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<DATE>2007-05-31</DATE>
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<NAME>Jonathan Blaney</NAME>
<RESP>MURP</RESP>
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<ITEM>proofed text and revised markup</ITEM>
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<STC T="T">E303_22</STC>
<BIBNO T="umi">99861107</BIBNO>
<VID>113235</VID>
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<TEXT LANG="eng">
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<DIV1 TYPE="title page">
<PB REF="1" MS="y">
<P>The mo&s;t
STRANGE
AND
WOVNDERFVLL
apperation of blood in a poole at
GARRATON
In Leice&s;ter-&s;hire, which continued
for the &s;pace of foure dayes, the redne&s;&s;e of the colour
for the &s;pace of tho&s;e foure dayes every day increa&s;ing
higher and higher, to the infinet amazement of many
hundreds of beholders of all degrees and conditi|ons,
who have dipped their handketchers in this
bloody poole, the &s;carlet complection of the
linnen will be a te&s;timoniall of this won|derfull
truth to many &s;ucceding gen|erations.</P>
<P>AS ALSO
The true relation of a miraculous and prodigious birth
in <HI>Shoo-lane,</HI> where one Mi&s;tris <HI>Browne</HI> a Cuttlers wife
was delivered of a mon&s;ter without a head or feet,
and in &s;tead of a head had a hollow out of which
a child did proceed, which was little but
lovely, perfect in all but very &s;pare
and leane.</P>
<P>AS ALSO
The KINGS &s;ending to his Parliament for ho&s;tage
for the &s;ecurity of his per&s;on to come unto London
and to fit with his parliament for the compo|&s;ing
the diffirences in the Kingdome.</P>
<P>Printed at <HI>London</HI> by <HI>I. H.</HI></P>
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<PB N="2" REF="2">
<HEAD>The mo&s;t &s;trange and wonderfull
apperitions of blood, in a Poole at Garraton in Lei|ce&s;ter-&s;hire,
which continued for the &s;pace of
foure dayes, the redne&s;&s;e of the colour for the &s;pace of
tho&s;e foure dayes every day increa&s;ing higher and
higher, to the infinet amazement of many
hundred beholders of all degrees.</HEAD>
<P>_WHo&s;oever &s;hall con&s;ider the&s;e &s;ad times, wher|in
not onely the &s;onne ri&s;eth again&s;t the fa|ther
the brother again&s;t the brother, and
the &s;pirit of di&s;&s;ention and warie is &s;pread
over the whole face of the earth but &s;uch
prodigious and wonderfull things have ap|heared
as no age before have ever &s;eene or
heard of he mu&s;t confe&s;&s;e that he liveth now in the evening of
time, and in the la&s;t age of the world, wherein all things do be|gin
to &s;uffer a change.</P>
<P>I will not trouble you with any thing which in this nature
hath heretofore beene delivered to you: The Sword at <HI>Plai&s;t<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="OXF" EXTENT="1 letter"></HI>
flouri&s;hing without hands, and the great Stone clambring up
the &s;taires and what&s;oever there is &s;trange or wonderfull are but
&s;luggi&s;h miaclous compared to this, which doth the raither pre|fer
it &s;elf to your ob&s;ervation, becau&s;e in the bui&s;ne&s;&s;e of <HI>Plai&s;te</HI>
there are as to be &s;eene for the mo&s;t part but &s;ome knavi&s;h lights
and as it were the <HI>Hocus Pocus</HI> of a &s;pirit but in this which now
&s;hall be repre&s;ented unto you the immediate anger of God in
great Charactes of blood is mo&s;t appearently to be read.</P>
<P>At <HI>Garraton</HI> a Towne in <HI>Leice&s;ter</HI>-&s;hire, not far from <HI>Lough|borough</HI>
is a great pond of water, which for many generations
<PB N="3" REF="2">
hath beene knowne to be there time out of mind, it is above an
Acre on the length, and about an Acre in the bredth. It was
made at fir&s;t to &s;atisfie the thir&s;t of the Cattle, which from the
commons and pa&s;tures thereabouts did daily re&s;ort unto it and
&s;ometimes it allayed the drought of the poore and thir&s;ty tra|vailer,
but now (as if it were another element,) it altread both
its nature and complexion, for the bea&s;ts did refu&s;e to drinke
thereof and &s;ome few dayes afterwards being pa&s;&s;ed they would
not come neere the water, which the Countrymen and Inhabi|tants
who were owners of the Cattle thereabouts perceiving
they repayred to the pond to &s;ee what tht rea&s;on of this &s;trange
thing &s;hould be.</P>
<P>Being come unto the pond they found the colour of the wa|ter
changed, for it began to looke red, and the &s;ub&s;tance thereof,
was thicker then before, amazed at the nouelty of this &s;ight they
departed from the place, they make a relation of it to their friends
and one neighbour brings in another to behold this wonderfull
chance.</P>
<P>The noy&s;e is &s;pread over all the Country, and in thronging
numbers they make ha&s;te to &s;ee it. The water which at the fir&s;t
began to looke but reddi&s;h, doth now looke higher and higher,
and as the people came in it did increa&s;e in colour. This conti|nued
for the &s;pace of foure dayes, the Country farre and neere
(who had notice of it) comming in to be &s;pectatiors of it. It
waxed more red the &s;econd day then it &s;eemed at the fir&s;t, and
farre more red the third day then it did of the &s;econd, and on
the fourth day it grew a perfect &s;anguine.</P>
<P>There is no wonder in this nature but carrieth &s;ome divotion
in it, the people &s;tand round about the bankes of the pond, and
from looking on the water they look up to heaven from whence
they believe that the wonder came; with reverence they di&s;|cover
this miracle of the water turned into wine, but of the wa|ter
turned into blood they never heard of that wonder before.
Some of them more hardy then the re&s;t would undertake to
ta&s;te of it, to under&s;tand if it were already as much in ta&s;te as in
complection, but they were &s;everely charged by tho&s;e that did
&s;tand by them, and were told that they might follow the more
<PB N="4" REF="3">
wi&s;e example of the bea&s;ts for &s;ince the Cattle refu&s;ed to drink
of the water by &s;o doing they would now &s;hew them&s;elves more
bruti&s;h then the Bea&s;ts.</P>
<P>The water &s;till continueth in its bloody colour and had all
one &s;tanding face of blood, and with all it &s;eemed &s;o thick that
if a high wind had blown it is believed that it would very hard|ly
at all or el&s;e very gently have moved Every day brought in
new ob&s;ervers to behold this admirable poole, and who had but
feeue it the day before could not be content with one dayes,
wonder, but mu&s;t come the next day to behold it againe.</P>
<P>It was the object of all the eyes thereabouts, and on their re|turne
homewards the &s;ubject of all their di&s;cour&s;e. The Knights
the Gentlemen, and the Ladies the Pea&s;ants, and their Families
&s;tood all clo&s;&s;e together round about it, and being overcome
with the amazement of the &s;ight there was regard unto degrees
or di&s;tinction of per&s;ons, and it &s;eemes they learned this in|&s;truction
from the Pond which they now made u&s;e of. <HI>That
they were all but one blood.</HI></P>
<P>From the ob&s;ervation of the blood they fall into the con&s;i|deration
at la&s;t of the bloody times, where in they live, and be|ing
&s;o neere to <HI>Lough borough</HI> they grow in di&s;cour&s;e of how
much blood hath beene &s;pilt by the Lord of <HI>Loughborough</HI> his
meanes who being there the great Agent for the King hath
robbed many hou&s;ekeepers in tho&s;e parts of their goods and
their trea&s;ure and which is far more deare to them many of their
Childrens lives.</P>
<P>Report in the way is made how many families hath he robbed
of their fathers, and how many he hath left without their child|ren,
they report from the beginning all the skirmi&s;hes that have
beene made in tho&s;e parts, and all the battles that have beene
fought and all the &s;ieges that have bin laid and rai&s;ed and pa&s;&s;ing
from one devovring bui&s;ne&s;&s;e to another, they do cur&s;e the pro|ceedings
of the civill warre.</P>
<P>The true narration of this water turned into blood may be
put into &s;ucceding calanders, and it may be printed in its owne
rubrick, in our dayes did this prodigious &s;ight appeare and after|ward,
the crim&s;in colour of the pond did begin to change, and
<PB N="5" REF="3">
every day to looke paler and paler untill at lenght it by degree&punc;
turned unto its fir&s;t complection of water the bloody &s;ub&s;tance
&s;inking downe, and by its owne weight &s;ettling it &s;elfe in the
bottome of the pond. In the meane time the rumor of this fly|ing
up and downe the Country, there being above one thou&s;and
witne&s;&s;es to ju&s;tifie the truth of it, one Ma&s;ter <HI>Neale</HI> a Gentle|man
of good account living at great <HI>Leake</HI> in <HI>Nottingham-&s;hire,</HI>
being travailing on his occa&s;ion unto <HI>London,</HI> and hearing the
report of it to be commonly &s;poken as he did ride upon the
way thought it was foure miles out o<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="OXF" EXTENT="1 letter"> the rod, he re&s;olued to &s;ee
it and making ha&s;te he ea&s;ily overcome the lenght of the way,
out of a de&s;ire to in enjoy the nouelty of the &s;ight being avived
he &s;at a long time on hor&s;eback at the entrance into the Pond
mu&s;ing and looking on it, (for it was ju&s;t at that time) when the
water did begin to returne to its fir&s;t complection and perce|ving
the red &s;ub&s;tance in the nature of a filmy body to de&s;cend
towards the bottome, he did put &s;purres unto his hor&s;e who did
fling back and &s;norted and was unwilling to goe into the Pond,
but after he had forced him to enter a little way into it, and &s;tir|red
towards the bottome of the water with his Cane he percei|ed
clots as it were of congealed blood in great abundance to
ri&s;e up and having &s;tayed upon the top of the water for a little
&s;pace to de&s;cend afterwards by degrees againe.</P>
<P>Not able to &s;atisfie him&s;elfe with any rea&s;on from whence
this wonder &s;hould ari&s;e, he departed but the Country people
re&s;oluing to examine and dive into the cau&s;e thereof, they had a
meeting among&s;t them&s;elves for that intent and concluded at it
to have the pond dreyned&punc; It being beleeved that the enemy had
throwne &s;ome Carca&s;&s;es into the pond to &s;tayne the water, and
to bring thereby &s;ome &s;uddaine di&s;truction upon the Cattle.</P>
<P>This beleeve being entertained, the &s;luce is opened and now
the water comes trumbling forth as if it were glad of its liberty,
and was afraid to &s;tay any longer in the portentous place where
before it was in a &s;wift to rent it made good its pa&s;&s;age as if one
part were emulation to overtake the other, and the latter &s;trove
with the former for the honour of proceeding. And to perfect
the worke wherein &s;ome deeper places of the pond, the water
<PB N="6" REF="4">
&s;tood &s;till, and could not di&s;advantage it &s;elfe into the chennell,
the Countrym<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="OXF" EXTENT="1 letter">n &s;ome with &s;coopes and &s;ome with pailes did
carry forth the water, with many hands they overcame the task
which &s;eemed at fir&s;t almo&s;t impo&s;&s;ible. And the pond being
drayned and found nothing but fi&s;h of which in divers kinds
there were great &s;tore, &amp; tho&s;e fi&s;h &s;eemed &s;till to be very good
and nothing the wor&s;e for that miraculous accident which had
made red the water. We may learne by this what God can doe
who in a mo&s;t wonderfull way can expre&s;&s;e his power without 
the lea&s;t dammage to the Creatures.</P>
<P>How&s;oever the pond being drayned dry which may increa&s;e
the wonder, the blood in many places was di&s;covered in extend|ed
degrees to be like &s;o many &s;carlet Carpots on the bottome
of the poole, to the un&s;peakeable amazement of the beholders,
and indeed they may well put wonder on, for though in out
owne Chronicles &amp; in other Hi&s;tories we have read &s;ometimes
of Clouds that have rayned dropes of blood, which though it is
very wonderfull, yet becau&s;e Phelo&s;ophers have undertake to
give a naturall rea&s;on for it, it &s;ub&s;tracteth &s;ome thing from the
greatne&s;&s;e of the wonder, but this as no cau&s;e can be a&s;&s;igned for
it, &s;o no &s;tory that I remember can example it, but being as farre
beyond nature as example it &s;heweth it &s;elfe to proceed from
the immediate power and the hand of God.</P>
<P>I will not pre&s;ume to give you the interpretation of it not
&s;ay it is &s;uitable to the pre&s;ent condition of the&s;e bleeding times,
neither will I be &s;o hardy as to affirme that the foure dayes
wherein the water every day &s;eemed to increa&s;e in the redne&s;&s;e
of its colour doth &s;ignifie the foure years of the war which now
are already or neere expired and that as the water every day for
the foure dayes exceeded one another in the de&s;ines of its &s;an|guine
dye, it looking every day redder then before, &s;o the watre
for the&s;e foure yeares hath every yeare beene one yeare more
bloody then the other, &s;urely it will prove good newes could I
from hence a&s;&s;ure you that as after the foure dayes being ended,
the water did begin to returne in its fir&s;t genuine colour, &s;o the
fourth yeare of this war being expired, the Kingdome &s;hall a|gaine
returne to its ancient ble&s;sing and habit of peace, and that
<PB N="7" REF="4">
as the water bringing its fir&s;t cleanes the blood did &s;inke downe
and vani&s;h away, &s;o now the crying &s;ins of blood &s;hall be wa&s;h|ed
away from this Kingdome by the cleanes of a new life and by
the teares of true repentance.</P>
<P>There were many of the towne of Carraton both men and
women, and of the inhabitants of the Country thereabouts who
dipped their handkechers in this pond when it was of a bloodly
colour, and the linnen retayning the complection of blood, it
will be a te&s;timoniall to &s;ucceeding times of this mo&s;t &s;trange
and wonderfull accident and of the truth of what we write.</P>
<P>But to give you a good pond to all the&s;e wonderfull events,
we have received intelligence and it is confidently reported that
the King having of late received to many overthrowes, and lo&s;&s;e
upon lo&s;&s;e and de&s;pairing of and &s;ucce&s;&s;e by Armes, hath now
&s;ent unto the Parliament at We&s;tmin&s;ter to de&s;ire ho&s;tages for
the &s;ecurity of his per&s;on, that he may come and &s;it among them
to compo&s;e the differences of the Kingdome.</P>
<P>It it the de&s;ire of many thou&s;ands that His Maje&s;ty may con|tinue
in this happy re&s;olution, and that after &s;o many deffiulties
and dangers pa&s;t, and &s;o much blood &s;pilt he might at lenght by
the mercy of God returne and be reconciled to his Parliament,
and to this there is no good Subject (unle&s;&s;e he be a de&s;perate
Malignant or &s;ome arch Papi&s;t) but will &s;ay Amen.</P>
<P>In the&s;e &s;ad dayes when the voyce of Gods wrath are poured
forth on the face of the whole Earth wonders were never more
frequent. Every day almo&s;t bringeth forth &s;ome new Miracle.</P>
<P>In Shoolane London, on Tue&s;day September &s;ixteene there
was a mon&s;trou&punc; and prodigious Birth of which the good-wo|man
was delivered with infinet paine and danger. It &s;eemed to
be as it were two children the one ari&s;ing from upper mon&s;trous
part of the other, the fir&s;t child out of which the other lid pro|ceed
had neither head not feet, but was onely content with
thighes and two-&s;tumps for leggs, neither had it any armes but
two imperfect branches came from the &s;houlders of it which
had no hands at all.</P>
<P>The nailes both for the hands &amp; foot in a &s;ormidable length
and &s;hapene&s;&s;e did grow out of the hipps on each &s;ide to the
<PB N="8" REF="5">
great amazement of the beholders: It had no head, but in Head
thereof there did ari&s;e from the neck a great and hollow lumpe
of fle&s;h, and from thence did proceed another birth in the &s;hape
of a man child, and perfect in every limb, it was but little but
very lovely to behold, &s;pare and leane and its feet were fa&s;ton|ed
in the hollow trunke which grew about the neck of the other
mon&s;ter out of which it doth appeare the whole body doth pro|ceed,
it is crediable that it received its originall and the begin|ning
of its growth from the imperfect ruines of the other which
(as I have &s;aid) having neither head nor feet, receive perfect
&s;hapes in all other parts the armes onely excepted, and it was
very plumpe and fat, and (as it &s;eemed) de&s;igned by nature a
female. The&s;e birth, do carry with them remarkable ob&s;ervati|ons,
&s;ad and mon&s;terous times mu&s;t labour &s;till with &s;ad and
mon&s;trous births and this (as it was &s;till-borne) was expo&s;ed
unto puplick veiw to the infinet amazement of the beholders
and to the great griefe of the Parents.</P>
<TRAILER>FINIS.</TRAILER>
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