Poland, and they govern the Swiss no less; who, by the conquest of the Franche Compte, are made little better than slaves. And yet, by a fatal and besotted blindness, that republick still furnishes the French with the best of their soldiers, and helps forward the destruction of Europe, never dreaming that they themselves are to be undone too at last.

But it is no great matter, you will say, to impose upon the Swiss (which are a heavy and a phlegmatick people) but the French charms have bewitched even Italy itself; though a nation the most clear-sighted and suspicious of all others. For their republicks lie as quiet, as if they were asleep; though the fire is already kindled in Sicily, and the danger brought home to their own doors. It is a wonder, that they lay things no more to heart, considering, First, the passages that the French have to favour their entry. Secondly, that they are many and small states; weak and easily to be corrupted, if not so already. Thirdly, that though they have been formerly very brave, and in many particulars remain so still, yet, in the generality, they are soft and effeminate. And, Fourthly, that the French is there the master of the seas. These reflexions, methinks, might convince any man of the condition they are in. And certainly, they, that were not able to defend themselves against Charles the eighth, will be much less able to encounter Lewis the fourteenth: or, if he gets in, to drive him out again, as they did the other. For they must do it wholly upon their own strength, having only the Turk in condition to help them. For Germany and Spain are sunk already; and the Swiss will neither dare to venture upon it, nor are they able to do it, if they had a mind to it.

As for Spain, it is neither populous, nor fortified, and perhaps want of provisions may keep it from an invasion. And yet, for all that, with a body of thirty or forty thousand men by the way of Fontarabia, and as many by Catalonia, the French may, if they please, in two campaigns, make themselves masters of Navarre, Arragon, Catalonia, and Valentia; and then it is but fortifying the frontiers, and making his Catholick majesty a tributary in Castile; who must content himself to take what they please to give him, over and above, in consideration of his dominions in Italy, and the Spanish Indies: a possibility that England and Holland shall do well to think of: for, when he has the mines in his power, and Europe under his feet, there will be no contending.

After this, they have only the Swiss, or the English, to fall upon next; for the former, they are neither fortified, nor united, in affections, or religion.

As for England; they are a people not naturally addicted to the French; sensible of their honour, and of their interest; and the whole world is convinced of their courage. They are united under the government of a gracious prince; and their concerns are at this instant lodged in the hands of the most loyal and publick-spirited representatives that ever acted in that station; beside the strength of the island by situation: so that the French would find it a hard matter, either to make a conquest here, or, if they should surprise it, to keep it. But yet they have finer ways to victory than by force of arms; and their gold has done them better service than their iron.

What have we now to do then, but, in a common cause, to arm against a common oppression? This is the time, or never, for Italy to enter

into a league for their common safety, and not only to keep, but, if possible, to force the French from their borders; while the Imperial army holds the capital power of France in play?

And this is the time too, for the Swiss to recall all their troops out of the French service, and to strike a general league also for the recovery of Burgundy, the only outwork of their liberties, and to expel the French garisons, and deliver the places into the hands of the right

owners.

And will it not concern Poland, as much as any of the rest; that stands, or falls with the empire, as the defence of Christendom against the Turks, and whose own turn is next?

This alarm, methinks, should call off the princes from the acquisitions they have made upon part of the Swedes possessions in the empire, to the assistance of the Spanish Netherlands; and make all the French mercenaries in the empire to bethink themselves of returning from the delusions which either the French artifice or money has imposed upon them. He, that has no regard for the head, will have less for the de. pendences, when he has them at his mercy.

Nay the very French themselves should do well to contemplate the slavery that is now prepared for them. Their laws and liberties are trampled upon; and, till the French government be reduced to the bounds of its ancient constitution, neither the people, nor their neighbours, can ever be secure.

In this dangerous crisis of affairs, it has pleased divine Providence to leave England the arbitress of the fate of Europe; and to annex such advantages to the office, that the honour, the duty, and the security of this nation seem to be wrapped up together. In the point of honour, what can be more generous, than to succour the miserable and op. pressed, and to put a stop to that torrent that threatens Christendom with an universal deluge? Beside the vindication of ourselves for those affronts and indignities, both publick and private, that we have suffered upon our own account. And then, in matter of duty, it is not only Christendom, but Christianity itself, that lies at stake. For, in the ruin of the empire, the Turk's work is done to his hand, by breaking down the only fence that has preserved us all this while from the incur. sions of the Ottoman power. Now, as nothing can be more glorious, than, at all hazards, to hinder the effusion of more Christian blood, and to save Christendom itself from bondage; it is so much our interest too, that we ourselves are lost without it. And, as the obligation is reciprocal, so the resolution is necessary. The choice we have before us being only this, either to unite with our neighbours, for a common safety; or to stand still, and look on, the tame spectators of their ruin, till we fall alone. This is so demonstrative, that, if we do not by a powerful alliance, and diversion, prevent the conquest of Flanders (which lies already a gasping) we are cut off from all communication with the rest of Europe; and cooped up at home, to the irrecoverable loss of our reputation and commerce; for Holland must inevitably fol. low the fate of Flanders, and then the French are masters of the sea; ravage our plantations; and infallibly possess themselves of the Spanish Indies, and leave us answerable for all those calamities that shall ensue

upon it; which as yet, by God's providence, may be timely prevented. But he, that stills the raging of the sea, will undoubtedly set bounds to this overflowing greatness; having now, as an earnest of that mercy, put it into the hearts of our superiors to provide seasonably for the common safety, and in proportion also to the exigence of the affair; knowing very well, that things of this nature are not to be done by halves.

We have to do with a nation of a large territory; abounding in men, and money; and their dominion is grown so absolute, that no man there can call any thing his own, if the court says nay to it. So that the sober and industrious part are only slaves to the lusts and ambition of the military. In this condition of servitude, they feel already what their neighbours fear, and wish as well to any opportunity, either of avoiding, or of casting off the yoke; which will easily be given by a conjunction of England and Holland, at sea; and almost infallibly produce these effects. First, it will draw off the naval force of France from Sicily, America, and elsewhere, to attend this expedition. Secondly, the diversion will be an ease to the empire, and the confederates, from whence more troops must be drawn to encounter this difficulty, than the French can well spare. Thirdly, it will not only encourage those princes, and states, that are already engaged, but likewise keep in awe those that are disaffected, and confirm those that waver.

It is true, this war must needs be prodigiously expensive; but then, in all probability, it will be short; and, in cases of this quality, people must do as in a storm at sea, rather throw part of the lading over-board, than founder the vessel. I do not speak this, as supposing any difficulty in the case, for the very contemplation of it has put fire into the veins of every true Englishman; and they are moved, as by a sacred impulse, to the necessary and the only means of their preservation. And that which crowns our hopes, is, that these generous inclinations are only ready to execute what the wisdom of their superiors shall find reasonable to command. I need not tell you how jealous the people of England are of their religion and liberties; to what degree they have contended, even for the shadow of these interests; nor how much blood, and treasure, they have spent upon the quarrel. Could an imposture work so much; and can any man imagine, that they will be now less sensible, when they see before their eyes a manifest plot upon their religion; their liberties invaded; their traffick interrupted; the honour and the very being of their country at stake; their wives and children exposed to beggary and scorn; and in conclusion, the privileges of a free-born Englishman exchanged for the vassalage of France.

STRANGE AND TRUE NEWS FROM STAFFORDSHIRE;

Or, a true Narrative concerning a Young Man lying under Almighty God's just Vengeance, for

IMPRECATING GOD's JUDGMENT UPON HIMSELF,

And pleading his innocency, though he knew himself guilty.

Written by W. Vincent, minister of God's word at Bednall, in the county of Stafford, aforesaid, who saw and discoursed the said person, upon the 26th day of April, 1677. The saddest spectacle that ever eyes beheld. Licensed, May 11, 1677. Roger L'Estrange.

TH

London: printed in the year 1677. Quarto, containing six pages.

HOUGH the sad examples of God's justice upon notorious offenders have been many, in the several parts of the world, yet men are not deterred from, but persist in perfidiousness and villainy: whenSatan has, by his temptations, got once an advantage, he never leaves tempting such vanquished sinners, till he has drawn them from less sins to greater, and so brought them to shame and destruction, either in this life, or that which is to come; as by this sad example, of which I am about to discourse, will more fully appear.

One Mr. William Vincent, a minister, hearing a report that a man's hands and feet should rot off, and yet the said man not at all sick, but could eat, and drink, and speak heartily; and having an account where this man lay, could not be satisfied, but made it his business to ride to the place, which was about fourteen or fifteen miles distant from Bednall, where the said minister liveth; and coming to some few houses adjoining to a heath-side in the county of Stafford, aforesaid, in a little shed, or barn, there he finds this subject of God's wrath, and object of every eye's pity that beheld him; and, at that time, there were a great many, both men, women, and children, beholding of him: the person, so afflicted, lying there, upon a pad of straw, between a pair of sheets, not being able to help himself, neither one way or other, more than what the person that looked after him did for him; for there is a man hired only to attend him.

As to the miserableness of his condition, it is this: several of his members consume away and rot; one hand, being rotted from the wrist, that you may not only see through the master bones, but also the bones, for half a handful, between the knuckle-bone of the wrist, and upwards, towards the elbow, hath neither vein, flesh, nor sinew left, but is as bare as any bone can be: one hand is as black as a beast's hoof, and drawn together in the form of the same; so that the said minister, upon the first sight of it, did conclude, that it had been a beast's hoof that had

lain by him, till his keeper shewed him to the contrary, by moving his arm; by which it did appear, that that was his hand, and did join to his wrist, that was bare to the bone for above four inches: the flesh that next appeared, towards his elbow, was ulcerous, and in a rotten condition, and one of his knees rotted, so that his leg was ready to drop off; yet, all this while, the said afflicted person eating, and drinking, and speaking heartily.

Now, you have heard in what a miserable and dreadful condition this sad subject of God's just wrath now lies. Let us proceed to give you an account of his own conjectures, of the cause of his so exemplary punish

ment.

The said person stealing a Bible, being accused of the fact, did absolutely and impudently deny it; not only so, but imprecating sad judg ments against himself, in these and such like words, saying, that he desired that God might make him an example, if he were any ways guilty of that crime laid to his charge; and that his hands might rot off if he stole it, and he might rot alive if he had it, or meddled with it; notwithstanding, he knew himself to be guilty of the stealing of it.

All which you may more fully understand, by this following confession from his own mouth, to the said minister, the author of this present narrative.

This minister, when he came to him, propounded several questions to him, after he had bewailed the lamentable condition of the said person. 1. He asked him, whether he did not look upon the hand of divine vengeance to be upon him, in an extraordinary manner?

He answered 'He did.'

2. The said minister asked him, whether he did apprehend, what that so sore a judgment was for, that he then lay under? Whether he were guilty of any particular sin (that his conscience accused him withal) which did provoke God's wrath in so high a nature against him?

He said, that his particular sin was stealing a Bible, for which he apprehended this sore judgment of God upon him.

The said minister said further to him, 'Did you steal a Bible?'
He answered, 'Yes.'

The minister told him, though he did, that was a sin pardonable upon repentance; that God was a merciful God.

But the afflicted person further added, that, when he was questioned for it, he positively denied it, and wished that he might rot alive, and that his hands might rot off, if he ever touched it; and all this while knew himself guilty of the crime.

The minister asked him, 'How long since this fact was committed?" He answered, 'About six weeks.'

The minister asked him, how long, after that he had wished those sad wishes to himself, it was, before he apprehended that hand of God's wrath to be upon him?

He answered, Not long.'

The minister asked him, after what manner he found himself alter, as to any distemper that seized upon him?

He answered, 'He was taken with an aguish and feverish condition, and immediately his hand began to rot, and then he looked upon it to