XIX. Some are cut out of their Mothers Worbs; As Scipio Affricanus the first, Julius Cæfar, Manillius, Macduff Earl of Fife, And Edward the Sixth of England.

XX. In the year 959. Buchardus Earl of Limfgow, Beuchorn, Montfort, and Abbot of Sangal, was vulgarly called Unborn, because he was cut out of his Mothers Womb.

XXI. One Cornelius Gemma, a German, fays, that himself had cut out of the Wombs of Six feveral Women, Six living Children.

XXII. Pliny in his Natural Hiftory, fpeaks of a Child in Sagnotum (in that year it was facked by Hanibal) which fo foon as it was come out of the Mothers Womb, prefently returned into it again.

XXIII. Johannes Dubravius relates of Lewis the Second King of Hungary and Bohemia, that there were Four things in him remarkable for hafte, viz. (1) That he became Great in a fhort time (2) That he had a Beard too foon: (3) That he had White hares before he was 17 years of Age: And (4) That he was born into the World without any of that Skin which they call Epidermis: He died Anno 1526,in the 29th year of his Age.

of

XXIV. When Spinola Befieged the City of Bergopfonna, a Woman near her time of Travel went out to draw water, at which time she was taken off in the middle by a Cannon Bullet; fo that the lower part of her fell into the Water; fuch as were by, ran to her, and faw there a Child moving it felf in the Bowels of the Mother: They drew it forth, and foon after brought it to Antwerp, where the Infanta Ifabella, caufed it to be Baptized; and gave it the name of Albertus Ambrofius, One of her Fathers Captains.

XXV. Enecho Arista, the first King of Navar being dead, Garfias his Son fucceeded, who being one day in the Village of Larumbe, was furprised by fome Moorish Robbers, affaulted and flain: they Wounded Urracha his Queen in the Belly with a Launce: The Thieves put to flight, the Queen at the Wound was delivered of a Son and dyed; the Child was fafe, and was named Sancius Garfia: He was well educated, proved a Valliant Man, and fucceeded his Father in the Kingdom.

XXVI. The Wife of one Simon Kneuter of Wessemberg went with Child to the ninth Month, and then falling into Travel fhe dyed Undelivered; thofe that were by doubted not but that the Child was dead alfo; they difpofed of the Mother as is ufual; but fome few hours after, they heard a Cry; they ran, and then found the Mother dead indeed, but delivered of a Daughter, that was in good health, and lay at her feet. Salmuth faith that he hath feen Three feveral Women, who have been dead in Travel; and yet, after Death, delivered of the Children they went with.

To conclude these two laft Paragraphs, I shall give an instance in one
Perfon participating of both, viz.

L

XXVII. There

XXVII. There never was in any man a greater uniformity of Body and Mind (faith my 'Author Sir Rich. Baker) than there was in Richard the Third, King of England, for both of them were equally deformedOf Body he was but Low, Crook Back'd and Hook Shouldred; SplayFooted and Goggle Ey'd; His face Little and Round; his Complexion Swarthy; His left Arm(from his Birth) Dry and Withered-He was born a Monster in Nature, having all his Teeth, Hair on his head, and Nails on his Fingers and Toes. And juft fuch were the qualities of his

Mind.

XXVIII. Offa, the Son of Wafmond, King of the West Saxons, was Tall of Stature, and of a good conftitution of Body. He was Blind till Seven years of Age, and then could See: He was alfo Dumb till Thirty years of Age, and then spake.

Of the length of Age which men lived in former times, Shortly after the Creation, and of others of later

Τ

date.

IT hath been a Question, what manner of Tears those were, our Fore

Fathers are faid to have lived, as 700, 800, and 900 years, as Methufula, fince years have been taken diverfly. Some have imagined they could not be our Anni Solares, as we account our years, as being a thing incredible, that the date of a mans life fhould extend it felf to that length, far beyond the Age of the eldeft Oake. Some account (as Pliny reporteth) every Summer a Year, and Winter another: As alfo the Arcadians counted their year by Three Months; others again by the courfe of the Moon, as the Egyptians; fo fome of them are reported to have lived 1000 years. There are thofe therefore that imagine thofe years mentioned Gen. V. To be understood to consist of 36 days, Ten whereof make but one Salar year, hereby reckoning that who are in the Scripture faid to have lived 900 years, lived of our years but 90, every hundred ofthofe Monthly years amounting but to Ten of ours. So they believed all that fpace of time which is contained in one year to have been anciently divided into Ten parts, and every part taken for a year, and every one of these ten parts to have had Senarium quadratum, because in Six days God finished his Work of the Creation; all which number multiplyed by Ten, make juft 12 Months. But thefe conclufions fall out to be moft abfurd, for if we confider what will follow 'thereupon, Caman, who begat children when he was 70 years of age, fhould have begotten them when he was but Seven: Befides, if we make a year but of 36 days, of what length must the Month be? Surely no more then Three days: And then, How can that place in Gen. VII. 11. Where it is faid, The Flood began the 27th day of the Second Month? And how will it agree where it is faid, Gen. VIII. 4. The Ark refted upon the Mountains of Ararat the 27th day of the fecond Month?

Let

Let us therefore certainly believe the years then to have been all one with ours, and that which is fpoken of the great Age of thofe Fathers, not much to differ from the computation of our years. For, it is again faid, Gen. 8. 5. That The Mountains appeared upon the first day of the Tenth Month; wherefore the Year confifted of many Months: And that we may not think the Month confifted but of Three days, obferve, the Twenty feventh day is mentioned.

Now, If you would know the Reafon, why the Fathers then lived fo long. know that there are Two Caufes; Firit, the Final; Secondly, the Efficient.

The Final Caufes were, (1.) Increafing the World with People, whereby it might be replenished, which they could not do but by living a long time. (2.) Arts were to be invented, for they are not found but by long experience. (3.) The Worship of God was to be delivered by Tradition; for, as yet, the Written Word was not: But that could not be in fuch a variety of People, except those who received it from God had not been long liv'd.

The Efficient Caufes of their length of Life were, (1.) The fingular Bleffings of God mentioned, Gen. 30.20. I am thy Life, and the Length of thy days. (2.) The nearness of Time to the Creation, when the Bodies of Men were of a fingular and a moft perfect Conftitution, Soundness, and state of Health. (3.) The Diet and Feeding was far more wholefume before the Flood, than fince. (4.) The Wits and Invention were more accurate and fubtil in fearching and finding out the Nature and Qualities of all Things whereof they had need to the fuftenance of Life, than ours are in thefe days: And for thefe Reasons, it may be fuppofed their Lives were extended to that length.

Neither may we wonder at it, fince Heathen Writers testify, That even in their times, fome Thousands of years after the Flood, many lived 200, others 300 years: Of fome of which, as alfo of others of later date (even to this prefent Age) I shall give the Reader an Ac

count :

I. Hellanicus (cited by Pliny) reports, That in Etolia, many lived till they were 200 years of Age, which Damaftes confirmeth, while he maketh mention of one Picoreus amongst them, who lived ftrong and able of Body, till he had fulfilled 300 years.

II. Sir Walter Raleigh, in his Discovery of Guinea, reports, That the King of Aromaia, being 110 years of Age, came in a Morning on foot to him from his Houfe, which was 14 English Miles, and returned on foot the fame day.

III. Buchanan in his Scotch Hiftory, fpeaks of one Lawrence, who lived in one of the Orcadean Islands, Married a Wife after he was above 100 years of Age, and that when he was 120 years old, he doubted not to go a Fishing in a Rough and Tempestuous Sea.

IV. Sigifmundus Polcaftrus, Physician at Padua, Read there 50 years; in his old Age he buried four Sons in a fhort time; at 70 years of Age he Married again, and by this fecond Wife had three Sons; the eldest of which, called Antonius, he faw dignified with a Degree in both Laws:

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Jerome,

Jerome, another of his Sons; had his Cap fet npon his Head by the Hand of his Aged Father, who trembled, and wept for joy; not long after the old Man died, Aged 94 years.

V. Fælix Platerns faith, That in Anno 1572, his Father Thomas Pla terus buried his Wife, which was Felix's Mother, and at the 73 year of his Age, Married a fecond Wife, and within the compass of 10 years had fix Children by her, two Sons and four Daughters; the youngest of the Daughters was born in the 81 year of his Age, and he died in the 83 year of his Age. Now that which is memorable between two of his Sons is: I Felix was born Anno 1536, and my Brother Thomas 1574, the distance 38 years; and yet this Brother of mine, (to whom (for Age) I might have been Grand-father) is all Grey, and feems elder than my self.

VI. M. Valerius Corvinus, lived 100 years, between whose first and fixth Confulfhip there was 47 years; yet was he fufficient, not only for the most important matters of the Commonwealth, but also for the exacteft cultures of his Fields.

VII. Mitellus was of the like Age, and was very old when created Pontiffe: For 22 years he had the ordering of the Ceremonies: His Tongue never faultered in folemn Prayers; nor his Hand tremble in offering the Sacrifices.

VIII. Nicholaus Leonicenus, was in the 96 year of his Age,when Langius heard him at Ferrara, where he had taught more than 70 years.

IX. Miffania was the King of Numidia 60 years together, and excelled all other Men in ftrength. Cicero faith, That for no Cold or Rain he could be induced to cover his Head; He would continue ftanding in one and the fame place, not moving a foot till all about him were weary; and when he was to tranfact any business fitting in his Throne, he would perfift oftentimes the whole day, without turning his Body on this or the other fide for a more easeful Pofture: He would Lead his Army Day and Night: After the 86 year of his Age he begat a Son, whofe name was Methimnatus, and died in the 91 year of his Age.

X. Xenophilus, the Pythagorian Philofopher, and of great Learning was 90 years of Age, and (as Ariftexenus faith) died free of all thofe incommodities that attend upon humane Life.

XI. Lemnius tells us of one at Stockholm, who at the Age of 100, Married a Wife of 30, and begat Children of her: He looked fo fresh, that those that knew him not, deemed him to be not above 50.

XII. Ifocrates, in the 94th year of his Age put forth his Book Panathenaicus, and lived 15 years after it, in which time he was fufficient for any work he undertook, both in Judgment, Strength and Memory.

XIII. The

XIII. The Men of the County of Cornwall in England are more hardy and strong, alfo very Healthy and Long Liv'd, 80 and 90 years is ordinary: To inftance in fome of them:One Polzem lived 130 years, and a Kinfiman of his 112.----One Beancham 106. And one Brown an Irish man, but a Cornish Beggar, who lived 120 years; upon whom a Gentleman of this County made this Epitaph:

..

Here Brown the quondam Beggar lies,
Who counted (by his tale)

Some Sixfcore Winters and above,

Such Virtue is in Ale:

Ale was his Meat, his Drink, his Cloth,
Ale did his death reprieve ;

And could he ftill have drank his Ale,
He had been fill alive.

In one Parish of this County in the Reign of Q. Elizabeth, there died in 14 Weeks 1pace four People, whofe Ages added together made 340 years. And farther, One Mr. Chamond who lived at Stratton, was úacle, and Great-Uncle to at the leaft 300 Perfons.

XIV. One Mr. Macklane, Parfon of Lesbury in the County of Northumberland, who died about the year of our Lord 1658, did in the 1656 renew his youth; fo that (though 40 years before he could not read without Spectacles, being 116 years of Age) he could then read the fmallest Print without them: His Hair, which before he had loft, came again as a Childs.

XV. In the Parish of Alderbury in the County of Shropshire, lived one Thomas Parre, who was 152 years old, who about two years before he died, was fent for up to London to White-hall, by K. Charles the First, aud died there Anno Dom. 1635.

XVI. One Janes Sands of Harborn in the County of Staffordshire, lived 140 years, his Wife 120: He out-lived Five Leafes of 21 years apiece, made unto him after his Marriage.

An Account of the firft Authors of divers famous Inventions.

THE

HE first Invention of Printing is attributed by Peter Ramus to one John Fauft a Magnutine; for he tells us, that he had in his keeping, a Copy of Tully's Offices Printed upon Parchment, with this Infcription at the end of it, viz. The excellent Work of Marcus Tullius, I John Fauft a Citizen of Mentz, happily imprinted, not with Writing Ink,

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