diseases at sea is the iuyce of â—emons At my being in Hungarie I saw the fiery Feauer a disease infectious in that Country cured onely by salt niter prepared with sulphur and giuen in water as drinke to the patient a thing very strange that fire should quench fire Shew me particularly how the Aire may be corrected for the recouerie of sicke folkes according to the diuersities of places times and seasons Art may moderate all this by accommodating the Aire in respect of the sick For if it be in Sommer that the Aire be too hot and sultrie as the vulgar say and that the patient is affected with some ague or with some other burning disease hee must be placed in some lower roome or some coole chamber where the heat of the Sunne comes not so forcibly In Winter time let fire correct the raw and cold aire specially for them that be afflicted with cold sicknesses For such a close warme roome must be prepared secured from winds where a good fire may be made Aduise me how I should build mee an house for pleasure health and profit First you must choose out a fine soile which hath water and wood annexed vnto it and forecast in your minde whether the prospect too and fro be decent and pleasant to the eye For I am of this opinion that if the eye be not satisfied the minde cannot be pleased if the minde be not pleased nature doth abhorre and if nature doth abhorre death at last must consequently follow Next you must marke whether the ayre which compasseth the situation of your house be of a pure substance and that shortly after the Sunne is vp groweth warme and contrarily groweth cold after the Sunne is set Thirdly you must make your foundation vpon a grauell ground mixt with clay vpon a hill or a hils side Fourthly looke that your windowes be Northward or Eastward Lastly when your house is finished you must prepare a Garden replenished with sundry kindes of hearbs and flowers wherein you may recreate and solace your selfe at times conuenient Doth the nature of places alter the quality of the Aire Yea doubtlesse Either by reason of marshes as I said before which commonly are corrupted with rotten vapours and exhalations or else of Churchyards subiect likewise to the same mutations we see by experience that the aire which compasseth vs about doth change his temperature As also when it becomes eyther excessiuely hot or colde dry or moist we doe finde our selues in much trauell and alteration Doth the nature of the time of the yeare alter the Ayre The like mutations doth the aire inferre vnto vs in the foure seasons of the yeare according to the course of the Sunne for in the Spring time the Aire is neerer vnto his owne nature to wiâ— reasonably hot and moist in Sommer further heated by the Sunne it becomes hot and dry in Haruest colde and dry in Winter colde and moist And not onely the Sunne in the foure seasons of the yeare brings such alterations in the aire but likewise the Moone in her foure quarters causeth foure differences for the first seauenth day from the new Moone vntill the next seauenth day is like the Spring time being hot and moist The second seauenth day vntill the full of the Moone is like Sommer The third day the Moone decreasing is correspondent vnto the Autumne And the fourth and last quarter is like the Winter Euen so againe the morning is hot moist like the Spring time noone is compared to Sommer the Euening to Autumne and the night to the Winter What sicknesses doth the Aire cause The aire causeth sicknesses according to the variety of the climate In colde Countries I meane from the fiftieth degree to the Pole Northward or Southward few sicknesses abound except they happen through excesse or distemperature of diet or vnwholesomnesse of the aire as aboue written In hot Countries specially betweene the both Tropickes the aire is more intemperate and pestilent Here-hence spring plagues Callenturaes and Lues Venerea insomuch as a certaine Writer affirmeth by experience that an Europaean can hardly liue in Aethiopia or vnder the Equinoctiall line aboue fiue yeares whereas on the contrary wee heare that men liue in Swethland in the North parts of Ireland and in other colde places where the aire is pure and Notherly till they attaine to a hundred or sixe score yeares Of Water CHAP. 2. What is water WAter is an Element colde and moyst and doth not nourish but helpe digestion How many kindes of waters be there To discerne good waters from bad you must learne that there be foure differences of waters namely Raine water Riuer water fountaine water and stange water By Raine water I meane all that falls from the Region of the aire vpon the earth in forme of water And this is either sweet when if falls without a storme or else troublesome when it falls with stormes and tempests Is not Snow water as good as Raine water Snow waters albeit they be counted among those waters which are light as hauing beene sublimed purified and as it were distilled yet notwithstanding they be not so good For they ingender feauers and morphewes What is the nature of fountaine water Fountaine water is the best water for preseruation of health But you must obserue of what side it springs for if it comes from the East it excels the rest as well in moisture and thinnesse of substance as in pleasant smel and it doth moderately comfort the spirits Contrariwise those fountaines which spring out of rockes towards the North and which haue the Sunne backward are of a hard digestion and nothing so pure as the other Whether water being drunke doth nourish And whether the same be wholesome for sicke persons Surely water cannot nourish because of it selfe it is of no substance to fortifie or encrease the vitall faculties For which cause the wisest Phisitians aduised men to drinke it honied which they called Oximell Hodromel or with wine or with suger or with white wine vinegar Being drunke alone it neuer quencheth the drowth nor heat of the lungs but rather hindereth the spetting vp of phlegme Yet notwithstanding at meales in Sommer time it may be drunke of hot complexioned people rather to helpe digestion then to nourish the body How shall I know good water By the clearenesse of it That water is best which runneth from an higher to a lower ground and that water which runneth vpon clay is better clarified then that which goeth vpon the stone VVhen is water wholesomest In Sommer time it is most wholesome yet notwithstanding seldome to be drunke But if at any time you be compelled to drinke it see first that you seeth your water gently for by seething the grosse substance of it is taken away How shall I reuiue waters that begin to putrifie This is performed by the addition of some small proportion of the oyle of Sulphur or else of Aqua vitae well rectified incorporating
It dulls the spright it dimmes the sight It robs a woman of her right Of Vomites CHAP. 8. What is a vomite A Vomite is the expulsion of bad humours contayned in the stomack vpwards It is accounted the wholesomest kinde of Phisick for that which a purgation leaueth behind it a vomite doth root out VVhich are the best vomites Take of the seeds of Dill Attripplex and Radish three drachmes of Fountaine water one pound and a halfe seeth them all together till there remaine one pound straine it and vse it hot Or else make you a vomite after this manner take three drachmes of the rind of a Walnut slice them and steepe them one whole night in a draught of white wine and drinke the wine in the morning a little before dinner VVhat if the vomites worke not If they work not within an houre after you haue taken any of them sup a little of the sirupe of Oximel and put your left middle finger in your mouth and you shall be holpen VVhat shall I doe if I vomite too much If you vomite too much rub wash your feet with hot and sweet water and if it cease not for all this apply a gourd to the mouth of the stomack Sometimes without any Phisick at all one shall fall to a customarie vomiting And then it proceedes eyther of the colde complexion of the stomacke or of hot complexion If of colde complexion you may helpe it by making a bagge of Wormewood dry Mints and Maioram of each a like one handfull of Nutmegs Cloues and Galingall halfe a drachme of each one Let all of them be dried and powdred and put betwixt two linnen cloathes with Cotton interposed and basted And then let them be applied vpon the stomack Or else you may apply the said hearbes alone dried on a hote Tilestone and put betwixt two linnen cloathes vpon the stomacke Let them fortifie their stomackes with the sirupe of Mints or of Wormewood or eate Lozenges called Diagalanga If vomiting proceedes of hote complexion you may cure it by a playster applied to the stomacke of oyle of Roses Wormewood Mints and Barly flower with the white of an Egge Some in such a case take the water of Purselane in their drinke to quench their thirst Of Common sicknesses CHAP. 9. Shew me how to cure such common sicknesses as daily annoy our bodies ALL sicknesses whatsoeuer spring out of the head distempered and there-hence they arise in one of the foure humours which by the distemperature of the head become likewise distempered so that all sicknesses abound eyther of the bloud depraued or of choler infected or of flegme coagulated or of melancholy empoysoned Or perhaps they spring by the mixt corruption of two or more of these humours Wherefore it behoueth vs to be wise in the very beginning of our sicknesses and to preuent their theeuish intrusion Aboue all vomites or purgations I see none comparable to Stibium or Antimonie prepared which I dare boldly commend as a most soueraine and cheape remedy for agues dropsies fluxes and distillations vnto the poorer sort The taking whereof I wish to be onely three graines infused for a whole night in a glasse of Sack with a little Suger or cleare Ale and to be drunke vp the next morning As for rich men let them fee the Physitian least that noble trade decay for want of maintenance according to that olde saying Stipends doe nourish Artes. The Seminaries of diseases after this manner rooted out by Antimonie Let euery particular griefe be suited thereafter for agues let them coole the liuer with Ptisans Endiue or Succorie waters For the stone let them take Goates bloud dried into powder in a hote Ouen or otherwise as they please within their pottage or liquour seeing that the hardest Adamant is dissolued with this kinde of bloud why may not the stone in mans bodie be likewise bruised therewith For the Gout let them exercise if they can or else â—e let bloud very often in the place affected or let them reserue Horse-leaches for that purpose I might here commend diuers locall medicines as oyles of Roses of Mirtilles of Cammomill or wilde Mallowes of Turpentine or such like I might aduise them to lay emplaisters on the goutie ioynts made of Mellilote of vnguentum Populeum of the flowers of Cammomill of red Roses with Beane flowre I might wish them to apply the Colewort leafe and then to stop the fluxe with that precious and admired salue commonly called Paracelsus his stiptick playster which I haue found by experience to heale any wound whether it be olde or greene sooner in one weeke then any other in a moneth by reason of the binding drying and strengthening vertue which it hath being likewise able to stop the concourse or falling of humours into the sore This salue I praise aboue all others as that which breeds none but good flesh and as Apothecaries say it wilâ— keepe forty yeares without putrifying But indeed because all sicknesses proceed from the braine it were fit to purge the superfluous moisture thereof once a moneth either with a drachme of Pilles Imperiall or of Pillulae sine quibus or of Pillulae Cochiae From the braine they flow into the musckles of the backe and from thence they descend into the feet which is termed Podagra or to the hucklebone which is called Sciatica or else from the backe into the hands and then it is called Chiragra For a preseruatiue against the plague let them now and then take Pillulae communes or the aboue said Antimony which is also good against poison drunke whereby they may note that whatsoeuer helpes the one helpes the other The fift Section Of infirmities and Death CHAP. 1. What be the causes of hot infirmities THE causes of hot infirmities be sixe The first are the motions of the minde as loue anger feare and such like The second the motions of the body as immoderate carnall copulation vehement labours strayning hard riding The third long standing or sitting in the sunne or by the fire The fourth cause of infirmities is the vse of hote things as meates drinkes and medicines vntimely vsed The fift closing or stopping of the pores which happeneth by immoderate annointing bathing or otherwise thickning the skinne so that the holes whereby the sweat and fumes doe passe out be stopped The sixt putrifaction of humours by distemperature of meats and long watchings What be the causes of colde infirmities The causes of cold infirmities be eight the first is the cold aire the second is too much repletion the third is want of good meate the fourth is the vse of cold things the fift is too much quietnesse the sixt is opening of the pores the seauenth is oppilation in the veines or arteries the eight is vnseasonable exercise VVhat is the chiefest cause of death The chiefest and vnauoidable cause of our deathes is the contrarietie of the Elements whereof our bodies be compounded For the qualitie which is predominant ouer
Cholericke humour is hot and fiery bitter and like vnto the flower of wine It serueth not onely to cleanse the guts of filth but also to make the Liuer hot and to hinder the bloud from putrifaction What is the Melancholicke humour The Melancholick humour is black earthly resembling the lees of bloud and hath the Spleene for a seat assigned vnto it Howbeit Physitians say that there be three kindes of melancholy the first proceedeth from the annoyed braine the second commeth when as the whole constituion of the body is melancholicke the third springeth from the bowels but chiefly from the Spleen and liuer Shew me a diet for melancholicke men First they must haue lightsome chambers and them often perfumed Secondly they must eate young and good meat and beware of Beefe Porke Hare wilde beasts Thirdly let them vse Borrage and Buglosse in their drinke Fourthly Musicke is meet for them Fiftly they must alwayes keepe their bellies loose and soluble Of the restauration of health The sixt Section Of the foure parts of the yeare CHAP. 1. What is the nature of Spring time THe Spring time beginneth when the Sunne entereth into the signe of Aries which is the tenth day of March. At this time the daies and nights are of equall length the cold weather is diminished the pores of the earth being closed and congealed with cold are opened the fields waxe greene hearbes and flowers doe bud beasts rut the birds chirp and to be briefe all liuing Creatures doe recouer their former vigour in the beginning of the spring Now a man must eate lesse and drink somwhat the more The best meates to be eaten are Veale Kid yong Mutton Chickens dry fowle potched egges figs raisins and other sweet meate and because the Spring is a temperate season it requires temperature in all things Vse competent Phlebotomy purgation or such like Venery will doe no great harme As the Sunne by steps and degrees makes his power manifest abroad so within our bodyes hee workes strange and meruailous effects after his cloudy absence Sweet meat must haue soure sauce after our gurmundise and gluttonous fare let vs now likewise imitate these degrees and by little and little weane our bodies from such luxurious cheer Wee see Nurses annoint their teates with Wormwood iuyce to terrifie and withdraw their froward Children from their auncient sustenance so in like manner let vs in this season beginne to sequester our wanton wils being the bodies rulers from persisting in their former lauishnesse for which purpose I aduise the temperate to abstaine from immoderate drinking of wine from immoderate spiced meate specially towards the midst of this season and if they be cholericke hot and dry of constitutions I aduise them to coole themselues now and then with waters of Endiue and Succory or with fountaine water together with a little Comfits to expell inflamation and windie pestilent humours In any case let them which regard their health take heede of salt Herrings and slimy Fish as a meate fitter for labourers then for tender natures Or if their longing wantonnesse be such that they must needs eate them let them exercise or omit their next meale whereby those ill humours may be spent or digested which were caused by reason of the vnwholsome nutriment For assuredly the bloud of idle people will be quickly tainted and corrupted so that the bad excrements will break out into itch tetters the small pockes or meazels or else they will descend from the head into the eyes teeth or lungs and there engender a fearefull cough In old persons these brackish viscous and salt humours will congeale and harden into the stone of the bladder or reines What is the nature of Summer Summer begins when the Sunne entereth the Signe of Cancer which is the twelfth day of Iune In this time Choler is predominant heat encreaseth the windes are silent the sea calme fruits doe ripen and Bees doe make honey Now a man must drinke largely eate little and that sodden for rost meate is dry It is dangerous taking of Physicke and specially in the Dog dayes To heale wounds is very difficult and perillous All these inconueniences happen because of the dog dayes to last for the space of those fortie dayes wherein that Constellation called the Dog meeting with the Sunne in our Meridian doubleth his heate by whose burning influence Frenzies the Pestilence Calenturaes and other hot cholericke sicknesses are bred in our bodies What is the nature of Autumne Autumne beginneth when the Sunne entreth the first degree of Libra which is the thirteenth day of September Then it is Equinoctiall Meteors are seene the times doe alter the Ayre waxeth cold the leaues doe fall corne is reaped the earth loseth her beautie and melancholy is engendered For which cause such things as breede Melancholy are to be auoyded as Feare Care Beanes olde Cheese salt Beefe broath of Coleworts and such like You may safely eate Mutton Lambe Pigges and young pullets Take heede of the morning and euening cold What is the nature of Winter Winter beginneth when the Sunne entereth the Signe of Capricorne which is commonly the twelfth day of December Now the dayes are shortned and the nights prolonged Windes are sharpe Snow and sodaine inundations of waters arise the Earth is congealed with frost and Ice and all liuing creatures doe quiuer with colde Therefore a man must vse warme and dry meates for the cheerefull vertues of the body are now weakened by the colde ayre and the naturall heate is driuen into the inward parts of the body to comfort and maintaine the vitall Spirits VVee must expell the colde ayre with warme drinkes wines braggot metheglin malmesie and such like and aboue all with warme clothes which I wish to be of wooll rather then of any other stuffes In this season wee may feede liberally on strong meates as Beefe barren Does gelt Goats and on spiced or baked meates for whose better digestion and to shut the orifice or mouth of the stomacke some vse to eate Comfits of Anise-seedes presently after meales some other hauing weake stomackes take digestiue pouders made of sweet Fenell seedes Coriander seed Corrall prepared a little masticke Sinnamon and Rose suger within the conserues of Roses Others againe content themselues with a pouder composed of Rose Suger Annise-seede Sage and a crust of fine bread whereof they take a spoonefull in a cup of drinke At nights be sure to keep your selfe warme and specially your head and feet In this case I cannot but commend the Dutchmens prouidence aboue our owne who continually in colde weather weare furres about their necks and couer their feete with wollen sockes Now Wardens Apples and Peares may be vsed with wine or with salt for swelling or with comfits for windinesse To vse carnall copulation is expedient if the weather be moist and not very cold Astronomers auerre that if the first day of December be foule and tempestuous it will not be calme thirty dayes after
pere Ennius seicha tant les bouteilles Qu'il fut geine de goutte et douleurs nompareilles More would I inueigh against the Lapithes of our age had not I of late taxed them in my first Circle of the Spirit of Detraction Shew me a way to make olde wine to be new out of hand Take bitter Almonds and Melilot of each an ounce of Licorice three ounces of the flowers of Alexander as much of Aloes perepatick two ounces bray them all and tye them together in a linnen cloath and so sinke them in the wine At what time are VVine and Beere readie to turne and change About the middest of Iune when the Sun enters into the Tropicke of Cancer and somwhat before the Dogge dayes begin wine and Beere are apt to become eager and corrupt and likewise when the Southerne winde blowes whether it be in Sommer time or Winter when it is great raine lightning thunder or earthquakes then are wine and Beere subiect to turne Shew me how to keepe wine and Beere without turning Aboue all things haue a speciall regard that you lay your vessels in vaulted sellers and then cast into your said vessels either Roach Allome done into powder or the ashes of Oaken wood or beaten Pepper or else put into your vessels so corrupted a good quantity of Cowes milke somewhat salted or if none of these serue draw the drinke into an other vessell that is sweet and vntainted vsing a composition of the foresaid remedies intermingling it foure or fiue times a day for the space of a sennight Is wine hurtfull to sicke folkes Hypocrates writeth that to giue wine or milke to them that be sicke of agues or head-aches is to giue them poyson yet neuerthelesse it doth agree with some kind of diseases as for example it is permitted to them that be troubled with dropsies with ill dispositions of the body and with the rawnesse and weaknesse of the stomack to be briefe wine is an excellent restoratiue for olde age which of it selfe is a great and troublesome sicknesse and for this cause some Phisitians aduised olde men to drinke wine in the middest of Sommer I meane to vse Bacchus for their Phisitian twenty dayes before and twenty dayes after the dogge dayes to the end that in the heat and siccity of that fierie starre their lungs should be ouerflowne but howsoeuer wine reuiueth feeble spirits and maketh the heart light specially of an olde man according to the Italian saying A vecchio infunde lolio ne la lampada quasi estincta Vnto an olde man it infuseth oyle in his decayed lampe Of diet drinks as well for them that be sicke as in health CHAP. 3. Shew me how to correct the malicious vapours of wines FOr the correction of medicinable wine you must put and infuse Burrage Buglos and Pimpernell in your wine for the space of foure and twenty houres before you drink of it Some vse to temper the force of wine by putting a toste in it Some take the leaues of Isop wel powned made fast in a fine cloath and put into new wine against the diseases of the lungs shortnesse of the breath and the cough which they call Isop wine some take dry Roses Anise and hony together with one pound of the leaues and seed of Betony one pound of Fenell seede and a little Saffron these ingredients they put in twenty quarts of new wine and after foure moneths are past they change the wine into a new vessell this kinde of wine is very expedient to be drunk for the clearing of the eye-sight for Pleurisies and for the coroborating of the stomack Others make wine of Wormewood for the paine of the stomack and liuer and for the wormes of the guts which wine is made after this manner eight drams of Worme-wood stamp them and straine them and so cast them into three pints of wine Shew me how to make Ipocras and wine of Scene Common Ipocras is made after this manner take nine pound of the best white wine or Claret that you can get an ounce and a halfe of Cinamon one pound of Suger three drams of Ginger and two scruples of Nutmegs beat all these somewhat grosly then let them soake three daies in the said wine and afterward straine it and vse it for the heating and comforting of a colde and a weake stomack but if you feare sicknesse prepare wine of Scene after this manner take an ounce of the leaues of Scene well mundified halfe a dram of Cinamon seeth them in a quart of white wine with a soft fire till it come to a pint afterwards put a little Suger vnto it and in three daies after it hath beene steeped and so continuing you may straine it and vse it by taking of three spoonfuls in the morning and three spoonfuls when you goe to bed vntill your body be sufficiently purged Shew mee a diet drinke against Melancholie Take two ounces of the leaues of Scene of Fumitory greene Hops and Borrage of each a pound seeth them to the third part in faire water with a soft fire or else till two gallons come to one gallon straine them and sweeten them with Suger or hony and after a sennight you may drink thereof euery morning a draught fasting and so before supper one houre Shew me a diet drinke against the consumption Take two gallons of small Ale halfe a pound of blancht Almonds a quarter of a pound of Annise seeds three or foure stickes of Licoras sliced or bruised one pound of Red Roses Isop and Parsley bruise and straine what is to be bruised and strained after you haue let them boile to one gallon and when it is ready adde vnto it a quart of Malmesie and drinke thereof morning and euening two houres before you eate this drinke preserueth a man from the cough makes a man of a strong constitution and cureth the consumption Of Cider and Perry CHAP. 4. What is Cyder MOnsieur Libault in his third booke of his mayson rustique writeth that Cyder most commonly is sowre yet notwithstanding whether it were made such by reason of the sowernesse of the Apples or become such by reason of the space of time in as much as it is very watry and somewhat earthie as also very subtile and pearcing and yet therewithall somewhat astringent and corroboratiue becommeth singular good to coole a hot liuer and stomack to temper the heate of boyling and collerick blood to stay collerick and adust vomiting to asswage thirst to cut and make thinne grosse and slimy humours whether hot or colde but chiefely the hot Such drinke falleth out to be very good and conuenient and to serue well in place of wine for such as haue any ague for such are subiect to a hot liuer and hot bloud for such as are scabbed or itchy for such are rheumatick vpon occasion of hot humours and it needeth not that it should be tempered with water VVhat is the vse of Perry Perry is a sweet kind
of Cider either pressed from Peares or from sweet Apples such Cider therefore as is sweet because of his sweetnesse which commeth of temperate heat heateth in a meane and indifferent manner but cooleth least of all and againe it is the most nourishing of all Ciders and the most profitable to be vsed of such as haue cold and dry stomacks and on the contrarie but smally profiting them which haue a hot stomack whether it be more or lesse or stomacks that are full of humidity very tender and queasie and subiect vnto chollerick vomits so that in such complexions as are hot and chollerick it is needfull as with wine so with Cider to mixe water in a sufficient quantitie with sweet Cider when they take it to drinke especially when such persons haue anie ague withall or and if it be the hot time of Sommer fore-seene that hee that shall then drinke it thus be not subiect to the paynes of the belly or collicke because that sweet Cider pressed new from sweet apples is windy by nature as are also the sweet apples themselues This is the cause why Phisitions counsell and aduise that sweet apples should be rosted in the ashes for them that shall eate them that so their great moystnes and watrishnes which are the originall fountaine of windinesse may be concocted by the meanes of the heate of the fire Of Flesh. CHAP. 5. What Flesh is best to be eaten BEfore your bee resolued if this I must declare vnto you the sorts of flesh and the natures of it There be two sorts of flesh the one foure-footed and the other that of Fowle Among those that be foure-footed some are young some are of middle age others are old the young are moyst and doe commonly cause excrements and loosenes in the belly old flesh is dry of small nourishment and of hard digestion therefore I take that flesh to be best which is of middle age if not to the tast yet at the least to nourish soundly and profitably according to the French Prouerbe Hee that loues young flesh and old fish loues contrary to reason Qui veut ieune chair et vi eux poisson Se troue repugner a raison Certainely that of the male doth far excell the flesh of the female as for example the Oxe flesh is better then the Cowes flesh a fat Wether is better then a fat Ewe but this is to be vnderstood of those males which are gelt for I cannot deny but Bull beefe and Ramme mutton is far worse then the flesh of the Cow and the Ewe and to them which obserue dyet I must needs say that all flesh whatsoeuer be it Beefe Mutton or other that is bred on dry places or mountainous where ther is any reasonable pasture is alwaies better and more wholsome then that which is bred in valleyes or on low and marshie grounds where there grow bulrushes and other weeds and hearbs cold moist and of little substance To conclude this flesh of foure-footed beasts I haue found that Mutton Beefe Kid Lambe Veale Pigges and Rabbets are meats easie to be digested and doe engender good bloud whereas on the contrary I finde that Martlemasse Beefe Bacon Venison together with the kidneyes liuers and the entrals of beasts doe breede raw humours in the stomack and flâ—xes In like manner fat meate is fulsome and takes away a mans stomack Among fowle we count the Capon the yong Pigeon the Partridge the Woodcocke the Peacocke and the Turkie cocke to be meates of an excellent temperature and fit to continue the body in health and contrariwise that Hares Duckes Geese young Goselings onely excepted and Swans doe dispose the body to Melancholy Shew me a way to preserue flesh and fowle sound and sweet for one month notwithstanding the contagiousnesse of the weather Master Plat whose authoritie not onely in this but in all other matters I greatly allow of counselleth Huswiues to make a strong brine so as the water be ouer-glutted with salt and being scalding hot to perboyle their mutton veale venison fowle or such like and then to hang them vp in a conuenient place with this vsage they will last a sufficient space without any bad or ouersaltish tast some haue holpen tainted venison by lapping the same in a course thin cloth couering it first with salt and then burying it a yard deepe in the ground What is the use of our common meates Yong mutton boyled and eaten with opening and cordiall hearbs is the most nourishing meate of all and hurteth none but only flegmatick persons and those which are troubled with the dropsy Yong beefe bredde vp in fruitfull pasture and other whiles wrought at plow being powdred with salt foure and twenty houres and exquisitly sodden is naturall meat for men of strong constitutions It nourisheth excedingly and stoppeth the fluxe of yellow choler Howbeit Martlemas beefe so commonly called is not laudable for it ingendereth melancholick diseases and the stone Veale yong and tender sodden with yong pullets or capons and smallage is very nutritiue and wholesome for all seasons ages and constitutions The leane of a yong fatte Hog eaten moderately with spices and hot things doth surpasse all manner of meate except Veale for nourishment it keepeth the paunch slipperie and prouoketh vrine but it hurteth them that be subiect to the Gout and Sciatica and annoyeth old men and idle persons A young Pig is restoratiue if it be flayed and made in a ielly To be short Bacon may be eaten with other flesh to prouoke appetite and to break flegme coagulated and thickned in the stomacke The hinder part of a young Kid roasted is a meate soone digested and therefore very wholesome for sicke and weake folkes It is more fit for young and hot constitutions then for old men or flegmatick persons Young fallow Deere very well chased hangd vp vntill it be tender and in roasting being throughly basted with oyle or wel larded is very good for them that be troubled with the rheume or palsy Yet notwithstanding it hurteth leane folkes and olde men it disposeth the body to agues and causeth fearefull dreames Some say that venison being eaten in the morning prolongeth life but eaten at night it bringeth sodaine death The hornes of Deere being long and slender are remedies against poysoned potions and so are the bones that grow in their hearts Hare and Conies flesh perboyled and then rosted with sweet hearbs Cloues and other spices consumeth all corrupt humours and flegme in the stomack and maketh a man to looke amiably according to the prouerb He hath swallowed vp a Hare But it is vnwholesome for lazie and melancholick men What is your opinion of Fowle A fat Capon is more nutritiue then any other kind of fowle It encreaseth venerie and helpeth the weaknesse of the braine But vnlesse a man after the eating of it vse extraordinarie exercise it will doe him more hurt then good As for chickens they are fitter to be eaten of sicke men then of