lap them in a linnen cloth and to carry them about with them smelling to them oftentimes Others before they goe forth in a morning eate Garlike and drinke a draught of new Ale after it or good Wine But Garlike is thought of many to bee rather hurtfull than wholesome in the Plague because it openeth the pores of the body too much and so maketh it more apt to receive infection But I reade in the Secrets of Alexis of a marvellous secret to preserve a man from the plague which hath been proved in England of all the phisitians in a great vehement plague in the year 1348. which crept throughout all the world and there was never man that used this secret but he was preserved from the plague videlicet Take Aloe Epaticum or Cicotrine fine Cinamome and Myrrhe of each of them three drams Cloves Mace Lignum Aloe Masticke Bole Armenicke of each of them halfe a dram let all these things be well stamped in a cleane morter then mingle them together and after keepe it in some close vessell and take of it every morning two penny weight in halfe a glasse full of White Wine with a little Water and drinke it in the morning at the dawning of the day And so may you by the grace of God go hardly into all infection of the ayr plague Hitherto Alexis But the prescriptions of preservatives for the plague I leave to the skill and experience of the learned physitians whose advise in this case is chiefely to be sought for and followed Yet this much I dare say by the authority of Galen in his booke de usu Theriacae ad Pamphilianum and by the judgement of Marsilius Ficinus that no one medicine is better either to preserve from the plague or to expell the venome from the principall parts in such as be infected than Triacle and is not onely good in the plague but also in all other poysons and noysome drinks yea and in the most part of other diseases as the Cough the Cholicke the Stone the Palsie the Iaundise the Ague the Dropsie the Leprosie the Head-ach for dull hearing for dimnesse of sight to provoke appetite to appease greedy desire for Melancholy sadnesse and heavinesse of the minde Non enim corporis modo sed animi morbos persanat as Galen writeth in the same booke So that it may worthily be called Delphicus gladius because it is profitable in an infinite number of infirmities And Galen in his booke de Theriaca ad Pisonem confirmeth the same And concerning the Plague as well for the cure as for the preservation hee declareth upon the credit of Aelianus Meccius a famous Physitian and sometime his teacher that in a great Plague in Italy when all other medicines prevailed not after that by his advise they fell to the use of Triacle very few of them which were infected Non modo periculum non evasisse sed ne in morbum quidem incidisse Atque mirum hoc alicui videri non debet saith Galen quando si haustum venenum superat pestilentiam quoque vincere possit But it is not sufficient to know that Triacle is good for the Plague but we must also know how it is to be used Wherefore Galen in the same place setteth downe the order how it is to bee taken in this manner It is given saith hee in three Cyathes that is as I take it about foure ounces that is halfe a gill or the fourth part of a pint it is given I say in a draught of wine the bignesse of an Hasill nut aswell after poyson or after the stinging of venemons wormes as before if a man suspect any such matter and after the same manner it is given to them who for an outward cause or an inward pine away as if they were poysoned So the quantity of Triacle is the bignesse of an Hasill nut and sometime the bignesse of an Egyptian beane and the quantity of drinke to receive it in is Ex aquae vel diluti vini cyathis neque pluribus tribus neque paâ—cioribus duobus And the best time to take it in is Primo mane except it be after poyson for then it is to be taken as occasion requireth But Marsilius Ficinus sheweth more particularly the use of Triacle saying Necessaria nobis est bis in hebdomada ipsa omnium compositionum regina caelitus que tradita Theriaca Accipiatur post cibum horis novem ante cibum horis sex vel septem Qui eam sumere non potest saltem cordi apponat stomacho nasoque pulsibus frequentius detur drachma una provectis aliis vero drachma dimidia seu scrupulus unus Qui calidae sunt temperaturae bibant aestivo tempore sumpta Theriaâ—a tertiam partem cyphi aquae rosarum cum modico acetirosati alii scilicet alterius complectionis alio tempore sumant cum vino albo permisto cum aqua Scabiosae aut Melissae Quod si Theriaca non affuerit vel non competens fuerit tuae naturae sume Mithridatum Hitherto Ficinus But here some doubt may arise whether or no our Triacle which now we have in use among us commonly called Triacle of Gean hath the vertues aforesaid against Plague Poyson c. Herein to speake what I thinke I thinke verily that it hath not except othermen can come by better than I have seene for they make it not now as it was made in Galens time the composition whereof is set forth even in the same order that Galen himselfe made it for the Emperour Aurelius Antoninus For as it appeareth by Galen in that place that Emperour as others also before time used every day to take Triacle the bignesse of a beane sometime without water or wine and sometime mixing it with some liquour thereby to preserve himselfe from poyson Like as king Mithridates did his composition bearing his owne name by the daily use whereof his nature was so fortified against poyson that when he would have poysoned himselfe rather than to fall into the power of the Romans hee could by no meanes bring it to passe But the receit which so strengthened Mithridates was not the same which Pompeius after he had vanquished him found in his Sanctuary having this title A nullo veneno laedetur qui hac antidotoutetur which Serenus writeth in this manner Bis denum rutae folium salis breve granum Iuglandesque duaâ— totidem cum corporeficus Haec oriente die pâ—uco conspersa lyaeo Sumebat metuens dederat quae pocula mater But it was that noble confection which as yet is called Mithridatium in Latine in English Mithridate which because it draweth neerest to the ancient Triacle by mine advise shall be used insteed of Triacle against the Plague and other diseases before rehearsed And if any man have Triacle which he thinketh perfect and would faine prove whether or no it be so indeed then let
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 aâ—ris temperatura câ—teras omnes antecellit The other two parts onely of which the one lyeth Northward betweene the circle Articke and the Tropicke of Canâ—er the other Southward betweene the circle Antartick and the Tropicke of Capâ—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 EnglaÌ„d 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 mediocriâ— as a short summe or forme of a mans whole life touching diet By the which words
not baked in an Oven but upon irons or hot stones or upon the hearth or under hot ashes are unwholsome because they are not equally baked but burned without and raw within And of such loaves as are baken in an Oven the greatest loaves doe nourish most after Master Eliot because the fire hath not consumed the moisture of them But whether bread be made in forme of Manchet as is used of the Gentility or in great loaves as it is usuall among the Yeomarie or betweene both as with the Franklings it maketh no matter so it be well baked Burned bread and hard crusts and Pasticrusts doe engender adust choller and melancholy humours as saith Schola Salerni Non comedas crustam choleram quia gigâ—it adustam Wherfore the utter crusts above and beneath should be chipped away Notwithstanding after Arnold the crusts are wholesome for them that bee whole and have their stomacks moist and desire to beâ— leane but they must eat them after meat for they must enforce the meat to descend and doe comfort the mouth of the stomacke Browne bread made of the coarsest of Wheat flower having in it much branne and that bread which Galen calleth Autopyros that is when the meale wholly unsifted branne and all is made into bread filleth the belly with excrements and shortly descendeth from the stomacke And beside that it is good for labourers Crassa enim crassis conveniunt I have knowne this experience of it that such as have beene used to fine bread when they have beene costive by eating browne bread and butter have beene made soluble But Wheat is not only used in bread but being sodden is used for meat as I have seene in sundry places of some is used to be buttered And Galen himselfe as he writeth travelling into the Countrey for want of other food was faine to eate sodden wheat in an husband mans house but the next day after he and his mates that had eaten with him were much grieved thereby both in the stomacke and head Whereby hee concludeth that it is heavy and hard of digestion but being well digested nourisheth strongly and strengthneth a man much wherefore it is good for labourers Of wheate also is made Alica and Amylum mentioned of Galen things not usuall among us Yet Amylum is taken to be Starch the use whereof is best knowne to Launders And Alica Saccharata is taken for Frumentie a meat very wholsome and nourishing if it be well made yet in digestion much like to sodden Wheat As for Turkie Wheat French Wheat and such like strange graine I will over-passe them because they bee not usuall in our Countrey of England Yet of French Wheat I can say thus much by experience that in some parts of Lancashire and Cheshire they use to make bread thereof for their houshold being mingled together with Barley but for the Winter time only For when the heat of the yeare increaseth it waxeth ranke of savour Also therewith they fat their Swine for which purpose it is greatly commended and in my judgement it is more fit to feed Swine than Men. More of bread shall bee spoken hereafter when I intreat of other graine CHAP. 5. Of Rye SEcale commonly called Rye a graine much used in bread almost thorowout this Realm though more plentifull in some places than in other yet the bread that is made thereof is not so wholesome as wheate-bread for it is heavy and hard to digest and therefore most meet for labourers and such as worke or travaile much and for such as have good stomacks There is made also of Rie mixed with Wheate a kind of bread named misseling or masseling bread much used in divers Shires especially among the family Which being well made after the order prescribed in the Treatise of Wheate is yet better than that which is made of cleane Rie but that which is halfe Rie and halfe Barly is worse Rie laid outwardly to the body is hot and drie in the second degree after Dodonaeus whose authoritie I alledge because Galen hath written little or nothing thereof except Typha be Rie as Master Eliot judgeth it then is it in a meane betweene Wheat and Barley CHAP. 6. Of Barly HOrdeum Barlie whereof also bread is used to bee made but it doth not nourish so much as wheat and after Matthiolus troubleth the stomack maketh cold and tough juice in the body nourisheth little and ingendreth winde yet some affirme that it is good for such as have the Gout Barlie is cold and drie in the first degree and as Galen saith howsoever it be used in bread or pâ—isan or otherwise it is of cooling nature and maketh thinne juyce and somewhat cleansing And in the tenth Chapter of the same book he saith that Barley bread passeth very soone from the bellie As of Wheate so likewise of Barley there is great choice to bee had for some is better and some is worse Yet all Barley generallie considering the nature thereof is more meet for drink than bread and thereof is made the best Malt to make Ale or Beere And though Barly be cold yet it maketh such hot drinke that it setteth men oftentimes in a furie CHAP. 7. Of Oates AVena Oates after Galen have like nature as Barlie for they drie and digest in a meane and are of temperature somewhat cold also something binding so that they helpe a laske which I my selfe have proved in Cawdales made with Oatemeale Yet Galen affirmeth that Oates are Iumentorum alimentum non hominum whose opinion in that point must be referred to the Countrey where hee lived For if he had lived in England especially in Lankashire Chesshire Cumberland Westmerland or Cornwale hee would have said that Oates had beene meat for men For in these parts they are not onely Provender for Horses but they make Malt of them and therof good Ale though not so strong as of Barly Malt. Also of Oates they make bread some in Cakes thicker or thinner as the use is some in broad Loaves which they cal Ianocks of which kinde of bread I have this experience that it is light of digestion but something windie while it is new it is meetly pleasant but after a few dayes it waxeth drie and unsavorie it is not very agreeable for such as have not been brought up therewith for education both in diet all things else is of great force to cause liking or misliking In Lankashire as I have seene they doe not onely make bread and drinke of Oats but also divers sorts of meats For of the greats or groats as they call them that is to say of Oats first dried and after lightly sâ—aled being boiled in water with salt they make a kind of meat which they call water-Pottage and of the same boyled in Whey they make Whey-pottage and in Ale Ale-potage meats very wholsome and temperate and light of
for a Pot-hearbe among others and is sometime eaten being first boiled in water and then fried with Oyle and Butter and after that seasoned with Salt and Vinegar or Verjuice yet the often eating of it is disallowed by Matth. Quia vomitiones movet ventriculi intestinorum tâ—rmina facit alui 〈…〉 excitatabile CHAP. 85. Of Spinage SPinage not mentioned in Galen is colde and moist in the first degree being used in brothes or pottage it maketh the belly soluble and easeth paines of the backe and openeth the breast and strengtheneth the stomack CHAP. 86. Of Orage ORage is moist in the second degree and cold in the first being used in pottage it doth both loose the belly ease the pain of the bladder The seed of Orage is a vehement purger as Matt. writeth Noviego Pharmocopolam quendam saith hee qui ad ructicos purgandos Atriplicis tantum semen exhibebat Quod iis non sine molestia magna abunde aluum ciebat atque etiam simul crebros provocabat vomitus CHAP. 87. Of Beets BEtes are cold in the first degree and moist in the second they be abstersive and looseth the belly But much eaten they annoy the stomacke yet are they right good against obstructions or stopping of the liver and doe greatly helpe the splene CHAP. 88. Of Violets VIolets the flowers are cold in the first degree and moist in the second Of them is made Conserva in this manner Take the flowers of Violets and pick them cleane from the stalke and cut off all that which is greene Punne them small and put to them double the weight of Sugar to the weight of Violet Flowers But to all other Flowers put three parts of Sugar to the weight of the Flowers incorporate well together the Violets and Sugar and keepe it in a glasse or Gallipot it will last one yeare it is very good to bee used of such as have hot Stomacks or hot Livers Also it cooleth the head and procureth sleepe it tempereth the heart all other parts of the body The leaves may be boiled in a broth with other cooling hearbs as Endive Succory Orage Beets Sorrell Strawberry Lettuce For so they make the belly soluble avoid choller and doe bring the parts inflamed to good temper CHAP. 89. Of Sorrell SOrrell is cold in the third degree and drie in the second the leaves being sodden do loose the belly In a time of Pestilence if one being fasting do chew some of the leaves and suck downe some of the juice it marvellously preserveth from infection as a new practiser called Guainerius doth write and I my selfe have proved in my houshold saith Master Eliot in his Castell of health Which practice proveth that greene sawce is not onely good to procure appetite but also wholsome otherwise against contagion The seeds thereof brayed and drunk with wine and water are very wholesome against the Collicke and fretting of the Guts it stoppeth the laske and helpeth the stomack annoyed with repletion If any bee grieved with heate of the stomacke or inflammation of the Liver they may easily make a good Conserva for the purpose in this manner Take the leaves of Sorrell wash them cleane and shake off the water or else tary untill the water be dried cleane then beaâ— them small in a marble Morter if you have it if not in some other and to every ounce of Sorrell put three ounces of Sugar and incorporate them well together putting in the Sugar by little and little then put it in a glasse or Gallipot and stop it close and so keepe it for one yeare After the same manner you may make conserva of any hearbe CHAP. 90. Of Rose ROse is cold in the first degree and drie in the second somewhat binding especially the white Rose but the red is lesse cold and more drie and binding as for the damask and musk rose is hot moyst withall Beside the beauty and fragrant savour of Roses which is very comfortable to all the senses of Rose leaves is made a conserva passing good to be used of Students not onely to coole but also to comfort the principall parts of the body namely the head heart stomack liver spleen reynes it may bee made thus Take the buds of red Rose somewhat before they bee ready to spread cut the red part of the leaves from the white then take the red leaves and beate them very small in a stone Morter with a pestell of wood or otherwise as you may conveniently and to every ounce of Roses put three ounces of Sugar in the beating after the leaves be smal and beat all together untill they be perfectly incorporated then put it in a glasse or Gallipot stop it close and set it in the Sunne for a season for so teacheth Iacobus Weckerus in all Conserves It my bee kept for a yeare or two Of Rose leaves likewise may be made a water of like operation to the conserva and may be drunk as other distilled waters either of it selfe with Sugar or mixed with wine The red Rose water pure without any other thing mingled is most commended for wholesomnesse but the damaske Rose water is sweetest of smell And the best way to distill Roses or any other flower or hearbe after Matth. is in a Stillatory of glasse set over a pot of boyling water which they call Balneum Mariae for those waters which be distilled in Lead or Brasse receive some smatch of the mettall and be not so wholesome for mens bodies But our common manner of distilling in England is in Lead or Tynne and so we draw very good waters which keep their strength for a yeare or two and if any list to draw a very sweet washing water he may draw it as followeth Take the buds of red Roses Spike flowers and Carnation Gilophers or others but most of the Roses let them dry a day and a night put to them an ounce of Cloves grosse beaten and so distill them after that Sunne the water certaine dayes close stopped and if you will yet make it more sweet take of Musk and Civet of each a graine or more tie it in a fine linneÌ„ cloth by a thred so that it may soke in the wares so let it stand in the Sun for a time Or else you may make a very sweet water thus Take of Cipresse roots of Calamus aromaticus of Aâ—â—is of Cloves of Storax Calamite of Benjamin of each a quarter of an ounce make them in powder and when you will distill your Roses fill your Still with Rose Leaves and a few Spike Flowers and upon the topp strow some of your Powders and so distill them These Rose-Cakes will bee very sweet to lay among clothes And if you list you may hang Muske and Civet in it and Sunne it as I have said before for twenty or thirty dayes and if you will not be at cost upon Spices
especially if it be much eaten and if such as doe eat it be of melancholy complexion for in those saith he it breedeth melancholy diseases as cankers scabbes leprie fevers quartaines and such like And Isaak Iudaeus is of the same judgement For which cause Sco. Sal. reckoneth biefe among those ten sorts of meats that ingender melancholy and be unwholesome for sicke folkes the verses are these Persica poma pyra lac caseus caro salsa Et caro cervina leporina bovina caprina Atra haec bile nocent suntque infirmis inimica But all these authors in mine opinion have erred in that they make the biefe of all countries alike For had they eaten of the biefe of England or if they had dwelt in this our climat which through coldnesse ex antiperistasi doth fortifie digestion therfore requires stronger nourishmeÌ„t I suppose they would have iudged otherwise Yet do I not thinke it wholesome for sicke folkes but for those that be lustie and strong Or els we may say that those famous Physitians ment of old biefe or very salt biefe For there is great differeÌ„ce of biefe touching age for young biefe is tender and pleasant in eating and old biefe is more tough and unsavorie Againe Oxe biefe is better than Bull biefe except it be for those that would looke big And cow biefe if it be young as Irish men thinke is better than both But by master Eliotes judgement Oxe biefe not exceeding the age of foure yeare is best of all As for veale is greatly commended in Schola Sal. because it doth nourish much for so they say Sunt nutritivae multum carnes vitulinae Whose judgement Galen approveth where he saith that the flesh of a sucking calfe of six or eight weekes old being rosted doth nourish much and is easily digested But our use is to kill calves at three weekes or a moneth old at which time they must needs bee full of superfluous moisture yet that superfluity is very well abated by rosting Therefore veale is better rosted than sodden And should be rather little ouer rosted than under For this is a generall rule in Philosophie and Physicke that meat rosted is drier than boiled Which is confirmed by Galen in these words Quae assantes aut in sartagine frigentes mandunt ea corpori siccius dant alimentum quae vero in aqua praecoquunt humidius As for salt biefe which is much used in some places of England whether it be kept in brine or hanged up in the smoke called Martlemas biefe because it is commonly killed about that time of the yeare is in the verses before alledged out of Scho Sal. reckoned unwholesome and to breed grosse and melancholie bloud And as I have often proved in my selfe is very hard of digestion Yet biefe light poudered is more wholesome than fresh biefe Because by the salt it is purified and made more savorie And this much I know that in cholericke stomackes as it is commonly in youth biefe is more conuenient than chickens and other like fine meats Because fine meats in hot stomacks be as it were over-boiled when the grosser are but duely concocted The good ordering of Biefe and other victualls I refer to good Cookes CHAP. 131. Of Mutton MVtton is commended of the most part of Physitians save Galen who saith that it maketh il iuice for so he writeth of lambe and mutton jointly Agni carnem habent humidissimam ac pituitosam Ovium vero excrementosiorest ac succi deterioris But how much Galen is deceived if hee speake generally of the Mutton of all countries experience proveth here in this realm for if it be young and of a wether it is a right temperate meat and maketh good juice And therefore it is used more than any other meat both in sickenesse and in health Yet is it not like good in all places in England Nor the sheepe which beareth the finest wooll is not the sweetest in eating nor the most tender But as Galen speaketh of all kindes of flesh so of mutton Carnes castratorum sunt praestantiores Senum autem pessimae tum ad coquendum tum ad succum â—onum generandum tum ad nutriendum Wherefore Rammes mutton I leave to those that would be rammish and old mutton to butchers that want teeth As for lambe is moist and flegmaticke and not convenient for aged men or for them which have in their stomackes much flegme except it be very dry rosted But mutton contrary to veal should be rather under rosted than over For it is seldome seene that any man hath taken harme by eating raw mutton so light and wholesome it is in digestion CHAP. 132. Of Swines flesh SWines flesh is most commended of Galen above al kinds of flesh in nourishing the body so it be not of an old swine and that it be well digested of him that eateth it And that it giveth more stedfast and strong nourishment than other meats he proveth by experience of great wrastlers who if they eat like quantity of any other meat and withal use like exercise shal feele themselves the next day following more weake than they were when they fed of Porke Moreover the flesh of a swine hath such likenesse to mans flesh both in savor and tast that some have eaten mans flesh in stead of porke Yea swines bloud and mans bloud be so like in every thing that hardly they can be discerned And the inward parts of a swine as is proved by Anatomie be very like to the inward parts of a man But notwithstanding this similitude and strong nourishment yet I thinke swines flesh no good meat for students and such as have weake stomacks to be commonly used For as that worthy Arabian Rhâ—zes writeth Crassa caro multum sese exercentibus convenit iis vero qui vitam in maiore otio ac quiete degunt subtilis extenuans So then it followeth that swines flesh is good wholsâ—m for their bodies that be yong whole strong occupied in labor and not disposed to oppilations and for them that desire to be faâ— But for students that flesh is better which is temperate of complexion easie of digestion and ingendereth good bloud Neither is al swines flesh so commeÌ„dable but that which is yong and best of a yeare or two old Aâ—so better of a wilde swine than of a tame because as Galen saith the flesh of swine fed at home is more full of superfluous moysture for want of motion beside they live in a more grosse ayre than those that live wilde But our use in England is for the more part to breed our swine at home except it be for the time of mast falling for then they feed abroad in the woods which kinde of feeding in my judgement is most wholesome wherefore brawne which is of a bore long fed in â— stie can in no wise be wholesome meaâ— although it be young
iuice and nourisheth excellently CHAP. 176. The Preface to Fish THus much of flesh Now concerning fish which is no small part of our sustenance in this Realme of England And that flesh might be more plentifull and better cheap two dayes in the weeke that is Friday and Saturday are specially appointed to fish and now of late yeares by the providence of our prudent princesse Elizabeth the Wednesday also is in a manner restrained to the same order not for any religion or holinesse supposed to be in the eating of fish rather then of flesh but only for a civill policy as I have said That as God hath created both for mans use so both being used or refrained at certaine seasons might by that entercourse be more abundant And no doubt if all daies appointed for that purpose were duely observed but that flesh and fish would be much more plentifull and beare lesse price then they doe For accounting the Lent season and all fasting dayes in the yeare together with Wednesday Friday and Saturday you shal see that one halfe of the yeare is ordeyned to eat fish in But here I must crave a pardon of the divines that they will give mee leave to utter mine opinion touching abstinence from meates I confesse that meat maketh us not acceptable to God and that there is nothing uncleane of it selfe and that every creature of God is good and nothing ought to be refused if it bee received with thanksgiving yet this much I will say that if a man would refraine from such meats as do most nourish and cherish his body which indeed is the exercise of fasting he should rather forgoe the eating of flesh than fish because as Cornelius Celsus saith Plus alimenti est in carne quam in ullo alio cibo which thing peradventure was the occasion why people were prohibited in time past to eat flesh or any thing els having affinity with flesh upon the fasting daies Which order as it is thought being first established by Gregory the great bishop of Rome was afterwâ—â—d superstitiously abused But now that superstition is abandoned among us and all men doe know that whatsoever goeth into the mouth defileth not the man but that which commeth forth me thinke for orders sake all people should be obedient to good lawes and bee aswell contented to forbeare flesh upon the dayes appointed as to use it at their pleasure at other seasons But such is the selfewill of some and voluptuousnesse of many in this our owne licentious time that without any reasonable cause or sufficient authority onely to satisfie their fleshly lust they will eat flesh at all times and seasons yea some in contempt of all good order and as it were despising all kinds of fish as though God had not created fish for our food as well as flesh wilfully misorder themselves in this behalfe But this kind of people had need to saile to the Island Antycyra according to the old proverbe to have their melancholy strongly purged least in processe of time they become starke mad But the reformation hereof I referre to the godly magistrates and returne to my purpose And this generally I say of fish that if it bee compared to flesh it is of lesse nourishment than flesh and the nourishment thereof is full of flegmatike superfluities cold and moyst And of fish generally I say that sea fish is of better nourishment then fresh water fish of the same sort because it is not so superfluously moist by reason of the saltwater which dryeth and purifieth Yet I grant that fresh water fish is sooner digested than sea fish and therfore better for sicke folks because of their feeble digestion And again of sea fish that is best which swimmeth in a pure sea and is tossed and hoysed with windes and surges And therfore the fish that is taken in the North sea which is more surging and tempestuous and swift in ebbing and flowing is better than the fish that is taken in the dead or south sea Wherefore the fish that is taken about this our country of Britaine must needes bee very wholesome And true it is as Doctor Boord witnesseth in his Dietary who was a great traveller that no nation under the sunne is better served with all manner of fish both of the sea and the fresh water than Britaine And as I have said of sea fish so I say of fresh water fish that to bee best which is bred in the deepe waters running swiftly toward the north stonie in the bottome cleane from weeds whereunto runneth no filth nor ordure comming from townes or cities For that which is taken in muddy waters in standing pooles in fennes motes and ditches maketh much flegme and ordure And here occasion is offered to speake somewhat of the old English proverbe touching the choise of fish which is That yong flesh and old fish doth men best feed How it is verified in flesh I have declared before Now concerning fish I say that old fish is not alwayes the best for if fish be of a firme and hard substance then it is better yong than old as a young Pike or a young Perch is better than an old But if it be of a soft and open substance theâ— the elder is the better as an old Eele is wholsomer than a young as some say which my interpretation is approved in Sco Sal. Si pisces molles sunt magno corpore tâ—lles Si pisces duri pâ—rvi sunt plus valitâ—ri But now what sorts of fishes bee most wholesome for mans body may well appeare by the verses following where are reckoned ten sorts as principall in the preservation of health Lucius perca saxanlis albiâ—a â—encha Sonus plagitia cum carpa galbio truta CHAP. 177. Of the Pike OF which tenne sorts the first is a Pyke which is called the king and Tyrant of other fishes because he not only devoureth fishes of other kinds but also of his owne kinde as it is in the verse following Lucius est piscis rex atque tyrannus aquarum The Pickerell or Pyke is of firme and hard substance yet giveth cleane and pure nourishment The dressing as well of this fish as of all others I referre to the art of Cookery The second is a Perch so called by the figure Antiphrasis quia nulli piscium parcit but woundeth other fishes with his sharpe sinnes The Perch is likewise of hard and fast substance and therefore is of more pure nourishment The third is a sea fish called a Sole whose commendation Arnoldus uttereth in these words Est inter pisceâ— marinos saluberrimus The fourth is a Whiting which for wholesomenesse is well entertained in the court of England and is now become an old Courtier The fifth is a Tench which is commonly called the Physitian of other fishes because when they are hurt they are healed by touching of the Tench and as he is medicinable to
are very comfortable and restorative for mans body these three would I wish to bee much used of students for they most need nourishing meats But touching the choise of egges first I say that henne egges as they be most used so are they best Yet egges of Fesants and Partriches be not unwholsome but egges of ducks geese turkeis and other foules should be eschewed And of henne egges the choise standeth in three poâ—nts that they be white long and new as it is in Sch. Sal. Filia presbyteri iubet pro lege teneri Quod bona sunt ova haec candida longa nova Which is approved in the Poet Horace Longa quibus facies ovis erit illa memento Vt succi melioris ut magis alba rotundis Ponere Now concerning the dressing of egs there is great difference For either they be sodden rosted or fryed And they be sodden two wayes either in the shels or else the shels being broken the egges are put into seething water the first is called seething of egges the second poching of egges Both waies are good but egges poched are best and most wholesome Yet egges sodden in their shels are better then rosted because the moystnesse of the water tempereth the heat of the fire which dryeth up the substance of the egges overmuch And fryed egges be worst of all for they engender ill humours annoy the stomacke cause corrupt fumes to rise to the head Wherefore collops and egges which is an usuall dish toward shrovetide can in no wise be wholsome meat yet it is the lesse unwholsome if the egs be not fried hard For in the regiment of health egges should in no wise be eaten hard But being in a meane between rere and hard which Galen calleth Ova tremula yet rere egges named Ova sorbilia that is to say little more than through hot are good to cleare the throte and brest and they do ease the griefs of the bladder and reines made with gravell so that they bee taken before any other meat And if a man would break his fast with a light and nourishing meat then I say there is nothing better then a couple of egges poched or the yolkes of two egges sodden rere and put into one shell seasoned with a little pepper butter and salt and supped off warme drinking after it a good draught of Claret wine This I know to bee very comfortable for weak stomacks and is often used of the wisest men in England And this rule is generally to be observed to drink a good draught of wine ale or beare after we have eaten an egge as it is taught in Schola Sal. Singula post ova pocula sume nova If hens be slack in laying of egges give them hempseed enough and they wil become fruitfull For as Mat. saith Canabis sativae semen in cibis sumptum plane contrarium efficit in gallinis in nobis Siquidem largius com manducatum nobis genituram extinguit gallinas vero oviferaciores reâ—dit There is great difference in the parts of an egge for the yolke is temperately hot the white is cold and clammy and hardly digested and the bloud thereof engendred is not good Yet it is of great use in bruises wounds and sores as skillful surgions doe know The chicken is ingendred of the white and nonrished with the yolke though some bee of a contrary opinion Alexander Aphrodissaeus hath a pretty saying of an egge Orbis vniversi quem inundum vocamus speciem in ovo dixeris dâ—mâ—nstrari nam exquatuor constat elementis in spherae faciâ—m conglobatur vitalem potentiam obtiâ—et The shell hee likeneth in qualities to the earth that is cold and dry the white to the water that is cold and moyste the some or froth of the white to the ayre that is hot and moyst the yolk to the fire that is hot and dry So he maketh the egge as it were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a little world CHAP. 194. Of Milke MIlke is made of bloud twise concocted or as Isaak Iudaeus defineth it Lac non est aliud nisi sanguis secundo coctus in uberibus For untill it come to the paps or udder it is plaine bloud but afterward by the proper nature of the paps it is turned into milke Diosco giveth this commendation to milke generally Lac generatim omne boni succi est corpus alit aluum emollit stomachum intestina inflatione vexat But this last inconvenience may bee holpen as he teacheth afterward minus inflat quodcunque semel fervefactum est And I was wont to helpe it by putting in a little pepper Cloves and Mace Milke notwithstanding that it seemeth to be wholly of one substance yet it is compact or made of three severall substances that is to say in effect of Creame Whey and Cruds Oâ— Creame is made Butter and of Cruds Cheese of which I shall entreat afterward But of milke there is great difference not onely concerning the kindes but also touching the time of the yeare For Cow milke is thickest and the milke of a Cammel is thinnest and the milke of a Goate is betweene both Wherefore in the governance of health Goats milke is best and Cow milke is next Yet the goodnesse of the pasture helpeth much to the goodnesse of the milke for ill pastures make ill mylke and good pastures make good milke for such as the food is such is the bloud and such as the bloud is such is the milke as Galen excellently proveth by example of Goats which fed on Spurge and Scammony whose milk was very laxative Also by example of a Nurse who having fed much of wilde herbs after she gave sucke to a childe infected the same with many sores and byles And touching the time of the yeare I say that in the spring time mylke is thinnest and at the fall of the leafe it is thickest and best according to that old saying when ferne waxeth red then is milke good with bread And how naturall and nourishing a meat Mylke is may be perceived not onely by children who live and like better with that than with any other thing but also men and women who being used from their childhood for the most part to Milk and to eat none or little other meat but milk and Butter appeare to be of good complection and fashion of body And no marvaile for where milke is well digested it engendreth good bloud and giveth great nourishment yea it is a restorative for them that bee wasted or in a consumption or be leane as appeareth in Scho. Sal. in these words Lac hecticis sanum caprinum post camelinum Ac nutritivum plus omnibus ast asininum Plus nutritivum vaccinum sic ovinum Ad sit si febris caput doleat fugiendum est Whereby it appeareth that Goats Milke is principall in
wholesome also let him take a gallon or two of good Vineger in some little barell or glasse and put into it for every quart of Vineger one handfull of Rose leaves gathered before they be fully budded forth and withered halfe a day before upon a faire boord put them into the Vineger and stop up the barrell or glasse very close with corke and clay and set it so that the sunne may have power upon it but yet defended from the rayne and let it stand so a moneth or six weekes or longer and at the end of Sommer straine the Vineger from the Roses and keepe it for your use Or if you would have it stronger of the Roses straine forth the old Roses and put in fresh oftentimes or if you suffer the Rose leaves to remaine all the yeare in the vineger it is not amisse for they will not putrifie After the same manner you may make Vineger of Giloflowers which I have spoken of before where I intreated of that flower Likewise of Violets and such like but the Vinegar of Roses and Giloflowers is best and is indeed of great vertue aswell in meats as in medicines specially against the Pestilence And if a man cannot abide to drinke it yet to drench an Handkerchiefe or such like cloth in it and to smell to it is a good preservative or to heate a slate stone or other stone in the fire and to powre vineger upon it and to receive the smoke or fume thereof with open mouth Verjuice which is made of Crabbes pressed and strained is like to Vineger in operation saving that it is not so strong A posset or Selibub made of Verjuice is good to coole a cholerick stomacke and I have knowne some to use them in hot Fevers with good successe With Vineger also is made Oximel which is very good to open obstructions of the inner parts of the body wherby Fevers may bee prevented which commonly proceed of obstructions It is to be made in this manner Take a quart of faire water and a pinte of pure Hony boyle them both together leasurly alwayes scumming as froth ariseth And when they are boyled to the third part that is to a pint then put in of strong white Vineger if you can get it halfe a pinte boyle them againe a little and scumme it cleane with a Fether then take it off and use it at your pleasure This is named Oximel simplex Some put in Rosemary at the first boyling and so they make it more pleasant But if you put in roots of Persely Fenel and their seeds it is then Oximel compositum and is more effectuall in opening obstructions Fernelius prescribeth asmuch Honie as water Weckerus appointeth a pottle of Hony a quart of water and another of Vineger to be made as afore is said so that you may follow whether author you will CHAP. 201. Of Mustarde THe third sauce which is in common use is Mustard which as it procureth appetite and is a good sauce with sundry meates both flesh and fish so is it medicinable to purge the braine as I have shewed in the treatise of herbes which effect may easily be perceived by that if the Mustard bee good if a man licke too deepe it straightway pierceth to the braine and provoketh neesing which extremity maybe soon holpen by holding bread at your nose so that the smell thereof may ascend up to the head for that killeth immediatly the strength of the Mustard The best Mustard that I know in all England is made at Teuksbery in Glocester shire and at Wakefield in Yorkeshire Of the three foresaid sauces Salt and Mustard are hot but Mustard much hotter than Salt and Vineger is cold which difference must bee applyed to seasons of the yeare for in hot seasons we should use cold sauces and in cold seasons contrariwise CHAP. 202. Of a Common sauce IN Scho. Sal. is set forth a common sauce to be made with six things that is to say with Sage Salt Wine Pepper Garlicke Percely as appeareth by these verses Salvia Sal vinum piper Allia Petrocelinum Ex his fac salsa ne sit commixtio falsa But I doe not thinke that all these together should be made in one sauce for that were a mingle mangle indeed and a sweet sauce for a sicke Swine but I take it that all these are good to be used in common sauces especially for the Winter season because they be hot Yet I know one sauce which is common and very good for divers sorts of meates and that is Onions sliced very thinne faire water and grosse pepper for this sauce will serve wel for Capon Hen Fesant Partrich Woodcocke The Onions will doe the lesse harme if they be boyled in water untill they be in a manner dry then may you put some of the dripping to them and Pepper grosse beaten for so it will serve also for a Turkye But I will enter no further into the art of Cookery lest some cunning Cooke take me tardy and say unto me as the Tayler said to the Shoomaker Ne sutor ultra crepidam Wherefore of the goodnesse or substance of meates this much It followeth now that I speak of the quantity of meates CHAP. 203. Of the quantity of meates THe second thing that is to be considered in meats as appeareth by my division is the quantity which ought of all men greatly to bee regarded for therein lyeth no small occasion of health or sicknesse of life or death For as want of meat consumeth the very substance of our flesh so doth excesse and surfet extinguish and suffocate naturall heat wherein life consisteth So that the word Mediocre which Hippocrates applyeth to all those five things spoken of in this booke must especially bee applyed to meats that is to say that the quantity of meate be such as may be well digested in the stomacke That it be according to the nature of him that eateth and not alwayes according to appetite For the temperate stomacke only which is rare to bee found desireth so much as it may conveniently digest Contrariwise the hot stomacke doth not desire so much as it may digest The cold stomacke may not digest so much as it desireth Wherefore the surest way in feeding is to leave with an appetite according to the old saying and to keepe a corner for a friend Which also is approved by Hippocrates where hee saith Sanitatis studium est non satiari cibis impigrum esse ad laborem The same also is taught in Ecclesiasticus after this manner How little is sufficient for a man well taught and thereby he belcheth not in his chamber nor feeleth any paine A wholsome sleepe commeth of a temperate belly he riseth up in the morning and is well at ease in himselfe but paine in watching and cholericke diseases and paines of the belly are with an unsatiable man This rule although it be very hard for
be refused Drinke in Winter should bee stronger yet taken in little quantity because of the moistnesse of the time Hip. briefely setteth downe the dyet of all foure seasons of the yeare Aestate Autumno cibi copiam ferant difficillime Hyeme facillimâ— Vere minus This much concerning times of the yeare CHAP. 210. Of the times of the day COncerning times of the day usuall to eate and drinke which wee call meales they are divers in divers Countries But here in England commonly three that is Breakefast Dinner and Supper which I shall speake of in order as they bee proposed if first I give forth that notable Caveat which is in Schola Salerni alwayes to be observed before we take any sustenance So that it is as it were a preparative to meate Tu nunquam comedas stomachum ni nâ—veris esse Purgatum vacuumque cibo quem sumpseris ante Ex desiderio id poteris cognoscere certo Haec sunt signa tibi subtilis in ore 〈◊〉 In which verses two things are chiefely to bee noted First if the stomacke bee oppressed with ill humours that we eate nothing untill they bee avoided And whether or no there bee corrupt humours in the stomacke it is to be knowne Enidoribus ructibus as Galen teacheth and such ill humours as bee in the stomacke may best bee avoided vomitione ac ventris solutione as Galen sheweth And for the one practise that is by vomit what ease it worketh to a cholericke stomacke I my selfe have prooved these many yeares following therein the counsell of Galen where hee alloweth the advise of ancient Phisitians touching vomit to be used once or twise every moneth not fasting but after meate yea and such things eaten before as bee acres abstersoriae But I use it commonly at the Spring or fall of the leafe and no oftner except great occasion offered because often vomiting weakeneth the stomacke and filleth the head with vapours And how vomit may most easily bee procured I have shewed before where I spake of Olives The second thing to bee noted in the verses aforesaid is that wee eate not againe untill the meate eaten before bee first concocted and avoyded out of the stomacke for otherwise the one will let the concoction of the other and breed great crudity in the body which is the originall of the most part of diseases Now to know when the stomacke is voyde of the meat before eaten the chiefest token is hunger which if it be a true hunger riseth by contraction of the veynes proceeding from the mouth of the stomack for want of meate for so Leonhartus Fuchsiâ—â— teacheth in these words Vera fames a penuriae sensu 〈◊〉 quum venae ex ipso ventriculo veluti emulgentes sugentesque trahunt Also an other signe of emptinesse of the stomack is shewed in the last verse to bee slender dyet before going For when appetite followeth upon small sustenance taken before it is a plaine token that digestion is ended These things being observed and exercise used according to the order set down upon the word labour I say with Master Eliot that worthy and worshipfull Knight that in England men and women untill they come to the age of forty yeares may well eate three meales in one day as breakefast dinner and supper so that betweene breakfast and dinner bee the space of 4. houres at the least for 4. houres is the due time assigned to the stomack for the first concoction And betweene dinner and supper six houres and the breakefast lesse than the dinner and the dinner moderate that is to say lesse then satiety or fullnesse of belly and the drinke thereunto measurable according to the drynesse or moystnesse of the meate But touching breakefasts whether or no they are to be used it may bee some question because they are not mentioned in Galen and other antient authors of Physicke neither are they appointed by order of the Vniversities but onely two meales of the day spoken of which bee dinner and supper But to this question the answer of Hippocrates may suffice Quibus etiam semel ne an bis plus minusâ—e gradatimpraebere cibum conveniat spectandum Dandum vero aliquid tempori regioni aetati consuetudini And doubtlesse the temperature of this our Country of England is such as I have shewed in my Preface that our stomacks for the more part are hotter by reason of the coldnesse of the Clime and therefore may digest better and naturally require more meate and sooner than other nations that inhabite hotter Countryes wherefore I thinke it good for Englishmen not to be long fasting if their stomackes be cleane and empty least that happen to them which Galen speaketh of That the stomacke for want of meate draw unto it corrupt humours wherby hapneth head-ach and many perillous diseases for true is that saying of the phâ—sicians Diutius tolerare â—amem ventriculum malis complet hu moribus But if the stomacke bee uncleane it is better to refraine than eat for true is that saying of Hip. Impura corpora quo plus nutriveris eo magis laeseris But when the stomacke is cleansed after the manner before mentioned then may you eate safely And for breakfast as I thinke those meates be most convenient especially for students which be of light digestion as Milk Butter Egges and such like Howbeit herein appetite and custome beare great sway as they doe in every part of dyet And if nothing else be to bee had I thinke it better to take a little bread and drinke that the stomacke may have somewhat to worke upon than to be altogether fasting untill noon Yet I know there is great difference among men in this respect and some may better bide without meat than others may which Hip. notably setteth forth Iejunium senes non decrepiti ferunt facillime secundum hos qui constantem aetatem agunt minus adolescentes minime omnium pueri at que inter eos maxime qui acriore sunt vividiore ingenio praediti Children then and young men untill they come to the age of 35. may not be long fasting without inconvenience Men of middle age that is from 35. to 49. yeares may better beare it for so constans aetas is to bee taken in Hip. and Galen as Fuchsius sheweth Old men being not decrepit that is to say from 50 to 70. yeares may best of all abide fasting but after seventy yeares they are to be dieted as children Nam bis pueri senes as the old proverbe is But some doubt may be made what the word Ieiunium should signifie in Hip. whether or no it be to be taken as the Divines use it that is for abstinence from flesh taking but one meale a day and in the morning and evening instead of breakefast and supper to use bread and drinke which kinde of fasting is some punishment to the Body and subdueth the
disobedience So ready is Sathan to turne Gods blessing into a curse But of the abuse afterward when I shall have declared the use Wine after Galen is hot in the second degree and if it bee very old it is hot in the third and must or new wine is hot in the first and it is dry according to the proportion of heat But this limitation of the temperature in my judgement cannot be generally applyed to all wines for who doth not know that sacke is hoter than white Wine or Claret and Malmsay or Muskadell hotter than Sacke and Wine of Madera or Canary to bee hottest of all Wherfore I thinke rather that Galen meaneth of some one sort of Wine and of one country for so he speaketh saying that white wine inflameth or heateth least of all wines Which saying is true if comparison be made betweene whiâ—e wine and wine of other colours of one Country and not otherwise as to say the white wine of France is not so hot as the Claret or Red of the same Country For otherwise the red wines of France are not so hot nor so strong as the white wines of some other countries France yeeldeth those wines that be most temperate as White Claret and Red Spaine bringeth forth wines of white colour but much hotter and stronger as Sacke Rumney and Bastard Italy giveth wines most sweet and pleasant as Muskadel and such like And in Galens time the chiefe praise was given to the wine of Italy as now it is by Mathiolus but especially to that wine which was named Vinum Falernum most commended among all Nations Yet the wine of the Iland of Creta now called Candy which I suppose to be Malmsey is of greatest force in Phisicke for by a certaine naturall property it killeth wormes in children if they drinke it fasting As for wine of Madera and Canary they beare the name of the Ilands from whence they are brought likewise as Rhenish wine beareth the name of that famous river Rheine of Germany because the Vines whereof it is made grow thereabout But this our Country of England for the coldnesse of the Clime wherein it is situate bringeth no vines to make wine of though in other things more necessary it farre surmounteth all other Countries So God hath divided his blessings that one Nation might have need of another one Country might have entercourse with an other But although wine bee no necessary thing that is to say such as Englishmen cannot live without for there is and hath beene many a one in this our Realme that never tasted wine yet is it without doubt a speciall gift of God for as it is in Deuteronomy God giveth wine unto those that love him And those that obey not the commandements of God shall not drinke wine of their vineyards And as it is in Ecclesiast Wine soberly drunken is profitable for the life of man Wine measurably drunken and in time bringeth gladnesse and cheerefulnesse of the minde Of it selfe it is the most pleasant liquor of all other and a speciall benefit and comfort of mans life a great encreaser of the vitall spirits and a restorer of all powers and actions of the body and so cheereth and comforteth the heart So that vitis may seeme as it were vita quia vitam maxime tuetur And no marvaile considering that vita as Aristotle affirmeth standeth chiefly in calido humido Which two qualities are the very nature of wine So that life and wine for the likenesse of nature are most agreeable And this is the cause as I thinke why men by nature so greedily covet wine except some od Abstemius one among a thousand perchance degenerate and is of a doggish nature for dogges of nature doe abhorre wine Whereof hath growne that Latine proverb Caninum prandium a dogs dinner where is no wine at dinner or supper But the commodities of wine are briefly and pithily gathered by Avicen where hee reckoneth five benefits of wine moderately drunken First that it easily conveyeth the meat that it is mingled with to all the members of the body Secondly that it digesteth and resolveth flegme openeth the wayes and stirreth up nature to expell it Thirdly that it avoids red choler by urine and other insensible evacuations which is to bee understood of white wine or Claret and such like weaâ—e wines and not of strong wines for they inflame the liver and breed choler Fourthly it expelleth melancholy and through contrariety of nature amendeth the noysomenesse of that humour For wheras melancholy engendreth heavinesse faintnesse of heart and covetousnesse Wine ingendreth ioy boldnesse stoutnesse of stomacke and liberality Fiftly it resolveth and caseth all sorts of lassitude and wearinesse for it reviveth the resolute spirits againe abundantly and comforteth naturall vertue and taketh away or diminsheth such superfluous moysture as remaineth in the muskles finewes and joynts Also the commodities of wine are well set forth by the Poet Ovid as followeth Vina parant animos faciuntque caloribus aptos Cura fugit multo diluiturque â—â—ro Tunc veniunt risus tunc pauper corâ—â—a sumit Tunc dolor curae rugaqueâ—rontis abit Tunc aperit mentes aevo rarissima nostro Simplicitas artes excutiente Deo And now to turne my talke to students I think as it hath beene said of old that vinum moderate sumptum acuit ingenium The reason is alleadged by Arnâ—ldus upon Sch. Sal. Because of good Wine more than of any other drink are engendred and multiplied subtile spirits cleane and pure And this is the cause saith hee why the divines that imagine and study upon high and subtile matters love to drinke good wine wherein he erred not much in mine opinion from the custome of the old Clergie for they loved a good cup of wine as well as any men â—live But I advise all students such as bee students nomine re because they have commonly feeble braines if not by nature yet through study to refraine from strong wines because they distemper the braine and cause drunkennesse ere a man bee ware Besides that strong wines are hurtfull to them whose Liver and stomacke is hot because they inflame and burne their bodies inwardly wherfore they are utterly to be eschewed or not to be used except they be well allayed with water But such as have strong braines that is to say not lightly overcome by the vapours and fumes which ascend from the stomacke may boldly drinke any kinde of wine that they like so they keepe a measure for otherwise they fall into drunkennesse as well as they that have weake braines which vice as it is odious to God and without repentance disheriteth us from his heavenly kingdome so it is most hurtfull to our bodies and if it bee often used causeth chiefely six inconveniences as Avicen teacheth First it weakneth and corrupteth the Liver making it unable to change the
gathered out of our English Chronicles of some men in time past who supposed all chastity to consist in single life Elphlegus Bishop of Winchester put upon him Dunstanes a Monkes apparell that hee might thereby avoid both the fire of concupiscence and the fire of hell S. Petrock an hermit of Cornewall was faine every night from the crowing of the cock to the spring of the morning to stand naked in a pit of water to abate the movings of his flesh yet could he never have remedy of that disease untill he went on pilgrimage to Rome and Ierusalem S. Aldelme Abbot and Bishop of Malmsbury when hee was stirred by his ghostly enemy to the sinne of the body would hold within his bed by him a faire maiden so long time as hee might say over the whole Psalter to the intent to doe the more torment to himselfe and his flesh These men as you see as holy as they seemed were yet captives to Cupid and could hardly get loosed out of his bands or whether they were loosed at all it may be doubted yet would they not follow Saint Pauls counsaile Melius est nubere quam uri But rather the contrary Vri potius quam nubere maluerunt But if I had beene their Physician they should have had the same remedy that Master Smith a canon of Hereford practised upon himselfe in the beginning of the raigne of the Queenes Maiesty that now is videlicet abscissionem testiculorum For this is the surest remedy that can bee devised for Cupids colts Notwithstanding for such as can abstaine I thinke it much better for themselves and for the common wealth especially if they bee of the Clergy that they should live unmarryed For as S. Paul saith The unmarryed careth for the things of the Lord how hee may please the Lord But hee that is marryed careth for the things of the world how he may please his wife There is difference also between a virgin and a wife The unmarryed woman careth for the things of the Lord that she may be holy both in body and spirit but she that is marryed careth for the things of the world how shee may please her husband So that the state of man or woman unmarryed is more free from the cares of the world and consequently more free for the service of God then of the marryed sort and therefore more to be desired of all them that would wholly dedicate themselves to serve the Lord. For as Basilius Magnus writeth to Gregorius 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Coniugio mancipatum curarum agmen excipit Inorbitate desiderium prolis uxoris custodia domestica procuratio servilium officiorum constitutio damna civilibus in contractibus accepta digladiationes cum vicinis forenses concertationes negotiationis alea agriculturae labores unaquaeque dies suam adfert animo caliginem noctes vero diuturnas curas excipientes per easdem rerum species imposturam menti factitant And Demea in Terence saith in Adelphi Duxi uxorem quam ibi miseram vidi Natifilii alia cura So the first dish that is served up at the marriage feast is Miseria and the second is Cura Which both if they be well weighed are but soure sawces to sweet meate Neverthelesse let every man doe according to his gift For every man hath his proper gift of God one after this manner and an other after that I exempt no estate nor degree from marriage yet I say with Saint Augustine Bona pudicitia coniugalis sed melior continentia virginalis vel vidualis And if any be disposed to marry if they would follow the rule of Aristotle in his Politiques they should so marry thaâ— both the man and the woman might leave procreation at one time the one to get children and the other to bring forth Which would easily come to passe if the man were about eight and thirty yeares of age when he marryed and the woman about eighteene for the ability of getting children in the most part of men ceaseth at seventy yeeres and the possibility of conception in women commonly ceaseth about fifty So the man and the woman should have like time for generation and conception But this rule of Aristotle is not observed of us in England nor else where now adaies that I wote of but rather the liberty of the civill Law put in practise that the woman at twelve yeares of age and the man at fourteene are marriageable which thing is the cause that men and women in these dayes are both weake of body and small of stature yea in respect of those that lived but forty yeares agoe in this land much more then in comparison of the ancient inhabitants of Britaine who for their talenesse of stature were called Gyants Which thing also is noted by Aristotle in the same place Est adolescentium coniunctio improba ad filiorum procreationem In cunctis enim animalibus iuveniles partus imperfecti sunt faeminae crebrius quam mares parva corporis forma gignuntur quocirca necessa est hoâ— idem in hominibus evenire Hujus autem coniectura fuerit quod in quibuscunque civitatibus consuetudo est adolescentes mares puellasque coniugari in iisdem inutilia pusilla hominum corpora existâ—nt And the best time of the yeare to marry in after Aristotle is the winter season because in the sommer time naturall heat is dispersed and digestion feeble But contrariwise in winter by reason of the cold without closing up the pores of the skinne naturall heate is made stronger and digestion better and therby the body is more able for generation The same reason may serve also for the spring of the yeere and I think that the better time of both for that crescite and multiplicamini is then in greatest force But Diogenes was of another minde for to one demanding when best season were to wed a wife for a young man quoth he it is too soone and for an old man overlate So that no time by his judgement was fit for that purpose But Diogenes was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 being moved peradventure with that reason which â—ias one of the seven wise men of Greece made against marriage Non est ducendauxor nam si foâ—mosam duxeâ—is habâ—bis commuâ—e mâ—sin deformem molesâ—am or else was afraid lest hee should have as ill luâ—ke as Socrates had in marriage whose wife Xantip had all properties of a shrew videlicet ware a kerchiefe had a long nose and a longer tongue But if Diogenes or that Timon of Athens who was for his hatred of mankind named 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 had used the company of a woman perchance hee would have thought as the Hermit did whom Pâ—ggius the Florentine montioneth in his fablâ—s who by the advise of his Physitians having used the company of a woman for a certaine disease which he had not otherwise to bee cured when
him use this experiment of Galen written in his booke de usu Theriacae ad Pamphilianum Medicinam quae vel alvum subducat vel vomere faciâ—t Scammonium aut Elleborum vel quidâ—is aliud hisce etiam valentius exhibe perinde atque si aliquem purgare velles huic postea bibendum trade tantum theriacae quantum graecam fabam aequet Si bona erit non solum non purgabitur qui assumpsit sed ne commotionem quidem uâ—lam sentiet Sin contrarium eveniet vetustate deprehendes antidoto vires concidisse And this much concerning strengthening of the heart against all infection More you may reade for the same purpose in their proper places in the treatise of herbs where I spake of Sorrell of Rue of Germander of Burnet of Dragons of Angelica of Walnuts c. Of the sickenesse at Oxford ANd now that I have given mine advise to Students touching the Plague I will speake somewhat of other diseases neere Cosins to the Plague which have fallen out as well in the Vniversities as in the country abroad and may doe againe if Gods will bee so The chiefest of which is that sickenesse which yet beareth the name of England and is called of forraine nations Sudor Anglicus the English sweat or sweating sickenesse as we terme it A kinde of Pestilence no doubt and so is it judged of Leonhartus Fuchsius where he saith in this manner Quod si venenata ac pernitiosa haec qualitas primum in spiritibus haeserit eosque devastaverit ac corruperit â—rit â—um febris pestilentialis Diaria quales fuere quae in lue illa quam Sudorem Anglicum vocant Anno 1529. per universam Germaniam grassabantur This sickenesse began first in England Anno 1485. in the very first yeare of the raigne of King Henry the seventh and was againe renued Anno 1528. in the twentieth yeare of King Henry the eight and sprang the third time Anno 1551 in the fifth yeare of King Edward the sixth So that three times England hath beene plagued therewith to the great destruction and mortality of the people and not England onely but Germany also and Flanders and Brabant insomuch that at Antwerpe there dyed of the sweat in three dayes space five hundred persons And in London and in the suburbes there dyed in the same disease in manner within sixe daies space in the fifth yeare of Edward the sixth eight hundred persons and most of them men in their best yeares The manner of this disease was such that if men did take cold outwardly it strooke the sweat in and immediatly killed them If they were kept very close and with many clothes it stifeled them and dissolved nature If they were suffered to sleepe commonly they swooned in their sleepe and so departed or else immediately upon their waking But at length by the study of physicians and experience of the people driven thereto by dreadfull necessity there was a remedy invented after this manner If a man on the day time were taken with the sweate then he should streight lye downe with all his clothes and garments and lie still the whole 24 houres If in the night he were taken then he should not rise out of his bed for the space of 24 houres and so cast the clothes on him that he might in no wise provoke the sweate but so lye temperately that the sweat might distll out softly of it owne accord and to absteine from all meat if he might so long susteine and suffer hunger and to take lukewarme drinke no more then would delay thirst and withall to put forth neither hand nor foot out of the bed but to avoid cold in every part of the body and so continuing without sleep in a moderate sweat for 24. houres after that time to sleepe and eat at pleasure yet measurably for feare of relaps for some were taken thrise with this disease and after the third time dyed of the same Which relaps happeneth likewise in the common Plague for as Ficinus writeth of his owne knowledge that a Florentine who had beene twise delivered of the plague Tertio mortem evadere non potuit Wherefore let no man thinke that if he have once escaped the sweating sicknesse or the pestilence that hee may not fall againe into the same disease But some man will say it is needlesse now to write of the sweating sickenesse because it neither is nor hath beene of long time Whereto I answer that although it be not at this present God bee thanked therefore and God defend us from it alwayes yet by the judgement of some Astronomers namely Francis Keete a man very well learned in that art in his Almanacke for the yeare of our Lord God 1575 it was very like to have renued in this our Realme for as much as the heavens then were in like order in a manner as they were at those times before when that kinde of disease so cruelly raged Wherein hee erred not much for both that yeare and divers yeares since have fallen out many strange and grievous sickenesses and dangerous diseases unknowne to the most part of physitians as that disease specially which was at Oxford at the assises anno 1577. and began the sixth day of Iuly from which day to the twelfth day of August next ensuing there dyed of the same sickenesse five hundred and tenne persons all men and no women The chefest of which were the two Iudges sir Robert Bell Lord chiefe Baron and master Sergeant Baram master Doile the high Sheriffe five of the Iustices foure counsailours at the law and an atturny The rest were of the iurers and such as repayred thither All infected in a manner at one instant by reason of a dampe or mist which arose among the people within the Castle yard and court house caused as some thought by a traine and trechery of one Rowland Ienks booke binder of Oxford there at that time arrained and condemned But as I thinke sent onely by the will of God as a scourge for sinne shewed chiefely in that place and at that great assembly for example of the whole Realme that famous Vniversity being as it were the fountaine and eye that should give knowledge and light to all England Neither may the Vniversitie of Cambridge in this respect glory above Oxford as though they had greater priviledge from Gods wrath for I read in Hales Chronicle in the thirteenth yeare of King Henry the eight that at the assise kept at the Castle of Cambridge in Lent anno 1522 the Iustices and all the gentlemen Bailiffes and other resorting thither tooke such an infection that many gentlemen and yeomen thereof dyed and almost all which were there present were sore sicke and narrowly escaped with their lives what kinde of disease this should bee which was first at Cambridge and after at Oxford it is very hard to define neither hath any man that I know written of
Lib. 5. Tus Two notable sayings of Tully touching the quantity of meate Three sorts of diet Lib. 2. Apho. 4. 1 Apho. 5. Diet in sickenesse 1 Apho. 4. Fasting driveth away sickenes Lib. 4. de meth med cap. 4. cap. 31. How surfet may be eased The qualâ—ty of meates De inequâ—inte cap. 6. Lib. de Con. Lâ—b 3. Simp. Two merveilous examples of poyson eaten without hurt Lib. de Secret Custome in meat and drinke 2 Apho. 50. 2 Apho. 38. Epid. 6. Sec. 4. Apho. 7. 2 Apho. 40. Custome in labour cap. 55. A dyet for healthy men Lib. 1. Men in perfect health should keepe no precise order in dyet Cap. 1. How a custome in dyet may bee changed without haâ—me 6 Epi. Sect. 3. Lib 2. â—ict acuâ— cap. 18. Cap. 19. The foure seasons of the yere Lib. 1. de temp cap. 4. 3 Apho. 9. Versaluberrimum minime exiliosum 1 Apho. 15. The dyet of the Spring time Lib. 2. insti Sect. 2. cap. 9. The best dyet in Summer 1 Aph. 17. Aestate saepe paâ—um dandum In Summer drinke much and eate little Sib. 1. de temp cap. 4. Dyet in Autumne 1 Aph. 18. cap. 6. Lib. 1. cap. 4 de locis aff Lib. 1. de Sa. tiâ— cap. 9. Lib. 5. cap. 4. dâ— usu par Hunger is the best token of an empty stomacke What hunger is and how it commeth Insti lib. 1 Sect. 7. cap. 5. English folks may eate three meales a day Whether breakfasts are to be used in England 1 Aphoâ—â— Lib 3. cap. 13. de â—atu fa. 1 Apho. 10. Break fast meats for students 1 Apho. 1â— Who may best abide fasting Lib. 1. Instit Sect. 3. cap 5. How fasting is to be used In Ser de do 4 in ad In Hom· Lib. 2. meth me cap. 22. The definition of a true fast Inedia Lib. 2. meth me cap. 20. cap. 20. Seven things good for a rheume A remedy for surfet 2 Apho. 17. The commodities of Abstinence 2 Apho. 4. Dinner time Diogenes answer touching dinner time Oxford dyet for dâ—nner To eate one onely kinde of meat at a meale prooved to be the best dyet Lib. 11. cap. 52. An houre is a sufficient time for dinner Schol. Sa. cap. 6. Long sitting at meat is hurtfull Three concoctions three preparations of the meat receiued Cap. 1 To sit a while after meat how it is to be taken Cap. 1. Cap. â— Whether dinner or supper should be greater Diff. 121. Institut li. 2. Sect. 4. cap. 3. The question answered touching more meat or lesse to be eaten at dinner or Supper The cause of rheumes in England 2. Apho. 17. Cap. 38. To drinke before supper or dinner used of some 2. Apho. 11. What time the stomacke requireth for concoction In Medi. li. 2. Sect. 4. cap. 3. Where wee should walke after supper One meale a day were better taken at noone than at night What age is and what difference in age Inst lib. â— Sect. 3. cap. 5. Annus Criticus Cap. 1â— Man beginneth to die as soone as he is borne How meat and drinke do preserve life Ga. de mar ca 3. One cause of life and death in man Naturall death what it is A divers diet requisite in youth and age 1. Apho. 14. The naturall diet of all ages Diet of lustie youth Diet of old men Sundry examples of old mens diet Chremes supper in Terence De Sa. â—u lib. 5. cap 4. Antiochus diet A good bâ—eakfast for old men Telephâ—â— diet For whom hony is wholsome â—nd for whom not Lib. 1. de Ali. Fa. cap. 1. Pollio Romulus Lib. 22. Democritus Galen Lib. 5. de Sa. tu cap. 1. Auten Lect. Lib. 30. cap. 12. Galens dyet Lib. 2. de Sa. tu cap. 8. Galeni valetudo Securiâ— Lib. 5. de Sa. tu cap. 8. The benefit of an orderly diet 3.1 doct â— c. 7. Desucco boni viâ—â—o cap. 2. The due order of receiving of meats Whether fine meate or grosse should be eaten first The English custome defended to eat grosse meates first and fine after We should not beginne our meale with drinke Cap 38. Drinke is necessary for two causes What thirst iâ— and how it is caused Lib. 1. Simp. cap. 32. Lib. 7. Meth. cap. 6. Lib. 5. cap. 7. The right use of drinke Cap. 18. The discommodities of much drinke used at meaâ— To drinke little and often is better than to drinke much at once Cap. 3â— Drinke betweene meales not good Cap. 32. Drinke dâ—lative Three sorts of drinke What drinke should be used in the beginning of meales and what after cap. 18. Strong drinke or spiced is not good to be used with meat Sack or aqua vitae when they may be drunke after meat Seven sorts of drinke used in England Water is the most antient drinke De Sa. tu c. 11. What water is best after Galen Whether it be good for Englishmen to drinke water cap. 18. Cornish men drinke much water cap. 27. When cold water may be drunke Cold water and Sugar good to coole and cleere the stomacke What drinke is best when one is hot 2 Apho. 51. Simp. li. 1. ca. 31. Water mixt with wine quencheth thirst the better How a man may prove which water is best Lib. 5. meth ca. 5. How water may be drunke without harme Liquorise water Cap. 31. v 28. Gen. 9. ver 20. Wine and drunkennesse be of like antiquity Simp. 8. The temperature of wine Lib. 3. de vict râ— in mor. acu com 6. The diversities of wines and the countries that bring them forth Malmsey killeth wormes in children England bringeth forth no wine and why Cap. 11. v. 13.14 Deâ—t 28.39 cap 31.27.28 The commodidities of wine Life and wine agree in nature 3.1 doct 2. ca. 8. Five vertues of wine used moderately Lib 1. de arâ—â— amandi Cap. â— Why wine moderately taken sharpneth the wit Divines love wine and why Strong wines ill for studentâ— 1 Cor. 10 10.3.1 Doct. 12. Cap. 8. Six inconvenienâ—es of drunkennesse Isocrates against drunkennesse Theognis against drunkennesse Insti li. 1. ca. 10. Why students in these dayes come not to such perfect knowledge as they have done in time past Hessus against drunkennesse 2. de logi Young men should drinke no wine Lib. 1. de Sa. 〈◊〉 cap. 9. Wine is good for old age cap. â—5 To be drunken once in a moneth allowed of some Physitians Lib. 51. de usâ—â— par cap. 4 Cap. 107. How to choose good wine by five properties cap. 10. The choise of wine standeth chiefly in three senses Li. 3 de vict ra in amor acut com 6. White wine least hot White wine procureth urine White wine good for those that would be leane cap. 8. cap. 12. Red wine bindeth A good medicine for a laske cap. 11. Sweet wine for whom it is good Lib. 5 cap. 7. cap 26. New wine unwholsome Whether wine be good fasting Insti li 2. c. â— cap. 54. Tosts dipped in wine wherefore they are good An