thereof And thus much for the Hydra whether it be true or fabulous Of innocent SERPENTS I Doe read of two kindes of innocent Serpents one called Lybies because they are only in Africk and never do hurt unto men and therefore Nicander was deceived which maketh this kinde of Serpent to be the same with the Amâ—dyte whose sting or teeth are very mortall and deadly There be also other kindes of harmlesse Serpents as that called Molurus Mustaca and Mylacris which is said to go upon the tail and it hath no notable property except that one thing which giveth it the name for Molurus is derived from Molis Ourâ—n that is hardly making water There be also domesticall innocent Serpents Myagrus Orophia and Spathiurus which whether they be one kinde or many I will not stand upon for they are all termed by the Germans Hussunck and Husschlang that is a House-snake They live by hunting of Mice and Weasels and upon their heads they have two little ears like to the ears of a Mouse and because they be as black as coals the Italians call them Serpe nero and Carbon and Garabonazzo and the French-men Anguille de Hay that is a Snake of hedges There be some that nourish them in Glasses with branne and when they are at liberty they live in Dung-hills also wherein they breed sometimes they have been seen to suck a Cow for then they twist their tails about the Cowes legs Matthiolus writeth that the flesh of this Snake when the head tail intrails fat and gall are cut off and cast away to be a speciall remedy a-against the French-pox There are are also other kindes of Innocent Serpents as that called Parea and in Italy Baron and Pagerina which are brought out of the East where these are bred There be no other harmfull Serpents in that Countrey They are of a yellow colour like Gold and about four spans long upon either side they have two lines or strakes which begin about a hand breadth from their neck and end at their tail They are without poyson as may appear by the report of Gesner for he did see a man hold the head alive in his hand And thus much shall suffice to have spoken of Innocent Serpents Of the LIZARD ALthough there be many kinds of Lizards yet in this place I will intreat first of the vulgar Lizard called in the Hebrew Letaah Lanigermâ—sha Lyserda Carbo Pelipah and Eglose the Chaldeans Haltetha and Humeta the Arabians Ataia Albathaie or Albadaie Hardun Atab Samabras Saambras the Grecians in ancient time Sauros and Saura and vulgarly at this day Kolisaura the Italians in some places Liguro â—â—eguro Lucerta and Lucertula about Trent Racani and Ramarri and yet Remarro is also used for a Toad the Spaniards Lagarto Lacerta Lagartisa and Lagardixa the French Lisarde the Germans Adax and when they distinguish the male from the female they expresse the male Ein Egochs and the female Egles in Hessia Lydetstch in Flanders and Illyria Gessierka and Gesstier the Latines Lacertus and Lacerta because it hath arms and shoulders like a man and for this cause also the Salamander the Stellion the Crocodile and Scorpions are also called sometimes Lacerti Lizards And thus much shall suffice for the name The vulgar Lizard is described on this sort the skin is hard and full of scales according to this saying of Virgil Absint picti squalentia terga Lacerti In English thus Those put away And painted Lizards with their scalie backs The colour of it is pale and distinguished with certain rusty spots as Pliny writeth with long strakes or lines to the tail but generally they are of many colours but the green with the white belly living in bushes bedges and is the most beautifull and most respected and of this we shall peculiarly intreat hereafter There have been some Lizards taken in the beginning of September whose colour was like Brasse yet dark and dusky and their belly partly white and partly of an earthy colour but upon either side they had certain little pricks or spots like printed Scarres their length was not past four fingers their eyes looked backward and the holes and passages of their ears were round the fingers of their feet were very small being five in number both before and behind with small nails and behind that was the longest which standeth in the place of a mans fore-finger and one of them standeth different from the other as the thumb doth upon a mans hand but on the forefeet all of them stand equall not one behinde or before another These little Lizards do differ from the Stellions in this that they have bloud in their veins and they are covered with a hard skin winking with the upper eye-lid All manner of Lizards have a cloven tongue and the top thereof is somewhat hairy or at the least wise divided like the fashion and figure of hair Their teeth are also as small as hair being black and very sharp and it seemeth also they are very weak because when they bite they leave them in the wound Their lungs are small and dry yet apt to swell and receive windâ— by inflamation their belly is uniform and simple their intrails long their Milt round round and small and their stones cleave inwardly to their loyns their tail is like the tail of a Serpent and it is the opinion of Aristotle that the same being cut off groweth again The reason whereof is given by Cardan because imperfect creatures are full of moystnesse and therefore the parts cut off do easily grow again And Pliny reporteth that in his dayes he saw Lizards with double tails whereunto Americus Vespusius agreeth for he saith that he saw in a certain Island not far from Lisbon a Lizard with a double tail They have four feet two behinde and two before and the former feet bend backward and the hinder feet forward like to the knees of a man Now concerning the different kinds of Lizards I must speak as briefly as I can in this place wherein I shall comprehend both the Countreys wherein they breed and also their severall kinds with some other accidents necessary to be known There is a kinde of Lizard called Guarell or Vâ—ell and Alguarill with the dung whereof the Physitians do cure little pimples and spots in the face and yet Belâ—unensis maketh a question whether this be to be referred to the Lizards or not because Lizards are not found but in the Countrey out of Cities and these are found every where There is also another kinde of Lizard called Lacertus Martensis which being salted with the head and purple Wooll Oyl of Cedar and the powder of burnt Paper so put into a linnen cloth and rubbed upon a bald place do cause the hair that is fallen off to come again There be other Lizards called by the Grecians Arurae and by the Latines Lacertae Pâ—ssininae which continually abide in green corn these burned to powder and the same
the hips that they slip not collar They have a round head a face like a man but black and bald on the crown his nose in a reasonable distance from his mouth like a mans and not continued like an Apes his stones greenish blew like a Turkey stone They are caught after the manner of Apes and being tamed and taught they conceive and work very admirable feats and their skins pulled off them being dead are dressed for garments The foolish Arabians dedicated Memnonius cercopitheous unto heaven and in all afflictions implored his aid There is one other kind of Munkeys whose tail is only hairy at the tip called Cercolipis The CEPUS or Martine Munkey THe Martin called Cepus of the Greek word Kepos which Aristotle writeth Kebos and some translate Caebus some Cephus or Cepphus or more barbarously Celphus the Latines sometimes Ortus for indeed this kind of Ape in his best estate is like * a garden set with divers flowers and therefore the best kind of them is discerned and known by the sweetest favour such being alwayes the most ingenious imitators of men It is very probable that this name Cepus is derived of the Hebrew Koph and Kophin signifying Apes in general as is before said but yet this kind is distinguished from other by Strabo Aelianus and Pliny although Aristotle doth make no difference betwixt this and another ordinary Munkey The games of great Pompey first of all brought these Martines to the sight of the Romans and afterward Rome saw no more they are the same which are brought out of Aethiopia and the farthest Arabia their feet and knees being like a mans and their fore-feet like hands their inward parts like a mans so that some have doubted what kind of creature this should be which is in part a man and yet a Four-footed beast it having a face like a Lion and some part of the body like a Panther being as big as a wilde Goat or Roe-buck or as one of the Dogs of Erithrea and a long tail the which such of them as have tasted flesh wil eat from their own bodies Concerning their colour howsoever they are not all alike for some are black with white spots having a greater voice then others some yellow some Lion-tauny some golden-yellow and some cole-black yet for the most part the head and back parts to the tail are of a fiery colour with some golden hair aspersed among the residue a white snowt and certain golden strakes like a collar going about the neck the inferiour parts of the neck down to the breast and the forefeet are white their two dugs as big as a mans hand can gripe are of a blewish colour and their belly white their hinder legs black and the shape of their snout like a Cynochephale which may be the difference betwixt Aelianus and Strabo their Cepus and Aristotles Cebus for nature many times bringeth forth like beasts which are not of the same kind In England there was a Martine that had his back and sides of a green colour having here and there white hair the belly chin and beard which was round white the face and shins black and the nose white being of the lesser kind for in bigness it exceeded not a Coney Some of them in Aethiopia have a face like a Satyre and other members in part resembling a Bear and in part a Dog so are the Prasian Apes This Martine did the Babylonians inhabiting neer Memphis for the stangeness the colour and shape thereof worship for a God They are of evill disposition like Apes and therefore we will spare both their pictures and further description finding very little of them in Histories worth commemoration The Ape CALITRICH THe Calitrich so called by reason of his beard and may be termed in English a bearded Ape will live no other where then in Ethiopia and India which are easie to take but very hard to bring away alive into these Countrys They differ in appearance from all other Apes having a long beard and a large tail hairy at the end being in India all white which the Indians hunt with darts and being tamed they are so apt to play that a man would think they were created for no other purpose whereupon the Grecians use in proverbe an Ape having a beard for a ridiculous and foolish jesting man Of the Prasyan Apes MEgasthenes saith Aelianus and Strabo writeth of Apes in Prasia a Region in India which are no lesse then great Dogs and five cubits high having hair like a Man coming forth of their forehead and beards being altogether white except their tails which are two cubits and a half long very like a Lions and unto a simple man it might seem that their tufts of hair were artificially trimmed thought it grow naturally Their beard is much like a Satyres and although their body be white yet is their head and tip of their tail yellow so that the Martins before mentioned seem to be affianced to these These Prasyan Apes live in Mountains and Woods and yet are they not wilde but so tame that oftentimes in great multitudes they come down to the Gates and Suburbs of Latagis where the King commandeth them dayly sodden Rice for their food which they eat and being filled return again to their home and usuall places of harbour in great moderation doing no harme to any thing While he was in the ship bound with chains other of the company having been on land to forrage brought out of the Marishes a Bore which Bore was shewed to the Munkey at the first sight either of other set up their bristles the raging Munkey leapeth upon the Bore and windeth his tail round about the Bore and with the one arme which he had left caught him and held him so fast by the throat that he stifled him There is another kind of Munkey for stature bignesse and shape like a Man for by his knees secret parts and face you would judge him a wilde man such as inhabit Numidia and the Lapones for he is altogether overgrown with hair no creature except a man can stand so long as he he loveth women and children dearly like other of his own kind and is so venereous that he will attempt to ravish women whose Image is here described as it was taken forth of the book of the description of the holy Land Of the CYNOCEPALE or BABOUN CYnocephales are a kind of Apes whose heads are like Dogs and their other parts like a mans wherefore Gaza translateth them Canicipites to wit dog-heads In the French German and Illyrian tongues they are called of some Babion and Babuino in Italian is a small kind of Ape but Aristotle saith that a Cynocephale is bigger then an Ape In English they are called Babouns There are many kinds of Baboons whereof some are much given to fishing so that they will tarry
they fail and wax dry the hair also shorteneth with them and as it were rotteth away in length but if they abound and overflow then do they loosen the roots of the hair and cause them to fall off totally This disease is called Alopecia and the other Ophiasis because it is not general but only particular in one member or part of the body or head and there it windeth or indenteth like a Serpents figure Michael Ferus affirmeth that sometime the liver of the Fox inflameth and then it is not cured but by the Ulcerous blood flowing to the skin and that evill blood causeth the Alopecia or falling away of the hair for which cause as is already said a Foxes skin is little worth that is taken in the Summer time The length of the life of a Fox is not certainly known yet as Stumpsius and others affirm it is longer then the life of a Dog If the urine of a Fox fall upon the grasse or other herbs it dryeth and killeth them and the earth remaineth barren ever afterward The savour of a Fox is more strong then of any other vulgar beast he stinketh at nose and tail for which cause Martial calleth it Olidam Vulpem an Olent or smelling beast Hic olidam clamosus ages in retia vulpem Touching the hunting or taking of Foxes I approve the opinion of Xenophon who avoucheth Leporum capturam venatico studio quam vulpium digniorem that is the hunting of the Hare is a more noble game or pastime then the hunting of the Fox This beast is more fearful of a Dog then a Hare for the only barking of Dogs causeth him to rise many times from his den or lodgings out of the earth or from the middle of bushes briars and brambles wherein he hid himself and for his hunting this is to be observed that as in hunting of a Hart it hath been already related the Hunter must drive the beast with the winde because it hindereth his refrigeration so in hunting of a Fox he drive him against the winde and then he preventeth all his crafty and subtill agitations and devises for it stayeth his speed in running and also keepeth his savour fresh alway in the nose of the Dogs that follow him for the Dogs that kill a Fox must be swift strong and quick sented and it is not good to put on a few at once but a good company together for be assured the Fox will not lose his own bloud till he hazzard some of his enemies and with his tail which he windeth every way doth he delude the Hunters when the Dogs are pressed neer unto him and are ready to bite him he striketh his tail betwixt his legs and with his own urine wetteth the same and so instantly striketh it into the Dogs mouths whereof when they have tasted so many of them as it toucheth will commonly leave off and follow no farther Their teeth are exceeding sharp and therefore they fear not to assault or contend with beasts exceeding their stature strength and quantity Sometime he leapeth up into a tree and there standeth to be seen and bayed at by the Dogs and Hunters like as a Champion in some Fort or Castle and although fire be cast at him yet will he not descend down among the Dogs yea he endureth to be beaten and pierced with Hunters spears but at length being compelled to forsake his hold and give over to his enemies down he leapeth falling upon the crew of barking Dogs like a flash of lightning and where he layeth hold there he never looseth teeth or asswageth wrath till other Dogs have torn his limbs and driven breath out of his body If at any time he take the earth then with Terriar Dogs they ferret him out of his den again In some places they take upon them to take him with nets which seldom proveth because with his teeth he teareth them in pieces yet by Calentius this devise is allowed in this Verse Et laqueo Vulpes decipe casse fuinas But this must be wrought under the earth in the caves dens or surrowes made of purpose which is to be performed two manner of wayes one by placing the Gin in some perch of wood so as that as soon as the beast is taken by the Neck it may presently flie up and hang him for otherwise with his teeth he will shear it asunder and escape away alive or else that neer the place where the rope is fastened to slip upon the head of the Fox there be placed some thick collar or brace so as he can never bite it asunder The French have a kinde of Gin to take by the legs which they call Hausepied and I have heard of some which have found the Foxes leg in the same Gin bitten off with his own teeth from his body rather putting himself to that torment with his own teeth then to expect the mercy of the Hunter and so went away upon three feet and other have counterfeited themselves dead restraining their breath and winking not stirring any member when they saw the Hunter come to take them out of the Gin who coming and taking his leg forth not suspecting any life in them so soon as the Fox perceiveth himself free away he went and never gave thanks for his deliverance for this cause Blondus saith truly that only wise and old Hunters are fit to take Foxes for they have so many devises to beguile men and deliver themselves that it is hard to know when he is safely taken untill he be throughly dead They also use to set up Gins for them baited with Chickens in bushes and hedges but if the setter be not at hand so soon as the Fox is insnared it is dangerous but that the beast will deliver it self In some places again they set up an iron toile having in it a ring for the Fox to thrust in his head and through that sharp pikes at the farther end whereof is placed a piece of flesh so that when the hungry Fox cometh to bite at the meat and thrusteth in his head the pikes stick fast in his neck and he inevitably insnared Moreover as the harmefulness of this beast hath troubled many so also they have devised more engins to deceive and take him for this cause there is another policy to kill him by a bow full bent with a sharp arrow and so tenderly placed as is a trap for a Mouse and as soon as ever the Fox treadeth thereon presently the arrow is discharged into his own bowels by the weight of his foot Again for the killing of this beast they use this sleight they take of Bacon-grease or Bacon as much as ones hand and rost the same a little and therewith anoint their shooe-soles and then take the liver of a Hog cut in pieces and as they come out of the wood where the beast lodgeth they must scatter the said pieces in their foot-steps
find no such thing The cure according to Martin is thus Bring the Horse into some house or place that hath over head a strong balk or beam going overthwart and strew that place thick with straw then put on four pasternes with four rings on his feet and then fasten the one end of a long root to one of those rings then thread all the other rings with the loose end of the rope and so draw all his four feet together and cast him on the straw That done cast the rope over the baulk and hoise the Horse so as he may lie flat on his back with his â—egs upward without strugling Then bathe his stones well with warm Water and Butter most â—n together and the stones being somewhat warm and well mollified raise them up from the body with both your hands being closed by the fingers fast together and holding the stones in your 〈…〉 in such manner work down the gâ—â— into the body of the Horse by striking it downward continually with your two thumbs one labouring immediately after another untill you perceive that side of the stone to be so small as the other and having so discorded that is to say returned the gâ—t into his right place take a list of two fingers broad throughly anointed with fresh Butter 〈…〉 stones both together with the same so nigh as may be not over hard but so as you may put your finger betwixt That done take the Horse quietly down and lead him fair and softly into the stable where he must stand warm and not be stirred for the space of three weeks But forget â—ot the next day after his discording to unloosen the list and to take it away and as well at that time 〈◊〉 every day once or twice after to cast a dish or two of cold water up into his cods and that will cause him to shrink up his stones and thereby restrain the gâ—t from falling down and at the three weeks end be sure it were not amisse to gold the stone on that side away so shall he never be encorded again on that side But let him not eat much nor drink much and let his drink be alwayes warm Of the bâ—toh in the grains of a Horse IF a Horse be full of humours and then suddenly laboured the humours will resort into the weaâ—est partâ— and there gather together and breed a B 〈…〉 h and especially in the hinder parts betwixt the thighs not far from the cods The signes be chese The hinder legs will be all swollen and especially from the hoofs upward and if you feel with your hand you shall find a great kind of swelling and if it be round and hard it will gather to a head The cure according to Martin is thus First râ—pe it with a plaister take of Wheat-flowre of Turpentine and of Hony of each a like quantity stirring it together to make a stiffe plaister and with a cloth lay it unto the sore renewing it every day once untill it break or wax soft and then lance it as the matter may run downward then â—ent it with Turpentine and Hogs grease molten together renewing it every day once untill it be whole Of the diseases incident to the womb of a Mare and specially of barrenness IT seemeth by some writers that the womb of a Mare is subject to certain diseases though not so many as the womb of a Woman as to ascent descent falling out Convulsion Barrenness aborsement yea Aristotle and others do not let to write that menstrual bloud doth naturally void from the Mare as from the Woman though it be so little in quantity as it cannot be well perceived But sith none of mine Authors have written thereof to any purpose nor any Farrier of this time that I know have had any experience in such matters I will passe them all over with silence saving barrennesse whereof I promised before in his due place to declare unto you the causes and such kind of cure for the same as the old writers have taught A Mare then may be barren through the untemperateness of the womb or matrix as well for that it is too hot and fiery or else too cold and moist or too dry or else too short or too narrow or having the neck thereof turned awry or by means of some obstruction or stopping in the matrix or for that the Marc is too fat or too lean and many times Mares go barren for that they be not well Horsed Wel the cure of barrenness that cometh through the fault of the matrix or womb according to the old writers is thus Take a good handful of Leeks stamp them in a morter with half a glasse full of wine then put thereunto twelve Flies called of the Apothecaries Cantharides of divers colours if they may be gotten then strain all together with a sufficient quantity of water to serve the Marâ— therewith two dayes together by powring the same into her nature with a horn or glyster-pipe made of purpose and at the end of three dayes next following offer the Horse unto her that should cover her and immediately after that she is covered wash her nature twice together with cold water Another receipt for the same purpose TAke of Nitrum of Sparrows dung and Turpentine of each a like quantity well wrought together and made like a Suppository and put that into her nature and it will cause her to desire the Horse and also to conceive Hippocrates saith that it is good also to put a nettle into the Horses mouth that should cover her Of the Itch Scab and Manginess in the tail and falling of the tail IN Spring time Horses many times are troubled with the Troncheons in their fundament and then they will rub their tail and break the hair thereof and yet in his tail perhaps shall be neither Itch Scurffe nor Scab wherefore if you rake the Horse well with your hand anointed with Sope and search for those Troncheons and pull them clean out you shall cause him to leave rubbing and if you see that the hair do fall away it self then it is a sign that it is either eaten with Worms or that there is some Scurffe or Scab fretting the hair and causing such an itch in his tail as the Horse is alwayes rubbing the same As touching the wormes Scurffe or Scab it shall be good to anoint all the tail with Sope and then to wash it clean even to the ground with strong lie and that will kill the Wormes and make the hair to grow again And if much of the tail be worn away in shall be needful to keep the tail continually wet with a spunge dipt in fair water and that will make the hair to grow very fast But if the Horses tail be mangy then heal that like as you do the manginess of the mane before rehearsed Again if there breed any Canker in the tail which will consume both flesh and bone and as Laurentius Russius
it is natural to Pea-cocks and Panthers to have divers colours in them for there are in Hircania Panthers with little round spots like eyes both black white blew and green as both Solinus and Claudius testifie which caused Martial to write thus Picto quod juga delicata collo Pardus sustinet There is a land called Terra eremborum inhabited by the Troglodytes and Sarazens in Lybia where the upper face of the earth is compared unto the Panthers skin because through the heat of the Sun it is burned and died as it were into divers colours so that ye shall see divers spots of white black and green earth as if it were done of purpose by the hand of man The teeth of the Panther are like saws as are also a Dogs and a Lions their tongue of such incredible sharpness that in licking it grateth like a file The females have four udders in the midst of their belly the heart is great in proportion because he is a violent Beast terrifying man There are many fissures in their feet Their former feet have five distinct claws or fingers and their hinder-feet but four for little ones among four-footed beasts have five fingers upon their hinder-feet when they go they hide their nails within the skin of their feet as it were in sheaths never bringing them forth but when they are in their prey to the intent they should never be broken nor dulled Their tails have no long hairs at the end like a Lions or Oxes and the Leopard hath a wider mouth then the Pardal The female is oftener times taken then the male the reason is given by Volaterran because she is inforced to seek abroad for her own meat and her young ones The place of their aboad is among the Mountains and Woods and especially they delight in the tree Camphory They raven upon flesh both Birds and Beasts for which cause they hide themselves in trees especially in Mauritania where they are not very swift of foot and therefore they give themselves to take Apes which they attain by this policy when they see the Apes they make after them who at their first approaching climbe up into the tops of trees and there sit to avoid the Panthers teeth for she is not able to follow them so high but yet she is more cunning then the Apes and therefore deviseth more shifts to take them that where nature hath denyed her bodily power there she might supply that want by the gifts of the minde Forth therefore she goeth and under the tree where the Apes are lodged she lyeth down as though she were dead stretching out her limbs and restraining her breath shutting her eyes and shewing all other tokens of expiration The Apes that sit on the tops of the tree behold from on high the behaviour of their adversary and because all of them wish her dead they more easily believe that which so much they desire and yet dare not descend to make tryal Then to end their doubts they chuse out one from among them all whom they think to be of the best courage and him they send down as it were for an espy to certifie all the residue forth then he goeth with a thousand fears in his minde and leapeth from bough to bough with no great hast for dread of an ill bargain yet being come down dareth not approach high but having taken a view of the counterfeit and repressed his own fear returneth back again After a little space he descendeth the second time and cometh nearer the Panther then before yet returneth without touching him Then he descendeth the third time looking into his eyes and maketh trial whether he draweth breath or no but the Panther keepeth both breath and limbs immoveable by that means imâ—oldning the Apes to their own destruction for the Spie-ape sitteth down beside the Panther and stirreth not now when those which are above in the tree see how their intelligencer abideth constantly beside their adversary without harm they gather their spirits together and descend down in great multitudes running about the Panther first of all going upon him and afterwards leaping with great joy and exultation mocking this their adversary with all their apish toys and testifying their joy for her supposed death and in this sort the Panther suffereth them to continue a great season till he perceiveth they are throughly wearied and then upon a sudden he leapeth up alive again taking some of them in his claws destroying and killing them with teeth and nails till he have prepared for himself a rich dinner out of his adversaries flesh And like as Vlysses endured all the contumelies and reproaches both of his maids and Wives suiters until he had a just occasion given him of revenge so doth the Panther the disdainful dealing of the Apes whereupon came the proverb Pardi mortâ—ni dissimulat Thanaton Pardaleos hypoâ—rinetai against a cunning dissembling fellow such a one as Brutuâ— was who counterfeited madness that he might get the Empire So great is the love of this Beast to all Spices and Aromatical trees that they come over all the Mountain Taurus through Armenia and Silia when the windes bring the savour of the sweet gum unto them out of Pamphilia from the tree Storax whereupon lyeth this story There was a certain Panther which was taken by King Arsaces and a golden collar put upon his neck with this inscription Rex Arsaces Deo Nisaeo that is King Arsaces to the God Bacchus for Bacchus was called Nisaeuâ— of a City Nisae in India This Beast grew very tame and would suffer himself to be handled and stroked by the hands of men until the Spring time that he winded the savour of the Aromatical trees and then he would run away from all his acquaintance according to his kinde and so at last was taken in the neather part of the Mountain Taurus which was many hundred miles distant from the Kings Court of Armenia We have shewed already how they love the gum of Camphory watching that tree to the end to preserve it for their own use and indeed as Aelianus saith Admirabâ—lem quantam odâ—ris suavitatem oâ—et Pardalis quam bene olendi praestantiam divino munere donatam cum sibi propriam plane tenet tam 〈◊〉 â—â—tera animalia ejus hanc vim praeclare sentiunt that is to say The Panther or Pardal smelleth most sweetly which savour he hath received from a divine gift and doth only feel the benefit of it himself but also bewray it unto other Beasts for when he feeleth himself to be hungry and stand in need of meat then doth he get up into some rough tree and by his savour or sweet smell draweth unto him an innumerable company of wilde Goats Harts Roes and Hindes and such other Beasts and so upon a sudden leapeth down upon them when he espyeth his convenient time And Solinus saith that the sweetness of his savour worketh the same effect
Poets amplified with sundry accidental Histories Hierogliphycks Epigrams Emblems and Aenigmatical Observations By EDVVARD TOPSELL The Boas London Printed by E. Cotes 1658. To the Reader GEntle and pious Reader although it be needlesse for me to write any more of the publishing of this Treatise of Venemous Beasts yet for your better satisfaction and direction briefly take this which followeth After the publishing of the former book of Four-footed Beasts I understood of two things much misliked therein wherein I also my self received a just offence First the manifold escapes in the Presse which turned and sometimes over-turned the sense in many places especially in the Latine which fault as it may in part concern me so yet it toucheth another more deeply yet are both of us excusable He in wanting the true knowledge of the Latine Tongue and I because of my employment in my Pastorall charge and both of us together because we were not so throughly estated as to maintain a sufficient Scholar to attend only upon the Presse Wherefore in this second Book we have removed away that blot and used a more accurate diligence and I trust there is no escape committed perverting the sense and not very many altering the letters The second exception taken against the former Treatise was the not Englishing or translating of the Latine Verses which thing I purposed to have done if I had not been overhastened in the businesse for it had been to the work an Ornament and to the History a more ample declaration This fault I have now amended in the setting forth of this second Book of Living Creatures All therefore that can be said for your direction I could wish the History more compleat for the manifestation of the most blessed Trinities glory whose works are here declared and for the better revelation of the severall natures of every Serpent I may fail in the expressing of some particular yet I suppose that I have omitted no one thing in their narration which might be warranted by good authority or experience And therefore although I cannot say that I have said all that can be written of these living Creatures yet I dare say I have wrote more then ever was before me written in any Language Now therefore ask the Creatures after God and they will tell you For saith S. Austin Interrogatio creaturarum profunda est consideratio ipsarum responsio earum attestatio ipsarum de Deo quoniam omnia clamant Deus nos fecit The asking of the Creatures is a deep and profound consideration of their severall natures their answer is their attestation or testimony of God because all ofthem cry out The Lord hath made us Wherefore seeing it is most true incognita non desiderantur things unknown are not desired to the intent that all true English Christians may hereafter more affectionately long after and desire both the mysticall vision of God in this World and also his perfect sight in the World to come I have for my part out of that weak ability wherewith I am endued made known unto them in their own mother Tongue the wonderfull works of God for the admiring of Gods praise in the Creatures standeth not in a confused ignorance not knowing the beginnings and reason of every thing but rather in a curious and artificiall investigation of their greatest secrets Therefore let all living men consider every part of divine wisdome in all his works for if it be high he thereby terrifieth the proud by the truth he feedeth the great ones by his affability he nourisheth the little ones And so I will conclude my Preface with the words of the three Children O all ye works of the Lord praise him and magnifie him for ever Edward Topsell A GENERAL TREATISE OF SERPENTS DIVINE MORAL and NATVRAL Of the Creation and first Beginning of SERPENTS THere is no Man that can justly take exception that this History of Serpents beginneth at their Creation for seeing our purpose is to set forth the works of GOD by which as by a clear glass he endevoureth to disperse and distribute the knowledge of his Majesty Omnipotency Wisdom and Goodness to the whole race of Mankinde it seemeth most proper that the first stone of this building laid in the foundation be fetched from the Creation and the rather because some Naturalists especially amongst the ancient Heathen have taken the Original of these venomous Beasts to be of the earth without all respect of Divine and Primary Creation And hereunto some Hereticks as the Manichees and Marcionites have also subscribed though not directly for they account the Creation of these venomous and all hurtful Beasts an unworthy work for the good GOD because they could never see any good use of such creatures in the World Yet we know the blessed Trinity created the whole frame of this visible World by it self and for good reasonable and necessary causes framed both the beneficial and hurtful Creatures either for a Physical or Metaphysical end Therefore it is most certain that if we consider the outward parts of these Creatures endued with life no man nor nature could begin and make them but the first Essence or Fountain of life and if we can be brought to acknowledge a difference betwixt our shallow capacity and the deep wisdom of God it may necessarily follow by an unavoidable sequel that their uses and ends were good although in the barrenness of our understanding we cannot conceive or learn them But I purpose not to follow these things Philosophically by arguments but rather Divinely by evident demonstration of the things themselves And first of all it appeareth Gen. 1. 24. that God brought out of the earth all creeping things after their kinde And lest that any man should doubt that under the general name of creeping things Serpents and other venomous Beasts were not intelligibly enough expressed it is added Chap. 3. 1. That the Serpent was more subtile then all the Beasts of the field which God had made The Prophet David also Psal 148. 7. among other things which are exhorted by the Prophet to praise their Creator there are named Dragons which are the greatest kinde of Serpents Unto this also alluded S. James ch 3. 7. saying That the whole nature of Beasts and of Birds of creeping things and things in the Sea iâ— tameâ— by the nature of Man for Man which is next unto God hath authority and power to rule over all his works and therefore over Serpents And herein it is fit to shew what wonders men have wrought upon Serpents taming and destroying them rather like Worms and Beasts no ways enemies to mankinde but friendly and endued with sociable respect or else as weaklings commanded by a superior power Such an one was Atyr a notable Inchanter who by touching any Serpent brought it into a deadly sleep according to these verses Nec non Serpentes diro exarmare veneno Doctus Atyr tactuque graves sepire chelydros In
Many of those which have stings do forgoe and quite lose them when Winter draweth on as some make reckoning but it was never my hap to see this saith the Philosopher in his 9. Book De hist Animal capit 41. If you catch a Wasp holding her fast by the feet suffering her to make her usual humming sound you shall have all those that lack stings presently come flying about you which the stinged Wasps never are seen to do Therefore some hold this as a good reason to prove that the one should be the male the other the female Both these sorts both wilde and unwilde have been seen to couple toger after the manner of flies Besides in respect of sex both kindes of Wasps are divided into Captains or Ring-leaders and into labourers those former are ever greater in quantity and of more calm disposition these other both lesser more froward testy peevish and divers The males of labourers never live one whole year out but all of them die in the Winter time which is evident by this because in the very beginning of cold weather they are as it were frozen or benummed and in the depth or midst of hard winter a man shall hardly or never see any of them But yet for all that their Dukes or principal Chieftains are seen all the Winter long to lie hid in their lurking holes under the earth and indeed many men when they plowed or broke up the ground and digged in Winter have found of this sort But as for the labouring Wasp I never as yet heard of any that could finde them Their Principal or Captain is broader thicker more ponderous and greater then the male Wasp and so not very swift in flight for the weightinesse of their bodies is such an hinderance to them that they cannot flie very far whereby it cometh to passe that they ever remain at home in their hives there making and devising their combes of a certain glutinous matter or substance brought unto them by the Work-wasps thus spending their time in executing and doing all those duties that are meet intheir Cells Wasps are not long lived for their Dukes who live longest do not exceed two years And the labouring that is the male Wasps together with Autumn make an end of their days Yea which is more strange whether their Dukes or Captains of the former year after they have ingendered and brought forth new sprung up Dukes do die together with the new Wasps and whether this do come to passe after one and the self same order or whether yet they do and may live any longer time divers men do diversly doubt All men hold the wilder kinde to be more strong of nature and to continue and hold out the longer For why these other making their nests neer unto common high-ways and beaten paths do live in more hazard lie open to divers injuries and so more subject to shortnesse of life The brevity of their life is after a sort recompensed and some part of amends made by the rare clammy glewishnesse of the same for if you separate their bulks from the head and the head from the breast they will live a long while after and thrust out their sting almost as strongly as if they were undivideable and free from hurt and deaths harm Apollonius calleth Wasps Omotoroi and Aristotle Meloboroi although they do not only feed on raw flesh but also on Pears Plums Grapes Raisins and on divers and sundry sorts of flowers and fruits of the juyce of Elms Sugar Honey and in a manner of all things that are seasoned tempered made pleasant or prepared with either of these two last rehearsed Pliny in his 11. Book capit 53. is of opinion that some Wasps especially those of the wilder and feller kinde do eat the flesh of Serpents which is the cause that death hath sometimes ensued of their poysonous stinging They also hunt after great flies not one whit sparing the harmlesse Bees who by their good deeds have so well deserved According to the nature of the soyl and place they do much differ in their outward form and fashion of their body and in the manner of their qualities and dispositions of their minde for the common Wasps being acquainted and familiarly used to the company of Men and Beasts are the gentler but the Hermites and solitary Wasps are more rude churlish and tempestuous yea Nicander tearmeth them Oloous that is pernicious They are also more unhappy dangerous and deadly in very hot Countries as Ovidius reporteth and namely in the West-Indies where both in their magnitude and figure there is great difference betwixt theirs and ours so that they are accounted far more poysonous and deadly then either the English French Spanish or Barbarian Wasps Some of these dangerous generation do also abound in exceeding cold Countries as Olaus Magnus in his 22. Book telleth us Their use is great and singular for besides that they serve for food to those kind of Hawks which are called Kaistrels or Fleingals Martinets Swallows Owls to Brocks or Badgers and to the Camelion they also do great pleasure and service to men sundry ways for the kill the Phalangium which is a kinde of venomous Spider that hath in all his legs three knots or joynts whose poyson is perilous and deadly and yet Wasps do cure their wounds Raynard the Fox likewise who is so full of his wiles and crafty shifting is reported to lie in wait to betray Wasps after this sort The wily thief thrusteth his bushy tail into the Wasps nest there holding it so long until he perceive it to be full of them then drawing it slily forth he beateth and smiteth his tail full of Wasps against the next stone or tree never resting so long as he seeth any of them alive and thus playing his Fox like parts many times together at last he setteth upon their combes devouring all that he can finde Pliny greatly commendeth the so litary Wasp to be very effectual against a Quartain Ague if you catch her with your left hand and tie or fasten her to any part of your body always provided that it must be the first Wasp that you lay hold on that year Mizaldus memor Cent. 7. attributeth great vertue to the distilled water and likewise to the decoction of common Wasps affirming expresly that if any part be therewith anointed it straight ways causeth it to swell monstrously and to be pussed up that you would imagine them to be sick of a Dropsie and this course crafty drabs and queans use to perswade their sweet hearts that they are forsooth with childe by them thus many times beguiling and blinding the eyes of wary and expert Midwives Whereupon we may very confidently conclude that their poyson is very hot flatulous or windy Some do prole after Wasps and kill them by other sleights and devises For when the labourers do much use and frequent Elms which they do very often about the Summer solstice to gather
they set their Grab-hooks unto them to loose them for the day before they remembred that a Ship was cast away in the same place and therefore they thought that it might be the Nets were hanged upon some of the tacklings thereof and therein they were not much deceived for it happened that finding the place whereupon the Net did stay they pulled and found some difficulty to remove it but at last they pulled it up and found it to be a chair of beaten gold At the sight hereof their spirits were a little revived because they had attained so rich a booty and yet like men burdened with wealth especially the old man conceived new fears and wished he were on land lest some storm should fall and lay both it and them the second time in the bottom of the Sea So great is the impression of fear and the natural presage of evill in men that know but little in things to come that many times they prove true Prophets of their own destruction although they have little reason till the moment of perill come upon them and so it fell out accordingly in this old man for whilest he feared death by storms and tempests on the Sea it came upon him but by another way and means For behold the Devill entred into the hearts of his two servants and they conspired together to kill the old man their Master that so between themselves they might be owners of that great rich chair the value whereof as they conceived might make them Gentlemen and maintain them in some other Countrey all the days of their life For such was the resolution that they conceived upon the present that it would not be safe for them to return home again after the fact committed lest they should be apprehended for murder as they justly deserved their Master being so made away by them The Devill that had put this wicked motion into their mindes gave them likewise present opportunity to put the same in execution depriving them of all grace pity and piety still thrusting them forward to perform the same So that not giving him any warning of his death one of them in most savage and cruel manner dashed out his brains and the other speedily cast him into the Sea And thus the fear of this old man conceived without all reason except superstition for the sight of a Fiery-drake came upon him in a more bloudy manner then he expected but life suspected it self and rumors of peril unto guilty consciences such as all we mortal men bear are many times as forcible as the sentence of a Judge to the heart of the condemned prisoner and therefore it were happy that either we could not fear except when the causes are certain or else that we might never perish but upon premonition And therefore I conclude with the example of this man that it is not good to hold a superstitious fear lest God see it and being angry therewith bring upon us the evill which we fear But this is not the end of the story for that Fire-drake as by the sequel appeareth proved as evill to the servants as he did to the Master These two sons of the Devill made thus rich by the death of their Master forthwith they sailed towards the Coast of France but first of all they broke the Chair in pieces and wrapped it up in one of their Nets making account that it was the best fish that ever was taken in that Net and so they laid it in one end of their Bark or Fisher-boat And thus they laboured all that night and the next day till three or four of the clock at what time they espyed a Port of Britain whereof they were exceeding glad by reason that they were weary hungry and thirsty with long labour always rich in their own conceit by the gold which they had gotten which had so drawn their hearts from God as they could not fear any thought of his judgement And finally it so blinded their eyes and stopped their ears that they did not see the vengeance that followed them nor hear the cry of their Masters bloud Wherefore as they were thus rejoycing at the sight of land behold they suddenly espyed a Man of War coming towards them whereat they were appalled and began to think with themselves that their rich hopes were now at an end and they had laboured for other but yet resolved to die rather then to suffer the booty to be taken away from them And while they thus thought the Man of War approached and hailed them summoning them to come in and shew what they were they refused making forward as fast to the Land as they could Wherefore the Man of War shot certain Muskets at them and not prevailing nor they yeelding sent after them his Long-boat upon the entrance thereof they fought manfully against the assaylants until one of them was slain and the other mortally wounded who seeing his fellow kill'd and himself not likely to live yet in envy against his enemy ran presently to the place where the Chair lay in the Net and lifting the same up with all his might cast it from him into the Sea instantly falling down after that fact as one not able through weaknesse to stand any longer whereupon he was taken and before his life left him he related the whole story to them that took him earnestly desiring them to signifie so much into England which they did accordingly and as I have heard the whole story was printed and so this second History of the punishment of murder I have related in this place by occasion of the Fiery-drake in the History of the Dragon A second cause why poyson is supposed to be in Dragons is for that they often feed upon many venomous roots and therefore their poyson sticketh in their teeth whereupon many times the party bitten by them seemeth to be poysoned but this falleth out accidentally not from the nature of the Dragon but from the nature of the meat which the Dragon eateth And this is it which Homer knew and affirmed in his verses when he described a Dragon making his den neer unto the place where many venomous roots and herbs grew and by eating whereof he greatly annoyeth mankinde when he biteth them Os de Drakoon espi Xein oresteros andra menesi Bebrocos kaka pharmaka Which may be thus Englished And the Dragon which by men remains Eats evill herbs without deadly pains And therefore Aelianus saith well that when the Dragon meaneth to do most harm to men he eateth deadly poysonful herbs so that if he bite after them many not knowing the cause of the poyson and seeing or feeling venom by it do attribute that to his nature which doth proceed from his meat Besides his teeth which bite deep he also killeth with his tail for be will so begirt and pinch in the body that he doth gripe it to death and also the strokes of it are so strong that either
faltereth and stammereth not being able to sound their words or to pronounce directly their talk is idle they wander and rove up and down in great perplexity their heart being tormented tossed and turmoiled with an extraordinary kind of furious passion The Spider that is found in the pulse called Ervum which is very like to Tares or Vetches produceth by his venom the same evil effects that the former doth and if Horses or other beasts do by chance devour any of them their bodies are so inflamed by means of their unquenchable thirstinesse the poyson causeth that many times they burst asunder in the midst If the Cranocalaptes wound any man as Pliny assureth us it is not long before death it self do succeed And yet Nicander and Aetius hold the contrary and would make us believe that his hurt is soon remedyed without any great ado yet herein they do consent that if any be hurt with any Spider of this kinde there will follow a great pain of the head coldnesse swimming and giddinesse of the brain much disquietnesse of the whole body and pricking pains of the stomach But notwithstanding all this saith Nicander the patient is soon remedied and all these above rehearsed passions quickly appeased and brought to an end The Sclerocephalus as it much resembleth the Cranocalaptes Spider in form and proportion so in his force effect and violence they are much alike causing the same symptomes accidents and passions as the former The wound that the Spider called Ragion inflicteth is very small so that a man can hardly discern it with his eyes but yet if one be hurt therewith the lower part of the eyes and the eye-lids wax very red Besides the patient feeleth a shivering cold or chilnesse in his loins with weaknesse and feeblenesse in the knees yea the whole body is taken with a great quaking cold and the sinews by means of the violence and rancknesse of the poyson suffer a Convulsion The parts serving to generation are made so impotent and weak as that they are not able to retain the seed nor yet to contain their urine which they void forth much like in colour to a Spiders-web and they feel the like pain as they do which are stung with Scorpions Of the the wounding of the Star-spider feeblenesse and weaknesse followeth so that one cannot stand upright the knees buckle sleep and shaking drousinesse seizeth upon the hurt parts and yet the worst of all is the blewish Spider for this bringeth dimnesse of the eye-sight and vomiting much like unto Spiders and cobwebs in colour fainting and swounding weaknesse of the knees heavy sleeps and death it self If a man be wounded of the Tetragnathian Spider the place waxeth whitish with an intolerable vehement and continual pain in it and the member it self withereth and pineth away even to the very joints Finally the whole body by receiving any wholesome sustenance is nothing at all relieved thereby yea and after a man hath recovered his health yet is he neverthelesse disquieted by much watching for a long time after as Actius writeth Nicander in expresse words confesseth that the Ash-coloured Tetragnath doth not by his biting infuse any venom or like hurt If the speckled Phalangie of Apulia which is usually known by the name of Tarantula do bite any one there will follow divers and contrary accidents and symptomes according to the various constitution different complexion and disposition of the party wounded For after they are hurt by the Tarantula you shall see some of them laugh others contrariwise to weep some will clatter out of measure so that you shall never get them to hold their tongues and othersome again you shall observe to be as mute as fishes this man sleepeth continually and another cannot be brought to any rest at all but runneth up and down raging and raving like a mad man There be some that imagine themselves to be some great Lords or Kings and that their authority Empire and signory extendeth it self far and wide and for that cause they will seem to charge others by vertue of their absolute and Kingly authority and as they tender their favours and will avoid their displeasure to see this or that businesse dispatched and with others again the contrary conceit so much prevaileth as by a strong imagination they cannot be otherwise disswaded but that they are taken prisoners that they lie in some deep dungeon or prison with bolts and shakels about their feet so many as their legs can bear or that their neck and feet lie continually in the stocks You shall see some of them to be cheerful quick of spirit and lively with dancing swinging and shaking themselves With others again you shall have nothing but sadnesse and heavinesse of minde brown-studies unaptnesse to do any thing as if one were astonyed so that nothing but numnesse and dulnesse of moving and feeling seemeth to pinch them being to see to very senselesse In conclusion as drunkennesse to sundry persons is not all one but much different according to the diversity of complexions and natural constitution of the brain so neither is the madnesse or frenzy sits of these persons all one that be infected with a Tarantulaes poyson but some of them are fearful silent ever trembling and quaking and others again are more fool-hardy rash presumptuous clamorous full of noise doing nothing else but call and cry out and some few seem to be very grave constant and stedfast that will not alter their purposes for a world of wealth But let them be affected either with this or that passion yet this is common to them all as well to one as to another that they are generally delighted with musical Instruments and at their sound or noise will so trip it on the toes dancer-like applying both their mindes and bodies to dancing and frisking up and down that during the time of any musical harmony they will never leave moving their members and limbs like a Jackanapes that cannot stand still And which is more strange they will use these motions and gestures when they are ready to depart this life through the lingering stay and vehement cruelty of the poysons operation and yet for all this though they be so neer unto death yet if they hear any musick they come again to themselves newly gathering their spirits and strength and with a greater alacrity promptnesse of minde and cheer they foot it as frolickly as ever they did or could have done And thus doing and dancing both day and night without any notorious intermission and by their continued sweating the poyson being dispersed into the pores of the skin and evaporated by insensible transpiration or breathing out are at length by this means recovered to their former health and state of body And if the Pipers and Fidlers cease playing with their musick though never so little a while before the matter of the poyson be in some part exhausted then will they make a recidivation and returning to their
following Ille domum venatu pascit at ista Moeonio graciles orditur tegmine telas Stanniparus venter vomifilus lanifer ipsi Palladiam cumulatque colum calatosque ministrat Ipsius est fusum pondus quod fila trahendo Nectit intorquet parili sub tegmine ducta Illa suam à mediis orditur Daedala telam Et gracili tenues intendit stamine tractus Tela jugo juncta est stamen secernit arundo Inseritur medium radiis subtegmen acutis Atque oram à centro panum sibi staminat illam Pervia tela patet gemina de parte feroci Ne concussa curo frangantur stamina quoque Musca volax tenui stretur sinuamine cassis Reticuli primam vix muscula contigit oram Mors abit in telae centrum ut discrimine parvo Vinciat ipse suo peregrinam casse volucrem Which may be Englished thus The Spider-male by hunting game the houses charge doth feed The female with Moeonian art begins to spin fine thred Out of Web-breeding belly breast woolly upcasting twine Whereto the distaffe she applyes by art of Pallas fine To her belongs the pressed weight which doth the teal out-draw Both matter art and substance she doth shield by natures Law Like Daedala out of her middest her web she doth begin And stretching out her tender worke by pressing it full thin The which is joyned as in yoke yet parted by a cane And planted is the middle roof in a sharp beamy frame And from the Center draweth a thred like wooll to lye upon While double work on every part doth fortifie her wono Wherewith the blasts of Eastern winde unbroken web resists And tender fly insnarled is fallen into those lists While scarce upon the edge or brim this little Flie doth fall But by and by death seizeth her within webs center thrall And so the stranger winged Flie with little or no adoe She overcometh speedily when it the nets comes to Of these Cobwebs there is great diversity variety and differencé for some of them are loose weak slack and not well bound other contrary-wise well compacted and close couched together some triangular othersome quadrangular and some are made with all sides equall but yet not right angled or cornered like a quarry of Glasse others are made of such a form as will best fit the place where they hunt you shall perceive some of them to be orbicular if they weave between two trees and you shall finde this fashion also among weeds and oftentimes in Windowes hanging together with many lines and different crosse pieces so that herein no man can deny but that they shew forth great reason wisdome admirable judgement and much gallant beauty worthy to see to Surely Euclides that famous Geometrician who was Scholar to Socrates and lived in the time of Ptolemy the first need not be ashamed to learn from Spiders the drawing of divers of his figures and Geometricall proportions And Fisher-men also from them have been glad to learn the trade of Net-making For from whom else could they borrow and fetch such lively representations and such expresse patterns then from such a skilfull and industrious School-master But the strength of the web seemeth to be very strange which although it seemeth to be the most week of all other things yet we see it is able to hold Hornets and to endure the furious blasts of raging windes and if one throw or cast dust upon it the same will rather be distended and stretched then either undone broken or felled down And yet this is the strangest of all which many a man would think impossible but that it cannot be called in question in regard we may daily see and observe the proof thereof cometh to passe that a Spider should begin to place the one end of her thred on the one side of a little River or Brook and how she should fasten the other end on the other side of the water considering that Nature never taught them the art either of flying or swimming I would fain be resolved of this scruple by what means they sayl and passe over Or do you imagine that they jump over or convey themselves over in a leap Surely I dare not say so I much doubt thereof I will not stand to it The next that best deserveth to be marshalled in the second rank and place for cunning work in weaving and spinning be those kinde of Spiders who build and labour about the rafters of Houses in Cellars floors and about boards planks and such like and of these some are wilder which do fashion and dresse a broad thick and plain web in the grasse and fields all about stretching out the same like a sayl or some fine spread Sheet or Curtain If you would duely look into their work and throughly consider the strange trydles of their Looms the Shittles they use their Combes to make all clean the stay of their Looms wherewith they dresse their Webs their Crosse-lines the frame Wouf their fine spinning-stuffe and so their whole Cobwebs you shall therein very plainly behold the finger of God working in his poor and weak Creatures And questionlesse in this excellent mystery they are able to put down and farre surmount the Egyptians the Lydians Penelope Tanaquil who was Wife to Tarquinius Priscus Amestris that famous Queen of Persia Claudiana Sabina and Julia Noble Roman Ladies and all the Queens of Macedonia who were esteemed and renowned throughout the whole world to be the most curious and exquisite in this kinde of faculty and who in needle-work Tapestry and all Embroydery were thought to be Peerlesse For these Spiders even contrary to all reason and Art as we think make a firm strong and well compacted Web with no lines or threds drawn crosse-wise or overthwart but only made out and continued still in length When their work is perfected and brought to an end they lay over it and cover it round about with a certain glutinous kinde of Jelly or slimed juice by touching of which their prey being entangled pay full deerly for their ignorant rashnesse unadvised heed-taking and lack of fore-sight Their Web is of the colour of the air or rather none at all which easily deceiveth the foolish unwary Flies and such as be quick-sighted circumspect and can espy things very quickly For if it did represent any notorious and manifest colour they would provide in time against such dangerous devises and take heed of such traps aforehand The baser and vilder sort of Spiders and such as be least reputed of are those that live in holes Caves and corners of Houses and these in respect of the former are slow slothfull and lazy fat grosse and big-bellyed corner-creepers and these spin a very homely rough and course thred which they spread abroad and set before the hollow places and chinks of Walls These kindes of Spiders have a more heavy and ponderous body shorter feet and more unhandsome to work or finish any Webbes in their Looms and as
do passe from them into the Bees But yet notwithstanding he this shall warily weigh and observe how they give out to every one his several task some to make Combs others to gather Honey dresse up their rooms cleanse their laystals to prop up and repair their ruin'd fences to cover their boxes to draw out the spirit of the Honey to doncoct it to bring it to their cells to serve those that are at work with water to give food at certain set hours to those that are bed-ridden feeble and aged with so great care to defend their King or Master-Bee to drive away Spiders and all other their invaders or annoyers to rid their Hives of their dead lest their work should be marred with stench or perefaction to be able every one to return to his particular cell in a word to seek their living as near home as they may when they have sucked dry the neighbouring herbs or flowers then to send our spies to 〈◊〉 for pasture farther off upon any night design or expedition to lye under the leaves of the trees lest their wings being wet with the dew their speed home the next day should be hindred in â—â—oisterous weather to poise or ballance their light bodies with a little stone taken up into their mouthes and when the wind blowes hard to recover the windy side of the hedge to shelter themselvs and the like surely he will confesse of his own accord that their Common-wealth is wonderful well ordered and that there is very great discretion and understanding in them I had almost let passe that natural 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or affection that great constance seldome seen in Parents of this Age wherewith they care for their young ones in the Hive where they have laid them they sit upon them as birds do and never go abroad unlesse enforced with extreme hunger and when they do they presently return in again as if they were afraid lest the Spider if they tarried long which many times happen should cover the mouth of the cell with his web or their little ones being benumm'd with cold should be in danger to be starved But yet neither are their children delicate or nicely brought up for at three daies end 〈◊〉 as they have any wings they set them to work and have a strict care that they loyter not or take a 〈◊〉 of Idlenesse So much fore knowledge likewise have they that they can presage rains or cold weather to come And then by instinct of nature they never go far abroad but hover about their stocks or Hives and sit upon them as upon flowers When they go forth to pasture which is not at see times but only when it is fair weather then they labour and toyle so hard and so lade themselves with Honey that oftentimes through wearinesse they fail in their journey being notable to reach home and whereas some of them by reason of roughnesse and hairinesse become â—â—apt for labour then they rub themselves against rugged stones or the like till they be smooth again and so they buckle to their work afresh as hard as they can drive The youth or middle aged Bees are imployed abroad and bring home those things which the King or Master-Bee gives them in charge the elder sort take care of the family at home and doo orders and dispose of the Honey which the middle aged Bees gather and make abroad In the morning they are all still and silent till such time as the Master-Bee gives three hums and miseth them up and then every one makes haste out to his several imployment In the evening when they return home they at the first make a great noyse and 〈◊〉 and within a while afterward by little and little cease till at length the Captain of the watch flies about and makes a buzzing as it were commanding them to their rest after which signal given they are all so husht and still that if you lay your ear to the Hives mouth you cannot perceive the least noise they make so subject are they to their rulers and governors and at their beck and nod are presently quach't CHAP. III. Of the Creation Generation and Propagation of Bees FOrasmuch as Philosophers have given out that Bees for the first sin of mankinde are begotten of putrefaction there are not wanting those that deny they were created in the first week of the world I leave the question wholly to be determined by others although some Divines especially Dubravius and Danaus do abundantly affirm that they were created with the perfect Bodies Of the first Generation of Bees Aristotle hath a long discourse The Philosophers following him have rightly determined in my opinion that their Generation doth proceed from the corruption of some other body as of a Bull Oxe Cow Calf very excellent and profitable beasts the which not only worthy men and without all exception do report but even rustical and common experience doth confirm They say that out of the brains of these beasts are bred the Kings and Nobility and of their flesh the common sort of ordinary Bees There are likewise Kings that are bred out of the marrow of the chine-bone but then those that come of the brains do far excell the other in feature or comlinesse in largenesse in prudence and in strength of body Now the first transformation of this flesh into these Creatures as it were by a kinde of conception you shall then perceive to be when as these little imperfect creatures appear in great numbers about the Oxe Lion c. in a small white hew and as yet without motion but increasing by degrees and their wings by little and little growing out they come to their proper colour flying to and hovering about their King or Master-Bee but yet with short wings and trembling as unaccustomed to flight and by reason of the weaknesse of their limbs Now what countreys do most conduce to the generation of Bees and what are most hurtful to them we shall afterwards handle when we come to treat of Honey But in general there are very few places in the world to be found unlesse it be in a very barren countrey and unwholsome air and where no food fit for them can be had in which Bees cannot breed and very well live But where there is perpetual frost and snow as in Scanzia or where the countrey is barren of herbs and trees as in Thule there they are neither able to breed nor live As also for the poisonous condition of the airs and nature of the soil some sort of Bees do not endure to live there as in the Isle of Myoonos it is reported that if Bees be carried thither if Aelian be to believed they presently dye But whereas Munster saith of Ireland and Solinus of Great Britain that those Countreys are altogether without and that they cannot live there if they had not spoke rather by hearsay then of their own knowledge they would have written
big teeth excellently made to devour the fruits withall The second seems to be like this but that the hood is fastned to the neck the nose also and mouth are more red and it hath greater spots in the wings 〈…〉 third is of a green co 〈…〉 〈◊〉 shanks whitish the tail blackish 〈◊〉 wings beset with greater store of spots and about the edges of a pale red Now these are females from whom the three males differ in this that either in the end or above the tail they have two or three prickles or stings and the middle of their hood appeareth more red The first sort of the lesser Locusts called of the Tigurines Holtsspecht is in body black the utmost wings spotted the innermost spattered with virmilion the thighs brown or swarthy with black lines curiously drawn up and down Of the second the cornicles eyes and shanks are of a pleasant red the thighs or shanks are also diversified with black lines the wings speckled the belly of a dark red upon yellow all which do exhibit a very fine pretty creature The third seems to be of a dark ash-colour the cornicles very short and the wings of an unusual length longer then the body The fourth is all over of a darkish green but that the hood is set with two black lines and the ends of the shanks are of a lively shining red The fifth is a little lesser than the rest but in ordering and variety of colour more pleasant to the sight the body head and feet are of a faint red with green wings and a golden lace drawn through the middle of the head very bright and shining All those of the lesser sort have wings as long or longer than their bodies they have bendes no â—â—ng or prickle in their tail nor bear any sâ—em they are seldome seen in the corn but altogether in meddowes and pastures as I have seen them in France and our Countrey of Britannie I have seen only three kindes very rare i. e. Italian Greek and Affrican they are called Mantes foretellers either because by their coming for they first of all appear they do shew the Spring to be at hand so Anacreon the Poet sang or else they foretell dearth and famine as Caelius the Scholiast of Theocritus have observed Or lastly because it alwaies holds up its sorefeet like hands praying as it were after the manner of their Diviners who in that gesture did pour out their supplications to their Gods Of this Italian Mantis whose figure we do here represent Rondeletius makes mention in his book de Piscibus in these words It hath a long breast slender covered with a hood the head plain the eyes bloudy of a sufficient bignesse the cornicle short it hath six feet like the Locust but the foremost thicker and longer than the other the which because for the most part she holds up together praying-wise it is commonly called with us Preque Dieu the whole body is lean So divine a creature is this esteemed that if a childe aske the way to such a place she will stretch out one of her feet and shew him the right way and seldome or never miss Her tail is two forked armed with two bristly prickles and as she resembleth those Diviners in the elevation of her hands so also in likeness of motion for they do not sport themselves as others do nor leap nor play but walking softly she retains her modesty and shewes forth a kinde of mature gravity Though Pennius affirms that he often saw this kinde at Montpellier yet in his papers he saith that he received the figure of it from the worthy Antonius Saracenus a Physician of Geneva Another species of this Mantis Carolus Clusius sent from Vienna exactly described being brought thither out of Greece which is like unto the former in shape and magnitude but of another colour bestowed on it either by nature or the place where it lives for it hath cornicles of a full yellow the eye of hyacinth colour the wings of a faint yellow the rest of the body of Amethyst only that the feet shanks as also the joynts of them were more hairy and white and the clawes of the fingers bended backward were black Concerning the copulation of Locusts I rather subscribe to Valeriola who hath searched diligently into their nature than to Aristotle himself They couple saith he as I have seen by the male getting upon the female at what time he puts those two prickles that come out of the end of his back into the matrix of the female and so they continue in conjunction very close and for a long time in so much they can scarce with your hands be pulled asunder when once coupled neither by leaping and motion or any other way The female being tickled underneath moveth her womb very busily and applying her self with the bottome thereof to the male doth hold him for a long while sometime with the opening of the matrix sometimes with the shutting or closing of it again augmenting the pleasure of her venery for while the matrix is open the male gets into the bottome or farther end thereof and when it is contracted or closed she is delighted with the affriction and tickling of the womb and the passages thereof Nowâ—here are to be seen two passages in the secret part of the female separated by a kinde of partition and are covered over with a little thick cover which in the outside is black hard and gristly but within somewhat roughish hairy and wrinkled at the bottome of this the matrix appears whitish like that of Women Now the female bringeth forth as Aristot saith the little stem that growes to her tail being stuck in the ground and then layeth all her burden together in the same place not scattering up and down but as it were like a honey comb Hence proceeds a kinde of little worm in the likeness of an egge included in a little earthly thin membrane the which being forced open out come the Locusts and fly abroad But by the favour of so great a Philosopher they lay eggs indeed in the beginning of Autumn though not of the fashion of eggs as I have seen with my eyes and have had them in my hands The which feture is so tender that with the least touch it is bruised to pieces Neither is it laid upon the superficies of the earth but somewhat deeper and in the winter under ground where in the winter they being perfected by concoction in the subsequent year almost at the latter end of Spring they come forth out of the shell or membrane aforesaid wherein they were being little blackish Locusts creeping up and down without either shanks or wings which afterwards in a short time become bigger They bring forth at the latter end of Summer and when they have so done they forthwith die certain little vermine breeding about their necks as it happeneth to the Beetle in the time of their bearing which do
will stand to the judgement of Hippocrates that women are more â—ot than men but if they be not so yet it must needs be acknowledged that the female Grashoppers are more hot than the male because under the midriffe they are not so divided but the males in that place were it not for that little membrane to hinder they might easily be blown through Nature certainly intended by denying a voice to the females of these Grashoppers to teach our women that lesson 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 what ornament silence brings to the female sex They begin first of all to sing about the latter end of the Spring the Sun being 〈◊〉 past the Meridian and perchance in hotter Countreys sooner where quickseâ—s or thickeâ—s are 〈◊〉 rare there they live more happily and sing more willingly For they are of all creatures the least melancholy and for that reason they do affect not only green and pleasant 〈…〉 es but 〈…〉 on and open fields Yea they are not to be found in those places where there are no trees at all nor where there are too many and too shady Hence it comes to passe saâ—tâ— Arist that aâ— Cyrene in none of the fields there is there any Grashoppers to be found whereas near the Town they are frequently heard They shun also cold places indeed they cannot live in them They love the Olive tree because of the thinness of the bough and narrowness of the leaves whereby they are lesse shady They never alter their place as neither doth the Stork or at least very seldome or if they do they are ever after silent they sing no more so much doth the love of their native soyl prevail with them In the Countrey of Miletus saith Pliny they are seldome seen In the Island Cepholenia there runs a River on the one side whereof there is plenty of them on the other in a manner none that which I should take to be the cause is either the want of trees or the too much abundance or else a certain natural antipathy of the soyl as Ireland neither brings forth not breeds any venomous creature for the same reasons they do not fancy the Kingdome of Naples although Niphus relates that to be done by the enchantment of one Maro Timaeus that writeth the History of Sicily reports that in the Countrey of Locris on the hither side of the River Helicis they are marvellous loud on the other side toward the city of Rhegium there is scarce one to be heard they are not therefore silent because Hercules prayed against them for disturbing him of his sleep as Solinus fabulously relates but because they are more merry and jocond at home as the Cock is whence it is that the Locrian Grashoppers will not sing at Rhegium nor theirs on the contrary near Locris and yet there is but a small river runs between them such a one as one may cast a stone over Much certainly doth their Countrey which comprehends in it all the love that may be move them where like the people of the Jewes they refuse to sing their native Songs in a strange Countrey who being cast out of their own habitation seek means to die rather than waies to live so prodigal seem they of their short life and desirous after their native dwelling They do so affect the company of men that unless they see fields full of Mowers or harvest folk and the waies with passengers they sing very low and seldome or silently and to themselves But if once they hear the reapers making merry talking and singing which is commonly at noon then they sing so loud as if they strove who should sing loudest together with them Wherefore not undeservedly was the Parasice in Athenaeus called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 who being naturally obstemious by nature yet was so full of talk as if he strove that no body should be heard at the table but he Socrates in his Phaedro recites the History of the Grashoppers very wittily warning men not to sleep in the heat of the day lest the Grashoppers mock them for the Poets report how their diligence was highly rewarded For they â—ay that the Grashoppers before the Muses were were men who afterwards when the Muses came taught them to sing but some of them were so delighted with musick and singing that altogether neglecting their meat and drink inconsiderately they perished the which afterwards being turned into Grashoppers the Muses gave them that for a reward that they should be able to live even in the heat of the day without meat or drink neither to have any need of bloud or moisture They couple and generate with creatures of the same kinde as Aristotle tels us and the male casts his seed into the female which she accordingly receives they bring forth in fallow grounds hollowing it with that sharp picked hollow part of their tail as the Bruchus doth and therefore there is great plenty of Grashoppers in the Countrey of Cyrene Also in reeds wherewith the vines are propped they make hollow a place for their nest and sometimes they breed in the stalk of the herb Squilla but this brood soon fals to the ground This is also worth the notice which Hugo Solerius writing upon Aetius affirmeth that the Grashoppers dye with bringing forth the ventricle of the female being rent asunder in the birth the which some being very much deceived therein do report of the Viper the which I exceedingly marvel at For they lay white eggs and do not bring forth a living creature as the field mouse doth unless it be by reason of weakness of the egge comes a little worm of that comes a creature like to the Aurelia of the Butterfly which is called Tettigometra at what time they are very delicate meat to be eaten before the shell be broken afterwards about the Solstices in the night come forth of that matrix the Grashoppers all black hard and somewhat big When they are thus got out those that are for the quicksets betake themselves thither those that live amongst the corn go and sit upon that at their departue they leave behinde them a little kinde of moisture not long after they are able to take wing and they begin to sing That therefore which Solerius feigneth concerning the bursting of the womb of the mother I should conceive to be understood of the matrixes A certain woman did bring up some young Grashoppers for her delight sake and to hear them sing which became with young without the help of the male if we may believe Arist 1. l. de hist anim but since he hath told us that all the females of Grashoppers are mute by nature and this spontaneous impregnation is far from truth either the woman deceived Aristotle or he us There is another kinde of Generation of Grashoppers that we read of For if clay be not dug up in due time it will breed Grashoppers so saith Paracelsus and before him Hesychius For this cause Plato saith
so it is likely other Birds doe To make a woman conceive Hippocrates prescribes three or four parts of those that have tayls bruised with Origanum and Oyl of Roses to be laid to the mouth of the matrix In his first de morb mulier and in another place of the same book he bids apply with Wooll the heads of these Worms mingled with the Secondine of a woman and Allum of Egypt and goose grease It is reported that Democrates of Athens when he was a youth and was sick of the Falling sicknesse went to Delphos and enquired of Apollo what he would advise him to take against this troublesome disease and that Apollo answered Take the greatest Maggot you can finde In a wilde Goats head and fast binde That in a sheep-skin c Democrates having heard the answer of Apollo he repaired to Theognostus Democratius who was then ninety yeers old and he wondring at the providence of God expounded this Oracle that was so doubtfull Saith he by nature the head of a wilde Goat is full of abundance of Worms neer to the basis of the brain and when he neeseth many Worms fly forth at his nostrils you must therefore lay a garment under the Goat that these Worms may not touch the ground but that you may catch them before and so taking one or two of them put it into a black Sheep-skin and binde it to your tender neck and this saith he is a natural remedy against this disease These things are good against Maggots bred in ulcers and wounds in man or beast First cleanse the parts affected with the gall of Frogs the juice of Celandine Sea water or brackish water with the decoction of Honey Worm-wood Horehound Peach-leaves Groundsel juice of Betes and Wine then to kill the Worms strew on Pepper Salt Peter or Allum in powder Hellebore Henbane round Birthwort Vitriol or wash the fore-places with the juice of river Calamint or the decoction of Centaury or with the juice of Leeks or Horehound Johannes Agricola prescribes Bugloss but Pliny preferres Aristolochia with Honey and Paracelsus commends juice of Celandine Montanus commends Nitre before all other things Vegetius bids to wash the â—ores early in the morning with cold water and to drench them throughly for he affirms that the Worms by this means will be so contracted with cold that they will soon fall down Aetius commends Poly and Worm-wood mingled with Pitch and he commends the anoynting of the parts with fasting spittle Hildegardis strews on the pith of Smallage the shell of a Tortoise Bees that are dead in the Hive the leaves and the bark of the Plum-tree powdered and sprinkled on the ulcers Bayrus applies quick lime tempered with the sharpest Vinegar The places where the Worms are being sprinkled with the juice of Hippia will be presently cured saith Tardinus but what this Hippia is no man hath determined Some think it is wilde Tansey some say 't is Potentilla Gesnerus understands it to be Chickweed which by its sharp and Nitrous faculty as the Betes have kills all the Worms CHAP. XXXV Of Nits NIts in the Greek are called Dorcas and Cumidas the Italians call them Lendine the Spaniards Liende the Germans Niss the English Nits the Muscovites call them Guida These are little white living creatures most like to Syrones if they had but feet but they are twice almost as small and their body is somewhat long out of which Aristotle saith that nothing else can breed Crackt between the nails they make a noyse and die they are not found only in the hair and eye-browes of men but they abound also in the hair of Oxen and Cattel that are lean and wanting feet yet they will stick so fast sometimes that you may as easily pull off the hair by the roots as pluck them off Trotulâ— not improperly calls them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hair-eaters for as Snails live on the juice of herbs so these live on the moysture of the hairs and feed thereon The Philosopher affirms that they proceed from the copulation of Lice and therefore are called their egges They are like to the flowers of Jesemine that grows with us For as Jesmine brings flowers without â—eâ—d so Lice bring forth egges without young ones in them They die either for want of nourishment or by using a Comb with close teeth or by the use of such Medicaments as the old and new Physicians prescribe abundantly Pliny mingleth Allum with Vinegar or Vinegar with gall of a Calf and also â—aith they are killed with Goats milk Also he commends Nitre mingled with Terra Samia and smeered on and the powder of Harts-horn drank in wine Abenzoar prescribes to anoynt the hair with the lesser Centaury and Alkitrum Brimstone in Vinegar takes away Nits as also Oyl mingled with Lie Marcellus doth very much commend Hogs dung mingled with wine and juice of Roses also to anoynt with Honey and Sal Armeniack but chiefly Oyl of Radishes with a strong lie Hildegardis provides a lie made of Date-stones which being mingled with Oyl of Radish roots will kill the Nits Ardonus mingles some sublimate of Quick-silver with spirit of wine And he saith also that if the head be first wet with a Hens egge and then with the juice of Sow-bread or Sea-water that the 〈…〉 will never breed again Gilbert an English man highly commends the gall of any Creature as also all bitter things cleansers and Aromatical Drugs with the juice of Marigolds CHAP. XXXVI Of Aureliae and a Wood-worm called Teredo without feet THat which the Latins call Aurelia the Greeks call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the name is borrowed from the golden colour which appears in most of them It hath no mouth nor yet any apparent parts nor doth it void any excrements nor yet eat or move unlesse it be moved by some body or hurt That which Pliny writes that a Chrysallis hath a hard body I think that is meant in respect of a Catterpillar But that which he addes that it will move if a Spider touch it though I know this to be true by experience yet I doubt he borrowed those words from the Philosopher and interpreted them amisse For the sense seems to be thus They move if they be touched and they are covered with pâ—â—es like to Cobwebs Aristotle speaks nothing here of a Spider passing over them as Pliny seems to translate it Aristotle shuts the Aureliae not only out of the number of Insects but also of living Creatures and determins them to be as it were the Caterpillars egges But what agreement is here with an egge That is laid by another living Creature and is void both of actual life and motion The Aurelia is laid by none but is changed from one to another for it changeth its former shape into another shape and retains both life and motion not in possibility of being but actually But that doth not take away the life of it because it neither eats