them who say that an effect may be called naturall two manner of wayes first in regard of the causes themselves secondly in regard of the direction and application of the causes If we consider the meer secondary and instrumentall causes we may call this effect naturall because it was partly performed by their help and concurrence but if we consider the mutuall application and conjunction of these second causes together with the first cause which extraordinarily set them on work we must needs acknowledge it to be supernaturall Now then although we have built upon reason and so found that before fourtie dayes fully ended the middle Region it self was drowned whereupon it could not rain from thence yet in so doing we do not argue amisse for it is no whit derogating from the power of the Almighty to ascend up higher till we finde the cause of this long rain and also the place from whence it came seeing that when we have so done we shall plainly finde that in regard of the direction and application of the cause it was extraordinarily set on work by a divine dispensation and so the effect was supernaturall I may therefore now proceed and that I may make the matter yet a little plainer concerning these cataracts or windows of heaven and so by consequence of the waters also above the heavens this in the next place may be added namely that Moses setteth down two causes by which there grew so great an augmentation of water as would drown the world the one was the fountain of the great deep the other was the opening of the windows of heaven Now if these windows were the clouds then it seemeth that the waters were increased but by one cause for the clouds in the aire come from the waters in the sea which by descending make no greater augmentation then the decresion was in their ascending And although it may be thought that there are waters enough within the bowels of the earth to overflow the whole earth which is demonstrated by comparing the earths diameter with the height of the highest mountains yet seeing the rain-water is made a companion with the great deep in the augmentation of the drowning waters I see no reason why that should be urged against it especially seeing it is found that the earth emptied not all the water within her bowels but onely some For thus stand the words The fountains also of the deep and the windows of heaven were stopped and the rain from heaven was restrained their store therefore was not spent when they had sufficiently drowned the world but their fury rather was restrained when they had executed Gods purpose by climbing high enough above the hills Cardinall Cajetane was conceited that there was a mount in Paradise which was not overflown and there forsooth he placeth Henoch The like dream also they have amongst them concerning Elias And as their champion and Goliah Bellarmine is perswaded all those mountains onely were overflown where the wicked dwelt Iosephus also reporteth out of Nicholas Damascenus that the hill Baris in Armenia saved many who fled thither for succour But these are dreams and devices which are soon overthrown by Moses in his foresaid evident text where the words are so generall that they include all and every mountain under not onely the Aiery heaven as Cajetane collecteth but under the whole Heaven without exception And now after all what hindereth that there should not be waters above the concave of the Firmament and that the opening of the windows of heaven should not be more then the loosing of the clouds For it is affirmed and not without reason you see that the rain or a great part of it which fell in the universall Floud came from an higher place then the middle Region of the aire and that the upper waters are to be above the Firmament and not the parts of it is an assertion well agreeing to Moses his description of this second dayes work For as hath been shewed concerning the fowls and stars it is true that they are but in the Firmament and not above it neither is there any more Firmament then one seeing Moses mentions not a second The fowls indeed fly above the earth as the text it self speaketh in Gen. 1. 20. but not above the Firmament their course being as Iunius reads the place versus superficiem expansi coeli or ante expansum or coram expanso coeli but never supra expansum And as for the starres the text likewise saith ver 15. Let them be for lights in the out-spread firmament mentioning never more then one and the same Firmament But for the waters it is otherwise The Firmament is appointed to separate them as being between and not above them Esto expansum inter aquas it is learned Iunius his right version of the place ut sit distinguens inter aquas Fecit ergò Deus expansum quod distinguit inter aquas quae sunt sub expanso inter aquas quae sunt supra expansum That is Let there be a firmament between the waters c. Between the waters as having waters above it And how unlike it is that the upper waters should be placed otherwise let the former reasons witnesse For all things considered we need not stand so much upon Pareus his reading Super quasi in expanso and desuper expanso as if they were but above or on high within the concave as are the fowls and starres this I say we need not stand upon seeing Iunius readeth Supra expansum without any such nice salving although he thinketh with Pareus that these upper waters are no higher then the middle Region of the aire And also admit that some derive the word Schamajim or Shamajim which signifieth Heavens from Sham There or in that place and from Majim Waters concluding thereupon that these waters which we now speak of must be There viz. in the heavens and not above them although some I say make this derivation yet others derive the same word otherwise And no few be there who not without reason do suppose that it is no derivative nor compound word at all but rather that the Ismaelitish word Schama which signifieth nothing else but High or Above doth proceed from this word Schamajim which in English we reade Heavens In which regard the Etymologie helpeth nothing to prove the adverse part And yet as I said before let the reader take his choice For perhaps he may now think after all that if there be waters above the starry heaven and that part of those waters descended in the time of the Floud that then the Heavens would have been corrupted and dissolved as some have said the rain falling through them from the convexitie of the out-spread Firmament Sect. 3. An objection answered concerning the nature of the Heavens examining whether they be of a Quint-essence BUt concerning this it may be said that it is not known whether the heavens be of
which will drown bastard children that be cast into it but drive to land them that be lawfully begotten Or is not this strange which he also mentioneth of a certain well in Sicilia whereof if theeves drink they are made blinde by the efficacie of the water The like I finde in other authours concerning certain fountains in Sardinia for it is said that they have this marvellous propertie namely that if there be a cause to draw any one to his oath he that is perjured and drinketh thereof becometh blinde and the true witnesse seeth more clearely then he did before Solinus and Isiodore report it Solinus also and Aristotle make mention of a water called the Eleusinian or Halesinian spring which through the noise of singing or musick is moved as if it danced or capered up and down whereas at other times it is still and quiet But I conclude and as that honoured Poet cannot but say Sure in the legend of absurdest fables I should enroll most of these admirables Save for the reverence of th' unstained credit Of many a witnesse where I yerst have read it And saving that our gain-spurr'd Pilots finde In our dayes waters of more wondrous kinde Unto which in things that are strange and not fabulous let this also be added that God Almighty hath proposed infinite secrets to men under the key of his wisdome that he might thereby humble them and that seeing what meer nothings they are they might acknowledge that all are ignorant of more then they know for indeed this is a rule Maxima pars eorum quae scimus est minima pars eorum quae nescimus The greatest part of those things which we know is the least part of those things which we know not Sect. 3. Of the drie-land appearing after the gathering of the waters THe waters were no sooner gathered but the drie-land then appeared and this may be called the second part of the third dayes work For the end of the gathering of the waters was that the earth might shew it self and not onely so but that also it might appeare solid and drie Two things therefore saith Pareus did the earth in this act principally receive one was that it might be conspicuous the other that it might be solid and drie and both depended upon the law of great necessitie For first had it been continually covered with waters how could it have been a place for habitation either man must have been otherwise then he is or else the earth must as it was be uncovered Secondly were it uncovered and not also drie and solid it could not conveniently have bore up those living creatures weights and other things which tread and presse upon it Whereupon Expositours well witnesse that earth is so named from the Hebrew Erets which say they implieth a thing trod and runne upon by the creatures on it and heavenly orbs about it The same word spoken of particular places is englished land as the land or earth of Canaan and the like Here then it appeareth that this was that time when the earth received her proper elementarie qualitie which it had potentially before but not actually till now Now therefore it being not onely uncovered but also made drie it might easily be distinguished from the other three elements of fire aire and water For the proper qualitie of the fire is heat of the aire is moisture of the water is coldnesse and of the earth is drinesse These qualities I say are most proper and peculiar to them yet so as the aire is not onely moist but of a moderate heat as being nearest to the element of fire the water not onely cold but also moist as coming nearest to the nature of aire and the earth not onely drie but something cold as being hoast or landlord to the water and upon these terms the elements are combined together there being in all an harmonious order pointing to him who in number weight and measure hath constituted all things I will not go about to prove that the earth is the centre of the world for fear I should be like to him who disputed whether snow were white onely I will adde that even as an infant is potentially rationall by nature but is made rationall in act by youth or yeares so it was with the earth both before and after the drying of it Unto which let this also be joyned that the earth is not so arid or drie that it is void of all moisture for then it would be dissolved and fall into dust But it is arid and dry that it might be solid and firm retaining in the mean time even in the solid parts of it such a conveniencie of humour that all parts may both be glewed together and also have sufficient nutriment for the things which like to a teeming mother she either bringeth forth or nourisheth in her wombe Thus was the earth prepared and thus was it made a fit habitation for man to dwell on But as if man were not alwayes worthy to tread upon such a solid foundation we see it often shakes and quakes and rocks and rends it self as if it shewed that he which made it threatened by this trembling the impietie of the world and ruines of those which dwell upon the earth For though the efficient materiall and formall causes of an earthquake be naturall yet the finall is the signification of an angry God moved by the execrable crimes of a wicked people according to that of David in the 18 Psalme at the 7 verse The earth trembled and quaked the very foundations of the hills also shook and were removed because he was wroth Fear chills our hearts What heart can fear dissemble When steeples stagger and huge mountains tremble The Romanes in times past commanded by publick edict that prayers and supplications should be made in time of an earthquake but they must call upon no god by name as on their other holy-dayes for fear they mistook that god unto whom it belonged And the most ancient of the Grecians called Neptune the shaker and mover of the earth because they supposed that the cause proceeded from the fluctuations and flowings of waters up and down in the hollow places under ground Others thought that the shaking proceeded from the downfalls of subterranean dens or caves and that sometimes whole mountains sunk in and they caused the trembling But by that which I said before in the generation of windes it appeareth that what it is which is the cause of windes above the earth is also the cause of trembling and shaking in the earth For when it happeneth that aire and windie spirits or Exhalations be shut up within the caverns of the earth or have such passage as is too narrow for them they then striving to break their prisons shake the earth and make it tremble Now this imprisonment is said to be caused thus namely when the earth which is dry by nature
part whereof is circa mundi medium from whence may be had in readinesse alwayes that which is sufficient to water and fructifie the earth and leave a place for habitation The other circa mundi extremum as in a great treasure and plentifull store-house from whence per mediam aëris naturam both the starres are cherished their beams made wholesome to the world and also the expense of these lower waters salved in what is needfull for the earth as a bad debter either sends back none or little of that which it borrowed not being easily turned into any other element From whence saith he we may answer that question amongst the ancient Ethnick Philosophers mentioned by Plutarch 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Unde nutriatur mundus And indeed for mine own part I also think that the starres are of such a nature or substance that in their kinde they stand in need of daily sustentation like a lamp which can burn no longer then the oyl lasteth which ever feeds it For the heavens are subject to change and alteration neither is there any necessitie compelling us to attribute a quintessence to either of them especially seeing we are certain that the world is not eternall but that we may as well and as probably grant them to be of the same nature with the elements as formerly I have related Which being granted I suppose them to be chiefly of a fierie nature and this perhaps they took from the highest part of the aire in the supream height of heaven which reacheth to the utmost extent of the out-spread firmament For there is that which we call the Elementarie fire there I say and not in a lower place although Aristotle would have it in concavo lunae or next under the orb of the moon of which see more in the second dayes work And herein I do willingly also embrace the opinion of Plato that the starres for the most part are fierie yet so as they in some sort participate also of the other elements that thereby their bodies may be as it were glewed together and firmly concreted into a durable lump differing no otherwise from a Comet then ice doth from crystall or a cleare solid gemme from bright brittle glasse An experiment whereof we have in that new starre of Cassiopea's chair which because it was of a more solid composition then ordinarie comets and of a nearer nature to the matter of the continuing starres did therefore appeare like one of them lasted a long while with them before it was extinguished for had it not been exalted to a great perfection and solid composition of the parts it had been gone extinct and vanished a long while sooner And in granting to them something of every element although their greatest portion especially in the sunne be fierie it comes to passe that they have differing qualities of which see more afterwards in the Astrologicall part of this dayes work Neither shall I need to stand upon it as a thing necessary for me to prove whether they make warm the aire and us by any heat which is formally in them or by the attrition made with their beams Onely know that it is hotter in summer then in winter because when the beams of the sunne come nearest to a perpendicular trajection their heat is the greater because their reflexion is the stronger But leaving this give me leave to proceed and to prosecute more fully the matter in hand that thereby I may shew my meaning now more clearely concerning the daily nourishment of these bright heavenly lamps For as hath been said seeing their chiefest matter is of that nature of which it appeareth to be they must of necessitie be nourished out of some store-house or other otherwise the world comes to decay impavidum ferient ruinae and the very ruines will strike him who fears it not For satisfaction therefore in this it cannot be amisse to remember the opinion amongst sundry of the ancient Philosophers who said the truth and yet erred in declaring it as Cleanthes who allowed the matter of the sunne to be fierie and that it was nourished by humours attracted from the ocean Also Anaximander and Diogenes after whom Epicurus and the Stoicks thought in like manner that the sunne was nourished by waters and lest it should perish through any defect of aliment they fondly supposed that the oblique motion which it had from one Tropick to another was to finde out moist humours that thereby it might live perpetually Now these things very worthily were held by Aristotle to be ridiculous and absurd as in the second book of his Meteors at the second chapter is apparent Yet neverthelesse succeeding times did in a manner pitch still upon the same tenents and would not onely have the sunne and rest of the Planets but even all the other starres nourished by vapours and watrie humours as well as they For amongst others it was Cicero's opinion in his second book De natura deorum making the sea and waters of the earth their daily store-house See also Seneca in his 6 book and 16 chapter of Naturall questions and Plutarch in libello de Iside and Plinie in his Naturall historie lib 2. cap. 9. whose words are these Sydera verò haud dubiè humore terreno pasci c. These indeed spake the truth but as I said before they erred in declaring it For it is nothing probable neither may it be granted that all the seas or waters in the world are able to afford moisture enough for such a purpose And therefore smile I at those fable-forgers Whose busie-idle style so stiffly urges The heav'ns bright Saphires to be living creatures Ranging for food and hungry fodder-eaters Still sucking up in their eternall motion The earth for meat and for their drink the ocean Nor can I see how th' earth and sea should feed So many starres whose greatnesse doth exceed So many times if starre-divines say troth The greatnesse of the earth and ocean both For here our cattell in a moneth will eat Sev'n times the bulk of their own bulk in meat Wherefore be pleased to call to minde what was formerly mentioned in the second day concerning the waters above the heavens set apart from these below by the out-spread Firmament but how it is that there they are and that the out-spread Firmament is able to uphold them let the alledged reasons in the foresaid day be again remembred And then observe that these waters were certainly separated for some purpose for Deus Natura nihil faciunt frustra God and Nature make nothing in vain He made all things in number weight and measure saith Solomon so that there is nothing which was not made for something I do therefore consent again to those who suppose that these waters do daily nourish and cherish the starres thereby also so tempering and ordering their beams that they may remain wholesome to the world turning also and attenuating those drops with
may be also thought that both these waters dropping from clouds in the aire and also all other waters under the canopie of Heaven or within the concavitie of this Expansum are but the lower waters and those other which are separated from them must be in an higher place viz. above the firmament and so shall they be divided by the firmament otherwise not To which purpose Du Bartas thus I 'le rather give a thousand times the lie To mine own reason then but once defie The sacred voice of th'everlasting Spirit Which doth so often and so loud averre it That God above the shining firmament I wot not I what kinde of waters pent Or as Hyperius also writeth Assentiemur Mosi ac simpliciter statuemus aquas non tantùm infra firmamentum ubi in portiones quasi regiones certas eae ipsae sunt distributae aliaeque per aërem circumvehuntur aliae terris sunt adglutinatae verùm etiam super illud esse alias undique circumfusas That is Let us assent to Moses and plainly determine that there are not onely waters below the firmament as it were divided into certain portions and regions some of them carried about through the aire some fastened to the earth but also that there are other waters above the firmament spread round about it Which thing is also thus further manifested because those waters that are separated by the firmament are to be at all times separated For God in the creation of this firmament did not onely command that it should separate but also that it should be separating that is Let it continually separate or divide the waters from the waters quasi voluerit nullum esse tempus quo non distinguat as if he would have it that there should be no time wherein it might not distinguish between the one the other Which as it cannot be doâ—…e unlesse there be alwayes waters to be distinguished so neither can it be pertinent to those waters in the clouds because the aire is often cleare and those bottles of rain are not alwayes there And again it is from the vapours drawn from below that clouds and rain come which cannot at all times be but then onely when there is a naturall concourse of causes to effect it And then again when they are there they be soon gone for the rain proceeding from those vapours which we call the clouds stayeth not long in the aire but forthwith falleth down again and so by little and little the vapour consumeth and the cloud is gone How can it therefore be that these should be those supercelestiall waters separated from all other waters by the firmament seeing the firmament is above them and not onely so but also their proper place is here below being but at times drawn from hence and then it is as it were against their wills which makes them therefore hasten hither again with all the speed they can whereas on the contrary the firmament is to be between those waters and not over them separating them not at times but continually Neither may it seem strange how the out-firmament can be able alwayes to uphold them seeing as hath been said it was made strong by stretching out lifting then the waters up with it and therefore well fitted for this office and can no more fall then the heaven it self whose beams or rafters are laid in the waters as the Prophet speaketh Psalme 104. 3. And hereupon it also was that noble Bartas said I see not why mâ—…ns reason should withstand Or not beleeve that He whose powerfull hand Bay'd up the Red sea with a double wall That Israels host might scape Egyptian thrall Could prop as sure so many waves on high Above the Heav'ns starre-spangled canopie This was his opinion concerning the waters separated by the firmament of which opinion are sundry more But on the contrary side are other some who are of another minde affirming that they are meant onely of those waters in the clouds for say they the aire is called the firmament so also is the skie c. And of the clouds it is said in Job that God bindeth up his waters in thick clouds and the cloud is not rent under them So that first as every part of the water is called by the name of water in like manner every part of the firmament is called by the name of the firmament in which regard those waters in the clouds although no higher then the aire may be taken for those waters which the firmament doth separate and secondly that place in Job sheweth no lesse making it appeare how and in what manner the waters are separated by the firmament Furthermore Ex ipsa nubium natura saith Pareus From the very nature of the clouds this appeareth to be so for what other thing are the clouds but waters separated by force of the diurnall heat and by the cold of the aire made thick whereupon as Plinie calleth them they are said to be Aquae in coelo stantes Waters standing in the heavens Also it may be added saith Pareus that Moses makes mention but of two kindes of waters superas inferas the higher and the lower but the clouds are waters as hath been shewed and no low waters therefore they are the upper waters unlesse there be three kindes of waters which is contrary to Moses Besides this saith he is confirmed by the grammaticall construction of the words For Moses saith not that it divided from the waters which were supra Expansum but thus viz. from the waters which were desuper Expanso The sense therefore is not that the waters were carried up above the whole Expansum or Firmament but rather that they were carried upwards so as that with the firmament they were supra and desuper that is above and on high Also the name of heaven confirms no lesse for saith he the Expansum is called according to the Hebrews Schamajim or Shamajim from Sham There and Majim Waters which derivation is common And therefore those upper waters are not quite above the Expansum or the Firmament but are there that is in the Firmament namely in the middle Region of the aire Thus we see the difference concerning these waters And now let the reader choose which opinion likes him best But for mine own part I like this latter worst yet let me not tie another to be of the same minde any further then he pleaseth for it is no matter of faith and therefore we have our free choice according to the best reasons and most forcible demonstrations Wherefore let me proceed a little further that thereby as neare as I can I may set down that which seemeth to me the best meaning and nearest to the truth First then I answer that they do mistake who divide the Expansum into parts as if in so doing they could absolutely cleare the matter in question for it is not a part of
three severall parts The first whereof concerneth the gathering together of the waters in these words And God said Let the waters under heaven be gathered together unto one place The second concerneth the drying of the ground in these words And let the drie-land appeare The third is pertinent to the sprouting and springing of the earth in these words And God said Let the earth bring forth grasse the herb yeelding seed and the fruit-tree yeelding fruit after his kinde c. All which in their orders are severally to be discussed together with such other things as are pertinent to the said division And concerning the two first observe that God bestowes as it were sirnames on them calling the gathering together of the waters Seas and the drie-land he calleth Earth Sect. 2. Of the gathering together of the waters which God called Seas VVAter and earth are the two lowest elements and this was that day which brought them to perfection for untill now they were confused because their matter although not quite void of form received at this time a better form of due distinction and more comely ornament The informitie was expressed before when Moses said that the earth was void and invisible because covered with waters but the formitie is then expected and declared when the waters are gathered and the drie-land made apparent It is a wonder sure to think what a confused tyrannie the waters made by their effusion for they did rather tyrannize then orderly subdue or govern this inferiour mirie masse wherefore it seemed good to the Almightie maker first to divorce one from the other before he gave them leave so to be joyned each to other that both together might make one globie bodie which according to the best approved writers is one and twentie thousand and six hundred miles in compasse But concerning this gathering together of the waters there arise certain questions which may not altogether be forgotten As first it is enquired How the waters were gathered together Secondly How it can be said that they were gathered to one place seeing there be many seas lakes rivers and fountains that are farre asunder Thirdly Whether they be higher then the earth Fourthly Whether there be more water then earth Fifthly Whether the earth be founded upon the waters Sixthly Why the seas be salt and rivers fresh Seventhly and lastly What causeth an ebbing and flowing in the sea rather then in rivers Concerning the first of these questions those who think that there be no Antipodes supposed that the waters did runne together and cover the other part of the earth which is opposite to this where we dwell But the experience of skilfull navigatours and famous travellers yea and reason it self doth crie against it Others imagine that it was some mighty winde which dried them up or that the fervent heat of the sunne effected it But both think amisse because the drie-land saith one appearing all at once was so prepared by a greater power then either of the winde or sunne which could not work it at once nor scarcely in a long continuance of time neither was the sunne made untill the next day after Dixit igitur factum est he spake the word onely and by the power of that word it was done For the efficient cause of the sea was the onely word of God the materiall was the waters the formall was their gathering together and the finall partly was that the drie-land might appeare Ezekiels wheels were one within the compasse of another and so was the earth water and aire before the powerfull word of God commanded this their gathering the earth within the water the water within the aire and the aire within the concave of the Firmament Which if they had all for ever so remained and man made as he is the world had been no house for him to dwell in neither had it been a work so full of never ended admiration as now it is Perhaps the pores and holes of the ground were full before this gathering yet neverthelesse their bodies must be willing to be made the beds for more That they were full it proceedeth from the nature of the water falling downwards and filling them That being full they are yet made capable of more might proceed both from a more close composure of the not hollow parts of the earth and also by making these waters thicker then they were before For whilest the not hollow parts were made more solid the hollow could not choose but be enlarged and whilest the thin and vapourie waters were better thickened and condensed the outface of the ground could not be obscured but shew it self as one released from out a waterie prison Some adde unto this their heaping together in the high and wide seas whereby it cometh to passe that they flow to and fro at flouds and ebbs and do often force out water-springs from out the highest mountains which last whether it be so or no shall be examined afterwards The next question was how it can be said that they were gathered to one place seeing there be many seas lakes rivers and fountains that are farre asunder It was a strange conceit of him who thought that this one place unto which the waters were gathered was separate so from the earth that the waters by themselves should make a globe and have their proper centre for leaving to descend towards the centre of the earth they were gathered to a centre of their own and so the drie-land appeared But this opinion is very false and worthy to be reckoned amongst absurdities for as the Prophet Esay writeth the Lord is said to sit upon the circle of the earth Now experience sheweth that it is not the earth alone but the earth and sea together that make one globe or circle This one place then whither the waters were gathered was not a place separated from the earth being in the aire or elsewhere but was in the very body of the earth it self Neither was it one place strictly taken as it meant one point or angle of the earth or as if there were no Antipodes half the earth under us was to be covered with water But rather it is called one place because in the whole globe of the earth every place is either water or land or if not so because there is but one body of all the waters that are for every part of the water is joyned unto the whole as it were with arms and legs and veins diversly dilated and stretched out So that either under the earth or above the earth all the waters are joyned together which also the wise man witnesseth Eccles. 1. 7. But haply some may think because this gathering together of the waters is called Seas that therefore the one place unto which they were gathered is not to be understood of every collection or gathering of water but onely of the sea Well be it so And if this rather then the
other be the meaning of Moses his words it may be answered that although the sea be divers in name yet all seas are so continued together that one sea is perpetually joyned with another and thereupon the name given is not Sea but Seas as in the text is manifest Yea and hereupon it also is that Geographers make these waters come under a fourefold division For they either call this gathered water Oceanus Mare Fretum or Sinus 1. Oceanus the ocean is that generall collection of all waters which environeth the world on every side 2. Mare the sea is a part of the ocean to which we cannot come but through some strait 3. Fretum a strait is a part of the ocean restrained within narrow bounds and opening a way to the sea 4. Sinus a creek or bay is a sea contained within a crooked shore thrusting out as it were two arms to embrace the lovely presence of it Object But perhaps you will say that the Caspian sea is a sea by it self and therefore all seas joyn not the one unto the other Answ. To which it is answered that this sea is either as a lake in respect of the contiguous or joyning seas or else it was no sea in the beginning of the world but began onely at the ceasing of the Floud was caused by the waters coming down from the Caspian hills setling themselves in those declive and bottomie places where the said sea is Plinie and Solinus are perswaded that it joyneth it self unto other seas by running into the Scythian or Northern ocean through some occult passages under ground which is not improbable But howsoever this we are sure of that the river Volga is joyned to it being as another sea and having no lesse then seventie mouthes to emptie it self which river is also joyned to the river Don and that hath great acquaintance with the Euxine sea Besides Volga is not a stranger to other waters which fall either into the Scythian or Baltick ocean insomuch that it may be said this Caspian sea is tied as it were with certain strings to three other seas and so not onely all waters are made one bodie like as before I shewed but if this gathering must needs be referred to the seas even all seas also shake hands and by one means or other mutually embrace one the other A third question is Whether the waters be higher then the earth Concerning which there be authours on both sides some affirming some denying That they be higher then the earth it is thus affirmed First because water is a bodie not so heavie as earth Secondly it is observed by sailers that their ships flie faster to the shore then from it whereof no reason can be given but the height of the water above the land Thirdly to such as stand on the shore the sea seemeth to swell into the form of an hill till it put a bound to their sight Fourthly it is written of Sesostris King of Egypt and after him of Darius King of Persia that they would have cut the earth and joyned Nilus and the Red sea together but finding the Red sea higher then the land of Egypt they gave over their enterprise lest the whole countrey should be drowned Fifthly the arising of springs out of the highest mountains doth declare it because the water cannot be forced higher then the head of the fountain opposite to it As for example Like as we see a spring that riseth in an hill conveyed in lead unto a lower ground will force his waters to ascend unto the height it beareth at the fountain even so the waters which stand above the mountains do force out springs of water by necessary and naturall cause out of the highest mountains Sixthly the Psalmist doth witnesse the same affirming moreover that God Almighty hath made the waters to stand on an heap and hath set them a bound which they shall not passe nor turn again to cover the earth And Jer. 5. 22. Fear ye not me saith the Lord will ye not tremble at my presence which have placed the sand for the bound of the sea by a perpetuall decree that it cannot passe it and though the waves thereof rage yet can they not prevail Thus on the one side But notwithstanding all this methinks the other part yet choose which you will is most probable For first the water indeed is a bodie not so heavie an earth yet heavie enough to descend not being of an aspiring nature but presseth eagerly towards the same centre that a stone or any part of the earth coveteth It cannot therefore possibly be above the earth although not so heavie as earth unlesse there were no hollow places in the ground to receive it But God Almighty in gathering them provided lodgings for them lest they should turn again and cover the earth which also is insinuated by the Hebrew word Kava signifying to congregate or gather together from whence the Latine word Cavus hollow may seem to be derived Besides should it be alledged that the hollow places could not be deep enough to receive them what were this but to curtall the earths Diameter or thicknesse for suppose the waters stood above the hills before they were gathered to one place yet know that even the Semidiameter of the earth is deeper by no few miles then the highest hill Suppose you could imagine an hill to be above a thousand miles high which is impossible yet the earths Semidiameter would be two thousand foure hundred and above 36 miles deeper then that height As for example if the earth be 21600 miles in compasse then the Diameter will be 6872 8 11 miles and if the Diameter be 6872 8 11 miles then the Semidiameter must be half so much viz. 3436 4 11 miles Secondly suppose it be observed by sailers that their ships fly faster to the shore then from it this proveth not the sea higher then the land For know that it is no wonder to see a ship sail more speedily homewards then outwards because when it approacheth to the shore it cometh with a continued motion which makes it the swifter but when it goeth from the shore it doth but begin its motion and is therefore slower then before This if need were might be proved by many plain and familiar examples Thirdly suppose that the sea seemeth to such as stand on the shore to swell higher and higher till it put a bound to the sight this rather proveth the sphericall roundnesse of the earth and sea then any thing else shewing that both together make one globie bodie Which why it is perceived rather in the water then the land this may be a reason namely because the sea being a plain and liquid element and spacious enough doth better shew it then the earth which hindereth our full view by reason of many woods trees and other fixed obstacles which the sight meeteth and encountreth by the way Fourthly although Sesostris K. of
art yes surely hath he And if man be so potent as to make his skill admired yea and by those who are men as well as he what may we think of the Maker of men but that his art is much more then commendable and his wisdome much more then matchlesse so that the world and all the parts thereof afford nothing but matter of wonder It is therefore an acclamation which deserves impression in the hearts of us mortall men Oh God how manifold are thy works in wisdome thou hast made them all And being made his providence doth sustain them The sixth question is concerning the saltnesse of the sea and freshnesse of rivers Aristotle in his second book of Meteors at the 3. chapter setteth down besides his own three opinions concerning this saltnesse One whereof is that the waters overflowing the earth in the beginning of the world were so dried up by the heat of the sunne that not onely the drie-land appeared but all those waters which remained being the sea were so sucked and robbed of their sweet savour that they could not but be salt Another opinion agreeing to that of Plato who generating the sea ex tartaro or from great and deep gulfs in the earth or with others drawing it through the bowels of the earth gave occasion to think that the water in it self was sweet and yet became salt by reason of the divers savours that it met withall in the ground or veins of the earth Which cause by the interpretours of Aristotle is also attributed to Anaxagoras Metrodorus as being pleasing to them For as water strained through ashes is endued with a certain tart and salt kinde of acrimonie so the sea is made salt by some such kinde of earth through which it passeth which is as others have also thought who suppose that the saltnesse of Mineralls doth much conduce to this purpose A third was the opinion of Empedocles who affirmed that the sea was but the sweat of the earth being as it were rosted by the heat of the sunne and was therefore salt because all sweat is of such a savour Now these three opinions Aristotle endeavoured to confute by severall reasons shewing other causes of the seas saltnesse And indeed had it been so with him that he could have repaired unto Moses then had the first opinion been struck dead more easily then it was because Moses would have told him that the drying of the earth and gathering of the waters were one day elder then either sunne or starres And for the second if it be taken in a qualified sense it is not much amisse for although Aristotle saith that if it be a true opinion then rivers would be salt as well as seas because they runne in the veins of the earth yet know that all and every vein is not of one and the same temper as is apparent by the differing qualitie of springing waters As for the third it seemeth rather a ridiculous then philosophicall opinion for sweat is but a small part of that humour contained in any bodie that yeeldeth sweat but the sea is not the smallest part of humour in the bodie of the earth therefore it neither causeth the sea nor saltnesse of it But beside all these there are other opinions also Wherefore some again have attributed the cause to adust vapours partly let fall on the sea and partly raised from it to the brinks and face thereof Others to the motion of the sea Some to under-earth or rather under-sea fires of a bituminous nature causing both the motion and saltnes also Others to an hot and drie aspiration exhaled out of the earth and mixed with the water of the sea But that which followeth seemeth absolutely the best namely that it is effected by the working of the sunne which draweth out the purer and finer parts leaving the grosser and more base behinde even as in this little world of our bodies the purest part of our nourishment being employed in and on the bodie the urine and other excrements remaining do retain a perfect saltnesse Unto which opinion they also assent who affirm that the saltnesse is radically or originally in the matter of the water which must be so understood as the water hath in it an earthy kinde of substance of a drying nature which as I suppose was not first in the matter of the waters before they were gathered unto this one place where now they are because as is reported and written there be salt mines in sundry places as in a certain hill in Barbary out of which perfect salt is digged and used for salt after it is made clean and beaten small All which doth greatly commend the providence and wisdome of God For it is not unlike but that the sea was by his wisdome and providence gathered into such salt valleys of the earth as were otherwise barren and unfruitfull with which substance the gathered water being mixed must needs partake both of an earthy matter and also of a salt savour yet so as this salt savour cannot be drawn out and sensibly perceived in the mixture of many sweet humours joyned with it without a separation first made by the heat of the sunne of the thinner parts from the thicker And so the sunne is a disponent though not a productive cause of this saltnesse Now this opinion may be strengthened by many reasons First because sea-water when it is boyled doth evaporate a dewie or watrie humour which being collected and kept together hath a sweet tast or savour Secondly because vapours drawn from the sea and turned into rain are void of saltnesse Thirdly because the sea in summer and towards the South as Aristotle affirmeth is more salt then elsewhere which cometh to passe in that the sunne at that time and place draweth away more of the sweet humours then at other times Fourthly because the sea is fresher towards the bottome then at the top as some have found by using practises to experience it Fifthly because as Aristotle again testifyeth if an emptie vessel sealed up with wax be by some means or other caused to sink into the sea and there let lie for a certain space it will at the last be filled with very fresh and sweet water issuing in through the insensible small pores of the wax for by this manner of passing into the vessel the thin is strained from the thick yea by this means the earthy and adust part which carrieth the saltnesse in it is excluded whilest the other is admitted For in every salt savour two things are required viz. an adustion and an earthie kinde of substance of a drying nature both which are found in the sea For according to the testimonie of Physicians sea-water doth heat and drie more then other waters and is also more ponderous or heavie yea and it doth more easily sustain a heavie burden giving it lesse leave to sink then the fresh silver-seeming streams And thus we see
no such luckie flouds there it is found that these bounteous watrie bodies yeelding vapours do purchase for them such dropping showers of rain that the valleys stand so thick with corn that they laugh and sing and therefore these are great benefits challenging most humble thanks as it is Psal. 107. The third is that they can quell the rage of the hottest element and keep our mansions from cinders or a flamie conversion into ashes The fourth is that they yeeld us an easinesse and speedinesse of conduct and traffick by which each place partaketh of the blessings of every place Yea these and many more are the benefits of water without which the life of man could not be sustained But here I contract my sails and end this question for by coming on the shore I shall the better view that which remaineth concerning this liquid element Wherefore it followeth The next and last question propounded was concerning the fluxion and refluxion of the sea wherein I purpose as neare as I can to shew both why seas have that alternate motion as also why such murmuring brooks and rivers as do not ebbe and flow are destitute of the foresaid courses The motion of the sea is either naturall or violent The first is performeth on its own accord the other it doth not but by some externall force compelling it The first being a naturall motion is such as is in every other water namely that all waters do evermore flow into the lowest place because they have an heavinesse or ponderositie in them And thus the ocean naturally floweth from the North where it is highest unto the South as the lower place for there in regard of the great cold the waters are not onely kept from drying up but also increased whilest much aire is turned into water whereas in the South by reason of great heat they are alwayes sucked up and diminished Now this motion is called a motion of Equation because it is for this end namely that the superficies of the water may be made equall and distant alike on every side from the centre of gravitie The other being that which dependeth upon some externall cause is such as may be distinguished into a threefold motion One is rapt and caused by force of the heavens whereby it floweth from East to West The second is a motion of Libration in which the sea striving to poise it self equally doth as it were wave from one opposite shore to another And note that this is onely in such as are but strait and narrow seas being a kinde of trepidation in them or as I said before a motion of Libration just like a rising and falling of the beam of an equall-poised balance which will not stand still but be continually waving to and fro The third and last is Reciprocatio or Aestus maris called the ebbing and flowing of the sea The cause of which hath added no little trouble nor small perplexitie to the brains of the best and greatest Philosophers Aristotle that master of knowledge helps us little or nothing in this question And yet Plutarch affirmeth that he attributed the cause to the motion of the sunne Others have gathered from him that he seemed to teach it was by certain exhalations which be under the water causing it to be driven to and fro according to contrary bounds and limits But howsoever he taught or whatsoever he thought this we finde that nothing troubled him more For as Coelius Rhodiginus writeth when he had studied long about it and at the last being weary he died through the tediousnesse of such an intricate doubt Some say he drowned himself in Negropont or Euripus because he could finde no reason why it had so various a fluxion and refluxion ebbing and flowing seven times a day at the least adding before that his untimely and disastrous precipitation these words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Quandoquidem Aristoteles non cepit Euripum Euripus capiat Aristotelem That is Although Aristotle hath not taken Euripus yet Euripus shall take Aristotle meaning that that should end him whose cause could not be comprehended by him But leaving Aristotle we shall finde as little help from his master Plato who as did also the Stoicks attributed the cause to the breath of the world Such also have been the fancies of others among whom Kepler may not be forgotten who in good earnest affirmeth and beleeveth that the earth is a great living creature which with the mightie bellows of her lungs first draweth in the waters into her hollow bowels then by breathing respires them out again A prettie fiction this and well worthy the pen of some fabling poet rather then to be spoken in good sober sadnesse and affirmed as a truth Others would have the cause to be by reason of waters in the holes of the earth forced out by spirits which comes something neare to that before concerning the breath of the world A third sort attribute the cause to the circular motion of the earth affirming that there is a daily motion of the earth round about the heavens which it performeth in 24 houres the heavens in the mean time onely seeming to move and not moving in very deed This opinion came first from the Pythagoreans and is defended by the Copernicanians as an effect of the foresaid motion As for example the earth moving swiftly round the water not able to follow the motion is left behinde and caused to flow to and fro like as in a broad shallow vessel may be seen for put water in such a vessel and let it be swiftly pulled forward and then you shall see that by being left behinde it will beat it self against the one side before the other can at all partake of its company and so it is also in the earth leaving the waters behinde whilest it moveth But if this opinion be true first tell me how it comes to passe that the sea doth not ebbe and flow alwayes at one and the same time but altereth his course and is every day about one houre later then other Secondly shew me why the tides are at one time of the moneth higher then at another Thirdly let me be informed why broad lakes and large rivers do not flow as well as seas Fourthly let me be rightly instructed how it comes to passe that things tend to the earth as their centre if the sunne as Copernicus and his followers imagine be the centre of the world Fifthly shew me why the aire in the middle Region is not rather hot then cold for surely if the earth should move round with a diurnall motion as they maintain then the middle Region must be either farre higher then it is or else the aire would be so heated by going round that the coldnesse in it would be either little or none at all for it is a ruled case that Remotio à motu circulari dat quietem frigiditatem et gravitatem sicut
propinquitas dat motum calorem et levitatem and thereupon it comes to passe that we have coldnesse in the middle Region the cause first beginning it being in respect of the hills which hinder the aire from following the motion of the heavens as in two severall places of the second dayes work I have declared Sixthly I would also know why an arrow being shot upright should fall neare upon the same place where the shooter standeth and not rather fall beyond him seeing the earth must needs carry him farre away whilest the arrow flyeth up and falleth down again or why should a stone being perpendicularly let fall on the West side of a tower fall just at the foot of it or on the East side fall at all and not rather be forced to knock against it We see that a man in a ship at sea throwing a stone upright is carried away before the stone falleth and if it be mounted up in any reasonable height not onely he which cast it but the ship also is gone Now why it should be otherwise in the motion of the earth I do not well perceive If you say that the earth equally carries the shooter aire arrow tower and stone then methinks you are plainly convinced by the former instance of the ship or if not by that then by the various flying of clouds and of birds nay of the smallest grashopper flie flea or gnat whose motion is not tied to any one quarter of the world but thither onely whither their own strength shall carry them some flying one way some another way at one and the same time We see that the winde sometimes hindereth the flight of those prettie creatures but we could never yet perceive that they were hindered by the aire which must needs hinder them if it were carried alwayes one way by the motion of the earth for from that effect of the earths motion this effect must needs also be produced Arm'd with these reasons 't were superfluous To joyn our forces with Copernicus But perhaps you will say it is a thing impossible for so vast a bodie as the heavens to move dayly about the earth and be no longer then 24 houres before one revolution be accomplished for if the compasse were no more then such a distance would make as is from hence to Saturns sphere the motion must extend in one first scruple or minute of time to 55804 miles and in a moment to 930 miles which is a thing impossible for any Physicall bodie to perform Unto which I must first answer that in these mensurations we must not think to come so neare the truth as in those things which are subject to sense and under our hands For we oft times fail yea even in them much more therefore in those which are remote and as it were quite absent by reason of their manifold distance Secondly I also answer that the wonder is not more in the swiftnesse of the motion then in the largenesse of the circumference for that which is but a slow motion in a little circuit although it be one and the same motion still must needs be an extraordinary motion in a greater circle and so I say the wonder is not more in the motion then in the largenesse of the circumference Wherefore he that was able by the power of his word to make such a large-compassed bodie was also able so to make it that it should endure to undergo the swiftest motion that the quickest thought can keep pace with or possibly be forged in imagination For his works are wonderfull and in wisdome he hath made them all Besides do but go on a while and adhere a little to the sect of Copernicus and then you shall finde so large a space between the convexitie of Saturns sphere and the concavitie of the eighth sphere being more then 20 times the distance of Saturn from us and yet void of bodies and serving to no other purpose but to salve the annuall motion of the earth so great a distance I say that thereby that proportion is quite taken away which God the Creatour hath observed in all other things making them all in number weight and measure in an excellent portion and harmonie Last of all let me demand how the earths motion and heavens rest can agree with holy Scripture It is true indeed as they alledge that the grounds of Astronomie are not taught us in Gods book yet when I heare the voice of the everlasting and sacred Spirit say thus Sun stand thou still and thou Moon in the valley of Ajalon I cannot be perswaded either to think teach or write that the earth stood still but the sunne stood and the moon stayed untill the people had avenged themselves on their enemies Neither do I think after this that it was the earth which went back but the sunne upon Ahaz his diall in the dayes of Ezekias For when God had made the earth what said he did he bid it move round about the heavens that thereby dayes weeks moneths and yeares might be produced No. What then This was its office and this that which it should do namely bud and bring forth fruit for the use of man And for motion it was absolutely and directly bestowed upon the heavens and starres witnesse those very words appointing to the sunne and moon their courses setting them in the heavens so as they should never rest but be for signes and for seasons for dayes and for yeares And so also the wise Siracides understood it saying Did not the sunne go back by his means and was not one day as long as two I conclude therefore and concluding cannot forget that sweet meditation of a religious and learned Prelate saying Heaven ever moves yet is that the place of our rest Earth ever rests yet is that the place of our travell and unrest And now laying all together if the cause be taken away the effect perisheth My meaning is no more but thus that seeing the earth is void of motion the ebbing and flowing of the sea cannot be caused by it but dependeth upon some other thing Or again were it so that the earth had such a motion I should scarce beleeve that this ebbing and flowing depended on it For as I said before if this were the cause it could never be that the course of ebbs and flouds should keep such a regular alteration as they do day by day Neither could it produce a cause why the tides should be more at one time of the moneth then at another Nor yet as some suppose could the waters be suffered to flow back again but alwayes must be going on as fast as they can toward the Eastern part of the world But I leave this and come to another It was a mad fancie of him who attributed the cause to an Angel which should stand in a certain place of the world and sometimes heave up the earth above the waters
sometimes constraining it to sink below them In an ebbe he heaves it up and in a floud he lets it sink As improbable also is that of some others who imagine one Angel to be an Angel of the water whose office is as in the pool of Bethesda to move the waters to and fro and for proof of this that place is alledged in the Revelation where when the vials were poured out upon the kingdome of the beast one of the Angels is called an Angel of the waters But know that the same answer made before concerning the moving of the windes will serve to stop this gap Or were it so that we must be tied to a literall sense the compulsion overthrows the assertion because he is called an Angel of the waters not for that he causeth them to ebbe and flow but because it was his office to corrupt them and turn them into bloud More probable was their opinion who attribute the cause to certain subterranean or under-sea fires whose matter is of neare akin to the matter of the Moon and therefore according to her motion they continue their times of burning and burning they make the sea so to boyl as that it is a tide or high-water but going out the sea sinks again But now if this opinion were true then the water in a tide would be thinner through the heat which causeth it to ascend thinner then at other times and so a ship carrying one and the same weight would sink deeper in a floud then in an ebbe which experience shews to be otherwise Yea were it so that there were such supposed fires in the bottome of the sea causing it to swell up like boyled water then it would also follow that the sea-water would be so hot that it might not be touched For if the heat of the supposed fire be sufficient to make it ascend it is sufficient also to make it hot which would appeare lesser in an ebbe then in a floud Wherefore omitting these and the like opinions the most allowable is to attribute this flux and reflux to the effects of the divers appearances of the Moon For we see by experience that according to the courses of the Moon the tides are both ordered and altered By which it is not improbable that the waters are drawn by the power of the Moon following her daily motion even as she is carried with the Primum Mobile Yea were it not so that the sea were hindered by some accident some have supposed that these waters would go round from East to West in 24 houres and so round again even day by day The accident hindering this circular motion is in regard that the West ocean sea is shot in between the firm land of America on the West part and the main land of Africa and Europe on the East part But were it so that there were no such accidentall let in the sea to be hindered by the land it would orderly follow the Moon and go daily round And seeing also it is hindered by such an impediment it is a probable conjecture to think that it cannot but be forced to retire for the firm land beats it back again Thus Mr William Bourn in the 5 book of his treasure for travellers chap. 6. determineth Others there be who attributing the cause to the moon do demonstrate it after another manner namely that through her influence she causeth these alternate motions and this influence of hers worketh according to the quadrate and opposite aspects of her position in the heavens or according to the quadrate and opposite configurations from that place where she was at the beginning For the seas saith a well learned writer begin to flow when the moon by her diurn rapt motion from East to West cometh to the nine a clock point in the morning or is South-east then they will continue flowing untill she come to a quadrate aspect or to 90 degrees which will be about 3 of the clock in the afternoon or be South-west when they cease from flowing and begin to ebbe continuing so untill she come to 180 degrees or the opposite place which will be somewhat after nine of the clock at night being the opposite place to that from which she began her flowing Then again they begin to flow and so continue untill she attain to 270 degrees from her first place which will be after three in the morning And then lastly they begin to ebbe and so continue still untill the moon come to that place where she was at the beginning for there the floud begins again Thus it is ordinarily yet her illumination the sunne and other starres may hasten hinder or something alter the moons influence as we see in spring-tides at the change and full and neap-tides at quarters and half quarters of the moon confessed by those who have been great masters in Astrologie And let this also be known that though the moon have dominion over all moist bodies yet not alike because of other causes concurring as the indisposition or unfitnesse of the subject or for want of matter and the like considerations As for example though it be probable that there be tides in mari Atlantico yet they are not to be perceived by reason of the vast widenesse and profunditie thereof in other places also of the sea are no tides being hindered by the strength of some current which prevaileth and in fresh water there is no tide because of the raritie thinnesse and subtiltie thereof which cannot retain the influence of the moon And note also that in such havens and rivers as ebbe and flow there may be great diversitie which cometh to passe both according to the indraught as also by reason of the crooked and narrow points and turnings of the banks which do let and stay the tide from that which is the common and ordinary course in the main bodie of the sea but afterwards when it is in and hath taken his sway then it cannot so soon reverse back but must continue untill the water behinde it be descended or ebbed into the sea The river Thames may serve as an instance in this for it is not a full sea in all places of it at one instant being three parts of a floud at the lands end before it can be any floud at London But were it so that there were no creeks islands straits turnings or other accidentall hinderances then there should be no difference found in any sea but the whole bodie should be swayed up and down with a constant course whereas since it is otherwise the times for every such place must be once found out that thereby they may be known for ever Wherefore the cavils of some men are nothing worth who by bringing particular and rare perhaps vain examples do think to take away this power from the moon For sith this lunar regiment is pertinent to most seas and that all our ocean doth follow her the exceptions taken
from certain straits creeks bayes or such like places ought to be referred to accidentall hinderances as to the unaptnesse of the places rocks qualities of the regions differing nature of the waters or other secret and unknown impediments such as manifest themselves in Cambaia For it is reported that there although the tides keep their course with the moon yet it is contrary to the course they hold in these parts for they are said to increase not with the full of the moon but with the wane and so the sea-crabs do likewise amongst other things the nature of the water and qualitie of the region may much avail to this if it be true And in the island of Socotora saith Mr Purchas Don John of Castro observed many dayes and found contrary both to the Indian and our wont that when the moon riseth it is full sea and as the moon ascends the tide descends and ebbeth being dead low water when the moon is in the meridian These things are thus reported and if they should be true yet we must know that they are but in particular seas as I said before where a generall and universall cause may be much hindered and in a manner seem as if it were altered They that descend the brinie waves Of liquid Thetis flouds And in their ships of brittle staves Trade to augment their goods These men behold and in the deeps they see How great Gods wonders of the waters be I conclude therefore and cannot but say that this is as great a secret to be in every point discussed and unfolded as any nature can afford Arcanum enim naturae magnum est It is a great secret of nature and gives us therefore principall occasion to magnifie the power of God whose name onely is excellent and whose power above heaven and earth Last of all this is the finall cause of the seas motion God hath ordained it for the purging and preserving of the waters For as the aire is purged by windes and as it were renewed by moving to and fro so this motion keeps the waters of the sea from putrefaction An Appendix to the former Section wherein the properties and vertues of certain strange rivers wells and fountains are declared I Do not well know how to end this discourse of waters before I have spoken something of the strange properties that are in certain rivers wells and fountains Some are hot because they are generated and flow out of veins of brimstone or receive heat from those places where subterranean fires are nourished For this is a generall rule that all waters differ according to the qualitie of the place from whence they arise Some again are sowre or sharp like vineger and these runne through veins of allome copperas or such mineralls Some may be bitter that flow out of such earth as is bitter by adustion or otherwise Some may be salt whose current is through a salt vein And some may be sweet these are such that be well strained through good earth or runne through such mineralls as be of a sweet taste Our baths in the West countrey and S. Anne of Buckstones well in the North part of England and many other elsewhere are hot Aristotle writeth of a well in Sicilie whose water the inhabitants used for vineger and in divers places of Germanie be springs which harbour much sharpnesse In Bohemia neare to the citie called Bilen is a well saith Dr Fulk that the people use to drink of in the morning in stead of burnt wine And some saith he have the taste of wine as in Paphlagonia is a well that maketh men drunk which drink of it now this is because that water receiveth the fumositie of brimstone and other minerals through which it runneth and retaining their vertue it filleth and entoxicateth the brain as wine doth For it is possible that fountains may draw such efficacie from the mines of brimstone that they may fill their brains with fume that drink thereof who also become drunk therewith To which purpose Ovid speaketh thus Quam quicunque parùm moderato gutture traxit Haud aliter titubat quà m si mer a vina bibisset Which whoso draws with an immoderate throat Trips as his brains in meer good wine did float And Du Bartas also Salonian fountain and thou Andrian spring Out of what cellars do you daily bring The oyl and wine that you abound with so O earth do these within thine entralls grow What be there vines and orchards under ground Is Bacchus trade and Pallas art there found Ortelius in his Theatre of the world makes mention of a fountain in Ireland whose water killeth all those beasts that drink thereof but not the people although they use it ordinarily It is also reported that neare to the isle Ormus there is a great fountain found the water whereof is as green as the field in spring-time and salt as the sea He which drinketh but a little of it is incontinently taken with a violent scowring and he that drinketh very much thereof dieth without remedie Aelianus makes mention of a fountain in Boeotia neare to Thebes which causeth horses to runne mad if they drink of it Plinie speaketh of a water in Sclavonia which is extreamly cold yet if a man cast his cloth cloak upon it it is incontinently set on fire Ortelius again speaketh of a boyling fountain which will presently seethe all kinde of meat put into it it will also bake paste into bread as in an oven well heated This is said to be in the isle of Grontland The river Hypanis in Scythia every day brings forth little bladders out of which come certain flies They are bred in the morning fledge at noon and dead at night wherein mankinde is also like them For his birth is as his morning his strongest time or his middle time be his time long or short is as his noon and his night is that when he takes leave of the world and is laid in the grave to sleep with his fathers For this hath been the state of every one since first the world had any one The day breaking the Sunne ariseth the Sunne arising continues moving the Sunne moving noontime maketh noontime made the Sunne declines the Sunne declining threatens setting the Sunne setting night cometh and night coming our life is ended Thus runnes away our time If he that made the heavens Sunne hath set our lives Sunne but a small circumference it will the sooner climbe into the noon the sooner fall into the night The morning noon and evening as to those flies these three conclude our living Clitumnus saith Propertius lib. 3. is a river or spring in Italie which maketh oxen that drink of it white Dr. Fulk yeeldeth this reason namely because the qualitie of the water is very flegmatick Fulk Met. lib. 4. Plinie speaketh of the river Melas in Boeotia which maketh sheep black But Cephisus another stream which
indeed may well be neare their feet for they prize the trash we trample on farre above the joyes of heaven else would they never work their fond purposes by deceitfull means and damage others to help themselves Amongst the severall sorts of shell-fishes the glistering Pearl-fish deserves remembrance not onely in respect of her self but also in regard of the Prawn another fish and her companion for between these two there is a most firm league of friendship much kindenesse and such familiaritie as cannot but breed admiration in the reader They have a subtill kinde of hunting which being ended they divide their prey in loving manner for seeing they one help the other in the getting of it they likewise joyn in the equall sharing And in few words thus it is of which ye may reade in Plinie Plutarch Elian c. When the Pearl-fish gapeth wide she hath a curious glistering within her shell by which she allureth the small fry to come swimming into her which when her companion the Prawn perceiveth he gives her a secret touch with one of his prickles whereupon she shuts her gaping shell and so incloseth her wished prey then as I said they equally share them out and feed themselves And thus day by day they get their livings like a combined knot of cheaters who have no other trade then the cunning deceit of quaint cousenage hooking in the simpler sort with such subtill tricks that be their purses stuft with either more or lesse they know a way to sound the bottome and send them lighter home lighter in purse though heavier in heart The foresaid authours make mention of the Gilthead or Golden-eye which helpeth the one the other out of a snare or from off an hook for if the insnared fish cannot help himself by loosing the snare with his tail then will his companion put to his mouth and set him free Or if the one see the other hanged on a hook it may be easily observed how his free mate will skip at the line and never leave till he have broke it off Which may serve well to teach us that we ought not to leave our friends in danger but do the best and utmost that we can to set them free For a friend is never known till such an occasion shall discover him at other times we have friends enow The Plaice if it be well grown and something thick is said to be a passing good fish It takes the name from Placeo to please because it pleaseth the palate That fish which we call the Sole is a very wholesome fish And so is the Whiting often entertained in the court I have heard the Gurnard likewise much commended But the Conger is hard of substance and therefore not easie to be digested And so also is the Salmon hard of digestion although it be a pleasant fish and very sweet especially the belly Whereupon it comes to passe that we do not eat it hot or presently after it is boyled The Ray or Thornback is scarce so wholesome as other fish for Physicians write that it makes men subject to the falling evil by reason that it is a fish full of superfluous juice Howbeit the pricks which grow without upon the skinne if they be pulled up by the roots dried made into powder and given fasting in White or Rhenish wine is an excellent medicine to avoid gravell and to break the stone Herring is a fish common and cheap very dangerous if they be not moderately eaten fresh for we often see that want of care in the eating of them casteth many into fevers And as for Red Herrings and Red Sprats they must needs have little wholesomenesse or nourishment in them for if we may beleeve the learned they give as good nourishment to the bodie as rustie Bacon We reade that in the river Ganges are Eeles of an extraordinarie bignesse and length This fish is never better moved from his nest then in a thunder They be not bred out of spawn as other fishes but from the slime and dirt of the earth as the common opinion goeth and of all fishes which are tooth some these are the least wholesome They breed agues stop and hurt the voice procure the stone by reason of their great sliminesse and do also dispose a man to the gowt by breeding such matter as brings pain in the joynts But know that after Eeles and Eâ—…mpreys we should drink good strong wine and indeed generally with all kindes of fish wine is very wholesome The Shad is never is season but in the spring for at other times it is full of bones And in the choice of fish this is a rule that such as have seales and â—…innes are best for many scales and â—…innes betoken the purenesse of their substance as the physicians tell us The Gogion is a daintie fish and found aswell in the sea as in fresh waters of which there be sundry sorts but the best live in sandie places and about rocks The Tench is commonly called the Physician of other fishes for when they be hurt they heal themselves again by touching the Tench finding the slime of his body to be as a soveraigne salve The Perch useth to wound others with his sharp fins whereupon the Pike or Pickerell dares not devoure him Both these give the body pure nourishment by reason of their firm and hard substance The Rock Dace Chevine Bream Smelt and Carp are good But the Trout is admirable for this is so sound in nourishment that when we would speak of one who is sound indeed we say that he is as sound as a Trout This is in some kinde a foolish fish and an embleme of one who loves to be flattered for when he is once in his hold you may take him with your hands by tickling rubbing or clawing him under the bellie I will not say who else is like this fish for fear I should offend some squeamish dame but let not her anger shew her wantonnesse and so we are both charmed to hold our peace she to salve her own credit and I to end this present section wherein I do confesse I might have spoken of sundry other fishes but I had rather send my reader to Gesner and such other ample authours then tire him with my relations Sect. 2. Containing the second part of this fifth day which is of Birds or Fowl flying in the open firmament of heaven FRom fishes I must come to birds from the water to the aire and teach my pen to flie a while with the feathered fowls as before it was swimming with the fearfull silent fish And now why God hath joyned the creation of fish and fowl together may without curiositie be observed to wit because he would in every work and part thereof continue an harmonious order Great is the likenesse between fish and fowl whether it be that we consider the
naturall place wherein either of them live or that we consider their resemblance in parts or their manner of motion For first the place of fishes is the water the place of fowls the aire both which are diaphanous cleare moist and easie yeelding elements Secondly that which finnes be to fishes wings and feathers are to birds And thirdly that which swimming is to fishes in the waters flying is to birds in the aire The one moves himself by his sinnes the other by his wings The one cuts and glideth through the liquid aire the other shoots and darteth through the humid water The one makes paths in that subtil concave between heaven and earth the other draws furrows in the ploughed sea and both tracts are indiscernible either place again closing no longer open then their native dwellers flit through their yeelding gates And first of all me thinks I see the loftie Eagle king of birds towring on high in the heaven-aspiring aire And amongst all fowls the Eagle onely can move her self straight upward and downward perpendicularly without any collaterall declining Munster This bird is commended for her faithfulnesse towards other birds in some kinde though sometimes she shew her self cruell They all stand in awe of her and when she hath gotten meat she useth to communicate it unto such fowls as do accompany with her onely this some affirm that when she hath no more to make distribution of then she will attach some of her guests and for lack of food dismember them Her sight is sharp and quick insomuch that being in the highest part of the aire she can easily see what falleth on the land and thereupon the sooner finde her prey It is said that she can gaze upon the sunne and not be blinde and will fight eagerly against the Dragon for the Dragon greedily coveting the Eagles egges causeth many conflicts to be between them The Poets have called her Joves bird and Jupiters armour-bearer because she is never hurt with lightning She is a bird tenderly affected towards her young insomuch that she will endanger her own bodie to secure them bearing her young ones on her back when she perceiveth them to be assaulted with arrows Hares Harts Geese and Cranes are such creatures as this bird useth to prey upon And for her practise in killing the Hart thus it is when she laboureth to drive the Hart headlong to ruine she gathereth saith Munster much dust as she flieth and sitting upon the Harts horns shaketh it into his eyes and with her wings beateth him about the mouth untill at last the poore Hart is glad to fall fainting to the ground The Eagle buildeth her nest in the rocks and high places and the propertie of the young Eagle is when she findeth a dead carcase first of all to pick out the eye And so saith one do all seducing hereticks first put out the right eye of knowledge that thereby they may the better leade along their seduced Proselites And note that although the Eagle be very tender over her young yet when they be able to flie of themselves she casteth them out of her nest because she would have them shift and no longer depend upon their damme Which is a good example saith the same authour for domesticall discipline namely that parents should not bring up their children in idlenesse but even from their youth exercise them in honest labour training them up to some vocation Moreover Aristotle writeth that when the Eagle waxeth old the upper part of her bill so groweth over and increaseth that in the end she dieth of famine But Augustine observeth further that when the Eagle is thus overgrown she beateth her bill upon a rock and so by striking off her cumbersome part she recovereth her strength and eating to which the Psalmist alludeth Psal. 103. 5. Which maketh thee young and lustie as an Eagle The Phenix saith Munster is a noble bird and is but one in the world Cornelius Valerius whom Plinie mentioneth doth witnesse that when Quintus Plautius and Sex Papinius were Consuls one was seen to flie into Egypt And Tacitus also writeth that when Lucius 〈◊〉 and Pâ—…ulus Fabiâ—…s were Consulâ—… another was likewise seen to flie thither and yet not another but the same rather for there was not above two yeares difference in the time of this appearance Vitellius and Fabius being Consuls in the yeare of the citie 786 and Plautius with Papinius in the yeare 788. Dion was perswaded that this bird thus shewing her self did betoken the death of Tiberius but our countreyman Mr Lydiat rather thinketh that it pointed out the time when Christ that true Phenix did both die and rise again and so also thinketh Carion in his chron lib. 3. This bird if we may beleeve what is written is about the bignesse of an Eagle having a glittering brightnesse in the feathers of her neck like unto gold in other parts purple with an azured tail but so as in some places it is of a rose colour her head hath on it a plume or tuft of feathers Some say she liveth five hundred yeares others give her six hundred and sixtie and as Plinie writeth this bird hath her setled habitation in Arabia Felix When she waxeth old she is said to make her a nest of Cassia with branches of the frankincense tree into which she putteth other odours and so dieth upon them and then out of her bones and marrow there springeth first a little worm which afterwards comes to be a young Phenix Howbeit many think that all this is fabulous for besides the differing reports which go of this bird what species or kinde of any creature can be rehearsed whereof there is never but one and whereas the Lord said to all his creatures Increase and multiplie this benediction should take no place in the Phenix which multiplieth not And again seeing all creatures which came into the Ark came by two and two the male and female it must needs follow that the Phenix by this means perished And so saith one As for the Phenix I and not I alone think it a fable because it agreeth neither to reason nor likelihood but plainly disagreeth to the historie of the creation and of Noahs floud in both which God made all male and female and commanded them to increase and multiplie The Griffon is a creature if there be any such for many doubt it which whether I may reckon amongst the birds or beasts I cannot tell Howbeit as I finde him marked by Aelianus he is thus described namely that he is a kinde of beast with foure feet keeping most of all in India being as mightie in strength as a lion he hath wings and crooked talons black on the back and in the forepart purple His wings be somewhat white his bill and mouth like an eagles bill his eyes fierie he is hard to be taken except he be young he maketh his nest in the high mountains
rather then man should finde it they use to hide it in the earth or sand and yet they are deceived for as Plinie writeth it is there soonest of all converted into a stone and not seldome found Which by Geminianus is rightly made an embleme of the envious man who will not onely endeavour to do hurt but be heartily sorie if by chance it be his hap to do any one good The Beaver is a beast of a very hot nature living both in the water and on the land and differeth from an Otter onely in the tail Germanie Spain France Italy and divers other places abound with these beasts His stones are much used in physick the hunters therefore catch him that they may geld him whereupon he is called Castor for it is but a fable to say he biteth out his own stones when they come to take him for indeed they lie too close in his bodie to be pulled out with his teeth These stones and genitalls the Physicians call Castoreum and as for his skinne and hairs their use is also excellent The Otter is something lesse then a Beaver and may well be called A dog of the water and as Mr Topsell thinketh is without all doubt a kinde of Beaver It is a sharp-biting beast never letting his hold go untill he make the bones to crack between his teeth and as for the females they use to give suck to their whelps untill they be almost as big as themselves Olaus Magnus calleth them Lutrae quadrato ore mordaces and telleth us that some great men in Suetia keep tame Otters in their houses which are so tractable that the cook of the kitchin can send them into the fish-ponds to bring him fish for his masters dinner Their skinnes besides other uses if they be worn in caps or stocking-soles are good and wholesome against the palsie megrim and other pains of the head Topsell Sciurus the Squirrell is a quick nimble creature which will skip from tree to tree with great facilitie When she is out of her nest her tail serveth to secure her both from sunne and rain Howbeit it is sometimes a hurt unto her for the hairs of it be so thick that striving to swimme over a river her tail is so laden with water that sinking she drowneth Wherefore nature hath taught her this prettie piece of policie namely to get upon a little piece of wood which swimming wafts her securely over and wanting a sail her bushie tail set up and spread abroad supplies the room of that defect Plinie saith they have great foresight in the change of weather and will therefore stop up the hole of their nest on that side from whence the tempest is like to blow opening a passage in the contrarie place or side opposite to it The like whereunto is affirmed of the Hedge-hog also Their skinnes are exceeding warm and their tails profitable to make brushes their flesh is tender and in a manner comparable to the flesh of Kids or Conies yet not very wholsome except the squirrell were a black one When this beast is hunted she cannot be driven to the ground to creep into hedges unlesse extremitie of faintnesse cause her so to do through an unwilling compulsion for such saith one is the stately minde of this little beast that while her limbes and strength lasteth she tarrieth and saveth her self in the tops of tall trees disdaining to come down for every harm or hurt which she feeleth knowing indeed her greatest danger to rest below among the dogs and busie hunters From whence may be gathered a perfect pattern for us to be secured from all the wiles and hungrie chasings of the treacherous devil namely that we keep above in the loftie palaces of heavenly meditations for there is small securitie in things on earth and greatest ought to be our fear of danger when we leave to look and think of heaven But I come to another beast which in Topsells historie is thus described There is in the New-found World farre into the South a strange and terrible beast which they of the countrey where it liveth call a Su so named because it liveth neare the water and su in their language signifieth water It is a creature of a very deformed shape monstrous presence a great ravener and altogether untameable She hath a mightie great tail which is brushie fierce talons and a cruell look Now when hunters for the desire of her skinne shall set upon her she flieth very swift carrying her young ones upon her back and covereth them with her broad tail And the hunter not daring to encounter with her but by treacherie is forced to this project namely to dig great holes in the ground and cover them over with boughs sticks and earth which he doth so weakly that if the beast chance at any time to come upon it she and her young ones fall down into the pit where they have no way but one they must be taken But this cruell untameable impatient violent ravening and bloudy beast perceiving that her naturall strength cannot deliver her first of all to save her young ones as she supposeth she destroyeth them all with her own teeth so that never any of them could be taken and tamed and then howleth and roareth at the hunters who come about her but now they need not fear her she is secure enough whereupon they use means quickly to dispatch her and by fatall blows to stop her mouth from bawling Then they take off her skinne and leave her carcase in the earth and of what use her skinne is I have not heard The Hedge-hog is a beast well known about the bignesse of a conie but like to a Swine having her body beset with and compassed all over with sharp tâ—…orny hairs or pricking bristles which she setteth up or keepeth down at her pleasure and by these she defendeth her self from those who seek her life which is attributed to her as a kinde of craft and wilinesse Some therefore have likened a deceitfull man unto this beast who turneth and windeth himself for all advantages and is now this then that sometimes neither this nor that Between him and the Serpent there is mortall hatred for it is said that the serpent will seek out the hedge-hogs den and then falleth upon him with purpose to kill him but the Hedge-hog draweth himself up together round like a foot-ball so that nothing appeareth but his thornie pricks where at the Serpent biteth in vain for the more she laboureth to annoy the Hedge-hog the more she is wounded and harmeth her self howbeit the height of her minde and hate of her heart be such that they will not suffer her to let him go till one or both parties be destroyed yea it sometimes so happeneth that the least creature hath the best successe and gets the conquest So have I seen some provoke others to their own
the time of the worlds creation with a confutation of the first Sect. 2. Their reasons shewed who suppose the time to be in the Spring Sect. 3. That the world began in Autumne with an answer to their first reason who endeavour to prove it was in the Spring Sect. 4. An answer to their second reason Sect. 5. An answer to their third reason Sect. 6. An answer to their fourth reason Sect. 7. Concluding the time to be Autumne CHAP. III. THe third Chapter concerneth the first day of the world and is divided into three Sections Sect. 1. Of God the Architect of all and of the first part of the first dayes work Sect. 2. Of the creation of Light Sect. 3. Of the intercourse between day and night CHAP. IIII. THe fourth and fifth Chapters concern the second day with such things as are pertinent to the work done in it and are divided into these following Sections Paragraphs and Articles Sect. 1. Of the Expansum or stretching out of the heavens called the Firmament Sect. 2. Of the waters above the heavens Sect. 3. Of the matter of the heavens c. CHAP. V. THe fifth Chapter beginneth with the second part of the second dayes work and hath two Sections Sect. 1. How to understand the word Heavens Sect. 2. Of the Aire together with such appearances as we use to see there This Section hath seven Paragraphs Parag. 1. Of the division and qualitie of the Regions in the Aire Parag. 2. Of Meteors first in generall then how they be divided in particular Parag. 3. Of Fierie Meteors such as are said to be pure and not mixt This Paragraph hath thirteen Articles 1. Of burning Torches 2. Of burning Beams 3. Of round Pillars 4. Of Pyramidall Pillars 5. Of burning Spears Streams or Darts 6. Of dancing or leaping Goats 7. Of flying Sparks 8. Of shooting Starres 9. Of flying Launces 10. Of Fires in the Aire two kindes 11. Of Flying Dragons or Fire-Drakes 12. Of Wandring Lights 13. Of Licking Lights Sect. 2. of the fifth Chapter still continued Parag. 4. of the second Section It concerneth Fiery Meteors impurely mixt This Paragraph hath three Articles 1. Of Comets c. 2. Of New stars their matter and significations 3. Of Thunder and Lightning Parag. 5. Of such Meteors as are Fiery onely in appearance This hath seven Articles 1. Of the Galaxia that it is no Meteor 2. Of Colours in the Clouds 3. Of many Sunnes and Moons 4. Of Beams or Streams of Light 5. Of Circles or Crowns 6. Of the Rain-bow 7. Of Openings or Chaps in the skie Parag. 6. Of Watery Meteros and of their severall kindes This Paragraph hath eight Articles 1. Of Clouds and their matter 2. Of Rain 3. Of Dew 4. Of Frosts 5. Of Snow 6. Of Hail 7. Of Mists and their kindes 8. Of the Cobweb-like Meteor Parag. 7. Of Aiery Meteors This hath five Articles 1. Of divers opinions concerning Winde 2. Of Winde what it is c. 3. Of the division of Windes c. 4. Of the qualitie and nature of Windes 5. Of Whirl-windes Storm-windes c. CHAP. VI. THe sixth Chapter treateth of the third day together with such things as are pertinent to the work done in it Here befoure Sections and two Appendices Sect. 1. Shewing into how many main parts the businesse of this day may be distinguished Sect. 2. Concerning the first thing done viz. The gathering together of the Waters which God Almighty calleth Seas This Section disputeth seven Questions 1. How the Waters were gathered together 2. How they could be gathered but to one place seeing there be many Seas Lakes Rivers and Fountains farre asunder 3. Whether they be higher then the Earth 4. Whether there be more Water then Earth 5. Whether the Earth be founded upon the Waters 6. The originall of Rivers as also why the Seas be salt and Rivers fresh 7. Of the Ebbing and Flowing of the Sea Unto which Section an Appendix is joyned and it concerns strange properties in certain Wells Waters and Fountains Sect. 3. Of the Drie-land appearing after the Waters were gathered wherein the cause of Earth-quakes together with the compasse and circuit of the Earth is shewed Sect. 4. Of the Sprouting Springing and Fructification of the Earth wherein the varietie and vertues of sundry Herbs and Trees is largely discovered according to the best Authours Unto which two last Sections an Appendix is joyned concerning all kinde of Metals as Gold Silver Stones of all sorts and such like things as are under ground CHAP. VII THe seventh Chapter concerneth the fourth day together with such things as are pertinent to the work done in it namely the Matter Names Natures Motions and Offices of the Starres It hath three Sections Sect. 1. An entrance towards the discourse of the Stars and Lights Sect. 2. Of the Matter Place Motion and Height of the Starres c. This Section hath two Articles 1. That the Starres consist most of a Fiery matter and are cherished by the Waters above the Heavens as was mentioned Chap. 4. 2. Of their Order and Place in the Skie and why one is higher then another Sect. 3. Of those offices given to the Starres when they were created This third Section hath three Paragraphs Parag. 1. Shewing that their first office is to shine upon the Earth to rule the Day and Night c. Here we have two Articles 1. Of Light what it is and whether the Sunne be the onely fountain of Light 2. Of the Starres twinkling and Sunnes dancing Parag. 2. Of that other office viz. that the Starres should be for Signes c. This Paragraph hath three Articles 1. That the Starres work upon the inferiour world and are signes of future events 2. Whether it be not a derogation from the perfection of things created to grant that the Starres may give an inclination to Man in his actions 3. Of Predictions or understanding the Signes Parag. 3. Of that other office wherein the Starres were made as it were heavenly clocks This hath three Articles 1. Of Seasons as Spring Summer c. 2. Of Dayes and their kindes c. 3. Of Yeares and their kindes c. CHAP. VIII THe eighth Chapter concerneth the creatures made in the fifth day of the world viz. Fish and Fowl This Chapter hath two Sections Sect. 1. Of Fishes their names kindes properties together with sundry emblemes drawn from them Sect. 2. Of the names kindes and properties of Fowls with many and sundry emblemes drawn from most of them CHAP. IX THe ninth Chapter concerneth the creatures made in the sixth and last day being such creatures as live neither in the Aire or Water but upon the Earth This Chapter hath likewise two Sections Sect. 1. Of Beasts their properties names kindes c. together with sundry emblemes drawn from many of them Sect. 2. The creation of Man being created male and female and made according to the image of God together with the institution of Marriage and blessing
CONFLAGRATIO which signifie The burning of the world hath set down the time when the world must end namely in the yeare of our Lord 1657 and that for two reasons First because as the yeare of the world 1657 was a fatall yeare in regard of the universall â—…loud which them came and drowned all the world In like manner the yeare of Christ 1657 shall also be a fatall yeare in regard that then shall be the end of the world by fire for is it not said in Matthew As it was in the dayes of Noah so shall also the coming of the Sonne of man be Matth. 24. 37. Secondly take these two words namely MUNDI CONFLAGRATIO which signifie in English The burning of the world and you shall finde in them so many numerall letters as will make 1657 if they be all added together as in the margent may be plainly seen For in the first word MUNDI there are M V D and I which are all numerall letters and in the other word namely CONFLAGRATIO C L and I are likewise letters of number and how much every one of them doth signifie is easily known amounting in the whole summe to 1657. Thus upon these two fancies is this prediction grounded which that it is altogether idle may easily appeare For first concerning the universall floud which they urge that yeare was indeed a fatall yeare to the world when it came but that it came in the yeare of the world 1657 is denied for it came not when Noah was 600 yeares compleat but when he was in the six hundredth yeare current of his age and so the yeare of the world was not 1657 but 1656. As for example Seth was born to Adam when he was 130. Gen. 5. 3. Enos to Seth when he was 105. Gen. 5. 6. Kenan to Enos when he was 90. Gen. 5. 9. Mahalaleel to Kenan when he was 70. Gen. 5. 12. Iared to Mahalaleel when he was 65. Gen. 5. 15. Henoch to Iared when Iared was 162. Gen. 5. 18. Mathuselah to Henoch when Hen. was 65. Gen. 5. 21. Lamech to Mathuselah when Ma. was 187. Gen. 5. 25. Noah to Lamech when Lamech was 182. Gen. 5. 29. Then came the floud in the yeare of Noah 600. Gen. 7. 11 All which do make being added together 1656 and not 1657 as they imagine because that which is said of Noah in Gen. chap. 7. verse 6. viz. that he was 600. yeares old when the floud of waters was upon the earth is expounded in two severall places after it that it must be understood of his 600 yeare current and not compleat The places are Gen. 7. 11. and Gen. 8. 13 the one expressing the beginning the other the ending of the floud and so also the most and best chronologers hitherto have observed although some do not Which as it is agreeable to the truth of computation so also that I may answer one fancie by another it is more congruous to the nature of the number of the yeare wherein it came For Six is no number of rest witnesse the six dayes of creation the six dayes of our weekly labour and the six ages of the world But Seven is for rest witnesse the sabbaticall dayes the sabbaticall yeares and that eternall sabbath in the heaven of heavens when the six ages of the world shall be ended Wherefore in the yeare of the world 1656 the Ark was without rest and tossed upon the waters but in the yeare 1657 it found rest the waters were dried up and gone and Noah then came out and offered sacrifice And further admit it be said that As it was in the dayes of Noah so shall also the coming of the Sonne of man be Doth this point out any thing concerning the time of his coming Verily no. It shews indeed the great securitie that shall then be in the world amongst the wicked so that as the floud came upon the old world when they feared nothing in like manner shall the coming of the Sonne of man be But what is this to the time Our Saviour doth not compute the time but compares the manners of the times together as may be very plainly seen by that which he hath elsewhere published saying that the coming of the Sonne of man shall be not onely As it was in the dayes of Noah but also As it was in the dayes of Lot Luke 17. 28. For conclusion therefore seeing the floud came before that yeare which they have computed it may easily appeare that their Mundi conflagratio for the end of the world in the yeare of Christ 1657 is but an idle fancie And as for the time which they referre to the dayes of Noah we see that it is likewise referred to the dayes of Lot the intent onely being to compare the times and not compute them But secondly for their Mundi conflagratìo admit it were so that the floud did not come untill the yeare of the world 1657 as they would have it yet why should it be that these numerall letters must be picked out of two Latine words rather then out of words in some other language In Greek it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 out of which words you may gather 1830 at the least Surely in this we may say that as in the making of anagrams upon a name if one language will not help us we may then write the name in some other tongue rather then want letters for our purpose so the same libertie belike he took who was the first authour of this fancie for the worlds ending wherefore we may well conclude that it is but idle and not worth regarding Another much like to this is that which others have also hatched whereby in the yeare of Christ 1645 should be the end of the world Now this they gather out of these words ADVENTVS DOMINI which signifie The coming of the Lord for in them they have so many numerall letters as will make 2012 out of which they subtract so much as they gather out of these words DIES ABBREVIABVNTVR The dayes shall be shortened namely 517 and then the remainder of 2012 is 1495 unto which they adde so many as these words will afford viz. PROPTER ELECTOS which signifie For the elects sake wherein is a number of 150 and so the whole summe amounteth to 1645 being as they fondly imagine the last yeare of the world But if such or the like fancies could hold then questionlesse the world should have had many endings since it first began and must either have had a new creation or else no world had been till now As for example either in the yeare 1532 or in the yeare 1533 or in the yeare 1578 or in the yeare 1588 or in the yeare 1623 the judgement day upon these grounds was foretold to come For first in the yeare 1532 they had two wayes to prove it either out of these words VIDEBVNT INQVEMPVPVGERVNT or out of these words VIDEBVNT IN
and so came to change their yeare from the Spring to Autumne But when Moses brought them out from among the Egyptians they had a command to reckon the beginning of their yeare from Autumne no longer but from the Spring beginning as hath been said in the moneth Abib or Nisan Now this is chiefly grounded upon that which Moses writeth concerning the order of the moneths in the historie of the Floud For by that it appeareth that the ancient form of the yeare was no other then what was observed from the times of Moses when he wrote his history untill the end of the old Testament and afterwards Consider therefore the order of the moneths which was before the coming out of Egypt I mean that order specified in the historie of the Floud and compare it with that order which God gave Moses command to put in practise and see if it be not the same So that as Moses reckoned the first second third fourth fifth c. from Nisan which began in the Spring in like manner did Noah for where can it be shewed in any place of Scripture when the moneths are reckoned in their orders that they take beginning from any other time And thus these are the chief reasons to uphold this opinion that the world should take his beginning at the Spring time of the yeare at the Vernall Equinox the Sunne entring into Aries rather then at any time else Sect. 3. BUt if they be well weighed I rather think that those who in the third place imagine that it was in Autumne are nearest the truth For first in the description of the floud it is true indeed that the first and second moneths there mentioned are meant the first and second moneths of the yeare but that they must take their beginning from the Spring rather then from Autumne I cannot be perswaded First because Iosephus who wrote the Antiquities of his own nation in his first book and 5 chapter writeth thus viz. that the second moneth being the moneth wherein the floud came was called by the Hebrews Marhesuvan and by the Macedonians Dyo both which moneths agree to that part of the yeare wherein our November falleth and not April or May. Secondly because the Chaldee Paraphrast begins the ancient yeare of the Jews from Autumne as afterwards shall be shewed And further whereas it is said that if Noah were to go out of the Ark when the yeare was so farre spent he must needs want food for those creatures which were with him I answer that it follows not For first the mountain tops appeared by the beginning of the tenth moneth which was according to our Julian account about the end of May or beginning of Iune although the head of the yeare be accounted but from Autumne so that if the waters began to asswage so soon then surely all the montanous places were flourishing with their fruits and herbs by such time as Noah came out of the Ark which questionlesse he might then gather to feed those creatures that were with him Neither secondly doth the temperature of the climate wherein the Ark rested afford such a rigid winter but that Noah might sow some kinde of grain such as might afford him food against the next yeare if need were and so both himself and other creatures with him might be preserved and kept alive But what need I speak of Noahs providing for himself or them seeing to the beasts fowl and the like their dismission from the Ark was enough especially there being but a few of every kinde And as for himself and his familie who were but eight persons they had libertie given them by Almighty God to eat of any living creature whatsoever as well as of the green herb And therefore their first reason on the contrary contending to prove the worlds creation in the Spring rather then in Autumne is not so forcible as they imagine it But let me illustrate the matter yet more fully and in so doing I cannot omit what Calvisius urgeth for proof of the same tenent Those saith he who would have the time of the creation in the Spring rather then in Autumne use this for one of their chiefest reasons Dic mihi inquiunt c. Tell me say they if the world were created in Autumne and that Noah with those living creatures which he kept alive did then or at that time of the yeare come out of the Ark how could they be sustained the yeare being so farre forth spent what must they hunger for the space of a whole yeare or live with nothing feeding like Cameleons on the aire c. To which he answereth that these men speak as if for their singular wisdome the Patriarch Noah had made them of his counsell when he carried food into the Ark because thus punctually they seem to know how much of it was left when he came out from thence which that it was all spent how can they tell yet neverthelesse concerning such creatures as lived ravenously by feeding on flesh if Noahs old store were gone I bid saith he that they take no great care for them because they had dead carcasses enough to feed on Likewise concerning the other kinde of beasts or cattell let them not be too solicitous because the mountains being watered with such a fatting floud and dried also since the fifth moneth before had now brought forth herbs grasse and young tender shoots by which those creatures might easily have their lives sustained Which reason of his is very pertinent either because it makes it appeare that it was possible to finde food if all in the Ark were spent or that there might be some of the old store still remaining to help such creatures as were least able to help themselves Come we therefore now to the examination of their next reason which is as followeth Sect. 4. SEcondly whereas they say that it is most like the world took beginning at such a time of the yeare when things were growing more and more to perfection rather then when they were decreasing answer is made that if we stand upon such probabilities for proofs it is then more like that the world took beginning not when things were growing to perfection but when they were in perfection it self immediately before they began to decline which could not be in their insancie but in their maturitie not in the Spring time but in Autumne And so we finde it even in the historie of the creation it self for the trees as it is said were made to grow up with their fruits on them not green but ripe as is evident not onely because they were pleasant to the eye but also because they were good for food in which regard they were made even in their very perfection and so God is said to have seen them not onely as they were good but also as they were very good which was with an approbation of their perfectnesse as may be
the Firmament that is appointed to this separating office but the whole Firmament as any one may see if he do but observe the words of God producing and assigning it Neither do we finde that the Firmament is any more then one To divide it into parts so as they imagine is not to divide it into parts but rather to make so many Firmaments as they imagine parts like as every scale of an onyon is a severall and differing scale and not one the part of another And besides neither is there the same reason between the parts of water and these supposed parts of the Firmament for then when God made the Sunne Moon and Starres he would not have said Let them be in the Firmament but above the Firmament for they are farre higher then the clouds yet I say they being higher then the clouds he is said to place them but in the Firmament and they being no more but in it how improperly do we affirm those things to be above it whose places are lower then either Sunne Moon or Starres And secondly admit Job tells us that there are waters bound up in thick clouds doth not Jeremie also tell us that they are drawn up in vapours from the earth which as hath been shewed cannot at all times be but then when there is a naturall concourse of causes to effect it whereas the out-spread Firmament is to be alwayes between them separating them not at times but continually And as for the rain proceeding from those waters which we call the clouds it stayeth not long in the aire but forthwith falleth down again shewing that of right their proper place is here below and therefore we make not three kindes of waters as if we would be contrary to Moses in saying that there are other waters above the concave of the Firmament which on this second day of the worlds creation were separated from all other waters Wherefore observe but this they being separated on this second day how could they be such as the aire affordeth for the middle Region of the aire which is the place for the clouds was not untill the third day Not untill the third day I say because it is found by experience and from sufficient witnesse proved true that the tops of the highest mountains do reach up unto that place which we call the middle Region of the aire being some of them more loftie then the clouds As for example in Iapan there is a mountain called Figeniana which is some certain leagues higher then the clouds And in Ternate among the Philippine Islands there is a mountain which as Mr. Purchas in his pilgrimage relateth is even angry with nature because it is fastened to the earth and doth therefore not onely lift up his head above the middle Region of the aire but endeavoureth also to conjoyn it self with the fierie Element And of the mountain Athos between Macedon and Thrace it is said to be so high that it casteth shade more then thirtie and seven miles Also the mount of Olympus in Thessalie is said to be of that height as neither the windes clouds or rain do overtop it And although I omit sundry others of exceeding height it is also written of another mount so high above the clouds that some who have seen it do witnesse that they have been on the top of it and have had both a cleare skie over their heads and also clouds below them pouring down rain and breaking forth with thunder and lightnings at which those below have been terrified but on the top of the hill there was no such matter This surely was that mountain which Mr. Lydiat meant when he said that etiam aestivis diebus even in the summer time when the clouds are at the highest those on the top of the mountains have had fair weather and withall perceived that there was plentie of rain about the middle height of the same hills Thus we see that there are lofty mountains And indeed their loftines is the cause of a middle Region for the hils hindering the aire from following the motion of the heavens do make it about their tops a fit convenient place to thicken these vapours into clouds which by the attractive power of the heavenly bodies are drawn up thither Wherefore that I may conclude the place of the middle Region being both caused and also overtopped by sundry high mountains it will appeare that there was no middle Region of the aire untill the third day because the waters were all over the earth and standing above the hills untill that very day For then and not before God gathered them together unto one place and made the drie land to appeare which before was covered with waters as with a garment Psalm 104. Rarior aqua saith one velut nebula terras tegebat quae congregatione densata est The thinne water like a mist or wet cloud covered the earth which by gathering together was made thick In which regard it may be said saith Aquinas that it was as naturall for the water to be every where about the earth as for the aire to be about both water and earth yet neverthelesse propter necessitatem finis saith he for the necessitie of the end namely that plants and living creatures should be upon the earth it was meet that the earth should be so uncovered and the waters so gathered that the drie land appeare Now this was a work pertinent unto the third day and before this work done there could be no middle Region and the middle Region being on this day and not before how can the waters in the clouds be those waters which were separated by the out-spread Firmament on the second day Neither do I here argue à facto ad fieri because in the very creation of this Firmament God then said Let it be between the waters that is even then beginning its office and art of separating them Which that it is even so we see he speaketh next concerning the lower waters and makes no more mention at all of those upper ones because he had already done with them and left them in their place unto which he had appointed them But furthermore this tenent is not a little helped by a consideration of the cataracts or windows of heaven which in the dayes of Noah were opened and poured down rain by the space of fourty dayes For me thinks the clouds could not be those windows of heaven because it rained fourty dayes and before it left raining the waters were higher then the hills being when fourty dayes were ended fifteen cubits above the highest mountains as in the historie of the Floud is manifest And hereupon it was that one once by the same reason concluded and said that either it did not rain fourty dayes which assertion we are sure is false or else it rained from some other where then from the middle Region For seeing the middle Region it self was
drowned before it ceased to rain it cannot but be that the rain descended from some higher place 1. Object But perhaps some may think that the clouds mounted higher and higher as the waters increased insomuch that as the waters by little and little gat above the mountains so did the clouds Answ. This cannot be because that which makes us distinguish the aire so as it may have a middle Region is nothing else but the differing temper that it hath both from the upper and lower Region and this differing temper is caused by the hills which hindering the aire from following the motion of the heavens do make it a fit place to thicken those vapours into clouds which by the attractive power of the starres and planets are drawn up thither as already hath been shewed and as afterwards shall be touched when I come again to speak of the severall Regions and their tempers shewing you that it is an Axiome undeniable that the farnesse from a circular motion gives quietnesse coldnesse and heavinesse even as the nearenesse to it gives motion heat and lightnesse 2. Object Or secondly perhaps some may think that the hills and mountains were not before the Floud but made by the violence of the waters and that Moses when he would describe how high the waters were doth but shew us that they were higher by fifteen cubits then the highest mountain that was then in his time which he might well say and make such a comparison although there were no hills before the floud Answ. That which hath been said in the former answer concerning the cause of the middle Region doth sufficiently stop this last objection unlesse it be granted that there were no clouds untill the Floud had made the hills And indeed if any such thing be granted then all is granted and the controversie quite ended concerning these waters above the Heavens But besides that answer I hope to make it appeare that mountains valleys and plains were created in the beginning and were before the Floud in the dayes of Noah For first if hills were caused by the Floud then it must be that the waters suffered an extream violent motion but the waters being over the whole face of the earth had nothing to hinder them from their own free motion nor any thing to compell them to a violent motion such I mean as should make them work such wonders as are supposed Had they been overtopped by any thing then indeed running from one place to another there might have been a repercussion and by such contention more strange accidents then were might have been produced as the making of hills and the like Or secondly if there were such a violent motion as questionles the waters moved untill all places were filled alike with no small violence yet the violence was not so great as to be the parent of the hills and mountains for then without doubt it would have been so forcible also as to have turned rivers and changed them from one place to another cast down all manner of buildings and structures rooted up all trees and the like so that after the Floud nothing should have had the same name bounds and description which before it had neither would the memories of the former ages have been but buried from all succeeding time which we know is otherwise for if it were not it is likely that Moses speaking of the site of Paradise and setting down all the rivers of it exactly would have specified it in his historie that thereby after-ages looking for those places might not mistake or suspect the truth of his relation Neither have we just cause to think that all buildings and ancient monuments of the Fathers before the floud were extinguished in the floud For it is reported by Pomponius Mela and Plinie concerning the citie Ioppa that it was built before the floud and that Cepha or Cepheus reigned there which is witnessed by certain ancient altars bearing titles of him and his brother Phineus together with a memoriall of the grounds and principles of their religion And of the citie Henoch there is a much like relation But what need I mention more seeing Iosephus a writer of good credit affirmeth that he himself saw one of those pillars which was set up by Seth the sonne of Adam and this for the truth of it was never questioned but warranted by all antiquitie Moreover seeing the dove was twice sent out of the ark and returned with an olive branch at her last return and not at her first it is not without reason that we think the trees were not torn up by their roots but remained still fixed in the ground even as they had done before for if the trees had been swimming or floating upon the waters as some may think then the poore dove might have found one branch or other as well at the first as second time Besides when she did bring any thing Noah took it not as a token what havock the floud had made but as a signe that the waters were decreased she therefore plucked it off from some tree growing on the earth and not floating on the waters And last of all although I say nothing of the delectation and profit of the mountains which do thereby even amplifie the goodnesse of God in his works creating and not occasioning them I shall need to point you no further then to the plain text it self which doth most plainly tell us not that the waters were as high as the highest mountains which are now or were then when Moses wrote his historie but that even from the beginning there were hills and mountains whose loftie tops in the universall floud were covered with waters for thus stand the words And the waters prevailed exceedingly upon the earth and all the high hills which were under the whole heaven were covered Fifteen cubits upward did the waters prevail and the mountains were covered Whereupon as I remember one writeth thus saying that this judgement was admirable seeing there are mountains as Atlas Olympus Caucasus Athos and other such that are so high as their tops are above the clouds and windes as Historiographers do report it and yet see all these are covered and these being covered the middle Region must needs be drowned and that being drowned how could the clouds be those windows of heaven which poured down rain for fourtie dayes And those not being the windows of heaven it cannot but be that the waters above the heavens are in a more remote and higher place even above the concave of the out-spread Firmament 3. Object But perhaps you may think that I now pitch too much upon reason concerning this of the Floud seeing it was caused not by naturall and ordinary means but by the extraordinary power of God Answ. To which it is answered that this floud was partly naturall partly supernaturall and to shew how farre nature had a hand in this admirable effect we may distinguish with
Comets be burnt consumed and wasted in the starrie heavens it seemeth that there is no great difference between them and things here below for if there were it might be thought that they would not suffer such earthly matter to ascend up their territories such I say as doth either wholly or in part compose them Wholly or in part I adde because perhaps even the heavens themselves may afford some matter towards the generation of them especially if they be new starres such as Aristotle never saw wherefore he writes that a Comet consisteth altogether of an hot drie and a kinde of oylie exhalation drawn from the earth and questionlesse in such as are utterly below the moon it is even so but if they â—…e higher and continue longer they as well as new starres may have some help from such matter as the heavens afford towards the generation of strange appearances which though they have yet that they have no earthly matter is not excluded because next under God the efficient cause of these things is attributed to the starres and their operation for when they are aptly and conveniently placed and aspected then by their power working upon things here below they draw up hot drie and oylie exhalations and these exhalations afford unto Comets that matter whereof they consist Ptolomie attributeth much in this kinde to Mars and Mercurie and so do many others else beside him and why the yearely aspects of these starres do not alwayes produce such effects is because they are not alwayes aspected in the same manner but sometimes in one part of the heavens sometimes in another and cannot therefore produce their intended effects without either the meeting or avoiding of apt or inconvenient occurrences But I conclude and do yet affirm that the nature of the heavens is certainly such that the waters above the heavens might passe or issue through them in the time of the Floud and yet the heavens not be dissolved nor suffer damage by their falling damage neither in corrupting them nor yet in leaving a vacant place by coming all away of which in the fourth dayes work when I come to speak of the starres I shall adde yet something more CHAP. V. How to understand the word Heavens and of the severall Regions of the aire together with a consideration of such appearances as we use to see there Sect. 1. ANd now to go on with the residue of this dayes work God saith Moses called the firmament Heavens c. By heavens in this place Moses meaneth onely the visible heavens because he speaketh onely of the visible part of the world And yet the same word which is here used is sometimes put for the aire wherein windes clouds and fowls do flie sometimes for the upper Firmament where the sunne moon and starres are set and sometimes for the high places where Angels dwell And hereupon it was that S. Paul mentioned the third heavens wherein he saw things unspeakable The first of these is like to the outward court of Solomons temple and is the most open to us The second is like his inward court lesse open and abounding with starrie lights or lamps never going out And the next is as the Sanctum Sanctorum whither he is entred once for all who is a Priest for ever and maketh intercession for us In the two lowest is no felicitie for neither the fowls nor starres are happie It is the third of these alone where the blessed Trinitie enjoyeth it self and the glorified spirits enjoy it And questionlesse in this highest part must needs be more then exceeding glorie seeing the other two within the concave of the Firmament are so full of wonder But of the one of them I shall need to speak little in this dayes work yet of the other under it as being more pertinent something must be added Sect. 2. Parag. 1. Of the Aire and the severall Regions in it VVE may therefore now if you please look into the Aire and here following the common path and separating it from the starrie heaven I must say that it is divided into three stages or Regions although I verily think as afterwards shall be shewed when I come to speak of the starres that all this space even from the earth to the eighth sphere is nothing else but aire The highest Region is said to be exceeding hot and also drie by reason of the neighbourhood that it hath with the fierie element as is said and with the starres by the force of whose beams it receiveth heat which is also much increased by following the motion of the heavens The lowest Region is somewhat contrary for it is said to be hot and moist hot chiefly by the reflection of the sunne-beams meeting with the earth and moist by reason of the proper nature of the aire and also by reason of the vapours exhaled out of the earth and water This is the qualitie which commonly is attributed to this Region But I think that we may rather say it is variable now hot now cold and sometimes temperate differing according to the times and seasons of the yeare In which regard Du Bartas writeth thus Warm-temper'd show'rs do wash it in the Spring And so in Autumne but more varying In Winter time 't is wet and cold and chill In Summer season hot and soultry still For then the fields scorched with flames reflect The sparkling rayes of thousand starres aspect The chief is Phoebus to whose arrows bright Our Globie Grandam serves for But and White Neither is it altogether variable in regard of time but also by reason of the diversitie of place some climates being more hot and drie some more cold and moist then others which cometh to passe according to their distance from the Equinoctiall towards either of the Poles Thus for these two Regions But now concerning the middle Region it is alwayes cold yet surely in its own nature it would be warmer then the Region which is here below were it not cooled by a cold occasioned by the reflection of the Sunne-beams For they reflecting upon the earth drive up above the beams of their reflection much cold from below which being daily supplied is kept as a continuall prisoner between the heat above and the heat beneath Or if you will take it thus namely that it is cold but not extreamly cold yet cold I say it is in respect of the two other Regions which are hotter then it And this coldnesse happeneth partly through the causes before expressed and partly by reason of the Aire in it which cannot follow the motion of the heavens seeing it is hindred by the tops of the mountains And hereupon it is that the Philosophers make this a rule saying that the farrenesse from a circular motion gives quietnesse coldnesse and heavinesse even as the nearnesse gives motion heat and lightnesse Which in this thing concerning the middle Region is found to be true the
Aire in it being cold because it is hindred from following the circular motion of the heavens But as I said it is not absolutely cold but respectively For if it were extream cold then the heat of the Sunne would never passe through it to this Region here below neither would there be grasse herbs and such high trees as are upon the tops of the mountains But to proceed 1. In the highest Region and oft times above it be generated Comets or Blazing starres and such like fiery Meteors of divers sorts 2. In the middle Region Clouds Thunder Rain Windes Storms c. 3. In the lowest Region we have Dews Mists Hoar-frost Ice and Frost As also here is your Ignis fatuus or foolish fire with other Lights burning about graves or such like fattie places where there is store of clammie or fat oylie substance for their matter These Lights are seen also in fields and are driven by a gentle winde to and fro untill their matter be consumed Now these and every one of these seeing they have their causes in nature let us a little view them both how and what they are For they who send us to God and his decree in nature have indeed said what is the true cause but not how it is by naturall means effected For the manner of producing these things doth no lesse amplifie the power and providence of God then the things themselves when they are produced Sect. 2. Parag. 2. Of Meteors first in generall then how they are divided in particular ANd these things of which we now speak seen in any of the Regions by a generall name are called Meteors And the matter of Meteors as it is remote is from the Elements but as it is propinque or neare it consisteth of Exhalations And Exhalations are of two kindes 1. There is Fumus 2. Vapor If it come from the earth or some sandy place it is Fumus a Fume or a kinde of Smoke If it come from the water or some watry place it is Vapor For this is a rule that A Fume hath a certain earthly nature in it and yet is not earth and a Vapour hath a certain watry nature in it and yet it is not water Or if you had rather take it thus Fumus est mediae naturae inter terram ignem Vapor verò inter aquam aërem That is A Fume is of a middle nature between earth and fire but a Vapour is of a middle nature between water and aire And further all vapours are warm and moist and will easily be resolved into water much like the breath that proceedeth out of a mans mouth or out of a pot of water standing on the fire and these are never drawn higher then the middle Region of the Aire for there they are thickened and conglomerated by the cold into clouds And why vapours are warm being drawn from that which is cold is not from any internall propertie of their own but they receive this qualitie from the power and influence of the stars For after that the matter is by them attenuated or made thin their beams cannot but warm it although it proceed from that which is cold Again all fumes are as smokes which be hot and dry which because they be thin and lighter then vapours they often passe the lowest and middle Regions of the Aire being sometimes carried even beyond the highest Region it self And thus we see how there are two kindes of Exhalations Th' one somewhat hot but heavy moist and thick The other light drie burning pure and quick Moreover these Exhalations being the matter of Meteors as hath been said are either from the Earth or Water As for the Fire and Aire they are mixed with this matter as with all other things but not so abundantly that they may be said to be the materiall cause of any Meteor although without them none can be effected And thus much generally But now more particularly And in coming to particulars it may be found that these kinde of Meteors concerning which I speak are of three sorts either Fierie Waterie or Aierie Fierie are of two sorts either such as are in very deed fired or else such as onely seem to burn which are therefore called Phasmata In which regard it may be said that these Fierie ones are either Flames or Apparitions And again in respect of their matter if they be such as burn in very deed then they be either more or lesse pure Their place where we see them is according to the abundance and scarcitie or rather qualitie of the matter whereof they consist for if it be heavie and grosse it cannot be carried high but if it be not so grosse but rather light and more full of heat then it aspires and transcends so much the higher by how much it is the lighter sometimes above the highest Region of the Aire even into the starry heaven it self which is witnessed by our best modern Astronomers who have observed many Comets above the Moon Furthermore these Fiery impressions according to the diverse disposing of their matter are of severall fashions and thereupon they have severall appellations being called according unto the names of those things unto which they seem to be like As 1. Torches 2. Burning Beams 3. Round Pillars 4. Pyramidall Pillars 5. Burning Spears Streams or Darts 6. Dancing or leaping Goats 7. Flying Sparks 8. Shooting Starres 9. Flying Launces 10. Fires either scattered or else as if all the aire burned 11. Flying Dragons or Fire-drakes 12. Wandring Lights 13. And also licking or cleaving fire sticking on the hairs of men or beasts Now all these kindes of which I have mentioned thirteen I take to be such fierie Meteors as are said to be pure and not mixt Then again have you those which are said to be mixt and lesse pure As 1. Comets of all sorts 2. All kindes of lightening 3. Unto which must be joyned thunder as an adjunct And now of these severally before I mention any more of another kinde whether waterie or aierie Sect. 2. Parag. 3. Of such fierie Meteors as are pure and not mixt 1. FAx which is a Torch or Fire-brand or as a lighted candle is an exhalation hot and drie drawn beyond the middle Region of the aire where being arrived it is set on fire as are all exhalations that come there partly by their own heat and partly by the heat of that place and because the matter of the exhalation is long and not broad and being equally compact and fired at the one end it burneth like a torch or candle untill the whole whereof it consisteth be consumed And why it should burn at the one end rather then at the other is found to be because it is long and standeth upright having the most of its aspiring matter in the top and in this station ascending up it comes to passe that when the upper end doth present it self to the
Exhalation hot and drie as all Exhalations are which are apt to be fired and also heavie in regard of the glutinous matter whereof it consisteth in which regard the cold of the night beats it back again when it striveth to ascend through which strife and tossing it is fired for in this encounter it suffereth an Antiperistasis and being fired it goeth to and fro according to the motion of the Aire in the silent night by gentle gales not going alwayes directly upon one point unlesse the winde be more then such a gale as is commonly called Aura And note that if the winde be any thing big or blowing then this Meteor cannot appeare at all because the winde will disperse the matter of the Exhalation not suffering it to be conjoyned Moreover some think that it may be kindled of it self although it be not so moved as before and this is performed by the active moving of the heat which is within it as is seen in an heap of moist hay which will set it self on fire These kindes of lights are often seen in Fennes and Moores because there is alwayes great store of unctuous matter fit for such purposes as also where bloudie battells have been fought and in church-yards or places of common buriall because the carcases have both fatted and fitted the place for such kinde of oyly Exhalations Wherefore the much terrified ignorant and superstitious people may see their own errours in that they have deemed these lights to be walking spirits or as the silly ones amongst the Papists beleeve they can be nothing else but the souls of such as go to Purgatorie and the like In all which they are much deluded For souls departed cannot appeare again I shall go to him saith David but he shall not return to me And saith Job He shall return no more to his house neither shall his place know him any more Or as it is in the Psalmist Before I go hence and be no more seen So that if they walk sure it is invisible for saith the Scripture They shall be no more seen But what need I urge that For we see that they cannot at all return but are ignorant of all things done under the sunne and as it was with Dives and Lazarus so it is with every other Wherefore we may well say thus 1. If after death souls can appeare Why then did Dives crave That one his brethren word might bear What pains the damned have 2. Or if there be another room Which is not Heav'n or Hell How scap't the begger from the doom Of Purgatories cell 3. What shall become of Christs deare bloud If after death there be A way to make our own works good And place the soul in glee Quest. But if these lights be not walking spirits why is it that they leade men out of their way Answ. They are no spirits and yet leade out of the way because those who see them are amazed and look so earnestly after them that they forget their way and then being once out they wander to and fro not knowing whither sometimes to waters pits and other dangerous places whereupon the next day they will undoubtedly tell you strange tales as one saith how they were led up and down by a light which in their judgement was nothing else but some devil or spirit in the likenesse of fire which fain would have hurt them But of this enough and know last of all that if one be something neare these lights and the night calm then going from them they will follow us because there being no winde to hinder we draw the Aire after us or going towards them they go from us because we by our motion drive the Aire before us Moreover when the like matter chanceth to be fired in some such part of the Aire as is over the Sea then these lights appeare to marriners and are called Castor and Pollux if there be two at once otherwise Helena if there be but one The reason of which names was this Helena was the daughter of Iupiter and Leda and by the heathens she was taken for a goddesse but not for a goddesse of good fortune for this Helena was the cause of Troyes destruction as thus She was stollen away by Paris the sonne of Priamus K. of the Trojans stollen I say out of Greece whereupon her two brothers Castor and Pollux sayl to seek her but they were never heard of more or seen after which losse of these brethren made it be supposed that they were translated into the number of those gods who use to give good successe to marriners for they were lost at sea which is as if they were translated from thence Now then the Seamen having seen by often experience that one light was to them a signe of some tempest and that two lights were a signe of fair weather they called the one light Helena and the two lights they called Castor and Pollux Quest. But why should it be may some demand that they should thus appearing shew either fair or foul weather can any reason be shewn for it Answ. It is answered that one flame alone may be a signe of tempest or foul weather because that as that matter which burneth is so compact into one that it cannot be dissolved into two so in like manner the matter of tempest being exhaled by the like cause is kept from being dissipated and is so close together that before any long time it must needs work And again when two lights appeare why then it should be fair it is because there is not the like working in nature which was before but rather the contrary for as this Exhalation of the lights is divided so the matter which otherwise might be fit for tempest is not thickened but by the like cause is also divided scattered and easily dissolved insomuch that it cannot work so as at other times when there is a working to compact and not to dissipate 13. Ignis lambens is a cleaving and licking fire or light and is so called because it useth to cleave and stick to the hairs of men or beasts not hurting them but rather as it were gently licking them These flames may be caused two wayes as the learned write First when clammie Exhalations are scattered abroad in the aire in small parts and in the night are set on fire by an Antiperistasis so that when any shall either ride or walk in such places as are apt to breed them it is no wonder that they stick either on their horses or on themselves Secondly they may be caused another way viz. when the bodies of men or beasts being chafed do send out a fat and clammie sweat which according to the working of nature in things of this kinde is kindled and appeareth like a flame Virgil makes mention of such a fire as this upon the head of Iulus the sonne of Aeneas Ecce levis summo de
poyson of the Exhalation whereof the Comet consisted unto some such place as lieth obvious unto it and the like Yea and upon the raising of windes come often showers and rains or else overflowings of banks upon high tides and other loftie waters which are forced over upon the violence of the windes Astrologers say that Comets do most hurt either unto those places to which they are verticall or unto those countreys which are subject to the signe wherein they are for they maintain that such and such countreys are subject to such and such signes but omitting part of that they also tell us which stands with good reason that in earthie drie signes they produce barrennesse by reason of drought in waterish signes barrennesse also by reason of too much wet in aierie signes extraordinary winde in signes of a fierie triplicitie extraordinary heat warres fires drought and the like and in all of these seeing their operation is extraordinary some one perilous and infectious sicknesse or other Besides they also tell us that if a Comet be in fashion like unto a sword it then signifieth warres and destruction of cities c. If it be stella crinita or blazing round about and of divers colours then it signifieth winde seditions heresies and the like but if it be blackish with a short tail and no hairs then it is a signe of barrennesse together with long and continued warres But know now that although these and the like accidents be produced by Comets yet if Comets should not be the case would be farre worse for mankinde and more readily would eager death seize upon him For if that which is the matter of Comets were not taken into one place and drawn so as it is up into the aire it would kill us by being dispersed about our dwellings such being the nature of their poisonous Fumes as they by experience know who have seen the danger of damps whilest they played the part of Pioners under ground Wherefore let me adde that the end for which Comets are is threefold for either they appeare for a Politicall end for a Theologicall end or for a Naturall end In respect of a Politicall end they are so to be taken for the Heralds of future calamities that men being forewarned may be forearmed and provided either to shun the threatned disaster or else to endure with patience the common and inevitable misery In respect of a Theologicall end they are either a signe of calamities or else the efficient cause of calamities If they be a signe then their end is this viz. that they may be monitours instigatours and admonishers to repentance and to desire and expect either the turning away or mitigation of those publick punishments But if they be the efficient causes of miserie then their Theologicall end is that they are sent as the instruments of punishing some such enormous malice and contumacie of mankinde as would not be kept under or restrained by any humane law or discipline And lastly in respect of a Naturall end it is that those pestiferous windes spirits or breathings which are gathered from metallique liquours and the like in the earth should be taken up farre into the aire from the common seat of men that thereby we may partake the lesse of their malice for being burnt out and consumed there they can lesse hurt us then if they were below If they should remain in the earth they then as they often do would rend and shake it or should they remain below in the neare neighbouring aire they would poison us sooner then above because if the aire be infected when they are on high and a great way from us much more would it be infected should they be below and round about us But of Comets I have said enough And now methinks I am led from them to a consideration of such appearances as are called New starres such as were in the yeares 1572 1596 1600 1602 1604 and 1612. Artic. 2. Of New starres and especially of that which was in the Constellation of Cassiopea Anno Dom. 1572. NOw here I must confesse that I know not what to write for how they are generated or what they signifie is a matter of most intricate question Noble Tycho that Phenix of Astronomie and after him Longomontanus with certain others have been perswaded that they were more then Comets and generated farre otherwise or of other matter then fierie Meteors are being first set a work so to think by the sight of that strange and admirable New starre which was seen in the constellation of Cassiopea seen from the ninth of November in the yeare 1572 untill the last of March in the yeare 1574. Which starre was indeed truely admirable and as I may say attended with a sad event I mean that cunningly plotted Massacre of Protestants in France at the solemnization of a marriage between Henry of Navarre chief of the Protestants partie and lady Margaret sister to the French King Charles the ninth then reigning and chief authour of the foresaid Massacre at which wedding there was not so much wine drunk as bloud shed thirtie thousand Protestants and upwards of the best and most potent being sent through this Red sea to the land of Canaan Or if this New starre were not attended with that particular accident because the Massacre was in August and the starre appeared not untill two moneths after yet we may hope that rising after such a butcherie and so soon after it as it did that therefore it came to animate distressed Christians shining at the first with a cheerfull countenance but at the last turning into a martiall and bloudie hue as if in so doing he which sent it would have the world take notice that his righteous servants should see truths enemies be they where or whom they will confounded at last by martiall discipline and that those who had made havock of others should be troden down at last themselves although for a time they fairly bore it out But by what instruments the execution of these projects should be performed we cannot tell Yet this I verily think may be said that those late blessed and admired proceedings of the prosperous and successefull GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS King of Sweden whose manifold and sudden conquests made him a spectacle to the astonished world that those I say do point us to him above all men as being the man appointed to shew the first effects of that strange starre and that it was to have an operation farre surpassing the saddest consequents of former threatning Comets To which purpose I finde that learned Tycho hath added a kinde of propheticall conclusion to that book of his which he wrote concerning this New starre wherein he declareth according to his modest and harmlesse rules of art proceeding in them not like a doting heathenish starre-gazer that the effects were to be declared by succeeding events which as they shall not begin
the Exhalation is able to break that then it runneth up and down within and sticking against the cold and moist sides maketh a noise much like to the quenching of an hot iron in cold water or of a squib made of wet powder in which regard Plinie seemeth to averre that thunder is but the quenching of fire in a wet cloud Also if the Exhalation be meanly strong and the cloud of unequall thicknesse then it breaketh out at the thinnest places and makes a kinde of buzzing noise like to a winde blowing out of narrow holes And so sometimes it happeneth that there may be a thunder-crack and yet no lightning and sometimes lightning without thunder The first is caused thus either when the cloud is so thin that it cannot keep in the Exhalation till it be kindled but suffereth it to go presently forth making a noise like to the winde out of a pair of Smiths bellows or else when the cloud is so thick and the Exhalation so slender and thin that although it stirre up and down within the cloud yet it fireth not but wastes it self within that prison as not being able to get out And thus may thunder be without lightning The second is caused when either the Exhalation and Vapour are both thin and the cloud also as thin or else thus namely when many thin light and hot Exhalations by immoderate heat are drawn up from the earth and by the absence of the sunne are destitute of that force by which they should be drawn up higher yet somewhat ascending by their own nature in that they be light and hot they meet with the cold either of the night in the lowest Region or else of the aire in the middle Region and so by an Antiperistasis or resistance of contraries they are beaten back and with the force of their motion set on fire as in summer nights and evenings we often see after an hot parching day Now this kinde of lightning some call Fulgetrum Another sort they call Coruscatio which indeed is nothing else but the shining of the lightning the shining or glittering of it rather then the lightning it self for in this regard we can perceive a flashing when there be no clouds above our Horizon or if there be clouds we see the flashing when our backs are turned from them or else we often perceive even through a thick cloud that it lightened when the lightning came not so low but onely issued out of a thinner cloud which was above that thicker one and shined through it A third kinde is called Fulgur and this is accompanied with thunder caused by the strife and reluctation which the Exhalation maketh in the cloud shewing it self in the breaking of the said cloud and although the crack be heard long after we have seen the fire yet they come together the seeming difference being because the quicknesse of our sight preventeth our hearing which is so much the sooner done either when the thunder is farre off and not neare unto us or when the winde is contrary which is also seen in the cleaving of wood or any the like knocking for let us be but in some sort distant from the partie making the noise or striking the blow and we shall see the ax heaved up again before we heare the sound The next is Fulmen and between this and the other is a great difference For Fulmen is an Exhalation which in respect of its quantitie is so copious and in respect of its qualitie is so hot and drie and mixed with so many other vapours of a contrary nature that when it breaketh the cloud wherein it is inclosed it comes with such a violence and continues burning so long that it falleth even to the very ground making a more fearfull fragor or crack then ordinary And oftentimes a great stone is blown out of the cloud with it whose cause is also naturall For when the Exhalation is drawn up with more then an ordinarie violence or is so drawn up or from such a place as it may carrie much earthie matter with it then is the stone procured The matter causing it at the first is thin and like unto the finest sand that can be imagined yet neverthelesse through the moisture which it getteth in the Aire and by the meeting with wet vapours in the ascent it clottereth together and being also it self of a kinde of clammie natuâ—…e it disjoyneth not but sticketh fast and then by the 〈◊〉 heat which it findeth in the generall matter of the Exhalation when it is fired it is throughly hardened even as a brick which is burned in the fire and being thus hardened and burnt it breaketh forth with the Exhalation and they both come tumbling down together For the force of the Exhalation shoots it out and look whatsoever is in the way it overthroweth burneth and dasheth in pieces Howbeit when it striketh the earth it is reported to go never above five foot deep All this is pertinent to that which is called Fulmen But for that other which is Fulgur the case is farre otherwise For in regard of the little plentie of the matter it never falleth to the ground but is wasted and consumed by the way Moreover Philosophers make three kindes of Fulmen viz. Terebrans Discutiens and Urens or as some call them Scindentia Infuscantia and Urentia 1. The first is said not to burn but rather to pierce cleave and extirpate such things as are obvious to it For seeing it is more subtill and pure then grosse as also wondrous drie and carrieth with it great plentie of spirits winde or breathings it must needs produce strange effects and passe through the pores of any thing be they never so small striking through with such wonderfull swiftnesse as that it cannot possibly hurt but where it is resisted and hindered by the close composure of that matter against which it striketh And hereupon it comes to passe that money is sometimes melted in the purse the purse not hurt at all the bones broke and the skin sound yea and sometimes the whole man burnt to ashes when his clothes are not consumed with many the like strange accidents And why it should cleave a wine vessell and the wine be so dull as not to runne out untill some 2 or 3 dayes after this may be a reason viz. in regard of the swift alteration and change whereby also all the clamminesse of the wine is drawn to the outwardmost part which keepeth in the wine as in a skin not suffering it suddenly to disperse it self 2. The second kinde burneth not to ashes but blasteth or scorcheth leaving the tincture of fire and as it were of smoke behinde it for the things which it striketh do use to look black or of a footie colour like unto a chimneys stock And this is caused in regard that this kinde of lightning is farre more full of moisture
before when there was onely light in those thinne parts in stead of fire And thus have I shewed you the naturall cause of all fiery Meteors Sect. 2. Parag. 6. Of watery Meteors and their severall kindes NOw it followeth that I speak something of watery Meteors and shew after what manner they are generated They be called watery because they consist most of water their substance being that kinde of Exhalation which we call Vapor and not Fumus And that which in the first place offereth it self is Nubes a Cloud Artic. I. Of Clouds I Begin therefore with clouds And a cloud is a vapour or Exhalation cold and moist drawn from the earth out of wet or watery places by heat of the Sunne into the middle Region of the aire where by cold it is so thickened and knit together that it hangeth untill either the own weight or some resolution causeth it to fall If it be a great cloud it is Nubes if it be but a little one it is called Nubecula The name comes ab obnubendo id est operiendo coelum from hiding or covering the heavens because a cloud through the thicknesse that the vapour is condensed into hindereth that a lesse portion of the heavens is conspicuous then otherwise would be It is also two-fold either fertill or barren A fertill or fruitfull cloud affordeth rain but a barren cloud doth not because it is at length by the blasts of winde and vertue of the heavenly bodies turned into thin aire And to either of these clouds belong motion colour Their motion is caused by the winde most commonly through whose force they are driven to and fro But if the windes blow not then they are drawn along by the Sun and made a companion with him in his travels alwayes moving that way which the Sunne goeth Concerning their colours I spake before in Paragraph 5. Article 2. And therefore here you may expect the lesse yet let me say that they are either simple or mixt Black or white are simple because they consist of no other colours But red green and the rest are mixt They appeare white when the vapour is thin for then it is easily pierced by the light which disperseth it self into it But when they appeare of a black colour then the vapour is thick and more closely condensed insomuch that the beams of light cannot be admitted As for their rednesse it may be caused two wayes according to Goclenius either through the adustion of the aire magno aestu incensum as he saith Or propter retusum radium Solis by reason of the beams of the Sunne beat back again which falling upon a watery cloud that is thickly condensed pierceth not but being doubled causeth rednesse as in the morning and this is a signe of rain but the other is not For the other rednesse is in such a cloud as sheweth the drinesse and adustion of the aire the cloud it self consisting of a smokie humid substance unto which is joyned a kinde of drie and adust matter This therefore is a signe of fair weather being seen in the evening towards the place of Sun-setting according as it hath been said of old Serò rubens coelum mané indicat esse serenum Concerning green clouds they are altogether watery and as it were already resolved into water which receiving into them the light appeare green like unto water in a great vessel or in the sea and deep rivers Blew clouds come something neare to the nature of black excepting that the black are thicker And note If when the Sunne sets there appeare or arise black dark clouds it portendeth rain Also observe the place opposite to the Sunne at his setting viz. the East and see if that be cleare for if it be pestered with black clouds there is but small hope of fair weather that night or the next day The common opinion is that the height of the clouds is not above nine miles But it is agreeable to no reason at all why any certain height should be determined for they are of unequall heights differing both according to the matter of their composure and also according to the time of the yeare being lower in winter then in summer for when the sunne hath the greatest force they then ascend the higher and in his smaller force they hang the lower By which it appeareth that the sunne helpeth to uphold them and keepeth them although heavier then the aire even in the aire for they sometimes also follow his motion But note that it is not the sunne alone which upholds them for the aire it self is also a cause of their not falling and that both within the clouds and also without them within the clouds for the clouds are of a spungie nature and full of pores which are filled with aire leâ—…t there should be vacuum and this aire heaveth them up causing them to aspire without the clouds also because they do as it were float up and down in the aire as some heavie things do in the water and yet not sink unlesse their substance be too earthie and heavie Artic. 2. Of Rain FRom clouds I proceed to speak of rain And rain is nothing else but as it were the melting of a cloud turned into water Or according to Aristotle it is the flux of a fertill cloud resolved by the heat of the sunne into distilling drops of water which being depressed with their own weight fall down to the earth For when the matter of the cloud being a cold vapour and earthly humour is drawn from the earth and waters into the middle Region of the aire and there thickened through the cold dwelling in the confines of that place it is at the last dissolved and cannot therefore but fall down in drops which drops if they be great are caused either by the quick resolution of the cloud or else by the little distance of it from the earth But if they be smaller then either the great distance or slow resolution maketh them of no ample quantitie The first of these is named nimbus the other is called imber And note that the dissolution as hath been said proceedeth out of heat which is not onely of the sunne but of windes also of an hot temper as is seen in the southern winde which bloweth up rain sooner then any other winde And as for rains which come from cold coasts and at cold times of the yeare if the cloud be not at such times as some may think dissolved through the heat of any winde it dissolveth it self through its own weight being a little holpen by the sunne for it continueth in the aire even whilest it can stay no longer And at these times also if we consider all aright we shall finde that the winde somewhat helpeth although not so speedily as from hotter coasts for naturally there is a kinde of heat in every winde because it is an Exhalation hot and drie although by accident as from
The other kinde of sweet dew is Mel or an Hony-dew Now this falleth not onely in other countreys but also here in England and we cannot give it a more significant name then a Mel-dew being both as sweet and also of the same substance that hony is Some suppose that it is drawn out of sweet herbs and flowers which I also beleeve acknowledging that there is a kinde of resudation of juice proceeding from them at a certain convenient time of their growth which juice is either drawn up as a vapour and so sweeteneth the dew in the aire by such time as it falleth or else issuing of it self from the said flowers and plants but not ascending it sweeteneth the dew after it is come down or fallen on them although the said dew be but ordinary for when ordinary dew falleth upon any of those leaves which yeeld such a resudation or sweat it cannot but be sweetened although none of the sweet liquour be drawn into the aire as a vapour with it Now of these two choose which in your judgement is the most probable Plinie witnesseth that these dews are most common at the shining of Syrius or the great Dog-starre and that before the rising of Virgiliae or the Seven starres in the morning with the Sunne they cannot at all be Ladanum is another kinde of sweet dew Arabia hath great plentie of it and no other countrey as Plinie writeth unlesse it be Nabathaea bordering on the Arabick coast of Syria It is called Ladanum because it is a vapour falling upon the herb Ladon or Ledum and is sweetened by the juice issuing from the leaves of the said herb mixing it self with the vapour Goats hairs are often found amongst it because the Goat feeding upon that herb scattereth some of his hairs which are incorporated with the vapour and the juice of Ladon whilest like gumme it is hardened by the Sunne And thus much of sweet dews Now followeth that which I called bitter blasting dew The Germanes say it is Mildaw which is an improper name if it hath relation to that which we call Mel-dew For Mel-dew as before I shewed is an hony-sweet dew and not a bitter dew This therefore may be rather named Ros noxius or bitter blasting dew because it hurteth and killeth such herbs and plants as it falleth on and sticketh or cleaveth to This vapour hath much earthly matter in it and therefore it remaineth white when the moisture is gone It is also corrupted which comes to passe as 't is conjectured through the often change of the Aire which being tainted or infected through varietie of differing Exhalations sendeth down noysome and unwholesome dews falling sometimes even in the day time it self And here an end concerning dew Artic. 4. Of white hoar-frosts I Come now to speak of Frosts for as dew claimed kindred of rain so white hoar-frost is of the house and linage of dew As for example thus When a vapour drawn into the aire is congealed before it can be turned into dew then we have Pruina in stead thereof or a white hoar-frost so that such a frost is nothing else but dew congealed by overmuch cold Aristotle affirmeth the like shewing among other things that both in respect of matter and place of generation they do well agree to which is also pertinent the calmnesse clearnesse and quietnesse of the time wherein either of them falleth For both of them consist of subtill thin vapours and are generated in the lowest region of the aire because upon some high hills there is neither hoar-frost nor dew to be seen the vapour as it seemeth ascendeth not so high And as for a windie obscure time it is an enemie to them both The difference being that hoar-frost is congealed in the vapour before it can be turned into water The one caused in a season that is temperately warm the other when it is cold The materiall cause therefore of hoar-frost is a subtill thinne vapour The formall is the congealing of it by which it differeth from dew The efficient is the autumnall or winter cold for those are the most common and ordinary times peculiar to it although sometimes it comes as an unwelcome guest in the spring and summer when the aire through cold is forward to send it And last of all the end or principall effects when it cometh not out of season or the finall cause is the contraction or shutting up of the pores or breathing holes of the earth and about the roots of plants that thereby their spirits being the chariots of heat may be contained in their own bowels for the good of such things as they give life unto And thus much concerning frost Artic. 5. Of Snow THere is no great difference between the matter of snow and matter of rain and hail excepting as some think that the vapour for snow is of an hotter qualitie then the vapour for rain and yet not so hot as that which is the materiall cause of hail For it is a tenent amongst Philosophers that hot things being cooled are apter for congelation then cold as is seen in warm water taken from the fire which will more suddenly and throughly be frozen then that which never felt the heat And this comes to passe in regard of the pores or passages made into the water through heat into which the cold entring it both cooleth it the sooner and congealeth it the more Neither is there any difference between white frost and snow excepting that frost is made of a vapour before it be turned into a cloud and snow of a cloud before it can be turned into water Snow therefore is a cloud congealed by great cold before it be perfectly resolved from vapours into water For if it should come to the densitie of water before the congelation then it could not fall so like locks of wooll as it doth but would be more closely compacted or joyned together having little or no spunginesse in it As for the whitenesse it proceedeth not from its own proper colour but rather in respect of those parts which are more aierie then the rest whereupon I finde some authours who determine the case thus namely that the white is by receiving the light into it at those many small parts even as in froth and fome is seen For say some Nix est spuma quaedam Snow is a kinde of froth and when it loseth part of its frothie nature and begins to melt it loseth also part of that whitenesse which at the first it retained To this also may be added the coldnesse that is infused into it when it is congealed as being a cause of whitenesse even as in phlegmatick bodies and cold countreys may be seen For such people are alwayes whiter of complexion then others cold being the cause of that their whitenesse Such winters as are void of snow are not so good for the fruits of the ground
also makes mention of others who would take the skins of Crocodiles Hyena's or Sea-calves and lay them here and there about their grounds or else have a bloudie Ax lifted up in threatning manner against the heavens or an Owl set staring up with her feathers spread abroad All which are but magicall devilish and absurd practises such as even an old doting woman whose confidence is the sheers the sieve cannot but acknowledge to be void of any the least shew of reason fit therefore for heathens onely and not for Christians For let Christians know that there is a God above who can better secure their seed sowen then all those magick spells and foolish fopperies For A fruitfull land he maketh barren because of the wickednesse of those who dwell therein Or as it is in the 28 of Deuteronomie If thou shalt hearken diligently unto the voice of the Lord thy God to observe and to do all his commandments c. then shalt thou be blessed in the citie and in the field Blessed shall be the fruit of thy body and the fruit of thy ground But if thou wilt not hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God cursed shalt thou be in the citie and cursed in the field Cursed shall be thy basket and thy store Yea and cursed shall be the fruit of thy body and the fruit of thy land Beside adde unto this the danger of devilish practises with the unlawfulnesse of charms and incantations For thus again the Scripture speaketh There shall none such be found among you For all that do these things are an abomination to the Lord as it is Deuteronomie 18. at the 10 11 and 12 verses Here then I end this discourse concerning hail and now proceed to speak of mists Artic. 7. Of Mists COncerning which I like their division best who make two kindes of mist the one ascending the other descending That which ascendeth saith Dr. Fulk goeth up out of the water or earth as smoke but seldome spreads it self any thing farre being most of all seen about rivers and moist places The other saith he namely that which goeth down towards the earth is when any vapour is lifted up into the aire by heat of the Sunne which not being strong enough to draw it so high that the cold may knit it suffereth it to fall down again after it is a little made thick and so it filleth all the aire with grosse vapours obscuring the Sunne from shining on us Now this last kinde of mist may be two-fold either congealed or incongealed That which is congealed comes neare to the nature of that matter whereof white frosts consist and is never but in a very cold time it often also stinketh which perhaps comes to passe in that the matter whereof it is made was drawn out of lakes or other muddie and stinking places Or thus the matter of this mist hath much earthy substance in it which the hindering cold suffereth not to be consumed and from this comes an unpleasant and an unwholesome smell This water as also the water of dissolved frost is very bad for cattell to drink for it will quickly rot them Neither can it be good for any one to walk abroad in such a mistie time For by breathing we draw this unwholesome vapour into our bodies and so corrupt our lungs extreamly But for incongealed mists they are in warmer and more temperate seasons coming neare the nature of that matter which is the matter of dew Some call it a sterill vapour hanging neare the earth being neither moist enough to drop like rain nor yet hot enough to be carried up on high into the aire Yet as sterill as it is sometimes we finde that it is but the forerunner of rain For when it departeth if it ascendeth then rain followeth if it descendeth then expect a hot and fair day And here an end concerning mists Artic. 8. Of our Ladies threads or those things which fly up and down the aire like spiders webs FOr mine own part I must confesse I have not seen many who have writ any thing concerning this cobweb-like kinde of Metcor and therefore at the first I rested doubtfull not knowing whether it were best for me to speak any thing of it or no. But at the last finding that some false tenents were engrafted amongst the ignorant as if they perfectly knew what thing it was I thought good to adde something whereby their fond opinion might be taken away who as in a dream suppose it to be spunne from out the spiders bowels which cannot but be a strange absurditie For it is evident that some one of these threads containeth more matter then many spiders their bodies not being big enough to afford a thing so copious neither are their webs at any time of such a length or their threads of such a thicknesse as these thus flying about the aire This Meteor therefore since it is a Meteor may rightly be supposed to proceed out of a through-boyled or digested vapour being mixed with earthy and slimie Exhalations and although it be no spiders web yet the temperature of it little differeth from that viscuous humour and slimie excrement which they in their spinning send out from them As for the time it appeareth neither in Summer nor in Winter but in the Spring and Autumne because it requireth a temperate heat and temperate drinesse Yet the chief time is Autumne because the Aire hath then some drie relicks of the late Summers Exhalations left and they are very necessary towards the tempering and generation of this Meteor And thus I end not onely this Article but the whole Paragraph also coming at length to speak of that third kinde of Meteor which in the beginning I propounded to be handled last Sect. 2. Parag. 7. Of Aiery Meteors wherein is shewed the naturall cause of windes Artic. 1. Of the divers opinions concerning winde IN the former Paragraphs and Articles pertinent to the second Section of this chapter I spoke at large as is apparent of every sort both of fierie and waterie Meteors now therefore if you please you may go along with me to those which are called aierie wherein I purpose to speak concerning the generation of windes shewing upon what causes they depend And by the way I would have you observe a packet of opinions which have been posted to and fro as if they were pertinent to the purpose 1. For some in the first place may be found who immediately referre the motion and generation of windes unto God because the windes are said to be brought out of his treasures as you may reade Psal. 135. 7. And in the 4. of Amos at the 13 verse He formeth the mountains and createth the windes To which I make this answer that they who send us concerning these and the like things to God and to his decree in nature or to the might of his power have said indeed that which
and land with many a tempestuous blast and unwished breathings Moreover this also may be observed that the long continuance of the windes in any of these quarters produceth these and the like effects As first the East winde breedeth in cholerick bodies sharp fevers raging madnesse and perilous apostumations Secondly the South winde breedeth corrupt humours and in hot bodies cramps giddinesse in the head or the falling sicknesse pestilence and cruel fevers viz. when they blow long in the winter This is held to be the most unwholesome winde Thirdly the West winde breedeth phlegme in moist bodies it procureth sleep causeth apoplexies and the like and is never so churlish as when winter begins to approach And last of all the North winde is good against the pestilence and yet in cold bodies it breedeth plurifies coughs gouts and in some squincies and sore throats but yet of all windes it is held to be the wholesomest although it be sharp in our winter moneths And this also note that a continuall still summer is a signe of plague or earthquake for a standing aire putrifieth and an enclosed winde shaketh the ground Artic. 5. Of whirlwindes storm-windes and fired whirlwindes A Whirlwinde is a winde breaking out of a cloud rowling or winding round about which may be caused two manner of wayes First when two or more contrary windes blowing from divers places meet together Secondly when the matter of winde being an hot and drie exhalation breaketh out of a cloud in divers parts of it coming through the said holes with more then an ordinary violence Or rather thus Imagine a windie exhalation bursting out of a cloud to be so driven that by the way it happeneth to be pent between two clouds on either side of it against which beating it self and finding a repercussion it is forced to turn and whirl about even as we see in the streets of cities when the winde is beaten from two walls and meeteth in the middest of the street for then there is made a little whirl-puffe which whisking round about taketh up the dust or straws and bloweth them about as doth the great and fearfull whirlwinde it self which hath brought not onely amazement and terrour to mortalls but also much harm and mischief Plinie is perswaded that vineger thrown into one of these blasts will break it because vineger is of a cold qualitie and the exhalation hot and therefore the one is as it were quelled and quenched by the other The Greeks call a whirlwinde 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Latinists turbo or vortex Also a sudden storm-winde is called by the Greeks 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and by the Latines procella and this happeneth either when a windie exhalation is thrown down and encompassed in a thin course of clouds newly overcast or else when a windie exhalation is come to an extraordinary thicknesse and violently moved out of a cloud to the darkening of the aire without inflammation or burning for when it burneth they call it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 à 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 incendo to burn or set on fire And this last is that which we call a fired whirlwinde being an exhaled blast set on fire either by an Antiperistasis by repercussion or violent detrusion from the cloud wherein it was enclosed for it is made apt to be fired in regard that it consisteth of an exhalation which hath more fattie substance in it then other windes which burn not And know that it differeth from lightning chiefly in these respects first because lightning consisteth of a more subtil and thin matter for although a fired whirlwinde have a more thin spirit or blast then a whirlwinde or a stormie winde yet it is not so tenuous as the spirit of fulmen or lightning Secondly because lightning is more flamie and lesse breathie the one having more windie spirits in it then the other The conclusion of this dayes work ANd thus at the last I have let you take a view with me of what is pertinent to this dayes work We have seen good reader the framing of the out-spread Firmament with the lifting up of the waters over it we have examined the nature of the heavens and scarce found them of a quint-essence we have searched what heavens they were which Moses meant when he said God called the firmament Heavens From thence we proceeded to the severall regions of the aire examining their temperatures and qualities and thereupon we fell into an ample consideration of such appearances as are usually seen in any of those Regions discoursing at large both of fierie waterie and aierie Meteors And this being all which this day affordeth I may here make and end and say That eve and morn conclude the second day And in his work God findeth no decay CHAP. VI. Wherein is contained a survey of the third dayes work together with such things as are pertinent to it Sect. 1. Shewing into how many main parts the businesse of this day may be distinguished BEing come from the second to the third dayes work I cannot say with Virgil now Ille ego qui quondam gracili modulatus avenâ But rather on the contrary Ille ego qui superis volitabam nuper in oris Nunc humilis sequor arva soli nunc tenuia presso Ore loquor Because in the former day the work belonging to it compelled my winged pen to soar aloft not suffering her to come unto the ground till now For she was to walk above the Firmament and view the out-spread buildings laid in the flowing waters then through the Regions of the liquid aire she was to trace a path which finished she must be content to frame her self unto a lower pitch before any leave be granted to ascend again And indeed I think it is what both she and I desired for we were long detained there And now having both of us obtained our wishes we finde that Gods inspired pen-man holy Moses so setteth down the admired work of his Almighty maker done on this third day of the world that into three main parts it may be severed for by viewing the words which he hath written of it the same will be apparent And God saith he said Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place and let the drie-land appeare and it was so And God called the drie-land Earth and the gathering together of the waters called he Seas and God saw that it was good And God said Let the earth bring forth grasse the herb yeelding seed and the fruit-tree yeelding fruit after his kinde whose seed is in it self upon the earth and it was so And the earth brought forth grasse and herb yeelding seed after his kinde and the tree yeelding fruit whose seed was in it self after his kinde and God saw that it was good And the evening and the morning were the third day This is the summe of all which as before was said consisteth of
Egypt and after him Darius K. of Persia dared not to make a cut out of the Red sea into Nilus for fear of drowning the countrey because they supposed that the sea lay three cubits higher then the land of Egypt yet as some report how truely I cannot tell the Ptolomies kings of Egypt effected the work without any danger of inundation But suppose they had not done it or suppose it were granted that the Red sea were higher then the plains of Egypt yet it followeth not unlesse one swallow can make a summer that the sea in generall is every where higher then the earth As for the height of the Red sea above the land neare adjoyning to it Aristotle seemeth to give a reason perswading himself that there is such a change in the universe as that that which hath been sea is sometimes land and that which hath been land is sometimes sea and so he thinketh of those low grounds neare the Red sea that they have been gained from the sea The like we may also think of many places in the Netherlands and of that small part of sea which is between Dover and Callis as Verstegan proveth in his restitution of decayed antiquities cap. 4. pag. 97. Fifthly suppose that certain springs arise out of the highest mountains must the sea therefore needs be higher then those mountains surely I think not For albeit I be not of Aristotles minde nor of their opinions who do not derive the rivers from the seas nor make subscription unto them who give a sucking and an attractive power to the veins of the earth yet I finde it as a thing possible although that part of the sea which lieth opposite to the head of the fountain or to the place where the water first breaketh out be lower then the ground that the said water may neverthelesse easily ascend and not break forth untill it finde a place convenient Now this ascent is caused by the sea which seeing it is a vast bodie is very ponderous and heavie and cannot be thrust back by the water at the head of the fountain opposite to it but rather it doth potently and strenuously croud on the said water through the hollow ports and passages of the earth untill at the last it springeth forth Were it so indeed that there were an equall weight of both waters I mean of the sea-water driving and of the spring-water arising then the ascent of the one could not be higher then the superficies of the other but seeing the weights are unequall which Cardan did not well consider the stronger and heavier must needs drive on the weaker and lighter causing it sometimes to ascend even above it self Sixthly and lastly that which the Psalmist witnesseth concerning the standing of the waters on an heap I take to be nothing else but the gathering of them to one place so and in such a manner that their coming together may be called Seas and their forsaking the land be called Earth for if one place of Scripture be expounded by another it will appeare to be even so First because it is said Ecclesiastes 1. 7. All the rivers go into the sea but the water hath his naturall course downwards and cannot be forced up but by the heavier weight as hath been shewed Secondly because it is said Psal. 107. 23. They go down to the sea in ships down as to the lower place and not up as to the higher And for that alledged out of Jeremy viz. Fear ye not me c. The Prophet speaks there of no miraculous work against nature but of the ordinary providence of God by naturall means keeping back and bounding the sea as at the 24. verse is manifest For there he gives the like instance of the rain which we know is not wrought by miracle and yet it sheweth the watchfull providence of God preserving the world by the naturall course of the creatures Judge then if they be not mistaken who would have the sea higher then the earth The fourth question is Whether there be more water then earth Now here I am perswaded that the answer may be either double or doubtfull For if we have respect to the known parts of the world then I think there may be more sea then land But if we have respect to all both known and unknown then perhaps there may be as much land as sea For we see that in the maps of the world the Southern parts are not known and therefore they write Terra Australis nondum cognita which whether it be sea or land is uncertain Pareus upon Genesis is perswaded that the land is more then the sea alledging a proof out of Esdras where it is said that when God commanded the waters to be gathered he gathered them into the seventh part of the earth and dried up the six other parts which although it be Apocryphall in respect of the autoritie of the book yet saith he it serves to shew that the waters are not more then the earth The next question is Whether the earth be founded upon the waters The Psalmist seemeth to affirm it Psal. 24. verse 2. For according to the common reading it is He hath founded it upon the seas and prepared it upon the flouds To which it is answered that if the earth as it is be the receptacle for the waters or holdeth the waters in the concavities of it how can it be that the waters are in stead of a foundation Job saith He hangeth the earth upon nothing chap. 26. 7. If upon nothing then not upon the waters for they are something And again even the Psalmist also saith The foundation of the earth cannot be moved Psal. 104. 5. If not moved then not founded upon the waters for they are moveable flitting to and fro sometimes this way sometimes that way and never standing still Wherefore when the Psalmist saith The earth is founded upon the seas he meaneth that it is so placed above them as that it is made fit to be a place for habitation And so Expositours understand the Hebrew word Gnal viz. in such a sense that it doth signifie above and not upon In which sense the waters that it sustaineth do not hold it but are holden by it for they are in it tanquam in utre as in a certain vessel and do alwayes strive to come as neare the centre as is possible For conclusion then of this question thus much must be known namely that when God made the world he made all things in number weight and measure insomuch that the earth although it be hanged upon nothing is so equally poysed on every side that it cannot but be firmly upheld and no more fall then the sun out of the firmament or the starres out of heaven For hath not man sometimes shewed an admired portion of skill in this or that rare work which he hath wrought and effected by nothing else but onely the deep and profound rules of
how the sea comes to be salt It followeth to shew why rivers be not salt as well as seas Now for the better explaining of this the first thing considerable will be concerning the originall of fountains and rivers Aristotle handled them amongst Meteors of a watry kinde because he supposed that there was the same originall of rivers within the earth which was of watry Meteors in the aire above the earth For if this aire saith he coming neare to the nature of a vapour is by cold turned into water then the aire which is in the caverns of the earth may be by the same cause condensed into water also According to which grounds we cannot but make this the originall of fountains and rivers namely that they are ingendred in the hollow concavities of the earth and derive both their birth and continuall sustenance from the aire which piercing the open chinks or chasma's of the earth and congealed by the cold of those places dissolveth into water as we see the aire in winter nights to be melted into a pearlie dew sticking on our glasse windows and being grown to some quantitie it will either finde a way or make a way to vent its superfluitie All which agreeth very well to the nature of the aire which seeing it is hot and moist the heat being gone it is thickened and so easily turned into water And as for a continuall running of rivers caused by this water it is saith Aristotle by a perpetuall succession of new aire But to this opinion we may not absolutely make subscription for although aire may be thus converted into water yet the sole matter of rivers cannot come from hence it may haply be an helping cause but not a prime or principall cause For first sith the aire is a thin subtil bodie there is necessarily required an abundance of aire to make but a little quantitie of water insomuch that it is not doubted by some without cause whether the dennes and hollow places of the earth be vast enough to receive so much aire as can make water enough to runne along untill it break out into a river or spring Secondly there be many fountains which have as it were a kinde of ebbing and flowing at certain direct and set times which they keep as constantly as the very sea it self As for example among other strange rivers Plinie makes mention of Dodon Jupiters fountain which evermore decreaseth from midnight untill noon thence it increaseth untill midnight again And in the island Delus the fountain of Inopus as he also affirmeth keeps his course with Nilus Also he makes mention of a little island in the sea over against the river Timavus or Brenta in Italie having certain fountains in it which increase and decrease according to the ebbing and flowing of the vast bodie of Amphitrite or the sea Wherefore the wise man Siracides thought more truely Ecclus. 40. 11. concerning these things affirming that all things which are of the earth shall turn to the earth again and that which is of the waters doth turn again into the sea Which saying of his I do not say is much strengthened but absolutely confirmed by one more authentick then it self namely by that of Solomon Eccles 1. 7. where it is witnessed that all rivers runne into the sea yet the sea is not full unto the place from whence the rivers come thither they return again Which testimonie makes it plain that the sea is the principall cause of all rivers and if therefore Aristotles aëriall vapours have any thing to do in this generation it is as much as nothing yet that which they are able to do I imagine they perform joyning themselves with the currents which come from the sea and so they runne together in the veins of the earth either untill free leave be given them to come abroad or that like Hannibal in the Alps they work themselves a way Now in this there is little or no difference between Solomon and Plato together with the ancient Philosophers before him although Aristotle dissenteth For that which Solomon calleth the sea Plato calleth the great gulf of the earth saying 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 id est Ad illum hiatum omnes fluvii confluunt ex hoc vicissim omnes effluunt that is Into this gulf all rivers do both flow or assemble themselves and also by their courses come or flow out again But what need more words It is without controversie that rivers have their first originall from the sea that is the fountain-head from whence all fountains have their heads Neither can the saltnesse of the sea and freshnesse of rivers stop this current For concerning springs it is true indeed that they are fresh and this freshnesse notwithstanding their salt originall may be ascribed to percolation and straining through the narrow spungie passages of the earth which makes them leave behinde as an exacted toll the colour thicknesse and saltnesse So that you see sea water though in it self of a salt and brackish savour by passing through divers windings and turnings of the earth is deprived of all unpleasantnesse and by how much the spring-heads of rivers are remote from the sea by so much are their waters affected with a delightfull relish yea and why they ascend up to the highest mountains already hath been declared Unto which may be added that they come not with a direct course from the sea unto those hills neither do they ascend directly upwards on the sudden but by degrees and so winding themselves through many crooked passages and turnings they do as it were scrue themselves up to the convenientest place of breaking out and cannot go back because the sea is a farre heavier bodie then the vein that cometh from it even as the bloud in our veins is nothing in proportion to the liver from whence each vein of bloud hath its first beginning But I draw towards a conclusion adding in the last place that of waters be they seas or rivers we have a threefold use and benefit First that out of them drink may be afforded to man and beast as it is Psal. 104. 11. They give drink to every beast of the field the wilde asses quench their thirst c. Secondly that running through the earth as bloud through the bodie by interlacing it and sometimes overwhelming it they make the earth able to produce those fruits which are necessary for the life of man which benefit of overflowing so fattens the whole land of Egypt that the priests of that countrey did thereupon ascribe the beginning of time or of every thing that now is to that time of the yeare when their Nilus overflowed or when it first began to lift up it self above the banks and diffuse an ample portion of manuring bountie into the lap of the land which is as good to them as if Iupiter should descend in a golden shower And for other places where there be
flows out of the same lake makes them white See Plin. in the 103. chap. of his 2 book Plinie also in the former book and chapter makes mention of the river Xanthus which will make the flocks turn red if they drink the water Solinus affirmeth the like of a fountain in Arabia neare to the Red-sea saying in littore maris istius fontem esse quem si oves biberint mutent vellerum qualitatem at fulvo postmodum nigrescant colore To which purpose we may heare Du Bartas descant thus Cerona Xanth and Cephisus do make The thirsty flocks that of their waters take Black red and white And neare the crimson deep Th' Arabian fountain maketh crimson sheep Seneca speaketh of a river which maketh horses red Now these things may be as Dr. Fulk yeelds probable conjecture in that the qualitie of the water may alter the complexion and the complexion being altered the colour of their wooll and hairs may be changed Aristotle in his 3 book chap. 12 de histor animal maketh mention of such like waters also as there is a river in Assyria called Psychrus of that coldnesse which causeth the sheep that drink thereof to yean black lambes in Antandria there are two rivers the one maketh the sheep white the other black the river Scamander doth die them yellow Dr. Will. in his Hexap on Gen. ex Aristot. Plinie makes mention of the Hammonian fountain saying Iovis Hammonis fons interdiu frigidus noctibus fervet The fountain of Jupiter Hammon is cold in the day time and hot in the night Like unto which is that which he calleth the fountain of the Sunne excepting that the water is sweet at noon and bitter at midnight but for the times of cold and heat it is like to the other fountain lib. 2. cap. 103. Some seem to think that this may be the reason namely that the cold humidity of the night nourisheth the heat and by an Antiperistasis causeth it to reinforce it self inward But by day the Sunne-beams sucking up that heat which is in the surface that is to say above the water remaineth cold Others determine thus saying that this may be by the same reason that well-water is colder in summer then it is in winter We have in England wells which make wood and all things else that be cast into them stones the cause whereof is great cold Iosephus de Bello Iudaic. lib. 7. cap. 24. writeth that there is a river in Palestine which passeth between two cities called by these names viz. Arcen and Raphaneâ—… which river is admirable for an extraordinarie singularitie namely that having entertained his violent and swift course for the space of six dayes on the seventh it remaineth dry which being past it runneth as before and therefore is called the river of the Sabbath Du Bartas calleth it the Jews religious river Keeping his waves from working on that day Which God ordain'd a sacred rest for ay In Idumea was a well which one quarter of the yeare was troubled and muddy the next quarter bloudie the third green and the fourth cleare Isiodore makes mention of this and it is called the fountain of Job Seneca and others affirm that there be rivers whose waters are poyson now this may be in regard that they run through poysonous mineralls and receive infection from their fume and the like Such is the water Nonacrinis in Arcadia of which it is recorded that no vessell of silver brasse or iron can hold it but it breaketh in pieces onely a mules hoof and nothing else can contain it Some write that Alexander the great through the treacherie and plots of Antipater was poysoned with this water Curtius calleth it the water of Styx lib. 10. juxta finem In an isle of Pontus the river Astaces overfloweth the fields in which whatsoever sheep or other milch cattell be fed they alwayes give black milk This river Plinie forgetteth not lib. 2. cap. 103. It is reported that in Poland is a fountain so pestilent that the very vapour thereof killeth beasts when they approach unto it There be some waters which make men mad who drink of them Which is in a manner by the same reason that other fountains have made men drunk Some again spoil the memorie and make men very forgetfull which may very well be by procuring obstructions in the brain Fulk Seneca speaketh of a water that being drunk provoketh unto lust Plinie in the second chapter of his 31 book speaketh of certain waters in the Region of Campania which will take away barrennesse from women and madnesse from men And in Sicilia are two springs one maketh a woman fruitfull the other barren The foresaid Plinie in the same book and chapter saith that the river Amphrysus or Aphrodisium causeth barrennesse And again in his 25 book and 3 chapter he speaketh of a strange water in Germanie which being drunk causeth the teeth to fall out within two yeares and the joynts of the knees to be loosed Lechnus a spring of Arcadia is said to be good against abortions In Sardinia be hot wells that heal sore eyes and in Italie is a well which healeth wounds of the eyes In the isle of Chios is said to be a well which makes men abhorre lust and in the same countrey another whose propertie is to make men dull-witted Now these and the like qualities may as well be in waters which are mixed with divers mineralls and kindes of earth as in herbs roots fruits and the like The lake Pentasium as Solinus saith is deadly to serpents and wholesome to men And in Italie the lake Clitorie causeth those that drink of it to abhorre wine Fulk Met. lib. 4. Ortelius in the description of Scotland maketh mention of divers fountains that yeeld forth oyl in great quantitie which cometh to passe by reason of the viscositie or fatnesse of the earth where they passe and from whence they arise The like may be also said concerning pitchie streams c. Some waters are of that temper that men sink not in them although they know not how to swimme The like lake is said to be in Syria in which as Seneca relateth no heavie thing will sink That which Plinie writeth of the fountain Dodone lib. 2. cap. 103. is very strange whereupon Du Bartas makes this descant What should I of th' Illyrian fountain tell What shall I say of the Dodonean well Whereof the first sets any clothes on fire Th' other doth quench who but will this admire A burning torch and when the same is quenched Lights it again if it again be drenched There be some wells whose waters rise and fall according to the ebbing and flowing of the sea or of some great river unto which they are neare adjoyned The reason therefore of this is plain But strange is that which Dr Fulk mentioneth of the river Rhene in Germanie
likewise many islands such as were never seen before And thus there may be five severall kindes of earthquakes Know also that an earthquake hath both his Antecedentia and Subsequentia The Antecedentia are the signes which go before it and shew that it will be The Consequentia or Subsequentia are the effects which follow after it and shew that it hath been As for the Antecedentia or signes they be of these sorts chiefly First a great tranquillitie or calmnesse of the aire mixed with some cold the reason of which is because the exhalation which should be blowing abroad is within the earth Secondly the sunne is observed to look very dimme certain dayes before although there be no clouds the reason of which is because the winde which should have purged and dissolved the grosse aire is taken prisoner and enclosed within the bowels of the earth Thirdly the birds flie not but sit still beyond their ordinary wont and seem as if they were not fearfull to let any one come neare them the reason of which is because either the pent exhalation sendeth some strange alteration into the aire which slenderly breatheth out of some insensible pores of the earth which it may do though the exhalation comes not out or else it is that they are scarce able to flie for want of some gentle gales for their wings to strike upon it being a thing well known that birds flie more willingly and cheerfully when the aire is of such a temper Fourthly the weather is calm and yet the water of the sea is troubled and rageth mightily the reason of which is because the great plentie of spirits or winde in the bottome of the sea beginneth to labour for passage that way and finding none is sent back again whereupon soon after it shaketh the land This is evermore a certain signe Fifthly the water in the bottome of pits and deep wells is troubled ascending and moving as if it boyled stinking and is infected the reason of which is because the exhalation being pent and striving to get forth moveth some stinking mineralls and other poisonous stuffe to the springs of those waters and they with the strugling exhalation stirre and attaint them Sixthly there is a long thin cloud seen in a cleare skie either a little before sunne-setting or soon after now this is caused by reason of the calmnesse of the aire even as Aristotle observeth that in a quiet sea the waves float to the shore long and straight I do not think that this alone can be any more then a very remote signe unlesse it be joyned with some of the other signes already mentioned for although such a cloud may be seen yet every calm brings not an earthquake neither are all places alike subject to them The last signe and that which cannot but be infallible is the great noise and sound which is heard under the earth like to a groning or very thundering And yet some say that this is not alwayes attended with an earthquake for if the winde finde any way large enough to get out it shaketh not the earth Now this noise is made by the struggling of the winde under the earth Next after the Antecedentia the Consequentia of earthquakes would be considered and these as I said be their effects which indeed be not so much the effects of the earthquake as of the exhalation causing the earthquake The first whereof may be the ruine of buildings and such like things together with the death of many people About the 29 yeare before the birth of Christ was an earthquake in Iurie whereby thirtie thousand people perished In the fifth yeare of Tiberius Emperour of Rome thirteen cities of Asia were destroyed in one night by an earthquake Some say but twelve Lanq. chron In the 66 yeare of Christ three cities of Asia were also by the like accident overthrown namely Laodicea Hieropoliâ—… and Colossus Again in the yeare of Christ 79 three cities of Cyprus came to the like ruine and in the yeare following was a great death of people at Rome And in the yeare 114 Antioch was much hurt by an earthquake at which time the Emperour Trâ—…jan being in those parts escaped the danger very difficultly Eusebius placeth it in the second yeare of the 223 Olympiad and Bucholcerus setteth it in the yeare of Christ one hundred and eleven Eusebius makes mention of another before this in the 7 yeare of Trajan this was that which in Asia Greece Calabria overthrew nine severall cities About the yeare of Christ 180 or 182 the citie Smyrna came to the like ruine for the restauration whereof the Emperour remitted ten yeares tribute About the yeare of Christ 369 Eusebius again telleth of an earthquake which was in a manner all over the world to the great damage of many towns and people The like was in the yeare 551 at which time a quave of the earth swallowed a middle part of the citie Misia with many of the inhabitants where the voice of them that were swallowed was heard crying for help and succour He also in the yeare 562 mentions another wherewith the citie Berintho was overthrown and the isles called Câ—…y grievously shaken Again he writeth of a great tempest and earthquake in the yeare 1456 wherein as he hath it out of Chronica chronicorum there perished about Puell and Naples 40 thousand people Also in the yeare 1509 the citie of Constantinople was sorely shaken innumerable houses and towers were cast to the ground and chiefly the palace of the great Turk insomuch that he was forced to fly to another place Thirteen thousand perished in this calamitie Again in the yeare 1531 in the citie Lisbon a thousand foure hundred houses were overthrown or as some say one thousand five hundred and above six hundred so shaken that they were ready to fall and their churches cast unto the ground lying like heaps of stones This earthquake was attended with a terrible plague and pestilence And thus do these examples confirm the first effect A second is the turning of plain ground into mountains and raising up of islands in the sea as Thia in the time of Plinie and Therasia which as Seneca witnesseth was made an island even in the sight of the mariners or whilest they were looking on Thus also Delos Rhodos and sundry others came to be islands A third effect is the throwing down of mountains and sinking of islands and such like Thus perished the Atlantick island as I shewed before yea thus also perished by the breach of the earth those famous cities of Achaia viz. Helice and Buris of which Ovid writeth thus Si quaras Helicen Burin Achaeidas urbes Invenies sub aquis Et adhuc ostendere nautae Inclinata solent cum moenibus oppida mersis If thou would'st Helice and wish'd Buris finde Th'Achaean cities never lost in minde The water hides them and the shipmen show Those
when sheep feed on it they have their livers enflamed their guts and entrails fretted and blistered by it It is hot and drie in the fourth degree Sulphur-wort or Hogs fennell in Greek is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Latine Peucedanus or Feniculum porcinum It is hot in the second and drie in the beginning of the third degâ—…ee and is used with good successe against the ruptures and burstnings of young children being very good to be applied to their navels if they start out over much Feverfew called in Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or else 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and in Latine Parthenium is hot in the third degree and drie in the second This herb dried and made into powder is good against a swimming and turning in the head if some two drammes of it be taken with hony or sweet wine Also it is good for such as be melancholie sad pensive and not desiring to speak Mouseare or Pilosella is hot and dry The decoction or the juice of this herb is of such excellencie that if steel-edged tools glowing hot be often cooled therein it maketh them so hard that they will cut stone or iron be it never so hard without turning the edge or waxing dull Celandine or Swallow-wort in Greek is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Latine Chelidonium This herb is hot and dry in the third degree Some say that it was thus named because as Plinie writeth it springeth at the coming of the swallows and withereth at their departure which I suppose is false seeing it may be found all the yeare That therefore which he writeth in his 8 book the 27 chapter did rather occasion the name For saith he the swallows have demonstrated unto us that Celandine is good for the sight because when the eyes of their young ones be out they cure them again with this herb Whereupon one writes out of Schola Salerni thus An herb there is takes of the Swallows name And by the Swallows gets no little fame For Plinie writes though some thereof make doubt It helps young Swallows eyes when they are out Also the root being chewed is reported to be good for the tooth-ach Angelica is hot and dry in the third degree It is an enemie to poysons and cureth pestilent diseases if it be used in time yea the very root chewed in the mouth is good against infection Contagious aire ingendring pestilence Infects not those who in their mouthes have tane Angelica that happie counter-bane Dragon is an herb much like to Angelica in operation if the distilled water be drunk onely observe that the smell of Dragon flowers are hurtfull to women newly conceived with childe Ger. Sowbread or Swines-bread is an herb hot and drie in the third degree In Greek it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and in Latine Tuber terrae This herb is also dangerous for women with childe either to touch take come neare or stride over it For without controversie as Mr Gerard affirmeth it maketh them be delivered before their times He therefore having it growing in his garden used to set sticks or barres that such a danger might be shunned And this effect he attributeth to the extraordinarie naturall attractive vertue in it Dioscorides and Matthiolus do not deny the said marvellous operation and Du Bartas remembers it thus If over it a childe-childe-great woman stride Instant abortion often doth betide Lavender as is supposed is but the female plant of that which we call Spike and being sweet in smell it is used in baths and waters to wash the hands in which regard it is called Lavender or Lavander from the Latine word Lavo to wash Leek is hot and dry the Greeks call it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Latines Porrum according to which name Nero the Emperour was called For because he took great pleasure in this root he was named in scorn and called Porrophagus Leeks are not good for hot and cholerick bodies because if they be eaten often they ingender naughtie bloud hurt the head dull the sight and make one to be troubled and affrighted with terrible dreams The like may be said of Onions And yet according to some the water of the distilled roots being done in June and drunk often by women that are barren helpeth them As also the same water helpeth the bleeding at the nose if fine cotten be dipped in it and put up into the nostrils And of Onions it is likewise written that if they be bruised and mixed with salt and hony they will then destroy warts and make them fall off by the very roots Also there is another propertie in Onions which when I had little else to do I observed in this following Epigram He that a bad wife follows to the grave And knows not how for joy a teare to crave May Onions use to make him weep in shew For who can weep indeed to lose a shrew Garlick called in Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and in Latine Allium is hot and dry as Galen writeth even unto the fourth degree It is called the countrey mans Triacle and hath many good properties And amongst other things one thing very strange I finde recorded of it viz. that though the often eating of it do harm the whole and perfect sight yet the moisture or juice infused into the eyes doth comfort a dull sight It is said that the strong smell of Garlick is put away by chewing of Cummin-seed or by eating a green bean or two after it Also I finde that if a woman doubt of her being with childe let there be set all night by her bed side some Garlick and if she smell it not then she may conclude that she hath conceived or is with childe Sleep not presently after the eating of Radish for that will cause a stinking breath And withall let this be noted that the Parsnep and Carret are hot and dry about the third degree The Turnep is hot and moist This is a root which is eaten of men but loathed of swine The Skirret is moderately hot and moist The Artichoke is hot and dry unto the second degree The Elocampane is hot in the third but dry in the second degree and the chief vertues of it are to open the breast or to help shortnesse of winde caused by tough fleâ—… me which stoppeth the lungs Also it openeth oppilations of the liver and splene and comforteth the stomack as saith Schola Salerni Enula campana haec reddit praecordia sana c. Elecampane strengthens each inward part Asswageth grief of minde and cheers the heart A little loosenesse is thereby provoken It quelleth wrath and makes a man fair-spoken The Rape is also of an hot temper And Tarragon is hot and dry to the third degree The Red Darnell is hot also and
Pines chiefly and Tarre to the Pine called the Torch-Pine There is a tree in India called the Indian Coquo or Cocus being the most strange and profitable tree in the world of which in the islands of Maldiva they make and furnish whole ships so that save the men themselves saith one there is nothing of the ship or in the ship neither tackling merchandise or ought else but what this tree yeeldeth It groweth high and slender the wood is of a spungie substance easie to be sewed when they make vessels thereof with cords made of Cocus It hath a continuall succession of fruits and is never without some they grow like a kinde of nut which is of a very large size having two sorts of husks as our walnuts the uppermost whereof is hairy like hemp and of this they make cordage and of the next they make drinking-cups When the fruit within these shells is almost ripe it is full of water which as it ripeneth changeth into a white harder substance at the first this liquour is sweet but with the ripening groweth sowre The tree affords a very medicinable juice and if it stand one houre in the sunne it is good vineger but distilled it may be used in stead of wine or Aqua-vitae There be wayes also to make sugar of it and of the meat in the nut dried they make oyl Of the pith or heart of the tree they make paper of the leaves they make coverings for their houses tents mattes and the like Nay their apparell firing and other necessary commodities they gather from this tree Thus some Or according to others it is thus described In the isle of Zebus there is a fruit which they call Cocos formed like a Melon but more long then thick It is inclosed with divers little skinnes so strong and good as those that environ a Date stone The islanders make thread of the skinnes as strong and good as that which is of hemp The fruit hath a rinde like a drie Gourd but farre more hard which being burned and beaten to powder serveth for medicine The inward nut is like unto butter being both as white and as soft and besides that very savoury and cordiall They make use of this fruit also in divers other things For if they would have oyl they turn and tosse it up and down divers times then they let it settle some few dayes at which time the meat will be converted into a liquour like oyl very sweet and wholesome wherewith they oftentimes anoint themselves If they put it into water the kernell is converted into sugar if they leave it in the sunne it is turned into vineger Towards the bottome of the tree they use to make a hole and gather diligently into a great cane the liquour that distilleth which amongst them is of as much esteem as the best wine in these parts for it is a very pleasant and wholesome drink There is also among the Indians a tree called Arbore de rais or the tree of roots called also the Indian fig-tree and by some affirmed with more confidence then reason saith one to be the tree of Adams transgression It groweth out of the ground as other trees and yeeldeth many boughs which yeeld certain threads of the colour of gold which growing downwards to the earth do there take root again making as it were new trees or a wood of trees covering sometimes the best part of a mile There is also another tree which some call the Indian mourner or Arbore triste the sad and sorrowfull tree It hath this propertie that in the day time and at sunne-setting you shall not see a flower on it but within half an houre after it is full of flowers which at the sunne-rising fall off the leaves shutting themselves from the sunnes presence and the tree seeming as if it were dead The Indians have a fable of one Parisatico who had a daughter with whom the sunne was in love but lightly forsaking her he grew amorous of another whereupon this damosel slew her self and of the ashes of her burned carcase came this tree A prettie fiction this Ovid himself hath not a better In the island of Hierro being one of the seven islands of the Canaries is a tree which distilleth water incessantly from the leaves thereof in so great abundance that not onely it sufficeth those of the island for there is no other water in the island but also might furnish the necessary uses of a farre greater number of people This strange tree is alwayes covered with a little mist which vanisheth by degrees according as the sunne sheweth himself When the Spaniards saith my authour took upon them to conquer this isle they found themselves almost discomfited because they saw neither fountains springs nor rivers and enquiring of the islanders where they had their water they answered that they used none but rain-water in the mean time kept their trees covered hoping by this subtiltie to drive the Spaniards out of the isle again But it was not long before one of their women entertained by a Spaniard discovered the tree with the properties of it which he at the first held for a fable untill his own witnesse saw it was true whereupon he was almost ravished with the miracle but the woman was put to death by the islanders for her treacherie In the north parts of Scotland and in the islands adjacent called Orchades are certain trees found whereon there groweth a certain kinde of shell-fish of a white colour but somewhat tending to a ruffet wherein are contained little living creatures For in time of maturitie the shells do open and out of them by little and little grow those living creatures which falling into the water when they drop out of their shells do become fowls such as we call Barnacles or Brant Geese but the other that fall upon the land perish and come to nothing Mr Gerard affirmeth that he hath seen as much in Lancashire in a small island which is called the Pile of Foulders for there be certain boughs of old trees and other such like rubbish cast up by the sea whereon hangeth a certain spume or froth which in time breedeth unto a shell out of which by degrees cometh forth a creature in shape like a bird sending out first a string or lace as it were of silk finely woven and of a whitish colour then follow the legs and afterwards more and more till at the last it hangeth by the bill soon after it cometh to maturitie and falleth into the sea where it gathereth feathers and groweth to a fowl bigger then a mallard and something lesse then a goose being somewhat coloured like to our mag-pies This Mr Gerard testifieth to be true upon his own knowledge as in his Herball is apparant And thus gentle reader I would here end not onely this Chapter and Section but also the first part of my book were it not that I have a
out of some experiment very busie in tempering brimstone sulphureous powder of dried earth and certain other ingredients in a mortar which he covered with a stone and growing dark he took a tinder-box to light him a candle into which whilest he assayed to strike some fire a spark by chance flew into the mortar where catching hold of the brimstone and salt-peter it fired with a sudden flash and violently blew up the stone The cunning Chymist guessing which of his ingredients it was that produced this effect never left till he found it out then taking an iron pipe he crammed it full of the said ingredient together with some stones and putting fire to it he saw that with great furie and noise it discharged it self Soon after he communicated this his invention to the Venetians who having been often vanquished by the Genowaies did by help of these bombards or gunnes give them a notable discomfiture which was in the yearâ—… of our Lord 1380 as Bucholcerus writeth in his chronologie saying Hoc tempore BOMBARD Ae ad hominum perniciem inventae sunt excogitatâ—… à Bertholdo Nigro Chymista ut quidam volunt Monacho Germano Wherein we see that he calls them bombards invented for the ruine of men For by these saith he it comes to passe that now in a manner all the force of the footmen all the splendour of the horse and all right warlike power doth shamefully cease lie dead faint and dull Polydore also saith that of all other instruments which ever were devised to the destruction of man the gunnes be most devilish In which regard sith he was not well instructed concerning the Almains name that invented them he addeth yet thus much more saying For the invention he received this benefit that his name was never known lest he might for this abominable device be cursed and evill spoken of as long as the world remaineth And in the continuation of Carions chronicle by Caspar Peucer it is also said that about the beginning of Wanceslaus his reigne That raging kinde of engine and tormenting torture which from the sound we call a bombard was found out by a Monk the devil being the chiefest enginer or master-workman For it was their care that seeing the authoritie of idle superstitions should decline and fade by little and little which through these authors had bewitched the mindes of mortalls and cast them into eternall destruction this might therefore succeed by them the same authours as another kinde of mischief which should rage against their bodies as that other had done against their souls To this purpose Peucer And indeed an experiment of his speech we then beheld when the upholders of that tottering kingdome would have traiterously tried to have sent at once even all the peers of this our land piece-meal into the aire But he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep The Lord himself was our keeper so that their sulphureous fire could neither burn us by day nor sâ—…are us by night although Faux were taken the night before among the barrells and wished that then sith he had done so much and could do no more his match with fire had toucht the powder Oh never let the mem'rie of that day Flie from our hearts or dully slide away God thought on us that we remembring this Might think on him whose hand defendeth his But whither am I transported now These foure although they be the principall kindes of salt digged from the ground yet there be other also amongst which those Spanish mountains would be remembred where there is a salt cut out and drawn as stones are out of a quarrie in which place it afterwards increaseth and filleth up the gap with more salt again Du Bartas calls this the brine-quar-hill in Arragon And as for Salt digged out of waters or watrie places or not digged from under ground it is thus caused namely by the heat of the sunne percocting those waters which are extreamly salt For when salt waters are throughly concocted by the sunne they are so dried congealed and thickened that in their shores by their banks and often upon their very surfaces or superficies they render liberally good store of Salt Thus in the summer time is the Tarentine lake of which Plinie speaketh turned into â—…alt the salt being in the surface of the waters to the depth of a mans knee So also in Sicilie in the lake Coranicus And in some rivers the water is known to runne underneath in its ordinary course whilest the uppermost part is turned into salt as about the Caspian straits which are called the rivers of salt and also neare the Mardi and Armenians whose countreys are in Asia But leaving these I come to the second kinde of Salt which is artificiall and made or boiled salt For although the matter be naturall yet the making is by art From whence it comes to passe that of one and the same salt water this man will boil better Salt then that man and he then another Yea some out of water lesse salt will boil and make better Salt then others out of fountains more salt Many be the places where they make Salt after this manner by boiling of salt water neither is this kingdome of ours destitute of such fountains or wells For at the towns called the Witches in Cheshire there is a brinie water which by boiling is turned into white Salt And the same water is said to be as good to powder any kinde of flesh as brine for within 24 houres it will powder beef sufficiently A great blessing of God to raise up such springs for our use so farre within the land as also an evident argument that the Sea is made salt by the substance of the ground of which I have spoken my minde already And here unto all this I could adde the necessitie of Salt which is such that we cannot well live without it and therefore it is the first thing that is set on the table and ought to be the last taken away according as one translateth out of Schola Salerni saying Salt should be last remov'd and first set down At table of a Knight or countrey clown This I confesse as pertinent might be added but it is now high time to put a period to the discourse of this dayes work Take the rest therefore all in one word and then it is thus The eve and morn conclude the third of dayes And God gives to his work deserved praise CHAP. VII Concerning the fourth day together with such things as are pertinent to the work done in it Sect. 1. Being as it were a kinde of entrance into this dayes work which treateth of the starres and lights THe structure of the earth being adorned with herbs trees and plants in the third or former day Moses now returns to shew both how when God beautified the heavens bedecking that vaulted roof with shining lights and beauteous
which they are cherished into thin aire and so doing nature is kept from perishing before her time Neither let it seem strange although the starres be granted to consist most of a fierie temper that therefore they cannot be cherished by watrie humours for it is certain that fires are endued with sundry qualities or forces according to the divers mixtion of matter or divers disposition of the subject From whence it comes to passe that a bituminous flame is not quenched but nourished in water and the fire of lightning is said to burn the fiercer when we strive to quench it These waters therefore sweating in the likenesse of thin vapours through the utmost extent or roof of the out-spread Firmament which was made strong by stretching out and by which they are upholden do both supplie that decay of aire which otherwise would be and also do so temper and cherish the diuturnitie of the starres that thereby they shall continue untill the end of the world Elementorum transmutationes saith one sunt inaequales ergò proportiones ac majores quidem eorum quae faciliùs transmutentur in alia hoc ex necessitate non dico ad mundi aeternitatem sed diuturnitatem Aqua autem multò magìs mutatur in terram quà m terra in ipsam aër hoc aquae damnum sine maximo sui dispendio resarcire nullo modo potest nisi ab aquis supercoelestibus And perhaps the daily wasting of these waters may be the cause that the world is perceived to have a successive declination and to grow old as doth a garment untill at the last age for want of matter to keep an harmonious transmutation in the conservation of it shall according to the determined purpose of Almighty God suffer it to end as being worn out and little able to continue any longer Which when it shall be or how he intendeth to shorten it rests onely in the secret counsel of the holy Trinitie the divine word neverthelesse testifying that as tokens before it there shall be signes in the sunne and the moon in the heavens and starres For the starres shall fall from heaven and the powers of heaven shall be shaken Cadent de coelo stellae saith one non ratione substantiae sed lucis quia lumen suum retrahent obscurè reddent Which saying agrees directly to my meaning when I speak of the waters wasting For as the elements before from time to time have suffered a transmutation and shall now begin to devoure one another so the starres shall fade and perhaps be weakened in their qualities by having the lesse powerfull elementarie part in them turned by the more powerfull or if not so yet much altered by that sensible decay in the waters above the heavens And thus though I differ from Aristotle and the Peripateticks yet I have not much declined from the paths of other ancient Philosophers or from the steps of Plato in which how farre in my judgement we may follow the Academicall sect the Stoicks and those of Epicurus hath been related Howbeit I leave all free to the more judicious though for mine own part I think thus of the worlds Systema Let therefore those of the adverse part pitch their censure with the more favour and so I proceed to the following articles Artic. 2. Of their order and place in the skie and how it comes to passe that one starre is higher then another HAving already shewed that the whole concave of the heavens is filled with no firmer matter then soft and penetrable aire and that the starres have no solid orbs to uphold and move them it may not unfitly be questioned how they should hang in such a weak yeelding place and yet according to their times keep such severall certain distances one from another as we see they do To which perhaps some would answer that every starre in respect of his either more or lesse fiery qualitie doth either more or lesse ascend from the centre and so according to his gravitie or levitie rest naturally higher or lower as in his proper place the aire having a like power in the upholding of fiery bodies which the water hath in carrying of airie bodies For as a piece of Brasill or Lignum vitae will sink lower into the water then some lighter kinde of wood wherein there is more aire In like manner that starre which hath most of his matter from the more grosse elements takes his place in the lowest room whereas the lighter ones are naturally seated higher And indeed this is an answer which would serve the turn and bear out the matter well enough if there were no starres but those which we call the fixed starres for they are never observed to be higher or lower but alwayes of one and the same distance from the centre But seeing there be Planets likewise whose distances are unconstant and whose places are at some one time farre more absent from the earth then at some other nay Mars is sometimes nearer then the sunne seeing it is so I say their gravitie or levitie cannot absolutely be the cause but rather ought this to be referred to that infused force which his hand first gave them who placed them there For as the Sea being stirred by the moon to a loftie flux and having lifted up his rolling waves above the neighbouring banks would in all probability overflow the earth if the Almightie had not infused it with some occult qualitie saying Hitherto shalt thou come and no further as we reade in Job So likewise the starres would not keep their high and low places at certain infallible times so as they do and be so orderly in their motions as they are were it not from the power first put into them when they were placed in the firmament of which I spake but a little before when I shewed they were no living creatures For conclusion therefore I like well of the former reason if it be referred to the fixed starres but as concerning the Planets we see that it holdeth not in all and every part nor yet is absolutely found sufficient And yet for further satisfaction of the curious let it be supposed that the aire is ever thinnest in that place whereunto the sunne is nearest so that though the Planets naturally have but one place yet accidentally they may be found either higher or lower according to their approaching to or from the place of the sunne like as may be seen in one and the same weight if it be proved how unequally it will sink in divers waters and in waters of a differing thicknesse Of which reade more in Mr Lydiat his Praelectio Astronomica in the fourth and eighth chapters But in the mean time ever after admire the wisdome of thy Maker and praise his holy name For he hath so done his marvellous works that they ought to be had in perpetuall remembrance O never let these works forgotten be Their art is more then humane
it should be exceeding the exactest measure which can be had by the quantitie of eleven minutes or there abouts causing thereby by little and little to be an apparent anticipation of the Equinoctiall and Solstitiall points insomuch that the Vernall equinox whose place at the first Councel of Nice was upon the 21 day of March is now come to be upon the 10 day of March The reformation of which errour hath been wished for by divers learned men and in some sort performed by Pope Gregorie the 13 using likewise in it the help of Christopher Clavius and some others who in the yeare 1582 brought back the Equinoctiall day to the same place it was at the said Nicene Councel by cutting off 10 dayes in the moneth of October writing in the Calender next after the fourth day the fifteenth day by means whereof all their moneths begin ten dayes sooner then ours as do also all those feasts whose place is fixed and not moveable Now in this reformation it was likewise ordered that the yeare should consist of 365 dayes 5 houres and 49 minutes And that the Equinox might not be subject any more to anticipation in 400 yeares they thought it fit to omit three Leap-yeares The first whereof will fall into the yeare of Christ 1715 the second into the yeare 1848 and the third into the yeare 1982 if God suffer the frame of the world to stand so long Howbeit in thus doing although the alteration will be very little yet the reformation is not exactly true because there is an inequalitie of anticipation in the Equinoctiall as the great Masters in Astronomie teach us being as they say in some ages more and in some lesse But seeing as I said the alteration will be very little if it ever come to that it is fit the Leap-year be then omitted And thus am I come now to the end likewise of this fourth dayes work wherein after my plain manner I have discoursed upon every such thing as is pertinent to the work done in it Let me therefore concluding say with Moses The Eve and Morn confine the fourth of dayes And God gives to his work deserved praise CHAP. VIII Concerning the creatures created in the Fifth day of the world and they were Fishes and Fowls Sect. 1. Of Fishes their kindes properties c. NOw follow the works of the Fifth day which when I consider I cannot but admire the harmonious order which the Almightie observeth in the whole progresse of his creating For as yet the world was but like an emptie house without inhabitants a stately structure having no moving creature with life and sense to be living in it not so much as a poore flie a fish or a bird to taste the goodnesse of things created and made But in this and the next day the building thus framed and cheer provided he brought as it were his guests to participate of his delicates alwayes provided that things inferiour should serve things superiour making his best work last namely Man unto whom the other works were put in subordination to shew me thinks that the end is the perfection of every thing And now see the first day was for the matter The second brought it into a better form stretched out the heavens and lifted up the waters which are above them The third did not onely shew the face of the earth by the gathering together of those waters under heaven but also adorned it with herbs trees and plants The fourth beautifies the vaulted roof of the sparkling firmament with funne moon and starres In the fifth and sixth he makes all kindes of living creatures furnishing first of all the waters and aire with their inhabitants and last of all the earth And for those many creatures in the waters and aire their creation was effected in this fifth dayes work so that every kinde of fish and all kinde of birds were now produced God onely said it and it was done as by viewing the text of Moses will appeare For in all his works he spake the word and they were made he commanded and they were created But to proceed We need divide the whole of this day into no more then two parts The one of Fishes the other of Birds That of fishes is the formost and therefore the varietie of those creatures would be first admired And see how Moses ushers them The greater ones are placed in the forefront For God saith he made great whales And then he proceedeth to adde something concerning the other species of smaller creatures living and moving in the water saying And every living creature that moveth which the waters brought forth abundantly after their kinde Pareus and other Expositours also by the word which is commonly translated great whales understand the biggest kinde of sea-beasts and monstrous fishes of the largest greatnesse And indeed the epithet great is not added to the whale without cause For the word tannin signifieth a serpent dragon or a great fish and the whale or great fish is the greatest of all living creatures as in Job 41. 33. In the earth there is none like him His jaws are likened to doores vers 14. his scales to shields vers 15. Out of his nostrills goeth smoke as out of a seething pot or caldron vers 20. he maketh the sea to boil like a pot vers 31. Munster writeth that neare unto Iseland there be great whales whose bignesse equalizeth the hills and mightie mountains which are sometimes openly seen and these saith he will drown and overthrow ships except they be affrighted with the sound of trumpets and drummes or except some round and emptie vessels be cast unto them wherewith they may play and sport them because they are much delighted with such things But above all this he affirmeth to be a good remedie against such dangerous whales to wit that which the Apothecaries call Castoreum tempered with water and cast into the sea for by this as by a poyson they are utterly driven and banished to the bottome Other authours mention farre greater whales then these And Olaus Magnus writeth that there are many kindes of whales For some he affirmeth to be rough-skinned and bristled and these contain in length 240 feet and in breadth 120. others are smooth and plain and these are lesse being taken in the North and Western ocean Some again have jaws with long and terrible teeth of 12 or 14 feet in length and the two dog-teeth are farre longer then the rest like unto horns or the tusks of a boar or elephant This kinde of whale hath eyes so ample and large that sometimes 15 20 or more men may sit in the compasse of one eye and about either eye there be 250 horns ad rigidam vel placidam anteriorem vel posteriorem motionem ventilationem serving also to defend the eyes either in a tempestuous season or when this fish is assaulted by any other sea-beast Physeter or the Whirl-pool-whale hath a
whereof they make lard and hath not the savour or taste of fish It feedeth on the grasse that groweth on the banks of the river and never goeth out it hath a mouth like the mozell of an ox and there be of them that weigh five hundred pound apiece Purchas In the West sea there is a fish called the Pontarof a cruell monster that taketh great pleasure to carrie away young children loving to play and sport with them Du Bart. Summar ex Oviedo lib. 13. The fishes called Sharks are most ravenous devourers and in the waters upon the coasts of Africa they have been seen with six or seven other smaller fishes garded with blew and green attending like serving-men And omitting many whether in the new-found world in the Norway seas or elsewhere I come now to the Dolphin that king of fishes then whom there is not any which is swifter none more charitable to his fellows and which is above all the rest none more loving to man Plinie hath written much of this fish in his ninth book at the eighth chapter and so have others also affirming that he is not onely sociable and desirous of mans company but delighted also in sweet and sensecharming musick Amongst the fishes that did swiftly throng To dance the measures of his mournfull song There was a Dolphin did the best afford His nimble motions to the trembling chord But whether that in the storie of Arion be true I am not able to say Perhaps their censure is none of the worst who perswade themselves it is a fable which was invented by those who had heard of that famous historie of the Prophet Jonas for divers stories of the Bible have been in this manner changed by the Pagans as amongst the rest that of Sennacheâ—…ib was very counterfeitly told by Herodotus when he makes mention of a great companie of mice as he had his relation from the priests of Egypt who came by night and eat off the feathers from his arrows Herod lib. 2. And the floud of Deucalion is related by Ovid as if Noahs floud and that were all one And the Grecians fable upon the sunnes going back in Hezechiahs time that at the birth of Hercules the sunne made a longer night then at other times Howbeit this scruple may not take away the love of the Dolphin towards man For besides those things related in Plinie of a boy feeding a Dolphin and carried on his back over the waters to school with such like things in the said authour others also have in a manner written to the same purpose And amongst the rest Elian tells a storie of a Dolphin and a boy this boy being very fair used with his companions to play by the sea side and to wash with them in the water practising likewise to swimme which being perceived by a Dolphin frequenting that coast the Dolphin fell into a great liking with this boy above the rest and used very familiarly to swimme by him side by side the boy at the first was fearfull of this his unwonted companion but through custome he and the Dolphin grew so familiar that they would be friendly antagonists and contend together in swimming each by other insomuch that sometimes the boy would get upon the Dolphins back and ride through the waterie territories of Neptunes kingdome as upon some proud pransing horse and the Dolphin at all times would bring him safely to the shore again of which the people in the adjoyning citie were eye-witnesses and that not seldome At last it chanced that the boy not carefull how he sat upon the fishes back but unadvisedly laying his belly too close was by the sharp pricks growing there wounded to death And now the Dolphin perceiving by the weight of his bodie and by the bloud which stained the waters that the boy was dead speedily swimmeth with all his force to the land and there laying him down for very sorrow died by him In memorie whereof let these few lines be added The fish would live but that the boy must die The dying boy the living fish torments The fish tormented hath no time to crie But with his grief his life he sadly vents Oh where is love or grief so firm as this Of such true love and grief most men do misse The Sea-fox is a fish that hath a long tail is subtil in his chase having a strong sent as the Land-fox hath He â—…seth to swallow his young into his belly in time of danger as the Balaena doth which some also attribute to the Dolphin This fish and the Amia use to deceive the fisherman either by leaping at or by sucking up so much of his line that they may be sure to bite off the hook Aelian var. hist. lib. 1. The Cantharus is an admired pattern of chastitie Elian speaketh of the ardent love of this Cantharus and saith that between him and the adulterous Sargon is great enmitie for he will fight as couragiously for his mate as Paris could fight for Helena being in this the true embleme of a loyall couple who hate defiled sheets loving and living constantly together Like unto which is the Mullet who albeit she be a fearfull fish as Plinie telleth us lib. 9. cap. 17. and will hide her head for fear yet seeing her male taken she followeth after him as farre as she can choosing rather to die with him then to be left her self alone But the Sargon is contrarie for this is an adulterous fish daily changing mates and not so content useth to go on the grassie shore horning the he-goats who had horns before For as Elian writeth his lustfull love towards the she-goat is so furious that the fishermen use to take these fishes by covering themselves with a goats skinne And doth not this fish bear a true embleme against adulterers Yes surely doth it For those who make horns on other mens heads do but make engines to tosse themselves to hell Caprae refert scortum similis fit Sargus amanti Qui miser obscoeno captus amore perit The goat a harlot doth resemble well The Sargus like unto the lover is Who poore wretch taken is condemn'd to hell And for his lust depriv'd of heav'nly blisse Howbeit a Ten in the hundred or a Fox-furr'd-clouted-pated fornicatour who to his tenants wife is sometimes a lecherous administratour cannot see it neither will such beleeve that whores are the hackneys which men ride upon into Devils-ditch for thither do they gallop like the deceived Sargus caught by the fisher in the skinne of a goat Hoga is said to be a fish as big as a mackerell or as some say no bigger then a herring This fish hath wings which do not so much help her by flying to escape a farre greater fish as endanger her to the mercilesse crueltie of another enemie I mean a certain sea-fowl which waits but for such an oportunitie
proportion to the other raven onely differing in colour as being white Now Aristotle thinketh that this happeneth by reason of some passion or accident in the generation Neither as is thought doth the raven conceive by conjunction of male and female but rather by a kinde of billing at the mouth which Plinie mentioneth as an opinion of the common people saying Ore eos parere aut coire vulgus arbitratur ideóque gravidas si ederint corvinum ovum per os partum reddere which is very strange if it should be true and therefore Aristotle denieth it onely thinking that their billing or kissing is but like unto that amongst the doves And as for the English name Raven given to this bird it is so called of ravening and devouring In Greek it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifieth Crocitare to croke and in Latine Corvus under which name we comprehend the crows as well as the ravens The ancient Emperours of Rome and other heathen Princes had their Soothsayers and beholders of birds now these gave great heed to the ravens and would diligently look upon their eyes marking in time of warre to what part they turned for they supposed that the raven did presage which side should perish in battell and would alwayes therefore have her eye fixed or turned that way or to that partie as it were shewing her longing desire to be feeding on their carcases Which is somewhat confirmed by that which Plinie writeth of the ravens flying out of Athens and Peloponnesus saying Nam cùm Mediae hospites occisi sunt omnes è Peloponneso Attica regione volaverunt Plin. ibid. Which flocking to the fight was for their fat prey as though there had been in them some sense of the present action Furthermore this I finde again recorded by Plin. lib. 10. cap. 43. that when Marcus Servilius and C. Cestius were Consuls there was a solemne funerall of a raven celebrated at Rome upon the fifth calends of April and this being so neare the time of our Saviours passion as it was did as some observe not unfitly shadow forth the devils funerall and destruction of his kingdome among the Gentiles For as the raven delighteth in solitarie or desert mansions Isai. 34. 11. so doth the devil walk through desert places as we see it Matth. 12. 43. In which resemblance he is fitly called the devils bird and this funerall may as well prove the time of Christs death and buriall as Dions Phenix appearing about the same time was used by Carion and Mr Lydiat to shew the yeare of his resurrection The Pelican is that bird which Plinie calleth Onocratalus and is much like the swanne in shape and proportion excepting in the widenesse of his gullet and capacitie of his maw Of this fowl there be two sorts one that liveth by the waters another which is the Pelican of the desert This is a melancholy bird and takes the name of Pelican from the Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so called of smiting or piercing which is in regard that by piercing his breast he reviveth his young ones with his own bloud when they are bitten and killed of serpents or having killed them with his bill he reviveth them again by his bloud after three dayes Or else this name belongs unto him from piercing the shel-fishes and picking out their meat to feed his young For according to the testimonie of Aristotle the dammes use to catch such fish and swallow them into their stomacks and when they have there so warmed them that their shells may gape they do again cast them up and so pick out their meat in an easie manner In like sort have I seen those who have done more by policie then others or they could do by strength neither is violence alwayes the readiest way for sometimes art may be more then arms and gentle usage have power to charm when rigour helpeth to enrage The Stork is a famous bird for naturall love to his parents whom he feedeth being old and feeble as they fed him being young the Egyptians and the Thessalians so esteemed this bird that there was a great penaltie laid upon any that should kill him His English name Stork comes from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Greek which is Amor in Latine proceeding from his forenamed kindnesse and naturall love to his damme being also humane and loving to mankinde delighting to build in the tops of houses and chimneys as is usuall to be seen in Germanie whereby it is evident that he loveth the societie of man which saith one sheweth their disposition to be unnaturall which do shun the companie of men and of a superstitious minde retire themselves into desert and solitarie places as Hermites Anchorites and such like Dr Wil. on Levit. And now the reason why he was in such esteem in Egypt and Thessasie was for his great service he did them in killing of serpents and other venemous things Plinie calls him Ciconia and from the Stork Ibis men first learned to purge by clyster for with his bill he conveyeth salt water up into his bodie below and so purgeth himself The Heron or Hernsew is a fowl that liveth about waters and yet she doth so abhorre rain and tempests that she seeketh to avoid them by flying on high She hath her nest in very loftie trees sheweth as it were a naturall hatred against the gossehawk and other kinde of hawks and so likewise doth the hawk seek her destruction continually When they fight above in the aire they labour both especially for this one thing that the one might ascend and be above the other Now if the hawk getteth the upper place he overthroweth and vanquisheth the heron with a marvellous earnest flight but if the her on get above the hawk then with his dung he defileth the hawk and so destroyeth him for his dung is a poyson to the hawk rotting and putrifying his feathers This bird is Avis furibunda a furious bird and so in Latine she is called Ardea of ardeo to burn chiefly because she is an angrie creature or because she is greatly enflamed with lust or else because the dung of this bird doth as it were burn or consume what it toucheth Of Hawks there be many and severall kindes as the Falcon Merlin Lannar Tassell and sundrie others Howbeit the Tassells are supposed to be the males of such birds as live by prey as the Tassell of the Saker is called a Hobbie or Mongrell hawk that of the Sparrow-hawk a Musket that of the Lannar a Lannaret and so of the rest Now some again distinguish these birds three severall wayes First by the form and fashion of their bodie some being great as the Gossehawk Faulcon Gerfaulcon c. some small as the Merlin Musket Sparrow-hawk Hobbie and such others Secondly by their game as some for the phesant some for the partridge some for the
in the third day Elian saith that the Swallow is a watchfull bird and sleepeth but by halves and fits as we say which is no sound kinde of rest And again her swiftnesse in flying is commendable and as for her diligence and dexteritie in building a nest it deserveth praise insomuch that some have said The Swallow taught men first to build Plutarch de indust animal Flying she sings and singing seeketh where She'r â—…ouse with ounning not with cost may râ—…ar Her little beak she loads with brittle straws Her wings with water and with earth her claws Whereof she morter makes and therewithall Aptly she builds her semicircle wall Next after the Swallow I may come to the Turtle It is a bird which singeth not but hath a kinde of groning in stead of singing true to her mate of admired chastitie lives long is absent from us in winter and as some think being gone she loseth her feathers as Plinie likewise writeth of the Swallow She is also a very harmlesse creature and without gall Which if man could frame himself to be the serpents wisdome would not hurt him nor lean-fac'd envie sojourn with him But being more wise then innocent he makes others grone more at his wrongs and under his burdens then he himself either doth or did for his own sinnes Columbus the Dove or Pigeon may be next because it is neare of nature to the Turtle These fowls sit upon their egges by course and afterwards when they be changed from eggâ—…s to young ones the cock doth feed and foster them They commonly bring forth two at a brood the one a cock the other a hen and have young about ten times in a yeare But some which write of Egypt saith Aelianus declare that the Pigeons in that countrey breed twelve times in a yeare Neither doth the cock tread the hen before he hath courteously saluted her with a kisse For the hen will not have company with him untill that first debt be duely paid Some who write of India report that there be Pigeons in that countrey of a yellow colour And as for Stock-doves they differ from Pigeons because the Pigeon is somewhat bigger and not altogether so wilde But the Ring-dove is much greater then any of them and is thought to live about thirtie or fourtie yeares Furthermore Pigeons take great delight to sit by the banks of waters and crystall streams which some think to be in regard that like women they love to behold themselves as in a mirrour or glasse And if nature hath taught them that piece of pride it brings them no small profit for whilest they thus sit by the water side they can soon perceive when the Hawk is coming towards them because his shadow or image will appeare in the water and so being fore-warned they cannot but be fore-armed and prepared against such mischief as that devouring bird intendeth to them These fowls be naturally very hot and moist wherefore they be not good for those that be cholerick or enclined to any fevers but to them which be flegmatick and pure melancholy they are very wholesome and be easily digested The Sparrow dieth quickly is very lascivious and if it be a cock lives not above a yeare if a hen it hath a longer time Plin. They be of a very hot nature and as Geminianus writeth will without harm sometimes feed on the seeds of henbane Their flesh is hard to digest they stirre up Venus especially the cock sparrows But being boiled in broth they are restorative and good for weak or aged persons Elian in the 13 book of his variable historie speaking of Xenoâ—…rates how he was much enclined to pitie tells a story of a Sparrow which flew into his bosome As this man saith he on a time was sitting in a sunnie place a little chirping Sparrow pursued by an Hawk by whom she was almost wearied to death and fainting in flight fled into the bosome of Xenocrates which when he saw he entertained her with delight and harboured her very tenderly till all dangers were past and then he gave her free passage to flie whither she would uttering these words when he cast her up into the aire Hosti supplicem non prodidi I have not given one craving succour into the hands of his enemie And indeed to help the helplesse harbour the houselesse deliver the distressed and defend the wronged ad astra usque â—…ollit nay supra astra rather and is a divine practise worth recording and not unworthy imitation The Peacock is a bird well known and much admired for his daintie coloured feathers which when he spreads them against the sunne have a curious lustre and look like gemmes Howbeit his black feet make him ashamed of his fair tail and therefore when he seeth them as angrie with nature or grieved for that deformitie he hangeth down his starrie plumes and walketh slowly in a discontented fit of solitarie sadnesse like one deeply possest with dull melancholy from whence it is said that he hath a theevish pace and a hellish voice Neither is he other then a perfect embleme of deep envie For some write that his dung is very medicinable and usefull to man in many things which he therefore striveth to hide and conceal being indeed the right trick of devilish envie which is best pleased when she can but exclude the communication of such things as would do good if they might be had The flesh of these fowls if they be old is hard of digestion and so do physicians likewise write of the Turkie-cocks but yet the chickens of either of them about half a yeare old are good and wholesome But I leave this bird and come to the Cock He it is who is a constant herald to the new-born day and a diligent watch to the silent night altering in his note as the day approacheth for in the deadest time he crows more deeply then when the night is wearing out shewing thereby as it were the differing houres and changing watches It is said that the shrill voice of this commanding fowl will â—…ep in aw the grimme and fierce Lion so Plinie writeth but others have said the contrarie because it hath been found that Lions have sometimes strangled Cocks and Hennes without fear and yet perhaps this might be through the antipathie which is between them For in this it is free for every one to think what he pleaseth Neither is it now any other then a common sport to see such creatures enter battell with their weaponedwounding heels and cruell pecking beaks The originall of which as Aelianus writeth was after this manner When the Athenians had vanquished the Persians in a battell they made a law that upon one day in every yeare there should upon the open theater be a Cock-fighting kept to be seen of all that observing how they fought and endangered themselves for nothing others might learn not to be
daunted when their countrey lay at the stake but fight with courage unresistable because they then fought for something To which purpose it is recorded that when Themistocles was captain and spectatour of such a Cock-contention he spake thus to his souldiers These two Cocks saith he endanger themselves as we see to the death not for their countreys cause not for the houshold gods not for the priviledges of their hoâ—…able ancestours not for renown not for libertie not for â—…fe and children but onely for this that the one might not 〈◊〉 crow or beat the other And therefore the hearts of â—…he Athenians ought rather to be stored with stoutnesse and audacitie that thereby they may purchase perpetuall remembrance Close by his side stands the couragious Cock Crest-creatures king the peasants trustie clock True morning watch Aurora's trumpeter The lions terrour true Astronomer Who leaves his bed when Sol begins to rise And when sunne sets then to his roost he flies The Crane is said to be a shifting bird it hath high legges a long beak and neck which finding no food in winter in the northern regions by reason of the great cold retire themselves into more temperate countreys and in summer return to the north again They flie by companies feed together love their own kinde and appoint one to be king over them and if at any time they fight among themselves presently they be again reconciled and keep their societie as before They have a watch and watch by course there being in the claw of that Crane whose turn it is to wake a little stone that so if by chance this watching bird should fall asleep the stone falling down might again awake him Gemin ex Aristot. Moreover it is said that when they do alight upon the ground their king is first and he also first raiseth himself from the earth and looketh round about him to see whether any one be coming that thereby giving warning they might defend themselves Which is indeed a fit embleme of carefull pastours good magistrates and honest governours whose part it is to be at all times vigilant for the good of those over whom they are Nay their captain and their watching doth not onely shew the care which ought to be in governours but also the necessitie of government is deciphered by it And again it is reported that when these birds flie out of Cilicia over the mountains Taurus each of them carrieth in his mouth a peble stone lest by their chattering they should be seized upon by the Eagles So have I seen those whose unbridled tongues have but brought them to mischief and rouzed the Eagles about their eares whereas in little medling is much rest and nothing said is soon amended The wise man therefore will wear discretion as a stone upon the tip of his tongue lest chattering such words as he knows not what he meet with that which he looks not for And now I could speak of the warres which the Cranes have against the Pigmies whom Du Bartas calleth Dwarfs of the North but I had rather referre you concerning this to Plinie in the second chapter of his seventh book Physicians tell us that the Crane is hard of digestion and maketh ill juice but being hanged up a day or two before he be eaten he is the more tender and lesse unwholesome The silver Swan is a white bird living in marshes and calm rivers very loving unto his fellow the male to the female whom when he draweth to him with his long neck he doth as it were embrace her wherefore in greek he is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to embrace or kisse whence also is derived the Latine Cygnus They do one defend the other and sit upon their nest by turns and equally have care of their young ones when they be hatched neither can the he-Swan endure that the she should companie with another in which they be a perfect pattern of chaste mutuall and matrimoniall love Howbeit they will sometimes fight very fiercely with their own kinde and against the Eagles they have cruell battells striving not so much to obtain rule as to revenge their injuries It is likewise said that they sometimes sing but never more sweetly then when they be dying and exchanging life for death of which some doubt and approve it as a thing onely spoken in a poeticall manner yet Aristotle is against them affirming that many have heard them sing in the Assyrian sea To which purpose Martial hath this epigram Dulcia defectâ modulatur carmina linguà Cantator cygnus funeris ipse sui Sweet strains he chaunteth out with 's dying tongue And is the singer of his fun'rall song Wherein he is a perfect embleme and pattern to us that our death ought to be cheerfull and life not so deare unto us as it is And from hence came the proverb Cygnea cantio which is but a lightning against death I formerly made mention of the Raven but beside the Raven there described there is also a Sea-raven or Sea-crow which is a bird very black unlesse it be on the breast and bellie upon which they be of an ash-colour They hunt after fish and have toothed bills like unto the reapers sickle with which they can hold even an eele as slipperie as it is The dung of this bird is of an evil nature for it will rot both the boughs and barks of such trees as it falleth upon and so it is also said that the dung of the Heron doth Olaus lib. 19. The said authour speaketh of another Sea-crow which in seven dayes builds her nest and in the next seven layes her egges and brings forth young and of another which he calleth Morfex or Humusculus so called because she must beat the water with her tail before she can flie She is black all over and with the residue of her companie useth to build her nest upon the tops of high trees growing neare to such places where be store of fish which they catch and devoure very greedily and of these birds there be great store in the more Northern parts of the world But they have especially two enemies the one is a bird which Olaus calleth Platea the other is a fish which is called Raia The Platea lies in wait for these crows and flies at them when they have gotten their prey and never leaves biting them upon their heads untill she cause them to leave it This bird useth to swallow down an abundance of whole cockles into her bellie and there having warmed them she casts them up and then their shels gaping like unto the rosted oister give her leave to take out their meat and eat it which sheweth as I said once before in the description of another bird that policie is better then strength and in the hardest matters prevaileth best The other enemie is not a bird but that fish which
it were a proclamation through their hive to go to rest and so the watch being appointed and all things set in order they all make themselves readie to go to bed So long as the king liveth so long the whole swarm enjoyeth the benefit of peace but he being dead there is great disorder The king keepeth his court by himself in the highest room and largest part of the whole palace his lodging being very curiously made And if at any time any of them chance to die they be carried out of the hive as it were upon the shoulders of the other Bees who will suffer nothing in their houses which may pollute them but if they be onely sick then have they a medicinall aliment of hony drawn from annise saffron and Hyacinths by which they are cured Topsell And when they be readie to swarm they dare not take their flight untill their king leade the way unto whose side they strive to flie as neare as they can Some say if their king be such as tenders the good of the other Bees he goes but seldome abroad and stragling often from home they will rid themselves of him But when he dies through age they carrie him forth in solemne manner and behave themselves as at some sad funerall Neither is he so tied to his home but that he may sometimes go abroad to refresh his aged bodie whom they accompanie in a sweet obedientiall manner and if it chance that he grow wearie and faint by the way they bear him back again upon their wings and with great commiseration pitie his decayed estate Moreover they will not suffer a dead Bee to be in their hives but carrie him forth as to his buriall lest he should corrupt their pure and cleanly decked dwellings Vespa the Wasp is an angrie creature they make them nests most commonly in the ground their combes be round much after the fashion of a broad toadstool and their cells are diversly fashioned They be very tenderly affected to their females when they are with young and will not suffer them to take any pains but lay the whole burden upon themselves Like unto the Bees they affect a kingly government and in case they have no leader they make their nests in holes of clay walls and the like where they live like vagabonds and gather nothing They do often times rob the Bees and as I said be very angrie creatures implacable and very noxious to those who disturb their nests Aristophanes calleth all those maids which are fine slender and prettie small in the waste 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 resembling them to Wasps which by Topsell is interpreted as if he should name them Wasp-wasted-wenches the reason whereof is because the bodie of a Wasp seemeth to be fastened together to the midst of the breast with a certain thinne fine thread as it were and to be as if they had no loins at all And as your finest bodied wenches are like them in their waste so sometimes too like them in their sting by which their best beautie is eclipsed and better were it to endure the continuall droppings and thunderings of a rainie day then the waspish harms of wicked women whether it be that they carrie their stings either in tongue or tail The Hornet is called by the Grecians 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because with their sting they raise an Anthrax or carbuncle with a vehement inflammation of the whole part about it in Latine it is called Crabro These creatures do not gather their meat from flowers but for the most part they live upon flesh and stinking carrion which makes them delight so much in dunghills They use likewise to catch flies and hunt after small birds which if they can but sting they kill Mr Topsell makes mention of a strange combate between an Hornet and a Sparrow which he himself saw at a town called Duckworth in Huntingtonshire and the Sparrow lost the day for being wounded by the Hornets sting the bird fell to the ground and the Hornet greedily sucked her bloud The said authour writeth that their life is but short never above two yeares and as for their combes they be wrought with greater cunning more exquisite art and curious conceit then those either of Wasps or Bees neither need we doubt saith he but that they bring forth young by the sides of their cells and perform such other offices in their breeding as the Bees and Wasps do The Gray or Badger is their greatest enemie for in the full of the moon he useth to make forcible entrance into their holes and without fear he is able to spoil their nests And albeit they most commonly feed upon flesh yet they do greatly love all kinde of sweet things and oyl with other matter of a greasie substance And for to make a medicine against the sting of bees hornets or wasps do thus Take of opium of the seed of henbane and camphire of each a like quantitie and incorporate them with rose-rose-water or juice of willows and lay it upon the wounded place applying on the top of it a linen cloth which must be first throughly wetted in wine and this is good to asswage the pain Vineger and camphire are also excellent to wash any such place Cantharides are flies whose juice is poison they shine like gold and must be carefully used in any experiment otherwise they do much harm as the unskilfull and adventurous have sometimes proved to their own cost Pyrausta is a flie so called from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ignis because it lives in the fire and dieth without it Plin. lib. 11. cap. 36. Tarantula is a little flie frequent in Italieâ—… it will many times sting the people whereupon they presently fall a laughing and if musick be not forthwith brought them they cannot choose but in a mortall merrie fit take leave of the world and die Neither can they at all be cured unlesse by hearing musick and as it is reported if the cure be not throughly done they dance ever after at the sound of musicks pleasing strains shewing thereby that this is a creature an admired creature and of a strange propertie Bombyx is commonly called the Silk-worm but whether I may name it a worm or a flie I cannot tell For sometimes it is a worm sometimes a flie and sometimes neither worm nor flie but a little seed which the dying flies leave behinde them As for example when these daintie creatures have made them little husken houses and spunne out the just length of their silken webs they eat out themselves from those prisons and although they were worms before yet then they appeare with their prettie wings and flie about a while in which space the male accompanying with the female doth as it were tread her and then laying some certain egges like little seeds they cease to live any longer from which seeds proceed more young ones at the
call Ivory and of which many prettie things are cut by artists Munster reporteth how these beasts are taken namely by the cunning cutting down of a tree against which they use to lean and stay themselves For this beast saith he having fed till he is full betaketh himself to rest and leaning to a tree he sleepeth for he cannot bend his joynts as other beasts do not because he wanteth joynts but because his sinews are more strong and closely knit his joynts together or else because there is much flesh between the skinne and bones or because his skinne is so crustie like to armour and unfit to bend Now when the people perceive any such tree as is worn and made foul by the Elephants leaning against it they come in the absence of the said beast and cut it almost quite through close by the ground insomuch that being ready to fall it cannot stand when the Elephant cometh to rest against it but by giving way causeth him to fall together with it and then he lieth helplesse upon the ground all the night with his belly upward and not being able to bend his legs and arise he is caught in the morning by those who before had cut the tree with purpose to deceive him The said authour also mentions another way whereby they of India sometimes take and tame them For there be Elephants saith he in India which be very wilde and fierce but they are easily made tame namely thus The people intending to catch them compasse some clean place with a deep ditch of about foure or five furlongs in compasse and in one place onely they make a bridge very strait and narrow being the way to enter in then they set three or foure female Elephants which they have alreadie tamed and they themselves lie watching privily till the time that the wilde Elephants come and passe over the bridge then on the sudden do they stop the passage and afterward bring some of their strongest tame Elephants to fight with these wilde ones thus inclosed besides which they do likewise punish them with hunger and lack of meat and when they be wearied with fighting they which are bold hardie fellows by help of the tame Elephants to shelter them will privily creep under their bellies and suddenly chain and fetter them After this they move their tame Elephants again to beat the wilde untill their fetters cast them to the ground and then they yoke them to the necks of their tame ones and lay chains upon them that thereby they may passe on quietly and at last bringing them home they fasten their legs and necks to a strong pillar and so by hunger and societie tame them teaching them at the last when they begin to feed them to be obedient to their masters in such manner as best pleaseth them and then they will grow so loving gentle milde serviceable and docil as is indeed a wonder And if by chance any of them shall happen through fury to kill his keeper he will shew so much sorrow and take it so heavily that he abstaineth from his meat and sometimes even pineth to death like unto that Dolphin which in the former day I mentioned who using to carry a boy upon his back one day by meere accident hapned to kill him with one of his prickles not closely couched before the lad was mounted on his watery steed The little mouse is sometimes offensive to this beast and will strive to runne into the trunk of his nose neither can he endure to eat more of his meat if he see but a mouse runne over it But above all he hath two fierce enemies viz. the Dragon and the admired great Rhinoceros who coming to fight with the Elephant first whetteth his horn growing upon his snout and then grapling close he woundeth the Elephant into his belly for elsewhere the force of his fury cannot enter Plin. lib. 8. cap. 20. And as for the Dragon he likewise fighteth furiously because his delight is to suck the bloud of the Elephant which is cooling to his hot nature but drinking too largely of it as he will do if he can down falls the Elephant for lack of bloud and down likewise falls the Dragon because he hath sucked too much and so both die striving together Ibid. cap. 12. or as some say the Elephant dying falls upon the Dragon and so kills his foe who killed him And in this fight the Dragon deals most cunningly for first he sitteth watching upon a tree and when the Elephant is come neare unto that place he suddenly skips and cleaves round about him and if then the Elephant begin to beat him off against a rock or tree he claspeth close about his legges and seldome doth the combate cease without the death of both the fighters A fit embleme this of those who fall whilest they suck the bloud of others and perish in such gains as are purchased by the harms of those whom they strive to subvert Moreover the Elephants have such a kinde of modestie and shamefastnesse that the male never covereth the female but in secret and this never but once in two yeares and that when the male is five yeares old and the female ten From whence Geminianus gathers this instruction By this example saith he men are taught honestly to use the acts belonging to their conjugall or matrimoniall estate both according to the place and time Arise and let us pray saith young Tobias to his wife that God would have pitie on us And in praying he likewise said I take her not for lust but uprightly therefore mercifully ordain that we may become aged together And she said with him Amen Of which carefull continence Geminianus gives this reason why it ought to be in us because we are children of the light and may not do as the heathens who know not God Whereupon S. Augustine saith that they commit adulterie with their wives who in the use of wedlock have neither regard of seemlinesse nor honestie And Hierome likewise makes this assertion that nothing is more shamelesse then to make a strumpet of a wife meaning when they turn the remedie into a disease through a lustfull immodest and immoderate use of the marriage bed Furthermore the Elephants are long-lived they have great pleasure in good water are very impatient of cold and many of them live almost 200 yeares Also there is one singular propertie yet more to be observed in them viz. that even the wilde ones living in deserts will direct and defend strangers and travellers For if an Elephant shall finde a man wandering in his way first of all that he may not be affrighted the Elephant goeth a little wide out of the path and standeth still then by little and little going before him he shews him the way and if a Dragon chance to meet this man thus travelling the Elephant then opposeth himself to the
a groat and who they be which keep of these Cats tame or inclosed must remember to take away this distilled liquour every second or third day or else the beast doth rub it forth of his own accord That creature which men call a Mus-cat or Musk-cat doth much resemble a Roe both in greatnesse fashion and hair excepting that it hath thicker and grayer hairs the feet also are hooved and in the province of Cathay these Cats are found This beast is that from whence the Musk proceedeth which groweth in the navell or in a little bag neare unto it and of it self it comes to be ripe whereupon the beast itcheth and is pained he therefore rubbeth himself upon stones rocks and trees till he break the bag then the liquour runneth forth and the wound closeth but soon after the bag comes to be full again The common or vulgar Cat is a creature well known and being young it is very wanton and sportfull but waxing older very sad and melancholy It is called a Cat from the Latine word Cautus signifying wary for a Cat is a watchfull and warie beast seldome overtaken and most attendant to her sport and prey she is also very cleanly and neat oftentimes licking her own bodie to keep it smooth and fair which she can do in every part but her head she useth therefore to wash her face with her feet which she licketh and moisteneth with her tongue and it is observed by some that if she put her feet beyond the crown of her head in this kinde of washing it is a signe of rain And again it is ordinary to be known that the male Cat will eat up the young kitlings if he can finde where they are the reason of which is because he is desirous of copulation and during the time that the females give suck they cannot be drawn unto it Moreover it hath been usuall for many men to play and sport with these creatures in which regard Topsell very fitly calleth a Cat the idle mans pastime affirming further that many have payed deerely for their unadvised sporting Whereupon he tells a storie of a certain companie of Monks much given to nourish and play with Cats whereby they were so infected that within a short space none of them were able either to say reade pray or sing in all the monasterie the reason of which is because the savour and breath of Cats destroy the lungs and consume the radicall humour Wherefore it is a means to bring any into a consumption who shall suffer these creatures to lie with them upon their beds for their breath especially in a close chamber infecteth the aire therefore they be also dangerous in time of pestilence and apt to bring home venimous infection in which regard it is very expedient to kill them in such perilous times as they use to do in cities and great towns And note that above all things the Cat abhorreth wet or water from whence arose that proverb Catus vult piscem sed non vult tangere lympham Fain would the Cat some fishes eat But loth to wet her foot so neat In which she is a fit embleme of those who will shrink to encounter with that pain which harbours and bringeth forth their wished gain For be it so that we desire the sweetnesse of the well relisht kernell then must we likewise crack the hard shell for Difficilia quae pulchra Excellent things are hard to come by Olaus Magnus makes mention of an abundance of wilde Cats in Scandivania and where he speaketh of the Lynxes he sheweth that they devoure many of these Cats affirming moreover that the skinnes of these creatures are good against the sharp cold of winter whereupon those of Scythia and Moscovia use them for garments The Mouse is a creatâ—…re commonly of a dunne colour howbeit in differing places they have differing colours for in some countreys they be not dunne or ash-coloured but blackish in some again they be white in some yellow and in other some brown In Greek he is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and in Latine Mus from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 mutire of the piping noise which he maketh Some say that mice increase and decrease in the quantitie of their bodies according to the course of the moon being ever least when the light of that horned lamp is furthest from the full The like also I finde recorded of Cats eyes for as Mr Topsell writeth the Egyptians observed in the eyes of a Cat the increase of the moon-light and in the male his eyes do also varie with the sunne for when the sunne ariseth the apple of his eye is long towards noon it is round and at the evening it cannot be seen at all but the whole eye sheweth alike Aelianus writeth that Mice excell all living creatures in the knowledge and experience of things to come for when any old house habitation tenement or other dwelling place waxeth ruinous and ready to fall they perceive it first and out of that their foresight they make present avoidance from their holes and betake themselves to flight even as fast as their little legs will give them leave and so they seek some other place wherein they may dwell with more securitie I remember a storie of a man eaten up with Mice by which we are taught that no humane device can withstand Gods judgements There was saith Munster a certain Bishop of Magunce named Hatto who formerly had been the Abbot of Fulden and in his time there was great famine in that countrey this Bishop when he perceived the poore to faint and to be oppressed with hunger gathered together a great number of them into a large barn and setting it on fire he burnt them up saying that they little differed from Mice and were profitable for nothing for they did but consume and waste the corn Which damned trick and devilish tyrannie the great God of heaven would not suffer to go away unrevenged for he commanded the Mice by great flocks to invade this Bishop and set upon him without pitie vexing him both night and day with purpose to devoure him Whereupon he fleeth for refuge into a certain tower compassed by the water of Rhene thinking himself to be then safe and free from their greedy gnawings and cruell bitings but he was much deceived for the Mice followed him and like speedy executioners to perform the just judgement of God came swimming over and at the last gnawed such holes into his bodie that they let in death who suddenly sendeth out his soul to give an account for this foul deed Which accident was done in the yeare of our Lord 914 and the tower ever since called the tower of Mice Munster Cosmog Moreover amongst other things which the Mouse taketh great delight to eat he useth to watch for the gaping oister and seeing it open he thrusts in his head which when the oister feeleth she presently closeth
her shell again and so crusheth the Mouses head in pieces Whereupon one made this embleme Captivus ob gulam whereby he deeiphereth the condition of those men who destroy themselves to serve their bellies Or as another speaketh such are here signified which are altogether given to their bellie and to carnall pleasure for satisfaction whereof multa pericula sustinent they undergo many dangers and pay deerly for their follie The Shrew-mouse is called by the Hollanders Molmusse because it resembleth a mole For it hath a long and sharp snout like a mole teeth very small but so as they stand double in their mouth for they have foure rowes two beneath and two above and as for the tail it is both slender and short In Latine it is called Mus araneus because it containeth in it poison or venime like a spider and if at any time it bite either man or beast the truth of this will be too apparent But commonly it is called a Shrew-mouse and from the venimous biting of this beast we have an English imprecation I beshrew thee in which words we do indeed wish some such evil as the biting of this mouse And again because a curst scold or brawling wife is esteemed none of the least evils we therefore call such a one a Shrew The Dormouse is a beast which endeth his old age every winter and when summer cometh reviveth again which some have therefore made an embleme of the resurrection They are exceeding sleepie and fatted with it Their hair is short and in colour variable onely their bellie is alwayes white and for mine own part I ever thought them to be no bigger then an ordinary mouse but in Gesner and Topsell they are said to be greater in quantitie then a squirrell The Alpine Mouse or Mouse of the Alps is of neare akin to the dormouse it is almost as big as a conie and not much unlike it saving that their eares be shorter and their tails longer Munster doth thus expresse their natures saying they be much given to sleep and when they are waking they be either playing and skipping to and fro or else doing something as gnawing with their teeth scraping with their nails or else carrying in their mouthes either straw rags or soft hay or any such thing that may be good for their nests When they live thus wilde upon great hills and mountains and are minded to go and seek their prey or food one of them standeth in an high place to give notice to the rest when any enemie or danger approacheth which when he perceiveth he barketh and then all the other catch as much hay as they can and so come running away But this is strange Sometimes one and sometimes another lieth down upon his back and as much soft hay as may be laid upon his breast and bellie he claspeth and keepeth fast with his feet and then another of his fellowes getteth him by the tail and so with his prey draweth him home About autumne they begin to hide themselves in their nests the which they make so close that no aire or water can hurt them then do they lie hidden and sleep all the whole winter yea six or seven moneths without any meat rolling themselves round like unto a Hedge-hog Now the inhabitants do oftentimes observe and mark the place of their nests and then digging away the earth untill they come at them they finde them so oppressed with deep sleep that they carrie them and their nests to their houses where they may keep them sleeping untill the summer if they do not heat them at the fire or the warm sunne The Rat is foure times so big as the common Mouse being of a blackish duskie colour and is thought to belong to the kinde of Mice Howbeit you shall sometimes see a Rat exceeding the common stature and this the Germans call The King of Rats because of his larger and greater body adding moreover that the lesser bring him meat and he lieth idle and yet this perhaps may be in respect of his old age not being able to hunt for himself There be of Dogs divers kindes neither is there any region in the world where these are not bred And of these kindes some are for hunting some for fighting and defence some for the Boar Bull or Bear some for the Hare Cony or Hedge-hog and some for one thing some for another They bring forth their young ones blinde which is in regard that they scratch their dams when they stirre in their bellies which makes her therefore bring them to their birth before they be come to their eyes or sight as is in many other creatures beside and from hence arose the proverb Canis festinans caecos parit catulos The hastening bitch brings forth blinde whelps Which is a fit embleme against all rashnesse and overhastie speed in any action for haste makes waste and sudden projects are seldome ripe But of all Dogs the Grey-hound may take the first place he exceedeth in swiftnes and is preserved for the chase This is the Grecian Dog called therefore a Grey-hound The Hound is of a duller temper whose onely glory is in his smell and of Hounds there be sundry sorts but the least is the Beagle In the next rank we may place the Spaniel whereof there is one for the land and another for the water and as the Hounds were for beasts so these are for birds Then there is the Mastive whose vertue is onely in his courage strength sharpnesse of teeth and aptnesse to encounter with any fierce wilde beast against which they are so cunning that but seldome or never do they part any other then victours and how fiercely they will fight with their own kinde is apparent nay sometimes they have fought in defence of their masters and either kept them safe from harms or detected the murderers or else in some other kinde shewed their love as a little after I purpose to declare And these perhaps at the first were the chief kindes unlesse the Tumbler and Lurcher ought to be reckoned by themselves for concerning Mongrels they came by commixtion of kinde which is thought to be first invented by hunters for the amendment of some naturall defect which they might finde in those of a single kinde And then again these Mongrels mixing likewise diversly have produced those severall seeming kindes which now are And as for your mimick Dogs it is supposed that they came first from a commixtion of Dogs with Apes or Apes with Bitches Other Curres have had either Wolves Foxes or some such like creatures to be their Sires as many think Lysimachus had a Dog which waited on him both in the warres and elsewhere at the last dying and being brought to be burned according to the custome of the countrey the poore Dog leaped into the flames and was burned with him And when Titus Sabinius with his
family was put to death at Rome one of their Dogs would never be driven from his master and being offered meat he took it up and carried it to the mouth of his dead master endeavouring to have him eat and when the dead carcase was cast into the river Tyber the Dog swam after labouring by all means possible to lift his master out of the waters Neither is it other then a credible report out of Plutarch that as King Pyrrhus marched with his armie he happened to passe by a Dog which guarded the body of his master who lay dead upon the high-way which when the King had beheld a while as a pitifull spectacle he was advertised that this was the third day of the poore Dogs fasting and watching there Whereupon the king commanded the body to be buried and the Dog for his fidelitie and love to be kept and cherished Not long after the King happened to make a muster of his army to see how well they were furnished and the Dog being by remained sad and mute untill at the last he espied the parties who murdered his late master and then he flyeth upon them with such a wonderfull force and fury that they had like to have been torn in pieces by him turning himself now this way and then that way earnestly beholding the King as if he desired justice howling most pitifully whereupon the King caused the said men to be committed examined and racked and then not able to conceal it any longer they confesse the fact and are put to death The like also was once known to happen in France for one gentleman having killed another the murder was discovered by the Dog of the slain man in like manner as before onely the circumstances did a little differ for the Dog and the suspected person were put both together in a single combate for clearing of the matter and when the murderer could not defend himself from the fury of the detecting Dog he confessed the whole matter in memory whereof the manner of the fight was painted forth and kept to be seen many yeares after Of Apes there be sundry kindes and many of them in some thing or other do resemble either men or women as the common Ape the Satyre the Norvegian monsters the Prasiâ—…n Apes which are bred in India the Bearded Ape living in Ethiopia and India likewise the Cepus or Martin Munkey all which either in their shape or countenance come neare to men as also the Sphinx which hath an head face and breasts like to a woman Besides which there is the common Munkey the Baboon the Tartarine not much differing from a Baboon and the Satyrine monster bearing the shape of a terrible beast and fit onely to be joyned to the story of Satyres Then again there is the Simivulpa OF Apish-Fox and in America a very deformed creature which may be fitly called the Bear-Ape and another which is called the Sagoin Unto which as not impertinent may be also added the Lamia which is a beast living in Lybia with paps a face head and hair like a woman though in every other part like a terrible beast full of scales and a devourer of such passengers as at unawares shall happen to come neare her And as for the Fayrie tales of the Lamiae they nothing belong to this creature neither be those common reports of Sphinx his riddle any other then fables Howbeit there is a true storie of one whose name was Sphinx slain by Oedipus which he could not do till he had scaled that strong fort which she had firmly builded for her own defence and unto all but Oedipus it proved as a thing impregnable As for aenigma what it was the margent sheweth But to proceed and leave this digression the common Apes must be again remembred They be very nimble and active creatures and for their greatest delight it is to imitate man in his actions About the mountains called Emodii which be certain hills in India there is saith Munster a large wood full of great Apes which when Alexander and his souldiers saw standing afar off they supposed them to be enemies and therefore were purposed to fight and set upon them but some natives of that countrey being present shewed to Alexander that it was nothing but an assembly of Apes whose contention was to imitate such things as they had seen whereupon the King turns his battell into laughing and his fighting into merrie disport and pastime Moreover I have sometimes read how these Apes are taken The hunters intending to catch them use to come and set full dishes of water within sight of the Apes and then they begin to wash their eyes and face which done the water is suddenly taken and conveyed away and in the stead thereof pots full of birdlime or such like stuffe are set in their places Then the hunters depart a little from them and the Apes observing how they before had washed their face and eyes come now presently down from the trees and thinking to do as the men did they daub and anoint their eyes and mouthes with birdlime so and in such a manner that neither knowing or fearing any thing they are suddenly made a prey and taken alive And again there is also another device mentioned by Plinie and this it is They who use to catch Apes take unto themselves buskins and put them on in the sight of the Apes and so depart leaving behinde them other buskins inwardly besmeared with some such stuffe as was mentioned before with which they mix some hairs that the deceit may not appeare then do the Apes take them up and plucking them upon their legs and thighes they are so besnared and entangled that thinking to runne away they are deceived Aelianus also writeth that when the Lions be sick they catch and eat Apes not for hunger but for physick And for the Ape this also is her practise when she hath two young ones to be nourished at oncâ—… that which she loveth best shall be alwayes held and hugged in her arms but the other being lesse regarded is more roughly used and glad to sit upon the back of his damme open to all dangers little or nothing respected and yet it so happeneth that the neglected one commonly fareth best For whilest the other is hugged too hard his damme killeth him with kindenesse but this rejected one liveth although he wanteth the taste of foolish cockering So have I sometimes seen it amongst the fond sort of partiall parents that with too much love they often hurt some of their children whilest the other left unto their hardest shifts thrive and prosper in a harmlesse course Non amo nimiùm diligentes is therefore worth observing because omne nimium is turned into vitium and the readiest way to be soonest hurt is to be fostred up in the fondest manner For as he that flatters an usurer claws the devil so he that spareth the
it were well for such men as they have lived like beasts if they could likewise die like beasts never to live again but alas they cannot here is their misery that they onely leave their pleasures behinde them and not their sinnes For when Esau sells his birthright for a messe of pottage he may wish for a blessing and not finde it although he seek with tears or when Balthasar spends his time in damned quaffing in stead of quenching his thirst he may drown his soul for unlesse there were weight in vanitie or substance in deceiving pleasure these men put into the balance are found too light Wherefore let not eating and drinking take away our stomacks to spirituall things but let us eat to live and live to praise the Lord. The flesh of this Ierf is nothing wholesome for food but their skinnes are precious and used of great men to be worn in garments and as for his name the natives call him Ierf but in Latine he is Gulo videlicet à gulositate from his gluttonous feeding And one thing more is yet observable When the hunters come to catch him they lay a fresh carcase in the place where he haunteth that being filled and as it were wedged in between his trees they may set upon him and take him with ease So is it often a wretched mans case to perish by means of that wherein he took delight and suddenly to be taken away even whilest he follows his wonted course But this is strange for are men still ignorant and yet to learn what this life is It is a joâ—…ney unto death and every day doth make it shorter and sometimes the nearer it cometh the further we are from thinking of it For securitie is a great enemy to prevention and upon thought that we shall not die yet it comes to passe that we seldome prepare to die at all Make not therefore the last first and first last lest by being caught in thy sinnes neither first nor last thou come at heaven The Gorgon or Catoblepas is for the most part bred in Lybia and Hesperia It is a fearfull and terrible beast to look upon it hath eye-lids thick and high eyes not very great but fiery and as it were of a bloudie colour He never useth to look directly forward nor upward but alwayes down to the earth and from his crown to his nose he hath a long hanging mane by reason whereof his looks are fearfull Moreover his feet be cloven and his body all over as if it were full of scales As for his meat it is deadly and poysonfull herbs and if at any time this strange beast shall see a Bull or other creature whereof he is afraid he presently causeth his mane to stand upright and gaping wide he sendeth forth a horrible filthy breath which infecteth and poysoneth the aire over his head and about him insomuch that such creatures as draw in the breath of that aire are grievously afflicted and losing both voice and sight they fall into deadly convulsions Topsell Next unto which I may mention the Cockatrice or Basilisk and so come to serpents Now this is the King of serpents not for his magnitude or greatnesse but for his stately pace and magnanimous minde for the head and half part of his body he alwayes carries upright and hath a kinde of crest like a crown upon his head This creature is in thicknesse as big as a mans wrist and of length proportionable to that thicknesse his eyes are red in a kinde of cloudy blacknesse as if fire were mixt with smoke His poyson is a very hot and venimous poyson drying up and scorching the grasse as if it were burned infecting the aire round about him so as no other creature can live neare him in which he is like to the Gorgon whom last of all I mentioned And amongst all living creatures there is none that perisheth sooner by the poyson of a Cockatrice then man for with his sight he killeth him which is because the beams of the Cockatrices eyes do corrupt the visible spirit of a man as is affirmed which being corrupted all the other spirits of life coming from the heart and brain are thereby corrupted also and so the man dieth His hissing likewise is said to be as bad in regard that it blasteth trees killeth birds c. by poysoning of the aire If any thing beslain by it the same also proveth venimous to such as touch it onely a Weasell kills it as in the description of that beast I have already shewed That they be bred out of an egge laid by an old cock is scarce credible howbeit some affirm with great confidence that when the cock waxeth old and ceaseth to tread his hens any longer there groweth in him of his corrupted seed a little egge with a thin filme in the stead of a shell and this being hatched by the Toad or some such like creature bringeth forth a venimous worm although not this Basilisk that King of serpents Plinie describeth the Cockatrice not to be above twelve inches long in which regard Mr Topsell thinketh this not to be the main and great Cockatrice but rather that worm bred out of the former egge wherein I wish every mans judgement to be his own Yet though this be a nocuous creature it much magnifieth the power of God in being able to make such a one by the power of his word and as for us both concerning this and all other hurtfull things to us I say is shewen the miserable condition which sinne hath made us subject to for before they might have been Adams play-fellows all at his beck at his service and command none having power to hurt him because there was no thing in him then for harm to work upon But 〈◊〉 proceed The Boas is a serpent of an extraordinary bignesse it can swallow down a little childe whole without breaking any bone for as Topsell writeth out of Solinus in the dayes of Claudius the Emperour there was such a one taken at Rome with a childe in his belly The Latiâ—…es call it Boa and Bova from Bos because it desireth and so do all Snakes and Adders to suck the milk of Cows insomuch that he will never kill them untill their milk be dryed up and then he will eat their flesh as before he had suckt their milk The Dragon is the greatest of all serpents as some write and hath sharp teeth set like a saw but his strength resteth in his tail rather then in his teeth and therefore when he fights with the Elephant he claspeth close about his legs and sometimes he killeth him but most commonly both die together the Elephant for want of bloud and the Dragon through too great fill of bloud or else by the weight of the Elephants body falling on him He is sometimes in the waters and lieth often in his den he sleepeth seldome but watcheth almost continually he devoureth
Scorpion hath sometimes been bred in the brain 244 Scriech-owl 403 Sea Why seas be salt and rivers fresh 201. Why Springs be fresh 206. Why the Sea ebbeth and floweth 208 209 sequent Why fresh Waters and all Seas do not ebbe 218 Seasons of the yeare 354 Securitie Small securitie on earth by an example from the Squirrell 454 Selenite a stone which follows the course of the Moon 294 295 Sentida an herb of a strange propertie 273 Servius Tullius his head burning as he slept 97 Sethim It was that wood whereof Noah made the Ark 276 Seven a number of rest 21 Shad 388 Shark 378 Sheep and their natures 482. How sheep may catch 〈◊〉 rot 155. 252 Shepherds purse 270 Shooting starres a Meteor 92 Shrew A medicine to be used at the death of a Shrew 263 Shrew-mouse and his properties shewed 467 Sight Sight dulled by Leeks 262. Rue eaten fasting is very good for the sight 248. See Eyes Signes Signes of heaven must not be abused 351 sequent Silver the best mettall next to Gold 288 Sinne. We should weep for sinne by an example taken from the Hart 481. We should not sleep in sinne by an example taken from the Sea-Elephant 371. When the baits of sinne are swallowed they must be vomited up again by an embleme from the Scolopendra 384. The sweetnesse of sinne in the end is bitter by an example from the Beare eating hony 477. Those who are taken away in the very act of sinne what they are like unto 485 Sinner A sinner though blinde in life seeth in death by an example taken from the Mole 462 Sivet-cat or the Zibeth 463 Skirret 264 Sleet and the cause thereof 162 Slow-worm 490 Smaradge Plinie makes many kindes of this stone 293 Snapdragon an herb of a strange propertie 272 Snow 160. The matter of Snow 161. Why Snow is white ibid. Snow in the mountains and rain in the valleys both out of one cloud together with the cause thereof 162 Societie ought to be amongst men by an example taken from the Stork 399 Sole and Whiting 387 Sorrell and the vertues thereof 270 Sorrow An embleme concerning those who sorrow to part with earth for heaven 459. 481 Sothernwood and the qualities thereof 254 Soul The Soul breathed into man infused in the creation and created in the infusion 499. God stampt his image in the Soul ibid. 500. Souls Souls cannot appeare after death 94 95 South-winde 182 Sowbread an herb of a strange propertie 262. 272 Sow-thistle and the vertues thereof 267 Sparrow and his nature 409 Speare-wort the beggars herb 260 Spheres A figure shewing their motion 317 Sphinx and the meaning of Aenigma 472 Splene A medicine for the splene 274 Spring The Spring described 355. The creation was not in the Spring 30. 32 Squirrell described with his properties 453 Starling 402 Starres 311 312 sequent The Starres not to be worshipped 312. Their matter and motion 315 320. They be nourished by the waters above the heavens and how 321 322 323 324. The reason of their differing heights 324 325. Their offices 327. 334. 354. Why they seem to twinkle 332. They work upon this inferiour world 334 sequent New Starres 107. 114 115. 119. The signification of Cassiopea's Starre 108. 114 Steel and what it is 289 Stitch. Good to give ease to one troubled with a stitch in the side 247 Stomack Good to strengthen the Stomack 250. Good to help digestion 396 Stone in the body with â—… medicine for it 387. 254 Stones what they are their kindes c. 290 sequent They live not a vegetative life 291. Common Stones ibid. Precious Stones 292. A Stone which followes the course of the Moon 294. A Stone which will cool seething water 296. A compassionate Stone and the reason thereof ibid. 297. A Stone of power to draw gold 299. The Loadstone 297. The Bloud-stone ibid. Stories A Storie of a Sea-woman 375. A storie of a Boy and a Dolphin 380. A storie of a Sparrow 409. A storie concerning Cock-fighting 411. A storie of a Lion 438. Another of a Lion 440. A storie of a dying Usurer 459. A storie of two much familiaritie amongst Cats 464. A storie of a Bishop eaten up with Mice 466. A storie of a loving Dog 470. Another ibid. Another 471. A storie shewing how Alexander was deceived by Apes 472. A storie of a Man saved from death by a Beare 475 Stork 399. Lessons to be learnt from the stork ibid. Strange A rule to be observed in Strange sights 131 Students Mint good for students 255 Sturgeon 384 Su a strange beast in the new-found world 454 Sulphurwort it is good for young children 260 Summer described 356 Sunne Whether the Sunne be the fountain of light 329. Why the Sunne hath sometimes seemed to dance 333. The appearance of many Sunnes 130. Their cause 131. What they signifie ibid. Swallow 406. What strange things some have written of the swallow 407. It is said that she taught men first to build 408. They cure the blinde eyes of their young ones with an herb viz. Celandine 261 Swam-fisk a fish so called being the most greedy of all fishes 372 373 Swanne The nature and qualities of the Swanne 413 414 Swine eat no Turneps 263 Sword-fish 370 T TAmarisk It is of great vertue for the hardnesse of the splene or milt 274 Tanners An herb for Tanners in the dressing of Leather 257 Tarragon 264 Tarantula and his strange properties 425 Teeth Good against the tooth-ach 261. 267. How to scoure the Teeth and kill the worms in them 251 Temper Waters of a strange temper 220 221 Tench 388 Terebinth or the Turpentine tree 279 Thirst. An herb very good for the thirstie 269 Thrive The thriving of a man that upon occasion is of two trades The embleme is taken from the flying fish 382. Some men thrive in a course which to the vulgar seems contrary by an example taken from the Sturgeon 384 Throat Good for a sore throat 253 Thrush 402 Thunder what it is 122. A difference in Cracks 123. Thunder sometimes without Lightning and so on the contrarie ibid. How this may be 124. The making of the Thunder-stone 125. See more in the word Lightning Thyme and the vertues thereof 259 Time what it is 45. Times when the World should have ended according to some mens foolish fancies 18. 22 23 24 c. Tinne 290 Toad An antipathie between the Toad and Rue 248 Tobacco and the kindes thereof Where it was first found together with the names qualities and vertues thereof 264 265. The Indian women take no Tobacco 266. The time when it came first into England and by whom it was first brought ibid. A precious salve to be made of the green leaves 265. A lesson for quaffers ibid. Tongue 498. The Tongue hath brought many to mischief 413. Fair tongues false hearts 443 Topaz a very strange stone which stancheth bloud 295 296 Tophus 292 Torch a burning Meteor 89 Torpedo a
benumming fish 383 Tortoise 374 Tragelaphus 481 Treacherie Treacherous persons like to the Polypus 385. Like to the Ape 401. Like to the Hawk ibid. Trees and their properties 273 274 275 276 277 278 279 280 281 282. Trinitie 46 47. The Trinitie shewed in making of Man 496 Trouble One patient in trouble what he is like 299 Trout The Trout commended 388. The Trout like one that loves to be flattered 389. Wanton Wenches like to the Trout ibid. Troy and the ruines thereof lamented 240 Turcois a precious stone good for weak eyes it will also shew whether he that weareth it be well in health 296 Turnep 263 Turtle 408 Tyger and his properties 441 V VAliant He is truely valiant that can overcome himself 441 Vapours their nature and why they be warm 87 Veins and Arteries how they differ 497 Vermilion 300. The Romanes used to paint their gods with Vermilion ibid. Vertigo How to cure it 261 Violets and their vertues 269 Viper 490 Virginia Dogs 447 Vitriol 304 Unicorn of the sea 370 Unicorn of the land 435. That there is such a beast 436. A description of the Unicorns horn ibid. How to catch the Unicorns 437 Urine Dill is good to provoke Urine 249 Use of things is often times turned into an abuse 265. We ought to make the best uses of the strangest things 227 131 132 W WArts and their cure 244. 263 Wasps 423 Watery Meteors 142 Water-cresses and their vertues 253 Waters Waters above the heavens 62 63 64 65 sequent Their use and profit 322 323. The Waters gathered together 190. How they were gathered together 191. How to one place seeing there be many Seas Lakes and Rivers 192. Whether they be higher then the earth 194. Whether there be more Water then earth 199. The benefit and use of Waters 207. Why fresh Waters do not ebbe and flow 218 Water used in stead of Vineger 220. Water used in stead of burnt wine ibid. Water making drunk ibid. A Water deadly to beasts and not to men 221. A killing and a purging Water ibid. A Water making horses mâ—…d ibid. A cold Water setting cloth on fire ibid. A Water which is hot enough either to boil rost â—…r bake ibid. A Water which maketh oxen white 222. A Water which changeth the colours either of sheep or horses ibid. A Water cold in the day and hot in the night 223. A Water which turueth wood into stone 224. Poysoâ—…ing Waters ibid. A Water which makes cattell give black milk 224. A Water which makes men mad 225. A Water which spoils the memorie ibid. A Water procuring lust ibid. A Water causing barrennesse ibid. Weasell and his properties 460 461 Well A strange wâ—…ll in Idumea 224 West-windeâ—… qualitie 183 Whale 366. Their kindes 367 c Wheat rained 147 Whirle-windes Storm-windes and fired Whirle-windes 185 186 Willow and Willow-garlands 274 Willow-wort and his properties it is of a contrary nature to the herb Betonie 270 Winde in the bodie how to expell it 249 Winde Divers opinions concerning Winde 168 169. Wâ—…nde is more then the motion of the aire 171. Poets fictions concerning Winde 172. How God bringeth the Windes out of his treasures 169. The Winde not moved by Angels 170. Why it useth to rain when the winde is down 174. What Winde is upon what causes it dependeth and how it is moved 173. Why we cannot see the matter of Winde 177. How that place is to be understood in the 3 of John concerning the blowing of the Winde 178. Aire moved augments the Winde 174. How the Windes are moved and by what 175. In what place the motion the Winde beginneth 176. Particular windes 177. Why the winde bloweth not alwayes one way ibid. Oppositâ—… ibid. Oblique windes ibid. Whisking windes ibid. The division names and number of the Windes 178. Mariners reckon two and thirtie Windes 179. The nature and qualitie of the Windes 181. The effects of a long-continuing Winde 184. Why the East and North windes bring rain sometimes for a whole day together 183 Windows of heaven opened in the Floud and what they were 69 Winter described 357. A warm Winter hurtfull 161 Witches they sell windes to sea-men 153 Wood-pecker how she useth to unwedge the hole of her nest 258 Wolf and his properties 447 Wolf-bane and the strange properties thereof 251 Wooll rained and how 152 Woman She was made after the image of God as well as the man 500. How she is said to be the glorie of the Man ibid. Why she was made out of a Rib 501. Wherein a womans rule ought to consist 501 502. Childe-bearing women Sage is good for them 247. The smell of Dragon very bad for those who are newly conceived with childe 262. The herb Sow-bread is also very hurtfull and causeth instant abortion ibid. How a doubting woman may know whether she be with childe 263. How a woman burying her husband may save her credit 256 World The World not eternall and must also end 2. The manner how it must end 4. Impostours concerning the end 18 sequent When it was created 28 sequent Why it was not made perfect in an instant 50 51. It decayeth daily 78 79 Worms in the belly with means to cure them 253. 255 Worms rained and how 147 Wren 402 Y YArrow and the properties thereof 267 Yeares The examination of the name length divers beginning and kinde of Yeares 360 361 362 363 Z ZAnchie his opinion of the Iewish tradition which they take from the Rabbin Elias 13. His opinion of certain strange and prodigious rains 154 Zebra a beast of an excellent comelinesse 446 Zibeth or the Sivet-cat 463 FINIS Plato in 〈◊〉 a Lib. 1. de calo cap. 10. 12. â—…b 2. 1 lib 8. I hâ—…s 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 coâ—… b Lib. de mundo c Pareus on Gen. * Inaniasoph smata ad obscurandam veritatem ingeniosâ—… magis quà m solidâ—… excogitata Pareus ibid. Lâ—…ret lib. 6. Gen. 1. 1. Du Bartaâ—… first day The manner of the worlds ending is shewed * 2. Pet. 3. 10. * Rom. 8. 21 22. * Psal. 102. 26. * Hier. on 〈◊〉 1. Cor. 15. 53. Job 19. 26. * Rom. 8. 21. The creatures remaining at the worlds ending See also Dr. Willets Hexap on Rom. chap. 8. quaest 34. a Pot. Mart. â—…oc câ—…m * Zach. 14. 7. b Pet. Mart. â—…x châ—…soss * Esay 60. 19. Revel 21. 23. c Part. in Apoc. cap. 21. Matth. 5. 5. d Dr. Willet Hexap in Rom. * Revel 4. 14. * Gen. 28. 12. * Matt. 17. 3. Of the time when the world endeth * Luke 21. 3â—… 2. Pet. 3. 10. 1. Thess. 5. 2. Revel 16. 15. a De verit Christ. Relig. †It was favoured by Justin Martyr Ireneus Lactantius Hierome c. but disallowed by Ambrose and Augustine See Augustine in exposit Psal. 90. b 〈◊〉 Tom. 7. Praelect de fine seculi c Note that the yeares from the Creation are now many more 2. Pet. 3. 4 * 1. Cor. 15. 12.
at the rising of the Sunne Fromond Met. lib. 6. Du Batt a Halo Graecis 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 nominatur hoc est Area quoniam ut Seneca testatuâ—… apud veteres terendis frugibus loca destinata fere rotunda suerunt Latini Coronam vocant quia rotundâ plerumque constat figurâ sidera cingere atque coronare videtur The signification of Circles f They are very seldome seen about the Sunne because of winde in the day time or because the Sunne either draweth the vapours too high or else disperseth them too much In the yeare 1104 there was a blazing starre and 4 circles about the Sunne which was a signe of the new kindling malice again between Henry the first King of England and his brother Duke of Normandy Stow in his chron The efficient cause of the Rain-bow The materiall cause The formall cause The colours in the Rain-bow Moon-bows The finall cause How to judge of the weather by the rain-bow The derivation of Iris signifying the rain-bow The rainbow was before the Floud A grosse absurditie of some who think that there shall be no rain nor rain-bow 40 yeares before the worlds end What the Jews do at the sight of the rain-bow a On Gen. chap. 9. pag. 898. b Dr. Willet on Gen. a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 naâ—… â—…hilosoph b Quâ—… clara sunt alboque apparent colore 〈◊〉 visum movent quâ—… vero nigra obscura sunt minus cum afficiunt c Si magna fuerit vorago si non it a magna hiatus nonâ—…natur Titclman a It is said that clouds have sometimes fallen down to the earth with great noise to the teâ—…rour damage of such as had them in their Zenith which clouds came but from the highest part of the lowest region yet neverthelesse they were generated in the middle Region but waxing very heavie have sunk down by little and little till at last they seem to fall no further then the lowest Region But this is seldome They may also fall by drops through their own weight b Nigredo in nubibus ob vaporum densitatem oritur quâ—… lumen collustrans non admittit Et sic é contrá â—…it Albor viz. è vapore subtiliore parùm conspissato quem radius facillimé peâ—…etrat â—…quabiliter in illum spaâ—…gitur Goclen Disâ—…us Phys. c 〈◊〉 rubedo 〈◊〉 significat quia rubedo nubem raraâ—…t estâ—… solis 〈◊〉 ejúsque 〈◊〉 abâ—… esse â—…tat Sed 〈◊〉 rubedo pluâ—…ias 〈◊〉 ventos promiâ—…tit quia vapores humidarum sub densarum 〈◊〉 absumi non 〈◊〉 Ibid. The height of the clouds How the clouds naturally hang in the aire a This may be seen if any will but assay to poure water from an high place Ordinary and extraordinary rains Prodigious rain Worms Frogs Fishes Wheat b Paragraph â—… art 3. and elsewhere c Fulk in his Meteors Milk * Which may the sooner be done in summer and in hot countreys Flesh. Bloud d Lanquet â—…tow c. Object Answ. Wooll Stones Iron Earth Red crosses e Ruâ—…finus Histor. Eccles. lib. 1. cap. 39 f Theod. Histor. Eccles. lib. 3. cap. 20. Reasons concerning Red crosses at other times g Lib. 4. cap. 6. * So also in Westphalia ann 1543. at Lovane 1568. ipso Pentecostes die And in the yeare 1571 in duione Embdensi in Frisus Orientalibus See Fromond Meteor Lib. 5. cap. 6. art 3. The devil many times worketh in the Aire * Psal. 78. 49. How it comes to passe that the deviâ—…s knowledge is farre beyond mans * Matth. 8. 31. Job 1. 12. h Saxo Grammat Olaus magnus * Ephes. 2. 2. Exod. cap. 7 8. i Sentio inquit tales 〈◊〉 is verâ—… prodigioâ—…as esse fieri 〈◊〉 solâ Dei potentiâ eoque iram Dei portendere qualis fuit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 pluit sulphure igne supra Sodomam alias urbes aut etiam 〈◊〉 praestigiâ—… Deo permit tenâ—…e fieri Zanch. Tom. 3. lib. 3. cap. 5. quâ—…st 6. Thes. 3. Why dew is but in the morning and at evening Why no dew is a signe of rain a Titâ—…lm 〈◊〉 lib. 6. cap. 6. How sheep mayâ—… get a deadly flux 〈◊〉 of dew Three kindes of dew Manna Of the Israelites Manna b 〈◊〉 oâ—… 〈◊〉 The Israelites Manna was not without miracle in many respects * Psal. 78. 25 26. How Manna is said to be Angels food c Myrrhina is a wine mixed with Myrâ—…he and other sweet â—…pices How Manna is said to come from heaven Hony-dew d Lib. 11. cap. 12. e It riseth with Sol about the end of July f Which is about the 17 day of April Ladanum the third kinde of sweet dew g Plin. lib. 12. cap. 17. Blasting dew h Magir. Phys. Com. lib. 4. cap. 6. a Lib. 1. de Meteâ—… câ—…p 10. Hot things cooled are soonest congealed Arist. Met. lib. 1. cap. 11. The matter of snow Why snow is white a Fulks Meteors b Havenreut com In Arist. de Met. lib. 1. Warm winters hurtfull c Lib. 17. cap. 2. One and the same cloud may give the mountains snow and the valleys rain The reason of sleet Crystall d Fulk Met. What hail is Winter-hail how and where it is made The sundry fashions of hail-stones Hail doth many times much hurt How the heathen used to secure their fields from hail and other harms * Psal. 107. 34 35 Charms unlawfull The descending mist is twofold Why mists and fogs stink A rot for cattell and an harm to men How by a mist to judge of the weather * And that 's the reason why when it hangs on the stubble or the like places we see so many little spiders busie in it for the matter doth as it were feed them and perhaps through the Sun-beams generate them The first opinion Answer a Dâ—… dicit Deum producere ventos de thesauris suis hoc tantùm innuit ventorum materiam exhalatiâ—…nen in terra tanquam thesauro inclusam esse unde Deâ—…s ventos producit per causas intermedias naturales quae sunt calor solis terrâ—… Havenreut Psal. 74. 17. 18. A socâ—…nd opinion * Psal. 104. 3. †Ibid. * Psal. 18. 10. †Ibid. vers 14. Answer â—… third opinion Answer b Metâ—…r lib. 1. cap. 13. Winde is more then the motion of the aire Another opinion * The reason of which fiction was because the clouds and mists rising about the sâ—…en Aeolian Islands of which he was king did alwayes portend great store of windes c Metamor lib. 1. a Lâ—…d de origâ—… font cap. 3. The cause and effects of an earthquake The definition of winde b Met. lib. 2. cap. 4. Why it useth to rain when the winde is down The aire moved augments the winde How the windes are moved and by what c Havenâ—â—us de Mes. lib. 2. cap. 4. Where 〈◊〉 motion of the winde beginneth Particular windes Why the winde bloweth not alwayes one way Opposite 〈◊〉 Oblique windes Whisâ—…ing windes The matter of winde not
obvious to the sight d Fulk e Iste locus vult quâ—…d ventus sensibus deprehendi nequeat certus locus ubi ventus flarâ—… incipias desiâ—…at notari non possit vis enim ejus tantùm sentiatâ—… Havenreut * Psal. 104. 24. a Plin. Lib. 2. cap. 47. b Origan de effect cap. 5. c Ibid. d Lib. 2. cap. 22. The mariners reckon 32 windes f Orig. Ephes. lib. de effect cap. 6. a Windes blowing into the haven and famous citie of Panormus or Palermo in Sâ—…cilie b In a book called a generall description of the world c Origan Ephem de effect cap. 5. Their qualities according as they commonly blow Norths qualitie Souths qualitie Easts qualitie Why the East and North windes sometimes bring rain for a whole day West windes qualitie d Lib. 1. carm od 4. The effects of a long-continuing winde at certain seasons A signe of plague and earthquake a Lib. 2. cap. 48. Typhon * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quod est verberare 〈◊〉 Prester A conclusion repeating the sum ne of this dayes work a Aeneid lib. 1. Questions concerning the waters which are said to be gathered together Quest. 1. Which sheweth how the waters were gathered together * Ezek. 1. 16. * Job 38. 10. Quest. 2. Shewing how they were gathered to one place * Esay 40. 22. * Dr. Fulk in his Met. lib. 4. saith that some lakes are so great that they bear the names of seas among which he reckoneth this Caspian sea a As Duina major and Duina minor called also Onega Look into the maps of Russia or Moscovia b Viz. the Euxine Baltick and Scythian or Northern seas Quest. 3. Shewing whether the waters be higher then the earth c Herodot in â—…terpe in lib. sequent Plin. lib. 6. cap. 39. * Psal. 104. d Met. lib. 1. cap. 14. e De subtil lib. 3. pag. 123. Quest. 4. Shewing whether there be more water then earth * 2. Esdr. 6. 42. Quest. 5 Shewing upon what the earth is founded * Wisd. 11. 22. * Job 26. 7. Quest 6. Shewing why the sea is salt and rivers fresh i 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Arist. de Met. lib. 2. cap. 1. k Lyd. dâ—…â—…ig foâ—… cap. 8 9. l viae under the water The sea made salt by the substance of the ground that is my opinion Of rivers and from whence they proceed Arist. de Met. lib. 1. cap. 13. n Lib. 2. cap. 103. †Aëriall vapours are partly a cause of springs o Goclen Disput. Phys. cap. 39. ex Plat. in Phaed. * Plato did but expresse Moses meaning Gen. 7. 11. in other words How springs come to be fresh seeing the sea is salt p Putei prope mare falsi longiùs minùs procul nihil Ial Scal. exercitat 50. The benefit and use of waters Quest. 7. Wherein is shewed the cause of the ebbing and flowing of the sea q Zanch. Tom. 3. lib. 4 cap. 1. quest â—… thes 1. * Note that this is pertinent to the openest seas as the Atlantick and Southseas and especially between the Tropicks where is a constant Easterly breath caused by the superiour motions which draw together with them not onely the element of fire but of the aire and water also r De placiâ—… â—…los lib. 3. cap. 17. Dr. Fulk 〈◊〉 liâ—… 4. t Antiquarum lecti 〈◊〉 lib. 29. cap. â—… u Iuâ—… Mart. Greg. Naz. Aescâ—…ines orat contra â—…tes L. Valla Dialog de lib. arbitriâ—… c. x Livie saith that it is not seven times a day but â—…emere in modum venti nunc huc nunâ—… ilâ—…c rapitur lib. 8. dec 3. The earth hath no circular motion * Viz. chap. 4. sect 2. and chap. 5. sect 2. Paragraph 1. y Lâ—…sberg 〈◊〉 iâ—… 〈◊〉 terra diâ—…r pag. 7. * Wiâ—…d 11. 22. * Joâ—…h 10. 12 13. Esay 38. 8. z Motus terra is nothing but Germinatio terrâ—… Gen. 1. * Ecclus. 46. 4. * Bish. Hall * Revel 16. 5. This is the most probable cause why the Sea ebbs and flows z Sir Christopher Heydon in his defence of Judiciall Astron. chap. 21. pag. 432. a Idem pag 433. cap 21. Why all seas do not ebbe and flow Why fresh waters do not ebbe and flow Psal. 107. 23 24. Water used in stead of vineger Water used in stead of burnt wine Water which makes men drunk A water which is deadly to beasts but not to men A purging killing water A water which makes horses mad A cold burning water A water which will both rosâ—… and bake A river which breedeth flies A water which maketh oxen white Water which maketh sheep black or white Water which makes them red b Plin. lib. 31. cap 2. See also 〈◊〉 2 cap. 103. A water like to the former A water cold in the day and hot in the â—…ight A water turning wood into stone A river which rests every seventh day c In his 3 day A strange well in Idâ—…mea Poysoning waters d Plutarch See also Just. lib. 12. and Curt. lib. 10. A water which makes cattell give black milk Poysoning waters Water which makes men mâ—…d A water that spoils the memorie A water which procureth lust A water which causeth barren nesse and another which causeth the teeth to fall c. e For this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2 where 〈◊〉 you may 〈◊〉 of â—…nother that sharpeâ—…eth the senses Fountains of oyl Waters of a strange temper Of the fountain Dodone Waters which work miracles * In which he was deceived it was rather to trie their strength and make them hardie as Verstegan well declareth Restitâ—… cap. 2. pag. 45. f Dâ—… 〈◊〉 cap. 51 52. g Dâ—… 〈◊〉 3 day We ought to make the best uses of the strangest things i Hâ—…iditas non est â—…stimanda ex irrigatione sed ex propria deâ—…nitione quod scilic et difficulter alieno termino clâ—…uditur Iam videâ—…us â—…quam includi faciliùs certis limitibus quà m aâ—…rem ergo c. Quod autem aqua magis â—…ectat id fit propter crassiorem substantiam Cùm eâ—…im humiditas aqua in denâ—…ore materia hâ—…reat ideo est magìs unita proinde efficacioâ—… ad humectandâ—…m Aeris verò humiâ—…tas tam crâ—…ssam substantiam siâ—…ut â—…qua non habet propâ—…erea tantum madorem corporibus 〈◊〉 â—…equit quod quandoque exiccâ—…re videatur id non est per se sed per accidens 〈◊〉 per exhalationes c. k Efficiens est calor solis simul ignis subterraneus quibus suppeditant tres superiores planetae l Causa materialis est spiritus seu vapor in terrae visceribus conclusus exire contendens m Forma est ipsa concussio terrae agitatio exhalationum terrae inclusatum The cause of earthquakes n Origaâ—… de effect cap. 9. ex Holy c. The kindes of earthquakes n Plâ—…t 〈◊〉 Tiâ—… A digression touching the new found world The attendants of an earthquake Signes of an earthquake Effects of earthquakes p
the seas seemeth no bigger then a flying dove They shew of the same greatnesse in India in England They enlighten all parts of the earth alike and appeare the same indifferently to all and therefore must needs be of an extraordinarie bignesse And secondly as soon as the sunne ariseth all the starres are hid which shews his greatnesse And further if the sunne were not of such greatnesse as Artists give unto it how could all the world be enlightned by it Sect. 2. Of the Matter Place and Motion of the Starres with other like things which are also pertinent Artic. 1. That they consist most of a fierie matter and are cherished by the waters above the heavens BY Heaven and Earth which Moses saith were created in the beginning we are to understand all and every part of the whole Universe whose matter was created at once and made as it were the store-house for all things else as alreadie in the first dayes work I have declared Howbeit some contend that the starres and lights of heaven were not made out of any matter either of the earth or the waters or of heaven or any thing beside but immediately out of nothing Which certainly is scarce agreeable to the whole scope of creation For in the beginning the matter of all was made And perhaps as it was proper to the earth to bring forth herbs grasse and trees at the command of God in the third dayes work so also perhaps it was as proper to the heavens in some sort to afford the matter of the luminaries and otherstarres as soon as God said Let there be lights in the firmament of heaven And herein those Philosophers were not much amisse who defined the starres to be the thicker part of their orbs Yet neverthelesse not so to be followed as if the heavens afforded any solid orbs unto which as the knots in a tree or the nails in a wheel or the gemme in a ring the starres are joyned For besides that which I have alreadie spoken of the whole space within the concavitle of the firmament viz. that it is but aire yet purer and purer the higher we climbe which I proved in the second day both by opticall demonstration height consumption and motion of Comets with the like besides that I say there be other reasons also to declare it For not onely certain Poets have confessed as much calling the Skie Spirabile coeli numen as we reade in Virgil or a Liquid heaven as Ovid tells us saying Et liquidum spisso secrevit ab aëre coelum nor yet is it confirmed by the testimonie of Plinie alone who followed herein the opinion of ancient Philosophers but even reason also and exquisite modern observations have made it plain For suppose there were solid orbs or that this concave were not filled with liquid aire would it not follow that there should be as it were penetratio corporum or that one Sphere should cut another in sunder Questionlesse it would For the Planets move so up and down that they often enterfeir and cut one anothers orbs now higher and then lower as Mars amongst the rest which sometimes as Kepler confirms by his own and Tycho's accurate observations comes nearer the earth then the Sunne and is again eftsoons aloft in Iupiters sphere And doth not Tycho's Hypothesis and Systema of the world make it also plain that the sphere of the Sunne must be interfected by the orbs of Venus Mars and Mercury which could not be if the heavens were impenetrable or differed toto genere from this soft aire wherein we live and move And now see this figure framed according to Tycho's demonstration Thus Tycho describeth the wayes and situations of the Planets The starres therefore move in the heavens as birds in the aire or fishes in the sea and the like yet so as their bounds are set which with great regularitie to the admiration of their Maker they constantly come unto depart away from in their appointed times and determined orders and therefore said to be set in the firmament of heaven vers 17. those of the fixed ones being as equally distant one from another now and at this very day as at the first when God Almightie made them and those of the wandring ones as constant in their courses as ever yet from the first time they began to move Whereupon saith Tycho Semper judicavi naturalem motûs scientiam singulis Planetis congenitam vel potiùs à Deo inditam esse quâ in liquidissimo tenuissimo â—…there cursûs sui normam regularissimè constantissimè observare coguntur Yet neverthelesse we may not think that therefore they are living creatures animated with a soul and endued with life and reason but rather and in very deed as even now I said let this be an argument to shew and declare the admired wisdome of their Makeâ—… according to that of David in the 19 Psalme Coeli enarrant gloriam Dei The heavens declare the glorie of God and the firmament sheweth his handie work For The sunne cometh forth as a bridegroom out of his chamber and rejoycath as a giant to runne his course And yet again it is a thing very probable that those amongst the Iews who made cakes for the Queen of heaven who burnt incense to the Sunne Moon Planets and host of heaven who dedicated horses and chariots to the Sunne did not onely do it because they worshipped them as gods but also because like some amongst the Philosophers and others amongst the Fathers they thought them to be living creatures Sure we are that Moses puts them not into his catalogue amongst such creatures as he reckoneth to have life and therefore who will say they live They may move and yet be inanimate as fire which is of power to move waste and consume aire inclosed is able to shake the earth water carrieth ships boats and barges flows this way and that way yet is no living creature hath no soul minde or reason Also it may be granted that they are daily nourished by vapourie humours and are as it were fed by such kinde of food yet no living creatures For no man will denie a transmutation of the elements but rather easily grant that they one nourish another for conservation of the Universe And in such a kinde or not farre differing it is that the stars may be nourished by watrie humours and have their beams made wholesome to the world although they be no living creatures All which may be seen more largely proved in Lydiats Praelectio Astronomica where having discoursed of the matter of the heavens and starres as also of the portions and transmutation of the elements he proveth that there is such a penurie of water here below that it cannot be supplied ad mundi non dicit aeternitatem sed diuturnitatem propter inaequales elementorum transmutationes not supplied without the consumption of the aire were not the waters divided The one