an other but when that shall bee done there must needes bee a manifest or secrete contrarietie of qualities beetweene those thinges which dryue out one another For otherwise the one will not onely flye from the other but will rather come vnto it and will bee ioyned and knitte in felloweship more stronglye and neerelye For concord saieth Hyppocrates cleaueth vnto and dwelleth with concord But things disagreeing vse rebell fight and disagree among them selues It is also commōly said that like thinges are not onelye preserued with lyke but also increased and strengthned as fire vseth to be increased with oyle Naphta brimstone aumber woode heat with heate the Ague with rottennesse of humours the Dropsie with drinkinge of water Choler with the eating of Capons and the poyson of the plague as Marcill Ficinus saith with wooll And this contrarietie of qualities which I spake of whē as it proceedeth from an inborne qualitie which in diuers kindes of thinges is diuers and oftentimes hath manyfolde causes euen according vnto the nature of the place constitution of the ayre temperature and disposition of the subiect or thing it is in and finallye accordinge vnto the proportion of the poyson and agent cause it dooth woonderfully varie and maye rather bee vnderstoode by the falling out of the thing then by any stedfast reason What shal we saye then vnto the question put forth Is this cure done by any manifest qualitie For the nature of Dogges is drye and the rottennesse wherewith for the moste parte the plague is ioyned is sayde to bee a corruption in a moyst bodye Or shall we saye that the stench of Dogges putrifying is by a certaine secrete qualitie repugnaunt vnto the nature of the plague Truly I dare not say so in asmuch as this cannot be prooued so farre as I knowe by the authoritie of anye but onely by the custome of that countrey and the experience of that soyle agreeable namelye that there a certaine singular plague a singular nature of Dogs a singular temperature of menne a singular ayre and suche other thinges as are in this case required doe all agree in a certayne singular qualitie whiche in other partes of the woorlde in other natures of beastes and menne are not in al poynts so lyke Which cannot bee doubtefull vnto them whiche are indued but with reasonable experience of things For the poyson and infection of the Plague is not after one sorte in all times and places Men also and other kindes of lyuinge creatures doe greatlye differ within them selues There is suche a Plague as in whiche chiefly Fyshes dye sometymes fourefooted beastes sometymes Byrdes sometymes Mankinde and amongest mankinde somtimes Women more then Men and the younger more then the elder Hieronimus Cardanus a man moste skilfull in manye thinges maketh mention of a certaine plague at Basil with the whiche onelye the Heluetians and not the Spaniardes or Italians or Frenchmen whiche were in the same Citie were visited whiche truelye were to bee woondred at woorthyly vnlesse wee knewe the varietie of thinges to be endlesse and the greater parte as Aristotle the chiefe of Phylosophers confesseth to remayn alwayes vnknowne vnto vs. Therefore to conclude this doubte I thinke that wee ought rather to followe the authoritie of moste famous men as well olde as newe whiche haue handled this cause when the receyued custome of barbarous people of one straunge place by what experience soeuer in whiche place also peraduenture the laste doe not agree with the firste in one continuall course Wherefore sithence wee knowe that a great parte of suche deadlye mischiefe dooth depende on the corrupte rotten and infected ayre and that fire aboue all thinges dooth resiste corruption let vs rather vse fire followinge Hippocrates then these outragious stenches which maye greatly hurte euen those that are sounde Let our streetes shyne with fier let our ayre burne with fire the goodnesse of whose substance howe great and subtyle it is reade Albucasis the Arabian Chirurgian in the firste parte of his Chirurgerie Chapter 1. For the fire is moste pure and purifieth all thinges whereupon Eusebius in his church historie doeth witnesse that the Chaldees in olde tyme did woorshippe it as a mightye GOD. Water dooth cleanse but the outwarde parte and cannot washe the inner because it cannot pearse vnto them but fier when as by his force he goeth through all thinges leaueth nothing vntouched and when as it is by nature most pure as hath beene sayde it dooth also moste speedilye cleanse all thinges Wherefore when as at the laste iudgemente Christe shal most fullye purge all the whole worlde the scripture saieth that hee will come furnished not with water as in the tyme of Noah but with fier and finishe so mightie a woorke For by fire wee see all clowdinesse to bee scattered stronglye all superfluous moystures to be consumed y e ayre to be purged mā his heart to be kindled with gladnesse to witte the troublesome and grosse vapours beeing scattered and strength added vnto the wearyed members so that it is not sayde commonlye in vaine that as fier is a singular ornamente of the house so also it is commoditie of men to bee wyshed for in somuch that the Poet doeth not in vaine aske this question What more profit brings then fire And I if I should bee demaunded what is the chiefest thing in preseruinge a Towne from the infection of the Plague as hee to him that demaunded what was the chiefe poynte in an Oratour the firste seconde and thyrde tyme aunswered action so I by good right myght aunswere that the firste seconde and thyrde helpe is fire beecause that all the best beeing taught by reason and experience haue so set downe For fire is vnto ayre as a triacle which dryeth vp his rottennesse Moreouer drying vp is the chiefest thing wherein Galen sayeth the intention of healing of this sicknesse doeth consiste when as moystenesse wherein happeneth rottennesse and corruption is too much Aristotle also saieth that all the Elementes doe putrifie except fire Wherefore when as the ayre hath gathered corruption I meane such corruption as commeth of vapours or breathes myxed together and drawne out of the earth or the water which ayre like as the stomack in mā receyueth al kinde of meate and drinke so dooth it receiue the fumes and reekes of all thinges nothing can bee more profitable then fire which dooth not onelye assume as the ayre but rather consume all corrupte and rotten vapours For as that fire or heate or rather heating virtue suche as is in Zedoaria Baume Cinamom Angelica and manye other suche lyke cleanseth the naturall spirite of man and keepeth awaye pryuate infection so our artificiall fire of the which wee heere intreate sheweth forth his vse in the outwarde ayre and keepeth and driueth awaye the common infection with singular admiration and profit Wherefore leauing that naturall fire vnto Phisitions who are imployed about y e curing of
de decenti ornatu Item in lib. de praec med Chirurgians Hipp. de praecep The Apothecaries Pety Phisitions and Experimensers roging vp down the countrey An vsuall thing in many places which I haue seene often in Germany Marcil Ficin de Epid. cap. 2 Fiue hanged at Padway Of priuate receiuing of the Lords supper Reasons of theÌ„ that deny it The reasons of them that maintaine priuate receiuing De ciuit deâ— lib. 21. ca. 25. By Altar he meaneth the â—â—ble of the Communion A cammon fault A Tale. Of order to be kept in the church Of marriages Tob. 2. Amos 8. 1. Mach. 1. Prou. 14. Marcil Fic de Epidem cap. 24. Leonar Fuchs de medic mor. li. 4. Alex. Aphr. 1. Prob 83. Detestation of drunkennesse Of dauncinges Of publike bathes Of schooles Of yeerely faires Of mainteining the poore The regiment of the poore traÌ„slated by M. Trip a Preacher Th. Taber de pest lib. 8. Meates not to be eaten Fish not to be eaten Fruites to be eaten Hearbes to be eaten Fishes to be eaten Flesh to bee eaten Spice to bee eaten Beere Wine Of the price of things Of places meet for sale First Ditches about Cities Li. 1. Cap. 49 Alex. Ben. li. 1. de pe ca. 1. Purging of the ayre A 〈◊〉 story Li. de pe ca. 6 Zoar. (a) Naphta is a kinde of chauky clay that burning with fire the more water is put to it the greater is the flame Clementius Clemen de nat pest Li. 4. de var. rer cap. 4. Scrib Larg in pref de compo medi. De anscul Phis The power of fire Discor 6. cap. 36. Plin. nat hist 36. cap. vlt. Li. 11. ca. 26 Auicen de med cord tract 2. ca. 20 1. de diff feb Metheor 4 ca. de putred Great Fyers Aet Amid 2 ser 1. cap. 94 tetra Paul Aeg. 2. ca. 35 Dios 6. ca. 35 Part. 1. de feb cap. 17. The comparing of a mad dog and a dogge infected with the plague together Dio. 6. ca. 35 The dog infected with the plague far worse then the mad dogge Scrib Larg de compos med Alex. BeÌ„ 26 cap. 16. Mathiol li. epist 6. How dogs cats c. may infect others and not be hurt them selues Alex. Aphrod 1. Proble 85. De Epid. cap. 2. Alex. Ben. lib. 1. de pest cap. 2. Gal. 6. de locis affec cap. 5. Gordon de Febr. part 1. cap. 17. Alex. Ben. li. 26. cap. 16. Leuin Lem. de occul nat mira cap. 5. A description of the plague Clementius Clement cap de pest Ann. 1556. A Plague at Padway A plague at Hamburg Anno. 1566. A Plague at Breme 1566. 1511. Venice A strange story Another example Plague in vessel Another example Padway A wonderful thing He seemeth to dislike with certaine others the putting of witches to death an opinion whiche by the worde of God cannot bee mainteintd quod pace illorum dictum velim De rer var. 15. cap. 17. ScriboÌ„ Larg de compos medic in Praefat. Obiection Hipp. 1. aph 1. Rom. 12. Answeare God first to bee called vpon The infected house to be marked out by some token Obiection Answeare Luther Eccl. hist 9. cap. 9. 2. Reg. 24. Eccl. 38.39 Leuin Lem. de lib. Bibl. cap. 1. Sap. 8 cap. 2. Of the vse and praise of phisick Eccle. 38. Scrib Larg de com med Polyd. de inuent rer 1. cap. 20. Corn. Cel. lib. 1. Lib. nat hist 29. cap. 1. Luther In Gorgia Obiection 38 Epist ad Ephes Theodor. dialog 1. Answere Esai 38. 4. Reg. 20. Tob. 6. 11. 3. Reg. 4. 8. Ioseph 2. Herophilus The sacrameÌ„ts and medicines are meanes Theod. 2. Fabul haeret Question A duble answere Eccle. 3. 7.4 Rom. 12.13 The matter of the Plague houses The place The forme Of common Hospitals Varo Tholosa Leui. Lem. 3 de occul nat mirac 3. Of the hurtfulnes of close aire In append ad fin 9. ca. lib. 1. The fonde opinion of the generation of a Basiliske L. Lem. 4. de occul nat mirac 12. Diosc ca. vlt. in hunc Mat. ibidem A fountaine of Petershag The lake of Puteol William of Braunssberg The riches of the Plague houses Two Plague houses The vse of the plague houses A scholler of Dauentry A student of Colain A Cooke of Paris Luther Eccle. 18. Pers sat 3. 2. Aph. 52. A question That it is lawfull to flie Ephe. 4. Gen. 20. Psal 3. Ruth 1. Leuit. 26. Ezech. 5.4 Hierom. 14. Deut. 28. Mark 16. Gal. ad Pyson de Theriae Leonarth Fuch 4. de med morb Mars Ficin de epid cap. 6. That it is not lawfull to flie Wol. Musc in explan psal 86.91 Prou. 2. Heb. 12. Ephe. 4. Aug. sermo 24. de tent Deut. 33. Iacob 1. 1. Pet. 4. Psalm 17. Psal 50. The band of charity Eccle. 1. Psalm 40. Psal 41. Mat. 25. He meaneth that by the fruites of a true fayth we must shew our selues to perteine vnto the kingdom of heauen bought for vs by Christ Rom. 5. 1. Cor. 12. What is to bee done in a plague or sicknes immediatly sent by God Ezech. 6.14 What must be done in sicknesses procured by our owne negligence c. Ignorant brethren Hist eccl 9. cap. 8. Tob. 1.2 Deut. 24. Bul. 1. de orig cr Certaine comparisons Solemnitie honour in buriall Budaeus and Vaâ—aublus in Fraunce None of the kinne to go into the houses of the infected None of the infected to accoÌ„pany the corse What superstition is Le Lem. de occult nat mir 2. cap. 3. Lib. 1. de peso cap. 1. Plin. 7. cap. 52. Certaine histories of some that haue beene buried aliue Koimeterion The iudgement of M. Luther of churchyards Chap. 14. Burning of the dead * He meaneth not popish holinesse but a separation from common vse * Hee speaketh not of worshipping the dead but of thinking reuerently of them The situation of the churchyard Aeneid 2. vrb cond 1. Fooles fire Whether it bee natural for dead bodyes to be seene about graues De vari rer 16. cap. 93. Vaine imaginations De praestig dem 2. ca 24. Hip. de virg morb The northwind The figure of the churchyard round Al things after a sort may be said to followe the mouing of the heauens These misteries of this section may most of theÌ„ happily seeme more curious then needefull A Mattres lying seaueÌ„ yeers in a corner In appen ca. 9. li. 4. de rer variet De Epid. ca. 24.25 Wooll keepeth the infection a long time Alex. Ben. 1 de pest ca. 3. Who ought to be appoynted Clensers Those that once or twise haue visited the sick of the plague Such as haue had the plague A pestilent kinde of people De varieta rerum 15. cap. 8. The dutie of such as be recouered of the Plague The leprie of the olde testament De ciuit dei Amat Lusi Elephantiasis or Leprie of our time Ant. Be. de abd morb cau cap. 98. Lib 2. ad ad Glauc Nat. histo 26. cap. 1. Gal. 11. fac med simp Lib. 7. ca. 16. Lib. 6. cap. 5. Obiection Answeare Gord. par 1. cap. 22. Epist lib. 7. Epist 2. Iac. Syl. in praefa Isag nat hist 26. ca. 1. Leonb Zac. 9. in Rha. ca. dephthis Such as thinke the Plague to come alwayes immediatly from God Le. Lem. 2. de occul nat mir cap. vlt. Obiection Answeare Amos 7. Luther The Plague is a fire Miseries that happen in the time of a common Plague The Preseruers L. O worthy voyce cod de begib Item L. princeps ff de legib Phisitions Chirurgians Apothecaries L. lat L. mag ff de ver re sig Ministers Pro. 15. Citizens Drunkards Dauncers Sellers and buyers of things vnlawfull Inst de re diuis § cum in alieno solo Sellers aboue the stinted rate Penalty for not remouing of cattell and their filth Dogs cats c. Commers froÌ„ places infected Keepers of gates Commers out of infected houses Contemners of Phisicke Forsakers of their citie c. Officers about burials c. Inst de pub Iud. §. Item lex Cornel. Goers abroade before the time prescribed c. Theo. Tabe de pest ca. 8. Pli. hist nat 56. cap. vlt. De var. rer lib. 1. Le. Lem. de ocul nat mir 3. Al new thinges are not to be despised Terence Virgill Aesops crow The most perfect way is in euery thing to be set downe though it cannot be by others attained vnto
my iudgemēt the chiefest cause of the spreading and scattering abroade of the same But hereof I meane whether the Plague be infectious or no and whether and how farre it maye of a Christian bee shunned and auoyded there is a verye notable and profitable Treatise written by that famous and Godlye Diuine Theodore Beza in Latine and not manie yeeres sithens by mee turned into English for the benefit of my countrie men whither for shortnesse sake I sende the Reader that is not alreadye satisfied As for you right Honourable Worshipfull whom in the Lord with all humilitie I reuerence and on whose shoulders lyeth the heauie charge of gouerning this noble citie I am fully resolued that you are otherwise perswaded thinking the Plague not onelie to be infectious but that it is also your partes and dueties so farre as in you lyeth and by the wisedome and pollicie of manne not contrary vnto the word of God may be attayned vnto to labour to stop preuent and hinder the contagion of the same To the furtherance forwarding of whiche your Godlye purpose I haue taken paynes to Englishe this very excellent and singuler Treatise the Father of it being a Dutch man the childe a Roman not by countrie but by education the which being committed vnto my tuition I haue taught in foureteene daies space to speake this mother tongue of ours in suche rude and homelie manner as you see hoping that the plainnesse and simplenes of his speech may be pardoned and borne with in regarde of his shorte time that hee had to learne not that he would winne praise for his quick capacitie but seing the occasion of God his so general visitation he thought that if hee might bee hearde speake before your H. W. he might happily say some thing that might turne to the common benefite hauing meant ere this time to haue presēted himself vnto you vnder his maisters simple dedication sauing that I know not howe it falleth out of a preposterous ouerthwart course that good things can hardly passe the presse whē as vnprofitable and hurtefull Pamphlets haue very quick and to too speedye passage Whatsoeuer good and holesome counsell he shall giue he trusteth shall at your hands not onely be friendly accepted but diligently folowed put in practise as occasion and opportunity shalbe offered crauing pardon for his wants imperfections nothing doubting but they shalbe supplied either by your own graue wisedomes or els by the learned aduise of Godlie and skilfull Phisitions It is enough for him to haue broken the yse and to haue shewed the waye for others ministring matter of further deliberation what manner course ought to be taken for the taming and maistering of this so fierce and cruell a Dragon for so I reade this sickenes of the plague by some verye singuler Phisitions to bee termed before he be suffered to approch too farre within your borders Wee see what preparation is vsed of euery man to withstand his owne priuate enemy what care euery good husbād hath for the fortifiyng of his house against the lawles attēpts brekings in of theeues what publike diligence is shewed strōg munition had alwayes in a readines to keep out the power of the forraine souldier howe much more then standeth it you vpon all other godly and faithfull magistrates to imploy al your endeuours to communicate and impart all your counselles to bend all your deuises to stop in time the daungerous assaults of this bloody Lion y t rāgeth so fiercely in most places of this realme at this time If delay in all perils be dangerous it cānot choose but in this disease whiche like a swift deuouring fire consumeth all thinges before it as it goeth but be very perillous and hurtfull Meete with therfore the beginning least remedie come too late when the disease by tract of time is growē to such strēgth that it can very hardlie and not without much trouble be cured A little bracke in a Wall made to keepe out water taken at the first may quickely be stopped which being suffered but for a smal time to haue his course maketh such a breach as often turneth to the drowning of an whole Countrie The fire that is espyed when it first taketh hold in the thatch or tymber of some house in a Towne may easily at the beginning with a little helpe bee quenched whiche catching strength by spreading causeth somtimes the pitifull desolation and vtter burning to grounde of all the houses and buildinges in the same After like manner it fareth with this vnrulye streame of the Plague and vnmercifull flame of the Pestilence if you geue it leaue by spreading and scattering abroade once to gather force and power it many times maketh riddāce of whole townes cleane sweepeth away huge and mighty Cities whereas beeyng wiselye looked vnto at the firste after suche order as in this shorte Treatise is prescribed it often passeth awaye without anye greate hurte or harme dooynge You haue heeretofore felt of the inconueniēce that hath growen by delaies in this kind of calamity Let therefore your former harmes make you beware against time to come in recōpēsing the former slacknes with new speedy diligence And aboue al thinges haue especiall regard to make sharpe lawes for the punishmēt of such as needlesly resort to those that are infected and for such as hauing been taken with the sicknes presume to come abroade and to thrust thē selues into the cōpany of others before they bee throughly cured For these two waies this disease may wōderfully bee increased whereof in this small discourse you shal reade very strange and wonderful examples I knowe there be that reason that the dayes of man are numbred that the time is set the houre limited in which we shall all die and hereof inferre that albeit we neuer so much nor so often haunt the companie of the infected yet it skilleth not wee shall not die before our time c. But this Diuelles argument so I call it because the Diuell vseth the verye like reason in the tentation of our Sauiour Christe shall finde no countenance before your H. and W. as I trust For it is a verie badde kind of reason from the etetnall and secrete decree of God knowen onelie vnto himselfe to goe about to take away all ordinarie meane to be vsed by man True it is that no man shall die before the time which God hath appoynted which time because it is vnto vs most vncertaine we are to vse the lawful meanes whiche God hath ordained for vs to sustaine our life withal Otherwise if all ordinary meanes be to be refused let vs eate no meate for wee shall not dye before God hath appoynted let vs wilfully destroye our selues for wee shall not dye before GOD hath appoynted yea let the robbers and murtherers by the high way side that lay violent handes to take away the life of man escape vnpunished because they haue not killed
case it must needes bee that many manifest signes goe before Wherefore wee see the Astrologers many times to be fouly deceiued for want of due consideration of causes For how can they alwayes without errour obserue and marke so hidden natures of so many things and so diuers coniunctions and disiunctions of all the starrs Therefore forasmuch as it is not lawfull neyther altogether to shut out God nor rashly to make him the Authour of our errour and ouersight according vnto the iudgement of the most learned and graue men both Philosophers and Phisitions and also Diuines this may well bee affirmed that euerie pestilence in deede like as other diseases euen in the iudgement of Hypocrates and all aduersities are of God but yet notwithstanding haue not all one nature for there is one kinde of plague which may be said to come only from God and another naturall the thirde receiued by infection The plague from God when as it riseth either immediatly from God or by the ordinance of God as Alexand. Bened termeth it and by no ouersight of nature by no placing of the stars or through the threatening of no Ecclipse nor through the defaulte and rash headdines of men that is when as it is sent by the meere pleasure and wrath of God being angrie with men for their sinnes And this is a most heauie case and growing sodenly rageth verie hotly against those for we do not affirme the chastizing of the Lorde to bee like a bickering in the dark who are not marked the which we cannot auoid either by flying or medicines or ought to seeke to auoid but the way is only by supplication prayer and purgings It is also oftentimes to be perceiued by plaine and feareful tokens from God or by the voyce of God himselfe or his Prophete The naturall pestilence is that which commeth of causes by meanes and such as consist in nature This by some is thought to bee of three sortes either by meanes of the ayre or of the water or of the earth of others twofold which commeth in a maner all vnto one point namely common and priuate of the which the one is not properly called a common disease albeit manie times it bee the cause of a common disease that is of a common plague Nowe concerning that plague which happeneth by reason of the ayre or of the water or of the earth they say that it hath not God either the next or the proper cause although it haue him as her Lord to whom it is forced to obey at whose becke it is ruled Yet this plague many times doth so furiously rage that it wasteth away most famous cities most mightie prouinces and countries from whence it seemeth to haue the name Epidemia that is such a sicknes as haunteth a whole countrie or people destroyeth whole kingdomes vtterlye taketh awaye the former plight and countenance of a place blinde for the most part I speake after the maner of men vncertaine vnconstant rouing all aboutes vntreateable raging without any law taking away whomsoeuer it meeteth without any regarde eyther of nobilitie or common sort infecting all things sometimes far wyde frō the East vnto the West yea rāging vnto beasts vnto trees vnto the fruits of trees of y e earth from whence commeth that starring whiche the Greekes call Astrobolismos or starre blasting and finally vnto fishes the elements being infected by y e noysom meeting as it is thoght of Saturne and Mars in the house of the virgin or of the Twinnes through the Ecclipse of the Moone or of the Sunne such other like added circumstances This miserable sicknesse commeth many times vpon mē so sodenly that many within the space of 10. or 20 houres without any ague amongest their doinges at home or abroad or their publike busines without any certaine signe either of vrine or pulse in the Church in the high way in publike offices yea sometimes in feastes O lamentable condition of mans nature are taken away in a short time vpon the sodaine being mery iocond and fearing nothing Wherefore in this kinde of pestilence they thinke this singuler remedie flie quickly far off come slowly again to be a most safe preseruatiue As for that plague which hath his originall and beginning from infection the same is gotten either by companying or lying together or by some disposition from the partie that is infected with it and commeth through the meere negligence of men albeit at sometimes it rage as hotly as the 2. former whē it lighteth vpō fit bodies that is such as abound with il humours or are prone vnto rottēnes as fire amōgst stuble and dayly taketh strength through the carelesnes of such as are vnwarie and despise good counsail and liueth by mouing it selfe and waxeth strong by spreading abrod so that of a priuate hurt there groweth a publike of a particular an vniuersal in the end like as of a smal spark a great fire and according to that saying of the Poet One naughtie man oft times dooth make a Citie whole be punished This kinde of common sicknesse was not knowen either vnto the Greekes or Arabians as Cardanus witnesseth with whome I easilie agree For when as they liued more temperately and in time sought the helpe of the Phisition and receiued the same and kepte companie warilye with such as were sicke they did the more easily let the spreading abroad of this sicknesse Which things standing so it may easily bee vnderstood after what sort the scripture reporteth the plague to bee sent vpon men by God and by what meanes he deliuereth such as obey his commandements from the same For I willingly graunt that no haire falleth from our head without his will that there is no euill in the Citie which the Lord hath not done But againe my iudgement is that these things come not alwaies immediately from God in such sort as he may be said to be the next cause of them naye they are to be saide more rightlie more properlie to grow from their owne and from such nature of next causes rather then in respecte of the prouidence of God Because that euerye thing is to haue his name from his inwarde or next groundes that is from his owne nature and not from outward causes For what if a dronken man should fall into the fire or into the water or through hauing his stomack ouerquatted with meate and drinke seeking to procure vomit shoulde breake a veine of the breaste and so come into a phthisicke will you rather laye this vnto GOD then vnto the intemperancy of this drunken sotte If a man liuing in idlenesse and dailie surfetting glutting him selfe vnseasonably and vnorderlie with too much and moiste meate wallowing in riotousnesse giuen wholy to whordome dauncinges bathes sleepe vsing one while the colde an other while the hot aire gathering great store of rawnes and fleam especially in the winter and in a cold countrie in
saftie of all if the common people bee not so rashly as vsualie is wont to be done mixed togeather nor leaue be graunted for euerie man at his pleasure without order or consideration to goe whither he will Concerning the thinges them selues which being brought out of infected places haue withall brought the infection so many examples come to hand that time and paper will sooner faile mee then examples if I woulde rehearse but the least part of them Letting goe therefore the eldest which by reason of their age purchase the lesse credite at our handes let vs speake of a fewe at the least and such as haue happened but a little before our tyme or els in this selfe same time of ours There is a storie recited knowen vnto many worth y e noting When as Verona in the borders of Italie was besieged by the Emperour Maximilian there happened a Plague in the campe of the Germanes so that 2000. or thereaboutes dyed of the same In this slaughter this was founde out for certaine that 25. souldiers were infected and died one after another by meanes of one leather garment For as one departed straight way came an other and tooke the garment as a bootie for him and put it on And so farre went on this destruction vntill that the cause of this death and infection was spied out by the Chirurgeons Whiche thing being knowen this leathren pylch which was in deed infectious was cast into the fire and burnt and after the punishment thereof the plague by little and little slaked and at the lenght quite ceased Alexander Benedictus who liued in the yeere 1493. maketh report of a certain like matter which hapned at Venice in these wordes I heard saith hee in the dayes of my father that in the citie of Venice in the time of the Plague there was a certaine mattres suspected and cast into the inner part of the house of a certaine commoner of the Citie and after seuen yeeres sought out againe which the good wife of the house willed to be dressed vp For by lying long mustying in a secret corner it had gotten a greate infection by meanes whereof the seruantes were foorthwith taken with a sodaine plague A storie not dislike vnto this albeit he had it not first from the partie was once tolde vnto mee whiche else where I haue set downe in Dutch the effect whereof is thus In the yeere 1564. when as Coloine was sore visited with this sicknesse of the Plague a certayne Carrier who dwelled foure myles from thence did by chaunce bring certayne wares thither and agayne brought home with him alas a most hurtfull reward for his labour this infection and in shorte time died of the same Sixe weekes after for so long did the poyson keepe in without any harme doyng died all the children in the same house and all the seruauntes the good wife of the house onelie remayning aliue This beeyng done the sicknesse stayed without any hurte almost two whole moneths But when as al men hoped that all was well beholde the widow that was left did by chaunce giue the shirt of her sonne that was dead vnto y e sonne of a poore bodie her neighbour wherewith the childe being couered in the night and on the sodaine infected died forthwith together with the whole houshold y e mother again excepted The which whē after y e same manner as before it had now staied a lōg time at y e lēgth there came certaine strāgers to dwell with the widow y e was left y e plague whiche was thought to be dead reuiued agayn together destroyed thē al cōtinued so raging vntil Ianuary vntil y t at the last it also being cōquered w t the winter cold died not w tout y e great reioysing of the neighbors There is another no lesse sorowful example to bee added which I haue obserued in our Citie of Breme for a certain smith dying of y e plage his heire of y e same occupatiō being too greedy of y e goods y t were left alas together with the housholdstuf brought both the sicknes death also into his house For whē as among other thinges there was a vessell to bath in made after y e māner of y e coūtrey he with 5. of his familie washed in the same the first night they were al infected with the plague died Histories doubtles worthy the noting vnto the which albeit a man shal hardly finde the like yet this which I may self haue seene I can̄not keepe close namely the famous city of Venice to haue bin almost wholly infected only with vessel certaine garmentes which were priuily brought thither frō Iustinopolis albeit through the singuler wisdom of the magistrate the vnweariable care of all degrees trusting vnto the help of God it neyther continued long nor tooke away many The like almost happened not many yeers sithens in the countie of Hoyen neere vnto vs that a womans garment beyng brought in a certayne Village from the Citye of Hamburg where then the sicknesse was within a verye shorte time there dyed fiftie and vnlesse by and by through the grace of God it had bin stayed by the labour and wisedome of the rulers it had doubtles crept further especially through y e rashnes of y e poore countrie people for want of counsell what to doe Vnto these I could adde vnles some man might thinke thē meeter to be suppressed because of the outragiousnesse of the matter then to be put in story published suche thinges as I my selfe haue seene in the citie of Padway namely that the infection was wōderfully incresed through certain things infected with the pestilēt ayer being partly cast priuily into other houses y t were sound partly giuē vnto yōg childrē for gifts Thē the which fact it is yet more wicked whiche was told me as I was writing this booke of a certaine famous city in Germany namely that there were certaine layers foorth of the dead and suche as carrie them to Churche who beyng eyther hyred of some for money or through their owne greedie couetousnes that they might make their profit by the disprofite of others infected the publike Conduites and Cesternes with the infectious matter which they had taken of the sores of such as were sick of the plague O haynous fact cruel wicked and in the memorie of man vnheard of The wicked Sorceresses whom they commonly call witches deserue no questiō a great punishment albeit in many places too rashly and sometimes vnlawfully let me heere say this by the way for learned men at this day haue throughly canuazed this matter they vse to be handeled Moloch casting water or fire vpon them on euery side who is woont to bee delighted with such sacrifices but shal these poysoners which infect with the plague seeme vnto you worthy of lesse punishment Wherfore when as we haue now vnderstood of how
rayment and housing and trusting too much vnto his faith say if God will hee can preserue me without al these things Then the which follie this is yet greater that he which after this sorte casteth the care of his bodie and not seeke that remedie against the plague which he may may hurt and infect others also through this his negligence who peraduenture if hee had suffered himselfe to haue beene looked vnto had remained vnhurt and aliue Whereof it commeth to passe that hee getteth vnto himselfe the blame of an other man his death committeth murder vnto God Suche men doe in deede no otherwise then as if a man in a common fyring woulde not come and helpe the Citie but let the fire alone that the whole Citie might bee burned namely vppon this trust Doubtlesse if God will hee can without water quenche the fire But friende thou oughtest in no case so to deale nay it is shamefull and vnlawfull whiche thou perswadest thy selfe but rather vse remedies and medicines and doe whatsoeuer any way may helpe perfume thine house Orchard and streete flie the infected places and men infected whereas thy seruice is not required and so behaue thy selfe as one willing to quenche and not maintaine the publike flame c. For the woordes whiche followe albeit they bee spoken very finely yet at this time I purposedly passe them ouer Away therefore with this more then barbarous opinion and Cyclopical or Giant-like stubbornesse whereby many call and defame Phisicke as superfluous or an Arte only to picke mens purses as they doe all other liberall sciences yea and philosophie it selfe as a certaine sophistrie whiche thing Plato also himselfe doth for fault not of the thinges but of those persons that professe it But if any man shall say if the vse of your Phisicke bee so necessarie and diuine as you affirme wherefore then doth Syrach himselfe whome you haue cited in the place by you alleadged bydde the sicke goe vnto God and to desire health by prayer Why doth Saint Ignatius a most godly bishop and martyr call onely Christe the bodily spirituall Phisition and in death also I say not in sicknesse the true life But I will also my selfe giue the aduersaries a weapon which with mee is of no small force when as I departed out of Italie Sebastianus Laudus a singuler man the Reader of Phisicke at Padway and my master whom for honour sake I name for a perpetuall remembrance of his faithfulnesse towards me wrote with his owne hand in my booke Remember that only God doth cure diseases If then only God what neede is there of others Doth God want seruants for to help him If Christ be the only Phisition whiche taketh away our griefes as the Prophet is witnes and as he himselfe hath testified by so many exeamples in the new Testament whom shal we need besides For surely that is done in vaine by more which may be done by the fewer And of this iudgement ther are also many found among the Christians not vnlike vnto the old heretikes called Euchitae But I answere that albeit God needeth not the helpe of any but rather is the only Phisition aswel of the bodie as soule and y t we do confesse al health to depend on him to be to be craued at his hand yet nothing letteth but that the Lord and master may cōmit many things vnto his seruants do by their hands what he wil like as euery work man vseth tooles vnto whom notwithstanding the praise of the worke done properly is neither due nor ascribed And I saide before y e God will be asked of vs and without meanes manie tymes will giue nothing vnto vs y t which meanes he hath made for this end that we should vse them vnto our profit like as Christe himselfe and holy men of God when as they could obteine them for otherwise the grace and power of God is not tyed vnto them vsed them and were wont to vse them Wherefore when as these say that God only cureth diseases it is to be referred vnto the chiefe cause which is God not vnto the instrumental cause as are men And Syrach when as in the beginning hee had commended the instrumentes themselues and meanes as it were diuine and healthfull meanes least happily any man trusting vnto these shoulde cleaue vnto them as the principall and chiefe causes and shoulde forget God in the end of the Chapter as it were in the vse of these things hee doeth admonishe vs that wee haue GOD before our eyes in our whole worke that wee plye him with praier and request prosperous successe at his hande As if hee shoulde say Phisicke in deede is a diuine and excellent thing but without the power and grace of God which power is obteined by onely prayer it bringeth foorth no happie successe Whiche was no doubt the meaning also of Herophilus albeit a prophane and Heathen Phisition when as hee saith That Phisick is both nothing and againe that it is the hande of God nothing I say as I vnderstande it of it selfe and the hande of God ioyned with the grace and power of God and vsed in season and rightly Then the which in mine opinion nothing can bee spoken more truely and Christianly And the selfe same may wee say if it bee lawfull to compare great thinges with small of those meanes whiche are set foorth vnto vs vnto the health of the soule by Christe as these are for the halth of the body Although some which thinke they can cunninglye blinde the eyes of wise men or steale fire from Iupiter out of heauē are wont greatly and wickedly to extenuate or lessen the dignitie of these also when as with much a doe they can alleadge nothing but the abuse and faultes of the receiuers and doe only bewray the stinck of the Astrodutiorian and Messalian heretikes But least any man might thinke that I serue mine owne turne whilest hee heareth mee so diligently pleading for Phisick I will not pursue any further the commendation of a thing sufficiently praysed of it selfe but will ioyne yet one article more vnto this present Chapter very necessarie in my iudgement in this cause For a man may aske a question because that so earnestly diligently I perswade all companying w t the infected with y e Plague to be to be auoided how I thinke those poore women to be to be dealt w tal who in these infected houses either in health or sicknes fal in trauaile which thing to haue happened vnto many the which for the most part haue dyed I my selfe can be a liue witnesse Ought they to bee forsaken of the neighbours What like vncurtesie in the memorie of man hath there beene harde of Here is need of a dubble answere First if any women mooued not with rashnesse but Christian charitie and loue the which assuredly wee owe one to an other will come let this be
saye truelye for I was an eye witnesse the windes hauing somwhat a more free entrance it made a notable drawing vp and blowing abroad of the vapors and the plague did not so often haunte the Cittie as it was woont to doe and did also lesse harme A rare example of wisdome the which albeit it were not doone without great charges yet if the case shoulde so require it is woorthy the following especyally in our plague houses in whose setting vp it may more easily be taken heede of that they may bee so buylded that afterwardes they neede not be pulled downe againe And because I haue once entred to speak of the hurtfulnese of y e close ayre I hope I shal doe a thing woorth the trauaile and such as shall refresh the wearinesse of the Reader if I shall alleadge a certaine few and the same very fearefull and straunge histories concerning this matter In Hieronimus Cardanus in his booke de Variet rer it is thus read The 23. day of Iuly in the yeere 1556. there happened a woonderfull thing whereat I my selfe was present Iacobus Philippus Cernuscus a moneth agoe willeth a priuye to be digged vp out of the earth and to be sieled roofed and vauted When it was finished that y e vaut might be made sure he commaundeth it to bee shut vp Twentie dayes after he openeth it hee biddeth the woodden peeces wherewith they made hollowe the vautes to be drawne out one that was hyred goeth downe by a ladder when he came vnto the middle of the ladder hee fell downe dead The maister when as hee sawe him not to returne goeth downe him selfe and when he came thither he by and by dyed They that stoode by put in the third who beeing on the middle of the ladder sayd be of good cheere I will bring vp the other but when as hee once put his head vnder the vaute hee straight way fell downe dead The fourth fell downe dead likewise The fifth called Matus which in our tongue is a foole beeing a verye stout fellowe went down but he put not in his head with a hook pulled out one of the dead Thereupon beeing made somewhat bolder hee came againe and went downe so farre that hee put vnder his head and by and by fell downe When they had pulled him vp and perceiued that there was yet breath in him with vsing helpes by little and little they got lyfe of him agayne and sense yet hee remained dumbe vntyll the rysing of the Sunne the next daye I when as he begunne to speake asked him certain questions but he onely remembred that he went downe they put in also a dogge and he was drawn out halfe dead They vncouered the place by the commaundement of the Magistrate at the mouth of the denne they see without any hurt running water Thus much Card. And beecause no certaine cause appeared there were some whiche supposed that a Basiliske Serpente laye lurking there which Basiliske after the opinion of the common people is thought to come of the Egge of a Cock being hatched by a Toad the whiche I willinglye with the learned and moste fine Writer L. Lemnius the Phisition of Ziricaeum doe thinke to bee but an olde Wiues tale When as rather the stench poysoned breathes filthynesse strong smell and stinck are they whiche come out of foule and filthye places take awaye the breath and sometymes strangle a man Although that there is no cause why any man should doubt that venemous beasts which lye lurking in suche holes doe sometimes woorke the same The like vnto this was sometimes tolde me by an eye witnesse and such a one as no exception is to be taken against to witte the most honorable reuerent L.L. Georg of worthy memorie Duke of Brunswike and Byshoppe of Bream c of a certaine Fountayn of Petershag which is a Castle vnder the Byshop of Mind breathing out a woonderfull infectious sauour whiche when it was somtimes scoured of the filth whatsoeuer lyuing thing was put into it was by and by choaked and by death that I may speake with Pliny made tryall of the force of this water and that so long vntyll at length casting in and settinge on fire a vessel filled with shippe pitch hearbs and sweete-flowers it was so cleansed that afterwardes there might bee going into it without hurte and euerye manne might occupy of the springing water therof without harme With these stories agreeth that of the Lake of Puteol neere vnto Naples into the which a Dogge being cast dyeth within a little space if when you haue taken him out againe you plunge him in the stream neere-by he reuiueth Also that which I my selfe haue seene at Menapis in the Lordship of Burchbrull whiche is vnder William of Braunssberge a moste noble Gentleman and excelling as well in all kinde of vertue as in the prayse of a most auncient and most honourable pedigrew of a certaine Wine cellar newely buylded casting vp so sore a smell that it could serue for no vse But more of this sorte might be brought if I did not auoide tediousnesse and being too long These therefore may suffice concerning the matter situation and forme of the buylding I wil go forward to recite the wealth number and vse of the same Fourthly therefore prouision must be made for the rich wherwith our plague houses are to be furnished which being once appoynted according vnto the estate and abilitie of euery Cittie it is to be hoped that by little and lyttle through the lyberalytie of good menne they will wax greater and increase euerye day Although in this case no other riches are sought after then such as are needfull for the maintenaunce of those that neede and the preseruation of the buylding And because the Plague doth not alwayes reigne therfore there shall not neede to be any yearely charges made but as I haue sayde so much as shall be requisite for the reparations If there be anye ouerplus that shall be layd vp eyther for the necessitie to come or to be to bestowed vppon the vse of the poore Nowe I sayde at the beeginning that two such houses were to be buylded namelye the one for such as are yet sounde and well but yet by reason of the companye at home which they haue hadde with the sicke are to be suspected and feared and the other for those which lye sicke infected with the plague And as for other poyntes they may bee like but they must be conuenient waye the one from the other For it hath beene marked that this sickly infection hath bene increased euē by the inclosures of y e walles and standing and touchinge of the houses together And they muste in such order bee seuered the one from the other that in receyuing the North wynde and Sunne beames the one bee not an hinderaunce vnto the other nor bee anye let to receiue the free ayre especially that the South winde out