Chapter XXII: French

Ce qui vivra & n’aura aucun sens,
Viendra le Fer a mort son artifice,
_Autun_, _Chalons_, _Langres_ & les deux _Sens_,
La Guerre & la Glasse fera grand malefice.

English.

That which shall live, and shall have no sence,
The Lion shall destroy the art of it,
_Autun_, _Chalons_, _Langres_, and both _Sens_,
The War and the Ice shall do great harm.

ANNOT.

This is a great Riddle, which was never found out till now; and had I not been born in the Countrey where the History did happen, it might have been unknown to this day, and buried in oblivion.

[Sidenote: _The History of a λιθοπαίδιον or petrified child_.]

In the year of the Lord 1613. which was that of my Birth. There was in the Town of _Sens_ a Taylors Wife named _Columba Chatry_, who presently after her marriage conceived, and for the space of 28. years persuaded her self to be with Child, had all the signs of it in the beginning of her impregnation, and having gone her compleat time, she begun to feel the pains of a woman in Labour, with great gripings in the Guts. The Urine was suppressed for a while, but at last it broke out with a strong current. This quantity of water not coming so much out of the Bladder as was supposed, as from the womb, by the breaking of the Membrane, called _Amnion_, seeing that with those serous excrements, she avoided some conjealed blood. After that her breast begun to fall, and the Child had little or no motion, her pains being less than they were, which caused no small admiration to the Midwifes, who expected a safe deliverance. For the space of three years after, this woman kept her Bed, and was brought to Deaths door, complaining of gripings and a hard swelling, which she desired all the Physitians and Chyrurgeons to feel, having lost all appetite, but that little which she recovered by the use of sharp things, as Verjuice, Lemmons, _&c._ she was wont to say to her Neighbours, that she bare a Child that should be the cause of her death. After she was dead, her Husband got two experienced Chyrurgeons to open her body, who having opened the belly, and taken away the _Peritonæum_, saw the Womb of several colours, as the flesh that is about the head and neck of a Turky-cock, but as it were of a Horny substance. They begun to make an incision in it with a Rasour, but finding it resisted the edge, they begun to use their Incision knives with all their strength; at last one of them by chance hit the Scull, and after that some Ribs, and then the Shoulder bone, by which, knowing that there was bones contained in that lump, with greater strength they made a deeper incision, and having parted the edges of the womb, saw in the bottom of the womb a Child, wrapped in the membrane, called _Allantoides_; at which the Chyrugeons wondering, sent for the Physitians to have their opinion in a thing that is almost beyond belief; in the mean time people flocking thither from all parts, and troubling the Chyrurgeons in their operation; they thought good to take away with their Instruments all that Lump, as a Tree from its Roots, and to carry it home, that they might with more time and leasure examine the whole Anatomy of it. In that hasty pulling out of the Child, they had no time to observe what Chorion it had, what umbilical Vessels, and what connexion there was of the Allantoides with the Womb, and with the Child, chiefly about the right hip, the Buttocks, and the Back-bone being all grown solid together.

The scituation of the Child was almost _Spherical_, the face leaning upon the breast, and the Nostrils upon the Knees; the bones of the Head were but thin, but very hard, and shining like Horn; the skin of the Head was hairy in many places; the head did hang so much upon the left arm, that the Ear, and part of the skull had given way to the Shoulder-bone; the Elbow was bent towards the Shoulder stretching only his hand, which was so close shut, and the fingers sticking so fast to the Palm of it, that although they did appear distinct one from another, nevertheless it was all but one and the same stone; the right arm did stretch its hand towards the Navel, which unadvisedly was broken by the wrist, and left in the Mothers Belly; the left Thigh, Knee and Leg were on the top of the right ones, with which they were so entangled, that the left heel, and the sole of the foot were planted upon the right foot, who seemed to have given place to them, and were almost inseparably joyned; for all such hardness of the matter, the body was not less than that of other Children of the same age, but kept a perfect fulness and proportion all the internal parts, as the Brains, the Heart, the Liver, had their natural shape, and were not altogether so hard as the external parts, so that to this very day this little body defieth all kind of corruption.

This Child was kept in my time by one Mr. _Michel_ a Chirurgion of _Sens_, who kindly shewed it to all the strangers that came far and near to see it. The Fame of it was so great, that Doctor _Mayerne_ coming from _Switzerland_ to _England_, took his way through _Sens_ to see it, and would have perswaded King _Charles_ I. to buy it, as himself told me; since that I hear it was fallen into the hands of the _Venetians_. In this History there is two observable wonders. One, that the Child dying in the Womb, did not corrupt, and so cause the death of its Mother. The other, by what vertue or power of the body this child was petrified, seeing that the Womb is a hot and moist place, and therefore more subject to putrifaction. Those that will satisfie themselves with the reasons of it, and the truth of the History, may read _Johannes Alibosius_ Physician of _Sens_, who was an eye witness of it, and _Sennertus_ in his book of Sympt. _quam feminis in utero accidant_.

Now this accident being so rare, and without parallel, our Author thought fit to foretel it, and to cover it in abscure tearms, that he might not appear ridiculous in so admirable an event. When therefore he saith, _That which shall live and shall have no Sense_, he meaneth this λιθοπαίδιον or child petrified, which had a Life while it was in the Mothers belly, being tied to it by the several Vessels and connexions, known to Anatomists, and yet was senseless in that it was petrified. When in the second verse he saith, _The Iron shall destroy the art of it_, he meaneth that it should be spoiled by the rasour, in the two last verses he saith, that the Towns of _Autun_, _Chalons_, _Langres_, and _Sens_ the Town in which this did happen should that same year suffer much damage by Hail and Ice, which did come to pass, as many persons may justify in that Countrey, that are alive to this day.

XXIII.

French.

Au mois troisiesme se levant le Soleil,
Sanglier, Leopard, aux champs _Mars_ pour combatre,
Leopard lassé au Ciel esttend son œil,
Un Aigle autour du Soleil voit sesbatre.

English.

In the third month at the rising of the Sun,
The Boar and Leopard in _Marth_ camp to fight;
The Leopard weary, lift his eyes to Haven,
And seeth an Eagle playing about the Sun.

ANNOT.

This signifieth a particular accident, _viz._ that in the third Month, which is that of _March_, at the rising of the _Sun_, the _Boar_ and the _Leopard_, that is, two persons of quality hidden under these names, shall go into the fields to fight a Duel. The _Leopard_ one of them being weary, shall lift up his eyes to Heaven, calling upon God, and thereupon shall see an _Eagle_ playing about the _Sun_, that is, shall get the Victory, of which the _Eagle_ is the Emblem.

XXIV.

French.

A Cité nevue pensif pour condamner,
Loisel de proie au ciel se vient offrir,
Apres Victoire a Captifs pardonner
_Cremone_ & _Mantoue_ grands maux auront souffert.

English.

In the new City for to condemn a Prisoner,
The Bird of pray shall offer himself to Heaven,
After the Victory, the Prisoners shall be forgiven,
After _Cremona_ and _Mantua_ have suffered many troubles.

ANNOT.

This name of new City is appropriated to several ones in every Countrey. The _French_ have many _Villeneufuas_, the Germans many _Newstads_, the _Italians_ and _Spaniards_ many _Villanovas_, so that it is hard to guess which of them the Author meaneth. The missing of this dore makes the rest of the Prophecie so obscure, that I had rather leave it to the liberty of the Reader, than to pretend a true explication of it. I shall only say, that _Cremona_ and _Mantua_ are two famous Towns in _Italy_, which are here threatned.

XXV.

French.

Perdu, trouvé, caché de si long siecle
Sera Pasteur demy-Dieu honoré,
Ains que la Lune acheve son grand Siecle,
Par autre vents sera deshonoré.

English.

Lost, found again, hidden so great a while,
A Pastor as Deme-God shall be honoured;
But before the Moon endeth her great Age,
By other winds he shall be dishonoured.

ANNOT.

The Prophecie is concerning the body of a famous Churchman, which was lost, and shall be found again, and worshiped as a _Demy-God_, but before the _Moon_ hath run her great age, which is of 13 Months, it shall be vilified and dishonoured.

XXVI.

French.

Le grand du Foudre tombe d’heure diurne,
Mal & predit par Porteur populaire,
Suivant presage tombe d’heure nocturne,
Conflit _Rheims_, _Londres_, _Etrusque_ Pestifere.

English.

The great Man falleth by the Lightning in the day time,
An evil foretold by a common Porter;
According to this foretelling another falleth in the night,
A fight at _Rhemes_, and the Plague at _London_ and _Tuscany_.

ANNOT.

This is concerning some great man, who being premonished by a common Carrier not to travel upon a certain day, did slight the advice, and was strucken by Lightning in the day time, and another in the night; at the same time there was a fight at _Rhemes_, and the Plague at _London_ and in _Tuscany_, which in Latin is called _Etruria_.

XXVII.

French.

Des soubs le Chesne _Guyen_ du Ciel frappé,
Non loin de la est caché le Thresor,
Qui par long Siecles avoit esté grappé,
Trouvé mourra, l’œil crevé de ressor.

English.

Under the Oak _Guyen_ strucken from Heaven,
Not far from it is the Treasure hidden,
Which hath been many Ages a gathering;
Being found he shall die, the eye put out by a spring.

ANNOT.

The sense of it is, that some body (who is named here _Guyen_) being under an Oak shall be strucken with the lightning, and that near that place there is a great Treasure, that hath been many years a gathering, and that he who shall find it shall die, being shot in the eye with a Fire-lock.

XXVIII.

French.

La Tour de _Bouk_ craindra fuste Barbare,
Un temps, long temps apres Barque _Hesperique_,
Bestial, gens meubles tous deux feront grand tare,
_Taurus_ & _Libra_, quelle mortelle pique?

English.

The Tower of _Bouk_ shall be in fear of a Barbarian Fleet,
For a while, and long after afraid of _Spanish_ shipping,
Flocks, peoples, goods both shall receive great damage,
_Taurus_ and _Libra_, O what a deadly feud.

ANNOT.

The Tower of _Bouk_ is a strong place seated by the _Rhosne_, where it entereth into the Mediterranean Sea; it is said here that it shall be in fear of a Barbarian Fleet, and after that of a _Spanish_ one, and that both the _Spaniard_ and the _French_ shall have great losses in Cattle, People and Goods, and this shall happen when the Sun shall be in the Signs of _Taurus_ and _Libra_.

XXIX.

French.

Quand le Poisson, Terrestre & _Aquatique_,
Par forte vague an gravier sera mis,
Sa forme estrange suave & horrifique,
Par Mer aux murs bien tost les Enemies.

English.

When the Fish that is both Terrestrial and Aquatick,
By a strong Wave shall be cast upon the Sand,
With his strange fearful sweet horrid form,
Soon after the enemies will come near to the Walls by Sea.

ANNOT.

This signifieth no more but that after, a Fish, Terrestrial and Aquatick, that is which, liveth in Land and Water, called by the Greeks αμφίβιον, shall be cast upon the Sand by a storm, then a little while after, that Town which lieth near to that place where the Fish was cast, shall be Besieged by her Enemies, who shall come by Sea.

XXX.

French.

La Nef estrange par le tourment Marin,
Abordera pres le Port incognu,
Nonobstant signs du rameau palmerin,
Apres mort, pille, bon advis tard venu.

English.

The Outlandish Ship by a Sea storm,
Shall come near the unknown Haven,
Notwitstanding the signs given to it with Bows,
It shall die, be plundered, a good advice come too late.

ANNOT.

It is a Forrein Ship which by a storm shall be driven to an unknown Harbour, and notwithstanding the signs that shall be made to it with Branches, by those that are upon the Land to beware of the entrance of the Harbour, it shall be cast away, and plundered; thus a good advice shall come too late.

XXXI.

French.

Tant d’ans les guerres, en _Gaule_ dureront,
Outre la course du _Castulon_ Monarque,
Victoire incerte trois grands couroneront,
Aigle, Coq, Lune, Lion Soleil en marque.

English.

So many years the Wars shall last in _France_,
Beyond the course of the _Castulon_ Monarque,
An uncertain Victory three great ones shall Crown,
The Eagle, the Cock, the Moon, the Lion having the Sun in its mark.

ANNOT.

That is, the Wars shall last so long in _France_ after the death of one King of _Spain_, till three great ones shall challenge an uncertain Victory, these three great ones are the Emperour designed by the Aigle, the King of _France_ by the Cock, and the _Turk_ by the Moon, and this shall happen when the Sun is in the sign of the Lion. I suppose that came to pass in the time of _Charles_ the V. _Henry_ the II. and _Soliman_. For the _Turk_ had no great odds upon the Emperour, nor he upon the King of _France_.