Selected quad for the lemma: blood_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
blood_n	body_n	life_n	wine_n	6,722	5	7.7919	4	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A05102	The third volume of the French academie contayning a notable description of the whole world, and of all the principall parts and contents thereof: as namely, of angels both good and euill: of the celestiall spheres, their order and number: of the fixed stars and planets; their light, motion, and influence: of the fower elements, and all things in them, or of them consisting: and first of firie, airie, and watrie meteors or impressions of comets, thunders, lightnings, raines, snow, haile, rainebowes, windes, dewes, frosts, earthquakes, &c. ingendered aboue, in, and vnder the middle or cloudie region of the aire. And likewise of fowles, fishes, beasts, serpents, trees with their fruits and gum; shrubs, herbes, spices, drugs, minerals, precious stones, and other particulars most worthie of all men to be knowen and considered. Written in French by that famous and learned gentleman Peter de la Primaudaye Esquier, Lord of the same place, and of Barree: and Englished by R. Dolman.; Academie françoise. Part 3. English	La Primaudaye, Pierre de, b. ca. 1545.; Dolman, R. (Richard)	1601 (1601)	STC 15240; ESTC S108305	398,876	456

of Autumne Of Grapes so also are they the most nourishing of all the fruits of summer which are not to bee kept and they engender the best nourishment especially when they bee perfect ripe But all Raisins do not nourish after one manner for sweete ones haue a more hot substance and therefore they cause thirst do swell the stomacke and loosen the belly Contrariwise tart ones doe binde doe nourish little and are of hard digestion Greene and sowre ones are naught for the stomacke And the bigger grapes are the better they are especially if they be gathered verie ripe They which are kept hanged vp are best for nourishmēt because their great moisture is dried The fresh verie ripe grape is good for burnings if the wine thereof be prest out betwixt ones hands vpon the hurt places The mother of the wine or grapes being kept and mixed with salt is profitable against inflammations of the dugs hardnes of them through too much abundance of milke The decoction thereof clisterized serueth greatly for dysenterias or fluxes The stones or seeds haue a restringent vertue and are profitable for the stomacke Being parched and beaten into powder it is good to eate with meate against the fluxe and weaknes of stomacke Drie grapes or raisins haue yet greater vertues and properties in the vse of Phisicke and especially they which are sweetest and of most substance as they of Damascus of Cypres and of Candia The meate of them being eaten is good for the cough for the throat the reines and the bladder being eaten with their stones they serue against dysenterias Being boyled in a platter with sugar and flower of millet of barley and an egge they purge the braine being reduced into a plaister with flower of beanes and cumin Propertie of dry Raisins they appease inflammations Besides the nourishment of raisins is so distributed through the bodie according as their nature is sweete to the sweete sowre to the sowre meane to them that participate with both qualities and the sweete full and fat raisins doe nourish more then the sharpe and leane They which are without stones either by nature or art if they be sweet they are so depriued of all astriction so that they be maruellous lenitiue And therefore are they most fit for paines of the breast for the cough for sore throats for maladies in the reines and bladder and are good also for the liuer But we may not here forget to make mention of the fruit of the wilde Vine commonly called in French Lambrusque because of the admirable properties thereof The grapes of it are gathered and put to drie in the shade they are of a restringent vertue good for the stomacke and prouoke vrine they binde the belly and stay spitting of blood Now must wee speake of Wine which is made of the Raisin Of Wine and the properties thereof and grape produced by the vine Concerning it many affirme that it is the most sweete licour of all others the principall aide and chiefe prop of humaine life the chiefe restorer of the vitall spirits the most excellent strengthener of all the faculties and actions of the body reioicing comforting the hart very much and for these causes they say that the Auncients haue called that plant which beareth the fruit out of which wee receiue this wine Vitis quasi Vita life But yet wee must not deceiue our selues by so many praises attributed to wine considering that the vse thereof by the least excesse that may bee doth bring so many euils vpon man that they cannot bee numbred nor sufficientlie bewailed But beeing vsed temperately wee must confesse that it is a thing of greatest efficacie in the world to nourish and strengthen the bodie For it engendreth very pure bloud it is very quickly conuerted into nourishment it helpeth to make digestion in all parts of the bodie it giueth courage purgeth the braine refresheth the vnderstanding reioiceth the hart quickneth the spirits prouoketh vrine driueth out ventosities augmenteth naturall heat fatneth them who are in good health exciteth the appetite purifieth troubled bloud openeth stoppings conuaieth the nouriture throughout the whole body maketh good colour and purgeth out of the bodie all that which is therein superfluous But if wine bee taken without great mediocritie and temperance it doth by accident refrigerate the whole bodie For the naturall heat thereof by too much drinke remaineth choaked euen as a little fire is quenched by a great heap of wood cast thereupon Besides wine is hurtfull for the braine for the marrow of the back bone and the sinewes that grow out of it Whereby it falleth out that this principall part beeing hurt there succeede in time great and dangerous maladies thereupon to wit the apoplexie the falling euill the palsie shakings numbnes of members conuulsions giddines of the head shrinking of ioints the incubus the catalepsia lethargie frensie rheumes deafenes blindenes and shrinking of mouth and lips Moreouer wine immoderately drunke corrupteth all good manners and discipline of life For this is it that makes men quarrellers wranglers rash incensed furious dice-plaiers adulterers homicides in a word addicted to all vice and dissolution Besides it is to be noted that wine is fitter for old people then for them of other ages for it moderateth and mantaineth the cold temperature of ancient folkes which hath come vpon them for many yeeres Of the vse of Wine But it should not be sufferable if we will follow the counsell of the elders for children and yoong folkes to drinke thereof till they attaine to the age of twentie yeeres For otherwise it is as much as to put fire to fire And yet if we would follow the counsell of the Sages it should not be drunke at all except in certaine indispositions which might happen to the bodie according as the vse was in times past in Greece namely at Athens where wine was onely sold in Apothecaries shops as Aqua-vitae now is But aboue all heed must be taken that in the great heat of the yeere wine bee not drunke that is cooled by snow yee or verie cold water as we see by great curiositie done among vs. For it greatly hurteth the braine the sinewes the breast the lungs the stomacke the bowels the spleene liuer reines bladder and teeth And therefore it is no maruell if they which ordinarily vse it are in time tormented with the colicke and paine of the stomacke also with conuulsions palsies apoplexies difficultie in breathing restrainment of vrine stoppings of the inward members the dropsie and many other great and dangerous diseases Of Aquauitae and the manner how to distill it It resteth for conclusion of this discourse that wee say somewhat concerning wine distilled through a limbecke in a bathe of water which the Sages haue called for the admirable vertues thereof Water of Life For to make which Take of the best wine a certaine quantitie according to the vessel wherein you will distill it

for all the bodie to giue life thereto and then hath made vaines like riuers to disperse and distribute this blood to euerie member disposing them in such sort as there is not any part but doth by meanes of these vaines receiue as much blood as is needefull for the nourishment and preseruation of the life thereof so likewise he hath ordayned heere below in earth the sea and springs of waters which he afterwards disposeth into euerie place by meanes of fountaines floods and riuers who are as the vaines through which the water that is as the blood of the earth is conueyed and communicated that it may be moistned to nourish all manner of fruits which God hath commaunded it to beare for the nouriture both of men and beasts Wherefore as in one bodie there are many veines some greater larger and longer and some lesser narrower and shorter which neuerthelesse do all answere to one selfe same source and fountaine and then doe diuide themselues into sundrie branches so the earth hath her floods riuers and streames some great others small which haue all their common springs and doe oftentimes ioine themselues together or diuide themselues into diuers branches and armes in such sort as the earth is moistened by them so much as is needfull in euerie part thereof Moreouer as it is watred to nourish the fruits so men and other liuing creatures do thereby receiue their beuerage necessarie for the preseruation of their life Of pleasure mixed with profit in the works of God But amongst all these things we are to consider that God the most-good hath not onely prouided by meanes of them for the necessities of his creatures but euen for their honest pleasures so that it hath pleased him to conioyne an excellent beawtie with profit and vtilitie For how goodly a thing is it to behold the fruitfull islands in midst of the sea the cleere and sweete bubling springs and gentle riuers and floods issuing out of rockes and caues of the earth which tumble downe the mountaines flow through the vallies and glide along the plaines through forrests fields and medowes being decked with many sundrie kinds of branched trees that are planted aside from inhabitants in middest of which infinite little birdes flie vp and downe tuning their voices to sing in sweete melodie and naturall musick What vnspeakable pleasure befalleth to all creatures especially to man to liue amongst such abounding beawties And who will not also admire the great varietie which is in the disposition and distinction that wee behold in the earth by the mountaines rocks valleies plaines fields vineyards medowes woods and forrests especially if we consider the fruits and profits which redound to men thereby besides the gallant diuersitie of infinite delectable pastures beawtified in all sorts For there is not one foote of earth which may not be said to serue to some good vse no not in most desert places Some places are fit for fields and champion grounds others for pastures some for vineyards other for fruitfull orchards and others for high and well growne trees fit for building timber or for fire-wood to the ende that men may helpe themselues therewith in all their needfull vses for firing Some places also are particularly commodious for cattell to graze in by which great gaine and pleasure is receiued And for deserts mountaines and forrests they are the proper retyring places for wilde beasts by which likewise men do not only receiue profit but verie great delectation also and healthfull exercise in hunting of them and which is more such places are verie commodious for houshold cattell which do there feed in euerie place to maruellous profit But let vs note that all these properties and profits should not be found in the earth if it were not conioyned with the water by the course thereof thorough euerie part of it Which water likewise doth cause many and vnspeakable profits that redound to men by fish which remaine not onely in the sea but also in lakes ponds and riuers being of so sundrie kindes and natures that it is not possible to number them In which if the prouidence of God be most admirable Commodities that the waters do bring in fishes and what is to bee admired therein it is especially to be obserued in the sea For how many sorts of fishes are there great little and of meane quantitie and how manie sundrie formes and what diuersitie of Nature I beleeue verily that whosoeuer should vndertake to number them by euerie kinde and particularly should be almost as much troubled as if he would purpose to emptie the Ocean But though there be not any little creature in the sea wherein God doth not declare himselfe and shew himselfe great and admirable yet doth he chiefly manifest himselfe so to be in two things The first is in the hugenes and power of the great fishes which he hath created as whales and such like which seeme to be rather sea-monsters then fishes there being no beast in all the earth so great and strong for there are some that seeme a farre off to be islands or mountaines rather then fishes And the other most wonderfull thing is that the Creator hath set such a correspondencie in many points betwixt the fishes and beasts of the earth that it seemeth he would represent a great part of the one by the other So we see also that many names of earthly beasts are giuen to many fishes because of the similitude and likenes which they haue together in figure and in nature yea it seemeth that God would represent in the fishes of the sea almost all the other creatures which are in the rest of the world For there are some which be called Stars because they are like that shape according to which men commonly paint the starres Moreouer how many are there which beare the shape of earthly creatures yea of many instruments made by men Of the fish called the cock For amongst others there is a fish called the Cocke which is also named by fishers in some countries the Ioyner because it hath almost as much diuersitie of bones and gristles as a Ioyner hath of tooles the forme of which they also represent But if we speake of the sundrie fashions of fishes and of their colours scales heads skins fins and of their vnderstanding industrie and chase and of their shels and abiding places and of their natures and infinite properties who should not haue iust cause to woonder Moreouer haue not men forged many fashions of weapons the forme of which they haue taken from diuers fishes What shall we also say of the finnes and little wings which God hath giuen them to direct them and to hold them vp in the sea and in other waters like birds in the aire and as ships are rowed and guided by oares and the rudder Seemeth it not that God hath created them

things tende and descende it cannot descende lower then it is by the nature thereof And therefore bicause it is solide and thicke and not liquide and fluent as the water and the aire it cannot glide as they doe nor remooue out of one place into another if it be not by some violence elsewhere mooued and made to stirre and tremble somewhere as it hath happened through diuers and maruellous earthquakes of which histories and the holy scripture it selfe doe giue euidence We must note then that there are diuers sortes of motions by which the earth is so shaken that it lifteth and casteth some parts sometimes vpwardes sometimes downewards Of diuers sorts of earthquakes And it is long of such motions and tremblings that there haue such masses and heapes beene cast out of it that great isles haue beene newly made as Geographers doe witnesse namely the isle of Rhodes and of Selos It sometimes also happeneth that the motions of the earth bee such that it openeth like a great gulph whereinto some parts thereof are cleane swallowed vp and deuoured togither with the countries and townes scituate therein so that there hath beene no marke left of them no more then as if they had neuer beene And it hath often hapned in such cases that some mountaines haue fallen one against another bicause the earth which was betwixt them hath sunck and beene swallowed cleane vp And then one might say that the prouerb is not euer true which saith that two mountaines neuer meet There is yet another kinde of motion wherein the earth mooueth and shaketh sometimes one way sometimes another way and tottereth like a ship that floateth on the water Which kinde of trembling is most dangerous as also when all the motion runneth one way Then is there yet another motion which philosophers properly call trembling to wit when two motions are opposite one to another as if two rammes should rush one against another And this is least daungerous of all although indeede they bee all very fearefull yet the feare is much greater when the tremblings continue with horrible and fearefull sounds like the bellowing of buls and as if the earth and all nature quaked and groaned beeing sore pressed and forced as is oftentimes seene ● the causes of earthquakes Now for the causes of all these kindes of earthquakes I may well say that there is no point in all naturall philosophie wherein the professors of this science finde themselues more intricately intangled nor wherein they more differ in opinions then in this For the Chaldeans and Astronomers referre the causes of motions and earthquakes to the heauen to the starres and to the planets and many philosophers assigne it to the water And yet those which are of this opinion differ amongst themselues For some suppose that the earth floateth vpon the water like a ship bicause it is enuironed with water according to the naturall order of the disposition of the elements whereby it is diuersly mooued Others doe attribute the cause of earthquakes to those waters onely which are inclosed within the vaines and caues of the earth Some also to the fire and some to the windes shut vp within it and some to the heate chased by the colde which striueth against it and causeth it to search an issue out For as the water vndermineth the earth and those places through which it doth passe euen so may the fire doe and if either of them be so inclosed that they cannot finde an easie issue they striue then to doe it by force and violence So doe the windes and the heate chased by the cold So then if the earth be vndermined it is no maruell if the vpper part sinke and fall downe being swallowed vp as into a gulfe considering that the earth bicause of the heauines thereof tendeth alwaies downward towardes the center thereof which is the midst of it and of all the worlde And if the waters or the fire or the windes inclosed and shut vp in the earth or the contrarie qualities which contend one with another cannot finde a passage or issue their power is so great that they constraine the earth which resisteth them and by forcing it make it to cleaue and open and to remooue and to shake in those places wherein it is forced Concerning all which things one may make a neere coniecture Of the force and violence in artillerie by the force and violence which is seene in ordinance and artillerie For euery one beholdeth what force there is by meanes of fire and of the matter inclosed within to wit powder and of the contrarie qualities wherof it is compounded and of the winde that therein is ingendred not onely to driue out with maruellous violence all the charge that therein is but also many times to burst the peece it selfe if there be any resistance to hinder it that it discharge not quickly or if it be not well made and very strong and well proportioned to the charge We behold also what a winde there issueth out and what noise it maketh and how the noise makes the earth to sound and tremble and oftentimes it happeneth that this onely winde killeth those that stand neere the cannons mouth such is the violence thereof although they be not touched at all with the bullet that it shooteth But wee beholde more cleerely in mines which are made vnder ground the violence of this powder when it is therein inclosed with the fire which is set thereto by traines For there is neither towne nor castle be they neuer so well founded nor any fortresse which is not onely shaken but ouerturned also like as by an horrible earth-quake Wherein we may note how that it hath not beene sufficient for men to counterfeit thunders and lightnings in artillerie but they haue also inuented the meanes to represent the motions and shakings of the earth in such manner as we haue signified There are some philosophers also Earthquakes compared to agues who haue taught that the same reason is in earthquakes as there is in the shaking of mens bodies and that they are like feuers and maladies of the earth which come vnto it through diuers causes saue that they hold not all the bodie thereof as they doe in men but onely some partes of it For they argue that the water is in the earth as the blood which hath his course through the vaines of mans bodie and the winde is as the vitall spirits which passe through the arteries thereof And as there happen diuers stoppings in the bodie which hinder the blood and vitall spirits that they cannot keepe their right course and ordinarie passage whereupon their order is troubled and the bodie pained in such sort that grones ensue and difficultie of breathing shakings and such like accidents So is it with the bodie of the earth when any thing happens to it contrarie to the naturall disposition thereof by the meanes which we haue already heard whether by water by fire

forward the floud decreaseth so that the third quarter it is in the same state wherein it was the first quarter Neuerthelesse when the waining moone is halfe round the floud beginneth to rise But when she is in coniunction with the sunne the tide riseth as high as at full moone And when the moone is high and septentrionall the tide is not so vehement as when she is meridionall bicause that being then more neere to the earth she doth the more exercise hir power But many haue indeuoured in this matter to vnderstand Why the ocean doth differ in flowing from other seas why the flowings of the Ocean sea doe reach farther then those of the other Mediterranean seas wherein the ebbings and flowings doe not appeere as in the Ocean Which may be said to proceed because that a thing which is entire hath more power then any part which is separated Also the high sea retayneth in it selfe more of the power of the Moone which worketh vpon it at ease and pleasure beyond all comparison more forcibly then vpon other seas which are narrower and minister lesse meanes to this planet to exercise her rule therein From whence it commeth to passe that lakes and riuers do neuer flow And for the Mediterranean seas they are enclosed about with the earth as in an hauen though there bee some places or some armes of the same seas verie broad Some likewise are verie much subiect to the Moone as the Adriaticke gulfe wherein Venice is builded which ebbeth and floweth twise euerie day like the Ocean And it is to bee noted that such motions are better perceiued on the shore and sea-coasts then in the midst thereof euen as the pulse of the arteries is better knowne in the extremes of the bodie then in the bulk thereof Other causes of the flowing and ebbing of the sea Some also do render this cause of the flowing and ebbing of the sea to wit that though the waters thereof be salt yet were not this sufficient for their conseruation no more then of their neighbor the aire if they had not a continuall motion For we see that sea-water doth presently corrupt beeing in a vessel and not mooued Many also haue noted that in euery reuolution or course of the moone the tyde resteth for three daies long to wit the 7. 8. and 9. day thereof and that when shee is at full all seas do purge themselues by scummes Certainely it is woondrous to see what power this planet hath not onely ouer the waters but also ouer the earth and ouer all liuing creatures Of the power of the moone ouer all creatures Which hath ministred occasion to many Philosophers to suppose that the moone was that quickning-spirit which nourisheth the earth and that also by hir inconstant course approching diuers waies to the inferior bodies shee produced diuers effects sometimes replenishing them and sometimes leauing them void empty Whereof it commeth that all fishes hauing scales and shels do encrease and decrease according to the course of the moone and that all liuing creatures also which haue bloud do feele themselues refreshed when shee renueth It is likewise supposed that the bloud augmenteth or diminisheth in man according as the moone encreaseth or waineth yea that herbes and trees do partake of hir power Aristotle also doth note that those creatures which are readie to die do die onely when the sea ebbeth But in this matter as in all things which do concerne the ebbing and flowing of the Ocean wee must euer haue recourse to the ordinance that the Eternall father of the vniuers hath established in all his creatures according to which they perseuer in obedience to their creator without transgressing one title of his lawes as wee haue a notable example in the sea and in the waters which containe themselues in such admirable sort as in our former speech is declared within their bounds and limits A maruailous inundation of waters in the yeere 1530. And if at any time they ouerflowe as whilome happened in Holland where the water brake through the dams and banks wherewith the countrie is bounded swallowing vp the coast-townes with an incredible losse of men and riches as also at the same time Tiber did so ouerflowe at Rome that it rose in the fields the height of a lance ruinating in fower and twenty howers many bridges and stately edifices the endommagement whereof comprising therein the mooueable goodes lost was esteemed to amount to the value of three millions of golde there being aboue three thousand persons choaked and drowned Such deluges I say doe not come to passe what natural causes soeuer the learned force themselues to render without the expresse command and ordinance of God who will after this sort vse the water to take vengeance vpon those whom he pleaseth to wash from off the face of the earth as being vnwoorthie to dwell longer thereupon And so he himselfe hath prophesied vnto vs saying Luke 21. There shall bee signes in the sunne and in the moone and in the starres and vpon the earth trouble among the nations with perplexitie the sea and waters shall roare Adding afterwards For the powers of heauen shall be shaken Moreouer we may say that although the celestiall bodies haue no more life sense and vnderstanding then the earth and the sea yet neuertheles they haue as it were a secret feeling by nature of the maiestie of God their creator who causeth them to rise vp against men for their rebellion and wickednes Surely when we see them rise and stand vp against men to worke them euill in stead of doing them good contrarie to the end of their first creation we must consider of them as if they enuied and denied to serue men any more which turne disloyall ingratefull and peruerse towards him from whom their totall good proceedeth As the sunne did witnes when it waxed darke at the death of our Redeemer depriuing those of his light which were risen vp against the eternal Sonne of God that had created them For it is certaine that the creatures do grone and trauell altogither as the scripture saith till such time as Iesus Christ shall come in iudgement Rom. 8. Acts. 3. which is the day of the restitution and restoring of all things foretold by the prophets And which day being neere it is no maruell if God doe daily shew his particular iudgements vpon men to put them in minde of this generall and vniuersall iudgement whereto heauen earth the sea and all creatures shall come togither and therefore also he giueth them so many signes of his wrath by thunders tempests deluges and inundations of water as we haue made mention But let vs proceed to contemplate his other works and great woonders which abound euery where both in the earth and in the sea in other terrestriall waters by which very many commodities do redound to men thorough the prouidence of God And first we will speake of the

not attribute either to the prudence and wisedome of any one or yet to the force and power or to the weapons or armies of men the changes which we daily see in the state of the most mighty but to the onely ordinance and disposition of God by which such alterations come to passe according as the soueraigne iudge knoweth to bee expedient and iust for the chastisement and punishing of men by one another or else to shew himselfe benigne and fauorable towards them For which cause the scripture saith that the Lord vsing as his instrument Senacherib the tyrant of Assyria to chastise many people and nations Isay 10. he calleth him the rodde and scourge of his wrath and doth greatly reprehend him by Isay for that he attributed to himselfe the glory of those victories which he had giuen him not bicause of his vertues considering he was a fierce and cruell king but bicause God woulde vse him against those who deserued to be chastised by the hands of such a tyrant and murtherer If then we consider as behooueth vs vpon that which we haue here summarily touched we shall finde therein excellent doctrine for all kings princes and people and for all men as well in generall as in particular to the end to induce them That euery one must containe himselfe within the limits of his habitation that they may containe themselues within the inclosure of those confines wherein God hath placed them For as he is cursed in the lawe which passeth the bounds of his neighbors possession so must we not doubt but that they are subiect to the same curse who cannot containe themselues within the bounds of those countries Deut. 27. in which God hath confined them bestowing vpon them power signories and habitation therein For from whence proceede the greatest dissensions and cruellest wars but from the ambition and auarice of men which will one vsurpe aboue another that which appertaineth not vnto them and by such meanes doe out-passe their limits whereas if euery one would content himselfe with that part and portion of land which the creator thereof hath bestowed vpon him who doubteth but that men should liue in much more peace As then God through his prouidence would constraine them by necessitie and neede which they haue one of another to trafficke and communicate togither in libertie and mutuall securitie by that meanes to receiue out of one countrie into another those things which faile therein and abound elsewhere and for the causes by vs heretofore deliuered so it hath pleased him to set mightie and strong bounds and limits against their ambition and auarice especially of kings princes and great men For we see how he hath diuided and separated one countrie from another and the diuers regions and kingdomes of the earth not onely by meanes of seas lakes and great riuers but also by craggie high and vnpassable mountaines which as the kingly prophet witnesseth he hath established by his power Psal 65. that by this meanes men might be cōfined within the bounds of the habitation assigned by the Eternall to euery people in such sort as he hath inclosed the waters within their places to the course which he hath ordained them Against the ambition and auarice of men hauing bounded them with hils and rocks And yet there are no boundes so difficult to passe which may bridle and restraine the ambition and insatiable desire of men within any limits but that they will passe ouer the deepest the longest the amplest and broadest waters and the highest and steepest mountaines in the world so that there are no places so inaccessible through which they will not cut a passage one to ouer-run another by great outrage and violence Wherein surely they euidently declare that they are much more furious then the sea how outragious and rough soeuer it bee seeing they can in no wise containe themselues within their limits as the waters doe which also maketh them more vnreasonable then brute beasts For although there be many vnruly and furious horses in one stable yet each of them will commonly bee staied with an halter made but of a little coard or leather and will be kept by a little bar of wood from striking running ouer one another so that one onely stable will serue them all But men doe to the contrarie shew themselues to be such furious and contentious beastes that the whole world cannot suffice them For there is neither riuer sea lake nor mountaine which can be a barre sufficient to withhold them from forcing and rauaging one another destroying themselues by horrible massacres and cruell warres Which no doubt commeth vnto them especially through want of acknowledging and considering vpon the prouidence of God by which he hath appointed bounds to their habitation ambition and auarice as we haue said and for that they will not containe themselues within them obeying the ordinance of their creator But we haue said ynough concerning this subiect Let vs now discourse vpon those commodities which come to men and to all creatures by the course of the waters thorough the earth Which AMANA shall be the substance of your speech Of the commodities which are incident to men and to all creatures by the course of the waters through the earth Chap. 62. AMANA IF men doe but slenderly acknowledge the prouidence of God in the limits of their habitation which hee hath appointed as well by meanes of mountaines as by waters as we haue heard in the precedent speech they doe also make but small stay in the consideration of those great commodities which he giueth and sendeth continually to them by means of them of al the earth For as he watereth this fruitfull mother by dew raine from heauen as hath beene heretofore expressed so doth he moisten it by meanes of fountaines floods and riuers which doe run through it Whereupon we must note that the life of all corporall creatures doth principally consist in heate and that this heate cannot be preserued and maintained without moisture whereby it is nourished euen as the flame of the snuffe or match of a candle or lampe is nourished and maintained by the fat and humor which is therein Therefore as God hath placed the sunne in heauen like a great fountaine of heate and a great furnace of fire for to be distributed and disposed into all partes of the world so hath hee established the sea here belowe in the earth as a great and perpetuall fountaine conuenient for the nourishment and conseruation of this heate which is communicated to the earth and to all the creatures that are therein And therefore also this sea spreadeth it selfe into diuers places by the meanes which haue beene declared so that the courses of the waters in the earth are like the vaines in a mans bodie Goodly similitudes of the course of the waters and of the vaines which are in the body For euen as the soueraigne Creator hath placed the liuer in the bodies of liuing creatures which is as the fountaine of blood needefull

and white and of those are formed reddish Dates which haue a very hard long and crested stone within them And there are of these trees male and female which are discerned in that the femall buddeth without blossomes Maruell of the female Palme-tree or flowers And that which is most admirable in this diuersitie of kinde is that the female beeing separated from the male will hang downe hir branches and wither turning hir selfe that way whither her male hath beene caried so that the inhabitants of the countrie fearing to loose hir take of the earth and of the root of the male which they lay about the foot of the female who through this meanes springeth reneweth strength and beareth fruit It is noted in Date-trees that there are some which naturally follow the Sun which way so euer he turneth as many other plants do which hauing a sympathy and secret inclination to this star as acknowledging his virtue and that their vigour is deriued from him do alwaies behold him they themselues loosing colour when hee is far off from them And this is also very wonderfull in the Date tree that beeing dead it reuiueth of it selfe by meanes of the proper rootes thereof which beeing very deepe vnder ground maintained by the radicall humour there do at length spring out of them certaine stalkes which are afterwards sustained by the Sun there nourished and made trees Drinke that distilleth out of the Date-tree bearing fruit as before Moreouer out of the trunck of Date-trees many people especially the Negroes do extract a licour which they vse for beuerage in stead of wine by making a large slit therein with a certaine instrumēt a foot or two aboue the earth And this licour is of the colour of whay very good to drinke and almost asmuch inebriating or as strong as wine for which cause it must bee very oftentimes mixed with water And when it runneth out of the stock it is as sweete as new wine but it looseth that sweetenes from day to day becomming more pleasant to drinke when it tasteth somewhat more tart because it doth then slake thirst best They also draw out of this tree certaine threeds as fine as our threed Tapistry made of Palme trees wherof they make tapistrie worke which serue like other things to couer them which neede not seeme verie strange considering that in many other places they beat the barkes of some trees so hard after they haue wet it that they do draw it out so fine and weaue it so artificially as one would suppose it to be some faire and thin taffata Such as haue sailed to Manicongo and along the coast of Ethiopia do assure vs thereof in their writings For if that cotton commeth from trees and silke is spunne by wormes as all men know what should hinder the foresaid things to be of such ability through the ordinance of God established in nature to the end that men might receiue from these plants that which is needfull for them and which they cannot obtaine by the meanes that are common to others But if any make doubt therof because it is not notoriously known vnto all then must we shut the doore against al things that seeme rare But what shal we say to that which is taught vs by many graue Authors that of the fruit of these trees called the Thebane Date being dried in the sun til such time as it may be ready to be groūd Bread made of Dates men vse to make bread which is a common practise amongst those of that countrey Moreouer for the particular vertues and properties of Dates they are so much different Propertie of Dates as there bee diuers kindes of them for some are drie and binding as those of Egypt others are soft moist and sweete as those that grow in Syria Palestina and Iericho And the rest are in meane betwixt these two kinds and all are hard in digestion and breed headach Some say that two greene dates hauing their stones taken out and then filled vp with powder of Vermilion being eaten doe keepe women with child that they may not abort and that being dried they be good to eate by such as spit blood to such as haue a weake stomacke and are troubled with the bloodie fluxe Now let vs speake of a tree Of a tree seruing for bread oyle wine and vineger that doth much resemble the Date-tree and is no lesse woorthie of woonder then it because it serueth for bread wine oyle and vineger This tree is called by the Arabians Baratha and of some Iansialindi which is as much to say as the Indian tree and the Indians name it Trican and the fruit thereof Nihor or Cocco It is found in many Ilands of India chiefly in Zamat and in the circumiacent Isles where the people liue vpon the fruit of this tree which fruit is as big as a mans head and is that which we terme An Indie Nut. The outtermost barke of this tree is all greene and aboue two fingers thicke amongst which they finde certaine fillets whereof they make cords wherewith the inhabitants of the countrey sowe their boats together Within this barke is another which they burne and beat to dust afterwards they vse this powder as a medicine for their sicke Vnder this second barke againe is a certaine white pith couered which is about a finger thicke and this they eate in stead of bread with flesh and fish And to make it the better they dry it first and then bring it into meale and make verie good bread thereof as the ancients in old time made of Acornes and of chestnuts for want of corne In the midst of this pith they finde a verie cleere sweete and cordiall water which being curdled and conuerted into an oylie substance they boyle it and then this mixture becomes so fat as the best butter that can be made amongst vs. But if they would haue vineger they set this water in the sunne without making it to boyle and it will become cleere and sharpe and as white as milke For their drinking liquor it runs out of the branches in great abundance And two of these trees suffice for the nourishment of an whole family Furthermore their fruit is hot in the second degree and moist in the first Propertie of Indie Nuts There is oyle drawen out of it verie good against the hemorrhoides and which healeth the paines of the reines and of the knees and purgeth the bellie of wormes This Indie-Nut bringeth also mens bodies into a good fat estate and restoreth leane and consumed persons A tree named Gehuph In the Isles of the Malucoes especially in Taprobana doth likewise growe a tree of a meruailous propertie and effect which is named in their language Gehuph and of the Indians Cobban It groweth very high but the leaues thereof are small The barke is all yealow and the fruit big and round like a ball hauing a nut enclosed within it wherein is

common prouerb Tuhai piu virtu che non ha la Betonica Thou art endewed with more virtues then Betonie is This herb hath a small stalke and in many places is found of a cubit in height hauing leaues like an oake soft long cut round about of sweete smell great neere to the roote and the seed thereof at top of the stalke lookes like that of sauorie Now for the propertie of this plant the leaues thereof brayed and layde to wounds in the head doe presently search them and healing them from day to day it is not long ere they fortifie the hurt part Being beaten and applied to the forehead they heale the paine of the eies which likewise the decoction of the root doth being sod in water til one third part be cōsumed if you wash your eies therewith The iuice of the leaues being drunke doth purge downwards that blood the great abundance whereof doth dazzle and dimme the sight Wherefore Betonie being eaten doth sharpen and clarifie it And being beaten with a verie little salt and put into the nosthrils it stancheth bleeding at the nose And the warme iuice being distilled with oyle of roses and put into the eares doth asswage the paine of them The vse of this herbe is verie profitable for those which are pained at the stomacke and haue short breath who spit corruption who haue paine in their liuer and spleene and are troubled with running of the raines it prouoketh vrine easeth the gnawing of the bellie and guttes if it proceede not from encreasing of humours and is verie good against dropsies breaketh the stone stayeth the spitting of blood and taken fasting keepeth from drunkennes being drunke often with wine it healeth the iaundise refresheth those that haue trauelled farre sharpneth the appetite resisteth poysons venims and bitings of serpents and all other venemous and mad beasts being not onely taken inwardly but also applied outwardly to the wounds In summe this plant hath so many properties therein that a verie learned phisition amongst the ancients hath written a whole booke thereof Anton. Musa Of Ceterach and the virtue thereof Ceterach hath many vertues of Betonie it groweth on wals and olde ruines and vpon rockes and in shadie places It hath neither stalke flower nor seed but hath many leaues growing out of a roote which are cut like those of mountaine Polipodie red and hairie vnderneath and greene aboue The decoction of this herbe is good for all melancholie passions it consumeth spleene is profitable for those that can hardly make water breaketh the stone in the bladder and is good for them that haue the iaundise Some bray Ceterach leaues to lay them hauing beene steeped in wine vpon the spleene which serueth well for to open it The yealow powder which is found behinde those leaues being drunke with a little white Amber and with the iuice of Plantaine or of Purslaine is maruellous profitable for those that are troubled with running of the reines Saint Iohns-woort also is a verie excellent herbe It is full of branches of a span in height reddish bearing a leafe like to Rue Of Saint Iohns wort and the propertie thereof hauing a yealow flower like to a violet which being rubbed betwixt the fingers yeeldeth iuice as red as blood This plant is called Millepertuis or thousand holes because the leaues of it are all full of so small holes that one can scarce see them but onely betwixt their sight and the sun It beareth seed in rough round and somewhat long huskes This herbe hath power to open resolue search and binde againe It heateth and drieth and is of subtile substance wherefore it prouoketh vrine The seede thereof being drunke with wine voideth the stone out of the bodie and resisteth poysons both the seed and herbe being eaten or taken in drinke or outwardly applied healeth inuenomed bitings The water distilled of this herbe when it beareth flower is singular good for those that are subiect to the falling sicknes or are troubled with the palsie if it be giuen them to drinke The seed being beaten into powder with the iuice of Renouée is good against spitting of blood It purgeth the belly the flowers and seed also haue a maruellous vertue to heale all wounds except such as are in the head Wherefore the oyle wherein the flowers and cods full of seede shall haue beene long time steeped in the sunne doth heale verie well all greene wounds especially if it be mixed with Turpentine If the belly be rubbed with this oyle it is good against the Dysenteria and a spoonefull thereof being drunke killeth the wormes There is a singular balme made of the flowers thereof with the fruit of an elme and rose-buds putting all together in a glasse bottle and setting it in the sunne till such time as all be so consumed that it seemeth to be putrified then must all be strained thorough a cloth and kept so to be vsed chiefely for wounds and hurts of the bodie Now AMANA doe you prosecute our discourse concerning Symples Of Celondine Cammocke Wormewood Hyssope Sage and Mints Chap. 74. AMANA Of Celondine and of the properties thereof IN the description of plants we finde that there is mention made of two kindes of Celondine otherwise called Clarie either of them indued with many vertues That which is called great Celondine hath a slender stalke of a cubit long and hath leaued branches The leaues thereof are soft and greene somewhat inclining towards a blew The flower resembleth that of the white Violet which buddeth out according to the order of euerie leafe It beareth long and slender cods made pointed wherein the seed is enclosed This herbe is of a verie abstersiue and hot qualitie The iuice thereof is verie good to take out spots and the pin and web in the eies but because it is verie sharp you must before you applie it mixe it with those things that may represse the sharpnes therof as namely with womans milke being put into hollow teeth it looseneth them that they fall out If you rub warts therewith they fall off and drie vp The decoction of the roote being drunk with annise seed and white wine doth heale the iaundise and is good for eating vlcers and being chewed it asswageth the paine in the teeth Some make report that swallowes cause their yoong ones to recouer lost sight by applying this herbe vnto them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and that for this occasion it deriued the name thereof from a Greeke word which signifieth a Swallow as being verie well knowen by these birds and commodious for them Some Alchimists say for Chelidonium Celidonium that is the gift of heauen vaunting that they can extract out of this herbe a quintessence not onely fit for their purposes but profitable also to conserue the health of man and to heale many diseases Celondine the lesse is without stalke Of Celondine the lesse the leaues are round and thicke the flower yealow hanging at a small

is one of the most gentle medicines and least annoying that may be amongst laxatiue remedies But it is euerie where so common that none esteeme of it It is not only laxatiue but doth also fortifie the interiour members bindeth their veines which are too loose as also those of the stomacke and of the liuer and healeth feuers that proceed by choler or through stoppings It euacuateth the cholerike humour verie much in vrine the seed thereof is bitter and somewhat sharpe and it is somewhat more hot then the herbe that is temperate so that the whole plant is purifying penetratiue opening and laxatiue And because of the cold and stiptick qualitie thereof it bindeth restrayneth and fortifieth It doth gently loosen the belly it purgeth choler and burning humours Wherefore it is good against the meazels against cankers and all infections of the skin and other maladies which doe proceed from oppilations the iuice thereof cleereth the sight causeth teares to issue euen as smoke or fume doth whereof it seemeth to haue taken name Angelica is a most excellent plant Of Angelica and verie worthie to bee here described It is aboue a cubit in height it produceth a knottie stalke crested and full of pits the leaues thereof are long and indented round about the flowers white growing in bunches out of which springeth a little graine and smooth like a lentill The roote is as thicke as a reddish diuided into many branches sharpe in taste and sweete in smell Also there are sundry sorts thereof for one kinde is set in gardens another sort is wild and another groweth in watrie places All this plant is hot and drie in the second degree full or to the beginning of the third Wherefore it is opening attenuating and resoluing It is singular against poysons so that taken in drinke or often chewed it preserueth from the plague being taken alone it attenuateth flegmaticke and clammie humours And so doth the decoction of the roote thereof which doth readily heale the cough that comes through cold for it causeth one to spit out and voide all clammie fleame The same decoction receiued in wine or water healeth vlcers in the interior members dissolueth clotted blood and fortifieth the stomacke The roote beaten to powder is soueraigne against fainting of the hart other passions thereof It is singular against bitings of mad venimous beasts being laid thereupon with Rue or taken inwardly for which cause many of our moderne phisitions imploy it in their counterpoisons preseruatiues There is giuen halfe a dram of the root with a dram of treacle and the distilled water hereof to such as haue the plague who are constrained to sweat and seuen howers after to resume this drink and by this onely counterpoison some haue beene holpen This roote chewed and put into holow teeth asswageth the paine of them It also sweetneth the breath Whosoeuer shall hold a little peece thereof in his mouth or in the morning drinke two spoonefuls of wine wherein it hath beene steeped hee shall not easily bee infected with euill aire all day after The leaues thereof with the leaues of Rue and honie applied in a cataplasme heale the bitings of madde-dogs and stingings of serpents And being laide vpon his head that is sicke of an ague it attracteth to it selfe much of the heate of the ague Of Maidenhaire Maidenhaire also is a very exquisite plant much like vnto ferne but with smaller leaues set in order heere and there one ouer against another in fine smal branches sharpe in taste black and shining It is temperate in heate and coldenes and therefore it drieth purifieth and resolueth It is good to cause one spit and voide out of the breast and lungs all grosse and clammy humors It staieth the fluxe of the belly resolueth the kings euill and other tumors and being taken in drinke is singular for hardnes of water when one can make it but drop by drop it breaketh the stone The decoction also thereof is good for them that draw their breath with paine and is profitable for the spleene and against the iaundise And the herbe thereof being laid vpon the bitings of serpents is a singular remedie therefore To open also the infusion thereof made in parsley water or in endiue water or in broth of blacke chich-pease or in a little goats-milke is very good and adding sugar thereto it healeth inflammations of the side doth greatly prouoke vrine Briefly all the vertues that Phisitions attribute to Venus-haires called commonly Capilli Veneris agree with Maiden-haire Now AMANA let vs heare you choose out other plants for the subiect of your discourse Of Rheubarb Licorice Aloes Sene Saffron and Centurie Chapter 78. AMANA SIth that it is not our purpose to write an entire Historie concerning simples but onely to consider of the most excellent in their effects me seemeth that it is sufficient for vs so to make way to another matter to adde to our precedent discourses that which I intend nowe to speake concerning some singular plants amongst which I preferre Rheubarb to the first place which is very plentifull in all India The leaues of it are commonly two foote long broad aboue and so growing narrower towards the stalke Of Rheubarb and the excellent virtue thereof hauing a certaine cotton or as it were haire round about it as is cōmonly seene in the herb called in French Bouillon blane The stalk therof is but a foote high or little more and is all greene like the leaues In the middle thereof groweth out a very small branch hauing certaine flowers about it that enuiron it which are like vnto purple violets saue in colour onely which is different being white and blew of sharpe smell and very vnpleasant to their nose that smell thereat The roote is very deepe in the ground of a foote and an halfe long and as thicke as a mans arme some more some lesse and out of it there do many small ones sprout which before the great one be cut are digged vp with the principall to the end that it may more easily be cleft in peeces It is on the outside of an ashie colour and full of yellowish iuice while it is fresh and greene and so clammie that in touching thereof it causeth the fingers to sticke togither Now this roote is an excellent medicine gentle and without danger wherein many singularities requisite in a laxatiue simple are comprised And Rheubarb is best while it is greene of a blackish colour somewhat enclining to a redde and heauie although it be of a rare bodie and which being broken is mixed with red and skie colour within and being chewed waxeth as yellow as Saffron Besides it purgeth choler and flegme it clenseth and fortifieth the stomacke and liuer and healeth the paines and prickings of them It clarifieth the bloud openeth and healeth all maladies that proceed of stoppings as the iaundise the dropsie swelling of the spleene and long feauers It is good

of it one is called great Centurie and the other is lesser Centurie The great hath leaues like a walnut tree long greene like Colewoorts indented about a stalke of two or three cubits high The flower thereof is blew and the roote verie big full of iuice sharp with astriction and sweetnes The lesser sore hath leaues like rue a square stalke somewhat more then a span long the flowers thereof are red inclining to purple and the root is small smooth and bitter in taste For their properties the vertue of great Centurie consisteth in the roote thereof which serueth for ruptures conuulsions difficultie in breathing old coughes pleurisies and spitting of blood It is also giuen to them that are sicke of the dropsie of the iaundise and are pained in their liuer being either steeped in wine or beaten to powder and drunke Of the lesser Galen hath composed an whole booke which he dedicated to his friend Papias concerning the great and admirable vertues therein For it purgeth choler and fleame for which cause the decoction thereof is good against tertian feuers which also and the iuice thereof helpeth stoppings and hardnes of the liuer and spleene Being drunke likewise to the waight of a dram with honie or laid vpon the nauell it auoideth wormes out of the belly The leaues of this herbe wherein and in the flowers thereof lyeth all the vertue being applied fresh to great wounds search them and heales vp old vlcers But now changing our talke let vs leaue phisicke plants and say somwhat concerning those more excellent ones which particularly serue for the nouriture of Man Of Wheate Rie Barley and Oates and of Rice and Millet Chap. 79. ARAM. AMongsts herbs and plants wherewith men are fed and nourished the chiefe degree is by good right assigned to wheat as to that graine whereof the best bread is made which onely with water may very well suffice for the mainteinance of our life hauing many properties also in the vse of phisick Now according to the diuersitie of places wherein it groweth people do name it and one sort differeth from another but wee will heere speake of that which is most common amongst vs. All wheat hath many verie small roots Of Wheat and of the forme and fertilitie thereof but one leafe and many buds which may diuide themselues into sundry branches All the winter time it is an herb but the weather waxing milder there springeth out of the midst thereof a small stalk which after three or foure knots or ioints beareth an eare not by and by seene but is hidden within a case The stalke beeing made the flower bloometh some foure or fiue daies after and about so long endureth That past the graine swelleth and ripeneth in forty daies or sooner as the climate is in heat The fertility of this plant is meruailous as wee behold by daily experience For there are some places in Italie especially in the territory of Sienna about the sea coasts where there hath beene seene to grow out of one only graine foure and twenty eares of corne and that one bushell of seede hath yeelded an hundred The best wheat should bee hard to breake massiue waightie of the colour of gold cleere smooth kept three moneths ripe faire and growing in a fat soile to be the fitter to make better bread of And the meale also must not be too much ground neither yet too fresh nor too long kept before it be vsed for if it be too much ground it maketh bread as if it were of branne that which is too fresh doth yet retaine therein some heat of the mill-stone and that which is kept too long will be spoyled either by dust or by mouldines or will else haue some bad smell Now besides the common vse of wheat the manner how to make it in drinke is verie notable which drinke serueth insteed of wine in those countries where the vine cannot fructifie Beere For there they take wheat and sometimes barley rie or oates euerie one apart or else two or three sorts of these graines or else all mingled togither and steepe them in fountaine water or in water of the cleanest and cleerest riuer that may be chosen or else for better in a decoction or wourt of hops and this is done for so long time till the graine begin to breake then is it dried in the sunne being drie it is beaten or else ground afterwards sodden in water in which it hath first beene steeped for the space of three or fower howers putting thereto a good quantitie of the flowers of hops and skimming the decoction or wourt verie well that done it is powred out and put in vessels for the purpose This drinke is called Beere And they which will haue it verie pleasant to the taste after it is made doe cast into the vessels sugar cinamom and cloues and then stirre it verie much Some doe put cockle into the composition of beere the more to sharpen the taste And sith we are entred into this speech we will here note that wheat doth easily conuert into cockle chiefly when the weather is rainie and cold Of Cockle for it commeth of corne corrupted by too much moisture or that hath beene too much wet by continuall raines in winter It springeth first out of the ground hauing a long leafe fat rough with a slenderer stalk then that of wheat at the top whereof there is a long eare hauing on all sides little sharpe cods or huskes out of which three or fower graines grow together being couered with a verie hard barke The bread that hath much thereof in it doth dizzie and hurt the head so that they which eat thereof do commonly fall into a sound sleep and their head is much troubled It annoyeth the eies and dimmeth the sight Some also do make * As some thinke wafer-cakes Amylum of wheat which serueth for many things They take verie cleane wheat of three moneths olde which they wet fiue times a day and as often by night if it be possible being well soaked and steeped they powre the water away not shaking it to the ende that the thick and that which is like creame may not runne out with the water After that it is verie wel mollified and the water changed it must be sifted that the bran which swimmeth at top thereof may bee done away and then must it be kneaded verie hard together casting fresh water stil vpon it And so it must be laid in panniers or dossers to drie and then vpon new tiles to be parched in the sun with as much speed as may be for if it remaine neuer so little a while moist it waxeth sowre The best is that which is white fresh light and smooth It hath power to mollifie in sharpe and rough things and is good against rheumes that fall into the eies Being taken in drinke it restraineth spitting of blood and asswageth the sorenes of the throat Next after Wheat Rie is in

common vse to make bread of Of Rie This plant hath many stalkes smaller then those of wheat and blacker as the graine is also Meale made of Rie is good for plaisters to draw The decoction of the seede voideth wormes out of the belly especially if Coriander seed be mixed therewith The straw being soaked in water is good to binde vines insteed of rush or broome Barley is also much vsed euerie where Of Barley It beareth a broad leafe and rougher then wheat hath a britler and lesser stalk of eight knots with one onely rough broad leafe vpon the stalke The graine is lapped in a cod which is close shut out of the top whereof groweth a long and sharpe beard The best is that which is whitest most full heauie easie to boyle not waxing mouldie There groweth a certaine kinde of it in many places the graine whereof is easily taken out of the huske or cod and is therefore called clensed Barley Besides all barley drieth and cooleth and is also abstersiue The meale thereof boyled in honied-water with figs resolueth al inflammations and impostumes with rosin and pigeons dung it ripeneth all hard swellings with melilot heads of poppie it easeth the paine of the sides and with quinces or vineger it appeaseth inflammations of the goute in the feete The ashes of burnt barley is verie good for burnings being laide thereupon and applied to flesh that cleaueth not to the bone Concerning barley-bread besides that it lyeth heauie vpon the stomacke it engendreth also cold and clammie humours it nourisheth little causeth windines and yet some say it is very good for them that haue the gout in their feet Of Beere There is a certain kind of drink called Beere made of barley which is cōmonly vsed insteed of wine in al the north-countries to wit in Germany Bohemia Polonia Flāders other cold countries of Europe And if one take too much therof it wil inebriate or make drūken as wel as wine that for a lōger time bicause that beere is more grosse and materiall and of harder digestion then wine whereto it is so like also in force and vertue that aqua-vitae is likewise made thereof Next after barley oates are a graine very commodious Of Oates In leafe and stalke this graine resembleth wheate but it beareth on the top thereof as it were little twolegd grashoppers hanging where the graine is inclosed which though it seeme to be created of nature rather fit for beasts foode then for man yet in Germanie they oftentimes eate it in good fat flesh pottage being boiled therein after it hath beene cleansed of all filth as is vsed in rice Oates also in the vse of phisicke doe very neere approch to the qualitie of Barley For being applied it drieth and moderately resolueth But it is a little more cold and somewhat more restringent in temper so that it is good for the flux in the belly and profitable for those that haue the cough Of Rice Wee may likewise consider of Rice which the Ancients did hold to bee a kinde of corne The leafe thereof is very thick resembling that of a leeke The stalke thereof is about a cubit long knotty bigger then that of wheat and stronger on the top of it groweth an eare parted into little branches on both sides whereof is the graine included in a yealow huske rough and hauing creuises on the side of an ouall figure and beeing taken out of the huske it becommeth white It groweth in some places of Italie in moist ground but it aboundeth in Asia Syria and Egypt Rice is very vsuall in meat and nourisheth meanely but it is made of more e●●●… digestion and of better tast beeing sod in cowes-milk almond milke or fat flesh pottage It is very good to giue to such as haue the laxe and colick The flower thereof is good in repercussiue plaisters It staieth inflammations that rise in the dugs The decoction of Rice also is very profitable in clisters against laxes or fluxes and in drinke likewise Now to end this talke Of Millet wee will say something concerning Millet for it hath many properties both in food and phisick This plant beareth leaues like those of a reed hauing a stalke of a cubit long thick knottie and rough At the top thereof do hang certaine hairie heads in which the graine groweth in great abundance beeing round massiue yealow and lapped in a thin skin In many places bread is made of this graine and euen at Verona it is carried hot about the streets whereof they make much account for it hath a sweetnes very pleasant to the tast if it bee eaten a little after it is drawne out of the ouen but beeing hard it is vnpleasant The common people of Trent are nourished with Millet boiled onely eating it with milke and it is the best food that they can get Besides there are very good fomentations or serge-clothes made of Millet to dry moderately and to driue out ventosities especially beeing mixed with salt It is happily applied against griping in the bellie caused through windines but it is much better yet beeing mingled with flowers of Cammomill It is commonly fried in a pan and then put hot into a bag and so laid vpon the diseased parts It hath the vertue to preserue medicines long time from moulding and putrifying if they bee buried in an heape of Millet yea and fresh flesh is long kept thereby in hot weather Now to finish this daies discourse it seemeth good to me ACHITOB that you speake of the vine and fruit thereof of which men make their most delicious drinke Of the Vine of Grapes of Wine and of Aqua-vitae Chap. 80. ACHITOB. IT were very superfluous to make here a long discourse concerning the Vine and concerning the diuers qualities which are found in this plant of which wee doe not onely receiue Grapes a most pleasant and delicious meat but haue also that most exquisite drinke which wee call wine for all the world hath so much cherished the vine that there are few people of any condition soeuer but can discourse sufficiently well of it and of the nature thereof Property of the Vine We will briefly then declare that which wee shall thinke most notable therein and chiefly in the vse of medicine The leaues and tender branches thereof helpe the head-ach beeing laid thereupon and appease inflammations and heat of the stomack The iuice of them drunke serue against Dysenterias or fluxes spitting of bloud weakenes of stomack and the corrupt appetite of great bellied women The licour of vines which lieth thick vpon the stock thereof like gum beeing taken in drinke with wine purgeth grauell The ashes of the branches and stones beeing mixed with vineger helpeth the hard bindings of the fundament and is good against the stingings and bitings of vipers and against inflammation of the spleene beeing laid thereupon with oile of Roses Rue and vineger As grapes are the most singular fruits

and that fill to the third part of the pot or bodie then couer it with the head thereof verie well closed so that no vapour may issue out set it vpon the furnace ouer a moderate fire in such sort that the wine boyle not And to haue verie good Aqua-vitae you must distill it fower or fiue times and more for the more it is rectified the perfecter it will be And in the first distillation it is sufficient to receiue the tenth part of the wine put into the limbeck for the second the halfe for the third another moitie or lesse so that the oftner you distill the lesser you haue but better alwaies Now you may know whether Aqua-vitae haue attained to full perfection by these signes If it arise to the like quantitie of water or verie neere as the liquor put in if being lighted or set on fire it burne al away and leaue not any marke of moysture in the bottome of the vessell if a doth being dipt therein and lighted will not burne at all if a drop of oyle being cast therein sinke to the bottom and if a drop of this water spilt in the palme of your hand doe presently consume and euaporate Now the vertues and properties of this Aqua-vitae are verie many For as it preserueth from all corruption those things which haue beene steeped therein so all corruption being done away it keepeth repaireth mantaineth augmenteth and prolongeth the life of those that receiue it And it doth not onely preserue the naturall heat and mantaine it in vigour but it also regenerateth the vitall spirit quickneth and warmeth the stomacke sharpneth the braine and vnderstanding cleereth the sight repaireth the memorie especially if they vse it who are of a cold temper being subiect to rawnes of stomacke windines and other cold maladies Thus then haue we declared enough concerning the plants and fruits which the earth produceth for the commoditie of man Wherefore we will to morrow consider of the diuersitie of terrestriall creatures created to the same ende that we may be the more induced to glorifie him from whom we receiue all these benefits The end of the tenth daies worke THE ELEVENTH DAIES WORKE Of terrestriall beasts and especially of Serpents namely of the Aspis or Adder and of the Viper Chapter 81. ASER. BEing this day to discourse concerning liuing creatures of the Earth so much as the subiect of our speech doth require for the accomplishment of our worke It behooueth vs to consider that the terrestriall beasts being as it were innumerable in the species yet they consist of two principall kindes to wit of Insect and of perfect beasts They of the first kinde are called of the Latins by this word Insecta because of the incisions which appeere vpon their bodies retayning life in that part which we behold diuided and cut off and they are engendred for the most part of putrefaction but these things agree not with perfect creatures who take their forme in the matrice Now we will here summarily entreat of Insect animals generally and consequently of the most excellent of their kinde whereof some creepe vpon the earth Of Insect beasts as serpents others fly as flies We are first then to note that all insect beasts are wilde and are verie hardly tamed and made milde for they haue their inner senses verie weak whereas such creatures as are made tame and familiar must haue the facultie of imagination and good memorie Moreouer these kindes of beasts haue little blood or none at all as Philosophers hold who finde in them a certaine vitall humour onely which Nature hath giuen them insteed of blood for which cause they are naturally fearfull and feare hindreth creatures from being tamed Likewise they haue commonly but short life and beasts who should be made familiar require time for that purpose Furthermore in this kinde of Insect beasts some are engendred onely of putrefaction as flies others of egs as serpents and also by another manner which is perfected in the matrice by egs as the viper Now in al this kind of beasts they are most admirable which we haue heere named to wit serpents because of their greatnes and puissant effects and hony-flies or bees and silke-wormes also because of their worke But amongst the many kindes of serpents Of the Aspis the Aspis or Adder is very worthie of consideration and much to bee feared for there are three sorts each whereof causeth him that is bitten by them soone to die except he bee quickly and very well succoured One sort is named Ptyas another Chersaea both earth-serpēts and the third is called Chelidonia which abideth about banks of riuers specially of Nilus The Ptyas and Chersaea are of ashie and greene colour drawing a little to the colour of gold But the Chelidonia hath a blacke backe and white belly like to swallowes And both the one and the other sort are of fiue cubits long in the regions of Africa They raise vp their necke when they will cast their venim wherewith when one is attayned their present remedie is speedily to cut away all that which is bitten or else it is hard to saue them from death and yet many speake of diuers remedies and amongst others they commend verie strong vineger aduising that it should be giuen to the patient to drinke euen so much and for so long time till he feele the qualitie in the right side of his flanks for they say that the liuer is first depriued of feeling in such an accident Some vse Opopanax a drug extracted out of Panaces Heracleum which is giuen to drinke in wine mixed with water to cause them vomit the venim alreadie spread throughout the whole bodie And after such vomiting they must take verie good treacle in drinke and apply it also vpon the biting Mattheolus describeth a quintessence In. Diosco● Lib. 6. composed of Aqua-vitae and some simples and aromaticall drugs which is an excellent remedie of great efficacie when such accidents happen For indeed it is most certaine that waters artificially composed and ingeniously distilled consisting of most subtile parts are in a moment dispersed throughout all the veines and arteries and euerie part of the whole bodie And therefore they cause that the blood and spirits waxe not cold and doe not congeale in those vessels which containe them whereby also the naturall heat comming to augment it selfe doth strongly resist the force of the venim and doth presently surmount it The Viper also is a kinde of serpent it hath a flat head Of the viper and broad neere to the ioint of the necke which is naturally small it hath a quicke eie and a naile in the nosthrill thereof hauing all the rest of the bodie short with the taile also and is of a pale colour Her pace and motion is verie quicke and she beareth her head aloft she differeth from other serpents in that they lay but egs and she bringeth foorth her yoong ones aliue which before

is to be esteemed which hath a liuely and couragious hart which is obedient gentle deliuer quicke and wel mouthed hauing a good foot What haire is best and strong reines For haire the bay is best of all others which being of diuers colours doe depend neuerthelesse vpon these fower bay rushet blacke and gray For these fower colours proceed of fower principall humors whereof the bodie of an horse is composed and which agree and accord with the fire aire earth and water For choler which resembleth the fire engendreth the bay blood which accordeth with the aire produceth the rushet or reddish coloured Fleame which is answerable to the water causeth the gray and melancholy which agreeth with the earth begetteth the blacke The bay haire then excelleth all others as beeing that which beareth the signe and marke of a couragious horse hardie in warre and most singular in iusts and combats in so much as hee feareth nothing nor looseth courage howsoeuer he feele himselfe wounded because also hee seeth not by reason of his colour the bloud runne streaming out of his bodie The russet haire betokeneth a quick hardy and prompt horse but not of great force and the black is melancholy and vnsound and the gray is heauy and fearefull Moreouer by how much more these colours are diuersified and mixed with markes and spots by so much is the goodnes or badnes of the horse greater We may also say truely Of the commodity by Horses that amongst all the beasts which God hath created for the seruice of man there is not one which may compare with the horse either in beauty labor vnderstanding or profit and commodity For the horse onely serueth for an honorable grace for man who makes him to goe at his pleasure sometimes softly sometimes a pace now a trot anon a gallop another time with swift posting speede and sometimes he plaieth with him causing him to make many risings and diuers cur●ets bounds and leapes another time he maketh him runne wheeling about in a round ring then to bound and rebound and lastly to goe easily forwardes And by meanes of this vse and exercise a man chaseth away melancholie humors fortifieth his stomack and whole bodie and augmenteth his disposition grace and ability Moreouer there is no iourney so difficult which hee will not vndertake with a good horse knowing that he can passe any whither and saue himselfe from the assaults of theeues and robbers yea and oftentimes the horse fighteth with feete and teeth for the safety of his maister But these generous beasts doe especially declare their valor and courage in the cruell encounters of battailes and fights beeing incited by the fearefull noise of gunshot by the hideous thundering of cannons by the sounding of trumpets and rumbling of drummes then I say when all beeing in confusion it seemeth that the earth opens that the place flies in peecs and that hell swallowes vp all in respect of the shiuering of launces clinking of armor and the dreadfull cries of men who are there by thousands hewen in pieces And many do scape by the onely meanes of their horses God shewing them such fauour as histories are full of testimonies thereof and of the admirable sense wherewith nature hath endued these beastes Amongst which Alexanders horse Bucephalus is very much celebrated chiefly because that hee would not suffer any to ride him but his maister although he had beene cloathed in kingly robes It is also said that this horse beeing wounded at an assault of Thebes he would not permit Alexander to mount vpon another till such time as hee had brought him out of all danger Hist nat lib. ● c. 42. Plinie reporteth that a certaine king of Scythia beeing ouerthrowne in battell when his enimie came to disarme him his horse ranne vpon him with such fury that he killed him reuenging so the death of his maister And that after the death of king Nicomedes who was slaine his horse would neuer eat but died through hunger and sorrowe And that one named Antiochus seazing vpon an horse of one Galatus slaine in fight mounted thereupon reioicing at the death of the other which the horse of the dead-man vnderstanding did in rage and despight so fling and runne that he bare Antiochus ouer mountaines and rocks casting himselfe at last downe from an high place so breaking his owne and his riders neck But wee haue said enough hereof Now ACHITOE let vs heare you continue the discourse concerning beasts Of the Elephant of the Camell and of the Rhinoceros Chap. 84. ACHITOB. IT seemeth that there is no beast which approcheth neerer to the sense of man then the Elephant For he is endued with so excellent witte discretion and memorie that he surpasseth in these guifts all other beasts Of the Elephant as he doth in strength also He is bigger then two great oxen couered with black haire hauing eies like to those of swine and such a mouth also beeing couered with a truncke or snout that hangs downe to the ground which serueth him for an hand to put his victuals into his mouth both meate and drinke and out of both sides thereof two great tuskes do issue which are fastned in his vpper iaw His eares are two spans broad his thighs and legs thick and long in such sort that some are found of fifteene foot high his nailes beeing fiue in number about his feete are round and each naile a palme broad and his taile is about three handfuls long In many regions of Africa they vse these elephants to ride ordinarily vpon and they serue for many domestick businesses also so that the trafficke of them there is as that of horses here But the Indians vse them in the war putting vpon this beast a certaine saddle beeing girt very streight about him with two iron chaines vpon which they set two wooden houses on either side one and in each of those houses doe three men lodge betweene which houses and the elephants neck is a little seat placed vpon which a man sitteth like as if hee were on horse back who guideth this beast by his words which he vnderstandeth very well and he carrieth neither bridle nor halter nor any thing else vpon his head And euen as they which are within these houses vpon his back are armed with coats of maile with bowes launces swords and targets so likewise will he bee couered with a maile especially vpon his head and snout to which men fasten a sword of two fadomes in length thick and as broad as a mans hand wherewith this beast doth helpe himselfe in fight In all things else he is of incredible force For Lewes de Barthema in the discourses of his Indie voiages doth testifie that he did see three elephants alone draw a ship out of the sea and set it a land after the people had gotten vnder it three great wedges of wood For kneeling downe vpon the earth on the sea-shore they did with their heads cast

c. 21. Plinie describeth the Vnicorne to haue a bodie altogether like an horse an head like an hart feete of an Elephant and the taile of a bore bearing an horne in the midst of his front of two cubits in length and he saith that these beasts are nourished in the lande of the Orsians in India Lewes de Barthema in his nauigations into Arabia affirmeth that he did at Meca see two Vnicornes and saith that the bodie and colour of this beast is like an horse of a darke gray hauing feet clouen before and hoofed like a goat And that these two beasts had been giuen to the Soldan of Meca for a verie rich and precious present by a king of Aethiopia to the ende to haue peace with him Lib. 1. de obseruat c. 14. Belon hath obserued out of the testimonies of diuers authors that there are two sorts of beasts who beare one horne onely one of which is the Asse of India which hath not clouen feete and the other is the Orix being a kinde of goate that hath clouen feete And he maketh mention of manie Vnicornes hornes esteemed to be of verie great price especially of two which are in the treasurie of Saint Marks at Venice each of them being of a cubit and halfe long the greatest ende whereof exceedeth not aboue three inches ouer He speaketh also of that which our king hath which is at Saint Denis being seuen foote long and waigheth thirteene pounds and fower ounces in fashiō like a taper being broad at the lower end about a plame and three fingers and so groweth lesse and lesse towards the ende and hath a pit in the great ende aboue a foot deepe which is the place wherein the bone is fastned that holds it firme to the head of the beast that beareth it But this author doth mocke at the folly of those who many times doe buie pieces of bone which are cut of the teeth of the Rohart of the hornes and ribs of many other beasts for true Vnicornes horne paying sometimes for one of these little pieces three hundred ducats so much is Vnicornes horne esteemed being most excellent for many vses in phisicke Theuet also flouteth at these abuses Lib. 5. de co●mog and at many fables inuented vpon this matter alleaging that he had seene an horne taken from a beast of a cleane contrarie shape to that which the Vnicorne is described to be of whereto the same vertue was neuerthelesse attributed And that the countrey of the Sauages breedeth a beast called Pyrassouppi as big as the foale of a Mule hauing almost such an head as rough as a Beare and clouen footed like an Hart which beareth two long straight hornes that do come neere to Vnicornes horne and wherewith the Sauages cure themselues when they be bitten and wounded by venemous beasts and fishes But now chaunge we our talke and ACHITOB let vs heare you speake againe concerning some of the most rare and worthie beasts of the Earth Of the Hiena or Ciuet-cat of the Muske-cat of the Beuer and of the Otter Chap. 88. ACHITOB IF in all our discourses we haue any woorthy matter wherein to admire the workes of God in the nature which he hath ordained vnto them wee shall finde no lesse in the consideration of these whereof I purpose now to speake the odour of whom is very sweete And amongst the rest the Ciuet cat called by ancients the Hiena is woorthie of great maruell For from her commeth an excrement so odoriferous that assoone as it is smelt doth pierce through all the senses and spirits and serueth to compose verie excellent perfumes Of the Hiena This beast is fashioned like a Bedouant but of bigger bodie hauing blacke haires about her necke along the ridge of her backe which she setteth vpright being angrie She is mouthed like a cat and hath fierie and redde eies with two blacke spots vnder them and round eares like vnto those of a Badger Besides she hath white haire full of blacke spots vpon her bodie with a long taile blacke aboue but hauing some white spots vnderneath The ancients haue spoken of this beast as of a wilde cat Lib. 9. and Iohn Leo in his description of Africke doth name her so saying that she is common in the woods of Aethiopia where the people do catch her with her yoong whom they nourish in cages with milke and porridge made of branne and flesh and that they receiue ciuet from her twise or thrise a day which is the sweate of this beast for they beate her with a little sticke making her leape vp and downe about the cage till such time as she doth sweate which they take off from vnder her thighes ● Lib. obseru ● 20. and taile and that is it which is called ciuet Belon reporteth to haue seene one in Alexandria so tame that playing with men she would bite their noses eares and lips without doing them any harme and that she was alwaies nourished with womens milke Mathiolus likewise saith that he hath seene manie Ciuet cats at Venice which had bin brought out of Syria and attributeth certaine properties to their excrements for which cause they haue beene more sought after now then in the daies of our fathers so that they are nourished at this day euen in France Lib. 1. de Dici c. 20. De. subt lib. 10. Cardanus also maketh mention of a beast called Zibetum which is found in Spaine that is like to a cat and carieth a bladder in her members the seede whereof is receiued into a spoone being of so excellent an odour that three drops thereof surmounteth the waight of three pounds of anie odoriferous tree But the Musk-cat doth yet surpasse all other odour Of the Musk-catte and meriteth all maruell in the nature thereof For it is a beast like vnto a goate in forme and haire but that she is of a more blewish colour and hath but one horne and is bigger of bodie There are many in Africa but chiefly in Tumbasco and Sini When this beast is in rutte with the heate and rage that he then endureth his nauell swelleth and filleth it selfe with a certaine bloud in manner of an impostume which at length through much wallowing and rubbing against trees he maketh to breake out of which runneth this bloud being halfe corrupted which in tract of time becommeth very odoriferous And the people of the country do gather it amongst stones or vpon the stocks of trees as the best muske that is bicause it is full ripe after that it hath rested some certaine time out of the bodie of the beast which engendreth it and that it hath beene perfectly concocted by the sunne which the other muske cannot be that is taken out of the liuing beast after that it is catched in chase And therefore this most precious muske is shut vp and reserued in boxes and in the bladders of such of these beasts as haue at any time beene taken