over the actions of men AS for the power which the starres can have in this kinde I have in the end of the former Article alreadie declared Howbeit that I may leave as few scruples behinde me as I can my purpose is to cleare this question a little more For it hath been the serious perswasion of not a few that according to the tenent of Basil in his Hexameron and some others the dispositions of men may not be imputed any whit to the starres without wrong either to God or them If say they vicious inclinations or evil actions be stirred up by the starres then God should be the cause of humane outrages wickednesse and the like Or again if the moderation of our actions dependeth upon the stars then many absurdities would follow For first those starres whose aspect is said to be evil should either of themselves be created evil by their maker or else it must be that in respect of their own wills they made themselves evil afterwards neither of which may be affirmed Not the first because every thing thâ—… God made was very good Gen. 1. Not the second because seeing the stars are inanimate creatures without life and soul it were wickednesse to attribute a will unto them To all which objections and doubts it may be thus answered viz. that the starres are no malicious agents voluntarily striving to do mischief to the world but rather such as do harmlesly send down their naturall influences and powers into the universe and had it been that man had not fallen their inclinations in him had been no inclinations nor their power in occasioning felt any jot at all The evil proceeds from the nature of man who lost his puritie and strength of will in yeelding to that which was forbidden it comes not from the starres but from our selves And so Melancthon doth in effect answer to that of Basil saying that we ought in this to consider what excellencie of condition our humane nature hath lost and thereby observe how grievous and evil sinne is by which our temperatures are become brutish and not rashly condemne or without consideration go throw the starres out of heaven For in this present state of things Nè nunc quidem stellas scelerum causas esse they be his own words we say not that the starres are causes of our sinne in regard that though our inclinations rise from them yet they are not sole or chief causes of our actions but our will is the principall cause thereof which was first created in perfect libertie by which it both had power to withstand even as still it ought to refrain all inordinate inclinations Non enim fatalem necessitatem constituimus nec cogi Neronem à stellis c. For we do not constitute fatall necessitie nor affirm that Nero was compelled by the starres unto his so great and monstrous sinnes but yeelding to his lusts he willingly entertained those rages which the devil more and more instigated and so became worse then his nature though bad enough had made him Hitherto Melancthon to that of Basil. Wherefore when we fall into a due consideration of these things and finde that it was the fall of our first parents which hath induced this disproportion between our natures and the influences of the starres we shall soon see where the fault resteth namely in our selves For as that worthy Knight observeth we must consider that the impression or operation of every agent is alwayes answerable not to the power of it self but to the capacitie and aptnesse of the patient according to which rule the starres produce their effects even as the subject or matter is in which their influence doth work Which is but as I said before viz. that if man had not fallen their inclinations in him had been no inclinations nor their power in occasioning felt any jot at all For as the fire hurteth sore eyes but warmeth cold hands so the starres are formaliter bona although effectivè according to the unapt qualitie of the subject they produce a sad effect Or to use again the words of the said authour as we see the wine which is healthfull and comfortable to some how quickly it hurteth the constitution of another who hath but a weak brain so the sunne doth soften and melt wax but stiffen and make clay hard yet no man for this affirmeth either the wine to be drunk or the sunne to be formally soft or hard Wherefore saith he by this I may boldly conclude that although it be confessed that the starres are efficient causes of our inclinations yet there is no consequence to conclude them such themselves as the effects are that they produce for where the fault resteth hath been declared Furthermore he also proveth against those who say the starres are tainted in being causes by accident or occasions many times of ill he proveth I say that every occasion to sinne is not to be accounted a provocation to sinne or to be held unlawfull for if this were admitted we must also pollute God himself with sinne because he hath made fair women and sweet wine by means whereof many men fall yet neverthelesse none will denie them to be good for they have their lawfull use and right end Wherefore he doth here also excellently conclude that as no man will say that the Physician or his medicines do sinne though when they restore a spent and difeased bodie accidentally they procure lust no more are the starres to be accounted bad or to sinne though in constituting the temperature of our bodies they may be truely confessed causes by accident or occasions of sinne The question is therefore resolved that it is no derogation from the perfection of things created although we grant the starres to have a kinde of power over the actions of men which power both how and what it is hath been declared Artic. 3. Of predictions or whether the signes of heaven may be understood or searcht into THey be Davids words that The works of the Lord are great and sought out of those who have pleasure therein And Moses here in testifying that God created the starres for signes doth likewise shew that they may be understood otherwise to us they were no signes at all Neither do I doubt but that even Moses himself and Daniel likewise who were brought up the one in the learning of the Egyptians the other in the skill of the Caldeans did understand the signification of these signes And from whence was it that those nations had their knowledge but from Noah and Abraham if Iosephus or Berosus may be credited For concerning Noah do not those authours storie that soon after the floud he taught the Armenians and Scythians the secrets of these things Whereupon they said that he participated of a divine spirit So also Abraham that Father of many nations did equally instruct the Caldeans and Egyptians although indeed afterwards it was their bold adventure to mix magick
diseases were felt rivers dried up and plagues were increased Tamerlain K. of the Scythians and Parthians with an innumerable host invadeth Asia calling himself the WRATH OF GOD and DESOLATION OF THE EARTH as did Attilas of whom it is written that he named himself THE SCOURGE OF GOD. 6. Also in the yeare 1529 appeared foure Comets and in the yeares 1530 1531 1532 and 1533 were seen in each yeare one Lanquet saith that there were three within the space of two yeares upon which these and the like changes and calamities followed viz. A great sweating sicknesse in England which took away whole Myriads of people The Turk in the quarrell of Iohn Uvavoyda who laid claim to the crown of Hungary entred the said kingdome with two hundred and fiftie thousand fighting souldiers committing against the inhabitants thereof most harsh and unspeakable murders rapes villanies and cruelties A great famine and dearth was also in Venice and the countrey thereabout which swept away many for lack of sustenance The sweating sicknes also vexed Brabant and a great part of Germanie and especially the citie Antwerp where it consumed five hundred persons in the space of three dayes Great warres concerning the Dukedome of Millain between the Emperour Charles the fifth and Francis the French King All Lusitania or Portugall was struck with an Earth-quake insomuch that at Ulisippo or Lisbon a thousand and fifty houses were thrown down and 600 so shaken that they were ready to fall which made the people forsake the citie and runne into the fields and as for their churches they lay upon the ground like heaps of stones Upon this followed a great pestilence in those parts But a little before viz. in the yeare 1530 was a great deluge in Brabant Holland Zeland and the sea-coasts of Flanders as also an overflowing of the river Tyber at Rome occasioned by unseasonable tempests of winde Upon the neck of which troubles the Turk comes again into Hungarie and Austria but he was beaten back and a great company of his men slain and taken Unto which may be added how the sect of the Anabaptists not long after brought new tumults into Germanie 7. And for that last Comet in the yeare 1618 saith a Germane writer Praesagium ipsius jam â—…heu est in manibus nostris meaning that they felt by dolefull experience the sad events which followed after it Wherefore seeing these and the like accidents have been attendant upon the appearing of Comets it may well be said that although they have their causes in nature yet Nunquam futilibus excanduit ignibus aether The skie never burnt with such fires in vain For as one saith Loquitur cum hominibus Deus non modò linguâ humanâ per Prophetas Apostolos Pastores sed nonnunquam etiam ipsis Elementis in formas imagines diversas compositis That is God speaketh with men not onely with the tongues of men by Prophets Apostles and Teachers but sometimes also by the very Elements composed or wrought into divers forms and shapes there being a Theologicall end of sending Comets as also a Naturall and Politicall end But first before I come to that I think it not amisse to speak something concerning these their events and accidents namely whether it can be shewed why they should be wrought either so or so To which it is answered that in some sort we may give reasons for this and shew the causes of their significations For being Comets they consist of many hot and drie Exhalations And hot and drie Exhalations do not onely stirre up heat drie and parch the aire which may cause drought especially when much of the earths fatnesse is drawn away with the Exhalation and drought bring barrennesse but also the bodies of living creatures upon the distemper of the aire are mainly hurt suffering detriment in the consumption of their radicall moisture and suffocation through the poysonous breathings which the bellows of the bodie suck in and receive insomuch that there cannot but be sicknesses plagues and much mortalitie Besides which that they should usher in warres seditions changes of kingdomes and the like may also proceed from the same cause For when the Aire is distemperately heated then it is very apt so to disorder and dry up the bloud in humane bodies that thereby great store of red and adust choler may be purchased and this stirreth up to anger with the thought of many furious and violent actions and so by consequent to warre and from warre cometh victorie from victorie proceedeth change of commonwealths and translations of kingdomes with change of Laws and Religion for Novus Rex nova Lex New Lords new Laws Unto which also may be added that because great personages live more delicately then other men and feed more daintily having as many new fashions in their diets as in their clothes for their boards as for their backs that their bodies therefore are more subject to infection and will take the poyson of an intemperate aire before more temperate livers whereupon necessity inforceth that they die sooner in such a calamitie then other people as he once witnessed that said Plures pereunt gulâ quà m gladio Besides the death of great ones is more remarkable then when inferiour persons die so that if but some of them be taken away in common calamities it is as if they were onely aymed at because they are obvious to every ones eye as cities standing upon hills which cannot be hid And now that our bodies should follow the temperature of the Aire is nothing doubted seeing every lame aking or bruised joynt doth witnesse it even to the very ignorant But that our mindes and manners should follow the temperature of the bodie is more strange and wonderfull Yet true it is that by the mediation of humours and spirits as also through ill disposed organs the minde also suffereth For the bodie is Domicilium animae the souls house abode and stay so that as a Torch saith one gives a better light and a sweeter smell according to the matter it is made of in like manner doth our Soul perform all her actions better or worse as her organs are disposed or as wine savours of the cask where it is kept so the soul receives a tincture from the body through which it works For the Understanding is so tied to and captivated by his inferiour senses that without their help he cannot exercise his functions and the Will being weakened so as she is hath but a small power to restrain those outward parts but suffers her self to be overruled by them of which I shall have occasion to speak more in the fourth dayes work untill when I leave it in the mean time adding that Comets do not alwayes when they bring sicknesses corrupt the aire through immoderate heat and drinesse but sometimes also through immoderate heat and moisture as also by immoderate windes which may bring the
it be grosse the beams piercing it can spread or dilate it but a little way If it be thin they then are able to dilate it further And as for their significations they sometimes signifie rain sometimes winde sometimes fair cleare and calm weather sometimes frost sometimes tempest and sometimes snow 1. Rain if the circle wax altogether thicker and darker 2. Winde when the circle breaketh on the one side The reason whereof is because the circle is broken by the winde which is above and not yet come down to us here below But by this effect above we may gather both that it will come and also from what quarter namely from that quarter where the circle breaketh first 3. But if it vanish away and be dissolved altogether or in all parts alike then it is a token of fair weather 4. Or of frost in winter when it is great about the Moon 5. Of snow when at the same time of the yeare it seemeth to be craggie and rockie 6. Or of tempestuous weather when it looketh ruddie and is grosse and broken in many parts And thus much concerning Circles Artic. 6. Of the Rain-bow THe Rain-bow is to be spoken of next And this is nothing else but the apparition of certain colours in an hollow watery distilling or dropping cloud directly opposite to the Sunne representing in its fashion half a circle Or thus It is a bow of many colours appearing in a dewie dark droppie and hollow cloud by reflection of the Sunne-beams opposite to it For this is certain that lightsome or luminous bodies do cause images colours or appearances upon slender clean and thin objects Now of all bodies the Sunne is most lightsome but the aire and water are clean thin and slender Here then it appeareth that the Efficient cause of the Rain-bow is the light or beams of the Sunne which falling into fit apt or convenient matter opposite to them are refracted and reflected to our sight The Materiall cause is not water in act nor yet thick aire but a dewie vapour which is not continuus sed potiùs corpusculis guttularum discretus not absolutely of one bodie but rather severed into many bodies or little drops The Form of it is to be gathered out of the Figure and Colours And for the Figure we see it is circular But yet it never representeth to us any more then a Semicircle and not alwayes so great an arch The reason of which is because the centre or middle point of the Rain-bow which is diametrally opposite to the centre of the Sunne is alwayes either in the Horizon or under it So that seeing our sight of the heavens is cut off by the earth in such a manner as that we can never see above half of them it must needs be that the appearance of this circle be either more or lesse to us according to the Sunnes great or little distance from the Horizon And as for the colours they are commonly accounted three viz. Ruddie Green and Azure To which some adde a fourth The first is in the thickest and darkest part of the cloud For where a bright shining falleth upon a darkish place there it representeth a ruddie colour being somewhat like a Flame The second is caused by a more weak infâ—…action being in a remoter and more waterie part of the cloud whereupon it looketh greenish The third which is further into the cloud proceeds from the weakest infraction and is therefore of a more dark and obscure colour tending to a blew or an azure hue And sometimes a fourth colour is also perceived being very like a yellow or orenge-tawnie proceeding from a commixture of the red and green according to Aristotles judgement of which the learned may see Iul. Scaliger exerâ—… 80. sect 4. Now these colours in some rain-bows are more vehement or apparent in others more remisse or obscure which is according to the aptnesse of the cloud c. And in rain-bows caused by the moon for sometimes though seldome they have been seen in the night the colours are weaker whiter and lesse conspicuous being in a manner as white as milk which is because the moon having a borrowed light is nothing so strong in the projecting her raies but farre more feeble then the sunne But come to the finall cause and you will finde it twofold partly Naturall partly Supernaturall As it is Naturall we take it either as a signe of rain because it cannot appeare but in a waterie cloud which is so prepared that it is ready to fall in very drops or as a signe of fair weather namely then when the beams of the sunne are strong and the heat of it so great that the moisture of the cloud is dried up and the drops attenuated into thin aire All which may be discerned after this manner viz. when the colours grow either darker and darker or clearer and clearer For if the colours appeare dark thick or obscure by little and little till at the last they bury themselves in a black cloud then rain followeth But if the colours by degrees grow clearer and clearer till at the last they vanish away then we may expect fair and bright weather And this as it is a naturall signe But now as it is Supernaturall and then we behold it as a signe or symbole of Gods mercie towards the world betokening that it shall never be destroyed again through any Deluge or universall Floud For it shall be a signe of the covenant saith God between me and the earth viz. that there shall be no more a Floud of waters to destroy the earth Gen. 9. From both which significations or ends it may well be called Iris for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Greek is as much as dico in the Latine signifying I say I publish I tell or I declare Iris therefore comes from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 dico First because this bow publisheth or telleth to us the constitution of the aire Secondly because it declareth the covenant of God made with the world after the Floud shewing that his wrath is so farre forth appeased that he will never drown the world again which appeareth even in the order observed in placing the bow for we see it with the bended ends downwards and as one that holdeth a bow in peace insomuch that had it a shaft in it the earth should not be shot neither ought man to fear that the Lord will shoot any more such arrows of displeasure as before Some have thought that there was no rain-bow before the Floud but that it appeared since because God saith When I make the heaven thick with clouds I will put my bow in the clouds Gen. 9. To which it may be answered that God saith not that he will of new create a bow but that he will then put it into the clouds so as it never was before namely to be a signe c. So that although it were
The other kinde of sweet dew is Mel or an Hony-dew Now this falleth not onely in other countreys but also here in England and we cannot give it a more significant name then a Mel-dew being both as sweet and also of the same substance that hony is Some suppose that it is drawn out of sweet herbs and flowers which I also beleeve acknowledging that there is a kinde of resudation of juice proceeding from them at a certain convenient time of their growth which juice is either drawn up as a vapour and so sweeteneth the dew in the aire by such time as it falleth or else issuing of it self from the said flowers and plants but not ascending it sweeteneth the dew after it is come down or fallen on them although the said dew be but ordinary for when ordinary dew falleth upon any of those leaves which yeeld such a resudation or sweat it cannot but be sweetened although none of the sweet liquour be drawn into the aire as a vapour with it Now of these two choose which in your judgement is the most probable Plinie witnesseth that these dews are most common at the shining of Syrius or the great Dog-starre and that before the rising of Virgiliae or the Seven starres in the morning with the Sunne they cannot at all be Ladanum is another kinde of sweet dew Arabia hath great plentie of it and no other countrey as Plinie writeth unlesse it be Nabathaea bordering on the Arabick coast of Syria It is called Ladanum because it is a vapour falling upon the herb Ladon or Ledum and is sweetened by the juice issuing from the leaves of the said herb mixing it self with the vapour Goats hairs are often found amongst it because the Goat feeding upon that herb scattereth some of his hairs which are incorporated with the vapour and the juice of Ladon whilest like gumme it is hardened by the Sunne And thus much of sweet dews Now followeth that which I called bitter blasting dew The Germanes say it is Mildaw which is an improper name if it hath relation to that which we call Mel-dew For Mel-dew as before I shewed is an hony-sweet dew and not a bitter dew This therefore may be rather named Ros noxius or bitter blasting dew because it hurteth and killeth such herbs and plants as it falleth on and sticketh or cleaveth to This vapour hath much earthly matter in it and therefore it remaineth white when the moisture is gone It is also corrupted which comes to passe as 't is conjectured through the often change of the Aire which being tainted or infected through varietie of differing Exhalations sendeth down noysome and unwholesome dews falling sometimes even in the day time it self And here an end concerning dew Artic. 4. Of white hoar-frosts I Come now to speak of Frosts for as dew claimed kindred of rain so white hoar-frost is of the house and linage of dew As for example thus When a vapour drawn into the aire is congealed before it can be turned into dew then we have Pruina in stead thereof or a white hoar-frost so that such a frost is nothing else but dew congealed by overmuch cold Aristotle affirmeth the like shewing among other things that both in respect of matter and place of generation they do well agree to which is also pertinent the calmnesse clearnesse and quietnesse of the time wherein either of them falleth For both of them consist of subtill thin vapours and are generated in the lowest region of the aire because upon some high hills there is neither hoar-frost nor dew to be seen the vapour as it seemeth ascendeth not so high And as for a windie obscure time it is an enemie to them both The difference being that hoar-frost is congealed in the vapour before it can be turned into water The one caused in a season that is temperately warm the other when it is cold The materiall cause therefore of hoar-frost is a subtill thinne vapour The formall is the congealing of it by which it differeth from dew The efficient is the autumnall or winter cold for those are the most common and ordinary times peculiar to it although sometimes it comes as an unwelcome guest in the spring and summer when the aire through cold is forward to send it And last of all the end or principall effects when it cometh not out of season or the finall cause is the contraction or shutting up of the pores or breathing holes of the earth and about the roots of plants that thereby their spirits being the chariots of heat may be contained in their own bowels for the good of such things as they give life unto And thus much concerning frost Artic. 5. Of Snow THere is no great difference between the matter of snow and matter of rain and hail excepting as some think that the vapour for snow is of an hotter qualitie then the vapour for rain and yet not so hot as that which is the materiall cause of hail For it is a tenent amongst Philosophers that hot things being cooled are apter for congelation then cold as is seen in warm water taken from the fire which will more suddenly and throughly be frozen then that which never felt the heat And this comes to passe in regard of the pores or passages made into the water through heat into which the cold entring it both cooleth it the sooner and congealeth it the more Neither is there any difference between white frost and snow excepting that frost is made of a vapour before it be turned into a cloud and snow of a cloud before it can be turned into water Snow therefore is a cloud congealed by great cold before it be perfectly resolved from vapours into water For if it should come to the densitie of water before the congelation then it could not fall so like locks of wooll as it doth but would be more closely compacted or joyned together having little or no spunginesse in it As for the whitenesse it proceedeth not from its own proper colour but rather in respect of those parts which are more aierie then the rest whereupon I finde some authours who determine the case thus namely that the white is by receiving the light into it at those many small parts even as in froth and fome is seen For say some Nix est spuma quaedam Snow is a kinde of froth and when it loseth part of its frothie nature and begins to melt it loseth also part of that whitenesse which at the first it retained To this also may be added the coldnesse that is infused into it when it is congealed as being a cause of whitenesse even as in phlegmatick bodies and cold countreys may be seen For such people are alwayes whiter of complexion then others cold being the cause of that their whitenesse Such winters as are void of snow are not so good for the fruits of the ground
art yes surely hath he And if man be so potent as to make his skill admired yea and by those who are men as well as he what may we think of the Maker of men but that his art is much more then commendable and his wisdome much more then matchlesse so that the world and all the parts thereof afford nothing but matter of wonder It is therefore an acclamation which deserves impression in the hearts of us mortall men Oh God how manifold are thy works in wisdome thou hast made them all And being made his providence doth sustain them The sixth question is concerning the saltnesse of the sea and freshnesse of rivers Aristotle in his second book of Meteors at the 3. chapter setteth down besides his own three opinions concerning this saltnesse One whereof is that the waters overflowing the earth in the beginning of the world were so dried up by the heat of the sunne that not onely the drie-land appeared but all those waters which remained being the sea were so sucked and robbed of their sweet savour that they could not but be salt Another opinion agreeing to that of Plato who generating the sea ex tartaro or from great and deep gulfs in the earth or with others drawing it through the bowels of the earth gave occasion to think that the water in it self was sweet and yet became salt by reason of the divers savours that it met withall in the ground or veins of the earth Which cause by the interpretours of Aristotle is also attributed to Anaxagoras Metrodorus as being pleasing to them For as water strained through ashes is endued with a certain tart and salt kinde of acrimonie so the sea is made salt by some such kinde of earth through which it passeth which is as others have also thought who suppose that the saltnesse of Mineralls doth much conduce to this purpose A third was the opinion of Empedocles who affirmed that the sea was but the sweat of the earth being as it were rosted by the heat of the sunne and was therefore salt because all sweat is of such a savour Now these three opinions Aristotle endeavoured to confute by severall reasons shewing other causes of the seas saltnesse And indeed had it been so with him that he could have repaired unto Moses then had the first opinion been struck dead more easily then it was because Moses would have told him that the drying of the earth and gathering of the waters were one day elder then either sunne or starres And for the second if it be taken in a qualified sense it is not much amisse for although Aristotle saith that if it be a true opinion then rivers would be salt as well as seas because they runne in the veins of the earth yet know that all and every vein is not of one and the same temper as is apparent by the differing qualitie of springing waters As for the third it seemeth rather a ridiculous then philosophicall opinion for sweat is but a small part of that humour contained in any bodie that yeeldeth sweat but the sea is not the smallest part of humour in the bodie of the earth therefore it neither causeth the sea nor saltnesse of it But beside all these there are other opinions also Wherefore some again have attributed the cause to adust vapours partly let fall on the sea and partly raised from it to the brinks and face thereof Others to the motion of the sea Some to under-earth or rather under-sea fires of a bituminous nature causing both the motion and saltnes also Others to an hot and drie aspiration exhaled out of the earth and mixed with the water of the sea But that which followeth seemeth absolutely the best namely that it is effected by the working of the sunne which draweth out the purer and finer parts leaving the grosser and more base behinde even as in this little world of our bodies the purest part of our nourishment being employed in and on the bodie the urine and other excrements remaining do retain a perfect saltnesse Unto which opinion they also assent who affirm that the saltnesse is radically or originally in the matter of the water which must be so understood as the water hath in it an earthy kinde of substance of a drying nature which as I suppose was not first in the matter of the waters before they were gathered unto this one place where now they are because as is reported and written there be salt mines in sundry places as in a certain hill in Barbary out of which perfect salt is digged and used for salt after it is made clean and beaten small All which doth greatly commend the providence and wisdome of God For it is not unlike but that the sea was by his wisdome and providence gathered into such salt valleys of the earth as were otherwise barren and unfruitfull with which substance the gathered water being mixed must needs partake both of an earthy matter and also of a salt savour yet so as this salt savour cannot be drawn out and sensibly perceived in the mixture of many sweet humours joyned with it without a separation first made by the heat of the sunne of the thinner parts from the thicker And so the sunne is a disponent though not a productive cause of this saltnesse Now this opinion may be strengthened by many reasons First because sea-water when it is boyled doth evaporate a dewie or watrie humour which being collected and kept together hath a sweet tast or savour Secondly because vapours drawn from the sea and turned into rain are void of saltnesse Thirdly because the sea in summer and towards the South as Aristotle affirmeth is more salt then elsewhere which cometh to passe in that the sunne at that time and place draweth away more of the sweet humours then at other times Fourthly because the sea is fresher towards the bottome then at the top as some have found by using practises to experience it Fifthly because as Aristotle again testifyeth if an emptie vessel sealed up with wax be by some means or other caused to sink into the sea and there let lie for a certain space it will at the last be filled with very fresh and sweet water issuing in through the insensible small pores of the wax for by this manner of passing into the vessel the thin is strained from the thick yea by this means the earthy and adust part which carrieth the saltnesse in it is excluded whilest the other is admitted For in every salt savour two things are required viz. an adustion and an earthie kinde of substance of a drying nature both which are found in the sea For according to the testimonie of Physicians sea-water doth heat and drie more then other waters and is also more ponderous or heavie yea and it doth more easily sustain a heavie burden giving it lesse leave to sink then the fresh silver-seeming streams And thus we see
how the sea comes to be salt It followeth to shew why rivers be not salt as well as seas Now for the better explaining of this the first thing considerable will be concerning the originall of fountains and rivers Aristotle handled them amongst Meteors of a watry kinde because he supposed that there was the same originall of rivers within the earth which was of watry Meteors in the aire above the earth For if this aire saith he coming neare to the nature of a vapour is by cold turned into water then the aire which is in the caverns of the earth may be by the same cause condensed into water also According to which grounds we cannot but make this the originall of fountains and rivers namely that they are ingendred in the hollow concavities of the earth and derive both their birth and continuall sustenance from the aire which piercing the open chinks or chasma's of the earth and congealed by the cold of those places dissolveth into water as we see the aire in winter nights to be melted into a pearlie dew sticking on our glasse windows and being grown to some quantitie it will either finde a way or make a way to vent its superfluitie All which agreeth very well to the nature of the aire which seeing it is hot and moist the heat being gone it is thickened and so easily turned into water And as for a continuall running of rivers caused by this water it is saith Aristotle by a perpetuall succession of new aire But to this opinion we may not absolutely make subscription for although aire may be thus converted into water yet the sole matter of rivers cannot come from hence it may haply be an helping cause but not a prime or principall cause For first sith the aire is a thin subtil bodie there is necessarily required an abundance of aire to make but a little quantitie of water insomuch that it is not doubted by some without cause whether the dennes and hollow places of the earth be vast enough to receive so much aire as can make water enough to runne along untill it break out into a river or spring Secondly there be many fountains which have as it were a kinde of ebbing and flowing at certain direct and set times which they keep as constantly as the very sea it self As for example among other strange rivers Plinie makes mention of Dodon Jupiters fountain which evermore decreaseth from midnight untill noon thence it increaseth untill midnight again And in the island Delus the fountain of Inopus as he also affirmeth keeps his course with Nilus Also he makes mention of a little island in the sea over against the river Timavus or Brenta in Italie having certain fountains in it which increase and decrease according to the ebbing and flowing of the vast bodie of Amphitrite or the sea Wherefore the wise man Siracides thought more truely Ecclus. 40. 11. concerning these things affirming that all things which are of the earth shall turn to the earth again and that which is of the waters doth turn again into the sea Which saying of his I do not say is much strengthened but absolutely confirmed by one more authentick then it self namely by that of Solomon Eccles 1. 7. where it is witnessed that all rivers runne into the sea yet the sea is not full unto the place from whence the rivers come thither they return again Which testimonie makes it plain that the sea is the principall cause of all rivers and if therefore Aristotles aëriall vapours have any thing to do in this generation it is as much as nothing yet that which they are able to do I imagine they perform joyning themselves with the currents which come from the sea and so they runne together in the veins of the earth either untill free leave be given them to come abroad or that like Hannibal in the Alps they work themselves a way Now in this there is little or no difference between Solomon and Plato together with the ancient Philosophers before him although Aristotle dissenteth For that which Solomon calleth the sea Plato calleth the great gulf of the earth saying 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 id est Ad illum hiatum omnes fluvii confluunt ex hoc vicissim omnes effluunt that is Into this gulf all rivers do both flow or assemble themselves and also by their courses come or flow out again But what need more words It is without controversie that rivers have their first originall from the sea that is the fountain-head from whence all fountains have their heads Neither can the saltnesse of the sea and freshnesse of rivers stop this current For concerning springs it is true indeed that they are fresh and this freshnesse notwithstanding their salt originall may be ascribed to percolation and straining through the narrow spungie passages of the earth which makes them leave behinde as an exacted toll the colour thicknesse and saltnesse So that you see sea water though in it self of a salt and brackish savour by passing through divers windings and turnings of the earth is deprived of all unpleasantnesse and by how much the spring-heads of rivers are remote from the sea by so much are their waters affected with a delightfull relish yea and why they ascend up to the highest mountains already hath been declared Unto which may be added that they come not with a direct course from the sea unto those hills neither do they ascend directly upwards on the sudden but by degrees and so winding themselves through many crooked passages and turnings they do as it were scrue themselves up to the convenientest place of breaking out and cannot go back because the sea is a farre heavier bodie then the vein that cometh from it even as the bloud in our veins is nothing in proportion to the liver from whence each vein of bloud hath its first beginning But I draw towards a conclusion adding in the last place that of waters be they seas or rivers we have a threefold use and benefit First that out of them drink may be afforded to man and beast as it is Psal. 104. 11. They give drink to every beast of the field the wilde asses quench their thirst c. Secondly that running through the earth as bloud through the bodie by interlacing it and sometimes overwhelming it they make the earth able to produce those fruits which are necessary for the life of man which benefit of overflowing so fattens the whole land of Egypt that the priests of that countrey did thereupon ascribe the beginning of time or of every thing that now is to that time of the yeare when their Nilus overflowed or when it first began to lift up it self above the banks and diffuse an ample portion of manuring bountie into the lap of the land which is as good to them as if Iupiter should descend in a golden shower And for other places where there be
sometimes constraining it to sink below them In an ebbe he heaves it up and in a floud he lets it sink As improbable also is that of some others who imagine one Angel to be an Angel of the water whose office is as in the pool of Bethesda to move the waters to and fro and for proof of this that place is alledged in the Revelation where when the vials were poured out upon the kingdome of the beast one of the Angels is called an Angel of the waters But know that the same answer made before concerning the moving of the windes will serve to stop this gap Or were it so that we must be tied to a literall sense the compulsion overthrows the assertion because he is called an Angel of the waters not for that he causeth them to ebbe and flow but because it was his office to corrupt them and turn them into bloud More probable was their opinion who attribute the cause to certain subterranean or under-sea fires whose matter is of neare akin to the matter of the Moon and therefore according to her motion they continue their times of burning and burning they make the sea so to boyl as that it is a tide or high-water but going out the sea sinks again But now if this opinion were true then the water in a tide would be thinner through the heat which causeth it to ascend thinner then at other times and so a ship carrying one and the same weight would sink deeper in a floud then in an ebbe which experience shews to be otherwise Yea were it so that there were such supposed fires in the bottome of the sea causing it to swell up like boyled water then it would also follow that the sea-water would be so hot that it might not be touched For if the heat of the supposed fire be sufficient to make it ascend it is sufficient also to make it hot which would appeare lesser in an ebbe then in a floud Wherefore omitting these and the like opinions the most allowable is to attribute this flux and reflux to the effects of the divers appearances of the Moon For we see by experience that according to the courses of the Moon the tides are both ordered and altered By which it is not improbable that the waters are drawn by the power of the Moon following her daily motion even as she is carried with the Primum Mobile Yea were it not so that the sea were hindered by some accident some have supposed that these waters would go round from East to West in 24 houres and so round again even day by day The accident hindering this circular motion is in regard that the West ocean sea is shot in between the firm land of America on the West part and the main land of Africa and Europe on the East part But were it so that there were no such accidentall let in the sea to be hindered by the land it would orderly follow the Moon and go daily round And seeing also it is hindered by such an impediment it is a probable conjecture to think that it cannot but be forced to retire for the firm land beats it back again Thus Mr William Bourn in the 5 book of his treasure for travellers chap. 6. determineth Others there be who attributing the cause to the moon do demonstrate it after another manner namely that through her influence she causeth these alternate motions and this influence of hers worketh according to the quadrate and opposite aspects of her position in the heavens or according to the quadrate and opposite configurations from that place where she was at the beginning For the seas saith a well learned writer begin to flow when the moon by her diurn rapt motion from East to West cometh to the nine a clock point in the morning or is South-east then they will continue flowing untill she come to a quadrate aspect or to 90 degrees which will be about 3 of the clock in the afternoon or be South-west when they cease from flowing and begin to ebbe continuing so untill she come to 180 degrees or the opposite place which will be somewhat after nine of the clock at night being the opposite place to that from which she began her flowing Then again they begin to flow and so continue untill she attain to 270 degrees from her first place which will be after three in the morning And then lastly they begin to ebbe and so continue still untill the moon come to that place where she was at the beginning for there the floud begins again Thus it is ordinarily yet her illumination the sunne and other starres may hasten hinder or something alter the moons influence as we see in spring-tides at the change and full and neap-tides at quarters and half quarters of the moon confessed by those who have been great masters in Astrologie And let this also be known that though the moon have dominion over all moist bodies yet not alike because of other causes concurring as the indisposition or unfitnesse of the subject or for want of matter and the like considerations As for example though it be probable that there be tides in mari Atlantico yet they are not to be perceived by reason of the vast widenesse and profunditie thereof in other places also of the sea are no tides being hindered by the strength of some current which prevaileth and in fresh water there is no tide because of the raritie thinnesse and subtiltie thereof which cannot retain the influence of the moon And note also that in such havens and rivers as ebbe and flow there may be great diversitie which cometh to passe both according to the indraught as also by reason of the crooked and narrow points and turnings of the banks which do let and stay the tide from that which is the common and ordinary course in the main bodie of the sea but afterwards when it is in and hath taken his sway then it cannot so soon reverse back but must continue untill the water behinde it be descended or ebbed into the sea The river Thames may serve as an instance in this for it is not a full sea in all places of it at one instant being three parts of a floud at the lands end before it can be any floud at London But were it so that there were no creeks islands straits turnings or other accidentall hinderances then there should be no difference found in any sea but the whole bodie should be swayed up and down with a constant course whereas since it is otherwise the times for every such place must be once found out that thereby they may be known for ever Wherefore the cavils of some men are nothing worth who by bringing particular and rare perhaps vain examples do think to take away this power from the moon For sith this lunar regiment is pertinent to most seas and that all our ocean doth follow her the exceptions taken
of Kings chap. 17. 16. and chap. 21. 3. and chap. 23. 5. and in Jeremie chap. 19. 13. and in Zeph. chap. 1. 5. and in the Acts chap. 7 42. For in all these places the holy Ghost calleth the starres the host and armies of heaven thereby amplifying the divine power of God by the force and power of these glorious creatures and this also is further confirmed by that in the song of Deborah Judg. 5. 20. where it is expressely testified that The starres fought from heaven the starres in their courses fought against Sisera Thus farre Scripture And now let experience also speak that thereby they who will not frame their understandings to be taught by the one but will seek for strange expositions may be forced to yeeld and acknowledge the truth by compulsion of this other in the front whereof I cannot but remember the noble Poets saying Senselesse is he who without blush denies What to sound senses most apparent lies And ' gainst experience he that spits fallacians Is to be hist from learned disputations And such is he that doth affirm the starres To have no force on these inferiours 1. As for example when the sunne shifts his habitation how diversly are the seasons differing insomuch that although the frostie beard of winter makes us tremble and shiver through extremitie of cold the warm lustre of the summers raies causeth us on the contrary to sweat and as it were pant through heat 2. Also the terrible accidents that succeed eclipses may not be forgotten nor vilipended for these testifie that the sunne by his heat and light quickeneth after an admirable fashion all earthly creatures being as it were the sourse and conserver of vitall heat and that the moon also hath a great power over inferiour bodies For if it were otherwise such lights coming to be hidden from the earth where there is a continuall revolution of generation and corruption could not cause after their eclipses the nature of inferiour things to be so altered and weakened as they are both in the elements and also in bodies composed of them 3. And furthermore who seeth not how orderly the tides keep their course with the moon of which I have spoken in the third dayes work 4. Also it is an observation that seldome faileth viz. that we have thunder and lightning in the summer time at the meeting of Mars with Jupiter Sol or Mercurie and for the most part great windes when Sol and Jupiter or Jupiter and Mercurie or Mercurie and Sol are in conjunction 5. And again the increase and decrease of bodies or of marrow bloud and humours in the bodie according to the increase and decrease of the moon doth speak for that horned queen and signifie that her vertue is not little For as she fills with light the marrow abounds in bones the bloud in veins the sap in trees the meat and moisture in the oister crab and creafish 6. Moreover experience also teacheth that all such wood as is cut for timber if it be not cut after the full moon will soon be rotten 7. Also those pease which are sown in the increase never leave blooming And as some report the pomegranate will bear no fruit any longer then just so many yeares as the moon was dayes old when it was first set and planted The Heliotropium with certain other flowers and plants we likewise see that they keep their course with the sunne And Plinie reports in his 37 book at the 10 chapter that the Selenite is a stone which hath the image of the moon in it increasing and decreasing according to her course in the heavens And doth not Cardan also report for certain as Sir Christopher Heydon it may be affirmed that the heavens in some sort do work upon mens mindes and dispositions And hereupon it comes to passe that Mars doth sometimes sow the seeds of warre by his working upon adult choler and the like Or the aire being greatly out of tune causeth not onely many sicknesses but strange disorders of the minde and they breaking out into act do many times disturb states translate kingdomes work unluckie disasters and the like of which I spake before in the second dayes work And now know that if the operation of the heavens in this be but so farre forth as the soul depends upon the bodily instruments all that is done to the soul is but an inclination for there can be no compulsion where the cause is so remote And therefore let it be observed that it is one thing to cause another thing to occasion or one thing to inferre a necessitie another thing to give an inclination The former we cannot averre to be in the power of the starres forasmuch as mans will which is the commandresse of his actions is absolutely free from any compulsion and not at all subject to any naturall necessitie or externall coaction Howbeit we cannot deny a certain inclination because the soul of man is too much indulgent to the body by whose motion as one worthily observeth it is rather perswaded then commanded There is therefore no Chaldean fate to be feared nor any necessitie to be imposed upon the wills of men but onely an inclination and this inclination is not caused by an immediate working of the starres on the intellectuall part or minde of man but occasioned rather mediately or so farre forth as the soul depends on the temperaments and materiall organs of the bodie In which regard I hope never to be afraid of the signes of heaven neither is there cause why I should ever curse my starres seeing I know in this the utmost of their power And as it was said to that Apostle My grace is sufficient for thee so may every one take it for granted that there is a second birth which overswayes the first To which purpose one makes this an observation Iustè age Sapiens dominabitur astris Et manibus summi stant elementa Dei Do godly deeds so shalt thou rule the starres For then God holds the elements from warres Or as another not unfitly also speaketh Qui sapit ille animum fortunae praeparat omni Praevisumque potest arte levare malum The wise for ev'ry chance doth fit his minde And by his art makes coming evils kinde And in a word that pithie saying of Ioannes de Indagine shall close this Article Quaeris a me quantum in nobis operantur actra dico c. Dost thou demand of me how farre the starres work upon us I say they do but incline and that so gently that if we will be ruled by reason they have no power over us but if we follow our own nature and be led by sense they do as much in us as in brute beasts and we are no better For agunt non cogunt is all that may be said Artic. 2. Whether it be not a derogation from the perfection of things created to grant that the starres have any kinde of power
and superstitious vain inventions with this their lawfull skill And for us experience hath travelled in the manifestation of the severall qualities belonging to the lamps of heaven For as we know the fire to be hot the water moist this herb to be cold that to be drie so also by observation it doth manifestly appeare that the sunne gives heat and cherisheth the moon moisteneth Mars drieth and so of the rest Or thus ♄ Saturn is cold and drie stirres up and increaseth melancholy ♃ Jupiter is temperately hot and moist works most upon sanguine complexions stirring up and increasing that humour ♂ Mars through his heat and immoderate drinesse stirres up and increaseth choler and so often proves an accidentall cause of brawlings fightings warres and the like beside such sicknesses as may come by the superabundancie of that humour ☉ Sol is moderately hot and drie greatly cherishing all kinde of creatures ♀ Venus is cold and moist but it is in a temperate manner and as for her operation it is seen most in flegmatick complexions ☿ Mercurie is said to be drie in respect of his own nature but joyned to any of the other Planets he puts upon him their natures and works as they work Then followeth the Moon and she is well known to be the mistris of moisture Neither can you truely say that it is impossible to finde their natures to be either thus or thus for it is but 30 yeares that the longest of these did ever spend in his periodicall revolution and but 72 yeares as Tycho teacheth can runne about whilest the fixed starres alter one degree in their longitude Insomuch that Saturn whose period is but 30 yeares cometh twice to the same point of heaven before the eighth sphere is moved one degree and Jupiter whose revolution is 12 yeares cometh 6 times to the same place and Mars who accomplisheth his period in little lesse then 2 yeares meets 36 times with the same starres in the same place and as for the Sunne Venus Mercurie and the Moon their meetings with them be oftner Also it is certain that the great conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn is once every 20 yeares and Mars and Saturn visit each other in lesse then every two yeares by means whereof it is no hard thing or as a thing impossible to finde out the simple natures either of the Planets or fixed starres And from these natures thus known and their mixtures and places observed it is that the effect is foreseen and the judgement given which if it be modestly carefully deeply and deliberately done by one well versed or conversant in these things doth for the most part happen as is foretold for the most part I say and not alwayes For as the Physician knoweth that the same portion of either single or mixed simples will not work upon all bodies alike so neither can the like portion and power of qualities stirre up or work alwayes ad idem but may sometimes receive either intention or remission according to the indisposed aptnesse of the subject the elements or elementary bodies not alwayes admitting of their powers alike or when they be overswayed by more potent and prevailing operations For universall and particular causes do many times differ and then the one hinders the operation of the other As for example particular causes as the conjunction of Venus and the Moon or some such like meeting may promise rain snow or sleet when universall causes which are not so easily seen do often turn it into more fair and warm weather And so also particular influences may seem to work upon such or such humours and thereupon make the bodie subject to this or that sicknesse and the minde enclined to this or that kinde of action with many such other like things howbeit it may so happen that nature may be at this time so abstrusely shut up that what we see not may overpower and work beyond what we see A man had need therefore have Argus his eyes to pierce throughly into these causes and examine without rashnesse either what may help or what may hinder otherwise his judgement may fail him even in things wrought by the course of nature for of other things he ought not to judge And indeed when there is a divers mixture of qualities all in a manner of equall portions as it may sometimes be how hard a thing is it then to finde out without a sound judgement the true event for there be many difficulties proceeding from the weaknesse of our judgements And for that again which I said before of natures abstruse kinde of working although I be no Stoick to tie Gods mightie hand to second causes yet I verily suppose that all things are not beyond the course of nature which seem to be extraordinarie but even many strange seeming things are wrought by the power of nature as sometimes in unwonted storms tempests droughts strange appearances or other like accidents And this again I also think that one man may see the cause when another cannot whereupon it comes to passe that there is such diversitie of judgements and thwarting of opinions many times about one and the same thing Also I might adde something which one or other will be readie to object concerning the devils permission in raising unwonted windes storms and such like Or I might speak not onely of Gods power but of his providence likewise in disposing his creatures to manifest their operation rather in one place then in another which is an act proceeding from his secret purpose and divine wisdome as when the clouds according to his decree do disburden themselves of their wearie drops rather here then there or there then here For saith he in the 4 chap. of Amos at the 7 vers I have caused it to rain upon one citie and it hath not rained upon another and the citie where it hath not rained was barren But I shall not need to meddle further For notwithstanding these difficulties it is manifest enough that the signes of heaven may be both sought into and also in some ample measure understood For it is true that God Almightie having both set and foreseen the course of nature long before doth now uphold it by his providence instrumentally to perform his will Neither every day doth he make the windows of heaven to stand open or the fountains of the great deep to be broken up nor yet doth he every day make the sunne or moon to stand still or the shadow to go back or an Eclipse to be at a quite contrarie time or the moon again to arise before her usuall course but hath undoubtedly left his works to be sought out of all those who take pleasure therein and according to that portion of sound judgement which he hath given to every one they may understand either more or lesse of these signes For as one starre differeth from another in lustre and beautie so one mans knowledge and better judgement transcends not seldome
first like maggots and they do as their dammes before them and then die And let this creature end my discourse concerning the things done in this fifth day wherein not able to mention all I have toucht at some and those so excellent as I could have spent more time in their better view were it not that the succeeding day hastens his dawning In the phrase of Moses I will therefore conclude and concluding say The Eve and Morn confine the fifth of dayes And God gives to his work deserved praise CHAP. IX This ninth chapter concerneth the creatures made in the sixth and last day namely creatures living neither in the aire nor water but upon the earth and these be of two sorts the brute beasts and Man This chapter hath two Sections Sect. 1. Wherein is both a division and entrance into this dayes work as also a discourse of the first part of it concerning the brute beasts whose creation was in the first part of the day THe just period of the fifth day being come to an end the sixth approacheth wherein God Almightie shutteth up the creation of every species and after all he resteth from his works watcheth by his providence over each part and parcell of the world which he had made And in this day he first produced the brute beasts living upon the face of the earth then he comes to the creation of man and makes him the Colophon or conclusion of all things else in whose nature he placed the greatest dignitie of any creature that is visible for man is of a middle between the beasts and Angels transcending the one and yet not worthy to equalize the other as afterwards when I come to that particular shall be declared with other things pertinent to his creation And now that the terrestriall beasts and he should be made both in one day is worth observing for had he been to live in the aire he might have seen the sunne with the flying fowls and have been created when they were made or had his habitation been in the waters the fish and he might both at once have been produced But being made neither to swimme with the fishes nor flie with the birds but live upon the earth it was most harmonious that the terrestriall beasts and his creation should in the same day the one succeed the other And that the end might shew the perfection of the work the prioritie of time is given to the beasts but the excellencie and prioritie of all appeares in man who was made Lord of the creatures and in whom God had placed a surpassing condition and by farre a more noble nature For whereas they are led by sense he hath reason whereas they look downwards and groveling from the skie his countenance is erect and his looks are mixt with majestie whereas they are animate without an immortall soul he liveth when he dieth and hath a soul which death it self knows not how to kill and whereas their bodies fall and never rise again his riseth when it is fallen and is like seed sown which sprouteth up when the time is come If this then be both the order and cause of such an order in this dayes work I must leave the most excellent piece untill the last and begin first to look and observe how the beasts in their severall kindes and daintie squadrons march up and down and walk from out the shop of their Creatour being brought to perfection even as soon as that powerfull word who spoke it did onely say it Let them be It would I confesse require no small volume to discourse of all Howbeit even in a few the glory of their Maker will well appeare and with that thought let us name some by which we may admire the rest And first consider what a strong vast creature the mighty Elephant is known to be There is no creature saith one among all the beasts of the world which hath so great and ample demonstration of the power and wisdome of Almighty God as the Elephant both for proportion of body and disposition of spirit and it is admirable to behold the industrie of our ancient forefathers and noble desire to benefit us their posteritie by searching into the qualities of every beast to discover what benefits or harms may come by them to mankinde having never been afraid of the wildest but they tamed them and the greatest but they also set upon them witnesse this beast of which we now speak being like a living mountain in quantitie and outward appearance yet by them so handled as no little dog could be made more serviceable tame or tractable They are usually bred in the hot eastern countreys for by reason they cannot well endure the cold they delight most in the East and South as in India and some places of Africa And before the dayes of Alexander Magnus there were never any in Europe but when he fought against Porus King of India he became master of many and how bravely they fought at the first for their masters and received many wounds Curtius hath related These Indian Elephants are most commonly nine cubits high and five cubits broad and in Africa they be about eleven foot high and of bignesse proportionable to their height Their colour is for the most part mouse-coloured or black and yet there was once one in Ethiopia all white as Mr. Topsell relateth They have a skinne so hard excepting on their belly that it is a very hard matter and in a manner impossible to pierce it with any sword spear or iron It hath on it very few hairs and is very full of chaps or crevises in which there is such a savour as invites the flies to a continuall feast howbeit they pay deerly for their cheer for although the Elephant cannot make use of his tail to drive them away yet by shrinking of himself close together he incloseth the flies within the chaps and so killeth them He hath a long trunked nose mighty teeth foure whereof be within his mouth serving to grinde his meat and two hang forth as afterwards shall be shewed He hath a tail slender and short and legs of an infinite strength his head is very great so that a mans head may as easily be thrust into it as his finger into the mouth of a dog but yet his eares and eyes are not equivalent to the residue of his other parts for his eares are small and their matter like to the wings of a Bat or Dragon and some bred in some places have no eares at all Their eyes likewise are like the eyes of swine but very red Two of their teeth as I said grow farre out of their mouthes one of which they alwayes keep sharp to revenge injuries and defend themselves and the other is lesse sharp being often used to root up plants and trees for their meat and commonly they grow out to the length of ten feet this is that which we
Scorpion hath sometimes been bred in the brain 244 Scriech-owl 403 Sea Why seas be salt and rivers fresh 201. Why Springs be fresh 206. Why the Sea ebbeth and floweth 208 209 sequent Why fresh Waters and all Seas do not ebbe 218 Seasons of the yeare 354 Securitie Small securitie on earth by an example from the Squirrell 454 Selenite a stone which follows the course of the Moon 294 295 Sentida an herb of a strange propertie 273 Servius Tullius his head burning as he slept 97 Sethim It was that wood whereof Noah made the Ark 276 Seven a number of rest 21 Shad 388 Shark 378 Sheep and their natures 482. How sheep may catch 〈◊〉 rot 155. 252 Shepherds purse 270 Shooting starres a Meteor 92 Shrew A medicine to be used at the death of a Shrew 263 Shrew-mouse and his properties shewed 467 Sight Sight dulled by Leeks 262. Rue eaten fasting is very good for the sight 248. See Eyes Signes Signes of heaven must not be abused 351 sequent Silver the best mettall next to Gold 288 Sinne. We should weep for sinne by an example taken from the Hart 481. We should not sleep in sinne by an example taken from the Sea-Elephant 371. When the baits of sinne are swallowed they must be vomited up again by an embleme from the Scolopendra 384. The sweetnesse of sinne in the end is bitter by an example from the Beare eating hony 477. Those who are taken away in the very act of sinne what they are like unto 485 Sinner A sinner though blinde in life seeth in death by an example taken from the Mole 462 Sivet-cat or the Zibeth 463 Skirret 264 Sleet and the cause thereof 162 Slow-worm 490 Smaradge Plinie makes many kindes of this stone 293 Snapdragon an herb of a strange propertie 272 Snow 160. The matter of Snow 161. Why Snow is white ibid. Snow in the mountains and rain in the valleys both out of one cloud together with the cause thereof 162 Societie ought to be amongst men by an example taken from the Stork 399 Sole and Whiting 387 Sorrell and the vertues thereof 270 Sorrow An embleme concerning those who sorrow to part with earth for heaven 459. 481 Sothernwood and the qualities thereof 254 Soul The Soul breathed into man infused in the creation and created in the infusion 499. God stampt his image in the Soul ibid. 500. Souls Souls cannot appeare after death 94 95 South-winde 182 Sowbread an herb of a strange propertie 262. 272 Sow-thistle and the vertues thereof 267 Sparrow and his nature 409 Speare-wort the beggars herb 260 Spheres A figure shewing their motion 317 Sphinx and the meaning of Aenigma 472 Splene A medicine for the splene 274 Spring The Spring described 355. The creation was not in the Spring 30. 32 Squirrell described with his properties 453 Starling 402 Starres 311 312 sequent The Starres not to be worshipped 312. Their matter and motion 315 320. They be nourished by the waters above the heavens and how 321 322 323 324. The reason of their differing heights 324 325. Their offices 327. 334. 354. Why they seem to twinkle 332. They work upon this inferiour world 334 sequent New Starres 107. 114 115. 119. The signification of Cassiopea's Starre 108. 114 Steel and what it is 289 Stitch. Good to give ease to one troubled with a stitch in the side 247 Stomack Good to strengthen the Stomack 250. Good to help digestion 396 Stone in the body with â—… medicine for it 387. 254 Stones what they are their kindes c. 290 sequent They live not a vegetative life 291. Common Stones ibid. Precious Stones 292. A Stone which followes the course of the Moon 294. A Stone which will cool seething water 296. A compassionate Stone and the reason thereof ibid. 297. A Stone of power to draw gold 299. The Loadstone 297. The Bloud-stone ibid. Stories A Storie of a Sea-woman 375. A storie of a Boy and a Dolphin 380. A storie of a Sparrow 409. A storie concerning Cock-fighting 411. A storie of a Lion 438. Another of a Lion 440. A storie of a dying Usurer 459. A storie of two much familiaritie amongst Cats 464. A storie of a Bishop eaten up with Mice 466. A storie of a loving Dog 470. Another ibid. Another 471. A storie shewing how Alexander was deceived by Apes 472. A storie of a Man saved from death by a Beare 475 Stork 399. Lessons to be learnt from the stork ibid. Strange A rule to be observed in Strange sights 131 Students Mint good for students 255 Sturgeon 384 Su a strange beast in the new-found world 454 Sulphurwort it is good for young children 260 Summer described 356 Sunne Whether the Sunne be the fountain of light 329. Why the Sunne hath sometimes seemed to dance 333. The appearance of many Sunnes 130. Their cause 131. What they signifie ibid. Swallow 406. What strange things some have written of the swallow 407. It is said that she taught men first to build 408. They cure the blinde eyes of their young ones with an herb viz. Celandine 261 Swam-fisk a fish so called being the most greedy of all fishes 372 373 Swanne The nature and qualities of the Swanne 413 414 Swine eat no Turneps 263 Sword-fish 370 T TAmarisk It is of great vertue for the hardnesse of the splene or milt 274 Tanners An herb for Tanners in the dressing of Leather 257 Tarragon 264 Tarantula and his strange properties 425 Teeth Good against the tooth-ach 261. 267. How to scoure the Teeth and kill the worms in them 251 Temper Waters of a strange temper 220 221 Tench 388 Terebinth or the Turpentine tree 279 Thirst. An herb very good for the thirstie 269 Thrive The thriving of a man that upon occasion is of two trades The embleme is taken from the flying fish 382. Some men thrive in a course which to the vulgar seems contrary by an example taken from the Sturgeon 384 Throat Good for a sore throat 253 Thrush 402 Thunder what it is 122. A difference in Cracks 123. Thunder sometimes without Lightning and so on the contrarie ibid. How this may be 124. The making of the Thunder-stone 125. See more in the word Lightning Thyme and the vertues thereof 259 Time what it is 45. Times when the World should have ended according to some mens foolish fancies 18. 22 23 24 c. Tinne 290 Toad An antipathie between the Toad and Rue 248 Tobacco and the kindes thereof Where it was first found together with the names qualities and vertues thereof 264 265. The Indian women take no Tobacco 266. The time when it came first into England and by whom it was first brought ibid. A precious salve to be made of the green leaves 265. A lesson for quaffers ibid. Tongue 498. The Tongue hath brought many to mischief 413. Fair tongues false hearts 443 Topaz a very strange stone which stancheth bloud 295 296 Tophus 292 Torch a burning Meteor 89 Torpedo a