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26 XXXI. John Peter, ſon-in-law to Alexander the cruel keeper of Newgate, being a moſt horrible ſwearer and blaſphemer, uſed commonly to ſay, If it be not true, I pray God I may rot ere I die, which happened to him; for he rotted away indeed, and ſo died in miſery.

To this may be added a notable example of a certain young gallant, that was a monſtrous ſwearer, who riding in the company of divers gentlemen out of Cornwall, in the days of king Edward the ſixth, he began to curſe and blaſpheme moſt horribly, when one Mr. Hains, a miniſter, with mild words reproved, telling him, He ſhould one day anſwer for it; whereat the gentleman being in a fume, bid him, Take no thought for him, but prepare for his own winding-ſheet: Well, (ſaith the miniſter) ''Amend, for death gives no warning; as ſoon comes the lamb's ſkin to the market, as an old ſheeps'. God's wounds! (ſaid he) care not thou for me, ſtill raging worſe and worſe, till at length going on their journey, they came to a great bridge, which was made over an arm of the ſea; in paſſing of which this ſwearing gallant ſpurred his horſe with ſuch fury that he leaped clear over the bridge, with the man on his back, who as he was falling, cried out, Horſe and man, and all to the devil''. This terrible ſtory biſhop Ridley preached and delivered in a ſermon at Paul's Croſs, and Mr. Hains himſelf reported the truth thereof to Mr. Fox, from whence this is taken.—Acts and Monuments.

XXXII. At a town called St Gallus, in Helvetia, a certain man that earned his living by making foul linen clean, going into a tavern, taſted ſo much of the grape, that in his drunkenneſs he uſed horrible curſings, wiſhing, That if ever he went in the fields again to bis old trade, the devil might break