AD THE ENGLISH VOYAGES 



1592. 



with us so rashlv and fondly curious, that dareth tor 

 his life, the hill being on fire, trie any such conclusions, 

 or (to our knowledge) that ever durst : which notwith- 

 standing^ Munster atfirmeth, sapng : They that are de- 

 sirous to contemplate the nature of so huge a lire, &: 

 for the same purpose approch unto the mountaine, are 

 bv some gulfe swallowed up alive, iicc. which thing 

 (as I savd) is altogether unknowen unto our nation. Yet 

 there is a booke extant, written in the ancient language 

 of the Xoruagians, wherein you may linde some miracles 

 of earth, water, tire, and aire, 6lC. confusedly written, 

 few of them true, and the most part vaine and false. 

 Whereupon it easily appeareth that it was written long 

 since bv some that were imagined to be great wise men in 

 SpecMJatK re- the time of Popery. They called it a royall looking 

 g^vnttcxin giasse : howbeit, in regard of the fond fables, wherewith 

 ttmsm * " (^^^ ^'^^ ^^ most part under the shew of religion and 

 piers', whereby it is more difficidt to iinde out the 

 cousinage") it doeth all over swarme, it deserveth not the 

 name of a looking glasse ro^^all, but rather of a popular, and 

 irkence thz olde wives looking glasse. In this glasse there are found 

 ■shUso/IsiJis certaine tigments of the burning of Hecla, not much unlike 

 •^^ ■ these which we now entreat of, nor any whit more grounded 



upon experience, and for that cause to be rejected. 



But that I may not seeme somewhat foolehardy, for 

 accusins: this rovall looking glasse of tklshood (not to 

 mention anv of those things which it reporteth as lesse 

 credible) loe heere a few things (friendly reader) which 

 I suppose deserve no credit at all. 



1 Of a certaine Isle in Ireland, having a church and 

 a parish in it, the inhabitants whereof deceasing are not 

 buried in the earth, but like living men, do continually, 

 a^nst some banke or wall in the Churchyard, stand 

 bolt-upright : neither are they subject to any corruption 

 or downefdl : insomuch that any of the posteritie may 

 there seeke for, and beholde their ancestors. 



2 Of another Isle ot Ireland, where men are not 



mortall. 



no 



