most motion as of the leggs yeeld more melancholie then partes which haue more rest Of the inwardes the milt is altogether melancholicke so the kidneyes the liuer the heart and with them all the carnels Bloud is melancholicke and whatsoeuer dish thereof is made Nowe all nourishments taken from the earth are either beastes or foule Of beasts these are of melancholike persons to be eschewed porke except it be yong and a litle corned with salt beefe ramme mutton goate bores flesh veneson neither is mutton of anie sort greatly commended of Galen Of foule some be water foule and some land The water foule are not of melancholicke persons to be tasted except the goosewings The land foule which are melancholicke are these feldfares thrushes sparowes martins turtles ringdoues quailes plouers peacockes c. and these haue you to eschew of nourishments of the earth Those of the water are fish either of the salt water and sea or of the fresh water Such as are of the sea are either of the monsters of the sea or such as more properly are to be called fish The mōsters are ceals purposes such like which all breed vnwholesome melancholicke nourishment The fish of the sea are either shell fish or destitute of such defence Of shell fish some are of harder shels as oysters periwincks muscles cockles such like of which ranke the oyster carieth with it least suspition of melancholy The softer shell or crustie are cray fish the crab the lobster the pūger such of the riuers like to these c. which all neede not to be excepted vnto you in order of your diet Such sea fish as carie no armor of shels are ether those that haunt the rocks or other parts of the sea The rocke fishes are most apt of all maner sea fish for melancholicke persons as the gilthead the whiting the sea perch c. Such as haunt other places are either keepers of the depth or aprochers nigh the sand shore Of such as keepe the depth either they haue the pooles or other places of the depth Of the poole fishes I remember not any greatly to be auoyded in choyce of your diet Of such as frequent other places of the depth these are melancholicke the dragon of the sea in forme like an eyle the cuckoe ling anie salt fish thornbacke and skate Of such as approch the shore I knowe none greatly to be auoyded Fresh water fish and of the riuer the lampray and the tench haue most plentie of melancholie And these are nourishments taken from the parts of the animals now their works are either excrements superfluities of their humors or other kinds of workes Of the first sort are milke from the beast and egges from the foule which the spawne of fish in a maner resembleth milke and what soeuer is made thereof is to be eschewed of melaneholie persons as cheese curdes c. the spaunes as roes of hearinges are to be eschued of you as nourishment of melancholie else I take none of that sort greatly to be feared in that respect Of other works of animals then excrements we feed only of honie which hath no melancholy dispositiō at al. Of drinks eschue red wine and what soeuer liquor beare ale or cider is not cleere well fined as also if it be tart and sower Hitherto haue you hearde of nourishmentes which of their owne nature are to be eschued nowe of those that by some accident and not of them selues are melancholicke as if they be too olde and verie leane or be long kept or ouer much salted whereby they become the drier and harder you are to refuse them Likewise if in the dressing of the nourishment it be ouermuch baked or rosted it is to be eschued To these belong salt fishe beefe and bacon and redde hearringes hard cheese and old Of drinkes newe wine beare or ale and on the contrarie part ouer stale and sower are to be eschued and of sauces those that be sharpe as veriuyce aliger or beareger vineger are chieflie to be auoided of melancholicke persons Thus do you vnderstand howe to vse your choice in meates and drinks and what to shunne as breeders of this thicke blacke and melancholicke humour Besides these the aire thicke and grosse is sit to entertaine this humor so that fumie marrish mislie and lowe habitations are hurtfull to persons disposed to melancholie likewise if it be dimme dark Wherfore the houses habitations of that sort are most vnmeete for such persons These hitherto are all such outward things melancholick whatsoeuer else breedeth melācholie is a disorderly behauiour of our owne parts in such actiōs as belonge to the gouernement of our health This behauiour is either in actions of motion or in order and manner of rest Our motion is either of mind or bodie Of actions of the minde ouer vehement studies and sadde passions do alter good nourishmentes into a melancholicke qualitie by wasting the pure Spirites and the subtillest parte of the blood and thereby leauing the rest grosse and thicke In like sorte do exercises either wholly intermitted or turned into an excessiue labour and wearying of the bodie the one causing the blood to be thicke through setling and the other by spending the bodie ouermuch drying it excessiuely Such also as giue themselues to inordinate sleepe therby further the encrease of melancholicke humours And these are all the causes whereby the matter of that humour is supplyed and the blood being of it selfe good is altered into that iuice whereof you complaine of abundance Now if to these you adde a nature of it selfe disposed thereto a splene not able either for feeblenes or obstruction to purge the blood of superfluitie of that iuyce then haue you all that may be said of the causes of this humour keeping within the compasse of nourishment CHAP. VII Of melancholicke excrementes THE melancholicke excrement is bredde of melancholie iuyce drawen of the milte out of the liuer by a braunch of the porte vayne wherewith being nourished it reiecteth the rest as meere excrementall and voydeth parte into the mouth of the stomach to prouoke appetite and hunger and passeth the other parte in some persones by hemerode vaynes into the siege It aboundeth there when it is hindered of such passage as nature requireth or else by feeblenes of the parte it is not able either to suck the melancholie from the blood or discharge it self into those passages which nature hath therto ordained This member of the whole bodie is the grossest and euill fauouredst to be held blacke of colour and euill sauorie of taste and giueth a manifest experience of natures desire alwayes to couet that whereto it is most like and so faireth the splene better with those muddy dreggs then it would with purer and finer blood which if it should be offered to other parts they would abstaine except great want forced them to take anie parte thereof These are the causes of
by reason and thē apply them to the particular solutiō of that which hath bene obiected First the simplicitie of the nature of the soule more simple then the heauens argueth vnitie of facultie seing all simple thinges by nature reiect mixture and composition and whatsoeuer tendeth to plurality For whatsoeuer is more is diuerse diuersity simple thinges embrace not neither doth diuersity of nature admit so nigh copulation as to settle themselues in the selfe same simple vniforme subiect which if they refuse to do what shall we iudge then of will and appetite repugnant to reason and will sometime at variance with animall appetite how can these so contrary faculties concurre in one single nature That simple thinges receiue neither cōtrarietie nor diuersity the consideration of the whole sort of dissentanie and disagreeing things wil make the matter manifest All of that kinde are either such as we call diuerse or opposite diuerse whose disagreement is most gentle haue notwithstāding such strife that they meete not in the selfe same subiect at any time as beauty and wisedome riches and honestie which haue their diuerse roomes in the same generall nature and do not one farther encounter the other The other haue one single subiect if they be of accidentary natures or qualities and there one expelleth the other enduring no society as vertue vice liberality couetousnes and prodigality black blew yellow and greene light darknes c. And these are at perpetuall warre admit no truice day no not for a minute so because they will needes possesse the same place expel ech other and are in Logick tearmed Opposites Now thē whatsoeuer the soule simple indiuiduall without mixture or compositiongiueth entertaynement of disagreeing natures must of necessity fall into one of these that is to the opposite or diuerse The opposite require their owne times and will not accord in the same subiect at once except you will accompt relatiues of a milder disposition more sociable then their fellowes which notwithstanding by the diuerse respect are as farre disioyned as the rest Now then if we hold that the minde hath diuerss faculties then of necessitie must there be in the same minde diuersity of subiect which if ther be then is the simplicity thereof turned into multiplicity of substance and composition of nature a disposition contrarie both to the manner of the beginning of the soule void of mixture and that immortall perpetuitie wherewith it is induced Peraduenture it may seeme straūge and repugnant to the nature of thinges diuerse to disseuer them of subiect seing softnes and whitenes white and heate and such like being diuerse enter into the same subiect as in snoe the one and the other in molton leade or hote yron which doubt because it serueth for proofe of this vnity of faculty I will lay open and make playne vnto you Of all things subiect to corruption the elementes are most simple which being diuersly mixed yeeld the variety we see of all compoūd thinges vnder heauen these haue ech of them but one quality fire hote ayer moist earth dry and water cold if they should haue twayne then must they needes either enter communicate or two quallities concurre with the first matter entercommunication is there none for then should they not be the elements of other things seing they should be elemēts one of ech other two qualities make superfluities in the mixed which nature eschueth in all her worke then superfluitie would be here in that there should in the compound be found a drynes of fire and the like of earth a coldnes of the earth and the like of water and so in the heat of fire ayre which were more then neede seing such quallities are sufficiently imparted to the compound by one Now if the elementes which after a sort receiue composition of a grosse matter and forme do admit no diuerse quality much lesse doth the minde of a more pure beginning and simple substance reiect the same But how then commeth it to passe that a cole is black and hard chalk harde and white in the same parte throughout if diuersities settle no nigher together yea very well notwithstanding For compounded things though they make one nature yet are they not by reason of composition in all partes alike neither are the elements so confused in the mixture but in all partes they may be found distinct by their qualities simple or compound which qualities although they be commonly attributed to the whole yet properly and cheefely belong they to the elementes whereof the whole cōsisteth so that in one nature diuersity of subiect is to be considered Example shall make it plaine The heate of pepper riseth of the fiery element the drynes and solidity of substaunce which it hath of the earthie In Rhubarb the purging vertue riseth of the subtle substance the strengthening facultie of the grosse and earthy Chalk is white of the aiery moisture which it is endued with and hath his hardnes of a earthie drynes The rose her rednes of a certaine temper of single moistnes concocted with heat and her smell of an aierie moistnes mixed with an earthy drynes attenuated with heate and vertue of the fiery element So we see diuerse thinges which seeme to fall into one vniuersall nature or subiect the matter being more narrowly vined betake them to their owne subiect proper and peculiar vnto themselues and only by communicating their substaunce with the whole endue it also with like qualities But you will say if the elements haue but one qualitye which first was affirmed to the mainteynance of single faculty then is not the element of fire dry nor of water moist nor of aire warme True neither are they of their owne natures such but that which is in fire beside heate is only an absence of moistnes in the earth accompted cold is an absence only of heate in the rest likewise and not an ingenerate quallity more then heauen may be said to be moist because it is not dry or hote because it is not cold which indifferently refuseth all such kinde of quallity Now an absence of one quallity is not straight waye an inferring of the other but only in priuants wherof the one is a meere absence and of that contrary only which naturally should be present as blindnes is not rightly said of a stone though it see not at any time In the elemētary qualities it is not so but they are all quallities importing a presence because they adioyned to the first matter of thinges are the only formes of elementes now absence formeth nothing and priuants are alwayes contrary to forme and nature It appeareth then that elements which are lesse simple then the soules of men are endued but with one faculty and that diuerse things require a diuerse peculiar seat which being taken vp in such natures as will abide mixture seeme as though they were of the whole mixed when as but after a sort only they are so
else could there be no nourishment without this altering vertue Why then say you it riseth not of the nourishment which was not melancholicke but of the nature nourished Not so for no nourishment is so pure that altogether it is voyd of melancholicke matter for then could it not be nourishment but notwithstanding it hath greater plentie of good nourishment then of grosse and melancholicke the similitude of nature refuseth the one and embraceth the other whereupon riseth this difference in nourishment the vitall being alone The second part of the former question receaueth the same answer with the first because no nourishment is so pure but it partaketh little or much with some part of melancholie For I do not take it that the part maketh the nourishment melancholicke which carieth no disposition thereunto but lusteth after that in the masse of victualles wherewith it hath greater familiaritie which to a melancholicke bodie is of an impurer disposition refusing that would serue more fitly for a better tempered complexion euen as we see oft by experiēce that the good complexion may be replenished with melancholicke bloud which appeareth by opening a vaine and yet the parties bodie nourished as the beautie of colour doth declare with that which is pure which melancholicke bloud rose of euill choice of diet rather then through fault of complexion nowe that part of nourishment that is pure cannot be altered in substance into another whereto it carrieth no proportion by mixture it may be defiled and become impure but neither can it be altered into that wherewith it hath no community more then grosse melancholicke and earthy nourishment can by any art of nature become aëry moderate and pure I meane the self same part of nourishment for so might all things in deede rise of euerie thing which would turne the excellent varietie of naturall things into vnitie As for Anaxagoras imagination of breeding things by separation onely this kind of diuerse matter which we require in nourishment ouerthroweth it neither are we to thinke generation of nourishment to be no other but as art worketh vpon her subiect for there is there no nature produced distinct in substance and essence but by an accidentall qualitie only produced by art And thus lest I be ouer tedious in this point you haue my answer to the questions and obiections before made concerning the nature of nourishing and preparation of humors and hitherto that hath bene sayd respecteth only melancholie as it is an humour in the bodie apt for nourishment of certaine partes more disposed to that then to any other portion of the bloud besides nowe touching the cause of increase and excesse of this humour CHAP. VI. Of the causes of the increase and excesse of melancholicke humour IT was declared that the quantitie of melancholie should be least in the iust tēper of bloud of all the other parts sauing choler which naturall proportion and rate when it exceedeth then is the bodie turned into a disposition melancholicke by humour although the cōplexion for a time hold entire which long can not endure more then the nature of that damsel which was nourished with poyson kept her ingenerated complexion but nature acquainting it selfe by moments and degrees with such kind of humour and hauing no choice of better is faine at length to embrace that which otherwise more gladly it would reiect The causes of excesse of this humour are diuerse and all except it be receaued from the parent spring from fault of diet and although chieflie meates and drinkes do yeeld matter to this humour yet besides the complexion inclining to such temper this matter is increased by perturbatiō of mind by temper of aire and kind of habitation and that humour which otherwise would yeeld a nutritiue iuyce of the best sort by this occasion is turned into these dregges of melancholie Here first I will declare vnto you such nourishments as are apt to engender those humours that in this present state you nowe stand in oppressed therewith knowing which they are that minister matter to this grosse iuyce you for your more speedie recouerie auoide them and with choice of better alter that which is amisse into a more cheerfull qualitie Nowe all nourishmentes that offende vs either do it by their owne nature or by some accidentarie cause befalling vnto them and likewise whatsoeuer becommeth vnto vs melancholicke But that you may more easilie vnderstand from whence all sorts of nourishments are taken I will set downe vnto you in a short viewe the kinds of them all and in euerie kind note vnto you that which of the owne nature is melancholicke You knowe all nourishmentes are either meate or drinke meates are taken either from vegetables or animalls the vegetables either minister vnto vs nourishment them selues or their fruit onely they are either of trees or herbs of trees the tender buds are eaten which because we do litle vse to feed of I passe ouer farther mention Of herbes we either feede of the root or such partes as rise therefrom and those roots are either round or long of neither sort do I remember anie greatly to be eschewed as melancholicke except rape rootes nauewes Such parts as rise from the root are vsed while they be tender and young or else sprung vp at the full of these kinds cole worts beete and cabages only ingender a melancholicke iuyce The fruites of vegetables are either of trees or herbes of fruits of trees quinces rawe medlers seruices dates oliues chesnuts and acornes are all melancholicke fruites of herbes are either graine or of other sort and those are either corne or pulse of corne sodden wheate is of a grosse and melancholicke nourishment and bread especiallie of the fine flower vnleauened of this sort are bag puddings or pan puddings made with flour fritters pancakes such as we call Banberie cakes and those great ones confected with butter egges c. vsed at weddings and howsoeuer it be prepared rie and bread made thereof carieth with it plentie of melancholie The pulses are wholy to be eschewed of such as are disposed to melancholie except white pease fruites of herbes of other sort then graine are purest from melancholicke excesse And thus of vegetables you vnderstand which you haue in this melancholicke respect to be auoyded The food which we take from the animals is either from them selues and from certaine of their wholesome excrements Such as yeeld them selues are either of the earth or of the water those of the earth haue great diuersitie of nourishment in their seuerall parts which are either spermaticall and those of white colour or sanguine of colour redde and bloudie The spermaticall partes may well be discharged of melancholicke iuyce as rather enclining to fleume Of the sanguine partes some are the brawnie parts which compasse the bones and are ordayned for voluntarie motion called muscles or else are of the inward partes and are of them selues destitute of motion The muscles which are subiect to
industrie of art For here the natural Apelles painteth as well within as without and Phydias is no lesse curious in polishing the entralles and partes withholden from the viewe then in garnishing the outward apparance and shew of his frame and which is yet more here the crafts man entreth him selfe into all the parts of the worke and neuer would relinquish the same Although we place the spirit and body in the third kind of instruments yet is there great oddes betwixt these two For the spirit answereth at full all the organicall actions of the soule hath in it no distinction of members the body is of more particular vses compounded of sundry parts ech of them framed of peculiar duties as the mind and spirit employeth them The spirit is quicke nimble and of maruelous celeritie of motion the body slow dull and giuen to rest of it selfe the spirit the verie hand of the soule the body bodily members like flailes sawes or axes in the hand of him that vseth them For as we see God hath geuen vs reason for all particular faculties and hand for all instruments of pleasure of necessitie of offence of defence that thereby although man be borne without couering without teeth without hoofe or horne only with tender nailes and those neither in fashion nor temper fit for fight yet he clotheth him selfe both against the tempest warme against force of weapon with coate of steele and maketh vnto him selfe weapons of warre no tush no horne no hoofe no snout of elephant in force comparable thereunto so the spirits of our bodies and this hand of our souls though it be but one yet handleth it all the instruments of our body and it being light subtile and yeelding yet forceth it the heauiest grossest hardest parts of our bodies chewing with the teeth and striking with the fist bearing downe with the thrust of shoulder the resistance of that which standeth firme and containing alone the force of all the members seeth with the eye heareth with the eares vnderstandeth organically with the braine distributeth life with the hart and nourishment with the liuer and whatsoeuer other bodely action is practised This hand is applied to the grosse instrument and the effect brought to passe yet not absolutely of it selfe but by impulsiō of the mind which is placed the only agent absolute and soueraigne not onely in respect of commaunding but also offacultie execution This place then beareth the spirits among the instruments and as the soule is one and indued with one only facultie so the spirit is also one and embraceth that one faculty and distributeth it among the corporall members as euerie one according to his diuerse temper or frame or both ioyntly together is meete this way or that way to be employed yet so that by degrees and diuerse dispensations it is communicated from the principall and chiefe partes with the rest As first life and vitall spirit from the hart to the rest by arteries nourishment and growth from the liuer by vaines sense and motion from the brayne by nerues not confusedly and by equall portions administred to all alike but by such geometrical proportion as iustice requireth and is necessary for the office of euerie part Thus you see what nature the spirit is of and to what vse it serueth in our nature and of what sort of instrument it is to be accompted The corporall part and mébers because their seruices be many are distinct into diuersitie of shapes and tempers to answer all turnes wherof some be more generall and beare as it were office ouer the rest as the heart is most generall and extendeth it selfe to all the parts with this prerogatiue aboue the liuer that a part may liue for a time and not be nourished nether yet cā any part be nourished without life This rule it exerciseth by the ministery of his arteries extended in branches throughout the bodie and scattering the spirit of life throughout Next the hart in vse and office towardes other members the liuer obtaineth the second place by whose vertue through the operation of the soule and that spirituall hand nourishment and preparation of aliment is perfourmed in all the parts vpon whom attendeth the stomach the rest of the entralls vnder the midriffe The third place is allotted to the braine which by his sense and motion guideth and directeth the partes maintained with life and nourishment his sense is of two sorts and so his motion both inward outward The inward sense thinketh imagineth and remembreth and is practised with that peculiar temper and frame which the braine hath proper as also his internall motion not much vnlike the panting of the hart The outward sense and motion of sinewes is deriued from it into all parts that require sense or mouing The other parts subiect to these three principall and their ministers serue their owne turnes only and are of priuate condition except the soule command a voluntarie or mixed action as to walke to go c. or to take breath giue passage of stoole or vrine CHAP. XIII How the soule by one simple facultie performeth so many and diuerse actions THvs haue you these partes and organicall vses distinct and if it seeme yet difficult vnto you to conceaue how one simple faculty can discharge such multiplicitie of actions way with me a litle by a comparison of similitude the truth of this point accordingly accept it We see it euident in automaticall instrumentes as clockes watches and larums howe one right and straight motion through the aptnesse of the first wheele not only causeth circular motion in the same but in diuerse others also and not only so but distinct in pace and time of motion some wheeles passing swifter then other some by diuerse rases nowe to these deuises some other instrument added as hammer and bell not only another right motion springeth therof as the stroke of the hammer but sound also oft repeated and deliuered it at certaine times by equall pauses and that either larume or houres according as the partes of the clocke are framed To these if yet moreouer a directorie hand be added this first and simple and right motion by weight or straine shall seeme not only to be author of deliberate sound to counterfet voyce but also to point with the finger as much as it hath declared by sound Besides these we see yet a third motion with reciprocation in the ballāce of the clocke So many actions diuerse in kinde rise from one simple first motion by reason of variety of ioynts in one engine If to these you adde what wit can deuise you may finde all the motion of heauen with his planets counterfetted in a small modill with distinction of time season as in the course of the heauenly bodies And this appeareth in such sorte as carie their motion within them selues In water workes I haue seene a mill driuen with the winde which hath both serued for grist