Betting and the like Ill-natur'd Arts are Bull-baiting Cock-fighting Dog fighting Cudgel-playing Exercising Arts are Bowling Shooting Hunting Wrestling Pitching the Barr and Tennis-Court Play Vain-glorious Arts are Oratory Pleading Disputing Proposing Objecting Magnisicent Entertainments great Revenues Sumptuous Palaces and Costly Furnitures Covetous Arts are Bribery Monopolies Taxes Excises and Compositions Ambitious Arts are Time-serving Observing Insinuating Malicious Arts are Impeachings Back-bitings and Libels Superstitious Arts are Interpretations false Visions Impostures Imprecations Ceremonies Postures Garbs Countenances and Paces and particular Customs Habits and Diets Idolatrous Arts are Groves Altars Images and Sacrifices Dangerous Arts though necessary for the safety of Honour are Fencing Riding Tilting Vaulting Wrestling and Swimming Murthering Arts are Swords Knives Hatchets Saws Sythes Pick-axes Pikes Darts Granadoes Guns Bullets Shot Powder Arts of Safety are Trenches Moats Bridges Walls Arms and Chyrurgery Profitable Arts are Geometry Cosmography Arithmetick Navigation Fortification Architecture Fire-works Water-works Wind-works Cultivating Manuring Distilling Extracting Pounding Mixing Sifting Grinding as Malting Brewing Baking Cooking Granging Carding Spinning Weaving Colouring Tanning Writing Printing Wit Why Learned Sister all these Arts and innumerbale more are produced from the Forge of the Brain being all invented by Wit and the Inventer is to be more valued than the Art the Cause more than the Effect for as without a Cause there would be no Effect so without an Inventive Brain there could be no Ingenuous Art Wis. Dear Witty Sister do not engross more than what is justly your own for there are more Arts produced from Accidents and Experiments than from Ingenious Wit Learn Some Learned Men hold That the Motion of the Sun makes the Heat others that Heat makes Motion Wit Then it is like the Brain for a hot Brain makes a quick Wit and a quick Wit makes the Brain hot Wis. We ought not to spend our time in studying of the Motions and Heat of the Sun but of the Motions and Passions of the Heart Learn Some are of opinion That Light hath no Body others That it hath a Body and that the Light of the Sun enlightens the Air as one Candle doth another Wit Light is like Imagination an Incorporeal thing or an Accidental Proceeding from a Substance and as one Candle doth light another so one Fancy produceth another VVis Pray discourse of Virtues which is the Light of the Soul and Generosity an Effect thereof which distributes to Necessity producing comfortable Relicfs therewith Learn And some say Colours are no Colours in the dark being produced by Light on such and such Bodies Wit VVe may as well say VVit is no Wit or Thoughts no Thoughts in the Brain being produced by such and such Objects nor Passion is no Passion in the Heart being raised by such and such Causes VVis I pray dispute not how Colours are produced whether from the Light or from their own Natures or Natural Substances but consider that Good VVorks are produced from a Soul that is pure and bright Learn The Learned say That Sounds are Numbers and Opticks are Lines of Light VVit VVit sets the Number and Motion draws the Lines VVis There is no Musick so harmonious as Honest Professions nor no Light so pure as Truth Learn And they say Discord in Musick well applied makes the Harmony the delightfuller VVit So Satyr in VVit makes it more quick and pleasant VVis So Truths mix'd with Falshood make Flattery more plausible and acceptable Learn Time which is the Dissolver of all Corporeal Things yet it is the Mother Midwife and Nurse to Knowledg whereby we find all Modern Romancy-VVriters although they seem to laugh and make a scorn of Amadis de Gall yet make him the Original-Table or Ground from whence they draw their Draughts and take out covertly their Copies from thence Indeed Amadis de Gall is the Homer of Romancy-writers Wit Although Wit is not a Dissolver yet 't is a Creator Wit doth descry and divulge more Knowledg than Time for that which Time could never find out Wit will discover Wit is like a Goddess in Nature for though it cannot dissolve yet it can produce not only something out of something but something out of nothing I mean from the Imaginations which are nothing and Wit needs no other Table or Ground to draw its Draughts or take Copy from but it s own Brain which creates and invents similizes and distinguisheth Wis. But Time and Wit would soon produce a Chaos of Disorder if it were not for Wisdom which is composed of Judgment Justice Prudence Fortitude and Temperance for Judgment distinguishes Times and Wits Justice governs Times and Wits Prudence orders Times and Wits Fortitude marshals Times and Wits and Temperance measures Times and Wits Learn Scholars say That one Man can see higher and further when he is set upon another Man's Shoulders than when he stands or sits on the Ground by himself so when one is raised by another Man's Opinion he can descry more in hidden Mysteries Wit But if a Man see a Lark tow'r in the Sky which another Man doth not having weaker Eyes yet he is no wiser than the other that only saw the Lark picking Corn on the Ground But he that sees her not in the Sky knows she is in the Sky as well as the other because he saw from whence she took her flight But if the other that is raised can see a Bird in the Sky that was never seen before it were something to add to his Knowledg Besides a sharp quick Eye will see further on his own Legs than on the Shoulder of another for most grow dizzy if set on high which casts a Mist on the Eyes of the Understanding Wis. Leave the Shoulders of your Neighbours and let your Eye of Faith reach to Heaven As some Meats nourish the Body and some destroy the Body so some Thoughts nourish the Soul and some destroy it The Senses are the working-Labourers to bring Life's Materials in As Nature is the best Tutor to instruct the Mind so the Mind is the best Tutor to instruct the Senses And my Mind instructs my Senses to leave you There are learned Arts and Sciences a Poetical and Satyrical Wit a Comical and Tragical Wit an Historical and Romancical Wit an Ingenious and Inventive Wit a Scholastical Wit a Philosophical Wit There is Moral Human and Divine Wisdom The CONTRACT A NOBLE Gentleman that had been married many years but his Wife being barren did bear him no Children at last she dyed and his Friends did advise him to marry again because his Brother's Children were dead and his Wife was likely to have no more So he took to VVife a virtuous young Lady and after one year she conceived with Child and great Joy there was of all sides but in her Child-bed she dyed leaving only one Daughter to her sorrowful Husband who in a short time oppressed with Melancholy dyed and left his Daughter who was not a year old to the care and breeding of
water as sower Vinegar doth Milk and as curded parts will lye in clods so VVater in flakes of Snow Hail said she is broken water or rather crumbbled water for as a hand which nips a piece of Bread crumbles it by rubbing it between their fingers so doth some sort of cold Motions break and crumble water into a number of small parts and as many crumbs ' of Bread will stick together through the moist clamminess lying in little lumps so doth the broken parts of water which is Hail-stones and though the Body is divided into abundance of little parts yet every part is more compact as being closer contracted with being crusht and nipt together As for Frost said she that is candyed or crusted Vapour which is rarified water for as some sorts of hot Motions candy Sugar so some sorts of cold Motions candy's Vapour Likewise said she as Milk changes not the nature from being Milk with curding nor Bread with crumbling nor Sugar with candying so Water changes not the nature with contractions or dividings into Snow Hail Ice and Frost As for Ice it is made by such a kind of cold Motion as hot Motions make Glass for as fire in a hot Furnace calcines some sorts of Earth and the purest to Glass so doth the strongest of such sorts of cold Motions congeal Water into Ice And as some hot Motions strive to convert Earth into Water as we may see by making Earth into Glass so some sorts of cold Motions do turn Water into Earth as by condensing into Ice Hail Snow and Frost and as Snow and Ice is nothing but condensed Water so Glass is nothing but calcined or rarified Earth for that fine Earth which makes Glass is so rarified by the hot fire in a Furnace which blows and spreads it as thin and clarified it as clear as Water only it makes it not liquid and fluid yet whilst it is in the fire it is in a degree of being fluid for it is soft and clammy Thus Fire makes Earth so near like Water as it is transparent shining and smooth and brings it into the mid-way but it wants the liquid wet and fluid Motions which some will call Parts to make it perfect Water And I suppose that Crystals Diamonds and the like are only the purest part of Earth turn'd by the heat in the Earth or in the Sun to a Glassy substance but stronger as being wrought by a natural Heat and not by an artificial Heat or Fire but as Glass is a rarified Earth so Air is a rarified Water and Smoak a rarified Oyl and Oyl is a fluid Sulphur and Flame is a fluid Fire and Quick-silver is a fluid Metal Then they asked her Whether there were Natural Elements not subject to be Metamorphosed She answered Yes They asked How she would prove it She said She would prove there was a natural Fire by the Sun which never changes his heat or â—â—ffens his light nor alters his natural Properties of attracting contracting and the like and to prove a metamorphosed Fire is Lightning Meteors Fevours and the like and to prove a natural Water is the Sea and to prove a metamorphosed Water is Vapour and to prove a natural Air is the Serene and to prove a metamorphosed Air is Wind and said she the difference of natural Elements and those that are called metamorphosed is that the natural Elements cannot lose their properties as those that are metamorphosed do by changing from one thing to another For say the natural Elements be mixed yet they quit not their natural properties as for example mix Wine or Aqua-vitae or the like and VVater and though they are mixt yet they lose not their natural properties as the VVater to cool and VVine to heat for put a drop of wine to a pint of water or to an ocean and it will be so much more hotter as the quantity of a drop can heat and so for a drop of water to so much wine and it is so much colder as the quantity of a drop can cool for though they mix yet they lose not their properties neither doth their mixture take from their pure nature Then they asked her If a natural or metamorphosed Element might not corrupt a pure Element She said No being not subject to change more than a gross and malignant Vapour can corrupt the Sun but said she natural Elements can and do often-times purifie corruption if they be not obstructed for though they cannot be changed they may be obstructed as we see dark Clouds will obstruct the natural light of the Sun and many times the natural heat yet they can neither quench out the one nor put out the other the like is the continuance of the natural Elements But perchance you will say that you talk of an Element and I speak of a Planet I say that for example But though the Sun is a Planet yet it is an Elementary Fire and though Earth may be called a Planet yet it is an Elementary Earth and for all we can know the Moon may be an Elementary VVater but howsoever there may be a natural Fire which is an unalterable Fire which you may call the Elementary Fire as the Sun and so the rest of the Elements for any thing that Reason can prove against it Then they asked her If Nature did work always exactly She answered No for Nature doth seldom work so exactly as to bring often to perfection not the Bodies of all Animals especially Mankind either in the Body or Mind much less to make them both exactly answerable or answerably exact As for their Bodies for the most part they are neither in proportion nor lineaments answerable to each other for some have well-shap'd Hands Legs and Feet and ill-shap'd Bodies others well-shap'd Bodies and ill-featured Faces and ill-shap'd Legs and Feet also some have one Feature in the Face excellent and all the rest ill-favour'd The like is the Mind for some have good Capacities and Understandings to some things and to others are as dull as sensless Blocks some are witty upon some Subjects and are meer fools to others so some will be good-natured to some things and bad or cruel to others without cause Likewise Nature seldom makes a Body and Mind answerable for some have an ill-favoured Body but a noble Soul and rational Understanding others most beautiful Bodies but base Souls and depraved Understandings which shews as if Nature took so much pains and care in making the one as she became weary before she began the other and sometimes she seems lazy in the beginning of her Work and sometimes as if she were idle in the midst of her Work and sometimes as if she were quite tired at the finishing of her Work as when she makes ill-favoured and weak Bodies imperfect Senses and ill or foolish Minds then she is lazy at the beginning and when she makes some parts exact and some defective then she is idle working by halfs and when she
The second sort that were to visit her were PHYSICIANS And after a short time they asked her what made a good Physician She answered Practise and Observation Then they asked her What made the difference between Pain and Sickness She said Pain was caused by cross perturbed Motions and Sickness by distempered Matter and the overflow of Humours Then they asked her Whether the Mind could be in pain or be sick She answered No but said she the Mind is like the fire it can put the Body to pain but can feel none it self likewise the Motion is like fire for the more Matter it hath to work on the quicker it moves and when the Mind is as it were empty it grows dull and the Head is filled with nothing but smoaky Vapours Then they asked her What difference there is between the Soul and the Mind She answered As much difference as there is betwixt Flame and the grosser part of Fire for said she the Soul is only the pure part of the Mind Then they asked her the difference if any was betwixt the Soul the Mind and the Thoughts She answered As the Mind was the Fire the Soul the Flame so the Thoughts were as the Smoak that issues from the several Subjects that the Mind works on and as Smoak so the several Thoughts many times vanish away and are no more remembred and sometimes they gather together as Clouds do and as one Cloud lies above another so the Thoughts many times lye in rows one above another as from the first to the second and third Region Then they asked her What was the best Medicine to prolong Life She answered Temperance and good Diet. Then they asked her What Diet As for Diet said she to Healthful Bodies Meats must be well and wisely matched but to Diseased Bodies such Diets must be prescribed as are proper to cure each several Disease As for the mixing and matching Meats said she they must be after this description following All Flesh-meats are apt to breed Salt Rheums and being roast breeds Cholerick Humours which Salt Rheums and Cholerick Humours causeth many times Hectick Fevers enflaming the Arterial Blood and Vital Spirits and drinking out the Radical Moisture and Salt Rheums penetrating into the Vital parts cause excoriations and ulcerations As for white Meats as Milk-meats and the like they are apt to breed sharp Humours also the gross parts cause many times obstructions of the Noble parts and the sharpness is apt to corrode especially the Uretaries Guts and Stomack producing Bloody-waters from the one and Cholicks in the other Also sharp Humours cause Cankers Fistula's and the like eating through several parts of the Body making several holes passages or wounds to pass through and Obstructions cause ill digestion ill digestion causes corruptions corruptions cause several Diseases as Feavers Small-Pox Imposthumes Boils Scabs and Leprosies if the Corruption is salt or sowr As for Fish and also all sorts of Pults they breed Slime and Slime in hot Bodies causeth the Stone and Gout in cold Bodies and all sorts of white Swellings as the Kings-Evil Wens and the like also the Brains Feet or any Sinewy part of any Meat doth the like as also Sweet-meats As for all sorts of Fruits Roots Herbs they breed thin crude Humours which causes Wind Wind causes Cholicks Cramps and Convulsions by griping and twisting the Guts Nerves and Veins as also all swimming and dizzy Diseases in the Head likewise Head-akes caused by a Vapour arising from the crude and raw Humours also in hot Bodies it causeth the Sciatica the heat over-rarifying the sharp Humours caused by Fruit makes it so subtil and searching that it doth not only extend to the outmost parts of the Body as betwixt the skin and flesh but gets into the small Thread-Veins As for all Sweet-meats and Comfits they are in some Bodies very obstructive and in all Bodies they breed both sharp and hot Rheums and I have heard said she that Sugar makes the most sharp and acid Vitriol As for the matching of several Meats Fish-meats do well agree with Roots Herbs and Fruits if they be stewed roasted boiled baked or the like otherwise the rawness hinders the concoction of the Meat but if they be drest as aforesaid they temper the saltness and quench out the heat which the over-nourishing strength doth produce Also Fish may be mix'd with Flesh-meat although all Physicians are against it for certainly the natural freshness and coldness of Fish doth temper and allay the natural heat and saltness that is in Flesh-meat mixing it into a good Chyle and tempering it into a Juicy-Gravy which encreases the radical moisture and nourisheth the radical heat also it supplies the Arteries fills the Veins plumps the Flesh smooths the skin whenas strong drinks mix'd with strong meats over-heats the Body enflames the Spirits evaporates the radical moisture burns the radical heat scorches the Arteries drinks up the Blood sears the Veins shrinks up the Nerves dries the Flesh and shrivels the Skin White Meats and Pults agree best as being of one and the same degree as it were of heat for all strong Meats curdle all sorts of Milk which causes obstructions and corruptions and turns it sowr being of a nature so to do which makes such sharpness in the blood and body as causes Tertians Quartans Quotidians and the like Diseases Pults and all sorts of Milk-meat being of a spungy substance digest as it were together when Meats that are solid mix'd with Meats that are more porous and spungy do hinder each other Small drink is best with white Meat but when Pults is eaten without Milk it may agree better with stronger Liquor Roots and Milk-meats agree as being both easily dissolv'd from the first forms into Chyle Nor do Fruits and Pults disagree for the sharpness of the Fruits doth divide the clamming of the Pults and the sliminess of the Pults doth temper the sharpness of the Fruits but Fruits and Milk-meats are enemies which when they meet they do exasperate one another So that Fruits and Pults and Milk and Roots do best together Roots having no sharpness in them but there is of all sorts of Flesh Fish Milk Roots and Herbs some being hotter than others and grosser as the most watrish Fruits are the hottest as having most Spirits in their acute Juices Likewise all Roots or Herbs that bite as it were the tongue or are bitter to the tast are hot although Druggists Herbalists and Physicians are many times of the other opinion but certainly all that is sharp salt or bitter proceeds from a hot nature and most commonly produces hot effects having a fiery figure and motion but because they find many things that are sharp or bitter to qualifie Feavers or the like hot Diseases they think it is the natural temper of the Drugs Herbs Roots Fruits or the like but a hot Cause may produce a cold Effect as for example Obstructions cause heat in the Body but sharp things do
Cure But he that said The Stone in the Mind was Cruelty caused by the sharpness of Envy the bitterness of Hate and greedy Covetousness bid drink a Draught of Prodigality once a week and it would cure him And he that said Cruelty was the Stone that baked the tender and soft Humours into a hard confirmed Body of Stone bid him take an Ounce of Compassion two Ounces of Charity two Ounces of Generosity as much Clemency and bray them all together then divide them into two parts and lay one half to the Heart and another to the Reins of the Mind and those Medicines will soon dissolve the Stone As for Convulsions of the Mind he that said it was Fury bid the Mind take an Ounce of Discretion half an Ounce of Judgment a Scruple of Gravity mix them all together as in an Electuary and take it fasting and it will cure him And he who said That Inconstancy was the Convulsion in the Mind bid him take an Ounce of Temperance and an Ounce of Judgment one Ounce of Understanding two of Resolution mix these into an Electuary and take a good quantity of it every morning and this will cure him As for a Consumption he that said Pity was a Consumption bid the Mind take a Heart and bake it dry and when it was dried to Powder mix it in his ordinary Drink and it will cure him But he that said Forgetfulness was a Consumption bid him only take a Draught of Remembrance every day As for Dropsies he that said Desires were Dropsies bid the Mind take a Bunch of Reason that grows in a well-temper'd Brain and as much Humility that grows in a good Heart boil them in the Water of Content and drink a Draught three times a day this said he will dry up the superfluous matter But he who said That Desire was that Disease which was called the Dog-like-Appetite bid the Mind make a Bisk of Vanity an Oil of Curiosity and a Hodg-podg of Variety and eat so long till he did vomit it up again and if he could surfeit thereof it would prove a Cure otherwise there was no remedy unless the Mind could get some Fruition which is seldom to be had yet sometimes it is found said he But he that said A Dropsie was a Reluctancy that swelled out with an Aversion bid the Mind only use Abstinence and it would cure him And he that said It was Voluptuousness said That the same Medicine was to be prescribed He that said It was Pride that swelled out with Vain-glory bid the Mind take a great quantity of Humility but if you take it from the hand of Misfortunes said he it will make you sick But the Mind perceiving that they agreed not in any one Medicine or Disease desired that they would depart from him for said he Gentlemen it is impossible you should prescribe an effectual Medicine or Remedy since you cannot agree about the Disease So he paid them their Fees and they departed and the Mind became his own Physician Apothecary and Chyrurgeon First He let himself Blood opening the wilful Vein taking out the obstinate Blood Then he did take Pills made of Society and Mirth and those purged all strange and vain Conceits Also the Mind eat every morning a Mess of Broth wherein was Herbs of Grace Fruit of Justice Spice of Prudence Bread of Fortitude these were boiled with the Flesh of Judgment in the Water of Temperance This Breakfast was a Soveraign Remedy against the malignant Passions for it did temper Heat qualifie Sharpness allay Vapours and mollifie obdurate Passions and foolish Affections Likewise he did take to his Service the strongest soundest and quickest Senses which were Five these waited on him and each in their turn gave him intelligence of every thing and brought him all the News in the Countrey which was a Recreation and a Pastime for him And in thus doing he became the healthfullest and jolliest man in the Parish The Thoughts feasted THERE were two men great Companions one of them told the other That he had made a particular search and a strict enquiry for him three days together and could not hear of him insomuch that he had thought some unfortunate Accident or violent Death had befallen him He answered His Senses had been to visit the Soul which was the cause of his Body's retirement The other said I have heard that the Soul did use to visit the Senses but never heard that the Senses did use to visit the Soul He answered That the Sensitive Spirits did as often in some men visit the Rational as the Rational did the Sensitive Well said he and how doth the Soul live He said As a great Prince should do for the Mansion of the Soul is nobly situated upon a high Hill of Ambition which ascends by steps of Desires whereon stands a very curious Castle of Imaginations and all about are solitary Walks of Contemplations and dark Groves of Melancholy wherein run Rivers of Tears The Castle is Walled with Vain-glory and built upon Pillars of Hope Within the Walls are fine Gardens of Eloquence set full with Flowers of Rhetorick and Orchards of Invention wherein grow fruitful Arts. In this Orchard are many Birds of Fancies which flie from Tree to Tree from Branch to Branch from Bough to Bough singing fine Notes of Poetry in a sweet strain of Verse and chirping Rhymes and building their Nests in Arbours of Love wherein they hatch Conceits Likewise said he the Soul hath another House which is a most stately Palace it stands in the midst of a large Plain of good Nature wherein run Rivers of Generosity This Palace is walled about with Fortitude and stands upon Pillars of Justice There are long straight level Walks of Temperance where is fresh Air of Health This Palace is built very convenient for on the out-side are Stables of Discretion wherein are tyed up wild Opinions Phantasms and all skittish Humours and a large Riding-Room of Judgment where all Opinions are managed Also there are Granges of thrifty Contrivance wherein are Cattel of Prudence that give the Milk of Profit Besides there are Kitchins of Appetite Dining-rooms of Luxury Galleries of Memory Cellars of Forgetfulness Chambers of Rest and Closets of Peace But said he after my Senses had viewed every place they took their leave of the Soul who told them That they should stay and feast with her So the Soul invited all his Subjects the Thoughts The first of all were the Generous Thoughts who are the Nobles then the Gentry who are the Obliging and Graceful Thoughts the Heroick Thoughts were Commanders of Warr the Factious Thoughts were the Commons the Mercenary were Trades-men the Plodding-Thoughts were the Yeomantry the Ordinary Thoughts were Labourers and Servants Then there were the Politick Thoughts which were Statists the Proud Thoughts Magistrates and the Pious Thoughts Priests the Censuring Thoughts were the Judges the Wrangling and Pleading Thoughts Lawyers and the Terrifying Thoughts Sergeants the
divide and dissolve those gross and tough Humours and open Obstructions Likewise those that are salt and bitter do purifie and cleanse the corruption in the Body and when the cause of the Disease is taken or removed away the Body becomes equally temper'd for as the Disease doth waste the Body doth cool Thus it is the sharpness saltness and bitterness that cures the Disease and not a cold nature in the Simples for when the Disease as I said is gone the Body is well-temper'd and cooled Then they asked her which was the best way to make the best temperament for Health She said that way that was best towards Mediocrity as neither to eat too gross meats nor too watrish nor to drink too strong drink nor such as was very small that is neither too hot nor too cold either virtually or actually As for gross Meats they fill the Body with too much Melancholy Humours and the Head with Malignant Vapours Very fine and tender Meat makes the Stomack weak by reason the substance is not sufficiently solid for as very gross meat over-powers the Stomack by the laborious working thereon so very fine and tender meat makes it lazy and weak for want of exercise Very small Drinks being very watrish quench the natural heat and those that are very strong burn it out but said she Meats and Drinks must be wisely match'd and not only Meats and Drinks but the Nourishment and the Nourished for although in general hot Constitutions should use cooling drinks and meats for their diets and cold hot diets and moist dry diets and dry moist diets yet if the Body be any ways diseased or distempered they must order such a Body according to the Cause and not to the Effects of their Disease As for example To all Hydropical Bodies must not be applied drying Medicines nor Diets for if the Dropsie proceeds from a dry cause dry Diets or Medicines are as bad as poyson for though the Effect be watrish in such Diseases yet the Cause was dry So for heat or cold And this example may serve for all other Diseases wherefore Physicians must search out and know the original cause before they can cure the Disease for those that prescribe according to the Effect may cure by chance but kill with ignorance Then they asked her If the Spirits were always affected with the Distemper of the Body or the Body with the Distemper of the Spirits She answered Not always for sometimes the Spirits will be ill-affected and the Body in health other times the Body sick and the Spirits lively and well-temper'd But said she this is to be observed that the Body may be cold and the Spirits enflamed and the Body heated and the Spirits quenchched or stupified for the Spirits are the thinnest and subtillest substances of the Creature now this thinnest and subtillest substance in the Creature may be enflamed when the solid'st is be-numb'd with cold for a cold melancholy Body may have enflamed and distracted Spirits Likewise a cold diseased Body may have Hectick Spirits and thus both the Animal and Vital Spirits may be hot and the more solid Parts or Humours of the Body cold Also the heat of the Spirits may be quenched and the Body burning-hot as the Stomack Liver or other parts may be parched with heat when both the Animal and Vital Spirits have not a sufficient heat to give them lively motions And it is to be observed said she that the Animal and Vital Spirits as they are the thinnest and subtilest part of a Creature so they are nourished by the thinnest substances or parts of Food which dilate to the Spirits for though the Spirits can and do work upon the solid'st parts of the Body or Nourishment yet they only receive benefit by the thinnest As also the great annoyance for it is the Vapour of Meats and Drinks that feeds the Spirits and not the Substance for Vapour will choak smuther burn or quench them out But the Vapours from Liquors work more suddenly upon the Spirits either to good effect or bad than Vapours from a solid Substance by reason all Liquors have a dilatating nature which spreads it self amongst the Spirits with more facility Also the Vapour of Liquid Bodies is more facil than the Vapour of Solid Bodies and said she some burn their Stomacks with Drugs and some quench their Spirits with Julips others burn their Spirits with Cordials and flat or dead the Stomack with Meats virtually cold For it is to be observed that there is a general Error amongst Mankind about Rules concerning Health some practising with a belief that Drinks virtually cooling temper hot Meats and virtually cooling Meats hot Drinks In which they are deceived for though they may mix so and temper yet for the most part it is only as Water and Meal makes Dough or as Earth and Water makes Mud or as Sugar and Water makes Syrrup but doth not temper that virtual heat or cold that works upon the substantial or the spiritual parts for that which works upon the Spirits hath a more sudden operation than that which works upon the solid parts of the Body and that from the solider parts has a flower operation so that the Stomack may be parched and the heat of the Spirits quenched and the Spirits burnt and the Stomack weak by a heavy or dull coldness But those Bodies that are in health have not such defects as to fear such a sudden operation for as defects are easily inveterated so Health is not suddenly annoyed wherefore they may temper their Meat and Drink by cooling and heating yet not to a high degree for all Extreams are naught Then they asked her What was the reason that all Creatures look fuller and fatter in Summer than in Winter She answered The reason was Because then the Blood extends to the extream parts which swells out the flesh and puffs out the skin and in the Winter the blood falls back as the sap of Plants doth to the Roots which causeth the flesh and skin to look withered and dry as Branches and Leaves do sear'd faded wither'd and dry The like reason is when Men have Pimples Scabs Swellings Pocks and the like which is the fruit of corrupted blood Then they asked her opinion of Mineral Waters What Virtues and Vices they have being drunk She answered That all Mineral-waters were of a kind of a Brine but not so much a salt Brine as a sharp Brine if I may call that which is sharp Brine said she but whether it hath the effects upon the body as Brine hath upon dead flesh as to preserve or keep it from putrefaction I cannot say but certainly it drinks up the natural moisture in healthful bodies more often than it purifies the corrupted Humours in diseased bodies The Effects of Sharp and Salt are oft-times alike as a sharp Pickle will preserve from putrefaction as well as Brine But howsoever the Mineral-waters have much salt in them the Effects are hot and
dry and have a corroding quality their corroding quality is caused by the sharpness and their heat by their corroding and their driness by their insipid nature and though they are actually cold they are virtually hot their virtues are only on cold and moist bodies or diseases as those that have obstructions caused by raw cold flegm or swellings caused by cold clammy Humours or Ulcers caused by cold corrupted Humours or Rheums or Dropsies caused by too many cold moist Humours or the like Diseases caused by cold Humours and in my opinion said she they would be excellently good for all outward Ulcers or old Sores or Wounds being washed and bathed therewith by reason they have a cleansing drying faculty not only inwardly taken but outwardly applied Also they may temper the inflamations that most commonly attend all Ulcers Sores or Wounds not only by cleansing and drying up the putrefactions but being actually cold especially outwardly applied for though they are virtually hot being inwardly taken and digested into the blood or as I may say the Mineral rubbed or wrought into the body yet they are actually cold that is cold to touch But to return to the interior Maladies All those Diseases that are produced from hot dry and sharp causes are as bad as poysons They are so for such obstructions that proceed from hard-baked dry Humours or Dropsies caused by hot dry Livers Spleens or other parts or Consumptions that proceed from salt sharp Rheums or hot dry Lungs Livers Spleens or the like parts or all Swellings caused by hot dry or sharp Humours or interior Ulcers caused by hot dry or sharp Humours or Apoplexies caused by hard crusted flegm or dry black melancholy or burnt dry thick blood which stops the natural passages of the spirits or Epilepsies or Convulsions caused by sharp Humours which shrivel and knit up the Nerves or Veins or Joints of the Body or hot Winds which work and foam and as I may say yeest the natural Humours in the body distempering the body therewith Likewise it is an Enemy to all melancholy bodies being full of sharp Humours like Aqua-fortis which are bred in the body or as a sharp green Humour which is a poisonous Verdigrease bred in the body which Humour is the cause most commonly of the Disease called Epilepsis or Falling-sickness and oft-times is the cause of Convulsions but this Humour is a certain cause of the Stomack-Cholick that is to say a Wind in the Stomack and Sides Also they are Enemies to the Gout by reason that the Gout proceeds from a hot-baked dry salt or sharp Humour It is a bitter or sulphureous Humour or a limy chalky Humour that causeth the Gout and indeed it is a calcined Humour which makes it incurable For the Stone they may work good Effects although my Reason cannot perceive but that the Minerals may contract and confirm humours into stone as well as dissolve stone for thought their acuteness is penetrating and so may dissolve yet their driness is Contracting Uniting Combining and they are not only dry by the insipidness of their nature but by their sharpness for all sharpness is drying more or less and though sharpness is actually dissolving by corroding yet it is virtually drying by heating for corroding is the cause of heat For whatsoever is rubb'd or grated hard or swiftly grows hot even Stones or any Metal which is the hardest Matter we know but looser Matter as Wood will be set on fire Wherefore if Wood Stone and Metal will become actually hot by rubbing or grating actually thereon well may soft flesh especially the inward parts that are most tender And as it is the nature of sharpness to corrode and the nature of corroding or rubbing to heat so it is the nature of heat to drink up moisture and make all things dry And as sharp things may cleanse Ulcers by eating the filth therein or may be good to take off superfluous flesh call'd proud-flesh in Sores or may dissolve some hard Humours moderately taken or applied so they may make Ulcers Sores and Wounds and contract and confirm humours if immoderately or unnecessarily or wrongfully applied But as I said the Mineral-waters may as well cause the Stone in the Kidneys or Bladder as dissolve it and may also ulcerate as soon as cleanse but the Mineral-waters do rather make a passage and send forth Gravel by the quantity that is drunk and passes through the Uretories which like a stream doth wash and carry all loose Matter before it and not so much by the virtue of dissolving But to conclude concerning Mineral-waters said she I cannot perceive but they may breed more Diseases than they cure and those Bodies they are most proper for must be purged and empty before they take them lest the weight and quantity of the Waters should carry obstructions to the parts open and free by carrying too suddenly or forcibly or pressing or thrusting too hard Then they asked her about the nature of Purging-Drugs She said All Purging-Drugs were full of Spirits which was the cause they were so active and quick in operation for said she whatsoever hath most Spirits is most active which shews saith she that Birds have more Spirits which is innated Matter than any other sort of Animal-kind for they are always hopping and flying about also chirping whistling and singing which shews them not only to be more active as having more vital or sensitive Spirits but also more rational as being fuller of Animal Spirits But to return to Drugs said she they seem to have more of the Sensitive spirits vulgarly called Vital Spirits which work upon the grossest Substance than the Rational Spirits which are vulgarly called Animal spirits do with which spirits Cordials seem to be full as working upon the finer parts for Cordials do cheer and do revive the Soul or Mind making the thoughts more cheerful and pleasing which alacrity doth help to abate and qualifie the disorders in the body Then they asked her What was the best study for such as would practise Physick She said Natural Philosophy for said she those can never be good Physicians that are not good Natural Philosophers and if they would study Natural Philosophy more than they do there would be more frequent Cures for if they do not study Nature that makes the Body they shall never know Remedies to cure the body for those that do not understand the Works of Nature cannot mend a fault or prevent a danger to come but they must study Nature's Creations Dissolutions Sympathies Antipathies in Matter Motion and Figure but said she it is a difficult study and requires a subtil moving-brain to find out the several motions although they be the plainest vulgar and grossest much more the subtil and intricate ones And had Aristotle said she studied the motions in Nature or Natural motions as he did the parts of Nature or Natural parts he would have been a far more learned Man than he was but his study
to the creation of the Mind or Soul the Sensitive to the Body But said she Opinion creates one way and Nature another way which Opinions except there be sense and reason in them are the false Conceptions in Nature But the learned Students study so much the Parts that they never consider the Parties that work therein The Authoress of these Opinions of the Rational and Sensitive spirits says she brings Sense and Reason to dispute for their truth which no other Opinions do and they that will not believe Sense and Reason will believe nothing but express by their incredulity that they have but a small quantity of that innated Matter in their Brains Whatsoever treats of innated Matter as the Sensitive and Rational spirits is to be compared to my Philosophical Opinions Then they asked her Whether she thought there could be Repetitions in Nature She said Yes for said she if anything in Nature cannot be so dissolved as to be annihilated it may be repeated for if the same Matter and same Motions are in being the same Figures may be repeated and if there can be in Creations said she a repetition it is probable there are repetitions of one and the same Creature only the time and changes of time makes a difference and obscurity in which obscurity the Creature is ignorant of it self and its former Being whereby one and the same Creature may come to envy his own Renown which was kept alive by Records from Age to Age as if Homer should be created again and envy his own Works or at least strive to out-work them or that Alexander and Caesar should be created again and should envy their own Actions Victories and Powers or at least grieve and repine they cannot do the like for if they were created again they might miss of the same Occasions Opportunities or Powers Birth or Fortunes for though the Body and Soul may be the same as also the Appetites and the Desires yet the outward concurrence may not be the same that was in the former Being for though the Concurrents as well as the Creature may be repeated yet perchance not repeated in one and the same Age or Time but if they should fall out to be repeated in one Age the same Actions would fall out to be as Caesar's or Alexander's were to conquer the World again as they did before and there would be the same Warr betwixt the Grecians and Trojans if the same Occasions were but Homer would not write the same Poems if they were on record for though it be an honour to conquer what was conquered although after the same manner yet it is no honour to Wit to write what was writ before upon the same Subject nor indeed upon any other Subject for both the Wit and the Subject must be new at least the Wit to gain as great and lasting Renown Then they asked her What Fire was She said That Fire was not only the quickest motion but it is a perpetual quick motion that hath no intermission by which it hath a strange power over every thing so that it hath a stronger power by the continuance than by the quickness The Third sort that visited her were Moral Philosophers The Moral Philosophers asked her If it were possible to alter or abate the Passions No said she you may pacifie or imprison them and enforce them to conceal themselves in the heart not only from outward appearance but from the very understanding in the head but never alter or change their natures to weaken their natural strength or abate their natural vigour for Passions said she are like the Sun they may be eclipsed or clouded but never can be alter'd and as the Sun saith she draws forth Vapour from the Earth so do the Imaginations draw forth Passions from the Heart and as a Bucket draws up Water from the bottom of a Well so do outward Objects draw up Passions from the Heart Then they asked What was the difference betwixt the Passions and the Appetites She said The Appetites were the Passions of the Body and the Passions the Appetites of the Mind and the Mind is as apt to surfeit of the one as the Body of the other Likewise saith she the Mind is as seldom pleased as the Body is seldom at ease being both restless and never satisfied for the height of sensitive Pleasure is the beginning of Pain and the height of Passion is the beginning of Desire and Desire hath no Period no Pleasure no Center Then they asked her What sort of Love was the perfectest She said That Love that descended for Love that descends is more solid than that which ascends and draws more towards perfection as being most contracted for that which ascends is airy and disperses soon like smoak but that which descends is like falling showers of Rain that join into a River or Sea of Love running with force to perfection This is the reason Parents love their Children better than Children can love their Parents This is the reason Nature loves her Creatures better than the Creatures can love Nature This is the reason The Gods love Mankind better and more perfectly than Mankind loves the Gods Thus the perfectest Love is from the Gods to Men for the greater the descent is the more force there is The like said she is Hate for that Hate which descends is more inveterate and malignant than that which ascends for we are easily perswaded to pardon the Injuries or Wrongs we receive from our Superiors but seldom are pacified without a high revenge for the Wrongs we have received from Inferiors I mean not only the Inferiors of Birth or Fortunes but Merit This is the reason Noah could not forgive his Son Cham for the disgrace which he received for no Hate is like to that of Dishonour This is the reason that Heaven hates Hell more than Hell can hate Heaven Then they asked her Why the Passions forced the Body to weep to sigh to groan to laugh to sing to complain to rail to curse to commend to extoll to implore to profess to protest to look pale to look red to shake to tremble to strike to embrace She said That the causes in the mind did work their Effects upon the Bodies as the Causes in Jove did work their Effects upon Nature Or in a lower Comparison said she the Mind is as the Sun and the Body like the Earth the Sun having several Faculties as the Mind several Passions it gives life and light strength and growth it comforts and warms it weakens corrupts withers and decays it burns and destroys it dilatates and contracts it doth digest and expel it sucks it draws and confirms so doth the Mind it gives the Light of Knowledg and the Life of Understanding it comforteth and warmeth by Invention it strengthens by Judicious Advice it encreases by Temperance it weakens withers and decayes by unsatiable Intemperance it drys and parches it by grief inflames it by anger burns it
by Nature are bred therein or root out the Vices the World has sown thereon for if we do not leave out the World the Flesh and the Devil in our humble Petitions and earnest Desires we offer to Heaven it may be said we rather talk than pray for it is not bended knees or a sad countenance can make our Prayers authentical or effectual nor words nor groans nor sighs nor tears that can pierce Heaven but a zealous Flame raised from a holy Fire kindled by a spark of Grace in a devout heart which fills the soul with admiration and astonishment at Jove's incomprehensible Deity for nothing can enter Heaven but Purity and Truth all the gross and drossie parts fall back with greater force upon our Lives and instead of Blessings prove Curses to us and the Ignorant not conceiving the difference may be lost for want of instruction therein being most commonly taught the varieties of Opinions the Sayings and Sentences of the Fathers of the Church or exclaimed against natural Imperfections or threatned for slight Vanities and many by giving warning against Vices raises those that have been dead and buried with former Ages unaccustomed and utterly unknown to the present Auditory But one good Prayer that is directly sent to Heaven buries a multitude of Errors and Imperfections and blots out many a Sin I speak not this to tax any one here for I believe you are all Holy Men and Reverend and Grave Fathers of the Church who are blessed Messengers and Eloquent Orators for Heaven the true Guides to Souls and the Example of a good Life Then they asked How they ought to pray Whereupon in a Zealous Passion thus she said O Gods O Gods Mankind is much too blame He commits faults when be but names his Name This Name saith she that Deity hath none His Works sussicient are to make him known His wondrous Glory is so great how dare Man similize but to himself compare Or how durst Men their Tongues or Lips to move In argument his mighty Power to prove As if Men's Words his Power could circle in Or trace his ways from whence he did begin His mighty Works to make or to what end As proudly placing Man to be his Friend Yet poor proud ign'rant Man knows not the cause Of any Creature made much less his Laws Man's knowledg so obscure not so much light As to perceive the glimmering of his Might Strive not this Deity to comprehend He no beginning had nor can have end Nor can Mankind his Will or Pleasure know It strives to draw Him to expression low Let Words desist let 's strive our Souls to raise Let our Astonishments be Glory's praise Let trembling thoughts of fear as prayers be sent And not leight words which are by Men invent Let Tongues be silent Adoration pray And Love and Justice lead us the right way The Sixth sort that visited her were Judges who asked her about Justice I will divide Justice said she into three parts Human Moral and Natural These three into six Punishing Deciding Distributing Censuring Trafficking and Suffering In Punishing Justice there is Divine Piety and Human Pity and if a Judg leave out those two it is no more Justice but Cruelty for Temporal Judges ought to have as great a care of the Soul of the accused as of executing Justice on the Body For if a Judg threaten terribly a timorous nature or cruelly torture a tender Body the fear of Pain may make them be lye forswear or falsly accuse themselves which endangers the Soul not only by their Oaths Lyes and false Accusations but by self-murther for those that falsly accuse themselves commit wilful-murther As for the punishing of the Body they ought not to be condemned before they can positively prove them Criminals for Probabilities although they appear plain yet are often-times deceitful The second is Dividual Justice or Common Justice in deciding of Causes and what is Right and Truth as put the case two Men claim equal right to one piece of ground which piece of ground but one can have right to The Judg not knowing how to distinguish the truth from the falshood divides the ground giving one half to the one and the other half to the other which is unjust for he that hath right to all hath as much injustice done unto him in that part that is given from him as if he had lost all the whole nay one grain of dust wrongfully taken or given away makes the injustice the same for it is not the weight of the Cause makes Justice more or less but the truth of the Cause But Judges will say It is not to be helped by reason Truth lyes many times so obscure that neither Industry Ingenuity Subtilty long Experience nor solid Judgment can find it out So they think that by dividing they do cut off some Branches of Injustice although the Root will lye obscurely do what they can But I say Injustice hath no Branches but is all Root The last Act of Justice is in distributing Reward according to Worth or Merit wherein there may be as much Injustice to deal beyond or above Worth or Merit as to fall short of Worth and Merit and though the Actions are the visible Objects of Merit yet Merit is often-times buried for want of opportunity and many times good Fortune is mistaken and taken for Merit Now it is as great Injustice to give Rewards to Fortune as unfortunate for Merit not to be made known by some act for though Merit dwells in the actions yet it was born in the Soul and bred in the Thoughts The fourth is Censuring-Justice which lives meerly in Opinion for Who knows the heart of another since no Man can give a true or a right account of his own And though Misdemeanors ought to be punished in a Commonwealth lest they should cause the ruin thereof yet to judg the heart and condemn it for faults by the Actions Words or Countenance were very unjust for many evil Actions are done through a good Intention for the Design might be honest though the Effect prove evil nay the Design or Intention may not only be morally honest but divinely pious yet the Effect prove wicked Likewise many evil actions are produced by Chance or Misfortune and it were an injustice to accuse the heart of dishonesty for Fortune's malice and Chance's carelesness Again there are many evil actions produced from some infirmity of Nature or from the ignorance of Practice or want of Experience not from a dishonest nature and though Infirmities ought to be corrected by Admonitions and Ignorance rectified by Instruction yet it were an injustice to condemn Honesty for Infirmities Faults or ignorant Errors Also for Words although there is an old saying The Mouth speaketh what the Heart thinketh yet Antiquity cannot verifie it for a truth but most commonly the Tongue runs by rote and custom without the consent of the Heart or knowledg of the Thoughts for the Tongue doth