onely those that being cut downe doe spring new again from the root Of seed also although the same be farre vnlike to others those also will grow that are vsually planted otherwise as for example Vines Apple trees and Pyrries for in these the stone and pepin within serueth in stead of the seed and not the fruit it selfe as in those before rehearsed the kernels whereof i. the fruit are sowne Medlars likewise may come vp of seed But all the sort of these that spring after this maner be late ere they be come forward and slow in growth they turn also to a degenerat and bastard nature and had need to be graffed anew ere they be restored to their owne kind which is the case of Chestnuts also otherwhiles Howbeit there be others for them againe which sow or set them what way you will neuer grow out of their owne kind and such be Cypresses Date trees and Lawrels for the Lawrell commeth vp by sowing by setting and planting after sundry sorts The diuers kinds whereof we haue described already Of all which the Lawrell Augusta with the broad leaues the common Bay tree also that beareth berries as also the wild kind named Tinus be ordered all three after one and the same sort The manner whereof is this the Bayes or berries thereof be gathered dry in the moneth of Ianuary when the Northeast wind bloweth they are laid abroad thin to wither one apart from another not in heaps for feare they should catch a heat This done some put them afterwards in dung and being thus prepared and ready for to be sowne they steep them in wine Others take and lay them within a large basket or twiggen panier trample them vnder their feet in a brook of running water vntill they be pilled and rid of their outward skins for otherwise their skin is of so tough and moist a substance that it would hardly or not at all suffer them to come vp grow After all this in a plot of ground wel and throughly digged once or twice ouer a trench or furrow must be made a hand full deepe and therein the berries ought to be buried by heaps to wit twenty or thereabout together in one place and all this would be done in the month of March. Lawrels also will grow if their branches or boughes be bended from the stocke and laid within the ground but the Triumphall Lawrell will come vp no other way but by setting a graffe or impe cut from it As for the Myrtle all the sorts thereof within Campaine come of berries sown but we at Rome vse to interre only the boughes of the Tarentine Myrtle growing still to the body and by that means come to haue Myrtle trees Democritus sheweth another deuise also to increase Myrtles namely to take the fairest and biggest berries thereof lightly to bruise or bray them in a mortar so that the grains or kernels within be not broken then to besmere with the batter or stamped substance thereof a course cord made of Spart or Spanish broome or els hempen hurds and so lay it along within the ground Thus there wil spring therof a maruellous thick hay or wall as it were of yong Myrtles out of which the small twigs you may draw which way you will yea and plant them elswhere After the like manner folke vse to sow thorns or brambles for to make hedges mounds namely by annointing such another hempen rope with bramble blacke-berries and interring the same As for Bayes thus sowne when they come once to beare a dark and blackish leafe Myrtles also when their leaues be of a wine color to wit of a deep red which commonly happeneth when they be three yeres old it wil be time to remoue and transplant Among those plants and trees that are sowne of seeds Mago maketh much ado and is foully troubled about those trees that beare nuts such like fruit in shels for to begin with almonds first he would haue them to be set in a soft clay ground that lieth into the South yet he saith again that Almond trees loue a hot and hard soile for in a fat or moist ground they will either die or els wax vnfruitful But aboue all he giueth a rule to chuse Almonds for to set or sow that be mo stâ—…oked and especially such as were gathered from a young tree also he ordaineth that they should be well soked or infused in soft beast sherne or thin dung for three daies together or at leastwise in honied water a day before they be put into the ground Item they ought by his saying to be set charilâ—… with the sharp and pointed end pitched downward and the edge of the one side to turne into the Northeast Also that they must stand three and three together in a triangle forsooth so as there be a handbredth iust between euery one Moreouer that euerie tenth day they ought to be watered till they be shot vp to a good bignesse Now to come vnto walnuts they be laid along within the earth with this regard that they do ly vpon their ioints As for pine nuts there would be six or seuen of their kernels put together into pots that haue holes in them and so buried in the ground or else they should be ordered after the manner of the Bay tree which commeth of berries bruised as hath been shewed before The Citron tree will grow of seed and may be set also of sprigges or twiggs drawne to the ground from the tree and so couched Servis trees come of the grains thereof sowed of a quick-set plant also with the root or of a slip plucked from it But as the Citron trees liue in hot grounds so these Servises loue cold and moist As concerning seminaries and nourse-gardens Nature hath shewed vs the reason and maner thereof by certaine trees that put forth at the root a thick spring of yong shoots or sions but lightly the mother that beareth these imps killeth them when she hath done with her shade and dropping together And this is euident to be seene in Lawrels Pomegranate trees Planes Cherry trees and Plum trees for standing as these imps doe a number of them without all order vnder their mother stocke they be ouershadowed and kept downe so that they mislike and neuer come to proofe Howbeit some few there be of this sort that are not so vnkinde to their yong breed as to kill them with the shadow of their boughs and namely Elmes Date trees This would be obserued by the way that no trees haue such yong imps springing at their feet but they only-whose roots for loue of the warm sun and moist rain spred aloft and ly eb within the ground Moreouer the manner is not to set these yong plants presently in the place where they must remaine and continue for altogether but first they are to be bestowed in a piece of ground where they may take nourishment to wit in some
Figge tree hath gotten some strength and is growne to sufficient bignesse for to beare a graffe which ordinarily is at three yeares end or at the vtmost when it is fiue yeares old the head thereof must be cut or sawed off and then the branch or bough of the Oliue beforesaid being well clensed and made neat and the head end thereof as is beforesaid thwited and scraped sharpe howbeit not yet cut from the mother stocke must bee set fast in the shanke of the Figge-tree where it must bee kept well and surely tied with bands for feare that thus beeing forced and graffed arch-wise it start and flurt not out againe and returne vnto the owne Thus beeing of a mixt and meane nature betweene a branch or bough growing still vnto the Tree and yet laied in the ground to take new root and an Impe or Sion graffed for the space of three yeares it is suffered to feed and grow indifferently betweene two mothers or rather by the meanes thereof two motherstocks are growne and vnited together But in the fourth yeare it is cut wholly from the owne mother and is become altogether an adopted child to the Fig-tree wherein it is incorporat A pretty deuise I assure you to make a Fig tree beare Oliues the secret whereof is not knowne to euery man but I my selfe do conceiue and see the reason of it well enough Moreouer the same regard and consideration aboue rehearsed as touching the nature of grounds whether they be hot cold moist or dry hath shewed vs also the manner of digging furrows and ditches For in watery places it will not be good to make them either deep or large whereas contrariwise in a hot and dry soile they would be of great capacity both to receiue and also to hold store of water And verily this is a good point of husbandry for to preserue not only yong plants but old trees also for in hot countries men vse in Summer time to raise hillocks and banks about their roots and couer them all therewith for feare lest the extreme heat of the Sun should scoreh and burne them But in other parts the manner is to dig away the earth and to lay the roots bare and let in the wind to blow vpon them The same men also in winter doe banke the roots about and thereby preserue them from the frost Contrariwise others in the winter open the ground for to admit moisture to quench their thirst But in what ground soeuer it be where such husbandry is requisit the way of clensing tree roots and ridding the earth from them is to dig a trench three foot round about And yet this must not be don in medows forasmuch as for the loue of the Sun and of moisture the roots of trees run ebbe vnder the face of the earth And thus much verily may suffice in generall for the planting and graffing of all those trees that are to beare fruit CHAP. XX. ¶ Of Willow and Osier plots of places where reeds and Canes are nourished also of other trees that be vsually cut for poles props and stakes IT remaineth now to speake of those trees which are planted and nourished for others and for Vines especially to which purpose their wood is vsually lopped to serue the turne Among which Willowes and Oisiers are the chiefe and to be placed in the formost rank and ordinarily they loue to grow in moist and watery grounds Now for the better ordering of the Oisier the place would be well digged before and laid soft two foot and a halfe deep and then planted with little twigs or cuttings of a foot and a halfe in length and those prickt in or else stored with good big sets which the fuller and rounder they be in hand so much better they are for to grow and sooner will they proue to be trees Betweene the one and the other there ought to be a space of six foot When they are come to three yeares growth the manner is to keepe them downe with cutting that they stand not aboue ground more than two foot to the end that they might spread the better in bredth when time serues be lopped shred more easily without the help of ladder for the Withie or Osier is of this nature that the nearer it groweth to the ground the better head it beareth These trees also as wel as others require as men say to haue the ground digged laid light about them euery yere in the month of April And thus much for the planting and ordering of Oisier willowes which must be emploied in binding and winding As for the other willow which affoordeth big boughs for poles perches and props those may be set likewise of twigs and cuttings and trenched in the ground after the same manner These lightly euery fourth yere will yeeld good poles or staues for that purpose would they then be ordinarily cut and lopped If these trees become old their boughs by propagation may still maintain and replenish the place to wit by couching them within the ground after they haue lien soone yeare and taken root by cutting them clean from the stocke-father An Oisier plat of one acre stored thus will yeeld twigs sufficient for windings and bindings to serue a vineyard of fiue and twenty acres To the same purpose men are wont to plant the white poplar or Aspe in manner following First a piece of ground or a quarter must be digged and made hollow two foot deep and therin ought to be laid cuttings of a foot and a half in length after they haue had two daies drying but so as they stand one from another a foot and a handbreadth be couered ouer with mould two cubits thick As touching canes and reeds they loue to grow in places more wet and waterish than either the Willows and Oisiers aboue said oâ—… the Poplars Men vse to plant their bulbous roots which some call their oilets or eies in a trench of a span depth and those two foot and an halfe asunder These reeds do multiplie and increase of themselues if a plot be once planted with them after the old plants be extirped destroied And surely this is found now adaies to be the better and the more profitable way euen to commit all to Nature rather than to gueld and weed them out where they seem to grow ouer thick as the practise was in old time for the maner of their roots is to creepe one within another and to be so interlaced continually as if they were twisted together The fit and proper time to plant and set these canes or reeds is a little before the calends of March to wit before the oilets or eies aboue said begin to swell They grow vntill mid-winter at which time they wax hard which is a signe that they haue done growing and this is the only season also for to cut them Likewise the ground would be digged about them as often as vines The order of planting them is two
those raised vp well with earth and bedded from the brims and edges on the lower ground As for such which shall be made longer and able to receiue two vine-plants growing contrary one to the other they shall be called in Latine Alvei Aboue al the root of the vine ought to stand just in the midst of the hole or ditch but the head and wood thereof which resteth vpon the sound and firme ground as neere as possible is must beare directly into the point of the Aequinoctiall Sun-rising and withall the first props that it leaneth vpon would be of Reeds and Canes As touching the bounding and limitation of a vineyard the principall way which runneth streight East and West ought to carry 18 foot in breadth to the end that two carts may passe easily one by another when they meet the other crosse allies diuiding euery acre just into the mids must be ten foot broad but if the plot or modell of the vineyard wil beare it these allies also which lie North and South would be as largeful as the foresaid principal high way Moreouer this would be alwaies considered That vines bee planted by fiues i. that at euery fifth perch or pole that shoreth them vp there be a path diuiding euery range and course and one bed or quarter from another If the ground be stiffe and hard it must of necessitie bee twice digged ouer and therein quick-sets only that haue taken root must be replanted marie in case it be a loose mould light and gentle you may set very cuttings and sions from the stock either in furrow or in trench chuse you whether But say it be a high ground and vpon the hill better is it to cast it into furrowes ouerthwart than to dig it that by this meanes the perches or props may keep vp the ground better which by occasion of raine water would settle downeward When the weather is disposed to raine or the ground by nature drie it is good planting vine-sets or sions at the fall of the leafe vnlesse the constitution of the tract and qualitie of a country require the contrary for a dry and hot soile would be planted in Autumne or the fal of the leafe wheras a moist and cold coast may tarry euen vntill the end of Spring Let the soile be dry and hard bootlesse it will be to plant yea though it were a very quick-set root and all Neither will it do well to venter the setting of imps cut from the tree in a drie place vnlesse it be immediatly vpon a good ground shower but in low grounds where a man may haue water at will there is no danger at all to set vine branches euen with leaues on the head for they will take well enough at any time before the Mid-summer Sun-stead as we may see by experience in Spaine When you will plant a vine chuse a faire day and if possibly you can let it be when there is no wind stirring abroad for such a calme season is best and yet many are of opinion that Southern winds be good and they wish for them which is cleane contrarie vnto Cato his mind who expressely excepteth and reiecteth them If the ground be of a middle temperature there ought to be a space of fiue foot distance between euery vine and in case it be a rich and fertile soile there would bee foure foot at least from one to another but in a leane hungrie piece of light ground there should be eight foot at the most for whereas the Vmbrians and Marsians leaue twenty foot void betweene euery range of vines they doe it for to plough and sow in the place and therein they haue quarters beds and ridges called Porculeta If the place where you plant a vineyard be subiect to thicke and darke mists or to a rainie disposition of the weather vines ought to bee set the thinner but in a drie quarter it is meet they should bee planted thicke Moreouer the wit and industrie of man hath found out meanes to saue charges and in setting a nource-garden with vine-sions to goe a nearer way with small expence and no losse of ground for in replanting a vineyard with quicke-sets vpon a leuell plot onely digged and laied euen they haue with one and the same labour as it were by the way replenished the ground between euery such rooted plants with vine cuttings for store so as the quicksets may grow in his owne place appointed and the sion or cutting which another day is to be transplanted in the mean time take root between euery course and range of the said vine quick-sets before they be ready to take vp much ground Thus within the compasse of one acre by iust proportion a man may haue about 16000 quick-sets This is the difference only that such beare not fruit so soon by two yere so much later are they that be set of sions than those that were transplanted and remain stil on foot When a quick-set of a vine is planted in a vineyard and hath grown one yere it is vsually cut downe close to the earth so as but one eie or button be left aboue ground and one shore or stake must be stickt close to it for to rest vpon and dung laid well about the root In like manner ought it to be cut the second yeare By this means it gathereth strength inwardly and maintaineth the same in such wise as it may be sufficient another day to beare and sustain the burden both of branch and bunch when it shall be charged with them for otherwise if it be let alone and suffered to make hast for to beare it would prooue to be slender vinewed leane and poore for surely this is the nature of a vine That she groweth most willingly in such sort that vnlesse she be kept vnder chastised and bridled in this manner her inordinat appetite is such she will run her selfe out of heart and go all to branch and leafe As touching props and shores to support vines the best as we haue said are those of the Oke or Oliue tree for default whereof ye may take good stakes and forks of Iuniper Cypresse Laburnium and the Elder As for those perches that be of other kinds they ought to be cut and renewed euery yeare Howbeit to lay ouer a frame for vines to â—…un vpon the best poles are of Reeds and Canes for they will continue good fiue yeares being bound many of them together When the shorter branches of a vine are twisted one within another in manner of cording or ropes and strengthened with the wood of vine cuttings amongst thereof arch-worke is made which in Latine they call Funeta Now by the time that a vine hath growne three yeares in the vineyard it putteth forth apace strong branches which in time may make vines themselues these mount quickly vp to the frame and then some good husbands there be who put out their eies that is to say with a cutting hook turning the
Garden was the poor commoners shambles it was all the market place he had for to prouide himself of victualls O what a blessed what a secure and harmlesse life was that so long as men could be content to take vp with such a pittance and stay themselues so but better it is I trow for to satisfie the appetit of our wanton gluttons and belli gods to search into the bottom of the deepe sea for to get I say oisters of al sorts to feare no tempest nor shipwrack for to meet with daintie foule to send out one way as far as beyond the riuer Phasis for those birds which a man would thinke were sure ynough and secured from the fouler by reason of the fearefull tales that goe of them and of the daunger of those that approach neere vnto them and yet why say I so considering they are the better esteemed and more precious the farther they bee fet and dearer bought to haue purueyours another way in Numidia and Aethiopia for the rare birds there about the sepulchres among those sepulchres I say where in stead of meeting with game they stumble otherwhiles vpon their owne graues and neuer come home again and lastly to haue others to chase the wild and sauage beasts of tlâ—…e forrests vea and to maintain fight with them in daunger to be deuoured as a prey by those which so â—…ster must serue as venison for other men to eat But to come againe to these commoditie 〈◊〉 Garden and the cates which they affourd how cheape be they how ready at hand how fitted are they not only to fil the belly and satisfie hunger but also to please the tooth and content the appetite were it not that wealth and fulnesse stand in the way the same that loath all things els beside and disdain no maruell these ordinarie viands Wel might it be borne with and suffered that Apples and other fruits of the trees such as are more exquisite and singular than the rest in regard of their beauty bignesse pleasant sauour or strange and monstrous maner of growing euen against the course of Nature that these dainties I say should be reserued for our rich and mighty men of the world that poore men should be debarred and forbidden once to taste thereof In some sort tolerable also it is that great States and wealthy personages should be serued at their table with old wines fined and refined with Wines delaied neatified and guelded as it were by passing thorow an Ipocras bag that such should drink no other but that which was wine before they were born how aged soeuer they be and far stept in yeares We may abide moreouer that our grand-panches and riotous persons haue deuised for themselues a delicat kind of meat out of corn and grain which should serue for bread only and the same made of the finest and purest floure bolted and searsed from the rest and none but that to say nothing of the curious work in pastrie the fine cakes wafers and marchpanes artificially carued ingraued and painted in imagerie as if these wantons could not liue forsooth but of such deuises That there should be a difference also in bread answerable to the distinction of States in the city one sort for noble Senators another for the worshipful knights and gentlemen and a third for the mean commoners and multitude Finally that in other victuals there should be a descent by so many degrees from the highest to the lowest many cary some apparance of reason be allowed How then must there be a distinction therefore inuented in worts and garden pot-herbs Must the difference of persons according to their purse appeare also in a dish of three farthings price and no better Surely I see no sense nor congruitie at all in this And yet forsooth such herbes there be that the tribes of Rome the greater part I mean of the Roman citisens may not presume to eat as if the earth had brought them forth for rich men onely being no meat yw is for poore people Why say they in scorne and contempt of pouertie here is the stem of a Wort so well growne here is a cabbage so thriuen and fed that a poore mans boord will not hold it Certes dame Nature ordained at the first That Sperage should grow wilde and commonly in all places of the field as if she meant therby that euery man that would might gather them for to eat and now behold they are cherished carefully in gardens and from Rauenna you shall haue of these garden Sperages so fair and big as three of their crops or heads wil weigh a good pound and are sold after three a Roman As. O the monstrous bellies that be now adaies O the excessiue gluttonie and gourmandise which now reigneth in the world Is it any maruell that poore Asses and such dum beasts may not feed vpon Thistles when the Commons of Rome are restrained and forbidden to eat Thistles and dare not once touch them And yet here is not all our waters also be distinguished and set apart for some persons euen the very elements whereof this world consisteth are distinct seuered and raunged into sundry degrees and all at the pleasure of monied men for some you shall haue to drinke snow others ice and will you see in one word their folly and vanity the very miserie that high mountains are punished and plagued with they make their pleasure of and therewith content and delight the throat These men lay for to be prouided of chilling cold against the heat of summer and seeke by all means that they can possible to haue snow remain white still and frozen as it first was out of Winter season euen in the hottest months in the yere which are most opposite vnto the nature of snow Some there be who first seeth their water anon let it congeale again to ice after it was once scalding hot Whereby we may see how man neuer contenteth himselfe in natures workes but crosse he will be alwaies and peeuish and look what pleaseth her shall displease him for who euer would haue thought that any one herb should haue grown for the rich and not as well for the poore Well let no man for all this cast about and look toward mount Sacer or Auentine hill that the Commoners againe should by way of insurrection rise and in the heate of their bloud depart aside thither as somtimes they did in a mutinous fit of theirs in high discontentment with the Nobilitie For what needs that since they may be sure that death very shortly will bring them together and make equall betweene whom now for a while Riches hath put a â—…ar and made distinction of place and degree But now it is time to returne againe vnto our gardening from which we were digressed Certain it is that in old time there was no market place at Rome yeelded greater impost vn to the State than the Herberie in such request and
juice of the root either after it hath lien a time infused or simply stamped without any such preparation yea and the substance of the root reduced into pouder and giuen in a draught of water made hot with a gad of steel quenched in it Some haue appointed in this kind of ague 3 of those roots and 3 cyaths of water precisely and the same Physitians for a Quartaine haue prescribed foure of either and by their saying if when Borage beginneth to fade vpon the ground one take out the pith or marow within the stem and whiles he is so doing name withal the sick party and say hee doth it for to rid him or her from the ague and withall bestow it in 7 leaues neither more nor lesse of the said herbe and hang all tied fast about the patient before the time that the sit should come the feuer wil neuer returne again Also a dram of Betony or Agaricke taken in three cyaths of mead driueth away any intermittent ague especially those that begin with quiuering and quaking Some are wont to giue of Cinquefoile three leaues in a tertian and foure in a quartan and so rise to more according to the period or type of the rest others ordain indifferently for all agues the weight of 3 oboli with some pepper in mead or honied water Veruaine verily giuen in wine as a drench to horses cureth them of their feauers but in Tertians it must be cut just aboue the third joint where it brancheth but for Quartanes at the fourth The seed of both kinds of Hypericon is good to be drunk in Quartans And the pouder of Betony dried is singular for the quaking fits and in very deed the herb it selfe represseth all shiuering and whatsoeuer proceeding of cold In like maner Panaces is of so hot a nature that Physitians giue direction to them who are to trauell ouer high mountains couered with snow for to drink it annoint their bodies all ouer with it Semblably Aristolochia doth withstand all chilling and through colds The best cure of those who be in a frensie is by sleepe and that may be procured easily by the juice of Peucedanum vineger together infused vpon the head by way of imbrocation or by rubbing the same with it likewise with the juice of both the Pimpernels Contrariwise there is more adoe with those that are in a lethargy to awaken them and keep them from drowsinesse and yet may that be affected some say by rubbing their nosthrils with the juice of the said * Harstrang in vineger For those that be out of their right wits or bestraught Betony is singular good to be giuen in drink Panaces breaks the Carbuncle also the pouder of Betony in water healeth it or the Colewort with Frankincense if the patient drinke often therof hot Some take a burning cole of fire and when it is extinguished or gon out in the presence of the patient with their finger gather vp the cindres or light ashes which settle therupon and apply them vnder the carbuncle others stamp Plantain and lay it to the sore the Tithymall called Characites cureth the dropsie Also Panaces and Plantaine taken as a meat in bole with this regard That the patient haue eaten some dry bread before without any drinke at all In which case Betony likewise is singular if two drams thereof be giuen in as many cyaths of wine simply or wine honied Moreouer Agaricke or the seed of Lonchitis drunke to the quantitie of two Ligulae or spoones full in water Flea-woort beeing vsed with wine the juice of Pimpernels both the red and the blew the root of Vmbilicus Veneris in honied wine the root of Walwoort newly drawne out of the ground so that the earth bee onely shaken off without any washing at all in case as much thereof as two fingers will comprehend be taken in one hemine of old wine hot the root of Clauer or Trefoile drunke in wine to the weight of two drams Tithymall named Platyphillon the seed of Hypericon and namely that which otherwise is called Coris Chamaeacte which some think to be Wall-wort if either the root be beaten to pouder and ministred in three cyaths of wine so the patient haue no feuer hanging vpon him or the seed giuen in thick red wine be appropriat remedies euery one for a dropsie In like maner Vervaine if a good hand full thereof be boiled in water vnto the consumption of the one halfe But principally the juice of Wall-wort is thought to be the meetest medicine for to fit this malady For the bleach or breaking out in wheales for small pocks swine pocks and such like eruptions of flegmatick humors Plantain is a proper remedy to rid them away so is the root of sowbread applied with hony The leaues of Walwort or ground Elder stamped incorporat in old wine and so laid too doe heale the meazels purples or red blisters which some call Boa The juice of Nightshade or pety Morell vsed as a liniment killeth the itch The shingles and such hot pimples called S. Anthonies fire are cured by nothing better than by Housleek by the leaues of Hemlock stamped into an vnguent or the root of Mandragoras Now the manner of prâ—…paring and ordering it thus take the said root drie it abroad in the open aire like as they do Cucumbers but principally let it hang first ouer new wine afterwards in the smoke this don stamp it and temper it with wine or vineger Good it is also in this case to make a fomentation with wine of Myrtles and therwith to bathe the grieued place Also take of Mints two ounces of sulphur-vif one ounce pouder them both and mingle them together with vineger vse this mixture for the said S. Anthonies fire And some take soot vineger tempred together for the same purpose Now of this disease which we terme * S. Anthonies fire there be many kindes whereof there is one more daungerous than the rest which is called * Zoster for that it coueteth to goe round about the middle of a man or woman in manner of a girdle and in case both ends meet together indeed it is deadly and incureable To meet with it therefore by the way to preuent this extremity Plantaine is thought to be a soueraign remedy if it be incorporate with Fullers earth Also Veruaine alone by it selfe and the root of the great Bur. Now for other corrosiue vlcers and tettars it is very good to vse the root of Vmbilicus veneris with honied wine Sengreen the juice of Mercurie also with vineger CHAP. XII ¶ For dislocations or members out of ioint Against the Iaundise Felons hollow sores called Fistula's Tumors Burnes and Scaldings Against other diseases For to comfort the sinewes and stanch bloud THe root of Polypodium brought into a liniment is a proper remedy for any dislocation The seed of Fleawort the leaues of Plantaine punned with some few cornes of salt put
in that violence and causing such trouble and broils as if the world were at war within it selfe And can there bee any thing more wonderfull and miraculous than to see the waters congealed oboue in the aire and so to continue pendant in the skie And yet as if they were not contented to haue risen thus to that exceeding height they catch and snatch vp with them into the vpper region of the aire a world of little fishes otherwhiles also they take vp stones and charge themselues with that ponderous weighty matter which is more proper to another Element The same waters falling downe againe in raine are the very cause of all those things here below which the earth produceth and bringeth forth And therefore considering the wonderfull nature thereof and namely how the corne groweth vpon the ground how trees and plants doe liue prosper and fructifie by the means of waters which first ascending vp into the skie are furnished from thence with a liuely breath and bestowing the same vpon the herbs cause them to spring and multiply we cannot chuse but confesse that for all the strength and vertue which the Earth also hath shee is beholden to the Waters and hath receiued all from them In which regard aboue all things and before I enter into my intended discourse of Fishes and beasts liuing in this Element I meane first to set down in generaility the maruellous power and properties of water it selfe and to illustrat the same by way of sundry examples for the particular discourse of all sorts of waters what man liuing is able to performe CHAP. II. ¶ The diuersitie of waters their vertues und operations medicinable and other singularities obserued therein THere is in maner no region nor coast of the earth but you shall see in one quarter or other waters gently rising and springing out of the ground here and there yeelding fountains in one place cold in another hot yea and otherwhils there may be discouered one with another neere adioyning as for example about Tarbelli a towne in Guienne and the Pyrenaean hills there do boile vp hot and cold springs so close one vnto the other that hardly any distance can be perceiued between Moreouer sources there be which yeeld waters neither cold nor hot but luke-warme and the same very holesome and proper for the cure of many diseases as if Nature had set them apart for the good of man only and no other liuing creature beside To these fountains so medicinable there is ascribed some diuine power insomuch as they giue name vnto sundry gods and goddesses and seeme to augment their number by that means yea otherwhiles great towns cities carrie their names like as Puteoli in Campane Statyellae in Liguria Aquae Sextiae in the prouince of Narbon or Piemont but in no countrey of the world is there found greater plenty of these springs and the same endued with more medicinable properties than in the tract or vale Baianus within the realm of Naples where you shall haue some hold of brimstone others of alume some standing vpon a veine of salt others of nitre some resembling the nature of Bitumen and others again of a mixt qualitie partly soure and partly salt Furthermore you shall meet with some of them which naturally serue as a stouph or hot-house for the very steeme and vapour only which ariseth from them is wholesome and profitable for our bodies and those are so exceeding hot that they heat the bains yea and are able to make the cold water to seeth boile again which is in their bathing tubs as namely the fountaine Posidianus whithin the foresaid territory Bajanus which name it tooke of one Posidius a slaue sometime and enfranchised by Claudius Caesar the Emperour Moreouer there be of them so hot that they are able to seeth an egg or any other viands or cates for the table As for the Licinian springs which beare the name of Licinius Crassus a man may perceiue them to boile and reeke again euen out of the very sea See how good Nature is to vs who amid the waues and billows of the sea hath affourded healthfull waters But now to discipher their vertues in Physick according to their seuerall kinds thus much in generality is obserued in these baths That they serue for the infirmities of the sinews for gout of the feet sciatica Some more properly are good for dislocations of ioints and fractures of bones others haue a property to loosen the bellie to purge and as there be of them which heale wounds and vlcers so there are again that more particularly be respectiue to the accidents of the head and ears and among the rest those which beare the name of Cicero and be called Ciceronianâ—… besoueraign for the eies Now there is a memorable manour or faire house of plaisance situat vpon the sea side in the very high way which leadeth from the lake Auernus to the cittie Puteoli much renowmed for the groue or wood about it as also for the stately galleries porches allies and walking places adioyning therunto which set out and beautifie the said place very much this goodly house M. Cicero called Academia in regard of some resemblance it had vnto a colledge of that name in Athens from whence he tooke the modell and patterne where he compiled those books of his which carrie the name of the place and be called Academice quaestiones and there he caused his monument or sepulchre to be made for the perpetuitie of his memoriall as who would say he had not sufficiently immortalized his name throughout the world by those noble works which he wrote and commended vnto posteritie Well soone after the decease of Cicero this house and forrest both fell into the hands and tenure of Antistius Vetus at what time in the very forefront as it were and entrie thereof there were discouered certaine hot fountaines breaking and springing out of the ground and those passing medicinable and wholesome for the eies Of these waters Laurea Tullus an enfranchised vassall of Cicero made certaine verses and those carying with them such a grace of majestie that at the first sight a man may easily perceiue how affectionat and deuout he was to the seruice of his lord and master and for that the said Epigram is worthy to be read not onely there but also in euery place I will set it downe here as it standeth ouer those baines to be seene in this Decasticon Quo tua Romanae vindex clarissime linguae Sylva loco melius surgere jussa viret Atque Academiae celebratam nomine villam Nunc reparat cultu sub potiore Vetus Hîc etiam apparent lymphae non ante repertae Lanquida quae infuso lumina rore levant Nimirum locus ipse sui Ciceronis honori Hoc dedit hacfontes cum patefecit ope Vt quoniam totum legitur sine fine per orbem Sint plures oculis quae medeantur aquae O
not make twenty and many such things of like sort Whereby no doubt is euidently proued the power of Nature and how it is she and nothing els which we call God I thought it not impertinent thus to diuert and digresse to these points so commonly divulged by reason of the vsuall and ordinarie questions as touching the Essence of God CHAP. VIII ¶ Of the Nature of Planets and their circuit LEt vs returne now to the rest of Natures workes The stars which we said were fixed in heauen are not as the common sort thinketh assigned to euery one of vs and appointed to men respectiuely namely the bright faire for the rich the lesse for the poore the dim for the weak the aged and feeble neither shine they out more or lesse according to the lot and fortune of euery one nor arise they each one together with that person vnto whom they are appropriate and die likewise with the same ne yet as they set and fall do they signifie that any bodie is dead There is not ywis so great societie betweene heauen and vs as that together with the fatall necessitie of our death the shining light of the starres should in token of sorrow go out and become mortall As for them the truth is this when they are thought to fall they doe but shoot from them a deale of fire euen of that aboundance and ouermuch nutriment which they haue gotten by the attraction os humiditie and moisture vnto them like as we also obserue daily in the wikes and matches of lampes or candles burning with the liquour of oile Moreouer the coelestiall bodies which make and frame the world and in that frame are compact and knit together haue an immortall nature and their power and influence extendeth much to the earth which by their effects and operations by their light and greatnesse might be knowne notwithstanding they are so high and subtill withall as we shal in due place make demonstration The manner likewise of the heauenly Circles and Zones shall be shewed more fitly in our Geographicall treatise of the earth forasmuch as the consideration thereof appertaineth wholly thereunto onely we will not put off but presently declare the deuisers of the Zodiake wherin the signes are The obliquitie and crookednesse thereof Anaximander the Milesian is reported to haue obserued first and thereby opened the gate and passage to Astronomie and the knowledge of all things and this happened in the 58 Olympias Afterwards Clâ—…ostratus marked the signes therin and namely those first of Aries and Sagitarius As for the sphere it selfe Atlas deuised long before Now for this time we will leaue the very bodie of the starry heauen and treat of all the rest betweene it and the earth Certaine it is that the Planet which they call Saturne is the highest and therefore seemeth least also that he keepeth his course and performeth his reuolution in the greatest circle of all and in thirtie yeares space at the soonest returneth againe to the point of his first place Moreouer that the mouing of all the Planets and withall of Sun and Moone go a contrarie course vnto the starrie heauen namely to the left hand i. Eastward whereas the said heauen alwaies hasteneth to the right i. Westward And albeit in that continuall turning with exceeding celerity those planets be lifted vp alost and carried by it forcible into the West and there set yet by a contrarie motion of their owne they passe euery one through their seuerall waies Eastward and all for this that the aire rolling euer one way and to the same part by the continuall turning of the heauen should not stand still grow dul as it were congealed whiles the globe thereof resteth idle but dissolue and cleaue parted thus diuided by the reuerberation of the contrarie beams and violent crosse influence of the said planets Now the Planet Saturne is of a cold and frozen nature but the circle of Iupiter is much lower than it and therfore his reuolution is performed with a more speedy motion namely in twelue yeres The third of Mars which some call the Sphere of Hercules is firy and ardent by reason of the Suns vicinity and wel-neere in two yeares runneth his race And hereupon it is that by the exceeding heate of Mars and the vehement cold of Saturne Iupiter who is placed betwixt is well tempered of them both and so becommeth good and comfortable Next to them is the race of the Sun consisting verily of 360 parts or degrees but to the end that the obseruation of the shadowes which he casteth may return againe iust to the former marks fiue daies be added to euery yeare with the fourth part of a day ouer and aboue Whereupon euery fifth yeere leapeth and one odde day is set to the rest to the end that the reckoning of the times and seasons might agree vnto the course of the Sun Beneath the Sun a goodly faire star there is called Venus which goeth her compasse wandering this way and that by turnes and by the very names that it hath testifieth her emulation of Sun and Moone For all the while that she preuenteth the morning and riseth Orientall before she taketh the name of Lucifer or Day-star as a second Sun hastning the day Contrariwise when she shineth from the West Occidentall drawing out the day light at length and supplying the place of the Moone she is named Vesper This nature of hers Pythagoras of Samos first found out about the 42 olympias which fel out to be the 142 yere after the foundation of Rome Now this planet in greatnesse goeth beyond all the other fiue and so cleare and shining withall that the beames of this one star cast shadowes vpon the earth And hereupon commeth so great diuersitie and ambiguitie of the names thereof whiles some haue called it Iuno other Isis and othersome the Mother of the gods By the naturall efficacie of this star all things are engendred on earth for whether she rise East or West she sprinckleth all the earth with dew of generation and not onely filleth the same with seed causing it to conceiue but stirreth vp also the nature of all liuing creatures to engender This planet goeth through the circle of the Zodiake in 348 daies departing from the Sun neuer aboue 46 degrees as Timaeus was of opinion Next vnto it but nothing of that bignesse and powerful efficacie is the star Mercurie of some cleped Apollo in an inferiour circle he goeth after the like manner a swifter course by nine daies shining sometimes before the Sun-rising otherwhiles after his setting neuer farther distant from him than 23 degrees as both the same Timaeus and Sosigenes doe shew And therefore these two planets haue a peculiar consideration from others and not common with the rest aboue named For those are seene from the Sun a fourth yea and third part of the heauen oftentimes also in opposition ful against the Sun And all of
the heauen the fire of discord is kindled and groweth hot Neither may she abide by it and stand to the fight but being continually carried away she rolleth vp and down and as about the earth shee spreadeth and pitcheth her tents as it were with an vnmeasurable globe of the heauen so euer and anon of the clouds she frameth another skie And this is that region where the winds raigne And therefore their kingdome principally is there to be seene where they execute their forces and are the cause well neere of all other troubles in the aire For thunderbolts and flashing lightenings most men attribute to their violence Nay more than that therefore it is supposed that otherwhiles it raineth stones because they were taken vp first by the winde so as we may conclude that they cause many like impressions in the aire Wherefore many matters besides are to be treated of together CHAP. XXXIX ¶ Of ordinary and set seasons IT is manifest that of times and seasons as also of other things some causes be certaine others casuall and by chance or such as yet the reason thereof is vnknowne For who need to doubt that Summers and Winters and those alternatiue seasons which we obserue by yearely course are occasioned by the motion of the Planets As therefore the Sunnes nature is vnderstood by tempering and ordering the yeare so the rest of the starres and planets also haue euery one their proper and peculiar power and the same effectuall to shew and performe their owne nature Some are fruitfull to bring forth moisture that is turned into liquid raine others to yeeld an humour either congealed into frosts or gathered and thickened into snow or else frozen and hardened into haile some afford winds others warmth some hot and scorching vapours some dewes and others cold Neither yet ought these starres to be esteemed so little as they shew in sight seeing that none of them is lesse than the Moone as may appeare by the reason of their exceeding height Well then euery one in their own motion exercise their seuerall natures which appeareth manifestly by Saturne especially who setteth open the gates for raine and shoures to passe And not onely the seuen wandering starres be of this power but many of them also that are fixed in the firmament so often as they be either driuen by the excesse and approch of those planets or pricked and prouoked by the casting and influence of their beams like as we find it happeneth in the seuen stars called Suculae which the Grecians of raine name Hyades because they euer bring foule weather Howbeit some of their owne nature and at certaine set times do cause raine as the rising of the Kids As for Arcturus he neuer lightly appeareth without some tempestuous and stormie haile CHAP. XL. ¶ The power of the Dog-starre WHo knoweth not that when the Dogge-starre ariseth the heate of the Sunne is fiery and burning the effects of which starre are felt exceeding much vpon the earth The seas at his rising do rage and take on the wines in sellars are troubled pooles also and standing waters doe stirre and moue A wilde beast there is in Aegypt called Orix which the Aegyptians say doth stand full against the Dog-starre when it riseth looking wistly vpon it and testifieth after a sort by sneezing a kind of worship As for dogs no man doubteth verily but all the time of the canicular daies they are most ready to run mad CHAP. XLI ¶ That the stars haue their seuerall influences in sundry parts of the signes and at diuers times MOreouer the parts of certaine signes haue their peculiar force as appeareth in the Equinoctiall of Autumne and in mid-winter at what time we perceiue that the Sun maketh tempests And this is proued not onely by raines and stormes but by many experiments in mens bodies and accidents to plants in the countrey For some men are stricken by the Planet and blasted others are troubled and diseased at certaine times ordinarily in their belly sinewes head and minde The Oliue tree the Aspe or white Poplar and Willowes turne or wryth their leaues about at Mid-summer when the Sun entreth Cancer And contrariwise in very Mid-winter when he entreth Capricorne the herbe Penyroiall floureth fresh euen as it hangs within house drie and ready to wither At which time all parchments such like bladders or skinnes are so pent and stretched with spirit and wind that they burst withall A man might maruell hereat who marketh not by daily experience that one herbe called Heliotropium regardeth and looketh toward the Sun euer as he goeth turning with him at all houres notwithstanding he be shadowed vnder a cloud Now certaine it is that the bodies of Oysters Muskles Cocles and all shell fishes grow by the power of the Moone and thereby againe diminish yea and some haue found out by diligent search into Natures secrets that the fibres or filaments in the liuers of rats and mice answer in number to the daies of the Moones age also that the least creature of all others the Pismire feeleth the power of this Planet and alwaies in the change of the Moone ceaseth from worke Certes the more shame it is for man to be ignorant and vnskilfull especially seeing that he must confesse that some labouring beasts haue certaine diseases in their eyes which with the Moone do grow and decay Howbeit the excessiue greatnesse of the heauen and exceeding height thereof diuided as it is into 72 signes maketh for him and serueth for his excuse Now these signes are the resemblances of things or liuing creatures into which the skilfull Astronomers haue with good respect digested the firmament For example sake in the taile of Taurus there be seuen which they named in old time Vergiliae in the forehead other seuen called Suculae and Boötes who followeth after the wain or great Beare Septentriones CHAP. XLII ¶ The causes of raine showers winds and cloudes I Cannot denie but without these causes there arise raines and windes for that certaine it is how there is sent forth from the earth a mist sometimes moist otherwhiles smokie by reason of hot vapours and exhalations Also that clouds are ingendered by vapours which are gone vp on high or else of the aire gathered into a waterie liquour that they be thicke grosse and of a bodily consistence wee guesse and collect by no doubtful argument considering that they ouer-shadow the Sun which otherwise may be seene through the water as they know well that diue to any depth whatsoeuer CHAP. XLIII ¶ Of Thunder and Lightening DEnie I would not therefore but that the fierie impressions from stars aboue may fall vpon these clouds such as we oftentimes see to shoot in cleare and faire weather by the forceble stroke whereof good reason it is that the aire should be mightily shaken seeing that arrowes and darts when they are discharged sing and keepe a noise as they flie But when they incounter a cloud there arises
runneth onely in the Spring The lake Sinnaus in Asia is infected with the wormewood growing about it and there of it tasteth At Colophon in the vault or caue of Apollo Clarius there is a gutter or trench standing full of water they that drinke of it shall prophesie and foretell strange things like Oracles but they liue the shorter time for it Riuers running backward euen our age hath seen in the later yeres of Prince Nero as we haue related in the acts of his life Now that all Springs are colder in Summer than Winter who knoweth not as also these wonderous workes of Nature That brasse and lead in the masse or lumpe sinke downe and are drowned but if they be driuen out into thin plates they flote and swim aloft and let the weight be all one yet some things settle to the bottome others againe glide aboue Moreouer that heauie burdens and lodes be stirred and remoued with more ease in water Likewise that the stone Thyrreus be it neuer so big doth swim whole and intire breake it once into pieces and it sinketh As also that bodies newly dead fall downe to the bottome of the water but if they be swollen once they rise vp againe Ouer and besides that empty vessels are not so easily drawne forth of the water as those that be full that raine water for salt pits is better and more profitable than all other and that salt cannot be made vnlesse fresh water be mingled withall that sea-water is longer before it congeale but sooner made hot and set a seething That in Winter the sea is hoter and in Autumne more brackish and salt And that all seas are made calme and still with oile and therefore the Diuers vnder the water doe spirt and sprinkle it abroad with their mouthes because it dulceth and allaieth the vnpleasant nature thereof and carrieth a light with it That no snowes fall where the sea is deep And whereas all water runneth downeward by nature yet Springs leape vp euen at the very foot of Aetna which burneth of a light fire so farre forth as that for fiftie yea and an hundred miles the waulming round bals and flakes of fire cast out sand and ashes CHAP. CIIII. ¶ The maruailes of fire and water iointly together and of Maltha NOw let vs relate some strange wonders of fire also which is the fourth element of Nature But first out of waters In a citie of Comagene named Samosatis there is a pond yeelding forth a kinde of slimie mud called Maltha which will burne cleare When it meeteth with any thing solide and hard it sticketh to it like glew also if it be touched it followeth them that free from it By this meanes the townesmen defended their walls when Lucullus gaue the assault and his souldiers fried and burned in their owne armours Cast water vpon it and yet it will burne Experience hath taught That earth onely will quench it CHAP. CV ¶ Of Naphtha OF the like nature is Naphtha for so is it called about Babylonia and in the Austacenes countrey in Parthia and it runneth in manner of liquid Bitumen Great affinitie there is betweene the fire and it for fire is ready to leap vnto it immediatly if it be any thing neere it Thus they say Media burnt her husbands concubine by reason that her guirland annointed therewith was caught by the fire after she approched neere to the altars with purpose to sacrifice CHAP. CVI. ¶ Of places continually burning BVt amongst the wonderfull mountaines the hill Aetna burneth alwaies in the nights and for so long continuance of time yeeldeth sufficient matter to maintaine those fires in winter it is full of snow and couereth the ashes cast vp with frosts Neither in it alone doth Nature tyranize and shew her cruelty threatning as she doth a general consuming of the whole earth by fire For in Phoselis the hil Chimaera likewise burneth and that with a continuall fire night and day Ctesias of Gnidos writeth that the fire therof is inflamed and set a burning with water but quenched with earth In the same Lycia the mountaines Hephaestij being once touched and kindled with a flaming torch do so burne out that the very stones of the riuers yea and the sand in waters are on fire withall and the same fire is maintained with raine They report also that if a man make a furrow with a staffe that is set on fire by them there follow gutters as it were of fire In the Bactrians countrey the top of the hill Cophantus burneth euery night Amongst the Medians also and the Caestian nation the same mountaines burneth but principally in the very confines of Persis At Susis verily in a place called the white tower out of fifteene chimnies or tunnels the fire issueth and the greatest of them euen in the day time carrieth fire There is a plaine about Babylonia in manner of a fish poole which for the quantity of an acre of ground burneth likewise In like sort neere the mountaine Hesperius in Aethyopia the fields in the night time do glitter and shine like stars The like is to be seene in the territorie of the Megapolitanes although the field there within-forth be pleasant and not burning the boughes and leaues of the thicke groue aboue it And neere vnto a warme Spring the hollow burning furnace called Crater Nymphaei alwaies portendeth some fearefull misfortunes to the Apolloniates the neighbours thereby as Theoponpus hath reported It increaseth with showers of raine and casteth out Bitumen to be compared with that fountaine or water of Styx that is not to be tasted otherwise weaker than all Bitumen besides But who would maruell at these things in the mids of the sea Hiera one of the Aetolian Islands neere to Italy burned together with the sea for certaine daies together during the time of the allies war vntill a solemne embassage of the Senat made expiation therefore But that which burneth with the greatest fire of all other is a certaine hill of the Aethyopians Thoeet Ochema and sendeth out most parching flames in the hottest Sun-shine daies Lo in how many places with sundry fires Nature burneth the earth CHAP. CVII ¶ Wonders of fires by themselues MOreouer since the Nature of this onely element of fire is to be so fruitfull to breed it selfe to grow infinitely of the least sparks what may be thought will be the end of so many funerall fires of the earth what a nature is that which feedeth the most greedy voracitie in the whole world without losse of it selfe Put thereto the infinit number of stars the mighty great Sun moreouer the fires in mens bodies those that are inbred in some stones the attrition also of certain woods one against another yea and those within clouds the verie original of lightnings Surely it exceedeth all miracles that any one day should passe not al the world be set on a light burning fire since that the hollow firy glasses also set opposit against
stil while she goes after these hides whereof she fed she was by the billows of the sea cast aflote on the shore so as her back was to be seene a great deale aboue the water much like to the bottome or keele of a ship turned vpside downe Then the Emperour commanded to draw great nets and cords with many folds along the mouth of the hauen on euery side behind the fish himselfe accompanied with certaine Pretorian cohorts for to shew a pleasant sight vnto the people of Rome came against this monstrous fish and out of many hoies and barks the souldiers launced darts and jauelines thicke And one of them I saw my selfe sunke downe right with the abundance of water that this monstrous fish spouted and filled it withall The Whales called Balenae haue a certaine mouth or great hole in their forehead and therefore as they swim aflore aloft on the water they send vpon high as it were with a mighty strong breath a great quantity of water when they list like stormes of raine CHAP. VII ¶ Whether fish do breath and sleep or no. ALl writers are fully resolued in this That the Whales abouesaid as well the Balaenae as the Orcae and some few other fishes bred nourished in the sea which among other inward bowels haue lights doe breath For otherwise it were not possible that either they or any other beast without lights or lungs should blow and they that be of this opinion suppose likewise that no fishes hauing guils do draw in and deliuer their wind again to and fro nor many other kinds besides although they want the foresaid gils Among others I see that Aristotle was of that mind and by many profound and learned reasons persuaded induced many more to hold the same For mine owne part if I should speake frankely what I think I professe that I am not of their judgment For why Nature if she be so disposed may giue in steed of light some other organs and instruments of breath to this creature one to that another like as many other creaturs haue another kind of moist humor in lieu of blood And who would maruel that this vitall spirit should pierce within the waters considering thatâ—…he seeth euidently how it riseth againe and is deliuered from thence also how the aire entreth euen into the earth which is the grosest hardest of al the elements As we may perceiue by this good argument that some creatures which albeit they be alwaies couered within the ground yet liue and breath neuerthelesse and namely the Wants or Mold-warpes Moreouer I haue diuers pregnant effectuall reasons inducing me to beleeue that all water creatures breathe each one after their maner as Nature hath ordained First and principally I haue obserued oftentimes by experience That fishes evidently breath and pant for wind after a sort in the great heat of Summer as also that they yawne and gape when the weather is calme the sea still And they themselues also who hold the contrarie confesse plainly that fishes doe sleepe And if that be true How I pray you can they sleep if they take not their wind Moreouer whence come those bubbles which continually are breathed forth from vnder the water and what shall we say to those shell fishes which wax and decay in substance â—…f bodie according to the effect of the Moones encrease or decrease But aboue all fishes haue hearing and smelling and no doubt both these senses are performed and maintained by the benefit and matter of the aire for what is smell and sent but the verie aire either infected with a bad or perfumed with a good sauour How beit I leaue euery man free to his own opinion as touching these points But to returne againe to our purpose this is certaine that neither the Whales called Balaenae nor the Dolphins haue any guills and yet do both these fishes breathe at certaine pipes and conduits as it were reaching downe into their lights from the forehead in rhe Balaenes and in the Dolphins from the backe Furthermore the Sea-calues or Seales which the Latines call Phocae doe both breath and sleepe vpon the drie land So do the sea Tortoises also whereof we will write more anon CHAP. VIII ¶ Of Dolphins THe swiftest of al other liuing creatures whatsoeuer not of sea-fish only is the Dolphin quicker than the flying fowle swifter than the arrow shot out of a bow And but that this fish is mouthed far beneath his snout and in manner towards the mids of his belly there were not a fish could escape from him so light and nimble he is But nature in great prouidence fore-seeing so much hath giuen these fishes some let hinderance for vnlesse they turned vpright much vpon their backe catch they can no other fish and euen therein appeareth most of all their wonderfull swiftnesse and agilitie For when the Dolphins are driuen for very hunger to course and pursue other fishes down into the bottom of the sea and therby are forced a long while to hold their breath for to take their wind again they lance themselues aloft from vnder the water as if they were shot out of a bow and with such a force they spring vp again that many times they mount ouer the very sailes and mastes of ships This is to be noted in them that for the most part they sort themselues by couples like man and wife They are with yong nine moneths and in the tenth bring forth their little ones and lightly in Summer time and otherwhiles they haue two little dolphins at once They suckle them at their teats like as the whales or the Balaenes do yea so long as their little ones are so yong that they be feeble they carry them too and fro about them nay when they are growne to be good big ones yet they beare them companie still a long time so kind and louing be they to their young Young Dolphins come very speedily to their growth for in ten yeres they are thought to haue their full bignes but they liue thirtie yeres as hath bin known by the experience and triall in many of them that had their taile cut for a marke when they were yong and let go again They lie close euery yere for the space of thirty daies about the rising of the Dog-starre but it is strange how they be hidden for no man knowes how and in very deed a wonder it were if they could not breath vnder the water Their manner is to breake forth of the sea and come aland and why they should so do it is not known for presently assoon as they touch the dry ground they die and so much the sooner for that their pipe or conduit aboue-said incontinently closeth vp and is stopped Their tongue stirreth within their heads contrary to the nature of all other creatures liuing in the waters the same is short and broad fashioned like vnto that of a swine Their voice resembleth the
other by these incisures cuts and wrinckles but they appeare only either vnder the belly or vpon the backe aboue and go no deeper neither yet round the whole compasse of the body But a man shall perceiue in them certaine rings or circles apt to bend and wind to and fro and those so plated and plaited one ouer another that in nothing elswhere is more seen the workmanship of Nature than in the artificiall composition of these little bodies CHAP. II. ¶ The industrie and subtiltie of Nature inframing these Insects IN bodies of any bignes or at least-wise in those of the greater sort Nature hadno hard pieâ—…e of work to procreate forme and bring all parts to perfection by reason that the matter wherof they be wrought is pliable and will follow as she would haue it But in these so little bodies nay pricks and specks rather than bodies indeed how can one comprehend the reason the power and the inexplicable perfection that Nature hath therin shewed How hath she bestowed all the fiue senses in a Gnat and yet some therebe lesse creatures than they But I say where hath she made the seat of her eies to see before it where hath she set disposed the tast where hath she placed and inserted the instrument and organ of smelling and aboue all where hath she disposed that dreadful and terrible noise that it maketh that wonderfull great sound I say in proportion of so little a body can there be deuised a thing more finely cunningly wrought than the wings set to her body Marke what long-shanked legs aboue ordinary she hath giuen vnto them See how she hath set that hungry hollow concauitie in stead of a belly hath made the same so thirstie and greedy after bloud and mans especially Come to the weapon that it hath to pricke pierce and enter through the skinne how artificially hath shee pointed and sharpened it and being so little as it is as hardly the finenesse thereof cannot be seen yet as if it were of bignesse capacity answerable fâ—…amed it she hath most cunningly for a twofold vse to wit most sharpe pointed to pricke and enter and withall hollow like a pipe for to sucke in and conuey the bloud through it Come to the Wood-worme what manner of teeth hath Nature giuen it to bore holes and eat into the very heart of hard Oke who heareth not the sound that she makes whiles she is at her work For in wood and timber is in manner all her feeding We make a wonder at the monstrous and mighty shoulders of Elephants able to carry turrets vpon them We maruell at the strong and stiffe necks of buls and to see how terribly they will take vp things and tosse them aloft into the aire with their hornes We keepe a wondering at the rauening of Tygres and in the shag manes of Lions and yet in comparison of these Insects there is nothing wherein Nature and her whole power is more seene neither sheweth she her might more than in the least creatures of all I would request therfore the Readers that in perusing this treatise they will not come with a preiudicate opinion nor because many of these silly flies and wormes be contemptible in their eies disdaine loath and contemne the reports that I shall make thereof seeing there is nothing either in Natures workes that may seeme superfluous or in her order vnworthy our speculation CHAP. III. ¶ Whether Insects do breath and whether they haue bloud or no DIuers haue denied that they breath at al and vpon this reason they ground their position Because they haue no arterie or wind-pipe annexed or reaching to any instrument within of respiration And they be of opinion that they liue indeed as plants herbes and trees howbeit say they there is a great difference betweene hauing life and drawing wind or vitall breath And by the same rule they affirme that they haue no bloud which is in none that bee without heart and liuer Neither do any things breath which want lungs And from hence ariseth a world of other questions thereupon depending For the same men deny statly that these creatures haue any voice notwithstanding so great humming of bees singing sound of grashoppers and such other whereof we will consider in due time place accordingly Verily for mine owne part the more I looke into Natures workes the sooner am I induced to beleeue of her euen those things that seem incredible Neither do I see any inconvenience to thinke that these Insects may as well draw wind and breath without lungs as liue without such noble and principall parts as are requisite for life in other creatures according as we haue already shewed in the discourse of fishes and such like that liue in the sea how soeuer the quantitie depth and heights of the water may seeme to impeach and stop their breath For who would easily beleeue that some creatures should flie at libertie and liuing as they do in the mids of wind and aire yet want wind and breath themselues that they should haue a sense and care to seek their liuing to engender to worke and to forecast for the time to come and howbeit they haue no distinct members to carry as it were in a ship their seuerall sences yet that they should heare smell and taste yea and be indued with other singular gifts besides of Nature to wit wisdome courage skill and industrie Indeed confesse I must that bloud they haue none no more haue all creatures that liue vpon the land howbeit a moist humor they haue somewhat like vnto bloud which serues them in stead thereof Like as in Cuttels of the sea there is found a certain blacke liquor in stead of bloud and in all the sort of Purples and such shel fishes that excellent iuice which staineth dieth so as it doth Semblably in these Insects whatsoeuer humor it is whereby they liue the same may well enough go for bloud and so be called all the while that euery man hath liberty to giue it what name he thinketh fittest As for me my purpose is not to judge and determine of these doubtfull quillets and their causes but to set down and shew the nature of such things as be cleare and apparent CHAP. IIII. ¶ The substance of the body in these Insects THese Insects so far as a man may perceiue seeme not to haue either sinewes or bones no chine nor gristle no fat no flesh ne yet so much as a tender and brittle shell as some Sea-fishes haue nor that which may be truly called a skin but a certain corporal substance of a middle nature between all these for their body without is like a dry thing and yet more tender and soft than a sinew whereas in all other parts the matter is to be accounted rather drie than hard This is the very substance whereof they consist and nothing haue they besides For within there is nought vnlesse it be in some
more gainfull nor groweth to a better reckoning than it for twenty yeres space after it is laid vp neither is there greater losse againe by any thing if ye passe that terme by reason that the price will not grow and arise accordingly for seldom hath it bin knowne to this day and neuer but at some excessiue riot and superfluous expence of wine that an Amphore hath beene sold for a thousand Sesterces True it is indeed that they of Vienna only haue made better reckoning of their wines and sold them deerer I meane those that giue a taste of pitch the seuerall kinds whereof wee haue deliuered before but they are thought so to do among themselues only and for the loue of their countrey that it might haue the names of wines so deere and costly To conclude this wine of Vienna is reputed colder than the rest when the question is of cold drinke and that the body is to be cooled CHAP. V. ¶ Of the Nature of Wine THe nature and property of wine is to heat the bowels within if it be drunke and to coole the exterior parts if it be applied outwardly And here it shall not be amisse to rehearse in this very place that which Androcydes the noble sage and wise Philosopher wrote vnto K. Alexander the Great for to correct and reforme his intemperate drinking of wine whereto he was very prone and ouermuch giuen My good Lord saith he remember when you take your wine that you drinke the very bloud of the earth Hemlock you know sir is poison to man euen so is wine to Hemlock Now if that Prince had bin so wise as to haue obeied these precepts of his certes he could neuer haue killed his best friends as he did in his fits of drunkennesse In sum this may be truely said of wine that being taken soberly and in measure nothing is moreprofitable to the strength of the body but contrariwise there is not a thing more dangerous and pernicious than the immoderate drinking thereof CHAP. VI. ¶ Of kindly Wines made of the best Grapes WHo doubteth that some Wines be made more pleasant and acceptable than others nay out of the very same vat ye shall haue wines not alike in goodnesse but that some go before their brethren pressed though they be at one time and from the same kinde of grape which may be long either of the vessell whereinto they be filled or of some accidentall occasion and therefore as touching the excellency of wine let euery man be his own taster and judge The Empresse Iulia Augusta would commonly say That she was beholden to the Pucine wine for liuing as she did 82 yeares for she neuer vsed to drink any other This wine came of the grape that grew along the Adriaticke sea or Venice gulfe vpon a stony and raggie hill not far from the source or spring of the riuer Timavus nourished with the vapors breathed from the sea and many Amphores there were not drawne thereof at a vintage and by the iudgement of all men there is not a wine more medicinable than it is I would thinke verily therefore that the wine Pyctanon which the Greekes so highly praise is the very same for it commeth from the coasts of the Adriaticke sea The Emperor Augustus Caesar preferred the Setine wine before all others and after him in manner all the Emperors his successors for the ordinary experience they found thereby That lightly the liquor of that wine would not hinder digestion nor breed raw humors in the stomack and this wine commeth of the grape about the towne Forum Appij Before that time the wine Caecubum was in best account and the vines which yeelded it grew to the Poplars in the marish grounds within the tract of Amyclae But now is that Wine cleane gone as well through the negligence of the peisants of that countrey as the streights of the place and so much the rather by reason of the ditch or trench which Nero caused to be made nauigable beginning at the lake or gulfe Baianus and reaching as far as to Ostia In the second degree of excellency are ranged the wines of the Falerne territorie and principally that which came from the vineyards Faustian and this excellency it grew vnto by passing good order and carefull husbandry How be it this wine also in these daies beginneth to grow out of name and request whiles men loue rather to haue plenty from their vines than otherwise lay for the goodnesse thereof Now these Falerne vineyards begin at the Campaine bridge on the left hand as men go to the city-colony erected by Sylla and lately laid to Capua vnder the iurisdiction therof But the Faustian vineyards lie about 4 miles from a village neere Cediae which village is from Sinuessa six miles distant And to say a truth this Faustian wine is inferiour to none in reputation so piercing and quicke it is that it will burne of a light flame a propertie that you shall not see in any other wine Three sorts there be of these Falerne wines the first be hard and harsh the second sweet and pleasant the third thin and small But some haue distinguished them in this wise those that come from the top of the hills be called Gaurane wines from the mids Faustian and last of all from the bottom and foot thereof the Falerne But by the way this would not be forgotten That the grapes whereof be made these wines so singular and excellent are nothing pleasant to the tast for to be eaten As touching the Albane wines from about Alba neere the city of Rome they reach to the third ranke in goodnesse for a certain varietie they haue in their tast sweetish they be and yet otherwhiles they haue an vnripe harsh rellish of the wood tast like the hedge-wine In like maner the wines of Surrentum namely those of grapes growing only in vineyards are excellent good for weak persons that be newly recouered of sicknesse so small they are and wholesome withal And in truth Tyberius Caesar was wont to say That the Physitians had laid their heads together and agreed to giue the Surrentine wine so great a name for otherwise it was no better than a very mild and pleasant vineger and C. Caligula his successor in the Empire vsed to say of it That for a wine that had lost the heart and was a going it was very good The Massike wines which come from the Gaurane hils looking toward Puteoli and Bajae come nothing behind the rest but striue to match them euery way For as touching the Statane vineyards that confine and border vpon the Falerne their wines doubtlesse are now come to be the principall and chiefe of all the rest whereby it is euidently seen that euery territory and vine-plot hath their times and seasons like as all other things in the world one while râ—…se and another while fall For in times past the Calene wines made of the grapes growing hard by
time most of all Which being done by great paine and labour of man or happening through raine and plenty of showers vnlesse there insue a drie season faire weather to extenuate that grosse substance into which the Oliue had turned the foresaid iuice and humor all the oile is consumed and lost For it is heat nothing els as Theophrastus saith which ingendreth oile therfore both about the presse at first also in the very garners where Oliues be laid after they vse to keep good fires by that means to draw the more oile forth A third default there is in oile and that comes of two much sparing and niggardise for some men there are who being loth to be at cost to pluck and gather Oliues from the tree wait still and looke that they should fal of themselues And such folke as would seeme yet to keepe a meane herein namely to take some paines and be at a little cost beat and pell them downe with perches and poles whereby they do offer wrong to the poore trees â—…ea and hinder themselues not a little the yeare following when they shall find how much it is out of their way thus to break their boughes and branches Whereupon the law in old time prouided well for this inconuenience by an expresse inhibition to all gatherers of Oliues in these words No man so hardie as to breake strike and beat the Oliue tree But they that go most warily and gentlâ—… to worke stand vnder the tree and with some canes shake the boughes and branches therewith or lightly smite them but in no case let driue and lay at them either with full down-right or crosse-blowes And yet as heedfull as they be in so doing this good they get by striking and knapping off the young shootes and sprigs which should beare the next yeare that they haue the trees carry fruit but once in two yeares for it The like hapneth also if a man stay till they fall of themselues for by sticking on the tree beyond their due time they rob the oliues to come after of all their nutriment wherewith they should be fed and detaine the place likewise where they should come forth and grow An euident proofe hereof is this That oliues vnlesse they be gathered before the ordinary yearely western winds do blow they gather heart again vpon the tree wil not so easily fall as before Men vse therefore to gather the Pausian Oliues first after Autumne which are fullest of carnosity not so much by nature as by misgouernement and disorder soone after the round Orchitae which haue plenty of oile then the oliues Radij and these forasmuch as they be most tender and soonest ouercome with abundance of the lees which we called before Amurca are therby forced to fal Howbeit such oliues as be thick skinned and hard tough also and admitting no wet rain by which means they are the least of all others wil abide on the tree til March and namely the Licinian Oliues the Cominian Contian Sergian which the Sabins eal roial all which change not colour look black before the foresaid Western wind blowes that is about the 6 day before the Ides of February for by that time folk think they begin to ripen Now for as much as the best most approued oile is made of them it seems that reason also being conformable to this defect of theirs justifies aproues the same in the end And this is commonly receiued and held among them that cold winters breed scarcity and dearth but ful maturity brings plenty namely when they haue leisure to ripen on the tree howbeit this goodnes is not occasioned by the time but by the nature rather of those kind of oliues which be long ere they turn into the foresaid dregs Amurca Men are also as much deceiued in this that when Oliues be gathered they keep them vpon borded floors in sellars and garners will not presse them before they haue swet whereas in truth the longer they lie the lesse oile they yeeld the more dregs of lees For by this means the ordinary proportion they say is to presse out of euery Modius of Oliues not aboue 6 pound of oile But no man makes any reckoning of the lees howmuch it increases in measure day by day in one the very same kind of Oliues the longer that they be kept ere they be pressed In one word it is a common error setled euery where that men do think the abundance of oile is to be esteemed according to the bignes of the oliues considering that the plenty of oile consists not in the greatnes of the fruit as may appeare by those that of some are called Roiall of others Majorinae and Phauliae which euery man knoweth are the biggest and fairest Oliues to see to yet otherwise haue least oile in them of any others Likewise in Aegypt the oliues are most fleshie ful of pulp howbeit least oleous As for the country Decapolis of Syria the oliues indeed be very smal there no bigger than Capers yet commended they are for their carnosity And for that cause the oliues from the parts beyond sea are preferred before the Italian for goodnesse of meat and as better to be eaten yet those of Italy yeeld more oile And euen within Italy the Picene and Sidicine oliues surpasse the rest For in truth these are first confected and seasoned with salt or els as all others prepared condite either with lees of oile or wine cuit Some oliues there be which they suffer to swim alone as they be in their owne oile without any help and addition of other things and such be called Colymbades And the same they vse otherwhiles to bruise and cleanse from their stones and then confect them with green herbs which haue some pleasant commendable taste Others there are which being otherwise very green and vnripe are presently brought to maturity and made mellow by lying infused and soking in hot scalding water And a wonder it is to see how Oliues wil drink in a sweet liquor and how by that means they may be made toothsome yea and to carry the tast of any thing that a man would haue them Among oliues there be also that are of colour purple like to those grapes which change colour when they begin to ripen Moreouer besides the aboue named sorts of oliues there be some named Superbae i. proud Also there are Oliues to be found which being dried by themselues onely are passing sweet yea and more delicate than raisins mary these are very geason and yet such are in Africke and about the city Emerita in Portugall As touching the very oile it self the way to preserue it from being ouerfat and thick is with salt If the barke of an Oliue tree be slit and cut it will receiue the rellice and smell of any medicinable spice and the oile thereof wil seem aromatized otherwise pleasant in tast it
and the same haue risen againe of themselues without mans helpe This happened during the wars against the Cymbrians to the great astonishment of the people of Rome who thereupon gathered a fore-tokening of great consequence for at Nuceria in the groue of Iuno there was an old Elme fell and after the head was lopped off because it light vpon the very altar of Iuno it arose of it own accord and that which more is immediatly vpon it put forth blossoms and flourished And this was obserued That from that very instant the majesty of the people of Rome began to take heart reuiue and rise again which had bin decaied and infeebled by so many and so great losses that the Romans hed receiued The like chanced by report neer the city Philippi vnto a Willow tree which was fallen downe and the head of it cut off clean semblably to an Aspen tree at Stagyrae neere vnto the colledge or publik place of Exercise there And all these were fortunate presages of good luck But the greatest wonder of all other was this of a Plane tree in the Isle Antandros which was not only fallen but also hewed and squared on all sides by the Carpenter and yet it rose againe by it selfe and recouered the former greennesse and liued notwithstanding it bare 15 cubits in length foure elnes in thicknesse and compasse All trees that we are beholden vnto the goodnesse of Nature for we haue by 3 means for either they grow of their owne accord or come of seed or else by some shoot springing from the root As for such as we inioy by the art and industry of men there be a great number more of deuises to that effect whereof we will speake apart in a seuerall booke for that purpose For the present our treatise is of trees that grow in Natures garden onely wherein she hath shewed her selfe many waies after a wonderfull manner right memorable First and formost as we haue shewed and declared before euery thing will not grow in euery place indifferently neither if they be transplanted will they liue This happeneth sometimes vpon a disdaine otherwhiles vpon a peeuish forwardnesse and contumacie but oftner by occasion of imbecility and feeblenesse of the very things that are remoued and translated nay one while the climate is against it enuious otherwhiles the soile is contrary therunto The balm tree can abide no other place but Iury. The Assyrian Pome-citron tree will not beare elswhere than in Syria As for the Date-tree it scornes to grow vnder all climats or if it be brought to that passe by transplanting it refuseth to beare fruit But say that it fortune by some meanes that she giueth some shew and apparance of fruit she is not so kind as to nourish and reare vp to perfection that which she brought forth forced against her will The Cinnamon shrub hath no power and strength to indure either the aire or earth of Syria notwithstanding it be a neere neighbor to the naturall region of her natiuity The daintie plants of Amomum or Spikenard may not away with Arabia howbeit they be brought out of India thither by sea for king Seleucus made triall therof so strange they are to liue in any other country but their own Certainly this is a most wonderful thing to be noted That many times the trees for their part may be intreated to remoue into a forrain country and there to liue yea and otherwhiles the ground and soile may be persuaded and brought to accord so wel with plants be they neuer such strangers that it will feed and nourish them but vnpossible it is to bring the temperature of the aire and the climat to condiscend thereto and be fauourable vnto them The Pepper-trees liue in Italy the shrub of Casia or the Canell likewise in the Northerly regions the Frankincense tree also hath been knowne to liue in Lydia but where were the hot gleames of the Sunne to bee found in those regions either to dry vp the waterish humor of the one or to concoct and thicken the gumme and Rosine of the other Moreouer there is another maruell in Nature welneare as great as that namely that shee should so change and alter in those same places and yet exercise her vertues and operations otherwhiles againe as if there were no change nor alteration in her She hath assigned the Cedar tree vnto hot countries and yet wee set it to grow in the mountaines of Lycia and Phrygia both She hath so appointed and ordained that cold places should be hurtfull and contrary to Bay-trees howbeit there is not a tree prospereth better nor groweth in more plenty vpon the cold hill Olympus than it About the streights of the Cimmerian Bosphorus and namely in the city Panticapaeum both K. Mithridates and also the inhabitants of those quarters vsed all meanes possible to haue the Lawrel and the Myrtle there to grow only to serue their turns when they should sacrifice to the gods it would neuer be did they what they could and yet euen then there were good store of trees there growing of a warm temperature there were Pomegranates and Fig-trees plenty and now adaies there be Apple-trees and Pyrries in those parts of the best and daintiest sort Contrariwise ye shall not find in all that tract any trees of a cold nature as Pines Pitch-trees and Firres But what need I to goe as farre as to Pontus for to auerre and make good my word Goe no farther than Rome hardly and with much adoe will any Chestnut or Cherrie trees grow neere vnto it no more than Peach-trees about the territory of Thusculum And worke enough there is to make hazels and filbards to like there turne but to Tarracina thereby ye shall meet with whole woods full of Nut-trees CHAP. XXXIII ¶ Of the Cypresse tree That oftentimes some new plants do grow out of the ground which were neuer knowne to be there beforetime THe Cypresse hath bin counted a meere stranger in Italy most vnwilling there to grow as we may see in the works of Cato who hath spent more words and made oftner mention of the Cypresse alone than of all other trees whatsoeuer Much ado there is with it before it come vp and as hard it is to grow and when all is done the fruit is good for nothing The berries that it beareth be wrinckled and nothing louely to the eie the leaues wherewith it is clad bitter in tast a strong and violent smell it hath with it not so much as the very shade therof is delectable and pleasant and the wood but small not solide but of an hollow substance insomuch as a man may range it among the kinds of shrubs Consecrated is this tree to Pluto therefore men vse to set a bough thereof as a signe before those houses wherein a dead corpes lieth vnder bourd As touching the female Cypresse it is long ere shee beareth The Cypresse tree for all this in the end
and yee shall see it branching and curled as if it shed teares and those trickling down In euery kind of wood whatsoeuer the crisped graine will not take glew and beare a joynt Some wood it is impossible to glew and joyne with peeces of their owne kind much lesse of other wood as the hard Oke Robur And lightly ye shall not haue peeces of a diuers nature knit and vnite well in a joint no more than if a man should go about to glew join stone wood together The Seruise tree wood canot in any wise sort in a joynt with the Corneil wood no more can the Hornbeame and the Box after them the Tillet or Linden wood may hardly away with his societie To speak generally whatsoeuer wood is gentle and apt to bend such as we cal pliant the same is good and easy to be wrought to any work that a man would haue to which you may put the Myrtle and wild Fig-tree Durable and handsome withall either to be cut squared clouen or sawen are all those kinds of wood which be by nature moist As for drie peeces of timber they giue not way so fast to the saw as greene and yet you must except the Oke and the Box wood which although they be greene do stiffely with stand the saw-gate choking and filling vp their teeth euen by which meanes the slit is hindred and the worke goeth not forward which is the cause also that the sawvers draw vp let downe the saw twice before the teeth send from them any dust into the pit As for the Ash it is most easie to be wrought put it to what vse you will and makes the fairest worke and namely for horsemens staues better it is than Hazell lighter than the Corneil and more gentle and pliable than the Seruise wood The French white Ash it will bend well for cart-thills and fellies The Elme would be very like vine-wood but that it is more ponderous and heauie The Beech is easie to be wrought into any form brittle though it be and tender yet thereof are made fine trenchers thin shindles and such like as will wind and bend euery way and therfore it is the only wood commendable for to make prettie caskets paniers and boxes The mast-Holme also may be cut into fine thin foile or leaues like plates and those also are of a daintie and pleasant colour but singular good is the wood thereof for such things as fret and weare with rubbing and namely the axle trees in wheeles and as the Holme is fit for this purpose in regard of the hard wood so the Ash likwise because it is so lyth pliable in which two respects the Elm is chosen before them both Moreouer the wood of these trees before-named are notable to make many prettie tooles that serue artizans in their daily worke and therefore it is commonly said That the wood of the wild Oliue Boxe mast-Holm Elme and Ash are excellent gooâ—… for awgre-handles and wimble stockes Of the same also are made mallets but beetle heads of the bigger sort of the Pine and Holme A great reason why these kinds of wood are the more tough and harder is when the trees haue their right season and be cut down in their best time rather than too soon and before they be come to maturity Thus it hath beene knowne that doore-hinges and hookes made of Oliue wood which otherwise is most hard if they haue rested any long time and not beene worne by shutting and opening too and fro haue put forth fresh buds as if they had growne still in the plant As for the dore-barres and bolts Cato would haue them made of Holly Bay-tree and Elme The handles and helues of rusticall tooles mattocke steeles and spade trees Hyginus willeth they should bee either of Hornebeame Holme or Cerrus For fine painell in fret-worke for seeling also and ouerlaying other wood these are the chiefe the Citron Terebinth Maple of all sorts Box Date tree Huluer Holme Elder root and the Poplar The Alder tree likewise as hath beene said affordeth certain swelling bunches hard knots which may be cut and clouen into most daintie flakes and precious leaues as faire and pleasant to the eie for their damask branch as either Citron or Maple setting which three aside there be no knurs and nodosities in any tree worth ought and of account Moreouer yee shall haue trees ordinarily in the mids toward the heart carie a more crisped and curled wood and the neerer it is to the but or root end the finer is the graine more branching also and the streaks winding in and out Loe from whence first came the superfluous expence to couer and seele one wood with another See how those trees which for their very wood were of no price are become more costly and dearer when they serue as a barke to claâ—… others that one tree forsooth by this means should be so sold many sundry times at a seueral price Thus haue been deuised I would not els thin leaues of wood like gold or siluer-foile And yet that is not all for there is come vp of late a deuise to paint and die in sundrie colors the hornes of beasts to cut and saw their teeth into thin plates and wheras at first there was fret-works only inlaid and set out with Ivorie here and there soone after it came to passe that the wood was couered all ouer therewith Neither hath the ryot and wastfull prodigality of the world staied there but proceeded farther euen to search into the deepe sea for that which might serue in stead of wood and timber Thus the tortoise shel hath been cut into flakes and leaues for want forsooth of wood vpon drie land And now of late daies certaine monstrous spirits during the Empire of Nero haue found out a deuise to disfigure the Tortoise she l also with paintings that it might be sold the dearer when it lookt like wood Thus means are wrought that the price of beds should be raised and set vp by this meanes thus they would haue the Terebinth wood to bee excessiue deare and aboue the worth thus must the Citron wood be enhaused to an higher rate and thus the Maple is counterfeited Tortoise shells are foisted in the place and bought for it To conclude of late daies the curiositie of men was such that they could not content themselues with rich and costly wood and now for to beautify and set out ther wood Tortoise shels must needs be bought there is no remedie CHAP. XLIIII ¶ The age of trees what kind of trees they be that are of least continuance Semblably of Misselto and the Priests called Druidae IF a man would consider the hidden corners of the world and the inaccessable desarts that be in it he might by infallible arguments conclude and resolue that there be some trees that haue continued time out of mind and liued infinitly But to speak of their age only that are known euen
found to be fat the white is chiefe and thereof be many sorts The most mordant and sharpest of them all is that whereof wee spake before A second kind there is of chalkish clay which our gold-smiths vse called Tripela this lieth a great depth within the earth insomuch as many times men are driuen to sinke pits 100 foot deep for it and those haue a small and narrow mouth aboue but within-forth and vnder the ground they be digged wider by reason that the veine thereof runneth many waies in manner of other mettall mines This is the marle so much vsed in Britain the strength therof being cast vpon a land will last 80 yeres and neuer yet was the man known that herewith marled the same ground twice in all his life time The third kind of white marle is that which the Greekes call Glischromargon it is no other than the Fullers chalkie clay mixed with a viscous and fatty earth The nature of it is to breed grasse better than to beare corne for after one crop of corne is taken off the ground in haruest before seed time is come for winter grain the grasse wil be so high growne that a man may cut it down and haue a plentiful after-math for hay and yet al the while that it hath corn vpon it you shall not see it to beare any grasse besides This marle continueth good 30 yeres if it be laid ouer-thick vpon a land it choketh the ground in manner of Cumine The Columbine marle the Gauls call in their language by a name borrowed of the Greeks Pelias i. Doue or Pigeon marle it is fetched out of the ground in clots and lumpes like as stones be hewed out of quarries with Sunne and the frost together it will resolue and cleaue into most thin slates or flakes This marle is as good for corne as for herbage As for sandy marle it will serue the turn for want of other yea and if the ground be cold moist and weely the husbandman will make choice thereof before other The Vbians vpon my knowledge vse to inrich their ground and make itmore battle though their territory otherwise be most fertile with any earth whatsoeuer prouided alwaies that it be digged vp three foot deep at least and laid a foot thick a deuise that no other country doth practise howbeit this soile and manner of manuring continueth good not aboue ten yeres the Heduans and Pictones haue forced their grounds and made them most plentifull with lime-stone which is found also by experience to be passing profitable for vines and oliues To come now to the ordering of this piece of husbandry the ground ought to be ploughed first before marle of any sort be cast vpon it to the end that the medicinable vertue substance thereof might the sooner and more greedily be receiued into it Now forasmuch as marle is at the first ouer-rough and hard not so free in the beginning as to resolue and turne into blade or grasse it had need of some compost or dung to be mingled with it for otherwise be it neuer so rich it will rather do harm than good to the ground by reason that it is yet strange and not acquainted therewith and yet help it this way as wel as you can it will not bring forth any plenty the first yere after it is laid on Last of all it skilleth much to consider the nature of the ground which you mean to marle for the dry marle sorteth well with a moist soile and the fatty hitteth that which is dry and lean But when the ground is of a middle temperature between both it mattereth not whether you vse the white gold-smiths chalke or the Columbine marle for either of them will serue well enough CHAP. IX ¶ The vse of ashes vpon lands of Dung what graine or pulse sowne doth make the ground more plentifull and what burneth it THe people dwelling beyond the Po make such account of ashes for to inrich the grounds withall that they prefer it before hors-muck and such like which dung because they take it to be very light they burne also into ashes for that purpose Howbeit as we haue said before in one and the same corn-land they vse not asheâ—… and mucke both at once no more doe they cast ashes in hortyards for to nourish yong trees nor in fields for some kind of corn Some are of iudgement that grapes are fed with dust who also do cast dust vpon them when they begin to bloome yea and bestrew dust vpon the roots as well of Vines as other trees Certain it is that in the prouince of Narbon they vse so to do and they are assuredly persuaded that grapes ripen better and the vintage commeth the sooner thereby because in those parts dust doth more good than the Sun As for mucke there be diuers sorts thereof and in old time much vse there was of it for in Homer we read that long ago the good old king 〈◊〉 was found laying soile and dung vpon his land with his own hands The first that deuised mucking of grounds was by report Augeaâ—… a king in Greece but Hercules divulged the practise thereof among the Italians who in regard of that inuention immortalized their K. Stercutius the son of Faunus M. Varro esteemeth the dung of Blackbirds gathered out of their bartons where they be kept in mew aboue al others He highly magnifieth and extolleth it also for that it bringeth forth so good forage to feed kine oxen and swine withall auouching for certaine that they will become fat beefe and pork with no meat sooner We must thinke well therfore and hope the best of the world now adaies since that our ancestors and forefathers so long ago had so great bartons and pens that the dung of fouls there kept was sufficient to help their hard and hungry grounds In the second degree of goodnesse Columella rangeth Pigeons dung gathered out of Doue-cotes the third place hee giueth to that of Hens and other land pullen reiecting altogether the dung of water-foule Howbeit all other Authors setting these two aside attribute with one voice and consent vnto the excrements of mans body the greatest praise for this purpose Some of them prefer mans vrine and namely when the haires of beast-hides haue bin soked therewith and quicke-lime together in the Tanners pits Others vse vrine alone by it selfe only they mingle water with it againe but in greater quantitie a good deale than they whose vrine it was did put to the wine when they drank it and good reason too for more need there is now to correct and represse the malice thereof considering that besides the natiue malignitie of the wine it selfe mans bodie hath giuen and imprinted into it a strong and vnsauorie quality Thus you may see how men labour striue and try conclusions to seed and inrich the very ground the best way they can deuise Next vnto the ordure and vrine of mans â—…ody the filthy dung of
soon after they ventured to bore a hole into the very heart of the wood and then they set fast into the pith just in the mids thereof but one Sion or graffe for by this kind of graffing impossible it was that the said pith should receiue or beare any more But afterwards they deuised a finer and more subtile inuention to graffe by cleauing the stocke gently thorough the mids and after this manner they might well set into it six imps or Sions at once as being persuaded that by such a number they might supply the defect of any if they chaunced to die or miscarry any way Now when the said clift was made they held it open with a wedge of wood put between vntill such time as the impe or graffe being thwitted thin and sharp beneath were set handsomely close within the rift In the practise of which feat many points are to be obserued first and foremost it would be considered what trees will thus sort together and be vnited namely what stock will beare this maner of engraffing and of what tree an impe or Sion will agree well to be set into it for be ye sure of this all trees are not alike neither haue they all their sap in one and the same part Vines and Figtrees are drier in the mids of the tree than in the head and toward the top they are more apt to take and conceiue and therfore from thence it is good to make choise of impes to be graffed Contrariwise the sap of Oliues is most frim about the mids and from thence they afford Sions for the tops are drie Moreouer soonest of all other doe those trees incorporate one into another if when the stock and graffe haue barks both of one nature if they blossom together at one time if they bud and put forth their spring at the same season and last of all if their saps doe agree one with another On the other side long it wil be ere they take when the stock is drie and the graffe moist or when the barke of the one is tender and of the other tough and hard Ouer and besides carefull heed must be taken in this businesse That the stocke be not clouen in a knot for the churlish hardnesse therof will not willingly receiue and entertaine a guest that choise also be made of the smoothest and fairest place in the stocke where the graffe would be set Item That the clift be not aboue 3 fingers deepe that it be streight and direct and lastly that the impe stand so close barke to barke in the socket that a man may not see between it and the stocke Virgil will in no wise haue a Sion or graffe to be taken from about the top of a tree for such are all naught But this one thing is generally held for certain That the good imps to bee graffed are those which be gathered from those armes of the tree that regard the Sun-rising in summer Item That all such graffs come from the boughs that beare well also that they be new tender shoots of the last yeare vnlesse they are to be graffed in the stock of an old tree for then there should bee chosen such as are stronger moreouer this is to be regarded that they be well budded yea and knotted too making shew and giuing good hope euen then that they would bear fruit the same yere but in any wise the same ought to be of 2 yeres growth at least and not smaller beneath toward the stocke than a mans middle finger As for the graffes the manner is to set them in the stocke with the lesser end downward when our purpose is that the tree should spread rather in breadth than run vp in hight Aboue all it would be looked wel to that they be neat and bright so as they shine againe that no part of them be seene either scorched drie with the sunne or cicatrized as it were and blistered Good hope there is that the graft will take if the pith or marrow of the sion do fall jump with the joynt so as it joyne close to the wood and inner barke of the mother stocke for this is farre better than to let it meet just and euen with the bark without-forth Moreouer a carefull eie must be had in thwitting and sharpning the graffe or imp that the heart or woody substance be not stript all naked and left bare howbeit gently and with a light hand a man must go ouer it with a fine and sharp instrument in such sort as it may go downe into the clift wedgewise no deeper than 3 fingers bredth the which may right easily be don if it be shauen and pared presently after it hath bin dipped in water Moreouer wee ought be well aduised that wee sharpen not the end of a graffe in the wind and that the barke goe not either from it or the stock As for the graffe it selfe it must be driuen downe into the clift close to the shoulder where the owne barke goeth round and from whence you began to sharpen it but take heed in thrusting and forcing therof that it stand not out of joynt ne yet that the barke thereof turne vp in wrinkles and therfore chosen they would not be which are ouer moist no more I assure you than those that be too drie for as the excessiue humiditie of the one looseneth the rind so the want of vitall moisture in the other will not suffer it to vnite concorporat Ouer and besides in the working of this feat men obserue a certain religious reuerence namely that the sions be set into the stocke when the moone is croissant to wit before the full and with both hands forsooth or els all is marred and otherwise in this businhsse there is an opinion that two hands together are put to smaller stresse and haue better stay of themselues than one alone and therefore such a moderation is right necessarie for the more forcibly the graffes be set into the stocke and the faster that they are setled the longer it will be ere they take to bear but surer they be and continue the longer contrariwise if they stand slacke the tree indeed will the sooner beare but last the lesse while Furthermore regard would be had in this case as well that the clift of the stocke gape not too much as being ouerwide for the graffe as that it be not too little and ouer-streight for feare that either it flurt it out againe or clasp it and gird it so hard that it kill it quite This principally we must take heede of at the first that there be no spill or little chip left behind in the mids of the clift nor any thing besides the graffe it selfe to fill vp the place Some there be that enter the clift first in the stock with a bill and with an osier twig tie and bind vp the very brims or edges therof which done they driue the wedges in to make such an ouerture as
Date tree grew out of the base or foot of a Columne that Caesar Dictator caused there to be erected Semblably at Rome also twice during the war between the Romans and K. Perseus there was a Date tree known to grow vpon the lanterne or top of the Capitoll temple foreshewing those victories and triumphs which afterward ensued to the great honor of the people of Rome And when this was by stormes and tempests ouerthrowne and laid along there sprung vp of it selfe in the very same place a Fig tree at what time as M. Mâ—…ssala and Caius Cassius the two Censors held their Quinquennall solemne sacrifices for the assoiling and purging of the city of Rome From which time Piso a renowmed Historiographer and Writer of good credit hath noted that the Romans were giuen ouer to voluptuousnesse and sensuality and that euer since all chastitie and honest life hath bin exiled But aboue all the prodigies that were euer seen or heard there is one that passeth and the same hapned in our age about the very time that Nero the emperor came to his vnhappy end and fall for in the Marrucine territorie there was an oliue garden belonging to Vectius Marcellus a right worshipfull knight of Rome which of it selfe remoued all and whole as it stood ouer the broad highway to a place where lay tillage and earable ground and the corn lands by way of exchange crossed ouer the said causey againe and were found in lieu of the Oliue plot or hortyard aforesaid CHAP. XXVI ¶ The remedies for the maladies and diseases of Trees NOw that I haue declared the diseases of Trees meet it is that I should set down the cure and remedies thereto Where this one thing would be first noted That of Remedies some be common to all trees others appropriate to certain Common be these following To bare and clense the roots to hil and bank them again that is to say to giue aire vnto the roots let the wind into them and contrariwise to couer them keep both wind weather from them to water them or to deriue diuert water from them to refresh their roots with the fat liquor of dung to discharge them of their burden by pruning their superfluous branches Item to giue their humors issue and as it were by way of phlebotomie to let them bloud and to skice and scrape their bark round about in maner of scarification To take downe their strength and keep them vnder that they be not too lusty proud Also if the cold hath caught their buds or burgeons therby caused them to look burnt rough and vnpleasant to slick polish smooth them again with the pumy stone These verily be the diuers helps to cure trees howbeit vsed they must be with great discretion for that which is very good for one is not so good for another and some trees require this course others that to be taken with them As for example the Cypres tree canot abide either to be dunged or watered it hateth all digging and deluing about it it may not away with cutting and pruning it is the worse for all good physick nay all remedies to others are mischiefs to it and in one word go about to medicine it you kil it All Vines and Pomegranat trees especially loue alife riuer sides desire to be watered for thereby will they thriue and prosper The Fig tree also it selfe is nourished and fed in waterie grounds but the fruit that it beareth is the poorer by that means Almond trees if they be plied with digging will either not bloome at all or else shed their floures before due time Neither must any yong plants or trees newly graffed be digged about their roots before they haue gathered sufficient strength and begin to beare fruit Most trees are willing enough to be disburdened of their superfluous and ouer-â—…ank branches like as we men can spare our nails to be pared and bush of hair to be cut when they be ouergrowne As for old trees they would be cut down hard to the ground for vsually they rise again of some shoot springing from the root and yet not all of them Regard therefore must be had that none be so vsed but such as we haue noted before as are able of nature to abide it For trees to be watered at the roots in the heate of summer it is good but in winter it is as bad In the fal of the leaf it may be wholsom it may also be hurtfull and therefore the nature of the soile would be considered for the grape-gatherer in Spain meeteth with a good vintage notwithstanding the Vines stand in a marish and fennie ground howbeit in most parts of the world besides it is thought good husbandry to draine away from the roots the very rain water that falls from aboue in Autumne About the rising of the Dog-star trees desire most of all to be wel watered and yet they would not haue too much thereof euen in that time for in case their roots be ouer-drenched and drowned therewith they will catch harm Herein also the age of trees is to be respected which in this case prescribeth what is meet and sufficient for yong trees be lesse thirsty than others also Custome is a great matter For such as haue beene vsed vnto watering must not change their old woont but they require most of all others to be vsed so still Contrariwise Those Trees which grow vpon dry grounds naturally desire no more moisture than that which is needful In the territory about Sulmo in Italy and namely within the Liberties of Fabianum the Vines which doe beare the harder and sowrer Grapes must of necessitie be watered And no maruaile for the verie lands and Corne-fields vse to haue water let in vnto them And here a wonderfull thing is to be obserued This water cherisheth the Corne but killeth all the hurtfull Grasse among and the riuer ouer flowing the lands is as good as a weeding In the same countrey the maner is in midwinter to open a sluce or draw vp their floodgates for to ouerflow their vine roots with the riuer and so much the rather if either it be an hard frost or snow lie vpon the ground And why so because the pinching cold should not burne them and this they call there by the name of Tepidare i. to giue them a kindly warmth as in a stouve see the memorable nature of this only riuer to be warme in winter and yet the same in summer is so cold that hardly a man can endure his hand in it CHAP. XXVII ¶ Of caprification or scarifying trees also the maner of dunging them TOuching the remedies for blasting as well by heat as cold I will treat in the booke next following Meane while I cannot omit one manner of cure by way of Scarification For when the bark is poore and lean by reason of some disease or mislike so as it clengs together pressing and binding the quick wood
be made of Zea than of Wheat and called it is Granum or Granatum although in Alica that be counted a fault To conclude they that wil not vse chalk do blanch and make their Frumentie white by seething milke with it and mingling all together CHAP. XII ¶ Of Pulse IT followeth now to write of the nature of Pulse among which Beanes do challenge the first ranke and principall place for thereof men haue assaied to make bread The meale of Beans is called in Latine Lomentum There is not a Pulse weigheth more than it and Beane meale makes euery thing heauier wherin it is Now adaies they vse to sel it for prouender to feed horses And indeed Beanes are dressed and vsed many waies not only to serue all kind of four-footed beasts but also for man especially For in most countries it is mingled with Frumentiâ—… corn and namely with Pannicke most of all whole and entire as it is but the more delicat and daintie way is to break and bruise it first Moreouer by ancient rites and religious ceremonies at the solemn sacrifice called Fabraria the maner was to offer vnto certain gods and goddesses Beane cakes This was taken for a strong food being eaten with a thick grewel or pottage howbeit men thought that it dulled a mans sences and vnderstanding yea and caused troublesome dreames in the night In regard of which inconueniences Pythagoras expressely forbad to eat Beanes but as some haue thought and taught it was because folke imagined that the soules of such as were departed had residence therein which is the reason also that they be ordinarily vsed and eaten at the funerals and obsequies of the dead Varro also affirmeth That the great Priest or Sacrificer called the Flamine abstains from Beanes both in those respects aforesaid as also for that there are to be seen in the floure thereof certain letters or characters that shewheauines and signs of death Further there was obserued in old time a religious ceremonie in Beanes for when they had sown their grounds their maner was of all other corne to bring back with them out of the fieldes some Beanes for good luck sake presaging thereby that their corne would returne home again vnto them and these Beanes thereupon were called in Latine Refriuae or Referiuae Likewise in all port-sales it was thought that if Beanes were entermingled with the goods offered to be sold they would be luckie and gainefull to the seller This is cerataine that of all the fruits of the earth this only will be full and sound when the Moone is croisant notwithstanding it were gnawne and halfe eaten with some thing before Set them ouer the fire in a pan with sea water or any other that is saltish they will neuerbe thoroughly sodden They are set or sowne before the retrait of the Starre Vergiliae i. the Brood-hen the first of al other Pulse because they might take root betimes and preuent the Winter And yet Virgill would haue them to be put into the ground in the Spring like as the manner is in Piemont and Lombardie all about the riuer Po. But the greater part of good Husbandmen are of this opinion That the stalke or straw of Beanes sowne early or set betimes are better than the very fruit it selfe which hath had but three months being in the ground For the cods and stalks only of Beans are passing good fodder and forage for cattell Beanes when they are blouming and in their floure desire most of al to be refreshed with good store of rain but after they haue don flouring they care for little the sowing of this Pulse in any ground is as good as a mucking vnto it for it enriches it mightily And therefore towards Macedonie and about Thessalie the manner is when Beanes begin to blossom for to turne them into the ground with the plough Beans come vp and grow in most places of their owne accord without sowing and namely in certaine Islands lying within the Northern ocean which our countrymen therupon haue named Fabariae Semblably they grow wild commonly thoroughout Mauritania but exceeding hard and tough they be and such as possibly canot be sodden tender There are likewise in Aegypt to be found Beanes with a stalk beset full of prickles or thornes which is the cause that Crocodiles wil not come neer them for feare of hurting their eyes The stemme of these Beanes is foure cubites in height but exceeding thicke and big withall tender it is notwithstanding and soft running vp euen and smooth without any knots or joints at al it caries a head in the top like Chesboule or Poppy of a rose red color wherin are contained not aboue 30 Beanes at the most The leaues be large the fruit it selfe or the Bean is bitter in tast and the smel not pleasant howbeit the root is a most dainty meat which the inhabitants do eat as wel raw as sodden and like it is to reed cane roots These grow in Syria and Cylicia as also about the lake Torone within Chalcis As touching other Pulse Lentils be sown in Nouember and so are Pease but in Greece only Lentils loue a light ground better than a fat heauie they like also drie and faire weather Two kinds thereof be found in Aegypt the one more round and blacke than the other the rest be fashioned as common Lentils According to the manifold vse and diuers effects of Lentils there haue sundrie names and denominations beene borrowed from them for I find in writers that the eating of Lentils maketh men to be mild and patient whereupon they be called Lenti and Lenes As for Pease it ought to be sowed in warm places lying well vpon the Sunne for of all things it cannot abide the cold Which is the cause that in Italie and in other countries where the clime is tough and hard they are not sowne vsually but in the Spring and folke chuse a gentle light and loose ground To come now to the Ciâ—…h pease the nature of it is to be nitrous and saltish and therefore it burneth the ground where it grows Neither must it be sowne vnlesse it were well steeped and soked in water the day before many sorts there be of these cich-pease different in bignes form colour and tast for there are both blacke and white and those in fashion shaped like to a Rams head and therupon they are so called There is a second kind named Columbinum or by others Venerium These are white round light lesse than the former Rams-head ciches which men do eat ceremoniously with great religion when they meane to watch thoroughly all night long There is a little cich pease also called Cicercula made cornered and otherwise vneuen like vnto a Pease But the best ciches and most pleasant are those that come neerest in resemblance to the Eruile and generally the red kind and the black are more firm and fast than the white cich pease grow within round cods whereas other Pulse
vnskilfull in this part of Philosophie as touching the course and order of the Starres which beeing not onely discouered but also assoiled and cleared their minds with better contentment may goe from the contemplation of heauen to the rest of Natures workes and see those things by the effects which they could not possibly foresee by their causes CHAP. XXV ¶ The times and seasons of the rising and setting of Starres digested into order as well by day as night IN the first place there offereth it selfe vnto vs one difficultie aboue the rest so intricate as hardly is it possible to resolue vpon it namely as touching the very daies of the yere how many they be in number and the reuolution of the Sunne how and when he returneth againe to to the same point For wheras some do account the solare yere to be 365 daies just others adde thereunto certaine quadrants or foure parts of day and night together to wit six houres euery yeare which beeing put together make the fourth yeare Bissextile or Leape yeare so as it is in manner impossible to assigne the certaine daies and houres of the Starres apparition or occultation Ouer and besides how obscure how darke and confused all this matter is appeareth manifestly herin That the times and seasons of the yere prefixed by ancient writers fal not out accordingly and namely in the obseruation of the winter seasons tempests by them set down for one while you shall haue them to preuent and come sooner by many daies than ordinarie which the Greekes call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 another while to draw back and come later which they terme 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Yea and for the most part this happeneth by reason that the influence of the coelestiall starres reacheth sooner or later to the earth and therafter sheweth the effects so as the common people when they see the said foule weather past and all cleare and faire againe say then and not before That such a planet or Starre hath performed his course and is vpon the point of his Tropicke or return againe Moreouer considering that al these occurrents depend much vpon those stars which be set fixed in the firmament yet shall ye haue the Planets play their parts besides which by their motions and operations worke no small effects vpon the earth as we haue shewed before and namely causing betweene-whiles stormes of raine and haile out of course no maruell then If they trouble our heads and put vs out of our account interrupting that order of the fixed Stars vpon which we conceiued and built our hope of the faire season and our new spring And herin not we only that be men faile of our reckoning but other liuing creatures also be deceiued which naturally haue much more sense and vnderstanding of these workes of Nature than we in as much as their whole life standeth thereupon for the Summer-birds as great fore-sight as they haue of such seasons and tempests are ouer-taken and killed by Winter frosts and cold comming sooner than they looked for and before they be gone out of the countrey as also winter foules miscarrie by the hot weather of summer continuing longer than it was woont and holding on still after they be come Hereupon it is that Virgil expressely willeth vs to learne throughly the skill of the wandring Starres or Planets also and principally giueth vs warning to marke the course of that cold Planet Saturne But now to come more particularly to the signs which fore-token the Spring some there be that goe by the Butterflie and hold that their brood comming abroad is an assured token that the Spring is come for that these creatures so feeble are not able to abide any cold howbeit this was checked that very yere wherin I wrote this Book or History of Natures work for seen it was and marked very well that 3 flights of them one after another were killed with the cold weather that surprised them thrice for that they were stirring too early and came abroad ouersoon Yea and the very birds who are our guests in warm weather visited vs fiue or sixe daies before Februarie made a goodly shew of a timely Spring putting vs in good hope that al cold weather was gone howbeit there ensued a most bitter after winter streight vpon it that nipped and killed them in manner euerie one Hard and doubtfull therefore is the case that whereas first and principally we were to fetch our rule from the heauens to guide and direct vs then afterwards we should be driuen to goe by other signes and arguments meere conjecturall But aboue all the cause of this incertitude and difficultie is partly the conuexity of the cope of heauen and partly the diuerse climats obserued in the globe of the earth by meanes whereof one and the same star seemeth to rise at sundrie times in diuerse countres and appears sooner or later to some than to others and therefore the cause depending thereupon is not in all places of like validity nor sheweth the same effects alwaies at the same times And yet there is one difficultie more arising from those Authors who writing of one and the same thing haue deliuered diuers opinions according to the sundry climates wherein they were at what time as they obserued the figure and constitution of the heauens Now were there of these Astronomers three Sects to wit the Chaldaeans the Aegyptians and the Greekes To which there may be added a fourth which among vs Caesar the Dictatour first erected who obseruing the course of the Sun and taking with him also the aduise of Sosigenes a learned Mathematitian and skilfull Astronomer in his time reduced the yeare vnto the said reuolution Howbeit in this calculation of his there was found an error and short he came of the marke which he aimed at by reason that there was no Bissextile or leap yere by him inserted but after 12 yeres Now when it was obserued by this reckoning that the sun had performed his reuolution sooner than the yere turned about which before was wont to preuent the course of the Sun this error was reformed and after euery fourth yeare expired came about the Bissextile aforesaid and made al streight Sosigenes also himselfe albeit he was reputed a more curious and exquisite Mathematician than the rest yet in three seuerall treatises that he made retracting or correcting that in one booke that he had set down in another seemed euermore to write doubtfully and left the thing in as great ambiguitie vndertermined as he found it As for these writers whose names I haue alleadged prefixed in the front of this present volume now in hand they haue likewise deliuered their opinions as touching this point but hardly shal you find two of them in one the same mind Lesse maruell then if the rest haue varied one from another who may pretend for their excuse the diuers tracts and climates wherein they wrote As for those who liued
names thereof in former times ibid. it brought forth that noble Citizen Cadmus ibid. Millet how it groweth in the head and beareth fruit 558. h it maketh diuerse kindes of bread ibid. Milke rained See Raine Indish Millet of greatest encrease ibid. i Milke of a woman before shee haue gone seuen moneths is not good 548. g Millet where it is much vsed 555. f. 556. g Milke vsed in sacrifice 418. h of Milke a discourse 348. h Milke of a woman how it is most pleasant ibid. Millet how to be ordered for preuenting maladies incident thereto 575. d Milke that commeth first from a Cow is called Beestings it will be as hard as a pumish stone ibid. Milke of shee Asses when it is not good ibid. Milke of Cammels most thin 348. i Milke-way what circle 599. c Milke of Asses most thicke ib. it whiteth womans skin ibid. Milke of all sorts will thicken by the fire ibid. Minutius Augurius honoured with a statue 551. c Misselto a wonder in Nature 496. h Misselto vpon the Oke 460. m Misselto of three kindes 496. g Misselto of what tree it groweth ibid. k Misselto how it groweth and whereupon it commeth ibid. m Misselto for what it is thought good 497. d Mines of brasse who first digged 188. i Mists when they are seene 29. b a kinde of Mist like vnto a pillar and so called 23. a Milo his strength 166. m Militarie orders and discipline who first deuised 189. c M O Modenna a territorie 39. d Mola a Moone-calfe 163. c a Monster embaulmed and preserued in hony 158. g Molluscum what it is 467. a Monstrous births 157. f Monarchie who first erected 189. a Mona an Island 36. k Monkie 206. h Monoceros what kinde of beasts 212. h Monosceli what kinde of men 156. g Moon her nature motion and effect 6. l. the diuerse motions hereof obserued first by Endimion who therefore is said to be in loue with her 7. a. eclipse thereof in the night only and why 7. d. See further in Eclipse Moone lesse than the other Planets and the reason thereof 9. f. what difference there is betweene the earth and the Moone 14. i Moon how many furlongs from the cloudy region tâ—… her 14 m Moone in the middest between the earth and the Sun 15. b Moon calfe what it is 163. e Moon to be obserued in cutting hair of head beard 488 i Moone to be obserued in falling timber 487. e Moones threè appeared 18. g. by her power grow the bodies of sisters Muskles 20. i. foresheweth wind and weather 611. e Moone with all power it hath ouer things on earth and in the sea 44. c. creatures that haue no bloud doe most of all feele her power ibid. a Planet feminine and of her nature 44. k. nourished by the fresh water ibid. how to be knowne croisant in the wane full and change 607. d to be obserued in some points of husbandrie 607. b Moone-calues how engendred 304. a Moramarusa what 85. c Morphnos a kinde of Aegle 271. e Mosses sweet 375. e Mouldwarpes vndermine a towne 212. h Mouldwarpes passe vs in the sence of hearing 306. g Mould blacke and red not alwaies best 502. k M V Mucke when best to be spread 508. i Muckhils how made and where ib. how kept froÌ„ snakes ib. Muing of foules who first deuised 297. c Mulberry tree lasteth long aad why 474. g Mulberries described 447. c. it is of three colours ibid. Mulberies of the bramble 447. d Mulberrie trees the wisest of all others 472. l. how to be cut for the liquor thereof 486. h. they giue signe that cold weather is gone 494. h Mules how engendred 223. f. which be so called properly 224. h. bearing foles prodigious ibid. in Cappadocia they engender and beare ibid. Mullets their nature 245. 〈◊〉 a Mule eighteen yeares old 224. i Mulvianâ—… Quinces 436. h Mures Marini what they be 247. b Murex what fish 249. a Munkies and Marmosetes adore the new Moone 231. e Muscadell grapes and wines See Apianae Musicke who first inuented 189. d Musicall instruments ibid. Mushromes 460. l Mustea what Quinces 436. h M Y Myagirus the god of the Elaeans 285. a Myrobalanus See Ben. Myrobalanos Petraea 374. k Myrtles of sundry kindes 451. d Myrtle Hexastica ibid. why so called ibid. Myrtle tree lasteth long 494. l Myrtles of three principall kindes 451. c Myrtle berries vsed in stead of Pepper 450. l Myrtle growing in the place where Rome standeth ibid. m Myrtle Plebeia and patritia at Rome 451. b Myrtle Coniugula ibid. c Myrice 398. m Myrrhina what wine 419. a Myrrhe Atramiticke 369. b Myrrhe Ausaritis ibid. Myrrhe Dusaritis ibid. Myrrhe trees where they grow 368. k. their description ib. l Myrrhe of sundry sorts 369. b Myrtle berries of diuerse kindes ibid. d. how counterfeit ib. Myrtle leaues in pouder very good 451. e Myrtle wine how made 451. d Myrtle oyle the vse thereof ibid. e Myrtle coronets vsed in triumph 452. g Myrtle rods and rings to what vse ibid. N A NAcre a kinde of fish 261. c Naevius Pollio a giant 165. h Names of Uine sprigs or sets 526. k. 527. a of Nailes a discourse 349. f Naphtha the strange nature thereof and affinitie it hath with fire 47. a Naphtha what it is ibid. Nard leafe of three sorts 364. k Nard the best ibid. l Nard Celticke ibid. m Nard Rusticke ibid. Narcissimum ointment 381. d Nardinum oyle 382. k Nardus sophisticated and true how distinguished 364. k root spike and leafe ibid. Actius Nauius the Augur 443. d Nathecusa Island 40. k Nature onely accounted of diuine power 5. b Nature of wild trees mitigated by translating them 510. l. Natures secrets not to be attained vnto ibid. i Nature or ground diuerse 506. l Nauell the place where veines do meet 345. e Nabis a kinde of beast 205. d Navew See Rape Navigation who deuised 190. g. Nauigations vpon the sea 32. k. by whom the parts thereof were sailed and discouered ibid. Nauplius a fish how it swimmeth 252. h Nautilos or Pompiles a fish and wonder of Nature 150. l Nayles grow in dead men 550. g Nayles are the extremities of the fingers 345. 〈◊〉 Nayles in creatures except the Elephant ibid. N E Nea Island 40. g Necke how it is composed 339. a Neckes of all beasts may turne about ibid. Needle fishes Belonae 266. h Needle worke whose inuention 228. i Nemesis her place behind the right eare 250. k Neptune his chappell famous for the games there vsed euery fiue yeares 74. m Nereides See Meremaids Nerion See Oleander Nero how he tooke out the blew and blacke markes in his face after beating 400. h Nero borne with his feet forward 160. h Nero how much Incense he wasted at the funerall of Poppea 371. e Neasts wonderfully made by birds 288. l sea-Nettle a fish 262. i N I Nicaeus borne of his mother afaire woman resembled his Grand-father a blacke Aethiopian 161. b Nicias ouer
naturally into the world with their heads forward 304. i Querquetulana a gate in Rome 462. g Quinces why called Cydonia 436. g Quinces of diuers kindes ibid. h. how to be kept and preserued 440. i Quincius Cincinnatus sent for from the plough to be Dictatour of Rome 552. g Quintiana Prata 552. g Quisquilium See Cusculeum R A RAdij what oliues 429. c Radish keepeth away drunkennesse 242. l Ragged apples 438. l Raine food of trees 500. i Raine in midsummer nought for vines ibid. k Raine in Winter most in season for plants 501. b Raine at the same time helpeth not all trees ibid. Raine by night better than by day 501. e Raine how it is caused 20. k Raine strange and prodigious of milke bloud brickes tyles c. 27. f. 28. g Raine not at all in some lands 42. h Raine water saued for ordinary vse to drinke 146. m Raine-bow sheweth what weather 612. m Rainebow the nature and reason thereof 28. l. m Ram-fish his manners 262. h Rams and their nature 226. m Rams generally armed with crooked hornes 331. c Ranke corne how to beremedied 576. Rankenesse hurtfull to corne 482. g Rapes and their vse 570. i. k. their plentifull commoditie they grow euery where ibid. k Rapes male and female 570. l Rapes of three sorts 570. m wilde Rapes medicinable 571. a Rapes with what ceremonie to be sowne ibid. b Raspis described 485. f the floures of Raspis medicinable ibid. Ratumena the gate of Rome and whence it tooke that name 222. g Rats of Pontus their nature 216. m a Rat sold for two hundred sesterces 233. a Rauens taught to speake 293. f Rauens their properties 276. i. how they conceiue with young ibid. k a Rauen saluted the Emperour 294. g. solemnely interred ibid. h. his death reuenged by the people of Rome ibid. Rauens employed by an hawker 294. k a Rauen made shift to drinke at a bucket ibid. l Ray killeth wheat 575. a R E Red Deere See Stags Red sea why so called 134. g Reeds of strange bignesse 155. e Reeds where they grow 524. m. they multiplie and encrease of themselues 515. a Reeds and Canes to be set before the Calends of March. ib. Reeds cease to grow at mid-winter ibid. alwaies to be cut in the wane of the Moone 525. b Reeds employed to many vses 482. g Reeds vsed to calfret ships ibid. h Reeds serue Easterlings for arrowes ibid. f Reeds of Italie compared with those of Candie and Picardie for making of shafts ibid. k. l Reeds differ in leafe 483. c what part of the Reed sittest for euery pipe 484. i Reeds for Faulconers poles ibid. Reeds for angle-rods ibid. Reeds for vine pearches ibid. Reeds and canes how to be planted ibid. k Reeds how to be killed 557. a Reremice See Bats Refrivae or Refrinae 569. b Region in Thessalia how it grew to be cold 503. d Attilius Regulus slew a monstrous serpent 199. d Religious reuerence in the knees of men 350. h Remedie against stinging of scorpions 325. c Remedies of trees common and proper 546. l Remedies against sundry maladies in corne 575. c Rennet of a Rabbet medicinable for the flux of the belly 346. k. Report of Hercules and Pyrene or of Laturne is fabulous 51. f Residence vpon land 555. a R H Rhaphanus a venomous shrub 362. l Rhododendron a beast 205. e Rhododendron See Oleander Rhemnius Palaemon an excellent good husband 411. d Rhinoceros what beast it is 205. e his fight with the Elephant ibid. horned in the nose 133. e Rhododaphnis See Oleander Rhodes Island 40. g R I Ricinis 433. f. why so called ibid. Rice corne described 561. b. c. and the vse thereof ibid. Rie 572. l Riuer-horse in some sort his owne physitian 346. l Riuers of a wonderfull and strange nature 45 a. b a Riuer warme in Winter and exceeding cold in Summer 545. a R O Robin Redbreast 287. a Rocke of stone of a strong and wondrous nature 42. h Rockes in Syria burne corne 503. e Royall ointment what it is 383. b Roiot and excesse of Romane Senatours 91. f Romanes kinde and good one to another in old time 4. g Romanes trafficke into India 133. b Romanes excell all nations in all kinde of vertues 176. h Rome diuided into quarters according to woods adioyning 461. f Rooke See Crow Root of an oke taking an acre in compasse 477. e a Root of a rape weighing foure hundred and one pound 570. l. how dressed for the table ibid. how preserued coloured artificially ibid. Roratio a blasting of vines after their blouming 540. i Rosat oile in great request 382. g Rosin trees of six kindes 462. h R V Rubigo in corne what it is 598. i Rubigalia a festiuall holiday 600. g Rue discouered by the Weasill 210. m Rumbotinus a tree 405. b S A SAba Sabota the proper place for frankincense 366 g Sabis a god 368. g Sabines called Sevini and why â—…65 a Sacrifice young beasts when they be in their season 230. g Sagunt a child being borne presently returned into his mothers wombe againe 158. g Saltpeter earth good for plants 503. c Salt cannot be made without mingling of fresh water 46. k Salamander his description and nature 305. e Salamander not distinguished by sex 305. d the Salmon fish 247. a Sallowes See Willowes Samara what it is 468. g Samosatis a citie in Comagene 46. m Sambri people where fourfooted beasts haue no ears 146. k Sandalum what corne 559. d Sandalides Dates 387. d Sangualis what bird 274. h Sapa what it is 416. l Sapa in Aethiopia what it signifieth 147. b Sap of trees See Alburnum Sapium what it is 465. d Sapinus what it is ibid. Sapinus in trees what it is 488. l Sarcocolla a tree and gum 391. d Sarcling what it is and of what vse 580. k Sardis the capitall citie of Tydia 107. e Sardane a shel-fish 244. i Sargus what fish 246. h Sari a shrub 400. k Sarpedon his letters written in papyr 394. l Saturne what he is and nature and motion thereof 5. f Saturne causeth raine c. 19. e Saturne colour 13. c Satyres their shape 96. i Satyres haunt mountaines in India 156. g Satyres what they are 156 g Sauces how they be dangerous 355. e Sauine how it is helped in growing 516. i Sauorie or Cumlabubula found in the land Tortoise 210. l Sauromates eat but one meale of meat in three daies 154. i Sauours different in fruit 449 d Sauce called Garum Sociorum 246. k S C. Scallops 253. d Scallop fish like to the sea vrchin 256 h Scarus a kinde of fish 245. f Scaurus Consuil found out a vaine obseruation of lightening 27. c Scenitae people why so called 139. f Sceptrum See Erysisceptrum Schoenus what measure it is 366. h Sciotericon a diall and the finder out thereof 36. k Scienae fishes 244. h Scincus bred in Nilus 209. b. the vertues thereof in Physicke ibid. in sundry
may easily take them with his hand yea and if one stay a little he shall see them fall asleep therewith Finally there is another kind of sauage or wild Garlick called Vrsinum i. Beare Garlicke the head whereof is very small the blade or leaues great and large and the sauor or sent mild and gentle in comparison of the rest CHAP. VII ¶ In how many daies euery herbe that is sowed will come vp and appeare aboue ground The nature of seedes The manner of sowing any of them Which they be whereof there is but one single kind and which haue many sorts AMong all the herbes sowne in a garden these come vp soonest to wit Basill Beets Navews or Turneps and Rocket for by the third day the seed will breake and spurt Dill seed will chit within foure daies Lectuce in fiue Radish in sixe Cucumbers and gourds in a seuen-night but the Cucumber first Cresses and Mustard seed in fiue daies Beets in six by Summer time and by winter in ten Orach in eight daies Onions in 19 or 20 at the farthest Chibols in ten or twelue at the most Coriander seed is more stubborne and will not shew so soone Sauerie and Origan seed lieth thirty daies ere it come but of all others Parsley seed is latest ere it spring for when it commeth vp soonest it is forty daies first but for the most part it lieth fifty daies before it appeare Something there is also in the age of the seed for the newer that the seed is either of Leeks or Chibols Cucumbers gourds the more hast it maketh to be aboue ground contrariwise Parsely Beets garden Cresses Sauery Origan and Coriander grow sooner of old seed But the Beet seed hath a strange and wonderful quality aboue the rest for it wil not come vp all in one and the same yeare But some in the first others in the second and the rest in the third And therfore sow as much seed as you will yet shall you haue it grow but indifferently There be herbs which wil grow and beare but one yere and no more and there be other again which will continue many yeares together as for example Parsely Porret Chibbols For sow these but once in a garden they will beare from yere to yere from the same root or els sow themselues The most part of herbs do beare round seed in some the seeds are long in few broad and flat in manner of a leafe as in Orach You shall haue seed also narrow chamfered like a gutter tile as that of Cumin Moreouer there is a difference in colour for some seeds be white others black in hardnesse also and softnesse for some be harder or softer than others Some seeds at euery branch of the plant are contained within cods or bladders as we may see in Raddish Senuie and Turneps or Rapes The seeds of Parsely Coriander Dill Fenell Cumen grow naked bare But that of the Bleet the Beet Orach and Basil is inclosed in a huske or hull Lectuce seed lieth within a downe As touching Basill aforesaid nothing fructifieth more than it to the end that it may come vp in more plenty abundance they say it should be sowed with maledictions and ill words for the more that it is cursed the better it wil speed and prosper yea and when it is sowed the mould of the bed must be parted and rammed down in manner of a pauement And more particularly they that sow Cumin pray to God that it may neuer come vp Such seeds as lie within an husk hardly come to be dry and ripe therin but Basil seed especially and Gith or Nigella Romana But they must be all throughly dried before they be seedow and fruitfull This is generall in all herbs throughout that they wil thriue and grow the better if their seede bee sowed by heapes one vpon another than scattering And certainly both Leeks seed is sown Garlick cloues set in that wise namely bound vp tied together in some clouts or ragges wherein they be lapped As for Parsely seed against it should be sown there would be an hole made with a little wooden dibil or pin therin it must be put with some dung after it Furthermore all garden herbs come vp either of seed and cloues set or els of slips pulsed from the mother-plant Some grow of seeds and sprigs both as Rue Origan Basil for euen this herb also last named will abide cutting when it is come to be one handbreadth or a span high and those cuttings will grow if they be planted There be that are maintained by root and seed both as Onions garlick and those which haue bulbous roots likewise all such as when they haue born yerely leaue a root behind them stil in strength vertue Of such as grow of roots replanted their roots continue long branch much as we may see in the bulbs in Chibbols sea onions Others put out branches sufficient but not from the head or root as Parsely and Beets All herbs for the most part do spring shute again if their stalke be cut off vnlesse it be those that haue a smooth stem And this is most seen in Basil Raddish Lectuce the stems wherof are cut for many purposes And as for Lectuce men hold that the later spring thereof when the first is gon is the sweeter Certainly Raddishes eat the more pleasantly if their leaues be cropt off before the master stem or spire be growne big And this also we obserue in Rapes or Turneps for if you strip them also from their leaues couer them ouer head with earth yet will they grow all winter and continue till Summer following Touching Basill Sorrel red Porret or Bleets garden Cresses Rocket Orach Coriander they are all of one sort singular in their kind for sow them where you wil they be the same stil neither are they better in one place than in another It is a common receiued opinion that Rue wil grow the better if it be filched out of another mans garden and it is as ordinary a saying that stollen Bees wil thriue worst Some hearbes there be which come without sowing or setting as wild Mint Nep Endiue and Peniroial But howsoeuer there be but one single kind of those before rehearsed yet on the contrary side there be many sorts of others which wee haue already spoken of and will write more hereafter and principally of Ach or Parsely CHAP. VIII ¶ Of Garden herbes which serue for to season our meats their diuers natures their sundry kinds and seuer all histories related to the number of 36. FOr that kind of Ach which groweth of it selfe in moist grounds with one leafe and is not rough but smooth and plaine is called in Greeke Heleoselinon i. Smallach Again there is another sort with more leaues resembling Smallach aforesaid but that it commeth vp in drie places and this the Greeks named Hipposelinon i. Alisanders A third there
so defended against the frost and cold weather also during the spring insuing to be opened at the root sarcled and well weeded In the third yeare by his rule they ought to be burned in the spring time and the sooner that the ground is thus burned the better wil they come vp again and in greater plenty which is the cause that they like and prosper best in plots set with Canes and Reeds for such desire to be burnt betimes in the yere Moreouer he giueth another precept that they must not be sarcled nor haue the earth opened laid hollow about them before their buds or tops be aboue ground to be seen for feare least in the sarcling the roots take harm thereby either by rasing or shaking them vntill they be loose From which time forward if a man would gather any of the said buds or yong springs for salad or other vse they ought to be plucked and slipped from the root for otherwise if they be broken and knapt off in the mids the root wil presently put forth many vnprofitable sprouts which wil suck away all the heart and kill it in the end Sliue and pluck it you may in manner aforesaid vntil it spindle and run to seed which commonly beginneth to be ripe in the Spring then it must be set on fire as is before said and then once again so soon as new buds and tendrons appeare aboue ground from the root they must be sarcled bared and dunged afresh Now after it hath grown in this manner nine yeres so as by this time it is waxen old the roots must be taken vp and then replanted again in a piece of ground well digged and as throughly dunged Then I say ought the smal roots called Spongiae in Latine to be set again a foot distant one from another Furthermore Cato ordaineth expressely by name That sheeps dung should be vsed for that purpose because any other would breed store of weeds And verily there was neuer knowne any other thing practised or assaied afterwards to more gain and benefit about this Garden-herb vnlesse it were this That about the Ides or mids of February some haue let the seeds of Sperage lie well soked in dung and then sowed the same by heaps in little trenches or holes made for the purpose after which when the roots are wouen and knit one within another into a knot the spurns shooting from them they plant after the Aequinox in Autumne following a foot asunder by which means they wil continue bearing plenteously for ten yeres together For to breed and maintaine these garden Sperages there is no better soile than the gardens of Rauenna from whence we haue the fairest of all other As for the herb named in Latine Corruda I haue written heretofore of it and I vnderstand thereby the wild Sperage which the Greekes call Orminum and Myacanthon howbeit there be who giue it other names Finally I reade of certaine Sperages which will engender and grow of Rams hornes beaten or stamped and then put into the ground A man would thinke that I had discoursed already of all such Garden herbes as were of any price and regard but that there remaineth one thing yet behind whereof the greatest gaine of all other is raised and yet me thinks I cannot write thereof but be abashed to range it amongst the good herbs of the garden and that forsooth is our Thistle howbeit this is certaine to the shame be it spoken of our wanton and wasting gluttons that the Thistles about Carthage the great Corduba especially cost vs ordinarily six thousand thousand Sesterces to speak within compasse See how vaine and prodigal we be to bring into our kitchin and serue vp at our table the monstruosities of other nations and cannot forbeare so much as these Thistles which the very asses and other fourfooted beasts haue wit enough to auoid refuse for pricking their lips and muzzles Well since they be grown into so great request I must not ouer-passe the gardinage to them belonging and namely how they be ordered two maner of waies to wit replanted of yong sets or roots in Autumn and sowed of seed before the nones of March. As for the plants beforesaid they ought to be slipped from it and set before the Ides or mids of Nouember in any hand orels if the ground be cold we must stay vntil February and then be doing with them about the rising of the Western wind Fauonius Manured ywis it ought to be dunged I would not els so faire and goodly an herbe it is and so forsooth and it please you they prosper the better and come on trimly They are condite also and preserued in vineger or else all were mard in delicate liâ—…e honey seasoned also and bespiced I may say to you with the costly root of the plant Laser-woort yea and with Cumin because wee would not be a day without Thistles but haue them as an ordinary dish all the yeare long As for the rest of Garden-herbs behind they need no long discourse but a light running ouer them may serue well enough First and foremost men say That the best sowing of Basil is at the feast Palilia but some are of mind that Autumne is as good and they that would haue it done in winter giue order to infuse and soke the seed first in vineger Rocket also and garden Cresses are not dainty to grow but be it winter or Summer they will soon come vp prosper at al times But Rocket of the twain stands more at defiance with winter and scorns al his frowning looks and cold weather as being of a contrary nature to Lecture for it stirreth vp fleshly lust and therfore commonly it is ioined with Lecture in sallads both are eaten together that the exceeding heat of the one mixt with the extreme coldnes of the other might make a good mariage and temperature Cresses tooke the name in Latine Nasturtium a narium tormento as a man would say Nose-wring because it will make one writh and shrink vp his nosthrils which is the reason that the word is grown into a prouerb when we would signifie a thing which will put life into one that is dull and vnlusty In Arabia the Cresses by report proue to a wonderful bignesse Rue also is sowed vsually in February when the Western wind Fauonius bloweth and soon after the Aequinox in Autumne It cannot away with winter for it brooketh not cold or rain nor moist ground neither will it abide muck it liketh well to grow in dry places and such as lie faire vpon the Sun-shine but a clay ground which is good for bricke and tile that is alone for it and best of all other it delighteth in ashes and therewith is it fed and nourished insomuch as they vse to blend ashes the seed together for to keep away the canker worm and such like Certes we find that in old time Rue was in some great account and
it vp with ease yea and to take his wind and breath at liberty In like manner being taken warm with the juice of Cucumber it cureth the falling sicknesse It purifieth the senses it purgeth the head by smelling it keepeth the body soluble it prouoketh womens monethly fleures and vrine A cataplasme made therewith and applied accordingly helpeth them that be in a dropsie so it doth those that be subject to the falling sicknes but then must it be stamped with three parts of Cumin and figs. If it be tempered with vineger and held to the nose of such women as with the rising of the mother seeme to be strangled and to lie in a trance it raiseth them vp again in like sort it awakens those who be in a fit of the lethargy howbeit in this case it is good to put thereto the seed of Seseli of Candy which they call Tordilion But say that the Patients be in so deep a sleep in this drowsie disease that by such means they will not start vp and be raised then take mustard-seed and figgs temper them with vineger into a cataplasme apply the same to the legs or the forehead or region of the brain rather It hath a caustick or burning quality and being applyed in form of a liniment to any part it raiseth pimples by which means it cureth the old inueterat pains of the brest the ach of the loins the haunch and hucklebone the shoulders or any part of the body where need is that the offensiue humors setled deep within should transpire and be drawn outwardly to an issue Now for that the nature thereof is to blister in case the patient be timerous fear some extreme operation of that burning quality that it hath it may be applied to the part affected between a doubled linnen cloth otherwise if the place be very thick and hard it would be laid too without any figs at all Moreouer there is a good vse of Senuy with red earth for to make the haire come again which is faln for scabs and scurfe for soule morphew or the leprosie the lowsie disease the vniuersall cramp that causeth the body to stand stiffe and stark as it were all of one piece without ioint also the particular cricke which setteth the neck backward that it cannot stir An inunction made with it and hony cureth the eye-lids that be not smooth but rugged and chapped yea and clarifieth the eies which be ouercast with a muddy mist. As touching the juice of Scnvie it is after three sorts drawne the first being pressed forth it is let to take a heat in the Sun gently by little and little within an earthen pot Secondly there issueth forth of the small stems or branches that it hath a white milky liquor which after it is dried and hardened in that manner is a singular remedy for the tooth-ach Where note by the way that the seed root both after they haue bin wel steeped and soked in new wine are stamped or brayed together now if one do take in a supping as much of this iuice thus drawne as may be held in the ball of the hand it is very good to strengthen the throat and chaws to fortifie the stomack to corroborat the eies to confirm the head and generally to preserue all the senses in their entire And verily I know not the like wholsome medicine againe to shake off and cure the lazy and lither feuers that come by fits many times vpon women Senuy also being taken in drinke with vineger breaketh the stone and expelleth it by grauell There is an oyle also made of mustard-seed infused and steeped in oyle and so pressed out which is much vsed to heat and comfort the stiffenesse of sinewes occasioned by cold to warme also and bring into temper the thorough cold lying in the loins hanches and hucklebones whereof commeth the Sciatica Of the same nature and operation that Senuie is Adarca is thought to be according as I haue touched in the discourses of plants and trees growing wild in the woods which is a certain fomy substance arising and sticking in the bark of certain Canes vnder their very leaues and tufts that they beare in the head Concerning Horehound which the Greekes call Prasion others Linostrophon some Phylopes or Philochares an hearbe so well knowne and so common that it needs no description many Physitians haue commended to be as medicinable as the best And in truth the leaues and seed both being beaten into powder are excellent good for the stinging of serpents for the paine of the brest and sides singular for an old cough Moreouer the juice is right soueraign for those who haue their lungs perished and do reach vp bloud if the branches therof gathered and bound vp into bunches be sodden first in water with the grain called Panick for to mitigat in some sort the vnpleasant harshnesse of the said juice A cataplasme of Horehound applied vnto the Kings euill with some conuenient fat or grease resolueth the hard kernels Some prescribe a receit for the cough in this maner Take the seed of green Horehound as much as a man may comprehend with two fingers seeth it with a smal handful of the wheat called Far putting thereto a little oile and salt and so sup off the decoction fasting Others hold That without all comparison there is not a medicine in the world like to the juice of Horehound and Fennel together first drawn by way of expression to the quantity of 3 sextars afterwards boiled to the consumption of a third part vntill there remaine but two sextars then to this decoction there must be put one sextar of hony all sodden again to the consumption of one third part more vnto the height of a syrrup whereof one spoonfull euery day taken in a cyath of water is a drink that in this case hath no fellow Horehound stamped and mixed with hony is of wonderfull effect being applied to the priuy parts of a man for any griefes incident thereto Laid with vineger vnto ring-worms tettars and any such running wildfires it purgeth and riddeth them clean away A wholsom medicine it is to be applied as a cataplasm to ruptures convulsions spasmes and cramps of the sinews Taken in drink with salt and vineger it easeth the belly and maketh it laxatiue It prouoketh womens terms and sendeth out the after-birth The powder of it drie mixed with honey is of exceeding great efficacy to ripen a dry cough to cure gangrenes whiteflaws and wertwalls about the root of the nails The juice dropped into the ears with honey or snuffed vp into the nose cureth their infirmities it scoureth away the Iaundise also and purgeth cholerick humors And for all kinds of poisons few herbs are so effectuall as Horehound for it selfe alone without any addition clenseth the stomack and breast by reaching and fetching vp the filthy and rotten fleam there ingendred If it be taken with hony and the floure-de-lis root it
purified againe is subiect no more vnto putrifaction And as for cesterne waters the Physicians also themselues confesse That they breed obstructions and schirrhosities in the bellie yea and otherwise be hurtfull to the throat As also that there is not any kinde of water whatsoeuer which gathereth more mud or engendreth more filthie and illfauoured vermine than it doth Neither followeth it by and by that all great riuer waters indifferently are the best no more than those of any brooke or the most part of ponds and pooles are to bee counted and esteemed most wholesome But of these kinds of water wee must conclude and resolue with making destinction namely That there be of euery sort thereof those which are singular and very conuenient howbeit more in one place than in another The kings and princes of Persia bee serued with no other water for their drinke but from the two riuers Choaspes and Eulaeus onely And looke how farre soeuer they make their progresse or voyage from them two riuers yet the water thereof they carry with them And what might the reason be therefore Certes it is not because they be riuers which yeeld this water that they like the drinke so well for neither out of the two famous riuers Tygris and Euphrates nor yet out of many other faire and commodious running streames doe they drinke Moreouer when you see or perceiue any riuer to gather abundance of mud and filth wote well that ordinarily the water therof is not good nor wholesome and yet if the same riuer or running streame bee giuen to breed great store of yeeles the water is counted thereby wholesome and good ynough And as this is a token of the goodnesse so the wormes called Tineae engendered about the head or spring of any riuer is as great a signe of coldnesse Bitter waters of all others bee most condemned like as those also which soone follow the spade in digging and by reason that they lie so ebbe quickly fill the pit And such be the waters commonly about Troezen As for the nitrous brackish and salt waters found among the desarts such as trauell through those parts toward the red sea haue a deuise to make them sweet and potable within two houres by putting parched barley meale into them and as they drinke the water so when they haue done they feed vpon the said barly grots as a good and wholsom gruel Those spring waters are principally condemned which gather much mud and settle grosse in the bottome those also which cause them to haue an il colour who vse to drink thereof It skilleth also very much to mark if a water staine any vessels with a kinde of greene rust if it be long before pulse will be sodden therein if being poured vpon the ground it be not quickly sucked in and drunk vp and lastly if it fur those vessels with a thicke rust wherein it vseth to be boiled for all these be signes of bad water Ouer and besides it is a fault in water not only to stink but also to haue any smack or tast at all yea though the same be pleasant and sweet enough and inclining much to the rellice of milk as many times it doth in diuers places In one word would you know a good and wholsome water indeed Chuse that which in all points resembleth the aire as neere as is possible At Cabura in Mesopotamia there is a fountaine of water which hath a sweet and redolent smel setting it aside I know not any one of that qualitie in the whole world againe but hereto there belongs a tale namely that this spring was priuiledged with this extraordinary gift because queen Iuno forsooth sometimes bathed and washed her selfe therein for otherwise good and wholesome water ought to haue neither tast nor odor at all Some there be who iudge of their wholsomnesse by their ballance and they keep a weighing and poising of waters one against another but for all their curiositie they misse of their purpose in the end for seldom or neuer can they find one water lighter than another Yet this deuise is better and more certain namely to take two waters that be of equal measure and weight for looke whether of them heateth and cooleth sooner the same is alwaies the better And for to make a trial herof lade vp some seething water in a pale or such like vessel set the same down vpon the ground out of your hand to ease your arm of holding it hanging long in the aire and if it be good water they say it will immediatly of scalding hot become warm and no more Well what waters then according to their sundry kindes in generalitie shall we take by all likelihood to be best If we go by the inhabitants of cities and great towns surely wel-water or pit water I see is simply the wholsomest But then such wels or pits must be much frequented that by the continual agitation and often drawing thereof the water may be more purified and the terren substance passe away the better by that means And thus much may suffice for the goodnesse of water respectiuely to the health of mans body But if we haue regard to the coldnesse of water necessarie it is that the Wel should stand in some coole and shadowie place not exposed to the Sun and nathelesse open to the broad aire that it may haue the full view and sight as it were of the sky And aboue all this one thing would be obserued and seen vnto that the source which feedeth it spring and boile vp directly from the bottom and not issue out of the sides which also is a main point that concerns the perpetuitie thereof and whereby we may collect that it will hold stil and be neuer drawn dry And this is to be vnderstood of water cold in the owne nature For to make it seem actually cold to the hand is a thing that may be done by art if either it be forced to mount aloft or fal from on high by which motion and reuerberation it gathers store of aire And verily the experiment hereof is seene in swimming for let a man hold his winde in he shall feele the water colder by that means Nero the Emperor deuised to boile water when it was taken from the fire to put it into a glasse bottle and so to set it in the snow a cooling and verily the water became therby exceeding cold to please and content his tast and yet did not participate the grossenesse of the snow nor draw any euill qualitie out of it Certes all men are of one opinion that any water which hath been once sodden is far better than that which is still raw Like as that after it hath been made hot it will become much colder than it was before which I assure you came first from a most subtil and witty inuention And therefore if we must needs occupy naughty water the only remedy that we haue to alter the badnesse
salt springs out of which they draw water in maner of that brine which they cal Muria But thoseverily of France and Germany be of opinion that it skilleth much what wood it is that serueth to the making of such fire Oke they hold the best as being a fewell the simple ashes whereof mixt with nothing els may go for salt And yet in some places they esteeme Hazell wood meeter for this purpose Now when the said wood is on fire and burning they poure salt liquor among wherby not only the ashes but the very coales also will turne to be salt But all salt made in this sort of wood is black I reade in Theophrastus That the Islanders of Imbros were wont to boile in water the ashes of reeds and canes vntill such time as there remained little moisture vnconsumed and that which was left they vsed for salt The brine or pickle wherein flesh or fish hath bin kept salt if it be boiled a second time vntil the liquor be spent and consumed returneth to the own nature and becommeth salt again Certes we find That the salt thus made of the pickle of Pilchars or Herings is of all others most pleasant in tast As touching the salt made of sea-water that of the Isle Cypres and namely that which comes from Salamis is commended for the best But of poole salt there is none comparable to the Tarentine and Phrygian especially that which they cal Tatteus of the lake Tatta and in truth both these kinds of salt be good for the eies The salt brought out of Cappadocia in little earthen pipes hath the name to make the skinne slick and faire but for to lay the same plain and euen and make it look full and plump without riuels the salt which I called Cittieus hath no fellow And therefore women after they be newly deliuered of child vse to annoint and rub their bellies with this salt incorporat together with Gith or Nigella Romana The driest salt is euermore the strongest in tast the Tarentine salt is taken for to be most pleasant and whitest withal Otherwise the whiter that salt is the more brittle it is and readier to crumble and fal to pouder There is no salt but raine water wil make it sweet and fresh The more pleasant it wil be delicat to the tast in case the dew fal therupon but Northeast winds ingender most plenty therof In a Southerly constitution of the weather and namely when the wind is ful south you shall see no salt ingendred The floure of salt commonly called Sperma-Ceti is neuer bred but when the Northeast winds do blow The salt Tragasaeus wil neither spit crackle leap nor sparkle in the fire no more will Acanthius so called of a towne of that name neither doth the fome of salt nor the gobbets and fragments ne yet the thin leaues or flakes thereof The salt of Agrigentum a city in Sicily will abide the fire and make no sparkling put it into water it will keep a spitting and crackling Great difference there is in salt in regard of the colour At Memphis i. Caire in Egypt the salt is of a very deep red but about the riuer Oxus in Bactriana more tawny or inclining to a russet And the Centuripine salt within Sicily is purple About Gela in the same Island the salt is so bright and clear that it wil represent a mans face as in a mirroir In Cappadocia the Minerall salt which they dig is of a yellow Safron colour transparent and of a most redolent smell For any vse in Physicke the Tarentine salt was in old time highly commended aboue the best after which they esteemed most all the sea salts and of that kind the lighter and that which especially is of the nature of fome for the eies of horses and Boeufes they made great reckoning of the Tragasaean salt and that of Granado or Boetica in Spaine For dressing of viands and cates for to be eaten also with meat the better is that salt which sooner melteth and runneth to water That also which by nature is moister than others they hold to be better for the kitchin or the table for lesse bitternesse it hath and such is that of Attica and Euboea For to pouder and keep flesh meat the dry salt quicke at tongues end is thought to be meeter than other as we may see in the salt of Megara Moreouer there is a certain confite or condited salt compounded also with sweet spices aromaticall drugs which may be eaten as a dainiy kind of gruel or sauce for it stirreth vp and whetteth appetite eat the same with any other meats insomuch as amongst an infinit number of other sauces this carrieth away the tast from them all for it hath a peculiar smatch by it selfe which is the cause that the pickle Garum is so much sought after for to giue an edge to our stomack not only we men are solicited moued by salt more than by any thing els tooâ—…r meat but muttons Boeufes and horses also haue benefit therby in that respect they feed the better giue more store of milke and the cheese made thereof hath a more dainty and commendable taste by that means And to conclude all in one word the life of mankind could not stand without salt so necessary an element if I may so say it is for the maintenance of our life that the very delights pleasures of the mind also are expressed by no better term than Salt for such gifts and conceits of the spirit as yeeld most grace and contentment we vse in Latine to call Sales All the mirth of the heart the greatest cheerfulnesse of a lightsome mind the whole repose contentment that a man findeth in his soule by no other word can be better shewed Moreouer this terme in Latine of Sal is taken vp and vsed in war yea and diuers honours and dignities bestowed vpon braue men for some worthy seruice go vnder this name and be called Salaries And how highly our ancestors accounted therof it may appeare by the name of that great port-way or street Salariae so called because all the salt that went into the Sabines country passed that way Moreouer it is said that Ancus Martius K. of Rome was the first that erected the salt-houses and gaue vnto the people a congiary or largesse of 6000 Modij of salt And Varro writeth That our ancestors in times past vsed salt ordinarily in stead of an houshold gruell for they were wont to eat salt with their bread cheese as may appeare by the common prouerb that testifieth so much But most of all we may gather in what request and account salt was in sacrifices and oblations to the gods by this that none are performed and celebrated without a cake of meale and salt Furthermore where salt is truly made without any sophistication it rendereth a certain fine and pure substance as it were the most subtill cinders of
Chalcidicae it should be taken in Myrtle wine Against the sting of the horned serpent Cerastes or the fierie vermine Prester with Panax or Rue in wine But generally for all other serpents the only liquor to receiue it in is wine Two drams at a time is thought to be a sufficient dose of Castor it self in any of these compositions but of other drugs that are put thereto there ought to be a proportion of the half to wit one dram Moreouer a peculiar vertue it hath if it be drunk in vineger to resist the venomous gum Ixias growing vpon the plant Chamaeleon but soueraigne it is for the poison of the herb Aconitum or Libard bane in milk or faire water Against white Ellebore it is good to be taken with mead of honied water and sal-nitre Also if it be puluerized and incorporate with oile a soueraigne remedy it is to ease the tooth-ach if it be dropped or poured into the eare of the same side where the griefe is but better it were to temper it with the juice of Poppy for pain of the ears Mix Castoreum with the best hony of Attica and bring it into an eie-salue it is passing good for to cleare the sight Giuen in vineger it staieth and keepeth downe the yex or hicquet Furthermore the vrine of a Beuer is a good counterpoison and therefore it goeth to the making of Antidotes and preseruatiues But the best way of keeping it as some think is in the owne bladder CHAP. IIII. ¶ Of the Tortoise The medicines taken from many fishes and diuers obseruations to them pertaining SEmblably Tortoises liue in two places and haunt both land and waters Their effectual properties besides are such as deserue like honour as well in regard of their manifold vses in sumptuous buildings whereby they carry a great price as of their sundry vertues and operations which Nature hath giuen them now of these Tortoises there be many kinds to wit land Tortoises and sea Tortoises Tortoises found in muddy waters marraies Tortoises also that keep in fresh riuer water and these last named some Greekewriters call Emydes The flesh of land Tortoises serueth wel in perfumes suffumigations for so it is as good as a countercharm to put by and repell all forceries and inchantments a singular counterpoison also to resist any venome whatsoeuer Great store of Tortoises be found in Affricke where they vse to cut away the head and feet and then employ the rest of the body as a soueraigne remedy against all poysons If their flesh be eaten together with the broth wherein they are sodden it is held to be very good for to discusse and scatter the wens called the kings euil to dissipat or resolue the hardnesse of the swelled spleene likewise to cure the falling sicknes and to driue away the fits thereof The bloud of Tortoises clarifieth the eyesight dispatcheth the cataracts if they be anointed therewith Many incorporat the said bloud in meale and keep them reduced into the forme of pils which when need requireth they giue in wine as a present help for the poyson of all serpents spiders and such like yea and the venome of toads The gall of Tortoises mixt with Atticke hony serueth to cure the fiery rednesse of the eyes if they be annointed therewirh The same is good to be dropt into the wounds inflicted by the prick of scorpions The ashes of the Tortoise shel incorporat with wine and oile and so wrought into a salue heals the chaps vlcers of the feet The skales scraped lightly from the vpper part of the shell giuen in drink coole the heat of lust And I maruell the more hereat because the pouder of the whole shell indeed hath the name to heat the appetite and desire to venery As touching their vrin I hold it impossible to meet with the same vnlesse it be found in their bladder when they be cut in twaine And yet the Magitians hold this to be one of the most rare things in the world and that which worketh wonders saying it is right soueraigne for the biting or stinging of the Aspis howbeit much more effectuall say they if punaises be mixed with it Tortoise egs dryed and hardened are good to be applied to the wens called the kings euill to any exulcerations caused either by extreame cold or burning The same being soft are singular to be supped off in the paine of the stomacke The flesh of sea Tortoises mixed and incorporat with the flesh of frogs is a soueraign remedy against the venome of Salamanders neither is there any thing more contrary in nature to the Salamander than is the Tortoise The bloud of the sea Tortoise serueth to recouer haire in places naked and bare by occasion of the disease called Alopecia it riddeth away likewise the skales and dandruffe yea and healeth all the scalds of the head but the same must dry vpon the head and be washed off at leisure by little and little If it be dropped into the eares with breast-milk it easeth their paine If it be chewed or eaten tempered with the fine floure of wheat it cureth the falling sicknes But for the better preparing and ordering of this bloud in these cases it ought to be mingled in 3 hemines of vineger one hemine of wine put thereto with an addition also of Barly meale and the same tempered with vineger of which composition the patient is to take and swallow down the quantity of a bean euery day morning and euening and after some daies past in the euening only this bloud is likewise singular to be dropt into the mouths of those that be fallen of the epilepsie or falling sicknes so the fit be but smal for which purpose they must be forced to gape In case of cramps convulsions the same is to be clysterized with Castoreum Whosoeuer rubbeth their teeth with Tortoise bloud and vse so to do a whole yeare together shal be freed from the pain therof for euer If it be mixed with barly groats and giuen to them that draw their winde short it discusseth the cause of that difficulty yea helpeth such as cannot breath but sitting vpright The gall of Tortoises cleareth the eiesight it doth subtiliat the cicatrices and films that grow in the eyes the inflammation of the tonsils it represseth assuageth the squinancy and helpeth all the accidents of the mouth and more particularly a property it hath to heale the cankerous and corrosiue sores there breeding as also to cure the inflammation of the genitoirs The same conueied vp into the nosthrils fetcheth those again to themselues who are in a fit of the falling sicknesse and setteth them vpright vpon their feet And with the slough of a serpent incorporat in vineger and dropt into the ears that run it is an excellent medicine to scoure them Some put a Boeufes gall among together with the broth of the Tortoise flesh sodden and an addition of a snakes slough in equall quantity but first they seeth
principall kindes the blacke and the white The richest of all and that which carrieth the greatest price is that which we in Latine name Plumbum candidum i. the white bright lead and the Greeks Cassiteron But I hold it a meere fable and vaine tale that all of it is fetched as farre as from the Islands of the Atlanticke sea and that the inhabitants of those parts doe conueigh it in little twiggen boats couered all ouer with feathers For the truth is that there is found of it in these daies within Portugall and Gallaecia growing ebbe vpon the vpmost face of the earth being among the sands of a black colour and by the weight only is knowne from the rest of the soile and here and there among a man shall meet with small stones of the same stuffe most of all within the brookes that be dry sometimes of the yere This sandie and grauelly substance the mine masters and mettall finers vse to wash and that which setleth downeward they burne melt in the furnace There is found likewise in the gold mines a kind of lead ore which they cal Elutia for that the water that they let into those mines as I said before washeth and carrieth down withall certain little blacke stones streaked and marked a little with a kind of white and as heauy they be in hand as the very ore of gold and therefore gathered they be with the same ore and laid in the paniers together therewith and afterward in the furnace when the fire hath made a separation between them and gold so soone as they are melted do resolue into the substance of the white lead or tinglasse aforesaid Moreouer this is is strange that throughout all Gallecia you shal not find a mine of common black lead yet in Biskay which confineth hard vpon it there is abundance of it no other neither out of the vein of this white lead shal you try any siluer wheras out of the black it is an ordinarie thing to extract siluer Again this is certain that two pieces of black lead canot possibly be sodered together without this tinglasse neither can this be vnited to the other but by means of oile nay it is vnpossible to conioyne a piece of tin-soder or white lead with another but with a soder of the black This white lead or tinglasse hath bin of long time in estimation euen since the war of Troy as witnesseth the poet Homer who calls it Cassiteron As for blacke lead ingendred it is two maner of waies for either it groweth in a vein of the owne without any other mettal with it or els it doth participat with siluer in the same mine and being intermixt in one piece or lump of ore it is separated from it at the melting and fining only for the first liquor that runs from it in the furnace is tin and the second siluer As for the third part of the vein which remaineth behind in the furnace it is Galaena that is to say the very mettal it selfe of lead which beeing once againe melted and tried in the fire after two parts thereof be deducted yeeldeth that black lead whereof we now do treat CHAP. XVII ¶ Of Tin of Argentine Lead and other points pertinent to these matters TIn hath a proper vse to enhuile vessels of brasse partly to take away the euil tast they haue and to make them sweeter and partly to preserue them from rust or to qualifie the malitious nature of brasse and yet wonderfull it is that such vessels thus tinned are neuer a jot the heauier by that means Also in times past there were as I haue already said excellent Mirroirs made of tin and the same were tempered wrought at Brundise but those of siluer haue put them down since that euery chamber-maid and such like seruing creature would be at their looking-glasses of siluer But tin is found much counterfeit in these daies by putting to White lead aboue said a third prrt of white brasse yea and there is another deuise to sophisticate tin to wit by mixing white and blacke lead one with another by euen weight and portion and this maslen some call at this day siluer lead or argentine As for that mixed matter wherein be two parts of black lead and one of the white they cal it Tertiarium this kind of tinne is sold after 30 the pound and it is that wherewith they vsed to soder conduit pipes but the lewder disposed pewterers haue a cast to put vnto this tin called Tertiarium an equal quantity of white lead and then they call it Argentarium which mettall they employ in vessells for the kitchen to seeth meat or what they list in them and this kind of pewter wanteth no price for they set it at 130 the pound whereas a pound of white lead or tinglasse pure and fine of itselfe is sould for thirty and the blacke for sixteen As touching the temperature and nature of the white lead it standeth more vpon a dry substance contrariwise that of blacke is wholly moist and liquid which is the reason that the said white lead or tinglasse will serue to no vse or purpose vnlesse it be mixed with some other mettal neither is it good to lead or soder siluer with for sooner will siluer melt in the fire than it There is a deuise to tin pots pans and other pieces of brasse so artificially with white lead or tinglasse an inuention which came out of France that hardly a man shall discerne them from vessell of siluer and such leaded vessels are commonly called Incoctilia After the same maner they haue taken vp of late another custome to siluer the trappings especially and caparisons of their horses of seruice yea and the harnesse of coach-horses and draught jades and namely in the town Alexia As for the former inuention those of Bourges haue the honour of it Neither rested they so but haue proceeded to adorn and garnish in that maner their chariots wagons and coaches But our vain and wastful wantons not herewith contented are come now to their wagon seats not of siluer only but also of gold and that which in times past was condemned as monstrous prodigalitie to be put into drinking vessels the same to tread vpon now with the feet and to waste and consume about waggons and charriots is commended for finenesse neatnesse and elegancie But to return againe vnto our white lead if you would know whether it be right and good or no the proof is to be made in paper for put it melted into a sheet of paper if it be not falsified it wil seem to break and rend the paper with the weight and not with the scalding heat thereof Moreouer it is worth the obseruation that the Indians haue no mines among them either of brasse or lead but are content to part with their pearles and pretious stones vnto merchants by way of counterchange for these mettals Black lead or common lead is much vsed
Roset The rest be sad or duskish and as wel the one as the other be all either naturall or artificiall Among the naturall of this sort to wit the sad colours I reckon the common bole Armin Ruddel or red stone Paretonium Melinum Eretria and Orpin The rest of these kinds be artificial principally those which I haue already spoken of in the treatise of mines Moreouer of the baser sort are Ocre and Ruddel burnt Cerusse or Spanish white Sandix mineral and Scyricum Sandaracha Vitriol or Black As for Sinopis or common bole Armin found out first it was at Sinope a maritine town in the kingdom of Pontus wherof it took that name it groweth also in Egypt the Baleare Islands and Africk but the best is found in the Isle Lemnos and in Cappadocia digged out of certain caues and holes That which stucke fast vnto the rocks excelleth all the rest The pieces of this earth if a man do breake shew the owne natural colour which is not mixed without-forth they be spotted And this earth in old time was vsed for to giue a lustre vnto other colours Of this Sinopis or Bole Armin common there be three kindes the deepe red the pale or weake red and the meane between both The best Sinopis is esteemed worth thirteene denarij Roman by the pound this may serue the painters pensill yea or in grosser work if a man list to colour posts beams or wood as for that which commeth out of Africk it is worth eight asses euery pound and this they call Cicirculum that which is redder than the rest serueth better for painting of tablements as for that which is most brown and duskish called in Latine Pressior it is of the same price that the other and employed in the bases and feet of such tablements And thus much for the vse in painting Touching Physicke and the medicinable properties thereof milde it is of nature and in that regard of gentle operation whether it enter into hard emplaistres of a dry composition or into immolitiue plaisters that are more liquid and principally such as are deuised for vlcers in any moist part as the mouth or fundament This earth if it be injected by a clistre stoppeth a laske and being giuen to women in drinke to the weight of one denarius i. a dram it stayeth their immoderate fluxes of the matrice The same burnt or calcined drieth vp the fretting roughnesse of the eies principally if it be applied with vineger This kinde of red earth some would haue to be counted in a second degree of Rubrica for goodnesse for they alwaies reckoned that of Leâ—…nos to be the chiefe simply best as comming next in price to Minium i. Vermilion And in truth this Terra Sigillata or Lemnia was highly accounted of in old time like as the Island Lemnos from whence it comes neither was it lawfull to sel any of it before it was marked or sealed therupon they vsed to cal it Sphragis The painters ordinarily lay a ground of this vnder their vermillion and sophisticate it many waies In physick it is holden to be a soueraigne thing for if the eies be annointed round about therewith in manner of a liniment it represseth the flux of rheumatick humors and doth mitigat the pains incident to them the fistulous sores likewise about the angles or corners of the eies it drieth vp that they shall not run as they vse to doe Inwardly also it is commonly giuen in vineger to such as cast vp bloud at the mouth It is taken also in drink for the opilations and other accidents as wel of the spleen as kidnies and besides to stop the excessiue fluxes that be incident to women Singular it is against any poison or venomous sting of serpents either vpon land or sea and therefore is a familiar ingredient into all antidots or counterpoisons Of all other sorts of red earth the ruddle of Egypt and Africke is fittest for Carpenters for if they strike their line vpon timber with it they shall be sure that it wil take colour and be marked very well Moreouer another sort there is of this red earth minerall found with yron ore and the same is good also for painters There is a kind of ruddle also made of ochre burnt and calcined in new earthen pots well luted all ouer and the greater fire that it meeteth withall in the furnace the better it is In generall any ruddle whatsoeuer is exiccatiue in which regard it agreeth wel with salues and healing plasters and is very proper for to represse shingles such cutanean wild-fires that wil stand in drops Take of Sinopis or Bolearmin common that commeth out of Pontus halfe a pound of bright Sil or ochre 10 pound of the Greek white earth Melinum 2 pound pun them al together and mix them wel so as they may ferment 12 daies together and hereof is made Leucophorum i. a kind of gum or size to lay vnder goldfoile for to guild timber Touching the white earth Paraetonium it carieth the name of a place in Egypt from whence it commeth and many say that it is nothing but the some of the sea incorporat and hardened together with the slime mud of the shore and therfore there be winkles and such shell-fishes found therwith It is ingendred also in the Isle Candy and the country of Cyrenae At Rome they haue a deuise to sophisticat it namely by boiling fullers earth vntil it be of a fast massie consistence the price of the best is after 6 denier the pound Of al white colors it is the fattest and for that it runs out smooth in the working it is the fastest parget to ouercast walls withall As for the earth Melinum white it is likewise but the best is that which the Isle Melos doth yeeld whereupon it took that name In Samos also it is to be found but painters vse it not because it is ouer clammy and vnctuous The Islanders are wont to creep on all foure and to lie along at their work when they dig it forth of the rocks for search it they must among the veines that run therein The same operation it hath in physicke that the earth Eretria also if a man touch it with the tongue he shal find it a stringent and drying howbeit a depilatory it is in some sort and fetcheth away haire or els causeth it to grow thin A pound of it is worth a Sesterce There is of white colors a third kind and that is Cerussa or white lead the reason making whereof I haue shewed in my discourse of minerals and yet there was found of it in the nature of a very earth by it selfe at Smyrna within the land belonging to one Theodotus wherewith in old time they vsed to color and paint ships But in these daies we haue no other cerusse or Spanish white but that which is artificial made of lead
442. h. Barble of the sea what harme he taketh by tasting of the Sea-hare 427. a. b Barley what medicinable vertues it doth affourd 138. i 140. i. which barley is best ibid. Barley groats See Polenta Barley meale what effects it worketh in water and wine 176. i. Barme what it is and the vse thereof 145. b Baroptenus a pretious stone 625. b. the description ibid. Baroptis See Baroptenus Barsaltes a kinde of marble resembling yron 573. d. thereupon it tooke the name out of the Hebrew ibid. animage of Barsaltes within the teÌ„ple of Serapis in Thebes of Aegypt 573. e. the strange qualitie of it ibid. Basanites a kinde of touch or whetstone of the best kinde 590. h. 592. g. Basill-gentle a sweet hearbe how it floureth 19. f. the seed how to be sowne 23. b Basill condemned by Chrysippus and why 54. l. the discommodities of Basill 54. l. why goats refuse it 54. m it hurteth the braine eyes stomacke and liuer ibid. it bringeth folke out of their wits ibid. it turneth into a serpent maggots and worms 55. a. how it gathereth scorpions vnto it ibid. it engendreth lice ibid. Basill commended and maintained by other writers ibid. Basill wild the vertues that it hath 55. e Basiliske a serpent venomous and deadly with his eye 356. m. the Magicians tell wonders of his bloud ibid. they call it the bloud of Saturne 357. a Battailes represented in brasse by diuerse Imageurs 503. b Battaile in picture first shewed by M. Valerius Max. Messala 526. i Batts what vanities are reported of them by the Magicians 359. f Batts hurt by the Plane tree 184. k Batis an hearbe and the vertues medicinable that it hath 111. b. Batis of the garden is Sampier 254. k Batrachion what hearbe 286. m. 239. c. See Crowfoot Batrachites a pretious stone 625. a three kindes thereof ibid. Batrachus and Saurus two most excellent masons and cutters in stone 570. i. their deuise alluding vnto their names ibid. k Baulme or Balsam oile 162. g the singular vertues that it hath ibid. to be vsed warily 162. h Baulme the hearbe 106. k the names that it hath in Greeke respectiue to Bees and honey ibid. the medicinable vertues that it is endued withall ibid. l B E Beanes their medicinable vertues 141. c Bearefoot what hearbe 224. i for what it is soueraigne ibid. 247. e. Bears grease medicinable 323. f Bears gall 324. k Beasts how to be cured of many and sundry diseases 58. l 285. b. 342. k. Bebelo a siluer mine in Spaine 472. l. of long continuance and very rich ibid. Bechion an hearbe See Folefoot or Coughwoort Bedas a fine imaguere and his works 501. c Bedegnar or white Thystle vsed both in guirlands and also in meats 92. l. 194. i Bed-rid of long sickenesse by what meanes to be recouered 219. e. Beech tree what medicines it doth affourd 178. l Beere a drinke vsed in old time 145. b what nourishment it yeeldeth 152. g Bees subiect to the laske how to be remedied 93. d how they are to be fed 93. e. 94. g. 95. c. Bees what floures they delight most in 93. c Bees straying abroad from the hiue how to be reduced and brought home 400. g Bees stolne thriue worst 23. e. Bees killed if a menstruous woman touch the hiue 308. m Bee-hiues become well a garden of floures 93. c Bee-hiues how they are to be made 95. c. how they should stand ibid. Bees sting how to be remedied 40. h. 56. m. 95. a. 106. k 153. b. 174. a. 363. d. 399. f. Bees how to be driuen away that they shall not come neare to sting 53. b Beestings what it is 317. b Beestings crudling in the stomacke is poyson 323. b. how to be remedied ibid. See Colostrum Be et of siluer offered to Apollo 17. d Beet seed commeth not all vp in the first yeare 23. a Beets of two sorts 25. c Beets how to be eaten 25. c. d Beets are of diuerse and contrary qualities 25. d how garden Beets and other hearbes may be made to cabbage 25. d. c Beets spread much 25. e Beets restore the tast to wine ibid. Beets when to be sowne and transplanted ibid. their medicinable vertues 47. a Beetles certaine flies honoured by the Aegiptians superstitiously 390. k Appian would seeme to giue a reason thereof to excuse his conntrimens vanitie 390. l Belus a pretious stone 625. b. consecrated to god Belus ib. Belching sower and strong how to be repressed and cased 66. h. 249. c. Bellie ach how to be allaied 383. e. f. 422. k Seemore in Wrings Bellie ach in beasts 342. l Bellie subiect to many diseases 248. k Bellie and mouth together chiefe means to worke our death ibid. Bellie swolne and hard how to be mollified 40. i. 107. f 186. i. See more in Tumors for the Bellie appropriate medicines 154. g. 158. g Bellie costiue how to be loosened 40. h. 43. b. 47. c. d. 48. k 51. c. 53. a. 160. l. 318. h. 331. a. See more in Soluble herbe Benet See Anons Beeuers in much request among Physicians 451. b they liue on land and water 430. i. whether they bite off their owne stones or no ib. k. the description of their stones and how they be sophisticated ibid. how Beeuers stones be knowne the true for falsified ibid. l. the degrees in goodnesse of their stones ibid. See Castoreum Beeuers vrine a counterpâ—…ison 431. c oile of Ben the vertues that it hath 161. e Benummed parts for colder otherwise how to be chafed and restored 58. h. 108. k. 134. g. 168 g. 173. d. 178. k 259. f. 359. c. Beryll a pretious stone much of the nature of the Emeraud 613. b. India the naturall place thereof ibid. how it is to be cut 613. c. which is the best ibid. Beryls of diuerse kindes 613 c. d Chryso-berillus 613. c Chryso-praesos ibid. Hyacinthizon ibid. Aeroides 613. d Beryls Cerini Oleagini Chrystallini ibid. the blemishes and faules of Beryls 613. d the grace of Beryls lyeth in their length 613. d. e how they be sophisticated 613. f Betonie the hearbe called Vettonica whereupon 224. g named Serratula Câ—…stion and Psycotrophon ibid. the description and praise of this hearbe ib. the vertuees 224. g. h. Beautie and fauour procured to the bodie by hearbes in old time 114. k. 231. f how to be helped 150. h. 314. k B I Biaeon a kinde of wine 155. c. wherefore it is good ibid. d Bialcon a writer in Physicke 342. g Bigati what peeces of siluer coine at Rome 463. 〈◊〉 Biles or fâ—…ll pushes how to be discussed or resolued 56. h 128. h. 140. h. 143. c. 158. g. 169. c. 587. f. how to be repened 141. e See more in Imposthumes Bindweed Smilax Nicephoros an hearbe 190. l. the description ibid. the vertues that it hath in Physicke ibid. two kindes ibid. Bindweed See 〈◊〉 Birds how they maâ—… bâ—… 〈◊〉 by a 〈◊〉 546. g Birth of children 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
d. 173. e. 180. g. k 184. l. 186. i. 193. a. 196. m. 198 i. 200. l. 248. h. 255. b 271. d. 287. f. P O smal Pockâ—… and such like eruptions how to be cured 418. m 421. c. 422. h. 437. d. 443. b. ale-Pocks about the nose how to be healed 128. h Poecile the gallerie at Athens why so called 523. f Poenalties at Rome leuied at the first of boeufes and muttons and not of come 455. a Poenicum what stone 592. g Poets ignorant in Cosmographie 606 g Polea what it is 330. i Polemonia an herb thought to be Sauge de Bois 230. i Polemonia an hearb how it tooke that name 220. k. why it is named Chiliodynama â—…bid the description ibid. Polenta what it is 139. a. the medicinable vertues thereof ibid. Polia a pretious stone 630. m Polion an hearb highly commended by Musaeus and Hesiodus 211. a Polium an hearb 88. i. two kinds thereof and the vertues ibid. commended much by some and condemned againe by others 106 g. h Pollio Asinius erected a Bibliotheque or Librarie at Rome 523 f. he furnished it with statues and images of rare workemanship 569. a Pollio Romilius his Apothegme as touching honied wine and oile 136. m Pollution or shedding of seed in sleepe vpon weakenesse by what remedies it is cured 46. l. 48. g. h. 58. k. 59. c. 70. i 256. l. 518. l. Polyanthemon an hearb 286. m. called Batrachion ibid. Polybius a Greeke writer 424. l Polycles an imageur and his works 502. l Polycletus a famous imageur in brasse 488. i he vsed Diliacke mettall ibid. his exquisit works 497. e he brought the Art of founderie into a method 497. f diuers pieces of his making ibid. Polyclitus a writer 403. f Polycnemon an hearb described 265. f. the vertues 266. g Polycrates the tyrant his ring and stone in it 449. b. it was a Sardonax 601. a. he wilfully threw into the deepe sea 600. l. he found it againe in a fishes belly 601. a Polygala an hearb why so called 288. i Polygnotus a famous painter 484. k. his deuises and inuentions 533. e. his rare workemanship ibid. his liberall mind ibid f. how he was honoured by the states of Greece 534. g Polygnaton what hearbe 123. a. 287. a Polygonum an hearb 287. a. why so called ibid. Polygynaecon what picture of Atheman his drawing 548 h Polypus an vlcer in the nose 251. b. See Nose vlcers Polypodium what herb 251. a. the description ibid. why called also Filicula ib. the vertues ib. the offences that it worketh 251. b Polyrrhizon what hearb 216. e. 289. a Polyrrhizos what hearb 226. i. the vertues ibid. k Polytricha and Callitricha two capillare hearbs their description and how they differ 232. i Polytrix a pretious stone 630. l Polyzonos a pretious stone ibid. a Pomado for chaps in lips or face 327. f Pomadoes of other sorts 320 k. l Pomegranats their properttes in Physicke 164. k. whether to be eaten in a feuer or no ibid. Pomegranate rind what it serueth for 164 l. why called Malicorium ibid. Pomona compared with Ceres Flora and Tellus by the way of Prosopopoea 145. c. f Pompeius Lenaeus a Grammarian and Linguist 209. f he translated into Latine the medicinable receits found in K. Mithridates his closet 209. f. Pompeius Magnus his glorious third triumph 602. k what gold siluer iewels pretious stones he then shewed 602 k. l Plinie enueigheth bitterly against Pompey for this triumph 602. m his bounteous liberalitie in the said triumph 603. a his triumph set the Romans a longing after pearles and pretious stones 602. h he brought Cassidoine cups first into Rome 603. c Pompholix what it is and how it differeth from Spodos 511. d. e. the vertue thereof 511. e Pompions See Melons Pond-weed See Water Speeke Ponticae the pretious stones of Pontus 629. b. the sundry sorts ibid. Pontifie or high Priest letting fall a morsell of meat at the bourd was ominous 298. h Poplar white a tree what vertues it hath in Physick 185. a Poppaea the Empresse bathed ordinarily in asses milke for to make her skin faire soft and smooth 327. c Poppaea shod her horses with gold 480. m shee kept fiue hundred shee asses for to bath with their milke 327. d Poppies of three kinds 30. l the seed of the white Poppie confected ib. It seasoned bread 30. m white Poppie heads medicinable 67. c blacke Poppie 31. a. wandring Poppie ibid. the description of wandring Poppies 68. l Poppies wild their seuerall kinds and vertues 67. e. f. 68. g K. Tarquinius the Proud topt off Poppie heads 31. a what he meant thereby 31. b Poreblind or short sighted how to be helped 367. c the Porcellane shelfish stated Periander his ship at sea 426 i consecrated at Gnidos 426. i Porcius Cato a great student and looking pale therewith 61. d. his schollers affected to looke pale like him by eating Cumin ibid. Pourcuttle fish Polypus how he auoideth the hooke like to catch him 427. f Pourcuttles not to be sodden with salt and why 447. a Porphyrite marble 573. c Porpuis fish described 436. g. his sinnes venomous ibid. The remedy ibid. his fat medicinable 440. l Porret a kitchen hearb how to be sowne and ardered 21. a. b the medicinable vertues therof 42. l. See more in Leeks Porus what stone 587. b Pourfiling what it is 535. d. the hardest point in painting ibid. Pose or a cold what medicins do break and resolue 65. b 289. e. 304. k. 377. f. See Rheume Posidianus a fountaine why so called and the nature of it 401. e. Posidonius a renowmed grauer 483. e Potamogeiton what herb 250 g. the description according to Castor and how he usedit ib. the aduersatiue nature of it to Crocodils 250. h Peteron what hearb 231. a. 288. i. the description ib. k Pothos what floure 92. k Potterie or working in clay more antient than founderie of brasse and other imagerie 494. h. 552. 1 places ennobled for Potters worke 553. d. e Potterie or workemanship in cley how it began 551. e Potterie ware of great vse and estimation 553. d. e Potterie mother of founderie or casting mettall 552. l much practised in Tuscan 552. m a confraternitie of Potters instituted at Rome by K. Numa 553. c. manifold vses of Potterie and works in cley ibid. Posis a famous Potter and his fine works 552. k excellent workemen in Potterie as well for cley as playster and alabastre 551. e. f. 552. g. h. i. c. See Plasticae and Plastae Poysons septicke or corrosiue their remedies 323. c. See Corrosiue and Causticke preseruatiues against poysoned drinkes giuen by witches and sorcerers 67. d. 231. d. e. f. deinceps Poysons cold how to be corrected 159. b. 187. c Poyson worne in the collets of rings 456. k. 458. l Poysons whether they may be put downe in writing or no 213. c. d. Poysons may be made counterpoysons 215. d for Poysons in generall remedies 38. k.
33. c Waters brackish how to be made fresh and sweet 176. i drinke of Water how it nourisheth 152. g offence by vnwhole some waters how to be helped 60. l Waters running how to be diuided that the same may bee seene bare 316. h Water how to be laden out of pits where it commeth vpon the pioners 469. a good Waters from bad how trauailers may discerne and know 414. g Waters change their colour at certaine times 411. c Waters when heauiest ib. Water maintained and cherished by ploughing of the ground 410. l Water creatures are medicinable 400. l Waters some coldin the Spring others in the Dogge daies 409. e. f. Water a powerfull element 400. l. m. 401. a. b Water suspected how it may be altered and made good 407. e. of well VVaters or pit waters 407. c Waters where they be exceeding hot actually 404. h Waters deadly 405. a. b Water faire to sight yet hurtfull both to man and beast 405. b. Waters growing to a stonie substance 405. b. c. d Water cold what operation it hath 407. f Waters of a corrosiue and fretting qualitie 405. c Water how it may be made most cold actually 407 d e standing VVaters condemned 405. f a discourse what VVater is best 406. g Waters which are knowne to be cold ibid. m Waters which are to be reiected 406. g. 407. a Waters salt and brackish how they may be soone made potable 407. a Water ought to haue no tast at all ib. b Water best which commeth nearest to the nature of aire 407. b. Waters not to be tried by the ballance 407. c how the triall is to be taken ibid. Watery humors what medecines purge downeward out of the body 108 g. 110 m. 130 l. 149 b. 174 g. 181. c 182 g. 185 c e. 186 g. 190 g. 252 g. 253 a. 281 b c 284 i. 442 l. Wax how it is made 96. g Wax Punica therbest 96. h Wax of Pontica ib. Wax of Candic ibid. Wax of Corsica ibid. the white wax Punica how it is wrought ib. best for medicines ibid. i how wax may be made blacke ib how it may be coloured ibid. how wax may be brought to any colour ibid the vses of wax 96. k the properties of Wax 137. a b Wax contrary in nature to milke ib. i W E Wearie vpon trauell or otherwise how to be refreshed 64. m 66. l. 121. e. 160. k. 161. e. 173. d. e. 180. k. 187. c. 289. b 319. d. 400. g. 419. e. 422. i. 624. h. how to be be preuented 266. i Weazils armed with rue against they should fight with serpents 56. m Weazils how they are brought together from far 316. g Weazils of two kinds 533. e Weazils fetides their gall is both a poyson and also a countrepoison ibid. Weazils flesh medicinable ibid. Weazils wild be venomous 363. e what remedy therefore ibid. Wens called Ceria by what means cured 37 c. 167 a 168 k. Wins named Melicerides how to be cured 73 d. 107 a Wens Stratomata how cured 265. c Werts what meanes to take away and cause to fall off 55. d 58 h. 105 d. 108 g. 125 h l. 127 e. 142 m. 146 i 166 l. 168 h. 185 b. 198 m. 218 k. 266 h. 280 l 302 k. 307 b. 335 a. 370 k. 386 l m. 414 h. 448 h 470 k. Werts beginning to breed how repressed 418. m Wertwals what doth cure 75. c Wesand appropriat remedies therefore 167. c See Throat against the enuie of the Wesps sting 40. h. 56. m. 63. f. 71. c 106. k. 153. b. 166. l. 173. b. 361. d. 418. m. W H VVhales and such other fishes fat how emploied by merchants 427. c Wheales angry small pocks and such like eruptions how to be cured 46. k. 70 g. 140. i. l. 161. c. 173. f. 174. k 178. g. 183. b. 187. c. 219. f. 317. d. 320. h. 337. a. 421. e 443. b. 437. d. 558. i. 559 b. 589. b. Wheazing in the chest how helped 134. l. 154. g Whey of cows milke for what medicinable 318. i Whelpes or young puppies sucking were thought fine meat at Rome 355. b they serued there for an expiatory sacrifice ib. they made a dish of meat at their solemne feasts 355. c VVhet stones of sundry kinds 593. a which be vsed with water which with oyle 593. a. b Spanish VVhite See Ceruse burnt Spanish VVhite or Ceruse naturall 529. e VVhites in women how repressed 516. h. See more in VVomen VVhite flaws about the nailes how to be healed 75. c. 105. d 141. a. 147. b. 158. k. 160 g. 174. l. 177. f. 272. k. 300. l 516. h. VVhite stones 588. i W I VVild-fires and such like fretting humors how to be extinguished 72. g. 75. b. 106. i. 124. h. 146. k. 157. e. 265. d 287. b. 529. b. VVildings or crab apples and their nature 164. i Wild-vine called Ampelos Agria described 149. b. 276. h the vertues ibid. VVild-vine Labrusca 149. b VVild white vine Ampeloleuce 149. c the root hath many vertues 149. d herbe VVillow See Lisimachia Willow or Withie what medicinable vertues it hath 186. l VVillow yeeldeth a juice of three kinds 186 l VVine of Bacchus what 403. a VVines how they may be soone refined and made readie to draw 176. 〈◊〉 See more in VVyne for co cleanse and discharge the VVindpipes being stuffed appropriat remedies 133 e. 148 k. 194 g. 277 b. 329. e Windpipes enflamed and exulcerat how to be cured 140. l. 328. i. for all infirmities of the Windpipes conuenient remedies 122 g. 134 k. 138 m. 170 h. 289 e. how a horse will proue broken Winded 342. h. i broken Wind in horses how to helped 246. h holding of the Wind in what cases good 305. d shortnes of Wind by what medicines it may be helped 37. a 39 c. 44 g. 52 g. 56 h. 57 d. 58 h. 61 b. 65 c. 70 g. 73. a 104 h. 105 d. 107 e. 109 a. 127. c. 144 i. 150 g. 154. g 162 g. 164 g. 167 c. 173 b. 180 g k. 183 e. 192. l 193 a. 200 l. 201 f. 247 a b d. 248 h. 263 d. 274 g 289 d. 329 c. 359 c. 381 a. 422 k. 432 i. 442. h. 521. a 556 m. 557 d. what mooueth to breake Wind vpward 237. a. 253 e 277 b. 290 k. Winter-cherrie why called Versicaria 112. h the description thereof ibid. Wisards prophets and Phisicians put downe by Tiberius Caesar 374. g Wit helped by some water 403. e bereft of Wit how to be cured 52 l. 260 l. 306. k. l Withwind an herbe and the floure thereof described 84. l Withie See Willow Witchcraft condemned by Pliny 213. c Witchcraft and enchantments forbidden expressely by the lawes at Rome 296. h Witchcraft and sorcerie auaile not nor be of force where no regard is made thereof 296. g against the practise of Witches good preseruatiues 108. m 300 g. W O Woad an herb the properties medicinable that it hath 45. c bodies of
18 day before the Calends of Ianuary The Spring Aequinox when nights and daies be of a length in the eight degree of Aries Semblably the summer Sunstead or longest day of the yeare is alwaies when the Sun is entred eight degrees into Cancer Last of all the other Aequinox in Autumne when day and night is equall lighteth vpon the eight degree of Libra And certes seldom or neuer shall you see any of these foure daies without euident shew of some notable change in the weather Again these cardinall seasons or quarters of the yeare admit also their sub-diuisions still into some notable and special times obserued in the very middle space from the one and the other For betweene the summer Sunstead and the Aequinox in Autumne iust vpon the fiue and forty day after the same Sunstead the retrait or setting of the star called in Latine Fidicula i. the Harp beginneth the Autumne Likewise betweene that Aequinox and the winter Sunstead or shortest day of the yeare the Matutine or morning fall of the star Virgiliae vpon the three and fortieth day after the said Aequinox setteth the beginning of the winter So likewise vpon the fiue and fortieth day between mid-winter or the shortest day of the yeare and the spring Aequinox the blowing of the Western wind Favonius beginneth the Spring And last of all vpon the three and fortieth day from the sayd Aequinox toward the Summer Sunstead at what time as the star Virgiliae doth rise Matutine begins the Summer But to returne again to our Agriculture begin I will at the Seednes of Frument corne that is to say at the rising or apparition of the starre Vergiliae in the morning without making any mention at all of other pety stars for to interrupt the train and course of our treatise to heap difficulties one vpon another considering that the fierce and vehement star Orion is departed a great way off from vs by that time I am not ignorant that many fall to sowing corne long before and preuent this time beginning their Seednes within 11 daies after the Aequinox in Autumne namely at the approch and rising of the star Corona i. the Crowne promising themselues assuredly to haue rain vpon it for certain daies together Xenophon would not haue vs begin to sow before that God giue vs some good signe and token so to do And Cicero our countryman expounding this saying of Xenophon taketh the raines in Nouember to be that signe which God giueth whereas in very deed the true and vndoubted rule to goe by is to make no great hast into the field for to sow before the leaues begin to fall and this euery man holdeth to be at the very occultation or retrait of the star Vergiliae Some as we haue before said haue obserued it about 3 daies before the Ides of Nouember And for that the said star is so euident in the heauen and easiest to be known of all others called it is by the name of a garment hanging out at a Brokers shop And therefore by the fall or retrait thereof as many men as haue a care and forecast to preuent the couetous dealing of the merchant-Tailor as commonly such occupiers lie in the wind for gain guesse aforehand what winter will follow for if it be a cloudie season when the star retireth it threatens a rainy winter and then these merchants presently raise the price of the clokes which they sel but if the weather be faire and cleare at the setting or occultation thereof it sheweth a pinching and hard winter toward and then they hold other garments also very deare But this Husbandman of ours who cannot skill at all to looke vp and to learn the order and position of the heauens must spy this signe of winter amongst his briers and brambles he must find I say the time of Seednes as he looketh downe vpon the ground namely when he sees the leaues fallen and lying vnder his feet Thus may a man know the temperature of the climat and the yeare according as he perceiues the leaues be fallen more at one time than another sooner also in some places and later elsewhere For as the season is forward or late as the climate also is affected so are the trees knowne to shed their leaues accordingly And in very truth this is the truest signe of all others And the best thing therein is this that being generall throughout the whole world and yet peculiar to each place it neuer faileth A man might make a wonder hereat if he did not see and remember that vpon the very shortest day in the yere euen in midwinter when the Sun is entred Capricorn the herb Penyroyal vseth of it selfe to floure either set in chaplets or otherwise hanging and sticking in the shambles so willing is Nature to shew vs all her secrets and to keepe nothing hidden from vs. For loe what signes and marks she hath giuen vs wherby we might know the time of sowing corn and verily this is the only true and infallible direction grounded vpon approoued experience and the same shewed first by dame Nature for by this dropping fall of leaues what doth she els teach and counsell vs but to haue our eye vpon the ground and to cast seed into it assuring vs of a certain supply of dung and compost by ouerspreading the ground and cast seed into it that soon will turne into muck what doth she else I say but by couering the earth in this manner with leaues shew how carefull she is to defend it against hard frosts and pinching winds and in one word thereby putteth vs in mind to make the more hast and get our seed vnder mould As for Varro he is of the same opinion for beans also and willeth vs to obserue the said rule in sowing them at the fall of the leafe Others are of this mind that the best sowing thereof is in the full Moone But for Lentils we should attend the last quarter toward the change to wit from the 25 day to the thirtieth Also that Vetches must be sowed at the said age of the Moon for in so doing we shall preserue such pulse from the naked snaile Howbeit some others there be that indeed would haue these kindes of Pulse to be sowed at this time of the yeare and age of the Moon for prouender and forrage to be spent out of hand mary if we would keepe the same for seed then we should take the season of the Spring Besides those rules and tokens aboue specified there is one more which Nature vpon an extraordinarie prouidence ouer vs hath presented vnto our eies after a wonderfull manner which Cicero expresseth in these termes Iam vero semper viridis semperque gravata Lentiscus triplici solit a est grandescere foetu Ter fruges fundens tria tempora monstrat arandi The Mastick tree All times you see Is clad and richly dight With green in cold With fruit three-fold A faire and goodly
sight As she therefore By Natures lore Doth fruit thrice yearely beare So thereby we Know seasons three Our land to duly eare Of which three seasons one is appropriate for the sowing both of Poppy and also of Lineseed But since I haue named Poppy I will tell you what Cato saith as touching the sowing thereof vpon that land quoth he where you mean to sow Poppy burn your winding rods the cuttings also and twigs of vines which remained and were left at the pruning time when you haue burned them sow wild Poppy seed in the place for it is a singular medicine being boiled vp to a syrrup in honey for to cure the maladies incident to the chawes and throat As for the garden Poppy it hath an excellent and effectuall vertue to procure sleep And thus much concerning Winter corne and the Seednes thereof CHAP. XXVI ¶ A summarie or recapitulation of all points of Husbandry and to what out-works in the field a husbandman should be imployed respectiuely to euerie moneth of the yeare BVt now to compasse vnder a certain briefe Abridgement or Breviarie all points of husbandrie together At the same time before named to wit at the falling of the leafe it is good also to lay dung vnto the roots of trees likewise to mold and bank vines and one workeman is sufficient for one acre Also where the nature of the ground will beare it the husbandman shall not do amisse to disbranch and lop his tree-groues to prune his vineyards to hollow the ground of his seminaries and nourse-plots with mattocke and spade and dresse the mould light to open his sluces and trenches for water-course to driue and drain it out of the fields and finally to wash his Wine-presses first and then to shut and lay them vp dry and safe Item after the Calends or first day of Nouember let him set no hens vpon egs vntill the winter Sunstead be past when that time is come and gon set Hens hardly and let them couve 13 egs marie better it were all Summer long to put so many vnder them for in winter fewer will serue howbeit neuer vnder nine Democritus giueth a guesse what Winter we shall haue by the very day of the Winter Sunstead for look what weather is then and for threedaies about it the like winter he supposeth will ensue Semblably for the Summer he goeth by the other Sunstead or longest day of the yeare and yet commonly for a fortnight about the shortest day in the yeare to wit during the time that the fowles Halcyones do lay couve and hatch their egs in the sea the windes lie and the weather is more mild and temperat But as well by these signes as all other whatsoeuer we must guesse the influences and effects of the stars according to the euent within some latitude of time and not so precisely to limit and tie them alwaies to certain daies prefixed as if they were bound to make their appearance peremptorily in court iust then and faile not Moreouer in mid-winter meddle not at all with vines touch them not in any hand but let them alone What then is the husbandman to do Mary then quoth Hyginus after seuen daies be once past from the Sunnestead he is to refine his wines from the lees and let them settle yea and to poure them out of one vessel into another prouided withall that the Moon be a quarter old Also about that season to wit when the Sun is in Capricorn it is not amisse to plant cherrie trees and set their stones then is it good also to giue oxen Mast to feed them and one Modius or pâ—…cke is sufficient to serue a yoke at one refection allow them more at once you glut them and fill them full of diseases but at what time soeuer you make them this allowance vnlesse you hold on thirty daies together folke say they will be scabbed and mangie when the Spring commeth that you will repent for cutting them so short As for felling timber trees this was the proper season which we appointed heretofore All other winter works for an husbandman to be busied in would be done in the night for the most part sit vp he must late and rise betimes by candle light and watch hardly about them for that the nights be so much longer than the daies let him a Gods name find himselfe occupied with making Wicker baskets and hampers winding of hurdles twisting of frailes and paniers let him thwite torch wood taperwise with links and lights and when he hath by day light made ready and prepared thirtie poles or railes for vines to run on and sixty stakes or props to support them hee may in the euening make fiue poles or perches and ten forks or supporters and likewise as many early in the morning before day light But now to come to Caesars reckoning of the times digestion of the coelestial signes these be the notable stars which are significant and do rule that quarter which is between the winter Sunstead and the rising of the Western wind Favonius Vpon the third day saith he before the Calends of Ianuarie which is the 30 day of December the Dog-starre goeth downe in the morning vpon which day in Attica and the whole tract thereto adioyning the star Aquila i. the Aegle setteth by report in the euening and loseth her light The euen before the Nones of Ianuarie i. the fourth day thereof by Caesars account I mean for the meridian of Italy the Dolphin star riseth in the morning and the morrow after the Harp-star Fidicula vpon which day in Aegypt the star Sagitta i. the Arrow setteth in the euening Item from that time to the sixt day before the Ides of Ianuarie i. the eighth day of that moneth when as the same Dolphin goeth down or retireth out of sight in the euening vsually we haue in Italy continual frost and winter weather as also when the Sun is perceiued to enter into Aquarius which ordinarily falleth out sixteen daies before the Calends of Februarie i. the seuenteenth of Ianuary As for the cleare and bright star called the star Royal appearing in the breast of the signe Leo Tubero mine Author saith that eight daies before the Calends of Februarie to wit the 25 day of Ianuarie it goeth out of our sight in the morning also ouer-night before the Nones of Februarie i. the fourth day of the same moneth the Harp-star Fidicula goeth down and is no more seene Toward the later end of this quarter it is good and necessarie to dig and turne vp fresh mould with mattock and spade against the time that roses or vines shal be set wheresoeuer the temperature of the climat will beare it and for an acre of such worke sixty labourers in a day are sufficient to doe it well At which time also old trenches and ditches would be scoured or new made For morning worke before day the Husbandman must look to his iron tooles that they be ground whetred