I also will do this unto you; I will even appoint over you terror, consumption, and the burning ague, that shall consume the eyes, and cause sorrow of heart: and ye shall sow your seed in vain, for your enemies shall eat it.
Ver. 16. I will even appoint.] Put them in commission; send them with such authority as shall be irresistible.
Terror, consumption, and the burning ague,] i.e., Terrible sicknesses of all sorts, such as was the sweating sickness, called Sudor Anglicus, quia Anglis perpetuum malum. a It reigned b here some forty years together, and slew so many, that strangers wondered how this island could be so populous to bear and bury such incredible multitudes. No stranger in England was touched with this disease, and yet the English were chased therewith, not only in England, but in other countries abroad: which made them like tyrants, both feared and avoided, wherever they came. c
a Sennert., De Febrib., lib. iv. cap. 15.
b Coepit anno 1486.
c Life of King Edward VI, by Sir John Heywood.