the Sun than by copulation and if by this latter whether they come of Egs or come forth living SECT III. CHAP. XVI NOw touching such Creatures as we termed Gliding Gliding Animals those may properly be said to be such which having no Feet at all do yet move and as it were slide from place to place some more slowly but other some with a certain Volubility and flexible Agitation of the Body do make their speedy way upon the Earth with many pliant Bowings and of these also some have for coverture their Skin onely some both Skin and Shell also of the Former sort are those now following with their like To the four-footed Egge-breeding Animals do the Serpents come very nigh as also other Reptiles For all Serpents have blood flesh sinewes and other like parts as four-footed Animals have although not in that perfection that they have them They are indowed also with head nostrils eyes tongue teeth and with lights and spleen and other inward parts and bowels of the body but much discrepant from the members and bowels of all others Notwithstanding that Serpents are farre unequall to four-footed Animals both in shape and strength yet will they not give place to many of them for sharpnesse of wit It is a creature full of subtilty as Moses testifieth Gen. 3. And the Serpent was more subtill then any beast of the field for besides his exterior senses he is crafty and and subtill in preserving his life in making choice of his lurking dens in acquiring his food in hatching up his brood in expelling from him and putting off his old slowgh So that for good cause did our Saviour exhort us in goodnesse to imitate the wisdome of the Serpent Animals as have both skin and shell These few examples may serve instead of many which might be brought of Serpents of sundry other names and natures which all are hitherto to be referred Now let us see one example of such Gliding or Sliding Animals as are more slow-paced and have both Skin and Shell to cover them of which number is the Snaile reckoned of all other that are borne in Coat-Armour the slowest and no marvell sith it carrieth on her back no lesse a burden than her whole house for which cause she is called Tardigrada Domiporta the slow-going House-bearer SECT III. CHAP. XIX Animals living above the earth A Second general member of our division of living Creatures concerning such as live above the Earth in the Aire as are the Fowles and Birds of all sorts and as we distinguished the former by their Feet so the same Method we will follow in these Their Feet therefore are in some whole or conjoyned in others divided the whole-footed do in a sort resemble the Palme of a mans hand and are therefore in Latine called Palmipedes such as the Swan Whole-footed what Goose Duck and for the most part all River Fowles as partly shall appear hereafter by Examples But here I hold it necessary entring into this Discourse to set down some general Rules or Notes concerning the Bearing of Birds or Fowles Fowles more worthy than Fishes that the Reader may know whither to resort for a resolution of such doubts as may arise touching their bearing Fowles or Birds are of more worthy Bearing in Coat-Armour than Fishes because they do more participate of Aire and Fire the two noblest and highest Elements than of Water or Earth All Fowles of whatsoever kind must be borne in Coat-armour as is best fitting the propriety of their naturall actions of going sitting standing stying c. Rule generall Otherwise such Armorie shall be said to be false because Ars imitatur naturam in quantum potest Art as much as possible it can doth imitate nature All Birds are mustered under the name of Fowles as under their Genus or Generall and so may seem after a sort to be one Neverthelesse in their Species Different qualities of Fowles or severall kinds they differ much touching their particular qualities for some of them are simple some others subtill some solitarie some sociable some melodious some articulate some docible some doltish and indocible some of long continuance and some onely of a few months lasting Leigh saith that Birds in an Escocheon shall be numbred unto Tenne and if they exceed that number Numbring of Fowles in Armes then they shall be said to be sans number and shall be so Blazoned but Chassaneus saith that they shall be numbred unto sixteen and of such Bearing and Blazoning he giveth instances of Monsieur Montmorancie and of the Lord Lovale Concerning the Beaks or Bills and Feet of Birds most Armorists finding them to be of a different colour from the rest of the body do term them all generally membred But under reformation of the skill I hold that as there is a difference in the Nobility of Birds so ought they to have distinct terms of blazon so that all those that either are whole-footed or have their feet divided and yet have no Tallons should be termed membred But the Cock and also all Birds of prey should be termed in Blazon Armed for as much as nature hath assigned the Cock being a Bird much addicted to battle spurs and to the birds of prey sharp and hooked Beaks and Tallons The Cock and Fowles of prey termed Armed not onely for encounter and defence but also to seize upon gripe and rend their prey and are to them as teeth and clawes unto Lyons Tigers and other fierce beasts Similium enim similis est ratio Where the things are like the reason is like It is generally observed that amongst Fowles of Prey The Female of fowles of prey hardiest the Female is the noblest and most hardie which Nature did so provide because besides her own sustenance the care of feeding her young doth especially lye on the Female and therefore if she should be timorous or cowardly she should not be able to provide food for her self and them Such Fowles saith Vpton as either in respect of their uniformity do never change colour naturally or by nature are diversly coloured shall be onely named in Blazon and no mention at all made of their Colours but shall be termed Proper unlesse they either in part or in whole be borne of some other Colour than is Naturall to them In the Blazoning of Fowles much exercised in flight if their Wings be not displaied they shall be said to be borne close as he Beareth an Eagle Falcon Swallow c. Close As in other fore-mentioned Creatures so in Fowles also besides the whole bearing the Parts or Members are also usually borne in Coat-armour as the Heads Wings Feathers and Legs and both Couping and Erasing are as incident unto the parts of Fowles as of those Terrestrials as by Examples following shall appear wherein I will first begin with River Fowles which for the most part are Whole-footed using neither Curiousnesse in their form of Placing or
be and are borne In upon or with Chiefe Pale Bend Fesse Cheuron Bar Gyronne Crosse Saltire Orle. or one common Charge Rule in upon or with another This Generall rule I have thought good to set downe in this place The use of the generall rule here being my first entrance into the handling of common charges and where their mixt bearing with Ordinaries is first mentioned to the end that the same may serve as the sterne of a Ship to direct your understanding touching such interposed bearing of any of the Common charges with Ordinaries because I labour to shun all idle iterations and multiplicity of unprofitable examples tending to one and the same end This form of bearing shall you find dispersedly yet not confusedly exemplifyed in this work that will give approbation to the generality of this note which doth not warrant this form of bearing alone in these but also generally in all other Coat-Armours of like kind Of these severall forms of bearing I have chosen some particular examples as in these next Escocheons and others shall follow in their proper places The Stars may signifie unto us Ordinaries called most worthy partitions a hopefull successe and happy event in the turbulent time of Tempestuous flawes and turmoiles of this present life Like as in the Winter season the Starres shine more clear and resplendent than in the Summer time even so is the glory and vertue of a generous and magnanimous spirit more evidently discerned in a shattered and broken estate than in prosperity Whensoever there is a separation of common charges borne in Coat-Armours by reason of the Interposition of some of the before mentioned Ordinaries then are they not termed Ordinaries but most worthy Partitions and they are such saith Leigh as though the common charge annexed do occupy more than one point of the Escocheon yet every of them is in as great effect as though it were one onely thing by the reason of Soveraignty of the same Partition interposed Thus I have given you a taste of the Particular and Variable manner of bearing of Ordinaries commixt with common charges according to the Generall rule formerly given As for example that common charges are borne with Ordinaries you may see in the first and third of these six Escocheons that they be borne upon Ordinaries it is manifest by the second Escocheon that they are parted by Ordinaries interposed betweene them it appeareth by these last Escocheons that they are borne in forme of Ordinaries or Ordinary wayes it is clear by the fourth Escocheon Note Note that albeit I have here set downe but one example of each of these particular forms of bearing yet must you hold that in every of these severall sorts there are divers other particular kinds of composition of Coat-Armours as shall appeare hereafter at large unto the diligent observer Furthermore whereas I have given onely two examples of Common charges borne with Ordinaries one example of Ordinaries charged upon one of Ordinaries interposed and one of common charges borne Ordinary-waies or in forme of Ordinaries you must understand by the first sort all common charges whatsoever borne with a Pale Bend Fesse Cheueron or any other of the Ordinaries before named in any sort by the second all sorts of Ordinaries charged upon with any kind of common charge by the third an interposition of whatsoever sort of Ordinary betweene common charges lastly by the fourth you must understand all sorts of common charges born in forme or after the manner of a Crosse Saltire Pale Bend Fesse or of any other of the said Ordinaries These have I here handled briefly because I must of necessity deale more copiously in each particular of them in places better fitting thereunto SECT III. CHAP. III. THus farre of such Starres which we called fixed Now of those Planets whose shapes are of most use in Heraldry The aspect of the Planets is lesse to the view I meane those two glorious Lights the one for the Day the other for the Night for as for the other five planets because their aspect is lesse to the view therefore they cannot easily admit a different form from the fixed Stars The Sun is the very fountain of Light and as some Philosophers think of Heat also and all the splendor which the Moone hath it borroweth from the Sun and therefore as the Sun goeth further off or neerer to her so her light doth increase or diminish The borrowed light of the Moon Conformity of planets with Planets And betweene both these and the Stars there is a great conformity in respect of their sparkling and resplendent beames which are in appearance more evident and in operation more effectuall or at least more palpably discerned in these by reason of their neerenesse unto us than of those that are from us so far remote But herein they are unlike that the beautifull and blazing brightnesse of these is oftentimes subject to the passion of darkning or eclipsing Of whose glistering eclipsing and variety of forms we have bearing these and other like examples following Witty morall Which occasioned a witty Morall related by Plutarch as I thinke how on a time the Moon sent for a Taylor to make her a Gown but he could never fit her for it was ever either too little or too bigge for her which was not the Tailors fault but her owne inconstancie so impossible a thing it is to fit the humours of one that is fickle and unstable Sometimes you shall finde all these severall kinds of Lights before expressed borne together in one Escocheon as in example The other sort of Stars that do shine after a diverse sort are those that we call comets or Blazing-stars whose Form is commonly as in this next Escocheon is represented SECT III. CHAP. IV. Inconstant natures SO much of the first Member of the distribution before delivered viz. of Constant essences which are onely those Celestial creatures which being void of this corrupt mixture that is found in all creatures Sublunar have a priviledge by divine appointment from the mutability whereto all things under the Moon are subject Now come we to that other member thereof Inconstant natures what namely such as are Inconstant natures so far forth as there is use of them in Armes Inconstant natures are bodily Essences of small continuance by reason of their ignoble or base substance such are the four Elements viz. Fire Aire Water and Earth Fire Winters treasure Water Sommers pleasure But the Earth and Aire none can ever spare Elements what Elements are simple essences of small stability and the wombe of all mixt things as Scribonius noteth and according to some Authors called Elementa ab alendo of nourishing but Saint Hierom calleth Elementa quasi Elevamenta for their proportionable mixture in the composition of the bodies sublunar whereby they are made fit for motion of these Elements these examples next following have a representation Fire in the
Scriptures is often taken for a speciall token of Gods favour and that he is pleased with the Sacrifices that are done unto him as when he answereth as it were by Fire like as we read Judges 6.21 Then the Angell of the Lord put out the end of his staffe thâ—t he held in his hand and touched the flesh and unleavened bread and there arose up Fire out of the stones and consumed the flesh and unleavened bread c. And as when Eliah contended with the Prophets of Baal touching the manifestation of the true God Then the Fire of the Lord fell and consumed the burnt Offerings and the wood and the stones and the dust and licked up the water that was in the trench 1 Kings 18.38 And again when Solomon had made an end of praying Fire came down from Heaven and consumed the burnt offerings and the Sacrifices and the glory of the Lord filled the House 2 Chro. 7.1 The Cheuron being as we before have said a memoriall and token of building it may seem the Heralds were not well advised to put Flames of fire so near it but it is no inforced conjecture to suppose that this Coat-Armour was first given to him who had restored some publick edifice which Fire had consumed This next ensuing hath also a resemblance with it Fresh and sweet Waters are reckoned amongst Gods peculiar blessings promised to the observers of his Lawes and those of chiefest ranke For the Lord thy God bringeth thee into a good land a land in the which are Rivers of Waters Fountaines and depths that spring cut of the Valleyes and mountaines Levit. 26.7 SECT III. CHAP. V. HAving shewed by particular examples the bearing of simple essences Natures of mixt kind or at the least of such things as have a mutuall participation of qualities with them I will now proceed to the handling of the next member of the Distribution which comprehendeth Essences or Natures of Mixt kindes Such are Brute or without life Living By Brute natures I understand all Essences whatsoever of mixt kinde that are meerely void of life Such are Meteors Meteors unperfect which are unperfect kindes of mixture which by their strang apparitions doe move their beholders to an admiration and these are called Corpora sublimia Corpora sublimia because they are ingendred aloft in the Aierie Region The matter whereof these Meteors are ingendred is a certain attracted fume drawne up on high by the operation of the Sunne and Starres This fume or smoake is Vapour Exhalation Vapour is a moist kinde of fume extracted chiefely out of the water and therefore is easily dissolved againe thereinto and hence are watery Meators Vapour what Exhalation is a drier kinde of fume attracted up from the earth and apt to be inflamed and they are fierie Meteors There are also other Meteors formed of a mixture of both these fumes Fierie Meteors are formes consisting of hot Exhalations attracted into the Aiery Region having a hot quality which at length breaketh into a Fire Fierie meteors what And of these are Simple Mixt. Simple firie Meteors are of divers sorts and different forms whereof there is little use in Coat-Armour except of the falling Starre Meteors of divers sorts which of Blazoners is termed a Mullet which is an Exhalation inflamed above in the Aire and stricken back with a Cloud wherby it is forced to runne downwards in such sort that to the ignorant a Starre seemeth to fall There is oftentimes found upon the earth a certaine gelly fallen from above and dispersed into divers points which of many is taken to be the substance of the falling Star or Mullet Divers bearing of Mullets Note that such Mullets borne in Coat-Armour are now most usually of five points but anciently you shall finde them borne of six points as in the next Escocheon And so I have seene them in divers very Old Rolles in the Custody of that worthy Kight Sir Richard Saint George now Clarenceaux King of Armes whose industrious travell in the carefull Collection of such Antiquities and his free communicating of the same to the studious in that way merits much Though the falling Starre it selfe is but the Embleme of the inconstancy of high fortunes and unsure footing of Ambitious Aspirers which may shine for a time but in a moment fall headlong from the Heaven of their high hopes yet the Mullet in Heraldry hath a more noble signification Noble signification of Mullet it being supposed to represent some divine quality bestowed from above wherby men do shine in vertue Learning and works of piety like bright Stars on the earth and these are Stellae dimissae è coelo Starres let downe from Heaven by God not Stellae dejectae throwne downe as those which the Taile of the Dragon threw downe which are Apostatates from God and their Religion nor yet cadentes stellae falling starres such as the stroke of Justice and their owne demerits casts downe from the hight of their honours So much of simple fiery Meteors so far forth as there is use of them in Coat-Armour Meteors mixt Fiery Meteors what Now of such Meteors as are of mixt kind according to the distribution before delivered in the next precedent These are fiery meteors bred of an exhalation somewhat more grosse and impure than those before specified by reason of a more thick and slimy vapour whereof they be ingendered Meteors of this kind are Thunder Lightning Thunder is an inflamed Exhalation which by his powerfull force breaketh thorough the Clouds violently with great noise and terrour Thunder what The forcible power thereof is rather apprehended by the eare than subjected to the sight neverthelesse the ancient times have devised a certain imaginarie forme whereby they would expresse the forcible power thereof as also of the lightning Thunder is supposed to be ingendered two manner of wayes viz. When either a hot or drie vapour is inclosed in a cold and moist Cloud and being unable to contain it self therein by reason of the contrariety it laboureth by all means to find a vent and so striving by all means to get passage it maketh way with great vehemency and horror of sound such as a Glowing Gadd of Iron or any other fiery matter maketh when water is infused thereupon in abundance or that it is therein drenched it maketh a furious and murmuring sound Such is that weak and feeble sort of thunder that seemeth to be ingendered in some region of the Aire far remote from us yeelding onely for a small time a kind of turbulent noise or murmuring Or else it is ingendred in a more violent manner to wit when this inclosed drie and combustible matter being inflamed in the Clouds of contrary qualities doth break out with vehemency then doth it yeeld a terrible and forcible sound not unlike a great piece of Ordnance when it is over-charged And this sound thus ingendered is called Thunder This sort of sound is used
oftentimes Metaphorically as when God threatneth his Judgments against sin he is said to thunder them out In this sence doth Petrarch use the same saying Deus ideo tonat in Coelis ut tu in terras bene vivas quodque amore debueras saltem metu facias For unlesse God loved man he would never threaten him but rather punish him forasmuch as man doth evermore minister many and those greivous occasions of execution of Gods Judgments Lightning is a vehement eruption of an inflamed exhalation Lightning what proceeding from Thunder which though it is in time after the Thunder yet is first represented to our senses by reason that our sight is far more subtill and apprehensive than is our hearing And in regard that Thunder and Lightning do both proceed from one self-cause they have in such their imaginary fiction conjoyned them both under the Form after this manner Hitherto of Fiery meteors now of such as be watery Watery meteors are certain cold and moist vapours Meteors waterie copiously attracted by the powerfull operation of the heavenly bodies into the Aire and there transmutated into their severall formes Of these there are divers sorts whereof Clouds are most usually borne in Coat-Armour A Cloud is a Grosse vapour attracted into the middle Region of the Aire A cloud what and there thickned by reason of the coldnesse of the place having in it store of matter apt to ingender water A Cloud according to Zan. is a most thick vapour attracted from the waters by the heat of the Sun unto the middle Region of the Aire and there thickned by the coldnesse thereof and so continueth untill it be again dissolved by the Suns heat and so converted into rain and doth distill down in drops Zanch. de meteoris aqueis 483. The Clouds are said to be Gods chariots as we may see Psal 104. He layeth the beams of his Chambers in he waters and maketh the Clouds his Chariot and walketh upon the wings of the winds The Clouds are Gods instruments wherein he containeth and retaineth at his pleasure the showers of Rain as in Bottles as we may see Job 38.37 Who can number the clouds by Wisedome Or who can cause to cease the bottles of Heaven The Clouds are resembled to a Spunge replenished with Water and God with the hand of his providence wringeth the Spunge moderately not pressing out all the moisture thereof at once but leasurely and by little and little after a gentle and soaking manner Coined form of Clouds No pencill can make a true representation of Clouds because every instant and moment of time doth adde unto them some kind of alteration whereby it differeth from that it was late before neverthelesse former times have coined of these also a conceited forme as in these next Escocheons may be seen In the Cloudes hath the Raine-Bow his temporarie residence and therefore next let us cast our eyes on it SECT III. CHAP. VI. HItherto have we prosecuted our intendment Things living what touching things of mixt nature which are brute of livelesse now proceed we to the consideration of things of Mixt nature having life Mixt Natures that are living are corporeall Essences endued with a vegetable Soul Soul taken in the largest signification for here we use this word Soul as also the word Life in his largest signification A vegetable Soul is a faculty or power that giveth life unto bodies Whereby they do live After a sort or Perfectly Such as do live after a sort or lesse perfectly are all sorts of Metals which because they are supposed to grow and increase in the earth we will for our present use ascribe life unto them Metals what Metals are bodies imperfectly living and are decocted in the veins of the Earth Of these some are naturally Liquefiable Not Liquefiable or lesse Liquefiable Liquefiable The Liquefiable are Gold Silver Copper Tin Lead and other of like kind Not Liquefible The not or hardly Liquefiable are Precious Brittle Stones Those that are altogether Hard are Stones of all sorts Stones are bred of a waterish moisture and of an oylie kind of Earth firmely compacted together Of Stones some are Precious Base Precious Stones Stones precious are of that sort that we call in Latine Gemmae which are of estimation either for that they are rarely to be gotten or for some vertue fancied to be in them or for that they are such as wherewith mans eye is wonderfully delighted by reason of their purenesse and beautifull transparent substance Of which kind are the Diamond Topaz Escarbuncle Emerald Ruby and such like Of which sorts twelve of chiefest note were appointed by God himself to be used in the principall ornament of the High Priest Escarbuncle of most use in Armes when he appeared before the Lord presenting therein the Names of the Twelve Tribes of Israel to shew how precious in his sight is the People and Nation which serveth him as himselfe prescribeth But of all these severall kinds the Escarbuncle is of most use in Armes and is borne as in these next Escocheons appeareth Stones base So much of Precious Stones now of those which are Base such we esteem all those to be which both for their ordinary and base imployments and also for that they are easily to be had of all men are of small estimation as are these next following with their like So much of Metals or Minerals for I use the word in the largest sense that are hard and not Liquefiable Minerals used in the largest sense there are other also which we reckoned to be hardly Liquefiable in respect of their brittle nature such are Alome Salt Amber Chalk c. but there is no use of them in Armes Because in this Chapter I have spoken of Precious stones divers of which are of use in Heraldry for Blazoning of the Coat-Armours of Nobility as my self have often occasion to do in sundry parts of this Work before I proceed further I will set down those severall stones as they answer to their severall metals and colours together with the Planets also which I use onely in the Atchievements of Kings and great Princes Selected Formes of Blazon before mentioned Metall and Colours 1 Or. 2 Argent 3 Gules 4 Azure 5 Sable 6 Vert. 7. Purpure 8 Tenne 9 Sanguine Precious Stones 1 Topaz 2 Pearl 3 Ruby 4 Saphire 5 Diamond 6 Emerald 7 Amethyst 8 Jacynthe 9 Sardonyx Planets 1 Sol. 2 Luna 3 Mars 4 Jupiter 5 Saturne 6 Venus 7 Mercury 8 Dragons head 9 Dragons taile SECT III. CHAP. VII SO much touching examples of such Natures as do live after a sort in the next place succeed those things which do live perfectly or properly such Natures are those as have in them expresse and manifest tokens of a living soul Of this kind some are Vegetable Sensitive Forasmuch as I am now to treat of vegetable Animals and of their particular kinds I must
excuse my self in two things before I enter into the Exemplifying of them The one that there is no cause that any man should expect at my hands an expresse demonstration of each particular species of them And that I should run through and display their manifold and almost innumerable kinds for that would be a tedious travell and besides an infinite and unnecessary charge and cost and withall far wide from the project of my prefixed purpose The other thing and the same more pertinent to that I do intend is That in handling of vegetables and Sensitives I purpose onely to distribute their severall ranks of Distribution according to their Order to them prescribed by Nature which to expresse is my chiefest drift and the principall scope that I do aime at Of the perfect sort of Creatures there are many kinds whereof some are of more perfection and more worthy than others according to their more excellent kind of life or worthinesse of soul Of these the lesse perfect sort of bodies were first created and then such as were of more perfection Plants are more worthy than Metals and Animals of more reckoning than Plants therefore were these first created and those afterwards Of Animals wherewith God did adorne the Aire the Waters and the Earth there are divers kinds whereof some were more worthy than others in the Creation of these did God observe the same order Between the Creation of Plants and Animals it pleased God in his unsearchable wisedome to interpose the Creation of the Stars wherewith he beautified the Heavens he did it to this end to give us to understand that albeit the Sun with his light and motion together with the Stars do concur in the generation of Plants and Animals neverthelesse their generation is not to be attributed simply to the influence and power of these Celestiall bodies but onely to the Omnipotency of God inasmuch as by his powerfull Word he commanded the Earth to produce all sorts of Plants and their fruits before the Stars were created From the most fertile and pleasant Garden of Eden unto the most barren and desolate Wildernesse may we see and behold the great and wonderfull Works of God and take occasion to extoll his Omnipotency Wisdome and Mercy As we may observe Esay 41.19 I will set in the Wildernesse the Cedar the Shittah tree and the Myrre tree and the Pine tree and I will set in the Wildernesse the Firre tree the Elme and the Box together Therefore let them see and know and let them consider and understand together that the hand of the Lord hath done this and that the Holy one of Israel hath created it Verse 20. Hence we may gather that there is no object so mean that presenteth it self to our view but will minister some just occasion to glorifie God Men are accustomed to attribute the propagation of these either to the influence of nature or to the travell and industry of man but these were produced before any other of like kind could be found upon the face of the Earth whereof it might be imagined they might receive being for as yet there had never fallen any raine to fructifie the Earth whereby it might produce green herbs nor as yet was Man created that might manure and till the ground for that purpose therefore neither were they produced naturally or of their own accord nor yet by the Art Skill or industry of Man but by the immediate Word and commandment of God The reason that moved Moses to give an instance of Plants and Herbs how that they were produced by the vertue and power of Gods word onely and not naturally or by the skill and industry of man neither yet of Animals nor of any other of the infinite number of things created Genesis 1.11 was this because the generation of Plants and Herbs might be much more doubted of than the originall of other things Of the first springing of Trees in the Creation Moses saith Et germinare fecerat Jehova Elohim è terra omnem arborem concupiscibilem id est visu bonam ad escam which words do comprehend all the desireable qualities of fruit trees for in them we expect that their fruits should be either delightfull to the Eye or that they should be fit for food and wholesome and that they be also fragrant and sweet smelling For the fruits of Trees the better they be the more odoriferous they are That the Trees wherewith Paradise was planted had all these qualities it is manifest by the words of Moses in that he saith Concupiscibilem ad visum bonam ad escam whereby we gather that the sight is delighted with things beautifull and glorious the smell with sweet and pleasant savours and the palate with things of sweet and pleasant taste And none of these are in themselves evill for such was the constitution of Adam before he transgressed that he might have delighted himself in them all without offence and to that end did God create them that he should use them with thanksgiving Moses describeth unto us two principall qualities of the Garden of Paradise whereby he layeth before us the pleasantnesse of the scituation thereof and also the beauty and fertility of the soil The first of these qualities was that it was replenished with all sorts of Trees not onely most pleasant and delightfull to the Eye but also most pleasant to the taste for that they produced the best and sweetest fruits The other quality was that the whole circumference of the Garden of Paradise was surrounded and invironed with a River being distributed into four heads which did highly beautifie the same and made it most pleasant to the view In this description Moses maketh mention of two Trees of speciall qualities that were planted in the middest of Paradise The one named the Tree of Life the other the Tree of Knowledge of good and evill The first of these had a vivificant power in it self the fruit whereof was ordained to this end That being eaten it would enable a Man never to feel sicknesse feeblenesse old Age or Death but should evermore continue in the same state of strength and agility of body This was the efficacy and power that was given to this Tree whereof it was never yet deprived Therefore was this quality after a sort naturall thereunto For this cause was there a Cherub set at the entrance of Paradise to keep out such as would enter the same and eate of the fruit of the Tree of Life that he should not alwayes live that kind of life How behovefull the knowledge of the vertues and operations of Trees Plants Herbs and other vegetables are for the extolling and manifesting the Omnipotency Wisdome Mercy loving favour and fatherly providence of our most gracious God towards sinfull Man is in that he hath created for the behoof and use of man as well touching his necessary food and rayment as for recreation and delight we may evidently perceive by Solomons
Fishes as that they cannot live long out of their proper element which is the Water Besides fishes doe serve men for no other use but for food and some sorts of them for medicine whereof it commeth that we have not so many names of fishes mentioned in the Scriptures as of other Animals For these reasons Fishes were not producâ— before Adam that he might give them names answerable to their natures Neverthelesse God gave him Dominion over them aswell as over the rest when he sayd Dominamini piscibus maris c. Hereof it commeth that man hath lesse familiarity and acquaintance with Fishes than with many other Animals as Horses Dogges small birds of many kinds which we daily use either to serve our necessities or for our delights Fishes are borne after a diverse manner Manner for their bearing viz. directly upright inbowed extended indorsed Respecting each other Surmounting one another Fretted and Trianguled c. All Fishes saith Leigh that are borne feeding shall be termed Rule 1 in blazon devouring because they doe swallow whole without mastication or chewing and you must tell whereon they feede All Fishes raised directly upright and having Finnes shall be termed in blazon Hauriant ab hauriendo signifying to draw or suck â—cause Fishes do oftentimes put their Rule 2 heads in such sort above the wa◠〈◊〉 â—fresh themselves with the coole and temperate Ayre but especia◠〈…〉 waters do so rage and boyle in the depth of the Seas against somâ—â—ous storme that they cannot endure the unwonted heat thereof â—es being borne Transverse the Rule 3 Escocheon must in blazon be termed Naiam of the word Nato 〈◊〉 swimme for in such manner doe they beare themselves in the waters when they swimme Concerning both the variety and the innumerable multitude of Fishes Pliny is of a prettey fantasticall conceit affirming that the seeds and universall Elements of the World are so sundry wayes commixed one with another partly by the blowing of the winds and partly by the rowling and agitation of the Sea that it may be truly said according to the vulgar opinion That whatsoever is ingendred or bred in any part of the world besides the same is to be found in the Sea besides many things more in it which no where else are to be seene A Fish if you will beleeve Farnesius iâ— called piscis à pascendo Quia ad rem nullam nisi ad pastum natus est he â—bred onely to eate and to be eaten Derivation Of Fishes some have hard and crusty coverings others have a softer out-side and those latter are also of two sâ—rts some having onely skin and other scales Scaled Fishes by their fins are both adorned and greatly assisted also in their swimming but Congers Eeles Lampreies and such like may seem in respect of the smalnesse of their fins to have received them of nature rather for ornament Fishes Scaled what than for use in swimming especially because these lye most in the bottome of the waters and therefore lesse need their fins Of these severall kinds I will briefly give some few examples wherein I rather purpose to lay open their diverse formes of Bearing in Coat-Armour than meddle with their unlimitable particular kinds as in example SECT III. CHAP. XXIII Scales of Fishes not continuate THE Hardnesse of Scaly fish whereof we have before spoken is not Continuate but Plated fitting for Motion but there is another sort of hard covering whieh is continuate Of which sort some are crusted other some are shelled as Examples shall shew The clawes of the fore-feet of this sort of fish are called forcipata brachia Cancrorum of forceps which signifieth a paire of Tongs or Pincers or such like alluding to their quality which is to pinch and hold fast whatsoever they do seize upon Which institution doubtless was grounded upon great reason to shew the steadfast amity and constant fidelity that ought to be between brethren and companions of one society and brother-hood for take one of these fishes and divide the shels and endeavour to sort them with I will not say hundreds but millions of other shels of fishes of the same kind and you shall never match them throughout therefore do they resemble the in dissoluble friendship that ought to be in fraternities and societies because there can be according to Cicero Offic. 1. Nulla firma Amicitia nisi inter aequales The consideration whereof if I be not deceived moved the first Founders of this Order to sort them in the coller of this order by couples for that all others do disagree with them Secundum magis vel minus and none do concur together with them in all points but onely those that nature hath conformed and made agreeable to each other in all points SECT III. CHAP. XXIV A Transition from things unreasonable VVEE have long insisted in the bearings of Animals or Living Creatures Vnreasonable distinguishing them according to their Kinds sorting them into several Rankes placing them under Sundrie Heads exemplifying their manifold Vse and Formes of Bearing in Coat-Armour to the end that they might give better life and warrant to such Rules and Observations as concerning them are formerly given The last place I have here reserved to the most Noble creature and first in estimation I meane Man Man the Noblest of Gods creatures whom God hath indued with a reasonable Soule and for whose sake he created all other things subjecting them to his Soveraigntie that they should serve Man and Man should serve God Thou hast given him saith David Soveraigntie over all the Workes of thy handes and hast put all things in subjection under his feete all Sheepe and Oxen ond all Beasts of the Field the Foules of the Aire and Fishes of the Sea c. For God made Man in his owne Image not onely in giving him an Vnderstanding soule and an Holy will but also a Soveraigne jurisdiction over these inferiour creatures even as Kings are the Image of God in a more peculiar manner because God hath given them Soveraigntie over Men Neither is the Beautie of the Body it selfe lightly to be regarded whose admirable Proportions and uses made Galen an Heathen to acknowledge the Infinite Wisedom of an Eternall Creator And that Godly King to breake out into termes of Admiration saying Thine eyes did see my substance yet being unperfect and in thy booke were all my members written which day by day were fashioned when as yet there was none of them Inasmuch as we are now come to treate of man the most excellent of all Gods creatures and for whose sake all things else were created Let us take a considerate view of the order of the Creation and we shall finde many forcible motives to stirre us up to the glorifying of our gracious God that hath so graciously and abundantly provided for our sustentation and maintainance before we were yet created that so we may be provoked with more circumspection and regard to