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<DATE>2009-06-04</DATE>
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<NAME>Mona Logarbo</NAME>
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<ITEM>Proofed and reviewed as part of batch B090415.pdcc.</ITEM>
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<TEXT LANG="eng">
<FRONT>
<DIV1 TYPE="title page">
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<P>The Wonder of our times: BEING A true and exact Relation of the Body of a mighty Giant dig'd up at <HI>Brock ford</HI> Bridge neer <HI>Ip&s;wich</HI> in <HI>Suffolk,</HI> this pre&s;ent <HI>Novem|ber</HI> 1651. his height 10. foot, his Head as big as half a bu&s;hell; with a de|&s;cription of the &s;everall parts of his body, and manner of his interring.</P>
<P>Certified in a Letter from a Gentleman in the Country, to his Brother (a merchant) in <HI>London.</HI></P>
<P><FIGURE>
</FIGURE></P>
<P><HI>London:</HI> Printed by <HI>R. Au&s;tin,</HI> for <HI>W. Ley,</HI> at PAUL's Chain. 1651.</P>
</DIV1>
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<DIV1 TYPE="text">
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<P>TO write of wonders in this Age, is a thing mo&s;t men look after: but before I give you a Declaration of the wonder of this Age, let us compare it with &s;ome former ages, and we &s;hal be convinced of the truth of this our relation. We read of &s;undry Giants that inhabited this I&s;le of <HI>Great Britain,</HI> many mighty men of &s;tature, e&s;pecially in the North, where men mo&s;t commonly are of greate&s;t &s;tature, as <HI>Starcater, Hart|ben, Angrin, Arverode,</HI> of whom <HI>Saxo Iohannes magus Olaus magnus</HI> makes mention, who&s;e bones do yet remain to be &s;een as rare miracles of nature; &s;ome of the&s;e in their life time were able to lift up a ve&s;&s;ell of liquor of a thou&s;and weight, or an hor&s;e, or an oxe, and ca&s;t it on their &s;houlders; their very wo|men, &s;ome of them, have come &s;omewhat neere them in &s;trength of body; &s;ome of the&s;e lived in the time of <HI>Olaus, An|no</HI> 1500. we read of <HI>Corineus</HI> and <HI>Gogmagot,</HI> whom &s;ome re|port to be King of this I&s;le, who fought a combat hand to hand till one of them was &s;lain; <HI>Hanvill</HI> in his <HI>Architrenion</HI> makes the later to be eighteen foot hight; <HI>Corineus</HI> the Dane enjoyed <HI>Cornwall</HI> upon the Conque&s;t. Be pleas'd to look back and reflect on the Scripture, 1 <HI>Sam.</HI> 17.5. &amp;c. we find <HI>Goli|ab</HI> the Phili&s;tine whom <HI>David</HI> entountred, to be above nifie foot in height, who&s;e &s;hirt of male of weight 1250. ounces of bra&s;&s;e, which is, 104. pound, and of <HI>Og</HI> the King of <HI>Ba&s;an,
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Deut.</HI> 3. who was the la&s;t of the race of Giants that was left in the Land of Promi&s;e to be overcome of the I&s;raelites, who&s;e iron bed was &s;hewed for a wonder at <HI>Rabbah,</HI> a City of the Ammonites, containing nine cubits; although they were in the beginning of the world, yet we have had tho&s;e of later times, that have have parallel'd them: to come down to Chri|&s;tian Writers, if we will believe S. <HI>Au&s;tin</HI> in <HI>Civitate Dei, Lib.</HI> 15. <HI>Cap.</HI> 9. how he &s;aw the tooth of a man as big as a hun|dred of his own: and <HI>Iohannes Bocate</HI> in his 68. <HI>Cap.</HI> 4. Book, &s;aith that in the Cave of a mountain not far from <HI>Drepanum</HI> a Town of <HI>Sicily,</HI> called <HI>Erix,</HI> the body of an exceeding high Giant was di&s;covered, three of who&s;e teeth did weigh an hundred ounces, which is eight pound and four ounces: he &s;aith moreover, the forepart of his &s;cull was able to containe many bu&s;hells of wheat, and by the proportion of his thigh, his body was judged to be two hundred cubits high: this mi|racle of nature is yet to be &s;een in the Church of <HI>Drepanum</HI> in <HI>Sicily</HI> in perpetuall memory of his greatne&s;&s;e: his body was found upon this occa&s;ion as &s;ome were going to dig, to lay the foundation of an hou&s;e, the miners found a great vault, they found the body of a mighty man &s;itting in a Cave, of who&s;e greatne&s;&s;e they were &s;ore afraid, they ran away and made an outcry in the City, how there &s;ate a man in &s;uch a place as great as an hill, the people hearing this news ran out with clubs and &s;taves as if to fight a battel; and three hundred entring the Cave they forthwith &s;aw he was dead, and yet &s;ate as if he had been alive, having a &s;taff in his hand, compa|red by mine Author to the ma&s;t of a Ship, which being touched fell to du&s;t with his body, &s;aving three teeth, and part of his &s;cull, and one of his thigh-bones.</P>
<P>There was a carka&s;&s;e laid bare in the year 1170. in <HI>England</HI> upon the &s;hore, where the beating of the &s;hore had wa&s;hed a|way
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the earth from the &s;tone wherein it lay, and when it was taken up, it contained fifteen foot in length, as our Chroni|cles and Records affirm, and <HI>Iohannes Leland Ma&s;ieus Lib.</HI> 14. <HI>Trivet.</HI></P>
<P>At Perth at this day in <HI>Scotland</HI> the skeleton of a man is to be &s;een, call'd <HI>Iohn per Antiphra&s;in,</HI> being fourteen foot in length, which divers affirm that have beheld the &s;ame, and (as <HI>Hector Boetius</HI> &s;aith) he did put his whole arm into one of his hanch bones.</P>
<P>Sir <HI>Thomas Eliot</HI> reports, a carka&s;&s;e was taken up at <HI>Ivy</HI> Church neer <HI>Salisbury</HI> almo&s;t fourteen foot long.</P>
<P><HI>Grafton</HI> reports of one who&s;e &s;hin-bone conteined &s;ix foot, his &s;cull &s;o great it contained five pecks of wheat, and by con&s;equence his body mu&s;t needs be twenty four foot long.</P>
<P><HI>Goropius</HI> reports of a Giant in <HI>Brabant,</HI> who&s;e bones were &s;eventeen or eighteen cubits in length.</P>
<P><HI>Gerva&s;ius Tilbirien&s;is</HI> Head-mar&s;hall to the King of <HI>Arles,</HI> reports in his Chronicle, that at <HI>I&s;oricum</HI> in the Suburbs of <HI>Paris,</HI> he &s;aw the body of a man that was twenty foot long, be&s;ides the head and the neck which was mi&s;&s;ing, and not found; the owner perhaps might be beheaded for &s;ome nota|ble tre&s;pa&s;&s;e committed in times pa&s;t.</P>
<P><HI>Leland in Com. Brit.</HI> reports that in <HI>Whitton</HI> Pari&s;h, not far from the Chappell of the Moore, &s;ix miles by <HI>Ea&s;t</HI> from <HI>Car|li&s;le,</HI> a coffin was found, and therein the bones of a man of in|credible greatne&s;&s;e.</P>
<P>The Greek Writers make mention of <HI>Andronicus</HI> the Em|peror, who lived 1183. and was ten foot in height, that is three foot higher then the Kings great Porter.</P>
<P>Thus have I deduced from the beginning of the world, as neer as I can, tho&s;e memorable Giants, or mighty tall men, and tho&s;e no fables, but proved from good authority.</P>
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<P>Some will by no means believe that there were in former eimes any &s;uch things as Giants, but &s;uch their erroneous opi|nions will be apparently confuted in the following relation, which for truth hath the confirmation of &s;ome hundreds of eye-witne&s;&s;es, as you may read in the letter in&s;uing.</P>
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<LETTER>
<OPENER><SALUTE>Loving Brother,</SALUTE></OPENER>
<P>I Though it worthy my writing to you, what this other day was di&s;covered to many here, the like of which few of our Predece&s;&s;ors have &s;een. For here, neer the place of your Nativity, at <HI>Brockford</HI> Bridge, at the end of the &s;treet towards <HI>Ip&s;wich,</HI> by the gravelly way, between the <HI>Lands lace</HI> (our co&s;en <HI>Rivets</HI>) <HI>Iohn Vice</HI> and another were digging gra|vell in the Rode, and a little within the earth found the car|ca&s;e of a <HI>Giant</HI> (for &s;o I think I may term him) for from the top of his <HI>&s;cull</HI> to the bottom of the bones of his <HI>feet</HI> was <HI>ten foot of A&s;size,</HI> and overthwart his <HI>brest,</HI> from the ultimate of one &s;houlder to the other, as he lay interred, and before &s;tir|ring, was <HI>four foot.</HI> His <HI>&s;cull</HI> of the bigne&s;&s;e neer of an <HI>half bu&s;hell;</HI> the circumference of one of his <HI>thigh bones</HI> of the big|ne&s;&s;e of a <HI>middle &s;ized womans wa&s;t,</HI> the neither <HI>Iaw-bone</HI> had in it firmly fixed &s;ixteen teeth of an extraordinary bigne&s;&s;e; the other none.</P>
<P>When the finding of this <HI>wonder of men</HI> in our time, was noi&s;ed abroad, many of the people of the <HI>adjacent Towns</HI> re|&s;orted to &s;ee it, and divers out of more <HI>folly,</HI> I think, then <HI>d<GAP DESC="illegible" REASON="missing" EXTENT="1 letter">&s;|cretion,</HI> broke the <HI>Skeleton</HI> to gain part, or &s;mall pieces of the <HI>bones,</HI> to brag they had part of him. Severall are the opinions of men in judging what time this man lived; &s;ome th<GAP DESC="illegible" REASON="missing" EXTENT="1 letter">nk him to be a <HI>Dane,</HI> others imagine he might belong to <HI>Prince Au|thur;</HI> but for my part, I &s;hall &s;u&s;pend my judgement, and leave it to wi&s;er men: only thus much I think I may &s;ay, that there hath not lived &s;uch a man in <HI>England</HI> this <HI>hundred years:</HI> his <HI>head</HI> lay neer a <HI>quarter of a yard</HI> lower then his <HI>feet,</HI> and the <HI>&s;uperficies of the earth</HI> was worn down within neer an handfull
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of his <HI>&s;hin bones.</HI> He was buried <HI>North</HI> and <HI>South,</HI> his <HI>head</HI> to <HI>Ip&s;wich</HI>-ward, and his <HI>feet</HI> towards <HI>Norwich.</HI></P>
<P>It may be you may &s;ay, I might have employed my time better then in troubling you with this matter, but I a&s;&s;ure you of the truth of this, and the wonder of the thing com|manded me to impart thus much unto you.</P>
<CLOSER><SIGNED>Your loving brothert, <HI>I.G.</HI></SIGNED>
<DATE>Novemb. 3. 1651.</DATE></CLOSER>
</LETTER>
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