excuse And a Poet could teach them a better Lesson Excideret ne tibi divini muner is author Presentem monstrat quaelibet Herba Deum Because out of thy thoughts God should not pass His Image stamped is on every Grass This indeed is true God hath stamped his Image upon every Creature and therefore the abuse of the Creature is a great sin but how much more doth the Wisdom and Excellencie of God appear if we consider the Harmony of the Creation in the Vertue and Operation of every Herb this is the first Secondly Hereby thou maist know what infinite Knowledg Adam had in his Innocencie that by looking upon a Creature he was able to give it a name according to his Nature and by knowing that thou maist know how great thy fall was and be humbled for it eveâ— in this respect because hereby thou art so ignorant Thirdly Here is the right way for thee to begin the study of Physick if thou art minded to begin at the right end for here thou hast the Reason of the whol Art I wrote before in certain Astrological Lectures which I read and printed intituled Semeiotica Vranica what Planet caused as a second Cause every Disease and how it might be found out what Planet caused it here thou hast what Planet cures it by Sympathy and Antipathy and this brings me to my last promise Viz. Instructions for the right use of the Book And herein let me premise a word or two Many Herbs Plants c are not in the Pook apropriated to their propper Planets the Reason was want of time or some other thing else which many that know me will easily guess at at last the Book hanging longer in the Press than I imagined it would I took the time and pains though I could ill have spared either to apropriate them all and have for thy benefit Courteous Reader inserted them in order after the Epistle now then for thy Instruction First Consider what Planet causeth the Disease that thou maist find in my Semeiotica Secondly Consider what part of the Body is afflicted by the Diseas and whether it lie in the Flesh or Blood or Bones or Ventricles Thirdly Consider by what Planet the afflicted part of the Bodie is governed that my Semeiotica will inform you in also Fourthly You have in this Book the Herbs for Cure a propriated to the several Diseases and the Diseases for your ease set down in the Margin whereby you may strengthen the part of the Bodie by its like as the â—rain by Herbs of Mercury the Breast and Liver by Herbs of Jupiter the Heart and Vitals by Herbs of the Sun c. Fifthly You may oppose Diseases by Herbs of the Planet opposite to the Planet that causeth them as Diseases of Jupiter by Herbs of Mercury and the contrary Diseases of the Lumâ—naries by Herbs of Saturn and the contrary Diseases of Mars by Herbs of Venus and the contrary Sixthly There is a way to cure Diseases somtimes by Sympathy and so every Planet cures his own Diseases as the Sun and Moon by their Herbs cure the Eyes Saturn the Spleen Jupiter the Liver Mars the Gall and Diseases of Choller and Venus Diseases in the Instruments of Generation Seventhly There was smal Treatise of mine of Humane Vertues printed at the latter end of my Ephemeris for the yeer 1651. I suppose it would do much good to yong Students to peruse that with this Book Eighthly Yong Students would do themselves much good and benefit themselâ—es exceedingly in the Study of Physick if they would tak the pains to view the Vertues of the Herbs c. in the Book and compare them to these Rules they shall to their exceeding great content find them all agreeable to them and shall thereby see the reason why such an Herb conduceth to the Cure of such a Disease Ninthly I gave you the Key of al in the Herb Wormwood which if because of the volubility of the Language any think it will not fit the Lock I will here give it you again in another Herb of the same Planet which in the Book either through my own forgetfulness or my Amanuensis was omitted and here I shal give it you plainly without any circumstances The Herb is Carduus Benedictus It is called Carduus Benedictus or blessed Thistle or holy Thistle I suppose the name was put uppon it by some that had little Holinessin themselves It is an Herb of Mars and under the Sign Aries now in handling this Herb I shall give you a rational Pattern of all the rest and if you please to view them throughout the Book you shall to your content find it true It helps Swimmings and giiddiness of the Head or the Disease called Vertigo because Ariesis the House of Mars It is an excellent Remedy against the yellow Jaundice and other Infirmities of the Gall because Marsgoverns Choller It strengthens the attractive faculty in man and clarifies the Blood because the one is ruled by Mars The continual drinking the Decoction of it helps red Faces Tetters and Ring-worms because Marscauseth them It helps Plague-sores Boils and Itch the Bitings of mad Dogs and venemous Beasts all which infirmities are under Mars Thus you see what it doth by Sympathy By Antypathy to other Planets It cures the French Pox by Antypathy to Venuswho governs it It strengthens the Memory and cures Deafness by Antipathy to Saturnwho hath his Fall in Aries which Rules the Head It cures Quartan Agues and other Diseases of Melancholly and adust Choller by sympathy to Marsbeing exalted in Capricorn Also it provokes Vrine the stopping of which is usually caused by Marsor the Moon If you please to make use of these Rules you shall find them true throughout the Book and by heeding them you may be able to give a Reason of your Judgment to him that asketh you I assure you it gave much content to me and for your goods did I pen it but I must conclude my Epistle having exceeded its Bounds alreadie hereby you see what Reason may be given for Medicines and what necessity there is for every Physitian to be an Astrologer you have heard it before I suppose but now you know it what remains but that you labor to glorifie God in your several places and do good to your selves first by encreasing your Knowledg and to your Neighbors afterwards by helping their Infirmities some such I hope this Nation is worthy of and to such shall I remain a Friend during life readie to my poor power to help Nich. Culpeper Spittle-fields next door to the red Lyon Novemb. 6. 1652. Authors made use of in this TREATISE A AEgineta AEtius Aristotle Avicenna Averrois Avenaris Andreas Caesalpinus Antonius Musa B Bauhine Bellus Bartholomeus Anglus Butler a Manuscript C Clusius Cameravius D Dodoneus Dioscorides E Dr. Experience F Fabius Columna Fuchsius G Gesner Galen Gerrhard I Isidore Johnson L Leonicerus Lobel Lug dunensis M Mathiolus Mesue Mizaldus O Otho
and to expel crude and raw humors from the Belly and Stomach by the sweet savor and warming quality it dissolveth the inward congealed Blood hapning by falls or bruises and the spitting of Blood if the Roots either green or dryed be boyled in Wine and drunk as also al manner of inward Wounds or outward if they be washed or bathed therwith The Decoction also being drunk comforteth the Heart and strengtheneth the Stomach and a cold Brain and therfore is good in the Spring time to open Obstructions of the Liver and helpeth the wind Chollick it also helpeth those that have Fluxes or are bursten or have a Rupture It taketh away spots or marks in the Face being washed therwith The Juyce of the fresh Root or Pouder of the dried Root hath the same effect with the Decoction The Root in the Spring time steeped in Wine doth give it a delicat savor and tast and being drunk fasting every morning comforteth the Heart and is a good Preservative against the Plague or any other Poyson it helpeth Digestion and warmeth a cold Stomach and openeth the Obstructions of the Liver and Spleen It is very safe you need have no Dose prescribedâ— and is very fit to be kept in every good bodies house ♃ ♋ Balm THis Herb is so wel known to be an Inhabitant almost in every Garden that I shal not need to write any Description thereof although the Vertues thereof which are many may not be omitted Vertues and use The Arabian Physitians have extolled the Vertues hereof to the Skyes although the Greeks thought it not worth mentioning Seâ—apio saith It causeth the Mind and Heart to becom merry and reviveth the Heart fainting into soundings especially of such who are over taken in their sleep and driveth away al troublesom cares and thoughts out of the Mind arising from Melancholly or black Choller which Avicen also confirmeth It is very good to help Digestion and open Obstructions of the Brain and hath so much purging quality in it saith Avicen as to expel those Melancholly vapors from the Spirits Blood which are in the Heart and Arteries although it cannot do so in other parts of the Body Diascorides saith That the Leaves steeped in Wine and the Wine drunk and the Leavs externally applied is a remedy against the sting of Scorpions and the bitings of mad Dogs and commendeth the Decoction therof for Women to bath or sit in to procure their Courses it is good to wasâ—â—aching Teeth therwith and profitable for those that have the bloudy-Flux The Leaves also with a little Nitre taken in Drink are good against a Surfet of Mushromes helps the griping pains of the Belly and being made into an Electuary is good for them that cannot fetch their breath Used with Salt it takes away Wens Kernels or hard Swellings in the Flesh or Throat it clenseth foul Sores and caseth pains of the Gout It is good for the Liver and Spleen A Tansie or Cawdle made with Egs and the Juyce therof while it is yong putting to it some Sugar and Rosewater is good for Women in Childbed when the After-birth is not thronghly avoided and for their faintings upon or after their sore travel The Herb bruised and boyled in a little Wine and Oyl and laid warm on a Boil will ripen and break it It is an Herb of Jupiter and under Cancer and strengthens Nature much in al its actions let a Syrup made with the Juyce of it and Sugar as you shall be taught at the latter end of the Book be kept in every Gentlewomans house to releeve the weak stomachs and sick Bodies of their poor sickly Neighbors as also the Herb kept dry in the Hous that so with other convenient Simples you may make it into an Electuary with Hony according as the Diseas is and as you shall be taught at the latter end of the Book ♂ Barberry THe Shrub is so wel known to every Boy and Girl that hath but attained to the age of seven years that it needs no Description Vertues and use Mars owns the Shrub and presents it to the use of my Country-men to purge their Bodies of Choller The inner Rind of the Barberry Tree boyled in White-Wine and a quarter of a pint drunk each morning is an excellent remedy to clense the Body of Chollerick Humors and free it from such Diseases as Choller canseth such be Scabs Itch Tetters Ringworms yellow Jaundice Boils c. It is excellent for hot Agues Burnings Scaldings heat of Bloud heat of the Liver Bloudy-flux for the Berries are as good as the Bark and more pleasing they get a man a good stomach to his victuals by strengthning the attractive faculty which is under Mars as you see more at large in the latter end of my Ephemeris for the year 1651. The Hair washed with the Ly made of the Ashes of the Tree and Water 't wil make it turn yellow viz. of Mars his own colour The Fruit and Rind of the Shrub the Flowers of Broom and of Hâ—ath or Furz clens the Body of Choller by Sympathy as the Flowers Leaves and Bark of the Peach-Tree do by Antipathy because these are under Mars that under Venus ♄ Barly THe continual usefulness hereof hath made al in general so aquainted herewith that it is altogether needless to describe its several kinds hereof plentifully growing being yearly sown in this Land The Vertues whereof take as followeth Vertues and use Barly in al the parts and compositions therof except Malt is more cooling than Wheat and a little clensing and al the Preparations therof as Barly-water and other things made therof do give great nourishment to persons troubled with Feavers Agues and heats in the Stomach A Pultis made of Barly Meal or Flower boyled with Vinegar and Honey and a few dry Figs put into them dissolveth all hard Imposthums and aswageth Inflamations being therto applied And being boyled with Melilot and Chamomel Flowers and som Linseed Fenngreek and Rue in Pouder and applied warm it easeth the pains in the Sides and Stomach and windiness of the Spleen The Meal of Barly and Fleawort boyled in Water and made into a Pultis with Honey and Oyl of Lillies applied warm cureth swellings under the Ears Throat Neck and such like and a Plaister made therof with Tar Wax Oyl helpeth the Kings-Evil in the Throat Boyled with sharp Vinegar into a Pultis and laid on hot helpeth the Leprosie Being boyled in red-Wine with Pomgranat Rinds and Mirtles stayeth the Lask or other Flux of the Belly Boyled with Vinegar and a Quince it easeth the hot pains of the Gout Barly flower white Salt Honey and Vinegar mingled together taketh away the Itch speedily and certainly The Water distilled from the green Barly in the end of May is very good for thos that have Defluxions of humors fallen into their Eyes and easeth the pains being dropped into them or White-Bread steeped therein and bound on to the Eyes
Plant and withal That Heat was the Mother of action and then judg if old Dr. Tradition who may well be honor'd for his Age but not for his Goodness have not so poysoned the World with his Errors before I was born that it was never well in its wits since and there is great fear it will die mad Wormwood Description THree Wormwoods are familiar with us One I shall not descsrabe another I shall describe and the Third be Critical at And I care not greatly if I begin with the last first Sea Wormwood hath gotten as many Names as Vertues and perhaps one more Scriphion Santonicon Belgicum Narbonense Xantomicum Misnense and a matter of twenry more which I will not blot Paper withal A Papist got the Toy by the end and he called it Holy Wormwood and in truth I am of Opinion Their giving so much holiness to Herbs is the Reason there remains so little in themselves The Seed of this Wormwood is that which usually Women give their Children for the Worms Of all Wormwoods that grow here this is the weakest I but Doctors commend it and Apothecaries sell it the one must keep his Credit and the other get Money and that 's the key of the work The Herb is good for somthing because God made nothing in vain Will you give me leave to weigh things in the Ballance of Reason Then thus The Seeds of the common Wormwood are far more prevalent than the Seed of this to expell Worms in Children or People of ripe age Of both some are weak some are strong The Seriphian Wormseed is the weakest happily may prove to be fittest for weakest Bodies for it is weak enough in all conscience Let such as are strong take the common Wormseed for the other will do but little good Again neer the Sea many people live and Seriphium grows neer them and therfore is more fitting for their Bodies because nourished by the same Air and this I had from Dr. Reason In whose Body Dr. Reason dwels not dwels Dr. Madness and he brings in his Brethren Dr. Ignorance Dr. Folly and Dr. Sickness and these together make way for Dr. Death and the latter end of that man is worse than the beginning Pride was the cause of Adam's Fall Pride begate a Daughter I do not know the Father of it unless the Divil but she christned it and call'd it Appetite and sent her Daughter to tast these Wormwoods who finding this the least bitter made the sqeamish Wench extol it to the Skies though the Vertues of it never reached to the middle Region of the Air. It s due praise is this It is weakest therefore fitter for weak Bodies and fitter for those Bodies that dwell neer it than those that live far from it my reason is The Sea as those that live far from it know when they comt neer it casteth not such a smel as the Land doth The tender Mercies of God being over all his Works hath by his eternal Providence planted Seriphium by the Sea side as a fit Medicine for the Bodies of those that live neer it Lastly It is known to all that know any thing in the Course of Nature That the Liver delights in sweet things if so it abhors bitter then if your Liver be weak it is none of the wisest courses to plague it with an Enemy if the Liver be weak a Consumption follows Would you know the Reason 't is this A mans Flesh is repaired by Blood by a third concoction which transmutes Blood into Flesh 't is well I said Conction for if I had said Boyling every Cook would have understood me The Liver makes Blood and if it be weakned that it makes not enough the Flesh wasteth and why must Flesh alwaies be renewed Because the eternal God when he made the Creation made one part of it in continual dependency upon another And why did he so Because Himself is only Permanent to teach us That we should not fix our affections upon what is transitory but upon what endures for ever The result of all is this If the Liver be weak and cannot make Blood enonough I would have said Sanguifie if I had written only to Schollers The Seriphian which is the weakest of Wormwoods is better than the best I have been Critical enonough if not too much Place It grows familiarly in England by the Sea side Description It starts up out of the earth with many round woody hoary Stalks from one Root its height is four foot high or three at the least The Leaves in Longitude are long in Latitude narrow in Colour white in Form hoary in Similitude like Southernwood only broader and longer in Tast rather salt than bitter because it grows so neer the Salt Water At the joynts with the Leaves toward the tops it bear little yellow Flowers The Root lies deep and is woody Common Wormwood I shall not describe for every Boy that can eat an Eg knows it Romane Wormwood And why Romane seeing it grows familiarly in England It may be it was so called because 't is special good for a stinking Brcarh which the Romans cannot be very free from maintaining so many Baudy Houses by Authority of his Holiness Description The Stalks are slenderer and shorter than the common Wormwood by one foot at least the Leaves are more finely cut and devided than they are but somthing smaller both Leaves and Stalks are hoary the Flowers of a pale yellow colour it is altogether like the common Wormwood save only in bigness â—or 't is smaller in tast for 't is not so bitter in smell for it is spicy Place It groweth upon the tops of the Mountains it seems 't is aspiring there 't is Natural but usually nursed up in Gardens for the use of the Apothecaries in London Time All Wormwoods usually Flower in August a little sooner or later Vertues and Use. Will you give me leave to be Critical a little I must take leave Wormnwood is an Herb of Mars and if Pontanus say otherwise he is beside the Bridg. I prove it thus What delights in Martial places is a Martial Herb But Wormwood delights in Martial places for about Forges and Iron Works you may gather a Cart load of it Ergo it is a Martial Herb. It is hot and dry in the first degree Viz Just as hot as your Blood and no hotter It remedies the evils Choller can inflict on the Body of man by Sympathy It helps the evils Venus and her wanton Girls produce by Antipathy and it doth somthing else besides It clenseth the Body of Choller and who dares say Mars doth no good It provokes Urine helps Surfets Swellings in the Belly it causeth an Appetite to meat because Mars rules the Attractive faculty in Man The Sun never shone upon a better Herb for the yellow Jaundice than this is Why should men cry out so much upon Mars for an Infortue or Saturn either Did God make Creatures to
may be found in my Translation of the London Dispensatory and it may be I may give you again in plainer terms at the latter end of this Book ♀ Bishops-weed Description COmmon Bishops-weed riseth up with a round straight Stalk somtimes as high as a Man but usually three or four foot high beset with divers smal long and somwhat broad Leavs cut in som places and dented about the edges growing one against another of a dark green colour having sundry Branches on them and at the top smal umbels of white flowers which turn into smal round brown Seed little bigger than Parsly-seed of a quick hot scent and tast The Root is white and stringie perishing yearly after it hath seeded and usually riseth again of its own sowing Place It groweth wild in many places in England and Wales as between Greenheath and Gravsend Vertues It digesteth Humors provoketh Urin and Womens Courses dissolveth Wind and being taken in Wine easeth pains and griping in the Bowels and is good against the biting of Serpents It is used to good effect in those Medicins which are given to hinder the poysonful operation of Cantharides upon the passages of the Urin Being mixed with Honey and applied to black and blue marks coming of blows or bruises it takes them away and being drunk or outwardly applied it abateth an high colour and makes it pale and the Fumes therof taken with Rozin or Raisons clenseth the Mother It is hot and dry in the third degree of a bitter tast and somthing sharp withal it provokes Lust to purpose I suppose Venus owns it Bistort or Snakeweed ♄ Description THis hath a thick short knobbed Root blackish without and somwhat reddish within a little crooked or turned together of an harsh astringent tast with divers black threds hanging there from whence spring up every year divers Leaves standing upon long Footstalks being somwhat broad and long like a Dock-leaf and a little pointed at the ends but that it is of a blewish green colour on the upper side and of an Ash colour gray and a little purplish underneath with divers Veins therin from among which rise up divers smal and slender Stalks two foot high and almost naked and without Leavs or with very few and narrow bearing a spiky Bush of pale Flesh colour'd Flowers which being past there abideth smal Seed somwhat like unto Sorrel Seed but greater There are other sorts of Bistort growing in this Land but smaller both in height Root and Stalks and especially in the Leavs The Root blackish without and somwhat whitish within of an austere binding tast as the former Place They grow in shadowy moist Woods and at the foot of Hils but are chiefly nourished up in Gardens The narrow leaved Bistort groweth in the North in Lancashire yorkshire and Cumberland Time They Flower about the end of May and the Seed is ripe about the beginning of July Vertues and use Both the Leavs and Roots have have a powerful faculty to resist al Poyson The Root in Pouder taken in drink expelleth the Venem of the Plague the smal Pox Meazles Purples or any other infectious Diseas driving it out by sweating The Root in Pouder or the Decoction therof in Wine being drunk stayeth al manner of inward bleedings or spittings of Blood and any Fluxes in the Body of either Man or Woman or Vomitings it is also very available against Ruptures or Burstings or all bruises or fals dissolving the congealed Blood and easeth the pains that happen thereupon it also helpeth the Jaundice The Water distilled from both Leavs and Roots is a singular remedy to wash any place bitten or stung by any venemous creature as also for any of the purposes before spoken of And is very good to wash any running Sores or Ulcers The Decoction of the Root in Wine being drunk hindreth Abortion or Miscarriage in Child-bearing The Leavs also kil the Worms in Children and is a great help for them that cannot keep their Water if the Jayce of Plantane be added therto And outwardly applied much helpeth the Gonorrhea or running of the Reins A dram of the Pouder of the Root taken in the Water thereof wherein som red hot Iron or Steel hath been quenched is also an admirable help thereto so as the Body be first prepared and purged from the offensive humors The Leaves Seed or Roots are al very good in Decoctions Drinks or Lotians for inward or outward Wounds or other fores and the Pouder strewed upon any cut or wound in a Vein stayeth the immoderat bleeding thereof The Decoction of the Roots in Water whereunto som Pomgranate Pils and Flowers are added injected into the Matrix stayeth the access of humors to the Ulcers therof and bringeth it to its right place being fallen down and stayeth the immoderat flux of the Courses The Root hereof with Pellitory of Spain and burnt Allum of each a like quantity beaten smal and made into Past with some Honey and a little Picce thereof put into an hollow-Tooth or held between the Teeth if there be no hollowness in them stayeth the defluxion of Rhewm upon them which causeth pains and helps to clense the Head and avoid much offensive Water The Distilled Water is very effectual to wash Sores or Cankers in the Nose or any other part if the Pouder of the Root be aplied therunto afterwards It is good also to fasten the Gums and to take away the heat and inflamations that happen in the Jaws Almonds of the Throat or Mouth if the Decoction of the Leavs Roots or Seeds be used or the Juyce of them but the Roots are most effectual to all the purposes aforesaid ☉ One-Blade Description THis smal Plant never beareth more than one Leaf but only when it rises up with its Stalk which thereon beareth another and seldom more which are of a bluish green colour broad at the bottom and pointed with many Ribs or Veins like Plantane At the top of the Stalk grow many smal white Flowers Star-fashion smelling somthing sweet after which come smal reddish Berries when they are ripe The Root is smal of the bigness of a Rush lying and creeping under the upper crust of the Earth shooting forth in diverse places Place It groweth in moist shadowy grassie places of Woods in many places of this Realm Time It flowreth about May and the Berries be ripe in June and then quickly perisheth until the next year it springth from the same again The Vertues Half a dram or a dram at most of the Roots hereof in Pouder taken in Wine and Vineger of each a like quantity and the party presently laid to swear is held to be a sovereign remedy for those that are infected with the Plague and have a sore upon them by expelling the Poyson and defending the Heart and Spirits from danger it is also accounted a singular good Wound-Herb and therfore used with other
Stalks and Joynts set with broader and more hairy Leavs divided into sundry parts nicked about the edges and of a darker green colour which likewise grow reddish with the Stalks at the tops wherof stand smal white tufts of Flowers afterwards smaler and longer seed The Root is white hard and enduring long This hath little or no scent Place The first is sown in Gardens for a Sallet-Herb The second groweth wild in many of the Meadows of this Land and by the Hedg-sides and on Heaths Time They flower and seed early and thereupon are sown again in the end of Summer Vertues and use The Garden Chervil being eaten doth moderately warm the Stomach and is a certain remedy saith Tragus to dissolve congealed or clotted Bloud in the Body or that which is clotted by bruises fals c. The Juyce or distilled Water therof being drunk and the bruised Leavs laid to the place being taken either in meat or drink it is held good to provoke Urin to expel the Stone in the Kidnies to send down Womens Courses and to help the Plurisie and prickings of the Sides The wild Chervil bruised and applied dissolveth Swellings in any part of the Body and taketh away the Spots and Marks of congealed Blood by Bruises or Blows in a little space Sweet Chervil OR ♃ Sweet Cicely Description THis groweth very like the greater Hemlock having large spread Leavs cut into diverse parts but of a fresher green colour than the Hemlock tasting as sweet as the Anniseed The Stalk riseth up a yard high or better being crested or hollow having the like Leavs at the Joynts but lesser and at the tops of the branched Stalks Umbels or Tufts of white Flowers after which com large and long crested black shining Seed pointed at both ends tasting quick yet sweet and pleasant The Root is great and white growing deep in the ground and spreading sundry long Branches therein in tast and smel stronger than the Leavs or Seed and continuing many years Place This groweth in Gardens Vertues This whol Plant besides its pleasantness in Sallets hath also his Physical Vertues The Root boyled and eaten with Oyl and Vinegar or without Oyl doth much pleas and warm an old and cold Stomach oppressed with wind or flegm or those that have the Phtisick or Consumption of the Lungs The same drunk with Wine is a preservative from the Plague it provoketh Womens Courses and expelleth the After-birth procureth and appetit to meat and expelleth Wind. The Juyce is good to heal the Ulcers of the Head and Face The candied Roots hereof are held as effectual as Angelica to preserv from Infection in the time of a Plague and to warm and comfort a cold weak Stomach It is so harmless you cannot use it amâ—ss ♀ Chickweed Description THis is generally known to most People I shal therfore not trouble you with the Description therof nor my self with setting fourth the several kinds sith but only two or three are considerable for their usefulness Place These are usually found in moist and watry places by Wood sides and els-where Time They flower about June and their Seed is ripe in July Vertues and use It is found to be as effectual as Purslane to al the purposes whereunto it serveth except for meat only The Herb bruised or the Juyce applied with cloaths or spunges dipped therein to the Region of the Liver and as they dry to have fresh applied doth wonderfully temper the heat of the Liver and is effectual for all Imposthums and Swellings wheresoever for all redness in the Face Wheals Pushes Itch Scabs the Juyce either simply used or boyled with Hogs-Greas and applied the same helpeth Cramps Convulsions and Palsies The Juyce or distilled Water is of much good use for al heat and redness in the Eyes to drop som therof into them as also into the Ears to ease pains in them and is of good effect to ease the pains the heat and sharpness of Blood in the Piles and generally al pains in the Body that arise of heat it is used also in hot and virulent Ulcers and sores in the privy parts of Man or Woman or on the Legs or els-where The Leavs boyled with Marsh-Mallows and made into a Pultis with Fenugreek and Linseed applied to Swellings or Imposthumes ripeneth and breaketh them or swageth the swellings and easeth the pains It helpeth the Sinews when they are shrunk by Cramps or otherwise and to extend and make them pliable again by this Medicine Boyl an handful of Chickweed and a handful of Red-Rose Leavs dryed but not distilled in a Quart of Muscadine until a fourth part be consumed then put to them a pint of the Oyl of Trotters or Sheeps-feet let them boyl a good while still stirring them wel which being strained anoint the grieved place herewith warm against a fire rubbing it wel in with ones hand and bind also some of the Herb if you wil to the place and with Gods blessing it will help in three times dressing Cich-Peas or Cicers ♀ Description THe Garden sorts whether Red Black or White brings forth Stalks a yard long wheron do grow many smal and almost round Leavs dented about the edges set on both sides of a middle Rib at the Joynts come forth one or two Flowers upon short Footstalks Peas fashion either white or whitish or purplish red lighter or deeper according as the Peas that follow will be that are contained in smal thick and short Pods wherin lie one or two Peas more usually a little pointed at the lower end and almost round at the Head yet a little corner'd or sharp The Root is smal and perisheth yeerly Place and Time They are sown in Gardens or the Fields as Peas being sown later than Peas and gathered at the same time with them or presently after Vertues and use They are no less windy than Beans but nourish more they provoke Urine and are thought to encreas Sperm they have a clensing faculty wherby they break the Stones in the Kidneys To drink the cream of them being boyled in Water is the best way it moveth the Belly downwards provoketh Womens Courses and Urin and encreaseth both Milk and Seed One ounce of Cicers two ounces of French Barley and a smal handful of Marsh-Mallow Roots clean washed and cut being boyled in the broth of a Chicken and four ounces taken in the morning and fasting two hours after is a good Medicine for a pain in the Sides The white Cicers are used more for Meat than Medicine yet have they the same effects and are thought more powerful to encreas Milk and Seed The wild Cicers are so much more powerful than the Garden kinds by how much they exceed them in heat and driness whereby they do more open Obstructions break the Stone and have al the properties of cutting opening digesting and dissolving and this more speedily and certainly than the former Cinkfoyl or Five Leaved ♃
Plague and other Pestilential Diseases Some have been holpen therby saith Mathiolus that have lien long in a lingring sickness and others that by Witchcraft as it was thought were become half foolish by taking a dram of the Seed or Berries hereof in Pouder every day for twenty daies together they were restored to their former health The Roots in Pouder taken in Wine easeth the pains of the Chollick speedily The Leavs are very effectual as well for green Wounds as to clens and heal up old filthy Sores and Ulcers and is very powerful to discuss all Tumors and Swellings in the Cods privy Parts or Groyn or in any part of the Body and speedily to ally all Inflamations The Leavs or their Juyce applied to Felons or those Nails of the Hands or Toes that have Imposthumes or Sotes gathered together at the Roots of them healeth them in short space The Herb is not to be described for the premises but is fit to be noutished in every good Womans Garden Venus owns it Hysop THis is so well known to be an Inhabitant in every Garden that it wil save me Labor in writing a Description thereof The Vertues are as followeth Vertues and use Dioscorides saith that Hysop boyled with Rue and Honey and drunk helpeth those that are troubled with Coughs shortness of breath wheesing and Rhewmatick Distillations upon the Lungs Taken also with Oximel it purgeth gross Humors by the Stool and with Honey killeth Worms in the Belly and with fresh or new Figs bruised helpeth to loosen the Belly and more forcibly if the Root of Flower-de-luce and Cresses be added therto It amendeth and cherisheth the Native colour of the Body spoiled by the yellow Jaundice and being taken with Figs and Nitre helpeth the Dropsie and the Spleen Being boyled with Wine it is good to wash Inflamations and taketh away black and blew Spots and Marks that come by Strokes Bruises or Fals being applied with warm Water It is an excellent Medicine for the Quinsie or Swelling in the Throat to wash and gargle it being boyled with Figs. It helpeth the Tooth-ach being boyled in Vinegar and gargled therwith The hot Vapors of the Decoction taken by a Funnel in at the Ears easeth the Inflamations and singing nois of them Being bruised and Salt Honey and Cummin Seed put to it it helpeth those that are stung by Serpents The Oyl thereof being anoynted killeth Liâ—e and taketh away Itching of the Head It helpeth those that have the Falling-sickness which way soever it be applied It helpeth to expectorate tough Flegm and is effectual in al cold Griefs or Diseases of the Chest and Lungs being taken either in a Syrup or licking Medicine The green Herb bruised and a little Sugar put thereto doth quickly heal any cut or green Wound being thereunto applied The Herb is Jupiters and the Sign Cancer It strengthens all the parts of the Body under cancer and Jupiter which what they be may be found amply discoursed of in my Astrological Judgment of Diseases Hops THese are so well known that they need no Description I mean the manured kind which every good Husband or Huswife is acquainted with The wild Hop groweth up as the other doth ramping upon Trees or Hedges that stand next unto them with rough branches and Leavs like the former but it giveth smaller Heads in far less plenty than it so that there is scarce a Head or two seen in a year on divers of this wild kind wherein consisteth the chief difference Place They delight to grow on low moist grounds and are found in all parts of this Land Time They spring not up until April and Flower not until the latter end of June the heads are not gathered until the middle or latter end of September Vertues and use This Physical operation is to open Obstructions of the Liver and Spleen to clens the Blood to loosen the Belly to clens the Reins from Gravel and provoke Urine The Decoction of the tops of Hops as well of the tame as the wild worketh the same effects In cleansing the Blood they help to cure the French Diseas and al manner of Scabs Itch and other breakings out in the Body as also al Tetters Ringworms and spreading Sores the Morphew and all discolourings of the Skin The Decoction of the Flowers and tops do help to expel poyson that any one hath drunk Half a dram of the Seed in Pouder taken in drink killeth Worms in the Body bringeth down Womens Courses and expelleth Urin A Syrup made of the Juyce and Sugar cureth the yellow Jaundice easeth the Headach that comes of Heat and tempereth the heat of the Liver and Stomach and is profitably given in long and hot Agues that rise of Choller and Blood Both the wild and the manured are of one property and alike effectual in al the aforesaid Diseases By all these Testimonies Beer appears to be better than Ale Mars owns the Plant and then Dr. Reason will tell you how it performs these actions Horehound Description COmmon Horehound groweth up with square hoary Stalks half a yard or two foot high set at the Joynts with two round crumpled rough Leavs of a sullen hoary green colour of a reasonable good scent but a very bitter tast The Flowers are smal white and gaping set in rough hard prickly Husks round about the Joynts with the Leaves from the middle of the Stalk upwards wherein afterwards is found smal round blackish Seed The Root is blackish hard and woody with many strings ther eat and abideth many years Place It is found in many parts of this Land in dry grounds and wast green places Time It Flowreth in or about July and the Seed is ripe in Augst Vertues and Vse A Decoction of the dried Herb with the Seed or the Juyce of the green Herb taken with Honey is a Remedy for those that are pursie or short winded or have a Cough or are fallen into a Consumption either through long sickness or thin Distillations of Rhewm upon the Lungs It helpeth to expectorate tough Flegm from the Chest being taken with the Roots of Iris or Orris It is given to Women to bring down their Courses to expel the Afterbirth and to them that have sore and long Travails as also to those that have taken Poyson or are stung or bitten by Venemous Serpents The Leavs used with Honey purge foul Ulcers stay running or creeping sores and the growing of the Flesh over the Nails It also helpeth pains of the sides The Juyce thereof with Wine and Honey helpeth to cleer the Eyesight and snuffed up into the Nostrils purgeth away the yellow Jaundice and with a little Oyl of Roses dropped into the Ears easeth the pains of them Galen saith it openeth Obstructions both of the Liver and Spleen purgeth the Breast and Lungues of Flegm and used outwardly it both clenseth and digesteth A Decoction of Horchound saith Mathiolus is available for those that have
bad Livers and for such as have Itches and running Tetters The Pouder hereof taken or the Decoction killeth Worms The green Leavs bruised and boyled in old Hogs Greas unto an Oyntment healeth the biting of Dogs abateth the Swellings of Womens Breasts and taketh away the Swelling and Pains that come by any pricking of Thorns or such like means and used with Vinegar it clenseth and healeth Tetters There is a Syrup made of Horehonnd to be had at the Apothecaries very good for old Coughs to rid the tough Flegm as also to avoid cold Rhewm from the Lungs of old Folks and for those that are Astmatick or short winded Horstail Description OF this there are many kinds but I shall not trouble you nor my self with any large Description of them which to do were but as the Proverb is to find a knot in a Rush All the kinds hereof being nothing else but knotted Rushes some with Leavs and some without Take the Description of the most eminent sort as followeth The greater Horstail at the first springing hath Heads somwhat like those of Asparagus and after grow to be hard rough hollow Stalks joynted at sundry places up to the top a foot high so made as if the lower part were put into the upper whereat grow on each side a Bush of smal long Rush-like hard Leavs each part resembling a Hors Tail from whence it was so called At the tops of the Stalks come forth smal Catkins like to those of Trees The Root creepeth under ground having Joynts at sundry places Place This as most of the other sorts hereof groweth in wet grounds Time They spring up in April and their blooming Catkins in July seeding for the most part in August and then perish down to the ground rising afresh in the Spring Vertues and use Horstail the smoother rather than the rough and the Leaved rather than the Bare are most Physical It is very powerful to stanch bleedings whersoever either inward or outward the Juyce or Decoction thereof being drunk or the Juyce Decoction or distilled Water applied outwardly It staieth also al sorts of Lasks and Fluxes in Man or Woman and the pissing of Blood and healeth also not only the inward Ulcers and excoriations of the Entrails Bladder c. but al bther sorts of foul moist and running Ulcers and soon sodereth together the tops of green Wounds It cureth also Ruptures in Children The Decoction hereof in Wine being drunk provoketh Urin and helpeth the Stone and the Strangury and the distilled Water thereof drunk two or three times in a day a smal quantity at a time as also easeth the Intrails or Guts and is effectual against a Cough that cometh by distillation from the Head The Juyce or distilled Water being warmed and hot Inflamations Pustules or red Wheals and other breakings out in the Skin being bathed therewith doth help them and doth no less eas the Swellings heat and Inflamations of the Fundament or Privy parts in Man or Woman The Herb is belonging to Saturn yet is very harmless and excellent good for the Premises Houfleeks or Sengreen ♃ THese are so wel known unto my Country Men that I shal not need to write any Description of them Place It groweth commonly on Walls and Houssides and flowreth in July Vertues and use Our ordinary Housleek is good for all inward heats as wel as outward and in the Eyes or other parts of the Body A Posset made with the Juyce of Housleek is singular good in al hot Agues for it cooleth and tempereth the Blood and Spirits and quench the thirst and is also good to stay al hot Defluxions of sharp and salt Rhewms in the Eyes the Juyce being dropped into them or into the Ears helpeth them It helpeth also other Fluxes of Humors into the Bowels and the immoderate Courses of Women It cooleth and restraineth also all other hot Inflamations St. Anthonies Fire Scaldings and Burnings the Shingles fretting Ulcers Cankers Tetters Ringworms and the like and much easeth the pain of the Gout proceeding from an hot caus The Juyce also taketh away Warts and Corns in the Hands or Feet being often bathed therwith and the Skin of the Leavs being laid on them afterwards It easeth also the Head-ach and distempered heat of the Brain in Phrensies or through want of sleep being applied to the Temples and Forehead The Leavs bruised and laid upon the Crown or Seam of the Head staieth bleeding at the Nose very quickly The distilled Water of the Herb is profitable for all the purposes aforesaid The Leavs being gently rubbed on any place stung with Nettles or Bees doth quickly take away the Pain It is an Herb of Jupiter and it is reported by Myzaldus to preserve it grows upon from Fire and Lightning ☿ Houndstongue Description THe great ordinary Houndstongue hath many long and somwhat narrow soft hairy darkish green Leavs lying on the ground somwhat like unto Bugloss Leavs from among which riseth up a rough hairy Stalk about two foot high with some smaller Leavs thereon and branched at the top into divers parts with a smal Leaf at the Foot of every Branch which is somwhat long with many Flowers set along the same which Branch is crooked or turned inwards before it Flowreth and openeth by degrees as the Flowers do blow which consist of four smal purplish red Leavs of a dead colour scarce rising out of the Husk wherein they stand with some threds in the middle It hath somtimes a white Flower After the Flowers are past there cometh rough flat Seed with a smal pointel in the middle easily cleaving to any Garment that it toucheth and not so easily pulled off again The root is black thick and long hard to break and ful of a clammy Juyce smelling somwhat strong of an evil scent as the Leavs also do Place It groweth in most places of this Land in wast grounds and untilled places by high way sides Lanes and Hedg sides Time It Flowreth about May and June and the Seed is ripe shortly after Vertues and Use. The Root is very effectually used in Pills as wel as in Decoctions or otherwise to stay al sharp and thin Defluxions of Rhewm from the Head into the Eyes or Nose or upon the Stomach or Lungs as also for Coughs or shortness of breath The Leaves boyled in Wine saith Dioscorides but others do rather appoint it to be made with Water and to ad thereto Oyl and Salt mollifieth or openeth the Belly downwards it also helpeth to cure the biting of a mad Dog some of the Leavs being also applied to the Wound The Leavs bruised or the Juyce of them boyled in Hogs Lard and applied helpeth the falling away of the Hair which cometh of hot and sharp humors as also for any place that is scalded or burnt The Leavs bruised and laid to any green Wound doth heal it up quickly The Root baked under the Embers wrapped in Past or wet
is not able to stand upright but bendeth down to the Ground devided at the top into two or three smal Branches with smal yellowish green Heads and Flowers of a whitish colour breaking out of them which being past there cometh smal yellow Seed like Poppy Seed The Root is somwhat long and black with many strings or fibres thereat Place It groweth naturally in many Pastures and Wood sides in Harfordshire wiltshire and Kent and other places of this Land Time It Flowreth in May and June and abideth after Seed time green al the Winter Vertues and Use. Ladies-Mantle is very proper for those Wounds that have Inflamations and is very effectual to stay Bleedings Vomitings Fluxes of al sorts in man or woman and Bruises by Fals or otherwise and helpeth Ruptures and such Women or Maids as have over great Flagging Breasts causing them to grow less and hard being both drunk and outwardly applied The distilled water drunk for twenty daies together helpeth Conception and to retain the Birth if the Woman do somtimes also sit in a Bath made of the Decoction of the Herb. It is one of the most singular Wound Herbs that is and therfore highly prized and praised by the Germans who use in al Wounds inward and outward to drink the Decoction thereof and wash the Wounds therewith or dip Tents therein and put them into the Wounds which wonderfully drieth up al humidity of the Sores and abateth Inflamations therein It quickly healeth al green Wounds not suffering any corruption to remain behind and cureth old Sores though Fistulous and hollow Venus claims the Herb as her own ☿ Lavender THis is so wel known being an Inhabitant in almost every Garden that it needeth no Description Time It flowreth about the end of June and beginning of July Vertues and Use. Lavender is of special good use for all the Griefs and pains of the Head and Brains that proceed of a cold caus as the Apoplexy Falling-sickness the drowsie or sluggish Malady Cramps Convulsions Palseys and often Faintings It strengtheneth the Stomach and freeth the Liver and Spleen from Obstructions provoketh Womens Courses and expelleth the dead Child and Afterbirth The Flowers of Lavender steeped in Wine helpeth them to make water that are stopped or are troubled with the Wind or Chollick if the places be bathed therewith A Decoction made with the Flowers of Lavender Horehound Fennel and Asparagus Roots and a little Cinnamon is very profitably used to help the Falling-sickness and the giddiness or turning of the Brain To gargle the Mouth with the Decoction thereof is good against the Toothach Two spoonfuls of the distilled Water of the Flowers taken helpeth them that have lost their voice as also the tremblings and passions of the Heart and faintings and swounings not only being drunk but applied to the Temples or Nostrils to be smelt unto but it is not safe to use it where the Body repleat with Blood and Humors becaus of the hot and subtil spirits wherewith it is possessed The Chimical Oyl drawn from Lavender usually called Oyl of Spike is of so fierce and piercing Spirits that it is cautiously to be used some few drops being sufficient to be given with other things either for inward or outward Griefs Mercury owns the Herb and it carries his effects very potently Lavender Cotten hath the same Vertues with Southernwood which shal be shewed you when I come to speak of it ☽ ♋ Lettice THis is so wel known being generally used as a Sallet Herb that it is altogether needless to write any Description thereof Vertues and Use. The Juyce of Lettice mixed or boyled with Oyl of Roses and applied to the Forehead and Temples procureth Sleep and easeth the Headach proceeding of an hot caus being eaten boyled it helpeth to loosen the Belly It helpeth digestion quencheth thirst encreaseth Milk in Nurses easeth griping pains of the Stomach or Bowels that come of Choller It abateth Bodily lust represseth Venereous Dreams being outwardly applied to the Cods with a little Camphire Applied in the same manner to the Region of the Heart Liver or Reins or by bathing the said place with the Juyce or distilled Water wherein some white Sanders and red Roses are put also it not only represseth the heat and Inflamation therein but comforts and strengthens those parts and also tempereth the heat of Urine Galen adviseth old men to use it with Spices and where Spices are wanting to ad Mints Rocket and such like hot Herbs or els Citron Lemmon or Orange Seeds to abate the cold of one and heat of the other The Seed and distilled Water of the Lettice work the like effects in al things but the use of Lettice is chiefly forbidden to those that are short winded or have any imperfection in their Lungs or spit Blood The Moon owns them and that 's the reason they cool and moisten what heat and driness Mars causeth because Mars hath his fall in Cancer and they cool the Heart becaus the Sun rules it between whom and the Moon is a Reccption in the Generation of Man as you may soe in my Guide for women The VVater-Lilly ☽ Description OF these there are two principally noted kinds Viz. Thewhite and the Yellow The white Lilly hath very large round and thick dark green Leavs lying on the Water sustained by long and thick Footstalks that rise from a great thick round and long tuberous black Root spungy or loos with many Knobs thereon like Eyes and whitish within from amidst the which rise other the like thick and great Stalks sustaining one large white Flower thereon green on the outside but as white as Snow within consisting of divers rows of long and somwhat thick and narrow Leavs smaller and thinner the more inward they be encompassing a head within w th many yellow threds or thrums in the middle where after they are past stand round Poppylike Heads ful of broad Oyly and bitter Seed The yellow kind is little different from the former save only it hath fewer Leavs on the Flowers greater and more shining Seed and a whitish Root both within and without The Roots of both being somwhat sweet in tast Place They are sound growing in great Pools and standing Waters and somtimes in slow running Rivers and lesser Ditches of Water in sundry places of this Land Time They Flower most commonly about the end of May and their Seed is ripe in August Vertues and use The Leavs and Flowers of the Water-Lillies are cold and moist but the Root and Seed is cold and dry The Leavs do cool al Inflamations and both outward and inward heats of Agues and so doth the Flowers also either by the Syrup or Conserve The Syrup helpeth much to procure rest and to settle the Brains of Frantick persons by cooling the hot distemperature of the Head The Seed as wel as the Root is effectual to stay Fluxes of Blood or Humors either of Wounds
forth The Root in Pouder and given in Wine and drunk is good against the Plague or Pestilence and drunk in the mornings fasting for some time together is very profitable for a Fistula in any part of the Body Baptista Sardus doth much commend the distilled Water hereof being drunk to help the French Disease to open Obstructions of the Liver and clense the Blood from corrupted Humors and is profitably given against Quotidian or Tertian Agues Strawberries THese are so well known through this Land that they need no Description Time They Flower in May ordinarily and the Fruit is ripe shortly after Vertues and use Strawberries when they are green are cold and dry but when they are ripe they are cold and moist The Berries are excellent good to cool the Liver the Blood and the Spleen or an hot Chollerick stomach to refresh comfort the fainting Spirits to quench Thirst They are good also for other Inflamations yet it is not arniss to refrain them in a Feaver lest by their putrefying in the Stomach they encrease the Fits The Leavs and Roots boyled in Wine and Water and drunk do likewise cool the Liver and Blood and asswage all Inflamations in the Reins and bladder provoketh Urine and allayeth the heat and sharpness thereof The same also being drunk stayeth the Bloody Flux and Womens Courses and helpeth the Swellings of the Spleen The Water of the Berries carefully distilled is a Soveraign Remedy and Cordial in the panting and beating of the Heart and is good for the yellow Jaundice The Juyce dropped into foul Ulcers or they washed therewith or the Decoction of the Herb and Root doth wonderfully clense and help to cure them Lotions and Gargles for sore Mouthes or Ulcers therin or in the privy Parts or elswhere are made with the Leaves and Roots hereof which is also good to fasten loose Teeth and to heal spungy soul Gums It helpeth also to stay Catarrhs or Desluxions of Rhewm into the Mouth Throat Teeth or Eyes The Juyce or Water is singular good for hot and red Inflamed Eyes if dropped into them or they bathed therewith it is also of excellent property for all Pushes Wheals and other breakings forth of hot sharp Humors in the Face and Hands or other parts of the Body to bath them therewith and to take away any redness in the Face or Spots or other Deformities in the Skin and to make it cleer and smooth Some use this Medicine Take so many Strawberries as you shall think fitting and put them into a Distillatory or body of Glass fit for them which being well closed set it in a bed of Horsdung for twelve or fourteen daies and afterwards distill it carefully and keep it for your use It is an excellent water for hot inflamed Eyes and to take away any film or Skin that beginneth to grow over them and for such other defects in them as may be helped by any outward Medicine Venus owns the Herb. Succory Description THe Garden Succory hath longer and narrower Leaves than Endive and more cut in or torn on the edges and the Root abideth many yeers It beareth also blew Flowers like Endive and the Seed is hardly distinguished from the Seed of the smooth or ordinary Endive The wild Succory hath diverse long Leaves lying on the ground very much cut in or torn on the edges on both sides even to the middle rib ending in point somtimes it hath a red Rib down the middle of the Leaves from among which riseth up a hard round woody stalk spreading into many Branches set with smaller and lesser devided Leaves on them up to the tops where stand the Flowers which are like the Garden kind as the Seed is also only take notice that the Flowers of the Garden kind are gone in one Sunny day they being so cold that they are not able to endure the Beams of the Sun and therfore most delight in the shadow The Root is white but more hard and woody than the Garden kind The whol Plant is exceeding bitter Place This groweth in many places of our Land in wast untilled and barren Fields The other only in Gardens Vertues and Use. Garden Succory as it is more dry and less cold than Endive so it openeth more An handful of the Leavs or Roots boyled in Wine or Water and a draught thereof drunk fasting driveth forth Chollerick and Flegmatick Humors openeth Obstructions of the Liver Gall and Spleen helpeth the yellow Jaundice the Heat of the Reins and of the Urine the Dropsie also and those that have an evil disposition in their Bodies by reason of long sickness evil Diet c. which the Greeks call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Cachexia A Decoction thereof made with Wine and drunk is very effectual against long lingring Agues and a dram of the Seed in Pouder drunk in Wine before the Fit of an Ague helpeth to drive it away The Distilled Water of the Herb and Flowers if you can take them in time hath the properties and is especial good for hot Stomachs and in Agues either Pestilential or of long continuance for swounings and Passions of the Heart for the heat and Headach in Children and to the blood and Liver The said water or the Juyce or the bruised Leaves applied outwardly allayeth Swellings Inflamations St. Anthonies Fire Pushes Wheals and Pimples especially used with a little Vinegar as also to wash pestiferous Sores The said Water is very effectual for sore Eyes that are inflamed with redness and for Nurses Breasts that are pained by the abundance of Milk The wild Succory as it is more bitter so it is more strengthning to the Stomach and Liver English Tobacco Description THis riseth up with a thick round Stalk about two foot high whereon do grow thick fat green Leaves nothing so large as the other Indian kinds somwhat round pointed also and nothing dented about the edges The Stalk brancheth forth and beareth at the tops divers Flowers set in green Husks like the other but nothing so large scarce standing above the Brims of the Husks round pointed also and of a greenish yellow colour The Seed that followeth is not so bright but larger contained in the like great Heads The Roots are neither so great nor woody and perishing every yeer with the hard Frosts in Winter but riseth generally of its own sowing Place This came from some parts of Brassiile as is thought and is more familier to our Country than any of the other sorts early giving ripe Seed which the others seldom do Time It Flowreth from June somtimes to the end of August or later and the Seed ripeneth in the mean time Vertues and Use. It is found by good experience to be available to expectorate tough Flegm from the Stomach Chest and Lungs The Juyce thereof made into a Syrup or the distilled water of the Herb drunk with some Sugar or without if you will Or the smoke taken by a
without Book The inclosed Scheam My Answer to the Letter was to this effect Sir I received yours July 25. wherein I find your enclosed Scheam and I suppose the nature of the Disease and have sent you such an Answer as I could being far from my Study which I entreat you to take in good part being Festinaxi calamo Conscripta As for the ignorance of your Country Doctors they wanting the true Judgment of Astrology is to me no waies admirable I perceive you to be a yong man by the time of your Genesis which you also sent me beware whom you trust with that he that knows your Nativity knows when ill Directions operate and if he be an Enemy knows when to do you a mischief If Cecil had not had Essex his Nativity he had never gotten his Head off but to instruct you being a yong Student I shall give you my Judgment Methodically Diacritica You say you can find no Arguments of Witchcraft but only one Sign possessing the Cusps of both Twelth and Ascendent but if you had regarded the Propinquity of Venus to Saturn you would have made another of that yet do not I think she is bewitched because of other more prevalent restimonies the Moon passing from the beams of Mars to the beams of Venus may seem to give some suspition of Honesty and the Disease to come that way which is encreased by Mars his being in the Ascendent in Scorpio and the Dragons Tail upon the Cusp yet I can hardly beleeve this for Cauda in a humane Sign usually gives Slanders and not Tales of Truth 't is a hundred to one if she suffer not in point of good name by the vulgar this was too true Besides the neerness of Venus to Saturn may well shew trouble of mind and it being in the ninth House pray enquire whether she have not been troubled about some tenents in Religion the trouble of mind was true but it was about a stranger which the ninth House also signifies Diagnostica Venus Lady of the Twelfth and Ascendent and Eigth shews her alwaies to be her own foe in respect of Health and truly I beleeve the original of the Disease was a Surfet either by eating moist Fruits or else by catching wet in travelling Venus with Saturn who is in square to the Ascendent troubles her Breast with tough Flegm and Melancholly Besides there being a most forcible reception between the Moon and Venus from fruitful Signs I question whether she be not with Child or not the Moon being in the fifth House Mars is lord of the Disease really in the Scorpion and accidentally in the Ascendent together with Aries on the sixt shew the Disease keep his Court in the Womb and accidentally afflicts the Head from thence so that heat of the Womb must needs be cause of the present distemper and Mars in a moist Sign in the first neer the second may well denote heat and breaking out about her Face and Throat Prognostica Whether she be curable or not or how or when the Disease will end is our next Point Truly I can see no danger of death the Moon being strong in her hain and applying by Trine with a strong reception to the Lady of the Ascendent yet this is certain Mars strong in a fixed Sign will maintain the Disease stoutly her hopes will be but smal when Venus comes to the Body of Saturn viz. August 2. for she will be overpressed with Melancholly the time I suppose of her Cure may be if good courses be taken when Mars leaves the Sign he is in and comes to the place where the Body of Jupiter is or at least then it may turn to another Disease more propitious the Sun strong in the Tenth shews she may be cured by Medicine and he being exalted in the seventh and caput there I do not know but you are as likely a man to do it as any Indicationes Curativae It is confessed here that the Sun being exceeding strong in â—â—â—â—â—â—â— House should naturally signifie the curative Medicine and as true that the evils of Mars viz. heat in the Womb and a salt humor in the blood ought to be removed before you meddle with the tough Flegm in the Breast but yet seeing the Disease seems rather to participate of offending heat than any other Simple quality you must have a care of hot Medicines left you go about ignem oleo extinguere the Medicines must 1. be cool 2. strengthning the Womb 3. repressing the vapors 4. of the nature of Sol and Venus Therapeutice To this intent I first commend unto you stinking Arrach a pattern whereof I have sent you enclosed you may find it upon Dunghils especially such as are made of Horse-dung It is cold and moist an Herb of Venus in the Scorpion Also Ros Solis an Herb of the Sun and under the Coelestial Crab may do very well and the better because Venus is in Cancer It grows upon Bogs in untilled places and is in flower about this time it grows very low with roundish green Leaves full of red hairs and is fullest of dew when the Sun is hottest whence it took its name to these you may ad Tansie which I take to be an Herb of Venus in Libra and Lettice if you please which is an Herb of the Moon Mars having his fall in Cancer they are all harmless you may use them according to your own descretion also Orpine another Herb of the Moon is very good in this case Sir I wish you well and if you esteem of my Lark above his deserts I pray trim his Feathers for him correct the Errors by the Errata else will he make but unpleasing Musick Thus remain yonrs c. I the rather chose this Figure to judg of because none should have just occasion to say of us Astrologers that we do as Physitians vulgar practice is when they judg of Piss first pump what they can out of the Querent and then judg by his words of which I will rehearse you one merry story and so I will conclude the Book A Woman whose Husband had bruised himself took his Water and away to the Doctor trots she the Doctor takes the Piss and shakes it about How long hath this party been ill saith he Sr. saith the Woman He hath been ill these two daies This is a mans water quoth the Doctor presently this he learned by the word HE then looking on the water he spied blood in it the man hath had a bruise saith he I indeed saith the woman my Husband fell down a pair of stairs backwards then the Doctor knew well enough that what came first to danger must needs be his back and shoulders said the Bruise lay there the woman she admired at the Doctors skil and told him that if he could tell her one thing more she would account him the ablest Physitian in Europe well what was that How many Stairs her Husband fell down this was a hard Question
this Take therfore a Description at large of it as followeth Description At the first appearing out of the ground when the Winter is past is hath a great round brownish head rising from the middle or sides of the Root which openeth it self into sundry Leavs one after another very much crumpled or folded together at the first and brownish but afterward it spreadeth it self and becometh smooth very large and almost round every one standing on a brownish Stalk of the thickness of a mans Thumb when they are grown to their fulness and most of them two foot and more in length especially when they grow in any moist or good Ground and the Stalk of the Leaf also from the bottom thereof to the Leaf it self being also two Foot The breadth thereof from edg to edg in the broadest place being also two foot of a sad or dark green colour of a fine tart or sowrish tast much more pleasant than the Garden or Wood sorrel From among these riseth up some but not every yeer a strong thick Stalk not growing so high as the Patience or Garden Dock with such round Leavs as grow below but smaller at every Joynt up to the top and among the Flowers which are white spreading forth into many Branches and consisting of five or six small white Leavs apiece hardly to be discerned from the white threds in the middle and seeming to be all threds after which come brownish three square Seed like unto other Docks but larger whereby it may be plainly known to be a Dock The Root groweth in time to be very great with divers and sundry great spreading Branches from it of a dark brownish or reddish colour on the outside with a pale yellow skin under it which covereth the inner substance or Root which â—ind and Skin being pared away the Root appeareth of so fresh and lively a colour with fleshcolour'd Veins running through it that the choicest of that Rubarb that is brought us from beyond the Seas cannot excel it Which Root if it be dried carefully and as it ought which must be in our Countrey by the gentle heat of a fire in regard the Sun is not hot enough here to do it and every piece kept from touching one another will hold his colour almost as well as when it is fresh and hath been approved of and commended by those who have oftentimes used them Place It groweth in Gardens and Flowreth about the beginning or middle of June and the Seed is ripe in July Time The Roots that are to be dried and kept all the yeer following are not to be taken up before the Stalk and Leavs be quite withered and gone and that is not until the middle or end of October and if they be taken a little before the Leavs do spring or when they are sprung up the Roots will not have half so good a colour in them I have given the precedence unto this becaus in vertues also it hath the preheminence I come now to describe unto you that which is called Patience or Monks Rubarb and next unto at the great round Leav'd Dock or Bastard Rubarb for the one of these may happily supply in the absence of the other being not much unlike in their Vertues only one more powerful and efficacious than the other And lastly shall shâ—w you the Vertues of all the three Sorts Garden Patience or Monks Rubard Description THis is a Dock bearing the name of Rubarb for some purging quality therein and groweth up with large tall Stalks set with somwhat broad and long fair green Leavs not dented at all The tops of the Stalks being devided into many smal Branches bear reddish or purplish Flowers and three square Seed like unto other Docks The Root is long great and yellow like unto the wild Docks but a little redder and if it be a little dried sheweth less store of discoloured veins than the next doth when it is dry Great round leav'd Dock OR Bastard Rubarb Description THis hath divers large round thin yellowish with green Leavs rising from the Root a little waved about the edges every one standing on a reasonable thick and long brownish Footstalk from among which riseth up a pretty big Stalk about two foot high with some such like Leavs growing thereon but smaller At top whereof stand In a long spike many smal brownish Flowers which turn into hard three square shining brown Seed like the Garden Patience before described This Root groweth greater than that with many Branches or great Fibres thereat yellow on the outside and somwhat pale yellow within with some discoloured veins like to the Rubarb which is first described but much less than it especially when it is dry Place and Time These also grow in Gardens and Flower and Seed at or neer the same time that our true Rubarb doth Viz. they Flower in June and the Seed is ripe in July Vertues and use A dram of the dried Root of Monks Rubarb with a seruple of Ginger made into Pouder and taken fasting in a draught or mess of warm Broth purgeâ— Choller and Flegm downward very gently and safely without danger The Seed thereof contrarily doth bind the Belly and helpeth to stay any sort of Lask or Bloody Flux The distilled water thereof is very profitably used to heal Scabs as also foul Ulcerous Sores and to allay the Inflamations of them The Juyce of the Leavs or Roots or the Decoction of them in Vinegar is used as a most effectual Remedy to heal Scabs and running Sores The Bastard Rubarb hath all the properties of the Monks Rubarb but more effectual for both inward and outward Diseases The Decoction thereof with Vinegar dropped into the Ears taketh away the pains gargled in the Mouth taketh away Toothach and being drunk healeth the Jaundice The Seed thereof taken easeth the gnawing and griping pains of the Stomach and taketh away the loathing thereof unto Meat The Root thereof helpeth the ruggedness of the Nails and being boyled in Wine helpeth the Swellings of the Throat commonly called the Kings evil as also the Swellings of the Kernels of the Ears It helpeth them that are troubled with the Stone provoketh Urine and helpeth the dimness of the Sight The Roots of this Bastard Rubarb are used in opening and purging Diet Drinks with other things to open the Liver and to clens and cool the Blood The poperties of that which is called the English Rubarb are the same with the former but much more effectual and hath all the properties of the true Indian Rubarb except the force in purging wherein it is but of half the strength thereof and therfore a double quantity must be used it likewise hath not that bitterness and astriction in other things it worketh almost â—n an equal quality which are these It purgeth the Body of Choller and Flegm being either taken of it self made into Pouder and drunk in a draught of white Wine or steâ—ped therein all night and taken
fasting or put among other Purgers as shall be thought convenient clensing the Stomach Liver and Blood opening Obstructions and helping those griefs that come thereof as the Jaundice Dropsie swelling of the Spleen Tertian and day Agues and the pricking pain of the sides and also it stayerh spitting of Blood The Pouder taken with Cassia dissolved and a little wash'd Venice Turpentine clenseth the Reins and strengthneth them afterwards and is very effectual to stay the running of the Reins or Gonorrea It is also given for the pains and swellings in the Head for those that are troubled with Melancholly and helpeth the Sciatica the Gout and the Cramp The Pouder of Rubarb taken with a little Mummia and Madder Roots in some red Wine dissolveth clotted Blood in the Body hapning by any fall or bruise and healeth burstings and broken parts as well inward as outward The Oyl likewise wherein it hath been boyled worketh the like effects being anointed It is used to heal those Ulcers that happen in the Eyes and Eyelids being steeped and strained as also to asswage the Swellings and Inflamations and applied with Honey or boyled Wine it taketh away all black and blue Spots or Marks that happen therein Whey or white Wine are the best Liquors to steep it in and thereby it worketh more effectually in opening Obstructions and purging the Stomach and Liver Many do use a little Indian Spicknard as the best Correcter thereof Mars claims Predominancy over all these wholsom Herbs you cry out upon him for an infortune when God created him for your good only he is angry with Fools what dishonor is this not to Mars but to God Himself Meadow Rue Description THis riseth up with a yellow stringy Root much spreading in the ground and shooting forth new sprouts round about with many Herby green Stalks two foot high crested all the length of them set with Joynts here and there and many large Leavs on them as well as below being devided into smaller Leavs nicked or dented in the forepart of them of a sad green colour on the upperside and pale green underneath Toward the top of the Stalk there shooteth forth divers short Branches on every one thereof there stand two three or four smal round Heads or Buttons which breaking the skin that incloseth them shew forth a tuft of pale greenish yellow threds which falling away there comes in their places small three cornre'd Cods wherein is contained smal long and round Seed The whol Plant hath a strong unpleasant scent Place It groweth in many places of this Land in the Borders of moist Meadows and by Ditch sides Time It Flowreth about July or the beginning of August Vertues and Use. Dioscorides saith that this Herb bruised and applied perfectly healeth old Sores and the distilled water of the Herb and Flowers doth the like It is used by some among other Pot-herbs to open the Body and make it soluble but the Roots washed clean and boyled in Ale and drunk provoketh to the Stool more than the Leavs but yet very gently The Root boyled in Water and the places of the Body most troubled with Vermine or Lice washed therewith while it is warm destroyeth them utterly In Italy it is used against the Plague and in Saxony against the Jaundice as Camerarious saith Garden Rue THis is so well known both by this name and the Name Herb of Grace that I shal not need to write you any further Description of it But shall only shew you the Vertues of it as followeth Vertues and Use. It provoketh Urine and Womens Courses being taken either in Meat or Drink The Seed thereof taken in Wine is an Antidote against all dangerous Medicines or deadly Poysons The Leavs taken either by themselves or with Figs and Walnuts is called Metbridates his Counter poyson against the Plague and causeth all Venemous things to become harmless Being often taken in Meat or Drink it abateth Venery and destroyeth the ability to beger Children A Decoction made thereof with some dried Dill Leavs and Flowers easeth all pains and torments inwardly to be drunk and outwardly to be applied warm to the place grieved The same being drunk helpeth the pains both of the Chest and Sides as also Coughs hardness of breathing the Inflmations of the Lungs and the tormenting pains of the Sciatica and the Joynts being anointed or laid to the places as also the shaking Fits of Agues to take a draught before the Fit come Being boyled or infused in Oyl it is good to help the wind Chollick the hardness or windiness of the Mother and freeth women from the strangling or suffocation thereof if the Share and the Parts thereabouts be anointed therewith It killeth and driveth forth the Worms of the Belly if it be drunk after it is boyled in Wine to the half with a little Honey It helpeth the Gout or pains in the Joynts of Hands Feet or Knees applied thereunto and with Figs it helpeth the Dropsie being bathed therewith being bruised and put into the Nostrils it staieth the Bleeding thereof It helpeth the swelling of the Cods it they be bathed with a Decoction of Rue and Bay Leaves It taketh away Wheals and Pimples if being bruised with a few Mirtle Leavs if it be made up with Wax and applied It cureth the Morphew and taketh away all sorts of Warts if boyled in Wine with some Pepper and Nitre and the places rubbed therewith and with Allum and Honey helpeth the dry Scab or any Tetter or Ringworm The Juyce thereof warmed in a Pemegranate Shel or Rind and dropped into the Ears helpeth the pains of them The Juyce of it and Fennel with a little Honey and the Gall of a Cock put thereto helpeth the dimness of the Eyelight An Oyntment made of the Juyce therof with Oyl of Roses Ceruss and a little Vinegar and anointed cureth St. Anthonies Fire and all foul running Sores in the Head and the stinking Ulcers of the Nose or other parts The Antidote used by Methridateâ— every morning fasting to secure himself from any Poyson or Infection was this Take twenty Leavs of Rue a little Salt a couple of Walnuts and a couple of Figs beaten together into a Mass with twenty Juniper Berries which is the quantity appointed for every day Another Electuary is made thus Take of Nitre Pepper and Cummin Seed of each equal Parts of the Leaves of Rue clean picked as much in weight as all the other three weighed beat them well together and put to as much Honey as will make it up into an Electuary but you must first steep your Cummin seed in Vinegar twenty four hours and then dry it or rather toast it in a hot Fire-shovel or in an Oven and it is a Remedy for the pains or griefs of the Chest or Stomach of the Spleen Belly or Sides by Wind or Stitches of the Liver by Obstructions of the Reins and Bladder by the stopping of Urine and helpeth also to