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• Wars, excepting a Turkish Sword, and their Bodies only covered with a white Linen Cloth: And for the • greatest Curse they could invent, when they were angry, this was always in their Mouths, Curfed be thou, as he that always arms himself for fear of Death.' This is a Teftimony of Faith very much beyond ours. And of this fort is that alfo which two Friars of Florence gave in our Fathers Days ". Being engaged in fome Controverfy of Learning, they agreed each to undergo a fiery Trial, for the Verification of his Argument, in Prefence of all the People, and in the public Square; and all Things were already prepared, and just upon the Point of Execution, when it was interrupted by an unexpected Accident.

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To what Proof

two Friars of

Florence were for submitting their different Opinions.

A young Turk, that had a Hare to teach bim Courage.

A young Turkish Lord, having performed a notable Exploit, in his own Perfon, in the Sight of both Armies, that of Amurath, and that of Hunniades, ready to join Battle, being afked by Amurath, who it was, that, in so tender and unexperienced Years, (for it was his firft Sally into Arms) had infpired him with a fo noble a Courage, replied, That his chief Tutor, for Valour, was a Hare: For being, faid he, one Day a hunting, I found a Hare fitting, and, though I had a Brace of excellent Grey⚫ hounds with me, yet, methought, it would be best, for Sureness, to make Ufe of my Bow, for fhe fat very fair. • I then let fly my Arrows, and shot forty that I had in my Quiver, not only without hurting, but without ftarting her from her Form: At laft I flipped my Dogs after her, but to no more Purpose than I had thot: By ⚫ which I understood, that she had been secured by her Destiny; and that neither Darts nor Swords can wound without the Permiflion of Fate, which we can neither haften, nor put back.' This Story may ferve, by the way, to let us fee how flexible our Reafon is to all forts of Images.

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A Perfonage advanced in Years, Name, Dignity, and Learning, boafted to me, that he had been induced to a

Memoirs of Philip de Comines, lib. viii. c. 19.

certain

certain very important Change in his Faith, by a strange, whimfical Incitation, and alfo fo very abfurd, that I thought it much stronger, being taken the contrary Way : He called it a Miracle, I look upon it quite otherwise. The Turkish Hiftorians fay, That the Perfuafion, rooted in thofe of their Nation, of the fatal and • unalterable Prescription of their Days, does manifeftly conduce to the giving them great • Affurance in Dangers; and I know a great Prince, who makes very fuccessful Ufe of it; whether it be, that he does really believe it, or that he makes it his Excufe for fo wonderfully hazarding himself, provided Fortune be not too foon weary of her Favour to him.

The common Foundation of the Courage of the Turks.

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There has not happened, in our Memory, a more ad Affaffination of mirable Effect of Refolution, than in thofe the Prince of two who confpired the Death of the Prince Orange. of Orange *. 'Tis to be wondered, how the fecond, that executed it, could ever be animated to an Attempt, wherein his Companion, who had done his utmoft, had had fo ill Succefs; and, after the fame Method, and with the fame Arms, to go and attack a Nobleman, armed with fo fresh a Handle for Diftruft, powerful in Followers, and of bodily Strength, in his own Hall, amidst his Guards, and in a City wholly at his Devotion. He, doubtless, imployed a very refolute Arm, and Courage inflamed with a furious Paffion: A Dagger is furer for triking home, but by reason that more Motion, and a ftronger Arm is required, than with a Pistol, the Blow is more fubject to be put by, or hindered. That this Man ran upon certain Death, I make no great Doubt; for the Hopes any one could flatter him withal, could not find Place in any calm Mind, and the Conduct of his Exploit does fufficiently manifeft, that he had no Want of that, any more than Courage. The Motives of fo power ́ful a Perfuafion may be diverfe, for our Fancy does what it will, both with itself and us.

The Duke of
Guife.

The Execution that was done near Orleans, was nothing like this; there was in that more of Chance than Vigour, the Wound was not

* The Founder of the Republic of Holland.

mortal,

mortal, if Fortune had not made it fo; and to attempt to fhoot on Horseback, and at a great Distance, and at one whofe Body was in Motion by the moving of his Horse, was the Attempt of a Man who had rather miss his Blow, than fail of faving himself, as was apparent by what followed after; for he was so astonished and stupified with the Thought of fo defperate an Execution, that he totally lost his Judgment, both to find his Way to escape, and how to govern his Tongue in his Anfwers. What needed he to have done more than to fly back to his Friends cross a River? 'Tis what I have done in lefs Dangers, and what I think of very little Hazard, how broad foever the River may be, provided your Horfe have good going in, and that you fee, on the other Side, good landing, according to the Stream. The other, (viz. the Prince of Orange's Affaffin) when they pronounced his dreadful Sentence: I was prepared for this, faid he, beforehand, and I will • make you wonder at my Patience.'

A People who believe Affaination the fu

reft Path to Paradife.

The Affaffins, a Nation dependant upon Phenicia, are reputed, amongst the Mahometans, a People of great Devotion, and Purity of Manners. They hold, That the nearest Way to gain Paradife, is to kill fome one of a contrary Religion; which is the Reason they have often been seen, being but one or two, without Arms, to run madly against powerful Enemies, at the Price of certain Death, and without any Confideration of their own Danger. So was our Count Raimond, of Tripoli, affaffinated (which Word is derived from their Name) in the Heart of his City, during our Enterprises of the Holy War; and likewife Conrade, Marquis of Montferrat, the Murderers going to their Exetion with great Pride and Glory, that they had performed fo brave an Exploit.

VOL. II.

L1

CHAP.

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I

CHA P. XXX.

Of a monftrous CHILD.

SHALL tell the Story fimply, and leave it to the Physicians to reafon upon it. Two Days ago, I faw a Child, which two Men and a Nurfe, who called themfelves the Father, the Uncle, and the Aunt of it, carried about to get Money by fhewing it, because it was fo ftrange a Creature. It was, as to all the reft, of a common Form, and could ftand upon its Feet, walk and gabble much like other Children of the fame Age; it had never, as yet, taken any other Nourishment but from the Nurfe's Breafts, and what, in my Prefence, they tried to put into the Mouth of it, it only chewed a little, and spit out again without fwallowing; the Cry of it feemed, indeed, a little odd and particular, and it was just fourteen Months old. Under the Breaft it was joined to another Child, that had no Head, and that had the Spine of the Back stopped up, the reft intire; it had one Arm shorter than the other, because it had been broken, by Accident, at their Birth; they were joined Breast to Breaft, as if a leffer Child was to clafp its Arms about the Neck of one fomething bigger. The Part where they were joined together, was not above four Fingers broad, or thereabouts, to that if you turn up the imperfect Child, you might fee the Navel of the other below it, and the joining was betwixt the Paps and the Navel. The Navel of the imperfect Child could not be seen, but all the reft of the Belly; fo that all the reft that was not joined of the imperfect one, as Arms, Buttocks, Thighs, and Legs, hung dangling upon the other, and might reach to the Mid-leg. The Nurfe, moreover, told us, that it urined at both Bodies, and alfo that the Members of the other were nourifhed, fenfible, and in the fame Plight with that she gave fuck to, excepting that they were shorter, and lefs. This double Body, and the feveral Limbs relating to one Head, might be interpreted as a favourable Prognoftic to the

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King,

King, of maintaining those various Parts of our State under the Union of his Laws; but, left the Event should prove otherwise, 'tis better to let it alone, for in Things already paft, there is no Divination; Ut quum facta funt, tum ad conjecturam aliqua interpretatione revocantur. • So

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A Man who had no Geni

Whether there are Monsters properly fo

called.

as when they are come to pafs, they fhould then, by • fome Interpretation, be recalled to conjecture: As 'tis faid of Epimenides, that he always prophefied of Things past I have lately feen a Herdfman, in Medoc, of about thirty Years of Age, who has no Sign of any genital Parts; he has three Holes by which he inceffantly voids his Water; he is tals. Bearded, has Defire, and loves to ftroke the Women. Those that we call Monsters, are not fo to God, who fees, in the Immenfity of his Work, the infinite Forms that he has therein comprehended: And it is to be believed, that this Figure, which does astonish us, has relation to fome other of the fame kind, unknown to Man. From a God of all Wisdom, nothing but good, common, and regular proceeds; but we do not difcern the Difpofition and Relation of Things. Quod crebro videt, non miratur, etiamfi, cur fiat, nefcit: Quod antè non videt, id, fi evenerit, oftentum effe cenfet. What Man often fees, he does not admire, tho' he be ignorant how it comes to pass: But, when a Thing happens he never faw before, that he looks upon as a Prodigy.' What falls out contrary to Custom, we fay is contrary to Nature; but nothing, whatever it be, is contrary to her. Let, therefore, this universal and natural Reason expel the Error and Astonishment from us, that Novelty brings along with it.

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y Cic. de Divin. lib. ii. c. 31. a Cic. de Divin. lib. ii. c. 22.

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