THat Monsters and Prodigious births have been frequent in each Age none that are wise will deny though some are such nullifidians as not to be­lieve any thing which they do not see with their own eyes, and such persons we may perceive are the most easy to be deceived in any thing they see which is above their vulger apprehension; thus when they see those whom we call Juglers or Hocus Pocus do rare feats by slight of hand, they presently count it Witch-craft or conjuration, nor can they by any Arguments be beaten out of their o­pinion; like the silly Indians who when they had heard some Europians to play on Bag-pipes, would not be per­swaded but that they were living Creatures, nay though [Page 2] they were permitted to touch and handle them, others wonder as much at things which come by the course of Nature, as the change of the Moon the Tides, &c. these are thus set forth by the Poet,

This which we are about to relate is a thing well known for truth and attested by several persons of quality, and which in short (that I may not detain you too long with a preludium) was as followeth.

At a place called Grasly in Nottingham-shire, three miles from the Town of Nottingham, about the latter end of April last, this present year of our Lord one thousand six hundred sixty and eight. A certain woman an inhabi­tant of that place fell in Travail, and after three days space of time, (in which interim she indured great tor­ments and excessive pangs not to be utter'd, and can only be expressed by imagination) at last she was delivered of a most strange and uncouth Monster, to the great admi­ration and astonishment of all the beholders then present; for it was quite different from all other Children, especi­ally in these six several respects.

1. First its head was long and sharp, proportioned af­ter the fashion of a Sugar loaf, quite contrary to other peoples heads which are round and circular, except a sort of people we read of who live next to the Persian Gulph which people when their Children are very young bind [Page 3] their heads strait with splinters, and so continuing it by degrees make it so mallable that it grows in the shape of a Sugar-loaf, which they take to be a very great grace unto them, and an adding much to the perfection of their beauty.

2. In the Second place it had no Nose at all, which all people account a comely Nose to be the greatest orna­ment to the face, and so by the rules of contraryes the want thereof must needs be the greatest deformity.

3. The third circumstance wherein it was remarkable, was that it had eyes like a fish, nothing comparable to those of other Children.

4 It had eight fingers upon each hand, but that vvhich was most admirable, was that each finger was interwo­ven to the other with plates of flesh, and grew together like the feet of a Goose.

5. It had two Ears long and ponderous, hanging down like to the Ears of a Hound.

6. And Lastly, all along down the Back of it was long black hair quite contrary to humane Nature.

The birth of this Child was a great astonishment to all the Women there present, who beheld the same with much admiration, amongst others then present was the Wife of one Mr. J. a silk stocking Weaver of the same Town, who related all the circumstances thereof to her Husband, which he communicated to some of his friends in London, with a desire the same should be committed to the Press.

[Page 4]Now that such like things have been frequent in for­mer Ages, we could instance in several examples, how that the womb hath been fruitful of prodigious births, as well as such which have been the ordinary production of nature.

To begin first with Margaret sister to Floris the fourth Earl of Flanders, this Lady had three hundred sixty five Children at one birth, just so many as there are days in the year; they were about the bigness of Mice, being half Males, half Females, and the odde one an Hermo­phrodite; They were Christned by the Bishop of that place in two Basons, the males named John, the females Elizabeth, the Basons are still hanged up in the Church as a testimonial to posterity of the truth of the business.

But we shall not need to instance Forraign Countries our own Island can furnish us with plentiful examples of the same nature, of which we shall relate some few, as we finde them recorded in our English Chronicles

In the time of King John, ar Maidstone in Kent a cer­tain Monster was born, which Monster had a head like an Ass, a belly like a man, and all other parts much differing from any other Creature.

In King Henry the thirds time a Child was born in the Isle of Wight who at eighteen years old was scarce three foot high, and therefore brought to the Queen, who car­ried him about with her as a monster in nature.

[Page 5]In his time also a Childe was born in Kent who at two years old cured all diseases, which childe I menti­on not as a Monster, but rather as a Miracle in nature.

In the time of King Henry the sixth were very many prodigious births, as you may read in Stows Annals, and Sir Richard Bakers Chronicle.

August the third in the sixth year of the reign of King Edward the sixth at Middleton Stony eleven miles from Oxford a woman brought forth a Childe which had two perfect bodies from the Navell upwards, the legs for both the bodies grew out at the midst where the bodies joyned, and had but one issue for the excrements of them both; they lived eighteen days and were women Children.

In the third year of the Reign of Queen Elizabeth, a man Childe was born at Chichester in Sussex, having Arms and Legs like to an Anatomy, the breast and belly mon­strous big, about the neck a great coller of flesh and skin, growing like the ruffe of a shirt.

In the twenty third of her reign, at the Town of Walsham in Sussex, a Childe of eleven years old named William Withers lay in a trance for the space of ten days without any sustenance; and at the last coming to him­self, he uttered to the standers by many strange speeches, enveighing against pride covetousness, coldness of charity and other enormous crimes, which though I report not as of a Monster, yet may it be recorded for a great wonder.

[Page 6] Anno Dom. 1613. The eighth year of the Reign of King James on the 17 of April in the Parish of Standish in Lan­cashire, a Maiden Child was born, having four Legs, four Arms, two Bellies joyned to one Back, one Head with two Faces, the one before, the other behind, like the picture of Janus.

We will conclude all with a later example of one here in London, who in these late times of Libertism, when the different opinions of Religion made many to be of no Religion, he at that time (seeing such a confusion of sects among those who called themselves Christians) turned Jew, refusing according to the Levitical Law, to taste of any Swines flesh, it pleased God not long after he had a Child born with Hair and Bristles like to a Hog; which wrought so upon him, that he soon after altered his opi­nion, turned Christian; and (as I hear) is now a great ad­herer to the Romish perswasion.

Many other examples could we produce, but these we think may be sufficient for this purpose; I shall only add this, that the Reader will not look with the same eyes (as the Fanaticks do) upon such monstrous births, accounting them Prodigies, and certain Foretellers of great mischiefs infallibly to ensue, since we see that all ages have produ­ced the like or more strange births, but let every one la­bour to break off his own sins by repentance, and then we shall not need to fear any calamity which such prodi­gious births may seem to signifie.