A NARRATIVE OF A strange and wonderful Old Woman, that hath a Great Pair of Horns growing upon the hinder parts of her Head; And is at present to be seen at the Swan in the Strand near Charing-Cross.
IT may be, upon the first View of the Title of this short Relation, thou wilt throw it down with all the carelessness imaginable, supposing it to be but an idle and impertinent Fiction, such as some Frontless persons have too frequently exposed to publick View, on purpose [Page 4] to impose upon the Credulity of the Gazing Multitude, who are apt to gape at Wonders, and to think all true as the Gospel, they see in Print.
That this may court thy more favourable Thoughts, call to minde, that such as intend to deceive, tell of Wonders that are remote, and too far distant from thee, either suddenly to disprove, or presently to confirm thy self in the belief of what they have told.
This gives thee an Account of what thou mayest with little trouble, and as small expence, behold: Take but a Walk to the Swan in the Strand, near Charing-Cross, and there thou mayest satisfie thy Curiosity, and be able to tell the World whether this following Narration be truth or invention.
There thou mayest see a Woman hath Horns growing upon the hinder part of her Head, an Object not onely worthy of your Sight, but Admiration too! She is Seventy six Years of Age, Bred and Born in the Parish of Shotwick in Cheshire, and within four Miles of Chester, Tenant unto His Blessed Majesty, upon a Farm of Sixteen pounds per Annum; so that she is not necessitated to this Course of Life: or to deceive the credulous and short-sighted People, but to manifest to the World such a Wonder in Nature, [Page 5] as hath neither been read or heard of (we may justly suppose) since the Creation.
She was Wife to one Master Henry Davies, who dyed Thirty five Years pass'd; And since she hath lived a Religious Widow, all along of a spotless and unblameable Life and Conversation, of singular use to her Neighbours, for she is a profess [...]d Mid-wife; happy and successful in that Undertaking: So that her Departure was generally lamented in the place of her Abode, in such a measure, that several of her Neighbours and Acquaintance brought her many Miles of her Journey.
This strange and stupendious Effect began first from a Soreness in that place where now the Horns grow, which (as 'tis thought) was occasioned by wearing a straight Hat. This Soreness continued Twenty Years, in which time it miserably afflicted this good Woman, and ripened gradually unto a Wenn near the bigness of a large Hen Egg, which continued for the space of Five Years, more sadly tormenting her than before: After which time it was, by a strange operation of Nature, changed into Horns, which are in shew and substance much like a Ramms Horns, solid and wrinckled, but sadly grieving the Old Woman, especially upon the change of Weather.
But more accurately to Describe its Nature [Page 6] and Manner of Production, may be a Subject proper for a Colledge of Physitians; and no question but it will be esteemed worthy to employ the Ingenious Vertuoso's of the Age, who need not their Glasses to magnifie its Wonder.
She hath cast her Horns three times already; The first time was but a single Horn, which grew long, but as slender as an Oaten straw: The second was thicker than the former: The two first Mr. Hewson Minister of Shotwick (to whose Wife this Rarity was first discovered) obtained of the Old Woman his Parishioner: They kept not an equal distance of time in falling off, some at three, some at four, and another at four Years and a halfs Growth.
The third time grew two Horns, both which were beat off by a Fall backward; one of them an English Lord obtained, and (as is reported) presented it to the French King for the greatest Rarity in Nature, and received with no less Admiration: The other (which was the largest) was Nine Inches long, and two Inches about; it is much valued for the Novelty, a greater than any Iohn Tradeskin can set to view, or the greatest Traveller can with truth affirm to have seen. Sir Willoughby Aston hath also another Horne which dropt from this Womans Head, and reserves it as a Choice Rarity. At this present she hath a pair of Hornes upon her Head of Six Moneths Growth; And 'tis not without reason [Page 7] believed, they will in a short time bee larger than any of the former; for still the latter have exceeded the former in bigness.
The Circumstance of this Relation considered or examined, at least with the sight of her, I hope it will not readily be believed to be an Imposture, or Artificial Projecting; For so grosly to impose upon His Majesty, and all His Loyal Subjects, would be an unpardonable Crime, and would deserve mens Contempt, and not their Company, and certainly expose the Party to the Violence of a rude Multitude, who discovering a Cheat, would, I believe, soon make the Old Woman pull in her Horns.