late at night; his head, that was overladen with wine, proved too heavy for the rest of his body; so that he fell down in the street, not able to rise, through the feebleness of his legs. He had his sword by his side; when another coming by that way, and hearing the voice of his enemy at some distance, suddenly snatched out the drunkard's sword, and having run it into the heart of his adversary, left it sticking in the wound, and in all haste conveyed himself away from the place. The watch at that time chanced to pass by, who, finding a man lie dead, with a sword in his body, and this drunken person lying near him, with his scabbard empty, they took him along with them to the magistrate; who having received such apparent testimony against hit, committed him to prison: he was hanged for the murder, though innocent; and afterwards the true murderer, being to be hanged for some other matter, confessed it was himself who had made use of the sword to act his own private revenge. 3. A young man newly returned from the wars, in which he had been a captain of a troop of horse, having drunk liberally from the noon of the day till it was far in the night, laid himself down to sleep upon a bench, which was near to an open casement; there was his face beat upon all the night long, by a thick snow that had fallen. In the morning he had a strange writhing in his mouth; his right cheek, which lay nearest to the window, was fixed; nor was he able to move the eye-brow on that side, nor breathe, or spit on that side of the face: besides, the whole part was changed in the fashion, bigness, and colour of it; nor was he at last recovered without a great deal of difficulty. 4. When, about thirty years since, I was a student in a famous university in Upper Germany, some riotous students were entertained by a nobleman at his chamber, who intending to treat them to the height of intemperance, had so gorged himself with wine, that he was fast asleep at the table he sat by; in which posture his associates left him, and departed. A great wax candle stood upon the table : and in his sleep he had turned himself so inconveniently, that it burnt his breast, and the parts about it, in such a manner, that his entrails might be seen, which yet was not perceived by him that was buried in wine. The candle being burnt out, he yet remained snoring, and lying upon the wax and ashes. In the morning he was awaked by his fellow toss-pots, and invited by them to a cup of wormwood wine, when he complained of insufferable torments. The most skilful physicians were immediately sent for; but in vain did they endeavour to oppose so great a burning: so that, in horrid torments, upon the third day following he concluded his miserable life; having first warned his companions, with tears, to beware of drunkenness. 5. Anno 1591 there was one liege who was addicted to daily drunkenness: and in his cups (as often he had emptied his pockets of his money by playing at cards) he used to swear he would be the death of his wife's uncle, because he refused to furnish him with more money to play with. This uncle was a canon, a good and honest man, and a person of great hospitality. One night, when he entertained a letter-carrier, he was murdered by him, together with a niece and a little nephew of his. All men admiring that the canon was not present at matins, who never used to absent himself, having long knocked at his doors in vain, this drunkard of ours' set up a ladder to the windows, and with others entered the house. Spying there three dead corpses, they raise the neighbourhood with a lamentable cry: amongst the whispers of whom, when some said that the drunkard was the murderer, he was laid hold on, cast into prison, and thrown upon the rack where he said, "That he did not think that he did it; that by reason of his daily and continual drunkenness he could affirm nothing of a certainty; that he had some time a will, or rather an inclination, to kill the canon, but that he should never have touch (2.) Hearic. ab, Heeres Obs. Medic. 1. 1, obs. 17. p. 167.-(3.) Ibid. 163,-(4.) Ibid. p. 163. ed ed his niece or young nephew." However, he was condemned ? and the innocent wretch, even in the presence of this execrable letter-carrier, was long wearied with exquisite torments, and at last died an unheard-of death. The letter-carrier being again returned to Liege, and not able to endure the hourly tortures which a revenging God inflicted upon his soul, of his own accord presented himself before the judges, beseeching them, that by a speedy death he might be freed from that hell he felt here alive; affirming, that when he was awake (though seldom when asleep) the image of the little babe, whom he had strangled, presented itself to his eyes, shaking the furies' whips at him, with such such flames as the drunkard had perished in. When he spake this at the tribunal, he continually fanned his face with his hands, as if to blow off the flames. The thing being evident by the goods taken, and other discoveries, he also the same year upon the 23d of August, was hanged till dead, and then burnt at a stake. 6. The son of Cyrilius, a citizen of Hippo, being given to a riotous way of life, in one of his drunken fits committed violent incest with his mother, then big with child; and endeavoured to violate the chastity of one of his sisters, wounded two other of them, and almost slew his father. So that Augustine, writing about it, saith, Accidit hodie terribilis casus. "A dreadful accident fell out." 7. Aristotle, speaking of the luxury of the Syracusians, adds, "That Dionysius the younger continued drunk sometimes for the space of ninety days together, and thereby brought himself to purblind sight and bad eyes." 8. The Emperor Zeno had made himself odious by the death of many illustrious persons; and besides led a life sufficiently corrupted and debauched, which was followed by a violent death. For, say some, being much addicted to gluttony and drunkenness, he would fall down void of all sense and reason, little differing from a dead man; and being also hated by his wife Ariadne, she caused him to be taken up in one of those drunken fits, and carried out as dead into one of the imperial monuments, which she ordered to be closed upon him, and covered with a massy stone: afterwards, being returned to sobriety, he sent forth lamentable cries; but the Empress commanded none should regard him, and so he miserably perished. 9. One Medius, a Thessalian, keeping a general feast in Babylon, earnestly besought Alexander the Great that he would not refuse his presence amongst them; he came and loaded himself with wine sufficiently. At last, when he had drank off the great cup of Hercules to the bottom, on the sudden, as if he had been struck with some mighty blow, he gave a shriek, and fetched a deep sigh; he was taken thence by the hands of his friends who were near him; physicians were called, who sat by him with all diligent attendance; but the distemper increasing, and they perceiving that (notwithstanding all their care) he was tortured with most acute pains, they cast off all hopes of his life, as also he himself did; so that taking off his ring from his finger, he gave it unto Perdiccas; and being asked whom he would should succeed him, he answered, “The best;" this was his last word, for soon after he died, being the seventh month of the twelfth year of his reign. 10. Lyciscus was one of the Captains whom Agathocles had invited to supper; in the war of Africa, this man, being heated with wine, fell into railing and contumelious language against the Prince himself. Agathocles bore with him, and because he was a person of good use to him in the war, he put off his bitter speeches with a jest ; but the prince Archagathus, his son, was extremely incensed, and reproved Lyciscus with threats. Supper ended, and the Commanders going to Archagathus's tent, Lyciscus began to reproach the Prince also, and with no less a matter than (5.) Henric., ab Heeres, ib. 1. 1. obs. 17. p. 165.-(6.) Lonic. Theat. p. 662. Aug. tom. 10. Ser. 33 Burt. Mcl. part 1. §2. p.112.–(7) Clark's Mirr. cap.91.p.404.——(8) Kornman de Mirac. Mort. lib. 7. cap. 59. p. 43. Zonar. Annal. tom. 3. p. 126. Lonic. Theat. p. 666. Zuin. Theat. vol. ii. 1. 7. p. 559.-(9.) Diodor. Sic. Bibl. 1. 17. p. 580. Zuin, Theatr. vol. ii. 1. 7. p. 503. Lonic. Theatr. p. 673. adultery, adultery with his mother-in-law Alcia, the wife of Agathocles. Archagathus was so vehemently offended herewith, that snatching a spear out of the hands of one of the guard, he ran him there with into the side, in such a manner, that he presently fell dead at his foot. Thus his intemperance in wine brought on another of the tongue, and both ended in an untimely death. 11. In the year 1446, there was a wedding near Zeghebuic, celebrated as it appears with such unheard-of intemperate and dissolute doings, that there died of extreme surfeiting, by excessive drinking, no less than nine-score persons, as well women as men. 12. Arcesilaus, the son of Scythus, an Academic Philosopher, being of the of seventy and five, drank so much age wine, that the intemperate liberty he then took brought him first into madness, and from thence to death itself. 13. At the Plough in Barnwel, near Cambridge, a lusty young man with two of his neighbours, and one woman in their company, agreed to drink up a barrel of strong beer, which accordingly they did; but within twenty-four hours, three of them died, and the fourth hardly escaped after great sickness. 14. Anno Dom. 1618, one Thomas Alred of Godmanchester, being a common drunkard, was intreated by a neighbour to unpitch a load of hay; and being at that time drunk, the pitch-fork slipt out of his hand, which he stooping to take up again, fell from the cart with his head downwards, and the fork standing with the prongs upward, he fell directly upon them, which striking to his heart, killed him immediately. CHAP. XIX. Of the Luxury and Expense of some Per- a present to Nugas the Scythian Mo- 1. Lollia Paulina, a Roman Lady, being invited to a banquet, went thither and carried about her in chains, carcanets, and precious stones, a million of gold. Her father had despoiled all the Roman provinces to clothe this only daughter, and yet was afterwards enforced to drink poison, being overwhelmed in the despair of his own affairs. 2. In the year 1544, there was found in Rome, a coffin of marble eight feet long, and in it a robe, embroidered with goldsmith's work, which yielded six and thirty pound weight of gold; besides forty rings, a cluster of emeralds, a little mouse made of another precious stone, and amongst all those precious magnificences, two leg-bones of a dead corpse, known by the inscription of the tomb to be the bones of the Empress Mary, daughter of Stilicon, and wife of the Emperor Honorius. 3. Charles, Duke of Burgundy, had one garment of the price of two hundred thousand ducats; a prodigious luxury, and which could not be maintained but by the oppression of his subjects. 4. In the third year of the reign of King Richard the Second, Sir John Arundel, with divers others, put to sea, with a purpose to pass over into Britain, but were all cast away in a tempest. This Sir John Arundel was then said in his furniture to have two and fifty new suits of apparel, made of cloth of gold and tissue, all which were also lost at sea. 5. Demetrius's garments were illustrious with purple and gold; his shoes also were covered over with it. In his (10.) Diador. Sic. Bibl. 1. 20. p. 671.-(11.) Stow's Ann. p. 385.-(12.) Laert. l. 4. p. 107.-(13.) Clark's Mir. c. 42. p. 148.(14.) Ibid. p. 149. (1) Plin. l. 9. c 45. p 256. Caus. Hol. Court, tom. 1. lib. 3. p. 93.- (2.) Caus, Hol. Court, tom. 3. Max. 15. p. 418. Hist. Manu. Arts, c. 7, p. 97. (3.) Lonic. Theatr. p. 649.(4.) Baker's Chron. p. 198. cloak cloak was woven the representation of the world and stars: so that when he fell from the sovereignty of Macedon, no kings, how great soever, that succeeded him, did dare to be seen in that cloak; to so envied a magnificence did the make and value of it amount. 6. A prætor in Rome intending to set forth the most sumptuous and magnificent shews he could devise, sent to Lucullus to borrow of him some store of short cloaks; his answer was, "That he would take a time to see if he had so many as the prætor desired:" and the next day sending to know what number would serve his turn, it being told him an hundred, he bade them take two hundred; but Horace speaks of a far greater number, no less than five thousand. Chlamydes Lucullus ut aiunt, &c. Lucullus asked once if he could lend 7. At their public feasts, even private Romans changed their cloaks only for ostentation, to shew their variety: hence that of the poet. Undecies una surrexti Zvile cœna, Et mutata tibi est Synthesis undecies. Eleven times one supper thou, 8. The emperor Henry the Fifth, having conquered Sicily, and the kingdom of Naples, had reached yet further in his hopes, and intended for Greece; he therefore sent his ambasssadors to Alexius Angelus, the Greek emperor, to demand of him a mighty sum of gold as a tribute from him, which, if he denied, he would seek to obtain by war. Alexius, informed of the arrival of the foreigners, and their business, that by an ostentation of his splendor and riches, he might possess them with reverence and dread of him, commanded his nobles to attend him, adorned with gold and the richest of their jewels; he himself, from head to foot, was but one continued splendor, dazzling the eyes of all that beheld him. The Germans came, but so far were they from being terrified with this gallantry, that they wished for nothing more than to fight with these men, who they saw were prepared to enrich them with their spoils. The Grecians, in the mean time, directing their eyes to the emperor, calling upon them to be hold the glory of his garments and jewels: "See," said they," how he appears like some flowery meadow; in the midst of winter you may here recreate your eyes with the sweet pleasures of the spring." The Germans replied, "That they were not at all moved or affected with these feminine ornaments = that the time was now come wherein the Greeks must change their gold for iron; for unless they should succeed in their embassage, they must expect to fight with men that do not glitter with jewels as the meadows with flowers, nor glory in their embroidered garments as peacocks in their plumage; but who, as the true sons of Mars, in the fight would carry sparkles in their eyes: and whose sweat-drops, as they fell from them, should resemble oriental pearls." Thus they frighted these effeminate men with their words; and had done it much more with their blows, but that the death of the Emperor Henry, which followed soon after, put a period to these troubles. This was about the year 1197. 9. Sir Walter Raleigh, in great favour with Queen Elizabeth, was observed in her court to wear his shoes so set with pearls and precious stones, that they were estimated to exceed the value of six thousand and six hundred crowns. 10. C. Caligula the Emperor, in his apparel, shoes, and other habit, did not always wear what was according to the fashion of the country; what was civil, (5.) Lonie. Theatr. p. 650.- (6.) Plut. in Lucul. Sabell. Ex. 1. 8. c. 7. p. 456. Hakew. Apol. 1. 4. c. 9. § 2. p. 414. Hor. Ep. 6.-7.) Martial. I 2. Epig. 46.-(8.) Nicet. Choniat. Annal. de Gestis Alexii, 1. 1. p. 54, 55. Lipsii Monit. 1. 2. c. 15. p. 360, 361.-(9.) Drexel. de Cultu Corp. 1.3. c. 10. § 5. p. 432. manlike, manlike, no, nor what was suiting with a mortal man. He went sometimes attired in cloaks of needle-work, embroidered with divers colours, and set out with precious stones; at others, in a coat with long sleeves, and with bracelets; sometimes you should see him in silks, veiled all over in a loose mantle of tiffany or transparent linen; one while in Greekish slippers, or buskins; at other times in a simple pair of brogues, or high shoes; now and then also in women's pantofles and pumps. For the most part he shewed himself abroad with a golden beard, carrying in his hand a thunderbolt, or three-forked mace and trident, or else a warder or rod, called Caduceus, all of them the ensigns and ornaments of the gods; sometimes he went in the attire of Venus. His triumphal robes and ensigns he always wore, even before he made his expedition; or else the cuirass of Alexander the Great, which he had caused to be brought out of his sepulchre. 12. George Villiers,, duke of Buckingham, the favourite and minion of James the First, was remarkable for the splendor and magnificence of his dress. When he was admitted to an audience, as Ambassador from the King of Great Britain, by Lewis the Thirteenth, King of France, he had jewels on his coat to the amount of one hundred thousand pounds. 13. L. Crassus, the celebrated Orator confessed, that a great part of his silver plate stood him in ten thou sand sesterses, or about £.4. 15s. per pound, on account of the workmanship. He had two silver goblets engraved by Mentor, which he was ashamed to use as they had cost £.812. 10s. CHAP. XX. sequences of it. ALEXANDER the Great set a fine upon some of his friends, for that, when they were playing at dice, he perceived they did not play; for there are many who are concerned in this sport, as if it was the most serious and weighty affair in the world. We cannot say that they play who permit their whole fortunes, yea, sometimes their wives and children, to the disposal of the dice; and great pity it is that such should be played with, but rather that some examplary punishment should be imposed upon so bold a prodigality. 11. Heliogabalus the Emperor, ex- Of Gaming, together with the dreadful Concelled all others in his prodigious luxury; for his upper garments were either of gold or purple, or else the richest silks that were procurable, sometimes all beset with jewels and pearls, which habit he was the first that brought up at Rome: his shoes were bedecked with precious stones and pearls; he never wore any suit of apparel twice. He thought of wearing a diadem made up with jewels, wherewith to set off his face, and render his aspect more effeminate. He sat commonly amongst flowers, or the most precious odours; his excrements he discharged into gold vessels, and urined in vessels of onyx, or myrrhine pots. He never swimmed but in fish-pools, that were before-hand replete with the finest unguents, and tinged with saffron. His household-stuff was gold or silver; his bedsteads, tables, and chests, were of massy silver, and so were his cauldrons and other pots; and even these, and the most part of his other vessels had lascivious engravings represented on the sides of them. 1. A famous gamester called Pimentel, an Italian, in the year 1603, came into France. It is said, and it is perfectly true, that this Cavalier, hearing what a humour of play reigned at the French court, caused a great number of false dice to be made, of which he himself only knew the high and the low runners, hiring men to carry them into France; where, after they had bought up and (11.) Parai Hist. Prof. Medal. tom. 1. p. 39, conveyed |