Troy Sinon the counterfeit runnagate being then within the wals among the Trojans perswaded them to pull down their wals and pull in that wooden Horse affirming that if they could get it Pallas would stand so friendly to them that the Grecians should never be able to move war against them wherefore they pull down their gates and part of their wall and by that means do bring the Horse into the City while the Trojans were thus revelling and making merry with themselves and not thinking of any harm might ensue upon them the leaders of the Grecian Army who by deceit all this while kept themselves close hid ever since which time the Grecians are tearmed of all Nations deceitful on a suddain rose out of their lurking places and so going forward invaded the City being destitute of any defence and by this means subdued it Others are of opinion that the Poets fiction of the Trojan Horse was no other but this that there was a mountain neer Troy called Equus and by advantage thereof Troy was taken whereunto Virgil seemeth to allude saying Instar montis Equum divina Palladis arte Aedificant For they say that Pallas and Epeus made the Horse and therefore I conjecture that the Trojan Horse was nothing else but an engine of War like unto that which is called Aries For Pausanias saith that Epeus was the inventer thereof And Higinus saith that the Trojan Horse was Machina oppugnatoria a devise of war to overthrow the wals Of this Horse there was a brazen image at Athens in Acropolis with this inscription Chaeridemus Fuangeli filius caelen ãâ¦ã dicavit When Alexander looked upon his own picture at Ephesus which Apelles had drawn with all his skill the King did not commend it according to the worth thereof It fortuned that a Horse was brought into the room who presently neighed at the picture of Alexanders Horse smelling unto it as to a living Morse whereat Apelles spake thus to the King Ho men Hippos âoice sou graphicoteros cata polu That is to say The Horse is a better discerner of truth then you There was one Phormis which went from Maeâalus in Arcadia into Sioilla to serve Gelon the Son of Dinomenes under whom and his brother Hierâ he arose to great estate of wealth and therefore he gave many gifts to Apollo at Delphos and made two brazen Horses with their riders at Olympia setting Dionisius the Grecian upon one and Simon Egineta upon the other Aemilius Censorinus a cruel Tyrant in Sicilia bestowed great gifts upon such as could invent new kinde of torments there was one Aâuntius Paterculus hoping to receive from him some great reward made a brazen Horse and presented it to the Tyrant to include therein such as he should condemn to death at the receipt whereof Aemilius which was never just before first of all put the Author into it that he might take experience how cursed a thing it was to minister unto cruelty Apelles also painted Clytus on Horse-back hastening to war and his Armour-bearer reaching his helmet unto him so lively that other dumb beasts were affraid of his Horse And excellent was the skill of Nealces who had so pictured a Horse foaming that the beholders were wont to take their handkerchefs to wipe it from his mouth And this much for the moral uses of Horses Of the several diseases of Horses and their cures SEeing in this discourse I have principally aimed at the pleasure delight and profit of Englishmen I have thought good to discourse of the diseases of Horses and their cures in the words of our own Countreymen M. Blundevile and M. Markham whose works of these matters are to be recorded like the Iliads of Homer in many places and several Monuments to the intent that envy of Barbarism may never be able to bury them in oblivion or neglect to root them out of the world without the losse of other memorable labours Wherefore good Reader for the ensuing Tructure of diseases and cures compiled by them after that I had read over the labours of C. Gisner and compared it with them finding nothing of substance in him which is not more materially perspicuously profitably and familiarly either extracted or expressed by them in a method most fitting this History I have thought good to follow them in the description of the disease and the remedy first according to time declaring them in the words of M. Blund and afterwards in the words of M Markham methodically one after the other in the same place wherewithal I trust the living authors will not be displeased that so you may with one labour examine both and I hope that neither they nor any of their friends or Scholars shall receive any just cause of offence by adding this part of their studies to our labours neither their books imprinted be any way disgraced or hindered but rather revived renobled and honoured To begin therefore saith Master Blundevile after the discourse of the nature of a Horse followeth those things which are against nature the knowledge whereof is as needfully profitable as the other Things against nature be those whereby the healthful estate of a Horses body is decayed which are in number three that is the causes the sickness and the accidents of the two first in order and the other promiscuously as need requireth Of causes and kinds thereof THe causes of sickness be unnatural affects or evill dispositions preceding sickness and provoking the same which of themselves do not hinder the actions of the body but by means of sickness coming betwixt Of causes some be called internal and some external Internal be those that breed within the body of the Beast as evil juice External be those that chance outwardly to the body as heat cold or the stinging of a Serpent and such like In knowing the cause of every disease consisteth the chief skill of the Farriar For unlesse he knoweth the cause of the disease it is impossible for him to cure it well and skilfully And therefore I wish all Farriars to be diligent in seeking to know the causes of all diseases as well in the parts similar as instrumental and to know whether such causes be simple or compound for as they be simple or compound so do they engender simple or compound diseases Of sickness what it is and how many general kinds there be also with what order the diseases of Horses are herein declared And finally of the four times belonging to every sickness SIckness is an evill affect contrary to nature hindering of it self some action of the body Of sickness there be three general kinds where of the first consisteth in the parts similar the second in the parts instrumental and the third in both parts together The first kind is called of the Latins Intemperies that is to say evil temperature which is either simple or compound It is simple when one quality only doth abound or exceed too much as to be too hot or too
of bitter choler innumerable worms are oft-times found And I see no reason why Worms may not breed from yellow choler as well as in Wormwood from melancholy as well as in stones from bloud as well as in sugar But if they be not bred from them whence have they matter that they breed of The Physician of Padua will answer It remains therefore that they can breed only of raw flegm which either ariseth from too great quantity of the best meats for want of heat or quantity of bad meats corrupt by depravation which opinion though it well agree with Galen Aegineta Aetius Avenzoar Avicenna Coluânella Celsus Alexander and chiefly with our Mercurialis yet in my judgement Hippocrates is in the right who thought that living creatures are bred in the little world as well as they are in the great Therefore as in the earth there are all kinde of humours heat and spirit that it may nourish living creatures that breed so hath man all kinde of moisture that mourisheth things that breed Moreover when as these living creatures do represent perfectly Earth-worms no man in his wits will deny but that they have both the same original What flegm is there in the earth yet it breeds round Worms and Gourd-fushioned and Ascarides and all sorts of Worms and the best and warmest earth abounds with them so far is it that they should breed only of raw and corrupt humours Do we not also daily see that Worms are voided by men that are in health For I knew a woman of Flanders that at Francfort on the Main which from her youth till she was forty years old did daily void some round Worms without any impairing of her health and she was never sick of them I conclude therefore that from every raw humour of the body Worms may breed and not only from crude or corrupted flegm The formal cause depends from internal heat which is weak gentle pleasing and fit to breed living creatures wherein that plastick force of Caleodick Nature to use the word of Avicennas doth make the colours by the degrees of secret heat and sporting her self doth make that broad form of Gourd-worms and some-times of Lizards Toads Grass-worms Catterpillers Snakes Eels as we read in Histories This doth give them taste feeling and motion this gives them that force of attracting whereby they forcibly draw forth with greediness the juices that slip into the guts If it were not so that heat that consumes all things might perhaps dispose the matter that is changed by putrefaction but it would never give the form and figure of a living creature For it is not because the guts are round that round Worms are bred in them as some men dream but the external form depends from the internal and the spirit drawn forth of the bosome of the soul it self doth frame the shapes without a Carver or Smith This spirit is the mediate efficient cause but God himself is the principal cause in this and other things in whom as well as we the Worms are move and have their being The final cause shewes their use which declares Gods omnipotency Natures majesty and the singular providence of both for mans good For there are collected in us some putrefied excremental superfluous parts which the more bountiful hand of Nature changeth into Worms and so cleanseth our bodies as we account it a good sign of health to be full of lice after a long disease also they consume much superfluous moisture in mans body and unless they grow too many for then they feed on our nutrimental juice they are a great help to the guts so far is it that they should be accounted by physitians amongst diseases or the beginnings of diseases Amongst the concomitant causes I reckon the place and the countrey For though they are more common to children than to those that are of years to women than men in a pestilential than a healthful time in Autumn than in the Spring to such as use an ill diet rather than to those that keep an exact diet yet they accompany all ages sexes conditions seasons diets for no man is priviledged from them yet some places or climates are free for according to the nature of them in some many in others no Worms will breed for all kinde of Worms will not breed in each part of the guts but round Worms only in âhe small guts Ascarides in the Longanum the Gourd-worms only are bred in all Also as Theophrastus and Pliny testifie there are no small differences amongst Nations and Countreys lib. hist pl. 9. c. 2. Lib. Nat. hist 27. cap. 13. For broad or Gourd-worms are common amongst the Egyptians Arabians Syrians and Cilicians again they of Thracia and Phrygia know them not And though the Boeotians and Athenians are under the same Confines they are frequently full of Worms and these are by a priviledge as it were freed from them He only will admire at this or think it a Fable who knowes not that the nature of Countreys vary according to the position of the stars the nature of the winds and the condition of the earth There is a River saith Aristotle lib. de nat anim c. 28. in Cephalenia that parts an Island and on one side of it there is great abundance of Grashoppers but none on the other In Prodoselena there is a way goeth between and on one side of it a Cat will breed but not on the other side In the Lake Orchomenius of Boeotia there are abundance of Moles but in Lebadius that is hard by there are none and brought from other parts they will not dig the earth In the Island Ithaca Hares cannot live nor in Sicily flying Ants nor in the Countrey of Cyrene vocal Frogs nor in Ireland as we know any kinde of venomous creature The reason of all this he can only tell who hath hanged the earth in the air without a foundation for it is not my eye that can see so far nor have I any minde to affect to know things above my understanding I leave that work to those that dare aspire To know Gods secrets let me them admire CHAP. XXXIII Of the signs and cure of Worms out of Gabucinus LEt us therefore shew the signs of Worms beginning from those that are called round Worms both because these do more frequently vex children and because they produce more cruel symptomes of which Paulus writes thus they that are troubled with round Worms are cruelly torn in their bellies and guts and they have a tickling cough that is troublesome and somewhat tedious some have a hickop others when they sleep leap up and rise without cause sometimes they cry out when they rise and then they fall asleep again their Arteries beat unequally and they are sick of disorderly Feavers which with coldness of the outward parts come thrice or four times in a day or a night without any reason for them Children will eat in their sleep and put forth their tongues
of them in hunting stood betwixt his horns with two other men not much lesser in quantity then himself who was a goodly well proportioned and personal Prince There are two bunches on his back the former near his shoulders which is the higher and the other near the rump which is somewhat lower I have seen the horns of a Bison which was in the hands of a Goldsmith to tip with silver and gilt that it might be fit to drink in it did bend like the talon of an Eagle or Gryphin or some ravenous bird The flesh in Summer time is most fat but it tasteth so much of wilde Garlick or Ramsens that it is not pleasant to eat being full of small veins and strings and is accounted a noble and strong kind of flesh the bloud is the most purest in the world excelling in colour any purple and yet for all that it is so hot that being let forth when the Beast dyeth within two houres space it putrefieth and the flesh it self in the coldest Winter will not keep sweet many hours by reason of the immoderate heat thereof if the Hunter do not after the fall of the beast separate from it the intrails and which is most strange of all being pierced alive with any hunting spear dart or sword the weapon by the heat of the body is made so weak and soluble that it cometh forth as flexible as lead and to conclude it is a most noble and fierce spirited bâast never afraid or yeelding till breath faileth neither can he be taken with any nets or gins untill they be thoroughly wearyed wherefore they which hunt him must be very strong nimble and skilful men or else that sport will be their own undoing and overthrow Therefore when they go to hunt this Bison they choose a place replenished with large trees neither so great that they cannot easily wind about them nor so little that they shall not be able to cover their bodies from the horn or tongue of the beast behind which the hunters place themselves out of sight and then the Dogs rouze up the beast driving him to that place where the hunters stand whom the beast first espyeth to him he maketh force who must warily keep the tree for his shield and with his spear wound him where he can who will not fall without many mortal strokes but waxe more and more eager not only with horn but with tongue for if he can but apprehend any part of the hunters garment with his tongue he loseth no hold but draweth him unto him and with his horn and feet killeth him but if the fight be long and so the hunter wearied and out of breath then doth he cast a red cap unto the beast who maketh at it with head and feet never leaving till it be all in pieces and if another come to help him as hunters must if they will return alive then shall he easily draw the beast to combate and forsake the first man if he cry Lu-lu-lu Pausanias sheweth how these Bisons are taken alive in this sort The hunters faith he chuse out some steep and slippery down hill whereupon they lay skins of beasts newly taken off and if they want such then anoint they old skins with oil and so leave them spread upon those steeping or bending passages then raise they the beasts and with Dogs and other means on horseback drive them along to the places where they laid their hides and as soon as they come upon the skins they slip and fall down rowling headlong till they come into the valleys from whence they constrain them back again some other way three or four times a day making them fall down the hils as aforesaid and so wearying them with continual hunting and fasting At the last they come unto them when they are no more able to rise for faintness and give them Pine-apples taken out of the shels for with that meat are they delighted and so while they eagerly feed and lie weary on the ground they intoil them in bands and manacles and lead them away alive The medicines coming from this beast may be conjectured to be more forcible then of common and ordinary Oxen but because they were not known to the Grecians and Arabians and we finde nothing recorded thereof we will conclude the story of this great Bison with good opinion of the virtues though we are not able to learn or discover them to others Of the white SCOTIAN BISON. IN the Woods of Scotland called Callender or Caldar and in ancient time Calydonia which reacheth from Monteth and Erunal unto Atholia and Loqubabria there are bred white Oxen maned about the neck like a Lyon but in other parts like ordinary and common Oxen. This wood was once full of them but now they are all slain except in that part which is called Cummirnald This beast is so hateful and fearful of mankind that it will not feed of that grasse or those hearbs whereof he favoureth a man hath touched no not for many days together and if by art or policy they happen to be taken alive they will die with very sullen grief If they meet a man presently they make force at him fearing neither Dogs Spears nor other weapons Their flesh is very pleasant though full of sinews and very acceptable to the greatest Nobles for which cause they are grown to a small number their qualities being like to the former beast excepting their colour and beard I will term them a white Calydonian or Scotian BISON. BONASUS the figure of the Head and Horns The head of this beast is like the head of an Ox or Bull his horns bending round to the sides of the cheek by reason whereof he hath no defence by them neither can a man be hurt that is cast upon them His neck is very thick with a large mane from his eyes down to his shoulders in length like an Horses but the hair thereof is much softer and lyeth more smoothly the uppermost hairs being harsher and the undermost softer like wool Their colour betwixt red and ash colour but black and yellow appeareth not in them They have no upper teeth in this point resembling an Ox and other horned beasts their horns being in compass about nine inches and somewhat more are very smooth and black like varnish Their voice is like the voice of an Ox their legs all hairy and their feet cloven their tail too short for the other members of the body like a Bugles their back stretched out at length is as long as a seat for seaven men their flesh is very sweet for which cause he is much sought for in hunting he will with his feet dig up the ground like an Ox or Bull in his rage when he is once struck he flyeth away fighting with his heels backward and whereas nature hath denyed him the benefit of horns which other beasts have so that he is only adorned
the body and the hinder legs are covered with longer and harder hairs down to the pastern as I think for no other cause but to defend them from harm in his leaping and the hoof of this beast was more strange for being cloven as was said before the outward hoof in his fore-legs is longer and greater then the inward and contrary in the hinder and the inward clove thereof is longer and greater and the outward smaller and shorter so as on either side you would think one of them was the hoof of a Goat and the other of a Hart both of them hollow and without soals whereof I can give no other reason then the pleasure of nature which hath so provided that whereas this beast liveth among the rocks and sharp places of the Mountains his foot-steps are by his hollow hoofs more firm and stable because by that means the stones and sharp-pointed rock entreth into them to stay them up from sliding but it is more strange in the females hoofs for they have upon the top and upper face of them three or four pleasant impressions as it were of carved or imbroydered flowers if a man mark them earnestly which I think are given unto them only for ornament and delight Either sex loose every year their hoofs and Harts do their horns that nature may shew their resemblance in their feet to a Hart as he doth in their head to a Goat His ear is short like a Goats but his eye genieal stones and tail like a Harts though somewhat shorter The horns like a Rams crooked and distinguished in the middle by a black line all their length which is two Roman feet and one finger and in compass at the root one foot one palm and a half standing one from another where they differ most not above one foot three palms one finger and a half The rugged circles going about them toward the top are bunchy and toward the bottom or root they are low with beaten notches or impressions They are not at the top distant one point from another above one foot and a palm The length of their face from the Crown to the tip of their nose one foot and three fingers the breadth in the fore-head where it is ãâ¦ã dest two palms and one finger The height of this beast not above three foot and a half except where his mane standeth and the whole length hereof from the crown of the head to the tail is four feet and a half and two fingers It hath only teeth beneath on the neather chap and those in number not above six neither did I observe any defect in them It cheweth the ãâã like other cloven-footed beast The nostrils are black from whom the upper lip is divided by a long perpendicular line It is a gentle pleasant wanton beast in the disposition rather resembling a Goat then a Hart desiring the steepest and slipperyest places whereon it leapeth and from whence it is reported that it doth cast down it self head-long upon the horns naturally that by them it may break the violence of his fall or leap and then stayeth his body upon the fore-knees It will run a pace but it is most excellent in leaping for by leaping it ascendeth the most highest Mountains and Rocks The females are greater then the males but not in horn or hair it eateth Grass Oats Cheafil Hay and Bread they bring forth twins every time and this we call in England a Barbary Deer Thus far Doctor Cay Of the HART and HINDE THe male of this beast is called in Hebrew Aial Deut. 14. and the Arabians do also retain that word in their translations the Persians call him Geuazen the Septuagint Elaphos the Graecians at this day Laphe Pelaphe and Saint Jerom for the Latines Cervus the Chaldees Aiclah the Italians Cervo the Spaniards Ciervo the French Cerf the Germans Hirtz or Hirs and Hirsch the Flemmings Hert the Polonians Gelen the Illyrians Ielii elii The female or Hinde likewise termed in Hebrew Aial and sometime Alia and Aielet the Latines and Italians Cerva the Spaniards Cierva the Germans Hinde and Hindin and the Germans more specially Hin and Wilprecht the French Biche and the Polonians Lanii The young Fawns or Calfs of this beast they call in Latine Hinnuli the Graecians Nebros the Hebrews Ofer the Germans Hindcalb Also it is not to be forgotten that they have divers other names to distinguish their years and Countries as for example when they begin to have horns which appear in the second year of their age like bodkins without branches which are in Latin called Subulae they are also called Subulones for the similitude they have with Bodkins and the Germans call such an one Spirzhirtz which in English is called a Spittard and the Italians Corbiati but the French have no proper name for this beast that I can learn untill he be a three yearing and then they call him âin Gabler which in Latine are called Furcarii And indeed I was once of this opinion that these Subulones were only two-yearing Harts untill I consulted with a Savoyan of Segusium who did assure me from the mouths of men trained up in hunting wilde Beasts from their youth that there are a kinde of Subulones which they call also Brocardi with straight and unforked horns except one branch in the Mountain of Jura near the lake Lemanus and that these also do live among other Harts for there was seen neer a Monastery called the Roman Monastery by certain Hunters in the year 1553. a vulgar Hart with branched horns and his female and likewise with a Subulon or Brocarde which when in pursuit he was constrained to leap from rock to rock to get to the water he brake his leg and so was taken These Brocards are as great in quantity as other vulgar Harts but their bodies are leaner and they swifter in course They have but one branch growing out of the stem of their horn which is not bigger then a mans finger and for this cause in the rutting time when they joyn with their females they easily overcome the vulgar Hart with his branched and forked horns The Hunters call this Brocard the shield-bearer to the residue for by him they are delivered being hunted for whereas it is the nature of the vulgar Hart to get into ditches and hide himself in hollow places when he heareth the Hounds this Beast never coveteth any secret place to cover himself but runneth still in the sight of Dogs who leave the other that hide themselves because they keep this on foot and so when the Hunters are passed by the lurking Harts they return back again being safe both from Nets and Dogs while the poor Brocard is chased unto death The figure of the face and horns I have therefore here expressed the figure of the head of this Beast with his horns which is also called Anamynta or a Burgundian Brocard whose
cold it is compound as when many qualities do exceed as when the body is too hot and too dry or too cold and too moist The second kind is called Mala constitutiâ that is to say an evill state or composition which is to be considered either by the shape number quantity or sight of the member or part evill affected or diseased The third kind is called Vnitatis solutio that is to say the loosening or division of the unity which as it may chance diversly so it hath divers names accordingly for if such solution or division be in a bone then it is called a fracture if it be in any fleshie part then it is called a Wound or Ulcer in the veins a Rupture in the sinews a Convulsion or Cramp and in the skin an Excoriation Again of diseases some be called long and some sharp and short called of the Latins M ãâ¦ã which be perillous and do quickly kill the body The long do ãâ¦ã rry longer by it Yet moreover there is sickness by it self and sickness by consent Sickness by it self is that which being in some member hindereth the action thereof by it self Sickness by consent is derived out of one member into another through the neighbourhood and community that is betwixt them as the pain of the head which cometh from the stomach Thus the learned Physitians which write of Mars body do divide sickness But Absyrtus writing of Horse-leach craft saith of that sickness or rather malady for so he termeth it using that word as a general name to all manner of diseases that be in a Horse there be four kinds that is to say the moist malady the dry malady the malady of the joynts and the malady betwixt the flesh and the skin The moist malady is that which we call the Glanders The dry malady is an incurable consumption which some perhaps would call the mourning of the chein but not rightly as shall appear unto you hereafter The malady of the joints comprehendeth all griefs and sorentes that be in the joints And the malady betwixt the flesh and the skin is that which we call the ãâã U ãâ¦ã which four kindes of maladies Vegetius addeth three others that is the Forcine the ãâã of the Reins or Kidnies and the con ãâ¦ã ered Marginess most commonly called of the old writers the ãâ¦ã sic and so maketh seven kindes of maladies under which all other perticular diseases are comprehended Again Laurentius Rusius useth an other kind of division of sickness Of Horses diseases saith he some be natural and some accidental The natural be those that do come either through the excesse or lack of engendring seed or by error of nature in misforming the young or else by some defect of the dam or sire in that perhaps they be diseased within and have their seed corrupted The accidental diseases be those that come by chance as by surfetting of cold heat and such like thing But forasmuch as none of these writers do follow their own divisions nor handle the parts thereof accordingly to avoid their confusion and to teach plainly I thought good and profitable therefore to use this my own division and order here following First then of diseases some be inward and some be outward The inward be those that breed within the Horses body and are properly called maladies and diseases whereof some do occupy all the whole body and some particular parts or members of the body Of those then that occupie all the body and not be accident to any private member I do first treat as of Agues of the Pestilence and such like and then of those that be incident to every particular member beginning at the head and so proceed orderly throughout all the members even down to the sole of the foot observing therein so nigh as I can the self same order that Galen useth in his book De locis male affectis declaring what manner of disease it is and how it is called in English and also in Italian because the Kings stable is never without Italian Riders of whom our Farriars borrowed divers names as you shall perceive hereafter Then the causes whereof it proceeds and the signes how to know it and finally the cure and diet belonging to the same and because I find not inward diseases enow to answer every part of the body I do not let to interlace them with outward diseases incident to those parts yea rather I leave out no outward disease belonging to any particular member and to the intent you may the better know to what diseases or sorances every part or member of the Horses body is most commonly subject And note by the way that I call those outward diseases that proceed not of any inward cause but of some outward cause as when a Horse is shouldered by means of some outward cause or his back galled with the saddle or his sides spurgalled or his his hoof cloid with a nail which properly may be called sorances or griefs Thirdly I talk of those diseases as well outward as inward that may indifferently chance in any part of the body as of Impostumes Cankerous Ulcers Wounds Fistulaes Burnings Bâusings Breaking of bones and such like Fourthly because most diseases are healed either by letting of bloud by taking up of veins by purgation or else by cauterisation that is to say by giving the fire I talk of those four necessary things severally by themselves and finally I shew you the true order of paring and shooing all manner of hoofs according as the diversity of hoofs require and to the intent you may the better understand me you have the perfect shapes of all necessary shooes plainly set forth in figures before your eyes Thus much touching mine order which I have hitherto observed Now it is necessary to know that to every disease or malady belongeth four several times that is to say the beginning the increasing the state and declination which times are diligently to be observed of the Farriar because they require divers applying of medicine for that medicine which was meet to be used in the beginning of the disease perhaps is not to be used in the declination thereof and that which is requisite and very needful to be applyed in the state or chiefest of the disease may be very dangerous to be used in the beginning And therefore the Farriar ought to be a man of judgement and able to discern one time from another to the intent he may apply his medicines rightly Hither of causes and sickness in general Now it is also meet that we speak in general of signes whereby sickness is known Of the signes of sickness in general SIckness according to the learned Physitians is known four manner of wayes First by inseparable or substantial accidents as by the shape number quality and sight of the part or member diseased For if it be otherwise formed or more or lesse in number or quantity or else otherwise placed then it ought to
one day called by the Greek name Ephemera or else by the Latin name Diaria chanceth many times through the rashness and small discretion of the keeper or some other that letteth not to ride a Horse unmeasurably either before or after watering whereby the Horse afterward in the stable entreth into an extream heat and so falleth into his Fever which you shall know partly by his waterish and bloud-shotten eyes and partly by his short violent and hot breathing and panting Moreover he will forsake his meat and his legs will wax stiffe and feeble The cure Let him have rest all the next day following and be comforted with warm meat then let him be walked up and down fair and softly and so by little and little brought again to his former estate Of the Fever continual THe Fever continual is that which continueth without intermission and is called in Italian by the Latin name Febris continua which springeth of some inflamation or extream heat bred in the principal members or inward parts about the heart which is known in this sort The Horse doth not take his accustomed rest whereby his flesh doth fall away every day more and more and sometime there doth appear hot inflamations in his flanks and above his withers The cure Purge his head by squirting into his Nostrils Mans urine or the Water of an Ox that hath been rested a certain time to the intent such water may be the stronger and then give him the drink written in the next Chapter Of the Fever taken in the Autumn that is to say at the fall of the leaf IF a Horse chance to get a Fever at the fall of the leaf cause him immediately to be let bloud in the neck vein and also in the third furrow of the roof of his mouth and then give him this drink Take of Jermander four ounces of Gum-dragant and of dryed Roses of each one ounce beat them all into fine powder and put them into a quart of Ale adding thereunto of Oil-olive four ounces and of Hony as much and give it the Horse lukewarm Of the Fever in Summer season A Fever taken in Summer season is much worse then in any other time and especially if it be taken in the Dog days for then the accidents be more furious The signes be these his arteries will beat evidently and he will shed his seed when he staleth and his going will be unorderly The cure Let him bloud in a vein that he hath in his hinder hanch about four fingers beneath the fundament or if you cannot finde that vein let him bloud in the neck vein toward the withers and if it be needful you may also give him this drink Take the juyce of a handful of Parslein mingled with Gum-dragant with Ensens and a few Damask roses beaten all into fine powder and then put thereunto a sufficient quantity of Ale made sweet with Hony Of the Fever in Winter FOr the Fever in Winter it shall be good to take the powder of the drugs last mentioned and with a quill or reed to blow it up into his left nostril to make him to neese It shall be good also to let him bloud in the neck vein and in the palat of the mouth and then give him one of these drinks here following Take of Ireos six ounces of round Pepper one ounce of Bay berries and of the seed of Smallage of each one ounce and let him drink them with sodden Wine Or else take a pinte of good Milk and put therein of Oile four ounces of Saffron one scruple of Myrrhe two scruples of the seed of Smallage a spoonful and make him drink that or make him this drink Take of Aristoloch otherwise called round Hartwort one ounce of Gentian of Hysop of Worm-wood of Sothernwood of each one ounce of dry fat figs six ounces of the seed of Smallage three ounces of Rue a handful boil them all in a clean Vessel with River Water untill the third part be consumed and when you see it look black and thick take it from the fire strain it and give the Horse to drink thereof lukewarm As touching his diet let his water be alwayes lukewarm wherein would be put a little Wheat meal and remember to give him no meat so long as his fit continueth And because in all Agues it is good to quicken the natural heat of the Horse by rubbing and fretting his body it shall not be amisse in some fair day to use this Friction called of the ancient writers Apotorapie which is made in this sort Take of Damaske Roses one pound of old Oil a pinte of strong Vinegar a pinte and a half of Mints and Rue beaten into powder of each one ounce and a half together with one old dry Nut beat them and mingle them together then being strained and made lukewarm rub and chafe all the Horses body therewith against the hair untill he beginneth to sweat then set him up in the warmest place of the stable and cover him well Of the Fever which cometh of raw Digestion or of Repletion YOu shall know if the Fever proceedeth of any such cause by these signes here following The Horse will blow at the nose more then he is accustomed to do seemeth to fetch his winde only at his nose and his breath will be short hot and dry you shall see his flanks walk and his back to beat The cure Cause him to be let bloud abundantly in the head and palat of his month and by squirting warm Vinegar in the morning into his nostrils force him to neese and if he be costive let his fundament be raked or else give him a Glyster to ease the pain in his head And as touching his diet give him but litttle provender or hay neither let him drink much nor often but betwixt times But in any wise let him be well rubbed and chafed and that a good while together and if you use the Friction declared in the last Chapter before in such sort as there is said it shall do him very much good Of the Fever accidental coming of some Vlcer in the mouth or throat THe Horse not being well kept and governed after that he hath been let bloud in the upper parts yea and also besides that of his own nature is subject unto the distillation in his throat or parts thereabout the painful swelling or Ulcer whereof causeth the Horse to fall into a grievous Ague Whereof besides the former remedies apt to purge humors it shall be necessary also to let him bloud in the vein of the head and in the palat of his mouth and to be short in all those places where the disease causeth most grief And if the Horse be so sore pained as he cannot swallow down his meat it shall be good to give him lukewarm water mingled with Barley meal or Wheat meal and beside that to make him swallow down seven sops sopped in Wine one after another at one
in a tub of cold water and then well and hard wrung and over that cast another cloth and gird it fast with a surcingle stuffing him well about the back with fresh straw continuing thus to do every day once the space of a week during which time give him no cold water but lukewarm and put therein a little ground Mault The wet sack will cause the back to gather heat it self and the skin to loosen from the flesh and if you will bestow more cost you may anoint all his body with Wine and oil mingled together according to the opinion of the old writers which no doubt is a very comfortable thing and must needs supple the skin and loosen it from the flesh Of the diseases in the throate and lungs and why the griefs of the shoulders and hips be not mentioned before amongst the griefs of the withers and back SOme perhaps would look here that for so much as I have declared the diseases of the neck withers and back that I should also follow on now with the griefs of the shoulders and hips But sith that such griefs for the most part doe cause a Horse to halt and that it requireth some skill to know when a Horse halteth whether the fault be in his shoulder hip leg joint or foot I think it is not good to separate those parts asunder specially sith nature hath joyned them together that is to say the shoulders to the forelegs and the hips to the hinder legs And therefore according to natures order I will treat of them in their proper place that is to say after that I have shewed all the diseases that be in the inward Horses body not only above the midriffe as the diseases of the throat lungs breast and heart but also under the midriffe as those of the stomach liver guts and of all the rest And first as touching the diseases of the throat the Glaunders and Strangullion to all Horses is most common Of the Glanders and Strangullion so called according to the Italian name Stranguillion MOst Farriars do take the Glanders and Strangullion to be all one disease but it is not so for the Glanders is that which the Physitians call Tonsillae and the Strangullion is that which they call in Latine Angina in Greek Gynanch and we commonly call it in English the Squinaâcy or Quinsie Tonsillae is interpreted by them to be the inflamations of the kirnels called in Latine Glandes the Italian Glandulae which lie on both sides of the throat underneath the root of the tongue nigh unto the swallowing place of which word Glandes or Glandulae I think we borrow this name Glanders for when the Horse is troubled with this disease he hath great kirnels underneath his jawes easie to be seen or felt paining him so as he can not easily swallow down his meat which cometh first of cold distillations out of the head But if such kirnels be not inflamed they will perhaps go away of themselves or else by laying a little hot horse-dung and straw unto them the warmth thereof will dissolve them and make them to vanish away But if they be inflamed they will not go away but encrease and wax greater and greater and be more painful every day then other and cause the Horse to cast continually filthy matter at his Nose The cure whereof according to Martin is this First ripe the kernels with this plaister Take of bran two handfuls or as much as will thicken a quart of Wine or Ale then put thereunto half a pound of Hogs grease and boyl them together and lay it hot to the sore with a cloth renewing it every day until it be ready to break then lance it and let out all the matter and tent it with a tent of Flax dipt in this salve Take of Turpentine of Hogs grease of each like quantity and a little wax and melt them together and renew the tent every day until it be whole Laurentius Russius saith that this disease is very common to Colts because in them doth abound fluxible moisture apt to be dissolved with every little heat and to turn to putrifaction and therefore if the Horse be not over young he would have you first to let him bloud in the neck vein and then to lay unto the same sore a ripening plaister made of Mallowes Linseeds Rew Wormwood ground Ivy Oyl of Bayes and Dialthea and to anoint his throat also and all the sore place with fresh Butter and the sore being ripe to lance it or else to rowel it that the matter may come forth But if the kernels will not decrease then pull them away by the roots and dry up the Ulcerous place with an ointment made of unsleck't Lime Pepper Brimstone Nitrum and Oyl Olive It shall be also good to purge his head by perfuming him every day once in such sort as hath been before declared And let the Horse be kept warm about the head and stand in a warm stable and let him drink no cold water but if you see that after you have taken away the kernels the Horse doth not for all that leave casting filthy matter at the Nose then it is to be feared that he hath some spice of the mourning of the Chine for both diseases proceed of one cause and therefore I think good to speak of it here presently But first I will set down a drink which I have seen proved upon a Horse that I thought could never have been recovered of the same disease and yet it did recover him in very short space so as he travelled immediately after many miles without the help of any other medicine A drink for the Strangullion or Glanders TAke of warm milk as it cometh from the Cow a quart or in stead thereof a quart of new Beer or Ale warmed and put thereunto of moulten Butter the quantity of an Egge and then take one head of Garlick first clean pilled and then stamped small which you must put into the milk or drink being made lukewarm and give it the Horse with a horn and immediately after the drink be given catch hold of his tongue with your hand and having broken two raw Egges either upon his foreteeth or against the staffe wherewith his head is holden up cast those broken Egges shels and all into his throat making him to swallow down the same that done ride him up and down till he begin to sweat then set him up covered warm with an old coverlet and straw not suffering him to eat nor drink for the space of two or three hours after and let his drink for the space of two or three dayes be somewhat warm whereunto it is good to put a handâul or two of âran or ground Malt and in giving the said drink it shall not be amisse to powre some thereof into either Nostril Of the mourning of the Chine THis word Mourning of the Chine is a corrupt name borrowed of the French tongue wherein
they have another property if they do not breed and engender before the casting of their Colts-teeth they remain steril and barren all their life long for so doth the generative power of the Asses body rest upon a tickle and nice point apt to rise or easie to fall away to nothing And in like sort is a Horse prone to barrenness for it wanteth nothing but cold substance to be mingled with his seed which cometh then to pass when the seed of the Ass is mixed with it for there wanteth but very little but that the Asses seed waxeth barren in his own kinde and therefore much more when it meeteth with that which is beside his nature and kinde This also hapneth to Mules that their bodies grow exceeding great especially because they have no menstruous purgation and therefore where there is an annual breeding or procreation by the help and refreshing of these flowers they both conceive and nourish now these being wanting unto Mules they are the more unfit to procreation The excrements of their body in this kinde they purge with their urine which appeareth because the male Mules never smell to the secrets of the female but to their urine and the residue which is not voided in the urine turneth to encrease the quantity and greatness of the body whereby it cometh to pass that if the female Mule do conceive with foal yet is she not able to bring it forth to perfection because those things are dispersed to the nourishment of her own body which should be imployed about the nourishment of the foal and for this cause when the Egyptians describe a barren woman they picture a Mule Alexander Aphrodiseus writeth thus also of the sterility of Mules Mules saith he seem to be barren because they consist of Beasts divers in kinde for the commixtion of seeds which differ both in habit and nature do evermore work something contrary to nature for the abolishing of generation for as the mingling together of black and white colours doth destroy both the black and white and produce a swart and brown and neither of both appear in the brown so is it in the generation of the Mules whereby the habitual and generative power of nature is utterly destroyed in the created compound which before was eminent in both kindes simple and several These things saith he Alcmaeon as he is related by Plutarch saith that the male Mules are barren by reason of the thinness and coldness of their seed and the females because their wombs are shut up and the veins that should carry in the seed and expel out the menstruous purgation are utterly stopt And Empedocles and Diocles say that the womb is low narrow and the passages crooked that lead into it and that therefore they cannot receive seed or conceive with young whereunto I do also willingly yeeld because it hath been often found that women have been barren for the same cause To conclude therefore Mules bear very seldom and that in some particular Nations if it be natural or else their Colts are prodigious and accounted monsters Concerning their natural birth in hot regions where the exterior heat doth temper the coldness of the Asses seed there they may bring forth And therefore Collumella and Varro say that in many parts of Africk the Colts of Mules are as familiar and common as the Colts of Mares are in any part of Europe So then by this reason it is probable unto me that Mules may ingender in all hot Countries as there was a Mule did engender often at Rome or else there is some other cause why they do engender in Africk and it may be that the African Mules are like to the Syrian Mules before spoken of that is they are a special kinde by themselves and are called Mules for resemblance and not for nature It hath been seen that a Mule hath brought forth twins but it was held a prodigy Herodotus in his fourth Book recorded these two stories of a Mules procreation When Darius saith he besieged Babylon the Babylonians scorned his Army and getting up to the top of their Towers did pipe and dance in the presence of the Persians and also utter very violent opprobrious speeches against Darius and the whole Army amongst whom one of the Babylonians said thus Quid istic desidetis ô Persâ quin potius absceditis tunc expugnaturi nos cum pepererint Mulae O ye Persians why do you sit here wisdom would teach you to depart away for when Mules bring forth young ones then may you overcome the Babylonians Thus spake the Babylonian believing that the Persians should never overcome them because of the common proverb epcan emionoi tekâsin when a Mâle beareth young ones But the poor man spake truer then he was aware of for this followed after a yeer and seven months While the siege yet lasted it hapned that certain Mules belonging to Zâpirus the son of Megabizus brought forth young ones whereat their Master was much moved while he remembred the aforesaid song of the Babylonian and that therefore he might be made the Author of that fact communicated the matter with Darius who presently entertained the device therefore Zopirus cut off his own nose and ears and so ran away to the Babylonians telling them that Darius had thus used him because he perswaded him to depart with his whole Army from Babylon which he said was in expugnable and invincible The Babylonians seeing his wounds and trusting to their own strength did easily give credence unto him for such is the nature of men that the best way to beguile them is to tell them of those things they most desire for so are their hopes perswaded before they receive any assurances But to proceed Zopirus insinuated himself further into the favour of the Babylonians and did many valiant acts against the Persians whereby he got so much credit that at last he was made the General of the whole Army and so betrayed the City unto the hands of Dirius Thus was Babylon taken when Mules brought forth Another Mule brought forth a young one at what time Xerxes passed over Hellespont to go against Graecia with his innumerable Troops of Souldiers and the said Mule so brought forth had the genitals both of the male and female Unto this I may adde another story out of Suetonius in the life of Galba Caesar As his father was procuring Augurisms or divinations an Eagle came and took the bowels out of his hands and carryed them into a fruit-bearing-oak he enquiring what the meaning of that should be received answer that his posterity should be Emperours but it would be very long first whereunto he merrily replyed Sane cum Mula pepererit I sir when a Mule brings forth young ones which thing afterwards happened unto Galba for by the birth of a Mule he was confirmed in his enterprises when he attempted the Empire so that that thing which was a prodigy and cause of sorrow and
more to be doubted in the kinde of Unicorns for the horns of Harts are not only solid as Aristole supposed but also the horns of Unicorns as here I have said The horn of an Unicorn is at this day used although age or longinquity of time hath quite abolished it from the nature of a horn There are some which mingle the Rhinoceros with the Unicorn for that which is named the Rhinoceros horn is at this day in Physical use of which notwithstanding the Authors have declared no effectual force Some say that the Unicorns horn doth sweat having any poyson coming over it which is false it doth perhaps sometimes sweat even as some solid hard and light substance as also stones and glass some external vapour being about them but this doth nothing appertain to poyson It is in like manner reported that a kinde of stone called the Serpents tongue doth sweat having poyson come over it I have heard and read in a certain book written with ones hands that the true horn of a Unicorn is to be proved in this manner To give to two Pigeons poyson red Arsnick or Orpin the one which drinketh a little of the true Unicorns horn will be healed the other will die I do leave this manner of trial unto rich men For the price of that which is true is reported at this day to be of no less value then gold Some do sell the weight thereof for a floren or eight pence some for a crown or twelve pence But the marrow thereof is certainly of a greater price then that which is of harder substance Some likewise do sell a dram thereof for two pence half penny so great is the diversity thereof For experience of the Unicorns horns to know whether it be right or not put silk upon a burning coal and upon the silk the aforesaid horn and if so be that it be true the silk will not be a whit consumed The horns of Unicorns especially that which is brought from new Islands being beaten and drunk in water doth wonderfully help against poyson as of late experience doth manifest unto us a man who having taken poyson beginning to swell was preserved by this remedy I my self have heard of a man worthy to be believed that having eaten a poysoned cherry and perceiving his belly to swell he cured himself by the marrow of this horn being drunk in Wine in very short space The same is also praised at this day for the curing of the Falling sickness and affirmed by Aelianus who called this disease cursed The ancient Writers did attribute the force of healing to cups made of this horn Wine being drunk out of them but because we cannot have cups we drink the substance of the horn either by it self or with other medicines I happily sometime made this Sugar of the horn as they call it mingling with the same Amber Ivory dust leaves of gold coral certain other things the horn being included in silk and beaten in the decotion of Raisins and Cinamon I cast them is water the rest of the reason of healing in the mean time not being neglected It is moreover commended of Physitians of our time against the pestilent feaver as Aloisius Mundellus writeth against the bitings of ravenous Dogs and the strokes or poysonsome stings of other creatures and privately in rich mens houses against the belly or maw worms to conclude it is given against all poyson whatsoever as also against many most grievous diseases The King of the Indians drinking out of a cup made of an Indian Unicorns horn and being asked wherefore he did it whether it were for the love of drunkenness made answer that by that drink drunkenness was both expelled and resisted and worser things cured meaning that it clean abolished all poyson whatsoever The horn of a Unicorn doth heal that detestable disease in men called S. Johns evill otherwise the cursed disease The horn of an Unicorn being beaten and boiled in Wine hath a wonderful effect in making the teeth white or clear the mouth being well cleansed therewith And thus much shall suffice for the medicines and vertues arising from the Unicorn Of the VRE-OX THis beast is called by the Latines Vrus by the Germans Aurox and Vrox and Grossevesent by the Lituanians Thur the Scythians Bubri and these beasts were not known to the Grecians as Pliny writeth of whom Seneca writeth in this manner Tibi dant variae pectora Tigres Tibi villosi terga Bisontes Latisque feri cornibus uri And Viâgil also maketh mention of them in his Georgicks writing of the culture or tilling of Vines Texenda saepes etiam pecus omne tenendum Praecipuâ cum frons tenera imprudensâ laborum Cui super indignas hyemes âolemque potentem Silvestres uri assidue capreaeque sequaces Illudunt These wilde beasts or Ure-oxes are wilde Oxen differing from all other kindes already rehearsed in the story of Oxen Bugles Bisons or any other although some have unskilfully taken them for Bisons and Sir Thomas Eliot in his Dictionary doth English Vrus a Bugil but beside him no body that I know and for this cause he is reprehended by other Now although there be nothing in this beast but ordinary yet seeing it is a creature so well known we have less reason to omit his shape and story lest we should justly be condemned of negligenee and carelesneâs In outward proportion of the body it differeth little from the Bull It is very thick and his back somewhat bunched up and his length from the head to the tail is short no ways answerable to the proportion of his stature and sides the horns as some say are but short yet black broad and thick his eyes red a broad mouth and a great broad head his temples hairy a beard upon his chin but short and the colour thereof black his other parts as namely in the face sides legs and tail of a reddish colour These are in the wood Hercynia in the Pyrâney Mountains and in Mazovia near Lituania They are call'd Vri of Oron that is the Mountains because their savage wildeness so great that they seldom descend from those safeguards They far excel Bulls and other wilde Oxen coming nearer to the quantity or stature of Elephants then to the Bull. In resemblance a man would think them to be compounded of a Mule and a Hart for their outward resemblance so seem It is said they could never be taken by men although they were taken when they were young yet they love other heards of Cattel and will not forsake them easily after they have once joyned themselves unto them whereby many times they are deceived and killed twenty thirty or forty at a time Caligula Caesar brought of these alive to Rome and did shew them in publick spectacle to the people and at that time they were taken for wilde Bulls Some affirm that there are of these in Prussia and that they are so wilde cruel and
or warmth then in other whose leaves fall off and decay in the cold weather except in the roots of Birth And by reason of their multitude gathered together at the root of this tree it falleth out that their breath heateth the same and so preserveth the leaves from falling off Wherefore in ancient time the ignorant multitude seeing a Birch tree with green leaves in the Winter did call it our Ladies Tree or a holy tree attributing that greenness to miracle not knowing the former reason or secret in Nature Solinus reporteth of such a like Wood in a part of Africa where in all the Winter time the leaves of all the trees abide green the cause is as before recited for that the Serpents living at the roots of the trees in the earth do heat them with their breath Neither ought any man to wonder that they should so friendly live together especially in the Winter and cold time seeing that by experience in England we know that for warmth they will creep into bed-straw and about the legs of men in their sleep as may appear by this succeeding discourse of a true history done in England in the house of a worshipful Gentleman upon a servant of his whom I could name if it were needful He had a servant that grew very lame and feeble in his legs and thinking that he could never be warm in his bed did multiply his clothes and covered himself more and more but all in vain till at length he was not able to go about neither could any skill of Physitian or Chirurgeon finde out the cause It hapned on a day as his Master leaned at his Parlour window he saw a great Snake to slide along the house side and to creep into the chamber of this lame man then lying in his bed as I remember for he lay in a low chamber directly against the Parlour window aforesaid The Gentleman desirous to see the issue and what the Snake would do in the chamber followed and looked into the chamber by the window where he espyed the Snake to slide up into the bed-straw by some way open in the bottom of the bed which was of old boards Straightway his heart rising thereat he called two or three of his servants and told them what he had seen bidding them go take their Rapiers and kill the said Snake The serving men came first and removed the lame man as I remember and then the one of them turned up the bed and the other two the straw their master standing without at the hole whereinto the said Snake had entered into the chamber The bed was no sooner turned up and the Rapier thrust into the straw but there issued forth five or six great Snakes that were lodged therein Then the serving-men bestirring themselves soon dispatched them and cast them out of doors dead Afterward the lame Mans legs recovered and became as strong as ever they were whereby did evidently appear the coldness of these Snakes or Serpents which came close to his legs every night did so benum them as he could not go And thus for heat they pierce into the holes of chimneys yea into the tops of hills and houses much more into the bottoms and roots of trees When they perceive that Winter approacheth they finde out their resting places wherein they lie half dead four months together until the Spring sun again communicating her heat to all Creatures reviveth and as it were raiseth them up from death to life During which time of cold Winter as Seneca writeth Tuto tractari postifera Serpens potest non desunt tuno illi venena sed ãâã They may be safely handled without fear of harm not because they want poyson at that time but because they are drouzy and deadly astonished But there is a question whether when they be in this secresie or drouziness they awake not to eat or else their sleep be unto them in stead of food Olaus Magnus affirmeth of the Northern Serpents that they eat not at all but are nourished with sleep Cardan saith that they take some little food as appeareth by those which are carryed up and down in boxes to be seen and are fed with bran or cheasil But this may be answered that Serpents in boxes are not so cold as those in Woods and Deserts and therefore seeing cold keepeth them from eating the external heat of the box-house or humane body which beareth them about may be a cause that inclosed Serpents feed in Winter as well as in Summer and yet the Serpents which run wilde in the fields eat nothing at all during the time of their Chias or Ehiaus that is their lying hid Grevinus that learned man proponeth this question Si Serpentes calidi sunt qui fit ut integros trât aut quatuor menses id est toto illo tempore quo delitescunt absque cibo vivunt If saith he Serpents be hot how cometh it to pass that they can live three or four moneths without all food that is all the time of their lying secret He maketh in my opinion a sufficient answer to this question which for me shall conclude the cause saying Doth it not fall out with Serpents as it doth with some women who being full of humor and thick phlegmatick matter have but a little and weak natural heat yet proportionable to the said humor do live a great time by reason thereof without food or nourishment And for this cause all the hoasts of Philosophers do define that Serpents do also abstain from eating a long season For Nature hath clothed them with a more solid skin and lined them with a more thick and substantial flesh to the intent that their natural heat should not easily vanish away and decay in their bodies but remain therein permanent for the feeding and preserving of life When they sleep they seem to sleep with open eyes which is elegantly described by Philes in these Greek verses Opos kathéude kai dokei palin blepein Ophis te kai ptox kaâ thumou pleres león Epipetatai gar he chlamys ton ommaton Allou tinos Chitonos hapaloterou Phrorountos autois os dioptras task-óras Which may be Englished thus How can the Hare the Serpent and the Lion bold Both sleep and see together at one time Within their eye-lids a soft skin their sight doth fold Shilding their apples as glass doth weakened eyne The food of Serpents that is permitted them by God is the dust of the earth as may appear by that first and just sentence which GOD himself gave upon them for seducing our first Parents Ad ãâ¦ã and Eve Gen. 3. 14. Because thou hast done this thing thou art accursed above all the Beasts of the field for thou shalt go upon thy belly and eat dust all the days of thy life And again Esay 65. 25. Dust shall be meât to the Serpent And lest that we should think that this curse hath not taken hold upon the Serpent we may finde the
Bees full wilde or Locusts spoylers bred But yet to look upon all horrible in seams For why the cruel Bore they shew in head They keep in rocks and stony places of the houses and earth making their dens winding and hanging according to these Verses Rimosas colit illa Petras sibique aspera tecta Et modice pendens facit inflexumque cubile In English thus The chinks of Rocks and passages in stone They dwell wherein their lodgings bare A little hanging made for every one And bending too their sleepy harbours are It is said that Canobus the Governour of Menelaus chanced to fall upon this Serpent in revenge whereof Helen his charge the wife of Menelaus broke his back-bone and that ever since that time they creep lamely and as it were without loyns which fable is excellently thus described by Nicander Quondam animosa Helene cygni Jovis inclyta proles Eversa rediens Troia nisi vana vâtustas Huic indignata est generi Pharias ut ad oras Venit adversi declinans flamina venti Fluctivagam statuit juxta Nili ostia classem Namque ubi nauclerus se fessum forte Canobus Sterneret et bibulis fusus dormiret arenis Laesa venenosos Hâmorrhois impulit ictus Illatamque tulit letali dente quietem Protinus oâiperae cernens id filla Ledae Oppressae medium serpenti fervida dorsum Infregit tritaeque excussit vinculae spinae Quae fragili illius sic dempta è corpore fugit Et graciles Haemorrhoiae obliquique Cerastae Ex hoc clauda trahunt jam foli tempore membra Which may be Englished thus Once noble Helen Joves childe by Swan-like shape Returning back from Troy destroyed by Grecian war If that our ancients do not with fables us beclap This race was envied by Pharias anger farre When to his shores for safety they did come Declining rage of blustring windy seas Water-biding-Navy at Nilus mouth gan run Where Canobus all tyred sainted for some ease For there this Pilot or Master of the Fleet Did hast from boat to sleep in ârery sand Where he did feel the teeth of Hemorrhe deep Wounding his body with poyson deaths own hand But when egge-breeding Ledaes wench espyed This harm she prest the Serpents back with stroke Whereby the bands thereof were all ãâã Which in just wrath for just revenge she broke So ever since out of this Serpents fr ãâ¦ã And body they are taken which is the cause That Cerasts and lean Haemorrhs are ever ãâã Drawing their parts on earth by natures lawes They which are stung with these Haemorrhs do suffer very intolerable torments for out of the wound continually floweth bloud and the excrements also that cometh out of the belly are bloudy or sometimes little rouls of bloud in stead of excrements The colour of the place bitten is black or of a dead bloudy colour out of which nothing floweth at the beginning but a certain watery humour then followeth pain in the stomack and difficulty of breathing Lastly the powers of the body are broken and opened so that out of the mouth gums ears eyes fingers ends nayls of the feet and privy parts continually issueth bloud untill a cramp also come and then followeth death as we read in Lucan of one Tellus a young noble man slain by this Serpent described as followeth Impressit dentes Haemorrhois aspera Tullo Magnanimo juveni miratorique Catonis Vâque solet pariter totis se effundere signis Coricii pressura croci sic omnia membra Emisere simul rutilum pro sanguine virâs Sanguis erant lachrymae quâcunque foramina novit Humor ab iis largus manat cruor ora redundant Et patulae nares sudor rubet omnia plenis Membra fluunt venis totum est pro vulnere corpâs In English thus The Haemorrhe fierce in noble Tullus fastened teeth That valiant youth great Catoes scholar deer And as when Saffron by Corycians skeeth Is prest and in his colour on them all appear So all his parts sent forth a poyson red In stead of bloud Nay all in bloud went round Bloud was his tears all passages of it were sped For out of mouth and ears did bloud abound Bloud was his sweat each part his vein out-bleeds And all the body bloud that one wound feeds The cure of this Serpent in the opinion of the Ancients was thought impossible as writeth Dioscrides and thereof they complain very much using only common remedies as scarification âstions sharp meats and such things as are already remembred in the cure of the Dipsas But besides these they use Vine-leaves first bruised and then sod with Honey they take also the head of this Serpent and burn it to powder and so drink it or else Garlick with Oyl of Flower-de-luce they give them also to eat Reisins of the Sun And besides they resist the eruption of the bloud with plaisters laid to the place bitten made of Vine-leaves and Honey or the leaves of Purslane and Barley-meal But before their urine turn bloudy let them eat much Garlick stamped and mixed with Oyl to cause them to vomit and drink wine delayed with water then let the wound be washed with cold water and the bladder continually fomented with hot Spunges Some do make the cure of it like the cure of the Viper and they prescribe them to eat hard Egges with Salt fish and besides the seed of Radish the juice of Poppy with the roots of Lilly also Daffadil and Rue Trefolie Cassia Opoponax and Cinnamon in potion and to conclude the flowers and buds of the bush are very profitable against the biting of the Haemorrhe and so I end the history of this Serpent Of the Horned SERPENT THis Serpent because of his Horns although it be a kinde of Viper is called in Greek Rerastes and from thence cometh the Latine word Cerastes and the Arabian Cerust and Cerustes It is called also in Latine Ceristalis Cristalis Sirtalis and Tristalis All which are corrupted words derived from Cerastes or else from one another and therefore I think it not fit to stand upon them The Hebrewes call it Schephiphon the Italians Cerastes the Germans En geâurnte schlââg the French Vn Ceraste un serpent Cornu that is a horned Serpent and therefore I have so called it in English imitating herein both the French and Germans I will not stand about the difference of Authors whether this Serpent be to be referred to the Asps or to the Vipers for it is not a point materiall and therefore I will proceed to the description of his nature that by his whole history the Reader may choose whether he will account him a subordinate kinde unto others or else a principall of himself It is an African Serpent bred in the Lybian sandy seas places not inhabited by men for the huge Mountains of sands are so often moved by the windes that it is not only impossible for men to dwell there but also very dangerous and perilous to travel through them for
ditches and other simple medicines such as are applyed to the curing of the Yellow-jaundise The eyes must be washed with the urine of a childe or young man which never knew any woman carnally and this may be applyed either simply and alone or else by Brine and Pickle so also must the head After that the body is purged anoint it with Balsamum and Honey and take an Eye-salve to sharpen again and recover the sight and for this cause it is very good to weep for by evacuation of tears the venom also will be expelled But if the eyes grow to pain then let their Eye-salve be made more temperate and gentle to keep the head and brain from stupefaction And thus much for the Pelias out of Aetius Of the PORPHYRE THere is among the Indians a Serpent about the bignesse of a span or more which in outward aspect is like to the most beautiful and well coloured Purple the head hereof is exceeding white and it wanteth teeth This Serpent is fought for in the highest Mountains for out of him they take the Sardius stone And although he cannot bite because he wanteth teeth yet in his rage when he is persecuted he casteth forth a certain poyson by vomit which causeth putrefaction where ever it lighteth But if it be taken alive and be hanged up by the tail it rendereth a double one whiles it is alive the other when it is dead both of them black in colour but the first resembleth black Amber And if a man take but so much of the first black venom as is the quantity of a Sesamine seed it killeth him presently making his brains to fall out at his nostrils but the other worketh neither so speedily nor after the same manner for it casteth one into a Consumption and killeth within the compasse of a year But I finde Aelianus Volateran and Textor to differ from this relation of Ctesias for they say that the first poyson is like to the drops of Almond trees which are congealed into a gum and the other which cometh from it when he is dead is like to thin mattery water Unto this Porphyre I may add the Palmer Serpent which Strabo writeth doth kill with an unrecoverable poyson and it is also of a Scarlet colour to the loyns or hinder-parts Of the PRESTER ALthough there be many Writers which confound together the Prester the Dipsas and make of them but one kinde or Serpent of divers names yet seeing on the contrary there he as many or more which do distinguish or divide them and make them two in nature different one from another the Dipsas killing by thirst and the Prester by heat as their very names do signifie therefore I will also trace the steps of this latter opinion as of that which is more probable and consonant to truth The Grecians call it Prester of Prethein which signifieth to burn or inflame and Tremellius and Junius think that the Serpents called fiery Serpents which did sting the Israelitos in the Wildernesse were Presters We finde in Suidas Prester for the fire of Heaven or for a cloud of fire carryed about with a vehement strong winde and sometimes lightenings And it seemeth that this is indeed a fiery kinde of Serpent for he himself always goeth about with open mouth panting and breathing as the Poet writeth Oraque distendens avidus fumantia Prester Inficil ut laesus tumida membra gorat Which may be Englished thus The greedy Presters wide-open foming mouth Infects and swelleth making the members by unâouth When this Serpent hath struck or wounded there followeth an immeasurable swelling distraction conversion of the bloud to matter and corrupt inflamation taking away freedom or easinesse of aspiration likewise dimming the sight of making the hair to fall off from the head at last suffocation as it wereby fire which is thus described by Mantuan upon the person of one Narsidus saying as followeth Ecce subit facies leto diversa fluenti Narsidium Marsi cultorem torridus agri Percussit prester illi rubor igneus ora Succendii tenditque cutem pereunte figura Misoens ouncta tumor toto jam corpore major Humanumque egressa modum super omnia membra Efflatur Sanies latè tollente veneno Ipse late penitus congesto corpore mersus Nec lorica tenet distenti corporis auctum Spumeus accenso non sic exundat aheno Vndarum cumulus nec tanto carbasa Core Curvavere sinus tumides j am non capit artus Informis globus confuso pondere triâââ Intactum voluctum rostris epulasque duturum Haud impune feris non aufi tradere busto Nondum siante modo crescens fugere cadaver Which may be thus Englished Lo suddenly a divers fate the joyful current stayed Narsidius which Marsinus mirror did adere By burning sting of scorching Prester dead was layed For fiery colour his face enflam'd not as before The first appearing visage faild all was out-stretcht Swelling cover'd all and bodies grosnesse doubled Surpassing humane bounds and members all ore reacht Aspiring venom spreads matter blown in carkasse troubled The man lyeth drownd within swoln bodies banks No girdle can his monstrous growth contain Not so are waters swoln with rage of sandy flanks Nor sails bend down to blustering Corus wain Now can it not the swelling sinews keep in hold Deformed globe it is and trunk ore-come with waight Vntoucht of flying Fowls no beaks of young or old Do him dare eat or beasts full wilde upon the body bait But that they die No man to âury in earth or fire Durst once come nigh nor stand to look upon that haplesse cste For never ceased the heat of corps though dead to swell Therefore afraid they ran away with speedy pace The cure of the poyson of this Serpent is by the Physitians found out to be wilde Purslain also the flowers and stalk of the bush the Beavers stone called Castoreum drunk with Opoponax and Rew in Wine and the little Sprat-fish in diet And thus much of this fire-burning venomous Serpent Of the RED SERPENT THis kinde of Serpent being a Serpent of the Sea was first of all found out by Pelicerius Bishop of Montpelier as Rondoletus writeth and although some have taken the same for the Myrus or Berus of which we have spoken already yet is it manifest that they are deceived for it hath gills covered with a bony covering and also fins to swim withal much greater then those of the Myrus which we have shewed already to be the male Lamprey This Serpent therefore for the outward proportion thereof is like to the Serpents of the land but of a red or purplish colour being full of crooked or oblique lines descending from the back to the belly and dividing or breaking that long line of the back which beginneth at the head and so stretcheth forth to the tail The opening of his mouth is not very great his teeth are very sharp and like a saw his gils like scaly fishes
upright that he deemed them at first to be an Army of enemies and commanded to joyn battel with them untill he was certified by Taxilus a King of that Countrey then in his Campe they were but Apes In Caucasus there are trees of Pepper and Spices whereof Apes are the gatherers living among those trees for the Inhabitants come and under the trees make plain a plat of ground and afterward cast thereupon boughs and branches of Pepper and other fruits as it were carelesly which the Apes secretly observing in the night season they gather together in great abundance all the branches loaden with Pepper and lay them on heaps upon that plat of ground and so in the morning come the Indians and gather the Pepper from those boughs in great measure reaping no small advantage by the labor of Apes who gather their fruits for them whiles they sleep for which cause they love them and defend them from Lions Dogs and other wild Beasts In the region of Basman subject to the great Cham of Tartaria are many and divers sorts of Apes very like mankind which when the Hunters take they pull of their hairs all but the beard and the hole behind and afterward dry them with hot spices and poudering them sell them to Merchants who carry them about the world perswading simple people that there are men in Islands of no greater stature To conclude there are Apes in Troglodytae which are maned about the neck like Lions as big as great Bel-weathers So are some called Cercopitheci Munkies Choeropitheci Hog Apes Cepi Callitriches Marmosits Cynocephali of a Dog and an Ape Satyres and Sphinges of which we will speak in order for they are not all alike but some resemble men one way and some another as for a Chymaera which Albertus maketh an Ape it is but a figment of the Poets The same man maketh Pigmeys a kind of Apes and not men but Niphus proveth that they are not men because they have no perfect use of Reason no modesty no honesty nor justice of government and although they speak yet is their language imperfect and above all they cannot be men because they have no Religion which Plato saith truly is proper to every man Besides their stature being not past three four or five spans long their life not above eight years and their imitation of man do plainly prove them rather to be Apes then Men and also the flatness of their Noses their combats with Cranes and Partridges for their egges and other circumstances I will not stand upon but follow the description of Apes in general Apes do outwardly resemble men very much and Vesalius sheweth that their proportion differeth from mans in more things then Galen observed as in the muscles of the breast and those that move the armes the elbow and the ham likewise in the inward frame of the hand in the muscles moving the toes of the feet and the feet and shoulders and in the instrument moving in the sole of the foot also in the fundament and mesentery the lap of the liver and the hollow vein holding it up which men have not yet in their face nostrils ears eye-lids breasts armes thumbes fingers and nails they agree very much Their hair is very harsh and short and therefore hairy in the upper part like men and in the neather part like beasts they have teeth before and behind like men having a round face and ey-lids above and beneath which other Quadrupedes have not Politianus saith that the face of a Bull or Lion is more comely then the face of an Ape which is like a mans They have two Dugs their breasts and armes like men but rougher such as they use to bend as a man doth his foot So their hands fingers and nails are like a mans but ruder and nimbler and nature having placed their Dugs in their breast gave them armes to lift their young ones up to suck them Their feet are proper and not like mans having the middle one longest for they are like great hands and consist of fingers like hands but they are alike in bigness except that which is least to a man is greatest to an Ape whose sole is like the hand but that it is longer and in the hinder part it is more fleshy somewhat resembling a heel but put backward it is like a fist They use their feet both for going and handling the neather parts of their armes and their thighes are shorter then the proportion of their elbows and shins they have no Navel but there is a hard thing in that place the upper part of their body is far greater then the neather like other Quadrupedes consisting of a proportion between five and three by reason wereof they grow out of kind having feet like hands and feet They live more downward then upward like other four-footed Beasts and they want Buttocks although Albertus saith they have large ones they have no tail like two legged creatures or a very small signe thereof The genitall or privy place of the female is like a Womans but the Males is like a Dogs their nourishment goeth more forward then backward like the best Horses and the Arabian Seraph which are higher before then behind and that Ape whose meat goeth forward by reason of the heat of heart and liver is most like to a man in standing upright their eyes are hollow and that thing in men is accounted for a signe of a malicious mind as little eyes are a token of a base and abject spirit Men that have low and flat Nostrils are Libidinous as Apes that attempt women and having thick lips the upper hanging over the neather they are deemed fools like the lips of Asses and Apes Albertus saith he saw the heart of a Male Ape having two tops or sharpe ends which I know not whether to term a wonder or a Monster An Ape and a Cat have a small back and so hath a weak hearted man a broad and stong back signifieth a valiant and magnanimous mind The Apes nails are half round and when they are in copulation they bend their Elbowes before them the sinews of their hinder joynts being turned clean about but with a man it is clean otherwise The veins of their armes are no otherwise dissected then a mans having a very small and ridiculous crooked thumb by reason of the Muscles which come out of the hinder part of the leg into the middle of the shin and the fore muscles drawing the leg backward they cannot exactly stand upright and therefore they run and stand like a man that counterfeits a lame mans halting And as the body of an Ape is ridiculous by reason of an indecent likeness and imitation of man so is his soul or spirit for they are kept only in rich mens houses to sport withall being for that cause easily tamed following every action he seeth done even to his own harme without discretion A certain Ape
after a shipwrack swimming to land was seen by a Countrey-man and thinking him to be a man in the water gave him his hand to save him yet in the mean time asked him what Countreyman he was who answered he was an Athenian well said the man dost thou know Piraeus which was a port in Athens very well said the Ape and his wife friends and children where at the man being moved did what he could to drown him They keep for the most part in Caves and hollow places of hils in rocks and trees feeding upon Apples and Nuts but if they find any bitterness in the shell they cast all away They eat Lice and pick them out of heads and garments They will drink wine till they be drunk but if they drink it oft they grow not great specially they lose their nails as other Quadrupedes do They are best contented to sit aloft although tied with chains They are taken by laying for them shoos and other things for they which hunt them will anoint their eyes with water in their presence and so departing leave a pot of lime or hony in stead of the water which the Ape espying cometh and anointeth her eyes therewith and so being not able to see doth the hunter take her If they lay shoos they are leaden ones too heavy for them to wear wherein are made such devises of gins that when once the Ape hath put them on they cannot be gotten off without the help of man So likewise for little bags made like breeches wherewithal they are deceived and taken They bring forth young ones for the most part by twins whereof they love the one and hate the other that which they love they bear in their armes the other hangeth at the damns back and for the most part she killeth that which she loveth by pressing it too hard afterward she setteth her whole delight upon the other The Egyptians when they describe a Father leaving his inheritance to his Son that he loveth not picture an Ape with her young one upon her back The male and female abide with the young one and if it want any thing the male with fist and ireful aspect punisheth the female When the Moon is in the wane they are heavie and sorrowful which in that kind have tails but they leap and rejoyce at the change for as other Beasts so do these fear the defect of the Stars and Planets They are full of dissimulation and imitation of man they readilyer follow the evill then the good they see They are very fierce by nature and yet tamed forget it but still remain subject to madness They love Conies very tenderly for in England an old Ape scarse able to go did defend tame Conies from the Weasel as Sir Thomas More reported They fear a shell fish and a Snail very greatly as appeareth by this History In Rome a certain Boy put a Snail in his hat and came to an Ape who as he was accustomed leaps upon his shoulder and took off his hat to kill Lice in his head but espying the Snail it was a wonder to see with what haste the Ape leaped from the Boys shoulder and in trembling manner looked back to see if the Snail followed him Also when a Snail was tied to the one end of another Apes chain so that he could not chuse but continually look upon it one cannot imagine how the Ape was tormented therewith finding no means to get from it cast up whatsoever was in his stomach and fell into a grievous Fever till it was removed from the Snail and refreshed with wine and water Gardane reporteth that it was an ancient custom in former time when a Parricide was executed he was after he was whipped with bloudy stripes put into a sack with a live Serpent a Dog an Ape and a Cock by the Serpent was signified his extreme malice to mankind in killing his Father by the Ape that in the likeness of man he was a Beast by the Dog how like a Dog he spared none no not his own Father and by a Cock his hateful pride and then were they all together hurl'd headlong into the Sea That he might be deemed unworthy of all the Elements of life and other blessings of nature A Lion ruleth the Beasts of the Earth and a Dolphin the Beasts of the Sea when the Dolphin is in age and sickness she recovereth by eating a Sea-ape and so the Lion by eating an Ape of the earth and therefore the Egyptians paint a Lion eating an Ape to signifie a sick man curing himself The heart of an Ape sod and dryed whereof the weight of a groat drunk in a draught of stale Hony sod in water called Melicraton strengthneth the heart emboldneth it and driveth away the pulse and pusillanimity thereof sharpeneth ones understanding and is soveraign against the salling evill The MUNKEY They are bred in the hils of Constance in the woods of Bugia and Mauritania In Aethiopia they have black heads hair like Asses and voices like to other In India they report that the Munkeys will clime the most steep and high rocks and fling stones at them that prosecute to take them When the King of Ioga in India for Religion goeth on Pilgrimage he carryeth with him very many Munkeys In like sort Munkeys are brought from the new found Lands from Calechut and Prasia and not far from Aden a City of Arabia is a most high hill abounding in these beasts who are a great hinderance to the poor vintagers of the Countrey of Calechut for they will climb into the high Palm trees and breaking the vessels set to receive the Wine pour forth that liquor they find in them they will eat hearbs and grain and ears of grasse going together in great flocks whereof one ever watcheth at the utmost bounds of their camp that he may cry out when the husbandman cometh and then all flying and leaping into the next trees escape away the females carry their young ones about with them on their shoulders and with that burden leap from tree to tree There be of this kind of Munkeys two sorts one greater the other lesser as is accounted in England and Munkeys are in like sort so divided that there be in all four kinds differing in bigness whereof the least is little bigger then a Squirrel and because of their marvellous and divers mowings movings voices and gestures the Englishmen call any man using such Histrionical Actours a Munkey The only difference betwixt these and other Apes aforesaid is their tail they differ from men in their nerves in the joints of their loynes and their processes and they want the third muscle moving the fingers of their hands Mammonets are lesse then an Ape brown on the back and white on the belly having a long and hairy tail his neck almost so big as his body for which cause they are tied by
Asses have one horn in their forehead and their body all white but their head is red So is there another beast in India very like a wild Asse which the Inhabitants eat as we have read about the straights of Magellana When these Asses are hunted with Dogs they cast forth their time or dung with the favour whereof the Dogs are stayed while it is hot and by that means the beast escapeth danger but the Asses of Mauritania are very short winded and subject to weariness and stumbling for which cause they are more easily taken and the best of all are not so swift as a Barbary horse besides their nature is when they see a man to stand stone still crying braying and kicking till you come at them and when one is ready to take them they take their heels and run away The Inhabitants of Arabia Desert by many gins and other deceitful devises take them and on horseback follow them till they tyre or can strike them with their darts Their flesh being hot doth stink and taste like an other Asses but boyled and kept two dayes hath a pleasant taste yet doth it not breed good bloud because it is viscous and hard to be concocted although there be many which eat that as also the flesh of Panthers and other such beasts Pliny teacheth that there is more vertue in the wild Asses milk and bones against venome and poison then in the tame Likewise in the heel of an Asse is a principal remedy against Apostemations and bunches in the flesh if it be applyed to the inner part of the thigh The gall draweth out botches and must be anointed upon impostumate scars It is used also in Emplasters against Saint Antonies fire the leprosie and swelling in the legs and guts The fat with oil of herbe Mary by anointing the reins of the back helpeth and easeth that pain which was engendred by wind The spleen dryed to powder and drunk in wine or drink is good against the sickness of the spleen The flesh is good against the pain in the ridge and hip-bones and Galen affirmeth that the urine breaketh and dissolveth the stone in the bladder The ashes of the hoof helpeth the falling evill and mingled with oil cureth the kings evill and the looseness of the hair The marrow easeth the Gowt and the dung mixed with the yolk of an egge and applyed to the forehead stayeth bleeding also the same curleth the hair if it be mingled with an Oxes gall and dryed put into wine and drunk cureth the sting of a Scorpion and Zoâ an Hebrew affirmeth very constantly that if a man look into an Asse eye it preserveth the sight and hindereth the water that descendeth into the eye Of the Scythian Asses THe Asses of Scythia have horns wherein it is reported that the Stygian water of Arcadia may be contained although it will eat through all other vessels be they never so hard Sosipater brought of them to Alexander the great who admiring the rareness would not put them to any private use but sent them to Delphos to be offered to Pythias but that these can be properly called Asses no man can defend although Herodotus also affirm that among the Africans called Aratours there be Asses with horns Of the Indian Asses IT is questionable whether the Monoceros commonly called a Vnicorne the Rhinoceros the Oryx and the Indian Asse be all one beast or divers for the Vnicorn and Rhinoceros have the same things attributed to them in stories and differ in very few reports but for the Asses of India both Aristotle Pliny and Aelianus joyntly agree that they differ from all other whole-footed beasts because they have one horn in the forehead and so also have the Rhinoceros Monoceros and Oryx but the Indians call a Vnicorne Cartazono and the horn so highly prized at this day is thought to be of the Rhinoceros but Aelianus and Philes acknowledge no other Vnicorne then the Indian Asse who in bigness equalleth a Horse among the Indians being all white on the body but purple headed or red as some say black eyes but Volateranus saith blew having one horn in the forehead a cubit and a half long whose upper part is red or bay the middle black and the neather part white wherein the Kings and mighty men of India use to drink adorning it for that purpose with sundry bracelets pretious stones and works of gold holding for truth that all those which drink in those horns shall be freed from annoyance of incurable diseases as Convulsions the Falling evill and deadly poysons These wilde Asses exceed all other both in stature of body and also swiftness of foot for at the first they set forth very gently and afterward speed their journey with better pace so that it is very hard for any to follow them but impossible to overgo them The males take great pains in keeping their young ones whom they continually watch and hide in the most remote and desert places they can finde When they are hunted they keep their weak young ones behind them and fight for them very furiously neither fear they to encounter horsemen They are so strong that no beast may stand before them for they will receive the charge of Horses with such violence that in their encounter they bite out their sides and tear their guts out of their belly for which cause they are dreadful to Horses who are most unwilling to joyn with them for they never meet but they both perish They fight with their heels but their teeth are most dangerous for what they apprehend in them they bring it clean away and because of this rage those which are of any years can never be tamed The great King of India doth once every year appoint all manner of fights both men and beasts wherein are wilde Buls tame Rams these wild Asses with one horn Hyaenaes and Elephants To conclude it is but a fable of Volaterranus that saith these Asses want a gall for they have the bladder of the gall a portion whereof drunk cureth the falling evill Of the ALBORACH and AXIS THere are two other beasts to be added to the end of this rank namely the Alborach among the Turks being a fair white beast like an Asse whereupon the Turkish Priests blasphemous idoiaters perswade the silly Pilgrims of Mecha that Mahomet was carryed up to heaven The Axis of which Pliny speaketh is a wilde beast having a skin like the Hinnulus aforesaid but spred over with whiter spots which is bred in India Bellonius affirmeth that he saw two of them in the Castle of Cair a male and a female and either sex wanted horns having long tails down to their mid-legs like Deer and differ very little from Deer saving in their large white spots and yellow colour yeelding a much more clear and sounding voice then a Deer and the female thereof is smaller then the male This beast is by idolatrous people dedicated to
is so hard and thick that of it the Scythians make breast-plates which no dart can pierce through His colour for the most part like an Asses but when he is hunted or feared he changeth his hew into whatsoever thing he seeth as among trees he is like them among green boughs he seemeth green amongst rocks of stone he it transmuted into their colour also as it is generally by most Writers affirmed as Pliny and Sclinus among the Ancient Stephanus and Eustathius among the later Writers This indeed is the thing that seemeth most incredible but there are two reasons which draw me to subscribe hereunto first because we see that the face of men and beasts through fear joy anger and other passions do quickly change from ruddy to white from black to pale and from pale to ruddy again Now as this beast hath the head of a Hart so also hath it the fear of a Hart but in a higher degree and therefore by secret operation it may easily alter the colour of their hair as a passion in a reasonable man may alter the colour of his face The same things are reported by Pliny of a beast in India called Lycaon as shall be afterward declared and besides these two there is no other among creatures covered with hair that changeth colour Another reason forcing me to yeeld hereunto is that in the Sea a Polypus-fish and in the earth among creeping things a Chamaeleon do also change their colour in like sort and fashion whereunto it may be replyed that the Chamaeleon and Polypus-fish are pilled or bare without hair and therefore may more easily be verse-coloured but it is a thing impossible in nature for the hair to receive any tincture from the passions but I answer that the same nature can multiply and diminish her power in lesser and smaller Beasts according to her pleasure and reserveth an operation for the nails and feathers of birds and fins and scales of fishes making one sort of divers colour from the other and therefore may and doth as forcibly work in the hairs of a Buffe as in the skin of a Chamaeleon adding so much more force to transmute them by how much farther off they stand from the blood like as an Archer which setteth his arm and bow higher to shoot farther and therefore it is worthy observation that as this beast hath the best desence by her skin above all other so she hath a weakest and most timerous heart above all other These Buffes are bred in Scythia and are therefore called Tarandi Scythici they are also among the Sarmatians and called Budini and neer Gelonis and in a part of Poland in the Duchy of Mazavia betwixt Oszezke and Garvolyin And if the Polonian Thuro before mentioned have a name whereof I am ignorant then will I also take that beast for a kinde of Bison In Phrygia there is a territory called Tarandros and peradventure this beast had his name from that Countrey wherein it may be he was first discovered and made known The quantity of this beast exceedeth not the quantity of a wilde Ox whereunto in all the parts of his body he is most like except in his head face and horns his legs and hoofs are also like an Oxes The goodness of his hide is memorable and desired in all the cold Countries in the world wherein only these beasts and all other of strong thick hides are found for the thinnest and most unprofitable skins of beasts are in the hot and warmer parts of the world and God hath provided thick warm most commodious and precious covers for those beasts that live farthest from the Sun Whereupon many take the hides of other beasts for Buffe for being tawed and wrought artificially they make garments of them as it is daily to be seen in Germany Of the Vulgar BUGIL ABugil is called in Latine Bubalus and Buffalus in French Beufle in Spanish Bufano in German Buffel and in the Illyrian tongue Bouwol The Hebrews have no proper word for it but comprehend it under To which signifieth any kind of wilde Oxen for neither can it be expressed by Meriah which signifieth fatted Oxen or Bekarmi which signifieth Oxen properly or Jachmur which the Persians call Kutzcohi or Buzcohi and is usually translated a Wilde-Asse For which beast the Hebrews have many words neither have the Graecians any proper word for a vulgar Bugil for Boubatos and Boubatis are amongst them taken for a kinde of Roe-buck So that this Bubalus was first of all some modern or barbarous term in Africk taken up by the Italians and attributed to this beast and many other for whom they knew no proper names For in the time of Pliny they used to call strange beasts like Oxen or Bulls Vri as now a days led with the same error or rather ignorance they call such Bubali or Buffali The true effigies of the vulgar Bugil was sent unto me by Cornelius Sittardus a famous Physitian in Norimberg and it is pictured by a tame and familiar Bugil such as liveth among men for labour as it seemeth to me For there is difference among these beasts as Aristotle hath affirmed both in colour mouth horn and strength This vulgar Bugil is of a kinde of wilde Oxen greater and taller then the ordinary Oxen their body being thicker and stronger and their limbs better compact together their skin most hard their other parts very lean their hair short small and black but little or none at all upon the tail which is also short and small The head hangeth downward to the earth and is but little being compared with the residue of his body and his aspect or face betokeneth a tameable and simple disposition His fore-head is broad and curled with hair his horns more flat then round very long bending together at the top as a Goats do backward insomuch as in Crete they make bows of them and they are not for defence of the beast but for distinction of kinde and ornament His neck is thick and long and his rump or neather part of his back is lower then the residue descending to the tail His legs are very great broad and strong but shorter then the quantity of his body would seem to permit They are very fierce being tamed but that is corrected by putting an Iron ring through his Nostrils whereinto is also put a cord by which he is led and ruled as a Horse by a bridle for which cause in Germany they call a simple man over-ruled by the advise of another to his own hurt a Bugle led with a ring in his nose His feet are cloven and with the formost he will dig the earth and with the hindmost fight like a Horse setting on his blows with great force and redoubling them again if his object remove not His voyce is like the voyce of an Oxe when he is chased he runneth forth right seldom winding or turning and when he is angred he
flesh is sweet for meat of a yellowish colour like the Larde of Swine and therefore not so white as is our vulgar Cony they do not dig like other Conies and for the farther description of their nature I will express it in the words of Munzingerus aforesaid for thus he writeth One of the males is sufficient in procreation for seven or nine of the females and by that means they are made more fruitful but if you put them one male to one female then will the venereous salacity of the male procure abortment It is affirmed that they go threescore daies with young before they litter and I saw of late one of them bear eight at one time in her womb but three of them were stifled They bring forth in the winter and their whelpes are not blinde as are the Conies They are no way so harmful as other are either to bite or dig but more tractable in hand howbeit untamable If two males be put to one female they fight fiercely but they will not hurt the Rabbets As the male is most libidinous so doth he follow the female with a little murmuring noise bewraying his appetite for generation without wrath and these are also called Spanish Conies by Peter Martyr whose nature except in their abundant superfoetation cometh nearer to Hogs then Conies Of the Fallow Deer commonly called a BVCK and a DOE THere are some beasts saith Pliny which nature hath framed to have horns grow out of their head like fingers out of the hand and for that cause they are called Platicerotae such is this vulgar Fallow Deer being therefore called Cervus Palmatus that is a palmed Hart by reason of the similitude the horn hath with the hand and fingers The Germans call this beast Dam and Damlin and Damhiriz The Italians Daio and Danio the French Dain and Daim The Spaniards Garno and Corâza the Cretians vulgarly at this day Agrimi and Platogna and Aristotle Prox the Latins Dama and Damula because de manu that is it quickly flyeth from the hand of man having no other defence but her heels and the female ãâ¦ã roca and the Polonians Lanii It is a common beast in most Countries being as corpulent as a Hart but in quantity resembleth more a Roe except in colour The males have horns which they lose yearly but the females none at all their colour divers but most commonly branded or sandie on the back like the furrow of a new plowed field having a black strake down all along the back a tail almost as long as a Calves their bellies and sides spotted with white which spots they lose in their old age and the females do especially vary in colour being sometimes all white and therefore like unto Goats except in their hair which is shorter The horns of this beast are carryed about every where to be seen and therefore this is also likely to be the same beast which Aristotle calleth Hippelaphus as some would have it yet I rather think that Hippelaphus was like to that rare seen horse which Francis the first of that name King of France had presented unto him for a gift which was engendred of a Horse and a Hart and therefore can have no other name then Hippelaphus signifying a Horse-hart In the bloud of these kind of Deer are not strings or Fibres wherefore it doth not congeal as other doth and this is assigned to be one cause of their fearful nature they are also said to have no gall in their horns they differ not much from a Harts except in quantity and for their other parts they much resemble a Roe-buck their flesh is good for nourishment but their bloud doth increase above measure melancholy which caused Hiera to write thus of it after his discourse of the Roe Damula adusta magis si matris ab ubere rapta est Huie prior in nostro forte erit orbe locus For the preparation or dressing of a Buck we shall say more when we come to the description of a Hart. Albertus translateth the word Algazel a Fallow Deer and sayeth that the flesh thereof is very hurtful being cold and dry and bringeth the Hemorhoides if it be not well seasoned with Pepper Cinnamon Mustard seed and Hony or else Garlick which caused Juvenal to cry out upon the excess of rich men for their feasts and delicate fare being compared with the Ancients which lived upon fruits in these words following as they are left in his eleventh Satyre Olim ex quavis arbore mensa fiebat At nunc divitibus coenandi nulla voluptas Nil Rhombus nil dama sapit putere videntur Vnguentum atque rosae The dung or fime of this beast mingled with oil of Myrtles increaseth hair and amendeth those which are corrupt If the tongue hereof be perfumed under a leech or tick that sticketh in the throat of man or beast it causeth the leech to fall off presently and the powder of such a tongue helpeth in a Fistula some of the late writers do prescribe the fat of a Moul of a Deer and of a Bear mingled together to rub the head withall for increase of memory Of the second kind of Deer the ROE-BVCKE The representation both of male female Delicium parvo donabis dorcada nato Jactatis solet hanc mittere turba togis The Persians call this beast Ahu The Arabians Thabiu a which cometh neer to the Chalde word the Germans Reeh or Rech and the male Rech-bocke and the female Rech-giese the Illyrians Serna or Sarna the French Chireau and Chevreulsauuage The Spaniard Zorito or Cabronzillo-montes the Italians Capriolo and Cauriolo for the male and Capriola and Cauriola for the female The Grecians Dorcas as the Septuagint do every where translate which Strabo termeth corruptly Zorces also Dorx Kemas Nebrous and vulgarly as at this day Zarkadi and Dorcalis Dorcadion for a little Roe The Latins do also use the word Dorcas in common with the Grecians and beside Caprea and Capreolus for a little Goat for I do not think that any learned man can find any difference betwixt Caprea and Caprealus except in age and quantity The reason of these two latter names is because of the likeness it hath with a Goat for Goats as we shall shew in their description have many kindes distinguished from one another in resemblance but in the horns a Roe doth rather resemble a Hart for the female have no horns at all These beasts are most plentiful in Africk beyond the Sea of Carthage but they are of another kinde then those which Aristotle denyed to be in Africa there are also in Egypt and in Germany and in the Helvetian Alpes Likewise in Catadupa beyond Nilus in Arabia in Spain and in Lycia and it is to be observed that the Lycian Roes do never go over the Syrian Mountains Aelianus doth deliver these things of the Lybian Roes which for the colour and parts of their body may
out of Athens by reason of the Persians war in Greece and so they sailed with him to Salamine and as they sailed by the way he commanded one of them to be cast into the Sea who continued swimming after the Ship untill he dyed for which cause his Master buryed him When Gelon the Syracusan in his sleep had a fearful dream that he was strucken with fire from Heaven and with impression of fear cryed out very lamentably his Dog lying beside him and thinking that some peril or theef was doing violence to his Master he presently leaped up to the bed and with scratching and barking awaked him and so was he delivered from a horrible fear by the barking of his Dog The Tyrians which have the best and the first purple in the world are said in History to have it by the first occasion of Hercules Dog Hercules falling in love with a Nymph called Tyro and travelling toward her with his Dog he saw the purple fish creeping upon a stone the hungry Dog caught the fish to eat it and having devoured it his lips were all dyed or coloured with the same when the Virgin Nymph saw that colour upon the Dogs lips she denyed the love of Hercules except he could bring her a garment of that colour whereupon the valiant man knowing by what occasion the Dogs lips received such a tincture went and gathered all the purple fishes and worms he could finde and pressing their blood out of them therewithal coloured a garment and gave it to the Nymph for reward whereof he possessed the Virgin being by this means the first inventor of the Phoenician tincture Among these are to be remembred those loving Dogs who either have fought for their Masters and so defended them or else declared them that murdered their keepers or that which is more admirable leaped into the burning fires which consumed the dead bodies of their nourishers Such an one was the Dog of Calvus who being slain in a certain civil War at Rome and his enemies coming about him to cut off his head his poor Dog interposed his body betwixt the blows and would not suffer any foe once to touch his Masters carcass untill by more then six hundred souldiers the Dog was cut in pieces so living and dying a most faithful companion and thankful friend to him that fed him The like was in a Dog of Darius the last King of the Persians after he was slain by Besus and Narbazanes in the battel against Alexander so did the Dog of Silanien fight for his Master against theeves and when he was slain he departed not from the body but kept it warily from Dogs Birds or wilde Beasts sitting upon his privy parts and covering them untill the Roman Captains came and buryed it But most admirable was the love of a certain Dog to his Master punished with death for the fact against Germanicus Among other this Dog would never go from the prison and afterward when his Masters dead body was brought in the presence of many Romans the Cur uttered most lamentable and sorrowful cryes for which cause one of the company threw unto him some meat to see if that would stop his mouth and procure silence but the poor Dog took up the meat and carryed to his masters mouth not without the singular passion of the beholders at last the body was taken up and cast into the river Tiber the poor Dog leaped in after it and endeavoured by all the means his weakness could afford to keep it from sinking in the presence of an innumerable multitude which without tears could not look upon the loving care of this brute beast The Dogs of Gelon Hieron Lysimachus Pyrrhus King of Epirus Polus the Tragoedian and Theodorus leaped into the burning fires which consumed their masters dead bodies Nicias a certain Hunter going abroad in the Woods chanced to fall into a heap of burning coals having no help about him but his Dogs there he perished yet they ran to the high ways and ceased not with barking and apprehending the garments of passengers to shew unto them some direful event and at last one of the travellers followed the Dogs and came to the place where they saw the man consumed and by that conjectured the whole story The like did the Dogs of Marius Caesarinus for by howling they procured company to draw him out of a deep Cave whereinto he was fallen on Horse-hack and had there perished being alone except his Hounds had released him But that Dogs will also bewray the murtherers of their friends and masters these stories following may evidently manifest As King Pyrrhus by chance travelled in his Countrey he found a Dog keeping a dead corps and he perceived that the Dog was almost pined by tarrying about the body without all food wherefore taking pity on the beast he caused the body to be interred and by giving the Dog his belly full of meat he drew him to love him and so led him away afterward as Pyrrhus mustered his souldiers and every one appeared in his presence the Dog also being beside him he saw the murtherers of his master and so not containing himself with voyce tooth and nail he set upon them the King suspecting that which followed examined them if ever they had seen or known that Dog they denyed it but the King not satisfied charged them that surely they were the murtherers of the Dogs Master for the Dog all this while remained fierce against them and never barked before their appearance at the last their guilty consciences brake forth at their mouths and tongues end and so confessed the whole matter The like was of two French Merchants which travelled together and when they came into a certain Wood one of them rose against the other for desire of his money and so slew him and buryed him His Dog would not depart from the place but filled the Wood with howlings and cries the murtherer went forward in his journey the people and Inhabitants neer the said Wood came and sound both the murdered corps and also the Dog which they took up and nourished till the Fair was done and the Merchants returned at which time they watched the high wayes having the Dog with them who seeing the murtherer instantly made force at him without all provocation as a man would do at his mortal enemy which thing caused the people to apprehend him who being examined confessed the fact and received condign punishment for so foul a deed To conclude this discourse with one memorable story more out of Blondus who relateth that there was a certain woman neer Paris who was beloved of two young men one of them on a day took his staffe and his Dog and went abroad as it was thought of purpose to go to his love but it happened that by the way he was murthered and buryed and the Dog would not depart from the grave of his Master at the last he
being missed by his father and brethren one of them went also to seek him and see what was become of him and so seeking found the Dog lying upon his grave who howled pitifully when he saw his Masters brother the young man caused the ground to be opened and so found the wounded corps of his brother which he brought away and caused to be buryed till the murtherer could be described afterward in process of time the Dog in the presence of the dead mans brethren espied the murtherer and presently made force upon him very eagerly which the brethren suspecting apprehended him and brought him before the Governours of the City who examining him with all the policies they could invent what should be the occasion why the Dog should so eagerly fly upon him at all times whensoever he was brought into his presence could not get any confession of the fact from him then the Magistrate adjudged that the young Man and the Dog should combate together The Dog was covered with a dry sod skin in stead of armour and the murtherer with a spear and on his body a little thin linnen cloath both came forth to fight and so the man presently made force at the Dog who leaping up to the face of the murtherer took him fast by the throat and overthrew him whereat the wretch amazed cryed out saying take pity on me you reverend Fathers and pull off the Dog from my throat and I will confess all the which they performed and he likewise declared the cause and manner of the whole murther for which thing he was deservedly put to death And thus far of the lesser sociable Dogs now followeth the second kinde of the greater The greater sociable Dogs of defence are such as souldiers use in wars or else are accustomed to keep houses or cattel This kinde ought to be horrible fierce strange and unacquainted with all except his Master so that he be always at daggers drawing and ready to fight with all which shall but lay their hands upon him for which cause he ought to be instructed from his littering or infancy by art or continual discipline to supply in him the defects of nature let him be often provoked to wrath by boyes and afterward as he groweth let some stranger set upon him with weapon as staffe or sword with whom let him combate till he be wearied and then let him tear some peece of the provokers garment that so he may depart with a conceit of victory after the fight tye him up fast and suffer him not to straggle loóse abroad but feed him thus tyed up so shall he is short time prove a strong defender and eager combatant against all men and beasts which come to deal with him Of this sort they nourish many in Spain and in other places Such an one was the Dog of Phesaeus the Tyrant of Thessaly being a very great and fierce Beast and hurtful to all except them who fed him daily He used to set this Dog at his chamber dore to watch and guard him when he slept that who so ere was afraid of the Dog might not approach near without exquisite torments Augeas gave one of these to the Poet Eupolis who taught him by many signes and gestures for the love of his meat to observe his servant Ephialtes if at any time he stole mony from him And at the last the wily Dog observed the servant so narrowly that he found him robbing his Masters coffers wherefore he instantly fell upon him and tore him in pieces The which Dog afterward died for sorrow of his Masters death whereupon Aelianus saith that the place of his death in Aegina was called the place of mourning to the day of his writing Nicomedes King of Bythinia had one of these Molossian great Dogs which he nourished very tenderly and made it very familiar with himself it fell out on a time that this King being in dalliance with his wife Ditizele in the presence of the Dog and she again hanging about the Kings neck kissing and provoking him to love with amorous gestures the Dog thinking she had been offering some violence to his master the King presently flew upon her and with his teeth pulled her right shoulder from her body and so left the amorous Queen to dye in the arms of her loving Husband which thing caused the King to banish the Dog for ever out of his sight for sorrow whereof he soon after dyed but the Queen was most nobly buryed at Nicomedia in a golden Sepulcher the which was opened in the raign of the Emperour Michael son of Theophilus and there the womans body was found whole and not putrefied being wrapped in a golden vesture which taken off and tryed in a furnace yeelded above an hundred and thirteen pounds of pure gold When a Dragon was setting upon Orpheus as he was occupied in hawking by his Dogs his life was saved and the Dragon devoured And when Caelius one of the Senators of Placentia being sick was set upon by certain lewd fellows he received no wound till his Dog was slain There was never any thing more strange in the nature of Dogs then that which happened at Rhodes besieged by the Turk for the Dogs did there discern betwixt Christians and Turks for towards the Turks they were most eager furious and unappeaseable but towards Christians although unknown most easie peaceable and placidious which thing caused a certain Poet to write thus His auxere fidem quos nostro fulva sub aere Arva Carpathii defendit littora ponti Pectora thoracum tunica sacrumque profano Miratur nutrit que Rhodes custodibus illis It noctes animosa Phalanx innexa trilici Seligit blande exceptum deducit ad Vrbem There were two hundred of these Dogs which brought the King of Garamants from banishment rescuing him from all that resisted The Colophonian and Castabalensian or Caspian Dogs fought in all their battels so likewise the Cimbrian Hircanian and Magnesian Dogs these also the Spaniards used in India to hunt out the naked people falling upon them as fiercely as ever they would upon Bores or other wilde Beasts being pointed unto by their leaders finger And for this cause was it that Vaschus the Spaniard caused Pae ãâ¦ã an Indian Lord and three other his wicked companions to be cast unto Dogs for their unnatural lust but the Inhabitunts of Caramair and Carib do drive astay the Dogs for through their admirable activity in casting darts they pierce the Dogs ere ever they come neer them with poysoned arrows And thus much for the great warlike defensive Dogs In the next place followeth the Shepheards Dog called by Virgil Pecuarius Canis and this cannot properly be tearmed a dumb keeper for there is no creature that will more stir bark and move noise then one of these against thief or wilde beast They are also used by Heards-men Swine-heards and Goat-Heards to drive away all annoyances
peradventure it may chance as whether it chanceth seldom or sometime I am ignorant that a piece of flesh be subtilly stolne and cunningly conveyed away with such provisoes and precaveats as thereby all appearance of bloud is either prevented excluded or concealed yet these kinde of Dogs by certain direction of an inward assured notice and privie mark pursue the deed-dooers through long lanes crooked reaches and weary wayes without wandering awry out of the limits of the land whereon these desperate purloiners prepared their speedy passage Yea the natures of these Dogs is such and so effectual is their foresight that they can bewray separate and pick them out from among an infinite multitude and an innumerable company creep they never so far into the thickest throng they will finde him out notwithstanding he lie hidden in wilde Woods in close and overgrowen Groves and lurk in hollow holes apt to harbour such ungracious guests Moreover although they should passe over the water thinking thereby to avoid the pursuite of the Hounds yet will not these Dogs give over their attempt but presuming to swim through the stream persevere in their pursuite and when they be arrived and gotten the further banck they hunt up and down to and fro run they from place to place shift they until they have attained to that plot of ground where they passed over And this is their practise if perdy they cannot at the first time smelling finde out the way which the deed-doers took to escape So at length get they that by art cunning and diligent endevour which by fortune and luck they cannot otherwise overcome In so much as it seemeth worthily and wisely written by Aelianus in his 6. Book and 39. Chapter To enthumaticon kai dialecticon to be as it were naturally instilled into these kind of Dogs For they will not pause or breathe forth from their pursuite untill such time as they be apprehended and taken which committed the fact The owners of such Hounds use to keep them in close and dark kennels in the day and let them loose at liberty in the night season to the intent that they might with more courage and boldness practise to follow the fellon in the evening and solitary hours of darkness when such ill disposed varlets are principally purposed to play their impudent pranks These Hounds upon whom this present portion of our treatise runneth when they are to follow such fellowes as we have before rehearsed use not that liberty to range at will which they have otherwise when they are in game except upon necessary occasion whereon dependeth an urgent and effectual perswasion when such purloyners make speedy way in flight but being restrained and drawn back from running at random with the leame the end whereof the owner holding in his hand is led guided and directed with such swiftness and slowness whether he go on foot or whether he ride on horseback as he himself in heart would wish for the more easie apprehension of these venturous varlets In the borders of England and Scotland the often and accustomed stealing of Cattel so procuring these kind of Dogs are very much used and they are taught and trained up first of all to hunt Cattel as well of the smaller as of the greater grouth and afterwards that quality relinquished and left they are learned to pursue such pestilent persons as plant their pleasure in such practises of purloining as we have already declared Of this kind there is none that taketh the Water naturally except it please you so to suppose of them which follow the Otter which sometimes haunt the land and sometime useth the water And yet nevertheless all the kinde of them boyling and broyling with greedy desire of the prey which by swimming passeth through river and flood plunge amids the water and passe the stream with their pawes But this property proceedeth from an earnest desire wherewith they be inflamed rather then from any inclination issuing from the ordinance and appointment of nature And albeit some of this sort in English be called Braobe in Scotish Rache the cause thereof resteth in the she-sex and not in the general kinde For we Englishmen call Bitches belonging to the hunting kind of Dogs by the tearm above mentioned To be short it is proper to the nature of Hounds some to keep silence in hunting untill such cime as there is game offered Other some so soon as they smell out the place where the beast lurketh to bewray it immediately by their importunate barking notwithstanding it be far and many furlongs off cowching close in his cabbin And these Dogs the younger they be the more wantonly bark they and the more liberally yet oftentimes without necessity so that in them by reason of their young years and want of practise small certainty is to be reposed For continuance of time and experience in game ministreth to these Hounds not only cunning in running but also as in the rest an assured foresight what is to be done principally being acquainted with their Masters watchwords either in revoking or imboldening them to serve the game Of the DOG called the GASE-HOUND in Latin Agasaeus THis kinde of Dog which pursueth by the eye prevaileth little or never a whit by any benefit of the nose that is by smelling but excelleth in perspicuity and sharpeness of sight altogether by the virtue whereof being singular and notable it hunteth the Fox and the Hare This Dog will chuse and separate any beast from among a great flock or herd and such a one will it take by election as is not lanck lean and hollow but well spred smooth full fat and round it followes by direction of the eyesight which indeed is clear constant and not uncertain if a beast be wounded and go astray the Dog seeketh after it by the stedfastness of the eye if it chance peradventure to return and be mingled with the residue of the flock this Dog spyeth it out by virtue of his eye leaving the rest of the Cattell untouched and after he hath set sure sight upon it he separateth it from among the company and having so done never ceaseth untill he have wearyed the Beast to death Our Countreymen call this Dog Agasaeum a Gase-hound because the beams of his sight are so stedfastly setled and unmoveably fastned These Dogs are much and usually occupied in the Northern parts of England more then in the Southern parts and in fieldy lands rather then in bushie and woody places horsemen use them more then footmen to the intent that they might provoke their horses to a swift gallop wherewith they are more delighted then with the prey it self and that they might accustome their Horse to leap over hedges and ditches without stop or stumble without harme or hazard without doubt or danger and to escape with safegard of life And to the end that the riders themselves when necessity so constrained and the fear of further mischief inforced might save themselves
into a basket if their keeper have any which being filled like dainty and neat men they also desire to wash and so will go and seek out water to wash themselves and of their own accord return back again to the basket of flowers which if they find not they will bray and call for them Afterward being led into their stable they will not eat meat untill they take of their flowers and dresse the brims of their mangers therewith and likewise strew their room or standing place pleasing themselves with their meat because of the savour of the flowers stuck about their cratch like dainty fed persons which set their dishes with green herbs and put them into their cups of wine Their pace is very slow for a childe may overtake them by reason of their high and large bodies except in their feare and for that cause cannot swim as also by reason that the toes of their feet are very short and smally divided When they are brought into a Ship they have a bridge made of wood and covered with earth and green boughs are set on either side so that they imagine they go upon the land untill they enter into the Ship because the boughs keep them from sight of the Sea They are most chast and keep true unto their males without all inconstant love or separation admitting no adulteries amongst them and like men which tast of Venus not for any corporal lust but for desire of heirs and successors in their families so do Elephants without all unchast and unlawful lust take their venereal complements for the continuation of their kinde and never above thrice in all their dayes either male or female suffer carnall copulation but the female only twice Yet is their rage great when the female provoketh them and although they fight not among themselves for their females except very seldom yet do they so burn in this fury that many times they overthrow trees and houses in India by their tuskes and running their head like a Ram against them wherefore then they keep them low and down by subtraction of their meat and also bring some stranger to beat them There was a certain cunning Hunter sent into Mauritania by the Roman Emperor to hunt and take Elephants on a day he saw a goodly young Elephant in copulation with another and instantly a third approached with a direful braying as if he would have eaten up all the company and as it afterward appeared he was an arrival to the female which we saw in copulation with the other male when he approached neer both of them set themselves to combat which they performed like some unresistable waves of the Sea or as the hils which are shaken together by an earthquake wherein each one charged the other most furiously for their love to the terror and admiration of all the beholders and so at last became both disarmed of their teeth and horns by their often blowes before one had overcome the other and so at last by the hunters were parted asunder being ever afterward quiet from such contentions about their females for copulation The Indians separate the stables of the females far asunder from the males because at that time they overthrow their houses They are modest and shamefast in this action for they seek the Deserts Woods and secret places for procreation and sometimes the waters because the waters do support the male in that action whereby he ascendeth and descendeth from the back of the female with more ease and once it was seen that in Virgea a Countrey of the Corascens two Elephants did engender out of India otherwise they couple not out of their own Countries When they go to copulation they turn their heads towards the East but whether in remembrance of Paradise or for the Mandragoras or for any other cause I cannot tell the female sitteth while she is covered They begin to engender the male at six ten twelve fifteen or twenty year old the female not before ten years old They couple but five dayes in two years and never after the female is filled till she have been clear one whole year and after the second copulation he never more toucheth his female At that time the male breatheth forth at his nose a certain fat humour like a menstruous thing but the female hath them not till her place of conception be opened and alway the day after her filling she washeth herself before she return to the flock The time of their going with young is according to some two years and according to other three the occasion of this diversity is because their time of copulation cannot certainly be known because of their secrecy for the greater bodies that beasts have they are the lesse fruitful She is delivered in great pain leaning upon her hinder legs They never bring forth but one at a time and that is not much greater then a great Cow-calfe of three monthes old which she nourisheth six or eight year As soon as it is Calved it seeth and goeth and sucketh with the mouth not with the trunck and so groweth to a great stature The females when they have calved are most fierce for fear of their young ones but if a man come and touch them they are not angry for it seemeth they understand that he toucheth them not for any desire to take or harm them but rather to stroke and admire them Sometimes they go into the water to the belly and there calve for fear of the Dragon the male never forsaketh her but keepeth with her for the like fear of the Dragon and feed and defend their young ones with singular love and constancy unto death as appeareth by the example of one that heard the braying of her calf fallen into a ditch and not able to arise the female ran unto it and for hast fell down upon it so crushing it to death and breaking her own neck with one and the same violent love As they live in herds so when they are to passe over a river or water they send over the least or youngest first because their great bodies together should not cause the deep water to swell or rise above their height the other stand on the bank and observe how deep he wadeth and so make account that the greater may with more assurance follow after the younger and smaller then they the elder and taller and the females carry over their Calves upon their snowts and long eminent teeth binding them fast with their truncks like as with ropes or male girts that they may not fall being sometime holpen by the male wherein appeareth an admirable point of natural wisdom both in the cariage of their young and in sending of the lesser foremost not only for the reason aforesaid but also because they being hunted and prosecuted it is requisite that the greatest and strongest come in the rear and hindmost part for the safegard of
great facility being set on with the strength of so able an adversary The Tygre also feareth not an Elephant but is fiercer and stronger for he leapeth upon his head and teareth out his throat but the Gryphins which overcome almost all beasts are not able to stand with the Lions or Elephants The females are far more strong chearful and couragious then the males and also they are apt to bear the greater burthens but in War the male is more graceful and acceptable because he is taller giving more assured ensignes of victory and fortitude for their strength is admirable as may be conjectured by that which is formerly recited of their trunck as Vartoman affirmeth that he saw three Elephants with their only heads drive a great Ship out of the Sea-water where it was fastened unto the shore When he is most loaded he goeth surest for he can carry a wooden Tower on his back with thirty men therein and their sufficient food and warlike instruments The King of India was wont to go to war with 30000 Elephants of war and beside these he had also followed him 3000 of the chiefest and strongest in India which at his command would overthrow Trees Houses Wals or any such thing standing against him and indeed upon these were the Indians wont to fight for the defence of their Coast and Countrey The farthest region of that continent is called Partalis inhabited by the Gangarides and Calingae the King whereof was wont to have seven hundred Elephants to watch his Army and there was no mean Prince in all India which was not Lord of many Elephants The King of Palibotrae kept in stipend eight thousand every day and beyond his Territory was the King of Modubae and Molindae which had four hundred Elephants These fight with men and overthrow all that come within their reach both with their truncks and teeth There were certain officers and guiders of these Elephants which were called Elephantarchae who were the governors of sixteen Elephants and they which did institute and teach them Martial discipline were called Elephantagogi The Military Elephant did carry four persons on his bare back one fighting on the right hand another fighting on the left hand a third which stood fighting backward from the Elephants head and a fourth in the middle of these holding the rains and guiding the beast to the descretion of the Souldiers even as the Pilot in a Ship guideth the stern wherein was required an equall knowledge and dexterity for they understand any language quickly for when the Indian which ruled them said Strike here on the right hand or else on the left or refrain and stand still no reasonable man could yeeld readier obedience They did fasten by iron chains first of all upon the Elephant that was to bear ten fifteen twenty or thirty men on either side two panniers of iron bound underneath their belly and upon them the like panniers of wood hollow wherein they place their men at armes and covered them over with small boards for the trunck of the Elephant was covered with a mail for defence and upon that a broad sword and two cubits long this as also the wooden Castle or panniers aforesaid were fastened first to the neck and then to the rump of the Elephant Being thus armed they entred the battel and they shewed unto the beast to make them more fierce wine red liquor made of Rice and white cloth for at the sight of any of these his courage and rage increaseth above all measure then at the sound of the Trumpet he beginneth with teeth to strike tear beat spoil take up into the air cast down again stamp upon men under feet ovethrow with his trunck and make way for his riders to pierce with Spear Shield and Sword so that his horrible voice his wonderful body his terrible force his admirable skill his ready and inclinable obedience and his strange and seldom seen shape produced in a main battel no mean accidents and overturns For this cause we read how that Pyrrhus first of all produced Elephants against the Romans in Lucania afterward Asdrubal in Africa Antiochus in the East and Jugurtha in Numidia Against this new kinds of Castle-fighting and Souldier-bearing beasts on the contrary they invented new kinds of stratagems as is before set down and also new instruments of war for a Centurion in Lucania with a new devised sharp Sword cut off the trunck of this beast again other invented that two armed Horses should draw a Chariot and in the same armed men with Javelins and sharp Spears the speedy Horses should with all force run upon the Elephants and the spear-men directing their course and weapons some upon the beast other upon the riders did not only wound the beast but also by celerity of the Horses escape all danger Other again sent against him armed Souldiers having their Armour made full of sharp pricks or piercing piked Nailes so that when the beast did strike at them with his trunck he received grievous wounds by his own blowes Again there were certain young men Souldiers armed with light armour which being mounted upon swift Horses could cast Darts with singular facility and without the reach of the beast many times wounding him with long Spears and so by example of the Horse-men the Foot-men grew more bold and with piles in the earth annoyed the belly of the beast and utterly vanquishing it and the rider Again they devised slings to cast stones whereby they beat off the riders and many times overthrew the Castle-bearer as it were by some violent stroke of a Cannon shot neither was there ever any more easie way to disaster these monster-seeming Souldiers then by casting of stones and lastly they would suffer their Elephants and their riders by poor hopes and appearances of fear to enter into the midst among them and so begirt and inclose them that they took the Elephants alive and also more shooters of Darts carryed in Chariots with the strong course of horses did so annoy them that whereas their bodies were great and unweildy not nimble to stir out of place it became more easie to kill an Elephant then a Horse because many shooters at one time could pierce so fair a mark with unresistible weapons And these things are related by Vegetius At the last the fight with Elephants turned into a publick game or pastime both to see them fought withall by men and also among themselves When certain prisoners of the Romans were taken by Annibal he first constrained them to skirmish among themselves and so slew one another except only one and he was by the like commandement forced to fight with an Elephant but upon condition of liberty if he escaped alive and thereupon joyned combate and slew the Elephant to the great grief and amazement of all the Carthaginians but going home according to agreement Annibal fearing that by this fact those great beasts would grow
adding to it a sufficient number till it be framed into a Cap but the skin of the belly and sides is of more pretious estimation because it is more soft and smooth and therefore is sold for twice so much as the other parts In the Summer time the skins are little worth because that then the beasts are troubled with the Alopecia that is the falling off or looseness of the hair and therefore then also they are dangerous to be used because of that disease men which have the Gowt shrinking up of the sinews or other old fluxions of the Rhewme in their legs can use no better or more wholesome thing then to wear buskins of the skins of Foxes the Scythians make them shooes and soal them with the backs of Fox and Mise skins upon which they go The Latins have a proper word for the voice of a Fox which is Gannio Gannire to Ganne and it is also metaphorically applyed to men when by scrieching clamors they trouble others as Terence in Adelph Quid ille gannit Quid vult And Plautus also Gannit odiosus omni toti familiae and for this voice did Mantuan write his Verse Putes ululare lupos gannire sagaces Vulpeculas But yet as Albertus and Constantinus have truly observed that in the time of his hunting he will bark like a little Dog and the Harts are greatly afraid of this ganning of Foxes It hath been already shewed in the story of the Badger how the Fox by laying his extrements in the Badgers den getteth the same to his own use for the abode of Foxes in the day time is in the caves and holes in the earth and come not abroad till the night These dens have many caves in them and passages in and out that when the Terriars shall set upon him in the earth he may go forth some other way and forasmuch as the Wolf is an enemy to the Fox he layeth in the mouth of his den an Herb called Sea-onion which is so contrary to the nature of the Wolf and he so greatly terrified therewith that he will never come neer the place where it either groweth or lyeth the same is affirmed of the Turtle to save her young ones but I have not read that Wolves will prey upon Turtles and therefore we reject that as a fable When Aristomanes was taken by the Lacaedemonians and included into a rock or quarrey of stones he escaped out of their hands by digging another passage out of it then where he was put in saying that it was a shame for a Man to have lesse wit then a Fox When they are in their dens they lie upon their bellies with their hinder legs stretched forth at length like as a man when he sleepeth on his belly and therefore it seemeth that their legs are so framed to creep and pierce under the earth and dig out their way after their own pleasure This is such a devouring beast that it forsaketh nothing fit to be eaten for it killeth Hares and Conies and with his breath draweth field Mice out of their holes like as a Hart draweth out Serpents with his breath and devoureth them He devoureth also all kinde of Pullen they also eat Grapes Apples and Pears whereupon came the proverb in Plautus Tam facile vinces quam vulpes pyrum comest Thou shalt as easily overcome him as a Fox eateth a Pear which is applyed to any easie or dispatchable business In Arabia and Syria Palestina they are so ravenous harmful and audacious that in the night by ganning and barking they invite one another as it were by a Watchword to assemble in great multitudes together for to prey upon all things and they fear not to carry into their dens old shooes and vessels or instruments of husbandry for which cause when the Husbandmen hear thereof they gather all things into their houses and watch them But as it falleth out in all gluttonous ravening persons that while they strive to fill their bellies they poison their lives so also it fareth with Foxes for nature hath so ordained that if a Fox eat any meat wherein are bitter Almonds they die thereof if they drink not presently and the same thing do Aloes in their meat work upon them as Scaliger affirmeth upon his own sight or knowledge Apocynon or Bear-foot givea to Dogs Wolves Foxes and all other beasts which are littered blind in fat or any other meat killeth them if vomit help them not which falleth out very seldom and the seeds of this herb have the same operation It is reported by Democritus that if wilde Rue be secretly hunge under a Hens wing no Fox will meddle with her and the same writer also declareth for approved that if you mingle the gall of a Fox or a Cat with their ordinary food they shall remain free from the dangers of these beasts When they engender and admit copulation they are joyned like Dogs the male upon the female and the female when she perceiveth her womb filled she departeth and liveth very secret for it falleth out very seldom that a female or Bitch-fox is taken great with young She bringeth forth ordinarily four at a time and those blind and imperfect without Articles in their legs which are perfected and framed by licking for Bears Wolves Lions Foxes Dogs and Thoes which are Multipara and Mulâfida that is fruitful bearing many at one time and also Cloven or slitfooted into many clawes have not the benefit of nature to perfect their young ones in their wombes Kites Vultures and Eagles lie in wait to destroy the Foxes Cubs or Whelps Foxes do not only engender with their own kinde but also with Wolves Dogs or any other beasts of equall proportion both of quantity and time of going with young so the Laconian Dogs are engendred by a Dog and a Fox and the Hyaena of a Wolf and a Fox as Albertus affirmeth and the Simivulpa of an Ape and a Fox as is already in the story of Apes declared There be also many evils wherewithal Foxes are annoyed and first of all he falleth sometime into madness as a Dog and the same evils follow a mad Fox which already are manifested to accompany a mad Dog and that more often in Summer then in Winter When a Fox feeleth himself sick nature hath taught him to eat the gum of Pinetrees wherewithal he is not only cured but also receiveth length of dayes They are also vexed with the falling away of their hair called therefore Alopecia because Foxes are most commonly vexed therewith and as we see in Plants that some of them dry and consume through want of moisture to feed them other are suffocated and choaked by abundance and as it were drowned in humidity so it happeneth in hair which groweth out of the body of beasts and the heads of men no otherwise then Plants out of the earth and are therefore to be nourished by humours which if
smelt sweetly and somewhat like to a Musk-cat and from Lyons in France they are brought into Germany three or four of them being sold for a Noble It is very probable that it is a little kinde of Panther or Leopard for there is a little Panther which hath such spots and besides of such a stature and harmless disposition whose skin in old time was pretiously used for garments and the favour thereof was very pleasant and therefore I supersede any further discourse hereof till we come to the declaration of the greater beast Of the GOAT Male and Female THe male or great Goat-Buck is called in Hebrew Atud and the lesser Seir and Zeir The Chalde translateth it Gen. 13. Teias-jaii and Numb 15 Ize the Arabians Teus and Maez the Persians Asteban and Busan the Grecians Tragos or devouring or ravening in meat according to the Verse Tragus ab Edendo quod grana fracta pane Also Chimaron and Enarchan the Latins Hircus and sometime Caper which word properly signifieth a Gelded Goat as Martial useth in this Verse Dum jugulas hircum factus es ipse Caper The Italians Beccho the Germans Bock and for distinction sake Geissbock and Reechbock and Booerk the Spaniards Cabron the French Bouc the Illyrians Kozel The reason of the Latin word Hircus is derived of Hirtus signifying rough by reason of the roughness of their bodies And it is further to be understood that the general kind of Goats which the Latins distinguish by Hircus Capra and Hoedus that is by their sex or by their age the Hebrews call them singularly Ez and plurally Izim Numb 15. for a Goat of a year old you shall read Izbethsch-neth The Chalde useth also the general word Oza the Arabian Schaah the Persian Buz and whereas Levit. 16. Seir is put for Caper a gelded Goat there the Chalde reudereth it Zephirah the Arabians Atud and the Persian Buzgalaie And in the same Chapter you shall read Azazel which David Kimhi rendereth for the name of a mountain neer Sinai where Goats use to feed and lodge and the Septuagints translate it Apopompaion signifying emission or sending away and for this cause I suppose that when the Scape-goat was by the Priest sent out of the Temple he went to that mountain and therefore the word Azazel seemeth to be compounded of Ez a Goat and Azal Iuit that is he went for the Scape Goat went and carryed away the evill The Grecians call the female Goat Aix which seemeth to be derived of Ez the Hebrew word The Arabians Dakh and Metaham as I find in Avicen the Saracens Anse the Italians Peccho changing B from the male into P and the Spaniards Capron the French Cheuer or Chieuere the Germans Geiss the Illyrians Koza and the Tuscanes at this day call a female Goat Zebei And this may suffice for the names of both male and female Their nature is to be declared severally except in those things wherein they agree without difference and first of all the male is rightly termed Dux maritus Caprarum the guide and husband of the females and therefore Virgil saith of him not improperly Vir gregis ipse Caper The He-goat is the husband of the flock and except in his genitals and horns he differeth not in any proportion or substance from the female His horns are longer and stronger then are the females and therefore upon provocation he striketh through an ordinary piece of Armor or Shield at one blow his force and the sharpness of his horns are so pregnable He hath many attributes among the learned as left-sided aged greedy bearded swift long-legged horn-bearer captain of the flock heavy rough hoarse-voiced rugged unarmed unclean strong-smelling lecherous bristler wanderer vile wanton sharp stinking two-horned and such like whereof his nature and qualities are so deciphered as it needeth no long treatise of explication There is no beast that is more prone and ãâ¦ã st then is a Goat for he joyneth in copulation before all other beasts Seven dayes after it is yeaâed and kiddened it beginneth and yeeldeth seed although without proof At seven moneths did it engend ãâ¦ã this cause that it beginneth so soon it endeth at five years and after that time is ãâã ânâble to accomplish that work of nature When the Egyptians will describe fecundity or ability of generation they do it by picturing of a male Goat That which is most strange and horrible among other beasts is ordinary and common among these for in them starce the Brother joyneth with the Sister and a Camel can never be brought to cover his Dam but among these the young ones being males cover their Mother even while they suck their milk If they be fat they are lesse venereous then being macilent or lean Herodotus declareth that in his time a Goat of Mendesia in Egypt had carnal copulation with a woman in the open sight of men and afterward was led about to be seen When they desire copulation they have a proper voice wherewithal as it seemeth they provoke the female to love This is called it in Italy Biccari and Biccarie which the Venetians apply to all lecherous companions as commonly as a proverb and this they never use but at that time By reason of his lust his eyes sink deep into the corners of their holes called Hirqui and Apuleius with other Grammarians do derive the word Hircus whereby this beast is called from that disposition By drinking salt water they are made desirous and apt to procreation At that time they fight mutually one with another for their females and it is a term among the late writers to call those men Hirci Goats which are contented to permit other men to lie with their wives in publick before their own faces for gain because they imagine that such is the property of Goats But I know not with what reason they are moved hereunto for there is a memorable story to the contrary In Sibaris there was a young man called Crathis which being not able to retain lust but forsaken of God and given over to a reprobate sense committed buggery with a female Goat the which thing the master Goat beheld and looked upon and dissembled concealing his mind and jealousie for the pollution of his female Afterward finding the said young man asleep for he was a Shepherd he made all his force upon him and with his horns dashed out the buggerers brains The man being found dead on this manner and the Goat which he had ravished delivered of a monster having a Mans face and a Goats legs they call it Silvanus and place it in the rank of idoll Gods but the wretched man himself was bnried with more honour then beseemed for they gave him a noble funeral and finding a River in Achaia which mingled water with another they called it Crathis after the name of that unnatural and beastly monster whereupon also came the Italian Crathis which Strabo
perswading themselves thereby that they received no small advantage in their Grapes The gall of a female Goat put into a vessel and set in the earth is said by Albertus to have a natural power to draw Goats unto it as though they received great commodity thereby Likewise if you would have white hairs to grow in any part of a Horse shave off the hair and anoint the place with a gall of a Goat so shall you have your desire The Sabaeans by reason of continual use of Myrrhe and Frankincense grow to a loathing of that savour for remedy of which annoyance they perfume their houses by burning storax in Goats-skins And thus much for the several parts of a Goat There were in ancient time three kindes of Heards-men which received dignity one above another the first were called Bucolici Neat-heard because they keep the greater Cattel the second were Opiliones Shepheards of their attendance upon Sheep the third last and lowest kinde were termed Aepoli and Caprarii that is Goat-heards or Keepers of Goats and such were the Locrensians who were called Ozolae because of their filthy smell for they had the most part of their conversation among other Beasts A Goat-heard or Keeper of these Cattel must be sharp stern hard laborious patient bold and chearful and such a one as can easily run over the Rocks through the Wilderness and among the bushes without fear or grief so that he must not follow his flock like other heards but go before them they must also be light and nimble to follow the wandering Goats that run away from their fellows and so bring them back again for Goats are nimble moveable and inconstant and therefore apt to depart away except they be restrained by the herd and his Dog Neither have Goats a Captain or Bell-bearer like unto Sheep whom they follow but every one is directed after his own will and herein appeareth the pride of this Beast that he scorneth to come behinde either Cattel or Sheep but always goeth before and also in their own herds among themselves the Buck goeth before the female for the reverence of his beard as Aelianus saith the labour of the Goat-herd must be to see his Cattel well fed abroad in the day time and well soulded at night the first rule therefore in this husbandry is to divide the flocks and not to put any great number of them together for herein they differ from Sheep who love to live together in multitudes as it were affecting society by which they thrive better and mourn not so much as when they are alone but Goats love singularity and may well be called Schismaticks among Cattel and therefore they thrive best lying together in small numbers otherwise in great flocks they are soon infected with the pestilence and therefore in France they care not to have Magnos Greges sed plures not great flocks but many The number of their flock ought not to exceed fifty whereupon Varro writeth this story of Gab ãâ¦ã us a Roman Knight who had a field under the Suburbs containing a thousand Akers of pasture ground who seeing a poor Goat-herd bring his Goats every day to the City and received for their milk a peny a peece he being led with covetousness proponed to himself this gain that if he stored his said field with a thousand Milch-female-goats he also should receive for their milk a thousand pence a day whereupon he added action to his intent and filled his field with a thousand Goats but the event fell out otherways then he expected sor in short time the multitude insected one another and so he lost both milk and flesh whereby it is apparent that it is not safe to feed great flocks of these Cattel together In India in the Region Coitha the Inhabitants give their Milch-goats dryed fishes to eat but their ordinary food is leaves tender branches and boughs of trees and also bushes or brambles where-upon Virgil wrote in this manner Pascuntur verò silvas summa Lycaei Horrenfesque rubos amantes ardua dumos They love to feed on the Mountains better then in the Vallies and green Fields always striving to lick up the Ivie or green plants or to climbe upon trees cropping off with their teeth all manner wilde herbs and if they be restrained and enclosed in fields then they do the like to the plants that they finde there wherefore there was an ancient law among the Romans when a man let out his ground to farm he should always condition and except with the Farmer that he should not breed any Goat in his ground for their teeth are enemies to all tender plants their teeth are also exitiable to a tree and Pliny and Varro affirm that the Goat by licking the Olive-tree maketh it barren for which cause in ancient time a Goat was not sacrificed to Minerva to whom the Olive was sacred There is no creature that feedeth upon such diversity of meat as Goats for which cause they are elegantly brought in by Eupolis the old Poet bragging of their belly chear wherein they number up above five and twenty several things different in name nature and taste and for this cause Eustathius defended by strong argument against Disarius that men and cattel which feed upon divers things have less health then those Beasts which eat one kinde of fruit alone They love Tamerisk Aldern Elm-tree Assaraback and a tree called Alaternus which never beareth fruit but only leaves also three-leaved-grass Ivie the herb Lada which groweth no where but in Arabia whereby it cometh to pass that many times the hair of Goats is found in the gumb called Ladanum for the peoples greedy desire of the gumb causeth them to wipe the juyce from the Goats beard For the increase of milk in them give them Cinquefoyl five days together before they drink or else binde Dittany to their bellies or as Lacuna translateth the words out of Alrieanus you may lay milk to their bellies belike by rubbing it thereupon The wilde Goats of Creet eat Dittany aforesaid against the strokes of Darts and Serapion avoucheth by the experience of Galen that Goats by licking the leaves of Tamarisk lose their gall and likewise that he saw them licking Serpents which had newly lost their skins and the event thereof was that their age never turned or changed into whiteness or other external signes thereof Also it is delivered by good observation that if they eat or drink out of vessels of Tamarisk they shall never have any Spleen if any one of them eat Sea-holly the residue of the flock stand still and will not go forward till the meat be out of his mouth The Grammarians say that ãâ¦ã ara was killed by Bellerophon the son of Glaucus in the Mountain Lyoius and the reason hereof is that the Poets faigned Chimera to be composed of a Lyon a Dragon and a Goat and in that Mountain all those three were kept and fell for
said to be derived of these wilde Goats these are called Cynthian Goats because they are bred in the Mountains of Delos called Cynthus There are of these which are found in the tops of the Lybian Mountains as great as Oxen whose shoulders and legs abound with loose shaggy hair their shins small their faces are round their eyes are hollow and hard to be seen Their horns crooking backward to their shoulders not like other Goats for they stand far distant one from another and among all other Goats they are indued with a most singular dexterity of leaping for they leap from one top to another standing a great way asunder and although many times they fall down upon the hard rocks which are interposed betwixt the Mountains yet receive they no harm for such is the hardness of their members to resist that violence and of their horns to break their falls that they neither are offended thereby in head nor legs Such are the Goats of Soractum as Cato writeth which leapeth from Rock to Rock above threescore foot of this kinde are those Goats before spoken of in the History of the tame Goat which are thought to breath out of their ears and not out of their nostrils they are very swift and strong horned the love betwixt the Dams and the Kids in this kinde is most admirable for the Dam doth most carefully educate and nourish her young the young ones again do most thankfully recompense their mothers carefulness much like unto reasonable men which keep and nourish their own Parents in their old decrepit age which the love of God and nature doth enjoyn them for satisfaction of their own education so do these young wilde Goats toward their own mothers for in their age they gather their meat and bring it to them and likewise they run to the rivers or watering places and with their mouths suck up water which they bring to quench the thirst of their Parents and when as their bodies are rough and ugly to look upon the young ones lick them over with their tongues so making them smooth and neat And if at any time the Dam be taken by the Hunters the young one doth not forsake her till he be also insnared and you would think by the behaviour of the imprisoned Dam towards her young Kids and likewise of the Kid towards his Dam that they mutually contend one to give it self for the other for the Dam foreseeing her young one to hover about her in the hands of her enmies and continually to follow with sighs and tears seemeth to wish and perswade them to depart and to save themselves by flight as if they could say in the language of men Fugite filii infostos venatores ne me miseram capti materno nomine private that is to say Run away my sons save your selves from these harmful and greedy Hunters lest if you be taken with me I be for ever deprived of the name of a mother The young ones again on the other side wandring about their Mother bleat forth many a mournful song leaping to the Hunters and looking in their faces with pitiful aspects as if they said unto him We adjure you oh Hunters by the Maker of us all that you deliver our Mother from your thraldom and instead of her take us her unhappy children bend your hard hearts fear the laws of God which forbiddeth innocents to be punished and consider what reverence you owe to the old age of a mother therefore again we pray you let our lives satisfie you for our Dams liberty But poor creatures when they see that nothing can move they unexorable minde of the Hunters they resolve to dye with her whom the cannot deliver and thereupon of their own accord give themselves into the hands of the Hunters and so are led away with their mother Concerning the Lybian Goats before spoken of which live in the tops of Mountains they are taken by nets or snares or else killed by Darts and Arrows or some other art of hunting But if at any time they descend down into the plain fields they are no less troubled then if they were in the waves of some great water And therefore any man of a slow pace may there take them without any great difficulty The greatest benefit that ariseth from them is their skin and their horns with their skins they are clothed in Winter time against Tempests Frosts and Snow and it is a common weed for Shepherds and Carpenters The horns serve them in steed of Buckets to draw water out of the running streams wherewithall they quench their thirst for they may drink out of them as out of cups they are so great that no man is able to drink them off at one draught and when cunning artificers have the handling of them they make them to receive three times as much more The self same things are written of the Wilde Goats of Egypt who are said never to be hurt by Scorpions There is a great City in Egypt called Coptus who were wont to be much addicted to the worship of Isis and in that place there are great abundance of Scorpions which with their stings and poyson do oftentimes give mortal and deadly wounds to the people whilest they mourn about the Chappel for they worship that Goddess with funeral lamentation against the stinging of these Scorpions the Egyptians have invented a thousand devises whereof this was the principal At the time of their assembly they turn in wilde female Goats naked among the Scorpions lying on the ground by whose presence they are delivered and escape free from the wounds of the Serpents whereupon the Coptites do religiously consecrate these female Goats to divinity thinking that their Idoll Isis did wholly love them and therefore they sacrificed the males but never the females It is reported by Plutarch that wilde Goats do above other meat love meal and figs wherefore in Armenia there are certain black fishes which are poyson with the powder or meal of these fishes they cover these figs and cast them abroad where the Goats do haunt and assoon as the Beasts have tasted them they presently dy Now to the Wilde Goat before pictured called in Latine Rupicapra and Capricornus and in Greek a Gargos and Aigastros and of Homer Ixalon of the Germans Gemmes or Gemmus the Rhetians which speak Italian call it Camuza the Spaniards Capramontes the Polonians Dzykakoza the Bohemians Korytanski Kâzlik that is to say a Carinthian Goat because that part of the Alpes called Carinthia is neer bordering upon Bohemia Bellonius writeth that the French call him Chambris and in their ancient tongue Ysard this is not very great of body but hath crooked horns which bend backward to his back whereupon he stayeth himself when he falleth from the slippery Rocks or Mountains These horns they are not fit to fight they are so small and weak and therefore nature hath bestowed them upon them for the cause aforesaid Of all
nor eat their meat upon the ground except they bend down upon their knees The males in this kinde do only bear horns and such as do not grow out of the Crowns of their head but as it were out of the middle on either side a little above the eyes and so bend to the sides They are sharp and full of bunches like Harts no where smooth but in the tops of the speers and where the veins run to carry nutriment to their whole length which is covered with a hairy skin they are not so rough at the beginning or at the first prosses specially in the fore-part as they are in the second for that only is full of wrinckles from the bottom to the middle they grow straight but from thence they are a little recurved they have only three speers or prosses the two lower turn away but the uppermost groweth upright to heaven yet sometimes it falleth out as the Keepers of the said Beast affirmed that either by sickness or else through want of food the left horn hath but two branches In length they are one Koman foot and a half and one finger and a half in breadth at the root two Roman palms The top of one of the horns is distant from the top of the other three Roman feet and three fingers and the lower speer of one horn is distant from the lower of the other two Roman feet measured from the roots in substance and colour they are like to Harts horns they weighed together with the dry broken spongy bone of the fore-head five pound and a half and half an ounce I mean sixteen ounces to the pound they fall off every year in the month of April like to Harts and they are not hollow The breadth of their fore-heads betwixt the horns is two Roman palms and a half the top of the crown betwixt the horns is hollow on the hinder part and in that siecel lyeth the brain which descendeth down to the middle region of the eyes Their teeth are like Harts and inwardly in their cheeks they grow like furrows bigger then in a Horse the tooth rising out sharp above the throat as it should seem that none of his meat should fall thereinto unbruised This Beast in young age is of a Mouse or Ass colour but in his elder age it is more yellowish especially in the extream parts of his body the hair smooth but most of all on his legs but under his belly in the inner part of his knee the top of his neck breast shoulders and back-bone not so smooth In height it was about twenty two handfuls and three fingers being much swifter then any Horse the female beareth every year as the Keeper said in Norway two at a time but in England it brought forth but one The flesh of it is black and the fibres broad like an Oxes but being dressed like Harts flesh and baked in an Oven it tasted much sweeter It eateth commonly grass but in England seldom after the fashion of Horses which forbear hay when they may have bread but leaves rindes of trees bread and oats are most acceptable unto it It reacheth naturally thirty hand breadths high but if any thing be higher which it doth affect it standeth up upon the hinder-legs and with the fore-legs there imbraceth or leaneth to the tree and with his mouth biteth off his desire It drinketh water and also English Ale in great plenty yet without drunkenness and there were that gave it Wine but if it drink plentifully it became drunk It is a most pleasant creature being tamed but being wilde is very fierce and an enemy to mankinde persecuting men not only when he seeth them by the eye but also by the sagacity of his nose following by foot more certainly then any Horse for which cause they which kept them near the high ways did every year cut off their horns with a saw It setteth both upon Horse and Foot-men trampling and treading them under-foot whom he did over-match when he smelleth a man before he seeth him he uttereth a voice like the gruntling of a Swine being without his female it doth most naturally affect a woman thrusting out his genital which is like a Harts as if it discerned sexes In Norway they call it an Elk or Elend but it is plain they are deceived in so calling it because it hath not the legs of an Elk which never bend nor yet the horns as by conference may appear Much less can I believe it to be the Hippardius because the female wanteth horns and the head is like a Mules but yet it may be that it is a kinde of Elk for the horns are not always alike or rather the Elk is a kinde of Horse-hart which Aristotle calleth Arrochosius of Arracolos a region of Assya and herein I leave every man to his judgement referring the Reader unto the former discourses of an Elk and the Tragelaphus Of the SEA-HORSE THe Sea-horse called in Greek Hippotomos and in Latine Equus Fluviatilis It is a most ugly and filthy Beast so called because in his voyce and mane he resembleth a Horse but in his head an Oxe or a Calf in the residue of his body a Swine for which cause some Graecians call him some-times a Sea-horse and sometimes a Sea-oxe which thing hath moved many learned men in our time to affirm that a Sea-horse was never seen whereunto I would easily subscribe such Bellon ãâ¦ã were it not that the antient figures of a Sea-horse altogether resembled that which is here expressed and was lately to be seen at Constantinople from whom this picture was taken It liveth for the most part in Nilus yet is it of a doubtful life for it brings forth and breedeth on the land and by the proportion of the legs it seemeth rather to be made for going then for swimming for in the night time it eateth both hay and fruits sorraging into corn fields and devouring whatsoever cometh in the way and therefore I thought it fit to be inserted into this story As for the Sea-calf which cometh sometimes to land only to take sleep I did not judge it to belong to this discourse because it feedeth only in the waters This picture was taken out of the Colossus in the Vatican at Rome representing the River Nilus and eating of a Crocodile and thus I reserve the farther discourse of this beast unto the History of Fishes adding only thus much that it ought to be no wonder to consider such monsters to come out of the Sea which resemble Horses in their heads seeing therein are also creatures like unto Grapes and Swords The Orsean Indians do hunt a Beast with one horn having the body of a Horse and the head of a Hart. The Aethiopians likewise have a Beast in the neck like unto a Horse and the feet and legs like unto an Ox. The Rhinocephalus hath a neck like a Horse and also the other parts of his body but it is said to breath
time some use at the second time to dip such sops in sweet Sallet Oil. Thus far Vâgetius Of the Pestilent Ague IT seemeth by Laurentius Russius that Horses be also subject to a Pestilent Fever which almost incurable is called of him Infirmitas Epidemialis that is to say a Contagious and pestiferous disease whereof there dyed in one year in Rome above a thousand Horses which as I take it came by some corruption of the air whereunto Rome in the chief of Summer is much subject or else corrupt humours in the body ingendered by unkind food by reason perhaps that the City was then pesteted with more Horse-men then there could be conveniently harbored or fed Laurentius himself rendreth no cause thereof but only sheweth signes how to know it which be these The Horse holdeth down his head eateth little or nothing his eyes waterish and his flanks do continually beat The Cure First give him this Glyster Take of the pulp of Coloquintida one ounce of Dragantum one ounce and a fals of Ceutaury and Wormwood of each one handful of Castore ãâ¦ã half an ounce boil them in Water then being strained dissolve therein of Gerologundinum six ounces of Salt an ounce and a half and half a pound of Oil-olive and minister it lukewarm with a horn or pipe made of purpose Make also this Plaister for his head Take of Squilla five ounces of Elder of Castoreum of Mustard seed and of Eusorbium of each two ounces dissolve the same in the juice of Daffodil and of Sage and lay it to the Temples of his head next unto his eares or else give him any of these three drinks following Take of the best Triacle two or three ounces and distemper it in good Wine and give it him with a horn or else let him drink every morning the space of three dayes one pound or two of the juyce of Elder roots or else give him every morning to eat a good quantity of Venus hair called of the Latins Capillus Veneris newly and fresh gathered but if it be old then boil it in Water and give him the decoction thereof to drink with a horn Martins opinion and experience touching a Horses Fever THough Martin have not seen so many several kinds of Fevers to chance to Horses yet he confesseth that a Horse will have a Fever and saith that you shall know it by these signes For after the Horse hath been sick two or three dayes if you look upon his tongue you shall see it almost raw and scalt with the heat that comes out of his body and he will shake and trembles reel and stagger when his fit cometh which fit will keep his due hours both of coming and also ãâã continuance unlesse you prevent it by putting the Horse into a heat which would be done so soon as you see him begin to tremble either by riding him or tying up his legs and by chasing him up and down in the stable untill he leave shaking and then let him be kept warm and stand on the bit the space of two houres that done you may give him some hay by a little at once and give him warm water with a little ground malt twice a day the space of three or four dayes and once a day wash his tongue with Alomwater Vinegar Sage But if you see that all this prevaile not then purge him with this drink after that he hath fasted all one night Take of Aloes one ounce of Agarick half an ounce of Licoras and Annis seeds of each a dram beaten to powder and let him drink it with a quart of white wine likewarme and made sweet with a little hony in the morning fasting and let him be chafed a little after it and be kept warm and suffered to stand on the bit meatlesse two or three hours after and he shall recover his health again quickly Of sickness in general and the Fever IN general sickness is an opposite foe to nature warring against the agents of the body and mind seeking to confound those actions which uphold and maintain the bodies strength and livelyhood Who coveteth to have larger definition of sickness let him read Vegetius Rusius or excellent Master Blundevile who in that hath been admirably well-deserving painful For mine one part my intent is to write nothing more then mine own experience and what I have approved in Horses diseases most availeable and first of the Fever or Ague in a Horse though it be a disease seldom or not at all noted by our Mechanical Horse Farriars who cure many times what they know not and kill where they might cure knew they the cause yet I have my self seen of late both by the demonstrate opinions of others better learned and by the effects of the disease some two Horses which I dare avouch were mightily tormented with a Fever though divers Leeches had thereof given divers opinions one saying it was the Bots by reason of his immoderate languishment another affirmed him to be bewitched by reason of great shaking heaviness and sweating but I have found it and approved it to be a Fever both in effect nature and quality the cure whereof is thus for the original cause of a Fever is surfet breeding putrifaction in the bloud then when his shaking beginneth take three new laid Egges break them in a dish and beat them together then mix thereto five or six spoonfuls of excellent good Aquavitae and give it him in a horn then bridle him and in some Close or Court chafe him till his shaking cease and he begin to sweat then set him up and cloath him warm And during the time of his sickness give him no water to drink but before he drink it boil therein Mallowes Sorrel Purslain of each two or three handfuls As for his food let it be sodden Barly and now and then a little Rie in the sheaf to clense and purge him chiefly if he be dry inwardly and grow costive This I have proved uneffectless for this disease and also much availeable for any other inward sickness proceeding either of raw digestion too extream riding or other surfet Divers have written diversly of divers Agues and I could prescribe receipts for them but since I have not been experimented in them all I mean to omit them intending not to exceed mine own knowledge in any thing Of the Pestilence THe Pestilence is a contagious disease proceeding as Pelaganius saith sometime of overmuch labour heat cold hunger and sometime of sudden running after long rest or of the retention or holding of stale or urine or of drinking cold water whiles the Horse is hot and sweating for all these things do breed corrupt humors in the Horses body whereof the Pestilence doth chiefly proceed or else of the corruption of the air poisoning the breath whereby the Beasts should live which also happeneth sometime of the corruption of evill vapors and exhalations that spring out of the earth and
after great floods or earthquakes and sometime by means of some evill distillation or influence of the Planets corrupting sometime the plants and fruits of the earth and sometime divers kind of Cattle and sometime both Men Women and Children as we dayly see by experience It seemeth that this evill or mischief in times past came suddenly without giving any warning for none of mine Authors doth declare any signes how to know whether a Horse hath this disease or not but only affirm that if one Horse do die of it all his fellows that bear him company will follow after if they be not remedied in time so that as far as I can learn the sudden death of one or two first must be the only mean to know that this disease doth reign And the remedy that they give is this First separate the whole from the sick yea and have them ãâã out of the air of those that be dead the bodies whereof as Vegetius saith if they be not ãâã buryed will infect all the rest And let them bloud as well in the neck as in the mouth and then give them this drink Take of Gentian of Aristoloch of Bay ãâ¦ã es of ãâ¦ã of the scraping of Ivory of each like quantity beat them into fine powder and give as ãâã to the sick as to the whole whom you would preserve from this coâtagion every day a spoonful ãâã two of this powder in a pinte of good Wine so long as you shall see it needful This ãâã before rehearsed is called of the ancient writers Diapente that is to say a composition ãâ¦ã simples and is praised to be a soveraign medicine and preservative against all inward diseases and therefore they would have such as travell by the way to carry of this powder alwayes ãâã them There be many other medicines which I leave to write because if I should rehearse every ãâã medicine my book would be infinite I for my part would use no other then that before expressed or else Wine and Treacle only Of the Diseases in the Head THe head is subject to divers diseases according to the divers parts thereof for in the panicles or little fine skins cleaving to the bones and covering the brain do most properly breed head-ach and Migram Again in the substance of the brain which in a Horse is as much in quantity as is almost the brain of a mean Hog do breed the Frensie madness sleeping evill the Palsie and forgetfulness Finally in the ventricles or cels of the brain and in those conducts through which the spirits animal do give feeling and moving to the body do breed the Turnsick or staggers the Falling-evill the Night-mare the Apoplexy the Palsie and the Convulsion or Cramp the Catar or Rhume which in a Horse is called the Glaunders but first of Head-ach Of Head-ach THe Head-ach either cometh of some inward causes as of some cholerick humor bred in the the panicles of the brain or else of some outward cause as of extream heat or cold of some blow or of some violent savour Eumelus saith that it cometh of raw digestion but Martin saith most commonly of cold the signes be these the Horse will hang down his head and also hang down his ears his sight will be dim his eyes swollen and waterish and he will forsake his meat The cure Let him bloud in the palat of his mouth also purge his head with this perfume Take of Garlike stalks a handful all to broken in short pieces and a good quantity of Frankincense and being put into a chafing-dish of fresh coals hold the chafing-dish under the Horses nostrils so as the fume may ascend up into his head and in using him thus once or twice it will make him to cast at the nose and so purge his head of all filth Pelagonius saith that it is good to pour into his nostrils Wine wherein hath been sodden Euforbium Centaury and Frankincense Of the Frenzy and Madness of a Horse THe learned Physitians do make divers kindes as well of Frensie as of Madness which are not needful to be recited sith I could never read in any Author nor learn of any Farriar that a Horse were subject to the one half of them Absyrtus Hierocles Eumelus Pelagonius and Hippocrates do write simply de furore rabie that is to say of the madness of a Horse But indeed Vegetius in his second Book of Horse-leach-craft seemeth to make four mad passions belonging to a Horse intituling his Chapters in this sort de Appioso de Frenetico de Cardiacis de Rabioso the effects thereof though I fear me it will be to no great purpose yet to content such as perhaps have read the Author as well as I my self I will here briefly rehearse the same When some naughty bloud saith he doth strike the film or pannicle of the brain in one part only and maketh the same grievously to ake then the beast becometh Appiosum that is to say as it seemeth by his own words next following both dull of minde and of sight This word Appiosum is a strange word and not to be found again in any other Author and because in this passion the one side of the head is only grieved the Horse turneth round as though he went in a Mill. But when the poyson of such corrupt bloud doth infect the mid brain then the Horse becometh Frantick and will leap and fling and will run against the wals And if such bloud filleth the veins of the stomach or breast then it infecteth as well the heart as the brain and causeth alienation of minde and the body to sweat and this disease is called of Vegetius Passocardiaca which if Equus Appiosus chance to have then he becometh Rabiosus that is to say stark-mad For saith he by overmuch heat of the liver and bloud the veins and arteries of the heart are choaked up for grief and pain whereof the Horse biteth himself and gnaweth his own flesh Of two sorts of mad Horses I believe I have seen my self here in this Realm For I saw once a black Sweatbland Horse as I took him to be in my Lord of Hunsdons stable at Hunsdon coming thither by chance with my Lord Morley which Horse would stand all day long biting of the manger and eat little meat or none suffering no man to approach unto him by which his doings and partly by his colour and complexion I judged him to be vexed with a melancholy madness called of the Physitians Mania or rather Melancholia which cometh of a corrupt Melancholy and filthy bloud or humor sometime spread throughout all the veins of the body and sometimes perhaps remaining only in the head or else in the spleen or places next adjoyning The other mad Horse was a Roan of Master Ashlies Master of the Jewel house which with his teeth crushed his Masters right fore-finger in pieces whilest he offered him a little Hay to eat whereby he lost in a manner
it be a melancholy humor and abounding over-much it waxeth every day thicker and thicker causing obstruction not only in the veins arteries which is to be perceived by heaviness and grief on the left side but also in the Spleen it self whereas by vertue of the heat it is hardned every day more and more and so by little and little waxeth to a hard knob which doth not only occupy all the substance of the Spleen but also many times all the left side of the womb and thereby maketh the evill accidents or griefs before recited much more than they were Now as touching the inflamation of the Spleen which chanceth very seldom for so much as every inflamation proceedeth of pure bloud which seldom entereth into the Spleen I shall not need to make many words but refer you over to the Chapter of the Liver for in such case they differ not but proceeding of like cause have also like signes and do require like cure The old Writers say that Horses be often grieved with grief in the Spleen and specially in Summer season with greedy eating of sweet green meats aâd they call those Horses Lâenoâos that is to say Spleenetick The signes whereof say they are these hard swelling on the left side short breath often groning and greedy appetite to meat The remedy whereof according to Absyrtus is to make a Horse to sweat once a day during a certain time by riding him or otherwise travelling him and to pour into his left nostril every day the juyce of Mirabolans mingled with Wine and Water amounting in all to the quantity of a pinte But me thinks it would do him more good if he drank it as Hierocles would have him to do Eumelius praiseth this drink Take of Cummin seed and of Honey of each six ounces and of Laserpitium as much as a Bean of Vinegar a pinte and put all these into three quarts of water and let it stand so all night and the next morning give the Horse thereof to drink being kept over night fasting Theomnestus praiseth the decoction of Capers especially if the bark of the root thereof may be gotten sodden in water to a syrup Or else make him a drink of Garlick Nitrum Hore-hound and Wormwood sodden in harsh Wine and he would have the left side to be bathed in warm water and to be hard rubbed And if all this will not help then to give him the fire which Absyrtus doth not allow saying the Spleen lyeth so as it cannot easily be fired to do him any good But for so much as the Liver and Spleen are members much occupied in the ingendring and separating of humors many evill accidents and griefs do take their first beginning of them as the Jaundise called in a Horse the yellows driness of body and Consumption of the flesh without any apparent cause why which the Physitians call Atrophia also evill habit of the body called of them Cachexid and the Dropsie But first we will speak of the Jaundise or Yellows Of the Yellows THe Physitians in a mans body do make two kindes of Jaundise that is to say the Yellow proceeding of choler dispersed throughout the whole body and dying the skin yellow and the Black proceeding of melancholy dispersed likewise throughout the whole body and making all the skin black And as the yellow Jaundise cometh for the most part either by obstruction or stopping of the conduits belonging to the bladder of the gall which as I said before is the receptacle of choler or by some inflamation of the Liver whereby the bloud is converted into choler and so spreadeth throughout the body even so the black Jaundise cometh by mean of some obstruction in the Liver-vein that goeth to the Spleen not suffering the Spleen to do his office in receiving the dregs of the âloud from the Liver wherein they abound too much or else for that the Spleen is already too full of dregs and so sheddeth them back again into the veins But as for the Black Jaundise they have not been observed to be in Horses as in Men by any of our âarriers in these days that I can learn And yet the old Writers of Horse-leech-craft do seem to make two kindes of Jaundise called of them Cholera that is to say the dry choler and also the moist choler The signes of the dry choler as absyrtus saith is great heat in the body and costiyeness of the belly whereof it is said to be dry Moreover the Horse will not covet to ly down because he is so pained in his body and his mouth will be hot and dry It cometh as he saith by obstruction of the conduit whereby the choler should resort into the bladder of the gall and by obstruction also of the urine vessels so as he cannot stale The cure according to his experience is to give him a Glyster made of Oyl Water and Nitrum and to give him no provender before that you have raked his fundament and to pour the decoction of Mallows mingled with sweet Wine into his nostrils and let his meat be grass or else sweet Hay sprinkled with Nitre and Water and he must rest from labour and be often rubbed Hierocles would have him to drink the decoction of wilde Coleworts sodden in Wine Again of the moist choler of Jaundise these are the signes The Horses eyes will look yellow and his nostrils will open wide his ears and his flancks will sweat and his stale will be yellow and cholerick and he will grone when he lyeth down which disease the said Absyrtus was wont to heal as he saith by giving the Horse a drink made of Thyme and Cumin of each like quantity stampt together and mingled with Wine Honey and Water and also by letting him bloud in the pasterns This last disease seemeth to differ nothing at all from that which our Farriers call the Yellows The signes whereof according to Martin be these The Horse will be faint and sweat as he standeth in the stable and forsake his meat and his eyes and the inside of his lips and all his mouth within will be yellow The cure whereof according to him is in this sort Let him bloud in the neck-vein a good quantity and then give him this drink Take of white Wine of Ale a quart and put thereunto of Saffron Turmerick of each half an ounce and the juyce that is wrung out of a handful of Celandine and being luke-warm give it the Horse to drink and keep him warm the space of three or four days giving him warm water with a little Bran in it Of the Yellows THe Yellows is a general disease in Horses and differ nothing from the yellow Jaundise in men It is mortal and many Horses die thereof the signes to know it is thus pull down the lids of the Horses eyes and the white of the eye will be yellow the inside of his lips will be yellow and gums the cure followeth First let him bloud
in the palat of his mouth that he may suck up the same then give him this drink Take of strong Ale a quart of the green or dure of Geese strained three or four spoonfuls of the juyce of Celandine as much of Saffron half an ounce mix these together and being warm give it the Horse to drink Of the evill habit of the Body and of the Dropsie AS touching the driness and Consumption of the flesh without any apparent cause why called of the Physitians as I said before Atrophia I know not what to say more then I have already before in the Chapter of Consumption of the flesh and therefore resort thither And as for the evill habit of the body which is to be evill coloured heavy dull and of no force strength nor liveliness cometh not for lack of nutriment but for lack of good nutriment for that the bloud is corrupted with flegm choler or melancholy proceeding either from the Spleen or else through weakness of the stomach or liver causing evill digestion or it may come by foul feeding yea and also for lack of moderate exercise The Evill habit of the body is next cousen to the Dropsie whereof though our Farriers have had no experience yet because mine old Authors writing of Horse-leech-craft do speak much thereof I think it good here briefly to shew you their experience therein that is to say how to know it and also how to cure it But sith none of them do shew the cause whereof it proceeds I think it meet first therefore to declare unto you the causes thereof according to the doctrine of the learned Physitians which in mans body do make three kindes of Dropsies calling the first Anasarca the second Ascites and the third Timpanias Anasarca is an universal swelling of the body through the abundance of the water sying betwixt the skin and the flesh and differeth not from the disease last mentioned called Cachexia that is to say Evill habit of the bloud saving that the body is more swoln in this then in Cachexia albeit they proceed both of like causes as of coldness and weakness of the liver or by means that the heart spleen stomach and other members serving to digestion be grieved or diseased Ascites is a swelling in the covering of the belly called of the Physitians Abdomen comprehending both the skin the fat eight muscles and the film or panicle called Peritoneum through the abundance of some whayish humor entred into the same which besides the causes before alleadged proceedeth most chiefly by means that some of the vessels within be broken or rather cracked out of the which though the bloud being somewhat gross cannot issue forth yet the whayish humor being subtil may run out into the belly like water distilling through a cracked pot Timpanias called of us commonly the Timpany is a swelling of the aforesaid covering of the belly through the abundance of winde entred into the same which winde is inge ãâ¦ã ered of crudity and evill digestion and whilest it aboundeth in the stomach or other intrails finding no issue out it breaketh in violently through the small conduits among the panicles of the aforesaid covering not without great pain to the patient and so by tossing to and fro windeth at length into the space of the covering it self But surely such winde cannot be altogether void of moisture Notwithstanding the body swelleth not so much with this kinde of Dropsie as with the other kinde called Ascites The signes of the Dropsie is shortness of breath swelling of the body evill colour lothing of meat and great desire to drink especially in the Dropsie called Ascites in which also the belly will sound like a bottle half full of water but in the Timpany it will sound like a Taber But now though mine Authors make not so many kindes of Dropsies yet they say all generally that a Horse is much subject to the Dropsie The signes according to Absyrtus and Hierocles be these His belly legs and stones will be swoln but his back buttocks and flancks will be dryed and shrunk up to the very bones Moreover the veins of his face and temples and also the veins under his tongue will be so hidden as you cannot see them and if you thrust your finger hard against his body you shall leave the print thereof behinde for the flesh lacking natural heat will not return again to his place and when the Horse lyeth down he spreadeth himself abroad not being able to lie round together on his belly and the hair of his back by rubbing will fall away Pelagonius in shewing the signes of the Dropsie not much differing from the Physitians first recited seemeth to make two kindes thereof calling the one the Timpany which for difference sake may be called in English the Winde Dropsie and the other the Water Dropsie Notwithstanding both have one cure so far as I can perceive which is in this sort Let him be warm covered and walked a good while together in the Sun to provoke sweat and let all his body be well and often rubbed alongst the hair and let him feed upon Coleworts Smallage and Elming boughs and on all other things that may loosen the belly or provoke urine and let his common meat be grass if it may be gotten if not then Hay sprinkled with Water and Nitrum It is good also to give him a kinde of Pulse called Cich steeped a day and a night in water and then taken out and laid so as the water may drop away from it Pelagonius would have him to drink Parsly stampt with Wine or the root of the herb called in Latine Panax with Wine But if the swelling of the belly will not decrease for all this then slit a little hole under his belly a handful behinde the navil and put into that hole a hollow reed or some other pipe that the water or winde may go out not all at once but by little and little at divers times and beware that you make not the hole over wide lest the kall of the belly fall down thereunto and when all the water is clean run out then heal up the wound as you do all other wounds and let the Horse drink as little as is possible Of the Evil habit of the Stomach IF your Horse either by inward sickness or by present surfeit grow to a loath of his meat or by weakness of his stomach cast up his meat and drink this shall be the cure for the same First in all the drink he drinks let him have the powder of hot Spices as namely of Ginger Anise seeds Licoras Cinamon and Pepper then blow up into his nostrils the powder of Tobacco to occasion him to neese instantly after he hath eaten any meat for an hour together after let one stand by him and hold at his nose a piece of sowre leaven steept in Vinegar then anoint all his breast over with the Oyl of Ginnuper and Pepper mixt
matter Of this kinde is that disease called before Tenasmus for that is an ulcer in the right gut serving the fundament and doth proceed even as the flux doth of some sharp humors which being violently driven and having to pass through many crooked and narrow ways do cleave to the guts and with their sharpness fret them causing exulceration and grievous pain The flux also may come of some extream cold heat or moistness or by mean of receiving some violent purgation having therein over-much Scammony or such like violent simple or through weakness of the Liver or other members serving to digestion Now as touching the falling out of the fundament the Physitians say that it cometh through the resolution or weakness of the muscles serving to draw up the fundament which resolution may come partly by over-much straining and partly they may be loosened by over-much moisture for which cause children being full of moisture are more subject to this disease then men And for the self same cause I think that Horses having very moist bodies be subject thereunto Thus having shewed you the causes of the diseases before recited I will shew you the cure prescribed by the old Writers Absyrtus would have the fundament on the outside to be cut round about but so as the inward ring thereof be not touched for that were dangerous and would kill the Horse for so much as his fundament would never abide within his body and that done he would have you to give him to drink the powder of unripe Pomgranate shels called in Latine Malicorium together with Wine and Water which indeed because it is astringent is not to be misliked but as for cutting of the fundament I assure you I cannot judge what he should mean thereby unless it be to widen the fundament by giving it long slits or cuts on the outside but well I know that it may cause more pain and greater inflamation And therefore me thinks it were better in this case to follow the Physitians precepts which is first to consider whether the fundament being fallen out be inflamed or not for if it be not inflamed then it shall be good to anoint it first with Oyl of Roses somewhat warmed or else to wash it with warm red Wine But if it be inflamed then to bathe it well first with a spunge dipt in the decoction of Mallows Camomile Linseed and Fenigreek and also to anoint it well with Oyl of CÃ momile and Dill mingled together to asswage the swelling and then to thrust it in again fair and softly with a soft linnen cloth That done it shall be good to bathe all the place about with red red Wine wherein hath been sodden Acatium Galles Acorn cups parings of Quinces and such like simples as be astringent and then to throw on some astringent powder made of Bole Armony Frankincense Sanguis Draconis Myrrhe Acatium and such like yea and also to give the Horse this drink much praised of all the old Writers Take of Saffron one ounce of Myrrhe two ounces of the herb called in Latine Abrotonum named in some of our English Herbals Southernwood three ounces of Parsly one ounce of garden Rue otherwise called Herb Grace three ounces of Piritheum otherwise called of some people Spittlewort and of Hysop of each two ounces of Cassia which is like Cinamon one ounce Let all these things be beaten in fine powder and then mingled with Chalk and strong Vinegar wrought into paste of which paste make little cakes and dry them in the shadow and being dryed dissolve some of them in a sufficient quantity of Barly milk or juyce called of the old Writers and also of the Physitians Cremor Ptisanae and give to the Horse to drink thereof with a horn for the medicine as the Authors write doth not only heal the Bloudy-flix and the other two diseases before recited but also if it be given with a quart of warm water it will heal all grief and pain in the belly and also of the bladder that cometh for lack of staling And being given with sweet Wine is will heal the biting of any Serpent or mad Dog Of the Worms IN a Horses guts do breed three kindes of Worms even as there doth in Mans body though they be not altogether like in shape The first long and round even like to those that children do most commonly void and are called by the general name Worms The second little worms having great heads and small long tails like a needle and be called bots The third be short and thick like the end of a mans little finger and therefore be cald Troncheons and though they have divers shapes according to the diversity of the place perhaps where they breed or else according to the figure of the putrified matter whereby they breed yet no doubt they proceed all of one cause that is to say of a raw gross and flegmatick matter apt to putrifaction ingendered most commonly by foul feeding and as they proceed of one self cause so also have they like signes and like cure The signes be these The Horse will forsake his meat for the Troncheons and the Bots will covet always to the maw and pain him sore He will also lie down and wallow and standing he will stamp and strike at his belly with his hinder-foot and look often toward his belly The cure according to Martin is thus Take of sweet Milk a quart of Honey a quartern and give it him luke-warm and walk him up and down for the space of an hour and so let him rest for that day with as little meat or drink as may be and suffer him not to lie down Then the next day give him this drink Take of Herb-grace a handful of Savin as much and being well stampt put thereunto a little Brimstone and a little Soot of a Chimney beaten into fine powder and put all these things together in a quart of Wort or Ale and there let them lie steep the space of an hour or two then strain it well through a fair cloth and give it the Horse to drink luke-warm then bridle him and walk him up and down the space of an hour that done bring him into the stable and let him stand on the bit two or three hours then give him a little Hay Laurentius Russius saith that it is good to give the Horse the warm guts of a young Hen with a Salt three days together in the morning and not to let him drink untill it be noon Some say that it is good to ride him having his bit first anointed with dung coming hot from the man some again use to give him a quantity of Brimstone and half as much Rozen beaten into powder and mingled together with his provender which he must eat a good while before he drinketh I have found by often tryal that if you give the Horse with a horn a good pretty dishful of Salt brine be it flesh brine or Cheese
to drink Absyrtus would have you to give him white Pepper Rhue and Thyme to drink with the Wine Of drinking of Horse-leaches IF a Horse chance to drink Horse-leaches they will continually suck his bloud and kill him The remedy according to Absyrtus is to pour Oyl into the Horses mouth which will make them to fall away and kill them Of swallowing down Hens dung IF a Horse swallow down Hens dung in his Hay it will fret his guts and make him to avoid filthy matter at the fundament For remedy whereof Absyrtus would have you to give him drink made of Smallage-seed Wine and Hony and to walk him throughly upon it that he may empty his belly Of Lice and how to kill them THey be like Geese Lice but somewhat bigger they will breed most about the ears neck and tail and over all the body They come of poverty and the Horse will be alwayes rubbing and scratching and will eat his meat and not prosper withal and with rubbing he will break all his mane and tail The cure according to Martin is thus Anoint the place with Sope and Quicksilver well mingled together and to a pound of Sope put half an ounce of Quicksilver Of Lousiness THere be Horses that will be Lousie and it cometh of poverty cold and ill keeping and it is oftnest amongst young Horses and most men take little heed unto it and yet they will die thereon The cure is to wash them three mornings together in Stau-aker and warm water How to save Horses from the stinging of flies in Summer ANoint the Horses coat with Oyle and Bay-beries mingled together or tie to the headstal of his collar a sponge dipt in strong Vinegar or sprinkle the stable with water wherein Herb-grace hath been laid in steep or perfume the stable with Ivie or with Calamint or with Gith burned in a pan of coles Of bones being broken out of joynt FEw or none of our Farriers do intermeddle with any such griefs but do refer it over to the Bonesetter whose practised hand I must needs confesse to be needful in such business Notwithstanding for that it belongeth to the Farriers art and also for that the old writers do make some mention thereof I thought good not to passe it over altogether with silence Albeit they speak only of fractures in the legs beneath the knee For they make little mention or none of bones above the knee taking them to be incurable unlesse it be a rib or such like If a bone then be broken in the leg it is easie to perceive by feeling the roughness and inequality of the place grieved one part being higher then another The cure whereof according to Absyrtus and Hierocles is in this sort First put the bone again into his right place that done wrap it about with unwash't wool binding it fast to the leg with a small linnen roller soaked before in Oyl and Vinegar mingled together And let that roller be laid on as even as is possible and upon that again lay more wool dipt in Oyl and Vinegar and then splent it with three splents binding them fast at both ends with a thong and let the Horses leg be kept straight and right out the space of forty days and let not the bonds be loosened above three times in twenty days unless it shrink and so require to be new drest and bound again But fail not every day once to pour on the sore place through the splents Oyl and Vinegar mingled together And at the forty dayes end if you perceive that the broken place be âowdered together again with some hard knob or gristle then loosen the bonds so as the Horse may go fair and softly using from that time forth to anoint the place with some soft grease or Ointment Of broken bones I Have not for mine own part had any great experience in broken bones of a Horse because it chanceth seldom and when it doth chance what through the Horses brutish unruliness and the immoderate manner of the act it is almost held incurable yet for the little experience I have I have not found for this purpose any thing so soverain or absolute good as Oyl of Mandrag which applyed conglutinateth and bindeth together any thing especially bones being either shivered or broken Of bones out of joynt IF a Horses knee or shoulder be clean out of joynt and no bone broken Martin saith the readiest way is to bind all the four legs together in such sort as hath been taught before in the Chapter of Incording and then to hoise the Horse somewhat from the ground with his heels upward so shall the weight and poise of his body cause the joynt to shoot in again into the right place for by this means he pleasured not long since a friend and neighbour of his who going with his Cart from S. Albons towards his own house his Thiller fell and put his shoulder clean out of joynt so as he was neither able to rise nor being holpen up could stand on his legs to which mischance Martin being called made no more ado but taking his friends Cart-rope bound the Horses legs all four together and with a lever being staid upon the Cart wheel they putting their shoulders to the other end hoised up the Horse clean from the ground the poise of whose body made the bone to return into his right place with such a loud knack or crack as it might be heard a great way off and the Horse immediately had the use of his leg so as he drew in the Cart and went also safe home without complaining thereof ever after Certain receipts of Plaisters very good for broken bones taken out of the old Authors writing of Horse-leach craft TAke of Spuma argenti of Vinegar of each one pound of Sallet Oyl half a pound of Ammoniacum and Turpentine of each three ounces of Wax of Rosin of each two ounces of Bitumen of Pitch of Verdigrease of each half a pound Boyl the Vinegar Oyl and Spuma argenti together until it wax thick then put thereunto the Pitch which being molten take the pot from the fire and put in the Bitumen without stirring it at all and that being also molten then put in all the rest and set the pot again to the fire and let them boyl all together until they be all united in one that done strain it and make it in a plaister form and this is called Hierocles Plaister Another receit for broken bones TAke of liquid Pitch one pound of Wax two ounces of the purest and finest part of Frankincense one ounce of Ammoniacum four ounces of dry Roses and of Galbanum of each one ounce of Vinegar two pintes Boyl first the Vinegar and Pitch together then put in the Ammoniacum dissolved first in Vinegar and after that all the rest of the aforesaid drugs and after they have boyled together and be united in one strain it and make it plaisterwise and this is
doth also very well drive away the corruption in mens body which doth cause the bloud to stinke if it be well and justly applyed unto the corrupt place The same also being mingled with Oyl of Roses and new made and so applyed unto the ears doth not only drive away the pain but also doth very much help for hearing There is another remedy also for the hearing which is this to take the dung of a Horse which is new made and to make it hot in a furnace and then to ãâã it on the middle of the head against the Vvââa and afterward to ãâã the aforesaid dung ãâ¦ã woollen cloth unto the top of the head in the night time The dung of a young Asse when he is first foaled given in Wine to the quantity or magnitude of a Bean is a present remedy for either man or woman who is troubled with the Jaundice or the over-flowing of the gall and the same property hath the dung of a young Horse or Cost when he is new foaled But the dung of an old Horse being boiled in fair w ãâ¦ã and afterward strained and so given to the party to drink who is troubled with Water in his belly or stomach doth presently make vent for the âame There is also an excellent remedy against the Colick and Stone which is this to âake a handfull of the dung of a Horse which hath been fed with ãâã and Barly and not with grasse and mingle very well it with half a pinte of Wine all which I do ãâã will amount unto the weight of eight ãâ¦ã ounces and then boyl them all together untill half of them be boyled or consumed away and then drink the same by little and little until it be all drunk up but it will be much better for the party that is troubled to drink it up all together if he be able There is moreover a very good and easie way by Horse dung to cure the Ague or ãâ¦ã which is thus to burn the foresaid dung and to mingle the very ãâã it self thereof in old wine and then beat it unto small powder and so give it ãâã the party who is ãâ¦ã bled therewith to drink or suck without any water in it and this will very speedily procure ease and help âf that a woman supposeth her childe which is in her womb to be dead let her drink the milt or spleen of a Horse in some sweet water not to the smell but to the taste and she will presently cast the childe The same virtue are in the persume which is made of a Horses hoof as also in the dry dung of a Horse There is some which do use this means against the falling sickness or the sickness called Saint Johns evill that is to mingle the water or urine which a Horse doth make with the water which cometh from the Smiths trough and so to give it the party in a potion There is a very good help for Cattel which do avoid bloud through their Nostrils or secret parts which is this to make a paste of Wheat flowre and beat it and mingle it together with âutter and Egges in the urine of a Horse which hath lately drunk and afterward to give that paste or ãâ¦ã tess baked even to ashes to the beast so grieved To provoke urine when a mans yard is stopt there is nothing so excellent as the dung or filth which proceedeth from the urine which a Horse hath made being mingled with wine and then strained and afterwards poured into the Nostrils of the party so vexed There are certain Tetters or Ring-wormes in the knees of Horses and a little above the hoofs in the bending of these parts there are indurate and hardned thick skins which being beaten into small powder and mingled with Vinegar and so drunk are an exceeding good preservative against the Falling-sickness the samé is also a very good remedy for them which are bitten with any wilde Beast whatsoever By the Tetter or Ring-worm which groweth in a Horses knees or above the hoofs beaten and mingled with Oyle and so poured in the ears the teeth of either man or woman which were weak and loose will be made very strong and fast The aforesaid Tetter without any mingling with Oyl doth also heal and cure the head-ache and Falling-sickness in either man or woman The same also being drunk out of Clarret Wine or Muscadel for forty dayes together doth quite expell and drive away the Colick and Stone If that any man do get and put up the shooe of a Horse being struck from his hoof as he travelleth in his pace which doth many times happen it will be an excellent remedy for him against the sobbing in the stomach called the Hicket Of the HYAENA and the divers kinds thereof WE are now to discourse of a Beast whereof it is doubtful whether the names or the kinds thereof be more in number and therefore to begin with the names it seemeth to me in general that it is the same Beast which is spoken of in Holy Scripture and called Zeeb-ereb and Araboth Zephan 3. Principes urbis Hierosolymae velut Leones Iâgientes judices ejus similes sunt lupis Vesper ãâ¦ã is qui ossa non relinquunt ad diluculum Their Princes are roaring Lions and their Judges are like to night-wolves which leave not the bones till the morning as it is vulgarly translated In like sort Jer. 5. calleth them Zeeb-Araboath Wolves of the wilderness and the Prophet Habakkuk Cap. 1. useth the word Zeeb-ereb Wolves of the evening By which it is made easie to consider and discusse what kinde of Beasts this Hyaena may be deemed for the Hyaena as I shall shew afterward is a Greek word And first of all I utterly seclude all their opinions which translate this word Arabian Wolves for the Hebrew notes cannot admit such a version or exposition But seeing we read in Oppianus and Tzetzes that there are kinds of Wolves which are called Harpages more hungry then the residue living in Mountains very swift of foot and in the Winter time coming to the gates of Cities and devouring both flesh and bones of every living creature they can lay hold on especially Dogs and men and in the morning go away again from their prey I take them to be the same Beasts which the Grecians call Hyaenae which is also the name of a Fish much like in nature hereunto It is also called Glanos and by the Phrygians and Bythinians Ganos and from one of these came the Illyrian or Sclavonian word San and it seemeth that the Grecians have given it a name from Swine because of the gristles growing on the back for an Hyaena can have no better derivation then from Hus or Hyn. Julius Capitolinus calleth it Belbus in Latin in the same place where he recordeth that there were decem Belbi sub Gordiano ten Hyaenaes in the days of
came gaping at him to devour him having wrapped his arme in his linnen garment held him fast by the tongue untill he stopped his breath and slew him for which cause he was ever afterwards the more loved and honored of Alexander having at the time of his death the command of all his treasure In like sort I will not be afraid to handle this Lion and to look into him both dead and alive for the expressing of so much of his nature as I can probably gather out of any good writer First of all therefore to begin with his several names almost all the Nations of Europe do follow the Greeks in the nomination of this Beast for they call him Leon the Latines Leo the Italians Leone the French and English Lion the Germans and Illyrians Lew the reason of the Greek name Leon is taken âara to leussein from the excellency of his sight or from Laoo signifying to see and Alaos signifyeth blinde for indeed there is no creature of the quantity of a Lion that hath such an admirable eye-sight The Lionesse called in Greek Leaena which word the Latines follow from whence also they derive Lea for a Lionesse according to this Verse of Lucretius Irritata Leae jaciebant corpora saltu The Hebrews have for this Beast male and female and their young ones divers names and first of all for the male Lion in Deut 33. they have Ari and Atieh where the Caldeans translate it Ariavan the Arabians Asad the Persians Gehad and plurally in Hebrew Araiius Araâot Araâth as in the first of Zeph. Araoth Scbojanim roaring Lions and from hence comes Ariel signifying valiant and strong to be the name of a Prince and Isai 20. Ezek. 43. it is taken for the Alcar of Burnt-offerings because the fire that came down from heayen did continually lie upon that Altar like a Lion in his den or else because the fashion of the temple was like the proportion of the Lion the Assyrians call a Lionesse Arioth the Hebrews also call the male Lion Lâbi and the female Lebia and they distinguish Ari and Labi making Ari to signifie a little Lion and Labi a great one and in Num. 23. in this verse containing one of Gods promises to the people of Israel for victory against their enemies Behold my people shall arise like Labi and be lifted up like Ari there the Caldee translation rendereth Labi Leta the Arabian Jebu the Persians Seher and Munster saith that Labi is an old Lion In Job 38 Lebaim signifieth Lions and in Psal 57. Lebaââ signifieth Lionesses In the Prophet Nahum the 2. Leisch is by the Hebrews translated a Lion and the same word Isa the 30. is by the Caldees translated a Lions whelpe and in the aforesaid place of the Prophet Nihum you shall finde Arieb for a Lion for a Lionesse Cephirim for little Lions ãâã and Gur for a Lions whelp all contained under one period The ãâã call a Lion at this day Sebey And thus much for the name In the next place we are to consider the kinds of Lions and those are according to Aristotle two the first of a lesse and well compacted body which have curled manes being therefore called Acro-Leonies and this is more sluggish and fearful then the other The second kinde of Lion hath a longer body and a deeper loose hanging mane these are more noble generous and couragious against all kinds of wounds And when I speak of manes it must be remembred that all the male Lions are maned but the females are not so neither the Leopards which are begotten by the adultery of the Lionesse for from the Lion there are many Beasts which receive procreation as the Leopard or Panther There is a beast called Leontophonus a little creature in Syria and is bred no where else but where Lions are generated Of whose flesh if the Lion taste he loseth that Princely power which beareth rule among four-footed beasts and presently dyeth for which cause they which lie in waite to kill Lions take the body of this Leontophonus which may well be Englished Lion-queller and burneth it to ashes afterwards casting those ashes upon flesh whereof if the Lion taste she presently dyeth so great is the poison taken out of this beast for the destruction of Lions for which cause the Lion doth not undeservedly hate it and when she findeth it although she dare not touch it with her teeth yet she teareth it in pieces with her claws The urine also of this beast sprinkled upon a Lion doth wonderfully harm him if it doth not destroy him They are deceived that take this Lion-queller to be a kinde of Worm or reptile creature for there is none of them that render urine but this excrement is meerly proper to four-footed living-beasts And thus much I thought good to say of this beast in this place which I have collected out of Aristotle Pliny Solinus and other Authors aforesaid although his proper place be afterward among the Lions enemies The Chimaera is also faigned to be compounded of a Lion a Goat and a Dragon according to this Verse Prima Leo postrema Draco media ipsa Chimaera There be also many Fishes in the great Sea about the Isle Taprobane having the heads of Lions Panthers Rams and other beasts The Tygers of Prasta are also engendred of Lions and are twice so big as they There are also Lions in India called Formicae about the bigness of Egyptian Wolves Camalopardales have their hinder parts like Lions The Mantichora hath the body of a Lion The Leucrocuta the neck tail and breast like a Lion and there is an allogorical thing cald Daemonium Leoninum a Lion Devil which by Bellunensis is interpreted to be an allegory signifying the mingling together reasonable understanding with malicious hurtful actions It is reported also by Aelianus that in the Island of Cheos a Sheep of the flock of Nicippus contrary to the nature of those beasts in stead of a Lamb brought forth a Lion which monstrous prodigy was seen and considered of many whereof divers gave their opinions what it did portend namely that Nicippus of a private man should effect superiority and become a Tyrant which shortly after came to passe for he ruled all by force and violence not with fraud or mercy for Fraus saith Cicero quasi Vulpeculae vis Leonis esse videtur that is Fraud is the property of a Foâ and violence of a Lion It is reported that Meles the first King of Sardis did beget of his Concubine a Lion and the Sooth-sayers told him that on what side soever of the City he should lead that Lion it should remain inexpugnable and never be taken by any man whereupon Meles led him about every tower and rampier of the City which he thought was weakest except only one tower standing towards the River Tmolus because he thought that side was invincible and could never by any force be
he came to it he found it a sleep so that with no perill he might have killed her with his Musket before she saw him but he like a fool-hardy fellow thought it as little honour to kill a Lyon sleeping as a stout Champion doth to strike his enemy behind the back Therefore with his Musket top he smote the Lion to awake it whereat the beast suddenly mounted up and without any thankes or warning set his forefeet on this Squires brest and with the force of her body overthrew the Champion and so stood upon him keeping him down holding her grim face and bloudy teeth over his face and eyes a sight no doubt that made him wish himself a thousand miles from her because to all likelihood they should be the grinders of his flesh and bones and his first executioner to send his cursed soul to the Devill for denying Jesus Christ his Saviour Yet it fell out otherwise for the Lion having been lately filled with some liberal prey did not presently fall to eat him but stood upon him for her own safegard and meant so to stand till she was an hungry during which time the poor wretch had liberty to gather his wits together and so at the last seeing he could have no benefit by his Musket Sword or Dagger and perceiving nothing before him but unavoidable death thought for the saving of his credit that he might not die in foolish infamy to do some exploit upon the Lion whatsoever did betide him and thereupon seeing the Lion did bestride him standing over his upper parts his hands being at some liberty drew out his long Barbarian knife and thrust the same twice or thrice into the Lions flank which the Lion endured never hurting the man but supposing the wounds came some other way and would not forsake her booty to look about for the means whereby she was harmed At last finding her self sick her bowels being cut asunder within her for in all hot bodies wounds work presently she departed away from the man above some two yards distance and there lay down and dyed The wretch being thus delivered from the jawes of death you must think made no small brags thereof in the Court notwithstanding he was more beholding to the good nature of the Lion which doth not kill to eat except he be hungry then to his own wit strength or valour The Male Lion doth not feed with the female but either of them apart by themselves They eat raw flesh for which cause the Grecians call them Omesteres Omoboroi and Omophagoi the young ones themselves cannot long be fed with milke because they are hot and dry being at liberty they never want meat and yet they eat nothing but that which they take in hunting and they hunt not but once a day at the most and eat every second day whatsoever they leave of their meat they return not to it again to eat it afterwards whereof some assigned the cause to be in the meat because they can endure nothng which is unsweet stale or stinking but in my opinion they do it through the pride of their natures resembling in all things a Princely majesty and therefore scorn to have one dish twice presented to their own table But tame Lions being constrained through hunger will eat dead bodies and also cakes made of meal and hony as may appear by that tame Lion which came to Apollonius and was said to have the soul in it of Amasis King of Egypt which story is related by Philostratus in this manner There was saith he a certain man which in a leam led up and down a tame Lion like a Dog whithersoever he would and the Lion was not only gentle to his leader but to all other persors that met him by which means the man got much gains and therefore visited many Regions and Cities not sparing to enter into the temples at the time of sacrificing because he had never shed bloud but was clear from slaughter neither licked up the bloud of the Beasts nor once touched the flesh cut in pieces for the holy Altar but did eat upon Cakes made with meal and hony also bread Gourds and sod flesh and now and then at customary times did drink wine As Apollonius sat in a Temple he came unto him in more humble manner lying down at his feet and looking up into his face then ever he did to any as if he had some special supplication unto him and the people thought he did it for hope of some reward at the command and for the gain of his Master At last Apollonius looked upon the Lion and told the people that the Lion did entreat him to signifie unto them what he was and wherewithal he was possessed namely that he had in him the soul of a man that is to say of Amasis King of Egypt who raigned in the Province of Sai At which words the Lion sighed deeply and mourned forth a lamentable roaring gnashing his teeth together and crying with abundance of tears whereat Apollonius stroked the Beast and made much of him telling the people that his opinion was forasmuch as the soul of a King had entred into such a kingly Beast he judged it altogether unfit that the Beast should go about and beg his living and therefore they should do well to send him to Leontopolis there to be nourished in the Temple The Egyptians agreed thereunto and made sacrifice to Amasis adorning the Beast with Chains Bracelets and branches so sending him to the inner Egypt the Priests singing before him all the way their idolatrous Hymnes and Anthems but of the transfiguration of men into Lions we shall say more afterward only this story I rehearsed in this place to shew the food of tame and enclosed Lions The substance of such transfigurations I hold to be either Poetical or else Diabolical The food therefore of Lions is most commonly of meek and gentle Beasts for they will not eat Wolves or Bears or such Beasts as live upon ravening because they beget in them melancholy they eat their meat very greedily and devour many things whole without chewing but then they fast afterwards two or three days together never eating untill the former be digested but when they fast that day they drink and the next day they eat for they seldom eat and drink both in one day and if any stick in his stomach which he cannot digest because it is overcharged then doth he thrust down his nails into his throat and by straining his stomach pulleth it out again the self same thing he doth when he is hunted upon a full belly And also it must not be forgotten that although he come not twice to one carcasse yet having eaten his belly full at his departure by a wilful breathing upon the residue he so corrupteth it that never after any beast will taste thereof for so great is the poison of his breath that it putrifieth the flesh and also in
Ardentesque faces quas quamvia savids horret For as they are inwardly filled with natural fire for which cause by the Egyptians they were dedicated to Vulcan so are they the more afraid of all outward fire and so suspicious is he of his welfare that if he tread upon the rinde or bark of Oke or the leaves of Osyer he trembleth and standeth amazed And Democritus affirmeth that there is a certain herb growing no where but in Armenia and Cappadocta which being laid to a Lion maketh him to fall presently upon his back and he upward without stirring and gaping with the whole breadth of his mouth the reason whereof Pliny faith is because it cannot be bruised There is no Beast more desirous of copulation then a Lioness and for this cause the males oftentimes fall forth for sometimes eight ten or twelve males follow one Lioness like so many Dogs one salt Bitch for indeed their natural constitution is so not that at all times of the year both sexes desire copulation although Aristotle seemeth to be against it because they bring forth only in the spring The Lioness as we have shewed already committeth adultery by lying with the Libbard for which thing she is punished by her male if she wash not her self before she come at him but when she is ready to be delivered she flyeth to the lodgings of the Libbards and there among them ãâã deth her young ones which for the most part are males for if the male Lion finde them he knoxeth them and destroyeth them as a bastard and adultenous issue and when she goeth to give them suck she saigneth as though she went to hunting By the copulation of a Lioness and an Hyaena is the Ethiopian Crocuta brought forth The Arcadian Dogs called Leontomiges were also generated betwixt Dogs and Lions In all her life long she beareth but once and that but one at a time as Esop seemeth to set down in that fable where he expresseth that contention between the Lioness and the Fox about the generosity of their young ones the Fox objecteth to the Lioness that she bringeth forth but one whelp at a time but he on the contrary begetteth many cubs wherein he taketh great delight unto whom the Lioness maketh this answer Parere se quidem unum sed Leonem that is to say she bringeth sorth indeed but one yet that one is a Lion for one Lion is better then a thousand Foxes and true generosity consisteth not in popularity or multitude but in the gifts of the minde joyned with honorable descent The Lionesses of Syria bear five times in their life at the first time five afterwards but one and lastly they remain barren Herodotus speaking of other Lions saith they never bear but one and that only once whereof he giveth this reason that when the whelp beginneth to stir in his Dams belly the length of his claws pierce through her matrix and so growing greater and greater by often turning leaveth nothing whole so that when the time of littering cometh she casteth forth her whelp and her womb both together after which time she can never bear more but I hold this for a fable because Homer Pliny Oppianus Solinus Philes and Aelianus affirm otherwise contrary and besides experience sheweth the contrary When Apollonius travelled from Babylon by the way they saw a Lioness that was killed by hunters the Beast was of a wonderful bigness such a one as was never seen about her was a great cry of the Hunters and of other neighbours which had flocked thither to see the monster not wondering so much at her quantity as that by opening of her belly they found within her eight whelps whereat Apollonius wondring a little told his companions that they-travelling now into India should be a year and eight moneths in their journey for the one Lion signified by his skill one year and the eight young ones eight moneths The truth is that a Lion beareth never above thrice that is to say six at the first and at the most afterwards two at a time and lastly but one because that one proveth greater and fuller of stomach then the other before him wherefore nature having in that accomplished her perfection giveth over to bring forth any more Within two moneths after the Lioness hath conceived the whelps are perfected in her womb and at six moneths are brought forth blinde weak and some are of opinion without life which so do remain three dayes together untill by the roaring of the male their father and by breathing in their face they be quickned which also he goeth about to establish by reason but they are not worth the relating Isidorus on the other side declareth that for three dayes and three nights after their littering they do nothing but sleep and at last are awaked by the roaring of their father so that it should seem without controversie they are senseless for a certain space after their whelping At two moneths old they begin to run and walk They say also that the fortitude wrath and boldness of Lions is conspicuous by their heat the young one containeth much humidity contrived unto him by the temperament of his kinde which afterwards by the driness and calidity of his complection groweth viscous and slimie like bird-lime and through the help of the animal spirits prevaileth especially about his brain whereby the nerves are so stopped and the spirits excluded that all his power is not able to move him untill his parents partly by breathing into his face and partly by bellowing drive away from his brain that viscous humor these are the words of Physiologus whereby he goeth about to establish his opinion but herein I leave every man to his own judgment in the mean season admiring the wonderful wisdom of God which hath so ordered the several natures of his creatures that whereas the little Partridge can run so soon as it is out of the shell and the duckling the first day swim in the water with his dam yet the harmful Lions Bears Tygres and their whelps are not able to see stand or go for many moneths whereby they are exposed to destruction when they are young which live upon destruction when they are old so that in infancie God clotheth the weaker with more honor There is no creature that loveth her young ones better then the Lioness for both shepherds and hunters frequenting the mountains do oftentimes see how irefully she fighteth in their defence receiving the wounds of many Darts and the stroaks of many stones the one opening her bleeding body and the other pressing the bloud out of the wounds standing invincible never yielding till death yea death it self were nothing unto her so that her young ones might never be taken out of her Den for which cause Homer compareth Ajax to a Lioness fighting in the defence of the carcass of Patroclus It is also reported that the male will
of Claudius Caesar both of them in their several times tamed the untamed Beasts and escaped death Macarius being in the Wilderness or Mountains it fortuned a Lioness had a den neer unto his cell wherein she had long nourished blinde whelps to whom the holy man as it is reported gave the use of their eye and sight the Lioness requited the same with such gratification as lay in her power for she brought him very many sheep-skins to clothe and cover him Primus and Foelicianus Thracus Vitus Modestus and Crescentia all Martyrs being cast unto Lions received no harm by them at all but the beasts lay down at their feet and became came gentle and meek not like themselves but rather like Doves When a Bear and a Lion fell upon Tecla the Virgin a Martyr a Lioness came and fought eagerly in her defence against them both When Martina the daughter of a Consul could not be terrified or drawn from the Christian faith by any imprisonment chains or stripes nor allured by any fair words to sacrifice to Apollo there was a Lion brought forth to her at the commandment of Alexander the Emperor to destroy her who assoon as he saw her he lay down at her feet wagging his tail and fawning in a loving and fearful manner as if he had been more in love with her presence then desirous to lift up one of his hairs against her The like may be said of Daria a Virgin in the days of Numerian the Emperor who was defended by a Lioness but I spare to blot much paper with the recital of those things which if they be true yet the Authors purpose in their allegation is most profane unlawful and wicked because he thereby goeth about to establish miracles in Saints which are lone agone ceased in the Church of God Some Martyrs also have been devoured by Lions as Ignatius Bishop of Autioch Satyrus and Perpetua he under Trajan the Emperor and they under Valerian and Galienus In holy Scripture there is mention made of many men killed by Lions First of all it is memorable of a Prophet 1 King 13. that was sent by the Almighty unto Jereboam to cry out against the Altar at Bathol and him that erected that Altar with charge that he should neither eat nor drink in that place Afterward an old Prophet which dwelt in that place hearing thereof came unto the Prophet and told him that God had commanded him to go after him and fetch him back again to his house to eat and drink wherewithal being deceived he came back with him contrary to the commandment of the Lord given to himself whereupon as they sat at meat the Prophet that beguiled him had a charge from God to prophesie against him and so he did afterward as he went homeward a Lion met him and killed him and stood by the corps and his Ass not eating of them till the old Prophet came and took him away to bury him In the twentieth chapter of the same Book of Kings there is another story of a Prophet which as he went by the way he met with a man and âade him in the name of the Lord to wound and smite him but he would not preferring pity before the service of the Lord Well said the Prophet unto him seeing thou refusest to obey the voyce of the Lord Behold as soon as thââ art departed a Lion shall meet thee and destroy thee and so it came to pass for being out of the presence of the Prophet a Iaon met him and tore him in pieces The Idolatrous people that were placed at Jerusalem by the King of Babel were destroyed by Lions and unto these examples of God his judgements I will adde other out of humane stories Paphages a King of Ambracia meeting a Lionese leading her whelps was suddenly set upon by her and torn in pieces upon whom Ovid made these verses Foeta tibi occurrat patrio popularis in arvo Sitque Paphageae causa leaena necis Hyas the brother of Hyades was also slain by a Lioness The people called Ambraciotae in Africk do most religiously worship a Lioness because a notable Tyrant which did opprese them was slain by such an one There is a Mountain neer the River Indus called Lnaus of a Shepheard so named which in that Mountain did most superstitiously worship the Moon and contemned all other Gods his sacrifices were performed in the night season at length saith the Author the Gods b ãâ¦ã angry with him sent unto him a couple of Lions who tore him in pieces leaving no monument behinde but the name of the Mountain for the accident of his cruel death The Inhabitans of that Mountain wear in their ears a certain rich stone called ãâã which is very black and bred no where else but in that place There is a known story of the two Babylonian lovers Pyramus and Th ãâ¦ã who in the night time had covenanted to meet at a Fountain new the sepulchre of Ninus and T ãâ¦ã coming thither first as she âate by the Fountain a Lioness being thirsty came thither to drink water after the slaughter of an Ox at sight whereof Thisbe ran away and let fall her mantle which the Lioness finding tore it in pieces with her bloudy teeth Afterward came Pyramus and seeing her mantle all bloudy and torn asunder suspecting that she that loved him being before him at the appointed place had been killed by some wilde beast very inconsiderately drew forth his sword and thrust the same through his own body and being scarce dead Thisbe came again and seeing her lover lie in that distress as one love one cause one affection had drawn them into one place and there one fear had wrought one of their destructions she also sacrificed her self upon the point of one and the same sword There was also in Scythia a cruel Tyrant called Therodomas who was wont to cast men to Lions to be devoured of them and for that cause did nourish privately many Lions unto this cruelty did Ovid allude saying Therodomantaeos ut qui sensere Leones And again Non tibi Therodomas crudusque vocabitur Atreus Unto this discourse of the bloud-thirsty cruelty of Lions you may add the puissant glory of them who botlâ in Sacred and prophane stories are said to have destroyed Lions When Sampson went down to Timnath it is said that a young Lion met him roaring to destroy him but the Spirit of the Lord came upon him and he tore it in pieces like a Kid wherein he was a Type of Jesus Christ who in like sort being set upon by the roaring of the Devil and his members did with facility through his divine nature utterly overthrow the malice of the Devil Afterward Sampson went down to the Philistine woman whom be loved and returning found that Bees had entred into the Lions carcass and there builded whereupon he propounded this Riddle A vâraci exiit cibus ex forti egressa est
of a Lamb of two moneths old having his head mouth feet and nails like to a Cat. But concerning his beard and tail his beard hangeth down on both sides divided in the middle with sundry colours the former being white and the latter black his tail is short and thick being from the middle to the uppermost prart red and to the lower part black his eyes being yellow the hair of the eye-lids obscurely waxing white His ears erected upright as the ears of a Cat being replenished within with white hair without covered with white and black but so that the upper part is black the middle for it is divided into three parts be white and the lowest black again Neither is it content to be ended in his own course except also that his former parts or the farthest brinkes or edges and also his latter may be bended on the other side in like manner as the edges of the Priests hat of the Grecian Church are folded amongst the Venetians In the top of his ears there are placed some black hairs as it were a foretop or tust The colour of this beast in the outmost parts is red in the innermost white but sprinkled here with black spots and almost by rowes and there with spots somewhat lighter then the other all his hair being for the most part white all over all his body except the aforesaid spots as it is in certain black skins of young Conies And on both the sides of his nose there are four spots set in order In both his lips as now we will declare in his uppermost lip there are five orders or rowes being of a very eqnall distance In the first row and the upper four in the second five in the third eight in the fourth five in the fift there are four and these also every one in his order having an equall distance In the lower lip there are only seven more manifest and evident being placed in two rowes In the first four to the very mouth of the lip in the second after them three others after these other lesser but not placed with so certain and true order as the uppermost In the upper lip on both sides there are certain white hairs being rougher then those in Cats and Lions His nose is somewhat of a pale red colour being somewhat distinct or apart from the rest rest of his face on every side with a black line Another line also doth divide the outermost part of his nose by length as in an Ounce but only being lightly lead by the top or highest parts not impressed higher by the lowermost The skin of his feet are exceeding hard and his nails are hid in his feet as the nails of an Ounce and a Cats are neither doth he put them forth at any time unlesse in taking of his prey as they do He doth climb wonderfully so that what he may be able to do in that thing either in his cave or den nature her self doth teach He is a quick-moving creature and cannot stand still in a place so that except by meer chance the voice of a Wood-pecker in the basket of a certain Countrey man who came then only to see the Lions had made him quiet and attentive there had been no hope of the portraiting out the picture of his body He being present he was most quiet but he going away he would never stand still wherefore I was constrained to send my man after the Countrey-man to buy the bird which being present he stood very still untill the business was dispatched and the work absolutely perfected Our Countreymen call it Luzarne it is doubtful whether we should call it Leunce or Lynx in the affinity of the words His skin is used by Noble men and is sold for a great price He is angry at none but them which offer him injury his voice is like a Cats when he would snatch away the food from his fellow He is loving and gentle unto his keeper and not cruell unto any man So far Doctor Cay Unto this description of Doctor Caius I may add another description that was taken by the sight of the skin of this Beast The length whereof from the tip of the nose unto the very tail was four spans and five fingers and the length of the tail seven fingers the breadth of the shoulder-blades of his back and the top of his neck was two palmes six fingers and a span the length of his forelegs a span and five fingers and the length of his hinder-legs a span and three fingers the hair was very soft but yet thick and deep the tips of the hair upon his back were white but in the neathermost parts they were red and they are most white which fall downwards on both sides from the middle of his back In the middle they are more red and duskie the middle of the belly and especially the lower part is white but both sides of it are white and red and every where upon his belly there are black spots but most plentiful in the bottom of the belly and on both sides The uppermost part of his neck right over against his ears hath great black spots his ears are small and not bigger then a little Triangle in the edges they are black although with the black hairs there are mingled some white His beard is mixed with black and white hair which hair is great like to bristles The teeth are most white and the upper canine teeth hang over the neather the breadth of a finger whereof six are small and of those six two are the greatest and all the residue are very small on the neather chap and to conclude all the teeth were like a common Weasils or Martil His feet were very rough being five distinct claws upon the fore-feet and four upon the hinder which claws were very white and sharp The tail was of equall bigness and thickness but in the tip thereof it is black These skins are sold for three Nobles a piece and sometimes for six and sometimes for lesse according to the quantity of the skin and Countrey wherein it is sold And unto this description do Bellonius and Bonarus agree For Bellonius at Constantinople saw two Linxes much like unto Cats and Bonarus had oftentimes seen them hunted in Moschovia Lituania Polonia Hungaria and Germany but he commendeth above all the Linxes of Scotland and Swesia as most beautiful having Triangular spots upon their skins But the Indian and African Linxes he saith have round spots sharp-bristly short hair and full of spots on all parts of their body and therefore they are not so delicate as the Linxes of Europe which with good cause he conjectureth to be the Linx that Pliny speaketh of and not unlike to that which is bred in Italy There are Linxes in divers Countries as in the forenamed Russia Lituania Polonia Hungary Germany Scotland so also they are most abundant in Scandinavia in Swesia so also about Hyelsus and
Persia a female Mouse being slit asunder alive all the young females within her belly are also found pregnant conceived with young It is very certain that for the time they go with young and for the number they bring forth they exceed all other beasts conceiving every fourteen or sixteen days so that it hath been found by good experience that a female Mouse having free liberty to litter in a vessel of millet-seed within less compass then half a year she hath brought forth one hundred and twenty young ones They live very long if they be not prevented of their natural course and dying naturally they perish not all at once but by little and little first one member and then another Pliny saith Evolucirbus hirundines sunt indociles ãâ¦ã terrestribus Mures among the Fowls of the air the Swallows are undocible and among the creatures of the earth a Mouse Athertus writeth that he saw in upper Germany a Mouse hold a burning Candle in her feet at the commandment of her Master all the time his guests were at Supper Now the only cause why they grow not tame is their natural fear such as is in Conies Hares and Deer For how can any man or beast love or hearken unto him who they are perswaded lyeth in wait for their life and such is the perswasion of all them that fear which perswasion being once removed by continual familiarity there is no cause in nature but that a Mouse may be docible as well as a Hare or Cony which we have shewed heretofore in their stories It is also very certain that Mice which live in a House if they perceive by the age of it it be ready to fall down or subject to any other ruin they foreknow it and depart out of it as may appear by this notable story which happened in a Town called Helice in Greece wherein the Inhabitants committed this abominable act against their neighbours the Greeks For they slew them and sacrificed them upon their Altars Whereupon followed the ruine of the City which was premonstrated by this prodigious event For five days before the destruction thereof all the Mice Weesils and Serpents and other reptile creatures went out of the same in the presence of the Inhabitants every one assembling to his own rank and company whereat the people wondered much for they could not conceive any true cause of their departure and no marvail For God which had appointed to to take vengeance on them for their wickedness did not give them so much knowledge nor make them so wise as the beasts to avoid his judgement and their own destruction and therefore mark what followed For these beasts were no sooner out of the City but suddenly in the night time came such a lamentable Earth-quake and strong tempest that all the houses did not only fall down and not one of them stood upright to the slaughter of men women and children contained in them but lest any of them should escape the strokes of the timber and house tops God sent also such a great floud of waters by reason of the tempestuous winde which drove the waters out of the Sea upon the Town that swept them all away leaving no more behinde then naked and bare significations of former buildings And not only the City and Citizens perished but also there was ten ships of the Lacedemonians in their port all drowned at that instant The wisdom of the Mouse appeareth in the preparation of her house for considering she hath many enemies and therefore many means to be hunted from place to place she committeth not her self to one lodging alone but provideth many holes so that when she is hunted in one place she may more safely repose her self in another Which thing Plautus expresseth in these words Sed tamen cogitato Mus pusillus quam sapiens sit bestia aetatem qui uni cubili nunquam committit suam cum unum obsidetur aliunde perfugium quaerit that is to say it is good to consider the little Mouse how wise a beast she is for she will not commit her life to one lodging but provideth many harbors that being molested in one place she may have another refuge to flie unto And as their wisdom is admirable in this provision so also is their love to be commended one to another for falling into a vessel of water or other deep thing out of which they cannot ascend again of themselves they help one another by letting down their tails and if their tails be too short then they lengthen them by this means they take one anothers tail in their mouth and so hang two or three in length until the Mouse which was fallen down take hold on the neathermost which being performed they all of them draw her out Even so Wolves holding one another by their tails do swim over great Rivers and thus hath nature granted that to them which is denyed to many men namely to love and to be wise together But concerning their manners they are evil apt to steal insidious and deceitful and men also which are of the same disposition with these beasts fearing to do any thing publickly and yet privately enterprise many deceits are justly reproved in imitation of such beasts For this cause was it forbidden in Gods Law unto the Jews not only to eat but to touch Mice and the Prophet Esai ch 66. saith Comedentes carnem suillam abominationem atque murem simul consumentur inquit Dominus that is they which eat Swines flesh abomination and the Mouse shall be destroyed together saith the Lord wherein the Prophet threatneth a curse unto the people that broke the first Law of God in eating flesh forbidden and the Physitians also say that the eating of the flesh of Mice engendereth forgetfulness abomination and corruption in the stomach The eating of bread or other meat which is bitten by Mice doth encrease in men and children a certain disease in their face and in the flesh at the roots of the nails of their fingers certain hard bunches called by the Venetians Spelli and by the Germans Leidspyssen and by the Latines Dentes Muris yet it is affirmed that the flesh of Mice is good for Hawks to by given them every day or every each other day together with the skin for it helpeth their intrails purgeth fleam and choler restraineth the fluxions of the belly driveth out stones and gravel stayeth the distillation of the head to the eyes and finally corroborateth the stomach Yet we have heard that in the Kingdom of Calecut they do eat Mice and Fishes roasted in the Sun And it is said by some Physitians and Magicians that the flesh is good against melancholy and the pain of the teeth but the medicinal vertues we reserve it to its proper place Pliny affirmeth a strange wonder worthy to be remembred and recorded that when Hannibal besieged Casselinum there was a
he smote them with Emrods in the bottom of their belly that is God punished them with Mice for he afflicted their bodies and the fruits of the earth for which cause cap. 6 they advice with themselves to send back again the Ark of the Lord with a present of Golden Mice Ovid Homer and Orpheus call Apollo Smyntheus for the Cretians in ancient time called Mice Smynthae Now the faigned cause thereof is thus related by Aelianus There was one Crinis which was a Priest of Apollo who neglected his daily sacrifice for the which through abundance of Mice he was deprived of the fruits of the earth for they devoured all At which loss Apollo himself was moved and taking pity of the misery appeared to one Hoâda a Neat-heard commanding him to tell Crinis that all the cause of that penury was for that he had omitted his accustomed sacrifice and that it was his duty to offer them again diligently or else it would be far worse afterward Crinis upon the admonition amended the fault and immediately Apollo killed all the devouring Mice with his darts whereupon he was called Smyntheus Others again say that among the Aeolians at Troas and Hamaxitus they worshipped Mice and Apollo both together and that under his Altar they had meat and nourishment and also holes to live in safely and the reason was because once many thousand of Mice invaded the corn fields of Aeolia and Troy cutting down the same before it was ripe and also frustrating the husbandman of fruit and hope this evil caused them to go to Delphos to ask counsel at the Oracle what they should do to be delivered from that extremity where the Oracle gave answer that they should go sacrifice to Apollo Smyntheus and afterward they had sacrificed they were delivered from the Mice and that therefore they placed a statue or figure of a Mouse in the Temple of Apollo When the Trojans came out of Creet to seek a habitation for themselves they received an Oracle that they should there dwell where the Inhabitants that were born of the earth should set upon them the accomplishing whereof fell out about Hamaxitus for in the night time a great company of wilde Mice set upon their bows quivers and strings leathers of their bucklers and all such soft instruments whereby the people knew that that was the place wherein the Oracle had assigned them to build the City and therefore there they builded Ida so called after the name of Ida in Creet and to conclude we do read that Mice have been sacrificed for the Arcadians are said first of all to have sacrificed to their Gods a Mouse and secondly a white Horse and lastly the leaves of an Oak And to conclude Aelianus telleth one strange story of Mice in Heraclea that there is not one of them which toucheth any thing that is consecrated to Religion or to the service of their Gods Insomuch that they touch not their Vines which are sacred to religious uses but suffer them to come to their natural maturity but depart out of the Island to the intent that neither hunger nor folly cause them to touch that which is dedicated to divine uses And thus much for the natural and moral hory of Mice now followeth the medicinal The Medicines of the Mouse The flesh of a Mouse is hot and soft and very little or nothing fat and doth expel black and melancholy choler A Mouse being flead or having his skin pulled off and afterwards cut through the middle and put unto a wound or sore wherein there is the head of a Dart or Arrow or any other thing whatsoever within the wound will presently and very easily exhale and draw them out of the same Mice being cut and placed unto wounds which have been bitten by Serpents or put to places which are stinged by them do very effectually and in short space of time cure and perfectly heal them Mice which do lurk and inhabit in Houses being cut in twain and put unto the wounds which are new made by Scorpions doth very speedily heal them A young Mouse being mingled with Salt is an excellent remedy against the biting of the Mouse called a Shrew which biting Horses and labouring Cattel it doth venome until it come unto the heart and then they die except the aforesaid remedy be used The Shrew also himself being bruised and laid unto the place which was bitten is an excellent and very profitable remedy against the same A Mouse being divided and put or laid upon Warts will heal them and quite abolish them of what kinde soever they shall be The fat which is distilled from Mice being mixed with a little Goose-grease and boyled together is an excellent and medicinable cure for the asswaging and mollifying of swellings and hard lumps or knots which do usually arise in the flesh Young Mice being beaten into small bits or pieces and mixed with old Wine and so boyled or baked until they come unto a temperate and mollifying medicine if it be anointed upon the eye-lids it will very easily procure hair to grow thereon The same being unbeaten and roasted and so given to little children to eat will quickly dry up the froath or spittle which aboundeth in their mouth There are certain of the wise men or Magâ who think it good that a Mouse should be flead and given to those which are troubled with the Tooth-ach twice in a month to be eaten The water wherein a Mouse hath been sod or boyled is very wholesome and profitable for those to drink who are troubled with the inflammation of the jaws or the disease called the Squincy Mice but especially those of Africk having their skin pull'd off and well steeped in Oyl and rubbed with Salt and so boiled and afterwards taken in drink are very medicinable for those which have any pain or trouble in their lights and lungs The same medicine used in the aforesaid manner is very profitable for those which are troubled with a filthy mattery and bloudy spitting out with retching Sodden Mice are exceeding good to restrain and hold in the urine of Infants or children being too abundant if they be given in some pleasant or delightsome drink Mice also being cut in twain and laid unto the feet or legs of those which are gowty is an excellent remedy and cure for them Mice being dryed and beaten to powder doe very effectually heal and cure those which are scalded or burned with hot water or fire Cypres nuts being burned and pounded or beaten into dust and mixed with the dust of the hoof of a male or female Mule being dryed or stamped small and the Oyl of Myrtle added unto the same with the dirt or dung of Mice being also beaten and with the dung of a Hedge-hog new made and with red Arsenick and all mingled together with Vinegar and moist or liquid Pitch and put unto the head of any one who
Musk. The skin pulled from the flesh smelleth best by it self and yet the flesh smelleth well also and so do the excrements But to return to the Greek name why it should be call'd Mygale there is not one opinion amongst the learned but I do most willingly condescend to the opinion of Aetius who writeth that it is called Mygale because in quantity it exceedeth not a Mouse and yet in colour it resembleth a Weesil and therefore it is compounded of two words Mys a Mouse and Galee a Weesil Amyntas is of opinion that it is so called because it is begot betwixt a Mouse and a Weesil but this is neither true nor probable For is it likely that Weesils and Mice will couple together in carnal copulation whose natures are so contrary the one living upon the death of another that is the Weesil upon the Mouse And beside the difference of quantity betwixt them maketh it impossible to have such a generation The other derivation of Mygalâ which is made by Rodolphus writing upon Leviticus fetching Mygale from Mus gulosus that is a devouring Mouse it is against the order of all good Linguists to derive Greek words from Latine but rather consonant to learning to fetch the Latine from the Greek There is no less inquiry about the Latine name why it should be called Mus araneus seeing Aranea signifieth a Spider This Mouse saith Albertus is a red kinde of Mouse having a small tail a sharp voice and is full of poyson or venom For which cause Cats do kill them but do not eat them Sipontinus writeth thus of this Shrew Mus araneus exiguum animal atque leviss ãâ¦ã est quod araneae modo tenuissimum filum gladil aciem conscendit That is to say this Shrew-mouse is a little and light creature which like a Spider climeth up upon any small thread or upon the edge of a sword and therefore you see they derive the Latine name from his climing like a Spider But in my opinion it is more reasonable to derive it from the venom and poyson which it containeth in it like a Spider For which cause Silvaticus writeth thus Mugali id est draco marinus animal venenosum pusillum muri simile nam araneum piscem propter venenum pungentibus in ãâ¦ã um spinis veteres ophim id est serpentem nominarunt hodie quam vulgo draconem vel dracaenam That is to say There is a fish of the Sea and a little Beast on the Earth like a Mouse which by a general word are called Mugale and the Spider-fish called at this day a Dragon or Dragonist was in ancient time called a Serpent because by his prickly fins he did poyson those which were strucken by him And concerning the description of this beast it may be taken from the words of an ancient English Physitian called Doctor William Turner I have seen saith he in England the Shrew-mouse of colour black having a tail very short and her snowt very long and sharp and from the venemous biting of this Beast we have an English Proverb or Imprecation I beshrow thee when we curse or wish harm unto any man that is that some such evil as the biting of this Mouse may come unto him The Spaniards call this Beast Ralon Pequenno the Illyians Viemed kamys and the Polonians Kerit They were wont to abound in Britany as Hermolaus writeth They are also plentiful in Italy beyond the Mountains Apennine but not on this side as Pliny writeth yet in the hither parts of Italy and Germany there are many found especially in the Country neer Trent in the Valley Anania where this is admirable that by reason of the coldness of that Country their bitings are not venemous For the Scorpions there are not venemous although in other places of Italy they poyson deeply This Beast is much less then a Weesil and of an ash colour in most places like a Mouse although the colour be not always constant The eyes are so small and beneath the proportion of her body that it hath not been unjustly doubted of the Ancients whether they were blinde or no but in their best estate their sight is very dull And for this cause the ancient Egyptians did worship it for as they held opinion that darkness was before light so they deemed that the blinde creatures were better then the seeing And they also believed that in the wane of the Moon the liver of this beast consumed It hath a long and sharp snowt like a Mole that so it may be apt to dig The teeth are very small but so as they stand double in their mouth for they have four rows of teeth two beneath and two above which are not only apparent by their dissection or Anatomy but also by their bitings for their wounds are Quadruple wheresoever they fasten their teeth Their tail is slender and short But the description of this Beast was better apprehended by Gesner at the sight of one of them which he relateth on this manner The colour saith he was partly red and partly yellow mingled both together but the belly white The hinder-feet seemeth to cleave to the body or loins It smelleth strongly and the savour did bewray or signifie some secret poyson The tail about three fingers long beset with little short hairs The residue of the body was three fingers long The eyes very small and black not much greater then Moles so that next to the Mole they may justly be called the least sighted creature among all four footed Beasts so that in old age they are utterly blinde by the Providence of God abridging their malice that when their teeth are grown to be most sharp and they most full of poyson then they should not see whom nor where to vent it They differ as we have said in place and number from all four-footed Beasts so that they seem to be compounded and framed of the teeth of Serpents and Mice The two fore-teeth are very long and they do not grow single as in vulgar Mice but have within them two other smal and sharp teeth And also those two long teeth grow not by themselves as they do in other Mice but are conjoyned in the residue in one continued rank They are sharp like a saw having sharp points like needles such as could not be seen by man except the tips of them were yellow Of either side they have eight teeth whereas the vulgar Mice have but four beside the two long fore-teeth which also seem divided into two or three which except one mark diligently he would think them to be all one It is a ravening Beast feigning it self gentle and tame but being touched it biteth deep and poysoneth deadly It beareth a cruel minde desiring to hurt any thing neither is there any creature that it loveth or it loveth him because it is feared of all The Cats as we have said do hunt it and kill it but they eat not them for if
by taking of Swines dung mixed and made soft like morter with the urine of a man layed unto the root it is recovered and the Wormes driven away and if there be any rents or stripes visible upon trees so as they are endangered to be lost thereby they are cured by applying unto the stripes and wounds this dung of Swine When the Apple trees are loose pour upon their roots the stale of Swine and it shall establish and settle them and wheresoever there are Swine kept there it is not good to keep or lodge Horses for their smell breath and voice is hateful to all magnanimous and perfect spirited Horses And thus much in this place concerning the use of the several parts of Swine whereunto I may add our English experiments that if Swine be suffered to come into Orchards and dig up and about the roots of the Apple trees keeping the ground bare under them and open with their noses the benefit that will arise thereby to your increase of fruit will be very inestimable And here to save my self of a labor about our English Hogs I will describe their usage out of Mr. Tussers husbandry in his own words as followeth and first of all for their breeding in the Spring of the year he writeth in general Let Lent will kept offend not thee For March and April breeders be And of September he writeth thus To gather some mast it shall stand thee upon With servant and children yer mast be all gone Some left among bushes shall pleasure thy Swine For fear of a mischief keep Acornes fro kine For roâting of pasture ring Hog ye have need Which being well ringled the better doth feed Though young with their elders will lightly keep best Yet spare not to ringle both great and the rest Yoke seldome thy swine while shacke time doth last For divers misfortunes that happen too fast Or if you do fancy whole eare of the Hog Give ear to ill neighbor and ear to his Dog Keep hog I advise thee from medow and Corne For out alowd crying that ere he was borne Such lawlesse so haunting both often and long If dog set him chaunting he doth thee no wrong And again in Octobers husbandry he writeth Though plenty of Acornes the Porkelings to fat Not taken in season may perish by that If ratling or swelling get once in the throat Thou losest thy porkling a Crown to a Groat What ever thing fat is again if it fall Thou venterest the thing and the fatnesse withall The fatter the better to sell or to kill But not to continue make proof if you will In November he writeth again Let Hog once sat lose none of that When mast is gone Hog falleth anon Still fat up some till Shrovetide come Now Porke and sowce bears tacke in a house Thus far of our English husbandry about Swine Now followeth their diseases in particular Of the diseases of Swine HEmlock is the bane of Panthers Swine Wolves and all other beasts that live upon devouring of flesh for the Hunters mix it with flesh and so spread or cast the flesh so poysoned abroad in bits or morsels to be devoured by them The root of the white Chamelion mixed with fryed Barly flour Water and oyl is also poyson to Swine The black Ellebor worketh the same effect upon Horses Oxen and Swine and therefore when the beasts do eat the white they forbear the black with all wearisomeness Likewise Henbane worketh many painful convulsions in their bellies therefore when they perceive that they have eaten thereof they run to the waters and gather Snails or Sea-crabs by vertue whereof they escape death and are again restored to their health The hearb Goosefoot is venemous to Swine and also to Bees and therefore they will never light upon it or touch it The black Night-shade is present destruction unto them and they abstain from Harts tongue and the great bur by some certain instinct of nature If they be bitten by any Serpents Sea-crabs or Snails are the most present remedy that nature hath taught them The Swine of Scythia by the relation of Pliny and Aristotle are not hurt with any poyson except Scorpions and therefore so soon as ever they are stung by a Scorpion they die if they drink And thus much for the poyson of Swine Against the cold of which these beasts are most impatient the best remedy is to make them warm sties for if it be once taken it will cleave faster to them then any good thing and the nature of this beast is never to eat if once he feel himself sick and therefore the diligent Master or keeper of Swine must vigilantly regard the beginnings of their diseases which cannot be more evidently demonstrated then by forbearing of their meat Of the Measels THe Measels are called in Greek Chalaza in Latin Grandines for that they are like hailstones spred in the flesh and especially in the leaner part of a Hog and this disease as Aristotle writeth is proper to this Beast for no other in the world is troubled therewith for this cause the Grecians call a Measily Hog Chaluros and it maketh their flesh very loose and soft The Germans call this disease Finnen and Pfinnen the Italians Gremme the French Sursume because the spots appear at the root of the tongue like white seeds and therefore it is usuall in the buying of Hogs in all Nations to pull out their tongue and look for the Measels for if there appear but one upon his tongue it is certain that all the whole body is infected And yet the Butchers do all affirm that the cleanest hog of all hath three of these but they never hurt the swine or his flesh and the Swine may be full of them and yet none appear upon his tongue but then his voice will be altered and not be was wont These abound most of all in such Hogs as have fleshy legs and shoulders very moist and if they be not over plentiful they make the flesh the sweeter but if they abound it tasteth like stock-fish or meat over-watered If there be no appearance of these upon their tongue then the chap-man or buyer pulleth off a bristle from the back and if bloud follow it is certain that the beast is infected and also such cannot well stand upon their hinder legs Their tail is very round For remedy hereof divers days before their killing they put into their wash or swill some ashes especially of Hasel trees But in France and Germany it is not lawful to sell such a Hog and therefore the poor people do only eat them Howbeit they cannot but engender evill humors and naughty bloud in the body The roots of the bramble called Ramme beaten to powder and cast into the holes where Swine use to bath themselves do keep them clear from many of these diseases and for this cause also in antient time they gave them Horse-flesh sodden and Toads sodden in water to drink the
alive they put them into some tub or great mortar and there kill them by bruising them to pieces afterwards they make a fire of coals in the Mountains where the VVolfs haunt putting into the same some of these fishes mixed with bloud and pieces of Mutton and so leaving it to have the savour thereof carryed every way with the winde they go and hide themselves whilest that in the mean time the VVolfs enraged with the savour of this fire seek to and fro to finde it because of the smell the fire before they come is quenched or goeth out naturally and the VVolfs by the smoak thereof especially by tasting of the flesh bloud and fish which there they finde do fall into a drowsie dead sleep which when the Hunters do perceive they come upon them and cut their throats The Armenians do poyson them with black fishes and some do take a cat pulling off her skin taking out the bowels they put into her belly the powder of Frogs this Cat is boyled a little upon coals and by a man drawn up and down in the Mountains where VVolfs do haunt now if the VVolfs do chance to meet with the train of this Cat they instantly follow after him inraged without all fear of man to attain it therefore he which draweth the Cat is accompanyed with another Hunter armed with a Gun Pistol or Cross-bow that at the appearance of the VVolf and before his approach to the train he may destroy and kill him I will not discourse of VVolf bane commonly called Aconitum in Latine wherewithall both men and beasts are intoxicated and especially VVolfs but referring the Reader to the long discourse of Conradus Gesner in his History of the VVolf I will only remember in this place an Epigram of Ausonius wherein he pleasantly relateth a story of an adulterated woman desiring to make away her jealous husband and that with speed and vehemency gave him a drink of VVolf-bane and Quick-silver mingled together either of both single are poyson but compounded are a purgation the Epigram is this that followeth Toxica zelotypo dedit uxor moecha marito Nec satis ad mortem credidit esse datum Miscuit argenti letalia pondera vivi Cogeret ut celerem vis geminata necem Dividat haec si quis faciunt discreta venenum Antidotum sumet qui sociata bibet Ergo inter sese dum noxia pocula certant Cessit letalis noxa salutiferae Protinus vacuos alvi petiere recessus Lubrica dejectis qua vita nota cibis Concerning the enemies of Wolfs there is no doubt but that such a ravening beast hath few friends for except in the time of copulation wherein they mingle sometime with Dogs and some-time with Leopards and sometime with other beasts all beasts both great and small do avoid their society and fellowship for it cannot be safe for strangers to live with them in any league or amity seeing in their extremity they devour one another for this cause in some of the inferiour beasts their hatred lasteth after death as many Authors have observed for if a Sheep skin be hanged up with a Wolfs skin the wool falleth off from it and if an instrument be stringed with strings made of both these beasts the one will give no sound in the presence of the other but of this matter we have spoken in the story of the sheep shewing the opinion of the best learned concerning the truth hereof The Ravens are in perpetual enmity with Wolfs and the antipathy of their natures is so violent that it is reported by Philes and Aelianus that if a Raven eat of the carcase of a beast which the Wolf hath killed or formerly tasted of she presently dyeth There are certain wilde Onions called Scillae and some say the Sea-Onion because the root hath the similitude of an Onion of all other things this is hateful to a Wolf and therefore the Arabians say that by treading on it his leg falleth into a cramp whereby his whole body many times endureth insufferable torments for the Cramp increaseth into Convulsions for which cause it is worthy to be observed how unspeakable the Lord is in all his works for whereas the VVolf is an enemy to the Fox and the Turtle he hath given secret instinct and knowledge both to this Beast and Fowl of the vertuous operation of this herb against the ravening VVolf for in their absence from their nests they leave this Onion in the mouth thereof as a sure gard to keep their young ones from the VVolf There are certain Eagles in Tartaria which are tamed who do of their own accord being set on by men adventure upon VVolves and so vex them with their talons that a man with no labour or difficulty may kill the beast and for this cause the VVolves greatly fear them and avoid them and thereupon came the common proverb Lupus fugit aquilam And thus much shall suffice to have spoken in general concerning their taking Now we will proceed to the other parts of their History and first of all of their carnal copulation They engender in the same manner as Dogs and Sea-calves do and therefore in the middle of their copulation they cleave together against their will It is observed that they begin to engender immediately after Christmass and this rage of their lust lasteth but twelve days whereupon there was wont to go a fabulous tale or reason that the cause why all of them conceived in the twelve days after Christmass was for that Latona so many days together wandered in the shape of a she VVolf in the Mountains Hyperborei for fear of Juno in which likeness she was brought to Delus but this fable is confuted by Plutarch rehearsing the words of Antipater in his Book of Beasts for he saith when the Oaks that bear Acorns do begin to cast their flowers or blossomes then the VVolves by eating thereof do open their wombs for where there is no plenty of Acorns there the young ones dye in the dams belly and therefore such Countries where there is no store of Oaks are freed from VVolves and this he saith is the true cause why they conceive but once a year and that only in the twelve days of Christmass for those Oaks flower but once a year namely in the Spring time at which season the VVolves bring forth their young ones For the time that they go with young and the number of whelps they agree with Dogs that is they bear their young nine weeks and bring forth many blinde whelps at a time according to the manner of those that have many claws on their feet Their legs are without Articles and therefore they are not able to go at the time of their littering and there is a vulgar opinion that a she VVolf doth never in all her life bring forth above nine at a time whereof the last which she bringeth forth in her old age is a Dog through weakness and
Poets amplified with sundry accidental Histories Hierogliphycks Epigrams Emblems and Aenigmatical Observations By EDVVARD TOPSELL The Boas London Printed by E. Cotes 1658. To the Reader GEntle and pious Reader although it be needlesse for me to write any more of the publishing of this Treatise of Venemous Beasts yet for your better satisfaction and direction briefly take this which followeth After the publishing of the former book of Four-footed Beasts I understood of two things much misliked therein wherein I also my self received a just offence First the manifold escapes in the Presse which turned and sometimes over-turned the sense in many places especially in the Latine which fault as it may in part concern me so yet it toucheth another more deeply yet are both of us excusable He in wanting the true knowledge of the Latine Tongue and I because of my employment in my Pastorall charge and both of us together because we were not so throughly estated as to maintain a sufficient Scholar to attend only upon the Presse Wherefore in this second Book we have removed away that blot and used a more accurate diligence and I trust there is no escape committed perverting the sense and not very many altering the letters The second exception taken against the former Treatise was the not Englishing or translating of the Latine Verses which thing I purposed to have done if I had not been overhastened in the businesse for it had been to the work an Ornament and to the History a more ample declaration This fault I have now amended in the setting forth of this second Book of Living Creatures All therefore that can be said for your direction I could wish the History more compleat for the manifestation of the most blessed Trinities glory whose works are here declared and for the better revelation of the severall natures of every Serpent I may fail in the expressing of some particular yet I suppose that I have omitted no one thing in their narration which might be warranted by good authority or experience And therefore although I cannot say that I have said all that can be written of these living Creatures yet I dare say I have wrote more then ever was before me written in any Language Now therefore ask the Creatures after God and they will tell you For saith S. Austin Interrogatio creaturarum profunda est consideratio ipsarum responsio earum attestatio ipsarum de Deo quoniam omnia clamant Deus nos fecit The asking of the Creatures is a deep and profound consideration of their severall natures their answer is their attestation or testimony of God because all ofthem cry out The Lord hath made us Wherefore seeing it is most true incognita non desiderantur things unknown are not desired to the intent that all true English Christians may hereafter more affectionately long after and desire both the mysticall vision of God in this World and also his perfect sight in the World to come I have for my part out of that weak ability wherewith I am endued made known unto them in their own mother Tongue the wonderfull works of God for the admiring of Gods praise in the Creatures standeth not in a confused ignorance not knowing the beginnings and reason of every thing but rather in a curious and artificiall investigation of their greatest secrets Therefore let all living men consider every part of divine wisdome in all his works for if it be high he thereby terrifieth the proud by the truth he feedeth the great ones by his affability he nourisheth the little ones And so I will conclude my Preface with the words of the three Children O all ye works of the Lord praise him and magnifie him for ever Edward Topsell A GENERAL TREATISE OF SERPENTS DIVINE MORAL and NATVRAL Of the Creation and first Beginning of SERPENTS THere is no Man that can justly take exception that this History of Serpents beginneth at their Creation for seeing our purpose is to set forth the works of GOD by which as by a clear glass he endevoureth to disperse and distribute the knowledge of his Majesty Omnipotency Wisdom and Goodness to the whole race of Mankinde it seemeth most proper that the first stone of this building laid in the foundation be fetched from the Creation and the rather because some Naturalists especially amongst the ancient Heathen have taken the Original of these venomous Beasts to be of the earth without all respect of Divine and Primary Creation And hereunto some Hereticks as the Manichees and Marcionites have also subscribed though not directly for they account the Creation of these venomous and all hurtful Beasts an unworthy work for the good GOD because they could never see any good use of such creatures in the World Yet we know the blessed Trinity created the whole frame of this visible World by it self and for good reasonable and necessary causes framed both the beneficial and hurtful Creatures either for a Physical or Metaphysical end Therefore it is most certain that if we consider the outward parts of these Creatures endued with life no man nor nature could begin and make them but the first Essence or Fountain of life and if we can be brought to acknowledge a difference betwixt our shallow capacity and the deep wisdom of God it may necessarily follow by an unavoidable sequel that their uses and ends were good although in the barrenness of our understanding we cannot conceive or learn them But I purpose not to follow these things Philosophically by arguments but rather Divinely by evident demonstration of the things themselves And first of all it appeareth Gen. 1. 24. that God brought out of the earth all creeping things after their kinde And lest that any man should doubt that under the general name of creeping things Serpents and other venomous Beasts were not intelligibly enough expressed it is added Chap. 3. 1. That the Serpent was more subtile then all the Beasts of the field which God had made The Prophet David also Psal 148. 7. among other things which are exhorted by the Prophet to praise their Creator there are named Dragons which are the greatest kinde of Serpents Unto this also alluded S. James ch 3. 7. saying That the whole nature of Beasts and of Birds of creeping things and things in the Sea iâ tameâ by the nature of Man for Man which is next unto God hath authority and power to rule over all his works and therefore over Serpents And herein it is fit to shew what wonders men have wrought upon Serpents taming and destroying them rather like Worms and Beasts no ways enemies to mankinde but friendly and endued with sociable respect or else as weaklings commanded by a superior power Such an one was Atyr a notable Inchanter who by touching any Serpent brought it into a deadly sleep according to these verses Nec non Serpentes diro exarmare veneno Doctus Atyr tactuque graves sepire chelydros In
the Glosse upon the 42. Psalm which beginneth Like as the Hart desireth the water springs so longeth my soul after my GOD. But for the ending of this question we must consider and remember that there are two kindes of Harts one eateth Serpents and feeling the poyson to work straight-way by drinking casteth up the poyson again or else cureth himself by covering all his body over in water The other kinde only by nature killeth a Serpent but after victory forbeareth to eat it and returneth again to feed in the Mountains And thus much for the discord betwixt Harts and Serpents In the next place great is the variance betwixt Serpents Dragons and Elephants whereof Pliny and Solinus write as followeth When the Elephants called Serpent-killers meet with the Dragons they easily tread them in pieces and overcome them wherefore the Dragons and greater Serpents use subtilty in stead of might for when they have found the path and common way of an Elephant they make such devises therein to intrap him as a man would think they had the devise of men to help them for with their tails they so ensnare the way that when the beast cometh they intangle his legs as it were in knots of ropes now when the beast stoopeth down with his trunk to loose and untie them one of them suddenly thrusteth his poysoned head into his trunk whereby he is strangled The other also for there are ever many which lie in ambush set upon his face biting out his eyes and some at his tender belly some winding themselves about his throat and all of them together sting bite tear vex and hang upon him untill the poor beast emptyed of his blood and swollen with poyson in every part fall down dead upon his adversaries and so by his death kill them at his fall and overthrow whom he could not overcome being alive And whereas Elephants for the most part go together in flocks and troops the subtile Serpents do let passe the foremost of every rank and set only upon the hindermost that so one of the Elephants may not help another and these Serpents are said to be thirty yards long Likewise forasmuch as these Dragons know that the Elephants come and feed upon the leaves of trees their manner is to convey themselves into the trees and lie hid among the boughs covering their foreparts with leaves and letting their hinder parts hang down like dead parts and members and when the Elephant cometh to brouze upon the tree-tops then suddenly they leap into his face and pull out his eyes and because that revenge doth not satisfie her thirsting only after death she twineth her gable-long body about his neck and so strangleth him It is reported that the blood of Elephants is the coldest bloud in the world and that the Dragons in the scorching heat of Summer cannot get any thing to cool them except this bloud for which cause they hide themselves in Rivers and Brooks whither the Elephants come to drink and when he putteth down his trunk they take hold thereof and instantly in great numbers leap up into his ears which only of all his upper parts are most naked and unarmed out of which they suck his bloud never giving over their hold till he fall down dead and so in the fall kill them which were the procurers of his death So that his and their bloud is mingled both together whereof the Ancients made their Cinnabaris which was the best thing in the World to represent bloud in painting Neither can any devise or art of man ever come neer it and beside it hath in it a rare vertue against poyson And thus much for the enmity betwixt Serpents and Elephants The Cat also by Albertus is said to be an enemy to Serpents for he saith she will kill them but not eat thereof howbeit in her killing of them except she drink incontinently she dyeth by poyson This relation of Albertus cannot agree with the Monks of Mesuen their relation about their Abby-cat But it may be that Albertus speaketh of wilde-cats in the Woods and Mountains who may in ravin for their prey kill a Serpent which followeth with them the same common game The Roes or Roe-bucks do also kill Serpents and the Hedge-hog is enemy unto them for some-times they meet both together in one hole and then at the sight of the Serpent the Hedge-hog foldeth himself up round so as nothing appeareth outwardly save only his prickles and sharp bristles the angry Serpent fetteth upon him and biteth him with all her force the other again straineth herself above measure to annoy the Serpents teeth face eyes and whole body and thus when they meet they lie together afflicting one another till one or both of them fall down dead in the place For sometime the Serpent killeth the Hedgehog and sometime the Hedge-hog killeth the Serpent so that many times she carrieth away the Serpents flesh and skin upon her back The Weasels also fight with Serpents with the like successe the cause is for that one and other of them live upon juyce and so for their prey or booty they fall together in mortall warre Herein the Weasel is too cunning for the Serpent because before she fighteth she seeketh Rue and by eating thereof quickly discomforteth her adversary But some say that she eateth Rue afterward to the intent to avoyd all the poyson she contracted in the combat The Lyon also and the Serpent are at variance for his rufling mane is discouraged by the extolled head of the Serpent to his breast And therefore as S. Ambrose saith this is an admirable thing that the Snake should run away from the Hart the most fearfull of all other beasts and yet overcome the Lyon King of all the residue The Ichneumon or Pharos Mouse is an enemy to Serpents and eateth them and because he is too seeble to deal with a Snake alone therefore when he hath found one he goeth and calleth as many of his fellowes as he can finde and so when they find themselves strong enough in company they set upon their prey and eat it together for which cause when the Egyptians will signifie weaknesse they paint an Ichneumon The Peacock is also a professed terror and scourge to Snakes and Adders and they will not endure neer those places where they hear their voice The Sorex and Swine do also hate and abhor Serpents and the little Sorex hath most advantage against them in the Winter-time when they are at the weakest To conclude the Horse is wonderfully afraid of all kindes of Serpents if he see them and will not go over but rather leap over a dead Snake And thus I will end the warre betwixt Serpents and Four-footed beasts and Fowls Now lest their curse should not be hard enough unto them God hath also ordained one of them to destroy another and therefore now it followeth to shew in a word the mutuall discord betwixt themselves The Spider although
them untill the Vinegar be consumed then strain them putting to them of Turpentine three ounces Frankincense Mastick and Sarcocolla three ounces Saffron two ounces working them with a Spathuler till they be cold The powder of a burnt Serpent is likewise good against Fistulaes The fat of a Snake or Serpent mixt with Oyl is good against Strumes as Pliny saith The fat of Snakes mixt with Verdegrease healeth the parts about the eyes that have any rupture To which agreeth the Poet when he saith Anguibus âreptos adipes aerugine misce Hi poterant ruptas oculorum jungere partes Which may be thus Englished The sat of Snakes mingled with Iron rust The parts of eyes doth mend which erst were burst It is certain that barrenness cometh by means of that grievous torment and pain in childe-birth and yet Olympias of Thebes is of opinion that this is remedied with a Bulls gall the fat of Serpents and Verdigrease with some Hony added to them the place being therewith anointed before the coming together of both parts When a Woman is not able to conceive by means of weakness in the retentive vertue then there is no doubt but there must needs grow some membrane in the bellies entrance for which it is not amiss to make a Pessary of the fat of a Serpent Verdigrease and the fat of a Bull mixt together c. and to be applyed Hippocrates in lib. de Sterilibus Gesner had a friend who signified to him by his Letters that the fat of a Serpent was sent to him from those sulphureous bathes which were neer unto Cameriacum and was sold at a very dear rate namely twelve pounds for every ounce and sometimes deerer They use to mix it with the emplaister of John de Vigo that famous Chirurgeon for all hardnesses and other privy and unseen though not unfelt torments proceeding of the Spanish pox They use it yet further against leprous swellings and pimples and to smooth and thin the skin Matthiolus saith that the fat of a black Serpent is mixt to good purpose with those Ointments that are prepared against the French or Spanish pox And Pliny mixeth their fat with other convenient medicines to cause hair to grow again The suffmigation of an old Serpent helpeth the monthly course Michael Aloisius saith that Oyl of Serpents decocted with the flowers of Cowslips ever remembring to gather and take that which swimmeth at the top is singular to anoint podagrical persons therewith Now followeth the preparing of Serpents Take a Mountain Serpent that ha ãâ¦ã black back and a white belly and cut off his tail even hard to the place where he sendeth forth his excrements and take away his head with the breadth of four fingers then take the residue and squeese out the bloud into some vessel keeping it in a glass carefully then fley him as you do an Eele beginning from the upper and grosser part and hang the skin upon a stick and dry it then divide it in the middle and reserve all diligently You must wash the flesh and put it in a pot boyling it in two parts of Wine and being well and throughly boyled you must season the broth with good Spices and Aromatical and Cordial powders and so eat it But if you have a minde to rost it it must be so rosted as it may not be burnt and yet that it may be brought into powder and the powder thereof must be eaten together with other meat because of the loathing and dreadful name and conceit of a Serpent for being thus burned it preserveth a Man from all fear of any future Lepry and expelleth that which is present It keepeth youth causing a good colour above all other Medicines in the world it cleareth the eye-sight gardeth surely from gray hairs and keepeth from the Falling-sickness It purgeth the head from all infirmity and being eaten as before is said it expelleth scabbiness and the like infirmities with a great number of other diseases But yet such a kinde of Serpent as before we have described and not any other being also eaten freeth one from deafness You may also finely mince the heads and tails of Serpents and feed therewith Chickens or Geese being mingled with crums of Bread or Oates and these Geese or Chickins being eaten they help all to take away the Leprosie and other foulness in Mans body If you take the dryed skin and lay it upon the tooth on the inner side it will mitigate the pain thereof specially if it proceed from any hot cause In like sort the same skin washed with spittle and with a little piece of the tail laid upon any Impostume or Noli me tangere it will tame and master the pain causing it to putrefie more easily and gently and scarcely leaving behind any cicatrice or skar And if a Woman being in extremity of pain in Childe-birth do but tie or binde a piece of it on her belly it will cause the birth immediately to come away So the skin being boyled and eaten performeth the same effects that the Serpent doth The bloud of a Serpent is more precious then Balsamum and if you anoint your lips with a little of it they will look passing red and if the face be anointed therewith it will receive no spot or fleck but causeth to have an orient or beautifull hew It represseth all scabbiness of the body stinking in the teeth and gums if they be therewith anointed The far of a Serpent speedily helpeth all redness spots and other infirmities of the eyes and being anointed upon the eye-lids it cleereth the eyes exceedingly Item put them into a glassed Pot and fill the same with Butter in the Moneth of May then lute it with well with Paste that is Meal well kneaded so that nothing may evaporate then set the Pot on the fire and let it boil welnigh half a day after this is done strain the butter through a cloth and the remainder beat in a mortar and strain it again and mix them together then put them into water to cool and so reserve it in silver or golden boxes that which is not evaporated for the older the better it is and so much the better it will be if you can keep it forty years Let the sick Patient who is tooubled either with the Gowt or the Palsie but anoint himself often against the fire with this unguent and without doubt he shall he freed especially if it be the Gout All these prescriptions were taken from the writings of a certain nameless Author Hippocrates saith that a Hart or Stag having eaten any Serpents the worms in their guts are thereby expelled And Absyrtus hath the same words that Harts by eating of a Serpent do kill and expell worms from their guts Hierocles to a certain medicine which he prepared for the Strangulion in a Horse mingled the dung of a Lyzard and Stear herpetuou that is as I interpret it the fat of a Serpent the bloud of a Dove c. Laurence
coals and they make great plenty specially near to the River Vasses and of Plate The Bees called Chalcoides which are of the colour of brass and somewhat long which are said to live in the Island of Creta are implacable great fighters and quarrellers excelling all others in their stings and more cruel then any others so that with their stings they have chased the Inhabitants out of their Cities the remainder of which Bees do remain and make their Honey-combes as Aelianus saith in the Mountain Ida. Thus much of the differences of Bees now it remaineth to discourse of the Politick Ethical and Oeconomick vertues and properties of them Bees are governed and do live under a Monarchy and not under a tyrannical State admitting and receiving their King not by succession or casting of lots but by respective advice considerate judgement and prudent election and although they willingly submit their necks under a Kingly government yet notwithstanding they still keep their ancient liberties and priviledges because of a certain Prerogative they maintain in giving their voices and opinions and their King being deeply bound to them by an oath they exceedingly honour and love The King as he is of a more eminent stature and goodly corporature as before we have touched then the rest so likewise which is singular in a King he excelleth in mildness and temperateness of behaviour For he hath a sting but maketh it not an instrument of revenge which is the cause that many have thought their King never to have had any For these are the laws of nature not written with Letters but even imprinted and engraven in their conditions and manners and they are very slow to punish offenders because they have the greatest and Soveraign power in their hands And although they seem to be slack in revenging and punishing private injuries yet for all that they never suffer rebellious persons refractorious obstinate and such as will not be ruled to escape without punishment but with their pricking stings they grievously wound and torment so dispatching them quickly They are so studious of peace that neither willingly nor unwillingly they will give any cause of offence or displeasure Who therefore would not greatly be displeased with and hate extreamly those Dionysian Tyrants in Sicilia Clearchus in Heraclea and Apollodorus the Theef Pieler and spoiler of the Cassandrines And who would not detest the ungratiousness of those lewd claw-backs and Trencher-parasites and flatterers of Kings which dare impudently maintain that a Monarchy is nothing else but a certain way and rule for the accomplishing of the will in using their authority as they list and a science or skilful trade to have wherewith to live pleasantly in all sensual and worldly pleasure which ought to be far from a good Prince who whilest be would seem to be a Man he shew himself to be far worser then these little poor winged creatures And as their order and course of life is far different from the vulgar sort so also is their birth for they of the Kingly race are not born after the manner of a little Worm as all the Comminalty are but is forthwith winged and amongst all his younglings if he finde any of his sons to be either a fool unhandsome that none can take pleasure in rugged rough soon angry furnish or too teasty ill shaped not beautiful or Gentleman-like him by a common consent and by a Parliamentary authority they destroy for fear lest the whole Swarm should be divided and distracted into many mindes and so at length the Subjects undone by factions and banding into parts The King prescribeth laws and orders to all the rest and appointeth them their rules and measrues for some he straightly chargeth and commandeth as they tender his favour and will avoid his displeasure to fetch and provide water for the whole Camp He enjoyneth others to make the Honey-combes to build to garnish and trim up the house well and cleanly to finish perfectly the work to finde and allow to promote and shew others what to do Some he sendeth forth to seek their living but being worn with years they are maintained at the common stock at home The younger and stronger being appointed to labour and take their turns as they fall And although being a King he be discharged and exempt from any mechanical business yet for all tliat in case of necessity he will buckle himself to his task never at any time taking the field or air abroad but either for his healths sake or when he cannot otherwise chuse by means of some urgent business If in respect of his years he be lusty and strong then like a Noble Captain he marcheth before his whole winged-army exposing himself first to all perils neither with his good will will he be carryed of his Souldiers unless he be wearied and weakened by means of crooked age or mastered and clean put out of heart by any violent sickness so that he can neither stand on his legs nor flie When night approacheth the sign and token being given by his Honey-pipe or Cornet if you will so call it a general Proclamation is made through the whole Hive that every one shall betake himself to rest so the watch being appointed and all things set in order they all make themselves ready and go to bed So long as the King liveth so long the whole swarm enjoy the benefit of peace leading their lives without any disquieting disturbance vexation or fear of future wars For the Drones do willingly contain themselves in their own cells the elder living contented with their own homes and the younger not daring for their ears to break into their fathers Lands or to make any inrodes or invasion into the houses of their predecessors The King keepeth his Court by himself in the highest and largest part of the whole Palace his lodging being workmanlike and very cunningly made of a fine round or enclosure of Wax being thus as it were fenced and paled about as with a defensible wall A little from him dwell all the Kings children being very obedient to their parents beck Their King being dead all his subjects in an uprore Drones bring forth their young in the cells of the true Bees all are in a hurly burly all being out of season and order Aristotle saith that Bees have many Kings which I would rather tearm Viceroys or Deputies sithence it is certain as Antigonus affirmeth that as well the swarms do die and come to nought by having of many Kings as none at all And thus to have spoken of good Kings let this suffice Evill Kings are more rough rugged browner blacker and of more sundry colours whose natures and dispositions you will condemn in respect of their habit and manner of body and minde the one and other are thus Physiognomically described by the Poet Namque duae regum facies duo corpora gentis Alter erit maculis auro squallentibus ardens Et rutilis clarus squamis
do with great noise tragically mourn for him Neither doth continuance of time mitigate or take away their grief but at length all of these faithful friends partly through grief and partly through famine they are clean consumed and brought to death Whilest they have a King the whole swarm and company is kept in awful order but he being gone they go under the protection of other Kings They have not many Kings at once neither can they endure usurpers overthrowing their houses and rooting out their stock and family And if in one swarm there be two Kings as sometimes it falleth out then one part adhereth to the one King and the other side cleaveth to the other so that sometimes in one hive you shall finde Honey-combes of sundry forms and fashions where they behave themselves so honestly and neighbourly that the one meddleth not with the others charge and business having no minde to enlarge their Empire to entice draw or win by fair means the subjects of the other side but every one being obedient to his own King without contradiction They honour him so highly that being lost they complain being decrepit they preserve and keep him being weary they carry him round about with them being dead they bewail him with all funeral pomp and heaviness yeelding up at length even their very lives for an assurance of their loves and faithful dealings Oftentimes they arrear deadly war against strangers born for the Honey that they have stoln from them as for the catching and snatching up afore-hand those flowers whereon they purposed to sit on so that sometimes the quarrel is determined by dint of sword in a just battail Oftentimes again they wrangle about their Honey-combes and dwelling houses but then the deadly and unappeaseable war is when the contention is about the life crown and dignity of their King for then they bestir themselves most eagerly defending him most valiantly and receiving the darts or stings that are bended against him with an undanted courage by the voluntary and thick interposing of their own bodies betwixt the darts and the person of their King Neither are Bees only examples to men of Political prudence and fidelity but also presidents for them to imitate in many other vertues For whereas Nature hath made them Zooa agelaia that is creatures living in companies and swarms yet do they all things for the common good of their own rout and multitude excepting ever the Drones and Theeves whom if they take tripping in the manner they reward with condign punishment Their houses are common their children common their laws and statutes common and their countrey common They couple together without question as Camels do privily and apart by themselves which whether it proceed of modesty or be done through the admirable instinct of Nature I leave it to the dispute and quaint resolution of those grave Doctors who being laden with the badges and cognizances of learning do not stick to affirm that they can render a true reason even by their own wits of all the causes in nature though never so obscure hid and difficult Flies and Dogs do far otherwise whose impudency is such that having no regard of times persons or places they will not give place or be disjoyned Yea the Massagets as Herodatus writeth having their quiver of arrows on their carts they dealt with their wives very unseasonably and though all men beheld it yet they most impudently contemned it And that which is worser this beastly fashion is crept amongst the usurpers or at least professors of the Christian name who shame not openly to kiss and embrace yea even to play and meddle with filthy whores and brothelly queans Bees surely will condemn these kinde of people of beastial impudency and wanton shamelesness or causing them to blush if they have any grace will teach them repentance Neither are they altogether such creatures as cannot endure or away with musick which is the Princess of delights and the delight of Princes as many unlearned people cannot but are exceedingly delighted with tune in any harmony wherein is no jarring so the same be simple and unaffected And although they have not the skill to daunce according to due time order and proportion in Musick as they say Elephants can yet do they make swifter or slower their flight according to the Trumpetors minde who with his sharp and shrill sound causeth them to bestir themselves more speedily but beating slowly and not so loud upon his brasen instrument maketh them more slow and to take more leisure Neither hath Nature made them only the most ingenious of all living creatures but by discipline hath made them tame and tractable For they do not only know the hand and voice of the Honey-man or him that hath the charge and ordering of the same but they also suffer him to do what liketh him best which every man must needs confess to be an argument of a generous and noble disposition thus to undergo the rule of their Over-seers and Surveyors but the hand and discipline of a stranger they will by no means endure As for oeconomical vertues they excel also and namely for moderate frugality and temperance not profusely and prodigally wasting and devouring the great store of Honey which they gathered in the Summer season but they sustain themselves therewith in Winter and that very sparingly And so whilest they feed upon few meats and those of the purest sort they purchase long life the reward of sobriety Neither are they so niggardly and sordidous minded but when as they have gathered more Honey then their number can well spend they communicate and impart some very liberally amongst the Drones As for their cleanliness these may be certain arguments that they never exonerate nature within their hives except constrained thereto by some sickness foul weather and for some urgent necessity that they convey away the dead carkasses that they touch no rotten nor stinking flesh or any other thing no herb that is withered nor no ill senting or decayed flowers They kill not their enemies within their hives they drink none but running water and that which is throughly defecated they will not dwell in houses impure and foul sluttish black or full of any feculent or dreggy refuse and the excrements of the labourers and sickly they gather on a heap without their pavilions and assoon as their leisure serveth it is carryed clean away Concerning their temperance and chastity although it hath been partly touched before yet this I will add that it is wonderful what some men have observed For whereas all other creatures do couple in the open sight of men the Elephant only excepted and Wasps likewise not much differing in kinde do the same yet Bees were never yet seen so to joyn together but either within their hives very modestly they apply themselves to that business or else abroad do it without any witnesses And they are no less valiant then modest and temperate Dum
Many of those which have stings do forgoe and quite lose them when Winter draweth on as some make reckoning but it was never my hap to see this saith the Philosopher in his 9. Book De hist Animal capit 41. If you catch a Wasp holding her fast by the feet suffering her to make her usual humming sound you shall have all those that lack stings presently come flying about you which the stinged Wasps never are seen to do Therefore some hold this as a good reason to prove that the one should be the male the other the female Both these sorts both wilde and unwilde have been seen to couple toger after the manner of flies Besides in respect of sex both kindes of Wasps are divided into Captains or Ring-leaders and into labourers those former are ever greater in quantity and of more calm disposition these other both lesser more froward testy peevish and divers The males of labourers never live one whole year out but all of them die in the Winter time which is evident by this because in the very beginning of cold weather they are as it were frozen or benummed and in the depth or midst of hard winter a man shall hardly or never see any of them But yet for all that their Dukes or principal Chieftains are seen all the Winter long to lie hid in their lurking holes under the earth and indeed many men when they plowed or broke up the ground and digged in Winter have found of this sort But as for the labouring Wasp I never as yet heard of any that could finde them Their Principal or Captain is broader thicker more ponderous and greater then the male Wasp and so not very swift in flight for the weightinesse of their bodies is such an hinderance to them that they cannot flie very far whereby it cometh to passe that they ever remain at home in their hives there making and devising their combes of a certain glutinous matter or substance brought unto them by the Work-wasps thus spending their time in executing and doing all those duties that are meet intheir Cells Wasps are not long lived for their Dukes who live longest do not exceed two years And the labouring that is the male Wasps together with Autumn make an end of their days Yea which is more strange whether their Dukes or Captains of the former year after they have ingendered and brought forth new sprung up Dukes do die together with the new Wasps and whether this do come to passe after one and the self same order or whether yet they do and may live any longer time divers men do diversly doubt All men hold the wilder kinde to be more strong of nature and to continue and hold out the longer For why these other making their nests neer unto common high-ways and beaten paths do live in more hazard lie open to divers injuries and so more subject to shortnesse of life The brevity of their life is after a sort recompensed and some part of amends made by the rare clammy glewishnesse of the same for if you separate their bulks from the head and the head from the breast they will live a long while after and thrust out their sting almost as strongly as if they were undivideable and free from hurt and deaths harm Apollonius calleth Wasps Omotoroi and Aristotle Meloboroi although they do not only feed on raw flesh but also on Pears Plums Grapes Raisins and on divers and sundry sorts of flowers and fruits of the juyce of Elms Sugar Honey and in a manner of all things that are seasoned tempered made pleasant or prepared with either of these two last rehearsed Pliny in his 11. Book capit 53. is of opinion that some Wasps especially those of the wilder and feller kinde do eat the flesh of Serpents which is the cause that death hath sometimes ensued of their poysonous stinging They also hunt after great flies not one whit sparing the harmlesse Bees who by their good deeds have so well deserved According to the nature of the soyl and place they do much differ in their outward form and fashion of their body and in the manner of their qualities and dispositions of their minde for the common Wasps being acquainted and familiarly used to the company of Men and Beasts are the gentler but the Hermites and solitary Wasps are more rude churlish and tempestuous yea Nicander tearmeth them Oloous that is pernicious They are also more unhappy dangerous and deadly in very hot Countries as Ovidius reporteth and namely in the West-Indies where both in their magnitude and figure there is great difference betwixt theirs and ours so that they are accounted far more poysonous and deadly then either the English French Spanish or Barbarian Wasps Some of these dangerous generation do also abound in exceeding cold Countries as Olaus Magnus in his 22. Book telleth us Their use is great and singular for besides that they serve for food to those kind of Hawks which are called Kaistrels or Fleingals Martinets Swallows Owls to Brocks or Badgers and to the Camelion they also do great pleasure and service to men sundry ways for the kill the Phalangium which is a kinde of venomous Spider that hath in all his legs three knots or joynts whose poyson is perilous and deadly and yet Wasps do cure their wounds Raynard the Fox likewise who is so full of his wiles and crafty shifting is reported to lie in wait to betray Wasps after this sort The wily thief thrusteth his bushy tail into the Wasps nest there holding it so long until he perceive it to be full of them then drawing it slily forth he beateth and smiteth his tail full of Wasps against the next stone or tree never resting so long as he seeth any of them alive and thus playing his Fox like parts many times together at last he setteth upon their combes devouring all that he can finde Pliny greatly commendeth the so litary Wasp to be very effectual against a Quartain Ague if you catch her with your left hand and tie or fasten her to any part of your body always provided that it must be the first Wasp that you lay hold on that year Mizaldus memor Cent. 7. attributeth great vertue to the distilled water and likewise to the decoction of common Wasps affirming expresly that if any part be therewith anointed it straight ways causeth it to swell monstrously and to be pussed up that you would imagine them to be sick of a Dropsie and this course crafty drabs and queans use to perswade their sweet hearts that they are forsooth with childe by them thus many times beguiling and blinding the eyes of wary and expert Midwives Whereupon we may very confidently conclude that their poyson is very hot flatulous or windy Some do prole after Wasps and kill them by other sleights and devises For when the labourers do much use and frequent Elms which they do very often about the Summer solstice to gather
draweth out the poyson of Wasps The leaves of Marsh-mallows as Aetius saith being bruised and applyed do perform the same The juyce of Rue or Balm about the quantity of two or three ounces drunk with Wine and the leaves being chewed and laid on with Honey and Salt or with Vinegar and Pitch do help much Water-cresses Rosemary with Barley meal and water with Vinegar sod together the juyce of by leaves Marigolds the bloud of an Owl all these are very effectual against the stingings of Wasps as Pliny lib. 31. cap. 9. telleth us the buds of the wilde Palm-tree Endive with the root and wilde Thyme being applyed plaister-wise do help the stinging of Wasps After the venom is drawn out by sucking the place affected must be put into hot water the space of an hour and then suddenly they must be thrust into Vinegar and Brine and forthwith the pain will be asswaged the tumor cease and the malice of the venomous humor clean extinguished Rhazes saith that the leaves of Night-shade or of Sengreen do very much good in this case And in like sort Bole Armony with Vinegar and Camphire and Nuts beaten with a little Vinegar and Castoreum Also take the Combe with Honey applying to the place and hold the grieved place neer the fire immediately and laying under them a few ashes binde them hard and forthwith the pain will be swaged Serapio saith that Savory or Cresses applyed and the seed thereof taken in drink and the juyce of the lesser Centory mixt with Wine are very meet to be used in these griefs he also commendeth for the same purpose the leaves of Basil the herb called Mercury and Mandrakes with Vinegar Ardoynus is of opinion that if you take a little round ball of Snow and put it into the fundament the pain will cease especially that which proceedeth by Wasps Let the place be anointed with Vinegar and Camphire or often fomented and bathed with Snow-water Take of Opium of the seed of Henbane and Camphire of each alike much and incorporate them with Rose-water or the juyce of Willows and lay it upon the wounded place applying on the top a linnen cloth first throughly wetted in wine Johannes Mesue who of some is called Evangelista medicorum prescribed this receipt of the juyce of Sisimbrium two drams and a half and with the juyce of Tartcitrons make a potion The juyce also of Spina Arabica and of Marjoram are nothing inferiour to these forementioned Aaron would in this grief have water Lintels called by some Ducks meat to be stamped with Vinegar and after to be applyed Constantine assureth us that Alcama tempered with Barley meal and Vinegar and so bound to the place as also Nuts leaves of Wall-nuts and Bleets are very profitable in this passion Item apply very warm to the wound a Spiders web bruised with a white Onion and sufficient Salt and Vinegar will perfectly cure it Guil. Placentinus will warrant that a plate of cold Iron laid upon the wound or Lead steeped in Vinegar will do the deed Gordonius counsel is to rub the place with Sage and Vinegar and afterwards to foment it with water and Vinegar sod together Varignana would have us to apply Chalk in powder and inwardly to take the seeds of Mallows boiled in Wine Water and a little Vinegar Matthiolus much commendeth Sperage being beaten and wrought up with Honey to anoint the place Likewise flies beaten and anointed on the place winter Savory Water-cresses with Oyl of Momerdica give most speedy help Arnoldus Villanovanus assureth us that any fresh earth especially Fullers earth is very available and the herb called Poley used as an Unguent or else Goats milk And Marcellus Empirious is not behinde his commendations for the use of Bullocks dung to be applyed as a poultesse to the stinged part These and many others may any Man ascribe that hath had but an easie tast of the infinity of Physicks speculation for the store-house of Nature and truly learned Physitians which way soever you turn you will minister and give sufficient store of alexiterial medicines for the expulsing of this grief In conclusion one and the self same medicament will serve indifferently for the curation of Wasps and Bees saving that when we are stung with Wasps more forcible remedies are required and for the hurts that Bees do us then weaker and gentler are sufficient In the hundreth and nintieth year before the birth of our blessed Saviour an infinite multitude of Waspes came flying into the Market place at Capua as Julius witnesseth and lighted on the Temple of Mars all which when with great regard and diligence they were gathered together and solemnly burnt yet for all that they presignified the coming of an enemy and did as it were fore-tell the burning of the City which shortly after came to passe And thus much for the History of the Wasp of HORNETS A Hornet is called of the Hebrews Tsirbah Of the Arabians Zabar and Zambor Of the Germans Ein hornauss Horlitz Froisin Ofertzwuble Of the Flemings Horsele Of the Frenchmen Trellons Fonlons Of the Italians Calauron Crabrone Scaraffon and Galanron Of the Spaniards Tabarros ò Moscardos Of the Illyrians Irssen Of the Sclavonians Sierszen Of us Englishmen Hornets and great Wasps The Grecians call them Anthrénas and Anthrenoùs because with their sting they raise an Anthrar or Carbuncle with a vehement inflamation of the whole part about it The Latines call them Crabrones peradventure of Crabra a Town so named in the Territory of Tusculanum where there is great plenty of them or it may be they are tearmed Crambrones of Caballus a Horse of whom they are first engendered according to that of Ovid 15. Metamorphos Pressus humo bellator equus Crabronis origo est That is to say When War-horse dead upon the Earth lies Then doth his flesh breed Hornet flies Albertus tearmeth a Hornet Apis citrina that is a yellow or Orange coloured Bee Cardan laboureth much to prove that dead Mules are their first beginners Plutarch is of opinion that they first proceed from the flesh of dead Horses as Bees do out of a Bulls belly and I think that they have their breeding from the harder more firm and solid parts of the flesh of Horses as Wasps do from the more tender or soft Hornets are twice so great as the common Wasps in shape and proportion of body much resembling one another They have four wings the inward not being half so large as the outward being all joyned to their shoulders which are of a dark brownish and of a Chestnut-like colour these wings are the cause of their swift flight they have also six feet of the same colour and hew that their breast and shoulders are of There is somewhat long of the colour of Saffron their eyes and looks are hanging or bending downwards crooked and made like a half Moon from which grow forth two peaks like
is attracted and throughly concocted by the Sun it is the apter made to generation For the preparation of the form carryeth with it the matter or stuffe as his mate and companion So these two meeting together there consequently followeth the quickning or taking life of some one creature And not only are some Caterpillers the off-spring and breed of dew as common experience can witnesse but even the greatest part of Caterpillers do fetch their stock and pedegree from Butter-flies unlesse it be those that live upon Coleworts and Cabbages and those that are called Vine-fretters with some few other For those that live and breed in Vines called of the Grecians Ipes do proceed from dew or some dewy and moist humor which is included in their webs and there grown to putrefaction For then do they swarm so exceedingly in some Countries as I dare neither affirm nor otherwise imagine but that they must needs have such a mighty increase from putrefaction And this for the most part happeneth when the Eastern winde bloweth and that the warmth of the air furthereth and hasteneth forwards any corruption All the whole pack of them are great destroyers and devourers of herbs and trees whereupon Philippis the Parasite as Athenaeus saith in Pythagorista braggeth of himself in this wise Apòlausae thumon lachanonte kampe Vescens thymo olereque eruca sum I am saith he a Caterpiller that eateth both Thyme and Pot-herbs And to this sense speaketh Martial Erucam malè pascit hortus unam A Garden hardly and slenderly can suffice to feed one Caterpiller I think he meaneth when the time of their wasting and devouring is gone and past for they commonly leave but little behinde For that being past they go wandering hither and thither up and down uncertainly wasted and hunger-starved and so at length pining away by little and little through famine some seek them fit places within other-some above the earth where they transform themselves either into a bare and empty bag or case or hanging by a thread into an Autelia covered with a membrane If this happen in the midst of Summer the hard rinde or shell wherein they are inclosed being broken about the time of 24. days there flieth out a Butter-fly but if it come to passe in the midst or toward the end of Autumn the Aurelia continueth a whole Winter neither is there any exclusion before the vernal heat And yet notwithstanding all Caterpillers are not converted into Auteliaes but some of them being gathered and drawn together on a heap as the Vine-fretters do grow at length to putrefaction from which sometimes there falleth as it were three blackish Egges the true and proper mothers and breeders of Flies and Cantharides When the Butter-flies do joyn together very late or after the time it ought to be they do lay or cast their Egges which will continue vital and that may live till the next Spring if a diligent care be had of them as well as is often seen in Silk-worms whose Egs the Spaniards sell and that very usually by whole ounces and pounds I have now according to my cunning discoursed of the transmutations and variable changes of Caterpillers it followeth next that I write of the qualities and use of Caterpillers together with those preservatives which experienced Physitians have warranted for true and infallible All Caterpillers have a burning quality and such as will readily fetch off the skin and flea it quickly and raise blisters If any one drink the Caterpiller that liveth in the Pitch trees there will forthwith follow a great pain about his mouth and jaws vehement inflamation of the tongue strong griping and wringing of the Stomach belly and intestines with a sensible itching about the inward parts the whole body is as it were burned and scalded with heat and hot vapours and the stomach abhorreth all meat all which are to be remedied with the same means as those that have taken Cantharides Yet properly as heretofore I have touched Oyl of Quinces given to cause vomiting is the best and safest And if we may credit Pliny new Wine boyled to the third part and Cows milk being drunk are very effectual There is not any one sort of Caterpillers but they are malign naught and venomous but yet they are least hurtful who are smooth and without hairs and the most dangerous of all the rest is that which heretofore I termed a Pityocampe whose poyson for the most part is deadly The daughter of Caelius Secundus living at Basil in Germany as Gesner saith when she had unwarily and greedily eaten some Colewort-leaves or Cabbage in a Garden and with them some Caterpillers after a strong vomit that was given her belly began to swell which swelling having continued these many years could never as yet receive any cure If you will have your Gardens and Trees untouched and preserved from their mischievous quality you must first take clean away in the Winter time their webs or any part thereof though never so little that you can finde cleaving to the bare boughs for if you let them alone till the Spring you shall sooner see them then finde them removed for in a short space of time they devour up all that is green both leaves and flowers Some use to anoint their trees with the gall of a green Lizard and some with a Bulls gall which as some constantly report they can by no means away withall The Countrey people choke them with the vapour of a little Brimstone with straw being fired under the tree and so to smoother them Some there be that make a fumigation with Galbanum Harts-horn the shavings of Ivory and Goats hoofs and Ox-dung Didymus in Georgicis saith that if you bare the roots of your trees and besmear or soyl them with Doves dung they shall never be hurt by any Worms I should willingly have omitted and not renewed with any fresh discovery Columellaes remedy against Caterpillers or rather the immodest deceit and deluding trick of Democritus unlesse experience which is Iterata ejusdem eventus observatio a repeated observation of the same event had approved the verity thereof especially in the Countrey of Stiria And Palladius in his first Book ch 35. and Constantinus neer the end of his 11. and 12. Books whose words be these At si nulla valet medicina repellere pestem Daâdaniae veniunt artes nudataque plantas Foeina quae justis tum demum operata juventae Legibus obscoeno manat pudibunda eruore Sed resoluta sinus resoluto moesta capillo Ter circum areolas sepem ducitur horti Quae cum lustravit gradiens mirabile visu Non aliter decussa pluit quam ex arbore nimbus Vel teretis mali vel tectaecortice glandis Volvitur ad terram distorto corpore campe Which may be Englished thus But when no medicine can that plague expell Then use they Arts which once the Trojans sound A woman which had Virgin-laws observed well Her bare and naked
turning black into green and green into blew like a Player which putteth off one person to put on another according to these verses of Ovid Id quoque quod ventis animal nutritur aura Protinus assimilat tetigit quoscunque colores In English thus The Beast that liveth by winde and weather Of each thing touched taketh colour The reasons of this change or colour are the same which are given of the Busse and P ãâ¦ã Fish namely extremity of fear the thinnesse smoothnesse and baldnesse of the skin Whereupon Tertullian writeth thus Hoc soli Chamaeleonti datum quod vulgo dictum est de suo corio ludere That is to say This is the only gift of nature to a Chamaeleon that according to the common Proverb it deceiveth with his skin meaning that a Chamaeleon at his own pleasure can change the colour of his skin Whereupon Erasmus applyeth the proverb de alieno corio ludere to such as secure themselves with other mens peril From hence also cometh another proverb Chamaileontos rumei ab ãâ¦ã s more mutable then a Chamaeleon for a crafty cunning inconstant fellow changing himself into every mans disposition such a one was Alciblades who was said to be in Athens and of such a man resembling this beast did Alciatus make this emblem against flatterers Semper hiat sâmper tenuem qua vescitur aurum Reciprocat Chamaleon Et mutat faciem varios sumâtque colores Praeter rubrum vel candidum Sic adulator populari vescitur aura Hiansque cuncta devorat Et solum mores imitutur principâs atros Albi pudici nescius That is to say It alway gapes turning in and out that breath Whereon it feeds and often changeth hew Now black and green and pale and other colors hath But red and white Chamaeleons do eschew So Clawbacks seed on vulgar breath as ãâã With open mouth devouring same and right Princes black-vices praise but vertues âread Designed in nature by colours red and white A Chamaeleon of all Egge-breeding Beasts is the thinnest because it lacketh bloud and the reason here of is by Aristotle referred to the disposition of the soul For he saith through overmuch fear it taketh upon it many colours and fear through the want of bloud and heat is a refrigeration of this Beast Plutarch also calleth this Beast a meticulous and fearful beast and in this cause concludeth the change of his colour not as some say to avoid and deceive the beholders and to work out his own happinesse but for meer dread and terrour Johannes Vrsinus assigneth the cause of the change of Chamaeleons colour not to fear but to the meat and to the air as appeareth by these verses Non timor imâ cibus nimirum limpidus ãâã Ambo simul vario membra colore novanâ Which may be thus Englished Not fear but meat which is the air thin New colours on his body doth begin But I for my part do assign the true cause to be in the thinnesse of their skin and therefore may easily take impression of any colour like to a thin fleak of a horn which being laid over black seemeth black and so over other colours and besides there being no hinderance of bloud in this Beast nor Intrails except the lights the other humors may have the more predominant mutation and so I will conclude the discourse of the parts and colour of a Chamaeleon with the opinion of Kiranides not that I approve it but to let the Reader know all that is written of this Subject his words are these Chamaelem singulis horis diei mutat colorem A Chamaeleon changeth his colour every hour of a day This Beast hath the face like a Lyon the feet and tail of a Crocodile having a variable color as you have heard and one strange continued nerve from the head to the tail being altogether without flesh except in the head cheeks and uppermost part of the tail which is joyned to the body neither hath it any bloud but in the heart eys and in a place above the heart and in certain veins derived from that place and in them also but a very little bloud There be many membranes all over their bodies and those stronger then in any other Beasts From the middle of the head backward there ariseth a three square bone and the fore part is hollow and round like a pipe certain bony brims sharp and indented standing upon either side Their brain is so little above their eyes that it almost toucheth them and the upper skin being pulled off from their eyes there appeareth a certain round thing like a bright ring of Brasse which Niphus calleth Paila which signifieth that part of a Ring wherein is set a pretious stone The eyes in the hollow within are very great and much greater then the proportion of the body round and covered over with such a skin as the whole body is except the apple which is bare and that part is never covered This apple stands immoveable not turned but when the whole eye is turned at the pleasure of the Beast The snout is like to the snout of a Hog-ape always gaping and never shutting his mouth and serving him for no other use but to bear his tongue and his teeth his gums are adorned with teeth as we have said before the upper lip being shorter and more turned in then the other Their throat and artery are placed as in a Lizard their lights are exceeding great and they have nothing else within their body Whereupon Theophrastus as Plutarch witnesseth conceiveth that they fill the whole body within and for this cause it is more apt to live on the air and also to change the colour It hath no Spleen or Milt the tail is very long at the end and turning up like a Vipers tail winded together in many circles The feet are double cloven and for proportion resemble the thumb and hand of a man yet so as if one of the fingers were set neer the side of the thumb having three without and two within behinde and three within and two without before the palm betwixt the fingers is somewhat great from within the hinder-legs there seem to grow certain spurs Their legs are straight and longer then a Lizards yet is their bending alike and their nails are crooked and very sharp One of these being dissected and cut asunder yet breatheth a long time after they goe into the caves and holes of the earth like Lizards wherein they lie all the Winter time and come forth again in the Spring their pace is very slow and themselves very gentle never exasperated but when they are about wilde Fig-trees They have for their enemies the Serpent the Crow and the Hawk When the hungry Serpent doth assault them they defend themselves in this manner as Alexander Mindius writeth they take in their mouths a broad and strong stalk under protection whereof as under a buckler they defend themselves against
monstrous Serpent growing all his life long unto the length of fifteen or twenty cubits And as Phalareus witnesseth in the days of Psammitichas King of Egypt there was one found of five and twenty cubits long and before that in the days of Amasis one that was above six and twenty cubits long the reason whereof was their long life and continual growth We have shewed already that the colour of a Crocodile is like to Saffron that is betwixt yellow and red more inclining to yellow then red not unlike to the blacket kinde of Chamaeleon but Peter Martyr saith that their belly is somewhat whiter then the other parts Their body is rough all over being covered with a certain bark or rinde so thick firm and strong as it will not yeeld and especially about the back unto a cart-wheele when the cart is loaded and in all the upper parts and the tail it is impenetrable with any dart or spear yea scarsely to a pistol or small gun but the belly is softer whereon he receiveth wounds with more facility for as we shall shew afterwards there is a kinde of Dolphin which cometh into Nilus and fighteth with them wounding them on the belly parts The covering of their back is distinguished into divers divided shells standing up far above the flesh and towards the sides they are lesse eminent but on the belly they are more smooth white and very penetrable The eyes of a Crocodile of the water are reported to be like unto a Swines and therefore in the water they see very dimly but out of the water they are sharp and quick sighted like to all other four-footed Serpents that lay egges They have but one eye lid and that groweth from the neather part of the cheek which by reason of their eyes never twinckleth And the Egyptians say that only the Crocodile among all the living creatures in the water draweth a certain thin bright skin from his fore-head over his eyes wherewithall he covereth his sight and this I take to be the only cause of his dim sight in the waters The head of this Beast is very broad and his snout like a Swines When he eateth or biteth he never moveth his neather or under chap. Whereof Aristotle giveth this reason that seeing Nature hath given him so short feet as that they are not able to hold or to take the prey therefore the mouth is framed in stead of feet so as it may more vehemently strike and wound and also more speedily move and turn after the prey and this is better done by the upper then the neither chap. But it is likely that he was deceived for he speaketh of Crocodilus marinus a Crocodile of the Sea whereas there is no Crocodile of the Sea but rather some other monster like a Crocodile in the Sea and such peradventure Albertus saw and thereupon inconsiderately affirmed that all Crocodiles move their under-chaps except the Teuchea But the learned Vessalius proveth it to be otherwise because that the neather-chap is so conjoyned and fastened to the bones of the temples that it is not possible for to be moved And therefore the Crocodile only among all other living creatures moveth the upper-chap and holdeth the under-chap unmoveable The second wonder unto this is that the Crocodile hath no tongue nor so much as any appearance of a tongue But then the question is how it cometh to distinguish the sapours and tast of his meat Whereunto Aristotle answereth that this Crocodile is such a ravening Beast that his meat tarryeth not in his mouth but is carryed into his stomach like as other water Beasts and therefore they discern sapours and relish their meat more speedily then other for the water or humor falleth so fast into their mouths that they cannot stand long upon the tast or distast of their meat But yet some make question of this and they answer that most men are deceived herein for whiles they look for his tongue upon his neather-chap as it is in all other Beasts and finde none they conclude him to want that part but they should consider that the tongue cleaveth to the moveable part and as in other Beasts the neather-chap is the seat of the tongue because of the motion so in this the tongue cleaveth to the upper-chap because that it is moveable and yet not visible as in other and therefore is very hardly discerned For all this I rather conclude with the former Authors that seeing it liveth both in the waters and on the land and therefore it resembleth a fish and a beast as it resembleth a Beast locum obtinet linguae it hath a place for a tongue but as it resembleth a fish Elinguis est it is without a tongue It hath great teeth standing out all of them stand out before visibly when the mouth is shut and fewer behinde And whereas Aristotle writeth that there is no living creature which hath both dentes prominentes serratos that is standing out and divided like a saw yet the Crocodile hath both These teeth are white long sharp and a little crooked and hollow their quantity well resembling the residue of the proportion of the body and some say that a Crocodile hath three rows of teeth like the Lyon of Chius and like the Whale but this is not an approved opinion because they have no more then sixty teeth They have also sixty joynts or bones in the back which are also tyed together with so many nerves The opening of his mouth reacheth to the place of his ears and there be some Crocodiles in Ganges which have a kinde of little horn upon their noses or snout The milt is very small and this some say is only in them that bring forth egges their stones are inward and cleave to their loyns The tail is of the same length that the whole body hath and the same is also rough and armed with hard skin upon the upper part and the sides but beneath it is smooth and tender It hath fins upon the tail by the benefit whereof it swimmeth as also by the help of the feet The feet are like a Bears except that they are covered with scales in stead of hair their nails are very sharp and strong for if it had a thumb as well as it hath feet the strength thereof would over-turn a ship It is doubtful whether it hath any place of excrement except the mouth And thus much for the several parts of the Crocodile The knowledge also of the natural actions and inclinations of Crocodiles is requisite to be handled in the next place because that actions follow the members as sounds do instruments First therefore although Aristotle for the most part speaking of a Crocodile calleth it aquatilis fluviatilis yet it is not to confine it to the Waters and Rivers as though it never came out of them like fishes but only to note that particular kinde which differeth from them of the
further that at such time as the Millet-seed groweth and flourisheth this Serpent is most strong and hurtful and so with the residue he agreeth with Aelianus but herein he is also deceived writing by hear-say as himself confesseth and therefore it is more safe for us to have recourse to some eye-witnesse for the description of this Serpent then to stand upon the opinions of them which write by the relation of others Bellonius faith that he saw one of these in Rhodes being full of small round black spots not greater then the seeds of Lentiles every one having a round circle about him like an eye after such a fashion as is to be seen in the little Fish called the Torpedo In length it exceedeth not three palms and in bignesse no greater then the little finger It was of an Ash-colour coming neer to the whitenesse of milk but under the belly it was altogether white upon the back it had scales but upon the belly a thin skin as in all other Serpents The upper part of the back was somewhat black having two black lines in the middle which begin at the head and so are drawn along the whole body to the tail As for the Cafezati and Alteratati or Altinatyri those are red Serpents as Avicen saith which are but small in quantity yet as deep and deadly in poyson as in any other for they hurt in the same manner that these Darts do Some of them do so wound with their poyson as the afflicted person dyeth incontinent without sense or pain Some again die by languishing pain after many hopes of recovery losing life Among all the people of the World the Sabeans are most annoyed with this kinde of red Serpents for they have many odoriferous and sweet smelling Woods in the which these Serpents do abound but such is their rage and hatred against men that they leap upon them and wound them deadly whensoever they come within their compasse And surely if it be lawful to conjecture what kinde of Serpents those were which in the Scripture are called fiery Serpents and did sting the Israelites to death in the Wildernesse until the Brazen Serpent was erected for their cure among all the Serpents in the world that kinde of pain and death can be ascribed to none more properly then to these Cafezati or Red-dart-serpents For first the Wildernesse which was the place wherein they annoyed the people doth very well agree to their habitation Secondly those fiery Serpents are so called by figure not that they were fiery but as all Writers do agree either because they were red like fire or else because the pain which they inflicted did burn like fire or rather for both these causes together which are joyntly and severally found in these red Serpents and therefore I will conclude for my opinion that these Serpents as the highest poyson in nature were sent by GOD to afflict the sinning Israelites whose poyson was uncurable except by Divine miracle Mââthiâlus also telleth a story of a Shepheard which was slain in Italy by one of these as he was sleeping in the heat of the day under the shadow of a tree his fellow Shepheards being not far off looking to their flocks suddenly there came one of these Dart-serpents out of the tree and wounded him upon his left pap at the biting whereof the man awaked and cryed out and so dyed incontinently his fellow Shepheards hearing this noise came unto him to see what he ailed and found him dead with a Serpent upon his breast now knowing what kinde of Serpent this was they forsook their flocks and ran away for fear The cure of this Serpents biting if there be any at all is the same which cureth the Vipers as Aetius and Avicen writeth and therefore I will not relate it in this place The gall of this Beast mixed with the Scythian Stone yeeldeth a very good Eye-salve The which gall lyeth betwixt the back and the liver And thus much shall suffice for this Serpent Of the DIPSAS THis Dipsas hath many names from many occasions First Dipsas in Greek signifieth thirst as Sitis doth in Latine and thereof also it is called Situla because whosoever is wounded by this Serpent dyeth It is also called by some Prester and by some Causon because it setteth the whole body on fire but we shall shew afterwards that the Prester is a different Serpent from this It is called likewise Melanurus because of his black tail and Ammoatis because it lyeth in the sand and there hurteth a man It is not therefore unfitly defined by Avicen to be Vipera sitim faciens that is A Viper causing thirst and therefore Ovid sporting at an old drunken woman named Lena calleth her Dipsas in these verses Est quaedam nomine Dipsas anus Ex re noniex habet nigri non illa parentem Memnonis in roseis sobria vidit equis In English thus There is a woman old which Dipsas may be hight And not without some cause thirsty she ever is For never Memnons sire all black and seldom bright Did she in water sweet behold in sobernesse They live for the most part neer the waters and in salt marishy places whereupon Lucan said Stant in margine siccae Aspides mediis sitiebant Dipsades undis That is to say Vpon pits brink dry Aspes there stood And Dipsads thirst in midst of water floâd It is called Torrida Dipsat and Arida Dipsas because of the perpetual thirst and therefore the Egyptians when they will signifie thirst do picture a Dipsas whereupon Lucianus relateth this story there is saith he a statue or monument upon a Grave right over against the great Syrtes betwixt Sillya and Egypt with this Epigram Talia passus erat quoque Tantalus Aethiope ortus Qui nullo potuit fonte levare sitim Tale nec è Danao natas implere puellas Assiduis undis vas potuisse reor That is to say Such Tantalus indured in Aethiope bred Which never could by water quench his thirst Nor could the Grecian Maids with water sped That with dayly pourings till the vessel curst The statue was the picture of a man like unto Tantalus standing in the midst of a water ready to drink by drawing in of the water about whose foot was folded a Dipsas close by stood certain women bringing water and pouring it into him to make it run into his mouth besides there were certain Egges as it were of Estriches lay pictured beside them such as the Garamants in Lybia seek after For it is reported by Lucianus that the people of that Countrey do earnestly seek after the Estriches Egges upon the sands not only to eat the meat that is in them but also to make sundry vessels or instruments of the shell and among other things they make Caps of them Near unto these Egges do these treacherous Serpents lie in wait and so while the poor Countrey man cometh to seek for meat suddenly he leapeth upon him and giveth him
they have beards of a yellow golden colour being full of bristles and the Mountain-dragons commonly have more deep eye-lids then the Dragons of the Fens Their aspect is very fierce and grim and whensoever they move upon the earth their eyes give a sound from their eye-lids much like unto the tinckling of Brasse and sometimes they boldly venture into the Sea and take Fishes Of the WINGED DRAGON Saint Augustine saith that Dragons abide in deep Caves and hollow places of the earth and that some-times when they perceive moistnes in the air they come out of their holes beating the air with their wings as it were with the strokes of Oars they forsake the earth and flie aloft which wings of theirs are of a skinny substance and very voluble and spreading themselves wide according to the quantity and largenesse of the Dragons body which caused Lucan the Poet in his verses to write in this manner following Vos quoque qui cunctis innoxia numina terris Serpitis aurato nitidi fulgore Dracones Pestiferos ardens facit Africa ducitis altum Aera cum pennis c. In English thus You shining Dragons creeping on the earth Which fiery Africk holds with skins like gold Yet pestilent by hot infecting breath Mounted with wings in th' air we do behold The Inhabitants of the Kingdom of Georgia once called Media do say that in their Vallies there are divers Dragons which have both wings and feet and that their feet are like unto the feet of Geese Besides there are Dragons of sundry colours for some of them are black some red some of an ash-colour some yellow and their shape and outward appearance very beautiful according to the verses of Nicander âor ãâ¦ã u apparet species pulchro illius ore Triplice conspicui se produni ordine dentes Magna sub egregia scintillant lumina fronte Tinctaque felle tegunt imum palearia mentum Which may be Englished thus Their form of presence outwardly appears All beautiful and in their goodly mouth Their teeth stand double all one within another Conspicuous order so doth bewray the truth Vnder their brows which are both great and wide Stand twinckling eyes as bright as any star With red galls tincture are their dewlaps dyed Their chinor under-chap to cover far Gillius Pierius and Grevinus following the authority of this Poet do affirm that a Dragon is of a black colour the belly somewhat green and very beautiful to behold having a treble row of teeth in their mouths upon every jaw and with most bright and cleer seeing eyes which caused the Poets to faign in their writings that these Dragons are the watchfull keepers of Treasures They have also two dewlaps growing under their chin and hanging down like a beard which are of a red colour their bodies are set all over with very sharp scales and over their eyes stand certain flexible eye-lids When they gape wide with their mouth and thrust forth their tongue their teeth seem very much to resemble the teeth of wilde Swine And their necks have many times grosse thick hair growing upon them much like unto the bristles of a wilde Boar. Their mouth especially of the most tameable Dragons is but little not much bigger then a pipe through which they draw in their breath for they wound not with their mouth but with their tails only beating with them when they are angry But the Indian Aethiopian and Phrygian Dragons have very wide mouths through which they often swallow in whole fowls and beasts Their tongue is cloven as if it were double and the Investigators of nature do say that they have fifteen teeth of a side The males have combes on their heads but the females have none and they are likewise distinguished by their beards They have most excellent senses both of seeing and hearing and for this cause their name Drakon cometh of Derkein and this was one cause why Jupiter the Heathens great God is said to be metamorphosed into a Dragon whereof their flyeth this tale when he fell in love with Proserpina he ravished her in the likenesse of a Dragon for he came unto her and covered her with the spires of his body and for this cause the people of Sabazii did observe in their mysteries or sacrifices the shape of a Dragon rowled up within the compasse of his spires so that as he begot Ceres with childe in the likenesse of a Bull he likewise deluded her daughter Proserpina in the likenesse of a Dragon but of these transmutations we shall speak more afterwards and I think the vanity of these took first ground from the Africans who believe that the original of Dragons took beginning from the unnatural conjunction of an Eagle and a she Wolf And so they say that the Wolf growing great by this conception doth not bring forth as at other times but her belly breaketh and the Dragon cometh out who in his beak and wings resembleth the Dragon his father and in his feet and tail the Wolf his mother but in the skin neither of them both but this kinde of fabulous generation is already sufficiently confuted Their meats are fruits and herbs or any venomous creature therefore they live long without food and when they eat they are not easily filled They grow most fat by eating of egges in devouring whereof they use this Art if it be a great Dragon he swalloweth it up whole and then rowleth himself whereby he crusheth the egges to pieces in his belly and so nature casteth out the shells and keepeth in the meat But if it were a young Dragon as if it be a Dragons whelp he taketh the egge within the spire of his tail and so crushed it hard and holdeth it fast untill his scales open the shell like a knife then sucketh he out of the place opened all the meat of the egg In like sort do the young ones pull off the feathers from the fowls which they eat and the old ones swallow them whole casting the feathers out of their bellies again The Dragons of Phrygia when they are hungry turn themselves towards the West and gaping wide with the force of their breath do draw the Birds that flie over their heads into their throats which some have thought is but a voluntary lapse of the Fowls to be drawn by the breath of the Dragon as by a thing they love but it is more probable that some vaporous and venomous breath is sent up from the Dragon to them that poysoneth and infecteth the air about them whereby their senses are taken from them and they astonished fall down into his mouth But if it fortune the Dragons finde not food enough to satisfie their hunger then they hide themselves until the people be returned from the market or the heard-men bring home their flocks and upon a sudden they devour either Men or Beasts which come first to their mouths then they go again and hide themselves in their dens and hollow Caves
successively together in one day and did hang in the air over a Town called Sanctogoarin shaking his tail over that Town every time it appeared visibly in the sight of many of the Inhabitants and afterwards it came to passe that the said Town was three times burned with fire to the great harm and undoing of all the people dwelling in the same for they were not able to make any resistance to quench the fire with all the might Art and power that they could raise And it was further observed that about that time there were many Dragons seen washing themselves in a certain Fountain or Well neer the Town and if any of the people did chance to drink of the water of that Well their bellies did instantly begin to swell and they dyed as if they had been poysoned Whereupon it was publiquely decreed that the said Well should be filled up with stones to the intent that never any man should afterwards be poysoned with that water and so a memory thereof was continued and these things are written by Justinus Goblerus in an Epistle to Gesner affirming that he did not write faigned things but such things as were true and as he had learned from men of great honesty and credit whose eyes did see and behold both the Dragons and the mishaps that followed by fire When the body of Cleomenes was crucified and hung upon the Crosse it is reported by them that were the watch-men about it that there came a Dragon and did winde it self about his body and with his head covered the face of the dead King oftentimes licking the same and not suffering any Bird to come neer and touch the carkasse For which cause there began to be a reverent opinion of divinity attributed to the King until such time as wise and prudent men studious of the truth found out the true cause hereof For they say that as Bees are generated out of the body of Oxen and Drones of Horses and Hornets of Asses so do the bodies of men ingender out of their marrow a Serpent and for this cause the Ancients were moved to consecrate the Dragon to Noble-spirited men and therefore there was a monument kept of the first Africanus because that under an Olive planted with his own hand a Dragon was said to preserve his ghost But I will not mingle fables and truths together and therefore I will reserve the moral discourse of this Beast unto another place and this which I have written may be sufficient to satisfie any reasonable man that there are winged Serpents and Dragons in the world And I pray God that we never have better arguments to satisfie us by his corporal and lively presence in our Countrey lest some great calamity follow thereupon Now therefore we will proceed to the love and hatred of this Beast that is observed with man and other creatures And first of all although Dragons be natural enemies to men like unto all other Serpents yet many times if there be any truth in story they have been possessed with extraordinary love both to men women and children as may appear by these particulars following There was one Aleva a Thessallan Neatherd which did keep Oxen in Ossa hard by the Fountain Hemonius there was a Dragon fell in love with this man for his hair was as yellow as any gold unto him for his hair did this Dragon often come creeping closely as a Lover to his Love and when he came unto him he would lick his hair and face so gently and in so sweet a manner as the man professed he never felt the like so as without all fear he conversed with him and as he came so would he go away again never returning to him empty but bringing some one gift or other such as his nature and kinde could lay hold on There was a Dragon also which loved Pindus the son of Macedo King of Emathia This Pindus having many Brothers most wicked and lewd persons and he only being a valiant man of honest disposition having likewise a comely and goodly personage understanding the treachery of his Brethren against him bethought himself how to avoid their hands and tyranny Now forasmuch as he knew that the Kingdom which he possessed was the only mark they all shot at he thought it better to leave that to them and so to rid himself from envy fear and peril then to embrew his hand in their bloud or to lose his life and Kingdom both together Wherefore he renounced and gave over the government and betook himself to the exercise of hunting for he was a strong man fit to combate with wilde Beasts by destruction of whom he made more room for many men upon the earth so that he passed all his days in that exercise It hapned on a day that he was hunting of a Hind-calf and spurring his Horse with all his might and main in the eager persuit thereof he rode out of the sight of all his company and suddenly the Hind-calf leaped into a very deep Cave out of the sight of Pindus the Hunter and so saved himself Then he alighted from his Horse and tyed him to the next Tree seeking out as diligently as he could for a way into the Cave whereinto the Hind-calf had leaped and when he had looked a good while about him and could finde none he heard a voyce speaking unto him and forbidding him to touch the Hind-calf which made him look about again to see if he could perceive the person from whom the voyce proceeded but espying none he grew to be afraid and thought that the voyce proceeded from some other greater cause and so leaped upon his Horse hastily and departed again to his fellows The day after he returned to the same place and when he came thither being terrified with the remembrance of the former voyce he durst not enter into the place but stood there doubting and wondering with himself what Shepheards or Hunters or other men might be in that place to diswarn him from his game and therefore he went round about to seek for some or to learn from whence the voyce proceeded While he was thus seeking there appeared unto him a Dragon of a great stature creeping upon the greatest part of his body except his neck and head lifted up a little and that little was as high as the stature of any man can reach and in this fashion he made toward Pindus who at the first sight was not a little afraid of him but yet did not run away but rather gathering his wits together remembred that he had about him Birds and divers parts of Sacrifices which instantly he gave unto the Dragon and so mitigated his fury by these gifts and as it were with a royal feast changed the cruel nature of the Dragon into kinde usage For the Dragon being smoothed over with these gifts as it were overtaken with the liberality of Pindus was contented to forsake the old place of his habitation
they set their Grab-hooks unto them to loose them for the day before they remembred that a Ship was cast away in the same place and therefore they thought that it might be the Nets were hanged upon some of the tacklings thereof and therein they were not much deceived for it happened that finding the place whereupon the Net did stay they pulled and found some difficulty to remove it but at last they pulled it up and found it to be a chair of beaten gold At the sight hereof their spirits were a little revived because they had attained so rich a booty and yet like men burdened with wealth especially the old man conceived new fears and wished he were on land lest some storm should fall and lay both it and them the second time in the bottom of the Sea So great is the impression of fear and the natural presage of evill in men that know but little in things to come that many times they prove true Prophets of their own destruction although they have little reason till the moment of perill come upon them and so it fell out accordingly in this old man for whilest he feared death by storms and tempests on the Sea it came upon him but by another way and means For behold the Devill entred into the hearts of his two servants and they conspired together to kill the old man their Master that so between themselves they might be owners of that great rich chair the value whereof as they conceived might make them Gentlemen and maintain them in some other Countrey all the days of their life For such was the resolution that they conceived upon the present that it would not be safe for them to return home again after the fact committed lest they should be apprehended for murder as they justly deserved their Master being so made away by them The Devill that had put this wicked motion into their mindes gave them likewise present opportunity to put the same in execution depriving them of all grace pity and piety still thrusting them forward to perform the same So that not giving him any warning of his death one of them in most savage and cruel manner dashed out his brains and the other speedily cast him into the Sea And thus the fear of this old man conceived without all reason except superstition for the sight of a Fiery-drake came upon him in a more bloudy manner then he expected but life suspected it self and rumors of peril unto guilty consciences such as all we mortal men bear are many times as forcible as the sentence of a Judge to the heart of the condemned prisoner and therefore it were happy that either we could not fear except when the causes are certain or else that we might never perish but upon premonition And therefore I conclude with the example of this man that it is not good to hold a superstitious fear lest God see it and being angry therewith bring upon us the evill which we fear But this is not the end of the story for that Fire-drake as by the sequel appeareth proved as evill to the servants as he did to the Master These two sons of the Devill made thus rich by the death of their Master forthwith they sailed towards the Coast of France but first of all they broke the Chair in pieces and wrapped it up in one of their Nets making account that it was the best fish that ever was taken in that Net and so they laid it in one end of their Bark or Fisher-boat And thus they laboured all that night and the next day till three or four of the clock at what time they espyed a Port of Britain whereof they were exceeding glad by reason that they were weary hungry and thirsty with long labour always rich in their own conceit by the gold which they had gotten which had so drawn their hearts from God as they could not fear any thought of his judgement And finally it so blinded their eyes and stopped their ears that they did not see the vengeance that followed them nor hear the cry of their Masters bloud Wherefore as they were thus rejoycing at the sight of land behold they suddenly espyed a Man of War coming towards them whereat they were appalled and began to think with themselves that their rich hopes were now at an end and they had laboured for other but yet resolved to die rather then to suffer the booty to be taken away from them And while they thus thought the Man of War approached and hailed them summoning them to come in and shew what they were they refused making forward as fast to the Land as they could Wherefore the Man of War shot certain Muskets at them and not prevailing nor they yeelding sent after them his Long-boat upon the entrance thereof they fought manfully against the assaylants until one of them was slain and the other mortally wounded who seeing his fellow kill'd and himself not likely to live yet in envy against his enemy ran presently to the place where the Chair lay in the Net and lifting the same up with all his might cast it from him into the Sea instantly falling down after that fact as one not able through weaknesse to stand any longer whereupon he was taken and before his life left him he related the whole story to them that took him earnestly desiring them to signifie so much into England which they did accordingly and as I have heard the whole story was printed and so this second History of the punishment of murder I have related in this place by occasion of the Fiery-drake in the History of the Dragon A second cause why poyson is supposed to be in Dragons is for that they often feed upon many venomous roots and therefore their poyson sticketh in their teeth whereupon many times the party bitten by them seemeth to be poysoned but this falleth out accidentally not from the nature of the Dragon but from the nature of the meat which the Dragon eateth And this is it which Homer knew and affirmed in his verses when he described a Dragon making his den neer unto the place where many venomous roots and herbs grew and by eating whereof he greatly annoyeth mankinde when he biteth them Os de Drakoon espi Xein oresteros andra menesi Bebrocos kaka pharmaka Which may be thus Englished And the Dragon which by men remains Eats evill herbs without deadly pains And therefore Aelianus saith well that when the Dragon meaneth to do most harm to men he eateth deadly poysonful herbs so that if he bite after them many not knowing the cause of the poyson and seeing or feeling venom by it do attribute that to his nature which doth proceed from his meat Besides his teeth which bite deep he also killeth with his tail for be will so begirt and pinch in the body that he doth gripe it to death and also the strokes of it are so strong that either
they kill thereby forthwith or else wound greatly with the same so that the strokes of his tail are more deadly then the biting of his teeth which caused Nicander to write thus Nec tamen illegraves ut caetera turba dolores Si velit infixo cum forte momorderit ore Suscitat exiguus non noxia vulnera punctus Qui ceu rodentes noctu quaeque obvia muris Infligit modicum tenuis dat plaga cruorem Which may be thus Englished Nor yet he when with his angry mouth Doth bite such pains and torments bringeth As other Serpents if Ancients tell the truth When with his teeth and spear he stingeth For as the holes which biting Mice do leave When in the night they light upon a prey So small are Dragons-bites which men receive And harmlesse wound makes bloud to run away Their mouth is small and by reason thereof they cannot open it wide to bite deep so as their biting maketh no great pain and those kinde of Dragons which do principally fight with Eagles are defended more with their tails then with their teeth but yet there are some other kinde of Dragons whose teeth are like the teeth of Bears biting deep and opening their mouth wide wherewithall they break bones and make many bruises in the body and the males of this kinde bite deeper then the females yet there followeth no great pain upon the wound The cure hereof is like to the cure for the biting of any other Beast wherein there is no venom and for this cause there must be nothing applyed thereunto which cureth venomous bitings but rather such things as are ordinary in the cure of every Ulcer The seed of grasse commonly called Hay-dust is prescribed against the biting of Dragons The Barble being rubbed upon the place where a Scorpion of the earth a Spider a Sea or Land-dragon biteth doth perfectly cure the same Also the head of a Dog or Dragon which hath bitten any one being cut off and flayed and applyed to the wound with a little Euphorbium is said to cure the wound speedily And if Alberdisimon be the same that is a Dragon then according to the opinion of Avicen the cure of it must be very present as in the cure of Ulcers And if Alhatraf and Haudem be of the kinde of Dragons then after their biting there follow great coldnesse and stupidity and the cure thereof must be the same means which is observed in cold poysons For which cause the wound or place bitten must be embrewed or washed with luke-warm Vinegar and emplaistered with the leaves of Bay anointed with the Oyl of herb Mary and the Oyl of Wilde-pellitory or such things as are drawn out of those Oyls wherein is the vertue of Nettles or Sea-onions But those things which are given unto the patient to drink must be the juyce of Bay-leaves in Vinegar or else equall portions of Myrrhe Pepper and Rew in Wine the powder or dust whereof must be the full weight of a golden groat or as we say a French Crown In the next place for the conclusion of the History of the Dragon we will take our farewell of him in the recital of his medicinal vertues which are briefly these that follow First the fat of a Dragon dryed in the Sun is good against creeping Ulcers and the same mingled with Honey and Oyl helpeth the dimnesse of the eyes at the beginning The head of a Dragon keepeth one from looking asquint and if it be set up at the gates and dores it hath been thought in ancient time to be very fortunate to the sincere worshippers of GOD. The eyes being kept till they be stale and afterwards beat into an Oyl with Honey made into Ointment keep any one that useth it from the terrour of night-visions and apparitions The fat of a Hart in the skin of a Roe bound with the nerves of a Hart unto the shoulder was thought to have a vertue to fore-shew the judgement of victories to come The first spindle by bearing of it procureth an easie passage for the pacification of higher powers His teeth bound unto the feet of a Roe with the nerves of a Hart have the same power But of all other there is no folly comparable to the composition which the Magitians draw out of a Dragon to make one invincible and that is this They take the head and tail of a Dragon with the hairs out of the fore-head of a Lyon and the marrow of a Lyon the spume or white mouth of a conquering Horse bound up in a Harts skin together with a claw of a Dog and fastned with the crosse nerves or sinew of a Hart or of a Roe they say that this hath as much power to make one invincible as hath any medicine or remedy whatsoever The fat of Dragons is of such vertue that it driveth away venomous beasts It is also reported that by the tongue or gall of a Dragon sod in Wine men are delivered from the spirits of the night called Incubi and Succubi or else Night-mares But above all other parts the use of their bloud is accounted most notable But whether the Cynnabaris be the same which is made of the bloud of the Dragons and Elephants collected from the earth when the Dragon and Elephant fall down dead together according as Pliny delivereth I will not here dispute seeing it is already done in the story of the Elephant neither will I write any more of this matter in this place but only refer the Reader unto that which he shall finde written thereof in the History of our former Book of Four-footed Beasts And if that satisfie him not let him read Langius in the first book of his Epistles and sixty five Epistle where that learned man doth abundantly satisfie all men concerning this question that are studious of the truth and not prone to contention And to conclude Andreas Balvacensis writeth that the Bloud-stone called the Haematite is made of the Dragons bloud and thus I will conclude the History of the Dragon with this story following out of Porphyrius concerning the good successe which hath been signified unto men and women either by the dreams or sight of Dragons Mammea the Mother of Alexander Severus the Emperor the night before his birth dreamed that she brought forth a little Dragon so also did Olympia the Mother of Alexander the Great and Pomponia the Mother of Scipio Africanus The like prodigy gave Augustus hope that he should be Emperor For when his Mother Aetia came in the night time unto the Temple of Apollo and had set down her bed or couch in the Temple among other Matrons suddenly she fell asleep and in her sleep she dreamed that a Dragon came to her and clasped about her body and so departed without doing her any harm Afterwards the print of a Dragon remained perpetually upon her belly so as she never durst any more be seen in any bath The Emperor Tiberius Caesar had a Dragon
wherein they say is the picture of a Toad with her legs spread before and behinde And it is further affirmed that if both these stones be held in ones hand in the presence of poyson it will burn him The probation of this stone is by laying of it to a live Toad and if she lift up her head against it it is good but if she run away from it it is a counterfeit Geor. Agricola calleth the greater kinde of these stones Brontia and the lesser and smoother sort of stones Ceraunie although some contrary this opinion saying that these stones Brantia and Ceraunia are bred on the earth by thundering and lightning Whereas it is said before that the generation of this stone in the Toad proceedeth of cold that is utterly unpossible for it is described to be so solid and firm as nothing can be more hard and therefore I cannot assent unto that opinion for unto hard and solid things is required abundance of heat and again it is unlikely that whatsoever this Toad-stone be that there should be any store of them in the world as are every where visible if they were to be taken out of the Toads alive and therefore I rather agree with Salveldensis a Spaniard who thinketh that it is begotten by a certain viscous spume breathed out upon the head of some Toad by her fellows in the Spring time This stone is that which in ancient time was called Batrachites and they attribute unto it a vertue besides the former namely for the breaking of the stone in the Bladder and against the Falling-sicknesse And they further write that it is a discoverer of present poyson for in the presence of poyson it will change the colour And this is the substance of that which is written about this stone Now for my part I dare not conclude either with it or against it for Hermolaus Massarius Albertus Sylvaticus and others are directly for this stone ingendered in the brain or head of the Toad on the other side Cardan and Cesner confesse such a stone by name and nature but they make doubt of the generation of it as others have delivered and therefore they being in sundry opinions the hearing whereof might confound the Reader I will refer him for his satisfaction unto a Toad which he may easily every day kill For although when the Toad is dead the vertue thereof be lost which consisted in the eye or blew spot in the middle yet the substance remaineth and if the stone be found there in substance then is the question at an end but if it be not then must the generation of it be sought for in some other place Thus leaving the stone of the Toad we must proceed to the other parts of the story and first of all their place of habitation which for them of the water is neer the water-side and for them of the earth in bushes hedges rocks and holes of the earth never coming abroad while the Sun shineth for they hate the Sun-shine and their nature cannot endure it for which cause they keep close in their holes in the day time and in the night they come abroad Yet sometimes in rainy weather and in solitary places they come abroad in the day time All the Winter time they live under the earth feeding upon earth herbs and worms and it is said they eat earth by measure for they eat so much every day as they can gripe in their fore-foot as it were sizing themselves lest the whole earth should not serve them till the Spring Resembling herein great rich covetous men who ever spare to spend for fear they shall want before they die And for this cause in ancient time the wise Painters of Germany did picture a woman sitting upon a Toad to signifie covetousnesse They also love to eat Sage and yet the root of Sage is to them deadly poyson They destroy Bees without all danger to themselves for they will creep to the holes of their Hives and there blow in upon the Bees by which breath they draw them out of the Hive and so destroy them as they come out for this cause also at the Water-side they lie in wait to catch them When they come to drink in the day time they see little or nothing but in the night time they see perfectly and therefore they come then abroad About their generation there are many worthy observations in nature sometimes they are bred out of the putrefaction and corruption of the earth it hath also been seen that out of the ashes of a Toad burnt not only one but many Toads have been regenerated the year following In the New-world there is a Province called Dariene the air whereof is wonderful unwholesome because all the Countrey standeth upon rotten marishes It is there observed that when the slaves or servants water the pavements of the dores from the drops of water which fall on the right hand are instantly many Toads ingendered as in other places such drops of water are turned into Gnats It hath also been seen that women conceiving with childe have likewise conceived at the same time a Frog or a Toad or a Lizard and therefore Platearius saith that those things which are medicines to provoke the menstruous course of women do also bring forth the Secondines And some have called Bufonem fratrem Salernitanorum lacertam fratrem Lombardorum that is a Toad the Brother of the Salernitâns and the Lizard the Brother of the Lombards for it hath been seen that a woman of Salernum hath at one time brought forth a Boy and a Toad and therefore he calleth the Toad his Brother so likewise a woman of Lombardy a Lizard and therefove he calleth the Lizard the Lombards Brother And for this cause the women of those Countries at such time as their childe beginneth to quicken in their womb do drink the juyce of Parsley and Leeks to kill such conceptions if any be There was a woman newly marryed and when in the opinion of all she was with childe in stead of a childe she brought forth four little living creatures like Frogs yet she remained in good health but a little while after she felt some pain about the rim of her belly which afterward was eased by applying a few remedies Also there was another woman which together with a Man-childe in her Secondines did bring forth such another Beast and after that a Merchants wife did the like in Aneonitum But what should be the reason of these so strange and unnatural conceptions I will not take upon me to decide in nature lest the Omnipotent hand of God should be wronged and his most secret and just counsel presumptuously judged and called into question This we know that it was prophesied in the Revelation that Frogs and Locusts should come out of the Whore of Babylon and the bottomlesse pit and therefore seeing the seat of the Whore of Babylon is in Italy it may be that God would have manifested
that in Italy in his dayes there was a man that had a Scorpion bred in his brain by continuall smelling to this herb Basill and Gesner by relation of an Apothecary in France writeth likewise a story of a young maid who by smelling to Basill fell into an exceeding head-ache whereof she dyed without cure and after her death being opened there were found little Scorpions in her brain Aristotle remembreth an herb which he calleth Sissimbria out of which putrefied Scorpions are engendred as he writeth And we have shewed already in the history of the Crocodile that out of the Crocodiles egges do many times come Scorpions which at their first egression do kill their Dam that hatched them which caused Archelaus which wrote Epigrams of wonders unto Ptolemaeus to sing of Scorpions in this manner In vos dissolvit morte redigit Crocâdilum Natura extinctum Scorpii omnipotens Which may be Englished thus To you by Scorpions death the omnipotent Ruines the Crocodil in natures life extinct And thus much for the generation of Scorpions out of putrefaction Now we will proceed to the second manner of their generation which is by propagation of seed for although Ponzettus make some question about their copulation yet he himself inclineth to that opinion as neerer unto truth which attributeth carnall copulation unto them and therefore he alledgeth the example of flies which admit copulation although they engender not thereby Wherefore we will take it for granted that Scorpions lay egges after copulation which hapneth both in the Spring and Autumne And these are for the most part in number eleven upon which they sit and hatch their young ones and when once they are perfected within those egges which are in sight like the little worms out of which Spyders are engendred then do they break their egges and drive the young out For as Isidorus writeth otherwise the old should be destroyed of the young even as are the Crocodiles Some again say that the old Scorpions do devour their young ones Being thus produced by generation they live upon the earth and those which are bred of the Sea-crab do feed upon the foam of the Sea-water and a continuall white mould or chalk neer the Sea But the Scorpions of Aethiopia do eat all kinde of worms flyes and small Serpents Yea those Serpents whose very dung being troden upon by man bringeth exulcerations And a tryall that Scorpions eat flies was made by Wolphius at Montpelier for having a young one in a boxe for one whole moneth together it lived upon flies and grew by the devouring of them bigger being put into the Glasse unto him They live among tiles and bricks very willingly and for this cause they abound in Rome in the hill called Testaceus They are also in Bononia found in the walls of old houses betwixt the stones and the morter They love also clean clothes as we have said already and yet they abhorre all places whereon the Sun shineth And it seemeth that the Sun is utterly against their nature for the same Scorpion which Wolphius had at Montpeller lived in the Glasse untill one day he set it in the Sun and then presently after it dyed To conclude they love hollow places of the earth neer gutters and sometimes they creep into mens beds where unawares they do much harm and for this cause the Lybians who among other Nations are most of all troubled with Scorpions do use to set their beds far from any wall and very high also from the floor to keep the Scorpions from ascending up into them And yet fearing all devises should be too little to secure them against this evil they also set the feet of their beds ân vessels of water that so the Scorpion may not attempt so much as to climbe up unto them for fear of drowning And also for their further safeguard they were socks and hose in their beds so thick as the Scorpion cannot easily sting through them And if the bed be so placed that they cannot get any hold thereof beneath then they climbe up to the sieling or cover of the house and if there they finde any hold for their pinching legs to apprehend and fasten upon then in their hatred to man-kinde they use this policy to come unto him First one of them as I have said taketh hold upon that place in the house or sieling over the bed wherein they finde the man asleep and so hangeth thereby putting out and stretching his sting to hurt him but finding it too short and not being able to reach him he suffereth another of his fellowes to come and hang as fast by him as he doth upon his hold and so that second giveth the wound and if that second be not able likewise because of the distance to come at the man then they both admit a third to hang upon them and so a fourth upon the third and a fifth upon the fourth untill they have made themselves like a chain to descend from the top to the bed wherein the man sleepeth and the last striketh him after which stroke he first of all runneth away by the back of his fellow and every one again in order till all of them have withdrawn themselves By this may be collected the crafty disposition of this Scorpion and the great subtilty and malice that it is endued withall in nature and seeing they can thus accord together in harming a man it argueth their great mutuall love and concord one with another wherefore I cannot but marvell at them who have written that the old ones destroy the young all but one which they set upon their own buttocks that so the Dam may be secured from the sting and bitings of her son For seeing they can thus hang upon one another without harm favouring their own kinde I see no cause but that nature hath grafted much more love betwixt the old and the young ones so as neither the old do first destroy the young nor afterward that young one preserved in revenge of his fellowes quarrell killeth his Parents It is reported by Aristotle that there is a hill in Caria wherein the Scorpions do never sting any strangers that lodge there but only the naturall born people of that Countrey And hereunto Pliny and Aelianus seem to subscribe when they write that Scorpiones extraneos leniter mordere that is Scorpions bite strangers but gently And hereby it may be collected that they are also by nature very sagacious and can discern betwixt nature and nature yea the particular differences in one and the same nature To conclude Scorpions have no power to hurt where there is no bloud The naturall amity and enmity they observe with other creatures commeth now to be handled and I finde that it wanteth not adversaries nor it again hath no defect of poyson or malice to make resistance and opposition and to take vengeance on such as it meeteth withall The principall of all other subjects
his famous success in hunting and that afterward the Goddess taking pity on him translated him into heaven Others write again that he had his eyes put out by Oenopion and that he came blind into the Island Lemnos where he received a horse of Vulcan upon which he rode to the Sun-rising in which journey he recovered again his eye-sight and so returning he first determined to take revenge upon Oenopion for his former cruelty Wherefore he came into Greet and seeking Oenopion could not finde him because he was hid in the earth by his Citizens but at last coming to him there came a Scorpion and killed him for his malice rescuing Oenopion These and such like fables are there about the death of Orion but all of them joyntly agree in this that Orion was slain by a Scorpion And so saith Anthologius was one Panopaeus a Hunter There is a common adage Cornix Scorpium a Raven to a Scorpion and it is used against them that perish by their own inventions when they set upon others they meet with their matches as a Raven did when it preyed upon a Scorpion thus described by Alciatus under his title Justa ultio just revenge saying as followeth Raptabat volucer captum pede corvus in auras Scorpion audacipraemia parta gulae Ast ille infuso sensim per membra veneno Raptorem in stygias compulit ultor aquas O risu res digna aliis qui fata parabat Ipse periit propriis succubuitque dolis Which may be Englished thus The ravening Crow for prey a Scorpion took Within her foot and therewithall aloft did flie But he impoyson'd her by force and stinging stroke So ravener in the Stygian Lake did die O sportfull game that he which other for bellyes sake did kill By his own decreis should fall into deaths will There be some learned Writers who have compared a Scorpion to an Epigram or rather an Epigram to a Scorpion because as the sting of the Scorpion lyeth in the tayl so the force and vertue of an Epigram is in the conclusion for vel acriter et salse mordeat vel jucunde dulciter delectes that is either let it bite sharply at the end or else delight pleasingly There be many wayes of bringing Scorpions out of their holes and so to destroy and take them as we have already touched in part unto which I may adde these that follow A perfume made of Oxe-dung also Storax and Arsenick And Pliny writeth that ten Water-crabs beaten with Basil is an excellent perfume for this purpose and so is the ashes of Scorpions And in Padua they use this art with small sticks or straw they touch and make a noyse upon the stones and morter wherein they have their nests then they thinking them to be some flies for their meat instantly leap out and so the man that deluded them is ready with a pair of tongs or oââer instrument to lay hold upon them and take them by which means they take many and of them so taken make Oyl of Scorpions And Constantius writeth that if a mans hand be well anoynted with juice of Radish he may take them without danger in his bare hand In the next place we are to proceed to the venom and poyson of Scorpions the instrument or sting whereof lyeth not only in the tail but also in the teeth for as Ponzettus writeth Laedit scorpius morsu et ictu the Scorpion harmeth both with teeth and tail that is although the greatest harm do come by the sting in the tayl yet is there also some that cometh by their biting This poyson of Scorpions as Pliny out of Apollodorus writeth is white and in the heat of the day is very fervent and plentifull so as at that time they are insatiably and unquenchably thirsty for not only the wilde or wood Scorpion but also all other are of a hot nature and the symptomes of their bitings are such as follow the effects of hot poysons and therefore saith Rasis all their remedies are of a cold quality Yet Galen thinketh otherwise and that the poyson is cold and the effects thereof are also cold For which cause Rondeletus prescribeth Oyl of Scorpions to expell the stone and also the cure of the poyson is by strong Garlick and the best Wine which are hot things And therefore I conclude that although Scorpions be most hot yet is their poyson of a cold nature In the next place I think it is needfull to expresse the symptomes following the striking or stinging of these venemous Scorpions and they are as Aetius writeth the very same which follow the biting or poyson of that kinde of great Phalanx Spider called also Teragnatum and that is they are in such case as those persons be which are smitten with the Falling sicknesse He which is stung by a Scorpion thinketh that he is pressed with the fall of great and cold hayl being so cold as if he were continually in a cold sweat and so in short space the poyson disperseth it self within the skin and runneth all over the body never ceasing untill it come to possesse some predominant or principall vitall part and then followeth death For as the skin is small and thin so the sting pierceth to the bottom thereof and so into the flesh where it woundeth and corrupteth either some vein or arterie or sinew and so the member harmed swelleth immediately into an exceeding great bulk and quantity and aking with insufferable torment But yet as we have already said there is a difference of the pain according to the difference of the Scorpion that stingeth If a man be stung in the lower part of his body instantly followeth the extension of his virile member and the swelling thereof but if in the upper part then is the person affected with cold and the place smitten is as if it were burned his countenance or face distorted glewish spots about the eyes and the tears viscous and slimy hardnesse of the articles falling down of the fundament and a continuall desire to egestion foaming at the mouth coughing convulsions of the brain and drawing the face backward the hair stands upright palenesse goeth over all the body and a continuall pricking like the pricking of needles Also Gordomus writeth that if the prick fall upon an artery there followeth swouning but if on a nerve there speedily followeth putrefaction and rottennesse And those Scorpions which have wings make wounds with a compasse like a bow whose succeeding symptomes are both heat and cold and if they hurt about the canicular dayes their wounds are very seldome recovered The Indian Scorpions cause death three moneths after their wounds But most wonderfull is that which Strabo relateth of the Albenian Scorpions and Spiders whereof he saith are two kindes and one kinde killeth by laughing the other by weeping And if any Scorpion hurt a vein in the head it causeth death by madnesse as writeth Paracelsus When an Oxe or other beast is
some peculiar Snakes such are those in the Indian Sea where they have broad tayls and they harm more by biting with the sharpnesse of their teeth then by any venom that is contained in them and therefore in this they somewhat resemble the Snakes of the earth And Pliny writeth that once before Persis upon the coasts of certain Islands there were seen of these Sea-hyders very many of the length of twenty cubits wherewithall a whole Navy or fleet of ships were mightily affrighted And the like is reported of three other Islands lying betwixt the promontory of Carmania and Arabia and such were those also in the African Sea who are said by Aristotle not to be afraid of a Gally but will set upon the men therein and over-turn it And he himself saw many bones of great wilde Oxen who had been destroyed by these kinde of Sea-snakes or Hyders The greatest River that falleth into the red Sea is called Sinthus the fall whereof afar off seemeth to the beholders to be like winding Snakes as though they were coming against the passengers to stay them from entrance into that Land and there is not only a sight or resemblance of Serpents there but also the very truth of them for all the Sea-men know when they are upon these coasts by the multitude of Serpents that meet them And so do the Serpents called Graae about Persis And the Coast of Barace hath the same noysome premonstration by occurrence of many odious black and very great Sea-serpents But about Barygaza they are lesse and of yellow earthy colour their eyes bloody or fiery red and their heads like Dragons Keranides writeth of a Sea-Dragon in this manner saying The Dragon of the Sea is a fish without scales and when this is grown to a great and large proportion whereby it doth great harm to other creatures the winds or clouds take him up suddenly into the air and there by violent agitation shake his body to pieces the parcels whereof so mangled torn asunder have been often found in the tops of the Mountains And if this be true as it may well be I cannot tell whether there be in the world a more noble part of Divine providence and sign of the love of God to his creatures who armeth the clouds of heaven to take vengeance of their destroyers The tongue of this Sea-Dragon saith he is like a Horses tayl two foot in length the which tongue preserved in Oyl and carried about by a man safeguardeth him from languishing infirmities and the fat thereof with the herb Dragon annoynted on the head or sick parts cureth the head-ache and driveth away the Leprosie and all kinde of scabs in the skin There be also in the Swevian Ocean or Balthick sea Serpents of thirty or forty foot in length whose picture is thus described as it was taken by Olaus Magnus and he further writeth that these do never harm any man untill they be provoked The same Author also expresseth likewise the figure of another Serpent of a hundred and twenty foot long appearing now and then upon the coasts of Norway very dangerous and hurtfull to the Sea-men in calms and still weather for they lift up themselves above the hatches and suddenly catch a man in their mouths and so draw him into the Sea out of the Ship and many times they overthrow in the waters a laden Vessel of great quantity with all the wares therein contained And sometimes also they set up such a spire above the water that a Boat or little Bark without sayls may passe through the same And thus much for the Sea-serpents Of the SEPS or SEPEDON ALthough I am not ignorant that there be some which make two kindes of these Serpents because of the two names rehearsed in the title yet when they have laboured to describe them severally they can bring nothing or very little wherein their story doth not agree so as to make twain of them or to handle them asunder were but to take occasion to tautologize or to speak one thing twice Wherefore Gesner wisely pondering both parts and after him Carronus deliver their opinions that both these names do shew but one Serpent yet according to their manner they expresse them as if they were two For all their writings do but minister occasion to the Readers to collect the truth out of their labours wherefore I will follow their opinion and not their example Sepedon and Seps cometh of Sepein because it rotteth the body that it biteth in colour it neerly resembleth the Haemorrhe yet it usually goeth by spires and half-hoops for which cause as it goeth the quantity cannot be well discerned the pace of it being much swifter then the Haemorrhe The wound that it giveth is smarting entring deep and bringing putrefaction for by an inexplicable celerity the poyson passeth over all the body the hair rotteth and falleth from all parts darknesse and dimnesse is in the eyes and spots upon the body like as if a man had been burned in the Sun And this Serpent is thus described unto us by Nicander Jam quae Sepedonis species sit qualeque corpus Accipe diversa tractum ratione figurat Quin etiam mutilae nulla insunt cornua fronti Et color hirsuti qualem est spectare tapetis Grande caput brevior dum currit cauda videtur Quam tamen obliquo majorem tramite ducit Quod fit ab hoc vulnus magnos nocuosque dolores Excitat interimens quia fundit ipse ve ãâ¦ã Quo sata marcentes tabes depâsoitur artus Indeque siccata resolutus pelle capillus Spargitur volitans candentis pappus achantae Praeterea foedum turpi vitiligine corpus Et veluti urenti maculas a sole videre est Which may be Englished thus Sepedons shape now take and what his form of body is It doth not go as Haemorrhe doth but traileth diversly His powled head of Haemorrhs horns full happily doth misse And colours are as manifold as works of Tapestry Great is his head but running seems the tail but small Which winding it in greater path draws after to and fro But where it wounds by pains and torments great it doth appall Killing the wounded infusing poyson so Whereby consumed are the lean and slender sinews And dryed skin lets hair fall off apace Like as the windes drive whites from top of thistle Cardus Besides the body filth as with Sun parched looseth grace Thus doth Nicander describe the Sepedon now also we will likewise relate that which another Poet saith of the Seps that both compared together may appear but one therefore thus writeth Lucan upon occasion of one Sabellus wounded by this Serpent Miserique in crure Sabelli Seps stetit exiguus quem flexo dente tenacem Auuâsitque manu piloque affixit arenis Parva modò Serpens sed qua non ulla cruenvae Tantum mortis habet nam plagae proxima circum Fugit rapta cutis pallentiaque ossa retexit Jamquae sinu
for separating dividing picking carding or suting their stuffe they are very Bunglers to the first mentioned They apprehend and take their preyes rather casually then take any great pains to seek farre for it because their hole being great outwardly seemeth to be a good and convenient lurking-corner and a safe corner for Flies to hide themselves in but being entangled and arrested in the very entry they are snatched up suddenly by the watchfull Spider and carryed away into the more inward places of their dens there to be slaughtered For they watch and ward aloft in high walls and buildings as well to deceive such Birds as lye in wait to intrap and take them at unawares as Sparrowes Robin-red-breasts Wrens Nightingales and Hedge-Sparrowes which are all sworn enemies to Spiders and besides the more easily to beguile the silly flies suspecting no harm at all There be certain other sorts of Spiders which as yet I have not described as for example there is one the greatest of all that ever I saw which spreadeth her artificiall nets in the Harvest-time amongst the leaves and branches of Roses and entangleth either any other little Spider that is running away or else Gnat-flies and such like being caught at unawares and hanged by a kinde of thred whom she first pursueth and layeth hold on with a wonderfull dexterity and quicknesse and being fast hanged and so made sure she there leaveth them for the satisfying of her hungry appetite till another time The body of this Spider is in colour somewhat whitish resembling scumme or frothy some and almost of an Oval-figure the head very little placed under her belly being withall crooked or bending like hooks as is to be seen in the Crab-fish and her back garnished with many white spots This is one kinde of Autumnall Lupi or Wolf-Spider which in a very short space of time do grow from the bignesse of a little Pease to a very great bulk and thicknesse There are also found in all places of this Countrey long-legged Spiders who make a very homely and disorderly Web. This kinde of Spider liveth altogether in the fields her body is almost of a round figure and somewhat brownish in colour living in the grasse and delighting in the company of Sheep and for this cause I take it that we English men do call her a Shepheard either for that she keepeth and loveth to be among their flocks or because that Shepheards have thought those grounds and feedings to be very wholesome wherein they are most found and that no venemous or hurtfull creature abideth in those fields where they be And herein their judgement is to be liked for they are indeed altogether unhurtfull whether inwardly taken or otherwise outwardly applyed and therefore because I am tyed within a Teather and thereby restrained from all affectionate discoursing or dilating unlesse of poysonous and harmfull Creatures I will come into my path again and tell you of another certain black Spider that hath very short feet carrying about with her an Egge as white as Snow under her belly and running very swiftly the Egge being broken many Spiders creep forth which go forth with their dam to seek their living al together and climbing upon her back when night approacheth there they rest and so they lodge In rotten and hollow trees there are also to be found exceeding black Spiders having great bodies short feet and keeping together with Cheeselips or those creeping vermine with many feet called of some Sowes We have seen also saith the learned Gesner Spiders that were white all over of a round compact and well knit body somewhat broad living in the flowers of Mountain Parsely amongst Roses and in the green grasse their Egges were little slender and very long their mouth speckled and both their sides were marked with a red line running all alongest He took them to be very venemous because he saw a Marmoset or Munkey to eat of them and by eating thereof hardly to escape with life yet at length it did well again and was freed from further danger only by powring down a great deal of Oyl into his throat I my self have also seen some Spiders with very long bodies and sharp tayls of a blackish or dark red colour and I have noted other-some again to be all over the body green-coloured I will not deny but that there are many other sorts of Spiders and of many more different colours but I never read or yet ever saw them Neque enim nostra fert omnia tellus The ages ensuing peradventure will finde more I will only put you in remembrance of this one thing worthy to be observed that all weaving and Net-making Spiders according as they grow in years so do they acquire more knowledge and attain to greater cunning and experience in their spinning trade but carrying a resolute and ready will to keep both time and measure with that Musick which best contents most ears I will now pass to speak of the propagation and use of Spiders and so I will close up this discourse The propagation of Spiders for the most part is by coupling together the desire and action whereof continueth almost the whole Spring-time for at that time by a mutuall and often drawing and easie pulling of their Web they do as it were wooe one another then approach they neerer together and lastly are joyned with their hippes one against another backwards as Camels do for that is the most fit for them in regard of the round proportion and figure of their bodies In like sort do the Phalangies joyn together and are generated by those of the same kinde as Aristotle saith But the Phalangies couple not in the Spring-season as the other Spiders doe but towards Winter at what time they are very swift quick nimble and of most certain hurt more dangerous and more venemous in their bitings Some of them after their coupling together do lay one Egge only carrying it under their belly it is in colour as white as Snow and both Male and Female sit upon it by turns Some Spiders do exclude many little Egges very like unto the seeds of Poppy out of which it hath been observed that sometimes there have been hatched three hundred Spiders at one time which after their vain and idle plying and sporting together in their web at length come forth with their Dam and towards evening they all trudge home until each one hath learned and perfectly attained to the skill to spin his own web that therein he may spend the residue of his days in more pleasure ease and security They make exclusion of their young breed in hopping or skipping-wise they fit on their Egges for three days space together and in a moneths space their young ones come to perfection The domestical or House-spider layeth her egges in a thin web and the wilde-spider in a thicker and stronger because they are more exposed to the injuries of windes and lie more open to the rage and
stormy weather they carry a stone to poise and ballance their light bodies lest the impetuous violence of the wind should drive them from their houses and therefore we need not give credit to Lucian that they ought to be called ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã footlesse creatures They do not breath by Pliny's favour but pant and are refreshed by transpiration Their stomach is framed of the most thin membrane wherein they not only conserve and keep their collected honey but concoct and purifie it which is the reason that Bees honey may be kept longer then any Manna or aerial body or rather is altogether incorruptible as we will shew hereafter Aristotle 9. Hist cap. 10. saith that there are nine kindes of Bees six whereof are sociable and do live together as Bees the Kings of Bees Drones Wasps Hornets Moths Also three solitary and insociable the greater Siren the lesser Siren and the Bumble-Bee of which kinde Simius Albertus does reckon up nine but gives them such harsh and barbarous names that it seems he rather faigned them than knew them Lib. 8. tract 4. cap. 2. But Bees do differ and are distinguished in regard of their matter form wit disposition and office and these are all their genuine and natural differences which I have collected out of infinite Authors Concerning their matter if we may credit the curious searchers into the works of nature some of them are called ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã or the Lions brood others ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã the Bulls brood and some ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã or the Oxe brood and some ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã or the Calves brood But the best and noblest bees are generated and bred out of the Lion and the Kings and Princes of them do derive their pedegree and descent from the brain of the Lion being the most excellent part of his body it is no wonder therefore if they proceeding and coming from so generous a stock do assail the greatest beasts and being endued with a Lion-like courage do fear nothing The noblest Bees next unto these are those that are generated out of the Bull being also a strong and valiant beast the excellency both of their disposition and bodies being equal to their stock and pedegree The next are the Cow-Bees or Oxe-Bees which are indeed very industrious laborious and profitable but of a milder disposition and lesse inclinable to anger The Calves carkasse doth generate more soft and tender Bees excellent makers of honey but not able to endure labour in regard of their tendernesse and in regard of the weaknesse of their matter short lived Some also do write that Bees may be bred out of their own ashes sprinkled with honey and laid forth in the sun or some warm place which sort may be called in Greek ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã or Self-begetters Bees of the best shape are small variously coloured round and bending the worser shaped are long The difference of their formes and shapes ariseth from four causes Nature place sexe and age For some are domestick or house Bees others are wilde or wood Bees these delight in the familiarity and company of men but not the other which do exercise themselves in making honey in trees clefts and crannies of the earth and in the rubbidge of old houses and walls Again some of the tame and gentler sort of Bees do live in pleasant gardens decked and beautified with all sorts of flowers these are great soft fat and large bellied others are kept in villages going far for their food and feed on flowers they light upon by chance The lesser more hairy yet for their work industry and skill they exceed the other Of both kindes some are bred with stings as all true Bees are and others without stings as the bastard Bees which have a greater and softer belly throat and body but not famous either for manners or ingenuity They call this kinde of Bee the Drone because they seem to be laborious and are not or because under the colour of labour for they sometimes carry wax and diligently fashion their combs they devour the honey And these are of a black shining colour and larger bodied Moreover some bees are descended from their Kings and Dukes whereof Aristotle maketh two kindes The yellow which is the best and the black streaked Others do reckon three Kings differing in colours black red and spotted or streaked Menecrates doth report that the divers coloured are an inferior sort of Bees but those streaked and diversified with black are the better All of them are twice as big as other Bees He that is elected Monarch or King of the whole Swarm is alwaies of an excellent shape and twice as big as any of the rest his wings are shorter his thighs straight and strong his gate loftier his aspect more stately and majestical and on his forhead a white spot like a shining Diadem or Crown differing much from vulgar Bees in regard of his shining colour But the place doth alter sometimes their form and sometimes their nature sex also and age do change them in both respects For in the Molucco Islands Bees are like to winged Ants but some-what lesser than the greater sort as Maximilianus Transylvanus in his Epistle to the Bishop of Salispurg eloquently relateth In America near the Rivers of Vasses and Plate the Bees are not like ours being no bigger than those small flies which trouble us in summer they build their nests in hollow trees and they make far greater combs and fuller of holes the end or tip of their wings as Oviedus and Thevetus relate seem to be bitten or cut off in the middle whereof they have a white spot and they have no offensive stings The wax which they make is of a duskish pitchy colour and they are for the most part evil conditioned Aristotle lib. 5. hist cap. 22. mentioneth a certain kinde of Bee that is of a soft industrious nature which maketh honey twice in a moneth being of a gentle pleasing disposition and busied only in making of honey Such there are also in the Countrey of Peru which do make a soft and melting kinde of honey which do stop their doors so close with wax that they leave but a very small hole for their ingresse or egresse But almost all our Bees in Europe are of a blackish colour not so much in regard of the easie concoction of thin substance than that they seem to be of a grosser diet and of a thicker composure and therefore the thicker matter doth remain within the skin which the Bees of Peru and Pontus by reason of their thin skins and the finenesse of their dewy nourishment do easily thrust forth unlesse that be the cause we must ascribe the variety of colour to wanton nature as we do for white bears and white black-birds which seeing she her self is various and of many shapes it is no wonder since she delights in variety of colours that she hath not made all Bees of
ãâã Master Bee go out first and challenge ãâã priviledge of precedency For I am scarce of Aristotles ãâ¦ã indâ that the King never goes abroad except it be with the whole Swarm which is a very âare thing But when the Swarm by reason of the tyranny of their P ãâ¦ã ce are forc'd to remove to some other place changing their soyâ and habitation as unwilling so toâdd then they make ãâ¦ã noise as it might be of a ãâ¦ã peâ some daies before and two or three daies before a few of ãâ¦ã up and down about the Hive But when all things aââ ready for flight away they fly all together and ãâã the ãâã whom they left behinde ãâã and follow them they kill him But a good King they never desert and if he die by any infection sicknesse treachery or old age the Nobles together with the common people lament and bewail him neither do they afterwards go abroad at all or fetch in any provision but fill all their houses with a sorrowful murmur and througing about the Corps make most tragical lamentation Afterwards privately conveying him from the common multitude they carry him out of the Hive and make a most dolefull cry all about the place Nor doth a day put a period to or abate their sorrow but they continue it so long till by reason of grief and hunger they all die Take the King or Master-Bee and you take all the Swarm if you misse of him all the rest convey themselves away and go to others They cannot endure more Kings then one the house of the usurpers they throw down and destroy their family But if it be so that there be two Kings or Master-Bees in one Swarm as sometimes it falls out one part adheres to one King and the other to the other whence it comes to passe that in one Hive divers forms of combs are found where they so behave themselves that the one doth not entrench upon the others bounds or invade his Terrirories And as for their Oeconomick or houshold vertues they use Parsimony as the chief stay of their family and having in the summer season gathered a sufficient stock or store of honey they do not profusely lavish it but sustain themselves with it in the winter and that very sparingly and so feeding themselves with a sparing diet and that of the best and purest food they gain that as a reward of their sobriety thereby to lengthen their lives and prolong their daies Neither are they so gripple or sordidly parsimonious but that when they finde that they have gathered more honey then will serve the number of their family they do freely impart and communicate some portion thereof to the Dors or Drones These also are arguments of their cleanlinesse that they never lay the excrements of their bodies unlesse sicknesse extremity of weather or meer necessity compell them in their Hives as also that as soon as any of them dye they presently carry them forth and quit the Hive of them no flesh or putrid matter no withering herb no fading or stinking weed do they touch or come near They never kill their enemy in the Hives they drink nothing but the purest running water they can get they will by no means remain or dwell in an unclean sluâtish nasty house or room The ordure of those that labour and of those that are sick within they lay upon a heap together without doors and as soon as they have any leisure the bearers carry it away Neither are they altogether impatient of musical sounds as other ruder sorts of creatures are ãâã are very much taken and delighted therewith provided it be without variety simple and unaffected And although they cannot dance by measure or according to the just number of paces as the Elephant is said to do yet according as he that tinks on the braâââââttle pleaseth so they slack or quicken their flying if ãâã fast and shrill then they mend their motion if dully and slowly then they abate it Neither hath nature only made them the most ingehious of all other creatures but very tame and tractable by discipline and education to the keeper of them for they are all at both his beck and his call and whatsoeuer he pleaseth to do none of them gainsay or forbid If her beat them they complain not and if he rob them and spoyl their combs they make not the least murmuring or shew the least discoââtent Who would not say this were an argument of a most noble and generous disposition so to suffer the rigid commands of their keeper and yet by no means to obey or subject themselves unto the discipline of any stranger whatsoever It is wonderful what some do observe as touching the temperance and chastâây of them for whereas all other beasts the Elephant only excepted do couple in open view and the Wasps not much differing in kinde from them do the like the Bee is never seen to generate openly but either doth it within doors with modesty or without when none shall be by to observe it Neither as the report goes of them are they lesse valourous then they are chaste or temperate Whilest they expose their bodies in the war And nobly dye receiving many a skar Their war is either intestine or civil or foreign and with strangers Of their Civil wars there are divers causes as the multitude of the nobility treacherous to King and State dearth of ãâã al 's narrownesse of place when they are not able to live by one another as also comption of manners and sluggishnesse Now if they super a bound in Nobility as sometimes it falls one they put to death so many of them as seem to be superfluous lest their number still increasing they should force and over-power the King himself or entice the common people into sediâion But they destroy them then chiefly when they have but a small issue and have not where else to bestow them those together with their combs if at least they have gotten any they throw down and pluck to pieces The Dors also and Drones they kill as often as they want room for their works for they take up the innermost part of the Hive and take away from them both their honey and their victuals As also when their honey fails and there is a dearth then they go to pell mell amongst themselves and fight as it were for life and bloud the short Bees they fall upon the long the smaller sort set upon the Drones as idle and unprofitable with all their skill and force they can use In which conflict if it so come to passe that the short Bees have the better they will prove an excellent Swarm but if fortune give the longer the day they will live ever after idly and make no hopy worth any thing But that side which overcomes is so mightily bent upon rapine and reverge that it puts all to the sword yeelding no quarter or truce at all As concerning their war
Thyme Galen rejects and yet is of it self a most sweet and fragrant smell and not without a certain spirituous fragrancy such is that which in the middle of the spring is perceived to be in the air about break of day But if it have an ill savour it is putrefied not being well kept If it smell strong it hath contracted some contagion from Hemlock if it sting as it were and prick the nose with its sent it is an argument of some poyson or too much acrimony couched in it If it smell not at all it is stark dead no spirit in it If it smell of Thyme Linden or Teil-tree Rosemary Box Wormwood c. it shewes that it is degenerated into their nature The like is to be said of the Taste of honey which is known either by the herbs age of it or by the colour of it to be mixt or adulterate or natural that is to say striking and filling the tongue with a certain fine and lively sweetness so that it may seem to some to be a little tart As for what concerns the colour of the best honey in the Tigremahonick and Tagodostick Region that of a milky colour is preferred in hotter Countreys that which is white and transparent but commonly that which carries away the garland and is esteemed above the rest is yellow and of the colour of Gold And in the second rank is that which is white and transparent which I with Aristotle should put in the first place For that it is a sign of pure honey and not infected with any tincture of herbs The bright shining is also by him commended if it be not summer honey for the honey that is gathered at that season of the year like wax or butter either by reason of the abundance of yellow flowers or the scorching heat of the air it comes to be of a deep and full yellow yea almost quite red But if the Erycaean or Anthine appear reddish it is not without cause accounted unwholsome because it is not in its season Suspected and of ill name are the black duskie bright red and above all the lead colours which whether they appear in the comb or in the honey sometimes are evident signs of corruption and putrefaction and sometimes of poyson That honey is best in touch that is fat clammy glutinous heavy and most like to the clear liquor of Turpentine every where like it self that is pure without any or with very few dregs that is melted with a very soft fire and with the least cold as it were congealed into little stones The Energetical or operative qualities of honey are seen in the use of it the which is of divers sorts whether you turn you to the Apothecaries shop or to the Kitchen for so mightily doth it nourish and preserve health entire and men long-lived that the Greeks thought the Cyrneans by reason of their constant using of it lived long being old men as Herodotus Athenaus and Diodorus Siculus testifie Pollio indeed being asked how it came to pass that he lived to be so old as he was made answer Because from his youth he used Oyl without his body and Wine mingled with Honey within More then this all flowers fruits simples and compounded medicaments or confections by mingling them with honey are preserved entire from putrefaction in which faculty or virtue it so excells that even the Babylonians were wont to bury the dead corpses of their noble men in it as Herodotus witnesseth in Thalia Vintners also and such as deal in Wines that will play the knaves when they observe a piece of Wine decaying and at its last almost then they put honey to it to bring it to life again by which means the sophisticate wine appears pure and relisheth very well upon the palat though never so critical and curious It is not subject to putrefaction Fruits and all other bodies are kept in it very long yet if it be but touched by its enemy bread it putrefies They therefore that sell honey are very wary lest children as they pass by should dip their bread in it for so it will presently corrupt and turn into Ants or such like creatures if we will believe Paracelsus for his natural skill in the nature of things a most famous Philosopher With admixtion of honey also Galen amendeth the naughtiness of sweet meats when they begin to fail Honey mingled with other things doth both nourish and cause a good colour but taken by it self without any other thing it doth rather make the body lean than nourish it because it doth cause urine and purge the belly beyond all measure Hippocrates saith if you take the seeds of Cucumers or the seeds of any other plant and keep them for some time in honey and afterwards sow or set them the fruit that groweth of them will taste the sweeter As for the medicinal and Physical vertues of Honey It causeth heat cleanseth sores and ulcers excellently wears them away and removes them in what part of the body soever gathered as Galen Avicen Celsus and Pliny have observed It perfectly cureth the disease which causeth the hair of the head or beard to come off by the roots called the Foxes evill and other filthy ulcers of the head Plin. To regain hair lost by the disease aforesaid and for long Agues it is very effectual if the party be anointed with it raw as it is or with the honey-comb newly dreined or emptied Galen But above and beyond all the Oyl of honey distilled doth effect it The water that droppeth from the honey doth excellently cleanse the skin provoke urine extinguish the burning heat of Feavers open the obstructions of the bowels quench thirst The chaulk or salt of it as it is of all corrosives the least painful so it is most energetical and operative and therefore is very much commended by Chymicks and Chirurgeons for to cure that kernell or tumour of flesh which groweth upon the yard But how many and how ample virtues that quintessence of Honey as they call it hath attained against the strength of all diseases whatsoever is excellently described by Isaacus Belga the predecessor of Paracelsus Nay without doubt if wilde honey and raw was able so to prolong the health and life of Democrates Pollio John the Baptist in a word of the Pythagoreans and Cyrneans as aforementioned how much more will it do being refined and heightned to the highest degree of nutrition The Epicureans who took the best way they could to provide for their health and their pleasure fed alwaies upon Ambrosia as Tzetzes reports which did consist of a tenth part of honey as if they meant by the use of it to stave off all pains and griefs and live free from all diseases and maladies It doth wonderfully help the ulcers in the ears if it be powred warm into them and especially if an ill sent be joyned with them Moreover in their histing noyses inflamations Galen commands to instill
the powder of them to put into the body by way of Clyster Cardan saith they take away pains but what pains or what kinde of Blattae should do it he tels us not The Phrygians and Lycaonians anoint those with them that have a stoppage in the Matrix Pliny l. 30. c. ult Last of all they may serve in stead of Castoreâm for an Antiballomenon and Galen useth them in stead of the Buprestis Now if you would have a remedy against themselves cast but a handfull of Flea-bane the Greeks Mascula is the Latines Cunilago and all the Blats will gather together to it So called in Rome Blattaria or the Blat-herb Nature hath provided a remedy against them for the Swallowes they are wont commonly to spoyl the Swallowes eggs wherefore they use to fence their young with Parsly or Smallage whereby the Moths are forced away from their nests The which might be thought to be the figment of Aelian but that Zoroastes in his Geoponicks doth affirm the same The Vpupa or Houpe inclose their nests with earth flax against Moths The Chough useth the herb Vervin to the same purpose If they be anointed with the oyl of Spike it works the like effect as Joach Camer reports That they may be rid out of Gardens let us hear Diophanes his advice Get the Guts of a Ram fresh killed and full of dung bury it in the earth where many Moths use and cast the ground lightly upon it two daies after all the Blats will gather to it the which at your pleasure you may carry other where or bury them deep enough in the place that they shall not be able to rise again If you would preserve your Bees from them use sharp fumigations or set lights near to the Hives or else anoint the props whereon they stand that they may not get up CHAP. XIX Of the Buprestis or Burncowe and the Cantharides MAny of the Naturall Philosophers have made mention of the Buprestis but so little that they seem neither to have touched either their form or qualities no not so much as their true Name For Ardoynus cals it Buprestis Vigelius veter l. 3. c. 15. cals it Vulpester or Bulpester and in the 78. chap. Bustrepis most corruptly Silvaticus if any other chief at Barbarism cals it Bustasaris Bublistes Bubestis so corrupted was the Latine tongue in these blinde times that Barbarism had wrought a general confusion in all places Now the true name of it is in Greek ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã quia boves rumpit because it swels Oxen Nicander in Alex. derives it ab incendendis bobus from burning or enflaming the bowels of beasts ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã c. When cowes or calves are sick and bellies swell They 'ave eat Buprestis keepers know full well For first of all by their acrimony they enflame the belly of cattle upon which followes a tumor and a feaver and a kinde of a hot tympany by which in the end the bowels are burst By other as by Hesychius in like manner ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã which is more rightly ascribed to that kinde of red little Spider found in pasture grounds which doth use to bite them In English it is called a Blain-worm or Troings which being eaten by cattel doth produce the like symptomes the Latines retain the Greek name of Buprestis of the Germans it is called Geuch Gach Knoelster Gualster die Grunen Stinckhenden Wildenwentde Renkaefer of those of Heidelburg from its swift running ein Holtzbuck in Italian Bupresti in Spanish Arebenta busi if Mathiolus say true Bât I for my part somewhat boldly though not improperly do adventure to call it by a new name in English Burncow or Burstcow Although these Insects are such as hath been said that they fret with their acrimony that freeting they enflame and with their poysonous inflamation cause extreme thirst and a horrible swelling insomuch that the very skin is burst yet hath Dame Nature made them notwithstanding very wholsome which Art afterwards hath prepared for medicine before they be put in use Plinius and Aegineta dispute whether they should not be prepared as the Cantharides Dioscorides dries them in a sieve over hot embers and so layeth them by Galen steeps them in vinegar Hippocrates commands to take off their wings and feet And because they fret exulcerate inflame and swell up and do strongly attract and heat the parts so fretted Diosc l. 2. c. 59. saith that being mixt advisedly with fitting ingredients they may be applyed to the Leprone Cancer and wilde Tetters My opinion is that they may be used in stead of the bigger sort of Cantharides rather than some kinde of Blattae by Pauius his leave if I may say so not only because they are somewhat like in shape and figure and in virtue also as Galen writeth Pliny saith that the Buprestis by way of corrosive doth take away Ringworms in the face Hippocrates doth much commend them in divers diseases of the womb For so he writeth in his Book of the Nature of Women and in his Book of the Diseases of Women and in his Book of Barrenness For the hardness of the womb to emollient juices and fat add a Buprestis and use it To drive out the Monethly Flowers and secondines prepare half the body of a Buprestis whether great or smal with twice as much pulp of a Fig and apply it for it purgeth the womb and inflateth it and is a special remedy to procure the Flowers when they are past hope Sometimes he applies only a Buprestis if it be a great one sometimes making a soft pessary he takes ten and adds to them a little sawcer of oyl and mingles with it Wine Aethiopian Cumin Seseli and Anniseed of each alike parts and whilest they are hot he makes a pessary of them and useth them to the Matrix In the strangling of the womb when the fit is over the body first purged Hippocrates makes a Medicament with a Buprestis and thrusts it into the Matrix Also for a Schirrous of the womb he useth a Buprestis but warily and with diligent consideration for he puts it in like a Suppository for one day and when it doth much vex the patient by corroding he bids to take it forth moreover he compounds a Buprestis Myrrhe and Elaterium and puts it in So he doth also to bring forth a Mola Gal. l. 1. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã cap. 1. out of Archigenes describes a Medicament of Buprestes with Vinegar Crowfoot and Wakerobin root against falling of the hair Leprosie Elephantiasis c. the cure whereof you may easily finde there Now as I have declared hitherto its profitable qualities so lest I should transgress the bounds of history I shall open the terrible effects that this poysonous creature causeth in man and beast if a man swallow a Buprestis 't is all one as if it had been a Cantharides the body swelleth as if it had a tympany much
wind creeps between the skin and flesh which hapneth no doubt by the flux of humours melted by the poison and the vapours elevated upwards The lips are of a strong colour to wit of a dead violet In the mouth there is the like poysonous taste the stomach belly and guts do ake extremely the urine is stopt the body is ill all over as also the head and brain are sensible of it A remedy of this is Salt-peter taken in Wine and Oxe gall Useful to that purpose is womans milk suckt out abundantly and in defect cowes goats or sheeps milk Womans urine drank and vomited up again but before a vomit they ought not be given because by that means the Feaver would be more sharp Dioscor First of all therefore of good store of Wine sodden or with oyl of Myttle Bacon lard or fat Pork broth or with good store oyl of Olive or boyled Wine a Vomit is to be made New Wine drank freely is held to be a special remedy against the Buprestis Galen and Ardoynus Pliny commends Nitre with water or Laserwort Asa dulcis Wine and Honey or Bezoin dissolved in warm water or take red Nitre 4. drams and in warm water or Posca cause Vomit After vomit there must be means used for purgation afterwards use dry Figs as Galen prescribeth or a decoction of them in old generose Wine when the fit begins to bate The Thebane date is prescribed to eat alone or bruised in sweet Wine or womans Milk all kinde of Pears and oyl of blossomes of Apples are much commended for this use Nicander commends wood-pears for that I think he means by ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã and especially Myrtle berries following the authority of Dioscorides For that they do refrigerate and bind and by that means do asâwage the hot nature of the Buprestis and help the weakness of the stomach But heed must be taken they be not eaten while the body is yet swoln lest the disease be increased by the poyson being kept in Some with good reason give 31. berries of bladder Nightshade and with Almonds the make Almond-milk together with the decoction of Lettice Violets Borage Bugloss garden Nightshade Plantain Raisins and the great cold Seeds Aetius gives the root of Scorpion grass in sweet Wine to drink Many extoll the wings and feet of the Cantharides for an Antidote against the Buprestis but either it hath an opposite quality by antipathy which makes good that opinion or else we may suspect it to be false If an Horse or an Oxe eat one of these flies presently he swels growes mad and shortly after bursteth and dieth So Aelian 6. de Anim. c. 35. and Hierocles a Greek writer witnesseth it He bids to binde the horses head and to open the veins about his nostrils that the bloud may run forth of his mouth and to rub it with Coleworts and give him Fish-pickle and Oyl and Vegetius likewise almost in the same words If a Horse or an Oxe eat a Buprestis with the grass his belly will instantly swell he is inflated all over he refuseth his meat and he often and by little and little sends forth his dung To cure this Absyrtus and Vigetius prescribe one and the same remedy presently get upon the Horse and cause him to gallop as fast as he is able afterwards let him bloud a little in the roof of his mouth and let him swallow the bloud as it runs forth chewing it in his mouth then keep him continually walking let his diet be wheat steeped in sweet Wine with Leeks given him with a horn in Wine warm well beaten with Raisins Some as Praxanus taught them pour Oyl into the nostrils of the Oxe l. 17. c. 17. To Goats that are swoln with the Buprestis apply Bacon-lard or pour the fat broth of it down their throat saith the same Author The Cynoprestis seems to be the same with the Buprestis for that works the same effects in Dogs as this doth in Cattel or if it be a different sort of creature from this I confess ingenuously I have not met with it CHAP. XX. Of the Cantharides or Spanish Fly I Know not what the reason was that the Cantharides above the rest so well known of so great use in Physick were omitted by Pennius and Gesner Which task notwithstanding I shal willingly undertake and thus I begin their History The word ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã in Greek is the same in Latine in French it is Cantaride in Italian Catarella in Spanish Cubillo in the German Tongue Grune Kefer Goldkefer in Low Dutch Spaensche Vlieghe in English Cantharides or Spanish Fly Of the Cantharides two sorts have come to our knowledge the one greater the other lesse Of the greater sort there are some thick and long taken in wheat and fat likewise as the Blats are drawn with variety of golden lines which in the wings run athwart and those are accounted of the best use in Physick Others are lesse and lean hairy called the innermost not so fit for medicine Of the greater sort also not all are of a glittering green but some of them of a sad red but all of them of an inexpressible splendor and very pleasant to the eye Their virtue consists in burning the body causing a crust or as Dioscorides will have it to corrode cause exulceration and provoke heat and for that reason are used mingled with medicines that are to heat the Lepry Tettars and Cancerous sores And in being mixt with Cecots or fit plaisters they do cure deformities of the nails causing them to fall off They are used in medicines for Corns on the feet or hands Some anoint the places where the hair ãâã off with Cantharides bruised and liquid Pitch the skin being prepared with Nitre they are good for Cauteries but care must be had that they do not ulcerate so deep then some command to annoint those ulcers made with the heads of with the gall or dung of Mice mixt with Helleboâe and Pepper Cantharides mixt with quick Lime cure Botches as if you should cut them off with a razour Some use to cast a little of them into Medicaments to provoke urine But there is a great question of it because they are poyson drank in respect of the bladder that they afflict with perpetual tomentâ But these is no question but in oyntment they may do good with the juyce of wilde Vine or with Sheeps or Goats suet Some of my Masters put only their wings and their feet into Medicaments that provoke urine We saith Galen are wont to cast in the Cantharides whole and we judge those to be the best that are found in wheat and have a yellow girdle running athwart their wings to adorn them L. 3. l. 11. desimpl fac also put under they mightily provoke the terms and put to medicaments for the Dropsie they are a very good antidote against it as not only Hippocrates and Dioscorides but Galen Avicenna Rhasis
gnash their teeth wink with their eyes they will be very silent and are angry with those that rowse them up the balks of their cheeks in a short time are sometimes red sometimes wan-coloured If the Worms run up to the stomach they cause nauseating gnawing and want of appetite and if the sick are forced to eat they scarse can swallow it and if they swallow it down they vomit it up again they void many corruptions of meat by their bellies and they are swoln like a drum the rest of the body growes unreasonable lean not by reason of hunger nor immoderate evacuations These things happen when these creatures creep and gnaw in the belly A feaverish heat sends up ill vapours to the brain that arise from putrid moisture collected in the stomach So writes Paulus But Aetius out of Herodotus writes thus Those that are troubled with Worms have a most cruel pain of their stomach and bellies and they have a little frequent tickling cough and yet they spit up nothing iâ their sleep they shiver and rise preternaturally some again put out their tongues and shut their eyes and are silent and cannot endure to be rowsed and cannot watch for weakness some have their eyes bloudshed their pulses unequal obscure deficient and recurrent some want an appetite children whilest they sleep bite their tongues and move their mouthes as if they sucked or eat meat But these things are done for a short time and by circuits Moreover some children besides reason rise with crying and presently fall down again some crash their teeth which it seems happens when the Worms suck and gnaw their bellies and guts And now it appears that some are come up into the stomach and cause loathing and bitings oft-times also by themselves they are cast upward but sometimes with some flegmatick humour Some Infants neglected lose their motion and are benummed and like those that are in a swound they sweat a cold thin humour and most commonly they are wan-coloured sometimes the face will be red especially about the cheeks but this colour again is changed into more than ordinary paleness Others again like dotards speak strange words in their sleep others change their places they ãâ¦ã y on still sleeping and they are vexed and turn from place to place but very few of those do cry for most of them are void of reason and are silent Also they that are vexed with round Worms loath their meat and if they eat any thing they cast it up again or âoath it so much they can hardly swallow it for they fall into Feavers with vehement cold in the outward parts some have their bellies swoln like a drum So saith Aetius But these are the marks he reckons from Hippocrates opinion Worms in the belly are discovered by these marks If they be sleepy and the disease will not let them and their outward parts be cold and there be gnawing at their hearts the urine troubled and the tongue full of moisture also they that have Worms in their stomach are full of spittle and if any little Worm comes forth they spit no more therefore all those that have Worms in the mouth of their stomach do commonly cast them up all by vomit but those that have belly Worms void them by siege But they all nauseate and vomit up what they take in They are like to those that are pricked that have contractions all over their bodies and move suddenly and confusedly and they have torments and pains of their guts Vapours carried to the head cause Vertigoes Moreover the manner of diet that the party used will shew the generation of Worms and all the rest These are the signs of round Worms but all these signs must not be sought for in every one as Paulus saith but some and the principal of them I might joyn here many things out of our new writers unless what they say and more also were not to be found in Avicenna whence they borrowed it Paulus gives us these notes of broad Worms sometimes they abound in those that have Feavers and sometimes in those that have none In Chronical diseases they breed gnawing the stomach and causing a greedy appetite They eat the meat so fast that we need more and if it be not present they bite shrewdly the body growes lean and weak and unequal But the most certain sign is that some bodies like Gourd-seeds come forth with our excrements so saith Paulus and Aetius doth not differ from him but that he saith that they gnaw the stomach continually and cause an insatiable appetite and that the meats eaten soon turn to excrements They that are affected grow weak of body and sluggish and are alwaies hungry for what is living in the guts when it hath consumed the meat feeds on the body but this sign will not fail us if some things like Gourd-seeds be voided by stool The signs Hippocrates gives are these He writes after this fashion There is another kinde of this that comes forth like the white shavings of the guts which hath these marks The party voids seed like Cucumer-seed and when he is fasting he is vexed and spits much his liver being affected sometimes not and sometimes when this vehemently affects his liver it stops his speech and he spits much and after that it stops and sometimes there is great pains in the guts sometimes the shoulders ake and then it stops again Sometimes these are the signs of the broad Worms He that is affected with this Worm is almost alwaies in health but when he growes weak he can hardly endure it or be recovered For this broad Worm takes some part of those things that go down into the stomach and if care be taken it may be cured but if not the Worm will not come forth it self nor doth it kill a man but growes old with him c. Ascarides are alwaies about the bottome of the belly as we said and there they cause a great itching almost continually as Paulus and Aetius have written and sometimes as it is reported they will make one faint For that is shewed by their name For they moving alwaies do continually exercise a man and tire him out They that are troubled with these feel alwaies a heaviness about their Praecordia and backs The signs of these are chiefly taken from the filthy smelling of the excrements They that have Worms their eyes at first shine their cheeks are wan in the night they have cold sweats their mouth is pale they start in their sleep in the day they are more feaverish their tongues and are dry lips their breath commonly stinks their face is pale they nauseate and vomit often they loath meat they crash their teeth especially in the night they put forth their tongues and they seem to eat they are angry with those that awake them they speak strange words sometimes they are in a lethargy and pick straws and their heads ake they cry out in their
be well disposed nor can this be unlesse the whole body be so and this is excellent well performed by good diet wherefore that in the first place must be well ordered for without that all helps are in vain for the preserving and repairing our health For this is so famous and almost the best part of Physick that that admirable Cous Celsus Galen Pliny and almost all the old Physicians could never give it commendations enough Asclepias formerly esteemed it so much that he almost took away the method of curing by Physick and wholly turned all curing upon diet Now this consists not only in the quantity and quality of meats and drinks but also in all those things that befall us whether we will or no as in sleeping and waking motion and rest as also in the repletion and emptinesse of the whole body and of every part and in the affects of the minde but chiefly in the Air that is about us which not only sticks fast to us outwardly but continually enters into the inmost parts of our body by the drawing in of our breath As for what concerns those things that we take because they are such things that every man knows I shall say nothing of them For there is no man ignorant that divers meats and of ill and naughty juice and disorderly taken will breed crudities and that gluttony and drunkenness do our bodies great hurt yet many kinde of meats that are hurtfull in other diseases are profitable in these Wherefore we shall as it were besides our purpose and by the way touch upon these first adding what Paulus writes Let the meats of those that have Worms be of good juice that may easily be dispersed and passe to the parts and neither foster the cause nor weaken our forces Wherefore we grant them wine mingled with water and let them eat often both for their need and that the Worms may not gnaw them If there be a scowring of the belly it is a sign that many are bred the meat being not dispersed and in that case Pears or Quinces must be mingled with our broths Wheaten bread is a wonderfull help having Anniseed mingled with it or Fennel or Salt or bread that is between Bran and Wheat called ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã because there are joyned together in it the Bran the Hulls and the Flour Men call also this bread ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã because all the Wheat without taking any thing from it is made into bread Also the wheat it self that the meal is taken from must be the best for some of these have much Bran which is the courser wheat but the finer wheat is the best But wine that is mingled with water because it gently bindes is held to be very convenient Mountain birds are fit for their meat and young wood Pigeons green Groundsel and Goats-beard the broth of black Chiches and Coleworts and Capers and pickled Olives eaten and if there be no Feaver let them eat their other meats with Mustard also sowr and oyly things are commended Also Panick which Diocles called the honey of Corn is most durable if so be it may be reckoned amongst Corn. Also Spelt in the decoction of Myxie and a Ptisane with a great quantity of Oyl of unripe Olives besides these Lupines Cresses Betes Mints Smallage Radish and sawce eaten are good Give children before all meat a decoction of Sebestens with Mints Milk is very hurtful as also Fish and Pulse and whatsoever is of a cold grosse substance and hard to be digested Bread unleavened breeds Worms for it is good for no man and so are all moyst meats that easily turn to corruption within For all kinde of Worms it is most convenient to use abstinence from such things as breed them And when they are bred it is good to eat often a little at a time and that is best when they leave off gnawing But those that have Ascarides must eat meats of good juice and of easie digestion that the force of them may not reach so farre as the right gut For the matter fit to breed them is so consumed Thus far for meats and drinks to be taken But the other five kindes that are not so manifest shal be handled by us also with all brevity And we shal begin from sleep It must not be too little nor too much and in the night rather than in the day at least two hours after meat Moreover to be long idle is naught let exercise precede meats and rest after meats Nor is every motion to be taken for exercise but that which makes us breath more unlesse it be when we have taken Physick against Worms for then we must ride or run to shake our bodies for they are more easily cast forth by hard exercise or labour but children will hardly observe these rules Care also must be had that the belly may twice be unburdened and if that will not do of it self we must use a Suppository or Clyster to provoke it made of such ingredients that are fit for this purpose All affections of the minde whatever they be must be set aside as quarrelling anger sorrow great cares and thoughts sadnesse fears envy and all such kinde of perturbations and chiefly after meat For these change and turn the body from its natural state Let men beware of cold North windes and let them not go barefoot The air because it alwayes is about us cannot be chosen at our pleasure for it is sometimes a defence for us and sometimes the cause that makes Worms or fosters them It wil be a defence if it be very hot and dry pure clear and calm and it wil chiefly foster the disease when it is very cosd or moyst or moved by the North or South winde or by too great heat dissolves our forces and then by art it must be thus prepared To burn in our Chambers wood of Juniper tree or of Citrons or Peach-trees and such wood as is against Worms Also to perfume the place with tops of Worm-wood Peach-tree leaves Citron pills roots of Pomegranate-trees also with Fern and Ivy. But that is the best that is made with Myrrhe and Aloes Another remedy that succours the fainting spirits by reason of Worms Amber-greece two penny-weight Musk one peny weight Gum Arabick four peny-weight Roses Sanders Cloves Privet Frankincense of each one peny-weight Gallia Moschata so called six peny-weight Lignum Aloes burnt to a cole twenty peny-weight the quenched coles of Vine-branches what is sufficient make them up with Rose Vinegar Worms are oft-times exasperated with vehement remedies that they bring children to Convulsions swoundings and death wherefore they are not rashly to be given and at all adventures But because that remedies by reason of their different qualities are thought to be good to kill and bring forth Worms therefore in general such remedies as heat drie cut and are sharp bitter salt or sowr and attenuating are to be used For either they kill the
exulcerate were a present remedy lib. 20. c. 13. and lib. 28. c. 10. Their use in physick is manifold For some I use Galens words lib. de different sanguinis detrahendi modis Tract 10. take Horsleeches and put them up and they use them diversly For when they are made tame they are easily put upon the skin but those that are taken must be kept one day and must be fed with a little bloud and so it will be that whatsoever venome they have in them they will soon cast forth But when we have need to use them that part to which you will apply your Leeches must be first rubbed with Nitre and must be anoynted and scratched with your fingers that by this means they may fasten the more greedily but you must cast them into warm water that is contained in a large and a clean vessel then you must lay hold of them with a Sponge you must cleanse them with your hand from all filth and dirt and so they will be fit to be applyed And when you have set them on lest that part they stick to should grow cold you must powr on warm Oyl But if they be to be applyed to your hands or feet you must thrust them into the warm water that the Leeches are cast into And if they will not hold âast you must cut off their tails with a pair of Cizzers for when the bloud so runs forth they will not leave off sucking until you sprinkle salt or ashes upon their mouth When they are fallen off that venemous quality they use to leave behinde must be drawn sorth with a Cupping glasse and if that may not be done you must use a Sponge to foment the place And if yet any bloudy drops run forth apply meal and Cummin and then binde on some Wooll wet with a little Oyl But if yet the bloud will not stop lay on a linnen clo ãâ¦ã et in Vinegar or burnt glasse or a Sponge first put into liquid pitch and afterwards burnt And this also you must observe that Leeches draw that bloud that is next the flesh and not that which is contained in the Centre of the body Men use them commonly in stead of Cupping glasses Mark also that you must take them off when they have drawn half the bloud And you must beware that the bloud run not forth so long untill it be sufficient For the part it self will grow cold both by reason of the Leeches that are naturally cold and because of the air that compasseth us about So far Galen But Cardan bids us not to anoynt the place with Nitre but with milk that they may fasten the sooner and withall to pinch the Leech close that striving for revenge he may open the vein lib. 7. de rer var. c. 28. What help they were to Dionysius the Tyrant of Heracleot ãâ¦ã we may read in Histories who representing rather a beast than a man sor he died with a mightâ great paunch had been eaten by the Worms long before unlesse Horsleeches had been applyed to both his sides and drawn forth daily some quantity of the humours he was charged with It were too tedious to reckon up all the melancholique and mad people that have been cured by applying Leeches to the Hemorrods in their fundaments Yet I may not over-passe the Noble Richard Cavendish the most learned Unkle by the fathers side of that famous Navigator through the world Thomas Cavendish who was perfectly cured of his Gowt that had held him many years only by applying Horsleeches to the Emrods in Ano every moneth so that now to the great wonder of all the Court he walks alone without any help and being sound and void of all pain he lives an old man Also Horsleeches set upon the fundament will so wonderfully pluck back the humours that run from the whole body to the joynts that they will presently ease the pains like a Charm This I proved at Lions upon an excellent Musitian one Rosolus who for the great pains he endured and by continual waking fell into a burning Feaver with raving in the Dog-dayes at which time Hippocrates saith it is dangerous to purge It is in this case such a remedy that it is to be preferr'd before all others for they draw from the whole body without any trouble or losse of a mans forces Jac. Aubert Exercit. 50. progymnasm Fernel Abdit Godfridus a Cenami a Venetian a famous man and my very great friend for just and lawfull causes who told me that he saw one who had the joynt Gowt who lived many years free of all his pains only by applying Leeches to the part that was in pain Math. de Grad and Savanrola Jacob Dournet Apolog. lib. c. 3. perswade the same remedy Also Gilbertus Anglicus reports that the Lowsie disease generally is to be cured with the ashes of Horsleeches boyled with Storax For they are not only usefull for men whilest they are alive but when they are dead and burnt to ashes Pliny reports lib. 32. c. 7. that Horsleeches will black ones hair if they be corrupted in black wine for sixty dayes Others bid us take one fextarius of Leeches and let them lie to corrupt in two sextarii of Vinegar in a leaden vessel for so many dayes and then to anoynt with them in the Sun Sornatius relates that this medicament is of so great force that ulesse they hold Oyl in their mouths that die the hair it will also black their teeth Meges writes that live Frogs putrefied in Vinegar will take off the hair but the ashes of Leeches anoynted with Vinegar will doe the same CHAP. XLII Of Water-worms IN waters both salt and fresh great and small Worms will breed of putrefaction especially in Summer very like Earth-worms but they want that knot or chain about their necks Also they are by far more sharp and lean oft-times they lie in the sand and they cast up earth out of their holes as Earth-worms do In sweet waters that are standing and not deep there is found a kinde of Worms of a full red that resemble in shape the Teredo without feet but that they have greater heads Their tail is forked whereby they stay themselves till lifting up their heads they may finde a place to fasten the rest of their body and so they creep upon the mud and stones and so they move in a brandishing manner crookedly In Summer when it is clear weather and hot they come forth together in great numbers but if the mud move never so little they presently withdraw themselves The English call them Summer-worms either because they are seen only in Summer or they die in Winter In the Mediterranean Sea there is a round Worm found as great as a great Snake and of the same colour but it hath neither head nor tayl as Weckerus observes Sometimes it is twenty foot long What may be the use or nature of these I have not yet observed But I hope that others will
Ponzettus At Seaven-oak in Kânt which âoâ belongs to Sir Ralph Bossâvile Knight c. Aelianus Pliny Pierius Coelius Rho. Diod. Sicul. Aelianus Herodotus Aeneas Syl. Gellius Lampridius Pierius P. Venetus Aristotle Philostratus Solinus Philes Marcedi Simocratus Diodorus Zoroaster Crescentius Textor Oppianus Aelianus Aristotle Perottus Isidorus Aelianus Bellonius Crus Pliny Erasmus Aelianus Thrafillus Pliny Aelianus Aelianus Constantinus Aelianus Elecampane in English Remedies to be had and taken from Serpents Suffumigations to expell Serpents Of such things as are laid under us that will expel Serpents Of Unguents and things born about us from which Serpents will run away All this medicinal description of Serpents was written by Tho. Bonham Doctor in Physick Herodotus Mela. Pliny Solinus Scaliger Boemus Aeneas Syl. Nicander Venetus P. Martyr Florentinus Caelius Rho. Aelianus Constantinus Pliny Textor Plutarch Pierius Pierius Suidas Isidorus Herodotus Pliny Silvius Virgil. Olaus Mag. Avicenna Galen Hippocrates Cael. Rhod. Diodorus Pierius Aelianus Aetius Aegineta Pliny Aetius Avicenna Arnoldus Srabo Aetius Olaus Am. Paraeus Bellonius Aelianus Gillius ãâã Pliây Suidas Textor Aelianus Mercurial Aetius Ponzettus Galen Dioscorid Actuarius Aegineta Mercurialis Paraeus Aetius Mercurialis Andreas Aetius Cor. Celsus Olaus Mag. Pliny Orpheus Dr. Bonban his discourse of Bees Wasps and Drones Names Dâfferences of Bees from nature Description of the King Differences in regard of sex The difference of the form of Bees according to the place Bees of America The government of Bees The use of Bees Medicinal uses The Names The Description Arist l. 3. de gâner Anâm c. 10. Their generation Their uses Of Bees called Theeves Their uses D. Bonham Lucretius In Hoediporis Mizaldus ãâã Allens wife Salomon The curation of their stings Gilbertus Anglus Haly Abbas Rhazes Serapio Ardoynus Mesus Aaron Constantine Gulielmus Placentinus Gordonius Varignana Matthiolus Arnoldus deÌ villa nova Marcellus The names Their description In bellis civilibus omnna sunt misera Tul. ep femal Their uses Remedies against their stings The error of some medicine-givers Their name Their differences The description of Pityocampes Their qualities Their use in Physick Aristotle Solinus Aristotle Pliny Solimis Aristotle Marcellus Rhazes Kiranides Trallianus Pliny Solinue Pliny Textor Avicenna Aelianus Solinus Solinus Scaliger Aelianus Ponzettus Aurelianus Aristotle Mela. Diod. Sicul. Marcellinus Herodotus Isidore Coelius Rho. Herodotus Pliny Solinus Marcellinus Albertus Herodotus P. Martyr Aelianus Herodotus Pliny Orus Strabo Orus Aelianus Solinus Plutarch Solinus P. Martyr Marcellinus Caelius Herodotus Orus Aelianus Aristotle Marcellinus Aelianus Leo Afric Plutarch Calcagninus Diod. Sicul. Strabo Strabo Solinus Seneca Strabo Orus Aelianus Crescenst Diodorus Herodotus Pliny Capitolinus Lampridius Vadianus Aetius P. Martyr Herodotus Dioscorides Pliny Arnoldus Aetius Rhazes Aetius Arnoldus Bellonius Aristotle Aelianus Rhazes Marcellinus Bellonius Olaus Mag. Olaus Mag. Aelianus Stuâpsius Aelianus Scaliger Aelianus Herodotus Brodeus Scaliger Criniâus Stumpsius Aelianus Gillius Suetonius Stumpsius Aristotle Vincensius Solinus Aetius Grevin Avicen Aetius Albertus Albertus âiranides Democritus A story A story Pliny Avicenna Marcellus Strabo Solinus Aelianus Polycletus Marcellus Palladius Pliny Marcellus Nicander Gillius Lucan Matthiolus Willichius Orus Cordus Dioscorid Cardan Pliny Aelianus Gillius Aelianus Pliny Aristotle Pliny Aelianus Ia. Lacinius Kiramides Philes Aelianus Pliny Aelianus Albertus Aelianus Galen Ponzettus Arnoldus Aetius Palladius Rasis Strabo Plutarch Gillius Actius Solinus Gyraldus Cardan Aetius Aelianus Brasavolus Kiranides Alexius Galenus Aelianus Solinus Aetius Scaliger Oswaldus Phurnut Lea Afric Olaus Doctor Bonhams discourse of Spiders The signes to know when one is bitten of any Phalaangie and the effects of the same Their use Aetius Crescen Pliny Actorius Caelius Rho. Amatus Strabo Aelianus Aelianus Palladius Brasavolus Aristotle Oppianus Plinius Plutarch Aelianus Boemus Mercuriall Cardan Herodotus Scaliger Cardan Aelianus Galen Aristotle Aristotle Avicenna Coelius Aelianus Strabo Aelianus Gallen Dioscorid Rasis Pausanias Pliny Nicander In Vipera Funamellus Avicen Amatus Galen Galen Hellideus Pliny Porphyrius Dioscorides Pliny Aetius Albertus Pliny Galen Aetius Avicenna Leonell Faventin Galen Avicen Galen Aetius Doctor Bonhams discourse of Worms In Aulularia In Theriaca Ovi amo l. 3. In Bacchide Lib 11. c. 35. The Name Apes or Bees whence so called The Definition of the Bee The Description of the Bee The difference of their shapes from nature The difference of their minds from the place Differences of the corporeal form from the place Difference from their Sex Creation Genetation Propagation Conservation Drink Exercise of Bees Placing of the Bees Fear DiseaÌ es of Bees ând the cures The Use Their use in Medicine The Definition of Honey The best Honey how known Accidental properties of Honey In what countreys the best Honey is tobe found What Countreys produce bad honey The signs of poysoned Honey and the remedies against it The temper of Honey The medicinal vertues of Honey See Huonymus his Nectar in Wickerus his special Antidote fol. 191. 195. The Use The description of the Drone ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Arist l. 5. c. 22. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Arist l. 9. hist c. 40. Their Generation Plin. l. 11. c. 11. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã as the Greeks very many of them have written l. de Animal 1. c. 10. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Chil. 8. Hist 217. Plat. l. 8. de Repub. Arist l. 9. c. 25. Plin l. 11. c. 17. Aristotle calis fur ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Hesychius ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã and from thence I think the Latine name was derived Their Use Aristoph in Vespis The gifts of his minde and wit Lib. 1. hist c. 1. Love to one another ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Love to their young ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Iliad 13. Love to their wives or females Strom. 2. Their difference from others Lib. 2. Albertus l. 15. tract 1. L. 11. c. 21. Hist 9. c. 41. Their Age. Their Food The place of Wasps The use of the Wasp Preservatives against the stinging of Wasps Tetrab 4. seâm 1. c. 11. Remedies against the stings of Wasps Habitation L. 11. c. 21. Their Use Remedies against the stinging of Hornets In Alexiph ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Description The commendation of the Fly The Flesh-fly The Dog-fly Brees or Beast-fly Difference of Asilus and Tabanus The second kinde of Tabanus Gnat like Tabanus Presaging of weather Their use in Medicine Remedies against Fly-bitings ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã c. And then the Gnats with their great Trumpets sound alarm to the battle ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã The Generation of Gnats The Use Description Copulation Difference of Butterflies The middle sort of Day-Butterflies The smaller Day-Butterflies Their Copulation and Generation Their Death The mischief they do How the Locusts make a noise Kindes of Bruchi The mischiefs Locusts do Their Use Levit. 12. Their use in Physick How they may be killed and driven away Their Copulation and Generation Their use in Physick The name of the Kricket The Use Name Their Use Remedies against them The Use The signs of a Buprestis being drank The Remedy 1 2. de Amid in Alex. 1. 2. 78. Câenate Signs and cure of Cantharides drank The Name Their Sex and Description Their use for our understandings and by example The Name The Name The Description Their Use The Name The difference and description Their Use The medicinal use The way to make the Oyl is found in Rhasis and Barthol Montag l. 5. tract 18. c. 7. Their Medicinal use The Name The differences Edward Moni ãâ¦ã Beresish lib. 5. The Name Yellowish are 3. Vinula Dark 2. Various coloured 10. Signs of a Pine Catterpiller drank and the cure Ionas The Name The Name The Usâ The Name The Description Lib. 11. c. 25. Lib. 19 c. 4. Their Generation Nature L. 10. c. 12. Their Food Their Use Their use in Physick Preventions against the stinging of Scorpions Cure-of the stingings of Scorpions The Name The differences Signs of the bitings of Phalangia This is the sense of Galen but not the same words The cure The praise of the house Spider taken from the body of it The praise of the house Spider from the goods of Fortune Prayses of the Spider from the gifts of her minde Generation Copulation The use Their praise from their minde Their Physicall use Fig-tree Worms The Name Description of their differences Causes of a general lowsie disease L. de Plant. c. 2. Prevention and Cure Use of Lice The Use L. 9. subtil Exer. 94. n. 8. ad subtil Cardan 23. In Navig hist The Use The Name The Description Remember the Cook oâ Qâeen Mark that cast out a Scolopendra by her nostrils c. Mr. Crane See de Vera Mâdând Use Signs of broad Worms Ascarides Prognosticks The cure A general cure of Worms Simple hot medicaments against Worms out of Dioscorides Celsus Pliny Scâibonius Largus Galen Oribasius Paulus Aetius Cold Simples against Worms Simples severally that bring forth Worms round Ascarides and broad Worms The methodical Cure of round Worms chiefly out of Paulus and Aetius Compound internal Remedies to kill and sorce out Worms Compound external Medicaments against Worms The Cure of broad Worms chiefly out of Celsus Oribasius Scribonius Paulus and Actius Victoriatus is a piece of Money of 3 oboli or half a dram The Name and Description Their Originall Their End The Name and Description The kindes Their Originall Their End Their Use
it is easily cured and kept safely from the flies The quantity of wool upon our Sheep is more then in any other Countrey of the world for even the least among us such as are in hard grounds as in Norfolk the uppermost part of Kent Heitfordshire and other places have better and weightier fleeces then the greatest in other Nations and for this cause the forain and Latin Authors do never make mention of any quantity of wool they shear from their Sheep but of the quality The quantity in the least is a pound except the Sheep have lost his wool in the middle sort of Sheep two pounds or three pounds as is vulgar in Buckingham Northampton and Leicester shires But the greatest of all in some of those places and also in Rumney marsh in Kent four or five pounds and it is the manner of the Shepherds and Sheep-masters to wet their Rams and so to keep their wool two or three years together growing upon their backs and I have credibly heard of a Sheep in Buckinghamshire in the flock of the L. P. that had shorn from it at one time one and twenty pound of wool After the shearing of our Sheep we do not use either to anoint or wash them as they do in other Nations but turn them forth without their fleeces leaving them like medowes new mowen with expectation of another fleece the next year The whole course of the handling of our Sheep is thus described by the flower of our English Gentlemen husbands Master Thomas Tusser Wash Sheep ' for the better where water doth run And let him go cleanly and dry in the Sun Then shear him and spare not at two days an end The sooner the better his corps will amend Reward not thy Sheep when ye take off his coat With twitches and slashes as broad as a groat Let not such ungentleness happen to thine Lest flie with her gentles do make him to pine Let Lambs go unclipped till June be half worne The better the fleeces will grow to be shorne The Pye will discharge thee for pulling the rest The lighter the Sheep is then feedeth it best And in another place of the husbandry of Sheep he writeth thus Good farme and well stored good housing and dry Good corn and good dairy good market and nigh Good shepherd good till-man good Jack and good Gill Makes husband and huswife their coffers to fill Let pasture be stored and fenced about And tillage set forward as needeth without Before you do open your purse to begin With any thing doing for fancy within No storing of pasture with baggagely tit With ragged and aged as evill as it Let carren and barren be shifted away For best is the best whatsoever you pay And in another place speaking of the time of the year for gelding Rams and selling of wool which he admonisheth should be after Michaelmas he writeth thus Now geld with the gelder the Ram and the Bull Sew ponds amend dams and sell Webster the wool But of the milking of Sheep he writeth thus Put Lamb fro Ewe to milk a few Be not too bold to milke and fold Five Ewes allow to every Cow Sheep wrigling tail hath mads without fail And thus far Tusser besides whom I finde little discourse about the husbandry of Sheep in any English Poet. And for the conclusion or rather farther demonstration of this part concerning the quality of our English wool I can use no better testimony then that of worthy Mr. Camden in his Britannia for writing of Buchinghamshire he useth these words Haec tota fere campestris est solo item argillacto tenaci foecundo Pabulosis pratis innumeros ovium greges pascit quarum mollia tenuissima vellera ab Asiatâcia usque gentibus expetuntur that is to say The whole County of Buckingham is of a clammy champain fertile soil feeding innumerable flocks of Sheep with his rich and well-growen pastures or medowes whose soft and fine fleeces of wool are desired of the people of Asia For we know that such is the trade of Merchandise and transportation of English cloth the rare finenesse and smoothnesse thereof is admired in Asia namely in Palestina and other Kingdoms of the Turk and therefore they have English houses of Merchants both at Altppo ââripoli and other places Again speaking of Lemster ore or Lemster wool in Herfordshire he writeth thus Sed ei praecipua bodie gloria est a lana in circum vicinis agris Lemster ore vacant cui excepta Apula Tarentine palmam deferunt Europaei omnes The greatest glory of that soil is in their wool which ariseth from Sheep feeding in the fields and pastures adjoyning thereunto which wool they call Lemster ore and all Christendom yeeldeth praise and price unto it next after the Apulian and Tarentinian wool And indeed so sweet is the gain that cometh by Sheep that in many parts of the Land there is a decay of tillage and people for their maintenance and therefore the said Mr. Camden saith most worthily even like himself that is honest and unpartial in all his writings for in the beginning of his description of Northamptonshire where I think above all parts depopulation and destroying of Towns is most plentiful so that for Christians now you have sheep and for a multitude of good house-holders you shall have one Shepheard swain and his Dog lying upon forty shillings a year or little more he writeth in the words of Hythodaeus after the commendation of the Sheep and wool of that Countrey Ovibus otpleta quasi obsessa quae ut Hythodaeus illâ dixiâ tam ãâã esse tamque exiâuo ali solebant nunc uti fertur tam edaces atque indomitae esse coeperunt ut homines dâvoâent ipsos agros domos oppida vastent ac depopulentur which worlds I cannot better English then in the words of an Epigrammatarian in our age for to this effect according to my remembrance he writeth Sheep have eat up our pastures our medowes and our downes Our Mountains our Men our Villages and Towns Till now I thought the common proverb did but just That sayes a black sheep is a biting beast Concerning the goodness of English Wool and the difference of it from others the reason is well given by Gesner and Cardan Lanae earum molles crispae sunt ideoque nunc ut olim Milesia celebratur nec mirum cum nullum animal venenatum mittat Anglia sins luporum metu ãâã vagetur nulli enim in Anglia hodie lupi reperiuntur Rore caeli sitim sedant greges ab omni alio potu arcentur quod aquae ibi ovibus sint exitiales that is to say The wool of English Sheep is soft and curled and therefore it is now commended as highly as ever was the Milesian wool in ancient time and not without just cause for they are neither annoid with the fear of any venemous Beast nor yet troubled with Wolves and therefore the strength
of their nature and peaceable quiet wherein they live doth breed in them the better wool and besides they never drink but quench their thirst with the dew of heaven And thus much for the discourse of English wool I am never able sufficiently to describe the infinite commodities that come unto men by wool both for gardens for hangings for coverings for hats and divers such other things and therefore it shall not be unpleasant I trust unto the Reader to be troubled a little with a farther discourse hereof if I blot some paper in describing the quality of the best wool in other Nations First of all therefore we are to remember these two things that the best wool is soft and curled and that the wool of the old Sheep is thicker and thinner then the wool of the younger and the wool of the Ram followeth the same nature of whom we will speak more in his story Only in this place our purpose is to expresse the examination of wool as we finde it related by Authors according to their several Countries Therefore as we have said already out of Mr. Camdens report the Tarentinian and Apulian must have the first place because the Sheep of those Countries live for the most part within doors and besides that are covered with other skins In Spain they make greatest account of the black wool and it appeareth by good History both in our English Chronicle and others that the Sheep of Spain were of no reckoning till they were stored with the breed of England There is a little Countrey called Pollentia neer the Alpes of the wool where of Martial maketh mention as also of the Canusine red wool and therefore Ovis Canusina was an Emblem for pretious wool his Verses are these Non tantum pullo lugentes vellere lanas Roma magis fuscis vestitur Gallia ruffis Canusinatus nostro Syrus assere sudet We have spoken already of the wool of Istria and Liburnia which if it were not for the spinning in Portugal and the Websters art thereupon it were no better for cloth then hair Strabo writeth that the wool of Mutina whereby he meaneth all the Countrey that lyeth upon the Scutana is very soft and gentle and the best of Italy but that of Liguria and Millain is good for no other use but for the garments of servants About Padua their wool is of a mean price yet they make of it most pretious works of Tapestry and Carpets for tables for that which was rough and thick in antient time was used for this purpose and also to make garments having the shags thereof hanging by it like rugs There is a City called Felirum and the wool thereof by the Merchants is called Feltriolana Felt-wool they were wont to make garments hereof neither woven nor sewed but baked together at the fire like hats and caps whereof Pliny writeth thus Lanae per se coacta vestem faciunt si addatur aâetum etiam ferro resistunt imo vero etiam ignibus novissimo sââ purgamemo quippe aâenis coquentium extracte indumentis usâ veniant Gallorum ut arbitror invento certe Gallicis hodie nominibus discernuntur Wool hath this property that if it be forced together it will make a garment of it self and if Vinegar be put unto it it will bear off the blow of a sword dressed at the fire and purged to the last for it being taken off from the brazen coffer whereon it was dressed it served for clothing being as he thought an invention of the Gals because it was known by French names and from hence we must see the beginning of our felt-hats The Betican wool is celebrated by Juvenal when he speaketh how Catullus fearing shipwrack was about to cast him out into the water Infecit natura pecus sed egregius fons Viribus occultis B ãâ¦ã adj ãâ¦ã ãâã For the colour of Wool in that Countrey groweth mixed not by any art but naturally through their food or their drink or the operation of the air The Lavoditian Wool is also celebrated not only for the softnesse of it but for the colour for that it is as black as any Raven and yet there are some there of other colours and for this cause the Spanish Wool is commended especially Turditania and Coraxâ as Strabo writeth for he saith the glosse of the Wool was not only beautiful for the purity of the black but also it will spin out into so thin a thread as was admirable and therefore in his time they sold a Ram of that Countrey for a talent I may speak also of the Wool of Paâma and Altinum whereof Martial made this distichon Velleribus primis Appulia Parma secundis Nobilis Altinum âertid laudat ovis We may also read how for the ornament of wool there have been divers colours invented by art and the colours have given names to the Wool as Simatulis lana wool of Sea-water-colour some colour taken from an Amathyst stone some from brightness or clearness some from Saffron some from Roses from Mittles from Nuts from Almonds from Wax from the Crow as Color coraxicus and from the purple fish as from the Colassine or the Tyrian whereof Virgil writeth thus Hae quoque non cura nobis levibre âuendae Nec minor usus erit quamvis Milesia magno Vellera mutentur Tyrios incocta rubores From hence cometh the chalke colour the Lettice colour the Loot-tree root the red colour the Azure colour and the Star colour There is an herb called Fullers-herb which doth soften Wool and make it apt to take colour and whereas generally there are but two colours black and white that are simple the antients not knowing how to die Wool did paint it on the outside for the triumphing garments in Homer were painted garments The Phrygian garments were colours wrought with needle-work and there was one Attalus a King in Asia which did first of all invent the weaving of Wool and Gold together whereupon came the name of Vestis Attalica for a garment of cloth of gold The Babylonians and the Alexandrians loved diversity of colours in their garments also and therefore M ãâ¦ã Scipio made a law of death against all such as should buy a Babylonish garment that was carpets or beds to eat upon for eight hundred Sesterces The shearing of cloth or garments made of shorne cloth did first of all begin in the dayes of St. Augustine as Fenistella writeth The garments like poppies had the original before the time of Lucilius the Poet as he maketh mention in Tarquatus There was a fashion in antient time among the Romans that a distaffe with Wool upon it was carryed after Virgins when they were going to be marryed the reason thereof was this as Varro writeth for that there was one Tanaquillis or Caia Cecilia whose Distaffe and Wool had endured in the Temple of Sangi many hundered years and that Servius Tullus made him a cloke of that Wool which he