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and for riches, besides the temporal dominions he hath in all the countries before named, the datany or despatching of bulls, the triennial subsidies, annats, and other ecclesiastical rights, mount to an unknown sum; and it is a common saying here, that as long as the pope can finger a pen, he can want no pence. Pius V., notwithstanding his expenses in buildings, left four millions in the castle of Saint Angelo in less than five years; more, I believe, than this Gregory XV. will, for he hath many nephews; and better it is to be the pope's nephew, than to be a favourite to any prince in Christendom.

so a shepherd is still governor and preserver. But
whereas the French have an odd saying, that
Jamais cheval ni homme,
S'amenda pour aller à Rome.
'Ne'er horse nor man did mend,
That unto Rome did wend;'

truly, I must confess, that I find myself much bet-
tered by it; for the sight of some of these ruins did
fill me with symptoms of mortification, and made me
more sensible of the frailty of all sublunary things,
how all bodies, as well inanimate as animate, are sub-
ject to dissolution and change, and everything else
under the moon, except the love of-Your faithful ser-
vitor-J. H.

ROME, September 13, 1621.

To Captain Thomas B.

Noble Captain-Yours of the 1st of March was delivered me by Sir Richard Scot, and I hold it no profanation of this Sunday evening, considering the quality of my subject, and having (I thank God for it) performed all church duties, to employ some hours to meditate on you, and send you this friendly salute, though I confess in an unusual monitory way. My dear Captain, I love you perfectly well; I love both your person and parts, which are not vulgar; I am in love with your disposition, which is generous, and I verily think you were never guilty of any pusillanimous act in your life. Nor is this love of mine con

Touching the temporal government of Rome, and oppidan affairs, there is a prætor and some choice citizens, which sit in the Capitol. Amongst other pieces of policy, there is a synagogue of Jews permitted here (as in other places in Italy) under the pope's nose, but they go with a mark of distinction in their hats; they are tolerated for advantage of commerce, wherein the Jews are wonderful dexterous, though most of them be only brokers and Lombardeers; and they are held to be here as the cynic held women to be-malum necessarium. There be few of the Romans that use to pray for the pope's long life, in regard the oftener the change is, the more advantageous it is for the city, because commonly it brings strangers, and a recruit of new people. The air of Rome is not so wholesome as of old; and amongst other reasons, one is, because of the burning of stubble to fatten their fields. For her antiquities, it would take up a whole volume to write them; those which I hold the chiefest are Vespasian's amphitheatre, where fourscore thou-ferred upon you gratis, but you may challenge it as sand people might sit; the stoves of Anthony; divers rare statues at Belvidere and St Peter's, specially that of Laocoon; the obelisk; for the genius of the Roman hath always been much taken with imagery, limning, and sculptures, insomuch that, as in former times, so now I believe, the statues and pictures in Rome exceed the number of living people. One antiquity among others is very remarkable, because of the change of language; which is, an ancient column erected as a trophy for Duillius the consul, after a famous naval victory obtained against the Carthaginians in the second Punic war, where these words are engraven, and remain legible to this day, Exemet leciones Macistrates Castreis exfocient pugnandod caped enque navebos marid consul,' and half a dozen lines more. It is called Columna Rostrata, having the beaks and prows of ships engraven up and down, │whereby it appears, that the Latin then spoken was much differing from that which was used in Cicero's time, 150 years after. Since the dismembering of the empire, Rome hath run through many vicissitudes and turns of fortune; and had it not been for the residence of the pope, I believe she had become a heap of stones, a mount of rubbish, by this time: and however that she bears up indifferent well, yet one may say

Qui miseranda videt veteris vestigia Romæ,
Ille potest merito dicere, Roma fuit.
'They who the ruins of first Rome behold,

May say, Rome is not now, but was of old.'

Present Rome may be said to be but a monument of Rome past, when she was in that flourish that St Austin desired to see her in. She who tamed the world, tamed herself at last, and falling under her own weight, fell to be a prey to time; yet there is a providence seems to have a care of her still; for though her air be not so good, nor her circumjacent soil so kindly as it was, yet she hath wherewith to keep life and soul together still, by her ecclesiastical courts, which is the sole cause of her peopling now; so that it may be said, when the pope came to be her head, she was reduced to her first principles; for as a shepherd was founder,

your due, and by way of correspondence, in regard of those thousand convincing evidences you have given me of yours to me, which ascertain me that you take me for a true friend. Now, I am of the number of those that had rather commend the virtue of an enemy than soothe the vices of a friend; for your own particular, if your parts of virtue and your infirmities were cast into a balance, I know the first would much outpoise the other; yet give me leave to tell you that there is one frailty, or rather ill-favoured custom, that reigns in you, which weighs much; it is a humour of swearing in all your discourses, and they are not slight but deep far-fetched oaths that you are wont to rap out, which you use as flowers of rhetoric to enforce a faith upon the hearers, who believe you never the more; and you use this in cold blood when you are not provoked, which makes the humour far more dangerous. I know many (and I cannot say I myself am free from it, God forgive me), that, being transported with choler, and, as it were, made drunk with passion by some sudden provoking accident, or extreme ill-fortune at play, will let fall oaths and deep protestations; but to belch out, and send forth, as it were, whole vollies of oaths and curses in a calm humour, to verify every trivial discourse, is a thing of horror. I knew a king that, being crossed in his game, would amongst his oaths fall on the ground, and bite the very earth in the rough of his passion; I heard of another king (Henry IV. of France), that in his highest distemper would swear but Ventre de Saint Gris,' [By the belly of St Gris ;'] I heard of an Italian, that, having been much accustomed to blaspheme, was weaned from it by a pretty wile, for, having been one night at play, and lost all his money, after many execrable oaths, and having offered money to another to go out to face heaven and defy God, he threw himself upon a bed hard by, and there fell asleep. The other gamesters played on still, and finding that he was fast asleep, they put out the candles, and made semblance to play on still; they fell a wrangling, and spoke so loud that he awaked; he hearing them play on still, fell a rubbing his eyes, and his conscience presently prompted him that he was struck blind, and that God's judgment had deservedly fallen down upon him for his

blasphemies, and so he fell to sigh and weep pitifully; a ghostly father was sent for, who undertook to do some acts of penance for him, if he would make a vow never to play again or blaspheme, which he did; and so the candles were lighted again, which he thought were burning all the while; so he became a perfect convert. I could wish this letter might produce the same effect in you. There is a strong text, that the curse of heaven hangs always over the dwelling of the swearer, and you have more fearful examples of miraculous judgments in this particular, than of any other sin.

There is a little town in Languedoc, in France, that hath a multitude of the pictures of the Virgin Mary up and down; but she is made to carry Christ in her right arm, contrary to the ordinary custom, and the reason they told me was this, that two gamesters being at play, and one having lost all his money, and bolted out many blasphemies, he gave a deep oath, that that jade upon the wall, meaning the picture of the blessed Virgin, was the cause of his ill luck; hereupon the child removed imperceptibly from the left arm to the right, and the man fell stark dumb ever after; thus went the tradition there. This makes me think upon the Lady Southwell's news from Utopia, that he who sweareth when he playeth at dice, may challenge his damnation by way of purchase. This infandous custom of swearing, I observe, reigns in England lately, more than anywhere else; though a German in his highest puff of passion swear a hundred thousand sacraments, the Italian by * the French by God's death, the Spaniard by his flesh, the Welshman by his sweat, the Irishman by his five wounds, though the Scot commonly bids the devil ha'e his soul, yet, for variety of oaths, the English roarers put down all. Consider well what a dangerous thing it is to tear in pieces that dreadful name, which makes the vast fabric of the world to tremble, that holy name wherein the whole hierarchy of heaven doth triumph, that blissful name, wherein consists the fulness of all felicity. I know this custom in you yet is but a light disposition; 'tis no habit, I hope; let me, therefore, conjure you by that power, friendship, by that holy league of love which is between us, that you would suppress it, before it come to that; for I must tell you that those who could find it in their hearts to love you for many other things, do disrespect you for this; they hate your company, and give no credit to whatsoever you say, it being one of the punishments of a swearer, as well as of a liar, not to be believed when he speaks truth.

sins past will not hurt thee. All other sins have for
their object either pleasure or profit, or some aim or
satisfaction to body or mind, but this hath none at
all; therefore fie upon't, my dear Captain; try whether
you can make a conquest of yourself in subduing this
execrable custom. Alexander subdued the world,
Caesar his enemies, Hercules monsters, but he that
o'ercomes himself is the true valiant captain.
YORK, Aug. 1, 1628.

To the Right Hon. the Lord Cliffe.

My Lord-Since, among other passages of entertainment we had lately at the Italian ordinary (where your lordship was pleased to honour us with your presence), there happened a large discourse of wines, and of other drinks that were used by several nations of the earth, and that your lordship desired me to deliver what I observed therein abroad: I am bold now to confirm and amplify, in this letter, what I then let drop extempore from me, having made a recollection of myself for that purpose.

It is without controversy, that, in the nonage of the world, men and beasts had but one buttery, which was the fountain and river, nor do we read of any vines or wines till two hundred years after the flood; but now I do not know or hear of any nation that hath water only for their drink, except the Japanese, and they drink it hot too; but we may say, that what beverage soever we make, either by brewing, *by distillation, decoction, percolation, or pressing, it is but water at first; nay, wine itself is but water sublimed, being nothing else but that moisture and sap, which is caused either by rain or other kind of irrigations about the roots of the vine, and drawn up to the branches and berries by the virtual attractive heat of the sun, the bowels of the earth serving as a lembie to that end, which made the Italian vineyard-man (after a long drought, and an extreme hot summer, which had parched up all his grapes) to complain that- per mancamento d'acco bevo del' accqua; se io bavessi accqua, beveriel vino'-['for want of water I am forced to drink water; if I had water, I would drink wine']; it may also be applied to the miller, when he has no water to drive his mills.

Excuse me that I am so free with you; what I write proceeds from the clear current of a pure affection, and I shall heartily thank you, and take it for an argument of love, if you tell me of my weaknesses, which are (God wot) too, too many; for my body is but a Cargazon of corrupt humours, and being not able to overcome them all at once, I do endeavour to do it by degrees, like Sertorius his soldier, who, when he could not cut off the horse's tail at one blow with his sword, fell to pull out the hair one by one. And touching this particular humour from which I dissuade you, it hath raged in me too often by contingent fits, but I thank God for it, I find it much abated and purged. Now, the only physic I used was a precedent fast, and recourse to the holy sacrament the next day, of purpose to implore pardon for what had passed, and power for the future to quell those exorbitant motions, those ravings and feverish fits of the soul; in regard there are no infirmities more dangerous, for at the same instant they have being, they become impieties. And the greatest symptom of amendment I find in me is, because whensoever I hear the holy name of God blasphemed by any other, it makes my heart to tremble within my breast; now, it is a penitential rule, that if sins present do not please thee,

The vine doth so abhor cold, that it cannot grow beyond the 49th degree to any purpose; therefore God and nature hath furnished the north-west nations with other inventions of beverage. In this island the old drink was ale, noble ale, than which, as I heard a great foreign doctor affirm, there is no liquor that more increaseth the radical moisture, and preserves the natu ral heat, which are the two pillars that support the life of man. But since beer hath hopped in amongst us, ale is thought to be much adulterated, and nothing so good as Sir John Oldcastle and Smugg the smith was used to drink. Besides ale and beer, the natural drink of part of this isle may be said to be metheglin, braggot, and mead, which differ in strength according to the three degrees of comparison. The first of the three, which is strong in the superlative, if taken immoderately, doth stupify more than any other liquor, and keeps a humming in the brain, which made one say, that he loved not metheglin, because he was used to speak too much of the house he came from, meaning the hive. Cider and perry are also the natural drinks of parts of this isle. But I have read in some old authors of a famous drink the ancient nation of the Picts, who lived 'twixt Trent and Tweed, and were utterly extinguished by the overpowering of the Scot, were used to make of decoction of flowers, the receipt whereof they kept as a secret, and a thing sacred to themselves, so it perished with them. These are all the common drinks of this isle, and of Ireland also, where they are more given to milk and strong waters of all colours; the prime is usquebagh, which cannot

the river of Rhine, for trying the legitimation of a child being thrown in-if he be a bastard, he will sink; if otherwise, he will not.

be made anywhere in that perfection, and whereas we drink it here in aqua vitæ measures, it goes down there by beer-glassfuls, being more natural to the nation. In the Seventeen Provinces hard by, and all Low In China, they speak of a tree called Magnais, which Germany, beer is the common natural drink, and affords not only good drink, being pierced, but all nothing else; so is it in Westphalia, and all the lower things else that belong to the subsistence of man; they circuit of Saxony; in Denmark, Swethland, and Nor- bore the trunk with an auger, and there issueth out way. The Pruss hath a beer as thick as honey; in sweet potable liquor; 'twixt the rind and the tree there the Duke of Saxe's country, there is beer as yellow as is a cotton, or hempie kind of moss, which they wear gold, made of wheat, and it inebriates as soon as sack. for their clothing: it bears huge nuts, which have exIn some parts of Germany they use to spice their beer, cellent food in them: it shoots out hard prickles above which will keep many years; so that at some wed- a fathom long, and those arm them with the bark dings there will be a butt of beer drunk out as old as they make tents, and the dotard trees serve for firing. the bride. Poland also is a beer country; but in Africa also hath a great diversity of drinks, as having Russia, Muscovy, and Tartary, they use mead, which more need of them, being a hotter country far. In is the naturalest drink of the country, being made of Guinea, of the lower Ethiopia, there is a famous the decoction of water and honey; this is that which drink called Mingol, which issueth out of a tree much the ancients called hydromel. Mare's milk is a great like the palm, being bored. But in the upper Ethiopia, drink with the Tartar, which may be a cause why they or the Habassins' country, they drink mead, concocted are bigger than ordinary, for the physicians hold, that in a different manner; there is also much wine there. milk enlargeth the bones, beer strengtheneth the The common drink of Barbary, after water, is that nerves, and wine breeds blood sooner than any other which is made of dates. But in Egypt, in times past, liquor. The Turk, when he hath his stomach full of there was beer drunk called Zicus in Latin, which was pilau, or of mutton and rice, will go to nature's cel- no other than a decoction of barley and water: they lar, either to the next well or river to drink water, had also a famous composition (and they use it to this which is his natural common drink; for Mahomet day) called Chissi, made of divers cordials and provotaught them that there was a devil in every berry of cative ingredients, which they throw into water to the grape, and so made a strict inhibition to all his make it gustful; they use it also for fumigation. But sect from drinking of wine as a thing profane; he had now the general drink of Egypt is Nile water, which of also a reach of policy therein, because they should not all water may be said to be the best ; * 'tis yellowbe encumbered with luggage when they went to war, ish and thick; but if one cast a few almonds into a as other nations do, who are so troubled with the car-potful of it, it will become as clear as rock-water; it is riage of their wine and beverages. Yet hath the Turk also in a degree of lukewarmness-as Martial's boy : peculiar drinks to himself besides, as sherbet made of juice of lemon, sugar, amber, and other ingredients; he hath also a drink called Cauphe, which is made of a brown berry, and it may be called their clubbing drink between meals, which, though it be not very gustful to the palate, yet it is very comfortable to the stomach, and good for the sight; but notwithstanding their prophet's anathema, thousands of them will venture to drink wine, and they will make a precedent prayer to their souls to depart from their bodies in the interim, for fear she partake of the same pollution.

In Asia, there is no beer drunk at all, but water, wine, and an incredible variety of other drinks, made of dates, dried raisins, rice, divers sorts of nuts, fruits, and roots. In the oriental countries, as Cambaia, Calicut, Narsingha, there is a drink called Banque, which is rare and precious, and 'tis the height of entertainment they give their guests before they go to sleep, like that nepenthe which the poets speak so much of, for it provokes pleasing dreams and delightful fantasies; it will accommodate itself to the humour of the sleeper; as, if he be a soldier, he will dream of victories and taking of towns; if he be in love, he will think to enjoy his mistress; if he be covetous, he will dream of mountains of gold, &c. In the Molucca and Philippines there is a curious drink called Tampoy, made of a kind of gillyflowers, and another drink called Otraqua, that comes from a nut, and it is the more general drink. In China, they have a holy kind of liquor made of such sort of flowers for ratifying and binding of bargains, and having drunk thereof, they hold it no less than perjury to break what they promise; as they write of a river of Bythinia, whose water hath a peculiar virtue to discover a perjurer, for, if he drink thereof, it will presently boil in his stomach, and put him to visible tortures; this makes me think of the river Styx among the poets, which the gods were used to swear by, and it was the greatest oath for the performance of anything.

Nubila promissi Styx mihi testis erit.

Tolle puer calices, tepidique toreumata Nili.

In the New World they have a world of drinks, for
there is no root, flower, fruit, or pulse, but is reducible
to a potable liquor; as in the Barbadoe Island, the
common drink among the English is mobbi, made of
In Mexico and Peru, which is the great
potato roots.
continent of America, with other parts, it is prohibited
to make wines, under great penalties, for fear of
starving of trade, so that all the wines they have are
sent from Spain.

Now for the pure wine countries. Greece, with all her islands, Italy, Spain, France, one part of four of Germany, Hungary, with divers countries thereabouts, all the islands in the Mediterranean and Atlantic sea, are wine countries.

The most generous wines of Spain grow in the midland parts of the continent, and Saint Martin bears the bell, which is near the court. Now as in Spain, so in all other wine countries, one cannot pass a day's journey but he will find a differing race of wine; those kinds that our merchants carry over are those only that grow upon the sea-side, as malagas, sherries, tents, and alicants: of this last there's little comes over right; therefore the vintners make tent (which is a name for all wines in Spain, except white) to supply the place of it. There is a gentle kind of white wine grows among the mountains of Gallicia, but not of body enough to bear the sea, called Ribadavia. Portugal affords no wines worth the transporting. They have an old stone they call Yef, which they use to throw into their wines, which clarifieth it, and makes it more lasting. There's also a drink in Spain called Alosha, which they drink between meals in hot weather, and 'tis a hydromel made of water and honey; much of them take of our mead. In the court of Spain there's a German or two that brew beer; but for that ancient drink of Spain which Pliny speaks of, composed of flowers, the receipt thereof is utterly lost.

It put me in mind, also, of that which some write of chiefly drunk in England is of Portuguese extraction. The im

* i. e. Coffee.

*This will sound strangely in these days, when the wine portation of wines from Portugal dates from the reign of Charles II.

In Greece there are no wines that have bodies enough to bear the sea for long voyages; some few muscadels and malmsies are brought over in small casks; nor is there in Italy any wine transported to England but in bottles, as Verde and others; for the length of the voyage makes them subject to pricking, and so lose colour, by reason of their delicacy.

carrieth a man to heaven.' If this be true, surely more English go to heaven this way than any other; for I think there's more Canary brought into England than to all the world besides. I think, also, there is a hundred times more drunk under the name of Canary wine than there is brought in; for sherries and malagas, well mingled, pass for canaries in most taverns, more often than Canary itself; else I do not see how 'twere possible for the vintner to save by it, or to live by his calling, unless he were permitted sometimes to

in first among us, they were used to be drunk in aqua vitæ measures, and 'twas held fit only for those to drink who were used to carry their legs in their hands, their eyes upon their noses, and an almanac in their bones; but now they go down every one's throat, both young and old, like milk.

France, participating of the climes of all the countries about her, affords wines of quality accordingly; as, towards the Alps and Italy, she hath a luscious rich wine called Frontiniac. In the country of Provence, to-be a brewer. When sacks and canaries were brought wards the Pyrenees in Languedoc, there are wines congustable with those of Spain: one of the prime sort of white wines is that of Beaume; and of clarets, that of Orleans, though it be interdicted to wine the king's cellar with it, in respect of the corrosiveness it carries with it. As in France, so in all other wine countries, the white is called the female, and the claret or red wine is called the male, because commonly it hath more sulphur, body, and heat in't the wines that our merchants bring over upon the river of Garonne, near Bourdeaux, in Gascony, which is the greatest mart for wines in all France. The Scot, because he hath always been an useful confederate to France against England, hath (among other privileges) right of pre-emption of first choice of wines in Bourdeaux; he is also permitted to carry his ordnance to the very walls of the town, whereas the English are forced to leave them at Blay, a good way down the river. There is a hard green wine, that grows about Rochelle, and the islands thereabouts, which the cunning Hollander sometime used to fetch, and he hath a trick to put a bag of herbs, or some other infusions into it (as he doth brimstone in Rhenish), to give it a whiter tincture, and more sweetness; then they re-embark it for England, where it passeth for good Bachrag, and this is called stooming of wines. In Normandy there's little or no wine at all grows; therefore the common drink of that country is cider, specially in low Normandy. There are also many beer houses in Paris and elsewhere; but though their barley and water be better than ours, or that of Germany, and though they have English and Dutch brewers among them, yet they cannot make beer in that perfection.

The prime wines of Germany grow about the Rhine, specially in the Prolts or lower Palatinate about Bachrag, which hath its etymology from Bachiara; for in ancient times there was an altar erected there to the honour of Bacchus, in regard of the richness of the wines. Here, and all France over, 'tis held a great part of incivility for maidens to drink wine until they are married, as it is in Spain for them to wear high shoes, or to paint, till then. The German mothers, to make their sons fall into a hatred of wine, do use, when they are little, to put some owl's eggs into a cup of Rhenish, and sometimes a little living eel, which, twingling in the wine while the child is drinking, so scares him, that many come to abhor and have an antipathy to wine all their lives after. From Bachrag the first stock of vines which grow now in the grand Canary Island, were brought, which, with the heat of the sun and the soil, is grown now to that height of perfection, that the wines which they afford are accounted the richest, the most firm, the best bodied, and lastingst wine, and the most defecated from all earthly grossness, of any other whatsoever; it hath little or no sulphur at all in't, and leaves less dregs behind, though one drink it to excess. French wines may be said but to pickle meat in the stomachs, but this is the wine that digests, and doth not only breed good blood, but it nutrifieth also, being a glutinous substantial liquor: of this wine, if of any other, may be verified that merry induction, That good wine makes good blood, good blood causeth good humours, good humours cause good thoughts, good thoughts bring forth good works, good works carry a man to heaven-ergo, good wine

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The countries that are freest from excess of drinking are Spain and Italy. If a woman can prove her husband to have been thrice drunk, by the ancient laws of Spain she may plead for a divorce from him. Nor indeed can the Spaniard, being hot-brained, bear much drink, yet I have heard that Gondamar was once too hard for the king of Denmark, when he was here in England. But the Spanish soldiers that have been in the wars of Flanders will take their cups freely, and the Italians also. When I lived 'tother side the Alps, a gentleman told me a merry tale of a Ligurian¦ soldier, who had got drunk in Genoa; and Prince Doria going a-horseback to walk the round one night, the soldier took his horse by the bridle, and asked what the price of him was, for he wanted a horse. The prince, seeing in what humour he was, caused him to be taken into a house and put to sleep. In the morning he sent for him, and asked him what he would give for his horse. Sir,' said the recovered soldier, the merchant that would have bought him last night of your highness, went away betimes in the morning.' The boonest companions for drinking are the Greeks and Germans; but the Greek is the mer riest of the two, for he will sing, and dance, and kiss his next companions; but the other will drink as deep as he. If the Greek will drink as many glasses as there be letters in his mistress's name, the other will drink the number of his years; and though he be not apt to break out in singing, being not of so airy a constitution, yet he will drink often musically a health to every one of these six notes, ut, re, mi, fa, sol, la; which, with this reason, are all comprehended in this hexameter :

.

Ut relivet miserum fatum solitosque labores.

The fewest draughts he drinks are three-the first to quench the thirst past, the second to quench the present thirst, the third to prevent the future. I heard of a company of Low Dutchmen that had drunk so deep, that, beginning to stagger, and their heads turning round, they thought verily they were at sea, and that the upper chamber where they were was a ship, insomuch that, it being foul windy weather, they fell to throw the stools and other things out of the window, to lighten the vessel, for fear of suffering shipwreck.

Thus have I sent your lordship a dry discourse upon a fluent subject; yet I hope your lordship will please to take all in good part, because it proceeds from your most humble and ready servitor, J. H.

Westmin. 7. Octob. 1634.

From another of Howell's works, entitled Instruetions for Foreign Travel, published in 1642, and which, like his letters, contains many acute and humorous observations on men and things, we extract the fol lowing passage on the

[Tales of Travellers.]

Others have a custom to be always relating strange things and wonders (of the humour of Sir John Man

deville), and they usually present them to the hearers through multiplying-glasses, and thereby cause the thing to appear far greater than it is in itself; they make mountains of mole-hills, like Charenton-BridgeEcho, which doubles the sound nine times. Such a traveller was he that reported the Indian fly to be as big as a fox; China birds to be as big as some horses, and their mice to be as big as monkeys; but they have the wit to fetch this far enough off, because the hearer may rather believe it than make a voyage so far to disprove it.

Every one knows the tale of him who reported he had seen a cabbage, under whose leaves a regiment of goldiers were sheltered from a shower of rain. Another, who was no traveller (yet the wiser man), said, he had passed by a place where there were 400 braziers making of a cauldron-200 within, and 200 without, beating the nails in; the traveller asking for what use that huge cauldron was? he told him-Sir, it was to boil your cabbage.'

Such another was the Spanish traveller, who was so habituated to hyperbolise, and relate wonders, that he became ridiculous in all companies, so that he was forced at last to give order to his man, when he fell into any excess this way, and report anything improbable, he should pull him by the sleeve. The master falling into his wonted hyperboles, spoke of a church in China that was ten thousand yards long; his man, standing behind, and pulling him by the sleeve, made him stop suddenly. The company ask'ing, I pray, sir, how broad might that church be?' he replied, But a yard broad, and you may thank my man for pulling me by the sleeve, else I had made it foursquare for you.'

SIR THOMAS HERBERT.

*

[Description of St Helena.]

St Helena was so denominated by Juan de Nova, the Portugal, in regard he first discovered it on that saint's day. It is doubtful whether it adhere to America or Afric, the vast ocean bellowing on both sides, and almost equally; yet I imagine she inclines more to Afer than Vespusius. Tis in circuit thirty English miles, of that ascent and height that 'tis often enveloped with clouds, from whom she receives moisture to fatten her; and as the land is very high, so the sca at the brink of this isle is excessive deep, and the ascent so immediate, that though the sea beat fiercely on her, yet can no ebb nor flow be well perceived there.

The water is sweet above, but, running down and participating with the salt hills, tastes brackish at his fall into the valleys, which are but two, and those very small, having their appellations from a lemon-tree above, and a ruined chapel placed beneath, built by the Spaniard, and dilapidated by the Dutch. There has been a village about it, lately depopulated from her inhabitants by cominand from the Spanish king; for that it became an unlawful magazine of seamen's treasure, in turning and returning out of both the Indies, whereby he lost both tribute and prerogative in apparent measure.

Monuments of antique beings nor other rarities can be found here. You see all, if you view the ribs of an old carrick, and some broken pieces of her ordnance left there against the owner's good will or approbation. Goats and hogs are the now dwellers, who multiply in great abundance, and (though unwillingly) afford themselves to hungry and sea-beaten passengers. It has store of patridge and guinea-hens, all which were brought thither by the honest Portugal, who now dare neither anchor there, nor own their labours, lest the English or Flemings question them.

The isle is very even and delightful above, and gives a large prospect into the ocean. "Tis a saying with the seamen, a man there has his choice, whether he will break his heart going up, or his neck coming down; either wish bestowing more jocundity than

comfort.

WILLIAM CAMDEN.

The only other traveller of much note at this time was SIR THOMAS HERBERT, who in 1626 set out on a journey to the east, and, after his return, published, in 1634, A Relation of some Years' Travels into Africa and the Greater Asia, especially the Territory of the Persian Monarchy, and some parts of the Oriental Indies and Isles adjacent. According to the judgment of the author of the Catalogue in Churchill's Collection, these travels have deservedly had a great reputation, being the best We now turn to a circle of laborious writers, who account of those parts written [before the end exerted themselves in the age of Elizabeth to disof the seventeenth century] by any Englishman, cover and preserve the remains of antiquity which and not inferior to the best of foreigners; what is had come down to their times. Among these, the peculiar in them is, the excellent description of all leading place is unquestionably due to WILLIAM antiquities, the curious remarks on them, and the CAMDEN, who, besides being eminent as an antiquary, extraordinary accidents that often occur.' This claims to be considered likewise as one of the best eulogy seems too high; at least we have found the historians of his age. Camden was born in London author's accounts of the places which he visited far in 1551, and received his education first at Christ's too meagre to be relished by modern taste. A brief hospital and St Paul's school, and afterwards at extract from the work is given below. In the civil Oxford. In 1575 he became second master of Westwars of England, Herbert sided with the parliament, minster school; and while performing the duties of and, when the king was required to dismiss his own this office, devoted his leisure hours to the study of servants, was chosen by his majesty one of the the antiquities of Britain-a subject to which, from grooms of the bed-chamber. Herbert then became his earliest years, he had been strongly inclined. much attached to the king, served him with much That he might personally examine ancient remains, zeal and assiduity, and was on the scaffold when the he travelled, in 1582, through some of the eastern ill-fated monarch was brought to the block. After and northern counties of England; and the fruits of the Restoration, he was rewarded by Charles II. his researches appeared in his most celebrated work, with a baronetcy, and subsequently devoted much written in Latin, with a title signifying, Britain; time to literary pursuits. In 1678 he wrote Thren- or a Chorographical Description of the Most Flourishing odia Carolina, containing an Historical Account of the Kingdom of England, Scotland, Ireland, and the AdjaTwo Last Years of the Life of King Charles I. This cent Islands, from Remote Antiquity. This was pubwas reprinted in a collection of Memoirs of the Two lished in 1586, and immediately brought him into Last Years of that Unparalleled Prince, of Ever-high repute as an antiquary and man of learning. blessed Memory, King Charles I.,' published in 1702. Sir Thomas Herbert died in 1682.

* Vol. i. p. 21.

Anxious to improve and enlarge it, he journied at several times into different parts of the country, examining archives and relics of antiquity, and collecting, with indefatigable industry, whatever infor

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