Day-fatality, or, Some observation of days lucky and unlucky concluding with some remarques upon the fourteenth of October, the auspicious birth-day of His Royal Highness, James Duke of York.

Day-fatality, or, Some observation of days lucky and unlucky concluding with some remarques upon the fourteenth of October, the auspicious birth-day of His Royal Highness, James Duke of York.

Table of contents

Day-Fatality: Or, Some Observation of Days Lucky and Ʋnlucky, CONCLUDING WITH Some Remarques upon the Fourteenth of October, the Auspicious Birth-day of His Royal Highness, James Duke of York.

[Page]

[Page]

Day-Fatality: Or, Some Observation of Days Lucky and Ʋnlucky, CONCLUDING WITH Some Remarques upon the Fourteenth of October, the Auspicious Birth-day of His Royal Highness, James Duke of York.

Atavis qui Regibus editus,

Augustissimo CAROLO proximus.

NUM. XXVII. 8, 9.

LUC. XIX. 42.

‘In Hoc Die Tuo. In This Thy Day.’

THat there be Good and Evil Days and Times, not onely the Sacred Scriptures, but prophane Authors mention: See 1 Sam. 25. 8. Esther 8. 17. and 9. 19, 22. Ecclus 14. 14.

The Fourteenth day of the First Month was a memorable and blessed day amongst the Children of Israel: See Exod. 12. 18, 40, 41, 42, 51. and 13. 4. Levit. 23. 5. Numb. 28. 16. Four hundred and thirty years being expired of their dwelling in Egypt, even in the self-same day departed they thence.

A thing somewhat parallel to this, we read in the Roman Histories; That that very day four years that the Civil Wars were begun by Pompey the Father, Caesar made an end of them with his Sons; Cneus Pompeius being then slain, and it being also the last Battel Caesar was ever in. Heylyn in the Kingdom of Corduba.] The Calendar to Ovid's Fastorum says, Aprilis erat mensis Graecis auspicatissimus, a most auspicious Month to the Graecians.

As to Evil Days and Times, see Amos 5. 13. and 6. 3. Eccles. 9. 12. Plalm 37. 19. Obad. 12. Jer. 46. 21. And Job hints it, in cursing his Birth-day, cap. 3. v. 1. to 11. See Weaver, p. 458.

Erly in a mornening,

In an Evil Tyming,

Went they from Dunbarre.

Horace, lib. 2. Ode 13. cursing the Tree that had like to have fallen upon him, says, Ille nefasto te posuit die; intimating, that it was planted in an unluckie day.

The Romans counted Febr. 13. an unlucky day, and therefore then never attempted any Business of Importance; for on that day they were overthrown at Allia by the Gauls; and the Fabii, attaquing the City of the Veii, were all slain save one. Heylyn speaking of St. Peters Patrimony.] And see the Calendar annext to Ovid's Fastorum, as to the last Circumstance.

[Page] The Jews counted August 10. an unfortunate day; for on That the Temple was destroyed by Titus the Son of Vespasian; on which day also the first Temple was consumed with Fire by Nebuchadnezzar. Heylyn.] The Treasury of the Times says, the Eighth of Loyon (August) the very same day 679 years one after another.

And not onely among the Romans and Jews, but also among Christians, a like Custom of observing such days is used, especially Childermas or Innocents day. Comines tells us, That Lewis XI. used not to debate any Matter, but accounted it a sign of great Misfortune towards him, if any man communed with him of his Affairs; and would be very angry with those about him, if they troubled him in any Matter whatsoever upon this day.

But I will descend to more particular Instances of Lucky and Unlucky Days.

Upon the Sixth of April, Alexander the Great was born: Upon the same day he conquered Darius, won a great Victory at Sea, and died the same day.

Neither was this day less fortunate to his Father Philip; for on the same he took Potidea; Parmenio his General gave a great Overthrow to the Illyrians; and his Horse was Victor at the Olympick Games. Therefore his Prophets foretold to him, Filium cujus natalis, &c. That a Son whose Birth-day was accompanied with Three Victories, should prove Invincible. Pezelius in Mellificio Historico.

Upon the Thirtieth of September, Pompey the Great was born: Upon that day he he Triumphed for his Asian Conquest; and on that day died.

The Nineteenth of August was the day of Augustus his Adoption: On the same day he began his Consulship: He conquered the Triumviri; and on the same day he died. Hitherto out of the Memoirs of K. Charles I. Heros.

If Solomon count the day of ones death better than the day of ones birth, there can be no Objection why that also may not be numbred amongst ones Remarkable and Happy days. And therefore I will insert here, That the Eleventh of February was the Noted day of Elizabeth Wife to Henry VII. who was born and died that day. Weaver, p. 476. Brook in H. 7. Marriage. Stow in Anno 1466. 1503.

As also that the Twenty third of November was the Observable day of Francis Duke of Lunenburgh, who was born on that day, and died upon the same, 1549. as says the French Author of the Journal History, who adds, upon particular Remarque, and observable curiosity

Ipsa dies vitam contulit ipsa necem.

The same day Life did give,

And made him cease to live.

Sir Kenelm Digby, that Renowned Knight, great Linguist, and Magazen of Arts, was born and died on the Eleventh of June; and also fought fortunately at Scanderoon the same day. Hear his Epitaph, composed by Mr. Farrar, and recited in the aforesaid Memoirs.

Ʋnder this Stone the Matchless Digby lies,

Digby the Great, the Valiant, and the Wise:

This Ages Wonder, for his Noble Parts;

Skill'd in Six Tongues, and learn'd in All the Arts.

Born on the day he died, th' Eleventh of June,

On which he bravely fought at Scanderoon.

'Tis rare, that one and self-same day should be

His day of Birth, of Death, of Victory.

I had a Maternal Uncle, that died the Third of March last, 1678. which was the Anniversary day of his Birth; and (which is a Truth exceeding strange) many years ago he foretold the day of his Death to be that of his Birth; and [Page] he also averred the same but about a week before his departure. This Third of March is the day of St. Eutropius (of which hereafter); and as to my Uncle it was significative, it turn'd well to him, according to that of Rev. 14. 13. Blessed are the dead, &c. and that of Ovid, Metam. lib. 3.

—Dici (que) beatus

Ante obitum nemo suprema (que) funera debet.

—None happy call,

Before their Death, and final Funeral.

The Sixth of January was five times auspicious to Charles Duke of Anjou. Ibid. in the Life of the Earl of Sunderland.

The Twenty fourth of February was happy to Charles the Fifth four times. Ibid.] Heylyn speaking of the Temple of Jerusalem, hints three of these four: His Birth: His taking of Francis King of France Prisoner: His receiving the Imperial Crown at Bononia. And so doth also the Journal History before-mentioned.

Of the Family of the Trevours, Six successive principal Branches have been born the Sixth of July. Same Memoirs.

Sir Humphrey Davenport was born the Seventh of July; and on that day anniversary his Father and Mother died, within a quarter of an hour one of another. Same Memoirs.

I have seen an old Romish MSS. Prayer-Book (and shewed the same to that general Scholar, & great Astrologer E. Ashmole Esq) at the beginning whereof was a Calendar, wherein were inserted the Unlucky days of each Month, set out in Verse. I will recite them just as they are, sometimes infringing the Rule of Grammar, sometimes of Prosodia; a matter, of which the old Monkish Rhimers were no ways scrupulous. It was as ancient as Henry the Sixth, or Edward the Fourths time.

January. Prima dies mensis, & septima truncat ut ensis.

February. Quarta subit mortem, prosternit tertia fortem.

March. Primus mandentem, disrumpit quarta bibentem.

April. Denus & undenus est mortis vulnere plenus.

May. Tertius occidit, & septimus ora

Ex re & laedo.

relidit.

June. Denus pallescit, quindenus foedera nescit.

July. Ter-decimus mactat, Julii denus labefactat.

August. Prima necat fortem prosternit secunda cohortem.

September. Tertia Septembris, & denus fert mala membris.

October. Tertius & denus, est sicut mors alienus.

November. Scorpius est quintus, & tertius e nece cinctus.

December. Septimus exanguis, virosus denus & anguis.

The tenth Verse is intolerable, and might be mended thus,

Tertia cum dena fit sicut mors aliena.

If any object and say, deni is onely the Plural; I excuse my self by that admirable Chronogram upon King Charles the Martyr,

Ter deno, Jani, Lunae, Rex (Sole cadente)

Carolus exutus Solio, Sceptro (que) secure.

Neither will I have recourse for refuge to that old Tetrastich,

Intrat Avaloniam duodena. Caterva virorum

Flos Arimathiae Joseph, &c.

because I have even now blamed the liberty of the ancient Rhymers.

He means by mors aliena, some strange kind of Death; though aliena signifies strange in quite another sense than there used.

I shall take particular notice here of the Third of November, both because 'tis my own Birth-day, and also for that I have observed some remarkable Accidents to have hapned thereupon.

[Page] Constantius the Emperour, Son of Constantine the Great, little inferiour to his Father, a worthy Warriour, and good Man, died the Third of November, ex Veteri Calendario, penes me.

Thomas Mountacute Earl of Salisbury, that great Man, and famous Commander sub Hen. IV. V. & VI. died this day, by a Wound of Cannon-shot he received at the Siege of Orleaunce. E MSS. quodam, & Glovero.

So also Cardinal Borrhomeo, famous for his Sanctity of Life, and therefore Canonized, (Heylyn, in his Praecognita, says, He made Milan memorable, by his Residence there) died 1584. this day, as Possevinus in his Life.

Sir John Perot (Stow corruptly calls him Parrat) a Man very remarkable in his Time, Lord Deputy of Ireland, Son to Hen. VIII. and extremely like him, died in the Tower, the Third of November, 1592. (as Stow says) Grief, and the Fatality of this Day, kill'd him. See Nanton's Fragment a Regalia, concerning this Man.

Stow in his Annals says, Anno 1099. Novemb. 3. as well in Scotland as England, the Sea broke in over the Banks of many Rivers, drowning divers Towns, and much People, with an innumerable number of Oxen and Sheep; at which time the Lands in Kent sometimes belonging to Earl Godwin, were covered with Sands, and drowned, and to this day are called Godwins Sands.

I had an Estate left me in Kent, of which between thirty and forty Acres was Marsh-land, very conveniently flanking its Up-land; and in those days this Marsh-land was usually let for Four Nobles an Acre. My Father died 1643. Within a year and half after his decease, such Charges and Water-scots came upon this Marsh-land, by the influence of the Sea, that it was never worth one Farthing to me, but very often eat into the Rents of the Up-land: So that I often think, this day being my Birth-day, hath the same evil influence upon me, that it had 580 years since upon Earl Godwin, and others concerned in low Lands.

The Parliament so fatal to Romes Concerns here, in Henry the Eighth's time, begun the Third of November, (26 of his Reign); in which the Pope, with all his Authority, was clean banished the Realm; he no more to be called otherwise than Bishop of Rome; the King to be taken and reputed as Supreme Head of the Church of England, having full Authority to reform all Errors, Heresies, and Abuses of the same: Also the First-fruits and Tenths of all Spiritual Promotions and Dignities were granted to the King. See Stows Annals, and Weaver, pag. 80.

Not long after which, followed the Visitation of Abbies, Priories, and Nunneries; and after that, their final Suppression: This Parliament being the Door of entrance thereto.

The Third of November, 1640. began that Parliament so direfully fatal to England, in its Peace, its Wealth, its Religion, its Gentry, Nobility, nay, its King. So verifying the former Verse of the Calendar,

Scorpius est quintus, & tertius e nece cinctus.

A killing day to some or other.

The Third of September was a Remarkable day to the English Attila, Oliver. 1650. he obtained a memorable Victory at Dunbar; another at Worcester, 1651. And that day he died, 1658.

The first two Occurrences wonderfully accord to the preceding Verse, ‘Tertia Septembris, & denus fert mala membris.’ being fatal to the two Members of Great Britain, Scotland and England. The third, as happy to them both, as the same day, 1666. was dismal and unhappy to the City of London, and consequently to the whole Kingdom, with its immediate preceding and two succeeding days, viz. the Second, Fourth, and Fifth of September.

[Page] I come now to Days of the Week.

Tuesday (Dies Martis) was a most remarkable day with Thomas Becket Archbishop of Canterbury, as Weaver 201. observes from Matt. Paris: Mars, secundum Poetas, Deus Belli nuncupatur. Vita Sancti Thomae (secundum illud Job, Vita hominis militia est super terram) tota fuit contra hostem bellicosa, &c. Mars, according to the Poets, is called The God of War. The Life of S. Thomas (according to that of Job, The life of man is a warfare upon earth) was a continual conflict against the enemy. Upon the Tuesday he suffered; upon Tuesday he was translated; upon Tuesday the Peers of the Land sate against him at Northampton; upon Tuesday he was banished; upon Tuesday the Lord appeared to him at Pontiniac, saying, Thomas, Thomas, my Church shall be glorified in thy blood; upon Tuesday he returned from Exile; upon Tuesday he got the Palm or Reward of Martyrdom; and upon Tuesday, 1220. his Venerable Body received the Glory and Renown of Translation, Fifty years after his Passion. Thus my Authors.

One thing I make bold to gloss upon. His Translation is here mentioned twice. Note, This is no Tautology of the Historian; but the latter Paragraph is a more particular Recitation of the first, viz. reference to the time when he was translated into the number of Saints and Martyrs: Quando in Divorum numerum relatus, as Cambden.

Wednesday is said to have been the fortunate day of Sixtus Quintus, that Pope of renowned Merit, that did so great and excellent things in the time of his Government. See The Just weight of the Scarlet Robe, pag. 101 his deserved Praises.] On a Wednesday he was born; on that day he was made Monk; on the same, he was made General of his Order; on that also, was he successively created Cardinal, electected Pope, and also Inaugurated. See Heylyn, speaking of the Temple of Jerusalem.

Fryday was observed to be very fortunate to the great and renowned Captain Gonsalvo, he having on that day given the French many memorable Defeats.

Saturday was a Lucky day to Hen. VII. Upon that day he atchieved the Victory upon Ric. III. being August 22. 1485. On that day he entred the City, being Aug. 29. [Correct Stow, who mistakes the day.] And he himself always acknowledg'd, he had experienced it Fortunate. See Bacon in his Life.

Thursday was a Fatal Day to Henry VIII. as Stow, 812.] and so also to his Posterity. He died on Thursday Jan. 28. King Edw. VI. on Thursday July 6. Queen Mary, on Thursday November 17. Queen Elizabeth, on Thursday March 24.

Saturday (or the Jewish Sabbath) was fatal to Jerusalem Temple; for on that day 'twas taken by Pompey, Herod, and Titus, successively. Heylyn.

Hitherto by way of Prologue. And be pleas'd to take notice, As to the Days of the Month, I have taken such care, that all are according to the Julian or Old Account, used by us here in England. See Partridges Almanack, Pref. to the Reader.] Pope Gregory XIII. brought in his New Stile (used generally beyond Sea) Anno 1585. in October, as asserts the Journal History before-recited.

Now for Epilogue, and Remarkable Reflexion.

Turning over our Annals, I chanced upon a two-fold Circumstance: I will not say, that none else hath observed the same; but I protest, (Ita me Deus amet, ut verum loquor) I do not know of any that have; and therefore must justly claim to be acquitted from the least suspicion of Plagiarism, or plowing with others Heifers.

The first is, of William the Conqueror. The second, of Edward III. (I need not say any thing of the Eminency of these two; every one knows what great things they did.) And making reflection upon the Auspicious Birth-day of His [Page] Royal Highness the Duke of York, I adventured upon the following Composure. [I cannot be proud of my Poetry; but I cannot but be glad of my BON HEƲR, d' avoir (en lisant) tombè si fortuitemènt sur les evenements d' un si BON JOƲR.

Ad Illustrissimum & Celsissimum Principem, JACOBUM Ducem EBORACENSEM, de Natali Suo Auspicatissimo, Octobris XIV. Anno MDCXXXIII.

—Deus

Anne nefasto te posuit die?

Hor. li. 2. od. 13.

—The Fates, have they

Thy Birth design'd on an unlucky day?

OCtobris Decimo quarto Normannus Haraldum

Dux superavit, & hinc Regia Sceptra tulit.

Tertius Edwardus, capto pernice Caleto,

(Gallica quo Regna sunt reserata sibi)

Ire domum tentans, diris turbomibus actus

In pelago, Vitae Magna pericla subît:

Octobris Decimo quarto, tamen appulit Oras

Nativas. (His quàm prosperus ille dies?)

Natali laetare tuo, quàm Maxime Princeps;

Fausta velut sunt haec, Omina semper habe.

OCtobers Fourteenth gave the Norman Duke

That Vict'ry,

Stow in An. 1066.

whence he Englands Scepter took.

Third Edward, after he had Calais won,

(The Mean whereby he France did over-run)

Returning home, by raging Tempests tost,

(And neer his Life (so fortunes) to have lost)

Arrived safe on Shore the self-same Date.

Idem in An. 1347.

(This day to them afforded so fair Fate.)

Great Duke, rejoyce in this Your day of Birth;

And may such Omens still encrease Your Mirth.

These Verses I presented in Anno 1677. to a most Honourable Peer of the Land, and of great Place near His Royal Highness.

Since which time, old Fabian coming into my hands, from him I got knowledge, that that advantageous Peace, mentioned by Stow, Anno 1360. (concluded between the forementioned King Edward III. and the French King) was acted upon the Fourteenth of October, with grand Solemnity.

The two former Circumstances must needs fall out Providentially: Whether this last of Anno 1360. was designed by Edw. III. or no, (as remembring his former good hap) may be some question: I am of opinion, not. Where things are under a Mans peculiar Concern, he may fix a time; but here was the French King concerned, equally with the English, and many other Great Personages interessed: To have tied them up to his own Auspicious Conceit of the Day, had been an unkind Oppression, and would have brought the Judgment of so Wise a Prince into question: We may conclude then, 'twas meerly fortuitous. And therefore to the former Observation concerning this famous Edward, give me leave to add,

Insupèr hoc ipso (que) die (sibi commoda) Grandis

Rex cum Galligenis, foedera fecit idem.

[Page] An advantageous Peace, on day self same,

This mighty Prince did with the Frenchmen frame.

A memorable Peace (foretold by Nostredamus) much conducing to the saving of Christian Blood, was made upon the Fourteenth of October, 1557. between Pope Paul IV. Henry II. of France, and Philip II. of Spain. Nostredamus says, These Great Princes were frappèz du Ciel, moved from Heaven to make this Peace. See Garencieres Comment on Nostredamus, pag. 76.

A Lucky day this, not onely to the Princes of England; but Auspicious to the Welfare of Europe.

Upon the Third of March last (being the day of St. Eutropius) His Royal Highness withdrew towards the Low-Countries: Procopius tells us, Humana saepe contingit a Deo mutari. Terence says, Vicissitudo omnium rerum est. Which two Sayings I can no way better English, than by that of Eccles. 9. 11. Time and chance happens to all men: Nor no way better second than with that of 1 Cor. 4. 11. Incertis vagamur sedibus. This Accident therefore (our life being but a pilgrimage, as Jacob termed it to Pharaoh) is nothing to a General Providence in the main. Therefore from the Augury of His Fourteenth of October, and from the good Omen comprehended in the Signification of Eutropius, which hints, that all this shall end well, and turn to the best; and from Ecclus 14. 14, 15. I accost His Royal Highness with a Non defraudabitur a die bono; He shall not lose his Good day.

Dixerunt Ibis, pariter dixêre Redibis

Te non infausto Dîi posuere die.

The Gods thy Exit have ordain'd, and also they

Thy blest Return have firm'd, born on a Lucky day.

I just now said, That the Third of March was dedicated to Eutropius, which is derived from [...] well, and [...] to turn: It is also dedicated to St. Maximus, St. Marinus, St. Lucius; which three also have notable hints in relation to His Royal Highness. First, No man can deny, but that He is Maximus Princeps. Secondly, He is Maximus Marinus; for in the time of His Exile He was Admiral of Aragon, as I have been told many years since in Flanders; and I am sure very many Commissions in those days past under His Name: And till 1673. He was Lord High Admiral of England.

Lucius comes from Luci, which signifies in the morning; and betokens a Child born in the morning, or at Sun-rising, (which some affirm to be a good time for Birth): But I will for my present purpose deduce it a Luceo; and I must affirm, Quod hic maximus Princeps gestis marinis maxime lucet, & alias lucebit; This most Great Prince is extremely Illustrious in Sea Negotiations, and shall yet be otherwise most Illustrious.

That his Highness has long since verified the first Paragraph of my Assertion, take it not onely on my Credit; but (besides what has been said before) hear part of an Ode to His Sacred Majesty, on His Highness Victory over the Dutch, June 3. 1665. compos'd by Sir T. H. a most Worthy Person, whom his Foreign Negotiations have made enough known.

This day Your Empire Fate secures,

And now One half of the whole World is Yours.

The Austrian Youth, who won the day,

When the pale Crescent to the Cross gave way,

Must to Your Glorious Brother yield,

Who with less Loss hath got a greater Field, &c.

The Germans, High and Low, (amongst which last His Highness now resides) call October, Wyn-maendt (Mensis Vindemialis) the Wine-month.

The Effects of Wine we read Judges 9. 13. Psal. 104. 15. Eccles. 10. 19. Zach. 10. 7. Why then may we not term this Month Mensis Laetificans? That [Page] it may be so to his Royal Highness, as well as it was to the most Great Queen HisJohn 16. 21. Mother, are the hearty Prayers of BLEW-MANTLE.

Virg lib. 1.

—Haec olim memenisse juvabit:

Ib. l. 7. & 1.

Ʋunanimes omnes, cùm Te (Dux Celse) reducto,

Certatìm instaurent epulas, at (que) omine magno

Crateres laeti statuant & Vina coronent.

Remembrance of these things, delight shall Thee,

When (home return'd) great Feastings thou shalt see,

And Healthings round, shall stir up gladsom glee,

And this Rejoycing general shall be.

I have by me a Book printed Anno 1641. containing the true Effigies of King CHARLES the First, of Blessed Memory, his Queen, with their Royal Progeny, with Verses annext, wherein are notable Predictions of His Royal Highness, which I will here recite.

This Prince, much like another Sun, darts forth

Most glorious Beams to's Dukedom, and the North;

And makes us see with Eyes of expectation,

He'll be a mighty Pillar to this Nation,

A Stay of State, a strong supporting Prop,

Whose Fame will scale the Heighth of Honours Top.

He hates dull Idleness, and loves to be

In Action, such as fits His High Degree:

He will be stirring in such Exercise

As well becomes His Years and Qualities.

Surely th' Eternal Eye of Providence

Doth watch, direct, and guide this Hopeful Prince,

For some Designs may be for Heavens glory,

And fill the Earth with JAMES His Noble Story.

This All True Britans do expect in Love:

No doubt, our Wishes are confirm'd Above.

Thus that Book: And I add,

Quis meliora petat, consultus quòd Tripos edat?

Who Better things than these can wish

From the Oracles Breath of Bliss?

1678.

Martis Mense data haec, timidi committere praelo

Non Impressores audebant (

Prov. 6. 19.

tempore duro).

J. Gibbon.

FINIS.

[Page]

Information about this book

Title statement

Day-fatality, or, Some observation of days lucky and unlucky concluding with some remarques upon the fourteenth of October, the auspicious birth-day of His Royal Highness, James Duke of York.

Gibbon, John, 1629-1718.

Edition statement

1679

Publication

Publisher

Text Creation Partnership,

Place of publication

Ann Arbor, MI ; Oxford (UK) :

Date

2008-09 (EEBO-TCP Phase 1).

ID [DLPS]

A42681

ID [STC]

Wing G647

ID [STC]

ESTC R30405

ID [EEBO-CITATION]

11309069

ID [OCLC]

ocm 11309069

ID [VID]

47407

Availability

This keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the Early English Books Online Text Creation Partnership. This Phase I text is available for reuse, according to the terms of Creative Commons 0 1.0 Universal. The text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission.

Series

Early English books online.

Notes

(EEBO-TCP ; phase 1, no. A42681)

Transcribed from: (Early English Books Online ; image set 47407)

Images scanned from microfilm: (Early English books, 1641-1700 ; 1461:38)

Source

— Day-fatality, or, Some observation of days lucky and unlucky concluding with some remarques upon the fourteenth of October, the auspicious birth-day of His Royal Highness, James Duke of York., Gibbon, John, 1629-1718..

Extent

8 p.

s.n.,. [London :: 1679]. (Caption title.) (Imprint supplied by Wing.) (Signed: J. Gibbon.) (Reproduction of original in the Harvard University Library.)

Creation

Created by converting TCP files to TEI P5 using tcp2tei.xsl, TEI @ Oxford.

Editorial practices

EEBO-TCP is a partnership between the Universities of Michigan and Oxford and the publisher ProQuest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by ProQuest via their Early English Books Online (EEBO) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). The general aim of EEBO-TCP is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic English-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in EEBO.

EEBO-TCP aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the Text Encoding Initiative (http://www.tei-c.org).

The EEBO-TCP project was divided into two phases. The 25,363 texts created during Phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 January 2015. Anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source.

Users should be aware of the process of creating the TCP texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data.

Text selection was based on the New Cambridge Bibliography of English Literature (NCBEL). If an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in NCBEL, then their works are eligible for inclusion. Selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. In general, first editions of a works in English were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably Latin and Welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so.

Image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. Quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in Oxford and Michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet QA standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. After proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. Any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. Understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of TCP data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. Users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a TCP editor.

The texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the TEI in Libraries guidelines.

Copies of the texts have been issued variously as SGML (TCP schema; ASCII text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable XML (TCP schema; characters represented either as UTF-8 Unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless XML (TEI P5, characters represented either as UTF-8 Unicode or TEI g elements).

Keying and markup guidelines are available at the Text Creation Partnership web site.