the body For it hath been observed in our dayes that a certain woman being dissected some beasts were taken out like to rats and mice that it seems were bred from some foul excrements that came from the food she are For natural heat being busied in digesting that matter could make no other shape of it than such as the matter would bear it had to work upon wherefore the inward force of nature frameth a living creature of that kind and endeavours it that moist substance being fit and ready to obey the efficient cause For it is found by experience that house-creatures as whelps cats mice rats flitter-mice toads and frogs when they wander up and down in Cellars and Butteries do sometimes leave upon meats an excremental seed Creatures bred of filth which when men do not wash clean from filth or do not wipe clean the outsides of fruits or pare them from that moist foul matter that pollutes the meats some such things are bred And if snails and mice breed from corruption and beetles drones and wasps from dung and from dew and moist Aire caterpillars butterflies ants locusts grashoppers who can think it strange that in the bodies of men from such like causes such things should be bred Since here is a more effectuall reason that yeilds a seminary cause for this businesse For those breed of corruption and not from seed though it be answerable thereto for force and vigour and next kind in faculty But those things that are bred alive in the secret parts of mans body Animals bred of their own accord from no seed proceed from a vitall humour and a living Creature Therefore this must not seem against reason or a Paradox of some old women when as we see so many things bred spontaneously without any copulation or incubation of living creatures and that from a humour enlivened by the heat of the outward Ayre For besides those creatures that are bred on the wide earth what an infinite number of fish are thus produced in the vast Seas and waters for mans use and commodity For there is nothing more fruitfull than the Sea Why the sea is fruitfulll with fish because the substance of it is grosse and is full of a vitall heat in all parts In which as many things are bred from seed so a great many of themselves without seed or help of any living creature So all Shell-Fish are first bred from some muddy and slimy moisture and all glib fish as Eels in speciall which afterwards by copulation breed whole sholes Spearing or Groundlins Groundlins very small fish in Holland are bred abundantly from the froth of the Sea when after long drouth rain falls in great quantity For when the Mouths of the Rhine and the Mare are very Salt by the Seas continuall influence especially in Summer those Rivers being supplied with a great deal of rain and watred very much abound excedingly with these small fish who when they grow great do procreate and breed exceedingly Since therefore Nature attempts many strange things whose force by the guift of God is spread every where let no man think it an old Wives dream that some prodigious Creatures are framed in mens bodies since in corrupt rotten wood and many dead things Teredines and many nimble Worms are bred as we see them in Cheese and many other meats in Summer season where Wormes breed in abundance Add to this that from filthy Ulcers and Impostumes pieces of Nails Hair Shels Bones Stones are taken forth that grew from the concretion of putrid humours Impostums send forth rubbish and hair and I have known Worms with tails and little Creatures of strange forms cast up by vomit especially from such as were sick of contagious diseases in whose Urines I have often seen small Creatures to swim like to Ants or especially like to those that in Summer use to role in the dew Goat-worms in Summer bred in dew and none of these persons but was foully peppered with the French Pox. The intent therefore of this discourse is to this purpose that no man should without care cram in foul meats and not well wash'd and cleansed from outward accidents which when Country people neglect they use to be scabby and full of Pushes that itch and to be deformed with many fores and vices of their skins For they are not of so good habit of body and sound constitution nor so comely and ingenious and of such excellent naturall parts nor yet so healthfull generally as some Noble men and Gentlemen are that will suffer no meat to come to their Tables no not the purest White-bread untill the outside and crust of it be finely chipt off and the rest of their provision must be curiously and accurately provided with all decency and cleanlinesse Cleanlinesse in diet is joyn'd to health And this I find no fault with so long as all is done farr from luxury frugally and temperately in respect of diet For great men and Courtiers should have such a manner of diet and Life that all may tend to health comlinesse honesty and unblamable Manners that the splendour of their fortune and prosperity and abundance that God hath given them may not serve for luxury and prodigality but for moderation and temperance The most illustrious Phillip the most powerfull King of Spain and England The prayse of King Phillip and Prince of the Netherlands giveth us an example of this who for his most large endowments of Nature doth represent a divine patterne unto mortalls who hath so many valiant Peers to assist him by whose authority and counsel so many flourishing Kingdoms and so many large Dominions that came to him by succession from his renowned Father Charles the Emperour are governd and preserved CHAP. XLI The force and Nature of the Sun and Moon in causing and raising tempests And next to that what change may be made in the bodies minds and Spirits of men by the outward Ayre By the way whence proceeds the ebbing and flowing of the Sea that is interchangeably twice in the space of a naturall day The effects of the Sun and Moon upon inferiour bodies THe Beams of the Sun and Moon do afford us certain and notdoubtfull signes of fair weather rain and winds and they thereupon represent unto us divers colours either from the scituation of the place and the compasse of the Heavens they are wont to passe or from the Nature of the object or some other matter that staines them which if they would observe well that write Almanacks and deceive the common people and foolish old women with their predictions they would not mistake so often and be deceived nor deceive the credulous people with false hopes For tempests and winds may be undoubtedly foretold by these when they are not farr off and what shall be the condition of the Aire whereby we shall have a plentifull or penurious year and many more rare things which Virgil
would have all salted meats fish called Saperdae Cod-fish Sea-calves What Salt preserves salted meats Tunies Herrings that are a kind of Thryssae to last long that is to be kept for the next year or till the Summer be very hot and would carry into farther Countries things that should not stink What kind of fish is Trissae let them remember that old Salt is best to season them with A new way to make Salt Our Ancestors formerly made salt to their great profit not of sea-Sea-water congealed and hardned into Salt by the heat of the Sun such as is brought from Spain and France to us but of the clods of the Sea burnt to ashes which by powring in water by degrees they made Salt of that was very clear and bright the people and Inhabitants called it Zel or Zilzout From Salt comes Silt and Sold. from the clods that were full of Salt from whence it is taken and all the Low-Countries unto our daies used no other kind of Salt Whence in the German tongue comes Soldaten But when that kind of making Salt grew out of use by another way brought in from other parts a new way was invented that is no lesse gainfull then the former For coorse black dirty salt being brought in from Spain and Aquitan our Country men take forth the mud and filth and make it exceeding white How the Zelanders make Salt white and fit for use to preserve meats Also our Salt-makers use another way of boyling Salt that differs not much from the former For every third or fourth year they break up their hearths and floors The making Salt of clods they call it Den heert with a fork and a large vessel being set upon it and made hot with fire put under it they cast the clots and pieces that are wet with a briny salt liquor that drops from them abundantly into the vessel and these they break small and soke in Sea-water and boyl them after a few hours the muddy dregs will sink down to the bottom and most white Salt is drawn forth What is Cleynzout in Zeland They call this kind Cleyn zout or Cliync zout for that the clots of it struck one against the other like flints for hardnesse will make a clanging noise This kind of Salt is fit to bring to the Table to adorn it with and is usefull for many things yet is it not so good to preserve things Wherefore they rub Cow-hides and skins with this salt and cover them with it as they do also with coorse Sea-salt Wherefore the Senate made a Law that no man should sell such salt The Senates Law not to sophisticate Salt unlesse he would testify upon oath that he sold it not for sincere and natural Salt that is made of Sea Salt and the brine of it but for fossil Salt that is dug up and made by Art lest there should be any fraud and imposture used For being it is as white as Snow and hath all the marks of the best Salt ignorant people cannot easily discern it or observe the difference unlesse they prove it by such things that use to be seasoned with it For salt meats and other things seasoned and salted with this salt will sooner stink and smell rank when you think to keep them till Summer be far spent Burnt Salt the Dutch call Braedtzout That Salt which our Country men call Braedtzout hath the same effect and virtue because they powre in but a little Sea-water and burn and torrefie it a long time This Salt is clear bright shining sightly crumbly crusty with large broad kales and pieces that blink like Starrs that is wonderfully desired by those of Flanders and Brabant both daily and chiefly for their domestick use whensoever they make great Feasts and Banquets to furnish their Tables with For being that it shines and is so pleasant to the eye and so hand some and pleasing to behold The sorce of Salt against the biting of a mad Dogge at a great distance it doth wonderfully adorn great and rich mens Tables It is used effectually with honey against the biting of a mad Dogg it cures Scabs it breaks humours applyed with leaven Honey Butter Hoggs-Crease even those swellings that when the Plague spreads do shew themselves under the Armpits and in the Groin But pickle or brine made with Salt and Sea-water doth presently take away the burning beat from any part that is burnt and asswageth the most violent pains whether they come from Gunpowder Oyl Pitch Scalding-water or coles of Fire Brine good against burnings especially if a thin linnen rag wet in the brine bee tapped upon and wrapt about the burnt parts For by this moystning of it is the fiery force washt away and the bitter pains are allaid Parts burnt need no cool things But they do ill that apply cold and repercussive means to those that are so affected for so they strike back but do not draw forth the fiery heat and by that means it takes faster hold on the parts wherefore at first nothing is better than pickle either new made or that which lies upon Butter if it be applyed Sope good for burns Lime with rape water takes out fire Sope is as good as this whereby we wash dirt from our cloths if we make a liniment therewith with Honey and Butter Also water where-Rape-roots are sod is safely applyed and it will be the more effectuall if you dissolve a little quicklime in it for so applied as a Lixivium it will abate the heat and dry without biting But since I mentioned some kinds of Salt a little before I shall debate concerning that artificiall Salt that for want of naturall Salt may supply the place of it The Arabians call this kind Salt of Kaly Salt of Kaly a kind of Salt from a certain plant by the Sea wherewith out shores are plentifully stored There grow in many places about us some herbs that have a Salt juyce out of which Salt if otherwise we cannot procure it may easily be drawn and used in our Houses such is Sea Purslane next kind to Halimus as Mathiolus tells us Mathiolus his industry who was ingenious and painfull in discovering of Plants our people at the end of Summer gather this and pickle it and keep it or covering it with common Salt they keep it for to use in Winter as the Spaniards do Olives Capers Sampire For it raiseth appetite and dispells loathing and vomiting if at any time the stomack oppressed with flegmatick or cholerick humours do loath meat All the Herb even to the seed that is small and hangs in clusters till it grow ripe is like to out great garden Purslane which great men use to pickle up with grosse and Bay Salt toget them a stomach to their meat The pickling of Sea Purslane The description of the true Halimus Yet whether this Purslane of the Sea should be called
keeping the old Channel by the shores of the Island Scheld Caesar l. 6. Comment it rowls into the Ocean with a violent and vast stream and from the old name it is called the Scheld the Hollanders usually call it Schelt the French L' Escault whence this Island is called Scheld commonly Schowe of which River the chief and main passage and deepest place Marriners usually call the Channel that the Ships must sail in that they stick not upon fords and stay in shallow places The skillfull Seamen of Zealand And at this time the people that live thereabouts know it exactly and call it by its name shewing the place where some years past it was wont to fall into the Ocean so that not in the most tempestuous night do our Marriners turn from it or sail the wrong way as sometimes it falls out with those that are not well skilled in Navigation When the roarring of the Scheld fore-shews a Tempest to the great losse of their wares and Passengers But in these places there are heard terrible noyses and roarings either when the tide goes out or else cornes in and the violence of the Sea exasperated by the winds strives against the stream of the River this useth to happen commonly when after North-winds South winds blow so that those that live neere perceiving above a mile off the roaring of the Sea and the Scheld will tell of a tempest to come more than three days before But when the mouths of the Sea were formerly narrower and the passages into the Continent nothing so wide the Scheld was seen more plainly running into the Sea but the Sea floods growing yearly the mouths and passages are enlarged thereby and their creeks are made greater as it falls out with gluttons whose throats are stretched with abundance of drink A simile from gluttons that have their throats made greater hence it comes that this River is drownd in the larger Salt water and its course whereby it runs into the Ocean can hardly be seen Shell-fish whence so called Some deceived by the affinity of the name thought that that kind of Fish which I once thought was Pliny his Haddock took his name from this River and from Schelt should Schelvish be called so because in the mouths of the Sea where this River disembog's and unloads her selfe that fish is caught with hooks or nets whereas it is I think so called rather from its scales in Dutch Scellen for Scelps are attributed to shell-fish and not to fishes wherewith it is covered very close all over and fenced as with a coat of Male Therefore when it must be sod for it will not be broyled all the scales must be scraped off with a knife otherwise than cod fish called Cabbelian commonly that is smooth with a soft skin Cabbelian without scales and is not catcht in the mouths of the Sea it runs into but in the deep far within the Sea though I am not ignorant that some sea-Sea-fish oft times come into the very mouths of the Sea allured by fresh water and they grow extreame far by it as Salmons that swim out of the British and Scotish Seas against the stream into the Rhein Mase salt- Eeles love salt-Salt-water as also the Trissae Alosae Lacciae commonly called Elft the Mullets Harder Accipenser or Sturgion But the Eele contrary to sea-Sea-fish swims to the Sea and having tasted that grows wonderfull nimble and not so slippery and more wholesome for meat whence it is that about the flood-gates for the fallings of the waters we call them Slusen from shutting that in Winter when the fields are full of water let this water out violently into the Sea Eeles mighty great are taken in nets and weils but of these I shall speak somtime more at large when Conrade Gesner a very learned man hath received satisfaction from me Conrade Gesner commended and when by way of recompence I have finished my compendium of lesser fishes names which I have dedicated to him But this River where it comes upon the borders of Schowe and from hence falls into the Ocean it parts the Eastern Islands of this Country from the Western whereof those that lye toward the East are called Beoester Schelt by the Inhabitants but those that are toward the South and Flanders are called Bewesterchelt as you would say the upper and nether or the neerer and farther Schowe Some are over the Scheld Zealand is divided into two questor-Ships others on this side the Scheld Now by these names are signifi'd two notable Questorships to which belongs a Praetorian dignity and Dictators power so that the governours of these places have power and right all the Country through besides the free Cities where the Consuls are Presidents and superintendents to punish wicked men with Kingly authority to correct wanderers and Vagabonds to imprison Knaves sturdy Rogues Beggars Cutters Oppressours and to examine them by torments and to cut off their heads whereby all things are very quiet and at peace and no man on his journey need fear any hostility The most illustrious Hieron à Seroskerka Hieron à Seroskerka a noble Gentleman of the equestrian order and to be esteemed highly in many more respects had this Office many years and he executed it inoffensively and worthily to his great honour Jodocus à Vuervia hurting no man And Jodocus à Vuervia a most magnificent man the governour of the Country in all our Island not without the expectation of the greatest dignities doth augment his Father in Law 's honour and greatnesse with an equall splendour of his descent and nobility Some years past this River running between the Zealanders that are in the same Earldome with the Hollanders and the Flemings raised most fierce contentions and bloody battels Both these people calls and honours their Princes by the name of an Earle Whence are Counts call'd adding some glorious titles to him which command arose from this because the prime nobility did in Warrs and dangerous designes accompany their Emperours and Cesars and did help them with all their might they are called by us commonly Graven which power and large title first grew in Justinians days and had that name given to it Then under Berengarius and Ottho that were competitors it was derived to posterity it was next in order to the Emperour for place and concomitancy But in the year 863 when Charls the bald was Emperour this principality began to be erected in Holland and Zealand that is next to the Hollanders and to be called an Earldome And the first Earl that was created and bore this name was Theodoricus Son to Sigisbert Prince of Aquitan and he held that command 38 years and he made Theodoricus the second his Son and Heir successour to him and so unto our dayes From him is this Kingly power by a long series of noble men devolved unto the most invincible Philip King of Spain and goes under
comprehended in excellent verse Virgils praise for his great knowledge who being he was most versed in the knowledge of things and had so exactly sought out all the works of Nature he did also in some measure subject the 〈◊〉 of men to their forces and effects For men are diversly 〈◊〉 and otherwise constituted according as the time is according as the Starrs set or the Ayre varies The condition of the sky changeth mens minds and the four seasons of the year differ So when the skie is clowdy and dark and the aire grosse and thick men are sad and sour countenanced and sleepy but when the sky is clear and in the spring-time when all things flourish men are cheerfull and lightsome and very much given to mirth For the pleasant aire dissipates all foulnesse of humours and grosse vapours that darken our minds and makes our Spirits cheerfull and our minds quick and lively which Virgil expressed in this elegant verse But when the season and the flitting Ayre Grow moist L. 1. Georg. and Southern-winds begin to blow Things are then thickned that before were rare And a great change is made in things below Mens minds do alter as the times go round When Tempests are they do not hold the same As in fair weather sometimes birds abound And sing beasts skip Crows a hoarse note do frame For the Spirits that were before kept in break forth when the ayre is calme and pleasant A simile from smoky houses and when they are recreated with the West-wind For as Smoke and vapours when the houses are unlockt and the dores set open the ayre and wind entring use to be dissipated and blown away and all Galleries and Chambers that were full of filth begin to be more lightsome so in mens bodies all soul vapours and all stinking sents that were in them and all dullnesse of Spirits are discussed and ventilated Wherefore not onely internall causes and imbred humours are helps to health or diseases but the outward conjunction of the Starrs and constitution of the outward ayre and breathings and qualities of the winds breed divers and sudden mutations in the bodies of men The body is subject to the constitution of the ayre which every man may find true in himself every moment almost of time For who is there to passe over the affections of the mind who when some tempest is at hand or distemper of the Ayre three days also before it comes doth not perceive some pricking in his limbs and some beating pains contractions of the nerves palpitations or some other sensible pains For Watts Corns Horny substances Cicatrices Knots Kernells or if any thing be strain'd or disjoynted or broken torn or dissolved in any part of the body all these will foreshew a tempest coming which doth not use to come but with most bitter torments to such that have any secret touch of the Whores Pox. For these when cold winds begin to blow are soonest sensible of their pains for their Nervs are stretched and their Muscles grow stiffe Sick people perceive the change of the aire and the vitious humours in their bodies being agitated do trouble them grievously For there is under those parts a kind of distemper like to the weather that tortures them strangely in their inward parts But such as are of a sound habit of body and in good health feel no inconvenience or distemper by it For as patcht broken leaking ships are sooner swallow'd up in a tempest A simile from Ships that are shaken so diseased people and such as are of a decai'd and uncertaine health are expossed to all injuries and subject to all inconveniences for upon the least distemper of the Ayre arising they use to feel most terrible pains or when the Sun or Moon cause any mutation in the inferiour bodies For these Planets put forth their forces The force of the Sun and Moon upon inferiour bodies not only upon mens bodies but upon all terrestriall things the force whereof is so great and is extended so wide that all things contained in the circumference of the Heavens have their order Ornament and Glory from them and the whole course of things and times of the yeare are governed by them And though the power of the upper Starrs be not ineffectuall yet by the help of the Sun all things of greatest concernment are brought to passe For the Sun chiefly adorns this World and disposeth and guideth all things very decently For by the Suns operation seeds are propagated and corn grows ripe and all things increase and proceed And thus the year doth trace it self about Georg. 2. Also the works of the Moon appeare very great in the Nature of things but not so great as the effects of the Sun For she enjoyes the benefit of the Sun and borrows her light from him Opposition makes a full◠Moon Conjunction a new Moon that so much of the Moon is light as the Sun shines upon but she fails and hath no light when the earth comes between and causeth an ecclips But then especially she shews her forces upon earthly things when she is full the Sun being right over against her and makes her round or when she is in Conjunction with him for at these times Corn grows and augments shell-fish swell the veines are full of blood and the bones full of marrow whence it is that copulation at those times offends least And because she moisteneth all things flesh that are subjected and exposed to the Moon-beames corrupt and men that are drunk dead asleep allmost Wax pale and are troubled with the Head-ache and are affected with Epilepsie for it looseneth the Nerves She causeth the ebbing and flowing of the Sea and moisteneth the brain over-much and by its chilling force it stupefies the mind Also no man may doubt but that she is the cause of the ebbing and flowing of the Sea For being that we fee that when the Moon is dark and silent or a halfe Moon or crooked with Horns or increaseth or diminisheth the waters do not run much together nor are there any high tides The Moon moves the Sea upon any shores whatsoever but again when she is in Conjunction with the Sun and begins to be a new Moon or to be round and a full Moon the tides are very great and the waves rise exceedingly who then can ascribe the flowing and ebbing of the Sea to any thing than to the motion of the Moon For as the Loadstone draws Iron A simile from the Load-stones forces so this Planet being next the earth moves and draws the Sea For when the Moon riseth the Sea roules about those parts namely the Eastern parts and leaves the Western parts but when she goes to the West and sets the flouds increase in those parts and abate in the Eastern parts and this more abundantly or sparingly as the Moon increaseth or decreaseth in her light that is conveighed by the
is in Capricorn at Berg an hour and half or two hours later at Antwerp and Dort when the Moon inclines to the Equinoctial Westward when the West-winds blow gently about six of the Clock at Mechlin about eight of the clock yet so that the Sea flows in sometimes sooner sometimes later when the weather is calm or the wind blows strongly And when in the space of six hours she moves toward the West she causeth the Sea to ebb and sink down as many hours untill the Moon being gone out of our sight riseth to those that are Antipodes to us for then the Sea flowes again but when the Moon comes to midnight and comes to our hemisphere the flouds fall back again Wherefore the scituation of places must be observed and to what part of the heavens they are inclined and the coasts of the Countries must be regarded and we must fit the course of the Moon rising and setting thereunto For thus it will be easy to know the ebbing and flowing of the water at all places But let no man think the horns of the Moon are to be taken notice of for on that side it hath no operation but we must regard the bunchy and convex part of it which is enlightned by the Sun The aspects of the Moon cause the floud in all places For that part of the Moon that is against the Sun and toward the earth draws the water and fills those Ports and Havens with a flowing water which she directly respects with her beams For the Sea runs that way the light of the Moon drives them Yet let them that are Sailers take notice of this that when the Moon riseth and shews her self first in our hemisphere if the part of the Moon that is enlightned by the Sun send her beams Eastward that in those parts that are Eastward the waters have risen to their height again if the Moon look Southward or Westward in those places the flouds rise and fall in the Eastern parts Wherefore if any man sail from the East or Winter aequinoctial from whence the South-East or East winds blow toward the West countries it will be the time to sail forth at high water when the flouds are greatest to passe into the Lower-Countries As for example From Mechlin Antwerp Dort Berg Breda Bolduc Delph Gand and other places that are scituate farther off it is good to set forth when it is full Sea and the waters begin to fall Again if any man sail from the West Southward or Eastward he must set forth and Sail into the deep at low-low-water when the Sea is comming in and the flouds begin to come back So that he must alwaies take notice of the Moons motion and to what part of the Heaven she enclines and what Coasts and Ports she respects CHAP. XLII Of the force and nature of Lettice and whom it is good or ill for THose that eat Lettice in sallets often unlesse they eat Rocket or Cresses or Tarragon which is next kind to Snees-wort What corrects the coldnesse of Lettice it will hurt their sight and make them blind for it thickneth and condenseth the visive spirits and troubles the Crystalline humour unlesse you drink wine to correct the force of it The Antients did not eat this at beginning of supper or for the first course but last of all as Martial shews Tell me why Lettice is our first repast In our fore-fathers dayes it was the Last Which I think they did it not without good reason for since it is of a cold and moist nature taken after supper it causeth sleep more effectually and restrains the heat of Wine and hinders drunkennesse by moistning the brain Whether Lettice should be eaten before or after supper But in our daies it is thought best to eat it first at supper For since after a long dinner we have no great stomach to our supper the custome is so soon as we sit down to supper to whet our stomachs with Lettice seasoned with Oyle and Vinegar Also Lettice is good for that if it be carried into the veins before all other meat it cools the heat of the bloud and abates the hot distemper of the Liver and of the Heart so that the immoderate use of it will bridle venereous actions and extinguish the desire of lust as Cucumbers Pompions Purslane and Camphor do Wherefore it must be used more largely by them that would lead a single life and live chastly for this will take away their venereous desires but such as are bound in the bonds of Matrimony may nor totally refuse the use of it because sometimes their brains are dried by too much venery But the coldnesse of it must be corrected with heating hearbs Lettice who it is good for least it weaken the generative seed too much and make it uneffectuall to beget children and altogether unfit for it CHAP. XLIII Of Patience commonly call'd or the great Dock Of the hearb Patience or Monks Rheubarb SInce there are many kinds of Sorrel or Dock two of them specially are fit to be eaten that which is commonly called Sorrel that in Sallets whets the appetite and takes off loathing and that which from its greatnesse is called Horse-dock It is a Pot-hearb with a great top with long broad leaves and the stalk when it is ripe is red and the root is yellow I find this hearb to be of such faculty that if you boyl any flesh or meat with it be they never so old they will be tender and fit to eat For being it is of a slippery moist nature it will soften and temper the hardest Oxe-flesh or old Hens Wherefore the Antients used it often because it will make meats easy of digestion and it loosneth the belly Orage is of the same faculty with it which from the prickly seed is called Spinach and is like to Lampsana Dioscorides speaks of which I think Martial meant when he said Use Lettice and the Mallowes soft And Horace Epod. L. od 3. Fat Olives pulled from the boughs of'th Tree Or sowre Docks that Meadows love Or Mallows that with costive bodies best agree CHAP. XLIV Of the operation of Mans spittle The force and effects of fasting spittle DIvers experiments shew what power and quality there is in Mans fasting spittle when he hath neither eat nor drunk before the use of it For it cures all tetters itch scabs pushes and creeping sores And if venemous little beasts have fastned on any part of the body as hornets beetles toads spiders and such like that by their venome cause tumours and great pains and inflammations do but rub the places with fasting spittle and all those effects will be gone and discussed moreover it kills Scorpions and other venemous creatures or at least hurts them exceedingly For it hath in it a venemous quality and secret poison that it contracts from the foulnesse of the teeth in part and partly from vitious humours For to the mouth and
tame as all kinds hens and birds fed up at house Psal 8. Heb. 1. But Man to whom all these things are made subject hath obtain'd something far beyond them for beside his gift of speaking he hath reason a Mind and soul partaking of a heavenly and a divine nature For the mind of Man was taken out of the divine Mind and can be compared to nothing but God nor referred to any natural being Wherefore Man must strive to come as near to his Maker as he can and to make himself like unto him For since God hath exposed all other living Creatures to feed and eat downward he hath made Man onely with his Countenance upwards from the ground to behold the Heavens the house of his habitation both with his Mind and Eye whereof we shall treat more at large in the following Chapter CHAP. II. Man's Worth and Excellency Man Gods chief workmanship WHen as our most great and good God is to be highly admired in the things created that are obvious unto us in every place and are beheld both with our minds and eyes yet chiefly his Wisdome appears in Man For nothing in the world though it be comely and excellently made can be compared with the Excellency of Man so that from Man God would have the valuation of his own Excellence to be made and that mortals should thus have a character of his Divinity That is he would have us all brought to know and adore him the great Work-master by the contemplation of Mens own Minds and knowledge of themselves For nothing more clearly represents God than the mind of Man Whereby man was made like unto Gods Image and similitude Mans mind is the Image of God For Man is the most expresse representation of God wherefore by reason of his outward and inward beauty and vaste Endowments he well deserved to be called A little World because that God the most bountiful Father and Maker of all things did abundantly pour forth into Man all their vertues for for his sake all things were brought to light and all things obey his use and are set forth for that end Psal 8. The Kingly Psalmist confesseth the same and uttering arguments of a grateful mind Thou hast made him saith he but little lower than the Angels and as it were a God thou hast clothed him with glory and honour and hast set him over the works of thy hands He obtained this prerogative even from the beginning of the world Man is Ruler of the world so that all things when they flourish and are in being do dutifully obey and serve mans use So Genesis the first God confirmed the Principality and chief Government of all the rest unto Man Be fruitfull and increase fill the earth and subdue it and rule over all Fishes in the waters Birds in the Ayr and all beasts that move upon the face of the Earth But of that divine mind in man whereby he comes next unto God and of the internal gifts of his Mind Reason and Understanding whereby he excells Beasts other Writers have spoken at large and because it belongs not to this place I shall leave off to speak more of it The comelinesse of Mans body But I will mention a few things concerning his body and what are of kin to that and depend of it For the excellent and beautifull form thereof is very fit and agreeable to the manners of his mind The fashion of his body is tall and lifted up towards Heaven his countenance is high and looks upward the symmetry of all the parts and of the whole or the exact proportion of it is much spread abroad by Heathens and such as are far from our Religion So that I cannot but wonder at the negligence of our Men who either seek nothing at all or else they do coldly and carelesly seek into themselves and the works of Nature David the onely admirer of Nature whereas David a Magnificent King contemplating more closely and carefully the nature of man began to be elevated and to burn with the Love and admiration of so great a Work-master For thus he writes his praises with such and such like Testimonials I will praise thee Psal 138. O Lord because I am wonderfully made thy works are wonderfull my soul searcheth and knoweth it right well thou knewest all my bones when I was fashioned in the secret place and when I was wonderfully formed in my Mothers womb Thy eyes beheld me being yet unmade David's Exclamation upon his admiring of God and in thy bock were all my members written which day by day were fashioned Thy knowledge is wonderfull unto me whereby I was made I cannot understand it For when saith he I throughly search out my self and when I diligently consider the structure of my body the excellency of my Soul and the force of my Mind and I cannot by Reason and Judgment attain thereunto I both adore thy Majesty and embrace thy bounty Now let us a little set that most comely form aside and the other parts of the Body visible and we will consider of the scituation of the internal Bowels the powers of the natural faculties the nerves arising originally from the brain the arterial pipes from the heart and the propagation of the veins from the Liver also the faculties and powers of the Soul whereby she doth produce and perfect her functions Three spirits in Man To these may be added that etherial spirit that is the seat or naturall heat and the vehiculum thereof which is divided into 3. divisions and is distinguished by so many places as the animal to the Brain the vital to the Heart and the natural to the Liver This being that it nourisheth and quickens the body by its naturall heat and moysture that are both instead of fuel and affords forces to perform Action What things uphold the Spirits therefore these three parts are carefully to be refreshed and restored with sleep wine nourishments exercise Yet these must be used moderately for if they be immoderate or unseasonable they may put a man from his right Mind and bring him to many ill diseases and affects Mans Mind is full of fiery vigour Aenead 6. and His first beginning was not from the Land But Heavenly yet if his body be Faulty and earthly grosse dead limbs not free From sad diseases fears and pains and grief Distempers and great cares do rule in chief Then is this fiery spirit shut within The dark prison of 's body The Tyranny of the Passions Wherein the Poet comprehends the four Passions of the mind which rising from Intemperance do trouble the mind of man and make it by many wayes wonderfully unquiet Lastly let us direct our eyes to those things that give the species to all these that is let us examine the workmanship of forming and figuring the Child which is such a one and so great that every one though he be stranger
many veins running up and down in them and with many strikes and turnings are very beautifully chamfered as garments made of Goat-skins and Noblemens Robes that are wrought Camelot damast variously woven And many such things that are dug forth of the bowels of the earth wrought so curiously as if some Graver or Carver had wrought them into that form Coral is a shrub So Coral in the bottom of the Ligurian Sea bears leaves and fruit and being drawn forth with nets it presently hardneth like a stone and becomes black or red or if the moisture be lesse digested white So in that part of Gallia Belgica where the Eburones Menapii and Sicambri lived there are stone-cole dug forth Stone-cole that are of the Nature of hardned bitumen with which the inhabitants not onely melt Iron but make good fires in their houses and if they be quenched once and again they will revive if they be put near the fire And whereas all other fires are inflamed with oyle Pit-cole is quenched with Oyle but burnt with water these cole burn more if you cast water on but are quenched with oyle Other Countries have also their mines and minerals under ground some afford Brimstone Lime Gyose Ocre Alum pieces and clods of Gold and Silver through which fountains tun in the secret passages of the Earth and they impart their qualities to the waters and so are made fit to cure diseases So Mines near the Sea are of a bituminous nature For the clods dug forth thence smell so much of brimstone that those that fit by faint and swound away and pit coles and such as are made breed the same inconvenience unlesse you sprinkle salt upon the fire Salt strewed on Fiâ—â— coles abates the stench For by this means the venome that offends the brain is discussed The venome and offensive humour boyleth forth Li. Georg. Some ascribe this generative force of the Earth to the Stars which doubtlesse do effectually operate upon inferiour bodies because we see many things decay The effects of the Stars upon inferiour bodies and new things come in their places never seen before that are far better But as I deny not this so I believe especially concerning plants that many of them fail and degenerate chiefly by reason of the negligence or ignorance of Gardners So Wheat as Theophrastus saith Of the causes plants is changed into Darnel Basil into wild Marjorum water-Mints into Mints in smell but in form into Calamint and many kinds of herbs if care be not taken do commonly not onely change their form but lose also their imbred vertues Which as in many herbs All things better by dressing So I have observed in the Violet called Altilis a most beautifull flower which unlesse it be yearly transplanted it degenerates into a mean low flower that is not so sweet Virgill confirms this I see the best plants will degenerate If not transplanted L. 1. Georg. for all things by fate Decline and fall unto a lower rate On the contrary if you dresse wild Plants they will grow like those of the Gardens and lay aside their wild natures as Virgill also observed All Plants by Nature rise up strong and fair Though barren from the ground L. 2. Georg. yet these by care Transplanted and manured will grow mild And better for our use than they are wild Wherefore Nature brings forth continually new plants unheard of before A simile from base animals and their proceedings and the influence of the Stars produceth many also but the Art of Gardning produceth most of all And as Rats Dormice Eels Lampreys Shell-fish Snails Earth-worms do not alwaies breed from seed but oft-times from slime of the earth and from filth and corruption So in sandy grounds such as are the sandy Mountains in Zealand Theod. de caus plant L.c. 1. which the people call the Dunen many shrubs come forth naturally by the confluence of nutriment and because that place lieth open to the Sun and is fit to breed plants which once bred from the moysture of the Earth do afterwards grow up from their own seed and increase abundantly Wherefore let no man admire that plants are subject to be changed and to lose their forces and figure when as that unlesse it chance that they be confounded by affinity one with another may proceed from the scituation of the place the quality of the ambient Ayre and the Art of the Gardner So Pepper Cardamon large Cummin Rhapontick sowed in our climate are changed something and are not so hot yet let no man say they are other plants Herbs change both their force and form For it is the faint heat of the Sun and the distemper of the climate that makes them weaker and that they grow not so great and come not to so much maturity Wherefore it is clear that plants have a double change For sometimes they change their native forces and keep the same form sometimes their form is changed and their native qualities remain That comes to passe partly by the influence of the Stars and partly by the nature of the ground and the ambient Ayre For since the earth is of divers qualities it happens by reason of the Ayre and the nutriment of the earth that plants are changed and receive other qualities So Hasel-Nut-Trees Cherry Trees Wild-Cherry Trees if they grow near banks that stinking Waters run by or Salt waters wet their fruit will tast salt So men as their food is and the Ayre they live in obtain another temperament of their body other manners and qualities So Danes by long constance and comerce change into Spaniards Germans into French-Men or Italians so you shall see a pleasant and delightsome tree set on salt ground to degenerate by reason of the nutriment it sucks in For Salt and bitter ground is ill for Trees Virgil. Georg. Fruit will grow worse on them and by degrees Decay though drest for Vines and Apples change Their former goodnesse cause the ground is strange If you add to this that there is a fatall change and vicissitude of things you shall find that plants though you do manure them will grow old and feeble Old age makes all things worse or barren and will onely live unlesse you graft and inoculate them or pull of their slips and branches and set them again Which variety of Plants and vicissitude makes many think that this part of Physick is unfruitfull and that Diâ—scorides and many more Herbarists have lost their labour who have studied to write the descriptions of Plants Truly I think that no man hath adorned this art yet as it ought to be and the largenesse of it deserves who hath not known the Plants themselves Iresh as they grow and seen with his eyes their native delineations For there are some men amongst us that having scarce seen the hearbs will pronounce at randome strange things of them De simp Medic. l.
and we may endeavour to amend them So Plautus speaks wisely in Epidicus Men have not Glasses for to see their faces But rather for to see their minds graces And when their Heart they behold To think what they did of old Also this is the profit the use of a Glasse may make unto us that it may sharpen our eyes that are grown dull by continuall poring and help to recover and refresh our weary sight For the visuall Spirits are gathered together and are recreated by new Spirits that result from the brain What good a Glasse may do the eyes But many doubt how it is that a Glasse should represent the image of that stands over against it For some think the images are in the Glasse that is the figures of our bodies sent forth from our bodies others think the images are not in the glasse but that we see them in the reflected sight that is beat back again upon it selfe Wherefore Glasses shew many things by reflected beams For reflexion is from thick bodies Why a Glasse resents the form of what is over against it therefore Glasses are foild on the backside that the light may not penetrate directly through them But the opposite body appeares because that part of the radius that moves the eye is directed to the opposite body wherefore the whole radius is received as stretched out unto that part and thence it follows that the thing is received by the eye But they represent the Images with that part that is against one and not with that which is turn'd from us because the species which passeth from a solid body to the superficies of the Glasse through the Aire is pure and simple wherefore the images shine in the Glasse when as light radii are regenerated from it for they being beat back come home to the eye in which it sees it selfe and every one doth behold his image clearly For we do not see through the Glasse nor is the image formed in the Glasse but in the eye but the Glasse helps by striking back the sight And this is the reason why when we rise in the night we behold the light at first looking on it as if the rays went from us and looked towards themselves and reflecting upon themselves Hence you may collect why the right parts of the body are made the left in the Glasse A simile from Seals and the left the right For it falls out as it doth with Tables of Wax or Clay upon which if you stamp the print of your Seal in the taking off the parts stand contrary A simile from the Printers letters The same we see in Printing-Presses and in places that are cast with rawe pictures without distinction of colours or painting for there the right parts alwaies answer to the left of the mole But how it should be that the Sun should appear double being seen in a Glasse under the water which also is wont to be seen in the Clouds as a signe of some future ill as some ignorant people judge many have not observed some think that the dogg-Starr or some other Starr neere it is seen when as the Suns brightnesse so darkneth all the stars that they cannot be seen in the day A double Sun seen in a glasse under water But the Suns Image appears double first by reason of the water and then by reason of the Glasse For that clown in Virgill testifies besides our own experience that water may serve instead of a glasse and makes all things shew larger I am not so deformed I lately saw my face When that the Sea was calm Eclog. 2. Wherefore first the brightnesse of the glasse by reflexion shews the Suns form and next the water from the superficies whereof the Sun-beams are beaten back The like reason serves for a Candle Torch or the Moon being over against a Glasse put under the water for it will by reflexion return the object double Also concave Glasses are invented for another use that being held against the Sun by reflexion will burn and make some combustible matter flame setting on fire straw Chaff and other dry fuel So Archimedes fired the enemies galleys with burning glasses Burning-glasses as Histories report for all the Sunbeams are reflected by them without the point of Incidents The memorable act of Archimedes and running all to one point they set all things in the way on fire CHAP. XXXIV What force and vertue Aqua-vitae hath or the spirit of Wine distill'd and who may safely drink it by the way some admirable effects of this made-wine are set down THere was invented in the memory of former ages an art of distilling for the use and preservation of mans health and to drive away sicknesse whereby we distill from hearbs juices and Physicall liquors which though it be certain that they have not so much vertue and force as the Infusion and decoction of the hearbs themselves or the juice pressed forth yet are they not wholly to be rejected as they are by some men Nor must we judge them to be altogether uneffectual and vain for the quality and force of them is not totally lost abolished which may be proved as by many things so by Aquavitae or as some commonly call it spirit of wine A Limbeck or Still or sublimed which sometimes is drawn from the best wines but oft-times from the lees of any small dead sowre wines by a Still in a furnace with a gentle fire For oft-times I made trial of the wonderfull force of it The force of Aqua-vitae For let the frost be never so cold and sharp that liquor will never freeze nor become Ice so that writing Ink and many more things that have some drops of this mingled with them will never be frozen and this come from the exceeding heat and thinnesse that it hath And if you would try whether this quintessence be pure and without mixture How to try Aqua-vitae wet a Table-cloath or linnen Towel with that liquor and put it to the flame if it burn presently and do not touch nor hurt the linnen it is pure and unmixed For linnen wet in this water will flame and not be consumed For the flame will but gently lye upon the finest linnen and not take hold of it but licks up all that is next of kind to it namely that liquor that is like it and of a fiery nature And if you put a little of it into the hollow of your hand and put flame to it with a burning paper the palm will be hot but the hand will not burn How melted lead shall not burn you But if you wash your hands with the juice of Mallows or Mercury you may without any hurt handle scalding lead so you do it with a speedy motion And yet there is nothing in the world that burns more then melted lead or boyling oyle so that if you put a Tin or lead spoon into scalding
Moon-beams And if any man please to consider the Countries and places and Coasts thereof in the French Sea and our Northern Sea and what flood is made upon every shore there he shall see as clear as the day that all this is governed by the light of the-Moon For where the Moon rising illuminates divers Countries and Climates and runs her course through the passage of the Heavens the flood and lifting up of the Sea is carried directly thither whither the Moons beams are directed and to such parts of the earth and shores she most then respects as being over against her For as the Sun draws out moisture out of the moist hearbs and drinks abundance of water out of the Sea and Bogs A simile from thâ—â—â—trâ—ctive force of the Sun and Bogs and Lakes whence is the originall of rain and again as many herbs which from hence are called Turnsols are turned about by the force and heat of the Sun that sucks out their moisture and they follow his motion from East to West with their flowers laid wide open so by the force of the Moon the Sea is somtimes driven to this Coast somtimes to that and inclines and falls upon that shore where the Moon moves next to Of which things I shall give some instances and produce some examples of place Cities and Coasts that the Sea washeth Before all these things can be perfectly understood I thought fit to lay down this maxime that the Moon if she increase hath her horns turn'd from the Sun looking toward the East if she decrease toward the West which staying oft-times three dayes in conjunction at length shines again and is seen with horns But every day as she increaseth she removes farther from the Sun and augmenting untill the seventh day she appears a half Moon and that part of her is enlightned that is opposed to the Sun going to the West and that part of the Moon that looks toward the East is dark for the Moon increasing allwaies followes the Sun-setting and is seen above our Horizon But when she decreaseth she goes before the Sun and riseth before him and is seen in the morning above the Horizon being allwaies enlightned on that part which regards the Sun whereby it comes to passe that the crooked and horny part is allwaies turned away from the Sun but the round and bunchy part is against the Sun and turn'd toward it But on the fourteenth day when she is diametrically opposite to the Sun she is at full and she riseth as the Sun sets in the West Whence it comes to passe that shee is totally enlightned and receives the Suns light every way On the seventeenth day when the Sun riseth the Moon sets in the West but on the one and twentieth day when the Sun riseth the Moon is almost past the middle of the heavens and that part that looks toward the Sun is light and all the other parts are dark Then as she perfects her course every day in the twenty eighth day and the third part of a day that is eight hours she finisheth her whole course through the Zodiack and as the Sun makes the year so the Moon makes a Moneth changing somewhat every week for both those times namely after he first apparition that she increaseth to be a half Moon and from thence become round and to be a full Moon are finished by feven dayes that is for both times fourteen dayes Likewise from that time when she becomes a half Moon again if you reckon the same way by the same proportion and so from thence till she is quite taken from our sight and is in conjunction with the Sun you shall find seven dayes Wherefore it is clear that the Moon changeth the month The Low-countries call a Month from the Moon which force she receives by the Suns aspect and hath of her self no force or power But when she comes to joyn with the Sun or to be in opposition with him and in the full then are there very great changes made both by Sea and Land for it is proved because then she raiseth boysterous winds and great tides that flow up to the shores When the Moon raiseth tempests It is observed in our memory in a very few years that the Sea hath mightily overflow'd the Low-Countries four times and miserably wasted the Land breaking down all the banks and mounds and that in the winter time when the moon hath greater force to raise tides and cause tempests than in Summer season yet so that the flood and overflowing of the waters ever fell upon a new or full Moon Inundations are most at begining of Winter And those Countries and climates suffered most harm that were next to the Moons aspect and influence but when the Moons course tended to other coasts then they were more subject to inundations and violence of the waters Hence it is that in Flanders they first feel the inconvenience of great floods and are in danger by them next to them the Mattiaci that live in the Islands of Zeland next to them those of Brabant and sometimes these sometimes those ports and good harbours for ships to ride in are endammaged by the force of the waters as the Moon moves to one country or to another North-West Also West and North-west winds exasperate the rage of the Sea that from the Sun-setting do violently blow upon the earth and drive the waves of the Sea far and wide into the continent yet so that the billows are forced sometimes to one part and sometimes to another part of the earth and every country takes its turn as the distance of the places are and the Sea flows up to them sooner or later for the same cause And that every man may perfectly understand this I will speak more at large concerning it The East is against the West The day that the new Moon appears which is alwaies toward the West because the Sun inclines that way by whose light she begins to shine and whereby she comes to be full we see that the same day the flouds begin to rise and flow forth and the next ports are fill'd to a certain height and thence forward they are carried to all places in the way Eastward so that the daies following the sea moves one hour later than it did because the moon is daily removed farther from it and carried toward the South and the East departs farther from the Sun For example Calis-rode and the Sluce that is scituate in the confines of Flanders being a small City there near to Bruges a new and full Moon makes full water at them both about eleven of the clock when she is light on that side which is bent back toward the South But at Arnemuse and Middlebourgh at two of the clock be it night or day at zirick-Zirick-Sea at three of the Clock the Moon being turned toward the West in Winter South-West when the South-West wind blows and the Sun
poure in Sea-water boyled with Honey With what things Wines use to be seasoned some mingle Cows Milk with it others strew Quick-lime Sand Powdred Stones that are brought into these parts from Bentimary with some handfulls of Salt added to it or six or seven Eggs and thus they use to correct all the faults of the wine and to restore the taste and colour as they were at first And though some of these are not very hurtfull yet artificiall wines are alwaies worse than naturall wines and are not so wholesome CHAP. XLIX Predictions of Tempests by the touch of Sea-water and what Winter Thunders fore-shew I Oft observed as I passed in a Ship to the farther Shores by putting my hand into the salt-Salt-water that the sea-Sea-water was luke-warm which shews three daies before-hand that a Tempest is comming with strong winds and storms For when in the deep Sea that is far from us whence the floud comes to us there hath been a tempest the Sea-water shaken and tossed grows hot as our hands do clapt together and so the tempests come roling along unto us and the waves rise to a mighty height So when the Spring comes Southern tempests bring forth hearbs and grasse by the motion and agitation of the Ayre that causeth heat Likewise if in Winter it Thunders and Lightens and the Ayre be hot with frequent coruscations it shews that a tempest will follow and Whirl-winds will arise and cause great floods in the Ocean Winter Thunders foreshew Tempests 〈◊〉 Thunâ—â—â—â—â—â—â—shew â—â—â—â—sts For when that distemper of the Ayre is tossed besides the season and contrary to natures order there must needs be some violent cause that moves those tempests for I never observed any such thing but the next day grievous tempests arose and inundations in many places For thunder and lightning are ordinary in Summer as also burning Feavers which if they come in Winter it must proceed from some vehement cause which the contrariety of the season could not hinder To which purpose is that of Hippocrates Those are not so dangerously sick that fall sick of a disease that is suitable to their nature L. â— age custome or to the season of the year as those are that are sick without any of these circumstances CHAP. L. Children are delighted with beautifull things and cannot away with the sight of old wrinkled women and therefore they are not to be put to lye with old women in their beds and much lesse to lye at their feet in the bed THere is no mortall wight that is not allured with beautifull and pleasant things but above all others children and young people who being lively and waggish All men love pleasant things do greedily look on fire-torches lights squibs and all flaming things and catch at all alluring speeches that cheer the mind and make the spirits more active Wherefore froward children are never better made quiet than with songs or when delightfull spectacles are presented unto their eyes which their fiery vigour and aereal and clear substance effects whereupon they fear the dark and cannot away with deformed and horrid spectacles Children cannot endure old Women So when some wrinkled or warty old wife carrieth a young child in her arms and fosters it in her bosome at the very sight of her the child will cry and fly back and if any women that are more beautifull and well adorned stand by the child will lean toward one of them and reach out its arms unto her Wherefore they do unadvisedly that hire crabbed and testy nurses to tend their children or put them forth to old women to bring up who will chew the meat and put it into the childs mouth The breath of old women ill for children For when they commonly have an ill-sented and corrupt stinking breath all this ill savour that comes from them the children partake of and thence they are of a wan dark colour and Weesill colour and contract many ill things from them especially if they lye on the lower side of the bed with them or at their feet CAAP. LI. How it comes to passe that children women with child Priests and such as lead a solitary and sedentary life are of all people first infected with popular diseases and with the Plague I Find by experience that when popular and contagious diseases spread abroad Who first fall sick of contagious diseases such as are wont to wander here and there in Summer and Autumn that those are soonest sick that are very young and weak and of moist constitution As children young people and females and such as live idly and sleep much and so heap up much excrements For these are soonest exposed to danger and soonest take hold of the contagion of diseases For as a very fine well-polished Looking-Glasse A simile taken from a glasse and all clean things are soonest clouded and stained with grosse vapours and as fire soonest takes hold of light straw and chaff and dry fuel for what is solid is longer a burning So tender bodies when popular diseases first begin to reign A simile from Souldiers that are unarmed like Souldiers unarmed are soon slain in war and next of all women with child cannot easily stand out against it because they can hardly bear the burden they carry about them and are ready to faint already whereupon when any light disease invades them not so fierce as the Plague they presently sink under it But Priests and Monks because they are given to sleep and idlenesse and never use exercise or to labour can very hardly resist these diseases But Porters and Carriers and other common people that are deficient in their diet and all the course of their life is irregular and because they live sordidly they are not freed from these diseases though many of them whose bodies are hardned by labour are longer before they fall into them But since children in acute diseases cannot endure the violence of them yet in more mild diseases they can struggle with them as long as lusty young people can and can hold out as long in lingring and wasting sicknesses for Children have in possibility what young men have actually For there is an imbred force and vigour in this age that must be continued to last many years Hence St. Augustine saith children have a kind of perfection De civitat Dei c. 14. for they are conceived and born with it yet they have it in possibility and in their reasonable soul and not in bignesse of their bodies For all the parts are in the seed and they grow forth by degrees and come to their full magnitude and beauty For in time as they grow up the force of reason and other gifts of Nature do shew themselves Whence our Country people use to say when they commend young children and bring them up in hopes This child hath a man within him CHAP. LII Divers documents of Nature and a fit conjunction of several matters
and left hand the contrary way nor can I see any other reason for it From the nature of this wind the Proverb is raised concerning wicked people A Proverb against wicked people Wicked things attract unto them as the North-East wind draws clouds As now night-oppressours do in all quarters who meet in tempestuous nights and break open houses and kill or torture the Master and compell the servants to shew where the treasure lyeth which they trusse up and carry away They are commonly now called Knevelaers Robbers from the violence they do and from wresting the limbs of mens bodies But to draw some wholesome instruction from natural things I would have all men know that all these effects of the Ayre and nature depend on the free will of God the Supream work-Master and are all at his command and done by his power For Fire Hail Snow Frost Ice Whirl-winds and Tempests obey his word Psal 148. For he sends Snow like Wool and scattereth his Frost like Ashes Who casteth out his Ice like Morsels and makes all things to be overlaid with Ice as with a plain who is able to abide his frost He sendeth out his word and melteth them and presently the waters flow He takes away the East wind and by his word doth the South-West wind blow Psal 77. Psal 68. Hâ—ggae 1. 2. He rules by his power over the Sea and with-holds the violence of its waves he bringeth forth the scorching wind and dries up the buds of the Earth God indeed suffers this world and the nature of all things to be carried along by the order and manner of it as he first appointed it The Elements Stars Seas forces of winds God useth the Elements to Punisis us and times of Spring Summer Autumn and Winter are distiâ—guished yet so as he holds the reins in his hands to rule them all by For when he thinks it fit and good he exasperates some of them for to punish mans wickednesse and makes them more fierce and by them he bringeth many losses and miseries upon man that so he may rowse our minds and awake us that are fast asleep in pleasures and delights and thus he threatens to all those that forsake his worship But if you will not obey all my Commandments Levit. 26. I will appoint over you terrour and consumptions and the burning Ague and cause sorrow of heart and mind I will make the Heaven above you to be Iron and the Earth Brasse that after all your labours taken in vain the Earth may bring forth no Corn nor the Trees any fruit So elsewhere he expostulates with his people I have raised over you a scorching wind I have smitâ—en you with blasting and Mildew when your Gardens Amos 4. and your Vine-yards and your Figtrees and your Olive-Trees increased the Palmer-Worm devoured them and yet you have not returned unto me saith the Lord. Whence it came to passe as another Prophet testifies Hag. 1. 2. that the earth with-holds dew rain and showers and all plants are spoil'd with hail blasting and mildews which are a lesson to teach every man that Tempests Clouds Hail Thunder Lightnings Whirl-winds do proceed from natural causes but they grow more cruel and vex men the more when God will punish men to make them to amend their lives Who when man repents is more pleasing and his anger abates whereby he takes off the rod and punishments and calamities and miseries from us and makes all things to proceed more happily with us promising a fruitfull increase of Corn and that the fields shall bring forth abundantly that the rain shall fall down in its season Deuter. 28. and an increase of all things shall follow Harvest threshing flowre Vintage flocks and heards of cattle should answer our desires we should enjoy health of body and be strong and lusty all our substance and good should continue sound and firm and our minds should be void of all fear peaceable quiet and at ease and rest and having a fast confidence in God Plasm 90. whence we have our courage we shall not easily be shaken or be afraid with any fear or terrour CHAP. IIII. Of the Marriners Compasse which Plautus calls Versoria by observation whereof Marriners sail to Sea and by what vertue and for what reason it alwaies points to the North. SInce I spake of the winds before and that somewhat largely It is requisite I should say something of the Marriners Compasse because Marriners by the use and benefit of this make their voyages to Sea and do thereby passe over the long and vast distances of the Ocean and come to places that are scituate very far off and they can exactly tell hereby how much of their voyage is over The Needle shews the North point by vertue of the Loadstone and how much more they have to sail and they bring all things to the compasse as to a certain rule And the needle obtains this vertue by being rubbed with the Load-stone which hath a singular vertue in drawing Iron unlesse it be greased with Oyle or some fat matter Oyl takes from the Loadstone its attracting force for then it will not attract Our men call this the Zeylsteen because they sail by it Marriners direct their course as this guids them Under this Box there is a little turning compass made of Paper plain as round as a pair of Compasses can make it that is supported with a thin Iron divided into two parts Description of the Compasse and its parts In the Center ormiddle of this there is a little brass sharp pointed Box like a Tower fastned for Iron in that place would hinder the operation of it which lies upon a very sharp pin or point upon that it playes here and there equally ballanced and when it stands still that part that hath the Flowre-de-Luce painted upon it and where the needle touched with the Loadstone ends turns constantly to the North and regards the North-pole whithersoever the Ship turns about by the turning of the Rudder in the Circle of this rundle there are drawn from the Center to the circumference thirty two lines that represent the winds and the points in the heavens and shew the spaces of Sea and Land distinctly by their Ports Marriners use hour-Glasses and by the running forth of so many glasses with Sand now but formerly made with water the Marriners can tell exactly how many leagues they have sailed how many more they have to Sail how great is the distance from the place they set forth How the Loadstone attracts Iron But by what vertue the Loadstone in the Compass doth perform this alwaies turning to the North looking to that coast it is not easy to assign a reason yet the search of this thing hath sadly disquieted the brains of many men Some refer this to sympathy and mutual agreement whereby the one is by similitude wonderfully affected
his practice of Physick is very knowing and industrious Every where neere the Sea there are Forts and Bull warks raised to resist the Sea-waves at their very entrance and first coming into the Haven made of beams and long poles drove in straight and crosse wayes An artificiall description of a Promontory which besides huge mighty stones that are cast in to fasten the work are propped with bands of Faggots and crosse beames of wood This Engine is like a Promontory that sticks forth and is a safe shelter for Ships to ride under Not onely our men but the Italians and Spaniards call this structure the Cape whether it be artificiall or naturall and in cosmographicall descriptions it goes under that name Sea-weed grows abundantly sticking fast to this which though it be vile and base which besides that it is a Proverb Virgil also observed Baser than Sea weed Eclog. Ruder than Kneeholme than Sea-weed more baser Yet it hath some use in Physick for it abateth pains of the Gowt and Joynts the body being first purged it discusseth inflammations it cools and dryes farr more effectually than Ducks meat upon ponds What is water-Ducks meat Description of Sea-weed which is as it were a mossy excrement of standing waters that Geese and Ducks feed on willingly But since there are many kinds of Sea-weeds that which is common amongst us is with branches glib substantiall knotty with swoln Bladders and Appendixes and full of branches which being pressed with the tops of your fingers will crackle and make a noyse like Sena-leaves This Sea-weed is with a membranous leafe and swelling little Bladders stretched out by wind that shine and are smooth as if they were polished it flotes for the most part and swims above the waters and when the waters are gon it sinks down and flags and lies upon the twigs and poles that prop it up as if were good for nothing the colour of it is red dark tawny What is the colour called Ravus that consists of a mixture of brown and black between a grey and a yellow and next to a full dark green It sticks fast to the rods and stakes that are driven into the shore to fence the rampants like glew or birdlime having no root to help it to fold about that it can hardly be pulled away The second kind of Sea-weed Another kind of Sea-weed that is under the Sea-water as grasse weed grows in Lakes and standing waters it is very thick together and so defends it selfe the leafe of it is like Fennell leafe and small as hairs the colour is unpleasant with a mossy and hairy concression our Country people call it Woer and some Weert which is drawn out of the Sea with nets together with Crabs and other small fish and rubbish But Phycos or Sea Fucus is next kin to Sea-weed and is like it in forme and effect as Aristotle thinks and Pliny after him But Mosse must be held to be a thing different from these L. 6. c. 13. Host aâ—imal one kind whereof grows not onely on the shores but upon the stems of ships when they come home from long Voyages to which not onely Mosse Sea-weeds but shell-fish a little fish called Echineis stick so fast that they will stop Snips and hinder their course therefore our men use to rub them off with sharp brushes and scrape them away with Irons that are crooked for the purpose that the ship being tallowed and carined well and smoothly may sail the faster This common kind of mosse grows abundantly in the Belgick Ocean of a grasse-green colour which yet will degenerate into a yellow or yellowish colour as at the end of Summer Vine-leaves and leaves of Trees do it hath no root to grow upon to support it yet it cleaves with a tenacious holding fast to the ground it lieth upon or else being spread over the utmost coasts of the Sea and the brinks thereof it is lifted up by the Sea-rising and sinks down when it goes out again But Sea-mosse that Dioscorides describes is wholly different from this Sea Mosse is a stalky concretion for that must be judged to be an hearb of stalky concretion and a hairy growing together with slender hairs and small stalks that are wooddy below with leaves as small as hairs curled and nicked white and Ash-colourd and by age waxing red smelling like Soothernwood or Sea-wormwood pleasant yet weighty a good remedy for those that have Worms and soon helps the hearb being beaten to powder and a penny or a drachm weight of it given with Wine for it hath the same operation with Sea-wormwood and is near a kin to it and like it if you look upon it when it first comes forth and shews it self if you regard the numerous leaves of it or the growing stalks or the crisped and jagged skirts it hath Corallina is an hearb that takes hold on Corral Mountebanks call it Corallina because it is taken hanging fast to and folded about Coral in the Ligurian Sea and drawn forth with nets But there are in Zeland who are the utmost people of the Belgick nation whom Tacitus calls Mattiacos The Mattiaci in Zealand so called from their sociable agreeing from their sociable agreement as I shall say more at large a little after Plains that are very long and broad and from the descent of the Bulwarks there are most plentifull pasture-grounds to fat Cattle wherein do grow various kinds of hearbs as Sampire Kaly or Sea-houfleek Orache Purslain Sea-cole Halimus Rest harrow with a purple flower and little branches full of prickles fit to break the stone Sea-weed Corallina a little shrub but Buckthorn grows some three Cubits high and is proper for sandy and brambly grounds in some places it grows like a Tree as Christs thorn that is lesse fruitfull with boughs that are stubborn and hard to break Description of Buckthorn with leaves like the Olive but narrower green a top and white under next the earth the berries are round and as great as a Roman Pease and they grow together in clusters and the boughs fold close one within the other and the fruit hangs by a very small stalk and is of a yellow colour and when it is ripe like Saffron sowre and bitter in taste and it draws forth spittle abundantly and quencheth the thirst in Feavers having one kernel within yet not hard as stone as your Corneil-berries or white Thorn-berries are that is that sharp Thorn that in the Month of May when all things flourish is very gracefull and smells sweet or like to Barberries but it is easily broken with the Teeth But that which is peculiar for bushy and downy places is called by the Zelanders Down Berries when Autumn begins they use to dresse up their chambers and houses with this sprowt when the berries begin to grow yellow and they will last till winter be far spent and refresh the eyes to see them and by
their sharp taste they are very good for a nauseating and qualmish Palate David speaks of this plant who in many places brings very apt similitudes to perswade in the point of Religion fetched handsomely from natures works Before saith he Psal 57. your Thorns be grown and become hard as white Thorn the Lord shall break you and take you away and shall make you melt as a Snail A place of David explained and an abortive child Whereby he describes the factions and deeds of wicked men shewing that their Tyranny threats power endeavours and undertakings shall all come to nothing and shall never do the hurt they intended taking a comparison from the Buckthorn that when it is grown up is full of hurtful prickles but in the spring it is tender soft tractable and not so hurtfull Now there are in these Sea-coasts many shrubby plants whereof some growing far from the shore yet receive the Sea Ayre though they be never wet with sea-Sea-water others are moistned by the Sea coming in when the Ocean over-flows as it useth to do in winter at the full or new of the Moon hence it is that all Sea plants are of a wan colour Sea hearbs are ill colour'd and hoary and not so beautifull as Garden plants are nor so gracefull to sight yet some of them transplanted and made tame by cultivation become more beautifull and grow and flourish more delightfully We see the like in Coblers Bakers that stand by the Oven A simile from sordid Artificers Colliars Black-Smiths Gold-Smiths that are gilders which is performed by Quicksilver and in those that forge Pewter Brasse Copper Lead all these are discovered by their Countenance Some works change a mans colour and have not their natural colour but that which is accidental by reason of the vapours and fumes that fly about them so that some of them are Box-colour'd Weesil-colour'd wan like half burnt Brick brown smoky but should these men use some other trade and forsaking their vulgar calling should live as gentlemen they would soon look of another hue far more comely and beautifully and their whole body as well as their faces would be more gracefull to look upon though some of them would allwaies carry some marks of their old vocations that they were before used to and this we observe in Country-maids and men that chance to rise to great fortunes that they commonly will discover something of their former rural and servile life Laevinus Lemnius a Physitian of Zirizee CONCERNING Natures Dignity and Excellence The Fourth Book CHAP. I. Of the force and effect of the Moon by whose motion the Sea is driven and what useth to happen to men that are dying or desperately sick when they are in their agony and are beginning to dye by the flowing and ebbing of the Sea and motion of the Moon whose forces such as live near the Sea perceive more effectually than other men I Shewed before what power this Planet had Gen. 1. which was ordaind to give light by night and is nearer to us and more familiar than the other stars whose force works upon the bodies of Animals and stirs the humours But since it is wonderfull effectual not onely in raising The force of the Moon what diseases it sharpneth and moving of Tempests and inundations of the Sea but in causing and sharpning diseases namely the Apoplex Lethargy Astonishment Epilepsie Palsey Dropsy Catarhs and flegmatique distillations I shall speak a little more accurately concerning the nature of it and the rather because the Inhabitants of the Low-Countries do more strongly feel the force of it by living so near to the Sea than others do that live farther from it for these being so near and when the Moon sets in the West are so nearly shined upon by her and no woods or Mountains keep her from them do manifestly perceive the power of the Moon and are more abundantly moistned by the moist beams of it For as Pliny saith The Moon is a feminine soft and nocturnal light that moves humours L. 2. c. 100. but it draws none as the Sun doth but fills all things with a moist vapour and makes them swell whence it is that such as dwell in moist and cold countries are full of Flegme and excrements and are subject to coughs hoarsnesse Poses and to many other defluxions and Catarhs especially such as are idle Idle persons subject to catarhs Idlâ— people subject to the Moons effects and sit much and seldome labour or exercise upon whom by reason of abundance of humours the Moon doth more forcibly shew her strength So that these above other men are exposed to her motions and effects For Porters Seamen Carriers Husbandmen and many more that labour much and who by native heat augmented and rowsed do consume superfluities if there be any are lesse subject to the inconveniencies of this Star and do not greatly feel the force of it Yet that I may discover what I have proved and observed by long experience I will shew what force the God of nature who makes all things for our use hath given to the Moon besides that clear light she borrows from the Sun to give light to mortals in the night time Moreover I will shew by the way what increase she gives to Shel-fish Oysters Cockles Plants L. 1. Hist c. 98. Corn-Trees Pliny from Aristotle maintains that in the French Seas no living creature dieth but when the Tide goes forth which opinion as I dare not contentiously contradict or disallow yet I do testify to all men that all things do not exactly answer that opinion since I have seen some by the motion and aspect of the Moon when the Sea was coming in to dye but most men when the Sea goes out For in the low Countries those that live by the Sea as I have proved it use to dye after a diverse manner according as the humours abound in them Fat people are in danger when the Sea flows For some by the course of the Moon by whose motion the Sea is driven when the waters flow others when they ebb either recover or dye the humours and Spirits being either tossed or quieted by the motion and aspect of this Starr So in denouncing the Crisis that is in giving judgment of life and death upon all those that I observed to be troubled with diseases from fullnesse of humours or with inflammation of the Lungs Pleuresie Quinseys Apoplexies Lethargies and Flegmatick diseases and Dropsies whose bodies do swell and the moysture chokes them I pronounce that when the Moon is at the full and when the tide comes in those persons will dye or else the most of them according to the condition and nature of the disease will suffer some manifest alteration by sudden breaking forth of sweat or blood or evacuation and flux of humours that abound in some part Dry bodies dye when the Sea goes out then I give my judgment
wherein by the way the memory of things done is rubbed up and many naturall causes are explained SInce the Countrey of Zeland affords so many things that are usefull for life and for the good of other Nations I wonder that so many people should so undervalue this Countrey and despise it For besides the gallant and huge high Bay-trees that I may begin from the fruitfulnesse of the ground which are full of great shining berries The fruitfulness of Zeland of which they have none in Brabant besides the efficacious and wholesome hearbs some fit for curing diseases others to be eaten besides the most white Salt that is made by the industry of the Citizens besides Madder Madder and Allum makes a fast colour upon Cloth the French call Garansa and we Meedecrap that is fit to give a lasting colour to cloth that will penetrate into it besides wheat than which there is no whiter nor heavier in the world besides so much salt fish and fish dried in the wind besides the infinite store of fish that is brought in daily fresh and is dispersed through all parts of Europe there are fair Cities built and gallant houses well furnished with all houshold ornaments so that all things every where The cleanlinesse of the Zelanders was very pleasing to Phillip King of Spain are cleanly and beautifull to behold which the most illustrious King of Spain Philip Prince of the Low-Countries did exceedingly wonder at in special and so did his Lords and Courtiers that were about him To these we may add the commodity for Havens and safe places for ships to ride in where every Nation comes and they are most fit for sailing to any part of the world they please to set forth for nor do they want able Marriners and Pilots for that work who have sailed over all the secret parts of the Sea But how fat and rich the ground is and how fruitfull the fields are and what great heards there are of Cattle and sheep hardly any man will believe but he that sees it as also the most plentifull pasture land to fat cattle with not onely within the hills and ramparts but also without near the Sea-shores in the very creeks of the Ocean where there wander up and down some millions of cattle that are a great profit for Merchants and vast gain and they are not onely greater than ordinary but very dainty meat by reason of the ground and grasse which affords them such wholesome fodders that strangers are exceedingly taken therewith so that Pettifoggers that is such as are given to follow controversies Advocates take bribes can gratify Advocates and Procurators no better with any bribes excepting Gold than when they present them with a Zeland weather that hath a good fleece to store their Kitchin with for then they take the businesse to heart and follow the cause hard and if a great sheeps-milk-Cheese that is green be joyned with it that weighs many pounds you cannot please a Lawyer better A green cheese Whets the stomach For with such sawce are their full stomachs and overcharged with wine whetted to drink and feast again I dare not promise much for the mild Ayre of Zeland for in some places it is very sharp What Ayre is in Zeland and not so wholesome as their neighbour countries chiefly in Summer by reason of the filthy smells of lakes and standing Pools and because there are but few trees growing there Yet this convenience it hath Why the Ayre of Zeland is not soon infected that it is but little subject to contagions and pestilent diseases and is long before it be infected but once being infected it will range unmeasurably and will not easily abate A simile from fire in things burning For as hard wood will not easily take fire but being once on fire is hardly put out so bodies hardned by Northern blasts and Sea Ayre do not easily admit of the venome but once seized upon by the Plague they can hardly get clear of it Moreover the pit water that is in Islands What water there is in Zeland not long since won from the Sea is not very wholesome and savoury and is either brackish or boggish or tasts filthily Yet in the City of Zirizea there are pits as good for water as any River waters Zirizea hath pits that are wholesome Whether the Antients knew Zeland or rain water We may collect out of Cornelius Tacitus that this Sea-country was not unknown to the Antients but not known by the name it is now called but by the common custome and usual manner of the people speaking one to another whereby they called them Mates For saith he There is under the same subjection the Nation of the Mates like to the Hollanders Lib. de Morb. German but that they are more fierce by reason of the Climate they live in whereby he shews that though they are neighbours to the Hollanders so stiled from the hollownesse of the earth there so that they are to be reckoned amongst them yet are they distinguished by their common names and that these being nearer to the Sea The people of Zeland are cunning and industrious are the more fierce as they are indeed and for strength wit cunning craft fraud quarrels knowledge in traffique and industry of searching out do exceed them Now this name of Mates Whence are the Zelanders calted Mates they have not given them from the place or some Captain or otherwise but from their vulgar compellation and manner of speech one with another for Mates which in their ordinary discourse they use together signifies as much as a companion of all actions contracts dangers and a partner of all ones secrets counsels and labours that they take together So all those that go in companies or that buy and fell together and as many as make an agreement or compact and with full consent of mind bring their goods into a common stock in hopes of gain by a custome amongst Sea-men of which there is great plenty in these Countries are in their native language called Mates that is How the Zelanders call a Colleague joyn'd in company together But such as are joyn'd in confulship or any illustrious dignity be it for Senators Treasurers Over-seers Guardians of children Executours of wills and Testaments and other offices are called by one the other Veynout even those that are Consulls amongst us and it signifies as much as Colleague Wherefore of antient custome and common manner of speaking which the Romans observed amongst these Nations when they were conversant amongst them and had them under tribute or kept them under their protection they call them Mattiacos So he the Germans call Herman signifies Arminius L. 4. Belli gallici Who the Zelanders call Ambachi and whom Coesar in his Commentaries calls Abactos we call Ambachs Heeren For the Low-country people thereby mean some great men who have the whole power in their
in a silent night For since nothing hinders nor Woods nor Groves nor Mountaines nor Rocks as high as Heaven the noyse passeth on the plain of the Sea as in a wide Champion Land farr and broad and is scattered through the Ayre But when all night this miserable slaughter and destruction continued in the morning the Flemings past all hopes became subject to their enemies being killed and scattered by them In that battel were lost above 8000 Flemings and there were taken besides private Souldiers whose number is not easie to be had Guido Earl of Flanders Captivated Guido Dampetra Prince of Flanders and with him innumerable Lords of the Court their Ensignes were taken from them Skins Tents spoils and many rich booties and gallant things were recovered from them and with the Prince and Captives were brought into the City Warr is not rashly to be entred on and the great Fleet they had with all things so well appointed was either shattered to peices or burnt and what they had came all into the Enemies hands Wherefore the Flemings being afflicted with this memorable losse take Counsel to compose the businesse and to redeem their Captives Other mens Countries not to be invaded These things should teach Princes that are covetous of other mens Countries and long after their neighbours Lands that they should not raise Armes against such as live neere unto them where they have no just cause to make a Warr not sufficient reason to induce them to it And if there be a cause they were better first try all means and admitt of any conditions almost for peace than to take up the Sword But now the siege being raised at Zirizea and the Warr ended which fell out Anno Domini 1303 about the Ides of August which was St. Laurence day least so fierce a victory obtain'd after so bloody Warr after some yeares should be forgotten or slip out of the minds of the Citizens they decreed that solemn yearly thanksgiving should be rendred unto the immortal God and the Senate would have this continued year by year for perpetuall memory to shew how these things were done and how the City was delivered and this hath never been neglected by their posterity but also the young boys that frequent publick Schools What things fall amisse are somtime to be remembred and are traind up in learning keep this day holy-day and rest having leave allowed them for to play so is the remembrance of this deed delivered as it were by hand from one generation to another that each Citizen may know and hold fast in mind in what streights and danger of their lives their Ancestors were when they fought with all their might for religion and liberty for their Wives and dear Children and endeavour'd to serve their Prince to their utmost power In the mean while it affords especially this doctrine to posterity and they are warned of it by the yearly commemoration of it that when they are afflicted and in great danger they should lift up their Hearts unto the great and good God and seek for safety from him that their Countrey besieged may be releived that all things may prosper and that they may obtain the victory without shedding of blood which thing alone we read that Abraham Moses David Ezechias Judith and many more did and by these helps they wonn the victory But since the Scheld and Zirizea situate therein hath been often set upon by strangers and shaken with Warr Whence is the Island Suythvelandia so call'd and none of the Islands more than Suythvelandia which is so called onely because it is opposite to the South and stretcheth spatiously being a very pleasant Country toward the Coasts of Flanders and Brabant though some few years it sufferd damage Romersvalla a City and is become narrower than formerly by halfe From this a City of no small note call'd Romersvalla was broken off which having no Land about it The City Gows nor ground about the walls the Sea runs round it that it subsists alone by making of Salt In the Western part of the Island is the City Gows scituate the walls are but a very small compasse but it is pleasantly and handsomely built and the Citizens are very civil and of laudable manners There is besides this another Island joyns to Brabant only a small narrow Sea runs between Tole a City of Zeland Martin â—s City wherein stands Tole so called from the tribute and custome It is an antient little Town from whence the fortresse of Martin is not farr distant it is the free Town that belongs to the Prince of Orange a delightfull place set about with Trees wherein there builds a multitude of birds especially Herons There are besides these some small Islands of no great note as Duveland so called from the frequency of Pigions there Goerede from the good harbour for Ships Platessa and many more not long since won out of the Sea I think it needlesse to stay to describe them since a description of Zealand newly set forth doth exactly represent them all which the curious may look upon at their leasure The originall of the Zelanders As for the original of the Zealanders the report is constant and derived to the Inhabitants by succession that they are derived from the Goths and Vandals especially from that Island of Norway Zeland in Denmark Hafnia Coopmans Haven which the Danes call Zealand wherein there stands that famous place for Merchandice called Hafnia commonly Coopmans-Haven from a Haven much frequented by Merchants who first found this Land void of Inhabitants and reduced it into Islands and first setting up Cottages and small places made it fit for pasture and arable Land Zeland belongs to Holland For in Caesar's time there was a great part of this land which is no other but an Appendix to Holland that is untill'd nor ever was it ploughed to sow upon or dug but full of Lakes and arms of the Sea that hinders it as even to this day Holland hath many Lakes so that the way by land is cut off every where by them and men must passe in boats Aestuaria what which is also used in Zeland in the places overflowed which are nothing else but places without and within the shores that are exposed to the Sea's flouds For when the Mediterranean Sea runs into them they are full of water so that in the Winter there is no foot passage and there is no going to those places but by boats But the ground beyond the ramparts that for many acres far and wide goes as far as the creeks and Sea-coasts is heaped up by the washing of the water and is beaten upon with continual floud and sometimes when the Ocean swels as it doth at the full or new of the Moon it is all overflowed and when the Sea falls back again it comes forth that the places which are somewhat high bear very good pasture to feed cattel