a pocket-companion, containing things necessary to be known by all that values their health and happiness being a plain way of nature's own prescribing, to cure most diseases in men, women and children, by kitchen-physick only : to which is added, an account how a man may live well and plentifully for two-pence a day / collected from the good housewife made a doctor, by tho. tryon. good house-wife made a doctor. selections tryon, thomas, 1634-1703. 1694 approx. 36 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 13 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2003-07 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a63808 wing t3193 estc r38375 17351220 ocm 17351220 106407 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a63808) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 106407) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 1105:31) a pocket-companion, containing things necessary to be known by all that values their health and happiness being a plain way of nature's own prescribing, to cure most diseases in men, women and children, by kitchen-physick only : to which is added, an account how a man may live well and plentifully for two-pence a day / collected from the good housewife made a doctor, by tho. tryon. good house-wife made a doctor. selections tryon, thomas, 1634-1703. 24 p. printed for george conyers ..., london : 1694. "licensed, octob. 25th. 1693." "price two pence." "how a man may live for two pence or three pence a day very well": p. 22-24. advertisement: p. 24. imperfect: faded, stained, and torn, with loss of print. reproduction of original in the huntington library. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the 25,363 texts created during phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 january 2015. anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng diet -early works to 1800. diet in disease. 2003-02 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2003-03 aptara keyed and coded from proquest page images 2003-04 mona logarbo sampled and proofread 2003-04 mona logarbo text and markup reviewed and edited 2003-06 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion a pocket-companion ; containing things necessary to be known , by all that values their health and happiness : being a plain way of nature's own prescribing , to cure most diseases in men , women and children , by kitchen-physick only . to which is added , an account how a man may live well and plentifully for two-pence a day . collected from the good housewife made a doctor , by tho. tryon . licensed , octob. 25th . 1693. london , printed for george conyers , at the golden ring in little-britain , 1694. notable things . of consumptions . consumptions are decays of the radical moisture , whereby the natural heat of the stomach is so weakened , that it cannot make a due separation of meats and drinks received , which causes from thence to arise abundance of bad juices or phlegm ; so that no good nourishment can be bred , let the food be never so rich ▪ nor the drink cordial , which all people afflicted find by experience . but these distempers proceed likewise from various causes . as , 1. from over-charging nature with too great quantities of rich food : or in others , by drinking much brandy , wine , and strong drinks , which weakens the natural heat , and destroys the action of the stomach . in others , and idle , sedentary course of life , or want of proper exercises ; lying in bed too long , too warm cloathing , and too soft feather or down beds , which proves always prejudicial to to the health of all persons . it is caused sometimes by too much frequenting the school of venus , provoking nature beyond her ability , and oft-times corrupts her , in her very radix . young married people , as well as the most lewd , are oft caught in this snare , and let this be a caution . others by excessive heats or colds , surfeits and the like accidents : some by fevers and long fits of sickness ; to some through melancholly , grief , or trouble of mind , or despair and envy . some have consumptions hereditary , which is the hardest of all to cure . now when thou findest thy self indisposed , and thy stomach to grow weak , and a general disorder to run through thy whole body , and that thy strength decays ; consider what it was that caused it , whether temperance , or intemperance in meats or drinks , in respect of the quantity or quality , as also their exercises , and all other extreams thou hast inured thy self to : consider further , what air thou hast lived in , where the disease was bred , and by this means thou mayest guess at the cause of thy distemper . and when this is done , thou oughtest gradually to alter for the better , the whole course of thy life ; not in the nature and quality of the meats and drinks only , but in their quantity ; as also thy exercises and the air , as far as the condition of thy life will admit thereof : for change of food , exercises , and airs , work wonders . if withal , you betake your selves to meer simple meats and drinks that are easier of concoction , and generate a freer and firmer substance . i shall now set down what food , drink and preparations are agreeable to the stomachs of sick and languishing persons : and first of milk. which is an incomparable food , and the best way for weak consumptive people to eat it , is raw ▪ take what quantity of milk you please , let it stand open to the air one hour or two , then skimm off the top of it , and eat it with well bak'd bread ; neither toast your bread , nor warm your milk ; except the weather be cold , and then you may make it blood warm , but then do not toast your bread : you may if you please , eat bisket with your milk , but do not eat too great a quantity at once : sometimes you may mix a little water with the milk , and sweeten it with good white sugar : you may eat this three times aday , if you make it your sole food . continue this six or eight months at least ▪ and you will find great benefit by it : for distempers that have been many years generating , cannot be cured in a moment , to prepare milk with wheat-flower , an excellent way . take a quart of new milk , after it has stood five or six hours from the time it was milk'd , put to it a third part of river or spring water , set it on a clear fire ; then take some wheat-flower , and temper it with either water or milk into a batter , and when the milk is ready to boyl , put in your thickning , and stir it a while ; and when it is ready to boyl again , take it off ; then put as much salt and bread to it as you please , then let it cool without stirring it , and it will eat much sweeter : two spoonfuls of flower is enough for a quart of milk and water , make it about the thickness of ordinary milk-pottage . this keeps your body in excellent temper , neither binds nor loosens too much , and it never tires nor clogs the stomach . another way . take a quart of milk and a pint of water , add to it as much oatmeal as you please to have 〈…〉 thickness , thin is best . set it on a 〈◊〉 fire , and when it begins to boyl , take it off , and brew it in two porringers eleven or twelve times , then set it on the fire again , and when it begins to boyl take it off , and let stand a little , and the large oatmeal will settle to the bottom ; then add bread and salt to it , and eat it when it is blood warm : this is an excellent food , agrees well with weak natures , and affords firm nourishment . and if you add at any time to this a new-laid egg or two , beaten with your thickening , and put it in as aforesaid , it will make a rich dish . if you would add eggs to milk-pottage , first put your milk and water into your s●wce-pan , take a spoonful of ground oatmeal , and beat it up with your egg or eggs , with either a little milk or water , and when it is ready to boil , stir it in , as in flowr'd milk , and then you need not brew it ; put a little bread and salt to all your milk meats , but no sugar be sure : this is a substantial and friendly food . observe that milk is best the first half year after the cow hath calv'd , but not so good after taking bull , or conception . milk boil'd by it . it self ▪ is not so good , as when mixt with oatmeal , flower , or water as aforesaid , being not of so cleansing a quality ● the best time to begin milk-diet i think is about march or april . of furmety , viz. vvheat and milk are in themselves two good things ; but ordered with sugar , spice , &c. is not at a●l to be commended , nor near so good as milk , flower and vvater ; the same is to be understood of vvheat butter'd and spiced . of boniclabber . bonic●●●●●● is made by letting your milk stand till it sowers , which will be in twenty-fours hours , if the weather be very hot . it has a pleasant sowerish taste , and must be eaten only with bread , especially by consumptive people . it is excellent against stoppages , and it 's easie of concoction . and ●igests all hard or sweet food ; it cools and cleaneth the whole body , and quencheth thrist to a ●onder , it is the best spoon-meat for consumptive people that i know . and though it may not be so agreeable to the pallat at first , yet a little custom will make it familiar and pleasant . of water-grewel . this is good for consumptive people , and is made as followeth . take a quart of spring or river water , put to it two spoonfuls of oatmeal , then stir it well together , set it on the fire , and when it is ready to boil , take it off , and brew it out of one thing into another ; then let it stand , and the greatest oatmeal will sink to the bottom : then pour it off , and add bread and salt to it , and butter if you please , then eat it when it has stood till it is blood warm . this is an excellent sort of food . observe that milk boiled , is nothing so good as either raw or scalded . an excellent food for all sorts of people , ●ut more-especially ▪ for children and sick people . take a quart of water , two spoonfuls of wheat-flower , and two or three eggs , beat the flower and eggs together with a little water , and when the water begins to boil , stir in your thickning , and keep it stirring till it is ready to boil ; then take it off , and put bread and salt to it , when it has stood till it is blood warm , eat it ; you may put some butter to it , or an egg if you like it best : this is an incomparable food for all sorts of people , it breeds good blood , opens the passages , sweetens the blood , prevents windy distempers and griping pains ; it is next to breast-milk for children , and it is excellent for consumptive people , if they keep to it four or five months or more , and eat nothing else , and drinking three our four glasses of good ale ; let them use gentle exercise , and moderate cloathing , and good sweet hard beds . this , and all other spoon-meats made thin , are best . flummery ▪ is thus made . take three spoonfuls of oatmeal more or less , and put to it a convenient quantity of water , then let it stand till it begins to be sowerish , then take this water and oatmeal , and put it into a vessel , stirring it , and making it boiling hot with a quick fire and when it does begin to rise , brew it to and fro with your ladle to keep it from boiling ; this do about four or five minutes , then take it off the fire , and it 's prepar'd . some eat it with ale , others with cream , milk , and the like , but i think it most beneficial to be eaten with bread only . it removes obstructions , strengthens the stomach , cools the body , openeth the passages , and is excellent good for breakfast in all hot climates : this is good more-especially for weak stomach'd people , and those whose breast , and passages are obstructed by though phlegmy matter . another way to make flummery . take two or three spoonfuls of oatmeal , more or less , and put to it a convenient quantity of water , and let it stand a day more or less ; then pour off that water , and put on fresh four , five , six , seven , eight , nine or ten times ; letting each water remain on your oatmeal a certain time , then they take it off , boil it up , some mix it with cream , and what they please . but this way is not near so good as the former . of bread. the best sort for sick people , is that which is made of wheat-flower , but not too fine dressed ; for then it will be dry and husky ; and your leaven'd bread is much better than that made with yiest ; you may make it after this manner . take what flower you please , make a hole in the middle of it , break then your leaven in ; take as much blood-warm water , as will wet about half your flower , mix the flower and leaven well together , cover it with the remaining flower close ; this do in the evening , and by morning the whole will be well leavened : then add some more blood-warm water as is sufficient , and knead it up very stiff and firm , the more pains you take , the better : when you have so done , let it lie warm by some fire , near two hours , till the oven is ready , then bake it , but let not the oven-mouth be close stopp'd , that the air may have more or less egress or regress . but the best way is to make it into thin cakes , and bake them on a stone , with a wood-fire under . of rye , barley , oats , you may make cakes after the same manner ; put no salt into your bread. of butter butter affords good nourishment ; the best that is for the stomach , is made from may to august : it 's very wholesome , if eaten moderately with bread , or with herbs , roots or the like . take good butter and melt it thick , and put it to your herbs , as you do oyl , and it eats as well and pleasant , and can scarce be distinguished from oyl : this i believe a great many may have cause to thank me for : all butter ought to be well seasoned with salt. cheese affords good nourishment , for healthy , working people , if eaten with good store of bread , and a cup of good drink be not wanting ▪ it is altogether as nourishing as flesh ; it is clean , and of a stronger , firmer substance , and digests a cup of drink better : and he that lives on bread and cheese , intermix'd now and then with flower'd milk , water-grewel , milk-pottage , and raw sallads , seasoned with vinegar , salt and oyl ; and drinks good sound ale and beer not over strong , shall exceed in health and strength him that lives on bread and flesh , and drinks the same liquor . of puddings . the best way of making them is thus . take milk and water , wheat-flower , and eggs , of each a convenient quantity , and put a little salt in ; beat them well together , put this batter into your bag , boil it in good store of water , your potlid off , and over a quick clear fire ; when boil'd sufficient , take it off , butter it , and eat it . bak'd puddings are not so good . of eggs , and their best way of dressing . they are an excellent food , friendly and innocent in operation . dress them as followeth . let your eggs be boiled soft , then break the shell and put them into a dish , and let them stand till they are blood-warm ; then with bread and salt only eat them : a strong stomach may eat them with bread and butter spread upon it , not melted . or you may boil them hard , then pill off the shell , and eat them with salt , bread and vinegar . poaching is a very good way . take an egg , a spoonful of wheat-flower , and beat it well together , then put it into a pint of water boiling hot . stir it together ; then take it off , and eat it with a little bread , salt and butter , and it will make an excellent meal . eggs in a morning supp'd off raw , and bread eaten after them , is very wholsome . of pyes . pear and apple-pyes are wholesome and healthy food , if the fruit be thorough ripe , and made as they ought to be : the best way is thus . take good wheat-flower , make it into a paste with a little leaven or yeast , with milk and water , or blood warm water only , then put it in your apples or pears , and if you please add some carraway or fennel-seeds . in baking , let the oven stand almost open , that some air may come in . when baked , draw them , and cut holes in the top , that the sulphurous atoms , and fiery vapours may pass away , eat them not hot , for they are much better cold . apples raw and ripe , eat with bread , sometimes are wholesome ; and so are peaches plumbs , gooseberries , currants , apricocks and the like , very good food eaten with bread ▪ sometimes . and observe by the way , that hot bread ought not to be eaten , for it is very injurious to the health ; and your bread ought to stand two days before you eat it . of raisins . raisins is a good sort of food , if rightly used ; but i think we might well be without them , though they have their uses : for being eaten with bread , they 'll make a wholesome breakfast or supper . as for currants , they are of little worth to any person besides the seller ; nor any other sort or outlandish-spices , unless they be used physically . the same may be said of brandy and other spirits , which often proves profitable , taken in a physical way : but is of fatal consequence , when drunk at every turn . of oyl . it is a brave nourishing clean nature , and friendly to most constitutions : it is very proper to be eaten with herbs and fruits . bread and oyl make a delicate breakfast or supper ; for it cleanseth the passages , breeds good blood , and is easie of concoction . with fish it is very good , more especially with salt-fish ; for it allays the fierce keen property of the salt , and sweetens the lean body of the fish ; for these purposes it is better then butter . observe that toasted bread is not so good as cold bread , olives are not so good as oyl , nor ought to be freequently eat , for then they obstruct the stomach , and passages . the best way of eating them is with bread only ; but we might as well be without them . of sugars . sugars is an excellent rich fruit , but in my opinion fit only to be taken physically , and not at every turn to be mixt with our common food and drinks , the use whereof , makes it of e●il consequence , particularly all sweetned drinks and food , forward the generation of the gout , and other diseases of the body , which simple innocent food would prevent , if temperance be but observ'd : but if sugar be used in milk-meats for old people , it may prove beneficial , but i thing to none else . of sugar-candy . it is made thus : first they boil it as high as other sugars , then out of the pans they take this syrup , and put it in an earthen pot ; then they set it in a hot stowe , there to stand 9 or 10 days ; in that time the fierceness of the sulphureous heat coagulates it into an hard tough substance , then you take it out from the syrup , and put the candy or hard lumps into the stowe again , but made about 2 or 3 degrees hotter , where it must remain 9 or 10 days longer , and then 't is done . there is two sorts of it , one white , the other brown , but they are both of one nature and operation ; they are much made use of for coughs , colds and stoppages , which in my opinion there is nothing more contrary and burthensome to nature in such cases than this very thing , and therefore ought to be abandoned ; for in truth the best food for those that are invaded with these colds , &c. are thin brisk grewels and pottages , made as i have taught before ; also good raw sallads with bread and oyl , but eat oyl sparingly : likewise bread and butter , and all sorts of lean food , light of digestion ; and for drinks , water and rhenish-wine , toast and water , or water and white-wine , two-parts water , and one wine , or good small ale with moderate exercise and cloathing , walking in the open air sometimes , which will gradually cleanse the passages , and open all obstructions , and soon remove these distempers . of the occasion of colds and coughs ; and of their cure. coughs and colds are produced by intemperance in meats , drinks , exercises and habits , or by eating or drinking too much in quantity , and things of a contrary quality , or improperly prepar'd , and not from thin cloathing , as many imagine : for if the inside be sound and clean , there is little danger of outward inconveniencies . the best way to prevent outward colds , and the evils that happen through thick and thin cloathing , and by heats , sweatings , and the like , is to change your cloaths often . as for example : put on when you stay at home in a morning one sort of cloaths , and when you go out , put off your cloaths to your shirt , and put on fresh and cold cloaths , and again at night pull off them to the shirt , and put on the others . and for those that sweat much by their labour , let them pull off all their cloaths , shirt and all , and put on fresh shirts , and cold cloathing ; and for those that over-travel themselves , let them do the like ; but observe that both sit still a while , before they either eat or drink . observe farther by the bye , the pruens , figs , and nuts , and almonds , and many other such like things , ought not be eaten at all , except only with common bread , or in physical way , in opening drinks . also candied-gingers , all sorts of conserves , and preserves , and all confections , hodge-podge , cakes , buns , are very prejudicial for , and obstruct the passages , generate crudities , spoil the stomach , and prepare matter for a multitude of diseases . of canary . canary is an excellent cordial liquor , eat a good piece of bread , and drink a glass of canary a●ter it , and it will make a rich meal . it is in my opinion the best cordial an apothecary has in his shop ; for any man in time of disorder and sickness . of sherry . it is a fine cordial wine , as good for common drinks as canary , being mixt with water , it begets appetite , cleanseth the passages , and helps concoction ; it purges by urine more than canary : but this , as all other liquors , must be drank with discretion and temperance , and not too frequent . of white-wine . white-wine is an excellent cleansing liquor , it begets appetite , and purges by urine ; but let it not be too frequently drunk , left it indispose the body , by putting it into an unnatural flame . of rhenish-wine . rhenish-wine is an excellent cleanser of the stomach , somewhat a-kin to white-wine , it begets appetite , and helps concoction . as for old-hock , esteem'd by some , it is the most prejudicial of any liquor , and therefore ought to be forborn . of claret . claret is a good stomach-wine , moderately drunk ; it helps concoction , and begets appetite , it is the best of wines for those that eat abundance of fat-flesh , and succulent foods : but it purges not by urine so much as white . take notice that this as all other liquors , are not to be frequently used , for then they are prejudicial ; but a glass of claret , or a dram of brandy ▪ or the like , are good cordials when you have eat too much in quantity of any foods , too foul or gross in quality . of cyder . cyder if well made and fermented , is a fine brisk liquor , and altogether as good as claret or white-wine , and perhaps better for english bodies , if drunk temperately . note , that no cyder ought to be kept above one year , if you regard your health . of mum. mum if temperately drunk , is very wholesome for melancholly flegmatical people , and for those whose food is coarse bread and cheese , flower'd milk , herbs , and lean pottages ; but i think it not near so wholesome as well brewed ale. of coffee . coffee ought to be used only in a physical way by them that are troubled with fumes and dulling vapours that fly into their heads : it is likewise good after hard drinking , weariness , labour and fasting : but for others , i think it best to forbear it : yet a dish will do no man harm . tea is an innocent harmless liquor , that purges by urine , and is of an opening quality ; but it is not comparable to an herb call'd dandelion ; which being infused in boyling hot water about half an hour , and then pour the liquor from the herbs , and sweetned with white sugar , is a much better drink . it purgeth by urine , and cleanseth the stomach . sage , penyroyal , thyme or mint , dried in their proper season , and kept in bags , make as good liquor as tea . of sallads . take sorrel , parsly and spinnage , lettice , and some few onions ; then add salt , vinegar and oyl , a good quantity ; if you cannot get oyl , good butter melted may serve as well , for it is scarce dicernable from oyl ; but let the salt predominate . eat bread only with the sallad , which is better than if you eat bread and meat , or bread and butter , or cheese . another . take sorrel , lettice , pepper , grass , spinnage , tops of mints , and onions , seasoned as before . another . take sorrel , lettice , cellery , spinnage , onions , and endive seasoned as before . another . sage , mint , penyroyal , balm and some lettice and sorrel ; eat them as before : this is brave sallad . another . young green buds of coleworts with onions , is a good sallad , seasoned as before . another . taragan , nettle-tops , penyroyal , mint , parsly , sorrel , lettice , and leaves of coleworts eat as before , is an excellent sallad , if seasoned to the highest degrée . a sallad for winter . parsly , old onions , endive , cellery , lettice , sorrel and colewort ▪ plants , seasoned with salt , oyl and vinegar , is an excellent warming and cherishing sallad . another . take cellery , endive , spinnage and lettice , and half a head of garlick in it , seasoned with salt , vinegar and oyl , this is a brave sallad . sallads are good at all times , but most proper from end of ianuary to the 1st of iuly : then again from september till december ; and indeed all winter , if the weather be open . in spring . spinnage , corn-sallad , nettle-tops , and the buds of young cabbage , and others the like nature , being boil'd ▪ is an excellent corrective to them that eat flesh-meat ; they loosen the belly , and open obstructions . in april , may and iune eat spinnage , parsly , lettice , mint-tops , borage , scurvy , dandilyon , comfory , and the like , boil'd in plenty of water over a brisk fire ; add to them butter melted , and some salt ; then eat with bread , or bread and flesh is good food . the best way to make herb-pottage . smallage , clivers , watercresses , elder-buds and nettle-tops ; put water to them proportionable to your herbs ; then add oatmeal as much as you think fit to leave it in thickness : when the water is ready to boil , put your herbs in , cut , or uncut ; then when it is again ready to boil , take a spoon or ladle and lade it , so that you keep it from boiling ; do this eight or nine minutes , then take it off and eat it blood-warm , with the herbs in it , or strained ; adding a little butter , salt and bread , this is an admirable cleansing sallad . another . spinnage , corn-sallad , tops of pennyroyal and mint , ordered and eat as before . to make the best herb diet-drink . supposing your herbs well gather'd , and dry and kept in bags ; take what herb you think fit , put it in a linnen bag and steep it 7 or 8 hours in beer , ale , or wine , or other liquor , and then take it out , and it is done : let not your wormwood be steep'd above three or four hours ; observe that one sort of herb by it self is much better than compounds . to prevent the scurvy . eat not meat and drinks too strong for nature , for nature ought to be stronger than the food . meat and drink ought not to be eat that are of a contrary quality to the constitution . have a care of eating to fulness , or to excess . take care that your victuals be in all respects properly prepared , for some will but half doe it , others over doe it . let all sorts of flesh and gross food be boiled in plenty of water , and over a brisk fire . forbear eating too much flesh . it is most unwholsome in iuly , august , september , october . forbear eating too much fish. remember you eat not before the former food be digested . drink moderately ; let your ordinary drink not be hard , stale , nor sowre , nor too new . let your clothing be moderate . let your houses be airy , your beds hard , clean and sweet ; use proper exercise and labour in open airy places ; take walks often by river-sides , or on plains and downs ; observe the rules of chastity , avoid all compounded foods ; avoid carking cares , hates , revenge , envy , violence , oppression ; keep a good conscience , for that 's a continual feast : hearken to the voice of wisdom , and the dictates of reason and nature , and that will bring thee to endless felicity . an excellent poultice , which cures scalded limbs , burns , boils , fellons , tumors ▪ proceeding from choler , phlegm or melancholly . it also cures all contusions , inflammations or bruises , either with ▪ or without a wound ; old wounds , ulcers , or running sores : excellent also against the gout , and inflammation of the eyes ; admirable against sore breasts , and bites of dogs , or any other hurt of what kind or nature soever : which is thus . take two pints of water , river , rain , or spring ▪ their take as much ground oatmeal as will make it thick , fit for a poultice ; add to it two ounces of good sugar , a handful of dandelion cut small , then place it over the fire in an open and convenient vessel , keep it stirring till it is boiling-hot , and then it is made . another . take about a quart of water , then take as much houshold-bread as will make it thick , and three ounces of beaten raisins of the sun , and one ounce of sugar , and about half a pint of new ale ; stir all together , and make them boiling-hot over a clear fire , and it 's done , another . one quart of water , as much bread as will make it thick , five ounces of raisins of the sun , and one ounce of coriander seeds , beaten with a glass of ale , made boiling-hot , and then it is prepared . another . one quart of water and bread , to make it as thick as a poultice ; of sugar two ounces , a glass of sack , or for want of that , other wine , make it boiling-hot . apply these medicines to the part afflicted , by spreading the poultice pretty thick on a linnen cloth , that will cover the whole part , somewhat warmer than milk from the cow ; but let it not be so hot as is usual , for extreams prove generally prejudicial . apply these poultices every two hours at least in the day , and three or four times in the night , if the wound be dangerous ; otherwise ten times in a day and a night will do : when you take the poultice off , put that away , and put a fresh on every time , and keep a constant repetition for 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 , or 11 days , if occasion be ; but it will cure most distempers in less time , if you observe this method : but be sure wash your sores 'twixt whiles , with water and sugar , and sometimes with water and fresh butter beaten together , which will keep it clean and pliant . how a man may live for two pence or three pence a day very well . a man in the countrey may live plentifully for two pence a day ; for in many countries you may have two quarts of milk for a penny , to which add a pint of water , and not half a penny-worth of flower , and make it into flower'd-milk , according to our directions , and you will have a noble dish , sufficient for four people , and this stands but in three-half-pence ; eat some bread with it , and there is no victuals affords better nourishment , and that to all ages , but especially young people . the like is to be understood of other foods , where every one observes his time of eating , and his weight and measure of food , and a great trouble and waste will thereby be avoided . as to quantity of other foods , we suppose that sixteen ounces , solid food , to wit , bread , cheese , butter , and eggs , may be sufficient twenty-four hours for a labouring man , and the best time for eating , we suppose to be about eight in the morning , and four in the afternoon . if the food be flower'd-milk , then a pint of it , and four ounces of bread and butter or cheese , is sufficient : if water-grewel or pottage , a pint and four ounces of bread and cheese : if raw milk , the same ; but if flower'd-milk with an egg in it , three ounces of bread and butter or of cheese , will be sufficient . if you eat raw sallad , weigh only your bread , ●nd about five ounces will be sufficient , with an ounce of cheese or butter to eat after your herbs ▪ as for puddings , apple-pies , and the like , i leave ●o every ones discretion , but you must be sparing ●nd temperate . as for drink , water has the first place ; and a quart of water mixt with two spoonfuls of ground oatmeal , and well brew'd together , ten or twelve times out of one porringer into another , make an excellent drink , and in summer-time 't is very pleasant . in winter-time if you make it blood warm , it will drink well ; milk and water is an excellent drink . thus you see a small matter sufficeth a moderate man. how the poor may subsist well these hard times for two pence a day , and less . take a peck of good wheat-flower , make half of it into a loaf , the other half keep for to use as followeth . put to a quart of water a spoonful or two of flower , and make it as we before d●●rected you to make milk-pottage ; eat the brea● in quantity , so much as that it may last till your pottage is spent . this is an excellent food , and ●ffords good nourishment ; and by this , the poor ●ay subsist well these hard times for less than ●wo pence a day . if you put a quart of milk , and a pint of wa●er , a spoonful of flower , and order it as before ●●rected ; it will be excellent and pleasant food . another cheap way for the poor . take a pint of pease , and put to them three quarts or a gallon of water , let them stand on a slow fire two hours , but let them not boil : then ●ake an onion and a little sage shred well , and ●ut into the pease , and stir them a little ; then ●ake a spoonfull of flow●● or oat-meal ground , and beat it well together with a little water , and put to it , and then let your pottage boil up a little , then put a little salt to it . eat with this a little bread , and you will find it an excellent ▪ nourishing and pleasant food . to take ink out of paper . take aqua-fortis , and dip a little of it upon the blot , or writing you would take out , and immediately it will disappear ; then take a little water steep'd in allom , and wash it over with it , and whe● dry , it will make it look as clear and white as a● first ; otherwise , the aqua-fortis alone will make 〈◊〉 yellow stain . how to bottle cyder . in march bottle your cyder , and if you put in a●●ut half a spoonful of spirit of clary , it will make ●●e liqu●● so perfectly resemble the best canary , ●hat few good and exercis'd pallats , will be able to distinguish it . how to make copper-look ▪ as well as the best silver . take crema tartar , two drams , the best leaf-silver one dram , and aqua-fortis four or five drops : make it into a paste , and rub it on your copper , and immediately it will look well . finis . *** lithgow's nineteen years travels through the most eminent places of the habitable world. containing an exact description of the customs , laws , religions , policies , and government of emperors , kings , and princes ; also of the countries and cities , trades , rivers , a●d commerce in all places where he travell'd , &c. printed for george conyers at the golden-ring in little-britain . the art of longevity, or, a diæteticall instition written by edmund gayton. gayton, edmund, 1608-1666. this text is an enriched version of the tcp digital transcription a42528 of text r23945 in the english short title catalog (wing g406). textual changes and metadata enrichments aim at making the text more computationally tractable, easier to read, and suitable for network-based collaborative curation by amateur and professional end users from many walks of life. the text has been tokenized and linguistically annotated with morphadorner. the annotation includes standard spellings that support the display of a text in a standardized format that preserves archaic forms ('loveth', 'seekest'). textual changes aim at restoring the text the author or stationer meant to publish. this text has not been fully proofread approx. 179 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 55 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. earlyprint project evanston,il, notre dame, in, st. louis, mo 2017 a42528 wing g406 estc r23945 07933238 ocm 07933238 40510 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a42528) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 40510) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 1207:2) the art of longevity, or, a diæteticall instition written by edmund gayton. gayton, edmund, 1608-1666. [15], 94 p. printed for the author, london : 1659. in verse. reproduction of original in the university of illinois (urbana-champaign campus). library. eng diet -poetry. longevity -poetry. a42528 r23945 (wing g406). civilwar no the art of longevity, or, a diæteticall institution. written by edmund gayton, bachelor in physick, of st. john bapt. coll. oxford. gayton, edmund 1659 30037 499 5 0 0 0 0 168 f the rate of 168 defects per 10,000 words puts this text in the f category of texts with 100 or more defects per 10,000 words. 2003-03 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2005-12 spi global keyed and coded from proquest page images 2006-02 andrew kuster sampled and proofread 2006-02 andrew kuster text and markup reviewed and edited 2006-04 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion the art of longevity , or , a diaeteticall institution . written by edmund gayton , bachelor in physick , of st. john bapt. coll. oxford . london , printed for the author . 1659. to the most vertuous , accomplisht & ingenious lady , the lady elizabeth rous , the meriting wife of the most munificent iohn rovs esq of henham hall in suffolk . singular madam , unto none more properly doth the dedication of this book belong , then to your excelling self , who ( being by birth first , then accomplishments , then marriage , the unenvied paragon of two great counties , that of norfolk by your originals , this of suffolk by your nuptials , in honour to those counties that are proud of you , and the rest that contend for you ) should be continued to as much duration , as the art of physick is able to contrive . it ought to be the labour of a colledge of physitians ( not of one pitifull pretender ) to advance the preservation of such a person , which if lost , the following age must faintly hope to re-example . in the want therefore , or failings of physical counsels be your own lessius , be to your self a cornara , since it hath so providentially faln out , all other outward embellishments being abundantly bestowed upon you , that you need not spend any time to adorn , or trick up your self , but only to express your thankfulness to the gracious opificer of so rare a piece , & employ some hours ( as is your practise ) that your countrey , family , and friends may be happy in the long possession of you . for really your own practise ( madam ) will out-do all my precepts , your gardens and parks out-vie the physick-gardens ; your closet is as considerable as the countess of kent's with her powder in it . at henham-hall ( the seat of your noble husbands ancestors ) what is wanting to satiety ? yet your deer out-live the ages of their neighbour-commoners , and their parks too ; 't is possible to find a stag as ancient as that of caesar's : nor is this done by the diet of your keeper , or your keeping your deer from being your diet , but by a successive spending of your park , not destroying it , by letting us eat venison , but not to such excess , as if your guests were to feed themselves into elkes . your deer fall ( as our colledge-copices should do ) at so many years growth , that so the succeeding scholars may have wood of their own , & not expect coals from new-castle . your table is mezentian in this respect ; for alive deer look in at your windows , and see their dead brother in a coffin . so rare is your cookery , it makes slaughter amiable , and the heard desire to be wounded , that they may be so dress'd . i have seen your table furnished with more dishes then my book hath chapters in it , and yet the temperance did exceed the dishes , so that if ever abstinence was paramount , and in its zenith it was at henham , where self-deniall ( so much spoke of ) was truly visible , even in the fulness of the creature , and your guests din'd philosophically , at a city feast . this is true temperance ( madam ) to refraine where there is variety of temptation to excess ; to stint the stomack , in full view of the game of luxury , otherwise it is penance , not abstinence , and the mind and appetite not commanded , but a string tied about the throat , which is cormorant sobriety , for which the fowl wishes him hang'd that throtled him . having thus commended ( madam ) your diet , 't is not with any stratagem to get applause to my own , which is too course for your palate , and scarce fit for your servants . but as you sometimes are pleased to leave the rarities of your own table and caresse in a cottage , where the earthen platter , the barley pudding , the fool , and the plain countrey houswife , are both meat and sport , and delight and nourish beyond the wisdome of multiplied cookery . so let it fare ( best lady ) with this slender treatment of your servant , which is not a present , but a debt of a long promise , and not in that kind paid that it was promised . i did intend you a grace , some divine poems , but present you with all manner of diet , for fear being without grace , it might be supposed all of oysters , or melons . the book is a hieroglyphick salt , not that with the head of mortification on it , which is melancholy , or a charing-cross-trencher salt , which is impious ; but this is a pillar of salt , or rather of temperance , which is healthful ( and at least in wish ) festivous , the motto as it may be translated , poets should alwayes write , to profit , and delight . and calls to mind the ancient frugality of our predecessors , which were wise , valiant , and abstemious , three habits much advanced , if not begot by diaetetick rules . to the moderate observance whereof , in the pursuance of your honoured husbands , and your ladiships and families health , this rythmicall tract invites you , untill i can face to face , and vivâ voce wish your double healths ( as a physitian ought to do ) in your celebrious goblet at henham-hall . till then , and ever , i am ( madam ) your most gratefull servant , edmund gayton . to the candid lady-readers . madams , this book , entitled the art of longevity , or , a dieteticall institute , may very well seem unnecessary and superfluous , after so many tracts of the same subject , by the long-liv'd lessius , cornarus , and others , who have ingrossed all that can be said , and left posterity nothing but to practise . but as i● divinity ( that of the times , called preaching ) repetition is not uncommendable ; so in physick , a round recapitulation , or trimme compendium and abridgement , may help the memory , though not the understanding ; wherefore the succinct and ingenious salernitan precepts fasten more then hypocrates profounder aphorisms , or galens comments upon its auditors , and sandersons verses , are oftner and easier remembred then their rugged prose , feet and rythm sweetning the sowreness of the moral letter . verses indeed have the fate to be both slighted and condemned , and yet , like other faults , retained . and though poetry and oratory both ( if lookt upon in the art and respect ) are but the lowest of endowments ; yet as their subjects may be , they both raise them and themselves . i confess my subject is above my dress , and i have deprest the argument by the mould i cast it in , yet a plain suit by the fancies may be made conspicuous , and attract more for the mode then the stuff . so here serious mattter in a phantastical or light dress , may one with another perchance finde a liking , sometimes applause . i know , ladies , that you are all of a neat extraction , choice and sifted earth , and so resolve to keep your selves , being by self-affection principled to ▪ a spare diet , whereby your own mirrours reflect you pleasing and lovely to your selves , and admirable to others . wherefore in all physical practise there are no such observant patients as your selves , whether the business concern your health or your ornament , your being or your well-being . now a book of diet presented to you is like to be of most happy events , who if you are told the quality of your food , will not erre in the quantity . the first of these is my care at present , the second is your constant use : for neither to your noble sex , nor any of the nobler , will i prescribe any measure in meat , though there ought to be one in all things : the beasts themselves ( even all but horses , dogs , and swine ) have attained to such a natural stint . rare is the temperance of the elephants , apes , birds , as may be read in aelians varia historia , nay dogs themselves ( a voracious animal ) though they will eat to surfeit , cure themselves by abstinence , and swine-physick is grown into a proverb . if your ladyships enquire at what demensum or exactness i live my self , with a medice , ostende teipsum , that is , shew me thy diet by thy practise ; i answer , madams , truly i finde it the best rule , as to my particular , to keep no ●ule at all , for the times have been more then lessius to me , and brought me to less then twelve ounces in two dayes , which is a most slender proportion ; they have taken care that i shall never have the worst of surfeits , that of bread : yet sometimes i offend in poculentis , in the excess , oftner in esculentis , in the defect ; in fastings often , in prayers less , yet still in some , enough religion for a physitian . and beside the coloquintida of the times , in frequent mornings doses of the leaves of wormwood , scurvy-grass , and water-cresses , which makes me look at the present mastigation like vespatian , clodius , or john whis●ler , the sometime good-fac●d recorder of oxford ( as if i were going to sacrifice to the lady cloacina . ) such severe discipline is not fit for your tender architecture , that may ruine plaister of paris , which will scarce smooth the rougher lime and sand. in short , i know it is a latine proverb , misere vivit qui vivit medice , that is , madams , they are most miserable fools that alwayes live by physick-rules . and so misere vivit , qui immodice vivit , they 'r slaves unto their ap●etite which golden moderation slight . in a word of exhortation then , ladies , be neither hermits nor carthu●ians , ca●uchins nor mon●●nists , that is , not of too severe a regulation ; yet a nunnes diet for your sex , and the collegi●t for ours , will make you mother-pyrrha's for age , penelopes for beauty , cassandra's for wisdome . in short , it will keep your spirits active , your skins cleare , your limbs vigorous , your soules and bodies apt for all divine and natural actions , whereby you may be ( as you wish your selves , and i too cordially ) both belov'd of god and men . and thus i humbly submit these conceits following to your ladyships view , under correction ; unto which ( especially from such hands ) i were unkind to my self if i should not most willingly lye down , and subscribe my self ( ladies ) your most obedient and corrigible servant , edmund gayton . upon his friend , mr. edmund gayton's book of diet. wit without wine , mirth without any meat ? then let the dead that neither drink nor ea● , read thee for me ; i am not so d●v●ne , that i can live , and neither sup nor dine . for though man liveth not by bread alone , yet there is no man ever liv'd with none . devouring wood of kent ( who at one bait could eat as much as noah's world of eight ) being dead , may be thy guest ; for thou dost give something so near to nothing , none can live . thou hast forgot how freely thou did'st laugh , being told thou had'st eat up thy beadles staffe ; yet would'st perswade us temperance ; o no , live by thy book ( if thou 'dst have me do so ) experiment thy self , first dine one week with bread two ounces just , and ana leek , sup with the learned worm : that eats thy book , and let thy readers see how thou would'st look , printing thy bare-bone picture on thy sheet , and then consider whether it be meet , all mankind to perswade to starve themselves , because thou hast no victuals on thy shelves . as the long graces that in fashion be , suit with thy minute meal , so both with me , thu● for the glut●on and good fellow now thy friend speaks truth , and freely doth allow thy temperate presc●iptions ; for our life is lesse in danger of the ** sword then ** knife ; and would we keep thy rules ( for no one can say that he cannot , if he be a man . ) d●ctors ( as do divines ) might change their trade , the sexton burn hi● ma●tock and his spade ▪ the elder world might die first , you and i might live till we were chang'd , and so ne're die . nominibus multis notus sine nomine prodis optime amico●um , non te sed memet honoras , at quo●am proprios titulos ( perdure ) negasti hos cape . vir auri es , virtutum dignior h●res . to mr. gayton on his art of longevity . for surfeits some pay dear , even all their wealth , others farre dearer , their more precious health . yet heavier punishment , we see , or ●ead , poor copenhagen feels it from the swede , whose sword , with famine sharper then its edge , now sadly gives the danish healths a pledge . could now one cure this feasting evil , give sick appetite the great restorative ; teach us to feed like burgers , yet to rise like doctors , lesse mercy , and more wise , to such a gale● , cities that abound in riches , noble pen●●ons might pro●ound : i wish they would , facetious gayton , then should'st thou have fees due to thy learned pen ; that from th' arabians hath to us transferr'd the secret , that prese●ves that long-liv'd bird , which thou prescrib'd , not in hard words , that make the bill as nauseous as the drugs we take . ' so clearly and so well thy book is writ , that we have here choice diet , and choice wit ▪ robert stapylton knight . to his quondam fellow oxonian edmund gayton . these dietetick laws thou dost here give , do teach us how , but make thy self to live , and so they shall , industrious mun , till time do once restore thee unto prose from rime : sometimes in latine verse , in english now you do , ( god bless it ) drive poetick plough . whence are these institutes , and whence these rules ? not from th' apothecary shops , or schools ? thou talk'st arabian authors , but thy pains speak lowdly , thou hast no library but brains . longevity thou giv'st us from iove's bower , and temperance from friar bacon's * tower . who 'd think a man should fall so mightily , who had his rudiments of warr so high ? think that thou , a centry in the air , should'st e're come down to teach us grosser fare ? a parac●l●●an then ( without disgrace ) i 'le call thee , instructed by the prince o th' place . bred in the air , and vvarr , what powders may not come from thee ? my lady kents give way . both monk and souldier owns thee , for i know , both presses thou dost stoutly undergo . and now to please the ladies thou hast brought , not things farre fetch'd , nor yet too dearly bought : thou mak'st their kitchin-gardens give them more then aegypt and both th' indies did before . thus common things , not vulgar , are made nice , and cheapness sometimes may enhanse the price . what thou hast done with staffe of place and wealth we know not , but i 'me sure the staffe of health thou carri'st still before us , and our part is but to follow well , and praise thy art : great art , that doth not only save but cure , preventive too , as well as make t' endure . wherefore i shall no more of thee rehearse , who giv'st us mirth , and physick , in a verse : and those that will not for thy dose give fee , let them want verses , and their health for me . philogeiton . h. i. dr. l. l. to the honour'd author upon his diaetetical institute . were the world but one giant-thing that liv'd , and had a soul , ( as the old sage believ'd ) but could it eat too , for one meal i 'de swear , thou meant'st thy book its general bill of fare ; great clerk of natures kitchin ! we ne're knew she was so good an house-keeper till now . some naturalists serv'd up a course , or so , garnish'd to boot with their own fictions too ; but thou in this great oleo hast co●bin'd , vvhat e're her want or luxury could find . if in her dining-room thou serve so well , i' th' drawing-room sure thou must needs excell . i. heath . to his friend the author . what is 't is writ ? it is a noble diet : oh! for a souldiers stomack to be quiet , and not conceive such dainties plac'd upon some ladies board ; then let the gods look on , vvith all their goddesses , and tell me where they met with wholesome diet and such cheare ; but their immortal diet 's only known and rarely fanci'd to us , then were shown by power of poets wits : i would not wish this my good friend present us such a dish : vvhat he hath done 't is all substantial good , not only babes , but lords and ladies food ; such as may make our youth old nestor's grow , and then confess their age to him they owe : yet if our stomacks want a dish to bait on , no wit like thine , i' th' second course , dear gayton . e. aldrich , tribunus militum . to his honoured friend mr. edmund gayton on his art of longevity . why how now fellow souldier ! what you write ? it must be sure to get what you by sight have lost ; in troth we had ill luck by th' sword ; those were by-blows , thou better art at word : and why of diet prithee , when we know all cavaliers are forc'd to live too low under the rule of lessius , small provant will serve those men o' th' gar●ison of gaunt : so oft r●form'd ( that 's squeez'd ) they't brought alass : toth' mum , and diet of pythagoras . platonick love we new may justifie , since meats platonick make sobriety ; and what i' th' fulness of the court was fable romance all , is true from thy spare table , and yet the sheet abounds in services , the worst of service , only of the eyes . he that doth feed on thee poetick mun , must change himself to a camelion : for all thy diet , , and choice bill of fare , is only words , and that 's but wind and air . franciscus aston capt , militiae puerilis . a diaeteticall institution . chap. i. whilest i intend a wholsome diet-rule , and write of meats and drinks from physick-schoole , it ought to be presum'd our state is good , and that we have to buy our daily food : for what hath he to do to vex his thought how he should eat , that hath no victuals bought ? wherefore we do amand duke humphrey's guest ▪ for their provision truly is o' th' least . a dog doth fare much better with his bones , than those whose table meat and drink are stones : but that great duke is out of house and home , and his grand palace is a den become ; but not so good as is the lions den , or foxes holes , there 's scraps for many men ; there is no ordinary of news and talk , no not so much is left as weymarks walk , no not so much ( if you will please to go in ) doth th' head remain of welch cozen owen ; who for this violence done unto his name will rise and pay her with an epigram : he was set up with such a peaking face , as if to th' humphreyans h' had been saying grace ; that word doth hint our business , doth as well as if i 'd heard the colledge buttry-bell . then first we shall rehearse in humble rimes what time and hour we mount our belly-chimes ; for it doth stand with excellent reason to have for meats , as other things , a season . for so it was ordain'd by our creator , ( and still perform'd by naturated nature ) the earth , the air , the sea , ( would y' have more than such an able triple providore ? ) with tempestivous delicacies strive , to please us in a various nutritive : and with successive courses interchanging , they have for every time a severall ranging ; no aulicus , culman , no nor clerk , shew such a bill of fare as was i' th' ark : and as by couples they to noah came to be preserved , they do the very same to us to be destroyed ; for master venter consumeth all that into it doth enter : it is for this luxurious anthony , and puired vice , our cleopatry , the ransackt elements do not afford enough provision for the bed and boord . would it not prove thy whole arithmetick to cast in cyphers what is spent by th' week ? ( friend noah ) in this great metropolis , without the tavern style , of bread and cheese , what droves of higlers post in from the fens with fowls most epicaene , both cocks and hens ? of all which company i don●t enjoy one duck , and yet related to a coy . but oh the heads we see of greater beards ! not i● was so fair when iove afeard , ( that iuno did suspect her self cornute ) had turn'd his delicate lady to a brute : nor when himself was pleas'd a bull to lowe , could he our two late fausen beeves out-show ? the wayes on every rode are all blockt up with the whole family of those that tup : who all like other innocents come unto these shambles , to receive their doom . st. lukes is past , and rumford rode doth whine , as if that circe were alive with swine : ) ' piggs have their tide too , and there is a fare ' for those , who in their lives most filthy are . how many babies on s. margrets hill ( if all that name to her continue still ) lie pil'd in tray ( as they were wont in trough ) and yet ( as if there were not pigg enough ) old bartholmew with purgatory fire destroyes the babe of many a doubtfull sire : nor doth the sea deny his vast supplies , in greater fishes and the lesser fries , as to our cost , the street o' th' name can tell , how cheap soe're the fish , the dressing's fell . the very king of fish his season knows , and in vast shoals his just obedience shews ; so all the rest of that blew monarchy follow their leader , all resolv'd to die . how do the painted mack'rell load our shallops ▪ and lest they smell , do put the winds to th' gallop . lord , what a din the sluts at billingsgate do make about the tother cast of sprats ! and open more their monstrous mouths in vain , than do their oysters against tide or rain : nor may we pass the place where chimney-sweep doth now instead o' th' cross his station keep : * there is a cornucopia walk but thorough , ( where is the like , except at edenburough ? ) oh had our sister burrough such a fate , t' have had her double stalls of flesh and plate , her name might then have eden been , whereas for want of both she came e'ne where it was ; and so retains unto this nations sorrow , from our lost gewds , the last part of it borrow . but i believe the sallads of the place , and physicall herbage , for a twelve-months space would be too great a fraight and summe to trie the bank o' th' caledonick pedlary . and now i think 't is time the bill of fare , given in and read , for dinner to prepare . chap. ii. question i. what time and hour is best to eat at ? answer , (a) as rasis doth advise in his (b) almansor , ( now rasis was in physick a sage solon ) after our former meats have pass'd grand (c) colon , and the saburra of the place unloaded , no longer meat , no longer drink be avoided : a little exercise , but not to sweat , excites the duller appetite to eat : soon as the eager gentleman is rais'd fall on a gods name ( that 's with god be prais'd : ) do not defraud him , nay , we can't , i fear , hope to disswade , where there is ne're an ear . but as it happens at a lord mayors shew ( for greater festivals we do not know ) it is so long before the hundredth dish is plac'd , and the sword-bearer to his wish , hath chang'd the sword o' th' city for a knife ( sharp as the carver ) so did tew to th' life , and laid about most powerfully ( his heat and the sharp humour laid ) doth no defeat : ' then or with vinegar or violets syrrup , ' you may this lazy couchant lion stir up ; but if you have not any of those at hand , ( i hope hot water may be at command ) not aqua vitae ( though a dramme for crude and pituitous stomacks may be good : ) but here t is aesops heated water meant , which once tane down , the stomack upward sent : after relouncing , if the stomack bray ( like a sharp ass , for thistles or for nay ) give its demensum , let it feed pro more on any meat that is set down before ye ; and for the quoties , let it as it wont ( unless some vitious custome 's paramont ) then by degrees relinquish that , not sudden , ' no hasty thing is good , scarce hasty pudding , twice in a day , or what 's more temperate , thrice in two dayes , or as 't is forc'd of late , ( once in a day ) for squeez'd & dreyn'd revenue is good to feed the bellies lank retinue ; take 't from a prudent prince , who 'l tell ye , by no means make a cloke-bag of your belly . (d) chap. iii. vpon the appetite , and custome of eating . as we have us'd for custome ( as a second nature , is by learn'd (a) averroes reckon'd ) so still persist , for it is good for men to eat what they are wont , saith avicen ; for totall change of diet cannot be commended , nor from hence hath warranty . nor we mean here , like henry of narar , ( the happy thunderbolt of the french war ) ( who angry with his chiding confessor , (c) 'cause he enjoyned frequent penance for his often peccadilloes , 'gainst the breach of the seventh precrept , and did doctrines teach of conjugall charity ) this prince wroth , confin'd the priest to capon and white broth for constant diet , t was a dish he lov ▪ d , but for so long continuance not approv'd . the story 's known , apply but meat to wives , but does not hold in things we treat with knives . more than one dish may be by us accosted , whether the fare be baked , sodden , or rosted : the crambe of one dish a greek 't would kill , if he 's enforc'd to feed upon it still : nor (b) epicurus like , or like his drove , to gurmundize and jerfe it do we prove , and wish to find the lech'ry of provant , philoxenus his neck , or cormorant . this were to be a wood or maxriot , two english helluas for his daily pot , the heads of beasts , with their appertinance , entrails and all , would not a meal advance , such throats ( as cormorants are us'd in game ) should be string-throtled , or the poor will blame ; no , rather do , as we in sundry places in his almanzor are advis'd by rasis , make an election of your food ( and where there●s choice , one dish is not presum'd the cheer ) nor have at all , for then we eat a musse , that is not manly , swine do onely thus . then let our meats themselves be simply good , yet one mans poyson is anothers food : and what our palate takes and custome likes , though not so nourishing , will passe the pikes , i mean the palisadoes of the face , which have , in point of eating , the first place ; for manduration and our thorough chewing prepares what is into the stomack going , and doth facilitate the work o' th' place , ( which doth not gobbets like , nor gubbins base ) for as it goes it payes a certain toll to th' palate , doth that avenue controll ; there it receives an introductive change , before it come into the stomacks range : and therefore brawn , thouh a most lusty meat , is no wayes for a toothlesse dame to eat , beside the hazard , which way ere 't should slip , ( or down the throat , or back to the dish skip ; ) w●thout good chewing it would lie to heavy for th' aqua vitae bottles us'd replevy : yet unto such , whose constitution , like cato's , needs no contribution of counsels , nor of dose from medicil art , ( who for his proper safety had a part of pitiful physick , in moroser adage , teaching all cures by vomit and by cabadge , so did preserve unto a wondrous length his iron sides , and almost ostrich strength . ) ( pardon the space of this parenthasis ) to such we say , athletick bulks as his ; diet that 's simply bad you may not give , he might with cabbadge , not with hemlock live : let us i pray be rightly understood , you may eat bad , but not your basest food ; nor bad at all , if it disgust , but naughty and pleasing meat does well , as hath been taught ye . chap. iv. of the order of refection . let not your checquer'd table crack with dishes , pil'd like a structure with land-beasts and fishes ; ' for multitude of meats , as well as books , ' distracts the brain , and belly likewise looks for a digestion , t' eat at all , or read without it , shews rather hast than good speed : the brain or stomack , if o're-cloy'd by superfluities , are both dostroy'd : nature hath but one cook , then send not in the studied work of ten cooks managing ; it would be thought a wonder amongst men , if one esurient cook should eat up ten . thence comes corruption , when that cook is tir'd , gives o're the work , and in the kitchin mir'd : oh how he fumes ! all cooks are cholerick , and sends his vapours crude and flegmatick about the house ( makes a foul house with all ) diseases spring is cacochimicall . next , let your lighter meats , and the subtiler be faln upon before the gross and viler . wherefore my don , not don quixot , i mean , ( for such provision seldome there was seen ) at second course begins , and to be brief , eats ( if he have it ) at the last his beef . take heed , good simon , how you sup your broth , much mischief comes through the accustom'd sloth and negligence of cooks , both he and she , of all such cooks , clean●y come thou to me : not sifting oatmeal , and the ingredients , which make your mattin-cawdle liquaments , is cause , that frequently most durty atomes in silver cup go toward the ladies botomes : ' now , though that blind men use to swallow flies , ' they would not surely , if they had their eyes . this may be help'd yet , by a wholsome drainer , ( if that you think the caution 's not the vainer . ) to things more pertinent we will proceed , ( ' yet a good poet died by a * grapes seed ) no man will therefore ( i do mean that wise is ) contemn us for our mean , but true advises : but as our various dinner is a fault , so is our stay , and long remove o' th' salt ; it is not good ( like dutch ) i can't dutch spreaken , to sit at table till our bellies breaken : feed untill midnight , and charess all commers , and think all physick is in crowned rummers . a dang'rous custome , and doth cause the stivers to march apace into their intrail-drivers . oh how our farriers thrive by fitting drenches for many a hogen mogen , men and wenches ! but shall we eat at all ? or what ? you 'l say yes , yes , you shall , and shall no longer stay . since that in winter 't was my hap to write , actuall hot meats are best for th' appetite : and when the summers pleasing heat is come , let actual cold meats be i' th' others room : think not all hots are of the po●tage-pot , nor nothing cold but what its dressing got the night before , but what by nature is , or hot or cold , are so with emphasis : wherefore those things , whose quality 's so cold , as if made so by snow , from them withhold ; or whose intensive heats ( without the fire ) do warm , to eat have not too much desire : lubrick , that 's glibbery , and the meat that 's moist and juicy , before drier fare accost ; sweet meats , and sawce that 's sowr ( though an old saw ) is a good rule in avicenna's law ; so mix your cold and hot , your moist and dry , that neither have a grand predominancy : and with these four precautions you may dine , for contraries do their own selves refine : and while they strive each to be master , the broken elements are safest posture ; so they do rarely temperate become ; such wars produce a peace , t is pipe and drum ; wherefore let fat and unctions swines-flesh swimme in sharp and sawces tart up to the brimme : methinks it is a dish highly abhorrens to see a pig bemeasl'd all in currans . d' you ask what place is best to take repast in ? ( not such as mine , for that 's a place to fast in : ) but you that have your residence for food , the coolest place , except the cellar , 's good ; and sometimes i have known that hath been us'd , and for its coolnesse ought not be refus'd : but for its heat , as from a noli me tangere , flye , for there the bottles lye : and ever since erasmus call'd it hell , you might in one as welll as th'other dwell , in that with liquid fire they 'r hard put to 't , in this god bacchus is drunk up in boot : certes this custome is in memory , the pretty bulchins cradie was a thigh . but in the summer your coole um-brages , and hid recesses be your diet-stages , provided that no intervemient wind through doores or crevises nor strain'd aire find accesse unto the place , for t is debated , and found , the worst of air is preco-lated ; but chiefly chuse a ventilated place , when that the sun is in his highest race : for native heat 's by that extracted much , just as the fires , if sun-beams do it touch ; but interpose a screen , or else the maid your fire 's preserv'd , your stomack by the shade . but if you have no such sycamor places , eat at an hour that 's cool then ( saith my rasis ) after meat taken , rest , or sleep , saith he , sleep not , say some , the doctors disagree : revive mayerne , and he will bid you sleep , old paddy bid you smoke , your eyes ope keep : i 'm for the later knight , my patron , who gave me his colledge , shall give counsel too . chap. v. of meats in generall . the first considerable food is bread , which he in sacred prayer hallowed , who in that prayer {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} ( which bears its high-sprung makers name , and to all years , must stand matrix of holy liturgies , and be both form and part o' th' services , better than all the whole ) the platform lead , ▪ of whom to ask , and wherewith to be fed . our daily bread includes , as in a word , the all-abundance of our fullest beard : and he whose belly 's full with bread alone , ( and blessing 'fore and after ) were 't a stone , shall find a satisfaction in his fare , as great as if h' had din'd with my lord may'r : there is a tast of his religion , who dares not write so large as dr. brown . now to our phisical design , we treat , therefore the civiliz'd part o' th' world with wheat , the bread compacted , and most stoutly kneaded , sifted most clean from bran , and as it needed , salted and leaven'd by your barm and quick'ning , and throughly bak'd , will keep you best from sick'ning ; 't is light and tart , as your good houswives say , and makes i' th' body a convenient stay : for cleansed from its bran , which makes it swift of passage , and is onely good for drift , or scouring hands or pewter , or the hair , ( but for the rich jessimy butters rare , and mr. cutbeards powder ) it will fix , and till a due egestion moves it , sticks : and oven-bak'd is best , the hearth is poor , and onely fit for caledonian boor ; except their oat-cakes , nothing doth me please , nor solan geese , bannock , nor barnacles : and spungy let it rise by its quick leaven , for bread unleaven'd is not easily driven out of the stomack , but doth stay too long , and by its pains doth do the belly wrong : it makes obstruction in the liver , and who would imagine bread should turn to sand ? or to a stone ? its evil quality doth slime the reins , and there doth petrifie . the bread of barley , the tough plowmans food , is colder nutriment , and not so good : but those who sweat , and swink , and thwack , like sten●ors , will digest stones , if on them they adventure ; but otherwise that bread doth little nourish ; t is windy too , and makes the colick flourish , ' and causeth cold diseases , binds the belly , and lies quiescent like a costive jelly . as other grains are in their natures , so is the bread is made of any dough : bean-bread is flatulent and course , but good for those have stomacks like a horse ; so turnip-bread , a new and late devise , to fatten hogs and horses in a trice ▪ the curse of all corn-chandlers , who , by that project , do keep their grain for the old rat . lastly , your bread , when hot , by no means eat , nor butter'd loaves , they 'r clungy clogging meat , and bung the intrails up , you cannot make a passage , though you down long confects take ; yet 't is scholars breakfast of the times , which makes them of such pregnancy in rimes . yet if hot loaves you do account so dear , you may for worms apply 'um to your ear . chap. vi . of drinks , and first of wine whilest i do write thy profits , and the good thou dost confer ( plump grapes most noble blood ) in either have nor call for helps from thee , thou voucht infuser of high poetry ; it is enough for those who write thy praise , such as my father ben , whose head with bayes , scarce yet inherited , thou justly crown'dst , to be silenus like , well souc'd and plounc'd in essences of sack , whence spirits follow , richer and higher than his own apollo . let those thy brave and warm contagions boast , who do recite th' profit of their hoast and club-delight , whate're th' hesternall fire , ( not at next meeting quencht ) did fore-inspire : a long forgetfulnesse hath seiz'd my soul , nor have i felt thy flames since henham bowl ; the cooler hypocrene is spurn enough , and the cleer liquor headed from the hoof of the wing'd courser , serves for such poor stuff , as humbly now comes forth his muses cell , is sutable , and hath its name from well ; yet we will yield thee a just elogie , far from a strain'd and wrackt hyperbole , whereby it shall appear thy fotive fire , was present in our wish ; and full desire we say , and prove , thou art that nutritive that keeps the spirits and the soul alive : and thy known pregnant operations joyns those cognate paires , as to thine elmes , are vines , supporting those most rare auxiliaries (b) by thine allied and subtile offices : so that ●ame (c) psyche doth no servant more ( being absent long ) than thine own self-deplore : at thy returns ( for queens do love and keep their state too ) though in sorrows plunged peep , shee is reviv'd , and her quick actions prove , her alter'd instruments and her close love . ' for thy affini●y is such , so like ' with naturall heat , that as the flint doth strike ' sparkles and fire , the ready tinder takes ' the darted stars , and a glad union makes : so when thy vigorous cherishing gleams reflect upon our blew and purple streams , they all receive an influence from thee , and their alliance forthwith gratifie : then as a loyall kinsman would , thou dost nourish and heal , and dost expel the frost , both naturall and christian away flies , at thy approaches cold , and crudities : and in the christian frost thou art as brief , ' making th' afflicted to forget his grief ; the grosser blood thou streight dost clarifie , no scavenger in all the world like thee , who by no tricks of dung-carts new or old cleansest the purple * channell when t is foul'd . then to the common shore of blood thou goest , and all obstruction from the liver throwest ; and thy new bush , not broom , sweeps clean , and mundifies the sinck of all , the spleen . what misty vapour , or opacous fume dare stay , when that thy excellence is come ? ' as if some unthought prince had faln from high , ' ( lost in opinion , and to th' common eye ) ' his half incredulous friends , 'twixt joy and fear , ' dare not believe , nor dare not doubt him there ; ' but setled in a view instead of bels ' and bonefires , the heart flames , the pulse beats peals . so at reception of this prince of drinks , the exalted hearrt it self in paradise thinks , and every member of its warmed trunk shoots out , and leaps , though once 't were sinew-shrunk . joy is dispers'd , and the relieved soul doth all her ransom'd ministers controul ; a noble boldnesse doth possesse the mind , to suffer injuries of any kind , not to commit the least , and she dares do what in her shrivel'd state she fear'd to shew . magnanimous indeed , and prone to seek , adventures , and her self t' express and speak , not as the over-heated valiant swine ( pot-pertinacious sometimes , but not wine . ) but these are sober animosities , which raise our wisdomes , as our fantasies , which coupled friendly in a social heat , they can the tract of any business beat . ' wherefore let proclamation forthwith be , ' that every sex and age have liberty ' at any time , to tast this precious juice , ' whose vertues are so high , so good his use . and for the quantum ? or how much we may , ( methinks the vintnes cry , tel's that i pray , that the last impost by a general draught may be forgot , and the sunk price out-quaft ; ) and truly , so it will make friends , we may drink what our natures well can bear away , and the firm habits of unspoiled brains ' ( some drink not freely , but are in wine-chains ) can gallantly discharge , without a spoil unto our purse , or to our souls a soil . now wine is wondrous like theriaca , (a) so strange his various numerous vertues play ; cold humours it doth heat , infrigidates hot ▪ moistens the dry , and where tough moisture 's got , extenuates ; such protean qualities hath the rare plant , that smoke ▪ before our eyes : of both which excellent creatures , wine and smoke , i dare affirm , that were you like to choke with thirst , the one or tother shall your droughth asswage , before the coolest water down your mouth . now take what rasis saith , wine doth retard old age , and all its lazy flegmatick guard : unto the stomack 't is the sworn ephaestion , corroborates , and ministers digestion . but after all these panegyrick shews , there is , beware , a serpent in the close ; i mean not that is drank with vipers in 't , but in every butt that passeth by the pint . ' ; if you abuse it to undecencies , ' and murder it in superfluities , ' the vertue 's lost , and in the vacant place ' your own diseases come , and wine 's disgrace : ' the dry'd up liver , and the trembling nerves , ' caus'd from the moistned brains , return'd reserves : contracting spasma , and cold apoplexie , abused grapes , conspired friends will vex ye . chap. vii . of meath or metheglin . the bee , that subtil and industrious creature , of pains incredulous , but little feature , doth from the profits of his balmy thighs , for lazier men , hive up his sweet supplies : if from the eater honey came , the bee both emblem is and child of industry . madam , your self is an unwinged bee , disdain not ( lady ) this mean simile , when the grand plato , learned , grave and wise , describ'd a man by these two differences , unfeather'd and two-legg'd , so in a mock , they sent him home his own man , a pluckt cock : when that i saw more then hyblean skill , and bees to have but one art ▪ you what you will ; the ants and grashoppers submit to you ; and think themselves but drones when you 'r in view ; your various artifices your sex disgrace , ( ev'n unto painting skill'd , all but the face ) it put me to an emulation then , ( oh that there were no other strifes 'mongst men ) to see a lady of such diligences , of more professions mistress then of senses ▪ and i that paid for dearly what they call , howe're the seven endowments liber●ll , ( but foolish purchaser took but smal w●●e for money and time , the which was 〈◊〉 more rare ) could not for all my seven years penniwo●th , shew so good a●ts as you did then hold forth ; nay i profess it , were expe●ience made , ( excepting in this scribling quibling taade ) the exigent put , you would your fortunes carve , in any part o' th' world , tnd i might starve ; nay in my very subject , if you please , you could out-vy me too in recipes , and teach the medling fool to be more quiet . and come to henham-hall to study diet ; where metheglin ev'ry winter morn , with tost and tankard to our lips are born : for honey is exceeding hot ( saith rasis ) and is high food for bodies cold , and places : the pea●l o' th' morning genders blood and choler , so one way good , and th' other naught for scholar : b●t for complexions sanguine , such as mine , it is less wholsom , then a little wine ; but to cold persons , and of sinews weak , and flegmatick ▪ and ladies stomack-sick , it is a high and sure corroborator , as saith our avacena's commentator : the ways to make it are so many , i had rather drink a cup of 't , then descry . chap. viii . of ale . drnk famous , infamous , prais'd and disprais'd , from stygian lakes , that 's muddy harbours rais'd from common shores and father ben's adventures , how dar'st thou boiled bog or muzzles enter ? but when the keen cheroketh blows sat bumpkin , who will refuse to drink thee in a rumpkin ? enough is written for thee , pro and con , yet since hops came thy name is almost gon : but that the alderman hath cleans'd thy tide , and makes us wish thee yet amongst us bide ▪ and huff of famous memory , that huff , who to his ale had no sign but his ruff ; that , and his ale most smooth , did so well work , the house was full of christian and of turk ; and in demulsing lubrick mornings drafts , a good estate into old huff was quaft , what is ale good for ? look against his doors , and you shall see them rotted with ale-showrs : it hath this speciall commendation , to cleanse the ureter , and break the stone : just as a feather-bed the flint doth break , so th' other stone your north-down-ale alike : thy mother ba●ly is an enemy to th' nerves , that makes men stagger after thee , drunk beyond huffs demensum , who did stint in 's regular ruff , his guests unto a pint . ( but at one session ) yet go forth , and face about , and then you might take tother glasse : windy thou art , wheth● in bottles close corkt up a pris'ner , and as bad let loose ; yet foul and gravell'd reins thou dost make terse , not made too strong , and by good store , disperse : 't is weight , as much as vertue , does that feat , tunbridge and barnet , of opinion great , are no more soveraign then the wholsom spring , to which sir thomas gave a covering , and bowls in chains , the aged man can tell , when barnet fails , those waters sell as well to cousend citizens , yet we can't deny . ta many baths specifick quality : but chiefly ( as by parentage i 'm bound ) i like the wells in wellingborrough-ground ; whose spring's renoun'd for vertue uterine , and still is famous for our pregnant queen . but to our ale ( and there is humming stuff as good as any tinker did ere cuff . ) those who indulge themselves to too much wines , allay that heat by thee , and cool their chines : onely like nitty sack it leaves a tail , and lies in the clung'd throat most roapy ale , but daughter of the tother mother , wheat , and mixt with mint or smallage , thou art neat ; and sage or wormwood in a small degree , do clear thy fog , and grossness clarifie : but now these later knowing dayes have made thee fit infusion for our physick-trade : the lettices of ale-compounded shops are now as numerous as those of hops : there 's scarce a street in which out worships go in , but that thy name in some new mode doth crow in ; a proper word , since every where they drape on , in live ale or mortified cock or capon ; the physick of the spring and fall is ale , and bags of drugs and simples by sea sail , as they were returning from the indies , to be ingredients for this woort so windy had culpeper but strain'd his faculties , and stead of what he did translated this into some forreign countrey , and not tongue , he had the nation been the prime among : but now riverus and the staple-book of compositions , on him scurv'ly look , for prostituting the art ; for no bawd , moral or civil , can our verse applaud ; vehiculum of every drug , i may call thee most aptly by the name of dray , nay to the very arts of schools thou 'rt come , by sad exchange of rods for lotium , and made most swingeing ale for butts , i mean the place econtrae to the guts : tradition pleads for thee ( for ale is old ) and since thy sad disuse , the world is bold to charge the stone i' th' body , and the church , upon thy vale doctors make a search , and try if heresy , and that sharp pain from ale 's desertion , did not footing gain . chap. ix . of beere . beer is a hop remov'd from ale , the hop from a damn'd weed is a common crop : ' so things condemn'd and censur'd , are retain'd , ' because forbidden , it more credit gain'd : yet if maturely rotted , where no fault is in the beer by foul and wively malt , well kept and lodg'd , and purged by the sea , or marches two , it may probatum be : but in digested hops and unboil'd beer make doctors jubile ev'ry year : some anti-hoppists are for b●oom , and make the blessed carduus , that infusion l●ke . this last is physick-drink , and your broom-beer is bitter , and to wood-dry'd malt is near ; but gentle purle is good , and botled best ; and twist is good , so sings will hoopers guest . chap. x. of flesh-meats in generall . it is an an axiom in philosophy , that every like its like is nourisht by : wherefore consid'ring that we 'r flesh and blood , and flesh and blood is our most proper food ; but generall rules have their exception , grammer and nature in like orders run , for whom all things were made ; man paramount , lord of the creature , may the creature count , his diet and his staves , he may eat all , except himself , he is no caniball : and though unto a proverb it is true , man is a woolf to man ; 't should not be so : for the most rav'nous of creatures do forbear , and don't themselves a dire provision ●ear ; that sow's unfed will their dead babies eat , and hounds do make the noble horse their meat , is not enough to make a president , no , but what is alwayes , or plerumque , so ; the princely eagle , and the buzzard base , feed not on birds when offal 's in the place ; so at the samaria's siege , the king did give a sentence for that child that was alive , not of the dead , for grand necessity , and famine 's nurse to anthropophogie . this doth not hinder then , but still thesis holds flesh is food generall , and pl●●●es ; nothing so fattens ▪ so corroborates , nothing the body's life-guard so creates . ( the red coat blood , in blew coat veins of state ) the yellow coat 's of cholar , flegmatick , of white and blak coats that i' th' reer doth stick ; of earthly melancholy , who 'd suppose his body did four regiments inclose ? wherefore the persons that do feed so high , have often need of good phlebotomy : for flesh provision of all sorts doth heat , wherefore in feavers we prescribe small meat , or none at all , unless the patient please , spight of advice , to feed his own disease ; the fleshy substance stripped off't , the sat doth nourish best , and lesser harms creat : strengthens the stomack , and doth kindly lie for coction , suns much supefluity . herculean bodies and pyracmon sides can digest garlick , and the onion fry'd ; butter and bacon may devour and swallow , yea , and put over too a beev's whole tallow ; athletick bodies we provide nor for , nor yet for wood , nor the sharp counselor ; but sedentary men of little pains must not with such gross stuff anoynt their veins : a lighter diet , and a modicum , little and often food their states become ▪ chap. xi . of wood-animalls . now we are in a wood , yet no such wood , as girts your palace , nor the deer so good ; where in some summer walks with early thought , the velvet drove i to acquaintance brought ; as known to them almost as were your keepers , ( scholers and forresters are little sleepers ) i had my walks , my hamadryades , but his shrill syrinx did out ec●ho these oaten and slender pipes , though not so vocall , which have their forrest too but 't is not locall : poets have all things in their fancy , good , so the poetick man is alwaies wood ; and as old writings were on barks of trees , without a figure books are copices , and such a rus , and in fenestra too is mine , beasts subject , trees a book or two ; and i your sable forrester , yet iohn a green in heart ▪ am frequent in my night-walks seen , where if i like a fawn o' th' nobler head , with all hast ( madam ) to your self 't is ●ed . creatures o' th' wood are wooden animals , that is , are dry , compar'd to beeves of stalls ; the houshold creatures , which by ease do fat , and nothing of their flesh evaporate , yeild a more jucy nutriment , then deer , cutting half knife in fat , meat for a peer ; the active tenants of the in losed wood , by constant motion clense their chafed blood , and ratifie their spirits by levaltos , like the rare turk , in all your pleasant saltus ; besides their scituation , hot and dry , doth alwaies much obesity deny . who ever saw a spaniard over fat ? their countrey-man ( the sun ) prohibits that , who by extensive heats exhals their moist , unlesse perchance some spaniard the seas crost , and leiger lay in england then he might return a shew , and the madrids delight : of all that wild and noble caravan , the skipping kid is soundest meat for man ; who by his frequent exercise doth cure the coldnesse of his temper , and dispure ▪ the tincture of his coat and fulsome skin into rufillus (a) perfumed sweet-balling . quick of digestion is this nimble bruit , and passeth presto , and doth blood recruit ; and if the stomack were his park , he playes his usuall tricks and makes no tedious stayes ; domestick brutes o' th' pasture or o' th' down , of other aire , and seldom motion , are of a nourishing meat , but grosser fare , and threfore harder of digestion are ; 'mongst which the males have the precedency , hotter and moister concoct presently , before their females , of lesse heat and juice , and therefore are not of so prais'd a use : the gelded crew of middle temp'rature , colder then males ( whose fire doth yet endure ) yet hotter than their females , ( who despise , since their exection , their shab companies ) do make a middle food ; thus eunuchs may , when they are dead , serve for a wedding-day . but kid is temperate without the least mixture of malice , a most innocent beast : the blood which that creates is middle siz'd , neither too grosse , nor too much subtiliz'd ; neither too cold nor hot ( a temper nought ●n our religion , but in physick sought ) ●ood for an errant knight , or any thing , whose body 's lightnesse would be on the wing ; for the repletions are gentile , yet not so slender , that no nutriment is got : whence it appears kid hath the ladies love , 't is delicate diet , and 't is smooth-skinn'd gloves . but above all , the infant-kids are best , as we say , taken from the mothers breast , so full of sappy nutriment , and smart , that without sawces sweet , alid , and tart , you may fall on ; what would we more than tast , and good blood breed , when just digestion 's past ? chap. xii : of the flesh of lambs , rammes wethers and calves . of lambs . emblem of innocence ! and yet not good ▪ is lamb a shynx , not to be understood ? some butcher oaedipus with knife drawn out o' th' scabberd of thy mouth , resolve this doubt , ( as did macedo to the gordian knot ) and in aenigma's dubious leave us not . for your sake ( madam ) who a little claim , and stand hard for the hieroglyphick name of spotlesse innocence , even against all lambs , but that one , that you your pattern call , ( slain from before all worlds ) i shall untack this knot , by th' help of rabbi isaak , not idumaean isaak , abrahams son , who by parentall hand had like t'have gone to sacrifice , but that the angels grace dispos'd a bleating proxie in his place ; the heir o' th' flock yean'd on the coldest lease , is then worse meat , when nu●s'd upon his knees : ( some may obedience from that posture learn , nothing so dutifull as the yews barn ) yet as if now we were herodians all , nothing then lamb comes oftner to the stall ; the flesh is viscous , and ingenders flegme , so 't is a bad dish , a good apothegm : yet when in flesh a fair foundation 's laid , and on a dish or two invasion's made , then from your lambkin ( madam ) ne're withhold , but let it have its course , be 't hot or cold : in hotter countreys , such as spain , the lamb gets hotter temper from his curled dam. dhap . xiii . of rammes . this goodly ●uffle-head with winding horns , though he looks scurvy , and th' whole flock scorns , yet is the grossest meat ; this surly sir is good , if he exceed not his first year ; if well digested , it doth generate good blood , and much ; but if it had the fate to fall i' th' hands of curst armenian libbers , (a) after exection he is much the glibber ; and though he be a lost ramme , as we say , to th' yews , he 's good howe're the other way ; his flesh is temper'd by his depriv'd fire , and having lost his own , gets our desire : it hath a winning and delicious gust , though father galen , whom we credit must , condemnes all mutton , but he wrote in townes where little was , and ne're saw cotsall downs , nor this same land of sheep , whose noble wooll clothes the muscovian , and the great mogull ; the english fleece doth proudly passe the gulph , and fears no hazard but its native wolf ; how many nations fleets empty the fraughts , and do return this fleeces argonauts ? then for the back it 's good , and in keen hunger , were galen here he 'd be a mutton-monger : but ramme from wether-mutton you may know , that 's yellow , this (a) no cause hath to be so . chap. xiv . of calves . welcom thou increment of bully bove , ( or when a bull , why not as well of iove ? ) a calfe , saith averaoes , is brave food , of temperate blood , not viscous , cold , but good , and hath a flavour and odorous gust , and therefore before kid , his praise is just : for though the kid we did extoll but now , 't was 'mongst his montaneirs , so we allow : but for calves frag●an●ies , we 'r none of those , that for our diet will be led by th' nose , although it is confess'd by all ( forsooth ) the calves head 's ne're without its own sweet tooth ; to make no long taile of it then , it breeds humours most fine , and therefore cleanlier feeds . but flesh of bulls and oxen , those calfe's sire , these uncles ( better by their losse of fire ) breed black , and much , and melancholy blood , our veins of blew are made a sable flood ; and as alive we bulls do stiff-necks call , so are they too knock-downed in the stall : 't is a most rebellious nutriment , dead , and lies i' th' stomack heavy , as is lead : it 's slowly alter'd , turns to chyle as slow , as slow dissolv'd does to the members go : it wants a goad when it is drove alive , a clarret goad may't through the stomack drive ; the lazy surloin , glory of the roast , and knighted , and yet was never knight o' th' post ; unlesse when thou ( brave (a) sheriff ) dost refine his duller blood with thy for bon french wine : if by complexion men adust ( that 's sad ) or splenatick , do like this beveridge bad . ' ware quartan agues , dropsies , and the itch , the leprosie , or tetter , chuse you which , dandry and surfie heads , this blood o' th' ox bestowes all these , and yet the butcher knocks : wherefore most wisely have our masters stated , that bulls , before they die , shall all be baited . chap. xv . of the flesh of swine , deer , hares and bears . first , of swine . my father ( a ) ben , discoursing of this grunter , in that so famous play , where old sir punter being turn'd oxlando for the losse of 's dog , did lug the jeering buffon like a hog : there in that celebrated comedy , ( whether my father ben , as well as i , met with arabian comments ) the smart play doth patly what my ancient authors say : there 's wit to th' height , read it , and try our dogma , whether from both the places we a hog may not all alike commend ; first avicen sayes , pork 's most naturall to men , so ben ; hogs flesh is likest mans , saith isaak ; the same again saith ben , but adds , that sack , a hogshead full , for a vehiculum , will spoile its grumbling in our medium , ( or middle region of our trunk ) for swine , alive or dead , will be still laid with wine . indeed my father ben doth there produce a reason why they were denied the jews ; because that nutrimentall animall of a provoking sap , and hogo● all , would have disorder'd and o're-pamper'd those who newly come from egypts hard dispose : rebels in rough mosaick discipline , how much more rebels , had they eaten swine ? which makes me think the caledonians , alike in sins , alike in onions , are of affinity with the old jews , both for rebellion , both do pork refuse . now of this animall there are two sorts , the one domestick , tother extra ports , ( that wild and forreign ) whose food is such as the wood yields , when winds do lust'ly touch , and flaile the oaks and chesnuts , and the berries , which nature for the birds meant winter cherries . (a) but oh the flesh of choice-fed houshold swine ! and of the quarters , the renoun'd cold chine ! eaten , or sung , or plaid by wilson , (b) sure for old sir mammon it were yet a lure sufficient to leave doll , and for a bone , to passe his part o' th' philosophers stone ; hampshire is rare for reering such , and may contend almost with black westphalia ; the moister feeding is the home-fed swine , hotter and dryer is sow peregrine : see the attendancy of suffolk pigs , fed by the hoopt-coat merry milking grigs , clensed with whey , and fatted with the same , or snailes , or good vine leaves ( which pidgeons blame ) or else the turnep ; oh the turnep-fed swine ! may chance save us , turneps being dead , with grains , these girles and such hog-provender , will you a porker of that fulnesse reer , that circes brood , and all her chang'd elpe-nors cann't parallel for meat nor for demeanour : such dieted swine are cold and moist , a rare temper , and to the gust most relishing are ; but quite another thing , when dry'd by salt , it is exuct , and laid up 'mongst the malt : now in hot countreys , where our commentator liv'd they prescrib'd the extremities o' th' creature , the luggs , the leggs , the souced feet and snout , i 'm for the roman way , dish it whole (c) out ; or as i 've seen it rarely rais'd and drawn by henham cook , up to a 〈◊〉 of b●●wn , where wicked 〈◊〉 , yet good 〈◊〉 ●●●berry , hath made the ●a●er , not the brawn●● , c●y ; then from the tun too , o● the th●ee 〈◊〉 c●me a ganymed with sa●k , and warm'd ●heg me , that the old matron that old m●mbling ●eed before , did after swallow 't with less heed : the infant , or the sucking baby dies about this season , a large ●ac●i●ice ; the wayes are throng'd , blockt up with bellies big , ( and bellies would be so ) for crackled pig ; st. bartholmew the great , and bat the little , afford not room enough , but the hospitall is press'd into , wherein whosoever looks , shall see all dressing on , chirgians and cooks : well fare you sisters of my native soil , eat pig and multiply , recruit your oyl with unctio●s di●● , it breeds noble chyme , call for the other half , and by that time your men will come with the reck'ning , so you may from pig unto the puppets go : and then to islington , and so about , untill what 's pigged in be pigged out . chap. xvi . of the flesh of deer . suppose us ( madam ) in your park , where deer are kept for every season of the year : do any ask how they 'r at such command ? then know my lady hath orphaean hand . if he wild beasts by courtly musick tam'd , you m●y do more , unlesse the bruits be maim'd , and cannot come ; for otherwise your stroke upon the lute will spi●itize an o●k , and make the park to dan●e , and humbly follow thee as the mistress of the skill'd apollo ; the late erected house and garden pales , rose by thy hand ( just as did theb●n w●lls ; ) thy nimble fingers do so stir the lute , ( like davids harp ) they may a devil confute : brave gunning , by his learned arts and t●ngue , gains not so much upon th' anabaptist throng , then you upon these cognate droves , who stand and listen ( they love musick ) to your hand . i could into a wood of lawfull p●aises launch , and p●●ise the creature full● , side and haunch : but rabbi isaak saith thei● flesh is hard , ( not to be go● ) at henham none 's debarr'd : thy husband 's old canary , and fat buck , with dogs run down , or else with arrowes stuck ; yet they are melan●holy diet , but they all ●●e so which are much given to rut : the fa●●ns a●e wholso●e an● the hei●s digest better then 〈◊〉 ▪ or mother of the beast : the youthfull stand is ve●y hot and d●y , when old , like other things , their worst is nigh : the eunuch deer is temperate ▪ and most pleasurable when its pleasure 's lost : troch upon troch troch troch a reverend stagg , he doth of age and red-deer-p●s●y b●agg ; and tho●gh it 's dry yet let the venison passe , his own fat s●pples it , and tother glass ; it is o● quick descension , and the marrow slides th●ough the bo●y f●om the gutturall narrow : and learned avicen doth say for certain , that then●e are p●ocreated many a quartane : ca●ses of q●artanes we have many sure , oh for an avicen could tell 's the cure ! now for conclusion , this beast for game and entertainment , hath with us the name : know then , the body is a joviall meat , fit so●squire rous , yea for a prince to eat ; its upper part is antidote ▪ but oh , there 's poyson lies i' th' taile ( the part below : ) emblem of humane chance ! in this sad veile nothing 's thorough blest from head to taile . chap. xvii . of hares . the rabbins say , the lion sneezing , out started a cat from his majesti●k snout , without the pythagorean motion rare , the cat then sneezing started out a hare ; for there is nothing among creatures that ( b●t hare ) is melan●holy as a cat ; and we do call them pusses both ; one purres onely , and both are vengeance 'fraid of curres . hare is good sport , as all our gen●●y know , the onely recreation left us now ; for playes are down , unless the puppet-play , sir william's lost , bo●h oyle and opera ; the noble cock-fight done , the harmless bears are more then ring'd by th' nose or b● the ears : we are serious people grown , and full of cares , as melancholy as cats , as glumm as hares . yet tho●gh it generate the grossest blood , then goats and ramms , these are more praised food . oh for the pretty sucking leveret , ( an excellent dish if that i could it get ; ) not yet so dry are conies in degree , moist are the breed of aubern conigree ; laden with kidneys white , what can you lack , except a glass of squire bonds ogburn sack ? chap. xviii . of beares . tell me you traders for the greenland wares , ( for you know best ) what diet are the bears ? not onely the left shoulder , i believe , but the whole bear is ven'son , sheep and beeve ; it viscous is , and disobedient , and a most indigestive nutriment ; more fit , saith rabbi isaak , for cures and medicines , th●n for hungry stomack-lures , unless a drunken tinker , me●all'd man , ( who his teeth out of 's budget strengthen can ) sho●ld fall to tooth and nail , in 's pot he spares nothing that's next , then away with your beares : yet in high russia , and i' th' land of whales , bears may be dress'd , if ye catch 'um by th' tails ; and so a●e apes , that inortogious lump , or any thing , indeed that wants a rump . those men , who , ships departed , staid behind , ( for no mans sake will water stay , and wind ) can give us best account of this rough beast , whose sad society , most unwelcome guest , was very uncouth and suspicious , when 't was doubtfull which was prey , bears or the men : those greenlanders , hutched up in frosty cabbins , shall be our aelians , let alone the rabbins ; if like to conies bears will fat , i know , those must be fausen bears that live in snow : our paris-garden bears , had they not dy'd , might have been eat , but for sir thomas pride . chap. xix . of the members and parts of creatures . the heads of creatures countenance , or faces , as swines and oxen are grosse mea● , saith rasis , they'● hot and nourish much , not a good fa●e , unlesse when titan's farthest from the bear ; in winter deep when you may freely ●rolick in cheeks and heads , but that they breed the cholick : the brain of temper cold doth na●seat , and is offensive to the stomack : what ? may we not eat them ? yes , if you are of constitution hot ; the b●ain is rare , eat it the first , and before other dishes , but cold complexions , and a-kin to fishes , or whose distemperature arise from cold , with this meninges guest be not too bold : the marrow is of ●emper cold , but not so cold as that , though thence its rise is got . hot , and by cold ( if in our art there be any such point found out , unlesse by me ) good for sir epicures , and men o' th' chine , who sacrifice to venus , both in wine and ceres , and a grand provision make to gratifie the flesh , these c●nons take , and in a meal o● marrow-bones advance as great a shew as so much great ordnance ; but not so great a noise , when these guns play , the s●lpher's white , and won't it self betray , this sperm-ingenderer is good for such who paul's strict canons do not trouble much , the spungy udder and the ●nctious papps ( the fulsome diet of sir mammon's chapps ) do nourish most exceedingly , yet slow , and in a gen●le pa●e to chile do go : those who have stomacks hot , and livers like , may their flesh-hook into th' ●udder strike . livers of beasts are hot and moist , and breed much blood ( they are conge●led blood indeed ) but hard and heavy : that of lamb or calf , or of the sucking pig , is diet safe : but isaak saith that liver doth p●efer , of the sweet mistresse of sir chanticler : the same arabian discommends the heart , a solid , but an indigestile part ; but when digested , it doth breed good blood , and nourisheth as well as any food . why not as well as liver ? this we call font of venal blood , that arterial . the lights and lungs are of a substance rare ▪ and light , and therefore soon digested are ; so soon they passe , and from the stomack go , ( our bellows call'd , but yet not windy though ) d●ess'd with appertenances of the sows bearn , they 'r too opiparous for country kern . the reigns are for two reasons not approv'd , first they 'r grosse and hard , not eas'ly mov'd out of the caldron natural ; but when ( that pot hath master'd them ) they 'r nought then : and 'cause the serous part of u●ine takes his tincture from the reigns , them all ●orsake . the flesh of creatures , mo●e especi●l that which is of fatter cattel ( no● the ●a● ) is excellent , breeds spe●m and nobl● blood , and in this n●tion is too gene●al food : the fat is loa●hsome , and as oil● grea●e is the most moist of all , it doth increase cold and moist humours , and such feeders be full of ungovern'd s●pe●fluity : but interlined flesh , as i may say , some lean , some fat , carries the praise away●punc ; and breeds most temperate blood and sperm alike ; hence is our nation ruddier , and the pike of english war farre moves the curtesan , that she cries out , oh my brave english man ! the feet do generate a viscous blood , and therefore to the stone in●lin'd , not good : the rump of creatures then th' interiour parts ho●●er and lighter are , for the kind darts of scrotums warm inhabiters ( o● heat a second forge ) th' adja●ent parts do beat and ●●imulate , and warms that utmost bit , there 's something go● by good neigbour-hood yet : the nearer then the tes●i●les more hot , the farther off by scituation naught : we will not in our rules a proverb cross , th' extremities are alwaies at a loss . chap. xx . of bake-meats . bake-meats are generally naught , and pie is disapprov'd , though alholland-day be nigh : we write not unto children , whose spoil'd gumms , ( whate're the coral gain'd ) confesse that plummes and o're-warm'd custard have edentifi'd , ( that is , made toothless ) many a simp'ring bride : who for this very reason , all their life , are feign to laugh behind a handkercheif : so have i seen a toothless bride-groom sit hungry at 's wedding , nor could chew a bit , untill the spoon-meat came , then his throat strain so wide , you might have seen his heart again : wherefore forbear them , rabbi rasis saith , but against pie-meat there is little faith : to bodies troubled with an acid wind and eructations sower , bake-meats are kind ; they doe eventilate and lay that flatus , which smels so mawkish from its foul hiatus ; for little nourishment they yield , but those whose spungie bodies slimy flegm o're-flowes , or do desire to be gentile , that 's gaunt and fine , may eat this drying diet ( none of mine . ) roast-meat , which long-back'd curres do spin on spits , are far more nutritive , though they 'r gross bits , and not digested , but by stomack 's dint , and when the ventricle hath vigour in 't ; it binds the belly , yet there 's help for that , if you do eat good store of the roast fat : but flesh with generous eggs and pepper drest , of any bake-meat is accounted best . oh for a pie-meat , be 't at any rate , rais'd by thy hand and ar● ( dear oxford kate ) the wisdome of thy cookery doth raise unto thy self , and dishes lofty praise : thy meats are a brave winter food , and when i do indulge my genius like those men , thy gallant guests , a stately pie of thine shall fit us for the pretty friend of wine , and mother of proserpina : all this ( kate ) at the length will bring us unto dis. bake-meats corroborate and nourish more then any diet we have nam'd before : but in the summer ( kate ) we will forbear , they are too hot for us in sultry air , and breed the stone , a thing ( sweet cate ) which i nor you would see , to find one petrifie . and though thy praises i do gladly vent , i would be loath to be thy monument . chap. xxi . of birds in generall . th' arabian isaak dictateth , that fowl compar'd with walking creatures , are the soul , they but the body of meat ; they 'r light and fine , and do the feeder to quick works incline ; as if their feathers still were on , they spring thorough the quarters , and are all o' th' wing : rare and aeriall , yet the nourishment is small , and less then walking fowl or pent ; yet our silvestrian , then domestick bird , is tenderer , as once before y' have heard , and of digestion facile , the reason is , their assiduous labour and dry season . if daedalus with any wings of wax , could a made it flie , how light had been an ox ? which now must be most heavy , gross and dull , though it were dress'd in phalaris his bull , as i may guesse by milo , who in sweat of 's brows did find an ox was heavy meat : but these high flyers rare , 'cause they do move often , and the dry aire to traverse love ; but the domestick , that lesse plye the oare of feather'd pinions , succulent , are more , and generate a noble blood , being moist of temper , nor with aery swimming tost : of all the birds that skirre the liquid aire , our aurhor saith the * starling is most rare ; ( a most rare singer if his tongue be slit , confess'd ) but not with us a dainty bit : yet if you bring it to an english cook uncas'd , he 'll make him tast like any rook : the masculine bearns of partridges are neat , the mother's hen and pheasant , lady-meat ; the cockrels of all birds are lightest food , and breed the laudablest and wholsom'st blood , strengthens the appetite , their gendring fire fitting them both for diet and desire : but yet th'arabian doctor avicen , preferres before all these the creaking hen , and saith that hen-broth is a remedy probatum against scurfie leprosie : besides , who 'd think the female had such praise , since females are the worser many wayes ? the brains , saith he , of hens increaseth wit , augments its namesakes substance ; there is it ; for those who are fantastick , idle , vain , as if their food wer● so , we call cock-brain . chap. xxii . of hens . the doctors differ , for rabbi isaak doth pull our hen , and won't allow the crack , but justifies the chick against the damme , ( a physicall , not divine axiom ) and in comparisons not odious , bids us the chick before the mother chuse , as being the tougher nourishment , enough , but for my meal give me a hen tooth-proof , not tough as buff , nor yet as whit-leather , but often humbled by sir chanticler : then full of embrion chick , let her appear in claret-sawce throughout all ianivere . but for the limber thighs of infant-fowl , which you may draw like peascods through your jowle , unlesse in acute feavers , let them eat , whose teeth dare not incounter tougher meat . next unto these the flesh of quailes is thought exceeding good , especially iew-bought , ( that 's at the price they were i' th' wildernesse ) but to eat them now in london-dresse , or partridge-chicken ( which is grosser food , costive , but nourishing ) though the meat 's good . i shall not venture , and i know the cause , because it did rain quails , but never sawce . chap. xxiii . of pidgeons , their young ones , and ducks . the infant-pidgeon , and the suc●ing dove , emblem of innocence , of lust , of love , are a most high and filling diet , hot and inflaming , thence are feave●s got ; ' ware pidgeon therefore , till his early flight hath purg'd his heavinesse , and made it light ; to these invite your flegmaticks , a scholar , men sedentary , but not a man of choler . ducks of aquatick fowl are far the worst , whether fen-fed , or in your own moats nurst ; hot is their blood , and of a saturn die , gives nauseas and superfluity , yet nourishing enough , if it were good , ( he don't prescribe a copious , but sound food ; ) of all the fowl which on the lakes do wander , from the wild duck unto the goose and gander , there 's none but are repletive , if it smell amisse 't is naught , though 't were a barnacle : this hinders not the profits of the coy , the smell of gain is sweet , bon par ma foy . chap. xxiv . of the parts of fowl . the bellies of all fowl , brawny and tough , are of digestion long , and hard enough ; but master'd by the culinary fire , they 'r as good nutriment as you desire . the wings of geese in moistnesse do abound , and so in hens is the like juicenesse found ; their constant motion makes them simply good , an excellent and inoffensive food . but oh the liver of the stubble goose ! set it before the grosse vitellius , or otho either , and this emperour shall leave his glasse for it , 'tother his whore . wisdome of cooks ! oh arts of cramming geese ! when kitchin machiavilian policies shall so contrive , that the attractive liver shall starve all members to augment the liver , and by devices hyperphysicall , translate the rickets from the head to th' caul . wonder in caponry ! but they grow plump and fat , by stitching up the merry rump . the necks of geese and hens , which we do cast to th' dunghill , are an excellent repast ; arabick dainties bought up by us of late , by one , who on all city feasts do wait , the factor of our poultery gubbins , that he may feed high his rare musk-making ca● . the wings of flying creatures do excell the leggs of walking , motion doth expell superfluous humours : so fowl cramm'd and pent , though they be fat , are not good nourishment : i do abominate the city-glutton , fat capon-fed , and shoulder of mutton : if that must be th'entertainment and the cheer , give me the barn-fed bird and mountaneer . the eunuchs of all fowl are best , and so prevail with us , they are no longer meat but ale : cock is an english malt , and we drink fowl , what once was dish'd is now swigg'd up i' th' bowl , so that we do not now those gluttons think , who capons eat , but those who capons drink : cock-broth , the ladies sure confortive is gone , for china ale doth keep alive ; who can desire more ? physitians unde is this rare cure from munday * untill sunday . the brains of fowl , less viscous and less dry , are better then of walking poultery , who are of temper ex opposito , ( that 's clean contrary , if you do not know . ) the brains of infant-starling , partridge , pheasant , and cocks and hens ( sir mammon judge ) is pleasant . chap. xxv . of eggs and their proprieties . as at creation , so our book proceeds , hens before eggs , perfection's in the deeds of the best best opificer ; he made nothing potentiall , perfect 't was when said , that protoplastes the first species fram'd entire , nothing was impotent or maim'd in its own essence , then he vertues gave , prolifick and conservative , to save and propagate , which hid in seminall power , traduces the first work unto this hour ; the parent , not the chick , oviparous , the mothers labour hatch'd in feather'd house of her own body , yet 't doth safer dwell , and hath a cottage of its own , a shell : our subject is this embrion in 's cradle , both possible to live and to be adle , or damn'd to be devour'd before a tast of life , and into various coquery cast ▪ bred of (a) contagion of sir chanticlers , upon the bag prolifick , the case cleer , and setled now in plain anatomy , 'a spiritiz'd flavour gets , and egge , and me , so that the cock-tread and the grosser sperm ( which our old philosophy affirm did generation raise ) are onely here the conduct and the warm conveyancer of this brave monsieur , and grand signiour spright , whose warm afflation does the work o' th' night : this egge i set before you , ( madam ) sloth makes this poor book trencher and table-cloth , not set in salt ( unless of slender wit ) and though but small , yet a most dainty bit , of such vicinity with humane blood , it strait incorporates , and i● quick food ; especially the golden part , the * argent is frigid and viscous , of activities unequal much ; so that in thi● white shell , the sun and moon may be affirm'd to dwell : the yolk 's spermatick , like the gendring sun , the eggs in watery efficacies run . the eggs of hens and partridges incite , and those of ducks are servient ●o delight ( though fouler nourishment . ) the lay of geese ▪ of odour bad , doth loathsomne●s increase , yet are pr●vocative ; of turkeys more , although the waddling treade●'s long , before he act ( the fu●bler of the fowls ) but mounted ▪ this cobbling ●ame●●e is a * signiour counted . but hear what rasis saith , and avicen , most temperate the l●y's of the press'd hen , and part●idges , so little losse i' th' food , that weight for weight , the yolks convert to blood : boyl'd ra●ely , they digest a●ace : but hard , they do digestion and themselves retard : ta●ne when the cackling hen alarum gives of her delivery , restora●ives : immixt with honey good for throats are sore ; and in consum●tion● we their aid implore : no flesh so nourishing and temperate : let those forbear them who are over fat ; butter'd with ambergriss a lusty meat , v●●ellius ( le grosse ) did often eat ; a prince of a short reign , which amply shows , gluttons no fighters are , but for night blows . chap. xxvi . of milk . kinsman to blood , but twice remov'd , in breasts of women pregnant , in udders of beasts elaborated , and the tincture white , in venis lacteis , ( unknown to sight , unless upon dissection ) is made , which is this luke-warm candidates parade . it is of equal temper with our blood , and having been so once , most proper food : not dreadful when a read-coat , and a friend , when white-coat to our ages * either end , its temper doth incline to moist and cold , it wets , and fats : those whom long hecticks hold , or the dry cough , or urine sharpness pricks , and those of constitutions dry as sticks , it benefits , and brings to temper just , it foments blood , and the white stream of lust : 't is of concoction quick , and gets the dye ( whether the liver or veins sanguifie , or both , it matters not ) which once it had , white into red is no conversion bad . wherefore we say , in feavers , are acute , in pains o th' head , in dropsies , and scorbute , and other cold diseases , milk forbear , though io were the cow , ( and she was rare ) of all that spend the teat , the milk of cows is grossest , and most nourishment allows . who do desire matho's bulk ( to fill a coach alone ) let him the milk-pail swill . yet i have heard a matho of our own ( by 's surcingle of sheeps-heads quickly known ) so huge a quantity of milk did drink ( a horse of water could not more i think ) yet never was the fatter , nor would be if he had eaten cow , milk-maid , and me . such guts should be their mutual punishment , and marriot should have eaten wood of kent . the milk of asses avicen advises , to give to all who labour of a phthisis , or have bad lungs . the milk of goats partakes of either temper , and a medium makes : such wonders are rehears'd of goats , that if you hear 'um you will hardly give belief ; the very hearbs they feed on turns to physick ; give them specificks for the cough or ptisick , the infusion is their milk , and it retains the vertue sans apothecaries pains , a living rare pharmacopoeia , and not yet translated by culpepper's hand . the milk of sheep is worst , very unsound , and doth with su●erfluities abound . milk boyl'd with rice , or the like grain ( and free from its in●●igidating quality ) breeds wholesome blood , moistens belly and brest , and to the bladder is a welcome guest . and buttermilk in fluxes , and so whey is excellent for lactium tormina , if in them you throw in burnt gad of steel , you need no other med'cine , they it heal . against diseases of the yellow bi●e , nothing so soveraign , nothing so * vile . distempers of much bacchus , and the itch , and yellow jaundice , faces call'd the rich , are cur'd by these , and butter that 's unsalt , by fricacy doth remedy the fault of filthy morphy'd skins : butter next grace is eaten first , eaten in the last place . then let not hogens mogeas only sing , bouter , bouter is good for any thing . chap. xxvii . of cheese . all cheese is naught , saith the salernitan , the fresh is cold and grosse , yet if a man be not of constitution cold , 't is good , a tolerable , but not commended food . old cheese ( as is its age ) is worse , or better the tarter sort is hot , and burnes , a getter of extreme thirst , cals for the other can , be it holland , chedder , or parmizan . yet after meales a slender quantity corroborates the stomacks mouth , and by the sharpness of the rennet doth remove all n●●sea from them , who sweet mee●s love . but scrap'd , as dr. buttler order'd cheese , ( who then a buttler more can palat-please ? ) 't is excellent against most surfeits , saving no sugar spoil the cambro-britan shaving . ha , ha , caus day ! yet our arabians hold , no cheese is safe , whether it be new or old : it loads the stomack 's of digestion slow , and if the collick or the stone you know , eat , and be sick , then leave 't , if not too late , or if you 'l eat , eat but a penny weight . chap. xxviii . of fishes . fishes are like their element , and place wherein they live , both cold and moist , a ●ace of flegmatick creatures , yet they are meat which dry , and cholerick tem●e●s may well eat ; and those who would look smug , or el●e snout-fair , may take this live●-cooling di●h for fare . in f●●vid seasons , and in climates hot use them : but if the be●●● the helm hath got , or under charles his seven-starr'd heavy w●ne , from this dull nourishment let them refraine ▪ and pituitous bodies must fo●bea● , unless they like the dropsie in the reer . the sea-fish , and of those , they in rocks dwell are finer , and in temperament excell , digest more easie , and breed better blood then the loose fry , that shoal it in the flood : yet in the stomack and the entrails they ( being little vi●cous ) make too long a stay . sweet river-fishes slimy , and grosse diet , are glibbery , and make egression quiet , more nourishing then sea-fish , and of these , those ( which the current streams and gravel please , and do abhorre annoyances of sinks , which spoil their channels with their loathsome stinks ) are most delicious , such as pearch and ●●out ; your mud-fish all incline you to the gout . but those delighting in sweet scowres refine their squamy sides , and clarifie their liue . the fi●● of lakes , and motes , and stagnant ponds ( remote from sea , or where no spring commands , and intermingling its refreshing waves is tench unto the mote , and tenches saves , and keeps them medical ) are of all sorts lesse innocent , unless some river courts the ●ullen nymph , and blending waters she of a foul mops●'s made leucothoe . her inmates otherwise , like her self , smell , tast of the harbour ( that is ) scent not well ; slow to digest : alive , they liv'd too close , and dead they can't their native dulne●s lose . give me a salmon , who with * winged fins 'gainst tide and stream ●i●ks o're the fishing-gins of locks and hives , and circling in a gyre his v●ulting co●●s , he leaps the basfled wyre . let fish have room enough and their full play , no liquor want , not on a fish-street day . but they are all meat indigestible , creating thirst , and spawn diseases well . take the lesse viscous , gracile , cleanly swimmer , smelling like s●elts , whose watry hutts are trimmer , then those of pools and ponds , or where on weed , or nasty alga , and base hearbs they feed . salt fish , can you with patience , brethren all , heare it , of salters and fishmongers hall ? salt fish is never good , but on a day when you a vomit take , and 't may not stay : charge u●on charge , ten shillings cost to dine , and h●●f a crown in crocus and squills wine , to cast it up again ? whose will adore my arabian doctors , o● sir theodore : vomits nor lead i like , the pendent bullet sh●ll never be the sweeper of my gullet . what i do eat , i do intend to keep , by exercise digest , and little sleep . but feed not like sir theodore for fear vomit nor bullet your o're-charg'd stomack clear . the barrel codd , and courtly pole of ling , butter and oyl marching in either wing , and rope-canary on the van and reer , or graves , or bourdeaux in a glass for beer bring on a friday , storm arabians then , * cloudsly and * ruckly are the better men . the river shell-fish , and lesse lobster-coats , crayfish and crabbs that swim , as those in boats do row , are in a pthisis singular boyled in milk o th' beast of the long ear , and for consumptive persons made a cale , as much as * colchis high fetch'd hearbs prevaile . you have the fish , pray fall on if you will , madam , the sauce shall not besowre the bill . chap. xxix . of pulse or grain . we take our rise from rice , which we find dry , ●th ' fourth , and moderate hot i●h first degree : boyl'd in fair water 'gainst the collick good , they call ( the windy ) but a noble food boyl'd in the milk of almon●s , which doth lose its ●●iptick quality , then la●yes don't refuse ; the candle-cup , they bravely nourish , caus●ng the blood , and seminal vertue flourish . if that their ladi●●ips will make a wash again●t the morphies , ri●ie ●lower ●ash in ●ountain water , and this clean●ng grain shall clarifie the skin , and null the ●●ain . but you must ●●ri● it from its husk , its rind is venemous ; and ●lee t●in any wine , or water , ●ain i th' mouth it doth create , saith avicen , and will imposthumate . beans are of double sort , or dry , or green , those fo● your bo●● , these for your boo●e● for-b●n ▪ the g●een i th' 〈◊〉 degree are moist and cold ; but cold and dry in the● 〈◊〉 height the old : bad nourishment an● filthy humors b●eed , to a proverb ●●●ive , ladies , take heed , beyon● th' excuse o th' pu●py they exceed : creates by vapours on the inju●'d brain , malignant dreams , and our ch●st●●e p●ofane . the great white bean in his minority , boyl'd in successive waters , happily may be permitted , loose their windiness if boyld with mint or comine , you them dress both flegmatick and windy meat within but the bean-floor is excellent for the skin . " yet spight of doctors , and when all is done " we will make bold with pulse at thorington , " and this stern doctrine against beans shall ne're " be held , nor gain repute in leicestershire , nor yet in somerset , where odcombe , bred famous tom coriat , pudding and bean fed . lentils saith rasis are both cold and dry , of temper middle others , so let 't be bread , melancholy blood , lick up the juice of succulent bodies ; spoil the visive use by drying qualities , for corpulent , and persons flegmatick a cure present , us'd of● saith isaac , fill with fumes the brains , and cause amazing dreams , and capital pains . ciches are of two sorts , one black , one white , the white is hot i' th' first degree , that 's right , and moist i' th' middle site , hard to digest causing inflamation in the puffed breast . dilate the skin , as 't were upon the wrack eat ( horses ) then , untill your bellies crack , and look most fair , and plump and round fillet and cascoines will lite , and sound , the black ciche is more hot , of moysture less against obstructions of the sp●een redress and liver opilatio●s , boyled , best , in horse reddish , it raiseth milk supprest ; vrine provoks , and the spermatick vein , a great increase by this stout pulse doth gain : wherefore to stallions t is a generous food , and makes them active for that noble brood . peases ( saith arnoldus ) are not much unlike , wherefore some eat them , bravely by the strike . then beans less windy , nor so smoothly pa●● the ventricle , lookin the herbal glass gerards , and iohnsons mirror , and their pease will every longing eye that sees them please . i have a friend that loves them , had a tutor would eat three mess without a coadjutor . obedience therefore and affection move not to dispraise , what two such wise men love . chap. xxx . of herbs and plants . help pauls-church-yard our physick garden now , ( and let tredeskin no more simples shew . ) where simpling girles , and simpler women stand to sell the gathered herbage of the land . medaea when she took her flight i' th' air cull'd not so great ingredients , nor so rare ▪ hither apothecaries , hither hast chi'rgians , and midwifes ( busie quacks at last ) and decay'd gallants , lords of lands are passant , and sequestred divines buy up the grass out . the ewe , sad box and cypress ( solemn trees ) once church-yard guests ( till burial rites did cease ) give place to sallads , and confin'd apollo trades in these plants , that do hereafter follow ▪ ladies secure your noses , for i bring garlick my first high sented offering . it's temper hot and dry , whatsoere doth sent so strongly is of such a temperament , it warms cold bodies , hot anoys , expells wind , and such vapors from the bodys cells . it doth incite to lust , an opener high , and in a tertian makes the cold fit flye . a lohoc , that 's a lambative , of this deserves a sanum & expertum ; t is rare against coughs , obstructions thick extenuates , and cuts ( ye but a lick administred upon a liquorish stick for hotter regions naught , but where the bear rules , t is a lusty , nasty , warming fare . the ploughmans treacle , and sole antidote , let in the patient , cure him for a groat . its filthy hogon is corrected thus bo●●it , t is not so odoriferus . lentills or beans eat after it do lay the strong mephitis , mints will take 't away " but oh the proof of mowers intrailes , which " digest this plant , as well as horses cich . sorrel ( saith rasis ) is both hot and dry , gerard doth say it cools ( undoubtedly ) exasperates the stomack , by which fight it moves it to a grateful appetite , in summer season a most delicate sauce , in which the taste doth mightily rejoyce and us'd with many meats : but when saint luke appears once i' th' now un-red-letter'd book , the salted leggs , and springs of slaughter'd swine with sorrel sauce do make us rarely dine . to those abound with yellow choler good and quencheth thirst ( especially that o' th' wood ) if p●ssessed , the inflamed blood retreats from pestilent feavors , agues , and all heats . what vertue have the seeds if you do ask ? drunk in red wine , their good against the las● . now ( montebancks english , or 〈◊〉 de france ) its juice ( old avicen ) doth high advance and saith against the tooth ach t is as sure as any causticks or your handkerchieff cure . diu's hot and dry , saith isaack , refines ventosities , and tumors , stept in wines the top's of dill dryd , and decocted , raise the candid flood i' th' via lacieas . cleansing and causing milk , and doth remove its windiness , nurses , and mothers love . provoketh urine , is to sperm a friend , and puts the mounting hickets to an end , so do the seeds smell 't to : hippocrates . confounds the hicquets with a lusty sneeze , for by that violent stomach-quake , all meat ( that lay offensive there ) doth change its seat ; sunned , or boyld in oyl , it mitigates great pains , and shuts up morpheus heavy gates , allaying vapors , that disturb the head , and makes us take the other napp at bed , no less affective is this precious dill if boyld in wine against the matrix ill . it doth disperse those clouds , with choak , and smuther the uterm vault , called ( but not making ) mother . this laus rei hitherto now comes who 'd think could hurt ? its vitupexiums . all humane good is mixt ; wherefore be wise use not daily , for it spoils the eyes . smallage , or garden parsley , or that which delights in waters , or the banks o' th' ditch . is hot , and dry , but yet the little seed above the leaves i' th' qualities exceed . a mighty opener of obstructions tough , and smooths the way o' th' ureters , when rough , provokes that serious tide , much more the root boyld in a broth , doth put the bladder to 't . the root , or seeds in clysters help alone to evacuate , if not contuse the stone . it lays the torment of the guts , which may be done by epsam-beer or else by whey . most excellent in sauces , and in broth , parsley , and butter , and the table cloth , are half the charge of a fish dinner ; so it is good , and bad sauce , the caveat know . then as in ruartaines tis , and agues seen , it opens liver stoppages , and spleen . so to the vintners most assiduous curses , it will set open wide your fish-day purses amongst its mischiefs that , and this shall lye it s very hurtful to the epilepsie . " which sickness is more dangerous of late " to fall i' th' street , or tavern-fall i' th' state ? or age , or oruch ( for both words do hold ) are moyst in degree second , in first cold , a kitchin garden herb , for the pot chief , but boyld a sallad , bellies bound relief , nourish , and livers hot gently asswage , and raw , or sod allay a guttural rage , or inflammation in the throat , withall the seeds in meath drank , cure th' icterical . parsneps are of a temper hot , more dry then moyst , and nourish well , not dainty , a thicker blood create , but yet not bad , a root spermatick makes a scotchman mad , inflative too , correct them then with pepper , it is no dulman , no nor nimble leaper out of the stomack , but makes wholesome stay , and for the stagnant vrine ridds the way . beets are of divers colours , white , black , red , according to their hues so tempered , the white are moderately moist ; and hot a garden herb good for the pottage pot . the red , and black more hot , abstersive all ; because compound of n●tro●s stuff , and sal , whence their vertue diergertick's , sed to purge by its * emunctory the head , good against sounds i' th' ear , and the tooth ach , and doth the cupidinean locks unlach . but oh the riot of the roman . be et with such a sallad their grand signior treat ▪ rub up your noddles my brave english cooks and make our red beet ; that excells in looks excel in taste : what can't your wisdoms do with oyl and vinegar , and pepper too . make it an antidote ( my cunning men ) and then you jump with father avicen . borage is hot and moist , i' th' first degree , or set i' th' confins of each quality . both hot and cold , in its natural poise so just , that neither temperature exceeds it trust . a plant ad pondus ( as they say ) and where you find such ballance , the proportions rare . the vertues eminent : have you no courage ? at any time revive your soul with borage . that azure flower hath in 't a soveraign gift , and when a sallad can the heart up lift . good against either choler , red or black ( infus●d in wine de france , or nobler sack . ) sirrup of borage will make sad men glad , and the same sirrup doth restore the mad . a rare receipt for bedlam , under deck , prisoners , or my companions under se● ▪ colo●orts are hot , and of a nitrous juice by the first they bind , by th' latter , loose , the broth is laxative , there runs the salt , eat , without broth their stiptick , there 's their fault . to make it unmalitious boyl the cole in fountain water , cast it away whole , then in a broth , where vertuous pouder beef is boyld , boyl that , cato shall cry it chief of meats , with which he will most amply dine , and frolick it , and lick the lusty wine that to his crambe , caulis , or our coles his bellies debtor , and his jobbernole . for colewort is an enemy toth' vine , and can our wits wine forfeited refine . then socrates , and cato fear no baggage nor scold , take to'ther bottle , to'ther cabbage . it is for shaking hands , and dim eyes good , forgive one fault of melancholy blood . what though its windy , pepper will reform that tempest , and appease its flative storm . onyons are hot and dry , i' th' fourth degree but garlick doth exceed i' th' quality . onyons are chopt into three several sorts , and never a one hath any good reports . as to our diet purpose boyld their best , raw eaten worst , but with vinegar dre●● ▪ they neither heat nor cool , saith rasis , how ? when vinegar both vertues doth allow ? so ordered , they inflame not unto thirst , but raise an appetite , the carriers first and onely sauce , his snuff , for the squ●●'d juice from 's glanderd brains the humor will produce . ( good for his teem and him ) with vinegar immixt , it will the spotted cutis clear . provoks to sleep , so that your drowsie pate is call'd most pat , an onyon head of late . but yet beware , my friends of sleep , and night , t is good to shut your eyes , but nought for sight . it dulls the senses , doth infect the breath ; o do's it so ! away with it t is death . the gourd ( saith avicen ) is hot and dry ( like the wild * ci●rul on its quality . ) in degree second , and its vertues , these , it purgeth yellow choler , disagrees with melancholy ; wine all might i' th' gourd that hath been hous'd , purgation will afford . much like our melon , if they stand , and thrive , are good to make the body laxative . dioscorides saith , that the gourds juice held in the mouth , will ease to the pain produce of tooth-ache . bitter it is of taste : know most things that are of special ▪ good , are so . cumin is hot and dry , saith rasis , good against wind i' th' stomach ; after food taken a help at maw , that 's to concoct , by' ts seeds dr●nk matrix ▪ and the guts unlock't . from the pain colick●s the result is the very same by clyster or by pultis . with vinegar immi●t , the overflows call'd menstruall are repuls'd , and bloody nose . secundum artem handled it asswages whatsoever swelling● in the scortum rages , and genitals , 't is good for gouty joynts , and the procedure of it disappoints . boyld with inflative meats , a remedy against their genuine ventosity . what would you more ? there 's not a nurse nor slut but knows t is good gainst worms i' th' maw and gut . coming again we shall more vertue find those whom the pl●urisie , or stich do grind , let them a bag of cummin seed , and sal ( le-bay ) quil up and warm them all to mal . besprinkled well with good wine vineger and hot applyed to th' side o th' sufferer , it is probatum , and will save well nigh the pl●u●us noted help , plebotomy . fennel is hot , and dry i' th' third degree , the seeds or leaves in p●●san made , the dry breasts do replenish , and those hills of silk and snow , refurnish with the purest milk ; made a decoction they cleanse the reins , open the liver , and the kidney lanes . do force the stone , and urine to avoid . and hath c●t●dian feavors oft destroy'd . by die●retick faculty , now tell the verses made on oxford holowell . " no man will hurt this well , that 's wise , " for this hurts none , but cures the eyes . so fennel , roses , v●r●●n , rue , and celandine made a water will do good unto thy eyes and mine . and to such persons cover to be lean , fen●cularis aqua , scowres them clean . hysope is hot saith rasis , and if eaten or into powder with some mixtures beaten good for the dark of sight : a water made with this and figs by th' skillful in the trade , gurgl●d , doth unimpostumate the thro● , and when by rheumes a difficulty 's got of swallowing , the streightned passages to this decoction yeilds , and the stops cease lettuce is cold to th' end o th' third degree , with us a sallad of high dignity ; loaf'd , and unwasht is best , cooles the chaf't blood , for sperme , for milk , for generation good . but not the seeds , they 'r of a quali●y anterostical , that 's quite contrary , it doth provoke to urine and to sle●p , naught for letharg●ck pa●es : this sallad keep . and till the spring , its usual leaves produce , its kindred corn-sallad shall be in use . mints in degree the second , hot and dry i' th' third , saith gerard , of fam'd memory . if smelt unto pliny the historian writes the duller appetite to eat excites . confortative to stomack , we commend it in burnt claret at a vomits end . it stays the hi●quets , parbrake , and the scowre by choler made in ventricle the lower taken in juice of sowre pomegranats : so in vineger if upward blood do flow . in broth if boyld , senior pliny writes , it stays the blood profluvium , and the whites good against watry-eye , and scurfie head , of children , and any tumor therein bred . with honey and spring water mixt it cleers absurd obstructions of surda●ter ears infus'd in milk , against a mad dogs bite , t is good for man , but hang the dogg out right . boyled in wine , and vineger , alone it cures the strangury and kidneys stone against the stings of waspes applied , and bees t is good . i would there were no worse then these ? cresses though in the water do lye , yet are of temp'rament most hot , and dry , especially the seeds to th' fourth degree a sallad , mixt with herbal company , virgils moretum makes it one of those herbs , which do sting with its sharpe bite the nose . t is good against scarbute , or scorbuch , be the disease old english , or new dutch . it warms the stomack , and the liver clears a● by the cure afore full well appears . for gainst the scorbute nothing is so good as that which by its vertue cleers the blood , it cures the worms i' th' belly , not the head , not in a sheeps , wherein a long ones bred . good for the stomack saith the arab rasis , but dioscorides the herb disgraces , as to that vigor , but commends its power for expediting off the bloody scower , and though it hurts the early embryo it doth provoke to that , which * made it so : poppy is white , and black , of this doth come the high nercotick , dulling opium : the whites more candid , and more la●dable , this causeth sleep , that death ( saith pliny well ) poppy both seed , and leaves , and heads are cold ▪ stays rheumes a cerebro : be not too bold however with 't , unless it tempered be with good allays , then t is a remedy not dangerous : beware , best lady , still of herbs , that do some good , but greater ill . of this is made rare diacodium , the wand of mercury , and morpheus drum , when sharp diseases , and malignant feavor , disturb your rest ( as i could wish it never ) a poppy cawdle made with almond-cream shall bind the senses , and incline to dream . parsley is hot i' th' second , dry i' th' third degree : by it the stagnant urin's stirr'd , and femal courses fixt do finde their way and the red tide obeys her cynthia . the seeds are hotter then the leaves or root , they open , are abstersive , and drive out aeolian blasts , and stomack-tearing-toind , and them expel at fore door , or behind . i● is as helpful to the stone , and gaines credit upon the bladders grief , and reins . the cholick passion is appeas'd : the doors the little doors 'o th body cal'd the pores , it opes by sweat , and makes transpire such vapours as fume the house , like ill extinguisht tapers . it purifies the liver ; made an oyl it cures the morf●e , and the speck'd skins soyl boyled in ale the roots and seeds have got a ●ame 'gainst poysons , are an antidote , and for its common use , there 's scarce a dish without this sauce to your quaint flesh or fi●h leeks , or but leek with number singular e'ne which you like , hot , and dry temper'd are ? rasis commend● , and discommends the plant it is the appetites friend to its provant but enemy to th' head which it doth pain and fills with dreams malignant the fum'd brain , if that the fountain of the body's ill ( the head i mean ) let leeks grow where they will except on thy brest-plat . but if you l ' need upon this great extenuator feed , eat them with endives , purslane , lettuces charge of a sallad will his heat appease made in a lohoc , or a loch , with figs with bdellium , almonds ( tell me dr trigs must they be blanch'd or no ? ) with liquorice ▪ a quantum sufficit , in short r s. with candid sugar , ana , and these all boyl'd in a balneo , till syrrupical , against catarrhes , and suffocating rheumes and squinances a power it assumes . madam you 'l thinke i cant , or little lack of iohn pontaeus , or an english quack the emperour nero cal'd parrophagus that 's leek devourer , eat them like a sus , that 's like a swine , which is the cause i think his memory unto this day doth stink purslane is cold 'i th degree third , and moyst in second : for stomacks by much wine deboyst and high inflam'd is good , and extream thirst purslane will quench ( when if your belly burst . with water , 't will not slake ) and for your tooth aking or edge , the leaves are good forsooth the faemal fluxe , and of bile rubea or any flux of blood the juice will stay if by a syringe you the same minister it cures the matrix heats , the guts by glister ; and avicenna a new vertue starts that the leaves rub'd are med'cine 'gainst the warts , the butchers 'gainst the herb-wives seek relief and think that purslane will put down raw beefe radish is hot , and dry , a sauce of course both that cal'd biting , and that called horse , both heavy of digestion , both excite before and in the meal the appetite the leaves are more digestive then the root which is a vomit , with some oxymel to 't it cuts the flegme , and by it's gravity like cheese ▪ it make our victuals downward ply water of radish , or horse radish ale is good for urine , and provokes to stale , but leaves a ●●gou so distastful i wish that my nose , my palat were not nigh the root with darnel , meal and vineger of wine de-●●anch , blew and black speeks do's clear that mixt with salt ( saith dioscor●des ) will milk in dryed paps , and teats increase ▪ secundum artem ordered makes away for the descension of the menstrua and mixt with vinegar hath good dispatch against hodontalgia , or tooth-ach . and without rasis , or hippocrates rind on , and off , is eaten with green cheese turnep ( saith isaack ) 's moyst i' th' first degree and ●ot i' th' second , a good quality . nature consists in hot and moyst . we fall when fire licks up the humor radical . then turneps eat , which though they ill digest , of garden roots they are accounted best . it makes the skin fair as it self , and raises that plimme , and somewhat more , and yet more praises for spermatick recruits it gets , they 'r all good , long , the small , or round , which bears the ball . the sheets or tender topps for sallads use , boyled , they do belye asparagus : the commentator ( if he guesseth right ) affirms they have a vertue good for sight . and pliny ( natures great philosopher ) saith , boyld , to frigid feet they heat confer . i hold with pliny , and almost dare swear my foot a boyld turnep will not bear . but what saith dioscorides , alone a turnep stamp'd is for kib'd heels for-bone , to made an oven for the oyle of roses to rost in embers , is the best of doses . then turneps , cry man , east , north , west and south , and when they 'r sold , with wheelbarrow stop thy mouth . rue is both hot and dry , i' th' third degree , at its approach flys cold ventosity , and clogging humors jogge , it doth remove the sent from those garlick and onyons love . the herb ( like sampier pickled ) helps the sight , but so , or not so eat , spoiles cupids fight . in pestilential times like these , if you do love your safety , stuff your nose with rue . who can deny what pliny then attests , the leaves in wine are antidote o' th' best . the water thrice distill'd , the kidneys cleanse , and send all sand incontinent , from thence . sage is of temper hot , and dry , the school salernitan , concludes him for a fool that dyes with sage in garden . t is a herb of vertue singular to a proverb . and in its name are high auspicia healthful and soveraign that is * salvia . let those who to abortions subject are make this same prudent herb their constant fare , and what it doth post partum , for the next consult agrippas , and aetius text , good for the matrix , and its tenant , naught for the person , who , that to lodge there brought . and bridles natures itch : good for the brains , and head , and senses , which the head contains . and how in ale infus'd , and brew'd , we cry it up , with scabius , fennel , betony , apothecaries shops can tell , whose trade during these sage ale morning draughts doth fade . the juice , as well as any black lead combe where white hairs are , will make the black ones come . and macer saith , that pulveris'd , it takes away the venemous bites of poysonous snakes . how in our late malignant feavors we account sage possets a grand remedy , the country cures can speak : then for a stich or pleurisie t is poormans cure , and rich if in a wooden dish with coals the leaves be dry'd , vineger aspers'd , it nere deceives . no maid nor man cook ( unless fool by age ) will dress a pigg and not i' th' sauce have sage . spinach is cold and moyst , so temperate , the lungs , the throat , the stomach gratulate . this wholesome pot herb , which doth exercise his lonosing vertues 'gainst the bellies ties . will it untie the bound ? such recipes restrained persons will extreamly please . ●t breeds but little , yet good nourishment we give 't in feavors to a good intent , and with as good success , if you herbs mate alike , both open , and refr●gerate . mushroms , or toadstools , off-spring of the earth , or else of trees a puffy spungy birth . are unto danger cold and moyst , if eat , and raw cold pituitous blood beget . those whose concavities are red , are worst , let those feed on them to the colick curst . pepper and oyl , and salt , nay all cooks art can no way wholsemness to them impart . what doctor butler said of cucumber , of these ground-bucklers , we the same aver . dress them with care , then to the dunghil throw'um a hogg wont touch um , if he rightly know um . toadstools are worse then mushromes of the ground , and with a poysonous quality confound : a pappy , viscous , gross , cold substance can here finde no praise , nor i' th' salernitan : these four are signs of death , saith isaack , ( an old arabian , and no late-sprung quack ) which if you cut i' th' middle , and let lye till morn , you shall their putrid state descry . but oh the praises of the roman wits : meat for the gods , the emperors choise bits . poets and cooks are friends , and no● at odds ▪ i joyn , and say they 'r meat too for such gods . chap. xxxi . and first of figs . preposterous ! figs before apples plac'd , the diet 's false , and all the work disgrac'd . who marshals in the fruit ? a squire , 't may be , but yet no apple-squire you plainly see . a fig for such a squire : madam , with leave you shall our reasons for our figs receive . ' both are coaevous fruits of edens earth , ' the fig and apple don't contend for birth ; ' onely the apple , to one sexes shame , ' had the misfortune of the leading name . that fruit is inauspicious to your kind , and purposely i plac'd the dish behind , lest being percht into the upper place , you would not think 't a banquet , but disgrace : think you i should quick atalanta please with golden apples , whilst hippomanes with laurel crown'd , revives the fatal story of her deluded soul and long lost glory ? give place then exprobrating fruit , and come thou cover-shame , old fig-tree , in the room : though men of all the fruit , that hangs o' th' tree , should love none less for your obscurity : for by its leaves we lost the precious sight of that which is the masculine delight . figs , either green or dry , do cleanse the sand from that streight quarter , where the reins command . windy when green , but then are laxative , dry they do nourish , make the body thrive , and warm the blood , but an excessive use ( ' as all exceedings turn unto abuse ) does cause the itch and lice , but yet you may give wormwood in a fig , for all i say . so much saith rasis , hear what isaak saith , ( for a few figs y' have two physitians , faith . ) if that you eat them fasting , when all 's clear , and no crude humours in the stomack reer , they make digestion noble , cleanse the breast , the lungs , the reins , and stones (a) membranous nest , hath it no other vertue ? this in summe , roasted 't is good for an impostum'd gumme . dates are in temper like to figs , that 's dry and moist , but nourish not ( so cleverly , as we may say ) if often eat , they cause gross blood , and both infect the teeth and jaws ; provoke to urine , but do swell the s●leen and liver , and the blood turn all to flegm . still worse and worse ; then take them oxford kate for marrow-pies , with me they 'r out of date . grapes are less hot then dates , a luscious fruit , and its alliance blood doth streight recruit , fattens the body , and extends one part , for which we need not wicked helps , nor art . the thinner coated grapes do the less harm , and though themselves be slender clad , will warm . they all are windy , so are bellows , yet both these and they will fires and flame beget . the sweet grape fattens , and the sharp makes lean , infrigidates , if steep'd in water clean . sowre grapes are very cold , the belly bind , by them the yellow bile and blood 's confin'd . p●e●s'd grapes and raisons are of temperate heat , a nourishing fruit , plau●●ble and neat ; good 'gainst ob●●ructive coughs , and in a phthisis , steept a whole night in sack do strange devices . fruit of granado , or pomgranates , are both sweet and sowre ; both small nourishers ▪ the sweet are rather hot then cold , dispence swellings and thirst , to agues an offence . the sowre-sharp granate cooleth , dries , and binds , those flux-oppress'd his noble vertue finds : in morbus cholera a present cure , 'gainst either evacuation sure , then syrrup , conserves , make with art , and know it is ubique good above , below : and in the ●aundice , if its juice you try , none shall say long , that yellow is your eye . quince , or cydonean apple 's cold and dry , like to the former (a) punick in degree . second , o●sweet , or sowre , they 'r binders stout , the sow●e are most restrictive without doubt ; they rouze the appetite , they bind and loose : how 's that ? both fast and loose ? we will us pose ▪ the empty stomack it doth bind , you 'l say it night ▪ where nothing is to send away . but ea● quince after a full meal , anon it shall 〈◊〉 down and send to m' uncle ●ohn : raw not so good as roast , or bak●d , by art it i● convey'd in every apple-tart ; costive by quality , and therefore is elixir , where vomitings ▪ o●lasks , or bloody flix are : against immoderate me●ses good , and ●uch who blood from head , or stomack vomit much . but hear what simeon sethi sayes , if woman pregnant , do make of quinces a food common , she shall bring forth wise and discreet sons ; ' eat quinces , ladies , bring forth solomons . peares are all cold , of binding quality , both sweet and sowre , and choak-pear belly-tie , unle●s in post-ca●es eaten , then they do as quinces , which like them are costive too : eaten with toad-stools , or with mushromes , they lose their restringency , and pass away . eight sorts of civil pears , beside the wild , gerard hath told in 's herbal well compil'd , the katherine call'd the proud ; and james his pear , the burgomot , or the palati●er , the royal pear , and bishops pear , and had he found a lower-house pear ( though ne're so bad ) i durst profess ●ohnson , and he had meant to make of pears , and peers a parliament : apples , saith rasis , are restringent all , both sweet and sowre ; the salern school will call th' arab to account , since 't is d●ctatum , ' post pyra da po●u● , post pomum vade cacatum . gocl●vius help to reconcile this pique , or else we must no more of apples speak then thus ; apples are windy , if you eat them with annise seeds , or such like good meat ; so apples spic'd , and made a good lambs wooll , ( as saith salerna ) set us to the stool . sweet smelling apples are restorative , pluckt from their mother they do shorte● live ▪ bak'd in a pie with quinces 'mongst them cut , they do the appetite to 's business put. but frequent eating weakeneth the nerves , unless you use the syrrup or conserves : i have a * doctor's , and a learned one's word for 't , that eat , they mitigate the stone : so though an apple were the first fruit ill it keeps the ladies at their closets still . ' an excellent revenge , for this bad food , ' by your rare skill preserv'd , conserv'd , is good . peaches are cold and moist in degree second , a very fruitless fruit , and dangerous reckon'd : if eaten after meat , it hath a quality corruptive , and the chile doth putrifie , in sack imbib'd , what will not sack make good ? they are admitted , but before your food . unripe they 'r costive , ripe they 'r laxative : ' no man by peach ( in any sense ) did live ; the peach d' avant , that 's call'd praecocia , and in the roman tongue called persica , are ●alatsome , the nausea's abated by them , 't is fit the fruit should be translated . medlars , saith isaac , are both cold and dry i' th' first degree , fam'd for astringency : especially medlar the dwarf , procure the gyant-medlar , that 's a hector sure . strengthens the stomack , and like hercules allayes the tumults and the raging seas of yellow bile , by two commotions , the g●zzards glimmering call'd in strange notion , a report goes , saith dioscorides , that medlars eaten do the tooth-ach ease . gerard assures , that by the kernels bruis'd gravel and urine 's purg'd , the stone contus'd : thy english (a) nick-name doth so much divine ; but were it so , the drug gifts would repine . aprecocks in my authors are not found , i shall transplant them from our gerards ground : alike in nature to the peach , so may praecocia be the same with praecoqua . we 'r at a loss , iohnson and gerard both know not their vertues ( no nor i in troth . ) ' preserve on ladies , howsoe're , 't is good ' presum'd , untill 't is hurtfull understood . citrons , pomecitrons , lemons , oranges , are odoriferous and the scent please , whether from eden , media , or italy , or his dominions , on whom both suns lye ; the catholick kings hispania's , they proceed the earth don't rarer fruit nor fragrant breed ; delitious to the eye , sweet to the nose ; 't is thought the fruit that adam did depose from his high paradise , un●o●thy wa●e , ' and sad exchange ! had it been ne're so rare : le ts search it ▪ ve●tues , for our mother eve its outside glory could not so deceive : though by the eye much mischief is conveigh'd , ' those eyes , those eyes , cry'd the just yielding maid . then what magnetick force convinc'd that soul , which did the monarch of the world controul , and mov'd his ca●tiv'd ●a●●ions to a deed , hath set an edge his long traducted seed ? was it the rinds ●weet smell ? my py●●ha * knew 't was bitter , hot , and dry for all its h●e ) ' children are caught with pictures : vas 't the juyce ? my grandam knew ' tw●s sowre , and knew its use ; knew the seed bitte● , of like quality with the odorous rin●s ; she would not dye for coloquintida ; what though she knew it had hid vertue poyson to subdue ? ah but the venom of that crafty beast that circled 'bout he tree , and stung her breast wo●se then the 〈◊〉 did cleo●atra : not mi●h idatu● , tri●cles , not antidote sufficient to ex●el : he whisper'd death , and conv●igh'd h●ll in a soft , gentle , b●eath , lesse could the ho●es of kee●ing ever fair ( for citron juyce , for that is highly rare ) corru●t her judgment , whose tran●parent skin was glass unto her nobler thoughts within . ' that is the least of beauty , that o' th ●lass ; ' but since her fall , is all that 's left alass ! no the same ap●le by its proxie told of s●range omniscience , * never being old : ' these were sure baits ; since 't was her fate to fall , ' she fell not like a fool ; 't was gallant all . mulberryes , cold and dry i' th third degree , ri●e make the belly moi●t , and lenifie , passe quickly out of stomack , or else have a pu●refaction , and there find a grave . their juyce is like the tast of wine , and will asswage the heat of any guttural ill : with album graecum mix'd , and gargled , cure again●t squinancies , and throat-calenture . infus'd in fountain-water thirst remove , ta●ne before meat th' appetite improve . by stiptick quality they 'r very good against all fluxes of luxuriant blood . madam , let none offend this prudent tree , which blooms not till old winters gusts do flye ; reserves its juyce within its principal , wise as the creature which it feeds ; for all the bitter season of the year , his guest the silk-worm keeps within its downy nest , and when provisions on the tree appear he doth unwind himself , and fals to 's chear : so may your ladyship passe out of dore , and feed on them under a sycamore , which with umbratile leaves will let no sun hurt your silk-gown , by its namesake creatures spun . plumms , saith old isaac , are both black , and white , and red , and many colour'd for delight : they 'r cold in general , and moist , do loose the belly , yellow bile drive out o' th house . if eaten , as we use at barthol'mew-tide , hand over head , that 's without care or guide , there is a patient sure ; physitians sums have never quicker counters then these plums . if you will needs be at it before dinner , eat and be regular , no diet-sinner : or else they putrifie , and breed diseases ; wherefore in times of plague it alwayes pleases the prudent magistrate t' inhibit fruit , and dogs and hogs , which all are helpers to 't . the damson or plum damascene is best , plums that are dry'd give to a welcome guest . but if i sup or dine , it well shall please , if that the buttle● eat those services . cherries ( who 'd think it ! yeomanry of kent it is enough to lose your half years rent ) are all unwholsome , generate bad blood , viscous and flegmatick , a feavorish food . the tarter tasted are the best , although the sweeter at a greater price do go . but galen in his sage formality must yield , if round-cap cherry ripe do cry . almonds ; the sweet are temperate , the bitter better , and for physical uses fitter : their moderate heat and oyly juice doth lenifie the throat , yet they refu●e to pass the stomack , unless sugar'd well ; then urine and obstructions they expel , and sperm augment : unskinn'd they nourish worse , their coats , like b●an , a passage for them force . skinn'd they are stiptick , and ●erform good task , when order'd against bloody flix and lask . the bitter , hot and dry , are wholsomer , dissolve gross humours , cleanse the ureter , expectorate and sweep the clogged lungs , and mundifie the s●●leen , and liver dungs . their oyl for many uses serve , get grace for keeping terse the ladyes skins and face : in physick more successful ; so we shall not give our almonds only unto * pal. nuts are dry whorsons , though the tree complain , shee 's thwack'd and bang'd by every country-swain ; 't is not without a fault , by virgil's leave , who did the nut an innocent fruit conceive . for sim●ly of themselves they do great harm , are most obstructive , and in stomacks warm and chol●rick ingender fumes , and make the pate virtiginous , and deadly ake . infus'd in sack , their mended quality 's approv'd , who wo'nt in walnuts sacrifice an afternoon to bacchus , if it rain , and moistned skies offend the studious brain ? but nuts , two figs , and twenty leaves of rue , and salt contunded , ( give the devil his due , he is a nutter too ) will expel poyson ; n●y , taken fasting keeps off all that 's noysom . in hazel-nut , or filbe●d , cold and dry of temper , doth a windy moysture lye , which yeilds but little nourishment , so tough , it will not passe the stomack soon enough , but lies like bullet , or small shot of lead , yet u●on these the vulgar sort do feed . and at the play houses , betwixt the acts , the musick room is drown'd with these nut-cracks ; whose kernels made into a milk do bind , but of themselves the contrary we find , and rather cause the bloody flix , and lask ; wherefore forbear you brethren of the cask , vvho in your leather coats eat sacks of nuts , you 'l need no new beer to keep clean your guts . vvalnuts , or royal nuts , or * nuts of iove , ( here 's name enough to get a noble love ) are the best sort of nuts , and newly pluck'd delight the tast , but little juyce is suck'd from its dry kernel , which doth slow desc●●● , and by its h●r● concoction doth offend . made in oyl ▪ like almonds , th●y make smooth the hands and face , like chizel to a booth , or bo●rd , they ●lain the su●fie head , and scales , and ●ave the labour of our itching n●ils . the green and tender nut , like suck●d made , and boyl'd in sugar ( tis confectioners trade ) is ●o●t delightful and confortative , and anti●oticall , then eat , and live . chesnuts are dry and binding , in a mean 'twixt hot and cold ( nut laodicaean then ) but yet sardi●ian breed , inflative high , as 〈◊〉 i' th ●ire , their bouncing doth descry . after its windy ru●ture roast it well , and stee● it in good sack , until it swell by th' infusion , then this nut is good provocative , and plenty makes of blood : thus rarified by fire , and sowe'd in sack , we may commend it fulcrum to the back . there is a chesnut call'd equina , which is horse-chesnut in our sole english speech , which from the ●astern countrey came , and can horse coughs and astma's cure , why not in man ? we have a nut too that is call'd po●cine , an acron wild we give it to our swine ; not meat for men , unless when so tunes all are spent , we diet with the prodigall ▪ chap. xxxii . of spices . pepper is vehement hot , and mixt with meat assists the stomack to make quick defeat , and noble change , on that mesh or hoch-podge , which else would longer in her region lodge ; great crutches to digestion , and disperses wind , as king aeolus in virgils verses . wherefore on all inflative roots and grass , asperse the pepper-box , and they will pass . but let hot tempers , and in summer time , fobear , unless they will inflame the chyme : there are some persons too ; be none of those , who if they take 't , take more then in the nose : but they that love the haunch of hunted deer , with salt and pepper , make a noble cheer ; yet 'cause my reverend prelate loves it not , with other spices let him make it hot ; church-men must be approv'd , and verily i do submit in more then ordering pie . ginger is hot and moist , and well digests , the city cooks do wisely in their feasts , ( not use it gingerly whereby such fire , and piles of meat concoction safe acquire . wherefore the use of it , and other spices , have rais'd the groce●s , and some quaint devices to be o' th' twelve , to wit , twelve companies , because of these salvifical supplies , as pepper , m●ce , cloves , currans and raysons , and prunes , rare ware ! kept we the old seasons : but that high drug tobacco free doth passe , whether we have a christ-tide , or christ-masse . but to our ginger ( which besides in ale against its flativeness it doth prevail ) to livers cold , and stomacks likewise so , it doth a friendly heat and hel● bestow ; its vertue 's known in com●osition , for obscure eyes , so saith my portington , and so saith rasis , if that dimness be produc●d from moysture and humidity . so avicen commends it to the head and throat , with raw cold rheumes incumbered . good for the memo●y ( saith the same man ) forget not then the old physitian , for your old blades are best when all is done , for they were wise , and had read salomon . zedoary's hot and dry in the degree next to the first : the dispensato●y is frequent in its use , for it discusses all flatulency which in bodies buzzes ; it fattens too by occult quality , ( that 's the old help in physick ) let it be ; the world is not discover'd all , we can't know any thing compleatly , not a plant , for every plant doth hide a deity , and like the sensitive shrinks when we pry , or touch , beyond decorum , stands the shew when modest inquisition comes to know . but for its vertue known , let it suffice , it hath the name of triacle by the wise ; good against poysons , and infections good , whether they center in the sp'rits or blood . wherefore its use we may commend to all , in this next spring , and in the present fall . it is to th' stomack most comfortative , raiseth the appetite , the scent doth drive of noysome garlike , onions , and strong leek , ( which make the ladies at a kiss turn cheek . ) good against colick , stomack-pains , and lask , and drunk in wine allayes our heat of cask ; a panacaea rustick , not sure a greater ; yes , doctor everard hath found a * better . galingale , both the small and greater root , ( from india this , from china that sought out ) is hot and dry i' th' third degree , soveraign against the maladies of a col● brain if it 's but smelt unto ; but chew'd is rare for those whose lungs and breath ill savour'd are , but if the stomacks region 's stuff'd , and torn by wind , let no man this rare medicine scorn . or when we stomack lack unto our meat , it will ●rocure it , and do greater feat , ( digest ) and greater yet ; helps after third concoction , prime food for venus bird : and for the colick grief and colder reins , the shops can tell you what a price it gains . clove-berry's hot and dry , astringent too , like cloves in vertue , and in outward shew . in scent and tast most aromatical , ( such alexander fum'd his skin withall , unto odorous transpiration ) is good 'gainst goat-evacuation , and rammish breathings : good too for the eyes , annoy'd by cold catarrhs and crudities bred in the stomack ; livers cold it warm , would all exotick things did no lesse harme . rasis saith cynamon is hot and dry , strengthens the liver by that quality , and stomack too , and gets an appetite , and sweeps the wind out of that region quite : it doth obstructions clear , that stop the reins , forcing the u●ine in strangurial pains ; provokes the menstrua , old isack saith , the mid-wives are of a contrary faith . 't is wholsome made in sawce , and fumes the breath , and a sack posset rarely flavoreth . saffron is hot and dry i' th' first degree , the weakned stomacks friend : no enemy unto obstructed livers , not their breath , which is so short ( it differs not from death . ) the feeble parts it comforts : don't you see the saffron cawdle every morning flie into the ladies chambers ; they are wise , and will take nothing dangerous 'fore they rise . for women hard of labour present ease , rasis prefers it 'fore man-midwiferies , or womens too , and saith that this alone is the lucina to be call'd upon . put into wine it doth inspirit that , firks up its vertues , were it ne're so flat ; and in the drinker strikes a cheeriness , that plunder can't allay , nor lay distress . it is enough ; thy vertues are so high , i do commend thee to the cavalry . carawayes , or seeds of caria , whence they take their name , are hot and dry , when made in cake , or into confects ▪ wholsome recipe ▪ against the urines painful stoppages : dissolve collected wind in stomacks crude , and blasts hypocondriacal extrude : they wor●s in children mortifie ; are best , eat in the van , not i' th' reer ▪ o' th' feast , ( as is the usuall custome ) when with cheese and apples , these are sawcer-services , correctors of th●t windy fruit , an● why ex●el not wind without their company ? wherefore in bread with ●nniseeds ( which have vertues alike ) immixt , they 'l physick save . chap. xxxiii . mustard is hot and dry , above the third degree , by it the br●in and stomack 's stirr'd , and watty hu●ours in born ●egions dry'd , her cou●trey-man it s 〈◊〉 vertue try'd , when that it caught her by the nose , did cry , ( a pox of her , a ●ox of ●ewxbury . ) good sawce for pork , and ●oose , and brawn in chief for sawsages , and tri●es , and powder'd beef ; good for the int●llect , saith avicen , i do 〈◊〉 it unto g●tham , then , but they must drink it fa●ing ; which they will n●●e● observe , though to gain solomons skil : but yet for humou●s viscous , thick and tough , the seed of mu●●ard is as good as snuff : and ●ulveriz'd , and in vine-blan●h de france infus'd , 't will make a tertian ague dance ; it will expectorate , and further reach , even to the stone ( if pliny●ightly teach . ) but th●n in vinegar you must i● lay , through alpine hills these two will mak a way , salt is alike with mustards quality high-priz●d with us , but more in gallia , where 't is a soveraign sauce , fit for a king , a sauce finds meat , and clothes , and every thing ; it takes away fas●idiousness in meat ( i cannot say , that which the french do eat ) who loath even salt it self , and heart'ly ha●e it , since it comes obtruded on a rate . yet it subtiles the tast , and makes it play , removing gro●sness from the uvul● ; excites and sharpens duller appetite , hunger and salt are sauce , or none is right . but too much salt licks up and burns the blood ▪ just in the body as it is in food , which is exuct , and dry , and juyceless made ▪ vvhere that its briny fire doth much invade ; as by experience , to their constant grief , our mariners do find it in their beef , and sea provisions , which retu●ns them all tro●hies of salt , sadly scorbutical . to those that do in salt too much delight , it minorates the seed , bedimms the sight . i have two f●iends of either sex , which do eat little salt , or none , yet are friends to , of both which persons i can truly tell , they are of patience most invin●ible : vvhen out of temper no misch●nce at all can put , no ▪ if towards them the salt should fall . i know a pretty pearl such use hath got of salt , hee 'd eat ( if need ) up madam lot , a little chole●ick spar● , a very fire , vvhom if to make your friend you do desire , you shall not need a long experience make , his bushel 's eaten , and you may him take : though these two tempers are excessive , know , a trencher-salt fo● tables we allow . rasis saith , vinega● is dry and cold , it makes its lovers macilent and old , a vinegar-fact fellow , as we say , a constable on his installing day , looks as if in urine he were soused ; beware night-walkers , you will all be * housed , it doth destroy the bodies noble juyce , unsucculents the back , and spoils its use ; a help to quartan agues ; and all such , who with black choler do abound o're much , which it confirms and fixes , e contrae , it doth disperse , and infirme choler rubea : it gives a passe of gust in diet , mends the duller juyce , and downward grateful send there are disputes , whether 't is hot or cold , i 'me for my sages , and with them must hold . honey is hot and dry ( saith isaac ) in degree second , not doth vertue lack , good for cacectick persons , whose grosse chiles and evil humors rarely it subtiles , and makes them remeant , passant through the skin , where thousand little dores are to be seen . if you would know what are those little dores , madam , undoubtedly they are the pores . the foulness of the putrid blood in veins it purifies , cleanseth those channels stains ; wherefore let all , whose constitution 's cold and moist , decrepit persons , and the old lick honey , or the drink-compound thereof , 't will warm their chilness , and 't will cure their cough : but you , my friends , of cholerick tempers , know honey like choler is , and turneth so : live honey ( as we say ) and eaten raw , is much inflative , rakes the breast and maw , provokes by vomit and by siege ; but supp'd in new laid egg rare salve for lungs corrupt . what need we longer praise it , when we know its providore , from every flower doth blow , sucks universal balm , so in a spoon you take gerards divine * collection . so that the gleanings of the vigorous bee is iohnson's labours neat epitome . whom would not this glorious juyce intice to tast it , though at lov'd ionathan's price ? oyles . of oyles the oyl of olives weares the bayes , hath higher vertues , therefore higher praise : pliny the senior , ( whom vesuvius kils , and th' eructations of those fiery hils , a sad example , and precaution gives to all ( though ne're so learn'd ) inquisitives , not to be wise , and peep in things too high , we have our aetna's in divinity ) pardon the length of this parenthesis , that pliny shall declare oyles qualities : it is all bodies suppler ; but the dry and hide-bound ought it most to magnifie ; vellum-fac'd fellows , living whit-leather , eat genoa olives , and the oyl together , until your parchment bodies give a soul , sordid and covetous trayn-oyl can't unfoul ; it makes the body strong and vigorous , ( a word of late in wondrous use with us , but then against the sacred oyl ) it drives poysons , though double twist by jealous wives . it gently layes the torments of the guts , cleanseth the tripes , and o●es those lower huts : the head-ach pains it cures , and mildly swages the ardor that in burning feavors rages . what windy vapours dares i th' body stay , or come in this aerial unguents way ? then if your eyes you 'd have like diamonds sparkle , ( with such rare flame your eyes abounds , madam ) oyl will ●hem clarifie , advance a handsome face to cherub's countenance . the cerusses are known , and we allow to you the mellow sleek-stone of the brow ; such arts are legal , wot you what hester bestow'd in sweets , when for the king she drest her ? for all our long and still upheld turmoyles , and all my suffering , i 'me for soveraign oyles . the oyle of nuts most vehement and hot , let them , who fistula's i th' eyes have got , use it from madam stepkins hand , or buy it well compounded by good surgery . the oyle of almonds is more temperate , it doth the breast and lungs cleanse and dilate : the grated reins and bladder do receive huge ease , when we this lenifier give . specks in the face it takes away , how so ? when ladies that use oyl have specks we know : the round , the long , the star , the great , the lesser , and are made ursa's by their woman-dresser . though vrsa is a beare , i mean them none , unless it be a constellation . the scarrs of wounds by oyle and honey mixt are plain'd and levell'd though a long time fixt : rare remedy in fighting blustring times , such as are ours , the more , god knows , our crimes : this medicine is most parable , not hard ; hast thou the morphyes , use it renegard , thou who hast ventur'd much , and bravely dar'd , when that thy body is one scarre , as chance may make it in thy next renown'd advance , then call for oyl of nuts my renigard . now like the squirril , which on nuts doth feed , we leap from verses to some nobler deed . finis . notes, typically marginal, from the original text notes for div a42528e-1300 ** plures occidit gula , quam gladius . ** plures occidit gula , quam gladius . notes for div a42528e-2200 * the s●and where the author was first plac'd a centry notes for div a42528e-3560 * in cheapside where the herb-market was , but now without a writ removed into s. pauls ch. yard . (a) an ara●ian phy●●t●an . (b) a 〈◊〉 directory so called . (c) the great 〈◊〉 . (d) that is , to carry double provision for two meals . (a) another arabian physitian and grand philosopher , called for his expositions of aristotle the commentator . (c) a jerfe is an animall , that eats so much untill it is forced to get betwixt two cleft parts of a tree for exenteration , that is , unloading , vid. my uncle pliny , & alian de vari● historiâ . (b) epicurrs , another philosopher . * an acreo● . well-hal in k●nt ▪ the manou●of m●roper , of he descent o● the lear sir 〈◊〉 mo●r , l. ch. of engl. (b) the spirits (c) the soul . * the veins . (a) trea●●e . (a) a perfumed roman courtier . (a) cutters of lambs . (a) because an eunuch . (a) alderman robinson , coss. lond. (a) hyp● and haw●s . (b) dr. wilson musit . laure . (c) totas ponit a●ros iuv. aug. 24. * sturn●s caeteris volatilibus subtilior . * at temple●ar , who sels china-ale . (a) d. harvey's opinion . * yolk and white . * the gre●● turk . * infancy and old age . * cheap . * a●a remigii . * mr. of the swan fish-street . * mr. of the swan fish-street . * my confiding fishmonger . * the nose . * colequentida . et na●es a●ri strin●●nt naftur●ia morsu . * venus . of chole● yellow . an abstreperous eryer of turneps , and that disturbs the author with his b●●ling . * sage . (a) the bladder . (a) pomegranate is called malum punicum . * doctor h.h. (a) open a. * eve . * the devil . * juglans jovis glans . * his universal m●dicine , tobacco . * in the counter . * the herbal . the newlanders cure aswell of those violent sicknesses which distemper most minds in these latter dayes: as also by a cheape and newfound dyet, to preserue the body sound and free from all diseases, vntill the last date of life, through extreamity of age. wherein are inserted generall and speciall remedies against the scuruy. coughes. feauers. goute. collicke. sea-sicknesses, and other grieuous infirmities. published for the weale of great brittaine, by sir william vaughan, knight. vaughan, william, 1577-1641. 1630 approx. 193 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 79 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2005-10 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a14301 stc 24619 estc s111506 99846833 99846833 11825 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a14301) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 11825) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1475-1640 ; 1042:8) the newlanders cure aswell of those violent sicknesses which distemper most minds in these latter dayes: as also by a cheape and newfound dyet, to preserue the body sound and free from all diseases, vntill the last date of life, through extreamity of age. wherein are inserted generall and speciall remedies against the scuruy. coughes. feauers. goute. collicke. sea-sicknesses, and other grieuous infirmities. published for the weale of great brittaine, by sir william vaughan, knight. vaughan, william, 1577-1641. [16], 143, [1] p. by n[icholas] o[kes] for f. constable, and are to be sold at his shop in pauls church at the signe of the craine, imprinted at london : 1630. in verse. the words "scuruy .. sea-sicknesses," on the title page are in two columns with four brackets in the middle. printer's name from stc. the first leaf is blank. reproduction of a photostat of the original in the henry e. huntington library and art gallery. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the 25,363 texts created during phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 january 2015. anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng diet -early works to 1800. christian life -early works to 1800. 2004-06 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2004-11 apex covantage keyed and coded from proquest page images 2005-01 jonathan blaney sampled and proofread 2005-01 jonathan blaney text and markup reviewed and edited 2005-04 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion the newlanders cvre . aswell of those violent sicknesses which distemper most minds in these latter dayes : as also by a cheape and newfound dyet , to preserue the body sound and free from all diseases , vntill the last date of life , through extreamity of age. wherein are inserted generall and speciall remedies against the scuruy . coughes . feauers . goute . collicke . sea-sicknesses , and other grieuous infirmities . published for the weale of great brittaine , by sir william vaughan , knight . vbi lux sicca , ibi intellectus multus . imprinted at london by n. o. for f. constable , and are to be sold at his shop in pauls church at the signe of the craine , 1630. to the right honorable my louing brother , iohn earle of carbery , baron of molingar . sir : here you may behold , as in a looking-glasse , many sickely faces , not of heathen men , but of pretended christians , with heathenish conditions . a glasse of steele , farre truer then that mathematicall one , whereby some haue proiected to discouer with more then humane spectacles another world in the moone ; of seas , lands , and woods , like ours , before it was lately dis-robed of this latter ornament by the greedinesse of a few iron ma●●ers . here you may see what a number of diseases haue taken roote within vs. yea more , then euer were practized before noahs flood . the maine cause of their destruction proceeded from their carnall matches , the sonnes of god , with the daughters of reprobates , where we transgresse not onely in that . but in many other ●●a● contrary to our christian duties , who haue bin now enlightned for the space of these foure score yeares . here likewise you may find preseruatiues and cures both to preuent the imminent plagues , ( which we haue worthily deserued , ) as to heale the most disordred , both bodily and spiritually , ( if they be not past grace ; ) yea , and to dispossesse them of diuels , without prophane holy water , or popish exorcismes . but before these , as a frontispice vpon a gate , i haue fixed the foure first verses of purpose , that once a day at least , you may repeat● them ouer . and for the rest , if you read them once a weeke , i doubt not , but you shall receiue thereby some spirituall comfort among other helpes to deuotion , which are not wanting in your house . howsoeuer , i am assured your cogitations shal be somewhat rouzed vp to looke about you , and to make some doubt , that you haue not many yeares yet vnexpired of your pilgrimage here on earth . for our worst part must rot , before it rise vp to immortality . the thought of death , i confesse , is terrible , and hath perplexed many , specially , great persons , insomuch that queene elizabeth of famous memory , albeit in all other matters an incomparable religious princesse , and adorned with masculine vertues , yet she could not endure to heare of old age , nor death . for when a learned bishop of our acquaintance had in a zealous sermon admonished her to thinke on her last end , by reason of her great age , which few princes had attayned vnto , and of the climactericall yeare of her life , which hapned at that time , she tooke it so impatiently that the bishop for his good intentions , was not only distasted by her , but put for a time to some trouble . yet god , who neuer forsakes them , that quit themselues like men in his seruice , did euer sithence , vntill his decease powre downe many worldly blessings vpon him , so that i thinke few bishops of this kingdome left behind them to their wiues and children such faire estates , as be left vnto his wife and children . the which questionlesse were conferred vppon him , to let the cowards and claw-backes of the times vnderstand , what a sweet smelling sacrifice in his sacred presence is magnanimity grounded on faith and piety ; as well appeares by those martyres in queene maries dayes , for whose glorious sakes the eternall maiesty at the intercession of those martyres generall , his dearely beloued sonne , did by shortning of those marian dayes restore that reformed religion to this kingdome , which hath chased hence those false prophets , who set to sale the bodies and soules of men , togither with the rabblement of idolaters , abbey-lubbers , fayries , and hob-goblins ; and doubtlesse will continue the same vntill the worlds end : notwithstanding these our present and last conflicts with the spirituall dragon , and with those spirits , which issued out of his mouth ; wherein we haue much a do to escape their ambuscadoes , quirkes , and socret stratagems practised by our schoole-men , which are farre more dangerous then their open violences , being such , as it is written , able to deceiue the very elect , if it were possible . but to returne where i haue digressed , the remembrance of death will prepare vs for th' other world what can be b●tter for vs , then to be loosed from the lumpish clog of flesh and blood , which must not inherite heauen , before it bee purified , as the holiest and best patriarkes were , and to liue with christ in perpetuall ioyes . seeing that death brings with it so great happinesse , i hope you will not be offended with me , it by calculating our ancestors yeares , for these three last d●s●●n●s , i seeme to put you in minde , that you ought not to expect much longer time , then they enioyed . our great grand father , hugh vaughan , gentle-man vsher to king henry the 7th who is famous in our english chronicles , for the iustes in richmond , before the sayd king , agaynst sir iames parker , about our ancestors armes and scutcheons : where the sayd sir iames lost his life , in the first encounter . our sayd great grand-father , dyed before he was fifty yeares old . our grand-father , who built our house , nay yours by birth right , ( called the golden groue , ) dyed about the fiftieth sixth yeare of his age. our father likewise about those yeares , payd nature her debt . why then should we expect for a greater lot ? we want not aboue three or foure yeares of theirs . but suppose we should arriue to seauenty , or eighty , or by the helpe of this dyet , which i here discouer , to the long age of the swethens , it would but augment our sinnes and sorrows . therefore let vs liue mindfull of that , which cannot be auoyded . for which purpose a pagan king vsed euery morning to haue a dead mans skull brought to remember him , that he was a mortall creature . so in like manuer we see in our dayes many persons wearing rings with a deathes head engrauen in the seale : others with a posie on the inside , including the remembrance of death . memento mori . but because this subiect breeds sadnesse , i haue added some more plausible passages to profit the body , aswell as the minde . now hauing discharged the part of a brother , in this necessary point , whereto all adams posterity are subiect , sooner or later : i will now shew wherefore i entituled this diminutiue rapture , the newlanders cure , more for others satisfaction , who know me not , and yet may by our free charter of election , and the illumination of gods working spirit meete with some passage in this cure , to confirme them sure in their christian calling , and perhaps mooue some to lend their helping hands to the building vp of our new church , in that remote countrey , then for any desire i haue to reiterate a matter of tauetology , like the cuckoes song , vnto you , who from the beginning haue bin acquainted with my actions in this kinde . about thirteene yeares past , being interessed by patent in the south part of new found land , from our late king of happy memory : i transported thither certayne colomes of men and women at my owne charge : after which , finding the burthen too heauy for my weake shoulders , ● assigned the northerly proportion of my grant , vnto the right honourable the lord vicount faulkland , late deputy of ireland , a noble gentleman , of singular wisedome , vertue , and experience : and vppon your motion to my lord baltimore , who to his immortall prayse , hath liued there these two last yeares , with his lady and children . and for my selfe , during such time as i rem●y●e in this kingdome , for the setling of my priuate fortunes , which for ought i see , i must chiefly relye vppon to supply me there , vntill the plantation be better strengthned , and fearing the displeasure of the almighty , who threatens those , which causelessely looke backe at his plow : i sent forth , ( like noahs doue ) my late workes , called the golden fleece , and my cambrensium caroleia , to stirre vp our ilanders mindes to assist and support for a time our new-found ile , which rightly may bestiled great britaines sister , or britanniol , in regard that for these fourescore yeares and vpwards , she hath furnished vs with fish and traine , which by exchange returne vs sundry kinds of commodities . in like manner to let the world vnderstand , that my zeale to new-found land is not frozen . i tooke her for my gossipto this pigmey infant , which now is named the new-landers cure. but why should i among so many thousands of greater power aspire to such an atlanticke waight , which is able to crush into the earth another sutton ? it is the lord of heauen and earth , whose powerfull presence ouer-lookes all the foure quarters of the earth , who preferres sometimes the most simple to his workes of honour , before the grand epicures of the world , as the lillies of the fields , before the royalties of saiomon , euen our mighty god , who is so wonderful in all his deedes , made ch●yse of me for his vnworthy instrument to doe some good in this heroicall enterprize . for this cause , and also to edifie my country with those bookes , which from time to time , euen from my youth vp i published , hath he bestowed a double talent vppon me . for these ends it pleased his sacred maiesty to reserue my seruice for the publicke good , by preseruing my life most miraculously aboue the ordinary sort of men from fire and water , and twice from his pestilentiall arrowes . vppon a christmas day 1602. in france at a passage of two leagues broad betwixt tremblado and marena falling ouer board a ship , in a most terrible tempest , i floated amidst the waues of the raging sea , being ignorant of swimming , about a quarter of an houre : onely with an oare in my hand , which casually fell vnto me , by what meanes to this present , i cannot tell . and which is most strange to humane sense , the storme calmed suddainly , during my aboad in this perplexity , vntill the barke , from which i fell , found leasure to turne about , and take me vp being ouer-wearied , and at the very point to throw away the oare , and perish . assoone as i was taken vp , the storme beganne againe so suriously , that the mast brake within a foote of the but , and with the f●ll had like to ouer-turne vs all . in ianuary 1608. i was stricken with a sulphureous dampe , my house was battred about my eares with lightning and thunder , the artilleries of gods glory , in that fearefull manner , as your selfe beheld the next day , after the ruines of the catastrophe , not without great astonishment and admiration , how miraculously i escaped . in august 1603. in the hottest time of the sicknesse , in my returne from beyond the seas , i was not affraid to stay a while in london . and during the last and greatest pestilence , 1625. i frequented the citty from the beginning , to the latter end , as our famous country-man sir thomas button , and our vertuous cousen his lady , in whole house i continded the most part of that summer can beare me witnesse , when you and others of my friends wondred at my boldnesse . by which extraordinary deliuerances i gather , that his omnipotent maiesty hath ordayned me , as a fire brand so often taken out of the flames , for some glorious seruice of his , eyther to do some good vnto my follow christians by my publicke writings , or else to aduance this hopefull plantation by my personall paines and industry . and if i faile in my presages for this last , i am fully perswaded , that i shall no tlight vpon a worse fortune then chanced vnto a gentle-woman of italy , who hauing her destiny told her by an astrologer , ( as that sexe like eue is ouer-credulous , ) that she should be married to a prince , she refused many good matches , in hope of her princely preferment , vntill after many yeares expectation in vaine , fearing , as the prouerbe is , to lead apesin hell , she consented at last to marry with the principall of an vniuersity , who in that place had the title of prince . if i misse in my actuall performance for new-found land , it lyes not in the power of flesh and blood , to take away my zealous intentions , nor can my foes ( if any such at all haue ) deny , but that ●ueaner men then i , haue had the lucke to be married to the muses : as also the mightiest lords of the earth haue thought themselues graced to be entertained their seruants and woers . the truth is , i am addicted both to the muses , and new-found land. and i could wish , that i had that command ouer some misers purses , or of theirs , who may dye without issue , and leaue their fortunes to thanklesse worldlings , for the benefit of new-found land , as marke anthony had at athens . for when the citizens had cologuingly presented him with the image of their goddesse minerua , because he wanted a wife : he answered , that he kindly accepted of their offer ; and therefore he must needes haue 1000. talents of them , as a dowry fit for so great a princesse . the charge certainely is great now at the first , yet if there were but twenty such persons but of my poore meanes and resolution , i would not doubt , but before seauen yeares , our new-found land should not onely double those sayles of ships , which trade thither at the present , but likewise the yearely gaines , which our marchants doe reape from that country , for these many yeares togither , computed to be aboue 200000. pounds a yeare . indeed there be some hopes that the london and bristow marchants will now after these late stormes settle there some iron-workes , glasse-houses , and for the making of salt. and likewise that my lord of faulk and , and our noble brother in law , sir henry salubury baronet , with some gentlemen of north-wales , will the next spring proceede to doe somewhat in that country , which with open armes awaites for their comming . and also there be others out of england , to whom i haue freely as i haue receiued , assigned grants , which haue faithfully promised to plant in their seuerall diuisions . the which , if they performe , my costly cares for sacrifice would be the lesse . but because my experience teacheth me , that we oftne● meete with backe-sliding and inconstant men , like worldly demas , then with bountifull conuerts , like that terentiam demea , i cannot build my foundation on such slippery mould , but must resolue with my owne poore estate , to continue what i haue long since fruitlessely begunne . after this sort those renowned monsieurs , de monts , and poutrincourt were deluded aboue two yeares , by some courtiers at paris , and therefore they concluded atlast , no more to trust any but themselues , for the erecting of their plantation in canada , two hundred leagues beyond our new found land. hap what hap may , i haue broake the ice , i haue past the rubicon . in the meane time , let me intreate you to conceiue charitably of our new-land plantation , which by one hard winter , among many more tolerable , is like to suffer ; and to regard this little god-child of hers . and it you , or any other of our friends , when wilde or i● regular passions breake out beyond the bounds of reason , shall meete with some le●●tiue , by meditating on the towardly disposition thereof , as the discased israelites found ease with beholding the brazen serpent : do but say , well-fare the new-landers cure , and that 's as much as i expect for my paines . the lord enrich you with heauenly happinesse , as hee hath bountifully dealt with you in this world. and if hereafter it fortune , according to your hopes , that you shall liue in court , as heretofore you haue , to your singular praise , and your friends comfort , for many yearestogither : let not transitory pompe , nor vaine glory , seduce your noblest part to forget the poore new-landers cure ; nor him , whom you are tyed in nature to respect and chee●●s● , who reciprocally shall cuer , during life , continue in all christian offices your lordships brother at commaund . william vaughan . authoris praecautio ad lectorem morbis vulgaribus laborantem . siquid habent aloes , vel fellis opuscula nostra , me medicum vatem publica cura sacit . depercunt quer●us , silices , et marmore structa : dona sed ingenu posthuma fama canet . curti●eis rodenda sinam monumenta laborum ? musarum s●elus est dona perire pati . non ●ic romulidum sannas nec curo lituras ; vos flocci facio , gens odiosa deo. gorgonicas nec pendo minas , nam munior extra aegide squamosa , numinis intus ope. sanum consilium tantum iaculatur odoris , vt vincat violas , lilia , thura , rosas : hoc sine , sunt arabum catapotia vana , necipsa porrigit aegroto pharmacopola tibi . imbibe corde , nouae terrae quod musa prop●nat , corpus erit sanum , mens quoque , sana , vale. the newlanders cure. the first section . the preparatiue of the bodies cure shewing how the mindes affections and the bodies do follow one anothers dispositions . when i had resolued on the cure of the mindes infirmitus , it seemed vnto me that the same could not be compleate , except the body were also made harmoniously correspondent to harbour that heauenly light with his pretious gifts , which our sauiour promised before his ascention to send vnto vs. therefore , that both of them , like euen yoake-fellowes , might walke safely in this vale of misery , i haue here inserted a new-found cure for the bodies health ; ut sit mens sana in corpore sano . but before the discouery of this diuine medicine , in comparison whereof the elixir so much commended by our paracelsians , is but vanity of vannies , ( for our phisicke conduceth to the health of the minde , as of the body ) i wi● , as a preparatiue , minister and shew , how the qualities of the mind do follow the disposition of the body . it is most certayne , when the body is free from supersiuous excrements , and noysome huinours , that then the functions and operations of the mind appeare more liuely , fresh , and most capable to receiue in wisdome and knowledge , which caused a certaine philosopher to purge himselfe with hellebore , before hee aduentured to write of deepe mysteries . euen so when the minde is troubled , the face bew●ayes it , although a man would faine conceale it with all his cunning . yea , sometimes the very eyes will manifest the ioy that one conceaues in his heart . nor is the minde mooued onely with those motions and instruments of the body , but likewise feeles great alterations by such nourishments and ing●edients as we take into our bodies . the which we see verified in our debauched gallants , and common drunkards , who seldome enter into quarrels in cold blood , but amongst their pots of wine and strong liquor , they passe polyphemus and all his cyclops . others haue drunke away sorrow and care . the like mutation saffron workes , for if a man commonly vse it in sance with his meate , it makes his heart light and iocound . and being taken in mus●adine , or some heady wine , it workes so violently , that the taker becomes rauing madde with excessiue mirth . the often vse of hares flesh causeth men to be f●arefull . as on th' other side , beefe 〈…〉 english couragious and vndaun●●● in perills . and surely , i beleeue one of the chiefest causes of the sauages inhumane cruelty proceedes through their 〈◊〉 of w●lues and bcares flesh . in my time i know a● oxford a poet , who after good 〈◊〉 of s●●ke would write his best verses , according to that olde , saying : when i haue drunke sweete wine , my tongue speakes lat●●e sine . it is reported , that thomas nash a scurrilous pamph●eter in q. elizabeths dayes , vsed to drinke aqua vitae with gun-powder to inspire his malicious spirit with ●ayling matter to shame doctor haruey , and other aduersaries of his : which infleming po●ion wrought so eagerly vppon his brame , that hee would often beate himselfe about the noddle , and scratch the walls round about him , vntill hee met with some extrauagant furious termes , which as he imagined would blurre and lay sufficient aspersions vpon them . the like fiery prouocations the turkes haue accustomed to take , when they went about some desperate seruice ; wherby they forced a new bellona out of their mischienous hands . other some , like our fighting cockes , haue vsed garlike for that bloody purpose . thus the body is oftentimes turned nolens volens , to serue and obey the mind , as the minde likewise to follow the inclination of the body . for what other fruit can a body stuffed with corrupt humours , choller , and gall produce , but beastlike passions ? whereas on the contrary , the abstemious and continent by their sparing dyet do restrayne in time such ouerflowings , and thereby prepare themselues to be the purer vessels to contayne the water of life distilled from the heauenly comforter . euen as a thicke cloud obscures the sunne beames from our sight : so the vicious qualities of the body darken the mind , which is the great eye or light of the body . and this is the cause , that when the one is grieued th' other is grieued , and when th' one is merry , th' other is so too . therefore it is a thing to bee wished , that they were kept both in an equall proportion and symmetry with conuenient nourishments , recreations , exercise , and aboue all with spirituall food : yea and other whiles , if need require , the mistresse must correct her rebellions seruant , that the image of our great creator bee not quite defaced . but to returne to the subiect wee haue in hand , the body of man is the most temperate of all other mortall creatures , and therefore it may bee rightly termed the golden rule , measure , and square , whereby the excesse of all other things may be obserued , and their different faculties discerned . and for this cause in respect of our humane bodies , the fours elements are noted to be hot , cold , moist , and dry : here hence we gather , that the flesh of fowle is hot and dry , and that the food of fish is cold & moist , fit to engender flegme . betwixt these as the meane , are earthly creatures placed , and among these mans body hath the preheminence , as the best tempered vnder the cope of heauen . the which also varies according to the climate . sunt homines alij , variant vt climata munds . for our northerne nations are of a colder constitution then theirs , that liue within the tropickes , or neere vnto them . and therefore the ancient phylosophers would not allow a temperate body but with in a temperate country . neyther is this temper so constant in our temperate countries , but the inequaltity of the soyle , and s●ituation , controules this temper : for we haue spring and summer weather in places at the same instant , within a mile or two distant . as for example , in dales and at the foote of hils we fee●e it warme ; whereas wee cannot endure long to stay on the neighbouring mountaynes by reason of snow , or furious winds , which likewise other-throw , or hinder the growth of plantes and corne sixe or seauen weekes later , then such as we finde in the bottom or lowest descent . the same alteration i haue seene in the alpes and pyrenae●n mountaynes , where i could be hold ripe grapes and a fourishing haruest in the vallies ; and trauailing but a league higher vp towards the top of the mountaynes , i might see nothing but horrid rockes , hayle , snow , and windes in that impetuous manner , that there a man would take september to be ianuary . moreouer , this change crosseth our temper i● respect of age ; for youth is more hot and moyst then more setled yeares . and that dyet , which might be properly accommodated to olde men , perhaps would weaken or statue the younger sort . how then shall we be able to finde out this golden meane and temper in mans body , when we are subiect to so many mutations ? do not we perceiue the very beasts and vnreasonable creatures to go beyond vs in some of our noblest organs ? do they not excell vs in the fiue sences , viz. the boare in hearing ; the ounce in seeing ; the ape in tasting ; the vultur in smelling ; and the spider in touching , as these ancient verses imply ? nos aper auditu , lynx visu , simia gustu , un tur ●doratu , p●aecellit aranea tactu . this cannot bee denied in those creatures ; but because i am an ill huntes-man , i will continue my conuersation with men ; amongst which there is much diuersity for their seueral parts . here stands a man with a most temperate braine ; there another with a sound liuer ; some are long breathed ; some excell in the temper of their hearts ; and in many of these wee might behold actions , which tend vnto vnity , as to their center . but in generall , of late yeares wee degenerate from that , which by our baptisme we vowed to be ; as in like manner wee haue crackt our braines , shortned our breathing faculties , corrupted our liuer , inframed our blood , and all with excesse of varieties of meates and drinkes . we p●ate of the holy ghost , of the temple of god ; but let euery man examine his owne conscience , whether it bee possible that such a sanctified guest could remaine in such an impure body , which hath receiued into it so great store of victualls , and the choysest , which the ayre , earth , and sea could yeelde , and of the strongest wines euen vnto vomiting . if after this inquisition wee finde that the spirit of god requires an vndefiled and purer seate to lodge in , then let vs sweep cleane , and do our best to purifie and prepare our bodies to be tolerably meete to entertayne this sacred messenger ; for if hee knockes at the doore of our hearts , and we slight his call , it is to bee feared hee will returne no more to such a nasty roome , where the master of the house neglects his dearest land-lord . to reduce the world vnto a better temper , the body as well as the minde , i had recourse to many cures . i read marsilius ficinus his worke concerning a heauenly body here on earth , but there meeting with nothing but distractions , at the last i lighted on two treatises , the one published by lodouico cornario an italian ; and th' other by lessius of bruxels a learned iesuite , out of whose precepts i collected this admirable dyet , which whosoeuer hath the power to practise , hee shall quickly apprehend the difference betwixt a table furnished with variety of meates , whose nature in digestion are contrary the one to th' other , and betwixt that simple cheere , which conrented our sauiour here on earth with his disciples . by the former spring all our sicknesses . by this latter of sobriety we stint concupiscence and after one quarter of a yeare our bodies being accustomed to a set measure of meat and drinke , wee shall confesse , that saying of the heath'nish phylosopher , to iumpe aright with a reformed christian : turpe est homini non nosse mensuram ventres sui . it is a shamefull thing for an vnderstanding man not to know the measure of his owne belly . to wind vp this my preparatiue in a word , when i had compared lessius his obseruations with daniels and his three companions dyet , and how by reason of their slender fare being but pulse , they were in better state then those that fed on dainties , i concluded this new found dyet to be acceptable to gods spirit , and if it awaites on faith , it will serue for a christians purification before glorification . the second section . the description of a new found and cheape diet , to preserue the body and minde from all s●cknesses and passions , and how a man shall find out the true proportion what will content a reasonable creature . by the former discourse it is apparant , that the well-being and health of mans body consists in obseruing the golden meane , which is temperance in our dyet , that is , cating and drinking no more , then the stomacke can well digest , and that thereby the functions of the minde bee not hindered nor made obscure by the excessiue quantity . for this reason , and because study and contemp●ation doe mightily hinder concoction , they that are this way busied , must eate and drinkelesse , then those that be idle , or doe trauailc abroad . but now to finde out this measure , i confesse it a great difficulty by reason of the dinersities of mens constitutions , yeares , and strength : for that measure , which agreeth with an o'de man , cannot square well with a young man , nor that of the strong man with the weake . the chollericke must haue his proportion differing from the flegmaticke . these haue euery one a stomacke repugnant to one anothers nature : how then shall wee compose an exact measure to reconcile these repugnances ? necessity requires vs to lookeafter this soueraigne good , for the health of the body and soule ; but concupiscence and our longing wills can hardly consent to be limitted . yet notwithstanding , naturall reason bids vs to proserue nature , although wee smart a little to enioy the more content . let vs then search out what proportion of meate and drink will serue a reasonable creature ; the which the easier to find , we must obserue these rules . first , if one takes into his body ordinarily so much meate and drinke , that after the meale he feeles himselfe more heauy , sleepy , and lesse capable to conceiue matters of diuine knowledge , sermons , or any kinde of study , then hee was before his meale , let him rest assuredly , that hee hath exceeded the measure wee looke for . for it is not fit to feede and please the vegetatiue and sensuall part so much , that thereby the noblest part be offended , which is the animall and reasonable faculty . wee must consider , that out of the aboundance of meates , which wee receiue into our bodies , there will arise vapouis from the stomacke vp to the head , which will darken the vnderstanding ; and also store of humours and blood ingendred in the liuer , m●lt , and veines , which will inflame vpwards , and helpe with the former vapours to ouercloud the cleare rayes of reason and wisdome , which they would neuer do , if a man had not exceeded the lawfull measure . o how much are they deceiued , who feeling themselues feeble in the morning , runne speedily to breake-fast , as though nature languished for want of meate , when as in very deede their weaknesse proceedes from the aboundance of humours congested and gathered together , which by their ouer-much moysture haue stuft the musckles and the sinewes , and stopt the passages of the spirits , so that the scuruy and other diseases creepe in by reason of those obstructions and oppilations . the like abuse some commit in their mornings draughts , which indeede is the chiefe cause of the dropsies , gouts , coughes , and other moyst sicknesses . secondly , a man must not suddainely thinke to meete with this measure , but by little and little by degrees hee must leaue of his former course of dyet , and all by leasure proceede by diminishing his wounted fare , vntill hee arriues to that quantity , that after his meale hee feeles none of the aboue named impediments to grieue his head , or to hinder the functions of his minde . thirdly , although a certayne set quantity cannot rightly be prescribed by reason of the different natures of meates , and of the ages of men , yet notwithstanding it is lately tryed by experience , that for olde persons , or for such as approach neere vnto it , or for some that feare some incurable sicknesse , twelue , thirteene , or foureteene ounces of meate will serue a man for a day , accounting bread , flesh , egges , or any such solid meate , and so many ounces or somewhat more of drinke . this measure i prescribe onely to aged persons , the sickely , to clergy men , to iudges , schollers , or to such as are wholly addicted to their bookes , to maydes , and such sedentary or idle people , who vse not bodily exercise . loao●i ● cornarie , father lessius and many others by late experience found this quantity to be sufficient . fourthly , as for the quality of the meats , there is no great heed to be taken so that they exceede not in the quantity , if the meate distaste not the appetite , and that the due measure be obserued . among al the sorts of meates which we eate , those are commended , which are of least putrifaction . for wee see , that fish and flesh will taint sooner then pulse or corne. and therefore rice , bread , or such as are made of them will agree best with nature , for by experience it is sound , that the chiefe cause of the small pockes , &c. comes of the eating of flesh too soone . they which haue practised this dyet , do highly commend panades , or gruell , which the italians call panat●llam , or pulticulam , which is compounded of bread and water , or brewis , or the like diuersified with butter , oyle , egges , wine , currents , cynamon , sugar , hony , pepper , saffron , cinger , &c. because this kinde of meate is most easily to be concocted , being ready to breed good blood , and very like to the chyle , or that substantiall myce , which the stomacke workes out of the conco●tion of our meate . the fifth rule , for asmuch as all the difficulty for the obseruing of this measure proceedes of sensuall appetite , and that this sensuall appetite springs of the apprehension of imagination , whereby varieties of meates are conceiued to bee very pleasing to the sences , wee must doe our endeauour to correct this depraued imagination . for the correcting whereof , two things among others are chiefly to bee regarded first , that we with-draw our selues from the sight of such prouoaking and enticing dainties , as we read epaminonda that valiant theban did , who being inuited to a friends house , and seeing the table too fully replenished with delicacies , departed suddainly away . and afterwards beeing demaunded wherefore he went so rudely and hastily from thence ; answered , because he thought his friend had prepared all that aboundant cheare , as a sacrifice for the gods ; and not for necessary foode to mortall men. secondly , when wee are forced for manners sake to stay and behold such vaine varieties , that wee imagine them not to be in very deede so delightfull , faire , and wholesome , as in outward shew they seeme to be , but that they are deceitfull baites to catch and e●snare his fantasie to feede on them for his destruction ; and that when they passe through the body , they are most loathsome excrements , leauing poysoned relickes behind them to be conuerted into hurtfull humours . euery thing when it is resolued into the first principles and elements will appeare in the true shape , which is no other but corruption . and the more sweete it is , when it so resolued , it becomes the more sordide and st●nking , as may be noted by suckets and such sugred condited ware , whereas the dung of labourers is nothing so displeasing , for that they feede on simple food , which nature best approoues . to verifie this , let vs enquire whose dung is most stinking , the dogges or the de●●es . this dyet composed of bread is pure , simple , not subiect to corruption , as other nourishments be . and therefore i may well auerre , that it resembles that choyse food of manna , which god bestowed on the israelites in the wildernesse ; the which as the spanish author in his triall of wits was of opinion , that for many generations after it did reduce their bodies to a more temperate constitution then my other nations , in so much that their seede did multiply , and their minds were more purified , and prepared capable of gods miraculous blessings , to inherite the land of canaan , which their fathers , whose longing thoughts were altogether set on the onions , garlike , and flesh-pots of egypt . wherewith from their infancy they had accustomed to feed on , were debarred off for their hardned hearts . i prescribe not this dyet , though solide and substantiall , to labourers and hindes , for their stomackes are like ostridges , which can digest iron , and by their violent motion can better away with bull-beefe , ram mutton , beanes and bacon , then with the daintiest meate in the world : as i hard that a clownish boore told my vncle sir iohn perrot , who on a time comming to visite him being his tenant and sicke , aduised him to eate some der meate , as chicken or sucking rabbet ; he answered him : alas maister , what shall i doe with such kinde of meate , when i cannot eate the bacon , which is as yellow as the golden noble ? i limit no such persons , no more then galen did , when he dedicated his worke for the preseruation of health de sanitate tuenda , not vnto the strong complexioned and the barbarous , as the germanes , who were so accounted in those dayes ; but vnto the ciuill and nice-b●ed italians . i present the discouery of this secret , and the practise of it , to them , that make a conscience of their calling , not to wallow like swinish epicures in sensuall beastly pleasures , but as men resolued to liue soberly , like christians , who must acknowledge , that the holy ghost cannot long reside in fat foggy bodies , that make a god of their bellies , and who for that cause doe still pamper themselues with delicacies , and continue more houres at their gluttonous meales , swilling of sugred sacke , and many cups of strong drinke , then they doe at their prayers , or in the seruice of god. st. paul , as likewise the first christians , did often vse to mortifie their bodies for feare of temptations : i tame my body ( sayth hee ) to bring it into subiection , least while i preach to others , my selfe become a cast ●way . but wee are so fa●ie from such mortifications , that wee cannot spare one mea●e in the weeke , though it were to fa●●● a neighbours life , or to conuert the expence of that mea●e to defend the publ●cke state from ruine , or from antichristian tyra●●y . and yet we must passe for reformed christians . none must say , blacke is our eye , or that wee haue the least skarre abo●t vs. o that men would looke within them ; and see whether that place bee fit to receiue the holy comforter . if then they finde that my words be true , and that their gurmandize and intempetance ●a●e obscured their iudgements , whereby they were not able by reason of stupidity and dulnesse to fall to the practise of a sober liuing , let them out of hand beginne to make some experience of this dyet , if not continually , yet on those fasting dayes , which our church hath ordayned of christian policy , to purifie a loathsome carkases , and not as meritorious for satisfaction of gods iustice . thus the israelites of old time were aduised to fast , and commaunded to purifie their bodies in another manner . the which the very turkes and iewes doe put in practise at this day . and wherefore stands this purification ? but to prepare ●oome for the spirituall bridegroome ? yea , and perhaps , this abst●●ence may ser●e for some qualification of his iustice , although not for any satisfaction , yet helpe to couer a mult●●ude of sinnes : as saint peter and saint iames wrot , specia●ly , if the estimate of what is spared , be conferred on pious vses . the third section . the commod●●ies , which this new-found dyet brings to the body . it remayneth now , that i propose , what commodities this set dyet produceth : first , it preserues a man free from all sicknesses , for it keepes backe all the humours and watrish spirits , which arise from the stomacke to the head. it cures the go●t , the dropsie , the astmaticke passions , the cough , and catarrhes , it hindereth crudities and raw f●●gmaticke humours , which indeede are the ingendring causes of all diseases . it bridles and keeps all the humours in such an equall temper , that none shall offend eyther in quantity , or in quality : for indeede all our sicknesses proceed from repletion , sauing some few which proceede of famine , in taking more sustenance then nature requires , or the stomacke can well digest . for manifestation whereof , we see , that all diseases are cured by euacuations . blood letting is vsed to ●ase nature . and so are purgatious taken to free the body of that insupportable load of filthy matter , which by gluttony was ingendred . nor will one purge sustice . but before an ordinary sicknesse be remooued , the apothecary must minister many nauseatiue and bitter potions able to weary the strongest nature . for at the first , the first region , as physitians call it , must be purged ; that is , the guts and entrailes . secondly , the liuer . and lastly , the veines must bee emptied of their watrish humors and excrements . and it is holden for certaine , that in euery two yeares there is such store of ill humors and excrements ingendred in the body , that a vessell of one hundred ounces wil scarce contayne them . these humours being let alone , will corrupt in processe of time , and wil cause a man to fall into some deadly sicknesse . and commonly , most people , which dye in their beds , before they arriue to extreamity of old age , doe perish by these ouer-abounding humors , which they heaped within them through their excessiue feasts and belly-cheere . the second commodity , that comes by this orderly dyet is , that it doth not onely defend a man from those superfluous humors within the body , but likewise it fortifieth him agaynst outward causes ; for hee which hath his body pure with temperate humors , shall easier endure the ini●ries and discommodities of cold or hot weather and of ●oylesome labour , then he that liues licentiously . yea , and if he be wounded in his body , he will speedily recouer . the reason is , because very little fluxe of any offending humor can fall into the wounded part , which in other bodies is wont to inflame ; yea , and sometime it will cause a griping convulsion , or a violent fea●er . an which our temperate habit of bodily mould shall neuer once bee affected with ; for there is as much difference betwixt them , as the●e is betwixt a perfe●t ch●●ensian procellane , and our roughest earthen vessels . lastly , it preserues a man from the plogue , for there is nothing heere to spa●● , no matter to worke vpon , which was verified insober socrates , who notwithstanding that the plag●e had oftentimes wasted athens , yet hee was neuer sicke eyther of that , or any other disease . the third commodity is , that it causeth not onely health , dut a●so long life , in so much that when hee dyeth , hee feeles no such pangs and torments , as other men vse to haue , for hee falls , like an apple fully ripe , euen by meere resolution , mildly , and gently away . the bond of a temperate mans body and soule is dissolued onely , when the radicall moysture is spent ; like vnto a lampe , which is extinguished when the oy●e is quite consumed . for euen as a lampe may bee put out three manner of wayes : first , by outward violence , as by v●hement wind . secondly , by powring too much water vpon it , wherewith the pure liquor of the oyle is oppressed . thirdly , by the vt●er consumption of the oyle : so mans life , which is compared to a burning lampe , may bee extinguished three wayes . first , by the sword , drowning , or such like violent death . secondly , by the superfluity or depraued quality of the humours , wherewith the naturall moysture is corrupted . thirdly , when this moysture is spent by the length of time . if a man dyes by reason of eyther of the two former wayes , there must ensue a great commotion in nature , and therefore he feeles extraordinary grie●ances , when the bond of nature is thus ●●o●ently before the day and ripe time compelled to bee dissolued . but by the third manner of dissolution a man feeles no paine at all , because the temperature is all by leasure dissolued from within him , and because the gentle moysture , which feedes the body , becomes wasted together with the naturall heate at the same instant , when the soule departes . and thus shall our dyeted persons dye , except they bee● forced by some outward accident . the fourth commodity is , that it makes the body actiue , light , liuely , and ready to all motions and exercise : for heauinesse , lazinesse , and the oppression of nature proceede from the aboundance of humours which destroy the passages of the spirits , and besiedging the ●ovnts , they ouer moysture them at last . therefore when this aboundance of humors is diminished or taken away by a regular dyet , the very cause of dulnesse and heauinesse is also taken away , and then the pores and passages of the spirits are made broad and more open . the fourth section . the commodities which our dyet brings to to the sences and minde , and how it may helpe to build there a more conuenient temple for the holy ghost . as the body feeles seuerall benefits by this admirable dyet , so the minde partakes of no lesse commodities : first , it brings health and vigour to the outward sences , for the sence of seeing becomes darkned in aged persons , by reason that the optick nerues are ouer-charged with superfiuous humours or vapors , whereby the animall spirit , which serues for the vse of the sight , eyther is obseured , or else is not able to minister asmuch matter , as is sufficient to make the sight perfect . this impediment is remooued , or at least much diminished by sobriety , and abstinence from those things which fill the head with fumes , of which kinde are all fat things , and bu●ter excessiuely taken , raw onions , garlike , strong wine , omuddy beere or a●e . or if at the worst their sights bee somewhat dimme or reddish , the oyn●ment of tu●●● with a i. t. e. aloes wi●●auayle them . or if the feare a greater griefe , the iuice of stonecrop will 〈◊〉 the pin and the web. the sence of hearing is hindred by the defluxion of raw humors from the b●aine , into the organ of hearing , or into the sinewes which serues it . by which meanes a man becomes thicke of hearing , or deafe on that side where the defluxion hapneth . a temperate dyet will preuent this defluxion , and with a few locall medicines , vnlesse the deafenesse be inueterate , it will quite expell it . as for the sence of tasting , it is certayne , that the taste of a temperate man is farre more quicke , sharpe , and pleasing , then it is in the glutton , and drunkard , who by reason of chollericke or brackish humors , whether they bee ingend●ed in the head , or in the stomacke , takes all meates otherwise then they are in deede . another commodity , which a temperate dyet brings to the soule , is that it m●tigateth affectors or p●ssions , chu●fl● melancholly and anger . wee see by experience , that they in whom cho●●r and melanchoily bea●e dominion , if they bee not in conuenient time p●●ged of those humors , they fall into strange and violent sicknesses , as lunacy and fre●zy , especially if they bee suffered to get footing in the braine and there to ens●ame . if it bee sharpe , and falls into the tunicles of the stomacke , it causeth a man to become very ra●enous : if there be aboundance of blood , it makes a man leacherous , chiefy , if there bee some windy matter crept into it . the reason is , because the affections of the minde do follow the apprehension of the fantasy ; and the apprehension of the fantasy is conformable to the disposition of the body , and to the humours which bea●e rule in the body . hence it is , that the chollericke doe dreame of fires , flames , warres , and slaughters . the melancholick dreame of darknes , burialls , sepulchers , sprights , of deepe pits , fearefull flights , and of the like troublesome things . the flegmatick● dreame of rame , ri●ers , lakes , shipwracke , drowning , &c the sa●guine dreame of banquets , loue , ioyes , &c. all these with their causes are auoyded by a sober dyet ; for insteed of bad there are ingendred nothing but true and good blood , choller , flegme , and melancholly , so that their inward conditions are wel composed , gentle , milde , demure , and quiet , neuer ministring any cause of debate , but with sobriety and patience taking all things in good part . the third commodity , which a sober dye● brings with it , is the safety of memory . which is wont to be impayred and hu●t by reason of cold humours , which haue seized on the braine , and is very ominous to the intemperate or aged person . this inconuenience is speedily cured by an orderly dyet , with abstayning from ho● liq●●urs and fuming drinkes , vnlesse it be in sin●●l quantity . for although wine and strong drinke bee hote , yet it causeth colde sicknesses beeing often taken , as coughes , distillations , the pose , the apoplexie , or palsie . the fourth commodity is , the liuely vigour of the minde , in reasoning , iudging , in inuention , and in an apter disposition to conceiue or receiue diuine mysteries . heere hence it comes to passe , that they , which obserue a sparing dyet are watchfull , circumspect , prouident , and sound of iudgement : whatsoeuer spirituall or mentall exercise they take in hand , they commonly excell in that kinde of knowledge , which they undertake . the reason is , because their thoughts are abstracted and seuered from this base earthly mould to heauenly contemplation , and to those high angelical raptures , of which f●esh and blood can hardly enter into the consideration . i beleeue very few in these dayes may be sayd to be thus diuinely disposed , for i will stand vnto it , that except they haue some power of abstinence together with that vnspotted faith , which the protestant church holds , they shall neuer passe for men truely religious , nor shine with that bright light of vnderstanding to cont●mne the vanities of this seducing world , nor receiue that solace in their spirits to conceiue themselues as it were in paradise familiar with god. for doubtlesse they that are thus regularly dyeted , if they haue but a graine of faith , as it is written , they may worke wonders , and perhaps performe mi●acles . they shall see strange visions , and be rapt vp , as st. paule was , into the heau●ns for some small time to receiue spirituall consolations , the which if these reuelations and consolations conc●rne onely themselues , they must not blabbe them abroad , vnlesse their publication be more for the glory of god , then for their owne hypocriticall prayse . for it pleaseth god oftentimes to send or infuse messages to confirme his seruants in their constant courses . as i remember in the booke of martyres a holy man beeing in queene maries dayes to be brought to the stake for the faiths sake , the night before complayned to one austin his friend , that since his imprisonment hee had no secret enco●ragement of the holy ghost to continue stedfast ; but on the contrary hee found himselfe very heauy , and somewhat loath to dye . but the next day as hee was lead towards the stake to be burned , hee met the sayd austin by the way , to whom this good man cryed out with great ioy , laying his hand on his heart : o austin , austin , he is come , he is come ; meaning , the holy ghost , of whose absence hee had bewayled the night before . i deny not , but there may bee many saints here in our dayes , but surely they take not the right course to make their election sure , if they mortifie not their bodies sometimes , when rebellious passions are like to breake out into combustion , or else that they be endowed with this powerfull vertue of abstinence , as i doe heere prescribe . nor are they to bee counted perfect diuines , which can only discourse of diuinity , preach eloquent sermons , or dispute of profound mysteries ; but hee is the true messenger of god , who liues according to our sa●iours life , and his apostles , or at the least doth his endeauour to imitate them , as neere as hee can . and in what outward seruice can a man draw neerer vnto them , then in sobriety , and abstinence ? for , as faith is the inward ground of the spirituall building of gods church : so abstinence , i hold to bee after a sort , the secondary and outward foundation of this great structure , aswell because it remooues those lets , which might preiudice our vnderstanding , as also because by it wee meete with many singular good helpes to prepare the faculties of the minde to bee more cleare and ready to embrace that course of life , which best pleaseth our creaetor . therefore , as lessius writes , seeing that our proceeding or progresse in spirituall maetters doe depend vpon the vse of understanding , or that intellect , which is infused in the soule , and vppon faith , which resides in this understanding , wee cannot loue that which is good or prosite in that loue ; nor hate that which is euill , or grow in hatred of that euill , except it bee first propounded and discussed in the vnderstanding , to stirre vp and mooue our affections for that vertuous purpose . whe●e hence it comes to passe , that they who haue lodged diuine matters in their vnderstanding , as the apostles did , and such as followed their steppes , they shall easily cont●mne all earthly goods , and climbe vp to the high degree of sanctity and holinesse , and for that cause at the last they shall obtayne for their reward a glorious crowne in heauen . for the will of man doth easily conforme it selfe to the iudgement of the vnderstanding , when a matter is not there rashly , and suddainly propounded , but with deliberation deepely , and with length of time discussed and debated . whereby it appeares that those things , which doe hinder , darken , or make difficult the functions of the minde , for the most part are the causes , why in knowledge , or in the o●●ices of p●ety , or in ho●inesse of life wee arriue not to the wished and illustrious d●g●ee of perfection . by the premisses it is apparant , that temperance , or sobriety is of great e●●●cacy and power both to ex●●nguish those impediments , which e●lipseour iudgments from meditating on the bright beames of vnderstanding , and the true course of our saluation , and therefore it may not vnfitly bee called the secondary foundation of wisdome and of our spiritual progresse . for what bee the lets that make vs so vnapt to spirituall knowledge ; are they not the superfluous limidities of the braine , the obstructions of the braines pores and passages , the aboundance of blood , the heate of the spirits , which spring from blood and choller , or the humors of melancholly , which assault the head and braine ? all which may be preuented by a well ordred dyet . the fifth commodity , which this dyet brings with it against the inw●rd motions is , that it asswageth or rooteth out the flames of lustfull desires , which annoy both body and soule . and surely next to the grace of god , nothing auailes more ; for a sober dyet takes away first the matter , which is the aboundance of windy sperme . secondly , the impulsiue cause , which is the needlesse store of the animall spirits , whereby that sperme is expelled . and thirdly , the prouoking cause , which is the imagination of venereous doings . this imagination stirres vp chiefly the passion of concupiscence , which presently mooues the spirits to expulsion , and these spirits being so mooued to expulsion doe vehemently vrge , yea , and doe performe the deede , vnlesse the will chance to restrayne the same . all these abhominations are chased away , or at the least corrected by a temperate dyet . the which whosoeuer practizeth , shall finde himselfe free from such perturbations , so that our papists need not afflict their bodies , as many of them do , with languishing fasts , bodily labours , whip-cords , wyres of steele , going barefoote , or with lying on the cold ground , so benumming , or making brawne of their carkasses , that might by this manner of dyet be sustayned with vigorous and liuely heate to sympathize and correspond with the functions of the minde ; where , as in a glasse , the whole man , though outwardly made but of dust and ashes , may behold from within him , the very image of the incomprehensible god , both in vnity and trinity , except his iudgement bee eclipsed with ●rronious motions . the fift section . examples of such , as by abstinence and a sparing dyet haue prolonged their liues to very old age. there was a sect among the iewes , called the essen● , who when as they could not in their consciences brook to liue in ierusalem , betwixt the pharisees and the saducees , by reason of the hypocrisie , and dissimulation of the one ; and the lycentious liuing of the other , retired themselues to a desert neere the lake of asphaltes , not farre from ievicho , and there gaue themselues to a temperate dyet , with extraordinary fastes , whereby most of them liued aboue 100. yeares . paulus theb●us , about the age of 15. yeares o●d , during the persecution vnder decius the romane emperour , beeing discontented for the losse of his father , and liketo be betrayed for a christian by a cou●tous hypocrite , that was married to his sister , because hee might enioy his patrimony , fled into a solitary place , and there hid himselfe in a caue , at the foote of a rocke , neere to which place grew a great palme tree , vpon whose fruite hee daily fed . they write , that for the space of 60. yeares a rauen euery day at nine a clocke , brought him halfe a loafe of bread , and that his apparrell was made of the leaues of the palme tree . st. h●erome reports , that from the time which hee entred into this retired place , which was about the yeare 260. vntill the end of his life , hee neuer departed thence , hauing continued there 110. yeares . st. anthony . who instituted an hermita life in aegypt , borne of noble and religious parents , and being about 20. yeares old , sold his estate , and bestowed part vpon his sister , and distributed the resdue to the poore . and retiring himselfe from the world , he built himselfe a cortage in a place remote from company , where hee liued a most austere and strict life . he dyed about the yeare 345. hauing liued 105. yeares . his dyet was only bread and water , sauing that hee added broath or pottage to his sustenance , when he was exceeding old , as athanasius witnesseth . hee was so famous in his latter dayes for his holy and deuout life , that emperours , kings , and princes sent vnto him for his counsell , and recommended themselues to his prayers . cariton an iconian by birth , hauing endured much troubles vnder aurelian for the christian faith , in the end being enlarged out of prison during the raigne of the emperour tacitus , which succeeded him , and going to see ierusalem , they write that hee was taken prisoner by a company of theeues , who bound his hands , and put an iron chayne about his necke , and so led him into a desert place , neere vnto the dead sea , or sodomes lake . afterwards , these theeues going foorth for more boo●ies , a viper came into their caue , and dranke of the vessell , where the theeues kept their wine : the which shee poysoned , so that when the theeues d●anke thereof , they all dyed instantly . and they say , that caritons bonds at the very same time were miraculously broken or loosned , inso much that hee remained master of their wealth , whereof he communicated the most part to the persecuted christians , that were fied into those deserts , and with the rest hee built a religious house , where hee liued for the most part vpon bread , rootes , and water . he ended his dayes vnder constantine the second , and constantius his brother , being aboue 100. yeares old . iames the hermite a persian by nation , liued by a very sparing dyet , aboue 104 yeares , as theodoret writes . st. macarius one of the fathers , which assisted at the counsell of nice , liued 92. yeares . st. epiphanius whose learned workes we haue , liued 115. yeares . arcenius schoole-master to arcadius the emperour , liued 120. yeares , with admirable abstinence . simeon stilites liued 109. yeares , with incredible parsimony , sobriety , and temperance . st. romuald and italian , liued 120. yeares , with a very straight dyet , whereof hee spent one hundred yeares in a religious house . iohannes de temporibus liued 300. yeares , euen from charlemaines time , vnder whom hee serued as a souldier , vntill our westerne christians set out for the conquest of the holy land. vdalricus bishop of padua , a man of wonderfull abstinence liued one hundred and fiue yeares . venerable bede , a saxo● borne , whose writings wee read , liued 92. yeares in a monastery , euer since he was seauen yeares of age . but to descend to our owne times , i will conclude with one excellent example of lodou●co cornario a venetian gentleman , whose treatise with lessius his annotations ministred vnto mee my chiefe light for the discouery of this new-found dyet , liued aboue 100. yeares . in his youth he spent his time very lycentiously , insomuch that when hee was ●5 . yeares of age , hee fell to be wonderfully crazed , and diseased with a paine in his stomacke , and oftentimes in his side , and also infested with the gout , and wi●h a spice of a feauer . in this manner hee languished vntill hee came to forty yeares . and then the physitians gaue him ouer for a dead man , yet with some hope , that whereas their physicke could not restore him to his health , yet perhaps hee might prolong his life , if he could betake himselfe to a set sp●ring dyet , the which i haue prescribed here . coruario seeing no other helpe , and being loath to dye in the midst of his age , and flourishing time , by little and little fe●● vnto it , and within halfe a yeare was deliuered of the most part of his griefes . but before the yeare went about , he was quite rid of all sicknesses . and so continued all his life after , with singular great contentment in his minde and body . when he was 83. he made a pleasant comedy , which is a worke of iouiall youth , partus iuventutis : for , as hee writes , hee found himselfe of such an excellent temper in body and minde , that hee would not exchange his age at those yeares with any young man whatsoeuer , that did not obserue his dyet ; and hee hoped to liue as long as the other . hee could at those yeares get vp a horse-back as light and as nimble , as when he was but 24. hee was alwayes merry , neuer once angry nor sad , but of that admirable temper , that all the h●mours of his body were in an equall proportion , as it were harmoniously compacted , in somuch that during the time that hee vsed this dyet , he neuer after sic●●ened . his sleepe was moderate , his dreames sweete and pleasing ; and his hearing and sences sound , his vnderstanding so pure and lightsome , that at 95. yeares o●d hee wrot a booke to the clergy in commendation of sobriety , and this dyet . among princes , that by temperate dyet prolonged their liues ; i will instant only on two , the emperour augustus , and queene elizabeth of england , whereof the former liued neere eighty yeares , and was so abstemious , that hee neuer dranke but thrice at one meale . and the other did seldome eate but one sort of meate , rose euer with an appetite , and liued about 70. yeares . now let me question our paracelsians , who beleeue such strange miracles of their el●x●r and potable gold , whether arnoldus de villa noua , raymundus lullius , frier bacon , ripley , or any other , whom they flatter themselues to haue had the knowledge of the phylosophers stone , whether , i say , any of these did liue longer , or in better health , in body and minde , then cornario , or some of these did ? if they can prooue , that their great maisters haue liued as long as ours , then let mee put them further in minde , that paracelsus himselfe their principall patron dyed at forty eight : whereas galen , who a●firmes that euer since hee attayned to twenty eight yeares , hee obserued a temperate dyet , which profited him so much , that thereby hee escaped free from all violent sicknesses , all his life time after , and liued vntill hee was aboue an hundred yeares old , as hippocrates and herodicus before him , onely by reason of a sober dyet without physicke , prolonged their liues to one hundred yeares . the sixt section . the effects and fruites of this admirable dyet . the effect of this new-found dyet , is singular great , and the fruites inestimable : for thereby old age , which is held to be an incurable sicknesse ; and a tedious misery , becomes fresh , greene , liuely , sprightfull , and flourishing . now , after long experience which a man hath learned in the world , hee is able to iudge by comparing his present estate with the vanities of his fore-passed manner of liuing , of the causes , why god , sent him into the world , and by what meanes hee may thence forwards recouer and redeeme the idle time which hee hath spent , to the glory of god , and the safeguard of his soule , which but for the great mercy of his sauiour , hee hath foolishly forfeited . then , he cannot but contemne earthly thoughts , and with a braue resolution scorne to fixe his minde on things , which like a dreame will passe away suddainly , remembring that saying in the gospell : o foole , this night will i take away thy soule , and then whose shall those goods be which thou hast prepared , and heaped together ? then , hee will acutely see , that there is no cause for him to ioyne fie●d to field , farme to farme , or lordship to lordship . for if he obserue this dyet , hee needes not bee at such former charge for gut-worke , or to please his sensuall pa●a●e , as hee hath beene at to the hazard of his health , and more of his soule . he will find that a very final reuenew will s●●●ice him , and that now hee shall be the better able to distribute the ouer-p●us to his christian neighbours , or bestow the same on some monuments for the honour of his redeemer , who gaue him the grace and power to leaue off his former superfluities and noysome varieties : then , he shall perceiue that ten yeares redeemed and conferred in this order of life , will better him more then 20. yeares in such irregular vame courses , as he before had fruitlessely consumed . then , seeing himselfe at more ease and contentment in spirit , with a well composed nature without rashnesse , or inperate passions , hee may accommodate his minde to prayers , to the seruice of god , and to doe workes of charity . for no extrauagant businesse can fall out to interpose betwixt him and heauenly cogitations , as he vsed to haue when hee dealt about matters of worldly profit . but perhaps some will say , who will pine himselfe , and loose so many dainty morcels , to enioy a few yeares longer then our fore-fathers ? heu non est tanto dig●a dolore salus . to these i answere , that the addition of a few yeares more to a man that begins to leaue off sinne , and to bee borne a new man regenerated vnto god through christ , ought to be dearer then all the delicate cheare of the world , which cannot come to passe , while the body is heauy , and pressed downe with a load of fat , and grosse humours . for of all the meate , which a man eates , let him consider how little of it turnes to nourishment or chyle within the body , and how much goes to excrements , to superfluous blood , and to those humours , which one day , and in processe of time will cause some grieuous sicknesse , if not mortall , and hee will iudge my counsell for sobriety to be from god , and sent from heauen in these latter dayes , to assist him in his christian progresse to saluation . at first is all the difficulty and hardest labour , by reason of the contrary custome , and for that the stomacke is stretched out at large , and as the french man sayth , as hollow as saint benets boote . but this difficulty is quickly taken away , if euery day by leas●re he with-draw and diminish somewhat of his vsuall dyet , vntill such time , as hee comes to the stinted measure . and after that the stomacke is once contracted and made narrower ; then there is no more difficulty nor trouble , but that hee may easily continue his sober dyes , because that small quantity doth answere and well agree with nature , and the capacity of the stomacke , onely the danger is , that after the dyet is accustomed , it must be continued still , for alteration is somewhat dangerous . the like examp ewe see in them , who in lent do at the first finde it grieuous to abstayne from their breake-fast or supper , but after a few dayes they make nothing of it ; no more then those doe , who are commaunded by their physitians to refraine from some kinde of accustomed meate , which giues ill nourishment to some dangerous disease , although it bee very pleasing to their appetite . in like manner doe not wee often see , that some of our land souldiers hauing beene long at sea , and there limitted in time of scarcity to a set quantity of slender victualls doe fall into fluxes and languishing sickenesses , if suddainly at their first landing , they breake that limited and set measure ? and how comes that to passe ? but because the stomacke hath beene kept for many dayes more straightned , narrower , and more contracted , whereby their suddaine falling into a larger dyet without regard had to that violent oppression of nature , which ought not to bee so altered , but by degrees , is the chiefe cause of their fluxe● . therefore men of experience will take heede at their landing of this excesse , and reduce their stomackes by little and little to receiue in such meate , and that in smal quan●ity at the first , as shall not offend them after wards . they will content themselues with broathes and weake meates for the first three or foure dayes , or if they feare such fluxes , as they haue reason for it , they will take the iuice of ground iuy , or the broath of rice , or the syrup of poppy , foure or fiue mornings after their landing ; yea , and perhaps they will physicke themselues with rheubarbe , aswell to purge themselues of that taint , which they got a ship-board , as to strengthen their stomackes : or else they will swallow two or three dayes together , ( but not without a preparatiue or glister , before hand , ) those which the arabiaens call the blessed pi's of aloes , which are compounded of aloes , mirrh , and saffron , the which likewise beeing infused in some liquor , to be taken in times of pestience , or calentures , are found miraculous . or if they feare the scuruy , a disease sprung from oppilations in the stomacke , and now a dayes too common , d ee seize on them , they will not negle●t in time to take the iuyce of lemons , turneps , or else the sa●t of scuruy-grasse , or the iuyce it selfe in some pleasing liquour . but to returne , where i haue digressed ▪ admit , that this dyet were somewhat grieuous at the first , let them consider . how they are forced other-whiles to endure a more grieuous pennance at their physitians hands , when they must take most loathsome medicines , whereat nature trembles to thinke of , as our finest gentle-women for the greene-sicknesse are constrayned to take powder of steele , &c. whereas the troublesomnesse of our dyet is recompeneed with wonderfull great commodities and singular fruite . for a temperate dyet makes the body light , pure , healthfull , preserues it from diseases and stinking corruption . it prolongeth life vntill extreame old age. it makes one sleepe quietly , and pleasantly . it makes our meate taste the more sauouring and acceptable . it brings soundnesse to the sences , quicknesse to the memory , cleare iudgement to the wit , it asswageth the rage of vnruly passions , beates downe and breakes the fury of vnlawfull lust , and driues away anger and sorrow . to conclude , it conioynes , cements , and as it were glues and scrues together the soule and body with such an harmonicall admired temper , that with a quiet conscience , apostolicall patience , and with a magnanimous sparkling spirit , partaking equally of mirth and grauity , hee shall soone perceiue himselfe metamorphozed and changed of a sensuall creature to bee a man of reason ; of a darke besotted apprehension , now suddainly become one of the hopefull children of god , illuminated with vnderstanding to ponder , iudge , & discusse of caelestiall matters , touching the mysteries of our saluation , of faith , grace , the resurrection , beatitude , and the difference betwixt humane and diuine policy , betwixt saint michael the archa●gell , and the spirituall drago● ; betwixt the heauenly ierusalem , and the most reformed common-wealth among mortall men . and lastly , hee shall be able to apprehend , how sinne and the prince of the ayre , are linked in one , to confirme mens hardned hearts in their owne accursed courses . the seuenth section . how necessary the bodies purification by a temperate dyet is for the soules health . the suddaine cure of the cough , the tisicke , and other diseases by some medicines intermixt with this dyet . pvrification must go before glorification . for before a man can assume a glorified immortall body in heauen , it is necessary the whole man bee purified heere on earth , the soule by faith , and the body by abstinence . after this life we must not relye on apocriphall dreames of a third place , by capriccious schoolemen called purgatory , like to the poets eliz●an fields . but at our departure out of this world we must repeate the same words , which our sauiour spake at the giuing vp the ghost , consummatum est , it is finished . wee haue fought in this world a good fight , wee haue abstayned from carnall and worldly temptations . otherwise , wee go out , but as halfe christians , and being luke-warme , christ will not know vs , if wee stand on bare faith , without the fruites of faith , which must not onely spring in vs towards our owne bodies , but by example and good workes towards our fellowes , the members of christ. o how much do the capuchins and carth●sians goe beyond vs in abstinence , and in contemning the world ! and if they had the faith , which we professe , and did not too much macerate and deface the handy-worke of god , vppon a meritorious baalish hope , surely , they might bee sayd to see with two eyes , and we but with one eye , and being better purified then wee , they were assured of that glorification , which wee expect . i doubt no● but some heere will taxe me , that i sauour a little of pharisaicall popish leauen , because i insist on the bodies purification , as if i derogated from faith , which onely iustifieth , and that all meates are tollerable , let a man eate and drinke neuer so much , as long as they are sanctified with our ordinary graces of thanksgiuing , though sayd by roat or cooled zeale . and that wee cannot transgresse in what enters into the body , seeing that all things were purified and made cleare by christ , according to st. peters vision about cornelius , these libertines would faine couer their epicurean excesse with sophisticall daubings , but they heede not my ayme , who with st. paul professe , that all things are cleane to the cleane . it is the quantity , and not the quality of the meates , or drinkes , which i reprooue . if i should tell them further , that the cause why moses forbad the israclites the eating of swines flesh was , for that hee fore-saw , that the same in those hote countries would breede it●h and scabs , and that it did become the hely nation , to keepe their vessells better purified , then to appeare in the house of god so polluted ; surely i beleeue , they would take me for ● iew , aswell as a romanist . why were lepers , and those that had running issues debarred from the temple , insomuch that their king so diseased , was repulsed to enter ? was it not because god loued a purified cleane body , ●ather then a mangy person ? specially , if through his owne disordered manner of liuing , or the diuine vengeance he became so defiled ? in respect whereof , it is conuenient that we doe our best endeauours to purifie that place , which is destinated for the holy ghost , by abstayning from alluring meats of diuerse natures at the same mea●e . go to the physitian before thou be sicke , ( saith the wise man. ) before gluttony and drunkennes hale vs into the prison of sicknesses , let vs take heede of their causes , and not finde fault with friends , who without fee or rewards haue opened them the way to purification , and a sober liuing . because lessius and cornario being papists late●y renewed and brought to light this admirable dyet , shall wee disdayne their wholesome counsell ? this vncharitablenesse leads to errour what we finde among papists praise-worthy , and not repugnant to faith , we ought to embrace and cheerish . by that reason we should haue no discipline , no canon law , nor any ciuill order for the gouernment of the church against ref●a●●aries and gyddy headed heretickes , if we condemne all that wee borrow from them . for our religion it selfe , though afterwards eclipsed , was propagated and sent into this iland from the bishop of rome . because their mine yeeldes not the finest oare , shall we not refine the oare , and purifie the gold , that comes from them ? yea , though it came exsterquilinio out of their dunghill , with many dregs and filth , we must not reiect and altogether debase what we receiued from them , as long as it tends to our profit or edification . we ought to commend them for their laudable fasts , their almes-giuing , and their continent liues ; i meane some few of them , which were indeed most continent , and not minister occasion of scandall in our christian calling , to make them the more obstinate , and obdurate . st. paul could haue wished neuer to eate meate , whilst he liued , if hee thought , that that kinde of meate offended his brother ; where as some of vs on the contrary , would e●te flesh on good friday , euen to dispite them . by this indiscreete and vncharitable carriage towards them , in things indifferent , many soules haue fallen away from our church , and left those skars , which will continue ( i feare ) to the worlds end . so tractable in this indifferent course was peter mo●lins that religious minister of france , when hee heard how some of our english preachers chose rather to bee silenced , then to weare the surplice : o i would to god , sayth he , that i were bound to go in a fooles coate through paris all the dayes of my life , so that i were licensed to preach the gospell there . and so an english co●ntesse heretofore , was content to ride through couentry starke naked at noone day , so that she might gayne freedome for that towne , which for their common and future good , shee afterwards most zealously performed . now to aduance forwards , and thereupon to conclude our worke of purification , to be brought to passe by abstinence , and our newfound dyet , it is lookt for , that i should first cu●e some of those infirmities , which are already growne through repletion , and disorders . among which , i behold the lunges , which waxe old sooner then the rest of the members , as aristotle affirmed . and the reason is , because they are subiect to all kind of excrements . for they receiue catarrhes , coughs , and other fi●thy matter from the braine , besides excrementicious blood , which is ingendred there , and turnes to purulent matter , which render them foule & filthy , as our late a●atomists haue found , as●ve ●as that , which comes from the head , and what ber is made so impure , must needes grow soonest old . for which cause those persons , whose breath doth stinke by reason of the impurities of the lunges , shall waxe old sooner then others . as on the contrary , those whose breath smells well , or doth not stinke whilest they are fasting , may liue much longer . for the abating or correcting of this viscous , clammy , and mattry stuffe , which is there ingendred , or fallen from the braine , nothing anayles more then this our dyet , after that the same hath bene practised and vsed two or three moneths , such impurities will cease of their owne accord . but for feare the diseased party may in the meane time suffocate and perish , like the horse , that starued , while the grasse grew ; let him that is troubled with a violent cough , which is accounted but a symptome , mingle some manna well sifted , and a little saffron with his panade , broth , or gr●ell , and that being vsed for fiue , or sixe dayes together , will by gentle purges by little and little consume away the cause ; yea , and will supply the place of an expecterall , aswell as any of those medicaments which they call becchica , or else they may use three or foure drops of the syrupe of tobacco in two spoonefuls of hysop water , or in default thereof , a peece of tobacco it selfe rowled and chewed in the mouth , before meate , for foure or fiue dayes together , will performe the c●re , or in case of necessity , let him drinke but once an o●nce of the iuyce of the blew-flower-de luce root called ir●s , newly gathered , beaten , and strayned , with sug●ed water , and some saffron ; and though the party were at the very poynt ready to bee choaked with these s●●my and grosse h●mours , and could not rest , but sit vp wheezing , and without sleepe ; yet within two or three houres , ( as it were by miracle ) hee shall auoyde by vomit , and stooles , the causes of his deadly distemper . or else let him take twenty , or twenty fiue graines of pantomagogon in pils , with the powder of lycoras , once euery second day for a weeke , and these will gently purge a●l the humours . and these pi●s i hold to bee singular good to preuent many other diseases , and not so loathsome as most medicines be . next , the braine presents it selfe to my view , the indisposition whereof may be discouered by the heate , or coldnesse . if it be ouer hot , it causeth distillations into the lunges , lunacies , &c. for the cure whereof , some lettice may bee boyled with our dyet , or the greene leaues of poppy , and in defaulte thereof their seedes , or their syrupes . in that case diacodion , which is composed of white poppy , with sugred water alone , or mixt with our diet is of admirable operation both to coole , and to procure sleepe . to which as a cau●at , i wish such distempered persons to beware , how they keepe their heads too warme with night-caps ; for thereby i haue obserued that many haue vnaduisedly miscarried . for the cold distemper of the braine , accompaned with moysture : the smoake of tobacco with a drop or two of the oyle of anny-seed is expedient , if the party be not too narrow breasted , or else troubled with the fits of asthma . but oftentimes the braine may suffer by reason of outward causes , as frost , or cold windes in the same manner , as the lunges are , for both alike are impayred by cold , that they might the sooner become weakned and old , and that by reason of respiration . for both these members doe breath and respire , the braine for the perception of smells , and the lunges more aboundantly , for the recreation of the heart . therefore both these members doe secretly through their pores and passages draw in the ayre , and do receiue their impressions , which happen not to any of th' other members . for this discommodity , whereto our northerne nations are much subiect , thet haue lately armed themselues with hoodes agaynst raine , snow , and tempests ; and if before their iournies they annoynt the soles of their feete with that excellent oyle of euphorbium , or of pepper , and stop their ●ares with cotton or bumbase dipt in oyle of an●●seed , or with cyuet : they neede not feare distempers through cold , as long a so as englands golden fleece is able to furnish them with outward defences . but wee haue cause to doubt a greater inconu●nience then , a momentary cold , which commonly with the weather for sake the hold ; for if it prooue an extreame frost , or blustring windes , specially after ●ainy weather , which occasion the cuils aforenamed , that treacherous guest , the sc●ruy , the store-house of al diseases , farrago omnium morborum , ( which some haue mistaken for a spice of the catholick disease : ) may get possession within the body . and this happens both by the sunnes absence , and for that the skinne , and all the outward pores are stopt , thickned , and congealed with cold , so that there is no place left for the venting of euaporations , and exhalations out of the body . and therefore they are driuen backe coagulated , where those vapours are forced for want of vent to assault the inward parts , and at length they domineere , and cause oppilations and stoppages , so that the liuely spirits cannot performe their offices . heere hence it fals out , that some of these tainted exhalations are carried vpwards to the eyes , eares , nose , and to the teeth , and gummes ; and other-whiles to the breast , or else they descend downe to the legges . a spoonefull of the iuyce of lemons at a time , or the luyce of scuruy-graf●e , or the salt of it , as i shewed in the former section , mixt with our panade , will remooue this suruy-baggage . and for the putrified gummes , a drop or two of the oyle of vitrioll , or some vnguentum aegyptiacum applyed vnto them , will speedily cure them . i neede not correct the stomacke , but with the owne simple dyet , yet if at first by reason of the suddaine alteration , which i haue notwithstanding here expresly forbidden , and on the contrary aduised them to proceede by degrees from twenty ounces , to foureteene , or twelue , and by so many , or a little more of drinke , to bee diminished within a moneth : then if the stomacke should become somewhat fainting , a cup of wine and sugar added to the dyet , or in extremity cinamon water , anniseed , worme-wood water , or manus christi , or ginger-bread , will quickely restore the cowardly stomacke . but if the midriffe rise , or any winde , which our dyet will speedily chase away , vineger scilliticke , or sea onion will keepe it downe . afterwards , if they chance to breake this dyet , if it be but for a meale or two , i wish them to fast the next meale after , although it were more commendable esu●ire inter epulas , to rise vp with an appetite . for the stone , if walter caries quintessence of goates blood , which in his farewell to physicke , he cals the hammer for the stone , may not be gotten , let the party take goates blood , and vse it after the arabian manner : that is , dried in the o●en , and drunke in some liquour . more medicines i could lay downe , for this and other sicknesses , but that i doubt our practitioners of physicke would indite me for intiusion into their profession ; albeit i thinke they will bee more offended with me for the publishing of this dietary cure , then for any other quarrell . for i make no question , but the same will both preuent and heale more diseases , then all their recipes grounded but vpon coniecturall prognostickes for the most part , like vnto our almanackes . me thinkes , if it were nothing else but for the auoyding of physitians fees , and ap●th●caries bils , that were a motiue sufficient to enduce vs to liue soberly . whereto might bee added the shortning of our dayes , which their drugges doe cause , besides the poysoned relicks , which they leaue behind them in the body . for we must vnderstand , that all purgations , specially electuaries soluble , haue some venemous quality in them , and likewise that the good humours aswell as the bad are exhausted by them , to the future decay of health , and the treacherous wasting of the oyle of life . the like fatall inconuenience comes by blood letting . the eight section . speciall remedies against sea sicknesses , the scuruy , and against the annoyances of snow , frosts , and cold winds . wherein the cause of my lord baltimores disasters in new-found land this last winter is debated . the disasters which hapned to my lord baltimore and his colony the last winter at feriland , in our new-land plantation , by reason of the scuruy , haue mooued mee to inserte some more specifique remedies against that disease , which not onely in those climates beares dominion , but likewise heere in england , although hooded with other titles , yet commonly sprung of the same causes . for sometimes the scuruy is ingendred of outward causes , and sometimes from within the body , or from both . and therefore they that dwell neere the sea-side , where the north-east windes rage , are most subiect to this infirmity . before the sayd lord euer beganne his plantation , he cannot deny , but i aduised him to erect his habitation in the bottome of the bay at aquafort , two leagues distant from that place , which for ought i heare , is not much to be discommended , and more into the land , where my people had wintred two yeares before , and found no such inconuenience . nay , his lordship himselfe suspected the place ; sor●● his letters hee complayned that vnlesse hee might be beholding to me for the assignment of both those places out of my grant , he was in a manner disheartned to plante on that coast , by reason of the easterly windes , which with the mountaynes of ice floating from estotiland , and other northerne countries towards new-found land , rendred that easterly shore exceeding cold . yet notwithstanding , his lordship beeing perswaded by some , which had more experience in the gainefull trade of fishing , then in the scituation of a commodious seate for the wintring of his new inhabitants , bestowed all his charge of building at fertland , the coldest harbour of the land , where those furious windes and icy mountaynes doe play , and beate the greatest part of the yeare . whereas , if hee had built eyther at aquafort , or in the westerly part in the bay of placentia , which hath aboue 50. miles ouer-land , betwixt it and that easterne shore , his enterprize had suceeeded most luckily : and so this of fertland , might haue serued well for his profit in the fishing , and also for a pleasant summer dwelling . sir francis tanfield , vnder the right honourable the lord vicount faulkland , continued two yeares , but three leagues more southward at renooz , and did well enough , in which place likewise my colony remayned one winter without any such mortall accidents . but all winters , i confesse , are not alike in that country , no more then they are here with vs in europe . yea and here too in the same paralell , the season differs . who will imagine , that wee in wales haue lesse snow and frosts then london and essex ? and yet by experience wee finde it so , whereof the very cause proceeds from the easterne windes , whose rigorous force before they arriue ouer land into our westerne parts , cannot but be much broken and abated . besides these winds , snows , and fr●sts , the scuruy is ingendred by earing of those meates which are of corrupted iuice , raw , cold , salted , or of ill nourishment , which breede grosse blood and melancholly . among which i reckon bacon , fish , beanes , pease , &c. and among drinkes , i ranke all strong liquors whatsoeuer , specially , if they be taken in frosty weather , when the stomacke ouer abounds with heate , and consequently at that time most subiect to infiamations , which , when the th●●● comes , will certainely breake out into some dangerous disease . do but obserue how the sap of plants and hearbes in frosty seasons descends downe to the roote , as to the last refuge and helpe in nature ? the which plants if we should refresh with chalke or lime , well may they flourish for a little while , but their fruite and themselues are of no continuance . the like i may say of such , as by strong liquors doe conceiue , that they fortisie and comfort their stomackes in cold weather , when as indeed they get but a sparkling heate like a blast , that will quickly extinguish : from hence arise the scuruy , catarrhes , rhumes , coughs , feuers , &c. but leauing these causes , i will proceed to the cure of this fatall sicknesse , which now a dayes prooues a stumbling stone to the wisest physitians , by reason of the manifold symptomes and infirmities which accompany it , able to deceiue aesculapius himselfe . first , let the party , that feares or suspects himselfe tainted , change or ayre his apparrell , putting on cleane shifts and linnen . secondly , let him sleepe in boorded roomes , and if hee bee able , to haue his chamber wainscotted , or well dryed of those dampish sauours , which stone or earthen walls are wont to euaporate and breath out . thirdly , let him beate and burne one acre of land round about his dwelling . fourthly , let him eate those meats , which are tender , light of digestiō , that will not be soone corrupted , chiefly fresh meats with dited sauce , but moderately , and without excesse . fiftly , let him often vse the expressions of currans , prunes , or reasins , or diaprunis , or some of these in broath made with manna , cassia , tama●ind , or seene . for these will loosen the belly by their moysture and slippery faculty , whose whayish humours the melt or spleene is accustomed to steale away , and so by making it selfe great and bigge to impouerish and infeeble the rest of the members . sixtly , for an exquisite purgation after a glister , or preparatiue first vsed , which might be of oximel . with some of the aforenamed expressions , let him take of the roote of rheubarbe , or mechoacan three dragmes , hermodactilis two dragms , turbith three dragmes , an ounce of diagredium , two scruples of cinnamon and ginger , three pound of sugar . of this purgation , let the party take one ounce , or sixe dragmes at a time . seauenthly , after these purgations , which must be taken euery day , or euery second day , while it lasteth , let him vse bathes made of brimstone or branne once a weeke to attenuate the skinne , whereby the vapours of the body may the easier exhale out . but for twelue houres after bathing hee must not stirre out of doores . whosoeuer will vse these obseruations , not neglecting those , which i haue generally deliuered in the former sections , as antiscorbutica , to preuent the seuruy , hee may rest assuredly not to become infe●ted with the disease , and if he be tainted , he shall speedily recouer . and now for the poorer sort , who perhaps are not able to prouide themselues of the premisses , they may eyther purge themselues with those pils called pantomagogon in the precedent section described , or take three graines of stibium in a cup of beere steeped and beaten to powder , euery second day for a weeke together . and to preuent the scuruy , wee haue tryed in new-found land , that the tops and leaues of turneps , or radish being boyled , is a soueraigne helpe . and also that neetleseede , and hony , with a little wormwood is expedient . to conclude , goose-dung being mixed with meale and butter , will serue for a pultes to the tumours or outward griefes , caused through this sicknesse to abate the inflammations , and the spots , and vlcers ; yea , and if their stomackes could away with the loathsome taste with a few cloues in drinke , it will cure the scuruy suddainely , as they in zealand haue often tryed . a pomander to be vsed at sea , against the noysome sent of the ship. this pomander will much auayle against such offensiue smells : muske three graines , saffron one scruple , so much of cloues and nutmegs , halfe a dragme of masticke , of laudannu on ounce , let these with two dragmes of white waxe bee rowled and stirred together in a hote mortar . as for the poore , they may vse the rind of oranges , lemons , or the roote of angelica . agaiast violent vomiting at sea. let him drinke worme-word wine , or the salt of worme-wood in beere or wine . a bagge of dryed mintes layd to the stomacke is singular good in that case . likewise , this medicine taken and eaten in the morning , will strengthen the stomacke : one cloue or two of garlicke , two or three almonds , two or three cloues , and a little ginger , let these be moistned with halfe a spoonefull of vinegar . after meales coriander comfits , or quince ma●melate is commodious . for the first three dayes , let him feede sparingly , and vse capers or oliues , with his meate . remedies to preserue the members from the discommodities of the frost , iee , snow , and cold windes . let not the party presently enter into a warme roome , or two neere the fire , but by little and little let him approach or remayne in a temperate roome . let the frozen and congealed members be annoynted ouer with the oyle of chamomell , if the strong smell offend him not , or with oyle of lillies , or else with sallet oyle and salt somewhat warme . and about halfe an houre after that hee bee put a bed , let him drinke a cup of wine or beere well mulled or heated with pepper rudely brayed and put in a piece of cloath for feare of offending the throate . let him hold in his mouth some hote spice , as cinnamon , ginger , a●oes , cloues , or pepper . garlicke boyled in milke , or beere , will suffice in this extreamity for the poorer sort . in briefe , if there be any doubt , that some member is almost stupified with colde , specially with the frost , let that member be held in cold water for a while , that it may soften and so by degrees return to the temper . the poore may in default of a better oyntment , before and after their returne home-wards , annoynt their hands and feete with bruised garlike , tempred with oyle or butter , if they cannot haue some of the oyles aboue named in the former section . to preserue the eyes from snow , which sometimes as the more excellent , annoyes the lesse : a piece of blacke-stuffe or cloath ho●den in the hands , and often lookt on , wil performe the same , and defend the sight from iniury . aboue all , let not the party go abroad fasting . the ninth section . remedies against other sicknesses incident at sea , or land. against the heat of the stomacke , and to preuent the calenture , and other feuers . syrupus acetosus simplex in this case , is highly commended by ranzouius , as also to preuent feuers , which kinde of syrupe is made of water-sugar , and vinegar , as oximell is made with hony . hee that vseth the same shall hardly bee infected with any kinde of feauer , nor be troubled with the asthmaticke passion , or tysicke . in the beginning of a feauer , the syrup , or looch of poppy , is conuenient both to coole the body , and to procure sleepe . and so is a glister or suppositary , in the beginning of any sicknesse . a friend of mine who had beene sundry voyages in the indies , and within the tropickes assured me , that when most of his people had beene often sicke at sea of calentures and burning feuers , hee euer escaped . and the meanes which hee disclosed vnto me were these : he vsed euery day to sip a spoonefull of the iuice of lemons , and in default thereof , he accustomed to drinke often a beuerage of vinegar and water . and lastly , euery day hee bathed and washed his fundament with cold water , which is the chiefest way , that the turkes , arabians , and moores doe purifie themselues before their saba●thes , and during the time of their fasts . aboue all , our dyet , or that which our mariners call lob-lolly , will serue them for nourishment at sea. a powder to be vsed eyther on land , or sea , to defend a man against sicknesse . take of dryed rose leaues three drams , of lignum aloes halfe a dragm , of licoras , nutmegs , and saffron , of each a scruple , of muske foure or fiue graines . make all these into fine powder , and then quilt it in a piece of taffata , or sarcenet , and weare it on the left side of the breast . an electuary against melancholly pass●ons , 〈◊〉 and to make the heart iouiall and merri●r . take of the conserues of roses two ounces , of the conserues of buglosse , and marigold , of each one ounce , of cinnamon one dragme well powdred . forme these into an electuary with two ounces of the syrupe of poppy , and at your going to bed take the quantity of a nutn●●g . a description of certaine pils to procure sleepe and to open obstructions . take of the powder of alkekenge with out opium two d●agmes , of opium on diagme and a halfe we●l beaten , with one ounce of sugar-candy . the which with syrupe of lic●ras must be made in a masse , and then diuided into pils and swallow them . they will serue for two or three times . a drinke to ripen and ure the cough . take of the syrupe of enulacampana and licoras of each two ounces , of hysop water a quarter of a pint . boyle these in a quart of ale or beere , with some red sugar candy to a pint , and drinke thereof two or three spoonefulls at a time , lying on your backe , and letting it distill downe your throate , by little and little . to preuent the palsie . nothing is better then to eate some diatrion p●perior , or to swallow downe in the morning foure or fiue graines of pepper . the cure of the winde in the stomacke , and the collicke . commonly this infirmity hapneth for want of stirring and exercise , or by eating of fish , fruite , or the like windy food in greater aboundance then nature is able to beare without belching , rumbling , or the like commotion in the stomacke ; which sometimes descending lower downe into the guts , before the former meate bee fully digested , begets more strength of winde , so that betwixt the olde excrements and the new , this grieuous payne called the coll●cke , is ingendred . for the cure whereof , if the wind proceedes from heate by drinking of sacke , or strong liquor , or in the summer , first let him abstayne from those causes , and take a glister made of sugar , milke , and some cooling hearbes , or of broath where in raisons , prunes , or currants haue beene sodden , or where diaprunis is dissolued , with some anniseeds . and for a topicke medicine , to fortifie and ease the place affected for the present , let the party apply a dryed rose-cake somewhat warme , and besprinkled with a few drops of vinegar to the belly . the poorer sort may clap warme trenchers or napkins . but if the collicke be ingendred of the colde , as in winter , or by feeding on moyst and raw sustenance ; i wish the poore to content themselues with garlicke boyled , or raw . and for the richer sort , i prescribe this singular receit , take venice treacle or m●thridate with a few beaten cloues , dissolued and mulled in a cup of wine . or in default thereof , a spoonefull or two of worme-wood , cinnamon , or anniseede water , or some liquour wherein pepper hath beene soaked . diatrien p●perion also eaten is exceeding good , fasting , or at going to bed . and for a locall remedy , let him put dryed cammomill betwixt two linnen cloathes to the belly . or for want thereof the oy●e , or paracelsus his stipticke playster , the place being first annoynted with that kind of oyle , or with that of roses . against the euill disposition of the body , as the dropsie , the greene-sicknesse , and the like . take of allom , brimstone , and of the fi●ings of iron , or steele of each a handful . inf●se them bruised in three quarts of white wine vinegar three dayes , and let the party adde thereof a spoonefull at a time to euery draught of drinke . likewise a posset made of allome , will correct this ill disposition of the body . r●medies for the straightnesse of the breast , and the rising of the lights . some do highly commend quicke sulphur beaten to powder , and well mixed with sugar caudy , to be taken either alone or with wine . others at the time of the fit , do aduise to giue him vinegar scillitick with ammoniacke dissolued . fracastorius extolies lungwort , eyther of the oke or iuniper ; li●ewise the smoake of sandaraca , o● o●piment in the manner as i haue shewed in my booke of directions for health . but in truth the foxes lights soaked for three dayes in vinegar , and afterwards dryed in an ouen , being taken to the quantity of a nutmeg , eyther alone , or with some liquor , is the best remedy , aswell for this infirmity , as for the cough proceeding of the difficulty of breathing , for it is knowne , that of all creatures the foxe hath the longest breath , and strongest winde . in default of the substance , the common receite called looch de pul●●one vulpis is expedient . remedies for the gout , whether it proceed from hot or cold causes . first let him betake himselfe , if he can , to our dyet . secondly , let him beware of all strong drinkes and wine . thirdly , let him purge himselfe with the potion of hermod●c●●l●s , m●choacan , &c. which i haue before described against the scuruy : or else let him vse pillu●ae cochiae which drawes awayes the causes from the head. and these purgations hee shall vse once a moneth . and if there bee cause , let him bleede sometimes . fourthly , let him exercise . fiftly , let him annoynt for a locall lenitiue the place affected with oyle of frogs , or of mirrh , eyther alone , or with a little saffron , and if the paine bee violen● , with some opium . but indeede to mollifie and asswage the griefe , for the richer sort , i aduise them neuer to bee without this precious cataplasme . take of dried rose leaues one ounce , of masticke halfe an ounce , of saffron one dragme , of campher sixteene graines , and of barly meale two ounces . powre thereon as much white wine , as wi●l make them boyle , which must bee gently , a●l by leasure . and often stirred . the tenth section . remedies against the odious and vnhealthfull vice of drunkenesse . the authors admonitory conclusion , to liue soberly and temperately . for the shutting vp of these particular cures , i will insert this corollary , which i wish all them that haue a care of their healths , daily to reuolue in their mindes , being drawne out of hippocrates his golden aphorismes : that whatsoeuer nourishment enters into an impure body , will make it the more impure . but there is one sicknesse more , which rightly may be stiled the northerre catholicke , crept among vs within these forty yeares , the sinne of drunkennesse , brought hither out of germany , and the low-countries , which beares such sway , that few merite the name of gallants , or sociable creatures , vn●esse they can carouse more cups , then the large body of a camell is able to brooke , without great alteration in nature . for the suppressing of this odious sicknesse , we haue laudable acts of parliament , but for want of due execution of the lawes it increaseth to the great displeasure of almighty god , the scandall of our religion , and the grieuous disturbance of their bodies , which wee see drooping away daily , before the date of life conditionaly granted vnto vs by our creator . what shall wee do in this desperate case ? our statutes faile to remedy this euill : our preachers with their thundring woes misse to reforme it : the carefull cure is neglected ; for most men now a dayes doe more intend their priuate ends , then the publicke good . only this prouident counse●l is left , which i submit in most humble manner to the higher powers , that some more additions bee enacted , that in such places as lye remote from the meridian of the fountayne of iustice , all blind ale-houses bee suddainly put downe , that none be licensed , except they were worth twenty pounds at the least in goods , able to keepe bedding , with sufficient mans meate , and horse-meate , that all such as frequent these infamous houses , especially within seauen miles of their dwelling places , or vpon the lords day , may bee bound to their good behauiour , and that during the time of their bonds , they to be debarred of bearing witnesse betweene party and party , seeing that it is likely common drunkards care not what they sweare . secondly , that they shall not vexe their neighbours with law-suites , vntill they be released and become new men : or else , that they shall stand as persons out-lawed ▪ or excommunicated out of true christians society . thirdly , that those officers , in whose diuision these offences shall bee committed , shall without delay see the penaltties ordayned by law inflicted , and tha● the negligent as accessary bee seuerely-punished . fourthly , and because seruants in most of our gentries houses are also infected with this pestilent abhomination , it were fit , that they build new cellars neere their parlours , where their maisters eye might curbe them , if they meete not with sober butlers to restraine them . in these latter times people are become so besotted with this abhominable vice , that no admonition can preuayle to with-draw them from it : whereas in times past the very sight of a drunkard was as rare as a goblins ; yea , and if it chanced that any one were but seene reeling in the streetes , the very boyes would whoote , and laugh him to scorne , vntill such time as the magistrate or the gouernour came , and brought him to the stockes , or committed him to prison . but now it is growne so common , that they account it a glorious act , and the musick must play while the health goes round . it is recorded , that the godly mouica the mother of st. augustine , beeing but once vpbrayded by a seruant in the house , that she loued the wine bottle , she took it for such a disgrace , that neuer after shee dranke one drop of wine more , as long as shee liued . platerus makes mention in his practize of physicke , that hee knew a noble-man who being diseased of the goute , and informed by his physitian that his drinking of wine and strong liquor had caused his infirmity , he made a vowe neuer to drink any such liquor more , which hee religiously kept , and in the stead thereof drank nothing but small cider , or veriuice . whereby he was quite cured of the gout , without any other medicine . the like i haue heard of an hydropicke person , who hauing experimented , that drinke produced and augmented his disease , hee resolued neuer to drinke more , but contenting himselfe with broathes , and the like moyst suppings , hee was neuer after-wards troubled with the dropsie . to draw our newlanders cure now to a period , let mee intreate all them , which haue any feeling of sobriety , and of the necessity , wherein our christian common wealth stands at this present time , to lay aside their captious criticismes , and carping censures , together with their needlesse feasts , and in good earnest to embrace my counsell in some measure , if they cannot as yet apply their wills to the stint , which is heere prescribed . i know the impediment proceedes of custome , and this custome can hardly bee altered , ( except the spirit of god will co-operate , ) without some offence to concupiscence . such is the lamentable obstinacy of many hare-brain'd worldlings now a dayes , that parents cannot without great difficulty with-draw their owne bowels from following their boone companions , and roaring gallants , whose conuersation but for a few dayes they haue frequented . how much harder then is it to diswade men from those prouocations , which from their childe-hood they haue continued ? the most part presuming on their constitutions and present strength , suppose , that all the meate , which they ordinarily feede vppon , and the carouses which they swallow , cannot much impayre them . nay , they will constantly auouch , that it is a signe of health to drinke healths , or to eate soundly , whereas they bee but baytes of pleasure , so that greedinesse knowes not , where necessity should ●e ended , or nature limitted , as saint augustine agaynst iulian , lib. 4. cap. 14. existimantes nos adhuc agere negotium valetudinis , cum agamus potius voluptatis . it a nescit cupiditas , vbi finiatur necessitas . but men of vnderstanding will consider , that most of the bodies sicknesses and vnruly passions doe arise from the wanton palate , and that whatsoeuer enters into the body , which the stomacke cannot perfectly concoct , must needes exceede the true quantity , which nature allowes , and so turne to noysome humours at the last , in despite of nature . yee that bee parents , shall heere learne to weane your infants with a better dyet , then with flesh and fish ; which will rotte and corrupt their tender bodies . yee , that be rich , accept of this treasure , diuine sobriety , which will infuse into your hearts , modest contentment . yee , that be poore , shall heere learne frugality , at a cheepe rate . yee , that bee young , shall bee taught continency . yee , that are elder , and therfore should be wiser , shall meete here with health and long life . heere , yee shall finde all your sences refin'd , aswell the inward as the outward . heere , from temperate heate issue temperate effects . the blood spreads gently through the veines ; the spirits through the arteries : and the soule by vertue of this heauenly gift , beeing as it were discharged of her massie load , and loathsome lumpe , hath now some experience of her liberty , aud that by this purification shee is not farre from glorifications . in a word , deare country-men , condemne not this cure before you read , or make some tryall of the substance . the time requires it . for the misery of iniquity is permitted to acte the last tragedy of spirituall wickednesse in heauenly matters . but yee who are enabled to liue temperately , neede not feare as long as yee continue stedfast in faith : your olde men shall dreame heauenly dreames , your young men shall see visions , your sonnes and daughters shall prophesie , your seruants and maides shall bee inspired with the holy ghost , according to the prophesie of i●●l . authoris epilogus de repletionis & ebrietatis incommodis . ecce nouae terrae fructus , mensura diata , lux re●ouata , salus , spes , et medicina dolorū . pone modum ventri deus imperat , acc●pe sanum consilium , compesce gulam , suspe●de fur●res . heu quantes qualesque facit repletio morbos ! ex hoc fonte fl●unt animi deliria motus : corporis hinc omnes a●gores , asthmata , tusses , multiplices febres , hydrops , nodos● po●agra , et quot quot memorare horret mens sana ( meatus so fertè obstruerent mixti cum bile vapores , ) ni stella● numerare velis , lateremque lauare : curridere solent nebulonum turba profa●a , scurril●busque socis sanctorum corda gra●are ? dum ceuet damocles , v●as saeuire cyclopas . post cyathos in membra det , potosque thrasones consilij latebras parasitis pandere nou● ; cur iurat mars iuris inops ? cur iurgia , lites , et pugnas lapithae de lanâ saepè caprinà i●miscent saturi ? phantasma volubile bacc●● crede malos gentos in tanta pericula ferre : aerei ludunt sic inter vina dapesque , graeculus vt rhetor , sit gracculus ille poeta ; gloria sola deodetur , qui flamine sancto auoc●t a vitijs , christo●●dia●te ●●dia●te , britannos . the newlanders cure. the second part . muse on the matter , more then the meeter . the first siction . the preparatius to the cure of the mindes infirmities ; wherein the author by the discouery of his owne imperfections in his worldly race and course of life , admo●isheth all others his fellow christians to repent and confes●e their sinnes in time . morstua , mors christi , fraus mundi , gloria coeli ; et dolor inferni sunt meditanda tibi . thinke on your owne , and christ his death , the iudgement day , and hell beneath : thinke also on bright heauens ioyes , for worldly hopes are dreames and toyes . what are our pompe , wealth , beauty , fame ? but braine-sicke snares , and wares too blame ? what age like our so crackt with i●rres ? yet crakes of loue , prouoking warres ? proud nabal , stoope ; preuent thy woes , make peace , and friends take not for foes . iust dauid did thy flockes no ha●me , nay , they were shielded by his arme. if to his god thou tell thy sinnes , hee 'le save thee from the philistines ; but if his dauids thou abuse , repentancelate will not excuse , if misers guilt thou iustifie , or humane pompe dost glorifie ; or hypocrues thou magnifie ; or thine owne worth not vilifie ; this cvre will prooue a stumbling blocke , and to such fooles a laughing stocke . the same , yet i am confident , shall not displease the penitent : nor any soule of saints communion , that doth partake of christian union . those watchfull spirits long to see , a true physi●ian without fee. in briefe , let me be sayd to doate , if i shew not an antidote , against the world , the flesh , and diue●● , or at the least against some euill . and sure , vnlesse they meane to fall . my patients will admit of all this cure , which newland for the old , and sickly offers to vnfold . but first , their faultes they must confesse , or else they dye remedilesse . they must likewise abandon strife , and vow to god a better life ; then out of hand beginne to day , deare penitents ; time flyes away : beginne , and i a sinner too will prompt what you shall fayle to do . wee heere before thy maiesty , dread lord , present iniquity , layd bare without hypocrisie , the which from adams leaprosie of sinne de●iu'd , wee all inherite , and for the same hells flames do merite . o giue vs grace vice to displace , to cleanse our selues , while we haue space : if we repent , thou heal'st our sinnes , and wee shall shine like cherubins . but what am i , whom for thy glory , thy spirit mooues to pen this story ? this little one , like zoar , where thy seruants may behold with feare gomorraes flame , old babels shame ; and those new sinnes , which vs defame ? this charge became a leuites zeale , to ring it out with louder peale : how can thy gifts in me reside , that am not cleane , nor purifi'd ? in aprill dayes with hare-brain'd fury led , topsie turuy i did hurry for worldlings praise , and thankes to curry , whereby thy motions i did hury . what then i wrought was to gaine fame , a blazing blast , to raise my name . but now i see that i went wrong , for honors all to thee belong . and whosoeuer goes about to lay thy goods for his owne out , usurpes , and steales part of thy glory , which made bright angels darke and sorry . my summers growth i spent in folly , and gaue my selfe to passions wholly : to scrape and gape for golden dayes , neglecting what the gospell sayes : o foole , this night i le snatch thy soule , who shall thy fortunes then controule ? my loyes were toyes , my cares bred tares ; thus caught with snares , i sought false wares . thus dregges to god , to mammon wine , in my best race i did assigne . how then shall i in autumne now reape profit , when i faild to sow ? when libra for my late repaire , beginnes to dye my amber haire : shall i with saints a gleaning goe , who , like a foe , did time forgoe ? o gracious god , that giuest hire , and with new fire dost men inspire . my euenings worke thou well dost like , for thy sunne alwayes shines alike , on publicans , whose hearts relye upon christs merites , those which flye from thee displeas'd to thee appeas●d , in hope of debts to be releas●d . o what braue sparklings of thy lou● , appeare in such , who sinnes reprooue ? i feele some heate by this remonstrance , to rouze my heart with quicke repentance . let pick-thankes with ambition swell , till thou blow'st them from earth to hell : wee on no creatures dare relye , but heere before thee humbled lye . whether thou scourge , or vs will purge , wee will not cease thy grace to vrge : yea , though thou hale vs in a rope , like sampson bound , yet we will hope . with dalilaes we dallied long ; but now wee sing another song . when our confessions mooue to pitty , we then shall frame a sweeter ditty . lord , after shrift renew thy fires , deuotions flames , in our desires . the second section . the description , confession , and effects of our common sicknesses , which by the temptations of the wolrd , the flesh , and the diuell , distemper most mindes in this latter age , where●n the weaknès of our common writers is taxed . vve brag of faith , heere sathan lurkes , for in good workes we liue , like turkes . pure saints , or angels wee would seeme , yet golden ones wee more esteeme . wee feed like kings , are seru'd in state , and make vs gods of siluer plate . we chop and change , in pride wee ruffle , and more for goods , then good do scuffle . wee plod on protects , more then zeale , on priuate ends , then common-weale . plaine dealing men wee flou●e , like fiends : and sycophants wee trust , as friends . we count it lawfull to deceiue , where gifts vnpunisht wee receiue . vve fee the lawyers , full of gall , vvhile starued soules for vengeance call . how many thousands pine at home , though newfound land yeelds elbow roome ? but sinke or swimme , say greedy elues ; none helpes to plant ; all for themselues . they rob too soone those infants milke , which might bring gold , salt , iron , silke . but why should i for newland speake , whilst that the old doth languish weake ? and like to starue in midst of store , which hath enough , yet couets more ? so haue i seene hydropickes pale swell big , and dye , with bibbing ale. our minds more weake in resolution , compared to the antient nation . search further , muse , but with compassion , and see , how comes this alteration ? the times precedent had their faults ; wee haue their old and new assaults . their traditions , superstitions , times reuolutions , constellations : fiends slye stratagems , and temptations , diuells incarnates combinations . all these with our new prouocations worke ; and we feele their operations . most men are bad in eu'ry trade , eu'n from the scepter to the spade . the greatest still prey on the lesse , and spend those preyes in foule excesse , witnesse our ioyning farme to farme , peruerting wealth to neighbours harme . witnesse our drinkings , wasting health , our giddy smoakes , and deedes by stealth , what mishapen apish fashions , are deriu'd from foolish passions ? our purles , rare pearles , and rich array , an armies charge might well def●ay . our thoughts are in prides altitude ; old sacke-cloaths weare is clownish rude . contritions haire-cloath wee contemne , nunnes tyres and h●rmits wee condemne . in stead of these , each groome exceedes , in satans veluet , gorgeous weedes . in stead of these , now virgins shine in church vnmaskt , with feathers sine . ●st not a shame , that flaunting g●llians dare there to tempt against tertullians aduise ? who barr'd the affricke mayde gods honse to enter so array'd ? christs seamelesse coate would hardly passe without a frump . a two-legg'd asse , they would nicke-name a minister , if the frize cass●●ke hee preferre , preaching against rich s●●ken stuffe , the beauer ha● , and swagg●ing ruffe . na● , english cloath wee s●arce a low , vnlesse thicke laces wee bestow : vnlesse it be , like that in gra●●e , o● ●ab●ls beast , or whoo●ish traine . like vveather-cockes , our appetite in many changes takes delight : for which men taxe the female kinde : when both are moone-sicke , worse then wind . the raine-bow , peacocke , or what hew cameleons shift , so it be new , or thought out-landish , that we like ; and presently the same dislike . our eyes are witches to our vvits , but why loues reason fancies fits ? our foes vnseene , vs idle finde , and by their wheeling lead the mind . the mould of reason thus made pliant by fiends rampant and luxuriant , the braine must needs grow wilde with weeds whence fall bad seedes , to choake good deeds . such spite haue they inueterate , to make mankinde turne reprobate , that they omit no trickes of state , to lead them to a shamef●ll fate , like to their owne depraued quite ; from which , but christ , none can acquite . sometimes they play the lyons part , but commonly vse foxe-like art. now they ●ike apes , or puppets dance ; a●on in horses shape they praunce . go on , proud steedes , men are not well , but hurri'd in a foure-whee'd shell . with whimseyes doubts yee tempt the holy , but worldly soules , with costly folly. those meanes , which god gaue for his glory , to helpe the poore , in pride yee bury . o stings ! o stormes of ghostly foes , which now great brittaine vndergoes ! when christ should reape his haruest pure , his angels finde vs all impure . wee see the gospels radiant light , yet darkling hunt like birds of night . vve euer please the out-ward sence , but leaue the inside without fence . our petty-fogging liberty , helpes to aduance impiety . but athens now , and courts of law , had neede themselues be kept in awe , by st●ickes more graue , to beate downe vice or thunders sonnes to satirize . the truth is , without discipline , our bees turne drones , and will decline from charity , and vertuous thrift , to idlenesse , and basest shift . fond company wee more affect , then sober friends , or gods elect. the baffoones●irry ●irry meery buffe , sta●e scoggins●ests ●ests , wi●s scullions stuffe , base mim●cke skoff●s , broad scu●●i●e tau●ts , vvith baggadochian thundring vaunts , stupendious lyes of balladry ; all which with tales of rybaldry , false coyned newes , and old wiues fables we grace , cu'n at our open tables . wee glut our guts with luscious cheere , and seldome fast scarce once a yeare . nor then know wee to mortifie , or the proud flesh to vilisie . wee often read of vanity , but seldome bookes of piety . such glistring baites do hooke vsin , and make vs doate on shining sinne. our stage-playes , maskes , and mummeries , what are they else but fopperies ? and lullabies to rocke a sleepe soules , that should wake , or rather weepe ? what noble flames doe some inioy ? and yet their talents mis-imp●oy ? the very best of their inuentions , they giue for baudes , to lords intentions . of heauen these promethean rakers , vnworthymen would make partakers . wisedome is painted a pure mayde ; the sisters nine are virgins stayd . if of their court our schollers bee , why doethey stayne their chast degree ? begetting mungrell monstrous notions ? and giuing way to wanton motions ? the graces three haue no lewd tricke : why then doe learned spirits kicke , like pampred iades , more then befits the sonnes of art ? corrupting wits with glozing bookes of ch●ualry ? or legends false of popery ? if from aboue , their dowries came , why doe our chams vncouer shame ? why doe they claw times fooleries ? why doe they winke at knauer●es ? why dare they not the greatest make to startle ? and at vice to quake ? t is true ; they greatnesse feare and losse , but who so feares , reiects the crosse : that crosse , which christians vnder-went of the best stampe , and element . huisht , cowards then : your taients hide , vntill christs audit still vntri'de . some for despite doe libels thunder : others for glory , nine dayes wonder . but most doe fawne , like strumpets bold , and prostitute in hope of gold. on honors bought they wag their tailes , to mammon they strike downe their sailes . fraile beauty some with heath'nish rimes court , wasting so their precious times . a goddesse , starre , an angels mate , of dust and ashes they create . the wonder of celestiall creatures , the paragon of earthly features : the good●iest nymph , which nature made , at whose faire sight all beauties fade . both sunne and moone eclipsed stand , till they her pleasure vnderstand . no maruaile then , that i her slaue , at her east frowne amazed raue . vvith such besainting , and for gold , our simpring shee s are bought and sold. but o what antickes doe i see ? vvith musicke loud about a tree ? tripping it on the saboath day , and kissing oft their marians gay ? thus our best dayes wee foole away . some pill and poll , aliue some flay . some roare , and some , like asses , bray . some skoffe and lye , some laugh and play at cards and dice whole winter nights , in summer dayes with dogs and kites . here stands one curling ( pockey-full ) his perrowicke ; another gull out-vies his fellow gull in oathes ; and complements , whom hee most loathes ▪ of pedigrees that scoundrell vauntes , cal●ing true worth with floutes and tauntes an vpstars dwarfe , whilst hee most mad , prates , how for sires hee giants had . this noddy feares proud hamans nods , as fooles do sprights , or schoole-boyes rods. but who lewd courtiers so obserues , loud carters lashes beast deserues . another studies how to traine , more clients in for cursed gaine . physitians now , and lawyers ●oyne , to spin long cures , and suites for coyne in elder dayes what by our toyle vvas gain'd , became the clergies spoyle . but now the lawyers keepe a coyne , and reape vpon their neighbours soyle . as those did quaile , so these may fayle , or be restrayned , without bayle ; vvhen charity shall more preuaile , their double-tongues some will bewayle . they worship gold in generall : yet some feare god , i taxe not all . but these good-men how to discerne , vvhen needfull suites doe vs concerne ; vve must at noone haue candle-light , or prophets gift , to saue our right . most students do trades-men resemble ; since both for custome can dissemble . in hugger-mugger many bribe , ds if they were of magus tribe . if such bee not in brittane found , let simonists of forraigne ground , redeeme their schooles , and cloyster-cowles , from chaffring , and the sale of soules . nay , let our foes feare gaping hell , if seates of iustice they dare sell : or if to those they men preferre , who formerly were knowne to erre . in what a fearefull case are those , who worldly fortunes so dispose , as if our god were fast a sleepe ? and did not see what rule they keepe ? me thinkes , i see our fluttring foes , watching their time to breath in woes , vnder pretence of seeming good , like him , that beares vnder one hood a double face , with fained grace . they blow a pace , till they get place within the spirits and the blood : where they worke gall of humours good . this poysn'd gall , the soules blacke laundies , prickes so , that man on cocke-horse bandies against his god , and natures law , that grafts this rule with filiall aw : who lets not sinne , if so he can , consents to it a wicked man. some yearely rayse a greater rent , by interest for mony lent , then maltaes lew of foes did take ; for to the bones these men doe rake . i blame not lawfull permutation , ( but with a sober limitation , ) vtopian-like , to barre commerce ; but common scandals i rehearse to them , who sell their goods too deare , or them , that sheare christs sheepe too neere . more lay-mens griefes i could reueale , which shame from muttring bids conceale . yet wants there not some nightingall , like sweete saint paul , to touch them all. those practises now passe for good , which noah saw before the flood . some build , some buy , some cheate , and borrow . whilst the next morrow steales on sorrow . the third section . that the most part of our pretended christians are infectea with some of the afore-sayd infirmities , and that all carnall pleasure shall end in paine . these mad conceites bewitch vs all , yet lu●atickes who dare vs call ? these i doll lusts wee hugge in spirit , yet doe we boast of zeale and merit . like bawling curres , we barke at vice , vve rayle on br●bes and auarice : vve blame the whore , and idle drone , but who throwes guiltlesse the first stone ? many finde fault with swinish drunkards , themselues rebellic●s vnder placards . the blind-m●n cals his brother , blinkard . the pockey 〈◊〉 his fellow , stinkard . thus others b●ots wee quickly score , when we deserue correction more . when iudgement consc●●●ce shall controle , the purest souls will prooue but foule . here lur●es a toad , a s●rpent there , sharpe stings and poyson eu'ry where . the preacher wrot ; all is but uaine : but i dare write , all ends in paine . what cares haue wee , what toyle , what paine ; these seeming pleasures to obtayne ? and once obtain'd , what 's then our minde ? but neighing new and more to finde ? no earthly thing brings much content , but afterwards breedes discontent , which a●ams apple wee may call , both bitter sweete , and honey'd gall. ioy surf●its some ; some pine with paine ; yet the partake in sinne and raine . death spares nor rich , poore , poole , nor wise ; for all must fall before they rise ; the crowne , which royall browes adornes , within is nettles , prickes , and thornes : feares discontents , want of treasure , iealous of neighbours , leagues vnsure . nor liue our grandes without trouble , their pompe to double , though a bubble . the midling and the lowest sort , grieue to maintayne the lawyers port. thus christians as a tennis ball , tost by themselues , are prone to fall . yet none beginne to looke for ease , but thinke of iarres instead of peace . the fourth section . the description of the catholicke scuruy , ingendred by the mystery of iniquity , the glorious manifestation whereof had beene restrayned and sealed vp by the angell , vntill 1000. yeares were expired , for the hardnesse of our fore-fathers hearts . not onely these doe vs disease , but onely ills disturbe our ease . t is found , that most diseases tend , and to the scuruy power lend , to torture slugs , who nastily were cloath'd , or fed too greedily . great f●ends likewise , and men soule-sicke , hell 's scuruy make a catholicke , with murthers , lyes , hypocrisies , idolatries , and blasphemies . as doth the former scuruy beate , for want of sunne and motions heate , vpon the spleene , the breath , and skinne : so doth that old and scuruy sinne with purple spots go on to stayne both soule and body , all for gaine . mens want of faith , and scriptures light , enwrappes them in blind aegypts night . fond quirkes and quillers , schooles inuentions , doe hinder them to vse preuentions . but how comes this grosse sinne to passe in those , who say christs blood doth wash , and hea●●al plagues , and cancred lust , by vertue of his merites iust ? when men distrust the safest way , they cannot ch●se but goe astray . when fabells tower , and asaes hopes ; when 〈◊〉 g●d , and ba●lish popes ; when mans pos●●ons , ●rring braine , they trust , as if christ dy'd in vaine ; when they refuse gods tendred motions , and wil carouse false prophets potions ; their ●oules so giutted salla reeling , like drun●en tosse-pots without feeling . then iudgement , wid , and memory depriu'd of faiths strong armo●y , in blacke despaire conclude their wayes , and neuer after see good dayes . or they presume ( a plague as bad ) with too much learning running mad . these two extreames , like scorching sunne , and hideous darknesse , wee must shun . the middle course with modesty , yeeldes some content to maiesty . to which adde faith : then grace will couer our brittle knowledge , and discouer what vengeance more hangs on the scuruy , which christendome turnes topsie turuy with blood , fraud , dreames , ambition , feares , regardlesse of poore christians teares : till he , that rockes with thunder teares , he , that controules the wandring spheares , doe by his light expelling night remooue the beame , that dimmes our sight ; and tame the force of this great fury , which wilfully true faith would bury . the diuell●s loose from b●bilon , and wa●ches whom to worke vpon . old heresies hee bringeth in : so faire without , and foule within , some starres beginne to loose their light , which on the saints shin'd lately bright ; and t is most true , some states will rue , if the last earthquake doe ensue . proud gog , and magogs horne with eyes , haue pitcht their tents to tyrannize , and gyant like doe threaten those , who lyes and false-hood shall oppose : those , who serue god in unity , and in the persons trinity , they persecute with fire and sword , and vow to raze his written word , ( which now hath flourisht many yeares , in spight of balaam , and his peeres . ) and make vs bow to romes mark'● rabble , their mazzims god , and masses bable . a thousand yeares by treachery , and iuggling trickes , this mistery shut vp and seal'd , gul'd faithlesse slaues , but now against gods church it ●aues , that church , which then for few assign'd , to deserts fled for feare confin'd , and acts the last red dragons part , with open force and cunning arte , let vs ( say they ) with all our might , their consciences at length affright , if our false fire and wonders faile , our three frog-spirits sha●l preuaile , whom ca●phas curs'd with booke and bell , wee 'le sacrifice their blood to hell ; but before this desolation , we must b●nd the strongest nation . you heare the plot , now to preuent these latter plagues ; watch and repent : for if they bind the valiant men , what will become of weaklings then ? when god remoues his candlesticke , hells darknesse more will make vs sicke . the fift section . the emminent dangers of this great and mysticall disease ouer great brittaine , by a reflection of those t●ibulations , which our fellow members haue lately endured beyond the seas , and may hereafter light vpon vs , if wee preuent them not by speedy repentance . behold the sad and riuel'd face of rochell , once the strongest place of christendome , now made a slaue ? and forc't for light to c●ye and craue . behold the land of casimire , on khines faire bankes , whom france did hire , to saue her church new-built from fire ; now poore , disrob'd of her attire . in like manner , see , how many bright uirgins lampes in germany , extinguisht lye , whose glorious rayes like carbuncles , made nights seeme dayes . our fellow-members reape this curse ; and wee deserue the same , or worse . their fatall losse concernes vs neare , and ought to strike a tremb●ing feare . for if our sauiour giues vs ouer , the cut is short from france to d●uer . god may permit the spanish nation , by land and sea to worke vexation . or those , that are now friends , to langle , or out of trading vs to wrangle . or let o de sathans sorcery pre●aile , to bring in popery . which if he doe , how stand our liues , our church , our children , states , and wiues ? in stead of milke our younglings lucke would bee , empoys'ned whay to sucke . all then must to the shauen crowne , with the beasts marke , fall prostrate downe . none iust , but who to babell tunne : no maid made saint , but a faire nunne . and shee for penance must submit , to her confessours veniall fit . but first mortmaines must be repeal'd , and praemunires quite expell'd . if this great earth-quake shall preuaile , and the old dragon with his taile draw twinckling starres from heauen downe , and forme them fire-drakes of his owne , o●r watch-men then should heare brauadoes , and turne or burne , or feele s●rapadoes . our sinnes deserue this darke eclipse , to kisse the pax with who●●●●●lips . wee felt of warre the discontents , the pestilence sackt our chiefe tents : a famine new creepes in through raine , from which , lord , keepe our soules againe . vvhat dangers more may vs oppose , i haue no warrant to disclose . i dare not to me arrogate , of prophesie the certaine fate . but i could wish , that harmony suppli'd the place of simony : that iustice , loue , and godly zeale , did raigne in church and common-weale and for those perills , which i feare , let euery kna●● his burthen beare . and iustly too , if they allow for currant good , the ill they know . they who feele not these offences , nor looke helpe , haue lost their sences . but let them get soules spectacles , and they shall see gods miracles : how with a strong and mighty hand , hee still protected this our land , against romes subiects eu'ry where , vvhile we in faith couragious were . the fift section . the imminent dangers of this great and mysticall disease , ouer great brittaine , by a reflection of those tribulations , which our fellow members haue lately endurea beyond the seas , and may hereafter light vpon vs , if wee preuent them not by speedy repentance . vvithin my time i can record , how god kept vs from fire and sword , from treasons hatcht in sathans den , beyond beliefe of mortall men . in infants yeares i well remember , hee sau'd our churches royall member , elizabeth , from parries blow , vvhich though a child i then did know , for that my father stood ingag'd , for him to hare , whereat enrag'd , because my father for his debt , three thousand pounds , was su'd , hee set vpon h●gh hare within his study , gaue diuerse stabs , and left him bloody . then , in despaire hee went beyond sea , vvas reconcil'd to the romish sea : and there by comoes cardinall , put on to play the canniball . for comming home , hee hunted further , scorning hares the lyon to murther . but god did keepe our lyon queene , whom parry meant to ●ill vnseene . about that time , the pote did muster , and out of ireland thought to thrust her , by peters keyes , and paul his sword , with desmonds helpe , a pow'rfull lord. but god lookt downe , and saw their spleene , hee fought for vs , and for our queene . then , foureteene ●raytors thought to throw downe englands starre ; for they did sow their seedes of foule conspiracy , to yoake vs to the papacy . but god himselfe with hand vnseene , confounded them , and sau'd our queene . in eighty eight , his elements scattred spaines fleete , and regiments ; so that for their atla●tides , they sought the pole at th' orcedes . thus god preseru'd a maide● queene , from nembrod● spite , and giants teene . when forces fail'd , bulls went about , and cunning iesuites they sent out . they lopez hir'd with po●s●ncaski●l , both her , and some great peeres to kill . but god protected , though vnseene , our faiths defendresse , englands queene after these stormes , the traytor squire , by friers counsell did conspire : but ●e , tyrone , and all our foes had ouer-throwes with tragicke wees . for on themselues god turn'd their spleene , and still defended englands queene . againe , the ●paniaras sought sea-ports , in ire●ana , where they wonne some forts , and marching on , they thought to boast , but god by mountioy foyl'd their hoast , and gaue their dous vnto our queene , o● whom they meant to wreake their teene ▪ o peerelesse queene , belou'd of god! who for thy zeale wert made his rod , to chastize gogs , and tyrants bold ! which more then him , did worship gold ! thou didst spaines fleetes , and carracks shal●e , thou mad'st the groine , and lisbane qual●e , and mak'st vs tell vnfeigned tales , how god for thee subdued cales ▪ how he for thee did scourge new spaine , brazil , the ilands , and the maine . god gaue the flemings liberty by thee , and all prosperty . by thee , great burb●n got his right , i● 〈◊〉 and in the leagues despice . by thee were ships and trades sustayned , by thee at home w●s peace maintayned . by thee , god wrought for his great glory , this to be writ , in after story : a queene debarr'd of bodies breed , of spirit left true christian seed . scarce to her orbe our virgins star●e vvas gone , but by a ciu●●l vva●re some papists thought to worke a side , and our ●oyn'd kingdoms to diuide : but watson and his complices , payd deare for these confedracies . heere is not all , which i ha●e knowne , done by our god for brittaines crowne . vvhat poets pen , or wit of man , is able to expresse , or scan the meanes , how in nouember wee , on the fift day , escaped free ? when many papists d●d consent , to blowat once our parliament , with powder vp into the ayre , in hope to make our church despaire ? they swore vpon the sacrament , to keepe full close their blowes intent . the iesuite garnet vnder hand , and others of his learned band allow'd it for a pious deede , a christian king and his male seed , to murther , with his royall mate , and all our peeres by suddaine fate . o piercy , catesby , what meant yee , with other brittaines to agree , to pierce christ through his seruants sides , in hope of pardon from blind guides ? guy faukes by all the damned crew , was set to play the boute-feu . hee had his match and all things ready , ( alasse that christians were so heady ) to blow them vp out of the mine , fierce nero like and catiline . thus to the end their treason brought ; god counter wrought , what they had wrought , inspir'd the king to search the matter , suspected by a mysticke le●ter ; a letter sent to braue mounteagle , whom treassams arte could not inue●gi● : so all came out , wee sau'd from fire , and they receiu'd their treasons hire . iust as they thought our church to batter , gods iustice did their owne limbes scatter . our papists also should remember , what on the fifth of their nouember , at the blacke-friers fell on them , which our religion did contemne . their priest , and those , who then him heard , as sometime were the swinish heard , vvithin the gospell mentioned , by miracle lay ruined . thus may both churches vnderstand , the seuerall working of gods hand on that fifth day ; a stumbling barre to them , but vnto vs a starre . to these my ripe remembrances , i adde our stra●ge deliuerances , from pestilentiall arrowes shot by god himselfe , well-nigh forgot of those , who were by his alarme , like hezekias , sau●d from ha●me . so carelesse in prosperity are men , when once aduersity is past , that they scarce thinke on vvoes , vnlesse some chance to interpose betwixt them and their vanities , or that they loose commodities thereby , although but temporall . for orders sake they outward call on their redeemer for a while : but in their sleeues they laugh and smile at their true zeale , who them accuse of blo●s , which they could ne're excuse . such counterfeites are now a dayes , ingratefull , base in all their wayes , that to speake truth workes enmity , and to cologue breedes amity . how many sicke haue cured beene ? how many coarses haue i seene on beeres and carts both day and night ? whom houres before in iouiall plight i knew , not dreaming once , that death could stop so soone their vita●l breath : yet suddainly , behold a wonder done by our lord the god of thunder . for sixe moneths space the plague continued , and after that all trades renued . i saw all frollicke , flourishing , as if i saw none perishing . our courts of law againe frequented , vvhich redding had one terme preuented . for this , o ●rittain●s greatest citty , sing to thy god a thankefull ditty . admire christs mercy , feare thy iudge , loue thy poore-neighbours without grudge ▪ trust not to faith without this chaine ; least faith prooue vaine , and end in paine . by these rare wonders i conceiue , that vnto men god will not leaue , vs long a by-word , nor a prey , if his sonnes precepts wee obey . for carnall faultes , or f●aielties trips , himselfe will scou●ge vs for our slips . but for that great backe-sliding deed , the soules relapse , let vs take heede . but how shall wee preuent this , lord , if thou take hence thy sacred word , restored in those martyres twaine , by sodomites and gipsies slaine ? it is not long , since they reuiu'd , and by thy spirit vs relieu'd , at their first comming , as with thunder , our worldlings were amaz'd with wounder . the newes did gall , and them appall , they fear'd the fall of babels wall. but now they vaunt , and vs doe taunt , they shuffle cards , as if at saunt they playd , and wonne all with the rhine , and what thou gau'st the palatine . wee must acknowledge , most iust god , that wee deserue a sharper rod , then these our neighbours now oppressed , for that thy gifts wee haue suppressed aswell as they ; in stead of which our ca●●e and care is to be rich. by odious meanes wee buy promotion , and scandalls rayse for pure deuotion . aswell as they in drinking health away , our youth haue spent thy wealth . in sensuall beds wee wantoniz'd , to pompe , as god , wee sacrifiz'd , in body we , and in the soule , all ouer are corrupted ●oule : nor can sweete odours , or perfumes abate the stinke of our blacke fumes . our swarmes of lawyers and law-suites , hindring true loue , and christian fruites : our drunken meetings , and oft potting , our costly fare , the body rotting , our daily changes of gay rayments , haue meri●ed the diuels payments , vnless● in mercy thou minde sinners , and wil● re●ine vs for beginners . once more , good lord , regenerate and purifie our bodies mate , thy image la●e , whose three-fold parts in ill more knowing , then good artes , are quite depriu'd of heauenly blisse , if thou examine what 's a misse . some sinnes we know , and would redresse , but that strong f●ends do vs oppresse , both openly and secretly , which them to name would seeme a lye , or slander : yet thy seruants know them , and if they might , would not allow them : o let not achan's sing●e fault , ( like that which dauid did assault ) b●ing downe ●y plagues without instruction . though all deserue the same destruction . the seuenth siction . generall and specifique remedies not onely against the catholicke scuruy , but likewise against all other spirituall diseases , if they bee pat ●● practise . most men are sicke ; yet few beginne , to cure themselues of deadly sinne . the body so by agues kinde , did neuer shake , as doth the minde ; the doubtfull mi●de , her doome fore-told . yet custome makes vs ouerbold . we long for pelfe , and striue for wealth , few seeke rest : fewer their soules health . this custome comes from elders graue , who scrape for earth halfe in the graue . the younger noting their base actions , whom they thinke saints , fall to exactions . o that men would consider this , and leauing trash , would looke for blisse . no hearts like our so ha●dned were , in sicknesse rife cur●s to forbeare . what cures haue we ? both night and day , for cordiall comfort wee must pray to god alone with humble spirit , and not depend on humane merit . that freedome , which through christ we haue , the father seales , if it wee craue for his deare sake , who suffred woes , and sham●full death , to saue his foes . wee must deriue our onely cure from christ alone , of sinnes impure . wee must renounce all other hopes , deuis'd for game , by wicked popes . wee must not shelter christ his seede , with ionas gourd , nor aegypts reede . the soule , on creatures which relies , is like a who●●ish wife ▪ that lyes with kna●es , and leaues his lawfull bed , whom god appointed for her head. wee must bee infants m●de and meeke , harmelesse as d●ues , when christ wee seeke ; yet wise as serpents , to beware of gordian knots , and brokage ware . wee must not wrest the sacrament , nor carpe at things indifferent . christ crucifide wee must behold , as the brasse serpent those of old. they for a signe did see it stand , but wee the meaning vnderstand . the crosse , bread , wine , and what with sence wee apprehend , time weares from hence . what faith conceiues , inflames the spirit ; and this braue flame the saints inherit : i● quickneth so , that christ his nature , inspires and heales the soule-sicke creature . as bread and wine the body feede , so must the minde his passion heede : thus eate and drinke thou iustifi'd , his flesh and blood , though glorified . and mystery and figure take it , as christ the rocke and bread fore-spake it . wee must conf●sse our selues accurst , of christian soules the very worst . wee must the same to others doe , as our selues would bee done vnto . wee must leaue off hypocrisie , our foolish carke , and policy . wee must care more to d●cke the minds , then the frayle body p●f● with wind. wee must not mount aboue our calling , but rest content for feare of falling . wee must our patience so enure , that● aues grown great we may endure , who through the window made their way , since eu'rv ' dogge must haue his day . wee must not swell , when wee haue store ; nor yet repine , though some heape more . time ends this strife : the houre-glasse passes . what neede men then to moyle like asses ? wee must abhorre the reeling sinne of soule-sicke healths , which sots brought in . to this i adde that indian borne , blood-●ainting fume , drinkes shooe in horne ; of which i blame the quantity , but not the physickes quality . wee must not liue too sparingly , nor spend gods goods superfiuously . wee must not grudge the prore to seede , for almes are bal●●es in time of neede . more hiues for bees , for gods elect , on o●he● coasts let vs erect . our wearied lands , our swarmes require it : the lord commaunds , the saints desire it . wee must by deed ; shew good example ; and at their entry passions trample . wee must not brawl● for eu'ry fault : the iust themselues doe sometimes halt . wee must forgiue our foes aswell as god doth vs , who me●ne hell. wee must not play more , then the turke , who flips no day , without some worke . the mind on labour fixed sure , stops wandring thoughts from sathans lure . the gentle sparke might ●●sse the pike , shoot , rid● , graft , study , or the like the female sexe findes carke at home , sings psalmes , or shewes rare skill on loom● . the souldier heares the drummers sound , stands sentinell , or walkes the round . hee traines , he fights , and spends his blood , like maccabeus , for our good. good schollers haue enough to doe , if tempting lucr● they forgoe ; besides the muses spacious groue , the bodies motion they approoue . on citizens i neede not call , nor country-men , who sweare for all . wee must proud pompe and fraud eschew , and thinke thereon what will ensue , as god is iust , a fearefull end , which from wraths u ioll will descend . for when we perke , like cardinalls , and grinde the poore , like canniballs , scorning christs members , racking rents , and raking gifts through discontenrs : our angell guardians fiye away , and sathan hunts his beasts of prey . if these few rules wee beare in minde , the cure is sure ; our pardon sign'd . then grace supplies fraile natures want ; then loue will come , sinne to supplant . both which who findes , hee needes not feare , though all the world in flames appeare . the eighth section . an admonition to the saints , to cont●●ue watchfull and constant , and not to feare this last and great persecution threatned by the spirituall dragon , and his angels , although hee come prepared with all his stratagems , ambusher , and with multitudes of men , like the sands of the sea in number . vvell may esdraes eagle muster ; and bold chaucers griffon bluster ; the pellican , doe what they can , will make them both frer , curse , and ban. let romish ne●●rods roare againe , their thundring shots will fall in vaine . then woe to them , that flourish now , and who looke backe at christ his plow . when their great ma●sters vatican , nor basans bulls protest them can . when his strong guarded angelo , shall not deliuer from this woe them , who with christians blood doe feast . when the false prophet , scarlet beast , the mounted vvhore of babylon , the man of sinne , perditions sonne , the mouth that speakes presumptuous things , the mistery with eagles wings , the gog and magog of the house , the old red dragons rendeuous : that deceiuer , who in gods church , sits as a god , and by the lurch liues , and to sale puts marchandise , mens soules and bodies , with false lyes . all figures of false antichrist , that dares vsurpe farre more , then christ to his apostles euer left : for hee quits men of life bereft from purging flumes ten thousands yeares , and more hee spares romes roaming peeres . when that this monsters triple head soule and body in scalding lead shall boyle in pits , and lakes that swimme with pitch and brimstone to the brimme : then will his followers all too late , with diues wayle their woefull fate . then they will wish with yel●es and howles , that they had liu'd obscure , like owles . then they will see the diffrent manner , of iacobs fight , 'gainst esaus banner . then they will know saint michaels armes , wherwith he sa●es gods church from harms . for though the watch-men smote the spouse , as shee sought christ , yet still she growes , untill her seede , as heretofore , in spirit playes the arrant whore. let croaking frogs , and chattring pyes , let daniel's horne with mysticke eyes : let curious schoole-men , errours spawne , grace and faith , for freewill pawne : let such , as broach those franticke tales , whom old saint dauid chas'd from vvales , pelagian wise , depart from hence ; in spight of all wee haue defence . on phisicke knowne our cures relye , let mountebankes elixirs trye : men , who were call'd , but neuer cull'd , theeues of the house , by cro●chets gall'd . wee feare strong flames ; shr●bs safer lye from lightnings blast , then cedars high . the low-built cot●age of a clowne , stands surer then the triple crowne . aspiring doubts the church our mother , as fancies braine-wormes , bids vs smother when seraphins were faine to vaile , how could arminius sight but faile ? let sober learnings oracles s●te for our eyes plaine spectacles . vvith these i see free-will almost through faith regain'd , which adam lost . the glorious light restor'd our sight , what sinne had darkned , grace sets right ; and giues vs power , more or lesse , yet meanes enough , to sue for peace . the heart , which once faith putrifies , neuer quite dyes , nor purisies , nor is a christian iudged lost , before hee slights the holy ghost ; before his talent hee impaires ; or that , like iudas , hee dispaires . god knowes already , who are his ; yet to make sure our part it is ; for otherwise wee should deface elections charter , seal'd of grace . the summe is this : christ dy'd for all. his word calls all ; some heare his call ; and by their deedes doe manifest , they enter shall into his rest. some few discreetly seeke to shunne a hardned heart , ere day bee done . mercy for some there is in store . vve hope the best : and who knowes more the tith● of houres reseru'd to pray , the rest not wasted , may repay . the stony heart in time relents ; much more our god , if man repents , and daily begges for heauenly bread , his iustice slackes ; and wee are fed . but here 's the worst , though prayers draw , there lyes a pad within the straw . the angell good bids , fast and pray , the angell bad bids , feast and prey . thus rime is mar'd , true prayer bard , a turn'd to e , the cure made hard . the conclusion of the cure , not vnworthy the consideration . when strife for l●ut , and 〈◊〉 take for 〈◊〉 : when praise for 〈◊〉 , and 〈◊〉 we locke for catch●ng : and when from ●●●●s we s●●ll to feasts and bibbing , then [ abbaes streame ] stayes in the 〈◊〉 ●bbing . our aduocate craues it to flow againe , the father yeeldes , and ●o to eu●ry veine their streame flowes faire , vntill our changling f●oles haue sought to other streames from muddy pooles ; the trinity then loathing braines so sicke , th●ir motion stop ; and men dye lunoticke . from which re●apse , distrust , and heresie , god keepe vs all as from apostasie . [ abbaes streams . ] abba father the voyce of the spirit in the hearts of gods adopted and regenerated children , acknowledging their election from the father , out of the corrupted lumpe of mankind , and out of the vnrefined oare or vnpurified mettle of pretended christianity , of meere grace without any deserts of theirs at all ; and consequently their iustification by the sonne , through faith , and the spirituall apprehension of his onely merites : their sanctification by the holy ghost , who proceeding from both their wills , is content to breath regeneration , and new life , into our barren wills ; and to moysten them with the streame of liuing waters , vnlesse they compell him with his heauenly gifts to retire , by relying on other physitians , burthensome traditions , and vnnecessary puddled streames , which simoniackes , or rather d●moniackes , doe trucke and vtter for money , vnder the title of holy water , indulgences , and sanctified wares , like-charmed so●owles , or amulets , to preserue men from cerbirus , and purgatories bugs , thereby making marchandize of the bodies and soules of men ; as is prophesied in the revelation : which auarice of theirs is flat contrary to the examples of the apostles , and the gospell , where st. peter told the creeple in salomons porch : gold and s●luer haue i none ; and to simon magus , thy money perish with thee . [ apostacy ] signifies a reuolting or falling off from the true religion , to the doctrine of diuels . to discerne the true catholike church , search the scriptures : how shee fared in this world after the ascension of our sauiour , ●ad the histories of the church , and you shall finde her commonly pers●cuted , and subiect to crosses , and fiery tryalls , euen to this our age. first , by the iewes . secondly , by the romane emperours . thirdly , by the arrians . fourthly , by the gothes and vandales . and lastly , by the cunning and more dangerous practises of the romish prelates , for their aduancement to the double supremacy . how this church being once the mother of the west , grew to be apostate , it is to be supposed , that sathan tooke hold of the darknesse of mens consciences , presently after the erup●ions of those bloody northerne nations , about 500. or 600. yeares after christ , his principall stings and more palpable violences being somewhat restrayned , and bound by the angel , not to employ them against the elect so tyrannically , and openly , as hee vsed to doe before the limitted and sealed 1000. yeares , of his mysticall rest●aint . about which time , or within a while after , and for the like ambitious ends , hee seduced mahomet in the east ; so that faith departed according to st. paul , from the temple of god , the true visible church then consisting but of few families , and shadowed vnder the woman , with her man childe in the reuelation , fled into the wildernesse , for feare of the dragon . and gods two witnesses were massacred in the streetes of spirituall sodome and egypt , and their carcasses there left vnbu●ied ; as was prophesied by st. iohn . amidst these abhominations and desolations , it pleased god to stirre vp the spirits of sundry good men , to awake them out of their dreames : as st. bernard , to inuaigh against their princely pompe , and supremacy ; berengari●● , agaynst transubstanciation ; and the waldenses and albigeois against most of their idolatries : the last of which beganne aboue 300. yeares before luther was borne . how the true church was dealt with in affricke , aethiopia , georgia , and in the east , by reason of their remotenesse we know not so distinctly . but it is very probable , that the old dragon was not idle , but did his vtmost endeauour to ouer-whelme the poore distressed saints , as it were , with a flood of impieties through all the world. but thus was she vsed in our westerne parts , vntill of late yeares by the resurrection of those two mysticall witnesses , and the imprinting of the bible in the mother tongue , which in a manner lay moathcaten in the sodomites libraries , after the preaching of wicliffe , about the yeare 1380. and afterwards of husse , luther , cal●i● , and after the martyrdome of many excellent men , shee found at last some rest in this iland , and other places , in despight of the herods , a●abs , and hamans of the times . one maine difference i obserue betwixt these two repugnant churches , how the one resembles abel and iacob for their mildnesse and patience : and th' other came and esau for their mallice and cruelty : which their bloody inquisitious , tortures , massacres , with the transcendent powder-plot do apparantly testifie . the one maintaines her cause peaceably by the gospell of christ ; the other by worldly traditions , and mens authority : and when these serue not , with fire and sword they force their opposites to acknowledge the popes supremacy , being but the marke of ambition , and therein going beyond the turkes , who to his mufty or ma●omet , compelles no mans conscience ; a though in all other matters belonging to a christian , one scholasticall question excepted ( which might be left to the beholders and beleeuers disc●etion for the forme and wonderfull manner , as is the knowledge of the personall trinity ) they cannot deny any article faith , which the protestant holds . whereby it appeares , that the church continued not long a uirgin after the apostles times , according to the ancient saying of eusebius : ecclesia post apostolorum tempora non mansit d●● virgo : and that the mysticall where with her sc●rlet-coloured beast of the seauen hilled ctity , the great citty , which bare dominion ouer all the world , was certainly meant by rome : to which the chiefe fathers of the primitiue church doe consent : lacta●tius lib. 7. h●oronim . in daniel . augustin . lib. 20. de c●uitate dei. cap. 19. and st. chrisostome ●● opere imperfect . in matth. most plainely writes , that antichrist was to haue ●● shew all that , which the true church hath indeed , viz. baptisme , the communion , bishops , &c. therefore let such , as haue once tasted of the fruites of the gospell , beware of apostasie and back●-sliding . for as st. augustine in the afore-sayd booke , cap. 8. vnto a doubt , whether any one shall turne to god , during the raigne of antichrist : he thus answeares : the diueli shal haue a continuall fight with those that are in the fa●●h already , of whom hee may perhaps conquer some certayne number , but none of gods predestinated , no , not one ; since it is not in vaine wha st. iohn the author of the revelation sayth , in one of his epistles , concerning apostataes : they went out from vs , but they were not of vs , for of they had bin of vs , they would haue continue a with vs. to confirme our wauering and luke-warme christians , i aduise them to ponder with an indifferent iudgment , these ensuing verses , which for a conciusiue monitory to my newlanders cure , i here subscribe ou● of my cambrens . caroleia . can ●idiore fides lusir● b●● lam●ne m●ndum , &c , our christian faith●● ●● in'd in the ●rime , when men●●u'd nee●e th● apostles time . but afterwards eclips●d of light , she lay r●ti●'d from most mens sight . returned n●w she lends her rayes to brittaine , where as yet shee stayes . finis . the good house-wife made a doctor, or, health's choice and sure friend being a plain way of nature's own prescribing to prevent and cure most diseases incident to men, women, and children by diet and kitchin-physick only : with some remarks on the practice of physick and chymistry / by thomas tryon. tryon, thomas, 1634-1703. 1692 approx. 338 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 149 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2003-07 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a63795 wing t3181 estc r26333 09432067 ocm 09432067 43077 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a63795) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 43077) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 1318:26) the good house-wife made a doctor, or, health's choice and sure friend being a plain way of nature's own prescribing to prevent and cure most diseases incident to men, women, and children by diet and kitchin-physick only : with some remarks on the practice of physick and chymistry / by thomas tryon. tryon, thomas, 1634-1703. the second edition [10], 285 p. printed for h.n. and t.s. and are to be sold by randal taylor, london : 1692. reproduction of original in the bodleian library. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the 25,363 texts created during phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 january 2015. anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng diet -early works to 1800. diet in disease. 2003-02 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2003-03 aptara keyed and coded from proquest page images 2003-04 rina kor sampled and proofread 2003-04 rina kor text and markup reviewed and edited 2003-06 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion the good house-wife made a doctor , or , health's choice and 〈◊〉 friend being a plain way of nature's own prescribing , to prevent and cure most diseases incident to men , women and children , by diet and kitchin-physick only . with some remarks on the practice of physick and chymistry . by thomas tryon , student in physick ; and author of the way to health , long life and happiness . country-mans companion . the new art of brewing , &c. the second edition . to which is added some observations on the tedious methods of unskilful chyrurgions ; with cheep and easie remedies . by the same author . london , printed for h. n. and t. s. and are to be sold by randal taylor , near stationers-hall , 1692. the preface to the reader . health is the greatest temporal blessing we can enjoy in this mortal state : without it the choicest beauty vanishes in a moment , like a withered flower ; the stoutest strength dwindles into a childish weakness , scarce able to support the tottering carkass ; riches become insignificant lumber ; honour an empty bubble , or extrinsick shadow , yielding no delight ; nay wit and parts grow vseless , and life it self but an unwelcome load and continual torture . for how often may we see lords and aldermen , the rich and the great , swell'd with dropsies , or wasted with consumptions , or rack't with the stone , or laid up with the gout , or crippled with sciatica's , and the like , heartily envying those jolley swains , who feed only ▪ with bread and cheese , and trotting up to the knees in dirt , do yet with lusty limbs , and vigorous stomachs , and merry hearts , and undisturbed heads , whistle out more sollid joys than the others , with all their wealth and state can purchase . so that 't is undeniably one of the most important businesses of this life , to preserve our selves in health . and this all people , when they are actually groaning under the smart of sickness , will readily acknowledge . oh! then they would give all they have in the world for ease and remedy , though it be but an ague , or a fit of the tooth-ach ! but as soon as the pain is over , and whilst nature is yet pretty sturdy , and as long as ever she can bear up , they care not how they use her , and seem to value this precious iewel [ health ] no more than the silly indians of old did their wealth , when they contentedly parted with gold and pearl , for toys , and baubles , and knives , and beaugles , and looking-glasses . most men will moil and toil like horses , and rise early and lie down late , and eat the bread of carefulness , to get money and land , though they neither make good use thereof themselves whilst they live , nor know who shall enjoy it after they are dead ▪ and how diligent are others by fawning and flattering , and courting those whom in their hearts they hate and scorn , and by servile offices and irksome attendances , and a thousand other pittiful arts , to acquire a rattle to their name , and get a title of honour , or some place of preferment that may give them an opportunity ▪ to domineer over their inferiors , but there is scarce one man or woman of a thousand that does in earnest consider and pursue the means of preserving their health , but either lives at random , or at least takes up with the pernicious notions of custom , tradition and blind guides , whose prescriptions of diet are most improper and prejudicial , their medicines nauseates to nature , and their physick a close confederate with the inva●ing disease . nay , so prodigal are the generality of this in●steeamble blessing , that they use it not only with neglect , but contempt , as if they exposed it to sale by i●ch of candle , and he that bid least should have it . rather than ●ot gratifie a liquorish palate , the stomach shall be overcharg'd ; and rather than break up a foolish lewd company , or refuse to comply with a wicked drunken custom , the brain shall be set a-float , and reason turn'd a-drift , and nature exposed to a general inundation of violent strong liquor , and left to shift for her self , without either pilot or rudder . i am confident most people are more careful to provide wholsom proper food for their cattel , and gentle●en are more curious in ordering and dieting their race-horses ( though therein too they are generally mistaken , as i have demonstrated in a little treat●se , entituled , the country-man's companion ) than in the food which they take themselves , or about the course of their own eating , drinking and exercises , whereon not only their own health and lives , but the strength and vigour of their posterity , does in so great a measure depend . the meats and drinks commonly used are for the most part improper , and detrimental in their nature and composition , more in their unskilful ways of preparation , and most of all by the heterogenious mixtures , and excessive quantities . and this more especially to those that are already sick and languishing . having therefore in this small treatise resolved to detect those errors in all three respects , and the reasons thereof : and on the other si●e , to shew the true method of diet fit for the prevention or cure of most diseases , intermixing therewith several most useful and necessary remarques touching the nature , and right ways of preparing of divers sorts of the most beneficial foods , i shall begin with those that best serve for the assisting and restoring of decay'd nature , because i have therein observed both the most common and the most dangerous and irretreivable errors to be committed ; as also because from what we shall deliver on that subject , every one that has the wit to know by a penny how a shilling is coyned , may learn what diet is proper to b● used both for the preventing and curing of most other distempers . for nature , like truth , is always intire , uniform and agreeable to its self , so that whoeve● has the right key , may therewith unlock her whole cabinet ; whereas the blind paths of tradition , ignorance , custo● and error , are not only various and interferring , but many times opposite and contradictory to each other . the contents . chap. i. of the several causes of consumptions , page 1 , 2 , 3 , 4. the absurd course of diet usually oraer●d in those cases , p. 5 , 6 , 7. and the proper remedies for prevention and cure of those decays of nature , p. 8 , 9. other preposterous courses prescribed by learned doctors , chymists , &c. for cure of consumptions , p. 20 , 21 , 22. chap. ii. the nature of milk , and the best ways of preparing and cooking it , p. 25. how milk ought to be eaten entire , p. 26 , 27. an excellent way of prep●ring milk with wheat-flower , p. 28. another way of preparing milk with water , oatmeal and eggs , p. 29 , 30. of furmety , p. 33. of boniclapper , its nature and operation , p. 34. chap. iii. of water-gruel , p. 39 , 40. what it is that causes butter made in winter to have a bitter taste , p. 42 , 43. another excellent healthy food for all sorts of people , p. 45 , 46. chap. iv. of flesh broths , p. 49. chap. v. of f●umery . p. 56. chap. vi. of the sev●●al sorts of bread , and which is best , especially for sickly people , p. 61. chap. vii . of butter , its nature , and how best to be eaten , p. 68. chap. viii . of cheese , p. 71. chap. ix . of the best sort of puddens , and the contrary , p. 74. chap. x. of eggs , their nature , and the best way of dressing and eating them , p. 80. chap. xi . of pyes , &c. p. 83. chap. xii . of rai●ins of the sun , p. 93. chap. xiii . of currants , p. 96. chap. xiv . of spices , viz. cloves , mace , nutmegs , cinnamon , ginger , pomento , &c. their nature and operation , p. 101. chap. xv. of oyl , and its nature , p. 115. chap. xvi . of honey , its nature and operation , with some notes on the practice of chymistry , p. 118. chap. xvii . of sugar sugar-candy and pan-sugar , their nature and operation , p. 137. to prevent and cure colds certainly , p. 148. chap. xviii . of the four principal tastes , or th● bitter , the saltish , the sour , and the sweet qualities , and their respective natures , p. 157. chap. xix . of drinks , and first of canary , p. 170. chap. xx. of sherry , p. 179. chap. xxi . of white-wine , p. 180. chap. xxii . of rhe●is●-wine , p. 185. chap. xxiii . of claret , p. 188. chap. xxiv . of cyder , its nature and operation ; and several new ways prescribed how 〈◊〉 make good syder , p. 195. chap. xxv . of mum , its nature , p. 205. chap. xxvi . of coffee , p. 207. chap. xxvii . of tea , p. 215. chap. xxviii . of herbs and sallads , both boyled and raw , p. 217. what herbs may properly be mixed in a salad , as also how to season and eat them to best advantage , p. 219. sallads for the winter , p. 223. of the most proper times for eating of sallads , p. 225 ▪ ●ow to supply the want of oyl in sallads where persons do not love it , or can't have it , p. 227. chap xxix . the best way to make herb-pottage , not only in the spring , but also at all times of the year , p. 229. chap. xxx . the best way to make diet-drink with herbs , grains , seeds , &c. or the proper methods of infusion of herbs in beer , ale , or other drinks , p. 235. chap. xxxi . of salt , its nature and vperation , p. 241 : chap. xxxii . of the scurvey , and its generation , p. 253. rules and derections to prevent th● scurvey , p. 260. an excellent poul●●●● which cures burns , scalded limbs , boyls , fellons , tumors , &c. p. 271. another , &c. ibid ▪ another , &c. p. 272. another , &c. ibid. another , &c. ibid. another , &c. ibid. observations on the tedious ●ethods of unskilful chyrurgions , &c. p. 274. the co●clusion . every good house-wife made a doctor , &c. chap. i. of the several causes of consumptions : the absurd course of diet usually ordered in those c●ses . together with the proper re●●dies for prevention and cure thereof . of all diseases , cons●mptions , and the like wasting dist●mp●rs , are those which hitherto ●ave been most attempted to be cured by diet , but after such an u●natural and preposterous method , that those very rich and chargeable foods which generally are by the learned prescribed in such cases , are apt , instead of bringing relief , to encrease the disease , more impare the powers of nature , and hasten on death , rather than a cure : this , i doubt not , will appear to every considerate reader , from the following discourse , wherein i shall first give an account of the common causes ( or occasions ) of those diseases , and in the next place inform my country-people of the proper remedies for the same , by foods fitly prepared and adapted for the supply and assistance of nature in all such languishments ; withal , shewing how improper and mischievous those things are which be commonly used and prescribed for that purpose . those diseases called consumptions are decays of the radical moisture or essential oyl , whereby the natural heat of the stomach is so weakned that it cannot make any perfect or due separation of the meats and drinks received , from whence arises abundance of evil juices and phlegm , so that no good nourishment is bred , though the food be never so rich , and the drinks never so cordial , as most that are afflicted in this kind , may find by experience . but though this be th● general nature of these diseases , yet they proceed from various causes and intemperances ; as , 1. in some complexions , from overcharging of nature with rich food , and too great quantities ; or in others , by much drinking of wine , brandy and strong-drinks , which weaken the natural heat , and wash ( as it were ) nature away by destroying the action of the stomach . 2. in others , these general decay● and weaknesses are caused by a sedentary and idle course of life , for want of proper labour and exercises , over-warm clothings , soft f●ather-beds and excessive lying in bed , which always proves pernicious to the health both of body and mind . 3. there are others that contract these consuming diseases by their too much dalliance , and frequenting the shades of venus , and that not only by eating and drinking such things as irritate and provoke nature , but also by their heightned lusts and depraved imaginations , force her beyond her power and ability , who oft times corrupts her in her very radi● : many are caught in this snare , as well young-marriea p●ople , as the more lewd and lascivious , which prostitute themselves to common mixtures ; and many of these 〈◊〉 incureable . 4. others fall into these diseases by surfeits of o●er-lab●ur , exc●ssive heats or colds , and the like accidents . 5. some by great feavers and long fits of sickness , which frequently leave behind them such seeds of diseases as are not without great difficulty overcome or rooted out . 6. to some they happen through grief or trouble of mind , a melancholly disposition , ( one of the worst companions of life ) violent passions , as of love , hatred and envy , or a disp●ir of gods divine all-sufficient and always liberal and indulgent hand of providence ; and these by pining and fretting , waste their spirits , and thence the natural heat being weakned , is unable to generate a new supply ; and so having first disorder'd their minds , the body is destroy'd by concomitancy● ▪ for these two mutually operate upon , and enfluence each other , and you can hardly preserve either of them in its due state , unless you take care of both . lastly , in not a few a consumptive constitution is hered●tary , and derived from one or both their parents ; and th●● of all other is the most hard to remedy . now let us see what are the common methods whereby not only the vulgar , but also the learned many times , do think to help these decays , and what are the usual things prescribed for the sick party in this case , to restore him to health and strength ? and that is , when any one is in such a weak languishing state of body , every one , doctor , apothecary , nurse and all , cry out , you must take nourishing meats and drinks , sup goo● sack , old malago , tent , or the like , with yolks of eggs in i● ; and get you good rich broths , and jellies , and pottages made of knucles of veal , and the flesh of an old cock beat , and bruised , and battered , and boyled all to pieces ; for you must boyl your flesh till it fall off the bones , that all the goodness and virtue may diffuse it self into the broth ; and be sure you boyl it in but little water , that it may be the heartier ; and keep your vessel or pot close cover'd , that the virtue may not evaporate , but your broth may be thick , and good , and strong ; for you want strength ( poor creature ! ) and nourishment , and this will cherish you bravely ; together with a rich cordial of alchermes that i 'll send you : but forget not to keep your self warm with a flannel shirt , and a wastcoat , doublet , coat and campaign , a gown over all lin'd , and a quilted stomacher for your breast ; and have a care of cold a nights , but bathe your tender nerves in a down or soft feather-bed , and get a quilted cap and a napkin over it for your head , and draw your curtains before your windows and round your bed , and there lie as long as you can ; so sleep is a great refresher and nourisher : and against you rise let there be a rouzing fire in your chamber , and a quart of new-milk boyl'd above half away , with snails in it , and well sweetned with sugar , and then three or four hours after take a mess , as much as you can get down , of the aforesaid cock or jelly-broth , with good spice in it ; and after that you may eat a good chicken , or some other nourishing flesh tenderly boyled ; and when you have done , take a good piece of fat toasted cheese for concoction , and wash all down with three or four glasses of racy canary or stout old malago , wherein there is stee●ed a quantity of raisons of the son stoned , and a lettle saffron to cheer the heart ; but if you do not so well like snails , then take only milk hot from the cow , or strokings , and swee●ten it with sugar or sugar of roses . and be sure continue this course constantly , and though you are now weak as water and have no more spirits than a dish●● clout , you shall shortly be as strong as sampson , and as lusty as hercules , who ( they say ) got fifty children in one night . — probatum est . this is the sum and substance of many a learned lerry , and passes with the crowd for most orthodox doctor croft , though in truth the whole is altogether ignorant tattle , contrary to nature , reason and experience . but lest i should seem ( like those i oppose ) to assert things without proof or demonstration , i desire the reader would with me , impartially consider the unproperness and contrariety of these prescriptions , to the end intended : first , in their natur● and composition ; and next , in respect of the undue prepara●i●ns . 1. when nature languishes , and is already weak and decay●d then they cry , you must tak n●urish●ng things ; when ●tis probable most times ▪ that the first occasion of the disease was 〈◊〉 and up●rst●●ty in meats and drinks , that did over charge nature with two much nou●ish●●●nt . but how●ver , 〈…〉 be what it will , natu●e is no● we●k and indisposed , the 〈◊〉 dull'd , the stomach●s natural 〈◊〉 and digestive faculty decay'd , so that they cannot bear either with great quantity , nor foods that are of a strong quality which ought in the first place to be considered ; for overcha●ging , either in quantity or quality , is generally very prejudicial to those that are in competent health , but much more to such as are sick ; this being a most certain aphorism , that nature ought at all times to be stronger than the food , and not the food too strong for nature , as in these cases is general , but very absurdly practised ; for if there be not a proportionable agreement between the food and the stomach , in vain do you expect relief , but rather thereby nature is yet further oppressed , and her whole concord and tranquility disordered and destroyed . for when-ever the natural heat is weak and impotent , the food ought to be suitable : and to do otherwise , is just as if in very cold weather , when your fire is almost quite out , and not above a spark or two left upon the hearth , you should cry out , throw 〈◊〉 an huge ●imber-log , or bring a b●sh●● or two of larg● round coles , for 〈◊〉 is 〈◊〉 best fewel ●hat can be to make 〈…〉 fire ; which is very true ; but yet , in this case , instead of encreasing your fire , it will , by its weight and unsuitableness quite put it out ; whereas if you had fed it at first with a little small-cole , shavings or chips , you might have nursed it up into a competent flame , and then , and not before , it would be able to deal with your coles and your timber , and turn them into aliments for its self . the application is easie , nothing does more hurt the health than disproportion , and to heap together superf●uity of meats and drinks , beyond the power of the digestive faculty , especially when they are made strong and fulsom by bad preparations ; and this respect the usual prescriptions to consumptive persons are very much to be blamed . for , 2. broths and pottages made with any kind of flesh , be it what it will , where 't is boyled in small quantities of water , and the vessel or ●ot kept close cover'd , and boyled so long till it becomes soft and a meer mash , so that it falls from the bones ; such broths , i say , will become thick , and of a blackish colour , or a stron● unpleasing scent or smell , and of a fulsom nauseating taste , hard of concoction , and apt to cloy the stomach ; for the much , or over-boyling of any sort of food ( especially fl●sh , which is of its own nature th● grossest of all food , and most subject to putrifaction ) does destroy all the good virtues , and so much the more speedily and certainly when it shall be boyled in small quantities of water , and the vessel kept cover'd ; for thereby the pure volatile spirit is suffocated , and then presently the sweet oyl of such food turns strong and ●our for want of the egress and regress of the air , which is the true life and preserver of the essential spirit , as the spirit is the life and preserver of the sweet body in every thing , and in whatsoever the spirit suffers violence , the balsa●ick body and oyl is turned into a strong fulsom substance as is manifested by all fermented liquors , which if exposed to the open air , the spirits will evaporate , and then the sweetness thereof turns sower , and becomes of an heavy dull nature and operation . but in the preparation o● a● gross phlegmy bodies , especially flesh , the vessel being open , and having good water ▪ with the free influences of the air , keeps the spirits living , till such bodies be digested , and the spirits set at liberty ; and then such thing is said to be enough , or rightly prepared : for if such preparations or digestions be afterwards continued , the spirituous parts and brisk lively tinctures become either suffocated or evaporated , let the thing be of what nature it will ; as is manifest in all preparations , especially in making of hay , for there , when once the gross phlegmatick body of the grass is sufficiently digested or exhaled by the virtue and power of the sun and elements , if the hay be afterwards continued open abroad , the sun and air would quickly exhale and destroy the essential virtues and good properties also ; the very same is to be understood in the preparation of all sorts of food furthermore , if the vessel in which your food is prepared ▪ be close covered whilst it is boyling , such food is thereby made yet worse ; for then those ●●ery sulphurous fumes ▪ and vapours which are raised by the fire , and would freely pass away , as you see in a mighty continual reek or steem , if the vessel were uncovered , are stopt and forced back into the meat , and being of a fiery sharp nature , and full of gross humidity , by this repr●cussion or con●inement , they become gradually more intense and raging , because of the want of the free influence of the air , and so sinking down again upon the meat , do wound the pure volatile spirits , and not only destroy the natural colour , smell and taste , but also make the food lumpish , close , heavy , dull and gross on the palate , hard of digestion in the stomach , generating thick blood and unwholsom nourishment ; from whence proceed dull indispositions , and noxious fumes flying up into the head. for all cooks and h●usewives ought to note and understand , that the digestive faculty and true virtue of all food does consist in the pure spirituous parts , and if any violence be offered or done unto them in the preparation , ●hen such food becomes dull , and as it were half dead of taste ; for the fumes or vapours which pots and vessel , surrounded with the heat of the fire , do send forth , are of a poysonous pernicious nature , and contrary to the genuine heat of the food ; as you may perceive , if you take up any sort of food , when boyled , and presently whilst it is hot , cover it close , which will force those fiery sharp fumes back , and cause them to re-enter the food , which will thereby presently become pall'd , and lose its natural briskness of taste , smell and colour , because the pure spirits are suffocated , and so such foods will not only be heavy , and have a dull gross taste and smell , but shall be unpleasing both to the pallate and stomach , and harder of concoction . therefore nothing is more unnatural than for people to eat or drink any kind of food , whilst those fiery steams and fumes are in it , especially such as are weakly consumptive people ; for they swell the body , and generate wind in abundance , send fumes and vapours into the he●d , infect the ●hole mass of blood with hot sharp itching scorbutick humors : and indeed no sort of food or liquors ought to be eaten or drank hotter than the blood in cold weather , but in hot seasons most sorts are best cold , which a little use will make very easie and familiar to every one , let their stomachs be never so much depraved by custom , as i have more at large demonstrated in my way to health , long life & happiness , &c. what hath been said of thick strong over-prepared pottag●s and broths made of flesh , the very same ill effects have all or most iellies ; for by their improper mixtures and over preparing they became loathsome , and nauseates to nature , even as sick as the languishing patient that takes them : and the like also may be understood of snails and milk boyled till it becomes of a iellous substance , and then lustily sweetned with sugar or sugar of roses ( which is ten times worse than common sugar ) being burthensom to the sick patients pallate and stomach , very heavy and hard of concoction , and therefore the use thereof does generally prove of evil consequence ; for undoubtedly if hea●thy people should confine themselves to such t●●ngs , they would in a little time bring disorders upon them , and how profitable they can be then to the sick and weak , or rather how very destructive they must needs prove , may easily be judged . but here some will say , many have been known to recover by or after the eating and drinking of such things . — to which i answer , that it can never be proved , but is absurd to reason , that they recover'd by such things , but that some may have recovered after them , may be true ; for tho' i know them to be improper and dangerous , yet i do not say they are mortal to all that take them ; and if an hundred people be at one time sick of the same disease , if they had neither d●ctor's advice nor physick , there would ( no doubt ) many of them recover ▪ but amongst the ignorant , when any one happens to escape they attribute the glory to the doctor and his i●●scriptions , never considering the divine hand of the lord , nor the secret working power of his hand maid ●atu●e , but cry with open mouth such or such a doctor cured me , or e●se i had been i● my 〈◊〉 ; or such a pottage or ●ehy is a rar● thi●g , it cured me when all hopes of life were past ; when in truth neither the doctor 's prattle , nor the nauseous slip-slop contributed any more to the cure , than the chattering of a magpye , or the roe of a red herring . but if the people will be cheated , let ●●em ; only give me leave to whisper a litter better advice to the sons and daughters of wisdom , who will be so thankful to truth , so obedient to reason , and so kind to thems●lves as to hearken unto it ; and that is thus , when any person shall find him or her self indisposed , their stomacks to grow weak , with a general disorder through the whole body , and a decay of strength , then first of all they ought to look back and consider what manner or course of life they have drove , as to temper●nce or int●mpe●ance in meats or drinks , and that both in respect of the quantity and quali●y as also their ex●rcises , and all other extreams they have inured themselves unto , which none can so well know , or be able to judge of as themselves ; and likewise ●o consider the air he hath lived in ▪ where the disease was bred . and by this reflection , if it be impartial , serious and considerate , every man will be enabled to guess much more rightly at the cause and nature of his distemper , than any docter can by the supposed magick of the vrinal , thumbing the uncertain pulse , or any other of their whimsical oracles . having well considered the past causes , that gave birth to his present distemperature , he ought then ( gradually ) to alt●r for the better the whole course of his life , not only in the nature and quality of meats and drinks , but in their quantity ; as also his exercises , and the air , as far as the condition of his life will admit thereof . for if the same intemperances , bad airs and ill regulated exercises , which were the first original of the disease , ( or rather worse , as most do make it , by such strong and fulsom preparations and contrary mixtures , under the notion of helps and remedies , as aforesaid ) be continued , then there can be no rational hope of cure , either by medicine or any other way ; but change of food , exercises and airs do work wonders , especially when people betakes themselves to meer simple meats and drinks that are easier of concoction , and generate a finer and firmer substance ; for there is less danger in declining strong foods and drinks , and using meaner , than in going from mean and simple to rich and strong ▪ for this alteration of food , drinks and exercises , has power to alter , and does actually change the whole humour and constitution , according to the nature and simpathy of the food , for the better or worse : and this not only manifest in the humane nature , but also in beasts ; for if the food , drinks , air and exercises be innocent and natural ▪ then good blood is generated , whence proceed pure fine spirits , and the sweet oyl or radical moisture burns clear and bright , and consequently the whole disposition is airy , brisk and pleasant . and if this good state of body happen in beasts , as often it does , then such are of lively dispositions , and their flesh proves tender sweet and delicate , and full of brisk spirits , by reason of the plenty of which it will take salt greedily : but on the contrary , if any sort of cattel be fed plentifully with flesh ( as some creatures will eat it , as swine ▪ and the like ) or with other strong food , and kept close up that they cannot exercise their bodys in the open air , as swine in sties , and ho●ses in their close hot stables , then their blood becomes very thick and waterish and the whole humours of their bodies are gross tending towards ●utrifaction , their flesh rank , and more fulsom than such as divert themselves in open airy places ▪ neither will such flesh take salt so well , nor keep so long from 〈◊〉 . these things ought to be considered by all people , but more especially by such whose ●ea●th is already wounded by any of the aforesaid accidents , but are too seldom thought of , either by the learned or the common people ; but presently when they find themselves , or their friends , or patients disordered , as aforesaid , they muster up all the richest sorts of food , and most cordial d●inks they can think of ; and to mend the matter , or rather to compleat their own tragady , they take the general advice of some lip-learned doctors , together with the no lese infallible counsel of the good dame and sage mistriss nu●se , what sorts of meats and drinks are most suitable to recover them out of their wasting condition ; and then ( as every body is either a fool or a physi●ian ) one adviseth ●●llies that are compounded of several ingredients of disagreeing natures , and to be boyled stewed or baked so and so abundantly ; a●other directs a●●s milk , which perhaps may prove a cure by ●●mpath ; the third will have cows mink , ( but for all loves , let it be a red ones , though you go to high-ga●e for it ) and snales boyled in it ; but be sure wash them well with salt for you know man was made of the slime ( for so i am told the word in h●brew signifies , rather than dust ) of the earth ; and if they should not be well scour'd , they might happen to be too like him , and do him too much good , and so spoil the doctor 's practice ) and when you have carefully rinsed away all that 's good of them , yet still to prevent any suspition of vertue from them , boyl them stoutly to a tough thick substance , and sweeten them with sugar till they are able to cloy the stomach of an horse ; and if this will not recover the co ●sumptive creature bespeak the sex on and the flannel-shroud ; for there 's no withstanding of death . but upon this , up starts a politick paty man-le●ch , who always farts in plush , and never strokes his beard without an aphorisme of hippocrates , and he cries out , ho●d a blow my master ! stop the kn●ll ; there 's life in a muscle : let me tell you what you shall do , you see the poor soul wants flesh and good heartning things , therefore get me a dozen or two of cock-sparrows , a brace of turtle-doves , taken just as they are billing , and a parcel of eringo-roots , and boyl them in a gallon of alicant , till it is wasted to a quart , and then let him sup up meat and broth with a boon courage , and it shall make him as lusty as old father aeson , when he came out of the life-renewing balneo . — you prate like an old gallientical cockscomb ( says a young spruce gallant that stood by , and affected the title of vertuoso i 'll have a lusty ram sent for , and first let the sick patient have a vein open'd , and at the same instant broach the sheep on the right shoulder , and by transfusion of his blood into the man , you shall presently see him restored , and g●ow as hail a●d s●u●d as a trout ▪ — but then a chymist interposes , and tells them , none of these dull stale gallenical devices are sufficie●t , 't is only philosophy by fire must do the feat ; therefore ( quoth he ) reach me my crucible , and an ounce of aurum potabile dissolv'd in the yolk of a new-laid phaenixes egge , with a dram of quicksilver , and a little of the tincture of the sun ; let this be distilled seven days in balneo mariae , when jupiter beholds venus with a friendly aspect , and whilst the moon is in leo , let the patient take three drops every four hours ; and then i 'll venture fourteen years purchase upon his life , though he were already as much stricken in years as old father parr , that out-liv'd six couple of ravens . the serious reader , i hope , will pardon this mirth ; for in earnest , 't is but the effect of those extravagances which some pretenders to science daily impose upon the credulous vulgar ; an hundred such ridiculous whimsies being advanced , as the products of famous skill , though they carry neither reason , sense nor possib●lity with them , but are meer ignorant fraudulent fancies , the authors knowing nothing ( as they ought to do ) of god nature or themselves ; and by their talk , poor silly people bei●g perswaded , that they want nour●shment , heap up all the rich costly things they can get or think of , with which and the unnatural preparations thereof they overload and oppress the weak heats and stomachs of the sick so that they do not only continue the diseases , but encrease them , forgetting that sure and stable rule of health and temperance , that weak heats and lang●ishing natures o●ght to have simple innocent meats and drinks , of a nat●re proportionable . these mischievous opinions , abominable customs and irregular courses have much grieved me , when i have considered and consulted the innocent ways of god in nature , which hath moved and stirred me up to set down for a general benefit and service , food , drinks and preparati●ns more natural and agreeable to the stomachs of sick and languishing persons ; and since milk , and its product and compounds , is one of the most excellent things i● that kind , when rightly ordered , therefore i shall begin with that . chap. ii. the nature of milk , and the best ways of preparing and cooking it . milk in its own nature is of a brave mild friendly nature and operation ; for in this sublime liquor , or rather nectar , the qualities of nature seems to stand in equality , and therefore it may justly be called concord , or a thing which god and his hand-maid nature hath befriended with all the good vertues of the animal kingdom , having no manifest quality that does too violently predominate , but is as well in its inward nature , as its outward colour , the emblem of innocence , deriving that aimable and pleasant candor from a glea●● of the divine light ; and therefore 't is said , the holy land did flow with milk and honey . t is certainly an incomparable food , and being joyned or mixt with bread or the flower of wheat , hath the first place of all victuals , and is a foundation to all good nourishment , there being so great an agreement in nature between the flower of wheat and milk , that when they are incorporated together , there is hardly any food of equal excellency , or that will gratifie nature to that degree ; for it does not only afford a brave friendly nourishment , but also of a strong firm substance , standing nearest the centre of vnity , ( whence is derived all perfection ) of any sort of food , except bread ; and for this cause it is so much desired by children , and the young ones of most other creatures . how milk ought to be eaten as it is entire . the best way for weak sickly consumptive people to eat milk raw , as they call it , or not altered , is after this manner , take a pint ( or what quantity you please ) of new-milk from the cow , let it stand open to the air two hours , and then skim the thick or creamy my substance off the top thereof , and put it by , but the rest of the thin milk that remains , eat with well bak'd bread ; but remember you neither toast your bread nor warm your milk , except the season be cold , and then you may warm your milk as hot as your blood , but do not then toast your bread , for it does it much harm ; or if you please , you may eat bisquet with your milk , but be sure you do not eat too great aquantity at once ; and sometimes it will do well to mix a little water with your milk , and then you may sweeten it with good white sugar ; if you make this your whole food , you may eat thereof three times a day ; for 't is a brave sort of diet , and will gallantly support nature , and recover lost strength , but then you ought to continue it for 6 , 8 , or 12 months , or else you cannot prove it ; for diseases that have been several months or years a generating , and have crept on by degrees , cannot be recovered in a moment , as some vainly and ignorantly imagin , but will require the like graduation in the cure. an excellent way of preparing milk with wheat-flower . take two thirds of new-milk , after it has stood six or seven hours from the time 't is milkt , and add th●reto one third part of river or spring-water , set it on a quick clear fire , then take some good wheat-flower and temper it with either milk or water into a batter , and when you see your milk ready to boyl , but before it does actually boyl , put in your thickning , and stir it a litttle while , and when it is again just ready to boyl take it off , and add bread and salt to it , as much as you please , and remember to let it stand in the dish or platter you put it out into , a while to cool , but do not lade it with your spoon , as the manner is , but let it cool of it self , without any such motion , which will make it much sweeter than it will do when it is cooled with a spoon . a good spoonful of flower is sufficient to thicken a full pint of milk and water , and so proportionably , but you may make it either thicker or thinner , as you like it , but it is best about the thickness of ordinary milk-pottage , and will eat sweetest , and be easiest of concoction . this sort of food affords a nourishment of a firm substance , does neither bind nor loosen the body , but keeps it in good order , and breeds good blood and fine spirits , whence brisk and lively dispositions proceed ; this way of preparation being much more friendly to nature than the common way of boyling , and the continual eating thereof will have better success , and never tire or cloy the stomach . another good way of ordering milk. take two thirds of milk and one of water , add what quantity of oa●meal you please , or as you would have it in thickness , but inclining to thin is best , set it in your sawce-pan on a fire that is quick and clear , and when it begins to rise or make a shew of boyling , take it off , and brew it in two vessels or juggs for that purpose eight or ten times to and fro , which will cause the fine flower of the oatmeal to give it self forth , and incorporate with the milk ; then put it again into your sawce-pan , and set it on the fire , and as soon as it is again ready to boyl up , take it off , and let it stand a little , if you would have it fine ( for the husky or branny part of the oatmeal will sink to the bottom ) then add bread and salt , and let it stand in your platter or pottinger till it be blood-warm , without causing any motion to cool it . this is an excellent sort of pottage , very friendly and agreeable to weak natures ▪ affording a good firm nourishment , and easie of concoction . but if you are not satisfied that this will afford sufficient nourishment , then you may between whiles , both in this pottage , and also in the before-mentioned flower'd milk when you are minded to regale your self with a rich dish , add one new-laid egg to a pint , or a pint and half , after this manner , viz. when your milk and water is ready to boyl , have your thickning ready , with the egg or ●ggs beaten in it , and put it in , as aforesaid . so when you would add eggs to milk-pottage , first put your milk and water into your sawce-pan , then take one spoonful of good oatmeal newly make or grown'd , and beat it up with your egg or eggs , with either a little water or milk , and when it is ready to boyl , stir it in , as you did in flower'd-milk , and then you will have no occasion to brew it , as aforesaid . this is also a brave substantial friendly food , and the composition agreeable , there being no variation made by the ingredients , but they imbrace and incorporate themselves mutually as one entire body . however , in all the aforesaid milk-meats you ought to add some well baked bread , and a little salt , but do not by any means put sugar in any of these pottages ; for sugar is apt to obstruct the stomach , hinder concoction , fur the passages , and dull the edge of the appetite ; it also heats the blood , and causeth a sharp itching humour to possess it ; for this cause the frequent eating of it in our common food , doth prove of evil consequence to our nor●hern bodies , but more especially to children and sickly weak people ; the ●ame is to be understood of spanish fruits , and the spices that come from the east-indies , they all growing in countries as different from ours as summer is to winter ; and therefore ●hose that do indulge themselves with such things may daily find the evil effects thereof , as i have more particularly demonstrated in the way to health , &c. but when there shall be occasion or reason for the sweetning of any kind of food or drinks , let it be done with good white sugar , and not with syrups as the custom of most is . milk boyled intire or by it self , is nothing so commendable as when it is mixed with water , flower , oatmeal , as aforesaid , being not so easie of concoction , nor of so cleansing a quality . note also , that milk is best the first half year after the cow hath calved , but not so good after taking bull or conception , nor so wholsom either for the ●ickly or the healthy ; consider womens milk after they conceive again with child , is it so good as before ? none will pretend it : therefore those that have a mind to prove the vertues of a milk-diet , let them begin in the spring , viz. march or april , take their milk from cows newly calved , not from through-milch'd cows , though this last sort is the thickest , but i advise none to esteem of milk for that property . there is yet another preparation of milk , called furmety , viz. milk and wheat , which are in themselves two excellent things whilst they remain entire , but when mixed and made into furmety , according to custom , with spanish fruit , sugar and spice , it is no commendable preparation of food ; for first , the long boyling of the wheat destroyes not only the brisk spirituous vertues , but also the firm binding substantial essence , so that thereby it becomes weak , feeble and insipid : 't is true , being mixed with flower and ●orreign ingredients , it may be made a pretty pleasing grateful food , but the common frequent eating thereof will quickly tire and glut the stomach , by reason of the improper preparation and mixtures ; therefore 't is nothing so good as plain flower , milk and water , the same is to be understood of wheat ●utier'd and suga●r'd . of boniclapper , its nature & operation . among the various sorts of milk-meat ▪ i thought good to mention this , which though last spoken of deserves the first place , for its excellent use and vertue . boniclapper is nothing else but milk that has stood till it was sower , and become of a thick slippy substance , which will be in twenty four hours after it is milked , or thereabouts , if the weather be very hot , not else ; but if it be put into vessels in which milk use to be sowred , it will be done sooner ; and being of a pleasant sowrish taste , and thick slippy substance , it must be eaten only with bread , especially by consumptive people ; it is a brave noble food both for healthy and unhealthy , especially for all that are troubled or subject to any kind of stoppages ; for it it powerfully openeth the breast and passages , its easie of concoction , and helps to digest all hard or sweeter foods , and makes them easie ; it also cools and cleanseth the whole body , and renders it brisk and lively , quenc●eth thirst to admiration ; and we know no sort of milk-meat or other spoon-meat , that is so proper and beneficial for consumptive and languishing people , as this ; for tho' nature be much debilitated , and the natural heat wasted and the spirit dull'd , yet this sort of food will be light and easie on the stomach , and be easily separated , and consequently digested , when new sweet creamy milk cannot ; for there is a ferment awakned in milk by standing , viz. out of its own body , which does tend to separation , and indeed is a high degree of digestion , which hath a near simile with the ferment and separative quality of the stomach ; for in this time of standing , the milk , by vertue of its own ferment , hath done that which is left for the stomach to do , when milk is eaten sweet and new ; and indeed if the stomachs of those that eat new sweet creamy milk , be not in good habit and case , it cannot possibly make so gentle , mild or friendly fermentation or digestion , as this sort of milk does by vertue of its own ●erment ; for most distempered peoples stomachs are so much depraved , through ill habits , that they are too sowr , with a keen sharp matter , which doth in a moments time so violently coagulate and turn the creamy part into a thick curd or hard substnace , and the wheyie parts into a sharp keen liquor , both which are very hurtful to nature ; others stomachs are dull and flat , the ferment , separative and digestive faculties have ( as it were ) lost their brisk liveliness and power , so that it cannot make any true separation or digestion , but the creamy and thick parts of the milk and other food , doth not only fur and obstruct the passages , but they naturally generate crude ●lumors , evil juices , dull heavy spirits , and bad blood ; for this cause those people are dull , heavy and indisposed , full of disorders and pain , apt to be oppressed at the stomach , ●specially after eating ▪ indeed they are not well full nor fasting ; wherefore we have advised such people , if they betake themselves to a mild-diet , to let their mild stand three or four hours , or more , and then take off the ●op , which doth contain the thick or creamy substance , by which means the milk becomes more easily digested and separated . but here ●ome will be ready to say , that this sowred milk will not agree with the stomach , nor be pleasant to the palate . this may be true at first ; for nature seems to dislike with all changes , though it be for the better , but a little custom and use will salve this sore , and make it not only familiar , but most pleasant to the stomach and palate ; and he or she that have neither patienc● nor wisdom to admit of a little inconveniency , shall never have opportunity to know the true intrinsick vertue of any thing , nor its nature or operation . we know no reason in nature why people should dislike with this sowred food , seeing most desire it in one degree or other , more especially such as have disordered stomachs and weak heats ? for the help whereof viniger , verjuice , the juice of lemmones , oringes , and many the like sharp keen juices have been invented & mixed with food , and no doubt to good advantage , if order be observed therein because all such things have some affinity with the ferment 〈◊〉 stomach , or rather with the separative property ▪ therefore food , eaten , in which a proper quantity of such juices are mixed will be easier , and digest sooner than a like quantity of food will do , in which there is none . but still , this sowred milk hath a far nearer affinity both to the ferment , separative and digestive faculties of the stomach , than any of the sharp juices last mentioned ; for in this milk , as is said before , there is a real ferment and separative quality arises and proceeds out of its own body , and from the animal spirits therein contain'd , which hath much agreement with the stomach , and above half the work is done to natures hand . and before people do envigh against this innocent simple food , they should consider , that the stomach and natural heat cannot make any separation or digestion of any food before there is a sowring or fermentation ? this is most manifest in all chymical operations and preparations ▪ the spirituous parts will not separate from the gross body until such menstrums are fermented , and become somewhat keen or sower , but then it must not be too keen or sharp , for the the spirit will suffer , and receive hurt ; the same in some degree is to be observed in all sowred food ▪ it most not be too keen or sharp , for then it will heat the blood and irritate the original or sleeping poysons in the body ? but when this sower quality is moderate in any thing , or properly mixed , it s a gleam of the life , and the true delight of the spirit , it opposeth the fierceness of the bi●ter and a●●ringent properties , and quickens and enlivens the sweet , and is the quickning power in every thing , all things are heavy , dull and flat when this quality is impotent . chap. iii. of water-gruel . another thing very proper for weak consumptive natures , is water-gruel , and that is best which is made after this manner , viz. take a quart of river or spring-water , add to it one spoonful and an half of good oatmeal newly made or grown'd , being stirred well together , set it on a clear fire , when it is rising , or just ready to boyl , take it off , and brew it out of one thing into another , and so back again , as you do butter'd ale , then set it on the fire again till it be ready to boyl , but before it do so , take it off , and let it stand a while in the swacepan ▪ that the course husks of the oatmeal may sink to the bottom , and then putting it out , add bread and salt , or if you please , bread , salt and butter , stirring it about well until your butter be melted , that it may not turn to oyl , and then let it stand without any further stirring till it be but blood-warm ; for much stirring or motion to cool it , does oft-times offer some violence to the pure spirits ; for all gruels , pottages and milk-m●ats , if they are let stand after they are prepared and put into the dish or platter , do naturally , as it were , skin over , which does retain and keep in the pure b●lsamick v●rtues , but will not confine the fierce furious fires of saturn and mars , which being aliens to the good vertues of such food , will not continue in it any longer than forced by the continual heat of the fire , wherefore of their own accord they hastily fly away . besides , it is to be noted , that continual motion in all liquid bodies destroys and causes to evaporate the essential spirits and good vertues thereof . an example of this we have in that milk women carry about two or three miles in their pails , shaking and measuring of it out by degrees , causing thereby , as it were , a continual motion , which makes the volatile spirits to evaporate , and then presently the sweet body and oyly quality is thereby wounded , and the milk becomes thin and wheyish , and it will not afford half the quantity of cream , as milk will do that is set to cream as soon as 't is milk't ; for that skinny substance that all milk covers it self with , does keep in the pure essential spirits , whereby the sweet oyly body is preserved in its full vertue and strength ; for the volatile spirit is the true life of the balsamick b●dy , and the oyly body or sweet quality in all things is the house or habitation of the volatile spirits ; therefore if one be destroy'd the other cannot subsist , but immediately dyeth . likewise all violent heat and cold doth the same ; for which cause in cold frosty weather the like quantity of cream will no● make above two thirds of the butter as it will do in warm moderate seasons , and it will be much longer 〈◊〉 coming : the like in some degree is to be understood when the season is extream hot ; for hot weather too v●olently evaporates the volatile spirits , and causes the sweet body to sower , as the cold condenses the spirituous parts , whereby they become less volatile , which hinders separation , so that the oyly fat quality in the milk cannot rise to the top in such quantity as in warm moderate seasons . for this cause all dairy-women ought to have such milk-houses as are warm in the winter and cold in the summer ; for in cold weather most women are forced to let their milk stand a long time , viz. several days , or else they will have a very small quantity of cream ; which long standing of milk to get the more cream , does awaken the original fires , viz. the astringent and bitter qualities ; for which reason most of the butter made in the winter has a kind of sower bitter taste , which does not proceed from the hay or grass , as some suppose , but from the long standing of the milk , as aforesaid . for butter made in winter , if the milk stand no longer than in summer , will be very good and sweet : and if the hay had any such nature to cause a sower bitter taste , how comes it to pase , that the flesh of all beasts fatted in the stall in the winter with hay , is not only more firm , but also far sweeter , and fuller of brisk lively spirits than in summer , and therefore will take salt much better , and afford a firmer nourishment , and also continue sound and good much longer . note also , that boyl'd milk is nothing so good as either raw or scalded ; for the boyling it does not only fix it , and thereby render it more stopping and harder of concoction , but also the violent motion of boyling does , as it were totally destroy the volatile spirit , so that if boyled never so little , it will not afterwards afford any cream but only a thin skin ; for the volatile spirit is so pure and subtle that it will not endure any harsh or violent motion , and so soon as that delicate spirit is wounded , the sweet quality of fa● oyl loosing its power and vertue , passeth away in an invisible vapour or●fume , ●nsensible to the preparers ; and this is the true cause why boyled milk will not cream ; whereas if you take milk and scald it ( but it must be done to a point , not too hot ) and then take it off the fire and let it stand in the same vessel , and there will arise a brave thick clouted cream , which way many use in the west parts of england , and therewith make very good butter ; but if you let your milk be too hot , it will not cream to such advantage as otherwise . and this i hope may be a sufficient demonstration to the good dame and provident housewife , that the boyling of milk entire , or by it self , is not proper , esp●●ially for weak consumptive persons , or children , but that it is much better for health , and to prevent windy diseases , and breed good blood and nourishment , to eat it raw , or altered with flower , as above directed . and if women were so wise and kind to themselves and their children , as to eat such foods as are proper both in quality and quantity , properly mixt and duely prepared , and to give their children no other , we should quickly have a healthier generation , and not be so strangely afflicted with such variety of torturing diseases , nor have such great numbers snatcht away with immature deaths . and for their benefit herein , if they are not too follish to learn , and too froward to be taught , i will here add , a very excellent healthy food for all sorts of ages , but more especially for children and sickly people . take a quart of good water , two full spoonfuls of wheat flower , and two or three eggs , beat the eggs and flower together with some water , and when the water is ready to boyl , but before it quite boyl , stir in your batter or thickning , and keep stirring it till it be ready to boyl , by which time it will be sufficiently thick ; then take it off , and add to it only salt and bread , and let it stand and cool without your help , till it become about as warm as milk from the cow , and so eat it . if you wnat eggs , you may instead thereof add but●er after the water and flower is so prepared with bread and salt , but eggs are best . this is a curious clean sweet food , affords a brave sound nourishment , opens all the passages , breeds good blood and pure brisk spirits , is pleasant unto the palate , grateful to the stomach , and easie of concoction ; the common use thereof sweetens the blood , and all the humours , prevents windy distempers , and griping pains , both of the stomach and bowels , having no manifest quality that does too violently predominate , all the ingredients bearing a simile with each other , so that it may justly challenge the first place of all spoon-meats or pap , and is the next food to breast-milk for children , and indeed often-times much better , by reason of the many diseases and improper foods many women are subject to , or use . 't is also a special diet for consump●ive ●eople , if they will keep constant to it for one half year or a twelve month , eating nothing else , and drinking every day two or three glasses of clear well brew'd ale , with gentle exercise , and sweet clean hard beds , and moderate clothing . but remember that you do not add any other ingredients to this sort of food , as sugar , spices , fruits , or the like , for then it will become of another nature and operation , and that for the worse , as i have demonstrated in the chapter of mixtures of foods , in my book intituled , the way to health , long life and happiness , &c. it is further to be noted , that this sort of spoon-meat , and also all others , ought to be made rather thin than thick ; for in such foods the liquid element ought to predominate , whether it be milk or water , else the pure spirituous parts being in a degree suffocated , they will become dull on the palate and heavy on the stomach ; therefore all pottages and spoon-meats that are made thin , and quick prepared , are sweeter and brisker on the palate , and easier of digestion , as being more spirituous than those that are thick and long a doing . and as all foods that are properly mixt , and a due order observed in the preparation , will have no manifest taste or strong hugo , as all others have , but on the contrary , will yield a pleasant friendly taste , and smell most grateful ; so you may observe of all meats and drinks , whose taste and smell are innocent and fine , they never cause any loathing in nature , because there is no manifest quality that does too violently predominate , but all the properties or tastes seem to be united , or stand in equal weight and measure ; for where any doth bear sway , it will quickly awaken its likeness , whence discord , and an unequal motion ariseth , and thence a loathing follows ; for in sickness , all such meats and drinks as were the original of the disease , the very sight and smell thereof is offensive , and for that reason english people eating much flesh and strong drink in health , do for the most part perfectly loath and abominate such things in sickness , desiring water and more simple foods , wherein wise nature indicates and points out the proper diet in such cases , if men would but hearken unto her . chap. iv. of flesh broths . if sick languishing people must eat flesh , which in my opinion is nothing so proper to recover lost health and strength , as more simple innocent foods , for several reasons ; as , 1st . because it is that which most , both young and old at all other times make their chief food , and consequently from thence their distempers mostly proceed . 2dly , 't is of a gross phlegmatick nature and operation , of a moist oily quality , therefore harder of concoction than many other sorts of food , whereby it generates gross humours and thick blood. 3dly , the beasts are often distempered , sometimes for want of care and skill in their keepers , at other times by hot weather and much driving they are surfeited , and yet killed before they have recovered those disorders . 4thly , by being killed in improper seasons , viz. in the declining part of the year , as august , september and october , at which time the central heat in all things decays , and the flesh of all beasts becomes more gross , their fat soft , greasy and full of phlegm and corrupt juices ; and therefore flesh will not take salt nor keep so well then as at other times , and also , 't is then their time of generation and uncleanness , which renders it still more dangerous and pernicious . however , the common eating of almost all sorts of flesh , both clean and unclean , hath gotten such a dominion in man , that all that i can say is little likely to abate those furious inclinations ; therefore if the sick will still follow custom , aud gratifie his humour , and must needs have his flesh-pots and flesh-broths , we shall give some directions for the best ordering thereof , which is done after this manner , viz. let your flesh be fresh killed , and otherways good , whether fowls , beef or mutton ; first , make your water boyl , then have your flesh ready to put in , and encrease your fire that it may not lie long in the water before it boyls again ; and let your pot or vessel be large that it may hold a sufficient quantity of water , that the flesh may swim freely ; and when it boyls take your pot-lid off , that the sulpherous fiery fumes may pass freely away , and the air have its free influences upon it ; for that element is the true life of the spirit , and by having plenty of water , the flesh is cleansed from its gross impurities , which the best of flesh is subject to ; likewise you ought to keep a brisk clear fire , that there be no intermission in the boyling , which would deaden or flatten the spirituous parts , so that the meat will become dull and of an heavy operation , and grosser nourishment ; nor ought you to let it boyl too long ; for flesh over-prepared is of an heavy dull nature , and ungrateful to the palate and stomach . all broths made of flesh ought to be thin , brisk and full of spirits , which render them easie of concoction , and breed thin pure blood. many people imagine flesh not only the most nourishing , but also the substantialst food ; but this must be numbered amongst vulgar errors , it is indeed endued with abundance of gross phlegmatic● and corrupt juices , and therefore those that make it their chief victuals are most obnoxious to gross scorbuti● humours in their blood , whence proceed very impure spirits , and bur-thensome unactive dispositions , whic● by degrees occasion and increase man diseases ; for all flesh is of a moi● phlegmy nature , subject to putrifacti●on ; and therefore such as make i● their common food are forc'd to dri●● much either with or after it , or 〈◊〉 least they accustom themselves so 〈◊〉 do , which much increases the aforesaid inconveniences and distempers but on the contrary , many sorts o● fruits , grains , herbs and seeds are for the most part endued with a far mor● firm , dry and cleaner nourishment free from corruption , and yieldi●● more sublime spirits . and there as much difference between them a●● flesh as there is between grass and cor● for true it is , grass generates mor● humours , viz. flesh and fat , and in shorter time in all cattel , but then suc● flesh is more soft , greasie , phlegmatic● and subject to putrifaction , than that which is fed with hay and corn. for this cause , the flesh of all beasts is much better in winter than in summer ; and also all grains and fruits when the sun and elements have dryed up and exhaled the gross cold phlegmy parts , are thereby made substantial , warming , and full of brisk lively spirits , and will keep good several years without the help of art ; for the gross humidity being purged away , their own innate salt and spirituous vertues preserve them ; but flesh cannot be kept without salt , nor with it but for a little season . so that most men , as well the ignorant as the learned , are deceived , when they fancy f●esh to be a more substantial warming food than fruits , grains , milk , herbs , &c. for experience will tell us that bread , bu●ter , cheese , flower'd milk and water , raw herbs in their seasons made into salads , mixt with oyl , salt and vinegar , and the like , are not only cleaner foods , but more substantial , affording a more chearing and warming nourishment , and all that have ever lived on them for any competent time , do find themselves not so subject to coldness and qualms at their stomachs , as those that frequertly eat flesh ; for all sorts of foods that are in their own nature clean , dry , and free from gross phlegmatick juices , will not only keep longer from purifaction without the body , but they afford a cleaner and more solid nourishment , in the body , warming , chearing , exhilirating and encreasing the spirits , whence proceeds an healthy vigorous constitution of body , strong and active limbs , good stomach and free digestion ; for always the more you imitate nature in the choice and preparation of food , the more useful it will be to you : for many distempers , especially that general one , ( the wind , ) which few that out-live youth are free from , are chefly caused through bad preparations and improper mixtures , or excess in quantity or quality of food ; which defects are not to be remedied without great wisdom and temperance . but those that have not the knowledge and measure of their own natures and complexions , nor have seriously considered the intrinsick qualities of what they eat o● drink , 't is no wonder if their thoughts or imaginations are wrong ( for blind men will stumble ) so that what they think is best and most profitable for the health of their bodies and minds , proves the contrary . an example we have in peoples eating of food hot from the fire , or out of the pot or oven , they cry out , the meat will grow cold and be spoil'd , and there is little or no vertue in it if the fiery heat be g●ne ; others are for boyling their food and pottages very much , untill they become unpleasant for sight , taste and smell , and grow thick , gross and dull ; others there be that think themselves brave doctors or cooks , when they mix ten or twenty rich things together , crying , the more and the richer , the better , as if they were to make mithridate in their bellies . all which , and many other the like preposterous conceits and unnatural ways , serve only to wound their healths still more and more , as first to contract , and afterwards to continue and encrease great numbers of diseases . chhp. v. of flumery , its nature and operation . flumery is the ancient gruel the brittains used to eat , and the use of it is still continued amongst the welch ; it is made after this manner ; take two or three spoonfuls of oatmeal , more of less , and put into it a convenient quantity of water , and let it stand until it begin to be sowrish , th●● ta●e this water and oatmeal and put it into a vessel ▪ stirring it , and make it boyling hot with a quick fire , and when it begins to rise , brew it to and fro with your ladle , to keep it from boyling , this do about five or six minut●s , and th●n take it off the fire , for it is prepared to the highest degree . the br●●●ains and those that now eat this 〈◊〉 of gruel , had and have various ●●ys of eating it , viz. to mix al● am●●gst it , and so eat it with bread , o●hers milk , cream , and the like , which mixtures are not much amiss ; but in my judgment those that have regard to their healths , strength , and brisk lively dispositions , or such as eat it to open , cleanse , and help the digestive faculty , and to remove offensive matter from the stomach , ought to eat this sort of sower gruel only with bread ; for thereby it more powerfully removes the obstructions of the breast , helps the natural heat , strengthens the stomach , cools th● whole body , openeth the passages , and makes the body lightsome and airy . this is a most commendable gruel to be eaten for a breakfast in all hot seasons and clymates ; for the sowerness , or the fermentation doth so aptly fit it to the stomach , and has , as it were , digested all tough or slimy matter , so that it becomes easily separated , and so passes away more quick and free , leaving no dregs behing it that doth either fur or obstruct 〈◊〉 passages , which most sweet foods are 〈◊〉 to , especially when any shall exceed in quantity . i commend this sort of gruel to all weak stomach't people , and to such whose breast and passages are fur'd and obstructed by sweet , tough or phlegmy matter . there is also another way of making this gruel , used chiefly among the wanton gentry , viz. they take water and oatme●l , as is before mentioned , and let it stand a day , more or less , as they think fit , then they pour off that water and put on fresh ; some will do this four , five , six , seven , eight or nine times one after another , letting each water remain on the oatmeal a certain time , then they take it and boyl it up , and mix it with milk , cream and the like : but this way is nothing so brisk , lightsome and lively as the former ; for oatmeal hath passed through , in its preparation , a certain fermentation or digestion , by which the gross body in the oats is opened , and the more internal or central vertues become thereby volatile , so that it readily gives forth its vertue when it is committed to the great menstrum , viz. water , even as malt doth , though not to that degree , because the digestion or fermentation is not so high ; but being washed with several wa●●r , it becomes thereby stupid and destitute of all its good qualities ; nay , the very air will exhale and draw forth the more spirituous parts of all flower , if exposed to it ; though the grain have never passed through any fermentation or digestion , as the flower of wheat , which is the strongest , and of the best substance of any others ; for this cause , flower that hath been grown'd five or six weeks , or more , though it be kept close in sacks , will not make so sweet nor so moist pleasant bread as that which is newly grown'd ; therefore all bread in london does eat drier and harsher than bread in the country that is made two or three days after the wheat is grown'd ; for so soon as any grain is bruised or broken into a powdery substance , the essential spirits become thereby , as it were , violated , and liable to evaporation ; for they are so subtle , quick and penetrating that nothing can hold or continue them , but of necessity they either evaporate or become suffocated , if inclosed by any thing : therefore all gruels ought to be made with new grown●d oatmeal , and bread with new-grown'd flower ; but this way does not please , neither is it so profitable for those that make a trade of selling meal ; for meal new grown'd will not so freely separate from the branny substance , nor yield so much flower ; but lying a while after it is grown'd , makes a kind of distillation , or giving way , that the branny parts , as is said before , are easier to be separated , and the ●lowry parts seem ●iner to the nice da●es , but the bread made of such meal is nothing so good and balsamick , or at least not so opening nor cleansing ; besides , or flower in a little time will from its own body generate worms , which comes to pass by reason of the essential spirits and pure volatile salt is wounded , suffocated or evaporated ; but all sorts of grain kept intire and not violated , will remain sound and good a long time ; and if the essential spirits and sweet vertues of any thing or creature could be preserved intire from evaporation or suffocation , then that thing would continue sound and good forever ; for the true life , pleasure , delight and joy of all bodies does consist in the essential spirits and balsamick vertues , therefore no vegetable , animal or mineral can be preserved any longer than the spirit remains intire and unviolated : this we would have all men consider , especially physitians and preparers of food ; and we must needs say , he that invented this last way of making flummery ; was no philosopher , his eyes were too dim to behold the true spirit and life of things . chap. vi. of the several sorts of bread , and which is best , especially for sickly people . one of the best sorts of bread for sickly people is made of wheat flower , the course or husky bran dressed out , but not fine dressed ; for then it will be dry and hus●y , apt to obstruct the stomach ; for the inward skin or branny parts of wheat do contain the moist quality , which is opening and easie of digestion , and in the fine flo●ery parts does consist the nutrimentive property , therefore they do best together , and ought not to be too curiously separated , as some nice people will do , who know no more of the nature of things than an horse , and observe less also it is to be noted , that leaven'● bread is to be preferred before that which is made of yeast ; for leaven was a philosophical invention , that sower quality therein being much more agreeable to the ferment of the stomach than yeast , and easier of digestion , and more cleansing ; so it opens the vessels and encreases the appetite ; and a little use will make it familiar and pleasant to the eater . but yeast has a contrary nature and operation , it being a meer frothy fume or nauseous excrement , which nature throws off , and spews out as her enemy , and when it is mixt with any thing it endues it not only with an ill taste ( which you will quickly perceive , if you are not accustomed to it ) but also is apt to send fumes into the head , and to foul the stomach , and therefore nothing so profitable and wholesom , as well made leavened bread ; which may more manifestly appear by most of the ale in london ; for that not being sufficiently wrought and cleansed from this yeasty matter , it is not only thick , but its taste gross and unpleasant , sending dulling fumes into the head , fouls the blood , destroys the appetite , and generates evil juices in the body . leaven'd bread is best when made after this manner ; take what quantity of flower you please , make an hole in the midst of it , then break your leaven in , and take so much water made as warm as your blood , as will wet half your flower , mix the le●ven and flower well together , then cover it with the remaining flower close , this do at night , and the next morning the whole lump will be well fermented or leaven'd ; then add so much warm water ( but remember it be no hotter than the blood ) as will suffice , and knead it up very stiff and firm , until it be smooth and pliable ; but the more pains you take in kneading it , the better and smoother the bread will cut , and eat much softer and pleasanter in the mouth , and be easier of digestion ; and when you have well kneaded it , let it lie warm by some fire about two hours , until your oven be ready , then make it into small loaves as you think convenient , and let them be baked ▪ with the ovens mouth not close stopt , that the air may have more or less egress and regress ; but the better way is to make it into thin cakes , like oat-cakes , and bake them on a stone , which many in the north of england use for that purpose , making a wood fire under it . this sort of bread is sweeter , of a more innocent taste , and far easier of concoction than any bread bak'd the common way in ovens . after the same manner you may make cakes of any sort of grain , viz. rye , oats , or barl●y , and you will find it a brave wholsome hearty bread , and every way more profitable to nature , than such as are made in the usual manner . note also , that the putting of salt into bread is injurious ; for salt is an unseparated body , in which the original qualities do too violently predominate , being of a keen tart hot nature and operation , and therefore if it be joyned with any body or thing that is not subject to putrifaction , or full of phlegmy gross humours , then it presently preys on the good vertues and essential spirits ; for this cause salt does cause all forts of bread to corrupt ; for in it ▪ it finds no manifest matter of putrifaction to work on , and therefore seizes the good vertues , and by its keen fierce hot property destroys and corrupts it . therefore such bread as is intended to be kept a considerable time , no salt is wont to be put into it , as biskets that are carried to sea , and the like : but for such as make flesh most of their food , salt is an excellent ingredient , and for some other sorts of food , that is for present eating , for salt naturally sharpens 〈◊〉 appetite , begets good digest●●n , being gratefull to the stomach , and resisting putrifaction , provided it be not used in too great a quantity , for then it spoils all or , when it hath lain in any flesh or fish too long , by which the good vertues are evaporated or distempered ; for then such flesh and fish proves very injurious to the health , and corrupts the blood , as is most manifest by such as feed on such over-kept salt meats at sea , for they are at the very next door to putrifaction . and as salt is endued with the firce original fire , so on the other side , it hath a most powerful lively spirituous quality , but the firce harsh fires do predominate ; therefore 't is fit to eat salt with all fresh flesh , or to have the flesh salted three or four weeks before you eat it ; but bacon of all other is best when longer salted and smoak't . likewise many innocent foods will admit of salt , but then they must be eaten presently , as pottages , salads , and the like ; so likewise in butter and cheese , salt preserves them a considerable time . by the way , i would have the house-wife take notice , that bread or cakes baked on sto●es in chimnies , or at the ovens mouth , will be much whiter than if the same were baked in an oven close stopt up ; for the former having the free influences of the air , the pure spirits are thereby kept living , and their pleasant white colour does not only shew its clean innocent nature , but it proceeds from and is a true gleam of light , arising from the tincture and volatile spirits , which are destroyed when the heat is intollerable , and the egress and regress of that friendly element , the air , obstructed . and therefore bread baked in close stopt ovens is of a duller dusky colour , more saturnine and martial , according to the degree of heat , and time of standing in the oven . the good house-wife may also remember , that bread is not of so strong a substance and nourishment as flower , when it is mixed with water or milk , for that potent glewy tough substance that naturally flower is endewed with , is lost and destroyed in bread by the intolerable heat of ovens , and some other circumstances that belong to the making of bread ; therefore it will not thicken either water , milk or any other liquid body , nor be so strong , tough and glewy ; and therefore all such foods as are made with flower are more strong and substantial than bread mixed with such things . also ●lower so eaten is white , innocent , soft to the touch of the palate though otherwise it is a brave food , proper to be eaten with flesh , butter , cheese , herbs , and many other things , in so much that for its frequent and excellent use it is not undeservedly called and accounted , the staff of life . chap. vii . of butter , its nature , aud how bes● to be eaten . bvtter consists of the fat or oyly parts of milk , and is a brave wholsome ingredient to be eaten moderately with bread , for few , and indeed scarce any of the other ways of eating and using it are proper or so agreeable to nature ; and that my asserting this may not startle the reader , i shall give him my reason for it , which is this , because butter having already in the making of it passed through due fermentation , the spirituous properties thereof , are thereby unbounded or set at liberty , and become volatile , the truth whereof you may perceive by this experiment , if butter be but exposed four or five days to the open common air , it will lose a great part of its pure smell and taste ; but much more if it be committed to the fire ; therefore all melted butter , and such foods wherein butter is mixt , that are baked or fiyed , are not profitable for health , but become heavy of concoction , and strong upon the pallate , and the common eating thereof doth generate evil juices , thick blood and dull heavy spirits , whence proceeds , scorbutick humours and various diseases in the blood , but butter in its own nature is an excellent thing , and very profitable , if mixed with proper food , as bread , herbs , roots , and the like ; but if not properly mixt and eaten , then it oyls and furs the vessels of the stomach and passages , hinders digestion , and generates evil juices and many diseases . the best butter for the stomach is that which is made from the beginning of may , to the last of iuly , or middle of august , or there-abouts ; for then grass is in its full strength and vertue . yet what is then potted or firkin'd up for winter will have somewhat a stronger taste , by reaso● of the length of time , and heat of weather , but still it is much finer and more wholsom , and free from phlegm , and easier of concoction than that which is made of rowings or leather-math ( as they call it ) though this latter sort is oft times much sweeter to the pallate at first eating , but it quickly cloyes , by greasing the stomach ; for it is endued with much gross phlegmy matter , like the grass at that season ; for hay made thereof is of little strength or vertue , as all husband-men do know . and as to bu●ter you may try it thus , melt a like quantity of the summer and after-math butter , in two several vessels , and let it stand a while , you will find the latter throw off and afford more phlegm a great deal than the former ; but as this is made near the winter , so it is new , and that is the cause why it seems some-what sweeter to the touch of the pallate , though the former be much better , and wholsomer , and will go further . all butter ought to be well seasoned with sa●t , for that quickens and makes all fat bodies brisk and easier of concoction ; for butter otherwise is but a dull heavy body , and ought by all people to be eaten sparingly , but more especially by those that are weakly . chap. viii . of cheese . cheese is an hard tough strong food , very nourishing and substantial , and excellent for healthy working people ; for being eaten with good store of bread , it endues those that commonly feed thereon with clean sound bodies , and brisk lively spirits , able to endure labour and travel , if good drink be not wanting ; and this so far beyond those that make flesh their food , that experience teaches us , that no men are able to hold out in hard labour with those that eat good wheaten-bread , and fat cheese , that is one or two years old , ( for both sorts are good according to the country they come from , and as the cheese is in thickness , or the contrary ) 't is true bread ; and cheese does not breed so much nourishment as flesh , but it is clean and of a stronger firmer substance , digesting and relishing drink to better advantage than the best fles● in the world can . and suppose four men were only to eat bread and goo● cheese , intermixt now and then with flower'd● milk , milk-●ottage , water-gruel and raw salads season'd with vinegar , salt and good o●l , and for their drink good sound well prepar'd beer or ale , not over-strong : and a like number of men , seeming of equal limbs and strength , were to live on variety of flesh , with br●ad , and the same liquor ; and let both companies be kept to the same hard labour : in one half years time the former , by virtue of their plain simple food will be able to out-do the latter , and tire them to admiration ; and the reason hereof i taught you before , viz. because flesh is gross and full of phlegmatick juices , which load the body with superfluous humours ; but bread , cheese , pottages and herbs are clean , and free from such impurities , and consequently breed better nourishment , fine blood , pure brisk sparkling spirits , which give great strength and vertue to the body . nevertheless , cheese in its own nature is somewhat hard of concoction where good strong natural heats are ▪ it proves a great strengthener to the stomach and all the vessels thereof , but all weak people ought to eat cheese sparingly , viz. a lit●le cheese and a great qu●ntity of bread , so that the cheese may serve only to relish it ; for as cheese is a pleasing food to the palate , so it is grateful to most dull flat stomachs , if it be eaten sparingly , and with discretion , and will comfort , chear and strengthen them . what we said of b●tter may be repeated of cheese , that the best is that which is made from the beginning of may , to about the beginng of august ; for after that season , the sun , which is the central heat and vivifying power of all things declines with winged speed , and all vegitations by sympathy do the same . chap. ix . of the best sort of puddens , and the contrary . this is a great sort of food in england , we are famous for it abroad , and there is no nation besides , that i know or have heard of , that practises it so much , and if we were not altogether so fond of them , especially as they are commonly made , 't were no matter ; for such puddens as are enricht with various sorts of spanish fruits and indian spices are for the most part very hurtful to health , because the variety of improper ingredients does destroy most of the good genuine vertues of our own country-simples , so that such things cannot properly be called food . 't is true , all sorts of spanish fruits , so long as they remain intire , and in their own simple nature , and for proper uses , are brave rich things , but if any sort of ●aisins be alter'd , by being mixed with several things , and then boyled , the true natural vertues are hurt , and they are rendred next door to putrifaction ; for the sun and elements had before already prepared them to the highest degree , and whatever else is done by way of preparation , proves injurious to them . in puddens it is usual to mix flower , eggs , milk , raisins or currants , and sometimes both spice , suet , the fat or marrow of flesh , and several other things ; whereas in truth any two of those things would far better have supplied nature with true and proper nourishment ; and if any healthy person should be confined to such puddens but for one week , he would be tired , and perfectly loath them : whereas he may well live many years upon ●lower and milk , or eggs and bread , or raisins and bread ; but when all these , &c. are jumbled together , they make a confused portion . there is another sort of pudden , called , bread-puddens , which are a sick fainty food ; for nothing can be good and proper , if twice prepared , if the first preparation be to the highest degree , as it is in bread ; also , to put some things prepared , as bread , with things unprepared , as f●ower , eggs , spices , and the like , is not only improper , but unnatural to the stomach : therefore such foods ought not to be eaten by any that love thei● health and strength . for common sense may suggest what a strange disorderly jumble and mishmash so many contrary ingredients must needs make , when boyled together in the stomach , and what heterogenious kind of juices or nourishment the same wil produce . ●o● experiment , be pleased to take f●ower , fat , spices , eggs , ●urrants and raisins , put them altogether in any vessel , and then take flower and milk and put into another pot or vessel , or eggs and flowers , or fruit and flower , or spice and flower , or bread and milk , and let both pots stand two or three days , then observe both , and smell and taste of the one and the other , and you will certainly find , that the simplest and where the fewest ingredients are , will smell and taste better , and be less offensive than that wherein they all are mixt ; for the first will stink , corrupt ●●d putrifie much sooner than the simple things will. but this is nothing — how many things more besides these confused puddens , do men eat at the same meal , cram down into their paunches , viz. various sorts of flesh , fish , butter , olives , capers , herbs , roots , mustard , tarts , raw fruits , cheese , &c. which when rightly consider'd cannot but appear a strange composition , and odd mess of stuff , able to corrupt the strongest and best of stomachs , only custom does make them some-what more friendly , and easier for nature to bear , than otherwise they would be ; for do but put all the before-mention'd dishes of one extravagant meal altogether in a lump into a pot , or if that be too little , into a caldron or furnance , and mix them all together , hicklede-pickledy , and let them lie a day or two so and ferment , and then smell to the heap , and if you do not conclude that the common use of such dinners or suppers is natures destruction , and the parent and nurse of a multitude of strange and complicated diseases , you are fitter to eat out of a trough with swine in a stye , than to be consulted with about diet for health . but since 't will be difficult wholly to wean people from their beloved puddens , the best way of making them is thus , take wheat-flower , eggs , milk and water , of each a convenient quantity , mix there-with a little salt , and beat them well together , put this batter into a bag , boyl it sufficiently in a good quantity of water , with your pot-lid off , and a quick clear fire , and let it boyl without intermission , till 't is enough , and then s●ice it , and butter it with good butter . this is a good sort of puddens for such as admire the● , which 〈…〉 〈…〉 baked , before the hot furious fumes are evaporated and dispersed , it will , the most of any food generate windy diseases , which you may prevent by letting it lie in the dish or on your trensher a while , and these sulpherous vapours will separate and fly away in a rapid motion . and in truth , a little use and custom will render this sort of pudden , or any others , more friendly to the stomach , and in all respects wholsomer , and freer from windiness , if eaten quite cold , which is for certain more commendable than any other way . i cannot perhaps by words make people either belive it , or be sensible of it , cu●tom , and the false prophet ●r●dition hath so blinded the eye of mankind , so that nothing but experience will be able to convince them : and if none will try nor follow the rules of r●asen , i shall yet be well satisfied , in that i have done my duty ; therefore let none be offended at , or despi●e the simplicity of what i recommend ; for all the wayes of god , and his hand-maid nature , are plain and familiar , and all needful furniture , both for the body and mind , are every where ready at hand , cheap and obvious : but the evil one hath taught subtil devices , and men have found out many inventions , equally chargeable and pernicious . chap. x. of eggs , their nature , and the best way of dressing and eating of them . eggs are an excellent sort of food , each of them compleatly containing all the true properties and seminal vertues of that creature whence they proceeded , therefore are one of the best sorts of things that is eaten , being of a fat oyly quality , but very friendly and innocent in operation , if well prepared , affording a strong substantial clean nourishment , easie of concoction , and such as breed good blood , but then they must not be eaten after the common way of dressing , that is to say , 〈◊〉 and after eaten with butter ; for eggs , i told you before , are of an oyly f●t nature , especially the yolks , and being eaten with butter whilst the sulpherous heat of the fire remains in them , that turns the butter to a kind of a gross oyl , which does not only tye or hold captive the sierce atomes of the fire , so that they cannnot seperate and fly away , but the melted butter does dull and flatten the brisk spirituous part of the egg , and makes it gross and heavy of concoction , as also cloys the stomach ; and for this cause many cannot eat hot buttered eggs , without having their stomach● much offended , and so many do not love nor eat eggs on this very score , but are insensible of the true cause thereof . but these very persons shall love them , and find them very agreeable , when prepared properly , as i have often known . therefore i shall here briefly set down several methods of preparing of eggs both proper and natural , and very agreeable to most stomachs , both of strong , and of weakly , or cons●mptive people . 1. boil eggs rere , or soft , then break the shells , and put them into a plate or pottinger , and let them stand till they are but blood-worm , then eat them only with bread and salt , or such whose stomachs are strong , and 〈◊〉 are great lovers of eggs , may eat them with bread and butter , but the butter not melted , but spread upon bread. 2. you may boyl them pretty hard , peel the shells off , and when cold , eat them with bread , vineger and salt. 3. poaching , or boiling them unshelled in water , is a commendable way , being eaten with salt and bread , or bread , salt and vineger . 4. take a pint of water , and one large spoonful of wheat fl●wer , made into batter with water , when your water is boiling hot , break one egg into this batter , and beat it together , and just as the water is ready to boil , stir in your batter a little while , until it be again ready to boil , then take it off , and it will be of a sufficient thickness , put thereunto a little bread and salt , and a small quantity of good butter , stirring of it about that the butter may not turn to an oyl , then ●●t it stand till blood-warm , and eat it . this is a brave clean food , easie of digestion , breeds good blood , and a firm nourishment , with brisk spi●●ts ▪ lastly , eggs are very wholsom raw , supp'd off in a morning , and bread eaten after them ; for they clear the stomach and free the passages from obstructions , and make the eaters thereof lively , and long breath'd , if frequently eaten . but let all people remember that they do never eat eggs boyled in the shells , whilst they are hot , for they often then prove pernicious to health . chap. xi . of pyes , how they ought to be made . apple and pear-pyes are a good wholsom healthy food , provided such fruit be thorow ripe , and no improper ingredients added , as too frequently people of late do , both amongst the apples and in the cr●s● , for most put a great deal of butter into the crust , and such dough or crust having no fer●ent , viz. leaven or yeast to make i●l●ght , thereby becomes of a close ●ea●y ●●b●tance , and the butter makes it still more heavy , close and ponderous , and being baked in the close strong sulpherous heats of ovens , they yet become more unwholsom , hence ●ye-crust does load the stomach , and disagrees with many ; and those that find it best are more beholding to use , which has familiariz'd it to their bodies : besides , most that have wherewithal do put too great quantities of sugar amongst their apples and pears , whereby it becomes more like a medicine than food ; therefore such pyes , if a man makes a meal of them , will not give his stomach that satisfaction as all proper foods will ; and also the eating of much sugar in our food does extraordinarily foul the stomach and fur the passages , is injurious to the natural heat , and breeds bad blood , and fills the body full of the scurvey , taking off the edge of appetite , and generates evil nourishment ; for this cause most people , and especially children and women , who eat much sugar and spices in their victuals , are so ●uling , and aff●icted with a number of diseases ; for much sweetness in food is as dangerous , and proves as great an evil to health , as the bitter , ●our or astringnt qualities do , when they shall ●●ceed in any food , and far more , because sweetness is more inticing to most sorts of people , especially to children and youth ; whereas the other quality is not so , but the contrary , and no person need so strongly to arm himself against those intemperances that his natural inclinations do not lead to , but the greatest danger of his being misled or overcome , is by those intemperances that are most agreeable to his temper , for by such evils he is overcome , as it were , insensibly : for sweetness is an inticing quality , and though in it self the best , yet proves of dangerous consequence where it exceeds in food , in which too much sugar is mixed ; for indeed every sort of proper food has sufficient quantity of sugar , i mean sweetness in its self , to moderate the other qualities , viz. the bitter , sour and astringent , so that when people mix such quantities of sugar in their common food , they destroy the equality and harmony of that thing , so that it becomes an extream , and causes the like disharmony in the elements of the body ; for the best quality in nature is as great an evil when it too violently predominates , if not greater than those we least esteem of , as the bitter , sour or astringent ; for these last carry their corrector with them , as having no inticing property . but these things are seldom consulted either by the learned or by good house-wives , but they go on in the road , and every day encrease hurtful extravagances , perswading themselves that the more cost they bestow , the more rich things they jumble together , the better and more nourishing their food must be ; and more nourshing indeed it is , but of diseases and evil juices ; whereas plain , course cheap , simple foods are much more fri●ndly to nature , and consequently more strengthning and restorative . and therefore in former ages , when sugar , spanish fruits , spices , sweet-meats , and the like , were not known in these northen climates , people were not o●ly healthier , but stronger , larger , and bigger bon'd than of late years , since the frequent eating and mixing those forreign ingredients with our more natural food , whi●h have and do daily prove of fatal consequence to the healths of many that immoderately use them . the best pyes , whether of apples or pears , are made thus . take good wheat flower , make it into a paste with a little leaven or yeast , as you do bread , with warm water , or milk and water , but no warmer than your blood ; let your apples and pears be full ripe , and you need not mix any other ingredients with them , except you please to put a few of our own country seeds , either carraway or fenn●l-se●ds , which are very good and agreeable to most stomachs : the best fashion to make these pyes in , is that of pasties , which in some countries they call ov●rstaps ; for crust or paste that is made after this manner will not stand or be raised according to the common custom and indeed if this wholsom food were in shion , and that esteem which it deserves , people need not be at that charge with their daughters to learn them to r●is● paste , which invention was more for state and pride than health . this last sort of apple and pear-pyes are the best , most natural and agreeable of all others ; for they afford a nourishment of a fine clean substance , open obstructions of the brest , cleanse the passages , and gently open the belly , and you may eat of it every day , without any kind of weariness , during the time such fruits are in their full strength and vertue : i wish the nice-cockered palated citizens would but try the difference for one year , and then many of them would hate that ignorance and vanity whereby they have contracted diseases on themselves , and entailed them on their posterity , which have no remedy , if they shall continue stubborn , and walk down hill to destruction in the path of blind tradition ; for no medicines have power to cure the distempers that are contrcted by improper preparations , mixtures and superfiuity , if the smae be still continued . this is evident from daily experience ; for do we not find every succeeding generation more infirm and diseased than the former ? 2. in the baking your pyes the o●●u . ought to stand open , or at least the ovenlid not so close but that some air may pass , for this element is the true life of the spirit : therefore all preparations in which the air has its free circulation the tincture and pure spirituous vertues are preserv'd from suffocation , and thereby the true natural colour , smell and taste preserv'd without violation , which other-wise cannot be done to that advantage . 3. when your pyes are sufficiently baked , draw them , and cut holes in the top of each , that the sulpherous atomes and fiery vapours may the better pass away , and separate themselves , which will make such pies sweet , and less windy , and much more wholsome . 4. you ought neither to eat them hot , nor put butter into them , as the custom of some is ; for that does but waste your butter , and render your pyes less wholsom than otherwise they would be . but if you let them stand , as aforesaid , till they are through cold , you may eat freely of them , for they are a brave wholsom food . also , ripe apples raw are ve●● good , being eaten alone , or with bread , not as a common food , but sometimes between whiles ; for they clear an● open obstructions of the stomach , an● gently loosen the belly ; the same 〈◊〉 most other fruits , as apricocks , p●ches , plumbs of all sorts , goose●●rr● currants , and the like , if eaten moderately on clean well-prepared stomachs , not after dinner , or in wantonness on full paunches , as is the custom of gluttons , and such as are 〈◊〉 much strangers to nature as to tem●rance as for pies made of ●iesh , with fruits , spices and butter in the crust , they are utter enemies to the stomach , and the natural heat thereof , they dull the edge of the palate , stop and cloy the orifice of the stomach , obstruct and fur the passages , breed evil juices , bad blood , and consequently , impure spirits , causing heavy lumpish dispositions to attend all those that frequently eat such improper food , and this so much the more if eaten piping-hot , as the common way is ; and rather than the ve●ison-pasty shall want store of poysonous sulpherous steams , my lady will have it put into the oven three of four days one after another , that it may forsooth ! ) come to the table r●eking-hot ; whereas if her madamship had but any acquaintance with dame nature , or the princess reason , or plain grammer experience , they would all tell her , that though her fine pasty , with as many towers o' th' top on 't as a fortifi'd city , presaging danger or destruction to those that shall attaque it , be at best but an untoward unnatural kind of food , yet 't were much better cold than hot at first , much more after the greasie cru●st and stifled flesh has so often been parboyled in the furious steams of a close sulpherous oven . the cause of which i have oft told you already , and fear i must do so again , before you will understand , and so regard it as to abandon your old silly mischievous customs ; but the reason is this , the pure volatile spirits and sweet balsamick vertues of all things are in a great measure destroy'd by the sierce saturnine and martial fires , and for want of the free egress and regress of the air , and therefore a less quantity of baked flesh , espe●cially hot , will cloy and dull the edge● the appetite , than either roasted o● boyl'd , which is a sure demonstration that the preparation is not so proper or natural . likewise , here by the way i cannot but advertise all that regard their health , that they ought to for bear the eating of hot bread ; for the same does plentifully contain the fierce fulpherous vapours and windy fumes which are very injurious to the health , of the body ; as also , that bread ought not to be eaten till 't is at least two days old ; for before , it is stopping , and apt to fur and obstruct the stomach , being harder of concoction than that which is two , three or four days old , because in such new bread , not only the fore mentioned sulpherous atomes of the fire lie lurking , but there is also a phlegmy humid part , which a little time does dissipate and dry away , and then the bread becomes much wholsomer , and also easier of concoction : 't is true , new bread is much desired and eaten in towns and cities , but it is not for its vertues , but meerly for wantonness and custom , and want of understanding chap. xii . of raisins of the sun. this is a forreign fruit , but of late years become of general use , and by some admired and esteemed , especially in diet for sick and weak people , as if it were as necessary as w●eat , which is much to be pitied , except people did know how to use them to better advantage than commonly they do . the truth is , raisins are a brave noble fruit , endued with an excellent vertue the aimable and friendly sweet quality is predominate in them , and therefore they afford a good strong lusty spirit , and are hot in operation , if not allayed by the mixture of some proper ingredients ; but they being unequal in their parts , the frequent eating them does naturally h●at and sharpen the blood , generate phleg●y humours , obstruct the passages . clog the stomach , dull the appetite , and consequently indispose the whole body ; and they are far more injurious to children than to mature age , though bad to both : 't is a sort of fruit that ought not by any means to be mixed with our common food , nor to be boyled or baked , as the usual custom of the english is ; for that destroys most of their pure vertues , and renders them unhealthy , as most people may find by experience . besides , our women , who are the chief promoters of such things , ought to consider that the fruits that grow in hot climates , are nothing so agreeable to our natures and constitutions as those of our own growth , especially such things in which any quality of nature is extream , as it is in this fruit , which the sun and elements have already prepared to the highest degree , and therefore they will not endure any other preparation without violence done to the good vertues , wh●ch renders them next door to putrifaction , and whatsoever food they shall be either boyled or baked in or with , such food will stink and putrifie so much the sooner ; and as they will keep good a year , if they remain intire , so being any wayes altered , then they will not keep three dayes good : therefore all that are wise will forbear using them in such manner and mixtures . yet it must be acknowledged , that raisins have their uses , though we might well be without them , and many others of the like nature ; for 1st . they are very good and wholsom being eaten with bread for a breakfast or a supper ; for the bread moderateth the inequality of the raisins , and makes them easie of digestion , cleansing the stomach , and gently loosening the belly ; and indeed this is the o●ly proper way of eating them as food . 2 dly , they are better in physical operations then any other sweet thing , especially than sugar , because they are not altered from their first intire state , therefore their juices are far more cleansing than sugar , or any other sweets that have been prepared by the fire . chap. xiii . of currants , their nature , &c. cvrrants are much more injurious to the health of english constitutions than raisins ; for the latter may be properly used by eating them with bread ; but do what you will with currants , they will be no better than doctor butler's curiously prepared dish of cow●umbers , only most excellently fit to be thrown away to the dunghil : and indeed , the inconveniences of eating or mixing currants amongst common food , the natives of those countries whence they come teach us , if custom , and the common cry of the ignorant multitude did not blind people with strange prejudices against all the r●mon●rances of reason or expe●ience ; for they will rarely ever eat them , either alone or mixed amongst their food ; for they do not esteem them wholesome , nor hardly so proper as our hawthorn or elder-berries ; nay , these by a little custom would be much more proper for our healths to be eaten by themselves , or mixed with other things , than currants , which are of such an untoward nature , that those natives that work amongst them , and strew and pack them into the casks , have their feet , legs and hands made leporous and s●abby thereby , which proceeds from their hot v●n●mous qualities , and with these loat●som lepo●ous feet and legs they tread them into the casks , and then you ca● them for dainties . and though when eaten here these evil qualities , are mittigated by being mixed with our moderate and more friendly grains and fruits ; yet still , whatever they are put into , does thereby become the worse , and the more unwholsom . amongst other extravagances , it is a great fashion to boyl them in water-gruel , and after they are so boyled , this water-gruel cannot with any delight or pleasure be eaten with bu●ter and salt , as plain water-gruel can , the currants give it such an unpleasant flat nauseous relish , having no true natural sweetness , or lively briskness in it ; the very same is to be understood of raisins , when boyled ; therefore the good housewife is forced to add another ingredient viz sugar , to raise it to a more full and perfect taste and relish . now by these improper forreign ingredients the true genuine nature and operation of that friendly grain oatmeal is destroyed , as though there had been no such thing ; nor is the hurt less to many other sorts of food that are of greater consequence , which are daily spoiled by these improper mixtures , which render them hot , and subject to s●op and fur the passages , generating evil juices , gross blood and impure spirits . for which cause all people that eat frequently of such foods , more especially young children , are nothing so strong , brisk or lively as those who are constrained by pure necessity to feed and live on the most simple , and meanest of our own country fruits , grains and herbs . this all will confess , yet most that have wherewithall are so bewitch'd to foreign novel●ies , that they had rather be afflicted with an hundred diseases and miseries , and have their children weakly , ricketty and leprous , tha● not to gratifie a wanton desire . it is the common opinion that currants are cooling , therefore both the learned and your common nurses advise , that they should be boyled in water-gruel for sick people , and then bs●ter'd and sugar'd , which makes it not only very hot , but strong enough for an healthy ●low-man , whereby it overcomes weak stomachs , they always forgeting what ought always to be remembred , viz. tha weak h●ats must have proportionable foods , or else nature will come by the worst of it . and as for currants being to ●ing , 't is absolutely false , like most of the rest of the grounds they go upon ; for all fruits in which the sweet quality does carry the upper dominion , are hot i● operation , and if it were not so , such things would not affo●d the greatest spirits , and also the most in q●antity when the distiller takes them in hand . also , their heat will hereby appear , if you put such things into beer , ale , wine , nay , water it self , it will make such liquor to ferment , and render it much stronger than before ; for if you put sugar into str●ng beer , a less quantity will make a man drunk , than that which hath none in it . let a person eat a pint of 〈…〉 that is , only ●ater and 〈◊〉 with a little selt , bu●ter and bread in it , and at another time a pint made with cu●rarts , sugar , butter and b●●ad , as the ●s●al way is , and let him observe whi●h is hardest of concoction , and hottest of operation , and also which he is lightsomest after ; he shall certainly fi●d by expe●ience , that the plain gruel is not only coolest , but easiest of digestion , and he most airy and pleasant after it . the truth is , it men would but give themsel●es the leisure to try and observe things , they could not be such strangers to the method of well-living and to the knowledg of nature , who is the hand-maid of god. for the reasons afo●esaid , you may undoubtedly ●onclude , currants are not only hot , but may also learn , that they are of a naus●ous quality , and if much eaten or frequently mixed with food , they breed thick gross juices in the body , and infect the blood with a sharp salt itching quality or scorbutick humour , whence proceed general weaknesses in the joynts and limbs , and unnatural heats in the external parts , causing a lumpish indisposition both of body and mind . therefore we advise all that have any regard to their healths , to refrain all such hurtful things , and content themselves ( as their innocent lusty fore fathers did ) with the growth of our own country , which will abundantly furnish our tables , and contribute whatsoever is needfull for the maintenance of health and strength ; but especially , we caution children , young people , and such as are sickly , from the use of them , they being most hurtful to weak natures . chap. xiv . of spices , their nature and operation . all sorts of spices that come from the east or west-indies , are in nature and operation hot and dry , and therefore not agreeable to our northren con●●itutions , nor by any means fit to be mixed with our common food ; for they too violently heat the blood , and destroy the pure thin refreshing vapours and spirits , and awaken the central heat , which ought by no means to be stirred up ; for it presently sets nature into an unequal motion , making all the external parts in a flame . there is a vast difference between the regions and climates , both in respect of c●elestial influences , and by the nature of soil and constitution of air whence those spices come , and ours , that it amounts to almost a perfect opposition ; and what is poyson , but a violent antipathy or contrariety in nature ? and if the natives of those countries will so cautiously mix or use them , how sparingly ought we to meddle with them ? but our english have such an itching desire after novelties , and every ioan is so proud to be of my lady fidd●e-faddles humour , and long for things far-fetcht and dear-bought , that if we had ten times as many more brought over as we have , there be those amongst us would cry up the excellent vertues of them , tho' there is scarce any one thing so much destroys and hurts our health , both of body and mind , as the eating and drinking foreign ingredients with and amongst our common food ; and how absurdly are those things mixt together , whose vertues and vices are as contrary to each other as the climates are different ? what agreement or affinity is there between our fruits , grains , herbs and seeds , and those that come from the east and w●st-indies ? not so much as between the complexion of a fat-nosed lubber-lip'd blackamore , or swarthy bantame● , with a head like a sugar loaf , and our most florid beauties . in particular , what likeness or correspondence is there between cloves , mace , nutmegs , cinamon , ginger , or pomento , and the flower of wheat , or any other grain , or with apples , milk , bu●ter , herbs or flesh ? verily there is no simile between them , and the foolish painter , that to a mans head added a stags neek and a fishes body , did not limn a more deformed monster , than those prepare a monstrous unwholsom diet for either the well or sick , who jumble together ingredients so heterogenious , and as it were diametrically opposite . the compounding of these forreign ingredi●●ts with our domestick pr●ductions , that chiefly destroys the health of our people , and not so much the composition● of our own growth , though there are too often very improper mixt●res of them also , but those however are not pernicious to that degree as the others are : for example , is not s●gar the occasion of such great quantities of g●os●r●ies , and many other fruits are gathered and eaten whilst they are immature , and have no more goodness nor vertue in them than the leaves or sticks of the same trees ? also , what abundance of the like unripe fruits are pres●rv'd ( as the call it ( though more properly they might say , dest●●y'd ) and when yov have been at all that pains and charge , pray tell me what they are really good for , unless to please children and fools , and indulge wanton liquorish palates , who yet for the most part pay dear enough for those vanities , by losing all appetite to wholsom food , and bringing upon themselves variety of diseases , and then the wizard of a doctor must be sent for , to redress those mischiefs which the mother's fondness occasion●d ; but then he goes so awkwardly to work , that instead of remidying , he encreases the distempers , and at last the puling young heir , or the most beloved girl dyes , and then father and mother weep and wring their hand● , and are ready to be distracted ; and indeed they have more cause of grief than they commonly think of , for thousands of parents by their foolish indulgence , in giving their children rich costly improper food , become accessary to the shortning of their lives . many of our gentlewomen , who look upon themselves to be saints , do yet make no conscience of spoiling those good creatures and hopeful fruits which the providence of god sends into the world for the real use and benefit of mankind , whilst they turn them into wantonness , and waste and pervert them before ever they come to maturity , to quite contrary ends than that for which the great and good c●e●tor design●d them ; for he intended them to supply humane necessities , they abuse them to extravangance , and riot , ●●d ●iquorishness , he gave them vertues to add health and strength to such as should in their due season eat them , but they , by seizing upon them with an unnatural and untimely violence ( the same thing to vegetabl●s as mu●der or killing is to animals ) and using them absurdly and preposterously , make them the occasions of diseases and destruction ; and yet how many pounds do some women tris●le away in a year upon these harmful vanities and superfluities ? yea , and think themselves rare housewives too , for this prodigality , and are at pains or cost to bring up their daughters to these baneful mysteries of preserving , conserving , &c. all which , besides a most impetinent waste of their husbands money , and spoil of gods good creatures , tend likewise to the destruction of their own health , and that of their children ; for no sooner have they by gluttony , or eating of too great quantities of flesh , fish , or other rich f●ods or over●strong liquors brought ●●emselves out of order , but away they run or send iillian the chamber-maid ( who has already spoil'd her teeth with sweet-meats and kisses ) to the closet for some conserves , prese●ves , or other confectionary-ware ; and if that will not do ( as alas ! how should such sower abortive things , only embalm'd with nauseous sugar , do any good ? ) then fetch the bottle of black-cherry-brandy , the glass of aqua mirabilis , and after that take a dose of plague-water ; and she is no body that has not a room furnish'd plentifully with these pernicious confused slip stops and extravagancies . but tell me , my good dames ! what have you to say for these curi●sities ? what benesit , what advantage do you receive by them ? are you more sound , healthy or strong than the honest poor country-woman , that has none of them ? are you more free from suddain qualms or settled distempers ? have you better appetites than they ? have you more pleasure in eating your larks and pheasants , your dainty bi●s , with rich poinant sawces , and delicious costly wines , than they have in a mess of good milk , or a lusty piece of br●ad and ch●ese , and a cup of nutbrown-ale of their own brewing ? are your sleeps more sound on your down beds , double fortified with curtains of silk and sarcenet , than theirs on their wholsom s●raw-couches open to the air that whistles in between the wooden windows ? are you more free from colds with your ●lannel shifts , and your man-like drawers , and your quilted wastcoats , and petti●oats so many as makes you shew as big about the haunches as a dutch-woman , and would half set up a long-lane bro●er ? are you , i say , with all this furniture free from catching cold , any more than the rosie-complexion'd lass that courts the sweet kisses of the air in her smock sleeves , and trips over the dewy-plains in a winters ●rosly m●r●ing with but a brace of linsey-woolsey coats that are not long enough to conceal the shape of her well-proportioned l●gg ? or are your children born more lusty , or more free from dis●ases , as the kings-evil , lepr●sies , rickets , ioynt-aches , and other distempers ? or are they better complex●on'd , or strai●er-limb'd , or handsomer shap'd , or in any kind more active , sprightly or vigorours than theirs ? alas ! none of all this ; the advantages lie all on the other side : whilst you are continually complaining and sighing , they are merrily singing ; whilst you are weak , and lose your natural complexions , and have no app●tite , and can scarce relish the rarest dain●ies , and your sleeps are restless , and distempers are continually either actually seizing on you , or at least threatning you , so that you are always forced to keep a doctor or two in pension for your life-guard ; they are strong and lusty , and look as fresh as a may-morning , and have stomachs as sharp as a scyth , and all their meat seems n●ctar , and their drink ambrosia , and their sleeps are sweet as mariners after a tempest , their breath as fragrant as honey-suckles ; they never so much heard of half the diseases that you groan under , and look upon doctors as only bawbles for gentlefolks , and find an oatmeat cawdle or a cardus posset better physick than any the apoth●caries shop affords ; their children are in all respects lustier , founder , healthier , more active and strong , of better complexions and compleater proportions for the generality , than yours and why then will you still so indulge a sottish fond humour and wanton pa●ate , seeing it is so destructive to your well-being , and that of your dear posterity ! but waving this not unseasonable digression , and to return to spice , — it must be acknowledged , that god made nothing in vain ; cloves , mace , nutmegs , cinamon , pepper , ginger and pomento or iamaica pepper are brave noble fruits , and smell , as it were , of paradise , and the great and good creator is as much to be admired in them as any other vegetations , for though they are not so useful for common food , yet they have their excellent uses : their chief vertues reside in their most pleasant scent , which is very refreshing and chearing to the spirits ; also , they are endued with a warming quality , very profitable in physical operations , especially for some sort of melancholy and phlegmatick complexions . the same is to be understood in brandy , and other distilled spirits , which often prove profitable being taken when there is just occasion , in a physical way ; but of fatal consequence to such as accustom themselves to the drinking of it at every turn ; for then it quickly wounds the healt● by destroying the natural heat ; the like is to be understood of all extreams , in drinks and food , which are disharmonious in their parts . therefore it is no ways safe to mix unequal fruits with those that are equal ; for then the harmony of the whole will be violated . as to use our familiar example , take the flower of wheat , milk and water , mix them and heat them to a pap , these three things are equal and agreeable in their peculiar parts each with other , and make a brave wholsom food either for young or old , on which alone you may live healthy and contentedly for divers years ; but if you mix with them sugar and spice , or either of them , then the company of this stranger puts them out of tune , and breaks the consort , so that if any one should be confined to this last sort but for one month or two , their palates and stomachs will grow weary and loath it ; and so it is with cakes , in which eight or ten ingredients are mixed ; how long could those that love them best , eat them , and not be weary ? not sixteen days together : but take flower and water and make cakes thereof , and on them you may live several years and never be tired . in like manner flesh , bread and herbs harmonive , and a man may eat of them every day , but mixt spanish fruits , spices , and the like , with fat flesh and butter , and prepare them as well as you can , you shall not eat them every day for one month without loathing and weariness ; the very same is to be understood of all other foods and drinks , and if people would not prefer custom , and what is cried up by the multitude before the simple innocent ways of nature , it would be casie for every one to chuse and understand what is most proper and agreeable to the stomach . for if they would set gustom aside , then most would be led to meats and drinks that are natural and proper by meer instinct , as most of the inferiour creatures are , except some unclean savages , as swine , bears , lyons , and the like : and in truth the greater part of beasts have more understanding in meats and drinks than many men ; for man crys , what were those things made for ? as if god intended that all , right or wrong , must be cram'd into his paunch , and that there could be no other use for them , but for him to devour them ; as if to be ornaments to the universe , to set forth the power and the wisdom of god , in the making , and feeding , and preserving so many innumerable creatures , and invite man thereby to praise , magnifie and adore his maker , were not more noble ends than to eat them to his own prejudice . but so greatly precipitated is he into wrath , viol●nce and oppression , that he is not willing any thing should escape his luxurious throat , though the use of it be to the destruction both of his body and mind . for the source of all evils to man hath been his suffering his imaginations and unclean desires to wander after those things that are neither needful nor any way benificial ; for faslly imagining that all things were made meerly for his use , he entred with the power of his free depraved will , with a rapid motion , into all beastiality , and so deprived himself of the divine vision which he was made in and for , and not to live in the power of the dark magick and brutality , to domineer , and rend , and tear each other to pieces , far worse than the savages of the desart . for man was created in the image of god , and ordained to live under the government of the divine principle , and if he had continu'd under its dominion , then every sort of innocent food would have satisfied him , according to that commission , every green herb and tree bringing forth fruit shall be to thee for meat . nor was he clothed with the skins of beasts before his transgression , and they are still the spoils and reliques of violence ; for he was made naked , that is , in innocency , and his clothing himself with the excrements of beasts , does truly intimate his depraved state , especially when he becomes proud thereof ; than which there cannot be a greater vanity in the world. chap. xv. of oyl , and its nature . amongst all fruits or other things eatable , brought from beyond seas , oyl is one of the best , being of a brave nourishing clean nature , mild and friendly to most constitutions , far exceeding butter or the fat of ●lesh , and that it agrees not with some , is for want of use when they are young ; 't is endued with equality and concord , as being distilled by nature's choicest limbeck , and it would be much for the health of our english people if they did eat more of it , and less fruits and spices , though we have no necessity for either ; but since our desires do so itch after novelties , it were much more commendable for us to chuse those things that have the nearest affinity with our natures ; and of all sorts of fat things , oyl is the most innocent , as proceeding from the cleanest radix , and being the product of vegetation , and therefore is very proper and agreeable to humane nature , being joyn'd unto and eaten with h●rbs and fruits , they having the nearest a●finity in their basis or original , and therefore gyl being eaten with bread or herbs , is to an undepraved palate , not only more delightful , and to the stomach easier of concoction , affording a finer and cleaner nourishment , better blood and purer spirits , than either fat of flesh or butter , though the last of them is very wholsom , cream and butter being our oyl , and eaten with proper or cleaner things , as bread , herbs , and the like , does make a proper mixture , and consequently good food . the reason why oyl is with greatest commendation eaten with herbs and bread , is , because all mixtures of food are most agreeable to the human nature that bear the nearest affinity in their basis ; and as oyl is the true fat of vegetables , so it suits and agrees better with them , than with any sort of flesh , or other food proceeding from flesh ; but with fish it is very good and wholsom , especially sal●-fish , for by its balsamick quality it allayes the ●ierce keen property of the salt , and sweetens the lean body of the fish : and for these purposes it is far better than butter . but it is to be noted , that oyl ought not to come near the heat of the fire , for that will presently destroy the purer parts and vertues thereof , and then it will become strong and fulsom ; the same is to be understood if it be mixed with any foods whilst hot which ought always to be pretty cool before you mix your oyl : therefore to sted brend and oyl , though frequently used , is not so good as cold b●ked br●ad and oyl ; than which there is scarce a better breakfast or supper ; for it cleanseth the passages , is easie of concoction , breeds good blood and fine spirits , whence proceeds any airy lightsom disposition , and good habit both of body and mind . however , those that accustom themselves to the frequent eating thereof , ought to remember their best friend tem erance , that is , to eat it sparingly , and not in too great quantities . olives , or the fruit whence oyl proceeds , are nothing so good as the oyl it self ; for being gathered unripe , o● immature , and put into a pickle made for that purpose to keep them sound , they are apt , especially if frequently eaten , to obstruct the stomach and passages . the best way is to eat them with store of good bread , now and then between whiles , but most that are eaten in england are taken on full stomachs , in superfluity and wantonness , so that it would be no loss to is to be without them . chap. xvi . of honey , its nature and operation , with some notes on the practice of chymistry . the antients have attributed some hundreds of medicinal vertues to honey ; but in my opinion it will hardly perform half that which is said of it ; yet to give it its due , it must be acknowledged to be a brave noble and friendly thing to nature , of which , some is better , some worse , according to the nature of the herbs and flowers out of which this king of flies extracts it ; for cause , some honey is of a more unpleasing taste than other , as being harsh , and with a kind of bitterish farewell , apt to gripe the stomach and bowels when it is tinged with martia● and saturnine herbs , as when the bees gather it from the blossoms of furz , centaury , or other vegetables of like nature , that grow upon harsh , sower , poor commons and heaths ; yet for women and maids , who are afflicted with stoppages , and the disease call'd the green-sickness , medicines made with this sort of honey , are very powerful to remove those evils : but for general use that honey is best which is extracted or drawn from the most pleasant fragrant flowers that grow in meadows and sweet downs , where co●slips , and the like , delight to grow ; as also from the blossoms of corn , peaches and honey-suckles ; for the honey thereof made is smoother , finer and pleasanter than the other , and more agreeable to nature . but there is yet a more subtle and almost nnknown difference in honey , which ought to be noted ; for as honey being drawn from a vast variety of innocent delicate herbs , and most beautiful sweet smelling flowers , ( the bright stars of earth , as the planets and constellations are the flowers of heaven ) may justly , in its own nature be stil'd , the most transparent and richest iuice or liquor in the world , and the finest and most pleasant sweet of all others ; so the same is to be understood not so much of our vulgar honey , as in its original preparation and perfection , viz. if it could be procured whilst it remains intire , as it is extracted out of the herbs and flowers into a little bag or thin skin , which lies in the very center of the bee , as may be manifest to sense , if you can be so cruel , when you catch one of them , to sever it in two , for then , if you are quick , you may take out the bag intire , but if you are too long about it , then the bee will suck it up , or destroy it . this bag contains a most curious thin transparent liquor , of an excellent fine colour , and fine innocent and perfect taste , leaving behind in the mouth no hugo , or strong taste , as our vulgar honey does , when eaten alone . now this is the bees true elixir , the proper paradisical honey ; but when the bees ha●e d●gested it , which cannot be done without some violation to the pure volatile spirits , then they spue or vomit it up . a●ter which it becomes of another colour , smell and taste , and also of a diff●rent nature and operation ; for whilst it remains intire and undigested , its colour is clear and white , its taste an innocent sweet , with a grateful come-off on the palate , its small pure , ai●y and delightful , but after the bee hath digested or separated it , and spued it up with her winters provision or store , then i loseth its white colour , and its pure ta●●e , and its airy smell , and becomes more strong , dull and unpl●asant , and in no particular so gratefully as whilst it remai●'d in the bag intire . it is further to b●understood , that this spagyrical or c●ymical art of the bees do sc●i●fl consi●● in the poys●● us root or sting in nature ; for the attractive faculty stands in the wrathful poysons of saturn , which powerfully attracts all things unto it self , and the s●paratire proper●y consists in the bitter s●ing of mars and mercu●y , therefore the chymical furnace , the bees labo●●tory , or that tool whereby they and some other flies perform these wonderful things , and separate the pure essential spirit and balsamick body of what they gather from the grose phlegmy qualities , is their sting , which is of a poysonous nature , as it app●ars , when they in anger leave it behind them in any animal , for presently the part rages and swells ; but when they have thus lost or dispoiled themselves of this sting or poyson , then they cannot be labourers in this spagyrical art any longer , nor draw more honey out of the flowers , but pure necessity compels them to become thieves and robbers , and live on the spoil of others , and thenceforth are called drones . now so it is , that most sort of flies do love honey , and all sweet things , as sug●r and the like , to feed on , but only those that are naturally endued with a venom or sting , are able to extract it ; for 't is by that sting that they separate the vertue from the vice , which is a wonderful arcanum , and may afford a most curious philosophical speculation ; for indeed it surpasses all the spagyrical skill of men ; for they make a present separation , and are not obliged to serment or sower their liquor before they put it into their limbeck ; for if they should , they could obtain only the fierce fiery wrathful spirit , as happens in all distillations of balsamick liquors , as wine , and the like ; but the bees extract the more pure substance , viz. the volatile spirits , tinctures , and sweet balsamick body , which in all distillations is destroy'd , and only the firce original fiery spirit preserv'd , which when it loseth its friendly companion , i●s amiable sun of true light , and sweet pleasant vertue , then presently it becomes a high lofty untameable power , of a fierce fiery nature and operation , as is manifest in all such spirits as brandy , rum , &c. which all prey upon the natures of such as accustom themselves to those fiery liquors ; of which , if poor mortals were s●nsible , they would hate themselves for their labours in that ●i●d , and kings and other gover●ou●s would make laws , not only against the i ●inkers , but against the inven●ion too of such pernici●us arts. wherefore th●n do our earned spagyri●● men spread their ●●ums so large and lo●tily , and keep such a clutter and boasting of their art and chymical medicines , which in their highest preparations are not to be compared to the skill and product of a poor silly fl●e● 〈◊〉 bee ? let us survey the method taken by these fiery philos●phers , and let reas ●n●judge what vertues are to be extracted from such preparations . first , when they t●ke any herb , flower , seed , crain or 〈◊〉 to make a m●dicine of , they put it into some mers●ru●m as they call it or liquor , wherein it may lie and ferment or sour , which does presently ●urn and suffocate the odo●iferous smells , pure v●la●ile spiri●s and sweet body , in which consists the true vertue and healing q●●lity of all things , both in the animal , veger●ble and mineral ki●gdoms : after this , they put it into the furn●er or lambeck , and through the fierce heat of the fire there will run off a brandy , or hot sulpherous spirit , which does contain only the fierce original s●irits , void of the middle quality , and all the seminal and balsamick vertu●s ; therefore such their spirits are at the end of nature , and you may add what balsamick bodies or sweets you please , th●y cannot be made to work or ferment ; and although such fiery spirits are good in some medicines , being properly mixed with things of a balsamick nature , yet alone they are not , because they have lost the medicinal vertues in their preparation ; for the healing vertue in all things proceeds from and consists in the benign and friendly quality , which the fire dissipates and destroys ; and as long as it remains , so long the pure smell and sweet pleasant taste of that thing continues ; but in the hot sulpherous fierce original fires the evil smells and nauseous tastes ( which most of the vulgar things called , medicines , are subject unto ) do consist . there is a certain maxime , though ☞ little understood or regarded , that all preparations , either in food or physick , that do not conserve the essential vertues of those things pretended to be prepared ( that is , the pure volatile spirits and sweet body , whence the true colour , pure smell and delightful taste , and all other good quali●ies , both medicinal and nutrimental , do arise and proceed ) such food and medi●ines can never answer the ends of nature , being weak naus●●ous , improper , and deprived of those very vertues whi●h should do the business for which they were administred . the truth of what is here deliver'd may be confirmed from daily experience ; for do not all vegetations quickly putrifie and rot when there is any violence offered , to the subtle spi●its and sweet qualities , whether it be by improper preparations , or other accidents proceeding from the elements . therefore there is required greater understanding and skill in preparing medicines , than most are either endued with or imagine ; for the amiable healing quality in all things is of a very subtle tender nature , and the pure nutrimental and medicinal vertues , lie , as it were hid , or captivated in the crude phlegmy body both in veg●tables , animals and minerals ; and when the artist would make a medicine thereof , he must either by the help of the coelestial fire and elements , or by the common fire , or some proper menstruums digest and open the gross saturnire and harsh martial body , which in all things does in some degree captivate the essential vertues and paradisical properties , but so delicate is the friendy nature , that it will not endure any kind of violence without great prejudice ; for being ( by opening its poyson , the crude body ) set at liberty and becomes volatile , if such preparations be continued any longer than the proper point of time , the essential vertues being already upon the wing , will presently fly away ; and if the friendly element the air have not its free circulation , then they become suffocated ; for the air is the life of the true and living spirit in all things . is not this clear and manifest in herbage , as hay , which husbandmen preserve for their cattel ; and in corn , if it stand after it is full ripe , or when cut , if it lie too long in the open air , will not the pure essential vertues depart and evaporate ? and then , do not all such things lose their natural colour , pure mell and pleasant taste , and so become of no use nor true ve●●ue either for food or physick ? the very same comes to pass in all housewifery and prepa ations ; if it be under-prepared , it is gross , heavy and full of flatulent ●ui●es ; if over , then its pure vertues become evaporated , and it will afford no good nor firm nou●ishment , but is of a ●●ull taste , a duskie or else martial colour . for example , bread , whose predominant quality stands in the ventrial and i●vial natu●e , and therefore of a pure white ; but the ●aturnine and martial heats of the or●● , where the friendly element , the air , hath not its free egress and regress , it becomes of a duskish brown or yellowish colour , and a rough harsh taste ; whereas if the preparation were proper , it would be white , smooth , soft , and of a sweeter taste , and easier of digestion . from what hath been said , it appears , not to be an easie matter in physical preparations and separati●ns to preserve the friendly healing properties compleat and intire , and yet at the same time open , digest and destroy the gross phlegmatick body , since the former is so apt to be violated , if great prudence be not used ; and if once this benigne quality be wounded , such foods or medicines become fulsome , fierce and nauseous to nature , far worse and of more dangerous consequence than they were whilst they remain'd crude , as being hotter and more fierce , because the moderator is gone ; so that it would prove much safer if the diseased took the crude herbs , &c. for then they would have the innate vertues , as well as the vice ; but after the common preparations , which most physitians and apothecaries use , you must be contented with a meer nauseate or loathsome medicine , in which the pure essential vertues are all , or for the most part , destroyed ; for all vegetations and other things , in which the properties and qualities of nature are unequal , either by nature , or rendred so by artless art , will be strong , and of a fulsome taste , dull and heavy on the palate and stomach , &c. and whatsoever is said here of the improper preparation of vegetables , and the evils that come thereby , will in a more especial manner take place in the spagyrical or chymical art , when it drives into the mineral kingdom ; for all or most of the benigne vertues or good properties of minerals are lockt up and captivated in the harsh poysons and gross crude bodies of saturn and mars , and their birth and generation is in the deep bowels of the saturnine cold earth , where the sun and elements have not so free influences and circulation through them , as they have on all vegetations and fruits ; therefore they are far more harsh , hard and poysonous , than those things that grow in the open elements ; neither are they in any degree so friendly and familiar to our natures , as herbs , fruits , grains and seeds ; therefore mineral medicines are of much more dangerous and fatal consequence than the others , if they be not prepared as they ought to be , that is , so as that the good vertues be not destroy'd ; for in vegetable preparations there does at best remain only a dull gross flatulent body , which indeed has no power to cure , nor very much to hurt . but nothing is more dangerous and poysonous than ill prepared medicines of minerals : therefore in si●kness i had rather fall into the hands of an unskilful gallenist , than of a rash and ignorant chymist , the last being much more to be dreaded than the former , though both are bad . and it is common with some that think themselves great in the chymical art , to take antimony and other minerals , and prepare them , and make medicines , which are tenfold worse than when it was in its natural crude body , as appears by its fierce poysonous operation ; for before its preparation a man might take forty , sixty or an hundred grains without any manifest prejudice , but when it has passed the strong sulpherous fires and calcinings of the chymists , then ten or twelve grains will do the business , that is , purge and vomit , as if it would rend and tear nature to pieces ; and if any should take but half the quantity that might safely have been taken whilst it remained crude in all its parts , it would prove an infallible cure for all diseases , by putting a period to life . whereby i●undeniably appears , that the chymist has not , as many falsly boast , by his art digested or meliorated the terrible fierce wrath and strong poysons of saturn and mars , and preserved the blessed and most aimable properties of venus , iupiter and sol , which last endue all things , in which they carry the upper dominion , with a gentle mild friendly nature and operation ; but on the contrary , they render the poysonous qualities more violent and intense ; and the benign properties in most mineral preparations are destroyed , suffocated and wounded by their fierce and improper fires , and for want of understanding in the time , so that the venomous wrath becomes tenfold more fierce than it was before ; and the chiefest matter they can boast of , is , that with much art and industry they have destroyed the good healing balsamick vertues , and so enraged the poysonous wrathful nature , that a less quantity will do their business . but let them know , that all the healing and medicinal properties re●de in the friendly principle , and in whatsoever food or medicine the amiable vertue or balsamick oyl is wounded , that thing thenceforth becomes abominable , so far from deserving the name of an help or remedy , that it is a meer nauseat to nature . it is further to be noted , that all medicines that are fierce , wrathful , poysonous , and unequal , in which the benign properties are impotent , and the fierce original dark powers so predominate , that ten , twenty or thirty grains or a few drops will affright nature , and put her into an agonious fit , as for the most part destructive to the well-being and health both of the body and mind ; for they do incorporate with their similes , and excite the lurking poysons in the body , and put a further dismayment on the weak oyl and pure vertues , the strengthning of which would be the right cure. and it is a very great chance if any such rough churlish medicines do any cure , but altogether the contrary . 't is true , many perhaps may recover after such physick , but that is no argument of their excellency or safety . if a physitian should have at any time three hundred patients , one might safely pass ones words , that if not one of them took any of his medicines , yet two hundred and fifty of them would recover ; and ye should the physitian in this case have the glory of curing them all , when in truth they owe the benefit solely to the mercy of god , and goodness of his handmaid nature . it is also to be considered , that there are some chymical preparations , as powders , and the like , that have no purgative or vomiting quality , nor any other manifest way of working or altering of nature , being no more sensibly felt than a crum of bread after it is in the belly . and these have been and are much cry'd up for the wonders they do : and in truth they are much to be preferr'd before the former uncorrected poysons , which rend and tear the body to pieces ; for these , perhaps , do not hurt , and what do they do , i am not able to say ; but most certain it is , that as many as happen to be well after the taking them , do attribute their cure to these silent medicines . however , this i will be bold to tell you , that in chymical , and especially mineral preparations , it is a very difficult point , and i think , more than any mortal man can certainly undertake to perform , to correct , allay and destroy the venoms of saturn and mars , and at the same time preserve the more amiable and friendly vertues , which are in their own nature so very subtle , tender and fine , that every little inconveniency or violence wounds them ; and the difficulty is hereby further encreased , for that in what medicine soever the original fires of saturn and mars are destroyed or wholly annihillated , the benign properties can no longer subsist ; for where there is no fire there is no light ; for the fire is the father of the light , and all life and moveability stands in the poysonous root ; therefore the artist must not annihillate those poysonous principles in nature , for they are the very original of every life , but his work is to correct them , that the benign principle and healing quality may arise and tincture , or shine through them , that so their strife may cease , and all the properties incorporate and embrace each other , and so attain the vnity , and then such a medicine will have power and vertue to tune the discords of nature into an harmony , and allay the irritated poysons in the body , and so awaken and strengthen the dismay'd oyl and fading vertues , and so the cure will be soon effected . thus it appears , that to take a crude poysonous mineral or vegetable , and open its gross body , and correct the venoms , and awaken the good balsamick vertues , that so they may predominate and tinge the whole , is one of the highest and most difficult points in the spagyrical science : but on the contrary , 't is no great matter to make a devil , being half made already , that is , 't is easie to make a thing worse , but hard to render it better ; for its vertues cannot appear till the poysons be moderated , which must be done by the artists helping hand , which to do , requires as great understanding as to obtain that wonderful thing , so much talk't of , but rarely , if at all known or understood , viz. the grand elixir or philosophers stone ; whereas indeed neither this nor the other can be attained by any humane study , learning , or industry , but only by the divine bounty and favourable mercy of the god of peace and true love. but however , it often comes to pass , that though the medicines be not prepared in nature's own way , nor so as to them narurally p●ofitable and homogeneal , yet nevertheless the prayers of the administer , and the faith of the receiver , may and do often work wonders ; for faith is ab●e to remove mountains . therefore many medicines , though in themselves imp●oper , have wrought great cures , so great is the power of zeal and faith , and sincere calling on the name of the lord , which is the only univers●l and infallible medicine , and surest port of safety . chap. xvii . of sugar and sugar-candy , their nature and operation . sugar is of late years become of almost universal use with all that have where with to procure it , which proves of evil consequence to most of them , especially women and children , who are the chief eaters thereof ; 't is in truth an excellent and rich fruit , being indued with the king of all tastes ; for sweetness is the best and richest quality in n●ture , being the moderator and qualifier of the bitter , sour , astring●n● or sal●ish quality , both in animals , vegetables and minerals , and from this amiable quality doth arise all beau●iou● colours , smells and tastes in meats and drinks , and other things , the house or cabinet of the pure volatile and essential spirits , the appeaser and qualifier of the fierce ●rathful saturnine and martial fires ; therefore in whatsoever things that sweet quality is impotent , the same become fierce , wrathful and harsh ; if in animals they are ravenous and cruel , as bears , lyons , tygars , butchers , souldiers , wolves , dogs , crocadiles , pikes , cormorants , sharks , vultures , and many others both on earth , and in the air , and water , of monstrous shapes and hideous forms ; if in vegetables , as herbs and fruits , they are strong , rank & poysonous , and much more in minerals . nevertheless , if this sweet and so much desirable quality shall be too strong , so as it were totally to captivate all the other qualities , as happens in sugar , and many other fruits , then its good and amiable vertues are turned e●il , for such are all extreams of whatsoever kind in nature , and of bad consequence , if it be no● properly mixed or incorporated and eaten with other things , or by it self very sparingly ; for many times the best things prove as prejudicial to health as those of less value , nay , more harmful to health , because they are more inticing . thus the too frequent mixing of sugar with our common foods and drinks , obstr●cts the course of nature , heats the blood till it becomes thick and putrified , whence proceed stoppages of the nerves , hindring the passages of the spirits , so that they become heavy , dull and impure , because the blood cannot freely circulate ; and these evils do in an especial manner take place amongst children , women and young people , who chiefly maintain the confectioners , and are the great devourers of sweet-meats . few there be that are sensible , or indeed so long as they live intemperately , can be sensible of the mischiefs of improper mixtures ; and as it must be confessed that sugar in its own nature is one of the best vegetables , so it must be affirmed , that as it i●an ex●ream or a thing unequal in its parts and qualifications , so whatsoever foods and drinks 't is mixed withal , it inclines them to its own nature , viz. to inequality , if care and wisdom be not use● ; and therefore is not to be used with e●●able fruits and grains , as wheat , and the like , nor with milk , nor several sorts of gru●ls and pott●ges , for they are all endued with sufficiency of this balsamick or sweet quality already . besides , the art that is used to make the juice or thin liquor of the sug●r-canes into sugar , does so alter and change it from its simple original , that it becomes of another nature and operation , as is manifest from the different tastes of the one and the other ; for the juice of r●pe sugar-canes has a most delicate fine simple , and as one may say , innocent sweetness , leaving behind in the mouth no strong taste or ill relish , but every way perfect , and without offence to nature , and a man may without weariness eat more thereof than he can of sugar , especially of fine sugar ; but on the contrary sugar after the first 2 or 3 mou●hfuls , doth not only leave b●hind it a●n us●ous strong taste or hug● ▪ but also quickly tires the eaters thereof . and as the mixing of sugar with the before-m●n●ion●d b●●ign grains and fruits is improper , so ●●kewise is it in vain to add the same to mart●al ●atu●nine and unripe fruits that are harsh , sour and bitter ; for unripe fru●●s can no more be made prop●r by mixing mature fruits with t●em , t●an brandy can be made wholsom drink by mixing sugar or sweets with it ; this you may perceive in the case of stale harsh beer , you may mix sugar with it , viz. such a quantity as will allay and hide the roughness and hardness of the beer , as to the pallate , and make it go down some-what pleasantly , but when it comes into the stomach , ( natures laboratory ) ●here she makes separation , then t●●● ●aturnine and martial harshness will again appear in its own form , and he●t the whole body , and generate the grav●l or s●one , if it find suitable matter : the same is to be understood in foods ; what stom●ch will be satisfied after a whole meal only of goosebery-tarts made of young green gooseberries made pallatable with sugar ? and so of all other things that are either unripe or unequal in their parts , and the reason is at hand , viz. because two extreams , though never so cunningly joyned , cannot produce a thing of a middle nature or equal operation , and agreeable to nature . but here perhaps some will object , if these good things , sugar , spanish fruits , &c. most not be eaten , wherefore were they made ? to which i answer ; the creator made all things for his own honour and glory , and made man in his own image , and endued him with divine and humane wisdom , by which he might be able to chuse unto himself the better part ; but this eye of the understanding he hath ●●ut out , by suffering himself to be pre●●pitated into all evil , su●erfluity and intemperance ; but the all-wise creator did never command mankind to encrease and make vast quantities , viz. a thousand times as much more as is needful of any sort of eatable or drinkable things , and then oblige them to swallow them down their throats for fear ( forsooth ) they should be spilt , or be counted useless , as if there could be any greater spoil than that which spoils both the thing and the receiver , or as if it were not better to let a thing remain seemingly useless , than to abuse it to my own destruction ? the truth is , the original of most superfluous and pernicious inventions , and also of such a prodigious encrease of sugars , spanish fruits , wines and spices , have chiefly sprang from the hellish root of covetousness , being promoted for the sake of gain , and to raise great estates , and to live a rich easie superfluous life , and not for any private or publick good ; and as their ends were bad , so the effects prove no better . some also will say , we have need of them , and why should we debar our selves of those things ? and thus if there were an hundred toys and needless novelties brought into england more than there is , they would quickly find footing , and the people would quickly have as much need of them as they have of tobacco , bra●dy , sugar , spices , &c. and that we have no real deed of any of these things is undeniable , since our fore-fathers lived not only as well , but much better too , that is , were stronger , lu●●ier , longer-liv'd and freer from diseases , before the use of such things , than their posterity are since ; nay , many discases which we now-a-days groan under , were not then known . but yet for all this it must be acknowledged , as i said before , that suga● is a brave noble fruit , and has its uses , but chiefly as wine , it ought to be taken and used as a cordial , or in a physical way , and not at every turn to be mixed with our common food and drinks , as most do at this day , it being o●e of the richest juices in the world , and therefore the fitter for cordials , when natu●e wants such recruits : but the too common use thereof is of ev●l consequence , particularly all sweetned drinks and foods do much forward the generation of the gout , and other obstructions and diseases in the body , which sim●le innocent foods will prevent , if temperance be at any ●ate observed ; but if suga● be now and then a little used in milk-meats and pottages for old people , it will prove grateful and benefical ; for of all sorts of people sweetned foods are best for the aged , and are least hurtful to them . touching sugar-candy and pan-sugar , i shall first discribe to you how it is made , and then shall the more easily make it appear how improperly it is used commonly amongst us . sugar-candy is made thus , first it is boyled as high as other sugars , then they take this syrup out of the pans , and put it into an earthen pot , and set it in an hot stove , there to stand eight or ten days , in which time the fierceness of the sulpherous heat does candy or coagulate it into an hard tough substance , and then you take it out from the syrup , and put this candy , or the hard lumps into the stove again , but made two or three degrees hotter , where it must remain ten or twelve days longer , and then it is done . there are two sorts of it , white and brown , but they are both of one nature and operation , and the chief use that is made of either , besides spoiling of childrens teeth , is to several sorts of people as a medicine , when they are troubled with coughs , colds and inward stoppages of the breast . now sugar-candy , as to its nature and operation , is the same in the radix as sugar , from whence it is produced , only it is nothing so good , nor of so cleansing and opening a quality as common-sugar , though the contrary is generally believed , but any man that wears eyes in his head , may from the before cited method of its preparation easily perceive my opinion to be true , for by that tedious unnatural preparation , and being made stronger of the lime , that thereby it may more easily harden and coagulate . this candid sugar must needs become of an hotter nature , and tougher substance than the common sugar , and consequently not so wholsom especially for those people that are troubled with colds or stoppages , for being by that way of preparing dryed , hardened , and brought into an hard glewy tough substance , of a slimy ropy nature , when it comes to dissolve , it naturally heats and stops the passages , instead of opening them , causing drought , &c. there being nothing more contrary and burdensom to nature in such cases , than this very thing which is given almost as an universal medicine to both young and old ; and therefore ought by all wise people to be abandon'd ; for all things in which the sweet quality is extream ( in which respect sugar is chief ) do dull the palate , clog and obstruct the stomaeh , stop the passages , destroy concoction , spoil the natural heat , making it weak and feeble , heats the blood , and renders it thick , whence proceed dull and impure spirits . therefore all such things ought to be avoided by ●ound and healthy people , but much more by such as are already obstructed , except they intend to encrease their maladies , which is often done by such improper means , it being a custom too general when any such disorder is on people , to make most of their foods and drinks sweet , that ( forsooth ) they may rot away the cold , as they call it ; never considering the evil consequences of such things , which are as far from any property to help such infirmities , as i 〈◊〉 is from darkness , and only 〈◊〉 blindness and ●olly have been and are the original of all such customs and inventions ; for in truth , such as find themselves invaded with such distempers , the best food is thin brisk gruds and pottages made in the manner we have taught before in the chapter of gru●ls , &c. also good raw salads , with bread and oyl , but oyl sparingly ; likewise bread and butter and all sorts of lean food that are light of digestion : and for drinks toast and water , water and rhenish wine , or water and white-wine , two parts water and one wine , or clear small ale , with moderate clothing and exercise in open airy places , which will gradually cleanse the passages , open all obstructions , and s●on remove those evils . it is further to be noted , that all sorts of sweet fruits , as raisins , figgs , and the like , being frequently eaten by such people as are subject to stoppages and colds , does encrease those distempers , by heating the blood and weakning the digestive faculty and natural heat , and generating evil iuices , except such fruits are eaten sparingly and with bread , which with such fruits is to be preferred before any other things mixt or eaten with them whatsoever : likewise there are various sorts of drinks made by boiling fruits in beer , ale , wine , and the like , with various sorts of herbs , roots , seeds , and druggs of disagreeing natures , and stoutly sweetned with sugar or honey , such liquors for the most part prove of very evil consequence to health ; for no sweet fruits ought to be boyled , neither for food nor physick ; for boyling does naturally evaporate and destroy the pleasing friendly opening qualites , and sends packing the purer spirits , as appears both by the fruits after they are so boyled , and also the liquor that they are boyled in , and the nauseous unpleasing taste which remains in both , which is the reason that all that use this way of preparation , are forced to sweeten such drinks with sugar or honey , or else they will not be drinkable ; but if you take any of the before-mentioned fruits raw , and bruise or stone them , and then infuse them in any of the said liquors , especially in common water , it will become sweet and pleasant , and far more opening and cleansing , and every way wholsomer : the same advantage you have when you infuse herbs properly gathered , dryed and preserved , and also seeds , drugs and roots , and all such drinks will have a pleasant taste , and be welcome to the stomach ; but if the same be boyled , it will be altogether the contrary , as having lost their essential vertues by the violence of fire ; for the pure volatile spirits in all sweet lucious fruits , are not only very powerful , but stand , as it were external , and on the surface , and therefore will not endure the fierce motion of the fire , as flesh , and several sorts of martial and saturnine fruits , grains and seeds will ; for in them the pure sweet vertues and spirits , are ( as it were ) lockt up under the harsh forms and earthly properties of the original poysons , and therefore cannot be brought out to manifestation , but only by the heat of the external ●ire . these things ought to be consider'd and understood in all preparations , both in food and physick , or else there will be but sorry diet and worse medicines . as for coughs , colds and stop●ages , ( for which people commonly use sugar-candy and pan-sugar ) the same are generally procured by ill-living , and intemperance in mea●s , drinks , exercises and habits , and also by eating and drinking too much in quantity , and things of a contrary quality , or improperly prepared . these things are the original inlets of your colds ; nor do proceed so much from thin clothing , as most imagine ; for if the inside be sound and clean , then there is but little danger of outward inconveniences ; but the best way for such as are of weak tender spirits and sanguine natures , and indeed for all sorts of people to prevent outward colds , and the evils that happen through thin and thick clothing , and by heats , sweatings , and the like , is to use themselves to change their clothes often . as for example ; such as stay in the house in the morning to put on one sort of clothes , and when they go out to put off their coats and wastcoats to their shirt , and put on fresh cold clothes ; and then again in the after-noon or at night , when they stay at home , and have no occasion to go forth , to put off their clothes they went forth in , and put on the others ; which a little custom will make so easie , familiar and delightsome , and so refresh them , that such as use themselves to such change of habits , will not be satisfied if they omit it : and for others who are subject to sweat by their labours , if it be extream , and more than is usual , then let them at all such times put off all their clothes , shirts and all , and put on fresh shirts and cold clothing ; and for such as over-travel themselves , and are sweaty and weary , let them also put off all their cloathing , and put on fresh ; but let both one and the other observe to sit still a little while before they either eat or drink . also , when you change your clothes , as to put on thinner or thicker , or when you put on new-clothes , which generally are warmer than old , you ought not to wear the thick or the thin , the new nor the old constantly , but to wear the new one day , and then on the morrow to wear the old or thinner again , and so by degrees you may wear either without danger to your health ; for nature , especially when weak will not admit of suddain alterations or changes , either inwardly or outwardly , without injury . but some will be ready to say , that it is not only troublesom to change a mans clothes so often , but also the ready way to procure great hurts by putting on old clothes when they are hot . and 't is confest , this may at first seem very improper ; but if the matter be better considered , our directions will not appear either unreasonable or unwholsome ; for does not every one , even the most tenderest people , and such as do often sweat a nights , and lie , ten , twelve or fourteen hours soaking themselves as in an hot bath , yet every morning rise out of those close hot beds , and put on cold clothes , without any prejudice to nature or catching cold ? and if so , why then should putting on cold clothes , when they are up in the cold open air ( which is far more tolerable than the former ) do them any prejudice ? besides , the putting on cold clothes , provided they be not wetor damp ▪ is so far from being an injury , that it is altogether the contrary ; for this fresh cold clothing shuts and closes up the pores , and drives the natural heat more central , which is the greatest security that may be to nature , causing a lively briskness through the whole body , sharpens the appetite , and helps concoction , enabling the natural heat to withstand the attaques of outward inconveniences : is not this further manifested in swimming , wading , and the like ? do not such exercises wonderfully beget appetite ? which is for no other reason but by the coldness of the water , which shuts the pores , and forces the natural heat more inwardly , which does in a moments time digest crudities and cleanse the stomach from all slimy superfluous matter , which did dull and fur the passages and hinder concoction ; so that you see what you fear as your greatest enemy , is your chiefest friend . is is further to be noted , that ●iggs , pru●ns , and also several sorts of nuts , as almonds , and many other things of like nature , that are the productions of hot climates , are not 〈◊〉 agreeable to our northern cons●●●utions , and ought not to be frequently eaten , or indeed not at all , except only with common bread , or in a physical way in opening drinks . the mischiefs of eating such fruits alone , may appear by their effects , viz. the stoppages and obstructions , thick blood , weak ioynts and limbs , and troublesome unnatural heats , possessing all the outward parts , whilst the more central are cold , whence proceeds dulness of appetite , and many other inconveniences , especially to women and children , who are the chief eaters of such things , to the great imparing of their health . the like is to be understood of green and candid gingers , as also all sorts of conserves and preserves that many of the more curious dames stuff their own and their childrens paunches with ; not forgetting the great quantities of the confectinners hodge-podge , and the cakes , the buns , the ginger-bread , &c. all which do wonderfully fur and obstruct the passages , and generate crudities , and indispose the stomach , and prepare matter for the regiment of diseases . some may think or say , that i talk after a strange rate : but if they be so discreet and wise as to consider the natu●es , ingredients and operations of the beforementioned things , or consult either doctor reason , or their near neighbour doctor experience , they will be of my mind . for there are as great superfluities , intemperances and disorders committed in meats and drinks , as there are in cloathings , houses and furnitures , but the mischiefs arising from the former are worse than those from the latter ; for excess , bad preparations and improper mixtures in foods and drinks , do an hundred times more injury to health and tranquility of body and soul , than the highest extravagances in ornament and clothing ; the one being external , but the other inward ; one is seen , but the other lies hid , and is felt to the disquieting of the body and mind ; and as it is less ornamental , so is it less excuseable ; for what are monuments that gluttons leave behind them ? verily nothing but an ill name , as stinking as their carcasses , weakly and d●seased children to curse their intemperances and fat houses of-office . chap. xviii . of the four principal tastes , or the bitter , the saltish , the sour , and the sweet qualities , and their respective natures . having occasionally in the fore-going discourse several times mentioned the sweet quality i shall here take leave to inform the reader more particularly of the nature of the four principal tastes or qualities , since the knowledge thereof will be very useful to all discreet lovers of health . the bitter taste or quality is the radix or central fire in every life , whether in animals , vegetables or minerals , it hath the strong might of the fire , whence ariseth the attractive quality , which draweth together the water in the air , and again dissipateth it , by which it becomes separable , distilling it self in drops and showers . and if men or other a●imals be dignified with this quality , then have they strong attractive faculties and great heats , and consequently eat much , and are subject to wra●h and fierceness , especially if the male aspects and configurations of the stars and elements be awakened ; for then presently this bitter harsh furious fire breaks forth , whence follows thunder , lightnings and terrible fierce storms of hail , rain , wind , and the like ; and if it gets dominion in the hearts of men , then follows war , d●solation of countries , burning of cities , devastation of towns , &c. also , this quality being incorporated with the pure spirituous parts or vapours of the air , clothes all vegetables with a pleasant lovely green , but it does differ , some deeper , some more light , all according to the strength of the salnitral vertue in each herb or tree . if this bitter quality be temperate , and dwell meekly in either men , beasts , or other thing , then it is a most friendly chearing life thereunto ; for by its central and pleasant heat , it dissipateth all malignity and evil influences , is the cause of all ioy and the root of motion : therefore men and all other creatures in whom this bitter quality is strong , are brisk , lively , active and nimble ; so vegetatives wherein the same doth bear sway , are powerful openers of all obstructions in the body , of which the antients seems to have been sensible , by their attributing opening cleansing vertues and qualities to bitter martial herbs , s●eds , fruits and grains . it is most true , that this is a powerful quality , and when it is temperate in any creature , causeth a pleasant noise or emotion , which in men we call laughter , in other things an elevation of spirits ; and when the astringent , sour and sweet qualities do equally incorporate , gives the brisk lively taste to all food , which renders it not only pleasant and delightful to the palate and stomach , but affords a profitable nourishmennt that will never tire the eaters thereof , being soberly used ; for equality and concord maintain their like properties , both in the body and mind . but this bitter spirit or quality hath likewise in it another species , viz. a fierceness and wrath , which is a terrible furious spirit , and the house of death , a corruption of all good , and destruction of the life in body ; for if it be too much elevated in man or beast , then it presently enflames the central fires , whence proceed cruel burning feavers , and other accute mortal diseases ; for this quality is the principal mother and kindler of the hot poysonous fire in all elements ; and when it too violently predominates in any herb , fruit , grain or seed , they are strong , fulsom , hot and bitter , not fit for food , nor indeed for physick , without skilful correction ; but if a wise artist takes them in hand , that knows how to ally their fierce martial poysons and hot bitter fires , then they prove excellent medicines ; and if any shall mix such herbs with their drinks or foods , as some do unadvisedly , by infusing of wormwood , or the like , in beer or ale , letting it lie too long , till it becomes almost rotten , by which means the volatile spirits become suffocated , then such liquours will be apt to awaken the bitter hot fulsom qualities , and prove hot and unpleasant , and send dulling fumes and vapours into the head , prejudicing both the eyes and brain . nor can the wisest cook make proper and agreeable foods or drinks of any thing in which either of the four qualities are extream ; indeed they may by various mixtures palliate and hide the excess , and for the present render them pleasant to the palate , but when the natural heat of the stomach comes to separate them , there still remains a touch of the old relish , and they afford neither a firm nor good nourishment ; and should any person be confined but a month to live only on them , he would perfectly loath them , which is a demonstration that they are not natural and wholsom . the saitish or astringent quality is the very original matter of every creature in the four worlds , it attracteth or naileth all things together , 't is the vestment of the spirit , and the true cloathing of life in all things , whether animal , vegetable or mineral , an harsh drawing property , which encompasseth and encloseth the life , spirit and power of every material being , whence proceeds the shell or body ▪ which serves to preserve the more essential parts from being evaporated , suffocated , or otherwise violated : thus if the skin , shell or body of any thing be any ways hurt , then presently the most essential parts are disturbed , and the spirit of life suffers , and becomes wounded , it being the first and the last in all things ; and when this coagulating or saltish quality is temperate in any creature or vegetation , being equally incorporated or mixed with the bitter , sour and sweet properties , it renders it benign and pleasant , and operates in number , weight and measure ; for 't is this sharp quality that gives that delightful pleasurable taste in all meats and drinks . but if this astringent quality be too highly exalted , if it be in humane nature , it becomes a terrible fiercess , and inflames the bitter root or fire , whence are engendred in the body diseases of a tearing stoney wrathful nature , as the gravel , stone , gout , palsies , agues , &c. or if it happen to be inflamed in the water , then it engenders scabs , tedious sores , small pox , leprosies , dropsies , and the like ; but if it be violently enkindled in the 〈◊〉 quality , then follows consump●ions , general w●stings of the radical moisture , plague sores and great pox ; or if enflamed in the sour property , then the palate forfeits its taste and good relish , thence arises loss of appetite , stoppages , sour belchings and vapours , windy diseases , and cruel obstructions of the stomach and passages : and when this inequality happens in any sorts of foods or drinks , then they are astringent , harsh , sour , sharp and unpleasant both to the palate and stomach , binding the body , and generating the gravel and stone , and various other diseases , according as it finds matter in each constitution . and though cooks and others do by their divers ingredients and improper compositions hide or captivate this harsh saturnine fire , so that it cannot be felt , or very little tasted on the palate ; nevertheless when the natural heat of the stomach has made separation , then the aforesaid ill juices become manifested and exert their harmful operations and effects , as all may know , if they will but give themselves the leisure and heed to observe it . for example , take any kind of harsh astringent fruits , and allay them with sugar , spicies , spanish fruits , flower , butter , milk , or any other balsamick pleasant things , and make it up together for food , as in pyes , tarts , and the like , then make your whole meals thereof for several days together , and you shall certainly find an unpleasant sour keeking or qualmish gnawing or griping at your stomach , as if it were always unsatisfied . the sovr quality , when it is moderate , opposeth in any creature , or other thing , then it opposeth all extreams , both of the bitter , sweet and astringent properties , being of a cooling refreshing nature and operation , it makes an excellent temperature , giving a most pleasant taste to all sorts of food , causing them easily to ferment and digest , so that they become , as well the most pleasant as the wholsomest of foods , being a quick lively powerful quality , the true habitation and delight of the pure spirit ; but if this quality be too weak in any creature , then they are dull , sottish and heavy ; if in foods , unpleasant , and apt to cloy both stomach and palate ; but when it is too highly elevated , it engenders sadness or melancholy , causing a stink , or putrifaction and rankness in all animals ane vegetables . the sweet quality opposes the other three , being an amiable , blessed and pleasant property , comforting and refreshing every thing ; 't is an asswager of wrath and fierceness , a calmer of storms and tempests , and gives all things their pleasant and friendly look , affords the pure spirituous fragrant taste in vegetables , whose fair , yellow , white and ruddy colours do all from hence proceed ; 't is a glimps of the divine ray , a qualification of love and mercy , the sweet solace and ioy of every created being ; and when it is temperate and moderate in any thing , bearing a gentle sway over the martial and saturnine properties , then such creatures are sanguine , of friendly dispositions and temperatures , of tractable humane inclinations , and all meats and drinks in which it does a little predominate , are endued with concord and equality , as bread , milk , mild ale , beer well brew'd and fermented , cyder , wine sufficiently allay'd with water , &c. such foods and drinks do by consent administer a proportionable nourishment by equal portions to all parts of the body ; for this good quality does sweeten and allay the bitter hot fires of mars , and opens all the doors of the melancholy astringent chambers of saturn , by its friendly influences . but still this amiable property doth contain a fierce wrathful poyson , which is the root and very center of every beeing ; for if there were no harsh nor fierce wrathful fire , there could neither be any light or love , and when this lurking poyson is too violently kindled in the bitter quality in the element of water , then it engendereth many disorders , as botchy s●es and leprosics , which quickly corrupt the flesh ; but if it be kindled by the heats of mars , then it infecteth the element of air , and occasions a suddain and spreading plague , that corrupts all in a moment . so when this quality shall too violently bear sway in foods and drinks , they thereby become heavy and dull , apt to clog both the appetite and the stomach , hot in operation , making the blood thick and sharp , and consequently the spirits impure , the senses stupified , the understanding clouded , the joynts loaded with pernicious juices , &c. by all which it appears , that whensoever any one of the four qualities before-mentioned , does too violently predominate , or is inflamed , it presently kindles or awakens the hot bitter astringent poysons , whether it be in animals or vegitables , so that the central fires which lay hid or captivated in the sweet oyl begin to burn fierce , and appear in their own form. most people that enjoy riches and plenty may know this by their daily experience as when they have drank freely of wine or strong drink , doth it not first too violently burn up and waste the sweet oyl and pure volatile spirits ? it s either by evaporation or suffocation , and thence follows excessive heat , so that all the body burns with a burthensom and unnatural flame ; whereas before the intemperate drinking of such unequal liquors , all the body and members were cool , brisk , and full of life and pleasure ; yet the same fierce wrathful central fires were then as strong and powerful , only they lay hid or captivated in the sweet oyl , and pure spirituous parts , which is the moderator of those central fires , but when by inequality or disorder that sweet oyl or humor radicalis is wounded , then these original poysons appear , and manifest themselves in their fierce forms and natures , which so long as the good vertues were strong , they could not do ; for these four qualities are set in opposition to each other , that thereby the fierceness of each may be temper'd and mitigated , that so all creatures , animals , minerals and vegetables might be brought to a fit temperature , by the embracing and incorporating of the said qualities each with other ; for the sweet quality opposeth and moderateth the fierce elevation of the bitter , astringent and sour , and maketh an harmony , resulting from them all ; and the sour quality opposeth the fierceness of the bitter , sweet and astringent , being their cooling and refreshing life ; so again the saltish or astringent quality makes an excellent temperature in the b●tter , sweet and sour , as the bitter quality opposing the excess of the other three , reduces them to equality , making them more p●easant and gentle in their operation . therefore all sorts of food and drinks , in which any one of those qualities are too highly exalted , become unequal , and the predominate quality presently incorporates with its 〈◊〉 in the body , and thereby discompose it , destroying the health and harmony of the parts . but on the other side , all mean simple meats and drinks , in which the properties are near equality , and have no manifest taste that does too violently predominate , do by sympathy embrace and incorporate with their likenesses in the body , equally distributing proper nourishment to all parts and members , which makes the whole lightsome , full of joy and pleasure ; if this were understood , a little practice of temperance would make many loath themselves for their disorders , and their continual affronting of nature , causing her to lose that simple innocent way , wherein she delights to walk to health and felicity . chap. xix . of drinks , and particularly of canary . i now proceed to speak of the most usual drinks at this day used amongst us , especially such as are esteemed most cordial , and prescribed many times in a kind of physical way for diet , or in order to the preventing or remidying of diseases ; and because the richest of our drinks is canary , i shall begin with that . canary ( commonly call'd sack ) is a brave noble juice or cordial , one of the most excellent drinks in the world , far transcending any cordials prepared by the apothecaries , or any juice which the best of flesh affords ; the same being enriched with the choicest vertues of nature , being too rich for common drink , but nothing more cherishing and reviving , if taken on special occasions , when nature doth require a recruit ; and indeed the intent of those that first brought it into england , was for no other use : and therefore the first ingrossers and buyers thereof were apothecaries , who sold it again to their patients in small quantities , as by the advice of physitians , which then was of good use for the comforting and chearing sick weak decay●d people , it being endued with a brave balsamick body , yielding abundance of pure subtle spirits ; its predominant quality stands in the sweet body , therefore ought not to be frequently drank in times of health , its vertues being too great for common use ; for that which is extraordinary good in season , may prove of ill consequence when used unseasonably ; for the common use thereof dulls the edge of the appetite , weaknes the natural heat of the stomach , and spoils the concoction , and for that reason a very little will satisfie those that drink much of this cordial liquor ; besides , it replenishes the whole body with superfluous humours and evil juices ; for all sorts of wine are extreams , especially sack , and though it e●ceed in the best property of nature , yet the frequent use of such high graduated drinks may prove as prejudicial to the health and strength both of the body and spirits , as things of meaner vertu●s , nay , much more harmful ; for all extreams , or things in which any property of nature is too highly advanced , ought to be taken very sparingly , and as physick rather than food . 't is a dangerous error to imagin ( as most people do ) that the sweeter and richer drinks and foods are , whether simple or compound , so much the better or stronger nourishment they shall ●fford . whereas the clean contrary is true ; for nothing can maintain the body and spirits in good health and tranquility but such meats and drinks as are simple , and nearest the equality . for drinks wherein the spirit is predominant , if not taken very seldom and sparingly , are apt to destroy the action of the stomach , and to incorporate with their similes , viz. with the pure natural spirits , and balsamick vertues in the body , causing them to burn too violently , so that an evaporation or suffocation of them follows ; therefore although whilst such spirituous drinks are in operation , all the spirits of him that hath drank , are in an hot rage or tumult , and he forgets all sorrow , modesty and temperance , and by the awakening an unequal motion of the spirit , skips like a wild asses colt , and sings and rants , and becomes brisk and jolley , and in his own floating imagination as great as a king ; yet when a little sleep has quell'd this tumult and dissolv'd these fumes , you shall find the poor creature with much fewer spirits and less oyl in his vital lamp , than he had before the merry carrouze , and he is weak , and faint , and feav●rish , and goes trembling , and looks as dejected as a conquer'd city ; which shews what spoil and waste , what hav●ck and desolation the strong spirituous liquor has made upon his natural spirits ; and this is a sure demonstration , which all t●ue topers cannot but subscribe to and confirm from their own wretched experience . moreover , all rich sweet wines and cordial liquors , if frequently drank , though not the degree of disturbing the brain , do yet heat the blood , and put it into a kind of disorderly ferment , and set the gate of venus open , and makes men too effemenate and women too s●lacious , being not at all agreeable to our northen constitutions ; therefore if healthy people will drink wine , they ought to allay it with water , and then it makes a drink more equal and more wholesom , viz. two thirds water and one wine . and for such as are weak , sick and fainty , if they would have stronger cordials than our own country affords , let them drink some wine , which is the choicest of cordials , and higher graduated in nature than any other liquor that can be made by art ; but if men and women addict themselves in health to guzzle down the richest wines daily , as many thousands do now a days , what must they have for cordials in their sickness ? for their bodies being so habituated to wine , that will have no operation to help them . shall they take brandy and rectified spirit of wine ? alas ! this too they have already made their common drink , and wine is long since become too cold for their destroy'd stomachs , even when they are in the best health they are capable of ; and b●andy , rum and vsquebath are scarce able to furnish out so much warmth and activity to the natural heat , as to digest a small dinner : now when such people come to be sick , ( and to be sure long they cannot continue well ) what cordial shall be prescribed for them ? i believe the learnedst doctor in europe cannot tell , unless he should make them swallow two or three ladles full of scalding lead , boyling pitch or flaming brimstone : they are at the end of nature , and therefore cannot arrive any higher ; for those that drink strong ale and beer in childhood , their nature shall require wine in their middle years , and brandy in old age ; for nature as it grows old , becomes weaker and colder , and so requires more hot spirituous drinks ; and therefore wine and such strong liquors are drank with most advantage by the aged . and if children and young people be used commonly to drink water ( which will be most for their healths ) then small or middle beer or ale will be as cordial to them , and warm and comfort them as much in their middle age , as wine will , that drank strong ale or beer in youth . and to speak truth , no sort of drink does maintain the spirits and natural heat in such vigour and strength as mean liquors , viz. such as are of the middle nature , or nearest the temperature , viz. good water , or well-brew'd ale or beer of a middling strength , or wine allay'd with water , as aforesaid . but now , most are grown to that degree of blindness , excess and folly , that nothing will give their ●oracious desires and greedy ●aunches satisfaction , but such drinks as are strong , hot and unequal in their parts , which indeed is like themselves ; for ever since man hath suffered his desiers to enter into discord , he cannot but desire such disagreeing meats and drinks , for every like desires its likeness , and is its highest joy ; inequality begets discord , and concords peace . therefore all plain simple meats and drinks , are for certain of the greatest strength and vertue , and the only maintainers and continuers of heal●h and long life . and english people have need of no other or better drinks and cordials than may be made of our own seeds , grains and fruits , as ale , beer and cyder , which may be made to what degree of strength and goodness you please ; and being well prepared , are far more agreeable to the constitutious of english people , than the liquors that come from other counties . but all thick strong ale and harsh , bitter , or stale , strong beer , is very injurious to the health , as also double beer , which is now a fashion , but never invented by philosophers . the common drinking of such drinks does strike at the very sinews of health , being much worse than wine , especia●ly than wine and water , which is 〈◊〉 commendable clean healthy drink , that beg●ts app●tite , cleanseth the stomach , purgeth●y vrine , and is endued with many excellent faculties , and if it were the growth of our own country i would commend the use of it to my country-men , but being a dear drink , and therefore not come-at-able by the middle or meaner sort of people , i shall forbear to speak any thing more of its vertues , only i advise the physitians and apothecaries to use and prefer wine , especially right rich racy cana●y as their best and general cordial in times of disorder and sickness ; and do commend all people in general , to that brave mild friendly drink , viz. ale , made and brew'd according to our directions in the book , entituled , the way to health , long life and happiness , &c. there also you will find an account of the vertues and vices of beer and common ale , and which is most agreeable to nature and best to preserve health . chap. xx. of sherry . sherry ( by many here in england call'd bristol-milk ) is a fine cordial wine , as good for common drinking as cana●y , but nothing so rich ; being mixt with wa●er it begets appetite , helps concoction , cleanseth the passages , and purges more by vrine than canary , neither is it so apt to weaken the natural heat , nor lead the lovers thereof into consumptions ; but as it is a strong wine , and heady , discretion and temperance ought to regulate the use of it ; for being too frequently drank , or in too great quantity , it may prove of ill consequence : to which purpose , most of those observations we have made upon canary , may also conveniently be referr'd unto this sort of wine . and though i am forced to use repetitions sometimes for the readers sake , i take no delight therein for my own. chap. xxi . of white-wine . white-wine is a brave clean brisk drink , if moderately taken ; it begets appetite and purgeth by vrine ; yet it contains two qualities that are not friendly to nature , especially if frequently drank , viz. heat and a keen sharpness , whereby if temperance be wanting in the drinkers thereof , it will quickly kindle and irritate the central fires of mars and saturn , which will not only indispose the body and spirits , by putting them into an unnatural flame ; but in some complexions generates an hard gritty matter or substance both in the reins and bladder : therefore this , as well as the other wines , ought to be well allay'd with water , which will bravely moderate , cool and sweeten the hot sharp properties thereof , and bring them near the equality ; and then , viz. 〈◊〉 th●s sort of wine is thus allay'd , two thirds of water to one of wine , it is one of the best stomach-drinks that i know ; for it powerfully helps concoction , washes and cleanses all the passages and vessels , and ●egets appettite , and gallantly purges by vrine . but if too frequently drank alone , as the custom of most is , then it heats the blood and fumes into the head , and after a little custom of drinking , is so far from being a whet , ( as our tavern-haunters , to excuse their morning-debauches , call it ) that it dulls the edge of appetite , and hinders concoction , and breeds the stone or gravel by its sharpness and heat , and yet at the same time purges powerfully by urine , by reason of its pure thin spirituous and balsamick vertues , but notwithstanding that torrent of urine , it leaves behind it an hot harsh or gretty substance , which in some natures or complexions doth generate an hard stoney substance ; and indeed all sorts of drinks or foods in which either hear or sharpness doth predominate , are not proper nor healthy to be frequently drank or eaten ; for all such things do by degrees awaken and strengthen their like properties in the body , stealing on them , as it were , insensibly , till such matter hath gotten strength , then presently they put nature into an unequal motion ; for which cause all old wines , ( which some so much love and commend ) are injurious ; for the longer any wines are kept after they are fit to drink , the clearer , sharper , brisker and hotter they become ; for length of time does , as it were , digest or waste the sweet balsamick vertues , by which they become more sharp , harder and nearer to the strong original spirit : therefore all old wines and stale drinks do more heat the body , and sooner irritate and awake the natural heat , than new ; it being a grand error for any to imagine that new wine or ale is not so good or wholsome , or does not afford so proper a nourishment as old wine and stale beer ; for indeed the former is far to be preferr'd before the latter ; for the milder , sweet and friendly any drink is , the more true nourishment it affords both to the body and the spirit ; and the reason why such liquors do not so soon and so much heat the body and irritate the spirits , is because new mild or sweet liquor contains more of the balsamick body , which does qualifie , and as it were captivate the fierce original spirit , so that it can hardly be tasted or perceived . not but that in all new or balsamick drinks , whether wine or ale , there is contained a far greater quantity of spirits than in old wine or stale beer ; for the more gentle and the sweeter any liquor is , the more spirits it contains , as all that are versed in distillations well know ; for such as make spirits of mault-drink do always distil ale , not stale beer . and so in boyling strong sweet wort , it shall waste more in quantity in one hour , than small wort will in three ; and wherefore is this ? only because the strong sweet wort has a greater body , mild , friendly and balsamick , containing a larger quantity of pure spirits , that will not endure the violence of boyling without evaporation . likewise , the older any sort of drink is , the leaner it becomes ; for as the sweetness digests by length of time , so the original hot fierce spirits seem not only to be more in quantity ; but stronger too , but it is not so , only the sweet pure body or friendly quality is weakned or digested by long keeping , which was the allayer or moderator of this hot spirit ; for a quart of new ale contains more spirit than a quart of stale beer that was originally of like strength and sweetness ; the same is to be understood of new and old wine , and other drinks . for which reasons we conclude new wine is far more wholsome , healthy and agreeable to nature than old ; and ale , when well-brew'd , and according to the rules set down in our way to h●alth , &c. is to be preferred before much boyled or stale beer , and so of other drinks , especially by all such people as are subject to the stone or gravel , who must observe to drink mild gentle friendly liquors , that are neither sharp , keen nor hot in operation , as middle ale , water and wine , and water . the same rule they ought to follow in their food ; for some sort of victuals are altogether as apt to generate the stone and gravel as any sorts of drinks , if not more ; therefore all such foods and drinks as are of a middle nature , and nearest the simp●icity , are always safest , as to health , and for preventing all kinds of diseases . chap. xxii . of rhenish-wine , its nature and operation . this sort of wine is a kin to white-wine , but more substance , a brave noble juice , an excellent cleanser of the stomach , whereby it begets appetite and helps concoction . nevertheless it is endued with an hot sharp quality , which when the same is too plentifully drank , heats the whole body , and is apt to precipitate the drinkers thereof into feavers ; and as for such as by their complexions are any thing subject to the stone , it will help forward the generation thereof ; for though this wine doth naturally purge by vrine , yet there is in it an hot or harsh quality , that heats the blood and congeals the humours with a saturnine or gretty substance ; for all sorts of drinks and foods in which the hot sharp quality does predominate , are friends to the generation of the stone and gravel : but as every thing has in it a latent poyson , and yet carries always above it its own antidote , if wisely handled ; so if this sort of wine be discreetly mixed with water , and drank only with food , or when nature require , then it will prove one of the best sorts of drink , not only to beget appetite , help concoction , and cleanse the stomach , but also prevent the generation of the stone and gravel ; for this drink does purge by vrine , as much , if not more than any other . the truth is , all sorts of wine drank in health , ought to be allay'd with water , or otherwise taken very sparingly ; for there must be a sympathetical agreement between the meats or drinks and nature , both in number , weight and measure , or as near as may be , or else the tranquility and health of the body and mind cannot be continued ; but such as are ill or faintish may drink now ▪ and then a glass of intire to great advantage of their health , being the best of cordia●s , if used with discretion . as for old hock , a sort of rhenish , of which some will now and then boast , that it is twenty or thirty years old , i will only say , that then it has been kept seventeen or twenty five years too long . the keeping of wine to that age was only to gratifie conceit , vanity , ostentation and a drunken humour , and to offer the greater violence to nature ; for how improper all such very stale supernatural wines are , we have mentioned in the last chapter . and if people would be but so kind to themselves to observe the distempers of their bodies , and what feaverish heats they labour under after the drinking of such stale liquors , they would certainly for the future forbear them . chap. xxiii . of claret , its nature and operation . claret is a good stomach-wine , of a brisk chearing operation , the moderate use thereof helps concoction , and begets appetite , but it purgeth not so much by urine as white-wine , being of a rough or harsher nature , but of the two more agreeable to english-men's stomachs ; if healthy strong people drink frequently of this wine , 't is apt to make them fat , phlegmatick , especially such as therewith use little exercise , as gentlemen , citizens , and the like ; for no creature , man or beast , will be fat , except they be given up to idleness and superfluity ; 't is true , some people , and some beasts will with the same meats and drinks be more full and fleshier than others , but not fat : others that use exercises , and but ordinary food , seem to be fat , but for the most part the same is a distemper , as watry dropsical humors , which in some puff up the ●embers and swell the body ; but the chief reason claret-wine makes gentlemen , citizens , and the like , fat , is for want of exercise , and by its agreeableness with the stomach , which sharpens the appetite , and opens the vessels by its rough harsh quality , whereby they are inticed to eat great quantities of fat rich foods and so passing their time without due labour , they become over-grown with fat , like cram'd capons ( their beloved dish ) or swine in a stye . yet it must be acknowledgeded , that claret is the best of wines , for those that eat abundance of fat flesh and succulent foods , for by its rough keen quality , it digests and separates such oyly foods , as many of our english epicures too frequen●ly gormandize , which milder sweeter liquors cannot do , as canary , ale , or the like ; for this cause many that eat such fat foods and sawces made with butter , do so m●ch desire brisk spirituous drinks , finding that such liquors do best digest them . but yet they are to know , that the frequent use of such drinks will weaken the natural heat , so that by degrees the appetite of such people grows dull , and the vessells of the stomach are contracted , and then their stomachs will desire still more and greater quanties , and to drink them oftner , till at length health is utterly subverted , and nature debilitated ; for ( i cannot say it too oft ) the frequent use of all spirituous strong liquors , being unequal in their parts , do in a little time beget the like inequality in the elements of the body , and instead of preserving health destroy it ; for there cannot be a better thing than a glass of claret , or a dram of brandy , or the like , now and then when people have eat too much in quantity , or foods too fat or gross in quality ; but i know no necessity for those spurs and helps , except to such as lead idle gluttonous lives , but for others who feed on plain simple foods and middle drinks , and use proper exercises , and keep within the ●ounds of moderation , they shall have no need to drink a glass of claret before dinner as a preparative , nor a dram of brandy after for a restorative of their natural heat , to help it concoct their simple natural foods ; for such innocent natural diet will maintain the natural heat in great vigour , especially if the friendship and advice of temperance be observed ; but if temperance be wanting , then the necessity which men do thereby bring upon themselves by drinking of claret , does sufficiently revenge it self upon their bodies as well as purses ; for it heats the blood , sends fumes up into the crown , destroys the vigour of the natural heat , awakens the central fires , makes the stomach ( by its continual use ) flat and dull ; by which means , drinkers of this wine can fast long , neither can they eat heartily with appetite , except they do fast a considerable time , which gives a further occasion to a phlegmy fatness , which many of its common drinkers are subject unto ; for those persons that are of the phlegmatick-melancholly , phlegmatick-sanguine , or phlegmatick-chollerick complexion , if once they get the habit of drinking this sort of wine , though they do not well love it , yet their nature will seem to require it , so that if their purse be but strong enough , they must have a glass or two or three before dinner , to clear their stomachs of that gross slimy matter which their over-nights d●bauches , or superfluous evening draughts have occasion'd and left behind and four or five glasses at dinner , as a spur to force it down , and five or six more after dinner , with a file of pipes o● toba●co to help concoction . this is the trade which some gentlemen , and too many ci●izens drive , which not only wastes their esta●es , and destroys their health ( which is the greatest enjoyment in this world ) but also beclouds their intellectuals , stupifies their senses , destroys that true natural pleasure of eating and drinking , which is one of the greatest where health is , and a well-prepared appetite , joyn'd with a clean stomach , free from obstructions ; for he that has a full-spread table every day of various sorts of rich compounded foods , with strong drinks and wine , is a thousand times more weary and glutted with it , and hath nothing of that pleasure which the poor man ( who eats his bread and cheese in the sweat of his brows under an hedge ) enjoys . nothing so much ●loys and oppresses the appetite and stomach as always to have varieties of flesh and fish , compounded sawces , pudd●ns , pyes , broths , bisques , oglio's , and the like extravagant ●ur●iture of gluttony , enricht with east and west-india● ingr●dients , and follow'd with heaps of sweet-meats and lucious fruits , and other kickshaws . this all that use such intemperance , may know by their own woful experience , and by the great number of diseases , they do through wantonness contract , and yet ( their brains being sunk into their bellies , and their vnderstandings buried in the ordure of their swelling paunches ) they have not the wit to consider it , but finding their stomachs dull , weary , and apt to loathing , never thinking of the true cause thereof , will needs go about to mend this defect of appetite by invented new dishes , and more poin●nt saw●es , and greater variety of compositions foollishly imagining thereby to cure all , as if they would quench fire with pouring on oyl ; for too much of this was indeed the original cause of their grievance . therefore let all men , that prize the health either of their bodies or minds , fly such excesses , and the pomp of glut●ony as they would do the pestilence ; and for such as have a desire to drink of this charming ruddy wi●e , they ought to allay and mix it with water , two thirds water and one wine , but if you drink it commonly or frequently , then three fourths water and one wine , will be enough , which will be an excellent drink to beget appetite and cleanse the stomach ; it also purges powerfully by vrine , cools the body , makes the blood thin and fine , whence proceed brisk lively natural spirits , senses , intellectuals , dispositions and inclinations . chap. xxiv . of cyder , its nature and operation . cyder , if well made and fermented , is a fine brisk or quick drink , and that is best which is made of good sound and proper apples , of which there are various sorts , as redstr●aks , p●ppins , pearmains , iillyflowers , golden-p●ppins , and many others well known to the makers of cyder , and therefore needless here to enumerate . but this ought to be noted , that the apples you intend for cyder , be they of what sort soever ▪ ought to be ripe before they are gathered , and afterwards to lie in an open airy room for two , three or four weeks , in which time , by the apples sweating the phlegmatick raw quality will in some degree be digested , which will ●●nder your cyder sweeter , of a better b●dy , and more balsamick than that whi●● is made of apples either unripe ▪ or made into cyder as soon as they are gathered . note further , that those that would have a sweeter , st●onger and better bodied cyder than ordinary , ought in some degree to observe the rules as are usual in brewing , viz. not to press your apples too hard , as commonly is done , but to half press them , and then put them by for a smaller cyder ; for the first that runs off , when you do but gently squeze your apples , ( as flowing almost of its own accord ) is much sweeter ▪ and more balsamick than that which is pressed forth with violence from the harsh centre of the fruit , and consequently is stronger and more spirituous , as from the mault , that liquor or wort which runs off first is many degrees better than the latter ; for though it must be confessed , the case is not altogether the same , because the mault has passed through several digestions , which have open'd the closset of saturn , and set the sweet spirituous quality at liberty , just upon the wing , by which it readily gives forth its good vertues , yet the analogy holds in apples and other fruits ( for nature's operations are unifo●m , he that rightly understands one link , will easily compr●hend the whole chain ) for if you observe , you shall find , that any sort of fruits will , when any violence is offered to them , first give forth their more sweet vertues and pure spirituous qualities , as if you bite a piece of apple , will not the sweeter and more pleasant juices be extracted first ? and so by degrees yield that which is harsher and more unpleasant ? the astringent properties of saturn and the hot bitter harsh qualities of mars are the first and last in all vegetations : the same we find in the stomach ( nature's laboratory ) does not she separate and extract all the balsamick and good vertues first , to the supply of nutriment for all parts of the body ? as you may perceive if you give your stomach any occasion of casting , if it be within an hour or two after you received your food or drink , then it will be somewhat sweet , very tollerable , and come up easie , but if this puking happen long after , as sever , eight or ten hours , then it will be very nauseous , bitter , sour , and of various colours , as yellow , green , and the like , whereby 't is evident that the bitter parts are drawn away first . so if apples be pressed hard , there is forced out an hard , harsh , astringent , ●our property , which may cause such cyder to ripen sooner , and be thereby fit to drink in a shorter time , but it will also cause it to fret , or become of a keen sharp nature , and often causes it to sour , more especially if such cyder shall be put on a fresh ferment by carriage ; either by land or sea. now to know when you have drawn enough from your first gentle pressing , the best way will be to taste your juice as it comes from the press , and when it begins to taste any thing harsh , unpleasant or bitterish , then hold your hand as to that , and keep the juice of the latter pressing by it self , as brewers and housewives do their latter wort. if this course be duly observed , your first running from the press will make a noble balsamick cyder , altogether as good as white-wi●● or claret , and perhaps better than either of them for our english bodies , if drank temperately . and as it will be thus much better than your common cyder , so it will keep longer from being sour , sharp or eager , and consequently continues more friendly to nature . another , or new way to make cyder . take the first or second juice you press out of your apples , and put it into a kettle or copper , and make it ready to boyl , or boyling-hot , but not boyl , then put it into coolers for that purpose , as you do in brewing ale or beer , and when it is at the degree of coolness , as is usual for wort , when set a working , then put a convenient quantity of yeast of barm to it , and let it work , observing the very same method as is done in working and tunning up beer and ale , and when it hath done working stop it close up . this will be a brave full-bodied wholesom cyder , keep very well , and drink pleasant and mellow ; for this heating and fermentation does digest that crude phlegmy quality which makes cyder drink lean and sharp , from which also it often gets a sour quality . but if you would have your cyder to keep long , or draw as beer and ale does , and not grow flat for a month , two or three , then when you have heat your juice or liquor , as aforesaid , so that it begins to be hot , put in what quantity of good hops you think fit , and let them infuse a full half hour , but let it not boyl , and then strain it as you do wort , and put it into your coolers , and when cool set it a working , as before directed ; but therein observe two things , 1. that you do not let it stand too thick in your coolers , 2. nor put it in to working before it be sufficiently cold ; for if either of those accidents happen , it will cause the irritation or awakening of the saturnal and martial poysons , which will destroy the balsamick vertues or s●eet quality , by causing it to ferment too fiercely , which is cal●ed fr●●ting , and causeth all sorts of drink to grow hard and stale in a short time . this last sort of cyder will not only drink pleasant , with a good body , but will also keep a long time , and draw or ●run good as long as beer or ale , and not flatten , as is usual for cyder ; so that you will not be obliged to the trouble of bottling it , which for families , and the common use of an house , is tedious and chargeable , and not so wholesom , as i have demonstrated in my way to health , in the chapter of beer and ale. note , that you may boyl your cyder , either small or strong , and use the same order as common brewers do in making of beer and ale , and some people of late years do manage their cyder accordingly ; but in my opinion it is not so good as that which is made either without boyling or heating at all , or that which is only heat , without boyling , as is before mentioned ; not but that which is boyled may be made very good ▪ and to drink , full and satisfactory to the stomach , but still the former is to be preferred before it . no sort of cyder ought to be kept above one year , i● th● drinkers thereof regard their healths though it may be kept several years in bottles , and drink pleasing to the palate of many people , especially such as have dull flat crasie cold stomachs , but as i have told you already , no stale drinks , whether wine , cyder , beer or ale , are so homogeneal and profitable to nature as those that are newer , provided they be first sufficiently fermented ; for the longer any fermented liquors are kept after they have obtain'd to proper ripeness and clearness , the harder , keener and sharper they grow ; and therefore are not so agreeable and friendly to nature as milder , fatter , or full-bodied drinks ; for every thing being come to its mature age , does by degrees tend towards the centre , and decline ; for there is no standing still in the operations of nature . thus in all drinks the keeping them a proper time after they are made does digest a gross phlegmy quality , which would make it drink fulsom or nauseous to the palate and stomach , which a little age consumes , even as it comes to pass in all herbage , as hay , which when new cut down is sweet and faintish in comparison of what it will be when it has lain half a year or more in the rick or mow , but if such hay lie too long , viz. three , four or seven years , then it becomes dry , harsh , and of less vertue and substance , and in no respect so good , as in its proper time : so when fermented drinks have reached to a proper degree of age , or digestion of the more unpleasing and phlegmatick juices , then if it be continued much longer , it goes as fast backwards towards its original , and the sweet body or balsamick vertues are by degrees wasted , and as it were , eaten up by the fierce hungers and eager properties of the dark original forms , viz. of the saturnine and martial natures , which are greedy devourers of the amiable sweet balsamick body ; for the harsh astringent bitter fierce qualities of nature are always and in every thing the first and the last ; are not your curious delicate well-tasted apples in the beginning of their generating , or whilst they are young and green , harsh , astringent , bitter , sour , and very unpleasing both to the palate and stomach , affording a juice or nourishment altogether as ungrateful to nature ? but through the sweet influences of the coelestials and elements , the solar , iovia● and venerial qualities are awakened and strengthned to that degree that by their benigne particles they moderate , allay and qualify both the astringent , bitter and sour harsh properties , so that each of them does with an hearty and corteous friendliness incorporate and imbrace each other , whence does proceed that lovely pleasant taste , smell and colour , which being once become full ripe , if they be kept much longer they will decay and fall into putrifaction , and neither be pleasant nor wholesom , and just so it is with the liquor that comes from them after its kind ; if it be kept too old or stale , it proves injurious to health , being of a hot tart keen nature and operation , which heats the blood , irritates the pure spirits , causing weariness and hot i●dispositions to possess the whole body and generating various diseases , according to the nature of each constitution and complexion , it being ig●orance , vanity and custom that have and do make so many 〈◊〉 and use such over-stale liquors , not that ever any found any real benefit thereby ; for 't is a never-failing truth , that all sorts of drinks are best whilst the p●re vola●ile spirits are strong , a●d the balsamick body potent ; and that the same is not only the wholsomest of all others , but the most pleasant too to the palate and stomach , and in every respect more agreeable to the needs and operations of nature . chap. xxv . of mum , its nature and operation . mum is a brave balsamick liquor , very wholsome for melancholy phlegmatick complexion'd people , if they observe the rules of temperance , viz. to drink it sparingly , as also for those whose food is dry , hard and lean , as course bread , ordinary cheese , flower'd milk , herbs , and lean pot●ages . but this sort of drink 〈◊〉 another species or property , viz. it is of an hot strong nature ; it dulls the appetite , sends fumes into the head , and is nothing so good , healthy and wholsome as clear well brew'd ale ; for being much being much boyled with the martial ingredients , they do not only suffocate , evaporate and destroy the pure thin su●tle spirituous parts , but it thereby becomes of a thick gross tough substance , and consequently harder of concoction , so that the natural heat cannot so easily separate and digest it , as other clearer finer drinks , as ale , cyder , wine and water , and the like : for this cause , it is not good for such as live at ease , and eat fat rich compounded strong food ; for it naturally heats the blood , and makes it thick , generates heavy dull spirits , whence proceeds hot unpleasant dispositions ; for it being unequal begets the like inequality , both in body and spirits , so that the common use of it lays foundations for diseases , more especially in cholerick and sanguine complexions , and all children and young people . chap. xxvi . of coffee , its nature and operation . coffee is a new liquor , invented by the turks and heathens ; for being by their alchoran or law prohi●●ted all wine , they wanted something to spend their time in , and be a companion to their tobacco , of which in late years they take great quantities , and therefore gratified their appetites with this liquor , which in few years is grown into much esteem and practice amongst the english , more because it is a new far-fetcht drink , than for its vertue , though it must be acknowledged to be one of the most innocent and harmless drinks that is used in publick houses , and brings the least inconveniency to the drinkers thereof , only it wastes precious time and occasions many discourses which were better let alone . this sort of drink ought not to be used , but in a physical way , by such as are troubled with fumes and d●lling vapours that fly up into the head , and thereby stupifie the senses ; also it is profitable for such as have brought upon themselves such distempers by too large drinking of wine and strong drink , or by weariness , labour or fasting , and for such as are troubled with the head-ach . but for others that are well , and not troubled with any of the aforesaid inconveniences , they ought not to addict themselves to the frequent sipping of this black broth , though there is not so much mischief to be apprehended from it , as from strong spirituous drinks . yet it is not without its inconveniencies ; for nature does not effect any kind of inequality . now coffee is a saturnine and martial d●ink , it derives it sooty colour and naus●ous taste from saturn , and its bitterness from mars ; for the iovial solar , and venereal prop●rties are destroyed in the preparation , or making it into ●owder , that is to say , the ●ure subtl● or volatile spirits and oyly balsamick vertues are suffocated , consumed or evaporated , by the harsh fire , by which it becomes fixt in the properties of saturn and mars , and for that cause prevents funes from flying up into the crown , or at least it sends none ; for all things in which the pure flying spirits , sweet oyly vertues and natural colo●r are destroyed by preparations , are of a dull heavy nature and operation , and of no good smell , colour not taste . therefore this liquor dulls the appetite , and if frequently drank , obstructs the stomach , and generates evil juices . one of the chiefest reasons why the turks at first invented and made coffee a common drink , was to allay the fumes and stupifying poysonous vapours , caused by the common eating of opium , which ill custom most of them art subject unto . now opium is apt to disorder the eaters thereof by awakning the natural spirits , and then stupifying and besetting them , even as the superfluous drinking of our wine and strong drin●s does ; for those mahumetans being forbidden the intoxicating iuice of the vine , had an itching desire to disorder their brains some other way , so fond is d●praved humane nature to make it self mad ( as we see by the indians , when once they have tasted rum or brandy , how passionately they will beg for more , crying , a little more , and then to s●ep ) so at last they found out this way to debauch themselves with eating of opium , whose poyson by custom and frequent use they have rendred easie and familiar to them , as also they and most of our people have done tobacco , whose predominant quality does likewise stand in the same poysonous root ; but to allay the stupifying fumes and vapours , which opium and tobacco send up into the head , they frequently drink coffee ; for the invention of this liquor was not for any pleasure , as most other drinks have been , as wine , ale , beer , cyder , and many others , which do not only exhilerate the spirits , but are of a most pleasant taste ; whereas coffee altogether on the contrary , is very distateful to the palate . would men but be so kind and friendly to themselves as to observe the rules of temperance and cleanness , a very little coffee would serve , though it hath it uses in a physical way , as is before mentioned , and no otherwise , it being an improper and unequal drink , therefore not good for common use or at every turn daily , or two or three times a day , as now a days many thousands amongst us , especially in london and great towns do . it is further to be noted , that several of our own grains will make not only as good coffee , but in every particular like this sort , both in smell , colour and operation , if it have the same preparation ; for the species of coffee before it is prepared is of a white flowery substance , as our grains are , and if you take wheat , barley , ry● or oats , and prepare it in every respec● 〈…〉 coffee , it will have a like taste , 〈◊〉 ●mell , colour and operation ; for there will only remain or lie hid in a saturnine powder , the fixed salt , which no fire can destroy , and this too will stop or repress ●umes and vapours as well as the other , but whoever uses either of them frequently and wantonly , the physical vertues thereof to him or her will cease , and have little or no effect , and therefore were it palpable that men in general are set upon conceits , and wedded to humours and custo●s , and mad after things new and forreign , it would be a wonder to see such swarms of people so fond of this nauseous exotick liquor , which always carries its own brand along with it ; do but consider its taste , colour and smell , and compare the same with proper and agreeable drinks , as water , al , beer , cy●er and the like , how vast is the difference ? has not water ( that u●iversal mother of all drinks ) a pleasant friendly mild or meekly taste , and to underbauched palates , the most grateful of all liquors , of a clear whitish colour and aiery smell , and agreeable to all creatures , because the four qualties there stand and have their operati●● 〈…〉 equality ? is not ale pleasant , sweet , brisk , spirituous or ba●samick taste , its colo●r solar and iovial , with a comfortable smell ? the same is to be understood of all other proper drinks , whereof the moderate use does ●hear , and refresh the spirits , and maintain health and strength . but c●ffe● has none of these inviting properties , for its natural vertues are burnt up and totally destroyed in the preparation ; it s love●y white and yellow c●lour , which proceed from venus and sol are turned into a saturnine bla●k , and its sweet spirituous taste into a naus●ous fu●so●e bitter , with a sm●ll unpleasant . and therefore the drinkers thereof are forced to drink it very hot , to hide the ungrateful taste ; whereas heat destroys the pleasant taste of proper and natural drinks . and for this reason coffee is dull on the palate and stomach , very apt to obst●uct the ●assages and ●inder digesti●n , and ought not to be drunk but in the way of medicine ; for there is as much and more reason for any person to burn wood , herbs or ●rains to ashes , and then take those ashes and infuse them in hot water , and when 't is settled or clear , to drink it ; ●or such sorts of ●rinks are ●edici●es proper for several diseases , but by no means to be drank as common drinks . in a word , coffee is the drunkards settle-brain , the ●ool● p●ss-time , who admire● it for being the production of asia , and is ravisht with delight when he hears the berries grow in the desarts of arabia , but would not give a farthing for an hogshead of it , if it were to be had on hampstead-heath or banstead-downs ; 't is the sawce for news , the busie-mans recreation , and the idle mans business , the lazy prattlers colourable pretence to spend his money and more pretious minutes vainly , and whilst he is censuring his superiors , and new-vamp●ing the government , his wife wants shoes , and his children cry for bread. but since the indiscretion of the age has rendred sipping and tippling almost necessary to bargains and business , and that men , especially in cities and great towns , many times cannot so conveniently transact their negotiations , nor discourse their private affairs , as in such places where there is liquor sold , a dish of coffee now and then to be drank by an healthy person , will not hurt him , nor make any variation , the quantity is so small ; but drinking of it frequently , and smoking tobacco therewith , is injurious to health ; yet strong sound bodies may drink or eat improper things , for continual custom will thereby render them less hurtful , especially if they be but small quantities at a time . however , the best and surest way for every one , is to let such forreign curiosities alone , and to take such meats and drinks only as are proper in quality , and therewith not to over-charge nature in quantity . chap. xxvii . of tea , its nature and operation . tea is another forregn drink , the use whereof hath not been long known in engla●d , the best that can be said of it is , that 't is a pretty innocent harmless liquor , it hath an opening quality , and purgeth by vri●e , but not so much as many of our own coun●ry-herb● , and its great esteem is not from the more than ordinary vertues that it is endued withal , but chiefly for novelty-sake , and because 't is o●tland●sh , and dear , and far-fetcht , and therefore admired by the multitude of ignorant people , who always have the greatest esteem for those things they know not . the truth is , our herb called dandelion ( that is in english , lyons tooth , because of the similitude of its leaf ) being gathered according to our directions in the way to health , &c. and infused in boyling hot water about half an hour , and then the liquor poured from the herbs , and sweetned with fine white sugar , is a far better drink than tea , though the latter costs sixteen or twenty shillings a pound , whereas the former may plentifully be had by most people for gathering , and is of far more use and vertue ; for it cleanseth the stomach , and powerfully purg th by vrine ; its natural taste is a moderate bitter , which being allay'd by sugar , becomes as grateful , if not more than the best tea . there are several other of our common herbs that will perform the like , which i shall not trouble the reader with in this place , only this i must tell you , that sage , pen●y-royal , mint , mother of thime , and garden th●me being gathered and dryed in their proper seasons , and preserv'd in baggs , will make more suitable drinks for our constitutions , and answer the end of nature's wants to a greater advantage than tea . chap. xxiii . of herbs and sillads , both boyled and raw. there are various s●rts of herbs and fragrant 〈◊〉 that are endued with most excellent vertues , many of which are so ravishing and sublime , that with the favour of a metaphor they may be called , the good food of angels ; and therefore they were the only food for man in the beginning , when he remained in his angelical state ; for till he defaced the image of god wherein he was created , every green herb and seed was his meat , and should have been to this day , if he had continued in that heavenly condition he was created in and to ; but so soon as he suffered his desires to wander after vanity , then immediately the original wrath got mastery , and the divine moderator became weak and impotent , whence arose that desire after blood and fl●sh , in which that outward life stands , and has birth from that strong might of wrath ; for the original of all life stands in poyson ; therefore when man ent●ed into the wrathful nature and un●qual ●peration of the original forms , which does cause such greedy inclinations , not only to eat fl●sh a●d 〈◊〉 , but also to fighting , killing and opp●●ss●o●s ▪ both of those of his own kind , and all the inferior graduates ; for according to what principle and quality doth carry the upper dominion in man's heart , whether love or ang●r , such food , drinks , exercises , and all other things he desiers , nature being always best gratified with that which has the nearest affinity to its self ; whence it appears that mens coveting flesh and blood , is a true sign and testimony of their miserable fall , and that they live under the power of the dark fierce wrath. — but i have discoursed more of this in my general treatise , entituled , the way to health , long life and happiness , as also i have there shewed at large the excellency of herbs , grains and seeds for food , whereunto i refer the reader ; and shall here only tell you in particular how to make the best and wholsomest salads , which if practised , may much conduce towards the praservation of your bodies in health . 1. take spinnage , pars●ey , sorrel , lettice , and a few onions , then add oyl , vi●gar and salt , a good quantity of each to make it of an high taste and relish , but let the salt a little predominate or exceed both the other ingredients , and eat nothing with it but bread , which is sufficient ▪ and will be much more grateful to the alate than if you eat bread and bu●ter , or brea● and cheese , or bread and meat , though all those things may be admitted , when you season your sallad only with salt and vinegar ; but it is not proper to eat butter , cheese or flesh with such things or sallads wherein oyl is mixed , there being but little affinity in the radix of oyl and butter or cheese , and the natural heat of the ●tomach doth not ●ike that food in which there are several sorts of fat things intermixed , of disagreeing natures ; besides , ●at is always heavy of digestion . another sort of good sallade . 2. take lettice , spinnage-top● , penny-royal , sorr●l , a few on●ons and pers●●y , and season it as before mentioned , with oyl , salt and vinegar . another . 3. take lettic● , sorrel , pepper-grass , spinnage tops of mint , and onions , and season'd as before . another . 4. take spinnage , lettice , tarragan , and pars●●y , with some leaves of balm . or , sorrel , tarragan , spinnage , letticee onions and parsley . or tops of penny-royal , mint , lettice , spinnage , sorrel and parsle . or lettice , s●innage , onions , penny-royal , balm and sor●el . or sage , lettice , spinnage , sorrel , oni●ns . and parsley , and seasoned as before . ano●her . 5. take sage , penny-royal , mint , balm , a few lettice , and some sorrel , and season it with oyl , salt and vinegar , as is before mentioned . this is a brave noble warming sallad , as indeed they all are , but this in a more especial manner . another . 6. take lettice , sorrel , endife , celery , spinnage and onions , seasoned as before . another . 7. take young green buds of colwo●ts , or young colow ●s , or colwort-plants , or a hollow c●lworty cabbage , with some onions . this is a good sallad , season●d in the same manner . some there be that will make sallads of hard cabbage , but they are but very indifferent ones . nor do i know any way of preparation that can make an hard white cabbage wholsome : many people admire it for its whiteness ; but though the pure white colour in some things is of excellent vertues , it is not so in this , because it is not natural for it to be so , but it comes to pass by accident , that is , because the friendly element , the air , hath not its free circulation and influence in and through it which causeth it to be so white ; whereas its natural genuine colour is green. and therefore , if you please to observe it , all white hard cabbages are more fulsome , and of a stronger nature and operation , either raw or boyled , than your open hollow greenish cabbages , and harder of concoction , and the liquor in which they are boyled is more nauseous , and will sooner putrifie and stink than that in which co●worts are boyled . therefore young green colworts and cabbage-colwots , are the wholsomest , more cleansing and easier of concoction . another warming chearing sallad . 8. take the green fresh leaves of colworts or cabbage plants , l●ttice , sorrel and parsley , tarragan , ne●tle-tops , penny-royal and mint , let the quantity of each be according to your palate , being season'd with oyl , salt and vi●egar , it is a brave warming or exhilirating sallade , if seasoned to the highest degree . sallads for the winter . take colwort-plants , sorrel , lettice , endife , celery , parsley , old onion●s , ( which are far better to be cut and eaten with sallads in the winter , than young ) and season them well with salt , oyl & venegr . this is of a warming chearing nature , and gives briskness to the spirits , opening and keeping the passages from obstructions and furring , which in winter they are most subject unto ; for then , nature having , as it were , lockt up all her gates , the central heat is driven more inward , which causeth great appetite of hard , strong , fat and succulent foods , and strong drinks , which where discretion , order and temperance are wanting , sows the seeds and lays the foundation for diseases , that commonly manifest themselves in the summer following , which the common and frequent eating of herbs and sallads in the winter , will in a great measure prevent . and though herbs have not so much life and vigour , nor are so much opening and cleansing in the winter as in the spring , yet all such herbs as do grow and continue fresh and green , do also retain their true natural vertues and qualities , and being eaten in sallads , and season'd as they ought , have in a degree the same operation as at other seasons of the year . this few people do understand or consider , but cry out , herbs in winter ! who will or can eat them then ? they are cold , and very hurtful — and this foolish false doctrine they receive by tradition from one to another , without any experience or tryal ; whereas a sallad well seasoned and ordered in december or ianuary , if the season prove open and mild , is as chearing , and ( being eaten only with good well made bread ) will warm the stomach as much as two or three glasses of wine , and is for more pleasant and natural ; ●or there is a greater excellency in all green herbs in the winter , than most imagine , especially for old people , and such as are subject to stoppages or shortness of breath , who instead of onions may use a clove of garlick in their sallads , which is one of the best ways of eating it , and it will bravely open , chear and warm the stomach . or you may make it thus : take l●ttice , spinnage , endiff , celery , and cut half an head of garlick amongst it , and then season it well with oyl , vinegar and salt. this is a brave warming sallet , and very wholsom . of the most proper times for eating of sallads sallads are not improper to be eaten at all times and seasons of the year , but more especially from the beginning of february to the middle or last of iune , for then they are more brisk , lively and powerful then at other seasons , and better able to cleanse , purge , open obstructions , sweeten and purifie the blood , and make pure fine spirits ; for the frequent eating of herbs do prevent that pernicious and almost general disease , the scurvey , and all windy humors that does offend the stomach . then again from the middle of september till december , and indeed all the winter , if the weather be mild and open , all green herbs are wellcome to the stomach , and very whol●om , because most people do then live 〈◊〉 hard strong substantial food ; and 〈◊〉 that can get them , on hot strong spi●i●uous drinks , which are apt to disorder nature , if temperance and some cleansing foods be not eaten between whiles . in the spring , nettle-tops , spinnage , corn-sallet , the young buds of cabbage and colworts that grow on stalks , and others of the like nature , being boiled ; for though when you eat herbs alone , as food , you ought not to boyl them , yet when you use them only as sawce , or a co●rective to flesh-meats , you may boyl such of them as are proper ) make a good sawce for such as eat flesh , they loosen the belly , help concoction , and consequently open obstructions , which the long winter may have occasion'd ; but later in the spring , as april , may or iune , there are several other excellent herbs , as lettice , soweed , spinnage , parsley , mint-tops , penny-royal , borrage , endiffe , succory , beets white and red , and many others in gardens , besides divers that grow common in the fields , as the red-dock , dandelion , comfory , and the like , which being boyled in plenty of good river or spring water , with a brisk fire ( and one of wood prepares any food best ) and the lid or cover of the vessel taken off as soon as they begin to boyl , till they are quite boyled , ( which will be in a very little time ) and then butter melted with water into a thick substnace , being put to them , and some salt , and then eaten with bread , or bread and flesh , makes a brave wholsom food — touching the nature of all green pulses , and that the frequent eating of them does generate crude windy humours , and thick gross blood , and are the occasion of several diseases ; see our before-cited treatise , viz. the way to health , long life and happiness , &c. how to supply the want of oyl in sallets , where persons do not love it , or cannot have it . for seasoning all sorts of green sallads i have mentioned oyl as a principal ingredient , and deservedly ; for nothing is more excellent for that purpose , it being called sallet-oyl from that very use . but whereas some people for want of use , ( or by i know not what secret antipathy ) do not love oyl ; and others many times cannot procure it , especially here in england , i shall here acquaint them how they may furnish themselves to supply the want of it : you must know then , that butter is our english oyl , the nearest thing we have in affinity to the nature of oyl , and designed no doubt by nature to serve our turn instead of it ; for no country yields all things , and yet such is the gracious providence of god , that every region affords all things necessary to the inhabitants ; if therefore you melt good butter thick , and pour it upon your sallad , it will relish and suit with it excellently well , and serve very conveniently instead of oyl , being so like it amongst the herbs , both in shew and taste , that an ordinary lover of oyl will not doubt but he has it ; and he that does not love o●l , may be sure he has it not , and both enjoy ( upon the matter ) as much vertue , for nourishment and wholsomeness as if they had eat the purest salad-oyl that is brought from beyond the seas . a curious secret , not commonly practised , and which i am confident many people will have reason to thank me for . chap. xxix . the best way to make herb pottage , not only in the spring , but also at all times of the year . take elder-buds , nettle tops , clivers , and watercresses or smallage , and what quantity of water you please preportionable to your quantity of herbs , add oatmeal according as you would have it in thickness , and when your water and oatmeal is just ready to boyl put your herbs into it , cut or uncut , as you like best , and then when it is again ready to boyl , take a ladle and lade it so that you keep it from boyling and when you have done thus near half a quarter of an hour , take it off the fire , and let it stand a little while , then you may either eat it with the herbs or strain it , adding a little butter , salt and bread , the best way will be not to eat it till it is somewhat cooled , and not past as hot as milk from the cow , and you are to remember not to let it boyl at all . this is a brave wholsom cleansing sort of pottege , far beyond what is commonly made . another sort of herb-pottage , take water and oatmeal , make it boyling hot on a quick fire , then take spinnage , corn-sallet , tops of penny-royal and mint , cut them and put a good quantity into it , let it stand on the fire till it be ready to boyl , and then lade it to and fro five or six minuits , then take it off , and let it stand a while , that the oatmeal may sink to the bottom , then strain it , adding butter , salt and bread , and when it is about blood warm , eat it . this is a gallant sublime pottage , pleasant to the palate and stomach , cleansing the passages by opening obstructions ; it also chears and comforts the spirits , breeds good blood , and makes the whole body lightsom . the same method you ought to follow in making all sorts of gruels and herb-pottages , be the herbs of what nature they will ; for the boyling of herbs , not only in pottage , but for any other use of food , was not invented by wise seers into the arcana of nature ; for it does , as it were , totally destroy the pure volatile spirits and balsamick vertues , as also the strong warming properties thereof . for this cause , raw herbs are much better , affording a firmer nourishment , better blood and purer spirits , and feel more warming in the stomach than boyled ; nor are they so apt to loosen the bowels . but if any shall make boyled herbs their food , though they prepare them by dressing them with butter , and the like , they will prove phlegmatick , cold and windy , with other evil properties , and not afford half so good a nourishment as if they were raw ; nor are raw herbs more windy than boyled , as some people , not for want of ignorance , suppose , but rather the contrary ; for the common eating of raw herbs does naturally resist all crude windy matter and gross juices , by assisting the natural heat and helping concoction ; they give life to the stomach , by opening the mouth of the appetite , and sharpen it , as appears by such as have dull flat appetites ; for when such shall come to a good salle● , it does ( as it were ) create or revive a stomach and good taste , whereas before they could relish nothing : also , they help to digest and carry off all heavy fat or gross food , and make it less hurtful , insomuch that some have been thereby cured of windy phlegmatick humours that offended the stomach , and consequently sent fumes up to the head , causing it to ake . therefore this was the way the wise healthy long-lived antients prepared their herbs , who made them one of their principal foods ; but now-a● days people do scarce eat them but as sawce . and as boyling of herbs does destroy the purer vertues and firmer substance of them , so that they become phlegmy , cold and windy ; the same is to be understood in all sorts of herb-pottage , whether for food or physick ; for boyling any sorts of herbs does in a moments time either suffocate or evaporate the volatile spirits of them , and then all the sweet pleasant opening cleansing vertues are gone , and they become like beer , ale or wine , that has lost its pure spirits , which is further evidenced by that strong nauseous or fulsom taste , ill smell and dull colour , all such boyled pottages have , so that very few care for eating them , unless they are forced to it , as they are to physick that is against their stomachs . for the pure sweet pleasant taste and lively briskness of all things resides in the power of the spirits ; which all housewives and preparers of food ought to consider ▪ and understand , as also the degrees of the fire , the quantity of water , and that the water be in sufficient quantity , and that the air have its free circulation , and to give it true time , or else none can prepare any kind of food without prejudice ; for in the sweet and spirituous properties stand the healing nourishing vertues , which will not endure any violent heat or unequal motion . to make garlick or onion pottage . take water and oatmeal , stir it together , and when it is ready to boyl , bruise as much ga●lick as you please , to make it either strong or weak , put this bruised garlick into your boyling hot gruel , and brew it to and fro with your ladle , that it may not boyl for five or six minutes , then take it off , and let it stand a little , then add butter , salt and bread , and eat it as warm as your blood. t is a brave warming cleansing and opening gruel , nothing so strong and nauseous as that which is boyled ; for this way you do extract the finer and purer parts of the garlick , and leaves the strong nauseous qualities behind ; but on the contrary , much boyling or boyling according to custom , does destroy the good opening cleansing vertues , and awaken the evil. chap. xxx . the best way to make diet-drink with herbs , grains , seeds , &c. or the proper method of ●nfusion of herbs in beer , ale , or other drinks . the best , proper and most natural way to make all sorts of herb-drinks , is thus , first , gather your herbs in their proper times and seasons , as we have taught in our ●ay to health , &c. then dry them in the sun , and put them into close paper-baggs ; and when you would use them , take such a quantity as you think fit , and put them into a linnen bag , and hang the same in your bear or ale when it is a working or fermenting , for two , three , four , five , six , seven or eight hours , and then take it out . ( but if you would make wormwood-drink , then you ought not to let it lie so long , for of that 3 or 4 hours will be sufficient . ) and thus if your herbs be rightly gathered and ordered as a●foresaid , all their good , pure and balsamick vertues will as easily and readily give themselves forth into the beer , ale , wine , or other liquor , whatever it be , as the pure sweet spirituous quality in mault does into the warm liquor when you brew , which is performed in one hour to admiration . but as in this example , if after you have put in your mault you should let the water or liquor remain six , eight or ten hours before you draw it off , then the pure sweet spirituous quality will become suffocated , and such over long continuance thereof will awake or irritate the phlegmy gross nauseous properties , which would , as it were , totally destroy all the good virtues , as every one that can but brew a peck of mault , may know by experience . so the very same is to be understood in infusing any sort of well prepared herbs ; for in such dryed fermented bodies or things , the purer vertues do stand as it were external , and when they are put or infused in any proper menstruum or liquor , they give themselves forth , first with all readiness , because the essential vertues of every thing consists in the volatile spirit , and balsamick or sweet body , which is an hidden flying vertue , whence the true colour , smell and taste do proceed : and therefore great care ought to be taken in all preparations , that this benign vertue be neither evaporated nor suffocated ; for then the thing will presently tend to putrefaction , and become a nauseate and loathing to nature . the learned are men of tongues , and so they may talk at their pleasure , but i do assure all the humble enquirers after wisdom's footsteps , that the long lying or infusion of any sorts of dry or gr●en he●bs , does destroy their good properties , as a candle by being held downwards is extinguisht by that which before fed it , and also do irritate the gross fulsom qualities thereof , as is plain by the ill tastes and smells of all such drinks , more especially if it be wormwo●d ; for then they become harsh , strong , bitter , and very ungrateful to nature , and no less unwholsom ; for the common wormwood-●●ink that is sold in al●-houses , is of a string , bitter , hot , fuisom natur● and operation , and the frequent drinking thereof does wound and destroy the natural heat , and by degrees spoil digestion , so that the drinkers thereof cannot be well without morning-draughts of their nauseous purt● ; such fort of drink especially if any shall drink much of it , being of kin to spirits and brandy ; those that are once much used to them , cannot without great difficulty leave them . the long lying of wormwood in the drink does totally destroy the subtle spirits and pure fragrant vertues , awakens the strong bitter poysonous quality , which not only checks and debilitates the natural heat , but heats the blood , making it thick and gross , causing the spirits to become heavy and dull , and sends up stupifying fames to the brain , which falling upon the optick nerves , do oft times extreamly prejudice the eye sight ; but if worm●ood rightly gathered and preserved be infused but for two or three hours when your drink is working , and then taken out , you will have all its good qualities , and a most delightful odoriferous drink , and unattended with any of those ill consequences ; if you love it very strong of the wormwood , then add a greater quantity , and not infuse it longer , as is usual with some . another way of making wormwood-ale or beer . take what quantity you please , more or less , as you would have your liquor strong or weak of the herb , infuse it for half an hour in your boyling hot wort , then strain it out , and put your wort a cooling , the very same way as i have taught in the way to health , of brewing , and infusing hops , which does far exceed all the common ways for goodness and vertue . wormwood-drinks thus prepared , either this or the former way , are brave noble liquors , gentle , warming , helpful to concoction , they fine the blood , send no gross fumes to the head , and therefore hurt not the eyes , as the common sort generally does . the same method ought to be follow'd in making all sorts of drinks in which any strong bitter herbs are infused ; and whereas the usual way of making such drinks does not only render them unpleasant but destroys all the medicinable vertues of the herbs . this new method which we recommend , makes them pleasant and grateful to both palate and stomach , and moreover preserves all the physical vertues ; for most bitter herbs do naturally and powerfully open obstructions , if they be wisely ordered , but otherwise they prove pernicious ; for every thing has two ●a●dles , and fire that is good to warm you , will also bu●n you , ●f you do not mannage it with discretion . chap. xxxi . of salt , its nature and operation . all common salt is of an high sharp penetrating fierce hot wrathful nature and operation , an unseparated body , wherein the poysonous fierce original fumes or qualities of saturn and mars are predominant , and therefore 't is unequal in its operation , except it be allay'd or moderated by some other thing whose nature is more equal . the sea or sa●-water is as it were , the original or fountain of the essential salts in each particular thing , whence does proceed the brisk sharpness and distinguishing matter in all tastes , and in what creature or other thing this essential salt is strong and powerful , that creature is brisk , lively , of good complex on , strong appetite and perfect palate ; if in vegetabl●s , then such herb● , seeds , grams , or fruits are vigorous , and of good colour smell and taste . this is that salt which the wise man saith , savours all things , and not that pillar of salt that lots wife was precipitated into , which was the strong original properties , where each form has its operation in strife and inequality , where there is nothing but sharpness , rending , tea●ing , bitterness and a poysonous fierce operation , of which the c●mmon salt is a true figure ; therefore it must be moderated with some mild or meeker body , to render it fit for humane use . hence if in any sort of food there be too great a quantity of salt , the same is very apt to heat the whole body , and consume the radical moisture , causing drought and uneasiness , and filling the body full of wind : it also heats and frets the blood with an it●hy or mangie humour ; and indeed common salt destroys all sorts of inanimate foods , as herbs , seeds , fruit● , or grains , if the same be not presently eaten ; for it preys upon the spirituous parts , and by its fierce hunger destroys the whole ; for there is no sort of food can be long preserved but only by its 〈◊〉 salt , as appears by intermixing salt with bread ; for that bread into which you put salt , will sooner decay than that which has none ; therefore bread that is provi●ed for the sea , where it must be kept very long , is always made without salt. and all b●kers and house-wives bread would be be much better , if they put none in , it being nothing but custom that makes mens palates expect or desire salt in their bread , and the less salt any shall eat , the less they will covet it ; for the mixing of common salt with sundry sorts of vegetable 〈◊〉 , does hide or e●lipse the fragrancy and pleasant taste of the essential salt , that it cannot be felt by the palate ; for as this inna●e salt is the preserver and keeper of each thing from putrefaction , not only in inanimate things , but also in all animals , and therefore a very little of our common sa●● will serve such as feed on veg●tatives ; for the less salt is put into those things , the milder , cooler pleasanter and easier they are of digestion ; for much sal● in food makes them not only hard of concoction , but heats and dries the body , and by simily stirs up and awakens the central heat , thereby endangering health . yet still , our common salt is a brave noble thing and of mighty use , as the world goes , for those that eat flesh and fish ; for it contains several qualities , especially two , viz. one strong fie●ce hot poysonous . another , sweet friendly pleasant , sharp and lively , but the first exceeds and therefore all sorts of flesh and fish that do lie or are kept long after salted , do prove pernicious to such as eat them ; for by length of time the corrupt parts of such flesh does with a greedy hunger eat up and destroy both the pure brisk sweet spiri●uous particles of the salt , and also of the flesh , and then such flesh or fish cannot be call'd back or recovered by a fresh salting , or any other art , to its former state ; and the reason is , because in such corrupt flesh there is no simile for the second salting to incorporate withal , therefore it will proceed to putrifaction in de●iance of all art. for this cause all flesh and fish that has been lo●g salted is injurions to health ; for it dries , heats and frets the body and blood , and is one great cause of the scurvey ; it also spoils and loosens the teeth and eats away the gums : but ●●ill , salt is very proper and wholsom to be eaten with fresh flesh and fish , and some sorts of flesh ( as b●ef ) may be salted two , three or four weeks , and if smoaked , it will continue good longer , and therefore the order used in bacon is very proper ; for salt , where it is moderate in food , doth quicken the appetite , and makes the stomach brisk and lively , especially for those who by some disorders or intemperances have wounded their health and hurt the essential salts , which makes the palate dull , and the stomach flat and unrelishing , and then people cry , — my stomach goes against both food and drinks ; more especially they are averse to all such meats or drinks as are compounded or made by art : but others , as for example , fair water , they can best take , it being more simple . the like is to be understood of foods ; but there is hardly any food so simple in all particulars as water ; indeed bread is a brave , mild , simple , friendly food , but the mixtures in making , and the manner of common baking does alter the case , and make it nothing so simple as water ; therefore water in all states , both health and sickness is pleasant and delightful to the palate , stomach and all the senses . for it is observable , that if you eat sweet things water is grateful after them , or any other foods of extream tastes , but other compounded or fermented drinks are not ; which does commend water to be the cleanest and compleatest drink of all others , and that people may and can drink it with delight in sickness , and when the essential saits have lost their savour , and also shews that the disease did not proceed from any of its qualities ; for when such loathing and distempers proceed from meats or drinks , as most commonly it does , then the stomach and palate do perfectly abominate all such things . thus in all or most sicknesses people chuse water before beer , ale , cyder or wine , and for foods had rather eat bread , fruits , and the like , than flesh , butter , cheese , puddens , &c. and most had rather eat fish than flesh , the reason is , because in health they seldom eat fish , and so the disease did not proceed from thence . likewise salt is a brave addition to butter and cheese , to preserve and keep it from putrifaction for a convenient season , but all sorts of vegetations are highly to be esteemed , for that they have in themselves the essential salt , sufficient to preserve them a long time from falling into corruption ; but that which is most to be admired is oyl , which tho' it be of an unctious fat nature , is yet so pure , and void of offensive matter , that it may be kept good several years , nor can the best salting preserve butter half so long . here you are to understand , that all sorts of food that quickly tend and turn to putrifaction are not to be counted so good as those that by their innate vertue and essent●al salt , will continue good a considerable time , as all sorts of grains , whe●t , barley , rye , peas● , beans , fruits , &c. since they are far more strong , firm and spirituous , than any sort of flesh or fish. not but that there is the same essential and pure s●lt in these , as in grains , or rather greater , but the gross phlegmatick body overcomes it , and as soon as the sensitive life is destroyed , the good vertues are in a moments time dissipated and tend to corruption , and though it be sal●ed , yet the salt doth not , nor hath any power to extinguish or purge forth this gross body of corruption , but the spirituous parts of the salt do incorporate and joyn with the essential parts of the flesh , and captivate the gross body for a season , that it cannot proceed to putrifaction , but in length of time , viz ▪ two , three , four , five , six , seven or eight months , the gross body continuing so powerful , and the more pure parts or essensial salts both in the flesh and salt do by degrees waste , suffocate or evaporate , and then the original fierce poysonous forms of saturn and mars grow strong and powerful , and with a greedy hunger quickly destroy all the remaining good vertues , and then all falls into corruption , from which there is no recovery . and indeed so powerful in flesh and fish is the gross phlegmy corruptive part , that there is no way found that can continue it very long from putrifaction ; the best course to preserve it sweet , sound and wholsome is to dry fish very well , and the same may be done with flesh , but with more difficulty , and this is far the healthiest way . but i know no reason why people should be so fond of this sort of morose food , or sustain any such difficulty to preserve it so extraordinary long , since the lord our bountiful creator has in a superabundant manner supplied and furnisht us with varieties of brave , noble , friendly and most fragrant sorts of sound healthy foods , easily providable , and which may in all particulars gratifie all the ends and necessities of nature . to conclude this matter — salt moderately used especially with flesh , fish , butter and cheese does prove of excellent use and benefit ; for it naturally warms , cheers , comforts and settles weak or disordered stomachs , prevents b●lching , vomitings , and other inconveni●n●ies o● t●at nat●re ; but if 〈◊〉 be immodera●ely used or eaten , then it hath the contrary operations . and in many countries where salt is scarce , people li●e very healt●y without it to great ages . for as he that drinks all water will never want any other drink , so custom makes every thing not only a second nature , but causes great s●eming wants to be where there is no real or natural cause for it ; and so salt is very unpleasant to such as have never or very seldom eat any . but some may say , how can fat foods or things be eaten without salt ? 't is true , if you have accustomed your self to eat plenty of salt with such foods , then your palate and stomach will not without trouble , and some reluctancy , receive them without salt ; but if you had never eaten any salt with them , then you would have counted them much sweeter without ; though all fat foods that proceed from beasts do really want salt , by reason of the abundance of gross humidity , but all f●t or unctious things that proceed from the vegetable kingdom , do not need any salt , they being so sweet and clean in their radi●●s , that if you incorporate salt with them , ( unl●ss it be just when you eat them ) i● will destroy their natural vertues ; which does further shew the purity and excellency of the one , and the evil or grossness of the other . and this let all men know , and that of a truth ; that there are no iuices , oyls , fat 's , or any thing of that nature , whic● depraved man makes food of , that a●e so rich , clean , simple , wholsome and grateful to nature , as the oyls , fat 's , &c. of grains , and other things that proceed from the vegetative kingdom . what production of animals is for food fit to be rankt in equal esteem with the oyl either of olives or nuts ? the former is enricht with such an essential salt in it self , as can for several years preserve it soun● and good ; whereas the animal fat is so gross and corrupt , that it will presently turn to putrefaction , if you have not the assistance of the grand pillar of salt , the fierce original or unseparated body . is flesh to be valued equal to bread , which is deservedly enti●ul●d , the staff of life , and under which we are taught by our lord to comprehend all things necessary to our subsistence here below , in that petition , give us this d●y●o●r da●ly b●ead ? is flesh , i say , ( ●hic● is gross humid● subject to putre●action in the hig●est degree , always attended with dying groans and dolorous cryes , rage , violence a●d oppression , and in it self bo●h not healthy , and also unpleasant to the palate and senses , if once enlightned , and not debauched by custom ) fit to be comp●●ed with bread , a brave , noble , f●●m , innocent , substantial , healthy food , and proper for angelical me ? nay , the fruits that proceed from the animal kingdom , viz. milk the most noble and useful of them all , cannot we use and dignifie with the most delicious juices that flow from the vegetative regions , as the various sorts of excellent wines , cyder , ale , b●er , &c. which if temperately used supply the wants of man , and gratifie nature to the highest , and by their ow● i●nate alt preserve their own bodies , without being beholding to the grand original pillar of salt ? what have you in your animal ●ore that can match the vast var●eties of noble fragrant herbs , seeds , grains , and fruits , whose number is beyond any humane capacity to coun● ? the one smells sweet , and fills the air with most plea●ant odoriferous scents , ravishing the senses of man , and serving ●im both for food and physick , vse and ●e sure ; whereas the other stinks , and fi●ls the ear●h with ordure , and sends up fumes alike unpleasant and unhealt●y , and by no art can long be preserved from putrefaction and rot●enness . and as in these , so in many other respects , the vegetative productio●s so far transcend the animal , as to food , that whether you respect innoce●cy or w●olsomness , d●light or cleanliness , there is no comparison to be made between them . chap. xxxii . of the scurvey , and its generation . the scurvey is of late years become an epidemical , or almost gener●l disease amongst english people , the principal causes of which are intemperance , and want of care in some of the following particulars : 1. by eating too much in quantity , beyond the power of the digestive faculty , so tha● the natural heat cannot make any perfect separation , whence crudities and noxious juices are generated , which do replenish the joynts and members , and not only cause the blood to be thick , but infect it with a sharp keen fretting quality , which discolours the flesh and skin , and makes the limbs and members ake with pain . 2. the frequent eating of foods that are of a contrary quality to the constitution , which do secretly wound the pure spirits , and put nature out of her natural way . 3. improper preparations of food , which do render them burthensom to nature , generating evil nourishment , bad blood , and i● pure spirits . 4. the frequent eating of moist phlegmatick food , which naturally dull , stupifie and drown the senses , and makes the sweet oyl burn dim , which causes indisposition and unpleasant humors . 5. the common eating of flesh , without di●●inction , or regard had to the season of the year , healthfulness or unhealthfulness of the creatures , which do as it were corrupt the very radix of nature , from whom proceed various diseases , as pthycks , stoppages of the breast , phlegm , and phlegmatick humors , which makes the spirits dull and impure , whence do arise heavy , lumpish dispositions , with ravenous fierce inclinations and cruel passions , which cause many of them to use such evil words , demonstra●ing that the dark center of wrath is awakened , and does predominate ; for all evil words are generated from the fierce wrathful or devilish nature . this every one ought to consider , as in those two common passions ; when the poysonous and fierce fury of saturn and mars is stirred up , are not most then apt to belch forth vain , wicked and hel●ish speeches as swearing , cursing , and not only impiously prophaning the holy name of god , but even challenging , and as it were daring his tremendous majesty , ( whose wrath is a consuming fire ) to damn and confound them , and calling their fellow creatures , dogs , whelps , sons of whores , devils , and a hundred of the like evil names . now consider o man ! from what root such word : do take their birth ? and so on the contrary , do not all good men , and ot●e●s , when pleased or in good humours , breathe forth am●cable loving words or discou●ses , there being more , either good or evil , in words than most imagin , for they declare what kingdom has the upper dominion in them ; nor is it unobservable , that the word scurvey denotes well and evil affection of mind , and a cross way-ward peevish ill conditioned d●sposition , as well as a disordered habit of body , and not without cause , since they both proceed from the same occasion or radical cause of mans precipi●ating himself into the dark ab●sse or cruelty , preying upon and devouring his fellow creatures . 6. the much eating of flesh and fish does generate in some complexions cloded blood , king's-evil , plurisies , scabs , leprosi●s , and many other mangie diseases ; or dropsies , heaviness of the spirit , and in some it causeth feavers , swellings of the members , also the gout , stone , and many other unnatural di●●empers ; which at last having reduced the body into a general discrasie or unnatural ferment , terminates in the scurvey , as so many stinking puddles into one common-shore ; for indeed the scurvey is a complication of several diseases and disorders , as appears by the various and very different symptoms , appearing on such as are afflicted therewith . 7. by eating most sorts of food , whilst the fiery heat is in it , not suffering the sulpherous vapours and ●erce , fumes to seperate , after 't is prepared , which causes a scorbutick itch to possess the blood , and swells the body with win●y humors . 8. by eating too often , that is , before the former meal be concocted , which does not only dull , and indispose the whole body , but also it generates crudi●ies and evil juices , which cause stoppages , and shortness o● breath . 9. by drinking too much in quantity of rich cordial-d●ink , which irritates and awakens the cen●ral spirits , and by degrees destroys the digestive faculty and natural heat , and hurts the blood. 10. the drinking small beer that is brewed after ale and strong beer , which is nothing but the washing of the grains , viz. a sour nauseous quality ; nothing breeds worse blood than the frequent drinking of such liquor . 11. the drinking of ale not well fermented , or such as has the barm or yest beaten into it , as is usual for brewers to do in london , to make it seem strong , sweet and full in the mouth , such drin●● is very offensive to nature , it generates phlegm 〈◊〉 th● stomach , dulls the edge of the appetit● , furs the passages , sends dulling fumes and vapours into the head , and breeds bad blood ; likewise new small beer and ale is pernicious . 12. by drinking stale strong beer , which is boyled a long time with hops , this sort of drink is pernicious , it heats the blood , swells the whole body , generates in some complexions a hard gretty substance in the reins and bladder . 13. by drinking various sorts of wine , when need and nature doth not require it , which do irritate the spirits , heat the blood , destroy the appetite , and indisposes the whole body . 14. by accustoming themselves to close houses , warm clothings , soft feather-beds , and lying long in bed , which does soften and weaken nature that she becomes impotent , and hinders the free circulation of the blood. 15. idleness , and want of proper exercise in open airy places , destroys the health and weakens the whole body . 16. by visiting the shades of venus too often , and forcing nature beyond her inclinations and power , which does corrupt her in the very radix ; and this is frequently done by ●●imulating nature with gluttonous provocations , high compounded foods , and rich cordial drinks , viz. such as need no teeth to chew them , nor stomach to digest them , that being done already in the preparation . 17 by carking cares and perturbations of mind , passions of love and hatred , superstition , envy , and the like . these are some of the intemperances that have destroy'd the health b●th of the body and mind , even in the very radix ; and indeed when i consider the various disorders that mankind daily commits , i cannot admire at the great number of cruel diseases they are afflicted with ; but rather i am apt sometimes to wonder that there are any that escape , or that so many do out-live childhood ; but it must be said , that through the custom of ill usage and disorders , great numbers do croud through many inconveniences ; as in the most fatal 〈◊〉 some escape . rules and directions for su●h as are wise and well minded , and would prevent the scurvey , and other diseases . 1. meats and drinks ought not to be taken ●hat are too strong for nature , but rather she ought always to be stronger than the food , and so the stomach and the natural heat will be able to digest and make perfect separation , whence will be generated good blood and pure brisk spirits , and they always make the body light lights●me and agile . 2. meats or drinks ought not to be taken that are of a contrary nature or quality to the constitution ; but such as are simple in their kind , agreeable to the ●omplexion , and as near as may be , equal in the●r parts , which will breed good ●lood , and encrease the spirits , and keep the passages free from obstructions , and give strength to all the members of the body . 3. neither ought any to eat to dullness ; for if healthy people feel themselves oppressed after meals , they ought to make abatement in the quantity . do not most people before eatting and drinking find themselves qui●k , brisk and lightsom , provided they have not , either by over-labour or fasting too long , evaporated or wasted their spirits ? but after their eating a●d d●inking , because they do it immoderately , they are sensible of a cloging heaviness & dull indisposition , which is a certain sign that the necessity and conveniency of nature is exceeded ; for the intention of food is to refresh , not to oppress or incommode her . 4. the pleasure of the palate in eating a●d d●inking is prolonged many degrees beyond the necessity of the stomach , especially where foods or drinks are made by art and compulsition , enticing , and many p●ople thereby over-charge themsel●es , before they are aware , whence crudities , noxious juices , and many cruel diseases are generated , and in the end death it self ; therefore let all persons watch over themselves in this respect , and take the wise mans advice , to set a knife to th●ir● throat ; that is , to take up a resolution of temperance whenever they find their appe●ites tempted , and like to be inveigled , and drawn in to excess . 5. your meats and drinks ought in every respect to b● properly prepared ; for food ill dressed does destroy health in a secret , yet powerful manner . s●me will but ha●f do it , others over-do it , both are great and dangerous errors , so that the s●omach cannot draw any good nourishment from it for the body , and so the blood is thickned , the spi●its wounded , and many diseases are multiplied . 6. all sorts of flesh , and other gross foods that are boy●●d , o●ght to be boyled in plenty of water , with brisk quick fires , without intermission , and as soon as they begin to boyl , the vessel should be uncover●d until it be done ; which will pres●rve the pure balsamick vertues and spirits , whence the pure delightful taste , smell and colour do proceed . 7. forbear to eat flesh without distinction , more especially in iu●y , august , september and oct●ber ; for then the flesh of all sorts of cat●el is more subject to putrifaction than at an● other season , not only from the heat of the weather , but because the sun is then declining , which causes all other things to do so too ; and the grass on which they feed is weak , fainty and phl●gmatick , which is the reason why their fat is then so soft and greasie that it will not duly take salt , and more especially if hard d●iven , as most cattel kill'd about lond●n , and other great cities , has been ; therefore in the foremention'd months the griping of the bowels and p●●nicio●s f●av●rs do reign more than at any other time of the year . 8. forbear the freq●ent eating of fish wit●out regard had to the season , or to their cleanness or uncleanness , or their being killed after they are taken , that is , by a wound , which would cause the free evacuation of the original properties of saturn and mars , which is seldom done by the ignorant fisher-men , but they let them dye , that is , strangle or suffocate themselves , whereby the pure spirits and sweet vertues ( by the agony of the creature at the departure of life ) are fixt or overcome ; for the original venoms , in which all life consists , are then so terribly stirred up and aggitated , that they immediately suffocate the pure spirits and sweet oyl , if there be not a wound made , whereby those raging poysons may freely pass away in the vehicle of the blood. for this reason experience , that all flesh , as of fowls , or the like that a●e strangled , will not eat so sweet and pleasant as others that have a wound made and bleed plentifully , but hath a stronger and grosser taste and smell , nor will it breed so good blood or nourishment as the other . 9. remember that you eat not before the former foods be digested ; nothing is a greater preserver of health than proper fasting , it cleanseth the stomach , keeps the passages from being furr'd , prevents stoppages , colds and shortness of breath , and makes people aiery , strong , and of good clean complexions . 10. drink moderate and simple drinks , not exceeding either in quantity or quality , for fear you waste and destroy your health ; and be sure let your drink be well fermented , clear and free from that yeasty quality , which most of your ale in london is subject unto ; nor such small-beer as is there commonly put off by chandlers , which the brewers make after the brewing of their ale and strong beer , being little better than the washing of their vessels and contains a sour nauseo●s property , that heats the blood and hurts the body . 11. let your ordinary drinks be mild and friendly to nature , not stale , hard , sour , nor too new ; for all these are prejudicial . 12. let your habit or day-clothing be moderate , rather thin than thick , whereby the pleasant vapours of the air may freely court nature , and be suckt in at the pores as by spunges on all parts , which will continually cheer , comfort and refresh the spirits and whole body , and makes your limbs strong , nimble and lively , preventing drought , unnatural heat , and the like indispositions . 13. let your houses be aiery ; your windows large , and often set open , your beds hard , clean and sweet , for which purpose straw or flock-beds , with quilts on them , will be much better than feather-beds , and will not only prevent the generation of vermin , but make you more healthful , and enable all the limbs to discharge their respective functions with ●ase and pleasure , as i have at large demonstrared , and given the reasons thereof in my way to health , &c. 14. forget not to use proper exercises and labour in open airy places , which will prevent many occasions of weaknesses and obstructions ; and such as cannot or will not labour , let them take good walks every day by river-sides , or on downs and plains . 15. observe the rules of chastity , provoke not nature , nor turn her out of her simple and innocent way , but use such meats , drinks , and exercises , as will replenish her with brisk lively spirits and vertues ; neither ought you to give way to loose imaginations , but to abhor unlawful lusts , and to make use of the remedy he hath permitted with moderation , and only for the ends for which the same was ordained . 16. avoid as much as may be , compounded foods , especially ●uch as have been invented to intice nature beyond her proper inclinations , but content your selves with simple meats and drinks , which you will find to be the sinews of health and strength , so that your stomach and natural heat shall continue good and vigorous all your appointed time . 17. let not carking cares , nor perturbations afflict your minds about such things as are out of your power to help or remedy , nor abandon your selves too much to any passion , be it love , hate , revenge , or the like ; avoid envy , strife , violence and oppression either to man or beast ; stillness and complacency of mind are two main props to support our adamical building ; a cheerful heart causeth the countenance to shine ; a good conscience is a continual feast , and content is nectar to the spirits , and marrow to the bones . therefore study to be satisfied with your portion , and thank and bless god for his bounties which you enjoy , and use his creatures for the end they were given thee ; and above all , consider , that thou art made in the image of god , and in thee is truly contained the properties of all elements , therefore thou art obliged to imitate thy creator , and so to conduct thy ways that thou mayst attract the benign influences of the coelestials and terrestrials , and the favourable irradiations of the superior and inferior worlds ; and on the other side , not to awaken the dragon , that is always lurking about the golden fruit in the fair● garden of the internal hesperides , nor irritate the original poysons , nor raise combustions within , by falling into disorders without ; but managing all things in temperance and simplicity , and hearkening to the voice of wisdom , and the dictates of reason and nature , thou shalt transact the days of thy pilgrimage here in peace and tranquility , and be prepared for the fruition of more compleat and undisturbed , as well as endless felicity . observing the tedious methods of some unskilful chyrurgeons , together with their improper compositions and unnatural applycations , which do not only ruin and vndo many poor necessitous people , but to the losing of their limbs , and sometimes their lives too ; therefore i think it no worthless service to recommend unto the world , especially to the poor , the use of the following remedies , which are not only cheap and easily come-at-able , but certain in their opperation , far beyond any things hitherto known or published , viz. an excellent poultice . which does cure burns , scalded-limbs , boyls , fellons , tumers , proceeding either from choller , phlegm , or melancholly : also cures all infla●ations , contusions or bruizes , either with or without a wound , vlcers , old wounds , or running sores ; also an excellent remedy against all sorts and kinds of the gout , ( and inflamations of the eyes , let them proceed from what cause soever . ) by asswaging the swelled part , and easeth the torturing pains thereof , as it were in a moments time ; also it is admirable against sore breasts , and bites of dogs , or any other hurt of what kind or nature soever it be . take one quart of good water , viz. river , spring , or rain-water , the last being the best , and as much small or ground oatmeale as will make it thick , fit for a poultice , unto which add two ounces of good sugar , and a handful of ●andelion cut small , then put it over ●he fire in an open convenient vessel , keep it stirring all the time till it be ●eady to boyl , or boyling hot , the●● it is done . another . take one quart of water , and as much good well baked household-bread as will make it thick , then add three ounces of beaten raisins of the sun , and one ounce of sugar , and a glass of good new ale , stir all your ingedients together , and make it boyling hot over a clear quick fire , and then it is done . another . take one quart of good ale , three ounces of raisins of the sun beaten , two ounces of good sugar with some mallow leaves , cut them small , put them over the fire till boyling hot , or ready to boyl , then it is done . another . take one quart of water , as much bread as will make it thick , fit for a poultice , five ounces of raisins of the sun , and one ounce of coriander-se●● beaten with a glass of ale , make 〈◊〉 boyling hot , and then it is done . another . take one quart of water , as much bread as will make it thick , two ounces of sugar , and a glass of good sack or other wine , make it boyling hot , and then it is done . apply the forementioned remedies to the part grieved , viz. — spread your poultice indifferent thick , on a linnen cloth , that will cover the whol● part , somewhat warmer then milk from the cow , but not so hot as is usual , for all extreams prove prejudicial to wounds , sores , and b●uises , except it be on some particular occations . these poultices you must apply every hour , or every two hours , ( at least ) in the day , and three or four times in the night , if your hurt or wound be dangerous , if not twelve or fourteen times in the day and night may do , viz. when your poultice has lain on one hour , or an hour and a half , or two at the most , put it away off your cloth , and put fresh on , and so keep a constant repetition of it for 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 , or ten days if occasion be , but it will heal and cure most of the forementioned evils much sooner , if you observe this method , — but remember to wash your wounds or sores between whiles with sugar and water , and sometimes with fresh butter and water beaten together , to keep it clean and plya●t . these are noble poultices , and all the ingredients do cast a friendly aspect to each other , being of a cleansing mild balsamick nature and opperation , and therefore they do by their active penetrating power , strengthen and raise up the dismayed oyl or wounded spirits by meliorating and asswaging the irritated or awakened fierce poysonous humors , by which this doth as far exceed the common and usual methods and practices of chyrurgeons , and other practitioners , as that light doth darkness . but here i shall meet with a swinging objection , viz. why do you leave out of your poultices the great l●gredie●t , viz. the fulso● grease of swine and other fat 's ? which all skilled in the art of curing , have for the most part advised , and for no other reason as i know , then that their poultices should not offend the patient by sticking to the sore or wounded part , for their long lying on the grieved part , if there were not some fat 's or oyles , the poultices would occasion them to become ha●d and stiff , and so stick to the sore , which we prevent by our often repetition for the spirituous vertues and qualities of fat 's , are so hid and lockt up in the oyly body , that nature cannot separate nor draw forth their fine sweet sp●rituous vertues to that degree , as she can from vegetations , as all men skilled in nature and chymistry do know , they being of a heavy dull flat nature and operation , very offensive to the tender spirits and blood , by which they impede and hinder the cure , therefore those poultices wherein fat 's are mixed , the fine spirits and vertues thereof do not so easily nor powerfully penetrate the wound as rich vegetations , whose spirits and lively vertues are as it were on the wing , and therefore poultices aptly compounded thereof , their vertues do in a moments time pe●etrate to the center , and incorporate with their similes , by which they strengthen and raise up the wounded spirits , and at the same time do qualify the fierce raging poysons , more especially if our method be observed , and ●o effect the cure , not only in a shorter time , but much safer , and with greater ease to the patient . for by this phylosophi●al operation , of repeating 〈…〉 doth mig●tily advance and forward the cure : an● note , that every fresh application of this homogenial-●oultice to the grieved part , do add n●w and fresh supplies of vertue , for in all operations of this natur● , the fine healing spirituous qualities thereof , do first impart and give themselves forth , which by a secret simpathetical power , do penetrate the whole , and incorporate with their similes , administring their sweet vertues , which gives a new life to the wounded spirits , and dismayed oyles , and do at the same time withstand and allay the fierce raging awakned or irritated poysonous humours ; it being the way of nature for all homogenial bodies , that have passed through any preparation ; digestion or fermentation , when aptly applied or joyned to any proper subject or thing . for the fine cleansing healing qualities and good ve●tues , do give themselves forth and joyn or incorporate with their similies ; even as the fine sweet spirituous qualities of maul●●o imbibe or give themselves forth and incorporate with the hot water in your mash-tub , in the method of brewing ; therefore every applycation do add new su●plies of vertue and strength to the wounded spirits , and draws forth and consumes the gross humidity , and exalts the essential life of that part and are as refreshing to the wounded spirits , as the pleasant influences and salutiferous breezes of wind in a hot season : for note , that the spirits and fine qualities of each thing , are light , volatile , ready , quick and powerful in operation , that in a moments time they penetrate even to the center ; for eve●y particular quality in nature , has a key in it self to open the gate of its own principl● ; what man in the world would believe the attractive inclination which the load-stone has upon iron , if it did not appear to his sight ; the very same simpathetical power have all other things , though in some it is more occult . and for this cause , one body works upon another , by a certain natural attraction and simpathetic●l inclination . thus the wise and wonderful creator , has endued every thing with an attractive and influential vertue ; it is not therefore the gross body of your poultice , that will do your business , that is full of corrupt and poysonous humours , which are awakned by the long continuation thereof , for these reasons , the long lying of poultices and plaisters , on wounds and sores , have no better effects , then the long continuation or standing of the liquor on the mault in your mash-tub , which if it continue more then two , three or four hours , it will spoil and corrupt the whole , for first , ( as i said before ) the fine sweet volatile spirituous vertues , imbibes or incorporates themselves with the hot liquor , and then if there be not a separation made in two , three or four hours , by drawing it off , but the applycation continued , then there will soon awaken another quality of a gross harsh sour keen nature , which with a rapid motion , tinges or transmutes all the fine sweet healing vertues into their own qualities , which all brewers and good house-wifes are sensible of ; the like is to be understood in the applycations of poultices and plaisters , do not their long lying of them on the wounded or sore part , cause them to smell sour and stink , when they have been continued on for twelve or twenty four hours , which do not only indanger the part , and prolongs the cure , but it puts the patient to great pain and torment , and often the limb is cut off , and sometimes the life too , which by this forementioned method might have been prevented ; for if physitians and chyrurgeons do not understand nature , then there can be no certainty in their operations or cures . also note , that during the time your poultices , plaisters , ointments , or salves , are making on the fire , that you keep them stirring , by which you keep the fine spirits and qualities living , for by this stirring , the friendly powers and thin spirits of the air do penitrate the whole mass or body , which incorporate and assist the spirits and good vertues , and keep them from being stagnated or suffocated , the air being the life of all things , and where its friendly influences and circulations are prevented , the life and spirits becomes heavy , dull and gross ; for these reasons , all spoon-meats made thin , are sweeter and of a more quick penetrating operation and digestion , then those made thick , therefore despise not our method , nor our plain home-bred poultices , i could produce many living testimonies of its success , but it is needless , since every man's experience that tries it , will soon confirm the truth of what is here delivered , nor i am not much solicitous whether i am credited or not ; it is the consideration of the publick good it may do to many poor people , prompts me to publish it , whether you will follow the forementioned rules or not , i have done my duty in offering it , and therefore am satisfyed . the conclusion . thus have i presented thee ( honest reader ) with some observations ; nor shall i trouble my self to make apologies for them t● any , who having their eyes blinded with the dust of custom and tradition , may be apt to condemn or slight these advices , as heterodox-paradoxes , or needless chymaerea's ; but let such capers say what they please , i am certain what i have deliver'd is agreeable to undisguised nature , and whoever shall act accordingly , will certainly find very great benefits accrewing in respect of health both of body and mind ; but without practice all precepts are vain , or at least fruitless , unless it be only to remain as monuments to reproach those fools that despise and neglect them . i thought once to have proceeded further in this treatise , to have discovered the ways of making up or preparing most of the medicines that are now a-days cry'd up ; but on second thoughts i desisted , not as envying my country-men any thing that might tend to their general good , but for such reasons as these : 1. there are very few of the common medicines that deserve that credit , which by knaves vapouring and fools credulity they have obtained ; and to speak truth , i humbly conceive the people had e'en as good be without them as have them ; and therefore i was very well content that the learned doctors and their labourers , the apothecaries , should enjoy to themselves their pharmacentick mysteries , or way of making of medicines ; and when they have done , let them alone , take and use them too if they please . 2. those that shall observe the rules herein laid down , of temperance , choice of diet , due manner of pr●paration , &c. will ( i am very confident ) have little or no need of that which is commonly called physick . and for others , if i had set down never so many excellent receipts for the cure of diseases , 't is like they would have regarded them no more than these directions for avoiding the same . he that scorns to prevent a mischief fore-told , scarce deserves a remedy when he is fallen into it . but , 3. the discreet reader will here find such things recommended to his use , both in health and sickness , which though they are more plain , pleasant , easie to be had , and cheaper , are not less effectual both to preserve and restore health than those administred by the learned ; and in vain he goes about , that may go to rights ; or gapes for a remedy to be brought him by another from the indies , when he may make himself as good an one ( and better ) at home . what i have here candidly , and in a plain familiar manner delivered , i leave to god's blessing , and the practice of all prudent lovers of their health , and humble followers of nature , in her easie and innocent methods . farwell . finis .