Strange News out of Hartfordshire.

 

THE MOWING DEVIL
OR
STRANGE NEWS
OUT OF
HARTFORDSHIRE.

Being a true relation of a farmer, who bargaining with a poor mower about the cutting down three half-acres of oats. Upon the mower's asking too much, the farmer swore that the Devil should mow it rather than he. And so it fell out.

That very night, the crop of oats show'd as if it had been all of a flame, but the next morning appear'd so neatly mow'd by the Devil, or some infernal spirit, that no mortal man was able to do the like.

Also, how the said oats lie now in the field, and the owner has no power to fetch them away. 

Licensed,
August 22th,
1678.

MEN may dally with HEAVEN
and criticise HELL
as wittily as they please,

BUT there are really such places
the wise dispensations of Almighty Providence
does not cease continually to evince.

FOR if by those accumulated circumstances
generally induce us to belief of anything
beyond our senses,
we may reasonably gather 
there are certainly such things
as DEVILS,
& we must necessarily conclude
these DEVILS have a HELL,
and as there is a HELL,
there must be a HEAVEN,
and consequently a GOD,
and so all the duties of Christian Religion
as indispensible subsequents
necessarily follow.

THE first of which propositions
this ensuing NARRATIVE
does not a little help to confirm.

FOR no longer ago
than within 
the compass of this present month of AUGUST,
there happened so unusual an accident 
in HARTFORDSHIRE
as is not only the general discourse and admiration
of the whole country,
but may for its rarity 
challenge any other event
which has for these many years been produc'd
in any other county whatsoever.

THE story thus.

IN the said county
lives a rich industrious Farmer,
who perceiving a small crop of his

- of about three half-acres of land
which he had sowed with oats - 

to be ripe and fit for gathering, 
sent to a poor neighbour
whom he knew worked
commonly in the summertime
at harvest labour,
to agree with him about MOWING,
or cutting the said oats down.

THE Poor Man
as it behove'd him,
endeavour'd to sell 
the sweat of his brow
and marrow of his bones
at as dear a rate 
as reasonably he might, 
and therefore ask'd
a good round price for his labour,

which the Farmer,
taking some exception at,
bid him much more under
the usual rate
than the Poor Man
ask'd above it.

SO
some sharp words had pass'd
when the Farmer told him
he would doscourse with him no more,

WHEREUPON
the honest Mower,
recollecting himself
that if he undertook not
that little spot of work
he might thereby lose
much more business
the Farmer had
to employ him beside, 
ran after him,
and told him 
that rather than displease him,
he would do it at what rate 
in reason
he pleas'd,
and 
as an instance of his willingness
to serve him,
propos'd to him a lower price
than he had mowed
for any time of this year before.

BUT
the irritated Farmer
with a stern look
and hasty gesture,
told the Poor Man,

The DEVIL himself should mow his oats,
before he should have anything to do with them,

and upon this
went his way,
and left
the sorrowful Yeoman
not a little troubled
he had disoblig'd one
in whose power it lay
to do him many kindnesses.

BUT
however, 
in the happy series 
of an interrupted prosperity,
we may strut
and plume ourselves
over the miserable indigencies
of our necessitated neighbours,
yet
there is a just GOD above
who weighs us not by our bags,
nor measures us by our coffers,
but looks upon all men 
indifferently,
as the common sons of ADAM,
so that he who fully officiates
that rank or station
wherein the Almighty has plac'd him,
tho' but a mean one,
is truly more worthy
the estimation of all men
than he who is prefer'd 
to superior dignities
and abuses them.

AND what greater abuse
than contempt for men below him?
the relief of whose common necessities
is none of the least conditions
whereby he holds his good things, 
which when that tenure is forfeited
by his default,
he may justly expect some JUDGEMENT
to ensue,
or else
that those riches 
whereby he prizes himself so extravagantly
my shortly be taken from him.

WE will not attempt
to fathom the cause,
or reason of PRETERNATURAL events,
but certain we are
as the most credible
and general relation
can inform us, 

that the same night
this Poor Mower
and Farmer parted,
his field if oats 
was publickly beheld
by several passengers
to be all of a FLAME,
and so continued
for some space
to the great consternation
of those that beheld it. 

WHICH strange news
being by several carried to the Farmer
next morning,
could not but give him a great curiosity
to go and see
what was become of his crop of oats,
which he could not imagine 
but was totally devour'd 
by those ravenous flames
which were observ'd
to be so long resident 
on his acre & half of ground.

CERTAINLY
a reflection
on his sudden and indiscreet expression,

The DEVIL should mow his oats
before the Poor Man should have anything to do with them,

could not
but on this occasion come into his memory.

FOR if we will but allow ourselves
so much leisure
to consider how many hits of Providence
go to the production of one crop of corn, 
such as the aptitude of soil,
the seasonableness of showers,
nourishing solstices
and salubrious winds,
&c.
we should rather welcome maturity
with devout acknowledgements
than prevent our gathering of it
by our profuse wishes. 

BUT not to keep
the Curious Reader
any longer in suspense,
the inquisitive Farmer
no sooner arriv'd at the place
where his oats grew,
but to his admiration 
he found the crop was cut down
ready to his hands,

and as if the DEVIL
had a mind to show his dexterity
in the art of Husbandry,
and scorn'd to mow them
after the usual manner,
he cut them in ROUND CIRCLES,
and plac'd every straw 
with exactness 
that it would have taken
up above an age
for any man to perform
what he did that night,
and the man 
that owns them 
is as yet AFRAID
to remove them. 

FINIS.