melancholicke infirmities whereunto if you adde Fennell it quickens the sight but so they engender ventositie and aquosities in the veines opilation in the pores digest slowly heale the reynes and oftentimes make the body to swell to correct their vice in the boyling of them you must twice change their water and then let them boyle in fresh broth with Fennell A. Flesh makes bloud and bloud makes flesh take away those sallets and rootes whether they be sod or fryed and reach vp those dishes of flesh the which in conclusion are they that maintaine our life P. To say the truth flesh nourisheth more then any other meat the which because it is hot and moist is easily transmuted into bloud and bringeth great nourishment but yet notwithstanding in eating of it some rule should be obserued A. But how can we hold Hipocrates or the Physitian on the one hand and the dish on the other P. My meaning is that the flesh wines and corne of high places so the Sunne haue power vpon them are more healthfull then those of pooles marshes and lakes Moreouer the flesh of such beasts as are too young doe abound in too much humiditie but so they are more easie of digestion that againe which is too old is very bad hard and dry of little nourishment and hard of coacoction and the flesh of males because it is more hot and dry is better then that of females being of a contrary nature and yet the last is best for Febricitantes but the shee-Goate is farre more commendable nourishment then any other female A. You haue so confounded my iudgement with your many rules and obseruations as I know not where to begin to eate P. Let vs eate some Lambe which is hot and moist so it be of a yeere old otherwise it hath much viscisitie and humiditie but yet if it generate good nourishment as I said it doth easily digest it is excellent for humour melancholicke as also for the sanguine and those of a cholericke and adust complexion and it is the better if it haue left sucking feeding and growing with odiriferous hearbes for if it be sucking it begets grosse humours hurts old and flegmaticke men procures viscositie in the stomacke through superfluous humiditie and is preiudiciall to the falling euill and other passions of the braine and nerues A. Taste a little of this Goate P. I would to God that I taste not more then I beleeue if it were such flesh it would helpe those that are too fat by reason of the little nourishment it brings but yet it is exceeding euill for the falling sicknesse it engenders much melancholy A. Hold here this is better P. This varietie of meates annoyes me greatly they procuring diuers infirmities especially when they are of a contrary qualitie for so their concoction being hindred they corrupt and putrifie and therefore though it like my palate yet it preiudiceth my health and heare a wise man being demaunded why he would haue no more but one kinde of meate vpon the table he answered because he would not haue too much need of a Physitian the diuersitie of meates then being hurtfull it will be healthfull to vse but one And therefore many yeeres agoe men liued longer because they were more regular and lesse licourish then wee but now idlenesse and gurmondize is risen to such an height that he is counted foolish miserable and abiect that doth not euen drowne himselfe and his whole familie in this vice and the greater foole gull and woodcocke indeed that one is the greater man he is accounted but why should we affect singularitie let vs eate merrily A. But if this please you not see here is Oxe or Cowes flesh I know not whether and here is also shee or rather not to erre hee-calfe indeed P. If it be of a young Oxe fat and accustomed to the plough it is wonderfull good nourishment for labourers it generates great abundance of bloud stayes the collericall fluxe but so it engenders bad nourishment it concocts slowly it breeds wambling and rising of the stomacke and melancholike infirmities it ought to lye in salt one whole day A. But for your Cowes beefe which is very old P. Why it is very bad as all other old flesh is but yet sucking veale breeds excellent blood it easily digesteth and that of the mountaine is better then the other bred in the champions A. But what if it were Buls flesh P. O God that 's worst of all it is an aguie grosse hard stincking and dry flesh of bad nourishment and is neuer well rosted by the fire nor concocted by the stomake and in a word it is worse then Buffles flesh A. Well to auoid all this danger we will eate of this Kid. P. It is of hot temperature euen to the second month of very commendable temper betweene humidity and drynesse the blacke and red is alwaies best and the sucking males of foure or fiue months are most excellent it nourisheth well digests quickly furthers health wonderfully helps the sicke and sound and such as be students and labour but little neuertheles it hurts men decrepit a cold or watry stomacke to those troubled with the collicke with the Epilepticke and those which labour or take bodily paines But if it be well rosted specially the hinder parts which are the more moist and seasoned with Oranges his qualitie is much corrected A. This Goate or Kid or Doe howsoeuer you please to call it pleaseth me very well P. T is hot and dry the young ones which are fat and much vp and downe the fields by meanes whereof they dissolue the bad humours are more easie to digest they engender blood vvith very little superfluitie but yet bending alittle to melancholie as in a manner all wilde beasts doe all which notwithstanding this doth exceede in nourishment it preuailes against the Paralasie and cholicke and extenuates fat men but so it hurts those already extenuated for it brings detriment to the nerues by drying them vp especially if it be old for then it hardly digests and it is best in winter A. Surely by the smell this should be mutton P. It is temperately hot and moist flesh the young ones of a yeere old especially that feed on hils breeds good bloud because it is sweete in taste of good nourishment and digests quickly the broth thereof is excellent against the melancholicke humour being sod it must be eaten with parsley and the hinder parts roasted and let them first be well beaten with a cudgel if it be old for want of stones and through age it hurts in his drynesse and is hard of digestion A. But what if we should tast of Harts flesh See where it is for your vse doubt not it cannot flye away P. Why it is hot and dry if it be sucking or gelt it is good nourishment for by the aboue said meanes he looseth his vitiousnesse an Harts horne being burnt in the fire driues away all venemous beasts the bone of
humbly request euery gentle and prudent Spirit that he will call to minde how euery humane perfection is dasht with many imperfections and all mortall vigilancie and diligence whatsoeuer is ioyned with great carelesnesse and negligence and which is worse there is no remedie for the same and therefore the nature of our present estate and condition being such I must needes entreate you to remaine satisfied with my good intention and to accept of all in the better part especially it being onely my intention to exalt Vertue and to abase Vice as also to loue and respect euery one conformably to his demerit and therefore in the meane while Thou glorious English man that me conducts From stormy rage into an harbour sure Me wandring Traueller amidst the Rockes And surging waues beaten and drownde outright With cheerefull brow these homely lines reuiew The Passenger Of Benuenuto Italian professor of his natiue tongue THE FIRST PART Betweene Mr. Andrea Mr. Pompilio and Mignocco a Seruant DIALOGVE I. In which with diuers sententious and pleasant witty sayings are vsed the phrases to enter into an House to make one ready in the Morning and specially the discourse of Waking Sleeping Dreames Idlenesse Idle and lazie persons and with Petraca they conclude Surfet and Sleepe c. Pompilio HO within M. Who knocks at the doore P. Friends M. Friends walke not in the night P. Thou slouenly lubberd and toyish fellow what idle toyes goest thou fantasticating M. What would you haue so earely P. I would speake with thy Master M. Foure dayes agoe he went into the Country P. I saw him yesternight M. Now I remember mee hee did returne home againe but now hee sleepes P. Let him sleepe like the Silk-worme I must needes speake with him M. Few words suffice the wise you cannot now Sir P. Knowest thou not me what rusticke complements are these M. Are you my Master excuse me Sir now I let you in P. A man must grow Comicall or Satiricall to make thee open the dore M. In truth I did not know you P. These are Aretines excuses How you can season the sowre with the sweet and of vnciuill become ciuill M. We must serue occasion and time P. Thou canst speake so much as thou wilt and I beleeue as much as please mee but the more thou dissemblest the lesse I belieue thee M. I speake from my heart P. I obserue not the winde of the words but the deedes and the words also M. Belieue me Sir I mislooke you and I thought it was night P. Thou makest thy selfe a kin to one whom his Master bidding to see what weather it was hee being as peraduenture thou art asleepe and giddy with wine thinking to put his head out at the window thrust it into a great cubbord and ouerthrew vpon his head a pot of oyle and returning to his Master he sayd to him Sir sleepe quietly the time being fit to take pleasure with your wise darke as the throate of a wolfe and it raines desperately M. O what a foole was hee yet very often the wisest men haue their breeches fall I also did sleepe P. Dâ—ddest thou sleepe when thou tattledst at the dore M. If I were not asleepe yet I was not very well awake P. We must confesse the truth you seruants in excusing your errours are like the foolish Bird caught with the lime or net the which how much more hee beates himselfe so much more is he belim'd and euermore intangled M. What else shall a seruant doe who is not lesse poore in riches then in vertue and wit P. If you know your selfe why deferre you amend your selfe for too late repentance doth deceiue many M. Alas my Master the prouerbe is true That some change their haire rather then their manners and the wolfe changes his hide but not his vice we seruants as we are born so we die P. Go to dost thou remember I would speake with thy master M. Indeed I dare not molest him P. Thou toldst me he was gone into the countrey M. Did you not beleeue me and how many times haue I trusted your seruants that haue vsed the same tricke with me P. I knew not that I was so much thy familiar this is enough M. Excuse me sir who hath committed the greater errour you in not telling me your name or I in not opening to him I neyther saw nor knew P. No more words let vs goe from hence but tell mee is hee alone or coupled M. God forgiue vs he cannot abide a woman should come into his chamber much lesse into his bed P. Oh oh neither will the Ape eate Cherryes nor the Beare hony nor yet Mistresse Pipa permit her wanton louer to lay his hand vpon her Citterne M. Vntill I see other I will not change my conceit P. Goe to dispatch seeing you dare not leaue that care to mee I le waken him well enough O my Sir what so noble a creature as is man created for the vertues sleepe yet A. Who is there who are you P. Who am I rather who are you that turnes the night into day and the day into night A. What voyce is that P. I doubt you be one of the seauen sleepers or of the kinde of the Dormouse or sleepy Badger A. Me thinkes rather that you sleepe since you discerne not by the forme the kinde P. We cannot sleepe and speake Logically at the same time A. Me thinks the daies are very long frequent and come thicke P. We are passengers in this present life we must be waking A. To what purpose serues so much watchfulnesse being full onely of trouble and of all anguish P. O vnhappy he that tels the dayes and thinkes one to be as long as a thousand yeeres and liues in vaine and neuer in his life examines himselfe much more is sleepe if you forget not your selfe A. I finde sleepe to be the better part of life P. Now I well see that you are troubled with a heauy and deadly Lethargie A. O is it you Sir What good time haue you you are welcome sit downe and giue me leaue for a little while to shut one eye P. Like Master like man you are riuall with Endimion M. Rather I will outgoe Epimenides P Take heede you fall not into some infamy A. What note or infamy can hee incurre that offends none P. He offends much more that hurts himselfe then hee that hurts another A. Whatsoeuer it be which hardly at the length can be depainted that after a sea of troubles we inioy in this life it seemes to me to be apparell that defends our flesh from the harme of the elements and feedes our spirit with vaineglory drinke and meat that nourishes our body sleepe which strengthens and restores nature the ioy of the flesh that glads the hart and preserues the species and mony that obtaines and giues vs euery thing P. It is true but I tould you before that we were passengers here incompassed
bread or of my powder of Almond cakes with Beane flower and the little sheeres also M. Heere they are A. The ruffe band M. I haue it in my hand A. Because it is somewhat hot this morning it were better for me to weare a falling band M. So I thought behold I giue it you A. Seeing you will be a Scholler of the Art of Memorie I will now tell you in good earnest some locall memoriall M. All will be well Sir so as conformable to our first couenants you will please Sir to command and call but not strike A. Tush after the receipt wee le reckon of all Oh Sir now I come with all my hart to doe all seruice to my deare Master Pompilio P. No no Sir not to serue but as a Master to commaund me A. Gentle Sir tell me haue you seene in your life a man sooner ready then I am P. No intruth A. I sleepe or watch when and as long as I please or thinke good P. I cannot conceiue how so liuely a spirit as you are in the Morning when the spirit vseth to fructifie should suffer it selfe to be subdued by drowsie sleepe A. Why I pray you Sir know you not that the falling of the starres doth inuite vs to sleepe and that euery creature which liueth must necessarilie likewise sleepe considering that all creatures through long labour and vigilancie doe waste and perish and therefore they had neede to be restored with the generation of some new radicall humiditie and by the renouation of weake spirits which are obtained from moderate sleepe P. Who knowes it not Vigilancie being an earnest fixing of of the minde from his beginning to all the parts of the body so that when it is moderate it excites all the senses disposeth of all the faculties to their due operations and expels the excrements of the body but if it be immoderate it corrupts the temperature of the braine it causeth distracting of the wits enflameth the humours procures acute infirmities it produceth hunger it makes men leane and of a foule aspect it debilitates the vertue concoctiue dissolues the spirits replenisheth the head with vapours makes hollow eyes augments heate kindleth choller hindereth digestion and causeth a cruditie in our receiued meates and therefore it must be moderated corrected by interposition of sleep From whence we must confesse that Aleander spake wisely when hee said Somnus est omnibus valetudo viâ—e saniâ—as corporis It is the health of the body and safety of the soule A. It cannot be denyed but if a man would liue it is needfull hee should eate and eating of necessitie hee must sleepe for sleepe is procured by the eleuation of the vapors from the receiued meate which mounting vp to the braine and finding it cold and thicke are congealed and so growne waightie and discending they opilate the pores sensitiue of the members after the selfe same manner as raine is ingendred in the middle region of the Aire by the rising vp of vapours On the contrary wakefulnesse is procured by the superfluous heate of the braine and it causeth tribulations of minde indigestion of meates whereupon naturall heate which is the first instrument of life doth become weake and seruing to all the members it leaueth the concoction of meates by which meanes without sleepe crude humours and many defects in the body would ensue the which sleepe is the quietnesse of the minde and the repose of the animall facultie and in conclusion it heates and corroborates the members it expelleth the excrements augments naturall humiditie fatens the body cures the infirmities of the soule and mittigates the molestations of the minde and at that time the faculties being at rest as is said Nature workes the more effectually Therefore Tassus saith Whilst the Sunne delighteth it is time to trauaile for in the night euery creature would be at rest Let vs suppresse the griefes and let vs sweeten the hart vnder the silence of the secret nightly horrour But a thousand inconueniences I beleeue is caused if it be superfluous P. Now in truth you speake like a gentleman for besides that watchfulnes notes an hart addicted to vertue and waightie enterprizes too much sleepe cooleth debilitates and dryes vp naturall heate it makes bodies flegmaticke from whence proceedes sloathfulnes further it sends vp vapors into the head from whence are engendred distillatioâ—s and Catars it hurts fat bodies wonderfully in â—ound and weake bodies it causeth shortnesse of winde it prepareth them to Apoplexies Epilexsies to stupifaction and feauers it procures that the excrements cannot come forth in due time but that they are detained too long in their vessels it makes many vnprofitable with a thousand other inconueniences And therevpon diuine Plato admonisheth vs that superfluous sleepe is not onely impertinent to the soule and body but also for any negotiations or affaires A. The selfe same Eschines deciphered hee holding opinion that sleepe was more befitting the dead then the liuing P. Of the same opinion was Gorgias the Philosopher who drawing neere to death said Sleepe doth commend mee to his brother A. Philo also called it the very image of death P. And Alexander by reason of his workes fame and glory surnamed the great being after the manner of Courtiers deepely flattered by his followers and called a God wisely made answere I know my selfe to be mortall by sleepe which is the true portrature of death A. Diuine Petrarch saith Sleepe is a kinne to death And Tas saith Hee that is opprest by sound sleepe hath but a little passage to death P. Sleepe therefore being so detestable that Wise man saide How long will thou sleepe O sluggard when wilt thou awake from out thy sleepe To that effect the Apocalipse concludes saying Happy is hee who watcheth and keepeth his garments to the end his shame may not appeare and then hee addes I therefore say vnto you watch A. All this is true so it be seasoned with Platoes salt that is our health euer considered P. Surely I thinke I may beleeue and not without reason that eating soberly and not according to the desire but the necesitie of his constitution he vvil also sleepe soberly therupon A. Oh oh you will transforme mee into some Tuskaine or a sober Genouese or rule me in such manner that after the simiorike I ought to subiect myselfe to clinicall phisicke P. Let a man be of what nation hee will hee must needes order his life and little will satisfie to the Nature therefore Tassus If the desire be little also our neede is small whereby our life is preserued A. Why but a man must necessarily eate and drincke because without these two offices neither sound or sick can continue for the bodies of liuing creatures remayning in a daily ebbing and flowing so that momentally the corporall spirits are dissolued and consumed as also in like manner the humours and solide
digested they are corrected with the seed of Ameos but yet they are enemies to cold and moist complexions and to old men A. Will you not then taste of them P. Oh it does me good euen to touch them A. Why see then how strawburies are ready to supply their place P. They are cold in the first and dry in the second degree if they be red very ripe of good odor and growing in Gardens they slake the heate and sharpnesse of the bloud they quench the feruour of choler refresh the Lyuer remoue thirst prouoke vrine and excite appetite but that which is the excellentest secret their wine dryes vp the red pimples of the face and being applyed to the eyes cleares the sight washing therewith the filmes of them it scoures the skinne of the countenance and takes away meazels Their fruits stay dissenteries womens fluxes and help the milt the decoction of their leaues and rootes being drunke doth greately ease the inflamation of the Lyuer and mundifies the â—eynes and the bladder The distilled water of Strawburies stayes the fluxe of bloud in all parts but yet they hurt those subiect to tremblings to paralitickes and to the griefe of the nerues their wine will make one drunke and they that eate them in any abundance fall into malignant Feauers because they corrupt in the stomack and also generate corrupt humours But being first well cleansed and washed in white wine and then strowed ouer with sugar in Summer they are good for cholericke men Sanguineans and hot stomackes so they be eaten in small quantitie before other meates A. But you shall not denie me or at least doe such iniury to the Melon as not to taste of it P. If it were of good odour and exquisite sauour very pleasing to the taste new and ripe I would willingly eate of it but me thinkes it hath no sent at all where grew it in England out alas it stinckes I pray you keepe it for some Mare for I will none of it by any meanes the sight of it onely makes me ready to cast A. And yet they say Albinus the Emperour was so delighted with them that one euening he did eate an hundred peaches of Campania and Melons of Ostia the which in those dayes were the most commendable P. If they were of the sweetnesse they are of in many places and in a manner ouer all Italie I could with all my heart follow his example or rather mine owne taste for besides that they refresh they doe cleanse the body prouoke vrine quench thirst excite appetite and they that eate them in any abundance are secured from the stone and grauell but yet they procure ventositie and paine in the belly they easily conuert into those humours that they meete withall in the stomacke and by reason of their frigiditie they hardly digest whereupon they excite vomite cholericall fluxes and easily corrupting they generate malignant Feauers and meazels They may be corrected by being eaten fasting with good old cheese and salted things drinking very good wine after them and then afterwards eating other meates of good substance but they greatly hurt melancholick and flegmaticke men A. So if I be not deceiued you will none of them P. No not of these artificiall ones and besides I did eate so many of them in my youth throughout all the parts of Italie as I now giue them a perpetuall valete A. That which is here before you sir be it what it will remaineth at your seruice no wayes to molest except it may please and content you and therefore doe as you thinke good but doe you marke sir what a sweet ayre this is P. The aire is more necessarie then any thing else for the preseruation of bodily health A. You speake but truth because the life of all creatures hauing neede of continuall refreshment of hart which is obtained by a daily inspiration of the aire and all other things may be auoyded but this cannot for as respiration cannot be seperated from life no more can life be seperated from respiration P. Who knowes not that oftentimes and for some good space we may liue without meates but so can we not any time at all without ayre for it alwayes enters in by the chaps and from the lights flyes to the hart to refresh it A. It being then of so great importance vvee will inioy this serenitie in turning towards the East not corrupted by the fogs nor vapours of lakes stands marrishes caues durt nor dust for by reason of the dustie aire amongst the people Garamantes they hardly liue to fortie yeeres of age P. Neither neede wee to doubt of the cold aire either North or South or that of the night nor of that which proceeds from the vapours of nut trees or vnder the beames of the Moone neither of that turbulent grosse blustring or corrupted aire rising from putrefaction or anything else A. If it were so it would questionles be very hurtfull for it would make heauy the heart offend the animall spirits with too much humiditie loosing the ioynts and making them ready to take in all superfluities P. Let vs therefore while we may enioy this temperatâ— aire and so I take it to be when it refresheth at the Sunne going downe and heates at Sunne rising and such aire as this is I suppose to be very beneficiall for euery complexion sexe and age A. Questionlesse I reioyce much to enioy this pure cleare and temperate aire it procuring health clarifying the spirits and the blood chearing vp the heart and the minde corroborating all actions causing digestion in all the members preseruing temperature and prolonging life the contrary to all which aboue-named qualities bad ayre effects for it changeth our bodies more then any thing else and corrupts them P. But I pray you tell me onely to passe the time how would you correct such an aire in subtilizing and dissoluing the grosse and slimie humours thereof A. Why with a fire in the roome of sweete wood as of Laurell Rosemarie Cypresse wood Iuniper Oake Pine Furre Larix tree or else I would make a Pomander wherof I would smell both day and night taking halfe a dramme of saffron halfe a scruple of orient Amber of Muske one dramme of Steraxe Calamite and of Laurell and Anna one scruple dissoluing them in Malmesie and as I said before I would make of them a Pomander P. I thinke a man may better preserue himselfe from bad aire with a good breath as keeping Treacle Mithridrate or the confection of Alchermes in his mouth or rubbing his teeth with Zâ—loaria chewing Angelica or by taking it fasting in conserues A. And I haue tryed that in time of the plague it is excellent to 〈◊〉 in ones hand or to swell on a ball of very good Saxiâ—age that grew in a hot countrie and the ball being hollow within may haue a piece of sponge steeped in good rose-water and excellent rose-vinegar defending the stomacke and the breast with a Lambe or an Hares