[Illustration: THE SMITHFIELD GHOST. FROM 'MERCURIUS DEMOCRITUS,' 1654.]
Another example of the marvellous occurs in a tract entitled, '_The Sea Wonder: a true and wonderful relation of a Whale pursued in the Sea, and incountered by multitudes of other Fishes as it was certified by divers Mariners of Weymouth, who, comming from France in the good ship called the_ Bonaventure, _did shoote the said Whale, which making to Land did strike upon the Shore, within three miles of Weymouth, where being opened there was found in the belly of it a Romish Priest, with Pardon for divers Papists in England and Ireland, whose names are here inserted_.' Great pains appear to have been taken to give an air of truth to the narrative, which begins thus:--'On the 19th of October being the Lord's Day the good Ship called the _Bonaventure_ of _Weymouth_ being bound for _England_ was bringing home her Merchandise from _France_ which was wines, linning cloth, and abundance of Wall-nuts, the day was very fair and no wind stirring, so that the ship for above three hours space lay hulling upon the Seas, being not able to move either one way nor other for want of wind, although she was full sayled and prepared to take the advantage of every gale.' The author gravely explains that the excitement of the fishes and their attacks on the whale were caused by their instinctively feeling the presence of the Popish Priest. Annexed is a copy of the woodcut on the title-page of this curious tract.
[Illustration: THE WONDERFUL WHALE, 1645.]
'_Newes, True Newes, Laudable Newes, Citie Newes, Country Newes; The World is Mad, or it is a Mad World my Masters especially now when in the Antipodes these things are come to pass._' Such is the lengthy title of a pamphlet containing an imaginary account of things at the Antipodes, and illustrated with a fanciful woodcut on the title-page. Then we have news from Boston in New England of a strange and prodigious birth of a child with two heads, also illustrated. _Mercurius Democritus_, besides such waggeries as giving an account of 'a sight seen in the air by a blind philosopher,' communicates '_Many strange wonders out of the World, in the Moon, the Antipodes, Maggy Land, Tenebris, Fary-Land, Greenland, and other adjacent countries_. _Published for the right understanding of all the Mad-merry-people of Great Bedlam._' Another example of the wonderful stories put forth to entertain the multitude relates to the discovery and punishment of a witch during the civil war. It occurs in a pamphlet entitled '_A most Certain, Strange and true Discovery of a Witch, being taken by some of the Parliament Forces, as she was standing on a small planck-board and sayling on it over the River of Newbury_.' The illustration is of the rudest description, and the story is told in a breathless sort of way, without a full stop in the whole narrative:--