either from imagination, such as some of these are said to be swelled withal, or from the senses affected by musick, dropping waters, gliding rivers, whistling winds, &c. are usual promoters of insensation. By all which you may perceive, that there are more doors to our bed-chamber than one.

Thus, sir, to satisfy your curiosity, I have traveled somewhat an unbeaten, yet not altogether unpleasant path; and, that I might not return these fruits of my travels as jejune and sterile as the country visited, I have, therefore, taken a slight view of some of the monuments of antiquity, as also of the stately superstructures of the new model, that occurred in our journey. Yet there is one thing remaining, that should have been premised, and that is, an exact history of our damsel; but that you cannot expect, because you did not demand; and, I suppose, you did not demand, because you knew I was unable to perform. Yet, that I might not seem to build on the sands, I shall present you with a short narrative, received since I began this discourse, from a person of known ingenuity and honesty, and therefore most worthy of credit:

This abstinent is one Martha Taylor, a young damsel, born ' of mean parentage, inhabiting not far from Bakewell in Derby. shire; who, receiving a blow on the back from a miller, became a prisoner to her bed for several days; which being expired, she ' obtained some enlargement for a time, but, by increasing dis' tempers, was quickly remanded to her bed-prison again; where 'continuing some time, she found, at last, a defect in her gula, ' and, quickly after, a dejection of appetite, so that, about the twenty-second of December, Anno 1667, she began to abstain from all solid food, and so hath continued (except something so small, at the seldom ebbings of her distemper, as is altogether 'inconsiderable) till within a fortnight before the date hereof, ' which amounts to thirteen months and upwards; as also from all other sorts, both of meats and drinks, except now and then a few drops of the syrup of stewed prunes, water and sugar, or the juice of a roasted raisin, &c. but these repasts are used so seldom, and in such very small quantities, as are prodigiously insufficient for sustentation. She evacuates nothing by urine, or stool; she 'spits not, that I can hear of, but her lips are often dry, for which 'cause she takes water and sugar with a feather, or some other liquids; but the palms of her hands are often moist, her countenance fresh and lively, her voice clear and audible, in discourse she is free, her belly flapped to her back-bone, so that it may be felt through her intestines, whence a great cavity is admitted from the Cartilago ensiformis to the navel; and, though her 6 upper parts be less emaciated, though much too, yet her lower parts are very languid, and unapt for motion, and the skin 'thereof defiled with a dry pruriginous scurf, for which, of late, they have washed them with milk. She sleeps so sparingly, that once she continued five weeks waking, I hear nothing of any ' extraordinary previous sanctity, though, since her afiliction,

❝ being confined to her bed, which 'lieth in a lower room, by the 'fire-side, she hath learned to read; and being visited so plentifully by the curious from many parts, as also by the religious of all persuasions, she hath attained some knowledge in sacred mysteries, but nothing of enthusiasm, that she pretends unto. And, lest she should prove a cheat, she hath been diligently watched by physicians, surgeons, and other persons, for, at least, a fortnight together, by the appointment of the noble Earl of Devonshire, as is already published by Mr. Robins B. of D. that is, ballad-maker of Derby, whose ballad, they say, doth much excel his book. Likewise several other persons, at other times, have been pleased to watch for their own satisfaction, who, 'detecting no fraud, have given the account above-mentioned; which was, for the main, confirmed to me by a sophy, the ❝ renown of whose wisdom hath often made England to ring, who assured me, that he had an exact account of her.'

This story being born thus out of due time, it may seem necessary to make some reflexions therefrom on the precedent discourse. And 1. Her age confirms the probability of a ferment in the seminals. 2. An antipathy to meat was not the promoter of the tragedy, but an inability to swallow. 3. Her assumptions of liquors, though seldom and slender, contributed not only to a petite concoction in the ventricle, but also to a fermentation in the heart. 4. Her restrained evacuations, by urine and stool, add much to her moisture, as well as to our trouble to render the assumption and non-evacuation consistent; to the performance whereof, let it be remembered, that, in this respect, she was formerly compared to embryo's, who use no excretion by the fundament, but retain, in their intestines, the more crass feculencies, till the time of their exclusion, the uterine embraces; which is the rather to be admitted, because she, as well as they, receives nothing but liquids; only in this she differs, they evacuate, by the urachus, into the allantoides their urinal excrement, but she hath no excretion of urine at all; the defect whereof may yet be supplied by these three advantages, which she hath above them, as are her expiration, extraordinary transpiration in the palms of her hands, and the far smaller quantity of liquors that she receives. 5. Her non-excretion, and the dryness of her mouth, argue the remanding of the humours to the further services of nature. 6. The atro. phy of the parts, and inability to motion, seem to argue a defect of nervous juice and animal spirits; which weakens the necessity of our giving a perfect account, how nature may be completely sustained in the absence of food. 7. Her impetiginous eruptions argue the saltness of her blood, which adds the greater probability to the several saline ferments mentioned before. 8. Her sparing sleep shews not only the no necessity of the ordinary measures of healthful dormitators, but also that sleep may be conciliated otherwise, than by the powerful mediation of fuming food. 9. There is no cause, from any antecedent sanctity, to ascribe this mirandous production to miraculous causes. 10. Her abode, in a lower

room, doth accommodate her with a moister air, which is more generative of humours. 11. Her propinquity to the fire conduceth to the extraneous reception of igneous atoms. 12. Her non-pretensions to revelations, and the constant visits she receives from persons of all forms, may serve to occlude, not only the mouths, that are so unevangelical, as to cry her up for a miracle, but those also, that are so unphilosophical, as to cry her down for the cheat of a faction.

6

Now, sir, should I take my hand from the table, did I not suspect, that some one may possibly reply upon me and say, if I take it to be possible to live without food, it is a wonder I fall not myself to this piece of frugality; I therefore add, though with this jejune table one may possibly live, yet it follows not that I can; for, according to the old saying, That, which is one man's meat, is another man's poison;' and, even in physick, it is affirmed by that noble philosopher, Esquire Boyle* (a worthy fellow of the Royal Society, of whose admirable designs I would you should know that I am a great admirer) that some medicines, as particularly salt of amber, is effectual for epileptical children, not so for adult epilepticks; and the deserving Dr. Castle affirms + that Mercur. dulc. is more safe for children, than grown persons, especially if irrigated with acidities. But, sir, I find myself launching into a wide sea; I shall therefore tack about to do my devoir, and crave your acceptance of this slender offering, and your Quietus est for the present, giving you assurance, that, in so doing, you may hereafter command, Sir,

Your observant Servant,

King's-Norton, Feb. 22, 1668.

Scept. Chym. p. 251.

JO. REYNOLDS,

+ Chym. Gal. P. 26.

A BRIEF RELATION*

OF

SIR WALTER RALEIGH'S TROUBLES.

WITH THE

Taking away the Lands and Castle of Sherburn in Dorset from him and his Heirs, being his indubitable Inheritance.

London, printed for W. T. 1669.

Quarto, containing Eleven Pages.

To the Right Honourable, the Commons of England, assembled in Parliament. The humble Petition of Carew Raleigh, Esq. only Son of Sir Walter Raleigh, late deceased,

Humbly sheweth,

THAT whereas your petitioner conceiveth, that his late father, Sir Walter Raleigh, was most unjustly and illegally condemned and executed; and his lands and castle of Sherburn wrongfully taken from him and his, as may more at large appear by this brief narrative hereunto annexed; the particulars whereof your petitioner is, upon due proofs, ready to make good: Your petitioner, therefore, humbly submitting to the great justice and integrity of this house (which is no way more manifested, than by relieving the oppressed) humbly craveth, that he may receive such satisfaction, for these his great oppressions and losses, as to the wisdom and clemency of this honourable house shall seem fit.

WHEN

And your petitioner shall humbly pray, &c.

HEN King James came into England, he found Sir Walter Raleigh (by the favour of his late mistress Queen Elisabeth) Lord Warden of the Stannaries, lord lieutenant of Devonshire and Cornwall, captain of the guard, and governor of the Isle of Jersey; with a large possession of lands both in England and Ireland. The king for some weeks used him with great kindness, and was pleased to acknowledge divers presents, which he had received from him being in Scotland, for which he gave him thanks. But finding him (as he said himself) a martial man, addicted to foreign affairs, and great actions, he feared, lest he should engage him in a war, a thing most hated, and contrary to the king's nature. Wherefore be began to look upon him with a jealous eye, especially after he had presented him with a book, wherein, with great animosity, he opposed the peace with Spain, then in treaty, persuading the king rather vigorously to prosecute the war with that prince, then in hand, promising, and that with great probability, within few years to reduce the West-Indies to his obedience. But Sir Walter Raleigh's enemies, soon discovering the king's humour, resolved at once to rid the king of this doubt and trouble, and to

*This is the 100th Number in the Catalogue of Pamphlets in the Harleian Library,

inrich themselves with the lands and offices of Sir Walter Raleigh Wherefore they plotted to accuse him, and the Lord Cobham, a simple passionate man, but of very noble birth and great possessions, of high treason. The particulars of their accusation I am ut.. terly ignorant of, and I think all men, both then and now living; only I find in general terms, they were accused for plotting with the Spaniard, to bring in a foreign army, and proclaim the infanta of Spain, Queen of England; but without any proofs, and the thing itself as ridiculous as impossible. However, Sir Walter Raleigh was condemned without any witness brought in against him, and the Lord Cobham, who was pretended to have accused him barely in a letter, in another letter to Sir Walter Raleigh, upon his salvation, cleared him of all treason, or treasonable actions. either against king or state to his knowledge; which original letter is now in the hands of Mr. Carew Raleigh, son of Sir Walter, to be produced at any time. Upon this condemnation, all his lands and offices were seized, and himself committed close prisoner to the Tower; but they found his Castle of Sherburn, and the lands thereunto belonging, to be long before entailed on his children, so that he could not forfeit it, but during his own life. And the king, finding in himself the iniquity of Sir Walter's condemnation, gave him all what he had forfeited, again, but still kept him close prisoner. Seven years after his imprisonment, he enjoyed Sherburn; at which time it fell out, that one Mr. Robert Car, a young Scotch gentleman, grew in great favour with the king; and having no fortune, they contrived to lay the foundation of his future greatness upon the ruins of Sir Walter Raleigh. Whereupon they called the conveyance of Sherburn in question, in the Exchequer chamber, and for want of one single word (which word was found notwithstanding in the paper-book, and was only the oversight of a clerk) they pronounced the conveyance invalid, and Sherburn forfeited to the crown; a judgment easily to be foreseen without witchcraft, since his chiefest judge was his greatest enemy, and the case argued between a poor friendless prisoner, and a king of England.

Thus was Sherburn given to Sir Robert Car (after Earl of Somerset;) the Lady Raleigh* with her children, humbly and earnestly petitioning the king for compassion on her, and her's, could obtain no other answer from him, but that he mun have the land, he mun have it for Car. She being a woman of a very high spirit, and noble birth and breeding, fell down upon her knees, with her hands heaved up to heaven, and in the bitterness of spirit, beseeched God Almighty to look upon the justice of her cause, and punish those who had so wrongfully exposed her, and her poor children, to ruin and beggary. What hath happened since to that royal family, is too sad and disastrous for me to repeat, and yet too visible not to be discerned. But to proceed: Prince Henry, hearing the king had given Sherburn to Sir Robert Car, came with some anger to

She was the only daughter of Sir Nicholas Throckmorton, who was arraigned, in Queen Mary's time, and acquitted. See Fox's Acts and Monuments.