the gross Body or phlegmy Matter in Food is in part digested then presently the spirituous parts appear externally which did not only lie hid but also the Body of the Phlegm before the preparation did keep the Spirits from Evaporation which all Corporeal Bodies do for the Body is the House of the Spirits Therefore great Care ought to be taken in all preparation of Food both for Man and Beast and this is to be understood that the pure Spirituous Parts and Balsamick Body cannot be preserved in the preparation of any Food neither for Man or Beast except that most friendly Element the Air hath its free Influences because it is the Life and gives the Power and Vertue to the Spirit Also this is to be minded that when your gross Body in the Food is by your preparation digested whether it be by the heat of the Sun or by the common Fire then ought you to proceed no further nor continue your Preparation no longer for when the pure Spirituous Part becomes Volatile the same Air which did keep and preserve the Spirit from Suffocation in the Preparation will now cause it to evaporate which every Country Husbandman knows in the making and preparing of his Hay which neither the House-wife does understand nor consider in her Preparations of her Food nor the Physitians in the Preparations of their Physick these things are of greater Consequence as to Health than most do imagine I do not desire any to give Credit to me but I would have them so Noble as to Try whether it be so or not Health being the best Treasure in this World and all those that want it do esteem and desire it more than any other thing tho' few do take Right Measures when they enjoy it to continue it Thus much for the Right and most Natural Way of preparing Food by Boyling and whosoever shall observe the afore mentioned Rules and Observations shall find great Benefit and Pleasure The very same Rules ought to be observed in the Preparation of All Pottages green Herbs and Pulses except dry-Pulses which will admit of a slower and more gentle Fire than the Green Of Roasting of Flesh. The Roasting of flesh is a good commendable way of Preparation and is rather sweeter than Boyling it affords a good dry firm Nourishment but it is some-what harder of Concoction but very sweet and pleasant by reason that the friendly influences of the Air hath its Free Egress and regress not being any ways inclosed so that the pure spirituous parts are kept living which do render it brisk and lively There are two things to be observed in the flesh you Roast 1st That you have your flesh if Beef as soon as it is throughly cold and then to give it some Salt and to keep it in a cool place a day or two for if you salt it much the Salt being of a fiery hot nature when the flesh comes to the fire it does as it were scorch or burn it destroys the Spirits and sweet Oyl insomuch that it becomes in its nature and operation hot and unpleasant causing great thirst in the Eater In Roasting it is also to be considered that you have a good clear strong and equal fire and that your flesh be placed at a convenient distance not too near because it will burn or scorch and so harden the out-side that the Heat shall not be able to penetrate into the middle thereof so that the out-side will be too much and the in side too little neither is your flesh to be too far off for then it flattens the Spirits such flesh loseth its pure sweetness with its colour and fragrant smell being dull on the Pallate and heavy on the Stomach in comparison of that which is placed at a convenient distance having a continued brisk fire The next thing that you ought to observe is That it be neither over nor under done but of the two it is better that it be under-done the point of time when the Preparation is at the hight is difficult and it can be no other way known but by its colour smell and taste which by a little Custom every House-Wife may understand for that Pallate that is used to eat and drink things well and properly prepared can presently distinguish the contrary and so on the other side those that do accustom themselves to either Foods of Drinks ill prepared cannot distinguish the good from the evil or the right from the wrong The same is in the sense of smelling as all such that do use to kill Beasts and to be much in Slaughter-Houses amongst the dead Carkasses the terrible Fumes and stupified Stinks are hardly smelled or perceived by them the same is to be understood of Tallow-Chandlers and other stinking Trades for every particular thing has power to strengthen and awaken its simile therefore there are but few that have their perfect Taste or Smell only those that do accustom themselves to the eating and drinking such things as are well prepared their Pallates are made the more perfect thereby But of all the ways of Preparing Flesh boyling is the easiest if the Rules be followed set down in the fore-going Paragraph Of the Baking of Flesh This Preparation is neither so wholsom nor healthful as either Boyling or Roasting for these following Reasons First Most sorts of Food that are baked are deprived both of the Element of Water and also of the Air which are not only the Purgers and Cleansers of all Food but the support and life of the Spirit 2dly The Air in Ovens becomes sulpherous and deadly by reason of the stopping of it that the reviving and refreshing Influences of this Element has not its free egress and regress so that the pure spirituous parts become as it were suffocated Nor can such flesh be supplied with convenient quantities of Water which in all preparations of flesh is a great cleanser and upholder of the Spirits so that it boyls in its own gross Humidity which all flesh does plentifully afford Also the heat of Ovens is fiercer and more sulpherous than the heat of other Fires where the Air has its Influences the Air also being confined is of a deadly poysonous nature and operation it also destroys the natural Colour Therefore flesh baked does no ways look like that which is boyl'd or roasted besides it is of a strong fulsom Taste in comparison of the former and a less quantity will cloy and fill the Stomach more especially if such flesh shall be eaten hot which renders it much more wholsom than cold for those sulpherous Fumes and Vapours that do proceed from baked Food are much more hurtful to the Health than that which is either boyl'd or roasted for there are but few Vessels in which Food is boyled that are or can be kept so close as Ovens This way of Preparation is chiefly followed in Summer especially in August September and October the Air in this season being sulpherous and fainty and the
Weather hot the making of fire in their houses is troublesom therefore baking saves them the labour Now at these seasons of the year flesh is unwholesom and very apt to burden Nature and to bring Diseases as I have discoursed in another place the frequent use of baked flesh in this season with other evil circumstances which do then concur does beget divers Obstructions and generates an unfirm Nourishment because most sorts of flesh at this time are more subject to Putrifaction than any other whence so many Fevers Fluxes Gripings of the Bowels and other Diseases do very frequently reign for Flesh in its best Condition is full of gross Juices and matter for Putrifaction by reason of the great store of Phlegm and Humidity therefore it ought to be helpt as much as can be in the Preparation which never can be well done except there be plenty of the Element of Water and the free egress and regress of the Air for those Elements have a living Power in them by which they do qualifie and mix with it purging and cleanfing that raw phlegmy Juice or matter which all Flesh does afford Also where these two Elements have their free operation in the preparation of all sorts of Food they preserve not only the pure Spirits but also the sweet Balsamick Body from being suffocated or destroyed maintaining the natural Colour with the Smell and Taste which makes all such Food lively and brisk easie of Concoction generating a far better Nourishment than any kind of baked Meat Of Stewing of Flesh. This kind of Preparation of Flesh is much of the same nature with the former for it has neither benefit of the Air nor a convenient quantity of Water in this and all other Preparations of Food where these two Elements are hindered from having their free influences and operation as is mentioned before neither Fesh nor any other Food can be well prepared for the radical and pure Spirits where these two Elements are pen'd up from having their influences cannot subsist neither will the fire burn but presently the pure Spirits and Oyl in the Wood or other things becomes suffocated for the Water and Air are the true Life and Power of every Being whence it comes to pass in all Preparations both of Food and Physick where these two Elements have not their free influences and operations the pure Spirits become suffocated and the sweet Oyl is turned sower and becomes of a stinking Quality which is the cause all sorts of Food so prepared become strong in scent and also in Taste and it loseth its natural Colour if as I have said the pure Spirits and Balsamick Body be hurt then there follows presently an alteration and the original Quality of the dark Brimstone Spirit of Saturn and Mars gets the dominion which was as it were hid before but so soon as the true Life is wounded this Crude Fire becomes many degrees stronger than before as is seen in Charcoal and in many other things for these pure Spirits and Oily Body whence the true Light hath its bright shining Quality are the Qualifiers or Moderators of this dark fierce fire as I have elsewhere largely discoursed of touching the Nature of Brandy of this all House-Wives ought to take notice for if the pure Spirits and sweet Body be not preserved in the Preparations of Food such Food is rather a Death to the Body and also to the Spirits than Life The greatest Wisdom in all Preparations is to preserve the pure Spirits and sweet Body from being either suffocated or evaporated and yet at the same time to digest and open the Body for the Crude matter in all Food must be digested or else the pure Spirits cannot be set at Liberty or freed from the phlegmy matter which pure Spirits and sweet Body does tincture the Food as we see when any Food is properly prepared which comes to pass through the Preparation it digests the gross Crude parts and then presently the true Spirits appear in their friendly forms which before the Preparation were captivated or hid by the gross Phlegmy Body the same is done in Malt but in a higher degree Most certain it is that the pure Spirits and Balsamick Body cannot be supported and continued without the help of the Air and Water therefore it is a gross Mistake and Error amongst most House-Wives to think that by Covering the Vessels wherein Food is prepared to preserve the Spirituous parts thereby imagining that if such Vessels be open that the Spirits will evaporate which never happens till the gross Body in the Food be digested and the Food be sufficiently Prepared which does as is said before set the Spirituous parts at Liberty that they become Volatile and then if the Preparation be continued they will evaporate but not before for in the Preparation the Elements of Air and Water having their free Influences keep the Spirits and Oily Body living and if these two Elements be Prevented then the fiery sulpherous Fumes become so Raging that they seek out their Center and incorporate themseves with the gross humid part of the Food so that they greedily devour and suffocate the pure Life and sweet Oyl the very same is to be understood in all Physical Preparations The Observation and true Knowledg of these things are very material as to the preserving of Health but first they must be understood in a mans self for before a man can essentially know any thing the Cognoscible and the knowledg thereof must be manifested in himself or else it is impossible for any one to know any thing Truly Whatsoever may be known or understood of God and Nature is essentially in man or else he could not be called the Image of his Creator Therefore every one ought to turn the Eye of their Understanding inward and diligently search themselves which Study is Preferrable to all other things Of Fryed Flesh. The Frying of Flesh and other Food in Pans is a Preparation much in use in England but not so good or wholsom as either Boyling Roasting or Broyling The goodness of all Food does arise and proceed from the Essential Spirits and Balsamick Body which is the true Life and Vertue of every thing and if these essential Vertues do not suffer violence in the Preparation then such Food will have a most pleasant Smell a brisk lively Taste very delightful to the Palate also it retaineth its natural Colour according to that colour that was predominant in the Radix of that thing be it either White Green or whatsoever else which can no way be maintained in the Food but by the benefit and help of the Water and the pure influences of the Air Where the operation and influences of these two Elements are hindered the pure Spirits do suffer Violence which alters and changes both the colour smell and taste then it has a strong and odious scent and its taste is also more unpleasing than the former and the Stomach does not so eagerly
evil and venomous Qualities in themselves and rightly managed are altogether as useful as the Pure being the original of Life and cause of Motion so that there is nothing bad that the Lord has made but as it becomes separated from its Original state of Unity and Harmony 2. Of all sorts of external Harmony Vocal has the highest Graduation and is not only best liked but makes the greatest Impression on the Hearers forasmuch as it ariseth by an Harmonious consent of the humane Soul having a nearer Affinity to their Fantasies than the Sounds of Instruments by which it easily penetrates by its Motions the well-tempered Air and so into the airous Spirits of the Hearers transferring the Affections of the Singer and piercing even into the Inwards of the Soul For all Harmony both Vocal and Instrumental but especially the former have a certain secret Power to moderate various Passions and Diseases especially when they happen to be more Mental than Corporeal for then if the Lessons Compositions Instruments and Genius of the Musician shall by sympathy correspond and agree with the dismayed Property of the Distempered it will by degrees raise and strengthen the weak Properties and bring Nature into a more equal Operation Great various and wonderful are the Uses Effects and Benefits of Harmony Unity and Concord it is certainly the true and real Paradisical Life The Instrumental and Vocal being a shadow or similitude of the Inward or Heavenly and as it contains many great Secrets so if used in the fear of God its Effects then prove beneficial but if contrariwise it be practised it becomes the greatest Curse for the higher any thing is graduated in Nature if not well used the Evil thereof becomes the greater What Sounds and Tones proceed from the four Elements respectively From the Earth proceeds heavy dull slow melancholly Tones and Sounds rather a Noise than Harmony mournful and unpleasant she never insnareth any by her Charms From the Water flow various mixed wanton Tones and Sounds as it were unconstant From the Fire sparkles up a brisk lively Harmony but fierce and penetrating loud and jarring From the Air are breathed in sweet ravishing harmonious Tones and Sounds Sanguine and delightful this Element being the Radix of all Sounds and Harmonies What Planet and Constellation governs each Instrument of Musick Bells are under Mars and Saturn and the Sign Aries They afford a Melancholly harsh sort of Musick loud and penetrating their dolesome Tones are from Saturn suitable to accompany dying Groans and attend Mourners at Funerals their harsh jarring Sounds proceed from Mars They are most adopted to Robustick Natures who generally take the greatest delight in their Harmony Ringing moderately used is a good Exercise for strong Bodies but rude and not so delicate and genteel as the practice of other sorts of Musick and is also apt to be prejudicial by too much Violence Drums are under the dominion of Saturn and Mars in the Signs Capricorn and Aries which their dull heavy melancholly rattling jarring Sounds do manifest for as they arise from the dark wrathful Centre in Nature so they carry with them the power of the same Properties and therefore do encourage Wrath and Violence the pleasant Element of Air which is the Life of all Harmony is here encompassed or penned up so close that it cannot have its free Egress and Regress which suffocates the thin spirituous Vapours thereof and that causeth Sounds heavy dull and frightful The Air being the pleasant Life in all things and the original of all Sounds Voices and Harmony and in what Things Instrument or Creature soever the Properties of Saturn and Mars are strong and the sweet Influences of this Element obstructed from that Thing or Creature can proceed no delightful Sounds or Mélody but dull heavy dolorous Jarrings Noises or Sounds for there is no true Life Light Harmony or pleasant Sound can arise from any in which the Properties of Nature are unequal in their qualifying or operation for then the wrath of Nature becomes fierce and raging and destroys the Moderator or friendly quality and so Nature can no longer continue in equal weight and measure Trumpets are under the dominion of Mars but their Sounds and Harmonies are of a two-fold Nature and Operation they have their fierce encouraging wrathful Sounds from Mars and their losty Majestical Harmonies from Sol they afford a Masculine Musick which encourages Warlike Inclinations and Dispositions animating both Men and Beasts with a certain delight and Warlike Charming Bag-Pipes are under the dominion of Venus and Mars in the Sign Scorpio this sort of Musick is sometimes used in Wars but the Sounds and Harmonies thereof are more Effeminate and Venereal than Martial fitter for Peace than War and for the Shades of Venus than the Fields of Mars being an excellent sort of Harmony for Shepherds to entertain their innocent Flocks with which Sheep much delight in Organs are under the Empire of Iupiter and Sol in the Sign Leo the Sounds and Harmonies of this Instrument are Great Noble and full of Majesty Sweetness and Gravity they seem to be as much Divine as Humane or to afford some Glimpse or Simile of the heavenly Joy and Consort in this Instrument the Air and the pure thin Spirituous Vapours thereof have their free Influences whence those lofty brave friendly Sounds and Harmonies do proceed Waits are under the Dominion of Iupiter in the Sign Libra the Sounds and harmonious Consorts of this Instrument are great noble and pleasing to Nature but if the Players thereon be not well skilled they quickly awaken Mars's property which causeth the Sounds to be a little too loud rough ratling or jarring Flutes or Recorders are a brave noble Instrument being skilfully handled and make some of the best Harmonies of Pipes being agreeable to both Vocal and Instrumental Musick their Sounds and harmonious Tones are grave and full of Majesty attractive and delightful especially in open Fields and near Rivers and Fountains of Water being under the Dominion of Iupiter and Mercury in the Sign Sagitary Flagolets are under the Dominion of Mercury and the Moon in the Sign Cancer this Instrument is not so noble as the former its Sounds and Harmonies are more Youthful than Grave being a good Field-Musick more proper for Shepherds and Herds-men or Carters and drivers of Horses and the like than for Consorts in Houses being shrill loud penetrating and violent but if well handled it makes pleasant Harmony in open clear still Airy places Hautboys are much of the Nature of the last being under the Dominion of the Moon and Mars in Cancer a good Field-Musick for such as look after Cattel but not proper for House-Consorts unless the Player have greater skill and a better hand than is common its Sounds being wild loud and penetrating The Base-Viol is under the Dominion of Iupiter and Sol in the Sign Libra its Sounds and Harmonies are Grave Noble Great and Delightful Pleasant and Alluring
virtue thereof becomes of an equal friendly Temperament both in Body and Mind notwithstanding his Complexion may incline him to the contrary it being the sweet pleasant Life in all Creatures And the pure Balsamick Virtue and healing Quality in all Vegetables and Minerals hath its Birth and Original from this good Principle nor can there be any central Rest or true Satisfaction in man if this Principle of divine Light be not in some degree predominant for by its pleasant and sweet Influences all the fiery dark fierce Inclinations which often do arise from the Complexion are qualified made more Friendly and Sanguine if its counsel be regarded All true Religion doing as one would be done unto Offices of Love and Acts of self-denyal all Friendly and Courteous Deportment and whatsoever hath the Name and Nature of Virtue do universally spring up from this holy Principle of divine Love All men seek it because no man can have satisfaction without it some in a right Way others in a wrong and whosoever have wasted or suffocated the sweet Influences of this pure Spirit and Love of God become thereby a Charcoal Spirit whose sweet Water is destroyed viz. Twice dead and pluckt up as it were by the Roots as the Apostle phraseth it they growing of a fierce terrible fiery Nature seared up in the harsh dark original as Lot's Wife was because she looked back viz. into the Original and salt Spirit the Pillar of Salt signifying the great strength and power of God's Wrath which was then kindled by reason of Transgression The very same is to be understood of all Beasts of the Field and other things not so indeed as it is in man but according to the Nature of each For those Creatures that did in the Creation arise from and were chiefly compounded of the fierce harsh forms of Nature whose predominant Quality stands in the Saturnine and Martial Fire have but small portions of the Virtue and Light of this World for the pleasant Virtue and friendly Qualities which the Principle of this visible World gives unto all her Children do all proceed from the Internal Spiritual World and this outward Principle is an Image and Likeness of the Internal the Invisible Spirit and Powers are the Root of the Visible and whatsoever is manifested in this World in Figures Shapes and Forms the very same hath the Internal Spiritual Principle in Power and Virtue And according to the degrees of the Spirit and what property of Nature was predominant in the Radix of each Creature such a Shape Form Inclination Complexion and Disposition the Creature is endued with be it either Animal or Vegetable for the Body was formed by the virtue and power of the Spirit and there is both the nearest Affinity and Resemblance between them as is manifest by all Creatures in whom the dark Wrath of Saturn and Mars was predominant in their Radixes they are not only of an unclean fierce terrible Spirit but their Figures and Shapes are unpleasant and fierce as Lyons Tygars Wolves Swine and many others both in the Elements of Earth Air and Water that are unclean Devourers and Creatures of prey killing and feeding upon their fellow Creatures and as such Creatures are unclean in their Radixes whence their Inclinations and Desires to unclean Food do proceed as bearing the nearest Affinity with their Natures so their Figures Shapes and Forms with their suitable Inclinatious do clearly manifest what matter they proceeded from in their Creation This Root the great and illuminated Prophet Moses understood by a divine manifestation whence his Law proceeded wherein he prohibits his People the Iews from eating of unclean Food both Flesh and Fish with many other Circumstances tending to Cleanness for that great Prophet saw by a divine and natural understanding into the Essences and Original Qualities of every Creature and that each thing hath a secret Power to incorporate with its Likeness and to make that Quality strong which in the Radix was weak and lay as it were hid And on the contrary to hide and make that property weak which in the Radix was strong so great is the power of Nature and this is not only done in the Evil but also in the Good Therefore all men have power more or less to alter and change their Inclinations and Complexions either for the better or the worse as they give their Wills up to practise either Good or Evil. But if People abandon themselves to their natural Inclinations and live under the power and dominion of their Complexions and by degrees give way to Intemperance and Evil Communications such do oftentimes become of far worse Inclinations and Dispositions than their Complexions naturally tended unto And on the contrary some there are who by the power of their Wills rigorously pursuing the Paths of Vertue and Understanding become more Friendly and of better Tempers than their Complexions promise For the natural Inclinations and Influences of the Stars have not power to captivate the Soul in Evils if the Will gives it self up to be guided by the Holy Spirit of Iesus Christ which will lead a man into all Vertue and all Truth CHAP. II. Of the Excellency of Temperance the Knowledg of a Mans self and the mighty Benefits of Abstinence and Sobriety TEmperance is a divine Gift and whosoever obtaineth the perfect Government and Knowledg of himself is endued with the springhead of all Virtues The fear of the Lord being the first step to all true Wisdom both Spiritual and Natural The Root of all Knowledg that man is capable of is in himself Therefore if any will understand any thing truly he must first turn the Eye of his Mind inward not outward as the custom of most is for Man is an Image and Likeness of all things both Spiritual and Natural in him is contained the true Nature of all things and he that doth know and understand himself and the Principles and Operations of his own Nature both in Body and Mind and what Properties in the seven-fold Nature of this World are predominant in him and to what his Inclinations are most naturally propensive both as to Virtue and Vice he may thereby not only shun many Inconveniencies but also so much as he knows of himself he also knows of his Creator and of all other things And so on the contrary he that doth not know and distinguish the Principles of God and Nature in himself does neither see nor know any other thing as he ought Therefore all such who are ignorant of themselves are subject to be changed and altered out of one Opinion into another always leaning hard on the Shoulders of Custom supporting their Ignorance with the truth of Tradition having one of their Eyes if not both amongst the Multitude But all true sight in divine and natural things does arise and proceed from the unalterable divine Principle or Gift of God for the natural man as he is wholly blind as to things divine so
and preserves the more essential Parts and Vertues and keeps the Spirituous Parts living It is not only the most plentiful and truly pleasant of all Drinks but it supplies Nature with its friendly Moisture and relieves Thirst beyond all other Liquors or Juices It is so Simple and endued with such Equality that it insinuates its Vertue into all parts of the Body in an insensible way it makes no Noise nor causes any Tumults in the Brain nor awakens any in equality in the Body but imparts its meek Life as it were in silence And as Bread hath the first place of all Food and may justly be called Concord or a thing which God and his Hand made Nature hath befriended with all the united good Vertues both of the Vegetable and Animal Kingdoms and therefore no sort of Food is comparable thereunto nor will gratifie Nature to that degree as it ought without the help and mixture of Bread though yet it is not the strongest of all Foods nor hath the greatest Nourishment but it is the most equal in its parts and stands nearest the Unity for which cause it is so much desired and justly esteemed the Staff of Life and we are taught to Pray for all outward Accommodations needful for our Bodies under that significant denomination of Our daily Bread it being besides its own nutritive faculty a proper Ingredient to qualifie the Inequality of most other sorts of Food and is the Foundation to all good Nourishment The like is to be understood of Water that being the Radix of all moist Nourishment which mixt or incorporated with any kind of Juices renders them fit and profitable for Mankind Nay if we may fly our Contemplations to an higher pitch there is a Sympathetical agreement or some Analogy between this External Water and that Internal of which our Saviour Christ told the Woman of Samaria that if she did drink she should never thirst This Internal Super essential Water sustaineth every Being and is the Radix and Life of the outward Water which contains some Shadows of the secret Influences of the Water Internal for which reason the Prophets and good Men of old have frequently compared the one with the other and expressed the one by the other and also have made use of Water in Religious Mysteries as a sign of Cleansing and Purifying the Soul from Sins and for curing Diseases c. as the Scriptures do testifie Thus much I thought fit to say of Water in general to stir up men to praise and admire the Goodness and Wisdom of the All-Creator for the manifold Uses Vertues and Benefits wherewith he hath endued this Element But now let us consider the several sorts of Water Of Rain-Water and its Nature I name this Water first because for several Reasons it is the best of all if not defiled by Accidents as by Tiles of Houses or the Vessels 't is kept in For 1st It is a light pure thin Water 2dly It is drawn up into the Clouds by the power and vertue of the sweet Influences of the Sun Beams 3dly Being carried to and fro with the Clouds by Gods divine power it hath thereby had the greater benefit of Motion 4thly 'T is endued with wonderful Vertue from the Element of Air and the sweet Influences of the Coelestial Bodies whereby it is made more Spirituous than other Waters and of a fat unctious Quality of a light friendly mild Nature and Operation Thus it mollifies the harsh Earth making it light and tender and causes all Plants to multiply and grow far better than any Artificial Watrings can do Rain-Water being among its other Vertues like Afferment or Leaven that makes the hard compacted Earth more spirituous and penetrable giving Life and Motion to all the Vegetable Kingdom 5thly Rain-Water is not only exhaled by the Beams of Heaven from the most clear and subtle Fountains and impregnated with the Coelestial Influences but also is as it were strained with the Airy Motions and Winds which fill it with a Saline and Balsamick Vertue when it descends like the Tears of a repenting Sinner in gentle reviving Showers that give Vertue and Power to all Vegetables and restore the gasping parched Earth and languishing Nature to the briskness of the Spring and joys of Autumn 6thly This is the lightest of all Waters it cools and heats quickly it oppresses not the Stomach or any other part of the Body but passeth suddenly into the Ureters having neither in Colour Smell nor Taste any manifest Quality it bindeth not the Belly as some other Waters do and is the best to be used in all Physical Operations if it be well received and afterwards kept from defilement 7thly It is to be preferred before all other Waters in House-wifery for it Boyls all sorts of Meats better and sooner and makes them easier of Concoction as likewise it Brews and Washes to greater advantage than others Of River Water This is next in Goodness whose Original is Fountain or Spring-Water and yet there is rarely any Spring-Water so good for common and general use at the Fountain-Head as in the River For 1st Rivers or running Waters have great advantages by passing through various Soils and sorts of Earth from whence it drains or sucks in a certain Unctious Vertue or Saline Fatness which the surface of the Earth does plentifully contain and from which Vegetation does chiefly proceed 2dly This sort of Water has the benefit of Motion with the benevolent Influences of the Sun and the Element of the Air which purge it from its harsh earthy Qualities and as it were open its Body enduing it with a pure Spirituous Airy and Balsamick Vertue of a warming friendly Nature and Operation This is the chief reason why River-Water is of a softer milder Nature and will perform all Preparations in House-wifery to more advantages than Spring-Water taken from the Fountain Head for there most Waters retain a Saturnine earthy Quality which the Influences of the Sun and Air with the help of Motion do destroy 3dly The New-River that supplies London is some of the best Water in England except Thumes Water it being a cut or made River that runs on the Surface of the Earth for above twenty Miles and is not fed or increased by hungry Springs as many other Rivers are that run through Vallies which is their own Natural way but Land-Floods sometimes fall into it which augment its Vertue and Goodness for they are the richest of Waters draining and sucking into themselves the fat Saline Vertue of the Earth For this reason most Vallies that lie between the Hills are so fruitful for the Waters that run off the Hills do wash or carry away the Salintral Vertue into them and there it centers and thus Hills come not to be so fruitful as Valleys or Plains by reason of such disadvantages Whereas on the contray do not Land-Floods and the overflowing of Rivers make Meadows fruitful from the same causes For when the Waters retire
ill Customs willingly deprive themselves of its singular benefits therefore those that regard their Healths ought not to make strong Bulwarks and Fences from the free visits of so good a friend but rather court its Familiarity by motion in the open Fields airy Houses c. I know it is a Custom in many places of the Country to plant Trees before their Houses but I am of opinion that they are not convenient nor profitable in respect of Health for it hinders the fresh breezing Gales of Wind to enter into and sweeten their Houses also Trees Woody places and Vallies do by simile attract the Clouds and moist Vapours which are injurious to some Constitutions of men It is likewise convenient that all sorts of People do not accustom themselves to sit by Fires especially those made of Cole or any other of the like Nature because they do as it were by a natural simile dry up a Radical Moisture exhale and suffocate the Spirits and with too great violence open the Pores of the whole Body and as it were chill the whole-Body making it thereby incapable to endure the Air without trouble and danger of taking cold it also dulls the edge of the Appetite and sends dark thick Fumes into the Head weakens the Eyes and causes a general indisposition through the whole body Besides that heat and warmth which is procured by Fires heavy Clothes c. is very troublesom in comparison of that pleasant natural Heat that is awakened by Motion and Action in airy and open places and there is as much difference both in the Appetite and the whole state of the Body and Spirits between the one and the other as there is between Light and Darkness the one being lightsom airy pleasant strong and lively with a sharp and perfect Appetite the other being unpleasant cold on one side and hot on the other dull and heavy of little Appetite and that not good and so the body being feeble and tender the man knows not what to eat nor what to drink nor what to wear he finds every Room too cold for him he is indisposed therefore he must have this and the other dainty Bit and this and the other Cordial Drink but all to little purpose so long as they drive their old Trade of Superfluities in the above mentioned things A Cup of cold Water or small Drink and a piece of brown Bread to a well-prepared Stomach is above all Dainties Therefore it is a very uncomfortable thing for a man to be ignorant of himself for such never use things that are friendly to Nature and the good Health both of Body and Mind but on the contrary are diligent to procure such things as are inimical and hurtful to it Wisdom which is certainly great Riches teaches a man to put an high Estimation upon mean and simple Things and to use them all with a thankful Heart to the Glory of God Of particular Trades and particularly of Seamen The last Consideration of the great Benefit of the open Air leads us to observe what Callings and Imployments may be esteemed the most wholsom or best accommodated for the preservation of Health touching which we are in the first place to note that all sorts of Trades that work in Wood as Carpenters Ioyners and other Trades of the like Nature are all of them wholsom Imployments as well because their Labour consists of sundry motions of the Body as for that the various sorts of Woods they work in send forth most pleasant and fragrant Smells which must needs be very refreshing to Nature and if those men were Temperate and Careful of themselves not to lift pieces of Timber beyond their strength c. they might enjoy their Health and Strength even to a good old Age. Also those Trades and Imployments that belong to the Water such as Sea-men and Barge-men Skullers c. are healthful Imployments for the pleasant and wholsom Vapours which the Water always sends forth being mixed with the friendly and gentle Breezes of the sweet Air does powerfully penetrate all the parts of the Body and cleanses all the passages of the Breast makes the Lungs sound sharpens the Stomach giving it a good Appetite and an easie Concoction it makes men lively and hardy and the Bones and Nerves strong for they being still in the fresh Air it is no wonder that they find such good Effects of it I know no Imployment men could spend their time about with more Vigour Health and Pleasure than This if the Rules of Sobriety were strictly observed But they are a fort of People whom no bounds of Sobriety can limit such as use no Medium or Equality in their Meats Drinks and Exercises for the greater part they are excessive drinkers of strong Drinks such as Brandy and other adulterated Spirits which not only weaken the Natural Heat but awaken the Original Fires and fierce Poysons in Nature which does cause fiery Passions and Head-strong Humors in the Mind and indeed they living on salt Flesh and Fish can hardly be free from doing Violence to Nature because the Spirituous Parts and Balsamick Body is almost destroyed in that kind of Food and the Quality which is predominant is of a hot sharp and fierce Nature and this Nourishment being commonly taken does heat and dry up the Radical Moisture and cools the refreshing Vapours which proceed from the Elements of Air and Water from whence also proceeds unnatural Droughts and the Generation of the Disease called the Scurvy and innumerable other Distempers But these friendly Elements the Water and the Air give them often great Relief for otherwise they could not as they do eat and drink to such an Excess Many men of this imploy ruin their Health by indulging too much their Appetites for they eating and drinking beyond measure and without exception when they come into hot Climates viz. the East and West-Indies where the Beams of the Sun are so powerful that their Pores are opened and they sweat continually and their pure Spirits and Radical Moisture so much exhaled and evaporated that they presently feel an inward Weakness and a Decay in the Natural Heat and in the Stomach accompanied with cloudy Fumes in the Head causing an Indisposition and Weariness through the whole Body and rendring Nature incapable to bear such a burthen of Intemperances as they lay upon her without manifest Prejudice Their eating I say of salt Flesh and Fish and their drinking of hot and inflaming Liquors and observing of no fit Season nor due proportion of time for taking of Rest which in hot Countries should be from twelve of the Clock to three in the Afternoon These and other Extravagances bring upon them Fluxes griping Pains of the Bowels and Acute Fevers their drinking of that Liquor called Punch is also very Inimical to Health For the Lime-Iuice which is one of the Ingredients they commonly use in it is in its Nature fierce sharp and Astringent apt to create griping Pains
saith Every Green Herb shall be unto you for Food And in the first Age of the World though their Food was scarcely any thing else but Green Herbs and pure Water yet when was there any Generation since that time who has lived in so perfect Health and to so great and flourishing an Age The great and illuminated Prophet Moses did endeavour to wean as it were the Children of Israel from eating of Flesh in their forty years Journey in the Wilderness and gave them Laws to distinguish between the Clean and Unclean Creatures but you could never read of any Laws forbidding the use of green Herbs Now the best Ingredients to mix and eat with Raw Sallets are Oyl Salt Vinegar Verjuice Oranges c. These make them warm in the Stomach and pleasant to the Taste but you are not to use these Ingredients when you eat at the same with them Flesh Butter and Cheese for so many Mixtures are not agreeable to Nature Some love Sugar in their Sallets which is better left out if you eat Flesh c. with them for Sugar does not well agree with fat Meats nor with Oyl except in way of Medicine As to Boyling of Herbs or Sallets I shall give you an account of the best way of their Preparation and how they shall be most conduceable to Health which will appear by the Observation of these following things First Your Herbs and Pulses must be fresh gathered for if they be kept two or three days before they are used or if they lie too close together the pure Spirits which are very tender in them will be destroyed and exceedingly diminished the evaporation of the Spirits make them dull and heavy affording little or no Nourishment and that none of the best Secondly The Vessel or Pot in which such things are boyled ought to be large that it may contain a good quantity of Water for Water is an Element so friendly and clean that it helps to preserve the Spirituous Parts and Balsamick Body and to digest the gross phlegmatick Substance it is the Sweetner Preserver and Purifier of all things Thirdly You should have a quick Fire and are not to put in your Herbs into the Pot until the Water boyl and then increase your Fire not suffering it to stand too long before your Pot boyl again when that is done let there be no Intermissions in the boyling for there is nothing that does more deaden and flat the Spirits especially in green Herbs than slack Fires and such Intermissions Fourthly So soon as your Pot or Vessel boyls then you should presently uncover it that these Sulphurous Fumes and Vapours may evaporate which are awakned and forced into the Food by the Fire and also that the fresh and friendly Influences of the Air may have its free egress and regress for the Air is the essential Life of the Spirit No Food can be well prepared if the Vessel be covered Fifthly Your Herbs and Pulse should not be over-boyled for then the spirituous parts and balsamick body will instantly evaporate and your Food will become flat and heavy losing its pure natural Colour Smell and Taste and is nothing so pleasant and wholsom it were better that it be under than over done because of the tenderness of the green Herbs If these fore-mentioned Rules in boyling be not observed then such Food will lose its proper Vertue and lively Tincture and will afford but a very dull thick and gross Nourishment and begets bad Blood and many other ill Effects but if they be thus prepared you may the more boldly venture on eating of Flesh with them for they will purge and cleanse the Stomach and help the digestive faculty to concoct that Food which appears more difficult to be digested Of Colworts Cabbage and Colly flowers Colworts are the best of the three being of a more lively opening and cleansing Nature and Operation than the other two because they grow open so that the Air with the Sun has its free Influences upon them and this is also the Reason that they look of a greener and fresher Colour than many other Vegetables they are also more wholsom If you boyl green fresh Colworts and keep them till next day and do the like with a Cabbage keeping it likewise till the next day your Cabbage shall smell more gross and fulsomer than your Colworts Also the Juice of green Colworts is of a thiner Substance and more penetrating than that of Cabbages Cabbages are so close compacted that the Air cannot penetrate them neither can the Sun have so free and powerful Influences upon them as on Colworts so that they become of a grosser thicker Substance fuller of Phlegm and gross Juices and more subject to Putrifaction for the Air is the true Life of the Spirit in all Vegetables By this and the Saline Quality in the Earth they are preserved in their greeness and freshness but that which is earthed up and hid from the Air cannot be so wholsom and is more fading where the Saline Power is strong the Vegetables are also lively and strong For Example lay a heap of Dung in the Field and let it lie a Week in the Rain and then move it and leave no Dung on that place and you shall presently see that the Grass in that place where it did lie will be strong and of a deep green fresh Colour far beyond the Grass in the place where the Dung was spread and the Reason is very apparent for the Rain did wash a salt oily kind of Liquor into the Earth The same Reason will hold in other things as in your low Grounds that lie between Hills and River-sides which are more fruitful than other Fields because the Rain does wash a certain Fat and Saline Quality from the Hills which drains down to the lower Grounds and Vallies also the Rivers sometimes over-flowing their Banks and reaching the adjacent Grounds do leave when the Water retires back a certain fat saline Quality behind which makes it more fruitful than otherwise it would be Colliflowers are somewhat of the Nature of Cabbage only they are a little sweeter they afford but very gross Nourishment to the Body they generate abundance of windy and flatulent Humors and send a great many Fumes up to the Head our Soil commonly is not Rich enough for them they are more forced by Art and Dung than they grow naturally they being a Phlegmatick kind of Food or rather more subject to Putrifaction than Cabbage yet both the one and the other should be eaten very sparingly But as for fresh green Colworts they may be eaten liberally especially by those that eat fat Flesh plentifully Of ROOTS Turnips are a Root of a very innocent and mild Nature it has several good Properties it removes Obstructions which lie in the Passages makes the Belly soluble and mightily helps Concoction by its moist and slippery kind of Quality one may eat plentifully of this with a great deal of safety but of
of Life and Spirits of a pleasant Smell and brisk Taste grateful to the Stomach and easie of Concoction but when they have been at the Fire the second time the spirituous Qualities that in the first preparation were set at liberty and rendred Volatile are evaporated and they become of a strong dull Taste and Smell For all sorts of Food over-prepared or twice prepared are hurtful For this cause Water-Pap that is made of Bread is not an wholsom Food and no way proper for sick People or Children and so much the worse when it is made fulsom and strong by the various Ingredients they add to it The same may be said of fermented Liquors as Beer Wine c. if they be committed to the fire they become of a dull fiat heavy Nature void of Spirit and Life or if such be put into Food and that same Food afterwards prepared by fire then also they lose all their pure Vertues and there does only remain the strong original Quality which is a Death rather than Life This should be well noted by all House-wives and by Nurses especially among sick People and not make them as much Posset-drink or Broth as will serve them twenty four Hours and when occasion is heat it again and again thereby destroying all its pure spirituous Parts and Vertues till it becomes as sick and fainty as those that are to eat and drink it for such things are burthensom to a well-Stomach and what then must they be to such as are sick and out of order whose Spirits are few and those-weak and languishing 6. There is another Trick of Nurses which even the learned do often advise viz. when People are sick to boyl their Drink with a Crust of Bread in 't Now both these have been prepared before even to the highest degree so that by this boyling them together again as well the Drink as the Bread lose their Vertues and the Drink becomes as flat and dull as Pond-Water in a hot Summer day and then the Wise Nurse adds a lusty Quantity of Sugar to hide its gross dull fulsom Taste which renders it still duller and heavier on the weak Stomach of the sick Now all such Drinks are nauseous to Nature even in times of Health so that if a well man should drink constantly of such Perboyled dulcified stuff it would disturb Nature and send dulling Fumes into the Head destroy his Appetite and cause an unpleasant heat in his Stomach with a clammy Droughtiness nor would it give Nature any satisfaction And if its effects be such on the sound what mischief must it need do those that are already Diseased If a sottish Ignorance did not possess many of them that pass in the World for Learned men great Rabbies and profound Doctors they would certainly never act so contrary to Reason and Nature as they do Nor do I know any Reason why good Ale or Beer should be esteemed Raw as 't is by most even Physicians themselves has it not passed thro' several Digestions as boyling by Fire and Fermentation which are the highest Preparations it will admit of so that neither Nature nor Art can advance it For if such Liquors be committed to the fire a second time the spirituous parts do either evaporate or are suffocated they are so pure and volatile and stand so external that they will not endure any violent Motion or harsh Fire to touch them without manifest Injury therefore all common Beer and Ale well brewed and of a proper Age being brisk and full of Life is abundantly to be preferred before Drink again boyled either by it self or with a crust of Bread This may somewhat be illustrated even in Common-Water which is crude in comparison of Beer and Ale and has never passed thro' any Digestion to unlock its spirituous parts yet if you take such Water from the Spring and boyl it 't will open the crude Body and cause the pure spirituous parts to become so volatile that they will evaporate so that 't will be good for little or nothing if it be not used presently If you would know whether this be true or no do but walk into the House of Dame Experience Take Common-Water boyl it put it into a good sweet Vessel or Barrel then fill a like Barrel with Water from the same Spring unboyled and keep them for further use as Sea-faring men do for their Voyages then observe what follows The Water that was boyled will stink and never be sweet again but the other tho' it stink or rather ferment as some Water will do twice or thrice yet it will become good and sweet again for all Uses Again if you boyl Water in cold Weather or Frost it will afterwards freeze sooner and be colder than such as has not been boyled Now there must be some Reason for this which is no other than that the boyled Water has lost its inward spirituous or warming Nature so that 't is become more Saturnine cold and earthy whence the Air has the greater Influence upon it and causeth a quicker Congelation So likewise it is to be observed that if you boyl Water an hour or any considerable time before you put in your Flesh Herbs or what else you would dress in it such Food will not be so sweet nor wholsom as what is put into the Vessel as soon as the Water boyls or if you boyl Water an hour and then let it stand till 't is cold and afterwards boyl any Food in it it will give it a strong fulsom Smell and Taste make it hard of Concoction affording but a bad Nourishment All which shews the Fire has power to open the body of the Water causing the spirituous parts to become volatile and makes them capable of being evaporated on a second boyling much more than of Beer Ale c. 7. There are many other Improper Mixtures that are common in time of Sickness as well as Health as mixing several sorts of Syrups with their Drink and making up Cordials with Syrups which Nature doth loath for no Syrups are so grateful to the Stomach as White Sugar they being naturally of a dull heavy flat Quality they are a broken body the pure spirituous parts are suffocated and so have not that briskness on the Pallat and Stomach as Sugar For tho' Syrups be made of White Sugar yet they are nothing so good being mixed with any Drink or Food nor so grateful as the same Sugar for every time Sugar is melted down the spirituous parts are flattened and it cannot attain its proper natural Goodness except it be cured again and such an order observed as follows in Refining for then there is a separation made and it obtains a purer and finer Body which is not done in Syrups and therefore if in Health you drink them in Beer or Wine the Stomach doth not so well like them nor will they be so pleasant especially if often drunk much more nauseous must they needs be to the sick
weak that they are not able to make a perfect Concoction or Separation for such Food is apt to fur the Passages and breed abundance of evil Juices which fills the whole with gross Phlegmatick Humours that makes it dull heavy and indisposed 5. Women ought not to drink Wine or strong Drink which are bad for Men but an hundred fold worse for Women especially Brandy and all distilled Liquors and Spirits for all such Drinks do not only destroy the natural Heat causing the Stomach to become cold and attended with a sick qualmishness but also send Fumes into the Head weaken the whole Body and giveoccasion for the Generation of Windy Diseases and Vapours and indeed all strong Drinks if not very sparingly taken destroy the Health of the Female Sex being contrary to their Tempers for their Heats being weak in comparison of Mens and their Spirits few therefore every inequality is harmful to them and their Children Besides they are subject to various Diseases which cannot happen to Men and of all these strong Liquor is an especial promoter and therefore the Philosophical Ancients alotted only Water for Womens drink And if our Women were but sensible of the ill Consequences of their frequent Sipping of strong Drinks they would be as far from doing it as those in other Countries there being hardly any Women in the known World that are such great Drinkers and lovers of strong Liquors as the English neither are any so turbulent fiery and Masculine Spirited as accordingly they are troubled with various Diseases to which the Women in other Countries are strangers Furthermore strong Drinks if not sparingly taken heat the Blood causing sharp salt Humours to possess it which also makes their Milk hot and windy very prejudicial to Children for whatever Inconveniences the Mother suffers the Child partakes thereof both in the time of Pregnancy or breeding and whilst it sucks Therefore Moderation and Temperance both in quantity and quality is highly necessary for them because the whole preservation of mankind does in an especial manner depend on their prudent living 6. If Women have regard to their own Health and the Preservation of their Children they ought not to eat any Food hotter than their Blood but after their Food is prepared let it stand open that the fiery sulpherous Vapours may freely pass and fly away for those Steems are very prejudicial to all Peoples Heath but more especially to the Females And this ought to be observed in Flesh above all other Food and also in Puddings and the like things that are of a gross strong Quality and so have the greater power to retain those fiery Steams which are of an hot griping windy Nature and causing a Mank or Scurvy in the Blood and makes the Milk windy and sharp which violently gripes the poor young tender Babe that sucks it 'T is true Use not only Familiarizes the most unnatural things but renders them as it were Natural and in some respects almost Necessary witness Tobacco-smoaking to such as are besotted to it so that often times the leaving off those ill Habits do prove very hard and difficult nay sometimes the abrupt leaving them is as dangerous as the Evils that flow from the constant use of them so easily is Nature depraved and turn'd out of her simple way Thus such as have long used themselves to hot Foods if at any time they miss them and are forc'd to make shift with cold then their Stomach seems empty and unsatisfied only because 't is depraved and for want of a little Custom of eating cold Hence many believe that there is good Nourishment and Vertue in hot Food viz. better than in the same Food cold or as warm as the Blood nay many are so fond of this fiery sulpherous Steam or pernicious Vapour that the good Dame will be angry with her Maid if by any neglect she let this precious Steam fly away calling all the Family to come quickly lest the Meat be cold and as she calls it gâ—â—d for nothing Whereas in truth it will be then much the more wholsom for those pernicious sulpherous Fumes ought to be separated from the Meat before it be received into the Body And a little use of eating cold Food would remove all such ill Habits and make cold Meats and Drinks more friendly and satisfactory to Nature and help to prevent the Generation of all windy Diseases Furthermore as cold Food does sharpen the Appetite so neither will the same quantity thereof swell the Body or indispose Nature so much as the like quantity of hot Victuals will and the Body will feel it self more airy and lightsomer 'T is true hot Food will heat the Body especially all the external parts but then it is an unnatural heat which is more burthensom than pleasant for the fiery sulpherous Steems that remain in Food after 't is prepared are of the very same Nature and Operation as the heat of Charcoal and so Experience will teach you that 't is very unwholsom to hold ones Head over the Steems that proceed either from boyld or baked Foods or over Furnaces or Pots or which proceed from Ovens for they take away the Complexion and make People look Pale and Weakly now if their Operations externally have such a visible ill effect how much more Prejudicial will they be when internally received and with the Food swallowed into the Body Possibly in some strong Constitutions those Inconveniences may not be felt till Age comes on but few then are free from them tho insensibly from what causes they proceed Also it is to be noted that this fiery heat Food does retain after 't is prepared is contrary unto the natural Heat both of the Food and the Stomach too and will no longer remain than whilst 't is forced by the constant heat of the Fire and then of its own accord will separate and fly away as soon as 't is removed from the Fire in an humid Vapour which Fumes if they be stopt by covering such Foods so that they cannot separate and fly away then they will re-enter and â—â—use the Meat to eat strong and fulsom In a word 't is nothing but Custom that makes hot Foods easie and agreeable but all the Custom in the World can never make them so natural and friendly as Cold after a little use 7. They ought to accustom themselves to moderate Exercises in open Airs which is profitable for all People but especially for those of the fair Sex for it hardens and strengthens Nature begets a good Appetite prevents Obstructions breeds good Blood and pure Spirits which renders the whole Body lightsom and pleasant nothing next Temperance in Meats and Drinks being more profitable than moderate Motion and Airy Houses and Rooms and not to pen up themselves as many do in close hot Rooms with great Fires which prevents the most pleasant and friendly Element the Air that it cannot have its free Influencies and so what Air does remain in
but the Musician must have skill and hand or else Mars will spoil the Harmony by his rough jarring Sounds Violins are under the Dominion of Venus and the Moon in the Sign Gemini this Instrument affordeth much Harmony but it is more Airy Brisk Youthful and Effeminate than Grave but Delightful having a sweet charming violent Operation The Harp is an Instrument as Excellent as Ancient it is endued with great Variety and if skilfully handled its pleasant Sounds and Harmonies quietly allure all things that are capable of its Influences to its own property being under the Dominion of Venus and Mercury in the Sign Libra The Lute affordeth most pleasant soft friendly Harmonies having a sweet Violence and Attractive Operation but Effeminate 't is under the Dominion of Venus and Mercury its sweet attractive Sounds and Harmonies arise from the Properties of Venus and its Variety from Mercury The Harpsicals are under the Rule of Venus and Mars from the former it derives its sweet Sounds and the jarring rough Ringings are from the latter but if the Musician have skill and hand it maketh excellent Harmonies and great Variety its Sign is Aries The Gitarr is under the Dominion of the Moon and Venus in the Sign Taurus the Player on this Instrument ought to have both good skill and a ready hand or else Mars will step in with his jarring Tones and Sounds Cyterns and Gitterns are under the Moon and Venus in the Sign Sagitary being well managed they yield pleasant soft effeminate Harmonies Of the Power and Virtue of Mental Vocal and Instrumental Harmony that it can pacifie Wrath and the contrary All men do endeavour by a secret and natural Inclination to draw all things unto their own Property Understanding and Life whether it be good or evil equal or unequal and into what property or principle soever he doth precipitate himself that same quality does reign in his Thoughts and Will and hath the Key in its self to unlock all Nature's secret Cabinets and by its Rays can penetrate into the Depths and wheresoever it finds its Simile there it incorporates and joyneth Forces and so becomes strong and powerful and its contrary is dismayed and weakened This is manifest in all unequal passionate Words and Discourses and also in friendly Harmonies and Speeches every Word Sound or Cry stirs up to Love Anger Concord or Discord according to the principle of that Root or predominate power from whence it proceeded And these Sympathetick Operations of Nature and their Antipathies have far greater power and efficacy in and upon the humane Nature or Minds of Men than on Inanimates they having a near Affinity in their Basis therefore Concord and Discord or Love and Anger do move by Simile more quick than Lightning for all things do naturally incline to the Centre and as Men by Words and Actions can and do move each other to Friendship or Hate the same is to be understood of all other things according to the capacity of each as all robustick rough killing Imployments do secretly stir them up to Wrath Discord and Inhumanity as the contrary Trades do beget more humane or tractable Dispositions And so in the same manner and more effectually does Musick work upon the Mind and Passions of Man This the Kingly Prophet David was sensible of when he harmoniz'd and play'd on his Harp to King Saul in whose Soul he perceived was kindled the Wrath and the unequal Powers of Nature which the Mental and Instrumental Harmony of David did asswage or mitigate by awakening and strengthening its Simile and by its friendly Influences compose and as it were by a sweet Violence chase away Inequality Discord and Enmity For there is as great a power in Harmoney to kindle and beget its likeness as in Wrath to stir up Discord Thus Saul as it were unawares suffered his Will and Spirit to entertain the internal and external Harmonies that proceeded from David which did by a certain Gleam or Ray penetrate Saul and incorporate with its Simile and moderated the Dis-harmonious Envious Evil Spirit in Saul raising those Properties that were too flat and on the other side letting down those that were too sharp and fierce even as a Musician Tunes his Instrument there being a Sympathetical Operation between the inward and the outward Harmony as appears 2 Kings 3. where the three Kings and their Hosts were like to perish for want of Water which came to pass through the Dis-harmony and Inequality of the Elements and Constellations for whensoever any Element or Property does too violently predominate it destroys the Harmony and Well-being of the whole and Nature becomes like an Instrument out of Tune For this cause the Prophet Elisha called for a Minstrel or Musician that is for Harmony viz. for a quiet still state of mind not only to shew the three Kings what Life they ought to live who were departed from Unity and Concord but also the Prophet desired to be tuned and composed which would render him fit for and capable of that Divine Work which he was to do For when the King of Israel and the other two came first to him he seemed to be somewhat Angry or in Wrath with him saying to the King Get thee to the Prophets of thy Father what have I to do with thee As if he should say Thou art in the way of Wickedness Idolatry Violence and Oppression This answer was uneven as if it proceeded from some Passion or Intemperance of Mind but the King of Israel not being moved to any degree of Inequality but answered mildly and friendly with a yielding and penitent Voice Oh! Nay the Lord hath called these three Kings together to deliver them into the hand of Moab This Humility and Temper in the King begetting its own Property in the Prophet he then calls for the Musician viz. for Concord and Harmony and in the time of this heavenly Consort the Hand of the Lord came upon him and the Divine Power did arise in him and he prophesied from an equal Motion and holy driving both of the Divine and Natural Properties as well of the External as the Internal Nature then there followed a Sympathetical Operation of the Forms an Incorporating and Harmonizing with each other and so the Element of Water was excited and strengthened which before was weakened and made as it were to disappear by the predominancy of the Element of Fire for when the Elements have their Qualifyings and Operations in Equality and Concord this is the true Musick of Nature the Harmony of the Mycrocosm Harmony being the true Centre of all External and Internal Felicity wherein all things rejoyce as the contrary is the Displeasure the Vexation the Terror and the Torment of the whole In the first of Chronicles we read that Four thousand of the Priests and Levites praised the Lord on Instruments of Musick by David's appointment And 2 Chron. 5. One hundred and twenty Priests blowed with Trumpets and so agreed
of them are much addicted to Superfluity and Inordinate living by reason of the strength of Nature and their strong Heats which do in many of them increase the desire to eat and drink beyond the power of the digestive faculty of the Stomach For in most People in whom the Fire doth predominate their attractive faculty and desire of eating and drinking is so very strong that it prolongs the pleasure of eating and drinking many degrees beyond the Necessity of the Stomach which does not only cause an heavy drowsy Indisposition to follow but sows Seed for many Diseases Therefore as this sort of People are generally the greatest Eaters by Inclination so ought they as much as in them lies restrain the Extravagancies of their Appetite and eat but sparingly especially of rich hot compounded spicy Food and strong Drinks as Wine Brandy Tobacco c. For they are all Enemies to this Complexion and very dangerous too if Temperance be wanting for every sort of Food hath its operation in the Body and on the Spirits by way of Simile Therefore all such Meats and Drinks in this sort of People if not sparingly taken do too powerfully awaken the Central Heat which ought not to be felt but when it is stirred up does sometimes cause either a Suffocation or Evaporation of the vital Spirits which will make all the external parts of the Body to burn like Fire whilst the Center becomes as it were chill and cold For when the pure Spirits are wounded by any violence done to them the Radical moisture consumed the Oyl of Life set on Fire which are Moderators and Qualifiers of the harsh Fires and Poysons in the Body what can be expected but Destruction For when the pure Spirits of Oyl are any way wounded by Intemperance then presently are awakened the fierce dark Fires in the Body the original of every Life which ought not to have been stirred for this Fire is of a churlish angry consuming Nature whence those terrible Fevers do proceed This Heat when it is kindled which is never done but when some great violence is offered to the pure Spirit and Oyl then the natural Life doth presently burn and is in danger to be destroyed for the heat of this Original Fire is like the heat of Charcoal whose pleasant Water and Moderator is destroyed in the making of it whence that pleasant gleam of Light and refreshing Quality in the Wood doth proceed so that in the Charcoal there does only remain the dark fierce Sulphurous Fire which does when burning send forth pernicious stupifying Fumes and Vapours of an ill scent burdensom to Nature for these Scents or Vapours do powerfully penetrate the Body by way of Simile and search out their likeness and incorporate therewith whence disorders arise especially in People of weak Nature and that have but few Spirits Even so it is in the Body if the pure Spirits and Radical Moisture be through superfluity or any other way disorder'd or weaken'd then presently the dark original Fire is kindled and manifesteth it self in its own form and burns fierce like Charcoal and then the Body falls into Distemperatures Not but this dark fierce Fire that doth so violently burn and discompose the Body and Mind did possess the body before for indeed it is the center of every Life but so long as the pure Spirits and Balsamick Body were strong and the Qualities of Nature had their operation in equality this fierce sulphurous fire lay hid or was captivated in the sweet Embraces of the Radical Moisture and pure Spirits and restrained by their virtue and power even as the pure Oyl and Balsamick Body in Wood doth moderate and qualifie the sulphurous Charcoal-heat so long as the Wood remains intire and no violence done to the sweet Oyl which is the true Life of the Wood but so soon as this sweet Oyl is wounded and becomes suffocated as is done in making of Charcoal then the fieree poysonous dark Fire of Saturn and Mars is awakened being of a furious devilish Nature and Operation The same is to be understood in every Vegetable Mineral and Animal be it what it will If the pure Radical Spirits and Oyl of Life be any ways hurt then the dark Wrath of Nature appears and if it be in the Human Nature then the Body falls into terrible distempers and cannot any way be recovered but by a powerful Medicine able to incorporate it self with the fading Oyl and pure Spirits and so reinforcing them with these foreign Auxiliaries enables them to withstand and qualifie the fierce poysonous operation of the awakened dark Fire and compel it to retreat to it s designed central obscurity This Cholerick Complexion ought in a most special manner to observe the Rules of Equality and Temperance for the Original Fire which we have been speaking of is very strong in them and most apt on any disorders to be kindled whence do proceed so many Violences done by this sort of People Also they generally love Arms and the Field and a little exercise and custom will make fighting and killing of Men as familiar to them as the killing of Sheep or Oxen is to Butchers Therefore they ought to be sober and accustom themselves to a mean in all things as Meats Drinks Exercises and especially in Communication or in their outward Converse in the World All sorts of Food and Drinks that are rather inclined to Coolness than Heat are most profitable to People of this Complexion and as in quality so also ought they to be careful that they do not exceed in quantity which they are apt to do more than any other Complexion as aforesaid Certainly Man being an Image of God and Nature in him containing the true nature of all things which the Ancients significantly called a Microcosm or little World 't is no absurdity to affirm that he hath power to change and alter his natural Complexion if he once come to know the Principles of himself and can but distinguish the Principles of his own Nature then may he preserve the pure essential Spirit from suffering violence and he can also by the same Eye of understanding preserve the essential Vertues of all other things according to that measure of Knowledge he hath of himself Likewise People that are dignified with this Cholerick Complexion are subject to acute Fevers their central Heat being great whence do proceed a powerful Life and abundance of Spirits For in all Creatures that have their central Heat strong the Balsamick Body and Radical Moisture is also powerful therefore such People can indure Labour beyond others The same is to be understood in Vegetables and other things according to their Natures where-ever the central Heat is powerful there also the Radical Moisture and sweet Oyl is strongest wherein the natural Life doth burn and shine An example we have in Wine and in all sweet Fruits especially in Sugar in which things the sweet Balsamick Body and pure Spirits are potent lively and
brisk and they do not only afford a greater quantity of Spirits when separated but much stronger and fiercer than any other Vegetables that are of a lean Hungry Nature Therefore People of this Complexion tho' they are strong and brisk yet if they commit Intemperances that are beyond the power of the natural heat to throw off then they are in far greater danger than those that are of a much weaker Nature and Complexion for the Reason before assigned which daily Examples do confirm as when such healthy People fall into Diseases what terrible sharp Fevers do attend most of them which destroy the Life in a few days Therefore the strongest natur'd People ought to be sober and not lay heavier Burthens than Nature can bear for he that hath the healthiest and strongest Constitution may easily oppress it neither is it safe to put too much Confidence in their strength nor to boast of it or commit such out-rages against their own Natures as many young People do in the way of Pride to out-do their Fellows and then glory in it For the strongest Castle will quickly yield by continual Batteries Of the Phlegmatick Complexion Those in whom this Complexion is predominant are not so quick and active either in the doing or apprehending of things as the Cholerick but more slow and of a fofter Nature their central Heats are but weak in comparison of the former and if they incline to inordinate living either in Meats or Drinks or Idleness they are apt to grow Fat and their Bodies swell with gross phlegmatick Humours because their natural heat is but weak and the digestive faculty of the Stomach cannot make so perfect a Concoction as the Cholerick Complexion so that great part of their Food is turned into gross Juices which fret the Body and make it heavy and dull All sorts of strong spirituous Drinks do agree better with this Complexion than with the Cholerick and if they do not exceed in quantity will not so soon precipitate them into Fevers but if they drink much it will swell their Bodies and Members to a wonderful bigness as we see some both Men and Women are which great drinking doth destroy the edge of the Appetite and increases their desire to drink for their natural Heats and Stomachs are not able to make any profitable Concoction nor separation of such quantities of Drink as they swallow down whence are generated abundance of raw Humors that do not only swell the Body as aforesaid but load the Joynts with windy and watry Diseases and also obstruct the passage of the Breast for all fat People have narrower passages than those that are lean and spare and fetch their Breath with more difficulty because the Vessels of the Stomach and Breast are contracted thro' the drinking of too much strong Drink and eating too little Food and what they do eat too rich in Quality Yet is it very easie for this Complexion and all others to prevent Fatness and heavy Dropsical Humors which many of this sort of People are subject to if Order and Temperance be but observed with regard to both quality and quantity of Meats and Drinks with proper exercise especially in the open Air and walking by River-sides and running Waters which do wonderfully open the Passages and beget and sharpen Appetite and cause good Digestion For tho' one Complexion is more apt to grow Fat than others yet Experience teaches that it is Idleness and Superfluity that is the grand cause thereof look amongst ordinary working-people in Country-Towns and you shall very rarely see any of the Husband-men or Field-workers very Fat though in such places are People of all Complexions but Cities and great Towns are the Nurseries of fat Punchinello's where there is good store of Strong Drink and Wine rich Food with ease and idleness I am not ignorant that fat People have an Apology for themselves viz. That they eat and drink less than many lean Folks This is true but lean spare rawbon'd People have for the most part great Heats which do digest and throw off all superfluous matter their Appetites are sharp and piercing also they are generally of active Spirits given to Labour and Action which destroys all matter for Fatness But most that are inclinable to the Phlegmatick Complexion are of contrary and colder Nature as aforesaid their Appetite not so sharp nor digestive faculty so strong and if discretion care and order with proper exercise be not observed great part of their Food and Drinks for want of heat is turned into gross raw Humours which cause an heaviness on the Spirit the Oyl from whence their Light of Life does shine becomes of a watrish Nature therefore such People ought to have understanding in the ordering of their Lives for want whereof many do by various sorts of Intemperances destroy their Healths Also many will take and follow the Paths and Examples of others which they ought not to do for what may be good Food for one may be the contrary for another therefore every one ought to learn the degrees and power of his own Nature For the differences of mens Constitutions are such and their Natures so contrary that 't is impossible to give any particular rule to fit every ones Conveniency so that there isa necessity for every one to see with his own Eyes and in this respect the Proverb is punctual truth Every man to himself is either a Fool or a Physician A man may speak somewhat that may be useful in a general way and helpful to many if minded but the power of doing is in a man's self and if one do but in any tolerable degree know his own composition and the power of his own nature he may very easily help himself for man's Will is free and if he be well informed and his Faith his own and he do not make the ways of the Multitude to be his Rule and their Faith his as many do then he may and hath power by wisdom to alter his Complexion for the better One of the chief causes why so many run themselves into Error and Diseases and Death it self is because they never look into themselves nor observe the operations of their own Nature but look what others do that do they and take the advice of every fool especially if he be a learned Fool without any examination whether it be proper or not Meats and Drinks good for this Complexion are all sorts of drying warming things as Bread eaten with Oyl let Butter be eaten sparingly Cheese is good not new but old also all Gruels and Pottage that are made with quick Fires and not too much boyled but thin brisk and lively for such things are easie to be concocted and quick on the Stomach likewise all spicy Herbs both boyled and raw in their Seasons that is betimes in the Spring and again after Michaelmas viz. in October and November but Flesh they ought to eat sparingly especially from Iune to the last of
if a man does leave them at the first Nature seems to want them the like effect is produced by other unnatural Customs as in taking Tobacco it being a strong Martial and Saturnine Herb of a loathsom poysonous Nature and Operation whose predominant Quality is of a contrary Nature to the Stomach and natural Heat therefore the first taking of it in Pipes is both difficult and troublesom to Nature and there is no Preparations known that will make this Herb friendly or familiar to Nature but only the continual Custom of taking it which does awaken and strengthen its own Quality in the Stomach which in the beginning was weak but by custom is become strong so great is the power of every thing in increasing its likeness and it becomes as though it were natural and there is as much difficulty to leave the use of such things if not more as there was at first to make them familiar the like is true in Brandy c. for the more unnatural and greater the extream is the more troublesom it is to leave it As for those who are used to eat hot Food and are not satisfied to eat cold a little custom will bring them to a liking of it for man being a compleat Image of the whole Nature of this World and being endued with the true nature of all Elemental things therefore Custom will make every thing whether good or evil familiar to his Nature As for my own part I have not been troubled with windy Diseases since I left eating of hot Food which formerly I was afflicted with likewise the same Quantity of any sort of Food eaten Cold when a man is a little used to it will be much easier and pleasanter to the Stomach than Hot for this swells the Body sends Fumes into the head and causeth a heavy indisposedness through the whole Body but there is such a sottishness and ignorance possesses most People that they will not go out of their old Path following their false Prophets Custom and Tradition esteeming themselves to be sufficient Judges in these things Now these windy Diseases and fiery thin salt Humours that are occasioned by the afore mentioned Intemperances are very rarely or seldom ever cured for what Medicines have power to cure when the same Superfluities are continued which were the Original of the Diseases Pray where is the Medicine that will cure the French Disease if the Person infected goes on in his old way of Wantonness The very same is to be understood in all other Distempers therefore Temperance and Sobriety are Vertues that are absolutely necessary not only to help and cure Diseases when they have invaded the Body but also to prevent the Generation of them for most Distempers with a little help of Physick might be mitigated if a sober temperate Life were observed so that by degrees little or no inconveniency would be felt but what hopes are there so long as People prefer Supersluity and the pleasure of the Taste beyond Health eating and drinking of various sorts of rich Food and cordial Drinks to the full satisfaction of their Appetites which break the bounds of Temperance the Stomach not being able to make a perfect Concoctiion so that every such Meal sows the seeds of some gross Matter and evil Juice which by degrees stops the Passages obstructs the Veins corrupts the Blood and from thence flows various indispositions according to the nature of each mans Constitution and the degree of matter There are but few that think that those Oppressions and Diseases proceed from a disordered Life and a too great Quantity of Nourishment but most will be apt to believe themselves alledging That they got Cold by leaving off a Coat or by Accidental Sweating or some other act of carelesness Which must be a mistake for such things have little or no power to hurt the Health if there be not matter before-hand for you may be sure if leaving off a Coat do occasion a Cold or any kind of stoppage there was some part obstructed before and the radical Spirits of that part were weakened by some disorder or else outward Colds would not have had any power to seize that part of the Body You may also observe that if any Member or part of the Body be weakened by any accident that part will first complain when either Cold seizes it or when there is any change of Weather from whence you may conclude that the Root of all or most Diseases is first some inward Contraction of matter caused by Superfluity or other Disorder which have weakened the pure essential Spirits and the Balsamick Oyl and Virtues in that part become as it were sower or sharp wich infects the Blood and then presently ariseth a loathing and the Palate cannot distinguish the pure Relish nor taste the goodness of any Food the Attractive Quality and also the Natural Heat of the Stomach lose their strength and power then also the Reâ—â—ntive and Digestive Faculties do cease from their natural Operations for when there does happen any Violence to the pure Volatile Spirit and Balsamick Body then presently the action of the Stomach ceases and there begins a loathing and the original Poysons and central Heats are awakened which set the whole Body into a flame which poysonous Fire lay as it were hid so long as the pure Spirit and Balsamick Body were strong and this continual fiery or brimstony Spirit was only a cause of motion giving strength and vigour to the Oyl of Life which Oyl does mix and incorporate with this sulpherous fierce Fire and makes it more gentle and friendly for this Oyl is generated from this sulpherous poysonous Spirit and is as it were its Sun and shines back thereinto and does cause it to burn more gently but if this pure Spirit and Oyl be by any kind of Intemperance wounded or suffocated by overcharging Nature then the Original Poysons and sulpherous Fires do manifest themselves in their own Forms which were captivated and moderated so long as the pure Spirits and essential Oyl were strong for this essential Oyl is the true Life of Nature and the Moderator of the original Fire even as it is in the Fire of Wood so long as the Wood remains intire and no Violence done to the pure Spirits and essential Oyl this Fire gives a most pleasant and friendly refreshing heat and light it sends forth a bright shine and wholsom smell very ageeable to the Pure Spirits of those that are near it but you will find the contrary if you offer any violence to the Pure Spirits and essential Oyl whence the bright shine and friendly nature of Wood Fire does proceed as is done in making of Wood Fire into Charcoal for these pure Spirits and sweet Water or Oyl are suffocated in all Charcoal For this cause the Fire of Chorcoal is not only stronger than the Fire of Wood but it sends forth Sulpherous Fumes which will stupifie and suffocate the pure Spirits and dull
all the Senses and send dark Fumes into the Head the truth of this all People are sensible of and it is for no other Reason but because the pure Spirits and sweet Water or Oyl in the Wood is totally suffocated in making it into Charcoal and then the Original Poysons and fierce Fire is no longer moderated but does burn and manifest it self in its own Nature and Form this makes the difference between the Fire of Wood and Charcoal the one being pleasant and wholsom the other the contrary and yet they have but one Foundation the very same is to be understood in the Humane Nature and in all other Creatures and in every thing according to its Nature For this cause when a man has through any kind of Intemperance or Superfluity over-charged Nature by which the pure essential Spirits are either evaporated or suffocated and the Oyl whence the natural Life hath its true being becomes as it were sower'd and made keen and sharp then immediately follow Fevers for all Fevers do proceed from the awakened Poysons which is the Original of every Life which should not be stirred or awakened For this cause most People when sick are afflicted either with Internal or External Fevers some greater others less according to the Age or Strength of each mans Nature and when men dye in the strength of their Lives and especially such as have strong Fires what terrible Fevers will such have which burn and consume Nature in a moments time But those that dye or are sick in Age and are of weaker Heats their Fevers are more gentle if People understood this they would not be so guilty of Intemperance and so over-charge Nature for the meek friendly Life will not indure any Violence or Inequality without prejudice to the Health for as soon as the pure Spirits are wounded or evaporated Nature falls into an unequal motion and then the wrathful fierce Fires are stirred up and then Nature is in danger Take what Creature or thing you will if you wound the pure Spirits the Balsamick Body presently turns sower for one cannot subsist without the other and when this is done then in a moments time the poysonous fierce Fire does of its own accord manifest it self which it could not do so long as the pure Spirits and Balsamick Body were strong and did predominate which does moderate and cause this Fire to burn more gentle For this cause all wise and seeing men have advised to Temperance and have commended all simple and mean Food and Drinks especially those things in which the Qualities of Nature stand nearest Equality for all such Food and Drinks do distribute and administer due and moist Nourishment to both Body and Spirits in an Harmonial way which is very agreeable to Nature for all things desire Concord and Unity it being the highest degree that Nature can attain to also all sorts of Food and Drinks that do chiefly consist of Equality do powerfully beget and maintain its Likeness in the Body and also in the Mind And so on the contrary high rich Foods which consist of many Ingredients and of disagreeing Natures and Drinks in which the Fire burns too fierce do often prove dangerous to Health because such things are unequal in themselves and except they be taken very sparingly they awaken their Likenesses in the Body causing Nature to be unequal in her Operations Therefore after eating and drinking such things there follows Indispositions the Veins glowing with Heat Fumes and Vapours flying up into the Head with a dull Heaviness which is caused by the Inequality of the Food and the greatness of the Qantity which do for a time until the natural Heat hath overcome the Food and made seperation suffocate the pure Spirits and the Oyl of Life by its gross Juices and affording too much Nourishment and if such Food and Drinks be continued there are but few Constitutions that can withstand the Inconveniencies that attend such a Life but Abstinency and a sober Diet with Exercise are the only means to abate all superfluous matter and indeed it hinders the Generation of all offensive Humours ABSTINENCY is the only Physitian that a man can make use of for it secretly does digest all kind of Obstructions and that with great ease and pleasure to the Patient far beyond the common and gross Drugs which Physitians administer Also ABSTINENCY is the most skilful Cook giving a most pleasant taste to every mean thing by which a simple Person becomes skilful for he can distinguish the Taste and the inward Sweetness of each thing and he is thereby stirred up with an inward inclination to praise and admire God in the use of all his Blessings ABSTINENCY does weaken and abate the Fury of the most Cholerick complexioned People that they become more Sanguine it openeth the Gate of Humility and is a Friend to Charity it encourageth Hope and is the only Enemy of that base and cruel Spirit Suspicion the universal Fomentor of mankind ABSTINENCY is a sure Counsellor and a Conductor of all the observers thereof in the way of Truth encreasing Faith and causeth them to eye and follow the divine Hand of Providence giving Peace and Tranquility to the Mind and Health to the Body many are the Vertues and Benefits thereof it also gives the advantage of Time and Opportunity and is the fore-runner of Wisdom it openeth the hidden and secret Doors of Nature in a mans self and renders him capable of all Discipline and is the only Enemy to all Evil and a Friend to all Vertue The Wise and Prudent in all Ages have accounted her their chief Friend and Guide by her Vertues they have overcome the inward Enemies of their Members ABSTINENCY also preventeth the Generation of all superfluous matter whence Diseases in the Body do proceed she abateth the desires because a small matter will suffice a regular Appetite resisting Pride and careth not for Estimation she conquereth all her Enemies and maketh no noise she beats â—o Drums nor dischargeth no Guns she punisheth â—ot the Body with Labour nor burdeneth the Mind with Care she wearieth not the Life by Sea nor by Land to obtain that which will not stand her in stead she will not admit of any Controversies nor Law-suits she will not contend for much because a little supplies her Wants she standeth still and is silent and yet obtaineth all things CHAP. III. A Discourse of the several sorts of Flesh commonly Eaten THough I have before shewn the inconveniencies of the feeding upon Flesh so commonly and in such excess as is now-a-days practised and rather recommended the Lovers of Wisdom and Health to the more innocent use of Grains Fruits and Herbs yet since there is no stemming the Tide of Popular Opinion and Custom and People will still gorge themselves with the Flesh of their Fellow-Animals I have thought fit here to give a particular account of each sort of Flesh that at least you may chuse that which is
and Communication for they saw the inconveniences and dangers that all such things brought on man but in this Dark Gluttonous and Drunken Age there is no regard had to such things every man does imagin himself to have greater Understanding than the Ancients and Prophets so that there is little or no distinction made accounting all things as it were of a like nature and operation whence doth proceed innumerable Disorders and Diseases for the total Preservation of mans Health both of Body and Mind does consist in the Quantity and Qality of Meats Drinks Exercises Communications Customs and the good or ill Properties of Food all things have a secret Power in themselves to alter and change Nature either for better or worse or to Vertue or Vice according to the Natures and Degrees either of Evil or Good in each thing Of the Flesh of Fowls There are various sorts of Fowls most of which men eat some Wild others Tame of the two the Wild are the wholsomest for Food their Nature is more airy and cleaner and of a dryer substance affording a better and firmer Nourishment better Blood and purer Spirits than the Tame the cause of this is the Cleanness of their Food great Motion and their continual being in the open pure Air next in Goodness to these are those Fowls that have free Egress and Regress and are chiefly fed with Corn such do also afford a good clean Nourishment But all such Fowls that are kept up and fatted and crambed in Coops being hindred both from Action and Motion their Flesh is of a grosser substance than the former not so wholsom hard of Concoction of a stronger Taste and Smell generates a thick gross Nourishment as indeed all other Creatures that are fed or made fat after that manner are much the Unwholsomer not being so Healthy if frequently eaten as those Creatures that are at their own Liberty for Motion and Action are absolutely necessary for to preserve Nature from Diseases and other evils not only in Men but also in all other things for it Purges and cleanses the Body from all such superfluous matter which is contracted by Meats and Drinks and other Accidents that happen to most Creatures it causeth the Blood to have its free Circulation and generates pure brisk lively Spirits as daily Experience doth teach Therefore all such unnatural ways and inventions of fatting any Creature after such a manner ought not to be if People have regard to their Health For all sorts of Flesh is in its own nature not only more Unclean but it is of a grosser substance affording more matter for the generation of Diseases than either Herbs Fruits or Grains neither is there any Art found whereby to exhale or destroy the gross Phlegmatick part of Flesh as there is in Fruits and Grains Therefore Flesh will sooner fall into Putrifaction than other things whose Humidity is exhaled by the vertue and power of the Sun and Elements It being a general mistake for to imagine that those Fowls and other Creatures that are hastily fatted by being penned up close and having superfluity of Food should have the best and most Nourishment Indeed they are fuller of gross Juices and Matter but good Nonrishment and pure Spirits and Blood do not proceed from the gross Phlegmatick body in any Creature but from the lively spirituous Parts and the more gross and phlegmy any Body is the fewer and duller are the Spirits of that thing if this were not so then Horses fed with Grass would be stronger and livelier than those that are fed with Hay and Corn. Are not all Creatures when their Bodies are fraighted with much matter disabled thereby to go through with their Labour or Exercise their Spirits quickly evaporated or spent and soon out of Breath faint and weak Which comes to pass through the super-abounding phlegmy matter which suffocates the Spirits and stops the Passages weakening the natural Heat and Action of the Stomach Therefore both Men and all other Creatures that do feed on Food that is of a dry Nature and Substance the gross Phlegm being destroyed as in Corn Hay Fruits and many other things and are inclined rather to Leanness than fulness are not only stronger and abler to endure Labour but they have far greater and more Lively Spirits are of quicker Apprehensions and fitter for Exercises both of the Body and Mind which does also further appear in all such Flesh that is so fatted it is not so sweet nor will it so readily take Salt nor keep so long without falling into Putrifaction Likewise the fat of all such flesh when salted will in a little time waste and consume the phlegmy gross part which is so strong that the pure essential spirituous parts thereof are destroyed whereas the very same Creatures being fed with Corn or dry Food having their Egress and Regress in the open Air being killed in their season and Salted will continue much longer than the former being much wholsomer and more pleasant breeding good Nâ—urishment better Blood and Spirits CHAP. IV. The Proper and most Natural way of Boyling Roasting Frying Baking c. of Flesh and other Food THE proper and natural way to Boyl Flesh and other Food that the Spirits and Life of it may be preserved is fiirst To put your Flesh into a Pot or Vessel that is large and can hold good store of Water For this Element of Water being of it self sweet and pleasant does cleanse and sweeten all things especially Flesh which is full of gross matter but you are to note that your Flesh is not to be put into your Pot or Vessel unless it first Boyl for if it lie in the Water and receives Heat but Gradually it dulls and makes flat the spirituous part thereof Likewise when your Flesh is put into your Vessel let your fire be increased that it may not lie long in the Water before it boyl and as soon as it boyls you are to uncover your Vessel and to keep it boyling quick without intermission till it is ready for eating The Pot or Vessel is not to be Covered any time of the boyling for thereby the sweet and refreshing Influences of the Air are hindered that they cannot have their free Egress and Regress which does as it were suffocate and destroy the pure and Volatile Spirits in the food for the Air is the Life and preserver of the Spirit and the Spirit is also the Life and preserver of the Balsamick Body in every thing and in what thing soever the Spirits suffer violence the sweet Body and Oyl turneth Sower as is most manifest in all fermented Liquors if such Liquors be exposed to the open Air the Spirits will evaporate and then the sweet Body turneth Sower and becomes of a heavy dull Nature and Operation but in the preparation of all gross phlegmy Bodies the free Influences of the Air keep the Spirit Living till such Bodies are digested and the Spirits set at Liberty then if
desire it Likewise its true Colour is lost or in some degree destroyed as is most manifest by all Fry'd Flesh it does send forth a strong fulsom smell in comparison of either Boyled or Roasted its Taste is stronger and its natural Colour is chang'd by reason the pure Spirits and sweet Body are as it were suffocated by that fiery harsh heat the Pan does contain this Heat is more poysonous than the common heat of fire which is caused by the Metal whether it be Brass or Iron for the Fire does not only awaken the poysonous Nature that such Metal does contain but the present Quality or oily Body in the Fire whence it hath its bright shining friendly Quality is suffocated therefore all such Heat that proceeds from Pans is of a harsh fierce nature and operation The truth of this is further manifested by those that shall be Burned or scalded by such Pans which is more poysonous and the Flesh is harder to be Cured than what is burned by common Fire and often proves more dangerous the very same matter does cause any kind of Food to have such a strong smell for in all Preparations that cause the smell to become strong it is a sure sign that some Violence is done to the pure Spirits and Balsamick Body which doth awaken the Center of the dark wrathful Nature The very same is to be understood in all other things and that is the reason why Fryed Baked and Stewed Food does send forth a stronger and fulsomer scent than other Preparations and all such Food will sooner cloy and dull both Pallate and Stomach except in some few whose Natures and Stomachs have a Simile with such Food It is also to be noted that the Fat which is used in Frying that lies or runs between the thing Fryed and the Pan is by this sulpherous Heat and the want of the free Influences of Air and the benefit of a convenient quantity of Water turn'd into a stinking Oyl which does neither retain its Colour Smell nor Taste but is of a contrary Nature to what it was when it was put into the Pan. For these Reasons all Fryed Food is of a stronger fulsomer Nature than either Boyled Roasted or Broyled Meat harder of Concoction and does cloy the Stomach Therefore all House-Wives and others that do prepare Food if they regard the Health of the Body and true pleasure of the Pallate ought to understand the possibility of Nature in all Preparations that they may digest the raw gross Body of Food without offering any violence to the pure Spirits and balsamick Body and then all such Food would be of a most pleasant Smell Colour and Taste for if the pure Spirits be kept free and not suffocated in the Preparation such Food becomes friendly to Nature affording good firm and wholsom Nourishment easie of Concoction the frequent eating of such Food makes a man Airy full of lively Spirits and of a good Complexion So on the contrary if they be suffocated then presently the sweet Oyl is turned sower or into a stinking Quality then such Food so Prepared will have as is mentioned before a strong Smell and Taste not retaining its natural Colour for in all sorts of Food in which the Spirituous Parts and Balsamick Body is strong their Smell Colour and Taste is Pleasant and Friendly Also it is to be noted that most Preparations of Food the quicker they are performed provided there be no violence done to the Spirit the better and more friendly such Food will prove for slow and intermitting Fires in either Boyling or other Preparations do flatten and dull the Spirituous Parts Therefore no Baker can preserve the pure white Colour in his fine small Bread if he be not quick about it for if any Preparation be continued too long the volatile Spirits become in a degree suffocated then Venus Sol and Iupiter grow weak and according to the length of time and degrees of heat so the natural Colours do alter and change for the Colours of all sorts of Food when Prepared do arise by degrees one after another gradually and when the gross Body is digested then the inward virtue which lay hid and captivated in the Body of Phlegm appears in its own friendly Form with a most lively and pleasant Colour Smell and Taste this is the point of Time all Preparers of Food ought to understand for if their Preparation be continued any longer the operation of Nature goes backward towards the center of the Original Fire then Saturn and Mars and their properties are presently awakened which do cause the Colour Smell and Taste of such Food to change The first degree the Colour alters to is a dusky Yellow and if the Preparation be continued by degrees it turns blackish till at last it will become Black or deep Red or of a mixed streaked Colour all according to the Property which does predominate in the Original or dark Fire also all such Food is of a gross and fulsom Smell and Taste unpleasant both to the Pallate and Stomach Preparing of Food is a greater Art and Mystery than many House-wives and others do think and if it be well and properly performed it adds much to the preservation of the Health both of Body and Mind for every thing has Power to awaken its Simile in the Body Therefore every one ought to use that care and understanding in the Preparations of all sorts of Food that the meek and most friendly Life be preserved from suffering violence Of Broyled Flesh. Broyled Flesh was much used in former Ages but now it is little in Fashion in comparison of the aforementioned Preparations Flesh dressed this way is much sweeter and fuller of Life and Spirit than Baked or Fry'd by reason it does not boyl in its own fat as the other two do also it is quickly Prepared and the gross Humidity in the flesh does freely purge and run into the Fire it has likewise the free Egress and Regress of the Air the Fire being full of lively brisk Spirits which in Ovens and Frying-Pans are destroyed by which means the heat becomes more gross and sulpherous like the heat of Charcoal which does suffocate the pure Spirits and then the Fat becomes of a heavy gross and Oily Quality with a strong Taste and Smell which gross matter in Boyled Flesh is destroyed therefore it does not only eat sweeter but breeds better Nourishment if the Fire be clear and done as it ought the Fire of Wood does prepare all sorts of Food sweeter and better than Cole and renders it much wholsomer for in all Preparations in which the Food does boyl in its own Fat or in Fat put to it if it hath not plenty of Water and the free influences of the Air the gross Humidity in the Fat does suffocate the pure Spirits and then the sweet Body which all Fat does afford great store of becomes gross and fulsom in Smell Taste and Operation which will quickly cloy the
and sink away they leave behind them the Saline or Spiritual Quality that does Muck such Ground as though it had been over-spread with substantial Dung. And indeed the very same is to be understood when a Man dungs his Land it is not altogether the gross substance or matter that enricheth the Land but it is the before mentioned fat Saline Quality which the moisture of the Earth receives and the Rains wash out of the Dung for if you lay a load of Dung in a heap and let it lie a Week two or three and then remove it clean away from that place and spread it thick in another place yet that spot which the Dung lay on two or three Weeks will be more enriched than where the gross substance is spread for the Earth with the help of the Rains and Dews sucked into it self the Salintral Vertue of the Dung Therefore in most Fields where such heaps of Dung do lie for a while before they are spread both the Grass and Corn is not only greener but also much stronger and more in quantity than in other places of the Field 4thly River-Water for the Reasons aforesaid is better for Men and Beasts to drink of than Springs or Pump-Water it boyls all sorts of Herbs Fish and Flesh better and makes better and wholsomer Pottages it brews Beer and Ale to more Advantage both in Quality and Quantity and washes all sorts of Linnen and Woollen with less Pains Charge and Damage to the things This Water seems to be pretty equal in its parts having no manifest Taste but a certain friendly mild sweetness predominates and there is as much difference between the Nature and Operation of River-Water and Pump or Well-Water as there is between Beer and Ale and the Excellency of the latter above the former I shall demonstrate in its proper place Of Spring or Fountain VVater There are various sorts of this Water some Better some Worse according to the Nature of the Earth it passes through If Springs or Fountains proceed from a Chalky Earth or some sorts of hot Sands or run near the surface of the Earth they are thereby endued with a meek soft friendly nature and operation without any manifest harshness but those that run in the deep Bowels of the Earth and through cold hungry stony places are more hard and Saturnine neither so wholsome for Man or Beast to drink nor to be used in Housewifery But though it be thus at the Fountain-Head yet if the same run long afterwards through various soils in the open Air c. it may become very good for all uses as aforesaid And Note Whereas some River-Water will look of a wheyish whitish Colour caused either by its long running without being fed by plenty of Springs or else by Land-floods yet in either case is not the worse to be liked but rather the better for all such Water is of great vertue of a very mild fat opening Quality caused by the saline vertue which People not understanding do often refuse either to drink or use in Housewifery calling it dirty muddy Water whereas the whiter any Waters look the better they are for most uses especially when Land-floods shall be the occasion of it as appears by the Instances of Valleys and Meadows thereby enricht which I mentioned but now Of Pump or Well-Water These likewise are capable of several degrees better or worse according to the nature of the Earth from whence they arise but they are generally of a cold hungry hard Nature nothing so good as the former and such Springs as lie deepest in the Bowels of the Earth are of a lean Saturnine Quality in comparison of that Water which runs near the surface being deprived of that saline nature which irritates Vegetation for most Earths after you come two or three yards deep are of a hard cold hungry Quality and if a quantity of such Earth be exposed to the open Elements and laid two or three foot thick there will hardly any sort of Vegetable grow on it until the Sun and Coelestial Influences have endued it with a Salnitral Vertue and as the Earth is so is the Water viz. of the same nature Cold and Hungry 2. Such Waters want the Coelestial Influences and Air nor have the benefit of Motion or but in a very small degree hence they are more unwholsom than the others before treated of and generally bind the Body and are subject to obstruct Nature neither will they perform the like good Offices in Housewifery Of Ponds or Standing VVaters Such standing-Waters as are in a kind of springy Grounds are the best but still much inferior to running-Waters because they have not the benefit of Motion nor the like advantage of passing through various Soils Such Pools or Waters as are chiefly maintained by Rain or Land floods are better or worse according as the season is wet or dry for in dry seasons they not only become thick and slimy but awaken a gross fulsome Saturnine Quality in the muddy Earth that suffocates the pure thin spirituous parts so that such Waters become of a strong gross Earthy taste and smell which is altogether contrary to the Nature of Water and such Waters are not wholsome for Men nor Beasts Some Husband-men do suppose these Waters to be very good for Cattle to drink having no other reason but that they will rather drink them than others which is no reason at all for this came through Custom and Use which makes any sort of Water familiar to nature and those Cattle that are used to drink Pond-Water will refuse better Water for that for two Reasons 1st Because their Stomachs and Pallates are adulterated and made familiar to it so that they cannot distinguish the evil taste from the good 2dly Because such Pond-Waters are of an hotter warmer Nature than oâ—hers and Cattle used to them will for that very cause refuse others just as men that accustom themselves to warm Beer cannot drink cold without some trouble to the Mouth and Teeth though cold Beer and Ale is warmer in operation and will more cheer the Stomach and make the Spirits more brisk than the hot because no fermented Liquors whether they be Beer Ale Syder or Wine will admit of the heat of fires without violence to the pure spirituous parts they are so volatile that they will presently evaporate therefore warm Beer or Ale will sooner become flat than that which has not been warmed for when the spirituous parts are evaporated or suffocated the sweet brisk Balsamick Vertue dyes But this hot sulpherous Quality in Pond-Water which through custom most Cattle like is of an evil nature and operation because the spirituous vapours of the Air cannot so easily penetrate through its gross thickness whence it dulls the edge of the Appetite and Stomach breeds gross thick Blood often is the occasion of many Diseases and very injurious to the Milk of Cows Besides do not Pools and standing Waters generate various sorts
of Vermin and Insects which is caused through the Contraction of gross thick fulsom Matter for want of Motion all which running Waters are not subject to But although Water be Natures common drink for Man as well as Beasts yet since now a-days Men generally betake themselves to other Liquors we shall briefly treat of them likewise Of Ale and its Nature and Operation as also of Beer Ale hath the first place of all Drinks made with Malt and is of greatest Antiquity That Ale is best that is made after this manner 1st That the Liquor or Water that you put to your Malt be made boiling-hot but not boyl and then put it into your Mash-Tub or Vessel and let it stand a little while before you put your Malt to it which will somewhat moderate the fierce heat of the Water thereby rendring it more capable to receive the Vertues and sweet Quality of the Malt which violent hot Water will not do so well for it doth not only hurt the pure Spirituous Parts of the Malt but will six or harden the Malt so that the Sweetness and good Vertues will not so easily give it self forth into the Water also if you put the Malt into the Water very hot then it will Tinge or cause the Wort to become of a red Martial Colour but on the contrary the cooler the Water is when you put in the Malt the Paler or more Venerial will the Colour of your Wort be which is the best Colour of the two for all Ale that does look Clear and White is to be preferred before that which hath a high Martial Red Colour And in some parts of England there is such Ale made which is much liked but this commendable White Colour depends also upon the well making of the Malt viz. in the Fewel and degrees of the Fire they dry or fix it with for if the Heat be too strong or fierce or if the egress or regress of the Air be hindred or any other Accident happen of the like nature then such Malt will make Ale and Beer to look of a Reddish Martial Colour which is not to be commended though some ignorantly cry it up For the predominant Quality in all sorts of Corn stands in the White and all the pure Water and sweet Body of it proceeds from the predominant Quality of Venus therefore the more gentle mild and natural the Preparation is from the beginning to the end the more wholsom and Balsamick will the Ale be If the Malt be dryed with too hot or fierce a Fire whence the Colour happens to the Ale it shews Violence done to the essential Spirits which also happens in Brewing when the Malt is put to the Water too hot or by overmuch boyling of the Wort which is not commendable in Ale for good Ale may be made with little or no boyling and indeed there is not much reason for the much boyling of any sort of Drink made of Malt except you design to keep it a great while For the boyling of Ale doth cause a too great Evaporation of the Volatile Spirit and Balsamick Vertues which will not endure the harsh Fire for this cause strong Wort will wast and evaporate as much in quantity in one Hour as Small shall in three and more Besides boyling these Liquors destroys their mild gentle cleansing Qualities and fixes them making them hotter and fiercer in Operation for the more you evaporate or destroy the sweet Body of any thing the stronger and fiercer the Original Qualities become and appear more external but so long as the pure Volatile Spirit and sweet Balsamick Body predominates the strong fiery Original Spirit of Saturn and Mars lies as it were hid and seeing all the friendly and wholsom Vertues of Ale reside in the sweet Body you ought not to destroy That by over-much boyling Nay I will add that the best and most wholsom Ale may be made and not boyled at all as some in this Nation do which does but wast it in Quantity and make it worse in Quality so that it becomes hotter in Operation and a friend to the generation of the Stone Every one knows or may know by experience that Beer heats the Body more than Ale the reason is the Balsamick Vertues in Beer are in part destroyed by boyling so that it becomes more like a Spirit and therefore it will keep longer and because of its lasting most People imagin it the best which is a great mistake for they might as well say that the best Sack drawn off by Distillation into a Spirit is better to drink than the Sack was whereas I think the contrary is known to every body of common sense The nearer you bring any thing to its Original by destroying the balsamick Vertues and middle Qualities or vegetative Vertue the longer that thing will keep sound this is manifest in all Spirits drawn from any Wines or other balsamick Liquors for this reason Beer that is boyled most will longest keep from turning sour or flat but still this is no Argument that it is therefore the best and wholsomest for the predominant Quality in all strong Beer especially if it be kept to be â—tale is of a fierce harsh Martial and Saturnine Heat of a hard greedy Nature which infects the blood with fretting eating Humours very prejudicial to Health also it generates the Stone not so much from the Hops which many accuse as the chief cause but for that the pure sweet body is in so great a measure destroyed in the boyling it to such an height that it might keep not but that the Hops do help to heat the body and cause the Stone and other Diseases but not purely and meerly as they are Hops but this comes to pass from the Preparation For Hops in their own Nature have no such operation to cause the Stone but altogether the contrary for Hops are of an opening cleansing Nature and they powerfully purge by Urine and make excellent Medicines against the Stone Dropsical Diseases but all their natural medicinal Vertues are destroyed in their being boyled in the Beer and then there remains in them chiefly the Martial harsh fiery Property which helps to preserve the Beer from growing flat or eager but it augments its heat and makes it of a harsher operation And as the boyling of Ale destroys the sweet cleansing purging Quality and causes it to evaporate just so it does by Hops and so much the more because in them the volatile Spirit stands as it were external for the Sun and Elements have exhaled the gross Phlegmy substance and thereby sets the spirituous at liberty only being close stuffed into bags preserves them from evaporating whilst there they continue but as soon as they come into the fierce boyling Liquor or Wort these essential Vertues and good Qualities are destroyed and flee away but still there remains the original strong bitter Quality which cannot be destroyed by boyling except they be annhilated for it is
the digestive Faculty of the Stomach dulls the edg and sharpness of the Appetite causes Sweating and a general weariness in the whole Body and disables it to perform all its Labours and Exercises The cause of so great Inconveniencies proceeds from warm Clothes c. which hinder the most friendly Element of the Air from penetrating the body whereby the Spirits become weak and fainty For as nothing hurts the Body more than hot sulpherous Airs so there can be nothing that does more cheer and refresh the Spirits than cold pleasant Airs which is known by every mans Experience 3dly Warm and close Houses c. are attended with these evil Effects the Air which is the Life of the Spirit is hindred from having its free egress and regress by the close drawing of the Window-Shutters Hangings and Curtains which suffocates the pure volatile spirit of the Air benums and stupifies the Senses and causes an Indisposition from external heat to possess the whole Body besides it is pernicious to the vital Spirits dulls the Appetite weakens the Stomach and depraves the senses of Tasting and the digestive Faculty 4thly Soft and Warm Beds with Curtains drawn before the Windows and about the Beds produce these following bad Consequences both to the body and mind the Air being as it were pen'd up becomes hot and sulpherous because the pure thin vapours and spirits thereof are suffocated and so consequently must needs be very injurous to them that lie thus in their Beds Moreover the Air cannot penetrate the Body and so being destitute of Motion the Stomach and natural Heat is deprived of its free operation and this is the Reason that Suppers are not so well digested but oftimes become Noxious causing an unnatural kind of Sleep creating an Aptitude in the external parts to glow with a burning and unnatural kind of Heat this ill custom is too frequently used by those who are sick but especially those that lie in Child-bed to whom often the consequence is more dangerous The Chambers of most sick People are kept so very close that it will disorder a Healthy Person to continue there three or four hours and if so what detriment then do you think must of necessity attend the sick by reason of such hot sulpherous Airs And indeed considering how low and weak their Spirits are nothing can be more hurtful to them than this is under these Circumstances For these pure thin vapours and spirits being destroyed by those sulpherous ones the poysonous and deadly Vapours are stirred up which have a powerful influence upon the Body by way of simile and wound the pure Spirits in the Body causing an unnatural Heat in all the external parts with a fainty kind of weakness This becomes as offensive as the Heat and Air which proceeds from Charcoal and is of the same nature and operation for in the making of Charcoal the pure Spirits in the Wood which is its true Life or that sweet Water or Oyl whence the Light hath its bright shining Quality is suffocated and in a manner destroyed for the Spirits are the Life of the Oyl and the Oyl is the house and pleasant habitation of the Spirits and in all Preparations where the one is destroyed the other dieth as in this of making of Wood into Charcoal where both the pleasant Qualities are destroyed the free Influences of the Air being hindered the Spirits and Oyl which are of a friendly nature and operation become thereby suffocated The fire that Wood sends forth has a bright shining Light its heat is friendly and refreshing but Charcoal tho it has the same Foundation and is Wood in the original yet these two friendly Qualities being destroyed and suffocated in the making thereof it comes to be of another nature and operation as if it had not been Wood. For these Reasons Charcoal will not flame nor give a bright light but its flames are of a sulpherous Colour for having lost its Moderator or friendly Life the original Poysons take place and its Fire becomes much stronger than that of Wood and the heat and fumes thereof burdensom to the pure Spirits of those that are near such Fires the dark wrathful Vapours do awaken their simile in the Body If this were rightly understood by a delicate sort of People in the World I am perswaded they would not fear every small blast of wind neither would they deprive themselves of the most pleasant and benign Influences of the Air which keeps the essential Spirits living in every Creature and is indeed the excellent support of the whole nature of all Beings giving to them Life and Vigour And therefore you dainty Dames that are so nice that you will not endure this pleasant Element to blow upon you unless it be in a hot and sulpherous day in which it has not half that power and vertue that it has in cooler Weather you I say who are so Curious do but consider a little seriously what is said and your own experience may convince you that there is nothing better than pure and clear Airs to cheer and comfort Nature and to make the Spirits brisk and lively Are there any more healthy than those whose Imployments and Exercises are in the open Air Are there any who can endure Labour with less Prejudice Are there any who are generally more Robust Any that have better and sharper Appetites than they Likewise those that use the Country-Air much enjoy in a great measure the abovementioned advantages It will be very convenient then to use a Medium in reference to Clothes Houses and Beds and of the two Coolness is much safer from ones Birth to the Grave than Heat both inwardly and outwardly Pleasant and gentle Airs shut the Pores that the Radical Moisture and Spirits cannot evaporate they strengthen Nature give an edg to the Appetite the thinner and meaner a man's Clothes are the stronger and brisker he is and his natural Heat and digestive faculty is also the stronger besides thin Clothing except in cold Weather makes People fitter for Labour and less burdensome preserves the natural Heat and keeps it more Central Therefore it is that all Creatures that are born and bred in cold Climates are stronger and better able to endure Hardship and toilsom Labour than those that live in hot Climates and are greater Eaters and Drinkers of Strong Food and Drinks for this cause most People in cold Countries are inclined to the Intemperances of Gluttony and Drunkenness more than in hot so great is the power and operation of open cold Air it does wonderfully strengthen Nature and nothing can be a greater injury to Health than for People to accustom themselves to Tenderness the more they do wear the more they may so that at last they may have need to carry their Beds on their backs for by degrees it weakens the Body and causes so great a tenderness that they find it very troublesom to have the fresh cool Air to blow upon
Flesh sparingly as most Nations do England excepted In France Spain and Portugal and other Countries a pound of Flesh with Herbs and Roots will make a Dinner for four or five People But an English man will eat at one Meal a Pound or two of fat Flesh and scarcely a bit of Bread with it there are but too many in this Nation that follow this dangerous and noxious custom Turnips being a very good and wholsom Root I recommend them to every Bodies use especially to those that eat Flesh plentifully I confess when they are eaten by themselves they afford but weak Nourishment and are a Phlegmatick kind of Food you must have a care what Ground you sow them in for all sorts of Ground will not bear good Turnips Doctors say that they are a Physical Root and an Antidote and Remedy against Consumptions and several other Diseases but I know no such Vertue in them yet they are good for weak Stomachs being easie of Concoction for always weak heats should have a proportionate quantity of Food And I cannot think as some imagin that they are so proper for languishing Diseases because they are of a watry cold Nature in themselves and do breed but unfirm Nourishment besides they seldom come to Maturity until the declining part of the Year viz. September and October c. at which time the central heat of the Earth being weak all its Productions are also weak and endowed with gross phlegmy and cold Juices for the Sun being in its Declension brings all things under the like Circumstance Therefore all things viz. Herbs and Roots which are brought forth in this Season are of a sainty and weak Nature neither are they so good for Food or Physick besides Roots are not so good in cold Countries as Fruits and Herbs are being generally more cold and earthy because they want the friendly Influences of the Sun and Air Therefore Roots have not that pleasant fragrant Smell and Taste which Herbs Fruits c. have But Turnips Potatoes c. that grow almost in the top and surface of the Earth are better than other Roots and more familiar to our Natures than such as grow deeper in the Ground because they participate more of the Influences both of the Air and Sun than the other when they are boyled in good Water and eaten with Butter Salt and Bread they are good food both for the Sick and the Healthy The Carrot is a Root next in Goodness and Vertue to this the best sort of them are those which are of the deepest Red Colour when they are eat in their proper season they are a pleasant wholsom Root which is from the Month of July to the Month of December or thereabout after that time they are not so wholsom especially those that are taken out of the Ground and kept all the Winter and Spring This Root being eaten presently after it is pulled up out of the Ground and when it is well ordered is not much inferiour to Turnips they being of an opening and cleansing Nature easie of Concoction and may with safety be eaten plentifully either without or with Flesh. The Colour of Carrots do declare that there is an excellent Vertue in them Next to this is a Parsnip which is a good hearty Root yet not so good a Friend to Nature as the other two for they are harder of Concoction and being eaten are much apter to create Obstructions in the Stomach and breed a grosser kind of Nourisâ—ment and consequently a thicker and grosser Blood It is not good to keep this Root above a day or two before 't is used for then they 'll prove dull upon the Pallat strong in their taste and smell heavy and hard of Digestion and this proceeds from the evaporation of the spirituous parts as well before as in their preparation for the Spirit is the Life of the oily body and the oily body is the House of the Spirit and the one cannot subsist without the other the eating of them immediately after they are plucked up out of the Ground must then be the fittest time That the Fruits Herbs and Grains which our own Climate produceth are more Natural and Proper to maintain Strength and preserve Health than those that come from other Countries especially from hot Every Country and Climate does by God's Divine Appointment and good Providence bring forth such Herbs Fruits and Grains as are proper and most agreeable to the Constitutions of the People born in that place both for Food and Physick as the Lord in the beginning did tell Adam That every green Herb and Seed should be for Food Do we not see that those that are born and bred in Spain or Italy and they that dwell in Turkey do differ much from us both in their Complexions Manners and also in their Customs every Country differing from another in their distinct Inclinations and Fashions according to the Nature of that place and the Elevation of the Pole they are under And as each Country has distinct Languages which cannot be understood by People born in other Climates so have they likewise different Constitutions Inclinations and Complexions their Herbs Fruits and Grains differing in their Quality and Operation These great differences both of Languages and of all other things that is between each Country is not caused by the Sea which divides each Country from another but from the differences of places for every Hundred Miles through the whole Universe the People differ and their Speech so that if a man Travel five Hundred Miles he shall not be capable to understand one Word of an Hundred Do we not see this in our own Country where those that live in the North cannot understand those of the West which is caused from the differing Elevations of the Pole and Influences of the Sun with concurring Constellations which also causes all other things to differ both in their Nature and Operations for this Reason one place is more famous than another in respect of divers things and if our own Country doth vary and differ so much in the compass of three or four hundred Miles what do those remote parts that are distant from us many thousand Miles as the East and West-Indies The People of those places in all particulars do much differ from us in their Complexions Constitutions Religions Inclinations Governments Shapes and Languages their Animals such as their Beasts Birds Fishes c. are all of them of a different Nature Shape and Form from ours so also are their Herbs Fruits and Grains both those that are proper for Food and also for Physick Do not the Northern cold Climates give all the beasts of the Field hardy Constitutions and Natures and warm Cloathing From whence come your brave thick Furs Do not the Creatures in cold Countries produce them And do not the Sheep in cold Climates afford abundance of strong Wool Whereas the Sheep in hot Countries produce but a little Wool and that which is very
boyled 4. Bread and Butter Bread and Cheese 5. Milk and ripe Fruits as Milk and Apples c. 6. Butter and several kinds of Pulses boyled 7. Bread with all sorts of Flesh fit to be eaten 8. Herbs and Flesh. 9. Roots and Flesh. 10. Bread and Eggs but Butter is but an improper Ingredient with Eggs. 11. Bread and Fish 12. Oyl and Fish for Butter is not so good Also Fish is wholsomer boyled in Water than prepared any other way I could nominate many more Mixtures but these are the most natural and agreeable to each other and most of them have mutual and friendly Aspects from their Radixes so that what variation these Ingredients do make 't is for the better they advancing each others Vertues If People could be perswaded to be moderate in Quantity and prefer such simple Viands and proper Mixtures in their food and drink and observe to prepare their Meat according to the Rules before specified most of those cruel Diseases now reigning and raging would be prevented There is abundance more in the observation of these things than the generality of People understand or imagin All that I desire of the Reader is that he would be so friendly to himself to make Tryal for no man can be truly sensible of the Evil of any thing except he separate himself from his Errors and tries the contrary Butchers Tallow-Chandlors Poulterers and many other offensive Trades perceive not those filthy Stinks and Fumes which Slaughter-houses Melting-houses c. send forth except they separate themselves for a while into a more pure and cleaner Air and then they become capable of distinguishing one from the other For the like Reason those that have accustomed themselves to unnatural and improper mixtures of Food or bad Preparations their Pallates and Stomachs are become One with such things and they can as little distinguish the pure natural Taste and Scents of Food from the contrary as the Trades-men afore-said can the noisom fumes of their own Shops and Work-houses There are many Thousands of brave finical Dames in this Nation that are so curious in their Houses and in whitening their Linnen that they themselves can hardly tell what will please them and yet after all they lie on Beds that do really stink worse than Common Houses of Office tho being used to them they do not smell it neither can they so great is the power of the Evil Nature and Custom And in these stinking Dunghills these delicate Madams spend two Thirds of their time and surely then 't is no marvel if they are afflicted with so many Diseases and Weaknesses for if they did commit no other Disorders or Intemperances this alone were sufficient to destroy their Health as I have at large demonstrated in my Discourse of the Generation of that pernicious Vermin called Buggs CHAP. IX The Reasons in Nature why Cities and great Towns are subject to the Pestilence and other Diseases more than Country-Villages The Excellency of Solitude and Advantages of a retir'd Country-Life THe Reasons are 1. That the Air which is the Essential Life of all material Beings is defiled by the Congregating of such Troops of People together whose very Breath is enough to make the Air thick hot and sulpherous 2. The Closeness of the Streets and Houses whereby the pleasant Influences and Salutiferous Breezes of Wind are obstructed which does condense the Air and render it thick and humid 3. The abundance of Smoke that the multitude of Chimnies send forth which is of a keen sharp sulpherous Quality that incorporating it self with the Air encreases its dullness and fills it more full of gross Humidity whence proceeds Stoppages and many Obstructions and Diseases of the Breast and the Blood becomes tainted with a sharp salt Humour that causes the Scurvey and a wearisom Indisposition throughout the whole Body 4. The great Number of Houses of Easement that breath and send forth their putrid Smells and Scents into the Air together with the various Uncleannesses that otherwise proceed from both Healthy and Diseased People together with the Washings and Cleansings of Houses and the fulsom Liquors Flesh and Fish have been boyled in mixed with other loathsom and filthy Excrements all which are continually exposed in the open Air and do wonderfully defile it not forgetting the Smoke Dust and Ashes of Sea-Coal where the same is used which is of a pernicious Nature 5. The vast Number of various sorts of Beasts and other Creatures that are by Droves daily slaughtered and no care taken but their Blood is exposed to the open Air and runs through the Kennels as if it were clean Water and no more notice taken of it whereas the same does not only send forth deadly Smells and pernicious Vapours but fills the Air with Revengeful Spirits which are inhal'd into the Bodies of Men and there stir up Smilies Add to this the great Numbers of stinking Trades which are in such places as Tallow-Chandlers Tanners Dressers of Leather Soap-Boylers c. All these gross Scents Fumes and evil Vapours that Cities are subject to especially great Cities and populous such as Lodon Paris c. their Nature being Saturnine and Martial proceeding from the gross fierce wrathful matter as deriv'd from things wherein the pure Spirituous parts and Balsamick Vertues are destroyed and totally suffocated so that there does remain nothing but the gross phlegmatick Body and poysonous Spirits whose Fumes incorporate themselves with their Similies in the Air and all the Elements and Stars where by a secret and sympathetical power they awaken by degrees the wrathful and poysonous Properties for every particular Quality in Nature has a Key in its self to open the Gates of its own Principle whence proceed Pestilential Airs according to the degree of the awakened Poysons and Wrath there being a certain sympathy between the Terrestrial Bodies and the Coelestial for all things both in Heaven and in Earth have but one only ground and flow from the two grand Principles viz. Good and Evil. For this cause when the original Poysons in Nature and wrathful Spirits are by the occasions before mentioned or any others stirred up that they overcome the pure Vertues they powerfully penetrate all Elements and Bodies and wheresoever they find matter capable or disposed to receive them incorporate themselves and with highest diligence endeavour to destroy the good Vertues and thence arise evil Airs and various Diseases which suddenly seize the Bodies of Men. And this Nature doth not only in the Evil but also in the Good but not in a sensible way but in a Natural by Likenesses where things agree in Number Weight and Measure there they powerfully incorporate and rejoyce and cast out their Contraries A pregnant Example of this we have in Sounds if two Instruments of one sort be turned to an equal pitch strike one of the Strings and the same String on the other Instrument will shake or tremble this I have done my self and also seen it
in Men to awaken and attract their good or evil Nature as well as there is in the Coelestials to alter or change Mens Bodies and Minds This many of the Philosophical Ancients have consented to and most Astrologers are of the same Opinion The Calculators of Nativities find by their daily Experience that Vitiousness and Intemperance in the Natives Life not only cause a very malignant Configuration of the Coelestial Bodies to take place and have its Effects but also he that lives Intemperately is always in danger and subject to the male Aspects of the Superiors Whereas on the contrary it is most true that a Wise Man that is temperate just and circumspect may rule his own Stars But when Persons give themselves to Inordinate Living near or about such times as the Heavens threaten them with evil Aspects Transits or Directions then such disastrous Influences powerfully take place For this very reason Men are often insnared and drawn away to many Inconveniences before they are sensible of it for the wrathful unclean Nature having been by degrees awakened and strengthened by its simile either in Meats Drinks Imployments or Communications for every Property must have such Food as hath affinity therewith or else it cannot increase nor be brought into Manifestation but without it it languishes and becomes impotent in its Operation the Person so offending is thereby subjected to all the malignant Configurations of the Coelestial and Terrestrial Bodies Yet if such an one shall turn to the Lord by Prayer and abstain from the Evil Courses of this Life he presently destroys and weakens that threatning Malignity and this sober and temperate Life will by simpathy strengthen the Spirit of Wisdom and Undestanding If this were well understood there would be more Care and Diligence used both in particular and general as to outward and inward Cleanness than there is For in great Cities and Towns especially there are many Superfluities and Uncleannesses committed against God and Nature and therefore such places above others do suffer many Inconveniences The unclean Vapours and evil Spirits that do arise from Blood and other Excrements do not only awaken the Wrath in the Elements and Stars and draw down their evil Influences but incorporate with the common Air and defile it which being so corrupted nothing is more Injurious and Pernicious to the health of the Body and also to the Mind for outward Uncleannesses do naturally and powerfully attract the evil Power both Externally and Internally because all such pernicious Scents and Smells do arise and proceed from the poysonous Root and so bear a near affinity to the evil Angels and Spirits and do naturally attract them So when the Elements are disturbed by malignant Configurations and Aspects as in great Tempests of Thunder and Lightning and the like the evil Spirits and Angels are very busie and appear almost externally for by those malignant Configurations the Wrath in the outward Nature is violently excited and the same being predominant in the evil Angels they at such times become more apt and powerful to do mischief External Uncleanness does not only pollute the Body and Senses but also the Soul and Spirits for which cause some of the wise Ancients would not wear any Woolen Garments because they are made of the Excrements of Beasts And indeed all Hair and Wool does contain a gross fulsom impure Nature but it lies so hidden that it cannot be perceived unless it be set on Fire and then it manifests it self by its filthy offensive scent For the same Reason some of the Philosophers lived retired nay many of the Holy Men and Prophets of Old as the Scriptures testifie when the Spirit of the Lord was in a more than ordinary degree upon them and pleased to give them Visions and make known his Will unto them did with-draw themselves from Towns and Cities and from the Multitudes of People into the open clear Air in Fields Woods Mountains or by the most pleasant Rivers and Fountain of Water And our blessed Saviour Christ himself did often practise such Retreats when he made his earnest Supplication and Prayers to the Father Few do understand or imagin the manifold Benefits unfrequented places and clean pure Airs afford both to Body and Mind the Senses and Intellectuals of well disposed Men being free from those Uncleannesses Cities and Towns are subject to both External and Internal for in those loansom places the common Air is pure thin and clear free from those fulsom Vapours Scents and gross Smells which Cities are subject to and free from those varieties of Cursing Swearing and Multitudes of vain and impious Discourses which all places are liable unto where Rabbles reside and which wonderfully awakens the Internal Wrath and gives many Advantages to the evil Angels and Spirits to work their vile Purposes But on the contrary in open serene Airs as in Fields Mountains and by River-sides and Woods there is no such Tumults no stabbing of Heaven with dreadful Oathes horrid Curses and frightful Execrations no banishing of Temperance with drunken Healths and roaring Huzza's no fulsom fumes of Tobacco nor viler Steams of detestable Brothel-houses to infect the chaste Air no Plays or vain Games no Mistressing nor Revelling to spend precious time no clattering of Coaches Drums Fools Fidlers c. that make such a continual Din that a Man can hardly call his Ears his own But on the contrary all is sedate and serene still as the voice of good Spirits and quiet as the Birth of Flowers no noise to be heard but the ravishing Harmony of the Wood-Musitians and the innocent Lowings of Cows and Neighings of Horses and Bleating of the pretty Lambs or the like natural Tones wherein there is nothing of disturbance or danger because nothing of Evil but every thing praising the Creator according to the Capacity and Nature of each Here it was in these and the like places that the good Angels of the Lord appeared unto the Sons of Wisdom and taught them the true Knowledge of God and the Nature of things and shewed them what should come to pass in future times And whoever will obtain the true apprehension of God of Nature and of himself must be separated and chuse sometimes to sequester himself from the Tumults Confusions and Distractions of the publick World and Crowds of the chaffering and busling Rabble Besides all this Cities for the Reasons aforesaid are more liable to contagious Diseases And because the Nature of Infection and how it is spread and how to be avoided is very little or scarce at all understood we shall in the next place address our selves to discourse thereof CHAP. X. Of Infection or catching Diseases and how they are transferred from one to another and that all Diseases are Catching THE learned Moses whom the Lord inspired with divine and humane Wisdom commanded that none should sit on the Saddles lie on the Bed nor wear the Cloathes of the distempered which if any did they should
such places like standing Water in a Pond in the heat of Summer corrupts and becomes thick and humid which dulls the edg of the Appetite weakens the natural Heat and the Functions of the Stomach besides much sitting by Fires and in hot Rooms draws forth and destroys the pure thin moist Vapours and Volatile Spirits opens the Pores and makes all the Body tender so that such People do not only become uneasie and indisposed but subject to the Inconveniencies of catching Colds if they do but step into the open Air. Likewise moderate Cloathing is very commendable as to Health for much or thick Cloaths are apt to heat and tire Nature and either hinder Exercises or make them burthensom put the external parts into an unpleasant Heat and hinder the cool refreshing Vapours from penetrating into and relieving the Body Therefore those that use themselves to a mean in Cloathing have better Appetites and longer Breath'd stronger and not so apt to recieve Injuries by every small accident as those that inure themselves to very warm Cloathes hot Houses an idle soft Life and the like Effeminacies 8. Women ought not to lie too long in Bed as most of them that are of any Quality or Ability do their Beds being for the most part of Feathers which are soft hot and sulpherous with Curtains drawn close before the Windows and about the Bed whereby the imprisoned Air hindred from its free Circulation stagnates or corrupts and this too is very Prejudicial to their young Children whose Heats are weak and Spirits tender often causing Fevers and Convulsions especially when other Intemperances concur Besides this soaking so long in your Bed weakens all the Members especially the Back which is a principal part and the Body being kept hot and lying long without Motion hinders the Actions of the Stomach impairing so much its due Heat that Nature wants Fire for Kitchinwork I mean is not able to make a profitable concoction or separation of the Food so that great part of it turns to gross phlegmatick Juices for which very cause many Women are stupid weak feeble and presently tired and out of Breath if they do but use any kind of Exercises and hereby their Travel in Child-bearing is ten-fold more burthensom than otherwise it would be witness many ordinary Country People who have nothing the trouble at such times as our fine lazy sluggabed-Dames Besides as I have already observed elsewhere Feather-Beds are ponderous close Substances in their own Nature unclean and lying several Years in Corners or the closest parts of Rooms seldom exposed to the open Air they contract abundance of gross humidity and the various diseased People which lie and sometimes dye on them leave behind contagious Effluviums and venomous Particles lurking perhaps for an Age and not drawn forth till a Person happens to lie on them whose Similes awaken them For Beds are continued from Generation to Generation and not throughly cleansed once in twenty or thirty Years and so become very prejudicial to all sorts of People but especially to Women who spend two thirds of their time in them and also to their Children whose Natures are weak and tender and consequently apt to receive every evil Scent and Vapour which such Beds do plentifully send forth which in many Constitutions by way of the Fores penetrate all parts and wound the Spirits and by degrees weaken and destroy the Health If Women were sensible of the Mischiefs attending their indulging themselves thus in their stinking Nests every day almost till Noon they would surely be ashamed of and detest their own Sloth and Folly therein 9. Women in time of their Month or Lying-in are for the most part through hard Travail and many natural Weaknesses and other Diseases brought very low and their Spirits weak and but few Now in this low condition their Nurses do as it were force such great quantities of sweet strong Suppings on them even against Nature or more than Nature can bear for the Nurse and Mistress do both foolishly imagin that there is no other way for Nature to be restored but by great quantities of strong virtuous Food never remembring the Rule That Nature ought always to be stronger than the Food and not the Food stronger than Nature Also they make them drink and eat such Foods as hot as possible they can crying Mistress if you do not eat it whilst 't is hot 't will be worth nothing When in truth she gives it her so hot that 't is worse than nothing Also many of them will boyl Ale or Beer with Oat-meal and Spice till it becomes thick and then add store of Sugar which ought not to be because no fermented Liquor will endure a second preparation without a total destruction to the pure Spirits and balsamick Vertues as I have demonstrated at large in another place Therefore the Oat-meal and Water ought to be boyled first and briskly not too long and then add a like quantity of Beer Ale or Wine as you please and set it on the Fire and let it be made boyling-hot but not boyl and then take it off the Fire and scum the gross phlegmy part off which swims on the top and let it stand till it be about as warm as your Blood and then you may drink it with safety but always remember that the quantity be not too great nor the quality too strong for Nature your best time to put in your Spice is with your Ale Beer or Wine but let it be bruised and make but a little at a time so that you may have it fresh and fresh for heating such Foods and most others a second or third time does destroy the brisk lively spirituous parts and renders them dull heavy hard of Concoction and not so pleasant to the Pallat. 10. Most Women that have where-withal do inrich their Food and Drinks with so many forreign Ingredients as do not only make them too rich and consequently generate too much Nourishment but also intice the Pallat to receive more than is needful whereby the natural Heat and Stomach is over-charged and the Vessels stretcht beyond their proper and natural Proportions so the Body swells and becomes uneasie and Wind in abundance generated Nor do such after eating and drinking find themselves Refreshed which is the Intention of Food but on the contrary are more disordered through fullness than they were before with hunger Therefore it concerns all especially such as have but weak Spirits and Heats not to exceed either in quantity or quality but administer proportionable Food that the natural Heat and Stomach be not put to any difficulty to digest and concoct it so the pure Spirits shall thereby be preserved free from Oppressions For all Health and Joy consist in the goodness of the natural Spirits it being a grand Mistake in most who think to recover lost strength by over-rich Food strong Cordial Drinks and great quantities for they but add a second charge and inconveniency to
their Mault to be put in too hot when your Water is thus hot then take it off the Fire and put what Herbs Seeds or other Ingredients you please and let them lie in it about an hour and then strain your Liquor from the Herbs c. and let it stand until it be throughly cold then add to it either Ale Beer White or Rhenish-wine or any other Wine you shall think most convenient for your particular use so as to make it either strong or weak as you please and then sweeten it with good Sugar but if you would sweeten it with Spanish Fruits then you are to add the Fruit bruised at the same time as you put the Herbs into the Liquor and let them infuse together and it will do very well and when it is strained and cold add your Wine as aforesaid and put it into Bottles for your use and it will keep 2 3 4 5 6 7 or 8 weeks or more as you make it in strength and drink very pleasant and delightful being endued with all the good Virtues of the Ingredients Physical Decoctions made after this manner will be as welcome to the Pallates and Stomachs of the Sick as good Wine Beer or Ale for there will be no sick fainty gross strong taste nor smell in them as there always is in those made after the common way for all sorts of Beer Ale and Wines have already passed through Fermentation and Digestions which have opened the gross Body of Phlegm whereby the spirituous parts are set at liberty or become Volatile and External so that such Liquors or fermented Drinks will not admit of any other or further Preparation especially by Fire for so soon as they approach it the said Volatile Spirits become either evaporated or suffocated and then presently the sweet Balsamick Body dieth and turneth of an evil sower heavy taste and smell and of a dead heavy Nature and Operation having in it neither true Virtue nor Power therefore the Learned have no reason to oppose me in this Particular for let us both appeal to Experience Take you the best Beer Ale or Wine and warm or boyl it and let it stand till 't is cold and then tell me what 't is good for Verily for as much as Salt is when it hath lost its Savour Nay will not the very standing of such fermental Liquors open to the Air cause the spirituous parts to evaporate and the sweet Body to die and become sower and eager It is therefore no Paradox but a Natural Truth that the boyling of Herbs Seeds c. in Beer Ale or Wine does totally destroy both their Natural and Physical Vertues and such Decoctions are a meer loathing to Nature a Death instead of Life In making of Posset-drink you are to observe when your Milk boyls to turn it with Ale Beer or Wine then strain it and set it again upon the Fire and make it boyling hot but let it not boyl then take it off and add what Herbs Seeds or Flowers you please but if Seeds they must be bruised and let them infuse half a quarter of an hour or thereabouts and then strain it and your Posset-drink will taste and smell and retain the pure essential Virtues and lively Tinctures which the Herbs Seeds or other Ingredients were endued with and be an hundred times more pleasant to the Pallate and agreeable to the Stomach and also much more beneficial against the Disease such Ingredients are appropriated unto than those commonly made wherein the Ingredients are boyled Try and then judge It is to be noted That all sorts of Cordials that are compounded with various sorts of Distilled-waters and Syrups or with Strong-Water as that they call Epidemick-water are an abomination to Nature even in perfect Health when the Pallate and Stomach are strong sharp and powerful and what are they then to weak sick People and Languishing Natures For first the Natural Physical Vertues are destroyed by ill management and unnatural Preparation of each Ingredient before they are mixt And secondly the jumbling together such various things most of which are of contrary and disagreeing Natures is sufficient to destroy the good Virtues of the best of things and therefore 't is certain such Medicines and Cordials have not power to help or cure the least of Distempers not but many thousands after taking great quantities of their Slops may recover and then many people slander the Doctor with a Cure and ascribe to his Medicines mighty Virtues whereof indeed neither the one nor the other was ever guilty They have just cause rather to acknowledge the divine hand of God and his Hand-maid Nature and thereunto attribute the Recovery of their Health and not to those sick fainty Medicaments which generally do abundance more hurt than good Likewise their Epidemick-water is in its own Nature of a fierce hot Quality and Operation and tho it be made of the best of Wine viz. Sack yet the Limbeck does totally destroy its pure volatile spirits and balsamick virtues and also the Opening Cleansing Quality of all the Herbs or Drugs that are distilled with such Liquors or Wine so that there does remain or run off only a strong sulpherous brandish Spirit that has no other Operation than Common-Brandy or Spirit of Wine 'T is true they do allay this hot fiery Nature and Quality by adding to it Sugar or the like which renders it more tolerable to the Pallate and Stomach but the Operation is the very same as Brandy sweetned or any other Spirits If a strong healthy person should be confined to the Cordials Iulips daubing Electuaries and great number of sick Potions boyled Drinks and variety of sweet Slops and nothing more hurts and obstructs the Stomach than sweet things to the close Rooms lusty Fires drawn Curtains and other torturing Circumstances wherewith Doctors and Nurses torment those whose Nature is already wounded and languishing it would no doubt in a very short time destroy the Health of the strongest of men Therefore I would have every Intelligible Person consider the same and the Reasons of things and not be led away by Ignorant Sots who are meer Pretenders and not Physicians for Physicians ought 1st to be born with a Natural Genius and suitable Gifts rendring them capable of understanding natural things 2ly They ought to apply themselves to the Knowledge of God Nature and Themselves 3ly They ought to apply themselves to the Oracle of God in themselves to be taught by the Voice of Wisdom which crys in the Gates of every mans City For he that has not Eyes of his own and Understanding of his own tho he be the greatest of Scholars in outward Learning can never distinguish between Good and Evil but is always uncertain and all his Administrations as vain and presumptuous as a blind mans Judgment is of Colours 4ly They ought to have the fear of the Lord which is the beginning of wisdom always before their Eyes and not make Money and
at first it will send forth a strong fulsome musty Steam or Fume And if this will do so what will Feathers do that in the Boot of Nature are unclean fulsom Excrements of a hot strong Quality Therefore they have the greater power not only to attract and suck into themselves the fulsom Excrements that are breathed forth of the Body by Sweatings and the like but they have also power to retain such evil Vapours and when others come to lye on them and are throughly hot it awakens those pernicious Steams which often bring many Inconveniencies on the Body Besides it is very unpleasant to lye in such Beds a Man must always be forced to keep his Nose above-board Indeed each Mans own Bed does not stink or smell strong to himself because he is accustomed to it neither does a Tallow-Chandler smell those horrible Scents and pernicious Fumes that old Tallow sends forth when it is melted But let any other Person that is not accustomed to it be near such things and it will be very offensive to him Even so it is in all other stinking Trades and things of this nature so that the greatest Slut in the World does hardly smell her own House or Bed stink For in Man is contained the true Nature and Property of all things both of Good and Evil therefore he is both liable and also apt to receive all Impressions and to be wrought on by all things he shall either communicate with or joyn himself to whether it be Cleanness or the contrary Also by Meats Drinks and Communication all things have power by a Sympathetical Operation to work on Man because he is like unto all bearing a proportionable Nature unto all things If People did understand this they would prefer Sobriety and Temperance with Cleanness far beyond what they do and then Men would not be subject to so many Diseases as now they are 9. Heat and Moisture is the Root of all Putrefaction and therefore Bugs are bred in Summer but they live all the Winter tho they are not then so troublesome They harbour in Bedsteads Holes and Hangings Nitting and breeding as Lice do in Cloaths But all Men know that Woollen and Linnen are not the Element of Lice but they are bred from the fulsome Scents and Excrements that are breathed forth from the Body The very same Radix have Bugs and if there be any difference they are from a higher Putrefaction and therefore they are a more noisome stinking Creature Several Receipts to destroy Bugs and Fleas TAke a convenient quantity of unslaked Lime and put it into some Water and let it stand three or four days then pour off your Water and add to it a quantity of common Salt more or less as you think good but the stronger the Water is made both of Lime and Salt the better it will perform the Cure then take this Liquor and wash the Floor and the Sides of the Wall and the Bedstead very well two or three times a Week for a Month or two together not forgetting to give your Room as much Air as you can by setting your Windows open most part of the day this Liquor will destroy both Bugs and Fleas if other Circumstances of good Housewifery and Cleanness be observed Another Take Colliquinto Seeds a sufficient quantity to make Water strong boyl them one quarter of an hour in Water and wash the Walls Floot and Bedstead with this Water two or three times in a Week in the hottest Season for a Month or as you see occasion This will also prevent the breeding both of Bugs and Fleas But do not forget to let into your Rooms your Friend the Air. Another Take Wormwood in its proper Season dry it according to our Directions and slip it from the stalks and put it into White Paper Bags made flat and prick Holes in them to let the Fumes out and put some of these Bags between your Bed and the Sacking Mats or Boards and some of them under your Boulster and also under your Bed on the Floor and some of the same Wormwood loose on the Tester of your Bed The Fumes and Scents of this Herb doth not only prevent the Generation of all kinds of Vermin but it makes the Air of such Rooms where it lies wholsome Another Take Wormwood and Rue a good quantity boyl them a quarter of an hour in Water then take common Salt and add to this Water what quantity you please the stronger the better then wash the Sides of the Wall Floor and Bedstead with this Water two or three times a Week and it will kill both Bugs and Fleas Another Take the Rinds or Outsides of Green Wall-nuts bruise them and steep them in Water three or four days and wash your Rooms and Bedstead with it two or three times a Week and it will work the same effect Another Take Wormwood and Mustard-Seed bruised boyl them in Water a quarter of an hour then add Salt to the Water and wash the Wall Floor and Bedstead with it which will prevent the Generation of all kinds of Vermin if the sweet Influences of the Sun and Air be not prevented Another Take the Lees of Sope after you have done washing and boyl Onions in it then add a little Salt to it and wash your Room and Bedstead with it Another Take strong Vinegar and mix some Salt to it and sprinkle your Room this doth not only prevent and kill Bugs and Fleas but it is otherways wholsome A Fume Take Brimstone and burn it on a Chafing-dish of Coles in the middle of your Room but remember to shut your Windows this do two or three times a Week or as often as you please the oftner you do it the sooner will the Cure be performed Another Take three or four Ounces of Genny-Pepper more or less burn it on a Chafing-dish of Coles in the middle of your Chamber shut your Windows and Doors and go out or else it will serve you as it will the Bugs and Fleas If you do thus two or three times a Week for a Month or two in the hot Seasons it will destroy all kind of Vermin in the bud Another To conclude There is nothing better to prevent the Generation of Bugs and Fleas and to keep your Bed sweet than every Morning when you rise to set open your Windows and lay open your Bed-cloths and so let it continue four or five hours in which time the excrementitious Fumes and gross humid Steems which the Body breathed forth in the foregoing Night will Evaporate by the help of the Air this is a very good way to keep the Bed sweet and to prevent the breeding of Vermin it being impossible for any to keep their Bed sweet if they do not more or less observe this Rule CHAP. XVIII A short Discourse of the Pain in the Teeth shewing from what Cause it does chiefly proceed and how to prevent it THe terrible Pains and Diseases of the Teeth do chiefly