begotten which we commonly terme Monsters but this is not ordinary but rather extraordinary for Nature doth never produce any of these Monsters but by some extraordinary and lascivious thoughts in the very act or else after the act which bringeth sleepe there to continue in the body of the Female which I thinke and some other learned are of my opinion is a maine cause of these Monsters called Hermophrodites and sometimes Nature hath given them that are thus luxurious no comfort of their issue for if not Hermophrodites then they proove fooles and ideots Qu. Why doe some children resemble sometime their Father more than the Mother which breeds them in their body and sometime like the Grandsir or some other of their kinred Ans It is according to their youth whether it bee father or mother which hath more seed in their vessels than the other which overflowes the lesser and being more desirous of lust which causeth the same likenesse And againe it is when in the very act the man remembers the visage of the Woman which is a great matter having it in his thought at that time sometimes it is like the Grand-father when hee is thought upon or remembred in the like action Qu. Why doe those infants which come out of the wombe at the eight Moneths end most commonly become weake and sometimes in danger of death A. Because nature is weak in those women and not able in regard of their burden to hold out any longer by reason of the watery and cold Planet the Moone which hath rule in every body whatsoever and by reason the Moon is retrograde ill desposed at that time is the cause of its death Q. Why doth the infant open the wombe at forty weekes end A. The reason is as wee may see in divers fruites when they be ripe they easily fal and so likewise when the childe is at full growth then the vessell doth breake or open and the tendons or ligaments easily broken and therefore those women which hold out their full time without their terms falling down in that time haue strong and lusty children and live long Q. Why doth either excessive ioy or griefe cause a woman to miscarry A. Sometime extraordinary joy doth take away the naturall heat which causeth and giveth life to the seede in the wombe and so causeth miscarrying and the very same reason is given for griefe conceived which taketh away the natural heat from the wombe to comfort the heart Q. Why doth the tongue sometimes lose the use of speaking A. The learned Physitian Hypocrates saith sometime it doth happen through a Palsie or Apoplexy which is by a violent effusion of blood and of other thicke humours and againe it is the infection spiritus animalis in the Median part of the braine which is an hinderāce that the vigor or spirit is not carryed unto the tongue which is the maine cause why the tongue sometimes is not able to expresse those actions which its office ought to make manifest Q. Why did nature make rather the braine cold than hot A. For this maine reason onely to temper and moderate the heate of the heart to the end it might serve in stead of a Fan or cooler Q. Wherefore made Nature Man naked and without weapons onely his armes to defend him A. Nature having bestowed wisedome upon man hath given him meanes enough to arme himselfe at his owne pleasure as well against the cold and heate of the aire as against the blowes of his enemies Q. What is the cause that children who are moyst by nature are not bald notwithstanding A. Because their humidity is intermingled with a temperate heate Q. Why doth Rue being planted under a fig-tree grow the better and receiveth more nourishment A. Because it drawes unto it selfe the sweetnesse of the Fig-tree or else the Fig-tree suckes away from the Rue a part of his bitternesse and so being somewat sweetned it groweth the better Q. Why doe old men dye almost without paine A. By reason that all their sences are debilitated and their rudicall moysture and naturall heate consumed Q. Why doth sorrow and care make some men to look old and gray before their time Answ Because they dry up the moysture of their bodie by their Cholericke humour which is too predominant in them and indeede Age is no thing but a kind of drynesse Q. Wherefore are womens counsailes which they give upon the suddaine commonly esteeemed happy and prosperous in effect and those which they give upon long deliberation unlucky and disastrous A. Erasmus is of opinion that their mindes are for the most part employed with what they most affect and upon a pinch if they bee put to it they shew much and a quicke wittinesse for Women are naturally farre more witty than men but more prone to affect and sometimes make use of it to extreame wickednesse Q. VVherefore is it said what 's a VVoman but her tongue A. Because antienly they had no other defence nor weapon but that but now they have better fortified themselves with tongue tooth and nayles Q. VVhat kinde of people are those that doe not sleepe in their owne faces A. Women that paint which put on other faces than nature gave them under which fained fairenesse there is a foule pretence of concealing age and wrinkles but not their desire of youthfull actions Justice Sph. Ph. pa. 683. Dialogismus What Goddesse Justice Why thy lookes so sterne Not to be wonne from what I once discerne VVhence born From heaven Thē say who was thy father Measure he 's cald and true-faith is my mother Why one eare open and the other shut To th' good thats ope to th'bad that 's closed up Why sword i' th right hand in the left a scales These weigh each act ' gainst th' guilty that prevailes Why art alone Good company is rare These times conduct mee not where good men are Why poorely clad Cause hee that will be iust Refraine to purchase wealth and treasure must Q. What doe you iudge to be most fit for the tranquility of of a marryed life A. No married life can be peaceable and quiet except the man be deafe and the woman blind for either of them must conceale somethings that she being blind may not be peeping prying into every action of her husband he deafe that he may not heare his wife brawling continually at home Altera luminihus quando caret auribus alter Improba coniugium tale querela fugit In English thus Where Wives want eyes and Husbands want good eares That Wedlocke seldome causeth jarres and teares Of a widow Q. Wherefore is it that no Spaniard of what meane quality soever will marry a widdow bee shee very young and wealthy A. It hath beene a resolution of theirs from Antiquity and continueth to this day and to this effect one of them made this answer I will no Widow wed my reason's sound I 'le drinke no water wherein one was
to requite a good with good is evill Bad to requite with bad 's a tricke o' th' Devill Bad to requite for good is most unjust Good to requite for good is good and just But good for ill is best so judge we must Q. Which of the two is more sufferable a Tyrant or hangman A. It is an easie question and yet a question Antisthenes the Philosopher was of opinion in behalfe of the Hangman For saith hee the Hangman kills the nocent but the Tyrant the innocent Of Money Qu. VVHat and whence is money A. Let her speak her selfe for when shee speakes all mouths are stopt nay can perswade more by silence than Cicero could with his Eloquence yet this she sayes of her selfe Terra fui primum latebris abscondita diris Nunc aliud regnum flamma nomenque dederunt Nec jam terra vocor licet en me terra paretur In English thus I first was earth enclosed deepe in ground The fire for me another name hath found Through earth the earth I sway where I abound Of Meteors Qu. VVHat is the reason of the Meteors An. The word Meteor signifies a thing drawne or lifted up on high because these imperfect bodies are engendred of exhalations or of vapors of the earth water and those are called Meteors and seeing that they are engendred not onely on high but also below and within the concavities of the earth those that write of this subject are very different in opinion Qu. Wherefore is it that sometimes we seeme to see the Starres fall An. Those are not Stars but Meteors caused of exhalations which being not great in quantity and drawne up to the lower Region of the Ayre taking fire fall in the likenesse of a Starre Q. What is the cause of the Ignis fatuus that either goes before or follows a man in the night An. It is caused of a great and well compacted exhalation and being kindled it stands in the aire and by the mans motion the Ayre is moved and the fire by the Ayre and so goes before or follows a man and these kind of fires or Meteors are bred neare Execution places or Church-yards or great Kitchins where viscous or slimy matter and vapours abound in great quantity Of Hayle Q. VVHat is to be thought the cause of Hayle Ans When by vertue of the Sunne and Starres a vapour is elevated it ascends to the middle Region of the Ayre but enters no farther which the environing cold by reason of its thinnesse penetrateth and driving out the warmth beginnes to turne the parts of the vapour into water and to thicken it but the cold because it is great congeleth those parts already turned into drops and fluide into a hardnesse and generates a greater or lesser Hayle according to the diversity of the cold and the vapour Sometimes also a vapour in the middle Region of the Ayre is converted into drops which in falling are congeled in the lowest Region of the Ayre by Antiperistasis and those drops by meeting together in their falling are congeled into a three-squar'd or angular haile and not sphericall or round Q. Wherefore is it that this watry impression is more frequent in the Spring than in any other time of the yeere A. Because the Spring is hot and moist by its temperature and by consequence most apt for the generating and elevating of vapors For Summer being hot and dry dryeth up and exhausteth the vapors Winter is cold and dry Autumne likewise cold but moist and these two last Quarters of the yeere many times permit not the vapors to bee dissolved For the materia of the hayle is very hot and therefore thinne and rare and is the sooner penetrable and convertible by the encompassing cold By the same reason it is that warme water in Winter will sooner be frozen than cold Of the small Hayle and Snow Q. VVHerefore is it that in March the Haile is usually smaller than at other times A. Their generation is the same but in quantity of heate different for being elevated up into the middle middle region of the Aire but in a lower place than the greater Hayle and by the cold being converted into droppes which are congealed extrinsecally before their fall into the forme of Haile but intrinsecally or inwardly by reason of the defect of cold they are softer and of the nature and quality of snow Q. Whence then proceedes the snow A. Out of a hot and moyst vapour drawne up to the lower part of the middle Region of the aire into which vapour the encompassing cold entereth by the reason of the vapors thinnenesse melts it into water and congeleth it in time into the similitude of tosed Wooll yet many times the snow while it falls through the lowest part of the aire is dissolved into raine by reason of warmth being then there and thence it happeneth that at one and the selfe same time snow falls on the hills and raine in the valleyes Of Raine Qu. WHence is the raine produced and generated A. When by the vertue of the Sunne and other Astres or Starres a hot moyst fumous and grosse vapour is drawne up to the upper part of the lower or to the lower part of the middle Region of the ayre and is dissolved into a cloud and the cloud into water and by its weightinesse tending to its center fals as being of a watry substance and falls in drops upon the earth and falling in greater drops it is commonly called a shower but falling in a lesse ponderous manner and with longer continuation we cal it raine Q. Whence is it that sometimes the raine seemeth to be red A. By the reason of anadust and dry earthlinesse which is mingled with the vapours that are elevated in a time of warmth Of Dew Qu. VVHence then hath the dew its causes A. The Dew is generated by a vapour weakly hot grosse and moyst which is elevated not much from the lowest part of the ayre and condensated or thickned by the nightly cold and dissolved into a water even as in an Alembicke the vapour a seending is converted into a water But the Dew most commonly falleth in the evening for at that time the lowest region of the aire is of a colder temperature Q. Wherefore is it that sheepefeeding on a Dew fallen on the grasse dye of the rot A. When a vapour participates much of the ayry moysture which is slimy and sweete and is dissolved into a Dew and falling upon the grasse and hearbs by the operation of the Sunne the watry part is exhaled leaving a kinde of mealy substance like a Sugar upon the leaves of trees and herbage and that is our now Manna And by the selfe same causes Laudanum is also generated in the Aire The sheepe then being much taken with the sweetnesse eate beyond their measure and surfet whereupon the gall being over-filled with choler this kinde of dew breeding it in them so abundantly breakes and that bile or
contagion of his breath as Toads and other venimous creatures doe envenome those Hearbs under which they shelter themselves Q. Wherefore is it that lovers are said to enchant one another onely by the eye An. Not by the emission of the rayes as I sayd but because in the eyes which are the Indices animi The discoverers of the minde there is a certaine amorous passion which increaseth by frequent expression and discovereth it selfe by them more than by any other part especially if the complexions of those Lovers be both agreeable and amorously bent Of the exteriour Senses in generall Qu. VVHerefore is it that the five Senses viz. seeing hearing smelling tasting and touching are called exteriour An. Because they are necessary for the body and are common to Man and other Animals and in discourse to make a difference betweene them and the interiour which are faculties of the soule which are Vnderstanding Imagination and Memory Qu. Wherefore is it that Nature gave them neither more nor fewer but onely five An. Because all the objects of the world as well common as particular that are perceptible by the exteriour Senses of Animals doe fall under some one of them and therefore the Philosopher concludes that there can be no more than five Qu. Wherein consisteth the chiefe benefit of the sight An. In this that the sight is not onely usefull for the providing of necessaries but also for the avoyding of things hurtfull thereby to secure themselves from them and to man in particular that by the viewing of celestiall things he might employ himselfe in the contemplation thereof Qu. Where in consisteth that of hearing An. The hearing also serveth not onely for the following of things good and profitable for them or for the shunning of things hurtful according to the voice or noise which they beare but also to man for instruction or discipline who is capable of Sciences and holy mysteries Qu. Wherein availeth the use of Smelling An. For the recreating and purifying of the spirits of the braine by which they are cheered and better disposed by good wholesome and sweet savours Qu. Wherein that of Tasting An. It was given us for the discerning of the aliment which we make choice of for the sustentation of the body for growth in youth and afterwards for the repairing or restoring of that which is every day losing decaying Q. Wherein the Touching A. That is very necessary for the distinguishing in the darke the exteriour qualities of a body that wee meete with and by those the difference of the body it selfe Concerning these and further reasons I referre the curious to Scaliger contra Cardan exerc 297. Qu. Which of these are held most necessary A. Two which are Tasting and Touching The reason is because my Animal can be without food and aliment for the maintenance of life which cannot be chosen but by the Taste neither can it subsist without Touching without the other three it may Qu. Wherefore is it that Man of creatures the most perfect is inferiour to some creatures in the exteriour senses A. Although the Latine Verse concludeth him so to be which saith Nos aper auditu Lynx visu Simiagustu Vultur odoratu praecebâ—it Aranea tactu The Boare heares better Lynx sees Vultar smells The Apes taste and Spiders touch farre Mans 〈◊〉 in Taste and Touch hee is farre more curious and excellent as Dupâ—â—◠〈…〉 stantly maintaining Mans prerogative affirmeth Of the interiour Senses Qu. WHerefore are they tearmed interior An. To extinguish them from the exteriours Foreven as the exteriours doe perceive their objects outwardly so doe these theirs interiourly within the head and these are tearmed first Sensus communis which is the Intellect Secondly Phantasie or Imagination And thirdly Memory Qu. What is that which is tearmed the common sense A. It is the chiefe and master-sense and Prince of the exteriours and hath its seat in the highest and noblest part of the body which is the Braine where all the exteriours take their roote by nerves and they as scouts or spyes sent out to all parts come and give it an account of their severall objects to the end that it may judge and distinguish the one from the other So that it is that which gives us notice and knowledge of what the exteriours declare unto it Q. What is fantasie or imagination An. Fantasie according to Aristotle Cap. 3. Lib. 7. de Anima is an apparition or imagination under which are also meditation and thought comprised by which are represented Idaea's of things which may fall under the exteriour senses but also an infinity of other things which neither are nor can be and this either sleeping or waking as Gyants Devils Hydra's castles in the Ayre Chymaera's and any thing that can be imagined or thought upon joyntly or severally Qu. What is Memory A. It is the Store-house or Treasury of all conceits imaginations and thoughts For as the Fantasie imprints them in it it retaines and keeps them And that is the reason why we so easily forget those things which wee sleightly thought upon or tooke little notice of Qu. Wherefore is it that when wee would conceive any thing we put our hands to the forehead and when we would call a thing to memory wee scratch behinde the head A. By the reason of the diversity of the seates for the Intellect is seated in the fore part the Memory in the hinder part and the Fantasie in the interstice betweene them and therefore by those actions we doe as it were summon each by a peculiar motion to the use of its function Of sleeping Qu. VVHerefore is it that Women are more sleepy than men An. Because naturally they are more moyst and cold than men and humidity is the cause of sleepe and the cold is the congealer of the vapors into water which vapours stopping the conduits of the senses doe cause sleep Qu. Wherefore is it that fat and grosse people are ordinarily more sleepy than the leane and slender An. Because that more than that they are replete with a great quantity of humours which cause sleepe they are moreover very heavy and unweldy and desire their ease and rest which is the companion of sleepe The slender and leane contrary are more active and laborious and action and motion doe breake and interrupt sleepe Qu. Wherefore is it then that labouring men and the lazy and idle are very sleepy An. Because the idle by their lazinesse doe contract within them a great quantity of humours and the others by interrupting their sleepe by industrious labours and travaile doe enforce it Qu. Wherefore are those that are naturally merry and cheerefull more desirous of sleepe than the melancholy and those that are in sorrow and affliction An. Because that the latter are in trouble of the minde disquiet and agitation of spirit which are opposite adversaries to naturall rest and the other enjoy that by tranquillity and repose both
inward parts there to helpe nature to digest that meate we have formerly received And from digestion fumes doe arise from the heart to the braine the which vapours doe stop the pores of the body by which the naturall heate should be dispersed to the outward parts and then the said outward parts being cold and humid by reason of the coldnesse of the braine sleep is procured and that sleepe prooves sweet which is got by labour Qu. Wherefore is it that a man may sleepe more soundly in some one house than in another An. Because the situation of the one may be more proper to that effect than that of the other and according to the nature of the clymate as by being elongated and remote from any obstreperous noises and the like Also in cold humid and moist places the inhabitant is more apt to sleepe than hee in the hot and dry for as I sayd cold and moysture doe enduce sleepe Qu. Wherefore is it that the disposition or indisposition to sleepe is more or lesse at some times of the yeere An. By reason of the different vicissitudes of times As in rainy weather generally men incline to be sleepy by the reason of the moysture of the Ayre which the braine participates of In hot and faire weather not so But generally all covet it more in the Winter than in Summer by the reason aforesaid Qu. Why are most creatures sad after the act of generation An. Galen saith speaking in a divine way because the act in it selfe is uncleane and by that reason when the spirit is spent or when it is thought upon by man hee is ashamed and at that time heavy and sad and withall it causeth sleepe the better to hearten and cherish man againe when he awakens Qu. Why doth it appeare unto some in their sleepe that they eate and drinke sweete things and also smell flowers and heare Musicke An. Because the rhume exhaled from the stomacke doth ascend to the braine which causeth pleasant fancies to be thought upon and more especially we dreame of such thing that we least thought of when sleepe doth seaze us and againe when the rhume doth distill down againe it doth to our imagination taste sweet Qu. How many severall waies is the braine purged of their humours An. Many wayes the watry humours are evacuated by the eyes which if too violent causeth blindnesse melancholy by the eares if too violent causeth ill swets choler by the nose which if it be much causeth vexation and phlegme that is by the haire whichif too violēt causeth the haire to shed and baldnesseth then ensues Qu. Whereupon doth it proceed that men become pale when they are seased with feare A. Because the blood retires to the vitall parts of the body on a suddaine Qu. Why hath a Serpent his poyson in the tayle An. Because the poyson is in his excrement and the malignity of the venemous humor doth still abide there Qu. Why did the learned Hypocrates permit those to drinke wine that had a burning Ague An. It was sayd hee to helpe digestion and to strengthen the vitall parts Qu. Why are the feet hands face and other parts of the body more cold than any other parts of the body An. Because they are not so solid or so well knit together and are farther removed from the heart and liver Qu. Why doe sharpe things provoke appetite An. Because they dry up the crude humours and so consequently close up the mouth of the stomacke faster which doth cause appetite Qu. Why doe Lettuce and Poppy provoke sleepe An. Because they engender and breed grosse and thicke humours Qu. Why is Ivy alwayes greene An. Because the heate of it is tempered and mixt with humidity and viscosity Q. Why doe men neese sooner being in the Sunne than being neare the fire An. Because the heate of the Sun doth onely dissolve the humour and not consume it but the Fire doth both dissolve and consume it therefore observe it well that the wisest Physitians though it be very cold will not come very neare the fire for this reason Qu. Why doe the eyes of a Cat or of a Wolfe shine in the night and not in the day An. Because the greater light which is the Sunne doth darken the lesser as it may appeare by a Torch held in the day which giveth no light to that of the Sunne Qu. Why is the white of an Egge of so hard a digestion if it be sod or rosted too much seeing that it is the body of the Chicken if it came to perfection and the yelke onely the intrailes An. Because of the great coldnesse of it being taken before it came to perfection Qu. Why doth Burrage layd in wine and Marygold drunk in wine rejoyce those that drinke it An. Because Burrage doth increase blood and the Marygolds comfort and strengthen the heart Qu. Why doe those that oftentimes weepe pisse seldome An. Because the humidity taking his passage or current by the eyes doth ease so much the more the other parts and members of the body but it is very hurtfull to the sight for the rhume being salt issuing out by the eyes causeth the eyes in time to want their cleare sight and grow dimme Qu. Why doe some Men drinke water which notwithstanding doth not nourish A. Water doth run through quickly and doth spend the digestion of the meate through al parts of the body Qu. Why are those that are drunke cold An. By reason of the wine taken immoderately which quencheth and qualifieth the naturall heate of the body Qu. Why doe Physitians not minister Physicke when the sicknesse or disease is at the chiefest but onely cordials An. Because they should not oppresse or hinder Nature but rather comfort and helpe it Qu. Why are fat things not subject so soone to corruption as leane An. Because they participate so much of the ayre and of the fire being hot and dry Qu. What is the reason that some men are more able to endure longer travaile than other An. Because some men are more cholericke and some more phlegmaticke and choler doth sooner destroy nature than phlegme Qu. What is the reason that when we are an hungry our spettle is more salter than at other times An. Because hunger increaseth choler which easily becometh bitter by reason of his sharpnesse which gnaweth upon the mouth of the stomacke Qu. Why are Women commonly fatter than men An. Because they are colder of complexion and doe lesse exercise Qu. VVhat is the cause that the milke of a white haired woman is not held so wholesome as that of them that are browne An. Because blacke and browne women are hotter of constitution and nature and therefore by consequence their milk is better digested Qu. VVherefore are those that have great heads more given to sleepe than those that have little Heads An. The greater the thing is the more vapours it doth containe and humidity and moystnesse doth cause sleep Q. Why are leekes and