watery or sweating whole-footed and many such others both among the Greekes and Latines which howsoeuer they may containe diuers Alegories in them and therefore may seeme to be figuratiuely set downe yet I thought good being of other opinion to reckon them heere in the beginning that so the reader may consider that I would be vnwilling to omit any thing in this story which might any way tend to the dignity of the subiect we intreat of or the expressing of his nature Wherefore wee will firste of all beginne with the description of the naturall partes of a good Horsse The haire of a horsse falleth off euery yeare the neather eye lid or browe hath no long haires growing vpon it and therefore Nicon that famous painter of Greece when hee had most curiously limbed forth a horsses perfection faild in no part of nature or art The naturall outward and inward parts of Horsses but onely in placing haires vnder his eie for that onely fault hâe receiued a disgracefull blame The haire of the manes ought to be long that part which groweth betwixt the eares vpon the Temples hanging downe betwixt the eyes the Graecians tearme Procomion the Latines Caprona and in English it may be called a fore-top which is graunted to horsses not onely for ornament sake but also for necessitie to defend their eies Aelianus The horsses are naturally proud of these lockes and manes as may appear by those mares which are kept for procreation of mules by copulation with Asses which at the first despise to ingender with those shaueling and short haired Stallions Wherefore their keepers shaue off their manes and their fore-tops afterwards leading them to the waters wherein while the Mares behold their owne deformity they grow so shamed deiected and discouraged that euer after they admit with quietnesse the Asses to couer them Therefore it is neuer good to cut the mane or the fetter-lockes except necessity require for the mane and fore-top is an ornament to the Necke and head and the fetter lockes to the Legges and feete and he that keepeth horsses must as well regard to haue them comely for outward grace as stronge and able for necessary labour Many vse to cut the Neckes of their riding Horsses euen as they doe of their drawing Horsses which thing although it may seeme to be done for greater encrease and farther groweth of haire yet is it vnseemely for an honest rider some againe cut it to stand compasse like a bow and many vse the Armenian fashion cutting the mane by rowes leauing some longer then other as it were the batlements of a Church but the best fashion of all is the Persian cut whereby the one halfe of the thicknesse is cut away on the left side and the other on the right side smoothly turned ouer and combed according to the saying of Virgill Densa iuba dextro iactata recumbit in armo But if the Horsse be double maned and so the haire fall halfe on the one side and halfe on the other then cut all the middle haires away and leaue both the sides whole for such was the inuention of the Parthians In a Coult or young foale the hinder part is hier then the fore part but as he grows in yeares so likewise the forepart groweth higher then the hinder This beast hath two bones in his head and other two discending from his forehead to the Nostrils two inferior Gumbes or Cheeke-bones forty teeth that is to say foure and twenty grynders foure canyne and twelue biting teeth there are seauen crosse ribbes in his Necke and seuen from his raines to his hole his taile hath twelue commisures and two Ragulae in his fore-shoulders from his shoulders to his Legges other two from his Legges to his knees two moe in his knees there are twoo supporters and from the shin to the Articles two mo there are sixteene small bones in the bottome of his hoofe and but one in his brest in the inward parts there are six and twenty ribs from the hinder parts to the top of his reynes Veâetius the two grinding bones and from them to the hinder part of the head there are two moe and two little ribbes from the vpper part of the thigh to the Gamba and from thence to the haire of the pasternes there are two and the little ones to the hooues sixteene so all the bones in number are accounted a hundred and seuenty Now it followeth to declare the measure and number of the members there are twelue steps or degrees in the roofe of his mouth his tongue is halfe a foot long the vpper lip hath twelue ounces the vnder lip fiue euery one of the cheeks ten from the fore-locke to the Nostrils he hath one foot in length his two eares containe six ounces and his eies foure ounces a peece From his fore-locke to the Mercurius there are contained 8. ynches the backbone containeth three and thirty crosse ribs From the conuulsial of the reines to the top of the taile are twelue commissures the length of his Sagula containeth also twelue ounces from his shoulders to his legges six from his legs to his knees a foote in length from the Articles to the hooues foure ounces in his whole length sixe feete And this is the stature of a couragious and middle horsse for I know there are both bigger and lesser The quality and the measure of the nerues of sinnewes is this from the middle nostrils through the heade necke and backe bone is a dubble file or thred to the toppe of the taile which contayneth twelue foot in length The two broad sinnews in the necke do containe four-foure-foot from the shoulders to the knees there are two sinnewes from the knee to the bottome of the foot there are foure sinnewes in the fore-legs there are ten sinnews in the hinder legges there are other ten sinnewes from the reynes to the stones there are foure sinnewes so the whole number of them amounteth to thirty foure Consequently the number of the vaines is to be declared In the pallet or roofe of the mouth there are two vaines vnder the eies other two in the brest other two and in the legges other two foure vnder the pastrones two in the ancles foure in the crowne of the pastrones foure out of the thighes two out of the loines two out of the Gambaes one out of the tayle and two in the wombe or Matrix so the whole number is nine and twenty There are certaine vaines aboue the eies which are diuided in horsses wherin they are let blood by making to them small incisions the blood also is taken out of the vaines in the pallet or roofe of the mouth There was an auncient custome of letting horsses blood vpon Saint Steuens day by reason of many holy daies one succeeding another but that custome is now growne out of vse Also some take blood out of the Matrixe vaines but that is not to be admitted in geldings because
statuis summittere gentis Precipuum iaminde a teneris impende laborem Continnue pecoris generosi pullus in aruis Altius ingreditur mollia crura reponit Primus Ãre viam fluuios tentare minaces Audet ignoto sese committere ponti Nec vanos horret crepitus illa ardua ceruix Argutumque caput breuis aluus obesaque terga Luxuriatque toris animo sum pectus honesti Spadices glaucique color deterrimus albis Et giluo tam si qua sonum procul arma dedere Stare loco nescit micat auribus traemit artus Collectumque praemens voluit subnaribus ignem Densa iuba dextro tactata recumbit in armo Ac duplex agitur perlumbos spina cauatque Tellurem solido grauiter sonat vngula cornu Varro sheweth that at the first foaling of a colt a man may obserue by certain signes how he will proue when he is in perfection signs to chuse a good Colt for if he be cheareful bold and not terrified at any strange sight if he run before the company be wanton and contend with his equales in course and ouer-run them if he leape ouer a ditch go ouer a bridge or through water and being prouoked appeareth meeke these are the most true signes of an elegiable Colt Also it is to be considered whether they rise quickly being stird from their rest and run away speedily if their bodies be great long full of muscles and sharpe hauing a little head blacke eies open aad wide nostrils sharpe pricked eares a soft and broad neck not long a thicke mane curled and falling on the right side a broad and ful breast large shoulders and shoulder-bones round ribs a little belly a dubble backe-bone or at the least not thin bunchie or extended his loines pressed downewards broad and well set little and smal stones a long taile with curled haire highe straighte and equal legges round knees not great nor bending inward round buttockes brawny and fleshy thighes high Columella Varro Albertus hard hollow and round hooues wel set to the crowne of their pasterne hauing vaines conspicuous and apparant ouer al his body That colt which at the time of his foaling hath the moste highest legges is likelyest by common reason to proue most able and noble in his age for of al the ioynts in the body the knees and legges grow least and they which haue flexible ioynts in their infancy wil be more nimble and flexible in their age Of the chois of a horse vn backed or neuer ridden And thus much for the parts of a colt Now in the next place we must likewise take consideration of a horsse vntamed and ready for the saddle For the outward partes of his bodie saith Xenophon yeeld euident signification of his minde before he be backed Plato willeth that the state of his body bee straight and articulate his head bony his cheekes little his eies standing out and not sunke into his head flaming like blood looking cruelly if the body be blacke but blacke eies if the body be white doe argue a gentler and better disposition short and little eares the crowne of his head greater then the residue broad Nostrils whereby he not onely looketh more terribly but breatheth more easily for when one Horsse is angry with another in their rage they are wont to stretch out their Nostrils vehemently The beake or snout of a Horsse ought not to stand out like a swynes but to bend downe a little crooked the head to be so ioyned to the necke as it may bend more commodiously that is if the necke be small next to the head so will the necke stand before the rider and his eies appeare before his feete and although he bee full of stomacke yet will he neuer be violent or stiffe necked It ought also to be considered whether his cheek-bones be sharpe tender or vnequall standing one aboue another for their imparity maketh the Horsses necke to be hard and stubborne The backe-bone aboue his shoulders higher commodious to set the saddle vpon his whole body the better compacted if the backe bone be duble and smooth for then shall the rider sit more easily and the forme of the Horsse appeare more delectable A large brest sheweth his comlinesse and strength making him fit to take longer reaches without doubling of his Legges because in a broad breast the Legs stand further asunder large side or ribbes swelling out aboue the belly for they shew the ability of the Horsse both to his food and worke a round euen belly and his loines being broad and short causeth the forlegs to be lifted vp more easily and the hinderlegs to follow for the smal loines do not onely deforme but enfeeble and oppresse the Horsse therefore the loines ought to bee duble the ribbes broad and fleshy agreeable to the breast and sides buttocks sollide and broad with a long taile reaching downe to the heeles of his hinder Legges Thighes full of sinnewes the bones of his Legges thicke like the postes of the whole body but that thicknesse ought neither to be of vaines nor flesh for then they are quickly inflamed and wounded when they trauile in rough and sharpe waies for if the flesh be cut a little the commissures parte asunder and causeth the Horsse to halte and aboue all other thinges haue a regard to his feet and therin especially to his hoof for being thick it is better then being thin likewise if they be hard causeth the pasterne to stand higher from the ground for so in their pace the soft and hard parts of the foote doe equally sustaine one another and the hard hoofe yealdeth a sound like a Simbal for the goodnesse of a horse appeareth by the sound of his feete Now on the contrary side it is good also to set downe the faults and signes of reprobation in Horsses and first of all therefore a great and fleshy head great eares narrow Nostrils hollow eyes a long necke a mane not hairy a narrow breast hollow shoulders narrow sides and little fleshy sharpeloines bare ribs hard and heauy Legges knees not apt to bend weake thighs not strong crooked legs thin full fleshy plaine and low hoofs all these things are to be auoided in the choise of your Horsse Of the choise of Stallions and breeding Mares NOw in the next place let vs consider the choise of Horsses and Mares appointed for breede and procreation and we haue shewed already that in a stallion we are principally to consider the colour forme merit and beauty This Stallion is called in Italy Rozzone in France Estalon in Germany Ein Springhengst and in Latine Admissarius quia ad generandam sobolem admittitur bicause he is sent to beget and engender The Graeci Anabates or Ocheutes Of the color First of all therefore to beginne with the colour that Horsse is best which is of one continued colour although oftentimes as Rufus saith Horsses of a despicable colour proue as
and another of lesser size called the Scotian or calydonian Bison whereof you shall see the picture and qualities at the foot of this history Their haire is red yellow or black their eyes very great and terrible they smell like a Moschus or Musk-cat and their mane reacheth ouer their shoulders shaking it irefully when he brayeth their face or forehead very broad especially betwixt their hornes for Sigismund king of Polonia hauing killed one of them in hunting stood betwixt his horns with two other men not much lesser in quantity then himselfe who was a goodly well proportioned and personable Prince There are two bunches on his backe the former neare his shoulders which is the higher and the other neare the rumpe which is somewhat lower I haue seen the horns of a Byson which was in the hands of a Gold-smith to lippe with Siluer and Gilt that it might be fit to drinke in it did bend like the talant of an Egle or Gryphin or some rauenous bird The flesh in Summer time is most fat but it tasteth so much of wild-garlicke The flesh of this beast Bonarus Baro. or ramsens that it is not pleasant to eat being full of small vaines and strings and is accounted a noble and strong kind of flesh the blood is the most purest in the world excelling in color any purple and yet for al that it is so hot that being let forth wheÌ the beast dieth within two houres space it putrifieth and the flesh it selfe in the coldest winter will not keepe sweet many houres by reason of the immoderate heate thereof a secret in the inward heat of this beast if the Hunter do not presently after the fall of the beast seperate from it the intrals and which is most strange of all being pierced aliue with any hunting speare dart or sworde the weapon by the heate of the body is made so weake and soluble that it commeth forth as flexible as lead and to conclude it is a most noble and fierce spirited beast neuer afraid or yeelding till breath fayleth neither can he be taken with any nettes or ginnes vntill they be thoroughly wearied Wherefore they which hunt him must bee very strong nimble their huÌting and skilfull men or else that sport will be their owne vndoing and ouerthrow Sigism baro Therefore when they go to hunt this Byson they choose a place replenished with larg trees neither so great that they cannot easily wind about them nor so little that they shal not be able to couer theyr bodyes from the horne or tongue of the beast behinde which the hunters place themselues out of sight and then the Dogges rouze vp the beast driuing him to that place where the hunters stand whome the beast first espieth to him hee maketh force who must warily keepe the tree for his sheild and with his speare wounde him where hee can who will not fall without many mortall strokes but waxe more and more eager not onely with horne but with tongue for if he can but apprehend any part of the hunters garment with his tongue he looseth no holde but draweth him vnto him and with his horne and feet killeth him but if the fight be long and so the hunter wearied and out of breath then doth he cast a red cap vnto the beast who maketh at it with head and feete neuer leauing till it bee in peeces and if another come to helpe him as hunters must if they will returne aliue then shall he easily draw the beast to combate and forsake the first man if he cry Lu-lu-lu In Phociâ is How Bisons are takeÌ aliue Pausanias sheweth how these Bysons are taken aliue in this sort The hunters sayth he chuse out some steepe and slippery downe hill whereupon they lay skinnes of beasts newly taken off and if they want such then annoint they old skins with oyle and so leaue them spread vppon those sleeping or bending passages then raise they the beasts and with dogs and other means on horseback driue them along to the places where they laid their hides and as soone as they come vpon the skins they slip and fall downe rowling headelong till they come into the valleys from whence they constraine them back again some other way three or foure times a day making them fall downe the hils as aforesaid and so wearying them with continual hunting and fasting At the last they come vnto them when they are no more able to rise for faintnes giue them pine-Aples taken out of the shels for with that meat are they delighted and so while they eagerly feed and ly weary on the ground the medicins not knowne they intoile them in bands and manacles and lead them away aliue The medicins comming from this beast may be coniectured to be more forcible then of common and ordinarie oxen but because they were not knowne to the Grecians and Arabians and wee find nothing recorded thereof we wil conclude the story of this great Bison with a good opinion of the vertues though we are not able to learne or discouer them to others Of the White SCOTIAN Bison IN the Woods of SCOTLAND called Callendar or Caldar Places wher these Bisons abide in auncient time CALIDONIA which reacheth from Monteth and Erunall vnto Atholia and Loquhabria there are bred white Oxen maned about the necke like a Lyon but in other parts like ordinary and common Oxen. This wood was once full of them but now they are all slaine The nature of this Bison except in that parte which is called Cummirnald This beast is so hatefull and fearfull of mankind that it will not feede of that grasse or those hearbes whereof he sauoureth a man hath touched no not for many daies togither and if by art or pollicy they happen to be taken aliue they will die with very sullen griefe If they meete a man presently they make force at him fearing neither dogs speares nor other weapons Their flesh is very pleasant though full of sinewes and very acceptable to the greatest Nobles for which cause they are now growen to a small number their qualities being like to the former beast excepting their colour and beard I will tearme them a white calidonian or Scotian BISON. BONASVS the figure of the head and HORNES The head of this beast is like the head of an Oxe or Bull His parts his hornes bending round to the sides of the cheeke by reason whereof he hath no defence by them neither can a man be hurt that is cast vpon them His necke is very thicke with a large mane Aristotle from his eyes downe to his shoulders in length like a Horses but the haire thereof is much softer and lyeth more smoothly the vppermost haires being harsher and the vndermost softer like wooll Their colour betwixt red and ash coulour but blacke and yellow appeareth not in them They haue no vpper teeth in this point resembling an Oxe and other horned
beasts their hornes being in compasse about nine ynches and somewhat more are verie smooth and blacke like varnish Their voice is like the voice of an oxe their legs all hairy and their feet clouen their taile too shorte for the other members of the Body like a Bugles His flesh and disposition to anger their backe stretched out at length is as long as a seat for seauen men their flesh is very sweet for which cause he is much sought for in hunting hee will with his feet dig vp the ground like an oxe or bull in his rage when he is once stroke he flyeth away His fight in flyeng fighting with his heeles backward and whereas nature hath denyed him the benefit of hornes which other beastes haue so that hee is onely adorned and not armed by those weapons like a souldiour that cannot draw foorth his sword she hath giuen him the secret operation of his dung The secret operation of his dung which in his chase he casteth forth of his body so plentifully vpon the Dogges or other that pursue him by the space of foure paces backeward that he slayeth their course and the heat of this dung is so admirable that it scorcheth or burneth the haire or skinne of any beastes or men that hunt him neither hath this fime such vertuous operation at any other time but onely when the beast flieth being hunted and pursued for life at other times it lying quiet there is no such vertue therin neither ought this to seeme incredible seeing many other beasts in their chase haue the like or at the least do then eiect their excrement more plentifully and noisomly then at other times The reason of the heat operation of their excrement as the Cuttell-fiâh for when in chase the intrals are heated and the passage somewhat restrained so that the holding in of breath breedeth more wind in the guttes it may very naturally chaunce the excrement being with the inclosed wind and heat sent forth by violent eruption that it may flie far backward and also burne as aforesaid These beasts calue in the mountaines Their place and succour for caluing and before that time commeth she chuseth a place which she walleth in with the abundance of her owne dung so high as it may couer her younge one for there is no beast that is naturally so full of excrement as a bonassus Their eares are very broade as the Poet sayeth Patutae camuris sub cornibus aures broad eares vnder crooked winding blunt hornes the skinne is so large that it hath couered a good part of a house the inward colour whereof is like the earth whereon the beast did vse to feed That excellent Phisitian of England Iohn Cay did sende mee the head of this beast with this description in an Epistle saying I Send vnto thee the head of a great wild beast the bare mouth and the bones supporters of the hornes being very weighty The relation of Iohn Cay a Doctor of Physick in England and therefore bearing vp some like heauy burden the hornes are recurued and bending backward so that they do not spire directly downeward but rather forward though in a crooked manner which because it could not appear forward as they doe when the Beast is aliue therefore they are described turning on the one side the space betwixt the hornes or bredth of the forehead is three Roman palmes and halfe the length of the hornes three palmes one finger and a half and their compas where they are ioyned to the head is one foot one palme and a halfe In the castle of warwicke where are preserued the armor and speare of one Earle Guy of Warwicke a most valiant strong man I haue seene the heade of a beast not vnlike to this sauing that if the bones whereon the hornes grow should be ioyned together then would the hornes bee longer and of another crooked fashion And in the same place there is also the necke bone of the same beast the compasse there of is at the least three Roman feet two palmes and a halfe whereunto I may also adde that shoulder-blade which hangeth on the North gate of the citty of Couentry being in the lowest part three foot broad and two fingers and four foot long and two palmes and the compasse of the arme-hole wherein the shoulder is ioyned is three foote and one palme and the whole compasse of them both in breadth and length is eleuen foot one palme and a halfe In the chappell of the said great Guy distant from Warwick about one thousand paces or a mile there hangeth a ribbe of this beast as I suppose the compasse whereof in the smallest place is three palmes and in length it is sixe foote and a halfe the ribbe is dry and rotten in the superficies thereof The vulgar people affirme that it is the peece of a Boare which was slaine by Earle Guy other say by tradition of their elders that it is a piece of a wilde Cow remaining neere Couentry did much harm to many people which latter opinion I embrace taking it for a Bonasus who in most things is like a cow and therefore some affirme it is an Indian Cow but ignorantly because any thing that is not common is vsually attributed to some strange countri-breed with an addition to that it most of all resembleth The shape of these horns are heere following discribed Thus farre D. Cââ Whereunto I assent holding his coniectures to be very probable vntill by the diligent industry of some other or my owne eie sight we may deliuer to the world som more assured and perfect knowledge in these kinde of beastes Exhorting in the meane season all learned men to discouer more exactly their present or future knowledge heerein to the high benefit of al them that are diligent students in this part of Gods creation OF THE BVFFE A Buffe is called in Greeke Tarandos and in Latine Tarandus Of the name and kind of Buffes which some haue corrupted barbarously terming it Parandrus and Pyradus and I coniecture that it is the same beast which the Polonians call Tur or Thuro howsoeuer other confound this Tarandus with another beast called Rangifer and some with a kind of Vrus which haue many properties in common with a Buffe yet my reason why the Polonian Tur can be no other then a Buffe is because the head and mouth differeth from those beastes and also by cause this is taken in Sarmatia where the common people call it Daran or Darau although the later writers call it Duran and Daran and translate it a Bonnasus which can by no meanes agree with this beast and the name of Daran is easily deriued from Tarandus or Tarandos Pliny The seueral parts Siluius Hesychius The head of this beast is like the head of a Hart and his hornes branched or ragged his body for the most part like a wilde Oxes his haire deepe and harshe like a Beares his
his worke and panteth then let him be sprinkled ouer with wine and put peeces of fatte into his mouth if then you perceiue no amendment then seeth some Laurell and therewith heat his backe and afterward with oyle and wine scarifie him all ouer plucking his skin vp from the ribbes and this must be done in the sunshine or else in a very warme place For the scabs take the iuice of Garlicke and rub the beast all ouer and with this medicine may the biting of a Wolfe or a mad dogge be cured although other affirme that the hoofe of any beast with Brimstone oyle Water and Vineger is a more present remedy but there is no better thinge then butter and stale Vrine When they are vexed with wormes poure cold water vpon them afterward annoint them with the iuice of onions mingled with salt If an oxe be wrinched and strayned in his sinnewes in trauell or labour by stumping on any roote or hard sharpe thing then let the contrary foot or legge be let blood if the sinnews swel If his necke svvell let him blood or if his necke be vvinding and vveake as if it were broken then let him blood in that eare to which side the head bendeth When their neckes be bald grind two tiles togither a nevv one and a olde and vvhen the yoake is taken off cast the pouder vpon their neckes and afterwarde oyle and so with a little rest the haire vvill come againe When an oxe hangeth dovvne his eares and eateth not his meat he is troubled vvith a Cephalalgie that is a paine in his head for vvhich seeth Thyme in vvine vvith salt and Garlicke and therevvith rub his tongue a good space also ravv barly steeped in Wine helpeth this disease Sometime an oxe is troubled vvith madnesse for vvhich men burne them betvvixt the hornes in the forehead till they bleed sometime there is a Fly vvhich biting them continually driueth them into madnesse for vvhich they are vvoont to cast brimstone and bay sprigs sod in water in the pastures where they feede but I knovv not vvhat good can come thereby When oxen are troubled vvith fleam put à sprig of black Hellebore throgh their ears wherein let it remain til the next day at the same houre Al the euils of the eyes are for the most part cured by infusion of hony and some mingle therevvith Ammoniacke Salt and Boeticke When the pallat or roofe of their mouth is so swelled that the beast forsaketh meat and bendeth one the one side let his mouth be pared with a sharpe instrument or else burned or abated some other way giuing them greene and soft meat til the tender sore be cured but vvhen the cheekes svvell for remedy thereof they sell them avvay to the butcher for slaughter it falleth out very often that there grow certaine bunches on their tongues vvhich make them forsake their meate and for this thing they cut the toong and aftervvard rub the wound vvith garlicke and salt till al the fleamy matter yssue forth VVhen their vaines in their cheeks and chaps swell out into vlcers they soften and wash them with vineger and lees till they be cured When they are liuer-sicke they giue them Rubarbe Mishroms and Gentian mingled togither For the cough and short breath they giue them twigs of vines or Iuniper mingled with salt and some vse Betony There is a certaine hearbe called Asplenon or Citterach which consumeth the Melts of Oxen found by this occasion in creete there is a Ryuer called Protereus running betwixt the two citties Gnoson and Gortina on both sides thereof there were heards of cattell but those which fed neere to Gortina had no Spleene and the other which fed neer to Gnoson were full of Spleene when the Physitians endeuored to finde out the true cause heereof they found an hearbe growing on the coast of Gortina which diminished their Spleene and for that cause called it Asplenon But now to come to the diseases of their brest and stomack and first of al to begine with the cough which if it be new may be cured by a pint of Barly Meale with a raw Egge and halfe a pint of sod wine and if the cough be old take two pounds of beaten Hysop sod in 3. pints of water beateÌ Lentils or the roots of onyons washed and baked with Wheate meale giuen fasting do driue away the oldest cough For shortnesse of breath their Neat-heardes hang about their Necke deathes-hearb and harts-wort but if their Liuers or lungs be corupted which appeareth by along cough and leannes take the root of hasell and put it through the Oxes eare then a like or equall quantity of the iuyce of Onyons and oyle mingled and put into a pint of Wine let it be giuen to the beast many daies together If the Oxe be troubled with crudity or a raw euill stomach you shall know by these signes he wil often belch his belly will rumble he will forbeare his meate hanging down his eies and neither chew the cud or licke himselfe with his tongue for remedy whereof take two quarts of warme Water thirty stalkes of Bole-worts seeth them together till they be soft and then giue them to the beast with vineger But if the crudity cause his belly to stand out and swell then pull his tayle downewarde with all the force that you can and binde thereunto Mother-wort mingled with salt or else giue them a glister or anoint a Womans hand with oyle and let hir draw out the dung from his fundament and afterward cut a vaine in his tayle vvith a sharp knife When they be distempered with choler burne their Legs to the hoofes vvith a vvhot Iron and aftervvard let them rest vpon cleane and soft stravv vvhen their guts and intrals are payned they are eased vvith the sight of a Duck or a Drake But vvhen the small guts are infected take fifteene cypres aples and so many gaules mingle and beate them vvith their vvaight of old cheese in foure pints of the sharpest Wine you can get and so diuide it into foure parts giuing to the beast euery day one quantity The excrements of the belly doe depriue the body of all strength and power to labour wherefore vvhen they are troubled vvith it they must rest and drinke nothing for three dayes together and the first day let them forbeare meate the second day giue them the toppes of wilde Olyues or in defect thereof canes or reedes the stalkes of Lantiske and Myrtill and the thirde day a little Water and vnto this some adde dryed Grapes in sixe pintes of sharpe Wine giuen euery day in like quantity When their hinder parts are lame through congealed blood in them whereof there is no outward appearance take a bunch of Nettles with their rootes and put it into their mouthes by rubbing whereof the condersate blood will remoue away When Oxen come first of all after Winter to grasse they fall grasse-sicke and pisse blood for which they seeth together
easie to kill an elephant then a Horsse because many shooters at one time could pierce so faire a marke with vnresistable weapons And these things are related by Vegetius At the last the fight with Elephants turned into a publike game or pastime Games of Elephants both to see them fought withall by men and also among themselues When certaine prisoners of the Romans were taken by Anniball he first constrained them to skirmish among themselues and so slew one another except onely one and he was by the like commaundement forced to fight with an Elephant but vpon condition of liberty if he escaped aliue and thereupon ioyned Combat and slew the Elephant to the great griefe and amazement of all the Carthaginians but going home according to agreement Anniball fearing that by this fact those great beasts would grow into contempt sent certaine Horsemen to kill him by the way Their trunke or hand is most easie to be cut off for so it happened in the aedility or temple office of Claudius Antonius and Posthumus being consuls and afterward in the Circus Fenestella when the Luculli were the commons officers And when Pompey was consull the second time there were 17. or 20. which at one time fought within the Circus at the dedication of the Temple of Venus the Victoria where the Getulians fought with them with Speares and Dartes for their happened an admirable accident one of the Souldiers who hauing a hurt in his feete did creepe vppon his knees betwixt the Legges of the Elephants and cast vp the Darts ouer his head into the beastes belly which fell downe round about him to the great pleasure of the beholders so that many of the elephants perished rather by Art then the strength of the Souldier No lesse was the Miracle of another slaine with one stroke for a pile ran into his temples through his eie and there stacke so fast that it could not be pulled forth againe which thing was afterward assayed by Iulius Caesar and in the third time of his consulship there were twenty Elephantes which in the Games fought with fiue hundred men and so many with Towers on their backes bearing threescore men in euery Tower To conclude elephants are afraid of fire and Martiall made this Epigram of a Bul slaine by an elephant which was wont to domineer in all their triumphant games wherewithall I will conclude this discourse Qui modo per to tam flammis stimulatus arenam Sustulerat raptas Taurus in astra pilas Occubuit tandem cornuto ardore petitus Dum facilem tolli sic elephanta putat In the next place it is good to relate the story of the taking and taming of elephants The taking of Elephants Pliny Strabo for in Libia about the Trogloditae the hunting and taking of elephants haue giuen many names to seuerall Townes as Elephantina and Elephantis Epitherae Philothera and the hunting of Elephants by Ptolemais by the port Saba the Citty Daraba and Lâcha In Affricke they take them in great ditches wherinto when they are fallen the people presently with boughes mattocks leauers and digging downe of high raised places take them out againe and so turne them into a valley wrought by the labour of man most firmely walled on both sides where with famine they tame him for when he would gently take a bough at the hand of a man they adiudged him tamed and grew familiar with him leading him away without all scruple But the Indians vse another more ingenious and speedy meanes to tame them which is this Pliny first they dig also a great ditch and place such meate therein as the beast loueth who winding it and comming thereunto for desire thereof falleth into the fosse or ditch being so fallen in and not able to come forth againe one commeth to him with Whips beating him very griuously for a good space to the great griefe of the beast who through his inclosing can neither runne away nor helpe himsefe then commeth another during this time of punishment and blameth the first man for beating the beast who departeth presently as one afraid of his rebuke the other pittieth the beast and stroaketh him and so goeth away then commeth the Whipper againe and scourgeth the Elephant as before and that more grieuously to his greater torment for a good space together wherevpon the time fulfilled the other commeth againe and fighteth with the Whipper and forcibly seemeth to driue him away Albertus and relieue the poore beast and this they doe successiuely three or four times so at the last the Elephant groweth to know and loue his deliuerer who by that meanes draweth him out and leadeth him away quietly While this thing is doing the smiter and Whipper vseth a strange and vnwonted kind of habit so as he may neuer be knowne by the Elephant after he is tamed for feare of reuenge of which you shall heare more afterward in the farther discourse and opening the nature of this beast Arrianus and Strabo relate another way whereby the Indians take their Elephantes which because they Write vpon their owne eye-sight of the things they knewe assuredly I haue thought good to expresse the deuise Foure or fiue Hunters first of all chuse out some plaine place without Trees or Hilles but declining by the space of some foure or fiue furlongs this they dig like a wide Ditch as aforesaid and with the earth they take vp they raise Walls about it like a trench and in the sides of the trench they make certaine dennes with holes to conuay in light to the Watch-men whom they place therein to giue notice and obserue when the Elephants are inclosed then make they a narow bridge couered with earth at the farther end of the trench that the beastes may dread no fallacy and for the more speedy effecting compassing their desire they also include in the trench three or foure tame female Elephants to entise and draw into them the wild ones Now these beastes in the day time feede not so boldly as in the night and therefore they cannot easily be deceiued or taken in the light but in the night great flockes of them follow the Captaine as we haue already shewed and so comming neere this trench partly by the voice and partlye by the sauour and smell of the females they are drawen into the trench then the Watch-men with all speede pull downe the bridge and other of them goe into the next Townes to call for helpe who vppon the first notice thereof come to the place mounted vppon the best and strongest tame Elephantes and so compasse them about giuing meate in their presence to the tame but besiedging the inclosed they keepe them from all meate and foode vntill they be so weakened that they dare enter in among them but in this manner they turne in their tame Elephantes and goe vnder their bellyes and so when they come neere the Wilde Elephantes they speedily conuaye themselues vnder his bellye and
some grosse or tough vapor entred into the braunches of the sinnewes which maketh them to swell like a Lute string in moyst weather which though it be very painefull for the time yet it may bee soone driuen away by chafing or rubbing the member grieued with a warme cloath And this kind of conuulsion or cramp chanceth also many times to a Horsses hinder Legs standing in the stable For I haue seene some my selfe that haue had one of their hinder Legges drawne vp with the crampe almost to the belly so stiffe and hard as no man hath beene able to stir it neither could the Horsse himselfe set it0 down to the ground of a long season which I think might be soone remedied first by continuall chafing fretting or rubbing his Legs with a good wispe and then by tying vp the other hinder Legge or else the forelegge on the fore side when by he should be forced to set down the pained Leg. Thus far I haue discoursed of the conuulsion of sinnewes and of the causes therof according to the opinions of the learned Physitians Now I wil briefly shew you the causes signes and cure thereof according to the doctrine of mine Authors that write of horseleach-craft Absirtus saith that this disease doeth come either by driuing the Horsse into a sweate when he halteth or for that he hath troden vpon some naile or by taking cold after iournying and sweating in Winter season whereby his lippes are clung together or by long lying and rest after sweating whereby the sinnewes of his forelegges be nummed or by hauing some stripe of his priuy members or by long trauelling in the colde Mountaines where snowe and Ise doth abound For Theomnestus Writeth that comming out of Paonia with the King and his army and passing ouer the Mountaines to goe into Italy there fell such aboundance of snow as not onely many Souldiers dyed sitting still on their horses backs with their Weapons in their handes being so starke and stiffe and cleauing so fast to their Saddles as they cold not easily be pulled out of them but also diuers horsses in their going were so nummed as they could not bow their legs yea and some were found sâarke dead standing stil on their feete and few Horsses or none escaped at that time free from this conuulsion of sinnewes insomuch that Theomnestus his owne Horsse which he loued dearely was sore vexed therewith The signes to know whether a Horsse bee troubled with the conuulsion in the sinnewes or not bee these His head and necke will be so stiffe and starke as hee can bow it no manner of way his eares wil stand right vp and his eies will be hollow in his head and the fleshy parts therof in the great corners will be turned backward his lips will be clung fast together so as hee cannot open his mouth and his tongue so nummed as he can neither eate nor drinke his backbone and taile wil be so stiffe as he cannot moue it one way nor other and his Legs so stiffe as they will not bow and being layed hee is not able to rise and specially on his hinder Legges but falleth downe on his buttockes like a Dogge when hee sitteth on the ground and by meanes of the conuulsion in his backe his bladder also for neighbourhoode sake suffereth whereby the Horsse cannot stale but with great paine The cure Put him into a sweat either by burying him all saue the head in some warme dunghill or if he be a horsse of price cary him into a hot house where is no smoak and let him sweat there Then annoint all his body heade necke legges and all with oyle of Cypres and oile of Bay mingled together Or else with one of these ointments Take of Hogs-greace two pound of Turpentine halfe a pound of Pepper beaten in powder one dramme of new Wax one pound of olde Oyle two pound boile all these together and being made very warme annoint all his body therewith Or els with this ointment Take of new wax one pound of Turpentine foure ounces of oile de Bay as much of Opopanax two ounces of Deeres sewet and oile of Storar of each three ounces melt al these together and annoint all his body therewith It is good also to bath his head with the decoction of Fitches or els of Lupines and make him this drink Take xx graines of long Pepper finely beaten into powder of Cedar two ounces of Nitre one ounce of Lacerpitium as much as a Beane and mingle all these together with a sufficient quantity of white Wine and giue him thereof to drinke a quart euery Morning and Euening for the space of three or foure daies or else this drink Take of Opopanax two ounces of Storar three ounces of Gentian three ounces of Manna Succârie three ounces of Myr one scruple of long Pepper two scruples giue him this with old Wine or make him a drinke of Lacerpitium Cumin Annis seed Fenegreeke Bay berries and old oyle In old time they were wont to let him bloode in the Temples which Absirtus doth not alow saying that it will cause the sinnewes of his lips to dry vp so as the horsse being not able to moue them shall pine for hunger As touching his diet giue him at the first warm mashes and such soft meat as he may easily get down and wet haie bringing him to harder food by little and little And in any case let him be kept very warme and ridden or walked once a day to exercise his legges and lims Theomnestus cured his horsse as he saieth by placing him in a warm stable and by making a cleer fire without any smoak round about him and the horsse not being able to open his iawes of himselfe hee caused his mouth to be opened and put therein sops dipt in a confection called Entrigon conditum and also annointed al his bodie with a medicine or ointment called Acopum the making whereof herafter followeth dissolued in Cypres oile which made him to fal into a sweat and being before halfe dead and more brought him againe to his feeling and mouing so as he did rise and eat his meat Of the Crampe or convulsions of the Sinnewes or Muscles A Convulsion or cramp is a forcible drawing together of the sinnewes sometimes vniuersally ouer the whole body as I haue seene one horsse in my life time and sometimes but in one part or member as I haue knowne and helpt diuers These convulsions haue two grounds namely either natural or els accidental natural as proceeding of cold windie humours ingendred in the body and dispersed into those partes worke there the effects of greeuance Accidental is by wounding or pricking the sinnews of which immediatly ensueth a convulsion If it be naturall and the disease generally dispersed then the cure is thus dig a great deep hole in some old dunghil there bury him all saue the head so he may sweate there for the space of two houres at the least then take
rust or vennome of some bit or snaffell vndiscretly lookt vnto the cure is thus Wash the sore place with strong vineger made thick with the powder of Allum two or three daies together euery time vntil it bleede which will kill the poyson and vigor of the exulcerated matter then make this water take of running water a quart of Allum foure ounces of Hony foure or fiue spoonefuls of Wood-bineleaues of Sage-leaues and of Collombine-leaues of each halfe a handful boile al these together til one halfe be consumed then take it off and euery day with the water warmed wash the sore vntil it be whole Of the heat in the mouth and lips SOmetime the heat that commeth out of the stomach breedeth no Canker but maketh the mouth hot and causeth the horse to forsake his meat The cure wherof Blundevile as Martin saith is in this sort First turne vp his vpperlip and iagge it lightly with a launcet so as it may bleede and then wash both that and al his mouth and tongue with Vineger and salt Of the tongue being hurt with the bit or otherwise IF the tongue be cut or hurt any manner of way Martin saith it is good first to wash it with Allum water and then to take the leaues of black Bramble and to chop them togither small with a little lard that done to binde it vp in a little clout making it round like a ball then hauing dipt the round end in hony rub the tongue therewith continuing so to do once a day vntil it be whole Of the Barbles or Paps vnderneath the tongue THese be two little paps called of the Italians Barbole growing naturally as I thinke in euery Horsses mouth vnderneath the tongue in the neather iawes which if they shoot of any length Russius saith that they wil hinder the Horsses feeding and therefore he and Martin also would haue them to be clipt away with a paire of sheeres and that don the Horsses mouth to be washed with vineger and salt Of the paine in the teeth and gums of the Wolfes teeth and Iaw-teeth A Horse may haue paine in his teeth partly by discent of humors from his head down into his teeth and gums which is to be perceiued by the ranknesse and swelling of the gums and partly hauing two extraordinary teeth called the wolfes teeth which be two little teeth growing in the vpper iawes next vnto the great grinding teeth which are so paineful to the Horse as he cannot endure to chaw his meat but is forced either to let it fal out of his mouth or else to keepe it stil halfe chawed whereby the Horse prospereth not but waxerh leane and poore and he wil do the like also when his vpper Iaw-teeth be so far growne as they ouerhang the neather Iaw-teeth and therewith be so sharp as in mouing his iawes they cut and race the insides of his cheeks euen as they were raced with a knife And first as touching the cure of the paine in the teeth that commeth by meanes of some distillation Vegetius saith it is good to rub al the outside of his gums with fine chalke and strong vineger mingled together or else after that you haue washed the gums with vineger to strew on them of Pomegranate piles But methinkes that besides this it were not amisse to stop the temple vains with the plaister before mentioned in the chapter of weeping and waterish eies The cure of the Wolfes teeth and of the iaw-teeth according to Martin is in this sort First cause the horsse head to be tyed vp to some rafter or post and his mouth to be opened with a cord so wide as you may easily see euery part thereof Then take a round strong iron toole half a yard long and made at the one end in al points like vnto the Carpenters gouge wherewith he maketh his holes to be bored with a wimble or augor with your left hand set the edge of your toole at the foot of the wolfs teeth on the outside of the iaw turning the hollow side of the toole downward holding your hand steadily so as the toole may not slip from the foresaid tooth then hauing a mallet in your right hand strike vpon the head of the toole one pretty blow and therwith you shal loosen the tooth and cause it to bend inward then staying the midst of your toole vpon the horses neather iaw wrinch the tooth outward with the inside or hollow side of the toole and thrust it clean out of his head Blundevile that done serue the other Wolfes tooth on the other side in like manner and fill vp the empty places with salt finely braied But if the vpper iawe-teeth do also ouerhang the neather teeth so cut the inside of his mouth as is aforesaid then keeping his mouth stil open take your toole and mallet and pare al those teeth shorter running alongst them euen from the first vnto the last turning the hollow side of your toole towards the teeth so shal not the toole cut the inside of his cheekes and the backe or round side being turned toward the foresaid checkes and that doone wash all his mouth with vineger and salt and let him go Why the diseases in the necke withers and backe be declared heere before the diseases in the throate HAuing hitherto spoken of the diseases incident to a horsses head and to al the parts thereof natural order requireth that we shold now discend into the throat as a part next adiacent to the mouth But forasmuch as the diseases in the throate haue not onely afinity with the head but also with the lungs and other inward parts which are many times grieued by meanes of distillation comming from the head and through the throat I wil speake of the diseases incident to the necke withers and backe of a Horsse to the intent that when I come to talke of such diseases as rheumes and distillations doe cause I may discourse of them orderly without interruption Of the Cricke in the necke BEcause a Cricke is no other thing but a kind of conuulsion and for that we haue spoken sufficiently bofore of al kinds thereof in the chapter of conuulsion I purpose not heere therefore to trouble you with many wordes but onely shewe you Russius opinion and also Martins experience therein The cricke then called of the Italians Scima or Luterdo according to Russius and according to Martin is when the Horsse cannot turne his neck any maner of way but hold it stil right forth insomuch as he cannot take his meate from the ground but by times and that very slowly Russius saith it commeth by meanes of some great weight laid on the horsses shoulders or else by ouermuch drying vp of the sinnewes of the necke The cure whereof according to Martin is in his sort Draw him with a hot iron from the root of the eare on both sides of the necke through the midst of the same euen down to the breast
of his death the commaund of all his treasure In like sort I will not be afraid to handle this Lyon and to looke into him both dead and aliue for the expressing of so much of his nature as I can probably gather out of any good writer In the next place we are to consider the kindes of Lyons and those are according to Aristotle two the first of a lesse and well compacted body which haue curled manes being therefore called Acro leontes and this is more sluggish and fearefull then the other The second kind of Lyon hath a longer body and a deeper lose hanging mane these are more noble generous and couragious against all kind of wounds And when I speak of manes it must be remembred that all the male Lyons are maned but the females are not so neither the Leopards which are begotten by the adultry of the lyonesse for from the lyon there are many beasts which receiue procreation as the Leopard or Panther There is a beast called Leontophonus a little creature in Syria and is bred no wher els but where lyons are generated Of whose flesh if the lion tast he looseth that princely power which beareth rule among foure footed-beasts and presently dyeth for which cause they that lie in waite to kill lyons Varinus Hesychius take the body of this Leontophonus which may well bee englished Lion-queller and burneth it to ashes afterwards casting those ashes vpon flesh whereof if the lion tast she presently dyeth so great is the poyson taken out of this beast for the destruction of lyons for which cause the lyon doth not vndeseruedly hate it and when she findeth it although she dare not touch it with her teeth yet she teareth it in pieces with her clawes The vrine also of this beast sprinkled vppon a lyon doeth wonderfully harme him if it doth not destroy him They are deceiued that take this Lion-queller to be a kind of Worme or reptile creature for there is none of them that render vrine but this excrement is meerely proper to foure-footed-liuing-beastes And thus much I thought good to say of this beast in this place which I haue collected out of Aristotle Pliny Solinus Aelianus and other Authors aforesaide although his proper place be afterward among the lions enemies The Chimaera is also fained to be compounded of a lion a Goate and a Dragon according to this verse Prima leo postrema Draco media ipsa Chimaera There be also many Fishes in the great Sea about the I le Taprabones hauing the heades of Lyons Panthers Rams and other beasts The Tygers of Prasia are also engendred of Lyons and are twice so big as they There are also Lyons in India called Formicae about the bignesse of Egyptian Wolues Camalopardales haue their hinder parts like Lyons The Mantichora hath the body of a Lyon The Leucrocuta the necke taile and brest like a lion and there is an allogorical thing cald Demonium Leoninum a lyon-Diuel which by Bellunensis is enterpreted to be an allegory signifieng the mingling together reasonable vnderstanding with malicious hurtfull actions Monsters breed like Lyons It is reported also by Aelianus that in the Iland of Choos a sheepe of the flock of Nicippus contrary to the nature of those beasts in stead of a lamb brought forth a lion which monstrous prodigy was seene and considred of many whereof diuers gaue their opinions what it did pretend namely that Nicippus of a priuate man should effect superiority and become a tyrant which shortly after cam to passe for he ruled all by force and violence Coelins not with fraud or mercy for Fraus saith Cicero quasi vulpeculae vis leonis esse videtur that is Fraud is the property of a Foxe and violence of a Lion Heroditus It is reported that Meles the first King of Sardis did beget of his concubine a lyon the South-sayers told him that on what side soeuer of the city he should lead that lion it shold remaine inexpugnable and neuer be taken by any man whereupon Meles led him about euery tower and rampier of the citty which hee thought was weakest except onely one Tower standing towards the riuer Tmolus because hee thought that side was inuincible and could neuer by any force be entred scaled or ruinated Afterwards in the raigne of Crasus the Citty was taken in that place by Darius There are no lions bred in Europ except in one part of Thrasia for the Nemaeon Countries without Lyons or Cleonaean lion is but a fable yet in Aristotles time ther were more famous valiant lions in that part of Europe lying betwixt the Riuers Achelous and Nessus then in all Affrica and Asia For when Xerxes led his Army through Paeonia ouer the Riuer Chidorus the lyons came and deuoured his Camels in the night time but beyonde Nessus towardes the East or Achillous towards the West there was neuer man saw a lion in Europe but in the region betwixt them which was once called the countrey of the Abderites there were such store that they wandered into Olimpus Macedonia and Thessalia but yet of purpose Princes in castles and Towers for their pleasures sake do nourish and keepe Lions in Europe where sometimes also they breed as hath been seene both in England and Florence Pelloponesus also hath no lions and therefore when Homer maketh mention of Dianaes hunting in the mountaines of Frimanthus and Taygetus he speaketh not of lions but of Harts and Bores All the countries in the East and South lying vnder the heate of the Sun do plentifully breede lions and except in whot countries they breed seldome and therefore the lions of Fesse Temesna Angad Hippo and Tunis are accounted the most noble and audatious lions of Affrick because they are whot countries Countries of their breed But the lions of colder countries haue not halfe so much strength stomack and courage These Libian lions haue not halfe so bright haire as others their face and necke are very horrible rough making them to looke fearefully and the whole collour of their bodies betwixt browne and blacke Apolonius saw lions also beyond Nilus Hiphasis and Ganges and Strabo affirmeth that there are lions about Meroe Astapae and Astabore which lions are very gentle tame and fearefull and when the dog star called Canis Sirius doth appear wherof commeth the dog daies that then they are droue awaie by the bitings of great gnats Aethiopia also breedeth Lyons being blacke coloured hauing great heads long hair rough feet fiery eies and their mouth betwixt red and yellow Silicia Armenia and Parthia about the mouth of Ister breed many feareful Lyons hauing great heads thick and rough neckes and cheekes bright eies and eye-lids hanging down to their noses There are also plenty of lyons in Arabia so that a man cannot trauell neare the citty Aden ouer the mountaines with any security of life except he haue a hundred men in his company The Lions also of Hircania
of them haue one horn in the middle of the forehead secondly in that both of them are bred in India thirdly in that they are both about the bignesse of a Horsse fourthly in their celerity and solitary life fiftly and lastly in their exceeding strength and vntamable natures but herein they differ both in their feet and colours for the feet of the wilde Asses are whole and not clouen like the Vnicornes and their colour white in their body and purple on their head and Aelianus saith that the horne also differeth in colour from the Vnicornes for the middle of it is onely blacke the roote of it white and the top of it purple which Bellonius doth interpret that the superficies or vpper face of the Horne is all purple the inner parte white and the inward part or middle blacke but of this Indian wilde Asse we haue spoken already and therefore I will adde nothing in this place but the words of Philostratus in the life of Apolonius who writeth in this manner There are many wilde Asses which are taken in the Fens neare the riuer Hiphasis in whose forehead there is one horne wherewith they fight like Buls and the Indians of that horne make pots affirming that whosoeuer drinketh in one of those pots shall neuer take disease that day and if they bee wounded shall feele no paine or safely passe through the fire without burning nor yet be poysoned in their drinke and therefore such cuppes are only in the possession of their Kings neither is it lawfull for any man except the King to hunt that beast and therefore they say that Appollonius looked vpon one of those beastes and considered his nature with singular admiration Now there was one Damis in his company who asked him whether he did beleeue that the vulgar report of the Vnicorns hornes were true or no Appollonius made him this aunswer Ad hibeo si huius regionis immortalem regemesse intellexero qui enim mihi aut alteri cui quam poculum ita salubre potest dare nónne veri simile est ipsum quotidie illo vti ex eo cornu frequenter vel ad crapulam vsque bibere nemo enim vt puto illum caluminiabitur qui in tali poculo etiam inebrietur That is to say I would beleeue that report if I found in this country a king that were immortall and could neuer dye for if a man would giue me such a cup or any other man do not you thinke that I would beleeue he drunke in the same cup and who would blame a man if he drunke in such a cup till he were drunk for it were lawful to vse that horne vnto surfetting whereby we may gather the mind of that wise man concerning the Asses horn and the Vnicorns namely that they may giue one some ease against accidentall diseases although they cannot prolong a mans life the space of one day these things said he There be beastes saith Aristotle as the Oryx and Indian Asse which are armed vvith one horne and the clouen footed Orix is no other then the vvhole footed Asse for in the middle of their forehead they haue one horn by which both sides of their head are armed Cum mediuÌ pariter comune vtrique extremo sit Because the middle is equally distant from both the extreames and the hoofe of this beast may wel be said to be clouen and whole because the horne is of the substance of the hoofe and the hoofe of the substance of the Horne and therefore the horne is vvhole and the Hoofe clouen for the cleauing either of the horne or of the hoofe commeth through the defect of nature and therefore God hath giuen to Horsses and Asses whole hooues because there is greatest vse of their Legges but vnto Vnicornes a whole and entire Horne that as the ease of men is procured by the helpes of Horsses so the health of them is procured by the horne of the Vnicorne The vse of a Vnicornes horne These things saith Aristotle And Strabo also writeth that there are Horses in India which haue Harts heades with one horne of which horne their Princes make Cups out of which they drinke their drinke against poyson and therefore by this which hath beene sayd it appeareth vnto me that either the Indian Asse is a Vnicorne or differeth from it only in colour and the obiection of the hooues is aunswered by Aristotle Vnto this discourse I will adde the trauailes of Ludouicus Roman wherein he saw two Vnicornes at Mecha in Arabia where Mauhomets Temple and Sepulcher is There are preserued saith he within the walles and Cloysters of that Temple two Vnicornes which by way of miracle they bring forth to the people and truely not without cause for the sight is worthy of admiration Now their description is on this sort one of them and the elder was about the stature of a Colt of two yeares and a halfe olde hauing a horne growing out of his forehead of two cubits length and the other was much lesse for it was but a year old and like a Colt of that age whose Horne was some foure spans long or there abouts The colour of them was like a Weaseled-coloured-horse the head like the head of a Hart the neck not long and the mane growing all on one side The Legges slender and leane like the Legges of a Hinde the hooues of the forefeet were clouen like a Goates feete and the hinder Legges are all hairy and shaggy with the outside the Beastes although they were wilde yet by Art or superstition they seemed to be tempered with no great wildnesse and it was saide that the King of Ethiopia did send them to the Sultan of Mecha with whom he is constrained to obserue perpetuall amity Now these Vnicornes are of another kinde then the Vnicornes of Pliny and Aelianus because their Vnicorn hath a whole Hoofe and this clouen but this obiection was answered before and although Pliny Aristotle do acknowledge no other Vnicorne then the Orix whose Horne is blacke as hard as Iron and sharp at the point yet it is cleare that there is another Vnicorne besides that Now Paulus Venetus saith that in the kingdome of Basman which is subiect to the great Cham that there are Vnicornes somewhat lesser then Elephants hauing haire like Oxen heads like Boares feet like Elephantes one Horne in the middle of their foreheads and a sharp thorny tongue wherewith they destroy both man and Beast and besides headdeth that they muddle in the durt like Swine Now if it were not for the Horne in the middle of the forehead I would take this Beast for a Rhinocerot but because the Horn of the Rhinocerot groweth out of the Nose I deeme this to be a second kinde of Vnicorne for there is no man that shall read this story but will thinke that the learned Authour had reason to discerne betwixt the eies and the forehead and therefore there can be no exception taken to my
is in age and sicknes she recouereth by eating a sea-ape and so the Lyon by eating an ape of the earth and therefore the Egiptians paint a Lyon eating an ape to signifie the medicin of apes a sicke man curing himselfe The hart of an ape sod and dried whereof the weight of a groat drunk in a draught of stale Hunny sod in water called Mellicraton strengthneth the heart emboldneth it and driueth away the pulse and pusillanimity thereof sharpeneth ones vnderstanding and is soueraigne against the falling euill THE MVNKEY Ioh. Leo. Affrican The contrey of their abod and Breed They are bred in the hils of constance in the woods of Bugia and Mauritania In Aethiopia they haue blacke heads haire like asses and voices like to other In India they report that the Munkeys will clime the most steepe and high rockes and fling stones at them that prosecute to take them When the king of Ioga in India for religion goeth on Pilgrimage he carrieth with him very many Munkeys In like sort Munkeys are brought from the new found Lands from calechut and Prasia and not farre from Aden a cittie of Arabia is a most high hill Hart of Munkeys abounding in these beasts who are a great hinderance to the poore vintagers of the countrey of calechut for they will climbe into the high palm trees and breaking the vessels set to receiue the Wine poure forth that lickquor they finde in them Their food they will eat hearbes and graine and ears of grasse going togither in great flocks whereof one euer watcheth at the vtmost bounds of their campe that he may crye out when the husbandman commeth and then al flying and leaping into the next trees escape away the females carry their young ones about with them on their shoulders and with that burden leape from tree to tree There be of this kind of Munkeys two sorts one greater the other lesser Diuersities of Munkeys as is accounted in England and Munkeys are in like sort so diuided that there be in all foure kinds differing in bignes whereof the least is little bigger then a squirrell and because of their marueilous and diuers mowings mouings voices and gestures the Englishmen call any man vsing such Histrionical actours a Munkey The onely difference betwixt these and other Apes aforesaide is their taile Solinus Their anatomy and parts they differ from men in their Nerues in the ioynts of their loynes and their processes and they want the thirde muscle moouing the fingers of their handes Mammonents are lesse then an Ape Vâssââus Mammonets brown on the back and white on the belly hauing a long and hairy taile his neck almost so big as his body for which cause they are tied by the hips that they slip not collar They haue a round head a face like a man but blacke and bald on the crowne his nose in a reasonable distance from his mouth like a mans and not continued like an Apes his stones greenish blew like a Turkey stone They are caught after the manner of Apes and being tamed and taught they conceiue and worke very admirable feats and their skins pulled off them being dead are dressed for garments The foolish Arabians dedicated Memnonius cercopithecus vnto heauen and in all afflictions implored his aide Festus another kind There is one other kind of Munkeys whose taile is onely hairy at the tip called corcolipis THE CEPVS OR Martine Munkey THE Martine called cepus of the Greeke worde The names Kepos which Aristotle writeth Kebos and some translate Caebus some Cephus or Cepphus or more barbarously celphus the latines sometimes Ortus Diodorus Siculus for indeede this kinde of ape in his best estate is like * a garden set with diuers flowers and therefore the best kinde of them is discerned and known by the sweetest sauour such being alwayes the most ingenious imitators of men It is very probable that this name cepus is deriued of the Haebrewe Koph and Kophin signifying apes in general as is before said but yet this kind is destinguished from other by strabo Aelianus and Pliny although Aristotle doeth make no difference betwixt this and another ordinarie Munkey The games of great Pompey first of all brought these Martines to the sight of the Romaines and afterward Rome saw no more Pliny The first knowledg of Mârtins they are the same which are brought out of Aethiopia and the farthest Arabia their feet and knees being like a mans and their fore-feet like hands their inward parts like a mans so that some haue doubted what kinde of creature this should be which is in part a man and yet a Foure-footed beast it hauing a face like a Lyon Their country of breed Strabo and some part of the body like a Panther being as big as a wilde goate or Roe-bucke or as one of the dogs of Erithrea and a long taile the which such of them as haue tasted flesh will eat from their owne bodies Their anatomy Strabo Scaliger Concerning their coulor howsoeuer they are not all alike for some are blacke with white spots hauing a greater voyce then others some yellow some Lyon-tauny some golden yellow and some cole-black yet for the most part the head and backe parts to the taile are of a fiery color with some golden hair aspersed among the residue Their color a white snowt and certain golden strakes like a collar going about the necke the inferior parts of the necke downe to the brest and the forefeet are white Aelianus their two dugs as big as a mans hand can gripe are of a blewish coulor and their belly white their hinder legs blacke and the shape of their snowt like a Cynocephale which may be the difference betwixt Aelianus and Strabo their cepus and Aristotles Cebus for nature many times bringeth forth like beasts which are not of the same kind Cay In England there was a Martine that had his backe and sides of a green coulor hauing heere and their white haire the belly chin and beard which was round white the face and shins blacke and the nose white being of the lesser kind for in bignes it exceeded not a coney Their disposition Some of them in Aethiopia haue a face like a Satyre and other members in part resembling a Beare and in part a Dog so are the Prasian Apes This Martine did the Babilonians inhabiting neere Memphis for the strangenes the coulor and shape thereof worship for a God They are of euill disposition like Apes and therefore we will spare both their pictures and further description finding very little of them in Histories worth commemoration The Ape CALITRICH THE Calitrich so called by reason of his bearde the name and may bee termed in English a bearded Ape Pliny Countrey of breed will liue no other where then in Ethiopia and India which are easie to take but verye harde to bring away aliue
they by reason of their swiftnes take easily and hauing taken it teare it in peeces and rost it in the Sun they can swim safely ouer any waters and therefore among he Aegiptians they signifie swimming tThey are euill manered and natured wherfore also they are picturd to signifie wrath Their nature in perticular they are so vnapeasable The Latins vse them adiectiuely to signifie any angry stubborn Their loue of garments froward or rauening man They will imitate all humaine actions louing wonderfully to weare garments and of their owne accord they cloth themselues in the skinnes of wilde beasts they haue killed they are as lustfull and venereous as goats attempting to defile all sorts of women and yet they loue little children and their females will suffer them to sucke their brests if they be held to them and some say they will sucke womens brests like little children There was such a beast brought to the French king his heade being like a Dogs and his other parts like a mans hauing legs hands and Armes naked like a mans and a white necke he did eate sodde flesh so mannerly and modestly An History lib. de naturae rerum taking his meat in his hands and putting it to his mouth that any man woulde thinke he had vnderstood human conditions he stood vpright like a man and sate downe like a man He discerned men and women asunder and aboue all loued the companie of women and young maidens his genitall member was greater then might match the quantity of his other parts he being moued to wrath would rage and set vpon men but being pacified behaued himselfe as meekly and gently as a man and was ouercome with fair words shewing himselfe well pleased with those that sport with him The Nomades people of Aethiopia and the nations of Menitimori liue vpon the milke of Cynocephals keeping great heards of them killing all the males except some few preserued for procreation A TARTARINE THere was at Paris another beast called a Tartarine and in some places a Magot much like a Baboun Theod. Beza as appeareth by his naturall circumcision beeing as great as a Grey-hound walked for the most part on two legs being clothed with a souldiors coat and a sword girded to his side so that the most parte thought him to be some Monster-little-man for being commaunded to his kennell he would go and tarry there all night and in the day time walke abroade to be seene of euery man it was doubtfull whether he wer of the Munkey kind or the Baboon his voice was like the squeeking of a Mouse but his aspect and countenance was fierce truculent and fearfull as his image is heere deciphered THE SATYRE AS the Cynocephall or Baboun-Apes haue giuen occasion to some to imagine though falsly there were such men so the Satyres a most rare and seldome seene beast Superstitious errour of Satyres hath occasioned other to thinke it was a Deuil and the Poets with their Apes the Painters Limmers and Caruers to encrease that superstition haue therefore described him with hornes on his head and feet like Goates whereas Satires haue neither of both And it may be that Deuils haue at some time appeared to men in this likenes as they haue done in the likenes of the Onocentaure and wilde Asse and other snapes it being also probable that Deuils take not any daenomination or shape from Satyres but rather the Apes themselues from Deuils whome they resemble for there are many things common to the Satyre-apes and deuilish Satyres as their human shape their abode in solitary places their rough-hayre and lust to women wherewithall other Apes are naturally infected but especially Satyres Wherefore the auncient Graecians coniecture their name to be deriued as it were of Stathes signifying the yarde or virile member Their name and it is certain that the deuils haue excercised their praestigious lust or rather their imagination of lust vpon mankind whereof commeth that distinction of Fauni that some are Incubi defilers of Women and some Succubi defiled by men Peraduenture the name of Satire is more fitly deriued from the hebrew Sair Esa 34. wherof of the plurall is Jeirim Esa 13. which is interpreted monsters of the Desart or rough hairy Fawnes and when issim is put to seir it signifieth Goats The Satyres are in the Islands Satiridae which are three in number Ptol 2 7. Countries of breed standing right ouer against India on the farther side of Ganges of which Euphemus Car rehearseth this history that when he sayled into Italy by the rage of winde and euill weather they were driuen to a coast vnnauigable where were many desart Islandes inhabited of wilde men and the Marriners refused to land vpon some Islands hauing heretofore had triall of the in humaine and vnciuill behauiour of the inhabitants so that they brought vs to the satirian Islands where we saw the inhabitants red and had tayles ioyned to their back not much lesse then horsses These being perceiued by the Marriners to run to the shippes and lay hold on the women that were in them the ship-men for feare Their lustfull disposition tooke one of the Barbarian women and set her on the land among them whom in most odious and filthy maner they abused not onely in that part that nature hath ordained but ouer the whole body most libidinously whereby they found them to be very bruit beasts There are also Satires in the Eastern mountaines of India Pliny in the country of the Cartaduli and in the prouince of the Comari and corudae but the Cebi spoken of before bred in Ethiopia are not Satyres though faced like them nor the Prasyan Apes Paul venet which resemble Satyres in short beards There are many kindes of these Satyres better distinguished by names then any properties naturall known vnto vs. Diuersitie of kindes Such are the Aegipenae befor declared Nymphes of the Poets Fawnes pan sileni which in time of the Gentiles were worshipped for gods and it was one part of their religion Pliny to set vp the picture of a Satyre at their dores and gates for a remedy against the bewitching of enuious persons the statuë of Priapus in the agalma of a Satyre in their gardens for which cause we read of many pictures made of Satyres Pliny Antiphilus made a very noble one in a Panthers skin calling it Aposcopon that is Wri-faced Another Painter of Aristides painted it crowned with a drinking cup signifiyng therby the beastlines of drunkards Miron had one painted hearing and admiring pipes Hermolaus and another called Periboetos at Athens as is reported and that Praxitelus was wonderfully in loue therewith wherupon beeing at supper with Phryne the noble harlot who had begged of him the best piece of worke he had consented with this condition that he would not tell hir which he loued best wherupon shee to satisfie hirselfe priuily suborned one of
he will dig the earth and with the hindmost fight like a horse setting on his blowes with great force and redoubling them againe if his obiect remoue not His voice is like the voice of an oxe when he is chased he runneth forth right Albertus The manner of his sight sildome winding or turning and when he is angred he runneth into the Water wherein he couereth himselfe all ouer except his mouth to coole the heate of his blood Nature of their breeding places Pet. crscent for this beast can neither endure outward cold nor inward heate for which cause they breede not but in hot countries and being at liberty are sildome from the waters They are very tame so that children may ride on their backes but on a suddaine they will runne into the Waters and so many times indaunger the childrens liues Of their yoÌg ones milk Their loue to their young ones is very great they alway giue milke from their copulation to their caluing neither will they suffer a calfe of another kinde whom they discerne by their smell to sucke their milke but beate it away if it be put vnto them wherefore their keepers do in such case annoynt the calfe with Bugils excrement and then she will admit her suckling Albertus Their strength in labor They are very strong and will draw more at once then two horsses wherefore they are tamed for seruice and will draw Waggons and plowes and carry burdens also but they are not very fit for carts yet when they doe draw they carry also great burthens or loads tyed to their backs with ropes and wantyghtes Pet. crescent At the first setting forward they bend their Legges very much but afterward they goe vpright and being ouerloden they will fall to the earth from which they cannot be raised by any stripes vntill their load or carriage be lessened There is no great account made of their hides although they bee very thicke Vse of theyr hydes Bellonius Solinus reporteth that the old Britons made boates of osier twigs or reedes couering them round with Bugils skinnes and sayled in them and the inhabitants of the kingdome of a Caraiani make them bucklers and shields of Bugils skinnes which they vse in Warres the flesh is not good for meate which caused baptista Fiera to make this poem Bubalus hinc abeat neue intret prandia nostra Non edat hunc quisquam sub iugo semper eat For they ingender melancholy and haue no good tast being raw they are not vnpleasant to behold but sod or rosted they shew a deformed substance The milke of this beast maketh very hard cheese which tasteth like earth The medicines made of this beast are not many with the hornes or hoofes they make rings to weare against the cramp The physick made out of Bugils and it hath been beleeued but without reason that if a man or a woman weare rings made of the hornes and hoofes of a bugill in the time of carnall copulation that they will naturally fly off from their fingers whereas this secret was wont to be attributed to rings of Chrisolyts or Smaragde stones To conclude some teach husbandmen to burne the hornes or dung of their bugils on the windye side of their corne and plants to keepe them from cankers and blasting and thus much of the vulgar bugill called bubalus recentiorum whose beginning in this part of the world is vnknowne although in Italy and other parts of Europe they are now bred and fostered OF THE AFFRICAN BVGILL BEllonius reporteth that he saw in Cair a small beast which was in all things like a little Oxe of a beautifull body full of flesh well and neately limmed which he could take for no other then the Affrican Oxe or Bugill of the old Graecians which was brought out of the kingdome of Asamia vnto the citty Cair It was old and not so big as a Hart but greater then a Roe The country of this beast he neuer in all his life tooke more pleasure to behold a beast then in viewing the excellent beauty of euery part in this creature His haire was yellowish glistering as if it had beene combed and trimmed by the art of a Barber vnder his belly it was somewhat more red and taunty then vpon his backe His feete in all thinges like a vulgar Bugils his Legges short and strong the necke short and thicke whereon the dewe-laps of his crest did scarce appeare His head like an Oxes and his hornes growing out of the crowne of his head blacke long and bending like a halfe Moone whereof he hath no vse to defend himselfe or annoy another by reason their points turne inward His eares like a cowes and shoulder blades standing vp a little aboue the ridge very strongly His taile to the knees like a camelopardals from whence hangeth some few blacke haires twice so great as the haires in a horsses tayle His voice was like an Oxes but not so strong and loude to conclude therefore for his discription if a man conceiue in his mind a little yellovv neate Oxe with smooth haire strong members and high hornes aboue his head like a halfe Moone his minde cannot erre from the true and perfect shape of this beast There was such a one to be seene of late at Florence vnder the name of an Indian Oxe sauing his head was greater and longer his hornes not high nor bending together but standing vpright and a little wreathing into spires aboue their roote and the hinder part of the back much lower then the shoulders but it may be the obseruer of this beast fayled and tooke not the true discription of it This creature or Affrican Bugill must be vnderstood to be a Wilde beast The nature of this beast and not of a tame kind although Bellonius expresseth not so much Leo in his discription of Affrique relateth a discourse of a certaine beast called Laut or Daut who is lesse then an Oxe but of more elegant feature in his Legs white hornes blacke nailes which is so swift that no beast can outrunne it except a Barbary horse it is taken most easily in the Summer time with the skinne thereof they make targets and shieldes which cannot be pierced by any Weapon except Gunshot for which cause they fell them very deare which is coniectured to be the Bugill that Bellonius describeth although it bee not iust of the same colour which may vary in this beast as well as in any other and I haue a certaine Manuscript without the authors name that affirmeth there be bugils in Lybia in likenes resembling a Hart and an Oxe but much lesser and that these beasts are neuer taken asleepe which causeth an opinion that they neuer sleepe and that there is another Bugill beyond the Alpes neere the Ryuer Rhene which is very fierce and of a white Colour There is a horne in the towne-house of Argentine foure Romane cubits long Of a
strange horne in Argentine which is coniectured to be the horne of some Vrus or rather as I thinke of some Bugill it hath hung there at the least two or three generations and by scraping it I found it to be a horne although I forgat to measure the compasse thereof yet bycause antiquity thought it worthy to be reserued in so honorable a place for a monument of some strange beast I haue also thought good to mention it in this discourse as when Phillip King of Macedon did with a Dart kill a Wilde Bull at the foote of the Mountaine Orbelus and conse cated the hornes thereof in the Temple of Hercules which were fifteene yards or paces long for posterity to behold The Picture of the Affrican Bugill described in the former page OF THE BVLL A Bull is the husband of a Cow and ring-leader of the heard for which cause Homer compareth Agamemnon the great Emperour of the Graecian Armye to a Bull reserued onely for procreation and is sometimes indifferently called an Oxe as Oxen are likewise of authors taken for Buls Verg Pingue solum primus extemplo mensibus anni fortes inueâ tant houes The Haebrewes call him Tor or Taur which the Chaldes cal Abir for a strong Oxe so the Arabians Taââ the Graecians Tauros the Latines Taurus the Itallians Toro the French Toreau the Germans ein Stier ein vuncherstier das vucher ein mummelstier ein hagen The true aetymology oâ the name Taurus and ein hollen the Illirians Vul and iunecz by all which seuerall appellations it is euident that the name Taurus in Latine is not deriued from Tannouros the stretching out the tayle nor from Gauros signifieng proud but from the haebrew Tor which signifieth great vpon which occasion the Graecians called all large great and violent thinges by the name of Taurot and that word Taurus among the Latines hath giuen denomination to men starres Mountaines Ryuers trees ships and many other things which caused Ioachimus Camerarius to make thereof this aenigmaticall riddle A Riddle vp on the word Taurus Maechus eram regis sed lignea membra sequebar Et Cilicum mons sum sed mons sum nomine solo Et vehor in coelo sed in ipsis ambulo terris But there are foure reasons giuen why riuers are called Taurocrani that is bul-heads Reasons why riuers are called Taurocrani First because when they empty themselues into the Sea they roare or bellow like buls with the noise of their falling water secondly because they furrow the erth like a draught of oxen with a plow and much deeper Thirdly because the sweetest and deepest pasturs vnto which these cattell resort are neare the riuers Fourthly because by their crooking and winding they imitate the fashion of a horne and also are impetuous violent and vnresistable The strength of the head and necke of a bul is very great The strength and seuerall parte of Buls and his forehead seemeth to be made for fight hauing hornes short but strong and piked vppon which he can tosse into the aire very great and weighty beasts which he receiueth againe as they fall downe doubling their eleuation with renewed strength and rage vntill they be vtterly confounded Their strength in all the parts of their body is great and they vse to strike backward with their heeles yet is it reported by caelius Titormus a Neat-heard of Aetolia The prodigious streÌgth of tritormos that being in the field among the cattell tooke one of the most fierce and strongest buls in the heard by the hinder leg and there in despight of the bull striuing to the contrary held him with one hand vntill another bull came by him whome he likewise tooke in his other hande and so perforce held them both which thing being seene by Milo Crotoniates hee lifted vppe his handes to heauen crying out by way of interogation to Iupiter and sayinge O Iupiter hast thou sent another Hercules amongest vs Whereupon came the common prouerbe of a strong armed man This is another Hercules The like storie is reported by Suidas of Polydamas who first of all slew a Lyon and after held a bull by the legge so fast that the beast striuing to get out of his handes left the hoofe of his foote behinde him The Epithites of this beast are many among writers as when they call him brââân-footed wilde chearefull sharpe plower warriour horne-bearer blockish great glistering fierce valiant and louring which seemeth to be natural to this beast insomuch as the Grammarians deriue Toruitas grimnes or lowring from Taurus a Bul whose aspect carieth wrath and hatered in it wherfore it is proverbially saide in Westphalia of a lowring and scouling countenance The seuerall parts Eir sich al 's ein ochs der dem fleschouwer Entloffen ist That is he looketh like a bul escaped from one stroke of the butcher Their hornes are lesser but stronger then Oxen or kie for all beasts that are not gelded haue smaller hornes and thicker sculs then other but the buls of Scithia as is said else-where haue no horns Their heart is full of nerues or sinnewes their blood is ful of smal vaines for which cause he ingendreth with most speed and it hardneth quickly In the gal of a Bul there is a stone called Guers and in some places the gal is called Mammacur They are plentiful in most countries as is said in the discourse of Oxen Countries of their best breed but the best sort are in Epirus next in Thracia then Italy Syria England Macedonia Phrigia and Belgia for the buls of Gallia are impayred by labor and the buls of Aethiope are the Rhinocerotes as the buls of the woodes are Elephants Their time of copulatioÌ They desire the Cow at eight monthes olde but they are not able to fill her til they be two years old and they may remaine tolerable for breeders vntil they be 12. and not past Euery bul is sufficient for ten kie and the buls must not feed with the kie for 2. months before their leaping time and then let them come together without restraint and giue them pease Their food for procreation or barley if theyr pasture be not good The best time to suffer them with their females is the midst of the spring and if the bul be heauy take the taile of a hart and burne it to pouder then moâsten it in wine and rubbe therewith the genitals of a bul and he wil rise aboue measure into lust Wherefore if it bee more then tolerable it must be alayed with oyle The violence of a bul in the act of copulation is so great that if he misse the females genital entraunce Quintilius he woundeth or much harmeth her in any other place sending forth his seed without any motion except touching and a Cowe being filled by him hee wil neuer after leape her during the time she is with calfe wherefore the Egiptians decipher by a
in water barley bread and larde and so giue them altogether in a drinke to the beast some praise the kernels of Walenuts put into Egge-shels for this cure and other take the bloody water it selfe and blow it into the beastes Nostrils and heard-men by experience haue found that there is no better thing then hearb-Robert to stay the pissing of blood they must also be kept in a stall within doores and be fed with dry grasse and the best hay If their hornes be annoynted with wax oyle and pitch they feele no payne in their hoofes except in cases where any beast treadeth and presseth anothers hoofe in which case take oyle and sod Wine and then vse them in a whot barley plaister or poultase layed to the wounded place but if the plough share hurt the Oxes foote then lay thereunto stone-pitch Grease and Brimstone hauing first of all seared the wound with a whot Iron bound about with shorne wool Now to returne to the taming and instruction of Oxen. It is said that Busiris King of Egypt was the first that euer tamed or yoaked Oxen hauing his name giuen him for that purpose Oxen are by nature meeke gentle slow and not stubborne bycause being depriued of his genitals he is more tractable and for this cause it is requisite that they bee alwaie vsed to hand and to be familiar with man that he may take bread at his hand and be tyed vp to the racke for by gentlenesse they are best tamed being thereby more willing and strong for labour then if they were roughly yoaked or suffered to run wild without the society and sight of men Varro sayth that it is best to tame them betwixt fiue and three yeare old for before three it is to soone bycause they are too tender and after fiue it is too late by reason they are too vnwealdy and stubborne But if any be taken more wild and vnruly take this direction for their taming first if you haue any old tamed oxen how to tame or yoke wild Oxen. ioyne them together a wilde and a tame and if you please you may make a yoake to holde the Neckes of three oxen so that if the beast would rage and be disobedient then will the old one both by example and strength draw hlm on keeping him from starting aside and falling down They must also be accustomed to draw an empty cart waine or sled through some towne or village where there is som concourse of people or a plow in valloed ground or sand so as the beast may not be discouraged by the waight and strength of the businesse their keeper must often with his owne hand giue them meate into their mouth and stroke their Noses that so they may be acquainted with the smell of a man and likewise put his hand to their sides and stroke them vnder their belly whereby the beast may feele no displeasure by being touched In some countries they wash them all ouer with Wine for two or three dayes togither and afterward in a horne giue them wine to drinke which doth wonderfully tame them although they haue beene neuer so Wilde other put their Neckes into engins and tame them by substracting their meate other affirme that if a wilde oxe be tyed with a halter made of Wooll Rasis he will presently waxe tame but to this I leaue euery man to his particular inclination for this businesse onely let them chaunge their oxens sides and set them sometime on the right side and sometime on the lefte side and beware that he auoide the Oxes heele for if once he get the habite of kicking he wil very hardlye be refrained from it againe He hath a good memory and will not forget the man that pricked him whereas he wil not stirre at another being like a man in fetters who dissembleth vengance vntill he be released and then paieth the person that hath grieued him Wherefore it is not good to vse a young oxe to a goad but rather to awaken his dulnesse with a whip The vnderstanding of Oxen. These beasts do vnderstand their owne names and distinguish betwixt the voice of their keepers and strangers They are also said to remember and vnderstand numbers for the King of Persia had certaine Oxen which euery day drew water to Susis to water his Gardens Guidus their number was an hundred vessels which through custom they grew to obserue and therefore not one of them would halt or loyter in that businesse till the whole was accomplished Aelianus but after the number fulfilled there was no goad whip or other meanes could once make them stir to fetch another draught or burthen They are said to loue their fellowes with whom they draw in yoake most tenderly whom they seeke out with mourning if he be wanting The loue of oxen to their yoke-fellow It is likewise obserued in the licking of themselues against the haire but as Cicero saith if he bend to the right side and licke that it presageth a storme but if he bend to the left side of the licking of Oxen natural obseruations he foretelleth a calmy faire day In like manner when he lowgheth and smelleth to the earth or when he feedeth fuller then ordinary it betokeneth chang of weather but in the Autumn if sheep or Oxen dig the earth with their feet or lie downe head to head it is held for an assured token of a tempest Their aptnes to go astray They feede by companies and flockes and their nature is to follow any one which straieth away for if the neat-heard be not present to restraine them they wil all follow to their owne danger Being angred and prouoked they will fight with strangers very irefully The anger of Oxen kye with vnapeaseable contention for it was seene in Rhaetia betwixt Curia and Velcuria that when the heardes of two villages meete in a certaine plaine together they fought so longe that of threescore foure and twenty were slaine and all of them wounded eight excepted which the inhabytantes tooke for anill presage or mischiefe of some ensuing calamitye and therefore they would not suffer their bodyes to bee couered with earth to auoyde this contention skilfull Neate-heardes giue their Cattell some strong hearbes as garlike and such like that the sauour may auert that strife They which come about Oxen Buls and bugils must not weare any red Garments Gillius Oxen prouoked by coulours by cause their nature ryseth and is prouoked to rage if they see such a colour There is great enmity betwixt Oxen and Wolues for the Wolfe being a flesh-eating-creature lyeth in waite to destroy them and it is said that there is so great a natural feare in them that if a Wolues tayle bee hanged in the racke or manger where an Oxe feedeth he will abstaine from eating This beast is but simple though his aspect seeme to be very graue and thereof came the prouerbe of the Oxen to the yoke
seede of Marioram cureth Leprosies and scurfes and the gall alone annoynted vpon the head driueth away nittes The melt of a calfe is good for the melt of a man and for vlcers in the mouth and glew made of his stones as thicke as hony and annoynted vpon the leprous place cureth the same if it be suffered to dry thereupon With the dung of calues they perfume the places which are hurt with Scorpions and the ashes of this dunge with vineger stayeth bleeding Marcellus magnifieth it aboue measure for the cure of the gout to take the fime of a calfe which neuer eate grasse mixed with lees of vineger and also for the deafenesse of the eares when there is paine with al take the vrine of a Bul Goate or calfe and one third part of vineger well sod together with the herbe Fullonia then put it into a flagon with a small mouth and let the necke of the patient be perfumed therewith Of the supposed Beast CACVS THere be some of the late writers which take the cacus spoken of by Virgill in his eight book of Aeneids to be a wilde Beast which Virgill describeth in these words Hic spelunca fuit vaslo submota recessu Solis inaccensam radijs semporque recenti Ora virum tristi pendebant pallida tabo Ore vomens ignes magna se mole ferebat nequeunt expleri corda tuendo Pectori semiferi atque extinctus faucibus ignes Semihominis caci facies quam dira tegebat caede tepebat humus foribusque affixa superbis Huic monstro-vulcanus erat pater c. That is cacus was halfe a beast and halfe a man who had a caue in the earth against the Sunne his Denne replenished with the heades of men and hee himselfe breathing out fire so that the earth was warmed with the slaughter of men slaine by him whose slaughter he fastened vpon his owne doores being supposed to be the sonne of Vulcan And there be some that affirme this Cacus to haue wasted and depopulated all Italy and at length when Hercules had slaine Geryon as he came out of Spaine thorough Italy with the Oxen which he had taken from Geryon Cacus drew diuers of them into his Caue by their tailes but when Hercules missed daily some of his Cattell and knewe not which way they strayed at last he came to the Denne of Cacus and seeing all the steppes stand forward by reason the Cattell were drawne in backeward he departed and going away he heard the loughing of the Oxen for their fellowes whereby he discouered the fraud of Cacus whereuppon he presently ranne and tooke his club the monster being within his Caue closed vp the mouth thereof with a wonderfull great stone and so hid himselfe for feare but Hercules went to the toppe of the Mountaine and there digging downe the same vntill he opened the Caue then leaped in suddenly and slew the Monster and recouered his Oxen. But the truth is this forged Cacus was a wicked seruant of Euander which vsed great robbery in the Mountaines and by reason of his euill life was called cacus for Caâos in Greeke signifieth euill He was said to breath forth fire because he burned vp their corne growing in the fields and at last was betrayed of his owne sister for which cause she was deified and the Virgins of Vesta made Sacrifice to her and therefore it shall be ydle to prosecute this fable any farther as Albertus Magnus doth it being like the fable of Alcida which the Poets faine was a bird of the earth and being inuincible burned vp al Phrygia and at last was slaine by Minerua OF THE CAMELL ALthough there be diuers sorts of Camels according to the seuerall Countryes yet is the name not much varied but taken in the generall sence for the denomination of euery particular Of the name The Haebrewes call it Gamal the Chaldaeans Gamela and Gamele The Arabians Gemal Gemel Aââegeb Algiazar The Persians Schetor the Saracens Shymel the Turkes call a company of Camels trauailing together Corauana The Italians and Spaniardes cal a Camell Camello the French chameau the Germanes Ramelthier all deriued of the Latine Camelus and the Greeke camelos The Illyrians artemidorvs The Etymologie of the word Horus call it Vuelblud and the reason of the name camelos in Greeke is because his burden or load is layed vpon him kneeling or lying deriued as it may seeme of camptein Merous the bending of his knees and slownesse of pace wherefore a man of a slow pace was among the Egyptians deciphered by a camell For that cause there is a Towne in Siââ called Gangamela that is the house of a camell erected by Darius the Sonne of Histaspiâ allowing a certaine prouision of food therein for wearied and tyred camels The epithites giuen to this beast are not many among Authors for he is tearmed by them rough deformed and thirsting as Iuuenall Deformis poterunt immania membra camell And Persius in his fifth Satyre saith Tolle recens primus piper è sitiente camelo There are of them diuers kindes according to their countries wherein they breed as in India The kinds of Camels in Arabia and in Bactria All those which are in India are saide by Didimus to be bred in the Mountaines of the Bactrians and haue two bunches on their backe and one other on their breast whereupon they leane they haue somtimes a Bore for theyr fyre which feedeth with the flocks of she-camels for as Mules and Horsses will couple together in copulation so also will Bores and camels and that a camell is so ingendred sometimes The generation of Bactrian Camels the roughnes of his haire like a Boares or Swines and the strength of his body are sufficient euidences and these are worthily called Bactrians because they were first of all conceiued among them hauing two bunches on their backes whereas the Arabian hath but one The colour of this camell is for the most part browne or puke yet there are heards of white ones in India The head and necke of this beast is different in proportion from all others yet the Ethyopians haue a beast called Nabim which in his neck resembleth a Horse and in his hed a Camell They haue not teeth on both sides although they want hornes I meane both the Arabian and Bactrian Camell whereof Aristotle disputeth the reason in the thirde Booke of the partes of creatures and fourteenth chapter Their necks are long and nimble whereby the whole body is much relieued and in their necke toward the neather part of their throte there is a place called Anhar wherein a Camell dooth by speare or sword most easily receiue his mortall or deadly wound Siluaticus His belly is variable now great now small like an Oxes his gall is not distinguished within him like other beasts but onely carried in great veynes and therefore some haue thought he had none and assigned that as a cause of his long life Betwixt his thighes he
Gyraffa and Zirafa the Chaldaeans Deba and Ana the Persians Seraphah Of the name and the Septuagiot Graecians Camelopardalis which word is also retained by the Latines whereunto Albertus addeth Oraflus and Orasius The Ethyopians cal it Nabin Iuli. Capital from whence commeth Anabula and Pausanias translateth it an Indian Sheepe so indeed Anabula may be Englished a wild Sheepe Pliny A History Isidorus There were tenne of these seene at Rome in the daies of Gordianus the Emperor and before that time Caesar being Dictatour And such an one was sent by the Sultan of Babilon to the Emperor Fredericke so that it is without question that there is such a beast which is engendred of a Camell and a female Libard or Panther as Horace saith Diuersum confusa genus pathera camelo The generation and description But the same which the Latines call Panthera the Graecians call Pardalis The head thereof is like to a camels the necke to a Horsses the body to a Harts and his clouen Hoofe is the same with a cammels the colour of this Beaste is for the most parte Red and white mixed together therefore very beautifull to behold by reason of the variable and interchangeable skinne being full of spottes but yet they are not alway of one colour He hath two litle hornes growing on his head of the colour of yron Leo Affric Oppiamus Heliodorus his eies rowling and frowing his mouth but small like a Harts his toung is nere three foot long and with that he will so speedily gather in his meate that the eies of a man will faile to behold his hast and his necke diuersly coloured is fifteene foote long which he holdeth vp higher then a Camels and far aboue the proportion of his other parts His forfeete are much longer then his hinder and therefore his backe declineth towards his buttocks theyr manner of going which are very like an asses The pace of this beast differeth from all other in the world for he doth not moue his right and left foote one after another but both together and so likewise the other whereby his whole body is remoued at euery step or straine These beastes are plentifull in Ethiopia India and the Georgian region which was once called Media Likewise in the prouince of Abasia in India it is called Surnosa The countris breeding these beasts and in Abasia Surnappa and the latter picture here set down was truely taken by Melchior Luorigus at Constantinople in the yeare of saluation 1559. By the sight of one of these sent to the great Turke for a present which picture and discription was afterwarde sent into Germany and was imprinted at Norimberge It is a solitary beaste and keepeth altogether in woodes if it be not taken when it is young Their naturall disposition and mildnesse they are very tractable and easie to be handled so that a childe may leade them with a small line or cord about their heade and when any come to see them they willingly and of their owne accorde turne themselues round as it were of purpose to shewe their soft haires and beautifull coulour being as it were proud to rauish the eies of the beholders The skinne is of great price and estimation among merchants and princes and it is said that vnderneth his belly the coulourable spots are wrought in fashion of a fishers net The skinne and the whole bodie so admirably intercouloured with variety that it is in vaine for the witte or art of man once to go about or endeauour the aemulous imitation thereof The taile of this beaste is like the taile of an Asse and I cannot iudge that it is either swifte for pace or strong for labour and therefore well tearmed a wilde Sheepe because the flesh hereof is good for meat and was allowed to the Iewes by God himselfe for a cleane beast OF THE ALLOCAMELVS SCaliger affirmeth that in the land of the Giants ther is a beast which hath the heade necke and eares of a Mule but the body of a Camell wherefore it is probable that it is conceiued by a Camell and a Mule the picture whereof is before sette downe as it was taken from the sight of the beast and imprinted with a discription at Middleborough in the yeare 1558. which was neuer before seen in Germany nor yet spoken by the Pliny They said that it was an Indian Sheepe out of the region of Peru and so was brought to Antwerpe sixe thousand miles distant from that nation It was about two yardes high and fiue foote in length the neck was as white as any Swan the colour of his other parts was yellowish and his feet like an Ostrige-Camels and although it were a male yet it did render his vrine backward it was afterwarde giuen to the Emperour by Theodoric Neus a citizen of the nether Colen It was a most gentle and meek beast like the Camelopardall not past foure yeare olde wherefore I thought good to expresse it in this place because of the similitude it hath with the manners of the fourmer beaste although it want hornes and differ in some other members Of another Beast called Campe. DIodorus Siculus maketh relation that when Dionisius with his Army trauailed thorough the desert and dry places annoyed with diuers wild beasts he came to Zambirra a citty of Lybia where he slewe a beast bred in those partes called Campe which had before that time destroyed many men which action did purchase him among the inhabitantes a neuer dying fame and that therefore there might remaine a continuall remembrance to all posterity of that fact he raised vp there a monument of the slaine beast to stand for euermore OF THE CAT. Once cattes were all wilde but afterward they retyred to houses Of the tameing of Cattes and their countreys wherefore there are plenty of them in all countries Martiall in an Epigram celebrated a Pannonian cat with this distichon Pannonicas nobis nunquam dedit vmbria cattas Mauult haec dominae mittere dona pudens The Spanish blacke cats are of most price among the Germaines because they are nimblest and haue the softest haire fit for garment The best cats A cat is in all partes like a Lyonesse except in her sharpe eares wherefore the Poets faine that when Venus had turned a cat into a beautifull woman calling her Aeluros who forgetting her good turne contended with the goddesse for beauty in indignation wherof she rerurned her to her first nature onely making her outward shape to resemble a lyon which is not altogither idle but may admonish the wisest that faire foule men and beasts hold nothing by their owne worth and benefit but by the vertue of their creator Wherefore if at any time they rise against their maker let them looke to loose their honour and dignity in their best part and to returne to basenes and inglorious contempt out of which they were first taken and howsoeuer
the crowne of her head that it is a presage of raine and if the backe of a cat be thinne the beast is of no courage or value They loue fire and warme places whereby it falleth out that they often burne their coates Their copulation They desire to lie soft and in the time of their lust commonly called cat-wralling they are wilde and fierce especially the males whoe at that time except they be gelded will not keepe the house at which time they haue a peculiar direfull voyce The maner of their copulation is this the Female lyeth downe and the Male standeth and their females are aboue measure desirous of procreation for which cause they prouoke the male and if he yeeld not to their lust they beate and claw him but it is onely for loue of young and not for lust Aristotle the meale is most libidinous and therefore seeing the female will neuer more engender with him during the time hir young ones sucke hee killeth and eateth them if he meet with them to prouoke the female to copulation with him againe Aelianus for when she is depriued of her young she seeketh out the male of her own accord for which the female most warily keepeth them from his sight During the time of copulation the female continually cryeth whereof the Writers giue a double cause one because she is pinched with the talants or clawes of the male in the time of his lustfull rage and thother because his seed is so fiery whot that it almost burneth the females place of conception When they haue litered or as we commonly say kittened they rage against Dogges and will suffer none to come neere their young ones The best to keep are such as are littered in March Choyse of young Cats they go with young fifty daies and the females liue not aboue sixe or seuen yeares the males liue longer especially if they be gelt or libbed the reason of their short life is their rauening of meate which corrupteth within them They cannot abide the sauour of oyntments but fall madde thereby Gillius Caelius alu Mundellâ Their diseases they are sometimes infected with the falling euill but are cured with Gobium It is needelesse to spend any time about her louing nature to man how she flattereth by rubbing her skinne against ones Legges how she whurleth with her voyce hauing as many tunes as turnes for she hath one voice to beg and to complain another to testifie her delight pleasure another among hir own kind by flattring by hissing by puffing by spitting insomuch as some haue thought that they haue a peculiar intelligible language among themselues Therefore how she beggeth playeth leapeth looketh catcheth tosseth with her foote riseth vp to strings held ouer her head sometime creeping sometimes lying on the back playing with one foot somtime on the bely snatching now with mouth anon with foot aprehending greedily any thing saue the hand of a man with diuers such gestical actions it is needelesse to stand vpon insomuch as Coelius was wont to say The hurt that commeth by the familiarity of a cat that being free from his Studies and more vrgent waighty affaires he was not ashamed to play and sport himselfe with his Cat and verily it may well be called an idle mans pastime As this beast hath beene familiarly nourished of many so haue they payed deare for their loue being requiret with the losse of their health and sometime of their life for their friendship and worthily because they which loue any beasts in a high mesure haue so much the lesse charity vnto man Therefore it must be considered what harmes and perils come vnto men by this beast It is most certaine that the breath and sauour of cats consume the radicall humour and destroy the lungs Ahynzoar and therefore they which keepe their cats with them in their beds haue the aire corrupted and fall into feuer hectickes and consumptions Alex benidict There was a certaine company off Monkes much giuen to nourish and play with Cattes whereby they were so infected that within a short space none of them were able either to say reade pray or sing in all the monastery and therefore also they are dangerous in the time of pestilence for they are not onely apt to bring home venomous infection but to poyson a man with very looking vpon him wherefore there is in some men a naturall dislike and abhorring of cats their natures being so composed that not onely when they see them but being neere them and vnseene and hid of purpose they fall into passions fretting sweating pulling off their hats and trembling fearefully as I haue knowne many in Germany the reason whereof is because the constellation which threatneth their bodies which is peculiar to euery man worketh by the presence and offence of these creatures and therefore they haue cryed out to take away the Cats The like may be sayd of the flesh of cats ââ cats flesh which can sildome be free from poyson by reason of their daily foode eating Rats and Mice Wrens and other birds which feede on poyson and aboue all the braine of a cat is most venomous for it being aboue measure dry Ponzettus Alexander stoppeth the animall spirits that they cannot passe into the ventricle by reason whereof memory faileth and the infected person falleth into a phrenzy The cure wherof may he this take of the Water of sweete Marioram with Terra lemnia the waite of a groate mingled together and drinke it twice in a month putting good store of spices into all your meate to recreate the spirits withall let him drinke pure Wine wherein put the seede of Diamoschu But a cat doth as much harme with her venemous teeth therefore to cure her biting they prescribe a good diet sometime taking Hony turpentine and Oyle of Roses melt together and laied to the wound with Centory sometime they wash the wound with the vrine of a man and lay to it the braines of some other beast and pure wine mingled both together Mathaeolus The haire also of a cat being eaten vnawares stoppeth the artery and causeth suffocation and I haue heard that when a child hath gotten the haire of a cat into his mouth it hath so clouen stucke to the place that it could not be gotten off again and hath in that place bred either the wens or the kings euill to conclude this point it appeareth that this is a dangerous beast that therfore as for necessity we are constrained to nourish them for the suppressing of small vermine so with a wary and discret eie we must auoyde their harmes making more account of their vse then of their persons In Spaine and Gallia Narbon they eate cats but first of al take away their head and taile and hang the prepared flesh a night or two in the open cold aire to exhale the sauour and poyson from it finding the flesh thereof
difference betwixt caprea and capreolus The reason of the latine name except in age and quantity The reason of these two latter names is because of the likenesse it hath with a Goat for Goats as we shal shew in their description haue many kinds distinguished from one another in resemblaunce but in the hornes a Roe doth rather resemble a Hart for the female haue no hornes at all These beasts are most plentifull in Affricke beyond the Sea of carthage but they are of another kind then those which Aristotle denied to be in Affrica there are also in Egypt Auicen The Countries breeding Roes Marcellus Albertus Pliny Strabo Their nature and seueral parts in Germany and in the Heluetian Alpes Likewise in catadupa beyond Nilus in Arabia in Spaine and in Lycia and it is to be obserued that the Lycian Roes doe neuer goe ouer the Syrian Mountaines Aelianus doth deliuer these thinges of the Lybian Roes which for the colour and parts of their body may seeme to belong to all They saith hee are of an admirable velocity or swiftnes but yet inferiour to the Lybian horses their belly is parted with blacke strakes and drops and the other parts of their body are of a red yellowish colour they haue long feet but longer eares their eies blacke and their horns are an ornament to their heads Their swiftnesse doth not onely appeare vpon the earth but also vpon the Waters for with their feet they cut the waters when they swim as with oares and therefore they loue the lakes strong streames breaking the floods to come by fresh pasture as sweet rushes and Bul-rushes Their hornes grow onely vpon the males and are set with sixe or seauen braunches Sâârpsius but the females haue none and therfore also they differ in horne from the fallow-deere so as they cannot be called Platycerotae for their Hornes are not palmed like a hand Albertus and although they be branchy yet are they shorter they differ not much from the common Deere but in their horne and whereas the hornes of other beastes are hollow toward the roote whereunto entreth a certaine bony substance the hornes of these as also of the vulgar Bucke and the Elke are solide without any such emptinesse onely they are full of pores Pliny Pâââanias Viâllââus Eââchach Of their eie-sight It hath also beene beleeued that a Roe doth not change her hornes because they are neuer found whereas in truth they fall off yearly as doth a Harts but they hide them to the intent they should not be found It hath likewise beene thought a Roe was called in Greeke Dorcas because of the quicknes of hir sight Origen super caât Texâor and that she can see as perfectly in the night as in the day and not onely for her selfe but the learned Physitians haue obserued a certaine viscous humour about hir bowels which being taken forth and annoynted vpon a mans eies which are darke heauy pliny and neere blind it hath the same effect to quiken his eie-sight It is also said of them that they neuer winke no not when they sleepe for which conceit their blood is prescribed for them that are pur-blind The taile of this beast is shorter and lesser then is the fallow-Deeres Cardanus insomuch as it is doubtfull whether it be a taile or not The place of their aboade They keepe for the most part in the Mountaines among the rocks being very swift and when they are pursued by Dogs Martiall saith they hang vpon the rocks by their horns to deceiue the dogs after a strange manner ready to fall and kill themselues and yet haue no harme whether the Dogs dare not approch as appeareth in this Epigram Pendentem summa capream de rupe videbis Casuram speres decipit illa cones yet this doth better agree with the wild Goat then with the Roe as shall be manifested in due time Their concord with other beasts Columello Aelianus saith that the Cynoprosopy men with Dogs faces liue vpon the flesh of Roes and Bugles in the wildernesse of Egypt and also it is vsuall to conclude them in Parks for they wil agree very naturally with Hares and Swine wherfore in the Lordship which Varro bought of Piso it was seene how at the sound of a Trumpet both Roes and Boares would come to their vsuall places for meate and although they bee naturally very wilde yet will they quickly grow tame and familiar to the hand of man for Blondus did nourish many at Rome Being wilde they are hunted with Dogs shot with Guns taken in nets of their taking but this falleth out sildome because they liue most among the rocks They are most easily taken in the woods When they are chased they desire to run against the wind because the coldnesse of the aire refresheth them in their course and therefore they which hunt them place their Dogs with the wind for sometimes against the hunters minds Bellisarius do what tâey can to the contrary she taketh hir course that way but Harts when they heare the barkings of Dogs run with the wind that the sauor of their feet may passe away with them They are often takeÌ by the counterfaiting of their voice which the hunter doth by taking a leafe and hissing vpon it Cresconius The vse of their flesh They are very good meate as Philostratus affirmeth and that the Indians dresse at their feasts whole Lyons and Roes for their ghests to eate and the Sophists in their banket which is described by Athaeneus had Roes therein and therefore Fiera preferreth it before the fallow-deere alledging the agreement that is betwixt it and the body of man being dressed according to Art Hic optata feret nobis fomenta calore Simion Sethi Auicenna Trâââanus Vda leui modicis mox que coquenda focis And therefore also affirmeth that it excelleth all wilde beastes whatsoeuer being not onely fitte for nourishment but for the sicke as for them that haue the Chollicke or the falling euill or the Timpanie and therefore they are best at a yeare olde or vnder Likewise their broath with Pepper Loueage seede of Rue Parsley Hony Mustardseed and Oyle Apicius and for sauce to the meate they take Pepper Rue Hony melted and an onyon sometime also they seeth the hanches or hippes and make Pasties of the sides and ribbes It is a Beast full of feare and therefore the flesh thereof although it be very dry Of the disposition passion yet will it engender some melancholy of the feare Martiall saith thus Tam despar aquilae columba non est Hec dorcas rigido fugar leoni As the Doue from the Eagle and the Roe from the Lyon which afterward grew vnto a Prouerbe It hath also some Epethets among Authors which doe confirme their disposition ful of feare as flying weake wanton and such like yet will they fight one with another so fiercely that sometime they kill
that these are greater and stronger then Harts Agricola Of their strength and colour their vpper part of the backe being blacke and the neather neere the belly not White as in a Hart but rather blackish but about his genitals very blacke I haue seene the hornes to haue seauen spires or braunches growing out of one of them being palmed at the top These are like to those which are called Achaeines in Greeke by reason of their paine and sorrow and Kummerer in Germane by cause they liue in continuall sorrow for their young ones while they are not able to runne out of their dennes belike fearing by some instinct of nature A secret in their paâsion least their tender and weake age should betray them to the hunters before they be able to runne away THE FIGVRE OF ANOTHER Tragelaphus or Deere-goate expressed by BELLONIVS THere is another Tragelaphus saith he whereof I finde no name among the French it wanteth a beard The description of his seuerall parts and the Haire thereof resembleth an Ibex-goate whose description followeth afterward among Goates the hornes heereof are like a Goats but more crooked and bending compassing behinde as a Rammes doe which he neuer looseth His face Nose and eares are like a sheepes the skinne of his Cods being very thicke and hanging downe His Legs are white like a sheepes his taile white his haires are so long about his necke and stomacke that you would thinke it were bearded His haire on the shoulders and brest blacke and it hath two gray spots on his flanks on either side the Nostriles are blacke the beake or face White so also is the belly beneath but the description heereof seemeth rather to agree with a Pygargus or Musmon of which I shall speake afterward Either sexe loose euery yeare their hoofes and Harts doe their Hornes that nature may shew their resemblance in their feet to a Hart as he doth in their head to a Goat His eare is short like a Goats but his eie genitall stones and taile like a Harts though somwhat shorter The hornes like a Rammes crooked and distinguished in the middle by a blacke line all their length which is two Roman feete and one finger and in compasse at the roote one foot one palme and a halfe standing one from another where they differ most not aboue one foote three palmes one finger and a halfe The rugged circles going about them toward the top are bunchy and toward the bottom or roote they are low with beaten notches or impressions Their quantity in length and breadth They are not at the top distant one point from another aboue one foote and a palme The length of their face from the Crowne to the tip of the Nose one foote and three fingers the breadth in the forehead where it is broadest two palmes and one finger The height of this beast not aboue three foote and a halfe except where his mane standeth and the whole length heere of from the crown of the head to the taile is foure feet and a halfe and two fingers It hath onely teeth beneath on the neather chap and those in number not aboue sixe neither did I obserue any defect in them It cheweth the cud like other clouen-footed beasts The Nostrils are blacke from whom the vpper lip is deuided by a long perpendicular line It is a gentle pleasant and wanton beast in the disposition Of the description of this beast rather resembling a Goate then a Hart desiring the steepest and slipperyest places whereon it leapeth and from whence it is reptored that it doth cast downe it selfe headlong vpon the hornes naturally that by them it may breake the violence of his fall or leape and then stayeth his body vpon the sore-knees It will runne apace but it is most excellent in leaping for by leaping it ascendeth the highest Mountaines and rockes The females are greater then the males but not in Horne or Haire it eateth Grasse Oates Cheasâill Hay and Bread they bring forth twinnes euery time and this we call in England a Barbary-Deere Thus farre Doctor Cay OF THE HART AND HINDE THe male of this beast is called in Haebrew Ajal Deut. 14. The names of a Hart. and the Arabians doe also retaine that word in their translations the Persians cal him Geuazen the Septuagints Elaphos the Graecians at this day Laphe Pelaphe and Saint Ierom for the Latins Ceruus the Chaldees Aielah the Italians Ceruo the Spaniards Cieruo the French Cerf the Germans Hirtz of Hirs and Hirsch the Plimmings Hert the Polonians Gelen the Illirians Ielijelij The female or Hinde likewise termed in Haebrew Aial and sometime Alia and Aielet The names of a Hinde the Latines and Italians Cerua the Spaniards Cierua the Germans Hinde and Hindin and the Germans more speciallye Hin and Wilprecht the French Biche and the Polonians Lanij The young faunes or calfes of this Beast they call in Latine Hinnuli the Graecians Anebros the Haebrewes Ofer the Germans Hindcalb The nams of a hinde-calfe Also it is not to be forgotten that they haue diuers other names to dinstinguish their yeares and countries as for example when they begin to haue hornes which appeare in the second yeare of their age like Bodkins without braunches which are in Latine called Subulae Aristotle Pliny Oâ Spittards Subulous they are also cald Subulones for the similitude they haue with bodkins and the Germans cal such an one Spirzhirtz which in English is called a Spittard and the Italians corbiati but the french haue no proper name for this beast that I can learn vntil he be a three yearing and then they call him ein Gabler which in Latine are called Furcarij And indeed I was once of this opinion that these Subulones were only two-yearing Harts vntil I consulted with a Sauoyen of Segusium Of Brocardes who did assure me from the mouths of men traind vp in hunting wild beasts from their youth that there are a kind of Subulones which they call also Brocardi with straight and vnforked hornes except one branch in the mountaine of Iura neare the lake Lemanus and that these also do liue among other Hartes for there was seene neere a monastry called the Roman Monasterie by certaine hunters in the yeare 1553. a vulgar Hart with branched hornes and his female and likewise with a Subulon or Brocarde which when in pursuit he was constrained to leape from rocke to rock to get to the Water he brake his legge and so was taken These Brocards are as great in quantity as other vulgar Hartes The quantity of Brocards but their bodies are leaner and they swifter in course Of their horns They haue but one braunch growing out of the stem of their horne which is not bigger then a mans finger and for this cause in the rutting time when they ioyne with their females they easily ouercome the vulgar Hart with his branched and forked hornes The
some hange vpon his priuy parts biting him with mortall rage to ouerthrow their foe The poore Hart being thus oppressed with a multitude and pricked with venemous pains assayeth to runne away but all in vaine their cold earthy bodyes and winding tailes both ouercharge his strength and hinder his pace he then in a rage with his teeth feete and horne assaileth his enemies whose speares are already entred into his body tearing some of them in pieces and beating other asunder they neuer the lesse like men knowing that now they must dye rather then giue ouer and yeald to their pittilesse enemy cleaue fast and keepe the hold of their teeth vpon his body although their other partes be mortally wounded and nothing left but their heades and therefore will dye together with their foe seeing if they were asunder no compassion can delay or mitigate their naturall vnappeaseable hatred The Hart thus hauing eased himselfe by the slaughter of some like an Elephant at the sight of their blood be stirreth himselfe more busily in the eager battaile and therfore treadeth some vnder foote in the blood of their fellowes others he pursueth with tooth and horne vntill he see them all destroyed and whereas the heads hang fast in his skinne for auoyding and pulling them forth by a deuine naturall instinct he flieth or runneth to the Waters where he findeth sea-crabs and of them he maketh a medicine whereby he shaketh off the Serpents heades cureth their woundes and auoideth all their poyson this valiant courage is in Harts against Serpents wheras they are naturally affraid of Hares and Conies and will not fight with them It is no lesse strange that Harts will eate Serpents but the reason is Etymologus Varinus for medicine and cure for sometimes the pores of his body are dulled and shut vp sometimes the worms of his belly doe asend into the roofe of his mouth while he cheweth his cud and there cleaue fast for remedy whereof the Hart thus affected runneth about to seeke for Serpents for his deuouring of a Serpent is a cure of this Malady Isidorus Pliny saith that when the Hart is olde and preceiueth that his strength decayeth his haire change and his hornes drye aboue custome that then for the renewing of his strength he first deuoureth a Serpent and afterward runneth to some Fountaine of water and there drinketh which causeth an alteration in the whole body both changing the haire and horne and the Writer of the Glosse vppon the 42. Psalme which beginneth Like as the Hart desireth the Water springes so longeth my soule after God confirmeth this opinion Vincentius Belluacensis affirmeth that Harts eate Serpents for to cure the dimnesse of their eye-sight But for the ending of this question we must consider that there are two kinds of Harts one which by the drawing forth of a Serpent out of her hole The seuerall kinds of harts doth presently kill her by stamping hir vnder feet this eateth that Serpent and runneth to springing Water after that he feeleth the poyson to make his body swell and then by drinking doth vomit forth the poyson and in the meane time looseth both haire and horne yet the Monkes of Mesaen affirme that the Hart thus poysoned doeth onely couer her body in the cold water and not drinke thereof for that were exitiall vnto her but she sendeth forth certaine teares which are turned into a stone called Bezahar of which shal be more said heereafter The other kind of Harts when hee findeth a Serpent killeth it and doeth not eate it and immediately after the victory returneth to feede in the Mountaines Harts are opposed by Wolues The enemy beastes to Harts for many Wolues together doth ouercome a Hart and therefore it is but a fable of Strabo that the Wolues and harts liue tame together in the Woodes of the Veneti These kind of Wolues are called Thoes and they especially feare these Wolues when they haue lost their hornes and feede onely in the night season Vincentius which caused Ouid to write thus Visa fugit nymphe veluti perterrita fuluum Cerua lupum c. They are afraid also of the first and second kinde of Eagles for with their winges they raise much dust about the Harts Albertus and then they being halfe blind the Eagles pal out their eies or else so beate their feathers about their faces that they hinder their sight and cause them to fall downe headlong from the Mountaines Aristotle Of the feare of harts they feare also the ganning of Foxes and the Lynxes doe likewise lye in waite to hurt them These are aboue al other fourefooted Beastes both ingenious and fearefull who although they haue large hornes yet their defence against other foure-footed Beastes is to runne away For this cause in auncient time a fugitiue Boy or seruant was called a Hart and if he ran away twice Cantharion which Cantharion was a Spartan fugitiue that first ran to the enemy and afterward from them came backe againe to Sparta Câââtus Nebendiâus And Martiall thus descibeth Alchaeus who being ouercome by Phillip King of Macedon ran away like a Hart Trux spiritus ille philippi Ceruorum cursu praepete lapsus abit The epithets of a Hart. The Epithets expressing the qualities of this Beast are many as nimble or agile winged or swift-paced ful of yeares quick-footed horned wandering fearefull flying fugitiue A kind of audaâions harts Schneberg light wood-hunter wilde and liuely There are of them very audations for they will set vpon men as they trauaile through the Woods and it is obserued that the wrathfull Hart hath few bunches on his horne neither is it so long as others but bunched at the roote Pliny yet all of them being pressed with dogs or other wilde beasts will flye vnto a man for succor It is reported by Phillip Melauchton that in Locha a towne of Saxony there was a Hart which before rutting time would euery yeare leape ouer the Walles and runne ouer rocks and Mountaines The subtilty of a Hart their instruction and vse and yet returne home againe vntill the time that Duke Fredericke dyed and then the Hart went forth but neuer returned againe The male when he feeleth himselfe fat liueth solitary and secret because he knoweth the weight of his body will easily betray him to the hunters if he be hunted and pursued The female commonly calueth neere the high wayes of purpose to auoyde noysome beasts to her young one who doe more auoide the sight of man then her selfe Also it is reported that Mithredates had a Bull Aristotle a Horsse and a Hart for his guard beside men who would not be bribed to suffer Traytors to kill him being a sleepe Moreouer it is saide of Ptolaemeus Philadelphe that hauing a hinde calfe giuen vnto him he brought it vp so familiarly tame and accustomed it to words Isidorus The seuerall kinds of harts a secret against
King for the Lyon ryseth not against beastes except he be prouoked the Dog riseth not against his frends but wilde beasts and the he-Goat goeth before his flocke like a guide and keeper OF THE GREY-HOVND with a naration of all strong and great hunting DOGGES AMong the diuers kinds of hunting Dogs the Grey-hound or Graecian Dog The name of a greyhound called Thereuticos or Elatica by reason of his swiftnesse strength and sagacity to follow and deuoure wilde beastes of great stature deserueth the first place for such are the conditions of this Dog as Plato hath obserued that he is reasonably sented to finde out speedy and quicke of foote to follow and fierce and strong to take and ouercome and yet silent comming vpon his pery at vnawares according to the obseruation of Gratius Siccanis illa suos taciturna superuenit hostes Like to the Dogs of Acarnania which set vpon their game by stealth Of these are the greatest dogs of the world which in this place are briefely to be remembred These haue large bodies little heads beaked noses but flat broad faces aboue their eies Oppianus Their description Plutarch long necks but great next to their bodies fiery eies broad backs and most generous stomacks both against al wild beasts men also Their rage is so great against their prey that sometimes for wrath they loose their eie-sight They will not onely set vpon Buls Boars Their desire of fit game and such like beastes but also vpon Lyons which Mantuan noteth in this verse Et Truculentus Helor certare leonibus audens The greatest dogs of this kind are in India Scithia and Hircania Countries of Greyhounds and among the Scithians they ioine them with Asses in yoake for ordinary labour The Dogs of India are conceiued by Tigres for the Indians wil take diuers femals or Bitches and fasten them to trees in woods where Tygres abide wherunto the greedy rauening Tiger commeth Generation by Tygres Aristotle and instantly deuoureth some one or two of them if his lust do not restrain him then being so filled with meate which thing Tygers sildome meete withal presently he burneth in lust and so lymeth the liuing Bitches who are apt to conceiue by him which being performd he retireth to some secret place in the meane time the Indians take away the Bitches of whom come these valourous dogs which retain the stomack and courage of their father but the shape proportion of their mother yet do they not keepe any of the first or second litter for feare of their Tygrian stomacks but make them away and reserue the third litter Of this kind were the Dogs giuen to Alexander by the King of Albania Pliny A history of Alexanders dogs when he was going into India and presented by an Indian whom Alexander admired and being desirous to try what vertue was contained in so great a body Gillius Aelianus Pliny Strabo Pollux caused a Boare and a Hart to be turned out to him and when he would not so much as stir at them he turned Beares vnto him which likewise he disdained and rose not from his kennel wherewithal the king being moued commaunded the heauy and dul beast for so he termed him to be hanged vp his keeper the Indian informed the king that the dog respected not such beasts but if he would turne out vnto him a Lyon he should see what he would do Immediatly a Lyon was put vnto him at the first sight whereof he rose with speede as if neuer before hee saw his match or aduersary worthy his strength and bristling at him made force vpon him and the Lyon likewise at the Dogge but at the last the Dogge tooke the Chappes or snowt of the Lyon into his mouth where he held him by maine strength vntill hee strangled him doe the Lyon what he could to the contrary the King desirous to saue the Lyons life willed the Dogge shoulde be pulled off but the labour of men and all their strength was too litle to loosen those irefull and deepe biting teeth which he had fastened Then the Indian infourmed the King that except some violence were done vnto the Dog to put him to extreame paine he would sooner die then let goe his holde whereupon it was commaunded to cut off a piece of the Dogges taile but the Dog would not remoue his teeth for that hurt then one of his legges were likwise seuered from his body whereat the Dogge seemed not apalled after that another legge and so consequently all foure whereby the truncke of his body fell to the grounde still holding the Lyons snowt within his mouth and like the spirit of some malicious man chusing rather to die then spare his enimie At the last it was commaunded to cut his heade from his body all which the angry beast indured and so left his bodiles head hanging fast to the Lyons iawes whereat the king was wonderfully mooued and sorrowfully repented his rashnes in destroying a beast of so noble spirite which could not be daunted with the presence of the king of beasts chusing rather to leaue his life then departe from the true strength and magnanimity of mind Which thing the Indian perceiuing in the K. to mitigate the Kings sorrowe presented vnto him foure other Dogges of the same quantity and nature by the gift whereof he put away his passion and receiued rewarde with such a recompence as well beseemed the dignity of such a King and also the quality of such a present Pliny reporteth also that one of these did fight with singular courage and policy with an Elephant and hauing got holde on his side neuer left till he ouerthrewe the beast and perished vnderneath him These Dogges growe to an exceeding greate stature and the next vnto them are the Albanian Dogs The Arcadian Dogs are said to be generated of Lions Pollux Thâ Albââian Dogges Solmus Seneca In Canaria one of the fortunate Ilands their Dogs are of exceeding stature The Dogs of Creete are called Diaponi and fight with wilde Boares the Dogs of Epirus called Chaonides of a Citie Chaon are wonderfully great and fierce they are likewise called Molosssi of the people of Epirus so termed these are fayned to be deriued of the Dog of Cephalus The Dogges Molosse of oâ Creet Aristotle Albertus Varinus the first Greyhound whome stories mention and the Poeâs say that this Greyhound of Cephalus was first of all fashioned by Vulcax in Monesian brasse and when he liked his proportion he also quickned him with a soule and gaue him to Iupiter for a guift who gaue him away againe to Europa she also to Minos Minos to Procris and Procris gaue it to Cephalus his nature was so resistable that he ouertook all that he hunted like the Teumesian Foxe Therefore Iupiter to auoid confusion turned both the incomprehensible beasts into stones This Moloskus or Molossus Dog is also framed to attend the folds of Sheepe and doth
gristles in them a streight neck and a broad and strong brest his forelegs straight and short his hinder legs long and straight broad shoulders round ribs fleshy buttockes but not fat a long taile strong and full of sinnewes which Nemesian describeth elegantly in these verses Sit cruribus altis Costarum sub fine decenter prona carinam Renibus ampla satis validis diductaque coras Sit Rigidis multamque gerat sub pectore lato Quae sensim rursus sicca se colligat aluo Cuique nimis molles fluitent in cursibus aures Elige tunc cursu facitem facilem facilemque recursis Dum superant vires dum loeto flore iuuentus Of this kind that is alway the best to be chosen among the whelps which way gheth lightest for it will be soonest at the game and so hang vpon the greater beasts hindering their swiftnes Bellisarius vntill the stronger and heauier dogs come to helpe and therefore besides the markes or necessary good parts in a Grey-hound already spoken of it is requisite that he haue large sides a broad midriffe or filme about his hart that so he may take his breath in and out more easily a small belly for if it be great it will hinder his speedy course likewise his legs haue long thin and soft haires and these must the hunter leade on the left hand if he be a foot Pollux and on the right hand if he be on horsebacke The time of teaching a grey-hound The best time to try them and traine them to their game is at twelue months old howbeit some hunt them at ten months if they be males and at 8. monthes if they be females yet is it surest not to straine them or permit them to run any long course till they be 20. moneths old according to the old verse Libera tunc primum consuescant colla ligari Iam cum bis denos phoebe repauerit ortus Sed paruos vallis spatio septoue nouelli nec cursus virtute parem c. Keepe them also in the leame or slip while they are abroad vntill they see their course I meane the Hare or Deere Aristotle Xenophon losen not a yong Dog til the game haue ben on foot a good season least if he be greedy of the prey he straine his lim still they breake When the Hare is taken deuide some part thereof among your Dogges that so they may be prouoked to speed by the sweetnes of the flesh The time of engendring The Lacedemon grey-hound was the best breed they were first bred of a Fox and a dog and therefore they were called Alopecides these admit copulation in the eight moneth of their age and sometime in the sixt and so continuing bearing as long as they liue bearing their burthen the sixth part of a yeare that is about sixty daies one or two more or lesse and they better conceiue and are more apt to procreation while they are kept in labor Pliny Aristotle then when they lie idle without hunting these Lacedemon Dogs differ in one thing from all other Dogges whatsoeuer for wheras the male outliueth in vulgar dogges of all countries the female in these the female out-liueth the male yet the male performeth his labour with more alacrity although the female haue the sharper sence of smelling The noblest kind of dogs for the Hare keep home vnlesse they be led abroad and sildome barke they are the best which haue the longest neckes for which cause Albertus they vse this artificiall inuention to stretch their neckes they dig a deep hole in the earth wherein they set the Grey-hounds meat who being hungry thrusteth downe his head to take it but finding it to be past his reach stretcheth his neck aboue the measure of nature by custome wherof his necke is very much lengthned Other place the Grey-hound in a ditch An inuentioÌ to make a Grey-hound haue a long necke and his meat aboue him and so he teacheth vpward which is more probable It is the property of these Dogs to be angry with the lesser barking Curs and they will not run after euery trifling beast by secret instinct of nature discerning what kind of beast is worthy or vnworthy of their labor disdaining to meddle with a little or vile creature The diet of a good Grey-hound They are norished with the same that the smaller hunting dogs are and it is better to feede them with milk then whay There are of this kind called Veltri and in Italian Veltro which haue bene procreated by a Dog and Leopard and they are accounted the swiftest of all other The grey-hounds which are most in request among the Germans are called Windspill alluding to compare their swiftnes with the wind the same are also called Turkischwind and Hâtzhund and Falco a Falcon is a common name whereby they call these Dogges The French make most account of such as are bred in the mountaines of Dalmatia or in any other mountains especially of Turkey for such haue hard feet long eares and bristle tayles There are in England and Scotland two kind of hunting dogs and no where else in al the world the first kind they call in Scotland Ane Rache and this is a foot smelling creature both of wilde beasts Birds and Fishes also which he hid among the Rockes the female hereof in England is called a Brache The second kind is called in Scotland a Sluth-hound being a little greater then the hunting hound and in colour for the most part browne or sandy-spotted The sence of smelling is so quicke in these that they can follow the footesteps of theeus and pursue them with violence vntill they ouertake them and if the theef take the water they cast in themselues also and swim to the other side where they find out againe afresh their former labor vntill they find the thing they seeke for for this is common in the borders of England and Scotland where the people were wont to liue much vpon theft and if the dog brought his leader vnto any house where they may not be suffred to come in they take it for granted that there is both the stollen goods and the theef also hidden THE HVNTING HOVND OF Scotland called Rache and in English a HOVND THE SLVTH-HOVND OF Scotland called in Germany a Schlatthund THE ENGLISH BLOVD-HOVNDE WE are to discourse of lesser hunting Dogs in particular as we finde them remembred in any Histories and descriptions Poets or other Authors according to the seuerall Countries of their breede and education and first for the Brittish Dogges their nature and qualities heereafter you shall haue in a seuerall discourse by it selfe The blood-hounde differeth nothing in quality from the Scottish Sluth hound sauing they are greater in quantity and not alway one and the same colour for among them they are sometime red sanded blacke white spotted and of such colour as are other hounds but most commonly browne or red
The vertue of smelling called in Latine Sagacitas is attributed to these as to the former hunting Hound of whom we will first of all discourse and for the qualities of this sence which maketh the Beast admirable Plautus seemeth to be of opinion that it receiued this title from some Magitians or sage wisards called Sagae for this he saith in Cureull What smelling or sagacity in Dogs is speaking of this beast Canem hanc esse quidem Magis par fuit nasum aedepoll sagax habet It is also attributed to Mise not for smelling but for the sence of their palate or tast and also to Geese In a Dogge it is that sence which searcheth out and descryeth the roustes fourmes and lodgings of Wilde Beasts as appeareth in this verse of Liuius Andronicus Cumprimis fida canum vis Dirige odoriesquos ad certa cubilia canes And for this cause it hath his proper Epithets as Odora canum vise promissa canum vis naribus acres vtilis Pincianus called this kind Plaudi for so did Festus before him and the Germans Spurhund and Leidthund Iaghund because their eares are long thin and hanging down and they differ not from vulgar dogs in any other outward proportion except onely in their cry or barking voice The nature of these is being set on by the voice and Words of their leader to cast about for the sitting of the Beast and so hauing found it with continuall cry to follow after it till it be wearied without changing for any other so that sometime the hunters themselues take vp the beast at least wise the hounds sildome faile to kil it They sildome barke Bellâsariâ except in their hunting chase and then they follow their game throgh woods thickets thornes and other difficult places being alway obedient and attentiue to their leaders voice so as they may not goe forward when he forbiddeth nor yet remayne neere to the Hunters whereunto they are framed by Art and discipline rather then by any naturall instinct The White Houndes are said to be the quickest-sented and surest nosed and therefore best for the Hare the blacke ones for the Boare and the red ones for the Hart and Roe but heereunto I cannot agree because their colour especially of the two later are too like the game they hunt although there can be nothing certaine collected of their colour yet is the blacke hound harder and better able to endure cold then the other which is white In Italy they make account of the spotted one especially white and yellowish for they are quicker nosed they must be kept tyed vp till they hunt yet so as they be let loose now and then a little to ease their bellies for it is necessary that their kennell be kept sweete and dry It is questionable how to discerne a hound of excellent sence yet as Blondus saith the square and flat Nose is the best signe and index thereof likewise a small head The choyce of a hound of the best nose hauing all his Legs of equall length his brest not deeper then the belly and his backe plaine to his taile his eies quicke his eares long hanging but sometime stand vp his taile nimble and the beake of his Nose alway to the earth and especially such as are most silent or bark least There are some of that nature who when they haue found the beast they will stand still vntill their Hunter come to whom in silence by their face eie and taile Zenophon Omni bonus Oppianus they shew their game Now you are to obserue the diuers and variable disposition of Houndes in their findidg out the beast some when they haue found the footesteps goe forward without any voice or other shew of eare or taile Againe another sort when they haue found the footings of the beast pricke vp their eare a little but either barke or wag their tailes other will wag their taile but not moue their eares other again wring their faces and draw their skins through ouer much intention like sorrowfull persons and so follow the sent holding the taile immoueable There be some againe which do none of these but wander vp and down barking about the surest markes and confounding their own foot steps with the beastes they hunt or else forsake the way and so runne backe againe to the first heade but when they see the Hare they tremble and are affraid not daring to come neare her except she runne away first these with the other which hinder the cunning labors of their colleagues trusting to their feet and running before their betters deface the best marke or else hunt counter as they terme it take vp any false scent for the truth or which is more reprehensible neuer forsake the high waies and yet haue not learned to hold their peace vnto these also you may adde those which cannot discerne the footings or prickings of the Hare yet will they runne speedily when they see her or else at the beginning set forth very hot and afterward tyre and giue ouer lazily all these are not to be admitted into the kennell of good hounds But the good and aproued hounds on the contrary when they haue found the Hare make shew therof to the hunter by running more speedily and with gesture of head eyes ears and taile winding to the Hares muse neuer giue ouer prosecution with a gallant noise no not returning to their leaders least they loose aduantage these haue good and hard feet and are of stately stomacks not giuing ouer for any hate and feare not the rockes or other mountaine places as the Poet expresseth Quae laus prima canum quibus est audacia praeceps Quae nunc elatis rimantur naribus auras Et perdunt clamore feram domiunque vocando Insequitur tumulosque âanis camposque per omnes Venandi sagax virtus viresque sequendi Et nunc demisso quaerunt vestigia rostro Increpitant quem si collatis effugit armis Noster in arte labor positus spes omnius in illa c. And therefore also it is good oftentimes to lead the hounds to the mountaines for exercise of their feet when you haue no Hare or other beast And whereas the nature of this Hare is sometimes to leape and make headings sometime to tread sofâly without any great impression in the earth or sometimes to lie downe and euer to leape or iumpe out and in to hir owne forme or sitting the poore hound is so much the more busied and troubled to retaine the small sauour of her footings which she leaueth behind her for this cause also it is to be noted that the hound must be holpe noâ onely with the voyce âhe best ãâã oâ hunting eye and hand of the hunter but also with a seasonable time for in frosty weather the sauour congealeth and freezeth with the earth so as you cannot hunt with any certainty vntil a thaw thereof or till the sunne arise Likewise if raine fall
that so he may depart with a conceit of victory after the fight tie him vp fast and suffer him not to straggle loose abroad but feed him thus tyed vp so shall he in short time prooue a strong defender and eager combatant against all men and beasts which come to deale with him Of this sort they nourish many in Spaine and in other places Such an one was the Dogge of Phaereus the tyrant of Thessalye Blondus Of defeÌding dogs being a very greate and fierce beast and hurtfull to all except them who fed him dayly He vsed to set this Dogge at his chamber dore to watch gard him when he slept that whosoere was afraid of the Dog might not aproach neare without exquisite torments Angcas gaue one of these to the Poet Eupolis who taught him by many signes and gestures for the loue of his meate to obserue his seruant Ephialtes if at any time he stole money from him And at the last the wily Dog obserued the seruant so narrowly that he found him robbing his maisters coffers wherefore he instantly fell vppon him and tore him in pieces The which Dog afterward died for sorrow of his maisters death wherupon Aelianus saith that the place of his death in Aâgina was called the place of mourning to the day of his writing Nicomedes king of Bythinia had one of these Molosssian great Dogs which he norished verie tenderly Tzetzes Aârianus and made it very familiar with him selfe it fell out on a time that this king being in dalliance with his wife Ditizele in the presence of the Dog and she againe hanging about the kings necke kissing and prouoking him to loue with amorous gestures the Dog thinking she had beene offering some violence to his maister the king presently âlew vpon her and with his teeth pulled her right shoulder from her bodie and so left the amorous Queen to die in the armes of her louing husband which thing caused the king to banish the Dogge for euer out of his sight A cruel murther of a Q. by a Dogge for sorrow whereof he soone after died but the Queene was most nobly buried at Nicomedia in a golden sepulcher the which was opened in the raigne of the Emperour Michaell sonne of Theophilus and there the womans body was found whole and not putrified being wrapped in a golden vesture which taken off and tried in furnace yeilded aboue an hundred and thirteen pounds of pure gold When a Dragon was setting vppon Orpheus as he was occupied in hawking by his Dogs his life was saued and the Dragon deuoured And when Caelius one of the Senators of Placentia being sicke was set vpon by certaine lewd fellowes he reeceiued no wounde till his Dog was slaine A most memorable story of the dog of Rhodes There was neuer any thing more strange in the nature of Dogs then that which hapned at Rhodes besieged by the Turke for the Dogges did there descerne betwixt Christians and Turkes for toward the Turkes they were most eager furious and vnappeasable but towards Christians although vnknowne most easie peaceable and placidious which thing caused a certaine Poet to write thus His auxere fidem quos nostro fulua sub aere Arua Carpathij defendit littora ponti Pectora thoracum tunica sacrumque profano Miratur nutritque Rhodos custodibus illis It noctes animosa Phalanx innexa trilici Seligit blande exceptum deducit ad vrbem There were two hundred of these Dogges which brought the king of Garamants from banishment Aelianus rescuing him from all that resisted The Colophonian and Castabalensian or Caspian Dogges fought in all their battels Textor so likewise the Cimbrian Hircanian and Magnesiaâ Dogs Pliny Pet. Martyr these also the Spaniards vsed in India to hunt out the naked people falling vppon them as fiercely as euer they would vpon Bores or other wilde beasts being pointed vnto by their leaders finger And for this cause was it that Vaschus the Spaniard caused Paera an Indian Lord Deserued punishment of vnnatural copulation and three other his wicked companions to be cast vnto Dogs for their vnnaturall lust but the inhabitants of Caramair and Carib doe driue away the Dogges for through their admirable actiuitie in casting dartes they pierce the Dogges ere euer they come neare them with poysoned arrowes And thus much for the greate warlike defensiue Dogs The Shepheards Dog In the next place followeth the Shepheards Dog called by Virgill Pecuarius Canis and this cannot properly be tearmed a dumbe keeper for there is no creature that will more stirre barke and moue noise then one of these against thiefe or wilde beast They are also vsed by Heards-men Swine-heards and Goate-heards to driue away all annoyances from their Cattell and also to guide and gouerne them in executing their maisters pleasure vpon signes giuen them to which of the stragling beastes they ought to make force Neither is it requisite that this Dog be so large or nimble as is the Greyhounde which is apointed for Deer and Hares But yet that he be strong quick ready and vnderstanding both for brauling fighting so as he may feare away and also follow if need be the rauening Wolfe and take away the prey out of his mouth wherefore a square proportion of body is requisite in these beasts and a tolerable lightnes of foot such as is the village dog vsed onely to keep houses and hereof also they are the best who haue the greatest or lowdest barking voices Columella are not apt to leape vpon euery straunger or beast they see but reserue their strength till the iust time of imployment They approue also in this kind aboue all other the white colour because in the night time they are the more easily discernd from the Wolfe or other noisome beast Blondus for many times it falleth out that the Shepheard in the twy-light Fronto striketh his Dog insted of the Wolfe these ought to be well faced blacke or dusky eies and correspondent Nostrils of the same colour with their eies blacke ruddy lippes a crooked Camoyse nose a flat chap with two great broches or long straight sharpe teeth growing out thereof couered with their lips a great head great eares a broad breast a thicke necke broad and solide sholders straight legs yet rather bending inward then standing outward great and thick feet hard crooked nailes a thicke taile which groweth lesser to the end thereof then at the first ioynt next the body and the body all rugged with haire for that maketh the dog more terrible and then also it is requisite that he be prouided of the beast breede neyther buy him of a hunter for such an one will be gone at the sight of a Deer or Hare nor yet of a Butcher for it will be sluggish therefore take him yong Strabo and bring him vp continually to attend sheepe for so will he be most ready that is trained vppe
among Shepheards They vse also to couer their throat and necke with large broad collars pricked throgh with nailes for else if the wilde beast bite them in those places the dogge is easily killed varro Fronto Ths loue of dogs to the cattell they attend but being bitten at any other place he quickly auoideth the wound The loue of such to the cattel they keepe is very great especially to sheep for when Publius Aufidius Pontianus bought certaine flockes of Sheepe in the farthest part of Vmbria and brought Shepherds with him to driue them home with whome the dogs went along vnto Heraclea and the Metapontine coasts where the drouers left the cattell the dogs for loue of the Sheepe yet continued and attended them without regard of any man and forraged in the fields for Rats and Mice to eat vntill at length they grew weary and leane and so returned back againe vnto Vmbria alone without the conduct of men to their first maisters being many daies iourney from them It is good to keep many of these together at the least two for euery flock that so when one of them is hurt or sick the herd be not destitute it is also good to haue these male and female yet some vse to geld these thinking that for this cause they will the more vigilantly attend the flocke howbeit I cannot assent hereunto because they are too gentle and lesse eager when they want their stones They are to be taken from their dam at two moneths old and not before and it is not good to giue them hot meate for that will encrease in them madnes neither must they tast any of the dead carkasses of the Cattell lest that cause them to fal vpon the liuing for when once they haue taken a smatch of their blood or flesh you shal sildom reclaim theÌ from that deuouring appetite The vnderstanding of these Shepherds dogs is very great especially in England for the Shepherds wil there leaue their dogs alone with the flocks and they are taught by custome to keepe the sheep within the compasse of their pasture and discern betwixt grasse and corn for when they see the sheep fall vpon the corne they run and driue them away from that forbidden fruit of their own acord and they likewise keep very safely their maisters garments victuals from all annoyance vntill their return Ther is in Xenophon a complaint of the sheep to the shepherds concerning these dogs we maruel said the sheep at thee that seeing we yeeld thee milk lambs and cheese wherupon thou feedest A pretty fable of the Sheep the Dogge neuertheles thou giuest vnto vs nothing but that which groweth out of the earth which we gather by our own industry and whereas the dog doth none of al these him thou feedest with thine own hand bred from thine own trencher the dog hearing this complaint of the sheep replyed that his reward at the shepherds hand was iust and no more then he deserved for saide hee I looke vnto you and watch you from the rauening Wolfe and pilfering theefe so as if once I forsake you then it will not bee safe for you to walke in your pastures for perrill of death whereunto the sheepe yeelded and not replyed to the reasonable answer of so vnreasonable a beast and this complaint you must remember was vttered when Sheepe could speake as well as men or else it noteth the foolish murmuring of some vulgar persons against the chiefe ministers of state that are liberally rewarded by the princes owne hands for their watchfull custody of the common-wealth and thus much for the shepheards Dogge OF THE VILLAGE DOGGE or house-keeper THis village Dogge ought to be fatter and bigger then the Shepheards Dog of an elegant square and strong body being blacke coloured The colour of this Dog and great mouthed or barking bigly that so he may the more terrifie the Theefe both by day and night for in the night the beast may seize vpon the robber before he discerne his blacke skinne and therefore a spotted branded party-coloured Dogge is not approued His head ought to be the greatest part of his body hauing great eares hanging downe and blacke eies in his head a broade breast thicke necke large shoulders strong Legs a rough haire short taile and great nailes his disposition must not be to fierce nor yet to familiar for so he will fawne vpon the theife as well as his maisters friend Yet is it good that sometime he rise against the house-hold seruantes and alway against strangers and such they must be as can wind a stranger a farre off and descry him to his maister by barking as by a watch-word and setting vpon him when he approcheth neere if he be prouoked Blondus commendeth in this kinde such as sleepe with one eie open and the other shut Of marriners dogs on shipboard so as any small noyse or stirre wake and raise him It is not good to keepe many of these curst Dogs together and them fewe which bee kept must bee tyed vppe in the day time that so they may be more vigilant in the night when they are let loose There are of this kind which Marriners take with them to Sea to preserue their goodes on ship-board they chose them of the greatest bodyes and lowdest voice like the Croatian Dog resembling a Wolfe in haire and bignesse and such as are very watchful according to the saying of the Poet. Exagitant lar turba Dianiae fures Peruigilant que lares peruigilant que canes Vegetius And such also they nourish in Towers and Temples in Towers that so they may descry the approching enemy when the Souldiers are asleepe for which cause Dogs seene in sleepe Aâtemdorus signifie the carefull and watchfull wife seruants or Souldiers which foresee dangers and preserue publique and priuate good There was in Italy a Temple of Pallas wherein were reserued the axes instruments and armour of Diomedes and his colleages Aristotle ârâldus ãâã keepers ãâ¦ã Dâââ Chriso the which temple was kept by Dogges whose nature was as the Authour saith that when Graecians came to that Temple they would fawne vpon them as if they knew them but if any other countrey men came they shewed themselues Wild fierce and angry against them The like thing is reported of a Temple of vulcan in Aetna wherein was preserued a perpetuall and vnquencheable fire for the watching whereof were Dogges designed who would fawne and gently flatter vpon all those which came chastly and religiously to worship there leading them into the Temple like the familiars of their God but vpon wicked and euill disposed leude persons they barked and raged if once they endeauored so much has to enter either the Wood or temple but the true cause hereof was the imposture of some impure and deceiteful vnclean diabolical spirits ãâ¦ã And by the like instinct Scipio Affricanus was wont to enter into the Capital and commaund
the Chappel of Iupiter to be opened to him at whom no one of the keeper-Dogs would euer stir which caused the men-keepers of the temple much to maruaile whereas they would rage fiercely against all other whereupon Stroza made these verses falsely imputing this daemonicall illusion to diuine reuelation Quid tacitos linquam quos veri haud niscia Crete Nec semper mendax ait aurea templa tuentes Parcereque haud vlli solitos mirabile dictu Docta Tyanei Aratos senioris ad ora Non magico Cantu sed quod diuinitus illis Insita vis omnio virtutis gnara latentis The like strange thing is reported of a Temple or Church in Cracouia Schnebârg dedicated to the Virgin Mary wherein euery night are an assembly of dogs which vnto this day saith the Author meete voluntarily at an appointed houre for the custody of the Temple and those ornaments which are preserued therein against theefes and robbers and if it fortune any of the Dogges be negligent and slacke at the houre aforesaide then will he bark about the church vntill he bee let in but his fellowes take punishment of him and fall on him biting and rending his skinne yea sometime killing him and these Dogs haue a set dyet or allowance of dinner from the Canons and preachers of the Church which they duely obserue without breach of order for to day twoe of them will goe to one Cannons house and two to anothers and so likewise al the residue in turnes successiuely visit the seuerall houses within the cloyster yard neuer going twice together to one house nor preuenting the refection of their fellowes and the story is reported by Antonius Schnebergerus for certaine truth vpon his owne knowledge OF THE MIMICKE OR GETVLIan Dogge and the little Melitaean Dogges of GENTLEVVOMEN THere is also in England two other sortes of dogs Iohn Cay the figure of the first is heere expressed being apt to imitate al things it seeth for which cause some haue thoght that it was coÌceiued by an Ape for in wit disposition it resembleth an ape The first generation of Mimicke Dogs but in face sharpe and blacke like a Hedghog hauing a short recurued body very long legs shaggy haire and a short taile this is called of some Canis Lucernarius these being brought vp with apes in their youth learne very admirable strange feats The feates of dogs wherof there were great plenty in Egypt in the time of king Ptolomy which were taught to leap play dance at the hearing of musicke and in many poore mens houses they serued insteed of seruants for diuers vses These are also vsed by plaiers and Puppet-Mimicks to worke straunge trickes for the sight whereof they get much money Albertus such an one was the Mimicks dog of which Plutarch writeth that he saw in a publicke spectacle at Rome before the Emperor Vespasian The dog was taught to act a play wherein were contained many persons parts I meane the affections of many other dogs at last there was giuen him a piece of bread wherein as was saide was poison hauing vertue to procure a dead sleepe which he receiued and swallowed and presently after the eating thereof he began to reele and stagger too and fro like a drunken man and fell downe to the ground as if he had bin dead and so laie a good space not stirring foot nor lim being drawne vppe and downe by diuers persons according as the gesture of the play he acted did require but when hee perceiued by the time and other signes that it was requisite to arise he first opened his eies and and lift vp his head a little then stretched forth himselfe like as one doth when he riseth from sleepe at the last vp he geteth and runneth to him to whom that part belonged not without the ioy and good content of Caesar and all other the beholders To this may be added another story of a certaine Italian about the yeare 1403. called Andrew who had a red Dog with him of strange feats and yet he was blind For standing in the Market place compassed about with a circle of many people there were brought by the standers by many Rings Iewels bracelets and peeces of gold and siluer and there within the circle were couered with earth then the dog was bid to seeke them out who with his nose and feet did presently find and discouer them then was hee also commaunded to giue to euery one his owne Ring Iewell Bracelet or money which the blind dog did performe directly without stay or doubt Afterward the standers by gaue vnto him diuers peeces of coine stamped with the images of sundry princes and then one called for a piece of English money and the Dog deliuered him a peece another for the Emperors coine and the dog deliuerd him a piece thereof and so consequently euery princes coine by name till all was restored and this story is recorded by Abbas Vrspergensis whereupon the common people said the dog was a diuell or else possessed with some pythonicall spirit so much for this dog Strabo Oâ the Melitaean Dogs There is a towne in Pachynus a promontory of Sicily called Melita from whence are transported many fine little Dogs called Melitaei canes they were accounted the Iewels of women but now the said towne is possessed by Fisher-men and there is no such reckoning made of those tender little dogs for these are not bigger then common Ferrets or Weasils yet are they not small in vnderstanding nor mutable in their loue to men for which cause they are also nourished tenderly for pleasure whereupon came the prouerbe Melitaea Catella for one norished for pleasure Canis digno throno because princes hold them in their hands sitting vpon their estate Theodorus the tumbler and dauncer had one of these which loued him so well that at his death he leaped into the fire after his body Aelianus Now a daies they haue found another breede of little dogs in all nations Blondus The arte of making of little Dogs beside the Melitaeon Dogs either made so by art as inclosing their bodies in the earth when they are Whelpes so as they cannot grow great by reason of the place or els lessening and impayring their growth by some kind of meat or nourishment These are called in Germany Bracken Schosshundle and Gutschenhundle the Italians Bottolo other Nations haue no common name for this kind that I know Martiall made this Distichon of a little French dog for about Lyons in France there are store of this kind and are sold very deare sometimes for ten Crownes and sometimes for more Delitias paruae si vis audire catellae Narranti breuis est pagina tota mihi They are not aboue a foote or halfe a foot long and alway the lesser the more delicate and precious Their head like the head of a Mouse but greater their snowt sharpe their eares like the eares of a Cony
young and in sending of the lesser foremost not onely for the reason aforesaid but also because they being hunted and prosecuted it is requisite that the greatest and strongest come in the reare and hindmost part for the safeguarde of the weaker against the fury of their persecutors being better able to fight then the formost whom in natural loue and pollicy they set farthest from the danger Mutius which had beene thrice Consull affirmeth that he saw Elephants brought on shore at Puteoli in Italy they were caused to goe out of the ship backeward all along the bridge that was made for them Tha bringing of Elephants out of ships A secret if true that so the sight of the Sea might terrifie them and cause them more willingly to come on land and that they might not be terrified with the length of the bridge from the continent Pliny and Solinus affirme that they will not goe on shipboord vntill their keeper by some intelligible signe of oath make promise vnto them of their returne backe againe They sometime as hath beene said fight one against another and when the weaker is ouercome Aristotle Of their fighting he is so much abased and cast downe in minde that euer after he feareth the voyce of the conqueror They are neuer so fierce violent or wilde but the sight of a Ramme tameth and dismayeth them for they feare his hornes for which cause the Egiptians picture an Elephant and a Ramme to signifie a foolish king that runneth away for a fearefull sight in the field Gillius Aelianus Coelius Zoroastres Their fear of Rams swine and other beasts Volateranus And not onely a Ramme but also the gruntling clamour or cry of Hogs by which meanes the Romanes ouerthrew the Carthaginians and Pirrhus which trusted ouermuch to their Elephants When Antipater besieged the Megarians very straitly with many Elephants the Citizens tooke certaine Swine and anointed them with pitch then set them on fire and turned them out among the Elephants who crying horribly by reason of the fire on their bodies so distemperd the Elephants that all the wit of the Macedonians could not restraine them from madnesse fury and flying vpon their owne company onely because of the cry of the Swine And to take away that feare from Elephants they bring vp with them when they are tamed young Pigges and Swine euer since that time When Elephants are chased in hunting if the Lions see them they runne from them like Hindecalfes from the Dogges of Hunters and yet Iphicrates sayeth that among the Hesperian or westerne Aethiopians Lions set vpon the young Calues of Elephants and wound them but at the sight of the mothers which come with speede to them when they heare them cry the Lions runne away and when the mothers finde their young ones imbrued in their owne bloud they themselues are so inraged that they kill them and so retire from them The cruelty of the female to their wouÌded Calues Solinâs Stat. Sebâsi after which time the Lions returne and eate their flesh They will not indure the sauour of a Mouse but refuse the meat which they haue run ouer in the riuer Ganges of India there are blew Wormes of sixty cubits long hauing two armes these when the Elephants come to drinke in that riuer take their trunks in their handes and pull them off There are Dragons among the Aethiopians which are thirty yards or paces long these haue no name among the inhabitants but Elephant-killers And among the Indians also there is an inbred and natiue hatefull hostility betwixte Dragons and Elephants Aelianus for which cause the Dragons being not ignorant that the Elephants feed vpon the fruites and leaues of green trees doe secretly conuay them selues into them or to the toppes of rockes couering their hinder part with leaues and letting his head and fore part hang downe like a rope on a suddaine when the Elephant commeth to crop the top of the tree she leapeth into his face and diggeth out his eies and because that reuenge of malice is to little to satisfie a Serpent she twineth her gable-like-body about the throat of the amazed Elephant and so strangleth him to death Againe they marke the footsteps of the Elephant when he goeth to feed and so with their tailes net in and intangle his legs and feet when the Elephant perceiueth and feeleth them he putteth downe his trunke to remoue and vnty their knots and ginnes then one of them thrusteth his poisoned stinging-stinging-head into his Nostrils and so stop vp his breath the other prick and gore his tender-belly-parts Some againe meet him and flye vpon his eies and pull them foorth so that at the last he must yeeld to their rage and fall downe vpon them killing them in his death by his fall whom he could not resist or ouercome being aliue and this must be vnderstood that forsomuch as Elephants go togither by flockes and heards the subtill Dragons let the foremost passe and set vpon the hindmost that so they may not be oppressed with multitude Also it is reported that the blood of an Elephant is the coldest blood in the world and that Dragons in the scorching heate of Summer cannot get any thing to coole them except this blood for which cause they hide themselus in riuers and brooks whether the Elephants come to drinke and when he putteth downe his trunke they take hold thereof and instantly in great numbers leape vp vnto his eare which is naked bare and without defence where out they sucke the blood of the Elephant vntill he fall downe dead and so they perish both together Of this blood commeth that ancient Cinnabaris Of Cinnabaris or the best red colour made by commixture of the blood of Elephants and Draggons both together which alone is able and nothing but it to make the best representation of blood in painting Some haue corrupted it with Goats-blood and call it Milton and Mimum and Monochroma it hath a most rare and singuler vertue against all poysons beside the vnmatcheable property aforesaid These Serpents or Dragons are bred in Taprobona in whose heads are many pretious stones with such naturall seales or figuratiue impressions as if they were framed by the hande of man for Podisippus and Tzetzes affirme that they haue seen one of them taken out of a Dragons head hauing vpon it the liuely and artificial stampe of a Chariot The fight of Elephants Pliny Elephants are enimies to wilde Bulles and the Rhinocerots for in the games of Pompey when an Elephant and a Rhinoceros were brought together the Rhinoceros ranne instantly and whet his horne vppon a stone and so prepared himselfe to fight striking most of all at the belly of the Elephant because he knewe that it was the tenderest and most penetrable part of the body The Rhinoceros was as long as the Elephant but the legges thereof were much shorter and as the Rhinocerotes sharpen their hornes vppon the stones
the farther end whereof is placed a piece of flesh so that when the hungry foxe commeth to bite at the meate and thrusteth in his head the pikes sticke fast in his necke and he ineuitably insnared Moreouer as the harmefulnesse of this beast hath troubled many so also they haue deuised moe engins to deceiue and take him for this cause there is another pollicy to kill him by a bowe full bent with a sharpe arrow and so tenderly placed as is a trap for a Mouse and assoone as euer the foxe treadeth thereon presently the arrow is discharged into his owne bowels by the waight of his foote Againe for the killing of this beast they vse this sleight they take of Bacon-grease or Bacon as much as ones hand and rost the same a little and therewith annoint their shoesoles and then take the Liuer of a Hogge cut in pieces and as they come out of the wood where the beast lodgeth they must scatter the said pieces in their foote-steps and drawe the carcasse of a dead Cat after them the sauour whereof will prouoke the beast to follow the foot-steps then haue they a cunning Archer or handler of a Gunne who obserueth and watcheth in secret till the Beast come within his reach and so giueth him his great deadly wound But if the Fox be in the earth and they haue found his denne then they take this course to worke him out They take a long thing like a Bee-hiue and open at one end and yron wiers at the other like a grate and at the open end is set a little doore to fall downe vppon the mouth and to inclose the Fox when he entereth in by touching of a small rod that supporteth that doore This frame is set to the Foxes dens mouth and all the other passages watched and stopped The Fox hauing a desire to go forth seeing light by the wiers misdeemeth no harme and entereth into the hiue which is wrought close into the mouth of his den and being entered into it the rodde turneth the dore fast at the lower end or entraunce and so the fox is intrapped to be disposed of at the will of the taker The beast âs ãâã âmiesf ãâã Foxes are annoied with many enemies and to beginne with the least the small flies and called gnats do much trouble and infect them against whome the foxe vseth this policie He taketh a mouthful of straw or soft hay or haire and so goeth into the water dipping his hinder parts by litle and litle then the flies betake themselues to his heade which he keepeth out of water which the fox feeling dippeth or diueth also the same vnder water to his mouth Albertus wherein he holdeth the hay as aforesaid whereunto the flies runneth for sanctuary or dry refuge which the fox perceiuing suddenly casteth it out of his mouth and runneth out of the water by this meanes easing himselfe of al those enemies In like manner as al beasts are his enemies and hee friend and louing to none so with strength courage and policie he dealeth with euery one not onely against the beastes of the land but also against the monsters of the sea When he findeth a neast of waspes in the earth or in other places as in Trees he laieth his taile to the hole and so gathereth into it a great many of them which he presently dasheth against the Wall or Tree or stones adioyning and so destroyeth them and thus he continueth vntill he haue killed them al and so maketh himselfe execute to their heapes of hony Gillius His manner is when he perceiueth or seeth a flocke of foule to flye in the aire to rowle himselfe in red earth making his skin to looke bloody and lie vpon his backe winking with his eie and holding in his breath as if he were dead which thing the birds namely Crows Rauens and such like obseruing because of the hatred of his person they for ioy alight triumph at his ouerthrow and this the fox indureth for a good season till oportunity seruing his turne and some of the fowle come neare his snowt then suddenly hee catcheth some one of them in his mouth feeding vpon him like a liuing and not a dead foxe and so doth deuoure and eate him as the Leopard doth deuoure and eate Apes and the Sea-frog other little fishes In like sort he deceiueth the Hedgehogge for when the hedghog perceiueth the foxe comming to him he rowleth himselfe togither like a foote-ball and so nothing appeareth outward exeept his prickles which the fox cannot indure to take into his mouth and then the crafty fox to compasse his desire licketh gently the face and snowt of the Hedgehogge by that meanes bringing him to vnfold himselfe againe and to stand vpon his legs which being done he instantly deuoureth or else poisoneth the beast with the vrine that he rendereth vpon the Hedgehogges face and at other times hee goeth to the waters and with his taile draweth fishes to the brimme of the Riuer and when that he obserueth a good booty hee casteth the Fishes cleane out of the water vppon the dry lande and then devoureth them All kinds of Hawkes are enemies to foxes and foxes to them because they liue vppon Carrion and so in the prouince of Vla. Auicen saw a fox and a Crow fight together a longe season and the Crow with his talentes so bee gripling the foxes mouth that he coulde not barke and in the meane time she beat and picked his head with her bill vntil he bled againe The Eagles fight with foxes and kil them and Olaus Magnus affirmeth that in the Northern Regions they lay Egges and hatch their young in those skinnes which they themselus haue stripped off from foxes and other beasts The Kites Vultures and wolues are enemies to foxes because they are al flesh-deuouring-creaturs but the fox which hath so many enemies by strength or subtilties ouer commeth al Whereupon Persius calleth a subtill man a Foxe saying Astutam vapido seruas sub pectore vulpem The medicinall vses of this beast are these first as Pliny and Marcellus affirme a Fox sod in water till nothing of the Foxe be left whole except the bones The medicines arising out of Foxes and the Legges or other parts of a gouty body washed and daily bathed therein it shall driue away all paine and griefe strengthning the defectiue and weake members so also it cureth all the shrinking vp and paines in the sinnewes and Galen attributeth the same vertue to an Hyaena sod in Oyle and the lame person bathed therein for it hath such power to euacuate and draw forth whatsoeuer euill humour aboundeth in the body of man Sextus that it leaueth nothing hurtfull behinde Neuerthelesse such bodies are soone againe replenished through euill dyet and relapsed into the same disease againe The Fox may be boyled in fresh or salt water with annise and time and with his skin on whole and not slit or
deliuer our mother from your thraldome and in sted of her take vs hir vnhappy children bend your hard harts feare the lawes of God which forbiddeth innocents to be punished and consider what reuerence you owe to the olde age of a mother therefore againe we pray you let our liues satisfie you for our dammes liberty But poor creaturs when they see that nothing can moue the vnexerable mind of the hunters they resolue to dye with her whom they cannot deliuer and thereupon of their owne accord giue themselues into the handes of the Hunters and so are led away with their mother Concerning the Libyan goates before spoken off which liue in the tops of Mountaines they are taken by nets or snares or else killed by Darts and arrowes or some other art of Hunting But if at any time they discend downe into the plaine fieldes they are no lesse troubled then if they were in the waues of some great water And therefore any man of a slow pace may there taken them without any great difficulty The greatest benefit that ariseth from them is their skinne and their hornes with their skinnes they are clothed in Winter time against tempests Frostes and Snowe and it is a common weede for Shepherds and Carpenters The hornes serue them in steed of buckets to draw Water out of the running streames wherewithall they quench their thirst for they may drinke out of them as out of cups They are so great that no man is able to drinke them off at one draught and when cunning artifficers haue the handling of them they make them to receiue three times as much more The selfe same things are Wryten of the Wilde Goates of Egypt who are said neuer to be hurt by Scorpions There is a great Citty in Egypt called Coptus who were wont to be much addicted to the worship of Isis and in that place there are great aboundance of Scorpions which with their stings and poyson do oftentimes giue mortall and deadly woundes to the people whilest they mourne about the Chappell for they worship that Goddesse with funeral lamentation against the stinging of these Scorpions the Egyptians haue inuented a thousand deuises whereof this was the principall At the time of their assembly they turne in wild fem goats naked among the Scorpions lying on the ground by whose presence they are deliuered and escape free from the woundes of the Serpents whereupon the Coptites doe religiously consecrate these female Goats to deuinity thinking that their Idoll Isis did wholy loue them and therfore they sacrificed the males but neuer the females It is reported by Plutarch that wilde Goates doe aboue other meate loue meale and figges wherefore in Armenia there are certaine black Fishes which are poyson with the pouder or meale of these fishes they couer these figges and cast them abroad where the Goates do haunt and assoone as the beasts haue tasted them they presently die Now to the wilde Goat before pictured called in Latine Rupi Capra and Capricornus and in Greek a Gargos and Aigastros and of Homer Ixalon of the Germanes Gemmes or Gemmuss the Rhetians which speake Italian call it Camuza the Spaniards Capramontes the Polonians Dzykakoza the Bohemians Korytanski Kozlik that is to say a Carinthian Goate because that part of the Alpes called Carinthia is neere bordering vpon Bohemia Bellanius writeth Albertus that the French cal him Chambris and in their ancient tongue Ysard this is not very great of bodye but hath crooked hornes which bend backeward to his back whereupon he staieth himselfe when he falleth from the slippery Rockes or Mountaines Plinyus These hornes are not fit to fight they are so small and weake and therefore nature hath bestowed them vpon them for the cause aforesaid Of all other Goats this is the least it hath red eies but a quâcke eie-sight his hornes are blacke being nine or ten fingers longe and compassed about with diuers circles but at the top none at all which is sharp and crooked like a hooke They arise at the roote Paralelwise that is by equall distance one from another being hollow the bredth of ones Thumbe the residue solide like the Harts The Males in this kinde differ not from the Females neither in horne colour or proportion of body they are in bignesse like the common Goate but somewhat hier Their colour is betwixt brown and red In the Summer time they are red and in the winter time they are browne There hath beene seene of them which were white and blacke in distinct colour one from another and the reason heere of is because they chaunge colour many times in the year There are some of them altogether white but these are seldome found they inhabit for the most part the Rockes or Mountaines but not the tops like the Ibeâks neither doe they leape so far as the foresaid goats They come down somtime to the roots of the Alpes and there they licke sand from the rockes like as the village tame goates to procure them an appetite The Heluetians call these places in their naturall tongue Fultzen that is Salares about these places do the Hunters hide themselues and secretly with guns bowes or other such instrumentes they suddendly shoote and kill them When they are hunted they step vp to the steepest rocks and most inaccessible for Dogges by that meanes prouiding their own safty buâ if the hunters presse after them and clime vpon the rocks with hands and feet they leape from thence from stone to stone making their waie to the tops of the Mountaines so long as euer they are able to goe or climbe and then they hange by the Hornes of their heade as if they were ready to fall which caused Martiall to write thus Pendentem summa Capream de rupe videbis Casuram speres decipit illa Canes Where the Poet attributeth that to the Roe which belongeth to the wilde goat and there they hange many times till they perish because they cannot loose themselues againe or else they are shotte with guns or fall downe headlong or else are driuen off by the hunters From the day of Saint Iames they vse themselues to the coldest partes of the Mountains because they vnderstand winter is approaching making custome to be their shield against cold weather there haue bene some of these made tame so that they haue discended downe to the flocks of tame Goats whome they do not auoide like the Ibex From these wilde goats hath that same herbe called Doronicum and of the Grecians Doronieu giuen a name among the Germaines Geniesseh Worts that is wilde-goats-herb being excellent to cure the Collick and therefore highly esteemed among the Arabians Graecians and Mauritanians It is hot and dry in the second degree and the countrey people in Heluetia do giue it against dizines in the head because these wilde goats oftentimes feed vpon the same and yet are neuer troubled with that infirmity although they runne round about the mountaines There are hunters
will cure them Goates blood sodde with marrow may be taken against all toxicall poyson Pliny saith that theyr dung being annointed with Hony is good for the watering or dropping of the eyes and their marrow against aches The blood of Goates their marrow and their Liuer is very good to ease the belly Goates blood sodden with the marrow helpeth the blody flix and those that haue the dropsie and yet I think that the bucks is more effectual and of greater operation so it be eaten with mastick Also the goats marrow is good for the eies of Horses The right Horne of a Goat is of some held to be of more effect then the other Pliny which I rather hold to be superstitious Pliny whatsoeuer other reason or secret quality the Horne may afford for the bitings of Serpents take Goates horne and burne the haires of them and the ashes of them soked in Water and Goates Milke with the horne and wilde Margerom and three cups of wine put together and being drunk against the stinging of an adder expelleth the poison Sextus The ashes of Goates horne being all annointed with Oyle tempered with Mirtle stayeth the sweating of the body Harts horne and Goats being burned and if it be requisite is good to wash the teeth withall and it will make them looke white Plinius and the gums soft It is also good against the bloody-flixe and watering of the eyes in regard they are most vsuall Yet they neither asswage the griefes nor consume them which are of a could and dry nature Harts horne being burnt as also a Goates horne taketh away bitings Goates dung or the horne being burnt to ashes and dipped in vineger stoppeth the blood Gallen The corrupt blood that commeth out of the Lyuer of a Bucke-Goate is more effectuall and of a better operation and the ashes of a Goates horne or dung soked in Wine or vineger and annoint the Nostrils stayeth bleeding at the Nose Plinius Goates Horne being burned at the end and the pieces or scorchinges that rise thereof must be shaken into a new vessell vntill the horne be quite consumed then beate and bruise them with vineger made of Sea-onyons and anoint the euill called Saint Anthonies fire and it is of a miraculous operation âââius It will make one sleepe that is troubled with the weakenesse of his head and watching if it be layed vnder their pillow It being mixed with bran and oyle of mirtle it keepeth the haires fast that are falling off the head The sauour of the Horne burned descrieth the falling sicknes so doth the smell of the intrals of a Goat or the liuer eaten likewise it raiseth vp a lethargick man They vse also the hornes of Harts and Goats to make white the teeth and to fasten the gums The same shorne or shauen into mixt Hony represseth the fluxe of the belly In the paine of the belly perfume the shauings of the same mingled with oile burned barly the same perfume is good to be laid vpon the vlcers of horses The hoofes of Goats are prescribed by Palladius to be burned for the driuing away of Serpentes and the dust of them put into vineger cureth the Alopecias The dust of their hoofes is good to rub the teeth withall also to driue away the swellings in the disease called S. Anthonies fire Burne the foote of the Goate with the horne and reserue the dust thereof in a boxe and when you will vse it wette the place first with Wine and afterwardes cast on the powder The iuyce of a goates head sod with haire is commended for burstnesse in the belly and the ancient Magicians gaue the braine of the goats to little infants against the falling sicknesse but pressed through a golde ring the same cureth carbunckles in the belly being taken with Hony If the body or head bee rubbed with that Water or meate which falleth out of the mouth of a goate mingled with hony and salt they kill all kinde of Lice and the same thing giueth remedy to the paine of the belly but if it be taken ouermuch it purgeth The broath of the entrals to be gargarized in the mouth cureth the exulceration of the toung and arteries The Lyuer of the Female-goate sodde and eaten is giuen against the falling euill and taketh from the conuulsion and with the liquor thereof after it is sod it is good to annoint the pur-blinde eies Galen Dioscorides also it is good to holde the eyes open ouer it while it seetheth and to receiue into them the fume and the reason heerof is because that goats see as perfectly in the night as in the day time and therefore Celsus saith that this medicine is most agreeable to them that cannot see at all in the night as it hapneth to women whose monethly courses are stopped and then it is good for them to annoint theyr eies with the blood of a Goate and eate the liuer sod or rosted The pouder of the liuer burnd purged and drunke in wine cureth the collicke If a woman in trauell or with childe be swollen vp let her take a Goats liuer rowled in warme ashes Trallianus and let her eat it in foure daies and drinke old wine thereunto so shall she be deliuered The gall is contrary to all poysoned Witch-craft made vppon the rusticke Weasill and if the Kings euill be dayly touched therewith at the beginning it will keepe it from ouer-spreading Pliny and with beaten Alum it disperseth scabs The old Magicians wer wont to say that when a man rubbed his eies when he lay down and put it vnderneath his pillow Marcellus he should sleepe soundly it driueth away scabbes in the head if it be mingled with fullers chaulke so as the haires may dry alittle and the same with Honey helpeth the eies according to the saying of Serenus Hybt aei mellis succi cum felle caprino Subueniunt oculis dira caligine pressis The Physitians in application heereof to the cure of eyes take many ways and mix it with other drugs as when they giue it against whitenesse in the eyes with Hellebore againste wounds and pin and webs with wine and against the broken tunicles with a womans milk and therefore Rasis and Albertus do iustly call the gal of a goat an eie-salue and also beeing instilled into the eares when they are ful of paine it cureth them first mingling it with a scruple of Hony in an earthen sheard Marcellus and so infusing it into the eare and shutting it in with a little wooll Also all the paines in the eares are cured by the stalkes or iuyce of leekes gall of Goats and sweete water and if there be any rupture in the eare then vse therewith a Womans milke or warme oyle of roses likewise against the cankers in the gums and the Squinancy it is profitable to vse it with Hony For all tumors or swellings in the necke take equall quantities of this
also a bird in Scithia about the bignesse of a Bustard which bringeth forth two at a time and keepeth them in a Hares skinne which she hangeth vpon a bough Hares were dedicated to loue because Xenophon saith there is no man that seeth a Hare but he remembred what he hath loued They say the citty Bocas of Laconia was builded by a signe of good fortune taken from a Hare for when the inhabitants were driuen out of their countrey they went to the Oracle to desire a place to dwell in from whom they receiued answer that Diana should shew them a dwelling place they going out of their countrey a hare met with them which they consented to follow and there to build where the Hare should lodge and they followed her to a myrtle tree where the hare hid her selfe in which place they builded their citty and euer afterwards retained with veneration a myrtle tree Pausanius And thus I will conclude this morrall discourse of hares with that Epigram of Martiall made vpon occasion of a hare that in sport passed through the mouth and teeth of a tame Lyon saying that she was ambitious in offering her life to the Lyons teeth in this wise Non facit ad saeuos cernix nisi prima leones Scilicet a magnis ad te descendere tauris Desperanda tibi est ingentis gloria fati Quid fugis hos dentes ambitiose lepus Et quae non cernunt frangere colla velint Non potes hoc tenuis praeda sub hoste mori The powder of a hare with oyle of mirtle dryueth away paine in the head and the same burned cureth the cough the powder thereof is good for the stone in the bladder The medicins of Hares Pliny also the blood and fime of a hare burnt in a raw pot to powder afterwards drunke fasting with Wine and warme water it cureth the stone and Sextus saith hee made triall of it by putting a spoonefull of the powder into Water wherein was a sand stone and the same stone did instantly melt and disolue so likewise a young hare cut out of the dams belly and burnt to powder hath the same operation A wastcoat made of hare skins straighten the bodies of young and old also the same dipped in oyle laide to the sore places of a horsses Legges where the skinne is off by ouer reatching it often cureth the sore the blood taken warme out of the body amendeth Sunne burning freckles pimples and many other faultes in skinne and face which Celsus prescribeth to bee doone first by washing the place many houres together in the morning with the blood and afterwardes annoynting it with oile the same vertue is in the fat of swannes mingled with oyle according to the saying of Serenus Cygnaeos adipes hilari miserto lyaeo Omne malum propere maculoso ex ore fugabis Sanguine vel leporis morbus delabitur omnis It also cureth and taketh away the thicke skin of the eie it adorneth the skinne produceth haire in able places and easeth the gout Or no cutim perduco pilos sedo podagrani Sanguine si fuerint membra perunctameo It being fried helpeth the bloody-flixe vlcers in the bowels an old laske and taketh away the poyson of an arrow It being annointed vpon a whot outward vlcer it ripeneth it After a bath it cureth a great leprosie by washing The rennet of a Hare staieth loosenesse the flesh is profitable for vlcers in the bowels it breaketh the stone being beaten and being decocted like a Fox easeth the gout and the shrinking vp of the sinnewes The fat with the flowers of beanes beaten together draweth thornes out of the flesh If naile sticke in the sole of the foote beat together the fat of a hare and a rawe sea-crab then lay it to the place and right against it vpon the same foote lay also two or three beane flowers and let it lie a day and a night and so it shal be cured and the same draweth a poisoned arrow out of a Horsse Andreas reporteth to Gesner that he hath often heard that the sewet of a Hare layed to the crowne of a womans head expelleth her secunds and a dead child out of the wombe The powder made of this wool or haire stauncheth bleeding if the haires be pulled off from a liue Hare and stopped into the nose The powder of the wooll of a Hare burned mingled with the oyle of Mirtles the gal of a Bull and Allum warmed at the fire and annoint it vppon the heade fasteneth the haire from falling off also the same powder decocted with Hony helpeth the paine in the bowels although they be broken being taken in a round ball the quantity of a beane together but these medicines must be vsed euery day Arnoldus prescribeth the haire to be cut short and so to be taken into the body against burstnesse A perfume made of the dung and haires of a Hare and the fat of a sea-calfe draweth forth womens flowers The seede of a wilde Cowcumber and an Oyster shell burned and put into Wine mingled with the haire of a Hare and wooll of a sheep with the flower of roses cureth inflamations of womens secrets after their child-birth Also Hipocrates prescribeth the shel of a Cuttle-fish to be beaten into wine and layed in sheeps wooll and Hares haire helpeth the falling downe of the wombe of a woman with child If a mans feete be scorched with cold the powder of a Hares Wooll is a remedy for it The head of a Hare burned and mingled with fat of Beares and vineger causeth haire to come where it is fallen off and Gallen saith that some haue vsed the whole body of a hare so burned and mingled for the foresaid cure being layed in manner of a plaister By eating of a hares head the trembling of the Nerues and the losse of motion and sence in the members receiueth singuler remedy These thinges also preserueth teeth from aking the powder of a hares head burned with salt mingled together rubbed vpon the teeth or if ye will put thereunto the whitest fennell and the dryed beanes of a Cutle fish The Indians burne together the hares head and mice for this purpose When ones mouth smelleth strong this powder with spicknard asswageth the smell The braine is good against poison The heart of a Hare hath in yt a theriacall vertue also The braine is proued to haue power in it for comforting and reparing the memory The same sod and eaten helpeth tremblings which hapeneth in the accessions of sicknesse such as one is in the cold shaking fit of an Ague It is to bee noted that all trembling hath his originall cause from the infirmitie or weakenesse of the Nerues as is apparant in olde age although the immediat causes may be some cold constitution as aboundance of cold humors drinking of cold drink and such like all which tremblings are cured by eating the braine of a hare roasted saith Dioscorides and Egineta It also
with their stones they lose a great part of their heat excepting extreame necessity but out of the pallat bloode may bee let euery moneth and stallions when they are kept from mares if the vaine of their mouthes bee opened fal into blindnes although it is no good part of husbandry to let them bleed that yeare wherein they admit copulation for the vacuation of blood and seede is a dubble charge to nature But the Organicall vaine of the necke is the best letting of blood both in stoned and gelded horsses The later leaches make incision in the great vaine called Fontanella and in Inen Thymus or Iugulis The eies of a horsse are grey or glassy and it is reported by Augustus that his eies were much more brighter then other mens resembling horsses these eies see perfectly in the night yet their colour varieth as it doth in men according to the caprine and glazie humor And sometimes it falleth out that one and the same horsse hath two eies of distinct colours When the eies of a horsse hang outward he is called Exophthalmos Such faire eies are best for Bucephalus the horsse of Alexander had such eies but when the eies hang inward they are called Coeloph-Thalmoi and the Parthians count them the best horsses Coelius whose eies are of diuers colours and are therefore called Heteroph Thalmoi because the breed of that horsse was said to take the beginning from the Parthians and the reason why the people loued these horsses was because they were fearefull and apt to run away in warres The eares of a horsse are tokens and notes of his stomacke as a taile is to a Lyon Aristotle his teeth are changed yet they grow close together like a mans It is a hard thing for a Horsse to haue a good mouth except his stallion teeth bee pulled out for when he is chafed or heated he cannot be helde backe by his rider but disdaineth the bridle wherefore after they be three yeare and a halfe old those teeth ought to be pulled forth In old age a horses teeth grow whiter but in other creatures blacker A mare hath two vdders betwixt her thighes yet bringeth foorth but one at a time many of the Mares haue no paps at al but only they which are like their dammes In the heart of a Horsse there is a little bone like as in an Oxe and a Mule he hath no gall like Mules and Asses and other whole-footed-beastes howsoeuer some say it lyeth in his belly and others that it cleaueth to his liuer or to the gut-colon The smal guts of a horse lie neare that gut that so oneside of his belly may bee free and full of passage and from hence it commeth that the best Horsses when they runne or trauel hard haue a noyse or rumbling in their belly The hip-bone of a horsse is called by some the Haunch as the Arabians say the taile because therwith he driueth away flies is called Muscarium it ought to be long and ful of haires The legges are called Gambae of Campo signifying treading the hooues of a horsse ought neither to be high nor very low neither ought the horsse to rest vpon his ancles and those horsses which haue straight bones in the Articles of their hinder knees set harde on the grounde and weary the ryder but where the bones are short in the same places as they are in Dogges there the horsse also breaketh and woundeth one legge with another and therefore such horsses are called Cynopodae They haue also quicke flesh in their hooues and their hooues are sometimes called hornes vppon which for their better trauel men haue deuised to fasten yron plates or shooes This hoof ought to be hard and hollow that the Beast may not bee offended when he goeth vppon stones they ought not to be white nor broade but alwaies kept moist that so they may trauel the better hauing strong feet hard and sound hooues for which cause the Graecians call them Eupodes Forasmuch as it is requisite for euery man to prouide him horsses of the best race The Horses of diuers notions and their kinds are diuers in most places of the world so the coursers of horsses do many times beguil the simpler sort of buyers by lying and deceiptful affirmation of the wrong countries of the best horsses which thinge bringeth a confusion for there are as many kinds of horsses as nations I will therefore declare seuerally the countries breeding the horsses for the Region and aire maketh in them much alteration that so the reader may in a short view see a muster of horsses made of all nations The wildernes of Arcauania Oppianus and Etolia is as fit for feeding of horsses as Thessalie The horsses of the Greekes Armenians and Troians are fit for war of the Greekish I wil speake more afterward Alexandria was wont to take great delight in horsses and combats of horsses Apolonius Horses with hornes and winges Appolonius writeth Lib. 5. Aethiopia as it is reported breedeth horsses hauing wings and horns Varro commendeth the Apulian horsses and Volatteranus writeth that they and the horsses of Rosea are most fit for warre he meaneth aboue all the horsses of Italy There haue bene very fruitful pastures in Arcadia for cattell especially for breeding horsses and Asses that are Stallions for the procreation of Mules and the breed of the Arcadian horses excelleth The same man prefereth the horsses of Thessalia the Grekish horsses for they are sound of their feete and heade but not of comely buttockes they haue their backe bone whole Ruellius great and short The latter two I might haue referred to the whole body of the horsse Absyrtus The horsses of Armenia are very necessary and conuenient for war for they and the Capadocians do breed of the Parthian horsses sauing their heads are somewhat bigger Of the Hackney or common horsses I wil say more afterward where I touch the difference of horsses and of their pace The Barbarian horsses are the same as the Lybian horsses Vegetius commendeth the horsses of Toringa and Burgundia after them of Vonusci Brittaine breedeth little horsses amblers Of horsses that are celebrate of the Calpian mountaine See in the Spanish The horsses of Cappadocia and Armenia haue their breed of the Parthians but their heades are bigger and are of a most famous nobilitie for that country before any other land Vegetius is most commodious for the nourishing of horsses according to the verses of Nemesian Cappadocumque not as referat generosa propago Armata palmas nuper grex omnis auorum The Cappadocians do pay to the Persians euery yeare beside siluer a thousand and fiue hundred Horsses c. The Medes haue the doble of these and they Sir-name the Cappadocians horsses famous and swift for he saith that whiles these are young they are accounted weake by reason of their young teeth and their body feeding on milke but the older they grow Strabo so
much the swifter they are being very couragious and apt for war and hunting for they are not afraid of weapons neither to encounter with wilde beasts Mazaca is a citty of Cappadocia scituate vnder the mountaine Argaeus now called Cesarea as Eusebius remembreth in his Chronicles and from that citty commeth the Mazacenian horsse for the Cappadocian horsse Suetonius And not onely the countrey but the citty it selfe sometime was called Cappadocia from this citty or walled towne I suppose the horsses of Mazaca were so called which Oppianus calleth Mazaci of these also and more I will set downe these verses of Nemesian Sit tibi praeterea sonipes Maurusia tellus Quemque coloratus Mazax deserta per arua Ne pigeat quod turpe deformis aluus Qâoque iubis pronos ceruix diuerberet armos Paret in obsequium lentae moderamine virgae Qâin promissi spatiosa per aequora campi Paulatimque auidos post terga relinquunt Cum se Threicius Boreas super extulit antro c His etiam emerito vigor est iuuenilis in aeuo Non prius est animo quam corpore passa ruina Quem mittit modo sit gentile sanguine firmus Pauit assiduos docuit tolerare labores Est illis quodque infrenes quod liber vterque Nam flecti facilis lasciuaque colla secutus Verbera sunt praecepta fugae sunt verbera freni Cursibus acquirunt commoto sanguine vires Haud secus effusis Nerei per caerula ventis Horum tarda venit longi fiducia cursus Nam quaecunqne suis virtus bene floruit annis And peraduenture Nemesianus vnderstood certaine horsses of Lybia by the name of the Mazacion horsses when as he ioyns them with the Maurasian horsses and cal them painted Mauzacion horsses which agreeth not with Cappadocian writing also that they are ruled with a stroke of aire insteed of a bridle which thing we haue reade in Authors writing of the Masylian horsses in the countrie of Lybia and whereof we will speak when we discourse of the Lybian horsses But the Cappadocian horsses are swift and lusty in their old age as it is related by Oppianns Againe if Mazacian horsses be the same that the Cappadocian are what is the reason why Oppianus doth name them apt vnlesse peraduenture euerie Mazacian horsse is a Cappadocian and not otherwise The horsses of Chalambria are so named of a place in Lybia Varrius the Cheonian horsses are the same with the Aprirolan horsses The Colophonians and Magnetians do bestow great labour in breeding of horsses for the Colophonians dwell in a plaine as I haue read in a certaine Greeke author Strabo lib. 14. writeth that the Colophonians in times past did abound with sea-forces and haue much excelled in horssemen that wheresoeuer in anie nation there was waged warre they hired and required the aide of the Colophonian horsse-men and so it was made a common prouerbe Colophonem addidit Erasmus The horsses of Creet are commended by Oppianus and else-where From their loines vpward they are as bigge as the Cyrenian horsses with well set thighes excellent for the soundnes of their feet and holding their breath a long time in riding and therfore fit for single races or in chariots Strabo The Epean horsses are remembred of Oppianus and the Epeans are a people of Achaia and the Achaian horsses are commended of the same The Lipidanean kinde of horsses is more excellent and he preserreth the Thessalian horsses before those of Epidaurea but the Epieotian horses are biting and stubborne Absyrtus saith that the Epieotian horses the Samerican and Dalmatian although they are stubborne and wil not abide the bridle and besides are base and contemptible yet they are bold in war and combats and therefore the Epieotian horses and the Sicilian despise not if their qualities and comely parts be aparant in them although sometime he hath run awaie from the enemie as the poet saith Quamuis saepe fugaille verso egerit hostes Et patria Epirum referat Epiria and Chaonia is also a part of Epirus Alpestrian although sometimes it be taken for the whole country of Epirus The horsses of Chaonia are commended as Gratius remembreth writing of the Sicylian horsses in these verses to this effect that no man hath presumed to striue with the Chaonians and the Achaian hand doth not expresse their deserts Queis Chaonia contendere coatra Ausit vix merita quas signat Achata palma There are a people of Arabia called Erembi which some some call Ichthyophagans Oppianus and Trogloditans Vegetius in the thirde place commendeth the Frisian Horsses for swiftnesse and long continuance of course after the Hunnian Burgundians The French horsse is the same that the Menapians and S. Hierom writeth that wordly men are delighted with the French geldings but Zacharies Asse loosed from his bandes reioyceth good men Lucius Apuleius hath commended the French beasts for if the young sole be deriued of a genereous kind it is an argument it wil proue a noble beast The Gelanoian horsses are a kind of base horsses not fit for warre whether this name proceed of a strange contrey I haue no certaine knowledge thereof There is a certaine riuer in Sicilia called Gelas of which country the horsses are of great value and much set by And also the Gelons are a people of Scythia who in their flight fight vppon horsses of which Lucanus writeth to this effect Massagetes quo fugit equo fortesque Geloni And Virgill Bisaltae quo more solent acerque Gelonus Cum fugit in Rhodopen aut in deserta Getarum Et lac coueretum cum sanguine potat equino signifying thus much that the Massagetes and valianut Gelons flie away vpon horsses like the Bisaltans when they flye into Rhodope or into the wildernesse of the Gelans and drinke milke mixed with horsse-blood for hunger and famine But these fearefull horsses are not meet for war Germania hath greater horsses and hard trotters whose pace is very hard and troublesome The Getican horsses runne most swiftly The horsses of the Greeks haue good sound broad feet Aelianus and of a great body a comely fine head their forepart somewhat high of stature straight and well compacted and of a wel fashioned body but the ioyning of their buttockes not so agreeable and answerable to the rest they are most swift and couragious yet notwithstanding in all Greece the Thessalian horsses are most esteemed Nemesianus writeth also of the Greekish horsses Greece therefore yeeldeth choice horsses Absyrtus and well hoofed In Heluetia the horsses are fitted and very expect in war and especially the Algecian horsses which will last and continue a long time In Spaine also the horsses are of a great stature of body well proportioned and strait hauing a fine head the ioynts of their bodies very well deuided set a part and ready or flexible simple and short burtockes but not very strong and comely They are stronge and able to
sustaine the vndergoing or compassing of iourneyes neither are they slender bodied or subiect to leannesse but they are nothing nimble for course as shall appeare by the words of the Authors following neither are they spurred when they are ridden Ruellius from their growing euen to their middle age they are pliant and easie to be handled afterward they waxe wilde and biting The Cappadocian horsse is renowned the like or the next triumph or victory haue the Spanish horsses in running the ring Neither doeth Siuilia yeeld horsses inferior for the ring then those and Affrica is accustomed to bring foorth the most swift Horsses by copulation with the Spanish bloode to the vse of the saddle Oppianus saith that their Iberan horsses are more excellent and do so much surre-passe other horsses in swiftnesse how much the Eagle or the winding Hawke in the ayre the Dolphin in the sea excelleth other birds and fishes but they are smal and of little strength and no corage although Absyrtus affirmeth if you read him well that they are of a great stature of bodie they being rid but a little way do loose their swiftnes of pace they are of a comely body but their hooues are not hollow or hard The Spanish horsses are desired of great Princes and Peers Camerarius the Maguates because their opinion is that they are swift and nimble and out of Spaine they are respected for lightnes and elegancy The iudgement of the auncients for the general breed of horsses was this that the greatest horsses are bred from the third climat to the end of the sixt and most of al in Spaine yet we haue seene stronger and bigger horsses bred in the seuenth climat and those more able to indure labor then those that are vnder the thirde or fourth climat The Horsses of the Celliberans somewhat a dusty colour and they chaung if they bee transported into the farther Spaine Albertus and the Parthian Horsses are like them in regard they excel in nimblenes and dexterity of running wherof Martial writeth thus Videbis altam liciane Bilbilim equis armis vobilem which Bilbilis is a Citty of Celiberia Of the Callacians and Genntes we will speake also in the Spanish Horsses that are bred in the Calpian Mountaine afterward Strabo when wee entreate the differences of Horsses according to their degree The Hunnes bring vp their Horsses hardly able to indure cold and hunger and they haue great and crooked heads staring eies straight Nostrils broad chappes and strong and rough Neckes and long manes downe to their Legges great ribbes straight backs bushy tailes strong shankes or Legges small feete full and wide hoofes their flankes hollow and all their whole body full of holes There is no fatnesse in their hanch or buttocks they haue no strings in their sinnewes or arteries and they exceede in length more then in highth hauing great bellies hanging downe big-boned and leannesse which is a deformitye in other Horsses in these it shewed their statelinesse their courage is moderate and wary and these are able to indure woundes These Hunnian Horsses else where he calleth them Hunnican Horsses and the same in times past Hunnes but they are called a daies Vngarian Horsses The companies or armies of Hunnes wandering vp and downe with most swift horses filled al things with slaughter and terror They are biting kicking horsses as most Pannonicks are for they call Panonia at this day Hungaria of which there is a prouerbe of Malignity sprung vp Non nisi irritati aut opinâone offensae metu ferociunt that is to say They wax not ferne or rage not Vegetius but either by opinion or fear of offense affirming that the Pannonians are very fit for War There is not any that can hold and constrain or draw the bridles in or loose them forth that rydeth an Indian Horsse when hee praunseth and runneth violently but such a one that hath beene trained vppe from his childhood in the skill of Horsses these men haue accustomed to hold them with the bridle and also to break their wilfulnesse by snaffles or bits and those that are well skilled in handling Horsses do compell them from their vnrulinesse and restraine them within a small cyrcuit Yet notwithstanding to make this circle and finish it it requireth the help of hands and it is a great skil belonging to horsemen They which are most skilfull of this art and cunning dooers of it know very wel how to bring their course into a circle whose compasse is not to be regarded chiefely when it can beare but two Souldiers fighting together at one time Aelianus There are among the Indian Psyllans for there are also other Affricks of that name Horsses bred no bigger then Rams and they say that in Indian there are Horsses with one horne of which horne drinking cups may be made hauing this vertue in them that if you put poyson into them and a man drinke thereof it shall not hurt him because the horne doth driue away or expell the euill or poyson Whereof you shall see more at large in the History of Monocerotes and Aelianus himselfe else where and Philes following him write the same thing of a cup made of the horne of an Indian Asse hauing one horne The Istrian Horsses are of good able feete very straight whole backt and hollow but swift of course Oppianus The Moores Horsses saith Oppianus are most excellent as well to holde out long courses as also to indure hard labours the Lybians next vnto these are of a most durable celerity they are shaped alike except that the Lybian horsses are big and of a longer body hauing thicker ribs and sides and their brest is larger before on their crest they can easily abide the heate of the sun and daily thirst Affrica hath beene accustomed to put the most swiftest horsses of the Spanish blood to the vse of the saddle and Liuius saith in Lib. 23. that it was a custome to the Numidians being in battell to leade two horsses together and in manner of vauters oftentimes in the most sharpe conflict could leap from the weary horsse to a fresh so great was the dexterity of the rider and the docibility of the beast From Tunis of Affrica Massalia and Numidia there are also brought very singular horsses passing for running which the common people call Barbary horsses The Massylians a people of Lybia haue verie good horsses which they gouerne with a rod without a bridles from whence Virgill in his fourth of his Aeneidos calleth them vntamed and wilde Numides and Siluis saith also The Numides a nation hauing no skil of the bridle do leap vp and downe here and there and euery where as Martiall writeth Hic passim exultant Numidae gens in scia freni Quis inter geminas per ludum nobilis aures Quadrupedem fllectit non cedens virga lupati Also the rod rules the Massilian horsse the same Nemesianus writeth of those which
in which place they feede fiue hundred Mares which belong vnto their King The Misaean horses written with Iota and simple Sigma as Eustathius writeth are the most excellent and best some say that they haue their generation from Germanie others out of Armenia but they haue a certaine kind of shape like the Parthians In India most of their liuing creatures are far greater then in other places except horses for the Misaean horsses do exceede the Indian horsses as Herodotus writeth in his seauenth booke describing the Persian horsse Behind the speares saith he came ten Horses in most sumptuous furniture which were Nisaeans so called because there is a great field named Nisaeus in the countrey of Medica which yeeldeth horsses of a great stature After these followed Iupiters chariot drawne with eight horsses after which Xerxes was caried in a chariot drawne by Nisaean horsses and by how much the greater the Lybian Elephant is then the Nisaean horsse so much greater are the Nisaean horsses then the Indian as the same man saieth in his first booke but the king was about to offer a white horse that is of the Nisaean horses hauing a better marke as some expounded There are that say that Nisaeus is a plane of Persis where the most famous and notable horsses are bred Some interpret it to they yellow Nisaean horsse because all the horsses of Nisaean are of this colour Betweene Susinax and Bactria there is a place which the Greeks call Nisos in which the most singular fine horsses are bred There are also that suppose they are had from the red sea and al those to be of a yellow colour Herodotus writinge of Nisaeus maketh it a part of Media Orpheus also writeth that there is a place in the red Sea called Nisa Stephanus also maketh mention of Nysaean Pedion with the Medes of which people the horsses are so called Coelius Rhodiginus reproued a certaine man which translanted the Islandish horsses for the Nisaean horsses Plutarchis saith that Pirrhus had an apparition of a Nisaean horsse armed and furnished with a rider that Alexander the great was captaine thereof The Medes haue Colts of a most noble kind of horsses which as auncient writers do teach vs and as we our selues haue seene men when they beginne the battell with a fierce encounter are wont to prance valiantly which are called Nisaean horses Touching the Paphlagonians about the education of their horsses see more among the Venetians The Parthian horses are of a large body couragious of a gentle kinde and most sound of their feet Concerning those horsses which haue but one eye commended among the Parthians and of those which are distinguished by diuersitie of colors from those that come forth first I haue spoke already out of Absyrtus The Armenian and Parthian horsses are of a swifter pace then the Siculians and the Iberi swifter then the Parthians whereof Gratius writeth to this effect Scilicit Parthis inter sua mollia rura Musit honor veniat Caudini saxa Taburni Gargamdue trucem aut ligurinas de super Alpes Ante opus excussis caedet vnguibus tamen illi Estanimus funget que meas senissus in artes Sed iuxta vitium posuit Deus That is to say among the Parthians there hath remained honor for their soft Countries but let him come to the Rockes of Caudmus Tabernus and too rough Garganus or vppon the Ligurian Alpes then he will quickly shake off his hooues and make a shew of great valiantnes The horses of the Celtibarians are somwhat white and if they may be brought into Spaine they change their colour But the Parthians are alike for they excell all others in nimblenes and dexterity of running How the Parthians do make their pace easie in the trotters and hard footing horsses after the manner of geldings shall bee declared afterwards for persia preferreth these horsses aboue the censure of their patrimonies aswell to cary hauing an easie pace and being of most excellent dignity As for their pace it is thicke and short and he doth delight and lift vp the rider being not instructed by art but effecteth it by nature Amongst these ambling nagges called of the Latines among the common sort Totonarij their pace is indifferent and whereas they are not alike they are supposed to haue something common from both as it hath bin prooued whereof Vegetius writeth in this manner In a short iourny they haue the more comelines and grace in going but when they trauel far they are impatient stuborn and vnles they be tamed wil be stuborn against the rider and that which is a more greater maruell when they are chafed they are of a delightfull comelines their necke turneth in manner of a bow that is seemeth to lie on their brest The Pharsalian mares euermore bring foales very like their Syre and therfore very well so named Equae probae we read of the Phasian horsses which receiue their name from the the marke or brand of a bird so named or else because of their excellent beauty and comlinesse The Rosean horsses Varro so nameth of Rosea which Volatteranus writeth to be most fit for war Coelius and this Rosea otherwise Roscea Festus saith that it is a country in the the coasts of the Reatiens so called because the fields are said to be moist with that dew The horsses of Sacae if they happen to throw down their rider they forthwith stand stil that they may get vp againe Vegetius hauing commended the Persian horsses saith that the Armenians and Sapharens do follow next Aelianus This Saphirine verily is an Island in the Arabian coast and the people of Sapiria lie beside Pontus The horses of Epirota Salmarica and Dalmatia althogh they wil not abide to be bridled yet they snew that they are warlicke by their legs Vegetius The Sardinian horsses are nimble and fair but lesser then others The Sarmatican kinde of horsses is feat and wel fashioned in this kind very fit for running vnmixt hauing a wel seâ body a strong head and a comely necke Some horsses they cal Aetogenes from a certaine marke which they haue in their shoulders and colour which the Sarmatians doe take vnto themselues as very good with which they doe contend about their cruelty wherefore they imploy them in warlicke outrodes but those that beare the Eagles marke in their buttockes and taile they are disallowed of them and they report that they marke them so because they wil not vse them by reason least the rider shold quickly be destroyed or run into some trouble Pliny The Sarmatians when they entend any long iourneyes the day before they keepe them fasting giuing them a little drinke and so they wil ride them a hundered and fifty miles continually going These horsses are very fit for war and many of them are sounde gelded in ther tender age and they say they neuer loose their teeth It is a custome of Scythia and Sarmatia to geld their horsses
Noble as any other The cheefe colours are these bay white carnation golden russet mouse-colour fleabitten spotted pale and blacke of all these the blacke or bay is to be preferred Oppianus maketh distinction of Horsses by their colour in this manner the gray or blewish spotted is fittest for the hunting of the Hart the bright bay for the Beare and Leopards the blacke with flaming eies against the Lyons The naturall colour of the wilde Horsses are an ashe colour with a blacke strake from the head along the backe to the taile but among tame Horsses there are many good ones of Black White Browne Red and flea-bitten colour But yet it is to be remembred that seldome or neuer Coultes be foaled white but rather of other colour degenerating afterward by the increase of their age for such Horsses are more liuely durable and healthy then other of their kinde and therefor Plutarch commendeth a white Horsse of Sylla for his swiftnes of foot and stomacke among al colours âârânus first the blacke then the bay next the white and last the gray are most commended Camerarius commendeth a certain colour cald in Latin Varius and may bee englished daple gray because of the diuers in-textures of colours which although many nations doe disalow yet vndoubtedly that colour saith he is a signe and argument of a good nature constituted and builded vpon a temporate commixture of humors Where black white and yellow haires appeare so that the sight of one of these is nothing inferiour to the equestriall party coloured caparisons Among Horsses which are diuers coloured they which haue stars in their forehead and one white foote were most commended such were the Thrasian Horsses not admitted in copulation of which Virgill speaketh in this manner Thracius albis Portat equus buolor moculis vestigia primi Alba peda frontemque ostentans arduus albam Blacke Horsses also which haue one russet or swart spot in their faces or else a black toung are highly commended for generation but the pale coloured Horsses are no waies to be admitted to couer Mares because their colour is of no acount likewise it is seldom seen that the Fole proueth better then the sire The bay colour hath bin receiued without exception for the best trauailers for it is supposed that Baudius amongst the Latines is deriued of Vadium quia inter coetera animalia fortius vadat because among other creatures he goeth most surelye It is also behoouefull that in a Stallion Horsse the mane bee of the same colour with the body Artificial âeaneâ to mâke Mares conceiue the best colourd Colts Horsse-keepers haue deuised to make their Mares conceiue strange colours for when the Mares would go to the horse they paint a Stallion with diuers colours and so bring him into the sight and presence of the Mare where they suffer him to stand a good while vntill she perfectly conceiue in her imagination the true Idea and ful impression of those pictures and then they suffer him to couer her which being performed she conceiueth a Foale of those colours In like manner Pigeons conceiue younge ones of diuers colours The Germans to mingle the colour of horses haires especially to bring blacke among white take the roots of fearue and of sage and seeth them together in leigh and then wash their horsses all ouer therewith For the making of their horsses white they take that fat which ariseth from the decoction of a moule in an earthen pot and there withal anoint the places they would haue white Also they shaue off the haires and put vpon the balde place crude hony and Badggers grease which maketh the haires to arise white and many other meanes are vsed by horsse-leatches as afterward shal be shewed In the olde age of a horsse his hair doth naturally change white aboue all other beasts that we know and the reason is because the brain-pan is a more thin and slender bone then the greatnesse of his body would require which appeareth by this that receiuing a blow in that place his life is more indangered then by hurting any other member acording to the obseruation of Homer Et qua fetae haerent capiti laetaleque vuluus Precipae sit equis And thus much shall suffice for the colour of a Stallion now followeth the form or outward proportion of the body The forme which ought to be great and solide his stature aunswerable to his strength his sides large his buttockes round his breast broad his whole body full and rough with knots of muscles his foot dry and solide hauing a high hoofe at the heele The parts of his beauty are these a little dry head the skin almost cleauing to the bons short pricked eares The beautye of a Stallion great eies broad nostrils a long and large mane and taile with a solid and fixed rotundity of his hoofes such an one as thrusteth his head deepe into the water when he drinketh his ribs and loines like an Oxes a smooth and straight backe his or hippes long broad and fleshy his Legges large fleshy and dry the sinnewes and ioynctures thereof great and not fleshy neare the hoofes that the hinder part of his body be higher then his forepart like as in a Hart and this beauty better appeareth in a leane body then in a fat for fatnesse couereth many faults the former parts are thus expressed by Horace Regibus hic mos est vbi equos mercantur opertos Inspiciunt nesi facies vt saepe decora Molli fulta pede est emptorem inducat hiantem Quod pulchri clunes breue quod caput ardua ceruix If you will make triall of your stallion whether he be fit for procreation Hipparchus teacheth you this experiment presse the genytall member with your two fingers and with lockes of Woll draw out his seede which being so drawne out if it cleaue and hang together so as it will not be cut nor easily parted it is a demonstration of a good Stalion but if it hang not together like birdlime but easily go asunder like milke or whay such a Horse is not to be admitted to couer your Mares The age of a Stallion When Horsses be olde among other faultes they engender Foales lame in their feete and therefore they are to be kept and not to be admitted to copulation nor War for his rage is like a weake fire among wet stuble according to these verses Morbo grauis aut segnior annis Deficit abde domo nec turpi ignosce senecta Frigidus in venerem senior frustraque laborem Ingratum trahit si quando ad praelia ventum est Vt quondam in stipulis magnus sine viribus ignis In cassum furit Therefore it behooueth that a Stalion Horsse be not vnder three yeares old when he couereth a Mare and it is best for him to beginne at fiue Collumella for so he will indure in generation not onely till he be twenty
and full of bunches like Harts no where smooth but in the tops of the speers and where the vaines run to carry nutriment to their whole length which is couered with a hairye skin they are not so rough at the beginning or at the first prosses specially in the for part as they are in the second for that onely is full of wrinckles from the bottom to the middle they growe straight but from thence they are a little recurued they haue onely three speers or prosses the two lower turne awry but the vppermost groweth vpright to heauen yet sometimes it falleth out as the keepers of the saide beast affirmed that either by sicknes or else through want of food the left horn hath but two branches In length they are one Roman foot and a halfe and one finger and a halfe in bredth at the roote two Roman palmes The top of one of the hornes is distant from the top of the other three Roman feet and three fingers and the lower speere of one horne is distant from the lower of the other two Roman feet measured from the roots in substance and collor they are like to Harts hornes they waied together with the dry broken spongy-bone of the forehead fiue pound and a halfe and halfe an ounce I meane sixteene ounces to the pound they fall off euery yeare in the month of Aprill like to Harts and they are not hollow The bredth of their fore-heads betwixt the hornes is two Roman palmes and a halfe the top of the crown betwixt the horns is hollow on the hinder part and in that siecel lieth the brain which discendeth downe to the middle region of the eies Theyr teeth are like Harts and inwardly in their cheekes they grow like furrowes bigger then in a Horsse the tooth rising out sharp aboue the throat as it should seeme that none of his meate should fall thereinto vnbruised This beast in his young age is of a mouse or Asse colour but in his elder age it is more yellowish especially in the extreame partes of his body the haire smooth but most of all on his legges but vnder his belly in the inner part of his knee the top of his Neck breast shoulders and back-bone not so smooth In heigth it was about 22. handfuls and three fingers being much swifter then any horse the female beareth euery yeare as the keeper said in Norway two at a time but in England it brought forth but one The flesh of it is blacke and the fibere broad like an Oxes but being dressed like harts flesh and baked in an Ouen it tasted much sweeter It eateth commonly grasse but in england seldome after the fashion of horsses which forbeare hay when they may haue bread but leaues rindes of trees bread and Oats are most acceptable vnto it It reacheth naturally thirty hand breadths high but if any thing be higher which it doth affect it standeth vp vpon the hinder legs and with the forelegs there imbraseth or leaneth to the tree and with his mouth biteth off his desire It drinketh water and also English Ale in great plenty yet without drunkennesse and there were that gaue it wine but if it drinke plentifully it became drunk It is a most pleasant creature being tamed but being wilde is very fierce and an enemy to mankind persecuting men not only when he seeth them by the eie but also by the sagacity of his nose following by foote more certainly then any horse for which cause they which kept them neare the high waies did euery yeare cut off their hornes with a saw It setteth both vpon horse and foot-men trampling and treading them vnder foot whom he did ouermatch when he smelleth a man before hee seeth him hee vttereth a voice like the gruntling of a Swine being without his female it doth most naturally affect a woman thrusting out his genital which is like a Harts as if it discernd sexes In Norway they cal it an Elke or Elend but it is plaine they are deceiued in so calling it because it hath not the legges of an Elke which neuer bend nor yet the hornes as by conference may appeare Muchlesse can I beleeue it to be the Hippardius because the female wanteth hornes and the head is like a Mules but yet it may be that it is a kind of Elke for the hornes are not alwaies alike or rather the Elke is a kind of Horsse-hart which Aristotle calleth Arrochosius of Arracotos a region of Assya and heerein I leaue euery man to his iudgment referring the reader vnto the former discourses of a Elke and the Tragelaphus OF THE SEA-HORSE THe Sea-horsse called in Greeke Hippotomos and in Latine Equus Fluuiatilis It is a most vgly and filthy beast so called because in his voice and mane he resembleth a Horsse but in his head an Oxe or a Calfe in the residue of his body a Swine for which cause some Graecians call him somtimes a Sea-horsse and sometimes a Sea-oxe which thing hath moued many learned men in our time to affirme that a Sea-horsse was neuer seene whereunto I would easily subscribe saith Bellonias were it not that the auncient figures of a Sea-horsse altogether resembled that which is heere expressed and was lately to bee seene at Constantinople from whom this picture was taken It liueth for the most part in Nilus yet is it of a doubtful life for it brings forth and breedeth on the land and by the proportion of the Legges it seemeth rather to bee made for going then for swimming for in the night time it eateth both Hay and frutes forraging into corne fieldes and deuouring whatsoeuer commeth in the way And therefore I thought it fit to be inserted into this story As for the Sea-calfe which commeth sometimes to land onely to take sleepe I did not iudge it to belong to this discourse because it feedeth onely in the waters This picture was taken out the Colossus In the Vatican at Rome representing the Riuer Nylus and eating of a Crocadile and thus I reserue the farther discourse of this beast vnto the History of Fishes adding only thus much that it ought to be no wonder to consider such monsters to come out of the Sea which resemble horsses in their heads seeing therein are also creatures like vnto Grapes and swords The Orsean Indians do hunt a beast with one horne hauing the body of a Horsse and the head of a Hart. The Aethiopians likewise haue a beast in the necke like vnto a Horsse and the feet and legs like vnto an Oxe The Rhinocephalus hath a necke like a Horsse and also the other parts of his body but it is said to breath out aire which killeth men Pausanias writeth that in the Temple of Gabales there is the picture of a Horsse which from his breast backwards is like a whale Lampsacenus writeth that in the Scythian Ocean ther are Ilands wherein the people are called Hippopodes hauing the bodyes of men but the feete of Horsses and
may suffice for the monster horsses In the next place it is good to enquire what the Centaures are who are described by the Poets to haue their foreparâlike men and their hinder part like horsses Of Centaurs the occasion wherof is thus related by Pindarus that Centauru the Sonne of Ixion committed buggery wich the mares of Magnetia vnder the mountaine Pelius from whence came that monstrous birth in the vpper part resembling the father and in the neather the mother These faith he possessed the mountaines and desart places of Thessaly being giuen to all manner of Latrociny and Depraedation They were called also Hippocentauri And some saye that they were first of all nourished by the Nimphes in the mountaine Pelius who afterwards being the first that tamed horsses were thought to be halfe men and halfe horses because they were seene backward and from hence came the fable that they were tamed by Hercules which was one of his greatest labours But yet that no man may wonder or thinke it impossible that such monstrous creatures should haue existence in nature these authorities following may perswade sufficiently Plutarch in his banker of wisemen affirmeth there was a horsse-keeper which broght into the house of Periander an infant or rather a monster which he had got vpon a Mare which had the head necke hands and voice oâ a child and the other partes like a horsse Diocles presently iudged it to bee a monster and signified contentions and strifes in the world But Thales told Periander he was of another opinion namely that it was no monster but a meere naturall birth from such a copulation and therefore aduised Periander that either he should keepe no riders or els let them haue wiues Claudius Caesar also writeth that in the time of his raigne there was such a one borne in Thessaly which dyed the same day it was borne and Pliny that he afterwards saw it seasoned in hony brought out of Egypt to be shewed to the Emperor These Centaures Homer calleth Feray that is Ferae wilde persons The Lapithae and the Centaures are said to be very like the one to the other and were also once very louing but they fell afterwards to deadly war by reason the Centaures in a banket being drunk offered to rauish the famals of the Lapithae for which cause the Lopithae slew them in their iealosie wheron fell a mortal war whereby the poets signifie how intemperancy in men beasts doth not only bring with it other sins but also causeth much slaughter And so I conclude the story of Centaures holding it possible that such should be generated by vncleane and vnnaturall copulation but vnpossible that they should liue long after birth and therefore the Centaurs of the Poets are nothing els but men sitting on horssebacke mistaken for one entire creature which were diuided and so I conclude with the verse of Horace Humano capiti cernicem pictor Equinan Hoc monstrum puto Centaurus foret Of the statues and figures of Horsses IT is was no smal dignity that the ancient Cephalenes did stamp their mony with the picture of a horsse for surely from them it came ãâã that coine was firste of all called currant because of the ymage of a speedy horsse wherewithall it wes imprinted Textor also writeth that amongest the auncientes there was a custome to make the Character of a horsse in the forehead of a boud-slaue there was also ymages of horssemen and horsses renowned in many countries for the honor of both such were the statues of the Amazons cald Hippiades who by Lysias the Oratour are saide to be the first that euer backed horsses Such was the statue of Claelia Quintus Martius Tremulus Domitianus and manye other both men and women for the Romaines had the Equestriall statues in great reuerence and ceremony no doubt in imitation of the Graecians but with this difference that they pictured none but the swift horsses but the Romans horsses and chariots and from hence came the custome to haue chariots in triumph But this custome to haue six horsses in a chariot was brought in last of all by Augustus Aristolemus pictured the chariots and wagener Pisicrates the woman Pitho with a wagon Eutââcrates the sonne of Lysippus expressed the Equestriall combate at the Oracle of Trophânium with singular art also many Chariots of Medea the horsse and his cariage there were also ãâ¦ã chariots at Rome in the porch of Iupiters Temple as we haue shewed before in the discourse of chariots When Constantinus the great took a view of the citie of Rome and passing from place to place came at length to Forum Traiani the most exquisite building of all the world he stâod amazed at the admirable frame of Giants which were lineally deciphered therein whereof disparing to imitate any part of that worke he chose onely to erect the picture of such a horsse prince Amianus as in the middle of the same was erected in remembrance of Traiane and so much he intimated to his followers close by him stood that princely Hormisdaâa a persian who made the Emperor this answere Ante imperator stabulum tale condi iuâeto si vales Equus quem fabricaâe disponis ita late succedat vt iste quem videmus O Noble Empe. before you make such a horsse first of all builde such a stable that your worke in all parts may be correspondent to this which you propose vnto your selfe to imitate Mâââllus the Macedonian raised two porches which were compassed about with two horsses without inscription or dedication which now are compassed with the porches of Octauia the row of Equestrial statues in the front of the said buildings now the greatest ornament of that place he also brought out of Macedonia And it is said that Alexander the great caused Lysippus that singular workeman to frame the pictures of all those knights which in his company were slaine at the Riuer Granicum and also to place his owne picture amongst them In the citty of Rome there are two mountaines called Equilini in one of them are the baâhes of Dicâlesian and the great Marble horsses with two men halfe naked holdinge their reines being most singular workemanship whereof one hath this inscription in latine letters Opus Praxitelis the vvork of Praxitiles the other Opus Phidiae the vvork of Phidias and it is cleare that they were brought thither by Tyridates king of Armenia for whose entertainment Nero caused the Theatre of Pompey to be couered all ouer with gold in the space of one daie Câpontinus The story of the Troian horsse is vulgarlie known which is also caled Equus Durateus or Durens wherein Graecian princes hid themselues when they tooke Troy according to these verses Nec cum duratens Troianis pergama partu Inflammascit Equus nocturno graiugenarum The truth whereof standeth thus the Graecians making shew that they had vowed a vow vnto Pallas framed a horsse of so great bignes that it coulde not be
number quality and sight of the part or member diseased For if it bee otherwise formed or more or lesse in number or quantity or else otherwise placed then it ought to be then it is not well Secondly sicknesse is knowne by alteration of the quality as if it be too hot or too cold too moist or too dry Thirdly when the action of any member is hurt or letted as when the eie-sight is not perfect it is a manifest signe that the eie is euill affected or sicke Likewise when there breedeth no good blood in the body it is an euideÌt token that the liuer is not wel Fourthly sicknesse is known by the excrements that come from the beast as by dung or stale for if his dung be too strong of sent full of whole Cornes or of Wormes too hard or too soft or euill coloured it is a token that he is not well in his body so likewise if his stale be too thicke or too thinne too white or too red it betokeneth some surfet raw digestion or else some griefe in his reynes bladder or stones But Vegetius saith that it is best knowne whether a Horsse be sicke or not or toward sicknesse by these signes heere following for if he be more slow and heauy in his trotting or gallopping harder of Spurre then he was woont to be or spreadeth his litter abroad with his feete often tumbling in the night season fetching his breath short and violently loud snuffling in the Nose and cââting out vapors at his Nostrils or lyeth downe immediatly after his prouender or maketh long draughts in his drinking or in the night season is now downe and now on foot or if in the next morning he be very hot in his pasternes or betwixt his eares or that his eares hang more then they are wont to doe againe if his eye-sight be dim and his eies hollow in his head his haires standing right vp and his flanks hollow and empty whensoeuer two or three of these signes doe concur together then it is to be thought saith Vegetius that the Horsse is not well and therefore hee would haue him immediatly to bee separated from his companyons that bee whole and to bee placed by himselfe vntill his disease bee perfectly knowne and cured and especially if it bee any contagious disease I haue seene diuers Ferrers heere in England to vse that for the triall of a Horsses sicknesse which I neuer read in any Author that is to feele his stones whether they be hot or cold and to smell at his nostrils and so by the sauour thereof to iudge what sicknesse the Horsse hath Truely I thinke that no euill waie if they can discerne with their sense of smelling the diuersity of sauours that commeth out of his Nostrils and then aptly apply the same to the humours whereof such sauours bee bred and so orderly to seeke out the originall cause of his sickenes But I feare mee that more Ferrers smell without iudgement than with such iudgement and no maruell why sith that few or none be lerned or haue beene brought vp with skilful maisters But from hence forth I trust that my trauaile will cause such Ferrers as can read and haue some vnderstanding already to bee more diligent in seeking after knowledge then they haue bin heeretofore whereby they shall be the better able to serue their countrey and also to profit themselues with good fame wheras now for lacke of knowledge they incurre much slander Of the Feauer and the diuers kinds thereof in a horsse I Thinke it will seeme straunge vnto some to heare that a horsse should haue an Ague or Feauer but it was not strange vnto the men of olde time as to Absyrtus Hierocles Blundevââe Xenophon Vegetius and such like olde Souldiors thoroughlie experimented in horsses griefes A Feuer according to the learned Phisitians is an vnnaturall and immoderate heat which proceeding first from the hart spreadeth itselfe thoroughout all the arteries and vaines of the bodie and so letteth the actions thereof Of Feauers there be three generall kindes whereof the first is that which breedeth in the spirites being inflamed or heated more than their nature requireth The second breedeth in the humors being also distempered by heat The third in the firme parts of the body being continually hot What spirits and humors be hath beene told you before in the keepers Office Of these three generall kinds doe spring many other speciall kinds as Quotidians Tertians Quartanes Feauers Hectique and very many others whereunto mans body is subiect whereof none of my Authors do treat vnlesse Vegetius who speaketh somewhat of a Feauer Quotidian of a Feauer continuall and also of a feauer Accidentall He speaketh also of Summer Autumne and Winter Feauers without making any great difference betwixt them more then that one is worse than another by reason of the time and season of the yeare so that in effect all is but one Feauer Wherefore according vnto Absirtus opinion I will breefely shew you first the causes whereof it proceedes and then the signes how to know it and finally how to cure the same The Feauer chaunceth sometime by surfetting of extreame labour or exercise as of too much trauelling and especially in hot weather of too swift gallopping and running and sometime by extreame heat of the Sunne and also by extreame cold of the ayre and sometime it breedeth of crudity or raw digestion which many times happeneth by ouer greedy eating of sweet green corne or of such prouender as was not throughly dried nor clensed for after such greedy eating and specially of such meat neuer followeth perfect digestion The signes to know a Feauer be these The horsse doth continually hold downe his head and is not able to lift it vp his eies are euen blown so as hee cannot easily open them yea and many times they be watering the flesh of his lippes and of all his bodye is lush and feeble his stones hange low his body is hot and his breath is very hotte and strong he standeth weakly on his legges and in his going draweth them lazily after him yea hee cannot goe but very softly and that staggering heere and there he will lie downe on his side and is not able to turne himselfe or to wallow he forsaketh his meat both hay and prouender and is desirous of nothing but of drinke which as Absirtus saith is an assured token of a Feauer he also sleepeth but little The cure and diet Let him blood in the face and Temples and also in the pallate of his mouth and the first day giue him no meat but onely warme drinke and that by little and little Afterward giue him continually grasse or else very sweet hay wet in water and let him be kept warme and sometime walke him vppe and downe faire and softly in a temperate ayre and then let him rest and when you see that he beginnes to amend giue him by little and little at once barly faire sifted and
somtime spred throughout al the vaines of the body and sometimes perhaps remaining only in the head or else in the spleene or places next adioyning The other mad Horsse was a Roane of Maisters Ashleies maister of the Iewell house which with his teeth crushed his maisters right forefinger in pieces whilest he offered him a little hay to eate whereby hee lost in a manner the vse of his whole hand to the great griefe of al his friends and also of al the muses which were wont to be much delighted with such passing sweete musick as that his fine quauering hand could sometime make vpon diuers instrumentes but especially vpon the Virginals This Horsse I say though he could eat his meat drinke his drink and sleepe yet if hee were neuer so little offended he would take on like a spirit and both bite and strike at any man that came nigh him yea and would bite himselfe by the shoulders most terribly pulling away lumps of flesh so broad as a mans hand and whensoeuer he was ridden he was faine to be musled with a mussell of iron made of purpose to keep him from biting either of his rider or himselfe which no doubt proceeded of some kinde of frenzy or madnes whereunto the Horsse was subiect by meanes that hotblood as I take it abounded ouermuch in him But now as touching the causes signes and cure of Horsses madnesse you shal heare the opinion of old writers for Martin neuer tooke such cure in hand Absirtus and the other Authors before mentioned say that the madnesse of a Horsse commeth either by meanes of some extreame heat taken by traueling or long standing in the hot sun or else by eating ouer many fitches or by some hot bloode resorring to the pannicles of the brain or through aboundance of choler remaining in the vaines or else by drinking of some very vnwholsome water The signes bee these he wil bite the manger and his owne body and run vpon euery man that comes nigh him he will continually shake his eares and stare with his eies and fome at the mouth and also as Hipocrates saith hee will forsake his meat and pine himselfe with hunger The cure Cause him to be let blood in his Legs aboundanly which is doone as I take it to diuert the bloode from his head Notwithstanding it were not amisse to let him blood in the Neck and brest vains Then giue him this drinke take the roots of wild Cowcumber and boile it in harsh red wine put thereunto a litle Nitre and giue it him with a horn lukwarm or if you can get no Cucumber then take Rue Mints and boile them in the wine It were not amisse also to adde thereunto a handfull of blacke Elleborus for that is a very good herbe against madnes Eumelius saith that if you giue him mans dung in wine to drink 3. mornings together it wil heale him also to take of black Elleborus 2. or 3. handfuls boile it in a sufficient quantity of strong vineger therwith rub and chafe both his head and all his body once or twice a day for the oftner his head is rubbed the better and often exercise is very profitable to al his body Some againe would haue the skin of his head to be pierced in diuers places with an hot iron to let out the euill humors but if none of all this will preuaile then the last remedy is to geld him of both his stones or else of one at the least for either that wil heale him or else nothing As touching the diet and vsage of a mad Horsse the Authors doe not agree for some would haue him kept in a close darke and quiet house voyde from all noise which as Absirtus saith will either make him madder or else kill him out of hand His diet would be thin that is to say without any prouender and that daie that he is let blood and receiueth his drinke they would haue him fast vntill euen and then to haue a warme mash of Barly meale yea methinkes it were not amisse to feed him only with warm mashes and hay and that by a little at once vntill he be somewhat recouered Another of the Head-ache Markham THe Head-ache as most are opynionated proceedeth of cold and rast digestion the cure is take a Goose feather annointed with Oyle de bay and thrust it vp into the horsses nostrils to make him neese then take a wreath of Pease-straw or wet hay and putting fire thereunto hold it vnder the horsses nose so as the smoke may ascend vp into his head then being thus perfumed take a knife and pricke him in the pallat of the mouth so as he may licke vp and chaw his own blood which done haue great care in keeping his head warme and doubt not his recouery Of the sleeping euill Blundevile THis is a disease forcing the beast continually to sleepe whether he wil or not taking his memory and appetite cleane away and therefore is called of the Physitians Lethargus it proceedeth of aboundance of flegme moistening the brain ouermuch It is easie to know it by the continuall sleeping of the Horsse The cure of this disease according to Pelagonius Vegetius and others is in this sort Let him bloode in the necke and then giue him this drinke Take of Camomile and Motherwort of each two or three handfuls and boile them in a sufficient quantity of water and put thereunto a little wheat bran salt and vineger and let him drinke a pinte of that euery day the space of three or foure daies together It is good also to perfume and chafe his hed with Time Peniroyall sodden together in vineger or with Brimstone and feathers burned vpon a chafingdish of coales vnder his nose and to prouoke him to neese by blowing pepper and Pyrethre beaten to powder vp into his nostrils yea and to annoint the palate of his mouth with Hony and Mustard mingled together and in his drinke which would be alwaies warme water to put Parsly seede and Fennell seede to prouoke vrine His Legs also would bee bathed and his hooues filled with wheat bran salt and vineger sodden togither and laid too so hot as hee may indure it and in any case suffer him not to sleepe but keepe him waking and stirring by continual crying vnto him or pricking him with some sharp thing that cannot passe through the skin or else by beating him with a whip and this doing he shall recouer Another of the sleeping euill Markham THe sleeping euil in a horsse differeth nothing from that which the Physitians cal the Lethargy in men for it prouoketh the horsse to sleep continually without disisting robbing his memory and appetite of their qualities the knowledge thereof is easily knowne by his drowsinesse and the cure in this sort Let one stand by him and either with fearefull noise or stripes perforce keepe him waking then let him bloode vnder the eies and in the necke and
then take a leafe or two of the best Tobacco which being dryed and beaten to powder with a quill blow it vp into his nostrils and giue him to drinke vineger salt and Mustard mingled well together to which if you put a little Honye it shall not be amisse and also when he drinketh any water put thereto either Fennel-seedes Anny-seedes or Pepper Of a Horsse that is taken A Horsse is said to be taken when he is depriued of his feeling and mouing Blundevile so as he is able to stir no manner of way but remaineth in such state and forme as he was taken in Which disease is called of the Physitians by the Greeke name Catalepsis and in Latine Deprehensio or Congelatio and of Vegetius Sideratio which also calleth those beasts that haue this disease Iâââenta sideratitia The physitians say that it commeth of aboundance of Phlegme and choler mixt together or else of melancholy blood which is a cold dry humor opressing the hinder parts of the brain But Vegetius saith that it coms of some extreame outward cold striking sodainely into the empty vaines or some extreame heate or raw digestion or else of some great hunger caused by long fasting It is easie to knowe by the description before mentioned As touching the cure Vegetius saith that if it come of colde then it is good to giue him to drinke one ounce of Laserpitium with Wine and Oyle mixt together and made lukewarme if of heat then to giue it him with water and hony if of crudity then to heaâe him by fasting if of hunger then by feeding him well with Pease But Martin saith that this disease is called of the French-men Surprins and it commeth as he saith most chiefly of cold taken after a heat he wisheth a horsse that is thus taken to be cured in this sort First to be let blood on both sides of the breast and then to be put in a heat either by continuall stirring and molesting him or else if he wil stir by no meanes then to bury him all saue the head in a warme dunghil and ther to let him lie vntil his limbs haue some feeling And before you so bury him it shall be good to giue him this drinke Take of Malmsie three pints and put thereunto a quarterne of Suger and some Cinamon and Cloues and let him drinke it good and warme and vntill he be perfectly whole let him be kept warm and often exercised and walked vp and down in the stable and thinly dieted and drink nothing but warme water wherein if you put some Fennell and Parsly seed to prouoke him to vrine it shal be the better And if he cannot dung let him bee raked and haue a glister made of the broath of Mallowes and fresh Butter Another of a Horsse that is taken A Horsse which is bereft of his feeling moouing or stirring is said to be taken and in sooth so he is in that he is arrested by so vallainous a disease yet some Farriors Markham not wel vnderstanding the ground of the disease conster the word taken to bee striken by some Plannet or euill spirit which is false for it proceedeth of too great aboundance of fleme and choler simboliz'd together the cure is thus Let him blood in his spur vains and his breast vaines and then by foulding him in aboundant number of cloaths driue him into an extreame sweat during which time of his sweating let one chafe his legs with oyle de bay then after he hath sweat the space of two houres abate his cloaths moderatly and throughly after he is dry annoint him all ouer with Oyle Petrolium and in twice or thrice dressing him he wil be sound Of the Staggers THis is a dizzinesse of the head called in Latine vertigo and of the Italians as I remember Capistura It commeth of some corrupt bloode Blundevile or grosse and tough humors oppressing the brain from whence proceedeth a vaporous spirit dissolued by a weake heat which troubleth all the head The signes be these dimnesse of sight the reeling and staggering of the Horsse who for very pain wil thrust his head against the walles and forsake his meate The cure according to Martin is thus Let him blood in the temple vaines and then with a knife make an hole an inch long ouerwart his forehead hard vnderneath his fore-top and raise the skinne with a Cornet thrusting it vpward towards the head-stale a good handfull and then put in a taint dipt in Turpentine and hogs greace molten together renewing the taint euery day once vntill it be whole and do the like vpon the ridge of the rumpe but methinkes it were better to do the like in the powle of his head or nape of his necke for so should the euil humors haue both waies the easier and speedier passage and as touching his dyet let him haue continually warme drinke and mashes and once a day be walked vp and downe faire and softly to exercise his body Of the Staggers THe Staggers is a dizy disease breeding frenzy in a Horsse which if it be not instantly helped Markham is mortall the cure is thus Let him blood in the temple vaines and then aply to his temples cloath in the iuyce of Garlike and Aqua vitae mixt together if you crush Garlike and put it in his eares it is excellent or if you slit his forehead and loosening the skin from the bone taint it with Turpentine and Sallet-oyle it will vndoubtedly help him Of the falling euill Blundevile THis is a kind of convulsion or crampe called of the Latins by the Greek name Epilepsia in Italian Il morbo caduco depriuing the beast at certaine times and for a certaine space of the vse of feeling hearing and seeing and of al the other senses And although it be a disease that hath bin seldome seene to chance vnto Horses of this Countrey yet it appeareth by Absirtus and also by Vegetius and diuers others that Horsses be subiect therunto For Absirtus writing to his friend Tiberius Claudius saith that vnto horses chanceth many times the falling sicknesse The signes whereof are these The Horsse will fall down suddenly partly through the resolution of his members and partly through distension of his sinnewes and al his body will quiuer and quake and somtime he wil fome at the mouth Vegetius againe writeth in this sort by a certain course of the Moone horses and other beasts many times do fal and die for a time as wel as men The signs wherof are these Being fallen their bodies will quiuer and quake and their mouths will fome and when a man would thinke that they would die out of hand they rise suddenly vp and fal to their meat And by feeling the gristle of their Nostrils with your finger you shall know whether they wil fal often or not for the more cold the gristle be the oftner and the lesse cold it be the seldomer they wil fal The cure
Let him bloode aboundantly in the necke vaines and within fiue daies after let him blood againe in the temple vaines and let him stand in a warme and darke stable and annoint al his body with comfortable ointments and his head and eares with Oyle of Bay and liquid Pitch or Tar mingled together And also put some therof into his eares and and then make a Biggen for him of some soft warm skin as of a sheepes skin or els of canuas stuffed vnderneath with woll and make him this purging drink Take of Radish roots two ounces of the root of the herb called in Latine Panax or Panaces and of Scammony of each one ounce beate al these things together and boile them in a quart of Hony and at sundry times as you shal see it needefull giue him a good spoonefull or two of this in a quart of Ale lukewarme whereunto would be put three or foure spoonefuls of oyle It is good also to blow the powder of Motherwort or of Pyrethrum vp into his nostrils and if the disease do continue stil for al this then it shal be needeful to pearse the skinne of his forehead in diuers places with a hot iron and to let out the humors oppressing his braine of the night Mare THis is a disease oppressing either man or beast in the night season when he sleepeth so as he cannot drawe his breath and is called of the Latines Incubus It commeth of a continual crudity or raw digestion of the stomach from whence grosse vapors ascending vp into the head do oppresse the braine and al the sensitiue powers so as they cannot do their office in giuing perfect feeling and mouing to the body And if this disease chancing often to a man be not cured in time it may perhaps grow to a worse mischiefe as to the faling euil madnesse or Apopelexy But I could neuer learne that Horses were subiect to this disease neither by relation nor yet by reading but only in an old English writer who sheweth neither cause nor signes how to know when a horsse hath it but onely teacheth how to cure it with a fond foolish charme which because it may perhaps make you gentle Reader to laugh as wel as it did me for recreation sake I will heere rehearse it Take a flint stone that hath a hole of his owne kinde and hang it ouer him and write in a bill In nomine patris c. Saint George our Ladies Knight He walked day so did he night Vntill he her found He her beate and he her bound Till truely her troath she him plight That she would not come within the night There as saint George our Ladies knight Named was three times saint George And hang this scripture ouer him and let him alone with such proper charmes as this is the false Friers in times past were wont to charme the mony out of plaine folks purses Of the Apoplexy THe Apoplexy is a disease depriuing all the whole body of sense and mouing And if it depriue but part of the body then it is called of the Latines by the Greeke name Paralysis in our tongue a palsie It proceedes of cold grosse and tough humors Blundevile oppressing the braine all at once which may breed partly of crudities and raw digestion and partly by meanes of some hurt in the head taken by a fall stripe or otherwise As touching Apoplexy few or none writing of horsleach-craft do make any mention thereof but of the Palsie Vegetius writeth in this manner A Horsse saith he may haue the palsie as wel as a man which is knowne by these signes He will go grouelling and sideling like a Crab carrying his necke awry as if it were broken and goeth crookedly with his legs beating his head against the wals and yet forsaketh not his meate nor drink and his prouender seemeth moist and wet The cure Let him blood in the temple vaine on the contrary side of the wrying of his necke and annoint his necke with comfortable ointment and splent it with splents of wood to make it stand right and let him stand in a warme stable and giue him such drinks as are recited in the next chapter following But if all this profiteth not then draw his necke with a hot yron on the contrary side that is to say on the whole side from the neather part of the eare downe to the shoulders and draw also a good long strike on his temple on that side and on the other temple make him a little star in this sort * and from his raines to his mid backe draw little lines in a manner of a ragged staffe and that will heale him Of the Crampe or convulsion of the sinnewes and Muscles A Conuulsion or crampe is a forceable and painefull contraction or drawing together of the sinnewes and Muscles which doe happen sometime through the whole body and sometime but in one part or member only And according as the body may be diuersely drawne so do the Physitians and also mine Authors that write of horse-leach craft giue it diuers names For if the body be drawne forward then they call it in Greeke Emprosthotonos in Latine Tensio ad anteriora And if the body be drawne backe it is called in Greeke Opisthotonos in Latine Tensio ad pesteriora But if the body be starke and straite bowing neither forward nor backward then it is called simply in Greeke Tetanos in Latine Distensio or Rigor which names also are applied to the like conuulsions of the necke Notwithstanding Vegetius writing of this diease inâituleth his chapters de Roborosis a strange terme and not to be found againe in any other Aâthor A conuulsion as I said before may chance as well to one part or member of the body as to the whole body as to the eie to the skin of the forehead to the rootes of the toâgue to the iawes to the lips to the arme hand or Legge that is to say whensoeuer the sinnew or muscle seruing to the moouing of that part is euill affected or grieued Of which conuulsions though ther be many diuers causes yet Hippocrates bringeth them all into two that is to say into fulnesse and emptinesse for when a conuulsion proceedeth either of some inflamation of superfluous eating or drinking or for lacke of due purgation or of ouermuch rest and lacke of exercise all such causes are to be referred to repleâion or fulnesse But if a conuulsion come by means of ouermuch purging or bleeding or much watching extreame labor long fasting or by wounding or pricking of the sinnewes then al such causes are to be referred vnto emptinesse And if the conuulsion proceede of fulnesse it chanceth suddenly and all at once but if of emptynesse then it commeth by little and little and leisurely Besides these kindes of conuulsions there is also chancing many times in a mans singers Legges and toes another kind of conuulsion which may bee called a windye conuulsion for that it proceedes of
a straw deep so as both ends may meet vpon the breast then make a hole in his forehead hard vnder the fore-top and thrust in a cornet vpwarde betwixt the skin and the flesh a handfull deepe then put in a Goose feather doubled in the midst and annointed with Hogs-greace to keepe the hole open to the intent the matter may run out the space of ten daies But euery day during that time the hole must be clensed once and the feather also clensed and fresh annointed and so put in again And once a day let him stand vpon the bit one houre or two or be ridden two or three miles abroad by such a one as wil beare his head and make him to bring it in But if the Cricke be such as the Horsse cannot holde his necke straite but cleane awry as I haue seene diuers my selfe then I thinke it not good that the Horsse be drawne with a hot iron on both sides of the necke but onely on the contrary side As for example if he bend his head toward the right side then to draw him as is a foresaid onely on the lefte side and to vse the rest of the cure as is aboue saide and if neede bee you may splent him also with handsome staues meete for the purpose to make his necke stand right Of Wennes in the neck A Wen is a certaine kirnell like a tumor of swelling the inside whereof his hard like a gristle and spongious like a skin ful of wrets Of Wens some be great and some be small Againe some be very painefull and some not paineful at all The Physitians say that they proceede of grosse and vicious humors but Vegetius saith that they chance to a Horsse by taking cold or by drinking of waters that be extreame cold The cure according to Martin is thus take of Mallowes Sage and red nettles of each one handful boile them in running water and put therunto a litle butter and hony and when the herbs be soft take them out and all to bruise them and put thereunto of oile of Bay two ounces and two ounces of Hogs-greace and warme them together ouer the fire mingling them well together that done plaister it vpon a piece of leather so big as the Wen and lay it to so hot as the Horse may endure it renewing it euery day in such sort the space of eight daies and if you perceiue that it will come to no head then lance it from the midst of the Wen downward so deep as the matter in the bottom may be discouered and let out that doone heale it vp with this salue take of Turpentine a quarter and wash it nine times in faire new water then put thereunto the yolk of an egge and a little English Saffron beaten into powder and make a taint or rowle of Flax and dip it in that ointment and lay it vnto the sore renewing the same euery day once vntil it be whole Of swelling in the necke after bloodletting THis may come of the fleame being rusty and so causing the vaine to rankle or else by meanes of some cold wind striking suddainely into the hole The cure according to Martin is thus First annoint it with oyle of Camomell warmed and then lay vpon it a little hay wet in cold water and bind it about it with a cloth renewing it euery day the space of fiue daies to see whether it wil grow to a head or else vanish away If it grow to a head then giue it a slit with a lancet and open it with a Cornet that the matter may come out Then heale it vp by tainting it with Flax dipt in Turpentin and Hogs-greace molten together dressing it so once a day vntil it be whole How to staunch blood IF a Horsse be let blood when the signe is in the necke the vaine perhaps will not leaue bleeding so soone as a man would haue it which if any such thing chance then Russius saith it is good to binde thereunto a little new Horse dung tempered with chalke and strong vineger and not to remooue it from thence the space of three daies or else to lay thereunto burnt silke felt or cloath for al such things wil staunch blood Of the falling of the Crest THis commeth for the most part of pouerty Blundevile and specially when a fat Horse falleth away sodainely The cure according to Martin is thus Draw his Crest the deepnes a straw on the contrary side with a hot iron the edge of which iron would be halfe an inch broad and make your beginning and ending somewhat beyond the fall so as the first draught may go all the way hard vppon the edge of the mane euen vnderneath the rootes of the same bearing your hand right downward into the neckeward then answer that with another draught beneath so far distant from the first as the fal is broad compassing as it were al the fall but stil on the contrary side and betwixt those two draughts right in the midst draw a third draught then with a button iron of an inch about burne at each end a hole and also in the space betwixt the draughts make diuers holes distant three fingers broade one from another that done to slake the fire annoint it euery day once for the space of nine daies with a feather dipt in fresh butter moulten Then take Mallowes and Sage of each one a handfull boile them well in running water and wash the burning away vntill it be raw flesh then dry it vp with this powder Take of hony halfe a pinte and so much vnslect lime as wil make that hony thicke like paast then hold it in a fire-pan ouer the fire vntil it be baked so hard as it may be made in powder and sprinkle that vpon the sore places Of the falling of the Crest THe falling of the Crest is occasioned most commonly through pouerty yet somtimes I haue seen it chance through the il proportion of the crest Markham which being hye thicke and heauy the necke thin and weake vnderneath is not able to support or sustaine it vp how euer it be there is remedy for both if it proceede of pouerty first try by good keeping to get it vp againe but if it wil not rise or that the originall of the disease be in the il fashion of the crest then let this be the cure First with your hand raise vp the Crest as you would haue it stand or rather more to that side from which it declineth then take vp the skin betweene your fingers on that side from which the Crest swarueth and with a sharpe knife cut away the breadth of very neere an inch and the length of foure inches which doone stitche vp the skinne together againe with three or foure stitches and by meanes of strings weights or other deuises keepe the crest perforce leaning on that side applying thereunto a plaister of Deeres sewet and Turpentine boiled together till the sore
must put into the milke or drinke being made luke warme and giue it the horse with a horne and immediately after the drinke be giuen catch hold of his tongue with your hand and hauing broken two raw Egges either vpon his foreteeth or against the staffe wherewith his head is holden vp cast those broken Egges shels and all into his throat making him to swallow downe the same that doone ride him vp and downe till he beginne to sweate then set him vp couered warme with an old couerlet and straw not suffering him to eate nor drinke for the space of two or three houres after and let his drinke for the space of two or three daies bee somewhat warme whereinto it is good to put a handfull or two of bran or ground malt and in giuing the said drinke it shall not be amisse to poure some thereof into either nostrill Of the mourning of the Chine THis word mourning of the Chine is a corrupt name borrowed of the French toong wherein it is cald Mote deschien that is to say the death of the backe Because many do hold this opinion that this disease doth consume the marrow of the backe for remedy whereof they vse strange kinds of cures For some taking it to be a rheume go about to stop it by laying a strictiue or binding charges to the nape of the necke Some againe do twine out the pith of the backe with a long wire thrust vp into the horsses head and so into his necke and backe with what reason I know not Well I know that few horsses do recouer that haue this disease Some againe thinke that the lungs of the horse be rotten and that the horse doth cast them out at his nose But Martin saith that he hath cut vp diuers horsses which haue been iudged to haue dyed of the mourning of the chine but he could find neuer either back or lungs to be perished but onely the liuer and most commonly that side of the liuer which answeareth the nostrill whereat he casteth whereof we will talke in his proper place when we come to speake of the diseases in the Liuer The Italians do call this disease Ciamorro the olde Authors do cal it the moist malady whereof Theomnestus maketh two differences For in the one the matter which he doth cast at the nose is white and doeth not smell at all and in the other that which he casteth is filthy and sticking corruption They proceed both of cold humors congealed in the head but more abounding in the one then in the other by reason perhaps that the horsse was not cured in time for of colde first commeth the Pose and the cough then the Glanders and last of all the mourning of the chine When the horse casteth matter at the nose that is not stinking he may easily be cured by such remedyes as haue beene before declared in the chapter of the Pose but if the matter be very filthy and stincking then it is very harde to cure Notwithstanding it shall not grieue me to write vnto you heere the experience of Theomnestus and of Laurentius Russius Theomnestus cure is thus Take of Water and hony called of the Physitians Hydromel a quart and put thereunto three ounces of oyle and powre that into his nostrill euerye morning the space of three daies and if that do not profit him then let him drinke euery day or once in two daies a quart of olde wine mingled with some of the medicine or rather the precious meate called of the olde writers Tetraphramacum and that will restore him to his former estate Laurentius Russius saith that of al diseases ther is non more perillous nor more to be suspected thân the rheume which commeth of cold for horses haue large Conduites and are full of moisture and therefore if colde once enter it findeth matter inough to worke on to breede continuall distillation as well outwardly at the nose as inwardly descending downe to the vitall part in such sort as it doth not suffocat the same The signes according to the said Russius be these the horse doth cast matter continually at the nosâ sometime thinne and sometime thicke his nostrils eares and al his outward parts wil be cold to the feeling his eyes head and all his body heauy and he will cough and haue smal appetite to his meat and lesse to his drinke and sometime he will tremble and shake his cure is in this sort Purge his head partly by perfuming him and partly by making him to neeze in such sort as hath beene before taught in the chapter of the pose which waies of perfuming and purging his head as they bee good so doeth Russius praise these two heere following to be most excellent the first is this Take of the stalkes of Vitis alba otherwise called Brioni or wilde Vine two or three good handfuls and being brused put them into a linnen bagge and fasten the bagge to the horses head so as he may receiue the scent vp into his nostrils without touching the hearb wiâh his mouth and this will cause the humors to run downe aboundantly The second medicine Take of Euforbium beaten into fine powder three ounces of the iuice of Betes one pound of Swines blood halfe a pound boile al these togither vntil they bee thrâughly mingled togither and liquide like an ointment and then take it from the fire and put thereunto one ounce more of Euforbium and mingle them againe thoroughly togither and preserue the same in a box to vse at needefull times in this sort Make two stiffe long rowles or tampins of linnen clowtes or such like stuffe sharpe pointed like suger-loues which tampins are called of the physitians in Latine Pessi and being annointed with the ointment aforesaid thrust them vp into the horsses nostrils and let them abide therein a pretty whilk then pul them out and you shal see such abundance of matter ââme forth at his nose as is marueilous to behold Russius also praiseth verye much this medicine heere following Take as much of the middle barke of an Elder tree growing on the water side as will fil a new earthen pot of a meane size putting thereunto as much cleere water as a pot wll hold and let it boile vntil one halfe be consumed and then to be filled vppe againe with fresh water continuing so to doe three times one after another and at the last time that the one halfe is consumed take it from the fire and straine it throgh a linnen cloth Then take two partes of that decoction and one part of hogges greace or Butter and being warmed againe togither giue the horsse to drinke thereof one horneful and poure another hornefull into his nostril that casteth and whensoeuer you giue him this medicine let the horse bee empty and fasting and keepe him without meat also two or three hours after for this is a very good drinke for anye sicknesse that commeth of cold Moreouer open the skinne of his
thereunto three ounces of Meâ Rosatum and wash al his mouth with Vineger and salt If his stomacke be too colde then his haire wil stare and stand right vp which Absirtus and others were wont to cure by giuing the horse good wine and oile to drinke and some would seeth in wine Rew or Sage some would adde thereunto white Pepper and Mirre some woulde giue him Onions and Rocket seed to drinke with wine Againe there be other somewhich prescribe the blood of a young Sow with old wine Absirtus would haue the horse to eat the green blades of wheat if the time of the yeare wil serue for it Columella saith that if a horsse or anie other beaste do loath his meate it is good to giue him wine and the seede of Gith or else Wine and stampt garlicke Of casting out his drinke VEgetius saith that the horse may haue such a Palsie proceeding of cold in his stomack as he is notable to keepe his drinke but many times to cast it out again at his mouth The remedy whereof is to let him blood in the necke and to giue him cordiall drinkes that is to say made of hotte and comfortable spices and also to annoint al his breast and vnder his shoulders with hot oyles and to purge his head by blowing vp into his Nostrils pouders that prouoke neezing such as haue beene taught you before Of surfetting with glut of prouender THe glut of prouender or other meat not digested doth cause a horse to haue great paine in his body so as hee is not able to stande on his feete but lyeth downe and waltereth as though he had the Bots. The cure whereof according to Martins experience is in this sort Let him blood in the necke then trot him vppe and downe for the space of an houre and if he cannot stale draw out his yard and wash it with a little white wine luke warme and thrust into his yard either a brused cloue of Garlicke or else a little oile of Cammomile with a wax candle If he cannot dung then rake his fundament and giue him this glister Take of Mallows two or three handfuls and boile them in a pottle of faire running water and when the mallows be sodden then straine it and put therevnto a quart of fresh Butter and halfe a pinte of oile Oliue and hauing receiued this glister lead him vp and downe vntill he hath emptied his belly then set him vp and keepe him hungry the space of three or foure daies and the hay that he eateth let it be sprinkeled with water and let him drinke water wherein should be put a little bran and when he hath drunke giue him the bran to eate and giue him little or no prouender at al for the space of eight or ten daies Of another kind of surfetting with meat or drinke called of vs foundering in the body THis disease is called of the old writers in Greeke Crithiasis in Latine Hordiatio it commeth as they say by eating of much prouender suddainely after labour whilst the horse is hot and panting Blundevile whereby his meate not being digested breedeth euill humors which by little and little do spread thoroughout his members and at length do oppresse all his body and doe cleane take away his strength and make him in such a case as he can neither goe nor bow his ioyntes nor being laide he is not able to rise againe neither can he stale but with great paine It may come also as they saie of drinking too much in trauelling by the waie when the horse is hot but then it is not so dangerous as when it commeth of eating too much But howsoeuer it commeth they saie all that the humours will immediatelie resorte downe into the horses legges and feet and make him to cast his hooues and therfore I must needs iudge it to be no other thing but a plaine foundering which word foundering is borrowed as I take it of the French word Fundu that is to say molten For foundering is a melting or dissolution of humors which the Italians cal Infusione Martin maketh diuers kindes of foundering as the foundering of the bodie which the French men call most commonly Morfundu and foundering in the legs and feet also foundering before and behind which some Authors doe denie as Magister Maurus and Laurentius Russius affirming that there are fewer humors behind than before and that they cannot easily be dissolued or molten being so far distant from the hart the other vital parts Whereunto a man might answere that the natural heat of the hart doth not cause dissolution of humors but some vnnaturall and accidentall heate spred throughout all the members which is daily proued by good experience For we see horses foundered not only before or behind but also of al foure legs at once which most commonly chanceth either by taking cold sodenly after a great heate as by standing stil vpon some cold pauement or abroad in the cold wind or els perhaps the horse trauelling by the way and being in a sweat was suffred to stand in some cold water whilst he did drinke which was worse then his drinking for in the mean time the cold entering at his feet ascended vpward and congealed the humors which the heat before had dissolued and thereby when he commeth once to rest he waxeth stiffe and lame of his legs But leauing to speak of foundering in the legs as wel before as behind vntil we come to the griefs in the legs feet we intend to talk here only of foundring in the body according to Martins experience The signes to know if a horse be foundered in the body be these His haire wil stare and he wil be chil and shrug for cold and forsake his meat hanging down his head and quiuer after cold water and after 2. or 3. daies he wil begin to cough The cure according to Martin is thus First scour his belly with the glister last mentioned and then giue him a comfortable drink made in this sort Take of Malmsie a quart of Sugar halfe a quartern of hony halfe a quarterne of Sinamon halfe an ounce of Licoras and Annis seedes of each two spoonfuls beaten into fine powder which being put into the Malmsie warme them togither at the fire so as the hony may be molten and then giue it him luke warm that done walke him vp and down in the warme stable the space of halfe an houre and then let him stand on the bit 2. or 3. houres without meat but let him be warme couered and wel littered and giue him hay sprinkled with a little water and clean sifted prouender by a little at once and let his water be warmed with a little ground Malt therein And if you see him somewhat cheered then let him blood in the neck and also perfume him once a day with a little Frankincense and vse to walke him abroad when the weather is faire and not windy or els in the house
which doeth many times happen Magi it wil be an excellent remedy for him against the sobbing in the stomacke called the hicket OF THE HYAENA AND THE diuers kinds thereof WE are nowe to discourse of a Beast whereof it is doubtful whether the names or the kindes thereof bee more in number and therefore to begin with the names it seemeth to me in general that it is The names and other general accidents the same Beast which is spoken of in holy scripture and called Zeeb-ereb and Araboth Zepham 3. Principes vrbis Hierosolymae velut Leones rugientes iudices eius similes sunt lupis Vespertinis qui ossa non relinqunt ad diluculum Their Princes are roaring Lyons and their iudges are like to night-wolues which leaue not the bones til the morning as it is vulgarly translated In like sort Ier. Cap 5 calleth them Zeeb-Araboath Wolues of the wildernes and the Prophet Habbakuk Cap. 1. vseth the word Zeeb-ereb Wolues of the euening By which it is made easie to consider and discusse what kinde of Beast this Hyaena may be deemed for the Hyaena as I shal shew you afterward is a Greek word And first of al I vtterly seclude al their opinions which translate this word Arabian wolues for the Haebrew notes cannot admit such a version or exposition But seeing we read in Oppianus and Tzetzes that there are kinds of Wolues which are called Harpages more hungry then the residue liuing in Mountains very swift of foot in the Winter time comming to the gates of Citties and deuouring both flesh and bones of euery liuing creature they can lay hold on especially Dogs and men and in the morning go away againe from their prey I take them to be the same beasts which the Graecians cal Hyaenae which is also the name of a fishe much like in nature hereunto It is also called Glanos and the Phrygians and Bythinians Ganos from one of these came the Illirian or Sclauonian word San and it seemeth that the Graecians haue giuen it a name from Swine because of the gristles growing on the back for an Hyaena can haue no better deriuation then from Hus or Hyn. Iulius Capitolinus calleth it Belbus in Latine in the same place where he recordeth that there were decem Belbi sub Gordiano ten Hyaenaes in the daies of Gordianus And the reason of this name is not improbably deriued from Belba a cittie of Egypt Pincianus a learned man calleth it Grabthier because it hunteth the sepulchers of the dead Albertus in stead of Hyaena calleth it Iona. The Arabians cal it Kabo Zabo or Ziba and Azaro I take it also to be the same beast which is called Lacta and Ana and Zilio because that which is reported of these is true in the Hyaena Albertus they frequent graues hauing sharp teeth long nailes being very fierce liuing together in heards and flocks and louing their own kind most tenderly but most pernicious and hatefull to all other being very crafty to set vpon a fit prey defending it selfe from the rage of stronger beasts by their teeth nailes or else by flight or running away Wherfore we hauing thus expressed the name we will handle the kinds which I finde to be three the first Hyaena the second Papio or Dabuh the third Crocuta and Leucrocuta whereunto by coniecture we may adde a forth called Mantychora THE FIGVRE OF THE FIRST HYAENA THis first and vulgar kind of Hyaena is bred in Affricke and Arabia being in quantity of body like a wolfe Hieronimus Aristotle but much rougher haird for it hath bristles like a horsses mane all along his back in the middle of his back it is a litle crooked or dented the colour yellowish but bespeckled on the sides with blew spots which make him looke more terrible as if it had so many eies The eies change their colour at the pleasure of the beast Oppianus The several parts a thousand times a day for which cause many ignorant writers haue affirmed the same of the whole body yet can he not see one quarter so perfectly in the day as in the night therfore he is called Lupus vespertinus a wolfe of the night The skilful Lapidarists of Germany affirme that this beast hath a stone in his eies or rather in his head called Hyaena or Hyaenius but the ancients say that the apple or puple of the eie is turnd into such a stone that it is indued with this admirable quality Pliny that if a man lay it vnder his tong he shal be able to foretell and prophesie of things to come the truth hereof I leaue to the reporters Their back-bone stretcheth it selfe out to the head so as the necke cannot bend except the whole body be turned about and therfore whensoeuer he hath occasion to wry his necke Sâlmus Albertus he must supply that quality by remouing of his whole bodie This Beast hath a very great hart as all other Beasts haue which are hurtful by reason of their feare The genital member is like a dogs or wolues and I maruaile vpon what occasion the writers haue beene so possessed with opinion that they change sexes Aristotle Whether they change sexes yeerely and are somtime male and another female that is to say male one yeare and female another according to these verses Si tamen est aliquid mir ae nouitatis in istis Alternare vices quae modo foemina tergo Passa marem est nunc esse marem miremur Hyaenam Ouid. Both kinds haue vnder their tailes a double note of passage in the male there is a scissure like the secrets of a femal in the femal abunch like the stones of the male but nether on nor other inward but onely outward and except this hath giuen cause of this opinion I cannot learne the ground thereof onely Orus writeth that there is a fishe of this name which turneth sexe and peraduentute some men hearing so much of the fish Aelianus might mistake it more easilye for the foure-footed-beast and applye it thereunto Their procreation These engender not onely among themselues but also with Dogs Lyons Tygers and Wolues for the Aetheopian Lyon being couered with an Hyaena beareth the Crocuta The Thoes of whom we shall speake more afterward are generated betwixt this beast and a Wolfe and indeed it is not without reason that God himselfe in holy scripture calleth it by the name of a Vespertine Wolfe seeing it resembleth a Wolfe in the quantity colour in voracity and gluttoning in of flesh in subtilty to ouercome dogs and men euen as a Wolfe doth silly sheepe Their teeth are in both beasts like sawes their genitals alike The disposition and natural properties of this beast Pliny Solânus and both of them being hungry range prey in the night season This is accounted a most subtill and crafty beast according to the allusiue saying of
off the right foot with the left hand and weare the same whosoeuer seeth him shal fal in loue with him besides the Beast Also the marow of the right foot is profitable for a Woman that loueth not her husband if it be put into her nostrils And with the powder of the left claw they which are anointed therwith it being first of al decocted in the blood of a weasil do fal into the hatred of al men And if the nailes of any beast bee found in his mawe after he is slain it signifieth the death of some of his hunters And to conclude such is the folly of the Magitians that they beleeue the transmigration of soules not only out of one man into another but also of man into Beasts And therefore they affirm that their men Symis and religious votaries departing life send their soules into Lyons Paâphirius and their religious women into Hyaenaes The excrements or bones comming out of the excrements when it is killed are thought to haue vertue in them against magicall incantations And Democritus writeth that in Cappadocia and Mesia by the eating of the hearbe Therionarcha all wilde beastes fall into a deadly sleepe and cannot be recouered but by the aspersion of the vrine of this beast And thus much for the first kind now followeth the second THE SECOND KIND OF HYAENA called Papio or Dabuh THis beast aboundeth neare Caesaria in quantity resembling a Foxe but in wit and disposition a Wolfe the fashion is The region and quantity being gathered together for one of them to go before the flocke singing or howling and all the rest answering him with correspondent tune In haire it resembleth a Fox their voices are so shrill and sounding that although they be very remote and farre off yet do men heare them as if they were hard by And when one of them is slaine The lamentation for the dead Albertus Bellunensis The seuerall names the residue flocke about his carcasse howling like as they made funerall lamentation for the dead When they growe to bee very hungry by the constraint of famine they enter into the Graues of men and eate their dead bodyes yet is their fleshe in Syria Damascus and Berutus eaten by men It is called also Randelos Abenaum Aldabha Dabha Dahab and Dhoboha which are deriued from the Hebrew word Deeb or Deeba Dabuh is the Arabian name The parts naturall disposition and the Africans call him Leseph his feete and legs are like to a mans neither is it hurtfull to other beastes being a base and simple creature The colour of it is like a Beare and therefore I Iudge it to be Arctocyon which is ingendred of a beare and a dogge and they barke onely in the night time They are exceedingly delighted with Musicke such as is vsed by pipes and tymbrels The manner of their taking wherefore when the hunters haue found out their caues they spred their nets and snares at the mouth thereof and afterwards striking vp their instruments the seely beast inconsiderat of all fraude commeth out and is taken the picture hereof is formerly expressed And there was one of these in Germanie in the yeere of our Lord 1551. at the Citty Auspurg to be seene publikely It was brought out of the wildernesse of India it did eate apples peares and other fruites of trees and also bread but especially it delighted in drinking of wine when it was an hungry it climed vp into trees and did shake the boughes to make the fruite fall and it is reported that when it is in the tree it feareth not an Elephant but yet auoydeth all other beastes which it is not able to resist It was of a chearefull nature but then especially when it saw a woman whereby it was gathered that it was a lustfull beast His foure feete were deuided like a mans fingers and the female euer bringeth foorth twins a male and a female together It continually holdeth vp his tayle shewing the hole behind for at euery motion it turneth that as other beastes doe their head It hath a short tayle and but for that I should iudge it to be a kind of Ape I know not whether it be that kinde of little Wolfe which Bellonius saith aboundeth in Cilicia and Asia which in the night time raueneth and commeth to the bodies of sleeping men taking away from them their bootes shooes caps or bridles when they are shut vp in the night time they barke like dogges but being at libertie they liue two hundred in a company so that there is no beast so frequent as these in all Cilicia As for the golden Woolfe spoken of by Oppianus I deferre the description of it to his due place for they are not all of one colour and thus much shall suffice for the second kinde of Hyaena OF THE CROCVTA The region proportion and other qualities THe third kind of the Hyaena is called Crocuta not the Gulon aforesaid but another different from that which is said to be an Aethiopian foure-footed beast because it is ingendred betwixt a lionesse and an Hyaena His teeth are all of one bone being very sharpe on both sides of his mouth and included in fleshlike as in a case that they may not be dulled with their teeth they breake any thing It is said also by Solinus that it neuer winketh that their nature seemeth to be tempered betwixt a dogge and a Woolfe yet is it more fierce then either of both more admirable in strength and especially of the teeth and belly hauing power to breake and digest any bone it imitateth also the voice of a man to deuour them as is said before in the Hyaena In the Region Dachinabades which is a mediterranean Country in the East containing great and high mountaines Amongst other wild Beasts are abundance of these Crocutââs and at the marriage of Antonius the sonne of Seuerus the Emperour to Plautilla the daughter of Plautianus amongest the spectacles set foorth for the delight of the beholders was a combat betwixt an Elephant and this beast which before that time was neuer to be seene at Rome as Dion reporteth and thus much for the thirde kinde of Hyaena except I may ad thereunto that Beast which the Italians call Loupchatt that is Lupus Catus a Wolfe-cat resembling in face a cat with sharpe and harmefull clawes being betwixt a blacke and spotted colour and was called an Indian wolfe and this was to be publickely seene in the Byshops castle at Trent OF THE MANTICHORA THis beast or rather Monster as Ctesias writeth is bred among the Indians hauing a treble rowe of teeth beneath and aboue whose greatnesse roughnesse and feete are like a Lyons his face and eares like vnto a mans his eies gray and collour red his taile like the taile of a Scorpion of the earth armed with a sting casting forth sharp pointed quiâls his voice like the voice of a small trumpet or pipe being
three peeces of woode being thus made ready thou shalt erect a little piller so that the wedge may be downeward whereby the mouse may see the meate euery where and let the meate be hung in the former corner of the piller so if the mouse shall touch the meate he shall bee pressed downe with the fall of the board Mice also by the fall of a cleft board are taken which is held vp with a piller and hauing a little spattular of wood whereon the meate shall lye so made that the piller doth not open being parted except when the mouse commeth to touch the meate and so by that meanes she is taken There is also another manner of mouse-trap vsed among vs which is let there bee a hole made and compassed about with a boord of a foot long and fiue or six fingers broad the compasse whereof must be foure fingers into this hole let there be put a vessell made of wood the length of ones fist but round and very deepe and in the middle of each side of this vessell let there be made a hole wherein there is put in a thread made of yron with meat and let it be compassed about with a small thread which must be fastned ouerthwart the hole and the part of the thread which hangeth downe must be crooked that the meat may be fastned thereto and there must bee a peece of the thread without to the which may be tyed a stronger peece of wood which is the thread whereon the meat is hanged by the which the mouse is taken by putting her head into the vessel to ketch at the meat And also mice are taken otherwise with a great Cane wherein there is a knot and in the top of it let there be made a little bow with a lute string and there sticke a great needle in the middle of the pole of the Cane and let the pole be made iust in the middle and let there be bound a peece of flesh beneath so prepared that when the mouse shall bite and mooue the skin that then the string slippeth downe and so the needle pearceth through his head and holdeth him that he cannot run away But among all the rest there is an excellent peece of workmanship to ketch mice which I will heer set down Take a peece of wood the length of both thy fists one fistbroad and two fingers thicke and let there be cut off about some two fingers a little beyond the middle of halfe the breadth And that breadth where it was cut ought to be more declining and lower after the manner of this letter A. And you must put to the side of this a peece of wood halfe a circle long bending and in the middle part of each side holes pearced through so that the halfe circle may be streight and plainely placed to the foundation of the woode that the trap being made it may rest vpon the same halfe circle and vpon this halfe circle let there be placed iron nailes very sharp so that the instrument by falling downe may couer the irons of the halfe circle as soone as euer they touch the same Furthermore there is another manner of trap when a vessell out of which they cannot escape is filled halfe vp with water and vpon the top thereof Otmell is put which will swim and not sinke making the vppermost face of the water to seeme white and solid whereunto when the mouse commeth she leapeth into the oate-mell and so is drowned And the like may be done with chaffe mingled with oat-mell and this in all traps must be obserued wherein mice are taken aliue that they be presently taken forth for if they make water in the place their fellowes will for euer suspect the trap and neuer come neareât till the sauour of the vrine be aholished Palladius saith that the thicke froth of oyle being infused into a dish or brasen caldron and set in the middle of the house in the night time will draw all the mice vnto it wherein they shall sticke fast and not be able to escape Anatolius Pliny saith that if a mouse be gelded aliue and so let go she will driue away all the residue but this is to be vnderstoode of the Sorex If the head of a mouse be flaied or if a male mouse be flaied all ouer or her taile cut off or if her legge be bound to a post in the house or a bell be hung about her necke and so turned going she will driue away all her fellowes And Pliny saith that the smoke of the leaues of the Ewe-tree because they are poyson will kill mice so also will libbards-baine and henbaine-seede and Wolfe baine for which cause they are seuerally called Myoctonos and the rootes of Wolfe bane are commonly sold in Sauoy vnto the Country people for that purpose In Germany they mingle it with oat-mell and so lay it in bals to kill mice The fume of wall-wort calcauth parcely origanum and deaths-hearb doe also kill mice you may also driue them away with the fume of the stone Haematites and with greene tamarisk with the hoofe of a mule or of nitre or the ashes of a Weasell or a cat in water or the gall of an Oxe put into bread The seede of Cowcumbers being sod and sprinckled vpon any thing mice will neuer touch it likewise wilde coucumber and coloquintida kill mice To keepe mice from corne make morter of the froth of oyle mingled together with chaffe and let them well dry and afterwards be wrought throughly then plaster the wals of your garnery therewith and when they are dry cast more froth of oyle vpon them and afterwards carry in your corne and the mice will neuer annoy it Cato Wormewood laid among cloathes and skinnes defend them from mice And also the water of wormewood sod sprinckled vpon cloathes hath the same operation Tragus Inke tempered with water wherein Wormewood hath beene washed or sod causeth that the Parchment and Paper written therewith shall neuer be eaten or touched with mice Auicen Anatolius and Tarentinus in the discourse of the grauery or barm do write that milk-thistle mingled with hony water and fine flower or mil-dust made into little balles and laied where mice my eat of it doth make them blind if they taste thereof White Hellebore mixed with pottage Paxausus or the seedes of wilde Cowcumber Coloquintida and meale mingled with blacke Hellebore and put into Cheese or bread or any kind of fat meat killeth both Rats and mice So likewise a white camelion sod in broth mingled with water and oyle killeth Dogges swine and mice The iuyce of the roote of the hearbe Camelion mixed with water and oyle draweth mice vnto it and killeth them by tasting thereof if they drinke not presently so also doth Henbane The roots of the bramble Tree mingled with Butter Breade or Honey Elecampaine and sea Onions Scamoney wild Sparradge Arsenicke Mug-wort otherwise cald mouse-wort mingled
much delighted to eate hornets or horseflies also they feede vpon wilde Sagapen of the meddow and seeded Cabages and while they are wilde in the Mountaines they neuer drink the reason is as I suppose because in the summer time they eate moist greene herbs and in all the winter time they sleepe Towards the feast of Saint Michaell the Arch-angell and of Gallus they enter into their caues and as Pliny saith they first of all carry prouision of Hay Entrance into their caues and greene Hearbes into their denne to rest vpon wherein their wit and vnderstanding is to be admired for like Beauers one of them falleth on the back and the residue loade his belly with the carriage and when they haue laid vpon him sufficient he girteth it fast by taking his tayle in his mouth and so the residew draw him to the caue but I cannot affirme certainely whether this be a truth or a falsehood For there is no reason that leadeth the Author thereunto but that some of them haue beene found bald on the backe But this is certaine when the Snow begins to couer the Mountaines then doe they enter into their dennes and shut vp close the passages with Stickes Grasse and earth both so hard and so thicke that it is easier to breake the solide ground then the mouthes of their Caues and so being safely encluded both from the feare of the Hunters from Raine Snow and cold there they liue vntill the Spring without all manner of meate and drinke gathered round together like a Hedghogge sleeping continually and therefore the people inhabiting the Alpes haue a common prouerbe Their continual sleepe al the winter time to expresse a drowsie and sleepy fellow in the German tongue thus Er musse synzyt geschlaffen haben wie ein murmelthier in Latine thus Necesse habet certum dormiendo tempus consumere instar muris Alpini He must needes sleepe a little like the Mouse of the Alpes They sleepe also when they be tamed but it hath beene found by experience that when a tame one hath beene taken asleepe and layd in a warme barrell vpon Hay the mouth being shutte and closed to keepe out Raine and Snow at the opening thereof it was found dead and the reason was because it lacked breath and therefore this is most wonderfull that in the Mountaines notwithstanding the close stopping of the mouth of their caues yet they should not bee depriued of refrigeration that is fresh ayre for expiration and respiration But this is to be considered that after they haue beene long tamed they sleepe not so much as when they are wild for I thinke that their continuall eating of rawe and greene Hearbes ingendereth in them so many humors as cannot bee dispersed without along continuing sleepe but afterwardes when they are dieted with such meate as is prouided for the nourishment of man they are eased of the cause and so the effect ceaseth During the time that they sleepe they grow very fat and they are not awaked very easily Growing fat with sleepe except with the heat of the sun or fire or a hot-house Now the manner of their taking while they are wilde is thus In the summer time when they goe in and out of their caues they are taken with snares set at the mouth thereof but in the Winter time when they goe not abroad The taking of these beasts then also are the inhabitants forced to another deuise for then in the summer time they sette vp certaine pillers or perches neare the mouth of their denne whereby they may be dyrected when the snow doth couer the mountaines For the Pillers or poles stand vp aboue the snow although the snow bee very deepe Then come the inhabitants vpon round pieces of wood in the middest of the winter fastned to their shooe-soles ouer the deepe snow with their pyoners and diggers and cast away the snow from the den and so dig vp the earth and not onely take the beastes but carry them away sleeping and while they dig they diligently obserue the frame and maner of the stopping of the Mouses den For if it be long and deepe it is a signe of a long and a hard winter but if it be shallow and thin of the contrary so comming vpon them as we haue saide they take them and carry them away asleepe finding alwaies an odde number among them and they diligently obserue that whilest they dig there bee no great noise or that they bring not their fire too near theÌ For as Stumpsius saith Experrecti enim capinon possunt nam vt cunque strenue fodiat venator ipsi fodiendo simul retrocedunt pedibus quam effoderint terram reijciendo fossorem impediunt That is to say If they bee once awaked they can neuer be taken for howsoeuer the Hunter dig neuer so manfully yet they together with him dig inward into the mountaines and cast the earth backward with their feete to hinder his worke Being taken as we haue saide they grow very tame and especially in the presence of their keepers Their taming condicions in the house before whom they will play and sport and take Lice out of their heads with their forefeet like an Ape Insomuch as there is no beast that was euer wild in this part of the world that becommeth so tame and familiar to man as they yet doe they alwaies liue in the hatred of dogges and oftentimes bite them deepely hauing them at any aduantage especially in the presence of men where the dogs dare not resist nor defend themselues When they are wilde they are also killed asleepe by putting of a knife into their throate whereat their forefeete stirre a little but they dye before they can bee awaked Their blood is saued in a vessell and afterwards the Mouse it selfe is dressed in hot scalding water like a pig The sauing vse of their flesh and the haire thereof plucked off and then do they appeare bald and white next to that they bowell them and take out their intrals afterwards put in the bloud againe into their bellies and so seeth them or else salt them and hang them vp in smoake and being dressed after they are dryed they are commonly eaten in the Alpine regions with Rapes and Cabiges and their flesh is very fat not a fluxible or loose fat like the fat of Lambes but a solide fat like the fat of Hogs and Oxen. And the flesh hereof is commended to be profitable for women with child and also for all windinesse and gripings in the belly not onely the flesh to be eaten in meate but also the fat to be annointed vpon the belly or Nauel And for this cause it is vsed to procure sleepe and to strengthen decaied and weake sinnewes the flesh is alwaies better salted then fresh because the salt drieth vp the ouermuch humidity and also amendeth the grauity and ranknesse of the sauour but whether it be salt or whether it fresh it
neither is it otherwise amongst meÌ for that which they canot do by equity they perform by fraud This also commeth in the speech of the common people against one that wil thriue The yong country wenches concerning this matter do chaunt out a verse not vnpleasant which I am contented to expresse in Iambickes consisting of foure feet Hamester ipse cum sua Prudens catusque coniuge Stipat profundum pluribus Per tempus antrum frugibus Possitque solus vt frui Lectis aceruis hordei Auarus antro credulam Extrudit arte comugem Serua inquit exiens foras Coeli serena pluuias Sed foeminis quis insitam Vincant dolis astutiam Nouum parans cuniculum Furatur omne triticum Egens maritus perfidam Quaerit per antra coniugem Nec se repellat blandulis Demulcit inuentam sunis Ille esse iam communiae Seruata dum sinit bona At perfidus multiplices Opponit intus obices Rursus fruuntur mutuis Antris cibis amplexibus This beast doth deuoure all kinde of fruite His meate and foode and if he be nourished in a house he eateth bread and flesh he also hunteth the fielde mice When he taketh his meate he raiseth himselfe vpon his fore feete he is also wont with his forefeete to stroake his head eares and mouth which thing the Squirrell and the Cat doe also and as the Beauer amongest those creatures which liue as well by water as by land but although in his bodie he seemeth but small notwithstanding he is by nature apt to fight and very furious being prouoked with his carriage in his mouth he beateth away with both his feete that which resisteth him directly inuading his enemie The anger furie oâ this beast In the spirite and assaulting of his mouth he is wayward and threatning from whence our countreymen were accustomed to say of any one which was angry he breatheth his wrath out of his mouth like a Hamster Dis spruest vuie ein hamster neither is he easily affrighted although he be far vnequall vnto those in strength with whom he is in combate Wherefore some doe giue it in the place of a Prouerbe that our Countreymen doe call a man which is madly rash Ein tollen hamster as foolehardy as a hamster He flieth from any one that doth sharply resist him and doth greedily follow after them that flie from him I my selfe saw one of these who by assaulting a horse gat him by the nose and would neuer leaue his holde vntill he was killed with a sword He is taken by diuers meanes Of the taking of this beast for he is expelled either by hot water powred into his den or is choaked within or being diged vp with a mattocke or spade he is killed or by dogges He is sometimes pulled out by the Foxe or hurt or oppressed by some snare a great waight being put about it or to conclude he is taken by Art aliue and that in the night time when he goeth to seeke his prey for in the day time for the most part he lyeth hid Before his vsuall caue as I haue said he is taken by the path which is worne by a pot which is put into the earth and afterward made plaine about it like other places of the fielde there is earth cast into the bottome of the pot to the deepenesse of two fingers aboue euery where couering the pot there is placed a stone which is helde vp by a peece of wood to which there is bound below a fragment of bread In the space betweene the caue and the pot there are crumes of bread scattered which he following and leaping into the pot the wood falling he is taken Being taken after the manner of other beastes he toucheth no foode If a broad stone such an one with which they couer pauementes or of which they make roofe-tiles shall be ioyned vnto the pot and the beast be taken he will be very hardly knowne in the morning for the spirit of the beast being shut in and waxing wroth pearcing for thinesse doth moisten the stone The skins of Hamsters are very durable of which there are certaine long coates which come downe vnto the heeles and diuers coulored cloakes made which the woman of Misena and Silesia doe vse The vse of their skins and account them very honorable of a blacke and red coulour with broad gards or edges of the skinnes of Otters the same coates are for the most part vallued at the price of fifteene or twentie Renensian crownes for it doth out-weare in length three or foure garments made either of linnen or wollen cloath In Turingia and Misena this beast is frequent notwithstanding not in all places for in Turingia his chiefest abode is about Efurdanus and Salcensis in Misena about Lipsia and the field Pegensis the plentifullest and most fertilest places of both those regions In Lusatia about Radeburge he is diged out of the places where painick groweth At Mulberge and Albis he is found in the Vine-yardes for he is also fed with ripe grapes Our countrey-men are wont to burne a liuing Hamster in a pot being shut for the medicines of horses It hath beene seene that one of these hath leaped vp and caught a horse by the nose neuer letting goe his hold vntill she was cut off with a sword The skin is of three or foure different colours besides the spotted sides and therefore the skinne is very pretious They abound in Turingia where the soile is good and there is also great store of graine OF THE NORICIAN MOVSE THe Morician mouse is called in Latine Citellus and it keepeth like the wilde mice in the caues and dens of the earth The name description and diâposition The body is like to a Domestical Weasils long slender the taile very short the coulour of the haire like to a gray Conies Agricola but more bright It wanteth eares like a mole but it hath open passages insteade of eares wherewithall it heareth the sound as you shal see in many birds The teeth are like the teeth of mice and of their skinnes although they be not very precious they vse to make garments In Germany they cal it Pile and Zisel and of this Germaine word was the Latine Citellus feigned and it appeareth by Agricola that there are two kindes of these one greater which are cald Zysell and Zeiseile and another lesser called Pile which may be the same that is also called Bilchmuss Genelius and differeth from other because it is vsed for meat These are bred in Croatia and in the countrey about Vennice They haue a strange smel or savour which is said to be hurtful to the head They eat both salted and hung in the smoke and also fresh and new killed With their skins they edge the skirts of garmentes for it is as soft as the skin of a Hare and beside the common nature of mice they are tamed They also haue very large cheekes whereinto
same often with their teeth which truely so soone as they shal touch or come vnto they shal presently dye But they vse a kind of incantation which is this that followeth I do adiure all ye mice which do remaine or abide heare that yee do not offer me wrong or suffer me to be wronged of any other For I do assigne and appoint you this fielde then he nameth the fielde in which if I should supprize you hereafter I cal Luno to witnesse I wil teare euery one of you into seuen pieces when as thou hast write this charme binde paper fast to the place wherein the Mice haunt and that before the rising of the Sunne so that the charecters or markes may appeare on the outside cleaning to a naturall stone of that place I haue written this saith the Author lest any thing should seeme to be ouerskipped neither doe I allow or proue such thinges can be done but I rather counsell al men that they do not set their mind to any of these which are more worthy of derision then imitation If thou shalt fill the passages of these rusticall or field-mice with the ashes of an Oak he shall be possessed with a feruent desire to it often touching it and so shall die Marcellus The medicines of field mice Scholiastes These countrey Mice that is to say those Mice which are founde in the fieldes being bruised and burned to ashes and mingled with fresh honey doeth comfort or restore the sight of the eies by diminishing the darkenesse or dimnesse thereof in what fielde soeuer you shall find any thing dig them vp by the rootes with a little stake or post OF THE WOOD-MOVSE PLiny doeth oftentimes make mention of this woode-mouse or rather a Mouse belonging to the wood The description but he doth it onely in medicines but that it doth differ from this country or field-mouse we haue shewen in the Chap. going before because it doth not habit or dwell in Countries or tilled places as the Countrey or field-mice doe but doth inhabit in Woodes and forrests The wood-Mouse is called in Greeke as the Countrey-mouse but I thinke it to bee a kinde of Dormouse which proceedeth from the kind of wood-mouse Pliny truely doth make the same remedy or medicines of a Dormouse as he doth of a Wood-mouse as I will a little after rehearse or recite vnto you Also I should haue thought that a Sorex had bin the same because it is a wood-mouse but that that one place of Pliny did hinder me where he commendeth the ashes of a Wood-mouse to be very good for the clearenesse of the eies and by and by after did shew or declare that the ashes of the Sorex were good also in the same vse as I will recite or rehearse below in the medicines or remedies of the wood-mouse Agricola a man of great learning doth interpret or iudge the wood-mouse to bee that mouse to the which they do appoint the name deriued from Auellana but hee doth account that to be the Sorex which I will shew or declare beneath to be the Shrew I do vnderstand that there are properly two kinds of the wood-mouse spoken of before The one of them that which Albertus doth write saying that there is a certain kind of Mouse which doth builde or make her habitation in trees and of a browne or swart colour and hauing also black spots in her face which onely is called by the vniuersal name of a wood-Mouse Of the same kind Pliny doth meane if I be not deceiued when he writeth that the mast of a beech-tree is very acceptable to Mice and therefore they haue good successe with their young ones The other which is peculiarly named the Sorex which saith Pliny doth sleep all the winter time and hath a taile full of haire whose shape or forme we propose and set euidently before you But that I may more distinctly handle those thinges which Pliny hath shewed to vs concerning the wood-Mouse I will write her downe seperately or by it selfe and afterwards concerning the Mouse which hath her name deriued from Filburds which the Germans haue left in writing and which I my selfe haue considered or obserued and last of all I wil write concerning the Sorex peculiarly and seuerally from the ancient writers The ashes of a wood-mouse being mingled with hony doth cure al fractures of bones the braines also spread vpon a little peece of cloth and couered with wooll is good also The medicines of the Woodmouse Pliny but you must now and then spread it ouer the wound and it doth almost make it whole and strong within the space of three or foure daies neither must you mingle the ashes of the wood-mouse with hony to late hony also being mingled with the ashes of earth-wormes doth draw forth broken bones Also the fat of these beastes being put to kibes is very good but if the vlcers are corrupt and rotten by adding wax to the former things doth bring them to cicatrising The oyle of a burned Locust is also very good Marcellus and also the oile of a wood-mouse with Hony is as effectuall as the other They say also that the heads and tailes of Mice mixed with the ashes of them and annointed with Hony doth restore the clearenesse of the sight but more effectually being mingled with the ashes of a Dormouse or a Wood-mouse Of the Nut-Mouse Hasell-Mouse or Fildburd Mouse THis beast is a kind of Sorex and may be that which the Germans tearme Ein gros haselmus a great Hasell-mouse so called because they feed vpon hasell-Nuts and Filburds The Flemings call it Ein Slaperat that is a sleeping Rat and therfore the French call it by the name Lerot whereby also we haue shewed already they vnderstand a Dormouse For this sleepeth like that and yet the flesh thereof is not good is to be eaten The colour of this Mouse is redde like the Hasell and the quantity full as great as a Squirrell or as a great Rat vpon the backe and sides it is more like a Mouse and vpon the head more red His eares very great and pilled without haire The belly white so also are his legs The neather most of his taile towards the tip white His Nostrils and feete reddish The taile wholy rough but most at the end with white haires The eyes very great hanging out of his head and all blacke so that there is not in them any appearance of white The beard partly white and partly blacke both aboue and beneath his ears and about his eies and the vpper part of his taile next his body all blacke Vppon his forefeete hee hath foure clawes or distinct toes for hee wanteth a Thombe But vpon his hinderfeete he hath fiue I meane vpon each seuerally The outside of his hinder Legges from the bending to the tip of his nails is altogether bald without haire And the sauor of all this kind is like the smell of the vulgar Mice
running The generation of Burdens But among the Indian Phyllians their Asses mules Oxen and Horses are no bigger then Rams As the mule is begotten betwixt an Asse and a mare so the Burdon is begotten betwixt a Horse and a shee-Asse wherefore the Italians call him Mulo Bastardo that is The pâts of muââs their âââour a bastard mule For as the mule more resembleth the Asse then the horse so the Burdon more resembleth the horse then the Asse the reason is because all kinds followe the father The mule hath some parts proper to the Asse as long eares a terrible voyce a crosse vpon the shoulders small feet a leane body and in al other things it resembleth a horse The length of their eares serueth instead of their foretop their colour is somewhat browne but it varieth for the Roman Cardinals haue mules of an ash-colour and those very great ones with long tailes They change their teeth and haue in number sixe and thirty their Necke is like the Neck of an Asses long but not standing vpright their bellies simple and of one quantity They want a gall like all foure-footed-beastes and there is a thing in their heart like a bone as we haue shewed before in the story of the Asse The foode of Asses They eate such food as Horsses and Asses do but they grow fat by drinking yet they drinke not like a Horse by thrusting in their Noses into the water but onely touch it with their lips Mizaldus Dioscorides They loue Cucumbers aboue all other meates but the flowers and leaues of Rododaphne are poyson to Mules and Asses The lenght of a Mules life and to many foure-footed-beastes Both a Mule and a horse grow from the first comming forth of their teeth by which their age is discerned and after all their teeth are come forth it is hard to know their age The females in this kind are greater more liuely and liue longer then the males It hath beene found that they haue liued to fourescore yeares of age Such a one was presented at Athens at what time Pericles builded the Temple of Minerua where by reason of his age he was dismissed from all labour yet afterwardes he would not forsake his companions but went with them exhorting them with neighing to vndergoe the labour cheerefully Wherevpon there was a publike decree that the saide Mule should haue an ordinary of prouender appointed him in Prytanium Aristotle Aelianus and that no body should driue him away from their Corne when he eate it although it were in the Market place The generatioÌ of Mules We haue shewed already that this Beast is engendered betwixt an Assea Mare and therefore if a man would create vnto himselfe a notable breede of Mules he must looke to the choyce both of his Male and Female First of all for the female that shee be of a great body The election of a Mare to beare Mules of sound bones and of singular good shape wherein he must not so much expect her velosity or aptnesse to runne as her strength to endure labour and especially to beare in her wombe a discordant Foale begotten by an Asse and to confer vpon it both the properties of his bodie and the disposition For when Mares do vnwillingly receiue the genitall seede of the Asse the Fole doth not grow to perfection in the Mares belly Pliny vntill she haue borne it thirteene monthes whereby it resembleth more the sluggish and dul nature of his father then the vigor of his mother But for the helping of their copulation they pull certaine haires out of the taile of the female and afterwardes binde them together therewith The choice of a mule There is no lesser regarde to be had of the Stallion lest the want of iudgment in the choyce of him do frustrate the experiment Seeing therefore they are engendered betwixt a Mare and an Asse or betwixt a Mare and a wilde-Asse and the Mule begotten betwixt the wilde Asse and the Mare doth excell all others both for swiftnesse of course hardnesse of foote and generosity of stomack yet is the tame Asse better for this breed then the wilde Asse for he will be more beautifull in outward forme and more tractable in disposition And the Mules engendered by wilde-Asses may be compared to these yet can they neuer be so tamed but they retaine some qualities of their Wilde-Father And therefore a Mule begotten betwixt them I meane betwixt a wilde male Asse and a tame female Asse are fitter for Nephewes then for sonnes that is their Foales may beget good Mules and such as are tamable and tractable because descent breaketh the corruption of nature but themselues do neuer proue profitable And therefore it is most commodious and necessary to gett such a Stalion Asse to the procreation of Mules whose kinde by experiment is excellent and outward partes euery way acceptable such as these are a long and great body a stronge Necke stronge and broade ribs a wide breast full of muscles loines full of sinnewes stronge compacted legges of colour blackish or spotted for the mouse colour is too vulgar and is not fit in a Mule For it is but folly in a man to allow and approue euery colour he looketh vpon and therefore Collumella writeth when there are spots vppon the tongue and pallet of a Ram such also are found in the wooll of the Lambe he begetteth And so also if an Asse haue diuers coloured haires vpon his eye browes or vpon his eares the foale he bringeth forth hath such colours in his skin And hereunto agree both Paladius and Absirtus saying He that wil haue a good breed of Mules must get an Asse of Elegant forme a great stature square members a great head not like a horses his face cheekes and lips not smal his eies standing out of his head and not little or hollow broad Nosthrils great eares not hanging down but standing vpright a broad and long necke a broade breast rough with the pleights of his muscles and strong to endure the kickings of the mare great breastes plates and other partes vnder his shoulders and so downe to his legges which ought to be strong broad and corpulent and standing farre assunder so as he may easily couer the mare A great backe and broad backe-bone neither hollow nor standing vp with bunches bearing a direct line vpon the middle His shoulders not low but standing vp the hipbone ful and longe not bending too narrowely nor pinde buttockt nor standing out sharpe and they are best which haue the shortest tailes Furthermore let his stones be great his knees great and round standing both alike his legges bony and without flesh nothing appearing in them but nerues and skin not standing awry nor yet of diuers colours his pasterns not high nor yet ouer-low his feet not low nor bending inward his hoofe thicke and hollow within the inward part of it being cleare according to the saying
Marble thinking to get as much fauour and libertie as their fellow had gotten but the Emperor seeing them and perceauing their fetches bid them rub one another and thereupon came that prouerbe And thus much for the naturall discourse of Mules now followeth the medicinall The medicines of the Mule The dust wherein a Mule shall turne or rowle himselfe Pliny being gathered vp and spread or sprickled vpon the body of any one who is ardently and feruently in loue will presently asswage and quench his inflaming desire A man or woman being poysoned and put into the belly of a Mule or Cammell which is new killed will presently expell away the force of the venome or poyson and will confirme and make stronge their decayed spirits and all the rest of their members Ponzettus For as much as the very heate of those beastes is an Antidote or preseruatiue against poyson The skinne or hide of a Mule being put vnto places in any ones body which are burned with fire doth presently heale and cure the same it doth also heale sores and grieuous vlcers which are not come vnto impostumes The same is an excellent remedie for those whose feete are worne or wrung together through the pinching of their shoes to helpe themselues withall Auicenna and for those which are lame and those which are troubled with those grieuous sores called Fistulaes If any man shall take either in meate or drinke the marrow of a Mule to the weight or quantitie of three golden crownes he shall presently become blockish and altogether vnexpert of wisedome and vnderstanding and shall be voide of all good nutriment Albertus Aesculapius and maners The eare laps or eare lages of a Mule and the stones of a mulet being borne and caried by any woman are of such great force and efficacie that they will make her not to conceaue The hart of a Mule being dryed and mingled with wine and so giuen to a woman to drinke after that she is purged or clensed thirtie times hath the same force Sextus and power that the aforesaid medicine hath for the making of a woman barren The same effect against conception hath the barke of a white popular tree being beaten together with the reines of a Mule then mingled in wine and afterwards drunke vp If the hearbe called Harts tongue be tyed vpon any part of a woman with the spleene of a mule Auicenna but as some haue affirmed by it selfe onely and that in the day which hath a darke night or without any Moone shine at all it will make her altogether barren and notable to conceaue If the two stones of a mule be bound in a piece of the skinne of the same beast and hanged vpon any woman Albertus they wil make that she shal not conceaue so long as they shal be bound vnto her The left stone of a weasell being bound in the skin or hide of a mule and steeped or soked for a certaine space or time in wine or in any other drinke the drinke in which they are so steeped giuen to a woman to drinke doth surely make that she shall not conceaue The stones of a mulet being burned vpon a barren and vnfruitfull tree Aesculapius and put out or quenched with the stale or vrine of either man or beast which is gelded being bound and tyed in the skin of a Mule hanged vpon the arme of any woman after her menstrual fluxes will altogether resist and hinder her conception The right stone of a Mule being burned and fastened vnto the arme of a woman which is in great paine and trauaile Sextus will make that she shall neuer be deliuered vntill the same be losened and taken away but if it shall happen that a maide or young virgin shall take this in drinke after her first purgation or menses shee shall neuer be able to conceiue but shall bee alwaies barren and vnfruitefull The matrix or wombe of a female Mule taken and boiled with the flesh of an Asse or any other flesh whatsoeuer ãâã and so eaten by a woman which doth not know what it is will cause her neuer to conceiue after the same The worme which is called a gloworme or a Globird being taken out of the wombe or matrice of a female Mule and bound vnto any part of a womans body Kiramiââs wil make that she shal neuer be able to conceiue The dust or powder which proceedeth from the hoofes of a male or female Mule being mixed or mingled with oil which commeth from Mirtleberies Plinie doth very much help those which are troubled with the gout in their legs or feet The dust of the hoofes of a Mule being scorched or burned and the Oyle of Mirtle berries being mingled with Vineger and moist or liquid Pitch Marcellus and wrought or tempered in the forme or fashion of a plaister and opposed or put vnto the head of any one whose haires are too fluent and abundant doth very speedily and effectually expell the same The Liuer of a Mule being burned or dryed vnto dust and mixed with the same oile of Mirtle berries and so annointed or spread vpon the head is an excellent and profitable remedy for the curing of the aforsaid enormity The dust or powder of the hoofes of a female Mule is very wholesome and medicinable for the healing and curing of all griefes and paines which do happen or come vnto a mans yard Sextus being sprinkled thereupon The hoofe of a Mule being borne by a woman which is with child doth hinder her conception The filth or vncleanesse which is in the eares of a Mule being bound in the skin or hide of a little or young Hart and bound or hanged vpon the arme of a woman after her purgation doth cause that she may not conceiue The same being in like manner mingled or mixed with oile which is made of Beauers stones doth make any woman to whom it is giuen to drink altogether barren The durt or dung Mule being mixed with a sirup made of hony Marcellus vineger and water and giuen to any one to drinke that is troubled with the heart swelling and it will very speedily and effectually cure the paine thereof The dung of a Mule being burned or dryed and beaten small and afterwardes sifted or seirced and washed or steeped in wine and giuen to any woman to drink whose menstruall fluxes come forth before their time will in very short space cause the same to stay The stale or vrine of a male or female Mule being mingled with their durt or dung âippocrates is very good and medicinable for those to vse which are troubled with cornes and hard bunches of flesh which grow in their feete Assafoetida being mingled with the vrine of a Mule to the quantity of a beane and drunke will altogether be an impediment and hinderance to the conception of any woman Râsââ The stale or vrine
their quils which they beare vpon their backe are called both Pili setae villi pinnae aculei and spinae that is both haires bristles rough-haire pins prickles and thornes The Arabians call it Aduldull and Adualbul adubul adulbus and some Aherha which by Auicen and his Glossographer is defined to bee Montanus Ericius habeus spinas sagittales Bellonius an Hedghogge of the Mountaine hauing qvils or thornes vppon his back which he shooteth off at his pleasure The Graecians at this day call it Scanââcharos which is deriued or rather corrupted of Acanthocoiros The Italians call him Porco-spinoso and Histrice or Istrice without an Aspiration the Spaniardes Puerco-espin the French Porc espic the Illirians Porcospino the Illirians Morskaszwijnija imitating therein the Germans which call a Sea-Hogge Ein Meerschwyn The Germaines in some places call it Taran and in other places Dornschweyn that is a Thorny-hogge by a fained name in imitation of other Nations and also Porcopick following the Italians Spaniardes French English and Illirians I will not stand to confute them who write that this beast is a Sea-beast and not a beast of the land nor yet those that make question whether it be a kind of Hedghog or not for without all controuersie as the Arabians Pliny Albertus Bellunensis and other doe affirme the vulgar Hedghog is Ericius Syluestris and the Porcupine Ericius Montanus These are bred in INDIA and AFFRICKE and brought vp and downe in Europe to be seene for mony Likewise about the Citty Cassem in TARTARIA by the sight of one of these it appeared that it was three foot long the mouth not vnlike to a Hares but with a longer slit or opening so also the head of the same similitude the eares like to the eares of a man The forefeete were like the feete of a Badger and the hinderfeete like the feete of a Beare it hath a mane standing vp in the vpper part right or direct but hollow or bending before Vpon the bunches of his lips on either side of his mouth their groweth forth long blacke bristles The quils speares The generall proportion of his body is like a Swines and they neuer exceede the stature of a Swine of halfe a yeare old The foure for most teeth hang ouer his lips and that which is most admirable in him the quils or thornes growing vpon his backe in stead of haire he vseth for hands armes and weapons They first grow out of his backe and sides which are of two colours that is partly black and partly white which whensoeuer he pleaseth he mooueth to and fro like as a Peacocke doth his taile they grow in length two three or foure hands breadths they stand not in any confused order of colours but in well formed and distinguished rankes being sharp at the points like a knife When they are hunted the beast stretcheth his skin and casteth theÌ off one or two at a time according to necessity vpon the mouths of the Dogs or Legs of the Hunters that follow her with such violence that many times they stick into trees woods wherfore Solinus writeth thus and also Paulus Venetus Cum capiuntur spinis suis sape homines canes ledunt nam canes in eos prouocati adeo irritant fer as illas vt simul concurrentes terga sua quibus spinae innituntur veheâenter commoueant atque inuiciniores homines canes vibrent That is to say When they are taken they many times hurt both Dogs and men for when the Dogges being prouoked by them runne vpon the backes which beare the quils they are so far stirred that they cast them off vpon al that stand near them and therefore they sight flying In my opinion for cold rather then for any other reason although there be some that affirme it lyeth hid in the Summer time and commeth abroad in the Winter time contrary to the course of all other beasts and therefore such a paradox doth want the testimony of some credible writers which should affirme it vpon their owne experience or else it were requisite to bring sufficient reasons to lead their Readers to beleeue it but neither of both is discharged by them and therefore it is safer for vs to follow Aristotle and Pliny who hold the first opinion then Albertus and Agricola who encline to the later In all other things both of their lying hid of their procreation of the comming out of their caue and nourishing their yoong ones they imitate the manners and conditions of Beares Concerning the vse of their parts I find none but onely of their quils for with them it is said if men scrape their teeth they will neuer be loose likewise women were wont in auncient time to vse them for parting asunder their haire in the toppe of their crownes The vse of the flesh and other parts The flesh of this beast is like a hedg-hogs neither very naturall for meate and nourishment nor yet very medicinable yet it is said to helpe a weake and ouerburthened stomacke to procure loosenesse of the belly and to diminish all leprosies and scabbed exulcerations and pustles Being salted it is good against the dropsie and also very profitable as Platina writeth to be eaten by them that cannot containe vrine in their beds yet the Graecians attribute no such qualitie vnto this but to helpe the stomacke and loosen the belly they attribute to the sea-hogge and against the leprosie scabs and incontinencie of vrine to the hedg-hog but peraduenture the saying of Pliny Quae de Herniaceis dicuntur omnia tanto magis valebunt in Histrice leadeth them to attribute these things to the Porcuspine The powder of their quils burnt drunk or eaten in meats or broth do promote and helpe conception Thus saith Auicen and herewithall I conclude this short discourse of the Hedg-hogge Of the Raeyner or Rainger THis beast is called by the Latines Rangifer by the Germains Rein Reiner Raineger Reinssthier by the French Raingier and Ranglier and the later Latins call it Reingus It is a beast altogither vnknowne to the auncient Graecians and Latins Of the seuerall names except the Machlis that Pliny speaketh of be it but we haue shewd already in the story of the Elk that Alces and Machlis are all one This beast was first of all discouered by Olaus Magnus in this Northerne part of the world towardes the poale Artique as in Norwaâ Swetia and Scandinauia at the first sight whereof he called it Raingifer quasi Ramifer because he beareth hornes on his head like the boughes of a tree The similitude of this beast is much like to a Hart but it is much bigger stronger and swifter It beareth 3. orders or rowes of hornes on the head as by the direction of Valentinus Grauius and Benedictus Martinus are heere expressed This beast chaungeth his colour according to the time of the yeare and also acording to the quality of the place wherein he feedeth which appeareth by this because some
Gentian but narrower leaues and standing vpright the Nearue whereof in the middle is red and it groweth about the waters and therefore I coniecture it may be Water-Sorrell or Water-planton whereof when Sheep haue eaten they fall into a disease called also Duua for there is bred in their liuer certain litle black Worms or Leeches growing in smal bagges or skinnes being in length halfe a finger and so much in breadth wherewithall when the beast is infected it is vncurable and therefore there is no remedy but to take from it the life and that this is true the Butchers themseles affirme how many times they doe find such little Wormes in the Sheepes Lyuer and they say they come by drinking of Fenny or marshy-water And to conclude there is a kinde of Pannicke also whereof when Sheepe haue eaten it destroyeth them and there be other Hearbes which euery common Sheapheard knoweh are hurtfull vnto Sheepe and the beast it selfe though in nature it bee very simple yet is wise enough to chuse his owne foode except the vehement necessity of famine and hunger causeth him to eate poysoned hearbs In cases when their bellyes swell or when they haue Wormes in their belly which they haue deuoured with the Herbs they eat then they poure into their bellies the Vrin of men and because their bellies presently swell and are puffed out with wind the Sheapheards cut off the tops of their eares and make them bleede and likewise beate their sides with their Staffe and so most commonly they are recouered If Sheep chaunce to drink in their heate so as their greace be cooled in their belly which Butchers do find many times to be true then the Sheaphard must cut off halfe the Sheepes eare and if it bleede the beast shall be well but if it bleed not he must be killed and eaten or else he will starue of his owne accord If at any time a Sheep chance to deuoure a leach by pouring in oyle into his throat he shall be safe from danger Of the colds of Sheepe SHeep are knowne to be subiect to cold not onely by coughing after they haue taken it but also by their strength before they take it for the Sheapheards do diligently obserue that when any frost or yce falleth vppon a Sheepe if hee endure it and not shake it off it is a great hazzard but the same Sheep will die of cold but if he shake it off and not endure it it is a signe of a strong sound and healthy constitution Likewise for to know the health of their Sheep they open their eies and if the vaines appeare red and small they know they are sound but if they appeare white or else red and ful they know they are weake and will hardly liue out Winter or cold weather also when they are taken in their hands they presse their backe bone neare the hips and if it bend not they are sound and strong but if they feele it bend vnder their hand they hold them weake and feeble Likewise if a man take them by the head or by the skinne of the Necke if he follow him easily when he draweth him it is a signe of weakenesse and imbicility but if it doth striue and follow with great difficulty then it is a token of health and soundnesse Of Scabs and the causes of them The original cause of Scabs THe true originall of Scabs is either as we haue said already leanenesse or else cold or wet or wounds in the flesh by clipping or to conclude by the heate of the beast in summer not washed off by thornes and prickings of bushes or by sitting vpon the dung of Mules Horsses or Asses Now when this first of al beginneth it is easie for the sheapheard to obserue by these signes and tokens for the tickling or itching humour lying betwixt the skin and the flesh causeth the poore sheep either to bite the place with his teeth or to scratch it with his horne or to rub it vpon a tree or wall or if he can do none of these stamp hard vppon the ground with his forefeet for which it is good presently to separate the sheepe so affected from the flocke The discription and cure whereof is thus expressed by Virgill Turpis oues tentat scabies vbi frigidus hymber Altius ad vivum persedit horrida cano Bruma gelu vel cum tonsis illotus ad haesit Sudâr hir suti secuerunt corpora vepres Dulcibus id circo fluuijs pecus omne magistri Per fundunt vdisque aries in gurgite villis Mersatur missusque secundo defluit amni Aut tonsum tristi contingunt corpus amurca Et spumas miscent argenti viuaque sulphura Idaasque pices pingues vnguine ceras Scillamque helleborosque graues nigrumque bitumen Non tamen vlla magis praesens fortuna laborum est Quam si quiâ ferro potuit rescindere summum Vlceris os alitur vitium viuitque tegendo Dum medicas adhibere manus ad vulnera pastor Abnegat which may be englished in this maner When the poore sheep throgh wet shewers cold winter summers sweate or prickings of thornes doth incurre the filthy disease of scabs then it concerneth his maister to wash him in sweet riuers ouer head and eares yea to cast him in to swimme for his owne life or else to annoint his body after it is clipped with the spume or froth of oyle and of siluer with Brimstone and soft Idean Pitch with wax Hellibor black-earth or the flesh of shrimps or if it be possible to cut off the top of the wound with a knife Of the Scabs of Sheepe the first remedy THis disease the French-men call Letac and of all other it is one of the most contagious for our english prouerbe iustifieth one scabbed sheepe infecteth a whole flocke and Textor writeth thus of it Oues frequentius quam vllum aliud animal infestantur scabie quam facit macies vt maciem exiguitas cibi huic morbo nisi occurratur vnica totum pecus coinquinabit nam oues contagione vexantur That is to say Sheep are more oftentimes infected with scabs then any other creature whereinto they throgh for leanes as they fall into leanesse through want of food and therefore if a remedy be not prouided for this euill one of them infected will defile all the residue for sheep are subiect to contagion for remedy wherof in France they vse this medicine First of all they sheare the sheep and then they mingle together the pure froath of oyle and water wherein Hops haue bin sod and the leeze of the best wine and so let it soke in two or three daies together afterwardes they wash them in sea-water and for want of sea water in salt water and this medicine is approued wherby both scabs and tikes are remoued from the sheep and also the wooll groweth better afterwards then euer it did before but it is better if a man can cure them without shearing
call tonsillae comming by reason of a great flux of humours from the head vnto that place which may be cured two manner of waies first by incision or opening the skin where the bunch lyeth wherby all the watery tumors are euacuated and the beast cured or else if through the coldnes of the weather or some other accident you list not to cut the skin then annoint it with liquid pitch prepared in such manner as is before expressed for the scabes by operation whereof it will be dissolued and dispersed When this euill ariseth in the beginning of the spring many times it is cured without all remedie because the beast for the greedinesse of the sweete grasse stoopeth downe her head and stretcheth her necke by which the straining and sorenesse of her iawes and throat departeth and this sicknesse in a sheepe is like the Kings euill in a man There be some that cure it by putting salt among the meate of these beasts or by Guniper berries and Harts-toong leaues beaten to powder For the cough and paine in the lungs SHepheards for these diseases do take the powder of the root of Foale-foot and mingle it with salt so giue it vnto the sheepe to lick whereby they are perswaded that the lungs of the beast are much comforted and strengthned and furthermore against the cough they take blanched Almonds and beat them to powder and so tempering them in two or 3. cups of wine do infuse it in at the sheeps nostrilles and likewise veruine which is called a kind of Germander but falsely because it hath no good smel is giuen by shephards at this day vnto their sheep against the cough Of sighing and shortnesse of breath FOr sheepe that are affected with much sighing they vse to bore a hole with an yron through their eares and remoue the sheepe out of the place where they feed to some other place and if it come from the sicknes of the lungs then the hearb called Lungwort or Creswort is the most present remedy in the world If the root therof be drunke in water or a piece thereof tyed vnder the sheepes tongue or as Celsus saith giue vnto it as much sharp vineger as the beast can endure or halfe a pint of a mans stale vrine warmed at the fire and infused into the nostril with a little horn this also is a remedy against flegme in the summer time Of the loathing of Sheepe and encreasing of their stomacke IF at any time the sheepe forsake his meate then take his taile and pull off from it all the wooll afterwards binde it as hard as euer you can and so he will fall hard to his meat againe and Pliny affirmeth that the same part of his taile which is beneath the knot wil die after such binding and neuer haue any sence in it againe Of the fluxes of sheepe and loosenesse of the belly FOr this disease the Sheapheardes take no other thing but the Hearbe Tormentia or Set-foyle wherwithall they stop all manner of laxes but if they cannot get the same Hearb then they take salt and giue it vnto them and so hauing encreased their thirst they giue vnto them black wine whereby they are cured Of the melt of Sheepe IN Aprill and May through the aboundance of thicke grosse blood the melt of sheepe is stopped and filled then the sheaphards will take two of their fingers and thrust them within the nostriles of the sheep there rubbing them vntill they make them bleed and so draw from them as much blood as they can Of the sicknesse of the Spleene FOr as much as a Horse a Man and a Sheep are troubled with the same diseases they are also to be cured with the same remedies and therefore Spleen-wort giuen vnto sheep as to a man and a Horse as wee haue already expressed is the best remedy for this Malady Of the Feauers of Sheepe SOmetimes a shaking rage through an incensed and an vnnaturall heat of the blood in the sheepe begetteth in him a Feauer the best remedy whereof is to let him bloud according to these verses Quin etiam iam dolor balantum lapsus ad ossa Cum furit atque artus depascitur arida febris Profuit incensos aestus auertere inter Ima ferire pedes salientem sanguine venam Quam procul aut molli succedere saepius vmbrae Videris aut summas carpentem ignauius herbas Extremamque sequi aut medio procumbere campo Pascentem serae solam decedere nocti Continuò ferro culpam compesce priusquà m Dira per in cautum serpant cantagio vulgus In which verses the Poet defineth the signes of this disease and the cure The signes he saith are solitarinesse and a carelesse feeding or biting off the top of his meat following alwaies the hindmost of the flock and lying down in the middle of the field when others be a feeding also lying alone in the night time and therefore he wisheth to let them bloud vnder the pasterne or ankle bone of their foot but by often experiment it hath bin proued that to let them bloud vnder the eies or vpon the eares is as availeable as in the legs but concerning the Feauer we will say more in the discourse of the Lambes Of the pestilence or rottennesse of Sheepe THis sicknesse first of al commeth vnto Sheepe out of the earth either by some earthquake or else by some other pestilent humor corrupting the vitall spirit for Seneca writeth that after the Citty Pompeij in Champania was ouerthrowne by an earth-quake in the winter time there followed a pestilence which destroyed sixe hundered sheep about that citty in short time after and this he saith did not happen through any naturall feare in them but rather through the corruption of water and aire which lyeth in the vpper face of the earth and which by the trembling of the earth is forced out poysoning first of all the beasts because their heads are downeward and feede vpon the earth and this also will poyson men if it were not suppressed and ouercome by a multitude of good aire which is aboue the earth It were endlesse to describe all the euils that come by this disease how some consume away by crying and mourning filling both fields and hils with their lamentations leauing nothing behinde them no not their skins or bowels for the vse of man For the cure whereof First change the place of their feeding so that if they were infected in the woods or in a cold place driue them to the hils or to sunny warme fields and so on the contrary if in warme places clementaire then driue them to more turbulent and cold pastures remoue and change them often but yet force them gently waying their sicke and feeble estate neither suffering them to dye through lazinesse and idlenesse nor yet to be oppressed through ouermuch labour When you haue brought them to the place where you would haue them there deuide them asunder not permitting aboue
true and naturall strength and also their artificial imitation by men Now on the otherside the wise shepheards want not deuises to restraine the wrath of these impetious beasts For Epicharmus the Syracusan saith if ther be a hole bored in the backer part of his crooked horn neer his eare it is very profitable to be followed for seeing that he is captaine of the flock and that hee leadeth all the residue it is most necessary that his health and safeguarde be principally regarded and therefore the auncient shepheards were woont to appoint the captaine of the flocke from the prime and first appearance of his hornes and to giue him his name whereof he tooke knowledge and would leade and goe before them at the appointment and direction of his keeper When he is angry he beateth the ground with his foot and they were woont to hange aboord of a foote broad wherein were drouen many sharp nailes with the points toward the head so that when the beaste did offer to fight with his owne force he woundeth his forehead They were wont also to hange a shrimpe at the horne of the ram and then the Wolfe will neuer set vpon their flockes Morral vses of ramshorns Aelianus And concerning their hornes which are the Noblest parts of their body most regarded yet I must speake more for there was wont to be euery yeare amonge the Indians a fight betwixt men wilde beasts bulles and tame rams and a murtherer in auncient time was wont to be put to death by a ram for by art the beast was so instructed neuer to leaue him till he had dashed out his braines It is reported of a rams hornes consecrated at Delos Plutarch broght from the coasts of the red sea that weighed twenty and six poundes being two cubits and eight fingers in length There was a ram in the flocks of Pericles that had but one horn wherupon when Lampon the poet had looked he saied Ex duabas quae in vrbe vigerent factionibus fore vt altera obscurata ad vnum periclem apud quem visum foret portentum resideret ciuitatis potentia Coelius That whereas there were two contrary-raging-factions in the citty it should happen that Pericles from whose possessions that monster came shuld obscure the one and take the whole gouernment of the citty Cardan It is reported by Rasis and Albertus that if the hornes of a ram bee buried in the earth they will turne into the hearbe sperrage for rottennesse and putrification is the mother of many creatures and hearbes There was as Aristotle reporteth in his wonders a childe borne with a rams head and it is affirmed by Ouid that Medea inclosed an old decrepite ramme in a brazen vessell with certaine kinde of medicines and afterwards at the opening of the saide vessell she receiued a young lambe bred vpon the metamorphosis of his body Concerning Phrixus whereof wee haue spoken in the former part of our discourse of the sheepe there is this story He was the âhe sonne of Athaman and Nepheles Afterward his mother being dead he feared the treachery of his mother in law and step-dame Inus The story of Phrixus and the ram with a golden fleece Apollonius and therefore with his sister Helle by the consent of their father he swam ouer a narrowe arme of the sea vpon the backe of a ram carrying a golden fleece which before that time his father had bestowed vpon him His sister Helle being terrified with the great roaring of the Water fell off from the rams back into the sea and thereof came the name of Hellesponte of Helle the Virgin and Pontus the sea but he came safely to Colchis to king Hetes where by the voice of a Ram who spake like a man hee was commaunded to offer and dedicate him to Iupiter surnamed Phryxus and also that golden âeece was hanged up and reserued in the Temple of Colchis vntill Iason by the helpe of Medea aforesaid did fetch it away and the ram was placed among the stars in his true shape and was called Phrixeus of Phrixus who was the father of the Phrygian Nation Of this fabulous tale there are many explications and coniecturall tales among the lerned not vnprofitable to bee rehearsed in this place Coelias and Palaphatus say that the ram was a ship whose badge was a ram prouided by Athaman for his sonne to saile into Phrygia and some say that Aries was the name of a man that was his foster-father Hermolâus by whose counsell and charge he was deliuered from the step-mother Inus Other say that there was a booke of parchment made of a rams skin containing the perfect way to make golde called Alchymye and that thereby Phrixus got away But in Athens there was reserued the ymage of this Phrixus Apollonius Gyraldus The fleece of Colchis offering the ram vpon which hee was borne ouer the Sea to the God Laphystius and whereas there are in Colchis certaine riuers out of which there is gold growing and oftentimes founde whereuppon some of them haue receiued their name as Chrysorrhoa and the men of that country sayed to bee greatly inriched thereby Tzetzes they gaue occasion of al the poeticall fictions about the golden fleece There are in some places of Affricke certaine sheepe whose wooll hath the colour of gold and it may be that from this occasion came the talke of golden fleeces It is said that when Atreus raigned in Pelopomesus hee vowed to Diana the best whatsoeuer should be brought foorth in his flocke and it fortuned that there was yeaned a golden lambe and therefore he neglecting his vow did not offer it but shut it vp in his chest Afterward when he gloried and boasted of that matter his brother Thrystes greatly enuied him and counterfetting loue to his wife Aerope receiued from her the golden lambe Then being in possession thereof he contradicted Atreus before the people affirming that he that had the golden Lambe ought to be king and to raigne among them and so layed a wager of the whole gouernment or kingdome thereof with Atreus whereunto he yeelded but Iupiter by Mercury discouered the fraud and so Thyestes took him to flight and the lambe was commaunded to bee offered to the sunne and so I conclude this discourse with the verses of Martiall Mollia Phryxei secuisticolla mariti Hoc meruit tunicam qui tibi saepe dedit And seeing that I haue entered into the discourse of these poeticall fables or rather Riddles which seeme to bee outwardly cloathed with impossibilities Transmutation of rams I trust that the Reader will giue mee leaue a little to prosecute other Narrations as that Neptune transforming himselfe into a ram deceiued and deflowred the Virgin Bisabpis and the auncients when they swore in iest and merriment were wont to sweare by a Ram or a Goose When the Gyants waged warre with the Goddes all of the Gods as the poets write took vnto
that age but prolonged till two three or foure yeare old wee haue shewed already the English manner for knitting of rams Being thus libbed or knit their hornes grow not so great as the other males vngelded but their flesh and lard or sewet is more acceptable then of any other sheep whatsoeuer except they be ouer old for that it is neither so moist as a lambs nor yet so rank as a rams or Ewes where Baptiste Fiera made these verses Anniculus placeat vel si sine testibus agnus Pinginox est hordo quin calet olla vores Hunc anno se duriper pascua montis anhelat Maluero si auri villere diues erit Platina also writeth thus of the flesh of Weathers Veruecem caro satis salubris est melior quam agnina calida enim humida habetur ad temperamentum tendeus illa vero plus humiditatis quam caliditatis habet That is to say The flesh of Weathers is wholsome ynough and better then the flesh of Lambes because it is hot and moist but that hath in it more moisture then heat and therefore this tendeth to a better temperament Munster writeth that the inhabitants and people of Valuis take this flesh of Weathers and salt it afterward dry it in the ayre where no smoake may come vnto it afterward they lay it vp in strawe and so hold it much more delicate then that which is raized in the smoake As the flesh of these beastes groweth the better for their gelding because they liue more quietly and peaceably for that their fore-heades grow weake and tender and their horns smal so also it is reported that their tailes grow exceeding large and fat In some Regions as in Arabia Foelix and other places and because the report should not seeme feined by me I will describe it in the Authours owne words Paulus Venetus writeth thus of the Weathers of Scythia and in the region Camandu subiect to the great Tartar In Tartariae regione Camandu vrietes non minores asinis sunt cauda tam longu latu vt triginta librarum pondus aequent In Camandu a territory of Tartaria there are Rams like Asses in stature and quantity whose tailes are so long and broad that they ballance in waight thirty pound Vartoman writeth In adibus regis Arabium fuisse praepingus veruecem cutus cauda adeo obesa fuit vt libras quadraginta appenderet propi Reame vrbem Arabiae foelicis veruecum genera reperiuntur quorum caudam animaduerti pondo esse librarum quadragintu quatuor carent cornibus adeoque esse obesi pingues vt vix incedere possunt Circa Zeclam vrbem Aethiopiae verueces non nulli ponderasissimas trahunt caudas vt pote pondo sedecim librarum His caput collum nigricant caeteris albi sunt Sunt etiam verueces prorsus albicantes quorum cauda cubitatis est longitudinis modo eluboratae vitis palearia vt bubus à mento pendent quae humum prope verrunt That is to say In the house of the King of Arabia there was a Weather very fat whose taile waighed forty pound and neare vnto Reamia a Citty in Arabia Foelix there are a breed or race of Weathers whose tailes for the most part waied foure and forty pound They want hornes and are so fat that they can scarcely go Also about the Citty Zecla in Aethiopia the Weathers draw long tailes waighing sixteene pound Whereof some haue their heads and necke blacke and all the other parts of their body white some of them againe al white hauing a taile but of a cubit long like a curious and planted Vine their crestes and haire hanging from their chinne to the grounde Thus farre of the Arabian Weathers Of the Indians hee writeth thus in another place Circa Tanasuri vrbem Indiae tanta est pecudum copia vt duodeni veruices singulo aureo vaeneunt Conspiciuntur illic verueces alij cornua haud ab similia daemis habentes nostris longe maiores ferocioresque Candae veruecem in perigrinis regionibus tantae sunt quantus nullus apud nos veruex Contingit hoc quia hutindissimum hoc animal inter quadrupedia frigidissimum eumque coetera essa vetendi nequeant ne pinguedine immensa extensis etiam assibus neruis non parum quae humida natura velut pisces semper incremento apta sunt That is About the citty Tarnasar in India there is such great plenty of cattell that they sell twelue Weathers for a noble and yet there are Weathers which haue hornes like to the hornes of Deere being longer greater and fiercer then our Rams and their tailes in forraign and strange countries are fatter then any Weathers among vs and the reason hereof is because it is the moistest and coldest creature among al foure-footed-beastes and bycause the bones cannot be enlarged to receiue that moysture and least that it should destroy the beast by exuperance and aboundance therefore nature hath prouided this remedy to sende it forth into the taile whereby in flesh and fat it groweth exceedingly the bones and nerues whereof are not a little extended for they are also of a moist nature like fishes and therefore apt to encrease and grow immeasurably Thus much say they of the tailes of Weathers now I know such is the solidity of diuers Readers people that for these reports they wil presently giue both these Authors and me the Whet-stone for rare vntruths and fictions I do not maruaile for such I dare assure my selfe doe not beleeue all the miracles of Christ hauing shorte and shallow conceiptes measuring all things by their owne eies and because they themselues are apt to lye for their profit therefore they are not ashamed to lay like imputations vppon honest men yet I could shew vnto them as great or greater wonders in our owne nation if they were worthy to bee confuted for which other nations account vs as great liers nay as these infidell fooles do them and yet they are common among vs. The vse of the seuerall parts of this beast is no other then that which is already reported of the sheep and Ram and therefore I will not stand to repeate that which is so lately related and for the remedies or medicinal vertues I fynd few that are special except those which are common between this and other of his kind It seemeth by Plautus that a Weathersheepe is accounted the most foolish of all other a coward and without courage for speaking of a mad dotish fellow he writeth thus Ego ex hac statua veruecea volo erogitare meo minore quod sit factum filio That is I will demaund of this blockish weathers picture meaning his foolish seruant what is become of my younger son These were among the Pagans sacrifyced but not among the Iewes for they haue not so much as a name for it it is probable that seeing it is an vnperfect beast God forbade it to his sanctuary when the gentiles
congeale mixed with Vineger and drunke for three daies together is an excellent remedy against the vomitting or spetting of blood The like force in it hath the blood of a Kidde The bloode of a Lambe mingled with wine doth heale those which are troubled with the falling sicknesse as also those which haue the fowle euill For the conception of a Woman take the yarde and gall of a Bucke a Kid and a Hare with the blood and sewet of a Lamb and the marrow of a Hart and mix them altogither with Nard and oyle of Roses and after her purgation Pliny let them be laied vnder her and this without all doubt wil make her apt to conceiue The skins of Serpents being annointed with water in a bath and mingled with lime and Lambes sewet doth heale the disease called S. Anthonies fire The marrow of a Lambe melted by the fire with the oyle of Nuts and white sugar distilled vpon a cleane dish or platter and so drunke doth dissolue the stone in the bladder and is very profitable for any that pisseth blood It also cureth al paines or griefes of the yarde bladder or reynes The skin of a Lambe being dawbed or annointed with liquid-pitch and applyed hot vnto the belly of any one that is troubled with excoriations of the bowels or the bloody flix wil very speedily cure him if he haue any sence or feeling of cold in him If a Virgins menstrual fluxes come not forth at the due time Hippocrates and her belly is moued it is conuenient to apply lambs skins being hot vnto her belly and they will in short space cause them to come forth A garment made of lamb skins is accounted very good for the corroborating and strengthning of yong men The skins of lambes are more hot then kids skins are more profitable for the confirming of the backe and the reines The little bone which is in the right side of a Toad being bound in a young lambes skin being hot doth heal both quartaine and al other feauers being aplied thereunto The dust of lambs bones is very much and rightly vsed for Vlcers which haue no chops or stars in them The dust of smal cattels dung being mingled with Nitre but especially of lambs hath in them great force to heal cankers the dust of lambs bones is very much commended for the healing and making of greene wounds sound and solide which thing by the Saracens is much verified in regard that at al times they go to war Marcellus Pliny they neuer forget to take of the same along with them The lungs of lambs do very effectually cure those whose feete are wrung or pinched by theyr shoo-soles The lungs of lambs or rams being burned and the dust thereof mingled with oile is very profitable for the curing of kibes or vlcers being applied thereunto It hath the same vertue being raw bound vpon the sore Marcellus The runnet of a lambe is of very great force against al other euil medicines The runnets of smal cattel but especially of a lamb is very effectual against al kinds of poyson The runnets of a kid a lambe and a hind-calfe are conueniently taken against Wolfe-bane drunke in wine The runnet of a hare a kid or a lambe taken in wine to the weight of a dram is very effectuall against the forke-fish cureth the bites or strokes of al Sea-fishes The runnet of a lamb drunk in wine is an excellent cure for the bitings of a shrew Pliny The runnet of a lamb drunk in water is accounted for a safegard to young children who are vexed with thicke and concrete milke or if the default shal happen by curded milke it wil be soone remedyed by a lambes runnets giuen in Vineger A Lambs runnet hid or poured into water doth speedily cohibit the bleeding of the nose when nothing else can stay it The gal of smal Cattel but especially of a Lamb being mixed with hony are thoght to be very medicinable for the curing of the falling sicknes The places which are infected by cankers being anointed ouer with the gal of a lamb are very speedily and effectually healed There is also by the Magicians deliuered vnto vs a speedy means for the curing of the melt which is this to take a Lamb new born instantly to pluck him in pieces with ones hands Marcellus and when the melt is pulled out to put it hot vpon the melt of the party so grieued and bind it on fast with swadling cloathes and continually to say I make a remedy for the melt then in the last day the same being taken from his body to put it to the Wall of the beâ wherein the diseased party is wont to lye it being first daubed with durt that it might the better stick and to signe the durt with seuen and twenty markes saying at euery mark I make a remedy for the melt this remedy being done three times it will heale the diseased party although he be very weake and full of danger But this is the opinion of the Magicians which I here set downe that they should rather see their folly then beleeue knowing them to be meere fopperies For making the wool to grow slower the gelders of cattel anoint the bloud which commeth from the stones of gelded Lambes which being anointed doth profit very much for haires being pulled away as also against poison Pliny The dung of Lambes before they haue tasted of any grasse being dryed in the shaddow and rubbed to powder and applyed in the manner of a plaister doth heale and ease al kindes of paines in the chaps or iawes And thus much for the medicines of the sheepe OF THE STREPSICEROS THere is in Creete neare the Mountaine Ida Bellonius a kind of sheep called by the Sheapheardes Strepsiceros which is not different from the vulgar sheep except onely in the hornes for they bend not like other but stand straight and vpright like the Vnicorne and beside are circled about with certain round speeres like a Goates horne This liueth in flockes and we haue here beside the figure of the beast expressed a double form of their hornes and forepart of their head the figure of a Harpe being fastened to one of them as it was presently drawen The description whereof was taken by Docter Cay of England in these words following The hornes of this Strepsiceros are so liuely expressed by Pliny and so fitly fitted to beare Harpes that they seeme not to aske any further narration of words I will therefore onely adde this they are hollow within and long about two Roman feet and three palmes if you measure them as they are straight but if you take their scantling and length as they crooke a little then are they about three foot long they are in breadth where they ioyne to the head three Roman fingers and a halfe and their whole compasse in that place is about two Roman palmes and a halfe In the
be white and brused and taken in drink doeth cure the swellings of the necke and paines of long continuance The Ancle bone of a Sow burned and brused and giuen to drinke onely in Water is a remedy against the collicke and stone The anckle bone of a sow doth driue away those swellinges which arise in the stomacke and doth ease the paines of the head The ashes of the ancle bone of a sow or Bore doeth cure Cornes cleftse or other rifts in the skin and the hardnesse of the skin that is in the bottome of the feet It is also shewed that if the bone shall be hung about the necke of those that are trobled with quarterne agues that then they shall be farre better but of what bone he speaketh it is vncertaine but as he remembreth it is the next bone before the fat of the anckle bone The bones that are taken from the hoofes of sowes burned and beaten to pouder are very good to rub and clense the teeth Also the bones next to the ribbes of Bacon being burned are very good to fasten the teeth The bones that are taken from the hooues of hogs and burned to pouder are vsed to clense the teeth and it is very good also to fasten the teeth The ashes which are made of a Harts horne or of the hoofe of a hog are verie good to clense or rub the teeth The bones which are taken from the hoof of a hog burnd and beaten to pouder and sifted and a little spicknard added thereto doth make the teeth very white by often rubbing them therewith The ashes of the hoofs of a Bore or sow put in drinke doth stay the incontinency of vrine and also the bloody flixe Take as much Mercurial sodden as ones hand can hold sod in two pintes of water vnto one pinte and drinke the same with hony and salt and the pouder of a Hogges hoofe and it shall lâose the belly The milke of a Sow drunke with sweet wine helpeth women in trauell and the same being drunke alone restoreth milke in Womens breasts It is also good against the blody flix and Tissick The stones of swine beaten to powder and drunke in swines milke are good against the fauling sicknesse The wise men were wont to prescribe the left foote or legge of a Camaelion to be bound vnto the feet against the gowt There are also many vses of the dung of swine and first of al it being mixed with Vineger is good against the bittinges of venemous beastes and Aetius maketh an emplaister thereof against the biting of a Crocodile It is to be applyed single against the stinging of Scorpions and also the biting of any other reptile creature If a Serpent bite an Oxe or a Horse or any other Foure-footed-Beast take the stalke of Nigella and beat into a pinte of olde wine so as all the iuice may goe out thereof then infuse it into the Nostril of the beast and lay swines dunge to the sore so also it may bee applied vnto men whereunto some do ad Hony Atticke and the vrine of a man and so it is to be applyed warme it being also warmed in a shell and dried to pouder mixed with oyle and layed to the bodie easeth outward paines It is likewise profitable against burnings itch scabs and blisters and trembling of the body according to these verses of Serenus Stercoris ex porco cinerem confundit olimphis Sic pauidum corpus dextra pascente foueto This is also commended against hard bunches in the body hardnes of the skinne cliftes and chinkes in the flesh freckles lice and nits and also the breaking of the sinnewes Si cui forti lapis teneros violanerit artus Non pudeat luteae stercus perducere possae It is also good to stay bleedinges at the nose if it be layed to the Nosthrils warme and to staie the bleedings of beasts if it be giuen them in wine the same being mixed and couered with hony is annointed vpon horses for the Quinsey or swellings of the throat If the breastes of a woman do swel after her deliuery of childe it is good to annoint them with water and the dung of Hogges also the powder thereof mixed with oile is profitable for the secrets of men and women If a man haue receiued any hurt by bruses so as his blood staieth in his body or suffer convulsion of the Nerues through Crampes those euils are cured by the dung of a Bore gathered in the spring time dried and sod in Viniger and some of the later Physitians prescribe it to de drunke in water and they say that Nero the Emperor was woont to vse that medicine when he would try the strength of his body in a running Chariot also the powder of the same being drunk in Vineger is profitable for the rupture and inwarde bruses and warmed in Wine against al manner of flixes and Tizickes For the paines of the loines and al other thinges which need mollyfieng rub them first of all with Deeres greace and then sprinkle them with old Wine mixed with the pouder of Swines dung The vrine of a Swine is also good against al bunches and apostemation being layed to in wool The vrine of a Bore pig dryed in the smoke and drunke with sweet Wine the quantity of a beane is profitable against the fauling euil Against the whitenes of the eyes and the stone in the reynes and bladder And thus much for the story of swine in generall OF THE WILDE BORE THis beast is tearmed by no other name then the common swine among the Haebrewes namely Chasir as you may see in Psal 80. wher the prophet speaketh of Chasir de sylva That is the Bore out of the wood The Graecians call him Capros and Syagros and Clunis although some take Clunis for a Bore of an exceeding great stature Aristophone saith that there are some of this kind which are cald Monij which worde by S. Cyril vppon the prophet Osey is interpreted a wilde Asse but I rather incline to their opinion which saie that Chlunis Monyos and Chauliodon are poeticall words for cruell Bores Aristotle is of opinion these bores being gelt when they are young growe greater and more fierce whereunto Homer also yeeldeth as he is thus translated Nutrijt exetum sylvis horrentibus aprum Instar non bruti sed dorsi montis opaci But this is to be vnderstoode of such Bores as by accident geld themselues by rubbing vpon any tree The French call this Beast Sanglier and Porc Sanglier the Italians Cinghiale and Cinghiare and Porco The Spaniards Puerco Syluestre and Puerco montes and I'auali the Germans Wild Schuuein The Illyrians Worpes and the Latines Aper for Porcus signifieth the tame swine and Aper the wilde The reason of this Latine name Aper is deriued from Asper because he liueth among the sharp thorns and woods but I rather think that Aper is deriued from Capros the Greeke word or else Aper à feritate from his
fiercenesse and wildenes by chaunging one letter into another The epithets The Epithites of this beast are many both in Greeke and Latine such as these are sharpe wilde Arcadian Attalantean troubler bloody toothed hard Erymanthean cruell outragious fierce strong gnashing lightning yellowe raging Acorne-gatherer quicke rough rough-haired horrible Maenalian Mercean Meleagron threatning wood-wanderer cruell Sabelican bristle-bearer foaming strict filthy Tegean Thuscan fearfull wry-faced truculent deuourer violent Vmbrian wound-maker impetuous mountaine-liuer armed on both sides and such like But of all these Epithites there are onely three Erimanthean Calidonean and Myssean which do offer vnto vs peculiar stories according as we find them in the poets which wee will prefix by way of morral discourse before we enter into the natural story of this beast First of all Erymanthus was a hill of Arcadia wherein was a wilde bore that continually did descend down depopulate their Corn-fields Hercules comming that way and hearing of that mischiefe did kill the said Bore and carryed him vpon his backe to Eurystheus whereat Eurystheus was so much affraid that he went and hid himselfe in a brazen vessell whereof Virgill speaketh thus Erymanthi placaret syluam lernam tremefecerit arcu And of this Erymanthean bore Martiall speaketh Quantus erat calidon Erymanthe tuus Of the Calidonian Bore there is this story in Homer When Oeneus the Prince of Aetolia sacrificed the first fruits of his country to the Goddes he forgot Diana wherewithall she was very angry and so sent among the people a sauage Boare which destroyed both the Countrey and Inhabitants against whom the Calidonians and Pleuronians went foorth in hunting and the first of al that wounded the wilde Beast was Meleager the sonne of Oeneus for reward wherof he receiued his head and his skin which he bestowd on Atalanta a virgin of Arcadia with whome hee was in loue and which did accompany him in hunting where withall the sonnes of Thyestius which were the Vncles of Meleager were greatly offended for they were the brothers to his mother Althea those men lay in waite to destroy him whereof when hee was aduertised he killed some of them and putte the residue to flight For which cause the Pleuronians made warre against the Calidonians in the beginning of which warre Meleager fell out with his mother because she did not help hir country At last when the Citty was almost taken by the perswasion of his wife Cleopatra hee went out to fight with his enemies where in valiant maner he flew many of them others he put to flight who in their chase running away fell downe vpon steepe rockes and perished Then Althea the mother of Meleager began to rage against her sonne and flunge into the fire the torch which the fates had giuen vnto her to lengthen his daies so when she saw her sonne was dead she repented and flue herselfe and afterwardes was cast into the very selfe-same burning fire with him In the hunting of this Bore Ancaeus the companion of Iason to Colchis was slaine This Bore is also called a Meliagran and Attalantean Bore of whom Martiall writeth thus Qui diomideis metuendus Setiger agris Aetola cecidit cuspide talis erat And againe in another place Lacte mero pastum pigre mihi mortis alumnum Ponat Aetolo de sue diues edat It is said that this Bore had teeth of a cubit long the maner of his huÌting was expressed in the pinnicle of the Temple of Tegea for which cause he is called the Tegean Bore Vpon the one side of the Bore against his middle were painted Atalanta Meleager Theseus Telamon Peleus Pollux and Iolaus the companion of al Hercules trauels Prothus and Cometes the sonnes of Thiestius and brethren of Althea on the other side of the Bore stood Ancaus wounded and Epecus sustaining his hunting speare next vnto him stood Castor and Amphiaraus the sonne of Oicleus After them Hippothus the sonne of Cercion Agamedes the sonne of Stymphelus and lastly Pirithous The teeth of this Bore were taken away by Augustus after the time that he had ouercome Anthoney which he hung vp in the Temple of Bacchus standing in the Gardens of the Emperour And thus much for the Calidonian Bore Now concerning the Myssean bore I find this story recorded of him When Adrastus the Phrygian who was of the kings blood had vnawares killed his brother he fled to Sardis and after his expiation dwelt with Cresus It hapned at that time that there was a wilde Bore came out of Olimpus and wasted a great part of the countrey of Myssea the people oppressed with many losses and terrifyed with the presence of such a beast besought the king to send his owne sonne Attys with much company to hunt and kil the Bore The king was affraide thereof because in his dreame he saw a vision his sonne perishing by an iron speare yet at last he vvas perswaded committed the safegard of his body to Adrastus When they came to the wilde beast Adrastus bent his speare at the Bore and while hee cast it to kill him the sonne of Cresus came betwixt them and so was slaine with the spear according to the dreame of his Father Adrastus seeing this misfortune that his handes which should haue defended the young prince had taken away his life fell into extreame passion and sorrow for the same and although the king knovving his innocency forgaue him the fact yet hee slue himselfe at the Funerall of Attys and so vvas burned vvith him in the same fire And thus much for the Myssean Bore Now we will proceede to the particular story of the wilde Bore and first of all of the countries breeding Bores The Spaniards say that in the new found world there are wilde Bores much lesse then ours which haue tailes so short that one would think they had bin cut off Of the wilde bores parts other accidents they differ also in their feet for their hinder feet are not clouen but stand vppon one claw and their forefeet are clouen like common swines Their flesh also is more sweet and wholesome then common swines flesh whereof Peter Martir giueth reason in his Ocean Decads because they feed vnder palme Trees neer the Sea-shore and in Marshes Olaus Magnus writeth that in diuers places of Scandinavia they hunt wilde Bores which are twelue foot long The wilde Bores of India according to Pliny haue teeth which in their compasse contain a cubit and besides their teeth growing out of their chaps they haue two hornes on their head like Calues hornes In the Islands Medera there are abundance of wilde Bores likewise in Heluetia and especially in those parts that ioyne vppon the Alpes where they would much more abound but that the Magistrates giue liberty to euery man to kill and destroy them There are no Bores in Affricke except in Aethiopia where their Bores haue all hornes and of those it was that Lycotas the Countriman saw in a
the head of a Dog being burned without the tongue and beaten into powder and so to be applyed after the manner of a Cataplasme And thus much concerning the medicines of the Bore OF THE TATVS OR GVINEAN BEAST THis is a foure-footed strange Beast which Bellonius saith he found in Turchia among the mounte-bankes and Apothicaries It is brought for the most part out of the new-found world and out of Guinia and may therefore be safely conueyed into these parts because it is naturally couered with a harde shell deuided and interlined like the fins of fishes outwardly seeming buckled to the backe like coat-armor within which the beast draweth vp his body as a Hedghog doth within his prickled skin and therefore I take it to be a Brasilian Hedghog It is not much greater then a little pig and by the snout ears legs and feet thereof it seemeth to be of that kind sauing that the snout is a litle broader shorter then a pigs and the tail very long like a Lizards or rats and the same couered al ouer with a crust or shel The gaping of the mouth is wider then a swines and one of these being brought into France did liue vpon the eating of seeds and frutes of the Gardens but it appeareth by that picture or rather the skinne stuffed which Adrianus Marcillius the Apothecary of Vlmes sent vnto Gesner from whence this pictture heere expressed was taken that the feete thereof are not clouen into two partes like swine but rather into many like Dogges for vpon the hinder feete there are fiue toes and vpon the forefeete fowre whereof two are so smal that they are scarse visible The bredth of that same skin was about seuen fingers and the length of it two spans the shell or crust vpon the backe of it did not reach downe vnto the rumpe or taile but broke off as it were vpon the hips some foure fingers from the taile The Merchants as I haue herd and Cittizens of London keepe of these with their Garden wormes Of the Aiochtochth THere is another beast that may bee compared to this whereof Cardanus writeth and hee calleth the name of it Aiotochth It is a strange creature found in Hispania noua neare the riuer Aluaradus being not greater then a Cat hauing the bil or snowt of a Mallard the feet of a Hedge-hog and a very long necke It is couered al ouer with a shell like the trappinges of a horsse diuided as in a Lobster and not continued as in an Oyster and so couered heere with that neither the necke nor head appeare plainely but onely the eares and the Spaniards for this cause call it Armato and Contaexto There be some doe affirme that it hath a voice like swine but the feet thereof are not indeed so clouen that they remaine vnequal but are like to a horses I meane the seueral cloues There are of these as I haue hearde to be seene in Gardens in London which are kept to destroy the Garden wormes OF THE TIGER The names of Tigers THe worde Tigris is an Armenian worde which signifieth both a swift Arrow and a great riuer and it should seeme that the name of the riuer Tigris was therefore so called because of the swiftnes thereof and it seemeth to be deriued from the Haebrew word Gir and Griera which signifie a dart Munster also in his Dictionary of three languages doth interpret Tigros for a Tiger and Alai In the 4. of Iob the word Laisk by the Septuagints is translated Murmeleon and by S. Ierom Tigris The Iewes call the same beast Phoradei which the Graecians call Tigris and al the people of Europe to whom this beast is a stranger call it after the Greeke name as the Italians Tigre and Tigra the French Vn Tigre and the Germaines Tigerthier Of the riuer Tigrys Now concerning the name of the riuer Tigris which because it ioyneth in affinity with this beast it is necessary that I should say something in this place because that wee finde in holy scripture that it is one of the foure riuers which runneth through Paradice which according to Iosephus maketh many compasses and windings in the world and at last fauleth into the redde sea and they further say that there is no riuer of the world that runneth so swiftly as this And therefore Tigris vocatur id est Sagitta quod iaculum vel Sagittam velocitate aequet That is It is called a Tiger a Dart or Arrow because it runneth as fast as an Arrow flyeth and for this cause wee finde in Theocritus that a riuer in Sicilia was called Asis thrt is Spiculum a dart First of ãâã âherefore Tigers like Lyons are bred in the East South and hot countries Countries breeding Tigers because their generation desireth aboundance of heate such as are in India and neare the red Sea and the people called Asangae or Besingi which dwell beyond the riuer Ganges are much troubled and anoyed with Tigers Likewise the Prasians the Hercanians and the Armenians Apolonius with his companions traueling betwixt Hiphasis and Ganges saw many Tigers In Barigaza and Dachinabades which is beyond the Mediteranian region of the East there are aboundance of Tigers and all other wilde beastes as Arrianus writeth In Hispaniola Ciamba and Guanassa Peter Martyr saith by the relation of a Spaniard inhabiting there that there are many Lyons and Tigers The Indians say that a Tiger is bigger then the greatest horse Quantitie of Tigers and that for strength and swiftnesse they excell all other beastes There be some which haue taken them for Tigers which are called Thoes greater then Lions and lesser then the Indian Tigers as it were twice so bigge as Lyons but I rather agree to the relation of Arrianus Strabo Megastines Mearcus for they say that a Tyger feareth not an Elephant that one of them hath beene seene to flye vpon the head of an Elephant and deuour it and that among the Prasians when foure men led one of these Tigers tamed by the way they met with a Mule and that the Tiger tooke the Mule by the hinder legge drawing him after him in his teeth notwithstanding all the force of the Mule and his foure leaders which is vnto me a sufficient argument not onely of his strength but of his stature also and if any haue been seen of lesser stature they haue been mistaken either for the Linxes or for the Thoes The similitude of the body of this Beast is like to a Lionesses for so is the face and mouth The seuerall parts the lower part of the foreheade and gnashing or grinning teeth and all kinde of creatures which are rauening are footed like a cat their necke short and their skins full of spots not round like a Panthers nor yet diuers coloured but altogether of one colour and square and sometimes long and therefore this beast and the Panther are of singular note among all the foure-footed yet Solinus and Seneca seeme
obseruation Nicolaus Venetus an Earle saith that in Masinum or Serica that is the Mountaines betwixt India and Cathay as Aeneas Syluius writeth there is a certain Beast hauing a Svvines head an Oxes taile the body of an Elephant vvhom it doth not onely equall in stature but also it liueth in continuall variance vvith them and one horne in the forehead now this if the Reader shall thinke it different from the former I doe make the thirde kinde of a Vnicorn and I trust there is no Wise-man that wil be offended at it for as we haue shewed already in many stories that sundry Beastes haue not onely their diuisions but subdeuisions into subalternal kinds as many Dogges many Deere many Horsses many Mice many Panthers and such like why should there not also bee many Vnicorns And if the Reader be not pleased vvith this let him either shew me better reason which I know hee shall neuer be able to do or else beside least the vttering of his dislike bewray enuy and ignorance Other discourses of the horne Novv although the parts of the Vnicorne be in some measure described and also their Countrys namely India and Ethiopia yet for as much as al is not said as may be said I will adde the residue in this place And first of al there are two kingdomes in India one called Niem and the other Lamber or Lambri both these are stored vvith Vnicornes And Aloisius Cadamustus in his fifty Chapter of his booke of nauigation writeth that there is a certaine region of the new found world wherein are found liue Vnicornes and toward the East and South vnder the Equinoctiall there is a liuing creature with one horne which is crooked and not great hauing the head of a Dragon and a beard vpon his chin his necke long and stretched out like a Serpents the residue of his body like to a Harts sauing that his feete colour and mouth are like a Lyons Pbiles and this also if not a fable or rather a monster may be a fourth kinde of Vnicorne And concerning the hornes of Vnicornes now we must performe our promise which is to relate the true historie of them as it is found in the best writers This therefore growing out of the forehead betwixt the eye lids is neither light nor hollow nor yet smooth like other hornes but hard as Iron rough as any file reuolued into many plights sharper than any darte straight and not crooked and euery where blacke except at the point There are two of these at Venice in the Treasurie of S. Markes Church as Brasavolus writeth one at Argentarat which is wreathed about with diuers sphires There are also two in the Treasurie of the King of Polonia all of them as long as a man in his stature In the yeare 1520. there was found the horne of a Vnicorne in the riuer Arrula neare Bruga in Heluetia the vpper face or out-side whereof was a darke yellow it was two cubites in length but had vpon it no plights or wreathing versuus It was very odoriferous especially when any part of it was set one fire so that it smelled like muske as soone as it was found it was carried to a Nunnery called Campus regius but afterwardes by the Gouernor of Heluetia it was recouered backe againe because it was found within his teritorie Now the vertues of this horne are already recited before and yet I will for the better iustifiyng of that which I haue said concerning the Vnicornes horne adde the testimony of our learned men which did write thereof to Gesner whose letters according as I find them recorded in his worke so I haue here inserted and translated word for word And first of all the answere of Nicholas Gerbelius vnto his Epistle concerning the Vnicornes horne at Argentoratum is this which followeth for saith he The horne which those Noblemen haue in the secrets of the great Temple I haue often seene and handled with my hands It is of the length of a tall man if so be that you shall thereunto adde the point thereof for there was a certaine euill disposed person among est them who had learned I know not of whom that the point or top of the same horne would be a present remedy both against all poyson and also against the plague or pestilence Wherefore that sacrilegious theefe plucked off the higher part or top from the residue being in length three or foure fingers For which wicked offence both he himselfe was cast out of that company and not any euer afterwards of that family might be receaued into this society by an ordinance grauely and maturely ratified This pulling off of the top brought a notable deformitie to that most splendant gift The whole horne from that part which sticketh to the forehead of this beast euen vnto the top of the horne is altogether firme or solide not gaping with chops chinks or creuises with a litle greater thicknes then a tile is vsua lly amongst vs. For I haue often times comprehended almost the whole horne in my right hand From the roote vnto the point it is euen as wax candles are rowled together most elegantly seuered and raised vp in little lines The waight of this horneââ of so great a massinesse that a man would hardly beleeue it and it hath beene often wondred at that a beast of so little a stature could beare so heauy and weighty a burden I could neuer smell any sweetnesse at all therein The colour thereof is like vnto old yuory in the midst betwixt white and yellow But you shall neuer haue a better patterne of this then where it is sold in litle peeces or fragments by the oile-men For the colour of our horne is life vnto them But by whom this was giuen vnto that same temple I am altogether ignorant Another certaine friend of mine being a man worthy to be beleeued Gerbellius A second history of a Vnicorns horn declared vnto me that he saw at Paris with the Chancellor being Lord of Pratus a peece of a Vnicorns horne to the quantity of a cubit wreathed in tops or spires about the thickenesse of an indifferent staffe the compasse therof extending to the quantity of six fingers being within and without of a muddy colour with a solide substance the fragments whereof woulde boile in the Wine although they were neuer burned hauing very little or no smell at all therein When Ioannes Ferrerius of Piemont had read these thinges he wrote vnto me that in the Temple of Dennis neare vnto Paris that there was a Vnicornes horne six foot-long wherin all those things which are written by Gerbelius in our chronicles were verified both the weight and the colour but that in bignesse it exceeded the horne at the Citty of Argentorate being also holow almost a foot from that part which sticketh vnto the forehead of the Beast this he saw himselfe in the Temple of S. Dennis and handled the horne with his handes
as long as he would A third Hystory of a Vnicornes horne I heare that in the former yeare which was from the yeare of our Lord 1553. when Vercella was ouerthrown by the French there was broght from that treasure vnto the King of France a very great Vnicorns horne the price wherof was valued at fourscore thousand Duckets Paulus Poaeius describeth an Vnicorne in this manner Another description of the Vnicorn That he is a beast in shape much like a young Horse of a dusty colour with a maned necke a hayry beard and a forehead armed with a horne of the quantity of two cubits being seperated with pale tops or spires which is reported by the smoothnes and yuorie whitenesse thereof to haue the wonderfull power of dissoluing and speedy expelling of all venome or poison whatsoeuer For his horne being put into the water driueth away the poison that hee may drinke without harme if any venomous beast shall drinke therein before him This cannot be taken from the Beast being aliue forasmuch as he canot possible be taken by any deceit yet it is vsually seene that the horne is found in the desarts as it happeneth in Harts who cast off their olde horne thorough the inconueniences of old age which they leaue vnto the Hunters Nature renewing an other vnto them The horne of this beast being put vpon the Table of Kinges and set amongst their iunkets and bankets doeth bewray the venome if there be any suche therein by a certaine sweat which commeth ouer it Concerning these hornes there were two seene which were two cubits in length of the thicknesse of a mans Arme the first at Venice which the Senate afterwards sent for a gift vnto Solyman the Turkish Emperor the other being almost of the same quantity and placed in a Syluer piller with a shorte or cutted paint which Clement the Pope or Bishop of Rome being come vnto Marssels broght vnto FraÌcis the King for an excellent gift Furthermore concerning the vertue of such a gifte I will not speake more of this beast then that which diuulged fame doeth perswade the beleeuers Petrus Bellonius writeth that he knewe the tooth of some certaine Beast in time past sold for the horne of a Vnicorne Of adulterated Vnicorns horns what beast may be signified by this speech I know not neither any of the French men which do liue amongst vs and so a smal peece of the same being adulterated sold sometimes for 300. Duckets But if the horne shal be true and not counterfait it doth notwithstanding seeme to be of that creature which the Auncientes called by the name of an Vnicorne especially Aelianus who only ascribeth to the same this wonderfull force against poyson and most grieuous diseases for he maketh not this horne white as ours doth seeme but outwardly red inwardly white and in the middest or secrettest part only blacke But it cannot bee denied that this our Vnicornes horne was taken from some liuing wilde Beast For their are found in Europe to the number of twenty of these hornes pure and so many broken two of the which are showne in the treasury of Saint Markes church at Venice I heard that the other was of late sent vnto the Emperor of the Turkes for a gift by the Venetians both of them about the length of six cubits the one part which is lowest being thicker and the other thinner that which is thicker exceedeth not the thicknesse of three inches iust which is also attributed vnto the horne of the Indian Asse but the other notes of the same are wanting I doe also know that which the King of England possesseth to be wreathed inspires euen as that is accounted in the Church of S. Dennis then which they suppose none greater in the world and I neuer saw any thing in any creatures more worthy praise then this horn The substance is made by nature not Art wherin al the marks are found which the true horne requireth And forsomuch as it is somewhat hollowe about the measure of a foot which goeth out of the head the bone growing from the same is comprehended I coniecture that it neuer falleth as neither the hornes of a Muskcat a wilde Goat and an Ibex do but the hornes of these beasts do yearely fall off namely the Bucke the Hart Field-goat and Camelopardall It is of so great a length that the tallest man can scarsely touch the top thereof for it doth fully equall seuen great feet It weigheth thirteen pounds with their assize being only weighed by the gesse of the hande it seemeth much heauier The figure doth plainely signifie a wax candle being folded a wreathed within it selfe beeing farre more thicker from one part and making it selfe by little and little lesse towards the point the thickest part thereof cannot be shut within ones hand it is the compasse of fiue fingers by the circumference if it bee measured with a thred it is three fingers and a span That part which is next vnto the heade hath no sharpenesse the other are of a polished smoothnes The splents of the spire are smooth and not deep being for the most part like vnto the wreathing turnings of Snailes or the reuolutions or windings of Wood-bine about any wood But they proceed from the right hande toward the left from the beginning of the horne euen vnto the very ende The colour is not altogether white being a long time somewhat obscured But by the weight it is an easie thinge to coniecture that this beast which can beare so great burden in his head in the quantity of his body can bee little lesse then a great Oxe There are found oftentimes in Polonia certaine hornes which some men gesse to be of the Vnicorns by a doubble Argument First because they are found seuerall Of the Vnicornes horns found in Polonia neuer by twaines which as yet is heard although sometimes they may be found with the scull and bones of the rest of the body furthermore because their strength or vertue is approued against great and most grieuous diseases concerning which thing Antonius Schnebergerus a Phisitian of great learning amongst the Sarmatians and an excellent obseruer of nature writ vnto me some fiue yeare past to see some of these hornes hauing sent them by the labour of my very good friend Ioachinnus Rhaeticus a most excellent phisitian in Sarmatia and incomparable in the mathematick Artes in this age The first of these hornes saith hee I sawe being of the length of my fadome with a duskishe or darkish colour the point there of being exceeding sharpe and smooth The compasse about the root of the horne did exceed six spans The outside was plaine with no turnings of spires the substance easie to be crummed the figure crooked the colour exceeding white within which if it be drunk in wine doth draw ouer it selfe a dark colour Eight such diuisions were ioyned to the same as you shall see in the greater part which I send
aske counsel of Apollo in what place they should meet with their wiues Apollo gaue them answere that when they should meet with an extreame wild beast as they went into Lacedemonia and yet the same beaste appeare meeke and gentle vnto them there they should take their wiues When they came into the land of the Cleonians they met with a wolfe carrying a lambe in his mouth whereupon they conceiued that the meaning of Apollo was that when they met with a wolfe in that country they might very happily and successiuely take them wiues and so they did for they married with the daughters of Thesander Cleonimus a verie honest man of that countrey It is reported of Milo Crotaniata that valiant strong man how vpon a season rending a tree in sunder in the woods ãâã destroy â by wolues one of his armes was taken in the closing of the tree he had not strength enough to loose it againe but remained there inclosed in most horrible torments vntill a wolfe came and deuoured him The like story vnto this is that which Aelianus reporteth of Gelon the Syracusan a scholler vnto whome there came a Wolfe as he sat in the schoole writing on his Tables Coelius Tzetzes and tooke the writing tables out of his hand The schoolemaister being inraged heerewith and knowing himselfe to be a valiant man tooke hold of the same tables in the VVolues mouth and the VVolfe drew the maister and schollers in hope of recouery of the tables out of the schoole into a plaine field where sodainely hee destroyed the schoole-maister and a hundered schollers sparing none but Gelon whose tables were a baite for that prey for hee was not onely not slaine but preserued by the VVolfe to the singular admiration of al the world whereby it was collected that that accident did not happen naturally but by the oueruling hand of God Now for these occasions as also because that the wooll and skin of beasts killed by wolues are good for nothing although the flesh of sheepe is more sweeter are vnprofitable and good for nothing Men haue bin forced to inuent and find out many deuises for the destroying of wolues The taking of Wolues the reward of the hunters for necessity hath taught men much learning and it had beene a shameful misery to indure the tyranny of such spoiling beastes without labouring for resistaunce and reuenge for this cause they propounded also a reward to such as killed VVolues for by the law of Dracho he that killed a young wolfe receiued a tallent and he that killed an old wolfe receiued two talents Solon prescribed that hee that brought a VVolfe aliue shoulde receiue fiue peeces of mony and he that brought one dead should receiue two Apollo himselfe was called Lycoctonos a wolfe-killer because he taught the people how to put away wolues Homer calleth Appollo Lysegenes for that it is saide immediately after hee was borne of his mother Latona he was chaunged into the shape of a wolfe and so nourished and for this cause there was the image of a wolfe set vp at Delphos before him Others say that the reason of that ymage was because that when the temple of Delphos was robbed and the treasure thereof hid in the grounde while diligent inquisition was made after the theeues there came a wolf and brought them to the place where the golden vessels were couered in the earth which she pulled out with her feete And some say that a wolfe did kil the sacriliger as he lay asleepe on the mountaine Parnassus hauing all the treasure about him and that euery day she came downe to the gates of Delphos howling vntil some of the Cittizens followed her into the mountaine where shee shewed them the theefe and the treasure both together But I list not to follow or stand vpon these fables The true cause why Apollo was called a VVolfe killer was for that he was feined to be a shepheard or Heardsman and therefore in loue of his catle to whom wolues were enemies he did not onely kil them while he was aliue but also they were offered vnto him in sacrifice for wolues were sacred to Apollo Iupiter and Mars and therefore wee read of Apollo Lycius or Lyceus to whom there were many temples builded and of Iupiter Lyceus the sacrifices instituted vnto him called Lycaea and games by the same name There were other holly-daies cald Luper calia wherein barren women did chastice themselues naked because they bare no children hoping thereby to gaine the frutefulnesse of the wombe whereof Ouid speaketh thus Excipe foecunde pascientur verbera dextrae Iam socer optatum nomen habebit saui Propertius and some other writers seeme to be of the mind that those were first instituted by Fabius Lupercus as appeareth by these verses Verbera pellitus setosamouebat arator Vnde liceus Fabius sacra lupercus habet And Inuenal thus Nec prodest agili palmas praebere luperco Now concerning the manner of taking of VVolues Diuers policies and inuentions to take wolues the Auncients haue inuented manic deuises and gins and first of al an yron Toyle which they stil fasten in the earth with iron pins vpon which pins they leaue a ring being in compasse about the bignes of a wolues head in the midst whereof they lay a peece of flesh and couer the Toyle so that nothing is seene but the flesh when the Wolfe commeth and taketh holde of the flesh feeling it sticke pulling hard he pulleth vp the ring which bringeth the whole Toyle on his necke and sharpe pins This is the first manner that Crescentiensis repeateth of taking Wolues and he saith there are other deuises to ensnare their feet which the Reader cannot vnderstand except he saw them with his eies The Italians cal the nets wherein wolues are taken Tagliola Harpago Lo Rampino and Lycino the French Hauspied and Blondus affirmeth that the shepheardes of Italy make a certaine ginne with a net wherein that part of the Wolfe is taken which is first put into it Now the manner of taking Wolues in ditches and pits is diuers first of all they dig a deep ditch so as the wolfe being taken may not get out of it vpon this pitte they lay a hurdle and within vpon the pillar they set a liue Goose or Lambe when the Wolfe windeth his prey or booty he commeth vpon the trench and seeing it at a little hole which is left open on purpose to cast the wolfe into the deepe ditch and some vse to lay vpon it a weak hurdle such as wil not beare vp either a man or a beast that so when the wolfe commeth vpon it it may breake and he fal downe but the best deuise in my opinion that euer was inuented in this kind is that the pertch and hurdle may be so made and the bait so set that when one wolfe is fallen downe it may rise againe of it one accord and stand as it did before to entrap another
their outwarde shape and condition please them yet at the best they are but beasts that perish for the Lyons suffer hunger Cats are of diuers colours but for the most part gryseld like to congealed yse which commeth from the condition of her meate her head is like vnto the head of a Lyon Sipontinus except in her sharpe eares Of the seueral parts her flesh is soft and smooth her eies glister aboue measure especialy when a maÌ commeth to see a cat on the sudden and in the night they can hardly be endured for their flaming aspect Wherfore Democritus describing the persian smaradge saith that it is not transparent but filleth the eie with pleasaÌt brightnes such as is in the eies of Panthers and cats for they cast forth beames in the shaddow and darkenes but in the sunshine they haue no such clearnes and thereof Alexander Aphrodise giueth this reason both for the sight of Cattes and of Battes that they haue by nature a most sharpe spirit of seeing Albertus compareth their eye-sight to carbuncles in darke places because in the night they can see perfectly to kill Rattes and Myce the root of the herbe Valerian commonly called Phu is very like to the eye of a Cat and wheresouer it groweth if cats come thervnto they instantly dig it vp for the loue thereof as I my selfe haue seene in mine owne Garden and not once onely but often euen then when as I had caused it to bee hedged or compassed round about with thornes for it smelleth marueilous like to a cat The Egyptians haue obserued in the eies of a cat the encrease of the Moone-light for with the Moone they shine more fully at the ful and more dimly in the change and wain and the male cat-doth also vary his eyes with the Sunne for when the sunne ariseth the apple of his eie is long Gillius toward noone it is round and at the euening it cannot be seene at all but the whole eie sheweth alike The tongue of a cat is very attractiue and forcible like a file attenuating by licking the flesh of a man Pliny for which cause when she is come neere to the blood so that her own spittle be mingled therewith she falleth mad Her teeth are like a saw and if the long haires growing about her mouth which some call Granons be cut away she looseth hir corage Her nailes sheathed like the nailes of a Lyon striking with her forefeete both Dogs and other things The game food of cats as a man doth with his hand This beast is woonderfull nimble setting vpon her prey like a Lyon by leaping and therefore she hunteth both rats all kind of Myce Birds eating not onely them but also fish wherewithall she is best pleased Hauing taken a Mouse she first playeth with it and then deuoreth it but her watchfull eye is most strange to see with what pace and soft steps she taketh birds and flies and her nature is to hide her own dung or excrements for she knoweth that the fauour and presence thereof will driue away her sport the little Mouse being able by that stoole Pliny A secret to smell the presence of hir mortall foe To keepe Cats from hunting of Hens they vse to tie a litle wild rew vnder their wings and so likewise from Doue-coates if they set it in the windowes they dare not approach vnto it for some secret in nature Some haue said that cats will fight with Serpentes and Toads Of their loue and hatred and kill them and perceiuing that she is hurt by them she presently drinketh water and is cured but I cannot consent vnto this opinion it being rather true of the Weasell as shal be afterward declared Ponzettus sheweth by experience that cats and Serpents loue one another for there was sayth he in a certain Monastery a Cat norished by the Monkes and suddenly the most parts of the Monkes which vsed to play with the Cat fell sicke whereof the Physitians could find no cause but some secret poyson and al of them were assured that they neuer tasted any at the last a poore laboring man came vnto them affirming that he saw the Abbey-cat playing with a Serpent which the Physitians vnderstanding presently conceiued that the Serpent had emptied some of her poyson vppon the cat which brought the same to the Monkes and they by stroking and handeling the cat were infected therewith and whereas there remained one difficulty namely how it came to passe the cat her selfe was not poisoned thereby it was resolued that forasmuch as the Serpentes poison came from him but in playe and sporte and not in malice and wrath that therefore the venom thereof being lost in play neither harmed the Cat at al nor much endaungered the Monkes and the very like is obserued of myce that will play with Serpents Aelianus Cats will also hunt Apes and follow them to the woods for in Egypt certaine Cattes set vpon an Ape who presently tooke himselfe to his heeles and climed vp into a tree after when the cattes followed with the same celerity and agility for they can fasten their clawes to the barke and runne vp very speedily the Ape seeing himselfe ouermatched with number of his aduersaries leaped from branch to braunch and at last tooke hold of the top of a bough whereupon he did hang so ingeniously that the Cats durst not approch vnto him for feare of falling and so departed The nature of this Beast is to loue the place of her breeding The loue of home neither will she tarry in any strange place although carried very farre being neuer willing to forsake the house for the loue of any man and most contrary to the nature of a Dogge who will trauaile abroad with his maister and although their maisters forsake their houses yet will not these Beastes beare them company and being carried forth in close baskets or sackes they will yet returne againe or loose themselues A Cat is much delighted to play with hir image in a glasse and if at any time she behold it in water presently she leapeth down into the water which naturally she doth abhorre but if she be not quickly pulled forth and dryed she dieth thereof because she is impatient of alwâe Those which will keepe their Cattes within doores and from hunting Birds abroad must cut off their eares Albertus A way to make Cats keepe home for they cannot endure to haue drops of raine distil into them and therfore keep themselues in harbor Nothing is more contrary to the nature of a Cat then is wet and water and for this cause came the Prouerbe that they loue not to wet their feet It is a neate and cleanely creature oftentimes licking hir own body to keepe it smooth and faire hauing naturally a flexible backe for this purpose and washing hir face with her fore feet A coniecturall secret but some obserue that if she put her feete beyond
defend them from Wolues and theeues whereof Virgill writeth thus Veloces Spartae catulos acremque Molossum Pasce fero pingui nunquam custo dibus illis Nocturum stabulis furem incursusque luporum Aut imparatos a Tergo horrebis Iberos These hauing taken holde will hardly be taken off againe like the Indians and Prasian Dogs for which cause they are called incommodestici that is modi nescij such as knowe no meane which caused Horace to giue counsell to keepe them tied vp saying Teneant acres tora molossos The people of Epirus doe vse to buy these Dogges when they die and of this kind were the Dogges of Scylla Pollux Nicomedes and Eupolides The Hircanian Dogges are the same with the Indian The Poeonian Persian and Median are called Syntheroi that is companions bost of hunting and fighting as Gratius writeth Indocilis dat proelia medus The Dogges of Locus and Lacaene are also very great and fight with Bores There are also a kind of people called Cynamolgi Xenophon âeââas neere India so called because for one halfe of the yeare they liue vpon the milke of great Dogges which they keepe to defend their Countrey from the great oppression of Wilde cattell of people that liue vpon the mâââ of Dogs which descend from the Woodes and Mountaines of India vnto them yearely from the Summer solstice to the middle of Wynter in great numbers of swarmes like Bees returning home to their Hiues and Hony-combes These cattell set vpon the people and destroy them with their Hornes except their Dogges be present with them which are of great stomach and strength that they easily teare the Wilde cattell in pieces and then the people take such as be good for meate to themselues and leaue the other to their dogges to feed vpon Aelianus the residue of the yeare they not onely hunt with these Dogs but also milke the females drinking it vp like the milke of sheepe or Goats These great dogs haue also deuoured men for when the seruant of Diogenes the Cynike ranne away from his maister beinge taken againe and brought to Delphos for his punishment he was torne in pieces by Dogs Aelianus Dogs deuourers of men Euripedes also is said to be slaine by dogs whereupon came the prouerb Cââos Dike a Dogs reuenge for King Archelaus had a certain dog which ran away from him into Thracia and the Thracians as their manner was offered the same Dog in sacrifice the King hearing thereof Valerius mââ laied a punishment vpon them for that offence that by a certaine day they should pay a talent the people breaking day suborned Evripides the Poet who was a great fauorite of the Kings to mediate for them for the release of that fine wherunto the king yealded afterward as the said king returned from hunting his dogs stragling abroad met with Euripedes and tore him in pieces as if they sought reuenge on him for being bribed against their fellow which was slaine by the Thracians But concerning the death of this man it is more probable that the dogs which killed him were set on by Aridaeus and Cratenas two Thessalian poets his emulatours corriuals in poetry which for the aduancement of their own credit cared not in most sauage and Barbarous manner to make away a better man then themselues There were also other famous men which perished by Dogges as Actaeon Thrasus and Linus of Thrassus Onid writeth thus Praedaque sis illis quibus est laconia Delos Aute diem Raptonon ade unda Thraso And of Linus and Actaeon in this manner Quique verecunda speculantem membra Dianae Quique Crotopiaden diripuere Linum Lucian that scoffing Apostata who was first a Christian and afterward endeauored all his wit to raile at christian religion euen as he lacerated and rent his first profession so was he rent in pieces by dogs and Heraclitus the Phylosopher of Athens hauing beene long sick and vnder the hands of Physitians he oftentimes anointed his body with Bugils-sewet on a day hauing so annoynted himselfe lying abroad sleeping in the sun the dogs came Ranisius and for the desire of the fat tore his body in pieces I cannot heere forget that memorable story of two christian Martyres Gorgonius and Dorotheus which were put to death vnder Diocletian in the ninth persecution and when they were dead Ranisius Text their carkases were cast vnto hungry dogs of this kind kept for such purposes yet would not the dogges once so much as stir at them or come neere to touch them because we may iudge that the rauening nature of these creatures was restrained by diuine power we also read that when Benignus the Martyr by the commaundement of Aurelian was also throwen aliue to be deuoured of these dogs he escaped as free from their teeth as once Daniell did from the Lyons den I may also adde vnto these the dogs of Alania and Illiria called Mastini who haue their vpper lips hang ouer their neather and looke fierce like Lyons whom they resemble in necke eies face colour and nailes falling vpon Beares and Boares like that which Anthologius speaketh off that leaped into the sea after a Dolphin and so perished or that called Lidia slaine by a Boare whose epitaph Martiall made as followeth Amphitheatrales inter nutrita magistros Lydia dicebar domino fidissima dextro Nec qui Dictaea Cephalum de gente secutus Non me longa dies nec inutilis abstulit aetas Fulminea spumantis apri sum dente perempta Nec quaerar inferras quamuis cito rapta per vmbras Venatrix siluis aspera blanda domi Qui non Erigones mallet habere Caenem Lucifera pariter venit ad aestra deae Qualia Dulychio fata fuere cani Quantus erat Calydon aut Erymanthe tuus Non potui fato nobiliore mori There be in France certaine great Dogs called Auges which are brought out of great Brittaine The French Dogges to kill their Beares Wolues and wilde Boares these are singularly swift and strong and their leaders the better to arme them against the teeth of other beasts couer some of their parts with thicke cloutes and their neckes with broad collars or else made of Badgers skins In Gallia Narbon they call them Limier and the Polonians call all great made Dogs for the Wolfe and such like beastes Vislij and peculiarly for the Beare and Bore Charzij for Hares and foule Pobicdnizcij and Dogs of a middle scantling beetwixt the first and the second psij Grey-hounds are the least of these kinds and yet as swift and fierce as any of the residue refusing no kind of Beast if he be turnd vp thereunto except the porcupine who casteth her sharp pens into the mouth of al dogs The qualities and parts of a good Grey-hound Pliny Xenophon The best Grey-hound hath a long body strong and reasonable great a neate sharpe head and splendent eyes a long mouth and sharp teeth little eares and thin
Locum disignare the reason is rehersed before more largely it shall not therefore need to make a new repetition Of the water Spaniell or Finder THe water Spaniell consequently followeth called in Latine Aquaticus in English a water Spagnell which name is compound of two simple words namely Water which in Latine soundeth Aqua wherein he swimmeth And Spaine Hispania the Country from whence they came not that England wanteth such kind of Dogs for they are naturally bred and ingendred in this country but because they bear the general and common name of these Dogs since the time they were first brought ouer out of Spaine And we make a certaine difference in this sort of dogs either for somthing which in their qualities is to be considered as for an example in this kind called the Spaniel by the apposition and putting to of this word water which two coupled together sound water Spaniell He is called a finder in Latine Inquisitor because that by serious and secure seeking he findeth such things as be lost which word Find in English is that which the latins mean by this verbe Inuenire This dog hath this name of his property because the principall point of his seruice consisteth in the premisses Now leauing the surueiwe of hunting and hawking dogs it remaineth that we run ouer the residue whereof some be called fine dogs some course othersome mungrels or Rascals The first is the Spaniell gentle called Canis Melitaeus because it is a kind of dog accepted among Gentils Nobles Lords Ladies c. who make much of them vouchsafing to admit them so farre into their company that they will not onelie lul them in their laps but kisse them with their lips and make them their pretty play-fellowes Such a one was Gorgons little puppy mentioned by Theocritus in Siracusis who taking his iourney straightly charged and commaunded his maid to see to his dog as charily and warely as to his childe To call him in alwaies that he wandred not abroad as well as to rock the babe asleepe crying in the cradle This puppitly and pleasant Curre which some frumpingly tearme fysting houndes serue in a maner to no good vse except as we haue made former relation to succor and strengthen quailing and quamming stomackes to bewray bawdery and filthy abhominable leudnes which a little Dog of this kinde did in Sicilia as Aelianus in his 7. booke of beasts and 27. chapter recordeth Of dogs vnder the courser kind we will deale first with the Shepherds Dog whome we call the Bandog the Tydog or the Mastiue the first name is imputed to him for seruice Quoniam pastori famulatur because he is at the Shepheards his maisters commandement The second a Ligamento of the band or chaine wherewith hee is tied The thirde a Sagina of the fatnes of his body For this kind of Dog which is vsually tyed is mighty grosse and fat fed I know this that Augustinus Niphus calleth this Mastinus which we call Mastiuus and that Albertus writeth howe the Lyciscus is ingendred by a Beare and a Woolfe Notwithstanding the selfe same author taketh it for the most parte pro Molosso A Dog of such a country Of Mungrels and Rascals somewhat is to be spoken and among these of the Wappe or Turnespet which name is made of two simple wordes that is of Turne which in latine soundeth Vertere and of spete which is Veru or spede for the English word inclineth closer to the Italian imitation Veruuersator Turnespit He is called also Waupe of the naturall noise of his voice Wau which he maketh in barking But for the better and readiner sound the vowell u is changed into the consonant P so that for waupe we say wappe And yet I wot well that Nonius borroweth his Baubari of the naturall voice Bau as the Graecians doe their Bautein of wau Now when you vnderstand this that Saltare in latine signifieth Dansare in English And that our Dogge thereupon is called a Daunser and in the latine Saltator you are so farre taught as you were desirous to learne and now I suppose there remaineth nothing but that your request is fully acomplished THus Friend Gesner you haue not onely the kindes of our countrey Dogges but their names also as well in Latine as in English their Offices Seruices Diuersities Natures and Properties that you can demaund no more of me in this matter And albeit I haue not satisfied your mind peraduenture who suspectest al speed in the performance of your request imploied to be meere delaies because I staid the setting forth of that vnperfect pamphlet which fiue yeares agoe I sent to you as a priuate friend for your owne reading and not to be printed and so made common yet I hope hauing like the Beare lickt ouer my young I haue waded ouer in this worke to your contentation which delay hath made somewhat better and Deuterai phrontides Of the diseases of dogs their cures Blondus after wit more meete to be perused Now it is conuenient to shut vp this treatise of Dogges with a recitall of their seuerall diseases and cures thereof for as all other creatures so that this beast is annoyed with many infirmities First therefore if you giue vnto a dog euery seuenth day or twice in seuen daies broath or pottage wherein Iuy is sod it will preserue him sound without any other medicine for this hearbe hath the same operation in Dogs to make wholesom their meat that it hath in sheepe to clense their pasture Pliny Tardinus The small roots of Ellebor which are like to Onions haue power in them to purge the belly of Dogs Other giue them goats-milk or salt beaten small or Sea-crabs beaten small and put into water or Staues-acre imediatly after his purgation sweet milke If your dog be obstructed and stopped in the belly which may be discerned by his trembling sighing Albertus and remoouing from place to place giuen vnto him Oaten meal and water to eat mingled together and made as thick as a pultisse or leauened oten-bread and sometime a little whay to drinke The ancients haue obserued that Dogs are most annoyed with three diseases the swelling of the throat the gowt and madnes but the later writers haue obserued many noysome infirmities in them First they are oftentimes wounded by the teeth of each other and also of wilde beasts for cure whereof Blondus out of Maximus writeth these remedies following First let the sinnewes Fibres or gistles of the wound be layed togither then sow vp the lips or vpper skin of the wound with a needle and thred and take of the haires of the dog which made the wound and lay thereupon vntil the bleeding be stanched and so leaue it to the dog to be licked for nature hath so framed the Dogs tongue that therby in short space he cureth deepe wounds And if he cannot touch the sore with his toong then doth he wet his foot in his mouth
Albertus and so oftentimes put it vpon the maime or if neither of these can be performed by the beast himselfe then cure it by casting vpon it the ashes of a dogs heade or burned salte mingled with liquid pitch powred therupon When a dog returning from hunting is hurt about the snowt Blondus by the venemous teeth of some wilde beast I haue seene it cured by making incision about the wound whereby the poysoned blood is euacuated and afterward the sore was annointed with oile of Saint Iohns wort Wood-worms cureth a dog bitten by serpents Plinyus When he is troubled with vlcers or rindes in his skin pieces of Pot-sheardes beaten to powder and mingled with vineger and Turpentine with the fat of a Goose or else waterwort with new Lard applyed to the sore easeth the same and if it swel anoint it with Butter For the drawing forth a thorne or splinter out of a Dogs foote take coltes-foote and Lard or the pouder there of burned in a new earthen pot and either of these applyed to the foot draweth forth the thorne and cureth the sore for by Dioscorides it is said to haue force to extract any point of a Speare out of the body of a man For the wormes which breede in the vlcers of their heeles take Vnguentum Egiptiacum and the iuice of peach leaues There are some very skilfull hunters which affirme that if you hang about the Dogs necke sticks of Citrine as the wood drieth so will the wormes come forth and dy Again for thâs euil they wash the wounds with water then rub it with pitch time and the dung of an Oxe in Vineger Tardinus afterward they apply vnto it the powder of Ellebor When a dog is troubled with the maungie itch or Ring-wormes first let him blood in his fore legs in the greatest veyne afterward make an ointment of Quick siluer Brimstone nettle-seed Albertus Rasis and twice so much olde sewet or Butter and therewithal all anoint him putting thereunto if you please decoction of Hops and salt water Some do wash maungy Dogs in the Sea-water and there is a caue in Sicily saith Gratius that hath this force against the scabs of Dogs if they be brought thither and set in the running water which seemeth to be as thicke as oyle Flegme or melancholly doth often engender these euils and so after one Dog is infected all the residue that accompany or lodge with him are likewise poisoned for the auoyding thereof you must giue them Fumitory Sorrel and whay sod together it is good also to wash them in the sea or in Smiths-water or in the decoction aforesaid For the taking awaie of warts from the feet of Dogs or other members first rub and friccase the wart violently and afterward anoint it with salt Oyle Vineger and the powder of the rind of a Gourd or else lay vnto it Alloes beaten with mustard-seed to eat it off and afterward lay vnto it the little scories or iron chips which flie off from the Smithes hotte iron while he beateth it mingled with Vineger and it shall perfectly remooue them Against Tikes Lyce and Fleas annoint the Dogs with bitter Almonds Staues acre or Roots of Maple or Cipers or froth of Oile and if it be old and annoint also their ears with Salt-water and bitter Almondes then shall not the flies in the Summer time enter into them If Bees or Waspes or such Beasts sting a Dogge lay to the sore burned Rue with Water and if a greater Fly as the Hornet let the Water be warmed A Dog shall be neuer infected with the Plague if you put into his mouth in the time of any common pestilence Blondus the powder of a Storks craw or Ventrickle or any part thereof with Water which thing ought to be regarded for no creature is so soone infected with the plague as is a Dogge and a Mule and therefore they must either at the beginning receiue medicine or else bee remooued out of the ayre according to the aduise of Gratius Sed varij mitus nec in omnibus vna potestes Disce vices quae tutela est proxima tenta Woolfe-wort Pliny and Apocynon whose leaues are like the leaues of Iuye and smell strongly will kill all Beasts which are littered blind as Wolues Foxes Beares and Dogs if they eat thereof So likewise will the root of Chamaeleon and Mezereon in water and oyle it killeth Mice Discorides Swine and Dogs Ellebor and Squilla and Faba Lupina haue the same operation There is a Gourd called Zinziber of the Water because the tast thereof is like to Ginger the Flower Fruite and Leafe thereof killeth Asses Mules Dogs and manie other Foure-footed beastes The nuts Vomicae are poison to Dogges except their care be cut presently and made to bleed It will cause them to leape strangely vp and downe and kill him within two houres after the tasting if it be not preuented by the former remedy Theophrastus Chrysippus affirmeth that the water wherein Sperrage beene sodde giuen to Dogges killeth them the fume of Siluer or Leade hath the same opperation If a Dog grow lean and not through want of meat Albertus it is good to fill him twice or thrice with Butter and if that doe not recouer him then it is a signe that the worme vnder his tongue annoieth him which must be presently pulled out by some Naule or Needle if that satisfie not he cannot liue but will in short time perish And it is to be noted that Oaten bread leauened will make a sluggish dog to become lusty agile and full of spirit Blondus Dogs are also many times bewitched by the onely sight of inchaunters euen as infants Lambes and other creatures according to Virgils verse Nescio quis teneros oculus mihi fascinat agnos For bewitching spirit entereth by the eie into the hart of the party bewitched for remedy whereof they hang about the necke a chaine of Corrall as for holy hearbs I hold them vnprofitable To cure the watry eyes of Dogs take warme water and first wash them therewith and then make a plaister of meale and the white of an Egge and so lay it thereunto By reason of that saying Eccles 20. cap. Bribes and gifts blind the eies of Iudges Vnicentius euen as a dumbe dog turneth away Correction Some haue deliuered that greene Crow-foote forced into the mouth of a Dog maketh him dumbe and not able to barke When a Dog becommeth deafe the oile of Roses with new pressed wine infused into his eares cureth him and for the wormes in the eares make a plaister of a beaten spunge and the white of an Egge Tardinus and that shall cure it The third kind of Quinancy called Synanche killeth Dogs Pollux Niphus because it bloweth vppe their chaps and includeth their breath The cough is very noisome to Dogs wherefore their keepers must infuse into their Nostrils two cuppes of wine with brused sweete Almonds
already are manifested to accompany a mad Dog and that more often in Summer then in winter Albertus Albert. Liber Aetius When a Foxe feeleth himselfe sicke nature hath taught him to eate the gum of Pine-trees wherewithall he is not onely cured but also receiueth length of daies They are also vexed with the falling away of their haire called therefore Alopecia because Foxes are most commonly vexed therewith and as we see in plantes that some of them drye and consume through want of moysture to feede them other are suffocated and choaked by aboundance and as it were drowned in humidity so it happeneth in haire which groweth out of the body of beastes and the heades of men no otherwise then plants out of the earth and are therefore to be nourished by humours which if they faile and waxe drye the haire also shorteneth with them and as it were rotteth away in length but if they abound and ouerflowe then do they loosen the rootes of the haire and cause them to fall off totally This disease is called Alopecia and the other Ophiasis because it is not generall but only particular in one member or part of the body or head there it windeth or indenteth like a Serpents figure Mychaell Ferus affirmeth that sometime the liuer of the Foxe inflameth and then it is not cured but by the vlcerous blood flowing to the skin and that euill blood causeth the Alopecia or falling away of the haire for which cause as is already said a Foxes skin is little worth that is taken in the summer time The length of the life of a Foxe is not certainely knowen yet as Stumpsius and others affirme The length of their life it is longer then the life of a Dog If the vrine of a Foxe fall vpon the grasse or other Herbs it drieth and killeth them and the earth remaineth barren euer afterward The sauour of a Foxe is more strong then of any other vulgar beast he stincketh at Nose and taile Varinus for which cause Martiall calleth it Olidam Vulpem an Olent or smelling beast Hic olidam clamosus ages in retia vulpem Touching the hunting or taking of Foxes I approue the opinion of Xenophon who auoucheth The hunting and taking of Foxes leporum capturam venatico studia quam vulpium digniorem that is the Hunting of the Hare is a more noble game or pastime then the hunting of the Foxe This beast is more fearefull of a Dogge then a Hare for the onely barking of Dogges causeth him to rise many times from his denne or lodgings out of the earth or from the middle of bushes Aelianus briars and brambles wherein he hid himselfe and for his hunting this is to be obserued Oppianus that as in hunting of a Hart it hath beene already related the Hunter must driue the beast with the winde because it hindereth his refrigeration so in hunting of a Foxe he driue him againe the winde and then he preuenteth all his crafty and subtill agitations and diuises for it stayeth his speede in running and also keepeth his sauour fresh alway in the Nose of the Dogs that follow him Dellisarius for the Dogges that kill a Fox must be swifte stronge and quicke sented and it is not good to put on a few at once but a good company together for be assured the Foxe will not loose his owne blood till hee hazzard some of his enemies and with his taile which he windeth euery way doth hee delude the hunters when the Dogs are pressed neere vnto him and are ready to bite him Textâr he striketh his taile betwixt his Legs and with his owne vrine wetteth the same and so instantly striketh it into the dogs mouths whereof when they haue tasted so many of them as it touched will commonly leaue off and follow no farther Their teeth are exceeding sharp and therefore they feare not to assault or contend with beasts exceeding their stature strength and quantity Somtime he leapeth vp into a tree and there standeth to be seene and bayed at by the Dogs and Hunters Oppianus like as a Champion in some fort or Castle and although fire be cast at him yet will he not discend down among the dogs yea he endureth to be beaten and pierced with Hunters speares but at length being compelled to forsake his holde and giue ouer to his enemies downe he leapeth falling vpon the crew of barking Dogs like a flash of lightning and where he layeth hold there he neuer looseth teeth or aswageth wrath til other dogs haue torne his limbs and driuen breath out of his body If at any time he take the earth then with Terriour dogges they ferret him out of his den againe In some places they take vpon them to take him with nets which sildome proueth because with his teeth he teareth them in pieces yet by Calentius this deuise is allowed in this verse Et laqueo Vulpes decipe casse foïnas But this must be wrought vnder the earth in the caues dennes or furrowes made of pur-which is to be performed two manner of waies one by placing the gin in some perch of Wood so as that assoone as the beast is taken by the Necke it may presently fly vp and hang him for otherwise with his teeth hee will sheare it asunder and escape away aliue or else that neere the place where the rope is fastened to slippe vppon the heade of the Foxe there bee placed some thicke collor or brace so as hee can neuer bite it asunder The French haue a kind of Ginne to take them by the Legges which they call Hausepied and I haue heard of some which haue found the Foxes Legge in the same Gin A noble instance of a Foxes coragâ bitten off with his owne teeth from his body rather putting himselfe to that torment with his owne teeth then to expect the mercy of the Hunter and so went away vppon three feet and other haue counterfeited themselues dead restraining their breath and winking not stirring any member when they saw the Hunter come to take them out of the Ginne The subtlery of a Fox take in a snare who comming and taking his Legge forth not suspecting any life in them so soone as the Foxe perceiueth himselfe free away hee went and neuer gaue thankes for his deliuerance for this cause Blondus saith truely that onely wise and olde Hunters are fit to take Foxes for they haue so many deuises to beguile men and deliuer themselus that it is hard to know when he is safely taken vntill he be throughly dead They also vse to set vp Ginnes for them bayted with Chickens in Busnes and Hedges but if the setter be not at hand so soone as the Foxe is insnared it is daungerous but that the beast will deliuer it selfe In some places againe they set vp an iron toyle hauing in it a ring for the foxe to thrust in his head and through that sharpe pikes at
an equall quantity of Hogs-Greace Goats sewet sod both together it will be cured by laying it vnto it And thus much for the remedies of Swines greace towards beastes The huskes of Beanes being beaten small to powder and mixed with swines greace is very profitable against the paine of the hippes and the Nerues Some Physitians take the greace of Swine the fat of Geese the sewet of Bulles and the Oesypus or sweat of sheepe and annoint therewithall gouty Legges but if the paine remoue not then doe they adde vnto it Waxe Mirtle Gum and Pitch and some vse it mixed with old Oyle with the stone Sarcephagys sinck-foyle beaten in wine with lime or ashes This swines greace beaten in water with cumin is prescribed by Simeon Sethi against the gout It remedieth the falling of the haire and the paine in the heads of women mingled with one forth part of gals and the like vertue it hath with wilde Roses Lingulaca and Hippocampinus with Nitre and vineger When the corners of ones eies are troubled with wormes by annoynting them with the fat of a Sow with pig beating them together both within and without you shall draw all the Wormes out of his eyes When one hath paine in his eares whereby matter yssueth forth let him beate the oldest Lard he can in a Morter and rake the iuyce thereof in fine wooll then let him put that wooll into his eare making it to worke through warme water and then infuse a little more of the iuyce of that Lard and so shall he worke a great cure in short time And generally the fatte of Geese Hennes Swine and Foxes are prepared for all the paynes in the eares If there arise any bunch in the Necke or throate seeth Lard and Wine together and so by gargarising that Lyquor it shall bee dispersed according to the verses of Serenus Inrigore ceruicis geminus mulcebitur vnguine poples Hinc longam paritur neruos medicina sequetur And it is no maruaile that the vertue of this should go from the knees to the Nerues seeing that Pliny affirmeth that from the anointing of the knees the sauour goeth into the stomack ther is so great affinity or operation of Rue vpon the stones that in ancient time they were wont to cure burstnesse by annoynting the cods with wilde Rue and Swynes Greace Also this Greace with rust of Iron is good against all the imperfectious in the seate Butter Goose-greace and Hogges-greace are indifferently vsed for this infirmity Also this is vsed to keepe Women from abortementes that are subiect thereunto being applyed like an eye-salue In the diseases of the matrix especially Vlcers they first of all dip Spuuges or Wooll in warme Water and so clense the places infected and afterwards cure it with Rozen and Swynes Grease mingled together and often vsing it in the day and night by way of an oyntmnet but if the exulceration be vehement after the washing they put Honny vnto the former confection and some make a pââfume with Goats Horne Galles Swynes Greace and Gumme of Cedars And. Fernerius saith that Lard cut small and beate in a Morter of stone like paast in a Limbecke of Glasse rendereth a white Water which maketh the haire yellow and also the face comely If a man be poysoned with Hemlocke hee cannot auoyde it better then by drinking salt Wine and fresh Greace A decoction heereof is good against the poyson of Beuprestis and against Quickesiluer The sewet of a Sowe fed with greene Hearbes is profitable to them that are sicke of a consumption of the lunges according to this verse of Serenus Porderit veteris saeui pila sumpta suilli This may also be giuen them in Wine either raw or decocted or else in pilles to be swallowed downe whole if it be not salted and the fift day after they prescribe them to drinke out of an Egge-shell Liquid Pitch binding their sides breasts and shoulder bones very hard It is also vsed for an old Cough after it is decocted the waight of a groat being put into three cuppes of Wine with some Hony It is giuen also to them that haue the flixe especially olde Lard Honny Wine being beaten together till they bee all as thicke as Hony whereof the quantity of a Hasell-Nut is to be drunke out of Water Also morsels of Swynes-Grease Butter and Hony being put downe into a Horsse throate cureth him of an old Cough and finally a peece of this Greace being old moystened in olde Wine is profitable to a Horse that hath beene ouerheated in his iourney When Calues bee troubled with belly Wormes take one part of Swynes-Greace and mingle it with three partes of Isope afterwardes thrust it downe into the throates of the Calues and it shall expell the wormes When the tongue and Chappes waxe blacke by a peculiar sicknesse of the mouth which the Physitians call Morbus epidemius it is most wholesome to rub the tongue with the inner side of the rines of Bacon and so draw out an extreame heate and it is said if a man be deepely infected whose tongue is thus rubbed the said Bacon rine being eaten by any Dog will procure his death The fat of Wolues and the marrow of Swyne is good to anoint bleare-eyes withall By swallowing downe the marrow of Svvine the appetite to carnall copulation is encreased The ashes or powder of Hogs bristles vvhich are taken out of plaisterers pensils wherwithall they rub Walles and mixed with Swynes Grease doth ease the paine of burnings and also stayeth the bleeding of vvoundes and the falling dovvne of the seate being first of all vvashed in Wine and dryed Pitch mingled therevvithall The powder of the cheek-bones of Svvyne is a most present remedy for broken bones and also for vlcers in the legges and shinnes The fat of a Boare is commended against Serpentes and so also is the liuer of a Bore pigge when the Fibres are taken from it if the weight of two pence be drunke in wine The braine of a Sow tosted at the fire and laide to a Carbuncle either disperseth or emptieth it Likewise the blood and braines of a Bore or a sow or Bore-pig being mixed with honey doeth cure the Carbuncles in the yard and the braines alone openeth the gums of children to let out their teeth as Serenus writeth Aucteneris cerebris gingivis illine porci There are naturally in the head of a Hogge two little bones that haue holes in them one in the right part and another in the left Now if it happen that a man find these bones by chaunce either one or both of them let him lay them vp safe and whensoeuer he is trobled with the Head-ach let him vse them hanging them about his necke by a silken thrid that is to say if his head ake on the right side let him hange the right bone and if on the left the left bone These things I report vpon the credit of Marcellus Galen also writeth that if the
pole of the swines eare be hanged about ones necke it will preserue him from all cough afterwards They were wont as Dioscorides writeth to seeth a Gudgen in a swines belly by the eating whereof they staied the falling downe of the seat If a man eat the lunges of a Boare and a sow sodden and fasting they will preserue him from drunkennesse all that daye and likewise the sayed lunges doth keepe the soles of the feete from inflammation which are caused by streight shooes It also healeth the piles clifts and breaking of the skinne and kibes of the feet by laying to it a Bores gall and a swines lungs If a man drinke the liuer of a sow in wine it saueth his life from the biting of venemous beastes Also the liuer of a Bore burned with Iuniper-wood cureth all the faults in the secrets and drunke in Wine without salt after it is sod stayeth the loosenesse of the belly The gall of swine is not verye vehement for as the whole body is waterish so also is that neither is there any beast heerin comparable vnto it except the wild that is enimy to Vlcers ripening the sore scattering the euill humors and resisting the bitinges of venemous Beastes Also the gall of Bores layed to brused Articles doth procure vnto them wonderfull ease One shall take away an old scurffe very easily by the gall of a sow which farrow if it be mingled with the iuyce of the hearbe Siclamine and there withall to rub the heade wel in a Bath To keepe haire from growing vpon the browes when it is once plucked off Take the gall and fatte of a Bore and put them into a smooth-thicke-earthen-pot and of the sharpest Vineger and oyle of Almonds foure ounâes a peece poure that into it and then bind the mouth of the pot close with a thicke linnen cloath so letting them stand seuen daies together afterwards open them againe and you shall finde vpon the top a certaine scum like Gold wherewithal annoint those places which you woulde haue remaine balde after that you haue beaten it togither in a morter likewise the gall of a Barrow hogge or Bore pigge doeth scatter Apostumes and bunches in any part of the body The gall of a Hog dryed in an Ouen and layed vpon a Carbuncle as much as will couer it it cleaueth fast to the sore and draweth out the root and core thereof It is likewise good against the vlcers of the eares except the Vlcer be of long continuance and then it is good to vse a sharper gall such as is a sheepes an Oxes a Beares or a Goats they mingle herewithall sometimes oyle of roses but for olde wounds in the ears It is good to take one part of the best hony and two parts of the sharpest Vineger and so let them boile on the fire three walmes afterwards set them farre off from the fire vntill it leaue seething or boiling and then put Nitre vnto it so long til you know by the Vapor that the Niter is settled then seeth it againe vppon a gentle fire so as it boyleth not ouer and lastlye put into the eares of this gal of a Bore or of a Goate and then seeth it the third time taking it from the fire when it is Luke-warme infuse it into the eares and this gall must not be the gall of a sow except of such as neuer bare pig Also this gall being dried doth cure the Haemorhods and kibes There are also certaine slifters or clifts in the hooues of horsses which are cured in one nights space by applying vnto them the gal of a Barrow-hog mingled with the yolkes of Egges The blather of swine will prouoke vrine and of a Boare pig sod rosted or boyled and so eaten and drunke causeth a man to containe his vrine which neuer could before When the head of a man is exulcerated and runneth take the bladder of a Barrow-hog with the Vrine and cast the same into the fat cut small afterwards mingle it so with salt that it may appeare all white then binde it vp fast and digge a hole in the Garden about a cubit deepe wherein bury and couer the sayde gall and so let it rest forty or fifty daies in the earth till the matter therein contained be putrified then take it out and melt it in a dish and keepe the ointment that ariseth of it Then wash the head all ouer with lye vnto the intent that it may not be offended thorough the Acrimony thereof mingle it with new wine or with water and then when it is dry after such washing annoint it with the sayde ointment and so will the noxious and vncleane haires fall euery one off and new pure ones arise in their place and you must be very carefull to keepe the head from colde They were wont to giue the stones of swine against the sauling sicknesse but then they were first dryed and afterwards beaten to pouder and giuen to the sicke party in swines milke so he was commaunded to abstaine from wine many daies before and after he receiued it for many daies togither In Savoye they take the stones out of a yong hog when they geld him and scorch them at the fire so long till they may bee crushed to peeces and this they prescribe to be drunke in wine against the Collicke Some giue the powder of Bores stones to men and women to increase copulation and conception The Magicians or wise men of the East prescribed to be drunke for the incontinency of vrine the pouder of a Bore pigs stones out of sweete Wine and then to make water in a Dogs kennell which while he is doing to speake to himselfe these words Ne ipse vrinam faciam vt canis in suo cubile but I will leaue this superstition as not worthy to be Englished Some take the bladder of a Sovv burned to pouder and drunke for this infirmity and some a certaine liquerish poison which droppeth from the Nauell of a Bore pig immediately after it is farrowed Bacon beaten together and made like meale is good against a continuall cough or staieth bleeding at the mouth Bacon broath is also mingled with other medicines against the gout and they make an implaister of Bacon to scatter grauelly matter in the bladder The bones of Bacon about the hippes are kept to clense and rubbe teeth and by burning of them not onely the loose teeth in men are fastened but also the wormes in the teeth of beasts are killed If a horse bee troubled with the Glaunders or any such liquid matter running out at his mouth and nose then let the broath wherein Bacon and swines feete hath bin sod be mixed with hony and so strained afterward let it be beaten well togither with Egges and so infused into the left Nosthrill of the horsse Gagnerius prescribeth an emplaister to be made of cheese and the feet of swine against the shrinking vp of the sinnewes The ancle bone of a sow being burned vntil it