for then there would be a circle nor opposite to the sunne for then there would be the appearance of a Rain-bow but on the side which must not be too farre off nor yet too neare for if it be too farre off then reason telleth us that the beams will be too weak to reflect in a convenient manner or if it be too neare then the sunne will disperse it without any image at all Now if such a cloud as this we speak of shall happen to be on both sides of the sunne then the appearance will be as if there were three sunnes whereas there is indeed but one the other two being the images of the true Sunne seen onely by reflection or refraction upon the cloud on either side Or be there more pieces of such a cloud then one set at a convenient distance then there may be many sunnes even as in a broken looking-glasse every part will shew the shadow of that face which is obvious to it Moreover these many sunnes may be said to have a double signification the one naturall the other supernaturall According to their naturall signification they betoken rain and moist weather because they cannot appeare but in a moist disposition of the aire And as for their supernaturall signification experience hath witnessed that they have appeared as the portenders of change in states and kingdomes or as the foretokens of Gods wrath upon sinners For this is a rule that such things as are strange may be derived both from naturall causes and also include God the chief and best cause of all things by whose admired providence each thing is ordered by whose unspeakable wisdome each particular change hath been decreed yea even in the course of nature before ever nature was he both foresaw and appointed how things should happen although in respect of our weaknesse and want of skill the searching of them out be too abstruse and hard For as I verily beleeve that not so much as one poore sparrow falleth to the ground without Gods providence so I do also acknowledge that by his providence likewise he bringeth to passe these and the like things for such ends as he in his secret counsell hath determined using his creatures whose courses in each particular he both set and foresaw as instruments and means to effect them But I proceed And as for the supernaturall signification of these sunnes experience I say hath witnessed that some strange thing or other usually followeth after them As not long before the contention of Galba Otho and Vitellius for the Empire of Rome there appeared three sunnes as it were pointing out the strife which followed soon after between them three for the imperiall diadem Also in the yeare 1233 upon the 7 day of April foure sunnes were seen besides the naturall sunne in which yeare as Lanquets chronicle testifieth there was great debate kindled and much variance stirred up between Henry the third K. of England and the Lords of his kingdome and in the very next yeare England was wasted with fire and sword from Wales to Salisburie which said town was also burned and at the same time was a great drought and pestilence Also in the yeare 1460 three sunnes again shewed forth their orient faces which was but the day before the three Earls viz. Edward Earl of March with the Earl of Pembroke and Earl of Wilt-shire fought their great battels in Wales at Mortimers crosse as Stow in his Abridgement affirmeth where the Earl of March put the other two to flight and slew many of their people And again in the yeare 1526 towards the slaughter of Lewis the second King of Hungary three sunnes marched out betokening the three Princes which strove for the kingdome after him which three were these viz. Ferdinand who was afterwards Emperour and Iohn Sepusio Vaivode governour of Transilvania as also Solyman the Magnificent or Great Turk being one of the hardiest captains in all his time And now after the consideration of many Sunnes it followeth that I speak of many Moons of which it is no hard matter to know the naturall cause seeing their generation is as before hath been shewed concerning many Sunnes For if a watry Cloud shall side-long sit And not beneath or justly opposite To Sunne or Moon then either of them makes With strong Aspect double or treble shapes Upon the same The vulgar then 's affrighted To see at once three sparkling Chariots lighted And in the Welkin on nights gloomie throne To see at once more shining Moons then one Artic. 4. Of Beams or Streams of light NExt unto these I mentioned Beams or Streams of light and they are generated after this manner namely when the light of the Sunne falleth into a watery cloud of unequall thicknesse or rather of unequall thinnesse or into such a cloud whose parts are some of them of a spungie nature and some of them more closely compacted For the thinner and more spungie parts receiving the light do represent certain cleare and white streaks or beams whilest the thicker parts and more full of humour are not pierced at all but look of another hue from whence it comes to passe that these streams are often of differing and many colours Artic. 5. Of Circles or Crowns CRowns Garlands or Circles are seen sometimes about the Sunne sometimes about the Moon and sometimes about the brightest Planets as Iupiter Venus This appearance is commonly called Halo and the matter or subject of it is a cloud which must be endued with three properties First that it be thin and not thick Secondly that it be equall and uniform not in one part more thinne then in another And thirdly that it be directly under the Sunne Moon or any such starre whose beams cause the circle Unto which adde this last namely that it be not disquieted by any winde And being thus placed and composed look how a stone cast into the water makes a circle untill the force of the blow be wasted So this watery cloud being struck with the force of the Sunnes Moons or starres beams doth retain their light in form and manner of a circle Or rather thus the beams of the starre c. equally dispersing themselves so farre as they can do at their utmost extent make a refraction in the cloud which must of necessitie be round because the body of the starre it self is round and cannot possibly send out his beams further in one place then in another This therefore made Du Bartas say Sometimes a fiery circle doth appeare Proceeding from the beauteous beams and cleare Of Sunne and Moon and other starres aspect Down-looking on a thick-round cloud direct When not of force to thrust their rayes throughout it In a round crown they cast it round about it And note that sometimes it appeareth greater sometimes lesser which is in regard of the qualitie of the matter whereof the cloud consisteth For if
diseases were felt rivers dried up and plagues were increased Tamerlain K. of the Scythians and Parthians with an innumerable host invadeth Asia calling himself the WRATH OF GOD and DESOLATION OF THE EARTH as did Attilas of whom it is written that he named himself THE SCOURGE OF GOD. 6. Also in the yeare 1529 appeared foure Comets and in the yeares 1530 1531 1532 and 1533 were seen in each yeare one Lanquet saith that there were three within the space of two yeares upon which these and the like changes and calamities followed viz. A great sweating sicknesse in England which took away whole Myriads of people The Turk in the quarrell of Iohn Uvavoyda who laid claim to the crown of Hungary entred the said kingdome with two hundred and fiftie thousand fighting souldiers committing against the inhabitants thereof most harsh and unspeakable murders rapes villanies and cruelties A great famine and dearth was also in Venice and the countrey thereabout which swept away many for lack of sustenance The sweating sicknes also vexed Brabant and a great part of Germanie and especially the citie Antwerp where it consumed five hundred persons in the space of three dayes Great warres concerning the Dukedome of Millain between the Emperour Charles the fifth and Francis the French King All Lusitania or Portugall was struck with an Earth-quake insomuch that at Ulisippo or Lisbon a thousand and fifty houses were thrown down and 600 so shaken that they were ready to fall which made the people forsake the citie and runne into the fields and as for their churches they lay upon the ground like heaps of stones Upon this followed a great pestilence in those parts But a little before viz. in the yeare 1530 was a great deluge in Brabant Holland Zeland and the sea-coasts of Flanders as also an overflowing of the river Tyber at Rome occasioned by unseasonable tempests of winde Upon the neck of which troubles the Turk comes again into Hungarie and Austria but he was beaten back and a great company of his men slain and taken Unto which may be added how the sect of the Anabaptists not long after brought new tumults into Germanie 7. And for that last Comet in the yeare 1618 saith a Germane writer Praesagium ipsius jam â—…heu est in manibus nostris meaning that they felt by dolefull experience the sad events which followed after it Wherefore seeing these and the like accidents have been attendant upon the appearing of Comets it may well be said that although they have their causes in nature yet Nunquam futilibus excanduit ignibus aether The skie never burnt with such fires in vain For as one saith Loquitur cum hominibus Deus non modò linguâ humanâ per Prophetas Apostolos Pastores sed nonnunquam etiam ipsis Elementis in formas imagines diversas compositis That is God speaketh with men not onely with the tongues of men by Prophets Apostles and Teachers but sometimes also by the very Elements composed or wrought into divers forms and shapes there being a Theologicall end of sending Comets as also a Naturall and Politicall end But first before I come to that I think it not amisse to speak something concerning these their events and accidents namely whether it can be shewed why they should be wrought either so or so To which it is answered that in some sort we may give reasons for this and shew the causes of their significations For being Comets they consist of many hot and drie Exhalations And hot and drie Exhalations do not onely stirre up heat drie and parch the aire which may cause drought especially when much of the earths fatnesse is drawn away with the Exhalation and drought bring barrennesse but also the bodies of living creatures upon the distemper of the aire are mainly hurt suffering detriment in the consumption of their radicall moisture and suffocation through the poysonous breathings which the bellows of the bodie suck in and receive insomuch that there cannot but be sicknesses plagues and much mortalitie Besides which that they should usher in warres seditions changes of kingdomes and the like may also proceed from the same cause For when the Aire is distemperately heated then it is very apt so to disorder and dry up the bloud in humane bodies that thereby great store of red and adust choler may be purchased and this stirreth up to anger with the thought of many furious and violent actions and so by consequent to warre and from warre cometh victorie from victorie proceedeth change of commonwealths and translations of kingdomes with change of Laws and Religion for Novus Rex nova Lex New Lords new Laws Unto which also may be added that because great personages live more delicately then other men and feed more daintily having as many new fashions in their diets as in their clothes for their boards as for their backs that their bodies therefore are more subject to infection and will take the poyson of an intemperate aire before more temperate livers whereupon necessity inforceth that they die sooner in such a calamitie then other people as he once witnessed that said Plures pereunt gulâ quà m gladio Besides the death of great ones is more remarkable then when inferiour persons die so that if but some of them be taken away in common calamities it is as if they were onely aymed at because they are obvious to every ones eye as cities standing upon hills which cannot be hid And now that our bodies should follow the temperature of the Aire is nothing doubted seeing every lame aking or bruised joynt doth witnesse it even to the very ignorant But that our mindes and manners should follow the temperature of the bodie is more strange and wonderfull Yet true it is that by the mediation of humours and spirits as also through ill disposed organs the minde also suffereth For the bodie is Domicilium animae the souls house abode and stay so that as a Torch saith one gives a better light and a sweeter smell according to the matter it is made of in like manner doth our Soul perform all her actions better or worse as her organs are disposed or as wine savours of the cask where it is kept so the soul receives a tincture from the body through which it works For the Understanding is so tied to and captivated by his inferiour senses that without their help he cannot exercise his functions and the Will being weakened so as she is hath but a small power to restrain those outward parts but suffers her self to be overruled by them of which I shall have occasion to speak more in the fourth dayes work untill when I leave it in the mean time adding that Comets do not alwayes when they bring sicknesses corrupt the aire through immoderate heat and drinesse but sometimes also through immoderate heat and moisture as also by immoderate windes which may bring the
cap. 13. As also in Gerard and such others as have set forth herballs I will adde therefore but one thing more namely that the weeding of this herb with bare hands whilest the dew hangeth on the leaves doth cause dangerous blisters and sores which may again be helped with sallet oyl or the juice of hemlock as Mr Thomas Hill in his art of gardening hath declared Dill is called in Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Latine Anethum and Anetum and in English sometimes Anet as well as Dill. It bringeth forth flowers and seeds in August and as some write it is hot and drie in the second degree but Gerard out of Galen affirmeth that it is hot in the end of the second degree and drie in the beginning of the same or in the end of the first degree The decoction of the tops of this herb dried together with the seed being drunk provoketh urine allayeth gripings hickets and windinesse engendreth milk in nurses breasts with such like other secrets And of the green herb it is said that it procureth fleep sound and secure according to which we have an old saying that Whosoever wearetb Vervine or Dill May be bold to sleep on every hill And from hence haply it was that garlands made of this herb were used to be worn at riotous feasts that thereby they might not onely sleep but sleep without danger Rosemarie which some call the garland rose or in Latine Rosmarinus coronaria because in times past women have been accustomed to make garlands or crowns of it is an herb which is hot and drie in the second degree and of an astringent or binding qualitie The Greeks call it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Thus or arbor thurifera and so also Plinie nameth it because it hath a root like to the frankincense tree or because the flowers smell much like to turpentine or frankincense which flowers if they be distilled and if a few cloves mace cinamon and a little anniseed be steeped in their water for a few dayes together and drunk at morning and evening first and last it taketh away the stench of the mouth and breath and maketh it very sweet quickening the senses and memorie strengtheneth the sinewie parts and is best for those who have a cold moist brain The same wine that Rosemarie and the flowers have been sodden in is good to wash the face and hands that they may look fair and cleare Also the conserve of Rosemarie flowers taken every morning fasting is good against tremblings faintings palsies c. helping those who have a trembling at the heart or are troubled with a dumbe palsie or are subject to vomit up their meat And for dull melancholy men take the flowers and make them into powder binde them to the right arm in a linen cloth and this powder by working upon the veins shall make a man more merrie and lightsome then ordinary Take also the rinde of the Rosemarie and make powder thereof then drink it in a little wine and it helpeth you of the pose or stuffing in the head if it proceed from the coldnesse of your brain Also the wood of the stalk burnt to coals and made into powder and put into a linen cloth is excellent to rubbe the teeth that they may look white and to kill the worms in them if there be any or to keep them from breeding if there be none These and sundry other are the properties of Rosemarie I could wish that there were a greater plentie of this herb in England then there is France hath great store insomuch that at Provence it is used for a common fuell the unlaboured grounds do so abound with it Of Aconite or Wolf-bane there be many kindes and the forces of them all are extreamly pernicious and poisonsome for it is reported that if either man or beast be wounded with an arrow knife sword or any other instrument dipped in the juice of this herb they die incurably within half an houre after And know that it is called Wolf-bane because men hunting for wolves used to poison pieces of raw flesh with the juice of this herb and lay them as baits on which the wolves eating die presently It hath a root like a scorpion shining within like alabaster Poets feigne because it is such a venimous herb that Cerberus the three-headed dog of hell being dragged up in a chain of Adamant by Hercules did cast some of his venime upon it whereby it became so venimous Yet neverthelesse as great and deadly a poisoner as it is the juice of it cures the burning bite of stinging serpents if it be taken and applied to the place grieved Whereupon Du Bartas calleth it A valiant venime and couragious plant Disdainfull poison noble combatant That scorneth aid and loves alone to fight That none partake the glorie of his might For if he finde our bodies ' fore-possest With other poison thâ—…n he lets us rest And with his rivall entreth secret strife By both whose deaths man keeps his wished life Mullet or Flea-bane in Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Latine Conyza is hot and drie in the third degree This herb burned and smoked where flies gnats fleas or any venimous things are doth drive them away Ladies mantle or great Sanicle is an herb of a drying nature It is good to keep down maidens paps or dugs and when they be great and flaggie it maketh them lesser and harder Ger. Herb. pag. 803. Butterwort is a kinde of Sanicle and it is hot and drie in the third degree It is reported that when sheep eat of this herb which is but when the want of other meat compells them they then catch a rot Yet neverthelesse if it be bruised the juice makes a good ointment for the dugs of cattel or kine when they be either bitten by any venimous worm chapped rifted or hurt by other means It is requisite that farmers and husbandmens wives should be well acquainted with this herb as also that shepherds should know what ground aboundeth with it that thereby they may prevent a mischief in their flock Horehound called in Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Latine Marrubium is an herb hot in the second degree and drie in the third The syrupe of this herb doth wonderfully and above credit ease such as have lien sick very long of a cough or consumption of the lungs the like doth Saffron bringing breath again when one is even at deaths doore if ten or twentie grains at the most for too much is hurtfull be given in new or sweet wine Saffron is hot in the second degree and dry in the first And of it thus writeth the Salern school Take Saffron if your heart make glad you will But not too much for that the heart may kill Hyssop in Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
good to be drunk for pissing the bed Of Tabaco or as it is commonly called Tobacco there be principally two kindes saith Mr Gerard one greater the other lesse The greater was first found in those provinces of America which we call the West Indies The lesser comes from Trinidada an island neare unto the continent of the said Indies To which some have added a third sort And since the first discovery there have been plantations made in other places The people of America call it Petum Others Sacra herba Sancta herba and Sanasancta Indorum The reason being as I take it because when the Moores and Indians have â—…ainted either for want of food or rest this hath been a present remedie unto them to supply the one and help them to the other And some have called it Hyosoyamus Peruvianus or Henbane of Peru which also Mr Gerard assenteth unto verily thinking that it is a Species Hyoscyami for there be more kindes of Henbane then one chiefly in regard of the qualitie because it bringeth drowâ—…inesse troubleth the senses and maketh a man as it were drunk by taking of the fume onely Of some it is named Nicâ—…tiana exotica and by Nicholas Monardis it is named Tabaco Which said Monardis witnesseth that it is hot and drie in the second degree The Physicall chirurgicall uses of it are not a few and being taken in a pipe it helpeth aches in any part of the bodie being good also for the kidneys by expelling winde But beware of cold after it neither take it wantonly nor immoderately And know that some commend the syrupe before the smoke yet the smoke say they physically taken is to be tolerated and may do some good for rheums and the forenamed maladies which whilest some might cure they make them worse For we see that the use is too frequently turned into an abuse and the remedie is proved a disease and all through a wanton and immoderate use For Omne nimium vertitur in vitium To quaffe roar swear and drink Tobacco well Is fit for such as pledge sick healths in hell Where wanting wine and ale and beer to drink Their cups are fill'd with smoke fire fume and stink I remember an excellent salve which I am taught to make of green Tobacco the receipt whereof is thus Take the leaves of Tobacco two pounds hogges grease one pound stamp the herb small in a stone mortar putting thereto a small cup full of red or claret wine stirre them well together cover the mortar from filth and so let it rest untill the morning then put it to the fire and let it boil gently continually stirring it untill the wine be consumed then strain it and set it to the fire again putting thereto one pound of the juice of the herb of Venice turpentine 4 ounces boil them all together to the consumption of the juice then adde thereto two ounces of round Aristochia or Birthwort in most fine powder with wax sufficient to give it a bodie and so thou hast made an accurate salve for wounds or for old filthie ulcers of the legs c. The women of America as Gerard mentions in his Herball do not use to take Tobacco because they perswade themselves it is too strong for the constitution of their bodies and yet some women of England use it often as well as men And questionlesse those natives amongst whom it groweth may take more at once then any one of us It is said that Sir Francis Drakes mariners brought the first of this herb into England in the yeare 1585 which was in the 28 yeare of Q. Elizabeth and 3 yeares before Tilburie camp Betonie in Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Latine Betonica and Vetonica is hot and drie in the second degree This herb hath an infinite number of soveraigne vertues being very good for the head taken by some in a pipe as Tobacco and not seldome mixed with Tobacco it helpeth also the bitings of mad dogs by drinking the juice or powder of it and by binding the green leaves to the bitten place Plinie relateth a strange propertie pertinent to this herb for saith he if fell serpents be enclosed round about with it they fall at such oddes that they kill each other presently This herb is also good to help women in their travail And thus hitherto I have spoken of such parcels of dame Tellus store as are onely hot of temper unto which I might adde yet thousands more whether they be such as are pleasant in shew sweet in smell delicate in taste wholesome in operation and the like but the earth you know is large and because I am to see something every where I cannot stay long any where lest the fourth day dawn before the third be finished These herbs following are cold and moist IN the next place therefore I must bring to your admirations some other parcels of another temper wherein you may likewise see Gods wisdome flourishing for at which soever we look there is a secret vertue that he hath infused into every one In which regard divine Du Bartas thus Good Lord how many gasping souls have scap't By th' aid of herbs for whom the grave hath gap't Who even about to touch the Stygian strand Have yet beguil'd grim Pluto's greedie hand Oh sacred simples that our life sustain And when it flies can call it back again 'T is not alone your liquour inly tane That oft defends us from so many a bane But even your savour yea your neighbourhood For some diseases is exceeding good As for example Yarrow as most men say when the leaves are green and chewed doth help the tooth-ach Also the leaves being put into the nose do make it bleed and is a remedie for the megrim a pain in the head It is an herb meanly cold in temper and called in Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Latine Achillea because it was first found out by Achilles the disciple of Chiron and with it he cured his wounds Vide Plin. lib. 25. cap. 5. Sowthistle is cold the Greeks call it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Latines Sonchi If it be given in broth it increaseth milk in nurses breasts causing the children nursed by them to have a good colour and cleare complexion Groundsell is said to have mixt faculties for it cooleth and withall digesteth The Latines call it Senecio because it quickly waxeth old some also call it Herbutum The leaves of this herb stamped and strained into milk and drunk are good against the Red-gum and frets in children Comfrey is somewhat cold of qualitie and of a clammie and gluing moisture It is highly commended of the learned for curing of wounds especially of the intrals and inward parts and for burstings and ruptures insomuch that they affirm the slimie substance of the root made in a posset of ale and given to
use them But they are bad to fools who do abuse them And thereupon saith Du Bartas I know to man the earth seems altogether No more a mother but a step-dame rather Because alas unto our losse she bears Bloud-shedding Steel and Gold the ground of cares As if these metals and not mans amisse Had made sinne mount unto the height it is To pick a lock to take his neighbours purse To break a house or to do something worse To cut his parents throat to kill his prince To spoil his countrey murder innocence For as a cask through want of use grown fustie Makes with his stink the best Greek malmsey mustie So Gods best gifts usurpt by wicked ones To poison turn through their contagions What pains do not men take to winne gold every man hath one way or other to hunt after it but the Alchymist despising all other wayes as slow unnaturall and unprofitable laboureth either to help nature in her work as of unperfect metals to make perfect or else to force nature to his purpose by his quintessences and Elixers so that what by purging what by concocting what by mixing of Sulphur and Quicksilver and much other like stuffe at length he turneth the wrong side of his gown outward all the teeth out of his head and his bodie from health to a palsie and then he is a Philosopher and so he must nay will be called It is said of Gold that it waxeth cold towards day-light insomuch that they who wear rings of it may perceive when the day is ready to dawn Silver is the most pure metall next unto Gold it hath an indifferent good concoction but it wanteth sufficient heat in the mixture and thereupon it looketh pale It is a metall begotten of pure white Mercurie and of cleare white Brimstone or Sulphur The lesse pure pliable metalls consist some of them of more Brimstone some of more Quicksilver neither are any of these two so pure as those in the mixture of Gold and Silver Brasse is an impure metall consisting most of a red and thick Sulphur and of a little Quicksilver something impure that which cometh from Cyprus is called Copper and is the purest as being of best digestion and nearest unto Gold Brasse Latten and such like being no other then divers kindes of Copper In ancient time this metall was in greater esteem then Iron for they did not onely make their armour of it but their bucklers also and their lances because they would not be worn either with age or use Copperas is a minerall of a neare nature unto Brasse or Copper it is said by some to be mixed of humours strained by drops into small holes And perhaps it is nothing else but the more raw and impure substance of that which is the matter of Copper with lesse Quicksilver in it and that also of a baser qualitie It is hot and drie in the fourth degree vehemently binding being of great force to season and preserve raw flesh as some affirm and is also good to beget sound flesh in festered sores and to stench bloud It is of a green yellow and a skie colour but the best hath white spots in it See more afterwards in Vitriol Iron is a common metall necessary for the use of mans life engendred of a most impure Quicksilver mixed with a thick Sulphur impure and adust Or thus It is an impure metall consisting of much crude earthie adust Sulphur and a modicum of filthie and bad Mercurie This saith the Philosopher although it be hard yet by daily use it is worn and wasted the reason being in regard that it hath in it least of Mercurie and most of an earthie Sulphur The quenching it in water makes it harder and harder but if it be quenched in the juice of bean-shells or mallows it becometh soft and so also doth the often heating it and cooling it without quenching Plinie calleth it optimum pessimúmque vitae instrumentum the best and worst instrument of life Steel is a kinde of Iron but the purest and the hardest or Iron refined Naturall steel which we call Chalybs in times past was gotten out of a place in Thracia where the people called Chalybes inhabited their use was to go naked and digge this metall out of the earth Metalls consisting most of Mercurie are these Lead and Tinne Lead is a raw and indigested metall but of better digestion then commixtion for it is mixed with a grosse earthie substance which causeth it to be in colour so black and so ready to foul It is begotten of much unpure thick and drossie Mercurie and by refining is made whiter The kindes of this are varied by reason of the matter whereof it consisteth and by reason of the heat by which it is decoâ—…ted and thereupon it comes to passe that we have one sort which we call Black-lead another farre whiter and clearer as being better concocted and more purely composed It is of a cold and binding nature and if it lie in the wet moisture will increase the weight England hath store of it Tinne whereof great plentie also groweth in the West parts of England in beautie and colour cometh nearest unto Silver and of Silver wanteth nothing but soliditie and hardnesse Some think that it is composed of Silver and Lead but the more common opinion is that the greatest part of it is Mercurie white without and red within having a portion also of Brimstone or Sulphur not well mixed being as it were Lead whited with Silver for it is a raw and undigested metall very porous and uncompact which causeth it to crash when it is either broken or bitten And thus farre of metalls pliable The lesse pliable as I shewed in the table are either hard or brittle cannot be easily hammered wrought or melted to a desired form The hard ones are all kinde of stones And of stones together with bodies friable or brittle it is doubted whether they be in the number of metalls or no because there is great difference in the matter of their composure c. To which it is answered that although they be not in the number of such kinde of metalls as are pliable and will melt nor yet abound with that matter of mixture which they do neverthelesse they may bear the name of metalls according to that generall name specified in the derivation of the word Metalla And in that regard I made a difference of metalls and drew them out in the former table Wherefore I proceed and following them who derive stones after this manner I say that stones are bodies perfectly mixt without life hard of a drie and an earthie exhalation mixed with a certain unctuositie and by the durance of time together with the force of heat and cold and a minerall vertue conglutinated or knit together Or thus they be engendred of a watrie moisture and fat earth mixed hard together By which
ruine for if proud mindes and high spirits could alwayes have their wished ends the low shrubs should never thrive nor mean estates enjoy the sunne Moreover as is reported this beast altereth and changeth her nest according to the blowing of the North or Southern winde So have I heard of those whose care hath been to apply themselves unto the times apt to turn with every winde altering their judgements and opinions in time of persecution from-that which they held in time of peace and quiet whereas a hardie souldier is never known but in a winter siege nor a true Christian but in a fierie triall Next after the Hedge-hog I may mention the Porcupine or Porcuspine from Porcus and spina so called because he is as it were a thornie-hog or another Hedge-hog something differing from the former for the vulgar Hedge-hog is Ericius sylvestris and the Porcupine Ericius montanus This beast is usually bred in India and Africa and brought up and down in Europe to be seen for money The generall proportion of his bodie is like a Swines and seldome is it that they be bigger then a pig of half a yeare old But in the particular members there is some difference as in his eares which are like to the eares of a Man his mouth somewhat like to the mouth of a Hare but with a longer slit and with three of his foreteeth in his upper jaw hanging out of his mouth his two hinder feet are something like the feet of a Bear and those before like the feet of a Badger and in a word his bodie is beset with certain sharp quills or prickles which when he is hunted he can dart off either in the mouthes of the dogs or legs of the hunters And of these quills men make wholesome tooth-picks for it is said that if we scrape our teeth with these they will never be loose Topsell Armadilio is a beast in India like unto a young pig covered over with small shells like unto armour it lives like a mole in the ground The Alborach is a fair white beast like an asse frequent in the Turkish territories upon which beast Mahomet was carried up to heaven as the blasphemous Priests of that nation perswade the sillie pilgrims of Mecha Idem The Hare is a fearfull creature and well known to every one Gesner describes her amply in his historie of beasts as also Topsell Plinie Olaus Magnus and such others Now the cause of fear in this creature is in regard that she hath no other arms to defend her from being taken but her little prettie nimble legs and swift running It is said that when they watch they shut their eyes and when they sleep they open them which how how true it is I know not howbeit the Egyptians when they would signifie an open and manifest matter used to picture an Hare sleeping Moreover it is easily seen that the Hare hath longer legs behinde then before and so runneth faster up the hill then down contrary to almost any other beast for they make more speed downward then up Whereby saith one may be signified that whereas most men in the world go down the way which leadeth to destruction he which is good will imitate the watchfull Hare and climbe up cheerfully the way to heaven which was prefigured by ascending up to Sion the mountain of the Lord Psal. 24. 3. And again the Hare hath very long eares is quick in hearing but dull of sight which to applie it as an embleme may be thus the eare being the instrument of hearing is sensus doctrinae the sense of doctrine and gate to let in good instruction but the eye being the sense of seeing is the instrument of delight and vanitie Wherefore we should be swift to heare things for our instruction and shut our eyes from beholding things that tend to vanitie The Conie is a beast neare of kinde to the Hare in some countreys they begin to breed being but six moneths old but in England at a yeare old and so continue bearing every moneth or at the least seven times in one yeare Their young are blinde at the first and like whelps see not untill they be nine dayes old neither hath their damme any suck for them till she hath been six or seven houres with the male or at least she cannot suckle them for the desire that she hath to accompanie the buck which if she be not presently permitted to do she will have no propensitie any more untill 14 dayes after The males will kill the young ones if they come at them as the he-cat useth to do and therefore it is thought that the females use to cover up their nests with earth and keep them close untill they be ready to runne Their flesh is commendable light of digestion wholesome cleanly nourisheth temperately and firmly and what commoditie a good warren of conies bringeth toward the keeping of a good house men who love hospitalitie know very well Howbeit they have sometimes proved dangerous about cities and castles by undermining their walls for as Plinie writeth in the 29 chapter of his eighth book there was a town in Spain overthrown by the digging of conies and one again in Thessalie destroyed by the casting of moles It is not good therefore to let them have a freedome of breeding too neare our houses for fear of damage To conclude they use not to live very long and chiefly they take delight in hard and sandie grounds which are drie for they have no greater enemie then the wet from whence it proceedeth that their greatest infirmitie is rottennesse And therefore for those who keep tame conies Markham teacheth that they shall onely take the finest sweetest and driest hay that they can get and mix it very well with the herb hare-thistle and therewith feed their conies which medicine will both cure and prevent the foresaid maladie And note that in India there is a little beast called a Pig-conie with short round eares and a bodie somewhat rounder and fuller then our conies The Ferret in Latine is called Viverra quasi vivens in terra as living in the earth creeping into and searching in the holes thereof by which means they infest no creature more then the conie This is a bold and audacious beast though little and an enemie to all other except their own kinde and when they take a prey their custome and manner is onely to suck in the bloud as they bite it and not to eat the flesh and if at any time their prey shall be taken from them they fall a squeaking and crying Such saith one are the rich men of this world who yell and crie out when they part with their riches weeping and wailing for the losse of such things as they have hunted after with as much greedinesse as want of pitie in whose commendation I think as much may be said
as was once by a preacher at the black funerall of an usurer of whom there is this storie A great rich usurer having purchased a mighty estate was at the last sent for by death to leave the world and lying upon his bed the Doctours and Physicians finding his sicknesse to be mortall give him over Then do his friends about him send for a Divine to come and comfort him who willingly tells him of many comforts for his souls health and amongst other things puts him in minde of this viz. that he had been a great purchaser upon earth but now he must studie for another purchase which was the kingdome of heaven Now the usurer turning upon the other side at the hearing of the word purchase answered I will not give more then according to fifteen yeares for a purchase and so died Afterwards this gentleman preaching at his funerall in the conclusion of his sermon said onely thus Brethren it is now expected that I should speak something concerning our brother here deceased I will end it in few words namely these How he lived you know how he died I know and where his soul now is God Almightie knows The Poul-cat or Fitch in Latine is called Putorius à Putore because of his ill smell for when they are provoked or stirred they stink grievously Their delight is to suck egges kill and eat Hens and Chickens and it is worth observing that their craft in devouring their prey is singular for to the intent that the sillie creatures to be devoured may not betray them to the housekeepers the first part that they lay hold on with their mouthes is the head of the Hen or Chicken by which means they bite off their heads and so keep them from crying The Weasel in Latine is called Mustela from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of snatching up of mice for though an enemie to pullen she devoureth and destroyeth mice and because she hath been often seen to carrie her young ones in her mouth some have thereupon supposed that she conceived by the eare and brought forth by the mouth and for this cause Aristeas mentioned by Gesner and Topsell writeth that the Jews were forbidden to eat them for this their action is an embleme saith he of folly and foolish men which can keep no secrets but utter all that they heare for there be many who when they have heard tales with their eares enlarge them with their tongues and by adding to reports turn mole-hills into mountains sic crescit eundo because as many have itching eares so some have scratching and augmenting tongues desiring to be heard as the reporters of news But the Egyptians turn it into another signe and say that their copulation at the eare and generation at the mouth are emblemes of speech which is first taught to the eare and then uttered by the tongue All which are prettie fancies although they be founded upon a mistaken ground as before I shewed Howbeit this is recorded for a truth that whereas the Basilisk killeth all creatures with her poyson that approach unto her or contend with her the Weasell onely is found to match her witnessed not onely by Plinie but by others also who besides this Weasell know not of any other beast in the world which is able to stand in contention against the Cockatrice But note that Rue is hatefull to a Serpent and good against poyson the Weasel therefore useth to eat of this herb both before and after the battell so well hath nature taught her to finde a preservative against her venimous and hurtfull adversarie and on the contrarie so well is nature pleased that no beast should be without his match In a word seeing the Weasell as I said before will destroy mice as well as hurt pullen it serveth as an embleme to demonstrate that one sometime may make use of an enemie and though every thing be not good for one thing yet it doth not follow that it is therefore good for nothing But I leave the Weasell and come to the Mole The Mole is a creature well known the snout of it is like to the nose of a Shrew-mouse and as for eyes or sight she wanteth either onely the place where the eyes should stand have a little black spot like a millet or poppie seed In Latine she is therefore called Talpa from the Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 blinde And yet saith one by dissection of a Mole great with young it hath been proved that the young ones before birth have eyes but after birth living continually in the dark earth without light these their seeming eyes cease to grow to any perfection And some again have also witnessed that although the Mole be blinde all her life time yet she beginneth to open her eyes in dying which I finde thus applied and it is a prettie embleme This serveth to decipher the state of a worldly man who neither seeth heaven nor thinketh of hell in his life time untill he be dying and then beginning to feel that which before he either not beleeved or not regarded he looketh up and seeth For in morte velit nolit saith Geminianus even against his will he is then compelled to open his eyes and acknowledge his sinnes although before he could not see them It was the case of Dives to live and die in this black mistie blindenesse for he had no grace to look up till he was in torments and then alas it was too late Yet herein was that saying of Gregory plainly verified Oculos quos culpa claudit poena aperit The Martins and Ermins be small beasts as little or lesse then a Squirrell the furre of whose skins is precious and of great esteem worn onely by kings and noble personages although these beasts be not bred in England yet there be plentie of them in many places beyond the seas they are said to have a sweet smell in their dung or excrement like the Musk-cat which proceedeth rather from the nature of the beast then from the meat which she eateth and for an ease to gouty legs it is good to apply these Martins skinnes The Zibeth or Sivet-cat is a beast bigger then any Cat and lesser then a Badger having a sharp face like a Martin a short round blunt eare black without but pale within the eye of a blew skie-colour the foot and leg black and more broad or open then a Cats It hath black claws a black nose and is spotted all over the body but on the nose with certain other marks notably described by Gesner and Topsell in their book of beasts This is a beast given much to cleanlinesse and from this beast proceedeth that precious drug which we call Sivet It is an excrement not growing in the cod or secret part onely but in a peculiar receptacle by it self increasing every day to the weight of