either they floure or they apple or els be ready to bring forth fruit and look when the leaues begin to wither their prickes lose their force and will not pierce Ixine is a rare herb and geason to be seen and not found growing in al countries alike Immediatly from the root it putteth forth leaus plenty out of the mids of which root there swelleth out a bunch like an apple but the same is couered with the foresaid leaues in the very â—…p of which fruit there is contained a gum of a pleasant tast called the thistle Mastick Touching the herb Cactos which groweth also in Sicily and no where els it hath a property by it self the stalks whereof shooting from the root creep along the ground and it carrieth a broad leafe full of pricks and thorns and indeed these stalks thus running vpon the earth the Sicilians cal Cactos which they vse to keep and preserue and being thus condited also they commonly eat as very good meat One stem it hath growing vpright which they terme Pternix as sweet pleasant as the other but it will not abide to be kept long The seed thereof is couered with a certain soft down which they call Pappos which being taken off with the husk there remaineth a tender kernell within which they eat find it as delicat as the very heart of the Date tree top which is called the Brain and this pith aforesaid the Sicilians name Ascalia The Caltrop thistle Tribulus groweth not but in moory grounds and standing dead waters Surely in other places folke curse it as they passe by the prickes and spurs stick out so dangerously but about the riuers Nilus and Strymon the inhabitants do gather it for their meat the nature of this plant is to lean and bend downward in the head to the water The leafe resembles in form those of the Elme and they hang by a long stele or taile But in other parts of the world there be two other kinds of Tribulus the one is leafed like vnto the Cichling pease the other hath leaues sharp pointed this second kind is later ere it floure and commonly groweth about the mounds of closes lying by villages and town sides the seed lieth in a cod rounder than the other and black withall whereas the former hath a sandy seed Of these thorny and pricky plants there is yet one kind more namely Ononis i. Rest. harrow for it carrieth pricks close to the very branches the leafe is like to Rue the whole stalk throughout is set with leaues disposed in manner of a garland This plant commonly groweth after corn it plagueth the plough and yet there is much adoto rid it out of a ground so loth it is to die Of plants that be prickie some haue their stalkes and branches trailing by the ground as namely that hearbe which they call Coronopus i. Harts horn or Buck-horne Plantaine contrariwise there stand vpright Orchanet the root whereof is so good to colour wax and wood red And of such as be more gentle in handling Camomile Phyllanthus Anemone and Aphace As for Crepis Apate their stalks be all leafe Moreouer this would be noted that the leaues of herbs differ one from another as well as in trees some in the length or shortnesse of the stele whereto they hang others in the breadth or narrownesse of the leafe it selfe in form also whereby you shal haue some cornered others cut and indented likewise in sent and floure for some there be that continue longer in flouring than others and blow not all at once but one part after another as Basill Tornsall Aphaca and Onocheile CHAP. XVII ¶ The difference of herbs in their leafe what hearbes they be that floure all the yeare long of the Asphodell Pistana and Petie-Gladen or Sword-grasse MAny hearbes there be as well as some trees which continue greene and hold their leaues from one end of the yeare to the other as Tornsol and Adianthum or Capillus Veneris Another sort there is of herbs that floure spike-wise of which kind are Cynops Alopecurus i. Foxtaile Stelephuros which some call Ortyx others Plantaine of which I will write more at large among Physick herbs and Thryollis Of these Alopecurus carrieth a soft spike and a thick mossie down not vnlike to Fox-tails whereupon it tooke that name in Greeke and Stelephurus resembleth it very much but that the Foxtaile bloweth not all together but beareth floures some at one time some at another Cichory and such like haue their leaues spreading vpon the ground and those put forth directly from the root beginning to spring immediatly after the apparition of the star Vergiliae As touching Parietary there be other nations as wel as the Aegyptians who feed vpon it it took the name Perdicium in Latine of the bird Perdix i. the Partridge that seeketh after it so much and plucketh it out of the wals where it groweth it hath many roots and the same thick In like maner the herb Ornithogale i. Dogs onion hath a small stem and a white but a root halfe a foot long the same is full of bulbs like onions soft also and accompanied with three or foure other spurs growing out of it This hearbe they vse to seeth among other pot-herbs for potage I will tell you a strange quality of the herb Lotos and of Aegilops if their seed be cast into the ground it wil not come vp in a yeare As wonderfull is the nature also of the Camomile for it beginneth to floure in the head whereas all other herbes which blow not all at once floure at the foot first Notable is the Bur likewise and worthy to be obserued I mean that which sticketh to our clothes as we passe by the floure lieth close and groweth within the said Bur and neuer appeareth without-forth it is I say as it were hatched within much like vnto those liuing creatures that couve and quicken their egges within their belly Semblably about the city Opus there is an herb called Opuntia which men delight to eat this admirable gift the leafe hath That if it be laied in the ground it will take root and there is no other way to plant this herb maintain the kind As for Iasione one leafe it hath and no more but so lapped and infolded that it seemeth as if they were many Touching Condrylla the herb it selfe is bitter but the juice of the root is hot and biting Bitter also is Aphaca or Dent de Lion as also that which is called Picris which name it took of the exceeding bitternesse that it hath the same floureth all the yere long As for Squilla and Safron they be both of a maruellous nature for whereas all other hearbes put out leafe first and then knit round into a stem in those two a man may euidently see the stalk before the leafe And in Saffron verily the said stalk thrusteth out the floure before it but
there is not a tree not so much as the very Vine that sheddeth leaues CHAP. XXII ¶ The nature of such leaues as fall from trees and what leaues they be that change colour ALl trees without the range of those before rehearsed for to reckon them vp by name particularly were a long and tedious piece of work do lose their leaues in winter And verily this hath bin found and obserued by experience that no leaues doe fade and wither but such as be thinne broad and soft As for such as fall not from the tree they be commonly thick skinned hard and narrow and therefore it is a false principle and position held by some That no trees shed their leaues which haue in them a fatty sap or oleous humiditie for who could euer perceiue any such thing in the Mast-holme a drier tree there is not and yet it holdeth alwaies green Timaeus the great Astrologer and Mathematician is of opinion that the Sun being in the signe Scorpio he causeth leaues to fall by a certain venomous and poysoned infection of the aire proceeding from the influence of that maligne constellation But if that were true we may wel and iustly maruell why the same cause should not be effectuall likewise in all other trees Moreouer we see that most trees do let fall their leaues in Autumne some are longer ere they shed continuing green vntill winter be come Neither is the timely or slow fall of the leafe long of the early or late budding for wee see some that burgen and shoot out their spring with the first and yet with the last shed their leaues and become naked as namely the Almond trees Ashes and Elders And contrariwise the Mulberry tree putteth forth leaues with the latest and is one of them that soonest sheddeth them again But the cause hereof lies much in the nature of the soile for the trees that grow vpon a leane dry and hungry ground do sooner cast leafe than others also old trees become bare before yonger and many of them also lose their leaues before their fruit be fully ripe for in the Fig tree that commeth and beaâ—…th late in the winter Pyrry and Pomegranate a man shall see in the later end of the yere fruit only and no leaues vpon the tree Now as touching those trees that continue euer greene you must not think that they keep still the same leaues for as new come the old wither fal away which hapneth commonly in mid-Iune about the Summer Sunne-stead For the most part the leaues in euery kind of tree do hold one and the same colour and continue vniform saue those of the Poplar Ivy and Croton which wee said was called also Cici iâ—… est Ricinus or Palma Christi CHAP. XXIII ¶ Three sorts of Poplar and what leaues they be that change their shape and figure OF Poplars there be found three sundry kinds to wit the white the blacke and that which is named Lybica or the Poplar of Guynee this hath least leaues and those of all other blackest but mow commendable they are for the fungous meazles as it were that come forth thereof As for the white Poplar leafe the leaues when they be yong are as round as if they were drawn with a paire of compasses like vnto those of Citron before named but as they grow elder they run out into certain angles or corners Contrariwise the Ivy leaues at the first be cornered and afterwards become round All Poplar leaues are full of downe as for the white Poplar which is fuller of leaues than the rest the said downe flieth away in the aire like to mossie chats or Thistle-downe The leaues of Pomegranats and Almond trees stand much vpon the red colour But very strange it is and wonderfull which hapneth to the Elme Tillet or Linden the Oliue tree Aspe and Sallow or Willow for their leaues after Midsummer turn about vpside downe in such sort as there is not a more certaine argument that the Sun is entred Cancer and returneth from the South point or Summer Tropicke than to see those leaues so turned CHAP. XXIIII ¶ What leaues they be that vse to turne euery yeare Of Palme or Date tree leaues how they are to be ordered and vsed Also certain wonderfull obseruations about leaues THere is a certain general and vniuersal diuersitie difference obserued in the very leaf for commonly the vpper side which is from the ground is of greene grasse colour more smooth also polished The outside or nether part of the leaf hath in it certain strings sinues or veins brawns and ioynts bearing out like as in the back part of a mans hand but the inside cuts or lines in maner of the palme of ones hand The leaues of the oliue are on the vpper part whiter and lesse smooth and likewise of the Ivy. But the leaues of all trees for most part euery day do turn and open to the Sunne as desirous to haue the inner side warmed therewith The outward or nether side toward the ground of all leaues hath a certaine hoary downe more or lesse here in Italy but in other countries so much there is of it that it serueth the turn for wooll and cotton In the East parts of the world they make good cordage and strong ropes of date tree leaues as we haue said before and the same are better serue longer within than without With vs these Date leaues are pulled from the tree in the Spring whiles they are whole and entire for the better be they which are not clouen or diuided Being thus plucked they are laid a drying within house foure daies together After that they be spred abroad and displaied open to the Sun and left without dores to take all weathers both day and night and to be bleached vntil they be dry and white which done they be sliued and slit for cord-work But to come again to other leaues the broadest are vpon the Fig-tree the Vine and the Plane the narrowest vpon the Myrtle Pomegranat and oliue as for those of the Pine and cedar they be hairy the Holly leaues and all the kindes of Holme be set with sharpe prickes As for the Iuniper in stead of leafe it hath a very pointed thorne The Cypresse and Tamariske carrie fleshie leaues those of the Alder be most thick of all other The Reed and the Willow haue long leaues the Date tree hath them double The leaues of the Peare tree are round but those of the Apple tree are pointed of the Ivie cornered of the Plane tree diuided into certaine incisions of the Pitch tree and the Fir cut in after the maner of comb-teeth of the wild hard Oke waued and indented round about the edges of the brier and bramble sharpe like thornes all the skin ouer Of some they be stinging and biting as of Nettles of others ready to pricke like pins or needles as of the Pine the Pitch tree the Larch the Firre the Cedar and all the
ouermuch wherby the tree is as it were hide-bound they vse to slit the same along with a very sharpe cutting hooke guiding and gaping the edge thereof with both hands that it goe not ouer-deep and so by these incisions they doe open it and as it were losen and enlarge the skin Now when this feat is wrought the onely signe that it is wel don and good for the tree is this if the incisions in tract of time appeare wide and the void place incarnate again and fill vp with a kind of callous substance compounded of the sap and wood together growing betweene Whereby it appeareth that in many cases the cure of mens maladies the diseases of trees is very like for that euen their bones also vse to bee trepanized and bored through as well as ours Also for to make sweet almonds of bitter first the tree must be digged round about and then boared thorough with an augoer toward the root or butt end whereby the waterish humor that runneth downward may issue forth and passe away Moreouer if a man would discharge Elmes of their superfluous moisture they must be pierced with a wimble a little aboue the ground as far as to the very heart or pith if either they be old or be perceiued to receiue ouermuch nutriment In like maner the same excessiue humor is let out of Fig trees by meanes of certaine light slits or gashes made in the barke aslant or byas in case it seeme to swell and be ouer-streight and by this deuise they preuent the falling of their fruit Generally what trees soeuer bearing Apples or such like soft fruit without if they chaunce at any time to proue barren that is to say to put foorth leafe only without any fruit the vse is first to make a clift in the root then to put a stone therin that the edges meet not and rejoin againe and so they become fruitfull The same is practised in Almond trees also but in steed of the stone there must be a wedge of Oken wood driuen in As for Pyrries and Medlar trees those wedges must be made of Pine Torch-wood Moreouer if either vines or fig trees be ouer ranke of wood it is very good to cut and skice the roots round about and when they bee thus serued to couer with ashes the said incisions but then they must bee close couered with ashes and earth aloft If ye would haue trees beare Figs at the later end of the yere pluck off the first green figs so soon as they be somwhat bigger than Beans for vnder them there wil other come vp in the place and be later ere they wax ripe The same fig trees when they begin to spring leaf and look green if the top-twigs of euery bough be cut off becom the stronger more fruitfull by it For as touching the ripening of Figges by Caprification true it is that there be certain flies like gnats engender in greene figs which are the occasion thereof for when they are flown out there are no graines or seeds found within whereby it is euident that they be turned into those flies And when they do fly forth so hasty they are to be gone that many of them as they breake out leaue either a foot or a wing behind them Besides another kind there is of gnats which they call Centtinae for sloth and shrewdnesse like in al the world to Drone-bees so mischeeuous they be to the good flies or gnats indeed that cause the Figs to ripen for them they kill and die themselues when they haue done Moreouer there be certaine wormes like moths that ordinarily do much hurt to the graines or seeds within figs and eat them quite The only remedie against this vermine it is to take a twig or imp of the Italian Lentisk tree and to set or couch it with the wrong or top end downeward in the very same trench were the fig tree was planted For to haue fig trees bear most plentifully take ruddle or red-earth tempered wel wiih the lees or grounds of oile after that the same is mixed with dung poure it to the roots of the trees when they begin to put forth leaues Among wild Fig trees the best be the black those that grow in stonie grounds for their Figges are fullest of cornes or graines within And as for caprification it would be practised after rain And take this for a generall rule That ye beware in any hand in curing of trees least yee vse a mischeefe for a remedie a thing that commonly happeneth by ouer many medicines or the same not applied in due season for as it is very good for-trees to cut and lop off their boughs where they grow too thicke so to be hacking and mangling of them euery yeare hurteth them as much As for the vine it requireth pruning once a yeare but the Myrtle trees Pomegranate and Oliue trees euery two yeares because they will quickly spring againe and shoot forth branches thicke Other trees would not be lopped so often Neither is it good to cut or prune any whatsoeuer it be at the fal of the leafe Nay they are not so much as to be scraped but in the pruning time that is in the Spring All wounding of trees goes to the very heart and hurt the quick vnlesse it be of those parts that are superfluous As great consideration there would be had in the manner of mucking them No doubt they loue dung well but carefull heed would be taken first that none be laid to the roots in the hotest season of the yeare Item That it be not greene but thoroughly rotten lastly that it bee not ouer ranke nor stronger than is needfull Swines dung burnes the root of vines vnlesse it bee fiue yeares old or the vines stand in some place where water is at commaundement for to coole the excessiue heat thereof Also the filth of Tanners oose and Curriers scrapings doe the like if they be not well delaied with water Likewise it must not be laid too thicke The ordinarie proportion is thought to be for euery ten foot square three Modij of dung But herein no certaintie can be set downe for the nature of the soile must rule all With Swines and Pigeons dung they vse to soulder the cuts and wounds that are giuen to trees In case the Pomegranats grow to bee tart and soure the manner is to dig about the root and lay it bare and then to put Hogs dung therto for that yeare the Pomgranats will be full of a wine juice and the next yeare following proue sweet Some good husbandmen there be that think it meet and requisit foure times a yere to water their roots with mans vrine and shere water together and vpon euery one they bestow a whole Amphore Or else to bedeaw and sprinckle the top branches of the Pomegranat trees with wine wherein Laser hath beene steeped When the pomegranat doth cleaue open vpon the tree it is good to wreath the
and tender leaues sodden in vineger and oile rosat and then stamped and so tempered with more oile of roset put too afterwards vntil they be reduced into an ointment are a singular remedy for the pains of the head and especially for the braine and the thin pellicle Pia mater which inwrappeth the brains to which effect the forehead ought to be annointed with the foresaid liniment the mouth to be fomented and washed with the decoction and the whole head afterwards well rubbed also with the abouesaid vnguent They are good for the spleene both taken inwardly in drink and outwardly applied as a liniment The decoction of the same leaues may be drunke very well against the fit of an ague to driue away the shaking cold also for the smal pocks and meazles for which turn likewise they serue if they be puluerized and taken in wine The berries of the Ivie cure the oppilation and hardnesse of the liuer either giuen in drink or applied outwardly So do they open also the obstructions of the liuer if a liniment be vsed only Applied accordingly to the naturall parts of women draw down their monthly sicknesse The juice of yvie and specially of the white which is planted in gardens clenseth the nosthrils of the foule vlcers and vermine therein breeding it rectifieth also the filthy smell proceeding from thence If the same be conueighed vp into the nose it purgeth the head but more effectually if sal-nitre be put therto Moreouer it is to right great purpose dropped into the ears with oile in case they either run matter or be pained It reduceth cicatrices or wounds and vlcers newly skinned to the naturall colour of the other skin the juice of the white Ivy is of more force and better operation for the oppilations of the spleen the swelling hardnesse thereof if it be made hot with a red hot yron than otherwise whereof sixe berries in two cyaths of wine is a sufficient dose Moreouer three berries of the same white Ivie drunke at a time in Oxymell do expell the worms in the belly during which cure it were not amisse to apply them outwardly also As for the Ivie which I called Chrysocarpos if one take twelue of the golden yellow berries thereof beaten to pouder and put them to a sextar of wine three cyaths therof giuen to drink according to Erasistratus purge by vrine the watery humors between the skin and the flesh which ingender the dropsie The same Erasistratus was wont to take fiue such berries stamped into pouder and mixed with oile rosat which after they were made hot in the rind of a Pomgranat he vsed to drop into the eare of the contrary side for the tooth-ach the berries of Ivy which yeeld a iuice as yellow as Safron if a man take before he sit down to drink may be assured that he shal not be drunk at that sitting Likewise they ease them much who are giuen to cast and reach vp bloud or be subiect to the collick and wrings of the belly The white berries of the black Ivie if a man take in drinke dull the vigor of his generall seed and disable him for getting children any Ivy whatsoeuer being boiled in wine so brought to a liniment and applied doth cure all vlcers euen morimals and such as be vntoward for to be healed The liquor issuing out of Ivy is depilatory but as it taketh away haire so it riddeth lice and vermin The floures of any kind of Ivy taken as much as a man may comprehend with 3 fingers twice a day in some green and hard wine help the dysentery or bloudy flix yea and any other laske The same reduced into a liniment with wax are very good to skin and heal burns or scaldings The berries of Ivy colour the haire of the head black The juice of the Ivie root drawn with vineger and taken in drinke is singular against the poison of the venomous spiders Phalangia Moreouer I find in some writers That the drinking out of a cup or dish of Ivy wood also as wel as of Tamarisk cureth those who haue hard Spleens The same authors prescribe to bruise the berries afterwards to burn them and with the ashes to dresse and bestrew the place that is burnt or scalded so that it be first washed bathed in hot water There are Physitians who giue order to cut and lance the Ivy tree for to draw a juice or liquor from the place of the incision which is to be vsed for rotten and worm-eaten teeth and by their saying the faulty teeth will breake and crumble into pieces if they be annointed therwith prouided alwaies that the sound and good teeth standing next be wel defended with wax for catching harm by this medicine moreouer they seek and lay for the gum of Ivy which they would persuade vs assuredly vpon their word to be singular for the teeth being applied thereto with vineger For the vicinity and likenesse of the name of Ivy in Greek which is Cissos I may take occasion to speak in this place of another shrub or plant called Cisthos bigger than Thyme leaued like Basil. Of it be two kinds namely the male with a red Rose colored floure dhe female with a white both sorts are good for dysenteries or bloudy flixes and all loosenesse of the belly if there be drunk twice a day in some green hard wine as much of their floures as may be held at three fingers ends which if they be made into a cerot with wax heale old vlcers burnes and scaldings and alone of themselues cure the cankers or sores in the mouth Vnder this plant specially grows Hypocisthis wherof I haue written in my treatise of Ivies Likewise there is another plant like vnto the Ivy and the Greeks call it Cissos Erythranos which being taken in drink helpeth the Sciatica and is good for the loins but they say it is so vehement and forcible in operation that together with vrine it will euacuat bloud Moreouer there is an Ivy which creepeth and traileth alwaies close by the ground and the same the Greeks call Chamaecissos This herb being stamped and taken in wine to the quantity of one Acetable cureth the infirmity of the spleen The leaues incorporat with swines grease serue to cure burns Furthermore the Bindweed Smilax known also by the name of Nicephoros resembleth Ivy but that it hath smaller leaues They say that a chaplet or guirland made of this Smilax is singular for the headach prouided alwaies That the leaues which goe to the making of it bee in number odde Some haue said that Smilax is of 2 sorts the one which continueth a world of yeres grows in shadowie vallies climbing trees tufted in the head with clusters as it were of berries in manner of grapes a soueraigne plant against all poisons insomuch as if the juice or liquor of the berries be oftentimes dropped into the ears of yong babes or little infants no poisons by report will
moneth of May. A second kind of hony there is which we call Summer hony and is named also Horaeum of that principall season wherin it is made namely in the very midst of dog-daies when the star Sirius is in his full strength and that commonly is 30 daies after the Sun-stead And I assure you Nature hath shewed her admirable and excellent power to men ward in this behalfe in case their fraud and deceit would suffer her works in their entire and proper nature without corruption and sophistication which marreth all and maketh nothing but confusion For vpon the rising and apparition of any star and especially of those that be more excellent than the rest or after that a rainbow is seen aboue the earth and no showers of rain presently follow but a drizling-dew warmed with the raies and beams of the Sun ye shall haue that which falleth not to be bare hony but a very medicinable thing euen a celestiall gift singular good for eies and vlcers yea and comfortable to the principall noble parts within the body And if this happen to be at the rising of the dog-star and it chance withall that vpon the same day as oftentimes it falleth out Venus Iupiter or Mercury bee Orientall then shall yee haue so heauenly a sweet liquor that no one thing in the World may bee comparable to it for the curing of all our maladies and euen to reduce and recouer vs backe from death vnto life like vnto that coelestiall and diuine Nectar which immortalizeth the gods aboue CHAP. XV. ¶ The markes of good hony MOre plenty of hony is gathered in the full of the Moone than at any other time and if therewith the weather be faire the same wil be more vncteous and fattie In all kinds the best hony is that which runneth of it selfe as new Wine and Oile and called it is Acedon as a man would say gotten without care trauell All Summer hony is red as being made in the driest season of the yere The hony which commeth of Time is held to be the best and most profitable in colour like gold in taste right pleasant euident to be knowne by the little leaues therein and the same is likewise fattie That which is made of Rosemary or within the aire and vapour of the sea is thick and such verily as is thus candied and will not run like life-hony is nothing commendable As for Time honey it will not thicken and if a man touch it rope it wil and draw small slimie threds after it which is a principall signe of the weight and heauinesse thereof If hony be short in the handling and soon breake and that the drops part one from the other it is thought to be a token of the worst and coursest of all Another triall there is besides of good hony namely if it be fragrant and odoriferous to smell vnto sweet in taste biting withall or quick at the tongues end glutinous and cleare As touching the driuing of hiues for summer hony Thasius Dionysius is of opinion that the tenth part therof should be left for the bees namely if they were ful if not then according to the proportion but if they were but light and very thin he would not haue them to be touched at all The Athenians goe by this rule and do obserue duly the Caprificial day which is kept wholly vnto Vulcan for then they euer begin to driue their hiues for this kind of honie CHAP. XVI ¶ Of a third kinde of Honie and how a man should know good Bees THere is a third sort of wild hony which the Greeks cal Ericaeum i. Heath or Ling hony and is of least reckoning It is gathered after the first rain in Autumne when the heath and lings only bloom in the woods wherupon it seems as if it were sandy This kind of hony is ingendred for the most part after the rising of Arcturus much about the Ides of September Some there be that continue in gathering Summer hony to the rising of Arcturus betweene which and the Autumne Equinoctial are 14 daies from thence vnto the setting of Virgiliae namely for the space of 48 daies the said heath is most in his blooming time This shrub the Athenians call Tetralix the Euboeans name it Sisara they repute it to be a floure most pleasant to bees haply because at that time there is no plenty of other floures This gathering of hony is about the end of vintage the occultation of the Vergiliae commonly ends by the Ides of Nouember In driuing of the hiues for this hony by good reason two third parts therof would be reserued for the bees especially those corners of the combs which haue in them the prouision called Erithace From the mids of winter to the rising of Arcturus for 60 daies bees are nourished only with sleep without any other food But from that time vnto the spring equinoctial and namely where the weather is more warm they are awake Howbeit they lie stil in their hiue then fal to their victuals which they had laid vp in store against that time but in Italy theâ—… do the like indeed after the rising of the star Virgiliae howbeit till then they do nothing but sleep And there verily men vse when they take the hony forth of the hiues to weigh the combs and so by weight dispense set out how much they will leaue them for their food hauing this opinion that they are bound to deale in justice equity euen with the very bees insomuch as it is commonly said if they be defrauded of their due in this society part-taking and find falshood in fellowship they wil die for griefe so both the old stock will be lost and the hope also of a new increase In the first place therfore this is a rule that such folk only be set about this businesse to driue the hiues who are neat clean A theefe a woman whiles she is in her montâ—…ly sicknes they abhor In the taking out of hony the best means to driue away the bees is to smoke them out of the hiue lest that you anger them or that they deuoure the honie themselues with more greedines Moreouer when they grow to be idle perfuming smoking of them thus now and then maketh them more fresh to go about their worke For when they lie still and doe nothing they make their combes looke dead and blackish Again if they be ouermuch smoked they will be the worse for it and surely the very hony soon catcheth the hurt hereof for so tender and weake will it be that with the least dew that is you shal haue it to turn and wax soure And therefore in all kinds of hony they obserue and keepe that which is called Acapnon i. without smoke The hony gathered of both sorts of Thyme called thereupon Bithymum is not white howbeit very good it is for eies and to clense vlcers Now as
be more sweet and pleasant There is sound within a resemblance of canes and reeds full of this iuice Howbeit about the rising of the Dog star there be certain winged wormes settle vpon the said reeds creepe in and eat away the marrow as it were which lay within so as a man shall find nought left behind but a mouldy dust or rotten powder good for nothing Next to this Storax of Syria great account is made of that which commeth out of Pisidia from Sidon Cypres and Cilicia but least reckoning is made of that which Candie sendeth vs. That which is brought from the mount Amanus in Syria is good for the Physicians but better for the perfumers and confectioners From what nation soeuer it comes the best Storax is that which is red somewhat glutinous besides by reason of the fattines The worst is that which hath no consistence and tenacitie but crumbles like bran and is so mouldie that it is ouergrowne with a white hoarie mosse The pedlers and such like petie merchants can skill how to sophisticate this drug also with the rosin of cedar and gum otherwhiles also with honie or bitter almonds But al these deceits are known by the tast The price of the best is 19 deniers a pound There is a Storax besides which Pamphylia doth yeeld but drier it is and nothing so full of moisture Moreouer we haue from Syria out of the same mountain Amanus another kind of gum called Galbanum issuing out of an hearbe like Fennell-geant which some call by the name of the said Rosin others Stagonitis The best Galbanum and which is most set by is gristly and cleare withall resembling Hammoniacum without any spils of wood in it For in that wise the hucksters vse to deceiue chapmen by mingling beanes with it or the gum Sagapenum The right Galbanum if you burn it chaseth away Serpents with the strong perfume or smoke thereof It is sold for fiue deniers the pound and is vsed only in Physicke for medicines CHAP. XXVI ¶ Of Panaces Spondylium and Malobathrum THe same perfumers seeke also into the same Syria for Panaces growing there and yet it is to be found also about Psophis a citie in Arcadia and the fountaines from whence floweth the riuer Erymanthus yea and in Affricke besides and Macedonie This Panax is an hearbe with a tall stalke and round tuft in the head like Fennell and yet it is a plant by it selfe growing to the height of fiue cubits At the first it putteth out foure leaues and afterwards six They be very large and round withall lying vpon the ground but toward the top they resemble the leaues of an Oliue it beareth seed in the head hanging within certaine round tufts as doth the Ferula Out of the stalk of this hearb there there is drawn a liquor by way of incision made in haruest time and likewise out of the root in Autumne or the fall of the leaf And this is called Opopanax The best lookes white when it is gathered and congealed The next in worth and weight is that which is yellow As for the blacke it is of no account The berter Opoponax costeth not aboue two Asses a pound Another hearbe there is of this Fennell kind namely Spondylium somwhat different from the former but in leaues only because they be lesse than those of Panax and diuided after the manner of the Plane leaues This Spondylium groweth no where but in cold and shadowie places It carrieth a fruit or graine called also Spondylium which resembleth the forme of Sil or Siler montanum and serueth for no vse but Physick We are beholden moreouer to Syria for Malobathrum This is a tree that beares leaues rolled vp round together and seeming to the eie withered Out of which there is drawne and pressed an Oile for perfumers to vse Aegypt is more fruitfull of this hearbe than Syria And yet there comes a better kind therof from India than both those countries It is said that it grows there in meeres and standing waters swimming aloft after the manner of Fen-lentils or Duckes meat more odoriferous than Saffron enclining to a blacke colour rough in handling in tast salt or brackish The white is not so well esteemed It wil soon be mouldie when it is stale The rellish thereof ought to resemble Nardus at the tongues end The perfume or smell that Malobathrum or the leafe yeeldeth when it is boiled in wine passeth all others It is strange and monstrous which is obserued in the price for it hath risen from one denier to 300 a pound whereas the Oile it selfe doth cost 60. CHAP. XXVII ¶ Of Oile Olive made of greene Oliues likewise of Grape Veriuice FOr the mixture and composition of ointments the Oile of vnripe Oliues and Veriuice is very good and verily made it is in two kinds after two sorts to wit of the Oliue and the Vine Of the Oliues if yee would haue good they ought to bee pressed whiles they be yet white for if they turn colour once and be blackish the worse is the Oyle or Veriuice that commeth thereof And such kind of Oliues be called Drupae namely before they be fully ripe and good to eat and yet haue lost their colour And herein is the difference for that the oyle of this later sort is green the other is white Now as for grape Verjuice it should be made of the Vine Psythia or Amminea and before the canicular daies when as the grapes bee but new knit and no bigger than the Cich-pease The grapes I say must be gathered for this purpose at the beginning before they change colour the juice thereof ought then to be taken Then should the Verjuice that comes from it be sunned and heed must be taken in any case that no dews by night do catch it and therefore it would stand in couvert Now when this iuice or verjuice is gathered it is put vp in earthen pots and otherwhiles kept also in vessels of copper The best grape verjuice is red sharp and soure in taste dry withall and scyptick A pound or a pinte of such verjuice is worth six deniers It may be made in another sort namely by punning and stamping vnripe grapes in morters drying it afterwards in the Sunne and so made vp into certain rolls or trochisks CHAP. XXVIII ¶ Of Bryon and Oenanthe of the tree Elate and Cinnamon Cariopus THe mosse of the white Poplar or Asp which is reputed as the grape therof is vsed likewise in these odoriferous and sweet compositions The best grows about Cnidos or Caria in thirsty dry and rough places A second sort is that which is found vpon the Cedar of Lycia To this pertaineth Oenanthae which is no more but the grapes of the wild vine called Labrusca Gathered it is when it floureth that is to say when it smels best It is dried in the shade vpon a linnen sheet lying vnder it and then put vp into little barrels
The chiefe commeth from Parapotamia the second from Antiochia and Laodicea in Syria and a third sort from the mountaines of Media and this is best for medicine Some prefer before all these that which groweth in the Island Cyprus As for that which is made in Africke it is meet for Physitions onely and is called Massaris Now the better euer is that which they gather from the white wild vine than from the black Moreouer there is another tree which serues for perfumes some call it Elate and we Abies i. the Fir others Palma or the Date and some againe Spathe That which grows about the sands of Africk where Iupiter Hammons temple standeth is highly commended aboue the rest and after it that in Aegypt Next thereto is the Syrian This tree is odoriferous when it grows in dry places only it hath in it a certaine fat liquor or Rosin and entreth into compositions of sweet ointments for to correct and mitigate the other oile In Syria there is a drug which they call Cinnamum Caryopon A iuice or oyle this is pressed out of a certain nut This Cinnamon differeth much in forme from the stickes of true Cinnamon indeed aboue specified although in smell it commeth neare vnto it A pound thereof is worth to be bought and sold 40 Asses i. 2 shil 6. d. THE THIRTEENTH BOOK OF THE HISTORIE OF NATVRE WRITTEN BY C. PLINIVS SECVNDVS The Proeme THus far forth the woods and forrests are of estimation in regard of the pleasure they doe vnto vs for perfumes and sweet odors and in truth if we consider duly these aromaticall plants admirable they be cuerie one in their kinde euen as they be weighed apart by themselues alone But such is the riot and super fluitie of man that being not content with that perfection of Nature shining in those plants and trees aboue rehearsed he hath not ceased to mingle and compound them and so of them all together for to make one confused smell and thus were our sweet ointments and precious perfumes deuised whereof we purpose to write in this booke next insuing CHAP. I. ¶ Of Ointments Perfumes and their compositions and when they came into knowledge first at Rome AS touching the inuention of Ointments it is not well knowne who was the first that deuised them Certaine it is that during the raigne of the Troianes and whilest Ilium stood men knew not what they meant nay they vsed not so much as Incense in Sacrifice and diuine seruice The sume and smoke of the Cedar and the Citron trees onely the old Troianes were acquainted with when they offered sacrifice their fuming and walming steame more truly I may so terme it than any odoriferous perfume they vsed which they might easily come by since they were plants growing among them and so familiar notwithstanding they had found out the iuice of Roses wherwith yet they would not correct the foresaid strong fumes in those daies for that also was knowne to be a commendable qualitie of Oile Rosate But the truth is The Persians and none but they ought to be reputed the inuentors of precious perfumes and odoriferous ointments For they to palliate and hide the ranke and stinking breath which commeth by their surfet and excesse of meats and drinkes are forced to helpe themselues by some artificiall meanes and therefore goe euermore all to be perfumed and greased with sweet ointments And verily so farre as euer I could finde by reading histories the first prince that set such store by costly perfumes was King Darius among whose coffers after that Alexander the Great had defeated him and woon his campe there was found with other roiall furniture of his a fine casket full of perfumes and costly ointments But afterwards they grew into so good credit euen among vs that they were admitted into the ranke of the principal pleasures the most commendable delights and the honestest comforts of this life And more than that men proceeded so far as therewith to honour the dead as if by right that duty belonged to them And therefore it shall not be amisse to discourse of this theame more at large Wherein I must aduertise the Reader by the way that for the present I will but only name those ingredients that go into the composition of these ointments such I mean as came not from herbs and trees shrubs plants reseruing the treatise of their natures vertues and properties vnto their due place First and formost therefore all perfumes took their names either of the country where they were compounded or of the liquors that went to their making or of the plants that yeelded the simples and the drugs or els of the causes and occasions proper and peculiar vnto them And here it would be noted also principally that the same ointments were not alwaies in like credit and estimation but one robbed another of their honor and worth insomuch as many times vpon sundry occasions that which was lately in request and price anon gaue place to a new and later inuention At the first in antient time the best ointments were thought to come from Delos but afterwards those that were brought out of Aegypt no talke then but of Mendesium compounded at Mendes a city there And this varietie and alteration was not occasioned alwaies by the diuersity of composition and mixture but otherwhiles by reason of good or bad drugs for ye should haue the same kind of liquors and oiles better in this country for one purpose and in that for another yea and that which in some place was right and true the same did degenerat and grow to a bastard nature if you changed once the region for a long time the oile or ointment of Iris or the Floure-de-luce root made at Corinth was in much request and highly praised but afterwards that of Cizicum won the name and credit for the artificiall composition thereof Semblably the oile of Roses that came from Phaselus was greatly called for but in processe of time Naples Capua and Praeneste stole that honor and glory from thence in that behalfe The ointment of Saffron confected at Soli in Cilicia imported for a good while and carried the praise alone but soone after that of Rhodes was euery mans money The oile drawne out of the floures of the wild vine in Cyprus bare the name once but afterwards that of Egypt was preferred before it in the end the Adramyttians gained the credite and commendation from both places for the perfect and absolute confection thereof The ointment made of Marjoram gaue credit for a certain time to the Isle Cos but not long after their name was greater for another made of Quinces As for the oile Cyprinum which came of Cypros the best was thought to be made in Cyprus but afterwards there was a better supposed to be in Egypt where the ointments Metopium and Mendesium all of a sudden were better accepted than all the rest It was not long first but that Phoenice put Aegypt
sorts of Holly The leaues of the Oliue tree and the Mast-Holme hang by a short stele the Vine leaues by a long The Poplar or Aspen leaues doe shake and tremble and they alone keep a whistling and rustling noise one with another Moreouer in the very fruit it selfe and namely in a certain kind of Apples ye shall haue small leaues breake out of the very sides in the mids in some single in others double and two together Furthermore there be trees that haue their leaues comming forth about their boughs and branches others at the very end and shoot of the twig as for the wild Oke Robur it putteth leaues forth of the trunk and maine stock Ouer and besides the leaues grow thicker or thinner in some than in others but alwlies the broad and large leaues are more thinne than others In the Myrtle tree the leaues grow in order by ranks those of the Box tree turn hollow but in the Apple trees they are set in no order at al. In Pyrries Apple trees both ye shal see ordinarily many leaues put forth at one bud hanging at one and the same taile The Elme and the Tree-trifolie are full of small and little branches Cato addeth moreouer and saith That such as fall from the Poplar or the Oke may bee giuen as fodder to beasts but he wils that they be not ouer drie and he saith expressely that for kine and oxen Fig-leaues mast Holm leaues and Iuie are good fodder yea and such kind of beasts may well brouse and feed of Reed leaues and Bay leaues Finally the Seruise tree looseth her leaues al at once others shed them by little and little one after another And thus much for the leaues of trees CHAP. XXV ¶ The order and course obserued in Nature as touching plants and trees in their conception flouring budding knotting and fructifying Also in what order they put forth their blossomes THe manner and order of Nature yeare by yeare holdeth in this wise first trees and plants do conceiue by the meanes of the Westerne wind Fauonius which commonly beginneth to blow about sixe daies before the Ides of Februarie for this wind is in stead of an husband to all things that grow out of the earth and of it they desire naturally to be conceiued like as the Mares in Spaine of which we haue written heretofore This wind is that spirit of generation which breathes life into all the world which the Latines call thereupon Fauonius à fauendo i. of cherishing and nourishing euery thing as some haue thought It blowes directly from the Aequinoctiall Sun-setting and euermore beginneth the Spring This time out rusticall peasants call the Seasoning when as Nature seemeth to goe proud or assaut and is in the rut and furious rage of loue desirous to conceiue by this wind which indeed doth viuifie and quicken all plants and seeds sowne in the ground Now of all them conceiue not at once but in sundry daies for some are presently sped in a moment like as liuing creatures others are not so hastie to conceiue but long it is first ere they retaine and as long againe before their vitall seed putteth forth and this is therupon called their budding time Now are they said to bring forth and be deliuered when in the Spring they bloome and that blossome breaketh forth of certain matrices or ventricles After this they become nources all the while they cherish and bring vp the fruit and this time also the Latines call Germinatio i. the breeding season When trees are full of blossomes it is a signe that the Spring is at the height and the yeare become new againe The blossom is the very ioy of trees and therein standeth their chiefe felicitie then they shew themselues fresh and new as if they were not the same then be they in their gay coats then it seemeth they striue avie one with another in varietie of colours which of them should excell and exceed in beautifull hew But this is not generall for many of them are denied this pleasure and enjoy not this delight for all trees blossome not some are of an heauie and sad countenance neither cheare they at the comming of this new season and gladsome Spring for the mast-Holme the Pitch tree the Larch and the Pine doe not bloome at all they are not arrayed in their robes they haue not their liueries of diuers colors to fore-signifie as messengers and vantcourriers the arriuall of the new yeare or to welcome and solemnize the birth of new fruits The Figge trees likewise both tame and wild make no shew of floures for they are not too soon bloomed if they bloom at all but they bring forth their fruit And a wonderful thing it is to see what abortiue fruit these Figge-trees haue and how it neuer commeth to ripenesse Neither doe the Iunipers bloome at all And yet some writers there be who make two kinds thereof and they say that the one flowreth and bears no fruit as for the other which doth not blossome it brings forth fruit vpon fruit and berrie vpon berrie which hang two yeres vpon the tree before they come to maturitie But this is false for in very truth all Iunipers without exception haue euermore a sad looke and at no time shew merie And this is the case and condition verily of many a man whose fortune is neuer in the floure nor maketh any outward shew to the world Howbeit there is not a tree but it buddeth euen those that neuer blossome And herein the diuersitie of the soile is of great power for in one and the same kind such as grow in marish grounds do shoot and spring first next to them those of the plaines and last of all they of the woods and forrests And generally the wilde Pyrries growing in woods doe bud later than any other At the first comming of the western wind Fauonius the Corneil tree buddeth next to it the Bay and somewhat before mid-march or the spring Aequinoctiall the Tillet or Linden and the Maple the Poplar Elme Willow Alder and Filberds or Hazell nut trees bud with the first The Palme also maketh hast and is loth to come behind All the rest at the point and prime of the spring namely the Holly the Terebinth the Paliurus the Cheston and the Walnut-trees or Mast-trees Apple trees are late ere they bud but the Corke tree longest of any other Trees there be that put forth bud vpon bud by reason that either the soile is exceeding battill and fat or else the weather faire and pleasant and this happeneth more to be seene in the blades of corne But trees if they happen to be ouer rancke in new shoots and buds they waxe wearie and grow out of heart Moreouer some trees there be that naturally do sprout at other seasons besides the spring according to the influence of certaine starres whereof the reason shall be rendred more conueniently in the third booke next ensuing after this Meane time this
the same which at first was Helix and clasped trees in tract of time changed the leafe and became a very Iuie tree but fouly they are deceiued and disproued plainly they may be by this That of the said clasping Iuie Helix there be many kinds and three principall aboue the rest The first of grasse greene colour which groweth most common the second with a white leafe and the third called also the Thracian Iuie which hath leaues of diuers colours The foresaid greene Iuie is fuller of leaues and those finer and set in better order than in others whereas the contrary is to be seen in the white kind also in the third sort with variety of colours some haue smaller and thinner leaues couched likewise in good order and thicker growing whereas in the middle kind no such thing may be obserued Ouer and besides the leaues of Iuie are bigger or lesse spotted also and marked in which regard one differeth from another Among the white Iuies some be whiter than other The green Iuie groweth most of all others in length the white killeth trees for by sucking and soking al the sap and moisture out of them it feedeth and thriueth so wel it selfe that it becommeth in the end as big as a tree A man may know an Iuie being come to his perfection by these signes the leaues are very big and large withal the tree putteth forth yong shoots straight whereas in others they be crooked and bend inward the berries also stand in their clusters directly vpright Moreouer whereas the branches of all other Iuies be made like vnto roots this hath boughes strong and sturdy aboue the rest and next vnto it the black kind howbeit this property hath the white Iuie by it self that amid the leaues it putteth forth armes that clasp and embrace the tree round on euery side which it doth vpon walls likewise although it cannot so well compasse them And hereupon it is that although it be cut asunder in many places yet it continueth and liueth stil and looke how many such arms it hath so many heads likewise of roots are to be seen whereby it maintaineth it selfe safe and sound and is besides of that force as to suck and choke the trees that it claspeth Furthermore there is great diuersity in the fruit as well of the white as the black Iuie As for the rest the berries of them are so exceeding bitter as no bird wil touch them And yet there is one kind more of Iuy which is very stiffe and standeth alone of it selfe without any prop to beare it vp and this of all others only is therupon called Cissos or Iuie indeed Contrariwise Chamaecissos i. ground Iuie is neuer knowne but to creep along the ground CHAP. XXXV ¶ Of the Bind-weed or Iuie called Smilax LIke vnto Iuie is that plant which they call Smilax or rough Bind-weed It came first out of Cilicia howbeit more commonly it is to be seen in Greece it putteth forth stalks set thicke with ioints or knots and those thrust out many thornie branches The leafe resembleth Iuie and the same is small and nothing cornered from a little stele that it hath it sendeth forth certain pretty tendrils to clasp and wind about the floure is white and smelleth like to a Lilly it beareth clusters comming nearer to those grapes of the wild vine Labrusca than to the berries of Iuie red of color wherof the bigger contain within them 3 kernels or pepins apiece the smaller but one and those be hard and black withall This Smilax is not vsed in any sacrifices or diuine seruice of the gods nor serueth for garlands and chaplets for that it is held to be dolefull and ominous or of an vnlucky presage by occasion of a certain yong lady or Damosell of that name who for the loue of the young gallant and knight Crocus was turned into this shrub or plant retaining still her name which the ignorant people not knowing but taking it for a kind of Iuie stick not to make coronets therof profaning by that means many times their high feasts and sacred solemnities and yet who woteth not with what chaplets Poets are crowned and what garlands prince Bacchus or Silenus vsed to weare Of this Smilax are made certain manuell writing tables And this property moreouer hath the wood thereof That if a man hold it close to his eare he shall heare it to giue a pretty sound But to return againe to the Iuie indeed it hath by report a strange and wonderful vertue to trie wines whether they be delaied with water or no for make a cup of Iuie wood and put wine thereinto all the wine will soke and run through but the water if any be mingled therewith will tarry behind CHAP. XXXVI ¶ Of Reeds Canes and other water shrubs IN this discourse touching plants that loue cold places it wil not be amisse to treat of those that grow in waters Among which the Reeds and Canes may be raunged in the first place for necessarie they be in time both of war and peace they haue their vse besides and are accepted among the delightsom pleasures of this world Moreouer in the Northern regions the people vse therewith to couer and thatch their houses and this kind of roofe will last many ages if it be laid with a thick coat euen vpon high and stately houses In other parts also of the world they are woont with it to make their arch-roufes and hanging floores of most sleight worke As for Canes particularly and those of Aegypt by name which haue a certaine resemblance of the Papyr-reed in Nilus they serue for writing Paper Howbeit those of Gnidos and which grow in Asia along the lake or meere of Anaia be held for the best As for ours heere in Italy they are of a more spungeous substance and gristly matter apt to sucke and drinke vp any liquour The same within-forth is full of holes and concauities but conuerted aloft into a fine wooddy rind and in time becommeth drie fast and hard Apt it is to cleaue and the clifts euermore carry with them a very sharp edge and besides it is full of ioints Now this woodie substance being thus distinctly parted by knots runneth alwaies euen and smooth growing smaller and smaller vntill it proue sharpe pointed in the top with a head consisting of a good thicke downe or plume which serueth also to right good purposes for either in stead of feathers they vse to stuffe beds therewith in common Innes or when it is growne hard and hath a slimie callositie about it they in Picardie and those Nether-lands do stampe it and therewith calfret or calke the ioints of their ships betweene the ribs and plankes and herein it hath no fellow for it taketh faster hold than any glue and for filling vp any rifts and chinks no solder so strong no pitch so sure and trustie Of Reeds the Easterlings make their shafts and archers they be that fight their battels and
is besides found in mountains named by them thereupon Orâ—…oselinum i. Mountain Ach or Parsely of the hils it beareth leaues like Hemlocke and a little slender root the seed resembleth Dill seed verie much but only that it is smaller And as for the garden Ach commonly called Parsely there be many kinds thereof differing one from another first in leafe whereby you shall haue some leafed thick and ful and the same jagged and curled others thinner and those also more plain smooth and broad Item in stalk which in some is more grosse or thin than in other in one kind white in another purple and in a third of sundry colours Of Lectuce the Greeks haue set downe three kinds whereof the first riseth vp with so large and broad a stalke that by their report little garden wickets were commonly made thereof in partitions between quarter and quarter And yet the leafe of this Lectuce is not much bigger than others that be common and serue for pot-herbes the same also passing narrow by reason that all the nutriment is otherwise spent in the maine stem The second hath a round stalk the third is the broad flat Lectuce which settles neer the ground called Laconicon or the Lectuce of Lacedaemon But other writers haue described the distinct kinds therof by their colour and the sundry seasons wherein they be set for say they there be black Lectuces the seed whereof ought to be sowed in Ianuary there be white also and such would be sowed in March there are a third sort which be red and the fit time of their seednesse is the moneth of April and according to those authors all the sort of them are to be remoued in yong plants when they haue growne two moneths Howbeit those Herbarists who haue looked farther into the knowledge of Simples adde more kinds yet vnto the other to wit the purple the crisp or curled the Cappadocian the Greekish Lectuce As for these of Greece they are taller in stem than the rest and broader withall besides their leaues be long and narrow like to those of Endiue or Cichorie The worst kind of all is that which the Greeks by way of reproofe and reproch for their bitternesse terme Picris Yet is there another distinct kind of the black Lectuce which for the plenty that it yeeldeth of a milky white iuice procuring drowsinesse is termed Meconis although all of them are thought to cause sleep In old time our ancestors knew no other Lectuce in Italy but this alone and thereupon it tooke the name in Latine of Lactuca The purple Lectuce which hath the biggest root they name Caeciliana but the round kinde with smallest root and broad leaues is called Astylis i. the chaste Lectuce or the ciuil Lectuce howbeit some giue it the name of Eunuchij because of all others it cooleth lust most and is â—…n enemy to the sports of Venus And to say a truth all Lectuces are by nature refrigeratiue and do coole the body and therfore be they eaten ordinarily in Summer for they please the stomacke when it is inclined to loath meat and procureth good appetite Certes reported it is of Augustus Caesar late Emperour of famous memorie that he escaped a dangerous disease and was recouered by the meanes of Lectuce whereunto he was directed by the discreet counsell of Musa his Physician And whereas in times past folke precisely forbare to eat Lectuce now there is no doubt or scruple at all made thereof nay they are so far from abstinence that way that it is a meat generally receiued and commended insomuch as they haue deuised to keepe it in the syrrup of Oxymel all winter long for to haue it ready and euer at hand yea and more than so men are verily persuaded that Lectuce will increase good bloud Ouer and besides all the sorts of Lettuce before specified there is yet another kind named in Latine Caprina as one would say the Goats Lectuce whereof I purpose to speake more at large among other medicinable herbs As touching the wild Lectuce called Cilician see how it is crept apace into the garden after it came once to be knowne and is commended as exceeding good among other herbs there sown and planted the leafe resembleth the Cappadocian Lectuce but that it is jagged broader than it As for Endiues and Cichories I cannot tell what to make of them for neither can they be truly said a kind of Lectuce nor yet ranged well amongst other herbs More vnpatient they are and fearfull of winter than Lectuces and withall carry vnpleasant strong tast howbeit their stalks are no lesse acceptable than they Their yong plants vse to be set in the beginning of the spring but translated afterwards and replanted in the later end thereof There is a certain wild and wandring Endiue which the Aegyptians call Cichorie whereof I meane to discourse more amply in another place There hath bin a deuise lately come vp to condite and preserue as well the stems as the leaues of all Lectuces for the winter time in pitchers pots within some appropriate liquor as also to dresse and seeth them yong fresh and greene in a kinde of broth or browesse and so serue them vp between two platters And yet where the ground is rich good well watered and holpen with doung Lectuce may be sowed at all times of the yere for within two months they will grow to be good big plants and in as little space come to their ful maturity and perfection Howbeit the true time and ordinary season is to sow their seeds about the mids of December when the daies begin to lengthen and then to remooue their plants at the comming of the Western wind Fauonius in February or els to sow in that wind and to replant in March about the Spring Aequinox White Lectuce of all other can best away with the winter All Garden-herbs loue moisture and muck they loue as well Lectuce especially yet I must needs say that Endiue more than it Some gardiners there be that thinke it a great point of cunning to besmere the roots of Lectuce plants and other such herbs with dung when they are set or after they be bared at the root within the ground to cast in the mould againe and fill vp the place so soon as they be greased as it were with muck at the root Others there be who practise another feat with them to make them cabbage the better and grow faire big by cutting them vp close to the ground when they are come once to be halfe a foot high and then bedaubing them with green swines dung It is thought that white Lectuce come onely of white seed and yet that is not sufficient vnlesse there be some sea sand taken fresh from the shore and laid about the heart of the plant where the leaues put forth first and so reared and heaped vp to the mids and then to take order that the leaues growing ouer them
winter Sauory to Cunila i. garden Sauory which among vs hath another name in Latin to wit Satureia much vsed in sauces and seasoning of our meats This Sauory is commonly sown in the month of February and hath no smal resemblance of Origan insomuch as they are neuer both vsed at once in sauce or sallads their vertues operations be so like Andy et the Egyptian Origanum is preferred before the said Sauory To come now to Lepidium i. Dittander or Pepperwort it was somtime a stranger also with vs here in Italy It is vsually sown after mid-February when the Western wind Fauonius hath plaied his part afterwards when it hath put forth branches it is cut downe close to the ground and then it is laid bare and sarcled the superfluous roots cut away so in the end cherished with muck Thus must it be serued the two first yeres For afterwards they vse the same in branches at all times if the cruell and bitter winter kill them not for surely this herb is most impatient of cold It groweth a good cubit in heigth bearing leaues like to Lawrel the same soft and tender But neuer is it vsed in meat without milke Now for Gith or Nigella Romana as it is an herb that groweth for the pastrie to fit the Bakers hand so Annise and Dil are as appropriat to the kitchen for Cooks as the Apothecaries shop for the Physician Sacopenium likewise is an herb growing verily in gardens but is vsed in Physicke onely Certain herbs there be that accompany others for good fellowship and grow with them as namely Poppy for commonly sowne it is with Coleworts Purcellane Rocket and Lectuce Of garden Poppies there be three kinds first the white wherof the seeds in old time being made into Biskets or Comfits with hony were serued vp as a banketting dish The rustical peisants of the countrey were wont to guild or glaze as it were the vppermost crust of their loaues of bread with yolks of egs and then to bestrew it with Poppy seed which would cleaue fast to it hauing first vnderlaied the bottome crust with Ammi or Annise seed and Gith then they put them into the ouen beeing thus seasoned which gaue a commendable taste to their bread when it was baked There is a second kinde of Poppie called Blacke out of the heads or bolls wherof a white juice or liquor issueth by way of incision like milk and many receiue reserue it carefully The third kind which the Greekes name Rhoeas our countreymen in Latin call the wandring or wild Poppie It commeth vp verily of the owne accord but in corne fields among Barly especially like vnto Rocket a cubite high with a red floure that soon wil shed and fall off whereupon it tooke that name of Rhoeas in Greeke Touching other kinds of Poppie growing of themselues I purpose to speake in the treatise of physicke and medicinable hearbs Mean while this cannot be forgotten that Poppies haue alwaies time out of mind been highly regarded and honoured among the Romanes witnesse Tarquine the Proud the last king of Rome who when his sonnes Embassadors were come to him for to vnderstand his aduise how to compasse the seignorie ouer the Gabians drew them into his garden and there by circumstance of topping the heads of the highest Poppies there growing without any answere parole dispatched them away sufficiently furnished by this demonstration with a double design euen to fetch off the greatest mens heads of the citie the readiest meanes to effect his purpose Againe there is another sort of hearbs that loue for companie to be set or sowne together about the Aequinox in Autumne namely Coriander Dill Orach Mallowes Garden dockes or Patience Cheruill which the Greeks call Paederos and Senuie which is of a most biting and stinging tast of a fierie effect but nathelesse very good and wholsom for mans bodie this hearb will come of it selfe without the hand of man howbeit proue it will the better if the plant be remoued and set elswhere And yet sow a ground once withall you shall hardly rid the place of it cleane for the seed no sooner sheddeth vpon the ground but a man shall see it greene aboue ground It serues also to make a prety dish of meat to be eaten being boiled or stewed between two little dishes in some conuenient liquor in such sort as a man shal not feele it to bite at the tongues end nor complaine of any eagernesse that it hath The leaues besides vse to be sodden like as other pot-hearbes Now there be of this Senuie three kinds the first beareth small and slender leaues the second is leaued like Rapes or Turneps the third resembleth Rocket The best Mustard seed commeth out of Aegypt The Athenians were wont to call it Napy some Thlaspi and others Saurion To conclude as touching the running wild Thyme and Sisymbrium i. Horse-mint or Water-mint most hils are replenished and tapissed as it were therewith and especially in Thracia where a man shall see a mighty quantity of wild Thyme branches which the mountain waters or land flouds carrie away and bring it downe with their streame to riuers sides and then folke plant them Semblably at Sicyon there grows great store conueighed thither from the mountaines neere adjoining and lastly at Athens brought thither out of the hill Hymettus In like manner also the foresaid water-mint commeth from the hils with a sudden dash of rain and is replanted accordingly It groweth rankest and prospereth best in the brinks and sides of pits or wells also about fish-ponds and standing pooles CHAP. IX ¶ Of Finkle or Fennell and Hempe IT remaineth now among garden hearbes to speake of those that be of the Ferule kind and namely of Fenell in particular a hearb wherin Snakes and such serpents take exceeding great delight as heretofore I haue declared and which being dried is singular good to commend many meats out of the kitchin into the hall There is a plant resembleth it much named Thapsia wherof because I haue alreadie written among other forraine herbes I will proceed forward to Hemp which is so profitable and good for to make cordage This plant must be sowed of seed after the western wind Fauonius bloweth in Februarie The thicker that it groweth the slenderer and finer it is When the seed therof is ripe namely after the Aequinox in Autumn folk vse to rub it out and then drie it either in the Sunne the wind or smoke But the stalke or stem of the Hemp it selfe they pluck out of the ground after Vintage and it is the husbandmans night work by candle lightto pill and cleanse it The best Hempe commeth from Alabanda especially for to make nets and toile where bee three kinds thereof That part of the Hempe which is next to the rind or pilling as also to the inner part within is worst the principal of it lieth in the middest and called it is Mesa Next to the Alabandian
dull vnsauorie and foolish Woorts hauing no tast nor quicknesse at all whereupon Menander the comicall Poet bringeth in a husband vpon the stage who to reproch his wife for her sottishnesse and want of sense giueth her the terme of Bleet And in very truth good it is for little or nothing and altogether hurtfull vnto the stomacke It troubleth and disquieteth the belly insomuch as it driueth some that vse to eat it into the dangerous disease Cholera working both vpward and downward without any stay And yet some say that if it be drunk in wine it is good against Scorpions and serueth for a prety liniment to be applied vnto the agnels or corners of the feet yea and maketh a reasonable good cataplasm with oile for the spleen and pain of the temples Finally Hippocrates is of opinion that much feeding of Bleets staieth the monethly course of womens tearmes CHAP. XXIII ¶ Of Meu and Fenell as well Gentle named Foeniculum as Wild which is called Hippomar at hrum or Myrsineum of Hempe and Fenell-geant and of Thistles and Artichoux MEu or Spicknell is not found in Italy vnlesse it be in some Physitians garden and those are very few that sow or set it Howbeit there be two kinds thereof the one which is the better is commonly called Athamanticum of Prince Athamas the first inventer of this herbe as some thinke but according to other because the best Meu is found vpon Athamas a mountaine in Thessaly Leafed it is like to Annise rising vp with a stem otherwhile two cubits high putting forth many roots and those blackish whereof some run very deepe into the ground neither is this Meu so red altogether as the other If the root therofbe beaten into pouder or otherwise sodden and so drunk in water it causeth vrine to passe abundantly in that order also it doth resolue wonderfully the ventosities gathered in the stomack It assuageth mightily the wrings and torments of the guts it openeth the obstructions and cureth other infirmities of the bladder and the matrice Applied with honey it is very good for the joints Beeing laid as a cataplasme with Parsley to the bottome of the belly of little children it causeth them to make water As for Fenell the Serpents haue woon it much credit and brought it into name in this regard That by tasting thereof as I haue already noted they cast their old skin and by the juice that it yeeldeth do cleare their eies whereby we also are come to know that this herbe hath a singular property to mundifie our sight and take away the filme or web that ouercasteth and dimmeth our eyes Now the only time to gather and draw the said juice out of Fennel is when the stalke beginneth to swell and wax big which after it is receiued they vse to dry in the Sun and as need requireth make an iniunction with it and honey together There is of this juice to be had in all places howbeit the best is made in Iberia partly of the gum that issueth or frieth rather out of the stalk being brought neere to the fire or els drawn from the seed whiles it is fresh and green There is another making thereof out of the roots by way of incision presently after that Fennell beginneth to spring and put forth out of the ground when Winter is done There is another kind of wild Fenell named by some Hippomarathrum by others Myrsineum Larger leaues this hath than that other of the Garden and those more sharpe and biting at the tongues end it groweth taller also and ariseth with a maine stem as big as a mans arm hath a white root It groweth in hot grounds and those that be stony Diocles maketh mention of another kind yet of wild Fennell with a long narrow leafe bearing seed resembling Coriander As touching the garden Fenell and the medicinable vertues that it hath it is holden That the seed if it be taken inwardly in wine is a soueragne drinke for the prick of Scorpions or sting of other Serpents The juice thereof if it be instilled by drops into the eares killeth the wormes there The herb it selfe carrieth such sway in the kitchin that lightly there is no meat seasoned nor any vineger sauce serued vp without it Moreouer for to giue a commendable and pleasant tast vnto bread it is ordinarily put vnder the bottome crust of our loues when they be set into the ouen The seed doth bind and corroborat a weake and feeble stomack yea if it be taken in a very ague Being beaten into pouder drunk in cold water it staieth the inordinat heauing of the stomack and the vain proffers to vomit for the lights and the liuer it is the most soueraign medicine of all other Being taken moderatly it staieth the loosenesse of the belly and yet prouoketh vrine The decoction thereof appeaseth the wrings of the guts and taken in drink it silleth womens brests and maketh them to strout again with milk when it is gone vpon some occasion The root taken in a Ptisane of husked barly purgeth the reins so doth the syrrup made with the juice or decoction therof yea and the seed The root sodden in wine is singular good for the dropsie and the cramp A liniment made with the leaues and vineger and so applied assuageth hot swellings and inflammations and the said leaues haue vertue to expel the stone of the bladder Fennell taken inwardly any way increaseth sperme or natural seed A most friendly and comfortable herb it is to the priuie parts whether it be by somenting them with a decoction of the roots boyled in wine or by applying a liniment to them made with the said roots stamped incorporate with oile Many do make a cerote thereofwith wax for ta lay vnto tumours to places bruised made black and blew with stripes Also they vse the root either prepared with the juice of the herb or otherwise incorporat with hony against the biting of dogs and taken in wine against the worm called Milleped But for all these purposes beforesaid the wild Fennell is of greater operation than the garden Fennell but this principal vertue it hath mightily to expell the stone and grauell If it be taken with any mild and small wine it is very good for the bladder and namely the Strangury also it prouoketh womens tearmes that be either suppressed or come not kindly away to which purpose the seed is more effectuall than the root But whether it be root or seed it would be vsed in a mean measure for it is thought sufficient to put into drink at once as much as two fingers wil take vp Petridius who wrote the booke intituled Ophiaca and Myction likewise in his Treatise named Rhizotomumena were of opinion That there is not a better counterpoyson against the venome of Serpents than wild Fennell And certes Nicander himselfe hath raunged it not in the lowest place of such medicines Concerning Hemp at
those which serue for good vse in Physicke But first as touching Anemone in generall some there bee who call it Phenion and two principal kinds there be of it The first groweth wild in the woods the second commeth in places wel tilled and in gardens but both the one and the other loue sandy grounds As for this later kind it is subdiuided into many speciall sorts for some haue a deepe red skarlet floure and indeed such are found in greatest plenty others bear a purple floure and there be again which are white The leaues of all these three be like vnto Parsly None of them ordinarily grow in height aboue halfe a foot and in the head of their stemme they shoot forth sprouts in manner of the tendrils of Asparagus The floure hath this property Neuer to open but when the wind doth blow wereupon it tooke the name Anemone in Greek But the wild Anemone is greater and taller the leaues also are larger and the floures are of a red colour Many writers being carried away with an error thinke this Anemone and Argemone to bee both one others confound it with that wild Poppy which we named Rhoeas but there is a great difference betweene them for that both these hearbes doe floure after Anemone neither doe the Anemonae yeeld the like juice from them as doth either Argemone or Rhoeas before-named they haue not also such cups and heads in the top but only a certaine musculositie at the ends and tips of their branches much like to the tender buds of Asparagus All the sorts of Anemone or Wind-floure bee good for the head-ach and inflammations thereof comfortable to the matrice of women and increaseth their milk Being taken inwardly in a Ptisane or barly gruell or applied outwardly as a cataplasme with wooll this hearb prouoketh their monthly tearms The root chewed in the mouth purgeth the head of fleame and cureth the infirmities of the teeth The same being sodden and laid to the eyes as a cataplasm represseth the vehement flux of waterie humours thither The Magicians and Wise men attribute much to these hearbes and tell many wonders of them namely That a man should gather the first that he seeth in any yeare and in gathering to say these words I gather thee for a remedie against tertian and quartan agues which done the partie must lap and bind fast in a red cloth the said floure and so keep it in a shady place and when need requireth to take the same and either hang it about the necke or tie it to the arme or some other place The root of that Anemone which beareth the red floure if it be bruised and laid vpon any liuing creature whatsoeuer raiseth ablisâ—… by that caustik and corrosiue vertue which it hath and therfore it is vsed to mundisie and 〈◊〉 filthie vleers CHAP. XXIIII ¶ The vertues of Oenanthe in Physicke OEnanthe is an hearb growing vpon rocky and stony grounds The leafe resembleth those of the Parsnep roots it hath many and those big The stemme and leaues of this herb if they be taken inwardly with honey and thicke sweet wine doe cause women in labor to haue easie deliuerance and withall doe clense them wel of the after-birth Eaten in an Electuarie or licked in a lohoch made with hony the said leauesdoe rid away the cough and prouoke vrine To conclude the root also is singular for the infirmities and diseases of the bladder CHAP. XXV ¶ The medicines made wich the hearbe Heliochryson HEliochryson which others name Chrysanthemon putteth forth little branches very faire and white the leaues are whitish too much like vnto Abrotomum From the tips and ends of which branches there hang down certaine buttons as it were like berries round in a circle which with the repercussion and reuerberation of the Sun-beames doe shine againe like resplendent gold These tufts or buttons doe neuer fade nor wither which is the cause that the chaplets wherewith they crowne and adorne the heads of the gods be made thereof a ceremonie that Ptolomaeus K. of Aegypt obserued most precisely This herbe groweth in rough places among bushes and shrubs If it be taken in wine it prouoketh vrine and womens fleures All hard tumors and inflammations it doth discusse and resolue without suppuration A liniment made with it honey is good to be applied to any place burnt or scalded It is giuen in drinke vsually for the sting of serpents for the paines and infirmities also of the loines If it be drunke in honyed wine it dissolueth and consumeth the cluttered bloud either in the belly and guts or the bladder The leaues taken to the weight of three Oboli in white wine do stay the immoderat flux of the whites in women This hearbe if it be laid in wardrobes keepeth apparel sweet for it is of a pleasant odour CHAP. XXVI ¶ The vertues and properties of the Hyacinth and Lychnis in Physicke THe Hyacinth loueth France very well and prospereth there exceedingly The French vse therewith to die their light reds or lustie-gallant for default of graine to color their scarlet The root is bulbous Onion-like well known to these slaue-coursers who buy them at best hand and after tricking trimming and pampering them vp for sale make gain of them for being reduced into a liniment they vse it with wine to annoint as well the share of youths as the chin and checks to keep them for euer being vnder-grown or hauing haire on their face that they may appeare young still and smooth It is a good defensatiue against the prick of venomous spiders and besides allaieth the griping torments of the belly It forciby prouoketh vrine The seed of this hearbe giuen with Abrotonum is a preseruatiue against the venome of serpents and scorpions it cureth the jaundise As touching Lychnis that fllaming hearbe surnamed Flammea the seed of it beaten to pouder and taken in wine is singular good against the sting of serpents scorpions hornets and such like The wild of this kind is hurtfull to the stomacke and yet it is laxatiue and purgeth downward Two drams thereof is a sufficient dose to purge choller for it worketh mightily Such an enemie it is to scorpions that if they doe but see it they are taken with a nummednesse that they cannot stir In Asia or Natolia they call the root of this hearbe Bolites which if it be laid vpon the eies and kept bound thereto taketh away the pin and the web as they say CHAP. XXVII ¶ The medicinable vertues of Pervincle Rusâ—…us Batis and Acinos ALso the Peruincle called by the Greeks Chamaedaphne if it be stamped drie into pouder and a spoonful thereof giuen in water to those that are full of the dropsie it doth euacuat most speedily the waâ—…y humors collected in their belly or otherwise the same root rosted in embres and well sprinkled and wet with wine discusseth and drieth vp all tumors being applied thereto The iuyce thereof dropped into
precordiall parts Myrrhis which some call Smyrrhiza others Myrrha is passing like vnto Hemlocke in stalke leaues and floure only it is smaller and slenderer and hath no ill grace and vnpleasant tast to be eaten with meats Taken in wine it hasteneth the monthly course of womens fleurs if they bee too slow and helpeth them in labour to speedy deliuerance It is said moreouer that in time of a plague it is wholsom to drink it for feare of infection A supping or broth made of it helpeth those who are in a Phthysicke or consumption This good property it hath besides to stir vp a quick appetite to meat It doth extinguish and kill the venome inflicted by the sting or pricke of the venomous spiders Phalangia The juice drawn out of this herb after it hath lien infused or soked three daies together in water healeth any sore breaking out either in face or head Finally Onobrychis carieth leaues resembling Lentils but that they are somewhat longer it beareth also a red floure but resteth vpon a small and slender root It groweth about springs and fountains Being dried and reduced into a floure or pouder it maketh an end of the strangury so it be drunk in a cup of white wine well strewed and spiced therwith It stoppeth a lask To conclude the juice therof causeth them to sweat freely who are annointed all ouer with it CHAP. XVII ¶ The medicinable vertues of Coriacesia Callicia and Menais with three and twentie other herbes which some hold to be Magicall Moreouer of Considia and Aproxis besides some other which are reuiued and in request againe hauing been long time out of vse TO discharge and acquit my selfe of the promise which I made of strange and wonderfull herbs I cannot chuse but in this place write a little of those which the Magitians make such reckoning of For can there be any more admirable than they And in very truth Democritus and Pythagoras following the tracts of the said wise men and Magitians were the first Philosophers who in this part of the world set those herbs on foot and brought them into a name And to begin with Coriacesia and Callicia Pythagoras affirmeth That these two herbes will cause water to gather into an yce I find no mention at all in any other authors of these hearbes neither doth he report more properties of them The same author writes of an herb called Menais known also by the name of Corinthas the juice whereof by his saying if it be sodden in water presently cureth the sting of serpents if the place be fomented with the said decoction He affirmeth moreouer that if the said juice or liquor be poured vpon the grasse whosoeuer fortuneth to go thereupon and touch it with the sole of the foot or otherwise chance to be but dashed or sprinkled therewith shall die therupon remedilesse and no way there is to escape the mischiefe A monstrous thing to report that this juice should be so rank a venome as it is vnlesse it be vsed against poison The felfe same Pythagoras speaketh yet of another herb which hee calleth Aproxis the root whereof is of this nature to catch fire a farre off like for all the world to Naphtha concerning which I haue written somwhat already in my discourse as touching the wonders of Nature and he reporteth moreouer That if a man or woman happen to be sicke of any disease at what time as this Aproxis is in the floure although he or she be throughly cured of it yet shall they haue a grudging or minding thereof as often as it falleth to floure again yeare by yeare And of this opinion he is besides That Frumenty corne Hemlock and Violets are of the same nature and property I am not ignorant that this booke of his wherein these strange reports are recorded some haue ascribed vnto Cleomporus a renowned Physitian but the currant fame or speech holdeth stil so constantly time out of mind that we must needs beleeue Pythagoras to be the author of the said booke True it is indeed that the name of Pythagoras might giue authority and credit vnto other mens books attributed to him if haply any other had laboured and trauelled in compiling some worke which himselfe judged worthy of such a man as he was but that Cleomporus should so do who had set forth other books in his owne name who would euer beleeue No man doubteth verily but that the book intituled Chirocineta was of Democritus his making and yet therein be found more monstrous things by a hundred fold than those which Pythagoras hath deliuered in that worke of his And to say a truth setting Pythagoras aside there was not a Philosopher so much addicted to the schoole and profession of these Magitians as was Democritus In the first place he telleth vs of an herb called Aglaophotis worthy to be admired wondred of men by reason of that most beautifull colour which it had and for that it grew among the quarries of marble in Arabia confining vpon the coasts of the realme of Persia therefore it was also named Marmaritis And he affirmeth that the Sages or VVise men of Persia called Magi vsed this herb when they were minded to coniure and raise vp spirits He writeth moreouer That in a country of India inhabited by the Tardistiles there is another herb named Achâ—…menis growing without leafe and in colour resembling Amber of the root of which herb there be certain Trochisks made whereof they cause malefactors and suspected persons to drink some quantity with wine in the day time to the end they should confesse the truth for in the night following they shall be so haunted with spirits and tormented with sundry fansies and horrible visions that they shal be driuen perforce to tel all and acknowledge the fact for which they are troubled brought in question The same writer calleth this plant Hippophobas because Mares of all other creatures are most fearfull and wary of it Furthermore he reporteth That 30 Schoenes from the riuer Choaspes in Persia there groweth an herb named Theombrotion which for the manifold and sundry colours that it hath resembleth the painted taile of a Peacocke and it casteth withall a most sweet and odoriferous sent This herb saith he the Kings of Persia vse in their meats drinks and this opinion they haue of it That it preserueth their bodies from all infirmities and diseases yea and keepeth their head so staied and setled that they shall neuer be troubled in mind and out of their right wits in such sort that for the powerfull maiestie of this plant it is also called Semnion He proceedeth moreouer to another knowne by the name Adamantis growing onely in Armenia and Cappadocia which if it be brought neare vnto Lions they will lie all along vpon their backs and yawne with their mouths as wide as euer they can The reason of the name is this because it cannot possibly be beaten into pouder He goeth on
the pleurisie Touching that Plant which the French cal Halum the Venetians Cotonea it is holden excellent for the griefe of the sides for the reines those that be plucked with the cramp and bursten by any inward rupture this herb somwhat resembleth wild Origan or Marjeram saue that in the â—…ead it is like rather vnto Thyme sweet it is in tast and quencheth thirst a spungeous and â—…ht root it hath in one place white in another black Of the same operation for the paires of the â—…de is Chamaerops an herbe which hath leaues growing double about the stalk and those like vnto the Myrtle leaues and bearing certain buttons or heads much after the manner of the Greekish Rose and the way to take it is in wine Agarick drunk in that order as it was prescribed for the cough doth assuage the paine of the Sciatica and the back bone Semblably doth the pouder of dried Stoechas or Betony if it be taken in mead or honied water CHAP. VIII ¶ Of all the infirmities and remedies of the belly and those parts that either be adioining to it or within contained The means how to loosen and bind the belly TOuching the panch or belly much ado there is with it and although most men care for nothing els in this life but to content and please the belly yet of all other parts it putteth them to most trouble for one while it is so costiue as that it will giue no passage to the meat another while so slippery as it will keep none of it one time you shal haue it so peeuish as that it can receiue no food and another time so weake and feeble that it is able to make no good concoction of it And verily now adaies the world is growne to that passe that the mouth and panch together are the chiefe meanes to worke our death The wombe I say the wickedest vessell belonging to our bodies is euermore vrgent like an importunat creditour demanding debt and oftentimes in a day calleth vnto vs for victuals for the bellies sake especially we are so couetous to gather good for the belly we lay vp so many dainties and superfluities to content the belly we stick not to saile as far as the riuer Phasis and to please the belly we seek sound the bottome of the deep seas and when all is done no man euer thinketh how base and abject this part of the body is considering that filthy ordure and excrement which passeth from it in the end No maruell then if Physitians be much troubled about it and be forced to deuise the greatest number of medicines for the help and cure thereof And to begin with the staying and binding of it a dram of Scordotis the herbe stamped greene and taken in wine doth the feat so doth the decoction thereof if it be drunke Also Polemonia is a soueraigne herb to be giuen in wine for the bloudy flix The root of Mullen or Lungwort taken to the quantity of two fingers in water worketh the same effect The seed of Nymphaea Heraclea drunk in wine is of the like operation so is the vpper part of the double root of Glader or the Flagge ministred to the weight of two drams in vineger To this purpose also serueth Plantaine seed done into pouder and put into a cup of wine or the herb it selfe boiled with vineger or els frumenty pottage taken with the juice thereof Plantaine sodden with Lentils or the pouder of the dry herb strewed like spice into drinke together with the pouder of starched Poppie The iuice also of Plantain or of Betony put into wine that hath bin heat with a red hot gad of steele either ministred by clystre or drunk in the said case is very commendable Moreouer the same Plantain or Betony is singular to be giuen in some green or austere wine for those who are troubled with the lask proceeding from a weake stomack and for that purpose Iberis may be applied vnto the region of their belly as I haue before said In the disease Tinesmus which is an inordinat quarrell to the stool and a straining vpon it without doing any thing the root of Nemphar or Nymphaea Heraclia is singular good to bee drunk in wine likewise Fleawort taken in water the decoction of Galangale root the juice of Housleeke or Sengreene stoppeth the flux of the womb staieth the bloudy flix and chaseth out of the body the round worms The root of Comfrey and of the Carot stoppeth likewise the bloudy flix The leaues of Housleeke stamped and taken in wine are singular good against the wringing torments of the belly The pouder of dried Alcaea drunk cureth the said wrings Astragalus i. Pease Earth-nut an herb bearing long leaues indented with many cuts or jags and those which be about the root made bias riseth vp with three or foure stems full of leaues carieth a floure like to the Hyacinth or Crow toes the roots are bearded and full of strings enfolded one within another red of colour and exceeding hard in substance it groweth in rockes and stonie grounds exposed to the Sun and yet charged or couered with snow the most part of the yeare such as is the mountain Pheneus in Arcadia This herb hath an astringent power the root if it be drunk in wine bindeth the belly by which means it prouoketh vrine namely by driving backe the serous and watery humors to the reines like as most of those simples that be astringent that way are diureticall The same root stamped and taken in red wine healeth the exulceration of the guts thereby staieth the bloudy flix but suâ—…ely hard it is to bruise or stamp it the same is singular for the apostumation of the gums if they be fomented therwith the right season to draw and gather those roots is in the end of Autumne when the herb hath lost the leaues and then they ought to be dried in the shade Both sorts of Ladanum growing among corne be excellent for to knit the belly if they be stamped and searced The manner is to drink them in mead likewise in wine to represse choler Now the herb whereof Ladanum is made is called Lada groweth in the Island Cypros the liquor wherof sticketh commonly to goats beards The excellent Ladanum commeth out of Arabia There is a kind of it made now adaies in Syria and Africke which they call Toxicon for that in those countries the people vse to take their bow strings lapped about with wooll trail the same after them among those plants which beare Ladanum and so the fattie dew cleaueth therto Of this Ladanum I haue written more at large in my treatise of ointments redolent compositions but this later kind is strongest in sauor hardest in hande and no maruell for it gathereth much grosse and earthy substance whereas indeed the best Ladanum is commended and chosen when it is pure clear odoriferous soft green and full of rosin The
filthy matter a liniment or salue made of the root of all kinds of Panaces wine together are thought to be a soueraigne means to heale them But that Panaces which they call Chironia hath a singular property aboue the rest to drie vp such sores the same root beaten to pouder and incorporat with honey breaketh and openeth any swelling impostumes This herb tempered with wine it makes no matter whither you take floure seed or root so it be applied with Verdegrease or the rust of brasse healeth any sores be they neuer so desperat and principally such vlcers as be corrosiue and eat as they go The same if it be mingled with fried Barly meal is good for old festered vlcers Also Heraclion Sidâ—…rion Henbane Fleawort Tragacanth and Scordotis incorporat accordingly with hony cleanse the said sores As for this last named the very pouder of it alone strewed vpon vlcers eateth away the excrescence of proud flesh Polemonia healeth those malignant sores which be called morimals and are hard to be cured Centaury the greater reduced either into a pouder and so cast vpon the sore or brought into a liniment and applied accordingly the tops also of the lesse Centaurie either sodden or beaten to pouder do mundifie and heale vp all inueterate and cankered vlcers The tender crops or husks of Clymenos are good to be laid vnto fresh green wounds Moreouer the root of Gentian either stamped or boiled in water to the consistence of hony or the very iuice thereof serueth very well to be applied vnto corrosiue and eating vlcers like as a kind of Lycium made of it is as appropriat for wounds Lysimachia is an excellent wound herb and healeth wounds speedily if they be taken whiles they be new Plantam is a great healer of any sore whatsoeuer but principally of such vlcers as be in the bodies of women children and old folk If it be made soft tender at the fire first it doth the cure so much the better and being incorporat in some ordinary cerot it mundifieth and cleanseth the thicke edges and swollen brims of any sore and staieth the canker of corroding vlcers But when Plantaine is thus reduced into a pouder strewed vpon the sore you must not forget to couer the same with the own leaues Moreouer Celendine is singular for all impostumes and botches whether they be broken or no vea it mundifieth and drieth vp hollow vlcers called Fistulaes and for wounds is is such a singular desiccatiue that Chirurgions vse it in stead of Spodium The same being incorporat with hogs grease is excellent to be applied vnto them when they be in manner past cure and giuen ouer by the Chirurgion The herbe Dictamnus taken in drinke thrusteth out arrow-heads and in a liniment outwardly draweth forth the ends of darts and any spils whatsoeuer sticking within the body for which effect the leafe would be taken to the weight of one obolus in one cyath of water Next to this in operation is the other bastard kind therof call'd Pseudodictamnum and there is neither of them both but is good for to draw all biles imposthumes that are broken do run matter Moreouer Aristolochia is an excellent herb to eat and consume putrified vlcers full of dead flesh it mundifieth also those that be foule and filthie if it be applied with honey yea and draweth out the vermin bred of the corruption within them the callosities likewise and hard excrescences arising in sores it fetcheth away also it drawes forth any thing sticking in the flesh especially arrows and the spils of broken and scaled bones if it be laid too with rosin Of it selfe alone without any thing els it is a good incarnatiue and filleth vp hollow vlcers with good flesh butmixed with the pouder of the Flour-de-lis root and so incorporat with vineger it is singular for to heale vp green wounds Moreouer for old sores Veruaine and Cinquefoile medled together with salt and hony do make a soueraign salue The roots of the great Clot bur are good to be laid vnto fresh wounds made by the sword or any edged tooles but the leaues are better for old wounds if the same be tempered with hogs grease howbeit this charge ought to be giuen That as well the one as the other haue a leafe of the own laid ouer them to couer the whole place As for Damasonium it would be vsed in these cases prepared in that manner as it is ordained for the Kings euill And the leaues of Mullen serue wel for the same purpose if they be applied with vineger or wine Veruaine is a good herbe for all sorts of wounds and sores were they ouergrowne with callosities and ful of putrefaction the root of Nymphaea Heraclea healeth perfectly all running and filthy vlcers In like manner the root of Cyclamin i. Sowbread either alone of it selfe or incorporat with vineger or hony The same is singular good for those wens or impostumes that ingender within them a certaine matter like vnto fat or tallow Like as Hyssop is an appropriat herb for running vlcers Semblably Peucedanum which is of that efficacy for the healing of green wounds that it will draw corruption from the very bone The same effects haue both the Pimpernels and besides they doe represse those cancerous sores that eat deepe they stay also the flux of a rheume to any sore which hindereth the healing thereof they be good also for green wounds but especially in old bodies The fresh leaues of Mandragoras newly gathered incorporate with the masse of some cerot are singular for impostumes and maligne vlcers like as the root healeth wounds beeing made into a plaster with honey or oile Likewise Hemlocke tempered with the floure of fine white wheat and wrought into a paste with wine Housleeke cureth shingles ringwormes and such like wild-fires yea if they grow to be wolues and begin to putrifie like as Groundswell healeth those vlcers which be giuen to ingender vermin but the roots of the mountaine Cich or pease earth-nut are soueraign for green wounds and both kinds of Hypocisthis do mundifie inueterat vlcers The seed of Pied-de-lion stamped with water and reduced into a liniment with parched Barley groats concorporate all together draweth forth arrow heads so doth the seed of Pycnocomon in the same sort vsed and applied The iuice of the Spurge called Tithymalus Characias healeth gangrens cankers and putrified sores tending to mortification The decoction also of the branches sodden in oyle with fried barley meale As for Ragworts they cure morimals also either drie or greene so they be applied with vineger and honey and Oenothera by it selfe healeth those vntoward and fretting vlcers which are the worse and more angry for the handling The Scythians are woont to heale wounds with their hearbe Scythica And for cancerous sores the herb Argemonia incorporat with honey is knowne to be most effectuall When any wound or sore is ouer healed
the Aconite also giueth the bucklers to enemies twaine pernicious poisons both the one to it selfe and the other to all the world Now if happely any man should say That the wit and head alone of man could possibly compasse the knowledge of these things surely he should shew therein his ingratitude and impiety vnto the gods in not acknowledging their beneficence The people about Heraclea to kil the Panthers which breed in those parts vse to rub with Aconite certain gobbets of flesh which they doe lay about the mountains as a bait and bane for them and vnlesse by this meanes they did destroy them no doubt they would fill the whole countrie which is the cause that some call it Pardalianches i. libard-bane but they again on the other side presently haue recourse to the excrements of a man as I haue before declared the only counterpoison whereby they saue themselues who doubteth now but the knowledge of this secret came first to them by meere chance and considering that it is not possible to render a reason of the nature and vsage of such wild beasts and whensoeuer we see the like to fall out we count it still a new strange accident we must needs attribute the finding thereof to Fortune CHAP. III. ¶ That of all Creatures and Inuentions in this life the author is a god THis Chance and Fortune then by means wherof we attaine to so many inuentions that we haue is a diuine power and no lesse indeed than a God by which name also we vnderstand and call that great mother and mistresse of all things dame Nature and surely considering that conjecturall it is and doubtfull Whether these wild beasts come by this knowledge day by day at a venture or were indued naturally at the first with that perceiuance we haue as great reason to attribute a diuinity and godhead to the one as the other Well be it Chance or be it Nature that hath thus ordered the matter certes a great shame it had bin that all other creatures should haue knowne thus as they do what is good and profitable for them and man only remain ignorant But such was the industrie and goodnesse of those ancestours of ours in times past that they not only deuised means but also deliuered to posterity how this venomous herbe Aconitum might be most safely and commodiously mingled in those collyries and medicines which be ordained for the eies an euident argument and plaine proofe I assure you that there is nothing so bad but it hath some goodnesse in it and may be vsed wel And therfore dispensed withall I looke to be if I who hitherto haue written of no poisons put downe the description thereof to the end that a man may know it and by knowing take heed and beware This herb hath leaues resembling Cyclamin or the Cucumber in number no more than foure and those toward the root in some sort rough and hairy The root but small and the same like vnto a sea crab fish and therfore some haue named it Cammaron whereas others for the reason before shewed call it Theliphonon And for that the root doth turn and crook inward in maner of a scorpions taile there be that giue it the name Scorpion There wanted not others who chose rather to call it Myoctonon because with the very sent it is able to kill mice and rats a great way off It groweth naturally vpon bare and naked rocks which the Greeks cal Aconas which is the reason as some haue said why it was named Aconitum And for that in the place where it groweth or neare vnto it there is no mould nor so much as any dust found for to giue it nourishment some haue thought it took the name therupon Yet there be others who assigne another cause of that denomination to wit for that it is as forcible and as speedy in working the death of those whom it toucheth as the hard stone or rag in turning or wearing the edge of any yron toole for no sooner commeth it neere vnto the body and is applied vnto it but the quicke operation is sensibly found CHAP. IIII. ¶ Of Aethiopis Ageraton Aloe Alcea Alypon Alsina Androsace Androsaemon Ambrosia Anonis Anagyron and Anonymon THe leaues of Aethiopis are great and many in number hairy also neere vnto the root and otherwise correspondent to those of Mullen It riseth vp with a four cornered stem rough in handling and after the maner of the main stem of the Clot-bur hauing many concauities or holes like arm-pits in the grafting of the branches to the said stem It beareth seeds like vnto Eruile which ordinarily grow double two by two and are white The roots be many and those long ful and well nourished soft and clammy in tast being dried they wax black grow hard withal in such sort as a man would take them for horns They grow ordinarily in Aethyopia also vpon the mountain Ida in the region of Troas and in Messenia The right season to gather these roots is in Autumne and then they ought to be laid a drying in the Sun for certain daies together to keep them from moulding Being taken in white wine they help the infirmities of the matrice and the decoction therof drunk is good for the Sciatica the pleurisie the hoarsnesse in the throat But that which commeth out of Aethyopia is counted best and hath no fellow for it worketh presently As for Ageraton it is an herb of the Ferula kind growing vp to the height of 2 spans like to Origanum but that the floures resemble buttons or brooches of gold The fume of this herbe when it burneth prouoketh vrin and mundifieth the matrice especially if a woman sit in a bath thereof and do foment the natural parts therewith The reason of the name Ageraton is this because the floures continue very long before they seem to fade and wither Aloe is an herbe which hath the resemblance of the sea-onion but that it is bigger and the leaues be more grosse and fat chamfered or channelled biais all along the stem that it beareth is tender red in the middest not vnlike to Anthericon one root it hath and no more which runneth directly deep into the ground in manner of a big stake strong it is to smell vnto and biter in tast The best Aloe is brought out of India but there groweth good store thereof in Asia howbeit of no vse but that they lay the leaues fresh vnto green wounds for they do incarnat and heale wonderfully like as their juice also And for that it is such an excellent wound-herbe folk vse to set and sow it in barels or pipes pointed beneath and broad aboue like as they do the greater Housleek Some there be who for to draw a juice or liquor out of it stay not vntill the seed be ripe but cut the stem for that purpose others make incision also in the leaues moreouer there is otherwhile found in
tooth-ach so that the patient hold the decoction in his mouth For the Sciatica and strangurie it is good to be taken at the mouth in wine and outwardly applied it healeth burns and cureth kibed heeles in which cases the root is much commended if together with the seed it be stamped with wine and a fomentation made with the decoction thereof As touching Asplenum some there be who call it Hemionion an herbe putting forth many leaues foure inches long the root is giuen to haue cranks and holes and those full of mud or durt much-what do the leaues grow like to Fearn the root is white and rough It beareth neither stalk stem nor seed It delighteth to grow among rockes and stones vpon walls standing in the shade and in moist grounds The best is that which we haue out of Candy It is commonly said that if the decoction of the leaues boiled in vineger be drunke forty daies together it wasteth the swelled spleen The same may be applied in a liniment for that purpose so also they do stay the excessiue yex or hocket This herb would not be giuen to women for it causeth them to be barren Asclepias beareth leaues resembling Iuie long branches many small roots and those odoriferous howbeit the flours haue a strong and rank stinking smell with them the seed much like to the Axvitch It loueth to grow vpon mountains The roots of this herbe not only taken inwardly in drinke but also applied outwardly in a liniment do ease the wrings of the belly and resist the sting of serpents After is by some named Bubonium for that it is a present remedy for the tumours arising in the share This herbe putteth vp a small stemme with two or three leaues somewhat long In the top thereof it beareth certaine little heads inuironed with spokie leaues and those disposed round in manner of a starre Taken in drinke it is thought to be a preseruatiue against the venom of serpents But to make a medicine for the share beforenamed it must they say be gathered with the left hand nd then kept fast bound neere vnto the middle or girding place of the patient And surely it helpeth the Sciatica in case it be tied sure to the affected place Ascyron and Ascyroides be herbes resembling one another and both like vnto Hypericon howbeit that which is named Ascyroides hath the bigger branches and those streight and direct much after the manner of Fenell and such like red throughout and in the top thereof appeare little heads or knobs of a yellow color The seed contained in certain pretty cups is smal black and gummie bruise the said tops or knobs between your fingers they seem to stain them with bloud which is the cause that some cal this herb Androsaemon The seed is singular for the Sciatica namely if the patient drink two drams weight thereof in a sextar of Hydromel that is to say mead or honied water for it looseneth the belly and purgeth choler A liniment made therewith is much commended for a burne Apace is an herb which hath very fine and small leaues and a little taller it is than the Lentill but larger cods it beareth wherin lie three or foure seeds blacker moister and smaller than the grains of the said Lentill It groweth vpon corn lands More astringent it is by nature than the Lentill and bindeth stronger for all other matters it worketh the same effects The seed boiled staieth vomits and lasks Touching Alcibion what manner of herb it should be I neuer could yet finde in any writer But they giue direction to stamp the roots and leaues thereof and so in a cataplasme to apply them vnto any place stung with serpents and to drink them also Now they prescribe for the drink to take of the leaues one good handfull and to stamp them and so to giue them in three cyaths of meere wine ful of the grape or of the root three drams weight with the like measure of wine Alectorolophos in Greek called by vs in Latine Crista Galli i. Cocks-comb hath leaues for all the world resembling the crest or comb of a cock and those in number many a slender stem and black seed inclosed within certain cods A soueraign herb it is for them that cough if it be boiled with bruised beans and taken in maner of an electuary with hony It scattereth the cloudy films that trouble the eie-sight the maner is to take the seed whole and sound as it is and to put it into the eie it is nothing offensiue nor troubleth that part one whit but gathereth to it selfe all those grosse humors which impeached the sight And in very truth this seed whiles it is within the eie changeth colour and being black before beginneth to wax white it swelleth withall and in the end commeth out of the eie by the owne accord CHAP. VI. ¶ Of Alum THe herb which we name in Latine Alum the Greeks call Symphytum Petraeum as if one would say Comfrey of the rock and verily like it is to wild Origan The leaues be small and three or foure branches spring immediatly from the root the tops whereof resemble those of Thyme Much branched it is otherwise odoriferous in smel and sweet in tast it draws down water into the mouth and causeth spitting The root which it putteth forth is long red This herb taketh pleasure to grow in stony places among rocks in which regard it took the addition of the name Petraeum Singular good it is for the sides and flanks the spleen reines and wrings of the belly for the breast the lights for such as reject or cast vp bloud and are troubled with the asperity and hoarsnesse in the throat for which infirmities the root is to be stamped boiled in wine and so drunk yea and otherwhiles to be reduced into a liniment and so applied Moreouer the chewing of it only quencheth thirst and hath a principal vertue to coole the lungs Being applied outwardly in the form of a cataplasm it knitteth dislocations helpeth convulsions is comfortable to the spleen the bowels or guts if they be fallen by any rupture The same root rosted or baked vnder the ashes staieth a lask in case it be first shrigged from the hairy strings thereof and pilled and then after it is beaten into pouder be drunk in water with nine Pepper corns And for healing of wounds so soueraigne it is that if it be put into the pot and sodden with pieces of flesh it will souder and reioine them whereupon the Greekes imposed vpon it the name Symphytum i. Consound finally it serueth to vnite again broken bones CHAP. VII ¶ Of Reits or sea-grasse and Wallwort Of the wild vine and Wormewood THe sea-weed that looketh red named in Latine Alga is very proper for the prick and sting of Scorpions Touching Wallwort it hath leaues carrying a strong and stinking smell with them the stems be rough and parted into ioints the seed black like
to that of the Iuy saue that the berries containing the same be soft This herb delighteth in shady cool rough and watery places Beeing giuen to the full quantity of one Acetabulum it is singular for the inward maladies which be proper to women The wild Vine called by the Greeks Ampelos-Agria is an herbe as I haue sufficiently described already in my Treatise of Vines planted and wel ordered by mans hand which putteth forth hard leaues of Ash-colour long branches and winding rods clad with a thicke skin and the same be red resembling the floure Phlox which in the chapter and discourse of Violets I called Iovis Flamma and a seed it beareth much like vnto the graines within a Pomegranate The root boiled in three cyaths of water and two cyaths of the wine comming out of the Island Coos is a gentle emollitiue of the belly and maketh the body soluble in which regard it is giuen with good successe to such as be in a dropsie A very good herb for women as well to rectifie the infirmities of the matrice as also to scoure and beautifie the skin of their face Moreouer for the sciatica it is good to stamp it leafe and all and to annoint the grieued place with the juice thereof As for Wormewood there be many kindes thereof One is named Santonicum of a city in France called Saints another to wit Ponticum taketh that name of the kingdome Pontus where the sheep feed fat with it which is the cause that they be found without gall neither is there a better Wormwood than it much bitterer than that of Italy and yet the marow or pith within of that Ponticke Wormwood is sweet to ours Meet and requisite it is that I should set down the vertues and properties thereof an herb I must needs say as common as any and most ready at hand howbeit few or none so good and wholesome to say nothing of the especiall account which the people of Rome make of it about their holy sacrifices and solemnities for in those festiuall holydaies named Latinae at what time as there is held a great running with chariots for the best game he that first attaineth to the goale and winneth the prise hath a draught of VVormwood presented vnto him And I beleeue verily that our forefathers and ancestors deuised this honourable reward for the good health of that victorious chariottier as judging him worthy to liue still And in truth a right comfortable herb it is for the stomack and doth mightily strengthen it In which regard there is an artificiall wine that carieth the strength and tast thereof named Absinthites according as I haue shewed heretofore moreouer there is an ordinary drinke made of the decoction of Wormwood boiled in water for the right making whereof take six drams weight of the leaues and sprigs together seeth them in three sextars of raine water and in the end put thereto a small quantity of salt which done the liquor ought to stand a day and a night afterwards to coole in the open aire and then is it to be vsed Certes there is not a decoction of any herbe of so great antiquitie as it and knowne to haue beene vsed so long Moreouer the infusion of VVormewood is in great request and a common drinke for so we vse to call the liquor wherein it lay steeped a certain time Now this would be considered that be the proportion of water what it will the said infusion ought to stand close couered for three daies together Seldome or neuer is there any vse of wormewood beaten to pouder ne yet of the juice drawn by way of expression And yet those that presse forth a iuice take the Wormwood when the seed vpon it beginneth to swell and wax sull and being newly gathered let it lie soking in water three daies together but if it were drie before to steep it a whole seuen night which done they set it ouer the fire in a brasen pan with this proportion namely ten hemines of the herbe to fiue and fortie sextars of water and suffer it to boyle vntill a third part of the liquor be consumed after this the decoction must run through a strainer with hearbe and all well pressed then ought it to be set vpon the fire againe and suffered to seeth gently and leisurely to the height or consistence of honey much after the order of the syrrup made of Centaurie the lesse But when all is done this juleb or syrrup of VVormewood is offensiue to the stomack and head both whereas that decoction first aboue-named is most wholsome for astringent though it be and binding the mouth of the stomack aloft yet it doth euacuat choler downward it prouoketh vrine keepeth the body soluble and the belly in good temper yea and if it be pained giueth great ease the worms ingendered therein it expelleth and being taken with Seseli and Celticke nard so there be a little vineger put thereto it dispatcheth all ventosities in the stomacke and cureth women with child of that inordinat desire and strange longing of theirs it clenseth the stomack of those humors which cause lothing of meat bringeth the appetite againe and helpeth concoction if it be drunke with Rue Pepper and salt it purgeth it of raw humors crudities occasioned by want of digestion In old time Physitians gaue wormwood for a purgatiue but then they tooke a sextar of sea water that had bin kept long six drams of the seed with three drams of salt and one cyath of hony and the better will this purgation worke in case the poise of salt be doubled but it would be puluerized as fine as possibly may be to the end that it might passe away the sooner and worke more easily Some vsed to giue the weight beforesaid in a gruell of Barley groats with an addition of Peniroyall others against the Palsie and others againe had a deuise to put the leaues of wormwood in figs and make little children to eat them so that they might not tast their bitternes Wormwood being taken with the root of Floure-de-lis dischargeth the brest of tough fleagme and clenseth the pipes For the iaundise it would be giuen in drinke raw with Parsley or Maidenhaire Supped hot by little and little in water it breaketh wind and resolueth ventosities and together with French Spikenard it cureth the infirmities of the liuer and taken with vineger or some gruel or els in figs it helpeth the spleen giuen in vineger it helpeth those that haue eaten venomous Mushrums or be poisoned with the gum of Chamaelion called Ixia In wine if it be taken it saueth those who haue drunk Hemlock it resisteth the poison inflicted by the sting of the hardishrow the sea dragon and scorpions It is holden to be singular for the clarifyng of the sight if the eies be giuen to watering it represseth the rheum or flux of humors thither so it be applied with wine cuit and laid vnto contusions and the skin
the next morrow Lepidus took them vp for it and in bitter tearmes and minatorie words chid them for that they had laid him where he could not sleep a wink all night long for the noise and singing that the birds made about him They being thus checked and rebuked deuised against the next night to paint in a piece of parchment of great length a long Dragon or serpent wherewith they compassed the place where Lepidus should take his repose the sight of which serpent thus painted so terrified the birds that they had no mind to sing but were altogether silent By which experiment at that time it was known afterwards that birds by this means might be stilled As touching the feat of setting colours with wax and enamelling with fire who first began deuised the same it is not known Some are of opinion that the inuention therof came from Aristides and that Praxiteles practised the same brought to an absolute perfection But surely there were pictures wrought by fire a good while before Aristides daies and namely by Polygnotus Nicanor and Arcesilaus of Paros Lysippus also in his painted tables that he made at Aegina vsed to entitle them with this inscription 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. Lysippus painted this with fire which verily he would neuer haue done if the art of painting with fire called Encaustice had not bin before deuised Moreouer Pamphilus master to Apelles is reported not onely to haue himselfe practised this painting with vernish and to inamel by the means of fire but also to haue taught it vnto Pausias the Sicyonian who was the first that excelled in this kinde and caried away the name from all others in his time This Pausias was the son of Brietes and apprentice also to his father in the beginning he vsed also the plaine pensil wherewith he wrought vpon the walls at Thespiae which hauing been in times past painted by Polygnotus were now to be refreshed and painted new again by his hand howbeit in comparison of the former worke he was thought to come a great way short of Polygnotus and the reason was because he dealt in that kind of work which was not indeed his proper profession He it was that brought vp first the deuice of painting vaulted roufes for neuer was it the manner to adorne and garnish embowed seeling ouer head with colours before his time His delight naturally was to be painting little tables and therein he loued to portray little boies Other painters his concurrents and no well-willers of his gaue it out that he made choice of this kind of work because such painting went but slowly away and required no quicke and nimble hand Whereupon Pausias to disproue his aduersaries and withall to get himselfe a name as well for celeritie and expedition as for his art and skill otherwise in these small pieces began and finished in a table the picture of a boy within one day and thereupon it was called Hemeresios In his youthfull daies he fell in fancie with a woman in the same towne where he dwelt named Glycera a fine wit she had of her owne and especially in making chaplets and guirlands of floures she was full of inuention Pausias by his acquaintance with her and striuing to imitate with his pensill her handiworke and to expresse that varietie of floures which she gathered and couched together full artificially in her Coronets enriched his owne pictures also with a number of colours and brought the art to wonderfull perfection in that point In the end he painted Glycera also his loue sitting with a Chaplet of floures her hand and certes this is the most excellent peece of worke that euer went out of his shop this table with the picture was thereupon called by some Stephanoplocos i. A woman plaiting and twisting a guarland by others Stephanopolis i. Selling guirlands for that this Glycera got a poor liuing by making chaplets and had no other good means to maintain her selfe The counterfeit taken from this table and made by it which kind of pattern the Greekes call Apographon L. Lucullus bought of Dionysius a painter of Athens and it cost him two talents of siluer Furthermore this Pausias made faire and great pictures also and namely one of his making which doth represent a solemne sacrifice of oxen is to be seen at this day within the stately galleries of Pompeius and verily this maner of painting the solemnity of a sacrifice he first inuented but no man euer after could attaine to his dexteritie in that kinde and notwithstanding many gaue the attempt and seemed to imitate him yet they came al short of him aboue al he had a singular gift to work by perspectiue for when he was minded to paint a boeuforoxe to shew the full length he would not portray him sidelong or aflank but afront by which means the beast is best represented not only how long bâ—…t also how large and big he is euery way Again whereas all other painters whensoeuer they would raise their work make any thing seeme eminent and high vse to colour the same white and bright and the better to make their perspectiue do shadow or deep the same with black this man in lieu thereof would paint the oxe all of a black colour and cause the body as it were of the shadow to arise out of it selfe And verily so excellent he was in this perspectiue that a man would say his euen plaine and flat picture were embossed and raised work yea and imagin where fractures were that al was sound and entire This man liued also at Sicyone and verily for a long time this city was reputed the natiue countrey that bred painters and the onely place stored with excellent pictures But during that time wherein Scaurus was Aedile at Rome all the rich tables which were in the publick places of that city whether in the market steads temples or common halls were seised vpon and brought to Rome for to satisfie great sums of money wherein the Sicyonians stood indebted After Pausias there arose one Euphranor the Isthmian whom flourished about the 104 Olympias far surpassing all other painters of his time This Euphranor is hee whom I haue named among the famous imageurs and founders Of his workmanship there be Colosses of brasse statues of marble stone yea and faire drinking cups chased and engrauen Of an excellent capacity he was and apt to learn any thing studious withall and painfull aboue all others and whatsoeuer he gaue his mind vnto therein he excelled and in one word a general man he was like himselfe still that is to say his craftsmaster in all and as good in one thing as another This is hee who seems to haue expressed first the port and maiestie that is in princes and great states and to haue obserued symmetry and proportion yet he was not without his imperfection for commonly as he made the bulk of the body too slender so the joints and heads