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<DATE>2011-05-06</DATE>
<RESPSTMT>
<NAME>Jason Colman</NAME>
<RESP>MURP</RESP>
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<ITEM>Proofed and reviewed as part of batch B110210.pdcc.</ITEM>
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<EEBO>
<IDG S="marc" R="UM" ID="A95404">
<STC T="W">T3407</STC>
<STC T="T">E851_11</STC>
<BIBNO T="umi">99866472</BIBNO>
<VID>118747</VID>
</IDG>
<TEXT LANG="eng">
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<DIV1 TYPE="title page">
<PB REF="1" MS="y">
<P>The twelve WONDERS OF ENGLAND, <HI>BEING</HI> A mo&s;t &s;trange and wonderful Relation of the Death of Mr. Parrey, an Inn-keeper, living at the &s;ign of the Bell at Temple-bar;</P>
<P>And the manner how twelve Serpents vvere voided from him a little before his Death on Thur&s;|day la&s;t, &s;ome having Heads like Toads and Hor&s;e, and others like Neuts and Dogs, to the great admiration of all that &s;hall read the en&s;uing &s;ubject.</P>
<P>Together vvith a Narrative of his Life and Death, his Memento and Character to all Chri&s;ti|ans; and other memorable Examples o<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="pdcc" EXTENT="1 letter"> mo&s;t &s;trange and wonderful Prodigies.</P>
<P>London, Printed for G. HORTON, 1655.</P>
<PB REF="2">
<P><FIGURE>
<FIGDESC>crude woodcut of a lion</FIGDESC>
<P>Behould. The. Wondars of. This. Age</P>
</FIGURE></P>
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<DIV1 TYPE="text">
<PB N="3" REF="2">
<HEAD>The twelve WONDERS Of this AGE</HEAD>
<P>Being a mo&s;t &s;trange and true Relation of the voiding of 12 ugly and mon&s;trous Serpents by Mr. Parey, Ma&s;ter of the Bell Inn<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="pdcc" EXTENT="1 letter">ncer Temple bar, a little before his death, with a Narrative of his Life and Conver&s;ation.</P>
<P>_BEfore the de&s;truction of Sodome and Gomorra, &s;undry &s;trange Prodigies, and Comments were &s;een, as if the hea|vens,
<PB N="4" REF="3">privy to impendent effects, had by their my&s;ticall character revealed a prodigy was in breeding; for in the year that Nero was adopted by Claudius, there appeared three Suns. And in the time of a great Pe&s;tilence in Ger|many, Serpents bred in the dead bodies of men and wo|men, &s;o that they could hardly <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="pdcc" EXTENT="1 letter">eburied: But in the&s;e our dayes a &s;trange example of a wonderful Prodigie hath fallen out neer Temple-bar, where one Mr. Parrey, Ma&s;ter of the Bell-Inn in Bell yard, neer Temple-bar, having for &s;ome certain time been extreamly troubled with a pain in the belly, and a great noi&s;e or hiffing, as he conceived, would oftentimes de&s;ire his friends &amp; neigh|bors to hearken and give ear, whether or no they could hear any thing; they an&s;wered, no: Then he de&s;ired that Mr Cook the Phy&s;itian might be &s;ent for, which was accordingly done and after &s;ome conver&s;e together, he advi&s;ed Mr. Parrey to betake him&s;elf to a cour&s;e of Phy&s;ick, which was ob&s;erved for &s;ome few dayes; but about the 30. of July he began to be extream illy; at which time he went to &s;tool, where he voided twelve Serpents, one having a head like a hor&s;e, another headed like a Toad, a third like a Greyhound, a fourth like a Talbot: all which had &s;everal di&s;tinct heads, though ex|treamly deformed, but died immediatly after they came from him: &s;ome were at the lea&s;t a handful long; others about half a handful, and &s;ome &s;horter: They were
<PB N="5" REF="3">&s;omewhat of a dark colour when they were voided; they had no great &s;cent, but a kind of an earthly &s;mell; and were pre&s;erved for &s;ome time with the &s;pirits of Wine, divers Gentlemen of great worth coming to &s;ee them: Nay more, it is credibly reported, that they were often|times heard to croak like Frogs in his belly, and to make &s;uch a hideous noi&s;e, that after they crawled from him, the &s;ight thereof &s;truck great admiration to the Behold|ers.</P>
<P>Indeed, it is a thing &s;o &s;trange and wonderful, that it &s;urpa&s;&s;e<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="pdcc" EXTENT="1 letter"> &s;undry Prodigies in former Ages, and cannot be parallel'd in the&s;e lat<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="pdcc" EXTENT="1 letter">er Times; and the rather, by rea&s;on he was a Gentleman of &s;ingular good life and con|ver&s;ation, and of good repute and worth: He made a very godly, p<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="pdcc" EXTENT="1 letter">ous, and Chri&s;tian end, and departed this life on Thur&s;day the &s;econd of Augu&s;t, leaving a gallant Memento a<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="pdcc" EXTENT="1 letter">d Character to all Chri&s;tians.</P>
<P>But again, I am info<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="pdcc" EXTENT="1 letter">med by a Ge tleman and friend of Mr. Parreys, that the Cau&s;e and <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="pdcc" EXTENT="1 letter">ffects of what is be|fore &s;pecified, were onely co<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="pdcc" EXTENT="1 letter">ge<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="pdcc" EXTENT="1 letter">led blood, ingendered in a bladder, and occa&s;ioned by a <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="pdcc" EXTENT="1 letter">all from his hor&s;e; to th<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="pdcc" EXTENT="1 letter">s I can &s;ay little; but th<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="pdcc" EXTENT="2 letters"> is truth and proceeded from the &s;ame tongue, that Mrs Parrey kept the&s;e things from Saturday till Munday and then Mr. Cook carryed them home to his own hou&s;e, where many Gentlemen and Ladie<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="pdcc" EXTENT="1 letter"> of great worth re&s;orted, to behold &s;o &s;trange an Object.</P>
<PB N="6" REF="4">
<P>And to in&s;tance &s;omewhat further of the &s;trange Examples of wonderful prodigies, give me leave to in&s;i&s;t &s;omewhat further, and pre&s;ent you with a mo&s;t remarkable and memorable pa&s;&s;age, which hapned before the la&s;t de&s;truction of Jeru&s;alem (which calamity befel the Jewes, for crucifying the Lord of Life, and contemn|ing his Go&s;pel) a Comet, in the likene&s;s of a fiery &s;word, hung over the City for a year to|gether. Al&s;o, at the Fea&s;t of the Pa&s;sover a great light appeared about the Altar at midnight, which continued half an hour. Al&s;o a Cow that was led to be &s;acrificed at the Altar brought &s;orth a Lamb; and the inward Gate of the Temple which was made of ma&s;&s;ie bra&s;s, and u|&s;ed to have twenty men to &s;hut it, being fa&s;ten|ed with Locks and bars of Iron, at the fifth hour of the night opened of its own accord. Al&s;o a little before Sun-&s;et were &s;een in the ayr iron Chariots, and an army in battel-array as it were begirting the City.</P>
<PB N="7" REF="4">
<P>At the Fea&s;t of Penteco&s;t the Prie&s;t going into the Temple, felt the place to move, &amp; trem|ble, and a voyce was heard &s;aying, Let us go hence to Pella. Al&s;o one Je&s;us the &s;on of Ana|zaus, 80 years before the war began, went up and down continually crying; A voice from the Ea&s;t, a voyce again&s;t Jeru&s;alem, and the Temple: a voyce again&s;t new married per&s;ons; a voyce again&s;t this people. Nay more, before the terrible Wars between the Brittains, and Romans in Neros time, the &s;eas between Brit|tain, and France, at the full tide did overflow of a bloody colour, and at low water the prints of mens bodies were &s;een upon the bare &s;and at the mouth of the Thames.</P>
<PB N="8" REF="5">
<P>This is a thing &s;o ob&s;ervable, that the like hath not been heard of the&s;e many hundreds years, and &s;o remar|kable, that the Colledge of Phy&s;itians had an earne&s;t de|&s;ire to have had him opened, and then to have embalm|ed his Corps; but his wife would not conde&s;cend there|unto upon no tearms, although great &s;atisfaction mighty have occur'd thereupon: for indeed the thing being &s;o remarkable, it would have left &s;uch a Memento to fu|ture Po&s;terity, that the mo&s;t ancient Records cannot pa|rallel it. Here we might treat a little by way of Com|ment, but we &s;hall decline the way, as fal&s;e A&s;tronomy, being not yet in utter darkne&s;s, though the Sun be &s;et; for the &s;tar beaming-influene proves all tho&s;e Rules ex|centrick, and Apocryphal.</P>
<TRAILER>FINIS.</TRAILER>
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