Title Page
193
(193)
TRACT XIII.
MUSÆUM CLAUSUM,
OR,
Bibliotheca Abscondita:
Containing
Some remarkable Books,
Antiqui-
ties, Pictures and Rarities of
several kinds, scarce or never seen
by
any man now living.
SIR,
With many thanks I return that noble Catalogue of Books, Rarities and
Singularities of Art and Nature, which you were pleased to communicate unto me.
There are many Collections of this kind in Europe. And, besides the printed accounts of the Musæum Aldrovandi,
OCalceo-
194
194Musæum Clausum, or, Tract XIII.
Calceolarianum, Moscardi, Wormianum; the Casa Abbellita at Loretto, and Threasor of S. Dennis, the Repository of the Duke of Tuscany,
that of the Duke of Saxony, and that noble one of the
Emperour at Vienna,
and many more are of singular note. Of what in this kind I have by me I
shall make no repetition, and you having already had a view thereof, I am bold
to present you with the List of a Collection, which I may justly say you have
not seen before.
The Title is, as above,
Musæum Clausum, or Bibliotheca
Abscondita: containing some remarkable Books, Antiquities, Pictures and
Rarities of several kinds, scarce or never seen by any man now
living.
I. Rare and generally unknown Books.
1. A Poem of Ovidius Naso,
written in the Getick Language,** AhAb pudet
& scripsi
Getico
ser-
mone Li-
bellum. during his exile at Tomos, found wrapt up in Wax at Sabaria, on the Frontiers
of Hungary,
where
195
195
Tract XIII. Bibliotheca Abscondita
where there remains a tradition that he died, in his return towards Rome from Tomos, either after his pardon or the
death of Augustus.
2. The Letter of Quintus
Cicero, which he wrote in answer to that of his Brother Marcus Tullius, desiring
of him an account of Britany, wherein are described the Country, State and Manners
of the Britains of that Age.
3. An Ancient British Herbal, or
description of divers Plants of this Island, observed by that famous
Physician Scribonius
Largus, when he attended the Emperour Claudius in his Expedition into Britany.
4. An exact account of the Life and Death of Avicenna confirming the account of his Death by
taking nine Clysters together in a fit of the Colick; and not as Marius the Italian Poet delivereth, by being broken
upon the Wheel; left with other Pieces by Benjamin Tudelensis, as he travelled from Saragossa to Jerusalem, in the hands of
Abraham Jarchi, a
famous Rabbi of Lunet
near Montpelier, and found
in a Vault when the Walls of that City were demolished by
Lewis the Thirteenth.
O25. A
196
196Musæum Clausum, or, Tract XIII.
5. A punctual relation of Hannibal' s march out of Spain into Italy, and far more particular than that of Livy, where about he
passed the River Rhodanus
or Rhosne; at what place
he crossed the Isura or
L'isere; when he
marched up toward the confluence of the Sone and the Rhone, or the place where the City Lyons was afterward built;
how wisely he decided the difference between King Brancus
and his Brother, at what place he passed the Alpes, what Vinegar he used, and where
he obtained such quantity to break and calcine the Rocks made hot with
Fire.
6. A learned Comment upon the Periplus of Hanno the Carthaginian, or his Navigation upon the
Western Coast of Africa,
with the several places he landed at; what Colonies he settled, what Ships
were scattered from his Fleet near the Æquinoctial Line, which were
not afterward heard of, and which probably fell into the Trade Winds, and
were carried over into the Coast of America.
7. A particular Narration of that famous Expedition of the English into Barbary in the ninety fourth year of the Hegira, so shortly touched by Leo Africanus, whither197
197
Tract XIII. Bibliotheca Absconditather called by
the Goths they besieged, took and burnt the City of Arzilla possessed by the Mahometans,
and lately the seat of Gayland; with many other
exploits delivered at large in Arabick, lost in the Ship of Books and
Rarities which the King of Spain
took from Siddy
Hamet the King of Fez, whereof a great part were carried into the Escurial, and conceived to be gathered out of the
relations of Hibnu
Nachu, the best Historian of the African Affairs.
8. A Fragment of Pythæas that ancient Traveller of Marseille; which we suspect not to be
spurious, because, in the description of the Northern Countries, we find
that passage of Pythæas mentioned by Strabo, that all the Air beyond Thule is thick, condensed and gellied,
looking just like Sea Lungs.
9. A Sub Marine Herbal, describing the several
Vegetables found on the Rocks, Hills, Valleys, Meadows at the bottom of the
Sea, with many sorts of Alga, Fucus, Quercus, Polygonum,
Gramens and others not yet described.
10. Some Manuscripts and Rarities brought from the Libraries of Æthiopia, O3by198198Musæum Clausum, or, Tract XIII.by
Zaga Zaba, and
afterward transported to Rome, and scattered by the Souldiers of the Duke of Bourbon,
when they barbarously sacked that City.
11. Some pieces of Julius
Scaliger, which he complains to have been stoln from him, sold to
the Bishop of Mende
in Languedock, and
afterward taken away and sold in the Civil Wars under the Duke of Rohan.
12. A Comment of Dioscorides upon Hyppocrates, procured from Constantinople by Amatus Lusitanus, and left in the hands of a Jew of
Ragusa.
13. Marcus Tullius Cicero
his Geography; as also a part of
that magnified Piece of his De
Republica, very little answering the great expectation of it, and
short of Pieces under the same name by Bodinus and Tholosanus.
14.
King
Mithridates his
Oneirocritica.
Aristotle
de Precationibus.
Democritus
de his quæ fiunt apud Orcum, & Oceani circumnavigatio.
A defence of Arnoldus de Villa Nova,
whom the learned Postellus conceived
to be the author of De Tribus
Impostoribus.
Epicurus
de Pietate.
A Tragedy of Thyestes,
and another of Medea,
writ by Diogenes the
Cynick.
King
199
199
Tract XIII. Bibliotheca Abscondita
King Alfred
upon Aristotle
de Plantis.
Seneca's Epistles to S. Paul.
King
Solomon
de Umbris Idæarum, which Chicus Asculanus, in his
Comment upon Johannes de
Sacrobosco, would make us believe he saw in the Library of the
Duke of Bavaria.
15. Artemidori
Oneirocritici Geographia.
Pythagoras
de Mari
Rubro.
The Works of Confutius
the famous Philosopher of China, translated into Spanish.
16. Josephus in
Hebrew, written by himself.
17. The Commentaries of Sylla the Dictatour.
18. A Commentary of Galen upon the Plague
of Athens described by
Thucydides.
19. Duo Cæsaris AntiCatones, or
the two notable Books written by Julius Cæsar against Cato; mentioned by
Livy, Salustius
and Juvenal; which
the Cardinal of Liege
told Ludovicus Vives
were in an old Library of that City.O4Maz-
200200Musæum Clausum, or, Tract XIII.
Mazhapha Einok, or, the Prophecy of
Enoch, which Ægidius Lochiensis,
a learned Eastern Traveller, told Peireschius that he had found in an old Library at Alexandria containing eight
thousand Volumes.
20. A Collection of Hebrew Epistles, which passed between the two learned
Women of our age Maria Molinea of
Sedan, and Maria Schurman of Utrecht.
A wondrous Collection of some Writings of Ludovica Saracenica, Daughter of Philibertus Saracenicus a
Physician of Lyons, who
at eight years of age had made a good progress in the Hebrew, Greek and
Latin Tongues.
2. Rarities in Pictures.
1. A Picture of the three remarkable Steeples or Towers in Europe built purposely awry and so as they
seem falling. Torre
Pisana at Pisa,
Torre Garisenda in Bononia, and that other in
the City of Colein.
2. A
201201Tract XIII. Bibliotheca Abscondita
2. A Draught of all sorts of Sistrums, Crotaloes, Cymbals, Tympans, &c. in use among the Ancients.
3. Large Submarine Pieces, well delineating the
bottom of the Mediterranean Sea, the
Prerie or large Sea-meadow upon the Coast of Provence, the Coral Fishing, the gathering of
Sponges, the Mountains, Valleys and Desarts, the Subterraneous Vents and
Passages at the bottom of that Sea; the passage of Kircherus in his
Iter Submarinus when he went down about Egypt, and rose again in the Red Sea.
Together with
a lively Draught of Cola
Pesce, or the famous Sicilian
Swimmer, diving into the Voragos and broken Rocks by
Charybdis, to fetch
up the golden Cup, which Frederick, King of Sicily, had purposely thrown into that Sea.
4. A Moon Piece, describing that notable Battel between Axalla, General of Tamerlane, and Camares the Persian, fought by the light of the Moon.
5. Another remarkable Fight of Inghimmi the Florentine
with the Turkish Galleys by Moonlight,
who, being for three hours grappled with the Basha Gallery, concluded with a signal
Victory.
6. A de-
202202Musæum Clausum, or, Tract XIII.
6. A delineation of the great Fair of Almachara in Arabia, which, to avoid the great heat of the Sun,
is kept in the Night, and by the light of the Moon.
7. A Snow Piece, of Land and Trees covered with Snow and Ice, and Mountains
of Ice floating in the Sea, with Bears, Seals, Foxes, and variety of rare
Fowls upon them.
8. An Ice Piece describing the notable Battel between the Jaziges and the
Romans, fought upon the frozen Danubius, the Romans settling one foot upon their Targets
to hinder them from slipping, their fighting with the Jaziges when they were
fallen, and their advantages therein by their art in volutation and rolling
contention or wrastling, according to the description of Dion.
9. Socia, or a Draught of three persons notably
resembling each other. Of King Henry the Fourth of France,
and a Miller of Languedock; of Sforza Duke of Milain and a Souldier; of Malalesta Duke of Rimini and Marchesinus the Jester.
10. A
203203
Tract XIII. Bibliotheca Abscondita
10. A Picture of the great Fire which happened at Constantinople in the Reign of Sultan Achmet. The
Janizaries in the mean time plundring the best Houses, Nassa Bassa the Vizier riding about with
a Cimetre in one hand and a Janizary's Head in the other to deter them; and
the Priests attempting to quench the Fire, by pieces of Mahomet's Shirt dipped in holy Water and
thrown into it.
11. A Night Piece of the dismal Supper and strange Entertain of the Senatours
by Domitian, according to
the description of Dion.
12. A Vestal Sinner in the Cave with a Table and a Candle.
13. An Elephant dancing upon the Ropes with a Negro
Dwarf upon his Back.
14. Another describing the mighty Stone falling from the Clouds into Ægospotamos or the
Goats River in Greece,
which Antiquity could believe that Anaxagoras was able to foretell half a year
before.
15. Three
204204Musæum Clausum, or, Tract XIII.
15. Three noble Pieces; of Vercingetorix the Gaul submitting his person unto Julius Cæsar; of
Tigranes King of
Armenia humbly
presenting himself unto Pompey; and of Tamerlane ascending his Horse from the Neck of Bajazet.
16. Draughts of three passionate Looks; of Thyestes when he was told at the Table that he had
eaten a piece of his own Son; of Bajazet when he went into the Iron Cage; of
Oedipus when he
first came to know that he had killed his Father, and married his own
Mother.
17. Of the Cymbrian Mother in Plutarch who, after her overthrow by Marius, hanged her self and her two
Children at her feet.
18. Some Pieces delineating singular inhumanities in Tortures. The Scaphismus of the Persians. The living truncation of the Turks. The hanging Sport at the Feasts of the Thracians. The exact method of flaying
men alive, beginning between the Shoulders, according to the description of
Thomas Minadoi, in
his Persian War. Together with the
studied tortures of the French Traitours
at Pappa inHun-205205Tract XIII. Bibliotheca Abscondita
Hungaria: as also the wild
and enormous torment invented by Tiberius, designed according unto the description of Suetonius. Excogitaverunt inter genera cruciatûs, ut
largâ meri potione per fallaciam oneratos repentè
veretris deligatis fidicularum simul urinæque tormento
distenderet.
19. A Picture describing how Hannibal forced his passage over the River Rhosne with his Elephants, Baggage, and
mixed Army; with the Army of the Gauls opposing him on the contrary Shore,
and Hanno passing over
with his Horse much above to fall upon the Rere of the Gauls.
20. A neat Piece describing the Sack of Fundi by the Fleet and Souldiers of Barbarossa the Turkish Admiral, the confusion of the
people and their flying up to the Mountains, and Julia Gonzaga the beauty of Italy flying away with her
Ladies half naked on Horseback over the Hills.
21. A noble Head of Franciscus
Gonzaga, who, being imprisoned for Treason, grew grey in one
night, with this Inscription,
O nox quam longa est quæ facit
una senem.
206206Musæum Clausum, or, Tract XIII.
22. A large Picture describing the Siege of Vienna by Solyman the Magnificent, and at the same time the
Siege of Florence by the
Emperour Charles
the Fifth and Pope Clement the Seventh, with this
Subscription,
Tum vacui capitis populum
Phæaca putares?
23. An exquisite Piece properly delineating the first course of Metellus his Pontificial
Supper, according to the description of Macrobius; together with a Dish of Pisces Fossiles, garnished about with the little Eels
taken out of the backs of Cods and Perches; as also with the Shell Fishes
found in Stones about Ancona.
24. A Picture of the noble Entertain and Feast of the Duke of Chausue
at the Treaty of Collen, 1673. when in a very large Room, with all the Windows
open, and at a very large Table he sate himself, with many great persons and
Ladies; next about the Table stood a row of Waiters, then a row of
Musicians, then a row of Musketiers.
25. Miltiades, who
overthrew the Persians at the Battel of
Marathon and
delivered Greece, looking
out of a Prison Grate in207207Tract XIII. Bibliotheca
Absconditain Athens,
wherein he died, with this Inscription,
Non hoc terribiles Cymbri non
Britones unquam, Sauromatæve truces aut immanes
Agathyrsi.
26. A fair English Lady drawn Al Negro, or in the Æthiopian hue excelling the original White and Red
Beauty, with this Subscription,
Sed quandam volo noƈte
Nigriorem.
27. Pieces and Draughts in Caricatura, of Princes,
Cardinals and famous men; wherein, among others, the Painter hath singularly
hit the signatures of a Lion and a Fox in the face of Pope Leo the Tenth.
28. Some Pieces A la ventura, or Rare Chance Pieces,
either drawn at random, and happening to be like some person, or drawn for
some and happening to be more like another; while the Face, mistaken by the
Painter, proves a tolerable Picture of one he never saw.
29. A Draught of famous Dwarfs with this Inscription,
Nos facimus Bruti puerum nos Lagona
vivum.
30. An208208Musæum Clausum, or, Tract XIII.
30. An exact and proper delineation of all sorts of Dogs upon occasion of the
practice of Sultan
Achmet; who in a great Plague at Constantinople transported all the Dogs therein
unto Pera, and from
thence into a little Island, where they perished at last by Famine: as
also the manner of the Priests curing of mad Dogs by burning them in the
forehead with Saint Bellin's Key.
31. A noble Picture of Thorismund King of the Goths as he was killed in his Palace at
Tholouze, who being
let bloud by a Surgeon, while he was bleeding, a stander by took the
advantage to stab him.
32. A Picture of rare Fruits with this Inscription,
Credere quæ possis surrepta sororibus
Afris.
33. An handsome Piece of Deformity expressed in a notable hard Face, with
this Inscription,
——Ora Julius in Satyris qualia Rufus habet.
34. A
209209Tract XIII. Bibliotheca Abscondita
34. A noble Picture of the famous Duel between Paul Manessi and Caragusa the Turk in the time of Amurath the Second; the Turkish Army and that of Scanderbeg looking on; wherein Manessi slew the Turk, cut off his Head and carried away the Spoils of
his Body.
3. Antiquities and Rarities of several sorts.
1. Certain ancient Medals with Greek and
Roman Inscriptions, found about Crim Tartary; conceived to
be left in those parts by the Souldiers of Mithridates, when overcome by Pompey, he marched round about the North
of the Euxine to come
about into Thracia.
2. Some ancient Ivory and Copper Crosses found with many others in China; conceived to have
been brought and left there by the Greek
Souldiers who served under Tamerlane in his Expedition and Conquest of that Country.
P3. Stones210210Musæum Clausum, or, Tract XIII.
3. Stones of strange and illegible Inscriptions, found about the great
ruines which Vincent le
Blanc describeth about Cephala in Africa, where he opinion'd that the Hebrews raised
some Buildings of old, and that Solomon brought from thereabout a good part of his Gold.
4. Some handsome Engraveries and Medals, of Justinus and Justinianus, found in the custody of a Bannyan in
the remote parts of India,
conjectured to have been left there by Friers mentioned in Procopius, who travelled
those parts in the Reign of Justinianus, and brought back into Europe the discovery of Silk and Silk Worms.
5. An original Medal of Petrus
Aretinus, who was called Flagellum
Principum, wherein he made his own Figure on the Obverse part with
this Inscription,
Il Divino Aretino.
On the Reverse sitting on a Throne, and at his Feet Ambassadours of Kings and
Princes bringing presents unto him, with this Inscription,
I Principi tributati da i Popoli tributano il Servitor
loro.
6. Mum-211211Tract XIII. Bibliotheca Abscondita
6. Mummia Tholosana; or, The complete Head and Body
of Father Crispin,
buried long ago in the Vault of the
Cordeliers at Tholouse, where the Skins of the dead so drie and parch up
without corrupting that their persons may be known very long after, with
this Inscription,
Ecce iterum Crispinus.
7. A noble Quandros or Stone taken out of a Vulture's
Head.
8. A large Ostridges Egg, whereon is neatly and fully
wrought that famous Battel of Alcazar, in which
three Kings lost their lives.
9. An Etiudros Alberti or Stone that is apt to be
always moist: usefull unto drie tempers, and to be held in the hand in
Fevers instead of Crystal, Eggs, Limmons, Cucumbers.
10. A small Viol of Water taken out of the Stones therefore called Enhydri, which naturally include a little Water in
them, in like manner as the Ætites or Aëgle Stone doth another Stone.
P211. A212212Musæum Clausum, or, Tract XIII.
11. A neat painted and gilded Cup made out of the Confiti
di Tivoli and formed up with
powder'd Eggshells; as Nero is conceived to have made his Piscina
admirabilis, singular against Fluxes to drink often therein.
12. The Skin of a Snake bred out of the Spinal Marrow of a Man.
13. Vegetable Horns mentioned by Linschoten, which set in the ground grow up like Plants about
Goa.
14. An extract of the Inck of Cuttle Fishes reviving the old remedy of Hippocrates in Hysterical
Passions.
15. Spirits and Salt of Sargasso made
in the Western Ocean covered with that Vegetable; excellent against the
Scurvy.
16. An extract of Cachunde or Liberans that famous and highly magnified Composition in the
East Indies against
Melancholy.
17. Diarhizon mirificum; or an unparallel'd
Composition of the most effectual and wonderfull Roots in Nature.
℞ Rad.213213Tract XIII. Bibliotheca Abscondita
℞ Rad. Butuæ
Cuamensis.
Rad. Moniche Cuamensis.
Rad. Mongus Bazainensis.
Rad. Casei Baizanensis.
Rad. Columbæ Mozambiguensis.
Gim Sem Sinicæ.
Fo Lim lac Tigridis dictæ.
Fo seu
Cort. Rad. Soldæ.
Rad. Ligni Solorani.
Rad. Malacensis madrededios dictæ an. ƺij.
M. fiat pulvis, qui cum gelatinâ Cornu cervi Moschati
Chinensis formetur in massas
oviformes.
18. A transcendent Perfume made of the richest Odorates of both the Indies, kept in a Box made
of the Muschie Stone of Niarienburg, with this Inscription,
— Deos rogato Totum ut te faciant,
Fabulle, Nasum.[*][You will ask] God to make you all nose, Fabulle (Catullus, Carmen 13, lines 13-14). In the poem, the speaker is inviting a girl to his house, promising her a spectacular gift of perfume.
19. A Clepselæa, or Oil Hour-glass, as the
Ancients used those of Water.
20. A Ring found in a Fishes Belly taken about Gorro; conceived to be the same wherewith the Duke of Venice
had wedded the Sea.
P321. A214214Musæum Clausum, or, Tract XIII.
21. A neat Crucifix made out of the cross Bone of a Frogs Head.
22. A large Agath containing a various and careless Figure, which looked upon
by a Cylinder representeth a perfect Centaur. By some such advantages King Pyrrhus
might find out Apollo and
the nine Muses in those Agaths of his whereof Pliny maketh mention.
23. Batrachomyomachia, or the Homerican Battel
between Frogs and Mice, neatly described upon the Chizel Bone of a large
Pike's Jaw.
24. Pyxis Pandoræ, or a Box which held the Unguentum Pestiferum, which by anointing the Garments
of several persons begat the great and horrible Plague of Milan.
25. A Glass of Spirits made of Æthereal Salt, Hermetically sealed up,
kept continually in Quick-silver; of so volatile a nature that it will
scarce endure the Light, and therefore onely to be shown in Winter, or by
the light of a Carbuncle, or Bononian
Stone.
He215215Tract XIII. Bibliotheca Abscondita
He who knows where all this Treasure
now is, is a great Apollo. I'm sure I am
not He. However, I
am,
Sir, Yours, &c.P4AN