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A05102	The third volume of the French academie contayning a notable description of the whole world, and of all the principall parts and contents thereof: as namely, of angels both good and euill: of the celestiall spheres, their order and number: of the fixed stars and planets; their light, motion, and influence: of the fower elements, and all things in them, or of them consisting: and first of firie, airie, and watrie meteors or impressions of comets, thunders, lightnings, raines, snow, haile, rainebowes, windes, dewes, frosts, earthquakes, &c. ingendered aboue, in, and vnder the middle or cloudie region of the aire. And likewise of fowles, fishes, beasts, serpents, trees with their fruits and gum; shrubs, herbes, spices, drugs, minerals, precious stones, and other particulars most worthie of all men to be knowen and considered. Written in French by that famous and learned gentleman Peter de la Primaudaye Esquier, Lord of the same place, and of Barree: and Englished by R. Dolman.; Academie françoise. Part 3. English	La Primaudaye, Pierre de, b. ca. 1545.; Dolman, R. (Richard)	1601 (1601)	STC 15240; ESTC S108305	398,876	456

THE THIRD VOLVME OF THE FRENCH ACADEMIE Contayning a notable description of the whole world and of all the principall parts and contents thereof As namely of Angels both good and euill of the Celestiall spheres their order and number of the fixed stars and planets their light motion and influence Of the fower elements and all things in them or of them consisting and first of firie airie and watrie meteors or impressions of comets thunders lightnings raines snow haile rainebowes windes dewes frosts earthquakes c. ingendred aboue in and vnder the middle or cloudie region of the aire And likewise of fowles fishes beasts serpents trees with their fruits and gum shrubs herbes spices drugs minerals precious stones and other particulars most worthie of all men to be knowen and considered Written in French by that famous and learned Gentleman Peter de la Primaudaye Esquier Lord of the same place and of Barree and Englished by R. Dolman LONDINI Jmpensis Geor. Bishop 1601. TO THE RIGHT WORshipfull Sir WILLIAM MOVNSON Knight YOur emploiments Right Worshipfull in sundry hir Maiesties forraine seruices both by sea and land and also for your farther experience and satisfaction in diuers other noble enterprises beeing accompanied with a sharpe and iudicious obseruation of things memorable and the perusing of many excellent and rare writers must of necessitie haue made you not onely expert in matters of war and estate but also most singularlie well read in God his great booke of nature I meane the admirable frame of this Vniuers or whole world Wherein the infinite varieties and sorts of creatures like so many visible wordes doe proclaime and publish vnto man the eternitie infinitie omnipotency wisedome iustice bountie and other essentiall attributes of his dread and soueraigne creatour Wherefore I doe here present vnto your Wor. the discourse ensuing not as a teacher to instruct you in things vnknowne but as a faithfull remembrancer to recall matters to your minde which are there already both by speculation and experience most soundly imprinted It may please you then to accept of this mine homelie translation not so much for mine owne sake who am able to deserue lesse then nothing as for the Authors worthines being a Gentleman as appeareth out of this other parts his learned ACADEMIE most rarely qualified and likewise for the excellencie of this present worke of his both in regard of the method the matter and the scope For the methode is most exact and agreeable to rules of art proceeding from generalles to particulars and from the whole to the parts The matter or subiect is most noble so that if according to Aristotle all arts and sciences doe receiue their perfection from the dignity of the obiect then certes of all others Theologie excepted this science is the most excellent hauing so spacious so beautifull and so fruitfull a fielde to manure as the whole world and all things therein contained Neither is the scope any whit lesse charitable and christian tending partly to the information of mens vnderstandings and the reformation of their errors but most especially ayming at the glorie of the creator vnto whom onely is due all submission and honor Finally considering the authors manner of handling this discourse and the varietie of choise-writers both ancient and of our times which hee alledgeth for confirmation of sundry truthes and for other purposes purging by the fire of his exquisite iudgment the drosse of their opinions from the pure mettall and in all places adorning their gold and siluer with the most orient and inualuable pearles of holy scripture I deemed it in all respects most worthy to shroude it selfe vnder your Wor. patronage London this 28. of March 1601. Your Wor. most readie to be disposed of RICHARD DOLMAN To the Reader MOunt on this worlds maiestike theater Suruey the spheres and euer-burning lamps Pierce through the aire fire earth and water Admire Jehouahs hosts and royall camps Rang'd in batallions and seemely troupes At sight whereof the proudest Atheist droupes Surmount the spheres view those ghostly wights Jnhabiting a world supercelestiall Then stoupe trembling see those ghastly sprights Plung'd aie in deepest firie gulfes infernall And frighted thence looke al the world aroūd What other natures-wonders may be found R. D. Sonnet CE que Dieu fit et fait d'admirable en son monde Ce qu'on en peut auoir de plaisirs et de biens Et d'enseignemens beaux diuins et terriens BARREE icy l'instruit par celeste faconde Mais quel saint trucheman ô Nimphe-Angloise blonde T'apprent ces hauts discours qui rauissent les tiens C'est mon gentil DOLMAN ieune laurier des miens Le qui de des neuf seurs qui en langues abonde O toy heureuse donc d'auoir ce traducteur Comme ta soeur Françoise heureuse est de l' Autheur Mais plus heureuse encor quand par estudes saintes Des grands oeuures de Dieu en ce liure depeintes Si bien cognoistres Dieu qu'au mieux d'ame et de coeur En crainte amour et foy le seruires sans feintes I' attens le temps PIERRE CASTEL The speciall and principall matters handled in this third Tome of the French Academie as it is diuided into seuerall daies works and distinguished by Chapters The first daies worke Page 1 OF the Creation of Heauen and Earth Chap. 1 Page 7 Of time which tooke beginning with the world Chapter 2 Page 12 Of the insufficiencie or nullitie of reasons framed concerning the nature of the world against the creation thereof chap. 3 Page 15 Of the reasons taken from motion and the moouing intelligences against the creation of the world and of the insufficiencie of them chapter 4 Page 20 Of many other deuises which they inuent who pretend to ouerthrow the doctrine of the creation of the world performed by the creator thereof chap. 5 Page 24 Concerning those causes which haue made the Philosophers to erre from the knowledge of truth and of their ignorance concerning God and his works chap. 6 Page 29 Of the authoritie of such witnesses as make the creation and newnes of the world vndoubted chap. 7 Page 34 Of the reasons making for the creation and newnes of the world chapter 8 The second daies worke Page 39 COncerning the errors of those Philosophers which say that God doth his outward worke of necessitie chap. 9 Page 45 Of the reasons which conclude that God proceeded of franke and free deliberation to the worke of the world chap. 10 Page 49 Of one onely principall and first cause of the Vniuers chap. 11 Page 54 Of the space of the sixe daies mentioned in the historie of the creation of the world chap. 12 Page 59 Of the mysteries hidden vnder the number of sixe in the creation of the Vniuers and of the seuenth day of rest chap. 13 Page 64 Of the diuisions of the vniuersall world chap. 14 Page 68 Of the Angelicall and intellectuall world

receiue their essence and continuance not from themselues but from God alone Yet for all that do they not thinke that the heauens shall altogither faile nor that God will haue it so And others maintaine that though the heauens must passe and be dissolued according to the word of God that yet this defect shall not be an entire annihilating but onely a certaine chaunge which shall come to them by which they shall be renued in far more perfection Whereto it seemeth that Saint Paule agreeth Rom. 8. when he cleerly testifieth concerning all creatures ingenerall that they are subiect to corruption because of the sinne of man and for that cause they doe attend with great desire for the reuelation and redemption of the children of God because they shal not be relieued nor deliuered from the seruitude of corruption to be in the liberty of the glory of them and restored to their integritie till the day ordayned by the creator for the acceptation of his into eternall felicitie For thereupon ensueth that the heauens and celestiall bodies sigh and grone attending togither with the other creatures this blessed day to be chaunged renued restored which S. Peter likewise teacheth in the place before cited Yea some philosophers accord with him concerning the dissolution of the world by fire but not concerning the cause thereof For they refer it not to the sinne of man which hath infected the heauen the earth and all things contained therein and put the world into disorder and confusion but to the nature of fire which at last consumeth all and whereof they giue a reason by naturall causes There are also some Astronomers who affirme that some change may bee perceiued in the spheres and heauenly bodies concerning their courses and ordinarie motions and that they are somewhat different from those which they haue had from the beginning how they waxe weary are worne and become old in their function like to other creatures although this change doth much lesse appeere in them then in the other works of God but wee will leaue this argument to the professors of Astrologie And let it suffice vs for conclusion of this matter to consider what the stabilitie and continuance of men in this world may be seeing that all other creatures must receiue a change and haue an end yea the very heauens themselues For what are all people in respect of this great Vniuers And againe what is euery one of them particularly in comparison of the generalitie of mankinde and of all those which haue already gone before vs But let vs returne to that which concerneth the heauens and sphericall bodies considering that which doth touch their motions besides that which hath beene already declared which AMANA shall be the subiect for you to discourse vpon Of the motions ingenerall of their first cause and of their vnion in all nature Chapter 26. AMANA EAre we enter into the declaration of the subiect which is now propounded vnto vs to discourse vpon concerning heauen my desire is that wee may cal to our memorie that which we haue already heeretofore heard of the nature of the heauens concerning the matter whereof they are compounded and concerning their beautie stabilitie and continuance For so shall wee reduce the end of our discourse to that principall point whereunto we haue alreadie from the beginning destinated it that is so much the better to acknowledge our God and his prouidence to the end to glorifie him I say then that if we considerately meditate vpon the excellencie of the celestiall bodies we shall therein finde a more expresse image of the eternitie and maiestie of God and of his diuine and immutable nature then in any of all the other visible creatures Moreouer we may accept of them as a testimony and example not onely of the immortalitie which God hath ordained for mens soules which are spirituall natures but also of that which he hath promised our bodies after our resurrection For that hee can accomplish his promise we neither may nor must make doubt of if we beleeue that he is almightie No more must we make doubt of his will sith he hath declared it vnto vs in his word If then he hath beene able to create the heauens and the stars and planets which in them are like splendant precious stones enchased in rings of a matter so firme and durable that it remaineth incorruptible and as it were immortall whether it be taken from the fowre elements or be of an other quint-essence as we haue already heard It shal be no lesse easie for him to make our bodies incorruptible and immortall hauing deliuered them from corruption and death to which through sinne they were subiect Now let vs pursue that which particularly concerneth the heauen in his motion wherein wee haue notable signes of the glorie and bountie of our God Three sorts of motion To vnderstand then sufficiently that which concerneth the present matter we will first note that there be three sorts of motion in the whole world For there is one which tendeth to the midst and to the center of the Vniuers which is in the earth the lowest of elements which motion for that it descendeth is proper to the most heauie elements and to such creatures as do most participate with them Then is there another motion contrarie to the first which alwaies tendeth from the midst and from belowe vpwards and this is proper to the most light elements and to those natures which do neerest approch vnto them and which participate with their qualities more then the rest But the third kinde of motion is that which neither mounteth nor descendeth either one way or other but goeth round euer turning about the midst like a circle or a wheele And this is that which is proper to heauen and to the sphericall bodies being most certaine disposed and composed by a most constant and firme order For though that all the elements and all other creatures which haue motion obserue an order therein yet is it more subiect to change according as the inferior bodies are subiect to the superior But those haue a more certaine course because they depend not vpon other bodies which are aboue them but immediately vpon God without the meanes of any other corporall nature And therefore of all the motions which are in all creatures that of the heauen and heauenly bodies is chiefest and most excellent Of the motion of the spheres attributed to the angels For whereas some attribute the motions of the spheres to the angels as if God vsed their ministerie heerein as we haue already declared whether it be so or not yet this is most certaine that the heauens haue their motion immediately from God seeing there are no corporall natures aboue them whereby they may be mooued For the angels are certaine spirituall creatures on whom if the omnipotent hath imposed this charge we must be content to leaue the vnderstanding thereof to him alone

concerning the reasons making for the creation the historie whereof will put vs altogither out of doubt in that which toucheth the principall arguments of the Philosophers against it if wee doe amplie entreate of their errors when they maintaine that God worketh of necessitie and not of free and franke will which will serue vs to morrow for a subiect to begin the daies discourse The end of the first daies worke THE SECOND DAIES WORKE Concerning the errors of these Philosophers which say that God doth his outward worke of necessitie Chapter 9. ASER. I Thinke companions we were yesterday sufficiently entangled in the discourse of the creation of the world about that which concerneth the doubt that remaineth in many But ere we doe farther enter into the cabinets of God and nature it would not be vnfruitefull if wee yet haue an other pull with the Philosophers about this question Whether of necessity or of free choise and franke will God was prouoked to worke For they supposed that the condition of necessitie was fitter and more conuenient then was the matter of contingence and therefore they appropriate it to God Wherein they thinke verily to want no reasons for their purpose and that these make specially for them That God worketh by his proper substance If the worke of God be of necessitie or voluntarie and not by any borrowed vertue That the effectes of the world are of necessity because they seeme in no wise to proceed of a contingent cause that by the same reason is to be considered the inuariable and necessarie order of thinges to the end that the vniuers be not confounded or troubled Moreouer the Philosophers supposed that it was a very vnfit thing for the diuine vnderstanding to worke of necessity and the diuine will to worke freely considering that it is no lesse perfect then the diuine thought Now though that we concerning these considerations night take out of the quiuer of reasonable discourse arrowes enow against these Sages of the world yet for that this point doth particularly touch the diuinity it may suffice to say with Plato that one cannot picke out so great a mysterie by reasons but seeke to learne the same by oracles For it is sufficient to know that the great lawgiuer recordeth that God spake Genes 1. Psalm 33. and it was done and that with him agreeth the kingly prophet saying he commaunded and it was established to conclude that all the scriptures teache vs the same doctrine But here let vs declare that that which seemeth thus to disturbe the Philosophers is nothing at all For they presuppose a necessarie disposition to bee more perfect then the contingent cause which they haue left to prooue to those that should come afterwards Now I beseech you do we not more esteeme a Prince who directeth euerie thing according to his owne good pleasure then if vrged by nature or any other prouocation constrayning him he should set his hand to any busines Who will blame libertie which as the Prouerbe saith is hardly bought for gold That I say which they themselues thinke to haue beene graunted man for a most singular good What perfection what praise should be attributed to most loftie thoughts if they were euer forced to performe that which is good Liberty profitable for all things What dignitie might appertaine to a great king if he did all things necessitie constrayning him and nothing of a generous heart And seeing by common consent we acknowledge God to be the Prince of the world what glorie and honor should be giuen him for his gouernment for his wisedome for his iustice for his clemencie if of necessity and constraint he were drawne on to maintaine that which is in his tuition What grace what seruice and adoration should we owe him Why is it entred into nature to sacrifice as Aristotle saith Why are we obliged as Auerrois himselfe teacheth to magnifie God the creator in prayers and sacrifices If God doth all things of necessitie what profiteth all this For what cause is it conuenient for vs to pray Prayers are fit for men if God be not appeased by prayer To what ende hath all mankinde in euerie age in all places of euery nation beene addicted to adore a diuinity Surely we may thereof gather that prayers are fit for men and that it is naturally grafted in our minds that God is mooued by them So manie reasons then may well conclude that the author of Nature doth neuer negotiate of necessitie And for that that he worketh by a proper substance that is not of eternitie except in the spiritual worke from himselfe wherof we haue spoken in the 5. of our discourse But for the outward worke he proceeded thereto according to his owne will when it pleased him not constrayned by any causes for hee is the onely and principall cause of all things nor for hope to get any good for that he of himselfe is blessed not hauing neede of any other good God is not subiect to any order of nature Furthermore also the necessarie effects conclude not any necessitie in the prince or in the first cause considering that the second causes which Plato and the other Sages call his seruants doe worke by his commaundement in determined order so that the necessitie that therein is dependeth vpon his commaundement or vpon the order from which he absolueth them according to his owne good pleasure Dan. 3. And thereof came it that the fire burned not the children in the Chaldean furnace that the sunne stayed his course by the space of a day at Iosuahs commandement that it went backe ten lines or ten howres Ios 10. 2. Kings 20. in the time of Ezechias That it was eclipsed at full moone during the passion of Iesus Christ The Peripatetickes Atheists and Epicures will laugh at this and will say scoffingly which of the Philosophers recounteth these things These sellers of lyes which teach the lawes are madde saith Auerrois But herein sith question is made concerning diuine mysteries what haue wee to doe with such contemners of all pietie The sentence wherein we make stay hath beene celebrated by those which could iudge And men doe rather beleeue one that affirmeth then a thousand that denie for negation concludeth nothing And why should we care then though they denie altogither in words that which many witnesses yea and most wise do assure to haue prooued in effect The holy letters testifie it whereto we rather giue credit then to Aristotle and all his schollers And amongst a thousand most famous Philosophers and Christian Martyrs which consent to this doctrine of truth Areopagus of the Athenians is Saint Denis Areopagita so called of the Areopagus or streete of Mars which was a court and assembly among the Athenians first of nine persons elected by the chiefe Magistrates and afterward encreased to the number of fiftie of the most principall as well for learning holines of life and wisedome as also

the worke of the Vniuers is freely and willingly and franke will of God in his worke begun in time we will argue more liuely thus Seeing that the partes of this vniuers are so disposed that without any contrarietie or contradiction they might haue been otherwise ordered it followeth that they are contingent and not ordained of necessitie but of free will Auerrois saith We confesse not that the partes of the world could be altered bicause the world is an animal But I answere in what place of Aristotle learnt he this manner of disputing He will that his authoritie should be for a principle of demonstration Moreouer from whence draweth he the consequence Let him tell me if the world be an animal whether is it sensible or insensible If it be void of sense then is it no animal If it be sensitiue doth it see then doth it heare doth it smell doth it taste doth it eate Whether the world be an animall But say we confesse the world to be an animal as it seemeth that Plato and many other Sages would affirme surely it is no animal contained vnder the kinde of animals For all things in this frame are diuided by all philosophers into a former diuision before you come to the animal But let vs confesse that it may be called an animal by some kinde of answerablenes and likenes Wherefore then could not the disposition of the partes thereof be otherwise ordained Why should it be disagreeable for man to haue onely one eie in his forehead as it is reported of some Why could it not be made to the other creatures the vpper iaw moouing and the vndermost firme as the crocodile alone hath Why haue not sundry beasts two knees like the camell Surely these and such like things haue been so disposed by the soueraigne creator that without any contradiction or contrarietie might haue been otherwise ordained if we presuppose not the condition of the nature specified such as the creator himselfe hath according to his will prefixed But let vs farther proceede concerning the animall the world Of the course and straight passage of the Ocean By what necessitie hath the sea bin in such sort disposed that the ocean should passe through the narrow straights of Abyla Calpe high mountaines which antiquitie called Hercules-pillers What neede is there that from thence it should spread it selfe in length and bredth That then it should stretch it selfe into the Tuscan or Tirrhene sea afterward gathering it selfe into the Adriaticke gulph then enlarging it selfe into the Siriacke sea so running about by the Egean which for the beautious number of isles therein contained is named the Archi-pelagus or princesse of seas and from thence shrinking betweene most narrow passages the Helespont is made And againe the Propontick where it dilateth it selfe and where againe it is straightened is called the Thracian Bosphorus Then this Ocean being once againe widened there is made the sea Euxine that is to say the host since the manners of the barbarous nations haue been polished and made ciuill for it was first called Axenes that is the inhumane host bicause of the cruell and fierce nature of the dwellers thereabout And againe mixing it selfe with the lake of Meotis it is named the Cimmerian Bosphorus What neede is there also why Nilus passing by the Ethiopians and Arabians into Egypt and Tanais passing through the one and other Scythia Of Nilus and Tanais and running almost into the midst of the lake of Meotis should distinguish and separate the three partes of the world And by what other needfull ordinance is one part of the earth laid lowe in vallies another stretched out into plaines this part raised vp in billocks that lifted vp in loftie mountaines and that the flouds and euer-running fountaines and streames doe flowe in their seasons Of what necessitie also are some beasts of the earth fruitfull others barren these drie and those moist Might not we easily without any contrarietie or repugnancie imagine all the circuit of the earth to be plaine soft and bearing fruit And if God can performe that which we cannot thinke as all the Sages who haue beleeued in him doe affirme why can he not doe that which we may imagine Which if he can easily performe these things then are not of necessitie no otherwise then of eternitie disposed in such sort as we see them but according and how and when it hath pleased the soueraigne creator of them Now ynough is saide of these things we must farther proceed in the consideration of Gods works wherein will greatly aide vs the vnderstanding of one onely principall and prime cause of the vniuers that we may afterwards comprehend the maruellous effects thereof And herein ARAM let be the subiect of thy discourse Of one onely principall and first cause of the Vniuers Chapter 11. ARAM. THose who haue bin commonly called the Sages of the world haue so much differed in their doctrine euen in the search which they haue made of nature following the course of their speculations that amōgst them who haue bin nourished in one family learned vnder one master there are great contrarieties either in doctrine in manners in religion or in the end to which all these things tende Which is chiefly hapned vnto them by hauing setled the building of the world vpon badde and discordant foundations affying in their owne powers and inuentions too feeble for so waighty a charge as by rehearsing some points of their principles we may easilie vnderstand Diuers opinions of Philosophers touching the beginning of the world Thales Milesius supposed that the water was the beginning of all things bicause all the members of euery liuing creature seemed to be nourished by water which as it is placed in the middle of the world so doth the watrie humour abide in the center of the bodies of animals from whence it ministreth nourishment to all the rest of the members But his auditor Anaximander was of aduise that I wot not what infinitenes called the boundlesse matter was the principall subiect and first of essences and bicause that by nature such matter hath neither forme nor quantitie hee thought that this was the substance of perpetuall generation in such sort that infinite worlds were already past and heereafter infinitely to arise Anaximenes his disciple attributed the causes of all things to the infinite aire And his hearers Anaxagoras and Diogenes disagreeing togither one of them woulde perswade that the infinite matter wouen with diuers parcels of all sorts and kinds according to the condition thereof had beene beginning to it selfe And the other that the aire indued also with diuine reason was the matter of things Leucippus Democritus and Diodorus affirme that before all things there were certaine Atomoes or little indiuidable bodies some smooth others sharpe some round others partly made of angles partly turned and pointed and some crooked to be perceiued by reason onely solide without any vacuitie not ingendred immortall

vs wee will willingly assigne to them according to our fantasie such vertue that if the world were depriued of them we might hope of nothing but darkenes Wherefore the Lord in this order of the creation causeth vs to see the contrarie and how it is in him and by him that the light subsisteth Now of you ASER we may heare of some excellent mysteries concealed vnder the number of the daies of this mundaine fabrication Of the mysteries hidden vnder the number of sixe in the creation of the vniuers and of the seuenth day of rest Chapter 13. ASER. THat all things consisted in numbers and that there was need of the knowledge of them to conceiue the sacred mysteries of God and nature Pythagoras Plato and all other Academicks haue laboriously taught But they haue spoken so superstitiously and so obscurely concerning the mysteries in these numbers that it seemed they woulde euen cōceale them from those who were deuoted to the study of their doctrine Plato speaketh thus in his Epinomide If we take away number from the nature of men wee leaue them no whit prudent nor capable of science Of the profit and vse of numbers for the minde can comprehend nothing without reason and none can render a reason for anie thing that is ignorant of number The artes likewise this set apart would altogither perish He assureth vs also that number to wit the vnitie which is God is cause of all good but of none ill And he calleth mans soule a number and reasonable measure by which we measure all things which may be vnderstood and put in practise by vs to the end that in our workes we may eschue all error folly and deformitie Now not onely the Philosophers but also many great personages Christians both Greekes and Latins doe testifie vnto vs by their writings that there be many mysteries in numbers Amongst whom Saint Augustine speaketh thus Lib. 11. de ciu●● Dei cha 30. The reason of numbers is not to be despised of vs which how much it is to be esteemed in many texts of Scripture is apparant to those which marke it diligently And it hath not beene spoken in vaine to the praise of God Thou hast ordred al things in number Wisedome 11. waight and measure Now hereupon we must note that the number waight measure wherby all things haue beene numbred poised and measured subsist not properly in the things created no more then the measure by which the cloth is parted into elles or the weights wherewith euerie thing is weighed or the number by which all things are counted doe consist within the things measured poised or numbred but are doubtles without them So then we contemplate the number waight and measure by which God hath disposed all things In God is the member waight and measure out of the creatures And forasmuch as there is nothing besides all things produced but God it is necessary that in him should consist their number waight and measure In him then is the waight without waight for by it the great worker is not poised but remaineth stable giuing all things the power to be mooued and at last to repose themselues And in truth this frame of the whole world duely proportioned and balanced by waight could not sustaine it selfe if it were not poised by the creator and gouernour thereof who likewise hath the measure by which he moderateth and disposeth all that is contayned therein in well ordered iustice according to the state and proper end of euerie of his workes And in him also are the numbers without number because that all things which are in him are the same onely God And as he is the true vnitie he contayneth in himselfe all number giuing all things the power to be numbred For all multitude ariseth from one and nothing can be one making with any others a multitude if by the participation of the highest one it doth not obtaine the state of vnitie And to it also all things created imitating the course of numbers as the true patterne doth the originall and the end of Gods works endeuoure to returne in such sort as they first proceeded We neede not doubt then but that the consideration of numbers doth therewith import much doctrine Wherefore particularly respecting the distinction of the workes of the Vniuers in sixe daies which is the subiect of our discourse wee will note how many haue acknowledged the number of sixe to be full of deepe mysteries The number of sixe full of deepe mysteries First therfore Mathematiciās teach that six is the first perfect nūber because it is cōpounded of certaine parts perfectly added togither as of one two and three for which cause it is called of the Pythagoriās Gamon or the Marrying number because all the parts thereof set aside doe make it vp Moreouer some parts of it multiplied together to produce it as sixe times one three times two two times three In this consisteth the perfection of the number which is accomplished by all his parts and but few such haue beene found out by Arithmeticians For within the number of an hundred they haue obserued but that of twentie eight to which they haue attributed such proprietie because it consisteth of fourteene seuen fower two and one as within the number of tenne there is but that of sixe which is accomplished by all his parts Saint Hierom entreating of this number where he writeth vpon Ezechiel saith that it contayneth the sacrament of creatures And in truth there could not be inuented any number more proper for the making of the world then this of sixe which consisteth of a double proportion that it doth next containe in it selfe to wit of fower with two which numbers added togither make sixe which can hardly be found in other numbers but such as are of the nature of sixe as the double triple quadruple or square thereof and such like So then sixe resulteth of that double proportion which makes the diapason in Musicke which is the perfectest and most entire harmonie of all the concords For which it seemeth that Pythagoras would applie it to Natiuities and to Mariages and then it doth consequently verie properly fitte the Creation of the world wherein were celebrated the true nuptials and coniunctions of all things Likewise sixe the first perfect number cannot but aptly agree to God the soueraigne and most perfect creator or to his worke wherein there is no defect Genes 2. And therefore when he had finished and accomplished his workes in sixe daies Moses saith Thus the heauens and the earth were finished and all the host of them But if we will farther proceed in the consideration of this number of sixe we shall see how by the triangled or three-square figure thereof it doth properly accord with the creation of the world For the base or foundation is the number of three the point a vnitie and the number of two is the meane betweene both as appeereth in

all the regions of the earth into East West North and South so must we consider the fower principall winds which proceede out of these fower places one opposite to another Besides which there are certaine others which are called collaterall windes bicause that each of the first hath them vpon the one or other side of them so that those who haue ordinarily written concerning the windes doe appoint to the number of twelue common and ordinarie windes saying also that there are others which are proper to certaine regions and countries according to the nature of their situations and places as we may hereafter finde matter ynough thereof amply to intreat But here it will be good to touch one difficultie which may be alledged vpon our discourse Notable things in the diuersitie of the qualities of the windes and of the aire touching that which we haue said concerning the qualities of the aire For sith that it is hot and moist by nature and that the windes are nothing else but the same are mooued and puffed forwards what may be the cause that the windes doe not all of them retaine the nature of the aire For we knowe by experience that there are as many diuers qualities in the windes as in all the elements for some are hot and drie others hot and moist others moist and cold and some cold and drie Hereupon then we are to note that all creatures which subsist of a sensible and corporall nature are commonly diuided into two kindes which comprise them all The one are simple and the other compound of the first sort are the elements taken euery one alone in their proper and particular nature such as we haue already declared And all other creatures compounded of all the elements conioined togither are of the second kinde Wherefore if the elements were pure not any way mixed one with another then would each of them retaine their naturall qualities purely But bicause they are intermingled one with another they haue their qualities likewise mingled And therefore by how much the higher the aire mounteth by so much the more it is pure neat subtile and thin and by how much the lower it descendeth and approcheth the water and earth by so much the more it is grosse and thicke and partaketh more of the elements neere to which it remaineth And according as it is warmed by the heate of the sunne or by any other heate or else as it is cooled by the absence and default thereof euen so doth it become either more hot or more cold The like also may be said concerning the naturall moisture thereof For according as it is more or lesse mixed with water or neere vnto it so doth it receiue either a more moist or a more drie qualitie So therfore according to the places out of which the windes proceed issue and through which they passe they are hotter or colder drier or moisture pure or impure healthfull and holesome or pestilent and infectious yea euen stinking And for the same cause also it commeth to passe that as the diuersitie of lands and countries is disposed so winds which are felt in one place warme are in another place cold and so is it of their moisture and drines By the same reason also those that are healthfull for some are vnholesome for others and those which bring with them faire and cleere weather in one place doe in another place bring raine and tempests For the propertie of some of them is according to the countries wherein they blowe to chase away the cloudes and to make the aire cleere and the weather faire whereas others doe assemble and heape them togither Whereupon ensueth that some bring raine with them others snowe and others againe haile and tempests according as God hath ordained the causes in nature as the sequele of our discourse shall minister occasion againe to speake of Wherefore pursuing the order of our speech we will consider those things which are conioyned to the fire and aire and doe depend vpon their effects as are thunders and lightnings Whereof ARAM doe you discourse Of thunder and lightning Chapter 43. ARAM. THere is a certaine vniuersall loue and appetite in all creatures which inciteth them all to loue their owne kinde to desire it and to search after it But as their natures are diuers euen so is the loue and the appetite which is in them And therefore there are as many sortes of desires as there are diuersities of natures And thence it is that the fire and the aire doe naturally desire the highest places and doe thither tend euermore as the water and the earth doe require the lowest and doe thereto descend incessantly neither can these elements finde any stay or rest vntill they be arriued at those places which are appointed vnto them by nature And therefore what hinderance soeuer there may be yet euery thing doth alwaies seeke to returne to his naturall home and therein doth all possible endeuour Now here we are to consider the cause of thunders lightnings tempests earthquakes and such like motions and perturbations in the elements For all these things happen when the creatures which by their contraries are hindered from pursuing their owne kinde do fight with those which keepe them backe as if there were open warre betwixt them Which causeth that that which by force can make way doth at last vanquish But bicause of the resistance which there is this cannot be performed without great violence and maruellous noise from whence proceede many admirable effects and namely thunder which hath ministred occasion to many great spirits to search out the causes somewhat neerely But mens opinions as in a very deepe matter are diuers hereupon Of the causes of thunder For some maintaine that thunder is caused by the blowes and strokes that the fire maketh being inclosed within the cloudes which it cleaueth so making it selfe to appeere as is seene in lightnings Aristotle in his Meteors writeth that thunder groweth and proceedeth of hot and drie exhalations ascending out of the earth into the supreme region of the aire being there repulsed backe by the beames of the stars into the cloudes For these exhalations desiring to set themselues at libertie and to free themselues doe cause this noise which is often stopped by nature whilest they fight with the cloudes but when they can gaine issue then doe they make the cloude to cracke like a bladder full of winde that is broken by force Moreouer Plinie imitating the opinion of the Epicure teacheth Plin. hist natur lib. 2. that those fires which fall from the starres as we see often in calme weather may sometimes meete with the cloudes and fall vpon them and that by the vehemencie of this blowe the aire is mooued And that this fire plunging it selfe into the cloudes causeth a certaine thicke and hissing smoke which maketh a noise like an hot iron thrust into water From whence the whirlewindes which we see in the aire

of his comming for since the fathers died all thinges continue alike from the creation Which is as much as if they should say that there is a common and continuall course of nature which hath hitherto continued from the beginning of the world and shall endure for euer without end and without any judgement of God to come Against Atheists For thus prate our idolaters of nature who doe altogither denie the prouidence of God And therefore the blessed apostle doth also adde that they willingly know not that the heauens were of old and that earth that was of the water and the water by the word of God By which things the world that was perished being ouerflowed with waters Likewise saint Peter had before concluded 2. Pet. ● that if God hath not spared the old world but saued Noah the eight person a preacher of righteousnes and brought in the floud vpon the troup of the vngodly it cannot be that the wicked which are borne since into the world may thinke that their condemnation sloweth and that their perdition sleepeth For a thousand yeeres are but as one day and one day is as a thousand yeeres before the Lord. Psal 90. And the long terme that God alloweth to men to preuent his iudgement by repentance and amendment shall not hinder him to execute his iudgement yea by so much the more rigorously by how much the more long time and more vilely they haue abused his stay and patience Let vs then imprint this at this present in our memorie concerning our discourse of the waters sustained and hanged in the aire which haue serued God for so terrible ministers in the execution of his iustice when it pleased him to punish the iniquitie of men and to morrow pursuing our subiect we will speake againe of raines and heauenly waters to the end to consider of the admirable prouidence of God which shineth in them euen as you ASER shall giue vs to vnderstand The end of the sixt day THE SEVENTH DAIES WORKE Of Dewes and Raine Chapter 49. ASER. THe prouidence of God hath so disposed the nature of the aire and of the water that these elements seeme to repaire and maintaine one another For there is a place in the aire where water is as it were conuerted into the nature thereof there is another place againe wherein water returneth into his owne natural kinde sauing that whilest it hangeth and is sustained in the aire it is much more light and subtile then that which runneth in the earth for it retaineth more of the earth How the water ascendeth vp from the earth and changeth nature Although then that water is by nature more heauie then the aire yet doth not the heauines thereof let it from mounting vp from the earth because that by the heate of the sunne which attracteth it and other such like naturall causes by which it may be eleuated into the aire this waightines is taken from it or at least is so diminished that it doth then retaine more of the nature of aire then of water and so doth till such time as it hath ascended and attained to the place which God hath assigned to it in the aire For the heate of the sun doth conuert it first into vapors which are drawne out of the least terrestriall and most subtile parts thereof which approch neerest to the nature of the aire For which cause these vapors are more easily conuerted into aire the which resolueth it selfe againe into water then when such vapors are arriued at the middle region of the aire which is the coldest part thereof as well by reason that it is farther distant from the sunne and from all the other celestiall and aetherian fires then the supreme part thereof is as likewise because it cannot be heated like the lowest part thereof by reuerberation of the sunnes heate which scorcheth the earth Wherefore Moses declaring vnto vs how the Lord made the water mount from the earth and conuerted it into vapors saith The Lord God had not caused it to raine vpon the earth Genes 2. neither was there a man to til the ground but a mist or vapor went vp from the earth and watered all the earth For we behold euery day how that after the aire hath beene refreshed by the coolenes of the night the dew falleth in the morning vpon the earth and if the colde hath beene great it is turned into miste white hoarie-frost from which proceed the frosts that doe oftentimes spoile vines and trees which are most tender in colde weather when their branches are yet feeble and they begin to budde And let vs note that there are two sorts of vapors Of two sorts of vapors which make dew and raine which do commonly rise from the terrestriall towards the celestiall region the one is fat and thicke whereof the dewe is made and the other is subtile and thinne which turneth into raine Cornefields are fatned by the dewe which by reason of the thicknes thereof mounteth not very high and if that any part of it be better concocted as doth happen ordinarily in hot countries it resteth condensate through colde vpon the plants and is called Manna Of this it is that Pliny speaketh when he saith Hist nat lib. 11. that the great starres being risen in sommer and specially the most excellent or else when the raine-bowe is ouer the earth and that it raine not but onely make a small dewe which is heated by the sunne-beames that which then falleth is not home but is an heauenly gift and singular medicine for the eies for vlcers and for those accidents which may happen in the nauell and interior parts Which Manna is plentifully gathered in Targa a wildernes of Libya neere to the citie Agades especially when the nights are very faire partly for that they are colder then the day and partly for that the dewes cannot conuert themselues into the substance of clouds because as I said it is condensate by the cold Whereupon ensueth that when the raine is ingendred of vapors the colde cannot be great for then such vapors are attracted by the heate and are presently after thickned by the colde in the region of the aire And therefore there is but little Manna founde when the night is cloudie and lesse when it is rainie for then it melteth Behold then how the fattest part of vapors turneth into dew that which mounteth vp is condensate through colde in the subtile aire Why it raineth but little in summer and diuersly in other seasons and is afterwardes conuerted into raine And bicause that in sommer the heate doth drie vp very neere so much as it attracteth in vapors there is therefore verie seldome little raine therein for considering that in our countries the heate is weake it attracteth by little and little the vapors which the drinesse doth oftentimes consume before they can be conuerted into raine Wherefore it commeth to passe that if it

creator of heauen earth causeth so many fruits to grow in this round-masse through the distillations of raine and through the heate of the Sunne wee hold in great admiration this woorthie naturall Alchimie which he hath set before our eies in the nature by him created Of true naturall Alchymie For all this world is to him as a fornace and a limbeck wherein he maketh so many goodlie and profitable distillations that it is altogither impossible to expresse in words their woorth and valew The earth is this fornace and all the plants and trees so many limbecks And if we haue in such estimation the distillations made by men following some imitation of nature this surely is a kinde of Alchymy very woorthie of great reputation and woonder For let vs consider onely what it is that hee extracteth out of a vine stocke and the branches There is no doubt but that this is a plant of no great shew so that many haue doubted whether it might rightfully be counted amongst trees for besides that it is crooked it is so weak that it cannot stand vpright nor sustaine not onely the branches thereof but euen it selfe if it be not alwaies propped at leastwise when it riseth neuer so little high And yet this is a marueilous and very rare Limbeck wherein God conuerteth water into wine and maketh it to distill out The like may we saie of Oliue-trees figge-trees and many other fruite-trees sauing that they make more shew and retaine more of the nature of a tree then the vine doth For all the excellent liquors and fruits which we draw out of these plants and all others are principally caused by the heat of the sunne and by the waterings of raine from heauen which by this meanes seemeth to change nature and put on diuers formes And yet this sun by meanes of whom as by a fire God performeth so many sundry and admirable conuersions and distillations hath not his face smeared with coles to kindle and maintaine his fire nor yet his faire eie soiled therewith or with any smoke So then I hold them very wise who profite in the contemplation of this Alchymie and emploie their time and cunning therein as husbandmen do who till the earth attending in good hope after their trauell the blessing which is promised them of God as he also doth daily send vpon the earth by the effects of the sunne moone stars and planets of the aire clouds raine and such other meanes which it pleaseth him to vse for the same purpose Psal 127. For we may fitly say with Salomon that without this blessing it is in vaine for those which eate the bread of their trauel Deut. 11. to rise earely to goe late to bed For it is he that hath promised the first and the latter raine aswell for the time to sowe in as for to ripen and gather fruits in vsing for this purpose according to the testimonie of the prophet great cloudes in forme of chariots Psal 18. 104. whereupon being borne on the winges of the winde he maketh the windes his messengers And sith we are in this talke before we deale with any other subiect let vs acquit our selues of that which we haue promised to entreat in a particular discourse concerning the windes the charge whereof ARAM I impose vpon you Of the windes and of their kindes and names and of the testimonies which we haue in them of the power and maiestie of God Chapter 51. ARAM. Hist nat lib. 2. ACcording to the testimonie of Plinie there are more then twentie Greeke authors and manie other ancients who haue entreated of the nature of the winds But to know from whence they proceeded the difficulties doubts are great vncertaine amongst them and amongst all the philosophers Yet that is the onely truth which the diuine poet teacheth vs saying Psal 135. That the Lord draweth the windes out of his treasures Aristotle in his Meteors maintaineth that the windes are produced by the heate of the sunne which it seemeth that the author of the naturall historie doth contradict when he saith that there are certaine caues wherein the windes are ordinarily engendred as may be seene in a deepe pit which is in the coastes of Dalmatia at Senta wherein if one cast any thing how light soeuer it be there issueth sodainelie out a whirle-winde although the weather be neuer so calme and faire And in many obscure places in houses one shall commonly feele a certaine small winde as if it were enclosed therein But we must note that there is much difference betwixt these particularities or small puffes caused by exhalations which proceed out of the earth and that which is properly named the winde For they are not felt in one place onely but haue their course generally through all the earth and their meanes limited therein to exercise their power Diuers opinions concerning the generation of windes And therefore whether the winde be engendred by continual motion of the heauen or by the crosse motions of the planets which goe contrarie to that of the firmament or else that the winde be an aire driuen by the sundry turnings of the spheres and by the multiplicitie of the beames of the celestiall signes or else that it proceed from stars particularly appointed to ingender it or from the fixed starres for all these opinions are found amongst Philosophers yet neuerthelesse we see by experience that the winde is subiect to the rules and lawes of nature that it hath his determinate course although mans wit cannot pierce to sound the reason of this secret But for the names and species of these windes they haue amplie entreated thereof True it is that the ancients made mention but of fower windes which they comprised vnder the fower parts of the world And then the naturall Philosophers appointed twelue giuing them names taken partly from the regions from which they proceeded and partly from the effects and qualities which they cause vpon the earth But the Hydrographers and marriners account sixteene Of the names and kindes of the windes To haue the vnderstanding of which wee must note that euery horizon is diuided into fower quarters by two right lines which crosse in the center thereof the one of which is correspondent to the Meridian circle and the other to the verticall circle which diuideth the same Meridian at right angles which lines demonstrate the fower principall parts of the earth that is the East West North and South part of which proceed the fower principall windes to wit out of the Septentrionall part the North winde from the Meridionall the south from the Orientall the East and from the Occidentall the West Betweene which are other middle and notable windes whose names are compounded of those of the fower foresaide windes and are therefore called North-east North-west South-east and South-west Then againe each distinction of these eight windes is consequently diuided into two equall parts

diuersitie of waters Which ARAM I would haue you to discourse of Of salt fresh and warme waters and of other diuersities in them Chapter 59. ARAM. ACcording to the nature of the most woonderfull workes of God in all that which he hath created the maruels are innumerable which may be considered in the sea and in all the waters which proceede out of it and returne into it without any increasing or diminishing in it selfe as we haue already heard And if there were no other thing but that the waters of the sea are alwaies salt and other waters are for the most part fresh would not that be sufficient to teach vs to acknowledge the great power wisedome and bountie of the creator and how puissant he is in all his workes For though that all waters are of one nature as making vp one onely element yet doth he make them of diuers qualities according as he knoweth how to purifie distill and purge or else to mingle and mix them Of the diuers qualities of water and of the prouidence of God therein with his other creatures Whereupon it falleth out that wee haue not onely salt waters in the sea but that there are some found also in fountaines yea oftentimes very neere to other springs of fresh water Wherein the prouidence of God declareth it selfe to bee verie great For if all waters were salt men and beasts could not liue nor the earth fructifie and nourish the fruits thereof because that liuing creatures cannot want fresh water whether it be for their drinke or for their other necessary commodities neither is salt water fit to water the earth considering that salt makes it barren On the other side if all waters were fresh where might men finde salt enough to suffice them for the necessarie commodities of their life For although that there bee some salt-mines and some salt-ground as appeareth by the salt waters of fountaines which passe through such grounds yet the best meanes to haue good salt and in abundance is by the waters and chiefly by sea water What may we say also of so many sorts of water whereof some participate with Sulphure some with allom others with iron or brasse or with other mettals or minerals which do heat some of them in such sort as men make naturall bathes of them hauing diuers vertues and powers which serue for medicines in many kindes of diseases Why the sea-water is salt Now the Philosophers doe much straine themselues to declare the causes of so many maruellous effects For some say that the sunne which is the greatest of all planets drying vp by his heat the moisture of the water and burning and sucking vp all the humiditie of the earth doth by this decoction cause the sea to become salt because the force of the solarie fire doth attract vnto it the most fresh and subtile part of the water making the more heauie and thicke part that remaineth to be salter and of more substance whereof it commeth that the water towards the sea bottome is fresher then that which is aboue Others alleage three efficients which both cause and continue the saltnes to wit the heat of the sunne for the foresaid reasons and also because it maketh the water to putrifie then the continuall agitation thereof by flowing and ebbing which causeth that the sea neither resteth nor runneth a direct course and thirdly the ordinarie receiuing of raine For they say that when salt resteth in the water it descendeth downewards by reason of the waight thereof and when the water runneth it is purified by the earth and that all raine-water because it is heated by the sunne and doth putrifie through tardation and slownes is somewhat brackish But they are much more troubled when they entreat of fountaines For some say that the sea yeeldeth none but salt-waters as is seene by many waters neere it And that those which are fresh become so by a long and vehement course Others maintaine that they be engendred by the aire Now experience manifesteth that their saltnes is diminished by the length and continuance of the course of the water For the farther that wels are from the sea the more fresh they are because the water doth more purge it selfe by the earth ouer which it trauerseth leauing a part of the force thereof and sometimes all of it in the slime and in the sand And here we may note that waters Of fountaines and wels and why the water of them seemeth hotter in winter then in summer especially well waters which doe all come from some springs doe seeme to be hotter in winter then in sommer although they doe neuer chaunge their nature for this proceedeth of the aire which is cold in winter and hot in sommer Through the opposition then of these things one selfe same water seemeth to receiue diuers qualities euen as we see that according to the disposition of our bodie the qualitie of the aire which enuironeth vs is esteemed For when we are hot we do suppose that which we touch to be cold and when we be cold we esteeme that which we touch to be otherwise Wherefore we must iudge euen so of the inner parts of the earth esteeming them to be simply neither hotter nor colder in one season more then in another but onely in respect of the aire Indeed water doth waxe a little warme when through the coldnes of the aire the heat is constrained to retire it selfe downeward in such sort as it cannot issue nor spred it selfe vpon the earth and therefore the snow which doth not ly long vpon it doth commonly make it more fertile for it retayneth the heat in the bowels thereof Moreouer the vppermost part of the earth which the water may come to is of a clammie slime of the nature of brimstone or of salt or of mettall which also causeth that the exhalations enclosed in this part doe heat the water And therefore such waters are either odoriferous or of a bad smell or without any sauour of which qualities one may easily iudge by the smell and taste For some waters sauour not onely of lime or of salt but they doe also boile as in the bathes neere to Padua Why some waters do boile yea such waters are verie ordinarie so that there are few regions but haue some of them But they are most common in Germanie and in Italy And the cause that they so boyle is either fire or putrefaction or else naturall or celestiall heat But for the celestiall heat it seemeth that it cannot be so great especially in winter and in the night time that it should heat the water verie much And for naturall heat it is neuer actuall but in liuing creatures because they haue life and sense Neither is putrified heat so powerfull that it can make water to boile neither is it verie likely that the substance of any thing may be engendred and corrupted at one instant It resteth then that the cause should rather be in

like watrie birdes to whom he hath giuen wings agreeable to the element for to sustaine themselues with and fit for their nature as he hath done to the fowles of the aire Genes 1. We also read in Genesis that the Lord did make in one day the birds and fishes and euerie flying thing For as the aire hath more agreement with the water then with the earth and approcheth neerer to the nature thereof so is there more answerablenes betweene the creatures which liue conuerse in these two elements then is between thē the beasts of the earth And therefore we see that the seed of both kindes is multiplied by their egs And we must also note that forasmuch as men can receiue no great fruit nor much profit by fish except in their victuals or in some medicine or such like vse which is not so cōmon as ordinarie nourishment God by his prouidence blessing hath made them so fruitfull that they multiplie and increase woondrously as experience doth euidently manifest vnto vs by the great number of frie or spawne that is found in one only fish Which fertilitie we must beleeue to proceede from the power which the Almightie bestowed vpon them as also vpon all his creatures when he said vnto them Bring foorth fruit and multiplie and fill the waters in the sea and let the foule multiplie in the earth A thing which we must well consider vpon to the end that we may referre to this blessing of God all those commodities which we daily receiue either from those creatures or from the earth it selfe or from the other elements and that we must render him continuall thanks and praises therefore For he hath in no lesse wise blessed all his creatures then the fishes and the birds when by his word he gaue their nature to them in which hee created them and did presently after command them to bring foorth fruit according vnto that nature To the ende then that we may be the more induced to glorifie so great a workeman for the excellencie of his workes which shineth in all creatures let vs now intreat of some fishes most accoūted of by those who haue written of their nature and let vs consider of their singularities and woonders so much onely as the scope of our discourse will permit vs in such sort as we haue declared in our antecedent speeches To you then ARAM I referre the relation concerning this matter Of diuers kindes of fishes namely of the whale of the dolphin of the sea-calfe and others Chapter 63. ARAM. IT is affirmed by all the learned who haue diligently searched out the secrets of nature that the water bringeth foorth both more and greater creatures then the earth doth bicause of the abundance of moisture that is therein And the sea is so ample and so fit to giue nourishment and a gentle and fertile increase of all things by meanes of that generating seede which it attracteth from heauen and the aide of nature ordained by the creator which hath this propertie to produce alwaies something that seemeth new that it is no maruell if there be founde incredible and monstrous things in the water For the seedes of all forms doe so interlace and mix themselues therein as well by the windes as by the agitation of the waues that one may well say as is said commonly that there is nothing on earth which is not in the sea yea The admirable property of nature and that there are many things in it which cannot be found either in the aire or on the earth Now great fishes are chiefly resident vnder the Torrid zone bicause that in the Ocean heate and moisture serue for augmentation Of the whale as saltnes doth for conseruation And in this number is the whale of which the ancients write and whome some moderns call Gibbar bicause that the common whale which some take for the Musculus of Aristotle doth not answere to the description of this which is of incredible hugenes For if we will beleeue histories there haue beene some seene of fower acres of ground in length Plin. lib. 9. hist nat They make an horrible crie and spout out of two holes of a cubite long which they haue neere to their nostrils so much water that they oftentimes drowne ships therewith And of their crests men make faire rods which seeme to be of bone or of horne blacke in colour and like to the hornes of a buffe so flexible that they can hardly be broken they do shine in the sunne as if they were gilded Of euery peece of his crest is a rod made so that in one crest there are many rods Moreouer the bone of his whole head is so great that one might make a ship thereof Of the dolphin And as this kinde of fish is the heauiest and mightiest of all so the dolphin is the swiftest and most ingenious not onely of all watrie creatures but of those of the earth and of the aire For they swim faster then a bird can flie And therefore if this fish were not lowe-mouthed there were no fish could scape him But nature prouiding therefore in putting his mouth vnder his belly hath so restrained him that he can catch nothing but backwards whereby the great swiftnes of such fishes doth euidently appeere Wherefore when the dolphin pressed with hunger pursueth any fish to the bottome and that he hath staied long there alwaies holding winde when he riseth he leapes aboue water with incredible quicknes and force to take breath againe Some haue marked in this kinde of fish that they haue their toong mooueable contrarie to the nature of all other water-creatures Their voice is as when one waileth Their backe is bowed and bendeth outwards they are very louing to men and like well of musicke and indeede they doe not shun men as other fishes doe but come right before ships making a thousand leapes and frisks before them Sometimes also as if they had chalenged the mariners to trie who should goe speediest they take their course along with the ships and doe outstrip them how good winde soeuer they haue Of the seacalf Amongst sea-fish also the sea-calfe is very admirable For he hath vdders and haire and calueth vpon the earth as sheepe bring foorth and is deliuered of the second burthen presently after hir yoong ones He snorts mightily when he sleepeth neere to the shore he bleates and bellowes like a calfe and for that cause beareth the same name The sinnes wherewith he swimmeth serue for feete on ground to goe vpon His hide whereof the Islanders make girdles hath a maruellous propertie for the haire which is thereupon riseth when the sea increaseth falleth when it diminisheth Some holde also that this creature is very capable of discipline easily learning that which is shewed him and that he saluteth people by his lookes and with a certaine noise and shaking that he makes Now let vs speake of the tortoise

of Autumne Of Grapes so also are they the most nourishing of all the fruits of summer which are not to bee kept and they engender the best nourishment especially when they bee perfect ripe But all Raisins do not nourish after one manner for sweete ones haue a more hot substance and therefore they cause thirst do swell the stomacke and loosen the belly Contrariwise tart ones doe binde doe nourish little and are of hard digestion Greene and sowre ones are naught for the stomacke And the bigger grapes are the better they are especially if they be gathered verie ripe They which are kept hanged vp are best for nourishmēt because their great moisture is dried The fresh verie ripe grape is good for burnings if the wine thereof be prest out betwixt ones hands vpon the hurt places The mother of the wine or grapes being kept and mixed with salt is profitable against inflammations of the dugs hardnes of them through too much abundance of milke The decoction thereof clisterized serueth greatly for dysenterias or fluxes The stones or seeds haue a restringent vertue and are profitable for the stomacke Being parched and beaten into powder it is good to eate with meate against the fluxe and weaknes of stomacke Drie grapes or raisins haue yet greater vertues and properties in the vse of Phisicke and especially they which are sweetest and of most substance as they of Damascus of Cypres and of Candia The meate of them being eaten is good for the cough for the throat the reines and the bladder being eaten with their stones they serue against dysenterias Being boyled in a platter with sugar and flower of millet of barley and an egge they purge the braine being reduced into a plaister with flower of beanes and cumin Propertie of dry Raisins they appease inflammations Besides the nourishment of raisins is so distributed through the bodie according as their nature is sweete to the sweete sowre to the sowre meane to them that participate with both qualities and the sweete full and fat raisins doe nourish more then the sharpe and leane They which are without stones either by nature or art if they be sweet they are so depriued of all astriction so that they be maruellous lenitiue And therefore are they most fit for paines of the breast for the cough for sore throats for maladies in the reines and bladder and are good also for the liuer But we may not here forget to make mention of the fruit of the wilde Vine commonly called in French Lambrusque because of the admirable properties thereof The grapes of it are gathered and put to drie in the shade they are of a restringent vertue good for the stomacke and prouoke vrine they binde the belly and stay spitting of blood Now must wee speake of Wine which is made of the Raisin Of Wine and the properties thereof and grape produced by the vine Concerning it many affirme that it is the most sweete licour of all others the principall aide and chiefe prop of humaine life the chiefe restorer of the vitall spirits the most excellent strengthener of all the faculties and actions of the body reioicing comforting the hart very much and for these causes they say that the Auncients haue called that plant which beareth the fruit out of which wee receiue this wine Vitis quasi Vita life But yet wee must not deceiue our selues by so many praises attributed to wine considering that the vse thereof by the least excesse that may bee doth bring so many euils vpon man that they cannot bee numbred nor sufficientlie bewailed But beeing vsed temperately wee must confesse that it is a thing of greatest efficacie in the world to nourish and strengthen the bodie For it engendreth very pure bloud it is very quickly conuerted into nourishment it helpeth to make digestion in all parts of the bodie it giueth courage purgeth the braine refresheth the vnderstanding reioiceth the hart quickneth the spirits prouoketh vrine driueth out ventosities augmenteth naturall heat fatneth them who are in good health exciteth the appetite purifieth troubled bloud openeth stoppings conuaieth the nouriture throughout the whole body maketh good colour and purgeth out of the bodie all that which is therein superfluous But if wine bee taken without great mediocritie and temperance it doth by accident refrigerate the whole bodie For the naturall heat thereof by too much drinke remaineth choaked euen as a little fire is quenched by a great heap of wood cast thereupon Besides wine is hurtfull for the braine for the marrow of the back bone and the sinewes that grow out of it Whereby it falleth out that this principall part beeing hurt there succeede in time great and dangerous maladies thereupon to wit the apoplexie the falling euill the palsie shakings numbnes of members conuulsions giddines of the head shrinking of ioints the incubus the catalepsia lethargie frensie rheumes deafenes blindenes and shrinking of mouth and lips Moreouer wine immoderately drunke corrupteth all good manners and discipline of life For this is it that makes men quarrellers wranglers rash incensed furious dice-plaiers adulterers homicides in a word addicted to all vice and dissolution Besides it is to be noted that wine is fitter for old people then for them of other ages for it moderateth and mantaineth the cold temperature of ancient folkes which hath come vpon them for many yeeres Of the vse of Wine But it should not be sufferable if we will follow the counsell of the elders for children and yoong folkes to drinke thereof till they attaine to the age of twentie yeeres For otherwise it is as much as to put fire to fire And yet if we would follow the counsell of the Sages it should not be drunke at all except in certaine indispositions which might happen to the bodie according as the vse was in times past in Greece namely at Athens where wine was onely sold in Apothecaries shops as Aqua-vitae now is But aboue all heed must be taken that in the great heat of the yeere wine bee not drunke that is cooled by snow yee or verie cold water as we see by great curiositie done among vs. For it greatly hurteth the braine the sinewes the breast the lungs the stomacke the bowels the spleene liuer reines bladder and teeth And therefore it is no maruell if they which ordinarily vse it are in time tormented with the colicke and paine of the stomacke also with conuulsions palsies apoplexies difficultie in breathing restrainment of vrine stoppings of the inward members the dropsie and many other great and dangerous diseases Of Aquauitae and the manner how to distill it It resteth for conclusion of this discourse that wee say somewhat concerning wine distilled through a limbecke in a bathe of water which the Sages haue called for the admirable vertues thereof Water of Life For to make which Take of the best wine a certaine quantitie according to the vessel wherein you will distill it

distinguish them for verie men But enough of this I would now haue you ARAM to pursue the subiect of our discourse Of the Hart of the Bore and of the Vnicorne Chapter 87. ARAM. I Will now speake of the most gentle and simple beast of all the world Of the Hart. in his nature and which neuerthelesse is endued with great force which he sometimes vseth to the cost of those who hunt him and that is the Hart or Stag in whose chase great Lords take much pleasure He is so simple that he museth is astonished at euerie thing in such sort as if he see a cowe or an horse come neere vnto him he neuer taketh regard who rides him or if he perceiue him hee lookes downe at his feet as if he were amased what bowe arrowes or weapons soeuer he haue He museth also at the songs and piping of shepheards When stagges be not in rut they are verie sharpe at their victuals and feeling themselues fat they search out solitarie places apart and there abide knowing verie wel that they are not thē apt for the course that they are then also chiefly hunted Being pursued they doe ofttimes stay their flight to take breath and looke here there round about them but when they perceiue the hounds that follow them they runne as before And they make these stops by reason of a certaine pipe which doth greatly paine them and which is so tender that it presently breaketh with the least wound that may be They endeuour to runne with the winde that it may carrie with them the sent away from the hounds so that they may not easily take them They heare a farre off and haue a verie good eare when they stand vpon their feete but if they lye downe they be verie deafe Plinie recounteth Hist nat lib. 8. c. 32. that when the harts or stags of Cilicia will passe from thence into Cyprus they swimme ouer the sea but alwaies in troupes and in order resting the heads of the one vpon the crupper of the other and that by turnes in such sort that the hindermost goe before in their turne and the foremost turne behinde directing their course by the smell of the lande because they cannot see the shore The bucks onely are armed with hornes and they alone of all beasts cast their hornes euerie springtime yet some haue seene but verie seldome horned-does marked to twelue yeers When they feele that their hornes will fall they seeke out the most solitarie and desert places that they can finde whether it bee to hide them because they are ashamed to haue lost their armes or else to disappoint men of the benefit that doth redound vnto them thereby for their horne hath many properties in vse And many say that of those hornes which harts cast the right are neuer found againe so that it is holden for certaine that they bury their right horne Their age is knowne by their heads because that euerie yeere they haue a knag more and there are some seene that are marked to two and twentie Beyond which none doth note their age although they liue much longer For Histories record that aboue an hundred yeeres after the death of Alexander the Great there was an Hart taken about whose necke this Prince whilest hee liued had put a coller of gold and that he was growne so great afterwards and so fat that the said coller was hid within his flesh and couered with his skinne Moreouer stags doe change their place of aboade and their food according as the sunne doth approch in height For in the moneth of Nouember they keepe themselues to bushes and briers the tops whereof they eate to restore their nature after they haue beene in rut In December they withdraw themselues into the thickest of forrests which may defend them from the cold windes snowes and yee In Ianuarie they come to the borders of the forrests and to tilled landes to feede on greene corne as rie and such like In Februarie and March because they loose and cast their hornes they thrust themselues amongst the bushes wherein they remaine all Aprill and May. In Iune and Iuly they goe into woods and corne-fields and then are they fattest And in September and October they leaue their woods and fall to rut and then haue they neither any certaine place nor meat because they follow the waies which the does haue passed liuing then with a little and feeding vpon what they chaunce to meete with Of the Bore The Bore is another beast in whose chase many exercise themselues and take singular pleasure but as the Hart is gentle and fearfull so is the Bore hardie and furious not fearing the dogs but attendeth for them in quiet and oftentimes also hee pursueth them to teare them in pieces with his teeth the biting whereof chiefly in the chest of the bodie is almost incurable His place of aboad is neuer certaine therfore some say he is but a guest bicause he doth but run out of one forrest wood into another and yet he delighteth to remaine in the same countrey and place wherein he was first farrowed so that if any dogs chase him out of any wood or forrest he presently runs without any stay to his natiue place which he supposeth to be his safeguard and refuge The meate which he liketh best is hasell-nuts beech-mast and acornes His flesh is better then harts-flesh And therefore the auncient Romanes made such account thereof that in their most magnificent bankets they would serue in whole Bores to be set vpon the table Hist nat lib. 11. c. 53. Yet Plinie saith that the Bores of the mountaines in Pamphilia and Cilicia hauing eaten Salamanders become verie venemous in such sort as they poyson those that eate of their flesh Besides when these beasts feele themselues more heauie then of custome they seeke for iuie and eate thereof or else for crabs which they finde in sande when the sea ebs The sow or female beareth but once a yeere although the Bore be verie apt to couer her And the Author of the aforesaide naturall historie doth affirme vnto vs that in the Indies there are verie great wilde bores which haue two tuskes in their mouth of a cubit long and two other that issue out of their front like the hornes of a cow And Cardanus saith that in the same countrey there are bores like to others in forme in voice and maners and in their litteridge which are growne in two moneths and yet are smaller then conies and can scarce bite differing nothing from other saue that they haue fiue or sixe toes vpon their feete insteed of nailes But let vs leaue these fierce beasts to consider vpon some others and let vs speake first of the Vnicorne Of the Vnicorne which at this day is so greatly esteemed of the horne of whom is holden of great vertue in phisicke and singular against all poysons Hist nat lib. 8.