many great and most learned men haue reuerenced the history of Creatures the rest of which I haue thought good to impart vnto the Reader in the beginning of my work which I will seuerally propose neither did it becomme to be more large in a dedication beeing made vnto the principallest men of our Commonwealth And because the greatnesse of the Booke before it be read of any man may seeme to blame me to be too tedious I will excuse it before I intreat of anything Therefore first of all it is no maruaile though it be a great volume in which I haue laboured to insert with diligent study the writings of all men concerning all Foure-footed-liuing-beasts and also the sayings of old and later Philosophers Physitians Gramarians Poets Hystorians and lastly of all kind of Authors not onely of those which haue set foorth their workes in Latine or Greeke but of euery one also which haue set downe their works in Germany France Italy and England And most diligently of the sayings of those which haue written something of purpose concerning liuing creatures but with the lesser care of other which haue onely in the meane time remembred some sayings of the same as Hystorians and Poets I haue put down also many proper obseruations and haue gathred togither many things nowe and then by asking questions without reproach of any man learned or vnlearned Cittizens or strangers Hunters Fishers Fawkconers Shepheards and all kind of men Also I haue not knowne any thing out of the writings of learned men of many Nations which they haue giuen to me but I haue expressed the same The formes also of euery liuing creature in this work haue increased the volume but chiefely the first Book which is al Foure-footed-beastes liuing alike hath out of measure increased it because this kind of liuing creature may be more familiarly known and more profitable to man chiefly to those of our Nation or Countrie And also many haue written little and reasonable bookes of each of them as the horse-leaches of horses in Greeke and Latine and the later writers in other languages and so forth Also many haue declared diuers things concerning Dogges and the brÃngers vp also of cattle and heards of Beasts Goats Sheepe and Sowes haue pronounced many countrey obseruations both in Greeke and Latine Some man may happen to say that I ought not to make a Hystory out of all Bookes but onely from the best but I will not despise the writings of any man seeing there is made no book so bad from whence there cannot be some good sentence gathered out if any man do applie his wit thereto Therefore although I haue not ouer-skipped anie kind of writer yet I did it not rashly for I haue pickt out no few obseruations of good moment from barbarous and obscure writers in diuers languages so that I would not be iudged a negligent person to giue credit to euery thing nor arrogant or vnmoddest to despise the studies or labors of any man Those things truely which I thought were false or any way absurd I either altogether omitted them or so placed as I may conuict them or if at any time I haue not done it it was either thorough lacke of knowledge or for some other cause which fault I thinke is very seldome committed except it be in those thinges which doe belong to Physicke where we haue related very often many things both false and sâ—perstitious as happily an Amulet or preseruative against enchauntment is and many other things which are of the same kind that the good sayinges of learned men may be easily knowne of the name of the Authour and as much of euery thing as shall be thought worthy to be beleeued let the Reader iudge for I do not promise my owne Authority euery where but am satisfied to recite the words and sentences of other writers Wherefore I haue beene very diligent least at any time I should omit the name of an Authour although it were in small matters and also those which were commonly knowne because there should remaine no doubt or scruple of any thing The words also and sayings of euery Author shal be compact together if any man should be desirous to imitate or follow them Therefore I haue been more copious that I might not onely profit in the knowledge of words but also haue sufficiently ministred a worke or writing of words and speeches for those which are desirous either to dispute or write an Oration either in Greeke or Latine But it could not be done more commodiously that all things might bee written purely in Latine seeing that I haue recited almost in the same words certaine things taken out of those which were rude or barbarous chiefely because if any thing should be obscure or doubtfull but the rest which were written of them I haue altered to a moderate vse of the Latine tongue not because I could not doe it better but rather because such an elocution doth seeme to adorne such Authors But those sentences which I haue writ or coppied out of good and Latine Authors I haue not altered any thing of them And truely of my owne stile or manner of writing I can say no other then this that I haue had a great care although I could not pronounce it eligantly and wisely nor after the imitation of the auncient writers notwithstanding I haue pronounced it competently and plainely in Latine Neyther was it ydlenesse to frame such a stile or manner of writing seeing that I was most of al busied in those things as wel mutable as innumerable and in a manner I haue written those things which if they had beene gathered together I had put to presse many yeares before The cause why I did neglect it was the feare least any thing shoulde be left out and not verie much to seeke more matter but for the most part the inscription was the cause and the order and care that I had least any thing should be repeated in vain Moreouer also because that the Argument did not require a graue or excellent maner of stile or speech but a manifest and meane style and most commonly a Gramarian that is to say fit for interpretation For I would not onely recite the words of the Authors but oftentimes also where it was needefull I did adde thereto the exposition or declaration so that this volume may not onely be a history of liuing creatures but also an exposition of the place of al those which haue written something of liuing creatures For those which do vndertake to make any booke must chiefely beware of two things that the words and meaning of the Authour be declared and put together like places of the rest the latter whereof I haue accomplished in this worke by great labour because the sayings both of other Authours as wel as of one concerning the same matter in diuers places are compiled together and it would be a matter of lesse value to declare in more words the
Salomon and Christ and S. Paule and S. Iohn and S. Ireney S. Gregory S. Basill S. Austen S. Ierom S. Bernard in his enarrations or Sermons vppon the Canticles and of later daies Isidorus The Monkes of Messuen Geminianus and to conclude that ornament of our time Ieronimus Zanchius For how shall we be able to speake the whole Counsell of God vnto his people if we read vnto them but one of his bookes when he hath another in the worlde which wee neuer study past the title or outside although the great God haue made them an Epistle Dedicatory to the whole race of mankind This is my endeauor and paines in this Booke that I might profit and delight the Reader whereinto he may looke on the Holyest daies not omitting prayer and the pubâ—icke seruice of God and passe away the Sabbaoths in heauenly meditations vpon earthly creatures I haue followed D. Gesner as neer as I could I do professe him my Author in most of my stories yet I haue gathred vp that which he let fal added many pictures and stories as may apeare by Conference of both together In the names of the Beasts and the Phâ—sicke I haue not swarued from him at all He was a Protestant Physitian a rare thing to finde any Religion in a Physitian although Saint Luke a Physitian were a writer of the Gospell His praises therefore shall remaine and all liuing creatures shall witnesse for him at the last day This my labor whatsoeuer it be I consecrate to the benefit of all our English Nation vnder your name and patronage a publique professor a learned reuerend Deuine a famous Preacher obserued in Court Country if you wil vouchsafe to allow of my labors I stand not vpon others if it haue your coÌ„mendation it shal incorage me to proceed to the residue wherin I feare no impediment but ability to carry out the charge my case so standing that I haue not any accesse of maintainance but by voluntary beneuolence for personall paines receiuing no more but a laborers wages but for you that had also been taken from me Therfore I conclude with the words of Saint Gregory to Leontius Et nos bona quae de vobis multipliciter praedicantur addiscentes assidue pro gloriae vestrae incolumintate omnipotentem valeamus dominum deprecari Your Chaplaine in the Church of Saint Buttolphe Aldergate EDVVARD TOPSELL THE FIRST EPISTLE OF DOCT. CONRADVS GESNERVS before his History of Foure-footed-Beastes concerning the vtility of this STORY ALL PHILOSOPHY most worthy accomplished men is in euery part excellent good most beautifull and most worthy of the loue and honor of all mortall men which are her Clyents and Loueâ—s as all wise and excellent men haue iudged in euery age But because the wits of men do differ as education conuersation custome and the profit of life and liuing and peraduenture many other causes do make many varieties of opinions in vs which do possesse humaine minds with very many preiudices not onely in learning and religion but almost in euery thing from hence therfore it commeth to passe that some do follow one part of learning which they altogether propounded to themselues or for the occasion and profit of the present estate of their affaires So is it with me that I euen from a child being brought vp of a kins-man practitioner of Physicke haue tasted from my youth the loue of that profession And although I had a little conceiued the knowledge of diuers things in the encrease of my age yet I left off the study of physicke more then was meete because I would not continue ouer long therein yet afterwards I returned again vnto the former study thereof the care of househould affaires requiring the same at my handes But when I considered the greate affinity of this Science with naturall Phylosophy and that not any one can be accounted an excellent or learned Physitian which hath not drawne as it were from a Fountaine his first instruction from bookes of nature I diligently began to peruse the writings of Philosophers which haue disputed or debated of things pertaining to nature In which those things did chiefely delight me which did handle or intreat concerning mettals plantes and liuing creatures and that for two causes First of all because there may bee had of those things a more true certain knowledge then of vnperfect or mixed bodies or Meteours and certaine other things too learned or curious or far remoued from sence or such like that a man can neuer hope for any sufficient knowledge of them by any reason or sence Afterwardes because their knowledge and contemplation did not onely pertaine to phisick but also to minister and to gouerne euery thing peculiar as other arts which were much more profitable and necessary Therefore I spent much time in this study so that in spared or borrowed houres and as often as I did desire to recreate my selfe from other studies or businesses I very desirously turned to them many yeares accepting them for my onely pleasures and ioyes which houres the common sort of men and euen very many learned men do idlely abuse in walking playing and drinking And although I haue considered and obserued very many thinges concerning Plants and other things not seene and considered before me or at least-wise brought to light of no man before therefore it would seeme lesse necessary at this present to write of them seeing that many do euen to this day write learnedly and profitably concerning plants Geor Agricola a man worthy of great praise hath most learnedly and profitably written concerning mettals wherefore I applyed my mind to the History of foure-footed-beastes handled lightly in our age and onely in partes But when that I saw I should profit but little except I should adioyn the Histories of those that haue trauailed in other countries to these priuate studies and gathering of our owne I went first of all to some points of the Germans but not many and by and by after I did adde thereunto mine owne trauailes into Italy not onely for this cause but for the honor of my Bybliothaeca that I might reckon vp all kind of writers therein for the further honor thereof But if I had met with any Mecoenas or had had further ability or my fortunes greater I had trauailed further both by Sea and land into far remote places for the enlarging of the story both of beasts and plants for the benefit of all posterity although I am in my selfe a very weake and sickly man But because that was not lawful by reason I wanted sufficient meanes I haue done that which I could and haue got also some friendes vnto me out of diuers regions or parts of Europe with whom after I communicated my purposes they returned vnto me sundry discriptions of strange beasts and the moderne names of vulgar beasts in many languages with their pictures and the true formes In the meane time I did not only sit still
things profitably but if he shall not remember the order in the prescribed manner let him take counsell of the table Alphabeticall which wee will publish in the end of this our worke but if nothing preuaile in the meane time as we are all subiect to Censure through the Readers infirmity the same in a manner Pliny in the History of nature hath ordained for in his Praeface to Vespasian he writeth because wee must saith he spare your labours for the common good what may be contained in all my Bookes I haue ioyned to this Epistle and haue done my greatest endeuor with the diligentest care that thou shouldest haue these Bookes not to bee read ouer againe and thou by this shalt be the occasion that other may not reade them ouer againe but as euery one shall desire any thing that he may onely seeke that and know in what place he may find it Valerius Soranus did this before me in his books which he inscribed Epopcidoâ— These things Pliny They which desire to profit in this Art of Grammer and to get the vse of some tong vnto themselues who with a compounded Method as they call it deliuer their art from letters and sillables to the sayings and eight parts of speech and last of all speech it selfe and hauing come vnto the Sintaxis doth desire the knowledge of art in the meane time notwithstanding he doth not neglect the profit of Lexicons wherein all sayings and speeches are numbred far otherwise then in the precepts of art where neither all things seuerally nor in any good order are rehearsed not that from the beginning hee may reade through the end which would be a worke more laboursome then profitable but that he may aske counsell of them in due season In like manner he that is desirous to know the History of beasts and will read it through with continuall seriousnesse let him require the same of Aristotle and of other likewise that haue written and let him vse our volume as a Lexicon or as my owne Onomasticon For it is not vnknowne vnto me that Aristotle doth teach in his booke entituled the partes of beasts that it maketh much to the description of Phylosophy and that it is more learned so to write concerning beastes that aswell the parts as the effects might also be handled common to more their History being vnfolded by certaine common places First by prosecuting those things which are most common and somewhat vnto things that are lesse common lastly by loking backe and descending into those things which onely shall be proper vnto certaine kinds and vulgar shapes for if in all beasts any man would seuerrally consider the parts and effects there will many things fall out by the way to be considered and inquired after which he saith will be very absurd and also proue too tedious This discommodity although I should well vnderstand yet I would notwitstanding seuerally prosecute the History of beasts which thing is to be handled in our time wherin the names of very many are not vnderstood I should iudge would be more profitable and I should thinke it lesse absurd that somethings should more often be sought after being ordained for the order of the same that this work might rather serue for inuestigation then continuall reading I haue not notwithstanding euen in al Beasts placed euery thing which is incident to euery kind both for as much as certaine thinges are knowne to some men as most common partes of Foure-footed-Beastes as also if any man shall doubt in some thinges he may refer himselfe into the places of Aristotle wherein those things are handled generally and perhaps we also at sometime or other wil according to the kinds and shapes of Foure-footed-Beastes discourse of somewhat more particular And because I had determined it was more commodious for a History to be made by vs concerning all Beasts euen in that name or title which not Phisically or onely Philosophically but Medicinally also grammatically concerning one thing Neither doth it want the exampls of learnedmen for scarce the one or the other as Theophrastus Ruellius haue deliuered any thing concerning plants according to that Method which in common parts and effectes hath manifested all plants of the earth but very many haue described seuerall plants seuerally and in times past out of our age especially Physitians Ruellius for the most part laboured in both as Galen also but onely in describing of aptnesse Indeede I confesse that I could be far more briefe in many more things although my purpose remaine aboue all other thinges euen that exquisite desire of my diligence had delighted me when that same saying of Liuy came into my mind in a certaine volume beginning after this manner Now sufficient glory was gotten for him and hee could cease himselfe vnlesse his mind should be daily fed with worke although as Pliny saith the greater should the reward be for the loue of worke which better became him not to haue composed it to his owne but to the glory of the Romaine name and not to haue perseuered onely to please his owne minde but to haue set forth the same to the profit of the people of Rome I would haue you iudge that I haue not kept back or stayed my course in these my labours not onely for fauoring my selfe or getting glory to my selfe although Liuius did so but rather to make the truth more plaine pertaining to Histories or to the people of Rome Notwithstanding I think that he spake more modestly least if he should have spoken after that manner which Pliny doth require he should be iudged to haue been more arrogant as one which should foretell any thing to the worthyest people of the whole World or any thing of the honor of the Conqueror of those Nations he would say that they must come from him Likewise although this worke what soeuer it is do not desire to be done wholy for my selfe but for the gouernors and rulers of the common-wealth and to the gouernors of the vniuersity or Academy which haue fauoured mee euen from a Child of their owne liberality and do still continue their fauor vnto me and do exhort me to finish those things which I haue begun already and if there should arise any fame or renowne from thence it should chiefely light vpon them Yet least I should be deceiued I willingly hold my peace and the rest I leaue to iudgement whyther any thing may happen from this worke so praise-worthy and of excellent fame and yet not vnworthye of praise for to the Senate and to the vniuersity I owe much time with many names of worth to those most excellent men of learning and other different vertues But least happily I be held too tedious while I excuse the largenesse of the worke although by the way I haue handled some other thinges all vnder one that I might shew certaine commodities arising from them and also I might excuse our stile I will proceede and
enter into the castle of Athens Isle of Delos bycause of their publique and shamelesse copulation and also that no man might be terrified by their presence from supplication in the temples The foolishnesse of a Dogge appeareth in this that when a stone or other thing is cast at him he followeth the stone and neglecteth the hand that threw it according to the saying of the Poet Marcellus Arripit vt lapidem catulus morsuque fatigat Nec precussori mutua damna facit Sic plerique sinunt reros clabier hostes Et quos nulla grauant noxia dente petant Likewise men of impudent wits shamlesse behauiors in taking and eating meat were called Cynicks for which cause Athenaeus speaketh vnto Cynicks in this sort You do not O Cynici leade abstinent and frugall liues but resemble Dogges and whereas this foure-footed beast differeth from other creatures in foure things Porphyrius you only follow him in his viler and baser qualities that is in barking and license of railing in voracity and nudity without all commendation of men The impudency of a Dogge is eminent in all cases to be vnderstood Homer Horace for which cause that audatious Aristogiton sonne of Cidimachus was called a Dogge and the furies of ancient time were figured by blacke Dogges and a Dog was called Erinnis Cerberus himselfe with his three heads signified the multiplicity of Diuels that is a Lyons a Wolfes and a fawning Dogges one for the earth another for the Water and the thirde for the aire for which cause Hercules in slaying Cerberus is said to haue ouercome all temptation vice and wickednesse for so did his three heads signifie other by the three heads vnderstand the three times by the Lyon the time present by the wolfe the time past and by the fawning Dog the time to come It is deliuered by authors that the roote of Oliander or else a Dogs tooth bound about the arme do restraine the fury and rage of a Dogge also there is a certain litle bone in the left side of a Toade called Apocynon for the vertue it hath in it against the violence of a Dogge It is reported by Pliny that if a liue Rat be put into the pottage of Dogges after they haue eaten thereof they will neuer barke any more and Aelianus affirmeth so much of the Weasils taile cut off from him aliue and carried about a man also if one carry about him a Dogges hart or Lyuer Constantius or the skinne wherin Puppies lye in their dams belly called the Secundine the like effect or operation is attributed to them against the violence of dogs There is a little blacke stone in Nylus about the bignesse of a Beane at first sight whereof a dog wil run away Such as these I saw at Lyons in France which they called Sea-beanes Stobaeus and they prescribed them to be hanged about a Nurses necke to encrease her milke but to conclude the discourse of the basenesse of a Dogge those two prouerbes of holy Scripture one of our Sauiour Mat. 7. Giue not that which is holy to Dogs and the other of Saint Peter 2. Epistle Cap. 2. the Dogge is returned to the vomit doe sufficiently conuince that they are emblems of vile cursed rayling and filthy men The vse of their parts which esteeme not holy things but eate vp againe their owne vomits The skinnes of Dogges are dressed for gloues and close Bootes the which are vsed by such as haue vlcerous and swelling Legges or Limbes for by them the aflicted place receiueth a double reliefe first it resisteth the influent humors and secondly Blondus it is not exasperated with Woollen The Turkes colour their Dogs tailes withred and it is a custom of Hunters to take Dogges and tie them in the Woods vnto trees by their stones for by crying they prouoke the Panther to come vnto them It is not to be doubted but that the flesh of dogges is vsed for meate in many places although the opinion of Rasis be true and consonant to reason that all deuouring Creatures as Dogges Foxes and Wolues haue no good flesh for meate bycause they engender melancholy and yet Galen thinketh that it is like to the flesh of a Hare especially young Whelpes were held amonge the Romanes a delicate meate and were vsed by their priestes and amonge Whelpes they attrybuted most vertue to their flesh which were eaten before they did see Oppianus The flesh of Dogs eaten for by them came no euill humor at al as is often set down in Plautus Instaurionâ— Peter Martir and Scaliger doe affirme of Cozumella and Lucatana and other Islands of the new World that the people there doe eate a kind of Dogge which cannot barke These Dogges are vile to looke vpon like young Kyds The inhabitants of Corsica which are fierce angry Wilde cruell audatious dissemblers actiue and strong do also seede vpon Dogges both wilde and tame and it is thought that their meate is a little furtherance to their inclination for such is the naturall disposition of Dogs and Sciltbergerus in the booke of peregrinations affirmeth also that the Tartarians in Ibissibur doe after the same manner feede vpon the flesh of Dogges from hence it commeth that men resemling a Dog in a plaine forhead and narrow are said to be foolish in a smooth and stretched out flatterers those which haue great voyces like a Ban-dog are strong they which raile much like often barking Dogges are of a doggish angry disposition He which hath a great head like a Dog is witty Admantius hee which hath a little head like an Asses is blockish they which haue fiery eyes like Dogs are impudent and shamelesse Thinne lips with narrow folding corners in Dogs is a token of generosity and in men of magnanimity they whose lippes hange ouer their canine teeth are also adiudged raylers and virulent speakers and as Carnarius obserueth vaine glorious braggarts A wide mouth betokeneth a cruell madde and wicked disposition a sharpe nose an angry mind as a round blunt and solide Nose signifieth a Lyons stomach and worthinesse A sharpe chin vaine babling and wantonnesse they which are small in their girting steade about their Ioynes doe much loue hunting Stobaeus in his wicked discourse or dispraise of women affirmeth that the curst sharp smart curious daynty clamorous implacable and wanton-rowling-eyed Women were deriued from Dogges and Hesiode to amend the matter saith when Iupiter had fashioned man out of the earth he commaunded Mercury to infuse into him a Canine minde and a clamorous inclination but the Prouerbe of Salomon Cap. 30. concludeth the excellency of a Dog saying There be three things which goe pleasantly and the fourth ordereth his pace aright The Lyon which is the strongest among Beastes and feareth not the sight of any body Munsterus a hunting Dog strong in his loynes a Goate and a King against whom there is no rysing vp by all which is deciphered a good
in which place they feede fiue hundred Mares which belong vnto their King The Misaean horses written with Iota and simple Sigma as Eustathius writeth are the most excellent and best some say that they haue their generation from Germanie others out of Armenia but they haue a certaine kind of shape like the Parthians In India most of their liuing creatures are far greater then in other places except horses for the Misaean horsses do exceede the Indian horsses as Herodotus writeth in his seauenth booke describing the Persian horsse Behind the speares saith he came ten Horses in most sumptuous furniture which were Nisaeans so called because there is a great field named Nisaeus in the countrey of Medica which yeeldeth horsses of a great stature After these followed Iupiters chariot drawne with eight horsses after which Xerxes was caried in a chariot drawne by Nisaean horsses and by how much the greater the Lybian Elephant is then the Nisaean horsse so much greater are the Nisaean horsses then the Indian as the same man saieth in his first booke but the king was about to offer a white horse that is of the Nisaean horses hauing a better marke as some expounded There are that say that Nisaeus is a plane of Persis where the most famous and notable horsses are bred Some interpret it to they yellow Nisaean horsse because all the horsses of Nisaean are of this colour Betweene Susinax and Bactria there is a place which the Greeks call Nisos in which the most singular fine horsses are bred There are also that suppose they are had from the red sea and al those to be of a yellow colour Herodotus writinge of Nisaeus maketh it a part of Media Orpheus also writeth that there is a place in the red Sea called Nisa Stephanus also maketh mention of Nysaean Pedion with the Medes of which people the horsses are so called Coelius Rhodiginus reproued a certaine man which translanted the Islandish horsses for the Nisaean horsses Plutarchis saith that Pirrhus had an apparition of a Nisaean horsse armed and furnished with a rider that Alexander the great was captaine thereof The Medes haue Colts of a most noble kind of horsses which as auncient writers do teach vs and as we our selues haue seene men when they beginne the battell with a fierce encounter are wont to prance valiantly which are called Nisaean horses Touching the Paphlagonians about the education of their horsses see more among the Venetians The Parthian horses are of a large body couragious of a gentle kinde and most sound of their feet Concerning those horsses which haue but one eye commended among the Parthians and of those which are distinguished by diuersitie of colors from those that come forth first I haue spoke already out of Absyrtus The Armenian and Parthian horsses are of a swifter pace then the Siculians and the Iberi swifter then the Parthians whereof Gratius writeth to this effect Scilicit Parthis inter sua mollia rura Musit honor veniat Caudini saxa Taburni Gargamdue trucem aut ligurinas de super Alpes Ante opus excussis caedet vnguibus tamen illi Estanimus funget que meas senissus in artes Sed iuxta vitium posuit Deus That is to say among the Parthians there hath remained honor for their soft Countries but let him come to the Rockes of Caudmus Tabernus and too rough Garganus or vppon the Ligurian Alpes then he will quickly shake off his hooues and make a shew of great valiantnes The horses of the Celtibarians are somwhat white and if they may be brought into Spaine they change their colour But the Parthians are alike for they excell all others in nimblenes and dexterity of running How the Parthians do make their pace easie in the trotters and hard footing horsses after the manner of geldings shall bee declared afterwards for persia preferreth these horsses aboue the censure of their patrimonies aswell to cary hauing an easie pace and being of most excellent dignity As for their pace it is thicke and short and he doth delight and lift vp the rider being not instructed by art but effecteth it by nature Amongst these ambling nagges called of the Latines among the common sort Totonarij their pace is indifferent and whereas they are not alike they are supposed to haue something common from both as it hath bin prooued whereof Vegetius writeth in this manner In a short iourny they haue the more comelines and grace in going but when they trauel far they are impatient stuborn and vnles they be tamed wil be stuborn against the rider and that which is a more greater maruell when they are chafed they are of a delightfull comelines their necke turneth in manner of a bow that is seemeth to lie on their brest The Pharsalian mares euermore bring foales very like their Syre and therfore very well so named Equae probae we read of the Phasian horsses which receiue their name from the the marke or brand of a bird so named or else because of their excellent beauty and comlinesse The Rosean horsses Varro so nameth of Rosea which Volatteranus writeth to be most fit for war Coelius and this Rosea otherwise Roscea Festus saith that it is a country in the the coasts of the Reatiens so called because the fields are said to be moist with that dew The horsses of Sacae if they happen to throw down their rider they forthwith stand stil that they may get vp againe Vegetius hauing commended the Persian horsses saith that the Armenians and Sapharens do follow next Aelianus This Saphirine verily is an Island in the Arabian coast and the people of Sapiria lie beside Pontus The horses of Epirota Salmarica and Dalmatia althogh they wil not abide to be bridled yet they snew that they are warlicke by their legs Vegetius The Sardinian horsses are nimble and fair but lesser then others The Sarmatican kinde of horsses is feat and wel fashioned in this kind very fit for running vnmixt hauing a wel seâ— body a strong head and a comely necke Some horsses they cal Aetogenes from a certaine marke which they haue in their shoulders and colour which the Sarmatians doe take vnto themselues as very good with which they doe contend about their cruelty wherefore they imploy them in warlicke outrodes but those that beare the Eagles marke in their buttockes and taile they are disallowed of them and they report that they marke them so because they wil not vse them by reason least the rider shold quickly be destroyed or run into some trouble Pliny The Sarmatians when they entend any long iourneyes the day before they keepe them fasting giuing them a little drinke and so they wil ride them a hundered and fifty miles continually going These horsses are very fit for war and many of them are sounde gelded in ther tender age and they say they neuer loose their teeth It is a custome of Scythia and Sarmatia to geld their horsses
is hot and sweating for all these things do breede corrupt humors in the Horsses body whereof the Pestilence doth chiefely proceede or else of the corruption of the aire poysoning the breath whereby the Beastes should liue which also happeneth sometime of the corruption of e-euill vapors and exhalations that spring out of the earth and after great floodes or earthquakes and sometime by meanes of some euill distillation or influence of the Planettes corrupting sometime the plants and fruits of the earth and sometime diuers kinde of cattell and sometime both men Women and children as wee daiely see by experience It seemeth that this euill or mischiefe in times paste came suddenly without giuing any warning for none of mine Authors doth declare any signes how to know whether a Horsse hath this disease or not but onely affirme that if one Horsse do die of it al his fellowes that beare him company will follow after if they bee not remedied in time so that as far as I can learne the sudden death of one or two first must bee the onely meane to knowe that this disease doeth reigne And the remedy that they giue is this First separate the whole from the sicke yea and haue them cleane out of the aire of those that be dead the bodies whereof as Vegetius saith if they be not deep buried will infect al the rest And let them blood as wel in the neck as in the mouth then giue them this drink take of Gentian of Aristoloch of Bay berries of Myrrhe of the scraping of Iuory of each like quantity beate them into fine powder and giue as well to the sicke as to the whole whome you would preserue from this contagion euery day a spoonefull or two of this powder in a pinte of good wine so long as you shall see it needefull This medicine before rehearsed is called of the ancient writers Diapente that is to say a composition of fiue simples and is praised to be a soueraigne medicine and preseruatiue against al inward diseases and therefore they would haue such as trauell by the way to carty of this powder alwaies about them There be many other Medicines which I leaue to write because if I should rehearse euery mans medicine my booke would be infinite I for my part would vse no other then either that before expressed or else wine and treacle onely Of the diseases in the head Blundevile THe head is subiect to diuers diseases according to the diuers partes thereof for in the pannicles or little fine skins cleaning to the bones and couering the braine do most properly breed headach and migram Againe in the substance of the braine which in a Horsse is as much in quantity as is almost the braine of a meane hog do breede the Frensie madnesse sleeping euill the palsey and forgetfulnesse Finally in the ventricles or celles of the braine and in those conducts through which the spirits annimall doe giue feeling and mouing to the body do breede the turnsick or staggers the faling euill the night mare the Apoplexy the palsie and the conuulsion or Cramp the Catarre or Rheume which in a Horsse is called the Glaunders but first of headach Of headeach THe headeach either commeth of some inward causes as of some cholerick humor bred in the pannicles of the braine or else of som outward cause as of extream heat or cold of some blow or of some violent sauour Eumelus saith that it commeth of raw digestion but Martin saith most commonly of cold the signes be these The Horsse will hang downe his head and also hang downe his eares his sight will be dimme his eies swollen and waterish and he will forsake his meat The cure Let him bloode in the palat of his mouth Also purge his head with this perfume Take of Garlike stalkes a handfull all to broken in short pieces and a good quantity of Frankencense and being put into a chafingdish of fresh coales holde the chafingdish vnder the Horsses Nostrils so as the fume may ascende vp into his head and in vsing him thus once or twice it wil make him to cast at the nose and so purge his head of al filth Pelogonius saith that it is good to pouer into his Nostrils wine wherein hath beene sodden Euforbium Centuary and Frankencence Of the frenzy and madnesse of a Horse THe learned Physicians do make diuers kindes as well of frensie as of madnesse which are not needefull to be recited sith I could neuer read in any Author nor learne of any Ferrer that a horsse were subiect to the one halfe of them Absiruus Hierocles Eumelus Pelagonius and Hippocrates do write simply de furore rabie that is to say of the madnesse of a Horsse But indeede vegetius in his second booke of horseleach-craft seemeth to make foure mad passions belonging to a Horsse intituling his Chapters in this sort de Appioso de Frenetico de Cardiacis de Rabioso the effects wherof though I feare me it wil be to no great purpose yet to content such as perhaps haue read the Author as wel as I my selfe I wil heere briefly rehearse the same When some naughty blood saith he doth strike the filme or pannacle of the brain in one part onely and maketh the same grieuously to ake then the beast becommeth Appiosum that is to say as it seemeth by his owne words next following both dul of mind and of sight This word Appiosum is a strange word and not to be found againe in any other Author and because in this passion the one side of the head is onely grieued the Horsse turneth round as though he went in a Mill. But when the poyson of such corrupt blood doth infect the mid braine then the Horse becommeth Frantike and will leape and fling and wil run against the wals And if such blood filleth the vaines of the stomach or breast then it infecteth as well the heart as the brain and causeth alienation of mind and the body to sweate and this disease is called of Vegetius Passocardiaca which if Equus Appiosus chance to haue then he becommeth Rabiosus that is to say starke mad For saith he by ouermuch heat of the liuer and blood the vaines and artires of the heart are choked vp for griefe and paine whereof the Horsse biteth himselfe and gnaweth his owne flesh Of two sorts of mad horses I beleeue I haue seene my selfe heere in this Realme For I saw once a black Sweathland Horsse as I tooke him to be in my Lord of Hunsdons stable at Hunsdon comming thither by chance with my Lord Morley which Horsse would stand all day long biting of the manger and eat little meate or none suffering no man to aproch vnto him by which his doings and partly by his colour and complexion I iudged him to be vexed with a melancholy madnesse called of the Physitians Mania or rather Melancholia which commeth of a corrupt Melancholy and filthy blood or humor
of them in the top of a high mountaine in ITALY And Sylnaticus calleth this mouse Mus Suring or Sucsinus and calleth it a counter poyson to Wolfe-bane and that God might shew thus much vnto men he causeth it to liue vpon the rootes in testimony of his naturall vertue destroying poyson and venimous hearbâ— THE INDIAN MOVSE AND DIVERS other kinds of mice according to their Countries I Do finde that diuers times mice do take their names from regions wherein they enhabite which happeneth two maner of waies one because the forme of their bodies will somewhat vary the other because not onely in shape but also in witte they haue some thinges in them common to mice ouer and aboue the mice of our countreies Mice of the Last therefore we will breefely comprehend al their surnames of whatsoeuer regions they are in one order or Alphabet In the Oriental parts of the worlde there are great mice as ALEXANDER writeth of the quantity of Foxes who do harme both men and beasts and although they cannot by their biting kil any man yet do they much grieue and molest them Americâ—s Vespucius writeth that he found in an ysland of the sea being distant from Vlisbona a thousand leagues very great mice Egyptian mice The haire of the AEGYPTIAN mice is verye hard and for the most part like a Hedgehogges and there are also some which walk bolt vpright vpon two feet for they haue the hinder legs longer and their fore legges shorter their procreation is also manifold and they do likewise sit vpon their buttockes and they vse their forefeet as hands But Herodotus affirmeth these mice to be of AFFRICKE and not of AEGYPT amongst the AFFRICAN or CARTHAGENIAN pastures saith he in AFFRICKE towards the Orient there are three kinds of mice of the which some are called Bipedall or Two-footed some in the CARTHAGENIAN language Zetzeries which is as much in our language as hils some Hedg-hogges Cyrenean mice There are more kinds of mice in the CYRENAICAN region some which haue broad foreheads some sharpe some which haue pricking haire in the manner of Hedge-hogs It is reported that in CYRENE there are diuers kinds of mice both in colour and shape Pliny and that some of them haue as broad a countenance as a Cat some haue sharpe bristles and beare the forme and countenance of a viper which the inhabitants call Echenetae but improperly as it appeareth by the words of Aristotle in his booke of wonders Herodotus also affirmeth the like of those Mice to be in shape and colour like Vipers but Pliny and Aristotle doe both disallow it and say that in those iuice there is nothing common to vipers but onely to hedge-hogges as concerning their sharpe bristles There are also some Mice in Egypt which doe violently rush vpon pastures and corne of which things Aelianus speaketh saying in this manner when it beginneth first to raine in Egypt the Mice are wont to be borne in very small bubbles which wandring far and neare through all the fieldes doe affect the corne with great calumitie by gnawing and cutting a sunder with their teeth the blades thereof and wasting the heapes of that which is made in bundles doe bring great paines and businesse vnto the Egyptians by which it comes to passe that they endeuor all maner of waies to make snares for them by setting of Mice-trapes and to repell them from their inclosures and by ditches and burning fires to driue them quite away but the Mice as they will not come vnto the traps for as much as they are apt to leape they both goe ouer the hedges and leape ouer the ditches But the Egyptians being frustrated of all hope by their labours all subtill inuentionâ— and pollicies being left as it were of no efficacie they betake themselues humbly to pray to their Gods to remooue that calamitie from them Whereat the Mice by some feare of a diuine anger euen as it were in battell aray of obseruing a squadron order A wonder in the Egyption Mice doe depart into a certaine mountaine The least of all these in age doe stand in the first order but the greatest and eldest doe lead the last troupes compelling those which are weary to follow them But if in their iourney the least or yoongest do chaunce through trauaile to waxe weary all those which follow as the manner is in wars doe likewise stand still Aelianus and when the first begin to goe forward the rest doe continually follow them It is also reported that the Mice which inhabite the Sea doe obserue the same order and custome The Africane Mice doe vsually die as soone as euer they take any drinke but this is commonly proper vnto all mice as Ephesius affirmeth where it is written Medicine by african mice aboue concercerning the poysoning of mice Mice but especially those of Affricke hauing their skinnes pulled off boyled with oyle and salt and then taken in meate doth very effectually cure those which are troubled with any paines or diseases in the lunges or lights The same doth also easily helpe those which are molested with corrupt and bloody spettings with retchings The kindes of Affrican mice are diuers some are two footed Pliny some haue haire like vnto hedge-hogges some faces of the breadth of a Weasell but some call these mice Cirenacian some Egyptian as I haue before declared The Arabian Mice In Arabia there are certaine mice much bigger then Dormice whose former legges are of the quantitie of a hand breadth and the hinder of the quantitie of the ioynt to the ende of the finger I doe vnderstand them to be so short that nothing thereof may seeme to appeare without the body except the space of the ioynts of the finger as it is in Martinets It is said that the garments of the Armenians are vsually wouen with mice which are bred in the same countrey The armenian Mice or diuersly docked with the shape of the same creature The Author writeth that Pliny maketh mention of the Armenian mouse but I haue reade no such thing therefore he doth perchaunce take the Armenian mouse for the Shrew In Cappadocia there is a kinde of mouse which some call a Squirrell Aelianus writing of the Caspian mice Of the Caspian mouse Amyntas saith he in his booke entituled De mansionibus which he doth so inscribe saith that in Caspia there doe come an infinite multitude of mice which without any feare doe swim in the flouds which haue great and violent currentes and holding one another by their tailes in their mouthes as it is likewise reported of Wolues haue a sure and stable passage ouer the water But when they passe ouer any tillage of the earth they fell the corne and climing vp into trees doe eate the fruite thereof and breake the boughes which when the Caspians cannot resist they doe by this meanes endeuour to restraine their turbulent incursions for they remooue
with Rammes hornes and translated that ramme into the zodiacke among the starres that when the Sunne should passe through that sign all the creatures of the world should be fresh green and liuely for the same cause that he had deliuered him and his host from perishing by thirst and made him the Captaine of all the residue of the signes for that he was an able and wise leader of souldiors Other againe tell the tale somewhat different for they say at what time Bacchus ruled Egipt there came to him one Ammon a great rich man in Affrica giuing to Bacchus great store of wealth and cattell to procure fauour vnto him and that he might be reckoned an inuenter of some things for requitall whereof Bacchus gaue him the land of Thebes in Egypt to keepe his sheepe and cattell and afterward for that inuention he was pictured with rams hornes on his heade for remembrance that he brought the first sheepe into Egypt and Bacchus also placed the signe of the ram in heauen These and such like fictions there are about all the signes of heauen but the truer obseruation and reason wee haue shewed before out of the Egyptians learning and therefore I will cease from any farther prosecution of these fables Dydimus Aristotle They ought to be two yeare old at least before you suffer them to ioyne in copulation with the Ewes for two moneths before to bee seperat and fed more plentifully then at other times that so at their returne they may more eagerly and perfectly fill the Ews and then also before copulation at the time that they are permitted in some Contries they giue them barly and mixe Onions with their meat and feede them with the hearbe Salomons seale for all these are vertuous to stirre vp and increase their nature And likewise one kind of the Satyrium and salt water as we haue said in the discourse afore going Now at the time of their copulation they haue a peculiar voice to draw and allure their females differing from the common bleating wherof the poet speaketh Bloterat hincaries pia balat ouis This beast may continue in copulation and be preserued for the generation of lambes till he be eight yeare olde and it is their nature the elder they bee to seeke out for their fellowes the elder Ewes or females forsaking the younger by a kind of naturall wisedome Now concerning the time of their admission to copulation althogh we haue touched it in the former Treatise yet we must adde somewhat more in this place In some places they suffer them in April The best tim of copulatioÌ„ some in Iune that so they may be past daunger before winter and be brought forth in the Autumne when the grasse after haruest is sweet but the best is in Octob for then the winter wil be ouerpassed before the lamb comforth of his dams belly Great is the rage of these beasts at their copulation for they fight irefuly til one of them haue the victory for this cause Arrietare among the writers is a word to expresse singular violence as may apeare by these verses Arietat in portas duros obijce postes Their rage in Ramming â—ime and Siluis of Dioxippus Arietat in primos obijcitque immania membra And so Seneca in his booke of Anger Magno imperatori aretequamacies inter se arietarent cox exiluit and indeed great is the violence of rams for it is reported that many times in Rhatia to try their violence they hold betwixt the fighting of rams a sticke or bat of Corne-tree which in a bout or two they vtterly diminish and bruse in peeces There is a knowne fable in Abstenius of the wolfe that found a coople of rammes and told them that he must haue one of them to his dinner and bad â—hem agree betwixt themselues to whose lot that death should happen for one of them must die the two rams agreede togither that the wolfe should stand in the middle of the close and that they twain should part one into one corner and the other into the other corner of the field and so com running to the wolfe he that came last should loose his life to the wolues mercy the wolfe agreed to this their deuice and chose his standing while the rams consented with their hornes when they came vpon him to make him sure inough from hurting any more sheepe forth therfore went the rams each of them vnto his quarter one into the East and the other into the west the wolâ—e standing ioyfully in the midst laughing at the rams destruction then began the two rams to set forward with all their violence one of them so attending and obseruing the other as that they might both meet togither vpon the wolfe and so they did with vengeance to their enimy for hauing him betwixt their horns they crushed his ribs in pieces and he fel down without stomack to rams flesh This inuention althogh it haue another morrall yet it is material to be inserted in this place to shew the violence of rams and from this came so many warlike inuentions called Arietes wherwithal they push down the wals of citties Martial and warlike inueÌ„tions called Rammes as the Readers may see in Vitruuius Valturnis and Ammianus for they say that the warlike ram was made of wood couered ouer with shels of Torteyses to the intent it should not be burned when it was set to a wall and it was also couered with the skins of sacke-cloath by rowes artificially contriued within the same was a beame which was pointed with a crooked yron and therefore called a ram or rather because the front was so hard that it ouerthrew wals when by the violent strength of men it was forced vpon them and wheras it was shaped ouer with Tortoise shels it was for the true resemblaÌ„ce it bare therewith for like as a Torteise doth sometime put forth his head and again somtime pull it in so also doth the ram sometime put forth the sickle and sometime pul it in and hide it within the frame so that by this engine they did not ouerturn the wals but also they caused the stones to flie vpon the enimies liue thunder-bolts striking them downe on euery side and wounding with their fal or stroke like the blowes of an armed man and against these forces there were counter-forces deuised on the part of the besieged for because the greatnes thereof was such as it could not be moued without singular note and ostentation it gaue the besieged time to oppose against it their instruments of war for their safegard such were called Culcitrae Laquei Lupi ferrum made like a paire of tongs wherby as Polyaenus writeth many times it came to passe that when the wall was ouerthrowne the enimies durst not enter saying Cerle hostes sponte ab obsessis destructa moenia metuentes ingredi in vrbem non audebant And thus much for the force of rams both their
obseruation Nicolaus Venetus an Earle saith that in Masinum or Serica that is the Mountaines betwixt India and Cathay as Aeneas Syluius writeth there is a certain Beast hauing a Svvines head an Oxes taile the body of an Elephant vvhom it doth not onely equall in stature but also it liueth in continuall variance vvith them and one horne in the forehead now this if the Reader shall thinke it different from the former I doe make the thirde kinde of a Vnicorn and I trust there is no Wise-man that wil be offended at it for as we haue shewed already in many stories that sundry Beastes haue not onely their diuisions but subdeuisions into subalternal kinds as many Dogges many Deere many Horsses many Mice many Panthers and such like why should there not also bee many Vnicorns And if the Reader be not pleased vvith this let him either shew me better reason which I know hee shall neuer be able to do or else beside least the vttering of his dislike bewray enuy and ignorance Other discourses of the horne Novv although the parts of the Vnicorne be in some measure described and also their Countrys namely India and Ethiopia yet for as much as al is not said as may be said I will adde the residue in this place And first of al there are two kingdomes in India one called Niem and the other Lamber or Lambri both these are stored vvith Vnicornes And Aloisius Cadamustus in his fifty Chapter of his booke of nauigation writeth that there is a certaine region of the new found world wherein are found liue Vnicornes and toward the East and South vnder the Equinoctiall there is a liuing creature with one horne which is crooked and not great hauing the head of a Dragon and a beard vpon his chin his necke long and stretched out like a Serpents the residue of his body like to a Harts sauing that his feete colour and mouth are like a Lyons Pbiles and this also if not a fable or rather a monster may be a fourth kinde of Vnicorne And concerning the hornes of Vnicornes now we must performe our promise which is to relate the true historie of them as it is found in the best writers This therefore growing out of the forehead betwixt the eye lids is neither light nor hollow nor yet smooth like other hornes but hard as Iron rough as any file reuolued into many plights sharper than any darte straight and not crooked and euery where blacke except at the point There are two of these at Venice in the Treasurie of S. Markes Church as Brasavolus writeth one at Argentarat which is wreathed about with diuers sphires There are also two in the Treasurie of the King of Polonia all of them as long as a man in his stature In the yeare 1520. there was found the horne of a Vnicorne in the riuer Arrula neare Bruga in Heluetia the vpper face or out-side whereof was a darke yellow it was two cubites in length but had vpon it no plights or wreathing versuus It was very odoriferous especially when any part of it was set one fire so that it smelled like muske as soone as it was found it was carried to a Nunnery called Campus regius but afterwardes by the Gouernor of Heluetia it was recouered backe againe because it was found within his teritorie Now the vertues of this horne are already recited before and yet I will for the better iustifiyng of that which I haue said concerning the Vnicornes horne adde the testimony of our learned men which did write thereof to Gesner whose letters according as I find them recorded in his worke so I haue here inserted and translated word for word And first of all the answere of Nicholas Gerbelius vnto his Epistle concerning the Vnicornes horne at Argentoratum is this which followeth for saith he The horne which those Noblemen haue in the secrets of the great Temple I haue often seene and handled with my hands It is of the length of a tall man if so be that you shall thereunto adde the point thereof for there was a certaine euill disposed person among est them who had learned I know not of whom that the point or top of the same horne would be a present remedy both against all poyson and also against the plague or pestilence Wherefore that sacrilegious theefe plucked off the higher part or top from the residue being in length three or foure fingers For which wicked offence both he himselfe was cast out of that company and not any euer afterwards of that family might be receaued into this society by an ordinance grauely and maturely ratified This pulling off of the top brought a notable deformitie to that most splendant gift The whole horne from that part which sticketh to the forehead of this beast euen vnto the top of the horne is altogether firme or solide not gaping with chops chinks or creuises with a litle greater thicknes then a tile is vsua lly amongst vs. For I haue often times comprehended almost the whole horne in my right hand From the roote vnto the point it is euen as wax candles are rowled together most elegantly seuered and raised vp in little lines The waight of this horneâ—â— of so great a massinesse that a man would hardly beleeue it and it hath beene often wondred at that a beast of so little a stature could beare so heauy and weighty a burden I could neuer smell any sweetnesse at all therein The colour thereof is like vnto old yuory in the midst betwixt white and yellow But you shall neuer haue a better patterne of this then where it is sold in litle peeces or fragments by the oile-men For the colour of our horne is life vnto them But by whom this was giuen vnto that same temple I am altogether ignorant Another certaine friend of mine being a man worthy to be beleeued Gerbellius A second history of a Vnicorns horn declared vnto me that he saw at Paris with the Chancellor being Lord of Pratus a peece of a Vnicorns horne to the quantity of a cubit wreathed in tops or spires about the thickenesse of an indifferent staffe the compasse therof extending to the quantity of six fingers being within and without of a muddy colour with a solide substance the fragments whereof woulde boile in the Wine although they were neuer burned hauing very little or no smell at all therein When Ioannes Ferrerius of Piemont had read these thinges he wrote vnto me that in the Temple of Dennis neare vnto Paris that there was a Vnicornes horne six foot-long wherin all those things which are written by Gerbelius in our chronicles were verified both the weight and the colour but that in bignesse it exceeded the horne at the Citty of Argentorate being also holow almost a foot from that part which sticketh vnto the forehead of the Beast this he saw himselfe in the Temple of S. Dennis and handled the horne with his handes