SIR,

ITH many thanks I return that noble Catalogue of Books, Rarities and Singularities of Art and Nature, which you were pleased to communicate unto me. There are many Collections of this kind in Europe. And, besides the printed accounts of the Musæum Aldrovandi, Calceolarianum, Moscardi, Wormianum; the Casa Abbellita at Loretto, and Threasor of S. Dennis, the Repository of the Duke of Tuscany, that of the Duke of Saxony, and that noble one of the Emperour at Vienna, and many more are of singular note. Of what in this kind I have by me I shall make no repetition, and you having already had a view thereof, I am bold to present you with the List of a Collection, which I may justly say you have not seen before.

The Title is, as above,

Musæum Clausum, or Bibliotheca Abscondita: containing some remarkable Books, Antiquities, Pictures and Rarities of several kinds, scarce or never seen by any man now living.

I. Rare and generally unknown
Books.²

A Poem of Ovidius Naso, written in the Getick Language,³ during his exile at Tomos, found wrapt up in Wax at Sabaria, on the Frontiers of Hungary, where there remains a tradition that he died, in his return towards Rome from Tomos, either after his pardon or the death of Augustus.

2. The Letter of Quintus Cicero, which he wrote in answer to that of his Brother Marcus Tullius, desiring of him an account of Britany, wherein are deescribed the Contry, State and Manners of the Britains of that Age.⁴

3. An Ancient British herbal, or description of divers Plants of this Island, observed by that famous Physician Scribonius Largus, whhen he attended the Emperour Claudius in his Expedition into Britany.⁵

An exact account of the Life and Death of Avicenna⁶ confirming the account of his Death by taking nine Clysters together in a fit of the Colick; and not as Marius the Italian Poet delivereth, by being broken upon the Wheel; left with other Pieces by Benjamin Tudelensis, as he travelled from Saragossa to Jerusalem, in the hands of Abraham Jarchi, a famous Rabbi of Lunet near Montpelier, and found in a Vault when the Walls of that City were demolished by Lewis the Thirteenth.⁷

5. A punctual relation of Hannibal's march out of Spain into Italy, and far more particular than that of Livy, where about he passed the River Rhodanus or Rhosne; at what place he crossed the Isura or L'isere; when he marched up toward the confluence of the Sone and the Rhone, or the place where the City Lyons was afterward built; how wisely he decided the difference between King Brancus and his Brother, at what place he passed the Alpes, what Vinegar he used, and where he obtained such quantity to break and calcine the Rocks made hot with Fire.⁸

6. A learned Comment upon the Periplus of Hanno the Carthaginian, or his Navigation upon the Western Coast of Africa, with the several places he landed at; what Colonies he settled, what Ships were scattered from his Fleet near the Æquinoctial Line, which were not afterward heard of, and which probably fell into the Trade Winds, and were carried over into the Coast of America.⁹

7. A particular Narration of that famous Expedition of the English into Barbary in the ninety fourth year of the Hegira, so shortly touched by Leo Africanus, whither called by the Goths they besieged, took and burnt the City of Arzilla possessed by the Mahometans, and lately the seat of Gayland; with many other exploits delivered at large in Arabick, lost in the Ship of Books and Rarities which the King of Spain took from Siddy Hamet the King of Fez, whereof a great part were carried into the Escurial, and conceived to be gathered out of the relations of Hibnu Nachu, the best Historian of the African Affairs.

8. A Fragment of Pythæas that ancient Traveller of Marseille; which we suspect not to be spurious, because, in the description of the Northern Countries, we find that passage of Pythæas mentioned by Strabo, that all the Air beyond Thule is thick, condensed and gellied, looking just like Sea Lungs.

9. A Sub Marine Herbal, describing the several Vegetables found on the Rocks, Hills, Valleys, Meadows at the bottom of the Sea, with many sorts of Alga, Fucus, Quercus, Polygonum, Gramens and others not yet described.

10. Some Manuscripts and Rarities brought from the Libraries of Æthiopia, by Zaga Zaba, and afterward transported to Rome, and scattered by the Souldiers of the Duke of Bourbon, when they barbarously sacked that City.

11. Some pieces of Julius Scaliger, which he complains to have been stoln from him, sold to the Bishop of Mende in Languedock, and afterward taken away and sold in the Civil Wars under the Duke of Rohan.

12. A Comment of Dioscorides upon Hyppocrates, procured from Constantinople by Amatus Lusitanus, and left in the hands of a Jew of Ragusa.

13. Marcus Tullius Cicero his Geography; as also a part of that magnified Piece of his De Republica, very little answering the great expectation of it, and short of Pieces under the same name by Bodinus and Tholosanus.

14. King Mithridates his Oneirocritica.
Aristotle de Precationibus.
Democritus de his quæ fiunt apud Orcum, & Oceani circumnavigatio.
[A defence of Arnoldus de Villa Nova, whom the learned Postellus conceived to be the author of De Tribus Impostoribus.]
Epicurus de Pietate.
A Tragedy of Thyestes, and another of Medea, writ by Diogenes the Cynick.
King Alfred upon Aristotle de Plantis.
Seneca's Epistles to S. Paul.
King Solomon de Umbris Idæarum, which Chicus Asculanus, in his Comment upon Johannes de Sacrobosco, would make us believe he saw in the Library of the Duke of Bavaria.¹⁰

15. Artemidori Oneirocritici Geographia.
Pythagoras de Mari Rubro.
The Works of Confutius the famous Philosopher of China, translated into Spanish.

16. Josephus in Hebrew, written by himself.

17. The Commentaries of Sylla the Dictatour.

18. A Commentary of Galen upon the Plague of Athens described by Thucydides.

19. Duo Cæsaris Anti-Catones, or the two notable Books written by Julius Cæsar against Cato; mentioned by Livy, Salustius and Juvenal; which the Cardinal of Liege told Ludovicus Vives were in an old Library of that City.
Mazhapha Einok, or, the Prophecy of Enoch, which Ægidius Lochiensis, a learned Eastern Traveller, told Peireschius that he had found in an old Library at Alexandria containing eight thousand Volumes.¹¹

20. A Collection of Hebrew Epistles, which passed between the two learned Women of our age Maria Molinea of Sedan, and Maria Schurman of Utrecht.¹²
A wondrous Collection of some Writings of Ludovica Saracenica, Daughter of Philibertus Saracenicus a Physician of Lyons, who at eight years of age had made a good progress in the Hebrew, Greek and Latin Tongues.

2. Rarities in Pictures.

1. A Picture of the three remarkable Steeples or Towers in Europe built purposely awry and so as they seem falling. Torre Pisana at Pisa, Torre Garisenda in Bononia, and that other in the City of Colein.

2. A Draught of all sorts of Sistrums, Crotaloes, Cymbals, Tympans, &c. in use among the Ancients.¹³

3. Large Submarine Pieces, well delineating the bottom of the Mediterranean Sea, the Prerie or large Sea-meadow upon the Coast of Provence, the Coral Fishing, the gathering of Sponges, the Mountains, Valleys and Desarts, the Subterraneous Vents and Passages at the bottom of that Sea ; the passage of Kircherus in his Iter Submarinus when he went down about Egypt, and rose again in the Red Sea. Together with a lively Draught of Cola Pesce, or the famous Sicilian Swimmer, diving into the Voragos and broken Rocks by Charybdis, to fetch up the golden Cup, which Frederick, King of Sicily, had purposely thrown into that Sea.¹⁴

4. A Moon Piece, describing that notable Battel between Axalla, General of Tamerlane, and Camares the Persian, fought by the light of the Moon.

5. Another remarkable Fight of Inghimmi the Florentine with the Turkish Galleys by Moon-light, who, being for three hours grappled with the Basha Gallery, concluded with a signal Victory.

6. A delineation of the great Fair of Almachara in Arabia, which, to avoid the great heat of the Sun, is kept in the Night, and by the light of the Moon.

7. A Snow Piece, of Land and Trees covered with Snow and Ice, and Mountains of Ice floating in the Sea, with Bears, Seals, Foxes, and variety of rare Fowls upon them.

8. An Ice Piece describing the notable Battel between the Jaziges and the Romans, fought upon the frozen Danubius, the Romans settling one foot upon their Targets to hinder them from slipping, their fighting with the Jaziges when they were fallen, and their advantages therein by their art in volutation and rolling contention or wrastling, according to the description of Dion.

9. Socia, or a Draught of three persons notably resembling each other. Of King Henry the Fourth of France, and a Miller of Languedock; of Sforza Duke of Milain and a Souldier; of Malatesta Duke of Rimini and Marchesinus the Jester.¹⁵

10. A Picture of the great Fire which happened at Constantinople in the Reign of Sultan Achmet. The Janizaries in the mean time plundring the best Houses, Nassa Bassa the Vizier riding about with a Cimetre in one hand and a Janizary's Head in the other to deter them; and the Priests attempting to quench the Fire, by pieces of Mahomet's Shirt dipped in holy Water and thrown into it.¹⁶

11. A Night Piece of the dismal Supper and strange Entertain of the Senatours by Domitian, according to the description of Dion.¹⁷

12. A Vestal Sinner in the Cave with a Table and a Candle.¹⁸

13. An Elephant dancing upon the Ropes with a Negro Dwarf upon his Back.¹⁹

14. Another describing the mighty Stone falling from the Clouds into Ægospotamos or the Goats River in Greece, which Antiquity could believe that Anaxagoras was able to foretell half a year before.²⁰

15. Three noble Pieces; of Vercingetorix the Gaul submitting his person unto Julius Cæsar; of Tigranes King of Armenia humbling presenting himself unto Pompey; and of Tamerlane ascending his Horse from the Neck of Bajazet.

16. Draughts of three passionate Looks; of Thyestes when he was told at the Table that he had eaten a piece of his own Son; of Bajazet when he went into the Iron Cage;²¹ of Oedipus when he first came to know that he had killed his Father, and married his own Mother.

17. Of the Cymbrian Mother in Plutarch who, after her overthrow by Marius, hanged her self and her two Children at her feet.²²

18. Some Pieces delineating singular inhumanities in Tortures. The Scaphismus of the Persians. The living truncation of the Turks. The hanging Sport at the Feasts of the Thracians. The exact method of flaying men alive, beginning between the Shoulders, according to the description of Thomas Minadoi, in his Persian War. Together with the studied tortures of the French Traitours at Pappa in Hungaria: as also the wild and enormous torment invented by Tiberius, designed according unto the description of Suetonius. Excogitaverunt inter genera cruciatûs, ut largâ meri potione par fallaciam oneratos repentè veretris deligatis fidicularum simul urinæque tormento distenderet.²³

19. A Picture describing how Hannibal forced his passage over the River Rhosne with his Elephants, Baggage, and mixed Army; with the Army of the Gauls opposing him on the contrary Shore, and Hanno passing over with his Horse much above to fall upon the Rere of the Gauls.

20. A neat Piece describing the Sack of Fundi by the Fleet and Souldiers of Barbarossa the Turkish Admiral, the confusion of the people and their flying up to the Mountains, and Julia Gonzaga the beauty of Italy flying away with her Ladies half naked on Horseback over the Hills.²⁴

21. A noble Head of Franciscus Gonzaga, who, being imprisoned for Treason, grew grey in one night, with this Inscription,²⁵

O nox quam longa est quæ facit una senem.

22. A large Picture describing the Siege of Vienna by solyman the Magnificent, and at the same time the Siege of Florence by the Emperour Charles the Fifth and Pope Clemen the Seventh, with this Subscription,²⁶

Tum vacui capitis populum Phæaca putares?

23. An exquisite Piece properly delineating the first course of Metellus his Pontificiall Supper, according to the description of Macrobius; together with a Dish of Pisces Fossiles, garnished about with the little Eels taken out of the backs of Cods and Perches; as also with the Shell Fishes found in Stones about Ancona.²⁷

24. A Picture of the noble Entertain and Feast of the Duke of Chausue at the Treaty of Collen, 1673. when in a very large Room, with all the Windows open, and at a very large Table he sate himself, with many great persons and Ladies; next about the Table stood a row of Waiters, then a row of Musicians, then a row of Musketiers.

25. Milltiades, who overthrew the Persians at the Battel of Marathon and delivered Greece, looking out of a Prison Grate in Athens, wherein he died, with this Inscription,²⁸

Non hoc terribiles Cymbri non Britones unquam
Sauromatæve truces aut immanes Agathyrsi.

26. A fair English Lady drawn Al Negro, or in the Æthiopian hue excelling the original White and Red Beauty, with this Subscription,²⁹

Sed quandam volo nocte Nigriorem.

27. Pieces and Draughts in Caricatura, of Princes, Cardinals and famous men; wherein, among others, the Painter hath singularly hit the signatures of a Lion and a Fox in the face of Pope Leo the Tenth.³⁰

28. Some Pieces A la ventura, or Rare Chance Pieces, either drawn at random, and happening to be like some person, or drawn for some and happening to be more like another; while the Face, mistaken by the Painter, proves a tolerable Picture of one he never saw.

29. A Draught of famous Dwarfs with this Inscription,³¹

Nos facimus Bruti puerum nos Logona vivum.

30. An exact and proper delineation of all sorts of Dogs upon occasion of the practice of Sultan Achmet; who in a great Plague at Constantinople transported all the Dogs therein unto Pera, and from thence into a little Island, where they perished at last by Famine:³² as also the manner of the Priests curing of mad Dogs by burning them in the forehead with Saint Bellin's Key.

31. A noble Picture of Thorismund King of the Goths as he was killed in his Palace at Tholouze, who being let bloud by a Surgeon, while he was bleeding, a stander by took the advantage to stab him.³³

32. A Picture of rare Fruits with this Inscription,³⁴

Credere quæ possis surrepta sororibus Afris.

33. An handsome Piece of Deformity expressed in a notable hard Face, with this Inscription,³⁵

——Ora
Julius in Satyris qualia Rufus habet.

34. A noble Picture of the famous Duel between Paul Manessi and Caragusa the Turk in the time of Amurath the Second; the Turkish Army and that of Scanderbeg looking on; wherein Manessi slew the Turk, cut off his Head and carried away the Spoils of his Body.³⁶p

3. Antiquities and Rarities of several sorts.

1. Certain ancient Medals with Greek and Roman Inscriptions, found about Crim Tartary; conceived to be left in those parts by the Souldiers of Mithridates, when overcome by Pompey, he marched about the North of the Euxine to come about into Thracia.

2. Some ancient Ivory and Copper Crosses found with many others in China; conceived to have been brought and left there by the Greek Souldiers who served under Tamerlane in his Expedition and Conquest of that Country.

3. Stones of strange and illegible Inscriptions, found about the great ruines which Vincent le Blanc describeth about Cephala in Africa, where he opinion'd that the Hebrews raised some Buildings of old, and that Solomon brought from thereabout a good part of his Gold.¹⁰¹

4. Some handsome Engraveries and Medals, of Justinus and Justinianus, found in the custody of a Bannyan in the remote parts of India, conjectured to have been left there by Friers mentioned in Procopius, who travelled those parts in the reign of Justinianus, and brought back into Europe the discovery of Silk and Silk Worms.

5. An original Medal of Petrus Aretinus, who was called Flagellum Principum, wherein he made his own Figure on the Obverse part with this Inscription,

Il Divino Aretino.

On the Reverse sitting on a Throne, and at his Feet Ambassadours of Kings and Princes bringing presents unto him, with this Inscription,

I Principi tributati da i Popoli tributano il Servitor loro.

6. Mummia Tholosana; or, The complete Head and Body of Father Crispin, buried long ago in the Vault of the Cordeliers at Tholouse, where the Skins of the dead so drie and parch up without corrupting that their persons may be known very long after, with this Inscription,¹⁰²

Ecce iterum Crispinus.

7. A noble Quandros or Stone taken out of a Vulture's Head.¹⁰³

8. A large Ostridges Egg, whereon is neatly and fully wrought that famous Battel of Alcazar, in which three Kings lost their lives.¹⁰⁴

9. An Etiudros Alberti or Stone that is apt to be always moisst: usefull unto drie tempers, and to be held in the hand in Fevers instead of Crystal, Eggs, Limmons, Cucumbers.

10. A small Viol of Water taken out of the Stones therefore called Enhydri, which naturally include a little Water in them, in like manner as the Ætites or Aëgle Stone doth another Stone.

11. A neat painted and gilded Cup made out of the Confiti di Tivoli and formed up with powder'd Egg-shells; as Nero is conceived to have made his Piscina admirabilis, singular against Fluxes to drink often therein.

12. The Skin of a Snake bred out of the Spinal Marrow of a Man.

13. Vegetable Horns mentioned by Linschoten, which set in the ground grow up like Plants about Goa.

14. An extract of the Inck of Cuttle Fishes reviving the old remedy of Hippocrates in Hysterical Passions.

15. Spirits and Salt of Sargasso made in the Western Ocean covered with that Vegetable; excellent against the Scurvy.

16. An extract of Cachunde or Liberans that famous and highly magnified Composition in the East Indies against Melancholy.

17. Diarhizon mirificum; or an unparallel'd Composition of the most effectual and wonderfull Roots in Nature.

Rx Rad. Butuæ Cuamensis.
Rad. Moniche Cuamensis.
Rad. Mongus Bazainensis.
Rad. Casei Baizanensis.
Rad. Columbæ Mozambiguensis.
Gim Sem Sinicæ.
Fo Lim lac Tigridis dictæ.
Fo seu
Cort. Rad. Soldæ.
Rad. Ligni Solorani.
Rad. Malacensis madrededios dictæ an. ij.

M. fiat pulvis, qui cum gelatinâ Cornu cervi Moschati Chinensis formetur in massas oviformes.

18. A transcendent Perfume made of the richest Odorates of both the Indies, kept in a Box made of the Muschie Stone of Niarienburg, with this Inscription,¹⁰⁷

— — Deos rogato
Totum ut te faciant, Fabulle, Nasum.

19. A Clepselæa, or Oil Hour-glass, as the Ancients used those of Water.

20. A Ring found in a Fishes Belly taken about Gorro; conceived to be the same wherewith the Duke of Venice had wedded the Sea.

21. A neat Crucifix made out of the cross Bone of a Frogs Head.

22. A large Agath containing a various and careless Figure, which looked upon by a cylinder representeth a perfect Centaur. By some such advantages King Pyrrhus might find out Apollo and the nine Muses in those Agaths of his whereof Pliny maketh mention.¹⁰⁸

23. Batracchomyomachia, or the Homerican Battel between Frogs and Mice, neatly described upon the Chizel Bone of a large Pike's Jaw.

24. Pyxis Pandoræ, or a Box which held the Unguentum Pestiferum, which by anointing the Garments of several persons begat the great and horrible Plague of Milan.

25. A Glass of Spirits made of Æthereal Salt, Hermetically sealed up, kept continually in Quick-silver; of so volatile a nature that it will scarce endure the Light, and therefore onely to be shown in Winter, or by the light of a Carbuncle, or Bononian Stone.¹⁰⁹

He who knows where all this Treasure now is, is a great Apollo. I'm sure I am not He. However, I am,

Sir, Yours, &c.

NOTES

*The running title is Musæum Clausum, or, Tract XIII. // Tract XIII. Bibliotheca Abscondita.

1. Wilkin notes: "this curious Tract is well characterised by Mr. Crossley, as 'the sport of a singular scholar. Warburton, in one of his notes on Pope, is inclined to believe that this list was imitated from Rabelais's Catalogue of the Books in the library of St. Victor; but the design of the two pieces appears so different, that this suggestion seems entitled to little regard.' — Preface to Tracts, 18mo. Edin. 1822." [It was this Crossley who perpetrated upon Wilkin the joke (or fraud) of Fragment on Mummies, and I suspect he may well be the author of the parody On the Welsh Rabbit, although the latter be not nearly so polished a product as the former.]
Wilkin continues: "Bishop Warburton's opinion seems to me, nevertheless, highly probable. It had been suggested to me by a passage in Religio Medici (Part I, § 21); and seems to be in perfect consonance with Sir Thomas's character as a writer. He delighted, perhaps from the very originality of his own mind, to emulate the singularities of others. The preceding Tract ["A Prophecy Concerning Several Nations"] was occasioned by some similar production which had been submitted to his criticism. His Christian Morals appears to have been written on the model of the Book of Proverbs; see an allusion, in his 21st section."
I believe Crossley has the better of this argument, although certainly Rabelais' list might have "suggested" Browne's; but the contents and design of the two are so vastly different (in intent, tone, and detail) that it is dubious whether the idea is worth pursuing.

2. Wilkin quotes from d'Israeli's Curiosities of Literature 7th ed. vol. ii, 250: "The Irish antiquaries mention public libraries that were before the flood: and Paul Christian Ilsker, with profounder erudition, has given an exact catalogue of Adam's!"

3. Ab pudet & scripsi Getico sermone Libellum. Tomis = modern Costanza in Romania; Ovid was exiled in 9 AD, for unknown reasons.

4. In 55 or 54 BC, when Quintus accompanied Julius Cæsar on his expedition to Britain. Browne laments the loss of this letter in Urn-Burial as well.

5. Once again mentioned in the same chapter of Urn-Burial. We have begun to move away from works that almost certainly did exist once to works that may have existed (and eventually to works that Browne only wishes for).

6. Keynes notes that this "is probably an error for Averrhoes", citing a fragment of Browne's ("De peste"), but it was Avicenna who died of cholic in 1037, after vain attempts to treat himself. On the other hand, the story of being broke on a wheel is told of Averrhoes, who died in 1198 after having been persecuted for some years by the clerics and jurists of Morocco, who were trying to purify the country à la Khomeini (nothing ever new).

7. Once again, Browne has (no doubt purposely) created a hash. "Abraham Jarchi, famous Rabbi of Lunet" = "Solomon Jarchi" (or Isaacites or Rashi, but that name seems to be a compound of the initials of his name, R. Salomon Isaacites, according to some, who also claim that Jarchi is the same name, turned about); he was born (probably) at Lunel and was possibly a Rabbi at Troyes. Details on his life are very much debatable; indeed, some authors give 1105 as the year of his birth, and others give that as the year of his death. Benjamin of Tudela (who died in 1138) mentions a rabbi Solomon (without giving another name) in his Itinerary, while praising the Jews of Lunel; but it is, I suppose, possible that he is praising a dead rabbi, rather than a living one. In any case, if Benjamin of Tudela placed anything in the hands of a rabbi Jarchi, he was not a "famous rabbi". He is mentioned by his correct name in Pseudodoxia Epidemica VI.vii. The walls of Montpellier, largely constructed in the 13th century (and thus not available for Tudela to have planted any manuscripts in, but that is another question) were destroyed, along with a major part of Montpellier's suburbs, under Louis XIII/Richelieu in 1622. There remains of them two towers, the Tour de Babelote, now a museum of astronomy, and the Tour des Pins, housing some of the city archives; Nostradamus is said to have predicted the city's destruction "when there is no longer a tree" on this tower, but such a clear prediction is on the face of it not likely to be Nostradamus's. (In an interesting twist, Louis XIII a few years later built "La Citadelle", now a lycée, inside Montpellier: the world had moved from a place where cities defended themselves against armies to a place where armies defended themselves against cities.)

8. Most still questions of controversy. Browne mentions Livy, but many of his questions are in fact aroused by Polybius. The island, described as "rich and fertile", may well not have been near or at Lyons, but rather at the confluence of the Isère, or possibly the Aygues, and the Rhone. Hannibal also crossed the Durance; he crossed the Rhone, possibly near Arles, in jetties and boats, and sent an advance party across somewhere further up to attack from the rear hostile tribes who were occupying the left bank. "King" Brancus and his unnamed brother were engaged in a civil war; Brancus aided Hannibal in return for Hannibal's help in dealing with the brother. On the vinegar question, see Pseudodoxia Epidemica VII.xviii. Later, Browne says that he would also like a picture describing Hannibal's passage over the Rhone.

9. Several commented versions of the Periplus are to be found on line. See Hanno for instance. On the possibility of Carthaginians in the new world, see the pages noted in section E ("Nationalists and Nuts") of Hanno's Periplus On the Web. About the explorer Hanno of Carthage. The page also mentions Browne's Musæum Clausum, but misses (or downplays) the joke.

10. "Chicus Asculanus" = "Esculanus Cicchus" or Cecco d'Ascoli, 1269-1327.

11. "Ægidius Lochiensis" = Gilles of Loches. The story is told in Gassendi's Life of Peiresc, englished by W. Rand in 1657 as The Mirrour of True Nobility & Gentility. Being the Life of the Renowned Nicolaus Claudius Fabricius Lord of Peiresk, Senator of the Parliament at Aix, pp. 89-90:

But [Peiresc] conceived great hopes of obtaining out of the East, both Coptic, and other rare Books … ; when about the very same time [1633], that very good man Ægidius Lochiensis a Capucine, returned out of Ægypt, where he studied the Oriental Languages, seven whole years together. For he being received with great exultation by Peireskius, from whom he had no small assistance in that Countrey; he told him of rare Books, which were extant in divers Covents and Monasteries. And memorable it is, how he saw a Library of eight thousand Volumes, many of which bore the marks of the Antonian Age. And because among other things, he said he saw Mazhapha Einock, or the Prophecie of Enoch, foretelling such things as should happen at the end of he World, a Book never seen in Europe, but was there written in the Character and Language of the Æthiopians or Abyssines, who had preserved the same: therefore Peireskius was so inflamed with a desire to purchase the same at any rate, that sparing no cost, he at length obtained it.

The text goes on to describe Gilles' idea that all volcanos communicate underground.

12. Anna Maria Schurman of Utrecht, who published works in several languages, 1607-1678; Maris Molinea,

13. See also the Miscellany Tract "Of Cymbals".

14. "Cola Pesce" or "Nicholas the Fish"; see Salimbene: On Frederick II, 13th Century, or for Italian variants see I riflessi catanesi della storia di Cola Pesce (since the text on that page is badly formatted, I have reproduced it here).

15. John Evelyn added a note in the MS: "Of Charles the First, and one Osburn, an hedger, whom I often employ."

16. In November of 1607. Nassa or Nassus Basha was a great enemy of the Janizaries, and they of him as well.

17. Dio Cass. LXVII, chap. 9.

18. A vestal virgin who broke her vows was entombed alive according to a specific formula. See The Vestal Virgins (Smith's Dictionary, 1875).

19. Elephants are shown dancing on ropes on some Roman coins.

20. Pliny HN II.149 (in Holland's translation, Book II, Chap. 58).

21. On Bajazet's cage and his use as a footstool, see Knolles.

22. In Plutarch's Caius Marius:

Here [a plain near Vercellæ] the greatest part and most valiant of the enemies were cut in pieces; for those that fought in the front, that they might not break their ranks, were fast tied to one another, with long chains put through their belts. But as they pursued those that fled to their camp they witnessed a most fearful tragedy; the women, standing in black clothes on their wagons, slew all that fled, some their husbands, some their brethren, others their fathers; and strangling their little children with their own hands, threw them under the wheels and the feet of the cattle, and then killed themselves. They tell of one who hung herself from the end of the pole of a wagon, with her children tied dangling at her heels. The men, for want of trees, tied themselves, some to the horns of the oxen, others by the neck to their legs, that so pricking them on, by the starting and springing of the beasts, they might be torn and trodden to pieces. Yet for all they thus massacred themselves, above sixty thousand were taken prisoners, and those that were slain were said to be twice as many.

23. Scaphismus ("boating"), is described by Plutarch in his Life of Artaxerxes: "They take two Boats made of purpose so even, that the one is neither broader nor longer then the other, and then lay the offender in one of them upon his back, and so cover him with the other, and do sow both Boats together: so tthat the feet, hands, and head do come out at holes made of purpose for him, the rest of his body is all hidden within. Now they give him Meat as much as he will eat, and if he will not eat, they force him to it, by thrusting Awles in his eyes: then when he hath eaten, they give him Honey to drink mingled with Milk, and they do not onely pour it into his mouth, but also all his face, over, turning him full into the Sun, so that his face is all covered with Flies: and furthermore, being driven to do his needs in that Trough, of his excrements there ingender Worms that eat his body to the very Privities. Then, when they see the man is dead, they take off the uppermost Boat, and find all his flesh devoured with Vermine ingendred of him, even to his very entrails. So, when Mithridates had miserably languished in this manner, seventeen days together, at length he died in extream torments." (North's translation, from the edition of 1676, p. 793) The "living truncation" of the Turks explains itself. The "hanging sport" is described in a marginal note in Urn-Burial. Giovanni Thomaso Minadoi da Rougio describes the flaying of the "Macademo" of the Druse in his "Historia della guerra fra Turchi, et Persiana", englished by Abraham Hartwell as "The History of the Warres betweene the Turkes and the Persians" (1595); pp. 310-311 of that edition:

As soone as this massacre [of the Druse soldiery] was finished, Ebrain [the Turkish leader] would have the death of the Macedomo to follow, and causing him to bee brought before him, he commaunded that without any delay he should be stripped, & flayed quick. The Macademo stoutely upbraided Ebrain with his promise, and his oath, and among divers speeches, that sometimes smiling, and somtimes threatning he uttered whiles they stripped him: Cut me off (quoth he) my members, and first putting them into the privities of that infamous Ebrains wife, put them afterward into the mouth of himselfe. For so (I trow) he will be contented and satisfied with my flesh. And pursuing his threates, he spake thus to those, that were to be the executioners of his dolorous death. It is your great good fortune in deed (quoth he) that with such violence, and so needlesse deformitie yee are now resolved to drink up my blood, and to take my life from me. For I do not think that any of you all, either had bin hable or durst, man to man, to draw one drop of my blood from me, no not to have endured my countenance: But go to, proceed in your wicked and unsatiable desire, and follow the impious commaundements of your Visier: for in the end there will light also upon you, the worthy punishment of this villanous fact. With these and divers other speeches, which the Macedomo thundred out of his inflamed brest, the miserable wretch (having been too credulous) was stripped, and three great slashes made on his back, where they began to flea him, he in the mean time not ceasing to blaspheme their Religion, and to curse their King, and their false Prophet also. And then the barbarous souldiers, pursuing their cruell action, made certaine other gashes upon his brest, and upon his stomake, and so drawing his skinne downeward, they could not bring it to his Navel, before he was dead, with most dolorous paines.

"French Traitours" at Pápa in Hungary: in 1600. Howell's 1664 translation of János Nadányi's "Florus Hungaricus" describes the incident, pp. 225-226:

As the distempers of the Great ones were monstrous, so was the malign dispositions of the Souldiery. The French Garrison of Papa mutyning for their Pay, had seized and secured the Governour Michael Marechi, and slew all that opposed them, Conditioning with the Turk, for their Arrears, to deliver them the Castle; but the Turk, either mistrusting them, or too tenacious of his money, made no use of the advantage. News hereof being brought to Swarzenburg, he laid Siege to them, losing a great many men by a fierce Eruption of the French, who knew what they might trust to if taken, wherein himself also was slain by a Bullet. Kederus succeeded him in the Supreme Command, who beat the French back into the Town and there closely shut them up; but he also died of a sudden Disease before the surrender, and left the Atchievement to Nadasi; who having reduced them to a dog-hunger, and starved them to skin and bone, made them yield the place; at which time some few were by the pittyful Souldiers knockt on the head, the rest were tortured to death with most Exquisite Cruelties, some of them Choaked to death upon the Wheels of a Water-mill, after many Descents and Ascents; some Roasted with a slow Fire; and others given to the Dogs.

Knolles gives a more detailed and gruesome description, probably the one Browne has in mind. Suetonius, see Tiberius LXII:4 (which reads "excogitaverat").

24. See Rome and Neighbourhoods - Fondi (towards the end of the section) for the story (in Italian).

25. This "inscription" appears as well in some notes of Browne's (Sloane MSS. 1862-1866), collected by Wilkin as "Classical passages selected for mottoes". Wilkin notes on this collection that in manuscript "1843, there occur several Anagrams sent me by my ever honored friend Sir Philip Wodehouse, and others; some, however, are not altogether fit for publication; and Sir Thomas's own exclamation immediately following, Valete anagrammata! Nil mihi vobiscum! — shows his estimation of such things." Martial Epig. IV.7.4.

26. In 1530, three years after the sack of Rome by the emperor's troops had inspired the citizens of Florence to a last attempt at what is usually termed "a republic". Juvenal Sat. XV.23.

27. Macrobius Saturnalia III.13.12.

28. After Marathon, Miltiades was put in command of a fleet whose mission was to conquer islands that had sided with the Persians. The mission was unsuccessful and Miltiades was fined and imprisoned, where (probably) he died of a wound in about 488 B.C. The inscription is Juvenal XV: 124-125.

29. Martial Epigrams I, 115; the lines are quoted as well in Queries Relating to Fishes, Birds, Insects.

30. Not an easy feat; see his (apparently accurate) portrait by Raphael at theWeb Gallery of Art.

31. Martial IX.l.5.

32. This episode, which occurred in 1613, is described in Knolles' History of the Turks, p. 1332:

The Grand Seigniour ["Achmet, eighth Emperour of the Turks"] being returned to Constantinople after the great Plague, notwithstanding the Turkes hold a firme opinion of Predestination, and that they shall not die before their appointed time, and that the time of their death is written in their foreheads; yet apprehending the infection, by the advice of some about him, hee commanded all the dogges in the City of Constantinople, to bee transported unto Scutary in Asia (a Towne antiently called Chrisopolis) and for the due execution thereof, every housholder was to bring in his dogge first to the Cadi (which is the Iudge of the place) and to receive from him a Tuscany or Ticket for his passage, or else hee was to pay foure Chequines; by which meanes there were transported to the number of fifty thousand dogges. The reason of his sending them away, was, for that reading the Acts of his father, hee found that thirty yeares before, hee had sent away all the dogges for feare of the infection. The Sultan commanded allowance of bread and flesh to be carried every day to sustaine them, which not sufficing, the inhabitants were much oppressed, and ready to fall into mutiny; but by the advice of his Muphti, they were at length transported from thence to an Island that was not inhabited, some sixteene miles from Constantinople, where they all perished. Before their sending away, the Grand Seigniour had propounded to his Muphti, to have them all slaine: who made answere, That every dogge had a soule, and therefore it was not fit to kill them.

33. Thorismund, A.D. 453.

34. Juvenal, Satura 5, 152:

poma dari, quorum solo pascaris odore,
qualia perpetuus Phaeacum autumnus habebat,
credere quae possis subrepta sororibus Afris:
tu scabie frueris mali, quod in aggere rodit
qui tegitur parma et galea metuensque flagelli.

35. Martial Epig. X.xcix:

Si Romana forent haec Socratis ora, fuissent
Iulius in Saturis qualia Rufus habet.

36. The story is in Knolles' History of the Turks, pp. 312-313.

101. Vincent Leblanc, Voyages fameux. Leblanc does not "opinion" this (nor is it at Sofala), but reports the opinion of others. See Stones of Cephala.

102. Juvenal, Satur. 4: 1.

103. Trevisa's Bartholomeus, Book XVI, lxxxiii.

104. In 1578.

107. Catullus XIII "ad Fabullum"13-14, with change.

108. Pliny HN XXVII.iii.5

109. See, on bononian stone, The Bolognian Stone.

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