The PAPYR-REED of Nile. Papyrus Nilotica. By the Ægyptians called Berd. Given by Sigr. Boccone, who brought it out of Sicily, where it grew. Described and figur'd in Bauhinus; (b) (b) Lib. 18. c. 196. who with Gesner, makes it a Species of Cyperus, to which (in Leaf and Stalk) it is like; but hath a more compacted Head. This seems to have been no tall Plant: but upon its Native Bed, sc. near the Banks of the River Nile, it grows above three yards high, (as high, saith Alpinus, above the Water) and abundantly. Which Moses's Mother knowing, chose well, to lay her Babe in Pharaohs Daughter's way, yet, in the mean time, under good shelter from the scorching Sun.

Having thus dispatched such as are mentioned in the accurate Calatalogus Plantarum Jamaic. Mader. Barbadoes, &c. and those I could reduce thereto, I shall proceed to others that I could not, or have since been received. The Rose of Jericho, a dry and ligneous Plant, all the Branches whereof are crumpled and closed up together, yet if infused in Water, will expand it self, as this did, three Inches. Some Imposters choose to make the Experiment on Christmas-Eve, to make the Credulous believe it will only spring at that Time; whence it is by some call'd the Angelical, or the Christmas-Rose. The Gift of Seignor Altchribel, who brought it from the Desart of Judea. He gave me also a Rod, from a Mountain in Arabia, inaccessible, save to the Natives, who pretend it is sprung from Moses's Rod. And also a Sample of the Wood from Mecca, of which the Turks make Tooth-Brushes. Manna gathered in the Wilderness, where the Children of Isræl travelled. Don. Ric. Hey Merc. Leod. A Cone of Cedar, said to be from Libanus. A Fragment of the Wood of the Cedar that is indisputably so, being brought from that noted Mount, by Dr. Huntington, and given me by his Nephew, perhaps the Cone may rather be from America, than Lebanon, where very few now remain: A great Traveller is said to have found one there, as big as seven Men could Compass (q)(q) Dr. Brown of Scripture Plants.. A Locust, or Piece of Cassia Fistula, the Cod and Fruit near eight Inches long, and four broad. Another about six and three. Another less. A different Lobe, much thicker than the greatest, though neither so long or broad as the least. Pine-Apples and Firre-cones.

There are none of the Adder-beads to be met with in Ireland, that Country having no Snakes; but here is an Amulet from thence every whit as efficacious; it is near an Inch long, and of the Colour of Amber. To these may be added an Ancient Ring, which I suppose belonged to the famous Richard Beauchamp Earl of Warwick, having his Device upon his Signet, viz. a Bear with a ragged Staff; for which see his Monument in Sir W. Dugdale's Hist. of that County: The Motto is anang apta, an agreeable Fate or Destiny, which may perhaps relate to his Martial Disposition and Victories in France: It is composed of Links of Iron or Steel very odly twisted with the Brass, on each Side of the Signet (which is of a third Metal, viz. Copper gilded) is a glassy Ruby. The Samothracians, who were noted of old for these Practices had Stars of Iron in their Rings of Gold. On one Side of the said Inscription is the old Character for Jesus; and on the other, Christ, with a Cross by each. There was a vast Variety of Rings or Amulets, which in the dark Days of Popery were eagerly sought after by poor deluded People, with different Saints upon them; but the Name of Jesus was a standing Charm, not only upon them, but even amongst the Turks, as appears by Dr. Smith's Letter, Registered in the Phil. Trans. N° 155. A Silver Talisman from the Lord Fairfax's Curiosities, on one Side is an unintelligible Character, upon the other in modern Letters L H with ☿ and Ⅱ. Another with a Globe and Cross upon one Side, and an Anchor of Hope on the other, with crooked Lines and Figures round; the former is engraved, this stamped as Money, both have a Hole punched to hang about the Neck. A third (sent me by Robert Plompton, of Plompton, Esq;) hath the Area fill'd with Planetary Characters, and this Inscription round, In Deo confido, revertentur Inimici mei retrorsum: Upon the other Side are Jupiter and Venus embracing each other, inscribed, A pavore inimici Custodi vitam meam oh tu Jehova, with ♃ and ♀ in Conjunction in ♓. The Effects formerly attributed to these Figures were altogether miraculous; the Spark, for whom this was erected, expected, by Virtue thereof, to obtain both Honour and Beauty; that with Mercury was for Success in Merchandizing and Gaming. These are engraved upon Silver; those used of old for the Preservation of Cities were Statuary Telesms made under a certain Configuration of the Heavens, the most propitious that could be for the Time and Place. The Blind and the Lame hated by David's Soul, 2 Sam. 5. 8. are by some Learned Interpreters taken for these Images. And the brazen-Serpent, which Moses (the Talisman, as those who write in Defence of the Practice, affect to call him) made in the Wilderness is said to be the first Occasion, not given, but taken, of all these Telesmatical Practices, (Gregory's Notes upon the Scripture, p. 41.) I shall conclude this Matter with a Charm, sent me by Capt. Furness, who saw it taken out of the Pocket of an Irish Soldier, who was slain in a Skirmish, notwithstanding the Protection he promis'd himself from this Billet of the three Kings of Cologn, which is thus inscribed, Sancti tres Reges, Caspar, Melchior, Balthasar Orate pro nobis nunc & in hora mortis nostræ. ""Ces Billets ont touch‚ "aux trois testes des Saints Rois a Colonge ils sont pour les Voyageurs "contre les malheurs des chemins, maux de Teste mal caduque, fievres, sorcellerie toute sorte de malefice & morte subite." To this Charm may be added another Sort of a Cheat, one Walter Freazer pretending that his Tongue was cut off by the Turks, had imposed upon most Parts of England, during his four Years Vagrancy, begging with the Account of his miserable Case writ upon his Breast, many Justices and Physicians had attempted the Discovery of the Imposture, but in Vain till Mr. John Morris of Leedes, by his assimiliating Temper (which he inherited from his Grand-Father Colonel Morris, who surprized Pontfract Castle for K. Charles I.) discovered the Cheat; and that the said Youth had learnt beyond Sea the Trick of drawing his Tongue so far into his Throat, that it appeared like a Stump only: Hereupon the said Freazer was sent first to the House of Correction, and the begging Billet deposited here by the said Mr. Morris, who was also famous for Pantomimian or Antick-Dancing, which Archbishop Usher tells us was first used at Rome, An. I P. 4579.

Other Collections of Prints, Histories, Maps, &c. shall for Brevity's Sake be wholly waved, (except some Prospects betwixt Rome and Naples, both delineated and etched by the learned and ingenious John Evelyn Esq; who presented them to me with his Picture engraved by the noted Nanteil, and are not to be met with, save in private Hands.) But Designs drawn by the Pens of ingenious Gentlemen ought to be particularly valued. Of these I have some Originals of the noted Hollars; others by the late ingenious Tho. Kirke Esq; and a Map of Skireake by his Clark, Mr. John Marsh. Several Prospects from the Via Appia, &c. taken by Mr. Will Lodge of Leedes, in his Journey to Rome, and presented to me by the late worthy Hen. Watkinson L L D, and Chancellor to four Archbishops of Yorke, who was also a Native of this Town: Other Prospects by the said ingenious young Gentleman, particularly Yorke, Leedes, Durham, Newcastle, Berwick, Carlisle, Edinburgh, Glascow, &c. The Tables of Entrochi and Astroites, the Multangular Tower and Roman Wall inserted in the Phil. Trans. The best Draught of the Monument at London, was both delineated and etched by him: He drew also the noted Bridge in Languedoc three Stories high of Arch-work, which is rare to be had, though printed. Mr. Hen. Gyles's Historical Draught for Windows. Tinmouth Castle and Light-House, by that excellent Artist Mr. Fran. Place of Yorke, who has performed that Cathedral most accurately; as also both the Churches and Prospect of Leedes. Some Math ematical Bodies by the curious Pen of the incomparable Mr. Sharp, as he is stiled by the Publisher of some of his accurate Performances (b)(b) (a) Math. Tables contrived after a most comprehensive Way, p. 55., which "are sufficient to exhibit the Circumference of the Globe of the Earth, so truly as not to err the Breadth of a Grain of Sand in the whole." These Artists are only mentioned last, because still surviving. A Draught also of Moses and Aaron, and the Giving of the Law, as painted with exquisite Art in the Parish Church of Leedes, by Mons. J. Permentier.