Selected quad for the lemma: earth_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
earth_n	air_n	fire_n	water_n	32,759	5	7.2266	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A20436	A short introduction for to learne to swimme. Gathered out of Master Digbies Booke of the Art of Swimming. And translated into English for the better instruction of those who vnderstand not the Latine tongue. By Christofer Middleton; De arte natandi libri duo. Adaptation. English	Digby, Everard, Sir, 1578-1606.; Middleton, Christopher, 1560?-1628.	1595 (1595)	STC 6840; ESTC S111665	10,834	80

A Short introduction for to learne to Swimme Gathered out of Master Digbies Booke of the Art of Swimming And translated into English for the better instruction of those who vnderstand not the Latine tongue By Christofer Middleton AT LONDON Printed by Iames Roberts for Edward White and are to be sold at the little North doore of Paules Church at the signe of the Gun 1595. To the Worshipfull and well accomplished Gentleman Maister Simon Smith SIR the report of your perfection in this facultie hath imboldened me to presume vpon your curtesie the rather for that as experience in other things hath taught mee howe Birds of one kinde with mutuall consent helpe to support the younger and weaker sort till nature hath sufficiently enabled them so doth hope in this thing perswade me that men of one disposition will as willingly accord in their commendable exercises tending to profitable ends as the sencelesse Fowles of the ayre naturally agree mutually to maintaine their owne estate Thus vnder your thrise worthy protection as a sufficient shelter from all the ayerie Buzzards shroude I my selfe Dum virum me fecerit etas which if you vouchsafe it shall embolden mee so to imploy my next vacant time as may in some better sort requite your VVorshipfull fauour Yours in all dutifull obedience C. M. To the Reader I Writ not this gentle Reader to derogate from his worth whose labor first brought this worke within the rules of Arte and hath thereby as Virgill for the tillage of the earth Vigetius for Millitary profession Hipocrates and Gallen for Phisick Iustinian for the Law Aristotle Tullie Euclides Boetius Ptolomeus for the liberall Sciences Pomponius Mela for Cosmography or Marcator for the Globes of the world thought his matter may be of some accounted as the least yet for his forme deserued commendations with the best but for his learned style exceedeth the capacitie of the greater part of men and the matter it selfe being so necessary for all I haue as I could gathered his worke into a briefe compendium for theyr better vnderstanding that are ignorant in the Latine tongue Thus not to gaine the reward of other mens labours nor to attribute to my selfe other mens vertues but to vncurtaine that to the view of all which was onely appropriated to a fewe haue I vnder-gone this taske which I doubt not will proue as profitable as pleasant Uale Of the Art of Swimming ALthough from the beginning amongst all the Authors of Artes and Sciences there are fewe or none which haue bestowed any paines in the explayning or publishing this Art of Swimming it being so profitable a thing as it is towards the preseruing of mans lyfe when as he is at any time distressed in the greedie iawes of the swelling Sea destitute of other helpe Et si tamen a nullo laudetur laudabile tamen est natura although it be by none praysed yet doth nature it selfe preferre it sufficiently especially in man which aboue all Foules of the ayre Fishes of the Sea Beasts of the earth or other creatures whatsoeuer excelleth in this facultie as hereafter shall more at large be expressed If Phisicke be worthy of commendations in respect of the nature in purging poysoned humors dryuing away contagious diseases and by this meanes adding longer date vnto the life of man well then may this Art of Swimming come within the number of other Sciences which preserueth the precious life of man amidst the furious billowes of the lawles waters where neither riches nor friendes neither birth nor kindred neither liberall Sciences nor other Artes onely it selfe excepted can rid him from the daunger of death Nor is it onely to be respected for this great helpe in extreamitie of death but it is also a thing necessarie for euery man to vse euen in the pleasantest and securest time of his lyfe especially as the fittest thing to purge the skinne from all externall pollutions or vncleannesse whatsoeuer as sweat and such like as also it helpeth to temperate the extreame heate of the bodie in the burning time of the yeare And if we respect throughly the nature of this Art we may easilie perceaue and see that it doth not much differ from the rest of the liberall Sciences A libera mente procedentes Whether all thi●●● swimme by nature 〈◊〉 NAture our prouident mother hath carefully prouided for euery seuerall creature seuerall meanes for their preseruation in their seuerall kindes as vnto those creatures which haue their lyuing in the inmost bowels of the earth or other such places far remote from the daunger of water to those hath she not imparted this knowledge for that is a thing to them altogether impertinent but to other her creatures eyther those whose continuall aboade is in the deepes as Fishes Foules and some Beastes that liue in the water or to other which in the actions of their liues doe any waies tend towards the waters on them for their better preseruation hath shee bestowed this great gift yet not to euery creatur● alike but what Element doth most abound in the composition of their bodies according to the qualitie therof is their kinde of Swimming As for example a Toade hath a broader body then a Frog and to mans iudgement more fitte to swimme and yet because her complection is more earthly and therefore heauier by nature and féedeth vpon the sollid poyson of the earth either presently after shee commeth into the water sinketh right downe or if the doe remaine any time vpon the superficies of the water it is with great labour whereas a frog feeding on the aierie dewe that lyeth vpon the grasse pleasantlie playeth vpon the water liuely representing the true Swimming of a man The like reasons is of the Foules of the ayre as the Swallowes that feede vpon the slender buzzing Flies of the ayre they nimblier flye to and fro and lightlier drinke on the toppe of the water then other Foules that eyther feede on the wormes of the earth or the Fishes of the Sea And euen as the liuelesse truncks which in theyr constitution haue a greater temperature of ayre or fire then of water or earth are of theyr owne accord carried aboue the water as wood and such like and on the contrary heauy constitutions of water or earth as lead iron stone and such directly settle downe to the bottom so is it with all creatures that haue life as the Lyon the beast of the sunne and king of the Forrest because he is of a sanguine complexion a hot constitution nimble of his ioynts and of a noble courage swims lightly and strongly and so of the dogge and other creatures whose constitution is a lower degrée of heate But some kindes of Foules although they bee of a good constitution of body yet for some impediment in their forme are hindered and doe not swimme so well as other whose bodies are more grosse as the Cock which is the bird of the sunne for that he wanteth as we call them

the webs of his feete swimmeth not so easily as a Duck which is more melancholy and heauy by nature according to the disposition of Saturne Man swimmeth by nature THe Fishes in the Sea whose continuall life is spent in the water in them dooth no man denie swimming to be the onely gift which Nature hath bestowed vpon them and shall wee thinke it then artificiall in a man which in it dooth by many degrees excell them as dyuing downe to the bottoms of the deepest waters and fetching from thence whatsoeuer is there sunck downe transporting things to and fro at his pleasure sitting tumbling leaping walking and at his ease perfourmeth many fine feates in the water which far exceeds the naturall gifts bestowed on Fishes nay so fit is the constitution of mans body that who so dooth but with himselfe throughly consider of it cannot but accord with mee in thys that a man of all creatures vnder the circumference of heauen naturally excelleth in swimming As for example a shaft shotte in the water when it riseth againe hangeth perpendicularly downeward with the head and the vpper parts and feathers swim aboue the water euen so is it with a man who although the lower parts of his body be earthly aud heauy yet aboue is the life of liues the vitall spyrits the externall internall scences to be short the life spirits of euery man exceedeth the liues of all Beasts for that they only retayne the vigitable and sensuall powers the one whereby they grow and increase and the other whereby they heare feele see smell and taste But in man is all these whose least part exceedeth the greatest quantity of the other in the highest degrée a reasonable soule so y t hee hath not onely in great measure the other helpes which Nature hath prouided for this purpose but he hath wisdome by Arte to perfect that in himselfe which by nature is left vnperfect and hauing plaine rules of Arte howe by motion to keepe vp the heauy parts of his body which by reason of theyr heauines are naturally carried downe it cannot otherwise be but that swimming must naturally come to a man and in swimming he must excell all creatures whatsoeuer But for some will obiect that if swimming were so naturall a thing to a man then should not so many perish in the water to these in a word I thus answere that men who haue not had some practise in it afore when by any sinister occasion they fall into the water the discreet vse of their sences is taken away by a suddaine feare and so vnorderly labouring in the water they by the indirect moouing of their bodyes pull downe themselues vnder the water and so are drowned which to auoyde I leaue it to euery seuerall mans consideration how necessarie a thing this Art of Swimming is Of the place and time to swimme OF all the circumstances which the Authour of this our Art hath in his first booke learnedly set down as necessarie antecedents before he enter into the practise it selfe I hold these two sufficient for the vnlearned sort to knowe time and place and leaue the rest to their wise cōsiderations which are able throughly to vnderstand the Latine tongue The time which the temperature of this our clymate affords as good to swimme in is comprehended in foure monethes May Iune Iuly and August for that in these monethes the Sunne drawing nearer vnto our Zenith his beames falling more directly downe vpon the superficies of this earth make a greater reflection and thence commeth a more vehement heate which dooth temperate the water and make wholsome the ayre The winde and weather ought also in these moneths to be regarded especially of those whose weake constitution is not so able to endure the cold as others of a stronger composition of bodie The windes that are most vnwholsome and daungerous to swimme in is the East and North for that blowing from cold and drie places they bring diuers and sundrie discommodities The weather that is to be eschewed is rayne for these considerations the droppes doe trouble the superficies of the water hurteth the bodie disturbeth the eyes and lastly drayning from the bancks into the Riuer bringeth also with it whatsoeuer dunge strawe leaues and what filth or vnwholsome things else doe lie neare adioyning vnto the place In the place is two things especially to be respected first that the bancks bee not ouergrowen with ranck thicke grasse where oft-times doe lie and lurke many stinging Serpents and poysoned Toades not full of thornes bryers stubbes or thistles which may offend the bare feete but that the grasse be short thinne and greene the bancke beset with shadie trees which may be a shelter from the winde and a shadowe from the parching heate of the Sunne Next that the water it selfe bee cleare not troubled with any kinde of slymie filth which is very infectious to the skinne that the breadth depth and length therof be sufficiently knowne that it be not muddie at the bottome least by much treading the filth rising vp frō the bottome thicken the water and so make it vnfitte for that purpose Also that there be not in the bottome of the Riuer any olde stakes or sharpe stones which may greatly indaunger the Swimmer but that it be a cleare running water not a standing corrupted poole the bottome faire sande where from the bancks may easily be perceaued whatsoeuer doth lye in the deepest place of the Riuer Which tyme and place according to these rules and directions when he hath fitly selected let him asociate himselfe with some one that is taller and stronger then himselfe which may both comfort him and helpe to sustaine him for that at the first enterance the chilnes of the water will greatly discomfort him as also he may thereby be better directed where the water is deepe and where it is shallowe But if so be that he for any extraordinarie occasion or other reason whatsoeuer rather delight to be alone then thus let him take a longe rod like vnto an angle and vpon the end thereof hange in a long small corde a plummet of lead wherewith hee may standing vpon the bancke sound euery place of the water and if he cannot reach the further side with his pole boldlie venturing so far into the water as by this direction he hath experienced he may reach further and further vntill he hath tried it all which if he finde correspondent in euery point to the rules before rehearsed and that there be not any suddaine or plum falling downe into any great holes which exceede his owne height nor any whirlpooles as we call them or kinde of swift or violent streames that may forcely carry him away let him there practise according to these rules following and venture not into any other vnknown place vntill hee be a perfect practisioner in this Art Thus much for the time place For the maner of his going into the Riuer it must not be sweating a thing