Unheard-of Curiosities/Preface

is not any Itch of writing possesses me, Courteous Reader, that I here present thee with these Curiosities : those that know me, have found me very free from this foolish passion. But a person of quality, whom to deny any thing, were a great Crime in me, hath forced them out of my Closet, whence otherwise they never should have come : since I had resolv'd, after so many Calumnies endured, never to adventure more into the Publick View, having so oftentimes sighed forth those words of a Roman Prince ; Utinam nescissem literas ! But in fine, the Intreaties, and Commands of my friends have prevailed against my own Resolution ; and I am forced, I confesse, to this Publication, since I could not but foresee well enough, that my Enemies would not rellish at all this other Essay of my pen : notwithstanding after all this, I have wherewith to comfort my self ; since one of the greatest Prelates of our Age hath condemned their Insolence. Receive therefore favourably this Discourse, Courteous Reader ; and remember what we all are : I will not say, thou shalt find all things perfect here, for I am no Angel : and if there be any Defects, we must accuse our Mortality, which renders all Mankind subject to Errour. But above all, know, that I am no whit obstinate, or self-conceited, nor never was ; I take in very good part what Advertisements soever are given me : neither doe I account my selfe so knowing, but that I shall be very ready to learne of any man : they are fooles only, and vainglorious, that refuse to be taught ; and the Ignorant only say, They know all. As for my part, Courteous Reader, use me but friendly, and I shall require nothing else.

If thou thinke it strange, that a man of the Church, as I am, should adventure on so bold, and daring a Subject, as this seems to be ; consider, I pray thee, that many of my Profession have put forth things much more bold then these ; and even such as have been esteemed Dangerous too. Thus Trithemius the Abbot put forth his Polygraphy, and his Steganography, where the Calling forth of Spirits is plainly delivered ; notwithstanding he makes other use of it, then our Sorcerers doe. Gulielmus bishop of Paris hath not only written of Naturall Magick, but he also both perfectly understood, and practis'd it, as the Learned Picus Mirandula reports of him. Another Learned Bishop also, Albertus Magnus by name, hath taught the grounds of it with admiration. Roger Bacon, and Johannes de Rupescissa, both Franciscan Friers, have done the same. Petrus Cirvellus, a Spaniard of the same Order, hath published to the Christian World a Book in Folio, of the Foure Principall kinds of Divination, and all the Maximes of Judiciary Astrology. P. de Alliaco, a Cardinal, and Bishop of Cambray, hath written of the same Subject : as also hath Junctinus, a Priest of Florence, and a D$r$ of Divinity. And since we are fallen upon the Italians, have not Aurelius Augurellus, and Pantheus, both Priests, the one a Venetian, the other a Tarvisian, delivered the Fooleries of the Philosophers Stone, the one in his Chrysopæa, and the other in his Voarchadumia ? Marsilius Ficinus also, a Priest, how full of Superstition are his writings : yea what Superstition is there in the World, that he hath not published to open View ? Antonius Bernardus Mirandulanus, Bishop of Caserte, hath, after his example, maintained a world of things, cleane contrary to our Religion, in his book, De singulari certamine. The Cardinall Cajetan de Vio hath done the very same : and Giovanno Ingegneri, Bishp of Cabo d’Istria, hath newly busied himself in maintaining the Grounds of Physiognomy. And before all these, Synesius, a Christian Bishop, wrote a book of the Interpretation of Dreames, commented on afterwards by Nicephorus Gregoras, a Bishop also, or Patriach, of Constantinople. I omit the Superstitions of Joachimus Abbas ; and of Savanarolla, a Dominican Frier ; with Cardinall Bembus his Gli Asolani ; Æneas Sylvius (who was afterward Pope Pius Ⅱ.) his Lucrece ; the book so full of all Lewdnesse of Poggius the Florentine, who was Secretary to the Pope. Neither will I mention the Macaronick History, put forth under the name of Merlin Coccai, but written by Theophilus Folengius, a Benedictine Frier ; not an infinite number of other books, written by Church-men, with which, Kind Reader, if thou compare this of mine, thou wilt find, if any blame me, they do it wrongfully.

And that thou mayst be fully acquainted with my purpose in this discourse, know, that I give no more credit to any of these Curiosities, then the Catholique and Apostolique Church permits and that I have not published them, at least some of the most nice and ticklish, but after many Christians of my Profession, as thou mayst perceive by the Sequel. As touching Jeroboam's Calves, I am not the first, who hath said, that the making of them was Lawfull, and that this King was no Idolater : the Learned Genebrard hath led me the way, and after him, Moncæus, and before them, Abiudan : and I shall be very ready to withdraw my self out of their company, if I find there be any danger in't. If thou object, that these Curiosities, ought not therefore to be called, Unheard-of ; seeing that they have been handled by others : I answer, that the greatest part of them were Unheard-of, to Christians ; since that I have collected them out of the writings of the Jewes, where they were delivered so abscurely, that even those of their own Nation neglected them. As for the Talismanicall Figures, they were so Unheard-of in our Age, that their very name was not so much as knowne. Now that thou mayst have a more perfect understanding of what is delivered in the ensuing Discourse, be please to adde this which followeth.

In the First Part, ''Cap. 1. p. 7. I say, that I had not been able to discover the reason, why Plutarch, Strabo, Trogus, Tacitus, and Diodorus had accused the Jewes of worshipping a Vine : I have since found, that it was, because they had heard say, and even themselves seen, at least some of them, that in the Temple at Jerusalem, there was a Golden Vine, with it's leaves, and clusters of grapes, made against the wall ; as it is described by Josephus''. Interior porta, saies he, tota inaurata erat, ut dixi, & circum eam auratus paries, desuper autem habebat aureos pampinos, unde racemi statura hominis, dependebant. I know very well, that many so understand the words of Josephus, as if this Vine were not of solid, Massy gold, but only gilded, after the manner of the Phrygian work. But the other Josephus, the Sonne of Gorian, contradicts this Interpretation of the words : for, speaking in the same History (of the Destruction of Jerusalem) both more clearly, and more at large, of this Golden Vine, and it's bunches of grapes, he saies : ''Fecit insuper Herodes vitem de auro mundo, & posuit in summitatem columnarum, cujus pondus erat mille talentorum aureorum. Erat autem vitis ipsa facta opere ingenioso, habens ramos perplexos, cujus folia, & germina facta erant ex rutilanti auro ; botri autem ex auro fulvo, & grana ejus acini, atque folliculi facti erant ex lapidibus preciosis, totumque opus erat fabrefactum opere vario, ut esset mirandum spectaculum, & gaudium cordis omnibus intuentibus ipsam. And presently after he addes : Multi quoque scriptores Romani testantur, se eam vidisse, cum desolaretur Templum. Now the fore-named Authors, Plutarch, Strabo, and the rest, seeing that the Jewes had in their Temple a Golden Vine, so rich, so precious, and of so admirable workmanship ; the were easily perswaded that they worshipped it, in honour of Bacchus, who was the first that subdued the East : and this is the Opinion of Cornelius Tacitus'', who lived at the same time, when this Beautifull Temple was destroyed. Sed quia, saith he, sacerdotes Judæorum tibia, tympanisque concinebant, hedera vinciebantur, vitisque aurea in Templo reperta ; Liberum Patrem coli, domitorem Orientis, quidam arbitrati sunt ; nequaquàm congruentibus institutis : Quippe Liber festos, lætosque ritus posuit ; Judæorum mos absurdus, sordidusque. But we passe by this Impious Author, who makes a mock at the Religion of the Jewes on all occasions.

In the Second Part, ''Chap. 4. pag. 86. where I render the Greek words, ψιλαἱς έπινίαῖς, by these French words, Menues Pensées, Little thoughts, I have translated the Greek word, ψιλαἱς as it ought to be understood, which signifies properly, Little, Delicate, and Small: as we call one of the Greek letters Ypsilon, that is to say, the little Y''. Now the Second Thoughts are Small, Fine, and Delicate, because they consider things abstracted, and separated from matter ; which the First doe not : And therefore we say in French very elegantly, when we speak of one that hath brought forth any curious conceit, voila une pensée bien desliée.

In the following Chap. you may adde these admirable Gamahes. At Pisa, in the Church of St. John, you have, on a certaine stone, an Old Hermite, perfectly drawn by Nature only ; but with so much exactnesse, that there seemes not to be wanting any thing that belongs to one of that sort of men. For he is represented in a Desert, suitable to his profession, and sitting neare a Brooks side ; with a Clock in his hand. This Naturall piece of Picture, almost fully answers That, they deliver St. Anthony in. In the Temple of S. Sophia, at Constantinople, there is also seen, upon a plain white Marble, the Image of St. John Baptist, cloathed with a Camels skinne ; being only defective in this, that Nature hath drawn him out but with one foote. At Ravenna, in the Church of St. Vitalis, there is to be seen a Franciscan Frier, naturally drawn, upon a stone of an Ash-colour. At Sneiberg in Germany, there was found in the Earth, a certaine little statue of a kind of unrefined Metall, naturally made, which represented, in a round Figure, a man having a little Child at his back : and whoever hath any where seen the picture of St. Christopher, may easily conceive the shape of this. It is not long since there was found, in the Hercinian Forest, a Stone that naturally represented the figure of an old man, with a long beard, and crowned with a Triple Crowne, as the Pope of Rome is. Observe likewise that many of these stones, or Gamahes, are called all by the same name, because they have alwayes the same figure. So that, which represents the Eyes of a man, is called Leucophthalmos :

Curiositez inoüyes/Édition 1629/Introduction