Holinshed's Chronicles of England, Scotland, and Ireland ..

THE DESCRIFHON OF BRITAINE. HI
least. Now forsomiich as insucli as be full mouthed, ech chap hath commonlie 16. teeth at Amomhofsixthe
least, which am )uut viUo 32. in the whole, needs must the widenesse oi this mans chaps '""e'^oiwide
be welneere of 16. foot, and the opening of his lips fiue at the lea!5t. A large mouth in
mine opinion, and not to eat peason with Ladies of my time, besides that if occasion serued, it
was able to receiue the whole bodies of mo than one ol the greatest men, I meane of such
as we be in our daies. When this carcase was thus found, euerie man maruelled at it, &.
good cause why. A messenger was sent to Tiberius the emperour also to know his pleasure, a coumcrfect
whether he would haue the same brought ouer vnto Rome or not, but he forbad them, wil- ""'cofamon-
o _,
^ ^
'
' n struus carcase
ling his Legate not to remoouc the dead out of las restmg place, but rather somewhat to satisne by one tooth
"^
his phantasie to send him a tooth out of his head, which being done, he gaue it to a cunning [fje^iead^
work^man, commanding him to shape a carcase of light matter, after the proportion of the
tooth, that at the least by sucli means he might satisfie his curious mind, and the fantasies of
such as are delited with nouelties. To be short, -when the image was once made and set vp This man was
on end, it appeered rather an huge colossie than the true carcase of a man, and when it had 51^°hVm°n''st'er
stood in Rome vntill the people were wearie &c throughlie satisfied with the sight thereof^ thanuurpapUts
he caused it to be broken all to peeces, and the tooth sent againe to the carcase fVo whence it djesynhederd
eame, willing them moreouer to couor it diligonilie, and in anie wise not to dismember the yhotarethem
corps, nor from thencefoorth to be so hardie as to open the sepulchre anie more. Pausan. Jnakemoney of
Kb. 8. telleth in lilie maner of lliplodanus & his fellowes, who liued when Rhea was with t''^-
child of Osyris by Cham, and were called to hi.- aid at such time as she feared to be mo-
lested by Hammon hir first husband, whi;est she remained vpon the Thoumasian hill, " In Grandiiquecf-
ipso loco," saith he, " spectantur ossa maiora niulto quam vt hutnana existimari possunt, oTsr's^j'ui'chris'^
&c." Of Protophanes who had but one great and broad bone in steed of all his ribs on ech
side I saie nothing, sith it concerneth not his stature.
I could rehearse manie mo examples of the bodies of such men, out of Solinus, Sabellicus,
D. Cooper, and others. As of Oetas and Ephiaires, who were said to be nine orgies or paces
ia heigth, and foure in bredth, which are taken for so many cubits, bicause there is small
difference betweene a mans ordinarie pace and his cubit, and finallie of our Richard the
first, who is noted to beare an axe in the wars, the iron of whose head onelie weighed
twentie pound after our greatest weight, and whereof an old writer that I haue seene, saith.
thus
:
This king Richard I vnderstand,
Yer he went out of England,
Let make an axe for the nones, *
Therewith to cleaue the Saracens bones,
The head in sooth was wrought full weele,
Thereon were twentie pound of Steele,.
And when he came in Cyprus land.
That ilkon axe he tooke in hand, &.c.
I could speake also of Gerards staffe or lance, yet to be seene in Gerards hall at London
in Basing lane, which is so great and long that no man can beweld it, neither go to the top
thereof without a ladder, which of set purpose and for greater countenance of the wonder is
fixed by the same. I haue seene a man my selfe of seuen foot in heigth, but lame of his
legs. The chronicles aho of Cogshall speake of one in Wales, who was halfe a foot
higher, but through infirmitie and wounds not able to beweld himselfe. I might (if I thought
good) speake also of another of no lesse heigth than either of these and liuing of late yeares,
but these here remembred shall suffice to prooue my purpose withall. I might tell you in
like sort of the marke stone which Turnus threw at ^neas, and was such as that twelue
chosen and picked men (saith Virgil),
(Qualia nunc hominum producit corpora tellus)
were
vis vnita fortior
est eadem
dispersa. ^