none of mine Authors Martin nor anie other Ferrer in these daies that I knowe haue intermedled with anie kind of bursting but onely with that wherein the gut falleth downe into the cod leauing all the rest apart I wil onely talke of this and that according to Martins experience which I assure you differeth not much from the precepts of the old writers But first you shal vnderstand that the gut bursten and flanke bursten doth proceed both of one cause that is to say by meanes that the skinne called before Peritoneum is either sore strained or else broken either by some stripe of another horse or els by some strain in leaping ouer an hedge ditch or pale or otherwise yea and many times in passing a carier through the carelesnes of the rider stoping the horse sodenly without giuing warning wherby the horse is forced to cast his hinder legs abroad so straineth or bursteth the skin aforesaid by meanes whereof the gut falleth downe into the cod The signes be these The horse will forsake his meat and stand shoring and leanning alwaies on that side that he is hurt and on that side if you search with your hande betwixt the stone and the thigh vpward to the body and somewhat aboue the stone you shall find the gut it selfe big and hard in the feeling whereas on the other side you shal find no such thing The cure according to Martin is thus Bring the horse into some house or place that hath ouer head a strong balk or beame going ouerthwart and strew that place thicke with strawe then put on foure pasternes with foure ringes on his feete and then fasten the one end of a long rope to one of those Ringes then thread all the other rings with the loose end of the Rope and so drawe all his foure feete togither and cast him on the straw That done cast the rope ouer the baulke and hoise the horse so as he may lye flatte on his backe with his legs vpward without struggling Then bath his stones well with warme Water and Butter molten togither and the stones being somewhat warme and wel mollified raise them vp from the body with both your hands being closed by the fingers fast togither and holding the stones in your hands in such manner worke downe the gut into the body of the horse by striking it downward continually with your two thumbs one labouring immediately after another vntill you perceiue that side of the stone to bee so so smal as the other and hauing so discorded that is to say returnd the gut into his right place take a list of two fingers broad throughly annointed with fresh butter and tie his stones both togither with the same so nigh as may bee not ouer hard but so as you may put your finger betwixt That done take the horse quietly down and lead him faire and softly into the stable whereas he must stand warme and not be stirred for the space of 3. weekes But forget not the next day after his discording to vnloosen the list and to take it away and as wel at that time as euery day once or twice after to cast a dish or two of cold water vp into his cods and that wil cause him to shrinke vppe his stones and thereby restraine the gut from falling downe and at the three weekes end be sure it were not amisse to geld the stone on that side away so shall he neuer be encorded againe on that side But let him not eat much nor drinke much and let his drinke be alwayes warme Of the botch in the graines of a horse IF a horse be full of humours and then suddenly laboured the humours will resort into the weakest parts and there gather together and breede a botch and especially in the hinder parts betwixt the thighes not farre from the cods The signes be these The hinder legges wil be al swollen and especially from the houghes vpwarde and if you feele with your hand you shal find a great kind of swelling and if it be round and hard it wil gather to a head The cure according to Martin is thus First ripe it with a plaister take of Wheat-flower of Turpentine and of hony of each like quantity stirring it together to make a stiffe plaister and with a cloth lay it vnto the sore renewing it euery day once vntil it breake or waxe soft and then launce it as the matter may runne downeward Then taint it with Turpentine and Hogges greace moulten togither renewing it euery daye once vntil it be whole Of the diseases incident to the wombe of a Mare and specially of barrennesse IT seemeth by some writers that the wombe of a Mare is subiect to certaine diseases though not so many as the wombe of a Woman as to ascent descent falling out convulsion barrennesse aborsment yea Aristotle and others do not let to write that menstrual blood doth naturally void from the Mare as from the Woman though it bee so little in quantity as it cannot be well perceiued But sith none of mine Authors haue written thereof to any purpose nor any Ferrer of this time that I knowe haue had any experience in such matters I wil passe them all ouer with silence sauing barrennes whereof I promised before in his due place to declare vnto you the causes and such kind of cure for the same as the old writers haue taught A Mare then may be barren through the vntemperatenesse of the wombe or matrix aswell for that it is too hot and fiery or else to cold and moist or too dry or else too short or too narrow or hauing the necke thereof turned awry or by meanes of some obstruction or stopping in the matrix or for that the mare is too fat or too leane and many times mares goe barren for that they be not well horsed Wel the cure of barrennesse that commeth through the fault of the matrixe or wombe according to the old writers is thus Take a good handful of Leekes stamp them in a morter with halfe a glasseful of wine then put thereunto twelue Flies called of the Apothecaries Cantharides of diuers colours if they may be gotten then straine altogether with a sufficient quantity of water to serue the mare therewith two daies together by powring the same into her nature with a horn or glister-pipe made of purpose and at the end of three daies next following offer the horse vnto her that should couer her and immediately after that she is couered wash her nature twice together with cold water Another receipt for the same purpose TAke of Nitrum of sparrowes dung and Turpentine of each a like quantitye well wrought together and made like a suppository and put that into her nature and it wil cause her to desire the horse and also to conceiue Hippocrates saith that it is good also to put a nettle into the horses mouth that should couer her Of the Itch Scabbe and manginesse in the taile and falling
which drinke the blood of this goat comming hot out of his body immediately after the wound giuen against that sicknes The fat milke of a wilde goat mingled together haue cured one long sick of the Ptisick The wilde goats of Creet being wounded with poysoned Dartes runne presently and eate of the hearbe Dittani by the vertue and iuice whereof they not onely auoid the arrow which sticketh in their skin but also death and cure the poyson OF THE KYD. HAuing formerly discoursed of seuerall kindes of Goates Of the name now it followeth that we should also intreat of the Kid which is the yssue of a Goat and first of the seuerall names therof It is called in Haebrew Egedi which because it signifieth also a Lambe they put vnto it Haissim and the plurall masculine is Gedaijm and the feminine Gedioth Gen. 35. where the Caldean translation hath Gadeia the Persian Bus-kahale or else Cahali busan for the Persians render Cahale for Sheter in Haebrew Busan for Issim The Septuagints render Erifon and vulgarly at this day the Grecians cal him Eriphoi but the truth is that Eriphoi are kids of three or foure months old and after that time vntill their procreation Varinus they are called Chimaroi the Latines cal him Hoedi ab edendo from eating as Isidorus saith for then their flesh is tender and fat and the tast therof pleasant The Italians call it Cauretto or Capretto and Ciauerello the Rhetians which speak Italian Vlzol the Spaniardes Cabrito the French Chereru the Germans Gitse or Kitslain the Polonians Koziel It was a question whether nature would finish her parts vpon a young one out of the dams belly wherefore a triall was made vpon a kid which neuer saw his dam for vpon a season a dissexion was made vpon a Female-goate great with young and out of her belly was her young one taken aliue so as it could neuer see the mother the same kid was put into a house where were many boales full of wine oyle milke and Hony and other lyquid thinges there also lay beside him diuers kindes of fruits both of the vine of corne and of plants at last this kid was seene to arise and stand vpon his feete and as if somebody had told him that his Legges were made to walke vpon he shooke off all that moistnesse which he brought with him out of his mothers belly afterwardes he scratched his side with his foote and then went and smelled at all the former vessels and at last comming to the milke-boule he supped and licked thereof which when the behoulders saw they all cryed out that Hipocrates rule was most true Animalium naturas esse indoctas that is to say the natures of creatures are not formed by Art but of their owne inclination There is nothing more wanton then a Kid whereupon Ouid made this verse Splendidior vitro tenero lasciuior hoedo They often iumpe and leape among themselues and then they promise faire weather Aelianuâ— but if they keep continually with the flocks and depart not from their mothers or continually sucke and licke vp their meat also they for-shew a storm and therfore they must be gathered to their folds according to the Poets saying si sine fine modoque Pabula delbent cum tutas vesper adire Compellat caulas monstrabunt ad fore nimbos If Geese swallow the haires of Kids or Goats they die thereof Kids are not to be separated from their Dammes Aâ—atolius Varro or weaned till they be three months old at which time they may be ioyned to the flockes they are nourished when they are young after the same manner as they be at a year old except that they must be more narrowly looked vnto least their lasciuiousnesse ouerthrow their age and besides their Milk you must giue vnto them three leaued-grasse Palladius Iuy and the toppes of lentiles tender leaues or small twigges of trees and whereas commonly they are brought forth in twinnes it is best to choose out the strongest headed kid for the flock and to sel the other away to the Butchers Out of the rennet of the Calues or Kids is the Coagulation There was a certaine law as appeareth by Baifyus in the bookes of the ciuill Lawyers that shooes should be made of the skinnes of Kids as appeared by auncient Marble monuments at Rome which thing Martiall approueth in his verses to Phebus shewing how time altereth al things and that the skins of kids which were wont to couer bald heads are not put vpon bare legs the verses are these that follow Oedina tibi pelle Contegenti Nudae tempore verticemque caluae Fefliue tibi phebe dixit ille Qui dixit câ—put esse calciatum Albertus Out of the hide of a Kid is made good glue and in the time of Cicero they stuffed beddes with Kids haire their flesh hath been much esteemed for delicate meat for that cause dressed and trimmed sundry waies the best Kids for meate haue been said to come from Melos or Vmbratia or Viburtinum which neuer tasted grasse but haue more milke in them then blood according to the saying of Iuuenall De viburtino veniet pinguissimus agro Hoedulus toto grege mollior nescius herbae Hâ—c dum ausus virgas humilis mordere falicti For this cause they may safely be eaten all the yeare long while they sucke both of men of temperate and whot constitution Arnoldus for they are lesse hurtfull then the Rammes and doe easily disgest and nourish temperately for they engender thinne and moyst blood and also helpe all whot and temperate bodies and they are at the best when as they are neither too olde that is aboue sixe monthes nor two younge that is vnder two monethes The red or sandy coloured are the best yet is their flesh hurtfull to the Collicke Simeon Sethi affirmeth that if a man eate a kids liuer before he drinke in the morning he shal not be ouer drunke that day Celtus also prescribeth it in the sickenesse of the Holy-fire They are wholesome sod roasted or baked but the ribs are best sodde Platina teacheth one way whereby it was dressed in his time for a delicate dishe they tooke some fielde Herbes and fat broath twoe Whites of an Egge well beaten together with twoo heades of Garlike a little Saffron and a little Pepper with the Kiddes flesh put all together into a dish rosted before at the fire vpon a spitte with Parsely Rosemary and Lawrel leaues and so serud out with that sauce and set it on the table but if they did not eate it before it was colde it weakened the eyeâ—sight and raised vp venerial lust The bloode also of a Kid was made into a bludding and giuen to be eaten of them which haue the bloody-flixe They haue also deuised to dresse a Kidde whot and to fill his belly with Spices and other good things likewise it is sod in Milke with Lawrell with diuers other
foreheade and of his temples and also of his taile with a sharpe hot yron that the corrupt humours may yssue outward That done take hot brickes or else a pan of fresh burning coales and hold it nigh vnto his belly and flankes to the entent that they may bee thoroughly warmed and being so warmed annoint them al ouer with oyle de Bav or Dialthea to defend his body from the cold and let his head be well couered and al his bely kept warme Yea and it were good to bath his head sometime as Russius saith with a bath made of Rew Wormewoode Sage Iuneper Bay leaues and Hysop And let his drinke be warme water mingled with Wheat meale yea and to make it the more comfortable it were good as Russius saith to put thereunto some Cinamon Ginger Galingale such hot pieces And his meat in Winter season would bee no other but sodden corne or warme mashes made of ground Malt and wheat bran in summer season if he went to grasse I think it would do him most good so that he go in a dry warm ground for by feeding alwaies downeward he shall purge his head the better as Russius saith Thus much of the Glanders and mourning of the Chine Now we wil speake somwhat of the strangullion according to the opinion of the Authors though not to the satisfaction perhaps of our English Ferrers Of the strangullion or Squinancy THe Strangullion called of the Latines Angina according to the Physitians is an inflamation of the inward partes of the throate and as I saide before is called of the Greeks Synanchi which is as much to say in English as strangling wherof this name strangullion as I thinke is deriued for this disease doth strangle euery man or beast and therefore is numbred amongst the perilous and sharp diseases called of the Latines Morbi accuti of which strangilng the physitians in mans body make foure differences The first and worst is when no part within the mouth nor without appereth manifestly to be inflamed and yet the patient is in great perill of strangling The second is when the inwarde parts of the throat onely be inflamed The third is when the inward and outward partes of the throat be both inflamed The fourth is when the muscles of the necke are inflamed or the inward ioynts thereof so loosened as they straiten thereby both the throat or wesand or wind-pipe for short breath is incident to all the foure kinds before recited and they proceede all of one cause that is to say of some collerick or bloody-fluxion which comes out of the branches of the throat-vaines into those parts and there breedeth some hot inflamation But now to proue that a horse is subiect to this disease you shall hear what Absirtus Hierocles Vegetius and others doe say Absirtus writing to his friend a certaine Ferrer or horse-leach called Aistoricus speaketh in this manner When a Horse hath the strangvllion it quickly killeth him the signes whereof be these His temples will be hollow his tong will swell and hang out of his mouth his eies also will be swollen and the passage of his throat stopt so as he can neither eat nor drinke All these signes be also confirmed by Hierocles Moreouer Vegetius rendereth the cause of this disease affirming that it proceedeth of aboundance of subtile blood which after long trauell will inflame the inward or outward muscles of the throat or wisand or such affluence of blood may come by vse of hot meats after great trauell being so alteratiue as they cause those parts to swell in such sort as the Horse can neither eat nor drinke nor draw his breath The cure according to vegetius is in this sort First bath his mouth and tongue well with hot water and then annoint it with the gal of a Bull that done giue him this drinke Take of old oyle two pound of olde wine a quart nine figs and nine Leekes heads well stamped and braied together And after you haue boiled these a while before you straine them put therunto a little Nitrum Alexandrinum and giue him a quarte of this euery morning and euening Absirtus and Hierocles would haue you to let him blood in the palate of his mouth and also to poure wine and oile into his nostrils and also giue him to drinke this decoction of Figs and Nitrum sodden together or else to anoint his throat within with nitre oyle and hony or else with hony hogs dung mingled together which differeth not much from Galen his medicine to be giuen vnto man For he saith that hony mingled with the powder of hogs dung that is white and swallowed downe doth remedy the squanancy presently Absirtus also praiseth the oyntment made of Bdellium and when the inflamation beginneth somwhat to decrease he saieth it is good to purge the horse by giuing him wild Cocumber and Nitre to drink Let his meat be grasse if it may be gotten or else wet hay and sprinkled with Nitre Let his drinke also be lukewarme water with some barly meale in it Of the Cough OF Coughes some be outward and some be inwarde Those bee outward which doe come of outward causes as by eating a feather or by eating dusty or sharpe straw and such like things which tickling his throate causeth him to cough you shal perceiue it by wagging and wrying his head in his coughing and by stamping somtime with his foote laboring to get out the thing that grieueth him and cannot The cure according to Martin is thus Take a Willow wand rowled throughout with a fine linnen clout and then annoint it all ouer with hony and thrust it downe his throat drawing your hand to and fro to the intent it may either driue down the thing that grieueth him or else bring it vp and do this twice or thrice annointing euery time the sticke with fresh hony Of the inward and wet cough OF inward Coughs some be wet and some be dry The wet cough is that commeth of cold taken after some great heat giuen to the Horsse dissoluing humors which being afterward congealed do cause obstruction and stopping in the lungs And I call it the wet cough because the Horse in his coughing will voide moist matter at his mouth after that it is once broken The signes be these The Horsse will be heauy and his eies wil run a water and he wil forsake his meate and when he cougheth he thrusteth out his head and reacheth with great paine at the first as though hee had a dry cough vntill the fleame be broken and then hee will cough more hollow which is a signe of amendment And therfore according to Martins experience to the intent the fleam may breake the sooner it shal be necessary to keepe him warme by clothing him with a double cloth and by littering him vp to the belly with fresh straw and then to giue him this drinke take of barly one peck and boile it in 2. or 3. gallons of
but naturally through their food or their drinke or the operation of the aire The Lauoditian wooll is also celebrated not onely for the softnesse of it but for the colour for that it is as blacke as any Rauen and yet there are some there of other colours and for this cause the Spanish wooll is commended especially Turditania and Coraxi as Strabo writeth for hee saith the glasse of the wooll was not onely beautifull for the purity of the blacke but also it will spin out into so thin a thread as was admirable and therefore in his time they sold a ram of that countrey for a tallent I may speake also of the wooll of Parma and Altinum whereof Martiall made this disticon Velleribus primis apulia Parma secundis Nobilis altinum tertia laudat ouis We may also read how for the ornament of wooll there haue bin diuers colours inuented by art and the colours haue giuen names to the wool as Simatulis lana wooll of Sea-water-colour some colour taken from an Amethist stone some from brightnesse or clearnesse some from Saffron some from Roses from Mirtles from Nuts from Almonds from Waxe from the Crow as Colorcoraxicus and from the purple fish as from the Colassiue or the Tyrean whereof Virgill writeth thus Hae quoque non cura nobis leuiore tuendae Nec minor vsus erit quamuis Milesia magno Vellera mutentur tyries in cocta rubores From hence commeth the chalke colour the Lettice colour the Loote-tree-root the red colour the Azure colour and the star-colour There is an Hearb called Fullers-herb which doth soften wooll and make it apt to take colour and whereas generally there are but two colours black and white that are simple the ancients not knoing how to die wool did paint it on the outside for the triumphing garments in Homer wore painted garments The Phrigian garments were colours wrought with needle-worke and there was one Attalus a King in Asia which did first of all inuent the weauing of wooll and gold together whereupon came the name of Vestis Attalica for a garment of cloath of gold The Babilonians and the Alexandrians loued diuersity of colours in their garments also and therefore Mettellus Scipto made a law of death against all such as should buy a Babilonish garment that was carpets or beddes to eate vpon for eight hundered Cesterses The shearing of cloth or garments made of shorne cloth did first of all begin in the daies of S. Augustine as Fenistella writeth The garments like poppies had the original before the time of Lucilius the Poet as he maketh mention in Tarquatus There was a fashion in ancient time among the Romans that adistaffe with wooll vpon it The lasting of wooll was carried after virgins when they were going to be married the reason therof was this as Varro writeth for that there was one Tanaquilis or Cayea cecilia whose distaffe and wooll had endured in the Temple of Sangi many hundered yeares and that Seruius Tullus made him a cloke of that wooll which he neuer vsed but in the temple of Fortune and that that garment afterwards continued fiue 500 60. years being neither consumed by moaths nor yet growing thread-bare to the great admiration of all which either saw it or heard of it And thus much I thought good to adde in this place concerning the diuersity of wooll distinguished naturally according to seuerall regions or else artificially after sundry tinctures Likewise of the mixing and mingling of Wooll one with another and diuersities of garmentes and lastly of the lasting and enduring of wooll and garments for it ought to be no wonder vnto a reasonable man that a wollen garment not eaten by mothes nor worne out by vse should last many hundered yeares for seeing it is not of any cold or earthly nature but hot and dry there is good cause why it should remaine long without putrification and thus much instead of many things for the wooll of sheepe As we haue heard of the manifold vse of the Wooll of Sheepe so may we say very much of the skins of Sheep for garments and other vses and therefore when the wool is detracted and pulled off from them The vsâ— of â—â—â—ep-skins they are applyed to Buskins Brest-plates Shooes Gloues Stomachers and other vses for they are also dyed and changed by tincture into other colours also when the wool is taken off from them they dresse them very smooth and stretch them verye thin whereof is made writing parchment such as is commonly vsed at this day in England and I haue knowne it practised at Tocetour called once Tripontium in the county of Northampton and if any part of it will not stretch but remaine stiffe and thicke thereof they make writing tables whereon they write with a pensil of iron or Brasse and afterward deface and race it out againe with a spunge or linnen cloath Here of also I mean the skins of sheep commeth the coueringes of bookes and if at any time they be hard stubborne and stiffe then they soften it with the sheepes-sewet or tallow The bones of Sheep haue also their vse and employment for the hafting of knifes The Rhaetians of the vrine of sheep do make a kind of counterfeit of Nitre And Russius saith that if a man would change any part of his Horses haire as on the forehead take away the black haires and put them into white let him take a linnen cloth and wet it in boyling milk of sheep and put it so whot vpon the place that he would haue changed so oftentimes together til the haire come off with a little rubbing afterward let him wet the same cloth in cold sheeps milke and lay it to the place two or three daies together and the haire will arise very white thus saith he and there are certain flyes or mothes which are very hurtfull to gardens if a man hang vp the panch of a sheepe and leaue for them a passage or hole into it they will all forsake the flowers and hearbs and gather into that ventrickle which being done two or three times together make a quit riddance of all their hurts if you please to make an end of them Ruellius The Swallowes take off from the backes of Sheepe flockes of Wooll wherewithal the prouident Birds do make their nestes to lodge their young ones after they bee hatched With the dung of Sheepe they compasse and fat the earth Of the dung of sheepe it beeing excellent and aboue all other dung necessary for the benifit and encrease of Corne except Pigeons and Hens dung which is whotter and the sandy land is fittest be amended with Sheeps dung also piants and trees if you mingle therewith ashes Now we are to proceed to the gentle disposition of Sheep and to expresse their inward quallities and morall vses The inward qualities of sheepe and their moral vses Hermolaus and first of all considering the innocency of this beast I maruaile
Bohemians Nedwed the Polontans Vuluuer and the attributes of this beast are many among authors both Greeke and Latine Epithites of the beare as Aemonian beares armed filthy deformed cruell dreadfull fierce greedy Callidonian Erymanthean bloody heauy night-ranging lybican menacing Numidian Ossaean headlong rauening rigide and terrible beare all which serue to set forth the nature heereof as shall be afterward in particular discoursed First Of the kind of Beares Agricola Albertus therefore concerning seuerall kinds of beares it is obserued that there is in generall two a greater and a lesser and these lesser are more apt to clime trees then the other neither do they euer grow to so great a stature as the other Besides there are Beares which are called Amphibia because they liue both on the land and in the sea hunting and catching fish like an Otter or Beauer and these are white coloured In the Ocean Islands toward the North there are bears of a great stature fierce and cruell who with their forefeet do breake vp the hardest congealed yse on the sea or other great Waters and draw out of those holes great aboundance of fishes Olâ—uis and so in other frozen seas are many such like hauing blacke clawes liuing for the most part vpon the seas except tempestuous weather driue them to the land In the Easterne parts of India there is a beast in proportion of body verie like a Beare yet indued with no other quality of that kind being neither so wild nor rauenous nor strong and it is called a Formicarian Beare A Formicarian Beare Cardanus for God hath so prouided that whereas that countrey is aboundantly annoyed with the Emmets or Ants that beast doth so prey and feede vpon them that by the strength and vertuous humour of his tongue the sillie poore inhabitants are exceedingly relieued from their greeuious and daungerous numbers Beares are bred in many countries as in the Heluetian alpine region where they are so strong and full of courage Countrey of breed that they can teare in pieces both Oxen and Horsses for which cause the inhabitants study by all means to take them Likewise there are Beares in Persia which doe rauen beyond all measure and all other so also the beares of Nâ—midia Marcellinus which are of a more elegant forme and composition then the residue Profuit ergo nihil misero quod communius vrsos Figebat Numidas Albena nudus arena And wheras Pliny affirmeth that there are no beares in Affrick he mistook that country for Creet and so some say that in that Island be no Wolues vipers or other such venemous creatures whereof the Poets giue a vaine reason because Iupiter was borne there but we know also that there be no beares bred in England In the countrey of Arabia from the promontory Dira to the South are beares which liue vpon eating of flesh Volaterranâ— being of a yellowish colour which do farre excel all other bears both in actiuity or swiftnes and in quantity of body Among the Roxolani and Lituanians are beares which being tamed are presents for princes Aristotle in his wonders reporteth a secret in the natures of Beares that there are white beares in Misia which being eagerly hunted do send forth such a breath that putrifieth immediately the flesh of the Dogges and whatsoeuer other beast commeth within the sauour thereof it maketh the flesh of them not fit to be eaten but if either men or dogs approach or come nigh them they vomit forth such aboundance of Plegme that either the hunters are thereby choaked or blinded Thracia also breedeth white Beares and the King of Aethiopia in his Haebrew Epistle which he wrote to the Bishop of Rome affirmeth that there are Beares in his countrey In Musconia are Beares both of a snow white yellow and dusky colour and it hath bene seene that the Noble womens chariots drawne by six horsses haue beene couered with the skinnes of white beares from the pasterne to the head and as all other creatures doe bring forth some white and some blacke so also do Beares who in generall doe breede and bring forth their young in all cold countries some of a dusky and some of a browne blacke colour A Beare is of a most venereous and lustfull disposition Lust of beare for night and day the females with most ardent inflamed desires doe prouoke the males to copulation and for this cause at that time they are most-fierce and angry Phillippus Cosseus of Constance did most confidently tell mee that in the Mountaines of Sauoy a Beare carried a young maide into his denne by violence Gillius A History where in venereous manner he had the carnall vse of her body and while he kept her in his denne he dailye went foorth and brought her home the best Apples and other fruites he coulde get presenting them vnto her for her meat in very amorous sort but alwaies when hee went to forrage hee rouled a huge great stone vppon the mouth of his denne that the Virgin shoulde not escape away at length her parentes with long search founde their little Daughter in the Beares den who deliuered her from that sauage and beastuall captiuity Time of their copulation The time of their copulation is in the beginning of winter althogh sometime in Summer but such young ones seldome liue yet most commonly in February or Ianuary The manner of their copulation is like to a mans the male mouing himselfe vpon the belly of the female which lyeth on the earth flat vpon the backe and either embraceth other with their forefeet they remaine verie long time in that act inasmuch as if they were verie fat at their first entrance they disioine not themselues againe till they he made leane Immediately after they haue conceiued they betake themselues to their dennes Pliny where they without meate grow very fat especially the males onely by sucking their fore-feet When they enter into their denne they conuey themselues in backward a secret that so they may put out their footsteps from the sight of the hunters The males giue great honor to the females great with young during the time of their secrecie so that Honor to the female although they lie togither in one caue yet doe they part it by a diuision or small ditch in the midst neither of them touching the other The nature of all of them is to auoid cold and therfore in the winter time do they hide themselues chusing rather to suffer famine then cold auoiding of cold lying for the most part three or foure moneths togither and neuer see the light whereby their guts grow so empty that they are almost closed vp and sticke togither When they first enter into their denne they betake themselues to quiet and rest sleeping without any awaking for the first fourteene daies so that it is thought an easie stroke cannot awake them But how long the females go
he will dig the earth and with the hindmost fight like a horse setting on his blowes with great force and redoubling them againe if his obiect remoue not His voice is like the voice of an oxe when he is chased he runneth forth right Albertus The manner of his sight sildome winding or turning and when he is angred he runneth into the Water wherein he couereth himselfe all ouer except his mouth to coole the heate of his blood Nature of their breeding places Pet. crscent for this beast can neither endure outward cold nor inward heate for which cause they breede not but in hot countries and being at liberty are sildome from the waters They are very tame so that children may ride on their backes but on a suddaine they will runne into the Waters and so many times indaunger the childrens liues Of their yōg ones milk Their loue to their young ones is very great they alway giue milke from their copulation to their caluing neither will they suffer a calfe of another kinde whom they discerne by their smell to sucke their milke but beate it away if it be put vnto them wherefore their keepers do in such case annoynt the calfe with Bugils excrement and then she will admit her suckling Albertus Their strength in labor They are very strong and will draw more at once then two horsses wherefore they are tamed for seruice and will draw Waggons and plowes and carry burdens also but they are not very fit for carts yet when they doe draw they carry also great burthens or loads tyed to their backs with ropes and wantyghtes Pet. crescent At the first setting forward they bend their Legges very much but afterward they goe vpright and being ouerloden they will fall to the earth from which they cannot be raised by any stripes vntill their load or carriage be lessened There is no great account made of their hides although they bee very thicke Vse of theyr hydes Bellonius Solinus reporteth that the old Britons made boates of osier twigs or reedes couering them round with Bugils skinnes and sayled in them and the inhabitants of the kingdome of a Caraiani make them bucklers and shields of Bugils skinnes which they vse in Warres the flesh is not good for meate which caused baptista Fiera to make this poem Bubalus hinc abeat neue intret prandia nostra Non edat hunc quisquam sub iugo semper eat For they ingender melancholy and haue no good tast being raw they are not vnpleasant to behold but sod or rosted they shew a deformed substance The milke of this beast maketh very hard cheese which tasteth like earth The medicines made of this beast are not many with the hornes or hoofes they make rings to weare against the cramp The physick made out of Bugils and it hath been beleeued but without reason that if a man or a woman weare rings made of the hornes and hoofes of a bugill in the time of carnall copulation that they will naturally fly off from their fingers whereas this secret was wont to be attributed to rings of Chrisolyts or Smaragde stones To conclude some teach husbandmen to burne the hornes or dung of their bugils on the windye side of their corne and plants to keepe them from cankers and blasting and thus much of the vulgar bugill called bubalus recentiorum whose beginning in this part of the world is vnknowne although in Italy and other parts of Europe they are now bred and fostered OF THE AFFRICAN BVGILL BEllonius reporteth that he saw in Cair a small beast which was in all things like a little Oxe of a beautifull body full of flesh well and neately limmed which he could take for no other then the Affrican Oxe or Bugill of the old Graecians which was brought out of the kingdome of Asamia vnto the citty Cair It was old and not so big as a Hart but greater then a Roe The country of this beast he neuer in all his life tooke more pleasure to behold a beast then in viewing the excellent beauty of euery part in this creature His haire was yellowish glistering as if it had beene combed and trimmed by the art of a Barber vnder his belly it was somewhat more red and taunty then vpon his backe His feete in all thinges like a vulgar Bugils his Legges short and strong the necke short and thicke whereon the dewe-laps of his crest did scarce appeare His head like an Oxes and his hornes growing out of the crowne of his head blacke long and bending like a halfe Moone whereof he hath no vse to defend himselfe or annoy another by reason their points turne inward His eares like a cowes and shoulder blades standing vp a little aboue the ridge very strongly His taile to the knees like a camelopardals from whence hangeth some few blacke haires twice so great as the haires in a horsses tayle His voice was like an Oxes but not so strong and loude to conclude therefore for his discription if a man conceiue in his mind a little yellovv neate Oxe with smooth haire strong members and high hornes aboue his head like a halfe Moone his minde cannot erre from the true and perfect shape of this beast There was such a one to be seene of late at Florence vnder the name of an Indian Oxe sauing his head was greater and longer his hornes not high nor bending together but standing vpright and a little wreathing into spires aboue their roote and the hinder part of the back much lower then the shoulders but it may be the obseruer of this beast fayled and tooke not the true discription of it This creature or Affrican Bugill must be vnderstood to be a Wilde beast The nature of this beast and not of a tame kind although Bellonius expresseth not so much Leo in his discription of Affrique relateth a discourse of a certaine beast called Laut or Daut who is lesse then an Oxe but of more elegant feature in his Legs white hornes blacke nailes which is so swift that no beast can outrunne it except a Barbary horse it is taken most easily in the Summer time with the skinne thereof they make targets and shieldes which cannot be pierced by any Weapon except Gunshot for which cause they fell them very deare which is coniectured to be the Bugill that Bellonius describeth although it bee not iust of the same colour which may vary in this beast as well as in any other and I haue a certaine Manuscript without the authors name that affirmeth there be bugils in Lybia in likenes resembling a Hart and an Oxe but much lesser and that these beasts are neuer taken asleepe which causeth an opinion that they neuer sleepe and that there is another Bugill beyond the Alpes neere the Ryuer Rhene which is very fierce and of a white Colour There is a horne in the towne-house of Argentine foure Romane cubits long Of a
young and in sending of the lesser foremost not onely for the reason aforesaid but also because they being hunted and prosecuted it is requisite that the greatest and strongest come in the reare and hindmost part for the safeguarde of the weaker against the fury of their persecutors being better able to fight then the formost whom in natural loue and pollicy they set farthest from the danger Mutius which had beene thrice Consull affirmeth that he saw Elephants brought on shore at Puteoli in Italy they were caused to goe out of the ship backeward all along the bridge that was made for them Tha bringing of Elephants out of ships A secret if true that so the sight of the Sea might terrifie them and cause them more willingly to come on land and that they might not be terrified with the length of the bridge from the continent Pliny and Solinus affirme that they will not goe on shipboord vntill their keeper by some intelligible signe of oath make promise vnto them of their returne backe againe They sometime as hath beene said fight one against another and when the weaker is ouercome Aristotle Of their fighting he is so much abased and cast downe in minde that euer after he feareth the voyce of the conqueror They are neuer so fierce violent or wilde but the sight of a Ramme tameth and dismayeth them for they feare his hornes for which cause the Egiptians picture an Elephant and a Ramme to signifie a foolish king that runneth away for a fearefull sight in the field Gillius Aelianus Coelius Zoroastres Their fear of Rams swine and other beasts Volateranus And not onely a Ramme but also the gruntling clamour or cry of Hogs by which meanes the Romanes ouerthrew the Carthaginians and Pirrhus which trusted ouermuch to their Elephants When Antipater besieged the Megarians very straitly with many Elephants the Citizens tooke certaine Swine and anointed them with pitch then set them on fire and turned them out among the Elephants who crying horribly by reason of the fire on their bodies so distemperd the Elephants that all the wit of the Macedonians could not restraine them from madnesse fury and flying vpon their owne company onely because of the cry of the Swine And to take away that feare from Elephants they bring vp with them when they are tamed young Pigges and Swine euer since that time When Elephants are chased in hunting if the Lions see them they runne from them like Hindecalfes from the Dogges of Hunters and yet Iphicrates sayeth that among the Hesperian or westerne Aethiopians Lions set vpon the young Calues of Elephants and wound them but at the sight of the mothers which come with speede to them when they heare them cry the Lions runne away and when the mothers finde their young ones imbrued in their owne bloud they themselues are so inraged that they kill them and so retire from them The cruelty of the female to their wouÌ„ded Calues Solinâ—s Stat. Sebâ—si after which time the Lions returne and eate their flesh They will not indure the sauour of a Mouse but refuse the meat which they haue run ouer in the riuer Ganges of India there are blew Wormes of sixty cubits long hauing two armes these when the Elephants come to drinke in that riuer take their trunks in their handes and pull them off There are Dragons among the Aethiopians which are thirty yards or paces long these haue no name among the inhabitants but Elephant-killers And among the Indians also there is an inbred and natiue hatefull hostility betwixte Dragons and Elephants Aelianus for which cause the Dragons being not ignorant that the Elephants feed vpon the fruites and leaues of green trees doe secretly conuay them selues into them or to the toppes of rockes couering their hinder part with leaues and letting his head and fore part hang downe like a rope on a suddaine when the Elephant commeth to crop the top of the tree she leapeth into his face and diggeth out his eies and because that reuenge of malice is to little to satisfie a Serpent she twineth her gable-like-body about the throat of the amazed Elephant and so strangleth him to death Againe they marke the footsteps of the Elephant when he goeth to feed and so with their tailes net in and intangle his legs and feet when the Elephant perceiueth and feeleth them he putteth downe his trunke to remoue and vnty their knots and ginnes then one of them thrusteth his poisoned stinging-head into his Nostrils and so stop vp his breath the other prick and gore his tender-belly-parts Some againe meet him and flye vpon his eies and pull them foorth so that at the last he must yeeld to their rage and fall downe vpon them killing them in his death by his fall whom he could not resist or ouercome being aliue and this must be vnderstood that forsomuch as Elephants go togither by flockes and heards the subtill Dragons let the foremost passe and set vpon the hindmost that so they may not be oppressed with multitude Also it is reported that the blood of an Elephant is the coldest blood in the world and that Dragons in the scorching heate of Summer cannot get any thing to coole them except this blood for which cause they hide themselus in riuers and brooks whether the Elephants come to drinke and when he putteth downe his trunke they take hold thereof and instantly in great numbers leape vp vnto his eare which is naked bare and without defence where out they sucke the blood of the Elephant vntill he fall downe dead and so they perish both together Of this blood commeth that ancient Cinnabaris Of Cinnabaris or the best red colour made by commixture of the blood of Elephants and Draggons both together which alone is able and nothing but it to make the best representation of blood in painting Some haue corrupted it with Goats-blood and call it Milton and Mimum and Monochroma it hath a most rare and singuler vertue against all poysons beside the vnmatcheable property aforesaid These Serpents or Dragons are bred in Taprobona in whose heads are many pretious stones with such naturall seales or figuratiue impressions as if they were framed by the hande of man for Podisippus and Tzetzes affirme that they haue seen one of them taken out of a Dragons head hauing vpon it the liuely and artificial stampe of a Chariot The fight of Elephants Pliny Elephants are enimies to wilde Bulles and the Rhinocerots for in the games of Pompey when an Elephant and a Rhinoceros were brought together the Rhinoceros ranne instantly and whet his horne vppon a stone and so prepared himselfe to fight striking most of all at the belly of the Elephant because he knewe that it was the tenderest and most penetrable part of the body The Rhinoceros was as long as the Elephant but the legges thereof were much shorter and as the Rhinocerotes sharpen their hornes vppon the stones
Eumenes beyond the citty Saba where there is a place called the hunting of Elephants The Troglodytae liue also heereupon the people of Affricke cald Asachae Pliny Solmus which liue in Mountains do likwise eat the flesh of Elephants and the Adiabarae or Megabari The Nomades haue Citties running vpon Charriots and the people next vnto their Territory cut Elephantes in peeces and both sell and eat them Some vse the hard flesh of the backe and other commend aboue all the delicates of the world the reines of the Elephants vaâ—tomanus so that it is a wonder that Aelianus would write that there was nothing in an Elephant good for meat except the trunke the lips and the marrow of his hornes or teeth The skin of this Beast is exceeding hard not to be pierced by any dart whereupon came the prouerbe Culicem haud curat Elephas Indicus the Indian Elephant careth not for the biting of a Gnat to signifie a sufficient ability to resist all euill and that Noble minds must not reuenge small iniuries The diseases 〈◊〉 elephants 〈…〉 It cannot be but in such huge and vast bodies there should also be nourished some diseases and that many as Strabo saith wherefore first of all ther is no creatur in the world lesse able to endure cold or winter for their impatiency of cold bringeth inflamation Also in Summer when the same is hotest they coole one another by casting durty and filthy water vpon each other or else run into the roughest woods of greatest shadow It hath bin shewed already that they deuour Chamaeleons and thereof perish except they eat a wild Oliue When they suffer inflamation and are bound in the bellie either black wine or nothing will cure them When they drinke a Leach they are greeuously pained for their wounds by darts or otherwise they are cured by swines flesh or Dittanie or by Oile or by the flower of the Oliue They fall mad sometime for which I knowe no other cure but to tye them vppe fast in yron chaines When they are tired for want of sleepe they are recouered by rubbing their shoulders with salt Oile and water Cowes milke warmed and infused into their eies cureth all euils in them and they presently like reasonable men acknowledge the benefit of the medicine The medicinall vertues in this beast are by Authours obserued to be these The medicines in Elephants Marcellus The blood of an Elephant and the ashes of a Weasill cure the great Leprosie and the same blood is profitable against all Rhewmaticke fluxes and the Sciatica The flesh dryed and cold or heauy fat and cold is abhominable for if it be sod and stâ—eped in vineger with fennel-seede Isidorvs Rasis and giuen to a Woman with child it maketh her presently suffer abortement But if a man tast thereof salted and steeped with the seede aforesaide it cureth an old cough The fatte is a good Antidote either by oyntment or perfume Albertus it cureth also the payne in the head The Iuory or tooth is cold and dry in the first degree and the whole substance thereof Corroborateth the hart and helpeth conception it is often adulterated by fishes and Dogges bones burnt and by White marble There is a Spodium made of Iuory in this manner Take a pound of Iuory cut into pieces and put into a raw new earthen pot couering glewing the couer with lome round about and so let it burne til the pot be thrughly hardened afterward take off the pot and beate your Iuory into small powder and being so beaten sift it then put it into a glasse and poure vpon it two pound of distilled rose Water and let it dry Thirdly beate it vnto powder againe and sift it the second time and put into it againe so much rose water as at the first then let it dry and put thereunto as much Camphire as will lye vpon three or foure single Groats and worke it altogether vpon a marble stone into little Cakes and so lay them vp where the ayre may not corrupt and alter them The vertue heereof is very pretious against spittyng of bloode and the bloody-flixe and also it is giuen for refrigeration without daunger of byndinge or astriction After a man is deliuered from the lethargye pestilence or sudden forgetfulnesse let him be purged and take the powder of Iuory and Hiera Ruffi drunke out of sweete water This powder with Hony atticke taketh away the spottes in the face the same with wilde mints drunk with water resisteth and auoydeth the Leprosie at the beginning The powder of Iuory burnt and drunke with Goates blood doeth wonderfully cure all the paynes and expell the little stones in the raynes and bladder Combes made of Iuory are most wholsome the touching of the trunke cureth the headache The liuer is profitable against the falling euil the same vertue hath the gall if he haue any against the falling euill The fime by annointing cureth a lowsie skin and taketh away that power which breedeth these vermine the same perfumed easeth Agues helpeth a woman in trauaile and driueth gnats or marsh-flyes out of a house OF THE ELKE AS the Elephant last handled could not liue in any countrey of the world but in the whot Esterne and Sowtherne Regions The place of their abode Bonarus barâ— Balizce so the Elke on the contrary is most impatient of all heate and keepeth not but in the Northerne and cold contries for Polonia and the countries vnder that clymate will not preserue an Elke aliue as it hath byn often tryed by experience Countries breeding Elkes for which cause they are not found but in the colder Northerne regions as Russia Prussia Hungaria and Illiria in the wood Hercynia and among the Borussian-Scythians but most plentifully in Scandinauia which Pausanias calleth the Celtes for all the auncients called the Kingdomes of Germany and the North Celtarum Regiones Countryes inhabited by the Celts The figure of the Elke with hornes The Elke without hornes I find not any vnreconcileable difference among authours concerning this beast Caesars description of an Elke except in Caesar lib. 6. of his Commentaries who by the relation of other not by his owne fight writeth that there are Elkes in the Hercynian wood like vnto Goats in their spotted skins who haue no hornes nor ioynts in their legs to bend withall but sleepe by leaning vnto trees like Elephants because when they are downe on the ground they can neuer rise againe But the truth is that they are like to Roes or Hartes because Goates haue no spotted skins but Deere haue and there may easily be a slip from Caprea a Roe to Capra a Goat and Caesar himselfe confesseth that the similitude is in their spotted skins which are not competible in Goats but in Roes And whereas he writeth that they haue no Horns the error of this relator may be this that eyther he had onely seene a young one before the hornes came forth
former a breast not narrowe but fitted to take breath in course a nimble backe and fleshy belly tender loines hollow sides fat buttockes filled vp comely strong and neruy loines the forefeet very flexible onely it wanteth a commodious taile for course The eies are browne it is a subtil beast but not bold Of their several sences it sildome looketh forward because it goeth by iumpes The eie-lids comming from the brows are too short to couer their eies and therefore this sence is very weake in them and besides their ouermuch sleepe their feare of Dogges and swiftnesse causeth them to see the lesse when they Watch they shut their eies and when they sleep they open them A secret Wherefore the Egyptians when they will signifie and open a manifest matter they picture a hare sleeping They watch for the most part all the night when the eye-lid of a man is pulled backe so as it will not couer the ball of the eye The Graecians call it Lagophthalmous that is hares eies for so doeth Coelius define it it commeth sometimes Orus when in the cure it is cut away too much or else when the hinder lid falleth downe and standeth not vp to meet the other but concerning the colour of their eies it is not very possible to discouer it as wel for the causes aforesaid as also because it is sieldome taken but dead yet this is certaine that with what colour it beginneth in that it continueth to the last according to Virgils verses Quem fuga non rapit ore Canum non occulit vmbra Concolor immotum sub Ioue terra tegit The liuer is so parted assunder that a man would thinke there were two liuers in one body and Pliny is bold to affirme that in Briletum Thirne Propontis Sycynum Bolba and other places they are al such Whether males beare yong like females Archelaus vppon this occasion affirmeth that a hare beareth young both male and female so that the Gramarians know not of what sex to make it Albertus and Democritus are absolute in this point Blondus confesseth he cannot tell the common sort of people suppose they are one yeare male and another female Aelianus also affirmeth so much and by relation of his friend he ventereth the matter and saith moreouer that a male hare was once found almost dead whose belly being opened there were three young ones aliue taken out of hir bellie and that one of them looked vp aliue after it had lyen a while in the Sunne and it put out the tongue as though it desired meat whereupon milke was brought to it and so it was nourished But al this is easily answered if a man follow the counsell of Archadius and looke vpon the secrets of nature he shal finde a most plaine distinction but the hunters obiect that there be some which are onely females and no more but no male that is not also a female and so they make him an Hermaphrodyte Niphus also affirmeth so much for he saw a Hare which had stones and a yard and yet was great with young and also another which wanted stones and the males genitall and also had young in her bellye Rondeleius saith that they are not stones but certaine little bladders filled with matter which men find in female-Hares with young such as are vpon the belly of a Beuer wherein also the vulgar sort are deceiued taking those bunches for stones as they do these bladders And the vse of these parts both in Beuers and Hares is this that against raine both one and other seâ— suck therout a certaine humor and annoint their bodies all ouer therewith and so are defended in time of raine The belly of a Sow a Bitch and a Hare haue many cels in them because they bring forth many at a time when a hare lyeth downe she bendeth her hinder legs vnder her loines as all rough-footed-beasts do They are deceiued which deliuer by authority of holy Scriptures that hares loue to lodge them vpon rocks but we haue manifested else-where that those places are to bee vnderstood of Conies They haue fore-knowledge both of wind and weather Summer and Winter by their noses Aelianus Their nature and disposition for in the Winter they make their formes in the Sun-shine because they canot abide frost and cold and in the Summer they rest toward the North remaining in some higher ground where they receiue colder ayre We haue shewed already that their sight is dimm but yet heerin it is true that Plutarch saith they haue Visum indefessum an indefattigable sence of seeing so that the continuance in a meane degree counteruaileth in them the want of excellency Their hearing is most pregnant for the Egyptians when they signifie hearing picture a hare and for this cause we haue shewed you already that their eares are long like hornes their voyce is a whyning voice and therefore Authors call it Vagitum as they doe a yong childs accorto the verse of Ouid Intus aut infanti Vagiat ore Puer They rest in the day time Their time of sleep food and walk abroad to feed in the night neuer feeding near home either because they are delighted with forren foode or else because they woulde exercise their legs in going or else by secret instinct of nature to conceale their forms and lodging places vnknowne their hart and blood is colde which Albertus assigneth for a cause of their night-feeding they eat also grapes and when they are ouercome with heat they eat of an herbe called Lactuca Leporina and of the Romaines and Hetrurians Ciserbita of the Venetians Aelianus Lactucinos of the French Lacterones that is hares Lettuce hares house hares pallace and there is no disease in this beast the cure whereof she doth not seeke for in this hearbe Hares are said to chew the cud in the holy Scripture they neuer drinke but content themselues with the dew and for that cause they often fal rotten It is reported by Phillippus Belot that when a hare drunke Wine shee instantly died they render their Vrine backwardes and their milke is as thicke as a Swines and of all creatures they haue milke in vdders before they deliuer their young They are verie exceedingly giuen to sleepe because they neuer winke perfectly some authors deriue their name Lagon in Greeke from Laein to see and thereupon the Graecians haue a common prouerbe Lagos Catheudon a sleeping Hare for a disembling and counterfetting person because the Hare seeth when shee sleepeth for this is an admirable and rare Worke of nature that all the residewe of her bodilye partes take their rest but the eye standeth continually sentinell Of their copulation and engendring Hares admit copulation backewarde and heerein they are like to Connies because they breede euery moneth for the most part and that many at that time the female prouoking the male to carnal copulation and while they haue yong ones in their belly they admit copulation
sorts to the admiration of the beholders Quintus Fuluius had a Parke in Tarquinium wherein were included not onely all the beastes before spoken off but also wilde sheepe and this contained forty Akers of ground besides he had two other Pompaeius erected a Parke in France containing the compasse of three thousand paces wherein hee preserued not onely Deere Hares and Connies but also Dor-mise Bees and other beastes the manner whereof ought to be thus first that the walles or pales be high or close iointed so as neither Badgers nor Cattes may creepe through or Wolues or Foxes may leape ouer Wherein ought also to be bushes and broad trees for to couer the beastes against heate and cold and other secret places to content their natures and to defend them from Eagles and other rauening foules In which three or foure couple of Hares do quickly multiply into a great warren It is also good to sowe Guoards Miseline Corne Barly Peies and such like wherein Hares delight and will thereby quickly waxe fat For their fatting the hunters vse another deuice they put waxe into their eares and so make them deafe then turne them into the place where they should feed where being freed from the feare of sounds because they want hearing they grow fat before other of their kind Concerning the vse of their skins in some countries they make sleeues and breeches of them especially lynings for all outward colde diseases The civil vse of their seuerall parts Heliogabalus lay vpon a bed filled with flew or wooll of Hares for then that there is nothing more soft for which cause the Grecians made spunges thereof to clense the eies of men The Goldsmithes vse the feete or Legges of Hares in steed of brushes or broomes to take off the dust from their plate The flesh of hares hath euer beene accounted a delicate meate among all other foure-footed-beastes as the Thrush among the foules of the aire according to the saying of Martiall Inter aues Turdus si quis me iudice certet Inter quadrupedes gloria prima lepus In auncient time as Coelius saith the Brittons were forbidden to eate Hares like as the Iewes by the law of Moses Leu. 11. Deut. 14. Plutarch inquireth the reason whye the Iewes worship swine and Hares because they did not eate their flesh whereunto answer was made that they abstained from Hares because their colour eares and eies were like asses wherein the ignorance of Gods law appeared for they abstained from Hares at Gods commandement because they were not clouen-footed for the Egyptians accounted all swift creatures to be partakers of diuinity Their flesh ingendereth thicke blood therefore it is to bee prescribed for a dry diet for it bindeth the belly procureth vrine and helpeth the paine in the bowels but yet it is not good for an ordinary diet it is hot and dry in the second degree and therefore it nourisheth but little being so hard as Gallen witnesseth The blood is farre more whot then the flesh it is thinne and therefore watery like the blood of all fearefull beasts The bloud flesh eaten the hinder parts from the loines are most delicate meate called in Latine Pulpamentum it was wont to be dressed with salt Coriander seed yet the forepart is the sweeter for the manner of the dressing whereof I leaue to euery mans humour It was once beleeued that the eating of the hinder loines of a hare would make one faire or procure beauty wherupon Martiall receiued a hare from Gellia a friend of his with this message For mosus septem Marce diebus eris And he retorted the iest in this manner vpon Gellia Si me non fallis si verum lux mea dicis Edisti nunquam Gellia tu leporem Lampridius writeth that a certaine Poet played vpon Alexander Seuerus the Emperor for eating hares fleshe which made him faire whereas in truth hee was very black In this manner Pulchrum quod vides esse nostrum regem Quem Syrum suum detulit propago Venatus facit lepus comesus Ex quo continuum capit leporem The Emperor seeing those verses for Emperors hauing long eares and hands made answer vnto them as followeth Pulchrum quod put as esse vestrum regem Vulgari miserande de fabella Si verum putas esse non â—rascor Tantum tu comedas velim lepusculos Vt fias animi malis repulsis Pulcher ne inuideas liuore mentis If any man finde fault with the Emperors verses Erasmus hath already answered the obiection that Kings and Emperors are not subiect to lawes of versesieng besides his aunswer was in Greeke and this is but translated The eating of hares procureth sleepe and thus much for the flesh and parts The Epethites of a Hare expressing their natures are The epithits of Hares Eared trusting their feet feareful careful fruitefull flying raging vnhorned little crafty tender sharp-smelling swift whining and wandering beside many other Greeke names When Xerxes gathered his Army to goe against Graecia Stories of monstrous Hares a man brought forth a Hare which fore-shewed that great Armye should worke no strange effect And another mare of three yeare old broght forth a hare which spake as soone as it was littered biting her mother with her teeth and killing her and while they looked vpon her sucking her dams blood fethers grew out of her backe in fashion of wings which being done the moster lifting vp the voice spake in this manner Fundite iam lachrymas suspiria miseri mortales ego hinc abeo that is to say O ye wretched mortall men weepe and sigh I go away at which words she flew away and was neuer seene more There were present at the sight heereof seuen publike notaries which called witnesses and made instruments thereupon as Antonius Bautius writeth in his Epistle to Petrus Toletus of Lyons in the yeare 1537. In December whereunto the saide Toletus made this answer The daies shall come saith he except the mercy of God preuent them that children shall thinke they doe obedience to their parents if they put them to death They shall grieue because they were borne and say they are adulterate as the Hare that was borne of the Maire Likewise it is reported by Lisander that when the Corinthians refused the conduct of the Lacedemonians and the Lacedemonians besiedging the Citty fell to be very much afraid and vnwilling to scale the walles whiles they stood in this amaze suddenly a Hare leaped out of the towne ditch which thing when Lisander saw he exhorted his Souldiers saying Be not afraid O ye Spartanes of this sluggish and vnexercised people for you see they stirre not out of the citty but suffer Hares to lodge vnder their Walles whereupon came the prouerbe Dormire lepores submoenibus Hares sleepe vnder their Walles to signifie a slothfull secure sluggish idle and vnthrifty people The Eagles of Norway lay their younge ones in Hares skinnes which themselues pull off There is
also a bird in Scithia about the bignesse of a Bustard which bringeth forth two at a time and keepeth them in a Hares skinne which she hangeth vpon a bough Hares were dedicated to loue because Xenophon saith there is no man that seeth a Hare but he remembred what he hath loued They say the citty Bocas of Laconia was builded by a signe of good fortune taken from a Hare for when the inhabitants were driuen out of their countrey they went to the Oracle to desire a place to dwell in from whom they receiued answer that Diana should shew them a dwelling place they going out of their countrey a hare met with them which they consented to follow and there to build where the Hare should lodge and they followed her to a myrtle tree where the hare hid her selfe in which place they builded their citty and euer afterwards retained with veneration a myrtle tree Pausanius And thus I will conclude this morrall discourse of hares with that Epigram of Martiall made vpon occasion of a hare that in sport passed through the mouth and teeth of a tame Lyon saying that she was ambitious in offering her life to the Lyons teeth in this wise Non facit ad saeuos cernix nisi prima leones Scilicet a magnis ad te descendere tauris Desperanda tibi est ingentis gloria fati Quid fugis hos dentes ambitiose lepus Et quae non cernunt frangere colla velint Non potes hoc tenuis praeda sub hoste mori The powder of a hare with oyle of mirtle dryueth away paine in the head and the same burned cureth the cough the powder thereof is good for the stone in the bladder The medicins of Hares Pliny also the blood and fime of a hare burnt in a raw pot to powder afterwards drunke fasting with Wine and warme water it cureth the stone and Sextus saith hee made triall of it by putting a spoonefull of the powder into Water wherein was a sand stone and the same stone did instantly melt and disolue so likewise a young hare cut out of the dams belly and burnt to powder hath the same operation A wastcoat made of hare skins straighten the bodies of young and old also the same dipped in oyle laide to the sore places of a horsses Legges where the skinne is off by ouer reatching it often cureth the sore the blood taken warme out of the body amendeth Sunne burning freckles pimples and many other faultes in skinne and face which Celsus prescribeth to bee doone first by washing the place many houres together in the morning with the blood and afterwardes annoynting it with oile the same vertue is in the fat of swannes mingled with oyle according to the saying of Serenus Cygnaeos adipes hilari miserto lyaeo Omne malum propere maculoso ex ore fugabis Sanguine vel leporis morbus delabitur omnis It also cureth and taketh away the thicke skin of the eie it adorneth the skinne produceth haire in able places and easeth the gout Or no cutim perduco pilos sedo podagrani Sanguine si fuerint membra perunctameo It being fried helpeth the bloody-flixe vlcers in the bowels an old laske and taketh away the poyson of an arrow It being annointed vpon a whot outward vlcer it ripeneth it After a bath it cureth a great leprosie by washing The rennet of a Hare staieth loosenesse the flesh is profitable for vlcers in the bowels it breaketh the stone being beaten and being decocted like a Fox easeth the gout and the shrinking vp of the sinnewes The fat with the flowers of beanes beaten together draweth thornes out of the flesh If naile sticke in the sole of the foote beat together the fat of a hare and a rawe sea-crab then lay it to the place and right against it vpon the same foote lay also two or three beane flowers and let it lie a day and a night and so it shal be cured and the same draweth a poisoned arrow out of a Horsse Andreas reporteth to Gesner that he hath often heard that the sewet of a Hare layed to the crowne of a womans head expelleth her secunds and a dead child out of the wombe The powder made of this wool or haire stauncheth bleeding if the haires be pulled off from a liue Hare and stopped into the nose The powder of the wooll of a Hare burned mingled with the oyle of Mirtles the gal of a Bull and Allum warmed at the fire and annoint it vppon the heade fasteneth the haire from falling off also the same powder decocted with Hony helpeth the paine in the bowels although they be broken being taken in a round ball the quantity of a beane together but these medicines must be vsed euery day Arnoldus prescribeth the haire to be cut short and so to be taken into the body against burstnesse A perfume made of the dung and haires of a Hare and the fat of a sea-calfe draweth forth womens flowers The seede of a wilde Cowcumber and an Oyster shell burned and put into Wine mingled with the haire of a Hare and wooll of a sheep with the flower of roses cureth inflamations of womens secrets after their child-birth Also Hipocrates prescribeth the shel of a Cuttle-fish to be beaten into wine and layed in sheeps wooll and Hares haire helpeth the falling downe of the wombe of a woman with child If a mans feete be scorched with cold the powder of a Hares Wooll is a remedy for it The head of a Hare burned and mingled with fat of Beares and vineger causeth haire to come where it is fallen off and Gallen saith that some haue vsed the whole body of a hare so burned and mingled for the foresaid cure being layed in manner of a plaister By eating of a hares head the trembling of the Nerues and the losse of motion and sence in the members receiueth singuler remedy These thinges also preserueth teeth from aking the powder of a hares head burned with salt mingled together rubbed vpon the teeth or if ye will put thereunto the whitest fennell and the dryed beanes of a Cutle fish The Indians burne together the hares head and mice for this purpose When ones mouth smelleth strong this powder with spicknard asswageth the smell The braine is good against poison The heart of a Hare hath in yt a theriacall vertue also The braine is proued to haue power in it for comforting and reparing the memory The same sod and eaten helpeth tremblings which hapeneth in the accessions of sicknesse such as one is in the cold shaking fit of an Ague It is to bee noted that all trembling hath his originall cause from the infirmitie or weakenesse of the Nerues as is apparant in olde age although the immediat causes may be some cold constitution as aboundance of cold humors drinking of cold drink and such like all which tremblings are cured by eating the braine of a hare roasted saith Dioscorides and Egineta It also
taken into Troy except the gates were pulled downe and this they placed hard to the wals of Troy Sinon the counterfet runagat being then within the wals among the Troyans perswaded them to pull downe their wals and pul in that wooden horsse affirming that if they could get it Pallas would stand so friendly to them that the Graecians should neuer be able to mooue warre against them wherefore they pull downe their gates and part of their wall and by that meanes do bring the horsse into the citty while the Troyans were thus reuelling and making merry with themselues and not thinking of any harme might ensue vpon them the leaders of the Graecian army who by deceit all this while kept themselues close hid euer since which time the Graecians are tearmed of all nations deceitfull on a suddaine rose out of their lurking places and so going forward inuaded the citty being destitute of any defence and by this meanes subdewed it Others are of opinion that the poets fiction of the Troyan horsse was no other but this that there was a mountaine neare Troy called Equus and by aduantage thereof Troy was taken whereunto Virgill seemeth to alude saying Instar montis Equum diuina Palladis arte Aedificant For they saie that Pallas and Epeus made the horsse and therefore I coniecture that the Troian horsse was nothing else but an engine of war like vnto that which is called Aries For Pausanias saith that Epeus was the inuenter thereof And Higintas saith that the Troyan horsse was Machina oppugnatoira a deuise of war to ouerthrow the wals Of this horsse there was a brazen image at Athens in Acropolis with this inscription Chaeridemus Fuangeli filius caelenenatus dicauit When Alexander looked vpon his own picture at Ephesus which Apelles had drawne with all his skill the king did not commend it according to the worth thereof It fortuned that a horsse was brought into the roome who presentlie neighed at the picture of Alexanders horsse smelling vnto it as to a liuing horsse where at Apelles spake thus to the king Ho men Hippos eoice sou graphicoteros Cata polu That is to say the horsse is a better discerner of truth then you There was one Phormis which went from Maenalus in Arcadia into Scicilia to serue Gelon the Sonne of Dinomenes vnder whom and his brother Hiero he arose to great estate of wealth and therefore he gaue many guifts to Apollo at Delphos and made two brazen horsses with their riders at Olympia setting Dionisius the Graecian vpon one and Simon Egenenta vpon the other Aemilius Censorinus a cruel Tirant in Scicilia bestowed great gifts vpon such as could inuent new kind of Torments there was one Aruntius Paterculus hoping to receiue from him some great reward made a brazen horsse and presented it to the Tirant to include therein such as he should condemne to death at the receipt whereof Aemilius which was neuer iust before first of all put the author into it that he might take experience how cursed a thing it was to minister vnto crueltie Apelles also painted Clytus on horsse-backe hastening to war and his armour bearer reaching his helmet vnto him so liuely that other dumb beasts were affraid of his horsse And excellent was the skil of Nealces who had so pictured a horsse foaming that the beholders were wont to take their handkerchefs to wipe it from his mouth and thus much for the morrall vses of horsses Of the seuerall diseases of Horsses and their cures SEeing in this discourse I haue principally aymed at the pleasure delight and profitte of Englishmen I haue thought good to discource of the diseases of horsses and their cures in the words of our owne countrymen M. Blundevile and M. Markham whose works of these matters are to be recorded like the Illiads of Homer in many places and seuerall Monumentes to the the entent that enuy or Barbarisme may neuer be able to burie them in obliuion or neglect to root them out of the world without the losse of other memorable labors Wherefore good Reader for the ensuing Tractate of diseases and cure compiled by them after that I had read ouer the labors of C. Gesner and compared it with them finding nothing of substance in him which is not more materially perspicuously profitably and familiarly either extracted or expressed by them in a method most fitting this Hystory I haue thoght good to follow theÌ„ in the description of the disease and the remedy first according to time declaring them in the words of M. Blund and afterwards in the words of M. Markam methodically one after the other in the same place wherwithal I trust the liuing authors will not be displeased that so you may with one labour examin both and I hope that neither they nor any of their friends or Schollers shall receiue any iuste cause of offence by adding this part of their studies to our labors neither their bookes imprinted be any way disgraced or hindered but rather reuiued renobled and honoured To beginne therefore saith Maister Blundeuill after the discourse of the nature of a horsse followeth those things which are against nature the knowledge whereof is as need fully profitable as the other Things against nature be those whereby the heathfull estate of a horsse-body is decayed which are in number three That is the causes the sicknes and the accidentes of the two first in order and the other promiscuously as neede requireth Of causes and kinds thereof THe causes of sickenes be vnnaturall affects or euill dispositions preceding sicknesse and prouoking the same which of themselues do not hinder the actions of the bodye but by meanes of sicknesse comming betwixt Blundevile Of causes some be called internal and some Externall Internall be those that breede within the body of the beast as euill iuice Externall be those that chance outwardly to the body as heat cold or the stinging of a Serpent and such like In knowing the cause of euery disease consisteth the chiefe skill of the Ferrer For vnlesse he knoweth the cause of the disease it is impossible for him to cure it wel and skilfully And therefore I wish al Ferrers to be diligent in seeking to know the causes of all diseases as wel in the parts similer as instrumentall and to know whether such causes be simple or compound for as they be simple or compound so do they engender simple or compound diseases Of sicknesse what it is and how many generall kinds there be also with what order the diseases of Horsses are heerein declared And finally of the foure times belonging to euery sicknesse SIcknes is an euill affect contrary to nature hindring of it selfe some action of the body Of sickenes there be three generall kindes whereof the firste consisteth in the parts simyler the second in the parts instrumental and the third in both parts togither The first kind is called of the Latines Intemperâ—es that is to say euill temperature which is
him out and annoint his body all ouer with Narueoile Turpentine and Deares suet mingled together on the fire and bathe his heade in the iuice of Rue and Camo mile Then giue him to drinke old Ale brewd with Sinamon Ginger Fenecreeke and long Pepper of each three ounces As for his dyet let it be warme mashes sodden wheat and hay thoroughly carded with a paire of wool cards let him be kept verie warme and ayred abroad once a daie at the least If this convulsion be not onely in one member then it is sufficient if euery daye with hard ropes of hay or straw you rub and chafe that part exceedingly and apply there to a little quantity of the oyle Pepper If the convulsion be accidentall proceeding of some hurt whereby the sinnews is wounded or prickt then shal you incontinently take vp the sinnew so wounded searching the wound with great discretion and cut it cleane insunder then shal you endeuor to heale vp the same with vnguents plaisters balms as shall be hereafter mentioned in the chapters of wounds and vlcers of what kind or nature soeuer Of the cold in the head ACcording to the cold which the horsse hath taken is new or old great or small and also according as humors do abound in his head and as such humors be thicke or thin Blundevile so is the disease more or lesse daungerous For if the horsse casteth little or no matter out of his nose nor hath no very great cough but onely heauy in his heade and perhaps lightly cougheth now and then it is a signe that he is stopped in the head which we were wont to call the pose But if his head be ful of humors congeald by some extream cold taken of long time past and that he casteth fowle filthy matter out at the nose and cougheth greeuously then it is a signe that hee hath either the Glaunders or the Strangullion mourning of the cheine or consumption of the lungs For all such diseases doe breed for the most part of the Rhueme or distillation that commeth from the head Of the cures whereof we leaue to speake vntill we come to talke of the diseases in the throat minding heere to shew you how to heale the pose or colde before mentioned Martin saith it is good to purge his head by perfuming him with Frankencence and also to prouoke him to neeze by thrasting two Goose feathers dipt in oyle de Bay vp into his nostrils and then to trot him vppe and downe halfe an houre for these feathers will make him to cast immediatly at the nose Laurentius Russius would haue him to be perfumed with Wheat Penneroyal and sage sodden well togither and put into a bag so hot as may be which bagge would be so close fastened to his head that all the sauour thereof may ascend vp into his nostrils and his head also would be couered and kept warme and to prouoke him to neeze he would haue you to bind a soft clout annointed with sope or els with Butter and oyle de Bay vnto a sticke and to thrust that vp and downe into his nostrils so high as you may conueniently goe and let him be kept warm and drink no cold water Yea it shal be good for three or foure daies to boile in his water a little Fenegreek wheate meale and a few Annis seeds And euerie daie after that you haue purged his head by perfuming him or by making him to neeze cause him to be trotted vp and downe either in the warme Sunne or els in the house halfe an hour which would be done before you water him and giue him his prouender Of the cold in the head THe pose or cold in a horsse is the most generall disease that hapneth and is the easiest perceiued both by stopping ratling in the nose and coughing Markham the cure thereof is in this sort If it be but newly taken by some carelesse regard and immediately perceiued you shal need no other remedy but to keepe him warme euery Morning and Euening after his water to ride him forth and to trot him vp and downe very fast till his cold break and then gently to gallop him a little which moderate exercise with warme keeping will quickly recouer him againe but if the cold hath had long residence in him and still encreaseth then you shall giue him this drinke three daies togither Take of strong Ale one quart of the best Treakle six penniworth of long Pepper and graines of each as much beaten to powder of the iuice of Garlicke two spoonefuls boile all these togither and giue it the horsse to drinke so warme as he may suffer it and then trotte him vp and downe by the space of an houre or more and keepe him warme giuing him to drinke no cold water Of the diseases of the eies HOrsses eies be subiect to diuers griefes as to be waterish or blood-shotten Blundevile to bee dim of sight to haue the pin and web and the haw whereof some comes of inward causes as of humors resorting to the eies and some of outward as of cold heate or stripe Of weeping or watering eies This as Laurentius Russius saith may come sometime by confluence of humors and sometime by some stripe whose cure I leaue to recite because it doeth not differ much from Martins experience heere following take of Pitch Rosen and Mastick a like quantity melt them togither Then with a little sticke hauing a clout bound to the end thereof and dipt therein annoint the Temple vaines on both sides a hand ful aboue the eies as broad as a Testern and then clap vnto it immediately a few flockes of like colour to the horsse holding them close to his head with your hand vntill they sticke fast vnto his head then let him blood on both sides if both sides be infected a handfull vnder the eies Russius also thinketh it good to wash his eies once a day with pure white wine and then to blow therein a little of Tartarum and of Pomis stone beaten into fine powder Of watering eyes WAtering eies commeth most commonly in some stripe or blowe and the cure is thus Lay vnto his Temples a plaister of Turpentine and Pitch molten together Markham then wash his eies with white Wine and afterward blow the pouder of burnt Allome into the same Of bloud-shotten eies also for a blow or itching and rubbing in the eies Martin neuer vsed any other medicine then this water heere following wherewith he did alwaies heale the foresaid griefes take of pure Rose water of Malmesie Blundevile of Fennel water of each three sponfuls of Tutia as much as you can easily take with your thumbe and finger of cloues a dozen beaten into fine powder mingle them together and being luke warme or cold if you will wash the inward part of the eie with a feather dipt therein twice a day vntill he be whole Russius saith that to bloudshotten eies it is
and to cling to his ribs It is knowne by the leannesse of the horsse and gantnes of his bely and by fast sticking of the skin vnto the ribs when you pul at it with your hand The cure according to Martin is thus Let him blood on both sides the bellie in the flanke vaines betwixt the flanke and the girding place that done giue him this drinke Take a quart of white Wine or els of good Ale and put thereunto three ounces of good sallet oyle of Cummin one ounce of Annis seedes two ounces of Licoras two ounces beaten al into fine powder and giue it him luke warme with a horne And when he hath drunk let one standing at his huckle-bone rub him hard with his hand along the back and ouerthwart the ribbes the space of halfe an houre that done set him in a warme stable and let him stand in litter vp to the belly and couer all his backe and ribs with a sacke first thoroughly soked in a tub of cold water and then well and hard wroung and ouer that caste another cloath and girde it fast with a surcingle stuffing him well about the backe with fresh straw continuing thus to doe euery day once the space of a weeke during which time giue him no cold water but luke warme and put therein a little ground mault The wet sacke wil cause the backe to gather heat it selfe and the skin to loosen from the flesh and if you will bestow more cost you may annoint all his body with wine and oile mingled togither according to the opinion of the old writers which no doubt is a very comfortable thing and must needs supple the skinne and loosen it from the flesh Of the diseases in the throat and lungs and why the griefes of the shoulders and hippes be not mentioned before amongst the griefes of the withers and backe Blundevile SOme perhaps would looke heere that for so much as I haue declared the diseases of the necke withers and backe that I should also follow on now with the griefes of the shoulders and hips But sith that svch griefes for the most part doth cause a horse to halt and that it requireth some skill to know when a horse halteth whether the fault be in his shoulder hip legge ioynt or foot I thinke it is not good to seperate those parts assunder specially sith nature hath ioyned them togither that is to say the shoulders to the forelegs and the hips to the hinder legges And therefore according to natures order I will treate of them in their proper place that is to say after that I haue shewed al the diseases that be in the inward horses body not onely aboue the midriffe as the diseases of the throat lungs breast and hart but also vnder the midriffe as those of the stomacke liuer guts and of all the rest And first as touching the diseases of the throat the Glaunders and Strangullion to al horses is most common Of the Glanders and Strangulion so called according to the Italian name Stranguiâ—lion MOst Ferrers do take the Glanders and Strangullion to bee all one disease but it is not so for the glanders is that which the Physitians call Tronsillae and the Strangullion is that which they call in Latine Angina in Greeke Synanchi and we commonly call it in English the squinnancy or Qunzie Tronsillae is interpreted by them to be inflammations of the kirnels called in Latine Glandes the Italian Glandulae which lie on both sides of the throat vnderneath the roote of the toongue nigh vnto the swallowing place of which word Glandâ—â— or Glâ—ndulae I thinke we borrow this name glanders For when the horse is troubled with this disease hee hath great kirnels vnderneath his iawes easie to be seene or felt paining him so as he can not easily swallow down his meat which commeth first of cold distilation out of the head But if such kirnels be not inflamed they will perhaps goe away of themselues or else by laying a little hot horse-dung and strawe vnto them the warmth thereof wil dissolue them and make them to vanish away But if they be inflamed they will not go away but encrease and wax greater and greater and be more painful euery daie then other and cause the horsse to cast continually filthie matter at his nose The cure whereof according to Martin is thus First ripe the kirnels with this plaister Take of bran two handfuls or as much as will thicken a quart of wine or Ale then put thereunto halfe a pounde of hogges greace and boile them togither and lay it hot to the sore with a cloath renewing it euery day vntil it be ready to breake then lance it and let out al the matter and taint it with a taint of flax dipt in this salue Take of Turpentine of hogs greace of each like quantity and a little waxe and melt them togither and renew the taint euerie daie vntil it be whole Laurentius Russius saith that this disease is verie common to colts because in them doth abound flexible moisture apt to be dissolued with euerie little heat and to turne to putrifaction and therefore if the horse be not ouer young he would haue you first to let him bloode in the necke vaine and then to lay vnto the same sore a ripening playster made of Mallowes Linseeds Rew Wormwood ground Iuy Oile of Baies add Dialthea and to annoint his throat also and all the sore place with fresh butter and the sore being ripe to lance it or els to rowel it that the matter may come forth But the kernels wil not decrease then pul them away by the rootes and to dry vp the vlcerous place with an ointment made of vnslect lime Pepper Brimstone Nitrum and oile Oliue It shall be also good to purge his head by perfuming him euery day once in such sort as hath beene before declared And let the horsse be kept warm about the head and stand in a warme stable and let him drinke no cold water but if you see that after you haue taken away the kirnels the horsse doth not for all that leaue casting filthy matter at the nose then it is to be feared that hee hath some spice of the mourning of the Chine for both diseases proceed of one cause and therefore I thinke good to speake of it heere presently But first I will set downe a drinke which I haue seene prooued vppon a horse that I thought could neuer haue bin recouered of the same disease and yet it did recouer him in very short space so as he trauelled immediately after many miles without the helpe of any other medicine A drinke for the Strangullion or Glaunders TAke of warm milk as it commeth from the Cow a quart or instead thereof a quart of new Beere or Ale warmed and put thereunto of moulten Butter the quantity of an Egge and then take one head of Garlicke Blundevile first clean pilled and then stamped smal which you
dung often and to do but little and that with great paine And also another disease called Procidentia ani that is to say the falling out of the fundament which the Physitians do account as seueral diseases Notwithstanding for somuch as Dysenteria and Tenasmus do spring both of like causes yea and also for that the falling out of the fundament hath some affinity with them I wil follow mine Authors in ioyning them altogether in this one chapter The Physitians make diuers kindes of bloody-flixe for sometime the fat of the slimy filth which is voided is sprinkled with a little blood sometime the matter that voydeth is mixt with the scraping of the guts and sometime it is waterish bloode like water wherein flesh hath beene washed and sometime blood mixt with melancholy and sometime pure blood and by the mixture of the matter you shall know in mans body whether the vlceration be in the inner smal guts or no if it bee the matter and blood wil be perfectly mixt togither but if it be in the outward guts then they be not mingled together but come out seuerall the blood most commonly following the matter Of this kind is that disease called before Tenasmus for that is an vlcer in the right gut seruing the fundament and doth proceede euen as the Flixe doth of some sharpe humors which being violently driuen and hauing to passe through many crooked and narrow waies do cleaue to the guts and with their sharpenesse fret them causing exulceration and grieuous paine The flixe also may come of some extreame cold heat or moistnesse or by meane of receiuing some violent purgation hauing therein ouer much Scamony or such like violent simple or through weakenesse of the Liuer or other members seruing to digestion Now as touching the falling out of the fundament the Physitians say that it commeth through the resolution or weakenesse of the muscles seruing to draw vp the fundament which resolution may come partly by ouer-much straining and partly they may be loosened by ouermuch moisture for which cause children being ful of moisture are more subiect to this disease then men And for the selfe same cause I thinke that Horsses hauing very moyst bodyes be subiect thereunto Thus hauing shewed you the causes of the diseases before recited I wil shew you the cure prescribed by the old writers Absirtus would haue the fundament on the outside to be cut round about but so as the inward ringe thereof be not touched for that were dangerous and would kil the horse for so much as his fundament would neuer abide within his body and that done he would haue you to giue him to drinke the powder of vnripe Pomgranat shels called in Latine Malicorium together with wine and water which indeede because it is astringent is not to be misliked but as for cutting of the fundament I assure you I cannot iudge what he should meane thereby vnlesse it be to widen the fundament by giuing it long slits or cuts on the outside but well I know that it may cause more paine and greater inflamation And therefore methinkes it were better in this case to follow the Physitians precepts which is first to consider whether the fundament being fallen out bee inflamed or not for if it bee not inflamed then it shall bee good to annoynt it first with Oyle of Roses somewhat warmed or else to wash it with warme red wine But if it be inflamed then to bath it wel first with a spunge dipt in the decoction of Mallowes Camomile Lineseede and Fenegreek and also to annoint it wel with oyle of Camomile and Dill mingled together to asswage the swelling and then to thrust it in againe faire and softly with a soft linnen cloth That done it shall be good to bathe all the place about with red wine wherein hath beene sodden Acatium Galles A corne cups parings of Quinces and such like simples as be astringent and then to throw on some astringent powder made of bole Armony Frankincens Sanguis Draconis Myrrh Acatium and such like yea and also to giue the Horsse this drinke much praised of all the old writers Take of Saffron one ounce of Myrrh two ounces of the hearb called in Latine Abrotonum named in some of our English herbals Sothernwood three ounces of Parsly one ounce of garden Rue otherwise called herb Grace three ounces of Piritheum otherwise called of some people spittlewort and of Isope of each two ounces of Cassia which is like Cynamon one ounce Let al these things be beaten in fine powder then mingled with chalk and strong vineger wrought into paast of which paast make little cakes and dry them in the shadow and being dryed dissolue some of them in a sufficient quantity of barly milk or iuyce called of the old writers and also of the Physitians Cremor Ptisane and giue to the Horse to drinke thereof with a horne for the medicine as the Authors write doth not onely heale the bloody-flixe and the other two diseases before recited but also if it be giuen with a quart of warme water it will heale al griefe and pain in the belly and also of the bladder that commeth for lacke of staling And being giuen with sweete wine it will heale the biting of any Serpent or mad dog Of the Wormes IN a Horsses guts do breed three kindes of wormes euen as there doth in mans body Blundevile though they be not altogether like in shape The first long and round euen like to those that children do most commonly voyde and are called by the generall name wormes The second little worms hauing great heads and small long tailes like a needle and be called Bots. The 3. be short and thick like the end of a mans little finger and therefore be cald Troncheons and though they haue diuers shapes according to the diuersity of the place perhaps where they breed or else according to the figure of the putrified matter whereby they breede yet no doubt they proceede all of one cause that is to say of a raw grosse and flegmatike matter apt to putryfaction ingendred most commonly by foule feeding and as they proceede of one selfe cause so also haue they like signes and like cure The usignes be these The Horse wil forsake his meate for the Troncheons and the Bots wil couet alwaies to the maw and paine him sore He will also lye downe and wallow and standing he will stamp and strike at his belly with his hinder foote and looke often toward his belly The cure according to Martin is thus take of sweet milke a quart of hony a quarterne and giue it him lukewarme and walke him vppe and downe for the space of an houre and so let him rest for that day with as little meate or drinke as may bee and suffer him not to lye downe Then the next day giue him this drinke take of berbe Grace a handful of Sauin as much and being wel stampt put therunto a little
in opinion that both the foode that is receiued inwardly and also the ointments that are applied outwardly will be sufficient meanes to procure aboundance of milke in the Sommer and Winter seasons Now therefore it followeth to entreate likewise of the Wintering of sheepe Of the Wintering and stabling of sheepe for as there is more cost to keepe them in cold weather then in warme so it doth require at our handes some discourse thereof Then it behooueth you to prouide for them warme folds and stables whereof the Poet writeth in this manner Incipiens stabulis edico in mollibus herbam Carpere oueis dum mox frondosa reducitur aestas Et multa duram stipula filicumque maniplis Sternere subter humum glacies ne frigida laedat Molle pecus scabiemque ferat turpeisque podagras Whereby it is euident that the colde Winters doe beget in sheepe diuers and many diseases and for that cause it was the counsell of a wise and learned man that our sheepe should not be turned out to feeding neither in cold or warme weather vntill the frost were dissolued and thawed from off the grasse and earth The Tarentine Graecian and Asian sheepe were wont to be altogether kept in stables within doores lying continually vpon plancks and boords boared through Palladius Pet. Crescent that so their precious fleeces might be the better safe-garded from their owne filth and vrine and three times in the yeare they let them out of their stables to wash them and annoint them with oyle and wine and to saue them free from serpents they burned in their stables and and vnder their cratches Galbanum Ceder-wood womans haire and Harts hornes and of these Tarentine and Graecian sheepe Columella writeth in this manner It is in vaine for any man to store himselfe with those Tarentine sheepe for they aske as much or more attendance and costly foode then their bodies are worth for as all beastes that beare wooll are tender and not able to endure any hardnesse so among all sheepe there are none so tender as the Tarentine or Graecian sheepe and therefore the keeper of them must not looke to haue any playing daies nor times of negligence of sluggishnesse and much lesse to regard his couetous minde for they are cattell altogether impatient of cold being seldome led abroad and therefore the more at home to be fed by hand and if by couetousnesse or negligence one withdraw from them their ordinary foode he shall be penny wise and pound foolish that is suffer a great losse in his cattell for sauing from them a little meate Euery one of them all the Winter long were fed with three pintes of Barley or Pease or Beanes three times a day beside dryed Ewe leaues or vine leaues or hay late mowen or fitches or chaffe Besides there cannot be any milke taken from the dams for at the first yeaning there is no more then to serue the little or least lambes and after a few daies euen while they smell and tast of their dammes belly they were to be killed for want of sucke that euery lambe which was to be preserued for breede might haue two dammes or Ewes to sucke and so the poore Ewe was forced to a double miserie first to loose her yoong one and afterward to lend her paps and milke to a stranger And moreouer they were forced to nourish more males then females for that at two yeare olde they were either gelded or killed to sell their beautifull skins to the Merchants for their wooll was most pretious by reason that neuer or seldome they went abroad to the fieldes Their custodie in the house from serpents and other annoyances is thus described by the Poets Disce odoratam stabulis incendere cedrum Galbaneoque agitare graues nidore chelydros Saepe sub immotis praesepibus aut malat actu Vipera delituit coelumque exterrita fugit Aut tecto assuetus coluber In consideration whereof and of all the paines about the housing of these tender sheepe the Poet teacheth the Shepheard or sheepe-master to kill the serpents and dash out the braines of snakes saying Cape saxa manu cape robora pastor Tollentemque minas sibila colla tumentem Deijce Concerning the auncient formes of their sheepe stables The fashion of sheepe coates or stables I find this to be recorded by the auncients First they made them low and not of any high or loftie building so stretching them out in length and not in heigth that it may be warme in the Winter time for although there be no creature better cloathed by nature then a sheepe yet is there not any more impatient of cold nor more apt to take harme thereby It must not be ouer-broad yet so as the Ewe and her lambe may lye both together and the breathing place not left open at the top of the house or the sides for that wil let in too much ayre but at the doore or porch of their entrance and that very low that so the fresh ayre may quickly easily come to their low heads bodies also their breath the better auoide out of the stable They also had a care to couer all the flower with strawe or dry boared boords or some such other matter whereby they might stand continually dry and warm and also cleane and sweete to the end they might not be annoyed in their owne standings and therefore the floore was made sheluing or falling low on the one side or else of hurdles like baskets to let out their vrine for they often make water and these were often changed cleansed and turned In this stable there ought to be diuisions or partitions wherein in time of necessitie or sicknesse they may easily abide alone and be parted from the residue feede without anoyance of one another and especially that one may not ride another and during the time of Winter they did not let their cattell drinke aboue once a day The manner how in olde time they bought and sold sheepe And these were the cures of the auncients about their flocks of sheepe For vppon them they liued they bought and sold and herein also it is profitable to obserue the ancient manner of their bargaines about these creatures for when a man came and bought sheepe he made this protestation to the seller Tanti sunt mihi emptae To whom the seller answereth sunt Then the buyer draweth his money with these words Sic illasce oâ—es qua de re agitur sanas recte esse vti pecus ouillum quod recte sanum est extra luscam minam â— ventre glabro neque de pecore morboso esse habereque recte licere haec si recte fieri respondes c. First the Buyer saith shall I buye these sheepe for thus much money and so draweth his money to whom the Marchant or seller answereth you shal Then saith the chapman or buyer againe to him do you promise me then that these sheepe
the softest thereof is digested in his belly the other commeth forth whole in his dung which the Hogge licketh vp and is therewithal fatned And it is to bee remembred that swine gelded or splaied doe sooner fatten then anie other To conclude they loue the dung of men and the reason thereof is because the seat of their lust is in their liuer which is very broade and insatiable and there is nothinge that hath a duller sence of smelling then this Beaste and therefore it is not offended with any carrion or stinking smel but with sweete and pleasant ointments as wee shall shew afterwardes Concerning their generation or copulation Of the copulâ—tion and bâ—eed of Swine it is to be noted that a Bore or male swine wil not remaine of validity and good for breed past three yeare old by the opinion of all the auncient for such as he engendereth after that age are but weake and not profitable to be kept and nourished At eight moneths olde he beginneth to leape the female and it is good to keepe him close from other of his kinde for two moneths before and to feede him with Barly raw but the sow with Barly sodden One Bore is sufficient for ten Sowes if once he heare the voice of his female desiring the Bore he will not eate vntil hee be admitted and so he wil continue pining and indeed hee wil suffer the female to haue al that can bee and groweth leane to fatten her for which cause Homer like a wise husbandman prescribeth that the male and female Swine be kept assunder till the time of their copulation They continue long in the act of copulation and the reason thereof is because his lust is not hot nor yet proceeding from heat yet is his seed verie plentiful They in the time of their copulation are angry outragious fighting with one another very irefully and for that purpose they vse to harden their ribs by rubbing them voluntarily vppon Trees They choose for the most part the morning for copulation but if he be fat and young he can endure it in euery part of the yeare day but when he is leane and weake or old he is not able to satisfie his females lust for which cause she many times sinketh vnderneath him and yet he filleth her while she lyeth on the ground both of them on their buttocks together They engender oftentimes in one yeare the reason whereof is to be ascribed to their meat or some extraordinary heat which is a coÌ„mon thing to al that liue familiarly among men and yet the wilde swine couple and bring forth but once in the yeare because they are seldome filled with meat endure much paine to get and much cold for Venus in men and beasts is a companion of satiety and therefore they onely bring forth in the springe time and warme weather and it is obserued that in what night soeuer a wilde Hogge or sow farroweth there will be no storme or raine There bee many causes why the tame domesticall Hogs bring forth and engender more often then the wilde first because they are fed with ease secondly because they liue togither without fear by society are more often prouoked to lust on the otherside the wilde swine come sildome together and are often hungrey for which cause they are more dull and lesse venereous yea many times they haue but one stone for which cause they are called by Aristotle and the ancient Graecians Chlunes and Monorcheis The times of a â—ows boâ—â—g But concerning the sow she beginneth to suffer the Bore at eight moneths of age although according to the diuersity of regions and aire they differ in this time of their copulation for some begin at foure moneths and other againe tary till they be a yeare old and this is no maruell for euen the male which engendereth before he be a yeare olde begetteth but weake tender and vnprofitable Pigges The best time of their admission is from the Calends of February vnto the Vernall Equinoctiall for so it hapneth that they bring forth the young in the summer time for foure months she goeth with young and it is good that the pigges be farrowed before haruest which you purpose to keepe al the yeare for store After that you perceiue that the sowes haue conceiued then seperate them from the bores least by the raging lust of their prouoking they be troubled and endangered to abortment There be some that say a sow may beare young till she be seauen yeare olde but I will not striue about that whereof euery poore swineheard may giue ful satisfaction At a yeare olde a sow may do well if shee be couered by the bore in the month of February But if they begin not to beare til they be twenty moneths old or two yeares they wil not onely bring foorth the stronger but also beare the longer time euen to the seauenth yeare and at that time it is good to let them go to riuers fennes or miery places for euen as a man is delighted in washing or bathing so doth swine in filthy wallowing in the mire therein is their rest ioy and repose Albertus reporteth that in some places of Germany a sow hath bin found to beare young eight years and in other till they were fifteen years old but after fifteene yeare it was neuer seene that a sow brought foorth younge pigges If the sowe bee fatte she is alwaies the lesse prone to conceiue with young whether shee be young or old When first of all they beginne to seeke the Bore they leape vpon other swine and in processe cast foorthe a certaine purgation called Apria which is the same in a sow which Hippomanes is in a mare then they also leaue their heard-fellowes which kind of behauior or action the Latines call by a peculiar Verb Subare and that is applied to Harlottes and wanton Women by Horace Iamque subando Tecta cubilia tectaque rumpit We in English call it Boaring because she neuer resteth to shew her desire till she come to a bore and therefore when an olde Woman lusteth after a man being past lust by all natural possibility she is cald Anus subans And the beast is so delighted with this pleasure of carnal copulation that many times she falleth asleepe in that action and if the male be young or dull Plinius then wil the female leap vpon him and prouoketh him yea in her rage she sâ—tteth manie times vpon men and Women especially if that they doe weare any white Garments but this rage of lust is abated if their Apria and priuy place be wet and moistned with Vineger They haue their proper voices and cries for this time of their boaring which the bore or male vnderstandeth presently They are filled at one copulation and yet for their better safegarde and to preserue them from abortment it is good to suffer the bore to couer hir twice or thrice and more ouer if she conceiue not
Foale of that Mares being desirous to continue the breede caused his horsse-keeper to put the Sonne and Mother together but the Horsse refused copulation with his owne parents Afterward the Horsse-keeper couered the Mare with artificiall skinnes and likewise dressed the Horsse in such manner as one could not know the other wherupon being brought together the second time the Stallion couered his owne mother Afterward the Horsse keeper discouered them the one to the other whereby they knew the fraude and grew guiltye in themselues of incestious commixtion Whereupon they tooke no other reuenge vppon themselues but ranne to the top of a high rocke and there successiuely threw downe themselues one after another so ending their miserable daies preuenting their Maisters hopes to teach al mankind that they ought not to seeke to thriue by sins against nature the like is before rehearsed of a male Camell The very like story is reported of a Horsse in the coasts of Rea yet this is not held to be generall for beasts as Aristotle saith do promiscuously couer one another the father the Daughter the Sonne the mother the Brother the Sister and this maketh them to be perfect beasts and the stories before recited may be true yet are they extraordinary otherwise the common rule of Ouid remaineth true That it is not a filthy thing for beasts to obserue no degrees of nature Coeunt ani malia mullo Caetera delectu nechabetur turpe iuuencae Ferre patrem tergo fit equo sua filia coniux The best time of the yeare for the ioyning of Horsses and Mares for copulation is from the vernall aequinoctiall to the summer solstice because then the Coults which are foaled in due time haue the greene herbes and all the warme weather for the succour of their infancy and if the Mare after shee hath beene once couered refuse the male let her rest tenne daies and then bring her to the male againe if shee refuse the second time you may take it for graunted that she is filled already Wherfore seeing it is knowne certainly that a Mare goeth twelue months with young it is an easie matter so to order the time of her copulation The meanes to procure horsses to copulation that her foale may alwaies be deliuered in a warme and seasonable time of the year for which cause there is an invention for stiring vp of the lust both in the male and female the Hymenaean shepherds by the sweetnesse of songs vpon their pipes stirred vp their Horsses and Mares to copulation but the more assured way is to follow the direction of Columella and Absyrtus to prouoke them by naturall meanes like as Buls and Kyne And first of all for the male giue him the taile of a Hart burned mingled with wine and annoint therewithall his stones and generall member and so shal the dul Stallion be more prone to venery also there is a kind of Satirium which they giue to them in drinke or the powder of a horsses stones likewise if the female refuse take shrimpes beaten softe with water as thicke as hony therewithal touch the nature of the Mare in hir purgation and afterwards hold it to her Nose or else take hennes dunge mixed with Rozen and Turpentyne and annoynt the secrets of the Mare which shall so far increase her lust as it cureth the lothsomnesse better then the shrimps and increaseth lust But you must regard that no leane and ill fauoured Mare be annointed because the horse is quickly wearied from his lust and so delighteth only to be tickled therewith without doing any thing Other againe doe first of all bring some vulger horsse to the Mare who prouoketh and stirreth her to lust and when he is neare the very facte of filling her they lead her away to a more generous Stallion to be couered by him And so if none of these meanes do preuaile with her they doe rub her secrets with a Nettle and that causeth her to suffer the Horsse to enter Democritus also saith that it is in our power to cause our Horsses to bring forth males or females To ingender a male or female for if we suffer them to couple when the North winde bloweth or the third day before the full Moone or bind his leaft stone hee shall get a male but if when the South wind bloweth or three daies after the full Moone or binde the right stone of the Horsse it will proue a female Also if at the time of copulation the Horsse leape off from the Mare on the right side it is a token it will be a male but if on the left side it wil be a female Carnall copulation is most acceptable to Horsses and lesse grieuous vnto them then to Neate for there is no kind man only excepted that is so venereous and nimble in generation as is a Horsse or Mare The males know their females with whom they liue although they haue bine but a few daies together and if strange females fall into their company they expell them away by biting feeding single and alone with their female by themselues but if any male or other stone Horsse come within their walke then presently they make force at him if their female stir from them they restraine her by biting and in this time of their rage they neither regard the rider nor their aduersary nor the bridle nor cruell stripes nor steep hills nor rocks or caues of the earth if they wind the amorous sauour of their fellowes according to the saying of Virgill in these verses Nonne vides vt tota tremor pertentet equorum Corpora si tantum not as odor attulit auras Ac neque eos iam frena virum nec verbera saeua Non scopuli rupesque cauae atque obiect ae retardant Flumina correptos vnda torquentia montes It hath beene also receiued that a barren mare shal conceiue if you take a bunch of leeks bruised small and put into a cup of Wine and twelue French flies called Cantarides in water put them two daies together into the genitall of a mare like a Glyster and afterwards put her to a Horsse anointing her secreâ—s with the said ointment two seuerall times when the horse leaps down from her or else they take Nyter Sparrows dung Rozen and Turpentine thrusting the same into the mares genitall whereby it hath been proued that fecundity oftentimes followed Also some vse Syler of the mountaines to procure conception in Mares and Cowes and the true signe of conception is when their nature that is the fluent humour out of their secrets ceaseth for a month or two or three and Pliny saith that when a mare is filled she changeth her colour and looketh more red which is to be vnderstood not of her haire but of her skinne lips and eies her haire standing more full then before Then let them be seperated from the males The ordring of a Mare with foale Varro Palladius exempting them from moist places cold and
labour for all these are enemies to her foaling and cause abortement Likewise they must not haue too much meate nor too little but onely a temperate dyet and softe lodging their better ordering is elegantly described in Virgill in these verses Non illas grauibus quisquamiug a ducere plaustras Non saltu superare viam sit passus acri Carpere prata fuga sluuiosque innare rapaces Saltibus in vacuis pascant plena secundum Flumina viridissima gramine ripa Spleuncaeque tegant sacra procubet vmbra This is most certaine that if a Woman in her flowers touch a mare with foale or sometimes doe but see her it causeth to cast her foale if that purgation be the first after her virginity Orus In like manner if they smell of the snuffe of a candle or eat bucke-mast or Gartian The Egyptians when they wil describe a woman suffering abortement they picture a Mare treading vpon a Wolfe for if a Mare kicke at a Wolfe or tread where a Wolfe hath troad shee casteth her foale If an asse couer a Mare which a horsse hath formerly filled there followeth abortment but if a horsse couer a Mare which an Asse hath formerly filled there followeth no abortment because the horsses seed is hotter then the Asses If a Mare be sicke of abortment or foaling Pollipody mingled with warme water giuen hir in a horne is a present remedy The Scythians when they perceiue their Mares to be quicke with foale Aristotle The time of their going with young they ride vpon them holding opinion that thereby they cast forth their foales with lesse paine and difficulty They carry their young one in their wombes as hath beene already said twelue moneths but sometimes they come at eleuen moneths and ten daies and those are commonly males for the males are sooner perfected in the womb then the females and commonly the females are foaled at twelue months or ten daies and those which tary longer are vnprofitable and not worth education A Mare is most easily deliuered of her young among other beasts and beareth most commonly but one at a time yet it hath been seen that twins hath proceeded from her At the time of her deliuery shee hath lesse purgation of blood then so great a molde of body can affoorde and when she hath foaled Aristotle shee deuoureth her seconds and also a thing that cleaueth to her foales fore-heade being a piece of blacke flesh called Hippomanes neither doth shee suffer her young one to sucke vntill she haue eaten that for by smelling thereunto the young and old horsses or other of that kind would fal mad and this thing haue the imposters of the world vsed for a Phyltre or amorous cuppe to draw Women to loue them Virgill speaketh thus of it Quaeritur nascentis Equi de fronte reuulsus Et matris praereptus amor And againe Hinc demiem Hippomanes vero quod nomine dicunt Pastores Lentum distillat ab inguine virus Hippomanes quod saepe malae legere nouercae Miscueruntque herbas non innoxia verba This poison made into a candle Anaxilaus saith in the burning thereof there shall bee a presentation of many monstrous horsse-heads There is verie great poison contained in this Hippomanes for the Arcadian Phormis made a horsse of brasse at Olympia and put Hipomanes into the same and if the horsses at any time had seene this brazen horsse they weare so farre inraged with lust that no halters or bands could hold them but breaking all runne and leaped vpon the said brazen horsse and although it wanted a taile yet wold they forsake any beautiful Mare and runne to couer it neither when they came vnto it and found it by their heeles to be sounding and hard brasse woulde they despaire of copulation but more and more with noise of mouth rage and endeuor of body labor to leape vpon the same althogh the slippery brasse gaue them no admission or stay of abod vpon the backe of that substance neither could they be drawne from the saide brazen Image vntil by the great strength and cruel stripes of the riders they were forcibly driuen away Some thinke this little peece of flesh to cleaue to the fore-head others to the loynes and many to the genitals but howsoeuer it is an vnspeakeable part of Gods prouidence to make the Mares belly a sepulchre for that poison for if it should remaine in the males as in the females the whole race of horsses would vtterly perish and be destroied throgh rage of lust for which cause the keepers and breeders of horses do diligently obserue the time of their Mares-foaling and instantly cut off the same from the Colte reseruing it in the hoofe a Mare to procure the Stallions to carnal copulation and the Colt from which they cut this piece of flesh they sacrificed it for it is manifest faith Elianus that the Mare will neuer loue that foale from whence shee hath not eaten and consumed this peece of flesh And this poison is not onely powerful in brute beasts but also in reasonable men for if at any time by chance or ignorantly they tast heereof they likewise fall to be so madde and praecipitate in luste raging both with gestures and voice that they caste their lustfull eyes vppon euerie kind of Women attempting wheresoeuer they meet them to rauish or ingender with them and besides because of this oppression of their minde their body consumeth and vadeth away for three daies after the Colt is foaled hee can hardly touch the ground with his head It is not good to touch them for they are harmed by often handling onely it is profitable that it be suffered with the damme in some warme and large stable so as neither it be vexed with cold nor in daunger to be oppressed by the Mare thorough want of roome Also their hooues must be looked vnto least their dung sticking vnto them burne them afterward when it waxeth stronger turne him out into the field with his damme least the Mare ouer-mourne her selfe for want of hir foale for such beasts loue their young ones exceedingly After three daies let the Mare bee exercised and rid vppe and downe but with such a pace as the foale may follow her for that shall amend and encrease her milke If the Colt haue soft hooues it will make him runne more speedily vppon the hard ground or else lay little stones vnder their feet for by such meanes their hooues are hardned and if that preuaile not take swines grease and brimstone neuer burned and the stalkes of Garlicke bruzed and mingled all together and therewithall anoint the hooues The mountaines also are good for the breeding of Colts for two causes first for that in those places their hooues are hardned and secondly by their continual ascending and discending their bodies are better prepared for induring of labour And thus much may suffice for the educating and nursing of foales For their weaning obserue