which will drown bastard children that be cast into it but drive to land them that be lawfully begotten Or is not this strange which he also mentioneth of a certain well in Sicilia whereof if theeves drink they are made blinde by the efficacie of the water The like I finde in other authours concerning certain fountains in Sardinia for it is said that they have this marvellous propertie namely that if there be a cause to draw any one to his oath he that is perjured and drinketh thereof becometh blinde and the true witnesse seeth more clearely then he did before Solinus and Isiodore report it Solinus also and Aristotle make mention of a water called the Eleusinian or Halesinian spring which through the noise of singing or musick is moved as if it danced or capered up and down whereas at other times it is still and quiet But I conclude and as that honoured Poet cannot but say Sure in the legend of absurdest fables I should enroll most of these admirables Save for the reverence of th' unstained credit Of many a witnesse where I yerst have read it And saving that our gain-spurr'd Pilots finde In our dayes waters of more wondrous kinde Unto which in things that are strange and not fabulous let this also be added that God Almighty hath proposed infinite secrets to men under the key of his wisdome that he might thereby humble them and that seeing what meer nothings they are they might acknowledge that all are ignorant of more then they know for indeed this is a rule Maxima pars eorum quae scimus est minima pars eorum quae nescimus The greatest part of those things which we know is the least part of those things which we know not Sect. 3. Of the drie-land appearing after the gathering of the waters THe waters were no sooner gathered but the drie-land then appeared and this may be called the second part of the third dayes work For the end of the gathering of the waters was that the earth might shew it self and not onely so but that also it might appeare solid and drie Two things therefore saith Pareus did the earth in this act principally receive one was that it might be conspicuous the other that it might be solid and drie and both depended upon the law of great necessitie For first had it been continually covered with waters how could it have been a place for habitation either man must have been otherwise then he is or else the earth must as it was be uncovered Secondly were it uncovered and not also drie and solid it could not conveniently have bore up those living creatures weights and other things which tread and presse upon it Whereupon Expositours well witnesse that earth is so named from the Hebrew Erets which say they implieth a thing trod and runne upon by the creatures on it and heavenly orbs about it The same word spoken of particular places is englished land as the land or earth of Canaan and the like Here then it appeareth that this was that time when the earth received her proper elementarie qualitie which it had potentially before but not actually till now Now therefore it being not onely uncovered but also made drie it might easily be distinguished from the other three elements of fire aire and water For the proper qualitie of the fire is heat of the aire is moisture of the water is coldnesse and of the earth is drinesse These qualities I say are most proper and peculiar to them yet so as the aire is not onely moist but of a moderate heat as being nearest to the element of fire the water not onely cold but also moist as coming nearest to the nature of aire and the earth not onely drie but something cold as being hoast or landlord to the water and upon these terms the elements are combined together there being in all an harmonious order pointing to him who in number weight and measure hath constituted all things I will not go about to prove that the earth is the centre of the world for fear I should be like to him who disputed whether snow were white onely I will adde that even as an infant is potentially rationall by nature but is made rationall in act by youth or yeares so it was with the earth both before and after the drying of it Unto which let this also be joyned that the earth is not so arid or drie that it is void of all moisture for then it would be dissolved and fall into dust But it is arid and dry that it might be solid and firm retaining in the mean time even in the solid parts of it such a conveniencie of humour that all parts may both be glewed together and also have sufficient nutriment for the things which like to a teeming mother she either bringeth forth or nourisheth in her wombe Thus was the earth prepared and thus was it made a fit habitation for man to dwell on But as if man were not alwayes worthy to tread upon such a solid foundation we see it often shakes and quakes and rocks and rends it self as if it shewed that he which made it threatened by this trembling the impietie of the world and ruines of those which dwell upon the earth For though the efficient materiall and formall causes of an earthquake be naturall yet the finall is the signification of an angry God moved by the execrable crimes of a wicked people according to that of David in the 18 Psalme at the 7 verse The earth trembled and quaked the very foundations of the hills also shook and were removed because he was wroth Fear chills our hearts What heart can fear dissemble When steeples stagger and huge mountains tremble The Romanes in times past commanded by publick edict that prayers and supplications should be made in time of an earthquake but they must call upon no god by name as on their other holy-dayes for fear they mistook that god unto whom it belonged And the most ancient of the Grecians called Neptune the shaker and mover of the earth because they supposed that the cause proceeded from the fluctuations and flowings of waters up and down in the hollow places under ground Others thought that the shaking proceeded from the downfalls of subterranean dens or caves and that sometimes whole mountains sunk in and they caused the trembling But by that which I said before in the generation of windes it appeareth that what it is which is the cause of windes above the earth is also the cause of trembling and shaking in the earth For when it happeneth that aire and windie spirits or Exhalations be shut up within the caverns of the earth or have such passage as is too narrow for them they then striving to break their prisons shake the earth and make it tremble Now this imprisonment is said to be caused thus namely when the earth which is dry by nature
of the present tense noting the present performance of that which it was made for s As Val. Schindi Fagius upon Gen. chap. 1. out of Aben Ezra a Plin. lib. 2. cap 26. * Psal. 102. 26. b Dove confâ—…t of Atheil chap. 14. c Ideme â—…lin lib. 7. â—…ap 1â—… â—… 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Gell. Nâ—…t Aâ—… l. 13. c. â—… * Psal. 19. 5. d Diâ—… Poâ—… 〈◊〉 2. 〈◊〉 Aâ—…vent Phys. lib. 8. cap. 1. 〈◊〉 f Lib. de 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 g For new starres Tycho affirmeth it lib. de nova â—…iella * Dan. 7. 2 13. †Psalm 8. 9. Gen. 1. 16. 17. * Matth. 22. 30. †2. Cor. 12. 2 a Bish. Halls contemplationâ—… The highest Region The lowest Region * The earth The middle Region a Remotiâ—…â—… 〈◊〉 circulaâ—…i dat quiâ—…tem frigiditatem 〈◊〉 siâ—… pro 〈◊〉 dat mâ—…um caloâ—… levitateâ—… Exhalations are of two kindes The nature of vapours Why vapours are warm The nature of fumes Three sorts of Meteors Two sorts of Fiery Meteors which burn in very deed These sorts are ignita pura These sorts are ignita 〈◊〉 Article 1. Of burning Torches Article 2. Of burning Beams Article 3. Of round burning Pillars Article 4. Of Pyramidall burning Pillars Article 5. Of Flashings Streams or Darts Article 6. Dancing Goats Article 7. Flying Sparks Article 8. of Shooting starres * Antiperistasis is a repulsion on every part whereby either heat or cold is made more strong in it self by restraining the contrary Article 9. Flying Launces Article 10 Of the seeming burning of the heavens a Stow in his Abridg. Ann 1574. Artic. 11. Fire-drakes or flying Dragons b Paracelsus is perswaded that it is a fierie living creature bred in the element of the Fire even as flies in the Aire fish in the Water and worms in the Earth affirming that it is of à short life like the Salamander c. But if this be not ridiculous then nothing is Artic. 12. Foolish Fire Jenny or Will with a wisp b Taken therefore but falsely for the souls of the departed as you may see if you look but a little further * 2. Sam. 12. 13. Job 7. 10. Psal. 103. 15 16. and Psal. 39. 15. * Eccles. 9. 5 6. * Eccles. 9. 10. Hos. 13. 14. John â—…7 24. * Luke â—…6 22. and chap â—…3 43. * 1. John 〈◊〉 9. Of Helena Castor and Pollux Why two lights at once shew fair weather and one light foul weather Artic. 13. Licking Lights Virg. Aeneid lib. 2. prope finem Why some fierie Meteors are lesse pure then others What Comets are * Plinie maketh their shortest time to be seven dayes and their longest 80 dayes lib. 2. cap. 25. but we finde it otherwise And therefore there is a fault 80 being put for 180 which might come to passe by the losse of a C. Three principall colours in a Comet Two chief fashions in a Comet The strange effects of Comets a Carion ex Seneca lib. 2. b Socrat. lib. 4. cap. 22. c Carion lib. 3. d Lib. 3. pag. 294. e Of this Comet you may reade in Carion lib. 5. pag. 854. f Alst. Chron. 〈◊〉 g Goclen Phys. Lanquet Chron. in contin Chron. Euseb. * So also a certain Germane in the continuation of Euseb. Chron. h Buchod in his chron * Idem ibid. h In Lanq. Chron. it is 1400. Vide Ann. Dom. 1531. i 〈◊〉 Bohemicum Germanicum orituâ—… quod hodié que affligit 〈◊〉 nostram Germaniam 〈◊〉 Chron. mirab Dei Fuit etiam antecesâ—… mortis Maâ—…hiae Imperatoris Why warres deaths famines and the like are the effects of Comets Our bodies follow the temper of the aire and our mindes do somewhat sympathize with the bodie †Burton in his Melancholy †Chap. 7. sect 3 parag 2 art 1. How to guesse at the signification of Comets i Origanâ—… de effectibus pag. 526 ex Cardano The severall ends of Comets Politicall Theologicall Naturall k Witnesse the great plague which was in Portugal Ann. Dom. 1531 occasioned by vapours which through a breach of ground in an earthquake issued forth and poisoned the aire Lanq. Chron. l After which were these appearances if not new starres yet most of them supralunary Comets as in the yeare 1577 which Sibylla Babylonica prophecied of as may be seen in Tycho shewing that it should arise about foure yeares after the vanishing of Cassiopea's starre which was true inclusively and in the yeares 1580 1585 1590 1593 and in the yeare 1596 but this was a New starre and in the yeares 1607 and 1618. a Viz. on Bartholomew day Calvis b Viz. on the ninth of November c And therefore he could not then name any one in particular d The King of Sweden born at such time as the starre began its operation The place pointed at by the heavens hath 62 degrees of North latitude l In a speech to his court at Ingolâ—…tadt m Taken out of the relation of his last battel pag. 20. translated out of French into English A memento for after-times * He flourished 135 yeares before Christs birth Helvic Chronol m Lib. 2. n See more in Aquinas summes o Some say the 17 degree Calvis châ—…ei A consideration of this New starres matter Lib. denova â—…ella * Yet the same matter had it been crushed together or as solidly composed as the earth would have been as nothing in respect of the earth * 〈◊〉 de novis 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 From the earth to the highest Firmament is nothing but aire p Called Lingua q In 〈◊〉 Lunâ—… generatâ—…r ignie What place the Element of Fire possesseth r Lib. 3. Met. cap. 2. Art 7. What thunder is * Ioâ—…nnes Bodinus putat a geniis aeris 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 fulmma jaci 〈◊〉 illâ—…m coeli cieri Great cracks Small cracks r Lib. 2. cap. 43. Sometimes 〈◊〉 and â—…o 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 lighâ—…ning and nâ—… 〈◊〉 How there may be lightning without thunder The kindes of lightning Why we see the lightning before we heare the thunder The worst â—…inde of lightning The making of the thunder-stone a Or thus Geneâ—… ex exhalationâ—… 〈◊〉 vâ—…scosa 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quos 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ceâ—… 〈◊〉 mutatione 〈◊〉 so 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sâ—… 〈◊〉 cuâ—… 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 miâ—… 〈◊〉 in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 lib. 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 7. cap. 3. Three kindes of Fulmen The first kinde is drie of qualitie The second kinde is something moist The third kinde is most grosse of the three * Plin. lib. 2. cap. 55. The Poets therefore write that she carries Jupiters armour which is lightning Not wholesome to gaze on the lightning What the Galaxia is Why red clouds are seen onely in the morning and evening * Viz. Parag. 6. Artic. 1. What is signified by many sunnes A rule and in observation concerning strange sights a Fulks Meteors b Stows Abridg. of chron c Stow ibid. d Idem e Fulks Meteors f In the yeare 1619 were 3 also seen at Lovan in the moneth of May
Aire in it being cold because it is hindred from following the circular motion of the heavens But as I said it is not absolutely cold but respectively For if it were extream cold then the heat of the Sunne would never passe through it to this Region here below neither would there be grasse herbs and such high trees as are upon the tops of the mountains But to proceed 1. In the highest Region and oft times above it be generated Comets or Blazing starres and such like fiery Meteors of divers sorts 2. In the middle Region Clouds Thunder Rain Windes Storms c. 3. In the lowest Region we have Dews Mists Hoar-frost Ice and Frost As also here is your Ignis fatuus or foolish fire with other Lights burning about graves or such like fattie places where there is store of clammie or fat oylie substance for their matter These Lights are seen also in fields and are driven by a gentle winde to and fro untill their matter be consumed Now these and every one of these seeing they have their causes in nature let us a little view them both how and what they are For they who send us to God and his decree in nature have indeed said what is the true cause but not how it is by naturall means effected For the manner of producing these things doth no lesse amplifie the power and providence of God then the things themselves when they are produced Sect. 2. Parag. 2. Of Meteors first in generall then how they are divided in particular ANd these things of which we now speak seen in any of the Regions by a generall name are called Meteors And the matter of Meteors as it is remote is from the Elements but as it is propinque or neare it consisteth of Exhalations And Exhalations are of two kindes 1. There is Fumus 2. Vapor If it come from the earth or some sandy place it is Fumus a Fume or a kinde of Smoke If it come from the water or some watry place it is Vapor For this is a rule that A Fume hath a certain earthly nature in it and yet is not earth and a Vapour hath a certain watry nature in it and yet it is not water Or if you had rather take it thus Fumus est mediae naturae inter terram ignem Vapor verò inter aquam aërem That is A Fume is of a middle nature between earth and fire but a Vapour is of a middle nature between water and aire And further all vapours are warm and moist and will easily be resolved into water much like the breath that proceedeth out of a mans mouth or out of a pot of water standing on the fire and these are never drawn higher then the middle Region of the Aire for there they are thickened and conglomerated by the cold into clouds And why vapours are warm being drawn from that which is cold is not from any internall propertie of their own but they receive this qualitie from the power and influence of the stars For after that the matter is by them attenuated or made thin their beams cannot but warm it although it proceed from that which is cold Again all fumes are as smokes which be hot and dry which because they be thin and lighter then vapours they often passe the lowest and middle Regions of the Aire being sometimes carried even beyond the highest Region it self And thus we see how there are two kindes of Exhalations Th' one somewhat hot but heavy moist and thick The other light drie burning pure and quick Moreover these Exhalations being the matter of Meteors as hath been said are either from the Earth or Water As for the Fire and Aire they are mixed with this matter as with all other things but not so abundantly that they may be said to be the materiall cause of any Meteor although without them none can be effected And thus much generally But now more particularly And in coming to particulars it may be found that these kinde of Meteors concerning which I speak are of three sorts either Fierie Waterie or Aierie Fierie are of two sorts either such as are in very deed fired or else such as onely seem to burn which are therefore called Phasmata In which regard it may be said that these Fierie ones are either Flames or Apparitions And again in respect of their matter if they be such as burn in very deed then they be either more or lesse pure Their place where we see them is according to the abundance and scarcitie or rather qualitie of the matter whereof they consist for if it be heavie and grosse it cannot be carried high but if it be not so grosse but rather light and more full of heat then it aspires and transcends so much the higher by how much it is the lighter sometimes above the highest Region of the Aire even into the starry heaven it self which is witnessed by our best modern Astronomers who have observed many Comets above the Moon Furthermore these Fiery impressions according to the diverse disposing of their matter are of severall fashions and thereupon they have severall appellations being called according unto the names of those things unto which they seem to be like As 1. Torches 2. Burning Beams 3. Round Pillars 4. Pyramidall Pillars 5. Burning Spears Streams or Darts 6. Dancing or leaping Goats 7. Flying Sparks 8. Shooting Starres 9. Flying Launces 10. Fires either scattered or else as if all the aire burned 11. Flying Dragons or Fire-drakes 12. Wandring Lights 13. And also licking or cleaving fire sticking on the hairs of men or beasts Now all these kindes of which I have mentioned thirteen I take to be such fierie Meteors as are said to be pure and not mixt Then again have you those which are said to be mixt and lesse pure As 1. Comets of all sorts 2. All kindes of lightening 3. Unto which must be joyned thunder as an adjunct And now of these severally before I mention any more of another kinde whether waterie or aierie Sect. 2. Parag. 3. Of such fierie Meteors as are pure and not mixt 1. FAx which is a Torch or Fire-brand or as a lighted candle is an exhalation hot and drie drawn beyond the middle Region of the aire where being arrived it is set on fire as are all exhalations that come there partly by their own heat and partly by the heat of that place and because the matter of the exhalation is long and not broad and being equally compact and fired at the one end it burneth like a torch or candle untill the whole whereof it consisteth be consumed And why it should burn at the one end rather then at the other is found to be because it is long and standeth upright having the most of its aspiring matter in the top and in this station ascending up it comes to passe that when the upper end doth present it self to the
from certain straits creeks bayes or such like places ought to be referred to accidentall hinderances as to the unaptnesse of the places rocks qualities of the regions differing nature of the waters or other secret and unknown impediments such as manifest themselves in Cambaia For it is reported that there although the tides keep their course with the moon yet it is contrary to the course they hold in these parts for they are said to increase not with the full of the moon but with the wane and so the sea-crabs do likewise amongst other things the nature of the water and qualitie of the region may much avail to this if it be true And in the island of Socotora saith Mr Purchas Don John of Castro observed many dayes and found contrary both to the Indian and our wont that when the moon riseth it is full sea and as the moon ascends the tide descends and ebbeth being dead low water when the moon is in the meridian These things are thus reported and if they should be true yet we must know that they are but in particular seas as I said before where a generall and universall cause may be much hindered and in a manner seem as if it were altered They that descend the brinie waves Of liquid Thetis flouds And in their ships of brittle staves Trade to augment their goods These men behold and in the deeps they see How great Gods wonders of the waters be I conclude therefore and cannot but say that this is as great a secret to be in every point discussed and unfolded as any nature can afford Arcanum enim naturae magnum est It is a great secret of nature and gives us therefore principall occasion to magnifie the power of God whose name onely is excellent and whose power above heaven and earth Last of all this is the finall cause of the seas motion God hath ordained it for the purging and preserving of the waters For as the aire is purged by windes and as it were renewed by moving to and fro so this motion keeps the waters of the sea from putrefaction An Appendix to the former Section wherein the properties and vertues of certain strange rivers wells and fountains are declared I Do not well know how to end this discourse of waters before I have spoken something of the strange properties that are in certain rivers wells and fountains Some are hot because they are generated and flow out of veins of brimstone or receive heat from those places where subterranean fires are nourished For this is a generall rule that all waters differ according to the qualitie of the place from whence they arise Some again are sowre or sharp like vineger and these runne through veins of allome copperas or such mineralls Some may be bitter that flow out of such earth as is bitter by adustion or otherwise Some may be salt whose current is through a salt vein And some may be sweet these are such that be well strained through good earth or runne through such mineralls as be of a sweet taste Our baths in the West countrey and S. Anne of Buckstones well in the North part of England and many other elsewhere are hot Aristotle writeth of a well in Sicilie whose water the inhabitants used for vineger and in divers places of Germanie be springs which harbour much sharpnesse In Bohemia neare to the citie called Bilen is a well saith Dr Fulk that the people use to drink of in the morning in stead of burnt wine And some saith he have the taste of wine as in Paphlagonia is a well that maketh men drunk which drink of it now this is because that water receiveth the fumositie of brimstone and other minerals through which it runneth and retaining their vertue it filleth and entoxicateth the brain as wine doth For it is possible that fountains may draw such efficacie from the mines of brimstone that they may fill their brains with fume that drink thereof who also become drunk therewith To which purpose Ovid speaketh thus Quam quicunque parùm moderato gutture traxit Haud aliter titubat quà m si mer a vina bibisset Which whoso draws with an immoderate throat Trips as his brains in meer good wine did float And Du Bartas also Salonian fountain and thou Andrian spring Out of what cellars do you daily bring The oyl and wine that you abound with so O earth do these within thine entralls grow What be there vines and orchards under ground Is Bacchus trade and Pallas art there found Ortelius in his Theatre of the world makes mention of a fountain in Ireland whose water killeth all those beasts that drink thereof but not the people although they use it ordinarily It is also reported that neare to the isle Ormus there is a great fountain found the water whereof is as green as the field in spring-time and salt as the sea He which drinketh but a little of it is incontinently taken with a violent scowring and he that drinketh very much thereof dieth without remedie Aelianus makes mention of a fountain in Boeotia neare to Thebes which causeth horses to runne mad if they drink of it Plinie speaketh of a water in Sclavonia which is extreamly cold yet if a man cast his cloth cloak upon it it is incontinently set on fire Ortelius again speaketh of a boyling fountain which will presently seethe all kinde of meat put into it it will also bake paste into bread as in an oven well heated This is said to be in the isle of Grontland The river Hypanis in Scythia every day brings forth little bladders out of which come certain flies They are bred in the morning fledge at noon and dead at night wherein mankinde is also like them For his birth is as his morning his strongest time or his middle time be his time long or short is as his noon and his night is that when he takes leave of the world and is laid in the grave to sleep with his fathers For this hath been the state of every one since first the world had any one The day breaking the Sunne ariseth the Sunne arising continues moving the Sunne moving noontime maketh noontime made the Sunne declines the Sunne declining threatens setting the Sunne setting night cometh and night coming our life is ended Thus runnes away our time If he that made the heavens Sunne hath set our lives Sunne but a small circumference it will the sooner climbe into the noon the sooner fall into the night The morning noon and evening as to those flies these three conclude our living Clitumnus saith Propertius lib. 3. is a river or spring in Italie which maketh oxen that drink of it white Dr. Fulk yeeldeth this reason namely because the qualitie of the water is very flegmatick Fulk Met. lib. 4. Plinie speaketh of the river Melas in Boeotia which maketh sheep black But Cephisus another stream which
the seas seemeth no bigger then a flying dove They shew of the same greatnesse in India in England They enlighten all parts of the earth alike and appeare the same indifferently to all and therefore must needs be of an extraordinarie bignesse And secondly as soon as the sunne ariseth all the starres are hid which shews his greatnesse And further if the sunne were not of such greatnesse as Artists give unto it how could all the world be enlightned by it Sect. 2. Of the Matter Place and Motion of the Starres with other like things which are also pertinent Artic. 1. That they consist most of a fierie matter and are cherished by the waters above the heavens BY Heaven and Earth which Moses saith were created in the beginning we are to understand all and every part of the whole Universe whose matter was created at once and made as it were the store-house for all things else as alreadie in the first dayes work I have declared Howbeit some contend that the starres and lights of heaven were not made out of any matter either of the earth or the waters or of heaven or any thing beside but immediately out of nothing Which certainly is scarce agreeable to the whole scope of creation For in the beginning the matter of all was made And perhaps as it was proper to the earth to bring forth herbs grasse and trees at the command of God in the third dayes work so also perhaps it was as proper to the heavens in some sort to afford the matter of the luminaries and otherstarres as soon as God said Let there be lights in the firmament of heaven And herein those Philosophers were not much amisse who defined the starres to be the thicker part of their orbs Yet neverthelesse not so to be followed as if the heavens afforded any solid orbs unto which as the knots in a tree or the nails in a wheel or the gemme in a ring the starres are joyned For besides that which I have alreadie spoken of the whole space within the concavitle of the firmament viz. that it is but aire yet purer and purer the higher we climbe which I proved in the second day both by opticall demonstration height consumption and motion of Comets with the like besides that I say there be other reasons also to declare it For not onely certain Poets have confessed as much calling the Skie Spirabile coeli numen as we reade in Virgil or a Liquid heaven as Ovid tells us saying Et liquidum spisso secrevit ab aëre coelum nor yet is it confirmed by the testimonie of Plinie alone who followed herein the opinion of ancient Philosophers but even reason also and exquisite modern observations have made it plain For suppose there were solid orbs or that this concave were not filled with liquid aire would it not follow that there should be as it were penetratio corporum or that one Sphere should cut another in sunder Questionlesse it would For the Planets move so up and down that they often enterfeir and cut one anothers orbs now higher and then lower as Mars amongst the rest which sometimes as Kepler confirms by his own and Tycho's accurate observations comes nearer the earth then the Sunne and is again eftsoons aloft in Iupiters sphere And doth not Tycho's Hypothesis and Systema of the world make it also plain that the sphere of the Sunne must be interfected by the orbs of Venus Mars and Mercury which could not be if the heavens were impenetrable or differed toto genere from this soft aire wherein we live and move And now see this figure framed according to Tycho's demonstration Thus Tycho describeth the wayes and situations of the Planets The starres therefore move in the heavens as birds in the aire or fishes in the sea and the like yet so as their bounds are set which with great regularitie to the admiration of their Maker they constantly come unto depart away from in their appointed times and determined orders and therefore said to be set in the firmament of heaven vers 17. those of the fixed ones being as equally distant one from another now and at this very day as at the first when God Almightie made them and those of the wandring ones as constant in their courses as ever yet from the first time they began to move Whereupon saith Tycho Semper judicavi naturalem motûs scientiam singulis Planetis congenitam vel potiùs à Deo inditam esse quâ in liquidissimo tenuissimo â—…there cursûs sui normam regularissimè constantissimè observare coguntur Yet neverthelesse we may not think that therefore they are living creatures animated with a soul and endued with life and reason but rather and in very deed as even now I said let this be an argument to shew and declare the admired wisdome of their Makeâ—… according to that of David in the 19 Psalme Coeli enarrant gloriam Dei The heavens declare the glorie of God and the firmament sheweth his handie work For The sunne cometh forth as a bridegroom out of his chamber and rejoycath as a giant to runne his course And yet again it is a thing very probable that those amongst the Iews who made cakes for the Queen of heaven who burnt incense to the Sunne Moon Planets and host of heaven who dedicated horses and chariots to the Sunne did not onely do it because they worshipped them as gods but also because like some amongst the Philosophers and others amongst the Fathers they thought them to be living creatures Sure we are that Moses puts them not into his catalogue amongst such creatures as he reckoneth to have life and therefore who will say they live They may move and yet be inanimate as fire which is of power to move waste and consume aire inclosed is able to shake the earth water carrieth ships boats and barges flows this way and that way yet is no living creature hath no soul minde or reason Also it may be granted that they are daily nourished by vapourie humours and are as it were fed by such kinde of food yet no living creatures For no man will denie a transmutation of the elements but rather easily grant that they one nourish another for conservation of the Universe And in such a kinde or not farre differing it is that the stars may be nourished by watrie humours and have their beams made wholesome to the world although they be no living creatures All which may be seen more largely proved in Lydiats Praelectio Astronomica where having discoursed of the matter of the heavens and starres as also of the portions and transmutation of the elements he proveth that there is such a penurie of water here below that it cannot be supplied ad mundi non dicit aeternitatem sed diuturnitatem propter inaequales elementorum transmutationes not supplied without the consumption of the aire were not the waters divided The one
which they are cherished into thin aire and so doing nature is kept from perishing before her time Neither let it seem strange although the starres be granted to consist most of a fierie temper that therefore they cannot be cherished by watrie humours for it is certain that fires are endued with sundry qualities or forces according to the divers mixtion of matter or divers disposition of the subject From whence it comes to passe that a bituminous flame is not quenched but nourished in water and the fire of lightning is said to burn the fiercer when we strive to quench it These waters therefore sweating in the likenesse of thin vapours through the utmost extent or roof of the out-spread Firmament which was made strong by stretching out and by which they are upholden do both supplie that decay of aire which otherwise would be and also do so temper and cherish the diuturnitie of the starres that thereby they shall continue untill the end of the world Elementorum transmutationes saith one sunt inaequales ergò proportiones ac majores quidem eorum quae faciliùs transmutentur in alia hoc ex necessitate non dico ad mundi aeternitatem sed diuturnitatem Aqua autem multò magìs mutatur in terram quà m terra in ipsam aër hoc aquae damnum sine maximo sui dispendio resarcire nullo modo potest nisi ab aquis supercoelestibus And perhaps the daily wasting of these waters may be the cause that the world is perceived to have a successive declination and to grow old as doth a garment untill at the last age for want of matter to keep an harmonious transmutation in the conservation of it shall according to the determined purpose of Almighty God suffer it to end as being worn out and little able to continue any longer Which when it shall be or how he intendeth to shorten it rests onely in the secret counsel of the holy Trinitie the divine word neverthelesse testifying that as tokens before it there shall be signes in the sunne and the moon in the heavens and starres For the starres shall fall from heaven and the powers of heaven shall be shaken Cadent de coelo stellae saith one non ratione substantiae sed lucis quia lumen suum retrahent obscurè reddent Which saying agrees directly to my meaning when I speak of the waters wasting For as the elements before from time to time have suffered a transmutation and shall now begin to devoure one another so the starres shall fade and perhaps be weakened in their qualities by having the lesse powerfull elementarie part in them turned by the more powerfull or if not so yet much altered by that sensible decay in the waters above the heavens And thus though I differ from Aristotle and the Peripateticks yet I have not much declined from the paths of other ancient Philosophers or from the steps of Plato in which how farre in my judgement we may follow the Academicall sect the Stoicks and those of Epicurus hath been related Howbeit I leave all free to the more judicious though for mine own part I think thus of the worlds Systema Let therefore those of the adverse part pitch their censure with the more favour and so I proceed to the following articles Artic. 2. Of their order and place in the skie and how it comes to passe that one starre is higher then another HAving already shewed that the whole concave of the heavens is filled with no firmer matter then soft and penetrable aire and that the starres have no solid orbs to uphold and move them it may not unfitly be questioned how they should hang in such a weak yeelding place and yet according to their times keep such severall certain distances one from another as we see they do To which perhaps some would answer that every starre in respect of his either more or lesse fiery qualitie doth either more or lesse ascend from the centre and so according to his gravitie or levitie rest naturally higher or lower as in his proper place the aire having a like power in the upholding of fiery bodies which the water hath in carrying of airie bodies For as a piece of Brasill or Lignum vitae will sink lower into the water then some lighter kinde of wood wherein there is more aire In like manner that starre which hath most of his matter from the more grosse elements takes his place in the lowest room whereas the lighter ones are naturally seated higher And indeed this is an answer which would serve the turn and bear out the matter well enough if there were no starres but those which we call the fixed starres for they are never observed to be higher or lower but alwayes of one and the same distance from the centre But seeing there be Planets likewise whose distances are unconstant and whose places are at some one time farre more absent from the earth then at some other nay Mars is sometimes nearer then the sunne seeing it is so I say their gravitie or levitie cannot absolutely be the cause but rather ought this to be referred to that infused force which his hand first gave them who placed them there For as the Sea being stirred by the moon to a loftie flux and having lifted up his rolling waves above the neighbouring banks would in all probability overflow the earth if the Almightie had not infused it with some occult qualitie saying Hitherto shalt thou come and no further as we reade in Job So likewise the starres would not keep their high and low places at certain infallible times so as they do and be so orderly in their motions as they are were it not from the power first put into them when they were placed in the firmament of which I spake but a little before when I shewed they were no living creatures For conclusion therefore I like well of the former reason if it be referred to the fixed starres but as concerning the Planets we see that it holdeth not in all and every part nor yet is absolutely found sufficient And yet for further satisfaction of the curious let it be supposed that the aire is ever thinnest in that place whereunto the sunne is nearest so that though the Planets naturally have but one place yet accidentally they may be found either higher or lower according to their approaching to or from the place of the sunne like as may be seen in one and the same weight if it be proved how unequally it will sink in divers waters and in waters of a differing thicknesse Of which reade more in Mr Lydiat his Praelectio Astronomica in the fourth and eighth chapters But in the mean time ever after admire the wisdome of thy Maker and praise his holy name For he hath so done his marvellous works that they ought to be had in perpetuall remembrance O never let these works forgotten be Their art is more then humane
naturall place wherein either of them live or that we consider their resemblance in parts or their manner of motion For first the place of fishes is the water the place of fowls the aire both which are diaphanous cleare moist and easie yeelding elements Secondly that which finnes be to fishes wings and feathers are to birds And thirdly that which swimming is to fishes in the waters flying is to birds in the aire The one moves himself by his sinnes the other by his wings The one cuts and glideth through the liquid aire the other shoots and darteth through the humid water The one makes paths in that subtil concave between heaven and earth the other draws furrows in the ploughed sea and both tracts are indiscernible either place again closing no longer open then their native dwellers flit through their yeelding gates And first of all me thinks I see the loftie Eagle king of birds towring on high in the heaven-aspiring aire And amongst all fowls the Eagle onely can move her self straight upward and downward perpendicularly without any collaterall declining Munster This bird is commended for her faithfulnesse towards other birds in some kinde though sometimes she shew her self cruell They all stand in awe of her and when she hath gotten meat she useth to communicate it unto such fowls as do accompany with her onely this some affirm that when she hath no more to make distribution of then she will attach some of her guests and for lack of food dismember them Her sight is sharp and quick insomuch that being in the highest part of the aire she can easily see what falleth on the land and thereupon the sooner finde her prey It is said that she can gaze upon the sunne and not be blinde and will fight eagerly against the Dragon for the Dragon greedily coveting the Eagles egges causeth many conflicts to be between them The Poets have called her Joves bird and Jupiters armour-bearer because she is never hurt with lightning She is a bird tenderly affected towards her young insomuch that she will endanger her own bodie to secure them bearing her young ones on her back when she perceiveth them to be assaulted with arrows Hares Harts Geese and Cranes are such creatures as this bird useth to prey upon And for her practise in killing the Hart thus it is when she laboureth to drive the Hart headlong to ruine she gathereth saith Munster much dust as she flieth and sitting upon the Harts horns shaketh it into his eyes and with her wings beateth him about the mouth untill at last the poore Hart is glad to fall fainting to the ground The Eagle buildeth her nest in the rocks and high places and the propertie of the young Eagle is when she findeth a dead carcase first of all to pick out the eye And so saith one do all seducing hereticks first put out the right eye of knowledge that thereby they may the better leade along their seduced Proselites And note that although the Eagle be very tender over her young yet when they be able to flie of themselves she casteth them out of her nest because she would have them shift and no longer depend upon their damme Which is a good example saith the same authour for domesticall discipline namely that parents should not bring up their children in idlenesse but even from their youth exercise them in honest labour training them up to some vocation Moreover Aristotle writeth that when the Eagle waxeth old the upper part of her bill so groweth over and increaseth that in the end she dieth of famine But Augustine observeth further that when the Eagle is thus overgrown she beateth her bill upon a rock and so by striking off her cumbersome part she recovereth her strength and eating to which the Psalmist alludeth Psal. 103. 5. Which maketh thee young and lustie as an Eagle The Phenix saith Munster is a noble bird and is but one in the world Cornelius Valerius whom Plinie mentioneth doth witnesse that when Quintus Plautius and Sex Papinius were Consuls one was seen to flie into Egypt And Tacitus also writeth that when Lucius 〈◊〉 and Pâ—…ulus Fabiâ—…s were Consulâ—… another was likewise seen to flie thither and yet not another but the same rather for there was not above two yeares difference in the time of this appearance Vitellius and Fabius being Consuls in the yeare of the citie 786 and Plautius with Papinius in the yeare 788. Dion was perswaded that this bird thus shewing her self did betoken the death of Tiberius but our countreyman Mr Lydiat rather thinketh that it pointed out the time when Christ that true Phenix did both die and rise again and so also thinketh Carion in his chron lib. 3. This bird if we may beleeve what is written is about the bignesse of an Eagle having a glittering brightnesse in the feathers of her neck like unto gold in other parts purple with an azured tail but so as in some places it is of a rose colour her head hath on it a plume or tuft of feathers Some say she liveth five hundred yeares others give her six hundred and sixtie and as Plinie writeth this bird hath her setled habitation in Arabia Felix When she waxeth old she is said to make her a nest of Cassia with branches of the frankincense tree into which she putteth other odours and so dieth upon them and then out of her bones and marrow there springeth first a little worm which afterwards comes to be a young Phenix Howbeit many think that all this is fabulous for besides the differing reports which go of this bird what species or kinde of any creature can be rehearsed whereof there is never but one and whereas the Lord said to all his creatures Increase and multiplie this benediction should take no place in the Phenix which multiplieth not And again seeing all creatures which came into the Ark came by two and two the male and female it must needs follow that the Phenix by this means perished And so saith one As for the Phenix I and not I alone think it a fable because it agreeth neither to reason nor likelihood but plainly disagreeth to the historie of the creation and of Noahs floud in both which God made all male and female and commanded them to increase and multiplie The Griffon is a creature if there be any such for many doubt it which whether I may reckon amongst the birds or beasts I cannot tell Howbeit as I finde him marked by Aelianus he is thus described namely that he is a kinde of beast with foure feet keeping most of all in India being as mightie in strength as a lion he hath wings and crooked talons black on the back and in the forepart purple His wings be somewhat white his bill and mouth like an eagles bill his eyes fierie he is hard to be taken except he be young he maketh his nest in the high mountains
obvious to the sight d Fulk e Iste locus vult quâ—…d ventus sensibus deprehendi nequeat certus locus ubi ventus flarâ—… incipias desiâ—…at notari non possit vis enim ejus tantùm sentiatâ—… Havenreut * Psal. 104. 24. a Plin. Lib. 2. cap. 47. b Origan de effect cap. 5. c Ibid. d Lib. 2. cap. 22. The mariners reckon 32 windes f Orig. Ephes. lib. de effect cap. 6. a Windes blowing into the haven and famous citie of Panormus or Palermo in Sâ—…cilie b In a book called a generall description of the world c Origan Ephem de effect cap. 5. Their qualities according as they commonly blow Norths qualitie Souths qualitie Easts qualitie Why the East and North windes sometimes bring rain for a whole day West windes qualitie d Lib. 1. carm od 4. The effects of a long-continuing winde at certain seasons A signe of plague and earthquake a Lib. 2. cap. 48. Typhon * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quod est verberare 〈◊〉 Prester A conclusion repeating the sum ne of this dayes work a Aeneid lib. 1. Questions concerning the waters which are said to be gathered together Quest. 1. Which sheweth how the waters were gathered together * Ezek. 1. 16. * Job 38. 10. Quest. 2. Shewing how they were gathered to one place * Esay 40. 22. * Dr. Fulk in his Met. lib. 4. saith that some lakes are so great that they bear the names of seas among which he reckoneth this Caspian sea a As Duina major and Duina minor called also Onega Look into the maps of Russia or Moscovia b Viz. the Euxine Baltick and Scythian or Northern seas Quest. 3. Shewing whether the waters be higher then the earth c Herodot in â—…terpe in lib. sequent Plin. lib. 6. cap. 39. * Psal. 104. d Met. lib. 1. cap. 14. e De subtil lib. 3. pag. 123. Quest. 4. Shewing whether there be more water then earth * 2. Esdr. 6. 42. Quest. 5 Shewing upon what the earth is founded * Wisd. 11. 22. * Job 26. 7. Quest 6. Shewing why the sea is salt and rivers fresh i 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Arist. de Met. lib. 2. cap. 1. k Lyd. dâ—…â—…ig foâ—… cap. 8 9. l viae under the water The sea made salt by the substance of the ground that is my opinion Of rivers and from whence they proceed Arist. de Met. lib. 1. cap. 13. n Lib. 2. cap. 103. †Aëriall vapours are partly a cause of springs o Goclen Disput. Phys. cap. 39. ex Plat. in Phaed. * Plato did but expresse Moses meaning Gen. 7. 11. in other words How springs come to be fresh seeing the sea is salt p Putei prope mare falsi longiùs minùs procul nihil Ial Scal. exercitat 50. The benefit and use of waters Quest. 7. Wherein is shewed the cause of the ebbing and flowing of the sea q Zanch. Tom. 3. lib. 4 cap. 1. quest â—… thes 1. * Note that this is pertinent to the openest seas as the Atlantick and Southseas and especially between the Tropicks where is a constant Easterly breath caused by the superiour motions which draw together with them not onely the element of fire but of the aire and water also r De placiâ—… â—…los lib. 3. cap. 17. Dr. Fulk 〈◊〉 liâ—… 4. t Antiquarum lecti 〈◊〉 lib. 29. cap. â—… u Iuâ—… Mart. Greg. Naz. Aescâ—…ines orat contra â—…tes L. Valla Dialog de lib. arbitriâ—… c. x Livie saith that it is not seven times a day but â—…emere in modum venti nunc huc nunâ—… ilâ—…c rapitur lib. 8. dec 3. The earth hath no circular motion * Viz. chap. 4. sect 2. and chap. 5. sect 2. Paragraph 1. y Lâ—…sberg 〈◊〉 iâ—… 〈◊〉 terra diâ—…r pag. 7. * Wiâ—…d 11. 22. * Joâ—…h 10. 12 13. Esay 38. 8. z Motus terra is nothing but Germinatio terrâ—… Gen. 1. * Ecclus. 46. 4. * Bish. Hall * Revel 16. 5. This is the most probable cause why the Sea ebbs and flows z Sir Christopher Heydon in his defence of Judiciall Astron. chap. 21. pag. 432. a Idem pag 433. cap 21. Why all seas do not ebbe and flow Why fresh waters do not ebbe and flow Psal. 107. 23 24. Water used in stead of vineger Water used in stead of burnt wine Water which makes men drunk A water which is deadly to beasts but not to men A purging killing water A water which makes horses mad A cold burning water A water which will both rosâ—… and bake A river which breedeth flies A water which maketh oxen white Water which maketh sheep black or white Water which makes them red b Plin. lib. 31. cap 2. See also 〈◊〉 2 cap. 103. A water like to the former A water cold in the day and hot in the â—…ight A water turning wood into stone A river which rests every seventh day c In his 3 day A strange well in Idâ—…mea Poysoning waters d Plutarch See also Just. lib. 12. and Curt. lib. 10. A water which makes cattell give black milk Poysoning waters Water which makes men mâ—…d A water that spoils the memorie A water which procureth lust A water which causeth barren nesse and another which causeth the teeth to fall c. e For this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2 where 〈◊〉 you may 〈◊〉 of â—…nother that sharpeâ—…eth the senses Fountains of oyl Waters of a strange temper Of the fountain Dodone Waters which work miracles * In which he was deceived it was rather to trie their strength and make them hardie as Verstegan well declareth Restitâ—… cap. 2. pag. 45. f Dâ—… 〈◊〉 cap. 51 52. g Dâ—… 〈◊〉 3 day We ought to make the best uses of the strangest things i Hâ—…iditas non est â—…stimanda ex irrigatione sed ex propria deâ—…nitione quod scilic et difficulter alieno termino clâ—…uditur Iam videâ—…us â—…quam includi faciliùs certis limitibus quà m aâ—…rem ergo c. Quod autem aqua magis â—…ectat id fit propter crassiorem substantiam Cùm eâ—…im humiditas aqua in denâ—…ore materia hâ—…reat ideo est magìs unita proinde efficacioâ—… ad humectandâ—…m Aeris verò humiâ—…tas tam crâ—…ssam substantiam siâ—…ut â—…qua non habet propâ—…erea tantum madorem corporibus 〈◊〉 â—…equit quod quandoque exiccâ—…re videatur id non est per se sed per accidens 〈◊〉 per exhalationes c. k Efficiens est calor solis simul ignis subterraneus quibus suppeditant tres superiores planetae l Causa materialis est spiritus seu vapor in terrae visceribus conclusus exire contendens m Forma est ipsa concussio terrae agitatio exhalationum terrae inclusatum The cause of earthquakes n Origaâ—… de effect cap. 9. ex Holy c. The kindes of earthquakes n Plâ—…t 〈◊〉 Tiâ—… A digression touching the new found world The attendants of an earthquake Signes of an earthquake Effects of earthquakes p
the time of the worlds creation with a confutation of the first Sect. 2. Their reasons shewed who suppose the time to be in the Spring Sect. 3. That the world began in Autumne with an answer to their first reason who endeavour to prove it was in the Spring Sect. 4. An answer to their second reason Sect. 5. An answer to their third reason Sect. 6. An answer to their fourth reason Sect. 7. Concluding the time to be Autumne CHAP. III. THe third Chapter concerneth the first day of the world and is divided into three Sections Sect. 1. Of God the Architect of all and of the first part of the first dayes work Sect. 2. Of the creation of Light Sect. 3. Of the intercourse between day and night CHAP. IIII. THe fourth and fifth Chapters concern the second day with such things as are pertinent to the work done in it and are divided into these following Sections Paragraphs and Articles Sect. 1. Of the Expansum or stretching out of the heavens called the Firmament Sect. 2. Of the waters above the heavens Sect. 3. Of the matter of the heavens c. CHAP. V. THe fifth Chapter beginneth with the second part of the second dayes work and hath two Sections Sect. 1. How to understand the word Heavens Sect. 2. Of the Aire together with such appearances as we use to see there This Section hath seven Paragraphs Parag. 1. Of the division and qualitie of the Regions in the Aire Parag. 2. Of Meteors first in generall then how they be divided in particular Parag. 3. Of Fierie Meteors such as are said to be pure and not mixt This Paragraph hath thirteen Articles 1. Of burning Torches 2. Of burning Beams 3. Of round Pillars 4. Of Pyramidall Pillars 5. Of burning Spears Streams or Darts 6. Of dancing or leaping Goats 7. Of flying Sparks 8. Of shooting Starres 9. Of flying Launces 10. Of Fires in the Aire two kindes 11. Of Flying Dragons or Fire-Drakes 12. Of Wandring Lights 13. Of Licking Lights Sect. 2. of the fifth Chapter still continued Parag. 4. of the second Section It concerneth Fiery Meteors impurely mixt This Paragraph hath three Articles 1. Of Comets c. 2. Of New stars their matter and significations 3. Of Thunder and Lightning Parag. 5. Of such Meteors as are Fiery onely in appearance This hath seven Articles 1. Of the Galaxia that it is no Meteor 2. Of Colours in the Clouds 3. Of many Sunnes and Moons 4. Of Beams or Streams of Light 5. Of Circles or Crowns 6. Of the Rain-bow 7. Of Openings or Chaps in the skie Parag. 6. Of Watery Meteros and of their severall kindes This Paragraph hath eight Articles 1. Of Clouds and their matter 2. Of Rain 3. Of Dew 4. Of Frosts 5. Of Snow 6. Of Hail 7. Of Mists and their kindes 8. Of the Cobweb-like Meteor Parag. 7. Of Aiery Meteors This hath five Articles 1. Of divers opinions concerning Winde 2. Of Winde what it is c. 3. Of the division of Windes c. 4. Of the qualitie and nature of Windes 5. Of Whirl-windes Storm-windes c. CHAP. VI. THe sixth Chapter treateth of the third day together with such things as are pertinent to the work done in it Here befoure Sections and two Appendices Sect. 1. Shewing into how many main parts the businesse of this day may be distinguished Sect. 2. Concerning the first thing done viz. The gathering together of the Waters which God Almighty calleth Seas This Section disputeth seven Questions 1. How the Waters were gathered together 2. How they could be gathered but to one place seeing there be many Seas Lakes Rivers and Fountains farre asunder 3. Whether they be higher then the Earth 4. Whether there be more Water then Earth 5. Whether the Earth be founded upon the Waters 6. The originall of Rivers as also why the Seas be salt and Rivers fresh 7. Of the Ebbing and Flowing of the Sea Unto which Section an Appendix is joyned and it concerns strange properties in certain Wells Waters and Fountains Sect. 3. Of the Drie-land appearing after the Waters were gathered wherein the cause of Earth-quakes together with the compasse and circuit of the Earth is shewed Sect. 4. Of the Sprouting Springing and Fructification of the Earth wherein the varietie and vertues of sundry Herbs and Trees is largely discovered according to the best Authours Unto which two last Sections an Appendix is joyned concerning all kinde of Metals as Gold Silver Stones of all sorts and such like things as are under ground CHAP. VII THe seventh Chapter concerneth the fourth day together with such things as are pertinent to the work done in it namely the Matter Names Natures Motions and Offices of the Starres It hath three Sections Sect. 1. An entrance towards the discourse of the Stars and Lights Sect. 2. Of the Matter Place Motion and Height of the Starres c. This Section hath two Articles 1. That the Starres consist most of a Fiery matter and are cherished by the Waters above the Heavens as was mentioned Chap. 4. 2. Of their Order and Place in the Skie and why one is higher then another Sect. 3. Of those offices given to the Starres when they were created This third Section hath three Paragraphs Parag. 1. Shewing that their first office is to shine upon the Earth to rule the Day and Night c. Here we have two Articles 1. Of Light what it is and whether the Sunne be the onely fountain of Light 2. Of the Starres twinkling and Sunnes dancing Parag. 2. Of that other office viz. that the Starres should be for Signes c. This Paragraph hath three Articles 1. That the Starres work upon the inferiour world and are signes of future events 2. Whether it be not a derogation from the perfection of things created to grant that the Starres may give an inclination to Man in his actions 3. Of Predictions or understanding the Signes Parag. 3. Of that other office wherein the Starres were made as it were heavenly clocks This hath three Articles 1. Of Seasons as Spring Summer c. 2. Of Dayes and their kindes c. 3. Of Yeares and their kindes c. CHAP. VIII THe eighth Chapter concerneth the creatures made in the fifth day of the world viz. Fish and Fowl This Chapter hath two Sections Sect. 1. Of Fishes their names kindes properties together with sundry emblemes drawn from them Sect. 2. Of the names kindes and properties of Fowls with many and sundry emblemes drawn from most of them CHAP. IX THe ninth Chapter concerneth the creatures made in the sixth and last day being such creatures as live neither in the Aire or Water but upon the Earth This Chapter hath likewise two Sections Sect. 1. Of Beasts their properties names kindes c. together with sundry emblemes drawn from many of them Sect. 2. The creation of Man being created male and female and made according to the image of God together with the institution of Marriage and blessing
given to that estate CHAP. I. Wherein is shewed that the world neither was from eternitie nor yet shall be extended to eternitie but that it had both a beginning and shall also have an ending wherein also is considerable how that ending shall be as also the time when is largely examined Sect. 1. That the world began and must also end THe Philosophers of ancient times were diversly transported in the stream of their own opinions both concerning the worlds originall and continuance some determining that it once began others imagining that it was without beginning and that the circled orbs should spin out a thread as long as is eternitie before it found an ending Plato could say that it was Dei Patris ad genus humanum epistola an epistle of God the Father unto mankinde and that God was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Creatour Maker and Father of the whole universe But Aristotle sticked not to affirm that the world neither began nor yet shall end Yet this his opinion himself being witnesse was nothing else but a Paradox and as without wrong to him may be affirmed he maintained it rather by way of contradicting others then for any desire of truth calling it Problema topicum as in the first book of his Topicks chap. 9. is manifest and as in that book written in his old age to king Alexander the Great he also confesseth This therefore made one say that it was not so much a logicall question as a thesis or position which Aristotle held and maintained whose reasons some have called vain sophistications to obscure the truth having more with then matter in them and may again be answered by more solid arguments then he alledgeth For that the world had both a beginning and must also have an ending even reason it self although there were no Scripture for it is sufficient As first if the world were eternall then there would be some memorie given us of the generations of men more ancient then that which Moses mentioneth but there is none given us for all other histories are but late in respect of the sacred storie which is an evident argument not onely against the eternitie of the world but also against the fables of the Egyptians Scythians and Grecians concerning their ancientnesse and the ancientnesse of their acts and deeds of fame For indeed omitting their palpable fictions when Ethnick writers tell us of any ancient thing it is either concerning the Thebane or Trojane warre of Cecrops of Inachus of Ogyges Deucalion or Ianus of Ninus or his father Belus or of the warre of the giants striving to heap mountain upon mountain that they might pull the gods out of heaven Now all these were either about the dayes of the Judges Moses Abraham or Noah at the furthest For to whom did they allude by their Ianus with two faces but to Noah who saw the times both before and after the floud Or whom did they point at by their Gigantomachia when Pelion forsooth must be set upon Ossa's back and all thrown down with a thunder-crack whom I say did they point at but Nimrod and his company or those who built the tower of Babel and had their languages confounded for it That of the Poet is therefore pertinent Si nulla fuit genitalis origo Terrarum coeli sempérque aeterna fuâ—…re Cur supra bellum Thebanum funera Trojae Non alias alii quoque res cecinêre Poetae Quò tot facta virûm toties cecidêre nec usquam Aeternis famae monimentis insita florent If that the heavens and earth did not begin Had no creation but remain'd from aye Why did not other Poets something sing Before the Thebane warre or fall of Troy What are become of great mens many deeds They could not die But would remain unto posteritie Secondly thus it may be also proved All things which are to us conspicuous consisting of matter and form are of themselves frail and fading having such a nature that they either are or may be subject to corruption but such is the world and therefore as in respect of its essence it is finite so likewise in respect of time it cannot be infinite but have both a beginning and an ending For first that is properly eternall which is altogether incommunicable or which is without beginning mutation succession and end and such onely is God and not the world Secondly it cannot be denied but that there is the same reason of the whole which is of the parts so that if the parts of the world be subject to corruption then must likewise the whole world also but the parts are as we daily see and therefore the whole But leaving reason we have a rule beyond it which is the rule of faith whos 's first assertion makes it plain that the world began and that Time by which we measure dayes weeks moneths and yeares hath not been for ever For In the beginning saith Moses God created the heavens and the earth and why is it said In the beginning he created but that it might be known especially to his Church that the world 〈◊〉 from everlasting Divinely therefore did Du Bartas sing as in the sound of Silvester we have it Cleare fire for ever hath not ayre embrac't Nor ayre for aye environ'd waters vast Nor waters alwayes wrapt the earth therein But all this ALL did once of nought begin Th' immutable divine decree which shall Cause the worlds end caus'd his originall Which whosoever shall deny he doth but betray his misery either because he wants Gods holy word to be his rule or else because he disdaineth to be ruled by it How great a priviledge then is that which even the poorest Christian hath above the greatest and most wise Philosopher And as for the scoffing Atheist whose peevish and perverse opinion leads him up and down in an affected cloud of ignorance disdaining to have faith because he scoffeth at the rule of faith it is no more then thus with him he kicks against the pricks and cannot therefore escape away unhurt For Sequitur injustas ultor à tergo Deus God as a revenger follows at the heels of a sinner Which many thousands now can witnesse well Whose faults with woe recanted are in hell Sect. 2. BUt concerning the worlds ending here fitly may arise this question viz. Whether it shall be destroyed according to the substance or according to the qualities 1. If it be destroyed according to the substance then it must be so destroyed as that nothing of it be remaining 2. If it be destroyed according to the qualities then it shall onely be purged the substance still abiding Now of both these opinions there can be but one truth which I verily think to be in the latter of them For although it be said in S. Peter that the heavens shall passe away with a noise the elements shall melt away with heat c.
dayes of weekly labour and that the seventh age shall begin at the resurrection as was figured in Henoch the seventh from Adam who died not as did the six before him but was taken up into heaven Unto this I assent as probable But that each age should have a thousand yeares is still denied and as in setting them down according to Scripture will be manifest The first is from the creation to the floud and this by S. Peter is called the old world 2. Pet. 2. 5. The second is from the floud to Abraham Matth. chap. 1. The third from Abraham to David Matth. chap. 1. The fourth from David to the captivitie Matth. chap. 1. The fifth from the captivitie to Christ. Matth. chap. 1. The sixt is the time after Christ called in many places the last age and the last of times as in Hebrews chap. 1. 1. God saith the Apostle who at sundry times and in divers manners spake unto the fathers by the Prophets hath in these last dayes spoken to us by his Sonne And again S. Peter calls this the last of times 1. Pet. 1. 20. S. John also saith Little children it is the last time 1. John 2. 18. These I grant to be the six ages of the world but who is so mad as to say or think that there were just thousands of yeares betwixt each or any of them The Septuagints make more then thousands between some of them and the Hebrews they make lesse excepting the first age Yet if you will know their lengths according to that which is none of the worst accounts take them thus and this account I may afterwards prove in another work The first hath 1656 yeares The second if we end it at the beginning of Abrahams peregrination and giving of the promise hath the just number of 423 yeares The third if we end it at the death of Saul and beginning of Davids kingdome after him containeth the number of 866 yeares The fourth if we begin the captivitie in the first yeare of Nebuchadnezzar hath 448 yeares The fifth containeth the length both of the Chaldean Persian and Grecian Monarchies together with so much of the Roman greatnesse as was past before Christ came into the world amounting in all to the summe of 605 yeares or there abouts although we reckon no further then the birth of Christ. But go rather to his baptisme and then this age is 634 c. The sixth and last hath so many yeares as are from the time of mans redemption untill now for hitherto this age hath continued and shall not be ended untill the last trumpet be blown and Surgite mortui venite ad judicium Arise you dead and come to judgement be sounded in our eares To which purpose divine Du Bartas that noble Poet brings in our father Adam speaking of these ages thus setting them down as if the speech had been uttered by him to his sonne saying The First begins with me the Seconds morn Is the first Ship-wright who doth first adorn The hills with vines that Shepherd is the Third Who after God through strange lands leads his herd And past mans reason crediting Gods word His onely sonne slayes with a willing sword The Fourth 's another valiant Shepherdling That for a cannon takes his silly sling And to a scepter turns his shepherds staff Great Prince great Prophet Poet Psalmograph The Fifth begins from that sad Princes night Who sâ—…es his children murdred in his sight Or from poore Iudahs dolefull heavinesse Led captives on the banks of Euphrates Hoped Messias shineth in the Sixt Who mockt beat banisht buried crucifixt For our foul sinnes still selfly-innocent Must fully bear the hatefull punishment The Last shall be the very resting-day Aire shall be mute the waters works shall stay The earth her store the starres shall leave their measures The sunne his shine and in eternall pleasures We plung'd in heaven shall aye solemnize all Th' eternall sabbaths endlesse festivall Thus farre Du Bartas But from hence I proceed and on the sudden I have met some other sorts of calculatours For so various are mens searching heads that these things have not onely been boulstered out by Rabbinicall traditions sabbaticall symboles and the like but also by sundry other fancies Some have pretended revelations and thereby deluded many Amongst whom learned Gerard makes mention of a certain woman of Suevia in Germanie who was called Thoda she in the yeare of Christ 848 prophesied that by the apparition of an Angel it was revealed unto her that the world should end that very yeare After whom there were others as true prophets as her self namely in the yeares 1062 1258 1345 1526 1530 c. He in the yeare 1526 ran up and down the streets in the citie of S. Gallus in Helvetia crying with horrid gestures that the day of the Lord was come that it was present And he in the yeare 1530 did so strongly prevail with some that he perswaded them the last yeare of the world was come whereupon they grew prodigall of their goods and substance fearing that they should scarcely spend them in so short a time as the world was to continue But this surely was an Anabaptisticall trick and a chip of that block which maketh all things common boasting of visions and dreams in an abundant manner Others have pitched upon certain Mathematicall revolutions and thereby constituted a time amongst whom Ioannes Regiomontanus is said to be one who partly thought that the yeare 1588 should adde an end to the world because at that time was a great conjunction of Saturn Jupiter Mars Upon which occasion I remember these verses Post mille expletos à partu Virginis annos Et post quingentos rursus ab orbe datos Octogesimus octavus mirabilis annus Ingruet is secum tristia multa trahet Si non hoc anno totus malus occidet orbis Si non in nihilum terra fretúmque ruent Cuncta tamen mundi sursum ibunt atque deorsum Imperia luctus undique grandis erit That is When from the Virgins birth a thousand yeares With full five hundred be compleat and told The Eightie Eighth a famous yeare appeares Which brings distresse more fatall then of old If not in this yeare all the wicked world Do fall and land with sea to nothing come Yet Empires must be topsie turvie hurl'd And extream grief shall be the common summe Which what it was the event hath shewed Others again dream of secrets in Cabalisticall conclusions Some subscribe to Analogies taken from Jubilees or from the yeares of Christs age and the like Yea and to omit many sundry others have their tricks and devices in Arithmeticall numbers whereby they can directly calculate the time and make the superstitious multitude admire them and lend a more then greedie eare to their feared predictions Such a one was he who out of these words MUNDI
may be also thought that both these waters dropping from clouds in the aire and also all other waters under the canopie of Heaven or within the concavitie of this Expansum are but the lower waters and those other which are separated from them must be in an higher place viz. above the firmament and so shall they be divided by the firmament otherwise not To which purpose Du Bartas thus I 'le rather give a thousand times the lie To mine own reason then but once defie The sacred voice of th'everlasting Spirit Which doth so often and so loud averre it That God above the shining firmament I wot not I what kinde of waters pent Or as Hyperius also writeth Assentiemur Mosi ac simpliciter statuemus aquas non tantùm infra firmamentum ubi in portiones quasi regiones certas eae ipsae sunt distributae aliaeque per aërem circumvehuntur aliae terris sunt adglutinatae verùm etiam super illud esse alias undique circumfusas That is Let us assent to Moses and plainly determine that there are not onely waters below the firmament as it were divided into certain portions and regions some of them carried about through the aire some fastened to the earth but also that there are other waters above the firmament spread round about it Which thing is also thus further manifested because those waters that are separated by the firmament are to be at all times separated For God in the creation of this firmament did not onely command that it should separate but also that it should be separating that is Let it continually separate or divide the waters from the waters quasi voluerit nullum esse tempus quo non distinguat as if he would have it that there should be no time wherein it might not distinguish between the one the other Which as it cannot be doâ—…e unlesse there be alwayes waters to be distinguished so neither can it be pertinent to those waters in the clouds because the aire is often cleare and those bottles of rain are not alwayes there And again it is from the vapours drawn from below that clouds and rain come which cannot at all times be but then onely when there is a naturall concourse of causes to effect it And then again when they are there they be soon gone for the rain proceeding from those vapours which we call the clouds stayeth not long in the aire but forthwith falleth down again and so by little and little the vapour consumeth and the cloud is gone How can it therefore be that these should be those supercelestiall waters separated from all other waters by the firmament seeing the firmament is above them and not onely so but also their proper place is here below being but at times drawn from hence and then it is as it were against their wills which makes them therefore hasten hither again with all the speed they can whereas on the contrary the firmament is to be between those waters and not over them separating them not at times but continually Neither may it seem strange how the out-firmament can be able alwayes to uphold them seeing as hath been said it was made strong by stretching out lifting then the waters up with it and therefore well fitted for this office and can no more fall then the heaven it self whose beams or rafters are laid in the waters as the Prophet speaketh Psalme 104. 3. And hereupon it also was that noble Bartas said I see not why mâ—…ns reason should withstand Or not beleeve that He whose powerfull hand Bay'd up the Red sea with a double wall That Israels host might scape Egyptian thrall Could prop as sure so many waves on high Above the Heav'ns starre-spangled canopie This was his opinion concerning the waters separated by the firmament of which opinion are sundry more But on the contrary side are other some who are of another minde affirming that they are meant onely of those waters in the clouds for say they the aire is called the firmament so also is the skie c. And of the clouds it is said in Job that God bindeth up his waters in thick clouds and the cloud is not rent under them So that first as every part of the water is called by the name of water in like manner every part of the firmament is called by the name of the firmament in which regard those waters in the clouds although no higher then the aire may be taken for those waters which the firmament doth separate and secondly that place in Job sheweth no lesse making it appeare how and in what manner the waters are separated by the firmament Furthermore Ex ipsa nubium natura saith Pareus From the very nature of the clouds this appeareth to be so for what other thing are the clouds but waters separated by force of the diurnall heat and by the cold of the aire made thick whereupon as Plinie calleth them they are said to be Aquae in coelo stantes Waters standing in the heavens Also it may be added saith Pareus that Moses makes mention but of two kindes of waters superas inferas the higher and the lower but the clouds are waters as hath been shewed and no low waters therefore they are the upper waters unlesse there be three kindes of waters which is contrary to Moses Besides this saith he is confirmed by the grammaticall construction of the words For Moses saith not that it divided from the waters which were supra Expansum but thus viz. from the waters which were desuper Expanso The sense therefore is not that the waters were carried up above the whole Expansum or Firmament but rather that they were carried upwards so as that with the firmament they were supra and desuper that is above and on high Also the name of heaven confirms no lesse for saith he the Expansum is called according to the Hebrews Schamajim or Shamajim from Sham There and Majim Waters which derivation is common And therefore those upper waters are not quite above the Expansum or the Firmament but are there that is in the Firmament namely in the middle Region of the aire Thus we see the difference concerning these waters And now let the reader choose which opinion likes him best But for mine own part I like this latter worst yet let me not tie another to be of the same minde any further then he pleaseth for it is no matter of faith and therefore we have our free choice according to the best reasons and most forcible demonstrations Wherefore let me proceed a little further that thereby as neare as I can I may set down that which seemeth to me the best meaning and nearest to the truth First then I answer that they do mistake who divide the Expansum into parts as if in so doing they could absolutely cleare the matter in question for it is not a part of
the Firmament that is appointed to this separating office but the whole Firmament as any one may see if he do but observe the words of God producing and assigning it Neither do we finde that the Firmament is any more then one To divide it into parts so as they imagine is not to divide it into parts but rather to make so many Firmaments as they imagine parts like as every scale of an onyon is a severall and differing scale and not one the part of another And besides neither is there the same reason between the parts of water and these supposed parts of the Firmament for then when God made the Sunne Moon and Starres he would not have said Let them be in the Firmament but above the Firmament for they are farre higher then the clouds yet I say they being higher then the clouds he is said to place them but in the Firmament and they being no more but in it how improperly do we affirm those things to be above it whose places are lower then either Sunne Moon or Starres And secondly admit Job tells us that there are waters bound up in thick clouds doth not Jeremie also tell us that they are drawn up in vapours from the earth which as hath been shewed cannot at all times be but then when there is a naturall concourse of causes to effect it whereas the out-spread Firmament is to be alwayes between them separating them not at times but continually And as for the rain proceeding from those waters which we call the clouds it stayeth not long in the aire but forthwith falleth down again shewing that of right their proper place is here below and therefore we make not three kindes of waters as if we would be contrary to Moses in saying that there are other waters above the concave of the Firmament which on this second day of the worlds creation were separated from all other waters Wherefore observe but this they being separated on this second day how could they be such as the aire affordeth for the middle Region of the aire which is the place for the clouds was not untill the third day Not untill the third day I say because it is found by experience and from sufficient witnesse proved true that the tops of the highest mountains do reach up unto that place which we call the middle Region of the aire being some of them more loftie then the clouds As for example in Iapan there is a mountain called Figeniana which is some certain leagues higher then the clouds And in Ternate among the Philippine Islands there is a mountain which as Mr. Purchas in his pilgrimage relateth is even angry with nature because it is fastened to the earth and doth therefore not onely lift up his head above the middle Region of the aire but endeavoureth also to conjoyn it self with the fierie Element And of the mountain Athos between Macedon and Thrace it is said to be so high that it casteth shade more then thirtie and seven miles Also the mount of Olympus in Thessalie is said to be of that height as neither the windes clouds or rain do overtop it And although I omit sundry others of exceeding height it is also written of another mount so high above the clouds that some who have seen it do witnesse that they have been on the top of it and have had both a cleare skie over their heads and also clouds below them pouring down rain and breaking forth with thunder and lightnings at which those below have been terrified but on the top of the hill there was no such matter This surely was that mountain which Mr. Lydiat meant when he said that etiam aestivis diebus even in the summer time when the clouds are at the highest those on the top of the mountains have had fair weather and withall perceived that there was plentie of rain about the middle height of the same hills Thus we see that there are lofty mountains And indeed their loftines is the cause of a middle Region for the hils hindering the aire from following the motion of the heavens do make it about their tops a fit convenient place to thicken these vapours into clouds which by the attractive power of the heavenly bodies are drawn up thither Wherefore that I may conclude the place of the middle Region being both caused and also overtopped by sundry high mountains it will appeare that there was no middle Region of the aire untill the third day because the waters were all over the earth and standing above the hills untill that very day For then and not before God gathered them together unto one place and made the drie land to appeare which before was covered with waters as with a garment Psalm 104. Rarior aqua saith one velut nebula terras tegebat quae congregatione densata est The thinne water like a mist or wet cloud covered the earth which by gathering together was made thick In which regard it may be said saith Aquinas that it was as naturall for the water to be every where about the earth as for the aire to be about both water and earth yet neverthelesse propter necessitatem finis saith he for the necessitie of the end namely that plants and living creatures should be upon the earth it was meet that the earth should be so uncovered and the waters so gathered that the drie land appeare Now this was a work pertinent unto the third day and before this work done there could be no middle Region and the middle Region being on this day and not before how can the waters in the clouds be those waters which were separated by the out-spread Firmament on the second day Neither do I here argue à facto ad fieri because in the very creation of this Firmament God then said Let it be between the waters that is even then beginning its office and art of separating them Which that it is even so we see he speaketh next concerning the lower waters and makes no more mention at all of those upper ones because he had already done with them and left them in their place unto which he had appointed them But furthermore this tenent is not a little helped by a consideration of the cataracts or windows of heaven which in the dayes of Noah were opened and poured down rain by the space of fourty dayes For me thinks the clouds could not be those windows of heaven because it rained fourty dayes and before it left raining the waters were higher then the hills being when fourty dayes were ended fifteen cubits above the highest mountains as in the historie of the Floud is manifest And hereupon it was that one once by the same reason concluded and said that either it did not rain fourty dayes which assertion we are sure is false or else it rained from some other where then from the middle Region For seeing the middle Region it self was
them who say that an effect may be called naturall two manner of wayes first in regard of the causes themselves secondly in regard of the direction and application of the causes If we consider the meer secondary and instrumentall causes we may call this effect naturall because it was partly performed by their help and concurrence but if we consider the mutuall application and conjunction of these second causes together with the first cause which extraordinarily set them on work we must needs acknowledge it to be supernaturall Now then although we have built upon reason and so found that before fourtie dayes fully ended the middle Region it self was drowned whereupon it could not rain from thence yet in so doing we do not argue amisse for it is no whit derogating from the power of the Almighty to ascend up higher till we finde the cause of this long rain and also the place from whence it came seeing that when we have so done we shall plainly finde that in regard of the direction and application of the cause it was extraordinarily set on work by a divine dispensation and so the effect was supernaturall I may therefore now proceed and that I may make the matter yet a little plainer concerning these cataracts or windows of heaven and so by consequence of the waters also above the heavens this in the next place may be added namely that Moses setteth down two causes by which there grew so great an augmentation of water as would drown the world the one was the fountain of the great deep the other was the opening of the windows of heaven Now if these windows were the clouds then it seemeth that the waters were increased but by one cause for the clouds in the aire come from the waters in the sea which by descending make no greater augmentation then the decresion was in their ascending And although it may be thought that there are waters enough within the bowels of the earth to overflow the whole earth which is demonstrated by comparing the earths diameter with the height of the highest mountains yet seeing the rain-water is made a companion with the great deep in the augmentation of the drowning waters I see no reason why that should be urged against it especially seeing it is found that the earth emptied not all the water within her bowels but onely some For thus stand the words The fountains also of the deep and the windows of heaven were stopped and the rain from heaven was restrained their store therefore was not spent when they had sufficiently drowned the world but their fury rather was restrained when they had executed Gods purpose by climbing high enough above the hills Cardinall Cajetane was conceited that there was a mount in Paradise which was not overflown and there forsooth he placeth Henoch The like dream also they have amongst them concerning Elias And as their champion and Goliah Bellarmine is perswaded all those mountains onely were overflown where the wicked dwelt Iosephus also reporteth out of Nicholas Damascenus that the hill Baris in Armenia saved many who fled thither for succour But these are dreams and devices which are soon overthrown by Moses in his foresaid evident text where the words are so generall that they include all and every mountain under not onely the Aiery heaven as Cajetane collecteth but under the whole Heaven without exception And now after all what hindereth that there should not be waters above the concave of the Firmament and that the opening of the windows of heaven should not be more then the loosing of the clouds For it is affirmed and not without reason you see that the rain or a great part of it which fell in the universall Floud came from an higher place then the middle Region of the aire and that the upper waters are to be above the Firmament and not the parts of it is an assertion well agreeing to Moses his description of this second dayes work For as hath been shewed concerning the fowls and stars it is true that they are but in the Firmament and not above it neither is there any more Firmament then one seeing Moses mentions not a second The fowls indeed fly above the earth as the text it self speaketh in Gen. 1. 20. but not above the Firmament their course being as Iunius reads the place versus superficiem expansi coeli or ante expansum or coram expanso coeli but never supra expansum And as for the starres the text likewise saith ver 15. Let them be for lights in the out-spread firmament mentioning never more then one and the same Firmament But for the waters it is otherwise The Firmament is appointed to separate them as being between and not above them Esto expansum inter aquas it is learned Iunius his right version of the place ut sit distinguens inter aquas Fecit ergò Deus expansum quod distinguit inter aquas quae sunt sub expanso inter aquas quae sunt supra expansum That is Let there be a firmament between the waters c. Between the waters as having waters above it And how unlike it is that the upper waters should be placed otherwise let the former reasons witnesse For all things considered we need not stand so much upon Pareus his reading Super quasi in expanso and desuper expanso as if they were but above or on high within the concave as are the fowls and starres this I say we need not stand upon seeing Iunius readeth Supra expansum without any such nice salving although he thinketh with Pareus that these upper waters are no higher then the middle Region of the aire And also admit that some derive the word Schamajim or Shamajim which signifieth Heavens from Sham There or in that place and from Majim Waters concluding thereupon that these waters which we now speak of must be There viz. in the heavens and not above them although some I say make this derivation yet others derive the same word otherwise And no few be there who not without reason do suppose that it is no derivative nor compound word at all but rather that the Ismaelitish word Schama which signifieth nothing else but High or Above doth proceed from this word Schamajim which in English we reade Heavens In which regard the Etymologie helpeth nothing to prove the adverse part And yet as I said before let the reader take his choice For perhaps he may now think after all that if there be waters above the starry heaven and that part of those waters descended in the time of the Floud that then the Heavens would have been corrupted and dissolved as some have said the rain falling through them from the convexitie of the out-spread Firmament Sect. 3. An objection answered concerning the nature of the Heavens examining whether they be of a Quint-essence BUt concerning this it may be said that it is not known whether the heavens be of
Comets be burnt consumed and wasted in the starrie heavens it seemeth that there is no great difference between them and things here below for if there were it might be thought that they would not suffer such earthly matter to ascend up their territories such I say as doth either wholly or in part compose them Wholly or in part I adde because perhaps even the heavens themselves may afford some matter towards the generation of them especially if they be new starres such as Aristotle never saw wherefore he writes that a Comet consisteth altogether of an hot drie and a kinde of oylie exhalation drawn from the earth and questionlesse in such as are utterly below the moon it is even so but if they â—…e higher and continue longer they as well as new starres may have some help from such matter as the heavens afford towards the generation of strange appearances which though they have yet that they have no earthly matter is not excluded because next under God the efficient cause of these things is attributed to the starres and their operation for when they are aptly and conveniently placed and aspected then by their power working upon things here below they draw up hot drie and oylie exhalations and these exhalations afford unto Comets that matter whereof they consist Ptolomie attributeth much in this kinde to Mars and Mercurie and so do many others else beside him and why the yearely aspects of these starres do not alwayes produce such effects is because they are not alwayes aspected in the same manner but sometimes in one part of the heavens sometimes in another and cannot therefore produce their intended effects without either the meeting or avoiding of apt or inconvenient occurrences But I conclude and do yet affirm that the nature of the heavens is certainly such that the waters above the heavens might passe or issue through them in the time of the Floud and yet the heavens not be dissolved nor suffer damage by their falling damage neither in corrupting them nor yet in leaving a vacant place by coming all away of which in the fourth dayes work when I come to speak of the starres I shall adde yet something more CHAP. V. How to understand the word Heavens and of the severall Regions of the aire together with a consideration of such appearances as we use to see there Sect. 1. ANd now to go on with the residue of this dayes work God saith Moses called the firmament Heavens c. By heavens in this place Moses meaneth onely the visible heavens because he speaketh onely of the visible part of the world And yet the same word which is here used is sometimes put for the aire wherein windes clouds and fowls do flie sometimes for the upper Firmament where the sunne moon and starres are set and sometimes for the high places where Angels dwell And hereupon it was that S. Paul mentioned the third heavens wherein he saw things unspeakable The first of these is like to the outward court of Solomons temple and is the most open to us The second is like his inward court lesse open and abounding with starrie lights or lamps never going out And the next is as the Sanctum Sanctorum whither he is entred once for all who is a Priest for ever and maketh intercession for us In the two lowest is no felicitie for neither the fowls nor starres are happie It is the third of these alone where the blessed Trinitie enjoyeth it self and the glorified spirits enjoy it And questionlesse in this highest part must needs be more then exceeding glorie seeing the other two within the concave of the Firmament are so full of wonder But of the one of them I shall need to speak little in this dayes work yet of the other under it as being more pertinent something must be added Sect. 2. Parag. 1. Of the Aire and the severall Regions in it VVE may therefore now if you please look into the Aire and here following the common path and separating it from the starrie heaven I must say that it is divided into three stages or Regions although I verily think as afterwards shall be shewed when I come to speak of the starres that all this space even from the earth to the eighth sphere is nothing else but aire The highest Region is said to be exceeding hot and also drie by reason of the neighbourhood that it hath with the fierie element as is said and with the starres by the force of whose beams it receiveth heat which is also much increased by following the motion of the heavens The lowest Region is somewhat contrary for it is said to be hot and moist hot chiefly by the reflection of the sunne-beams meeting with the earth and moist by reason of the proper nature of the aire and also by reason of the vapours exhaled out of the earth and water This is the qualitie which commonly is attributed to this Region But I think that we may rather say it is variable now hot now cold and sometimes temperate differing according to the times and seasons of the yeare In which regard Du Bartas writeth thus Warm-temper'd show'rs do wash it in the Spring And so in Autumne but more varying In Winter time 't is wet and cold and chill In Summer season hot and soultry still For then the fields scorched with flames reflect The sparkling rayes of thousand starres aspect The chief is Phoebus to whose arrows bright Our Globie Grandam serves for But and White Neither is it altogether variable in regard of time but also by reason of the diversitie of place some climates being more hot and drie some more cold and moist then others which cometh to passe according to their distance from the Equinoctiall towards either of the Poles Thus for these two Regions But now concerning the middle Region it is alwayes cold yet surely in its own nature it would be warmer then the Region which is here below were it not cooled by a cold occasioned by the reflection of the Sunne-beams For they reflecting upon the earth drive up above the beams of their reflection much cold from below which being daily supplied is kept as a continuall prisoner between the heat above and the heat beneath Or if you will take it thus namely that it is cold but not extreamly cold yet cold I say it is in respect of the two other Regions which are hotter then it And this coldnesse happeneth partly through the causes before expressed and partly by reason of the Aire in it which cannot follow the motion of the heavens seeing it is hindred by the tops of the mountains And hereupon it is that the Philosophers make this a rule saying that the farrenesse from a circular motion gives quietnesse coldnesse and heavinesse even as the nearnesse gives motion heat and lightnesse Which in this thing concerning the middle Region is found to be true the
Exhalation hot and drie as all Exhalations are which are apt to be fired and also heavie in regard of the glutinous matter whereof it consisteth in which regard the cold of the night beats it back again when it striveth to ascend through which strife and tossing it is fired for in this encounter it suffereth an Antiperistasis and being fired it goeth to and fro according to the motion of the Aire in the silent night by gentle gales not going alwayes directly upon one point unlesse the winde be more then such a gale as is commonly called Aura And note that if the winde be any thing big or blowing then this Meteor cannot appeare at all because the winde will disperse the matter of the Exhalation not suffering it to be conjoyned Moreover some think that it may be kindled of it self although it be not so moved as before and this is performed by the active moving of the heat which is within it as is seen in an heap of moist hay which will set it self on fire These kindes of lights are often seen in Fennes and Moores because there is alwayes great store of unctuous matter fit for such purposes as also where bloudie battells have been fought and in church-yards or places of common buriall because the carcases have both fatted and fitted the place for such kinde of oyly Exhalations Wherefore the much terrified ignorant and superstitious people may see their own errours in that they have deemed these lights to be walking spirits or as the silly ones amongst the Papists beleeve they can be nothing else but the souls of such as go to Purgatorie and the like In all which they are much deluded For souls departed cannot appeare again I shall go to him saith David but he shall not return to me And saith Job He shall return no more to his house neither shall his place know him any more Or as it is in the Psalmist Before I go hence and be no more seen So that if they walk sure it is invisible for saith the Scripture They shall be no more seen But what need I urge that For we see that they cannot at all return but are ignorant of all things done under the sunne and as it was with Dives and Lazarus so it is with every other Wherefore we may well say thus 1. If after death souls can appeare Why then did Dives crave That one his brethren word might bear What pains the damned have 2. Or if there be another room Which is not Heav'n or Hell How scap't the begger from the doom Of Purgatories cell 3. What shall become of Christs deare bloud If after death there be A way to make our own works good And place the soul in glee Quest. But if these lights be not walking spirits why is it that they leade men out of their way Answ. They are no spirits and yet leade out of the way because those who see them are amazed and look so earnestly after them that they forget their way and then being once out they wander to and fro not knowing whither sometimes to waters pits and other dangerous places whereupon the next day they will undoubtedly tell you strange tales as one saith how they were led up and down by a light which in their judgement was nothing else but some devil or spirit in the likenesse of fire which fain would have hurt them But of this enough and know last of all that if one be something neare these lights and the night calm then going from them they will follow us because there being no winde to hinder we draw the Aire after us or going towards them they go from us because we by our motion drive the Aire before us Moreover when the like matter chanceth to be fired in some such part of the Aire as is over the Sea then these lights appeare to marriners and are called Castor and Pollux if there be two at once otherwise Helena if there be but one The reason of which names was this Helena was the daughter of Iupiter and Leda and by the heathens she was taken for a goddesse but not for a goddesse of good fortune for this Helena was the cause of Troyes destruction as thus She was stollen away by Paris the sonne of Priamus K. of the Trojans stollen I say out of Greece whereupon her two brothers Castor and Pollux sayl to seek her but they were never heard of more or seen after which losse of these brethren made it be supposed that they were translated into the number of those gods who use to give good successe to marriners for they were lost at sea which is as if they were translated from thence Now then the Seamen having seen by often experience that one light was to them a signe of some tempest and that two lights were a signe of fair weather they called the one light Helena and the two lights they called Castor and Pollux Quest. But why should it be may some demand that they should thus appearing shew either fair or foul weather can any reason be shewn for it Answ. It is answered that one flame alone may be a signe of tempest or foul weather because that as that matter which burneth is so compact into one that it cannot be dissolved into two so in like manner the matter of tempest being exhaled by the like cause is kept from being dissipated and is so close together that before any long time it must needs work And again when two lights appeare why then it should be fair it is because there is not the like working in nature which was before but rather the contrary for as this Exhalation of the lights is divided so the matter which otherwise might be fit for tempest is not thickened but by the like cause is also divided scattered and easily dissolved insomuch that it cannot work so as at other times when there is a working to compact and not to dissipate 13. Ignis lambens is a cleaving and licking fire or light and is so called because it useth to cleave and stick to the hairs of men or beasts not hurting them but rather as it were gently licking them These flames may be caused two wayes as the learned write First when clammie Exhalations are scattered abroad in the aire in small parts and in the night are set on fire by an Antiperistasis so that when any shall either ride or walk in such places as are apt to breed them it is no wonder that they stick either on their horses or on themselves Secondly they may be caused another way viz. when the bodies of men or beasts being chafed do send out a fat and clammie sweat which according to the working of nature in things of this kinde is kindled and appeareth like a flame Virgil makes mention of such a fire as this upon the head of Iulus the sonne of Aeneas Ecce levis summo de
the Exhalation is able to break that then it runneth up and down within and sticking against the cold and moist sides maketh a noise much like to the quenching of an hot iron in cold water or of a squib made of wet powder in which regard Plinie seemeth to averre that thunder is but the quenching of fire in a wet cloud Also if the Exhalation be meanly strong and the cloud of unequall thicknesse then it breaketh out at the thinnest places and makes a kinde of buzzing noise like to a winde blowing out of narrow holes And so sometimes it happeneth that there may be a thunder-crack and yet no lightning and sometimes lightning without thunder The first is caused thus either when the cloud is so thin that it cannot keep in the Exhalation till it be kindled but suffereth it to go presently forth making a noise like to the winde out of a pair of Smiths bellows or else when the cloud is so thick and the Exhalation so slender and thin that although it stirre up and down within the cloud yet it fireth not but wastes it self within that prison as not being able to get out And thus may thunder be without lightning The second is caused when either the Exhalation and Vapour are both thin and the cloud also as thin or else thus namely when many thin light and hot Exhalations by immoderate heat are drawn up from the earth and by the absence of the sunne are destitute of that force by which they should be drawn up higher yet somewhat ascending by their own nature in that they be light and hot they meet with the cold either of the night in the lowest Region or else of the aire in the middle Region and so by an Antiperistasis or resistance of contraries they are beaten back and with the force of their motion set on fire as in summer nights and evenings we often see after an hot parching day Now this kinde of lightning some call Fulgetrum Another sort they call Coruscatio which indeed is nothing else but the shining of the lightning the shining or glittering of it rather then the lightning it self for in this regard we can perceive a flashing when there be no clouds above our Horizon or if there be clouds we see the flashing when our backs are turned from them or else we often perceive even through a thick cloud that it lightened when the lightning came not so low but onely issued out of a thinner cloud which was above that thicker one and shined through it A third kinde is called Fulgur and this is accompanied with thunder caused by the strife and reluctation which the Exhalation maketh in the cloud shewing it self in the breaking of the said cloud and although the crack be heard long after we have seen the fire yet they come together the seeming difference being because the quicknesse of our sight preventeth our hearing which is so much the sooner done either when the thunder is farre off and not neare unto us or when the winde is contrary which is also seen in the cleaving of wood or any the like knocking for let us be but in some sort distant from the partie making the noise or striking the blow and we shall see the ax heaved up again before we heare the sound The next is Fulmen and between this and the other is a great difference For Fulmen is an Exhalation which in respect of its quantitie is so copious and in respect of its qualitie is so hot and drie and mixed with so many other vapours of a contrary nature that when it breaketh the cloud wherein it is inclosed it comes with such a violence and continues burning so long that it falleth even to the very ground making a more fearfull fragor or crack then ordinary And oftentimes a great stone is blown out of the cloud with it whose cause is also naturall For when the Exhalation is drawn up with more then an ordinarie violence or is so drawn up or from such a place as it may carrie much earthie matter with it then is the stone procured The matter causing it at the first is thin and like unto the finest sand that can be imagined yet neverthelesse through the moisture which it getteth in the Aire and by the meeting with wet vapours in the ascent it clottereth together and being also it self of a kinde of clammie natuâ—…e it disjoyneth not but sticketh fast and then by the 〈◊〉 heat which it findeth in the generall matter of the Exhalation when it is fired it is throughly hardened even as a brick which is burned in the fire and being thus hardened and burnt it breaketh forth with the Exhalation and they both come tumbling down together For the force of the Exhalation shoots it out and look whatsoever is in the way it overthroweth burneth and dasheth in pieces Howbeit when it striketh the earth it is reported to go never above five foot deep All this is pertinent to that which is called Fulmen But for that other which is Fulgur the case is farre otherwise For in regard of the little plentie of the matter it never falleth to the ground but is wasted and consumed by the way Moreover Philosophers make three kindes of Fulmen viz. Terebrans Discutiens and Urens or as some call them Scindentia Infuscantia and Urentia 1. The first is said not to burn but rather to pierce cleave and extirpate such things as are obvious to it For seeing it is more subtill and pure then grosse as also wondrous drie and carrieth with it great plentie of spirits winde or breathings it must needs produce strange effects and passe through the pores of any thing be they never so small striking through with such wonderfull swiftnesse as that it cannot possibly hurt but where it is resisted and hindered by the close composure of that matter against which it striketh And hereupon it comes to passe that money is sometimes melted in the purse the purse not hurt at all the bones broke and the skin sound yea and sometimes the whole man burnt to ashes when his clothes are not consumed with many the like strange accidents And why it should cleave a wine vessell and the wine be so dull as not to runne out untill some 2 or 3 dayes after this may be a reason viz. in regard of the swift alteration and change whereby also all the clamminesse of the wine is drawn to the outwardmost part which keepeth in the wine as in a skin not suffering it suddenly to disperse it self 2. The second kinde burneth not to ashes but blasteth or scorcheth leaving the tincture of fire and as it were of smoke behinde it for the things which it striketh do use to look black or of a footie colour like unto a chimneys stock And this is caused in regard that this kinde of lightning is farre more full of moisture
then the other and yet in a manner as subtill swift and pure otherwise it would not blast but burn 3. The third kinde is Fulmen Urens and this is magis igneum quà m flammeum more fiery then flamie being of a grosse and earthy substance having much slimie matter in it which makes it therefore set such things on fire as are combustible whensoever it meeteth with them And yet there are some things which as it is said the lightning hurteth not As for example The Eagle Joves bird is free The laurell is not hurt neither can the earth be wounded any more then 5 foot deep Such places also as are covered with the skins of Seals or Sea-calves are secure wherefore of old time the tents of the Emperours were covered with them for their better safetie Suetonius telleth us a storie of the Emperour Caligula how he was scared with Thunder who although he bragged and boasted of himself that he was a god and threatned warre with Iupiter for a shower of rain that fell against his minde was neverthelesse by and by so terrified with thunder and lightning that he thereupon runnes and hides his head under a bed Moreover it is said that if lightning kill one in his sleep it openeth his eyes if it kill one whilest he is awake it shutteth them The reason being because it waketh him that sleepeth and killeth him before he can shut his eyes again and him that waketh it so amazeth that winking he dieth before he can open those eyes of his which the sudden flash of the lightning caused him to close And know that it is not good to stand gazing upon the lightning at any time for when it doth no other hurt if it be any thing neare us it may dry up or so waste the crystalline humour of the eyes that it perish the sight or it may swell the face making it to break out with scabbes or leprosie caused by a kinde of poyson in the Exhalation which the pores of the face and eyes admit and receive For this is certain that the matter of lightning seeing it cometh from sulfurous and other poysonous metallick substances is much infected and therefore hurteth where it entreth Sect. 2. Parag. 5 Of such Meteors as are fiery onely in appearance Artic. 1. The Galaxia is no Meteor ANd thus have I done with all those kinde of Meteors which are fiery in very deed whether pure or mixt Now it followeth that I speak of such as are fiery onely in appearance not being such as they seem to be but rather seeming more then they are Some account eight of them and make the Galaxia or milkie way to be one But that last may rather be left out For although Aristotle would have the Galaxia to be a Meteor yet his opinion is worthily misliked of most men and that not without good reason For if it were a Meteor and of the nature of the Elements as Exhalations are it would be at the length consumed like to other Meteors but this circle never corrupteth nor decreaseth and therefore it is no sublunarie concretion attracted and formed out of the starres which are above it and placed by their power in the highest part of the aire Moreover if this his tenent were true why hath it continued the Galaxia I mean in the same form place and magnitude alwayes from the beginning of the world untill now And besides other starres might also attain to the like luminous concretion as well as those which he imagineth to be over it And moreover this milkie way of Aristotle would admit of a Parallax were it so as he perswadeth and according to the opticall consideration saith noble Tycho by the shining of the fixed starres through it it would beget a strange refraction differing farre from that which is occasioned by the vapours that are seen about the Horizon For they seldome rise to the twentieth degree of altitude whereas this proceeding from the Via lactea would reach to the greatest height Wherefore we may say that it is rather of the nature of the heaven or a certain heavenly substance but somewhat thicker then the other parts of heaven or if you will much like to the matter of the starres or to the substance of the moon but diffused and spread abroad and not conglobated into one bodie as the starres are For although all be filled with aire from the earth to the fixed starres yet there the matter may begin to be more thick firm and solid and so the waters above the heavens are the better upheld For conclusion therefore not reckoning this amongst any of these Meteors fierie onely in appearance I may account them in number seven As thus 1. The colours of clouds 2. Many Sunnes 3. Many Moons 4. Beams of light 5. Crowns or circles about the Sunne or Moon 6. The Rain-bow 7. Chaps or openings in the skie Concerning all which in generall although they seem to burn yet they do not but are caused by refraction and reflexion of light either from the Sunne or Moon or brightest Planets Artic. 2. Of colours in the clouds ANd particularly for the appearance of colour in the clouds it ariseth not from the mixture of the foure qualities as it doth in bodies perfectly mixt as herbs stones c. but onely from the falling of light upon shadow or darknesse the light being in stead of white and the shadow or darknesse in stead of black Not that they are alwayes perfectly white and black for they differ according to the qualitie and composure of the cloud wherefore some be very white and that is when the vapour whereof the cloud consisteth is very subtil and thin some yellowish when the vapour is thicker some ruddie and duskish when it is meanly thick some black when it is very thick and some greenish when it is more waterie then ordinary being best discerned when it is farre from the Zenith and obvious by an oblique aspect The red and ruddie colours are seen onely in the morning and evening when the light of the sunne is not in his full force for at other times his light is too vehement cleare strong and piercing And by a diligent observation of these colours I think a man may as easily judge of fair or foul weather and the like as a physician may of the temperature of the bodie by inspection of the urine But of colours you may see more afterwards Artic. 3. Of many Sunnes and Moons ANd now concerning many Sunnes they are called Parahelii from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is as if one should say apud solem because they are as it were with the sunne in place as also not absent from him in splendour and fashion Their generation is after this manner viz. when a smooth waterie cloud which is of equall thicknesse quiet and still is placed on the side of the sunne not under the sunne
it be grosse the beams piercing it can spread or dilate it but a little way If it be thin they then are able to dilate it further And as for their significations they sometimes signifie rain sometimes winde sometimes fair cleare and calm weather sometimes frost sometimes tempest and sometimes snow 1. Rain if the circle wax altogether thicker and darker 2. Winde when the circle breaketh on the one side The reason whereof is because the circle is broken by the winde which is above and not yet come down to us here below But by this effect above we may gather both that it will come and also from what quarter namely from that quarter where the circle breaketh first 3. But if it vanish away and be dissolved altogether or in all parts alike then it is a token of fair weather 4. Or of frost in winter when it is great about the Moon 5. Of snow when at the same time of the yeare it seemeth to be craggie and rockie 6. Or of tempestuous weather when it looketh ruddie and is grosse and broken in many parts And thus much concerning Circles Artic. 6. Of the Rain-bow THe Rain-bow is to be spoken of next And this is nothing else but the apparition of certain colours in an hollow watery distilling or dropping cloud directly opposite to the Sunne representing in its fashion half a circle Or thus It is a bow of many colours appearing in a dewie dark droppie and hollow cloud by reflection of the Sunne-beams opposite to it For this is certain that lightsome or luminous bodies do cause images colours or appearances upon slender clean and thin objects Now of all bodies the Sunne is most lightsome but the aire and water are clean thin and slender Here then it appeareth that the Efficient cause of the Rain-bow is the light or beams of the Sunne which falling into fit apt or convenient matter opposite to them are refracted and reflected to our sight The Materiall cause is not water in act nor yet thick aire but a dewie vapour which is not continuus sed potiùs corpusculis guttularum discretus not absolutely of one bodie but rather severed into many bodies or little drops The Form of it is to be gathered out of the Figure and Colours And for the Figure we see it is circular But yet it never representeth to us any more then a Semicircle and not alwayes so great an arch The reason of which is because the centre or middle point of the Rain-bow which is diametrally opposite to the centre of the Sunne is alwayes either in the Horizon or under it So that seeing our sight of the heavens is cut off by the earth in such a manner as that we can never see above half of them it must needs be that the appearance of this circle be either more or lesse to us according to the Sunnes great or little distance from the Horizon And as for the colours they are commonly accounted three viz. Ruddie Green and Azure To which some adde a fourth The first is in the thickest and darkest part of the cloud For where a bright shining falleth upon a darkish place there it representeth a ruddie colour being somewhat like a Flame The second is caused by a more weak infâ—…action being in a remoter and more waterie part of the cloud whereupon it looketh greenish The third which is further into the cloud proceeds from the weakest infraction and is therefore of a more dark and obscure colour tending to a blew or an azure hue And sometimes a fourth colour is also perceived being very like a yellow or orenge-tawnie proceeding from a commixture of the red and green according to Aristotles judgement of which the learned may see Iul. Scaliger exerâ—… 80. sect 4. Now these colours in some rain-bows are more vehement or apparent in others more remisse or obscure which is according to the aptnesse of the cloud c. And in rain-bows caused by the moon for sometimes though seldome they have been seen in the night the colours are weaker whiter and lesse conspicuous being in a manner as white as milk which is because the moon having a borrowed light is nothing so strong in the projecting her raies but farre more feeble then the sunne But come to the finall cause and you will finde it twofold partly Naturall partly Supernaturall As it is Naturall we take it either as a signe of rain because it cannot appeare but in a waterie cloud which is so prepared that it is ready to fall in very drops or as a signe of fair weather namely then when the beams of the sunne are strong and the heat of it so great that the moisture of the cloud is dried up and the drops attenuated into thin aire All which may be discerned after this manner viz. when the colours grow either darker and darker or clearer and clearer For if the colours appeare dark thick or obscure by little and little till at the last they bury themselves in a black cloud then rain followeth But if the colours by degrees grow clearer and clearer till at the last they vanish away then we may expect fair and bright weather And this as it is a naturall signe But now as it is Supernaturall and then we behold it as a signe or symbole of Gods mercie towards the world betokening that it shall never be destroyed again through any Deluge or universall Floud For it shall be a signe of the covenant saith God between me and the earth viz. that there shall be no more a Floud of waters to destroy the earth Gen. 9. From both which significations or ends it may well be called Iris for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Greek is as much as dico in the Latine signifying I say I publish I tell or I declare Iris therefore comes from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 dico First because this bow publisheth or telleth to us the constitution of the aire Secondly because it declareth the covenant of God made with the world after the Floud shewing that his wrath is so farre forth appeased that he will never drown the world again which appeareth even in the order observed in placing the bow for we see it with the bended ends downwards and as one that holdeth a bow in peace insomuch that had it a shaft in it the earth should not be shot neither ought man to fear that the Lord will shoot any more such arrows of displeasure as before Some have thought that there was no rain-bow before the Floud but that it appeared since because God saith When I make the heaven thick with clouds I will put my bow in the clouds Gen. 9. To which it may be answered that God saith not that he will of new create a bow but that he will then put it into the clouds so as it never was before namely to be a signe c. So that although it were
not as a signe of any covenant before the Floud yet without doubt it was as a Meteor then as well as now and therefore was otherwise we might deny both bread and wine and water to be before the institution of the Sacraments for it is the same reason Wherefore as there was water before ever it was used for the water of regeneration in the Sacrament of Baptisme and as there was bread and wine before ever they were used as signes at the holy Communion so also the rain-bow was before ever it had that office to be a signe of Gods covenant between him and mankinde just as at this day it appeareth even to such as are not of the Church very Heathens and Pagans beholding it as well as we Besides there were from the beginning the same causes in nature to produce it for there wanted neither a sunne to draw vapours from waterie places nor yet a convenient place in the aire to thicken them into clouds neither was the sunne destitute of sparkling raies to make reflexion and infraction but as it is caused now so also then and to think otherwise were to think amisse Some again have been perswaded that this bow was before but was not in a cloud before And thus thought certain amongst the Hebrews But this is a reasonlesse assertion and against all Philosophie and not at all approved by Divinitie For how could that appeare in a cleare aire which can have no existence or being but in a dewing or distilling cloud Verily of both absurdities the former was the better namely that it was not at all and yet that also wanted grounds to uphold it as hath been shewed and is yet further manifest For seeing the Lord God in six dayes finished the creation and set the perfect order of all his creatures it followeth that the rain-bow had then his place either in being or in power And thus from two absurdities I bring you to a third For further more it hath been the opinion of some idle doting brains to think that there shall be no rain nor rain-bow 40 yeares before the end or destruction of the world by fire because the very aire say they must be prepared a long time before by a continuall drinesse and each thing made fit for combustion Which surely is a brain-sick fancie For what do they in this but shew their extream follie derogating not onely from reason but also from the power of God For is not God able to destroy the work of his own hands without such a supposed preparation and make the world combustible in an instant if need be Or should there be no rain and consequently no bow because it appeareth in a waterie cloud then how should the fruits of the earth be preserved Great famine and miserie must needs follow in the world if this be true For when the clouds drop no fatnesse then the ground pines away through barrennesse and when the heavens are iron then the earth is brasse whereas it is manifest that at the coming of Christ there shall be pleasant and fruitfull times times full of mirth wherein they shall eat and drink marrie and be given in marriage even as it was in the dayes of Noah Who therefore will think that these men are in their right mindes whilest they affirm that no rain shall fall by the space of 40 yeares before the world endeth The Jews as soon as they behold this bow not daring to gaze upon it do presently go forth and confesse their sinnes acknowledging that they are worthy to be destroyed with a Floud as the old world was and in being spared they celebrate the mercie and â—…lemencie of God for sparing them But saith Pareus although they mingle this religion with much superstition because they dream that the name of Iehovah is as it were engraven on the bow and because they turn their eyes away as from the majestie of God appearing there not daring to look upon it lest as may be said beholding the face of God they die Yet it is meet even for us upon the sight of it to be so farre forth touched with a reverence towards God that we passe not away the symbole of the covenant with a brutish dulnesse lest thereupon we grow unmindefull of Gods severitie and goodnesse There is also another thing observable concerning this bow which I may not forget namely this The mysterie which according to some mens fancies is involved in the colours For in a mysterie they would have it betoken both the baptisme of Christ by water and fire and also the two judgements of the world the one alreadie past the other yet to come that which is past appeareth in the watery colours shewing that the world hath been drowned that which is yet to come appeareth in the fiery colours shewing that the world shall be destroyed by fire or burnt up at the day of judgement But saith one these and the like applications are wittie and prettie rather then wise and pithie I leave them therefore and proceed Artic. 7. Of chaps or gapings in the skie THe Philosophers call this Meteor Chasma 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quod est hio vel dehisco to gape or open and in Latine it is Hiatus a word of the same signification There are two kindes of these gapings or openings the one wide the other round And although I reckon these amongst such fiery Meteors as are fiery onely in appearance yet it may be that they sometimes burn and sometimes onely seem to burn They seem to burn when the Exhalation by reason oâ—… the want of viscuous matter is not enflamed but enlightened rather on the outward parts having much raritie or thinnesse in them at which time the middle part receiving no light in regard that it is black and thick there appeareth as it were a gulf in the skie The reason whereof is because the black is compassed about with white which white presenting it self sooner to the sight then the black makes the black seem to be farre off and the white neare hand and the black being farre off seems like a gaping deep which as hath been said is sometimes greater sometimes lesse according to the fashion or quantitie of the Exhalation or cloud represented by it And after this manner do cunning painters deceive the eye in shadowing their pictures For when a bright cleare and aiery colour is laid circularly and a thick dark and obscure colour in the middle of it then the appearance is like some gulf hole deep or pit which they fashion diversly according to their skill in fancying the laying of their colours All this is when it burneth not But note that sometimes this Meteor burneth in very deed Which is when the Exhalation hath much viscositie or clammie matter in it the thick and dark not burning but remaining in the middest and the thinner-parts on fire deceiving the sight with a seeming gaping as
before when there was onely light in those thinne parts in stead of fire And thus have I shewed you the naturall cause of all fiery Meteors Sect. 2. Parag. 6. Of watery Meteors and their severall kindes NOw it followeth that I speak something of watery Meteors and shew after what manner they are generated They be called watery because they consist most of water their substance being that kinde of Exhalation which we call Vapor and not Fumus And that which in the first place offereth it self is Nubes a Cloud Artic. I. Of Clouds I Begin therefore with clouds And a cloud is a vapour or Exhalation cold and moist drawn from the earth out of wet or watery places by heat of the Sunne into the middle Region of the aire where by cold it is so thickened and knit together that it hangeth untill either the own weight or some resolution causeth it to fall If it be a great cloud it is Nubes if it be but a little one it is called Nubecula The name comes ab obnubendo id est operiendo coelum from hiding or covering the heavens because a cloud through the thicknesse that the vapour is condensed into hindereth that a lesse portion of the heavens is conspicuous then otherwise would be It is also two-fold either fertill or barren A fertill or fruitfull cloud affordeth rain but a barren cloud doth not because it is at length by the blasts of winde and vertue of the heavenly bodies turned into thin aire And to either of these clouds belong motion colour Their motion is caused by the winde most commonly through whose force they are driven to and fro But if the windes blow not then they are drawn along by the Sun and made a companion with him in his travels alwayes moving that way which the Sunne goeth Concerning their colours I spake before in Paragraph 5. Article 2. And therefore here you may expect the lesse yet let me say that they are either simple or mixt Black or white are simple because they consist of no other colours But red green and the rest are mixt They appeare white when the vapour is thin for then it is easily pierced by the light which disperseth it self into it But when they appeare of a black colour then the vapour is thick and more closely condensed insomuch that the beams of light cannot be admitted As for their rednesse it may be caused two wayes according to Goclenius either through the adustion of the aire magno aestu incensum as he saith Or propter retusum radium Solis by reason of the beams of the Sunne beat back again which falling upon a watery cloud that is thickly condensed pierceth not but being doubled causeth rednesse as in the morning and this is a signe of rain but the other is not For the other rednesse is in such a cloud as sheweth the drinesse and adustion of the aire the cloud it self consisting of a smokie humid substance unto which is joyned a kinde of drie and adust matter This therefore is a signe of fair weather being seen in the evening towards the place of Sun-setting according as it hath been said of old Serò rubens coelum mané indicat esse serenum Concerning green clouds they are altogether watery and as it were already resolved into water which receiving into them the light appeare green like unto water in a great vessel or in the sea and deep rivers Blew clouds come something neare to the nature of black excepting that the black are thicker And note If when the Sunne sets there appeare or arise black dark clouds it portendeth rain Also observe the place opposite to the Sunne at his setting viz. the East and see if that be cleare for if it be pestered with black clouds there is but small hope of fair weather that night or the next day The common opinion is that the height of the clouds is not above nine miles But it is agreeable to no reason at all why any certain height should be determined for they are of unequall heights differing both according to the matter of their composure and also according to the time of the yeare being lower in winter then in summer for when the sunne hath the greatest force they then ascend the higher and in his smaller force they hang the lower By which it appeareth that the sunne helpeth to uphold them and keepeth them although heavier then the aire even in the aire for they sometimes also follow his motion But note that it is not the sunne alone which upholds them for the aire it self is also a cause of their not falling and that both within the clouds and also without them within the clouds for the clouds are of a spungie nature and full of pores which are filled with aire leâ—…t there should be vacuum and this aire heaveth them up causing them to aspire without the clouds also because they do as it were float up and down in the aire as some heavie things do in the water and yet not sink unlesse their substance be too earthie and heavie Artic. 2. Of Rain FRom clouds I proceed to speak of rain And rain is nothing else but as it were the melting of a cloud turned into water Or according to Aristotle it is the flux of a fertill cloud resolved by the heat of the sunne into distilling drops of water which being depressed with their own weight fall down to the earth For when the matter of the cloud being a cold vapour and earthly humour is drawn from the earth and waters into the middle Region of the aire and there thickened through the cold dwelling in the confines of that place it is at the last dissolved and cannot therefore but fall down in drops which drops if they be great are caused either by the quick resolution of the cloud or else by the little distance of it from the earth But if they be smaller then either the great distance or slow resolution maketh them of no ample quantitie The first of these is named nimbus the other is called imber And note that the dissolution as hath been said proceedeth out of heat which is not onely of the sunne but of windes also of an hot temper as is seen in the southern winde which bloweth up rain sooner then any other winde And as for rains which come from cold coasts and at cold times of the yeare if the cloud be not at such times as some may think dissolved through the heat of any winde it dissolveth it self through its own weight being a little holpen by the sunne for it continueth in the aire even whilest it can stay no longer And at these times also if we consider all aright we shall finde that the winde somewhat helpeth although not so speedily as from hotter coasts for naturally there is a kinde of heat in every winde because it is an Exhalation hot and drie although by accident as from
The other kinde of sweet dew is Mel or an Hony-dew Now this falleth not onely in other countreys but also here in England and we cannot give it a more significant name then a Mel-dew being both as sweet and also of the same substance that hony is Some suppose that it is drawn out of sweet herbs and flowers which I also beleeve acknowledging that there is a kinde of resudation of juice proceeding from them at a certain convenient time of their growth which juice is either drawn up as a vapour and so sweeteneth the dew in the aire by such time as it falleth or else issuing of it self from the said flowers and plants but not ascending it sweeteneth the dew after it is come down or fallen on them although the said dew be but ordinary for when ordinary dew falleth upon any of those leaves which yeeld such a resudation or sweat it cannot but be sweetened although none of the sweet liquour be drawn into the aire as a vapour with it Now of these two choose which in your judgement is the most probable Plinie witnesseth that these dews are most common at the shining of Syrius or the great Dog-starre and that before the rising of Virgiliae or the Seven starres in the morning with the Sunne they cannot at all be Ladanum is another kinde of sweet dew Arabia hath great plentie of it and no other countrey as Plinie writeth unlesse it be Nabathaea bordering on the Arabick coast of Syria It is called Ladanum because it is a vapour falling upon the herb Ladon or Ledum and is sweetened by the juice issuing from the leaves of the said herb mixing it self with the vapour Goats hairs are often found amongst it because the Goat feeding upon that herb scattereth some of his hairs which are incorporated with the vapour and the juice of Ladon whilest like gumme it is hardened by the Sunne And thus much of sweet dews Now followeth that which I called bitter blasting dew The Germanes say it is Mildaw which is an improper name if it hath relation to that which we call Mel-dew For Mel-dew as before I shewed is an hony-sweet dew and not a bitter dew This therefore may be rather named Ros noxius or bitter blasting dew because it hurteth and killeth such herbs and plants as it falleth on and sticketh or cleaveth to This vapour hath much earthly matter in it and therefore it remaineth white when the moisture is gone It is also corrupted which comes to passe as 't is conjectured through the often change of the Aire which being tainted or infected through varietie of differing Exhalations sendeth down noysome and unwholesome dews falling sometimes even in the day time it self And here an end concerning dew Artic. 4. Of white hoar-frosts I Come now to speak of Frosts for as dew claimed kindred of rain so white hoar-frost is of the house and linage of dew As for example thus When a vapour drawn into the aire is congealed before it can be turned into dew then we have Pruina in stead thereof or a white hoar-frost so that such a frost is nothing else but dew congealed by overmuch cold Aristotle affirmeth the like shewing among other things that both in respect of matter and place of generation they do well agree to which is also pertinent the calmnesse clearnesse and quietnesse of the time wherein either of them falleth For both of them consist of subtill thin vapours and are generated in the lowest region of the aire because upon some high hills there is neither hoar-frost nor dew to be seen the vapour as it seemeth ascendeth not so high And as for a windie obscure time it is an enemie to them both The difference being that hoar-frost is congealed in the vapour before it can be turned into water The one caused in a season that is temperately warm the other when it is cold The materiall cause therefore of hoar-frost is a subtill thinne vapour The formall is the congealing of it by which it differeth from dew The efficient is the autumnall or winter cold for those are the most common and ordinary times peculiar to it although sometimes it comes as an unwelcome guest in the spring and summer when the aire through cold is forward to send it And last of all the end or principall effects when it cometh not out of season or the finall cause is the contraction or shutting up of the pores or breathing holes of the earth and about the roots of plants that thereby their spirits being the chariots of heat may be contained in their own bowels for the good of such things as they give life unto And thus much concerning frost Artic. 5. Of Snow THere is no great difference between the matter of snow and matter of rain and hail excepting as some think that the vapour for snow is of an hotter qualitie then the vapour for rain and yet not so hot as that which is the materiall cause of hail For it is a tenent amongst Philosophers that hot things being cooled are apter for congelation then cold as is seen in warm water taken from the fire which will more suddenly and throughly be frozen then that which never felt the heat And this comes to passe in regard of the pores or passages made into the water through heat into which the cold entring it both cooleth it the sooner and congealeth it the more Neither is there any difference between white frost and snow excepting that frost is made of a vapour before it be turned into a cloud and snow of a cloud before it can be turned into water Snow therefore is a cloud congealed by great cold before it be perfectly resolved from vapours into water For if it should come to the densitie of water before the congelation then it could not fall so like locks of wooll as it doth but would be more closely compacted or joyned together having little or no spunginesse in it As for the whitenesse it proceedeth not from its own proper colour but rather in respect of those parts which are more aierie then the rest whereupon I finde some authours who determine the case thus namely that the white is by receiving the light into it at those many small parts even as in froth and fome is seen For say some Nix est spuma quaedam Snow is a kinde of froth and when it loseth part of its frothie nature and begins to melt it loseth also part of that whitenesse which at the first it retained To this also may be added the coldnesse that is infused into it when it is congealed as being a cause of whitenesse even as in phlegmatick bodies and cold countreys may be seen For such people are alwayes whiter of complexion then others cold being the cause of that their whitenesse Such winters as are void of snow are not so good for the fruits of the ground
as more snowie winters Whereupon Plinie affirmeth that he which saith cleare winters are to be wished wisheth no good for the trees and plants and in that regard your experienced husband man desireth that the winter may be cold and snowie rather then cleare and warm For besides this they also say that a hot Christmas makes a fat Church-yard Wherefore to see the earth do penance in a cold white sheet and the woods hang periwigd with wooll bending their boughs in token of thankfulnesse to gray-hair'd Hyems for their safetie from the cold is a sight both wished and welcome the good whereof will shew it self when liberall Nature out of her bounteous wardrobe bestows more beauteous raiment on them And note it is found by experience that it may snow on the mountains and rain in the valleys and yet both come out of one and the same cloud which comes to passe for this reason because the snow coming from the middle Region melteth after it comes into the lowest Region for here is alwayes more heat then above where the snow is generated yet not alwayes heat enough to melt the snow as it falleth neither will the congelation be alwayes so weak as to suffer it And thus also it comes to passe that we have sometimes sleet which is snow and rain together Moreover as some affirm Crystall is made of snow for when the snow melteth upon the tops of high hills and is afterwards frozen again it then becometh so hard that it is a stone and no other then that which we call Crystall Artic. 6. Of Hail HAil is said to be engendred of rain being congealed into ice the drops freezing presently after the dissolving of the cloud Or as some say a cloud resolved into water in the fall congealed maketh hail Aristotle assenteth to the same affirming that the materiall neare cause is rain the remote a cloud the efficient an Antiperistasis or a mutuall adverse strife between cold and heat as in the first book of his Meteors at the 12 chapter may be seen affirming moreover that the precedent heat of the water whereof it is made helpeth to the speedie concretion of it being agreeable to that which I said before concerning snow namely that it consisted of a warmer vapour then rain and yet not of one so warm as that from whence hail proceedeth Whereupon I think we may make this a conclusion concerning hail and say that it is an hot vapour drawn into the middle Region of the aire where by cold of that Region it is made thick into a cloud which falling down in drops like rain is presently met withall and encountered by the sudden cold of the lowest Region and so congealed into a kinde of ice Now this sudden cold thus meeting with it is in the highest part of the lowest Region and caused by an Antiperistasis of heat from below which forceth up the cold to the greater augmentation of it and so because the vapour it self at the first was also warm it doth very speedily turn it into ice for seeing as hath been said it was formerly warm it is the sooner cooled because heat having made it thin and full of passages gives leave to the cold both to pierce it more suddenly and also more soundly And this most commonly is the manner of generating hail But know that hail may sometimes also be made in the middle Region and then it is without an Antiperistasis of which sort for the most part is that small and spungie hail falling in winter when there is no such heat in any part of the aire by whose Antiperistasis it may be congealed For seeing the drops are scarcely come to the densitie of water before their congelation as also seeing they are something swollen through the spirit of the Exhalation they appeare not onely round but also light and hollow or of a spungie substance little differing from the matter of snow being generated in the middle Region as well as this kinde of hail And thus comes hail in winter But at other times of the yeare the hail being more stonie or better hardened it may well be caused by an Antiperistasis proceeding from the heat of this lowest Region which sendeth up imprisons and augments the cold above it And know that hail-stones are not alwayes of one and the same bignesse but are variable according to the quantitie of the drops whereof they be made the cause whereof is their propinquitie or remotenesse from the earth as was shewed before concerning the different drops of rain And for the most part know that they be also round because the drop is so Yet neverthelesse they be sometimes knotted and piked with many corners or else fashioned like a Pyramis the last of which shapes proceedeth from the spirit of the vapour which ascendeth to the top of the drop so soon as the lowest part of it toucheth the congealing cold and so ascending it makes it smaller above then below And as for the triangled knottie or many-cornered shapes they are caused thus viz. when many are suddenly congealed and frozen into one Note also that sometimes little straws or light chaffie stuffe is found within the stones coming thus to passe because they were at the first blown up from the earth by the winde and mixed with the vapour And again know that sometimes you may see hail-stones all icie and cleare without having within them as their centre little white round spungie parts The reason of which is because those white ones within were generated in the middle Region but in their fall justling themselves against the drops of rain which uncongealed came from the same cloud they gat a waterie substance on their outsides which being frozen to them looketh cleare like ice and so makes the whole conglomeration appeare in the shape and fashion before mentioned Moreover it hath not seldome been that hail hath done much hurt Yet evermore the greatest fear is whilest the ripe corn standeth in the eare For a violent storm of hail thresheth it so throughly that turning the words a little we may truely say Illa seges demum votis non respondet avari agricolae Such a storm was felt in many parts of this kingdome not long ago namely in the yeare 1631 which about the beginning of harvest beside the harm it did to other things untimely beat out much corn in the fields to the great damage of many people And at sundry other times also heretofore the like sad accidents have been Wherefore the ancient husbandmen amongst the heathen as Cato and Plinie mention had certain charming verses to keep hail and other dreadfull calamities from their fields in which they shewed themselves of a like minde unto those devilish enchanting haggs who made the Poet sing Carmina vel coelo possunt deducere Lunam Charms can pull even the very Moon out of heaven But this was not all For beside these Palladius
is primarily true but not shewed how it is secondarily effected For although concerning some things extraordinary the cause be hid yet such as be ordinary are not wrought by the first cause without an administration of the second As for example God is not onely said to bring the windes out of his treasures but also to send forth the lightnings with the rain as it is in the forenamed Psalme yet neverthelesse the Prophet Jeremie sheweth that these are wrought not immediately but mediately by the help of secondary causes as in Jer. 10. 13. He causeth the vapours to ascend from the ends of the earth By which it appeareth that he maketh not the rain without them but of them those ascending vapours being the matter of rain And again * The day is thine and the night is thine thou hast made summer and winter as in the Psalmist Yet neverthelesse we know that the day and the night together with the seasons of the yeare are not made but by the motion of the sunne and starres as it is in Genesis 1. 14. 2. Wherefore in the second place seeing God worketh these things by means the motion of the windes is attributed to the Angels it being supposed that instrumentally they perform Gods will in this causing the windes to blow c. Whereupon the Psalmist is again alledged shewing that the clouds are Gods divine chariot the horses carrying it are the windes the coachmen are the Angels whom God calleth Cherubims and his darts are hot thunder-bolts which he casteth from the clouds And furthermore that Angels cause the windes S. John declares it also Revel 7. 1. affirming that he saw foure Angels standing upon the foure corners of the earth holding the windes that they should not blow The Angels therefore move the windes To which again it is answered that neither is this opinion sound For first concerning the Psalmist what doth that Prophet but in a figurative speech expresse Gods swiftnesse in coming to succour him And secondly for the foure Angels standing upon the foure corners of the earth to keep the windes from blowing I marvell that it can be taken so neare a literall sense Napeir in his Comment upon the Revelation confesseth that the Jews indeed have certain books of antiquitie dividing the government of the earth among foure great Angels and under them they imagine to be many inferiour ones But he withall acknowledgeth that they are assertions more curious then certain And therefore he understandeth by these foure Angels the good Angels of God and the foure windes he expoundeth to be the spirits of Satan and executours of vengeance For in a figurative sense these and the like things are to be taken Besides the irregularitie of the windes turning sometimes three or foure times in a day doth sufficiently shew as it is elsewhere witnessed by another authour that they are not immediately governed by any intellectuall substance for in their actions you may observe a greater constancie and more certain law 3. Wherefore leaving this opinion also I come to a third wherein I finde that winde is nothing else but the flowing and reflowing or motion of the aire having no other materiall substance then the very thin aire it self To which it may be answered that this opinion although better then the former cannot float farre before it sink and will therefore drown him in an errour who sticketh to it For as Aristotle testifieth we fall into other absurdities upon the admittance of this tenent or else we dissent from them who maintained it of old imagining thus that when the aire is compelled to move we have winde when it standeth still it is thickened into a cloud when it raineth it is condensed into water all which is very idle For furthermore if the winde were nothing else but the motion of the aire then it would necessarily follow that all and every aire moved should be winde but all and every moved aire is not winde therefore winde is more then the moved aire Havenreuter in his Comment upon Aristotles Meteors proveth the assumption by this similitude Even as every flowing water saith he although there be great plentie of it cannot be called a river but that onely which ariseth from a fountain or hath some certain beginning of fluxion so also not all and every aire moved by one kinde of means or other can be called winde but that onely which is as it were derived from some beginning or fountain As for example the aire which is turned about by the heavens is moved yet it was never called winde And again in a bloudie bulleting fight the aire is forced and stirred by the thundring sound of gunnes and yet no winde is raised by it Besides make winde to be nothing else but the moving of the aire and then there can be no sufficient reason given why we should have greater plentie of windes at one time then at another nor yet why they should blow from this point or corner rather then from that In which regard they also are confuted who suppose that the motion of the heavens moveth the windes for if they were moved by the heavens then the winde must blow alwayes one way and never turn into a differing corner But it followeth Another opinion and this is the last that I mean to mention maintaineth that the windes do actually reside somewhere and are shut up as in a prison from whence they have sometimes libertie for a while but at length they retire betake themselves to their dennes or cave again This the Poets aimed at when they made Aeolus the God of the windes affirming that he kept them close or let them loose at his pleasure Whereupon Homer may be remembred who brings in Ulysses speaking of the said Aeolus thus But he gave me saith he an bollow bottle or leather bag made of the skin of a nine-year◅old ox in which he bound the blasts of the stormic tempestuo◅ windes Or as Ovid speaks of Iupiter who had a commanding power over all the other Gods Protinus Aeoliis Aquilonem claudit in antnis Emittit̄que Notum madidis Notus evolat alis He forthwith shut the Northern winde within Aeolus den And loose he lets the Southern winde which flies with moistned pen. Now this last opinion although the Poets have turned it into a fiction is not so bad as it seems to be For take all cum grano salis as is said and then it will appeare that the winde is in some sort shut as within a den and although not loosed by Aeolus yet by Helios for Helios which is the Sunne doth indeed help to let it loose from out the bowels of the earth drawing it into the aire and above the ground where we may feel it fanne our faces sometimes churlishly as if it were angry sometimes gently as if it were pleased But of the severall kindes of blasts I
three severall parts The first whereof concerneth the gathering together of the waters in these words And God said Let the waters under heaven be gathered together unto one place The second concerneth the drying of the ground in these words And let the drie-land appeare The third is pertinent to the sprouting and springing of the earth in these words And God said Let the earth bring forth grasse the herb yeelding seed and the fruit-tree yeelding fruit after his kinde c. All which in their orders are severally to be discussed together with such other things as are pertinent to the said division And concerning the two first observe that God bestowes as it were sirnames on them calling the gathering together of the waters Seas and the drie-land he calleth Earth Sect. 2. Of the gathering together of the waters which God called Seas VVAter and earth are the two lowest elements and this was that day which brought them to perfection for untill now they were confused because their matter although not quite void of form received at this time a better form of due distinction and more comely ornament The informitie was expressed before when Moses said that the earth was void and invisible because covered with waters but the formitie is then expected and declared when the waters are gathered and the drie-land made apparent It is a wonder sure to think what a confused tyrannie the waters made by their effusion for they did rather tyrannize then orderly subdue or govern this inferiour mirie masse wherefore it seemed good to the Almightie maker first to divorce one from the other before he gave them leave so to be joyned each to other that both together might make one globie bodie which according to the best approved writers is one and twentie thousand and six hundred miles in compasse But concerning this gathering together of the waters there arise certain questions which may not altogether be forgotten As first it is enquired How the waters were gathered together Secondly How it can be said that they were gathered to one place seeing there be many seas lakes rivers and fountains that are farre asunder Thirdly Whether they be higher then the earth Fourthly Whether there be more water then earth Fifthly Whether the earth be founded upon the waters Sixthly Why the seas be salt and rivers fresh Seventhly and lastly What causeth an ebbing and flowing in the sea rather then in rivers Concerning the first of these questions those who think that there be no Antipodes supposed that the waters did runne together and cover the other part of the earth which is opposite to this where we dwell But the experience of skilfull navigatours and famous travellers yea and reason it self doth crie against it Others imagine that it was some mighty winde which dried them up or that the fervent heat of the sunne effected it But both think amisse because the drie-land saith one appearing all at once was so prepared by a greater power then either of the winde or sunne which could not work it at once nor scarcely in a long continuance of time neither was the sunne made untill the next day after Dixit igitur factum est he spake the word onely and by the power of that word it was done For the efficient cause of the sea was the onely word of God the materiall was the waters the formall was their gathering together and the finall partly was that the drie-land might appeare Ezekiels wheels were one within the compasse of another and so was the earth water and aire before the powerfull word of God commanded this their gathering the earth within the water the water within the aire and the aire within the concave of the Firmament Which if they had all for ever so remained and man made as he is the world had been no house for him to dwell in neither had it been a work so full of never ended admiration as now it is Perhaps the pores and holes of the ground were full before this gathering yet neverthelesse their bodies must be willing to be made the beds for more That they were full it proceedeth from the nature of the water falling downwards and filling them That being full they are yet made capable of more might proceed both from a more close composure of the not hollow parts of the earth and also by making these waters thicker then they were before For whilest the not hollow parts were made more solid the hollow could not choose but be enlarged and whilest the thin and vapourie waters were better thickened and condensed the outface of the ground could not be obscured but shew it self as one released from out a waterie prison Some adde unto this their heaping together in the high and wide seas whereby it cometh to passe that they flow to and fro at flouds and ebbs and do often force out water-springs from out the highest mountains which last whether it be so or no shall be examined afterwards The next question was how it can be said that they were gathered to one place seeing there be many seas lakes rivers and fountains that are farre asunder It was a strange conceit of him who thought that this one place unto which the waters were gathered was separate so from the earth that the waters by themselves should make a globe and have their proper centre for leaving to descend towards the centre of the earth they were gathered to a centre of their own and so the drie-land appeared But this opinion is very false and worthy to be reckoned amongst absurdities for as the Prophet Esay writeth the Lord is said to sit upon the circle of the earth Now experience sheweth that it is not the earth alone but the earth and sea together that make one globe or circle This one place then whither the waters were gathered was not a place separated from the earth being in the aire or elsewhere but was in the very body of the earth it self Neither was it one place strictly taken as it meant one point or angle of the earth or as if there were no Antipodes half the earth under us was to be covered with water But rather it is called one place because in the whole globe of the earth every place is either water or land or if not so because there is but one body of all the waters that are for every part of the water is joyned unto the whole as it were with arms and legs and veins diversly dilated and stretched out So that either under the earth or above the earth all the waters are joyned together which also the wise man witnesseth Eccles. 1. 7. But haply some may think because this gathering together of the waters is called Seas that therefore the one place unto which they were gathered is not to be understood of every collection or gathering of water but onely of the sea Well be it so And if this rather then the
how the sea comes to be salt It followeth to shew why rivers be not salt as well as seas Now for the better explaining of this the first thing considerable will be concerning the originall of fountains and rivers Aristotle handled them amongst Meteors of a watry kinde because he supposed that there was the same originall of rivers within the earth which was of watry Meteors in the aire above the earth For if this aire saith he coming neare to the nature of a vapour is by cold turned into water then the aire which is in the caverns of the earth may be by the same cause condensed into water also According to which grounds we cannot but make this the originall of fountains and rivers namely that they are ingendred in the hollow concavities of the earth and derive both their birth and continuall sustenance from the aire which piercing the open chinks or chasma's of the earth and congealed by the cold of those places dissolveth into water as we see the aire in winter nights to be melted into a pearlie dew sticking on our glasse windows and being grown to some quantitie it will either finde a way or make a way to vent its superfluitie All which agreeth very well to the nature of the aire which seeing it is hot and moist the heat being gone it is thickened and so easily turned into water And as for a continuall running of rivers caused by this water it is saith Aristotle by a perpetuall succession of new aire But to this opinion we may not absolutely make subscription for although aire may be thus converted into water yet the sole matter of rivers cannot come from hence it may haply be an helping cause but not a prime or principall cause For first sith the aire is a thin subtil bodie there is necessarily required an abundance of aire to make but a little quantitie of water insomuch that it is not doubted by some without cause whether the dennes and hollow places of the earth be vast enough to receive so much aire as can make water enough to runne along untill it break out into a river or spring Secondly there be many fountains which have as it were a kinde of ebbing and flowing at certain direct and set times which they keep as constantly as the very sea it self As for example among other strange rivers Plinie makes mention of Dodon Jupiters fountain which evermore decreaseth from midnight untill noon thence it increaseth untill midnight again And in the island Delus the fountain of Inopus as he also affirmeth keeps his course with Nilus Also he makes mention of a little island in the sea over against the river Timavus or Brenta in Italie having certain fountains in it which increase and decrease according to the ebbing and flowing of the vast bodie of Amphitrite or the sea Wherefore the wise man Siracides thought more truely Ecclus. 40. 11. concerning these things affirming that all things which are of the earth shall turn to the earth again and that which is of the waters doth turn again into the sea Which saying of his I do not say is much strengthened but absolutely confirmed by one more authentick then it self namely by that of Solomon Eccles 1. 7. where it is witnessed that all rivers runne into the sea yet the sea is not full unto the place from whence the rivers come thither they return again Which testimonie makes it plain that the sea is the principall cause of all rivers and if therefore Aristotles aëriall vapours have any thing to do in this generation it is as much as nothing yet that which they are able to do I imagine they perform joyning themselves with the currents which come from the sea and so they runne together in the veins of the earth either untill free leave be given them to come abroad or that like Hannibal in the Alps they work themselves a way Now in this there is little or no difference between Solomon and Plato together with the ancient Philosophers before him although Aristotle dissenteth For that which Solomon calleth the sea Plato calleth the great gulf of the earth saying 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 id est Ad illum hiatum omnes fluvii confluunt ex hoc vicissim omnes effluunt that is Into this gulf all rivers do both flow or assemble themselves and also by their courses come or flow out again But what need more words It is without controversie that rivers have their first originall from the sea that is the fountain-head from whence all fountains have their heads Neither can the saltnesse of the sea and freshnesse of rivers stop this current For concerning springs it is true indeed that they are fresh and this freshnesse notwithstanding their salt originall may be ascribed to percolation and straining through the narrow spungie passages of the earth which makes them leave behinde as an exacted toll the colour thicknesse and saltnesse So that you see sea water though in it self of a salt and brackish savour by passing through divers windings and turnings of the earth is deprived of all unpleasantnesse and by how much the spring-heads of rivers are remote from the sea by so much are their waters affected with a delightfull relish yea and why they ascend up to the highest mountains already hath been declared Unto which may be added that they come not with a direct course from the sea unto those hills neither do they ascend directly upwards on the sudden but by degrees and so winding themselves through many crooked passages and turnings they do as it were scrue themselves up to the convenientest place of breaking out and cannot go back because the sea is a farre heavier bodie then the vein that cometh from it even as the bloud in our veins is nothing in proportion to the liver from whence each vein of bloud hath its first beginning But I draw towards a conclusion adding in the last place that of waters be they seas or rivers we have a threefold use and benefit First that out of them drink may be afforded to man and beast as it is Psal. 104. 11. They give drink to every beast of the field the wilde asses quench their thirst c. Secondly that running through the earth as bloud through the bodie by interlacing it and sometimes overwhelming it they make the earth able to produce those fruits which are necessary for the life of man which benefit of overflowing so fattens the whole land of Egypt that the priests of that countrey did thereupon ascribe the beginning of time or of every thing that now is to that time of the yeare when their Nilus overflowed or when it first began to lift up it self above the banks and diffuse an ample portion of manuring bountie into the lap of the land which is as good to them as if Iupiter should descend in a golden shower And for other places where there be
no such luckie flouds there it is found that these bounteous watrie bodies yeelding vapours do purchase for them such dropping showers of rain that the valleys stand so thick with corn that they laugh and sing and therefore these are great benefits challenging most humble thanks as it is Psal. 107. The third is that they can quell the rage of the hottest element and keep our mansions from cinders or a flamie conversion into ashes The fourth is that they yeeld us an easinesse and speedinesse of conduct and traffick by which each place partaketh of the blessings of every place Yea these and many more are the benefits of water without which the life of man could not be sustained But here I contract my sails and end this question for by coming on the shore I shall the better view that which remaineth concerning this liquid element Wherefore it followeth The next and last question propounded was concerning the fluxion and refluxion of the sea wherein I purpose as neare as I can to shew both why seas have that alternate motion as also why such murmuring brooks and rivers as do not ebbe and flow are destitute of the foresaid courses The motion of the sea is either naturall or violent The first is performeth on its own accord the other it doth not but by some externall force compelling it The first being a naturall motion is such as is in every other water namely that all waters do evermore flow into the lowest place because they have an heavinesse or ponderositie in them And thus the ocean naturally floweth from the North where it is highest unto the South as the lower place for there in regard of the great cold the waters are not onely kept from drying up but also increased whilest much aire is turned into water whereas in the South by reason of great heat they are alwayes sucked up and diminished Now this motion is called a motion of Equation because it is for this end namely that the superficies of the water may be made equall and distant alike on every side from the centre of gravitie The other being that which dependeth upon some externall cause is such as may be distinguished into a threefold motion One is rapt and caused by force of the heavens whereby it floweth from East to West The second is a motion of Libration in which the sea striving to poise it self equally doth as it were wave from one opposite shore to another And note that this is onely in such as are but strait and narrow seas being a kinde of trepidation in them or as I said before a motion of Libration just like a rising and falling of the beam of an equall-poised balance which will not stand still but be continually waving to and fro The third and last is Reciprocatio or Aestus maris called the ebbing and flowing of the sea The cause of which hath added no little trouble nor small perplexitie to the brains of the best and greatest Philosophers Aristotle that master of knowledge helps us little or nothing in this question And yet Plutarch affirmeth that he attributed the cause to the motion of the sunne Others have gathered from him that he seemed to teach it was by certain exhalations which be under the water causing it to be driven to and fro according to contrary bounds and limits But howsoever he taught or whatsoever he thought this we finde that nothing troubled him more For as Coelius Rhodiginus writeth when he had studied long about it and at the last being weary he died through the tediousnesse of such an intricate doubt Some say he drowned himself in Negropont or Euripus because he could finde no reason why it had so various a fluxion and refluxion ebbing and flowing seven times a day at the least adding before that his untimely and disastrous precipitation these words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Quandoquidem Aristoteles non cepit Euripum Euripus capiat Aristotelem That is Although Aristotle hath not taken Euripus yet Euripus shall take Aristotle meaning that that should end him whose cause could not be comprehended by him But leaving Aristotle we shall finde as little help from his master Plato who as did also the Stoicks attributed the cause to the breath of the world Such also have been the fancies of others among whom Kepler may not be forgotten who in good earnest affirmeth and beleeveth that the earth is a great living creature which with the mightie bellows of her lungs first draweth in the waters into her hollow bowels then by breathing respires them out again A prettie fiction this and well worthy the pen of some fabling poet rather then to be spoken in good sober sadnesse and affirmed as a truth Others would have the cause to be by reason of waters in the holes of the earth forced out by spirits which comes something neare to that before concerning the breath of the world A third sort attribute the cause to the circular motion of the earth affirming that there is a daily motion of the earth round about the heavens which it performeth in 24 houres the heavens in the mean time onely seeming to move and not moving in very deed This opinion came first from the Pythagoreans and is defended by the Copernicanians as an effect of the foresaid motion As for example the earth moving swiftly round the water not able to follow the motion is left behinde and caused to flow to and fro like as in a broad shallow vessel may be seen for put water in such a vessel and let it be swiftly pulled forward and then you shall see that by being left behinde it will beat it self against the one side before the other can at all partake of its company and so it is also in the earth leaving the waters behinde whilest it moveth But if this opinion be true first tell me how it comes to passe that the sea doth not ebbe and flow alwayes at one and the same time but altereth his course and is every day about one houre later then other Secondly shew me why the tides are at one time of the moneth higher then at another Thirdly let me be informed why broad lakes and large rivers do not flow as well as seas Fourthly let me be rightly instructed how it comes to passe that things tend to the earth as their centre if the sunne as Copernicus and his followers imagine be the centre of the world Fifthly shew me why the aire in the middle Region is not rather hot then cold for surely if the earth should move round with a diurnall motion as they maintain then the middle Region must be either farre higher then it is or else the aire would be so heated by going round that the coldnesse in it would be either little or none at all for it is a ruled case that Remotio à motu circulari dat quietem frigiditatem et gravitatem sicut
sometimes constraining it to sink below them In an ebbe he heaves it up and in a floud he lets it sink As improbable also is that of some others who imagine one Angel to be an Angel of the water whose office is as in the pool of Bethesda to move the waters to and fro and for proof of this that place is alledged in the Revelation where when the vials were poured out upon the kingdome of the beast one of the Angels is called an Angel of the waters But know that the same answer made before concerning the moving of the windes will serve to stop this gap Or were it so that we must be tied to a literall sense the compulsion overthrows the assertion because he is called an Angel of the waters not for that he causeth them to ebbe and flow but because it was his office to corrupt them and turn them into bloud More probable was their opinion who attribute the cause to certain subterranean or under-sea fires whose matter is of neare akin to the matter of the Moon and therefore according to her motion they continue their times of burning and burning they make the sea so to boyl as that it is a tide or high-water but going out the sea sinks again But now if this opinion were true then the water in a tide would be thinner through the heat which causeth it to ascend thinner then at other times and so a ship carrying one and the same weight would sink deeper in a floud then in an ebbe which experience shews to be otherwise Yea were it so that there were such supposed fires in the bottome of the sea causing it to swell up like boyled water then it would also follow that the sea-sea-water would be so hot that it might not be touched For if the heat of the supposed fire be sufficient to make it ascend it is sufficient also to make it hot which would appeare lesser in an ebbe then in a floud Wherefore omitting these and the like opinions the most allowable is to attribute this flux and reflux to the effects of the divers appearances of the Moon For we see by experience that according to the courses of the Moon the tides are both ordered and altered By which it is not improbable that the waters are drawn by the power of the Moon following her daily motion even as she is carried with the Primum Mobile Yea were it not so that the sea were hindered by some accident some have supposed that these waters would go round from East to West in 24 houres and so round again even day by day The accident hindering this circular motion is in regard that the West ocean sea is shot in between the firm land of America on the West part and the main land of Africa and Europe on the East part But were it so that there were no such accidentall let in the sea to be hindered by the land it would orderly follow the Moon and go daily round And seeing also it is hindered by such an impediment it is a probable conjecture to think that it cannot but be forced to retire for the firm land beats it back again Thus Mr William Bourn in the 5 book of his treasure for travellers chap. 6. determineth Others there be who attributing the cause to the moon do demonstrate it after another manner namely that through her influence she causeth these alternate motions and this influence of hers worketh according to the quadrate and opposite aspects of her position in the heavens or according to the quadrate and opposite configurations from that place where she was at the beginning For the seas saith a well learned writer begin to flow when the moon by her diurn rapt motion from East to West cometh to the nine a clock point in the morning or is South-east then they will continue flowing untill she come to a quadrate aspect or to 90 degrees which will be about 3 of the clock in the afternoon or be South-west when they cease from flowing and begin to ebbe continuing so untill she come to 180 degrees or the opposite place which will be somewhat after nine of the clock at night being the opposite place to that from which she began her flowing Then again they begin to flow and so continue untill she attain to 270 degrees from her first place which will be after three in the morning And then lastly they begin to ebbe and so continue still untill the moon come to that place where she was at the beginning for there the floud begins again Thus it is ordinarily yet her illumination the sunne and other starres may hasten hinder or something alter the moons influence as we see in spring-tides at the change and full and neap-tides at quarters and half quarters of the moon confessed by those who have been great masters in Astrologie And let this also be known that though the moon have dominion over all moist bodies yet not alike because of other causes concurring as the indisposition or unfitnesse of the subject or for want of matter and the like considerations As for example though it be probable that there be tides in mari Atlantico yet they are not to be perceived by reason of the vast widenesse and profunditie thereof in other places also of the sea are no tides being hindered by the strength of some current which prevaileth and in fresh water there is no tide because of the raritie thinnesse and subtiltie thereof which cannot retain the influence of the moon And note also that in such havens and rivers as ebbe and flow there may be great diversitie which cometh to passe both according to the indraught as also by reason of the crooked and narrow points and turnings of the banks which do let and stay the tide from that which is the common and ordinary course in the main bodie of the sea but afterwards when it is in and hath taken his sway then it cannot so soon reverse back but must continue untill the water behinde it be descended or ebbed into the sea The river Thames may serve as an instance in this for it is not a full sea in all places of it at one instant being three parts of a floud at the lands end before it can be any floud at London But were it so that there were no creeks islands straits turnings or other accidentall hinderances then there should be no difference found in any sea but the whole bodie should be swayed up and down with a constant course whereas since it is otherwise the times for every such place must be once found out that thereby they may be known for ever Wherefore the cavils of some men are nothing worth who by bringing particular and rare perhaps vain examples do think to take away this power from the moon For sith this lunar regiment is pertinent to most seas and that all our ocean doth follow her the exceptions taken
likewise many islands such as were never seen before And thus there may be five severall kindes of earthquakes Know also that an earthquake hath both his Antecedentia and Subsequentia The Antecedentia are the signes which go before it and shew that it will be The Consequentia or Subsequentia are the effects which follow after it and shew that it hath been As for the Antecedentia or signes they be of these sorts chiefly First a great tranquillitie or calmnesse of the aire mixed with some cold the reason of which is because the exhalation which should be blowing abroad is within the earth Secondly the sunne is observed to look very dimme certain dayes before although there be no clouds the reason of which is because the winde which should have purged and dissolved the grosse aire is taken prisoner and enclosed within the bowels of the earth Thirdly the birds flie not but sit still beyond their ordinary wont and seem as if they were not fearfull to let any one come neare them the reason of which is because either the pent exhalation sendeth some strange alteration into the aire which slenderly breatheth out of some insensible pores of the earth which it may do though the exhalation comes not out or else it is that they are scarce able to flie for want of some gentle gales for their wings to strike upon it being a thing well known that birds flie more willingly and cheerfully when the aire is of such a temper Fourthly the weather is calm and yet the water of the sea is troubled and rageth mightily the reason of which is because the great plentie of spirits or winde in the bottome of the sea beginneth to labour for passage that way and finding none is sent back again whereupon soon after it shaketh the land This is evermore a certain signe Fifthly the water in the bottome of pits and deep wells is troubled ascending and moving as if it boyled stinking and is infected the reason of which is because the exhalation being pent and striving to get forth moveth some stinking mineralls and other poisonous stuffe to the springs of those waters and they with the strugling exhalation stirre and attaint them Sixthly there is a long thin cloud seen in a cleare skie either a little before sunne-setting or soon after now this is caused by reason of the calmnesse of the aire even as Aristotle observeth that in a quiet sea the waves float to the shore long and straight I do not think that this alone can be any more then a very remote signe unlesse it be joyned with some of the other signes already mentioned for although such a cloud may be seen yet every calm brings not an earthquake neither are all places alike subject to them The last signe and that which cannot but be infallible is the great noise and sound which is heard under the earth like to a groning or very thundering And yet some say that this is not alwayes attended with an earthquake for if the winde finde any way large enough to get out it shaketh not the earth Now this noise is made by the struggling of the winde under the earth Next after the Antecedentia the Consequentia of earthquakes would be considered and these as I said be their effects which indeed be not so much the effects of the earthquake as of the exhalation causing the earthquake The first whereof may be the ruine of buildings and such like things together with the death of many people About the 29 yeare before the birth of Christ was an earthquake in Iurie whereby thirtie thousand people perished In the fifth yeare of Tiberius Emperour of Rome thirteen cities of Asia were destroyed in one night by an earthquake Some say but twelve Lanq. chron In the 66 yeare of Christ three cities of Asia were also by the like accident overthrown namely Laodicea Hieropoliâ—… and Colossus Again in the yeare of Christ 79 three cities of Cyprus came to the like ruine and in the yeare following was a great death of people at Rome And in the yeare 114 Antioch was much hurt by an earthquake at which time the Emperour Trâ—…jan being in those parts escaped the danger very difficultly Eusebius placeth it in the second yeare of the 223 Olympiad and Bucholcerus setteth it in the yeare of Christ one hundred and eleven Eusebius makes mention of another before this in the 7 yeare of Trajan this was that which in Asia Greece Calabria overthrew nine severall cities About the yeare of Christ 180 or 182 the citie Smyrna came to the like ruine for the restauration whereof the Emperour remitted ten yeares tribute About the yeare of Christ 369 Eusebius again telleth of an earthquake which was in a manner all over the world to the great damage of many towns and people The like was in the yeare 551 at which time a quave of the earth swallowed a middle part of the citie Misia with many of the inhabitants where the voice of them that were swallowed was heard crying for help and succour He also in the yeare 562 mentions another wherewith the citie Berintho was overthrown and the isles called Câ—…y grievously shaken Again he writeth of a great tempest and earthquake in the yeare 1456 wherein as he hath it out of Chronica chronicorum there perished about Puell and Naples 40 thousand people Also in the yeare 1509 the citie of Constantinople was sorely shaken innumerable houses and towers were cast to the ground and chiefly the palace of the great Turk insomuch that he was forced to fly to another place Thirteen thousand perished in this calamitie Again in the yeare 1531 in the citie Lisbon a thousand foure hundred houses were overthrown or as some say one thousand five hundred and above six hundred so shaken that they were ready to fall and their churches cast unto the ground lying like heaps of stones This earthquake was attended with a terrible plague and pestilence And thus do these examples confirm the first effect A second is the turning of plain ground into mountains and raising up of islands in the sea as Thia in the time of Plinie and Therasia which as Seneca witnesseth was made an island even in the sight of the mariners or whilest they were looking on Thus also Delos Rhodos and sundry others came to be islands A third effect is the throwing down of mountains and sinking of islands and such like Thus perished the Atlantick island as I shewed before yea thus also perished by the breach of the earth those famous cities of Achaia viz. Helice and Buris of which Ovid writeth thus Si quaras Helicen Burin Achaeidas urbes Invenies sub aquis Et adhuc ostendere nautae Inclinata solent cum moenibus oppida mersis If thou would'st Helice and wish'd Buris finde Th'Achaean cities never lost in minde The water hides them and the shipmen show Those
semper ago In which regard the distilled water of Borage or Buglosse with the leaves and flowers being drunk with wine cannot but be good comfortable and pleasant for the brain and heart it increaseth wit and memorie engendreth good bloud and putteth away melancholy and madnesse as the authour of the haven of health affirmeth The herbs following are hot and dry NExt unto Buglosse I mention Balm or Baum because the water of it also being drunk in wine is good to comfort the heart to drive away all melancholy and sadnesse in which regard it is not amisse to have them all distilled together Moreover I finde it recorded that the hives of bees being rubbed with the leaves of this herb causeth the bees to keep well together and allureth others to come unto them For saith Plinie they delight in no herb or flower more and therefore they fly not away from such hives as are either rubbed with the leaves or anointed with the juice of this herb and hereupon it cometh to be called Apiastrum which is as much as to say The bees starre or guide For when they are strayed farre from home by the help of this herb they finde their way again But the common Latine name is Melissa or Citrago It is also called in some authours Melissophyllum and Meliphyllon This is an herb which is hot and dry in the second degree good to be either eaten or smelled unto by them who are subject to the Mother Gerard. Plinie writeth a strange secret in a kinde of Balm which he calleth Iron-wort viz. that the leaves close up wounds without any perill of inflammation and also that it is of so great vertue which you may beleeve as you list that though it be but tied to his sword which gave the wound it stancheth the bloud Sage called in Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is Salvia in the Latine and amongst the many kindes which some observe there are principally two the greater and the lesser Some say it is hot and dry in the third degree some name not the third so much as the end of the second others determine that it is hot in the first degree and dry in the second This is an herb which hath many and singular properties insomuch that the Salern school makes this demand Cur moriatur homo cui Salvia crescit in horto As if it should be said such is the vertue of Sage that if it were possible it would cause Clotho evermore to hold the distaffe and Lachesis to spin perpetually yea Atropos must forbear to cut in two the thread of life such a desire hath Sage to make a man immortall The Latine and English names speak greatly for the commendation of it For Salvia takes the name of safety and Sage is a name of wisdome Sith then the name betokens wise and saving We count it natures friend and worth the having Beside these names some call it the Holy herb because women with childe if they be like to come before their time and are troubled with abortments do eat thereof to their great good For it maketh them fruitfull retaineth the birth and giveth life unto it Ger. in his Herball Moreover Sage is singular good for the brain and head quickeneth the memorie and senses strengtheneth the sinews is good against the palsie and stayeth a shaking in any part of the body The most of which properties are expressed in these two verses following Salvia confortat nervos manuúmque tremorem Tollit ejus ope febris acuta fugit Sage makes the sinews strong the palsie cures And by its help no ague long endures Also the juice of this herb drunk with honie is good for those that spit and vomit bloud for it stoppeth the flux thereof incontinently And last of all although I omit many vertues in this herb yet one thing must not be forgotten The leaves of the red Sage put into a wooden dish wherein are put very quick coals with some ashes in the bottome of the dish to keep the same from burning and a little vineger sprinkled upon the leaves lying upon the coals and so wrapped in a linnen cloth and holden very hot unto the side of those that are troubled with a grievous stitch they take away the pain presently and also greatly help the extremitie of a plurisie Ger. Rue or Herb-grace in Latine is called Ruta in Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is quòd caliditate suā 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 semen quasi congelat If it be wilde Rue and not such as groweth in gardens then it is hot and dry in the fourth degree but garden Rue is a degree cooler and moister Plinie writeth that there is such friendship between it and the fig-tree that it prospereth no where so well as under that tree delighting also as he affirmeth to grow in funnie places It is an enemie to the Toad as being a great enemie to poyson And excellent is that medicine approved by Mithridates King of Pontus in Asia who lived in the dayes of Pompey viz. that if any do eat fasting two dry wall-nuts as many figs and twentie leaves of Rue with one grain of salt nothing which is venimous may that day hurt him it being also an excellent preservative against the pestilence Which also the Salern school teacheth in these words Allia Ruta Pyra Raphanus cum Theriaca Nux Praestant antidotum contra lethale venenum Garlick Rue Pears and Radishes will make With Triacle and Nut An antidote which will fell poyson slake And doore of danger shut Moreover Schola Salerni setteth down some other properties of it thus Ruta comesta recens oculos caligine purgat Ruta viris coitum minuit mulieribus auget Upon which occasion one once gave it this commendation Rue is a noble herb to give it right For chew it fasting it will purge the sight One qualitie thereof yet blame I must It makes men chaste and women fills with lust Which last propertie is caused in regard that the nature of women is waterish and cold now Rue we know heateth and drieth whereupon it stirreth them the more to carnall lust but it diminisheth the nature of men which is of temperature like to the aire viz. hot and moist working thereupon a contrary effect from that which it doth in women Also for those who are feeble in their sight let them distill Rue and white roses together and putting the water thereof into their eyes it will open their windows and let in more light To which joyn also this other experiment taken out of Schola Salerni Feniculus Verbena Rosa Chelidonia Ruta Ex istis fit aqua quae lumina reddit acuta Fennell Vervine Rose Celandine and Rue Do water make which will the sight renew What other properties are pertinent to it may be seen at large in Plinie lib. 19. cap. 8. lib. 20.
when sheep feed on it they have their livers enflamed their guts and entrails fretted and blistered by it It is hot and drie in the fourth degree Sulphur-wort or Hogs fennell in Greek is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Latine Peucedanus or Feniculum porcinum It is hot in the second and drie in the beginning of the third degâ—…ee and is used with good successe against the ruptures and burstnings of young children being very good to be applied to their navels if they start out over much Feverfew called in Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or else 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and in Latine Parthenium is hot in the third degree and drie in the second This herb dried and made into powder is good against a swimming and turning in the head if some two drammes of it be taken with hony or sweet wine Also it is good for such as be melancholie sad pensive and not desiring to speak Mouseare or Pilosella is hot and dry The decoction or the juice of this herb is of such excellencie that if steel-edged tools glowing hot be often cooled therein it maketh them so hard that they will cut stone or iron be it never so hard without turning the edge or waxing dull Celandine or Swallow-wort in Greek is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Latine Chelidonium This herb is hot and dry in the third degree Some say that it was thus named because as Plinie writeth it springeth at the coming of the swallows and withereth at their departure which I suppose is false seeing it may be found all the yeare That therefore which he writeth in his 8 book the 27 chapter did rather occasion the name For saith he the swallows have demonstrated unto us that Celandine is good for the sight because when the eyes of their young ones be out they cure them again with this herb Whereupon one writes out of Schola Salerni thus An herb there is takes of the Swallows name And by the Swallows gets no little fame For Plinie writes though some thereof make doubt It helps young Swallows eyes when they are out Also the root being chewed is reported to be good for the tooth-ach Angelica is hot and dry in the third degree It is an enemie to poysons and cureth pestilent diseases if it be used in time yea the very root chewed in the mouth is good against infection Contagious aire ingendring pestilence Infects not those who in their mouthes have tane Angelica that happie counter-bane Dragon is an herb much like to Angelica in operation if the distilled water be drunk onely observe that the smell of Dragon flowers are hurtfull to women newly conceived with childe Ger. Sowbread or Swines-bread is an herb hot and drie in the third degree In Greek it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and in Latine Tuber terrae This herb is also dangerous for women with childe either to touch take come neare or stride over it For without controversie as Mr Gerard affirmeth it maketh them be delivered before their times He therefore having it growing in his garden used to set sticks or barres that such a danger might be shunned And this effect he attributeth to the extraordinarie naturall attractive vertue in it Dioscorides and Matthiolus do not deny the said marvellous operation and Du Bartas remembers it thus If over it a childe-great woman stride Instant abortion often doth betide Lavender as is supposed is but the female plant of that which we call Spike and being sweet in smell it is used in baths and waters to wash the hands in which regard it is called Lavender or Lavander from the Latine word Lavo to wash Leek is hot and dry the Greeks call it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Latines Porrum according to which name Nero the Emperour was called For because he took great pleasure in this root he was named in scorn and called Porrophagus Leeks are not good for hot and cholerick bodies because if they be eaten often they ingender naughtie bloud hurt the head dull the sight and make one to be troubled and affrighted with terrible dreams The like may be said of Onions And yet according to some the water of the distilled roots being done in June and drunk often by women that are barren helpeth them As also the same water helpeth the bleeding at the nose if fine cotten be dipped in it and put up into the nostrils And of Onions it is likewise written that if they be bruised and mixed with salt and hony they will then destroy warts and make them fall off by the very roots Also there is another propertie in Onions which when I had little else to do I observed in this following Epigram He that a bad wife follows to the grave And knows not how for joy a teare to crave May Onions use to make him weep in shew For who can weep indeed to lose a shrew Garlick called in Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and in Latine Allium is hot and dry as Galen writeth even unto the fourth degree It is called the countrey mans Triacle and hath many good properties And amongst other things one thing very strange I finde recorded of it viz. that though the often eating of it do harm the whole and perfect sight yet the moisture or juice infused into the eyes doth comfort a dull sight It is said that the strong smell of Garlick is put away by chewing of Cummin-seed or by eating a green bean or two after it Also I finde that if a woman doubt of her being with childe let there be set all night by her bed side some Garlick and if she smell it not then she may conclude that she hath conceived or is with childe Sleep not presently after the eating of Radish for that will cause a stinking breath And withall let this be noted that the Parsnep and Carret are hot and dry about the third degree The Turnep is hot and moist This is a root which is eaten of men but loathed of swine The Skirret is moderately hot and moist The Artichoke is hot and dry unto the second degree The Elocampane is hot in the third but dry in the second degree and the chief vertues of it are to open the breast or to help shortnesse of winde caused by tough fleâ—… me which stoppeth the lungs Also it openeth oppilations of the liver and splene and comforteth the stomack as saith Schola Salerni Enula campana haec reddit praecordia sana c. Elecampane strengthens each inward part Asswageth grief of minde and cheers the heart A little loosenesse is thereby provoken It quelleth wrath and makes a man fair-spoken The Rape is also of an hot temper And Tarragon is hot and dry to the third degree The Red Darnell is hot also and
attraction between this stone and iron and the accretion which is caused by their reall contaction This I think may be supposed But I leave it to the readers further enquirie and abler examination 5. Asbestos is a stone of an iron colour which being once fired can hardly be ever quenched Plinie saith that it is to be found in the mountains of Arcadia Lib. 37. cap. 10. 6. Dendritis is a white precious stone which being put under a tree keepeth the ax that cutteth it from dulling Idem lib. 37. cap. 11. 7. Galactites is of an ash-colour it seemeth to sweat out a kinde of liquour like unto milk Plinie saith it increaseth milk in nurses and keeps the mouth of the childe moist if it be hanged about the neck c. some also say that it helpeth running of the eyes and ulcers 8. Amphitane is a precious stone of gold colour square and of the nature of the Loadstone almost excepting that it is said to draw gold unto it Plinie saith that this stone is also called Chrysocolla and is found in a part of India where the ants cast up gold from their hills Lib. 37. cap. 10. 9. Androdamas is a stone hard and heavie bright like silver and in form like divers little squares It putteth away rage of lecherie and as the magicians think saith Plinie it stoppeth the force of furie and anger 10. Pansebastos is a precious stone taking away barrennesse 11. There is also in Plinie mention made of the stone Thracius which being steeped in water burneth and sprinkles but it is quenched with oyl 12. Amiantus is a stone like unto alume this being put into the fire is not hurt nor slurried but rather more bright and cleare Unto which one patient in troubles and adversities may be likened for his afflictions harm him not but better him making him look in the middest of a fierie triall not like one slurried with repining but cleare and beautifull in the sight of heaven by refining But I conclude and with him who writeth thus cannot but say Oh mickle is the pow'rfull good that lies In herbs trees stones and their true qualities For nought so vile that on the earth doth live But to the earth some secret good doth give And nought so rich on either rock or shelf But if unknown lies uselesse to it self Therefore who thus doth make their secrets known Doth profit others and not hurt his own Now follow metalls of a more friable and brittle nature They are more mollified bodies may be easily brought into crumbes or dust are called precious earths something clammie and of a middle nature between stones and the lesse pliable metalls First I begin with Terra Lemnia which is an exceeding red earth of Lemnos isle digged in a red hill In old time this had Diana's seal upon it printed by her priests who were onely wont to wash this earth and now in Silesia and Hassia there is almost as good earth found It is of force to resist poison and to heal old putrified or festered wounds 2. Cinoper is a soft red stone found in mines otherwise called Vermilion of which Plinie speaketh in his 33 book at the 7 chapter saying that in times past it was not onely of great but of sacred esteem among the Romanes for they painted their gods with it as he tells us of Jupiters image whose face was coloured with Vermilion So Virgil also speaking of the shepherds god Pan saith that he was seen Sanguineis Ebuli baccis Minió que rubentem With bloudie Walwort berries stain'd And with Vermilion red Neither were their gods alone thus beautified but their own bodies also in publick feasts and triumphing solemnities as we reade again in Plinie that Camillus when he triumphed in Rome was painted with this Vermilion 3. Boâ—… Armenian or Bole Armoniack is of a pale red colour as easie to break as chalk being of a very binding nature and of great vertue against the plague and seeing it drieth it profiteth against all fluxes 4. Oker is a light clayie earth of a red or yellow colour 5. That which the Grecians call Arsenick the Latines call Auripigmentum but I had rather that Arsenick should be the generall name and that it be divided into 3 kindes namely into white red and yellow Orpment The white is that which is the common rats-bane Red Arsenick is called Sandaracha of a bright red colour used of painters and found in mines of gold and silver Yellow Orpment is the right Auripigmentum it is like unto Brimstone This if it be our common Arsenick is a very dangerous drug for it is hot and burning so as it gnaweth the stomack pierceth the bowels producing a fever with an intolerable and an unquenchable thirst 6. Red lead comes something neare to the nature of Vermilion and as Plinie writeth out of Homer was used by the Trojans and honoured before they knew Vermilion For as Theophrastus in Plinie witnesseth Callias of Athens first found out Vermilion thinking indeed to draw gold out of it Howbeit Red lead is no minerall but made artificially 7. Terra Samia is a white stiffe and tough earth coming from the isle Samos Plinie makes two kindes of it the one more glutinous then the other the other more â—…loddie lesse glutinous and whiter He saith there be those who preferre the first as best They are either of them good against spitting of bloud Lib. 35. cap. 16. 8. Chalk is a white earth which was first found in Creet and therefore in Latine it is called Creta But now we finde of it in many other places Plinie makes many kindes of Chalk all which are not white as in his 34 book at the 17 chapter is apparent Fullers earth being a chief kinde among them and that by others is called Creta Tasconia Brown Umber cometh also neare to the nature of the said earth Calx is Lime-Chalk which after it is burnt will be fired with water but quenched with oyl as authours write It is called Calx viva because it contains a kinde of hid fire in it 10 Ampelite is a pitchie earth cleaving and black being much like to that which we call Pit or Sea-coal as some imagine and haply the diversitie of climate causeth the difference There is also found another earth which Plinie calls Pignitis and some others Pnigitis and it is as black as this 11. Bitumen is a fat and tough moisture like Pitch and is called Earthy Pitch Or thus It is a kinde of clay or naturall Lime clammie like Pitch and is to be found in many countreys of Asia They who builded the tower of Babel used this in stead of Morter as appeareth in Gen. chapter the 11. And so did others also in old time making it in like manner burn in lamps in stead of oyl
This pitchie earth is of two kindes For it is either Hard or Liquid The Hard is more strongly concreted then the other being like unto clods of the earth or coals Or as some affirm it is tough and moist at the first swimming on the water but being taken forth it waxeth hard Of this kinde is 1 Asphaltus 2 Pissasphaltus 3 Succinum Asphaltus is a black Bitumen hard like stone-pitch cleare and smelling scarce so ill as Pitch It is found throughout Babylon and especially in the lake Asphaltites neare unto which stood those cities of Sodome and Gomorrah that were consumed with fire and brimstone and where also do as yet grow apples which according to Solinus are fair and fresh without but within are full of Sulphur and being handled they fall all to ashes In which they are Emblemes of the vanities of this world alwayes seeming more then they are Pissasphaltus is said to be Mummie or a kinde of Bitumen somewhat differing from Asphaltus and is not seldome found in clods rolling from mount Ceravine to the Sea as authours witnesse In stead of this it is supposed that we have counterfeit Mummie often out of Syria Egypt and some other places which is taken from poore mens bodies that die there For in stead of Myrrhe Aloes Cassia c. which the rich men have in their burialls and embalmings the poore are dressed and stuffed up with Bitumen This therefore which is but counter feit is nothing else but a corrupted humour taken out of old tombes which there droppeth from embalmed bodies and most ridiculously in my opinion do they erre who say it is made of mans flesh boyled in Pitch It is hot in the second degree and good against all bruisings spitting of bloud and divers other diseases Succinum is a Bituminous suck or juice of the earth being hard as if it were a kinde of stone It is of three colours White Yellow and Black The White and Yellow are called Amber and the Black is Iet They make beads of Amber And some would have this Amber to be rather a gumme growing on a tree then to be a suck of the earth The tree by some is called Ibex Romana But as others report out of Dioscorides it falleth in manner of a liquour from Poplar trees into the riuer Po in Italie where it congealeth and becometh hard in that form as we see it Iet hath more plentie of fatnesse in it then Amber and therefore it will burn like a candle and smelleth like the Pine-tree It hath an attractive vertue in it to draw chaffe straws and such other light stuffe unto it especially if it be rubbed till it be hot And these are the kindes of Hard Bitumen The Liquid and soft is like an oyly moisture flowing and is of divers colours according to the varietie of the place but the white is said to be most precious And for the kindes the chief are these Naphtha and Amber of Arabia Naphtha is a liquid Bitume like unto chalkie clay or as it were the fat of Bitume whereunto if fire be put it kindleth in such wise that if a little water be cast thereon it burneth more vehemently And indeed it hath in it such a fiery force that it will draw fire unto it although it be farre off When it is found to flow out of rocks then it is called Naphtha Petreolum and by some taken for oyl In the island Sicilie are fountains from whence great store of this liquour floweth which they frequently burn in Lamps Amber of Arabia is Bitume of an ash colour and of a fragrant sweet smell desired and sought after as a most precious merchandise It is found in Arabia felix neare unto a town which is called Sichris Howbeit Olaus Magnus calleth that Amber which is Sperma Ceâ—… but then it is Ambergreese and rather the spawn then the seed 12. From Bitume I come to Alume which is said to be a salt sweat of the earth according to Plinie congealing it self with a glutinous earth and water It is either white or black The white is either cleare or thick The cleare is softer and fatter then the other This is Roch-Alume and if paper be washed with this it will bear ink very well although it be bad The thick is more hard and of a grayer colour Black Alume is found in Cyprus and with this gold is purified and purged They that desire more may reade Plinie in his 35 book at the 15 chapter 13. Vitriol is a suck of the earth concreted obtaining the perspicuitie of glasse some call it Chaâ—…canthum which word may signifie either Copperas or Vitriol This suck is very poysonous 14. Salt is called Sal à saliendo because when it is put into the fire it skippeth and danâ—…eth It is a friable metall begotten of a waterish and earthie moisture mixt and decocted together the efficient cause whereof is the heat of the sunne and other starres who out of a salt matter drawing away the thinner and the sweeter parts leave the earthie still behinde which being throughly rosted by heat become salt For there be two things requisite in a salt savour The first are drie and earthie parts The other is an adustion of the said parts as Philosophers witnesse Salt hath force to binde to scowre and purge to disperse make thin and the like which thing Physicians can best declare There be 2 kindes Naturall and Artificiall The Naturall is digged Salt The Artificiall is made or boiled Salt Digged Salts are gotten either from the earth or from the waters as some distinguish Salts digged out of the earth be principally of foure kindes The first is Salt Ammonaick This is found in Africa under sand and is something like unto alume It is said to be hot and drie in the fourth degree and serveth to purge slimie humours Some affirm that that which Apothecaries sell in black clods is made of Camels stale and because store of Camels be in Armenia it is called Armâ—…niack The second is Salt of Indie of which you may reade in Plinie lib. 31. cap. 7. that it is digged out of mount Oramene and that the King hath there a greater yearely pension or custome then out of gold and precious stones The third is called Salt-gem which is a kinde of glittering Salt white and shining after the manner of Crystall Sometimes it is also called stonie marblie Salt Salt Dacian or Sarmatick Salt The fourth is called Salt-nitre and this is that which we call Salt-peter found in drie places under ground and in hollow rocks Of this is made that fatall dust called Pulvis Bombardicus or Gunne-powder the invention whereof was after this manner A Germane Monk or Frier of the order of S. Francis whose name was Bertholdus Swart being very studious in Alchymie was one evening for the finding
eyes can see Sect. 3. Of the offices given to the Sunne Moon and Starres in the day of their creation Paragr 1. Shewing that their first office is to shine upon the earth to rule over the day and night c. Artic. 1. Of light what it is and whether the Sunne be the onely fountain of light THe former part of my discourse hitherto in this dayes work was chiefly founded upon these words Let there be lights in the firmament of heaven and upon these And God made the starres also But now I come to speak of their offices The first whereof is that exquisite one above the rest I mean their bright and radiant shining by which the dismall clouds of foggie darknesse are daintily devoured and the sweet comelinesse of the worlds ornament made apparent For without light all things would appeare like the face of hell or horrour and each parcell of the worlds fabrick lie buried in black obscuritie dismall squalour Whereupon one speaketh worthily saying that amongst those qualities subject to sense there is none more fit to shew the due decorum and comely beauty of the worlds brave structure none more fit then light For where it spreads it self either above us or below us all things are then encompast with such a splendour as if a golden garment were dilated over them or curiously put upon them Let it not then be ashamed to shine shew it self to the praise of him who made it For Praise him sun and moon praise him oh ye stars and light was Davids song But to proceed Authours make a difference between Lux and Lumen It is called Lux as it is in the fountain that is in a bodie which is lucid of it self as in the sunne so saith Zanchius But it is Lumen as it is in some Medium that is in corpore diaphano as is the aire or water Lumen enim nihil aliud est quà m lux lucisve imago in corpore diaphano From whence may be gathered that that primarie light which we comprehend under the name of Lux is no other thing then the more noble part of that essence which is either in the sunne moon or starres and so far as a corporeall substance may be given to fire it may be also attributed to that which is properly called light being in and of those lamps of heaven which were made ex primava luce chiefly and so came to appeare of a fiery colour Whereupon Patricius writing against the Peripateticks saith Lux est essentia stellarum Nihil enim aliud flamma quà m lumen densius lumen non aliud quà m flamma rarior Calor quoque non aliud quà m ignis rarefactus atque diffusus ignis non aliud quà m calor densatus sive lux compacta Take therefore my meaning rightly lest I be supposed to be much mistaken And again concerning Radius which is a Beam or Ray it is no primarie light neither but rather as Patricius also writeth it is Fulgor à Luce exiliens in rectam acutam figuram seu in modum Pyramidis Coni promicans To which Scaliger is affirming saying Lux est alia in corpore lucido ab eo non exiens alia à corpore lucis exiens ut Lumen Radius And Zaharel also saith Lux alia est propriè dicta in astris ipsis alia à luce producta in perspicuo Whereupon I cannot but be perswaded that light in it self properly primarily taken must be an essentiall propertie as formerly I have related but to the aire or other things enlightned by it it is an accidentall quality approved of God as good both to himself the future creatures For although it be commonly said of compound things that they are such as we may distinguish of them in ipsam essentiam susceptricem in eam quae ipsi accidit qualitatem yet here the case proves otherwise because the sunne and starres have susceptam semel secúmque immixtam lucem And again as saith Theodoret Lucem quidem condidit ut voluit Quemadmodum verò firmamento aquas divisit ità lucem illam dividens ut voluit luminaria magna ac parva in coelo collocavit And as touching the brightnesse of the starres the sunne may well be called Oculus mundi The eye of the world For he is indeed the chief fountain from whence the whole world receiveth lustre shining alone and enlightning our whole hemisphere when all the other starres are hid From whence some Philosophers and Astronomers have been of opinion that the fixed starres shine not but with a borrowed light from the sunne Plutarch in his 2 book and 17 chap. of the opinions of Philosophers saith that Metrodorus and his disciples the Epicures have been of this minde But according to the mindes of the best authours and nearest equipage to truth the starres are called lights as well as the sunne and moon although there be a difference between them either of more or lesse For Paul distinguisheth between the starres and sunne non privatione lucis sed tantùm gradu And when God said Let there be lights in the firmament of heaven he made not the sunne alone but the sunne moon and starres the light in the starres being in very deed darkened by that in the sunne which doth but differ in degree from that in them Whereupon it is that the starres shew themselves by night onely when the sunne is hid or in some deep pit whither the sunne-beams cannot pierce If therefore we cannot see them Id non solis non stellarum culpâ fit sed oculorum nostrorum hic est defectus ob solaris enim luminis copiam ac vigorem debilitantur Also some adde their influences as that of the Little dogge the Plâ—…iadas and others being plain testimonies of their native light For if they had not their proper and pâ—…culiar light being fo farre distant from the inferiour bodies it is thought they could not alter them in such sort as they sometimes do and evermore the further they be from the sunne the better and brighter we see them And as for the diversitie of their influence the differing qualitie of the subject causeth this diversitie So that though this light for the first three dayes was but one in qualitie it came to have divers effects as soon as it was taken and bestowed upon the starres and lights And perhaps as there is in them the more of this fire the â—…otter is their qualitie but little fire and more water the moister and cooler and so also the more earthy substance the darker Neither do I think that we may altogether exempt the moon from her native light For although she shineth to us with a borrowed light yet it is no consequence to say she hath therefore no own proper light There is saith Goclenius a double light of the moon Proper and Strange The Proper is that which is Homogeneall to it self or
it should be exceeding the exactest measure which can be had by the quantitie of eleven minutes or there abouts causing thereby by little and little to be an apparent anticipation of the Equinoctiall and Solstitiall points insomuch that the Vernall equinox whose place at the first Councel of Nice was upon the 21 day of March is now come to be upon the 10 day of March The reformation of which errour hath been wished for by divers learned men and in some sort performed by Pope Gregorie the 13 using likewise in it the help of Christopher Clavius and some others who in the yeare 1582 brought back the Equinoctiall day to the same place it was at the said Nicene Councel by cutting off 10 dayes in the moneth of October writing in the Calender next after the fourth day the fifteenth day by means whereof all their moneths begin ten dayes sooner then ours as do also all those feasts whose place is fixed and not moveable Now in this reformation it was likewise ordered that the yeare should consist of 365 dayes 5 houres and 49 minutes And that the Equinox might not be subject any more to anticipation in 400 yeares they thought it fit to omit three Leap-yeares The first whereof will fall into the yeare of Christ 1715 the second into the yeare 1848 and the third into the yeare 1982 if God suffer the frame of the world to stand so long Howbeit in thus doing although the alteration will be very little yet the reformation is not exactly true because there is an inequalitie of anticipation in the Equinoctiall as the great Masters in Astronomie teach us being as they say in some ages more and in some lesse But seeing as I said the alteration will be very little if it ever come to that it is fit the Leap-year be then omitted And thus am I come now to the end likewise of this fourth dayes work wherein after my plain manner I have discoursed upon every such thing as is pertinent to the work done in it Let me therefore concluding say with Moses The Eve and Morn confine the fourth of dayes And God gives to his work deserved praise CHAP. VIII Concerning the creatures created in the Fifth day of the world and they were Fishes and Fowls Sect. 1. Of Fishes their kindes properties c. NOw follow the works of the Fifth day which when I consider I cannot but admire the harmonious order which the Almightie observeth in the whole progresse of his creating For as yet the world was but like an emptie house without inhabitants a stately structure having no moving creature with life and sense to be living in it not so much as a poore flie a fish or a bird to taste the goodnesse of things created and made But in this and the next day the building thus framed and cheer provided he brought as it were his guests to participate of his delicates alwayes provided that things inferiour should serve things superiour making his best work last namely Man unto whom the other works were put in subordination to shew me thinks that the end is the perfection of every thing And now see the first day was for the matter The second brought it into a better form stretched out the heavens and lifted up the waters which are above them The third did not onely shew the face of the earth by the gathering together of those waters under heaven but also adorned it with herbs trees and plants The fourth beautifies the vaulted roof of the sparkling firmament with funne moon and starres In the fifth and sixth he makes all kindes of living creatures furnishing first of all the waters and aire with their inhabitants and last of all the earth And for those many creatures in the waters and aire their creation was effected in this fifth dayes work so that every kinde of fish and all kinde of birds were now produced God onely said it and it was done as by viewing the text of Moses will appeare For in all his works he spake the word and they were made he commanded and they were created But to proceed We need divide the whole of this day into no more then two parts The one of Fishes the other of Birds That of fishes is the formost and therefore the varietie of those creatures would be first admired And see how Moses ushers them The greater ones are placed in the forefront For God saith he made great whales And then he proceedeth to adde something concerning the other species of smaller creatures living and moving in the water saying And every living creature that moveth which the waters brought forth abundantly after their kinde Pareus and other Expositours also by the word which is commonly translated great whales understand the biggest kinde of sea-beasts and monstrous fishes of the largest greatnesse And indeed the epithet great is not added to the whale without cause For the word tannin signifieth a serpent dragon or a great fish and the whale or great fish is the greatest of all living creatures as in Job 41. 33. In the earth there is none like him His jaws are likened to doores vers 14. his scales to shields vers 15. Out of his nostrills goeth smoke as out of a seething pot or caldron vers 20. he maketh the sea to boil like a pot vers 31. Munster writeth that neare unto Iseland there be great whales whose bignesse equalizeth the hills and mightie mountains which are sometimes openly seen and these saith he will drown and overthrow ships except they be affrighted with the sound of trumpets and drummes or except some round and emptie vessels be cast unto them wherewith they may play and sport them because they are much delighted with such things But above all this he affirmeth to be a good remedie against such dangerous whales to wit that which the Apothecaries call Castoreum tempered with water and cast into the sea for by this as by a poyson they are utterly driven and banished to the bottome Other authours mention farre greater whales then these And Olaus Magnus writeth that there are many kindes of whales For some he affirmeth to be rough-skinned and bristled and these contain in length 240 feet and in breadth 120. others are smooth and plain and these are lesse being taken in the North and Western ocean Some again have jaws with long and terrible teeth of 12 or 14 feet in length and the two dog-teeth are farre longer then the rest like unto horns or the tusks of a boar or elephant This kinde of whale hath eyes so ample and large that sometimes 15 20 or more men may sit in the compasse of one eye and about either eye there be 250 horns ad rigidam vel placidam anteriorem vel posteriorem motionem ventilationem serving also to defend the eyes either in a tempestuous season or when this fish is assaulted by any other sea-beast Physeter or the Whirl-pool-whale hath a
to raise extraordinarie storms and tempests the windes blow seas rage and clouds drop presently after they seem to call Questionlesse natures instinct works in them a quicker insight and more sudden feeling and foresight of these things then is in man which we see even in other creatures upon earth as in fowls who feeling the alteration of the aire in their feathers and quills do plainly prognosticate a change of weather before it appeareth to us And of these not onely the poets but others also have written The Poets fein there were three Mermaids or Sirens in their upper parts like maidens and in their lower part fishes which dwelling in the sea of Sicilie would allure sailers to them and afterwards devoure them being first brought asleep with hearkening to their sweet singing Their names they say were Parthenope Lygia and Leucasia wherefore sometime alluring women are said to be Sirens Neither can I but admire what I finde recorded in the historie of the Netherlands of a Sea-woman who was taken up in the streights of a broken dike neare to the towns of Campen and Edam brought thither by a sea-tempest and high tide where floating up and down and not finding a passage out again by reason that the breach was stopped after the floud was espied by certain women and their servants as they went to milk their kine in the neighbouring pastures who at the first were afraid of her but seeing her often they resolved to take her which they did and bringing her home she suffered her self to be clothed fed with bread milk and other meats and would often strive to steal again into the sea but being carefully watched she could not moreover she learned to spinne and perform other pettie offices of women but at the first they cleansed her of the sea-mosse which did stick about her She was brought from Edam and kept at Harlem where she would obey her mistris and as she was taught kneel down with her before the crucifix never spake but lived dumbe continued alive as some say fifteen yeares then she died This is credibly reported by the authour of that history by the writer of the chronicles of Holland and in a book called the Theatre of cities They took her in the yeare of our Lord 1403. Moreover Plinie telleth us of Tritons and Nereïdes which were Mermen or Men-fish of the sea And in the yeare 1526 as the authour of Du Bartas his summarie reporteth there was taken in Norway neare to a sea-port called Elpoch a certain fish resembling a mitred Bishop who was kept alive some few dayes after his taking And as the said authour writeth there was one Ferdinand Alvares secretarie to the store-house of the Indians who faithfully witnesseth that he had seen not farre off from the Promontorie of the Moon a young Sea-man coming out of the waters who stole fishes from the fishermen and eat them raw Neither is Olaus Magnus silent in these things For in his 21 book and first chapter having mentioned fishes like to dogs cows calves horses asses lions eagles dragons and what not he also saith Sunt belluae in mari quasi hominis figuram imitantes lugubres in cantu ut Nereïdes etiam marini homines toto corpore absolutâ similitudine c. that is There be monsters in the sea as it were imitating the shape of a man having a dolefull kinde of sound or singing as the Nereïdes There be also Sea-men of an absolute proportion in their whole body these are sometimes seen to climbe up the ships in the night times and suddenly to depresse that 〈◊〉 upon which they sit and if they abide long the whole ship sinketh Yea saith he this I adde from out the faithfull assertions of the Norway fishers that when such are taken if they be not presently let go again there ariseth such a fierce tempest with an horrid noise of those kinde of creatures and other sea-monsters there assembled that a man would think the very heaven were falling and the vaulted roof of the world running to ruine insomuch that the fishermen have much ado to escape with their lives whereupon they confirmed it as a law amongst them that if any chanced to hang such a fish upon his hook he should suddenly cut the line and let him go But these sudden tempests are very strange and how they arise with such violent speed exceeds the bounds of ordinary admiration Whereupon it is again supposed that these monsters are very devils and by their power such strange storms are raised Howbeit for my part I think otherwise and do much rather affirm that these storms in my judgement are thus raised namely by the thickening and breaking of the aire which the snortling rushing and howling of these beasts assembled in an innumerable companie causeth For it is certain that sounds will break and alter the aire as I have heard it of a citie freed from the plague by the thundering noise of cannons and also I suppose that the violent rushing of these beasts causeth much water to flie up and thicken the aire and by their howling and snortling under the waters they do blow up and as it were attenuate the waves and make them arise in a thinner substance then at other times so that nature having all these helps in an instant worketh to the amazement of the mariners and often to the danger of their lives Besides shall we think that spirits use to feed and will be so foolish as go and hang themselves on an hook for a bait They may have occult qualities as the Loadstone hath to work strange feats and yet be neither spirits nor devils for experience likewise teacheth that they die either sooner or later after their taking neither can a spirit have flesh and bones as they have But to conclude Alexander ab Alexandro in the third book of his geniall dayes hath written one whole chapter viz. the 8 concerning these sea-men affirming that it is no fabulous report to say there be such he describeth them to be fish in their lower parts and like to men in their upper parts affirming moreover that they be very venereous and desirous of women loving them or lusting after them Whereupon he relates a storie of a certain woman who was taken up and carried to the sea by one of these Mermen concubitûs causà that he might couple himself with her Which monster the inhabitants took soon after but refusing meat he died and they then made this law that no woman should adventure to come neare the sea except her husband were with her This happened in Epirus a countrey of Greece In the kingdome of Congo which lieth in the African part of the world there is in the river Zaire another kinde of hog-fish differing from that already mentioned It is called Ambize Angulo or Hog-fish It hath as it were two hands and a tail like a target which eateth like pork and
first like maggots and they do as their dammes before them and then die And let this creature end my discourse concerning the things done in this fifth day wherein not able to mention all I have toucht at some and those so excellent as I could have spent more time in their better view were it not that the succeeding day hastens his dawning In the phrase of Moses I will therefore conclude and concluding say The Eve and Morn confine the fifth of dayes And God gives to his work deserved praise CHAP. IX This ninth chapter concerneth the creatures made in the sixth and last day namely creatures living neither in the aire nor water but upon the earth and these be of two sorts the brute beasts and Man This chapter hath two Sections Sect. 1. Wherein is both a division and entrance into this dayes work as also a discourse of the first part of it concerning the brute beasts whose creation was in the first part of the day THe just period of the fifth day being come to an end the sixth approacheth wherein God Almightie shutteth up the creation of every species and after all he resteth from his works watcheth by his providence over each part and parcell of the world which he had made And in this day he first produced the brute beasts living upon the face of the earth then he comes to the creation of man and makes him the Colophon or conclusion of all things else in whose nature he placed the greatest dignitie of any creature that is visible for man is of a middle between the beasts and Angels transcending the one and yet not worthy to equalize the other as afterwards when I come to that particular shall be declared with other things pertinent to his creation And now that the terrestriall beasts and he should be made both in one day is worth observing for had he been to live in the aire he might have seen the sunne with the flying fowls and have been created when they were made or had his habitation been in the waters the fish and he might both at once have been produced But being made neither to swimme with the fishes nor flie with the birds but live upon the earth it was most harmonious that the terrestriall beasts and his creation should in the same day the one succeed the other And that the end might shew the perfection of the work the prioritie of time is given to the beasts but the excellencie and prioritie of all appeares in man who was made Lord of the creatures and in whom God had placed a surpassing condition and by farre a more noble nature For whereas they are led by sense he hath reason whereas they look downwards and groveling from the skie his countenance is erect and his looks are mixt with majestie whereas they are animate without an immortall soul he liveth when he dieth and hath a soul which death it self knows not how to kill and whereas their bodies fall and never rise again his riseth when it is fallen and is like seed sown which sprouteth up when the time is come If this then be both the order and cause of such an order in this dayes work I must leave the most excellent piece untill the last and begin first to look and observe how the beasts in their severall kindes and daintie squadrons march up and down and walk from out the shop of their Creatour being brought to perfection even as soon as that powerfull word who spoke it did onely say it Let them be It would I confesse require no small volume to discourse of all Howbeit even in a few the glory of their Maker will well appeare and with that thought let us name some by which we may admire the rest And first consider what a strong vast creature the mighty Elephant is known to be There is no creature saith one among all the beasts of the world which hath so great and ample demonstration of the power and wisdome of Almighty God as the Elephant both for proportion of body and disposition of spirit and it is admirable to behold the industrie of our ancient forefathers and noble desire to benefit us their posteritie by searching into the qualities of every beast to discover what benefits or harms may come by them to mankinde having never been afraid of the wildest but they tamed them and the greatest but they also set upon them witnesse this beast of which we now speak being like a living mountain in quantitie and outward appearance yet by them so handled as no little dog could be made more serviceable tame or tractable They are usually bred in the hot eastern countreys for by reason they cannot well endure the cold they delight most in the East and South as in India and some places of Africa And before the dayes of Alexander Magnus there were never any in Europe but when he fought against Porus King of India he became master of many and how bravely they fought at the first for their masters and received many wounds Curtius hath related These Indian Elephants are most commonly nine cubits high and five cubits broad and in Africa they be about eleven foot high and of bignesse proportionable to their height Their colour is for the most part mouse-coloured or black and yet there was once one in Ethiopia all white as Mr. Topsell relateth They have a skinne so hard excepting on their belly that it is a very hard matter and in a manner impossible to pierce it with any sword spear or iron It hath on it very few hairs and is very full of chaps or crevises in which there is such a savour as invites the flies to a continuall feast howbeit they pay deerly for their cheer for although the Elephant cannot make use of his tail to drive them away yet by shrinking of himself close together he incloseth the flies within the chaps and so killeth them He hath a long trunked nose mighty teeth foure whereof be within his mouth serving to grinde his meat and two hang forth as afterwards shall be shewed He hath a tail slender and short and legs of an infinite strength his head is very great so that a mans head may as easily be thrust into it as his finger into the mouth of a dog but yet his eares and eyes are not equivalent to the residue of his other parts for his eares are small and their matter like to the wings of a Bat or Dragon and some bred in some places have no eares at all Their eyes likewise are like the eyes of swine but very red Two of their teeth as I said grow farre out of their mouthes one of which they alwayes keep sharp to revenge injuries and defend themselves and the other is lesse sharp being often used to root up plants and trees for their meat and commonly they grow out to the length of ten feet this is that which we
a groat and who they be which keep of these Cats tame or inclosed must remember to take away this distilled liquour every second or third day or else the beast doth rub it forth of his own accord That creature which men call a Mus-cat or Musk-cat doth much resemble a Roe both in greatnesse fashion and hair excepting that it hath thicker and grayer hairs the feet also are hooved and in the province of Cathay these Cats are found This beast is that from whence the Musk proceedeth which groweth in the navell or in a little bag neare unto it and of it self it comes to be ripe whereupon the beast itcheth and is pained he therefore rubbeth himself upon stones rocks and trees till he break the bag then the liquour runneth forth and the wound closeth but soon after the bag comes to be full again The common or vulgar Cat is a creature well known and being young it is very wanton and sportfull but waxing older very sad and melancholy It is called a Cat from the Latine word Cautus signifying wary for a Cat is a watchfull and warie beast seldome overtaken and most attendant to her sport and prey she is also very cleanly and neat oftentimes licking her own bodie to keep it smooth and fair which she can do in every part but her head she useth therefore to wash her face with her feet which she licketh and moisteneth with her tongue and it is observed by some that if she put her feet beyond the crown of her head in this kinde of washing it is a signe of rain And again it is ordinary to be known that the male Cat will eat up the young kitlings if he can finde where they are the reason of which is because he is desirous of copulation and during the time that the females give suck they cannot be drawn unto it Moreover it hath been usuall for many men to play and sport with these creatures in which regard Topsell very fitly calleth a Cat the idle mans pastime affirming further that many have payed deerely for their unadvised sporting Whereupon he tells a storie of a certain companie of Monks much given to nourish and play with Cats whereby they were so infected that within a short space none of them were able either to say reade pray or sing in all the monasterie the reason of which is because the savour and breath of Cats destroy the lungs and consume the radicall humour Wherefore it is a means to bring any into a consumption who shall suffer these creatures to lie with them upon their beds for their breath especially in a close chamber infecteth the aire therefore they be also dangerous in time of pestilence and apt to bring home venimous infection in which regard it is very expedient to kill them in such perilous times as they use to do in cities and great towns And note that above all things the Cat abhorreth wet or water from whence arose that proverb Catus vult piscem sed non vult tangere lympham Fain would the Cat some fishes eat But loth to wet her foot so neat In which she is a fit embleme of those who will shrink to encounter with that pain which harbours and bringeth forth their wished gain For be it so that we desire the sweetnesse of the well relisht kernell then must we likewise crack the hard shell for Difficilia quae pulchra Excellent things are hard to come by Olaus Magnus makes mention of an abundance of wilde Cats in Scandivania and where he speaketh of the Lynxes he sheweth that they devoure many of these Cats affirming moreover that the skinnes of these creatures are good against the sharp cold of winter whereupon those of Scythia and Moscovia use them for garments The Mouse is a creatâ—…re commonly of a dunne colour howbeit in differing places they have differing colours for in some countreys they be not dunne or ash-coloured but blackish in some again they be white in some yellow and in other some brown In Greek he is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and in Latine Mus from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 mutire of the piping noise which he maketh Some say that mice increase and decrease in the quantitie of their bodies according to the course of the moon being ever least when the light of that horned lamp is furthest from the full The like also I finde recorded of Cats eyes for as Mr Topsell writeth the Egyptians observed in the eyes of a Cat the increase of the moon-light and in the male his eyes do also varie with the sunne for when the sunne ariseth the apple of his eye is long towards noon it is round and at the evening it cannot be seen at all but the whole eye sheweth alike Aelianus writeth that Mice excell all living creatures in the knowledge and experience of things to come for when any old house habitation tenement or other dwelling place waxeth ruinous and ready to fall they perceive it first and out of that their foresight they make present avoidance from their holes and betake themselves to flight even as fast as their little legs will give them leave and so they seek some other place wherein they may dwell with more securitie I remember a storie of a man eaten up with Mice by which we are taught that no humane device can withstand Gods judgements There was saith Munster a certain Bishop of Magunce named Hatto who formerly had been the Abbot of Fulden and in his time there was great famine in that countrey this Bishop when he perceived the poore to faint and to be oppressed with hunger gathered together a great number of them into a large barn and setting it on fire he burnt them up saying that they little differed from Mice and were profitable for nothing for they did but consume and waste the corn Which damned trick and devilish tyrannie the great God of heaven would not suffer to go away unrevenged for he commanded the Mice by great flocks to invade this Bishop and set upon him without pitie vexing him both night and day with purpose to devoure him Whereupon he fleeth for refuge into a certain tower compassed by the water of Rhene thinking himself to be then safe and free from their greedy gnawings and cruell bitings but he was much deceived for the Mice followed him and like speedy executioners to perform the just judgement of God came swimming over and at the last gnawed such holes into his bodie that they let in death who suddenly sendeth out his soul to give an account for this foul deed Which accident was done in the yeare of our Lord 914 and the tower ever since called the tower of Mice Munster Cosmog Moreover amongst other things which the Mouse taketh great delight to eat he useth to watch for the gaping oister and seeing it open he thrusts in his head which when the oister feeleth she presently closeth
her shell again and so crusheth the Mouses head in pieces Whereupon one made this embleme Captivus ob gulam whereby he deeiphereth the condition of those men who destroy themselves to serve their bellies Or as another speaketh such are here signified which are altogether given to their bellie and to carnall pleasure for satisfaction whereof multa pericula sustinent they undergo many dangers and pay deerly for their follie The Shrew-mouse is called by the Hollanders Molmusse because it resembleth a mole For it hath a long and sharp snout like a mole teeth very small but so as they stand double in their mouth for they have foure rowes two beneath and two above and as for the tail it is both slender and short In Latine it is called Mus araneus because it containeth in it poison or venime like a spider and if at any time it bite either man or beast the truth of this will be too apparent But commonly it is called a Shrew-mouse and from the venimous biting of this beast we have an English imprecation I beshrew thee in which words we do indeed wish some such evil as the biting of this mouse And again because a curst scold or brawling wife is esteemed none of the least evils we therefore call such a one a Shrew The Dormouse is a beast which endeth his old age every winter and when summer cometh reviveth again which some have therefore made an embleme of the resurrection They are exceeding sleepie and fatted with it Their hair is short and in colour variable onely their bellie is alwayes white and for mine own part I ever thought them to be no bigger then an ordinary mouse but in Gesner and Topsell they are said to be greater in quantitie then a squirrell The Alpine Mouse or Mouse of the Alps is of neare akin to the dormouse it is almost as big as a conie and not much unlike it saving that their eares be shorter and their tails longer Munster doth thus expresse their natures saying they be much given to sleep and when they are waking they be either playing and skipping to and fro or else doing something as gnawing with their teeth scraping with their nails or else carrying in their mouthes either straw rags or soft hay or any such thing that may be good for their nests When they live thus wilde upon great hills and mountains and are minded to go and seek their prey or food one of them standeth in an high place to give notice to the rest when any enemie or danger approacheth which when he perceiveth he barketh and then all the other catch as much hay as they can and so come running away But this is strange Sometimes one and sometimes another lieth down upon his back and as much soft hay as may be laid upon his breast and bellie he claspeth and keepeth fast with his feet and then another of his fellowes getteth him by the tail and so with his prey draweth him home About autumne they begin to hide themselves in their nests the which they make so close that no aire or water can hurt them then do they lie hidden and sleep all the whole winter yea six or seven moneths without any meat rolling themselves round like unto a Hedge-hog Now the inhabitants do oftentimes observe and mark the place of their nests and then digging away the earth untill they come at them they finde them so oppressed with deep sleep that they carrie them and their nests to their houses where they may keep them sleeping untill the summer if they do not heat them at the fire or the warm sunne The Rat is foure times so big as the common Mouse being of a blackish duskie colour and is thought to belong to the kinde of Mice Howbeit you shall sometimes see a Rat exceeding the common stature and this the Germans call The King of Rats because of his larger and greater body adding moreover that the lesser bring him meat and he lieth idle and yet this perhaps may be in respect of his old age not being able to hunt for himself There be of Dogs divers kindes neither is there any region in the world where these are not bred And of these kindes some are for hunting some for fighting and defence some for the Boar Bull or Bear some for the Hare Cony or Hedge-hog and some for one thing some for another They bring forth their young ones blinde which is in regard that they scratch their dams when they stirre in their bellies which makes her therefore bring them to their birth before they be come to their eyes or sight as is in many other creatures beside and from hence arose the proverb Canis festinans caecos parit catulos The hastening bitch brings forth blinde whelps Which is a fit embleme against all rashnesse and overhastie speed in any action for haste makes waste and sudden projects are seldome ripe But of all Dogs the Grey-hound may take the first place he exceedeth in swiftnes and is preserved for the chase This is the Grecian Dog called therefore a Grey-hound The Hound is of a duller temper whose onely glory is in his smell and of Hounds there be sundry sorts but the least is the Beagle In the next rank we may place the Spaniel whereof there is one for the land and another for the water and as the Hounds were for beasts so these are for birds Then there is the Mastive whose vertue is onely in his courage strength sharpnesse of teeth and aptnesse to encounter with any fierce wilde beast against which they are so cunning that but seldome or never do they part any other then victours and how fiercely they will fight with their own kinde is apparent nay sometimes they have fought in defence of their masters and either kept them safe from harms or detected the murderers or else in some other kinde shewed their love as a little after I purpose to declare And these perhaps at the first were the chief kindes unlesse the Tumbler and Lurcher ought to be reckoned by themselves for concerning Mongrels they came by commixtion of kinde which is thought to be first invented by hunters for the amendment of some naturall defect which they might finde in those of a single kinde And then again these Mongrels mixing likewise diversly have produced those severall seeming kindes which now are And as for your mimick Dogs it is supposed that they came first from a commixtion of Dogs with Apes or Apes with Bitches Other Curres have had either Wolves Foxes or some such like creatures to be their Sires as many think Lysimachus had a Dog which waited on him both in the warres and elsewhere at the last dying and being brought to be burned according to the custome of the countrey the poore Dog leaped into the flames and was burned with him And when Titus Sabinius with his
benumming fish 383 Tortoise 374 Tragelaphus 481 Treacherie Treacherous persons like to the Polypus 385. Like to the Ape 401. Like to the Hawk ibid. Trees and their properties 273 274 275 276 277 278 279 280 281 282. Trinitie 46 47. The Trinitie shewed in making of Man 496 Trouble One patient in trouble what he is like 299 Trout The Trout commended 388. The Trout like one that loves to be flattered 389. Wanton Wenches like to the Trout ibid. Troy and the ruines thereof lamented 240 Turcois a precious stone good for weak eyes it will also shew whether he that weareth it be well in health 296 Turnep 263 Turtle 408 Tyger and his properties 441 V VAliant He is truely valiant that can overcome himself 441 Vapours their nature and why they be warm 87 Veins and Arteries how they differ 497 Vermilion 300. The Romanes used to paint their gods with Vermilion ibid. Vertigo How to cure it 261 Violets and their vertues 269 Viper 490 Virginia Dogs 447 Vitriol 304 Unicorn of the sea 370 Unicorn of the land 435. That there is such a beast 436. A description of the Unicorns horn ibid. How to catch the Unicorns 437 Urine Dill is good to provoke Urine 249 Use of things is often times turned into an abuse 265. We ought to make the best uses of the strangest things 227 131 132 W WArts and their cure 244. 263 Wasps 423 Watery Meteors 142 Water-cresses and their vertues 253 Waters Waters above the heavens 62 63 64 65 sequent Their use and profit 322 323. The Waters gathered together 190. How they were gathered together 191. How to one place seeing there be many Seas Lakes and Rivers 192. Whether they be higher then the earth 194. Whether there be more Water then earth 199. The benefit and use of Waters 207. Why fresh Waters do not ebbe and flow 218 Water used in stead of Vineger 220. Water used in stead of burnt wine ibid. Water making drunk ibid. A Water deadly to beasts and not to men 221. A killing and a purging Water ibid. A Water making horses mâ—…d ibid. A cold Water setting cloth on fire ibid. A Water which is hot enough either to boil rost â—…r bake ibid. A Water which maketh oxen white 222. A Water which changeth the colours either of sheep or horses ibid. A Water cold in the day and hot in the night 223. A Water which turueth wood into stone 224. Poysoâ—…ing Waters ibid. A Water which makes cattell give black milk 224. A Water which makes men mad 225. A Water which spoils the memorie ibid. A Water procuring lust ibid. A Water causing barrennesse ibid. Weasell and his properties 460 461 Well A strange wâ—…ll in Idumea 224 West-windeâ—… qualitie 183 Whale 366. Their kindes 367 c Wheat rained 147 Whirle-windes Storm-windes and fired Whirle-windes 185 186 Willow and Willow-garlands 274 Willow-wort and his properties it is of a contrary nature to the herb Betonie 270 Winde in the bodie how to expell it 249 Winde Divers opinions concerning Winde 168 169. Wâ—…nde is more then the motion of the aire 171. Poets fictions concerning Winde 172. How God bringeth the Windes out of his treasures 169. The Winde not moved by Angels 170. Why it useth to rain when the winde is down 174. What Winde is upon what causes it dependeth and how it is moved 173. Why we cannot see the matter of Winde 177. How that place is to be understood in the 3 of John concerning the blowing of the Winde 178. Aire moved augments the Winde 174. How the Windes are moved and by what 175. In what place the motion the Winde beginneth 176. Particular windes 177. Why the winde bloweth not alwayes one way ibid. Oppositâ—… ibid. Oblique windes ibid. Whisking windes ibid. The division names and number of the Windes 178. Mariners reckon two and thirtie Windes 179. The nature and qualitie of the Windes 181. The effects of a long-continuing Winde 184. Why the East and North windes bring rain sometimes for a whole day together 183 Windows of heaven opened in the Floud and what they were 69 Winter described 357. A warm Winter hurtfull 161 Witches they sell windes to sea-men 153 Wood-pecker how she useth to unwedge the hole of her nest 258 Wolf and his properties 447 Wolf-bane and the strange properties thereof 251 Wooll rained and how 152 Woman She was made after the image of God as well as the man 500. How she is said to be the glorie of the Man ibid. Why she was made out of a Rib 501. Wherein a womans rule ought to consist 501 502. Childe-bearing women Sage is good for them 247. The smell of Dragon very bad for those who are newly conceived with childe 262. The herb Sow-bread is also very hurtfull and causeth instant abortion ibid. How a doubting woman may know whether she be with childe 263. How a woman burying her husband may save her credit 256 World The World not eternall and must also end 2. The manner how it must end 4. Impostours concerning the end 18 sequent When it was created 28 sequent Why it was not made perfect in an instant 50 51. It decayeth daily 78 79 Worms in the belly with means to cure them 253. 255 Worms rained and how 147 Wren 402 Y YArrow and the properties thereof 267 Yeares The examination of the name length divers beginning and kinde of Yeares 360 361 362 363 Z ZAnchie his opinion of the Iewish tradition which they take from the Rabbin Elias 13. His opinion of certain strange and prodigious rains 154 Zebra a beast of an excellent comelinesse 446 Zibeth or the Sivet-cat 463 FINIS Plato in 〈◊〉 a Lib. 1. de calo cap. 10. 12. â—…b 2. 1 lib 8. I hâ—…s 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 coâ—… b Lib. de mundo c Pareus on Gen. * Inaniasoph smata ad obscurandam veritatem ingeniosâ—… magis quà m solidâ—… excogitata Pareus ibid. Lâ—…ret lib. 6. Gen. 1. 1. Du Bartaâ—… first day The manner of the worlds ending is shewed * 2. Pet. 3. 10. * Rom. 8. 21 22. * Psal. 102. 26. * Hier. on 〈◊〉 1. Cor. 15. 53. Job 19. 26. * Rom. 8. 21. The creatures remaining at the worlds ending See also Dr. Willets Hexap on Rom. chap. 8. quaest 34. a Pot. Mart. â—…oc câ—…m * Zach. 14. 7. b Pet. Mart. â—…x châ—…soss * Esay 60. 19. Revel 21. 23. c Part. in Apoc. cap. 21. Matth. 5. 5. d Dr. Willet Hexap in Rom. * Revel 4. 14. * Gen. 28. 12. * Matt. 17. 3. Of the time when the world endeth * Luke 21. 3â—… 2. Pet. 3. 10. 1. Thess. 5. 2. Revel 16. 15. a De verit Christ. Relig. †It was favoured by Justin Martyr Ireneus Lactantius Hierome c. but disallowed by Ambrose and Augustine See Augustine in exposit Psal. 90. b 〈◊〉 Tom. 7. Praelect de fine seculi c Note that the yeares from the Creation are now many more 2. Pet. 3. 4 * 1. Cor. 15. 12.
at the rising of the Sunne Fromond Met. lib. 6. Du Batt a Halo Graecis 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 nominatur hoc est Area quoniam ut Seneca testatuâ—… apud veteres terendis frugibus loca destinata fere rotunda suerunt Latini Coronam vocant quia rotundâ plerumque constat figurâ sidera cingere atque coronare videtur The signification of Circles f They are very seldome seen about the Sunne because of winde in the day time or because the Sunne either draweth the vapours too high or else disperseth them too much In the yeare 1104 there was a blazing starre and 4 circles about the Sunne which was a signe of the new kindling malice again between Henry the first King of England and his brother Duke of Normandy Stow in his chron The efficient cause of the Rain-bow The materiall cause The formall cause The colours in the Rain-bow Moon-bows The finall cause How to judge of the weather by the rain-bow The derivation of Iris signifying the rain-bow The rainbow was before the Floud A grosse absurditie of some who think that there shall be no rain nor rain-bow 40 yeares before the worlds end What the Jews do at the sight of the rain-bow a On Gen. chap. 9. pag. 898. b Dr. Willet on Gen. a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 naâ—… â—…hilosoph b Quâ—… clara sunt alboque apparent colore 〈◊〉 visum movent quâ—… vero nigra obscura sunt minus cum afficiunt c Si magna fuerit vorago si non it a magna hiatus nonâ—…natur Titclman a It is said that clouds have sometimes fallen down to the earth with great noise to the teâ—…rour damage of such as had them in their Zenith which clouds came but from the highest part of the lowest region yet neverthelesse they were generated in the middle Region but waxing very heavie have sunk down by little and little till at last they seem to fall no further then the lowest Region But this is seldome They may also fall by drops through their own weight b Nigredo in nubibus ob vaporum densitatem oritur quâ—… lumen collustrans non admittit Et sic é contrá â—…it Albor viz. è vapore subtiliore parùm conspissato quem radius facillimé peâ—…etrat â—…quabiliter in illum spaâ—…gitur Goclen Disâ—…us Phys. c 〈◊〉 rubedo 〈◊〉 significat quia rubedo nubem raraâ—…t estâ—… solis 〈◊〉 ejúsque 〈◊〉 abâ—… esse â—…tat Sed 〈◊〉 rubedo pluâ—…ias 〈◊〉 ventos promiâ—…tit quia vapores humidarum sub densarum 〈◊〉 absumi non 〈◊〉 Ibid. The height of the clouds How the clouds naturally hang in the aire a This may be seen if any will but assay to poure water from an high place Ordinary and extraordinary rains Prodigious rain Worms Frogs Fishes Wheat b Paragraph â—… art 3. and elsewhere c Fulk in his Meteors Milk * Which may the sooner be done in summer and in hot countreys Flesh. Bloud d Lanquet â—…tow c. Object Answ. Wooll Stones Iron Earth Red crosses e Ruâ—…finus Histor. Eccles. lib. 1. cap. 39 f Theod. Histor. Eccles. lib. 3. cap. 20. Reasons concerning Red crosses at other times g Lib. 4. cap. 6. * So also in Westphalia ann 1543. at Lovane 1568. ipso Pentecostes die And in the yeare 1571 in duione Embdensi in Frisus Orientalibus See Fromond Meteor Lib. 5. cap. 6. art 3. The devil many times worketh in the Aire * Psal. 78. 49. How it comes to passe that the deviâ—…s knowledge is farre beyond mans * Matth. 8. 31. Job 1. 12. h Saxo Grammat Olaus magnus * Ephes. 2. 2. Exod. cap. 7 8. i Sentio inquit tales 〈◊〉 is verâ—… prodigioâ—…as esse fieri 〈◊〉 solâ Dei potentiâ eoque iram Dei portendere qualis fuit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 pluit sulphure igne supra Sodomam alias urbes aut etiam 〈◊〉 praestigiâ—… Deo permit tenâ—…e fieri Zanch. Tom. 3. lib. 3. cap. 5. quâ—…st 6. Thes. 3. Why dew is but in the morning and at evening Why no dew is a signe of rain a Titâ—…lm 〈◊〉 lib. 6. cap. 6. How sheep mayâ—… get a deadly flux 〈◊〉 of dew Three kindes of dew Manna Of the Israelites Manna b 〈◊〉 oâ—… 〈◊〉 The Israelites Manna was not without miracle in many respects * Psal. 78. 25 26. How Manna is said to be Angels food c Myrrhina is a wine mixed with Myrâ—…he and other sweet â—…pices How Manna is said to come from heaven Hony-dew d Lib. 11. cap. 12. e It riseth with Sol about the end of July f Which is about the 17 day of April Ladanum the third kinde of sweet dew g Plin. lib. 12. cap. 17. Blasting dew h Magir. Phys. Com. lib. 4. cap. 6. a Lib. 1. de Meteâ—… câ—…p 10. Hot things cooled are soonest congealed Arist. Met. lib. 1. cap. 11. The matter of snow Why snow is white a Fulks Meteors b Havenreut com In Arist. de Met. lib. 1. Warm winters hurtfull c Lib. 17. cap. 2. One and the same cloud may give the mountains snow and the valleys rain The reason of sleet Crystall d Fulk Met. What hail is Winter-hail how and where it is made The sundry fashions of hail-stones Hail doth many times much hurt How the heathen used to secure their fields from hail and other harms * Psal. 107. 34 35 Charms unlawfull The descending mist is twofold Why mists and fogs stink A rot for cattell and an harm to men How by a mist to judge of the weather * And that 's the reason why when it hangs on the stubble or the like places we see so many little spiders busie in it for the matter doth as it were feed them and perhaps through the Sun-beams generate them The first opinion Answer a Dâ—… dicit Deum producere ventos de thesauris suis hoc tantùm innuit ventorum materiam exhalatiâ—…nen in terra tanquam thesauro inclusam esse unde Deâ—…s ventos producit per causas intermedias naturales quae sunt calor solis terrâ—… Havenreut Psal. 74. 17. 18. A socâ—…nd opinion * Psal. 104. 3. †Ibid. * Psal. 18. 10. †Ibid. vers 14. Answer â—… third opinion Answer b Metâ—…r lib. 1. cap. 13. Winde is more then the motion of the aire Another opinion * The reason of which fiction was because the clouds and mists rising about the sâ—…en Aeolian Islands of which he was king did alwayes portend great store of windes c Metamor lib. 1. a Lâ—…d de origâ—… font cap. 3. The cause and effects of an earthquake The definition of winde b Met. lib. 2. cap. 4. Why it useth to rain when the winde is down The aire moved augments the winde How the windes are moved and by what c Havenâ—â—us de Mes. lib. 2. cap. 4. Where 〈◊〉 motion of the winde beginneth Particular windes Why the winde bloweth not alwayes one way Opposite 〈◊〉 Oblique windes Whisâ—…ing windes The matter of winde not