west being not
absolute in any, respective in some, and not at all relating unto
others, we cannot hereon establish so general considerations,
nor reasonably erect such immutable assertions, upon so un-
stable foundations.
Now the ground that begat or promoted this conceit was,
first, a mistake in the apprehension of east and west, con-
sidering thereof as of the north and south, and computing
3 vertex.'] This is spoken by way of the space of almost as many dayes as
supposition, yf any such there be that there are minutes in his diameter : ap-
dwell under the pole. — Wr. pearing by those degrees in every circu-
4 and circling.] And abuutt the tenthe lation (of 24 houres time) more and more
of Marche, before and after, the discus conspicuous, as hee uses to doe, when he
of the son wheles about the verge of the gets out of total eclypse. — W.
horizon, and rises not totally above itt for
238 ENQUIRIES INTO VULGAR [dOOK VI.
by these as invariably as by the other. But herein, upon
second thoughts, there is a great disparity : for the north and
southern pole are the invariable terms of that axis whereon
the heavens do move, and are therefore incommunicable and
fixed points, whereof the one is not apprehensible in the
other. But with east and west it is quite otherwise : for the
revolution of the orbs being made upon the poles of north
and south, all other points about the axis are mutable ; and
wheresoever therein the east point be determined, by succes-
sion of parts in one revolution every point becometh east.
And so, if where the sun ariseth that part be termed east,
every habitation, differing in longitude, will have this point
also different, in as much as the sun successively ariseth unto
every one.5
The second ground, although it depend upon the former,
approacheth nearer the effect ; and that is, the efficacy of the
sun, set out and divided according to priority of ascent ;
whereby his influence is conceived more favourable unto one
country than another, and to felicitate India more than any
after. But hereby we cannot avoid absurdities, and such as
infer effects controlable by our senses. For first, by the
same reason that we affirm the Indian richer than the Ameri-
can, the American will also be more plentiful than the Indian,
and England or Spain more fruitful than Hispaniola or golden
Castile ;6 in as much as the sun ariseth unto the one sooner
than the other ; and so accountably unto any nation subject-
ed unto the same parallel, or with a considerable diversity of
longitude from each other. Secondly, an unsufferable absur-
dity will ensue; for thereby a country may be more fruitful
than itself. For India is more fertile than Spain, because
more east, and that the sun ariseth first unto it; Spain like-
wise by the same reason more fruitful than America, and
America than India; so thac Spain is less fruitful than that
country, which a less fertile country than itself excelleth.
Lastly, if we conceive the sun hath any advantage by
5 every one.] Every generall Meridian distant from London, for when 'tis noone
hath a several east pointe and west (in heere, 'tis 5 in the morne with them,
their horizon) that live under i tt. ■ — Wr. — Wr.
6 Castile.] Virginia is ahout 7 houres
CHAP. VII.] AND COMMON ERRORS. 239
priority of ascent, or makes thereby one country more happy
than another, we introduce injustifiable determinations, and
impose a natural partiality on that luminary, which being
equidistant from the earth, and equally removed in the east
as in the west, his power and efficacy in both places must be
equal, as Boetius hath taken notice, and Scaliger* hath gra-
phically declared, Some have therefore forsaken this refuge
of the sun, and to salve the effect have recurred unto the
influence of the stars, making their activities national, and ap-
propriating their powers unto particular regions. So Cardan
conceiveth, the tail of Ursa Major peculiarly respecteth Eu-
rope : whereas indeed once in twenty-four hours it also
absolveth its course over Asia and America. And therefore
it will not be easy to apprehend those stars peculiarly glance
on us, who must of necessity carry a common eye and regard
unto all countries, unto whom their revolution and verticity is
also common.
The effects therefore, or7 different productions in several
countries, which we impute unto the action of the sun, must
surely have nearer and more immediate causes than that
luminary.8 And these if we place in the propriety of clime,
or condition of soil wherein they are produced, we shall
more reasonably proceed, than they who ascribe them unto
the activity of the sun. Whose revolution being regular, it
hath no power nor efficacy peculiar from its orientality, but
equally disperseth his beams unto all which equally, and in
the same restriction, receive his lustre. And being an uni-
versal and indefinite agent, the effects or productions we
behold receive not their circle from his causality, but are
determined by the principles of the place, or qualities of
that region which admits them. And this is evident not only
in gems, minerals, and metals, but observable in plants and
animals; whereof some are common unto many countries,
some peculiar unto one, some not communicable unto another.
* De gemmis exercltat.
lor] Reade of. — Wr. The Dr's is s luminary.] Cald by God the greate
the true reading, see it repeated a few lighte. — Wr.
lines further on.
240 ENQUIRIES INTO VULGAR [BOOK VI.
For the hand of God that first created the earth, hath with
variety disposed the principles of all things ; wisely contri-
ving them in their proper seminaries, and where they best
maintained the intention of their species ; whereof if they
have not a concurrence, and be not lodged in a convenient
matrix, they are not excited by the efficacy of the sun ; nor
failing in particular causes, receive a relief or sufficient pro-
motion from the universal. For although superior powers
co-operate with inferior activities, and many (as some con-
ceive) carry a stroke in the plastick and formative draught of
all things, yet do their determinations belong unto particular
agents, and are defined from their proper principles. Thus
the sun which with us is fruitful in the generation of frogs,
toads, and serpents, to this effect proves impotent in our
neighbour island ; 9 wherein as in all other, carrying a com-
mon aspect, it concurreth but unto predisposed effects, and
only suscitates those forms, whose determinations are semi-
nal, and proceed from the idea of themselves.
9 which with us, 8(C.~\ Itt is a true
and remarkable thing that wheras Tslip
and Bletchinton in Oxon shire are not
distant above 2 miles, and noe river be-
tween, yet noe man living remembers a
snake or adder found alive in Bletchin-
ton (which abounds with frogs and toods)
and yf they bee brought from Islip, or
other partes, unto that towne, they dye,
as venemous things doe on Irish earthe,
brought thence by ship into our gardens
in England : nor is this proper to Irish
earthe, but to the timber brought thence,
as appeares in that vast roof of King's
College Chappel in Cambridge, where
noe man ever saw a spider, or their webs,
bycause itt is all of Irish timber. — Wr.
On reading the preceding passage, I
wrote to a friend in Cambridge requesting
that some inquiry might be made as to
the matter of fact. I subjoin an extract
from his reply : — •
" Ever since I was a boy, I have heard
the traditional account of the roof and
more particularly the organ loft of King's
College Chapel, being formed of Irish
oak, and that no spiders or their webs
are to be found upon it. I yesterday
took an opportunity of making a per-
sonal enquiry and examination — two cu-
rators had, I found, since passed to the
silent tomb, a third whom I now met
with had not even heard of the circum-
stance, though an intelligent man, and
who seemed to enter at once into the
nature of my enquiries. He wished me to
go up to the roof and examine for my-
self, assuring me, that no trouble was
taken to sweep it over at any time ; I
went up and could not succeed in dis-
covering the least appearance of a cob-
web, much less of a spider ; from the
stone roof which is underneath the
wooden roof, he informed me that in
some parts the spider's webs were very
abundant and troublesome.
I saw the organist, who seemed to be
aware of the tradition, though almost
forgotten, and who told me there was
plenty of dust for want of proper care
of the place, but he believed there were
no spiders ; he had officiated many years,
but had never seen one.
The curator has promised to bring me
a spider or web if he can find one, and
seemed much pleased with the, to him,
novel information."
The Hon. D. Barrington (in the Phi-
losophical Transactions, vol. lix, p. 30,)
says that he had examined several an-
cient timber roofs, without being able to
detect any spider's webs. He accounts
however for this, on the principle that
files are not to be found in such situations.
CHAP. VII.] AND COMMON ERRORS. 241
Now, whereas there be many observations concerning east,
and divers considerations of art which seem to extol the
quality of that point, if rightly understood they do not
really promote it. That the astrologer takes account of na-
tivities from the ascendant, that is, the first house of the
heavens, whose beginning is toward the east, it doth not
advantage the conceit. For he establisheth not his judgment
upon the orientality thereof, but considereth therein his first
ascent above the horizon ; at which time its efficacy becomes
observable, and is conceived to have the signification of life,
and to respect the condition of all things, which at the same
time arise from their causes, and ascend to their horizon with
it. Now this ascension indeed falls out respectively in the east;
but, as we have delivered before, in some positions there is
no eastern point from whence to compute these ascensions.
So is it in a parallel sphere : for unto them six houses are
continually depressed, and six never elevated; and the
planets themselves, whose revolutions are of more speed, and
influences of higher consideration, must find in that place a
very imperfect regard ; for half their period they absolve
above, and half beneath the horizon. And so, for six years,
no man can have the happiness to be born under Jupiter :
and for fifteen together all must escape the ascendant do-
minion of Saturn,
That Aristotle, in his Politicks, commends the situation of
a city which is open towards the east and admitteth the rays
of the rising sun, thereby is implied no more particular
efficacy than in the west : but that position is commended, in
regard the damps and vaporous exhalations, engendered in
the absence of the sun, are by his returning rays the sooner
dispelled ; and men thereby more early enjoy a clear and
healthy habitation.1 Upon the like considerations it is, that
and therefore spiders do not frequent in the west parts of England, to differ-
them. How would this remark agree ence such from all others, they call them
•with the number of cobwebs found in by a significant name, East-up-springs,
the stone roof of King's College ? intimating by that proper name, a proper
1 habitation.] The waters of those kind of excellencye, above other springs,
springs are held to bee most medicinal especially yf the soile from whence they
(of all others) which rise into the easte, rise bee chalke, or pure gravell. — Wr.
for this very reason here ulleaged : hence
VOL. III. R
24>2 ENQUIRIES INTO VULGAR. [BOOK VI.
Marcus Varro * commendeth the same situation, and expo-
seth his farm unto the equinoxial ascent of the sun ; and that
Palladius adviseth the front of his edifice should so respect
the south, that in the first angle it receive the rising rays of
the winter sun, and decline a little from the winter setting
thereof. And concordant hereunto is the instruction of
Columella, De positione villce ; which he contriveth into sum-
mer and winter habitations, ordering that the winter lodgings
regard the winter ascent of the sun, that is south-east ; and
the rooms of repast at supper, the equinoxial setting thereof,
that is, the west ; that the summer lodgings regard the equi-
noxial meridian : but the rooms of cenation in the summer,
he obverts unto the winter ascent, that is, south-east; and
the balnearies or bathing places, that they may remain under
the sun until evening, he exposeth unto the summer setting,
that is, north-west ; in all which, although the cardinal points
be introduced, yet is the consideration solary, and only de-
termined unto the aspect or visible reception of the sun.
Jews and Mahometans in these and our neighbour parts
are observed to use some gestures towards the east, as at
their benediction, and the killing of their meat. And though
many ignorant spectators, and not a few of the actors, con-
ceive some magick or mystery therein, yet is the ceremony
only topical, and in a memorial relation unto a place they
honour. So the Jews do carry a respect and cast an eye
upon Jerusalem, for which practice they are not without the
example of their forefathers, and the encouragement of their
wise king; for so it is said that Daniel " went into his house,
and his windows being opened towards Jerusalem, he kneeled
upon his knees three times a day, and prayed."f So is it
expressed in the prayer of Solomon, " What prayer or sup-
plication soever be made by any man, which shall spread forth
his hands towards this house ; if thy people go out to battle,
and shall pray unto the Lord towards the city which thou
hast chosen, and towards the house which I have chosen to
build for thy name, then hear thou in heaven their prayer
and their supplication, and maintain their cause." Now the
* De lie Rusli^a. f Dan. vi.
CHAP. VII.] AND COMMON ERRORS. 243
observation hereof, unto the Jews that are dispersed west-
ward, and such as most converse with us, directeth their
regard unto the east ; but the words of Solomon are appliable
unto all quarters of heaven, and by the Jews of the east and
south must be regarded in a contrary position. So Daniel in
Babylon looking toward Jerusalem had his face toward the
west. So the Jews in their own land looked upon it from all
quarters : for the tribe of Judah beheld it to the north ;
Manasses, Zabulon, and Napthali unto the south ; Reuben
and Gad unto the west ; only the tribe of Dan regarded it
directly or to the due east. So when it is said, " When you
see a cloud rise out of the west, you say there cometh a
shower, and so it is ;"* the observation was respective unto
Judea ; nor is this a reasonable illation, in all other nations
whatsoever. For the sea lay west unto that country, and the
winds brought rain from that quarter; but this consideration
cannot be transferred unto India or China, which have a vast
sea eastward, and a vaster continent toward the west. So
likewise, when it is said in the vulgar translation, "Gold
cometh out of the north,"f it is no reasonable inducement
unto us and many other countries, from some particular mines
septentrional unto his situation, to search after that metal in
cold and northern regions, which we most plentifully discover
in hot and southern habitations.
For the Mahometans, as they partake with all religions in
something, so they imitate the Jews in this. For in their
observed gestures, they hold a regard unto Mecca and
Medina Talnaby, two cities in Arabia Felix, where their pro-
phet was born and buried, whither they perform their pilgri-
mages, and from whence they expect he should return again.
And therefore they direct their faces unto these parts ; which,
unto the Mahometans of Barbary and Egypt, lie east, and
are in some point thereof unto many other parts of Turkey.
Wherein notwithstanding there is no oriental respect ; for
with the same devotion on the other side, they regard these
parts toward the west, and so with variety wheresoever they
are seated, conforming unto the ground of their conception.
* Luke xii. f Job. xxxvii.
R 2
244 ENQUIRIES INTO VULGAR [BOOK VI.
Fourthly, whereas in the ordering of the camp of Israel,
the east quarter is appointed unto the noblest tribe, that is,
the tribe of Judah, according to the command of God, " In
the east side toward the rising of the sun shall the standard
of the tribe of Judah pitch ;"* it doth not peculiarly extol
that point. For herein the east is not to be taken strictly,
but as it signifieth or implieth the foremost place ; for Judah
had the van, and many countries through which they passed
were seated easterly, unto them. Thus much is implied by
the original, and expressed by translations which strictly con-
form thereto. So Tremellius, Castra habentium ab anteriore
jKirte Orientem versus, vexillum esto castrorum Judce : so
hath R. Solomon Jarchi expounded it ; the foremost or be-
fore is the east quarter, and the west is called behind. And
upon this interpretation may all be salved that is allegeable
against it. For if the tribe of Judah were to pitch before
the tabernacle at the east, and yet to march first, as is com-
manded, Numb, x, there must ensue a disorder in the camp,
nor could they conveniently observe the execution thereof.
For when they set out from Mount Sinai, where the command
was delivered, they made northward unto Rithmah ; from
Rissah unto Eziongaber about fourteen stations they marched
south ; from Almon Diblathaim through the mountains of
Abarim and plains of Moab toward Jordan the face of their
march was west. So that if Judah were strictly to pitch in
the east of the tabernacle, every night he encamped in the
rear ; and if (as some conceive) the whole camp could not be
less than twelve miles long, it had been preposterous for him
to have marched foremost, or set out first, who was most
remote from the place to be approached.
Fifthly, that learning, civility, and arts, had their beginning
in the east, it is not imputable either to the action of the sun,
or its orientality, but the first plantation of man in those parts,
which unto Europe do carry the respect of east. For on the
mountains of Ararat, this is, part of the hill Taurus, between
the East Indies and Scythia, as Sir W. Raleigh accounts it,
the ark of Noah rested ; from the east they travelled that
* Numb. ii.
CHAP. VII.] AND COMMON ERRORS. 245
built the tower of Babel: from thence they were dispersed
and successively enlarged, and learning, good arts, and all
civility communicated. The progression whereof was very
sensible, and if we consider the distance of time between the
confusion of Babel, and the civility of many parts now eminent
therein, it travelled late and slowly into our quarters. Tor not-
withstanding the learning of bards and druids of elder times, he
that shall peruse that work of Tacitus, De moribas Germano-
rum, may easily discern how little civility two thousand years
had wrought upon that nation ; the like he may observe con-
cerning ourselves from the same author in the life of Agricola,
and more directly from Strabo, who, to the dishonour of our
predecessors, and the disparagement of those that glory in
the antiquity of their ancestors, affirmeth the Britons were
so simple, that though they abounded in milk, they had not
the artifice of cheese.
Lastly, that the globe itself is by cosmographers divided
into east and west, accounting from the first meridian, it doth
not establish this conceit. For that division is not naturally
founded, but artificially set down, and by agreement, as the
aptest terms to define or commensurate the longitude of
places. Thus the ancient cosmographers do place the division
of the east and western hemisphere, that is, the first term of
longitude, in the Canary or Fortunate Islands ; conceiving
these parts the extremest habitations westward. But the
moderns have altered that term, and translated it unto the
Azores or islands of St. Michael, and that upon a plausible
conceit of the small or insensible variation of the compass in
those parts. Wherein nevertheless, and though upon a second
invention, they proceed upon a common and no appropriate
foundation; for even in that meridian farther north or south
the compass observably varieth ; 2 and there are also other
2 varieth,} Mr. Gunter, about 35 ation of the former variations dayly ;
yeares agoe, observd the variation of the whereof the cause may bee in the several
compass at Redriff not to bee greate by loadstones brought from several places.
an excellent needle of 8 inches lengthe ; For the mines of iron, whence they are
yet now at this day the variation in the taken, not running all exactly north and
very same place is about halfe a pointe southe, may imprinte a different force,
different, as some artizans confidently and verticity in the needles toucht by
avouch upon experience; and our best them, according to the difference of their
mathematicians aver that there is a vari- own situation. Soe that the variation is
246 ENQUIRIES INTO VULGAR [BOOK VI.
places wherein it varieth not, as Alphonso and Rocloriges de
Lago will have it about Capo de las Agullas, in Africa ; as
Maurolycus affirmeth in the shore of Peloponnesus, in Eu-
rope ; and as Gilbertus averreth, in the midst of great regions,
in most parts of the earth.
CHAPTER VIII.
Of the River Nilus.
Hereof uncontrollably and under general consent many opi-
nions are passant, which notwithstanding, upon due examina-
tion, do admit of doubt or restriction. It is generally esteemed,
and by most unto our days received, that the river of Nilus
hath seven ostiaries, that is, by seven channels disburdened
itself into the sea. Wherein, notwithstanding, beside that we
find no concurrent determination of ages past, and a positive
and undeniable refute of these present, the affirmative is
mutable, and must not be received without all limitation.
For some, from whom we receive the greatest illustrations
of antiquity, have made no mention hereof. So Homer hath
given no number of its channels, nor so much as the name
thereof in use with all historians. Eratosthenes in his de-
scription of Egypt hath likewise passed them over. Aristotle
is so indistinct in their names and numbers, that in the first
of Meteors he plainly affirmeth, the region of Egypt (which
we esteem the ancientest nation of the world) was a mere
gained ground, and that by the settling of mud and limous
matter brought down by the river Nilus, that which was at
first a continued sea,3 was raised at last into a firm and
habitable country. The like opinion he held of Mseotis Palus,
not, or can bee in respect of the pole, them severally be alvvayes the same in
but of the needles. It would be therefore the same place or noe. — Wr.
exactly inquired by several large stones 3 sea.] Moore,
old and new, whether the vcrticity of
CHAP VIII.] AND COMMON ERRORS. 247
that by the floods of Tanais and earth brought down thereby,
it grew observably shallower in his days, and would in process
of time become a firm land. And though4 his conjecture be
not as yet fulfilled, yet is the like observable in the river
Gihon,5 a branch of Euphrates and river of Paradise, which
having in former ages discharged itself into the Persian Sea,
doth at present fall short, being lost in the lakes of Chaldea,
and hath left between them and the sea a large and con-
siderable part of dry land.
Others expressly treating hereof, have diversly delivered
themselves. Herodotus in his Euterpe makes mention of
seven, but carelessly of two hereof, that is, Bolbitinum and
Bucolicum ; 6 for these, saith he, were not the natural currents,
but made by art for some occasional convenience. Strabo, in
his geography, naming but two, Peleusiacum and Canopicum,
plainly affirmeth there were more than seven ; Inter hcec alia
quinque, &c. There are, saith he, many remarkable towns
within the currents of Nile, especially such which have given
the names unto the ostiaries thereof, not unto all, for they
are eleven,7 and four besides, but unto seven and most con-
siderable, that is, Canopicum, Bolbitinum, Selenneticum,
Sebenneticum,8 Pharniticum, Mendesium, Taniticum, and
Pelusium, wherein to make up the number, one of the arti-
ficial channels of Herodotus is accounted. Ptolemy, an
Egyptian, and born at the Pelusian mouth of Nile, in his
geography maketh nine,9 and in the third map of Africa,
hath unto their mouths prefixed their several names, Hera-
cleoticum, Bolbitinum, Sebenneticum, Pineptum, Diolcos,
Pathmeticum, Mendesium, Taniticum, Peleusiacum, wherein
notwithstanding there are no less than three different names
4 and though.'] Yet after Aristotel anchors digd up, but is now rich land,
740 yeares, about the yeare of Christ, 20 miles lower. — Wr.
410, itt became soe fordable that the 6 but carelessly , #c] Yet rthese are
Huns and Vandals (observing a hinde to now the principal branches remaining,
goe usually through itt to the pastures in ' eleven.] Thirteen in all by Strabo,
Natolia) came in such swarms over the yet Honterus reckons 17.— Wr.
same way, that at last they overrann all 8 Sebenneticum.'] Is aunciently divided
Europe also.— Wr, into Saiticum and Mendesium.— Wr.
8 Gihon.] The river which rann by 9 nine.] Of note, the rest smaller
Verulam was once navigable up to the branches, and soe not considerable, and
wals thereof, as appears by story, and therefore omitted. — Wr.
248 ENQUIRIES INTO VULGAR [BOOK VI.
from those delivered by Pliny. All which considered," we
may easily discern that authors accord not either in name or
number, and must needs confirm the judgment of Maginus,
de Ostiorum Nili numero et nominibus, valde antiqui scrip-
tores discordant.
Modern geographers 1 and travellers do much abate of
this number, for as Maginus and others observe, there are
now but three or four mouths thereof; as Gulielmus Tyrius
long ago, and Bellonius since, both ocular enquirers, with
others have attested. For below Cairo, the river divides
itself into four branches, whereof two make the chief and
navigable streams, the one running to Pelusium of the ancients,
and now Damietta ; 2 the other unto Canopium, and now
Rosetta ; 3 the other two, saith Mr. Sandys, do run between
these, but poor in water. Of those seven mentioned by
Herodotus, and those nine by Ptolemy, these are all I could
either see or hear of. Which much confirmeth the testimony
of the Bishop of Tyre, a diligent and ocular enquirer, who in
his Holy War doth thus deliver himself: "We wonder much
at the ancients, who assigned seven mouths unto Nilus, which
we can no otherwise salve than that by process of time, the
face of places is altered, and the river hath lost his channels,
or that our forefathers did never obtain a true account
thereof.4
And therefore, when it is said in Holy Scripture, "The
Lord shall utterly destroy the tongue of the Egyptian sea,
and with his mighty wind he shall shake his hand over the
river, and shall smite it in the seven streams, and make men
go over dry shod,"* if this expression concerneth the river
Nilus, it must only respect the seven principal streams. But
the place is very obscure, and whether thereby be not meant
the river Euphrates, is not without some controversy ; as is
collectible from the subsequent words ; " And there shall be
* Isa. ii, 15, 16.
1 geographers. ] But Honterus, in his of Herodotus.
geographical map of yEgypt, sets downe 3 now Rosetta.] The Bolbitine branch
17, distinct in situation and name, and of Herodotus.
hee wrote not soe long agoe, that they 4 Which much covfirmelh, c^c.] This
should since bee varyed. — If'r. sentence and the following paragraph
2 now Damietta ] This is the Bucolic were first added in the 2nd edition.
CHAP. VIII.] AND COMMON ERRORS. 249
an high way for the remnant of his people, that shall be left
from Assyria ;" and also from the bare name river, emphati-
cally signifying Euphrates, and thereby the division of the
Assyrian empire into many fractions, which might facilitate
their return ; as Grotius * hath observed, and is more plainly
made out, if the f Apocrypha of Esdras, and that of the J
Apocalypse have any relation hereto.5
Lastly, whatever was or is their number, the contrivers of
cards and maps afford us no assurance or constant description
therein. For whereas Ptolemy hath set forth nine, Hondius
in his map of Africa, makes but eight, and in that of Europe
ten; Ortelius, in the map of the Turkish empire, setteth
down eight, in that of Egypt eleven, and Maginus, in his
map of that country, hath observed the same number. And
if we enquire farther, we shall find the same diversity and
discord in divers others.
Thus may we perceive that this account was differently
related by the ancients, that it is undeniably rejected by the
moderns, and must be warily received by any. For if we
receive them all into account, they were more than seven ; if
only the natural sluices they were fewer, and however we
receive them, there is no agreeable and constant description
thereof; and therefore how reasonable it is to draw continual
and durable deductions from alterable and uncertain founda-
tions ; let them consider who make the gates of Thebes, and
the mouths of this river a constant and continued periphrasis
for this number,6 and in their poetical expressions do give
the river that epithet unto this number.
* Gr. Not. in Isaiam. \ 2 Esdr. xiii, 43, 47. J Apoc. xvi, 12.
5 And therefore, fyc.~\ Bishop Lowth river, that he threatened to reduce it
considers this passage as conveying an and make it so shallow that it should be
allusion to the passage of the Red Sea. easily fordable, even by women, who
But he cites a story told by " Herodotus, should not be up to their knees in passing
(i, 1S9) of his Cyrus, that may somewhat it. Accordingly he set his whole army
illustrate this passage; in which it is said to work, and cutting 360 trenches from
that God would inflict a kind of punish- both sides of the river, turned the waters
ment and judgment on the Euphrates, into them, and drained them off."
and render it formidable by dividing it 6 number.] Why should wee call the
into seven streams. Cyrus, being im- ancients to accompt for that which, tho'
peded in his march to Babylon by the then true, is now altered after 2000 yeares.
Gyudes, a deep and rapid river, which Let us rather hence collect the mutability
falls into the Tygris, and having lost one of all things under the moone. — JVr.
of his sacred white horses that attempted In the first edition the following words
to pass it, was so enraged against the are added to this paragraph, but have
250 ENQUIRIES INTO VULGAR [BOOK VI.
The same river is also accounted the greatest of the earth,
called therefore Fluviorum pater, and totius Orbis maxwius,
by Ortelius. If this be true, many maps must be corrected,
or the relations of divers good authors renounced.
For first, in the delineations of many maps of Africa, the
river Niger exceedeth it about ten degrees in length, that is, no
less than six hundred miles. For arising beyond the equator
it maketh northward almost 15 degrees, and deflecting after
westward, without meanders, continueth a straight course
about 40 degrees, and at length with many great currents
disburdeneth itself into the occidental ocean. Again, if we
credit the descriptions of good authors, other rivers excel it
in length, or breadth, or both. Arrianus, in his history of
Alexander, assigneth the first place unto the river Ganges ;
which truly according unto later relations, if not in length,
yet in breadth and depth, may be granted to excel it. For
the magnitude of Nilus consisteth in the dimension of longi-
tude, and is inconsiderable in the other ; what stream it
maintaineth beyond Syene or Esna, and so forward unto its
original, relations are very imperfect ; but below these places,
and further removed from the head, the current is but
narrow; and we read, in the history of the Turks, the
Tartar horsemen of Selimus swam over the Nile from Cairo
to meet the forces of Tonumbeus. Baptista Scortia,* ex-
pressly treating hereof, preferreth the river of Plate in
America, for that, as Maffeus hath delivered, falleth into the
ocean in the latitude of forty leagues, and with that force
and plenty, that men at sea do taste fresh water before they
approach so near as to discover the land. So is it exceeded
by that which by Cardan is termed the greatest in the world,
that is the river Oregliana in the same continent ; which, as
Maginus delivereth, hath been navigated 6000 miles, and
opens in a channels of ninety leagues broad, so that, as
Acosta, an ocular witness, recordeth, they that sail in the
middle can make no land on either side.7
* De naturd el increviento NHL
been omitted in all the subsequent edi- 7 side.'] Oregliana river is C000 miles
tions: — "conceiving a perpetuity in mu- longe, 270 miles broad at the mouth. —
lability upon unstable foundations erecting U'r.
eternal assertions."
CHAP. VIII,] AND COMMON ERRORS. 251
Now the ground of this assertion was surely the magnifying
esteem of the ancients, arising from the indiscovery of its
head.8 For as things unknown seem greater than they are,
and are usually received with amplifications above their
nature ; so might it also be with this river, whose head being
unknown and drawn to a proverbial obscurity, the opinion
thereof became without bounds, and men must needs conceit
a large extent of that to which the discovery of no man had
set a period. And this is an usual way, to give the superlative 9
unto things of eminency in any kind, and when a thing is very
great, presently to define it to be the greatest of all. Whereas
indeed superlatives are difficult ; whereof there being but one
in every kind, their determinations are dangerous, and must
not be made without great circumspection. So the city of
Rome is magnified by the Latins to be the greatest of the
earth ; but time and geography inform us that Cairo is bigger,
and Quinsay, in China, far exceedeth both. So is Olympus
extolled by the Greeks, as an hill attaining unto heaven, but
the enlarged geography of after times make slight account
hereof, when they discourse of Andes in Peru, or Teneriffe
in the Canaries.1 And we understand, by a person who hath
lately had a fair opportunity to behold the magnified mount
Olmypus, that it is exceeded by some peaks of the Alps. So
have all ages conceived, and most are still ready to swear, the
wren is the last of birds ; yet the discoveries of America, and
even of our own plantations have shewed us one far less, that
is, the humbird, not much exceeding a beetle. And truly,
8 head.] Maximus Tyrius, tutor to the best, hee will say the Academick.
Aurel. Antonin. emperor, taxeth the Soe askeof the Peripatetick, the Cynicke,
vai?ie solicitude of Alexander to discover the Pythagorian, the Platonick, and the
the head of the Nile, and enquired rather Pyrronian or sceptick, which of all is the
si a Deo bona omnia, unde mala fluunt,S$c. best, each of these will magnifie and
— Wr. advance his owne as the prime, but next
9 superlative.] A Noble Lord was wont his owne the Academicke. Therefore
to say the best trowts are in as many hee concludes, and that most invinciblye,
places of England, as afford any trowtes, that which by the confession of all inte-
for every place magnifies theire owne. rests in several! is the second, is in every
Hence Tullye wittily drew an argument truthe the fiiste : for what each speakes of
from the mouths of all the philosophers his owne is partiall, but whatt allconfesse
against themselves, that the secte of the to be the second best after their owne, is
Academicks (whereof he was one) was by all confession the very prime of all. —
the best. For, saythe hee, aske the Wr.
Stoickes which is the best, and he will ' Canaries."] Pico, in the Azores, 3
say the Stoick. But then aske which is miles highe like a sugar loafe. — Wr.
252 ENQUIRIES INTO VULGAR [BOOK VI.
for the least and greatest, the highest and the lowest of every
kind, as it is very difficult to define them in visible things, so
is it to understand in things invisible. Thus is it no easy
lesson to comprehend the first matter, and the affections of
that which is next neighbour unto nothing, but impossible
truly to comprehend God, who indeed is all in all. For
things, as they arise into perfection, and approach unto God,
or descend to imperfection, and draw nearer unto nothing,
fall both imperfectly into our apprehensions, the one being
too weak for our conceptions, our conceptions too weak for
the other.
Thirdly, divers conceptions there are concerning its incre-
ment or inundation. The first unwarily opinions, that this
increase or annual overflowing is proper unto Nile, and not
agreeable unto any other river, which notwithstanding is
common unto many currents of Africa. For about the same
time the river Niger and Zaire do overflow, and so do the
rivers beyond the mountains of the moon, as Suama and
Spirito Santo. And not only these in Africa, but some also
in Europe and Asia ; 2 for so is it reported of Menan in India,
and so doth Botero report of Duina in Livonia, and the same
is also observable in the river Jordan, in Judea, for so is it
delivered that " Jordan overfloweth all his banks in the
time of harvest." * 3
The effect indeed is wonderful in all, and the causes surely
best resolvable from observations made in the countries
themselves, the parts through which they pass, or whence
* Josh. iii.
2 some in Europe and Asia.~\ And in sunk, were all exposed again, and there
America, where the Rio de la Plata is was found, among others, an English
flooded at certain periods, and like the vessel, which had perished in 1762.
Nile inundates and fertilizes the country. Many people descended into this bed,
The Indians then leave their huts, and visited and spoiled the vessels thus laid
betake themselves to their canoes, in dry, and returned with their pockets
which they float about, until the waters filled with silver and other precious arti-
have retired. In the month of April, in cles, which had been buried more than
1793, it happened that a current of thirty years in the deep. This pheno-
wind, of an extraordinary nature and menon, which may be regarded as one
violence, heaped up the immense mass of the greatest convulsions of nature,
of water of this river to a distance of ten lasted three days, at the expiration of
leagues, so that the whole country was which the wind abated, and the waters
submersed, and the bed of the river re- returned with fury into their natural
mained dry in such a manner, that it bed. — Bulletin Universal.
might be walked over with dry feet. 3 harvest.] Maio ineunte.
The vessels which had foundered and
CHAP. VIII.] AND COMMON ERRORS. 253
they take their original. That of Nilus hath been attempted
by many, and by some to that despair of resolution, that they
have only referred it unto the providence of God, and his
secret manuduction of all things unto their ends. But divers
have attained the truth, and the cause alleged by Diodorus,
Seneca, Strabo, and others, is allowable ; that the inundation
of Nilus in Egypt proceeded from the rains in Ethiopia,
and the mighty source of waters falling towards the fountains
thereof. For this inundation unto the Egyptians happeneth
when it is winter unto the Ethiopians, which habitations,
although they have no cold winter, the sun being no further
removed from them in Cancer than unto us in Taurus, yet is
the fervour of the air so well remitted, as it admits a sufficient
generation of vapours, and plenty of showers ensuing there-
upon.4 This theory of the ancients is since confirmed by
experience of the moderns ; by Franciscus Alvarez, who
lived long in those parts, and left a description of Ethiopia,
affirming that from the middle of June unto September, there
fell in this time continual rains. As also Antonius Ferdi-
nandus who in an epistle written from thence, and noted by
Codignus, affirmeth that during the winter, in those countries,
there passed no day without rain.
Now this is also usual, to translate a remarkable quality
into a propriety, and where we admire an effect in one, to
opinion there is not the like in any other. With these con-
ceits do common apprehensions entertain the antidotal and
wondrous condition of Ireland, conceiving only in that land
an immunity from venomous creatures ;5 but unto him that
shall further enquire, the same will be affirmed of Creta, me-
morable in ancient stories, even unto fabulous causes, and
benediction from the birth of Jupiter. The same is also
found in Ebusus or Evisa, an island near Majorca upon the
4 thereupon.'] This observation is degrees, or 1C20 miles at least. And
worthye of notinge, yf you understand this rayne, which fell in his courte from
itt of that ^Ethiopia, which borders on June to September overthrows the former
the springs of Nilus, supposed generally instance of the winter raines at the moun-
to flow out of the mountains of the moon, tains of the moon, although that bee the
that is, 15 degrees beyond the aequinoc- only and the true cause of the rising of
tiall. Whereas Prester John's courte, of Nilus. — Wr.
residence wherein Alvarez lived, is 12 5 Ireland.] See note at p. 240.
degrees on this side the line, i, e. 27
254 ENQUIRIES INTO VULGAR [BOOK VI.
coast of Spain. With these, apprehensions do the eyes of
neighbour spectators behold Etna, the flaming mountain in
Sicilia ; but navigators tell us there is a burning mountain6 in
Iceland, a more remarkable one in Teneriffe of the Canaries,
and many volcanoes or fiery hills elsewhere. Thus crocodiles
were thought to be peculiar unto Nile, and the opinion so
possessed Alexander, that when he had discovered some in
Ganges, he fell upon a conceit he had found the head of
Nilus ; but later discoveries affirm they are not only in Asia
and Africa, but very frequent in some rivers of America.
Another opinion7 confineth its inundation, and positively
affirmeth, it constantly increaseth the seventeenth day of
June ; wherein perhaps a larger form of speech were safer,
than that which punctually prefixeth a constant day thereto.
For this expression is different from that of the ancients, as
Herodotus, Diodorus, Seneca, &c. delivering only that it hap-
peneth about the entrance of the sun into Cancer ; wherein
they warily deliver themselves, and reserve a reasonable
latitude.8 So, when Hippocrates saith, Sub Cane et ante
Canem difficiles sunt purgationes, there is a latitude of days
comprised therein ; for under the dog-star he containeth not
only the day of his ascent, but many following, and some ten
days preceeding. So Aristotle delivers the affections of
animals, with the very terms of circa, et magna ex parte ;
and, when Theodoras translateth that part of his " coeunt
thunni et scombri mense Februario post Idus, pariunt Junio
ante Nonas" Scaliger for "ante Nonas" renders it " Junii
initio" because that exposition affordeth the latitude of divers
days. For affirming it happeneth before the Nones, he al-
loweth but one day, that is, the Calends ; for in the Roman
account, the second day is the fourth of the Nones of June.9
Again, were the day definitive, it had prevented the de-
lusion of the devil, nor could he have gained applause by its
prediction ; who notwithstanding, (as Athanasius in the life
6 burning mountain.'] Called Hecla. about hath a large latitude : for at the
7 Another.] Lord Bacon, Natural sumer solstice, or his coming to Cancer,
History, Experiment 743. hee does little varye his declination for
8 latitude.] This is all one with the almost a month's space. — Wr.
former, for in their times the 0 then 9 June.] Reckoning the nones as
entered 25 or rather soner soe that this they doc the calends a retro. — Wr.
CHAP. VIII.] AND COMMON ERRORS. 255
of Anthony relateth,) to magnify his knowledge in things to
come, when he perceived the rains to fall in Ethiopia, would
presage unto the Egyptians the day of its inundation. And
this would also make useless that natural experiment ob-
served in earth or sand about the river ; by the weight where-
of (as good authors report) they have unto this day a
knowledge of its increase.1
Lastly, it is not reasonable from variable and unstable
causes to derive a fixed and constant effect, and such are the
causes of this inundation, which cannot indeed be regular,
and therefore their effects not prognosticate, like eclipses.
For, depending upon the clouds and descent of showers in
Ethiopia, which have their generation from vaporous exha-
lations, they must submit their existence unto contingencies,
and endui'e anticipation and recession from the moveable
condition of their causes. And therefore some years there
hath been no increase at all, as some conceive in the years
of famine under Pharaoh ; as Seneca and divers relate of the
eleventh year of Cleopatra ; nor nine years together, as is
testified by Calisthenes. Some years it hath also retarded,
and come far later than usually it was expected, as according
to Sozomen and Nicephorus it happened in the days of The-
odosius ; whereat the people were ready to mutiny, because
they might not sacrifice unto the river, according to the cus-
tom of their predecessors.
Now this is also an usual way of mistake, and many are
deceived who too strictly construe the temporal considerations
of things. The books will tell us, and we are made to believe,
that the fourteenth year males are seminifical and pubescent;
1 increase.] They have now a more waters should defer the seed-time to
certain way, for all the ancients agree longe ; which usually begins in 9ber, and
that Nilus begins to flow about the begin- the harvest is in Maye. But of this you
ning of July, (the sonn going out of may read at large in Plinye's Natural
Cancer into Leo) and about the end of Historye, lib. v, cap. 9, and lib. xviii,
September returnes within his bankes cap. 18. But most excellently in Sene-
againe. From the first rise to his wonted ca's iv, lib. of natural qua^stions, which is
level are commonly 100 days : the just worthe the reading. Itt seems that in
hight is 16 cubits. In 12 cubits they the 7 yeares of famine wherof Joseph
are sure of a famine, in 13 of scarcitye (instructed by God) prophesyed, there
and dearthe, 14 cubits makes themmerye, had noe rain fain in ^Ethiopia, and that
15, secure, and 16, triumphe, beyonde this therefore Nilus had not overflowed
(which is rare) they looke sad agen, not for Wr.
feare of want, but least the slow fall of the
256 ENQUIRIES INTO VULGAR [BOOK VI.
but he that shall enquire into the generality, will rather ad-
here unto the cautelous assertion of Aristotle, that is, bis
septem annis exactis, and then but magna ex parte. That
whelps are blind nine days, and then begin to see, is generally
believed ; but as we have elsewhere2 declared, it is exceeding
rare, nor do their eyelids usually open until the twelfth, and
sometimes not before the fourteenth day. And to speak
strictly, an hazardable determination it is, unto fluctuating
and indifferent effects to affix a positive type or period. For
in effects of far more regular causalities, difficulties do often
arise, and even in time itself, which measureth all things, we
use allowance in its commensuration. Thus while we con-
ceive we have the account of a year in 365 days, exact
enquirers and computists will tell us, that we escape six
hours,3 that is a quarter of a day. And so in a day, which
every one accounts twenty-four hours, or one revolution of
the sun ; in strict account we must allow the addition of such
a part as the sun doth make in his proper motion, from west
to east, whereby in one day he describeth not a perfect
circle.
Fourthly, it is affirmed by many, and received by most,
that it never raineth in Egypt, the river supplying that defect,
and bountifully requiting it in its inundation : but this must
also be received in a qualified sense, that is, that it rains but
seldom at any time in the summer, and very rarely in the winter.
But that great showers do sometimes fall upon that region,
beside the assertion of many writers, we can confirm from
honourable and ocular testimony,"* and that not many years
past it rained in grand Cairo divers days together.
The same is also attested concerning other parts of Egypt,
by Prosper Alpinus, who lived long in that country, and hath
left an accurate treatise of the medical practice thereof.
Cayri raro decidunt pluvice ; Alexandria, Pelusiiqite et in
* Sir William Paston, Baronet.
2 elsewhere.'] Vol. ii, p. 523. cisely : so that in 300 yeaies to come
3 escape 6 houres.~\ Lege overreckon the retrocession of the aequinoxes in the
every common yeare 10' 44" according Julian kalendar (for in heaven they are
to Alphonsus, and every 4th yeare, 42' fixed) cannot bee above one day: soe
56". But Tycho by long and exact ob- that the kalendar reformed would re-
servation sayes the retrocession made by maine to all times. — Mr.
this overreckoninge is now but 41', pre-
CHAP. VIII.] AND COMMON ERRORS. 257
omnibus locis mart adjacentibus, plait largissime et scepe ;
that is, it raineth seldom at Cairo, but at Alexandria, Damietta,
and places near the sea, it raineth plentifully and often.
Whereto we might add the latter testimony of learned Mr.
Greaves, in his accurate description of the Pyramids.4,
Beside, men hereby forget the relation of Holy Scripture.
" Behold I will cause it to rain a very great hail,5 such as
hath not been in Egypt since the foundation thereof, even
until now."* Wherein God threatening such a rain as had
not happened, it must be presumed they had been acquainted
with some before, and were not ignorant of the substance,
the menace being made in the circumstance. The same con-
cerning hail is inferrible from Prosper Alpinus, Rarissime
nix, grando, it seldom snoweth or haileth : whereby we must
concede that snow and hail do sometimes fall, because they
happen seldom.6
Now this mistake ariseth from a misapplication of the
bounds or limits of time, and an undue transition from one
unto another; which to avoid, we must observe the punctual
differences of time, and so distinguish thereof, as not to con-
found or lose the one in the other. For things may come to
pass, semper, plerumque, scepe; aut nunquam, aliquando,
raro ; that is always, or never, for the most part, or some-
times, oft-times, or seldom. Now the deception is usual
which is made by the mis-application of these ; men presently
concluding that to happen often, which happeneth but some-
times : that never, which happeneth but seldom ; and that
always, which happeneth for the most part. So is it said, the
sun shines every day in Rhodes, because for the most part it
faileth not. So we say and believe that a chameleon never
eateth, but liveth only upon air ; whereas indeed it is seen to
eat very seldom, but many there are who have beheld it to
feed on flies. And so it is said, that children born in the
* Exod. ix.
4 The same is also, <$-c] First added yf the lower ayre bee colder then that
in 2nd edition. from whence it fals.— Wr.
5 rain — hail.~\ Haile is raine as itt 6 The same concerning hail, #e.] First
fals first out of the clowde, but freeses added in 2nd edition.
as itt fals, and turnes into haile-stones,
VOL III. S
258 ENQUIRIES INTO VULGAR [BOOK VI.
eighth month live not, that is, for the most part, but not to
be concluded always: nor it seems in former ages in all
places, for it is otherwise recorded by Aristotle concerning
the births of Egypt.
Lastly, it is commonly conceived that divers princes have
attempted to cut the isthmus or tract of land which parteth
the Arabian and Mediterranean Seas. But upon enquiry I
find some difficulty concerning the place attempted; many
with good authority affirming, that the intent was not imme-
diately to unite these seas, but to make a navigable channel
between the Red Sea and the Nile, the marks whereof are
extant to this day. It was first attempted by Sesostris, after
by Darius, and in a fear to drown the country, deserted by
them both, but was long after re-attempted and in some
manner effected by Philadelphus. And so the Grand Signior,
who is lord of the country, conveyeth his gallies into the
Red Sea by the Nile ; for he bringeth them down to Grand
Cairo, where they are taken in pieces, carried upon camels'
backs, and rejoined together at Suez, his port and naval
station for the sea ; whereby in effect he acts the design of
Cleopatra, who after the battle of Actium in a different way
would have conveyed her gallies into the Red Sea.
And therefore that proverb to cut an isthmus, that is, to
take great pains, and effect nothing, alludeth not unto this
attempt, but is by Erasmus applied unto several other ; as
that undertaking of the Cnidians to cut their isthmus, but
especially that of Corinth so unsuccessfully attempted by
many Emperors. The Cnidians were deterred by the peremp-
tory dissuasion of Apollo, plainly commanding them to desist,
for if God had thought it fit, he would have made that
country an island at first. But this perhaps will not be
thought a reasonable discouragement unto the activity of
those spirits which endeavour to advantage nature by art,
and upon good grounds to promote any part of the universe ;
nor will the ill success of some be made a sufficient determent
unto others, who know that many learned men affirm, that
islands were not from the beginning, that many have been
* Isa. xi, 15.
CHAP. IX.]
AND COMMON ERRORS.
259
made since by art, that some isthmuses have been eat through
by the sea, and others cut by the spade. And if policy would
permit, that of Panama, in America, were most worthy the
attempt,, it being but few miles over, and would open a shorter
cut unto the East Indies and China.5
CHAPTER IX,
Of the Red Sea.
Contrary apprehensions are made of the Erythraean or
Red Sea, most apprehending a material redness therein, from
whence they derive its common denomination ; and some so
lightly conceiving hereof, as if it had no redness at all, are
fain to recur unto other originals of its appellation. Wherein
to deliver a distinct account, we first observe that without
consideration of colour it is named the Arabian Gulph. The
Hebrews, who had best reason to remember it, do call it
Zuph, or the weedy sea,6 because it was full of sedge, or
5 China.~\ Betweene Panama and the
Nombre de Dios, which lyes on bothe
sides that strip of lande, the Spaniards
accompte about 40 miles at most ; but
the Spaniard enjoying both those havens,
and consequentlye having- the free trade
of both seas without corrivalitye of other
nations, (which yf that passage were open
would not longe bee his alone,) will never
endure such an attempt, and for that
cause hath fortified bothe those havens
soe stronglye that hee may enjoye this
proprietye without controule. But itt
withall supposes that to cutt through the
ridge of mountainss which lies betweene
those 2 havens is impossible, and would
prove more unfecible then that of iEgypt,
which yf itt might be compassed would
be of more advantage to these 3 parts of
the world than that of Panama, and
nearer by 1000 leagues to us, the remo-
test kingdome trading to the East lndyes.
— Wr.
This long projected intercourse with
the East Indias seems — under the present
enterprizing Pasha of Egypt, to be in a
fair way of accomplishment. Letters
thither having been actually sent off by
the Mediterranean mail in the spring of
1835. The Pasha has sent to M. Bru-
nei requesting his assistance in carrying
on the great work of improvement in the
channel of the Nile ; and one of our
British engineers, Mr. Galloway, who has
the conduct of a railway constructing be-
tween Cairo and Suez, has been created
a Bey of Egypt.
6 the weedy sea.~\ Bruce however says
that he never saw a weed in it: and at-
tributes this name to the plants of coral
with which it abounds.
" Heb. xi, 29, commonly called the Red
Sea. But this is a vulgar error, and the
appellation rather arose from its proper
name Mare Erythrceum, which (the com-
mentators say) was derived from king
S 2
260 ENQUIRIES INTO VULGAR [BOOK VI.
they found it so in their passage. The Mahometans, who
are now lords thereof, do know it by no other name than
the Gulph of Mecca, a city of Arabia.
The stream of antiquity deriveth its name from King
Erythrus, so slightly conceiving of the nominal deduction
from redness, that they plainly deny there is any such accident
in it. The words of Curtius are plainly beyond evasion, Ab
Erythro rege inditum est nomen, propter quod ignari rubere
aquas credunt. Of no more obscurity are the words of
Philostratus, and of later times, Sabellicus; Stulte persuasion
est vulgo rubras alicubi esse maris aquas, quin ab Erythro
rege nomen pelago inditum. Of this opinion was Andreas
Corsalius, Pliny, Solinus, Dio Cassius, who although they
denied not all redness, yet did they rely upon the original
from King Erythrus.
Others have fallen upon the like, or perhaps the same
conceit under another appellation, deducing its name not from
King Erythrus, but Esau or Edom, whose habitation was
upon the coasts thereof.* Now Edom is as much as Erythrus,
and the Red Sea no more than the Idumean, from whence
the posterity of Edom removing towards the Mediterranean
coast, according to their former nomination by the Greeks,
were called Phoenicians or red men, and from a plantation
and colony of theirs, an island near Spain was by the Greek
describers termed Erythra, as is declared by Strabo and
Solinus.
Very many, omitting the nominal derivation, do rest in the
gross and literal conception thereof, apprehending a real
redness and constant colour of parts. Of which opinion are
also they which hold, the sea receiveth a red and minious
tincture from springs, wells, and currents that fall into it ;
and of the same belief are probably many Christians, who
conceiving the passage of the Israelites through the sea to
* More exactly hereof Bochartus and Mr. Dickinson.
Erythrus, undoubtedly the same with Huruen), testify it to be. But whether
Esau and Edom, who was a red man — these weeds give a colour to it, so as to
so Grotius and others. It is called by originate the name Red Sea, is, I think,
Moses, at Exod. xv, 22, fy\^ \J\ the very doubtful." — Bloomfield Rccensio Sy-
weedy sea, and such the accounts of mo- tiopfira, in he.
dern tourists, as Niebuhr and others (see
CHAP. IX.] AND COMMON ERRORS. 261
have been the type of baptism, according to that of the
apostle, " All were baptised unto Moses in the cloud, and in
the sea," * for the better resemblance of the blood of Christ,
they willingly received it in the apprehension of redness, and
a colour agreeable unto its mystery ; according unto that of
Austin, j- Significat mare Mud rabrum baptismum Christi,
unde nobis baptisnius Christi, nisi sanguine Christi conse-
cratus ?
But divers moderns not considering these conceptions, and
appealing unto the testimony of sense, have at last determined
the point, concluding a redness herein, but not in the sense
received. Sir Walter Raleigh, from his own and Portugal ob-
servations, doth place the redness of the sea in the reflection
from red islands, and the redness of the earth at the bottom,
wherein coral grows very plentifully, and from whence in
great abundance it is transported into Europe. The observa-
tions of Alberquerque, and Stephanus de Gama, (as, from
Johannes de Bairros, Fernandius de Cordova relateth) derive
this redness from the colour of the sand and argillous earth
at the bottom, for being a shallow sea, while it rolleth to and
fro, there appeareth redness upon the water, which is most
discernible in sunny and windy weather. But that this is no
more than a seeming redness, he confirmeth by an experiment ;
for in the reddest part taking up a vessel of water, it differed
not from the complexion of other seas. Nor is this colour
discoverable in every place of that sea, for as he also observed,
in some places it is very green, in others white and yellow,
according to the colour of the earth or sand at the bottom.
And so may Philostratus be made out, when he saith, this
sea is blue ; or Bellonius denying this redness, because he
beheld not that colour about Suez ; or when Corsalius at the
mouth thereof could not discover the same.
Now although we have enquired the ground of redness in
this sea, yet are we not fully satisfied. For (what is forgot
by many, and known by few) there is another Red Sea, whose
name we pretend not to make out from these principles, that
is, the Persian Gulph or Bay, which divideth the Arabian
* 1 Cor. x, 2. f Aug. in Johannem,
262 ENQUIRIES INTO VULGAR [BOOK VI.
and Persian shore, as Pliny hath described it, Mare rubrum
in duos dividitur sinus, is qui ab Oriente est, Persicus appel-
latur ; or as Solinus expresseth it, Qui ab Oriente est,
Percicus appellatur, ex adverso unde Arabia est, Arabicus ;
whereto assenteth Suidas, Ortelius, and many more. And
therefore there is no absurdity in Strabo, when he delivereth
that Tigris and Euphrates do fall into the Red Sea, and
Fernandius de Cordova justly defendeth his countryman
Seneca in that expression :
Et qui renatum prorsus excipiens diem
Tepidum Rubenti Tigrin immiscet freto.
Nor hath only the Persian Sea received the same name
with the Arabian, but what is strange and much confounds
the distinction, the name thereof is also derived from King
Erythrus, who was conceived to be buried in an island of
this sea, as Dionysius, Afer, Curtius, and Suidas do deliver.
Which were of no less probability than the other, if (as with
the same authors Strabo affirmeth), he was buried near Cara-
mania, bordering upon the Persian Gulph. And if his tomb
was seen by Nearchus, it was not so likely to be in the Arabian
Gulph ; for we read that from the river Indus he came unto
Alexander, at Babylon, some few days before his death.
Now Babylon was seated upon the river Euphrates, which
runs into the Persian Gulph ; and therefore however the
Latin expresseth it in Strabo, that Nearchus suffered much
in the Arabian Sinus, yet is the original xoXrrog :rs^er/.og, that is,
the Gulph of Persia.
That therefore the Red Sea, or Arabian Gulph, received
its name from personal derivation, though probable is but
uncertain ; that both the seas of one name should have one
common denominator, less probable ; that there is a gross
and material redness in either, not to be affirmed ; that there
is an emphatical or appearing redness in one, not well to be
denied. And this is sufficient to make good the allegory of
the Christians, and in this distinction may we justify the name
of the Black Sea, given unto Pontus Euxinus, the name of
Xanthus, or the yellow river of Phrygia, and the name of
Mar Vermeio, or the Red Sea in America.
CHAP. X.J AND COMMON ERRORS. 263
CHAPTER X.
Of the Blackness of Negroes.
It it evident, not only in the general frame of nature, that
things most manifest unto sense, have proved obscure unto
the understanding; but even in proper and appropriate ob-
jects, wherein we affirm the sense cannot err, the faculties of
reason most often fail us. Thus of colours in general, under
whose gloss and varnish all things are seen, few or none have
yet beheld the true nature, or positively set down their incon-
trollable causes. Which while some ascribe unto the mixture
of the elements, others to the graduality of opacity and light,
they have left our endeavours to grope them out by twilight,
and by darkness almost to discover that whose existence is
evidenced by light. The chemists have laudably reduced
their causes unto sal, sulphur, and mercury, and had they
made it out so well in this, as in the objects of smell and taste,
their endeavours had been more acceptable : for whereas they
refer sapor unto salt, and odor unto sulphur, they vary much
concerning colour ; some reducing it unto mercury ; some to
sulphur ; others unto salt. Wherein indeed the last conceit
doth not oppress the former ; and though sulphur seem to
carry the master-stroke, yet salt may have a strong co-opera-
tion. For beside the fixed and terrestrious salt, there is in
natural bodies a sal nitre referring unto sulphur ; there is
also a volatile or armoniack salt retaining unto mercury ; by
which salts the colours of bodies are sensibly qualified, ana
receive degrees of lustre or obscurity, superficiality or pro-
fundity, fixation or volatility.
Their general or first natures being thus obscure, there
will be greater difficulties in their particular discoveries ; for
being farther removed from their simplicities, they fall into
more complexed considerations ; and so require a subtiler act
264 ENQUIRIES INTO VULGAR [BOOK VI.
of reason to distinguish and call forth their natures. Thus
although a man understood the general nature of colours, yet
were it no easy problem to resolve, why grass is green ? Why
garlic, molyes and porrets have white roots, deep green leaves,
and black seeds ? Why several docks and sorts of rhubarb
with yellow roots, send forth purple flowers ? Why also from
lactory or milky plants, which have a white and lacteous juice
dispersed through every part, there arise flowers blue and
yellow? moreover, beside the special and first digressions or-
dained from the creation, which might be urged to salve the
variety in every species, why shall the marvel of Peru pro-
duce its flowers of different colours, and that not once, or
constantly, but every day, and variously ? Why tulips of one
colour produce some of another, and running through almost
all, should still escape a blue V And lastly, why some men, yea
and they a mighty and considerable part of mankind, should
first acquire and still retain the gloss and tincture of black-
ness ? Which whoever strictly enquires, shall find no less of
darkness in the cause, than in the effect itself; there arising
unto examination no such satisfactory and unquarrellable rea-
sons, as may confirm the causes generally received, which are
but two in number ; — the heat and scorch of the sun, or the
curse of God on Cham and his posterity.
The first was generally received by the ancients, who in
obscurities had no higher recourse than unto nature ; as may
appear by a discourse concerning this point in Strabo: by
Aristotle it seem to be implied, in those problems which en-
quire, why the sun makes men black, and not the fire ? why
it whitens wax, yet blacks the skin ? by the word Ethiops
itself, applied to the memorablest nations of negroes, that is, of
a burnt and torrid countenance. The fancy of the fable in-
fers also the antiquity of the opinion ; which deriveth the
complexion from the deviation of the sun : and the conflagra-
tion of all things under Phaeton. But this opinion though
generally embraced, was I perceive rejected by Aristobulus a
very ancient geographer, as is discovered by Strabo. It hath
7 should still escape a blue.'] Dr. Shaw lours but blue. The reason seems to be
remarks, in his Panorama of Nature, the effects of salt water on that colour. —
p. 619, that shells are of almost all co- Jeff.
CHAP. X.] AND COMMON ERRORS. 265
been doubted by several modern writers, particularly by
Ortelius ; but amply and satisfactorily discussed as we know
by no man. We shall therefore endeavour a full delivery
hereof, declaring the grounds of doubt, and reasons of denial,
which rightly understood, may, if not overthrow, yet shrewdly
shake the security of this assertion.
And first, many which countenance the opinion in this rea-
son, do tacitly and upon consequence overthrow it in another.
For whilst they make the river Senega to divide and bound the
Moors, so that on the south side they are black, on the other
only tawny, they imply a secret causality herein from the
air, place or river ; and seem not to derive it from the sun,
the effects of whose activity are not precipitously abrupted,
but gradually proceed to their cessations.
Secondly, if we affirm that this effect proceeded, or as we will
not be backward to concede, it may be advanced and foment-
ed from the fervour of the sun ; yet do we not hereby discover
a principle sufficient to decide the question concerning other
animals; nor doth he that affirmeth that heat makes man
black, afford a reason why other animals in the same habita-
tions maintain a constant and agreeable hue unto those in
other parts, as lions, elephants, camels, swans, tigers, ostriches,
which, though in Ethiopia, in the disadvantage of two sum-
mers, and perpendicular rays of the sun, do yet make good
the complexion of their species, and hold a colourable corres-
pondence unto those in milder regions. Now did this com-
plexion proceed from heat in man, the same would be com-
municated unto other animals, which equally participate the
influence of the common agent. For thus it is in the effects
of cold, in regions far removed from the sun ; for therein men
are not only of fair complexions, gray-eyed, and of light hair ;
but many creatures exposed to the air, deflect in extremity
from their natural colours ; from brown, russet and black, re-
ceiving the complexion of winter, and turning perfect white.
Thus Olaus Magnus relates, that after the autumnal equinox,
foxes begin to grow white ; thus Michovius reporteth, and we
want not ocular confirmation, that hares and partridges turn
white in the winter; and thus a white crow, a proverbial
26Q ENQUIRIES INTO VULGAR [BOOK VI.
rarity with us, is none unto them ; but that inseparable acci-
dent of Porphyry is separated in many hundreds.
Thirdly, if the fervour of the sun, or intemperate heat of
clime did solely occasion this complexion, surely a migration
or change thereof might cause a sensible, if not a total
mutation ; which notwithstanding experience will not admit.
For Negroes transplanted, although into cold and phlegma-
tick habitations, continue their hue both in themselves, and
also their generations, except they mix with different com-
plexions ; whereby notwithstanding there only succeeds a re-
mission of their tinctures, there remaining unto many descents
a strong shadow of originals, and if they preserve their copu-
lations entire, they still maintain their complexions. As is
very remarkable in the dominions of the Grand Signior,
and most observable in the Moors in Brasilia, which, trans-
planted about an hundred years past, continue the tinctures
of their fathers unto this day. And so likewise fair or white
people translated into hotter countries receive not impressions
amounting to this complexion, as hath been observed in many
Europeans who have lived in the land of Negroes : and as
Edvardus Lopez testifieth of the Spanish plantations, that
they retained their native complexions unto his days.
Fourthly, if the fervour of the sun were the sole cause
hereof in Ethiopia or any land of Negroes, it were also rea-
sonable that inhabitants of the same latitude, subjected unto
the same vicinity of the sun, the same diurnal arch, and direc-
tion of its rays, should also partake of the same hue and
complexion, which notwithstanding they do not. For the in-
habitants of the same latitude in Asia are of a different com-
plexion, as are the inhabitants of Cambogia and Java ; inso-
much that some conceive the Negro is properly a native of
Africa, and that those places in Asia, inhabited now by
Moors, are but the intrusions of Negroes, arriving first from
Africa, as we generally conceive of Madagascar, and the
adjoining islands, who retain the same complexion unto this
day. But this defect is more remarkable in America ; which
although subjected unto both the tropicks, yet are not the
inhabitants black between, or near, or under either : neither
to the southward in Brasilia, Chili, or Peru ; nor yet to the
CHAP. X.] AND COMMON ERRORS. 267
northward in Hispaniola, Castilia, del Oro, or Nicaragua.
And although in many parts thereof there be at present
swarms of Negroes serving under the Spaniard, yet were
they all transported from Africa, since the discovery of Colum-
bus ; and are not indigenous or proper natives of America.
Fifthly, we cannot conclude this complexion in nations
from the vicinity or habitude they hold unto the sun ; for
even in Africa they be Negroes under the southern tropick,
but are not all of this hue either under or near the northern.
So the people of Gualata, Agades, Garamantes, and of
Goaga, all within the northern tropicks, are not Negroes ; but
on the other side Capo Negro, Cefala, and Madagascar, they
are of a jetty black.
Now if to salve this anomaly we say, the heat of the sun is
more powerful in the southern tropick, because in the sign of
Capricorn falls out the perigeum or lowest place of the sun
in his eccentric, whereby he becomes nearer unto them than
unto the other in Cancer, we shall not absolve the doubt.
And if any insist upon such niceties, and will presume a dif-
ferent effect of the sun, from such a difference of place or
vicinity : we shall balance the same with the concernment of
its motion, and time of revolution, and say he is more power-
ful in the northern hemisphere, and in the apogeum: for
therein his motion is slower, and so is his heat respectively
unto those habitations, as of more duration, so also of more
effect. For though he absolve his revolution in 365 days,
odd hours and minutes, yet by reason of eccentricity, his mo-
tion is unequal, and his course far longer in the northern semi-
circle, than in the southern ; for the latter he passeth in 178
days, but the other takes him 187, that is, nine days more.
So is his presence more continued unto the northern inhabi-
tants ; and the longest day in Cancer, is longer unto us than
that in Capricorn unto the southern habitator. Beside, here-
by we only infer an inequality of heat in different tropicks,
but not an equality of effects in other parts subjected to the
same. For in the same degree, and as near the earth he
makes his revolution unto the American, whose inhabitants,
notwithstanding, partake not of the same effect. And if
herein we seek a relief from the dog-star, we shall introduce
268 ENQUIRIES INTO VULGAR [BOOK VI.
an effect proper unto a few, from a cause common unto many :
for upon the same grounds that star should have as forcible a
power upon America and Asia ; and although it be not ver-
tical unto any part of Asia, but only passeth by Beach, in
Terra Incognita; yet is it so unto America, and vertically
passeth over the habitations of Peru and Brasilia.
Sixthly, and which is very considerable, there are Negroes
in Africa beyond the southern tropick, and some so far re-
moved from it, as geographically the clime is not intemperate,
that is, near the Cape of Good Hope, in 36 of the southern
latitude. Whereas in the same elevation northward, the in-
habitants of America are fair ; and they of Europe in Candy,
Sicily, and some other parts of Spain, deserve not properly
so low a name as tawny.
Lastly, whereas the Africans are conceived to be more pe-
culiarly scorched and torrified from the sun, by addition of
dryness from the soil, from want and defect of water, it will
not excuse the doubt. For the parts which the Negroes pos-
sess, are not so void of rivers and moisture, as is presumed ;
for on the other side the mountains of the moon, in that great
tract called Zanzibar, there are the mighty rivers of Suama,
and Spirito Santo ; on this side, the great river Zaire, the
mighty Nile and Niger ; which do not only moisten and con-
temperate the air by their exhalations, but refresh and hu-
mectate the earth by their annual inundations. Beside in
that part of Africa, which with all disadvantage is most dry,
(that is, in situation between thetropicks, defect of rivers and
inundations, as also abundance of sands,) the people are not
esteemed Negroes ; and that is Libya, which with the Greeks
carries the name of all Africa. A region so desert, dry and
sandy, that travellers (as Leo reports) are fain to carry water
on their camels ; whereof they find not a drop sometime in
six or seven days. Yet is this country accounted by geogra-
phers no part of Terra Nigritarum, and Ptolemy placeth
therein the Leuco-AZthiopes, or pale and tawny Moors.
Now the ground of this opinion might be the visible qua-
lity of blackness observably produced by heat, fire and
smoke ; but especially with the ancients the violent esteem
they held of the heat of the sun, in the hot or torrid zone ;
CHAP. X.] AND COMMON ERRORS. 2G9
conceiving that part unhabitable, and therefore, that people
in the vicinities, or frontier thereof, could not escape without
this change of their complexions. But how far they were
mistaken in this apprehension, modern geography hath dis-
covered : and as we have declared, there are many within
this zone whose complexions descend not so low as unto
blackness. And if we should strictly insist hereon, the pos-
sibility might fall into question ; that is, whether the heat of
the sun, whose fervour may swart a living part, and even
black a dead or dissolving flesh, can yet in animals, whose
parts are successive and in continual flux, produce this deep
and perfect gloss of blackness.
Thus having evinced, at least made dubious, the sun is not
the author of this blackness, how, and when this tincture
first began is yet a riddle, and positively to determine it sur-
passeth my presumption. Seeing therefore we cannot disco-
ver what did effect it, it may afford some piece of satisfaction
to know what might procure it. It may be therefore consi-
dered, whether the inward use of certain waters or fountains
of peculiar operations, might not at first produce the effect
in question. For of the like we have records in Aristotle,
Strabo, and Pliny, who hath made a collection hereof, as of
two fountains in Boeotia, the one making sheep white, the
other black ; of the water of Siberis which made oxen black,
and the like effect it had also upon men, dying not only the
skin, but making their hairs black and curled. This was the
conceit of Aristobulus; who received so little satisfaction
from the other, (or that it might be caused by heat, or any
kind of fire,) that he conceived it as reasonable to impute the
effect unto water.
Secondly, it may be perpended whether it might not fall
out the same way that Jacob's cattle became speckled, spot-
ted and ring-straked, that is, by the power and efficacy of
imagination ; which produce th effects in the conception cor-
respondent unto the fancy of the agents in generation, and
sometimes assimilates the idea of the generator into a reality
in the thing engendered. For, hereof there pass for current
many indisputed examples ; so in Hippocrates we read of
one, that from an intent view of a picture conceived a Negro ;
270 ENQUIRIES INTO VULGAR [BOOK VI.
and in the history of Heliodore,* of a Moorish queen, who
upon aspection of the picture of Andromeda, conceived and
brought forth a fair one. And thus perhaps might some say
was the beginning of this complexion, induced first by imagi-
nation, which having once impregnated the seed, found after-
ward concurrent co-operations, which were continued by
climes, whose constitution advantaged the first impression.
Thus Plotinus conceiveth white peacocks first came in. Thus
many opinion that from aspection of the snow, which lieth
along in nothern regions, and high mountains, hawks, kites,
bears, and other creatures become white ; and by this way
Austin conceiveth the devil provided, they never wanted a
white-spotted ox in Egypt ; for such an one they worshipped,
and called Apis.
Thirdly, it is not indisputable whether it might not pro-
ceed from such a cause and the like foundation of tincture,
as doth the black jaundice, which meeting with congenerous
causes might settle durable inquinations, and advance their
generations unto that hue, which were naturally before but
a degree or two below it. And this transmission we shall
the easier admit in colour, if we remember the like hath been
effected in organical parts and figures ; the symmetry where-
of being casually or purposely perverted, their morbosities
have vigorously descended to their posterities, and that in
durable deformities. This was the beginning of Macroce-
phali, or people with long heads, whereof Hippocrates* hath
clearly delivered himself: Cum primum editus est Infans,
caput ejus tenellum manibus ejfingunt, et in longitudine ado-
lescere cogunt ; hoc institutum primum hujusmodi, natures
dedit vitium, successu verb temporis in naturam abiit, ut
proinde instituto nihil amplius opus esset ; semen enim gen-
itale ex omnibus corporis partibus provenit, ex sanis quidem
sanum, ex ??iorbosis morbosum. Si igitur ex calvis calvi, ex
cccsiis cfssii, et ex distortis, ut plurimum, distorti gignuntur,
eademque in cceteris formis valet ratio ; quid prohibet cur
non ex macrocephalis macrocephali gignantur ? Thus as
* Vide plura apud Tho. Fienum, de viribus imaginationis.
f De Aerc, Aqids, ct Loch.
CHAP X.] AND COMMON ERRORS. 271
Aristotle observeth, the deers of Arginusa had their ears
divided ; occasioned at first by slitting the ears of deer.
Thus have the Chinese little feet, most Negroes great lips and
flat noses ; and thus many Spaniards, and Mediterranean
inhabitants, which are of the race of Barbary Moors (although
after frequent commixture), have not worn out the Camoys*
nose unto this day.
Artificial Negroes, or Gypsies, acquire their complexion by
anointing their bodies with bacon and fat substances, and so
exposing them to the sun. In Guinea Moors and others, it
hath been observed, that they frequently moisten their skins
with fat and oily materials, to temper the irksome dryness
thereof from the parching rays of the sun. Whether this
practice at first had not some efficacy toward this complexion,
may also be considered.8
Lastly, if we still be urged to particularities, and such as
declare how, and when the seed of Adam did first receive
this tincture ; we may say that men became black in the same
manner that some foxes, squirrels, lions, first turned of this
complexion, whereof there are a constant sort in divers
countries ; that some choughs came to have red legs and
bills ; that crows became pied.9 All which mutations, how-
ever they began, depend on durable foundations ; and such
as may continue for ever. And if as yet we must farther
define the cause and manner of this mutation, we must con-
fess, in matters of antiquity, and such as are decided by
history, if their originals and first beginnings escape a due
relation, they fall into great obscurities, and such as future
ages seldom reduce unto a resolution. Thus if you deduct
the administration of angels, and that they dispersed the
creatures into all parts after the flood, as they had congre-
gated them into Noah's ark before, it will be no easy ques-
tion to resolve, how several sorts of animals were first
* Flat Nose.
8 Artificial Negroes, &;c.~] First added same species. The chough and the pied
in the 3rd edition. crow, are distinct species The former
9 some choughs, <^c] This, however, (corvus gracula), has always red legs
is not a parallel case to the varieties ex- and bills ; the latter (corvus caryocatac-
isting among different individuals of the tesj is always pied.
272 ENQUIRIES INTO VULGAR [BOOK VI.
dispersed into islands, and almost how any into America.
How the venereal contagion began in that part of the earth,
since history is silent, is not easily resolved by philosophy.
For whereas it is imputed unto anthropophagy, or the eating
man's flesh, that cause hath been common unto many other
countries, and there have been cannibals or men-eaters in the
three other parts of the world, if we credit the relations of
Ptolemy, Strabo and Pliny. And thus if the favourable pen
of Moses had not revealed the confusion of tongues, and
positively declared their division at Babel ; our disputes con-
cerning their beginning had been without end,1 and I fear
we must have left the hopes of that decision unto Elias.*
And if any will yet insist, and urge the question farther still
upon me, I shall be enforced unto divers of the like nature,
wherein perhaps I shall receive no greater satisfaction. I
shall demand how the camels of Bactria came to have two
bunches on their backs, whereas the camels of Arabia in all
relations have but one ? How oxen in some countries began
and continue gibbous or bunch-backed? What way those
many different shapes, colours, hairs, and natures of dogs
* Elias cum venerit, solvet dubium.
1 had not revealed the confusion, fyc.~\ Adam was white ? Job answered, " How
The question which forms the subject of you know Adam white ? We think Adam
this and the two following chapters, ap- black ; and we ask how you came to be
pears to me to be very much of the same white? A question which it is not pro-
class as those adverted to in the present bable the Dr. was able to answer."
passage: questions utterly incapable of Mo. Rev. vol. xxxviii, p. 541. Mr.
solution, in the absence of positive infor- Payne Knight, in his work On Taste,
mation. We know the proximate cause p. 15, is of the same opinion, that Adam
of the different complexions existing in Paradise was an African Black ! ! —
among the blacker and tawny varieties Dr. Pritchard has also endeavoured to
of the human race, to be the different shew that all men were originally Ne-
hues of the colouring matter contained groes. Blumenbach on the other hand
in the rete mucosum ; but as to the ori- supposes the original to have been Cau-
ginating cause, we can scarcely arrive at casian. The influence of climate has
even a probable conjecture. There have been the most generally assigned cause
existed various opinions as to the original of the blackness of Negroes, — by some
complexion of mankind. Not only have of the greatest naturalists both in ancient
the Negroes deemed themselves the and modern times; for example by Pliny,
"fairer," describing the devil and all Buffon, Smith, and Blumenbach. But
terrible objects as being white ; — but it is a theory which surely a careful in-
they have contended that our first pro- vestigation of facts will be sufficient to
genitor was, like themselves, black. Job overthrow. In addition to our author's
Ben Solomon, an African prince, when observations to this effect, see those of
in England, was in company with Dr. the English editors of Cuviers Animal
Watts. The Dr. enquiring of him why Kingdom, vol. i, p. 174.
he and his countrymen were black, since Nor is the difficulty as to the originat-
CHAP. X.]
AND COMMON ERRORS.
273
came in ? * How they of some countries became depilous,
and without any hair at all, whereas some sorts in excess
abound therewith ? How the Indian hare came to have a
long tail, whereas that part in others attains no higher than
a scut ? How the hogs of Illyria, which Aristotle speaks of,
became solipedes or whole-hoofed, whereas in other parts"
frig cause of the varieties in the human
race confined to the mere question of
complexion. It extends to the variations
in hair and beard — to the configuration
of the head — to the character and ex-
pression of countenance — the stature and
symmetry of the body — and to the still
more important — differences in moral and
intellectual character. But of what use
is it to exercise ingenuity as to the rea-
sons of these particular variations? We
see that the most astonishing variety per-
vades and adorns the whole range of
creation. Let us be content to resolve
it into the highest cause to which we can
ascend, the will of that Being who has
thus surrounded himself with the glory
of his own works.
I subjoin some remarks by Mr. Bray-
ley, bearing on a part of the subject.
In an elaborate paper by Dr. Stark,
on the influence of colour on heat and
odours, published in the Phil. Trans, for
1833, are contained some observations
and experiments which tend to throw
considerable light upon this subject. Dr.
Franklin, it is stated by the author of
the paper, from the result of his experi-
ments with coloured cloths on the ab-
sorption of heat, drew the conclusion,
" that black clothes are not so fit to wear
in a hot sunny climate or season as white
ones, because in such clothes the body is
more heated by the sun, when we walk
abroad and are at the same time heated
by the exercise ; which double heat is
apt to bring on putrid, dangerous fevers ;"
that soldiers and seamen in tropical
climates should have a white uniform;
that white hats should be generally worn
in summer; and that garden walls for
fruit trees would absorb more heat from
being blackened.
"Count Rumford and Sir Evrd. Home,
on the contrary," Dr. Stark continued,
"come to a conclusion entirely the re-
verse of this. The count asserts, that if
he were called upon to live in a very
warm climate, he would blacken his skin
or wear a black shirt; and Sir Everard,
VOL. III.
from direct experiments on himself and
on a Negro's skin, lays it down as evi-
dent, 'that the power of the sun's rays
to scorch the skins of animals is destroyed
when applied to a dark surface, although
the absolute heat, in consequence of the
absorption of the rays, is greater.' Sir
Humphry Davy explains this fact by
saying, ' that the radiant heat in the
sun's rays is converted into sensible heat.'
With all deference to the opinion of this
great man, it by no means explains why
the surface of the skin was kept compa-
ratively cool. From the result of the
experiments detailed, (in Dr. Stark's pa-
per) it is evident, that if a black surface
absorbs caloric in greatest quantity, it
also gives it out in the same proportions
and thus a circulation of heat is as it
were established, calculated to promote
the insensible perspiration, and to keep
the body cool. This view is confirmed
by the observed fact of the stronger
odour exhaled by the bodies of black
people." — Br.
2 what way those many, ^-c] Rev.
Mr. White, in his delightful Natural
History of Selborne, describes a very cu-
rious breed of edible dogs from China —
"such as are fattened in that country for
the purpose of being eaten : they are
about the size of a moderate spaniel ; of
a pale yellow colour, with coarse bristling
hair on their backs, sharp upright ears,
and peaked heads, which give them a
very fox-like appearance. They bark
much in a short, thick manner, like
foxes ; and have a surly savage demean-
our, like their ancestors, which are not
domesticated, but bred up in sties, where
they are fed for the table with rice-meal
and other farinaceous food." On the
subject of canine varieties Sir W. Jardine
in a note refers to " some very interest-
ing observations, in the fifth number of
the Journal of Agriculture, by Mr. J.
Wilson."
3 in other parts.] Not in all, for about
Aug. 1625, at a farm 4 miles from Win-
chester, I beheld with wonder a great
T
274 ENQUIRIES INTO VULGAR [BOOK VI.
they are bisulcous, and described cloven-hoofed, by God
himself? All which, with many others, must needs seem
strange unto those that hold there were but two of the un-
clean sort in the ark ; and are forced to reduce these varieties
to unknown originals.
However therefore this complexion was first acquired, it is
evidently maintained by generation, and by the tincture of
the skin as a spermatical part traduced from father unto son;
so that they which are strangers contract it not, and the na-
tives which transmigrate, amit it not without commixture,
and that after divers generations. And this affection, (if the
story were true) might wonderfully be confirmed, by what
Maginus and others relate of the emperor of Ethiopia, or
Prester John, who, derived from Solomon, is not yet descen-
ded into the hue of his country, but remains a Mulatto,
that is, of a mongrel complexion unto this day. Now al-
though we conceive this blackness to be seminal, yet are we
not of Herodotus' conceit, that their seed is black. An
opinion long ago rejected by Aristotle, and since by sense
and enquiry. His assertion against the historian was probable,
that all seed was white ; that is, without great controversy in
viviparous animals, and such as have testicles, or preparing
vessels, wherein it receives a manifest dealbation. And not
only in them, but (for ought I know) in fishes, not abating the
seed of plants ; whereof at least in most, though the skin and
covering be black, yet is the seed and fructifying part not so :
as may be observed in the seeds of onions, piony, and basil.
Most controvertible it seems in the spawn of frogs and lob-
sters, whereof notwithstanding at the very first the spawn is
white, contracting by degrees a blackness, answerable in the
one unto the colour of the shell, in the other unto the
porwigle or tadpole ; that is, that animal which first proceed-
eth from it. And thus may it also be in the gener tion and
sperm of Negroes ; that being first and in its naturals white,
but upon separation of parts, accidents before invisible be-
heanl of swine, whole footed, and taller mitted, as in that of the " chough " and
then any other that ever I sawe. — Wr. " pied crow," just before ; viz. the con-
In several of the examples in this founding of species with varieties.
paragraph, the same error has been com-
CHAP. XI.] AND COMMON ERRORS. 275
come apparent ; there arising a shadow or dark efflorescence
in the out-side, whereby not only their legitimate and timely
births, but their abortions are also dusky, before they have
felt the scorch and fervor of the sun.
CHAPTER XL
Of the same.
A second opinion * there is, that this complexion was first a
curse of God derived unto them from Cham, upon whom it
was inflicted for discovering the nakedness of Noah. Which
notwithstanding is sooner affirmed than proved, and carried
with it sundry improbabilities. For first, if we derive the
curse on Cham, or in general upon his posterity, we shall
denigrate a greater part of the earth than was ever so con-
ceived, and not only paint the Ethiopians and reputed sons
of Cush, but the people also of Egypt, Arabia, Assyria, and
Chaldea, for by this race were these countries also peopled.
And if concordantly unto Berosus, the fragment of Cato de
Originibus, some things of Halicarnasseus, Macrobius, and
out of them Leandro and Annius, we shall conceive of the
travels of Camese or Cham, we may introduce a generation
of Negroes as high as Italy, which part was never culpable of
deformity, but hath produced the magnified examples of
beauty.
4 A second opinion.] Possevine, in his countrye into this side of the river by
2 torn, and 252 page, does much applaud the black Moores, drawne thither by the
himself as the first inventor of this con- richnes of the soile on the further side,
ceite. ButScaliger,inhis 244 exercitation, And doubtles considering that the mari-
sifting that quere of Cardan, why those time Moors of Barbarye, who lye 1)00
that inhabite the hither side of the river miles on this side the tropicke, are
Senega, in Affiick, are dwarfish and blacker then those of the posteritye of
ash colour; those on the other side are tall Chus, in Arabia, which lyes under the
and Negroes ; rejects all arguments drawn tropick ; wee must needs conclude that
from natural! reasons of the soile, &c. this is but a poore conceyte, not unlike
and concludes that the Asanegi on this many other roving phancyes wherein the
side the river formerly inhabited on both Jesuit is wont to vaunt himselfe. — Wr.
sides of it, but were driven out of their
T 2
27G ENQUIRIES INTO VULGAR [BOOK VI
Secondly, the curse mentioned in Scripture was not de-
nounced upon Cham, but Canaan, his youngest son, and the
reasons thereof are divers. The first from the Jewish tra-
dition, whereby it is conceived that Canaan made the discovery
of the nakedness of Noah, and notified it unto Cham. Second-
ly, to have cursed Cham, had been to curse all his posterity,
whereof but one was guilty of the fact. And lastly, he spared
Cham, because he had blessed him before. Now if we
confine this curse unto Canaan, and think the same fulfilled
in his posterity, then do we induce this complexion on the
Sidonians, then was the promised land a tract of Negroes,
for from Canaan were descended the Canaanites, Jebusites,
Amorites, Girgashites, and Hivites, which were possessed of
that land.
Thirdly, although we should place the original of this curse
upon one of the sons of Cham, yet were it not known from
which of them to derive it. For the particularity of their
descents is imperfectly set down by accountants, nor is it
distinctly determinable from whom thereof the Ethiopians
are proceeded. For whereas these of Africa are generally
esteemed to be the issue of Chus, the elder son of Cham, it
is not so easily made out. For the land of Chus, which the
Septuagint translates Ethiopia, makes no part of Africa, nor
is it the habitation of blackamoors, but the country of Arabia,
espec'ally the Happy and Stony possessions and colonies of
all the sons of Chus, excepting Nimrod and Havilah, possessed
and planted wholly by the children of Chus, that is, by Sabtah
and Ramah, Sabtacha, and the sons of Raamah, Dedan, and
Sheba; according unto whose names the nations of those parts
have received their denominations, as may be collected from
Pliny and Ptolemy, and as we are informed by credible
authors, they hold a fair analogy in their names even unto
our days. So the wife of Moses translated in Scripture an
Ethiopian, and so confirmed by the fabulous relation of
Josephus, was none of the daughters of Africa, nor any
Negro of Ethiopia, but the daughter of Jethro, Prince and
Priest of Midian, which was a part of Arabia the Stony,
bordering upon the Red Sea. So the Queen of Sheba came
not unto Solomon out of Ethiopia, but from Arabia, and that
CHAP. XI.] AND COMMON ERRORS. 277
part thereof which bore the name of the first planter, the
son of Chus. So whether the eunuch, which Philip the
deacon baptised, were servant unto Candace, queen of the
African Ethiopia, (although Damianus a Goes, Codignus, and
the Ethiopic relations aver it,) is yet by many, and with strong
suspicions, doubted. So that the army of a million, which
Zerah, King of Ethiopia, is said to bring against Asa, was
drawn out of Arabia, and the plantations of Chus; not out of
Ethiopia, and the remote habitations of the Moors. For it
is said that Asa pursuing his victory took from him the
city Gerar ; now Gerar was no city in or near Ethiopia, but
a place between Cadesh and Zur, where Abraham formerly
sojourned. Since therefore these African Ethiopians are not
convinced by the common acception to be the sons of Chus,
whether they be not the posterity of Phut or Mizraim, or
both, it is not assuredly determined. For Mizraim, he pos-
sessed Egypt, and the east parts of Africa. From Lubym,
his son, came the Libyans, and perhaps from them the
Ethiopians. Phut possessed Mauritania, and the western
parts of Africa, and from these perhaps descended the Moors
of the west, of Mandinga, Meleguette, and Guinea. But
from Canaan, upon whom the curse was pronounced, none of
these had their original ; for he was restrained unto Canaan
and Syria, although in after ages many colonies dispersed,
and some thereof upon the coasts of Africa, and preposses-
sions of his elder brothers.
Fourthly, to take away all doubt or any probable divarica-
tion, the curse is plainly specified in the text, nor need we
dispute it, like the mark of Cain ; Servus servorum erit
fratrtbus suis, " Cursed be Canaan, a servant of servants shall
he be unto his brethren ; " which was after fulfilled in the
conquest of Canaan, subdued by the Israelites, the posterity
of Sem. Which prophecy Abraham well understanding,
took an oath of his servant not to take a wife for his son Isaac
out of the daughters of the Canaanites, and the like was per-
formed by Isaac in the behalf of his son Jacob. As for Cham
and his other sons, this curse attained them not; for Nimrod,
the son of Chus, set up his kingdom in Babylon, and erected
the first great empire ; Mizraim and his posterity grew mighty
218 ENQUIRIES INTO VULGAR [BOOK VI.
monarchs in Egypt; and the empire of the Ethiopians hath
been as large as either. Nor did the curse descend in general
upon the posterity of Canaan, for the Sidonians, Arkites,
Hamathites, Sinites, Arvadites, and Zemerites seem exempted.
But why there being eleven sons, five only were condemned,
and six escaped the malediction, is a secret beyond discovery.5
Lastly, whereas men affirm this colour was a curse, I
cannot make out the propriety of that name, it neither
seeming so to them, nor reasonably unto us, for they take so
much content therein, that they esteem deformity by other
colours, describing the devil and terrible objects white ;
and if we seriously consult the definitions of beauty, and
exactly perpend what wise men determine thereof, we shall
not apprehend a curse, or any deformity therein. For first,
some place the essence thereof in the proportion of parts,
conceiving it to consist in a comely commensurability of the
whole unto the parts, and the parts between themselves,
which is the determination of the best and learned writers.
Now hereby the Moors are not excluded from beauty, there
being in this description no consideration of colours, but an
apt connection and frame of parts and the whole. Others
there be, and those most in number, which place it not only
in proportion of parts, but also in grace of colour. But to
make colour essential unto beauty, there will arise no slender
difficulty. For Aristotle, in two definitions of pulchritude,
and Galen in one, have made no mention of colour. Neither
will it agree unto the beauty of animals, wherein notwith-
standing there is an approved pulchritude. Thus horses are
handsome under any colour, and the symmetry of parts
obscures the consideration of complexions. Thus in concolour
animals and such as are confined unto one colour, we measure
not their beauty thereby ; for if a crow or blackbird grow
white, we generally account it more pretty ; and in almost a
monstrosity descend not to opinion of deformity. By this
way likewise the Moors escape the curse of deformity, there
concurring no stationary colour, and sometimes not any unto
beauty.
s Nor did the curse, &;c.~] First added in 2nd edition.
CHAP. XI.] AND COMMON ERRORS. 279
The Platonick contemplators reject both these descriptions
founded upon parts and colours, or either, as M. Leo, the
Jew, hath excellently discoursed in his Genealogy of Love,
defining beauty a formal grace, which delights and moves
them to love which comprehend it. This grace, say they,
discoverable outwardly, is the resplendour and ray of some
interior and invisible beauty, and proceedeth from the forms
of compositions amiable. Whose faculties if they can aptly
contrive their matter, they beget in the subject an agreeable
and pleasing beauty ; if over ruled thereby, they evidence not
their perfections, but run into deformity. For seeing that
out of the same materials, Thersites and Paris, monstrosity
and beauty may be contrived, the forms and operative facul-
ties introduce and determine their perfections. Which
in natural bodies receive exactness in every kind, according
to the first idea of the Creator, and in contrived bodies the
fancy of the artificer, and by this consideration of beauty,
the Moors also are not excluded, but hold a common share
therein with all mankind.
Lastly, in whatsoever its theory consisteth, or if in the
general we allow the common conceit of symmetry and of
colour, yet to descend unto singularities, or determine in
what symmetry or colour it consisted, were a slippery desig-
nation. For beauty is determined by opinion, and seems to
have no essence that holds one notion with all ; that seeming
beauteous unto one, which hath no favour with another ; and
that unto every one, according as custom hath made it natu-
ral, or sympathy and conformity of minds shall make it seem
agreeable. Thus flat noses seem comely unto the Moor, an
aquiline or hawked one unto the Persian, a large and promi-
nent nose unto the Roman ; but none of all these are accept-
able in our opinion. Thus some think it most ornamental to
wear their bracelets on their wrists, others say it is better to
have them about their ankles ; some think it most comely to
wear their rings and jewels in the ear, others will have them
about their privities ; a third will not think they are complete
except they hang them in their lips, cheeks, or noses. Thus
Homer to set off Minerva, calleth her yXauxScnc, that is, gray
or light-blue eyed ; now this unto us seems far less amiable
280 ENQUIRIES INTO VULGAR [BOOK VI.
than the black. Thus we that are of contrary complexions
accuse the blackness of the Moors as ugly ; but the spouse
in the Canticles excuseth this conceit, in that description of
hers, I am black, but comely. And howsoever Cerberus, and
the furies of hell be described by the poets under this com-
plexion, yet in the beauty of our Saviour, blackness is com-
mended, when it is said, his locks are bushy and black as a
raven. So that to infer this as a curse, or to reason it as a
deformity, is no way reasonable ; the two foundations of
beauty, symmetry and complexion, receiving such various ap-
prehensions, that no deviation will be expounded so high as
a curse or undeniable deformity, without a manifest and con-
fessed degree of monstrosity.
Lastly, it is a very injurious method unto philosophy, and
a perpetual promotion of ignorance, in points of obscurity,
nor open unto easy considerations, to fall upon a present re-
fuge unto miracles ; or recur unto immediate contrivance from
the unsearchable hands of God. Thus, in the conceit of the
evil odour of the Jews,0 Christians, without a further research
into the verity of the thing, or enquiry into the cause, draw up
a judgment upon them from the passion of their Saviour.
Thus in the wondrous effects of the clime of Ireland, and
the freedom from all venomous creatures, the credulity of
common conceit imputes this immunity unto the benediction
of St. Patrick, as Beda and Gyraldus have left recorded.
Thus the ass having a peculiar mark of a cross made by a
black list down his back, and another athwart, or at right
angles down his shoulders: common opinion ascribe this
figure unto a peculiar signation, since that beast had the
honour to bear our Saviour on his back. Certainly this is a
course more desperate than antipathies, sympathies, or occult
qualities ; wherein by a final and satisfactive discernment of
faith, we lay the last and particular effects upon the first and
general cause of all things ; whereas in the other, we do but
palliate our determinations, until our advanced endeavours do
totally reject, or partially salve their evasions.
6 evil odour of the Jews'."] See more of this, p. 156, note 4.
CHAP. XII.] AND COMMON ERRORS. 281
CHAPTER XII.
A Digression concerning Blackness.
There being therefore two opinions repugnant unto each
other, it may not be presumptive or sceptical to doubt of
both. And because we remain imperfect in the general theory
of colours, we shall deliver at present a short discovery of
blackness ; wherein although perhaps we afford no greater
satisfaction than others, yet shall we empirically and sensibly
discourse hereof; deducing the causes of blackness from such
originals in nature, as we do generally observe things are de-
nigrated by art. And herein I hope our progression will not
be thought unreasonable ; for, art being the imitation of nature,
or nature at the second hand, it is but a sensible expression
of effects dependent on the same, though more removed
causes : and therefore the works of the one may serve to dis-
cover the other. And though colours of bodies may arise ac-
cording to the receptions, refraction, or modification of light;
yet are there certain materials which may dispose them unto
such qualities.7
And first, things become, by a sooty and fuliginous matter
proceeding from the sulphur of bodies, torrified ; not taking
fuligo strictly, but in opposition unto arfilg, that is any kind of
vaporous or madefying excretion, and comprehending uw&v-
luasiq, that is, as Aristotle defines it, a separation of moist and
dry parts made by the action of heat or fire, and colouring
bodies objected. Hereof in his Meteors, from the qualities
of the subject, he raiseth three kinds ; the exhalations from
ligneous and lean bodies, as bones, hair, and the like he called
xavvoc,/ limits ; from fat bodies, and such as have not their fat-
ness conspicuous or separated, he termeth X'r/vig, fuligo, as wax,
7 And though colours, #<>.] First added in the 6lh edit-
£82 ENQUIRIES INTO VULGAR [BOOK VI.
resin, pitch, or turpentine ; that from unctuous bodies, and
such whose oiliness is evident, he named xwotfa or nidor. Now
every one of these do blacken bodies objected unto them,
and are to be conceived in the sooty and fuliginous matter ex-
pressed.
I say, proceeding from the sulphur of bodies terrified, that
is, the oil, fat, and unctuous parts, wherein consist the princi-
ples of flammability. Not pure and refined sulphur, as in the
spirits of wine often rectified ; but containing terrestrious
parts, and carrying with it the volatile salt of the body, and
such as is distinguishable by taste in soot : nor vulgar and
usual sulphur, for that leaves none or very little blackness,
except a metalline body receive the exhalation.
I say, torrified, singed, or suffering some impression from
fire ; thus are bodies casually or artificially denigrated, which
in their naturals are of another complexion ; thus are char-
coals made black by an infection of their own suffitus ; so is
it true what is affirmed of combustible bodies, adusta nigra,
perusta alba ; black at first from the fuliginous tincture, which
being exhaled they become white, as is perceptible in ashes.
And so doth fire cleanse and purify bodies, because it con-
sumes the sulphureous parts, which before did make them
foul, and therefore refines those bodies which will never be
mundified by water. Thus camphire, of a white substance,
by its Juligo affbrdeth a deep black. So is pitch black, al-
though it proceed from the same tree with resin, the one dis-
tilling forth, the other forced by fire. So of the suffitus of a
torch, do painters make a velvet black ; so is lamp-black
made ; so of burnt hart-horns a sable ; so is bacon denigrated
in chimnies; so in fevers and hot distempers from choler adust
is caused a blackness in our tongues, teeth and excretions ; so
are tistilago, brant-corn and trees black by blasting; so parts
cauterized, gangrenated, siderated and mortified, become
black, the radical moisture, or vital sulphur suffering an extinc-
tion, and smothered in the part affected. So not only actual but
potential fire — not burning fire, but also corroding water —
will induce a blackness. So are chimnies and furnaces gene-
rally black, except they receive a clear and manifest sulphur ;
for the smoke of sulphur will not black a paper, and is com-
CHAP. XII.] AND COMMON ERRORS. 283
monly used by women to whiten tiffanies, which it perfovmeth
by an acid vitriolous, and penetrating spirit ascending from
it, by reason whereof it is not apt to kindle any thing : nor will
it easily light a candle, until that spirit be spent, and the flame
approacheth the match. This is that acid and piercing spirit
which with such activity and compunction invadeth the brains
and nostrils of those that receive it. And thus when Bello-
nius affirmeth the charcoals made out of the wood of oxycedar
are white, Dr. Jordan in his judicious discourse of mineral
waters yieldeth the reason, because their vapors are rather
sulphureous than of any other combustible substance. So we
see that Tinby coals will not black linen hanged in the smoke,
thereof, but rather whiten it by reason of the drying and
penetrating quality of sulphur, which will make red roses
white. And therefore to conceive a general blackness in hell,
and yet therein the pure and refined flames of sulphur, is no
philosophical conception, nor will it well consist with the real
effects of its nature.
These are the advenient and artificial ways of denigration,
answerably whereto may be the natural progress. These are
the ways whereby culinary and common fires do operate, and
correspondent hereunto may be the effects of fire elemental.
So may bitumen, coals, jet, black-lead, and divers mineral
earths become black ; being either fuliginous concretions in
the earth, or suffering a scorch from denigrating principles in
their formation. So men and other animals receive different
tinctures from constitution and complexional efflorescences,
and descend still lower, as they partake of the fuliginous and
denigrating humour. And so may the Ethiopians or Negroes
become coal-black, from fuliginous efflorescences and com-
plexional tinctures arising from such probabilities, as we have
declared before.
The second way whereby bodies become black, is an atra-
mentous condition or mixture, that is, a vitriolate or copperas8
quality conjoining with a terrestrious and astringent humidity;
for so is atramentum scriptorium, or writing ink commonly
made by copperas cast upon a decoction or infusion of galls.
" copperas.'] Reade copper-rust.
284 ENQUIRIES INTO VULGAR [BOOK VI.
I say a vitriolous or copperas quality ; for vitriol is the active
or chief ingredient in ink, and no other salt that I know
will strike the colour with galls ; neither alum, sal-gem, nitre,
nor armoniack. Now artifical copperas, and such as we com-
monly use, is a rough and acrimonious kind of salt drawn out
of ferreous and eruginous earths, partaking chiefly of iron and
copper ; the blue of copper, the green most of iron. Nor is
it unusual to dissolve fragments of iron in the liquor thereof,
for advantage in the concretion. I say, a terrestrious or as-
tringent humidity ; for without this there will ensue no tinc-
ture; for copperas in a decoction of lettuce or mallows affords
no black, which with an astringent mixture it will do, though
it be made up with oil, as in printing and painting ink.9 But
whereas in this composition we use only nut-galls, that is, an
excrescence from the oak, therein we follow and beat upon
the old receipt ; for any plant of austere and stiptick parts
will suffice, as I have experimented in bistort, myrobalans,
myrtus brabantica, balaustium and red-roses. And indeed,
most decoctions of astringent plants, of what colour soever,
do leave in the liquor a deep and muscadine red : which by
addition of vitriol descends into a black: and so Dioscorides
in his receipt of ink, leaves out gall, and with copperas makes
use of soot.1
Now if we enquire in what part of vitriol this atramental
and denigrating condition lodgeth, it will seem especially to
lie in the more fixed salt thereof. For the phlegm or aqueous
evaporation will not denigrate ; nor yet spirits of vitriol, which
carry with them volatile and nimbler salt. For if upon a de-
coction of copperas and gall, be poured the spirits or oil of
vitriol, the liquor will relinquish his blackness ; the gall and
parts of the copperas precipitate unto the bottom, and the ink
grow clear again, which it will not so easily do in common ink,
because that gum is dissolved therein, which hindereth the
separation. But colcothar or vitriol burnt, though unto a
redness, containing the fixed salt, will make good ink ; and so
will the lixivium, or lye made thereof with warm water ; but
9 as in printing, fyc."] There is noe 1 sool.~\ But he meant torche or lamp
copper-rust in printinge ink, which is soote. — Wr.
made of lamp black and oyle. — Wr.
CHAP. XII.] AND COMMON ERRORS. 285
the terra or insipid earth remaining, affords no black at all,
but serves in many things for a gross and useful red. And
though spirits of vitriol, projected upon a decoction of galls,
will not raise a black, yet if these spirits be any way fixed, or
return into vitriol again, the same will act their former parts,
and denigrate as before. And if we yet make a more exact
enquiry, by what this salt of vitriol more peculiarly gives this
colour, we shall find it to be from a metalline condition, and
especially an iron property or ferreous participation. For blue
copperas2 which deeply partakes of the copper will do it but
weakly, verdigris which is made of copper will not do it at all.
But the filings of iron infused in vinegar, will with a decoction
of galls make good ink, without any copperas at all ; and so
will infusion of load-stone, which is of affinity with iron. And
though more conspicuously in iron, yet such a calcanthous or
atramentous quality we will not wholly reject in other metals;
whereby we often observe black tinctures in their solutions.
Thus a lemon, quince or sharp apple cut with a knife be-
comes immediately black. And from the like cause, arti-
chokes. So sublimate beat up with whites of eggs, if touch-
ed with a knife, becomes incontinently black. So aquafortis,
whose ingredient is vitriol, will make white bodies black. So
leather, dressed with the bark of oak, is easily made black by
a bare solution of copperas. So divers mineral waters and
such as participate of iron, upon an infusion of galls, become
of a dark colour, and entering upon black. So steel infused,
makes not only the liquor dusky, but, in bodies wherein it
concurs with proportionable tinctures, makes also the excre-
tions black. And so also from this vitriolous quality, mercu-
rius dulcis, and vitriol vomitive, occasions black ejections.
But whether this denigrating quality in copperas proceedeth
from an iron participation, or rather in iron from a vitriolous
communication ; or whether black tinetures from metallical
bodies be not from vitriolous parts contained in the sulphur,
since common sulphur containeth also much vitriol, may admit
consideration. However in this way of tincture, it seemeth
plain, that iron and vitriol are the powerful denigrators.3
2 copperas.'] Reade copper -rust, and 3 But whether, 8fc.~] First added in 3rd
soe itt is. — H'r. edition.
286 ENQUIRIES INTO VULGAR [BOOK VI.
Such a condition there is naturally in some living creatures.
Thus that black humour by Aristotle named 6okbg, and com-
monly translated atr amentum, may be occasioned in the cuttle-
fish. Such condition there is naturally in some plants, as
black-berries, walnut-rinds, black-cherries ; whereby they
extinguish inflammations, corroborate the stomach, and are
esteemed specifical in the epilepsy. Such an atramentous
condition there is to be found sometime in the blood, when
that which some call acetum, vitriolum, concurs with parts
prepared for this tincture. And so from these conditions the
Moors might possibly become Negroes, receiving atramentous
impressions in some of those ways, whose possibility is by us
declared.
Nor is it strange that we affirm there are vitriolous parts,
qualities, and even at some distance vitriol itself in living bodies ;
for there is a sour stiptick salt diffused through the earth,
which passing a concoction in plants, becometh milder and
more agreeable unto the sense ; and this is that vegetable
vitriol, whereby divers plants contain a grateful sharpness, as
lemons, pomegranates, cherries, or an austere and inconcocted.
roughness, as sloes, medlars and quinces. And that not only
vitriol is a cause of blackness, but the salts of natural bodies
do carry a powerful stroke in the tincture and varnish of all
things, we shall not deny, if we contradict not experience, and
the visible art of dyers, who advance and graduate their co-
lours with salts.4 For the decoctions of simples which bear the
visible colours of bodies decocted, are dead and evanid, with-
out the commixtion of alum, argol and the like. And this is
also apparent in chemical preparations. So cinnabar5 becomes
red by the acid exhalation of sulphur, which otherwise pre-
sents a pure and niveous white. So spirits of salt upon a blue
paper make an orient red. So tartar,6 or vitriol upon an in-
fusion of violets affords a delightful crimson. Thus it is won-
derful what variety of colours the spirits of saltpetre, and es-
pecially, if they be kept in a glass while they pierce the sides
4 salts.'} And allums, which are a kind excellent red inke. — Wr.
of sake. — Wr. fi tartar.} A drop of the oyle of sul-
5 cinnabar.'] Soe the oyle of tartar pour- phur turns conserve of red roses into a
ed on the filing of Brasil wood make an scarlat, — Wr.
CHAP. XIII.] AND COMMON ERRORS. 287
thereof; I say, what orient greens they will project. From
the like spirits in the earth the plants thereof perhaps acquire
their verdure. And from such solary* irradiations may those
wondrous varieties arise, which are observable in animals, as
mallard's heads, and peacock's feathers, receiving intention
or alteration according as they are presented unto the light.
Thus saltpetre, ammoniack and mineral spirits emit delect-
able and various colours ; and common aqua fortis will in
some green and narrow-mouthed glasses, about the verges
thereof, send forth a deep and gentianella blue.
Thus have we at last drawn our conjectures unto a period ;
wherein if our contemplations afford no satisfaction unto
others, I hope our attempts will bring no condemnation on our-
selves : for (besides that adventures in knowledge are laudable,
and the essays of weaker heads afford oftentimes improveable
hints unto better,) although in this long journey we miss the
intended end, yet are there many things of truth disclosed by
the way; and the collateral verity may unto reasonable spe-
culations somewhat requite the capital indiscovery.
CHAPTER XIII.7
Of Gypsies.
Great wonder it is not, we are to seek, in the original of
Ethiopians, and natural Negroes, being also at a loss concern-
ing the original of Gypsies8 and counterfeit Moors, observable
in many parts of Europe, Asia and Africa.
* Whence the colours of plants, &c. may arise.
7 Chap, xiii & xiv first appeared in 2nd on. While the progress of science and
edition. the discoveries which reward the patience
8 concerning the original of Gypsies-'] and acuteness of modern investigation,
This question, unlike the greater number are daily affording us satisfactory expla-
of those which have occupied the atten- nations of various phenomena in nature,
tion of Sir Thomas, would seem less and the origin of Gypsies is a question which
less likely to be answered, as years roll the lapse of time is daily removing fur-
288 ENQUIRIES INTO VULGAR [BOOK VI.
Common opinion deriveth them from Egypt, and from
thence they derive themselves, according to their own account
hereof, as Munster discovered in the letters and pass which
they obtained from Sigismund the emperor. That they first
ther from our reach. Little has therefore
been done towards its solution, but to
collect and compare former opinions and
speculations. The criterion, which seems
the most to be relied upon, is that of
language. Sir Thomas gives us no autho-
rity for his assertion that the dialect of the
Gypsies is Sclavonian : an assertion which
inclines him to the opinion that they came
originally from the north of Europe. A
very different theory was suggested by
Biittner, and advocated after great labor
and research with every appearance of
probability, by Grellman. He has given
a comparative vocabulary shewing a strik-
ing affinity between the Gypsy and Hin-
doostanee languages. Capt. Richardson,
in the Asiatic Researches, (vol. vii,p. 451)
has carried the point still further, and
established an affinity between them and
a tribe in India, called the Bazeegurs.
Professor Pallas and other writers have
remarked this similarity of language.
Dr. Pritchard is decidedly of opinion that
their origin was Indian. Mr. Hoyland,
of Sheffield, with the benevolent object
of bettering their condition, took great
pains some years ago to investigate their
history, and especially their present state ;
and published a volume on this subject,
entitled, "A Historical Survey of the
Customs, Habits, and Present State of
the Gypsies," 8vo. York, 1816.
Brand, (in his Observations on Popular
Antiquities, vol. ii, 432,) speaks of the
Gypsies as of Hindoo origin, probably of
the lowest caste, called Pariars, or Su-
ders; and says, they probably emigrated
about 1108, in consequence of the con-
quests of Timur Beg. Park mentions a
wandering tribe named Libey, whom he
had seen in his travels in Africa, very
similar in their habits and customs to the
Gypsies. A different solution has been
proposed by an anonymous writer in the
Gentleman's Magazine, (vol. lxxii, 291,)
who thinks it very probable that they are
the fulfilment of the prophecy in Gen.
xvi, respecting the descendants of Ish-
mael. He observes that they inhabited
in the first place the wilderness of Pa ran ;
that they increased prodigiously, and,
under the appellation of Al Arab al mos-
td-reba, or insit'wus Arabs, hived off from
Arabia Deserta and Petraa, then too nar-
row to contain them, into the neighbour-
ing country of Egypt. So that both the
African and Asiatic shores of the Red
Sea became inhabited by these nomadic
Arabs. He therefore rather inclines to
suppose the Gypsies, who made their ap-
pearance in Europe in the early part of
the 15th century, to have been a migra-
tion of these Arabs, whose country had
been the theatre of the ferocious contests
between Tamerlane and Bajazet — than
to have been Suders driven from India
by Timur Beg. In corroboration of his
theory he remarks, the greater propin-
quity of Arabia and Egypt to Europe.
He concludes by noticing a subsequent
migration led from Egypt, a century
later, by Zinganeus — when that coun-
try was invaded by Solyman the Great.
The appellations Egyptians and Zin-
ganees is readily accounted for on the
supposition of '.his writer. We are not,
after all, perhaps, precluded from avail-
ing ourselves, to a certain extent, of both
theories.
An amusing account is given, in the
Gentleman's Magazine, for Dec. 1S01, of
a Gypsy supper in the New Forest. Dr.
Knox relates, in his last Winter Evening,
the following incident, in proof of the
piety of the Gypsies: "A large party had
requested leave to rest their weary limbs,
during the night, in the shelter of a barn ;
and the owner took the opportunity of
listening to their conversation. He found
their last employment at night, and their
first in the morning, was prayer. And
though they could teach their children
nothing else, they taught them to suppli-
cate, in an uncouth but pious language,
the assistance of a friend, in a world
where the distinctions of rank are little
regarded. I have been credibly inform-
ed, that these poor neglected brethren
are very devout, and remarkably dispos-
ed to attribute all events to the interpo-
sition of a particular Providence."
It may be doubted, perhaps, with too
much probability, whether his benevolent
inference in their favour would be borne
out by more intimate acquaintance with
their general character.
CHAP. XIII.] AND COMMON ERRORS. 289
came out of lesser Egypt, that having defected from the Chris-
tian rule, and relapsed unto pagan rites, some of every family
were enjoined this penance to wander about the world. Or,
as Aventinus delivereth, they pretend for this vagabond course
a judgment of God upon their forefathers, who refused to
entertain the Virgin Mary and Jesus, when she fled into their
country.
Which account notwithstanding is of little probability : for
the general stream of writers, who enquire into their original,
insist not upon this ; and are so little satisfied in their descent
from Egypt, that they deduce them from several other nations.
Polydore Virgil accounting them originally Syrians ; Philippus
Bergomas fetcheth them from Chaldea ; Eneas Sylvius from
some part of Tartary ; Bellonius no further than Wallachia
and Bulgaria ; nor Aventinus than the confines of Hungaria.*
That they are no Egyptians, Bellonius maketh evident :f
who met great droves of Gypsies in Egypt, about Grand Cairo,
Matasrea, and the villages on the banks of Nilus, who notwith-
standing were accounted strangers unto that nation, and wan-
derers from foreign parts, even as they are esteemed with us.
That they came not out of Egypt is also probable, because
their first appearance was in Germany, since the year 1400 ;
nor were they observed before in other parts of Europe, as is
deducible from Munster, Genebrard, Crantsius and Ortilius.
But that they first set out not far from Germany, is also
probable from their language, which was the Sclavonian
tongue ; and when they wandered afterward into France, they
were commonly called Bohemians, which name is still retain-
ed for Gypsies. And therefore when Crantsius delivereth, they
first appeared about the Baltick Sea, when Bellonius deriveth
them from Bulgaria and Wallachia, and others from about
Hungaria, they speak not repugnantly hereto: for the lan-
guage of those nations was Sclavonian, at least some dialect
thereof.
But of what nation soever they were at first, they are now
almost of all : associating unto them some of every country
where they wander. When they will be lost, or whether at
* Feijnand. de Cordua didascal. multipl. f Observat. 1. 2.
VOL III. U
290 ENQUIRIES INTO VULGAR [BOOKVI.
all again, is not without some doubt ; for unsettled nations have
out-lasted others of fixed habitations. And though Gypsies
have been banished by most Christian princes, yet have they
found some countenance from the great Turk, who suffereth
them to live and maintain publick stews near the imperial city
in Pera, of whom he often maketh a politick advantage, em-
ploying them as spies into other nations, under which title
they were banished by Charles the fifth.
CHAPTER XIV.
Of some others.
We commonly accuse the fancies of elder times in the im-
proper figures of heaven assigned unto constellations, which
do not seem to answer them, either in Greek or Barbarick
spheres. Yet equal incongruities have been commonly com-
mitted by geographers and historians, in the figural resem-
blances of several regions on earth. While by Livy and
Julius Rusticus the island of Britain is made to resemble a
long dish or two-edged axe : Italy by Numatianus to be like
an oak leaf, and Spain an oxhide ; while the fancy of Strabo
makes the habitated earth like a cloak ; and Dionysius Afer
will have it like a sling ; with many others observable in good
writers,* yet not made out from the letter or signification : —
acquitting astronomy in the figures of the zodiack ; wherein
they are not justified unto strict resemblances, but rather
made out from the effects of sun or moon in these several
portions of heaven, or from peculiar influences of those con-
stellations, which some way make good their names.
Which notwithstanding being now authentic by prescrip-
tion, may be retained in their naked acceptions, and names
translated from substances known on earth. And therefore
* Tacit, de vita Jul. rfgric. Junctin, in Sph. I. de Sarro bosro. cap. 2.
CHAP. XIV.] AND COMMON ERRORS. 291
the learned Hevelius, in his accurate Selenography, or de-
scription of the moon, hath well translated the known appella-
tions of regions, seas and mountains, unto the parts of that
luminary; and rather than use invented names or human
denominations, with witty congruity hath placed Mount
Sinai, Taurus, Masotis Palus, the Mediterranean Sea, Mau-
ritania, Sicily and Asia Minor in the moon.
More hardly can we find the Hebrew letters in the heavens
made out of the greater and lesser stars, which put together
do make up words, wherein cabalistical speculators conceive
they read events of future things.* And how, from the stars
in the head of Medusa, to make out the word Charab, and
thereby desolation presignified unto Greece or Javan nu-
merally characterized in that word, requireth no rigid
reader.f
It is not easy to reconcile the different accounts of longi-
tude, while in modern tables the hundred and eightieth degree
is more than thirty degrees beyond that part, where Ptolemy
placeth an 180. Nor will the wider and more western term
of longitude, from whence the moderns begin their commen-
suration, sufficiently salve the difFerence.J The ancients
began the measure of longitude from the Fortunate Islands or
Canaries, the moderns from the Azores or islands of St.
Michael ; but since the Azores are but fifteen degrees more
west, why the moderns should reckon 180, where Ptolemy
accounteth above 220, or though they take in fifteen degrees
at the west, why they should reckon thirty at the east, beyond
the same measure, is yet to be determined, nor would it be much
advantaged, if we should conceive that the compute of Pto-
lemy were not so agreeable unto the Canaries, as the Hespe-
rides or islands of Capo Verde. §
Whether the compute of months from the first appearance
of the moon, which divers nations have followed, be not a
more perturbed way than that which accounts from the con-
junction may seem of reasonable doubt ;|| not only from the
* The cabala of the stars. f Greffarel out of R. Chomer.
X Athan. Kircher. in prooemio. § Robertus Hues de globis.
|| Hevel. Selenog. cap. 9.
U 2
292 ENQUIRIES INTO VULGAR [BOOK VI,
uncertainty of its appearance in foul and cloudy weather, but
unequal time in any, that is, sooner or later, according as the
moon shall be in the signs of long descension, as Pisces,
Aries, Taurus, in the perigeum or swiftest motion, and in
the northern latitude; whereby sometimes it may be seen
the very day of the change, as did observably happen, 1654,
in the months of April and May. Or whether also the com-
pute of the day be exactly made from the visible arising or
setting of the sun, because the sun is sometimes naturally set,
and under the horizon, when visibly it is above it ; from the
causes of refraction, and such as make us behold a piece of
silver in a bason, when water is put upon it, which we
could not discover before, as under the verg.e thereof.
Whether the globe of the earth be but a point in respect
of the stars and firmament, or how if the rays thereof do fall
upon a point, they are received in such variety of angles,
appearing greater or lesser from differences of refraction ?
Whether if the motion of the heavens should cease a while,
all things would instantly perish ; and whether this assertion
doth not make the frame of sublunary things to hold too
loose a dependency upon the first and conserving cause, at
least impute too much unto the motion of the heavens, whose
eminent activities are by heat, light, and influence, the motion
itself being barren, or chiefly serving for the due application
of celestial virtues unto sublunary bodies, as Cabeus hath
learnedly observed.
Whether comets or blazing stars be generally of such
terrible effects, as elder times have conceived them ; 9 for
since it is found that many, from whence these predictions
are drawn, have been above the moon, why they may not be
9 Whether comets, 8fc.~\ Aristotle con- regions of the heavens, till they have
sidered them to be accidental fires or found out fit places for their residence,
meteors, kindled in the atmosphere, which having pitched upon, they stop
Kepler supposed them to be monsters, their irregular course, and being turned
generated in celestial space! into planets, move circularly about some
Dr. Thomas Burnet says, that the star. — Charles Blount's ]\Iiscella?ieous
comets seem to him to be nothing else Works, p. 63.
but (as one may say) the dead bodies of Tycho Brahe first ascertained, by ob-
the fixed stars unburied, and not as yet servations on the comet of 1577, that
composed to rest; they, like shadows, comets are permanent bodies, like the
wander up and down through the various planets.
CHAP. XIV.] AND COMMON ERRORS. 293
qualified from their positions, and aspects which they hold
with stars of favourable natures, or why since they may be
conceived to arise from the effluviums of other stars, they
may not retain the benignity of their originals ; or since the
natures of the fixed stars are astrologically differenced by
the planets, and are esteemed martial or jovial, according to
the colours whereby they answer these planets, why, although
the red comets do carry the portentions of Mars, the brightly
white should not be of the influence of Jupiter or Venus,
answerably unto Cor Scorpii and Arcturus, is not absurd to
doubt.
THE SEVENTH BOOK:
THE PARTICULAR PART CONCLUDED.
OF POPULAR AND RECEIVED TENETS, CHIEFLY HISTORICAL, AND SOME
DEDUCED FROM THE HOLY SCRIPTURES.
CHAPTER I.
That the Forbidden Fruit was an Apple.
That the forbidden fruit of Paradise was an apple, is com-
monly believed, confirmed by tradition, perpetuated by
writings, verses, pictures ; and some have been so bad pro-
sodians, as from thence to derive the Latin word malum,
because that fruit was the first occasion of evil : wherein
notwithstanding determinations are presumptuous, and many
I perceive are of another belief. For some have conceived
it a vine ; * in the mystery of whose fruit lay the expiation of
the transgression. Goropius Becanus, reviving the conceit
of Barcephas, peremptorily concludeth it to be the Indian
fig-tree, and by a witty allegory labours to confirm the
same. Again, some fruits pass under the name of Adam's
apples, which in common acception admit not that appella-
tion : the one described by Matthiolus under the name of
Pomum Adami, a very fair fruit, and not unlike a citron, but
somewhat rougher, chopt and crannied, vulgarly conceived
the marks of Adam's teeth ; another, the fruit of that plant
which Serapion termeth Musa, but the eastern Christians
1 a vine.'] By the fatal influence of and of Noah were exposed. See the
whose fruit the nakedness both of Adam Targum of Jonathan.— Jeff.
296 ENQUIRIES INTO VULGAR [BOOK VII.
commonly the apples of Paradise ; not resembling an apple
in figure, and in taste a melon or cucumber.2 Which fruits
although they have received appellations suitable unto the
tradition, yet we cannot from thence infer they were this fruit
in question. No more than Arbor vitce, so commonly called,
to obtain its name from the tree of life in Paradise, or Arbor
Judce, to be the same which supplied the gibbet unto
Judas.
Again, there is no determination in the text ; wherein is
only particularised, that it was the fruit of a tree good for
food, and pleasant unto the eye, in which regards many excel
the apple : and therefore learned men do wisely conceive it
inexplicable ; and Philo puts determination unto despair,
when he affirmeth the same kind of fruit was never pro-
duced since. Surely were it not requisite to have been
concealed, it had not passed unspecified ; nor the tree re-
vealed which concealed their nakedness, and that concealed
which revealed it ; for in the same chapter mention is made
of fig-leaves. And the like particulars, although they seem
uncircumstantial, are oft set down in Holy Scripture ; so is
it specified that Elias sat under a juniper tree, Absolom
hanged by an oak, and Zaccheus got up into a sycamore.
And although, to condemn such indeterminables, unto him
that demanded on what hand Venus was wounded, the phi-
losopher thought it a sufficient resolution, to re-inquire upon
what leg king Philip halted ; and the Jews not undoubtedly
resolved of the sciatica side of Jacob, do cautiously in their
diet abstain from the sinews of both ; 3 yet are there many
nice particulars which may be authentically determined.
That Peter cut off the right ear of Malchus, is beyond all
doubt. That our Saviour eat the Passover in an upper
2 again, Sfc] The fruit shops of Lon- actly what it was. The common Italian
don exhibit a large kind of citron label- Porno oV Adamo is a variety of Citrus
led, Forbidden Fruit, respecting which, Limctta ; that of Paris is a thick-skinned
and the Pomum Adami of Matthiolus, I orange ; and at least three other things
have the following obliging and satisfac- have been so called. I do not think it
tory notice from my friend Professor possible to ascertain what Matthiolus
Lindley : — " The forbidden fruit of the meant, beyond the fact that it was a
London markets is a variety of the Citrus of some kind."
Citrus Decumana, and is in fact a 3 of both.'] And this superstition be-
small sort of shaddock. But as to the foolcs them alike in both — fVr.
Pomum Adami, no one can make out ex-
CHAP. I.] AND COMMON ERRORS. 297
room, we may determine from the text. And some we may
concede which the Scripture plainly defines not. That the
dial of Ahaz4 was placed upon the west-side of the temple,
we will not deny, or contradict the description of Adrico-
mius ; that Abraham's servant put his hand under his right
thigh, we shall not question ; and that the thief on the right
hand was saved, and the other on the left reprobated, to make
good the method of the last judicial dismission, we are ready
to admit. But surely in vain we enquire of what wood was
Moses' rod, or the tree that sweetened the waters. Or, though
tradition or human history might afford some light, whether
the crown of thorns was made of paliurus ; whether the cross
of Christ were made of those four woods in the distich of
Durantes,* or only of oak, according unto Lipsius and Go-
ropius, we labour not to determine. For though hereof
prudent symbols and pious allegories be made by wiser
conceivers ; yet common heads will fly unto superstitious
applications, and hardly avoid miraculous or magical expec-
tations.
Now the ground or reason that occasioned this expression
by an apple, might be the community of this fruit, and which
is often taken for any other. So the goddess of gardens is
termed Pomona ; so the proverb expresseth it, to give apples
unto Alcinous ; so the fruit which Paris decided was called
an apple ; so in the garden of Hesperides (which many con-
ceive a fiction drawn from Paradise) we read of golden
apples guarded by the dragon. And to speak strictly in
this appellation, they placed it more safely than any other;
for, beside the great variety of apples, the word in Greek
comprehendeth oranges,5 lemons, citrons, quinces ; and as
* Pes Cedrus est, truncus Cupressus, Oliva supremum, Palmque transversum
Christi sunt in cruce lignum.
4 dial of Ahaz.~\ Suggestions have " miraculous refraction." Is it not bet-
been made respecting this, as well as ter to take the literal meaning, content
some other miracles, which seem to me to believe that to omnipotence one mira-
to proceed too much on the principle of cle is no greater than another ?
endeavouring to lessen them, so as to 5 word in Greek.'] Not only in Greeke
bring them within the compass of belief, but in Latin also, all these are cald by
Thus the dial only, not the sun, is sup- the very name of apple trees as Mains
posed to have gone backwards ; and that Aurantia, Citria, Ci/donia, Granata. —
not really, but only apparently, — by a Wr.
298 ENQUIRIES rNTO VULGAR [BOOK VII.
Ruellius defineth,* such fruits as have no stone within, and
a soft covering without ; excepting the pomegranate ; and
will extend much further in the acception of Spigelius,f who
comprehendeth all round fruits under the name of apples,
not excluding nuts and plumbs.6
It hath been promoted in some constructions from a pas-
sage in the Canticles, as it runs in the vulgar translation, Sub
arbore malo suscitavi te, ibi corrupta est mater tua, ibi vio-
lates est genitrix tua.% Which words notwithstanding para-
bolically intended, admit no literal inference, and are of little
force in our translation, " I raised thee under an apple tree,
there thy mother brought thee forth, there she brought thee
forth that bare thee." So when, from a basket of summer
fruits or apples, as the vulgar rendereth them, God by Amos
foretold the destruction of his people, we cannot say they had
any reference unto the fruit of Paradise, which was the
destruction of man ; but thereby was declared the propin-
quity of their desolation, and that their tranquillity was of
no longer duration than those horary § or soon decaying fruits
of summer. Nor, when it is said in the same translation,
Poma desiderii animce tuce discesserunt a te, " the apples
that thy soul lusted after are departed from thee," is there
any allusion therein unto the fruit of Paradise ; but thereby
is threatened unto Babylon, that the pleasures and delights
of their palate should forsake them. And we read in Pierius,
that an apple was the hieroglyphick of love, and that the
statua of Venus was made with one in her hand. So the
little cupids in the figures of Philostratus || do play with ap-
ples in a garden ; and there want not some who have symbo-
lized the apple of Paradise unto such constructions.7
Since therefore after this fruit, curiosity fruitlessly enquireth,
and confidence blindly determineth, we shall surcease our
inquisition ; rather troubled that it was tasted, than troubling
ourselves in its decision ; this only we observe, when things
* Ruel. L)e Stirpium Natura. f Isagoge in rem Herbariam. % Cant. viii.
§ Fructus borcci. || Philoslrat. figure vi, De amoribus.
6 and will extend, ^c] First added "' So the little cupids, t)c.] First add-
in 2nd edition. ed in 2nd edition.
CHAP. II.] AND COMMON ERRORS. 299
are left uncertain, men will assure them by determination.
Which is not only verified concerning the fruit, but the
serpent that persuaded ; many defining the kind or species
thereof. So Bonaventure and Comestor affirm it was a
dragon, Engubinus a basilisk, Delrio a viper, and others a
common snake.8 Wherein men still continue the delusion of
the serpent, who having deceived Eve in the main, sets her
posterity on work to mistake in the circumstance, and en-
deavours to propagate errors at any hand. And those he
surely most desireth which concern either God or himself;
for they dishonour God, who is absolute truth and goodness;
but for himself, who is extremely evil, and the worst we can
conceive, by aberration of conceit they may extenuate his
depravity, and ascribe some goodness unto him.
CHAPTER II.
That a Man hath one Rib less than a Woman.
That a man hath one rib less than a woman, is a common
conceit, derived from the history of Genesis, wherein it stands
delivered, that Eve was framed out of a rib of Adam ; whence
it is concluded the sex of men still wants that rib our father
lost in Eve. And this is not only passant with the many, but
was urged against Columbus in an anatomy of his at Pisa,
where having prepared the skeleton of a woman that chanced
to have thirteen ribs on one side, there arose a party that
cried him down, and even unto oaths affirmed, this was the
rib wherein a woman exceeded. Were this true, it would
ocularly silence that dispute out of which side Eve was framed ;
it would determine the opinion of Oleaster, that she was made
8 snake.] Itt seemes to bee none of noe reference to this storye, wittily cals
these but rather that species which Sea- (Exercitat. 226, §,) sy^sXmdgU'ffOVg,
liger, the great secretary of nature, with wherof see [before, pp. 95, 6, 7.]— Wr.
300 ENQUIRIES INTO VULGAR [BOOK VII.
out of the ribs of both sides, or such as from the expression
of the text * maintain there was a plurality of ribs required ;
and might indeed decry the parabolical exposition of Origen,
Cajetan, and such as fearing to concede a monstrosity, or mu-
tilate the integrity of Adam, preventively conceive the crea-
tion of thirteen ribs.
But this will not consist with reason or inspection. For if
we survey the skeleton of both sexes, and therein the compage
of bones, we shall readily discover that men and women have
four and twenty ribs ; that is, twelve on each side, seven greater,
annexed unto the sternon, and five lesser which come short
thereof. Wherein if it sometimes happen that either sex
exceed, the conformation is irregular, deflecting from the com-
mon rate or number, and no more inferrible upon mankind
than the monstrosity of the son of Rapha, or the vitious ex-
cess in the number of fingers and toes. And although some
difference there be in figure, and the female os innominatum
be somewhat more protuberant, to make a fairer cavity for
the infant; the coccyx sometime more reflected, to give the
easier delivery ; and the ribs themselves seem a little flatter ;
yet are they equal in number. And therefore, while Aristotle
doubteth the relations made of nations, which had but seven
ribs on a side, and yet delivereth, that men have generally no
more than eight ; as he rejecteth their history, so can we not
accept of his anatomy.
Again, although we concede there wanted one rib in the
skeleton of Adam, yet were it repugnant unto reason, and
common observation, that his posterity should want the same.
For we observe that mutilations are not transmitted from
father unto son ; the blind begetting such as can see, men with
one eye children with two, and cripples mutilate in their own
persons do come out perfect in their generations. For the
seed conveyeth with it not only the extract and single idea of
every part, whereby it transmits their perfections or infirmi-
ties ; but double and over again ; whereby sometimes it mul-
tipliciously delineates the same, as in twins, in mixed and nu-
merous generations. Parts of the seed do seem to contain
* Os ex ossibus meis.
CHAP. III.] AND COMMON ERRORS 301
the idea and power of the whole ; so parents deprived of
hands, beget manual issues, and the defect of those parts is
supplied by the idea of others. So in one grain of corn ap-
pearing similarly and insufficient for a plural germination,
there lieth dormant the virtuality of many other ; and from
thence sometimes proceed above an hundred ears. And thus
may be made out the cause of multiparous productions ; for
though the seminal materials disperse and separate in the
matrix, the formative operator will not delineate a part, but
endeavour the formation of the whole ; effecting the same as
far as the matter will permit, and from dividing materials at-
tempt entire formations. And therefore, though wondrous
strange, it may not be impossible what is confirmed at Laus-
dun concerning the Countess of Holland ; nor what Albertus
reports of the birth of an hundred and fifty. And if we con-
sider the magnalities of generation in some things,9 we shall
not controvert its possibilities in others : nor easily question
that great work, whose wonders are only second unto those of
the creation, and a close apprehension of the one, might per-
haps afford a glimmering light, and crepusculous glance of
the other.
CHAPTER III.
Of Methuselah.
What hath been every where opinioned by all men, and in
all times, is more than paradoxical to dispute ; and so, that
Methuselah was the longest liver of all the posterity of Adam,
we quietly believe : but that he must needs be so, is perhaps
9 And if we consider, #-c.] " Many the want of that bone, which he had so
things are useful and convenient, which multiplied, so animated. O God, we can
are not necessary : and if God had seen never be losers by thy changes, we have
manmightnotwantit.howeasyhaditbeen nothing but what is thine, take from us
for him which made the woman of that thine own when thou wilt ; we are sure
bone, to turn the flesh into another bone? thou canst not but give us better!"—
But he saw man could not complain of Bp. Hall's Contemp. bk. 1, ch. 2.
302 ENQUIRIES INTO VULGAR [BOOK VII.
below paralogy to deny.1 For hereof there is no determina-
tion from the text ; wherein it is only particularised he was the
longest liver of all the patriarchs whose age is there expressed ;
but that he out-lived all others, we cannot well conclude.2
For of those nine whose death is mentioned before the flood,
the text expresseth that Enoch was the shortest liver; who
saw but three hundred sixty-five years. But to affirm from
hence, none of the rest, whose age is not expressed, did die
before that time, is surely an illation whereto we cannot assent.
Again many persons there were in those days of longevity,
of whose age notwithstanding there is no account in Scrip-
ture; as of the race of Cain, the wives of the nine patriarchs,
with all the sons and daughters that every one begat : where-
of perhaps some persons might out-live Methuselah ; the
text intending only the masculine line of Seth, conduciable
unto the genealogy of our Saviour, and the antediluvian chro-
nology. And therefore we must not contract the lives of
those which are left in silence by Moses ; for neither is the
age of Abel expressed in the Scripture, yet is he conceived
far elder than commonly opinioned ; and if we allow the con-
clusion of his epitaph as made by Adam, and so set down by
Salian, Posuit mcerens pater, cui a filio justius positumforet,
Anno ab ortu rerum 130; Ab Abele nato 129, we shall not
need to doubt. Which notwithstanding Cajetan and others
confirm; nor is it improbable, if we conceive that Abel was
born in the second year of Adam,3 and Seth a year after the
death of Abel; for so it being said, that Adam was an hun-
1 is perhaps below parology to deny."] the marriage of Seth's posterityes with
"To deny it is not hastily to be con- Caine's female issue. Itt is fit to beleeve
demned as false reasoning." that God would never grant to any of
2 we cannot, $fc.~\ If the learned au- Caine's posterity longer life then to the
thor had looked into the text, Gen. v, longest liver among the patriarchs, when
hee woulde have dasht this unnecessary he intended to cutt off even that life of
and frivolous discourse, for in that the theirs which hee permitted them to pvo-
Holy Ghost does particularly mention all long till their sinns were fulfild: and there-
the 9 patriarchs' ages, as of men to whom fore tooke away Mathuselah also the
God gave such long life for the peopling yeare that hee sent the flood to take
of the world: and tooke away all the away all (universally) then living, save
rest of the world, not only in Caine's Noah and his immediate family. — TIY.
race, but in all the other patriarchal fa- 3 second year, <yc] Abel's birth is not
milyes, men, women, and children, that deducible necessarily from Scripture :
they might not live to propagate that wick- his death is more probable. — Wr.
edness which had overspread the world by
CHAP. III.] AND COMMON ERRORS. 303
dred and thirty years old when he begat Seth, Abel must perish
the year before, which was one hundred and twenty-nine.
And if the account of Cain4 extend unto the deluge, it
may not be improbable that some thereof exceeded any of
Seth. Nor is it unlikely in life, riches, power, and temporal
blessings, they might surpass them in this world, whose lives
related unto the next. For so when the seed of Jacob was
under affliction and captivity, that of Ishmael and Esau flourish-
ed and grew mighty, there proceeding from the one twelve
princes, from the other no less than fourteen dukes and eight
kings. And whereas the age of Cain and his posterity is
not delivered in the text, some do salve it from the secret
method of Scripture, which sometimes wholly omits, but
seldom or never delivers the entire duration of wicked and
faithless persons, as is observable in the history of Esau,
and the kings of Israel and Judah. And therefore when
mention is made that Ishmael lived 127 years, some conceive
he adhered unto the faith of Abraham, for so did others who
were not descended from Jacob, for Job is thought to be an
Idumean, and of the seed of Esau.
Lastly, although we rely not thereon, we will not omit that
conceit urged by learned men, that Adam was elder 5 than
Methuselah ; inasmuch as he was created in the perfect age
of man, which was in those days 50 or 60 years, for about
that time we read that they begat children ; so that if unto
930 we add 60 years, he will exceed Methuselah ; and there-
fore if not in length of days, at least in old age he surpassed
others ; he was older than all, who was never so young as
any. For though he knew old age, he was never acquainted
with puberty, youth or infancy, and so in a strict account he
begat children at one year old. And if the usual compute
will hold, that men are of the same age which are born within
4 Cain.] Betweene the creation and flood, excepting only eight persons. —
the flood were 1656 yeares, to which, Wr.
though Cain's owne accompt did not 5 Adam was elder.] This phrase, as
reach, yet his posteiitye did. For upon itt is commonly used, signifies elder in
them was the flood sent, yet not on them time, and then itt sayes nothing, for who
onlye, for all the posterityes of the denyes itt ? But in lengthe of dayes
patriarchal familyes, which doubtless from the birthe Adam was not Soe old
were innumerable, did all perish in the as Mathuselah by 20 yeares. — Wr.
304 ENQUIRIES INTO VULGAR [BOOK VII.
compass of the same year, Eve was as old as her husband
and parent Adam, and Cain, their son, coetaneous unto both.
Now that conception, that no man 6 did ever attain unto a
thousand years, because none should ever be one day old in
the sight of the Lord, unto whom, according to that of David,
"A thousand years are but one day," doth not advantage
Methuselah. And being deduced from a popular expression,
which will not stand a metaphysical and strict examination, is
not of force to divert a serious enquirer. For unto God a
thousand years are no more than one moment, and in his
sight Methuselah lived no nearer one day than Abel, for all
parts of time are alike unto him, unto whom none are refera-
ble, and all things present unto whom nothing is past or to
come ; and therefore, although we be measured by the zone
of time, and the flowing and continued instants thereof do
weave at last a line and circle about the eldest, yet can we
not thus commensurate the sphere of Trismegistus,7 or sum
up the unsuccessive and stable duration of God.
CHAPTER IV.
That there was no Rainboiv before the Flood.
That there shall no rainbow appear forty years before the
end of the world, and that the preceding drought unto that
great shame shall exhaust the materials of this meteor, was
an assertion grounded upon no solid reason ; but that there
was not any in sixteen hundred years, that is, before the
6 that no man, Sj-c.'] This is most true imaginary only), yet soe Adam would
de facto, though the reason bee but sym- not reach to 1000 by 10 yeares, and
bolical, and concludes nothing neces- therfore the saying is most true. — Wr.
sarilye. For granting that Adam was 7 sphere of Trismegistus.] Trisme-
created in the perfect age of man, as gistus sayd God was a circle, whose
then itt was, which was rather 100 then center, that is, his presentiall and immu-
G0, yet he lived noe more then 930 in table essence, from whence all things
all, viz. solar, sydereal, tropick years, have their beinge, is every where, but
To which if you add those hypothecall his circumference, that is, his incompre-
60 yeares (for they are not reall but hensible infinity, is noe where. — If r.
CHAP. IV.] AND COMMON ERRORS. 305
flood, seems deducible from Holy Scripture, Gen. ix, " I do
set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a
covenant between me and the earth." From whence notwith-
standing we cannot conclude the non-existence of the rainbow,
nor is that chronology naturally established, which computeth
the antiquity of effects arising from physical and settled causes,
by additional impositions from voluntary determinators. Now
by the decree of reason and philosophy, the rainbow hath
its ground in nature, as caused by the rays of the sun, falling
upon a rorid and opposite cloud, whereof some reflected,
others refracted, beget that semi-circular variety we generally
call the rainbow, which must succeed upon concurrence of
causes and subjects aptly predisposed. And therefore to
conceive there was no rainbow before, because God chose
this out as a token of the covenant, is to conclude the exis-
tence of things from their signalities, or of what is objected
unto the sense, a coexistence with that which is internally
presented unto the understanding. With equal reason we
may infer there was no water before the institution of baptism,
nor bread and wine before the Holy Eucharist.
Again, while men deny the antiquity of one rainbow, they
anciently concede another. For beside the solary iris which
God shewed unto Noah, there is a lunary, whose efficient
is the moon, visible only in the night, most commonly called
at full moon, and some degrees above the horizon. Now the
existence hereof men do not controvert, although effected by
a different luminary in the same way with the other. And pro-
bably it appeared later, as being of rare appearance and rarer
observation, and many there are which think there is no such
thing in nature ; and therefore by casual spectators they are
looked upon like prodigies, and significations made, not
signified by their natures.
Lastly, we shall not need to conceive God made the
rainbow at this time, if we consider that in its created and
predisposed nature, it was more proper for this signification,
than any other meteor or celestial appearancy whatsoever.
Thunder and lightning had too much terror to have been
tokens of mercy. Comets or blazing stars appear too seldom
to put us in mind of a covenant to be remembered often, and
VOL. III. x
306 ENQUIRIES INTO VULGAR [BOOK VII.
might rather signify the world should be once destroyed by
fire, than never again by water. The galaxia or milky circle
had been more probable ; for beside that unto the latitude of
thirty, it becomes their horizon twice in four and twenty
hours, and unto such as live under the equator, in that space
the whole circle appeareth, part thereof is visible unto any
situation ; but being only discoverable in the night, and when
the air is clear, it becomes of unfrequent and comfortless
signification. A fixed star had not been visible unto all the
globe, and so of too narrow a signality in a covenant con-
cerning all. But rainbows are seen unto all the world, and
every position of sphere, Unto our own elevation they may
appear in the morning, while the sun hath attained about
forty-five degrees above the horizon, which is conceived the
largest semidiameter of any iris, and so in the afternoon when
it hath declined unto that altitude again, which height the sun
not attaining in winter, rainbows may happen with us at noon
or any time. Unto a right position of sphere they may appear
three hours after the rising of the sun, and three before its
setting; for the sun ascending fifteen degrees an hour, in
three attaineth forty-five of altitude. Even unto a parallel
sphere, and such as live under the pole, for half a year some
segments may appear at any time and under any quarter, the
sun not setting but walking round about them.
But the propriety of its election most properly appeareth
in the natural signification and prognostic of itself; as con-
taining a mixed signality of rain and fair weather. For,
being in a rorid cloud and ready to drop, it declareth a plu-
vious disposure in the air ; but because, when it appears, the
sun must also shine, there can be no universal showers, and
consequently no deluge. Thus, when the windows of the
great deep were open, in vain men looked for the rainbow ;
for at that time it could not be seen, which after appeared
unto Noah. It might be therefore existent before the flood,
and had in nature some ground of its addition. Unto that
of nature God superadded an assurance of its promise, that is,
never to hinder its appearance or so to replenish the heavens
again, as that we should behold it no more. And thus, with-
out disparaging the promise, it might rain at the same time
CHAP. IV.] AND COMMON ERRORS. 307
when God shewed it unto Noah ; thus was there more there-
in than the heathens understood when they called it the
nunc'ia of the gods, and the laugh of weeping heaven ;*' and
thus may he elegantly said, I put my bow, not my arrow in
the clouds, that is, in the menace of rain, the mercy of fair
weather.
Cabalistical heads, who from that expression in Isaiah,f do
make a book of heaven, and read therein the great concern-
ments of earth, do literally play on this, and from its semicir-
cular figure (resembling the Hebrew letter caph, whereby is
signified the uncomfortable number of twenty, at which years
Joseph was sold, which Jacob lived under Laban, and at
which men were to go to war,) do note a propriety in its sig-
nification ; as thereby declaring the dismal time of the deluge.
And Christian conceits do seem to strain as high, while from
the irradiation of the sun upon a cloud, they apprehend the
mystery of the sun of righteousness in the obscurity of flesh,
by the colours green and red, the two destructions of the
world by fire and water, or by the colours of blood and water,
the mysteries of baptism, and the Holy Eucharist.8
Laudable therefore is the custom of the Jews, who upon
the appearance of the rainbow, do magnify the fidelity of
God in the memory of his covenant, according to that of
Syracides, " Look upon the rainbow, and praise him that
made it." And though some pious and Christian pens have
only symbolized the same from the mystery of its colours, yet
are there other affections which might admit of theological
allusions. Nor would he find a more improper subject, that
should consider that the colours are made by refraction of
light, and the shadows that limit that light ; that the centre
of the sun, the rainbow, and the eye of the beholder must
be in one right line, that the spectator must be between the
sun and the rainbow, that sometime three appear, sometime
one reversed. With many others, considerable in meteorolo-
* Risus plorantis Olympi. f Isa. xxxiv, 4.
s Cabalistical heads, fyc.~\ The present first noticed in the last chapter of book vi,
paragraph was first added in the 2nd edi- p. 291.
tion, in which also the same subject was
308 ENQUIRIES INTO VULGAR [BOOK VII.
gical divinity, which would more sensibly make out the
epithet of the heathens,* and the expression of the son of
Syrach, " Very beautiful is the rainbow, it compasseth the
heaven about with a glorious circle, and the hands of the
Most High have bended it."
CHAPTER V.
Of Shem, Ham, and Japheth.
Concerning the three sons of Noah, Shem, FIam,and Japheth,
that the order of their nativity was according to that of
enumeration,9 and Japheth the youngest son, (as most believe,
as Austin and others account), the sons of Japheth, and Euro-
peans need not grant, nor will it so well concord unto the
letter of the text, and its readiest interpretations. For so is
it said in our translation, Shem the father of all the sons of
Heber, the brother of Japheth the elder, so by the Septuagint,
* Thaumancias.
9 that the order of the nativity, #c] while the possessions of Ham and Japlietli,
Mr. C. T. Beke, in the 5th chapter of Shem's younger brothers, were situated,
Iiis Origines Bibliecc, takes some pains to as they would naturally be imagined to
prove not only that Shem and not Japheth have been, on either side of the paternal
was Noah's eldest son (a point admitting seat." He further endeavours to invali-
some controversy), but that " the order in date the argument against Shem's seni-
which the names of these three great ority, drawn from the 10th Gen. ver. 21,
progenitors of the human species are — "unto Shem also the father of all the
invariably placed when mentioned toge- children of Eber, the brother of Japheth
ther in the sacred volume, may therefore the elder," — by an examination of similar
be regarded as the order of their birth." passages which would admit, if not favour
Whereas " it is plainly delivered," as the interpretation which Sir Thomas no-
Sir Thomas remarks, that Ham, whose tices, as given to this passage by the Vul-
name stands invariably second, was the gate and others, viz. "the elder brother
youngest son — a fact which absolutely of Japheth." Neither docs he admit the
overthrows this argument in favour of chronology to be conclusive against Shem,
Shem's primogeniture, leaving the way but concludes, after a lengthened con-
open to its consideration on other grounds, sideration of the point, that " there could
Mr. Beke contends that its probability not have been a sufficient interval be-
is "strengthened by the situation of the tween the 500th year of Noah's life, and
country, which, in his opinion, was occu- the birth of the father of Arphaxail
pied by Shem and hisdescendants, name- (Shem), to allow of the intervention of
ly that in which Noah himself resided, an elder son."
CHAP. V.] AND COMMON ERRORS. 309
and so by that of Tremellius. And therefore when the Vulgar
reads it, Fratre Japhet majore, the mistake, as Junius ob-
serveth, might be committed by the neglect of the Hebrew
accent, which occasioned Jerome so to render it, and many
after to believe it. Nor is that argument contemptible which
is deduced from their chronology, for probable it is that Noah
had none of them before, and begat them from that year
when it is said he was five hundred years old, and begat Shem,
Ham, and Japheth. Again it is said he was six hundred years
old at the flood, and that two years after Shem was but an
hundred ; therefore Shem must be born when Noah was five
hundred and two, and some other before in the year of five
hundred and one.
Now whereas the Scripture affordeth the priority of order
unto Shem, we cannot from thence infer his primogeniture.
For in Shem the holy line was continued, and therefore how-
ever born, his genealogy was most remarkable. So is it not
unusual in Holy Scripture to nominate the younger before
the elder. So is it said, that * Terah beget Abraham, Nachor
and Haram ; whereas Haram was the eldest. So Rebecca f
is termed the mother of Jacob and Esau. Nor is it strange
the younger should be first in nomination, who have commonly
had the priority in the blessings of God, and been first in his
benediction. So Abel was accepted before Cain, Isaac the
younger preferred before Ishmael the elder, Jacob before
Esau, Joseph was the youngest of twelve, and David the
eleventh son and minor cadet of Jesse.
Lastly, though Japheth were not elder than Shem, yet must
we not affirm that he was younger than Cham ; for it is plainly
delivered, that, after Shem and Japheth had covered Noah,
he awaked and knew what his youngest son had done unto
him ; vibg 6 vsuTegog is the expression of the Septuagint, Filius
minor of Jerome, and minimus of Tremellius. And upon
these grounds perhaps Josephus doth vary from the Scripture
enumeration, and nameth them Shem, Japheth, and Cham :
which is also observed by the Annian Berosus, Noah cum
tribus Jiliis, Semo, Jepeto, CJiem. And therefore, although
* Gen. xi. f Gen. xxviii.
310 ENQUIRIES INTO VULGAR [BOOK VII.
in the priority of Shem and Japheth, there may be some diffi-
culty, though Cyril, Epiphanius, and Austin have accounted
Shem the elder, and Salian the annalist, and Petavius the
chronologist, contend for the same ; yet Cham is more plainly
and confessedly named the youngest in the text.
And this is more conformable unto the Pagan history and
Gentile account hereof, unto whom Noah was Satan, whose
symbol was a ship, as related unto the ark, and who is said
to have divided the world between his three sons. Ham is
conceived to be Jupiter, who was the youngest son, worshipped
by the name of Hamon, who was the Egyptian and African
name for Jupiter, who is said to have cut off the genitals of
his father, derived from the history of Ham, who beheld the
nakedness of his, and by no hard mistake might be confirmed
from the text, * as Bochartus f hath well observed.9
CHAPTER VI.
That the Tower of Babel was erected against a second
Deluge.
An opinion there is of some generality, that our fathers after
the flood attempted the tower of Babel, to secure themselves
against a second deluge. Which, however affirmed by
Josephus and others, hath seemed improbable unto many
who have discoursed hereon. For (beside that they could
not be ignorant of the promise of God never to drown the
world again,1 and had the rainbow before their eyes to put
* Gen. ix, 22.
f Reading Veiaggod, et abscidit, for Veicgged, ct nunciavit. Bochartus de
Geographia sacra.
9 And this is more conformable, 8[C."\ the cheefe, is was of noe force: with
This paragraph added in 2nd edition. them itt was more easie to slight first
1 the promise of God, fyc.~\ This was and then to forget that promise : when as
an argument of beleef in the family of they had now forgot God himselfe, as
Sem in the Old Testament, and to the appeares by this bold attempt, which
familyes of Japhet now in the new, that therfore most deservedly ended in con-
could not break his promise. But to the fusion. — Wr.
familyes of Hani, wherof Nimrod was
CHAP. VI.] AND COMMON ERRORS. 311
them ill mind thereof,) it is improbable from the nature of
the deluge ; which, being not possibly causable from natural
showers above, or watery eruptions below, but requiring a
supernatural hand,2 and such as all acknowledge irresistible,
must needs disparage their knowledge and judgment in so
successless attempts.
Again, they must probably hear, and some might know,
that the waters of the flood ascended fifteen cubits above
the highest mountains. Now, if (as some define) the per-
pendicular altitude of the highest mountains be four miles,
or (as others) but fifteen furlongs, it is not easily conceived
how such a structure could be effected, except we allowed
the description of Herodotus concerning the tower of Belus ;
whose lowest story was in height and breadth one furlong,
and seven more built upon it ; abating that of the Annian
Berosus, the traditional relation of Jerome, and fabulous
account of the Jews. Probable it is, that what they attempt-
ed was feasible, otherwise they had been amply fooled in the
fruitless success of their labours, nor needed God to have
hindered them, saying, " Nothing will be restrained from
them, which they begin to do."3
It was improbable from the place, that is, a plain in the
land of Shinar. And if the situation of Babylon were such
at first as it was in the days of Herodotus, it was rather a
seat of amenity and pleasure, than conducing unto this inten-
tion : it being in a very great plain, and so improper a place
to provide against a general deluge by towers and eminent
structures, that they were fain to make provisions against
particular and annual inundations by ditches and trenches,
after the manner of Egypt. And therefore Sir Walter
2 requiring a supernatural hand.] A began, would thus, be merged in water
late writer, speaking of the Mosaic ac- seven or eight feet deep in a quarter of
count of the deluge, says, " What a an hour ! And were he to attempt ad-
scene of terrific and awful desolation vancing up the rising ground, a cataract
does this narrative convey ! How puerile of sheet water several feet deep would
those comments which exhibit animals be gushing all the way in his face, be-
and men escaping to the highest grounds sides impending water-spouts from the
and hills as the flood advanced. The 'flood gates' of heaven, momentarily
impossibility of such escape may be im- bursting over him : he would instantly
mediately seen. Neither man nor beast become a prey to those ' mighty waters."
under such circumstances could either 3 whose lowest story, §-c] This pas-
advance or flee to any distance. Any sage was altered and enlarged in the
animal, found in the plain when the flood 2nd edition.
312 ENQUIRIES INTO VULGAR [BOOK VII
Raleigh * accordingly objecteth : if the nations which fol-
lowed Nimrod still doubted the surprise of a second flood,
according to the opinions of the ancient Hebrews, it soundeth
ill to the ear of reason, that they would have spent many years
in that low and overflown valley of Mesopotamia. And
therefore in this situation, they chose a place more likely to
have secured them from the world's destruction by fire, than
another deluge of water: and, as Pierius observeth, some
have conceived that this was their intention.
Lastly, the reason is delivered in the text. "Let us build
us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven, and
let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the
whole earth ; " as we have already begun to wander over a
part. These were the open ends proposed unto the people ;
but the secret design of Nimrod, was to settle unto himself
a place of dominion, and rule over his brethren, as it after
succeeded, according to the delivery of the text, " The
beginning of his kingdom was Babel."
CHAPTER VII.
Of the Mandrakes of Leah.
We shall not omit the mandrakes 4 of Leah, according to
the history of Genesis. " And Reuben went out in the days
of wheat-harvest, and found mandrakes in the field, and
brought them unto his mother Leah. Then Rachel said
unto Leah, give me, I pray thee, of thy son's mandrakes : and
she saith unto her, is it a small matter that thou hast taken
* History of the World.
4 mandrakes.'} For a brief description requesting the mandrakes — by the fol-
of a plant bearing this name, see vol. ii, lowing pithy expostulation ; — " To be
p. .'{50, note 8. brief, I would know, whether it be a
Ross concludes a page of criticism on greater error in me to affirm that which
our author's reasons for rejecting the is denied by some, or in him to deny
popular opinion of Rachel's motives for that which is affirmed by all?"
CHAP. VII.] AND COMMON ERRORS. 313
my husband, and wouldst thou take my son's mandrakes also ?
And Rachel said, therefore he shall lie with thee this night
for thy son's mandrakes." From whence hath arisen a com-
mon conceit, that Rachel requested these plants as a medicine
of fecundation, or whereby she might become fruitful.
Which notwithstanding is very questionable, and of incertain
truth.
For, first, from the comparison of one text with another,
whether the mandrakes here mentioned be the same plant
which holds that name with us, there is some cause to doubt.
The word is used in another place of Scripture,* when the
church inviting her beloved into the fields, among the
delightful fruits of grapes and pomegranates, it is said, " the
mandrakes give a smell, and at our gates are all manner of
pleasant fruits." Now instead of a smell of delight, our
mandrakes afford a papaverous and unpleasant odour, whether
in the leaf or apple, as is discoverable in their simplicity or
mixture. The same is also dubious from the different inter-
pretations : for though the Septuagint and Josephus do
render it the apples of mandrakes in this text, yet in the
other of the Canticles, the Chaldee paraphrase termeth it
balsam. R. Solomon, as Drusius observeth, conceives it to
be that plant the Arabians named Jesemin. Oleaster, and
Georgius Nenetus, the lily ; and that the word dudaim, may
comprehend any plant that hath a good smell, resembleth a
woman's breast, and flourisheth in wheat harvest. Tremellius
interprets the same for any amiable flowers of a pleasant and
delightful odour. But the Geneva translators have been
more wary than any ; for although they retain the word man-
drake in the text, they in effect retract it in the margin ;
wherein is set down the word in the original is dudaim,
which is a kind of fruit or flower unknown.
Nor shall we wonder at the dissent of exposition, and
difficulty of definition concerning this text, if we perpend
how variously the vegetables of Scripture are expounded, and
how hard it is in many places to make out the species deter-
mined, Thus are we at variance concerning the plant that
* Cant. vii.
314 ENQUIRIES INTO VULGAR [BOOK VII.
covered Jonas : which though the Septuagint doth render
colocynthis, the Spanish calabaca, and ours accordingly a
gourd, yet the vulgar translates it hedera or ivy ; and as
Grotius observeth, Jerome thus translated it, not as the same
plant, but best apprehended thereby. The Italian of Dio-
dati, and that of Tremellius have named it ricinus, and so
hath ours in the margin, for palma Christi is the same with
ricinus. The Geneva translators have herein been also
circumspect, for they have retained the original word lil:a-
ion, and ours hath also affixed the same unto the margin.
Nor are they indeed always the same plants which are
delivered under the same name, and appellations commonly
received amongst us. So when it is said of Solomon, that
he writ of plants, " from the cedar of Lebanus, unto the
hyssop that groweth upon the wall," that is from the greatest
unto the smallest, it cannot be well conceived our common
hyssop : for neither is that the least of vegetables, nor ob-
served to grow upon walls ; but rather as Lemnius well
conceiveth, some kind of the capillaries, which are very small
plants, and only grow upon walls and stony places. Nor are
the four species in the holy ointment, cinnamon, myrrh, cala-
mus and cassia, nor the other in the holy perfume, frankin-
cense, stacte, onijcha, and galbanum, so agreeably expounded
unto those in use with us, as not to leave considerable doubts
behind them. Nor must that perhaps be taken for a simple
unguent, which Matthew only termeth a precious ointment ;
but rather a composition, as Mark and John imply by pisticJc
nard, that is faithfully dispensed, and may be that famous
composition described by Dioscorides, made of oil of ben,
malabathrum, juncus odoratus, costus, ctmomum, myrrh,
balsam and nard,* which Galen affirmeth to have been in use
with the delicate dames of Rome, and that the best thereof
was made at Laodicea, from whence by merchants it was
conveyed unto other parts. But how to make out that trans-
lation concerning the tithe of mint, anise and cummin, we are
still to seek ; for we find not a word in the text that can
properly be rendered anise, the Greek being avrfiw, which the
* V. Matthioli Epht.
CHAP. VII.] AND COMMON ERRORS. 315
Latins call anethum, and is properly Englished dill. Lastly,
what meteor that was, that fed the Israelites so many years,
they must rise again to inform us. Nor do they make it out,*
who will have it the same with our manna ; nor will any one
kind thereof, or hardly all kinds we read of, be able to an-
swer the qualities thereof, delivered in the Scripture ; that is
to fall upon the ground, to breed worms, to melt with the
sun, to taste like fresh oil, to be ground in mills, to be like
coriander seed, and of the colour of bdellium.* 5
Again, it is not deducible from the text or concurrent sen-
tence of comments, that Rachel had any such intention, and
most do rest in the determination of Austin, that she desired
them for rarity, pulchritude, or suavity. Nor is it probable
she would have resigned her bed unto Leah, when at the
same time she had obtained a medicine to fructify herself.
And therefore Drusius, who hath expressly and favourably
treated hereof, is so far from conceding this intention, that he
plainly concludeth, Hoc quo modo illis in mentem venerit,
conjicere nequeo ; "how this conceit fell into men's minds, it
cannot fall into mine ;" for the Scripture delivereth it not, nor
can it be clearly deduced from the text.
Thirdly, if Rachel had any such intention, yet had they no
such effect, for she conceived not many years after, of Jo-
seph ; whereas in the mean time Leah had three children,
Issachar, Zebulon, and Dinah.
Lastly, although at that time they failed of this effect, yet
is it mainly questionable whether they had any such virtue,
either in the opinions of those times, or in their proper na-
ture. That the opinion was popular in the land of Canaan,
it is improbable ; and had Leah understood thus much, she
would not surely have parted with fruits of such a faculty;
especially unto Rachel, who was no friend unto her. As for
its proper nature, the ancients have generally esteemed it
narcotick or stupefactive, and it is to be found in the list of
poisons, set down by Dioscorides, Galen, ./Etius, iEgineta,
and several antidotes delivered by them against it. It was, I
* V. Doctissimum Chrysostom. Magncnum de Manna.
5 Lastly, <^o.] This passage was added in the 2nd edition.
316 ENQUIRIES INTO VULGAR [BOOK VII.
confess, from good antiquity, and in the days of Theophras-
tus, accounted a philter or plant that conciliates affection ;
and so delivered by Dioscorides. And this intent might
seem most probable, had they not been the wives of holy
Jacob'; had Rachel presented them unto him, and not re-
quested them for herself.
Now what Dioscorides affirmeth in favour of this effect,
that the grains of the apples of mandrakes mundify the
matrix, and applied with sulphur stop the fluxes of women,
he overthrows again by qualities destructive unto conception ;
affirming also that the juice thereof purge th upward like
hellebore; and applied in pessaries6 provokes the menstru-
ous flows, and procures abortion. Petrus Hispanus, or Pope
John the Twentieth, speaks more directly in his Thesaurus
Pauperum : wherein among the receipts of fecundation, he
experimentally commendeth the wine of mandrakes given
with triphera magna. But the soul of the medicine may lie
in triphera magna, an excellent composition, and for this
effect commended by Nicolaus. And whereas Levinus Lem-
nius, that eminent physician, doth also concede this effect, it
is from manifest causes and qualities elemental occasionally
producing the same. For he impute th the same unto the
coldness of that simple, and is of opinion that in hot climates,
and where the uterine parts exceed in heat, by the coldness
hereof they may be reduced into a conceptive constitution,
and crasis accommodable unto generation ; whereby indeed
we will not deny the due and frequent use may proceed unto
some effect ; from whence, notwithstanding, we cannot infer
a fertilitating condition or property of fecundation. For in
this way all vegetables do make fruitful according unto the
complexion of the matrix ; if that excel in heat, plants ex-
ceeding in cold do rectify it; if it be cold, simples that are
hot reduce it ; if dry, moist ; if moist, dry correct it ; in which
division all plants are comprehended. But to distinguish
thus much is a point of art, and beyond the method of Ra-
chel's or feminine physic. Again, whereas it may be thought
that mandrakes may fecundate, since poppy hath obtained
pessaries.] Medicines made into an oblong shape.
CHAP. VIII.] AND COMMON ERRORS. 317
the epithet of fruitful, anil that fertility was hieroglyphically
described by Venus with an head of poppy in her hand ; the
reason hereof was the multitude of seed within itself, and no
such multiplying in human generation. And lastly, whereas
they may seem to have this quality, (since opium itself is con-
ceived to extimulate unto venery, and for that intent is some-
times used by Turks, Persians, and most oriental nations,)
although Winclerus doth seem to favour the conceit, yet
Amatus Lusitanus, and Rodericus a Castro, are against, it ;
Garcias ah Horto refutes it from experiment; and they speak
probably who affirm the intent and effect of eating opium is
not so much to invigorate themselves in coition, as to prolong
the act, and spin out the motions of carnality.
CHAPTER VIII.
Of the Three Kings of Collein?
A common conceit there is of the three kings of Collein, con-
ceived to be the wise men that travelled unto our Saviour by
the direction of the star. Wherein, (omitting the large dis-
courses of Baronius, Pineda, and Montacutius,) that they
might be kings, beside the ancient tradition and authority of
many fathers, the Scripture implieth ; " The Gentiles shall
come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising.
The kings of Tharsis and the Isles, the kings of Arabia and
Saba shall offer gifts." Which places most Christians and
many rabbins interpret of the Messiah. Not that they are to
be conceived potent monarchs, or mighty kings, but toparchs,
kings of cities or narrow territories ; such as were the kings
of Sodom and Gomorrha, the kings of Jericho and Ai, the
one and thirty which Joshua subdued, and such as some
conceive the friends of Job to have been.
But although we grant they were kings, yet can we not be
assured they were three. For the Scripture maketh no
1 Three kings of Collein.] Cologne on the Rhine.
318 ENQUIRIES INTO VULGAR [BOOK VII.
mention of any number ; and the number of their presents,
gold, myrrh, and frankincense, concludeth not the number of
their persons ; for these were the commodities of their coun-
try, and such as probably the queen of Sheba in one person
had brought before unto Solomon. So did not the sons of
Jacob divide the present unto Joseph, but are conceived to
carry one for them all, according to the expression of their
father ; " Take of the best fruits of the land in your vessels,
and carry down the man a present." And therefore their
number being uncertain, what credit is to be given unto their
names, Gasper, Melchior, Balthazar,8 what to the charm
thereof against the falling sickness, or what unto their
habits, complexions, and corporal accidents, we must rely on
their uncertain story, and received portraits of Collein.
Lastly, although we grant them kings, and three in num-
ber, yet could we not conceive that they were kings of Col-
lein. For although Collein were the chief city of the Ubii,
then called Ubiopolis, and afterwards Agrippina, yet will no
history inform us there were three kings thereof. Beside,
these being rulers in their countries, and returning home,
would have probably converted their subjects ; but according
unto Munster, their conversion was not wrought until seventy
years after, by Maternus, a disciple of Peter. And lastly, it
is said that the wise men came from the east; but Collein is
seated westward from Jerusalem ; for Collein hath of longi-
tude thirty-four degrees, but Jerusalem seventy-two.
The ground of all was this. These wise men or kings
were probably of Arabia, and descended from Abraham by
Keturah, who apprehending the mystery of this star, either
by the Spirit of God, the prophecy of Balaam, the prophecy
R Gasper, 8$c.~\ According to the fol- - — A writer in the Gentleman's Magazine,
lowing distich in Festa Anglo-Romana, however, vol. xxxiv, p. 599, refers the
p. 7 : twelfth night cake to the Roman custom
t „„ „„„„„ .„ i ,.„™™ ,,-., ,i„ „ <-,,.„is.,„» . of casting dice to decide who should be
Ires repeg regi regum tria dona tcrenant : p ..
WyrrUam homini, uncto aurum, thura dedere rex convivii.
■De0, It appears from Gentlemayi's Maga-
Selden says, that " our chusing kings zine, that on twelfth day, 173(5, the king
and queens, on twelfth night, has refer- and the prince, at the chapel-royal, St.
ence to the three kings." — Table Talk, James's, made their offerings of gold,
p. 20. See ajso Universal Magazine, frankincense, and myrrh. These con-
1774. — Sir II. Piers's Westmeath, 1GS2, tinue to be annually made — by proxy
in Vallancey's Cellectan. i, No. 1, p. 124. Hone's Every-day Book, vol. i, p. 59.
CHAP. IX.] AND COMMON ERRORS. 319
which Suetonius mentions, received and constantly believed
through all the east, that out of Jewry one should come that
should rule the whole world, or the divulged expectation of
the Jews from the expiring prediction of Daniel, were by
the same conducted unto Judea, returned into their country,
and were after baptized by Thomas. From whence about
three hundred years after, by Helena, the empress, their
bodies were translated to Constantinople. From thence
by Eustatius unto Milan, and at last by Renatus, the bishop,
unto Collein, where they are believed at present to remain,
their monuments shewn unto strangers, and having lost their
Arabian titles, are crowned kings of Collein.
CHAPTER IX.
Of the food of John Baptist, Locusts and Wild Honey.
Concerning the food of John Baptist in the wilderness,
locusts and wild honey, less popular opiniatrity should arise,
we will deliver the chief opinions. The first conceived the
locusts here mentioned to be that fruit which the Greeks
name xigunov, mentioned by Luke in the diet of the prodigal
son, the Latins siliqua, and some pants sancti Johannis,
included in a broad pod, and indeed a taste almost as plea-
sant as honey. But this opinion doth not so truly impugn
that of the locusts, and might rather call unto controversy
the meaning of wild honey.
The second affirmeth that they were the tops or tender
crops of trees ; for so locusla also signifieth. Which conceit
is plausible in Latin, but will not hold in Greek, fwherein the
word is axg/V/ ; except for ax^ihiz, we read axgoSgua, or axgif&ovig,
which signify the extremities of trees, of which belief have
divers been ; more confidently Isidore Pelusiota, who in his
epistles plainly affirmeth they think unlearnedly who are of
another belief. And this so wrought upon Baronius, that he
320 ENQUIRIES INTO VULGAR [BOOK VII.
concludeth in neutrality ; Hcec cum scribal Isklorus, definien-
dum nobis non est, et totum relinquimus lectoris arbitrio ;
nam constat Grcecam dictionem axgidig, et Locustam, insecti
genus, et arborum summitates signijicare. Sed fallitur, saith
Montacutius, nam constat contrarium, 'Axyba, apud nullum
authorem classicum ' A-Aoofyva. signijicare. But above all
Paracelsus with most animosity promoteth this opinion, and
in his book De Melle spareth not his friend Erasmus. Hoc a
nonnullis ita explicatur tit dicant Locustas ant cicadas
Johanni pro cibo fuisse ; sed hi stultitiam dissimulare non
possunt, veluti Jeronymus, Erasmus, et alii prophetce neo-
terici in Latinitate immortui.
A third affirmeth that they were properly locusts, that is,
a sheath-winged and six-footed insect, such as is our grass-
hopper. And this opinion seems more probable than the
other.9 For beside the authority of Origen, Jerome, Chry-
sostom, Hilary, and Ambrose to confirm it, this is the proper
signification of the word, thus used in Scripture by the
Septuagint ; Greek vocabularies thus expound it ; Suidas
on the word 'Axgte observes it to be that animal whereupon
the Baptist fed in the desert ; in this sense the word is used
by Aristotle, Dioscorides, Galen, and several human authors.
And lastly, there is no absurdity in this interpretation, nor
any solid reason why we should decline it, it being a food
permitted unto the Jews, whereof four kinds are reckoned
up among clean meats. Besides, not only the Jews, but many
other nations, long before and since, have made an usual
food thereof. That the Ethiopians, Mauritanians, and
Arabians did commonly eat them, is testified by Diodorus,
Strabo, Solinus, iElian, and Pliny ; that they still feed on
them is confirmed by Leo, Cadamustus, and others. John
therefore, as our Saviour saith, " came neither eating nor
drinking," that is, far from the diet of Jerusalem and other
9 and this opinion, fyc.~\ Ross contends loathsome a disease. — Arcana, p. 95.
against the Dr. for the greater probability There is one species of the acacia
that John's diet was vegetable — on the tribe called the honey locust, bearing a
ground that, as the Ethiopians, who large and very sweet pod, which is very
were accustomed to use locusts for food, commonly boiled and eaten in America;
almost all fell a prey to phthiriasis, it is and this is supposed to have been the
scarcely to be believed that John would food of the Baptist,
have adopted a diet likely to entail so
CHAP. X.] AND COMMON ERRORS. 821
riotous places, but fared coarsely and poorly, according unto
the apparel he wore, that is, of camel's hair ; the place of his
abode — the wilderness, and the doctrine he preached — humi-
liation and repentance.
CHAPTER X.
That John the Evangelist should not die.
The conceit of the long living, or rather not dying, of John
the Evangelist, although it seem inconsiderable, and not much
weightier than that of Joseph, the wandering Jew, yet being
deduced from Scripture, and abetted by authors of all times,
it shall not escape our enquiry. It is drawn from the speech
of our Saviour unto Peter after the prediction of his martyr-
dom: " Peter saith unto Jesus, Lord, what shall this man do?
Jesus saith unto him, If I will that he tarry until I come,
what is that to thee? Follow thou me. Then went this
saying abroad among the brethren, that this disciple should
not die."*
Now the belief hereof hath been received either grossly
and in the general, that is, not distinguishing the manner or
particular way of this continuation, in which sense probably
the grosser and undiscerning party received it; or more
distinctly, apprehending the manner of his immortality, that
is, that John should never properly die, but be translated into
Paradise, there to remain with Enoch and Elias until about
the coming of Christ, and should be slain with them under
Antichrist, according to that of the Apocalypse ; " I will give
power unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a
thousand two hundred and threescore days clothed in sack-
cloth ; and when they shall have finished their testimony,
the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit shall make
war against them, and overcome them and kill them." Here-
of, as Baronius observeth, within three hundred years after
* John xxi.
VOL. III. Y
322 ENQUIRIES INTO VULGAR [BOOK VII.
Christ, Hippolytus the martyr was the first assertor, but hath
been maintained by Metaphrastes, by Freculphus, but espe-
cially by Georgius Trapezuntius, who hath expressly treated
upon this text, and although he lived but in the last century,
did still affirm that John was not yet dead.
The same is also hinted by the learned Italian Poet Dante,
who in his poetical survey of Paradise, meeting with the soul
of St. John, and desiring to see his body, received answer
from him, that his body was in earth, and there should remain
with other bodies until the number of the blessed were
accomplished.1
In terra e terra il mio corpo, et saragli
Tanto con gli altri, chel' numero nostro
Con 1' elerno proposito s' agguagli.
As for the gross opinion that he should not die, it is suffi-
ciently refuted by that which first occasioned it, that is, the
Scripture itself, and no further off than the very subsequent
verse ; " Yet Jesus said not unto him, he should not die, but
if I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee ?" And
this was written by John himself, whom the opinion concerned,
and (as is conceived) many years after, when Peter had
suffered and fulfilled the prophecy of Christ.
For the particular conceit, the foundation is weak, nor can
it be made out from the text alleged in the Apocalypse ; for,
beside that therein two persons only are named, no mention
is made of John, a third actor in this tragedy. The same is
also overthrown by history, which recordeth not only the
death of John, but assigneth the place of his burial, that is,
Ephesus, a city in Asia Minor ; whither, after he had been
banished into Patmos by Domitian, he returned in the reign
of Nerva, there deceased, and was buried in the days of
Trajan. And this is testified by Jerome, by Tertullian, by
Chrysostom, and Eusebius,* (in whose days his sepulchre was
to be seen,) and by a more ancient testimony alleged also by
him, that is, of Polycrates, Bishop of Ephesus, not many suc-
* Be Scriptor. Ecclcsiast. Be anima.
1 The same is also hinted, 8fC.~\ This tation which follows it, was first added
paragraph, together with the Italian quo- in the 6th edition.
CHAP. X.] AND COMMON ERRORS. 323
cessions after John ; whose words are these, in an epistle
unto Victor, Bishop of Rome : Johannes ille qui supra pec-
tus domini recumbebat, doctor optimus, apud Ephesum dor-
mivit. Many of the like nature are noted by Baronius,
Jansenius, Estius, Lipellous, and others.
Now the main and primitive ground of this error was a
gross mistake in the words of Christ, and a false apprehen-
sion of his meaning ; understanding that positively which was
but conditionally expressed, or receiving that affirmatively
which was but concessively delivered. For the words of our
Saviour run in a doubtful strain, rather reprehending than
satisfying the curiosity of Peter : as though he should have
said, " thou hast thy own doom, why enquirest thou after thy
brother's? — what relief unto thy affliction will be the society
of another's? — why pryest thou into the secrets of God's
will ? — if he stay until I come, what concerneth it thee, who
shalt be sure to suffer before that time ? " And such an
answer probably he returned, because he foreknew John
should not suffer a violent death, but go unto his grave in
peace. Which had Peter assuredly known, it might have
cast some water on his flames, and smothered those fires
which kindled after unto the honour of his Master.
Now why among all the rest John only escaped the death
of a martyr, the reason is given ; because all others fled away
or withdrew themselves at his death, and he alone of the
twelve beheld his passion on the cross. Wherein notwith-
standing, the affliction that he suffered could not amount
unto less than martyrdom : for if the naked relation, at least
the intentive consideration of that passion, be able still, and
at this disadvantage of time, to rend the hearts of pious con-
templators, surely the near and sensible vision thereof must
needs occasion agonies beyond the comprehension of flesh ;
and the trajections of such an object more sharply pierce
the martyred soul of John, than afterwards did the nails
the crucified body of Peter.
Again, they were mistaken in the emphatical apprehension,
placing the consideration upon the words, " If I will," whereas
it properly lay in these, " until I come." Which had they
apprehended, as some have since, that is, not for his ultimate
y 2
324 ENQUIRIES INTO VULGAR [BOOK VII.
and last return, but his coming in judgment and destruction
upon the Jews ; or such a coming, as it might be said, that
generation should not pass before it was fulfilled ; they need-
ed not, much less need we, suppose such diuturnity. For
after the death of Peter, John lived to behold the same ful-
filled by Vespasian : nor had he then his nunc dimitlis, or
went out like unto Simeon ; but old in accomplished obscuri-
ties, and having seen the expire of Daniel's prediction, as
some conceive, he accomplished his revelation.
But besides this original and primary foundation, divers
others have made impressions according unto different ages
and persons by whom they were received. For some estab-
lished the conceit in the disciples and brethren which were
contemporary unto him, or lived about the same time with
him. And this was, first, the extraordinary affection our
Saviour bare unto this disciple, who hath the honour to be
called the disciple whom Jesus loved : now from hence they
might be apt to believe their Master would dispense with his
death, or suffer him to live to see him return in glory, who was
the only apostle that beheld him to die in dishonour. Another
was the belief and opinion of those times, that Christ would
suddenly come ; for they held not generally the same opinion
with their successors, or as descending ages after so many
centuries, but conceived his coming would not be long after
his passion, according unto several expressions of our Saviour
grossly understood, and as we find the same opinion not long
after reprehended by St. Paul: * and thus, conceiving his com-
ing would not be long, they might be induced to believe his
favourite should live unto it. Lastly, the long life of John
might much advantage this opinion ; for he survived the other
twelve — he was aged twenty-two years when he was called
by Christ, and twenty-five (that is the age of priesthood) at
his death, and lived ninety-three years, that is sixty-eight
after his Saviour, and died not before the second year of
Trajan : now, having out-lived all his fellows, the world was
confirmed he might still live, and even unto the coming of his
Master.
The grounds which promoted it in succeeding ages, were
* 2 Thess. ii.
CHAP. X.] AND COMMON ERRORS. 325
especially two. The first his escape of martyrdom ; for
whereas all the rest suffered some kind of forcible death, we
have no history that he suffered any; and men might think
he was not capable thereof; for as history informeth, by the
command of Domitian he was cast into a caldron of burning-
oil, and came out again unsinged. Now future ages appre-
hending he suffered no violent death, and finding also the
means that tended thereto could take no place, they might be
confirmed in their opinion, that death had no power over
him ; that he might live always, who could not be destroyed
by fire, and was able to resist the fury of that element which
nothing shall resist. The second was a corruption, crept into
the Latin text, for si reading sic eum manere volo ; whereby
the answer of our Saviour becometh positive, or that he will
have it so ; which way of reading was much received in former
ages, and is still retained in the vulgar translation : but in the
Greek and original the word is sav, signifying si or if, which
is very different from ovrco, and cannot be translated for
it : and answerable hereunto is the translation of Junius,
and that also annexed unto the Greek by the authority of
Sixtus Quintus.
The third confirmed it in ages farther descending, and
proved a powerful argument unto all others following — be-
cause in his tomb at Ephesus there was no corpse or relick
thereof to be found ; whereupon arose divers doubts, and
many suspicious conceptions ; some believing he was not bu-
ried, some that he was buried but risen again, others, that
he descended alive into his tomb, and from thence departed
after. But all these proceeded upon unveritable grounds, as
Baronius hath observed ; who allegeth a letter of Celestine,
Bishop of Rome, unto the council of Ephesus, wherein he
declareth the relicks of John were highly honoured by that
city ; and a passage also of Chrysostom in the homilies of the
apostles, " That John being dead, did cures in Ephesus, as
though he were still alive." And so I observe that Estius,
discusing this point, concludeth hereupon, quod corpus ejus
nunquam reperiatur, hoc non dicerent si veterum scripta dili-
genter perlustr assent.
Now that the first ages after Christ, those succeeding, or
326 ENQUIRIES INTO VULGAR [BOOK VII.
any other, should proceed into opinions so far divided from
reason, as to think of immortality after the fall of Adam, or
conceit a man in these later times should out-live our fathers
in the first, — although it seem very strange, yet is it not in-
credible. For the credulity of men hath been deluded into
the like conceits ; and, as Irenseus and Tertullian mention,
one Menander, a Samaritan, obtained belief in this very point,
whose doctrine it was, that death should have no power on
his disciples, and such as received his baptism should receive
immortality therewith. 'T was surely an apprehension very
strange ; nor usually falling either from the absurdities of
melancholy or vanities of ambition. Some indeed have been
so affectedly vain, as to counterfeit immortality, and have
stolen their death, in a hope to be esteemed immortal ; and
others have conceived themselves dead : but surely few or
none have fallen upon so bold an error, as not to think that
they could die at all. The reason of those mighty ones,
whose ambition could suffer them to be called gods, would
never be flattered into immortality ; but the proudest thereof
have by the daily dictates of corruption convinced the impro-
priety of that appellation. And surely, although delusion
may run high, and possible it is that for a while a man may
forget his nature, yet cannot this be durable. For the incon-
cealable imperfections of ourselves, or their daily examples in
others, will hourly prompt us our corruption, and loudly tell
us we are the sons of earth.
CHAPTER XI.
Of some others more briefly.
Many others there are which we resign unto divinity, and
perhaps deserve not controversy. Whether David were
punished only for pride of heart for numbering the people, as
most do hold, or whether, as Josephus and many maintain, he
suffered also for not performing the commandment of God
CHAP. XI.] AND COMMON^ERRORS. 327
concerning capitation, that when the people were numbered,
for every head they should pay unto God a shekel,* — we
shall not here contend. Surely if it were not the occasion
of this plague, we must acknowledge the omission thereof
was threatened with that punishment, according to the words
of the law. " When thou takest the sum of the children
of Israel, then shall they give every man a ransom for his
soul unto the Lord, that there be no plague amongst them."f
Now how deeply hereby God was defrauded in the time of
David, and opulent state of Israel, will easily appear by the
sums of former lustrations. For in the first, the silver of
them that were numbered was an hundred talents, and a
thousand seven hundred and threescore and fifteen shekels ;
a bekah for every man, that is, half a shekel, after the shekel
of the sanctuary; for every one from twenty years old and
upwards, for six hundred thousand, and three thousand and
five hundred and fifty men. Answerable whereto we read in
Josephus, Vespasian ordered that every man of the Jews
should bring into the Capitol two drachms ; which amounts
unto fifteen pence, or a quarter of an ounce of silver with us ;
and is equivalent unto a bekah, or half a shekel of the sanc-
tuary. For an Attick drachm is seven-pence half-penny or a
quarter of a shekel, and a didrachmum, or double drachm, is
the word used for tribute money, or half a shekel; and a stater,
the money found in the fish's mouth, was two didrachmums,
or a whole shekel, and tribute sufficient for our Saviour and
for Peter.
We will not question the metamorphosis of Lot's wife, or
whether she were transformed into a real statue of salt :
though some conceive that expression metaphorical,2 and no
* Exod. xxx. f Exod. xxxviii.
- We will not question, eye] Dr. contradictory stories (he remarks,) have
Adam Clarke has given a long note on been told, of the discovery of Lot's wife
this question, to which the reader is still remaining unchanged — and indeed
referred. He enumerates in addition to uncliangeahle, — her form having still resi-
Browne's two hypotheses, a third: — viz. dent in it a continual miraculous energy,
that, by continuing in the plain, she reproductive of any part which is broken
might have been struck dead with light- off: so that though multitudes of visitors
ning, and enveloped and invested in the have brought away each a morsel, yet
bituminous and sulphurous matter which does the next find the figure — complete !
descended. But Dr. C. evidently in- The author of the poem De Sodoma,
clines to accept the metaphorical inter- at the end of Tertullian's works, and
pretation. A number of absurd and with him, Irenaeus, asserts the figure
328 ENQUIRIES INTO VULGAR [BOOK VII.
more thereby than a lasting and durable column, according to
the nature of salt, which admitteth no corruption ;3 in which
sense the covenant of God is termed a covenant of salt ; and
it is also said, God gave the kingdom unto David for ever,
or by a covenant of salt.
That Absalom was hanged by the hair of the head, and
not caught up by the neck, as Josephus conceiveth, and the
common argument against long hair affirmeth, we are not
ready to deny. Although I confess a great and learned
party there are of another opinion ; although if he had his
morion or helmet on, I could not well conceive it ; although
the translation of Jerome or Tremellius do not prove it, and
our own seems rather to overthrow it.
That Judas hanged himself, — much more that he perished
thereby, — we shall not raise a doubt.4 Although Jansenius,
discoursing the point, produceth the testimony of Theophy-
lact and Euthymius, that he died not by the gallows, but un-
der a cart wheel ; and Baronius also delivereth, this was the
opinion of the Greeks, and derived as high as Papias, one of
the disciples of John. Although also how hardly the ex-
pression of Matthew is reconcileable unto that of Peter, — and
that he plainly hanged himself, with that, that falling head-
long he burst asunder in the midst, — with many other the
learned Grotius plainly doth acknowledge. And lastly, al-
though as he also urgeth, the word a^y^aro in Matthew doth
not only signify suspension or pendulous illaqueation, as the
common picture describeth it, but also suffocation, strangula-
tion or interception of breath, which may arise from grief,
despair, and deep dejection of spirit, in which sense it is used
in the history of Tobit concerning Sara, tkutrySq 6<p6Bga wcrre
to possess certain indications of a re- in vain, and it is now very generally
maining portion of animal life, and the admitted, either that the statue does not
latter father in the height of his absur- exist — or that some of the blocks of
dity, makes her an emblem of the true rock-salt met with in the vicinity of the
church, which, though she suffers much, Dead Sea — are the only remains of it.
and often loses whole members, yet 3 which, iyc] Itt admitteth noe corrup-
preserves the pillar of salt, that is, the tion in other things, but itselfe suffers li-
foundation of the true faith !! Josephus quation, and corruption too, that is, looses
asserts that he himself saw the pillar, its savour, as appears by that rcmark-
S. Clement also says that Lot's wife was able speech of our Saviour, Marc, ix, 50.
remaining, even at that time, as a pillar — Jl'r.
of salt. Recent and more respectable '' That Judas, fyc. ] See vol. ii, p. 33,
travellers however have sought for her note 2.
CHAP. XII.] AND COMMON ERRORS. 329
d^dy'^aGdai, Jta tristata est ut strangulatione premeretur,
saith Junius ; and so might it happen from the horror of
mind unto Judas.* So do many of the Hebrews affirm,
that Achitophel was also strangled, that is not from the rope,
but passion. For the Hebrew and Arabic word in the text,
not only signifies suspension, but indignation, as Grotius hath
also observed.
Many more there are of indifferent truths, whose dubious
expositions worthy divines and preachers do often draw
into wholesome and sober uses, whereof we shall not speak.
With industry we decline such paradoxes and peaceably
submit unto their received acceptions.
CHAPTER XIL
Of the Cessation of Oracles.
That oracles ceased or grew mute at the coming of Christ,5
is best understood in a qualified sense, and not without all lati-
tude, as though precisely there were none after, nor any
decay before. For (what we must confess unto relations of
antiquity,) some pre-decay is observable from that of Cicero,
urged by Baronius ; Cur isto modo jam oracula Delphis
non eduntur, non modo estate, sed jam dm, ut nihil possit esse
contemptius. That during his life they were not altogether
dumb, is deducible from Suetonius in the life of Tiberius,
who attempting to subvert the oracles adjoining unto Rome,
was deterred by the lots or chances which were delivered at
PraBneste. After his death we meet with many ; Suetonius
reports, that the oracle of Antium forewarned Caligula to
beware of Cassius, who was one that conspired his death.
* Strangulat inclusus dolor.
5 That oracles ceased, <yc] On the sub- Oracles, vol. iv, p. 226, note 5. Browne
ject of this very curious chapter, see a betrays, throughout, his full belief in the
passage in Rcl. Med. with a note thereon, supernatural and Satanic character of
vol. ii, p. 42, note 3 : — and the Tract on oracles.
330 ENQUIRIES INTO VULGAR. [BOOK VII.
Plutarch enquiring why the oracles of Greece ceased, ex-
cepteth that of Lebadia : and in the same place Demetrius
affirmeth the oracles of Mopsus and Amphilochus were
much frequented in his days. In brief, histories are fre-
quent in examples, and there want not some even to the reign
of Julian.
What therefore may consist with history ; — by cessation
of oracles, with Montacutius, we may understand their inter-
cision, not abscission or consummate desolation ; their rare
delivery, not total dereliction : and yet in regard of divers
oracles, we may speak strictly, and say there was a proper
cessation. Thus may we reconcile the accounts of times, and
allow those few and broken divinations, whereof we read in
story and undeniable authors. For that they received this
blow from Christ, and no other causes alleged by the
heathens, from oraculous confession they cannot deny ;
whereof upon record there are some very remarkable. The
first that oracle of Delphos delivered unto Augustus.
Me puer Hebraeus Divos Deus ipse guberaans,
Cedere sede jubet, tristemque rediresub orcum;
Aris ergo dehinc tacitus discedito nostris.
An Hebrew child, a God all gods excelling,
To Hell again commands me from this dwelling :
Our altars leave in silence, and no more
A resolution e'er from hence implore.
A second recorded by Plutarch, of a voice that was heard
to cry unto mariners at the sea, Great Pan is dead; which is
a relation very remarkable, and may be read in his defect of
oracles. A third reported by Eusebius in the life of his
magnified Constantine, that about that time Apollo mourned,
declaring his oracles were false, and that the righteous upon
earth did hinder him from speaking truth. And a fourth
related by Theodoret, and delivered by Apollo Daphneus
unto Julian, upon his Persian expedition, that he should
remove the bodies about him before he could return an an-
swer, and not long after his temple was burnt with lightning.
All which were evident and convincing acknowledgments
of that power which shut his lips, and restrained that delu-
sion which had reigned so many centuries. But as his malice is
vigilant, and the sins of men do still continue a toleration of
CHAP. XII.] AND COMMON ERRORS. 331
his mischiefs, he resteth not, nor will he ever cease to circum-
vent the sons of the first deceived. And therefore, expelled
from oracles and solemn temples of delusion, he runs into
corners, exercising minor trumperies, and acting his deceits
in witches, magicians, diviners, and such inferior seducers.
And yet (what is deplorable) while we apply ourselves thereto,
and, affirming that God hath left off to speak by his prophets,
expect in doubtful matters a resolution from such spirits ;
while we say the devil is mute, yet confess that these can
speak ; while we deny the substance, yet practise the effect,
and in the denied solemnity maintain the equivalent efficacy ;
— in vain we cry that oracles are down ; Apollo's altar still
doth smoke ; nor is the fire of Delphos out unto this day.
Impertinent it is unto our intention to speak in general of
oracles, and many have well performed it. The plainest of
others was that of Apollo Delphicus, recorded by Herodotus,
and delivered unto Croesus ; who as a trial of their omnis-
cience sent unto distant oracles : and so contrived with the
messengers, that though in several places, yet at the same
time they should demand what Croesus was then a doing.
Among all others the oracle of Delphos only hit it, returning
answer, he was boiling a lamb with a tortoise, in a brazen
vessel, with a cover of the same metal. The stile is haughty
in Greek, though somewhat lower in Latin.
jEquoris est spatium et numerus mihi notus arense,
Mutum percipio, fantis nihil audio vocem.
Venit ad hos sensus nidor testudinis acris,
Qua semel agnina coquitur cum carne labete,
Aeve infra strato, et stratum cui desuper ees est.
I know the space of sea, the number of the sand,
I hear the silent, mute I understand.
A tender lamb joined with tortoise flesh,
Thy master, King of Lydia, now doth dress.
The scent thereof doth in my nostrils hover,
From brazen pot closed with brazen cover.
Hereby indeed he acquired much wealth and more honour,
and was reputed by Croesus as a deity : and yet not long-
after, by a vulgar fallacy he deceived his favourite and great-
est friend of oracles, into an irreparable overthrow by Cyrus.
And surely the same success are likely all to have, that rely
332 ENQUIRIES INTO VULGAR [BOOK VII.
or depend upon him. 'T was the first play he practised on
mortality ; and as time hath rendered him more perfect in
the art, so hath the inveterateness of his malice more ready
in the execution. 'T is therefore the sovereign degree of
folly, and a crime not only against God, but also our own rea-
sons, to expect a favour from the devil, whose mercies are
more cruel than those of Polyphemus ; for he devours his
favourites first, and the nearer a man approacheth, the sooner
he is scorched by Moloch. In brief, his favours are deceit-
ful and double-headed, he doth apparent good, for real and
convincing evil after it ; and exalteth us up to the top of the
temple, but to tumble us down from it.
CHAPTER XIII.
Of the Death of Aristotle.
That Aristotle drowned himself in Euripus, as despairing to
resolve the cause of its reciprocation, or ebb and flow seven
times a day, with this determination, Si quidem ego non capio
te, tu copies me, was the assertion of Procopius, Nazianzen,
Justin Martyr, and is generally believed among us. Wherein
because we perceive men have but an imperfect knowledge,
some conceiving Euripus to be a river, others not knowing
where or in what part to place it, we first advertise, it gene-
rally signifleth any strait, fret, or channel of the sea, running
between two shores, as Julius Pollux hath defined it ; as we
read of Euripus Hellespontiacus, Pyrrhaeus, and this whereof
we treat, Euripus Euboicus, or Chalcidicus, that is, a nar-
row passage of sea dividing Attica, and the island of Eubcea,
now called Golfo di Negroponte, from the name of the
island and chief city thereof, famous in the wars of Antiochus,
and taken from the Venetians by Mahomet the Great.
Now that in this Euripe or fret of Negroponte, and upon
the occasion mentioned, Aristotle drowned himself, as many
affirm, and almost all believe, we have some room to doubt.
CHAP. XIII.] AND COMMON ERRORS. 333
For without any mention of this, we find two ways delivered
of his death by Diogenes Laertius, who expressly treateth
thereof; the one from Eumolus and Phavorinus, that being
accused of impiety for composing an hymn unto Hermias,
(upon whose concubine he begat his son Nicomachus,) he
withdrew into Chalcis, where drinking poison he died ; the
hymn is extant in Laertius, and the fifteenth book of Athe-
naeus. Another by Apollodorus,6 that he died at Chalcis of
a natural death and languishment of stomach, in his sixty-
third, or great climacterical year ; and answerable hereto is
the account of Suidas and Censorinus. And if that were
clearly made out, which Rabbi Ben Joseph affirmeth he
found in an Egyptian book of Abraham Sapiens Perizol, that
Aristotle acknowledged all that was written in the law of
Moses, and became at last a proselyte, it would also make
improbable this received way of his death.* 7
Again, beside the negative of authority, it is also deniable
by reason ; nor will it be easy to obtrude such desperate
attempts upon Aristotle, from unsatisfaction of reason, who so
often acknowledged the imbecility thereof. Who in matters
of difficulty, and such which were not without abstrusities,
conceived it sufficient to deliver conjecturalities. And surely
he that could sometimes sit down with high improbabili-
ties, that could content himself, and think to satisfy others,
that the variegation of birds was from their living in the sun,
or erection made by delibration of the testicles ; would not
have been dejected unto death with this. He that was so
well acquainted with y Sri and vongov, utrum and an quia, as we
observe in the queries of his problems, with hug and lit) rb voXu,
fortasse and plerumque, as is observable through all his
works, had certainly rested with probabilities, and glancing
conjectures in this. Nor would his resolutions have ever run
into that mortal antanaclasis, and desperate piece of rheto-
rick, to be comprised in that he could not comprehend. Nor
is it indeed to be made out, that he ever endeavoured the par-
* Licetus de Qucesitis. Epist.
6 another, %c] The most probable ' And if that, #c] First added in the
account. 2nd edition.
334 ENQUIRIES INTO VULGAR [BOOK VII.
ticular of Euripus, or so much as to resolve the ebb and flow
of the sea. For, as Vicomercatus and others observe, he
hath made no mention hereof in his works, although the
occasion present itself in his Meteors, wherein he disputeth
the affections of the sea ; nor yet in his Problems, although
in the twenty-third section there be no less than one and
forty queries of the sea. Some mention there is indeed in a
work of the propriety of elements, ascribed unto Aristotle ; *
which notwithstanding is not reputed genuine, and was per-
haps the same whence this was urged by Plutarch.
Lastly, the thing itself whereon the opinion dependeth,
that is, the variety of the flux and the reflux of Euripus, or
whether the same do ebb and flow seven times a day, is not
incontrovertible. For though Pomponius Mela, and after
him Solinus and Pliny have affirmed it, yet I observe Thucy-
dides, who speaketh often of Eubcea, hath omitted it. Pau-
sanius an ancient writer, who hath left an exact description
of Greece, and in as particular a way as Leandro of Italy,
or Camden of great Britain, describing not only the country
towns and rivers, but hills, springs, and houses, hath left no
mention hereof. /Eschines in Ctesiphon only alludeth unto
it ; and Strabo that accurate geographer speaks warily of it,
that is, w; <pu<sl, and as men commonly reported. And so doth
also Maginus, Velocis ac varii Jluctus est mare, ub'i quater in
die, aid scpties, ut alii dicunt, reciprocantur cestus. Botero
more plainly, // mar cresce e cala con un impeto mirabile
qnatra volte il di, ben die communimente si dica sette volte,
&fc. " this sea with wondrous impetuosity ebbeth and floweth
four times a day, although it be commonly said seven times ;
and generally opinioned, that Aristotle despairing of the
reason, drowned himself therein." In which description by
four times a day, it exceeds not in number the motion of other
seas, taking the words properly, that is twice ebbing and
twice flowing in four and twenty hours. And is no more than
what Thomaso Porrchachi affirmeth in his description of
famous islands, that twice a day it hath such an impetuous
flood, as is not without wonder. Livy speaks more particu-
* De placitis Pkilosophorum.
CHAP. XIII.] AND COMMON ERRORS. 335
larly, Haud facile infestior classi statio est et J return ipsum
Euripi, non septies die (sicut Jama fert) temporibus certis
reciprocat, sed temere in modum venti, nunc hunc nunc illuc
verso tnari, velut monte prcecipiti devolutus tor r ens rapitur :
" there is hardly a worse harbour, the fret or channel of
Euripus not certainly ebbing or flowing seven times a day,
according to common report : but being uncertainly, and in
the manner of a wind carried hither and thither, is whirled
away as a torrent down a hill." But the experimental testi-
mony of Gillius is most considerable of any ; who having
beheld the course thereof, and made enquiry of millers that
dwelt upon its shore, received answer, that it ebbed and
flowed four times a day, that is, every six hours, according
to the law of the ocean ; but that indeed sometimes it ob-
served not that certain course. And this irregularity, though
seldom happening, together with its unruly and tumultuous
motion, might afford a beginning unto the common opinion.
Thus may the expression in Ctesiphon be made out. And
by this may Aristotle be interpreted, when in his problems
he seems to borrow a metaphor from Euripus ; while in the
five and twentieth section he enquireth, why in the upper
parts of houses the air doth Euripize, that is, is whirled
hither and thither.
A later and experimental testimony is to be found in the
travels of Monsieur Duloir ; who about twenty years ago,
remained sometime at Negroponte, or old Chalcis, and also
passed and repassed this Euripus ; who thus expresseth
himself. " I wonder much at the error concerning the flux
and reflux of Euripus ; and I assure you that opinion is false.
I gave a boatman a crown, to set me in a convenient place,
where for a whole day I might observe the same. It ebbeth
and floweth by six hours, even as it doth at Venice, but the
course thereof is vehement." 8
Now that which gave life unto the assertion, might be his
death at Chalcis, the chief city of Eubcea, and seated upon
Euripus, where 'tis confessed by all he ended his days.
That he emaciated and pined away in the too anxious en-
8 A later and experimental, Si-c.~\ First added in Gth edition.
336 ENQUIRIES INTO VULGAR [BOOK VIL
quiry of its reciprocations, although not drowned therein, as
Rhodiginus relateth some conceived, was a half confession
thereof not justifiable from antiquity. Surely the philosophy
of flux and reflux was very imperfect of old among the
Greeks and Latins ; nor could they hold a sufficient theory
thereof, who only observed the Mediterranean, which in
some places hath no ebb, and not much in any part. Nor
can we affirm our knowledge is at the height, who have now
the theory of the ocean and narrow seas beside. While we
refer it unto the moon, we give some satisfaction for the
ocean, but no general salve for creeks and seas which know
no flood ; nor resolve why it flows three or four feet at Venice
in the bottom of the gulph, yet scarce at all at Ancono,
Durazzo, or Corcyra, which lie but by the way. And there-
fore old abstrusities have caused new inventions ; and some
from the hypotheses of Copernicus, or the diurnal and an-
nual motion of the earth, endeavour to salve the flows and
motions of these seas, illustrating the same by water in a
bowl, that rising or falling to either side, according to the
motion of the vessel ; the conceit is ingenious, salves some
doubts and is discovered at large by Galileo.* 9
But whether the received principle and undeniable action
of the moon may not be still retained, although in some dif-
ference of application, is yet to be perpended ; that is not by
a simple operation upon the surface or superior parts, but
excitation of the nitro- sulphureous spirits, and parts disposed
to intumescency at the bottom ; not by attenuation of the
upper part of the sea, (whereby ships would draw more
water at the flow than at the ebb) but inturgescencies caused
first at the bottom, and carrying the upper part before them;
subsiding and falling again, according to the motion of the
moon from the meridian, and languor of the exciting cause :
and therefore rivers and lakes who want these fermenting
parts at the bottom, are net excited unto actuations ; and
therefore some seas flow higher than others, according to the
* Rog. Bac. Doct. Cabeus Met. 2.
9 and is discovered at large by Gali- his booke, Be Fltuu et Refluxu Maris,
leo.] And by the Lord Bacon rejected in — Wr.
CHAP. XIII.] AND COMMON ERRORS. 331
plenty of these spirits, in their submarine constitutions. And
therefore also the periods of flux and reflux are various, nor
their increase or decrease equal : according to the temper of
the terreous parts at the bottom ; which as they are more
hardly or easily moved, do variously begin, continue or end
their intumescencies.
From the peculiar disposition of the earth at the bottom,
wherein quick excitations are made, may arise those agars 9
and impetuous flows in some estuaries and rivers, as is ob-
served about Trent and Humber in' England; which may
also have some effect in the boisterous tides of Euripus, not
only from ebullitions at the bottom, but also from the sides
and lateral parts, driving the streams from either side, which
arise or fall according to the motion in those parts, and the
intent or remiss operation of the first exciting causes, which
maintain their activities above and below the horizon ; even
as they do in the bodies of plants and animals, and in the
commotion of catarrhs.1
How therefore Aristotle died, what was his end. or upon
what occasion, although it be not altogether assured, yet that
his memory and worthy name shall live, no man will deny,
nor grateful scholar doubt. And, if according to the elogy
of Solon, a man may be only said to be happy after he is
dead, and ceaseth to be in the visible capacity of beatitude;
or if according unto his own ethicks, sense is not essential
unto felicity, but a man may be happy without the apprehen-
sion thereof ; surely in that sense he is pyramidally happy ;
nor can he ever perish but in the Euripe of ignorance, nor till
the torrent of barbarism overwhelmeth all.
A like conceit there passeth of Melisigenes, alias Homer,
the father poet, that he pined away upon the riddle of the
fishermen. But Herodotus who wrote his life hath cleared
this point ; delivering, that passing from Samos unto Athens,
he went sick ashore upon the island los, where he died, and
was solemnly interred upon the sea side ; and so decidingly
s agar.] The tumultuous influx of fyc. From the peculiar, #c] These two
the tide. paragraphs were first added in the 2nd
1 But whether, the received principle, edition.
VOL III. Z
338 ENQUIRIES INTO VULGAR [BOOK VII.
concludeth, Ex hac tsgritudine extremum diem clausit Ho-
merus in Io, non, ut arbitrantur aliqui, cenigmatis perplexi-
tate enectus, sed morbo.
CHAPTER XIV.
Of the Wish of Philoxenus, to have the Neck of a Crane.
That relation of Aristotle, and conceit generally received, con-
cerning Philoxenus, who wished the neck of a crane, that
thereby he might take more pleasure in his meat, although
it pass without exception, upon enquiry I find not only
doubtful in the story, but absurd in the desire or reason
alleged for it.2 For though his wish were such as is delivered,
yet had it not perhaps that end to delight his gust in eating,
but rather to obtain advantage thereby in singing, as is
declared by Mirandula. Aristotle, saith he, in his EthicJcs
and Problems, accuseth Philoxenus of sensuality, for the
greater pleasure of gust desiring the neck of a crane, which
desire of his (assenting unto Aristotle), I have formerly con-
demned. But since I perceive that Aristotle for his accusa-
tion hath been accused by divers writers ; — for Philoxenus
was an excellent musician, and desired the neck of a crane,
not for any pleasure at meat, but fancying thereby an advan-
tage in singing or warbling, and dividing the notes in music ;
— and many writers there are which mention a musician of that
name ; as Plutarch in his book against Usury, and Aristotle
himself, in the eighth of his Politicks, speaks of one Philoxenus,
2 That relation, fyc."] Our author's expressed, seeing that many have enter-
observations on this absurd story are tained wishes far more so. But he even
quoted by Dr. John Bulwer, in his asserts its reasonableness, " that there
Anthropomclamorphosis, &c. p. 276. is much pleasure in deglutition of sweet
Ross goes into the history of Philoxe- meats and drinks, is plain by the practice
nus at great length, and adheres, as of those who, to supply the want of long
usual, most tenaciously to the legend, necks, used to suck their drink out of
He contends, and with some reason, long small cranes, or quills, or glasses
that the absurdity of the wish, if granted, with long narrow snouts, &c. &c ! ! "
were no argument against its having been
CHAP. XIV.j AND COMMON ERRORS. 339
a musician, that went off from the Dorick dithyrambics unto
the Phrygian harmony.
Again, be the story true or false, rightly applied or not,
the intention is not reasonable, and that perhaps neither one
way nor the other. For if we rightly consider the organ of
taste, we shall find the length of the neck to conduce but
little unto it ; for the tongue being the instrument of taste, and
the tip thereof the most exact distinguisher, it will not ad-
vantage the gust to have the neck extended ; wherein the
gullet and conveying parts are only seated, which partake
not of the nerves of gustation, or appertaining unto sapor,
but receive them only from the sixth pair; whereas the
nerves of taste descend from the third and fourth propagations,
and so diffuse themselves into the tongue; and therefore
cranes, herons, and swans, have no advantage in taste beyond
hawks, kites, and others of shorter necks.
Nor, if we consider it, had nature respect unto the taste
in the different contrivance of necks, but rather unto the
parts contained, the composure of the rest of the body, and
the manner whereby they feed. Thus animals of long legs
have generally long necks, that is, for the conveniency of
feeding, as having a necessity to apply their mouths unto the
earth. So have horses, camels, dromedaries, long necks, and
all tall animals, except the elephant, who in defect thereof
is furnished with a trunk, without which he could not attain
the ground. So have cranes, herons, storks, and shovelards
long necks ; and so even in man, whose figure is erect, the
length of the neck followeth the proportion of other parts ;
and such as have round faces or broad chests and shoulders,
have very seldom long necks. For the length of the face
twice exceedeth that of the neck, and the space between the
throat-pit and the navel, is equal unto the circumference
thereof. Again, animals are framed with long necks, accord-
ing unto the course of their life or feeding ; so many with
short legs have long necks, because they feed in the water,
as swans, geese, pelicans, and other fin-footed animals.3
But hawks and birds of prey have short necks and trussed
3 fin-footed animals.'] Wee usually call with the use more significantlye. — Wr.
them lether-footed,* but this terme suites * Web-footed rather.
Z 2
340 ENQUIRIES INTO VULGAR [BOOK VII.
legs ; for that which is long is weak and flexible, and a
shorter figure is best accommodated unto that intention.
Lastly, the necks of animals do vary, according to the parts
that are contained in them, which are the weazand and the
gullet. Such as have no weazand and breathe not, have scarce
any neck, as most sort of fishes ; and some none at all,
as all sorts of pectinals, soals, thornback, flounders, and all
crustaceous animals, as crevises,4 crabs, and lobsters.
All which considered, the wish of Philoxenus will hardly
consist with reason. More excusable had it been to have
wished himself an ape,5 which if common conceit speak true,
is exacter in taste than any. Rather some kind of grani-
vorous bird than a crane, for in this sense they are so exquisite,
that upon the first peck of their bill, they can distinguish the
qualities of hard bodies, which the sense of man discerns not
without mastication. Rather some ruminating animal, that
he might have eat his meat twice over ; or rather, as Theo-
philus observed in Athenaeus, his desire had been more
reasonable, had he wished himself an elephant or a horse;
for in these animals the appetite is more vehement, and they
receive their viands in large and plenteous manner. And this
indeed had been more suitable, if this were the same Phi-
loxenus whereof Plutarch speaketh, who was so uncivilly
greedy, that, to engross the mess,6 he would preventively
deliver his nostrils in the dish.7
4 crevises.] Now called cray-fish. his own. His neighbour, perceiving his
5 an ape.] I thinke an ape is more own chance thus demolished, expostu-
exacte in the smel then in the taste: lated ; and was told in reply of the
for he never tastes that which hee first virtues of pepper, as the only thing to
smels not too. And how pleasant soever make green peas wholesome. He instantly
any food seeme to us, yf itt displease drew forth his snuff box, and dextrously
his smel, he throws it away with a kind scattered its contents over the dish, as
of indignation. — Wr. the most summary means which occurred
6 to engross the mess.'] I was assured to him of defeating such palpable selfisli-
by a friend that the following somewhat ness and gluttony, observing drily that
similar exploit was performed in a com- he thought snuff an excellent addition to
mercial traveller's room at A the pepper.
dish of green peas was served very early 1 disk.] There have been some whose
in the season. One of the party, who slovenleyeness and greedines have sequal-
preferred high seasoned peas to most ed his, by throwing a candles end into a
other vegetables, and himself to every messe of creame. But, more ingenious,
body besides, took an early opportunity frame a peece of aple like a candle, and
of offering his services to help the peas, therein stick a clove to deceave others of
but he began by peppering them so un- their deyntyes, in fine eating the coun-
mercifully, that it was not very probable terfet candle. — H'r.
they would suit any other palate than Counterfeit candles' ends are now made
CHAP. XV.] AND COMMON ERRORS. oil
As for the musical advantage, although it seem more rea-
sonable, yet do we not observe that cranes and birds of long
necks have any musical, but harsh and clangous throats.
But birds that are canorous, and whose notes we most
commend, are of little throats and short necks, as nightingales,
finches, linnets, Canary birds and larks. And truly, although
the weazand, trottle and tongue be the instruments of voice,
and by their agitations do chiefly concur unto these delightful
modulations, yet cannot we distinctly and peculiarly assign
the cause unto any particular formation ; and I perceive the
best thereof, the nightingale, hath some disadvantage in the
tongue, which is not acuminate 8 and pointed as the rest,
but seemeth as it were cut oiF, which perhaps might give the
hint unto the fable of Philomela, and the cutting off her
tongue by Tereus.
CHAPTER XV.
Of the Lake Asphaltites.
Concerning the Lake Asphaltites, the Lake of Sodom, or the
Dead Sea, that heavy bodies cast therein sink not, but by
reason of a salt and bituminous thickness in the water float
and swim above, narrations already made are of that variety,
we can hardly from thence deduce a satisfactory determina-
tion, and that not only in the story itself, but in the cause
alleged. As for the story, men deliver it variously.9 Some I
of peppermint, which are admirable irni- incredible stories, which both ancients
tations of the attractive originals, and and moderns have told respecting this
would have perfectly supplied the occa- lake. Dr. Pococke swam in it for nearly
sion related by the Dean. a quarter of an hour, and felt no incon-
8 acuminate.'] Yf the acuminate did venience. He found the water very
any thinge to the songe or speech of clear, and to contain no substances be-
birds, how comes itt that the blunt toung sides salt and alum. The fact is, that
in the parat and the gaye [jay ?J speake its waters are very salt, and therefore
best, and in the bulfinch expresses the bodies float readily in it ; and probably
most excellent whistle.— Wr. on that account few fish can live in it.
See note on the vocal organs of birds, Yet the monks of St. Saba assured Dr.
vol ii, p. 5 IS. Sliaw t]iat they had seen fish caught in
9 As for the story itself, <$c] It is to the lake.— See Dr. Adam Clarke's note in
be reckoned among the many strange and loc.
342 ENQUIRIES INTO VULGAR [BOOK VII.
fear too largely, as Pliny, who affirmeth that bricks will swim
therein. Mandevil goeth further, that iron swimmeth, and
feathers sink. Munster in his Cosmography hath another
relation, although perhaps derived from the poem of Ter-
tullian, that a candle burning swimmeth, but if extinguished
sinketh.1 Some more moderately, as Josephus, and many
others, affirming that only living bodies float, nor peremptorily
averring they cannot sink, but that indeed they do not easily
descend. Most traditionally, as Galen, Pliny, Solinus, and
Strabo, who seems to mistake the Lake Ser bonis for it. Few
experimentally, most contenting themselves in the experiment
of Vespasian, by whose command some captives bound were
cast therein, and found to float as though they could have
swimmed. Divers contradictorily, or contrarily, quite over-
throwing the point.2 Aristotle, in the second of his Meteors,
speaks lightly thereof, JJoWsg pvOoXoyovGi, which word is variously
rendered, by some as a fabulous account, by some as a com-
mon talk. Biddulphus * divideth the common accounts of
Judea into three parts ; the one, saith he, are apparent truths,
the second apparent falsehoods, the third are dubious or
between both, in which form he ranketh the relation of this
lake. But Andrew Thevet, in his Cosmography, doth ocularly
overthrow it, for he affirmeth he saw an ass with his saddle
cast therein and drowned. Now of these relations so different
or contrary unto each other, the second is most moderate
and safest to be embraced, which saith that living bodies
swim therein, that is, they do not easily sink, and this, until
exact experiment further determine, may be allowed as best
consistent with this quality, and the reasons alleged for it.
As for the cause of this effect, common opinion conceives
it to be the salt and bituminous thickness of the water. This
indeed is probable, and may be admitted as far as the second
opinion concedeth. For certain it is that salt water will sup-
Biddulplii Itinerarium, Avglice.
1 sinketh.~\ Soe it will doe in any e water, sides of the lake, which have not all the
if kept upright. — Wr- like effecte : in some partes it beares that
2 divers contradictorily. "\ This diver- which in another part will sinke, as hath
sity may proceed from the diverse expe- been experimented by some late tra-
Timents that have been made on severall velers. — Wr.
CHAP. XV.] AND COMMON ERRORS. Si3
port a greater burden than fresh ; and we see an egg will
descend in fresh water, which will swim in brine. But that
iron should float therein, from this cause, is hardly granted ;
for heavy bodies will only swim in that liquor, wherein the
weight of their bulk exceedeth not the weight of so much
water as it occupieth or taketh up. But surely no water is
heavy enough to answer the ponderosity of iron, and there-
fore that metal will sink in any kind thereof, and it was a
perfect miracle which was wrought this way by Elisha. Thus
we perceive that bodies do swim or sink in different liquors,
according unto the tenuity or gravity of those liquors which
are to support them. So salt water beareth that weight
which will sink in vinegar ; vinegar that which will fall in fresh
water ; fresh water that which will sink in spirits of wine ;
and that will swim in spirits of wine which will sink in clear
oil ; as we made experiment in globes of wax pierced with
light sticks to support them. So that although it be conceiv-
ed a hard matter to sink in oil, I believe a man should find
it very difficult, and next to flying to swim therein. And
thus will gold sink in quicksilver, wherein iron and other
metals swim ; for the bulk of gold is only heavier than that
space of quicksilver which it containeth ; and thus also in a
solution of one ounce of quicksilver in two of aquafortis, the
liquor will bear amber, horn, and the softer kinds of stones,
as we have made trial in each.
But a private opinion there is which crosseth the common
conceit, maintained by some of late, and alleged of old by
Strabo, that the floating of bodies in this lake proceeds not
from the thickness of water, but a bituminous ebullition from
the bottom, whereby it wafts up bodies injected, and sufFereth
them not easily to sink. The verity thereof would be en-
quired by ocular exploration, for this way is also probable.
So we observe, it is hard to wade deep in baths where springs
arise; and thus sometime are balls made to play upon a
spouting stream.3
And therefore, until judicious and ocular experiment con-
3 spouting stream.'] This confirmeth is but in some places stronge, and in
what I noted before, for, as in the hot some places of the lake not at all. — Wr.
bathe, so here, the bituminous ebullition
344 ENQUIRIES INTO VULGAR [BOOK VII.
firm or distinguish the assertion, that bodies do not sink
herein at all, we do not yet believe; that they do, not easily, or
with more difficulty, descend in this than other water, we
shall readily asssent.4 But to conclude an impossibility from
a difficulty, or affirm whereas things not easily sink, they do
not drown at all ; beside the fallacy, is a frequent addition in
human expression, and an amplification not unusual as well in
opinions as relations ; which oftentimes give indistinct ac-
counts of proximities, and without restraint transcend from
one another. Thus, forasmuch as the torrid zone was con-
ceived exceeding hot, and of difficult habitation, the opinions
of men so advanced its constitution, as to conceive the same
unhabitable, and beyond possibility for man to live therein.
Thus, because there are no wolves in England, nor have been
observed for divers generations, common people have pro-
ceeded into opinions, and some wise men into affirmations,
they will not live therein, although brought from other coun-
tries. Thus most men affirm, and few here will believe the
contrary, that there be no spiders in Ireland ; but we have
beheld some in that country ; and though but few, some cob-
webs we behold in Irish wood in England. Thus the croco-
dile from an egg growing up to an exceeding magnitude,
common conceit, and divers writers deliver, it hath no period
of increase, but groweth as long as it liveth.5 And thus in
brief, in most apprehensions the conceits of men extend the
considerations of things, and dilate their notions beyond the
propriety of their natures.
In the maps of the Dead Sea or Lake of Sodom, we meet
4 readily assent.'] And hee should completion, to the farther growth of tlie
adde, in some places itt beares, in others individual. Nor do they, like the verte-
not.- — IFr- urate animals, arrive early at a maximum
5 groweth, Sfc.~] This may bee true of growth, which is not afterwards in
inoughe in regard of the vast bignes creased, except in corpulency. Conge-
which is reported of some of them ; and niality of climate makes a striking difter-
vvhat should hinder? For in men and ence in magnitude, at the same age,
creatures also kept for food, their bulke between saurians of different countries,
growes stil greater, though not their sta- (for example, the crocodile of the Nile is
ture Wr. larger than any other of its species,) but
It is probably true, of the whole order in all, growth, though very slow, is pro-
to which the crocodle belongs (the sauri- bably continued through life ; unless, in-
ansj that they have " no period of in- deed, extreme old age may begin the
crease" — they have no metamorjihosis, end, by ending the vital power of growth,
like many other animals, (and some in which seems probable, but would not im-
the same class,) to place a limit, by its pugn our author's position.
CHAP. XVI.] AND COMMON ERRORS. 345
with the destroyed cities, and in divers the city of Sodom
placed about the middle, or far from the shore of it ; but that
it could not be far from Segor, which was seated under the
mountains, near the side of the Lake, seems inferrrible from
the sudden arrival of Lot, who coming from Sodom at day-
break, attained Segor at sun-rising ; and therefore Sodom to
be placed not many miles from it, and not in the middle of
the Lake, which is accounted about eighteen miles over ; and
so will leave about nine miles to be passed in too small a
space of time.
CHAPTER XVI.
Of Divers other Relations, viz : — Of the Woman that Con-
ceived in a Bath ; — Of Crassus that never Laughed but
once; — That our Saviour never Laughed ,-— Of Sergius the
Second, or Bocca di Porco ; — That Tamerlane ivas a Scy-
thian Shepherd.
The relation of Averroes, and now common in every mouth,
of the woman that conceived in a bath, by attracting the
sperm or seminal effluxion of a man admitted to bathe in
some vicinity unto her,6 I have scarce faith to believe : and
had I been of the jury, should have hardly thought I had
found the father in the person that stood by her. 'T is a
new and unseconded way in history to fornicate at a distance,
and much offendeth the rules of physic, which say, there is
no generation without a joint emission, nor only a virtual, but
corporal and carnal contaction. And although Aristotle and
his adherents do cut off the one, who conceive no effectual
ejaculation in women ; yet in defence of the other they can-
6 by attracting, §*c] No absurdity, meat and drink, though in some distance
which Browne undertakes to refute — from it." The conceit respecting Lot is
though so gross as not to merit notice, not suggested by the scriptural account,
appears too monstrous to find acceptance which only asserts that he did not re-
with Ross. He finds it " quite pos- cognize his daughters,
sible, even as the stomach attracteth
346 ENQUIRIES INTO VULGAR [BOOK VII.
not be introduced. For if, as he believeth, the inordinate
longitude of the organ, though in its proper recipient, may
be a mean to inprolificate the seed ; surely the distance of
place, with the commixture of an aqueous body must prove
an effectual impediment, and utterly prevent the success of
a conception. And therefore that conceit concerning the
daughters of Lot, that they were impregnated by their sleep-
ing father, or conceived by seminal pollution received at
distance from him, will hardly be admitted. And therefore
what is related of devils, and the contrived delusions of
spirits, that they steal the seminal emissions of man, and
transmit them into their votaries in coition, is much to be
suspected ; and altogether to be denied, that there ensue
conceptions thereupon ; however husbanded by art, and the
wisest menagery of that most subtile impostor. And there-
fore also that our magnified Merlin was thus begotten by the
devil, is a groundless conception ; and as vain to think from
thence to give the reason of his prophetical spirit. For if a
generation could succeed, yet should not the issue inherit the
faculties of the devil, who is but an auxiliary, and no univo-
cal actor ; nor will his nature substantially concur to such
productions.
And although it seems not impossible, that impregnation
may succeed from seminal spirits, and vaporous irradiations,
containing the active principle, without material and gross
immissions ; as it happeneth sometimes in imperforated per-
sons, and rare conceptions of some much under puberty or
fourteen. As may be also conjectured in the coition of some
insects, wherein the female makes intrusion into the male ;
and from the continued ovation in hens, from one single tread
of a cock, and little stock laid up near the vent, sufficient for
durable prolification. And although also in human genera-
tion the gross and corpulent seminal body may return again,
and the great business be acted by what it carrieth with it :
yet will hot the same suffice to support the story in question,
wherein no corpulent immission is acknowledged ; answerable
unto the fable of Talmudists, in the story of Benzira, begotten
in the same manner on the daughter of the prophet Jeremiah.7
' And although, 8fc, | This paragraph first added in 3rd edition.
CHAP. XVI.] AND COMMON ERRORS. 347
2. The relation of Lucillius, and now become common
concerning Crassus, the grandfather of Marcus the wealthy
Roman, that he never laughed but once in all his life, and
that was at an ass eating thistles, is something strange. For,
if an indifferent and unridiculous object could draw his ha-
bitual austereness unto a smile, it will be hard to believe he
could with perpetuity resist the proper motives thereof. For
the act of laughter, which is evidenced by a sweet contrac-
tion of the muscles of the face, and a pleasant agitation of
the vocal organs, is not merely voluntary, or totally within the
jurisdiction of ourselves, but, as it maybe constrained by cor-
poral contaction in any, and hath been enforced in some even
in their death, so the new, unusual, or unexpected, jucundities
which present themselves to any man in his life, at some time
or other, will have activity enough to excitate the earthiest
soul, and raise a smile from most composed tempers. Cer-
tainly the times were dull when these things happened, and
the wits of those ages short of these of ours ; when men
could maintain such immutable faces, as to remain like statues
under the flatteries of wit, and persist unalterable at all ef-
forts of jocularity. The spirits in hell, and Pluto himself,
whom Lucian makes to laugh at passages upon earth, will
plainly condemn these Saturnines, and make ridiculous the
magnified Heraclitus, who wept preposterously, and made a
hell on earth ; for rejecting the consolations of life, he passed
his days in tears, and the uncomfortable attendments of hell.8
3, The same conceit9 there passeth concerning our blessed
Saviour, and is sometime urged as a high example of gravity.
And this is opinioned, because in Holy Scripture it is record-
ed he sometimes wept, but never that he laughed. Which
howsoever granted, it will be hard to conceive how he passed
his younger years and childhood without a smile, if as divinity
affirmeth, for the assurance of his humanity unto men, and the
8 the uncomfortable, Sfc.] Ross re- 9 Tlie same conceit, Sfc.~\ Tis noe
marks with much reason on this obser- argument to say tis never read in Scrip-
vation, that " oftentimes there is hell in ture that Christ laughed, therefore he
laughing, and a heaven in weeping:" did never laughe, but on the other side to
and that "good men find not the un- affirme, that hee did laughe is therefore
comfortable attendments of hell in weep- dangerous bycause unwarrantable and
ing, but rather the comfortable enjoy- groundles. Wr.
ments of heaven."— Arcana, p. 176.
348 ENQUIRIES INTO VULGAR [BOOK VII.
concealment of his divinity from the devil, he passed this age
like other children, and so proceeded until he evidenced the
same. And surely herein no danger there is to affirm the act
or performance of that, whereof we acknowledge the power
and essential property ; and whereby indeed he most nearly
convinced the doubt of his humanity.1 Nor need we be
afraid to ascribe that unto the incarnate Son, which sometimes
is attributed unto the uncarnate Father ; of whom it is said,
" He that dwelleth in the heavens shall laugh the Avicked to
scorn." For a laugh there is of contempt or indignation, as
well as of mirth and jocosity: and that our Saviour was not
exempted from the ground hereof, that is, the passion of an-
ger, regulated and rightly ordered by reason, the schools do
not deny ; and, besides the experience of the money-changers
and dove-sellers in the temple, is testified by St. John, when
he saith, the speech of David was fulfilled in our Saviour.*
Now the alogy of this opinion consisteth in the illation ;
it being not reasonable to conclude from Scripture negatively
in points which are not matters of faith, and pertaining unto
salvation. And therefore, although in the description of the
creation there be no mention of fire,c Christian philosophy
did not think it reasonable presently to annihilate that ele-
ment, or positively to decree there was no such thing at all.3
* Zelus domils tuce comedit me.
1 humanity.'] The doubt of his hu- It is the characteristic description of our
inanity was convinced soe many other Redeemer that " he was a man of sor-
wayes (before his passion) as by his rows and acquainted with grief." Will
birth, his circumcision, his hunger at the it not be felt by every Christian, that
fig-tree, his compassion and teares over laughter is utterly out of keeping with
his friend Lazarus, and those other in- the dignity, the character and office of
stances here alleaged, that the propertye him, who himself took our infirmities,
of risibilitye (which is indeed the usuall and bare our sins ; who spent a life in
instance of the schooles) though it bee the endurance of the contradiction of
inseparable from the nature of man, and sinners against himself, — and in the full
incommunicable to any other nature, yet and constant contemplation of that aw-
itt does not infer the necessitye of the ful moment when he was to lay down
acte in every individual] subject or per- that life for their sakes ? The difficulty
son of man ; noe more then the power would have been to credit the contrary
and propertye of numeration (wherof no tradition, had it existed,
other creature in the world is capable) " fire.] There is no mention of met-
can make every man an arithmetician, tals or fossiles ; and yet wee know they
Itt is likewise recorded of Julius Satur- were created then, or else they could not
ninus, sonne to Philippus (Arabs) the now bee. — Jf'r.
emperor, that from his birth nulla pror- :i at alt.] Many things may perchance
sits cujusquum commento ad ridendum be past over in silence in Holy Scripture,
moveri potuerit — Wr. which notwithstandinge arc knowne to
CHAP. XVI.] AND COMMON ERRORS. 349
Thus, whereas in the brief narration of Moses there is no
record of wine before the flood, we cannot satisfactorily con-
clude that Noah4 was the first that ever tasted thereof.* And
thus, because the word brain is scarce mentioned once, but
heart above a hundred times in Holy Scripture, physicians
that dispute the principality of parts are not from hence in-
duced to bereave the animal organ of its priority. Where-
fore the Scriptures being serious, and commonly omitting
such parergies, it will be unreasonable from hence to condemn
all laughter, and from considerations inconsiderable to disci-
pline a man out of his nature. For this is by rustical
severity to banish all urbanity : whose harmless and confined
condition, as it stands commended by morality, so is it con-
sistent with religion, and doth not offend divinity.
4. The custom it is of Popes to change their name at their
creation; and the author thereof is commonly said to be
Bocca di Porco, or Swines-face; who therefore assumed the
stile of Sergius the 2nd, as being ashamed so foul a name
should dishonour the chair of Peter ; wherein notwithstand-
ing, from Montacutius and others, I find there may be some
mistake. For Massonius who writ the lives of Popes, ac-
knowledgeth he was not the first that changed his name in
that see ; nor as Platina affirmeth.. have all his successors
precisely continued that custom ; for Adrian the sixth, and
Marcellus the second, did still retain their baptismal denomi-
nation. Nor is it proved, or probable, that Sergius changed
* Only in the vulgar Latin, Judg. ix, 53.
bee partes of the creation, and many yard, and that first made wine, and
things spoken to the vulgar capacity, therfore was the first that dranke of the
which must be understood in a modified wine ; which does not only satisfactorily
sense. But never any thinge soe spoken but necessarily oblige us to a beleefe
as might be convinced of falshood : soe that wine made by expression into a
that either God or Copernicus, speaking species of drinke was not knowne, and
contradictions, cannot both speak truthe. therfore not used in that new (dryed)
And therefore, sit Deus verus et omnis world till Noah invented itt. Itt was
homo mendax, that speakes contradictions then, as itt is now in the new westerne
to him. — Wr. plantations, where they have the vine,
4 Noah.~\ Noah was not the first that and eate the grapes, but do not drinke
tasted of the grape: but itt is expresly wine, bycause they never began to plant
sayd, Genes, ix, 21, that Noah was the vineyardes till now of late. — Wr.
first husbandman that planted a vine-
350 ENQUIRIES INTO VULGAR [BOOK VII.
the name of Bocca di Porco, for this was his surname,5 or
gentilitious appellation ; nor was it the custom to alter that with
the other : but he commuted his Christian name Peter for
Sergius, because he would seem to decline the name of Peter
the second. A scruple I confess not thought considerable in
other sees, whose originals and first patriarchs have been less
disputed ; nor yet perhaps of that reality as to prevail in
points of the same nature. For the names of the apostles,
patriarchs, and prophets have been assumed even to affecta-
tion. The name of Jesus6 hath not been appropriated; but
some in precedent ages have born that name, and many since
have not refused the Christian name of Emmanuel. Thus
are there few names more frequent than Moses and Abraham
among the Jews. The Turks without scruple affect the
name of Mahomet, and with gladness receive so honourable
cognomination.
And truly in human occurrences there ever have been
many well directed intentions, whose rationalities will never
bear a rigid examination, and though in some way they do
commend their authors, and such as first began them, yet
have they proved insufficient to perpetuate imitation in such
as have succeeded them. Thus was it a worthy resolution
of Godfrey, and most Christians have applauded it, that he
refused to wear a crown of gold where his Saviour had worn
one of thorns. Yet did not his successors durably inherit
that scruple, but some were anointed, and solemnly accepted
the diadem of regality. Thus Julius, Augustus, and Tibe-
rius with great humility or popularity refused the name of
Imperator, but their successors have challenged that title,
and retained the same even in its titularity. And thus, to
come nearer our subject, the humility of Gregory the Great
° surname.'] Itt might bee his sire- of Emmanuel in a qualified sense onlye.
name : but doubtles it was first a nic- But that never any Pope would bee
name fastened on some of his progenitors, stiled Peter the second, proceeds from a
— Wr. mysterye of policye; that they may ra-
6 The name, fyc] The name of Jesus ther seeme successors to his power, then
was not the same, per omnia, in Joshua; to his name, which they therefore decline
and Jesu was never given to any before of purpose : that Christ's vicariate au-
the angel brought itt from heaven. The thoritye may seeme to descend not from
names of patriarches and prophets have personal succession, but immediately
been imposed (not assumed) as memori- from [him] who first derived it on Peter,
als (to children) of imitation : and that — Wr.
CHAP. XVI.] AND COMMON EltRORS. 351
would by no means admit the stile of universal bishop; but
the ambition of Boniface made no scruple thereof, nor of
more queasy resolutions have been their successors ever
since.
5. That Tamerlane7 was a Scythian shepherd, from Mr.
Knollis and others, from Alhazen a learned Arabian who
wrote his life, and was spectator of many of his exploits, we
have reasons to deny. Not only from his birth, — for he was
of the blood of the Tartarian emperors, whose father Og had
for his possession the country of Sagathy, (which was no
slender territory, but comprehended all that tract wherein
were contained Bactriana, Sogdiana, Margiana, and the
nation of the Massagetes, whose capital city was Samarcand,
a place, though now decayed, of great esteem and trade in
former ages,) — but from his regal inauguration, for it is said,
that being about the age of fifteen, his old father resigned
the kingdom, and men of war unto him. And also from his
education, for as the story speaks it, he was instructed in the
Arabian learning, and afterwards exercised himself therein.
Now Arabian learning was in a manner all the liberal sciences,
especially the mathematicks, and natural philosophy ; where-
in, not many ages before him there flourished Avicenna,
Averroes, Avenzoar, Geber, Almanw, and Alhazen, cogno-
minal unto him that wrote his history, whose chronology in-
deed, although it be obscure, yet in the opinion of his
commentator, he was contemporary unto Avicenna, and hath
left sixteen books of opticks, of great esteem with ages past,
and textuary unto our days.
Now the ground of this mistake was surely that which the
Turkish historian declareth. Some, saith he, of our histo-
rians will needs have Tamerlane to be the son of a shepherd.
But this they have said, not knowing at all the custom of
their country ; wherein the principal revenues of the king and
7 Tamerlane.'] His true Scythian His father was Targui, a chief of the
name was Temur-Can which all storyes tribe of Berlas, tributary to Jagatai, one
corruptly and absurdlye call Tamberlane. of the sons of Jenghis- (or Chingis-)
— Wr. Khan. He was born at Sebz, a suburb
From the best authorities it appears of the city of Kesch. See Biographic
that the parentage here assigned to Universelle ; Universal History; Lard-
Timur Beg (Tamerlane) is erroneous, ncr's Outlines of History.
352 ENQUIRIES INTO VULGAR [BOOK VII.
nobles consisteth in cattle ; who, despising gold and silver,
abound in all sorts thereof. And this was the occasion that
some men call them shepherds, and also affirm this prince
descended from them. Now, if it be reasonable, that great
men whose possessions are chiefly in cattle should bear the
name of shepherds, and fall upon so low denominations, then
may we say that Abraham was a shepherd, although too
powerful for four kings ; that Job was of that condition, who
beside camels and oxen had seven thousand sheep,8 and yet
is said to be the greatest man in the east. Thus was Mesha,
king of Moab, a shepherd, who annually paid unto the crown
of Israel, an hundred thousand lambs, and. as many rams.
Surely it is no dishonourable course of life which Moses and
Jacob have made exemplary: 'tis a profession supported
upon the natural way of acquisition, and though contemned by
the Egyptians, much countenanced by the Hebrews, whose
sacrifices required plenty of sheep and lambs. And certain-
ly they were very numerous ; for, at the consecration of the
temple, beside two-and-twenty thousand oxen, king Solomon
sacrificed an hundred and twenty thousand sheep : and the
same is observable from the daily provision of his house ;
which was ten fat oxen,9 twenty oxen out of the pastures,
and a hundred sheep, beside roebuck, fallow deer and.
fatted fowls. Wherein notwithstanding, (if a punctual rela-
tion thereof do rightly inform us,) the Grand Seignior doth
exceed : the daily provision of whose seraglio in the reign of
Achmet, beside beeves, consumed9 two hundred sheep,
lambs and kids when they were in season one hundred,
calves ten, geese fifty, hens two hundred, chickens one hun-
dred, pigeons a hundred pair.
And therefore this mistake, concerning the noble Tamer-
lane, was like that concerning Demosthenes, who is said to
8 sheep.~\ Sir Wm. Jorden, of Wiltcs, kids, 109,500. And yet this cann raise
in the plaines, aspired to come to the noe greate wonder considering how
number of 20,000 : but with all his en- manye mouthes were dayly fed at So-
deavor could never bring them beyond lomon's tables, his concubines, his offi-
18,000. He lived since 1630 Wr. cers, his guards, and all sorts of inferior
9 oxen, S,-c.~\ That is, in the yeare, attendants on him and them: of which
of beeves, 10,950, of sheep, 30,500 kindes the Grand Signeur mninteyns
Wr. greater multitudes daylye in the Serag-
1 consumed, cyr.] Of sheep, lambs, lio. — Wr.
CHAP. XVII.] AND COMMON ERRORS. 353
be the son of a blacksmith, according to common conceit,
and that handsome expression of Juvenal;
Quern pater ardentis massa fuligine lippus,
A carbone et fovcipibus, gladiosque parante
Incude, et luteo Vulcano, et Rhetora misit.
Thus Englished by Sir Robert Stapleton.
Whom's Father with the smoky forge half blind,
From blows on sooty Vulcan's anvil spent
In ham'ring swords, to study Rhet'rick sent.
But Plutarch, who writ his life, hath cleared this conceit,
plainly affirming he was most nobly descended, and that this
report was raised, because his father had many slavesthat
wrought smith's work, and brought the profit unto him.£
CHAPTER XVII.
Of some others viz. , — of the poverty of Belisarius ; of Flue t us
Decumamis, or the tenth wave ; of Parisatis that poisoned
Satira by one side of a knife; of the Woman fed with poi-
son that should have poisoned Alexander ; of the Wander-
ing Jew ; of Pope Joan ; of Friar Bacons brazen head
that spoke; of Epicurus.
We are sad when we read the story of Belisarius, that wor-
thy chieftain of Justinian ; who after his victories over
Vandals, Goths, Persians, and his trophies in three parts of
the world, had at last his eyes put out by the emperor, and
was reduced to that distress, that he begged relief on the
highway, in that uncomfortable petition, date obolum Beli-
sario* And this we do not only hear in discourses, orations
2 And this mistake, Sfc] This para- his life of Belisarius, adopts this tradi-
graph was first added in the 2nd edition, tional account of him, as the most likely
except the translation, which was added to be true: and gives at the close of the
in the 6th edition. work his reasons at large.
3 We arc sad, <!yc.] Lord Mnhon, in
VOL III. 2 A
354 ENQUIRIES INTO VULGAR [BOOK VII.
and themes, but find it also in the leaves of Petrus Crinitus,
Volaterranus, and other worthy writers.
But, what may somewhat consolate all men that honour
virtue, we do not discover the latter scene of his misery in
authors of antiquity, or such as have expressly delivered the
stories of those times. For, Suidas is silent herein, Cedre-
nus and Zonaras, two grave and punctual authors, delivering
only the confiscation of his goods, omit the history of his
mendication. Paulus Diaconus goeth farther, not only pass-
ing over this act, but affirming his goods and dignities were
restored. Agathius, who lived at the same time, declared he
suffered much from the envy of the court: but that he de-
scended thus deep into affliction, is not to be gathered from
his pen. The same is also omitted by Procopius,* a contem-
pory and professed enemy unto Justinian and Belisarius, who
hath left an opprobrious book against them both.
And in this opinion and hopes we are not single, but
Andreas Aniatus the civilian in his Parerga, and Franciscus
de Corduba in his Didascalia, have both declaratory con-
firmed the same, which is also agreeable unto the judgment
of Nicolaus Alemannus, in his notes upon that bitter history
of Procopius. Certainly sad tragical stories are seldom
drawn within the circle of their verities; but as their relators
do either intend the hatred or pity of the persons, so are
they set forth with additional amplifications. Thus have
some suspected it hath happened unto the story of CEdipus :
and thus do we conceive it hath fared with that of Judas,
who, having sinned above aggravation, and committed one
villany which cannot be exasperated by all other, is also
charged with the murder of his reputed brother, parricide
of his father, and incest with his own mother,4 as Florilegus
*' Av£X.dora} or Arcana Historia.
4 is also charged, &c.~\ Surely yf these nor would the Sonne of God have en-
had been true, St. John, who cals him a dined the scandal of such a knowne
theefe in plaine termes, woidd never miscreant, much lesse have chosen him
have concealed such unparalled villanyes. among the twelve apostles. Judas deserv-
They could not bee don after his trea- ed as much detestation as his unparaleld
son, the halter followed that soe closelye; and matchless crimes could any way
and had they been don before, neither deserve. But noe cause of such detes-
could he have escaped the laws of Judaea, tation could be soe just, as to produce
most severe against such hideous crimes ; such prodigious fictions in the writings
CHAP. XVII.] AND COMMON ERRORS. 355
or Matthew of Westminster hath at large related. And
thus hath it perhaps befallen the noble Belisarius ; who,
upon instigation of the Empress, having contrived the exile,
and very hardly treated Pope Serverius, Latin pens, as a
judgment of God upon this fact, have set forth his future
sufferings-, and, omitting nothing of amplification, they have
also delivered this : which notwithstanding Johannes the
Greek makes doubtful, as may appear from his IambicJcs in
Baronius, and might be a mistake or misapplication, trans-
lating the affliction of one man upon another, for the same
befell unto Johannes Cappadox*, contemporary unto Belisarius,
and in great favour with Justinian; who being afterwards
banished into Egypt, was fain to beg relief on the highway.*5
2 That fluctus decumanus,6 or the tenth wave is greater and
more dangerous than any other, some no doubt will be offend-
ed if we deny ; and hereby we shall seem to contradict an-
tiquity; for, answerable unto the literal and common accep-
tion, the same is averred by many writers, and plainly describ-
ed by Ovid.
Qui venit hie fluctus, fluctus supereminet omnes,
Posterior nono est, undecimoque prior.
Which notwithstanding is evidently false ; nor can it be
made out by observation either upon the shore or the ocean,
* Procop. Bell, Persic, i." Aotov q b(3o\ov airiTd'^ai.
of Christians : whome the recorded ex- observed to be more tremendous than
ample of the Archangel Michael hath the rest, and threatens to overwhelm the
taught, not to rayle against, much less settlement of Anjengo.
to belye the Divel himselfe. Wr. The following passage occurs in Dr.
5 and might be a mistake, fyc] First Henderson's Iceland, vol. ii, p. 109, " Ow-
added in 2nd edition. . ing to a heavy swell from the ocean, we
6 Fluctus decumanus, #c] Ross says found great difficulty in landing, and
that our author, " troubles himself to no were obliged to await the alternation of
purpose in refuting the greatness of the the waves, in the following order: — first
tenth wave and tenth egg : for the tenth three heavy surges broke with a tre-
of anything was not counted the greatest, mendous dash upon the rocks ; these
but the greatest of any thing was called were followed by six smaller ones, which
the tenth; because that is the first perfect just afforded us time to land; after
number, therefore any thing that was which the three large ones broke again,
greater than another was called decuma- and so on in regular succession."
nus. So porta decumana, limes decuma- " The typhon is a strong swift wind,
nus, decumana pyra, and pomum decuma- that blows from all points, and is fre-
num as well as ovum decumanum." Arc. quent in the Indian Seas ; raising them,
p. 1/8. with its strong whirling about, to a great
Mr. Forbes, in his Oriental Memoirs, height, every tenth wave rising above
describing the effect of the monsoon upon the rest." Loss of the Ship Fanny.
the ofean, says, " every ninth, wave is
2 A 2
356 ENQUIRIES INTO VULGAR [BOOK VII.
as we have with diligence explored both. And surely in vain
we expect a regularity in the waves of the sea, or in the par-
ticular motions thereof, as we may in its general reciprocations,
whose causes are constant, and effects therefore correspond-
ent. Whereas its fluctuations are but motions subservient ;
which winds, storms, shores, shelves, and every interjacency
irregulates. With semblable reason we might expect a re-
gularity in the winds ; whereof though some be statary,
some anniversary, and the rest do tend to determinate points
of heaven, yet do the blasts and undulary breaths thereof
maintain no certainty in their course, nor are they numerally
feared by navigators.
Of affinity hereto is that conceit of ovum decumanum ;
so called, because the tenth egg is bigger than any other,
according unto the reason alleged by Festus, decumana ova
dicuntur, quia ovum decimum majus nascitur. For the
honour we bear unto the clergy, we cannot but wish this
true : but herein will be found no more of verity than in the
other ; and surely few will assent hereto without an implicit
credulity, or Pythagorical submission unto every conception
of number.
For surely the conceit is numeral, and, though in the sense
apprehended, relate th unto the number of ten, as Franciscus
Sylvius hath most probably declared. For, whereas amongst
simple numbers or digits, the number often is the greatest:
therefore whatsoever was the greatest in every kind, might
in some sense be named from this number. Now, because
also that which was the greatest, was metaphorically by some
at first called decumanus, therefore whatsoever passed under
this name, was literally conceived by others to respect and
make good this number.
The conceit is also Latin ; for the Greeks, to express the
greatest wave, do use the number of three, that is, the word
rgixv/jjia, which is a concurrence of three waves in one, whence
arose the proverb, rg/Tcu/x/cc xaxuv, or a trifluctuation of evils,
which Erasmus doth render, malorum Jluctus decumanus.
And thus although the terms be very different, yet are they
made to signify the self- same thing: the number of ten to
CHAP. XVII.] AND COMMON ERRORS 357
explain the number of three, and the single number of one
wave the collective concurrence of more.
3. The poison of Parysatis,7 reported from Ctesias by Plu-
tarch in the life of Artaxerxes, (whereby, anointing a knife on
the one side, and therewith dividing a bird, with the one half
she poisoned Statira, and safely fed herself on the other,) was
certainly a very subtle one, and such as our ignorance is well
content it knows not. But surely we had discovered a poi-
son that would not endure Pandora's box, could we be satis-
fied in that which for its coldness nothing could contain but
an ass's hoof, and wherewith some report that Alexander the
Great was poisoned. Had men derived so strange an effect
from some occult or hidden qualities, they might have silenc-
ed contradiction ; but ascribing it unto the manifest and open
qualities of cold, they must pardon our belief; who perceive
the coldest and most Stygian waters may be included in
glasses ; and by Aristotle, who saith that glass is the perfect-
est work of art, we understand they were not then to be
invented.
And though it be said that poison will break a Venice
glass,8 yet have we not met with any of that nature. Were
there a truth herein, it were the best preservative for princes
and persons exalted unto such fe^rs : and surely far better
than divers now in use. And though the best of China dishes,
and such as the emperor doth use, be thought by some of
infallible virtue unto this effect, yet will they not, I fear, be
able to elude the mischief of such intentions. And though
also it be true, that God made all things double, and that if
we look upon the works of the Most High, there are two and
two, one against another; that one contrary hath another,
and poison is not without a poison unto itself; yet hath the
curse so far prevailed, or else our industry defected, that poi-
sons are better known than their antidotes, and some thereof
do scarce admit of any. And lastly, although unto every
7 The poison of Parysatis.] This is Such is the venom of some spiders that
treated as fabulous by Paris and Fon- they will crack a Venice glass, as I have
blanque, in the 20th vol. of whose Medi- seen ; and Scaliger doth witness the same
cal Jurisprudence, p. 131, &c. will be — however the doctor denies it. — Ross,
found a long article on poisons. Arc. 146.
8 poison will break a Venice glass.]
358 ENQUIRIES INTO VULGAR [BOOK VII.
poison men have delivered many antidotes, and in every one
is promised an equality unto its adversary, yet do we often
find they fail in their effects : moly will not resist a weaker
cup than that of Circe ; a man may be poisoned in a Lemnian
dish ; without the miracle of John, there is no confidence in
the earth of Paul ; * and if it be meant that no poison could
work upon him, we doubt the story, and expect no such suc-
cess from the diet of Mithridates.
A story there passeth of an Indian king, that sent unto
Alexander a fair woman, fed with aconites and other poisons,
with this intent, either by converse or copulation complexion-
ally to destroy him. For my part, although the design were
true, I should have doubted the success.9 For, though it be
possible that poisons may meet with tempers whereto they
may become aliments, and we observe from fowls that feed
on fishes, and others fed with garlick and onions, that simple
aliments are not always concocted beyond their vegetable
qualities ; and therefore that even after carnal conversion,
poisons may yet retain some portion of their natures ; yet are
they so refracted, cicurated,1 and subdued, as not to make
good their first and destructive malignities. And therefore [to]
the stork that eateth snakes, and the stare that feedeth upon
hemlock, [these] though no commendable aliments, are not de-
structive poisons. j- For, animals that can innoxiously digest
these poisons, become antidotal unto the poison digested. And
therefore, whether their breath be attracted, or their flesh
ingested, the poisonous relicks go still along with their anti-
dote ; whose society will not permit their malice to be destruc-
tive. And therefore also, animals that are not mischieved by
poisons which destroy us, may be drawn into antidote against
them ; the blood or flesh of storks against the venom of ser-
* Terra Melitea.
t [to] [these] these words seem indispensable to complete the sense evidently intended.
9 success.] Hee that remembers how gious transfusion. Nor is there the same
the Portuguez mixing with the women danger in eatinge of a duck that feeds on
in the eastern islands founde such a hot a toade, as in the loathsome copulation
overmatching complexion in them, that with those bodyes, whose touch is form-
as the son puts out a candle, soe itt idable as the fome of a mad dog, the
quentcht their hot luste with the cold touch wherof has been found as deadly
gripes of deathe; may easilye conceive, to some, as the wounde of his teeth to
without an instance, what a quick effect others. — Wr.
such venemous spirits make by a conta- ' cicurated.] Tamed : — a Broionism,
CHAP. XVII.] AND COMMON ERRORS. 359
pents, the quail against hellebore, and the diet of starlings
against the draught of Socrates.2 Upon like grounds are
some parts of animals alexipharmical unto others ; and some
veins of the earth, and also whole regions,3 not only destroy
the life of venomous creatures, but also prevent their pro-
ductions. For though perhaps they contain the seminals of
spiders and scorpions, and such as in other earths by susci-
tation 4 of the sun may arise unto animation ; yet lying under
command of their antidote, without hope of emergency they
are poisoned in their matrix by powers easily hindering the
advance of their originals, whose confirmed forms they are
able to destroy.
5. The story of the wandering Jew is very strange, and
will hardly obtain belief; yet is there a formal account thereof
set down by Matthew Paris, from the report of an Armenian
bishop, 5 who came into this kingdom about four hundred
years ago, and had often entertained this wanderer at his
table. That he was then alive, was first called Cartaphilus,
was keeper of the judgment hall, whence thrusting out our
Saviour with expostulation for his stay, was condemned to
stay until his return ; * was after baptized by Ananias, and by
the name of Joseph; was thirty years old in the days of our
* Fade, quid moraris ? Ego vado, tu astern morare donee venio.
2 Socrates.] That is henbane. — Wr. tion of two witnesses, now living, of the
3 whole regions.] As Ireland and Crete suffering and passion of our Saviour Jesus
neither breed nor brooke any venemous Christ: the one being a Gentile, the other
creature, which was a providence of God, a Jew," &c. in High Dutch. Amsterdam,
considering that noe creature can bee 1647 — London, 1648, 4to. See Hutt-
worse then the natives themselves. — Wr. man's Life of Christ, p. 67 . The Span-
Is this remark perfectly in keeping iard, who wrote one of the most amusing
with the character of a Christian minis- of critiques on John Bull, under the title
ter ? of Don Manuel Alvarez Espriella's Let-
4 suscitation.] Excitement. ters from England, has enlivened his
5 Armenian Bishop.] And that reporte narrative of the wandering Jew, with
of a wandering bishop is the ground of the following incident : " The Jew had
this absurd figment : for what's become awarded his preference to Spain above all
of him ever since that time ? But 't is the countries he had seen ; as perhaps" —
noe wonder to finde a wandring Jew in ingeniously remarks the soi-disant Span-
all partes of the world ; for what are all ish narrator, "a man would who had
the nation but wanderers? Inmatestofhe really seen all the world." But on be-
world, and strangers noe where soe much ing reminded that it was rather extraor-
as in their owne countrye. — Wr. dinary that a Jew should prefer the coun-
"This fable of the wandering Jew, try of the Inquisition, the ready rogue
once almost generally believed, probably answered with a smile and a shake of
suggested the fabrication of the tale of the head, " that it was long before Chris -
the wandering Gentile in later times : tianity when he last visited Spain ; and
they are both included in a work, enti- that he should not return till long after it
tied News from Holland ; or a short rela- was all over."
360 ENQUIRIES INTO VULGAR [BOOK VII.
Saviour, remembered the saints that arose with him, the
making of the apostles' creed, and their several peregrina-
tions. Surely were this true, he might be an happy arbitra-
tor in many Christian controversies ; but must unpardonably
condemn the obstinacy of the Jews, who can contemn the
rhetorick of such miracles, and blindly behold so living and
lasting conversions.
6.8 Clearer confirmations must be drawn for the history of
Pope Joan, who succeeded Leo the Fourth, and preceded
Benedict the Third, than many we yet discover. And since
it is delivered with ahint andferunt by many; since the learned
Leo Allatius hath discovered * that ancient copies of Marti-
nus Polonus, who is chiefly urged for it, had not this story in
it ; since not only the stream of Latin historians have omitted
it, but Photius the patriarch, Metrophanes Smyrnaeus, and
the exasperated Greeks have made no mention of it, but
conceded Benedict the Third to be successor unto Leo the
Fourth ; he wants not grounds that doubts it.7
Many things historical, which seem of clear concession,
want not affirmations and negations, according to divided
pens : as is notoriously observable in the story of Hildebrand,
or Gregory the Seventh, repugnantly delivered by the impe-
rial and papal party. In such divided records, partiality hath
much depraved history, wherein if the equity of the reader
do not correct the iniquity of the writer, he will be much con-
founded with repugnancies, and often find, in the same per-
son, Numa and Nero. In things of this nature moderation
must intercede ; and so charity may hope that Roman read-
ers will construe many passages in Bolsec, Fayus, Schlussel-
berg, and Cochlaeus.
7. Every ear is filled with the story of Friar Bacon, that
made a brazen head to speak these words, time is.8 Which
* Confntatio fabulre dc Joanna Papissa cum Nibusio.
6. ] The remainder of the chapter rejected by the best authorities, Protes-
was first added in the 2nd edition. tant as well as Catholic, as a fabrication
7 the history of Pope Joan.] Not only from beginning to end.
the final catastrophe of this lady's career, s a brazen head.] This ridiculous story
as recorded in the well-known Latin was originally imputed, not to Roger
line, "Papa, pater patrum, peperit Pa- Bacon, but to Robert Grosseteste, Bishop
pissa papillum," — but even her very ex- of Lincoln,
istence itself seems now to be universally
CHAP. XVII.] AND COMMON ERRORS. 361
thought here want not the like relations, is surely too literally
received, and was but a mystical fable concerning the phi-
losopher's great work, wherein he eminently laboured : im-
plying no more by the copper-head, than the vessel wherein
it was wrought, and by the words it spake, than the oppor-
tunity to be watched, about the tempus ortus, or birth of the
mystical child, or philosophical king of Lullius ; the rising
of the terra foliata of Arnoldus, when the earth, sufficiently
impregnated with the water, ascendeth white and splendent.
Which not observed, the work is irrecoverably lost, accord-
ing to that of Petrus Bonus : Ibi est operis perfectio aut
annihilatio ; quoniam ipsa die, immo hora, oriuntur elementa
simplicia depurata, quae egent statim compositione, antequam
volent ab igne.*
Now letting slip this critical opportunity, he missed the in-
tended treasure, which had he obtained, he might have made
out the tradition of making a brazen wall about England :
that is, the most powerful defence, and strongest fortification
which gold could have effected.
8. Who can but pity the virtuous Epicurus, who is com-
monly conceived to have placed his chief felicity in pleasure
and sensual delights, and hath therefore left an infamous
name behind him ? How true, let them determine who read
that he lived seventy years, and wrote more books than any
philosopher but Chrysippus, and no less than three hundred,
without borrowing from any author : that he was contented
with bread and water ; and when he would dine with Jove,
and pretend unto epulation, he desired no other addition
than a piece of Cytheridian Cheese : that shall consider
the words of Seneca,9 Noti dico, quod plerique nostrorum,
sectam Epicuri Jlagitiorum magistrum esse : sed Mud dico,
male audit, infamis est, et immerito : or shall read his life,
his epistles, his Testament in La'ertius, who plainly names
them calumnies, which are commonly said against them.
The ground hereof seems a misapprehension of his opinion,
who placed his felicity not in the pleasures of the body, but
* Margarita pretiosa.
9 That shall co?isider the words of the words of Seneca, &c."
Seneca.] That is, " let them determine
362 ENQUIRIES INTO VULGAR [BOOK VII.
the mind, and tranquillity thereof, obtained by wisdom and
virtue, as is clearly determined in his epistle unto Menaeceus.
Now how this opinion was first traduced by the Stoicks, how
it afterwards became a common belief, and so taken up by
authors of all ages, by Cicero, Plutarch, Clemens, Ambrose,
and others, the learned pen of Gassendus hath discovered. * 1
CHAPTER XVIII.
More briefly of some others, viz: that the Army of Xerxes
drank whole Rivers dry ; that Hannibal eat through the
Alps with Vinegar ; of Archimedes his burning the Ships
of Marcellus ; of the Fabii that were all slain; of the
t Death of /Eschylus ; of the Cities of Tarsus and / '..
chiale built in one day ; of the great Ship Syracusia or
Alexandria ; of the Spartan Boys.
1. Other relations there are, and those in very good authors,
which though we do not positively deny, yet have they not
been unquestioned by some, and at least as improbable truths
have been received by others. Unto some it hath seemed
incredible what Herodotus reporteth of the great army of
Xerxes, that drank whole rivers dry. And unto the author
himself it appeared wondrous strange, that they exhausted
not the provision of the country, rather than the waters
thereof. For as he maketh the account, and Buddeus de Asse
correcting their miscompute of Valla delivereth it, if every
man of the army had had a chenix of corn a day, that is, a
* De vita el vioribus Epicuri.
1 Who can but pity, SfC."] Ross is un- cevo, Plutarch, and Seneca, have awarded
merciful in his reprobation of our author's him, in reference to the particular charges
defence of Epicurus. Yet some of those here spoken of, the same acquittal which
who were among the opponents of that Browne has pronounced,
philosopher's doctrines, for example Ci-
CHAP. XVIII.] AND COMMON ERRORS. 363
sextary and half, or about two pints and a quarter, the army
had daily expended ten hundred thousand and forty me-
dimna's, or measures containing six bushels.2 Which rigthly
considered, the Abderites had reason to bless the heavens,
that Xerxes eat but one meal a day, and Pythius his noble
host, might with less charge and possible provision entertain
both him and his army ; and yet may all be salved, if we take
it hyperbolically, as wise men receive that expression in Job,
concerning Behemoth or the elephant, " Behold, he drinketh
up a river and hasteth not ; he trusteth that he can draw up
Jordan into his mouth."
2. That Hannibal ate or brake through the Alps with vinegar
may be too grossly taken, and the author of his life annexed
unto Plutarch, affirmeth only he used this artifice upon the
tops of some of the highest mountains. For as it is vulgarly
understood, that he cut a passage for his army through those
mighty mountains, it may seem incredible, not only in the
greatness of the effect, but the quantity of the efficient, and
such as behold them may think an ocean of vinegar too little
for that effect.3 'T was a work indeed rather to be expected
2 bushels.] But the wonder is not soe conclusion, that, in all probability, the
much how they could consume soe much expansive operation of the fire on the
corne, as where they could have it soe water which had been percolating through
sodenly. But it seemes the learned au- the pores and fissures of the rocks, occa-
thor heere mistooke his accompte. For sioned the detachment of large portions
1,000,000 quarts, (allowing for every one of it by explosion, just as masses of
in his army a quarte, and 16 quartes to rock are frequently detached from cliffs,
a bushell), amount to noe more then and precipitated into adjoining vallies, by
62,499 bushels, or 10,416 medimnas, a similar physical cause. Dr. M. notices
which would not loade 1000 wagons, a the annual disruption of icebergs in the
small baggage for so great an army not Polar Seas, on the return of summer,
to be wondered at. — JVr. as a phenomenon bearing considerable
3 an ocean, 8fc.~\ There needed not analogy to the preceding. Mr. Brayley
more than some few hogsheads of vinegar, supposes that Hannibal might have used
for having hewed downe the woods of vinegar to dissolve partially a particular
firr growing there, and with the huge mass of limestone, which might impede
piles thereof calcined the tops of some his passage through some narrow pass,
cliffes which stood in his waye ; a small Dr. M. suggests that he might attribute
quantity of vinegar poured on the fired to the vinegar and fire what the latter
glowing rocks would make them cleave actually effected by its action on the
in sunder, as is manifest in calcined water, and would have effected just as
flints, which being often burned, and as well without the vinegar. But perhaps
often quentcht in vinegar, will in fine after all the only vinegar employed might
turne into an impalpable powder, as is be pyroligneous acid, produced from the
truly experimented, and is dayly mani- wood by its combination, without any
fest in the lime kilnes. — Wr. intention on the part of Hannibal, though
Dr. Mc'Keever, in a paper in the 5th its presence would very naturally have
vol. of the Annals of Philosophy, N. S. been attributed to design by the ignorant
discusses this question, and arrives at the spectators of his operations, which, on
364 ENQUIRIES INTO VULGAR [BOOK VII.
from earthquakes and inundations, than any corrosive waters,
and much condemneth the judgment of Xerxes, that wrought
through Mount Athos with mattocks.
3. That Archimedes burnt the ships of Marcellus, with
speculums of parabolical figures, at three furlongs, or as some
will have it, at the distance of three miles, sounds hard unto
reason and artificial experience, and therefore justly ques-
tioned by Kircherus, who after long enquiry could find but
one made by Manfredus Septalius * that fired at fifteen paces.
And therefore more probable it is that the ships were nearer
the shore or about some thirty paces, at which distance not-
withstanding the effect was very great. But whereas men
conceive the ships were more easily set on flame by reason of
the pitch about them, it seemeth no advantage ; since burning
glasses will melt pitch or make it boil, not easily set it on fire.
4. The story of the Fabii, whereof three hundred and six
marching against the Veientes were all slain, and one child alone
to support the family remained, is surely not to be paralleled,
nor easy to be conceived, except we can imagine that of three
hundred and six, but one had children below the service of
war, that the rest were all unmarried, or the wife but of one
impregnated.4
5. The received story of Milo, who by daily lifting a calf,
attained an ability to carry it being a bull, is a witty conceit,
and handsomely sets forth the efficacy of assuefaction. But
surely the account had been more reasonably placed upon
some person not much exceeding in strength, and such a one
as without the assistance of custom could never have per-
formed that act, which some may presume that Milo, without
precedent, artifice, or any other preparative, had strength
enough to perform. For as relations declare, he was the
most pancratical man of Greece, and as Galen reporteth, and
Mercurialis in his Gymnastics representeth, he was able to
persist erect upon an oiled plank, and not to be removed by
* Dc hire ct umbra.
this theory, may be supposed to have obstructed his advance,
been conducted on a full knowledge of 4 3.] This and the following para-
the effects they would produce, in the graph, as well as § 12, were first added
explosive removal of the obstacles which in the 2nd edition.
CHAP. XVIII.] AND COMMON ERRORS. 3G5
tlie force or protrusion of three men. And if that be true
which Athenaeus reporteth, he was little beholding to custom
for his ability ; for in the Olympic games, for the space of a
furlong, he carried an ox of four years 5 upon his shoulders,
and the same day he carried it in his belly ; for as it is there
delivered, he eat it up himself. Surely he had been a proper
guest at Grandgousier's feast, and might have matched his
throat that eat six pilgrims for a salad.*
6. It much disadvantageth the panegyrick of Synesius, f
and is no small disparagement unto baldness, if it be true
what is related by iElian concerning iEschylus, whose bald
pate was mistaken for a rock, and so was brained by a tortoise
which an eagle let fall upon it. Certainly it was a very great
mistake in the perspicacy of that animal. Some men critically
disposed, would from hence confute the opinion of Copernicus,
never conceiving how the motion of the earth below, should
not wave him from a knock perpendicularly directed from a
body in the air above.
7. It crosseth the proverb, and Rome might well be built
in a day, if that were true which is traditionally related by
Strabo ; that the great cities, Anchiale and Tarsus,6 were
built by Sardanapalus, both in one day, according to the
inscription of his monument, Sard.ana'palus Anacyndaraxis
Jilius, Anchialem et Tarsum una die cedificavi, tu autem
* In Rabelais.
f Who writ in the praise of baldness. An argument or instance against the motion
of the earth.
5 an ox, 8(0.'] An ox of 4 years in narch, itt is possible that Sardanapalus,
Greece did not sequal one with us of the last Monarch, but withall the greatest
2; whereof having taken out the bowels in power, and purse, and people, might
and the heade and the hide, and the feete easily raise such a fortresse in a daye,
and all that which they call the offall, we having first brought all the materials in
may well thinke the four quarters, espe- place, and if one, he might as well have
cially yf the greate bones were all taken built ten in several places. Now these
out, could not weigh much above a 1001b. cityes were about 400 hundred miles
weight. Now the greater wonder is how distant, Tarsus on the banke of Sinus,
he could eate soe much, then to carry Issicus in Cilicia, and Anchiala on the
itt. Itt is noe news for men in our banke of the Euxine Sea in Pontus,
dayes to carry above 400 weight; but both border townes, dividing Natolia on
few men can eate 100 weight, excepting the lesser Asia from the greater Asia,
they had such a gyant-like bulke as hee and were the 2 frontire townes of the
had. — Wr. Assyrian Monarchie, and were built for
6 Anchiale and Tarsus.'] A single the ostentation of his vast spreading do-
fortress, as that of Babell, is called a city, minions, and both in a day raisd, for
Genes, xi, 4. In imitation whereof, ostentation of his power Wr.
built by Nimrod, the first Assyrian Mon-
366 ENQUIRIES INTO VULGAR [BOOK VII.
hospes, ede, lude, bibe, fyc. Which if strictly taken, that is,
for the finishing thereof, and not only for the beginning ; for
an artificial or natural day, and not one of Daniel's weeks,
that is, seven whole years ; surely their hands were very heavy
that wasted thirteen years in the private house of Solomon.
It may be wondered how forty years were spent in the erec-
tion of the temple of Jerusalem, and no less than an hundred
in that famous one of Ephesus. Certainly it was the greatest
architecture of one day, since that great one of six ; an art
quite lost with our mechanics, a work not to be made out,
but like the walls of Thebes, and such an artificer as
Amphion.
8. It had been a sight only second unto the ark to have
beheld the great Syracusia, or mighty ship of Hiero, described
in Athenaeus ; and some have thought it a very large one,
wherein were to be found ten stables for horses, eight towers,
besides fish ponds, gardens, tricliniums, and many fair rooms
paved with agath and precious stones. But nothing was
impossible unto Archimedes, the learned contriver thereof;
nor shall we question his removing the earth, when he finds
an immoveable base to place his engine unto it.
9.7 That the Pamphilian sea gave way unto Alexander, in
his intended march toward Persia, many have been apt to
credit, and Josephus is willing to believe, to countenance the
passage of the Israelites through the Red Sea. But Strabo,
who writ before him, delivereth another account; that the
mountain climax, adjoining to the Pamphilian sea, leaves a
narrow passage between the sea and it ; which passage at an
ebb and quiet sea all men take ; but Alexander coming in
the winter, and eagerly pursuing his affairs, would not wait
for the reflux or return of the sea ; and so was fain to pass
with his army in the water, and march up to the navel in it.
10. The relation of Plutarch, of a youth of Sparta that
suffered a fox, concealed under his robe, to tear out his
bowels before he would, either by voice or countenance, be-
tray his theft; and the other, of the Spartan lad, that with
the same resolution suffered a coal from the altar to burn his
arm ; although defended by the author that writes his life, is
7 9.] First added in the (5th edition.
CHAP. XVIII.]
AND COMMON ERRORS.
JG7
I perceive mistrusted by men of judgment, and the author,
with an aiunt, is made to salve himself. Assuredly it was a
noble nation that could afford an hint to such inventions of
patience, and upon whom, if not such verities, at least such
verisimilities of fortitude were placed. Were the story true,
they would have made the only disciples for Zeno and the
Stoicks, and might perhaps have been persuaded to laugh in
Phalaris his bull.
11. If any man shall content his belief with the speech of
Balaam's ass, without a belief of that of Mahomet's camel, or
Livy's ox ; if any man makes a doubt of Giges' ring in Jus-
tinus, or conceives he must be a Jew that believes the sab-
batical river 8 in Josephus ; if any man will say he doth not
apprehend how the tail of an African wether out-weigheth
the body of a good calf, that is, an hundred pounds, accord-
ing unto Leo Africanus,9 or desires, before belief, to behold
such a creature as is the ruck 1 in Paulus Venetus, — for my
part I shall not be angry with his incredulity.
8 the sabbatical river. ~\ A singular dis-
crepancy exists on this point between the
statement of Josephus and that of Pliny.
The former (De Bell. Jud. lib. vii, c. 24)
saying that the river flows on sabbath,
but rests on every other day ; — while Pliny
( Hist. Nat. xxxi, § 13) relates that it
flows most impetuously all the week, but
is dry on the sabbath. All the Jewish
rabbinical authorities adopt the latter as
the fact, in opposition to Josephus, whose
account is so singular, that several of his
commentators have not hesitated to sup-
pose a transposition to have occurred in
his text, producing the error in question.
Our poetical Walton alludes to this mar-
vellous river, but he has adopted the
proposed correction, citing Josephus as
his authority, but giving the Plinian ver-
sion of the story, doubtless thinking it
most fit that the river should allow the
angler to repose on Sunday, and afford
him, during the six other days, " choice
recreation." The classical authorities de-
clare that the river has long since vanish-
ed. But recently, a learned Jew, Rabbi
Edrehi, has announced a work, asserting
the discovery of the lost river, but affirm-
ing it to be a river of sand! This is apt
to recal to mind an old proverb about
" twisting a rope of sand !"
As for the "marvellous" of the story,
it strikes me, that — only grant the ex-
istence of water-corn-mills in the time of
the Emperor Titus, (which it is not for
me to deny,) — and the whole is perfectly
intelligible. The mills had been at work
during the week, keeping up a head of
water which had rushed along with a
velocity (as Josephus describes it) suffi-
cient to carry with it stones and frag-
ments of rocks. On sabbath-day the
miller " shut down," and let all the water
run through, by which means the river
was laid almost dry. What should hinder,
in these days of hypothesis, our adopting
so ready and satisfactory a solution ?
9 Leo Africanus.] What weights Leo
Africanus meanes is doubtfull. Some
have been brought hither, that being fat-
ted, coulde scarcely carye their tayles :
though I know not, why nature, that
hung such a weight behinde, should not
enable the creature to drag itt after him
by the strength of his backe, as the stag
to carye as great a weight on his heade
only. — Wr.
1 ruck.~\ Surely the rue was but one,
like the phcenix, but revives not like the
phoenix. — Wr.
The roc of the Arabian Nights, con-
jectured to have originated in the Ameri-
can condor.
368 ENQUIRIES INTO VULGAR [BOOK VII.
12. If any one shall receive, as stretched or fabulous ac-
counts, what is delivered of Codes, Scaevola, and Curtius,
the sphere of Archimedes, the story of the Amazons, the
taking of the city of Babylon, not known to some therein in
three days after, that the nation was deaf which dwelt at the
fall of Nilus, the laughing and weeping humour of Heracli-
tus and Democritus, with many more, he shall not want
some reason and the authority of Lancelotti.*
13. If any man doubt of the strange antiquities delivered
by historians, as of the wonderful corpse of Antasus untombed
a thousand years after his death by Sertorius ; whether there
were no deceit in those fragments of the ark, so common to
be seen in the days of Berosus; whether the pillar which
Josephus beheld long ago, Tertullian long after, and Bar-
tholomeus de Saligniaco and Bochardus long since, be the
same with that of Lot's wife ; whether this were the hand of
Paul, or that which is commonly shewn the head of Peter ;
if any doubt, I shall not much dispute with their suspicions.
If any man shall not believe the turpentine tree betwixt Je-
rusalem and Bethlehem, under which the virgin suckled our
Saviour as she passed between those cities ; or the fig-tree of
Bethany, shewed to this day, whereon Zaccheus ascended to
behold our Saviour ; I cannot tell how to enforce his belief,
nor do I think it requisite to attempt it. For, as it is no rea-
sonable proceeding to compel a religion, or think to enforce
our own belief upon another, who cannot without the concur-
rence of God's Spirit have any indubitable evidence of things
that are obtruded, so is it also in matters of common belief;
whereunto neither can we indubitably assent, without the
co-operation of our sense or reason, wherein consist the prin-
ciples of persuasion. For, as the habit of faith in divinity is
an argument of things unseen, and a stable assent unto things
inevident, upon authority of the Divine Revealer, — so the
belief of man, which depends upon human testimony, is but a
staggering assent unto the affirmative, not without some fear
of the negative. And as there is required the Word of God,
or infused inclination unto the one, so must the actual sensa-
* Farfallon't Historic/.
CHAP. XVIII.] AND COMMON ERRORS. 369
tion of our senses,'- at least the non-opposition of our reasons,
procure our assent and acquiescence in the other. So when
Eusebius, an holy writer, affirmeth, there grew a strange and
unknown plant near the statue of Christ, erected by his hae-
morrhoidal patient in the gospel, which attaining unto the
hem of his vesture, acquired a sudden faculty to cure all
diseases ; although,3 he saith, he saw the statue in his days,
yet hath it not found in many men so much as human belief.
Some believing, others opinioning, a third suspecting it might
be otherwise. For indeed, in matters of belief, the under-
standing assenting unto the relation, either for the authoiuty
of the person, or the probability of the object, although there
may be a confidence of the one, yet if there be not be a satis-
faction in the other, there will arise suspensions ; nor can we
properly believe until some argument of reason, or of our
proper sense, convince or determine our dubitations.
And thus it is also in matters of certain and experimented
truth. For if unto one that never heard thereof, a man
should undertake to persuade the affections of the loadstone,
or that jet and amber attract straws and light bodies, there
would be little rhetorick in the authority of Aristotle, Pliny,
or any other. Thus although it be true that the string of a
lute or viol will stir upon the stroke of an unison or diapason
in another of the same kind ; that alcanna being green, will
suddenly infect the nails and other parts with a durable red ;
that a candle out of a musket will pierce through an inch
board, or an urinal force a nail through a plank ; yet can few
or none believe thus much without a visible experiment.
Which notwithstanding falls out more happily for knowledge ;
for these relations leaving unsatisfaction in the hearers, do
stir up ingenuous dubiosities unto experiment, and by an
exploration of all, prevent delusion in any.
2 senses.] And that this was not want- cil at Nice : who sayes he saw the sta-
ing to make good the storye in parte, is tue, but repeates the storye of the plant
evident in the very next section. — Wr. out of Africanus, who lived within the
3 although, eye] Why may wee not be- 200th yeare of Christ : and out of Ter-
leave that there was such a plant at the tullian, who lived within 120 yeares after
l'oote of that statue upon the report of this miracle was wrought upon the hse-
the ecclesiastick story, publisht in the morroidall that erected the statue. For
third ecumenical council at Ephesus, as though the plant lived not till his time,
wel as the statue itselfe upon the report yet itt was as fresh in meinorye in the
of Eusebius at the first ecumenical coun- church as when it first grewe. — Wr.
VOL. III. 2 B
370
ENQUIRIES INTO VULGAR
[BOOK VII.
CHAPTER XIX.
Of some Relations whose truth we fear.
Lastly, as there are many relations whereto we cannot
assent, and make some doubt thereof, so there are divers
others whose verities we fear, and heartily wish there were
no truth therein.
1. It is an insufferable affront unto filial piety, and a deep
discouragement unto the expectation of all aged parents, who
shall but read the story of that barbarous queen, who, after
she had beheld her royal parent's ruin, lay yet in the arms of
his assassin, and caroused with him in the skull of her father.
For my part, I should have doubted the operation of anti-
mony, where such a potion would not work ; 't was an act,
methinks, beyond anthropophagy, and a cup fit to be served
up only at the table of Atreus.4
4 barbarous queen, <^c] If this relates
to the story of Alboin, it is not correctly
noticed. I give it from Lardner's Cyclo-
paedia;— Europe during the Middle Ages.
" Few dynasties have been so un-
fortunate as that of the Lombards. Al-
boin, its founder, had not wielded the
sceptre four years, when he became the
victim of domestic treason : the man-
ner is worth relating, as characteristic of
the people. During his residence in Pan-
nonia, this valiant chief had overcome
and slain Cunimond, king of the Gepidae,
whose skull, in conformity with a barba-
rous custom of his nation, he had fash-
ioned into a drinking cup. Though he
had married Rosamond, daughter of Cu-
nimond, in his festive entertainments he
was by no means disposed to forego the
triumph of displaying the trophy. In
one held at Verona, he had the inhu-
manity to invite his consort to drink to
her father, while he displayed the cup,
and, for the first time, revealed its his-
tory in her preseuce. His vanity cost
him dear : if she concealed her abhor-
rence, it settled into a deadly feeling.
By the counsel of Helmich, a confiden-
tial officer of the court, she opened her
heart to Peredeo, one of the bravest cap-
tains of the Lombards ; and when she
could not persuade him to assassinate his
prince, she had recourse to an expedient,
which proves, that in hatred as in love,
woman knows no measure. Personating
a mistress of Peredeo, she silently and in
darkness stole to his bed ; and when her
purpose was gained, she threatened him
with the vengeance of an injured hus-
band, unless he consented to become a
regicide. The option was soon made :
accompanied by Helmich, Peredeo was
led to the couch of the sleeping king,
whose arms had been previously remov-
ed ; and, after a short struggle, the deed
of blood was consummated. The jus-
tice of heaven never slumbers : if Alboin
was thus severely punished for his inhu-
manity, fate avenged him of his murder-
ers. To escape the suspicious enmity of
the Lombards, the queen and Helmich
fled to Ravenna, which at this period
depended on the Greek empire. There
the exarch, coveting the treasures which
she had brought from Verona, offered
her his hand, on condition she removed
CHAP. XIX.] AND COMMON ERRORS. 371
2. While we laugh at the story of Pygmalion, and receive
as a fable that he fell in love with a statue ; we cannot but
fear it may be true, what is delivered by Herodotus concern-
ing the Egyptian pollinctors, or such as anointed the dead ;
that some thereof were found in the act of carnality with
them. From wits that say 't is more than incontinency for
Hylas to sport with Hecuba, and youth to flame in the frozen
embraces of age, we require a name for this : wherein Petro-
nius or Martial cannot relieve us. The tyranny of Mezen-
tius * did never equal the vitiosity of this incubus, that could
embrace corruption, and make a mistress of the grave ; that
could not resist the dead provocations of beauty,5 whose
quick invitements scarce excuse submission. Surely, if such
depravities there be yet alive, deformity need not despair ;
nor will the eldest hopes be ever superannuated, since death
hath spurs, and carcasses have been courted.
3. I am heartily sorry, and wish it were not true, what to
the dishonour of Christianity is affirmed of the Italian ; who
after he had inveigled his enemy to disclaim his faith for the
redemption of his life, did presently poiniard him, to prevent
repentance, and assure his eternal death. The villany of
this Christian exceeded the persecution of heathens, whose
malice was never so longimanous f as to reach the soul
of their enemies, or to extend unto an exile of their
elysiums. And though the blindness of some ferities have
savaged on the bodies of the dead, and been so injurious
unto worms, as to disinter the bodies of the deceased, yet
had they therein no design upon the soul ; and have been so
far from the destruction of that, or desires of a perpetual
death, that for the satisfaction of their revenge they wish
them many souls, and were it in their power would have re-
duced them unto life again. It is a great depravity in our
* Who tied dead and living bodies together. f Long-handed.
her companion. Such a woman was not her, under the raised sword, to drink
likely to hesitate. To gratify one pas- the rest. The same hour ended their
sion she had planned a deed of blood — guilt and lives. Peredeo, the third cul-
to gratify another, her ambition, she pre- prit, fled to Constantinople, where a fate
sented a poisoned cup to her lover, in no less tragical awaited him."
the bath. After drinking a portion, his 5 dead provocations of beaut (/,] Provo-
suspicions were kindled, and he forced cations of dead beauty. — Wr.
2 B 2
372 ENQUIRIES INTO VULGAR [BOOK VII.
natures, and surely an affection that somewhat savoureth of
hell, to desire the society, or comfort ourselves in the fellow-
ship of others that suffer with us ; but to procure the miseries
of others in those extremities, wherein we hold an hope to
have no society ourselves, is methinks a strain above Lucifer,
and a project beyond the primary seduction of hell.
4. I hope it is not true, and some indeed have probably
denied, what is recorded of the monk that poisoned Henry
the Emperor, in a draught of the holy Eucharist. 'T was a
scandalous wound unto the Christian religion, and I hope all
Pagans will forgive it, when they shall read that a Christian
was poisoned in a cup of Christ, and received his bane in a
draught of his salvation.6 Had he believed transubstantiation,
he would have doubted the effect ; and surely the sin itself
received an aggravation in that opinion. It much commendeth
the innocency of our forefathers, and the simplicity of those
times, whose laws could never dream so high a crime as par-
ricide : whereas this at the least may seem to out-reach that
fact, and to exceed the regular distinctions of murder. I
will not say what sin it was to act it ; yet may it seem a kind of
martyrdom to suffer by it. For, although unknowingly, he
died for Christ his sake, and lost his life in the ordained tes-
timony of his death. Certainly had they known it, some noble
zeals would scarcely have refused it ; rather adventuring their
own death, than refusing the memorial of his.7
Many other accounts like these we meet sometimes in his-
tory, scandalous unto Christianity, and even unto humanity;
whose verities not only, but whose relations, honest minds do
deprecate. For of sins heteroclital, and such as want either
name or precedent, there is oft-times a sin even in their his-
tories. We desire no records of such enormities; sins should
be accounted new, that so they may be esteemed monstrous.
G 'T 'was a scandalous wound, eye] It is very foolish zeale, and little less than
said that Ganganelli, Pope Clement xiv, selfe murder to have taken that sacra -
was thus dispatched by the Jesuits. In mentall, wherin they had knowne poy-
the Universal Magazine for 1776, vol. 5, son to have been put. The rejection of
p. 215, occurs an account of that poison- that particular cup had not been any re-
ing of the sacramental wine at Zurich, fusal of remembring his death. This
by a grave digger, by which a number therefore needs an index expurgatorius,
of communicants lost their lives. and a deleatur, and soe wee have accord -
7 Than refusing, Sfc,] Itt had been a ingly canceld itt. — Jf'r.
CHAP. XIX.] AND COMMON ERRORS 373
They amit of monstrosity as they fall from their rarity ; for men
count it venial to err with their forefathers, and foolishly con-
ceive they divide a sin in its society. The pens of men may suf-
ficiently expatiate without these singularities of villany ; for, as
they increase the hatred of vice in some, so do they enlarge
the theory of wickedness in all. And this is one thing that
may make latter ages worse than were the former ; for, the
vicious examples of ages past poison the curiosity of these
present, affording a hint 8 of sin unto seducible spirits, and
soliciting those unto the imitation of them, whose heads were
never so perversely principled as to invent them. In this
kind we commend the wisdom and goodness of Galen, who
would not leave unto the world too subtle a theory of poi-
sons ; unarming thereby the malice of venomous spirits,
whose ignorance must be contented with sublimate and arse-
nic. For, surely there are subtler venenations, such as will
invisibly destroy, and like the basilisks of heaven. In things
of this nature silence commendeth history : 't is the veniable
part of things lost ; wherein there must never rise a Pan-
cirollus,* nor remain any register, but that of hell.
And yet, if, as some Stoicks opinion, and Seneca himself
disputeth, these unruly affections that make us sin such pro-
digies, and even sins themselves be animals, there is a history
of Africa and story of snakes in these. And if the transa-
nimation of Pythagoras, or method thereof were true, that
the souls of men transmigrated into species answering their
former natures ; some men must surely live over many ser-
pents, and cannot escape that very brood, whose sire Satan
entered. And though the objection of Plato should take
place, that bodies subjected unto corruption must fail at last
before the period of all things, and growing fewer in number
must leave some souls apart unto themselves, the spirits of
many long before that time will find but naked habitations;
* Who writ De antiquis deperditis, or of inventions lost.
8 Affording, <^c.] Itt is noe doubte but posing some questions to the confitents
that some casuists have much to answere teach them to knowe some sinns wherof
for that sinn of curiosity, who by pro- they would never have thought. — Wr.
374 ENQUIRIES INTO VULGAR [BOOK VII.
and, meeting no assimilables wherein to re-act their natures,
must certainly anticipate such natural desolations.
Primus sapientice gradus est, falsa intelligere. — Lactant.
END OF PSEUDODOXIA EPIDEMICA.
Cfje <^arUen of Cpruau
OR, THE QUINCUNCIAL LOZENGE, OR
NET-WORK PLANTATIONS OF THE ANCIENTS, ARTIFICIALLY, NATURALLY, MYSTICALLY,
CONSIDERED.
SEVENTH EDITION.
WITH NOTES, AND VARIOUS READINGS FROM MSS. IN THE BRITISH MUSEUM.
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN
1658.
Quid Quincunce speciosius,
qui, in quamcunque partem spectaveris, rectus est ? — Quinctilian.
EDITOR'S PREFACE
GARDEN OP CYRUS, HYDRIOTAPHIA, AND BRAMPTON URNS,
In arranging the present edition, I have endeavoured to pre-
serve the order in which the several works were first publish-
ed ; and at the same time to bring together, as far as possi-
ble, similar subjects. To secure these objects, I have placed
the Hydriotaphia between the Garden of Cyrus and the
Brampton Urns ; though in the first edition of the two former
pieces, the author placed the Garden of Cyrus last ; as he
has noticed in his preface to it.
That edition was published in 1658, in sm. 8vo. : the title,
epistles (to both discourses), and a plate of four urns, occupy
a sheet, on the last page of which }s the plate, facing the first
page of the work, which extends to thirteen sheets — 208 pp.
viz. Hydriotaphia, 84 pp. — Garden of Cyrus, 124 pp. the first
four containing the plate and title, with two blanks, and the
last six pp. containing " The Stationer to the Reader" "Books
printed for Hen. Broome" and a label, " Dr. Browne's Gar-
den of Cyrus," in large letters printed down the middle of the
page, and evidently intended to be pasted at the back of the
volume. This edition is not commonly met with perfect.
The Second edition is that which appeared with the Fourth
edition of Pseudodoxia, under the direction of its author ; who
has prefixed to the volume two pages of " Marginal Illustra-
tions omitted, or to be added to the Discourses of Urn-burial,
and of the Garden of Cyrus ;" with "Errata in the Enqui-
ries," and " in the discourses annexed?
The Third edition, in double columns, was printed with
the sixth of Religio Medici, as an addition to the third* of
* Erroneously called the fourth, in my preface to Religio Medici, vol. ii, p. x.
378 editor's preface.
Pseudodoxia, in folio. But one title-page only accompanied
the three pieces : viz. Religio Medici ; whereunto is added
a Discourse of the Sepulchrall Urnes, lately found in Norfolk.
Together with the Garden of Cyrus, or the Quincunciall
Lozenge, or Net-work Plantations of the Ancients, Arti-
ficially, Naturally, Mystically considered. With Sundry
Observations. By Thomas Brown, Doctour of Physick.
Printed for the Good of the Commonwealth. No date. That
the later edition of the Tracts should have accompanied the
earlier of the two editions of Pseudodoxia, published in 1658,
requires explanation. It appears that in 1658 Ekins published
the third edition, in folio, and Dod the fourth, with a cor-
rected reprint of the two " Discourses," in 4to. To meet
this, Ekins printed the very inferior edition, just described,
of Religio Medici, &c. and brought out his folio, with a fresh
title, dated 1659.
The Fourth edition of the two Discourses was printed with
the fifth of Pseudodoxia, in 1669. But, most absurdly,
the " Marginal Illustrations, &c." instead of being incor-
porated in the edition, are reprinted as a table, and not even
the pages altered to suit the edition !
The (Fifth) edition was published by Abp. Tenison,
with the "AVorks" in folio, 1686.
In 1736, Curl reprinted, (in an 8vo. tract of 60 pages,
with 6 pp. of Epistles, &c.) the Hydriotaphia, Brampton
Urns, and the ninth of the Miscellany Tracts, " Of Artifi-
cial Hills, $-e." followed by the first three chapters only,
(unless my copy is imperfect,) of the Garden of Cyrus — in
40 pages — with 6 pp. of Title and Epistle Dedicatory. This
is called the Fourth edition, but is in fact the Sixth.
Of the Garden of Cyrus, the present is the Seventh
edition ; but of Hydriotaphia it is the Eighth ; for Mr.
Croseley included this latter discourse with Letter to a Friend
and Museum Clausum. He has altered the division: — calling
the first chapter Introduction, and the remaining chapters
Sections 1, 2, 3, 4. I observe, too, that he has, in several
instances, altered the phraseology, in his neat little selection
of Browne's Tracts, published at Edinburgh in 1822.
The First edition of the account of the Brampton Urns
editor's preface. 379
was published with the Posthumous Works, in 1712; the
Second by Curl (as just mentioned) in 1736. The present
is the Third.
I have not met with any MS. copy either of Hydriota-
phia or the Garden of Cyrus, though many passages occur
in MSS. Sloan. 1847, 1848, and 1882— which were evidently
written for these discourses. Several of the variations they
exhibit, from the printed text, are pointed out in the notes.
Of the Brampton Urns I have met with three copies, differ-
ing from each other and more or less complete, in the British
Museum and Bodleian Libraries, namely, Brit. Mus. MS.
Sloan. No. 1862, p. 26; No. 1869, p. 60;— and Bibl. Bodl.
MaS*. Rawlins. 391 ; — from the first of which Curl's edition
was (incorrectly) printed, and with all of which it has, in the
present edition, been carefully collated.
I have modernized the spelling, and endeavoured to improve
the pointing of the Garden of Cyrus and Hydriotaphia, as
of all Browne's other works ; but the phraseology, (as cha-
racteristick of the writer,) I have not thought it right, (except
in very rare instances, and those acknowledged,) to touch.
For this reason, I have even denied myself the adoption of
several decided improvements, (though but slight alterations,)
introduced by my friend Mr. Crossley, in the Hydriotaphia.
With respect to the Brampton Urns, which (like the Mis-
cellany Tracts) never met his own eye in print, I have felt my-
self far more unfettered ; and have used my own discretion as
to a choice of various readings supplied by the several copies
which I have found ; selecting from them those which I pre-
ferred.
A few words will suffice respecting the notes attached to
this edition. If any one object that a letter from Dr.
Power to Sir Thomas, with his reply, ought to have appeared
among the Correspondence, instead of being thrown into the
form of notes, * my defence is, that, though formally " Cor-
respondence," they are substantially "Notes and Illustra-
tions," and those of the most interesting kind. Dr. Power's
letter is the work of an enthusiastick lover of the mysteries of
natural science ; and Sir Thomas's reply places him in the
* At page 405.
380 editor's preface.
new light of his own commentator. The Garden of Cyrus
has, by general consent, been regarded as one of the most
fanciful of his works. The most eminent even of his admir-
ers have treated it as a mere sport of the imagination, " in the
prosecution of which, he considers every production of art and
nature, in which he could find any decussation or approaches
to the form of a quincunx, and, as a man once resolved upon
ideal discoveries, seldom searches long in vain, he finds his
favourite figure in almost every thing;" — "quincunxes," as
Coleridge says, "in heaven above, quincunxes in earth below,
quincunxes in the mind of man, quincunxes in tones, in optic
nerves, in roots of trees, in leaves, in every thing. " * The
increased attention, however, which modern naturalists have
paid to the prevalence of certain numbers in the distribution
of nature, and Mr. Macleay's persevering and successful ad-
vocacy of a quinary arrangement would naturally lead an
admirer of Browne to look at this work in a higher point of
view than as a mere jeu d 'esprit. How far, in short, has he
anticipated in this work — as he certainly must be allowed to
have done in the Pseudodoxia, — those who have conducted
their inquiries in the midst of incomparably greater light and
knowledge, and with the advantage of an immensely increas-
ed accumulation of facts and observations of every kind ? For
an answer to this question I refer to the notes of E. W. Bray-
ley, Jun. Esq. especially at pp. 413, 423, 439, 446.
* See Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, vol. vii, 161>.
THE EPISTLE DEDICATORY.
TO MY WORTHY AND HONOURED FRIEND
NICHOLAS BACON, of GILLINGHAM, ESQUIREJ
Had I not observed that purblind * men have discoursed well
of sight, and some without issue, f excellently of generation ;
I, that was never master of any considerable garden, had not
attempted this subject. But the earth is the garden of na-
ture, and each fruitful country a paradise. Dioscorides made
most of his observations in his march about with Antonius;
and Theophrastus raised his generalities chiefly from the field.
Besides, we write no herbal, nor can this volume deceive you,
who have handled the massiest J thereof: who know that
* Plempius, Cabeus, &c. f Dr. Harvey. % Besleri Hortus Eystetensis.
1 Nicholas Bacon, of Gillingham, Esq.~\ Dr. Thomas Lushington's, which had
Created a baronet, Feb. 7, 1661, by come into his hands in MS. from the au-
Charles II. His father was the sixth thor, entitled, Logica Analytica, de Prin-
son of Sir Nicholas Bacon, who was cipiis, Itegulis, et Usu Rationis rectce,
created premier baronet of England, lib. 3, Lond. 1650, 8vo. ; and gave this
May 22, 1611, by James I, and was the as his motive : — " Propter operis perfec-
eldest son of the Lord Keeper of Q,. Eli- tionem, in quo nihil dictum, quod non sta-
zabeth, and half-brother of Francis, Lord tim probatum est, vel a principiis, primo
Bacon, the Lord Keeper's youngest son et per se notis, vel a propositionibus inde
by a second marriage. demonstrates : deinde etiam propter ejus
This gentleman was a man of letters, usum, vel fructum erimiam. — Wood's
and a patron of learning ; and intimately Athena, by Bliss, iii, 530. He died in
acquainted with Browne, several of whose his 43rd year in 1666, leaving two sons,
Miscellany Tracts were addressed to him : Sir Edmund and Sir Richard, who both
as we are informed by Evelyn. — (See succeeded to the Gillingham baronetcy ;
vol. iv, p. 121, note 1.) He is mentioned but, both dying s. p., it became extinct,
by Wood as having published a work of
382 THE EPISTLE
three folios * are yet too little, and how new herbals fly from
America upon us ; from persevering enquirers, and hold f in
those singularities, we expect such descriptions. Wherein Eng-
land J is now so exact, that it yields not to other countries.
We pretend not to multiply vegetable divisions by quincun-
cial and reticulate plants; or erect a new phytology. The
field of knowledge hath been so traced, it is hard to spring
any thing new. Of old things we write something new, if
truth may receive addition, or envy will have any thing new ;
since the ancients knew the late anatomical discoveries, and
Hippocrates the circulation.
You have been so long out of trite learning, that 't is hard
to find a subject proper for you ; and if you have met with a
sheet upon this, we have missed our intention. In this mul-
tiplicity of writing, by and barren themes are best fitted for
invention ; subjects so often discoursed confine the imagina-
tion, and fix our conceptions unto the notions of fore- writers.
Besides, such discourses allow excursions, and venially admit
of collateral truths, though at some distance from their prin-
cipals. Wherein if we sometimes take wide liberty, we are
not single, but err by great example. §
He that will illustrate the excellency of this order, may ea-
sily fail upon so spruce a subject, wherein we have not af-
frighted the common reader with any other diagrams, than
of itself; and have industriously declined illustrations from
rare and unknown plants.
Your discerning judgment, so well acquainted with that
study, will expect herein no mathematical truths, as well un-
derstanding how few generalities and Ufinitas || there are in
nature ; how Scaliger hath found exceptions in most univer-
sal of Aristotle and Theophrastus ; how botanical maxims
must have fair allowance, and are tolerably current, if not in-
tolerably over-balanced by exceptions.
* Bauhini Thcatrum Botanicum.
f My worthy friend M. Goodier, an ancient and learned botanist.
.•J; As in London and divers parts, whereof we mention none, lest we seem to omit any.
§ Hippocrates de superfoetatione, de dentitione. \\ Rules without exceptions.2
2 rules without exceptions.'] This is, tremo, Ufinita producuntur omnia," — of
no doubt, an allusion to the well known which Browne here (most characteristi-
and invariable rule in prosody, — "Pos- cally) avails himself in a proverbial sense.
DEDICATORY. 383
You have wisely ordered your vegetable delights, beyond
the reach of exception. The Turks who past their days in
gardens here, will have also gardens hereafter, and delighting
in flowers on earth, must have lilies and roses in heaven.
In garden delights 't is not easy to hold a mediocrity ; that
insinuating pleasure is seldom without some extremity. The
ancients venially delighted in flourishing gardens ; many were
florists that knew not the true use of a flower ; and in
Pliny's days none had directly treated of that subject.
Some commendably affected plantations of venomous vege-
tables, some confined their delights unto single plants, and
Cato seemed to dote upon cabbage ; while the ingenuous
delight of tulipists, stands saluted with hard language, even
by their own professors."*
That in this garden discourse, we range into extraneous
things, and many parts of art and nature, we follow herein
the example of old and new plantations, wherein noble
spirits contented not themselves with trees, but by the attend-
ance of aviaries, fish-ponds, and all variety of animals, they
made their gardens the epitome of the earth, and some
resemblance of the secular shows of old.
That we conjoin these parts of different subjects, or that
this should succeed the other,1 your judgment will admit
without impute of incongruity ; since the delightful world
comes after death, and paradise succeeds the grave. Since
the verdant state of things is the symbol of the resurrection,
and to flourish in the state of glory, we must first be sown
in corruption: — besides the ancient practice of noble persons,
to conclude in garden-graves, and urns themselves of old
to be wrapt up with flowers and garlands.
Nullum sine venia placuisse eloquium, is more sensibly
understood by writers, than by readers ; nor well apprehen-
ded by either, till works have hanged out like Apelles his
pictures ; wherein even common eyes will find something for
emendation.
* " Tulipo-mania ;" Narrencruiid, Laurenberg. Pet. Hondius in lib. Belg.
1 or that this should succeed the other.~\ versed ; the reason for which is stated in
In the present edition this order is re- the preface.
384 THE EPISTLE DEDICATORY.
To wish all readers of your abilities, were unreasonably to
multiply the number of scholars beyond the temper of these
times. But unto this ill-judging age, we charitably desire a
portion of your equity, judgment, candour, and ingenuity;
wherein you are so rich, as not to lose by diffusion. And
being a flourishing branch of that noble family,"* unto whom
we owe so much observance, you are not new set, but long
rooted in such perfection ; whereof having had so lasting
confirmation in your worthy conversation, constant amity, and
expression ; and knowing you a serious student in the
highest arcana of nature ; with much excuse we bring these
low delights, and poor maniples to your treasure.
Your affectionate Friend and Servant,
THOMAS BROWNE.
Norwich, May 1st.
* Of the most worthy Sir Edmund Bacon prime haronet, my true and noble friend. ;i
3 This was the fourth (premier) baro- the 3rd baronet, failed ; and the premier
net, grandson of Sir Robert, the third baronetcy passed into that of his brother
baronet, whose younger brother Nicho- Sir Butts Bacon, of Mildenhall, created
las (Cth son of the first baronet) was the a baronet, 29th of July, 1627, in the per-
father of Nicholas, (afterwards Sir Ni- son of whose descendant Sir Richard,
cholas, Bart, of Gillingham) to whom in 1755, were united the Redgrave, (or
the present letter was addressed; and premier) baronetcy of 1611, and Mil-
who thus was first cousin to Sir Edmund's denhall of 1627.
father. Ultimately the line of Sir Robert.
Ci)e Garten of C^tm
CHAPTER I.
That Vulcan gave arrows unto Apollo and Diana the fourth
day after their nativities, according to Gentile theology,1 may
pass for no blind apprehension of the creation of the sun and
moon, in the work of the fourth day : when the diffused light
contracted into orbs, and shooting rays of those luminaries.
Plainer descriptions there are from Pagan pens, of the crea-
tures of the fourth day. While the divine philosopher*
unhappily omitteth the noblest part of the third, and Ovid
(whom many conceive to have borrowed his description from
Moses), coldly deserting the remarkable account of the text,
in three words f describeth this work of the third day, — the
vegetable creation, and first ornamental scene of nature, — the
primitive food of animals, and first story of physick in diete-
tical conservation.
For though physick may plead high, from that medical act
of God, in casting so deep a sleep upon our first parent, and
chirurgery J find its whole art, in that one passage concerning
* Plato in Tinxeo. f Fronde tegi silvas.
| diaigtaig, in opening the flesh ; l^a/gstf/j, in taking out the rib ; ffvv^sftg,
in closing up the part again.
1 Tliat Vulcan gave arrows, <$-c] Sta- Propert. ii, 31, 16; Lucret. i, 740 ; Cic.
tius, Theb. i, 563; Horat. Od. i, 16, 6; Div. i, 36.
VOL. III. 2 C
386 GARDEN OF CYRUS. [CHAP. I.
the rib of Adam ; yet is there no rivality with garden con-
trivance and herbary ; for if Paradise were planted the third
day of the creation, as wiser divinity concludeth, the nativity
thereof was too early for horoscopy : gardens were before
gardeners, and but some hours after the earth.
Of deeper doubt is its topography and local designation ;
yet being the primitive garden, and without much controversy*
seated in the east, it is more than probable the first curiosity,
and cultivation of plants, most flourished in those quarters.
And since the ark of Noah first touched upon some moun-
tains of Armenia, the planting art arose again in the east,
and found its revolution not far from the place of its nativity,
about the plains of those regions. And if Zoroaster were
either Cham, Chus, or Mizraim, they were early proficients
therein, who left, as Pliny delivereth, a work of agriculture.
However, the account of the pensile or hanging gardens of
Babylon, if made by Semiramis, the third or fourth from
Nimrod, is of no slender antiquity ; which being not framed
upon ordinary level of ground, but raised upon pillars, ad-
mitting under-passages, we cannot accept as the first Babylo-
nian gardens, — but a more eminent progress and advancement
in that art than any that went before it ; somewhat answering
or hinting the old opinion concerning Paradise itself, with
many conceptions elevated above the plane of the earth.2
Nabuchodonosor (whom some will have to be the famous
* For some there is from the ambiguity of the word Mikedem, whether ab Oriente,
or a principio.
2 with some conceptions elevated, frc] the sterility of the soil makes men be-
in MS. Sloan. 1847, I find the follow- lieve there was no such thing at all. The
ing passage, evidently intended for this gardens of Adonis were so empty that
work, which may be introduced here: — they afforded proverbial expression, and
"We are unwilling to diminish or loose the principal part thereof was empty
the credit of Paradise, or only pass it spaces, with herbs and flowers in pots,
over with [the Hebrew word for] Eden, I think we little understand the pensile
though the Greek be of a later name. In gardens of Semiramis, which made one
this excepted, we know not whether the of the wonders of it, [Babylon] where-
ancient gardens do equal those of late in probably the structure exceeded the
times, or those at present in Europe. Of plants contained in them. The excel-
the gardens of Hesperies, we know nothing lency thereof was probably in the trees,
singular, but some golden apples. Of and if the descension of the roots be
Alcinous his garden, we read nothing equal to the height of trees, it was not
beyond figgs, apples, and cHives ; if we [absurd] of Strebaeus to think the pillars
allow it to be any more than a fiction of were hollow that the roots migbt shoot
Homer, unhappily placed in Corfu, where into them."
CHAP. I.] GARDEN OF CYRUS. 387
Syrian King of Diodorus) beautifully repaired that city, and
so magnificently built his hanging gardens, * that from suc-
ceeding writers he had the honour of the first. From whence
overlooking Babylon, and all the region about it, he found
no circumscription to the eye of his ambition ; till over-de-
lighted with the bravery of this Paradise, in his melancholy
metamorphosis he found the folly of that delight, and a proper
punishment in the contrary habitation — in wild plantations
and wanderings of the fields.
The Persian gallants, who destroyed this monarchy, main-
tained their botanical bravery. Unto whom we owe the very
name of Paradise, wherewith we meet not in Scripture before
the time of Solomon, and conceived originally Persian. The
word for that disputed garden expressing, in the Hebrew, no
more than a field enclosed, which from the same root is
content to derive a garden and a buckler.
Cyrus the Elder, brought up in woods and mountains,3
when time and power enabled, pursued the dictate of his
education, and brought the treasures of the field into rule
and circumscription. So nobly beautifying the hanging gar-
dens of Babylon, that he was also thought to be the author
thereof.
Ahasuerus (whom many conceive to have been Artaxerxes
Longimanus), in the country and city of flowers, f and in an
open garden, entertained his princes and people, while Vashti
more modestly treated the ladies within the palace thereof.
But if, as some opinion, J King Ahasuerus were Artax-
erxes Mnemon, that found a life and reign answerable unto
his great memory, our magnified Cyrus was his second brother,
who gave the occasion of that memorable work, and almost
miraculous retreat of Xenophon. A person of high spirit and
honour, naturally a king, though fatally prevented by the
harmless chance of post-geniture ; not only a lord of gardens,
but a manual planter thereof, disposing his trees, like his
armies, in regular ordination. So that while old Laertes hath
* Josephus. f Sushati in Susiana: % Plutarch, in the Life of Artaxerxes.
s Cyrus the elder, fyc.~\ Alluding to his of Astyages, his grandfather,
having been brought up by the shepherd
2 C 2
388 GARDEN OF CYRUS. [CHAP. I.
found a name in Homer for pruning hedges, and clearing
away thorns and briars ; while King Attalus lives for his
poisonous plantations of aconites, henbane, hellebore, and
plants hardly admitted within the walls of Paradise ; while
many of the ancients do poorly live in the single names of
vegetables ; all stories do look upon Cyrus, as the splendid
and regular planter.
According whereto Xenophon* describeth his gallant
plantation at Sardis, thus rendered by Strebasus. " Arbores
jiari intervallo sitas, rectos ordines, et omnia perpulchre in
quincuncem directa." Which we shall take for granted as
being accordingly rendered by the most elegant of the
Latins, f and by no made term, but in use before by Varro.
That is, the rows and orders so handsomely disposed, or five
trees so set together, that a regular angularity, and thorough
prospect, was left on every side. Owing this name not only
unto the quintuple number of trees, but the figure declaring
that number, which being double at the angle, makes up the
letter X, that is, the emphatical decussation, or fundamental
figure.
Now though, in some ancient and modern practice, the area,
or decussated plot might be a perfect square, answerable to
a Tuscan pedestal, and the quinquernio or cinque point of a
dye, wherein by diagonal lines the intersection was rectangular;
accommodable unto plantations of large growing trees, and
we must not deny ourselves the advantage of this order ; yet
shall we chiefly insist upon that of Curtius and Porta, % in
their brief description hereof. Wherein the decitssis is made
within in a longilateral square, with opposite angles, acute
and obtuse at the intersection, and so upon progression
making a rhombus or lozenge figuration, which seemeth very
agreeable unto the original figure. Answerable whereunto
we observe the decussated characters in many consulary coins,
and even in those of Constantine and his sons, which pretend
their pattern in the sky; the crucigerous ensign carried this
figure, not transversely or rectangularly intersected, but in a
* In (Economico. \ Cicero in Cat. Major.
X Benedict. Curticus de TForis. Bapt. Porta in villa.
CHAP. I.] GARDEN OF CYRUS. 389
decussation, after the form of an Andre an or Burgundian
cross, which answereth this description.
Where by the way we shall decline the old theme, so
traced by antiquity, of crosses and crucifixion ; whereof
some being right, and of one single piece without transversion
or transom, do little advantage our subject. Nor shall we
take in the mystical Tau, or the cross of our blessed Saviour,
which having in some descriptions an Empedon or crossing
footsta}^, made not one single transversion. And since the
learned Lipsius hath made some doubt even of the cross of
St. Andrew, since some martyrological histories deliver his
death by the general name of a cross, and Hippolytus will
have him suffer by the sword, we shall have enough to make
out the received cross of that martyr. Nor shall we urge
the Labarum, and famous standard of Constantine, or make
further use thereof, than as the first letters in the name of
our Saviour Christ, in use among Christians, before the days
of Constantine, to be observed in sepulchral monuments * of
martyrs, in the reign of Adrian, and Antoninus ; and to be
found in the antiquities of the Gentiles, before the advent of
Christ, as in the medal of King Ptolemy, signed with the
same characters, and might be the beginning of some word
or name, which antiquaries have not hit on.
We will not revive the mysterious crosses of Egypt, with
circles on their heads,4 in the breast of Serapis, and the hands
* Of Marius, Alexander. Roma Sotterranea.
4 mysterious crosses of Egypt, ivith is so represented as to stand in any re-
circles on their heads.] Our author here lation to a sluice or a watercock. Ac-
alludes to the crux ansata, or handled cording to Socrates and Rufinus, the
cross, vulgarly termed the Key of the Egyptian priests declared to their Chris-
Nile, which is so often sculptured or tian conquerors under Theodosius, who
otherwise represented upon Egyptian were going to destroy the Serapeum
monuments. Nearly all his remarks at Alexandria, that the cross, so often
upon it are illustrated by the following sculptured on their temples, was an em-
passage from Dr. Young's article on blem of the life to come. This passage
Egypt, in the supplement to the Ency- has been understood by some authors
clopmdia Britannica. " The crux ansata, as relating rather to the cross without
sometimes called the Key of the Nile, a handle, which is observable in some
is usually employed as a symbol of divi- rare instances, and indeed twice on the
nity ; but its correct meaning is life, as stone of Rosetta ; but this symbol ap-
Lacroze rightly conjectured, although his pears rather to denote a protecting power,
opinion respecting the origin of the cha- than an immortal existence. It hap-
racter is inconsistent with the form of its pens, perhaps altogether accidentally,
oldest and most accurate delineations ; that one of the contractions for the word
and there is no one instance in which it God, which are commonly used in Coptic,
390 GARDEN OF CYRUS. [CHAP. I.
of their genial spirits, not unlike the character of Venus, and
looked on by ancient Christians with relation unto Christ.
Since however they first began, the Egyptians thereby ex-
pressed the process and motion of the spirit of the world,
and the diffusion thereof upon the celestial and elemental
nature ; employed by a circle and right-lined intersection, —
a secret in their telesmes5 and magical characters among
them. Though he that considereth the plain cross * upon
the head of the owl in the Lateran obelisk, or the cross f
erected upon a pitcher diffusing streams of water into two
basins, with sprinkling branches in them, and all described
upon a two-footed altar, as in the hieroglyphicks of the
brazen table of Bembus ; will hardly decline all thought of
Christian signality in them.
We shall not call in the Hebrew Tenupha, or ceremony of
their oblations, waved by the priest unto the four quarters of
the world, after the form of a cross, as in the peace offerings.
And if it were clearly made out what is remarkably deliver-
ed from the traditions of the rabbins, — that as the oil was
poured coronally or circularly upon the head of kings, so the
high-priest was anointed decussatively or in the form of an
X, — though it could not escape a typical thought of Christ,
from mystical considerators, yet being the conceit is Hebrew,
* Wherein the lower part is somewhat longer, as defined by Upton de studio militari,
and Johannes de Bado Aureo, cum comment, clariss. et doctiss. Bissau
f Casal. de Ritibus. Bosio nella Triovfante croce.
approaches very near to this character, the only one of (he Egyptian hierogly-
except that the arms of the cross are phics, the true signification of which was
within the circle." — Supp. Ency. Brit, never quite lost, a traditionary record of
vol, iv, p. 66, No. 108. its having always been preserved. The
Whether the notion of Lacroze con- error of attributing a Christian origin to
tioverted by Dr. Young was derived this symbol, has, if we remember right,
from the " cross erected upon a pitcher," been committed by some modern travel-
Ac. mentioned by Browne in the same ler in Egypt or Nubia, who finding cer-
paragraph ; we have no present means of tain stones with inscriptions having this
ascertaining, but even if so, Dr. Young's cross over them, supposed them to be the
remark will not be invalidated, for the grave-stones of Christians, and marvels
Bembine table, on which only, as it greatly at the discovery of Christian
would appear, that representation occurs, monuments in that particular locality,
is a document of no authority, as we the situation of which, if our recollection
have already had occasion to observe, in be correct, was sufficiently inconsistent,
a note on the Pseudodoxia, p. 451, note 1. indeed, with the notion of the existence
The handled cross, as Dr. Young has of such relics. — Br.
elsewhere intimated, seems to have been 5 telcsmr.~\ Talisman.
CHAP. I.] GARDEN OF CYRUS. 391
we should rather expect its verification from analogy in that
language, than to confine the same unto the unconcerned let-
ters of Greece, or make it out by the characters of Cadmus
or Palamedes.
Of this quincuncial ordination the ancients practised much,
discoursed little ; and the moderns have nothing enlarged ;
which he that more nearly considereth, in the form of its
square rhombus, and decussation, with the several commodi-
ties, mysteries, parallelisms, and resemblances, both in art
and nature, shall easily discern the elegancy of this order.
That this was in some ways of practice in divers and
distant nations, hints or deliveries there are from no slender
antiquity. In the hanging gardens of Babylon, from Aby-
denus, Eusebius, and others,* Curtius describeth this rule of
decussation. In the memorable garden of Alcinous, anciently
conceived an original fancy from Paradise, mention there is
of well contrived order ; for so hath Didymus and Eusta-
chius expounded the emphatical word.6 Diomedes describing
the rural possessions of his father, gives account in the same
language of trees orderly planted. And Ulysses being a boy,
was promised by his father forty fig-trees, and fifty rows of
vines producing all kinds of grapes.y
That the eastern inhabitants of India made use of such
order, even in open plantations, is deducible from Theophra-
stus ; who, describing the trees whereof they made their
garments, plainly delivereth that they were planted xar' ogxovg,
and in such order that at a distance men would mistake them
for vineyards. The same seems confirmed in Greece from a
singular expression in Aristotle J concerning the order of
vines, delivered by a military term representing the orders of
soldiers, which also confirmeth the antiquity of this form yet
used in vineal plantations.
That the same was used in Latin plantations is plainly
* Decussatio ipsa jucundum ac peramcenum conspectum prcebuit. Curt. Hortar. I. vi.
t fyx°'> gT'Xot <Mfl«XMV, pu«!w Gri%og, q xara rafyv <pvnia. Pkavorinus.
Pkiloxenus. X Gvtirahac, afivsXuv. Polit. vii.
6 the emphatical word.'] Probably oo^og, See Odyss. in he.
392 GARDEN OF CYRUS. [CHAP. I.
confirmed from the commending pen of Varro, Quintilian,
and handsome description of Virgil.*
That the first plantations not long after the flood were dis-
posed after this manner, the generality and antiquity of this
order observed in vineyards, and vine plantations, affordeth
some conjecture. And since, from judicious enquiry, Saturn,
who divided the world between his three sons, who beareth
a sickle in his hand, who taught the plantations of vines, the
setting, grafting of trees, and the best part of agriculture, is
discovered to be Noah, — whether this early dispersed hus-
bandry in vineyards had not its original in that patriarch, is
no such paralogical doubt.
And if it were clear that this was used by Noah after the
flood, I could easily believe it was in use before it : — not
willing to fix to such ancient inventions no higher original
than Noah ; nor readily conceiving those aged heroes, whose
diet was vegetable, and only or chiefly consisted in the fruits
of the earth, were much deficient in their splendid cultiva-
tions, or (after the experience of fifteen hundred years,) left
much for future discovery in botanical agriculture ; nor fully
persuaded that wine was the invention of Noah, that fermen-
ted liquors, which often make themselves, so long escaped
their luxury or experience, that the first sin of the new world
was no sin of the old ; that Cain and Abel were the first that of-
fered sacrifice ; or because the Scripture is silent, that Adam
or Isaac offered none at all.
Whether Abraham, brought up in the first planting
country, observed not some rule hereof, when he planted a
grove at Beer-sheba ; or whether at least a like ordination
were not in the garden of Solomon, probability may contest ;
answerably unto the wisdom of that eminent botanologer, and
orderly disposer of all his other works. Especially since this
was one piece of gallantry, wherein he pursued the specious
part of felicity, according to his own description : " I made
me gardens and orchards, and planted trees in them of all
kinds of fruits : I made me pools of water, to water there-
Indulgc ordinibus, nee sccius omnis in unguem
Arboribus positis, scclo via limi/c qnadret. Georg. ii.
CHAP. I.] GARDEN OF CYRUS. 393
with the wood that bringeth forth trees."* Which was no
ordinary plantation, if according to the Targum, or Chaldee
paraphrase, it contained all kinds of plants, and some fetch-
ed as far as India ; and the extent thereof were from the
wall of Jerusalem unto the water of Siloah.
And if Jordan were but Jaar Eden, that is the river of
Eden ; Genesar but Gansar or the prince of gardens ; and it
could be made out, that the plain of Jordan were watered
not comparatively, but causally, and because it was the Para-
dise of God, as the learned Abramas f hinteth : he was not
far from the prototype and original of plantations. And since
even in Paradise itself, the tree of knowledge was placed in
the middle of the garden, whatever was the ambient figure,
there wanted not a centre and rule of decussation. Whether
the groves and sacred plantations of antiquity were not thus
orderly placed, either by quaternios, or quintuple ordinations,
may favourably be doubted. For since they were so metho-
dical in the constitutions of their temples, as to observe the
due situation, aspect, manner, form, and order in architecto-
nical 7 relations, whether they were not as distinct in their
groves and plantations about them, in form and species re-
spectively unto their deities, is not without probability of
conjecture. And in their groves of the sun this was a fit
number by multiplication to denote the days of the year ; and
might hieroglyphically speak as much, as the mystical statue
of Janus % in the language of his fingers. And since they
were so critical in the number of his horses, the strings of
his harp, and rays about his head, denoting the orbs of
heaven, the seasons and months of the year, witty idolatry
would hardly be flat in other appropriations.
* Eccles. ii. f Vet. Testamenti Pkarus.
% Which king Numa set up, with his fingers so disposed that they numerically-
denoted 365. — Pliny.
7 architectonical.] " Having skill in But he seems to use the word more
architure" is Dr. Johnson's definition of generally in the sense of relating to ar-
this word : — and he quotes a passage chitecture.
from Browne, Tract 1, vol. iv, p. 124.
394 GARDEN OF CYRUS. [CHAP. II.
CHAPTER II.
Nor was this only a form of practice in plantations, but
found imitation from high antiquity, in sundry artificial con-
trivances and manual operations. For (to omit the position of
squared stones, cuneatim or wedgewise, in the walls of Roman
and Gothick buildings, and the lithostrata or figured pave-
ments of the ancients, which consisted not all of square
stones, but were divided into triquetrous segments, honey-
combs, and sexangular figures, according to Vitruvius ;) the
squared stones and bricks, in ancient fabricks, were placed
after this order ; and two above or below, conjoined by a mid-
dle stone or plinthus ; observable in the ruins of Forum
Nerves, the mausoleum of Augustus, the pyramid of Cestius,
and the sculpture draughts of the larger pyramids of Egypt.
And therefore in the draughts of eminent fabricks, painters
do commonly imitate this order in the lines of their description.
In the laureat draught of sculpture and picture, the leaves
and foliate works are commonly thus contrived, which is but
in imitation of the pulvinaria, and ancient pillow-work, ob-
servable in Ionick pieces, about columns, temples and altars.
To omit many other analogies in architectonical draughts ;
which art itself is founded upon fives, * as having its subject,
and most graceful pieces divided by this number.
The triumphal oval, and civical crowns of laurel, oak, and
myrtle, when fully made were plaited after this order. And
(to omit the crossed crowns of Christian princes ; what figure
that was which Anastasius described upon the head of Leo
the third ; or who first brought in the arched crown;) that of
* Of a structure five parts, fuvdamentum, parictcs, aperturcr, compartitio, tectum.
Leo Alberti. Five columns, Tuscan, Dorick, Ionick, Corinthian, Compound. Five
different intercolumniations, pyonostyloss distylos, sy stylos, aseoslylos, eustylos, Vitnw,
CHAP. II.] GARDEN OF CYRUS. 395
Charles the Great, (which seems the first remarkably closed
crown,) was framed after this * manner ; with an intersection
in the middle from the main crossing bars, and the interspaces,
unto the frontal circle, continued by handsome net-work plates,
much after this order. Whereon we shall not insist, because
from greater antiquity, and practice of consecration, we meet
with the radiated, and starry crown, upon the head of Augus-
tus, and many succeeding emperors. Since the Armenians and
Parthians had a peculiar royal cap ; and the Grecians, from
Alexander, another kind of diadem. And even diadems
themselves were but fasciations, and handsome ligatures, about
the heads of princes ; nor wholly omitted in the mitral crown,
which common picture seems to set too upright and forward
upon the head of Aaron ; worn f sometimes singly, or doubly
by princes, according to their kingdoms ; and no more to be
expected from two crowns at once, upon the head of Ptolemy.
And so easily made out, when historians tell us, some bound
up wounds, some hanged themselves with diadems.
The beds of the ancients were corded somewhat after this
fashion : that is, not directly, as ours at present, but obliquely,
from side to side, and after the manner of net-work ; whereby
they strengthened the spondee or bedsides, and spent less
cord in the net-work : as is demonstrated by J Blancanus.
And as they lay in crossed beds, so they sat upon seeming
cross-legged seats ; in which form the noblest thereof were
framed : observable in the triumphal seats, the sella curulis,
or Edile chairs; in the coins of Cestius, Sylla, and Julius.
That they sat also cross-legged, many nobler draughts declare ;
and in this figure the sitting gods and goddesses are drawn in
medals and medallions. § And, beside this kind of work in
retiary and hanging textures, in embroideries, and eminent
needle-works, the like is obvious unto every eye in glass win-
dows. Nor only in glass contrivances, but also in lattice and
stone work, conceived in the temple of Solomon; wherein the
windows are termed fenestra reticulates, or lights framed like
nets. And agreeable unto the Greek expression || concerning
* Uti constat ex pergamena apud Chiffler. in B. R. Bruxelli, et Icon. f. Strodce.
f Aristot. Median. Quast. J The larger sort of medals. § Mace. i. xi.
|| dixrvura.
39G GARDEN OF CYRUS. [dlAP. II.
Christ in the Canticles, * looking through, the nets, which
ours hath rendered, " he looketh forth at the windows, shewing
himself through the lattice;" that is, partly seen and unseen,
according to the visible and invisible sides of his nature. To
omit the noble reticulate work, in the chapiters of the pillars
of Solomon, with lilies and pomegranates upon a net-work
ground ; and the graticula or grate through which the ashes
fell in the altar of burnt offerings.
That the net works and nets of antiquity were little differ-
ent in the form from ours at present, is confirmable from the
nets in the hands of the retiary gladiators, the proper comba-
tants with the Secutores. To omit the ancient conopeion or
gnat-net of the ./Egyptians, the inventors of that artifice ; the
rushy labyrinths of Theocritus; the nosegay nets, which
hung from the head under the nostrils of princes ; and that
uneasy metaphor of reticulum jecoris,\ which some expound
the lobe, we the caul above the liver. As for that famous net-
work of Vulcan, which inclosed Mars and Venus, and caused
that \ unextinguishable laugh in heaven, — since the gods
themselves could not discern it, we shall not pry into it : al-
though why Vulcan bound them, Neptune loosed them, and.
Apollo should first discover them, might afford no vulgar
mythology. Heralds have not omitted this order or imitation
thereof, while they symbolically adorn their scutcheons with
mascles, fusils, and saltyres, and while they dispose the figures
of Ermines, and varied coats in this quincunical method. §
The same is not forgot by lapidaries, while they cut their
gems pyramidally, or by sequicrural triangles. Perspective
pictures, in their base, horizon, and lines of distances, can-
not escape these rhomboidal decussations. Sculptors in their
strongest shadows, after this order do draw their double
hatches. And the very Americans do naturally fall upon it,
in their neat and curious textures, which is also observed in
the elegant artifices of Europe. But this is no law unto the
woof of the neat retiary spider, which seems to weave with-
* Cant. ii. t In Leviticus.
% " A6$z6toc, 3' u£ svupro <ye\w$. Horn.
§ Dc armis Scaccatis, masculalis, invectis.fuielatis, vide Spclman, Aspilog, cl Upton
citra cruri. Byssai,
CHAP. II.] GARDEN OF CYRUS. 397
out transversion, and by the union of right lines to make out
a continual surface, which is beyond the common art of tex-
tury, and may still nettle Minerva,* the goddess of that
mystery. And he that shall hatch the little seeds, either
found in small webs, or white round eggs, carried under the
bellies of some spiders, and behold how at their first produc-
tion in boxes, they will presently fill the same with their webs,
may observe the early, and untaught finger of nature, and
how they are natively provided with a stock sufficient for
such texture.
The rural charm against dodder, tetter, and strangling
weeds, was contrived after this order, while they placed a
chalked tile at the four corners, and one in the middle of their
fields : which, though ridiculous in the intention, was rational
in the contrivance, and a good way to diffuse the magick
through all parts of the area.
Somewhat after this manner they ordered the little stones
in the old game of Pentalithismus, or casting up five stones
to catch them on the back of their hand. And with some
resemblance hereof, the proci or prodigal paramours disposed
their men, when they played at Penelope.-f For being them-
selves an hundred and eight, they set fifty four stones on
either sides, and one in the middle, which they called Pene-
lope ; which he that hit was master of the game.
In chess boards and tables we yet find pyramids and squares.
I wish we had their true and ancient description, far different
from ours, or the diet mat of the Persians, which might con-
tinue some elegant remarkables, as being an invention as high
as Hermes the secretary of Osyris, figuring the whole world,
the motion of the planets, with eclipses of sun and moon.
Physicians are not without the use of this decussation in
several operations, in ligatures and union of dissolved conti-
nuities. Mechanics make use hereof in forcipal organs, and
instruments of incision; wherein who can but magnify the
power of decussation, inservient to contrary ends, solution
and consolidation, union and division, illustrable from Aris-
totle in the old micifragium, or nutcracker, and the instru-
* As in the contention between Minerva and Arachne.
f In Eustackius, in Homerum.
398 GARDEN OF CYRUS. [CHAP II.
ments of evulsion, compression, or incision ; which consisting
of two vectes, or arms, converted towards each other, the
innitency 8 and stress being made upon the hypomochlion, or
fulciment 9 in the decussation, the greater compression is made
by the union of two impulsors.
The Roman batalia* was ordered after this manner,
whereof as sufficiently known, Virgil hath left but an hint,
and obscure intimation. For thus were the maniples and
cohorts of the hastati, principes, and triarii placed in their
bodies, wherein consisted the strength of the Roman battle.
By this ordination they readily fell into each other ; the
hastati being pressed, handsomely retired into the intervals
of the principes, these into that of the triarii, which making
as it were a new body, might jointly renew the battle, wherein
consisted the secret of their successes. And therefore it was
remarkablyf singular in the battle of Africa, that Scipio, fear-
ing a rout from the elephants of the enemy, left not the prin-
cipes in their alternate distances, whereby the elephants,
passing the vacuities of the hastati, might have run upon
them, but drew his battle into right order, and leaving the
passages bare, defeated the mischief intended by the ele-
phants. Out of this figure were made two remarkable forms
of battle, the cuneus and forceps, or the shear and wedge
battles, each made of half a rhombus, and but differenced by
position. The wedge invented to break or work into a body,
the forceps to environ and defeat the power thereof, compos-
ed out of the selectest soldiery, and disposed into the form of
a V, wherein receiving the wedge, it inclosed it on both
sides. After this form the famous NarsesJ ordered his
battle against the Franks, and by this figure the Almans
were enclosed, and cut in pieces.
The rhombus or lozenge-figure so visible in this order, was
also a remarkable form of battle in the Grecian cavalry,§ ob-
served by the Thessalians, and Philip King of Macedon, and
* In the disnosure of the legions in the wars of the republick, before the division
of the legion into ten cohorts by the Emperors. Salmas. in his epistle a Monsieur
de Peyresc. et de Re Militari Romanorum.
\ Polybius. Appianus. \ Agathius. Ammianus. § JElian. Tact.
8 innitency.~] His own synonym for 9 fulchnent.~) Fulcrum.
" stress."
CHAP. II.] GARDEN OF CYRUS. 399
frequently by the Parthians; as being most ready to turn
every way, and best to be commanded, as having its ductors,
or commanders at each angle.
The Macedonian phalanx (a long time thought invincible,)
consisted of a long square. For though they might be six-
teen in rank and file, yet when they shut close, so that the
sixth pike advanced before the first rank, though the number
might be square, the figure was oblong, answerable unto the
quincuncial quadrate of Curtius. According to this square,
Thucydides delivers, the Athenians disposed their battle
against the Lacedemonians, brickwise,* and by the same word
the learned Gellius expoundeth the quadrate of Virgil, after
the form of a brick or tile, j-
And as the first station and position of trees, so was the
first habitation of men, not in round cities, as of later found-
ation ; for the form of Babylon the first city was square, and
so shall also be the last, according to the description of the
holy city in the Apocalypse. The famous pillars of Seth,
before the flood, had also the like foundation,^ if they were
but antediluvian obelisks, and such as Cham and his Egyp-
tian race imitated after the flood.
But Nineveh, which authors acknowledge to have exceed-
ed Babylon, was of a longilateral figure, § ninety-five furlongs
broad, and an hundred and fifty long, and so making about
sixty miles in circuit, which is the measure of three days'
journey, according unto military marches, or castrensial man-
sions. So that if Jonas entered at the narrower side, he
found enough for one day's walk to attain the heart of the
city, to make his proclamation. And if we imagine a city
extending from Ware to London, the expression will be
moderate of sixscore thousand infants, although we allow
vacuities, fields, and intervals of habitation ; as there needs
must be when the monument of Ninus took up no less than
ten furlongs.
And, though none of the seven wonders, yet a noble piece of
antiquity, and made by a copy exceeding all the rest, had its
* lv vkaiGiO). t Sectovia limite quadret. Comment, in Virgil.
\ Obelisks, being erected upon a square base. § Doid. Sic
400 GARDEN OF CYRUS. [CHAP. II.
principal parts disposed after this manner; that is, the labyrinth
of Crete, built upon a long quadrate, containing five large
squares ; communicating by right inflexions, terminating in
the centre of the middle square, and lodging of the Minotaur,
if we conform unto the description of the elegant medal
thereof in Agostino.* And though in many accounts we
reckon grossly by the square, yet is that very often to be
accepted as a long-sided quadrate, which was the figure of
the ark of the covenant, the table of the shew-bread, and the
stone wherein the names of the twelve tribes were engraved,
that is, three in a row, naturally making a longilateral figure,
the perfect quadrate being made by nine.
What figure the stones themselves maintained, tradition
and Scripture are silent, yet lapidaries in precious stones
affect a table or long square, and in such proportion, that the
two lateral, and also the three inferior tables are equal unto
the superior ; and the angles of the lateral tables contain and
constitute the hypothenuscs, or broader sides subtending.
That the tables of the law were of this figure, general imi-
tation and tradition hath confirmed. Yet are we unwilling
to load the shoulders of Moses with such massy stones, as
some pictures lay upon them ; since it is plainly delivered
that he came down with them in his hand ; since the word
strictly taken implies no such massy hewing, but cutting, and
fashioning of them into shape and surface ; since some will
have them emeralds, and if they were made of the materials
of Mount Sinai, not improbable that they were marble ; since
the words were not many, the letters short of seven hundred,
and the tables,1 written on both sides, required no such
capacity.
The beds of the ancients were different from ours at pre-
sent, which are almost square, being framed oblong, and
about a double unto their breadth ; not much unlike the area,
or bed of this quincuncial quadrate. The single beds of
Greece were six feet f and a little more in length, three in
breadth; the giant-like bed of Og, which had four cubits of
* Antonio Agostino Dcllc Medaglie. \ Aristol. Median.
1 tables. J Pineda thinks the tables of the law were of sapphire.— 'Jeff.
CHAP. III.] GARDEN OF CYRUS. 401
breadth, nine and a half in length, varied not much from this
proportion. The funeral bed of King Cheops, in the greater
pyramid, which holds seven in length, and four feet in breadth,
had no great difformity from this measure; and whatsoever
were the breadth, the length could hardly be less, of the tyran-
nical bed of Procrustes, since in a shorter measure he had not
been fitted with persons for his cruelty of extension. But the
old sepulchral bed, or Amazonian tomb* in the market place
of Megara, was in the form of a lozenge, readily made out by
the composure of the body ; for the arms not lying fasciated
or wrapt up after the Grecian manner, but in a middle disten-
sion, the including lines will strictly make out that figure.
CHAPTER III.
Now although this elegant ordination of vegetables hath
found coincidence or imitation in sundry works of art, yet is
it not also destitute of natural examples ; and, though over-
looked by all, was elegantly observable, in several works of
nature.
Could we satisfy ourselves in the position of the lights
above, or discover the wisdom of that order so invariably
maintained in the fixed stars of heaven ; could we have any
light, why the stellary part of the first mass separated into
this order, that the girdle of Orion should ever maintain its
line, and the two stars in Charles' wain never leave pointing
at the pole star ; we might abate the Pythagorical musick of
the spheres, the sevenfold pipe of Pan, and the strange
cryptography of GafFarel in his starry book of heaven.
But, not to look so high as heaven, or the single quincunx
of the Hyades upon the head of Taurus, the triangle, and
remarkable crusero about the foot of the Centaur, — observable
rudiments there are hereof in subterraneous concretions, and
bodies in the earth ; in the gypsum or ialeum rhomboides,
* Pint, in vit. Thes.
VOL III. 2 D
402 GARDEN OF CYRUS. [CHAP. III.
in the favaginites, or honeycomb stone, in the asteria and
astroites, and in the crucigerous stone of S. Jago of Gallicia.
The same is observably effected in the julus, catkins, or pend-
ulous excrescencies of several trees ; of walnuts, alders, and
hazels, which hanging all the winter, and maintaining their net-
work close, by the expansion thereof are the early foretellers of
the spring : discoverable also in long pepper, and elegantly in
the jiilus of calamus aromaticus, so plentifully growing with us,
in the first palms of willows, and in the flowers of sycamore,
petasites, asphodelus, and blattaria, before explication. After
such order stand the flowery branches in our best spread
verbascum, and the seeds about the spicous head or torch of
thapsus barbatus, in as fair a regularity as the circular and
wreathed order will admit, which advanceth one side of the
square, and makes the same rhomboidal. In the squamous
heads of scabious, knapweed, and the elegant jacea pinea,
and in the scaly composm*e of the oak rose,* which some
years most aboundeth. After this order hath nature plant-
ed the leaves in the head of the common and prickled arti-
choke, wherein the black and shining flies do shelter them-
selves, when they retire from the purple flower about it.
The same is also found in the pricks, sockets, and impressions
of the seeds, in the pulp or bottom thereof; wherein do ele-
gantly stick the fathers of their mother : f to omit the quin-
cuncial specks on the top of the miscle-berry, especially that
which grows upon the tilia, or lime tree ; and the remarkable
disposure of those yellow fringes about the purple pestil of
Aaron, and elegant clusters of dragons, so peculiarly secured
by nature, with an umbrella or skreening leaf about them.
The spongy leaves of some sea wracks, fucus, oaks, in their
several kinds, found about the shore, J with ejectments of the
sea, are over-wrought with net-work elegantly containing this
order : which plainly declareth the naturality of this texture ;
* Capitula squamata qncrcuum, Bauhini, whereof though he snith perraro repe-
riuntur, bin tantum invenimus ; yet we find them commonly with us and in great
numbers.
f Anfho. Greec. Inter Epigrammaia. yg/£wcij; hhw 1/J.uv, /j,r,rgbg "kayuvav
X Especially the poms cervinus, imperati, sporosa, or alga irXarbxi^ug Bauhini.
CHAP. III.] GARDEN OF CYRUS. 403
and how the needle of nature delighteth to work, even in low
and doubtful vegetations.
The arbustetum or thicket on the head of the teazel, may
be observed in this order: and he that considereth that fab-
rick so regularly palisadoed, and stemmed with flowers of the
royal colour, in the house of the solitary maggot* may find
the seraglio of Solomon ; and contemplating the calicular
shafts, and uncous disposure of their extremities, so accommo-
dable unto the office of abstersion, not condemn as wholly
improbable the conceit of those who accept it for the herb
borith.-f2 Where by the way we could with much enquiry
never discover any transfiguration in this abstemious insect,
although we have kept them long in their proper houses and
boxes. Where some, wrapt up in their webs, have lived
upon their own bowels from September unto July.
In such a grove do walk the little creepers about the head
of the burr ; and such an order is observed in the aculeous
prickly plantation upon the heads of several common thistles,
remarkably in the notable palisadoes about the flower of the
milk thistle, and he that enquireth into the little bottom of
the globe thistle, may find that gallant bush arise from a
scalp of like disposure.
The white umbrella, or medical bush of elder, is an epi-
tome of this order, arising from five main stems quincuncially
disposed, and tolerably maintained in their subdivisions. To
omit the lower observations in the seminal spike of mercury
wild, and plantain.
Thus hath Nature ranged the flowers of santfoyn, and
French honysuckle, and somewhat after this manner hath
ordered the bush in Jupiter's beard or houseleak, which old
superstition set on the tops of houses, as a defensative against
lightning and thunder. The like in fenny seagreen, or the
* From there being a single maggot found almost in every head.
+ Jer. ii, 22 ; Mai. iii, 2.
2 not condemn, fyc] The LXX, Je- which a strong alkaline salt is contained,
rome, and the Vulgate, consider the He- Our author, on the other hand, suggests
brew word used in Jer. ii, 22, and Mai. that it may be fullonum dypsacus, or
iii, 2, to refer to a plant, herba fullonum. fuller's teazel.
Goguet calls it salt-wort, in the ashes of
2 D 2
404 GARDEN OF CYRUS. [CHAP. III.
water soldier, * which, though a military name from Greece,
makes out the Roman order.
A like ordination there is in the favaginous sockets, and
lozenge seeds of the noble flower of the sun ; wherein in
lozenge-figured boxes nature shuts up the seeds, and balsam
which is about them.
But the fir and pine tree from their fruits do naturally
dictate this position; the rhomboidal protuberances in pine
apples maintaining this quincuncial order unto each other, and
each rhombus in itself. Thus are also disposed the triangular
foliations in the conical fruit of the fir tree, orderly shadowing
and protecting the winged seeds below them.
The like so often occurreth to the curiosity of observers,
especially in spicated seeds and flowers, that we shall not
need to take in the single quincunx of Fuchsias in the growth
of the male fearn, the seedy disposure of gramen ischemon,
and the trunk or neat reticulate work in the cod of the sachel
palm.
For even in very many round stalked plants, the leaves are
set after a quintuple ordination, the first leaf answering the
fifth in lateral disposition. Wherein the leaves successively
rounding the stalk, in four, at the furthest, the compass is
absolved, and the fifth leaf or sprout returns to the position
of the other fifth before it; as in accounting upward is often
observable in furze, pellitory, ragweed, the sprouts of oaks
and thorns, upon pollards, j* and very remarkably in the re-
gular disposure of the rugged excrescencies in the yearly
shoots of the pine.
But in square stalked plants, the leaves stand respectively
unto each other, either in cross or decussation to those above
or below them, arising at cross positions; whereby they
shadow not each other, and better resist the force of winds,
which in a parallel situation, and upon square stalks, would
more forcibly bear upon them.
And, to omit how leaves and sprouts, which compass not
the stalk, are often set in a rhomboides, and making long and
short diagonals, do stand like the legs of quadrupeds when
• Stratiotes. \ Pollard oaks, and thorns.
CHAP. III.] GARDEN OF CYRUS. 405
they go ; nor to urge the thwart enclosure and farclling of
flowers and blossoms before explications, as in the multiplied
leaves of piony ; and the chiasmus in five leaved flowers,
while one lies wrapt about the staminous beards, the other
four obliquely shutting and closing upon each other, and
how even flowers which consist of four leaves, stand not
ordinarily in three and one, but two, and two crosswise, unto
the stylus ; even the autumnal buds, which await the return
of the sun, do after the winter solstice multiply their calicular
leaves, making little rhombuses, and net-work figures, as in
the sycamore and lilack.
The like is discoverable in the original production of
plants, which first putting forth two leaves, those which
succeed bear not over each other, but shoot obliquely or
crosswise, until the stalk appeareth, which sendeth not forth
its first leaves without all order unto them, and he that from
hence can discover in what position the two first leaves did
arise, is no ordinary observator.
Where, by the way, he that observeth the rudimental
spring of seeds, shall find strict rule, although not after this
order. How little is required unto effectual generation, and in
what diminutives the plastick principle lodgeth is exemplified
in seeds, wherein the greater mass affords so little comproduc-
tion.3 In beans the leaf and root sprout from the germen,
3 How little, Sfc] In MS. Sloan. 1847, tie is required unto effectuall generation,
this passage stands thus ; — " How little is and in what diminutives the plastick
required to the generation of animals, principle lodgeth ;" and indeed 'tis worth
the late doctrine of generation hath in- our contemplation to consider from what
structedus: — and how the grosser sperme contemptible principles the vast magni-
having served as a vehicle of the spirit- tude of some plants arise, as that from so
ual geniture, is sent out or exhaled and small a neb in the acorne so majestick
performeth no further office, seems also and stately a plant as the oake should be
reasonable in the seminal propagation of drawn. But what you meane by the
plants, wherein the greatest part of the plastick principle " lodging in these di-
seed is of no effect." minutive particles, I doe not well under-
In MS. Sloan. 1326, fol. 17, are the stand. I am farr more prone to beleeve
following observations on this passage; that these fructifying particles or acornes
thus headed, and followed by a copy of (be they never so minute) are indeed the
his letter to Dr. Browne, whose reply whole plant perfectly there epitomized.
I have also adjoined, from MS. Sloan. And that seeds doe not only potentially
3515. Reflections upon some passages of containe the formes of their own specitick
Dr. Browne's book called ' Cyrus his plants, but are indeed plantarum. suarum
Garden,' sent to Dr. Browne, from H. foetus, and as it were a young and em-
Power. Chapt. 3, pag. 129, " hee that brioned plant, capsulated and kradled
observeth (say you) the rudimentall (sic) up in severall filmes, huskes, and
spring of seeds, shall find how lit- shells, and enclosed with a convenient
406
GARDEN OF CYRUS.
[chap
III.
the main sides split, and lie by ; and in some pulled up near
the time of blooming, we have found the pulpous sides entire
or little wasted. In acorns the nib dilating splitteth the two
sides, which sometimes lie whole, when the oak is sprouted
intrinsecall, primitive nutriment (just like
the chick in an egge) which at first it
feeds upon, till it has broke through the
enclosing walles or pellicles, to receive
more ample nourishment from its great
mother the earth ; and this in some man-
ner is autoptically demonstrable, espe-
cially in some of the greater sorts of seeds
and more visiblely in those that are some-
thing flattish and oblong; as in ash keys
or chatts (our lingua avium) the skins
being removed and the kernell cleft
lengthways in the middle you shall find
a youngling ash: (viz. two white tender
oblong leaves, lying one upon another
with a stalk reaching to the point of the
seed (not that point which is fastened to
the tree but the other) to which tender
stalk is annexed as it were a navell string
or umbilicall vessel from the stemme
through which the primitive atomes that
materiald that plant were first conveyd.
In the mapple tree, both greater and
lesser, though the keys or chatts be wing-
ed like the ash, yet is the diminutive
mapple found foulded up in the knobby
end thereof: in beans and peas at the
cone point you there find those two little
leaves and footstalk, which make the first
protrusion and shoot out of the earth : in
other smaller seeds especially the round
ones, the leaves are circum-folded, the
stalk lying as an axis in the centre of
of them, as in cabbage and radish seeds,
which when they break through the
ground they erect themselves upright,
sometime carrying their filme and skin
(as children doe the silly how,) upon their
topps, as in the sproots of onyons is man-
ifest. Thus certainly the smallest seeds are
nothing but their own plants shrunk into
an atome, which though invisible to us,
are easyly discernable to nature, and to
that piercing eie, that sees through all
things. In vaine therefore may wee ex-
pect an ocular demonstration of these
things, unles wee had such glasses (as
some men rant of) whereby they could
see the transpiration of plants and ani-
mals, yea the very magneticall effluviums
of the loadstone.
Now to stretch our conceits a little
higher, wheather the spermatick princi-
ple of animals containe in it ipsissimum
std generis animalculum actualiter falri-
catum, I am so farre from determining that
1 dare hardly conjecture, yet if it be true
what I have heard some say, that in the
cicatricula or birds eie (as our old wifes
call it) of an egge, by a good micro-
scope you may see all the parts of a chick
exactly delineated before incubation, and
if it be true what Harvey declares that
homo nan immediate corporatur ex semine
in uteru ejecto, sed per quantam conta-
gionem, it may and ought to exstimulate
our unsatisfyed desires to a further en-
quiry— especially since wee see that the
embryo in a woman, and those in cows
and other animals, are not so big when
sometimes abortively excluded as the ker-
nell of a prunestone, and yet perfectly
and integrally organized, yea (often
times in that minutenesse to the very
distinction of sex) but this may prove a
subject of a large discourse. At present
give me leave to returne into the garden
againe. In another paragraph you doe
not only take notice but handsomely
prove a continuall transpiration in plants
like to that in animals; which contin-
ually renews their lopt-off flowers, and
where it is large and excessive perchance
doubles their flowers, now I am soe much
your convert in this point, that I can easi-
ly stretch my beliefe a little farther, and
that is to conceive that all plants may
not only have a transpiration of particles
but a sensation also like animals. This
is eminently enough discoverable in those
2 exotick hearbs (the sensitive and hum-
ble plants) vid. my letter to Mr. Robin-
son, 2nd August, 1656.
The conclusion of my letter to Dr. Browne.
These are some of those many eccen-
tricall and extravagant conceits and fan-
eyes of my own ; how they may realish
with you I know not, if they prove too raw
and too crude to be digested by you I
pray you prepare them better, and adde
what corrections you please to them, and
you shall ever obleige
Sir,
Your most faithfull Friend and Servant,
H. Tower.
From New Hall, neare Hallifax,
this 10 May, 165D.
CHAP. III.]
GARDEN OF CYRUS.
407
two handfuls. In lupines these pulpy sides do sometimes
arise with the stalk in the resemblance of two fat leaves.
Wheat and rye will grow up, if after they have shot some
tender roots, the adhering pulp be taken from them. Beans
MS. Sloan. 3515.
Worthy Sir,
The intent of that paragraph whereof
you pleasd to take notice, was chiefly to
showe by pkiyne and rurall observation
how litle of that which beareth the
name of seed is the effectuall or genera-
tive part thereof, that the plastick or for-
mative spirit lodgeth butt in a diminutive
particle, and that the adhering masse doth
nothing soe much in the future present
production as is vulgarly apprehended,
exemplified in beanes and acornes, that
part consuming or corrupting into insects
while the generative primordium makes
his progress in the earth. And there-
fore this I saye may be exemplified unto
all eyes without art and by an easie '
waye of experiment, howe little is requir-
ed unto effectuall generation or germin-
ation, such as is able to produce a growne
and confirmed plant, and in what dimini-
tiues that spirit lyeth which worketh this
effect, which must needs lodge in a very
litle roome at first, since when its power
is farther advanced, it makes butt a small
bulk comparatively to the whole masse,
and that masse not soe considerable as is
conceived to the production and progres-
sion of the plant, butt serving for tegu-
ment, enclosure, and securement of the
nebbe, and food for man and animals.
As for the higher originall of seeds,
before they come to sprout in or out of
the ground, though it bee not easie to
demonstrate it from the first spermatizing
of the plant, till a little time hath made
some discoverie and the seed bee under
some degree of germination, yet is it not
improbable that the plant is delineated
from the begining; that a lineall draught
beginneth upon the first separation, and
that these unto the eye of nature are butt
soe many yonge ones hanging upon the
mother plant, very soone discoverable in
some by rudimentall lines in the soft
gelly-like nebbe, in others more plainly
sometime after by more plaine roote and
leaves, as I instance in beanes and peas,
and have long agoe observed in ashkeys,
almonds, apricots, pistachios, before I
read any hint thereof in Regius or descrip-
tion in Dr, Highmore. And this is also
notable in spontaneous productions of
plants upon emerging of the first vegeta-
ble atome, although the observation bee
hard, and cannot soe neerly bee observed
in any production as that of duckweed,
from water kept in thinne glasses, wherin
the leaves and roote will suddenly ap-
peare where you suspected nothing be-
fore. And if the water bee never soe
narrowlie wached, yet if you can per-
ceive any alteration or atome as bigge as
a needles poynt, within 3 or4howers, the
plant will bee discoverable.
You have excellently delivered your
sense in this you pleasd to send mee,
and I desire you to pursue your concep-
tions in these and other worthie enquiries,
and in the interim and at your leasure to
consider, whether, if wee make our ob-
servations in ashkeys, maples, hardbowes,
acornes, plummes, &c. then when the
leaves and stemme are playnly found, the
inference will bee soe satisfactorie and
current as if observed higher before the
pulpe bee formed, when the seed is in a
gellie : for even at that time I seeme to
find some rudiment of these parts in
plummes, for otherwise men will not al-
low this to bee soe high a beginning of
formation as is in the egge, after some-
time when the galba or maggot-like
shape beginnes to showe itself.
Though wee actually find the leaves
and roote in these seeds, yet since other
dissimilarie parts are accounted essential
unto the same plants, as truncus, rami,
surculi, whether these parts are not ra-
ther potentially therin, which are not dis-
covered or produced untill a long time
after.
The roote of white bryonie and some
others, cutt in sunder and divided, pro-
duce newe rootes, shoote forth leaves,
and soe growe on after a seminall pro-
gression, or as though they had been
produced from seed: now whether in
these peeces of rootes or any other there
bee any actuall delineation of the plant
at first as in seeds, may fall under con-
sideration.
Dr. Hamie, whoe makes egges pro-
portionall unto seeds, always insists upon
the gradual! displayc of parts potentially
408 GARDEN OF CYRUS. [CHAP. III.
will prosper though a part be cut away, and so much set as
sufficeth to contain and keep the germen close. From this
superfluous pulp in unkindly, and wet years, may arise that
multiplicity of little insects, which infest the roots and sprouts
of tender grains and pulses.4
In the little nib or fructifying principle, the motion is regu-
lar, and not transvertible, as to make that ever the leaf, which
nature intended the root ; observable from their conversion,
until they attain their right position, if seeds be set inversedly.
In vain we expect the production of plants from different
parts of the seed ; from the same corculum or little original
proceed both germinations ; and in the power of this slender
particle lie many roots and sprouts, that though the same be
pulled away, the generative particle will renew them again,
and proceed to a perfect plant ; and malt may be observed to
grow, though the cummes be fallen from it.
The seminal nib hath a defined and single place, and not
extended unto both extremes. And therefore many too vul-
garly conceive that barley and oats grow at both ends ; for
they arise from one punctilio or generative nib, and the spear
sliding under the husk, first appeareth nigh the top. But in
wheat and rye being bare, the sprouts are seen together. If
latent in them ; yet even that the ani- mitt my communication with you in any
mall foetus is delinneated at first though proportion to my desires, vvherin I should
not demonstrable unto sence seems not never bee vvearie, whereby I might con-
wholly inuisible unto reason. And there- tinue the delight I have formerly had
fore herin Courueus contendeth with by many serious discourses with my old
Dr. Hamie that a delineation is made at friend your good father, whose memorie
first, butt the parts made visible after, is still fresh with mee and becomes more
that they are not delineated per epige- delightfull by this great enjoyment I
nesia, or one after another, butt in a cercle, have from his true and worthy sonne.
or all together, as Hippocrates expresseth, Sir I am
though to be discoverable successively or Your ever faythfull true
one after another. Friend and Servant,
That there is a naturall sensitive in Trio. Browne.
plants as Dr. Harney hath discoursed June, 8.
seemes verie allowable, and besides some How the sprouts of seeds came up
other reasons, from the experiment of their coat about them I have best obser-
the sensible plant; which is also to bee ved in coriander seeds,
found in minor degree in some others, as My wife comends her respects unto
jacea, scabious, thistles and such as 13o- yourself and lady.
rellus observed and published some years '' from this superfluous pulp, tyc] This
agoe, and might bee observed in others; is a very probable explanation, though,
sucha sense may bee in plant-animals and we believe, it is not quite in accordance
in the parts of perfect animals even when with some modern prevalent opinions. —
the head is cutt of. . Br.
Dear Sir, I wish my time would per-
CHAP. III.] GARDEN OF CYRUS. 409
barley unhulled would grow, both would appear at once. But
in this and oat-meal the nib is broken away, which makes
them the milder food and less apt to raise fermentation in
decoctions.
Men taking notice of what is outwardly visible, conceive a
sensible priority in the root. But as they begin from one
part, so they seem to start and set out upon one signal of
nature. In beans yet soft, in peas while they adhere unto
the cod, the rudimental leaf and root are discoverable. In
the seeds of rocket and mustard, sprouting in glasses of water,
when the one is manifest, the other is also perceptible. In
muddy waters apt to breed duckweed, and periwinkles, if the
first and rudimental strokes of duckweed be observed, the
leaves and root anticipate not each other. But in the date-
stone the first sprout is neither root nor leaf distinctly, but
both together ; for the germination being to pass through the
narrow navel and hole about the midst of the stone, the ge-
nerative germ is fain to enlengthen itself, and shooting out
about an inch, at that distance divideth into the ascending
and descending portion.
And though it be generally thought, that seeds will root
at the end, where they adhere to their originals, and observa-
ble it is that the nib sets most often next the stalk, as in
grains, pulses, and most small seeds: — yet is it hardly made
out in many greater plants. For in acorns, almonds, pistachios,
wall-nuts, and acuminated shells, the germ puts forth at the
remotest part of the pulp. And therefore to set seeds in
that posture, wherein the leaf and roots may shoot right
without contortion, or forced circumvolution which might
render them strongly rooted, and straighter, were a criticism
in agriculture. And nature seems to have made some provi-
sion hereof in many from their figure, that as they fall from
the tree they may lie in positions agreeable to such advantages.
Beside the open and visible testicles of plants, the seminal
powers lie in great part invisible, while the sun finds polypody
in stone-walls, the little stinging nettle and nightshade in bar-
ren sandy high-ways, scurvy-grass in Greenland, and unknown
plants in earth brought from remote countries. Beside the
known longevity of some trees, what is the most lasting herb, or
410 GARDEN OF CYRUS. [CHAP. III.
seed, seems not easily determinable. Mandrakes upon known
account have lived near an hundred years. Seeds found in
wild fowls' gizzards have sprouted in the earth. The seeds of
marjoram and stramonium carelessly kept, have grown after
seven years. Even in garden plots long fallow, and digged
up, the seeds of blattaria and yellow henbane, after twelve
years' burial, have produced themselves again.
That bodies are first spirits Paracelsus could affirm, which
in the maturation of seeds and fruits, seem obscurely implied
by Aristotle,* when he delivereth, that the spirituous parts
are converted into water, and the water into earth ; and at-
tested by observation in the maturative progress of seeds,
wherein at first may be discerned a flatuous distension of the
husk, afterwards a thin liquor, which longer time digesteth
into a pulp or kernel, observable in almonds and large nuts.
And some way answered in the progressional perfection of
animal semination, in its spermatical maturation from crude
pubescency unto perfection. And even that seeds themselves
in their rudimental discoveries, appear in foliaceous surcles,
or sprouts within their coverings, in a diaphanous jelly, be-
fore deeper incrassation, is also visibly verified in cherries,
acorns, plums.
From seminal considerations, either in reference unto one
mother, or distinction from animal production, the Holy Scrip-
ture describeth the vegetable creation ; and while it divideth
plants but into herb and tree, though it seemeth to make but
an accidental division, from magnitude, it tacitly containeth
the natural distinction of vegetables, observed by herbalists,
and comprehending the four kinds. For since the most na-
tural distinction is made from the production of leaf or stalk,
and plants after the two first seminal leaves, do either proceed
to send forth more leaves, or a stalk, and the folious and
stalky emission distinguisheth herbs and trees,-]- they stand au-
thentically differenced but from the accidents of the stalk.
The equivocal production of things under undiscerned
principles, makes a large part of generation, though they
* In Met. cum Cabco.
f In a large acception it compriseth all vegetables: for the frulex and suffrutcr are
under the progression of trees.
CHAP. III.] GARDEN OF CYRUS. 411
seem to hold a wide univocacy in their set and certain origi-
nals, while almost every plant breeds its peculiar insect, most
a butterfly, moth or fly, wherein the oak seems to contain the
largest seminality, while the julus,* oak-apple, pill, woolly
tuft, foraminous roundles 5 upon the leaf, and grapes under-
ground make a fly with some difference. The great variety of
flies lies in the variety of their originals ; in the seeds of cater-
pillars or cankers there lieth not only a butterfly or moth, but
if they be sterile or untimely cast, their production is often a
fly, which we have also observed from corrupted and moulder-
ed eggs both of hens and fishes ; to omit the generation of
bees out of the bodies of dead heifers, or what is strange, yet
well attested, the production of eels 6 in the backs of living
cods and perches.7
The exiguity and smallness of some seeds extending to large
productions, is one of the magnalities of nature, somewhat
illustrating the work of the creation, and vast production
from nothing. The true f seeds of cypress and rampions
are indistinguishable by old eyes. Of the seeds of tobacco a
thousand make not one grain. The disputed seeds of harts-
tongue, and maidenhair, require a great number. From such
undiscernable seminalities arise spontaneous productions. He
that would discern the rudimental stroke of a plant, may be-
hold it in the original of duckweed, at the bigness of a pin's
point, from convenient water in glasses, wherein a watchful
eye may also discover the puncticular originals of periwinkles
and gnats.
* These and more to be found upon our oaks ; not well described by any till the
edition of Theatrum Botanicum.
f Schoneveldus de Pise, % Doctissim. Lauremburg. Hort.
5 foraminous roundles,'] perforated, here alluded to, as will readily be con-
roundle, a round. eluded, are not eels, but belong to the
6 in the seeds, 8fC.~\ The fact is that entozoa of Rudolphi, or intestinal worms :
certain of the ichtieumonida deposit their in the case of the perch, they are refer-
eggs in lepidopterous larvee, by piercing rible to the genus Cucullanus. Their
the skin with their ovipositor ; — these general aspect sufficiently resembles that
eggs thrive, hatch — the larvee resulting of the eel to excuse the error of the old
feed on the entrails of that which con- naturalists ; but our author himself, we
tain them: — in due time they spin into apprehend, had not examined them, or
chrysalides, and, at the period of matu- his sagacity and accurate observation
rity, instead of one moth, there springs could not have failed to ascertain both
forth a covey of ichneumons, which their distinction from eels and somewhat
Browne calls flies. of their true nature. — Br.
7 production of eels.] The parasites
4*12 GARDEN OF CYRUS. [CHAP. III.
That seeds of some plants are less than any animals, seems
of no clear decision ; that the biggest of vegetables exceedeth
the biggest of animals, in full bulk, and all dimensions, admits
exception in the whale, which in length and above-ground-
measure, will also contend with tall oaks. That the richest
odour of plants, surpasseth that of animals, may seem of
some doubt, since animal-musk seems to excel the vegetable,
and we find so noble a scent in the tulip-fly, and goat-beetle.*
Now whether seminal nibs hold any sure proportion unto
seminal enclosures, why the form of the germ doth not answer
the figure of the enclosing pulp, why the nib is seated upon
the solid, and not the channel side of the seed as in grains,
why since we often meet with two yolks in one shell, and
sometimes one egg within another, we do not oftener meet
with two nibs in one distinct seed, why since the eggs of a
hen laid at one course, do commonly outweigh the bird,
and some moths coming out of their cases, without assistance
of food, will lay so many eggs as to out weight their bodies,
trees rarely bear their fruit in that gravity or proportion ;
whether in the germination of seeds, according to Hippocrates,
the lighter part ascendeth, and maketh the sprout the heaviest,
tending downward frameth the root, since we observe that
the first shoot of seeds in water will sink or bow down at the
upper and leafing end; whether it be not more rational
Epicurism to contrive whole dishes out of the nibs and
spirited particles of plants, than from the gallatures and tred-
dles of eggs, since that part is found to hold no seminal share
in oval generation, are queries which might enlarge, but must
conclude this digression.
And though not in this order, yet how Nature delighteth
in this number, and what consent and coordination there is
in the leaves and parts of flowers, it cannot escape our ob-
servation in no small number of plants. For the calicular or
supporting and closing leaves, do answer the number of the
flowers, especially such as exceed not the number of swallows'
eggs ;f as in violets, stitchwort, blossoms, and flowers of one
leaf have often five divisions, answered by a like number of
* The long and tender green capricornus, rarely found; we could never meet with
but two. t Which exceedeth not five.
CHAP. III.] GARDEN OF CYUUS. 413
calicular leaves, as gentianella, convolvulus, bell flowers. In
many, the flowers, blades, or staminous shoots and leaves are
all equally five, as in cockle, mullein, and blattaria ; wherein
the flowers before explication are pentagonal ly wrapped up
with some resemblance of the blatta or moth, from whence it
hath its name. But the contrivance of Nature is singular in
the opening and shutting of bindweeds performed by five
inflexures, distinguishable by pyramidal figures, and also
different colours.
The rose at first is thought to have been of five leaves, as
it yet groweth wild among us, but in the most luxuriant, the
calicular leaves do still maintain that number. But nothing
is more admired than the five brethren of the rose,8 and the
strange disposure of the appendices or beards, in the calicular
leaves thereof, which in despair of resolution is tolerably salved
from this contrivance, best ordered and suited for the free
closure of them before explication. For those two which are
smooth, and of no beard, are contrived to lye undermost, as
without prominent parts, and fit to be smoothly covered ; the
other two which are beset with beards on either side, stand
outward and uncovered, but the fifth or half-bearded leaf is
covered on the bare side, but on the open side stands free,
and bearded like the other.
Besides, a large number of leaves have five divisions, and
may be circumscribed by a pentagon or figure of five angles,
made by right lines from the extremity of their leaves, as in
maple, vine, fig-tree ; but five-leaved flowers are commonly
disposed circularly about the stylus, according to the higher
geometry of nature, dividing a circle by five radii, which
concur not to make diameters, as in quadrilateral and sexan-
gular intersections.
Now the number of five is remarkable in every circle,9 not
only as the first spherical number, but the measure of spheri-
8 the five brethren of the rose.] Allu- the remarks contained in this paragraph,
ding to a rustic rhyme : and as an illustration also of the philoso-
On a summer's day, in sultry weather, phy of the subject of the prevalence in
Five brethren were born together, nature of the number five, to which,
Two had beards, and two had none, under another point of view, we shall
And the other had but half a one. — Jeff, have frequent occasion to return in our
9 the number of five is remarkable in annotations upon this tract, we present
every circle.] As a curious parallel to the following luminous observations of
414
GARDEN OF CYRUS.
[CHAP. III.
cal motion. For spherical bodies move by fives, and every
globular figure placed upon a plane, in direct volutation,
returns to the first point of contaction in the fifth touch*
that venerable philosopherMr.Colebrooke,
forming the substance of his paper " On
Dichotomous and Quinary Arrangements
in Natural History," read before the
Linnean Society a few years since, and
published in the Zoological Journal. Af-
ter describing and admitting the value of
the dichotomous arrangement, Mr. Cole-
brooke proceeds as follows :
" But a more instructive arrangement
is that which exhibits an object in all its
bearings, which places it amidst its cog-
nates ; and contiguous to them again,
those which approach next in degree of
affinity, and thence branching every way
to remoter relations.
" If we imagine samples of every
natural object, or a very large group of
them, to be so marshalled, we must con-
ceive such a group as occupying, not a
plane, but a space of three dimensions.
Were it immensely numerous, the space
so occupied would approximate to a glo-
bular form ; for indefinite space, around
a given point, is to the imagination sphe-
roidal, as the sky seems vaulted.
"It may easily be shewn, therefore,
that the simplest distribution of a large
assemblage of objects marshalled in the
manner here assumed, around a select
one, or that distribution, which taking
one central or interior group, makes a
few and but a few equidistant exterior
ones, is quinary. The centres of the
exterior groups will stand at the solid
angles of a tetrahedron within a sphere,
of which the centre in the middle point
is the interior group ; that is, the entire
assemblage, encompassing every way one
select object, around which they are
clustered, is in the first place divided
concentrically, at more than half the
depth to which it is considered to extend,
and from equidistant points being taken
within the substance of the outer shell,
this is divisible into four equal parts, in
which those mean points are centrical, or
as nearly so as the irregular figure of the
group allows.
" Rejecting the assumption of one pri-
mary central object, the division of the
entire assemblage would become simpler.
It would be quaternary. * The middle
* Oclcen maintains that four is the determinate
number in natural distribution. Linn. Tr. xiy,
p. 56.
points of each of the four segments would
stand, as those of the exterior distribution
did, at the solid angles of a tetrahedron
within the sphere above supposed. The
whole assemblage may be conceived, first
as a cluster of four balls, one resting upon
three others, and then the interstices
and remaining space, to complete a cir-
cumscribed sphere, are shared among
the four.
" But the mind is prone to fix upon
some primary object of its attention, which
becomes the centre of comparison for
every other, and on this account it is that
the quinary arrangement is practically a
more natural one than the quaternary.
" I am here supposing an assemblage
consisting of a single sample of every
species ; for species alone is in truth ac-
knowledged by nature, and every larger
group, whether genus, order or class, or
family or tribe, is but the creature of
abstraction.
" In the middle of this great cluster,
I imagine that object placed with which
they are contrasted. Around it are ar-
ranged other objects, nearer or remoter,
according to the degree of their resem-
blance or affinity to it ; for it is the type
of a group comprising such as are most
comformable. It is encompassed by simi-
lar groups consisting of such as bear less
affinity to it; but have in like manner
relation to other objects, selected as types,
one in the midst of every such exterior
cluster. I say the smallest number of
such surrounding groups that can be as-
sumed is four, the respective centres of
them being equidistant from each other,
and situated at like distances (less how-
ever than their mutual interval) from the
common centre of the entire assemblage.
This then is the simplest natural arrange-
ment ; and hence it is, that the quinary
distribution is that which is most affected
in the classification of natural objects.
" Were the utmost perfection in ar-
rangement attainable, the chosen common
centre of the whole ought to be truly in
the middle, and the selected centres of
an exterior would be equally distant from
it, and alike remote from each other.
"There would not be greater affinity
between any two than between the rest;
neither between any two of the groups,
CHAP. III.] GARDEN OF CYRUS. 415
accounting by the axes of the diameters or cardinal points of
the four quarters thereof. And before it arriveth unto the
same point again, it maketh five circles equal unto itself, in
each progress from those quarters absolving an equal circle.
By the same number doth Nature divide the circle of the
sea star,1 and in that order and number disposeth these
elegant semi-circles, or dental sockets and eggs in the sea
hedgehog. And no mean observations hereof there is in the
mathematicks of the neatest retiary spider, which concluding
in forty-four circles, from five semidiameters beginneth that
elegant texture.
And after this manner both lay the foundation of the circular
branches of the oak, which being five-cornered in the tender
annual sprouts, and manifesting upon incision the signature
of a star, is after made circular, and swelled into a round
body ; which practice of Nature is become a point of art, and
makes two problems in Euclid. * But the bramble which
sends forth shoots and prickles from its angles, maintain its
pentagonal figure, and the unobserved signature of a hand-
* Elem. lib. 4.
nor between their assumed middle points, power of illumination, such a distribution
But if there be any notable deviation would offer to the view 12 stars of the
from the greatest precision, from extreme first magnitude, being those nearest to
accuracy of selection, the assumed middle us, equally distant from each other, and
point of the whole assemblage will in fact nearly the same from our sun. Their
be eccentric; or some one at least of the relative positions would make the solid
selected centres of groups will be out of angles of an icosahedron circumscribing
the right place. Now as the utmost the solar system. In like manner, the
precision can hardly be deemed attain- middle points of exterior groups encom-
able, it will necessarily follow that the passing the interior one, and equidistant
assumed common centre inclines more from its centre, and from each other,
towards one of the exterior than towards should be twelve in number; and this
the rest ; and therefore it ordinarily, not therefore is in fact the proper number of
to say invariably, happens that in the a strictly natural arrangement of objects
quinary distribution, one cluster, com- with relation to one common object of
prising other three, is aberrant; that is, comparison. The normal group is one ;
one of the five divisions being typical, is the aberrant 12, classed for more ready
nearly but not perfectly central ; another apprehension in form of subordinate clus-
is conform, being proximate; three others ters. The interior group is single ; the
are dissimilar and remote. exterior assemblage twelve-fold. This
" Allusion has been made to the ana- then appears to be the natural arrange-
logy which an indefinitely numerous as- ment, and the subdivision of the inner
semblage of objects presents to indefi- clusterandgroupingof outer ones, whence
nitely vast space contemplated as from quinary arrangements result in both in-
a central point. It has been assimilated stances, are properly artificial." — Zool.
to the celestial sphere. Were the stars Journ. vol. iv. p. 43 — 46. — Br.
distributed throughout space at equal l circle of the sea star. ] See note on
distances, and did they possess equal this subject in p. 439, note 1.
416 GARDEN OF CYRUS. [CHAP. III.
some porch within it. To omit the five small buttons dividing
the circle of the ivy berry, and the five characters in the
winter stalk of the walnut, with many other observables,
which cannot escape the eyes of signal discerners ; such as
know where to find Ajax his name in Delphinium, or Aaron's
mitre in henbane.
Quincuncial forms and ordinations are also observable in
animal figurations. For to omit the hyoides or throat bone
of animals, the furcula or merry thought in birds, which
supporteth the scapulce, affording a passage for the wind
pipe and the gullet, the wings of flies, and disposure of their
legs in their first formation from maggots, and the position of
their horns, wings, and legs, in their aurelian cases and
swaddling clouts, — the back of the cimex arboreus, found
often upon trees and lesser plants, doth elegantly discover
the Burgundian decussation ; and the like is observable in
the belly of the notonecton, or water beetle, which swimmeth
on its back, and the handsome rhombus of the sea poult, or
werrel, on either side the spine.
The sexangular cells in the honey combs of bees are dis-
posed after this order (much there is not of wonder in the
confused houses of pismires, though much in their busy life and
actions), more in the edificial palaces of bees and monarchical
spirits, who make their combs six cornered, declining a circle,
(whereof many stand not close together, and completely fill
the area of the place); but rather affecting a six sided figure,
whereby every cell affords a common side unto six more, and
also a fit receptacle for the bee itself, which gathering into a
cylindrical figure, aptly enters its sexangular house, more
nearly approaching a circular figure, than either doth the
square or triangle ; and the combs themselves so regularly
contrived, that their mutual intersections make three lozenges
at the bottom of every cell ; which severally regarded make
three rows of neat rhomboidal figures, connected at the angles,
and so continue three several chains throughout the whole
comb.
As for the favago, found commonly on the sea shore,
though named from a honey comb, it but rudely makes out
the resemblance, and better agrees with the round cells of
CHAP. III.] GARDEN OF CYRUS. 417
humble bees. He that would exactly discern the shop of a
bee's mouth, needs observing eyes, and good augmenting
glasses ; wherein is discoverable one of the neatest pieces in
nature, and he must have a more piercing eye than mine
who finds out the shape of bulls' heads in the guts of drones
pressed out behind, according to the experiment of Gome-
sius, * wherein, notwithstanding, there seemeth somewhat
which might incline a pliant fancy to credulity of similitude.
A resemblance hereof there is in the orderly and rarely
disposed cells made by flies and insects, which we have often
found fastened about small sprigs, and in those cottonnary and
woolly pillows which sometimes we meet with fastened unto
leaves, there is included an elegant net-work texture, out of
which come many small flies. And some resemblance there
is of this order in the eggs of some butterflies and moths, as
they stick upon leaves and other substances, which being
dropped from behind, nor directed by the eye, doth neatly
declare how nature geometrizeth and observeth order in all
things.
A like correspondency in figure is found in the skins and
outward teguments of animals, whereof a regardable part are
beautiful by this texture. As the backs of several snakes
and serpents, elegantly remarkable in the aspis, and the
dart-snake, in the chiasmus and larger decussations upon the
back of the rattle snake, and in the close and finer texture
of the mater formicarum, or snake that delights in ant hills ;
whereby upon approach of outward injuries, they can raise
a thicker phalanx on their backs, and handsomely contrive
themselves into all kinds of flexures : whereas their bellies
are commonly covered with smooth semicircular divisions, as
best accommodable unto their quick and gilding motion.
This way is followed by nature in the peculiar and re-
markable tail of the beaver, wherein the scaly particles are
disposed somewhat after this order, which is the plainest
resolution of the wonder of Bellonius, while he saith with
incredible artifice hath nature framed the tail or oar of the
beaver: where by the way we cannot but wish a model of their
* Gom. de Sale.
VOL. III. 2 E
418 GARDEN OF CYRUS. [CHAP. III.
houses, so much extolled by some describers: wherein since
they are so bold as to venture upon three stages, we might
examine their artifice in the contignations, the rule and order
in the compartitions ; or whether that magnified structure be
any more than a rude rectangular pile or mere hovel-
building.
Thus works the hand of nature in the feathery plantation
about birds. Observable in the skins of the breast,* legs,
and pinions of turkeys, geese, and ducks, and the oars or
finny feet of water-fowl : and such a natural net is the scaly
covering of fishes, of mullets, carps, tenches, &c, even in
such as are excoriable and consist of smaller scales, as bretts,
soles, and flounders. The like reticulate grain is observable
in some Russia leather.2 To omit the ruder figures of the
ostration, the triangular or cunny-fish, or the pricks of the
sea-porcupine.
The same is also observable in some part of the skin of
man, in habits of neat texture, and therefore not unaptly
compared unto a net : we shall not affirm that from such
grounds, the Egyptian embalmers imitated this texture, yet
in their linen folds the same is still observable among their
neatest mummies, in the figures of Isis and Osyris, and the
tutelary spirits in the Bembine table. Nor is it to be over-
looked how Orus, the hieroglyphick of the world, is de-
scribed in a net-work covering, from the shoulder to the foot.
And (not to enlarge upon the cruciated character of Trisme-
gistus, or handed crosses, j- so often occurring in the needles
of Pharoah, and obelisks of antiquity,) the Statues Isiacce,
and little idols, found about the mummies,3 do make a decus-
sation of Jacob's cross, with their arms, like that on the head
of Ephraim and Manasses, and this decussis is also gra-
phically described between them.
This reticulate or net-work was also considerable in the
inward parts of man, not only from the first subtegmen or
* Elegantly conspicuous on the inside of the stripped skins of the dive-fowl, of
cormorant, gosshonder, (goosander,) weasel, loon, &c.
f Cruces ansater, being held by a finger in the circle.
2 The like reticulate grain in some author seems to suppose, natural.
Russia leather.] This grain is, however, 3 little idols, <^c] See Burder's
artificially produced, and not, as the Oriental Custo?ns, No. 76. — Jeff.
CHAP. III.] GARDEN OF CYRUS. 419
warp of his formation, but in the netty fibres of the veins
and vessels of life ; wherein according to common anatomy
the right and transverse fibres are decussated by the oblique
fibres ; and so must frame a reticulate and quincuncial figure
by their obliquations, emphatically extending that elegant
expression of Scripture " Thou hast curiously embroidered
me," thou hast wrought me up after the finest way of texture,
and as it were with a needle.
Nor is the same observable only in some parts, but in the
whole body of man, which upon the extension of arms and
legs, doth make out a square, whose intersection is at the
genitals. To omit the fantastical quincunx in Plato of the
first hermaphrodite or double man, united at the loins, which
Jupiter after divided.
A rudimental resemblance hereof there is in the cruciated
and rugged folds of the reticulum, or net-like ventricle of
ruminating horned animals, which is the second in order, and
culinarily called the honey-comb. For many divisions there
are in the stomach of several animals : what number they
maintain in the scants and ruminating fish, common descrip-
tion, or our own experiment hath made no discovery ; but in
the ventricle of porpuses there are three divisions; in many
birds a crop, gizzard, and little receptacle before it ; but in
cornigerous animals, which chew the cud, there are no less
than four* of distinct position and office.
The reticulum by these crossed cells, makes a further di-
gestion, in the dry and exsuccous part of the aliment
received from the first ventricle. For at the bottom of
the gullet there is a double orifice ; what is first received at
the mouth descendeth into the first and greater stomach,
from whence it is returned into the mouth again ; and after a
fuller mastication, and salivous mixture, what part thereof
descendeth again in a moist and succulent body, slides down
the softer and more permeable orifice, into the omasus or
third stomach ; and from thence conveyed into the fourth,
receives its last digestion. The other dry and exsuccous
part after rumination by the larger and stronger orifice
* Magmis venter, reticulum., omasus, abomasus.—Aristot.
2 E 2
420 GARDEN OF CYRUS. [CHAP. III.
beareth into the first stomach, from thence into the reticulum,
and so progressively into the other divisions. And therefore
in calves newly calved, there is little or no use of the two
first ventricles, for the milk and liquid aliment slippeth down
the softer orifice, into the third stomach ; where making little
or no stay, it passeth into the fourth, the seat of the coagu-
lum, or runnet, or that division of stomach which seems to
bear the name of the whole, in the Greek translation of the
priest's fee, in the sacrifice of peace-offerings.
As for those rhomboidal figures made by the cartilagineous
parts of the weazand, in the lungs of great fishes, and other
animals, as Rondeletius discovered, we have not found them
so to answer our figure as to be drawn into illustration ;
something we expected in the more discernable texture of
the lungs of frogs, which notwithstanding being but two
curious bladders not weighing above a grain, we found inter-
woven with veins, not observing any just order. More
orderly situated are those cretaceous and chalky concretions
found sometimes in the bigness of a small vetch on either
side their spine; which being not agreeable unto our order,
nor yet observed by any, we shall not here discourse on.
But had we found a better account and tolerable anatomy
of that prominent jowl of the spermaceti whale than questuary
operation,* or the stench of the last cast upon our shore
permitted, we might have perhaps discovered some handsome
order in those net-like seases and sockets, made like honey-
combs, containing that medical matter.
Lastly, the incession or local motion of animals is made
with analogy unto this figure, by decussative diametrals,
quincuncial lines and angles. For, to omit the enquiry how
butterflies and breezes move their four wings, how birds and
fishes in air and water move by joint strokes of opposite
wings and fins, and how salient animals in jumping forward
seem to arise and fall upon a square base, — as the station of
most quadrupeds is made upon a long square, so in their
motion they make a rhomboides ; their common progression
being performed diametrally, by decussation and cross ad-
L* 1652, described in our Pseudo. Epidem.
CHAP. III.] GARDEN OF CYRUS. 421
vancement of their legs, which not observed, begot that
remarkable absurdity in the position of the legs of Castor's
horse in the capitol. The snake which moveth circularly
makes his spires in like order, the convex and concave spirals
answering each other at alternate distances. In the motion
of man the arms and legs observe this thwarting position, but
the legs alone do move quincuncially by single angles with
some resemblance of a V measured by successive advance-
ment from each foot, and the angle of indenture greater or
less, according to the extent or brevity of the stride.
Studious observators may discover more analogies in the
orderly book of nature, and cannot escape the elegancy of
her hand in other correspondencies.4 The figures of nails and
crucifying appurtenances, are but precariously made out
in the granadilla or flower of Christ's passion : and we des-
pair to behold in these parts that handsome draught of cru-
cifixion in the fruit of the Barbadopine. The seminal spike
of phalaris, or great shaking grass, more nearly answers the
tail of a rattle-snake, than many resemblances in Porta. And
if the man orchis* of Columna be well made out, it excelleth
all analogies. In young walnuts cut athwart, it is not hard to
apprehend strange characters ; and in those of somewhat
elder growth, handsome ornamental draughts about a plain
cross. In the root of osmond or water-fern, every eye may
discern the form of a half-moon, rainbow, or half the charac-
ter of pisces. Some find Hebrew, Arabick, Greek, and
Latin characters in plants ; in a common one among us we
seem to read Acaia, Viviu, Lilil. 5
Right lines and circles make out the bulk of plants. In
the parts thereof we find heliacal6 or spiral roundles, volutas,
* Orchis Anthropophora, Fabii Columna.
4 Studious observators, fyc.'] In MS. annual surcles of the oake a five poynted
Sloan. 1S47, occurs the following pas- starre according to the figure of the
sage : — -"Considerations are drawne from twigge ; the stalk of the figge a triangle;
the signatures in the rootes of plants carrots and many other a flosculous
resembling sometimes orderly shapes and figure ; the first rudiments of the sprouts
figures ; those are made according as the of pyonie give starres of an handsome
pores or ascending fibres are posited posie ; the budds of plants with large
in the plants. Wherby alimental juce leaves and many flowers cult, shew the
and stablishing fibre ascend. The brake artificiall complications in a wonderfull
makes an handsome figure of a tree ; manner."
the osmund royall a semicircle or rayne- 5 Acaia, <yc.] See vol. i, 366.
bowe ; the sedge a neate print; the t; heliacal.] Like a helix.
422 GARDEN OF CYRUS. [CHAP. III.
conical sections, circular pyramids, and frustrums of Archi-
medes. And cannot overlook the orderly hand of nature,
in the alternate succession of the flat and narrower sides
in the tender shoots of the ash, or the regular inequality
of bigness in the five-leaved flowers of henbane, and some-
thing like in the calicular leaves of tutson.7 How the spots
of persicaria do manifest themselves between the sixth and
tenth rib. How the triangular cap in the stem or stylus of
tulips doth constantly point at three outward leaves. That
spicated flowers do open first at the stalk. That white
flowers have yellow thrums or knops. That the nib of
beans and peas do all look downward, and so press not upon
each other. And how the seeds of many pappous 8 or downy
flowers locked up in sockets after a gomphosis or mortise-
articulation, diffuse themselves circularly into branches of
rare order, observable in tragopogon or goats-beard, conform-
able to the spider's web, and the radii in like manner telarly
interwoven.
And how in animal natures, even colours hold correspond-
encies, and mutual correlations. That the colour of the
caterpillar will shew again in the butterfly, with some latitude
is allowable. Though the regular spots in their wings seem
but a mealy adhesion, and such as may be wiped away,
yet since they come in this variety, out of their cases, there
must be regular pores in those parts and membrances, defin-
ing such exudations.9
That Augustus * had native notes on his body and belly,
after the order and number in the stars of Charles' wain, will
not seem strange unto astral physiognomy, which accordingly
considereth moles in the body of man ; or physical observ-
ators, who from the position of moles in the face, reduce
* Suet, in vit. Aug.
7 tutson.] See Mr. Hervey's inge- to enable them to acquire a knowledge
nious interpretations of the curious struc- of the true nature of the scales which
ture of the passion-flower. Reflections cover the wings of the lepidopterous
on a Flower Garden. — Jeff. insects, constituting this " mealy adhe-
8 pappous,] downy. sion." These beautiful though minute
9 though the regular spots in their scales form part of the essential organi-
wings seem but a mealy adhesion, SfC. J zation of the animals invested with them,
The use of the microscope had not be- and consequently must be as definite in
come sufficiently general among natura- their relations as any other portion of
lists, at the time this tract was composed, their economy.— Br.
CHAP. III.] GARDEN OF CYRUS. 423
them to rule and correspondency in other parts. Whether
after the like method medical conjecture may not be raised
upon parts inwardly affected ; since parts about the lips are
the critical seats of pustules discharged in agues ; and scro-
fulous tumours about the neck do so often speak the like
about the mesentery, may also be considered.
The russet neck in young lambs * seems but adventitious,
and may owe its tincture to some contaction in the womb :
but, that if sheep have any black or deep russet in their
faces, they want not the same about their legs and feet ; that
black hounds have mealy mouths and feet ; that black cows
which have any white in their tails, should not miss of some
in their bellies ; and if all white in their bodies, yet if black
mouthed, their ears and feet maintain the same colour ; — are
correspondent tinctures not ordinarily failing in nature, which
easily unites the accidents of extremities, since in some gene-
rations she transmutes the parts themselves, while in the
aurelian metamorphosis the head of the canker becomes the
tail of the butterfly.1 Which is in some way not beyond the
contrivance of art, in submersions and inlays, inverting the
extremes of the plant, and fetching the root from the top,
and also imitated in handsome columnary work, in the inver-
sion of the extremes; wherein the capital, and the base, hold
such near correspondency.
In the motive parts of animals may be discovered mutual
proportions ; not only in those of quadrupeds, but in the
thigh-bone, leg, foot-bone, and claws of birds.2 The legs of
* Which afterwards vanisheth.
1 in the aurelian metamorphosis, &;c.~\ maintain in their dimensions a certain
This is a mistake. Browne must have mutual relation among themselves, has
made his observation on some species, long been generally known : indeed, the
the exterior of whose chrysalis he had very fact of the bi-lateral symmetry in
misinterpreted; and thus, keeping watch which the bodies of animals are obviously
on that part which he had erroneously formed, — a symmetry especially observ-
decided to be occupied by the tail of the able in the Vertebrata and in the Annu-
" canker," and seeing in due time the losa, but lately shown, by Dr. Agassiz,
head of the butterfly make its appearance (Lond. and Edinb. Phil. Mag. vol. v,
at that end, he came to his conclusion, p. 369) to characterize also the Radiata,
without questioning the premises on such as the starfish and the echinus, —
which it was founded. would alone be sufficient to demonstrate
2 In the motive parts of animals may the existence of such mutual proportions.
be discovered mutual proportions, ^c] A very few numerical relations, how-
That all the parts of animals, and es- ever, and those almost confined to the
pecially those of the human frame, human frame, had been definitely made
424 GARDEN OF CYRUS. [CHAP. III.
spiders are made after a sesqui-tertian proportion, and the
long legs of some locusts, double unto some others. But
the internodial parts of vegetables, or spaces between the
joints, are contrived with more uncertainty ; though the joints
themselves, in many plants, maintain a regular number.
out, though many obscure notions on
the subject had been floating in the
minds of physiologists and natural his-
torians, until the reading before the
Linnean Society, in April, 1830, of a
paper by Dr. Walter Adam, of Edin-
burgh, on the osteological symmetry of
the camel, Camelus Bactrianus, Linn.
The objects of this paper, (Trans, of
Linn. Soc. vol. xvi, p. 525 — 585,) the
author states in his exordium, are, to
state correctly the dimensions of the
several bones of a large quadruped ; to
trace the mutual relations of those di-
mensions ; and thus to exemplify the
general osteological form in animals of
similar configuration. Agreeably to these
objects, he details the proportionate di-
mensions of the bones constituting the
skeleton of the camel, (designating the
bones according to the anatomical no-
menclature of Dr. Barclay,) in the follow-
ing order ; viz. the head ; the vertebrae,
classified in the usual manner ; the sa-
crum ; the tail; the ribs; the cavity of
the thorax, and the sternum ; the scapu-
la ; the pelvis, and the limbs. The
various proportions are minutely exhibit-
ed in a series of tables, which occupies
forty-seven quarto pages. The height,
the breadth, and the basilar length of
the cranium, Dr. Adam states, are very
nearly in the proportion 1, 2, 4. The
common difference in the palatal, the
coronal, the basilar, and the extreme
length of the cranium, is the breadth of
the cranium at the temporal fossae :
these lengths, in the animal examined,
being, respectively, 12, 15, 18,21, in-
ches. The lateral extent of the atlas is
equal to the distance between the inner
margins of the orbits. The greatest
elevation of the spine is at the third
dorsal vertebra ; the extreme length of
that bone equalling the greatest extent of
the pelvis towards the mesial plane.
The longest of the twelve ribs are the
seventh and the eighth ; their length
equals the greatest extent of the scapula.
The sum of the lengths of the twelve
ribs is about ten times that of the long-
est rib. The dimensions of the cavity
of the chest agree with those of the
separate bones of the body ; thus, the
greatest width of the chest is equal to
the greatest length of the head. The
breadths of the pelvis rostrad, (measured
towards the front,) from the acetabula,
are even numbers of proportional parts :
its breadths, caudad (measured towards
the tail,) from the acetabula, including
the acetabula breadth, itself, are odd
numbers of proportional parts. The
chief dimensions of the pelvis are iden-
tical with the chief dimensions of the
head ; thus, for example, the greatest
dimension of the pelvis, being through
the mesial plane, is equal to the greatest
length of the head. The lengths of (he
four long bones of the atlantial (fore)
limbs, independent of processes and
elevations, are consecutively as the num-
bers 22, 28, 20, 6,— sum 76. The
similar lengths of the four long bones of
the sacral (hind) limbs are consecutively
as the numbers 28, 23, 20, 5, — sum 76.
These relations are selected in order to
impart to the reader some idea of the
results of Dr. Adam's valuable observa-
tions : for the others, equally remark-
able, and very considerable in number,
the reader is referred to the original
memoir. Dr. Adam concludes the gene-
ral statement of his results with the
following summary. " From what has
been now stated, it appears that through-
out the dimensions of the bones of the
Bactrian camel there is such an agree-
ment, that many of the dimensions are
continued proportionals, and that the
mutual relations of nearly all admit of
a very simple expression.
" Corresponding relations have been
found to prevail in the bones of every
species of animal examined by the wri-
ter of this paper. The prosecution of
his investigations has been thwarted by
unforeseen obstacles. Under more favour-
ble circumstances, should what has been
observed in the camel be fully verified
in other animals, it will result :
" 1. That though the hardness and
durability of bones peculiarly fit them
for enquiries similar to that detailed in
CHAP. III.] GARDEN OF CYRUS. 425
In vegetable composure, the unition of prominent parts
seems most to answer the apophyses or processes of animal
bones, whereof they are the produced parts or prominent
explanations. And though in the parts of plants which are
not ordained for motion, we do not expect correspondent
articulations ; yet in the setting on of some flowers and seeds
in their sockets, and the lineal commissure of the pulp of
several seeds, maybe observed some shadow of the harmony,
some show of the gomphosis3 or mortise-articulation.
these pages ; yet as the bones always
arise from, and are moulded by the soft-
er tissues, the whole organic system is
determinable in its proportions.
" 2. That the relation of the forms
of extinct animals to the forms of ani-
mals now living, the affinities of species
and genera, — the simultaneous growth of
the parts of the same animal, and the
rates of such growth comparatively in
other animals ; the improvement of do-
mestic races, — even the structure and
development of the human frame, are
all matters both of physiological and of
numerical study.
" 3. That zoology is, to an equal ex-
tent with the departments of knowledge
that regard inanimate things, suscepti-
ble of a classification established on the
sure basis of number."
In 1833 and 1834, Dr. Adarn com-
municated, to the Royal Society, two
papers extending his observations to the
osteology of the human subject ; of these,
which have not yet been published, the
only printed notices have been given in
the Loud, and Edinb. Phil. Mag. vol. iii,
p. 457, and vol. vi, p. 57. In these papers,
which relate to the comparative osteolo-
gical forms in the adult European male
and female of the human species, he
gives the results of a great number of
measurements of the dimensions of the
different bones composing the adult hu-
man skeleton, in the male and in the
female sex respectively ; and he also
gives linear representations of various
dimensions of the bones, both male and
female, with a view to facilitate the
comparison of the human frame with
that of other animals, and reduce it to de-
finite laws. He states that many of the
rectilinear dimensions of human bones
appear to be multiples of one unit,
namely, the breadth of the cranium di-
rectly over the external passage of the
ear ; a dimension which he has found to
be the most invariable in the body. No
division of that dimension was found by
Dr. Adam, to measure the other dimen-
sions so accurately as that by seven, or
its multiples. Of such seventh parts
there appear to be twelve in the longitudi-
nal extent of the back, and ninety-six
in the height of the whole body. A-
dopting a scale of which the unit is
half a seventh, or the 14th part of this
line, being generally about the third of
an inch, he states at length, in multiples
of this unit, the dimensions, in different
directions, of almost every bone in the
skeleton; noting more especially the
differences that occur in those of the two
sexes. The conclusion which he deduces
from his inquiry is, that every bone in
the body exhibits certain modifications,
according to the sex of the individual.
To this summary of the results obtained
by Dr. Adam, I will only add, that there
are many reasons, a priori, both psy-
chological and physiological, why such
relations as have been observed by him
both in animals and in man, should be
expected, or rather should be certainly
believed, to have existence. To notice
more particularly one point: — that every
bone in the human body, and indeed
every organ and anatomically consti-
tuent part, must differ in the sexes,
however minute the difference may be,
is a position which is supported by all
we know, whether from science or from
revelation, of the human mental and
corporeal constitution ; and that corres-
ponding differences must exist in the
sexes of animals will necessarily follow.
— Br.
3 gomphosis.'] A mode of articulation
by which one bone is fastened into ano-
ther like a nail, — as a tooth in the socket.
426 GARDEN OF CYRUS. [CHAP. IV.
As for the diarthrosis* or motive articulation, there is ex-
pected little analogy ; though long-stalked leaves do move by
long lines, and have observable motions, yet are they made
by outward impulsion, like the motion of pendulous bodies,
while the parts themselves are united by some kind of sym-
physis unto the stock.
But standing vegetables, void of motive articulations, are
not without many motions. For, besides the motion of vege-
tation upward, and of radiation unto all quarters, that of
contraction, dilatation, inclination, and contortion, is discover-
able in many plants. To omit the rose of Jericho, the ear
of rye, which moves with change of weather, and the magical
spit, made of no rare plants, which winds before the fire,
and roasts the bird without turning.
Even animals near the classis of plants, seem to have the
most restless motions. The summer-worm of ponds and
plashes, makes a long waving motion, the hairworm seldom
lies still. He that would behold a very anomalous motion,
may observe it in the tortile and tiring strokes of gnatworms.*
CHAPTER IV.
As for the delights, commodities, mysteries, with other con-
cernments of this order, we are unwilling to fly them over, in
the short deliveries of Virgil, Varro, or others, and shall
therefore enlarge with additional ampliations.
By this position they had a just proportion of earth, to
supply an equality of nourishment. The distance being
ordered, thick or thin, according to the magnitude or vigorous
attraction of the plant, the goodness, leanness or propriety
of the soil : and therefore the rule of Solon, concerning the
territory of Athens, not extendible unto all ; allowing the
distance of six foot unto common trees, and nine for the fig
and olive.
* Found often in some form of red maggot in the standing waters of cisterns in
the summer.
4 diarthrosis.] The moveable connexion of hones with each other, by joints.
CHAP. IV.] GARDEN OF CYRUS. 427
They had a due diffusion of their roots on all or botli sides,
whereby they maintained some proportion to their height, in
trees of large radication. For that they strictly make good
their profundeur or depth unto their height, according to
common conceit, and that expression of Virgil,'* though con-
firmable from the plane tree in Pliny, and some few examples,
is not to be expected from the generality of trees almost in
any kind, either of side-spreading, or tap roots ; " except we
measure them by lateral and opposite diffusions : nor com-
monly to be found in minor or herby plants ; if we except
sea-holly, liquorice, sea-rush, and some others.
They had a commodious radiation in their growth, and a
due expansion of their branches, for shadow or delight.
For trees thickly planted, do run up in height and branch
with no expansion, shooting unequally or short, and thin
upon the neighbouring side. And therefore trees are in-
wardly bare, and spring and leaf from the outward and
sunny side of their branches.
Whereby they also avoided the peril of (fvvoXsdgKtfthg or one
tree perishing with another, as it happeneth oft times from
the sick effluviums or entanglements of the roots falling foul
with each other. Observable in elms set in hedges, where if
one dieth, the neighbouring tree prospereth not long after.
In this situation, divided into many intervals and open unto
six passages, they had the advantage of a fair perflation from
winds, brushing and cleansing their surfaces, relaxing and
closing their pores unto due perspiration. For that they afford
large effluviums, perceptible from odours, diffused at great
distances, is observable from onions out of the earth, which
though dry, and kept until the spring, as they shoot forth
large and many leaves, do notably abate of their weight; and
mint growing in glasses of water, until it arriveth unto the
* Quantum vertice ad auras JEthereas, tantum radice ad Tartara tendit.
2 For that they strictly, <$•<:.] In MS. a supportation or nourishment unto the
Sloan. 1882, occurs the following similar ascending parts of the plants ; but in pro-
passage : — "But their progression and gression of increase, the stalk common-
motion in growth is not equall ; the root ly outstrips the root, and even in trees
making an earlier course in the length the common opinion is questionable; —
or multitude of fibres, according to the as is expressed, quantum vertice ad auras
law of its species, and as it is to afford JEtherias,tantum radice ad Tartara tendit,
428 GARDEN OF CYRUS. [CHAP. IV.
weight of an ounce, in a shady place, will sometimes exhaust
a pound of water. And as they send much forth, so may
they receive somewhat in ; for beside the common way and
road of reception by the root, there may be a refection and
imbibition from without, for gentle showers refresh plants,
though they enter not their roots, and the good and bad
effluviums of vegetables promote or debilitate each other. So
epithymum and dodder, rootless and out of the ground, main-
tain themselves, upon thyme, ivory, and plants whereon they
hang ; and ivy, divided from the root, we have observed to
live some years, by the cirrous parts commonly conceived,
but as tenacles and holdfasts unto it. The stalks of mint
cropt from the root, stripped from the leaves, and set in
glasses with the root end upward, and out of the water, we
have observed to send forth sprouts, and leaves without the
aid of roots, and scordium to grow in like manner, the leaves
set downward in water. To omit several sea plants, which
grow on single roots from stones, although in very many there
are side shoots and fibres, beside the fastening root.
By this open position they were fairly exposed unto the
rays of moon and sun, so considerable in the growth of vege-
tables. For though poplars, willows, and several trees be
made to grow about the brinks of Acheron, and dark habita-
tions of the dead ; though some plants are content to grow in
obscure wells, wherein also old elm pumps afford sometimes
long bushy sprouts, not observable in any above ground ; and
large fields of vegetables are able to maintain their verdure
at the bottom and shady part of the sea, yet the greatest
number are not content without the actual rays of the sun,
but bend, incline, and follow them, as large lists of solisequi-
ous or sun following plants ; and some observe the method
of its motion in their own growth and conversion, twining
towards the west by the south,* as briony, hops, woodbine,
and several kinds of bindweed, which we shall more admire,
when any can tell us, they observe another motion, and
twist by the north at the antipodes. The same plants rooted
against an erect north wall full of holes, will find a way
* Flectat ad Aquiloncm, et dedinit ad Auslrum, is Solon's description of the
motion of the sun. — Author's note, fro??} MS. Sloa?i. 1847.
CHAP. IV.] GARDEN OF CYRUS. 429
through them to look upon the sun ; and in tender plants
from mustard seed, sown in the winter, and in a pot of earth
placed inwardly against a south window, the tender stalks of
two leaves arose not erect, but bending towards the window,
nor looking much higher than the meridian sun ; and if the
pot were turned they would work themselves into their former
declinations, making their conversion by the east. That the
leaves of the olive and some other trees solstitially turn, and
pi-ecisely tell us when the sun is entered Cancer, is scarce ex-
pectable in any climate, and Theophrastus warily observes it.
Yet somewhat thereof is observable in our own, in the leaves
of willows and sallows, some weeks after the solstice. But
the great convolvulus, or white flowered bindweed, observes
both motions of the sun ; while the flower twists equinoctially
from the left hand to the right, according to the daily revolu-
tion, the stalk twineth ecliptically from the right to the left,
according to the annual conversion.3
Some commend the exposure of these orders unto the
western gales, as the most generative and fructifying breath
of heaven. But we applaud the husbandry of Solomon,
whereto agreeth the doctrine of Theophrastus : " Arise, O
north wind, and blow, thou south, upon my garden, that the
spices thereof may flow out." For the north wind closing
the pores, and shutting up the effluviums, when the south
doth after open and relax them, .the aromatical gums do
drop, and sweet odours fly actively from them ; and if his
garden had the same situation, which maps and charts afford
it, on the east side of Jerusalem, and having the wall on the
west ; these were the winds unto which it was well exposed.
By this way of plantation they increased the number of
their trees, which they lost in quaternios and square orders,
which is a commodity insisted on by Varro, and one great
intent of Nature, in this position of flowers and seeds in the
3 annual conversion.] From MS. the stalk seems most directly to proceed
Sloan. 1847, the following passage may from that one; the other is but as it
be added here : — " Of the orchis or dog- were appendant, and doth but slight
stones, one is generally more lusty, office to the nourishment ; but whether
plump, and fuller then the other, and they have any regular position north or
the fullest is most commended. The south, or east and west, my experience
reason is, the one which is fullest shootes; doth not discover."
430 GARDEN OF CYRUS. [CHAP. IV.
elegant formation of plants, and the former rules observed in
natural and artificial figurations.
Whether in this order, and one tree in some measure
breaking the cold and pinching gusts of winds from the other,
trees will not better maintain their inward circles, and either
escape or moderate their eccentricities, may also be con-
sidered. For the circles in trees are naturally concentrical,
parallel unto the bark, and unto each other, till frost and
piercing winds contract and close them on the weather side,
the opposite semi-circle widely enlarging, and at a comely
distance, which hindereth oft-times the beauty and roundness
of trees, and makes the timber less serviceable, whilst the
ascending juice, not readily passing, settles in knots4 and ine-
qualities ; and therefore it is no new course of agriculture, to
observe the native position of trees according to north and
south in their transplantations.4
The same is also observable under ground in the circina-
tions and spherical rounds of onions, wherein the circles of
the orbs are oft times larger, and the meridional lines stand
wider upon one side than the other ; and where the largeness
will make up the number of planetical orbs, that of Luna and
the lower planets exceed the dimensions of Saturn, and the
higher; whether the like be not verified in the circles of the
large roots of briony and mandrakes, or why, in the knots of
deal or fir, the circles are,x)ften eccentrical, although not in a
plane, but vertical and right position, deserves a further enquiry.
Whether there be not some irregularity of roundness in
most plants according to their position ; whether some small
compression of pores be not perceptible in parts which stand
against the current of waters, as in reeds, bull-rushes, and
4 settles, 4'c] But the knots we see posed to cold winds, being move con-
in planks are sections of small branches, traded. In the knots of fir, the right
5 transplantations.'] In MS. Sloan, lines broken from their course do run
1847, is the following passage: — "The into homocentrical circles, whether in
sap in trees observes the circle and right round or oval knots."
line. Trees being to grow up tall, were In MS. Sloan. 1847, occurs also the
made long and strong ; of the strongest following passage : — " Trees set under a
columnar figure, round. The lines are north wall will be larger circled than
strongest for the most part, and in many that side exposed unto the weather : trees
equidistant, as in firs ; the circles homo- set in open high places, near the sea, will
centrical, except perverted by situation ; close their circles on that side which re-
the circles on the northern, or side ex- specteth it."
CHAP. IV.] GARDEN OF CYRUS. 431
other vegetables toward the streaming quarter may also be
observed; and therefore such as are long and weak, are
commonly contrived unto a roundness of figure, whereby the
water presseth less, and slippeth more smoothly from them,
and even in flags of flat figured leaves, the greater part obvert
their sharper sides unto the current in ditches.
But whether plants which float upon the surface of the
water be for the most part of cooling qualities, those which
shoot above it of heating virtues, and why ? Whether sargasso
for many miles floating upon the western ocean, or sea lettuce
and phasganium at the bottom of our seas, make good the
like qualities? Why fenny waters afford the hottest and
sweetest plants, as calamus, cyperus, and crowfoot, and mud
cast out of ditches most naturally produceth arsmart? Why
plants so greedy of water so little regard oil ? Why since
many seeds contain much oil within them, they endure it not
well without, either in their growth or production? Why since
seeds shoot commonly under ground and out of the air, those
which are let fall in shallow glasses, upon the surface of the
water, will sooner sprout than those at the bottom; and if
the water be covered with oil, those at the bottom will hardly
sprout at all,5 we have not room to conjecture ?
Whether ivy would not less offend the trees in this clean
ordination, and well kept paths, might perhaps deserve the
question ? But this were a query only unto some habitations,
and little concerning Cyrus or the Babylonian territory;
wherein by no industry Harpalus could make ivy grow.
And Alexander hardly found it about those parts, to imitate
the pomp of Bacchus. And though in these northern regions
we are too much acquainted with one ivy, we know too little
6 will hardly sprout at all.~\ Seeds copious supply of oxygen than the latter,
which shoot underground have still, and if the water be covered with oil,
through the porous earth and also by those at the bottom will hardly sprout at
means of the air, dissolved in the water all, because the oil almost entirely pre-
which is always present, ready access of eludes the access of that all-necessary
oxygen, without the aid of which germi- principle ; the small quantity dissolved in
nation cannot take place ; so that they the water being quickly appropriated by
do not in fact germinate " out of the air." the seeds, and the oil, by preventing the
The seeds let fall in shallow glasses, upon contact of the atmosphere with the sur-
the surface of the water, sprout sooner face of the water, rendering a further
than those at the bottom, because they supply impossible. — Br.
have a more ready access, and a more
432 GARDEN OF CYRUS. [CHAP. IV.
of another, whereby we apprehend not the expressions of
antiquity, the splenetick medicine * of Galen, and the em-
phasis of the poet, in the beauty of the white ivy.-j-
The like concerning the growth of misseltoe, which de-
pendeth not only of the species, or kind of tree, but much
also of the soil. And therefore common in some places, not
readily found in others, frequent in France, not so common in
Spain, and scarce at all in the territory of Ferrara ; nor easi-
ly to be found where it is most required, upon oaks, less on
trees continually verdant. Although in some places the olive
escapeth it not, requiting its detriment in the delightful view
of its red berries ; as Clusius observed in Spain, and Bello-
nius about Jerusalem. But this parasitical plant suffers no-
thing to grow upon it, by any way of art ; nor could we ever
make it grow where nature had not planted it, as we have in
vain attempted by inoculation and incision, upon its native or
foreign stock. And though there seem nothing improbable
in the seed, it hath not succeeded by sation in any manner of
ground, wherein we had no reason to despair, since we read
of vegetable horns, and how ramshorns will root about Goa.
But besides these rural commodities, J it cannot be meanly
delectable in the variety of figures, which these orders, open
and closed, do make. Whilst every inclosure makes a rhombus,
the figures obliquely taken a rhomboides, the intervals bound-
ed with parallel lines, and each intersection built upon a square,
affording two triangles or pyramids vertically conjoined ;
which in the strict quincuncial order do oppositely make acute
and blunt angles.
And though therein we meet not with right angles, yet
every rhombus containing four angles equal unto four right,
it virtually contains four right. Nor is this strange unto such
as observe the natural lines of trees, and parts disposed in
them. For neither in the root doth nature affect this angle,
which shooting downward for the stability of the plant, doth
best effect the same by figures of inclination : nor in the
branches and stalky leaves, which grow most at acute angles ;
as declining from their head the root, and diminishing their
* (Tulen. de Med. secundum lor. f Hederd formosior alha. J Linschoten.
CHAP. IV.] GARDEN OF CYRUS. 433
angles with their altitude ; verified also in lesser plants, where-
by they better support themselves, and bear not so heavily
upon the stalk ; so that while near the root they often make
an angle of seventy parts, the sprouts near the top will often
come short of thirty. Even in the nerves and master veins
of the leaves the acute angle ruleth ; the obtuse but seldom
found, and in the backward part of the leaf, reflecting and
arching about the stalk. But why oft-times one side of the
leaf is unequal unto the other, as in hazel and oaks, why on
either side the master vein, the lesser and derivative channels
stand not directly opposite, nor at equal angles, respectively
unto the adverse side, but those of one part do often exceed
the other, as the wallnut and many more, deserves another
enquiry.
Now if for this order we affect coniferous and tapering
trees, particularly the cypress, which grows in a conical fi-
gure ; we have found a tree not only of great ornament, but,
in its essentials, of affinity unto this order : a solid rhombus
being made by the conversion of two equicrural cones, as
Archimedes hath defined. And these were the common trees
about Babylon, and the East, whereof the ark was made :
and Alexander found no trees so accommodable to build his
navy : — and this we rather think to be the tree mentioned in
the Canticles, which stricter botanology will hardly allow to
be camphire.
And if delight or ornamental view invite a comely disposure
by circular amputations, as is elegantly performed in haw-
thorns, then will they answer the figures made by the conver-
sion of a rhombus, which maketh two concentrical circles ;
the greater circumference being made by the lesser angles,
the lesser by the greater.
The cylindrical figure of trees is virtually contained and
latent in this order ; a cylinder or long round being made by
the conversion or turning of a parallelogram, and most hand-
somely by a long square, which makes an equal, strong, and
lasting figure in trees, agreeable unto the body and motive
parts of animals, the greatest number of plants, and almost
all roots, though their stalk be angular, and of many corners,
which seem not to follow the figure of their seeds ; since
vol. in. 2 F
434 GARDEN OF CYRUS. [CHAP. IV.
many angular seeds send forth round stalks, and spherical
seeds arise from angular spindles, and many rather conform
unto their roots, as the round stalks of bulbous roots and in
tuberous roots stems of like figure. But why, since the larg-
est number of plants maintain a circular figure, there are so
few with teretous or long round leaves ? Why coniferous trees
are tenuifolious or narrow-leafed ? Why plants of few or no
joints have commonly round stalks ? Why the greatest num-
ber of hollow stalks are round stalks ; or why in this variety
of angular stalks the quadrangular most exceedeth, were too
long a speculation ? Mean while obvious experience may find,
that in plants of divided leaves above, nature often beginneth
circularly in the two first leaves below, while in the singular
plant of ivy she exerciseth a contrary geometry, and begin-
ning with angular leaves below, rounds them in the upper
branches.
Nor can the rows in this order want delight, as carrying an
aspect answerable unto the dipteros Jiypcsthros, or double or-
der of columns open above ; the opposite ranks of trees
standing like pillars in the cavedia of the courts of famous
buildings, and the porticoes of the templet subdialia of old ;
somewhat imitating the peristylia or cloister-buildings, and
the exedrce of the ancients, wherein men discoursed, walked,
and exercised; for that they derived the rule of columns from
trees, especially in their proportional diminutions, is illustrated
by Vitruvius from the shafts of fir and pine. And, though
the inter-arboration do imitate the areostylos, or thin order,
not strictly answering the proportion of intercolumniations :
yet in many trees they will not exceed the intermission of the
columns in the court of the Tabernacle ; which being an
hundred cubits long, and made up by twenty pillars, will af-
ford no less than intervals of five cubits.
Beside, in this kind of aspect the sight being not diffused,
but circumscribed between long parallels and the einajueufftAs
and adumbration from the branches, it frameth a penthouse
over the eye, and maketh a quiet vision : — and therefore in
diffused and open aspects, men hollow their hand above their
eye, and make an artificial brow, whereby they direct the
dispersed rays of sight, and by this shade preserve a moder-
CHAP. IV.] GARDEN OF CYRUS. 435
ate light in the chamber of the eye ; keeping the pupilla
plump and fair, and not contracted or shrunk,, as in light and
vagrant vision.
And therefore providence hath arched and paved the great
house of the world, with colours of mediocrity, that is, blue
and green, above and below the sight, moderately terminating
the acies of the eye. For most plants, though green above
ground, maintain their original white below it, according to the
candour of their seminal pulp : and the rudimental leaves do
first appear in that colour, observable in seeds sprouting in
water upon their first foliation. Green seeming to be the first
supervenient, or above-ground complexion of vegetables, sepa-
rable in many upon ligature or inhumation, as succory, endive,
artichokes, and which is also lost upon fading in the autumn.
And this is also agreeble unto water itself, the alimental
vehicle of plants, which first altereth into this colour. And,
containing many vegetable seminalities, revealeth their seeds
by greenness ; and therefore soonest expected in rain or
standing water, not easily found in distilled or water strongly
boiled ; wherein the seeds are extinguished by fire and de-
coction, and therefore last long and pure without such altera-
tion, affording neither uliginous coats, gnat-worms, acari,
hair-worms, like crude and common water; and therefore
most fit for wholesome beverage, and with malt, makes ale
and beer without boiling. What large water-drinkers some
plants are, the canary-tree and birches in some northern
countries, drenching the fields about them, do sufficiently de-
monstrate. How water itself is able to maintain the growth
of vegetables, and without extinction of their generative or
medical virtues, — besides the experiment of Helmont's tree,
we have found in some which have lived six years in glasses.
The seeds of scurvy-grass growing in water-pots, have been
fruitful in the land ; and asamm after a year's space, and once
casting its leaves in water, in the second leaves hath hand-
somely performed its vomiting operation.
Nor are only dark and green colours, but shades and sha-
dows contrived through the great volume of nature, and trees
ordained not only to protect and shadow others, but by their
shades and shadowing parts, to preserve and cherish them-
2 F 2
436 GARDEN OF CYRUS. [CHAP. IV.
selves : the whole radiation or branchings shadowing the
stock and the root ; — the leaves, the branches and fruit, too
much exposed to the winds and scorching sun. The calicular
leaves inclose the tender flowers, and the flowers themselves
lie wrapt about the seeds, in their rudiment and first forma-
tions, which being advanced, the flowers fall away; and are
therefore contrived in variety of figures, best satisfying the
intention ; handsomely observable in hooded and gaping flow-
ers, and the butterfly blooms of leguminous plants, the lower
leaf closely involving the rudimental cod, and the alary or
wingy divisions embracing or hanging over it.
But seeds themselves do lie in perpetual shades, either un-
der the leaf, or shut up in coverings ; and such as lie barest,
have their husks, skins, and pulps about them, wherein the
nib and generative particle lieth moist and secured from the
injury of air and sun. Darkness and light hold interchange-
able dominions, and alternately rule the seminal state of
things. Light unto Pluto* is darkness unto Jupiter. Le-
gions of seminal ideas lie in their second chaos and Orcus of
Hippocrates ; till putting on the habits of their forms, they
shew themselves upon the stage of the world, and open do-
minion of Jove. They that held the stars of heaven were
but rays and flashing glimpses of the empyreal light, through
holes and perforations of the upper heaven, took off the na-
tural shadows of stars ; while according to better discovery
the poor inhabitants of the moon have but a polary life, and
must pass half their days in the shadow of that luminary.
Light that makes things seen, makes some things invisible,
were it not for darkness and the shadow of the earth, the
noblest part of the creation had remained unseen, and the
stars in heaven as invisible as on the fourth day, when they
were created above the horizon with the sun, or there was
not an eye to behold them. The greatest mystery of religion
is expressed by adumbration, and in the noblest part of Jewish
types, we find the cherubims shadowing the mercy-seat. Life
itself is but the shadow of death, and souls departed but the
shadows of the living. All things fall under this name. The
* Lux orro, tenebra Jovi; tenebrce orco, lux Jovi. Ilippocr. de Dicta. S. Hevelii
Selmographia.
CHAP. IV.] GARDEN OF CYRUS. 437
sun itself is but the dark simulachrum, and light but the
shadow of God.
Lastly, it is no wonder that this quincuncial order was first
and is still affected as grateful unto the eye. For all things
are seen quincuncially ; for at the eye the pyramidal rays, from
the object, receive a decussation, and so strike a second base
upon the retina or hinder coat, the proper organ of vision ;
wherein the pictures from objects are represented, answerable
to the paper, or wall in the dark chamber ; after the decuss-
ation of the rays at the hole of the horny-coat, and their re-
fraction upon the crystalline humour, answering the foramen
of the window, and the convex or burning-glasses, which re-
fract the rays that enter it. And if ancient anatomy would
hold, a like disposure there was of the optick or visual nerves
in the brain, wherein antiquity conceived a concurrence by
decussation. And this not only observable in the laws of di-
rect vision, but in some part also verified in the reflected rays
of sight. For making the angle of incidence equal to that of
reflection, the visual ray returneth quincuncially, and after
the form of a V ; and the line of reflection being continued
unto the place of vision, there ariseth a semi-decussation
which makes the object seen in a perpendicular unto itself,
and as far below the reflectent, as it is from it above ; observ-
able in the sun and moon beheld in water.
And this is also the law of reflection in moved bodies and
sounds, which though not made by decussation, observe the
rule of equality between incidence and reflection : whereby
whispering places are framed by elliptical arches laid side-
wise ; where the voice being delivered at the focus of one
extremity, observing an equality unto the angle of incidence,
it will reflect unto the focus of the other end, and so escape
the ears of the standers in the middle.
A like rule is observed in the reflection of the vocal and
sonorous line in echoes, which cannot therefore be heard
in all stations. But happening in woody plantations, by wa-
ters, and able to return some words, if reached by a pleasant
and well-dividing voice, there may be heard the softest notes
in nature.
And this not only verified in the way of sense, but in ani-
438 GARDEN OF CYRUS. [CHAP. IV.
mal and intellectual receptions : things entering upon the in-
tellect by a pyramid from without, and thence into the me-
mory by another from within, the common decussation being
in the understanding as is delivered by Bovillus.* Whether
the intellectual and phantastical lines be not thus rightly dis-
posed, but magnified, diminished, distorted, and ill placed, in
the mathematicks of some brains, whereby they have irregu-
lar apprehensions of things, perverted notions, conceptions,
and incurable hallucinations, were no unpleasant speculation.
And if Egyptian philosophy may obtain, the scale of in-
fluences was thus disposed, and the genial spirits of both
worlds do trace their way in ascending and descending pyra-
mids, mystically apprehended in the letter X, and the open
bill and stradling legs of a stork, which was imitated by that
character.
Of this figure Plato made choice to illustrate the motion of
the soul, both of the world and man : while he delivereth
that God divided the whole conjunction length-wise, accord-
ing to the figure of a greek X, and then turning it about re-
flected it into a circle; by the circle implying the uniform mo-
tion of the first orb, and by the right lines, the planetical and
various motions within it. And this also with application unto
the soul of man, which hath a double aspect, one right where-
by it beholdeth the body, and objects without; — another cir-
cular and reciprocal, whereby it beholdeth itself. The cir-
cle declaring the motion of the indivisible soul, simple, accord-
ing to the divinity of its nature, and returning into itself; the
right lines respecting the motion pertaining unto sense, and
vegetation; and the central decussation, the wondrous con-
nection of the several faculties conjointly in one substance.
And so conjoined the unity and duality of the soul, and made
out the three substances so much considered by him ; that is,
the indivisible or divine, the divisible or corporeal, and that
third, which was the systasis or harmony of those two, in the
mystical decussation.
And if that were clearly made out which Justin Martyr
took for granted, this figure hath had the honour to charac-
* Car. Bovillus dc Inlclkctu.
CHAP, V.] GARDEN OF CYRUS. 439
terrze and notify our blessed Saviour, as he delivereth in that
borrowed expression from Plato; — " decussavit eum in uni-
verse" the hint whereof he would have Plato derive from the
figure of the brazen serpent, and to have mistaken the letter
X for T. Whereas it is not improbable,~Tie learned these
and other mystical expressions in his learned observations of
Egypt, where he might obviously behold the mercurial cha-
racters, the handed crosses, and other mysteries not thorough-
ly understood in the sacred letter X ; which being derivative
from the stork, one of the ten sacred animals, might be orig-
inally Egyptian, and brought into Greece by Cadmus of
that country.
CHAPTER V.
To enlarge this contemplation unto all the mysteries and
secrets accommodable unto this number, were inexcusable Py-
thagorism, yet cannot omit the ancient conceit of five sur-
named the number of justice;"* as justly dividing between the
digits, and hanging in the centre of nine, described by square
numeration, which angularly divided will make the decussated
number; and so agreeable unto the quincuncial ordination,
and rows divided by equality, and just decorum, in the whole
corn-plantation ; and might be the original of that common
game among us, wherein the fifth place is sovereign, and car-
rieth the chief intention ; — the ancients wisely instructing
youth, even in their recreations unto virtue, that is, early to
drive at the middle point and central seat of justice.
Nor can we omit how agreeable unto this number an hand-
some divison is made in trees and plants, since Plutarch, and
the ancients have named it the divisive number; justly divid-
ing the entities of the world, 1 many remarkable things in it,
* (3/j»j.
1 Divisive number, justly dividing the past, in consequence of the discoveries in
entities of the world. ] The number five the natural arrangement of animals which
has acquired considerable importance in have been effected by Mr. William Sharpe
natural history within these few years Macleay, an eminent entomologist, son of
440 GARDEN OF CYRUS. [cHAP. V.
and also comprehending the general division of vegetables.*
And he that considers how most blossoms of trees, and great-
est number of flowers, consist of five leaves, and therein doth
rest the settled rule of nature ; — so that in those which ex-
ceed, there is often found, or easily made, a variety; — may
* Asi/5govy QufMVOi, Qguyuvov, Uoa, Arbor, frutex, svffrutex, herba, and that
fifth which comprehendeth the fungi and tubera, whether to be named " Asyiov or
ybfivov, comprehending also conferva marina salsa, and Sea-cords, of so many yards
length.
Mr. Alexander Macleay, who was for
many years secretary to the Linnaean so-
ciety, and possesses one of the most
splendid collections of insects ever yet
formed. The most important of the prin-
ciples announced by Mr. W. S. Macleay,
as they are stated by the Rev. L. Jenyns,
(in his " Report on the recent progress
and present state of zoology," just pub-
lished in the" Report of the fourth meet-
ing of the British association for the ad-
vancement of science," p. 152-153,) are
as follows : — " 1st, that all natural groups
of animals, of whatever denomination, re-
turn into themselves, forming circles;
2ndly, that each of these circular groups
is resolvable into exactly five others; 3dly,
that these five groups ahvays admit of a
binary arrangement, two of them being
what he calls typical, the other three
aberrant; 4thly, that ivhile proximate
groups in any circle are connected by re-
lations of affinity, corresponding groups
in two contiguous circles are connected by
relations of analogy. Mr. Macleay has
also observed, that, in almost every group
one of the five minor groups, into which it
is resolvable, bears a resemblance to all
the rest ; or, more strictly speaking, con-
sists of types which represent those of
each of the four other groups, together
with a type peculiar to itself."
Before proceeding to notice more par-
ticularly the numerical part of the Mac-
leayan system, it will be expedient to
cite the observation made by its author
on the speculations of Browne on the
number five, as given in this work. In
a paper published in the Transactions of
the Linnaaan society, vol. xiv, part 1, Mr.
Macleay remarks, after discussing cer-
tain points of his system, " it were tedi-
ous to proceed much further on this sub-
ject ; and therefore, without entering into
the speculations, often unintelligible and
always vague, of Plutarch, Sir Thomas
Browne, Drebel, Linnseus and others, as
to the doctrine of quintessence generally,
we may at once set forth the last argu-
ment which shall now be produced for
the existence of a quinary distribution in
organized nature. It may be stated thus :
in the year 1817 I detected a quinary
arrangement (published in 1819) in con-
sidering a small portion of coleopterous
insects; and in the year 1821" (in
the second part of Mr. Macleay's work
entitled Horce Entomologies) " I attempt-
ed to show that it prevailed generally
throughout nature. Tn the same year
(1821, )and apparently withoutany view
beyond the particular case then before
him, M. Decandolle stated the natural
distribution of cruciferous plants to be
quinary. And again, in the same year,
a third naturalist, (M. Fries) without the
knowledge of either Decandolle's Memoire
or the Horcs Entomologicee, and in a dif-
ferent part of Europe, publishes what he
considers to be the natural arrangement
of Fungi. Arguing a priori, this third
naturalist fancies that the determinate
number into which these acotyledonous
plants are distributed ought to be four ;
but finds it necessary, in order that it
may coincide with observed facts, to make
it virtually five. Nay, at last, in spite of
the prejudice of theory, he is unable to
withstand the force of truth, throws him-
self into the arms of nature, and declares
that where he actually finds his natural
group complete in all its parts, there the
determinate number is Jive."
With respect to the philosophy of the
numerical part of the Macleayan system,
we cannot do better than quote the obser-
vations on the subject, which have been
made by the Rev. W. Kirby, in the cele-
brated Introduction to Entomology of
which he is one of the authors. Mr. K.
remarks, in the fourth volume of that
work, letter xlvii, —
" There are five numbers and their
multiples which seem more particularly
CHAP. V.]
GARDEN OF CYRUS.
441
readily discover how nature rests in this number, which is in-
deed the first rest and pause of numeration in the fingers, the
natural organs thereof. Nor in the division of the feet of
perfect animals doth nature exceed this account. And even
in the joints of feet, which in birds are most multiplied, sur-
passeth not this number ; so progressionally making them out
in many, * that from five in the fore-claw she descendeth unto
two in the hindmost ; and so in four feet makes up the num-
ber of joints, in the five fingers or toes of man.
* As herons, bitterns, and longclawed fowls.
to prevail in nature: namely, two, three,
four, five, and seven. But though these
numbers are prevalent, no one of them
can be deemed universal
" But that which appears to prevail
most widely in nature is what may be
called the quaterno-quinary ; according
to which, groups consist of four minor
ones; one of which is excessively capa-
cious in comparison of the other 3, and
is always divisible into two; which gives
five of the same degree, but of which,
two have a greater affinity to each other
than they have to the other three. Mr.
W. S. Macleay, in the progress of his
enquiries to ascertain the station of Sea-
rabceus sacer, discovered that the chale-
rophagous and saprophagous Petalocerous
beetles resolved themselves each into a
circle containing 5 such groups. And
having got this principle, and finding
that this number and its multiples pre-
vailed much in nature, he next applied to
the animal kingdom in general : and
from the result of this investigation, it
appeared to him that it was nearly if not
altogether, universal. Nearly at the
same time a discovery almost parallel was
made and recorded by 3 eminent bota-
nists, M. M. Decandolle, Agardh, and
Fries, with regard to some groups of the
vegetable kingdom; and more recently
Mr. Vigors has discovered the same qui-
nary arrangement in various groups of
birds. This is a most remarkable coin-
cidence, and proves that the distribution
of objects into fives is very general in
nature. I should observe, however, that
according to Mr. Macleay's system, as
stated in his Hora Entnmologicce, if the
osculant or transition groups are included,
the total number is seven: — these are
groups small in number both of genera
and species, that intervene between and
connect the larger ones. Each of these
osculant groups may be regarded as di-
vided into two parts, the one belonging to
the upper circle and the other to the
loiuer ; so that each circle or larger group
is resolvable into five interior and two
exterior ones, thus making up the num-
ber seven. Though Mr. Macleay re-
gards this quinary arrangement of natural
objects as very general, it does not ap-
pear that he looks upon it as absolutely
universal, — since he states organized mat-
ter to begin in a dichotomy : and he
does not resolve its ultimate groups into
five species; nor am I certain that he re-
gards the penultimate groups as invari-
ably consisting of five ultimate ones. In
Copris McL. I seem in my own cabinet
to possess ten or twelve distinct types ;
and in Phanceus, the fifth type, which
Mr. Macleay regards as containing in-
sects resembling all the other types, ap-
pears to me rather divided into two ; one
formed by P. carnifex Vindex, igneus,
&c, and the other by P. spendidulus,
floriger, Kirbii, &c With regard
to all numerical systems we may observe,
that since variation is certainly one of
the most universal laws of nature, we
may conclude that different numbers pre-
vail in different departments, and that
all the numbers above stated as prevalent
are often resolvable or reduceable into
each other. So that where physiologists
appear to differ, or think they differ, they
frequently really agree."
Professor Lindley, in his Nixus PJan-
taruni, published in 1834, which contains
his latest and most matured views on the
natural system of the vegetable world,
has also stated that the most natural
groups of plants, of all classes, are qui-
nary.— Br.
442 GARDEN OF CYRUS. [ciIAP. V.
Not to omit the quintuple section of a cone,* of handsome
practice in ornamental garden-plots, and in some way discover-
able in so many works of nature, in the leaves, fruits, and
seeds of vegetables, and scales of some fishes ; so much con-
siderable in glasses, and the optick doctrine ; wherein the
learned may consider the crystalline humour of the eye in
the cuttle-fish and loligo.
He that forgets not how antiquity named this the conjugal or
wedding number, and made it the emblem of the most re-
markable conjunction, will conceive it duly appliable unto this
handsome economy, and vegetable combination; and may
hence apprehend the allegorical sense of that obscure expres-
sion of Hesiodj-j- and afford no improbable reason why Plato
admitted his nuptial guests by fives, in the kindred of the
married couple.!
And though a sharper mystery might be implied in the
number of the five wise and foolish virgins, which were to
meet the bridegroom, yet was the same agreeable unto the
conjugal number, which ancient numerists made out by two
and three, the first parity and imparity, the active and passive
digits, the material and formal principles in generative socie-
ties. And not discordant even from the customs of the Ro-
mans, who admitted but five torches in their nuptial solemni-
ties^ Whether there were any mystery or not, implied, the
most generative animals were created on this day, and had
accordingly the largest benediction. And under a quintuple
consideration, wanton antiquity considered the circumstances
of generation, while by this number of five they naturally
divided the nectar of the fifth planet.||
The same number in the Hebrew mysteries and cabalisti-
cal accounts was the character of generation, ^[ declared by
the letter E, the fifth in their alphabet, according to that ca-
balistical dogma ; if Abram had not had this letter added
unto his name, he had remained fruitless, and without the
* Elleipsis, parabola, hyperbole, cireulus, triangulum.
\ n'ciJ.'Xras, id est, vuptias multas. Rhodig. % Plato de Leg. 6.
§ Plutarch. Problem. Horn. i.
|| oscu/a qua Venus
Quinla parte sui nectaris imbuit. — Nor. lib. i, od. 13.
^f Jrchang. Dog. Cabal.
CHAP. V.] GARDEN OV CYRUS. 443
power of generation : not only because hereby the number of
his name attained two hundred forty eight, the number of the
affirmative precepts, but because, as in created natures there is
a male and female, so in divine and intelligent productions,
the mother of life and fountain of souls in cabalistical techno-
logy is called Binah, whose seal and character was E. So
that being sterile before, he received the power of generation
from that measure and mansion in the archetype ; and was
made conformable unto Binah. And upon such involved con-
siderations, the ten of Sarai was exchanged into five.* If
any shell look upon this as a stable number, and fitly appro-
priable unto trees, as bodies of rest and station, he hath
herein a great foundation in nature, who observing much va-
riety in legs and motive organs of animals, as two, four, six,
eight, twelve, fourteen, and more, hath passed over five and
ten, and assigned them unto none, or very few, as the Pha-
langium monstrosum Brasilianum, ( Clusii et Jac. de Laet. Cur.
Poster. Americas Descript.) if perfectly described.2 And for
the stability of this number, he shall not want the sphericity
of its nature,3 which multiplied in itself, will return into its
own denomination, and bring up the rear of the account.
Which is also one of the numbers that makes up the mysti-
cal name of God, which consisting of letters denoting all the
spherical numbers, ten, five, and six, emphatically sets forth
the notion of Trismegistus, and that intelligible sphere, which
is the nature of God.
Many expressions by this number occur in Holy Scripture,
perhaps unjustly laden with mystical expositions, and little
concerning our order. That the Israelites were forbidden to
eat the fruit of their new planted trees, before the fifth year,
was very agreeable unto the natural rules of husbandry ;
fruits being unwholesome and lash,4 before the fourth or fifth
* Jod into He.
2 the Phalangium, <^c] The reference our author has mistaken for feet, — it is
here given seems to relate to two works probably a my gale, — perhaps avicularia.
— Clusii Cures Posteriores, 4to. Antv. 3 he shall not want the sphericity of its
1611, and De Laet. America Descriptio. nature,"] See note at p. 413, note 9.
To the latter I have not been able to re- 4 lash] soft and watery, but without
fer. The former exhibits, at page 88, a flavour. Forty's Vocabulary of East
rude figure of Phalangium Americanum Anglia.
with its eight feet, and two Palpi which
444 GARDEN OF CYRUS. [CHAP. V.
year. In the second day or feminine part of five, there was
added no approbation. For in the third or masculine day,
the same is twice repeated; and a double benediction inclosed
both creations, whereof the one, in some part, was but an
accomplishment of the other. That the trespasser* was to
pay a fifth part above the head or principal, makes no secret
in this number, and implied no more than one part above the
principal ; which being considered in four parts, the addi-
tional forfeit must bear the name of a fifth. The five golden
mice had plainly their determination from the number of the
princes. That five should put to flight an hundred might
have nothing mystically implied ; considering a rank of sol-
diers could scarce consist of a lesser number. Saint Paul
had rather speak five words in a known, than ten thousand in
an unknown tongue : that is, as little as could well be spoken;
a simple proposition consisting of three words, and a com-
plexed one not ordinarily short of five.
More considerables there are in this mystical account, which
we must not insist on. And therefore, why the radical let-
ters in the pentateuch should equal the number of the sol-
diery of the tribes ; Why our Saviour in the wilderness fed
five thousand persons with five barley loaves; and again, but
four thousand with no less than seven of wheat? Why Joseph
designed five changes of raiment unto Benjamin ; and David
took just five pebbles f out of the brook against the Pagan
champion ; — we leave it unto arithmetical divinity, and theo-
logical explanation.
Yet if any delight in new problems, or think it worth the
enquiry, whether the critical physician hath rightly hit the
nominal notation of quinque? Why the ancients mixed five
or three, but not four parts of water unto their wine ; and
Hippocrates observed a fifth proportion in the mixture of wa-
ter with milk, as in dysenteries and bloody fluxes? Under
what abstruse foundation astrologers do figure the good or bad
fate from our children, in good fortune ;J or the fifth house of
their celestial schemes? Whether the Egyptians described
Lev. vi. -f- rsSScc^a ivxt four and one, or five. Sealig-
| 'Ayad'/j ruyji bonaforluna, the name of the fifth house.
CHAP. V.] GARDEN OF CYRUS. 445
a star by a figure of five points, with reference unto the five
capital aspects,* whereby they transmit their influences, or
abstruser considerations ? Why the cabalistical doctors, who
conceive the whole sephiroth, or divine emanations to have
guided the ten-stringed harp of David, whereby he pacified
the evil spirit of Saul, in strict numeration do begin with the
perihypaie meson, or jf fa ut, and so place the tiphereth
answering c fol fa ut, upon the fifth string ? or whether this
number be oftener applied unto bad things and ends, than
good in Holy Scripture, and why ? he may meet with abstru-
sities of no ready resolution.
If any shall question the rationality of that magiclc, in the
cure of the blind man by Serapis, commanded to place five
fingers on his altar, and then his hand on his eyes ? Why,
since the whole comedy is primarily and naturally comprised
in four parts, j- and antiquity permitted not so many persons
to speak in one scene, yet would not comprehend the same
in more or less than five acts? Why amongst sea-stars
nature chiefly delighteth in five points ? And since there are
found some of no fewer than twelve, and some of seven, and
nine, there are few or none discovered of six or eight ?5 If
any shall enquire why the flowers of rue properly consist
of four leaves, the first and third flower have five ? Why,
since many flowers have one leaf or none,]; as Scaliger will
have it, divers three, and the greatest number consist of five
divided from their bottoms, there are yet so few of two ? or
why nature generally beginning or setting out with two op-
posite leaves at the root, doth so seldom conclude with that
order and number at the flower ? He shall not pass his hours
in vulgar speculations.
If any shall further query why magnetical philosophy ex-
cludeth decussations, and needles transversely placed do
* Conjunct, opposite, sextile, trigonal, tetragonal,
f Tl^oratiic, iirirastc, xurudTucng, xuraifrgopq. X unifolium nuUifollum.
5 Why amongst sea-stars, §c.~] The ra elegans, and Asterias reticulata with
far greater number of this group of Ra~ but four rays ; of some unnamed species
diata is pentagonal — or five-rayed. But with 4, 5, 6, and 7 ; of A. variolata with
there occur in many species individuals 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8 rays; of A. endica with
which vary from the rule. In the British 8 and 9; and A. papposa with from 12 to
Museum there are specimens of — Ophiu- 15 rays.
446 GARDEN OF CYRUS. [ciIAP. V.
naturally distract their verticities ? Why geomancers do imi-
tate the quintuple figure, in their mother characters of acqui-
sition and amission, &c. somewhat answering the figures in
the lady or speckled beetle ? With what equity chiroman-
tical conjecturers decry these decussations in the lines and
mounts of the hand ? What that decussated figure intend-
eth in the medal of Alexander the Great? Why the god-
desses sit commonly cross-legged in ancient draughts, since
Juno is described in the same as a veneficial posture to hin-
der the birth of Hercules? If any shall doubt why at the
amphidromical feasts, on the fifth day after the child was
born, presents were sent from friends, of polypuses, and
cuttle-fishes ? Why five must be only left in that symbolical
mutiny among the men of Cadmus ? Why Proteus in Ho-
mer, the symbol of the first matter, before he settled himself
in the midst of his sea-monsters, doth place them out by
fives ? Why the fifth year's ox was acceptable sacrifice unto
Jupiter? Or why the noble Antoninus in some sense doth
call the soul itself a rhombus ? He shall not fall on trite or
trivial disquisitions. And these we invent and propose unto
acuter enquirers, nauseating crambe verities and questions
over-queried. Flat and flexible truths are beat out by every
hammer ; but Vulcan and his whole forge sweat to work out
Achilles his armour. A large field is yet left unto sharper
discerners to enlarge upon this order, to search out the
quaternios and figured draughts of this nature, and (moder-
ating the study of names, and mei-e nomenclature of plants,)
to erect generalities, disclose unobserved proprieties, not only
in the vegetable shop, but the whole volume of nature ; af-
fording delightful truths, confirmable by sense and ocular
observation, which seems to me the surest path to trace the
labyrinth of truth.6 For though discursive enquiry and ra-
tional conjecture may leave handsome gashes and flesh-
wounds ; yet without conjunction of this, expect no mortal
or dispatching blows unto error.
6 and (moderating the study of names, vouring to approximate to the true na-
and mere nomenclature of plants,) to erect tural system of plants, is very curiously
generalities, 8fC.~\ In these observations and sagaciously anticipated by our au-
the importance and necessity of endea- thor. — Br.
CHAP. V.] GARDEN OF CYRUS. 447
But the quincunx * of heaven runs low, and 't is time to
close the five ports of knowledge. We are unwilling to spin
out our awaking thoughts into the phantasms of sleep, which
often continueth precogitations ; making cables of cobwebs,
and wildernesses of handsome groves. Beside Hippocrates -j-
hath spoke so little, and the oneirocritical J masters have
left such frigid interpretations from plants, that there is little
encouragement to dveam of paradise itself. Nor will the
sweetest delight of gardens afford much comfort in sleep ;
wherein the dulness of that sense shakes hands with delect-
able odours ; and though in the bed of C]eopatra,§ can
hardly with any delight raise up the ghost of a rose.
Night, which Pagan theology could make the daughter of
Chaos, affords no advantage to the description of order :
although no lower than that mass can we derive its genealogy.
All things began in order, so shall they end, and so shall
they begin again ; according to the ordainer of order and
mystical mathematicks of the city of heaven.
Though Somnus in Homer be sent to rouse up Agamem-
non, I find no such effects in these drowsy approaches of
sleep. To keep our eyes open longer, were but to act our
Antipodes.7 The huntsmen are up in America, and they are
already past their first sleep in Persia. But who can be
drowsy at that hour which freed us from everlasting sleep ?
or have slumbering thoughts at that time, when sleep itself
must end, and as some conjecture all shall awake again.
* Hyades, near the horizon about midnight, at that time. f Be Insoimiiis.
X Artemidorus et Apomazar. § Strewed with roses.
7 To keep our eyes open longer, 8fC.~\ *#* It escaped me to notice in the first
'* Think you that there ever was such a chapter of this "Discourse," that there
reason given before for going to bed at is a curious article on gardens, in B'ls-
midnight ; to wit, that if we did not, raeii's Curiosities of Literature, vol. iv,
we should be acting the part of our anti- p. 233 ; — in the Arcliceologia, vol. vii, a
podes!" And then, — "The huntsmen paper by the Hon. Daines Harrington,
are up in America," — what life, what on the progress of gardening ; — in the
fancy ! Does the whimsical knight give 2nd number of the Journal of the Geo-
us, thus, the essence of gunpowder tea, graphical Society, an interesting account
and call it an opiate ?" — Coleridge's MS. of the floating gardens of Cashmere.
notes on the margin of a copy of Browne's
Works.
END OF THE GARDEN OF CYRUS.
THE STATIONER TO THE READER.
I cannot omit to advertise, that a book was published not long since,
entitled, Nature s Cabinet Unlocked* 1 bearing the name of this
author. If any man have been benefited thereby, this author is not
so ambitious as to challenge the honour thereof, as having no hand
in that work. To distinguish of true and spurious pieces was the
original criticism ; and some were so handsomely counterfeited, that
the entitled authors needed not to disclaim them. But since it is
so, that either he must write himself, or others will write for him,
I know no better prevention than to act his own part with less inter-
mission of his pen.
* See Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, vol. vi, 198.
1 a book, 8cc.~\ Which Anthony a Wood hath told us of the liver, that one part of
thus introduceth to the notice of his read- it is gibbous and the other light: and
ers : — " The reader may be pleased now yet he had the confidence to call this
to know that there hath been published scribble Nature's Cabinet, fyc. an arro-
under Dr. Thomas Browne's name a book gant and fanciful title, of which our au-
bearing this title : — thor's (Browne) true humility would
" Nature's Cabinet Unlocked, wherein no more have suffered him to have been
is discovered the natural Causes of Metals, the father, than his great learning could
Stones, Pretious Earths, fyc, printed 1657, have permitted him to have been the au-
in tw. A dull worthless thing, stole for thor of the said book. For it isf certain
the most part * out of the Physics of Ma- that as he was a philosopher very inward
girus by a very ignorant person, a pla- with nature, so was he one that never
giary so ignorant and unskilful in his boasted his acquaintance with her."
Rider, that not distinguishing between + See a discourse by way of introduction to
Lcevis and Levis in the said Maeirus, Baeonieam ; or certain genuine Remains of
° Franc. I'isc. S. Albans, Lond. 1679, 8vo, p. 76,
* Mr. Crossley informs me it is entirely so. 77- Written by Tho. Tenison, D. 1).
>pimotapI)ta*
URN BURIAL;
OR, A DISCOURSE OF THE SEPULCHRAL URNS LATELY FOUND I\ NORFOLK.
EIGHTH EDITIO N.
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN
1658.
VOL. Ill 2 (I
En sum quod digilis quinque levatur onus. — Propert.
THE EPISTLE DEDICATORY.
TO MY WORTHY AND HONOURED FRIEND,
THOMAS LE GROS, of CROSTWICK, ESQUIRE.1
When the funeral pyre was out, and the last valediction over,
men took a lasting adieu of their interred friends, little ex-
pecting the curiosity of future ages should comment upon
their ashes ; and, having no old experience of the duration of
their relicks, held no opinion of such after-considerations.
But who knows the fate of his bones, or how often he is to
be buried ? Who hath the oracle of his ashes, or whither
they are to be scattered ? The relicks of many lie like the
ruins of Pompey's, * in all parts of the earth ; and when
they arrive at your hands these may seem to have wandered
far, who, in a direct and meridian travel, f have but few miles
of known earth between yourself and the pole.
That the bones of Theseus should be seen again in Athens J
was not beyond conjecture and hopeful expectation ; but that
these should arise so opportunely to serve yourself was an hit
of fate, and honour beyond prediction.
* Pompeios juvenes Asia atque Europa, sed ipsum terra tegit Libyos.
f Little directly but sea, between your house and Greenland.2
% Brought back by Cimon Plutarch.
1 Le Gros, <^c] Descended from an 1603. The property descended to his
ancient family of the name (Le Gross, or nephew, Charles Harman, who took the
Groos,) settled at Sloly, near Crostwick, name of Le Gros, but sold the estate to
so early as the reign of Stephen, and who the Walpole family in 1720. See a brief
became possessed of the manor and hall notice of him, vol. i, p. 49.
of Crostwick in the 38th of Henry VIII. 2 Little directly, ij-c] Crostwick hall
His grandfather, Sir Thomas, was knight- is not twenty miles distant from the north
ed by James I. at the Charter-house, in coast of Norfolk.
2 G 2
452 THE EPISTLE
We cannot but wish these urns might have the effect of
theatrical vessels and great Hippodrome urns* in Rome, to
resound the acclamations and honour due unto you. But
these are sad and sepulchral pitchers, which have no joyful
voices ; silently expressing old mortality, the ruins of forgot-
ten times, and can only speak with life, how long in this cor-
ruptible frame some parts may be uncorrupted ; yet able to
outlast bones long unborn, and noblest pile among us.f
» We present not these as any strange sight or spectacle un-
known to your eyes, who have beheld the best of urns and
noblest variety of ashes ; who are yourself no slender master
of antiquities, and can daily command the view of so many
imperial faces ; which raiseth your thoughts unto old things
and consideration of times before you, when even living men
were antiquities ; when the living might exceed the dead, and
to depart this world could not be properly said to go unto the
greater number. J And so run up your thoughts upon the
ancient of days, the antiquary's truest object, unto whom the
eldest parcels are young, and earth itself an infant, and with-
out Egyptian § account makes but small noise in thousands.
We were hinted by the occasion, not catched the opportu-
nity to write of old things, or intrude upon the antiquary. We
are coldly drawn unto discourses of antiquities, who have
scarce time before us to comprehend new things, or make out
learned novelties. But seeing they arose, as they lay almost
in silence among us, at least in short account suddenly passed
over, we were very unwilling they should die again, and be
buried twice among us.
Beside, to preserve the living, and make the dead to live,
to keep men out of their urns, and discourse of human
fragments in them, is not impertinent unto our profession;
whose study is life and death, who daily behold examples of
mortality, and of all men least need artificial mementos, or
coffins by our bedside, to mind us of our graves.
* The great urns in the Hippodrome at Rome, conceived to resound the voices
of people at their shows.
f Worthily possessed by that true gentleman, Sir Horatio Townshend, my
honoured friend,
% Abiit ad plurcs.
§ Which makes the world so many years old.
DEDICATORY. 453
'T is time to observe occurrences, and let nothing remark-
able escape us ; the supinity of elder days hath left so much
in silence, or time hath so martyred the records, that the
most industrious heads'* do find no easy work to erect a new
Britannia.
'T is opportune to look back upon old times, and contem-
plate our forefathers. Great examples grow thin, and to be
fetched from the passed world. Simplicity flies away, and
iniquity comes at long strides upon us. We have enough to
do to make up ourselves from present and passed times, and
the whole stage of things scarce serveth for our instruction.
A complete piece of virtue must be made from the Centos of
all ages, as all the beauties of Greece could make but one
handsome Venus.
When the bones of King Arthur were digged up, f the old
race might think they beheld therein some originals of them-
selves ; unto these of our urns none here can pretend relation,
and can only behold the relicks of those persons who, in their
life giving the laws unto their predecessors, after long obscu-
rity, now lie at their mercies. But, remembering the early
civility they brought upon these countries, and forgetting
long-passed mischiefs, we mercifully preserve their bones,
and piss not upon their ashes.
In the offer of these antiquities we drive not at ancient
families, so long outlasted by them. We are far from erecting
your worth upon the pillars of your forefathers, whose merits
you illustrate. We honour your old virtues, conformable
unto times before you, which are the noblest armoury. And,
having long experience of your friendly conversation, void of
empty formality, full of freedom, constant and generous
honesty, I look upon you as a gem of the old rock, J and
must profess myself even to urn and ashes,
Your ever faithful friend and servant,
THOMAS BROWNE.
Norwich, May 1st.
* Wherein Mr. Dugdale hath excellently well endeavoured, and worthy to be
countenanced by ingenuous and noble persons.
f In the time of Henry the second. — Camden.
% Adamas de rupe veteri prcestantissimus.
$$m*totap!)ta<
CHAPTER I.
In the deep discovery of the subterranean world, a shallow
part would satisfy some enquirers ; who, if two or three yards
were open about the surface, would not care to rake the
bowels of Potosi,* and regions towards the centre. Nature
hath furnished one part of the earth, and man another. The
treasures of time lie high, in urns, coins, and monuments,
scarce below the roots of some vegetables. Time hath end-
less rarities, and shows of all varieties ; which reveals old
things in heaven, makes new discoveries in earth, and even
earth itself a discovery. That great antiquity America lay
buried for thousands of years, and a large part of the earth
is still in the urn unto us.
Though if Adam were made out of an extract of the earth,
all parts might challenge a restitution, yet few have returned
their bones far lower than they might receive them ; not af-
fecting the graves of giants, under hilly and heavy coverings,
but content with less than their own depth, have wished their
bones might lie soft, and the earth be light upon them. Even
such as hope to rise again, would not be content with central
interment, or so desperately to place their relicks as to lie
beyond discovery ; and in no way to be seen again ; which
* The rich mountain of Peru.
456 HYDRIOTAPHIA, [CHAP. I.
happy contrivance bath made communication with our fore-
fathers, and left unto our view some parts, which they never
beheld themselves.
Though earth hath engrossed the name, yet water hath
proved the smartest grave ; which in forty days swallowed
almost mankind, and the living creation; fishes not wholly
escaping, except the salt ocean were handsomely contempered
by a mixture of the fresh element.
Many have taken voluminous pains to determine the state
of the soul upon disunion ; but men have been most phantas-
tical in the singular contrivances of their corporal dissolution :
whilst the soberest nations have rested in two ways, of sim-
ple inhumation and burning.
That carnal interment or burying was of the elder date,
the old examples of Abraham and the patriarchs are suffici-
ent to illustrate ; and were without competition, if it could be
made out, that Adam was buried near Damascus, or Mount
Calvary, according to some tradition. God himself, that
buried but one, was pleased to make choice of this way, col-
lectible from Scripture expression, and the hot contest be-
tween Satan and the archangel, about discovering the body
of Moses. But the practice of burning was also of great
antiquity, and of no slender extent. For (not to derive the
same from Hercules) noble descriptions there are hereof in
the Grecian funerals of Homer, in the formal obsequies of Pa-
troclus, and Achilles ; and somewhat elder in the Theban
war, and solemn combustion of Meneceus, and Archemorus,
contemporary unto Jair the eighth judge of Israel. Confirm-
able also among the Trojans, from the funeral pyre of Hector,
burnt before the gates of Troy : and the burning of Penthe-
silea the Amazonian queen:* and long continuance of that
practice, in the inward countries of Asia ; while as low as the
reign of Julian, we find that the king of Chioniaf burnt the
body of his son, and interred the ashes in a silver urn.
The same practice extended also far west ; % and, besides
Herulians, Getes, and Thracians, was in use with most of the
* Q. Calaber, lib. i.
f Gumbrates King of Chionia, a country near Persia. — Ammiamis MarceUinns
X Arnold. Mont an, not. in Cas. Commentar. L. Gyraldus. Kirkmannm.
CHAP. I.] URN BURIAL. 457
Celtse, Sarmatians, Germans, Gauls, Danes, Swedes, Norwe-
gians ; not to omit some use thereof among Carthaginians and
Americans. Of greater antiquity among the Romans than
most opinion, or Pliny seems to allow : for (beside the old
table laws of burning or burying within the city,* of making
the funeral fire with planed wood, or quenching the fire with
wine,) Manlius the consul burnt the body of his son : Numa,
by special clause of his will, was not burnt but buried ; and
Remus was solemnly burned, according to the description of
Ovid.j-
Cornelius Sylla was noc the first whose body was burned
in Rome, but the first of the Cornelian family ; which, being
indifferently, not frequently used before ; from that time
spread, and became the prevalent practice. Not totally pur-
sued in the highest run of cremation ; for when even crows
were funerally burnt, Poppaea the wife of Nero found a pe-
culiar grave interment. Now as all customs were founded
upon some bottom of reason, so there wanted not grounds for
this ; according to several apprehensions of the most rational
dissolution, Some being of the opinion of Thales, that water
was the original of all things, thought it most equal1 to sub-
mit unto the principle of putrefaction, and conclude in a moist
relentment.2 Others conceived it most natural to end in fire,
as due unto the master principle in the composition, accord-
ing to the doctrine of Heraclitus ; and therefore heaped up
large piles, more actively to waft them toward that element,
whereby they also declined a visible degeneration into worms,
and left a lasting parcel of their composition.
Some apprehended a purifying virtue in fire, refining the
grosser commixture, and firing out the aethereal particles so
deeply immersed in it. And such as by tradition or rational
conjecture held any hint of the final pyre of all things ; or
* 12 Tabid, part i, de jure sacro. Hominem mortuum in urbe ne sepelito, neve
urito, torn. 2. Rogum ascid ne polit.o, torn. 4. Item Vigeneri Annotat. in Livium,
et Alex, cum Tiraquello. Roscinus cum Dempstco.
f Ultimo prolata subdita fiamma rogo. De Fast. lib. 4, cum Car. Neapol.
Auaptyxi.
] most equal,] Most equitable, 2 relentment.} Dissolution : not in Johnson.
458 HYDRIOTAPHIA, [CHAP. I.
that this element at last must be too hard for all the rest ;
might conceive most naturally of the fiery dissolution. Others
pretending no natural grounds, politickly declined the malice
of enemies upon their buried bodies. Which consideration
led Sylla unto this practice ; who having thus served the body
of Marius, could not but fear a retaliation upon his own ; en-
tertained after in the civil wars, and revengeful contentions
of Rome.
But as many nations embraced, and many left it indifferent,
so others too much affected, or strictly declined this practice.
The Indian Brachmans seemed too great friends unto fire,
who burnt themselves alive, and thought it the noblest way
to end their days in fire ; according to the expression of the
Indian, burning himself at Athens,* in his last words upon
the pyre unto the amazed spectators, thus I make myself
immortal.
But the Chaldeans the great idolaters of fire, abhorred the
burning of their carcasses, as a pollution of that deity. The
Persian magi declined it upon the like scruple, and being only
solicitous about their bones, exposed their flesh to the prey
of birds and dogs. And the Persees now in India, which
expose their bodies unto vultures, and endure not so much
asjeretra or biers of wood, the proper fuel of fire, are led on
with such niceties. But whether the ancient Germans, who
burned their dead, held any such fear to pollute their deity of
Herthus, or the earth, we have no authentic conjecture.
The Egyptians were afraid of fire, not as a deity, but a
devouring element, mercilessly consuming their bodies, and
leaving too little of them; and therefore by precious embalm-
ents, depositure in dry earths, or handsome inclosure in
glasses, contrived the notablest ways of integral conservation.
And from such Egyptian scruples, imbibed by Pythagoras, it
may be conjectured that Numa and the Pythagorical sect first
waved the fiery solution.
The Scythians, who swore by wind and sword, that is, by
life and death, were so far from burning their bodies, that
they declined all interment, and made their graves in the air:
* And therefore the inscription of his tomb was made accordingly. Nic. Damasc.
CHAP. I.] URN BURIAL. 459
and the Ichthyophagi, or fish-eating nations ahout Egypt,
affected the sea for their grave ; thereby declining visible
corruption, and restoring the debt of their bodies. Whereas
the old heroes, in Homer, dreaded nothing more than water
or drowning; probably upon the old opinion of the fiery sub-
stance of the soul, only extinguishable by that element ; and
therefore the poet emphatically implieth the total destruction
in this kind of death, which happened to Ajax Oileus. *
The old Balearians f had a peculiar mode, for they used
great urns and much wood, but no fire in their burials, while
they bruised the flesh and bones of the dead, crowded them
into urns, and laid heaps of wood upon them. And the
Chinese J without cremation or urnal interment of their bo-
dies, make use of trees and much burning, while they plant a
pine-tree by their grave, and burn great numbers of printed
draughts of slaves and horses over it, civilly content with
their companies in effigy, which barbarous nations exact unto
reality.
Christians abhorred this way of obsequies, and though they
sticked not to give their bodies to be burnt in their lives, de-
tested that mode after death ; affecting rather a depositure
than absumption, and properly submitting unto the sentence
of God, to return not unto ashes but unto dust again, con-
formable unto the practice of the patriarchs, the interment
of our Saviour, of Peter, Paul, and the ancient martyrs. And
so far at last declining promiscuous interment with Pagans,
that some have suffered ecclesiastical censures, § for making
no scruple thereof.
The Musselman believers will never admit this fiery reso-
lution. For they hold a present trial from their black and
white angels in the grave; which they must have made so hol-
low, that they may rise upon their knees.
The Jewish nation, though they entertained the old way
of inhumation, yet sometimes admitted this practice. For
the men of Jabesh burnt the body of Saul ; and by no pro-
hibited practice, to avoid contagion or pollution, in time of
* Which Magius reads stawoX&lXi . f Diodorus Siculus.
% Ramusius in Navlgat. § Marliaiis the Bishop. Cyprian.
460 HYDRIOTAPHIA, [CHAP. I.
pestilence, burnt the bodies of their friends.* And when
they burnt not their dead bodies, yet sometimes used great
burnings near and about them, deducible from the expressions
concerning Jehoram, Zedechias, and the sumptuous pyre of
Asa. And were so little averse from Pagan burning, that
the Jews lamenting the death of Caesar their friend, and re-
venger on Pompe3r, frequented the place where his body was
burnt for many nights together.-}- And as they raised noble
monuments and mausoleums for their own nation, J so they
were not scrupulous in erecting some for others, according to
the practice of Daniel, who left that lasting sepulchral pile in
Ecbatana, for the Median and Persian kings. §
But even in times of subjection and hottest use, they con-
formed not unto the Roman practice of burning ; whereby
the prophecy was secured concerning the body of Christ, that
it should not see corruption, or a bone should not be broken;
which we believe was also providentially prevented, from the
soldier's spear and nails that passed by the little bones both
in his hands and feet ; not of ordinary contrivance, that it
should not corrupt on the cross, according to the laws of
Roman crucifixion, or an hair of his head perish, though ob-
servable in Jewish customs, to cut the hairs of malefactors.
Nor in their long cohabitation with Egyptians, crept into a
custom of their exact embalming, wherein deeply slashing the
muscles, and taking out the brains and entrails, they had
broken the subject of so entire a resurrection, nor fully an-
swered the types of Enoch, Elijah, or Jonah, which yet to
prevent or restore, was of equal facility unto that rising pow-
er, able to break the fasciations and bands of death, to get
clear out of the cerecloth, and an hundred pounds of oint-
ment, and out of the sepulchre before the stone was rolled
from it.
But though they embraced not this practice of burning,
yet entertained they many ceremonies agreeable unto Greek
and Roman obsequies. And he that observeth their funeral
* Amos vi, 10. j- Stiefon. in vita Jul. Cces.
X As that magnificent sepulchral monument erected by Simon, 1 Mace. xiii.
§ KaraoxivuG/jbtt, ^aufiaalug TTSTro/^/./ii'ov, wherof a Jewish Priest had always the
custody, unlo Joscphus his days.— Jos. Antiq. lib. x.
CHAP. II.] URN BURIAL. 461
feasts, their lamentations at the grave, their music, and weep-
ing mourners; how they closed the eyes of their friends, how
they washed, anointed, and kissed the dead ; may easily con-
clude these were not mere Pagan civilities. But whether
that mournful burthen, and treble calling out after Absalom,*
had any reference unto the last conclamation, and triple vale-
diction, used by other nations, we hold but a wavering con-
jecture.
Civilians make sepulture but of the law of nations, others
do naturally found it and discover it also in animals. They
that are so thick-skinned as still to credit the story of the
Phcenix, may say something for animal burning. More seri-
ous conjectures find some examples of sepulture in elephants,
cranes, the sepulchral cells of pismires, and practice of bees, —
which civil society carrieth out their dead, and hath exequies,
if not interments.
CHAPTER II.
The solemnities, ceremonies, rites of their cremation or inter-
ment, so solemnly delivered by authors, we shall not disparage
our reader to repeat. Only the last and lasting part in their
urns, collected bones and ashes, we cannot wholly omit or
decline that subject, which occasion lately presented, in some
discovered among us.
In a field of Old Walsingham, not many months past, were
digged up between forty and fifty urns, deposited in a dry
and sandy soil, not a yard deep, nor far from one another. —
Not all strictly of one figure, but most answering these de-
scribed : some containing two pounds of bones, distinguishable
in skulls, ribs, jaws, thigh bones, and teeth, with fresh impres-
sions of their combustion; besides the extraneous substances,
like pieces of small boxes, or combs handsomely wrought, han-
dles of small brass instruments, brasen nippers, and in one
some kind of opal.f
* 2 Sam. xviii, 33.
f In one sent me by my worthy friend, Dr. Thomas Witherly of Walsingham.
4G2 IIYDRI0TAPHIA, [CHAP. II.
Near the same plot of ground, for about six yards compass,
were digged up coals and incinerated substances, which begat
conjecture that this was the ustrina or place of burning
their bodies, or some sacrificing place unto the manes, which
was properly below the surface of the ground, as the cera
and altars unto the gods and heroes above it.
That these were the urns of Romans from the common cus-
tom and place where they were found, is no obscure conjecture,
not far from a Roman garrison, and but five miles from Bran-
caster, set down by ancient record under the name of Bran-
odunum. And where the adjoining town, containing seven
parishes, in no very different sound, but Saxon termination,
still retains the name of Burnham, which being an early sta-
tion, it is not improbable the neighbour parts were filled with
habitations, either of Romans themselves, or Britons Roma-
nised, which observed the Roman customs.
Nor is it improbable, that the Romans early possessed this
country. For though we meet not with such strict particulars
of these parts before the new institution of Constantine and
military charge of the count of the Saxon shore, and that
about the Saxon invasions, the Dalmatian horsemen were in
the garrison of Brancaster ; yet in the time of Claudius, Ves-
pasian, and Severus, we find no less than three legions dis-
persed through the province of Britain. And as high as the
reign of Claudius a great overthrow was given unto the Iceni,
by the Roman lieutenant Ostorius. Not long after, the coun-
try was so molested, that, in hope of a better state, Prasu-
tagus bequeathed his kingdom unto Nero and his daughters ;
and Boadicea, his queen, fought the last decisive battle with
Paulinus. After which time, and conquest of Agricola, the
lieutenant of Vespasian, probable it is, they wholly possessed
this country ; ordering it into garrisons or habitations best
suitable with their securities. And so some Roman habita-
tions not improbable in these parts, as high as the time of
Vespasian, where the Saxons after seated, in whose thin-filled
maps we yet find the name of Walsingham. Now if the
Iceni were but Gammadims, Anconians, or men that lived in
an angle, wedge, or elbow of Britain, according to the ori-
ginal etymology, this country will challenge the emphatical
CHAP. II.] URN BURIAL. 463
appellation, as most properly making the elbow or iken of
Icenia. 3
That Britain was notably populous is undeniable, from that
expression of Caesar. * That the Romans themselves were
early in no small numbers (seventy thousand, with their associ-
ates,) slain by Boadicea, affords a sure account. And though
many Roman habitations are now unknown, yet some, by old
works, rampiers, coins, and "urns, do testify their possessions.
Some urns have been found at Castor, some also about South-
creak, and, not many years past, no less than ten in a field at
Buxton, f not near any recorded garrison. Nor is it strange
to find Roman coins of copper and silver among us ; of Ves-
pasian, Trajan, Adrian, Commodus, Antoninus, Severus, &c. ;
but the greater number of Dioclesian, Constantine, Constans,
Valens, with many of Victorinus Posthumius, Tetricus, and
the thirty tyrants in the reign of Gallienus ; and some as high
as Adrianus have been found about Thetford, or Sitomagus,
mentioned in the Itinerary of Antoninus, as the way from
Venta or Castor unto London. % But the most frequent dis-
covery is made at the two Castors by Norwich and Yar-
mouth^ at Burghcastle, and Brancaster. ||
Besides the Norman, Saxon, and Danish pieces of Cuthred,
Canutus, William, Matilda, % and others, some British coins
* Honiinmn infinita multitudo est, creberrimaque ; cedificia fere Gallicis consimi-
lia. — Ctes. de Bello Gal. I. 5.
f In the ground of my worthy friend Robert Jegon, Esq.; wherein some things
contained were preserved by the most worthy Sir William Paston, Bart.
X From Castor to Thetford the Romans accounted thirty-two miles, and from
thence observed not our common road to London, but passed by Combretonium ad
Ansam, Canonium,C(Zsaromagus,fyc., by Bretenham, Coggeshall, Chelmsford, Brent-
wood, &C.
§ Most at Castor by Yarmouth, found in a place called East-bloudy-burgh Fur-
long, belonging to Mr. Thomas Wood, a person of civility, industry, and knowledge
in this way, who hath made observation ot remarkable things about him, and from
whom we have received divers silver and copper coins.
|| Belonging to that noble gentleman, and true example of worth, Sir Ralph
Hare, Bart, my honoured friend.
If A piece of Maud, the empress, said to be found in Buckenham Castle, with
this inscription : Elle ri a elle.
3 Now if the, tyc] That is to say "if bow of Icenia. But, unfortunately, iken
iken (as well ayxo)v) signified an elbow does not signify an elbow ; and it appears
— and thus, the Iranians were but "men that the Iceni derived their name from
that lived in an angle or elbow," then the river Ouse, on whose banks they
would the inhabitants of Norfolk have resided,— anciently called Iken, Yken,
the best claim to the appellation, that or Ycin. Whence, also, Ikenild-street,
county being most emphatically the el- Ikenthorpe, Ikenworth.
464 HYDRIOTAPHIA, [CHAP. II.
of gold have been dispersedly found, and no small number of
silver pieces near Norwich, * with a rude head upon the ob-
verse, and an ill-formed horse on the reverse, with inscriptions
Ic. Duro. T. ; whether implying Iceni, Durotriges, Tascia, or
Trinobantes, we leave to higher conjecture. Vulgar chrono-
logy will have Norwich Castle as old as Julius Csesar; but
his distance from these parts, and its gothick form of struc-
ture, abridgeth such antiquity. The British coins afford
conjecture of early habitation in these parts, though the city
of Norwich arose from the ruins of Venta ; and though,
perhaps, not without some habitation before, was enlarged,
builded, and nominated by the Saxons. In what bulk or
populosity it stood in the old East-angle monarchy tradition
and history are silent. Considerable it was in the Danish
eruptions, when Sueno burnt Thetford and Norwich, f and
Ulfketel, the governor thereof, was able to make some resist-
ance, and after endeavoured to burn the Danish navy.
How the Romans left so many coins in countries of their
conquests seems of hard resolution ; except we consider how
they buried them under ground when, upon barbarous inva-
sions, they were fain to desert their habitations in most part
of their empire, and the strictness of their laws forbidding to
transfer them to any other uses ; wherein the Spartans j
were singular, who, to make their copper money useless, con-
tempered it with vinegar. That the Britons left any, some
wonder, since their money was iron and iron rings before
Caesar; and those of after-stamp by permission, and but
small in bulk and bigness. That so few of the Saxons re-
main, because, overcome by succeeding conquerors upon the
place, their coins, by degrees, passed into other stamps and
the marks of after ages.
Than the time of these urns deposited, or precise antiquity
of these relicks, nothing of more uncertainty ; for since the
lieutenant of Claudius seems to have made the first progress
into these parts, since Boadicea was overthrown by the forces
of Nero, and Agricola put a full end to these conquests, it is
not probable the country was fully garrisoned or planted
* At Thorpe. f Brampton Abbas Journallensis. J Pluf. in vita Licurg,
CHAP. II.] URN BUUIAL. 465
before ; and, therefore, however these urns might be of later
date, not likely of higher antiquity.
And the succeeding emperors desisted not from their con-
quests in these and other parts, as testified by history and
medal-inscription yet extant : — the province of Britain, in so
divided a distance from Rome, beholding the faces of many
imperial persons, and in large account ; no fewer than Caesar,
Claudius, Britannicus, Vespasian, Titus, Adrian, Severus,
Commodus, Geta, and Caracalla.
A great obscurity herein, because no medal or emperor's
coin enclosed, which might denote the date of their inter-
ments ; observable in many urns, and found in those of Spital-
fields, by London,"* which contained the coins of Claudius,
Vespasian, Commodus, Antoninus, attended withlacrymatories,
lamps, bottles of liquor, and other appurtenances of affec-
tionate superstition, which in these rural interments were
wanting.
Some uncertainty there is from the period or term of burn-
ing, or the cessation of that practice. Macrobius affirmeth
it was disused in his days ; but most agree, though without
authentic record, that it ceased with the Antonini, — most
safely to be understood after the reign of those emperors
which assumed the name of Antoninus, extending unto Helio-
gabalus. Not strictly after Marcus; for about fifty years
later, we find the magnificent burning and consecration of
Severus ; and, if we so fix this period, or cessation, these
urns will challenge above thirteen hundred years.
But whether this practice was only then left by emperors
and great persons, or generally about Rome, and not in other
provinces, we hold no authentic account ; for after Tertullian,
in the days of Minucius, it was obviously objected upon
Christians, that they condemned the practice of burning, -f
And we find a passage in Sidonius, J which asserteth that
practice in France unto a lower account. And, perhaps, not
fully disused till Christianity fully established, which gave the
final extinction to these sepulchral bonfires.
* Stow's Survey of London.
f Execrantur rogos, et damnant ignium sepulturam. — Min. in Oct.
X Sidvn. Apollinaris.
VOL. III. 2 H
466 HYDRIOTAPHIA, [CHAP. II.
Whether they were the bones of men, or women, or chil-
dren, no authentic decision from ancient custom in distinct
places of burial. Although not improbably conjectured, that
the double sepulture, or burying place of Abraham, * had in
it such intention. But from exility of bones, thinness of
skulls, smallness of teeth, ribs, and thigh bones, not impro-
bable that many thereof were persons of minor age, or women.
Confirmable also from things contained in them. In most
were found substances resembling combs, plates like boxes,
fastened with iron pins, and handsomely overwrought like the
necks or bridges of musical instruments, long brass plates
overwrought like the handles of neat implements, brazen
nippers, to pull away hair, and in one a kind of opal, yet main-
taining a bluish colour.
Now that they accustomed to burn or bury with them,
things wherein they excelled, delighted, or which were dear
unto them, either as farewells unto all pleasure, or vain ap-
prehension that they might use them in the other world, is
testified by all antiquity, observable from the gem or beryl
ring upon the finger of Cynthia, the mistress of Propertius,
when after her funeral pyre her ghost appeared unto him ;
and notably illustrated from the contents of that Roman urn
preserved by Cardinal Farnese,f wherein besides great number
of gems with heads of gods and goddesses, were found an
ape of agath, a grasshopper, an elephant of amber, a crystal
ball, three glasses, two spoons, and six nuts of crystal; and
beyond the content of urns, in the monument of Childerick
the first,£ and fourth king from Pharamond, casually dis-
covered three years past at Tournay, restoring unto the
world much gold richly adorning his sword, two hundred
rubies, many hundred imperial coins, three hundred golden
bees, the bones and horse shoes of his horse interred with
him, according to the barbarous magnificence of those days
in their sepulchral obsequies. Although, if we steer by the
conjecture of many and septuagint expression, some trace
thereof may be found even with the ancient Hebrews, not
only from the sepulchral treasure of David, but the circumci-
sion knives which Joshua also buried\
* Gen. xxiii, 4. f Vigeneri Annot, in 4. Liv. \ Chifflet. in Annxt. Childer.
CHAP. 11.] URN BURIAL. 4G7
Some men, considering the contents of these urns, lasting-
pieces and toys included in them, and the custom of burning
with many other nations, might somewhat doubt whether all
urns found among us, were properly Roman relicks, or
some not belonging unto our British, Saxon, or Danish
forefathers.
In the form of burial among the ancient Britons, the large
discourses of Caesar, Tacitus, and Strabo are silent. For the
discovery whereof, with other particulars, we much deplore
the loss of that letter which Cicero expected or received from
his brother Quintus, as a resolution of British customs ; or
the account which might have been made by Scribonius Lar-
gus the physician,4 accompanying the Emperor Claudius, who
might have also discovered that frugal bit of the old Britons,*
which in the bigness of a bean could satisfy their thirst and.
hunger.
But that the Druids and ruling priests used to burn and
bury, is expressed by Pomponius, that Bellinus the brother
of Brennus, and king of the Britons, was burnt, is acknow-
ledged by Polydorus, as also by Amandus Zierexensis in
Historia, and Pineda in his Universa Historia, (Spanish.)
That they held that practice in Gallia, Caesar expressly de-
livereth. Whether the Britons (probably descended from
them, of like religion, language, and manners) did not some-
times make use of burning, or whether at least such as were
after civilized unto the Roman life and mariners, conformed
not unto this practice, we have no historical assertion or de-
nial. But since, from the account of Tacitus, the Romans
early wrought so much civility upon the British stock, that
they brought them to build temples, to wear the gown, and
study the Roman laws and language, that they conformed
also unto their religious rites and customs in burials, seems
no improbable conjecture.
That burning the dead was used in Sarmatia is affirmed
by Gaguinus, that the Sueons and Gothlanders used to burn
their princes and great persons, is delivered by Saxo and
* Dionis excerpta per Xiphilin. in Severo.
4 that letter which Cicero, #c] See imagines both these accounts to have
vol. iv, p. 240, Nos. 2 and 3, where he been discovered.
2 H 2
468 HYDRIOTAPHIA, [CHAP. II.
Olaus ; that this was the old German practice, is also asserted
by Tacitus. And though we are bare in historical particulars
of such obsequies in this island, or that the Saxons, Jutes,
and Angles burnt their dead,^yet came they from parts where
't was of ancient practice; the Germans using it, from whom
they were descended. And even in Jutland and Sleswick in
Anglia Cymbrica, urns with bones were found not many years
before us.
But the Danish and northern nations have raised an sera
or point of compute from their custom of burning their dead : *
some deriving it from Unguinus, some from Frotho the great,
who ordained by law, that princes and chief commanders
should be committed unto the fire, though the common sort
had the common grave interment. So Starkatterus that old
hero was burnt, and Ringo royally burnt the body of Harold
the king slain by him.
What time this custom generally expired in that nation,
we discern no assured period ; whether it ceased before
Christianity, or upon their conversion, by Ausgurius the Gaul
in the time of Ludovicus Pius the son of Charles the Great,
according to good computes; or whether it might not be
used by some persons, while for an hundred and eighty years
Paganism and Christianity were promiscuously embraced
among them, there is no assured conclusion. About which
times the Danes were busy in England, and particularly in-
fested this county ; where many castles and strong holds were
built by them, or against them, and great number of names
and families still derived from them. But since this custom
was probably disused before their invasion or conquest, and
the Romans confessedly practised the same since their pos-
session of this island, the most assured account will fall upon
the Romans, or Britons Romanized.
However, certain it is, that urns conceived of no Roman
original, are often digged up both in Norway and Denmark,
handsomely described, and graphically represented by the
learned physician Wormius.f And in some parts of Den-
mark in no ordinary number, as stands delivered by authors
* Ruisold, Brendetyde. Ild tyde.
t Olai IVormii Momimenta et Antiquitat. Dan.
CHAP. III.] URN BURIAL. 4G9
exactly describing those countries.* And they contained not
only bones, but many other substances in them, as knives,
pieces of iron, brass, and wood, and one of Norway a brass
gilded jew's-harp.
Nor were they confused or careless in disposing the noblest
sort, while they placed large stones in circle about the urns
or bodies which they interred : somewhat answerable unto
the monument of Rollrich stones in England,f or sepulchral
monument probably erected by Rollo, who after conquered
Normandy; where 'tis not improbable somewhat might be
discovered. Meanwhile to what nation or person belonged
that large urn found at Ashbury,J containing mighty bones,
and a buckler ; what those large urns found at Little Massing-
ham ; § or why the Anglesea urns are placed with their
mouths downward, remains yet undiscovered.
CHAPTER HI.
Plaistered and whited sepulchres were anciently affected
in cadaverous and corrupted burials ; and the rigid Jews were
wont to garnish the sepulchres of the righteous. || Ulysses, in
Hecuba, cared not how meanly he lived, so he might find
a noble tomb after death. ^[ Great princes affected great mo-
numents ; and the fair and larger urns contained no vulgar
ashes, which makes that disparity in those which time dis-
covered among us. The present urns were not of one capa-
city, the largest containing above a gallon, some not much above
half that measure; nor all of one figure, wherein there is no
strict conformity in the same or different countries ; observ-
able from those represented by Casalius, Bosio, and others,
though all found in Italy: while many have handles, ears,
and long necks, but most imitate a circular figure, in a sphe-
* Adolphus Cyprius in Annul. Slesivic. urnis adeo ahundabat collis, fyc.
f In Oxfordshire, Camden. % In Cheshire, Twinus de rebus Albionicit
§ In Norfolk, Ilollingshcad. \\ Matt, xxiii. ^| Euripides.
470 HYDRIOTAPHIA, [CHAP. III.
rical and round composure ; whether from any mystery, best
duration or capacity, were but a conjecture. But the com-
mon form with necks was a proper figure, making our last
bed like our first ; nor much unlike the urns of our nativity,
while we lay in the nether part of the earth,* and inward
vault of our microcosm. Many urns are reel, these but of a
black colour, somewhat smooth, and dully sounding, which
begat some doubt, whether they were burnt, or only baked
in oven or sun, according to the ancient way, in many bricks,
tiles, pots, and testaceous works ; and as the word testa is
properly to be taken, when occurring without addition, and
chiefly intended by Pliny, when he commendeth bricks and
tiles of two years old, and to make them in the spring. Nor
only these concealed pieces, but the open magnificence of an-
tiquity, ran much in the artifice of clay. Hereof the house
of Mausolus was built, thus old Jupiter stood in the capitol,
and the statua of Hercules, made in the reign of Tarquinius
Priscus, was extant in Pliny's days. And such as declined
burning or funeral urns, affected coffins of clay, according to
the mode of Pythagoras, a way preferred by Varro. But
the spirit of great ones was above these circumscriptions, af-
fecting copper, silver, gold, and porphyry urns, wherein Se-
verus lay, after a serious view and sentence on that which
should contain him.f Some of these urns were thought to
have been silvered over, from sparklings in several pots, with
small tinsel parcels ; uncertain whether from the earth, or the
first mixture in them.
Among these urns we could obtain no good account of their
coverings ; only one seemed arched over with some kind of
brick-work. Of those found at Buxton, some were covered
with flints, some, in other parts, with tiles, those at Yarmouth
Caster were closed with Roman bricks, and some have proper
earthen covers adapted and fitted to them. But in the Homeri-
cal urn of Patroclus, whatever was the solid tegument, we find
the immediate covering to be a purple piece of silk : and such
as had no covers might have the earth closely pressed into
* Psal. lxiii.
f XwgTjttttc rbv Sifoguvov, h rt ohovfiiswi obx ivtAgriffsv. Dion.
CHAP. III.] URN BURIAL. 471
them, after which disposure were probably some of these,
wherein we found the bones and ashes half mortared unto the
sand and sides of the urn, and some long roots of quich, or
dog's-grass, wreathed about the bones.
No lamps, included liquors, lacrymatories, or tear-bottles,
attended these rural urns, either as sacred unto the manes,
or passionate expressions of their surviving friends. While
with rich flames, and hired tears, they solemnized their obse-
quies, and in the most lamented monuments made one part of
their inscriptions. * Some find sepulchral vessels containing
liquors, which time hath incrassated into jellies. For, be-
sides these lachrymatories, notable lamps, with vessels of oils,
and aromatical liquors, attended noble ossuaries; and some
yet retaining a vinosityf and spirit in them, which, if any
have tasted, they have far exceeded the palates of antiquity.
Liquors not to be computed by years of annual magistrates,
but by great conjunctions and the fatal periods of kingdoms. \
The draughts of consulary date were but crude unto these,
and Opimian wine § but in the must unto them.
In sundry graves and sepulchres we meet with rings, coins,
and chalices. Ancient frugality was so severe, that they
allowed no gold to attend the corpse, but only that which
served to fasten their teeth. || Whether the Opaline stone in
this were burnt upon the finger of the dead, or cast into the
fire by some affectionate friend, it will consist with either
custom. But other incinerable substances were found so
fresh, that they could feel no singe from fire. These, upon
view, were judged to be wood ; but, sinking in water, and
tried by the fire, we found them to be bone or ivory. In
their hardness and yellow colour they most resembled box,
which, in old expressions, found the epithet of eternal, % and
perhaps in such conservatories might have passed uncorrupted.
That bay leaves were found green in the tomb of S. Hum-
bert,** after an hundred and fifty years, was looked upon as
* Cum lacrymis posuere. f Lazius.
X About five hundred years. — Plato.
§ Vinum Opiminianum annorum centum. — Petron.
|| 12 Tabid. 1. xi, Be Jure Sacro. Neve aurum adito ast quoi auro denies vincti
escunt im cum ilo sepelire urerevc, se fraude esto.
*\\ Plin. 1. xvi. Inter '^vXa aauTTTi numeral Theophrastus. ** Surius.
472 HYDRIOTAPHIA, [CHAP. Ill
miraculous. Remarkable it was unto old spectators, that the
cypress of the temple of Diana lasted so many hundred
years. The wood of the ark, and olive-rod of Aaron, were
older at the captivity ; but the cypress of the ark of Noah
was the greatest vegetable of antiquity, if Josephus were not
deceived by some fragments of it in his days : to omit the
moor logs and fir trees found under ground in many parts of
England ; the undated ruins of winds, floods, or earthquakes,
and which in Flanders still shew from what quarter they fell,
as generally lying in a north-east position. *
But though we found not these pieces to be wood, accord-
ing to first apprehensions, yet we missed not altogether of
some woody substance ; for the bones were not so clearly
picked but some coals were found amongst them ; a way to
make wood perpetual, and a fit associate for metal, whereon
was laid the foundation of the great Ephesian temple, and
which were made the lasting tests of old boundaries and
land-marks. Whilst we look on these, we admire not obser-
vations of coals found fresh after four hundred years, f In
a long-deserted habitation J even egg shells have been found
fresh, not tending to corruption.
In the monument of King Childerick the iron relicks were
found all rusty and crumbling into pieces ; but our little iron
pins, which fastened the ivory works, held well together, and
lost not their magnetical quality, though wanting a tenacious
moisture for the firmer union of parts ; although it be hardly
drawn into fusion, yet that metal soon submitteth unto rust
and dissolution. In the brazen pieces we admired not the
duration, but the freedom from rust, and ill savour, upon the
hardest attrition ; but now exposed unto the piercing atoms
of air, in the space of a few months, they begin to spot and
betray their green entrails. We conceive not these urns to
have descended thus naked as they appear, or to have entered
their graves without the old habit of flowers. The urn of
Philopcemen was so laden with flowers and ribbons, that it
afforded no sight of itself. The rigid Lycurgus allowed
olive and myrtle. The Athenians might fairly except against
* Gorop. Becanus in Niloscopio.
f Of Beringuccio nella pyrotechnia. \ At Elmham.
CHAP. III.] URN BURIAL. 373
the practice of Democritus, to be buried up in honey, as
fearing to embezzle a great commodity of their country, and
the best of that kind in Europe. But Plato seemed too
frugally politick, who allowed no larger monument than would
contain four heroick verses, and designed the most barren
ground for sepulture : though we cannot commend the good-
ness of that sepulchral ground which was set at no higher
rate than the mean salary of Judas. Though the earth had
confounded the ashes of these ossuaries, yet the bones were
so smartly burnt, that some thin plates of brass were found
half melted among them. Whereby we apprehend they were
not of the meanest carcases, perfunctorily fired, as sometimes
in military, and commonly in pestilence, burnings; or after
the manner of abject corpses, huddled forth and carelessly
burnt, without the Esquiline Port at Rome ; which was an
affront continued upon Tiberius, while they but half burnt
his body,* and in the amphitheatre, according to the custom
in notable malefactors ; whereas Nero seemed not so much
to fear his death as that his head should be cut off and his
body not burnt entire.
Some, finding many fragments of skulls in these urns, sus-
pected a mixture of bones ; in none we searched was there
cause of such conjecture, though sometimes they declined not
that practice. — The ashes of Domitian f were mingled with
those of Julia; of Achilles with those of Patroclus. All
urns contained not single ashes ; without confused burnings
they affectionately compounded their bones ; passionately en-
deavouring to continue their living unions. And when dis-
tance of death denied such conjunctions, unsatisfied affections
conceived some satisfaction to be neighbours in the grave, to
lie urn by urn, and touch but in their names. And many
were so curious to continue their living relations, that they
contrived large and family urns, wherein the ashes of their
nearest friends and kindred might successively be received, J
at least some parcels thereof, while their collateral memorials
lay in minor vessels about them.
k Sueton. in vitd Tib. Et in amphitheatro semiustulandum, not. Cassaub.
f Sueton. in vita Domitian.
X See the most learned and worthy Mr. M. Casaubon upon Antoninus.
474 HYDRIOTAPH1A, [CHAP. III.
Antiquity held too light thoughts from objects of mortality,
while some drew provocatives of mirth from anatomies,* and
jugglers shewed tricks with skeletons. When fiddlers made
not so pleasant mirth as fencers, and men could sit with quiet
stomachs, while hanging was played before them, f Old
considerations made few mementos by skulls and bones upon
their monuments. In the Egyptian obelisks and hierogly-
phical figures it is not easy to meet with bones. The sepul-
chral lamps speak nothing less than sepulture, and in their
literal draughts prove often obscene and antick pieces. Where
we find D. M.% it is obvious to meet with sacrificing pateras
and vessels of libation upon old sepulchral monuments. In
the Jewish hypogaeum§ and subterranean cell at Rome, was
little observable beside the variety of lamps and frequent
draughts of the holy candlestick. In authentick draughts of
Anthony and Jerome we meet with thigh bones and death's-
heads; but the cemeterial cells of ancient Christians and
martyrs were filled with draughts of Scripture stories; not
declining the flourishes of cypress, palms, and olive, and the
mystical figures of peacocks, doves, and cocks ; but iterately
affecting the portraits of Enoch, Lazarus, Jonas, and the vision
of Ezekiel, as hopeful draughts, and hinting imagery of the
resurrection, which is the life of the grave, and sweetens our
habitations in the land of moles and pismires.
Gentile inscriptions precisely delivered the extent of men's
lives, seldom the manner of their deaths, which history itself
so often leaves obscure in the records of memorable persons.
There is scarce any philosopher but dies twice or thrice in
Laertius ; nor almost any life without two or three deaths in
Plutarch; which makes the tragical ends of noble persons
more favourably resented by compassionate readers who find
some relief in the election of such differences.
The certainty of death is attended with uncertainties, in
time, manner, places. The variety of monuments hath often
* Sic erimns cuncti, <ye. Ergo dum vivimus vivamus.
f ' Ayuvov ffaffsiv. A barbarous pastime at feasts, when men stood upon a
rolling globe, with their necks in a rope and a knife in their hands, ready to cut it
when the stone was rolled away ; wherein if they failed, they lost their lives, to
the laughter of their spectators. — .Ithcnmis.
1 Diis manibus. § Bosio.
CHAP. III.] URN BURIAL. 475
obscured true graves; and cenotaphs confounded sepulchres.
For beside their real tombs, many have found honorary and
empty sepulchres. The variety of Homer's monuments made
him of various countries. Euripides * had his tomb in Africa,
but his sepulture in Macedonia. And Severus f found his
real sepulchre in Rome, but his empty grave in Gallia.
He that lay in a golden urn J eminently above the earth,
was not like to find the quiet of his bones. Many of these
urns were broke by a vulgar discoverer in hope of inclosed
treasure. The ashes of Marcellus § were lost above ground,
upon the like account. Where profit hath prompted, no age
hath wanted such miners. For which the most barbarous
expilators found the most civil rhetovick. Gold once out of
the earth is no more due unto it ; what was unreasonably
committed to the ground, is reasonably resumed from it; let
monuments and rich fabricks, not riches adorn men's ashes.
The commerce of the living is not to be transferred unto the
dead ; it is not injustice to take that which none complains to
lose, and no man is wronged where no man is possessor.
What virtue yet sleeps in this terra damnata and aged cin-
ders, were petty magic to experiment. These crumbling
relicks and long fired particles superannuate such expecta-
tions ; bones, hairs, nails, and teeth of the dead, were the
treasures of old sorcerers. In vain we revive such practices;
present superstition too visibly perpetuates the folly of our
forefathers, wherein unto old observation || this island was so
complete, that it might have instructed Persia.
Plato's historian of the other world lies twelve days incorrupt-
ed, while his soul was viewing the large stations of the dead.
How to keep the corpse seven days from corruption by anoint-
ing and washing, without exenteration, were an hazardable
piece of art, in our choicest practice. How they made distinct
separation of bones and ashes from fiery admixture, hath
found no historical solution ; though they seemed to make a
* Pausan. in Atticis. + Lamprid. in vit. Alexand. Severi.
X Trajanus. Dion.
§ Plut. in vit. Marcelli. The commission of the Gothish King Theodoric for find-
ing out sepulchral treasure. Cassiodor. var. I. 4.
|| Britannia hodie cam attonite celebrat tantis ceremoniis, ut dedisse Persis videri
possit. Plin. I. 29.
476 HYDRIOTAPHIA, [CHAP. III.
distinct collection, and overlooked not Pyrrhus his toe which
could not be burnt. Some provision they might make by
fictile vessels, coverings, tiles, or flat stones, upon and about
the body, (and in the same field, not far from these urns, many
stones were found under ground,) as also by careful separa-
tion of extraneous matter, composing and raking up the burnt
bones with forks, observable in that notable lamp of [Joan.]
Galvanus.* Martianus, who had the sight of the vas ustrinum^
or vessel wherein they burnt the dead, found in the Esquiline
field at Rome, might have afforded clearer solution. But
their insatisfaction herein begat that remarkable invention in
the funeral pyres of some princes, by incombustible sheets
made with a texture of asbestos, incremable flax, or Sala-
mander's wool, which preserved their bones and ashes incom-
mixed.
How the bulk of a man should sink into so few pounds of
bones and ashes, may seem strange unto any who considers not
its constitution, and how slender a mass will remain upon an
open and urging fire of the carnal composition. Even bones
themselves, reduced into ashes, do abate a notable propor-
tion. And consisting much of a volatile salt, when that is
fired out, make a light kind of cinders. Although their bulk
be disproportionate to their weight, when the heavy prin-
ciple of salt is fired out, and the earth almost only remaineth ;
observable in sallow, which makes more ashes than oak, and
discovers the common fraud of selling ashes by measure, and
not by ponderation.
Some bones make best skeletons, % some bodies quick and
speediest ashes. Who would expect a quick flame from
hydropical Heraclitus ? The poisoned soldier when his belly
brake, put out two pyres in Plutarch.§ But in the plague of
Athens] |, one private pyre served two or three intruders; and
the Saracens burnt in large heaps, by the king of Castile,*[[
shewed how little fuel sufficeth. Though the funeral pyre of
* To be seen in Licet, de reconditis veterum lucernis. [p. 599 — fol. 1653.]
\ Typograph. Roma ex Martiano. Erat et vas ustrinum appellation, quod ineo ca-
davera nomburerentur. Cap. de Campo Esquilino.
X Old bones according to Lyserus. Those of young persons not tall nor fat ac-
cording to Columbus.
§ In vita Grace. || Thucydides. % Laurent. Valla.
CHAP. III.] URN BURIAL. 477
Patroclus took up an hundred foot,'* a piece of an old boat
burnt Pompey ; and if the burthen of Isaac were sufficient
for an holocaust, a man may carry his own pyre.
From animals are drawn good burning lights, and good
medicines against burning. f Though the seminal humour
seems of a contrary nature to fire, yet the body completed
proves a combustible lump, wherein fire finds flame even from
bones, and some fuel almost from all parts ; though the me-
tropolis of humidity J seems least disposed unto it, which might
render the skulls of these urns less burned than other bones.
But all flies or sinks before fire almost in all bodies : when
the common ligament is dissolved, the attenuable parts ascend,
the rest subside in coal, calx, or ashes.
To burn the bones of the king of Edom for lime,§ seems
no irrational ferity ; but to drink of the ashes of dead rela-
tions,|| a passionate prodigality. He that hath the ashes of
his friend, hath an everlasting treasure ; where fire taketh
leave, corruption slowly enters. In bones well burnt, fire
makes a wall against itself; experimented in cupels,5 and
tests of metals, which consist of such ingredients. What the
sun compoundeth, fire analyseth, not transmuteth. That
devouring agent leaves almost always a morsel for the earth,
whereof all things are but a colony ; and which, if time per-
mits, the mother element will have in their primitive mass
again.
He that looks for urns and old sepulchral relicks, must not
seek them in the ruins of temples, where no religion anciently
placed them. These were found in a field, according to
ancient custom, in noble or private burial ; the old practice
of the Canaanites, the family of Abraham, and the burying-
place of Joshua, in the borders of his possessions ; and also
agreeable unto Roman practice to bury by high-ways, whereby
their monuments were under eye ; — memorials of themselves,
f Alb. Ovor. % The brain. Hippocrates.
§ Amos ii, 1. || As Artemisia of her husband Mausolus.
5 cupels.'] "A chemical vessel, made of baser ores, when fused and mixed with
earth, ashes, or burnt bones, and in which lead, to pass off, and retains only gold
assay-masters try metals. It suffers all and silver."
478 IIYDKIOTAFHIA, [CHAP. III.
and mementos of mortality unto living passengers ; whom the
epitaphs of great ones were fain to beg to stay and look upon
them, — a language though sometimes used, not so proper in
church inscriptions."* The sensible rhetorick of the dead, to
exemplarity of good life, first admitted the bones of pious
men and martyrs within church walls, which in succeeding
ages crept into promiscuous practice : while Constantine was
peculiarly favoured to be admitted into the church porch,
and the first thus buried in England, was in the days of
Cuthred.
Christians dispute how their bodies should lie in the grave.f
In urnal interment they clearly escaped this controversy.
Though we decline the religious consideration, yet in ceme-
terial and narrower burying-places, to avoid confusion and
cross-position, a certain posture were to be admitted ; which
even Pagan civility observed. The Persians lay north and
south ; the Megarians and Phoenicians placed their heads to
the east ; the Athenians, some think, towards the west, which
Christians still retain. And Beda will have it to be the pos-
ture of our Saviour. That he was crucified with his face
toward the west, we will not contend with tradition and pro-
bable account ; but we applaud not the hand of the painter,
in exalting his cross so high above those on either side : since
hereof we find no authentic account in history, and even the
crosses found by Helena, pretend no such distinction from
longitude or dimension.
To be gnawed out of our graves, to have our skulls made
drinking bowls, and our bones turned into pipes, to delight
and sport our enemies, are tragical abominations escaped in
burning burials.
Urnal interments and burnt relicks lie not in fear of worms,
or to be an heritage for serpents. In carnal sepulture, cor-
ruptions seem peculiar unto parts ; and some speak of snakes
out of the spinal-marrow. But while we suppose common
worms in graves, 't is not easy to find any there ; few in
churchyards above a foot deep, fewer or none in churches
though in fresh decayed bodies. Teeth, bones, and hair, give
* Siste viator. f Kirhnavnus defuner.
CHAP. III.] URN BURIAL. 479
the most lasting defiance to corruption. 6 In an hydropi-
cal body, ten years buried in the churchyard, we met with a
fat concretion, where the nitre of the earth, and the salt and
lixivious liquor of the body, had coagulated large lumps of
fat into the consistence of the hardest Castile soap, whereof
part remaineth with us.7 After a battle with the Persians,
the Roman corpses decayed in few days, while the Persian
bodies remained dry and uncorrupted. Bodies in the same
ground do not uniformly dissolve, nor bones equally moulder ;
whereof, in the opprobrious disease, we expect no long dura-
tion. The body of the Marquis of Dorset seemed sound
and handsomely cereclothed, that after seventy-eight years
was found uncorrupted. * Common tombs preserve not be-
yond powder: a firmer consistence and compage of parts
might be expected from arefaction, deep burial, or charcoal.
The greatest antiquities of mortal bodies may remain in pu-
trefied bones, whereof, though we take not in the pillar of
Lot's wife, or metamorphosis of Ortelius, f8 some may be
older than pyramids, in the putrefied relicks of the general
inundation. When Alexander opened the tomb of Cyrus, the
remaining bones discovered his proportion, whereof urnal
* Of Thomas, Marquis of Dorset, whose body being buried 1530, was 1608,
upon the cutting open of the cerecloth, found perfect and nothing corrupted, the
flesh not hardened, but in colour, proportion, and softness like an ordinary corpse
newly to be interred. Burton's Descript. of Leicestershire.
f In his map of Russia.
6 hair, 8fc.~] This assertion of the du- chemists under the name of adipo-cire.
rability of human hair has been corrobo- Sir Thomas is admitted to have been the
rated by modern experiment. M. Pictet, first discoverer of it.
of Geneva, instituted a comparison be- s metamorphosis, <yc] His map of
tween recent human hair and that from Russia ( Theatrum orhis Terrarum, fol.
a mummy brought from Teneriffe, with Lond, 1606) exhibits but one " meta-
reference to the constancy of those pro- morphosis," — a vignette of some figures
perties which render hair important as a kneeling before a figure seated in a tree,
hygrometrick substance. For this pur- who is sprinkling something upon his
pose, hygrometers, constructed according audience. On other trees in the distance
to the principles of Saussure were used; hang several figures. This is the legend
one with a fresh hair, the other from the beneath:--" Kergessi gens catervatim degit,
mummy. The results of the experiments id est in hordis : habetque ritum hujusmodi.
were, that the hygrometrick quality of the Cum rem divinam ipsorum sacerdos pera-
Guanche hair is sensibly the same as that git, sanguinem, lac et finium jumentorum
of recent hair. — Edin. Phil. Journal, xiii, accipit, ac terrce miscet, inque vas quod-
196. dam infundit eoque arborem scandit, atque
7 In an hydropical body, <yc] This condone habita, in populum spar git, atque
substance was afterwards found in the ce- hsec aspersio pro Deo habetur et colitur.
metery of the Innocents at Paris, by Four- Cum quis diem inter illos obit, loco sepnl-
croy, and became known to the French turce arboribus suspendit,"
480 IIYDRIOTAPIHA, CHAP. III.]
fragments afford but a bad conjecture, and have this disad-
vantage of grave interments, that they leave us ignorant of
most personal discoveries. For since bones afford not only
rectitude and stability but figure unto the body, it is no impos-
sible physiognomy to conjecture at fleshy appendencies, and
after what shape the muscles and carnous parts might hang in
their full consistencies. A full-spread cariola* shews a well-
shaped horse behind ; handsome formed skulls give some
analogy to fleshy resemblance. A critical view of bones
makes a good distinction of sexes. Even colour is not beyond
conjecture, since it is hard to be deceived in the distinction of
Negroes' skulls.-f Dante's^ characters are to be found in skulls
as well as faces. Hercules is not only known by his foot.
Other parts make out their comproportions and inferences
upon whole or parts. And since the dimensions of the head
measure the whole body, and the figure thereof gives conjec-
ture of the principal faculties, physiognomy outlives ourselves,
and ends not in our graves.
Severe contemplators, observing these lasting relicks, may
think them good monuments of persons past, little advantage
to future beings ; and, considering that power which subdueth
all things unto itself, that can resume the scattered atoms,
or identify out of any thing, conceive it superfluous to expect
a resurrection out of relicks : but the soul subsisting, other
matter, clothed with due accidents, may solve the individ-
uality. Yet the saints, we observe, arose from graves and
monuments about the holy city. Some think the ancient
patriarchs so earnestly desired to lay their bones in Canaan,
as hoping to make a part of that resurrection ; and, though
* That part in the skeleton of a horse, which is made by the haunch-bones,
f For their extraordinary thickness.9
X The poet Dante in his view of Purgatory, found gluttons so meagre, and ex-
tenuated, that he conceited them to have been in the siege of Jerusalem, and that
it was easy to have discovered Homo or Omo in their faces: M being made by the
two lines of their cheeks, arching over the eye-brows to the nose, and their sunk
eyes making O O which makes up Omo.
Pari'n Vocchiaje anella senza gemme:
Chi, nel viso degli uomini legge OMO,
Bene avria quivi conosciuto I'emme. — Purgat. xxiii, 31.
9 The remark in the text is more correct facial angle) affords a criterion by which
than the explanation given of it in the the various races of mankind may, with
note. The configuration of the skull sufficient certainty, be discriminated,
(more particularly with reference to the
CHAP. IV.] URN BURIAL. 481
thirty miles from Mount Calvary, at least to lie in that region
which should produce the first fruits of the dead. And if,
according to learned conjecture, the bodies of men shall
rise where their greatest relicks remain, many are not like to
err in the topography of their resurrection, though their
bones or bodies be after translated by angels into the field of
Ezekiel's vision, or as some will order it, into the valley of
judgment, or Jehosaphat.*
CHAPTER IV.
Christians have handsomely glossed the deformity of death
by careful consideration of the body, and civil rites which
take off brutal terminations : and though they conceived all
reparable by a resurrection, cast not off all care of interment.
And since the ashes of sacrifices burnt upon the altar of God,
were carefully carried out by the priests, and deposed in a
clean field ; since they acknowledged their bodies to be the
lodging of Christ, and temples of the Holy Ghost, they de-
volved not all upon the sufficiency of soul-existence; and
therefore with long services and full solemnities, concluded
their last exequies, wherein to all distinctions the Greek
devotion seems most pathetically ceremonious, -f
Christian invention hath chiefly driven at rites, which speak
hopes of another life, and hints of a resurrection. And if the
ancient Gentiles held not the immortality of their better part,
and some subsistence after death, in several rites, customs,
actions, and expressions, they contradicted their own opinions:
wherein Democritus went high, even to the thought of a re-
surrection, as scoffingly recorded by Pliny.J What can be
more express than the expression of Phocylides ? § Or who
* Tirin. in Ezek. f Rituale Gracum, opera J. Goar, in officio exequiarum.
% Similis * * * * reviviscendi promissa Democrito vaniias, qui non revixit ipse.
Qua (malum) ista dementia est, iterari vitam morte? — Plin. 1. vii, c. 58.
§ Keel rdya ft \% ya'irjg 'ikiriZpiMV Ig (pdoc, i\&uv "hsfyav avoi^o/iivm,
et deinceps.
VOL. III. 2 I
482 HYDRIOTAPHIA, [CHAP. IV.
would expect from Lucretius * a sentence of Ecclesiastes ?
Before Plato could speak, the soul had wings in Homer, which
fell not, but flew out of the body into the mansions of the
dead ; who also observed that handsome distinction of Demas
and Soma, for the body conjoined to the soul, and body sepa-
rated from it. Lucian spoke much truth in jest, when he
said, that part of Hercules which proceeded from Alcmena
perished, that from Jupiter remained immortal. Thus So-
crates f was content that his friends should bury his body, so
they would not think they buried Socrates ; and, regarding
only his immortal part, was indifferent to be burnt or buried.
From such considerations, Diogenes might contemn sepulture,
and, being satisfied that the soul could not perish, grow care-
less of corporal interment. The Stoicks, who thought the
souls of wise men had their habitation about the moon, might
make slight account of subterraneous deposition ; whereas
the Pythagoreans and transcorporating philosophers, who
were to be often buried, held great care of their interment.
And the Platonicks rejected not a due care of the grave,
though they put their ashes to unreasonable expectations, in
their tedious term of return and long set revolution.
Men have lost their reason in nothing so much as their re-
ligion, wherein stones and clouts make martyrs ; and, since
the religion of one seems madness unto another, to afford an
account or rational of old rites requires no rigid reader. That
they kindled the pyre aversely, or turning their face from it
was an handsome symbol of unwilling ministration. That
they washed their bones with wine and milk ; that the mother
wrapt them in linen, and dried them in her bosom, the first
fostering part and place of their nourishment; that they
opened their eyes towards heaven before they kindled the
fire, as the place of their hopes or original, were no improper
ceremonies. Their last valediction, J thrice uttered by the
attendants, was also very solemn, and somewhat answered by
Christians, who thought it too little, if they threw not the
earth thrice upon the interred body. That, in strewing their
* Cedit enim retro de terrd quodfuit ante in terram, §c. — Lucret.
■j- Plato in Phad. \ Vale, vale, nos te ordine quo nalura permittet sequamur.
CHAP. IV.] URN BURIAL. 483
tombs, the Romans affected the rose ; the Greeks amaranth us
and myrtle : that the funeral pyre consisted of sweet fuel,
cypress, fir, larix, yew, and trees perpetually verdant, lay
silent expressions of their surviving hopes. Wherein Chris-
tians, who deck their coffins with bays, have found a more
elegant emblem ; for that it, seeming dead, will restore itself
from the root, and its dry and exsuccous leaves resume their
verdure again ; which, if we mistake not, we have also ob-
served in furze. Whether the planting of yew in church-
yards hold not its original from ancient funeral rites, or as
an emblem of resurrection, from its perpetual verdure, may
also admit conjecture.
They made use of musick to excite or quiet the affections
of their friends, according to different harmonies. But the
secret and symbolical hint was the harmonical nature of the
soul ; which, delivered from the body, went again to enjoy
the primitive harmony of heaven, from whence it first de-
scended ; which, according to its progress traced by antiquity,
came down by Cancer, and ascended by Capricornus.
They burnt not children before their teeth appeared, as
apprehending their bodies too tender a morsel for fire, and
that their gristly bones would scarce leave separable relicks
after the pyral combustion. That they kindled not fire in
their houses for some days after, was a strict memorial of the
late afflicting fire. And mourning without hope, they had
an happy fraud against excessive lamentation, by a common
opinion that deep sorrows disturb their ghosts.*
That they buried their dead on their backs, or in a supine
position, seems agreeable unto profound sleep, and common
posture of dying; contrary to the most natural way of birth ;
nor unlike our pendulous posture, in the doubtful state of the
womb. Diogenes was singular, who preferred a prone situa-
tion in the grave ; and some Christians f like neither, who
decline the figure of rest, and make choice of an erect posture.
That they carried them out of the world with their feet
forward, not inconsonant unto reason, as contrary unto the
native posture of man, and his production first into it ; and
also agreeable unto their opinions, while they bid adieu unto
* Tu manes ne lade meos. t Russians, &c.
2 I 2
484 HYDRIOTAPKIAj [CHAP. IV.
the world, not to look again upon it ; whereas Mahometans
who think to return to a delightful life again, are carried forth
with their heads forward, and looking toward their houses.
They closed their eyes, as parts which first die, or first dis-
cover the sad effects of death. But their iterated clamations
to excitate their dying or dead friends, or revoke them unto
life again, was a vanity of affection ; as not presumably igno-
rant of the critical tests of death, by apposition of feathers,
glasses, and reflection of figures, which dead eyes represent
not : which, however not strictly verifiable in fresh and warm
cadavers, could hardly elude the test, in corpses of four or
five days.*
That they sucked in the last breath of their expiring
friends, was surely a practice of no medical institution, but a
loose opinion that the soul passed out that way, and a fond-
ness of affection, from some Pythagorical foundation,"!" that
the spirit of one body passed into another, which they wished
might be their own.
That they poured oil upon the pyre, was a tolerable prac-
tice, while the intention rested in facilitating the accension.
But to place good omens in the quick and speedy burning, to
sacrifice unto the winds for a dispatch in this office, was a low
form of superstition.
The archimime, or jester, attending the funeral train, and
imitating the speeches, gesture, and manners of the deceased,
was too light for such solemnities, contradicting their funeral
orations and doleful rites of the grave.
That they buried a piece of money with them as a fee of
the Elysian ferryman, was a practice full of folly. But the
ancient custom of placing coins in considerable urns, and the
present practice of burying medals in the noble foundations
of Europe, are laudable ways of historical discoveries, in ac-
tions, persons, chronologies ; and posterity will applaud them.
We examine not the old laws of sepulture, exempting cer-
tain persons from burial or burning. But hereby we appre-
hend that these were not the bones of persons planet-struck
or burnt with fire from heaven ; no relicks of traitors to their
* At least by some difference from living eyes,
f Francesco Fcrucci, Pompe funebri.
CHAP. IV.] URN BURIAL. 435
country, self-killers, or sacrilegious malefactors ; persons in
old apprehension unworthy of the earth ; condemned unto
the Tartarus of hell, and bottomless pit of Pluto, from whence
there was no redemption.
Nor were only many customs questionable in order to their
obsequies, but also sundry practices, fictions, and conceptions,
discordant or obscure, of their state and future beings.
Whether unto eight or ten bodies of men to add one of a
woman, as being more inflammable, and unctuously constituted
for the better pyral combustion, were any rational practice :
or whether the complaint of Periander's wife be tolerable,
that wanting her funeral burning, she suffered intolerable cold
in hell, according to the constitution of the infernal house of
Pluto, wherein cold makes a great part of their tortures ; it
cannot pass without some question.
Why the female ghosts appear unto Ulysses, before the
heroes and masculine spirits, — why the Psyche or soul of
Tiresias is of the masculine gender,* who being blind on
earth, sees more than all the rest in hell ; why the funeral
suppers consisted of eggs, beans, smallage, and lettuce, since
the dead are made to eat asphodels f about the Elysian mea-
dows,— why, since there is no sacrifice acceptable, nor any
propitiation for the covenant of the grave, men set up the
deity of Morta, and fruitlessly adored divinities without ears,
it cannot escape some doubt.
The dead seem all alive in the human Hades of Homer, yet
cannot well speak, prophesy, or know the living, except they
drink blood, wherein is the life of man. And therefore the
souls of Penelope's paramours, conducted by Mercury, chirped
like bats, and those which followed Hercules, made a noise
but like a flock of birds.
The departed spirits know things past and to come ; yet
are ignorant of things present. Agamemnon foretells what
should happen unto Ulysses ; yet ignorantly enquires what
is become of his own son. The ghosts are afraid of swords
in Homer ; yet Sibylla tells iEneas in Virgil, the thin habit
of spirits was beyond the force of weapons. The spirits put
* In Homer: — Yir>^ 8rj(3a!ou Ts/gsff/ao GKYiitT^ov s^Wf. f In Lucian.
486 HYDRIOTAPHIA, [CHAP. IV.
off their malice with their bodies, and Caesar and Pompey
accord in Latin hell; yet Ajax, in Homer, endures not a
conference with Ulysses : and Deiphobus appears all mangled
in Virgil's ghosts, yet we meet with perfect shadows among
the wounded ghosts of Homer.
Since Charon in Lucian applauds his condition among the
dead, whether it be handsomely said of Achilles, that living
contemner of death, that he had rather be a ploughman's ser-
vant, than emperor of the dead ? How Hercules his soul is
in hell, and yet in heaven; and Julius his soul in a star, yet
seen by ^Eneas in hell ? — except the ghosts were but images
and shadows of the soul, received in higher mansions, accord-
ing to the ancient division of body, soul, and image, or
simulachrum of them both. The particulars of future beings
must needs be dark unto ancient theories, which Christian
philosophy yet determines but in a cloud of opinions. A
dialogue between two infants in the womb concerning the
state of this world,9 might handsomely illustrate our igno-
rance of the next, whereof methinks we yet discourse in
Plato's den, and are but embryo philosophers.
Pythagoras escapes in the fabulous hell of Dante, * among
that swarm of philosophers, wherein, whilst we meet with
Plato and Socrates, Cato is to be found in no lower place than
purgatory. Among all the set, Epicurus is most considerable,
whom men make honest without an Elysium, who contemned
life without encouragement of immortality, and making no-
thing after death, yet made nothing of the king of terrors.
Were the happiness of the next world as closely appre-
hended as the felicities of this, it were a martyrdom to live ;
and unto such as consider none hereafter, it must be more
than death to die, which makes us amazed at those audacities
that durst be nothing and return into their chaos again.
* Del Inferno, cant. 4.
9 A Dialogue, 8$c~\ In one of Sir President of the College of Physicians,
Thomas's Common-place Books, (see vol. London," in the Bodleian Library, (MSS.
iv, p. 379,) occurs this sentence, ap- Rawlinson. 390, xi,) it appears that he
parently as a memorandum to write such actually did write such a Dialogue. I
a dialogue. And from "A Catalogue of have searched, hitherto in vain, for it, as
MSS. written by, and in the possession of I have elsewhere lamented. — Eel. Med.
Sir Thomas Browne, M. D. late of Norwich, p. 58, note. Should I meet with it in time,
and of his Son Dr. Edward Browne, late it will be inserted at the end of vol. iv.
CHAP. IV.] URN BURIAL. 487
Certainly such spirits as could contemn death, when they ex-
pected no better being after, would have scorned to live, had
they known any. And therefore we applaud not the judg-
ment of Machiavel, that Christianity makes men cowards, or
that with the confidence of but half dying, the despised vir-
tues of patience and humility have abased the spirits of men,
which Pagan principles exalted; but rather regulated the
wildness of audacities, in the attempts, grounds, and eternal
sequels of death ; wherein men of the boldest spirits are often
prodigiously temerarious. Nor can we extenuate the valour
of ancient martyrs, who contemned death in the uncomfor-
table scene of their lives, and in their decrepit martyrdoms
did probably lose not many months of their days, or parted
with life when it was scarce worth the living. For (beside
that long time past holds no consideration unto a slender
time to come) they had no small disadvantage from the con-
stitution of old age, which naturally makes men fearful, and
complexionally superannuated from the bold and courageous
thoughts of youth and fervent years. But the contempt of
death from corporal animosity, promoteth not our felicity.
They may sit in the orchestra, and noblest seats of heaven,
who have held up shaking hands in the fire, and humanly
contended for glory.
Mean while Epicurus lies deep in Dante's hell, wherein we
meet with tombs enclosing souls, which denied their immor-
talities. But whether the virtuous heathen, who lived better
than he spake, or erring in the principles of himself, yet lived
above philosophers of more specious maxims, lie so deep as
he is placed, at least so low as not to rise against Christians,
who believing or knowing that truth, have lastingly denied it
in their practice and conversation — were a query too sad to
insist on.
But all or most apprehensions rested in opinions of some
future being, which, ignorantly or coldly believed, begat those
perverted conceptions, ceremonies, sayings, which Christians
pity or laugh at. Happy are they, which live not in that dis-
advantage of time, when men could say little for futurity, but
from reason: whereby the noblest minds fell often upon
doubtful deaths, and melancholy dissolutions. With these
488 HYDUIOTAPHIA, [CHAP. V
hopes, Socrates warmed his doubtful spirits against that cold
potion ; and Cato, before he durst give the fatal stroke, spent
part of the night in reading the immortality of Plato, thereby
confirming his wavering hand unto the animosity of that
attempt.
It is the heaviest stone that melancholy can throw at a man,
to tell him he is at the end of his nature ; or that there is no
further state to come, unto which this seems progressional, and
otherwise made in vain. Without this accomplishment, the
natural expectation and desire of such a state, were but a
fallacy in nature ; unsatisfied considerators would quarrel the
justice of their constitutious, and rest content that Adam had
fallen lower; whereby, by knowing no other original, and
deeper ignorance of themselves, they might have enjoyed the
happiness of inferior creatures, who in tranquillity possess
their constitutions, as having not the apprehension to deplore
their own natures, and, being framed below the circum-
ference of these hopes, or cognition of better being, the wis-
dom of God hath necessitated their contentment: but the
superior ingredient and obscured part of ourselves, whereto
all present felicities afford no resting contentment, will be
able at last to tell us, we are more than our present selves,
and evacuate such hopes in the fruition of their own accom-
plishments.
CHAPTER V.
Now since these dead bones have already out-lasted the
living ones of Methuselah, and in a yard under ground, and
thin walls of clay, out-worn all the strong and specious build-
ings above it ; and quietly rested under the drums and tramp-
lings of three conquests : what prince can promise such diu-
turnity unto his relicks, or might not gladly say,
Sic ego componi versus in ossa velim ? *
Time, which antiquates antiquities, and hath an art to make
* Tibullus.
V.
CHAP. V.] URN BURIAL. 489
dust of all things, hath yet spared these minor monuments.
In vain we hope to be known by open and visible conserva-
tories, when to be unknown was the means of their continua-
tion, and obscurity their protection. If they died by violent
hands, and were thrust into their urns, these bones become
considerable, and some old philosophers would honour them,*
whose souls they conceived most pure, which were thus
snatched from their bodies, and to retain a stronger propen-
sion unto them ; whereas they weariedly ieft a languishing
corpse, and with faint desires of re-union. If they fell by
long and aged decay, yet wrapt up in the bundle of time,
they fall into indistinction, and make but one blot with infants.
If we begin to die when we live, and long life be but a pro-
longation of death, our life is a sad composition ; we live with
death, and die not in a moment. How many pulses made
up the life of Methuselah, were work for Archimedes: com-
mon counters sum up the life of Moses his man.f Our days
become considerable, like petty sums, by minute accumula-
tions ; where numerous fractions make up but small round
numbers ; and our days of a span long, make not one little
finger.!
If the nearness of our last necessity brought a nearer con-
formity into it, there were a happiness in hoary hairs, and no
calamity in half senses. But the long habit of living indis-
poseth us for dying; when avarice makes us the sport of
death, when even David grew politickly cruel, and Solomon
could hardly be said to be the wisest of men. But many are
too early old, and before the date of age. Adversity stretch-
eth our days, misery makes Alcmena's nights,§ and time hath
no wings unto it. But the most tedious being is that which
can unwish itself, content to be nothing, or never to have
been, which was beyond the mal-content of Job, who cursed
not the day of his life, but his nativity ; content to have so
far been, as to have a title to future being, although he had
* Oracula Chaldaica cum scholiis Pselli et Phethonis. Birj "ktitovruv Gco/agc,
'Yu%a' naoCCQwrarai, Vi corpus relinquentium animee purissimcs.
t In the Psalm of Moses.
% According to the ancient arithmetick of the hand, wherein the little finger of
the right hand contracted, signified an hundred. Pierius in Hieroglyph.
§ One night as long as three.
490 HYDRIOTAPHIA, [cHAP. V.
lived here but in an hidden state of life, and as it were an
abortion.
What song the Syrens sang, or what name Achilles assum-
ed when he hid himself among women, though puzzling ques-
tions,* are not beyond all conjecture. What time the per-
sons of these ossuaries entered the famous nations of the
dead,f and slept with princes and counsellors, might admit a
wide solution. But who were the proprietaries of these
bones, or what bodies these ashes made up, were a question
above antiquarism ; not to be resolved by man, nor easily per-
haps by spirits, except we consult the provincial guardians, or
tutelary observators. Had they made as good provision for
their names, as they have done for their relicks, they had not
so grossly erred in the art of perpetuation. But to subsist in
bones, and be but pyramidally extant, is a fallacy in duration.
Vain ashes which in the oblivion of names, persons, times, and
sexes, have found unto themselves a fruitless continuation, and
only arise unto late posterity, as emblems of mortal vanities,
antidotes against pride, vain-glory, and madding vices. Pagan
vain-glories which thought the world might last for ever, had
encouragement for ambition; and, finding no atropos unto
the immortality of their names, were never dampt with the
necessity of oblivion. Even old ambitions had the advantage
of ours, in the attempts of their vain-glories, who acting
early, and before the probable meridian of time, have by this
time found great accomplishment of their designs, whereby
the ancient heroes have already out-lasted their monuments,
and mechanical preservations. But in this latter scene of
time, we cannot expect such mummies unto our memories5
when ambition may fear the prophecy of Elias,j; and Charles
the Fifth can never hope to live within two Methuselahs of
Hector.§
And therefore, restless inquietude for the diuturnity of our
memories unto present considerations seems a vanity almost
* The puzzling questions of Tiberius unto grammarians. Marcel. Donatas in Suet.
f KXvra 'i&na Vixgojv. Horn. Job.
% That the world may last but six thousand years.
§ Hector's fame lasting above two lives of Methuselah, before that famous prince
was extant.
CHAP. V.] URN BURIAL. 491
out of date, and superannuated piece of folly. We cannot
hope to live so long in our names, as some have done in their
persons. One face of Janus holds no proportion unto the
other. 'T is too late to be ambitious. The great mutations
of the world are acted, or time may be too short for our de-
signs. To extend our memories by monuments, whose death
we daily pray for, and whose duration we cannot hope, with-
out injury to our expectations in the advent of the last day,
were a contradiction to our beliefs. We whose generations
are ordained in this setting part of time, are providentially
taken off from such imaginations ; and, being necessitated to
eye the remaining particle of futurity, are naturally consti-
tuted unto thoughts of the next world, and cannot excusably
decline the consideration of that duration, which maketh py-
ramids pillars of snow, and all that 's past a moment.
Circles and right lines limit and close all bodies, and the
mortal right lined circle * must conclude and shut up all.
There is no antidote against the opium of time, which tem-
porally considereth all things : our fathers find their graves
in our short memories, and sadly tell us how we may be buried
in our survivors. Grave-stones tell truth scarce forty years. j-
Generations pass while some trees stand, and old families last
not three oaks. To be read by bare inscriptions like many in
Gruter,J to hope for eternity by enigmatical epithets or first
letters of our names, to be studied by antiquaries, who we
were, and have new names given us like many of the mum-
mies, § are cold consolations unto the students of perpetuity,
even by everlasting languages.
To be content that times to come should only know there
was such a man, not caring whether they knew more of him,
was a frigid ambition in Cardan ;|| disparaging his horoscopal
inclination and judgment of himself. Who cares to subsist
like Hippocrates's patients, or Achilles's horses in Homer,
under naked nominations, without deserts and noble acts,
* The character of death.
f Old ones being taken up, and other bodies laid under them.
X Gruteri lnscriptioiies sintiquce.
§ Which men show in several countries, giving them what names they please ;
and unto some the names of the old Egyptian kings, out of Herodotus.
|| Cuperem notum esse quod sim, rum opto ut sciatur qualis sim. Card, in vita propria.
492 HYDRIOTAPHIA, [CHAP. V.
which are the balsam of our memories, the entelechia and
soul of our subsistences ? To be nameless in worthy deeds,
exceeds an infamous history. The Canaanitish woman lives
more happily without a name, than Herodias with one. And
who had not rather have been the good thief, than Pilate ?
But the iniquity of oblivion blindly scattereth her poppy,
and deals with the memory of men without distinction to me-
rit of perpetuity. Who can but pity the founder of the py-
ramids ? Herostratus lives that burnt the temple of Diana, he
is almost lost that built it. Time hath spared the epitaph of
Adrian's horse, confounded that of himself. In vain we com-
pute our felicities by the advantage of our good names, since
bad have equal durations, and Thersites is like to live as long
as Agamemnon. Who knows whether the best of men be
known, or whether there be not more remarkable persons
forgot, than any that stand remembered in the known account
of time ? Without the favour of the everlasting register, the
first man had been as unknown as the last, and Methuselah's
long life had been his only chronicle.
Oblivion is not to be hired. The greater part must be
content to be as though they had not been, to be found in the
register of God, not in the record of man. Twenty seven
names make up the first story before the flood, and the re-
corded names ever since contain not one living century. The
number of the dead long exceecleth all that shall live. The
nitfht of time far surpasseth the day, and who knows when
was the equinox? Every hour adds unto that current arith-
metick, which scarce stands one moment. And since death
must be the Lucina of life, and even Pagans * could doubt,
whether thus to live were to die ; since our longest sue sets
at right descensions, and makes but winter arches, and there-
fore it cannot be long before we lie down in darkness,
and have our light in ashes ;f since the brother of death 1
daily haunts us with dying mementos, and time that grows
* Euripides,
f According to the custom of the Jews; who place a lighted wax-candle in a pot
of ashes by the corpse. Leo.
' Ihr brother of death,"] That is, sleep. Sec a Fragment On Dreams, vol. iv, 353.
CHAP. V.] URN BURIAL. 493
old in itself, bids us hope no long duration ; — diuturnity is a
dream and folly of expectation.2
Darkness and light divide the course of time, and oblivion
shares with memory a great part even of our living beings ;
we slightly remember our felicities, and the smartest strokes
of affliction leave but short smart upon us. Sense endureth
no extremities, and sorrows destroy us or themselves. To
weep into stones are fables. Afflictions induce callosities ; mi-
series are slippery, or fall like snow upon us, which notwith-
standing is no unhappy stupidity. To be ignorant of evils to
come, and forgetful of evils past, is a merciful provision in
nature, whereby we digest the mixture of our few and evil
days, and, our delivered senses not relapsing into cutting re-
membrances, our sorrows are not kept raw by the edge of
repetitions. A great part of antiquity contented their hopes
of subsistency with a transmigration of their souls, — a good
way to continue their memories, while, having the advantage
of plural successions, they could not but act something re-
markable in such variety of beings, and enjoying the fame of
their passed selves, make accumulation of glory unto their
last durations. Others, rather than be lost in the uncomfor-
table night of nothing, were content to recede into the com-
mon being, and make one particle of the public soul of all
things, which was no more than to return into their unknown
and divine original again. Egyptian ingenuity was more un-
satisfied, contriving their bodies in sweet consistencies, to at-
tend the return of their souls. But all was vanity,* feeding
* Omnia vanitas et pastio venli, VO/XTj a/sftOU xal (36<f)l7}<?ig, ul olim Aquila et
Symmachus. v. Drus. Eccles.
2 Diuturnity, %c] Here may properly long living times when men could scarce
be noticed a similar passage which I find remember themselves young ; and men
in MS. Sloan. 1848. fol. 194. seem to us not ancient but antiquities,
"Large are the treasures of oblivion and when they [lived] longer in their lives
heaps of things in a state next to nothing then we can now hope to do in our me-
almost numberless ; much more is buried mories; when men feared not apoplexies
in silence than recorded, and the largest and palsies after 7 or 8 hundred years;
volumes are but epitomes of what hath when living was so lasting that homicide
been. The account of time began with might admit of distinctive qualifications
night, and darkness still attendeth it. from the age of the person, and it might
Some things never come to light ; many seem a lesser injury to kill a man at 8
have been delivered; but more hath been hundred than at forty, and when life was
swallowed in obscurity and the caverns so well worth the living that few or
of oblivion. How much is as it were in none would kill themselves."
vacuo, and will never be cleared up, of those
494 HYDRIOTAPHIA, [CHAP. V.
the wind, and folly. The Egyptian mummies, which Cam-
byses or time hath spared, avarice now consumeth. Mummy
is become merchandise, Mizraim cures wounds, and Pharaoh
is sold for balsams.
In vain do individuals hope for immortality, or any patent
from oblivion, in preservations below the moon : men have
been deceived even in their flatteries, above the sun, and stu-
died conceits to perpetuate their names in heaven. The va-
rious cosmography of that part hath already varied the names
of contrived constellations ; Nimrod is lost in Orion, and
Osyris in the dog-star. While we look for incorruption in
the heavens, we find they are but like the earth ; — durable
in their main bodies, alterable in their parts ; whereof, beside
comets and new stars, perspectives begin to tell tales, and the
spots that wander about the sun, with Phaeton's favour,
would make clear conviction.
There is nothing strictly immortal, but immortality. What-
ever hath no beginning, may be confident of no end; — which
is the peculiar of that necessary essence that cannot destroy
itself; — and the highest strain of omnipotency, to be so pow-
erfully constituted as not to suffer even from the power of
itself: all others have a dependent being and within the reach
of destruction. But the sufficiency of Christian immortality
frustrates all earthly glory, and the quality of either state
after death, makes a folly of posthumous memory. God who
can only destroy our souls, and hath assured our resurrection,
either of our bodies or names hath directly promised no du-
ration. Wherein there is so much of chance, that the bold-
est expectants have found unhappy frustration ; and to hold
long subsistence, seems but a scape in oblivion. But man is
a noble animal, splendid in ashes, and pompous in the grave,
solemnizing nativities and deaths with equal lustre, nor omit-
ting ceremonies of bravery in the infamy of his nature.3
Life is a pure flame, and we live by an invisible sun within
us. A small fire sufficeth for life, great flames seemed too
little after death, while men vainly affected precious pyres,
3 Man is a noble animal, §c.~] Southey conjectures that Browne wrote ivfimy
quotes this striking passage in the open- instead of infamy.
ang of his Colloquies, — but in a note he
CHAP. V.] URN BURIAL. 495
and to burn like Sardanapalus; but the wisdom of funeral
laws found the folly of prodigal blazes, and reduced undoing
fires unto the rule of sober obsequies, wherein few could be
so mean as not to provide wood, pitch, a mourner, and an urn.*
Five languages secured not the epitaph of Gordianus.f
The man of God lives longer without a tomb than any by
one, invisibly interred by angels, and adjudged to obscurity,
though not without some marks directing human discovery.
Enoch and Elias, without either tomb or burial, in an anom-
alous state of being, are the great examples of perpetuity,
in their long and living memory, in strict account being still
on this side death, and having a late part yet to act upon
this stage of earth. If in the decretory term of the world
we shall not all die but be changed, according to received
translation, the last day will make but few graves; at least
quick resurrections will anticipate lasting sepultures. Some
graves will be opened before they be quite closed, and Lazarus
be no wonder. When many that feared to die, shall groan
that they can die but once, the desmal state is the second
and living death, when life puts despair on the damned ;
when men shall wish the coverings of mountains, not of monu-
ments, and annihilation shall be courted.
While some have studied monuments, others have studi-
ously declined them,4 and some have been so vainly bois-
terous, that they durst not acknowledge their graves ; where-
in Alaricus j seems most subtle, who had a river toned to
hide his bones at the bottom. Even Sylla, that thought him-
self safe in his urn, could not prevent revenging tongues, and
stones thrown at his monument. Happy are they whom
privacy makes innocent, who deal so with men in this world,
* according to the epitaph of Rufus and Beronica, in Gruterus.
nee ex
Eorum bonis'plus inventum est, quam
Quod sufficeret ad emendam pyram
Et picem quibus corpora cremarentur,
Et prafica conducta, et olla empta.
f In Greek, Latin, Hebrew, Egyptian, Arabic; defaced by Licinius the Emperor.
X Jornandes de rebus Geticis.
4 others have studiously declined them.] devoted to a censure against " the affec-
In a work entitled IIEPIAMMA tation of epitaphs," which, the author
ENAHMION, or Vulgar Errours in observes, are of Pagan origin, and are
Practice censured, is a chapter on Decent not, ev™ °'ice mentioned in the whole
Sepulture, the greater part of which is book ot God-
496 HYDRIOTAPHIA, [CHAP. V.
that they are not afraid to meet them in the next ; who, when
they die, make no commotion among the dead, and are not
touched with that poetical taunt of Isaiah.*
Pyramids, arches, obelisks, were but the irregularities of
vain-glory, and wild enormities of ancient magnanimity. But
the most magnanimous resolution rests in the Christian re-
ligion, which trampleth upon pride, and sits on the neck of
ambition, humbly pursuing that infallible perpetuity, unto
which all others must diminish their diameters, and be poorly
seen in angles of contingency.f
Pious spirits who passed their days in raptures of futurity,
made little more of this world, than the world that was be-
fore it, while they lay obscure in the chaos of pre-ordination,
and night of their fore-beings. And if any have been so
happy as truly to understand Christian annihilation, ecstasies,
exolution, liquefaction, transformation, the kiss of the spouse,
gustation of God, and ingression into the divine shadow, they
have already had an handsome anticipation of heaven ; the
glory of the world is surely over, and the earth in ashes unto
them.
To subsist in lasting monuments, to live in their produc-
tions, to exist in their names and predicament of chimaeras,
was large satisfaction unto old expectations, and made one
part of their Elysiums. But all this is nothing in the meta-
physicks of true belief. To live indeed, is to be again our-
selves, which being not only an hope, but an evidence in noble
believers, 't is all one to lie in St. Innocent's J church-yard, as
in the sands of Egypt. Ready to be any thing, in the ecstasy
of being ever, and as content with six foot as the moles of
Adrianus.§
-tabesne cadavera solvat,
An rogus, haud refert. — Lucan.
* Isa. xiv, 16, &c. f Angulus contingent} 'a, the least of angles.
% In Paris, where bodies soon consume.
§ A stately mausoleum or sepulchral pile, built by Adrianus in Rome, where now
standeth the castle of St. Angelo.
END OF HYDRIOTAPHIA.
Brampton Wixm.
PARTICULARS
OF SOME URNS FOUND IN BRAMPTON FIELD, FEBRUARY 1667—8.
SECOND EDITION.
CORRECTED FROM THREE MS. COPIES IN THE BRITISH MUSEUM AND THR BODLEIAN LIBRARY.
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN
1712.
VOL. III. 2 K
"A Roman Urn draivn with a coal taken out of it,
and found among the burnt bones, and is noio in the possession of Dr. Hans Sloane,
to whom this plate is most humbly inscribed." — First Edition.
Brampton Wlx\\8>
I thought I had taken leave of Urns, when I had some
years past given a short account of those found at Walsing-
ham;* but a new discovery being made, I readily obey your
commands in a brief description thereof.
In a large arable field, lying between Buxton and Bramp-
ton, but belonging to Brampton, and not much more than a
furlong from Oxnead park, divers urns were found. A part
of the field being designed to be inclosed, the workmen
digged a ditch from north to south, and another from east
to west, in both which they fell upon divers urns ; but ear-
nestly and carelessly digging, they broke all they met with,
and finding nothing but ashes and burnt bones, they scattered
what they found. Upon notice given unto me, I went myself
to observe the same, and to have obtained a whole one ; and
though I met with two in the side of the ditch, and used all
care I could with the workmen, yet they were broken. Some
advantage there was from the wet season alone that day, the
earth not readily falling from about them, as in the summer.
When some were digging the north and south ditch, and
others at a good distance the east and west one, those at
this latter upon every stroke which was made at the other
ditch, heard a hollow sound near to them, as though the
ground had been arched, vaulted, or hollow, about them. It
* See Hydriotaphia, Urn Burial : or, a Discourse of the Sepulchral Urns lately
found in Norfolk, Hvo. London, printed 1658.
2 K 2
500 BRAMPTON URNS.
is very probable there are very many urns about this place,
for they were found in both ditches, which were one hundred
yards from each other ; and this very sounding of the earth,
which might be caused by hollow vessels in the earth, might
make the same probable. There was nothing in them but
fragments of burnt bones ; not any such implements and
extraneous substances as I found in the Walsingham urns :
some pieces of skulls and teeth were easily discernable. Some
were very large, some small, some had coverings, most none.
Of these pots none were found above three-quarters of a
yard in the ground ; whereby it appeareth, that in all this
time the earth hath little varied its surface, though this
ground hath been ploughed to the utmost memory of man.
Whereby it may be also conjectured, that this hath never
been a wood-land, as some conceive all this open part to have
been; for in such places they made no common burying-
places in old time, except for some special persons in groves :
and likewise that there hath been an ancient habitation about
these parts ; for at Buxton also, not a mile off, urns have
been found in my memory; but in their magnitude, figure,
colour, posture, &c. there was no small variety ; some were
large and capacious, able to contain above two gallons, some
of a middle, others of a smaller size. The great ones pro-
bably belonging to greater persons, or might be family urns,
fit to receive the ashes successively of their kindred and re-
lations, and therefore, of these, some had coverings of the
same matter, either fitted to them, or a thin flat stone, like a
grey slate, laid over them ; and therefore also great ones were
but thinly found, but others in good number. Some were of
large wide mouths, and bellies proportionable, with short
necks, and bottoms of three inches diameter, and near an
inch thick ; some small, with necks like jugs, and about that
bigness ; the mouths of some few were not round, but after
the figure of a circle compressed, not ordinarily to be imi-
tated ; though some had small, yet none had pointed bottoms,
according to the figures of those which are to be seen in
Roma Soteranea, Viginerus, or Mascardus.
In the colours also there was great variety ; some were
whitish, some blackish, and inclining to a blue, others yellow-
BRAMPTON URNS. 501
ish, or dark red, arguing the variety of their materials.1 Some
fragments, and especially bottoms of vessels, which seemed
to be handsome neat pans, were also found of a fine coral-
like red, somewhat like Portugal vessels, as though they had
been made out of some fine Bolary earth, and very smooth ;
but the like had been found in diverse places, as Dr. Casau-
bon hath observed about the pots found at Newington, in
Kent, and as other pieces do yet testify, which are to be
found at Burrow Castle, an old Roman station, not far from
Yarmouth.
Of the urns, those of the larger sort, such as had cover-
ings, were found with their mouths placed upwards ; but
great numbers of the others were, as they informed me, (and
one I saw myself,) placed with their mouths downward, which
were probably such as were not to be opened again, or re-
ceive the ashes of any other person. Though some won-
dered at this position, yet I saw no inconveniency in it ; for
the earth being closely pressed, and especially in minor
mouthed pots, they stand in a posture as like to continue as
the other, as being less subject to have the earth fall in, or
the rain to soak into them. And the same posture has been
observed in some found in other places, as Holingshead de-
livers, of divers found in Anglesea.
Some had inscriptions, the greatest part none ; those with
inscriptions, were of the largest sort, which were upon the
reverted verges thereof. The greatest part of those which
I could obtain were somewhat obliterated ; yet some of the
letters to be made out : the letters were between lines, either
single or double, and the letters of some few, after a fair Ro-
man stroke, others more rudely and illegibly drawn, where-
in there seemed no great variety ; " NUON " being upon
very many of them ; only upon the inside of the bottom of a
small red pan-like vessel, with a glaze, or varnish, like pots
which come from Portugal, but finer, were legibly set down
in embossed letters, CRACUNA F. which might imply Cra-
cuna Jigulus, or Cracuna fecit, the name of the manufactor ;
for inscriptions commonly signified the name of the person
1 argidng the variety of their materi- more or less thoroughly burned.
als.~\ More probably, perhaps, their being
502 BRAMPTON URNS.
interred, the names of servants official to such provisions, or
the name of the artificer, or manufactor of such vessels ; all
which are particularly exemplified by the learned Licetus,*
where the same inscription is often found, it is probably of
the artificer, or where the name also is in the genitive case,
as he also observeth.
Out of one was brought unto me a silver denarius, with the
head of Diva Faustina on the obverse side, and with this in-
scription, Diva Augusta Faustina, and on the reverse the fi-
gures of the Emperor and Empress joining their right hands,
with this inscription, Concordia; the same is to be seen in
Augustino, and must be coined after the death of Faustina,
(who lived three years wife unto Antoninus Pius,) from the
title of Diva, which was not given them before their dei-
fication. I also received from some men and women then
present, coins of Posthumus and Tetricus, two of the thirty
tyrants in the reign of Galienus, which being of much later
date, begat an inference that burning of the dead and urn-
burial lasted longer, at least in this country, than is commonly
supposed. Good authors conceive, that this custom ended
with the reign of the Antonini, whereof the last was Antoni-
nus Heliogabalus, yet these coins extend about fourscore
years lower; and since the head of Tetricus is made with a
radiated crown, it must be conceived to have been made after
his death, and not before his consecration, which, as the
learned Tristan conjectures, was most probably in the reign
of the emperor Tacitus, and the coin not made, or at least
not issued abroad, before the time of the Emperor Probus,
for Tacitus reigned but six months and a half, his brother
Florianus but two months, unto whom Probus succeeding,
reigned five years.
In the digging they brake divers glasses and finer vessels,
which might contain such liquors as they often buried, in or
by the urns ; the pieces of glass were fine and clear, though
thick ; and a piece of one was finely streaked with smooth
white streaks upon it. There were also found divers pieces
of brass, of several figures ; and one piece which seemed to
* Vid. Licet, de Lucernis.
BRAMPTON URNS. 505
be of bell metal. And in one urn was found a nail two inches
long ; whether to declare the trade or occupation of the per-
son is uncertain. But upon the monuments of smiths, in
Gruter, we meet with the figures of hammers, pincers, and
the like; and we find the figure of a cobler's awl on the
tomb of one of that trade, which was in the custody of Berini,
as Argulus hath set it down in his notes upon Onuphrius,
of the antiquities of Verona.
Now, though urnes have been often discovered in former
ages, many think it strange there should be many still found,
yet assuredly there may be great numbers still concealed.
For, — though we should not reckon upon any who were thus
buried before the time of the Romans, (although that the
Druids were thus buried it may be probable, and we read of
the urn of Chindonactes, a Druid, found near Dijon in Bur-
gundy, largely discoursed by Licetus,) and though I say, we
take not in any infant which was minor igne rogi, before
seven months, or appearance of teeth, nor should account this
practice of burning among the Britons higher than Vespasian,
when it is said by Tacitus, that they conformed unto the
manners and customs of the Romans, and so both nations
might have one way of burial; — yet from his days, to the
dates of these urns, were about two hundred years. And
therefore if we fall so low, as to conceive there were buried
in this nation yearly but twenty thousand persons, the account
of the buried persons would amount unto four millions, and
consequently so great a number of urns dispersed through
the land, as may still satisfy the curiosity of succeeding times,
and arise unto all ages.
The bodies whose reliques these urns contained, seemed
thoroughly burned; for beside pieces of teeth, there were
found few fragments of bones, but rather ashes in hard lumps
and pieces of coals, which were often so fresh, that one suffi-
ced to make a good draught of its urn, which still remaineth
with me.
Some persons digging at a little distance from the urn
places, in hopes to find something of value, after they had dig-
ged about three quarters of a yard deep, fell upon an obser-
vable piece of work, whose description [hereupon followeth.]
504 BRAMPTON URNS.
The work was square, about two yards and a quarter on each
side. The wall, or outward part, a foot thick, in colour red,
and looked like brick ; but it was solid, without any mortar,
or cement, or figured brick in it, but of an whole piece, so
that it seemed to be framed and burnt in the same place
where it was found. In this kind of brick-work were thirty-
two holes, of about two inches and a half diameter, and two
above a quarter of a circle in the east and west sides. Upon
two of these holes on the east side, were placed two pots, with
their mouths downward ; putting in their arms they found the
work hollow below, and the earth being cleared off, much
water was found below them, to the quantity of a barrel,
which was conceived to have been the rain-water which
soaked in through the earth above them.
The upper part of the work being broke, and opened,
they found a floor about two foot below, and then digging
onward, three floors successively under one another, at the
distance of a foot and half, the floors being of a slaty, not
bricky substance; in these partitions some pots were found,
but broke by the workmen, being necessitated to use hard
blows for the breaking of the floors ; and in the last partition
but one, a large pot was found of a very narrow mouth, short
ears, of the capacity of fourteen pints, which lay in an inclin-
ing posture, close by, and somewhat under a kind of arch in
the solid wall, and by the great care of my worthy friend, Mr.
William Marsham, who employed the workmen, was taken up
whole, almost full of water, clean, and without smell, and in-
sipid, which being poured out, there still remains in the pot
a great lump of an heavy crusty substance. What work
this was we must as yet reserve unto better conjecture.
Mean while we find in Gruter that some monuments of the
dead had divers holes sucessively to let in the ashes of their
relations ; but holes in such a great number to that intent, we
have not any where met with.
About three months after, my noble and honoured friend,
Sir Robert Paston, had the curiosity to open a piece of ground
in his park at Oxnead, which adjoined unto the former field,
where fragments of pots were found, and upon one the figure
of a well made face ; and there was also found an unusual
BRAMPTON URNS. 505
coin of the Emperor Volusianus, having on the obverse the
head of the Emperor, with a radiated crown, and this in-
scription, Imp. Cces. C. Vib. Volusiano Aug. that is Impera-
tori Ccesari Caio Vibio Volusiano Augusto. On the reverse
an human figure, with the arms somewhat extended, and at
the right foot an altar, with the inscription, Pietas. This
Emperor was son unto Caius Vibius Tribonianus Gallus, with
whom he jointly reigned after the Decii, about the year 254;
both he himself, and his father, were slain by the Emperor
^Emilianus. By the radiated crown this piece should be
coined after his death and consecration, but in whose time
it is not clear in history. But probably this ground had been
opened and digged before, though out of the memory of man,
for we found divers small pieces of pots, sheep's bones, some-
times an oyster-shell a yard deep in the earth.
end of vol. in.
VOL. III. 2 L
**Vci!M A**
$0v&nri) :
PRINTED BY JOSIAH FLETCHER.
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