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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A13820	The historie of foure-footed beastes Describing the true and liuely figure of euery beast, with a discourse of their seuerall names, conditions, kindes, vertues (both naturall and medicinall) countries of their breed, their loue and hate to mankinde, and the wonderfull worke of God in their creation, preseruation, and destruction. Necessary for all diuines and students, because the story of euery beast is amplified with narrations out of Scriptures, fathers, phylosophers, physitians, and poets: wherein are declared diuers hyerogliphicks, emblems, epigrams, and other good histories, collected out of all the volumes of Conradus Gesner, and all other writers to this present day. By Edward Topsell.	Topsell, Edward, 1572-1625?	1607 (1607)	STC 24123; ESTC S122276	1,123,245	767

pole of the swines eare be hanged about ones necke it will preserue him from all cough afterwards They were wont as Dioscorides writeth to seeth a Gudgen in a swines belly by the eating whereof they staied the falling downe of the seat If a man eat the lunges of a Boare and a sow sodden and fasting they will preserue him from drunkennesse all that daye and likewise the sayed lunges doth keepe the soles of the feete from inflammation which are caused by streight shooes It also healeth the piles clifts and breaking of the skinne and kibes of the feet by laying to it a Bores gall and a swines lungs If a man drinke the liuer of a sow in wine it saueth his life from the biting of venemous beastes Also the liuer of a Bore burned with Iuniper-wood cureth all the faults in the secrets and drunke in Wine without salt after it is sod stayeth the loosenesse of the belly The gall of swine is not verye vehement for as the whole body is waterish so also is that neither is there any beast heerin comparable vnto it except the wild that is enimy to Vlcers ripening the sore scattering the euill humors and resisting the bitinges of venemous Beastes Also the gall of Bores layed to brused Articles doth procure vnto them wonderfull ease One shall take away an old scurffe very easily by the gall of a sow which farrow if it be mingled with the iuyce of the hearbe Siclamine and there withall to rub the heade wel in a Bath To keepe haire from growing vpon the browes when it is once plucked off Take the gall and fatte of a Bore and put them into a smooth-thicke-earthen-pot and of the sharpest Vineger and oyle of Almonds foure oun●es a peece poure that into it and then bind the mouth of the pot close with a thicke linnen cloath so letting them stand seuen daies together afterwards open them againe and you shall finde vpon the top a certaine scum like Gold wherewithal annoint those places which you woulde haue remaine balde after that you haue beaten it togither in a morter likewise the gall of a Barrow hogge or Bore pigge doeth scatter Apostumes and bunches in any part of the body The gall of a Hog dryed in an Ouen and layed vpon a Carbuncle as much as will couer it it cleaueth fast to the sore and draweth out the root and core thereof It is likewise good against the vlcers of the eares except the Vlcer be of long continuance and then it is good to vse a sharper gall such as is a sheepes an Oxes a Beares or a Goats they mingle herewithall sometimes oyle of roses but for olde wounds in the ears It is good to take one part of the best hony and two parts of the sharpest Vineger and so let them boile on the fire three walmes afterwards set them farre off from the fire vntill it leaue seething or boiling and then put Nitre vnto it so long til you know by the Vapor that the Niter is settled then seeth it againe vppon a gentle fire so as it boyleth not ouer and lastlye put into the eares of this gal of a Bore or of a Goate and then seeth it the third time taking it from the fire when it is Luke-warme infuse it into the eares and this gall must not be the gall of a sow except of such as neuer bare pig Also this gall being dried doth cure the Haemorhods and kibes There are also certaine slifters or clifts in the hooues of horsses which are cured in one nights space by applying vnto them the gal of a Barrow-hog mingled with the yolkes of Egges The blather of swine will prouoke vrine and of a Boare pig sod rosted or boyled and so eaten and drunke causeth a man to containe his vrine which neuer could before When the head of a man is exulcerated and runneth take the bladder of a Barrow-hog with the Vrine and cast the same into the fat cut small afterwards mingle it so with salt that it may appeare all white then binde it vp fast and digge a hole in the Garden about a cubit deepe wherein bury and couer the sayde gall and so let it rest forty or fifty daies in the earth till the matter therein contained be putrified then take it out and melt it in a dish and keepe the ointment that ariseth of it Then wash the head all ouer with lye vnto the intent that it may not be offended thorough the Acrimony thereof mingle it with new wine or with water and then when it is dry after such washing annoint it with the sayde ointment and so will the noxious and vncleane haires fall euery one off and new pure ones arise in their place and you must be very carefull to keepe the head from colde They were wont to giue the stones of swine against the sauling sicknesse but then they were first dryed and afterwards beaten to pouder and giuen to the sicke party in swines milke so he was commaunded to abstaine from wine many daies before and after he receiued it for many daies togither In Savoye they take the stones out of a yong hog when they geld him and scorch them at the fire so long till they may bee crushed to peeces and this they prescribe to be drunke in wine against the Collicke Some giue the powder of Bores stones to men and women to increase copulation and conception The Magicians or wise men of the East prescribed to be drunke for the incontinency of vrine the pouder of a Bore pigs stones out of sweete Wine and then to make water in a Dogs kennell which while he is doing to speake to himselfe these words Ne ipse vrinam faciam vt canis in suo cubile but I will leaue this superstition as not worthy to be Englished Some take the bladder of a Sovv burned to pouder and drunke for this infirmity and some a certaine liquerish poison which droppeth from the Nauell of a Bore pig immediately after it is farrowed Bacon beaten together and made like meale is good against a continuall cough or staieth bleeding at the mouth Bacon broath is also mingled with other medicines against the gout and they make an implaister of Bacon to scatter grauelly matter in the bladder The bones of Bacon about the hippes are kept to clense and rubbe teeth and by burning of them not onely the loose teeth in men are fastened but also the wormes in the teeth of beasts are killed If a horse bee troubled with the Glaunders or any such liquid matter running out at his mouth and nose then let the broath wherein Bacon and swines feete hath bin sod be mixed with hony and so strained afterward let it be beaten well togither with Egges and so infused into the left Nosthrill of the horsse Gagnerius prescribeth an emplaister to be made of cheese and the feet of swine against the shrinking vp of the sinnewes The ancle bone of a sow being burned vntil it

into these countryes their partes and coulor They differ in appearance from all other Apes hauing a long beard and a large taile hairye at the ende being in India all white Albertus which the Indians hunt with darts and being tamed they are so apte to playe Erasmus that a man woulde think they were created for no other purpose whereuppon the Graecians vse in prouerbe an ape hauinge a beard for a ridiculous and foolish iesting man Of the Prasyan Apes While he was in the ship bounde with chaines other of the company hauing beene on land to forrage brought out of the Marishes a Bore which Bore was shewed to the Munkey at the first sight either of other set vppe their bristles The hatred of these apes the raging Munkey leapeth vpon the Bore and windeth his tayle round about the Bore with the one arme which he had left caught him and helde him so fast by the throte that he stifled him There is another kind of Munkey for stature bignesse and shape like a man for by his knees secret parts and face you would iudge him a wilde man such as inhabit Numidia His loue and the Lapones for he is altogither ouergrowne with haire no creature except a man can stand so long as he he loueth women and children dearly like other of his own kind and is so venereous that he will attempt to rauish women whose Image is in the former Page described as it was taken foorth of the booke of the description of the holy Land Of the Cynocephale or Baboun CYnocephales are a kind of Apes whose heads are like Dogges and their other part like a mans wherefore Gaza translateth them Canicipites to wit Dog-heads In the French German and Illyrian tongues they are called of some Babion and Babuino in Italian is a small kinde of Ape Aristotle Pliny but Aristotle saith that a Cynocephale is bigger then an Ape Description In English they are called Babouns There are many kinds of Baboons whereof some are much giuen to fishing Arrianus so that they will tarry a whole day in the deepe hunting for fish and at length come foorth with a great multitude Againe there are some which abhorre fishes as Orus saith which kind Prester Iohn ad Rom. pontif the Egiptians Emblematically vse to paint when they wil decipher a Sacrifice Some there are which are able to write and naturally to discerne Letters The industry of Babouns which kind the old Egyptian Priests bring into their Temples and at their first entrance the Priest bringeth him a writing Table a pensil and inke that so by seeing him write he may make try all whether he be of the right kind and the beast quickly sheweth his skill wherefore in auncient time they were dedicated to Mercury the fained god of learning Orus a secret in their nature The reason why the Egyptians doe nourish them among their hallowed thinges is that by them they may know the time of the coniuction betwixt the Sunne and Moone because the nature of this Beast is to haue a kind of feeling of that coniunction for after that these two signs meet the male Baboun neither will looke vp or eat but cast his eies to the ground as it were lamenting the rauishment of the Moone with disdainefull passion In like maner the female who moreouer at that time sendeth foorth blood out of her wombe of conception whereupon the Aegiptians signifie by a Baboun the Moone the rising of the Moon by his standing vpright holding his hands vp toward heauen and wearing a crowne on his head because with such gestures doth that Beast congratulate her first appearance Another cause why they bring them into their Temples is because of the holynesse of circumcision Circumcision natural in Babouns for it is most true though strange that they are brought forth circumcised at the least wise in some appearance whereunto the Priestes giue great heede to accomplish and finish the work begun The Aegiptians also paint a Baboun sitting Orus to signifie the Equinoctium for in euery Equinoctium they barke or howle twelue times in one day and so many times make water Another secret wherefore the Aegyptians also vpon their Hydrologies or Conduits did graue a Baboon out of whose yard or priuy part yssued forth water and they also say that this Beast so norished among their holy things dyeth not at once like other Beasts but euery day one part by the space of 72. dayes the other partes remaining in perfection of nature which the priestes take and put in the earth day by day A Wonder till all perish and be consumed Orus The West region of Lybia and Aethiopia haue great store of Cynocephals Baboons and Acephals beasts without a head whose eies and mouth are in their breasts Herodotus The contrey of their abod and Breed Strabo In like sort in Arabia from Dira Southward in a promontorie there are many Baboons and in the continent called Dachinabades beyond Barygaza and the Easterne Mountaines of the Mediterranean region and those which Apollonius saw betwixt the riuers Ganges and Hyphasis seeme to be of this sort in that he describeth them to be blacke haird Dog-faced Arrianus and like little men wherewithall Aelianus seemeth to be deceiued in saying that there are men Cynoprosopoi Dog-faced whereas it is the error of vulgar people to thinke that babouns are men differing onely in the face or visage Concerning their members or parts in seueral they are black and hairy rough skinned Their anatomy and parts Albertus red and bright eyes along Dogges face and teeth stronger and longer then Dogges the face of a Lyon must not be attributed to this beast nor yet a Satyres though it bee more like It hath a grim and fearefull face and the female hath naturally her wombe cast out of her body and so she beareth it about all her life long their voyce is a shrill whizing for they cannot speak yet they vnderstand the Indian language Their voyce Aelianus vnder their beard they haue a chin growing like a Serpents and bearding about the lips like a Dragon their hands are armed with most stronge nailes and sharpe they are very swift of foot and hard to be taken wherefore they wil run to the waters when they are hunted being not ignorant that among waters they are most hardly taken they are very fierce and actiue in leaping biting deep and eagerly where they lay hold neither do they euer growe so tame but that they remaine furious also They loue and nourish sheepe and Goates and drinke their milk they know how to take the kernels out of Almonds Their loue and food Walnuts and Nuts as well as men finding the meat within though the shel be vnprofitable they will also drinke wine and eat flesh sod rosted or deliciously dressed Their actiuity in swimming and they will eat Venison which

with Lard in small peeces with Auri pigment killeth Wolues and mice Croscentiensis and in some countries for the better dispersing of the poyson set drinke beside the same whereof as soone as they tast they swel and die but I haue seen them die without drinking at all Mice and wolues if they tast of the wilde Rose and drinke after it doe not not onely dye but also fall into madnesse and bite their fellows communicating the quality of the disease to euery one they bite Flesh cut into little peeces fryed with butter in a frying pan Cardon and afterwards when it is colde adde halfe so much soft pitch thereto and mingle t together rowling vp the flesh in the pitch then distribute it vpon little boords and set it in the place and places whereunto the mice do much resort and water beside it and when that they haue tasted of it a little they are so eagerly a thirst that they drinke and dye The like I may say of Rats-bane Quicke-siluer Sublimate and Precipitate and diuers other thinges and thus much may suffice for the ketching taking and killing of myce whereunto I may adde the vse of their members and parts not medicinall but naturall although I haue touched it heeretoforein part The Scythians were woont to be clad with the skinnes of mice and Wolues and it is obserued that when mice cry and screeketh aboue their ordinary custome it presageth an alteration and change of the Weather and thus much shall suffice for their naturall discourse Hauing thus discoursed of the nature of the vulgar mouse The morrall story of mice I may also adde the morral vse thereof as I find it recorded among learned writers deliuered eyther in Historie or in prouerbe It is reported of Glaucus the sonne of Minos and Pasiphae that while he followed a mouse to take her he fel into a vessel of hony but after Polyades the prophet by laying an herb on him raised him againe to life Hatto an Arch Bysh of Metz in the frontiers of Germany was destroyed by mise or as other say by Rats Tzetzes but the words of Textor are Hatto Archiepiscopus Moguntinus à muribus fertur deuoratus And the error may proceed because that Mus is a generall word for the Rat and mouse and therefore they which haue thought it an vnreasonable thinge that so small beastes should destroy so mighty a prince haue rather attributed it to the Rats then to the mice but they ought to haue rememberd that it was an extraordinary iudgement of God to punish a cruell couetous wretch and that therefore it was as easie for him to make the little mouse his instrument as the great Rat for we read that Herod was deuourd by worms and other haue beene eaten vp with lyce Adrian the Pope was strangled by a flye and therefore Hatto an Archbishop might aswel perish through the afflicting hand of God by a multitude of mice Heliogabalus that wretch among other his monstrous desires and Tyrannicall commaundes Lampridius affirmeth that vpon a time he commaunded that there should bee brought vnto him ten thousand mice aliue a thousand weasils and a thousand Sorices or wilde fielde-mice so base were his thoughts that while he should haue attended his Emperiall calling and hearkened to the suits and complaints of poore distressed subiects he was busied in killing of mice and therefore in ancient time a mouse-killer was taken for an opprobrious speech for a base sluggish and idle companion The like is reported of a Moscouian Emperour who to afflict his people and to gather money from them commanded the Cittizens of Musco to bring him a pecke full of fleas whereunto the people answered that if they could take so many yet could not they keepe them together from leaping away And mice haue beene brought into publique spectacle because at Lauinium they gnawed asunder the shields of siluer and it was afterward iudged a prodigie for there followed the Marsicke war When the Scythians vnderstoode that Darius with his great army stoode in neede of vittailes they sent vnto him a Prouant-master with these presents or gifts a birde a mouse a frog and fiue darts At the receipte whereof the Persians wondered what should be meant thereby and demaunded of the messenger the meaning of the mystery But the Ambassador answered he knew not any signification of his presents but onely receiued charge to deliuer them and make hast backe againe and to bid the Persians if they were wise to lay their wits together to know and vnderstand the meaning thereof When the Persians heard him say so they fell to consultation Darius gaue his opinion that the mouse signified the earth Herodotus the frog the waters the bird horses and the darts warlike furniture and strength of forces and that the Scythians by sending all these vnto them yeelded that the Persians should be Lords of their land sea horses and themselues and that therefore they ought to be of good courage But one Gobrias a graue Councellor who was one of the seuen that slew the Magi or Wizards aunswered otherwise for his coniecture was more true for said he O persae nisi effecti vt aues subuoletis in coelum aut vt mures subeatis terram aut vt ranae insiliatis in paludes non remeabitis vnde venistis his sagittis confecti O ye Persians except ye become like birds to flye vp into heauen or like mice to creepe into the earth or like frogs to leap into the waters you shall not returne back againe vnto the place from whence you came and so indeede it came to passe We reade 1. Sam. 5. that when the Arke of God was taken by the Philistimes and they kept it in their Temple at Hazzah the hand of the Lord fell vppon their Princes and hee smote them with Emrods in the bottome of their belly that is God punished them with mice for he afflicted their bodies and the fruites of the earth for which cause Cap. 6. they aduise with themselues to send back againe the Arke of the Lord with a present of Golden Mice Ouid Homer and Orpheus call Apollo Smyntheus for the Cretians in auncient time called Mice Smynthae Now the fained cause thereof is thus related by Aelianus There was one Crinis which was a Priest of Apollo who neglected his dayly sacrifice for the which through aboundance of mice he was depriued of the fruites of the earth for they deuoured all At which losse Apollo himselfe was moued and taking pittie of the miserie appeared to one Horda a Neate-heard commaunding him to tell Crinis that all the cause of that penury was for that he had omitted his accustomed sacrifice and that it was his duetie to offer them againe diligently or else it would be farre worse afterward Crinis vpon the admonition amended the fault and immediatly Apollo killed all the deuouring Mice with his darts whereuppon he was called Smyntheus Other againe

say that among the Aeolians at Troas Hamaxitus they worshiped mice and Apollo both together and that vnder his Altar they had meate and nourishment and also holes to liue in safely and the reason was because once many thousands of mice inuaded the corne fieldes of Aeolia and Troy cutting downe the same before it was ripe and also frustrating the husbandman of fruite and hope this euill caused them to goe to Delphos to aske counsell at the Oracle what they should doe to be deliuered from that extremitie where the Oracle gaue answere that they should goe sacrifice to Apollo Smyntheus and afterward they had sacrificed they were deliuered from the mice and that therefore they placed a statue or figure of a mouse in the Temple of Apollo When the Troyans came out of Creete to seeke a habitation for themselues they receaued an Oracle that they should there dwell where the inhabitants that were borne of the earth should set vpon them the accomplishing whereof fell out about Hamaxitus for in the night time a great company of wilde mice set vpon their bowes quiuers and strings leathers of their bucklers and all such soft instruments whereby the people knew that that was the place wherein the Oracle had assigned them to build the Citty therefore there they builded Ida so called after the name of Ida in Creete and to conclude we doe reade that mice haue beene sacrificed Sacrificing of Mice Scoliast●●yco for the Arcadians are said first of all to haue sacrificed to their Gods a mouse and secondly a white horse and lastly the leaues of an Oake And to conclude Aelianus telleth one strange storye of mice in Heraclea that there is not one of them which toucheth any thing that is consecrated to Religion or to the seruice of their Goddes Insomuch that they touch not their vines which are sacred to religious vses but suffer them to come to their naturall maturitye but depart out of theysland to the entent that neither hunger nor folly cause them to touch that which is dedicated to deuine vses And thus much for the naturall and morall story of the mice now followeth the medicinall The medicines of the Mouse Albertus The flesh of a mouse is hot and and soft and very little or nothing fat and doth expell blacke and melancholy choler A mouse being flead or hauing his skin pulled off and afterwards cut through the middle and put vnto a wound or sore wherein there is the head of a Dart or arrow Marcellus or any other thing whatsoeuer within the wound wil presently and very easily exhale and draw them out of the same Mice being cut and placed vnto woundes which haue beene bitten by Serpents or put to places which are stinged by them do very effectually and in short space of time cure and perfectly heale them Mice which do lurke and enhabite in houses being cut in twaine and put vnto the wounds which are new made by Scorpions Dioscorides doth very speedily heale them A yoong mouse being mingled with salt is an excellent remedy against the byting of the mouse called a shrew which biting horses and labouring cattell it doth venome vntill it come vnto the hart and then they die except the aforesaid remedie be vsed Pliny The shrew also himselfe being bruised and laid vnto the place which was bitten is an excellent and very profitable remedy against the same A mouse being deuided and put or laid vpon warts will heale them and quite abolish them of what kinde soeuer they shall be The fatte which is distilled from mice Marcellus being mixed with a little goose-greace and boyled together is an excellent and medicinable cure for the asswaging and mollifying of swellings and hard lumps or knots which doe vsually arise in the flesh Yoong mice being beaten into small bits or peeces Pliny and mixed with olde wine and so boyled or baked vntill they come vnto a temperate and mollifying medicine if it be annointed vppon the eye lids it will very easily procure haire to grow thereon The same being vnbeaten and roasted and so giuen to little children to eate will quickly dry vp the froath or spetle which aboundeth in their mouth Dioscorides There are certaine of the wise men or Magi who thinke it good that a mouse should bee flead and giuen to those which are troubled with the tooth-ache twise in a moneth to be eaten The water wherein a mouse hath beene sod or boyled is very wholesome and profitable for those to drinke who a●e troubled with the inflammation of the iawes or the disease called the Squincie Mice but especially those of Affricke hauing their skinne puld off and well steeped in oyle and rubbed with salt and so boyled and afterwards taken in drinke are very medicinable for those which haue any paine or trouble in their lightes lungs The same medicine vsed in the aforesaid manner is very profitable for those which are troubled with a filthy mattery and blooddy spetting out with retching Pliny Sodden mice are exceeding good to restraine and hold in the vrine of infants or children being too aboundant if they be giuen in some pleasant or delightsome drinke Mice being also cut in twaine and laid vnto the feete or legs of those which are gowtie is an excellent remedie and cure for them Mice being dryed and beaten to powder doth very effectually heale and cure those which are scalded or burned with hote water or fire Cypres nuts being burned and pounded or beaten into dust Marcellus and mixed with the dust of the hoofe of a male or female mule being dryed or stamped small and the oyle of mirtle added vnto the same with the dirt or dung of mice being also beaten and with the dung of a hedge-hogge new made and with red arsenicke and all mingled together with vinegar and moist or liquid pitch and put vnto the heade of any one who is troubled with the aboundance and loose hanging downe or ouergrowing of his haire it will very speedily and without any difficultie ease him of the same The dust of a mouse pounded and beaten to powder and mingled with a certaine oile is very good and wholesome for those which are grieued with a Tettor or scabbe which may ouerrunne their whole body Pliny The braines or taile of a mouse being dried and beaten to powder is very medicinable for those which are troubled with the casting and shedding of their haire as also for the disease called the Foxes euill but this operation will worke more effectually if the shedding of the haire doth happen by any venom or poyson The same in operation hath the whole body of the mouse being vsed in the aforesaide manner There is also another excellent remedy to cure and heale the aforesaid disease which is this to take mice which inhabite in houses and to burne or dry them in a pot Galen and then beat them and being

and of the Chesnut tree and pilled white strakes in them and made the white appeare in the rods Then he put the rods which he had pilled into the gutters and watering troughes when the sheepe came to drinke before the sheepe and the sheepe were in heate before the rods and afterwards brought foorth yoong of partie colour and with small and great spots And Iacob parted these Lambes and turned the faces of the flocke towards these partie-coloured Lambes and all manner of blacke among the sheepe of Laban so he put his owne flockes by themselues and put them not with Labans flocke And in euery Ramming time of the stronger sheepe Iacob layed the rods before the eyes of the sheepe in the gutters that they might conceaue before the rods but when the sheepe were feeble he put them not in and so the feebler were Labans and the stronger were Iacobs Vpon this action of the Patriarke Iacob it is cleare by testimony of holy Scripture that diuers colours layed before sheepe at the time of their carnall copulation doe cause them to bring forth such colours as they see with their eyes for such is the force of a naturall impression as we reade in stories that faire women by the sight of Blackamores haue conceaued and brought forth blacke children and on the contrary blacke and deformed women haue conceaued faire and beautifull children whereof there could be no other reason giuen in nature but their onely cogitation of and vpon faire beautifull men or blacke and deformed Moores at the time of their carnall copulation So that I would not haue it seeme incredible to the wise and discrete Reader to heare that the power of water should change the the colour of sheepe for it being once granted that nature can bring forth diuers coloured lambs being holpen by artificial means I see no cause but diuersitie of waters may wholy alter the colour of the elder as well as whited sticks ingender a colour in the yoonger And thus much shall suffice to haue spoken concerning the Summering of sheepe For their Wintering I will say more when I come to entreate of their stabling or housing Of the copulation of sheepe Now then it followeth in the next place to discourse of copulation or procreation for there are diuers good rules necessary obseruations whereby the skilfull shepheard must be directed which he ought to obserue for the better encrease of his flocke First of all therefore it is cleare that Goates will engender at a yeare old and sometime sheepe also follow that season but there is a difference betwixt the lambes so engendered the other that are begotten by the elder therefore at two yeare old they may more safely be suffered to engender and so continue till they be fiue yeare old and all their lambs be preserued for breeding but after fiue yeare old their strength and naturall vertue decreaseth so that then neither the damme nor the lambe is worthy the nourishing except for the knife for that which is borne and bred of an old decayed substance will also resemble the qualities of his sires There be some that allow not the lambe that is yeaned before the parents be foure yeare olde and so they giue them foure yeares to engender and breede namely till they be eight yeare olde but after eight yeares they vtterly cast them off and this opinion may haue some good reason according to the qualitie of the region wherein they liue for the sooner they begin to beare yoong the sooner they giue ouer and herein they differ not from Cowes who if they breede not till they be foure yeare olde may continue the longer and for this cause I will expresse the testimony of Albertus who writeth thus Oues parere vsque ad annum octauum possunt si bene curentur vel in vndecimum facultas pariendi protrahitur quod tempus est tota fere vita oues in quibusdam tamen terris marinis vbi sicca salsa habent pascua viuunt per vigintie annos pariunt That is to say sheepe may breede vntill they be eight yeare olde if they be well kept vntill they be eleauen which time is for the most part the length of their daies although in some countries vpon the Sea costes they liue till they be twenty yeare old and all that time breed yoong ones because they feede vpon dry and salt pastures and therefore Aristotle also saith that they bring forth yoong ones all the time of their life The time of their copulation as Pliny and Varro write is from May 'till about the middle of August and their meaning is for the Sheepe of those hot countries For in England and other places the Shepheardes protract the time of their copulation and keepe the Rammes and Ewes asunder till September or October because they would not haue their Lambes to fall in the cold Winter season but in the spring and warme weather and this is obserued by the auncient Shepards that if the strongest Sheepe doe first of all begin to engender and couple one with another Aristotle Albertus that it betokeneth a very happy and fortunate yeare to the flocke but on the contrary if the younger and weaker Sheepe bee first of all stirred vp to lust and the elder be backward and slow it presageth a pestilent and rotten yeare They which drinke salt Water are more prone to copulation then others Helpes for the copulation of sheep and commonly at the third or fourth time the female is filled by the Male. There is a great similitude and likenesse betwixt Sheep and Goates First for their copulation because they couple together at the same time Secondly for the time they beare their young which is fiue months or a hundred and fifty daies also many times they bring forth twins like Goates and the Rams must be alwaie so admitted as the Lambes may fall in the spring of the yeare when all things grow sweete and greene and when all is performed then must the Males be seperated from the females againe that so all the time they goe with young they may go quietly without harme In their conception they are hindered if they bee ouer fat for it is with them as it is among Mares and Horsses some are barren by nature and others by accident as by ouer much leanenesse or ouermuch fatnesse Plutarch maketh mention of an ancient custome among the Graecians that they were wont to driue their Sheepe to the habitation of Agenor to be couered by his Rammes And I know not whether he relate it as a story or as a Prouerbe to signifie a fruitefull and happy Ramming time I rather encline to the latter because he himselfe saith in the same place that Agenor was a wise and skilfull King Maister of many flockes whose breede of Sheepe was accounted the best of all that Nation and therefore either they sent their females to be couered by his Rammes or else they

to deface the colour of an adulterated Vnicornes horne being made by some with Iuory either macerated or boyled with certaine medicines by Set-foile as I suppose and other things by which meanes hauing scraped it I found within the true substance to be yuory Antonius Brasauol●s writeth that all men for the most part doe sell a certaine stone for Vnicornes horne which truely I deny not to be done who haue no certainty there in my selfe notwithstanding also it may come to passe that a very hard and solid horne about the point of a sword especially which part is preferred to inferior as also in Harts horns to which either stones or yron may yeild such as authors attribut to the Rhinocerot And other Vnicornes may bear the shape of a stone before it selfe For if Orpheus concerning Harts horns rightly doubted whether the same or stones were of greatest strength I think it more to be doubted in the kind of Vnicornes for the hornes of Harts are not onely solide as Aristotle supposed but also the hornes of Vnicornes as heere I haue said The horne of an Vnicorne is at this day vsed although age or longinquity of time bath quite abolished it from the nature of a horne There are some which mingle the Rhinoceros with the Vnicorne for that which is named the Rhinoceros horne is at this day in phisical vse of which notwithstanding the Authours haue declared no effectual force Some say that the Vnicornes horn doth sweat hauing any poison comming ouer it which is false it doth perhaps sometimes sweat euen as some solide hard and light substance as also stones and glasse some external vapor being about them but this doeth nothing appertaine to poison It is in like manner reported that a kind of stone called the serpents toong doth sweat hauing poison come ouer it I haue heard and read in a certaine booke written with ones hands that the true horne of a Vnicorne is to be proued in this maner To giue to two Pigeons poyson red Arsnick or Orpin the one which drinketh a litle of the true Vnicorns horne will be healed the other will die I do leaue this manner of tryall vnto rich men For the price of that which is true is reported ●● this day to bee of no lesse vallew then Gold Some do sel the waight thereof for a floren or eight pence some for a crowne or twelue pence But the marrow thereof is certainely of a greater price then that which is of harder substance Some likewise do sel a dram thereof for two pence halfe penny so great is the diuersity thereof For experience of the Vnicornes horne to know whether it be right or not put silke vpon a burning cole and vpon the silke the aforsaid horne and if so be that it be true the silke will not be a whit consumed The hornes of Vnicorns especially that which is brought from new Islands being beaten and drunk in water doth wonderfully help against poyson as of late experience doth manifest vnto vs a man who hauing taken poison and beginning to swell was preserued by this remedy I my selfe haue herd of a man worthy to be beleeued that hauing eaten a poisond cherry and perceiuing his belly to swell he cured himself by the marrow of this horne being drunke in wine in very short space The same is also praised at this day for the curing of the falling sicknes and affirmed by Aelianus who called this disease cursed The ancient writers did attribute the force of healing to cups made of this horne wine being drunke out of them but because we cannot haue cups we drinke the substance of the horn either by it selfe or with other medicines I happily sometime made this Sugar of the horne as they call it mingling with the same Amber iuory dust leaues of gold Corall and certaine other things the horne being included in silke and beaten in the decoction of razens and Cinamon I cast them in water the rest of the reason of healing in the mean time not being neglected It is morouer commēded of Physitians of our time against the pestilent feauer as Aloisius Mundella writeth against the the bitings of rauenous Dogs and the strokes or poyson some stings of other creatures and priuately in rich mens houses against the belly or mawe wormes to conclude it is giuen against all poyson whatsoeuer as also against many most grieuous diseases The King of the Indians drinking out of a cuppe made of an Indian Vnicorns horne and being asked wherefore he did it whether it were for the loue of drunkennesse made answer that by that drinke drunkennesse was both expelled and resisted and worser things cured meaning that it cleane abolished al poyson whatsoeuer The horne of an Vnicorn doth heale that detestable disease in men called S. Iohns euill otherwise the cursed disease The horne of an Vnicorne being beaten and boyled in wine hath a wonderful effect in making the teeth white or cleare the mouth being well clensed therewith And thus much shall suffice for the medicines and vertues arising from the Vnicorne OF THE VRE-OXE THis Beast is called by the Latins Vrus by the Germans Aurox The seueral names and Vrox and Grosse vesent by the Lituanians Thur the Scythians Bubri and these beastes were not knowne to the Graecians as Pliny writeth of whom Seneca writeth in this manner Tibi dant variae pectora tigres Tibi villosi terga Bisontes Latisque feri cornibus vri In outward proportion of the body it differeth little from the Bull It is very thick and his back somewhat bunched vp and his length from the head to the taile is short no waies answerable to the proportion of his stature and sides the horns as some say are but short yet blacke The seueral partes broad and thicke his eies red a broad mouth and a great broade head his temples hairy a beard vpon his chin but short and the colour thereof blacke his other parts as namely in the face sides legs and taile of a reddish colour These are in the wood Hercynia in the Pyreney Mountaines and in Mazouia neare Lituania Places of their abode They are cald Vri of Oron that is the Mountaines because their sauage wildnes is so great that they sildome discend from those sauegardes They far excell Buls and other wild Oxen comming neerer to the quantity or stature of Elephants then to the Bull. In resemblance a man would thinke them to be compounded of a Mule and a Hart for their outward resemblance so seem It is said they could neuer be tamed by men although they were taken when they were young yet they loue other heardes of cattel and will not forsake them easily after they haue once ioyned themselues vnto them wherby many times they are deceiued and killed 20. 30. or forty at a time Caligula Caesar brought of these aliue to Rome and did shew them in publike spectacle to the people and at that time they were taken for