Gleanings of antiquities / By John Beaumont, Gent.

  • John Beaumont
Date:
1724
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Gleanings of antiquities / By John Beaumont, Gent. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    judge after a differing manner concerning common Re- lations,which are the Subject of the People's Wonder, and of the Raillery of thofe who look on themfelves as above the People: Some of thefe Relations are poffi- ble, the greater part are falfe; and there are very few of them certain ; or perhaps none of them at all are fo. Here we find Mr. Saurin feems inclined to think fas many do) that there is nothing real in what is (aid of Apparitions, or the Operations of evil Spirits, Witch¬ es and Magicians; but I fee not how he fhould be fo inclined, if he kept to what he has laid down be¬ fore concerning God’s Revelation of particular E- vents ; where he fays, that thofe who are for the Negative, cannot maintain it, but either by fhew- 5ng the Characters of Falfhood in the particular Hi¬ laries on which the Affirmative is eflablifhed, or by fayine, that if a Man is not fure thofe Relations are falfe, he is no more fure they are true. And here I muft ask Mr. Saurin, or any Man elfe, whether they can fhew Characters of Falfihood in the forego¬ ing Relations I have given of Apparitions, or fay the Truth of the FaCts I have inftanced, is not fair¬ ly infured. Aventinus, in his Annals of Bavaria, /. 4. gives us the following remarkable Relation concerning an Apparition : In Germany, not far from the Town Bing, where the River Navas mixes itfelf with the Rhine, there is a Village, commonly call’d Camont (quaft Caput Montium) a Name given it by the Romansy when they poffefled that Country, becaufe there begin the Mountains which run along with the Rhine towards the North : There, in thefe our Days, a revolted and roving Spirit has done many ft range things, playing preftigiating Tricks, and infefting the Inha¬ bitants. Firft, this curfed Spirit, feen by no Man, began to throw Stones at Perfons, and to knock at Doors*
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