The Holinshed Texts (1587, Volume 6, p. 168)

Compare 1577 edition: 1

[...] this s [...]ould [...] in the dai [...]s of K. Henrie the second.

A fish like to a man.

In this sixt yeare of king Iohns reigne, at Oxe|ford in Suffolke, as Fabian saith (although I sh [...]ke he be deceiued in the time) a fish was taken by fish| [...]rs in their nets as they were at sea, resembling in s [...]ape a wild or sauage man, whome they presented vnto sir Bartholomew de Glanuille knight, that had then the kéeping of the castell of Oreford in Suf|folke. He was naked, and in all his liues and mem|bers resembling the right proportion of a man; he had haires also in the vsuall parts of his bodie albeit that the crowne of his head was bald, his beard was long and rugged, and his breast hairie. The knight caused him to be kept certeine daies & nights from the sea, me [...]t set afore him he greedilie deuoured, & did eat fish both raw and sod. Those that were raw he pressed in his hand till he had thrust out all the moisture, and so then did eat them. He would not or could not vtter any speach, although to trie him they hung him vp by the héeles, and miserablie tormented him. He would get him to his couch at the setting of the sunne, and rise againe at the rising of the same.

Compare 1577 edition: 1 One day they brought him to the hauen, and suf|fered him to go into the sea, but to be sure he should not escape from them, they set [...]hrée ranks of mightie strong nets before him, so to catch him againe at their pleasure (as they imagined) but he streight|waies diuing downe to the bottome of the water, got past all the nets, and comming vp, shewed him|selfe to them againe that stood waiting for him, and dowking diuerse times vnder water and comming vp againe he beheld them on the shore that stood still looking at him, who seemed as it were to mocke them, for that he had deceiued them, & got past their nets. At length after he had thus sported himselfe a great while in the water, and that there was no more hope of his returne, he came to them againe of his owne accord, swimming through the water, and re|mained with them two moneths after. But finallie, when he was negligentlie looked to, and now séemed not to be regarded, he fled secretlie to the sea, and was neuer after séene nor heard of.

Compare 1577 edition: 1 ¶ Thus much out of Rafe Coghshall, who affirmeth that this chanced in the daies of Henrie the second, about the 33 of his reigne, Iohn Stow. as Iohn Stow in his sum|marie hath also noted. Which report of theirs in re|spect of the strangnesse thereof might séeme incredi|ble, speciallie to such as be hard of beléefe, and refuse to giue faith and credit to any thing but what their owne eies haue sealed to their consciences, so that the reading of such woonders as these, is no more be|neficiall to them, than to carrie a candle before a blind man, or to sing a song to him that is starke deafe. Neuerthelesse, of all vncouth and rare sights, speciallie of monstruous appearances we ought to be so farre from hauing little regard; that we should rather in them and by them obserue the euent and falling out of some future thing, no lesse miraculous in the issue, than they be woonderfull at the sudden sight. This was well noted of a philosopher, who to the purpose (among other matters by him touched) hath spoken no lesse pithilie than crediblie, saieng;

M. P [...]. in [...].Nec fieri aut errore aut c [...]su monstra putandum,

Cum certas habeant causas, vt tristia monstrent,

Vnde il [...]as nomen, quare & portenta vocantur.