Saxo. 



s 



A.D. THE ENGLISH VOYAGES 



1592. 



The tenth section. 

 Frisius. If any man shall take a great quantity of this ice, & 

 ?f^!^^"^' ^^^^^ keepe it never so warily enclosed in a coffer 



or vessel, it wil at that time when the ice thaweth about 

 the Hand, utterly vanish away, so that not the least 

 part thereof, no nor a drop of water is to be found. 



Urely, this was of necessity to be added: namely, 

 y^ this ice, which according to historiographers re- 

 presenteth mans voice, & is the place of the damned, 

 doth not as all other things in this wide world, consist 

 of ye matter of some element. For whereas it seemeth 

 to be a body, when indeed it is no body : (which may 

 directly be gathered out of Frisius absurd opinion) 

 whereas also it peirceth through hard & solide bodies, 

 no otherwise then spirits & ghosts : therfore it remaineth, 

 seeing it is not of an elementary nature, y' it must have 

 either a spirituall, or a celestial, or an infernal matter. 

 But y* it should be infernall, we can not be perswaded, 

 [I. 564.] because we have heard that infernall cold is farre more 

 unsufferable then this ise, which useth to be put into 

 a boxe with mens hands, & is not of force any whit to 

 hurt even naked flesh, by touching therof. Nor yet 

 will we grant it to be spirituall : for we have learned 

 in naturall Philosophy, that spiritual substances can 

 neither be seene nor felt, & cannot have any thing 

 taken from them : all which things do notwithstanding 

 most manifestly agree to this ise of the Historiographers, 

 howsoever according to them it be supernatural. Besides 

 also, it is most true, that the very same yse being melted 

 with the heat of the sunne, & resolved into water, upon 

 the upper part therof, standeth fishermen in as good 

 stead to quench their thirst, as any land-river would do, 

 which thing can no way be ascribed to a spirituall sub- 

 stance. It is not therefore spirituall, nor yet infernall. 

 Now none wilbe so bold to affirme, that it hath celestiall 

 matter, least some man perhaps might hereupon imagine, 

 y^ this ise hath brought hell (which the historiographers 



126 



