Page:A new and general biographical dictionary; containing an historical and critical account of the lives and writings of the most eminent persons in every nation v1.djvu/242

 2O6 A M M O N I U S. " ways two ftrings to your bow. Feign that you are foli- " cited by many from abroad, and get every thing ready for " your departure. Shew letters inviting you elfewhere, " with great promifes [A]." Fortune at length began to fmile upon Ammonius, for he was appointed fecretary to Henry VIII. and honoured by pope Leo X. with a public character at the court of this prince; and in all appearance he would have foon rifen higher, had not death carried him Ibid. E?.vl. off when he was but of a middle age: he died of the fweat- P I0 4 ficknefs [B], in 1517. Erafmus thus laments his death : '* how ufquam fAJ'Principio perfrica frontem nequid pudear. Deinde omnibus om- nium negotiis te mifce, protruce quem- cumque potes cubito. Ncminem nee ames, nee oderis ex anitno, led omnia tuo compend'o metiare. Ad hunc fco- pum omnis vit ratio fpeftet. Ne quid des nifi unde fperes faenus j atTt-nt^re omnibus omoia. Duabus |V 'eto feHis. Suborna diverfos procos qui te ambiant. Minare et appara difcefiu'". Oftende ii- teras quibus rr.agnis pollicitis avocaris. ErafT>. Epirt. xiu. lib. viii. p. 414. [B] The learned Cai.,s, as quoted by Dr. Freind, gives the following account of the fweating ficknefs: '' It p -egan at " firft in 1463, in Henry Vll'f army, " upon his landing at Milfoid-naven, " and fpread it'elt in London from the " 2ift of September to U.eend of Oclo- " ber. It returned here five times, and " always in fummer : firft in 1485, " then in 1506, afterwards in 15:7, " when it was fo violent that it kiiltd " in the fpace of three hours ; fo that ' many of the nobility died, and of the " vulgar fort, in feveral towns, half " often periOied. It appeared the fourth ' time in i5iS, and proved mortal " then in the fpace of fix Lours ; many " of the courtiers died of it, and Henry ' VIII. himftlf was in danger. In " Netherlands and Germany, in which " laft country it did ni'ich milthi-f, and " Heftroyed many, and paiticulaiiv was " the occafion of imaiup'ing a co te- rence at Marpurgh between Lurher " and Zuingli us about theeucharift. The " Jaft return of it with us was in 1551 : " died and twenty in a day. AtShrewf- " bury particularly, where our author r Caius refided, it brnke out in a very turiour man' er ; the defcription Le gives of it is terrible, like the plague at Alhins. He very properly calls it a peftilential contagious fever, of one natural dav : the fweat itlelf he reckons only as a fymptom or cnfis of this fever The manner of its feizure was thus: firft it affected fome par- ticular pait, attended with inward hea' and burning, unquenchable thiril, reftiefTnefs, fuknefs at the fiomach and heart (though feldom vomiting), head ach, delirium, then faintnrls. and exceffive drowfinefs ; tne pulle quick and vehement, and the fare 'th ihort and labouring. Chil- cren, poor and old people, lefs fubjtft to it. Of others, fcarce any efcaped the attack, and moft died : in that to*n, where it lafted feven months, psrifhed uear a thonfand. Even by travelling into France or Flanders they did not efcape j and what is flranger, even the Scotch were free, and abroad the Englifti only affected, ant) foreigners not affedled in Enp- land. None recovered in lefs than twenty. four hours, At firft the phy. ficians were much puzzled how to treat it : the only cure was to carry on the fweat, which was neceffary for a long time, for if flopped, it was dangerous or fatal : the way there- fore was to be patient and lie ftil!, and not to take cold. If nature was not ftrong enough to doit, art ftiould aflift her in promoting the (weat by clo^ths, medicines, wine, &c. The vi';lnce of it was over in fifteen hi.'-.rb; bat no fecurity till twenty- four hours were pair. In fome there was a ncceflity to repeat the fweatmg ; in
 * ' with ufury, and be complaifant to every body. Have af-
 * f 1529, and only then, it infefted the
 * ' in Weftminfter it carried off one h*in-