good men of life and couersation blamelesse in the â—ight of the world But for that this question appertaineth not vnto this place neither yet commeth within the compasse of your handling or mine I leaue it to our reuerend Diuines to whom it belongeth to decide such matters Hoping for all that it shall not seeme to be repugnant to the rules of Christianity to iudge the best euen of those Infidels and to thinke that as God is omnipotent and wonderfull in all his doings so by that his omnipotency ioyned with his infinite mercies he hath also many wayes and meanes though to vs and our weakenesse vnknowne how to raise vp plant and preserue some numbers amongst them of such as shall be accounted and reckened among the fellowship of those his true seruants that shall be saued And if this opinion of mine shall be thought awry and erronious yet I hope it shall be taken and accounted as pius error and so I leaue for this matter submitting my selfe to the censure and iudgement of them to whom it doth appertaine But let vs imagine the worst be it that they be the diuels seruants and that the vse of this Tabacco came wholly from them shall it therefore be thought either impious or inconuenient or vnlawfull for Christians to vse it For my part I am not of that mind For I thinke that religion forbids it not and I am sure honest pollicy doth not prohibite it Touching religion Omnia munda muÌ„dis Take me yet here I pray you as I meane it that is as spoken and meant of such matters as are not otherwise precisely ordered ouerruled by Scripture but are counted indifferent stand only vpoÌ„ their right vse or abuse to be either good or bad and haue no expresse rule example or commandement to the contrarie As for honest pollicie I referre you ouer to the daily practise of all good Christian Princes Imagine those Indians be as ill as ill may be yet I know that the Turks are as ill as they who are the professed enemies of Christ and of his sacred Gospell and yet I am sure there are many things both inuented and deuised by them or else by as ill as they and also that are daily vsed by them which are held in great price and estimation with all Christians at this day and by all Christian Princes put in practise euery where Wherefore in condemning Tabacco and the Tabacconists so eagerly in this point as you do in my opinion you do in a maner condemne all Christendome for some one thing or other vsed by them which was either inâ—ented at the first or else is now daily vsed by the Infidels The eighth and last reason is for that It is a great augmentor of Melancholy in our bodies which humor is the cause of many great diseases and hurtfull impressions in our bodies c. In this chapter there be many things very well and learnedly put downe As the nature and description of Melancholy The difference betweene the naturall melancholy and that melancholy which commeth by adustion and accidentally the straunge effects and properties that it breedeth and bringeth foorth in our bodies the helpe and vertue that it hath in it to make men wise and how that proposition which auoucheth melancholy men to be the wisest men is rightly to be vnderstood c. All these things haue very good matter in them I confesse And though some of them by some men both are and may be contradicted by the way of argument and schollerly disputation yet for my part I mind not to gaine-say any one of them for it were nothing to the purpose for that matter which we haue now in hand But when all is said that you can say and when all those odde ends are brought together of those matters which you haue laid downe and scattered in your discourse the vpshot of all your talke in this matter is and must be this that Tabacco increaseth melancholy humor in our bodie and increaseth it so abundantly that it manifestly destroyeth the temperature of our bodie disordering and ouerthrowing the good actions of the same and so consequently is a breeder and an occasion of many diseases in melancholie persons especially And this is the marke I am sure that you shoot at Wel sir then to leaue your long discourse and to come to handie gripes and to make short with you then thus I say if Tabacco do these things which you affirme it doth that is if it increase the humour of melancholie and breed blacke vapours in our bodie as you do say it doth then suâ—ely sir it must needes do it either by his fume and smoke or else by his purging facultie For there be no moe waies I trow how he shold do it for by the way of foode I think you meane it not for that is alreadie resolued vpon and put downe as a principle That no man feedeth on Tabacco as to make his meales thereof Well then as touching the fume of Tabacco here in this chapter you plainely and precisely affirme that by the smoke or fume of Tabacco all sorts of melancholy are augmented and increased c. But in another place you haue as plainely affirmed likewise that no impression of any matter either to do hurt or good can be made by the smoke or fume of Tabacco Of these two contradictions I know not I promise you what to make they appeare vnto me much like to the Aegiptians fast and loose so that a man cannot tell where to haue you For to do no hurt at all as you say and to do so great a harme as to increase all sorts of melancholie being a matter of so great moment c. which also you do say it doth so puzzle my wits to reconcile them well as in truth I know not what to make of it If you can reconcile them I pray you then do it for in truth I cannot As for the reason that you bring to proue Tabacco to leaue in our braine a black swarfe sootish tincture because it doth all to be-blacke the Pipe wherein it is taken ó Lord it is a very weake reason For betweene your dead and sencelesse Pipes made of earth or otherwise and the liuely cauities passages and pipes of ouâ— breathing and liuing bodies there is no likelihood or comparison to be made And for proofe hereof let vs not stand now vpon making of schoole syllogismes but let vs fall to a flat demonstration and one demonstration you know verie well is worth fiue syllogismes My demonstration then at a word is this looke me but into the throats and nosthrils of all the great Tabacco takers view them well I say and prie into their noses as much as ye please and I will lay what wager you will that you shall find them as faire nosed gentlemen and as cleane mouthed and throated as any men aliue I will warrant you Againe to go a litle farther and to proue that
very good meddow be ouermuch glutted with water and altogether ouerwhelmed as it were with continuall raine and you shall see what wise hay and what trim grasse you shall haue of that meddow So that vpon the reckening lay but the hare-worts against the goose-giblets as we are wont to say and for my part I see not but that Tabacco may worke as much good to vs in the auoiding of too much moisture as it is like to bring harme in the procuring of too much drinesse Touching your painting out of olde age with his stiffe and dry sinewes and with many other of his infirmities and imperfections I confesse them all to be true and wish with all my hart that I were able to remedie them were it but to amend some crooked conditions in my selfe and some thing else But yet I see no reason why that great cold should not be as great an occasion of the increase of all these harmes and imperfections in old age as any thing else that can be named For he that thinketh not that cold hath a mightie strength to worke a wonderfull hardnesse and drinesse let him but remember this last great frost in Nouember last past or if he hath bene in some of these great cold countries such as Russia where in very deed I neuer was although not verie farre from it when it was he can then tell that the ground is so hard and dry and all by the reason of cold onely for one halfe yeare or thereabout that they are enforced to leaue their dead bodies vnburied during all that time being not able with any instrument in the world to enter into the earth and to breake it vp vntill the Sunne be come about againe to relent and mollifie the same So that thus I conclude whether we take Tabacco or take no Tabacco yet seeing all those infirmities and imperfections which you haue reckened vp do follow old age euen by the course of nature much like as the shadow waiteth vppon our bodies and seeing that great cold either is or may be as great an increaser and hastiner of those infirmities as any one thing else is that can be named in all the world and seeing our poore friend Tabacco hath a good and a speciall property to resist that professed great enemy the cold me â—hinke it were a reasonable sute to intreate that Tabacco might rather be esteemed as a friend then a foe euen to old age also whose heate in this case no doubt is rather a pleasure then any offence at all vnto old men And yet you haue one other conceit more which maintaineth one of the strangest opinions that euer I heard of in all my life as olde as I am and that is this That by reason of hote and dry Sommers in haruest time the greatest waters and land flouds are most wont to appeare c. This in very truth is a point beyond Eela and I am not able to reach vnto it or to vnderstand it It was my chance to stand by when it was when that a Noble man in this land was in an exceeding great rage with a certaine gentleman an acquaintance of mine a very proper man and a stout The Noble man grew into such choler with him that at the length he all to be knaued the gentleman and often times repeated these words I tell thee thou art a knaue nay I tell thee troth thou art a very knaue The gentleman stood long mute and sayd neuer a word but at the length he could hold no longer but burst out into these words As God iudge me my Lord If your Lordship should tell me neuer so oft that I am a knaue yet you shall pardon me for by God I will neuer beleeue it and sayd not one word more The like answer I must be bold to make vnto you for if you tell me neuer so oft that dry Sommers make great water flouds yet in very truth I will neuer beleeue it And what your meaning is in so saying I protest I know not but this I wot well I am sure of that vpon this last great drought that we had as well in the Sommer time as also in the fall this yeare the riuer of the Thamis was become so shallow and dry as it were that the poore Westerne barges complained much of their hard passages downe the riuer to serue her Maiestie and her Maiesties citie of London while she lay at Richmond and now since her Maiestie iâ— come to White-hall to I know diuerse good farmers that are enforced to driue their cattell two miles and more to water them who were wont to haue great store and plenty of water euen at their owne doores before this hote and dry weather came to drie vp their springs And therefore to thinke that dry Sommers is cause of great waters in my opinion is nothing else but to dreame of a dry Sommer The sixt reason is for that This herbe or rather weede seemeth not voide of venome and thereby seemeth an enemy to the life of man c. I marry this is a matter of some importance indeed and would be well looked vnto But by the way this discourse of venomes or poysons would rather be tripped ouer then much dwelt vpon for diuerse good respects The times being so dangerous as they are I thinkâ— it not conuenient to meddle with any such matters and such gaps as these be would not so rashly and vnaduisedly be opened to the common people I knew a Preacher once and a verie honest learned man who meant no harme I dare sweare for him yet inueighing in his Sermon earnestly against the wickednesse of this age and telling of the bad dealing that lewd Ostlers vsed about the greasing of their horse teeth and the like vnhonest trickes that Bailifes vsed about the altering and changing of cowes hornes that were missing and strayed abroad did more harme in repeating these deceitfull sleights then all the rest of his Sermon could do good to his auditorie And you also in this place by your leaue might in my opinion haue bene something better aduised then to haue vsed so liberall or rather so lauishing a kind of talke both of poysons and of purgatiue medicines still coupling of them together in such an odious hatefull manner as you do Whereas in very deed there is no such matter if things be rightly vnderstood as hereafter shall better appeare In the meane time yet happie it is that God himselfe hath pronounced by himselfe that he is the author of Phisicke and hath therefore commanded the Phisition to be had in some good regard and reuerence for his knowledge sake Otherwise if such tales as you haue told of poysons and of purgatiues should be beleeued as indeed God be thanked they are not to be credited Phisitions might say they haue spun a fine threed and brought their hogs to a faire market and Phisicke her selfe might haue great cause to reioyce for bringing vp so
A DEFENCE OF TABACCO VVITH A FRIENDLY ANSWER TO THE late printed Booke called Worke for Chimny-Sweepers c. Si iudicas cognosce si Rex es iube LONDON Printed by Richard Field for Thomas Man 1602. TO THE RIGHT WORSHIPFVL SIR HENRIE COCKE knight Cofferer to her Maiestie and Master Richard Browne Esquire Clarke of the Greene cloth MVch here is said Tabacco to defend And much was said â—abacco to disgrace Reade marke and scan then censure in the end Both you are men most fit to iudge the case Esteeme of me as you in me shall find Craue pardon first I do and that obtaind Know this that no man shall with better mynd Each where declare to you his loue vnfaind Come what shall come to this poore Indian toy Vnto you both I wish immortall ioy A DEFENCE OF TABACCO VVITH A FRIENDLY ANSWER TO THE late printed Booke called Worke for Chimny-sweepers c. Si iudicas cognose si Rex es iube THere was published of late a certaine briefe Discourse of Tabacco By whom it was penned I know not I protest no more then I know his name that did lay the first stone at the building of London bridge But in my iudgement he seemeth to be a man well read and of sufficient learning and vnderstanding I am requested by some of my friends who rather may command me thoroughly to peruse it and that being done to giue my censure and opinion and therewithall to giue such defence as I can to that poore simple if the truth of the matter will any maner of way seeme to beare it Loath I am I confesse to entermeddle in anie such matters neuerthelesse for so much as modest and scholerly disputations are to be allowed and conference betweene such as haue bene ciuilly brought vp in schooles are not to be disliked for that oftentimes they do much good and giue great contentment to the Reader if they be done with due regard of time place and person I haue thought it not amisse to yeeld vnto my friends request and to say something â—o the matter more I assure you to satisfie their desire herein then otherwise to seeke to offend anie For I do protest and that truly that I am no way high minded or do challenge anie whit so much vnto my selfe as some perchaunce rather of good will no doubt then of my desert do yeeld vnto me And among that number of men I do account my selfe that rather desireth to learne of others then to be a teacher and an instructer of anie But euery thing is as it is taken and my hope is that nothing shal be ill taken there where all is well meant And before I enter into the matter it selfe I hold it not amisse to put downe the maine point of the Discourse or the true state of the question as they call it and so much the rather for that the Authour seemeth somewhat vncertaine herein sometime inueighing against Tabacco it selfe and his manifest qualities sometime speaking but onely against the great abuse thereof If his meaning be onely to condemne the abuse of Tabacco in that I am readie to take his part and will most willingly ioyne with him hand in hand but yet so as I do thinke that a good thing should be no more misliked for the abuse thereof then I do thinke that fire is therefore vtterly to be condemned because sometime either a towne or house is set a fire therewith be it by negligence or malice of others or that good drinke is therfore to be dispraised because some that exceed therein and lye tipling and quaffing at it all day long sometime do lose both their wealth and wits and all thereby Leauing therefore the abuse of Tabacco or at the least touching it as occasion shall be offered my meaning is onely to deale with Tabacco it selfe and therein to shew that neither of it selfe or for it selfe it is to be so mightily misliked or at the least wise not so much to be misliked for those causes and reasons which are by the Author alleaged The order that I will obserue shall be thus the eight chiefe and capitall arguments which him selfe hath set downe I will alleage verbatim and in the same order as he hath placed them And that being done I will collect and gather as briefly as I can the pith summe or substance of his principall proofes which he bringeth for the farther strengthening and confirmation of his said arguments but yet not rehearsing all the Authors words for that would be too long and ouer tedious but in that behalfe I will referre the Reader ouer to the booke that is published in print for his better satisfaction And hauing answered his arguments then will I briefly deale with such pretie by-points and questions of learning which shall be worth the noting and shall be found here and there sprinkled and scattered in all the Chapters of his booke following in order as they lye Touching mine owne particular fantacie and affection to Tabacco I protest it is no maner of way tyed vnto it For in all my life either I did neuer take it at all or else verie seldome so that euen in that respect also I may be held as a most indiffereÌ„t iudge for the matter Not making indeede anie great reckening or account on which side the iudgement or sentence shall go not much vnlike to a friends saying of mine of late and it was thus This friend of mine being not many yeares agoe a great Courtier and pleasant conceited Gentleman but now altogether retired into the countrey and a man of verie good woorth and qualitie had at that time a sute vnto his Lord and maister whom he then serued for the sauing of a man that was then condemned to be hanged and but for a trifle neither quoth he What is that said his Lord Onely said he for mistaking of a word or two for whereas he shâ—uld haue bid an honest man good morrow he chaunced to bid him Deliuer his purse Well said his Lord smiling I wil do what I can to get his pardon of her Maiestie but yet in good faith tell me what shalt thou haue for thy paines if his pardon be gotten By my troth quoth he and I will not lye vnto your Lordship the troth is I am promised fortie pound But if it please your Honor to make it vp ten pound more and to giue me fiftie as God iudge me I care not if he be hanged by and by And euen so in a maner it fareth with me touching the case of Tabacco now in question For if vpon the matter he shal be found meete to remaine still in request in some sort I shall be glad thereof if otherwise I shall not greatly be aggrieued But yet for that this Tabacco is a poore gentleman and a stranger and as it should seeme of some good account in his countrey with the high Priests and Rulers of the Sinagogues there and can speake no
good spices as well with meat as also in their daily drinke suppinses and cawdels and yet for any thing that either you or I can see God be thanked there comes no hurt at all in the world thereby But why it should destroy and consume naturaâ—â— heate and moisture as you affirme which are the principals of our life in truth I vnderstand not vnlesse as I said the takers thereof should make whole meales thereof which I am sure no man doth For then indeed it may be it would worke that effect and so would all your cordiall spices do also if men should in that disorderly maner feede on them as to make whole meales thereof Whereas now being moderately taken and yet daily too they be great preseruers of health in most sort of men or rather in all kind of complexions as aâ—l men I am sure will confesse That which is added out of Aristotle Oâ—ne simile additum simili reddit ipsum simile magis simile maketh litâ—e for your purpose For as your selfe confesseth that Contraria contrarijs curantur so I thinke you are as willing to confesse also that similia similibus nutriuntur Now â—ir if Tabacco be hote and drie as you put downe that it is and the cholericke man hote likewise and then if â—â—ke be increased with like as Aristotle saith or if like be nourished maintained and preserued with like as Phâ—sitions affirme then like inough it is that the cholericâ—e mans complexion is rather preserued by Tabacco then destroyed presupposed alwaies if it be moderately taken It may be you will here haue a kind of euasion and a certaine starting hole and I guesse well inough what it is yet neuerthelesse I will not name it But for anything that is yet said of you to the contrarie this argument holdeth and so it shall rest for me Moreouer that Principle of Aristotle Omne simile additum simili c. must haue a nice interpretation and must be rightly vnderstood or else it is like inough I tell you to breede an errour Like increaseth like you say It is true but yet in quantitie it increaseth it and not in qualitie vnlesse that same like be in a higher and stronger degree of qualitie and likenesse And yet how it should then rightly be called like being by reason of a higher degree vnlike for my part I see not As for example hote water being put to as hote water maketh not that hote waâ—er hotter then it was vnto the which it is put It may well increase the substance and quantitie of that hote water but yet not the heate and quality thereof Then vnlesse Tabacco be hotter then choler which will be very hard to proue it cannot increase choler in heate and qualitie But if it be colder in power and qualitie as I thinke it will fall out that it is then doth it rather abate and suppresse the heate of choler then increase it For warme water yea though it be good and warme water yet because it is not so hote as scalding hote water is being put to scalding hote water it doth not increase his heate a whit but rather cooleth it I warrant you try it when you will Touching the great store of vndigested and crude humors which are the effects of immoderate heates in vs as you affirme and so consequently are cause and occasion of hote feuers I see no cause of any such feare by Tabacco For if daily experience may serue for a sufficient proofe of the contrarie I for my part haue seene none at all neither hath any man else I am sure knowne any or at the least very few among so many thousands that daily take it that haue fallen into agues directly vpon the taking of Tabacco and therefore euen by that experiment also it doth seeme vnto me that the taking thereof especially in fume which as your selfe graunteth hath very small force to worke any great matter vpon our bodies can cause no such fierie and extreame heate in the bodie as is by you supposed but rather if it do giue any heate yet that heate is rather a familiar and a pleasing heate then an immoderate extraordinarie and an aguish distemperature And as for them that affirme Agues to be cured by Tabacco as you say if any vnlearned so say in my iudgement it is an vnsauory speech without sence or methode and I leaue it to them that so say to defend it as they can But it may be you mistake them Possible it is that their saying yea and their meaning too is thus that in the curing of Agues Tabacco may haue his good vse if he be rightly vsed as well as other purgatiues haue And that opinion well vnderstood is not greatly amisse For if Purgations being done in good order and conueniently giuen in their due times and seasons be one of the especiall helpes to rid and cure rotten Agues as you know it is then it is like inough that Tabacco by his purging facultie may do much good by taking away the cause of the Ague as other Purgations do For if you thinke it can do no good that way because it is hote and drie then by that reason likewise no Purgatiues in a maner that the old auncient writers did vse can do any good that way For that they were all or most of them of the same nature hote and dry as for example Elleborus Colocinth Elatery Esulus Scammony which was not onely vsed by them in a manner altogether but at this day also is one of the most common and vsuallest things that we haue especially in our great and magistrall compositions As for the daunger that you presuppose is in the often vse of Tabacco to them that be in health for dissipating consuming that wholesome humor by often vomits seeges sweatings spittings and coughings which otherwise would be turned to good bloud and nourishment and all this to be done to by the fume of Tabacco which by and by vanisheth away as all smokes do In my fancy all this is but a meere imagination and directly against that which your selfe hath sayd already affirming that the fume hath no great force to worke any matter of moment in our bodies as also flat against common and daily experience For neither I nor you nor any man else in my opinioÌ„ euer did see that the fume for of that your talke must be or else you talke to no purpose which is the thing onely that is in daily vse did euer worke any great purgings or vomits or sweates or if it did at any time yet it was by a meere accident and chance which is nothing to purpose As for the other humidities which as you say it prouoketh from the braine and other parts of the head a man may thinke that those things may as conueniently be done and with as litle hurt or danger with Tabacco as we see them daily done by your Errhinaes and Nasaliaes and Sternutatories which are vsually giuen
there is another vse also of that said humiditie which is laid vp in the store-house of our body as that learned Huernius hath well noted comparing the bodie of man to the frame of the world hauing the great Ocean sea so placed in it as it is that by his sufficieÌ„t moisture and humiditie he might still temper the great excessiue heate of the Sunne which otherwise if that were not wold go neare happily with his coÌ„tinual hote beames to set the whole world a fire The like vse saith he hath that same moisture and humiditie in our bodies c. But that this good matter for nourishment should be exhausted and consumed in that excessiue maner by the vse of poore Tabacco being taken in smoke for so you meane I thinke or else you say nothing to the purpose there neede no feare at all in all the world to be had of any such matter Nay rather in my opinion if it be well examined it will be found a great helper and maintainer of that true natural good humiditie which in time would become good nourishment as you say rather then a hinderer of the same as hath alreadie partly bene shewed before in your second Chapter and shall hereafter more at large be declared And for proofe thereof let this reason be something regarded which followeth This our countrie and natiue soile of England is an Island and the most famous Island in Christendome as all the world knoweth And be it but for that we are Islanders yet euen in that respect for the very situation of our countrie we are by nature subiect to ouermuch moisture and rheumaticke matter Now adde vnto this that English men commonly are great eaters nay rather great surfetters and do delight much and a great deale more then any Nation else in varietie and number of sundrie meates and dishes whereof the Prouerbe came Tam satur quà m Anglus And yet go farther Englishmen are now become excessiue great â—rinkers not onely of Beere and Ale but also of all kind of wine no Nation in the world more And moreouer beside all this we English men offend as much in idlenesse in carelesse sittings vp and watchings and distempering of our bodies in royotous sports and pastimes and in loosenesse of liuing as any people vnder the Sun whatsoeuer By all which inordinate meanes that same good and necessarie moisture which nature prouideth and layeth vp in store to do vs good withall is commonly so far surcharged and choked with another vnprofitable crude humiditie that she seemeth daily to make her mone and to call for helpe to haue that superfluous and combersom enemie remoued and consumed which otherwise wold be an impediment to the remainder of that other good natural moisture which nature would willingly prouide for the supply of nourishment and other good vses For as Conduits if they had not vents for to spend their wast water would in time either breake or else become vnprofitable so in our bodies this vnnaturall and ouer great increase of vnnecessary humidities and moistures being made by those meanes which I mentioned before would breed great annoyances if they were not lessened and wasted by some deuice or other Now here perchaunce you will say vnto me Why How did men in times past before Tabacco was known what helps had they then or how liued they in those daies All this is nothing to the purpose and is as soone answered by me as obiected by you For admit they liued more orderly then then we do now and so perchaunce had no need at all of other helpes which for all that I hardly beleeue or rather â—ay thus which indeede is the liker of the two that they had other helps and deuices to serue their turnes which in their opinioÌ„ was as good as Tabacco yet all this doth not proue that Tabacco is not good for the same purpose now as wel as those former things were then whatsoeuer they were Well it may proue that Tabacco is a thing later deuised and found out but yet it proueth nothing at all that because it was found out deuised but of late to speak of therfore it hath no force vertue at all to do good but rather to hurt as you would haue it Let Tabacco be a later deuice then the rest if ye wil but at my request I pray you let it be a better for any thing that I see For farther strengthening of this argument of yours you alledge that the great heat and vnmeasurable drinesse of Tabacco dissipateth naturall heat whereby concoction is hindred by that means many raw humors increased c. In which saying in my opinion you do far misse the cushion And this is the very point that in all your discourse is the chiefest cause and occasion of all your errors as I haue said alreadie before For you do reason still as though there were such a fierie heat in Tabaccâ— and such an exceeding extreame drinesse as nothing might wel be deuised hotter or drier You know the old schoole-saying Vno impossibili dato sequitur quodlibet Grant you but that false Principle once and then any thing indeed will follow It is not vnknowne to you and the learned that superexcelling obiects weaken and destroy the senses be they neuer so perfect for example sake the exceeding brightnes and the cleare shining of the Sunne ouercommeth our sight insomuch that the more firmly attentiuely you do gaze vpon it as many tried it but euen this last day when it was eclipsed the â—linder you are What then and shall it therfore follow â—hat his moderat and comfortable shining shal put out our eye-sight Who sees not that the extreme hot burning fire presently killeth and destroyeth that bodie that is cast into it and yet for all that I hope the moderat and pleasing warmth of the same fire wheÌ„ we stand by it yeeldeth no offence at all but rather is a great coÌ„fort vnto vs if Tabacco had that superexcelling heat or such an exceeding drinesse as you seeme to attribute vnto it it were another matter But it is neither so nor so I neuer yet heard in all my life that moderat heat or things that be hote in some measurable meane and degree as Tabacco is either did or could dissipate or decay naturall heat If that were so theÌ„ are they in a good pickle that cherish their stomacks with spices and warme drinks Vsquabah and D. Steeuens water Rosa solis and Aqua vitae greene Ginger preserued Nutmegs and the three Peppers and the like might go a begging What stronger men haue you or more actiue then our Irish people I hope they neuer came to that strength at the first or maintained it now they haue it with drinking of snow water And if Tabacco be not by many ods and degrees beneath all these things that I haue talked of in heate and drinesse then let me lose my credite And yet for farther proofe of your argument you
alledge that by the same extreme heat of Tabacco bloud being vndigested and crude becometh vnfit for the sperme and seed of man therby is hindred the propagation of mankind by this hellish smoke out of Plutoes forge This reason wholy dependeth vpoÌ„ the same foundation that the other did and therfore may well receiue the same answer that the other had So that in a matter vnnecessarie there needeth not any necessary speech to be had But whereas you do confidently affirme that Tabacco cureth the disease called Gonorrhaea and there uppon would seeme to inferre that therefore it hindreth propagation good Lord how are you deceiued therein and yet in so saying what an excellent gift and vertue haue you found out in Tabacco and what a siâ—gular praise haue you put downe on Tabaccoes side I for my part haue as much labored in the curing of that disease as perchance most men haue of our profession and I hope to with as good successe But if I had thought in all the time of my practise that Tabacco had bene such a fellow and had had any such prerogatiue in the cure of that disease assure your selfe I would haue bene better acquainted with him then I am I would haue giuen him right good entertainement I will not vse many words in this matter for diuers good honest respects neither enter into any discourse to rip vp the diuerse kinds natures and differences of that loathsome disease or once seeme to mention the causes occasions thereof or to deale with any part of his remedies But let this only suffice for an infallible principle a thing to be maintained against all gaine sayers That whatsoeuer is good to cure that sicknesse that selfe same thing is singular good to helpe and farther propagation if it be orderly administred and rightly vnderstood For what thing in the world is there that is a greater enemy to generation then that disease is Tum quia corrumpiâ— totum nostrum corpus reddit ipsum semen languidum effoetum tum quia ipsa generandi etiam instrumenta nimis flaccida facit ad cocundum prorsus inepta Sed hoc in loco parcè timideque loquendum est Noui enim quà m sint malè morata haec nostra tempora in quà m audax oeuum aâ— dissolutam aetatem inciderimus Quocirca vt decentiae pudoris ac verecundiae iusta honesta ratio habeatur arbitramur multò meliùs esse hìc consistere quà m longiùs progredi The fifth reason is for that It decaieth and dissipateth naturall heate that kindly warmth in vs and thereby is cause of crudities and rheumes occasion of infinite maladies c. These obiections are much like vnto those that went before and are already sufficiently answered But yet for farther satisfaction let this yet be remembred by the way That in another place before your selfe hath confessed That in cold rheumaticke hydropicall bodies c. Tabacco may do much good And now is it become the cause of increase of these rheumes and cold waterish humors in our bodies here is a great alteration indeed vpon a sudden Likewise in another place you sayd it cured D. T. ofhis cold rheumaticke stomach And as I take it that was done by giuing of it some increase of good heate with a sufficient drinesse for otherwise I know he could not haue bene cured For this is flat and plaine that contraria contrarijs curantur And I am sure your selfe also is of that opinion And is Tabacco now found out to be a decayer and dissipator of that naturall kindly heate which heretofore it did giue and procure to others by your owne confession By my fay the reconciling of these and the like speeches whereof there be diuerse in your booke will put a wiser man then I am or your selfe either to cast about and to seeke the bottome of his wits how it may be brought to passe But for that the proofe of this your fifth reason hangeth vpon the proofe of your fourth argument as your selfe saith and for that cause your selfe also is willing to referre vs ouer to that fourth part of your Discourse euen so will I do to and so here rest a while And in the meane time if it will please you to giue me leaue to enter into the consideration of some of your pretty odde conceits which you haue here set downe in this chapter I will thanke you The troth is I feare me I am not very well able to conceiue your meaning thoroughly by reason that to my thinking in the deliuering of them you do vse diuerse kinds of windings in and out and as it were certaine turnings to and fro that are not altogether voyde of obscurity but it may be it is my weakenesse in vnderstanding and not your darkenesse in penning And therfore in truth I craue pardon if I chance to make an offence in mistaking c. One of your conceits is this That much hardnesse and drinesse is the occasion that moisture cannot enter If you meane by these words hard and dry an excessiue and an extreame hardnesse and drinesse in the highest degree then it may be yeelded vnto As for example A hard flint or a marble stone or a hote hard dry gad of steele will admit no moisture into it I confesse though you powre neuer so much water vpon them But what is this to Tabacco or what analogie or proportion is there betweene our bodies and these things though old bodies be dry and hard too yet are they neuer so dry and hard but they can admit moisture well inough like as when the earth is verie dry in so much that it is thereby full of chaps and chinkes because it is a porous bodie as we call it and in some sort spongious it is therfore apt able to receiue great moisture and to drinke in mightie showers of raine as daily experience sheweth albeit as it should seeme you are of a contrary opinion And euen so fareth it with our bodies Another conceit of yours is this That drinesse doth not onely hinder the receiuing of moisture but also by that meanes it is an enemy to nourishment as you inferre vpon it First to answer you merily and so I pray you to take it all the suckgrouts in London and all the whole company of tiplers of which societie I tell you there is not the least number will be all vpon you with open voice and come all against you in this to testifie That drinesse neuer hindered as yet the receiuing and imbibing in of any good liquor But in good sadnesse I thinke you speake and meane this of an exceeding great drinesse and in the highest degree and such as cannot be found in our bodies for so it must needes be that you meane and no otherwise And in that sence I assure you ouermuch wet also is as great an enemy to nourishmeÌ„t as by this familiar example may soone appeare Admit a