* Plat. obf.

Med.l.3.p.584,

585.

8. In the 58 Olympiad, by the admonition of the Oracle, the Body of Orefles was formed at Tegaa by the Spartans, and we understand (faith Solinus) that the juft length of it was 7 Cubits, that is, of our Measure 10 Foot and a half.

9. In the Senate Houfe at Lucerne, in the year 1584, I was fhewed (faith my Author *) the fragments of fome Bones of a prodigious greatnefs; They were found in a Cave near the Monaftery of Reiden, under an old Oak which the Wind had then blown down: When i had confidered them (faith he) though they were wafted, fpunged, and light, I observed that they anfwered (though the Skull was not there) to the Body of a Man, and wrote upon each of them what they were, as the lowest Bone of the Thumb, a Cheek Tooth, the Shoulder Blades, a Heel bone, and many others, all which differed nothing from the Bones of a humane Body. Thefe Bones I compared with a Skeleton of my own, and caufed an entire Skeleton to be drawn of fuch greatnefs, as all thofe Bones would have made, if they had been whole and together; and it amounted to full 19 Foot in height.

10. Walter Parfons an English-man, born in Staffordshire, he was put Apprentice to a Smith, and grew fo tall, that a hole was made for him in the ground to ftand in up to the Knees, to make him adequate to his fellow Workmen: He was afterwards Porter to K. James the First. He would make nothing to take two of the tallest Yeomen of the Guard (like the Gizard and Liver) under his Arms at once, and order them as he pleased.

11. William Evans born in Monmouthshire, and may juftly be countthe Giant of our Age, for he was full 7 Foot and a half in height: He was Porter to King Charles the firft, and fucceeded William Parfons in his Place, and exceeded him in the height two Inches; but not fo proportionable in all the parts of his Body as Parfons was.

CHA P. II.

Of Dwarfs and Pigmies; or Men and Women of lower then ordinary ftature.

I.

Julia,

Ulia, the Neice of Auguftus, had a little Dwarfish Fellow called Canopus, whom the much efteemed, he was not above 2 foot and 5 inches in height; and Andromeda, a freed Maid of Julia, was of the fame height.

2. Two Gentlemen, both Knights of Rome, as Marcus Varro reporteth, viz. Marius Maximus and Marcus Tullius, were either of them but 2 Cubits high, that is 3 foot.

3. Nicepholus in his Ecclefiaftical Hiftory, faith, I faw one John de Eftrix of Mechlen, when he was brought through Bafil to the Duke of Parma, then in Flanders, Anno 1592; He was 35 years of Age, he had a long Beard, was perfect and freight in all his Limbs, and was but 3 foot high; he could not go up Stairs, much lefs could he get upon a

Form

Form, but was always lift up by a Servant: He was skilled in Three Tongues, ingenious and induftrious, and with him (a while) I played at Tables.

4. There was a Dwarf at Wartemberg, at the Nuptials of the Duke of Bavaria: He was Armed Cap a-Pee, Girt with a fhort Sword, and a fhort Spear in his hand; He was put into a Pie, which was fet upon the Table, at laft, raifing the Lid, he stepped out, drew his fword, and after the manner of a Fencer, traversed about the Table.

5. Mircus Antonius had one Sisyphus a Dwarf, of a vivid wit, and yet was not full Two foot high.

6. I faw (faith my Author) in the year 1610, one John Ducker, an English Man, (whofe Picture I have by me, drawn at full length) he was about 40 years of Age; he had a long Beard, and was only 2 foot and a half high; of freight and thick Limbs, and well proportioned.

7. Augustus Cafar exhibited in his Plays one Lucius, a Young Man ; he was not full 2 foot high; and (faith Ravifius) he weighed not full 17 Pounds; and yet he had a great and strong Voice.

8. Characus was a man of exceeding fmall ftature, yet was he the Wifeft Councellor that was about Saladine, that great Conqueror of the East.

9. In the year 1305 Vladislaus Cabit alis (called the Pigmy King of Poland) Reigned, and Fought more Battles, and obtained more glorious Victories therein, than any of his Long Shanked Predeceffors. [Vertue refuseth no Stature] But, commonly, Vaft Bodies, and extraordinary Statures, have dull, fottifh and leaden Spirits.

10. Cardan reports, That he faw a Man in Italy, at full Age, not above a foot and half high carryed about in a Parrots Cage.

11. There was a French Man, of the Country of Lamofin, of about the fame height, with a formal Beard, who was fhewn in a Cage for Money, at the end whereof was a little Hutch into which he retired; and when the Affembly was full, he would come out and play upon an Inftrument.

*Plater.Obf.

Lib. 3. p. 582.

Of Monsters, and other Perfons, as have made entrance into the World in a different manner from the rest of Mankind.

Ucanon relates of a Monster which had only one Body below the Navel, but above, two different ones; when any part below the Navel was hurt, both the Bodies above participated of the Pain; if above, that Body only felt it that was hurt. These two upper Bodies would fometimes quarrel, and one Dying, the other Pined away by degrees: It lived 28 years, and could fpeak feveral Languages, and was taught to play on a Mufical Inftrnment.

II. In the year 1538. there was Born one who grew up to the Stature of a Man; he was double as to his Head and Shoulders, fo that one Face stood oppofite to the other: Both were of a likeness, refembling each other both in Beard and Eyes: They had both the fame Appetite, and both Hungred alike: The Voyce of both was almoft the fame; and both Loved the fame Wife.

III. Johannes Naborowsky, a Noble Polonian, had seen in his Country of Bafil, two little Fishes, without Scales, which were brought forth by a Woman, and as foon as they came out of her Womb, did Swim in Water as other Fifshes.

IV. Not long fince in Elfingorn lived a Woman of good quality, who by her account drew near to the time of her delivery, and fo provided all things neceffary: But in her laft Month, her big Belly feemed to be much fallen. Her time of Travel being come, and the ufual Pains of Labour going before, fhe was delivered of a Creature very like unto a Dormouse of the greater fize, which (to the amasement of the Women then present) with great celerity fought out, and found a hole in the Chamber into which it crept, and was never seen after.

V. In the year of our Lord 1639, at Norway we read of a marvelous Example of a Woman, who having often before been delivered of Humane Births; and again Big, and after strong labour was delivered of Two Eggs: This Womins name was Anna, the daughter of Amundus, and Wife to Gudbrandus Erlandfonius, who already had been Mother of Eleven Children. This Anna, in the year 1639, Apr. 17. and in the Evening of the fame day, was delivered of an Egg, in all refpects like that of a Hen, which being broken by the Women then prefent, they found that in the Yolk and White thereof there was no difference, but answered directly to a common Egg. Upon the 18th day of April. about noon, in the prefence of the fame perfons, fhe was delivered of another Egg, in all refpects like the former. This fecond Egg was fent to Dr. Olaus Wormius, to the University, in whofe Study it is reserved to be feen of fuch as fhall defire it.

VI. In the year of our Lord 1576, upon the 27th day of December, One Ann Tromperin about 30 years of Age, was delivered of a Boy and two Serpents. This Woman (faith Caspar Banbinus, in his Hiftory of France) told me upon her faith, that in the fummer before, in an extream hot day,she had drunk of a Spring in the Grove called Brudetholk, adjoyning to Bafil, where the fufpected that she had drank of the fperm of Serpents; he grew fo big, that he was fain to carry her Belly in a Swathling-band The Child was very Lean, the Serpents were each of them an Ell in length, and thick as the Arm of an Infant, both which, alive as they were, buried by the Midwife in the Church-Yard of St. Elizabeth.

VII. The Concubine of Pope Nicholas the third was delivered of a Monster which refembled a Bear. Mertin the 4th, his fucceffor,entertained the fame Lady, and fearing that the fhould bring forth other Bearwhelps; he caused all the Painted or Carved Bears about his Palace to

be

be expunged or removed: For this Pope was not ignorant how the fhapes and Pictures which are conceived in a Womans imagination at the time of conception, do remain imprinted in the Body of that which is conceived.

VIII. At Tertoghenbofch, a City in Brabant, upon a folemn Festival, fome of the Citizens difguifed themfelves infeveral habits, fome like Angels, fome like Devils, to augment the fport. One of thefe (who acted a Devils part, ran home to his houfe in his Devils fhape, took his Wife, threw her upon a Bed, faying, he would get a young Devil upon her he was not deceived; for of that copulation, there was born a Child, fuch as the wicked Spirit is Painted, which at his coming into the World, began to run and skip up and down the Chamber.

IX. In the Little Town of Quiero, amongst the Subalpines, upon the 17th day of January 1578, An honeft Matron was there delivered of a Child which had upon its head 5 horns, like to thofe of a Ram: From the upper part of his Forehead there hung backwards a long piece of Flesh, that covered moft part of its Back, in form like a Womans Headlace: About its Neck was a double row of Flesh like the Collar of a Horfe. At the ends of its Fingers were Claws, like to thofe Tallons of Birds of Prey. Its Knees were in the hinder parts of its Legs: Its Right Leg and Foot were of a fhining Red Colour; and the rest of its Body all Swarthy: It came into the World with fuch a great Cry, that it affrighted the Midwife and the rest of the Women there prefent-This Moniter was fent for by Subalpinus to his Court to be feen of him and his Courtiers.

X. In Lefina, the biggest Island in the Adriatick Sea, there was born a Manter: Below the middle part whereof, there was but one Body; and above the middle there were Two Living Souls; each feparated from the other, with feveral Members; their Heads being both of one bignefs, but different in Phifiognomy: The Belly of the one joyned to the pofterior parts of the other; and their Faces looked both one way, as if the one had carried the other on his Back; for he that was behind would often lay his hands about the Neck of the other. Their Eyes were exceeding big, and their Hands, Thighs and Legs greater than those of an Infant of three times their age, which was but 36 days: The Excrements of both iffued forth at the fame place: Their Feet were round and cloven, like thofe of a Camel: They received their Food with an infatiable defire, and continually mourn'd with a pitiful noife: When one Slept the other waked: The Mother bought that Birth with the lofs of her life, and the Monsters died foon after. This was fhewn to Lithgoe in his Travels by a Venetian, the Governour of that Island.

XI. When Fulvius Flaccus was Conful, there was born in Rome of a Maid Servant, a Monfter: It had Four Feet, Four hands, Four Eyes, Four Ears, and Two Members of virility.

XII. A Woman in Prague being with child was caused to hold a Calf while it was kill'd, and ftanding by while it was opened, at the falling of the Bowels fhe felt à commotion within her and foon after

was

was delivered ofa Boy, whofe Liver, Inteftines, Stomach and Spleen, with the greatest part of the Mefentery hung out beyond the Navel. It lived but a few Hours.

XIII. At Cracovia, (faith Lycofthines) in the year 1543, there was born of Noble Parents, a Monster with Flaming and Shining Eyes; the Mouth and Noftrils were like thofe of an Ox, it had long Horns, and a Back hairy like a Dogs: It had the Faces of Apes in the Breaft where the Tets fhould ftand: It had the heads of Dogs upon the two Elbows,and at the whirl-bones of each Knee looking forward: It was Splay footed and Handed: The Feet were like Swans Feet: It had a Tail turned upwards, that was crooked backwards, and about half an Ell Long. It lived but Four hours from the birth of it; and neer its death it uttered thefe Words, Watch, For the Lord your God comes.

XIV. At St. Lawrence in the West Indies in the year 1573, there was a Monster born, Which (befides the horrible deformity of its Mouth, Ears and Nofe; had two horns on the head, like thofe of young Goats; long hair on the body; a fleshy Girdle about the middle, double; from whence hung a piece of Flesh like a Purfe, and a Bell of Flesh in his left band like thofe the Indians ufe when they dance; White Boots of Flesh on his Legs doubled down. In brief (faith my Author, Dr. Henry Moor, in his Immortality of the Soul, P. 173.) The whole Shape was horrid and diabolical; and conceived to proceed from tome Fright the mother had taken from the Antick Dances of the Indians; amongst whom the Devil himself does not fail, fometimes, to appear.

XV. Upon the 17th of October 1637, At Bofton in New England, one Miftrels Dyer was delivered of a Monster which had no head; the Face was on the Breaft; the Ears like Apes, grew upon the Shoulders; the Eyes and Mouth ftood far out; the Nofe hooking upwards; the Breaft and Back full of Prickles; the Navel and Belly where the Hyps fhould have been; instead of Toes, on each foot it had three Claws; upon the Back it had two great holes like Mouths; above the Eyes it had Four horns; It was of the Feminine Sex. The Father and Mother of this Monster were both great Familifts,faith my Author, Clark's Miror, pag. 249.

As there have been feveral Monfers brought into the World; So alfo have there been brought perfons into the World (although not Monftrous, yet) in a different manner from the generality of mankind.

XVI. Zoroaftres Laughed the fame day he was born; his Brain alfo did fo evidently pant and beat, that it would bear up the hands of those that laid them upon his head: An evident prefage (faith plate) of the great Learning he at length attained unto.

XVII. Nero Cæfar, the Emperour, came into the World with his Feet formoft: Who all the time of his Reign was a very enemy to mankind.

XVIII. Some Children are brought into the World with Teeth in their heads; As M. Curius, and On Papyrius Carbo; both of them great men and honourable Perfonages.

XIX. Some