whose belly is become like the Britones who because of his wives insolencie that would needs mount her tyme about and of his owne big belly did apprehend he was with child I would have such greasie barrells for their healths sake to take a quarter of an houres course betweene the Castle-hill and Arthurs seate twise in the morning comming thereafter if they bee hungrie to their dinner made vp of an halfe pennie loaâ—e two egges and a cuppe of small Beere and after meate for digestions cause returning to their walke going to bedde without supper if this pyning of the panch doeth not make them light I will haue no money for my medicinall receipt Let these whose God is their bellie and guide is their taste for they inquire still to Iohn Good-Ales house and who are no lesse nose-wise than a browsters Sowe in smelling a dish of goode meate a farre off Diminish both of the quantitie and qualitie of their dishes and imparte of the superplus to their needy brother who is come of Adam according to the flesh aswell as they and may bee of ABRAHAM according to grace Christians by profession and who knoweth but Sanctes by election Did the Master preferre thee over his house and goods for the satisfying of thine inordinarie appetite and thy childrens only or to giue the bread of the children to dogges or horse as our great men doe rather than to the poore and shall not thou expect yea when the Master commeth get the reward of the vnjust steward amend or looke for it The supper must bee longer than the dinner if the body bee not subject to distillations because the tyme is longer betweene supper and dinner than betweene dinner and supper meate should bee well chawed or if it bee lett over for evill chawed meate troubleth the stomack hence it is that they who hath many teeth liue long because they chaw well their meate light liquide and meate easie of digestion should be taken before grosse meate and hard of digestion neverthelesse when the stomack is louse and verïe hungrie you may doe the contrarie It is expedient that every one should keepe a certaine houre for taking of meate and this houre should bee when the stomack requires refreshment the former ingestion being digested and the stomack emptie this rule is evill keeped by our morning drinke which sometime makes drunke and so not fitte for dinner our foure houres pennie that often buyeth a pynt of wyne-seck I had it never so cheape our collation after supper made in a three pynt tubbe I can not call it a dish of wyne milk suggar and some spyces I would content mee with it all the day long This much in generall followeth in particulare to speake of meate and first of bread Of Bread Bread keepeth the first ranke amongst all other meate as the ground of others for all other meate though never so good are without it vnpleasant yea vnwholsome The best bread is that which is made of wheate good wheate is grosse full thick weightie firme of collour yallow cleane and that hath great quantitie of flower Bread made of pure flower well boulted nourisheth much in litle quantitie but it is of slow digestion Bread made of the bran or clattes nourisheth little and filleth the body with excrements and because the bran hath an detersile facultie it goeth quickly throgh Bread made of both nourisheth well and keepeth an open belly Ry bread is black heavie engendring melancholious blood more proper for rusticks than burgesses Barley bread is very dry of little nourishment and louseth the belly beare meale is better mixed with ry meale that the viscuositie of the one may be corrected by the brtitlenesse of the other As for oate bread it is more vsed amongst vs than the goodnesse of it doth require Bread vnleavened nourisheth much but it engendereth grosse blood it is of an evill digestion breedeth obstructions and louseth the belly Evill wrought bread is viscuous of evil digestion as also that which is made of grumly or troubled watter when it hath not gotten eneugh of the fire it is heavy and of hard digestion that which is hardned in the oven is better than that which is hardned on the ashes Hote bread by reason of the viscositie is hard to digest procureth an inflation in the stomack obstruction in liver and other parts within the body Old bread of three or foure dayes losseth all the taste becommeth dry and withered evill to digest of slow passage bindeth the belly and engendreth a melancholious blood The crust of bread breeds bile fit only for these whose stomack is moist and humid Tairtes flammes pyes and all other sort of baken meate are more to the satisfying of the tast than for health of the body for they are heavie in the stomack and burdeneth it and stoppeth easily the passages of the veines in the liver Of Flesh. Beasts according to the varietie of their kynd age manner of living constitution of body and of the place where they feade are different in the temperature and vertue of their flesh The flesh of fatte beasts is better than that of leane and of libbed than vnlibbed because they are fatter and not so hote except it bee for these who hath beene in the battell where the vppermost gote the worst where stricking at their nighbour with over great force and too good will hath hurt themselues with their owne speare for such some say that a kynd of vnlibbed beastes are good yea the stones themselues The flesh of young beasts because tender moist soft and easie to digest and of great nourishment is better than that of old beastes which is dry hard of litie meate and hard to digest The wild beastes that keepe the hilles are dry and haue fewer excrements and leanner then others Galen preferreth the flesh of porks of a midde age to other beasts because it draweth neere to mans flesh than others doe and also because it nourisheth well and breedeth good blood but because it is viscuous it is hard to digest to these that hath the stomack moist and humide Moreover as experience hath taught the great vse of this flesh causeth leprosie hence it was forbidden to the Iewes because they were subject to this maladie Beefe nouisheth much but it engendereth a grosse melancholick blood young beefe is better than old Harts flesh is of a difficile digestion and as the beefe ingendereth grosse blood The goates flesh is better than the bucks and the kiddes than the goates Lambs flesh is better than Yewes and Wedders than Lambs because as nourishing and not so humide and slubbrye the Rammes is the worst of all Old haires flesh causeth melancholious blood young haires is better and more pleasant the Coney is better than either of them Of Fowles Amongst the Fowles that are about the house the Hen and Capons keepeth the first rank they engender a blood of a mediocre substance because they are neither too hote nor too cold
liver Purpie cooleth much quencheth thirst holdeth downe Venus tempereth the teeth being out of stile by the vse of soure things Kaill ingendereth evill blood troubleth the stomack and the sight and moveth strange dreames Spinards â—ouseth the belly and moisteth the body but they are windie Bourrage and buglosse purifieth the blood and keepeth the belly open their â—â—owrs are good in a sallad for to refresh the spirits and rejoyce the heart Artichocks heateth the blood and provoketh Venus to battell they are good for the stomack and giveth appetite Cresson is of qualitie hote and dry provoketh vrine and is eaten ordinarly raw in sallads Menth fortifieth the stomack and helpeth the appetite Cerefole and Finkle is good for the sight augmenteth the seede and ingendereth milk to Nurses Parsley is agreeable to the stomack and profitable to the neares because it is diuretick Sauge helpeth appetite and digesteth crudities out of the stomack Hysope purgeth the lights from the flegme by the subtilitie of it thyme doth the same Rayfords taken after meate helpeth digestion but before meate they lift vp the meate in the stomack Neeps are windie of little nurishment and engendreth wormes in little bairnes little are better than the great they should bee eaten with pepper Carrets are worse than they Sybouse Onyons Leeks are agreable to pituitous and flegmatick persons but noysome to cholerians and to these who are subject to a sore head But I think wee haue eaten long enengh without a drink let vs now goe to it Of drinke in generall Drink as I think and so thinks the drunkard is no lesse worthie of consideration for the health than meate There bee sundrie sorts of drinke vsed among vs. as wine ale and beere for no man drinketh water with his will Drinke should bee answerable in proportion to our meate for if wee drinke more than serves to syne downe the meat and mixe it there downe the meat will swimme aboue and so shall not digest drink may bee taken more larglie with dry solide meat than with liquid humide They who haue a hote liver and a weake head subject to distillations should abstaine from strong drinke chiefly after their meat but these whose liver is temperate and head strong may take a lick of the best quale Deus creavit after their fruite quia post crudum merum It is not good to drink with a naked stomack for presently it runneth through the body to the nerues whom it debilitateth and maketh the body the more subject to cold diseases as the goute paralyse trembling and such like It is also troublesome to the digestion to drinke betweene mealles for it hindereth the same as water in a pot stayeth the boyling of it because while the concoction is making in the stomack the mouth of it is closed hence is it that men much subject to companionry and so to extraordinary drinking findeth their meate still rowing vp and downe some for their ease are forced to cast it It is not good to drink when bed-time draweth neere for readily it moveth the theume to fall downe except it were of water after too much wine eiat supper or before and that to hinder distillations It followeth to speake in particulare of drink and first of wine as best Of Wine Wine is verie profitable for the vse of man it stirreth vp the naturall heate and fortifyeth it and so procureth the appetite helpeth the digestion ingenders good blood purifies the troubled openeth the passages giues good colour cleanseth the braine sharpeneth the witte makes the spirits subtile and rejoyceth the heart of man as sayeth the Psalmist if so be it be taken moderatly Wine is of fiue fold difference the first is taken from the colour so it is either whyte or red yallow or tannie and black the second from the taste as it is either sweet sowre or of any austere taste the third of the smell being of a sweet heavie or no smell the fourth from the consistance being either subtile or grosse the fifth from the age as it is old or new Of all wine the red and thicke wine is meetest for the ingendring of blood next blackish grosse and sweet wine to them succeeds whyte and thick or grosse wine in substance and austere in taste last of all whyte thin small wine Wine as it is agreeable to phlegmaticks so it is hurtfull to bilious hote natures over old and too new wine should be eshewed the one because too hote the other because no heate at all The second drink is beere which as it nourisheth more so is of a grosser substance and harder digestion than the wine if it bee but new made or troubled it causeth obstructions and swellings it troubleth the head moveth the colick gravell and difficultie of pissing specially if it bee byting if it bee too old and very sharpe it hurts the stomack and nerves and ingenders evill blood wherefore it is best that is well sodden purified and cleare and of a middle age Of Water Although that water bee the most simple sorte of drink and the most common yet because of least worth it is put behinde Galen proues good water by three senses by the sight being cleare and cleane by the mouth that hath no strange taste and so not bitter nor sowre nor salt but almost without taste by the nose that it hath no smell adding thereto that it must be light in the bellie suddainly changed that is soone hote soone cold and that it doth not passe through sulphureous mynes or suchlyke There bee fiue sorts of water to wit of raine fountaine river well and stank Raine water although according to the weight it bee lightest yet it is not the best being made of the vapours which doeth proceed from the earth whereof some be of the rivers others of loches stanks gutters standing waters and of the sea as also of the exhalations of pestilent places and of dead bodies Fountaine water is best of all next river water last Well water the worst of all is stank water river water is the better it stand till it settle fountaine water the better it looke to the East and Well water that the Well bee not too often covered but that it get the aire sometimes Canon 6. After meate abstaine from all vehement motion or exercise all curious disputs or carefull meditations discoursing of some good purpose procuring laughter joy and mirth whereby the spirit may be revived and the digestion helped If the great men of the country knew what good these sort of discourses did for the health of the body and the recreating of the spirit they would with greater avidity drink in in their young and tender yeares letters for the better fashioning of their manners and forming of their minde And also cary a greater respect to Schollers then they doe and not studie only to be well versed in Arcadia for the intertaining of Ladies or in the rowting of the tolbuith for commoning with Lawers
certaine North winds verie gentle called Etesias that is yearely because they appeare ordinarly about the rysing of the dogge and continue from three houres in the morning till night dayly The heate of the sommer is so great that it not only dryeth the body but also pearcing thorow the skinne it dissolveth not only the humour betweene the hide and the flesh but also the spirits so it weakneth the body and ingendereth much bilious blood from the which floweth vomiting of bile vpward and dysenterie from bile downeward This tyme would bee enterteined by refreshing things as a cooling aire and cold meates vsing much purpie â—actuces endiue sourocks and other herbs both in broth and sallad eating rather boyled than rosted having for sause vinegar the juice of sydrons or oranges flying all spyceries and because the weaknesse of the body doth not admitte much meate at once and the great dissolution of the same doth require great reparation to eate little and often is best for this tyme drink would bee taken in greater quantitie but weake in qualitie exercise should be little and that in the morning and they that can not sleepe the night may repose a little after dinner Of Harvest or Autumne Although Autumne hath just reason to bee sad seing his father the Sunne to leaue him and take his journey towards a strange countrie and his mother the earth to bee sorrowfull by reason of her golden lockes which are dayly fading and her pleasant laughing countenance that is changing to bee vnpleasant and shaggring Yet shee may rejoice with her husband Bacchus having through their louely conjunction brought foorth wyne and by the helpe of Pomon many fruites The Autumne beginneth at the Equinox and endeth at the solstice in the winter conteaning a part of September and December and whole October and November from the beginning the day still shortneth and the night groweth long for in September the day and the night hath each of them twelue houres but from thence the day diminisheth and the night groweth longer Amongst the signes Libra is more hote than cold Scorpion is very hote and dry Sagittarius is more cold than dry Libra is so called because the night and day are in equall ballance and Scorpion by reason of the byting of the cold subtile aire as a scorpion making the earth dry and cold And Sagittarius while by the shooting of his arrowes hee makes as it were the ground and all things dead In Libra Bootes a signe with 22 starres whereof the ehiefe is Arcturus is remarked The Harvest is cold in regarde of the Summer and dry in respect of the Winter it is not absolutely hote or dry cold or humide and so not temperate as is the spring for there is not only found an inequalitie in the whole season but also in one day which is now warme now cold as at noone it is hote at night it is cold This inconstancie causeth diverse diseases inconstant and dangerous by the production of humors of inequall temper throgh the cold it hindereth the dissipation of the cholere ingendred in the summer by the which it causeth a change of the same bile in melancholy which is not absolutely cold and and dry but of inequall temper being more dry than cold so wee see sundrie diseases of the summer to bee revived by it and many severs quartanes and erratiques inflation of the ratte hydropsies lienteries sciatiques passions ashmatiques epiplespies and others the quartanes proceeds from a black melancholious blood which then abounds the erratique â—evers of the inequall temperature of the aire the swelling of the melt of the abundance of the melancholick humor for the preveening of their maladies it is good to purge this season wee ought to shunne the cold aire of the morning and evening meates of moderate temper should bee vsed taking more meate in summer but lesse drink and stronger The Winter It is no wonder to see the winter still weeping because of his far distance from the Sunne his father regrating still his mother Vestas case droupping for her husband Titans long absence who carieth on her head a white vaile in place of her daintie coffe flowred with roses and winter with his teares doth pavie the ground with pleasant cristall but seing the same tramped vnder foote renuing his teares hee turneth all into myre and clay The winter beginneth at the solstice which is in it when the sunne entereth in Capricorne and finisheth at the equinox in the spring when the sunne beginneth to enter into Aries it containeth three signes Capricornus Aquarius and Pisces a part of December and March but whole Ianuar Februar from the beginning of winter to the end the dayes grow longer the night shorter at the end they are of equall length being the equinox Capricorne is more cold than humide Aquarius is both cold and moist extreame Pisces is more wakthan cold Orion kytheth his whole force in the beginning of winter who affraighteth much the Sea-men moving still stormes at his rysing The most frequent diseases of the winter according to Hipp. are the pleurisie and peripneumonie because the instruments of respiration are hurte by the coldnesse of the aire it moveth also destillations by the nose rheumes cough paine of the breast side loines head dissiues and apoplexies when the head is full for to preveene these wee ought to cover well the body but especially the head breast and feete and vse hote meates and dry Salt meate and venison is better now than in any other season rosted meate is better than boyled spices now are good and hote herbs more meate may bee taken now than in summer but not so often and lesse drink than meate but strong because the humiditie of the season and long sleepe doth moysten the body much A REGIMENT FOR VVOMEN WITH CHILD BAIRNES AND NOVRSES THE good Gardner hath not only a care of the impe and tree but also of the seede which kyths by his carefull choosing and labouring of the ground for this end At whose example that this my worke should not be manck in any thing I haue made digression conteining the safe keeping and right governing of the ground wherein man his seede is sowne Women with child are likned to one bearing a weightie burden by a small threed tyed to their hands who going softlie and warily may happily bring their burden to the purposed place but if they bee agitate by any inordinate or violent motion easily their burthen partly by the weight and partly by reason of the small string will fall to the ground so it sareth with them for if they move violently or suffer agitation either in a Coach or chariot or by any other sort of ryding or if they bee troubled suddainly by the passions of the mind or vse evill food smell evill savoured things behold things fearefull a suddaine impression of these being first in the spirits next in the blood and last by these in the tender bodie of
by that extraordinarie appetite whereby men are carryed yea rather forced to eate more meate in that season than in the Summer this appetite proceedeth from the greater heate of the stomack then than at any other tyme. The other meane whereby the body is replenished is the envyroning cold whereby dissipation of these three substances to wit the airy humide and solide is hindered as also the excretion of the vapours by the small holes or pores of the body It is therefore needâ—ull to helpe nature and light her of this burhen by drawing of blood or phlebotomy and purging And because the reward of Physitians in this countrey being frequently My Lord GOD reward you hath made Physitians to bee scarse and no wonder for how shall his L. liue vpon this rent is it not to content my Lord with the poore folks almes who get often GOD helpe you they differ in forme but not in matter this scarsitie constraineth the Gentlemen to commit themselues to bee handled by ignorants who least they should deale with them as that Chirurgeon of Iedburgh dealt with his patients who forced all them of whom hee drew blood their wound vnder-cotting to returne to haue it healed and being asked the reason of this of his little boy hee answered that for making of the wound by opening of the veine hee gote a Weather but for curing of the same a Kow that every one may vnderstand for his owne well I will insist a little on phlebotomie and purging Of Phlebotomie PHLEBOTOMIE then is an evacuaâ—ion of the vitious humors abounding in the body mixed with the blood by the opening of a veine This is either vrged by the present disease which admittes no delay or it is voluntare for the preveening of the imminent when the present danger doeth presse it maye bee at any time of the yeere or any houre in the daye or night without exception and that in diverse places of the bodye as the nature of the disease shall require when it is by election or voluntarie for preveennig of future diseases the most fitte tyme of the yeere is the Spring in the latter end of March or the beginning of Aprile and the most proper houre in the daye is the morning an houre or more after you are awake hauing made a cleane Ship fore and est as the Sea-men saye the most accommodate place is the veine basilike or lever veine the Chirurgian hauing rubbed it with his hand or a drye cloth before for the gathering of the bloode thither then having tyed it let him make the incision beneath the place where it meeteth with the veine Cephalicke about two fingers breadth hauing marked the place before and anoynted it with a litle oyle holding the veine fast lest it should slyde with the thumbe of the left hand if the incision bee made with the right hand and leaning the hand wherewith hee openeth the veine on the arme of the patient that it may bee stable and giuing him who is bled a battoun in his hand for to stirre his fingers to that effect the bloode may issue the better and hauing drawne such a measure as the nature force and age of the person may well suffer slacking the band let him laye vpon the wound a little peece of linnen cloath dipped in water and tyed softly by a band of linnen till all danger of new bleeding bee past keeping still the arme all that daye free from all motion Blood may bee taken in greater measure of sanguineans and bilious than of melancholious and phlegmaticks of young men than of old and of men than women Except it bee of such who by often sacrificing to Bacchus their head takes now and then a giddie startling their tongue a tedious tratling their taile a vile wauering These monsters of nature shame of their sex crosse of their husband and disgrace of kin friend and allyance should bee bledde in both the leggs and armes and in the croppe of the tongue by a crosse sneck to that end it may bee made slower for talking and stiffer for drinking least continuing in this wicked mood they make their husbands Cuckolds their bairnes bastards and beggars themselves whoores and theeues Iustly many are molested with such beasts who glames at the turde for the twelfe pence sticken in it the corruption of our tyme being such that Tome the tinklers sonne metamorphosed in a Gentlman sutes mistresse Marie my Lords daughter and Sir Iohn my Lords second speares out for Sandie the Souters fourtie thousand mark Iennie This Tom aiming at vanitïe rather than vertue comes to honours or hornes by his wife and Sir Iohn looking to geare more than to grace is often perplexed while the trash is wasted by a Masie Fae or a Maly Dae I wonder that their vnequall conjunctions doe not fill the countrie with monsters lyke Muiets which is begotten betuixt a Mare and an Asse Of Loch-leachs Some vse Loch-leaches when they cannot haue the vse of drawing of blood These little beastes are not to be applyed presently after they come out of the water but they must bee keept foure and twentie houres in a vessell full of faire water that they may spue out this while the filthie mudde drosse is within them They should bee gripped with a whyte â—innen cloath for the bare hand cankers them The place to the which they are to bee applyed should be smeered over with blood to that end they may enter the sooner and when yee would haue them to fall sprinkle a little Aloes or salt on them if yee would them to draw more then they are able to containe cut off their taile while they are yet hanging and if the bleeding ' stanch not after they are fallen apply with a band of cloath or wooll brunt and beatten to pouder There bee other Loch-leaches or blood-suckers not spoken of here such bee gold greedie inventors of new impositions faith lesse victuall forestallers and treacherous quarrells and processe hatchers who bereauing by these meanes his innocent brother of his goods the entertainers of his life may bee tearmed rather man slayars than blood suckers These vnlyke to the former does sucke the best blood but like the former in others for they never of them selues fall from that sucking till they bee not able to containe any more if ye sprinkle them with the sharpe pouder of Aloes that is with justice then they fall and if you continue to persue them by the same you shall find them as the former by salt so they by it are forced to spue out the vndigested blood of the poore and cut mee the taile from them that is make them quyte of wyfe and barnes in whose person they feare the curse of the great judge These grinders of the face of the poore shall never make an end of sucking These as vnworthie to bee thought or spoken of by any good Christian I leaue to bee handled yea justly to bee hanged by the Iustice heire and if
the weight of a scruple â—or the strongest Maechoacham hote in the first dry in â—he second a remeedie fit for all sorte of â—eople his dose infused in white wyne â—s from two scruples to a dragme Ialap roote is to bee taken after the same manner and in the same quantitie The remeedies composed are opiates â—lectuaries pilluls trochisks opiates as caâ—holicum diaphenicum whose dose is from â—alfe an vnce to a whole for the strongest Electuaries are electuarium de citro his dose is from halfe an vnce to six drames Diacarthanium his dose is from halfe an vnce to a whole Pilluls as of Agarice Stomachiae sine quibus their dose is from halfe a dragme to foure scrupuls pilulae cocciae faetidae lucis majores arthriticae de hermodactilis their dose is from two scrupuls to a dragme Trocises are de agarico their dose is from two scrupuls to a dragme trochiscis of alhandall their dose is from sixe graines to a scruple Their bee other sort of purgatiues which men call purse purgations and these are of three sorte as the former gentle mediocre or violent The gentle comprehend the modest and moderate charges of an honest house The mediocre are the just reward of the physitian the due of the scholemaster and the fitting of the conscientious merchand compts The violent conteane the gorgeous depursements to the Goldsmith for lace cuppes and such like the persuing by law some tedious processe by the firie violence of these two the poore purse which â—ften taketh an irremediable fluxe and â—yeth of the skitter His Majestie with â—is most honourable and wise Counsell by an act of parliament evill keeped â—ath found out a remeedie for the former would GOD the wisdome and concord of his subjects would admit an other for â—he latter for then the Nobilitie and Genâ—rie should not bee so lukken-handed to other professions Of Vomitores Because some as bilious constitutions are sooner and better purged by vomiting then purging and seeing it is much vsed consider with mee the remedies of it Vomitores then as the purgatiues are of three sortes to wit gentle mediocre and violent the gentle are such as doe procure it in burdening the stomack by their quantitie as warme water fat broth butter oyle and the like taken to the measure of ten or twelue vnce The mediocre are the seede and flower of Anyse the seede and roote of orage the Latin terme is atriplex the roote of â—azarum given from a dragme to foure and agarick his dose a dragme The vehements are the seâ—de and flower of broome to the quantitie of two dragmes gratiola from a dragme to one and one halfe Some of the Ancients thought it to be expedient for the health to vomite everie moneth and that after a great carrouse but this counsell needeth not to be given to the soukespikkets of our age who asthey drinke like Suiczers yea rather like swine they cast as Dutches yea rather like dogs it were little fault for punishment to pinch so these intemperate and vntymous abusers of GODS creatures vntill they were glad with the dogs to returne to the vomite And this much to you Drunkards It is heere to be remarked that growne fat men should not bee purged by vomiting for by the prease yee will easily breake some veine in their body nor melancholicks for they hardly purge vpward nor asthmaticks or such as hath any impediment in their breath through the infirmitie of their lights for by it they are much more weakned yea sometymes torne nor hectiks for their body being already worne is wholly casten downe nether they who are of a weake â—eade tender eyes of a long neck and 〈◊〉 narrow breast only cholericks being of strong firme constitution not burdened with flesh and much subject to the vomiting of bile yallow greene or sea colored as also phlegmaticks of a rude robust nature whose stomack is full of flegme should be purged vpward by vomite and that with great caution followâ—ng in it the advise of some vnderstanding man for no lesse danger floweth from â—he extraordinarie dose of vomitores â—nd the malegovernement of the patient both after and while it worketh then by purgatiue medicines I haue only heere for breveties cause touched the qualities of the medicaments and their dose living the forme of exhibition and preparation to the giuers that takes vpon them to minister physicke in the country It is to bee remarked that except the bodie bee so full of blood and humors that the physicke cannot pearce through them purging ought to precead phlebotomie howsoever the bellie should alwayes bee emptie and cleane of the excrements The patient should keepe himself warme while the medicine is working helping the operation by a gentle motion as also by a little thinne warme broth after the taking of it about a littlâ— space And because that the not working oâ— medicine doth affraight many it is to bâ— vnderstood that some will not moue thâ— bodie any way and yet doe little or no harme to it such are gentle mediocre medicines the gentle purgatiues when they purge not are turned by nature into the blood the mediocre into the nature oâ— the humour which they purge whitheâ— bile pituite or melancholie but the violent cast the bodie in a fever readilie and become venemous while as nature overcome hath not force to expell them but the other two being overcome by nature are reteined within the bodie so that the stay of them is from a weakenesse in them but the stoppe of the last is from a weaknesse in the bodie Gentlemen therefore seing you know both the names and varieties of the purgatiues spare not to aske at your Leeches what they be ere yee take them Bairnes before they bee eighteen or â—wentie yeare of age and old men after â—ourtie except they be of a strong complexion doth not stand in neede of this yearly purging Canon 2. The bodie being thus made cleane take heade least by overcharging of it yee file it a new for being in some fashion weakned by the former remeadies it doth not shortlie admit that measure of nutriture that it did before it is expedient therefore to come to your accustomed dyet by degrees least a new file require a new clense and too often scowring of the potte although it were of brasse weares it Canon 3. Flee mornings sleepe and lazie lying in winter after six and summer after seven for long lying to the health is hurtsome Because it hindreth the cleansing of the bodie from the excrements and judge you giue it bee either handsome or wholsome to see the midding at the fire-end while it stoppeth the passage of the spirits animale the causes of motion for their expulsion it sharpeneth or by the haemorroides oâ— some other way it procures melancholie hypochondriake sometimes the fever quartan sometimes other diseases for this is good the barke of the roote of Tamarisk and of capres with the foresaid herbs The retention of the
sendeth vp grosse thicke vapours the which doe hinder the further operation of it and condenseth or congealeth the â—â—egme melted by it This giddinesse of the head is a reason that some alledge to prove the coldnesse of it which might bee alledged aswell oâ— of wine or strong drinke that doeth no lesse procure the same dissinesse of the head but they will haue it to proceede from a narcotick or stupefactive qualitie in it as the chesbow and suchlike cold things by their coldnesse doe produce such effectes I wonder how dare they that saye so bee bold to vse it seeing it is of such stupefactive cold and doe not rather abstaine from it and hinder others also but I thinke they doe jeast for if it were true that it were so as they saye some had â—lyed by it long agoe specially after so great taking of it I knew two Gentlemen that after supper tooke soure-score pipes if it had beene narcotick they had never drunken any more The fittest tyme of yeere for taking it is first the Winter next the Harvest last the Spring and no wayes in Summer The moste proper time of the daye is the morning and evening before meate no wayes after it except it bee they to whome of long it hath proved helpfull for the expelling of the winde and digestion of their meate The seasons wherewith it aggrieth best are the colde and moistie these circumstances remarked taken in a reasonable quantitie that is a pipe for two I think it shall doe no harme yea rather freeing the head of the great burthen of â—â—egme it preveneeth the diseases that may flow from the aboundance of it such as apoplexie epilepsie paralysie lethargie and others but mee thinks the Tobacco man barking as a dogge at the Moone at these courious observations and idle restrictions of tobacco for so hee tearmes them and crying that all men at all time when their appetite inordinate biddeth them and their purse serveth them may take of it and it is no wonder hee so doe for it is meate drink and cloathes to him his Shop is the randevouse of spitting where men dialogue with their noses and their communications are smoake in it hee play eth the Ape in counterfaiting the honest Merchant man with his diverse rolles of Tobacco new come vp out of the cellar where they laye well wrapped in a dogges skinne and soussed hee knoweth himself how and yet sweareth that they are new landed from Verinus Virginia or S. Christophers If hee bee not content with this hee shall haue more when I come againe as hee well deserveth for his wares are both deare and evill deare while hee taketh a pennie for a pipe and his welcome Gentlemen and evill for hâ— seedeth his guests neither on rosted noâ— sodden meate but on white or blackeburnt meate without drinke grace table plate truncheour or serviture yea scarce a stoole to sitte on and is not this 〈◊〉 brave Innes my Masters The excrements of the lights are grosse 〈…〉 egmes which are expelled by the mouth â—â—ter the vse of some incisive and deter 〈…〉 e things as are sugar candy glycyrize 〈…〉 sope tussilage and their syrupes preâ—ared There bee some excrements which are 〈◊〉 tearmed when they abound and so â—armes rather by their quantitie then 〈…〉 eir qualitie there are semen and sanguis 〈…〉 enstruus that is mans seed and womans 〈…〉 owres Either of the which being corâ—upted breedeth diuers diseases means â—herefore ought to be vsed by the which â—hey may bee expelled The means for expelling of the seede 〈◊〉 that naturall conjunction of man and woman whereby the members are made â—ore agile the spirit more joyous licet â—ulgo dici soleat omne animal post coitum 〈…〉 iste sed hoc statum à coitu fit shagring and 〈…〉 oller is banished from betuixt man and wife peace is made in the house and fil 〈…〉 ie polluted dreames in the night are 〈…〉 revened but who may not lawfullie en 〈…〉 y these middes let them hold downe nature by the vse of others such as are phlebotomy fasting sobriety and the vse of cooling meates Womans flowers are moved by the decoction of hysope Mugwort Marjoline and other aperitiue herbs prepared in white wine with the vse of stoues and frequent frictions of the thighes Exercise being ended and the body thereafter having reposed about the eleventh houre or sooner in the summer when as the appetite doth require let it bee answered by meate which because it is of greater importance than any of the rest of the circumstances and moe inconveniences doe follow vpon the inordinate or immoderate vse of it plures enim occidit gula quam gladius wee shall insist a little in it first in generall and next in particulare Of meats in generall As good meate engendereth good blood so evill produceth vitious humors which causeth diseases Let vs therefore make choise of the meate of good substance of easie digestion and that hath no abundance of excrements The qualities of meate are knowne by their temperament or by their consistance meates should not bee neither over hotte or colde over drye or moist by nature nor over fatte nor leane but keeping the middes Grosse and viscuous meate causeth obstruction to these that haue narrow passages in the liver milt neares and stoppeth the pores of the whole body by a grosse blood but these who are of a good constitution and hath the passages larger may vse of them boldly without hurte for grosse and viscuous meate nourisheth much if it bee well digested in the stomack it agreeth well with labourers whose naturall heate is stirred vp by their exercise as also these who haue suffered long hunger Light meate and of subtile substance are not meete to leane people and of a hote complexion because being quickly digested they intertaine not the body halfe well but they are sitting for growne and grosse bodyes whose passages through the body being straite are not well aired also for flegmaticks and for these who are of a weake stomack The reparation of the body ought to be according to the dissipation of the same wherefore they who are of hote complexion and worketh much must eate more than cold dispositions and idle bellyes whosoever by over-charging of the stomack giues their naturall heate much to doe which is the instrument of nature for nourishing the bodie they praecipitate themselues willingly in many diseases wherefore every one should rise from the table with appetite All varietie of dishes is noysome to the stomack because that by variety corruption of meate in the stomack is procured while as easie digestable meats are mixed with difficile also men by varietie which giveth contentment to the tast are induced to surfet but this seemeth vnsavorâ— to the tast and vnpleasant to the eare of these spycie jacks who haue no vse all the day over for ten fingers but to fill sixe puddings and yet a poore wife will fill sixe score in an houre
Chickins are more delicate than they The Brissell-fowles are heavy and hard to digest wherefore in France they are both larded and spyced The Gouse aboundeth in superfluous excrements is of harder digestion than other sowles except the wings The Duckes and all other water â—oules is humide viscuous flegmatick excrementitious and of adure digestion wherefore they are not so wholesome as these of the land Amongst the birds of the field the Partridge beares the bell being of easie digestion and causing good blood and the younger are better than the elder Next the Partridge is the phesane almost of the same qualities that it is the Quallies are not lesse praised except in the countries where there is abundance of hellebore whereon they commonly feade they are best in harvest The Doues are hote of nature they set the blood on fire and readily of Venus games moues a desire vnfitte for these who readily doe fall into a fever The Pigeons are better than the doues the doues are best in the spring for they eate much corne The Coushins flesh is hard to digest yet it is not evill in the winter if it bee suffered to hang a while so that it may become tender The Turd or Cuzell is delicious ingendring good blood but some thing hard to digest Martiall extolleth it highly in these wordes Inter aeves Turdus si quis me judice certet Inter quadrupedes gloria prima lepus Pluvers mearls turturelles are not to bee rejected for the former laudable qualities which are to bee found in them Of Egges and Milke The egges of hennes and phasanes excels the egges of other beasts gouse egges are worst of all except swynes egges New laide are better than old and sodden than fryed and rosted than sodden and potched than rosted the soft than the hard Milke hath three diverse substances a serious or watrie whereof is the whey a thicke and grosse whereof is the cheese and a fatte and creamie whereof is the butter but of our Edinburgh milke where the two parte is water and the third part milke there would bee little cheese and no butter Milke if the stomack bee cleane the body whole and no other meate mixed with it nourisheth much otherwayes it corrupteth easily and quickly Yew milke hath more of the grosse thicke substance whereof the cheese is made then of the other and by this means it is nourishing but heavie to the stomack Asses milke is of contrare consistance kyne milke is thicker and fatter then yew milke and so fitter to make butter it is nourishing and makes an open bellie Goate milke is neither too thicke nor too thinne neither over fatte nor over leane and so it keepeth the middle betuixt extremities neverthelesse it should not bee vsed either without suggar or hony water or salt least it lapper in the stomack Womens milke is fittest for bairnes or hectickes because of the resemblance of nature New milked milke is best because milk changeth quickly Sodden milke nourisheth more than raw but it is binding because thicker Milke of fatte and lustie beasts is better than of leane and hungred Fresh butter is a little hote with time it becommeth hotter it is not verie nourishing but it softeneth and louseth the bellie it is good for the lights and breast Cheese is not to bee much vsed for it ingendereth grosse humors breedeth obstructions binds the bellie and is hard to digest the new is better then the old the soft then the hard and that which is made of vnrained milke is better than of rained Over viscous cheese as also over brittle is not good mediocritie is best cheese without any evill or strong taste is better than other Newe softe and sweete cheese is of a colde and humide temper but the old hard salt cheese is hote and dry too great vse of it ingenders the stone in the neares This curious sifting of the nature of cheese and improbation of the great vse of it will seeme first ridiculous and then odious to the mourish men of Kyle and Galloway the quintessence of whose meat that is milke is cheese the which the goodman hath keeped for his owne mouth as a desert being neverthelesse at breakfast supper and dinner the first last and only dish and for the Lairds or the wyse blacke men the Ministers when they come abrode the bairnes contented with froth crap-whey or lapperd milke I thinke that if the bodies of these bodies were chymicallie dissolved the princips to wit sal sulphur and mercurius should savour of cheese milke and yet they are as daft as if they were made of Wine and Wastels which they often speake of as the rarest dainties they either saw or hard of Of Fish Fish are of complexion cold and humide for being still in the water they must needs keepe the nature of the water the â—ouritute they giue is more light slubâ—rie and sooner dissipate than the reparation which is made by the vse of the beasts of the land The fish that are of a solide and firme substance are most nourishing and wholesome because lesse flegmatick for this cause sea-fish because fiâ—mer are better than fresh-water-fish amongst the fishes of the sea these that vseth about rockes are best Amongst the fresh water fishes these that haunt the rivers are better than these that haunt the stancks or loches and fish of a running river and craggie with clearâ— water is to bee preferred to them that are taken in a dead running poole or in a troubled muddie water Fish as milk would bee eaten when the stomack is cleane of filthie humours and they would not bee mixed with other meate least they corrupt as quickly they will The drowners of meale with malt to whom the bone of a herring or a threed of salt beefe will serue to bee kitchin to a quarte of ale sayes that fish should swimme I answere in water but if thou take more of aile beere or wyne or any other strong drink then serues to wash it downe it will come aboue the broth and so not boile well I will not insist in the particulare enumeration least it should reduce the Lector to a tedious calculation the generalls may suffice if they be well remarked It may be thought a praeposterous order this to put the flesh before the kaill but heere I keepe ordinem dignitatis non methodum sanitatis Of herbs fit for eating Herbes in regarde of other meate are of little nurishment yet they serue some for cooling others for heating being prepared in broth sallads sauce or other wayes Amongst the herbs that are commonly vsed the lactuce is the first beeing of more wholesome sappe than all the rest it cooleth the body procureth sleepe and hindereth dreames The garden Cicorie is of the same qualities but it is not so pleasant to the tast nor of such good sappe The Souroke is good for eating because of the sowrnesse it quencheth thirst procureth appetite and mitigateth the heate of the stomack and
So that they esteeme more of a Page of the one or a pok-bearer of the other then of any Sholer whatsoever except my Lord Bishop or Mr. Parson this frowning of our Greats hath moved many poore soules flee first to Dowy and then to Rome and from thence post to hell having receaued the marke of the beast that is a bull of his holynesse to passe Scot-free at Purgatorie not being able to procure the favourable presence or gratious asistance of any noble for his furtherance in studyes and advancement in degrees in the countrie wherein hee was borne O what a shame it is to see a great Man without Letters Hee is like a faire house without plenishing a goodlie ship without furnishing to persue or defend a Herauldry without honour beeing lesse reall than his title His vertue is that hee was his fathers sonne and all the expectation of him is to get an other No man is kept in ignorarance more both of himselfe and men for hee heareth nothing but flatterie and vnderstandeth nothing but folly thus hee liveth till his Tombe bee made ready and then is a graue statue to posteritie Thus it is expedient to passe two or three houres after dinner for the well both of the bodie and minde that you may know this the better and so belieue it the rather Consider with mee alittle the passions of the minde such as joye sadnesse choler and feare Of the Passions of the minde Although wee bee often deceived in the decerning of good and evill following ofter the applause of the sense than the judgment of reason neverthelesse wee seeke alwayes that which wee thinke be good and fleeth that which we apprehend to bee evill Hence it is that wee are moved by diverse passions vnruled according to the apprehension of good or evill either present or absent the which passions according to the consideration of the object either enlargeth or draweth in the heart in the moving thereof they moue also the spirits and naturall heate so that the colour of the face is suddainly changed From the opinion of present good ariseth joye and of the good to come desire vnto the which choler doth adjoyne the selfe which is a desire of revenge from the apprehension of present evill commeth sadnesse and of the evill future feare Ioy comes of the heart inlarging the selfe sweetly for to imbrace the object that is agreable to it in the which dilatation it sendeth foorth aboundance of the naturall heate with the blood and the spirits a great portion whereof comes to the face when one laugheth by the which the face swels vp in such sort that the brow becomes tight and cleare the eyes bright the cheecks red An other part is sent through the members of the body Cupiditie or desire and choler doeth dilate or inlarge the heart also that through the desire of the thing it loueth this for to seâ—d quickly the spirits with the blood from the centre of the body within to the habite of the same without for the fortifying of the members that they may reveng the wrong wee haue received Sadnesse greife or melancholy in the contrare doth in such sort shoote vp or draw together the heart that it fadeth and faileth This hindreth the great generation of the spirits as also the distribution of these few that are ingendred whereby the vitall facultie is weakened and also the rest of the whole bodie shirps Feare causeth retire on a suddaintie the spirits to the heart from the rest of the bodie hence the face becommeth pale the extremities grow colde with a trembling through all the voyce is stopped the heart leapeth as it were that by reason of the great multitude of the blood and spirits whereby it is almost smothered so that it cannot move freelie Amongst all the passions of the mind â—oy is the most wholesome because it giveth such contentment to the spirit that the body is participant by a simpathy The reasonable passions are called affections but the sensuall are termed perturbations the passions ought to bee moderated for Plato writeth in his dialogue called Carmides that the most dangerous diseases proceede from the perturbation of the spirit because the mynde having an absolute authority over the body doth moue change and alter it in a moment as it pleaseth Wee should then affection the objects in so far as reason will permite for excessible joyes doe so disperse the blood with the spirits through the whole body from the centre to the extremities that the heart is wholly destitute of his naturall heate from whence commeth first a sounding and by and by death of excessible joy the Poete Phillippides the wise Chilon Diagoras of Rhode suddenly dyed And suddaine feare chassing the blood and spirites to the heart their fortresse frequently causeth death by the suffocation of the naturall heate Canon 8. About the sixt houre the stomack requiring returne to meate let your supper consist rather of rost meate than sodden because it nurisheth more in lesse bounds it is lighter and hath fewer excrements it should neither be too sore rosted for then it is saplesse nor yet halfe rosted for the superfluous humiditie is not driven out by the force of the fire Heere I can not passe by a great vncleannesse of Noble mens cooks who after that they haue sweeped the pot with the one end of their aprone and the plat with the other they draw off my Lords meate with the whole dirtie as it is and for to make place to a new speet placeth the same vnder the droppings of the vnrosted meate interlarding their owne grease amongst these droppings and yet the cooke dare not bee reproved for he in his kitchin is like the devill in hell curses is the very dialect of his calling hee is never good Christian vntill a hizzing pot of aile hath slaicked him like water cast on a fire-brand and for that time hee is silent his best facultie is at the dresser where hee seemeth to haue great skill in military discipline while hee placeth in the fore-front meates more strong and hardy and the more cold and cowardly in the reare as quaking tarts and quivering custards and such milk-sope dishes which escape many tymes the fury of encounter and when the second course is gone vp downe hee goeth vnto the celler where hee drinks and sleeps till foure of the clocke in the after-noone and then returneth againe to his regiment Canon 9. After supper it is expedient to walke a little softly for the procuring of the discent of the meate to the ground of the stomack this walke ought to be in pleasant fields free of all vnwholesome vapor which may procure vomite by the virulencie or the filthinesse of the smell and seeing this after supper doth permitte mee to visite the fields and take the air come foorth yee also who loue your health and consider the same with mee Of the Aire Such as the aire is such are our spirits our
nose and the mouth falleth downe the back it will doe no harmâ— to ly sometimes on the bellie for helping the digestion if the eyes bee not sorâ— or weake The first sleepe should be on the right side that your meate may goe downe to the ground of the stomack that the liver lying as it were vnder it may serue for a chouffer to it to helpe the concoction then turne to the left sidâ— that the vapors gathered in the stomack may exhale and in end returne to the right side that the digestion being made the chile may bee the more easilie send to the liver and so distribute through the whole bodie The members the time of sleepe should not bee straight but some thing drawne in for the rest of all the muscules consists in a moderate contraction It is not good to sleepe with an emptie stomack or after any heavie or sore worke for the bodie is thereby dryed and becommeth leane And because procreation is a thing most necessarie for the preserving of mankynde I cannot passe by heere but I must speake of it seing things remarkable in it Of Generation Nature carefull of the owne conservation so it perish not hath given vnto everie creature for this end a certaine desire of eternitie the which not being able to bee attained to in the person of singulare things it doth obtaine it by propagation Therefore the elements are preserved by the mutuall change of one in an other the mettalles by addition or opposition the living creatures by generation The generation of living creatures is by the seede of both male and female vnited in the matrix of the female fostered and made fertile in some kynd by the good disposition of the same so that for procreation there is required the seede of both at one tyme ejaculat or soone after A matrix of a moderate temper neither too hote nor too cold too moist nor too dry As also a convenient tyme of copulation the which is after the three concoctions are ended and this tyme is about the latter end of the second sleepe so that thereafter the body be refreshed by a little slumber and that for the reparation of the spirits dissipate The immoderate vse of this naturall exercise doth weaken the body and hinder all generation and the inordinate doth procreate weake and vnable birth by reason of the seede which is not eneugh fined or elaborate this appeareth clearely in the remarke of Burges and Countrey-mens bairnes the one to wit the burges being begotten in the fore-night while the father his spirits was lifted vp and moved to such worke by the vse of strong wine spyceries and other hote meate being weakly The other to wit the Countrey-mans child being of a strong constitution while as the father wearyed by his dayly labour doth delay his dallying till the morning â—t vbi aliquamdiu indulsit Veneri vxor ne ingrata videretur ait Deus benedicat relliquijs Now as the CREATOR did finish his worke after mans creation so heere I at mans generation beseeching thee my Lord and my GOD who made all things perfect in the beginning and man the most perfect of all casting all vnder his feete to teach him his perfection by creation and his dignitie by high vocation that hee may cary himselfe conforme to the one perfitly shunning all base deboshing of that divine impression of the Majestie supreme And for the other thankefully in serving thee his Lord with all whereof thou made him Lord and honouring thee in the ordinate taking and moderate vsing of all these thy creatures AMEN A PARTICVLARE REGIMENT ACCORDING TO THE COMPLEXION AGE AND REASON NOT having thought it sufficient for the preserving of health to haue spoken in generall least any thing should seeme deficient I haue particularized some generals diversified according to the varietie of the temperature age and season and first of the temperature Of temperature or complexion in generall Complexion is a proportion of the first foure elementarie qualities made fit for the naturall functions the which is either temperate or intemperate A temperature temperate is a harmonie of the foure first elementarie qualities justly mixed for the perfect acting of all the functions of the body An intemperate is where there is alway some qualitie or other surpassing the rest of the which there bee eight sortes foure simple where onlie one qualitie exceeds the rest as heate or cold and foure composed where there bee two qualities excessiues as heate and drynesse cold and waknesse together These are either naturail as when they hinder not manifestly the actions of the bodie or vitious when as they exceed so that they hinder the same A temperate complexion should bee keeped by the lyke and the intemperate corrected by the contrare as the hote by cold the dry by moist Of sanguineans From the varietie of the complexions floweth the varietie of humours for the temperament makes humours lyke to the selfe so if it bee verie temperate it produceth perfect temperate blood and so it subjects all the rest of the humours to the same if the complexion be hote and humide it filleth the body with blood too hote and humide so being hote and dry it bredeth bile cold and wake phlegme and when it is cold and dry melancholie A temperate sanguinean bodie is of a â—ediocre grosnesse moderate in heate and â—umiditie neither too hard nor yet too soft â—f good colour mixed of red and white â—he haire some-what yallow and curling â—ll the members proportionable the spiâ—it is gentle judgement good manners â—weete disposition merry carriage modest â—ill free and liberall so that they are braue â—n person discreete wise peaceable honest â—overs of knowledge courteous gratious â—ffectioners of dames mirth pastime and good cheere and because they keepe as 〈◊〉 were the middes betweene the exâ—reames they are not readily sicke Sanguineans then of a temperate complexion should flee all excesse in any thing and every thing that is of an excessiue qualitie Sanguineans intemperate are fleshy rud 〈…〉 ie have great veines arteries of difficile respiration the body is heavy and often weary with little labour the spirit simple given rather to sottish follies than to serious affaires they are subject to many diseases proceeding from the inflammation of the blood as fevers flegmones fluxe of blood and such like they should keepe a verie straite dyet vse cold and dry things for the correcting the intemperancie of the body as in their broth sicorie surocks lactuces and the like drinking of water aile or beere little wyne moderate exercise much sleepe hurteth to preveene diseases phlebotomie is expedient Of Cholericks Cholericks hath a leane body thin and hoarie dry and hard the veines and arters great the colour yallow pale or brown the haire red or blackish the spirit quick subtile hastie the judgment light variable the cariage inconstant the courage martiall so they be nimble in body prompt in spirit hastie in all their actions vehement
the child the knittings breaking they readilie are brought to bed before tyme. For this end let them haue a care to keepe a moderat dyet in all things vsing good and nourishing meats being more sparing in the first moneth then afterward because the menstruous blood doeth then abound not imployed either for grouth or nourishing of their birth as yet it is better to take often and little rather than too much at once they should flee all meats of a bytting facultie also all windie all procuring either the fluxe of their water or of their flowers as capirs oynions garlik safrane and strong wine they should vse little drinke least the ligaments become slâ—brie shunning darknesse solitarinesse and melancholie The first moneth should bee quyetly past over without motion The second a soft gentle walking is good The third a little quicker The fourth fifth and sixth admitte greater exercise and stronger motion The seventh eight and till halfe of the nynth requires some greater rest and quyetnesse than the former among these the eight as most dangerous would bee quyetest and most carefullie keeped from the middle of the nynth till their birth a more quicke motion and frequent exercise is properest for the furthering of the same They should shun the companie of men the first moneth for feare of a new conception afterward they may bee more bold also all passions of the minde because by chasing the blood inward they choke the child which often falleth out in great wrath or sadnesse Too long sleepe is not evill from the which they should awake quietlie They should keepe themselues from excessiue cold or heat and from the North and South wind for both the one and the other doe moue a distillation from wheÌ„ce a cough the which hastneth their birth before the tyme flying alwayes the noyse of thunder guns of great belles and the like and because that women with child either hath lost all appetite or are troubled with an inordinate as a desire to eate strange things as also with a paine in the stomack gnawof the heart great spitting short breath sore head swelling in the legges and an vniversall heavinesse thorow the whole body proceeding from the suppression of their flowers yet there be some so full of blood who hath them the first moneths others all the tyme least these and the like by weakning of the mother doe precipitate both mother and bairne in hazard of death it is better to purge these vitious humors than to suffer such manifest dangers The properest tyme for purging according to Hipp. is from the fourth moneth to the seveneh for the child saith Galen is tyed to the matrix of the mother as the fruites are to the trees the fruites new budded out haue the stalk so tender that little shaking will make them fall but being with tyme more firmely tyed to they are not so shortly broken till the tyme of their maturitie where they fall off themselfe without helpe so women with child are in lesse danger the fourth fift and six moneths then the first and the last Women with child should not be bled except in a great necessitie least the bairne by bleeding frustrate of his foode bee forced to breake foorth before the tyme to looke for meate yet there bee some women who are so full of blood that except you draw blood of them they will chocke the child in their belly of such blood may bee taken once or twise Women with child should cast away their buistes which they vse to keepe them small about the middle and that so soone as they find their bellie to swell for they hinder the grouth of the child and constraineth it often to come foorth before the tyme. Whosoever hath of custome to parte with child through the moistnesse of their bairne-bed let them weare about their neck the Eagle stone called by the Greekes Aetites applying this plaster over the belly and the loines R. Gallarum nucum cupress sanguin drac balaust myrtill rosar an drag 1 ss mastic myrrh an drag 11 thuris hypocistid acaciae gummi arab bol armen an drag 1. camphor scrup ss ladan vnc ss terebinth venet 11 picis navalis vuc 11 cerae q. s. fiat emplastrum secundum artem extendatur super alutam ad praefatum vsum If the passage of the belly bee stopped as often it falleth out the last moneths the trypes being straitted by the matrix let them vse broth of barley malves beetes and mircurial Of their governement the tyme of their birth and after the same There bee three things required to a naturall birth the first a-like fordwardnesse both in the mother and the child so the child requiring more meate than the mother can afford and greater libertie to take the aire hee tares with his hands and feete his thinne membranous sheettes the matrix againe wearied of its burden doth contract the selfe for the expelling of it Now if any of these bee inlacking their birth is not without danger for if the whole action be imposed on the mother as it falleth when the child is dead or verie weake it is with great paine which sometymes bringeth death and if the child get all the businesse to doe by reason of the mothers weaknesse it is of no lesse hazard The second is a due forme which Hipp. describeth in his first booke de morbis mulierum and in his booke de natura pueri in these words A childe saith hee if the birth be naturall commeth foorth head-long and he giveth the reason in an other place of this because the parts aboue the middle are heavier than beneath it Moreover if the feete come first foorth they in stretching of themselues should stoppe the passage to the rest of the body so the custome of the Ancients was as reporteth Plinius in seven bookes of his naturall history and is now also to carie the dead with their feete formest because that death is contrarie to life The third thing required is that it bee quicke easie and without great paine or many symptomes The tyme of birth Nature saith Arist. hath set downe a certaime terme and tyme of birth almost to all the creatures only man hath diverse tymes so the doue hath her mouthly birth the bitch keepeth still foure moneth the mare nine moneth the Elephant two yeare only woman changeth having for terme the 7 8. 9. or 10 moneths the first is the seventh before which no childe can bee liuely the next is the eight in the which according to Hipp. and other Physitians are not liuely the nynth is the mostnaturall and best of all the tenth and eleventh in the first dayes are liuelie also although that birth doth not fall often foorth in them Now that women be not troubled before the tyme remarke heere the signes of birth approaching these are a paine from the navell to the secret parts going about to the loynes or small of the back a discent of the bairn-bed causing a
swelling about the privie members a rednesse of the face the mouth of the matrix open and straight and in the entrie of it there is found a lumpe about the greatnesse of an egge a shivering through the whole bodie and in end a certaine liquor issueth foorth first in little quantitie then more larglie and lastly there floweth a watrie blood if it bee a femall chylde but pure if a man child There are three things to bee remarked about the tyme of the birth The first that the travelling woman be not burdened with too much meate for thereby the naturall heat is drawne from the matrix to the stomack Secondly that the Mid-wyfe doe not handle roughly the bairn-bed of these who are long in travelling but gentlie their hands being oynted with oyle Thirdly that the woman bee not troubled till the foresaid signes appeare especialy the straightnesse of the mouth of the matrix and the eshuing of these humidities These appearing let her so be placed that her loins bee free leâ—ning most on her back and shoulders her heeeles bee bowed inward toward her buttoks being lifted vp and that her thighs bee so farre asunder as possible they can Thus let her leane rather than sit holden vp behind by a chaire or the bed-side Others standing do bring foorth their birth leaning to their hands fastned to an hold This tyme if the air of the chamber bee too warme it must bee refreshed by opening of the windows least they faint And when the paine returneth the mouth of the matrix being open let her who is travelling containe her breath keeping her mouth and nose fast and presse downe-ward with all her power the Midd-wyfe softly with her hands helping her by pressing also from the navell downward desisting when the matrix beginneth to close least they travell in vaine The childe should bee received by the mid-wife in a soft small and warme linnen cloath and that quyetly least any of the members should bee hurt This done the woman should bee laide in her bed in a darke chamber with her thighes asunder least the issuing of the blood should bee stopped which ought to bee dryed vp by the oft changing of warme clothes least either by the sharpe byting or the vnwholesome stinking it grieue the delyvered It were not amisse to ty a band of two hand-breadth about her navell both for the furthering of her purgation as also from hindering of inflations from cold wind which readily then entereth through the emptinesse of the matrix which thereafter breedeth a suffocation of the same after her delyverie a drink of the best in little quantitie will doe no harme let her absteane two dayes from flesh vsing the while caddels aleberries and such like easie digestable meates and nourishing for the repairing of her forces eshewing all suddaine charging of the stomack either by the great quantitie or diverse qualitie of the meate for her weake force doth not admit that rather come by degrees to the former dyet shunning all suddaine repletion after such an evacuation it is better to giue them oft and little eight dayes being past they may eate more largely especâ—ally if they nourish their child They should absteane from all kind of herbes fruites and legums that is pease beanes and the like If after her deliverie her paine continue the Mid-wyfe shall search the bairne-bed if there bee any congealed blood in it as sometimes there is which being taken away the paine ceaâ—eth or any lumpe of flesh applying also to her navell the secundines or after birth yet warme the skinne of a Ramme hote from the sheepe aliue When they come to nourish the child they should cause sucke the milk of their breast the first two or three dayes by some old woman that the old vnwholsome milk may bee drawne foorth and better supplie the place of it twentie dayes is the terme of purgation after a man child and fourtie after a fâ—mell the which space they should keepe themselues free of the societie of man yet these that are of strong constitution will purge sufficiently in eight or ten dayes Of the government of the Child So soone as the child is brought foorth his navell should be cut about three finger broad from his bodie and then tyed in the lovest part and sprinkles in the vppermost parte where the incision was made with the powder of bol armen sanguinis draconis sarcocolle myrrh and cumini and then covered bounde vp with a little wooll dipped in the oyle of Olives afterward see it bee washen in warme water by the Nurse and oynt againe with the foresaid oyle his nostrils should be softly opened and his pricke looked if the passage be open his eyes tenderly wiped his fundament rubbed and handled for the procuring of the passage to the clensing of the stomack from a part of the menstruous blood lurking in it drawne in while hee was in his mothers belly the which staying and not cast out presently after his birth or at the farthest the first day doth cause either death or the epilepsie It is remarked that this issuing before the birth doth foretell a parting with child For the purging of the child from this black blood it is good before hee sucke any to giue him of hony halfe an vnce of fresh butter two dragmes with halfe a scruple of myrrhe and when the halfe part of the navell falleth away it should be sprinkled againe with the powder of burnt leade and afterward wrapped in warme clothes The member are to be stretched foorth and made straight by the warme hand of the Nurse for now they are ready to receaue any crooke or hurte The child should bee washen twyse a day in the winter with hote water and in the summer with warme neither must hee bee longe keeped in the water then the body becommeth hote and red Keeping his nose and eares free from the droppes being washen and dryed let him be laide straight with his armes close to his sides and his feete together in warme fyne linnen then put in his craddle with his head and vpper parts highest that the humiditie may fall from the head to his lower parts layed on his back for that is the surer then on either of the sides least his soft bones and lightly tyed by weake bindings vnder the burthen of the whole body doe bow or bee disjoynted but so soone as his teeth doe come foorth hee may bee accustomed to ly now on the one side now on the other aboue his head in the craddell their should bee placed small twigges or wands bowed covered with clothes or in place of these a little canopie whereby the wavering and inconstant motion of the childs eyes may bee restrained and corrected least by long looking too earnestly to any thing a-side he become glyed or by inconstant wavering to and fro of still winking and moving ringle sight for a frequent turning of the tender eyes turneth in end to a habite which can not be