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A19070 The haven of health Chiefly gathered for the comfort of students, and consequently of all those that have a care of their health, amplified upon five words of Hippocrates, written Epid. 6. Labour, cibus, potio, somnus, Venus. Hereunto is added a preservation from the pestilence, with a short censure of the late sicknes at Oxford. By Thomas Coghan Master of Arts, and Batcheler of Physicke. Cogan, Thomas, 1545?-1607. 1636 (1636) STC 5484; ESTC S108449 215,466 364

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I say of five parts of the earth those two which lye about the Poles within the circle Articus and Antarticus through extremity of cold are inhabitable as of old time hath beene thought howbeit now certaine Ilands are discovered within the circle Articke and found to be inhabited The third and greatest part which lyeth in the middes betweene the two Tropickes by reason of the continuall course of the Sunne over it and the direct casting of the Sunne beames upon it named Torrida Zona as burned or parched with overmuch heat hath likewise beene thought inhabitable yet now found otherwise considering the greatest part of Africk well inhabited and no small portion of Asia with sundry Ilands adjoyning doe lye within this compasse yet by the judgement of Orontius a man very expert in Cosmography right under the Equinoctiall is most temperate and pleasant habitation for so he sayth Torrida inprimis quanquam assidua Solis irradiatione arescere videatur sub ipso tamen aequatore faelicissima a●ris temperatura c●teras omnes antecellit The other two parts onely of which the one lyeth Northward betweene the circle Articke and the Tropicke of Can●er the other Southward betweene the circle Antartick and the Tropicke of Cap●icorne are counted temperate and habitable regions because they are tempered with heate on the South-side and cold on the Northside Howbeit these parts also about the middest of them are most temperate For toward their utmost bounds they are distempered with heate or cold according to the Zones next adjoyned Now in the temperate Zone Northward lyeth our countrey of Brittaine After Appianus England within the eight Clime called Dia Ripheon and Scotland in the ninth called Dia Darvas or after Orontius whose judgement I rather allow England in the ninth Clyme and Scotland in the eleventh for the old division of the earth according to the latitude into seven Climates Orontius utterly rejecteth and thinketh the famous universitie and City of Paris in France to be placed about the end of the eight Clime because the latitude of the earth or elevation of the pole Articke for both are one in effect is there 48 degrees and 40 minutes The same reason doe I make for England because the pole Articke is exalted at London 51 degrees and 46 minutes and at Oxford 51 degrees and 50 minutes that therefore England should bee the ninth Clime because the distance of parallels from the Equator is after Orontius in the ninth Clinie all one with our elevation England then lyeth in the temperate Zone Northward and the ninth Climate having on the South-East side France on the North-East Norwey on the South-West Spaine on the West Ireland on the North Scotland Now concerning the temperature of the ayre in England whether it bee in a meane or doe exceed the meane in heat cold dryth or moysture shall best bee perceived by comparison of other countries Hippocrates in the end of his third booke of Prenotions setteth downe three Countries for example of temperate or untemperate aire in heate or cold that is Libya Delos and Scythia Libya or Affricke as over hot Scythia or Tartaria as over cold and the Iland Delos of Greece as meane temperate betwixt both The like comparison is made of Aristotle in the 7. booke and 7. Chapter of his Politikes Those nations saith he which inhabite cold countries are couragious but they have little wit and cunning Wherefore they live in more libertie and hardly receive good governance of the weale publike neither can they well rule their borderers And such as dwell in Asia excell in wit and art but they want audacitie for which cause they live in subjection to others But the Graecians as they have a Countrey in a meane betweene both so have they both qualities For they are both valiant and witty Whereby it commeth to passe that they live at liberty and have good government and such a state as may rule all other Hereunto I will adde the judgement of Galen that famous Physitian written in the second booke de San. tu and 7. Chapter which may be as an interpretation of Hippocrates and Aristotle The best temperature of body saith hee is as a rule of Polycletus such as in our situation being very temperate you may see many But in France Scythia Egypt or Arabia a man may not so much as dreame of any like And of our Countrey which hath no small latitude that part which lieth in the middest is most temperate as the Countrey of Hippocrates for that there VVinter Summer hath a meane temperature and at the Spring and fall of the leafe much better So that Greece by the judgment of these men is most temperate and France distempered with cold by the opinion of Galen And if France exceed the meane in cold then is not England in a perfect temperature but more declining to cold because it is three degrees and ten minutes farther North comparing Oxford and Paris together in the elevation of the Pole Artick Howbeit Iulius Caesar in the fift book of his commentaries thinketh the ayre to bee more temperate in Britaine in those places where he was than in France and the cold lesser And Polidorus Virgilius in his Chronicle of England seemeth to bee of the same minde The countrey saith he is at all times of the yeare most temperate and no extremitie of weather so that diseases be rare and therefore lesse use of Physick than elsewhere And many men all abroad doe live a hundred and ten years and some a hundred and twenty yet he thinketh the aire for the most part to be cloudy and rainy which also is confirmed by Cornelius Tacitus in the life of Iulius Agricola saying The ayre of Brittain is foule with often stormes and clouds without extremitie of cold But to reconcile these sayings of ancient authors I thinke that England may bee called temperate in heate in respect of Spaine and temperate in cold in respect of Norwey yet to be reckoned cold notwithstanding moist because it declineth from the mids of the temperate Zone Northward And this is the cause why Englishmen doe eate more and digest faster than the inhabitants of hotter countries videlicet the coldnesse of aire enclosing our bodies about And therefore wee provide that our tables may be more plentifully furnished oftentimes than theirs of other nations Which provision though it proceed chiefly of that plenty which our country yeeldeth is yet notwithstanding noted by forraine nations as of Hadrianus Barlandus in a dialogue between the Inholder and the traveller saying in this manner Ego curavero ut Anglice hoc est opulentissime pariter ac lautissime discumbant Thus much touching the situation temperature of Englād Now concerning the order of the booke Hippocrates in the sixt booke of his Epidemies setteth downe this sentence Labor Cibus Potio Somnus Venus omnia mediocri● as a short summe or forme of a mans whole life touching diet By the which words
for students The best Apples that wee have in England are Pepins Costards Duseannes Darlings and such other They that will not eat Apples may yet eat Apple tarts which be very wholsome for cholericke stomackes if they be well made Who so will preserve apples long must lay them in honey so that one touch not another CHAP. 103. Of Peares PEares are much of the nature of Apples and of the same temperature that is to say cold and moist in the first degree The difference of Peares must be discerned by the taste even as of Apples For some are sweet some soure some both some drier some more moist c. But they are heavier of digestion than apples And all manner of fruit generally fill the bloud with water which boyleth up in the body as new wine doth in the vessell and so prepareth and causeth the bloud to putrifie and consequently bringeth in sicknesse So Peares eaten raw make waterish and corrupt bloud and beside that they ingender winde and so cause the Cholicke And therefore if any be so greedie of them that needes they will eat raw Peares it shall bee good to drinke after them a draught of old wine of good savour as sacke or Canary wine And this is the reason as I thinke of that saying which is commonly used that peares without wine are poison that is to say hurtfull to mans nature as it is sayd in Scho Sal. Adde py●o potum sine vino sunt pyra virus But if they be rosted baken or stewed they are not unwholesome And eaten after meat being rype and well gathered they doe restraine and knit up the stomacke and fortifie digestion which also is approved by Schola Sal. Cum coquis antidotum pyra sunt sed ●ruda venenum Cruda gravant stomachum relevant pyra cocta gravatum But to avoid all inconvenience that may grow by eating of Pears Apples and other fruits Cordus giveth a very good caveat in this manner Vt pyra non noceant extra mundentur intra Mox immerge sali projice deinde foras The great peares which Virgil nameth Gravia volema in English peare-wardens may be longest preserved and have chiefely the foresaid vertues As for other sorts of peares though they be more pleasant in taste yet they are but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Galen speaketh that is to say Summer fruits CHAP. 104. Of Peaches PEaches be cold in the first degree and moist in the second Dios saith that ripe peaches be wholsome both for the stomacke and belly But they should bee eaten before meales as Galen sheweth and not after meat as our manner is in England for beeing eaten after meat they swim above and both corrupt themselves and also the other meats But eaten before they mollifie the belly and provoke appetite and qualifie the distemperature of choler in the stomacke And after Peaches we should drink wine to helpe the coldnesse of them as it is in Scho. Sal. Persica cum musto vobis datur ordine iusto But for such as can rule themselves and refrain their appetite according to reason it is best of all to forgoe both apples peares and peaches together with other things which ingender melancholy and are unwholesome for sicke folkes and are briefely contained in these verses following taken out of Scho. Sal. Persica poma pyra lac caseus caro salsa Et caro cervina leporina bovina caprina Atra haec bile nocent suntque infirmis inimica CHAP 10. Of Plummes PLummes are cold and moist in the second degree Though there be diverse sorts of Plummes both of the garden and field and of sundry colours yet the Damasins are counted most wholesome and beeing eaten before meats they coole a hot stomacke and soften the belly as it is in Schola Sal. Frigida sunt laxant multum prosunt tibi pruna The Damasin Plummes are woont to be dried and preserved as figges and are called in English Prunes Howbeit the Latine word Prunum signifieth any kind of plumme yea Sloes and Bullase which grow wild Our Damasins in England be so small and so soure that they will make no good Prunes But our Prunes are brought from beyond the sea The best are called Damaske Prunes because they grow in a citie of Syria called Damascus as Galen noteth and are brought out of Syria to Venice and from thence to other parts of Europe The next in vertue to Damaske prunes be Spanish prunes They are used divers waies in Physicke as in Syrrups electuaries Conserves to loose the belly and to avoid choler But for meats though they nourish little they be chiefely used in Tarts or stewed in water or in wine and so if they be eaten before meales they dispose a man to the stoole I say before meals because we are wont to eat them after meales And some as I have knowne being costive and using them after meales purposely to make them soluble have missed of their purpose Which errour may bee holpen by eating them before meat For so saith Math. speaking of Prunes stewed Primis mensis devorata praeter id quod esui placent commodissimè aluum citant Whose judgement I my self following having a cholerick stomacke and a costive belly was woont sometime to breake my fast with a dish of prunes stewed contrary to the use of other men who commonly eat them last I have written the more of Prunes because it is so cōmon a dish at Oxford As for Sloes and Bullase they are more meet for swine than men CHAP. 106. Of Cherries CHeries be cold and moist in the first degree they be divers in tast and commonly of two colors either blacke or red The red Cheries if they be soure or sharp be more wholesome And if they be eaten fresh and newly gathered fasting or at the beginning of dinner their nature is to scoure the stomacke and to provoke appetite as saith Arnoldus upon Sch. Sal. whose authority I alledge because peradventure it may seem strange to some that I prescribe them to be eaten before dinner whereas our common use is to eat them after dinner The vertues of Cheries are briefely set downe in the same Chapter as followeth Si Cerasum comedas tibi confert grandia dona Expurgat stomachum nucleus lapidem tibi tollit Hinc melior toto corpore sanguis inest That is to say Cheries purge the stomacke and the kernels of the cherry stones eaten drie or made milk breaketh the stone in the reines or bladder and that which no fruit in a manner else doth the substance or meat of Cherries engendereth very good bloud and comforteth and fitteth the body But yet let no student be too bold hereupon to take any surfet of Cheries as I have knowne some do but alwaies to remember that golden lesson of Pythagoras 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And if you would eat Cherries or plummes
in tenuissimum pulverem contrita auxiliantur faeminis albis uteri profluviis laborantibus si quotidierosarum stillatitia aqua huiusce pulveris bin●● hauserint drachmas CHAP. 113. Of Medlars MEdlars are cold and dry in the second degree they straine or binde the stomacke and therfore they are good after meales especially for such as bee over laxative being much eaten they ingender melancholie and be rather medicamentum than alimentum as Galen saith Yet of the stones or kernels of Medlars may be made a verie good medicine for the stone as Matth. writeth Mespilorum ossicul● in pulver●m contrita calculos ●●renibus pellunt ubi cochlearis me●sura ex vino i● quo vulgaris petr●selini radices decoctae fuerint ebibantur CHAP. 114. Of Services SErvices are much of the nature of Medlars saving that they are not so binding Yet they are more pleasant in eating They are likewise to be eaten after meat to constraine and close up the stomacke They are plentifull about Oxford Mandu●tur ●t ●lvum sist●nt as saith Dios CHAP. 115. Of Berberies BErberies are cold and moist in the second degree Because of their sourenesse they are not used to be eaten alone but made in conserva or else put in other meats Conserva of Berberies is very good for a hot stomacke or hot liver to provoke appetite to restrain vomit as I have often proved in hot diseases It may be made in this maner Take of Berberies a pint full cleane washed and picked from the stalkes let them seeth leasurely in a quart of water or more untill they be soft then poure out the water and draw them through a strainer as you doe prunes then take all that is strayned and put to it three times so much sugar and let them seeth together untill the sugar be incorporate with the Berberries then take it off and put it in a glasse or gallipot Also this experiment I will disclose for the behalfe of students That the inner rinde or Barke of the Berberry tree being laied in ale or white wine close covered and drunk the next morning after is a sufficient medicine to cure the yellow jaundise if it be used foure or five times fasting in a morning abstaining two houres after it and if any list to preserve Berberries whole for a banquetting dish they must bee used as I have declared before of Cheries And if you would keepe them all the were for saucing of other meats then take them and picke the leaves cleane from them and put them in a pot of earth and fill the pot full of verjuice or cover them over with salt and take them out as you occupie them CHAP. 116. Of Olives OLives if they be ripe are temperately hot they which be greene are cold and drie They are brought into England from Spaine being preserved in salt liquor and are used as a sauce and so they doe not onely stir up appetite but also strengthen the stomacke and being eaten with vineger they loose the belly Of Olives is made our salot oyle and that which is cōmonly called oile Olive the mother or ground of many other oils is most properly called by the name of oyle as Galen writeth wherwith as Matth. reporteth may be made a very good medicine to ease the paine of the cholicke and stone Which I will recite for the behalfe of students Oleum si cum pari pondere vini Cretici calidum bibatu● aut clystere infundatur Colicos Ili●cos Cal●ulosos dolores mirifi●e mulcet And this commodity I note in this medicine that it may be received at both ends or tone or tother as best shall like my brother The salet oyle which is indeed the purest oile olive is wholesom to be eaten with sops of white bread is like in operation to butter yet some deale stronger in loosing And this proofe I have of it that if you would procure an easie vomit and without all danger to clense the stomacke and inward parts take but foure spoonefuls of Sacke or white wine and as many of salet oyle and mix both together and warm it and drinke it and you shall have the effect CHAP 115. Of Orenges ORenges are not wholly of one temperature for the rinde is hot in the first degree and drie in the second the juice of them is cold in the second degree and dry in the first They are colder and hotter as they are in sourenesse or sweetnesse For the sourer the juice i● the colder it is and the sweeter the more hot With the juice of Orenges is made a syrrup and a conserva very good and comfortable in hot fevers and for one that hath a hot stomackes Also with the juice putting to a little pouder of Mints Sugar and Cinomon may be made a very good sawce for a weake stomacke to provoke appetite The rindes are preserved condite in sugar and so are the flowers of the Orenge tree Either of them being taken in a little quantity doe greatly comfort a feeble stomacke The substance of the Orenge is used to be eaten raw with rosted flesh as a sawce yet Matth. doth not commend it Quia cruda non facilè coctioni obediunt crassum generant succum But Lady Gula hath not onely commended them to be eaten with meats but also devised a banquetting dish to be made with sliced Orenges and sugar cast upon them CHAP. 118. Of Limons Limons are like in nature to Orenges saving that as they are sourer so are they colder Neither is the pil of them bitter as the pil of an Orenge but may be eaten together with the substance though it bee of harder digestion Of the juice is made both syrrup and conserva and the whole Limon is preserved condite with sugar Yea the juice of a Limon is very good against the stone for so saith Matth. Limoniorum succus ex vino Cretico potus mirifice calculos pellit Wherefore a cup of Rhenish or white wine with a Limon sliced and sugar is a pleasant medicine next a mans heart in a morning And I would every good student might be hurt so thrife in a weeke CHAP. 119. Of Hasill Nuts and Filberts HAsill Nuts be hot drie in the first degree they be hard of digestion they fill the stomacke and belly with winde they incline one to vomit and as experience proveth they stuffe the brest full of flegme and cause a cough Wherefore I advise all students not to use them much especially after they be drie for the dry nuts are worse than the new and moist because they are more drie and oilie by reason whereof they turne soone to choler and ingender headache Yet if any be come of a Squirrels kinde and loveth well to eat old nuts let him eat raysons together with them For raisons through their moisture will qualifie the drinesse of the nuts as Scho● Sal. teacheth Sumere sic est
For beside that it is hard of digestion as common experience proveth it must needs breed ill iuice in the body considering the want of motion and grosse feeding thereof for which cause wee use commonly to drinke strong wine with brawne to helpe digestion And we eat it before other meats that it may lye lowest in the stomacke where digestion is strongest and we eat it in the cold time of the yeare when wee are best able to digest grosse meats as Hip. saith Ventres hyeme ac vere natura calidissimi somni longissimi VVhich use of England is confirmed in Schol. Sal. on this wise Est caro porcina sine vino peior ovina Si tribuis vina tunc est cibus medicina Which is to be understood as Arnoldus affirmeth in his commentarie upon the same especially of rosting pigs and brawne For young pigs commonly called rosting pigges though they be commonly eaten and accounted light meat yet they are not very wholesome by reason of their overmuch moisture and they breed in our bodies much superfluous humors wherefore they need good wine as well as brawne the one because it is over hard and grosse the other because it is over moist and slimy But physicke teacheth the cooke that flesh which is inclined to drienesse should be sodden the flesh which is inclined to moisture should be wel rosted Wherefore porke pig veale and lambe is better rosted than boyled Yet if a man be costive and would saine be soluble let him make po●age with fresh porke and none other herbe but Mercurie and by eating thereof as I have often proved hee shall be easily loosed As for Bacon is in no wise commended as wholesome especially for students or such as have feeble stomackes But for laboring men it is convenient according to the Latine proverb Crassa crassis conveniunt For the country woman when her sicke husband would eat no fat bacon thought he was past all eating for when the Physitian advised her to dresse him a chicken What master Doctor sayd shee doe you thinke hee will eat of a chicken when as he will eat no bacon as yellow as the gold noble And indeed in such kinde of men it forceth not much how wholesome meat be so it fill the belly and keepe strength For as the Poet Virgil writeth Labor improbus vincit omnia Yet a gamond of bacon well dressed is a good shooing horn to pull down a cup of wine But all sorts of swines flesh were and are abhominable to the Iewes because it was forbidden by God to be eaten of them as being unclean In so much that seven brethren and their mother were most cruelly put to death because they would not eat swines flesh But it is lawfull for the faithfull to eat all kinde of meat And although swine be uncleane beasts yet their flesh maketh cleane nourishment as Galen thinketh CHAP. 133. Of Goats flesh GOates flesh either of male or female is dispraised of Galen Quia praeter succum vitiosum acrimoniam etiam habet Yet kid is commended of him next unto porke But Avicen and the sect of the Arabians prefer kid flesh before all other flesh because it is more temperate and breedeth purer bloud as being in a meane betweene hot and cold subtill and grosse So that it can cause none inflammation nor repletion And is therefore a good meat for those that have weake stomackes and use meane exercise But it is not convenient for labourers because great labors would soone resolve the iuice engendered thereof Isaak Iudaeus maketh foure differences in age as well of goats as of other kindes of beasts That is to say Lactens adolescens Iuvenis decrepitus And hee most commendeth sucking Kids For this rule is generall that flesh of a drie complexion is better neere calving time than farder from it Wherefore Kids and calves be better than Goats and Oxen because their drinesse is abated with the moisture of their youngnesse But flesh of beasts of moist complexion is better and more wholesome in age than in youth for a great part of their over much moysture is dried away as they doe increase increase in age wherefore weathers of a yere old are lesse clammy and more wholesom than sucking lambs And likewise porkes of a yeare or two old are better than young pigs But generally all beasts and birds that be in the fourth age before mentioned that is decrepiti are tough and unwholesome For most true is that English proverb yong flesh and old fish doth men best feed Againe generally Castrati sunt meliores CHAP. 134. Of Hare HAre flesh beside that it is hard of digestion maketh grosse and melancholy bloud and is one of the foure kindes of flesh which breed melancholy mentioned before in the chapter of biefe wherefore it is not for the goodnesse of the flesh that this silly beast is so often chased with hounds and hunters but for pastime Yet thus much I will say to the commendation of hares for the defence of the hunters toile that no one beast be it never so great is profitable to so many so divers uses in Physicke as the hare parts therof as Math. sheweth For the liver of the hare dried and made in powder is good for those that be liver sick and the whole hare skin and all put in an earthen pot close stopped and baked in an oven so drie that it may be made into powder beeing given in white wine is wonderfull good for the stone as well in the raines as in the bladder The gaule of the hare mingled with sugar doth take away Flewmes of the eyes and helpeth dimnesse of sight The kidnies of the hare eaten raw especially while they are hot doe marvellously helpe those that have the stone and beeing boyled they are of like force The stones of the Hare are wholesome to bee eaten of them that have griefes of the bladder The bloud of the Hare while it is warme boyled with barly meale and eaten helpeth the flixe presently The dung of the Hare is good for the same purpose The haires of the Hare burned and applyed doe stanch bloud but chiefly the haires that grow under the belly pulled off while the Hare is alive and put into the nostrilles doe stop bleeding at the nose The ancle bone of the foot of an Hare is good against the crampe This much touching medicine Now concerning diet Rasis that famous Arabian saith that Hares flesh being rosted is wholesome for them that have any kinde of f●ix But our use is to rost the hinder parts and to boyle the fore parts or to bake the whole But howsoever it be used Galen saith that Caro leporum sanguinem quidem gignit crassiorem sed melioris succi quam bubula ovilla The opinion which some hold that every hare should bee of both kindes that is male
died being in hi● life time seldome on never sicke And thus much touching diet of all ages CHAP. 214. Of Order THe sixth and last thing to be considered in meats is order in eating which greatly helpeth or hindereth a mans health for good order in diet is of no lesse force than it is in life and conversation Whereof we need no better proofe than the example of Galen himselfe whose words be these Post octavum vigesi●●um annum quum persuasi●sem mihi esse conservandae sauitatis rationem quandam praecep●i● ejus per totam deinceps vitam parui Ita ut ne minimo morbo post laborarim nisi forte quae tamen rariu● accidit diaria sebri quum alioqui liceat hanc quoque in totum effugere si quis liberum vitam sit nactus Hereby it appeareth that there is an order in diet which if a man duly observe hee may preserve himselfe from sicknesse all his life long But some peradventure will disp●ove mee by their owne experience and by the example of others who keeping no diet at all nor observing any order in receiving of meat and drinke are yet more healthfull and more lustie and strong than they that keepe a precise diet and eat and drinke as it were by weight and measure Whereunto I answer that a sound body and strong of nature may for a time suffer surfet and beare immoderate diet without any manifest maladie but yet at length it will fall out according to that principle of Physicke which never faileth Intemperan eracta juventuse effetam parit senectutem A riotous youth breedeth a loathsome age For as the Lawyer saith Quod defertur non aufertur If you sow ill seeds in a Garden they shew not themselves by and by but yet in processe of time they b●d forth Even so diseases are bred in mens bodies by little and little and at length they are perceived Notable therfore is the saying of A●icen Ille cui mala nutrimenta c●ncoquuntur no gaudeat ex hoc noxa enim etsi ad tempus fortasse delitescit temporis tamen successusese exerit Et gravissimam certissimamque neglectae artis medicae poenam affert With whom Galen agreeth also where he saith that evill meats Quamvis protinus nullam juvenum corporibus sensibilem laesionem inferant sensim tamen occulteque crescente vitio cum jam aetas progressu temporis inclinarit articulos nervosque viscera iis morbis vexant qui vel difficulter admodum vel omnino tolli non possunt And commonly so it falleth out that they which lead a disordered life either live not untill they be old or if they come to age they are tormented with sundry diseases as gowt stone dropsie leprosie fevers and such like Wherefore it is better to preserve health by sobriety and temperance than by surfet and misorder to make the body weake and sickly and odious both to God and the world Yet I thinke it not convenient for a man in perfect health to observe a precise rule in dyet But yet where the stomacke is feeble as is of the more part of citizens and well nigh of all them that be studious in learning or weighty affaires there ought to bee more circumspection that the meate may be such as that either in substance or in quality or quantity or time or order nature being but feeble be not rebuked or too much oppressed And the due order in receiving of meats is thus that such things as bee of light digestion bee taken before those things that bee hardly digested Also that such things as mollifie and loose the belly be taken before other meates as pottage brothes milke rere egges butter and such like before flesh and boyled flesh before rosted And cheese and fruits which be stipticke and binding as Quinces Medlars Peares should be eaten last after all other things And this is the due order in eating and most wholesome for all men in my judgement which notwithstanding some men following their owne apperite doe pervert as I have knowne an honourable person who upon fish dayes would eat Egges last after cheese and one worshipfull that would eat milk last which is a common use in Lancashire for there the servants thinke they have not well dyned or supped unlesse they have a sope of colde milke after all as they use to speake And the Flemings use to eate Butter last after other meates So that almost a man may say as divers men desire divers meates so use they divers orders in eating But here in England where we feed on divers sorts of meates at one meale the order commonly is thus that first wee eate pottage or brothes then boyled meates after that rosted or baked and in the end cheese and fruits But here riseth a question which I have heard oftentimes moved at the table that it were better to eate fine meates first and grosser meates afterward if perchance any corner were left unfilled For now wee fill our selves before with grosse meates so that when fine meats and the best meats indeed come to the boord we can eate little or nothing for want of appetite but not for want of will as I thinke Wherefore it were better say they to beginne our meale where we make an end And if wee leave any for the Servitors to leave of the worst meates and not of the best This is a strong argument in some mens opinions and greatly grieveth those that bee disciples of Epicurus But this question in mine opinion may be very well answered in this manner First I say that one manner of meat agreeable with the person that eateth it were the most sure dyet for every complexion And next I say that for as much as our stomacks in England most commonly be hot and cholericke that grosse meats be most convenient to be eaten first for in a hot stomacke fine meats if they were first taken would be burned before the grosse meates were digested Contrariwise in a cold stomack the little heat is suffocate with grosse meate and fine meate left raw for lacke of concoction whereas if the fine meat be first taken moderately it stirreth up and comforteth naturall heat and maketh it more able to concoct grosse meats if they be eaten afterward so that it be in small quantity And this is the best reason that I can yeeld of our English custome to beginne our meales with grosse meats and to end with fine And so I end my treatise of meats CHAP. 215. Of Drinke NExt after the word Cibus there followeth in Hip. Potus which is the third word of the sentence and is to be used according as it is in order proposed that is to say first exercise then meat and thirdly drinke and not contrariwise Wherefore they that drinke before they eat keepe not the due order of diet And the order of England is as it is ●oted by Arnoldus upon Schol. Sal. Communi●er