very profitable and medicinable cure for those which are grieued with any ach or paine in their head or with any enormity or trouble in their liuer and is also being giuen simply by it selfe Isidorus without any thing mixed in it or compounded in wine is very good and wholsome for the healing and curing of those who haue any paine or griefe in their stomacke which commeth by the occasion of any cold A muske-catte being put vnto the body of any man in the forme or manner of a plaister doth confirme and make strong both his hart and all the rest of his bowels Dioscorides or interior parts it doth moreouer encrease both strength and power in all his members yea and in the very bones the efficacy thereof is of such power and vertue The same being layed or annointed vpon the head is very effectual for the expelling or driuing away of the rheume which falleth from the head into the nostrils and by that means procureth heauinesse in the same and for the amending and curing of the swimming dizzines or giddines in the head through the aboundant humors which remaine and stay therein and also for the bridling and restraining of lust and venery Auicenna The same being vsed in the aforesaid manner doth temperate and confirme the brains of any man besides it easeth and helpeth those which haue paine about their heart by the which they suppose their very heart to ake The smell of this beast is both profitable and hurtfull for vnto those which are cold of constitution the scent is very pleasant in regard that is it hot of it selfe and is very delightfull in their sauors but vnto those which are hot of nature it is very noisome in regard that the heat and strong scent therof ouercommeth their sences and oftentimes causeth their heads to ake and be full of paine Rasis and doth al-also stir vp in them that pestiferous disease called the falling sicknesse but vnto women which are of a hot or fiery constitution it is more hurful noisome for it breedeth in them a very pestiferous disease which choketh their matrice or wombe Brasauolus causeth them oftentimes to swound it is called by some the mother The sneezings of a muske-cat is an excellent remedy against the resolution of the sinnewes or the palsie A muske-cat is very good wholsome for the helping and curing of those which are troubled with any deafenesse or astonishment in any part of their bodies as also for the driuing away of melancholicke and sorrowfull passions out of mens mindes and for the incitating delightfull myrth and pleasure in them A musk-cat being mixed and mingled with dry plaisters which are vsed for the healing of the eies ia an excellent remedy for the expelling and driuing away of the white skinne which doth vsually couer the sight and for the drying vp of moist rheumes and humors which in the night time do fall from the braines and the head and by that meanes doth much hurt and damage the sight of the eies as also for the clarifieng and healing vp of any paine or disease therein A muske-cat is an excellent remedy for those which haue a desire to vomit and cannot it doth also renewe an appetite or stomacke in those vntill their victuals which doe loath and abstaine from all sustenance and doth loosen and dissolue all thicke puffinges or windinesse in the interior parts or members of any one A muske-catte being mingled with a causticke medicine Platearius is very profitable and wholsome for the bringing forth of those Womens menses or fluxes which are stopped and also for mouing conception in those women which are hindered in it by the occasion of some great cold A medicine or suppositary being made of ambergryse and mingled with a sweet gumme comming out of Syria and Styrax and then mixed both together with a muske-cat and so beaâ—en vntill they come vnto a certaine salue and layed vnto the secret parts of a woman is very good for the aforesaide disease Aâ—iceâ—na There is a certaine iuyce or moistnesse in a musk cat which being pressed forth or dissolued and mixed with the Oyle called Palma Christy and annointed vpon the yard of any man doth stir him vp to lust and venery If the least part of a musk-cat be eaten by any one which is troubled with a stinking breath iâ— will presently expell and take away the stink thereof And thus much shal suffice concerning the cures and medicines of the musk-cat OF THE MVLE. 〈◊〉 seuerall 〈◊〉 THe Mule is a beast called by the Hebrewes Pered from whence comes the feminine Pirdah 3. of King and there be some that say the reason of the Hebrew word is from the seperation and sterility of this beast for it is Pered quia non pareat The Chaldey word is Cudana the Arabian Beal but Gen. 36. for the Hebrew word Iemin many translate Mules The Arabians Kegal but the Graecian Septuagints Hemionous The Graecians also call a Mule Astrahe from the strength of his body The Latines cal a Mule Mulus and Semiasinus that is halfe an Asse because on the one side he is a Horse and on the other side an Asse and therefore in his condicions he more resembleth an Asse then a Horse whereupon lyeth this tale A certaine Lydian Mule â—eeing his Image in the water grew to be afraid of the greatnesse thereof and thervpon tooke his heeles and ran away as fast as he could neither could he be stayed by al the wit of his keepers Plutarch At length the mule remembring that he was the son of an Asse he staied his course and came backe againe neighing The Italians call a mule Mulo and the female Mula like the Latines and the Spaniards The French mulet and the female Mule from whence commeth the English word Mule The Germans multhire or mulesel The Illirians meseck and the Flemings mul. 〈◊〉 kinds oâ— Mules There is another kind of mules in Syria diuers from those which are procreated by the copulation of a mare and an asse they receiue their names froÌ„ the similitude of their faces For there is no other cause why wilde Asses should be called Asses but onely their similitude and tame Asses And as among wilde Asses some of them are singularly swift so also among these Syrian mules there are some excellent speedy coursers These mules procreate in their owne kinde and admit no mixture which Aristotle proued by nine of them which were brought into Phrygia in the daies of Pharnacas the father of Pharnabazi Theophrastrus also reporteth that in Cappadocia the mules engender among themselus which Aristotle remembreth in his wonders and hee might well haue spared it for they are a kind of catâ—el among themselues Aelianus There be flocks of Asses and mares in India where the mares do willingly admit the Asses in copulation and bring forth red mules the best of all other for
of Iuvenall Namque hic mundae nitet vngula Mulae His voice cleare and not hoarse for so the mare wil be terrified from copulation His colour ought to be likewise cleare as all black hauing no white belie or somewhat looking towards purple and hauing one blacke spot vppon his mouth or rather a blacke tongue and such as haue bin brought vp with horses It is the fashion of some to take wilde Asses to tame them to make Stalions for generation for they beget the best Mules if they be liberally fed and not enclosed and neuer waxe wilde againe if they bee put among tame Asses And the young one so gotten by him will be like the syer and if any haue a desire to make the Mules of strange colours Absirtus they must couer the female with a cloth of that colour wherewithal they desire the young one to be foaled as we haue shewed already in the discourse of Horsses whereby there are raysed many excellent kinds and rases or else they bring in their presence at the time of their copulation some great male Horsse or Asse by the fight whereof they are made more fruitfull or againe some base and dispisable beast being offered to their view doth make them to conceiue more noble Mules If the wilde Asses be at any time heauy and not willing to couer the Mare then let there be another female Asse brought into the presence by the sight whereof his lust so burneth that he rageth almost to madnesse for copulation And therefore being denyed the Asse doth more willingly leape vpon the Mare whom before he loathed Againe it must be regarded that the Stalion bee tyed and bound fast so that he may not couer the Mare after she is with foal nor yet haue accesse vnto her least by kicking and biting he cause abortment for many times they breake their bonds asunder and greatly trouble the females with young therefore they are accustomed to some labour which taketh downe the heate of their lust yet at the time that they are to couer the Mares you must vse all diligence to awaken the drousie nature of the beast so that with greater spirit the seede of the male and female may meete together The Asses of Lybia wil not couer mares that haue manes vntil they be shorne off for it seemeth they disdaine that their females shoulde haue more ornamentes then themselues which are theyr husbands We haue shewed already in the discourse of the Asse that mares doe not willingly admit any Stalion Asse to couer them except it be such a one as did sucke a Mare which we called a horse-suckling or Equimulgus For this cause men that propound vnto themselues to nourish rases of Mules take the colt of an Asse so soon as it is foald and put to it a mare giuing milke in some darke place wherein the mare not doubting any fraud is deceiued and willingly yealdeth her vdders to the Asses foale whereunto being accustomed for ten daies together at last she taketh it for her own and such a Stalion Asse loueth mares exceedingly and on the other side the Mare refuseth not him And some say that although they sucke their mothers milke yet if from the time of their weaning they bee brought vp among Horsse-Colts it is as good as if they had sucked mares If the Asse be small which is a Stalion he will quickly waxe olde and his yssue be the worse therefore they must prouide the largest and strongest Asses and nourish them with the best hay and barly that so his strength may abound before his copulation He ought not to be vnder three yeares olde nor yet brought vnto a Mare which neuer knew male for such a one will beate him away with her heeles and mouth and bring him into perpetuall hatred with that kind wherefore they vse to bring some vile and vulgar Asse into the presence of the Mare as it were to woo her and prouoke her to copulation that so if she beate him away it may be no hinderance to the Stallion but if she seem to admit him and desirous of copulation then they take him away and bring the appointed Stalion into his roome and so the Mule is engendered For the effecting of their copulation there must be a place appointed for the purpose betwixt two wals hauing a narrow passage that so the Mare may not haue liberty to fight with the Asse and the Mares head must be tyed downe to a Manger or racke the ground being so fashioned that her forefeet may stand much lower then her hinder and so ascend backward to the intent that the asse may more easily leape vpon her back and she receiue the seed more deepely When the Mare hath brought forth the Mule she giueth it suck halfe a yeare and then driueth it away which ought to be brought vp in some Mountains or hard places that so the hoofes may grow hard and indurable Having thus discoursed of the generation of Mules it now followeth that we should enquire whether Mules thus engendered betwixt an Asse and a Mare doth likewise bring forth in their owne kind Obseruatumest saith Pliny è duobus diuersis generibus tertij generis fieri neutri parentum esse similia eaque ipsa qu◠ita nata sunt non gignere in omni animalium genere id circo mulas no parere That is to say It hath beene obserued that out of two diuers kinds a third hath beene engendered and yet like to neither of the parents and those so engendered did not procreate others in the vniuersall kind of beastes or among al creatures And therfore Mules conceiued betwixt Asses and Mares do not bring forth young Whereupon Camerarius made this pretty riddle of a mule Dissimilis patri matri diuersa figura Confusi generis generi non apta propago Ex alijs nascor nec quisquam nascitur ex me Democritus is of opinion also that Mules cannot conceiue and that their secret places are not like other beastes and the issue of confused kinds can neuer engender but especially in a Mule because it is made of diuers seedes I meane diuers in quantity and almost contrary for the seede of the Asse is cold and the seede of the Mare is hot Aristotle disputing of this matter concerning those kinds that are procreated of diuers parents writeth in this sort those beasts ioyne in copulation whose kinds although they are diuers yet are not their natures very disagreeable If the quantity and stature be alike and the times of going with young be equall yet they remaine barren that are so begotten of which cause Empedocles and Democritus yeald reason Empedocles obscurely and Democritus more plainly but neither of thē both wel for they alledge the same demonstration about all beasts out of their kind Democritus saith that the passages of the Mules are corrupted in their wombes because their beginning doth not consist of one and the same kind but this is no reason
that age but prolonged till two three or foure yeare old wee haue shewed already the English manner for knitting of rams Being thus libbed or knit their hornes grow not so great as the other males vngelded but their flesh and lard or sewet is more acceptable then of any other sheep whatsoeuer except they be ouer old for that it is neither so moist as a lambs nor yet so rank as a rams or Ewes where Baptiste Fiera made these verses Anniculus placeat vel si sine testibus agnus Pinginox est hordo quin calet olla vores Hunc anno se duriper pascua montis anhelat Maluero si auri villere diues erit Platina also writeth thus of the flesh of Weathers Veruecem caro satis salubris est melior quam agnina calida enim humida habetur ad temperamentum tendeus illa vero plus humiditatis quam caliditatis habet That is to say The flesh of Weathers is wholsome ynough and better then the flesh of Lambes because it is hot and moist but that hath in it more moisture then heat and therefore this tendeth to a better temperament Munster writeth that the inhabitants and people of Valuis take this flesh of Weathers and salt it afterward dry it in the ayre where no smoake may come vnto it afterward they lay it vp in strawe and so hold it much more delicate then that which is raized in the smoake As the flesh of these beastes groweth the better for their gelding because they liue more quietly and peaceably for that their fore-heades grow weake and tender and their horns smal so also it is reported that their tailes grow exceeding large and fat In some Regions as in Arabia Foelix and other places and because the report should not seeme feined by me I will describe it in the Authours owne words Paulus Venetus writeth thus of the Weathers of Scythia and in the region Camandu subiect to the great Tartar In Tartariae regione Camandu vrietes non minores asinis sunt cauda tam longu latu vt triginta librarum pondus aequent In Camandu a territory of Tartaria there are Rams like Asses in stature and quantity whose tailes are so long and broad that they ballance in waight thirty pound Vartoman writeth In adibus regis Arabium fuisse praepingus veruecem cutus cauda adeo obesa fuit vt libras quadraginta appenderet propi Reame vrbem Arabiae foelicis veruecum genera reperiuntur quorum caudam animaduerti pondo esse librarum quadragintu quatuor carent cornibus adeoque esse obesi pingues vt vix incedere possunt Circa Zeclam vrbem Aethiopiae verueces non nulli ponderasissimas trahunt caudas vt pote pondo sedecim librarum His caput collum nigricant caeteris albi sunt Sunt etiam verueces prorsus albicantes quorum cauda cubitatis est longitudinis modo eluboratae vitis palearia vt bubus à mento pendent quae humum prope verrunt That is to say In the house of the King of Arabia there was a Weather very fat whose taile waighed forty pound and neare vnto Reamia a Citty in Arabia Foelix there are a breed or race of Weathers whose tailes for the most part waied foure and forty pound They want hornes and are so fat that they can scarcely go Also about the Citty Zecla in Aethiopia the Weathers draw long tailes waighing sixteene pound Whereof some haue their heads and necke blacke and all the other parts of their body white some of them againe al white hauing a taile but of a cubit long like a curious and planted Vine their crestes and haire hanging from their chinne to the grounde Thus farre of the Arabian Weathers Of the Indians hee writeth thus in another place Circa Tanasuri vrbem Indiae tanta est pecudum copia vt duodeni veruices singulo aureo vaeneunt Conspiciuntur illic verueces alij cornua haud ab similia daemis habentes nostris longe maiores ferocioresque Candae veruecem in perigrinis regionibus tantae sunt quantus nullus apud nos veruex Contingit hoc quia hutindissimum hoc animal inter quadrupedia frigidissimum eumque coetera essa vetendi nequeant ne pinguedine immensa extensis etiam assibus neruis non parum quae humida natura velut pisces semper incremento apta sunt That is About the citty Tarnasar in India there is such great plenty of cattell that they sell twelue Weathers for a noble and yet there are Weathers which haue hornes like to the hornes of Deere being longer greater and fiercer then our Rams and their tailes in forraign and strange countries are fatter then any Weathers among vs and the reason hereof is because it is the moistest and coldest creature among al foure-footed-beastes and bycause the bones cannot be enlarged to receiue that moysture and least that it should destroy the beast by exuperance and aboundance therefore nature hath prouided this remedy to sende it forth into the taile whereby in flesh and fat it groweth exceedingly the bones and nerues whereof are not a little extended for they are also of a moist nature like fishes and therefore apt to encrease and grow immeasurably Thus much say they of the tailes of Weathers now I know such is the solidity of diuers Readers people that for these reports they wil presently giue both these Authors and me the Whet-stone for rare vntruths and fictions I do not maruaile for such I dare assure my selfe doe not beleeue all the miracles of Christ hauing shorte and shallow conceiptes measuring all things by their owne eies and because they themselues are apt to lye for their profit therefore they are not ashamed to lay like imputations vppon honest men yet I could shew vnto them as great or greater wonders in our owne nation if they were worthy to bee confuted for which other nations account vs as great liers nay as these infidell fooles do them and yet they are common among vs. The vse of the seuerall parts of this beast is no other then that which is already reported of the sheep and Ram and therefore I will not stand to repeate that which is so lately related and for the remedies or medicinal vertues I fynd few that are special except those which are common between this and other of his kind It seemeth by Plautus that a Weathersheepe is accounted the most foolish of all other a coward and without courage for speaking of a mad dotish fellow he writeth thus Ego ex hac statua veruecea volo erogitare meo minore quod sit factum filio That is I will demaund of this blockish weathers picture meaning his foolish seruant what is become of my younger son These were among the Pagans sacrifyced but not among the Iewes for they haue not so much as a name for it it is probable that seeing it is an vnperfect beast God forbade it to his sanctuary when the gentiles
some say by Bacchus Pliny Asses in coelestial signes Hyginus who in his fury which Iuno laid vpon him trauailing to the Dodanaean Temple of Apollo to recouer his wits by the counsel of the Oracle came to a certaine lake of water ouer which he could not passe and meeting there two Asses tooke one of them vpon whose backe hee was safely carried ouer dri-foote Afterward when he had recouered his wits in thankfulnesse for that good turne he placed the two Asses among the starres Howsoeuer this may be a fabulous commendation of this beast Numb 22 yet holy Writ teacheth vs that an Asse saw an Angell and opened his mouth in reproofe of his mayster Balaam and our most blessed Sauiour rode on an Asse to Ierusalem to shew his humility and Sampson out of the iaw-bone of an Asse quenched his thirst Morals of the discourses of asses Apuleius in his eleuen bookes of his golden Asse taketh that beast for an Emblem to note the manners of mankind how some by youthfull pleasures become beasts and afterward by timely repentant old-age are reformed men againe Some are in their liues Wolues Proclus som Foxes some Swine some Asses and so other may be compared to other beasts and as Origen saith onely by pleasure is a man a horse or Mule when a beastly soule liueth in a humaine shape This world is vnto them an inchanted cup of Circes Beroaldus wherein they drinke vp a potion of obliuion error and ignorance afterwards brutizing in their whole life till they tast the Roses of true science and grace inlightning their minds which is theyr new recouery of humane wit life and vnderstanding Asses are bred in Arcadia wherefore prouerbially Countries breeding asses the best Asses are signified by the Arcadian Asse and the greatest Asses by the Acharnican Asse In Timochain of Persya are very beautifull Asses whereof one hath beene sold for thirty pounds of siluer Paul veneâ— Pondera Likwise in Rea in Italy in Illiria Thracia and Epirus there are Asses but very small ones although all other cattell there are very large In India among the Psillians they are not greater then Rams and generally all their cattell are of a very small growth In Scythia Pontus Aelianus Celta and the regions confining them are no Asses bred by reason of extreamity of cold for Asses are very impatient of cold In Misia there are also asses but their flankes are crooked and indented as if they were broken whereupon a prouerbiall common speech ariseth one hauing a broken flanke for a Missian Asse Asses are ingendred both by their owne kind and also by horses for they choose stallions and put them to their Asses who haue large bodies wel set legs strong neckes Their breed broad and strong ribbes brawny and high creasts thighes full of sinewes and of black or flea-bitten colour for a Mouse-colour is not approued wherefore he that will haue a good flocke of Asses must looke that the male and female be sounde and of a good age that they may breed long time and out of a good seminary as of Arcadia or Rea Palladius for as the best Lampreyes are in Sicilia and the delicate fish Helops in Rhodos and not else where so are best Asses in these forenamed places When they make choise of a Stallion they looke principallie that he haue a great head An asse is more desirous of copulation then a horse and both male and female doe couple at thirtie moneths Absirtus although it proue not vntill three yeares or three and a halfe Aristotle Pliny Men say that Anna the father in law of Esau did first inuent the copulation of horses and Asses togither for as a horsse doth couer a shee asse so an asse will couer a Mare and an asse will sooner fill the lust of a Mare then a horsse If a horsse couer a female asse which hath beene entred by a male asse he cannot alter the seed of the asse but if an asse couer a Mare which a horsse formerly entred Pliny he will destroy the seed of the horsse so that the Mare shall suffer abortment Leonicenâ—â— by reason that the seed genitall of an Asse is more frigide then a horses The Mares of Elis cannot at all conceiue by asses copulation and there is more aborments falleth out by commixtion of horsses with asses or asses with Mares then when euery kind mingleth amongst themselues It it but a superstition of some Pliny Aristotle which affirme that an asse cannot conceiue for so many yeares as she hath eaten graines of barly corne defiled with womens purgation but this is certaine that if an asse conceiue not at the first loosing of hir teeth she remayneth barren They are not coupled in generation in the Spring aequinoctium like Mares and other beasts but in the Sommer Solstice by reason of their colde natures that they may bring forth their yong ones about the same time for in the twelfe month after their copulation Aristotle Varro they render their foles If the males be kept from labour they are the worse for generation wherefore they are not to be suffered ydle at that time but it is not so with the female she must rest that the Fole may be the stronger but presentlie after she is couered she must be coursed and driuen to and fro or else she will cast forth againe the receiued seed Pliny The time that she goeth with yong is according to the male kind by which shee is couered for so long as the male lay in the belly of his damme so long will the Asse carrie her yong before deliuerance but in the stature of body strength and beauty the yong one taketh more after the female then the male The best kind of Asses are the foles of a wilde Asse and a tame female-Asse They vse when an asse is foaled to take it from the damme and put it to sucke a Mare that it may be the greater which fole is called Hippothela Pliny that is a Horse-suckling and Mares will not be couered by Asses except by such an one as was a horse-suckling A she-asse will engender till she bee thirty yeares olde which is her whole life long Aelianus but if she conceiue often she will quickly be barren wherof their keepers must take such care that they cause them to be kept from often copulation They will not fole in the sight of man or in the light but in darknesse they bringe forth but one at a time for it hath not been heard of in the life of man that an asse hath euer brought forth twinnes Assoone as they are conceiued they haue milke in theyr vdders but some hold not vntill the tenth moneth They loue their yong ones very tenderly for they will run through fire to come at them but if there be any water betwixt them it cooleth their affections for of all things they loue not
qualities remedies and miraculous operation therof wherfore they must be verie warily and skilfully taken foorth for there is in a little skin compassing them about a certaine sweet humor called Humor Melleus and with that they must be cut out the vtter skin being cut asunder to make the more easie entrance and the Apothecaries vse to take all the fat about them which they put into the oyle of the Castoreum and sell it vnto fisher men to make baite for fishes The females haue stones or Castoreum as well as the males but very small ones Now you must take great heed to the choise of your Beauer and then to the stones which must grow from one roote conioyned otherwise they are not precious and the beast must neither be a young one nor one very old but in the meane betwixt both being in vigour and perfection of strength The Beauers of Spaine yeeld not such vertuous castoreum as they of Pontus and therefore if it be possible Hermolaus The corrupting of Castoreum take a Pontique Beauer next one of Gallatia and lastly of Affrique Some do corrupt them putting into their skinne gumme and Ammomacke with blood other take the raines of the beast and so make the castoreum very big which in it selfe is but small This beast hath two bladders which I remember not are in any other liuing creature and you must beware that none of these be ioyned with the castoreum You may know if it be mingled with Ammoniacke by the tast for although the colour be like yet is the sauour different Platearius sheweth that some adulterate castoreum by taking of his skinne or some cod newly taken forth of another beast filling it with blood sinnewes and the pouder of castoreum that so it may not want his strong smell or sauour other fill it with earth and blood other with blood rozen gumme sinnewes and pepper to make it tast sharp but this is a falsification discernable and of this sort is the castoreum that is sold at Venice as Brasouala affirmeth and the most of them sold at this day are bigger then the true castoreum for the iust waight of the right stones is not aboue twelue ounces and a halfe one of them being bigger then the other being sixe fingers bredth long and foure in breadth Now the substance contained in the bag is yellowish solid like waâ— and sticking like glew not sharp and cracking betwixt the teeth as the counterfait is These stones are of a strong and stinking sauour such as is not in any other but not rotten and sharpe as Grammarians affirme yet I haue smelled of it dried which was not vnpleasaunt and things once seasoned with the sauour thereof will euer tast of it although they haue not touched it but lie couered with it in the same boxe or pot and therefore the castoreum of Persia is counterfeit which hath no such smell for if a man smell to the right castoreum it will draw blood out of his nose After it is taken forth from the beast it must be hung vp in some place to be dried in the shadow and when it is dry it is soft and white it will continue in strength sixe yeares and some say seuen the Persians affirme that their castoreum will hold his vertue ten years which is as false as the matter they speake of is counterfait Archigenes wrote a whole booke of the vertue of this castoreum whereunto they may resort that require an exact and full declaration of all his medicinall operations it shall onely be our purpose to touch some generall heads and not to enter into a particular discouery thereof Being so dried as is declared it must be warily vsed for it falleth out heerein as in other medicinall subiects that ignorance turneth a curing herbe or substance into a venemous and destructiue quality therefore we will first of all set downe the daungers to be auoyded and afterward some particular cures that come by the right vse of it Therefore it must be vnderstood that there is poyson in it not naturally but by accident as may be in any other good and wholsome matter and that especially in the smell or sauor therof The dangers in the vse of Castoreum Seruius whereunto if a woman with childe doe smell it vvill kill the child vnborne and cause abortement for a vvomans womb is like a creature nourished with good sauors and destroyed with euill therefore burning of fethers shoo-soles wollen clothes pitch Galbanum gumme onions and garlike is noysome to them It may be corrupted not onely as is before declared but also if it be shut vp close without vent into pure aner when it is hanged vp to be dried or if the bag be kept moyst so that it cannot dry and it is true as Auicen saith that if it be vsed being so corrupted it killeth within a daies space driuing one into madnesse making the sicke person continually to hold forth his tongue and infecting him with a feuer by inflaming the bodie loosing the continuitie of the partes through sharp vapours arising from the stomack and for a proofe that it will inflame if you take a little of it mingled with oyle and rubbe vpon any part of the bodie or vpon your naile you shall feele it But there is also a remedie for it being corrupted namelie Asses milke mingled with some sharpe sirrop of Citron or if need require drinke a dram of Philons Antidot at the most or take butter and sweet water which will cause vomit and vomit therewith so long as you feele the sauour of the stone and afterward take sirrop of Limmons or citrons some affirme vpon experience that two penny waight of Coriander-seed scorched in the fire is a present remedy for this euill And it is more straunge that seeing it is in greatest strength when the sauor is hottest which is very displeasing to a mans nature in outward appearance yet doeth it neuer harme a man taken inwardly being pure and rightly compounded if the person be without a feuer for in that case onely it doeth hurte inwardly otherwise apply it to a moist body lacking refrigeration or to a colde body wanting excalfaction or to a colde and moist body you shall perceiue an euident commodity thereby if there bee no feuer and yet it hath profited many where the feuer hath not bene ouerhot as in extasies and lethargies ministred with white pepper and mellicrate and with Rose cakes laid to the necke or head The same vertues it hath being outwardly applied and mingled with oyle if the bodies be in any heate and purely without oile if the body be cold for in heating it holdeth the thirde degree and in drying the second The maner how it is to be ministred is in drink for the most part the sweet lickor being taken from it and the little skinnes appearing therein clensed away and so it hath among many other these operations following Drunke with vineger
haue rayned in our horse and stood still a space to see the proofe and tryall of this matter Furthermore with this dog doth the Shepherd take sheepe for the slaughter and to be healed if they be sick no hurt or harme in the world done to the simple creature Of the mastiue or Bandogge called in Latine Villaticus or Cathenarius THis kind of dog called a mastiue or Bandog is vaste huge stubborne ougly and eager of a heuy and bourthenous body and therefore but litle swiftnesse terrible and frightfull to behold and more fierce and fell then any Arcadian cur notwithstanding they are said to haue their generation of the violent lion They are called Villatici because they are appointed to watch and keepe farme places and countrey cotages sequestred from common recourse and not abutting vpon other houses by reason of distance when there any feare conceiued of theeues robbers spoylers and nightwanderers They are seruiceable against the Foxe and Badger to driue Wilde and tame Swine out of Medowes pastures glebelands and places planted with fruite to baite and take the Bull by the eare when occasion so requireth One Dog or two at the vttermost sufficient for that purpose be the Bull neuer so monstrous neuer so fierce neuer so furious neuer so stearne neuer so vntameable For is is a kind of Dog capeable of courage violent and valiant striking cold feare into the hearts of men but standing in feare of no man insomuch that no weapons wil make him shrinke nor abridge his boldnesse Our English men to the intent that their dogs might the more fell and sierce assist nature with Arte vse and custome for they teach their Dogs to bayte the Beare to baite the Bull and other such like cruell and bloody Beastes appointing an ouerseer of the game without any Collar to defende their throates and oftentimes they traine them vp in fighting and wrestling with any man hauing for the safegarde of his life either a Pikestaffe a Clubbe or a sword and by vsing them to such exercises as these their Dogs become more sturdy and strong The force which is in them surmounteth all beleefe the fast hold which they take with their teeth exceedeth all credit three of them against a Beare foure against a Lyon are sufficient both to try masteries with them and vtterly to ouermatch them Which thing Henry the seuenth of that name King of England a Prince both politique and warlike perceiuing on a certaine time as the report runneth commaunded all such dogs how many soeuer they were in number should he hanged being deepely displeased and conceiuing great disdaine that an ill fauoured rascall curre should with such violent villany assault the valiant Lyon king of all beastes An example for all subiectes worthy remembraunce to admonish them that it is no aduantage to them to rebell against the regiment of their ruler but to keepe them within the limits of loyalty I read an history answerable to this of the selfe same Henry who hauing a notable and an excellent faire Falcon it fortuned that the kings Falconers in the presence and hearing of his grace highly commended his maiesties Falcon saying that it feared not to intermeddle with an Eagle it was so ventrous a Birde and so mighty which when the king heard he charged that the Falcon should be killed without delay for the selfe same reâ—son as it may seeme which was rehearsed in the conclusion of the former history concerning the same king This dog is called in like manner Cathenarius a Cathena of the chaine wherewith he is tyed at the gates in the day time least being lose he shoulde doe much mischiefe and yet might giue occasion of fear and terror by his big barking And albeit Cicero in his Oration had Pro. S. Ross be of this opinion that such dogs as barke in the broad day light should haue their legs broken yet our countrey men on this side the Seas for their carelesnes of life setting all at cinque and sice are of a contrary iudgement For theeues rogue vp and downe in euery corner no place is free from them no not the princes pallace nor the countreymans cotage In the day time they practise pilfering picking open robbing and priuy stealing and what legerdemaine lack they not fearing the shamefull and horrible death of hanging The cause of which inconuenience doth not onely issue from nipping need and wringing want for all that steale are not pinched with pouerty some steale to maintain their excessiue and prodigall expences in apparrel their lewdnes of life their hautines of hart their wantonnes of manners their wilfull ydlenes their ambitious brauery and the pride of the sawcy Salacones me galorrouâ—ton vaine glorious and arrogant in behauiour whose delight dependeth wholy to mount nimbly on horsse-backe to make them leape lustilie spring and prance gallop and amble to run a race to wind in compasse and so foorth liuing altogither vpon the fatnes of the spoile Othersome there be which steale being therto prouoked by penury and need like masterles men applying themselues to no honest trade but ranging vp and downe impudently begging and complaining of bodily weaknesse where is no want of ability But valiant Valentine the Emperor by holsom lawes prouided that such as hauing no corporall sickenes sold themselues to begging pleaded pouerty with pretended infirmity and cloaked their ydle and slothfull life with colourable shifts and cloudy cozening should be a perpetuall slaue and drudge to him by whome their impudent idlenes was bewrayed and laid against them in publick place least the insufferable slouthfulnes of such vagabonds should be burthenous to the people or being so hatefull and odious should grow into an example Alfredus likewise in the gouernment of his common wealth procured such increase of credite to iustâ—ce and vpright dealing by his prudent acts and statutes that if a man traueling by the high way of the country vnder his dominion chanced to loose a budget full of Gold or his capcase farsed with things of great value late in the euening he should find it where he lost it safe sound and vntouched the next morning yea which is a wonder at any time for a whole months space if he sought for it as Ingulphus Croyladensis in his history recordeth But in this our vnhappy age in these I say our diuelish daies nothing can scape the clawes of the spoiler though it be kept neuer so sure within the house albeit the doors be lockt and boulted round about This dog in like maner of the Graecians is called Oikouros Of the Latinists Canis Coltos in English the Dog-keeper Borrowing his name of his seruice for he doth not onely keepe farmers houses but also merchants mansions wherein great wealth riches substance and costly stuffe is reposed And therefore were certaine dogs found and maintained at the common costs and charges of the Cittizens of Rome in the place cald Capitolium to giue warning of theeues comming
day whereupon he added action to his intent and filled his fielde with a thousand goates but the euent fell out otherwaies then he expected for in short time the multitude infected one another and so he lost both milke and flesh whereby it is apparant that it is not safe to feed great flocks of these cattell together In Indian in the Region Coitha the inhabitants giue their milch-goates dried fishes to eate but their ordinary foode is leaues tender braunches and boughes of trees and also bushes or brambles whereupon Virgill wrot in this mauner Pascuntur vero siluas summa Lycaei morentesque rubos amantes arctua dumos They loue to feede on the Mountaines better then in the vallies and greene fieldes alwaies striuing to licke vp the yuie or green plants or to climbe vpon trees cropping off with their teeth all maner wild herbs and if they be restrained and inclosed in fields then they doe the like to the plants that they find there wherefore there was an auncient law among the Romans when a man let out his ground to farme he should alwaies condition and except with the farmer that he should not breede any Goate in his ground for their teeth are enemies to all tender plantes their teeth are also exitiable to a tree and Pliny and Varro affirme that the Goate by licking the Oliue tree maketh it barren for which cause in ancient time A Goate was not sacrifized to Minerua to whom the Olyue was sacred There is no creature that feedeth vpon such diuersity of meat as Goats for which cause they are elegantly brought in by Eupolis the olde Poet bragging of theyr belly cheare wherein they number vp aboue fiue and twenty seueral things different in name nature and tast and for this cause Eustathius defended by strong argument against Disarius that men and cattell which feede vpon diuers things haue lesse health then those beasts which eate one kind of fruite alone They loue Tameriske Alderne Elme-tree assarabacke and a tree called Alaternus which neuer beareth fruit but only leaues also three leaued-grasse yuie the hearbe Lada which groweth no where but in Arabia whereby it commeth to passe that many times the haire of Goats is found in the gumbe called Ladanum for the peoples greedy desire of the gumbe causeth them to wipe the iuyce from the Goates beard For the increase of milke in them giue them Cinquefoyle fiue daies together before they drinke or else binde Dittany to their bellies or as Lacuna translateth the words out of Affricâ—nus you may lay milke to their bellies belike by rubbing it thereupon The wild Goats of Creete Aristotle eate dittany aforesaid against the stroks of Darts and Serapion auoucheth by the experience of Galen that goats by licking the leaues of Tamariske loose their gall and likewise that he saw them licking Serpents which had newly lost their skins and the euent therof was that their age neuer turned or changed into whitenesse or other externall signes thereof Also it is deliuered by good obseruation that if they eate or drinke out of vessels of Tamariske Constantinus they shal neuer haue any Spleen if any one of them eate Sea-holly the residue of the flocke stand still and will not goe â—orward till the meate be out of his mouth The Grammarians say that Chimâ—ra was killed by Bellerophon the son of Glaucus in the Mountain Lycius Aelianus and the reason heereof is that the Poets fained Chimaera to bee composed of a Lyon a Dragon and a Goate and in that mountaine all those three were kept and fed for in the top were Lions in the middle were Goats and also at the foot thereof Serpents If they suffer heate or cold they are much endaungered for such is their nature that they auoide all extremity and the females with younge are most of al molested with cold If they haue conceiued in the Wynter then many abortementes or casting their young followeth In like sort it hapneth if they eate Walnuts and not to their full vnripe therefore either they must be suffered to eate of them to saciety or else they are not to be permitted to them Dioscorides If at any time they eate Scammony Hellebore Lesseron or Mercury they are much troubled in their stomach and loose their milke especially the white Hellebor The publicans in the prouince of Cyrene haue all the gouernment of the pastures Pliny and therfore they permit not Benzwine to grow in their country finding thereby greate gaine and if at any time their sheepe or goats meete with any braunch thereof they eate it geedily but the sheepe immediatly fall to sleepe and the goates to Neezing Agolethros and Sabine are poyson to Goates The Herbe called in Greeke Rhododendron and may be englished Rose-tree is poyson goates and yet the same helpeth a man against the vemon of Serpents The prickle or spindle tree called also Euonimus which groweth in the Mount Occynius calâ—ed Ordyno about the bignesse of a pine-apple-tree hauing soft leaues like the same and it buddeâ—h in September and the flower is like to a white violet flower this killeth Goates except they be purged with black Hellebor imediately after they haue eaten thereof Horus The Egyptians when they wil describe a man deuouring sheepe or Goats they picture the herbe Curilago or Conyza because it also killeth them Also as Clodrysippus affirmeth they auoide Cumin for it maketh them mad or bringeth vpon them lethargies and such like infirmities He auoydeth also the spettle of man for it is hurtfull to him and to the Sea-fish Scolopendra and yet he eateth many venemous herbes and groweth fat thereby Aelianus and this also may be added that Goats grow fat when they are with young but by drinking of Honey they are weakened and indaungered of death Concerning their drinke it is necessary for a skilfull Goat-herd to obserue the nature of the beast and the best time and place of their watering according to the saying of Virgill Iâ—beâ— frondeâ—tia Capris Arbâ—ta sufficere fluuios prebere rerentes In the Summer they are to be watered twice a day and at other times once onely in the afternoone but it is reported of the Goats of Cephalenia Aristotle Myndius that they drinke not euery daie like other goats but onely once or twice in six moneths and therefore they turne themselues to the winde or cold aire of the sea and by gawning Aelianus sucke into their mouths or bellies that which serueth them instead of water When the sun declineth they lie and looke not vpon one another but on the contrary and they which lodge in the fields take vppe their rest among their acquaintance But if they be vsed to fold or house they remember it and repaire thither of their owne accord which thing caused the Poet to write in this maner Atque ipsae memores redeâ—ntin tecta suosque Ducunt graundâ— superaut vix vbere limen Concerning
sorts to the admiration of the beholders Quintus Fuluius had a Parke in Tarquinium wherein were included not onely all the beastes before spoken off but also wilde sheepe and this contained forty Akers of ground besides he had two other Pompaeius erected a Parke in France containing the compasse of three thousand paces wherein hee preserued not onely Deere Hares and Connies but also Dor-mise Bees and other beastes the manner whereof ought to be thus first that the walles or pales be high or close iointed so as neither Badgers nor Cattes may creepe through or Wolues or Foxes may leape ouer Wherein ought also to be bushes and broad trees for to couer the beastes against heate and cold and other secret places to content their natures and to defend them from Eagles and other rauening foules In which three or foure couple of Hares do quickly multiply into a great warren It is also good to sowe Guoards Miseline Corne Barly Peies and such like wherein Hares delight and will thereby quickly waxe fat For their fatting the hunters vse another deuice they put waxe into their eares and so make them deafe then turne them into the place where they should feed where being freed from the feare of sounds because they want hearing they grow fat before other of their kind Concerning the vse of their skins in some countries they make sleeues and breeches of them especially lynings for all outward colde diseases The civil vse of their seuerall parts Heliogabalus lay vpon a bed filled with flew or wooll of Hares for then that there is nothing more soft for which cause the Grecians made spunges thereof to clense the eies of men The Goldsmithes vse the feete or Legges of Hares in steed of brushes or broomes to take off the dust from their plate The flesh of hares hath euer beene accounted a delicate meate among all other foure-footed-beastes as the Thrush among the foules of the aire according to the saying of Martiall Inter aues Turdus si quis me iudice certet Inter quadrupedes gloria prima lepus In auncient time as Coelius saith the Brittons were forbidden to eate Hares like as the Iewes by the law of Moses Leu. 11. Deut. 14. Plutarch inquireth the reason whye the Iewes worship swine and Hares because they did not eate their flesh whereunto answer was made that they abstained from Hares because their colour eares and eies were like asses wherein the ignorance of Gods law appeared for they abstained from Hares at Gods commandement because they were not clouen-footed for the Egyptians accounted all swift creatures to be partakers of diuinity Their flesh ingendereth thicke blood therefore it is to bee prescribed for a dry diet for it bindeth the belly procureth vrine and helpeth the paine in the bowels but yet it is not good for an ordinary diet it is hot and dry in the second degree and therefore it nourisheth but little being so hard as Gallen witnesseth The blood is farre more whot then the flesh it is thinne and therefore watery like the blood of all fearefull beasts The bloud flesh eaten the hinder parts from the loines are most delicate meate called in Latine Pulpamentum it was wont to be dressed with salt Coriander seed yet the forepart is the sweeter for the manner of the dressing whereof I leaue to euery mans humour It was once beleeued that the eating of the hinder loines of a hare would make one faire or procure beauty wherupon Martiall receiued a hare from Gellia a friend of his with this message For mosus septem Marce diebus eris And he retorted the iest in this manner vpon Gellia Si me non fallis si verum lux mea dicis Edisti nunquam Gellia tu leporem Lampridius writeth that a certaine Poet played vpon Alexander Seuerus the Emperor for eating hares fleshe which made him faire whereas in truth hee was very black In this manner Pulchrum quod vides esse nostrum regem Quem Syrum suum detulit propago Venatus facit lepus comesus Ex quo continuum capit leporem The Emperor seeing those verses for Emperors hauing long eares and hands made answer vnto them as followeth Pulchrum quod put as esse vestrum regem Vulgari miserande de fabella Si verum putas esse non â—rascor Tantum tu comedas velim lepusculos Vt fias animi malis repulsis Pulcher ne inuideas liuore mentis If any man finde fault with the Emperors verses Erasmus hath already answered the obiection that Kings and Emperors are not subiect to lawes of versesieng besides his aunswer was in Greeke and this is but translated The eating of hares procureth sleepe and thus much for the flesh and parts The Epethites of a Hare expressing their natures are The epithits of Hares Eared trusting their feet feareful careful fruitefull flying raging vnhorned little crafty tender sharp-smelling swift whining and wandering beside many other Greeke names When Xerxes gathered his Army to goe against Graecia Stories of monstrous Hares a man brought forth a Hare which fore-shewed that great Armye should worke no strange effect And another mare of three yeare old broght forth a hare which spake as soone as it was littered biting her mother with her teeth and killing her and while they looked vpon her sucking her dams blood fethers grew out of her backe in fashion of wings which being done the moster lifting vp the voice spake in this manner Fundite iam lachrymas suspiria miseri mortales ego hinc abeo that is to say O ye wretched mortall men weepe and sigh I go away at which words she flew away and was neuer seene more There were present at the sight heereof seuen publike notaries which called witnesses and made instruments thereupon as Antonius Bautius writeth in his Epistle to Petrus Toletus of Lyons in the yeare 1537. In December whereunto the saide Toletus made this answer The daies shall come saith he except the mercy of God preuent them that children shall thinke they doe obedience to their parents if they put them to death They shall grieue because they were borne and say they are adulterate as the Hare that was borne of the Maire Likewise it is reported by Lisander that when the Corinthians refused the conduct of the Lacedemonians and the Lacedemonians besiedging the Citty fell to be very much afraid and vnwilling to scale the walles whiles they stood in this amaze suddenly a Hare leaped out of the towne ditch which thing when Lisander saw he exhorted his Souldiers saying Be not afraid O ye Spartanes of this sluggish and vnexercised people for you see they stirre not out of the citty but suffer Hares to lodge vnder their Walles whereupon came the prouerbe Dormire lepores submoenibus Hares sleepe vnder their Walles to signifie a slothfull secure sluggish idle and vnthrifty people The Eagles of Norway lay their younge ones in Hares skinnes which themselues pull off There is
this rule first seperate them from their dams twentyfoure houres togither in the next morning let them be admitted to sucke their belly full and then remoued to be neuer more suckled atv. moneths old begin to teach them to eat bread or hay and at a yeare old giue them barly and bran and at two yeares old weane them vtterly Of handling taming or breaking of Horsses THey which are appointed to breake horsses are called by the Graecians Eporedicae Hipodami and Hipocomi the Latins Equisones Arulatores and Cociones in Italian Io Cozone Absyrtus is of opinion that foales are to be vsed to hand and to be begun to be tamed at eighteene moneths old not to be backed but onely tied by the heade in a halter to a racke or maunger so that it may not be terrified for any extraordinary noise for which cause they vse them to brakes but the best time is at three yeares old as Crescetiensis teacheth in many chapters wherefore when they begin to be handled let him touch the rough partes of his bodie as the mane and other places wherein the horsse taketh delight to be handled neither let him bee ouer seaueare and Tyrannous and seeke to ouercome the beast by stripes but as Cicero saith by faire meanes or by hunger and famine Some haue vsed to handle them sucking and to hange vp in their presence bits and bridles that so by the sight and hearing the gingling thereof in their eares they might grow more familiar And when they came to hand to lay vpon their backes a litle boy flat on his belly and afterward to make him sit vpon him formally holding him by the head and this they do at three yeare old but commit him to no labor vntill he be foure yeare old yet domesticall and small horsses for ordinarie vse are tamed at two yeare olde and the best time for the effecting heereof is in the moneth of March. It is also good in riding of a young horsse to light often and to get vp againe then let him bring him home and vse him to the stable the bottome whereof is good to be paued with round stones or else planks of oake strewing litter vpon it when he lieth down that so he may lie soft and stand hard It is also good to be regarded that the plankes bee so laid as the vrine may continually run off from them hauing a little close ditch to receiue it that so the horsses feet may not be hurt thereby and a good maister of horsses must oftentimes go into his stable that so he may obserue the vsage of this beast The manger also ought to be kept continually cleane for the receiuing of his prouender that so no filth or noisome thing be mingled therewith there ought also to be partitions in it that so euery beast may eat his owne allowance for greedy horsses do not onely speedily rauen vp their owne meat but also rob their fellowes Others againe haue such weake stomackes that they are offended with the breath of their fellowes and will not eate except they eat alone The racke also is to be placed according to their stature that so their throat may not be too much extended by reaching high nor their eyes or head troubled because it is placed too low There ought also to be much light in the stable least the beast accustomed to darkenesse be offended at the Sunne light and winke ouer much being not able to indure the beams when he is led abroad but yet the stable must be warme and not hot for althogh heat do preseru fatnes yet it bringeth indisgestion and hurteth a horsses nature therefore in the Winter time the stable must be so ordered as the beast may not be offended or fall into diseases by ouermuch heat or suddaine cold Vegetius In the Summer time let them lodge both night and day in the open aire This also in stabling of your horsses must be auoided namely the sties of Swine for the stinke the breath the gruntling of hogs is abhominable for horsses and nature hath framed no simpathie or concorde betwixte the noble and couragious spirite of a horsse and the beastlie sluggish condition of a Swine Remoue also far awaie from your horsses stables all kind of fowle which were woont to haunt those places to gather vp the remnant-graines of their prouender leauing behind them their little fethers which if the horsse licke vp in his meat sticke in his throat or else their excrements which procureth the loosenes of his bellie It must also be regarded that the stable must be kept neat sweet and cleane Camerarius so as in absence of the horsse it may notly like a place for swine The instruments also and implements thereof such as are the horsse cloathes the curri-combes the mane-combes saddles and bridles be disposed and hung vp in order behind the horsse so as it maie neither trouble him eating or lieng nor yet giue him occasion to gnaw eat and deuour them to their owne damage or hurt for such is the nature of some wanton horsses to pul assunder and destroie whatsoeuer they can reach They are therefore oftentimes to be exercised and backed and principally to bee kept in a good diet for want of food deiecteth the spirit of the noblest horsse and also maketh the meane horsse to be of no vse but on the contrary a good diet doth not onelie make a meane horsse to be seruicable but also continue the worth and value of the best which thing Poets considered when they fained that Arion the horsse of Neptune and some others were made by Ceres the Goddesse of corne which any meane witted man may intetpret to signifie that by abundance of prouender the nature of horsses was so farre aduanced aboue ordinary that like the sonnes of the Gods they perform incredible things whether therefore they eat chaffe or hay or grasse or graine according to the diuersities of countries let it be wholesome cleane fresh and sweet without dust grauel mustines or euill smell In the morning giue them barley or prouender a little at a time in distinct or seueral portions twice or thrice one after another so as he may chew and eke disgest it thoroghly otherwise if he rauen it in as he wil do hauing much at a time he rendreth it in his dung whole and not disgested About three houres after he hath eaten his prouender giue him a little of hay and three houres after that his dinners allowance of graine as in the morning and afterwards about two or three a clock hay againe and then some drink last of all giue him his allowance of prouender for Supper with a bottle or two of hay which ought to be more plentiful than the former seruings yet these rules are not to be vnderstood as though they might not be altered for the times prefixed may be preuented if ocasion require Their best prouender is oats and barley yet barly ingendreth the
thinner and better blood and therefore it is to be preferred only the measure of the prouender is lefte to the discretion of the horsse-keeper and there is no meate more wholsome for a horsse than barly and chaffe because it wil make him ful of life and also able to indure labor yet not ouer fat In England in many placeâ— they giue their horsses bread made of Fitches beans and pease When one is to make a iourney on horsse-back let him not giue his horse to much prouinder the noone before but somewhat the more hay and bread steeped in wine and also let him serue him sooner at night than ordinary that so the beast may take the more rest There be which refuse to giue horsses wet prouender or steeped bread because they conceiue that it will breed in them loathsomnesse of meat but the truth is a reasonable horsse-keeper preuenteth that mischeefe and besides the meat of a horsse is altogither so drie that the beast himselfe is indangered to be sicke of that disease and therefore it is as safe to giue him moistened foode sometimes as well as to giue him bread mingled with salt Camerarius When a horsse is weary or sweateth let him not drinke nor eat prouender but after he is walked a litle while giue him hay first of al couering him with a large cloath and remember that hay is not to be cast before a horsse as it is out of the reeke but first of all it must be pulled and shaken betwixt the handes for the auoiding of dust and other filth Restrain the horsse as much as you may from eating the litter vnder his feet for euen the best meat so defiled is vnholsome It is also good sometimes to suffer him to picke vp his meat on the ground betwixt his forelegs that will make his necke to grow thinner leanner and more comely Let his necke be fast bound in the stable with a Letherne collar and bind with a manicle his fore-legge to the hinder leg on the contrary side and so shal his legs be preserued in more health because they cannot mooue out of their place but with difficulty Concerning the drinke of horsses something more is to be added in this place and namely brackysh and troubled water such as runneth softly as in great pondes is fittest for horsse because that water being hot and thicke nourisheth better but the swift Water is colder Râ—sâ—ius and therefore more vnholsome but yet in hot times as in Summer the sweet and clearer water is more conuenient if custome bee not against it And because a horsse except he drinke freely can neuer be fat let his mouth oftentimes be washed within with salt and wine and that will make him eat and drinke more liberally and yet the running water is more wholsome for horsses because whatsoeuer is moueably fluent is lesse subiect to poyson then that which standeth still but if a horsse sweat or be weary it is not safe to let him drinke any thing except he first stale for in such cases followeth distention And it is better to turne or lead forth your horsse to water then to bring it vnto them And if at any time necessity cause this to be done then let the Water be very cleare and fresh His stable or lodging ought to be ordered as neither it offend him by cold in winter nor yet thorough heat in Summer for both these extremeties are pernicious and therfore when the weather is extreame colde then must the horsses backe and belly be couered with a cloath and when on the contrary it exceedeth in heat then must his litter be taken away Also in heate he must bee couered with linnen to auiode flies and in cold with woollen to helpe nature likewise it is good toward night to picke cleanse and open his hooues with some artificiall instrument and to thrust into the hollow cow-dung or in defect thereof horse-dung with a little strawe that so he may not shake it out againe but this is not good to be done euerie daye but rather euery second day and it is good to mingle therewith sewet or greace or els a new laide Egge with warme â—shes In auncient time they vsed not to shoo their horsses with yron vntill the daies of Catullus who remembreth this custome saying Ferream vt soleam tenaci in voragine mula So that it seemeth that this deuise was first of al inuented for mules These horsse-shooes ought to be round like his feet and not heauy least the horsses nimblenes be thereby hindered great care must be had in nailing or seting theÌ„ on least the tender and fleshy part of the foot be thereby pierced Pollux Another charge of a horsse-keeper is to keepe his horsses lippes soft tender and gentle so as he may more sencibly feele his bit and for this cause let him often rub them with his hands and warme Water and if neede require with oyle also and in handling of a horsse this must be obserued for a generall rule that neither he come to the horsse right before his face nor behind his taile because both these are dangerous to the rider least by his heeles or mouth hee harme him but on his side he may safely set vpon him or handle his horsse and when he leadeth him he must likewise goe on his side Likewise good and painefull dressing of a horsse is no small meanes to retaine him in in sound and perfect health and therfore he must often be touched with the curry-comb and afterward with a handfull of strawe so as the hand may follow the stroke to lay the haire smooth and their fashion was in old time to brush ouer their horsses with a little tone linnen instrument made like a sword whereby they excusse all dust from the beast and heerein it is wisedome to beginne at the head and mane and so to descende to other parts and to touch the horsses backe gently he may wash the head and mane because it being so bony it is daungerous least the combe offend and greeue the beast except it be layed on very tenderly but it is not good to wash the legges because daily washing softneth the hoofe by sliding downe of the Water and therefore it is sufficient onely to stroke them downe with his hands The neather part also of the belly is not to be kept ouer clean for the more it is clensed with water the more is the horsse pained therein Camerarius when a horsse is dressed it is good to bring him out of the stable that so in the open ayre hee may be tyed in a longer halter and seeme to be at liberty whereby he shall be brought to more cleannesse and tractable gentlenesse standing vppon some smooth stones till all the dust and loofe haires both by the combe and brush be driuen away and in the meane time the stable be emptied and this is to be performed before the horsses watering You must also
the weakenes of the Liuer proceeding of the vntemperatenes thereof wil bid you to heale euery such vntemperatnes by his contrary that is to say heat by colde and drinesse by moisture and so contrary And therefore it shal bee verye necessary for you to learne the qualities natures and vertues of hearbs drugs and al other simples and how to apply them in time And for to heale the obstruction of the liuer they wil counsel you perhaps to make the horse drinkes of such simples as these be Agrimony Fumitory Camomile Worme-wood Licoras Annis seeds Smallage Persly Spiknard Gentian Succorie Endiue Sperage Lupins the vertues whereof you shall learne in the herbals but amongest all simples there is none more praised than the liuer of a Woolfe beaten into powder and mingled in any medicine that is made for any disease in the liuer The cure of an inflammation consisteth in letting blood and in bathing or fomenting the sore place with such hearbes and oyles as may mollifie and disperse humors abroad wherewith some simples that be astrigent would be alwaies mingled yea and in al other medicines that be applyed to the liuer for any manner of diseases Simples that mollifie and disperse be these Linseed Fenegreeke Camomel Annis seedes Meliot and such like things Simples astringent be these Red Rose leaues Bramble leaues Wormwood Plantaine Mirrhe Masticke Stirax and such like Apostumes are to be ripend and voided Vlcers must be clensed and scowred downward either by the belly or by Vrine and therefore the vse of such simples as prouoke vrine in such case is necessary The olde writers of horseleach craft do say that when a horse is greeued in his liuer he wil forsake his meat and his body wil waste his mouth wil be dry his tongue rough and harsh yea and it wil smel and he wil refuse to lye on that side where his griefe is The cure whereof according to Absirtus is in this sort Let him drink stampt Ireos with wine alayed with water Hee praiseth also an hearbe much like vnto Calamint called of Pliny Polymoria or let him drinke Sauerie with wine and oyle I thinke that Agrimony or liuer-woort is as good as the best of them Absirtus would haue his body to be chafed with wine and oile mixt togither and to be wel littered that he may lie soft and his prouender that should be giuen him to be steeped first in warme water and now and then some Nitrum to be put in his drinke Of the consumption in the Liuer I Beleeue that no inward member of a horse doth suffer so much as the lungs and liuer and that not so much by continual as by vnordinate and vntimely trauaile labour and exercise whereby either the horses lunges or his liuer do most commonly perish and is consumed yea and sometime both Of the consumption of the lungs we haue talked sufficiently before therefore let vs shew you heere the causes whereof the consumption of the liuer proceedeth The Physitians say that it may come of anie humour but chiefelie and most commonlie of cholericke matter shed throughout the substance of the liuer which putrifieng by little and little and leisurely doeth at length corrupt and perish all the substance of the liuer which thing in mans body doth first proceede as the physitians say either by eating corrupt meates or else by continuall drinking of sweet wines But methinkes that the consumption of a horses liuer should come by some extream heat inflaming the blood which afterward being putrified doeth corrupt and exulcerate the substance of the liuer For after inflammation as I saide before commeth Apostumation and then exulceration which is very hard to cure because the substance of the liuer is spongeous like vnto the Lunges And whilst the liuer is so corrupted there can bee no good digestion for lacke whereof the body receiueth no good nutriment and therefore must needes also languish and consume The signes according to Martin be these The horse will forsake his meat and wil stande stretching himselfe in length and neuer couet to lie downe and his breath will be so strong as no man can abide it and he wil continually cast yellowish matter at the one nostrill or else at both according as one or both sides of the lyuer is corrupted and on that side that he casteth most he will haue vnder his iaw euen about the midst thereof a knob or kirnell as much as a Walnut which when Martin findeth hee committeth his carcasse to the Crowes taking him to bee past cure But if he were let blood in time and had such drinkes giuen him as are good to comfort and strength the liuer he thinketh that the horse might be recouered I neuer read any medicine for the wasting of the liuer as I remember but this onely diet which I found in an olde English booke Let him drinke for the space of three daies no other thing but warme wort and let him eate no other meat but Oates baked in an ouen and let him stand meatlesse the first night before you giue him the woort But I thinke it were not amisse to put into the wort that he drinketh euery morning some good confection or powder made of Agrimony red Rose leaues Saccharum Rosaceum Diarchadon Abbatis Diasantalon Licoras and of the liuer of a Woolfe and such other simples as doe comfort and strengthen the liuer or else to giue him the same things with Goates milke lukewarme Of the diseases in the Gall. IN my opinion the gall of a horse is subiect to diuers diseases as wel as the gal of a man as to obstruction whereof commeth the fulnesse and emptines of the bladder and likewise the stone in the gall But obstruction may chaunce two manner of waies First when the waie whereby the choler should proceede from the liuer vnto the bladder of the gall as vnto his receptacle is stopped and thereby the bladder remaineth empty whereof may spring diuers euill accidents as vomitting the lax or bloody flix Secondly when the way whereby such choler should yssue forth of the bladder of the Gall downe into the guts is shut vp wherby the bladder is ouer full and aboundeth with too much choler which causeth heauinesse suffocation belching heat thirst and disposition to angrinesse The signes of both kinds of obstruction in the gall is costiuenes and yellowishnes of skin infected with the yellow Iaundis The stone in the gall which is somewhat blackish proceedeth of the obstruction of the conduites of the bladder whereby the choler being long kept in waxeth dry and turneth at length to harde grauell or stones whereof because there is neither signes nor any greeuous accident knowne to the Physitians I leaue to talke anie farther thereof and the rather for that none of mine Authors do make anie mention of the gall at all Notwithstanding to giue some light vnto the lerned Ferrers and that they may the better vnderstand the inward partes of a horse I thought
none of mine Authors Martin nor anie other Ferrer in these daies that I knowe haue intermedled with anie kind of bursting but onely with that wherein the gut falleth downe into the cod leauing all the rest apart I wil onely talke of this and that according to Martins experience which I assure you differeth not much from the precepts of the old writers But first you shal vnderstand that the gut bursten and flanke bursten doth proceed both of one cause that is to say by meanes that the skinne called before Peritoneum is either sore strained or else broken either by some stripe of another horse or els by some strain in leaping ouer an hedge ditch or pale or otherwise yea and many times in passing a carier through the carelesnes of the rider stoping the horse sodenly without giuing warning wherby the horse is forced to cast his hinder legs abroad so straineth or bursteth the skin aforesaid by meanes whereof the gut falleth downe into the cod The signes be these The horse will forsake his meat and stand shoring and leanning alwaies on that side that he is hurt and on that side if you search with your hande betwixt the stone and the thigh vpward to the body and somewhat aboue the stone you shall find the gut it selfe big and hard in the feeling whereas on the other side you shal find no such thing The cure according to Martin is thus Bring the horse into some house or place that hath ouer head a strong balk or beame going ouerthwart and strew that place thicke with strawe then put on foure pasternes with foure ringes on his feete and then fasten the one end of a long rope to one of those Ringes then thread all the other rings with the loose end of the Rope and so drawe all his foure feete togither and cast him on the straw That done cast the rope ouer the baulke and hoise the horse so as he may lye flatte on his backe with his legs vpward without struggling Then bath his stones well with warme Water and Butter molten togither and the stones being somewhat warme and wel mollified raise them vp from the body with both your hands being closed by the fingers fast togither and holding the stones in your hands in such manner worke downe the gut into the body of the horse by striking it downward continually with your two thumbs one labouring immediately after another vntill you perceiue that side of the stone to bee so so smal as the other and hauing so discorded that is to say returnd the gut into his right place take a list of two fingers broad throughly annointed with fresh butter and tie his stones both togither with the same so nigh as may bee not ouer hard but so as you may put your finger betwixt That done take the horse quietly down and lead him faire and softly into the stable whereas he must stand warme and not be stirred for the space of 3. weekes But forget not the next day after his discording to vnloosen the list and to take it away and as wel at that time as euery day once or twice after to cast a dish or two of cold water vp into his cods and that wil cause him to shrinke vppe his stones and thereby restraine the gut from falling downe and at the three weekes end be sure it were not amisse to geld the stone on that side away so shall he neuer be encorded againe on that side But let him not eat much nor drinke much and let his drinke be alwayes warme Of the botch in the graines of a horse IF a horse be full of humours and then suddenly laboured the humours will resort into the weakest parts and there gather together and breede a botch and especially in the hinder parts betwixt the thighes not farre from the cods The signes be these The hinder legges wil be al swollen and especially from the houghes vpwarde and if you feele with your hand you shal find a great kind of swelling and if it be round and hard it wil gather to a head The cure according to Martin is thus First ripe it with a plaister take of Wheat-flower of Turpentine and of hony of each like quantity stirring it together to make a stiffe plaister and with a cloth lay it vnto the sore renewing it euery day once vntil it breake or waxe soft and then launce it as the matter may runne downeward Then taint it with Turpentine and Hogges greace moulten togither renewing it euery daye once vntil it be whole Of the diseases incident to the wombe of a Mare and specially of barrennesse IT seemeth by some writers that the wombe of a Mare is subiect to certaine diseases though not so many as the wombe of a Woman as to ascent descent falling out convulsion barrennesse aborsment yea Aristotle and others do not let to write that menstrual blood doth naturally void from the Mare as from the Woman though it bee so little in quantity as it cannot be well perceiued But sith none of mine Authors haue written thereof to any purpose nor any Ferrer of this time that I knowe haue had any experience in such matters I wil passe them all ouer with silence sauing barrennes whereof I promised before in his due place to declare vnto you the causes and such kind of cure for the same as the old writers haue taught A Mare then may be barren through the vntemperatenesse of the wombe or matrix aswell for that it is too hot and fiery or else to cold and moist or too dry or else too short or too narrow or hauing the necke thereof turned awry or by meanes of some obstruction or stopping in the matrix or for that the mare is too fat or too leane and many times mares goe barren for that they be not well horsed Wel the cure of barrennesse that commeth through the fault of the matrixe or wombe according to the old writers is thus Take a good handful of Leekes stamp them in a morter with halfe a glasseful of wine then put thereunto twelue Flies called of the Apothecaries Cantharides of diuers colours if they may be gotten then straine altogether with a sufficient quantity of water to serue the mare therewith two daies together by powring the same into her nature with a horn or glister-pipe made of purpose and at the end of three daies next following offer the horse vnto her that should couer her and immediately after that she is couered wash her nature twice together with cold water Another receipt for the same purpose TAke of Nitrum of sparrowes dung and Turpentine of each a like quantitye well wrought together and made like a suppository and put that into her nature and it wil cause her to desire the horse and also to conceiue Hippocrates saith that it is good also to put a nettle into the horses mouth that should couer her Of the Itch Scabbe and manginesse in the taile and falling
Pomgranate and taken in drinke is very profitable to cure the inconueniâ—nces or paine of a womans secret parts The genitall of a male Hyaena dryed and beaten to powder being mingled with a certaine perfume doth cure and help those which are troubled with the crampe and conuulsion of the sinnewes Dioscorides The feete of an Hyaena being taken doth heale and cure those which are sand-blind and such as haue botches and sores breaking through the skin and flesh and also such as are troubled with inflamations or breedings of winde in their bodies only by touching and rubbing them ouer The durt or dung which is found in the interior partes of an Hyaena being burned and dryed into powder and so taken in drinke is very medicinable and curable for those which are grieued with painful excoriatious and wringings of the belly and also for those which are troubled with the bloody-flixe And the same being mingled with Goose-grease and annointed ouer all the body of either man or woman wil ease them of any paine or griefe which they haue vpon their body whatsoeuer The dung or filth of an Hyaena also being mingled with certaine other medicins is very excellent to cure and heale the bites and stingings of crocodiles and other venemous Serpents The dung it selfe is also very good to purge and heale rotten wounds and sores which are full of matter and filthy corruption OF THE IBEX. To returne therefore vnto the Ibex although I doe not dislike the opinion of them which take it to be a wilde-goat Their Countries of breed and partes of their body yet I haue reserued it into this place because of many eminent difference as may appeare by the storie First these are bred in the alpes and are of an admirable celerity although their heades bee loaded with such hornes as no other beasts of their stature beareth For I do read in Eustathius that their hornes are sixteene palmes longe or fiue spannes and one palme and sometimes seauen spans such was the horne consecrated at Delos being two cubits and a span long and six and twenty pounds in weight This beast saith Polibius in his necke and haire is like a Bucke-goat beating a beard vnder his chin of a span long as thicke as a colts taile and in other partes of his body resembleth a Hart. It seemeth that his Haebrew name Iaall The places of their abode is deriued of climbing and Isidorus saith that Ibices are quasi Auices that is like Birdes because like Fowles of the ayre they enhabite the toppes of cliftes Rockes and Mountaines farre from the viewe and sight of men Their hornes reach to their Buttockes or Hippes so that if at anye time hee doe chaunce to fal he cowcheth his whole bodie betwixt his hornes to breake the stronge force and violence of his owne weight and also hee is able to receiue vppon his horns the stroks of great stones which are shot or cast at him they are knotty and sharp and as they encrease in age so do their horns in strongnesse and other qualities vntil they be twenty yeares old These beasts inhabit and keepe their abode in the tops of those Mountaines Stumptius where the yee neuer thaweth or dissolueth for it loueth cold by nature otherwise it would be blind The benefite of cold for cold is agreeable to the eie-sight and beauty It is a Noble beast and very fat In the small head and leane Legges it resembleth a Hart the eies are very faire and bright Their seueral members the colour yellowish his hoofe clouen and sharpe like wilde Goates It farre excelleth a wilde Goate in leaping for no man will beleeue how farre off or what long space it will leape except he saw it For there is no place so steep or cragged that if it affoord him but so much space as his foot may stand on but he will passe ouer it with a very few iumpes or leapes Their taking The Hunters driue them to the smooth and high rockes and there they by enclosing them take them in ropes or toyles if they cannot come neere him with shot or Swords When the beast seeth his Hunter which descendeth to him by some Rocke he obserueth very diligently and watcheth if he can see any distance or space betwixt him and the rock yea but so much as his eye-sight can pierce through and if he can then he leapeth vppe and getteth betwixt the Hunter and the rocke and so casteth him downe headlong and if he can espy no distance at all then doeth he keepe his standing vntill hee be killed in that place The hunting of this beast were very pleasant but that it is encombred with much labour and many perils and therefore in these daies they kil them with Gunnes The inhabitants of Valois neere the Ryuer Sedunus take them in their infancy when they are young and tame them and vntill they be old they are contented to goe and come with the tame Goates to pasture but in their older and riper age they returne to their former Wilde nature Aristotle affirmeth that they couple or engender together not by leaping vpoÌ„ each other but standing vpright vpon their hinder Legs whereunto I cannot consent Their copulation because the ioynts and Nerues of their hinder Legges will not be stretched to such a copulation and it may be that he or his relatour had seene them playing together as Goates doe standing vpright and so tooke that gesture in their pastime for carnall copulation The female hath lesse hornes then the male but a greater body and her hornes are very like to a Wilde Goates When this beast feeleth infallible tokens of her death Their behauiour at their death and perceiueth that her end by some wound or course of nature approcheth and is at hand it is reported by the hunters that she ascendeth to the toppe of some Mountaine or high rocke and there fasteneth one of her hornes in the same steepe place going round continually and neuer standing still vntill she haue worne that horne asunder whereby she stayeth her selfe and so at length at the instant or point of death breaking her horne falleth down and perisheth And because they dye among the rockes it falleth out seldome that their bodyes are found but many times when the snow falleth from the Mountaines in great and huge Masses it meeteth with a liuing Ibex and other wilde beastes and so oppressing them driueth them down to the foot of the hils or Mountaines as it doth trees and small houses which are built vpon the sides of them Pelagonius In Creete they make bowes of the hornes of these beastes the vse of their hornes And concerning their taking it is not to be forgotten how the hunter which pursueth her from one rocke to another is forced many times for the safegard of his own life to forsake his standing and to obserue the beast when it maketh force at him and to
to make little round bals of muske and other confections Platearius and afterwardes to draw a thread through the middle of them and so weare them about ones necke Some put it into silken wooll through which they first draw a thread and so dissolue it in rose water afterwards make it vp in medicines and vse it as aforesaid It may be preserued in a vessell of Lead close stopped along time for the lead which is cold and moist The preseruing of musk agreeth well with the nature of the muske therfore if a leaden vessell be wanting so as ye be forced to vse glasse and siluer then must you put two or three pieces of lead into it for the better preseruation and couering the passage all ouer with wax and aboue all things you must auoid al kind of spices taking heede that no graine thereof come into it If while it is in the vessell it lose the sauor and be dead then it is to bee recouered by opening the mouth of the viall and hanging it ouer a priuy For when the stinke and euill sauer commeth vnto it Contra foetorem eluctatur quasi luctando reuiuisset it striueth against the filthy stinke and as it were reuiueth in that contention saith Isidorus Albertus and Platearius But concerning the adulterating of muske I will say more in this place Benedictus The adulterating of muske the meanes to descry it First of all the mountibanks do corrupt it by mingling with it the liuer of a calfe Also by a roote called Makir and an hearb Salich Many times the dung of Mice is sold for musk and so great is the deceit herein that a man may not trust the outward shape of an intire codd for there be imposters which can counterfeit them and make them in all parts for the outward appearance and fill them with certaine stuffe interposing some little true muske among it vntill it haue a reasonable sauor and therewithall deceiue simple people It is also adulterated by mingling with it a litle Goates bloud fryed or browne bread fryed so that three or foure partes of these will receiue seasonable tast from one part of the muske It is also adulterated in the skin by putting peeces of the skin into it and it may be knowne from the true muske because it will waigh twice so heauy The Sarazens vse this shift aboue all others and there is one principall way of making counterfet muske which is this they take Nutmegs Mace Cinamon Cloues Gilliflowers and Spikenard of euery one a handfull all these being beate diligently together and dryed and sifted they are mingled with the warme bloud of a Doue and afterwards dried in the Sunne then are they seauen times sprinkled ouer or moystened with the Water of muske-Roases and betwixt euery sprinkling they are dryed At length they mingle therewithall a third or fourth part of true musk and then sprinkle it ouer againe with Muske-rose-water so deuide it into three or foure lumps and take the white haires from vnder the taile of a Roe or Kid and so put it in a vessell of glasse Benyuine white-waxe taken out of a new Hiue of Bees the rotten part of Eue-tree and a little Muske are mingled altogether to make a counterfeit Amber for it will smell like ciuet or muske or else Stirax and the powder of Lygnum-aloes with Ciuet and Rose water but the fraud in one other is easily deprehended for both the odor and the colour are different from the true Amber and also it will sooner wax soft in water then that which is naturall Some do corrupt their Muske with the seede of Angelica or rather with the roote of it because the roote smelleth sweete like Musk but the cosinage may be easily discouered by putting it into water For the Angelica will sinke and â—he Muske will swimme The true Muske is sold for forty shillings an ounce at the least It is also obserued by Arnoldus Villanouanus that in the presence of Assafoetida or Castoreum the best muske will haue a horrible and intollerable sauour although they touch not one another which cannot be ascribed to any knowne reason but to some secret in nature The sweetenesse of the Arabian muske is described by Aâ—ciatus in this verse Et celebris suaui est vnguine muscus Arabs There be diuers Hearbs which smell sweete like muske as Angelica Dorsis Muske-Giliflowers Herbes reseÌ„bling muske Muske-Grapes the leaues of a winter Cherry and an Hearbe growing neare Basill without a name like wilde Parsley the Damasine-rose and many other Wilde cats and Martins do also render an excrement much like muske and there are Hares called Moschiae which leaue such an intolerable smell in the impression of their footesteppes that the Dogges by touching them growe madde as wee haue shewed in the story of the Hare And thus much for the description of this beast now followeth the medicines The medicines of the Muske-cat A very little part or quantity of a Muske-cat is of great vertue and efficacy wherefore it is very sparingly vsed in medicines or potions neither is there any part thereof beaten or bruised as it is of all other beasts but it is melted and dissolued in water which proceedeth from the sweetest Roses It is also a beast which is very hot and dry but rather mord dry then hot yet notwithstanding the same his heate is asswaged and allayed by no other thing but onely the Gum called Camphire and his drinesse is onely moystned or mollified with Oyles and very sweet as oile of violets and oile of Roses Amongst sweete smels and sauours the principallest and chiefest laude and commendation is attributed vnto the smell which proceedeth from the muske cat For he doth not onely with his odoriferous and delightfull sauour please and content the scent of men but also doth strengthen the spirits and all the partes of mans body yea and that in a moment for the slendernesse of his partes which although it doth forthwith penetrate or enter into the scent of man yet doth it endure longer and is not so speedily or quicklie dissolued as the scent or sauour of any other sweete smell whatsoeuer A musk-cat and the hearb called Mercuries-fingers or Dogges-bane being giuen in purging medicines to drinke do greatly renew and refresh the decayed strength or force of those which haue beene before times weakened with diuers and continual medicines in their mâ—bers The same is also very profitable for those which are effeminate or defectiue and ecclipsed in their mind or courage as also for those which are weak and feeble in their ioynts not by any hurt or any other casuallity being enfeebled Symeon but being alwaies so euen from their childhood A musk-cat is an excelleÌ„t remedy for those which are troubled with feare in their hart and also for those which do quiuer or shake either for fear or any other thing throughout all the parts of their body The same is a
sheep To begin with the food Their diet doth not much differ from Goats and yet they haue some things peculiar which must now be expressed It is good therefore that their pastures and feeding places looke toward the sun setting and that they be not driuen ouer far or put to too much labour for this cause the good sheapheard may safely feed his sheep late in the euening but not suffer them to go early abroad in the morning They eat all maner of hearbs and plants and sometimes kill them with their bitings so as they neuer grow more The best is to giue them alwaies greene meate and to feede them vpon land falowed or plowed to be sowne with corne and although by feeding them in fat pastures they come to haue a softer wooll or haire according to the nature of their food yet because they are of a moyst temperament it is better to feede them vpon the salt and short pasture for by such a dyet they both better liue in health and also beare more pretious wooll In dry pastures they are more healthy then in the fenny and this is the cause why it is most wholesome for them to keepe in plowed groundes wherein they meete with many sweet and pleasant hearbs or else in vpland medowes because all moysture breedeth in them rottennesse he must avoid the woods and shadowy places euen as he doth the fens for if the sun come not vpon the sheepes food it is as hurtful vnto him as if he picked it out of the waters and the shepheard must not thinke that there is any meate so gratefull vnto his cattle but that vse and continuance wil make them to loath it wherefore he must prouide this remedy namely to giue them salt oftentimes in the summer when they returne from feeding and if he do but lay it in certaine troughs in the folds of their own accord they wil licke thereof and it will encrease in them great appetite In the winter time when they are kept within doores they must be fed with the softest hay such as is cut down in the autumne for that which is riper is lesse nourishable to them In some countries they lay vp for them leaues especially green Ewe leaus or Elme three-leaued-grasse sowed-vines and chaffe or pease when other things faile where there are store of vines they gather their leaues for sheep to eat thereof without al danger and very greedily and I may say as much of the Oliue both wild and planted diuers such other plants all which haue more vertue in them to fat and raise your beasts if they be aspersed with any salt humor and for this cause the sea wormwood excelleth all other hearbs or food to make fat sheep And Myndius writeth that in Pontus the sheep grow exceeding fat by the most bitter and vulgar wormwood Beanes encrease their milke and also three-leaued-grasse for that is most nourishable to the Ewes with young And it is obserued for the fault which in latin is called Luxuria segetum and in English rankenesse of corne there is no better remedy then to turne in your sheep in May when the ground is hard if not before for the sheep loueth wel to crop such stalks and also the corne will thriue neuer the worse for in some places they eat it down twice and in the country about Babilon thrice by reason of the great fertility thereabouts and if they should not do so Pliny it would turn or run al into stalke and idle vnprofitable leaues The same extasie is reported to follow sheep when they haue eaten Eryngia that we haue expressed already in the history of goats namely that they all stand still and haue no power to goe out of their pastures til their keeper come and take it out of their mouths It is reported that they are much delighted with the herb called Laserpitium which first purgeth them and then doth fat them exceedingly It is therefore reported that in S. Cyrene there hath bin none of this found for many yeares because the publicans that hier the pastures are enimies to sheepe For at the first eating thereof the sheep wil sleep and the goat wil fal a neezing In India and especially in the region of the Prasians it raineth many times a dew like liquid hony falling vppon the hearbs and grasse of the earth wherefore the shepheards lead their flocks vnto those places wherwithal their cattle are much delighted and such as is the food they eat such also is the tast of the milke they render neither neede they to mingle honny with their milk as the Graecians are constrained to do for the sweetenesse of that liquor saueth them of that charge Such a kind of dew the Haebrewes call Manna the Graecians Aeromelos and Drosomelos The Germaines Himmelhung and in English Honny-dew but if this bee eaten vpon the herbs in the month of May it is very hurtful vnto them We haue shewed already that in some parts of Affricke and Ethiopia their sheepe eate flesh and drinke milke and it is apparent by Philostratus that when Apollonius trauailed towardes India in the region Pegades inhabited by the Orite they fed their sheepe with fishes and so also they doe among the Carmanian Indians which do inhabit the Sea-coastes and this is as ordinary with them as in Caria to feed their sheep with figs because they want grasse in that country and therefore the flesh of the sheep do tast of fish when it is eaten euen as the flesh of sea-soules The people of that country are called Ichthyophagi that is fish-eaters Likewise the sheepe of Lydia and Masidonia their sheepe grow fat with eating of fishes Aenius also writeth of certain fishes about the bignesse of Frogs which are given vnto sheep to be eaten Aâ—eanus In Arabia in the prouince of Adeâ— their Oxen Camels and sheep eate fishes after they be dryed for they care not for them when they be green the like I might say of many other places generally it must be the care of the shepard to auoid all thorny and stony places for the feeding of his sheep according to the precept of Virgill Si tibi lamitium curae primum aspera sylua Lappaeque tribulique absint Because the same thing as he writeth maketh them bald and oftentimes scratcheth their skin asunder his words are these Scabras oues reddit cum tonsis illotus Ad hesit sudor hir suti secuerunt corpora Vepres Although a sheep be neuer so sound and not much subiect to the pestilence yet must the shepard regard to feede it in choice places for the fat fields breed straight and tall sheep the hils and short pastures broad and square sheepe the woods and Mountaine places small and slender sheep but the best places of all are the new plowed grounds Although Virgil prescribeth his shephard to feed his flock in the morning according to the maner of the country wherein he liued for the middle part
but naturally through their food or their drinke or the operation of the aire The Lauoditian wooll is also celebrated not onely for the softnesse of it but for the colour for that it is as blacke as any Rauen and yet there are some there of other colours and for this cause the Spanish wooll is commended especially Turditania and Coraxi as Strabo writeth for hee saith the glasse of the wooll was not onely beautifull for the purity of the blacke but also it will spin out into so thin a thread as was admirable and therefore in his time they sold a ram of that countrey for a tallent I may speake also of the wooll of Parma and Altinum whereof Martiall made this disticon Velleribus primis apulia Parma secundis Nobilis altinum tertia laudat ouis We may also read how for the ornament of wooll there haue bin diuers colours inuented by art and the colours haue giuen names to the wool as Simatulis lana wooll of Sea-water-colour some colour taken from an Amethist stone some from brightnesse or clearnesse some from Saffron some from Roses from Mirtles from Nuts from Almonds from Waxe from the Crow as Colorcoraxicus and from the purple fish as from the Colassiue or the Tyrean whereof Virgill writeth thus Hae quoque non cura nobis leuiore tuendae Nec minor vsus erit quamuis Milesia magno Vellera mutentur tyries in cocta rubores From hence commeth the chalke colour the Lettice colour the Loote-tree-root the red colour the Azure colour and the star-colour There is an Hearb called Fullers-herb which doth soften wooll and make it apt to take colour and whereas generally there are but two colours black and white that are simple the ancients not knoing how to die wool did paint it on the outside for the triumphing garments in Homer wore painted garments The Phrigian garments were colours wrought with needle-worke and there was one Attalus a King in Asia which did first of all inuent the weauing of wooll and gold together whereupon came the name of Vestis Attalica for a garment of cloath of gold The Babilonians and the Alexandrians loued diuersity of colours in their garments also and therefore Mettellus Scipto made a law of death against all such as should buy a Babilonish garment that was carpets or beddes to eate vpon for eight hundered Cesterses The shearing of cloth or garments made of shorne cloth did first of all begin in the daies of S. Augustine as Fenistella writeth The garments like poppies had the original before the time of Lucilius the Poet as he maketh mention in Tarquatus There was a fashion in ancient time among the Romans that adistaffe with wooll vpon it The lasting of wooll was carried after virgins when they were going to be married the reason therof was this as Varro writeth for that there was one Tanaquilis or Cayea cecilia whose distaffe and wooll had endured in the Temple of Sangi many hundered yeares and that Seruius Tullus made him a cloke of that wooll which he neuer vsed but in the temple of Fortune and that that garment afterwards continued fiue 500 60. years being neither consumed by moaths nor yet growing thread-bare to the great admiration of all which either saw it or heard of it And thus much I thought good to adde in this place concerning the diuersity of wooll distinguished naturally according to seuerall regions or else artificially after sundry tinctures Likewise of the mixing and mingling of Wooll one with another and diuersities of garmentes and lastly of the lasting and enduring of wooll and garments for it ought to be no wonder vnto a reasonable man that a wollen garment not eaten by mothes nor worne out by vse should last many hundered yeares for seeing it is not of any cold or earthly nature but hot and dry there is good cause why it should remaine long without putrification and thus much instead of many things for the wooll of sheepe As we haue heard of the manifold vse of the Wooll of Sheepe so may we say very much of the skins of Sheep for garments and other vses and therefore when the wool is detracted and pulled off from them The vsâ— of â—â—â—ep-skins they are applyed to Buskins Brest-plates Shooes Gloues Stomachers and other vses for they are also dyed and changed by tincture into other colours also when the wool is taken off from them they dresse them very smooth and stretch them verye thin whereof is made writing parchment such as is commonly vsed at this day in England and I haue knowne it practised at Tocetour called once Tripontium in the county of Northampton and if any part of it will not stretch but remaine stiffe and thicke thereof they make writing tables whereon they write with a pensil of iron or Brasse and afterward deface and race it out againe with a spunge or linnen cloath Here of also I mean the skins of sheep commeth the coueringes of bookes and if at any time they be hard stubborne and stiffe then they soften it with the sheepes-sewet or tallow The bones of Sheep haue also their vse and employment for the hafting of knifes The Rhaetians of the vrine of sheep do make a kind of counterfeit of Nitre And Russius saith that if a man would change any part of his Horses haire as on the forehead take away the black haires and put them into white let him take a linnen cloth and wet it in boyling milk of sheep and put it so whot vpon the place that he would haue changed so oftentimes together til the haire come off with a little rubbing afterward let him wet the same cloth in cold sheeps milke and lay it to the place two or three daies together and the haire will arise very white thus saith he and there are certain flyes or mothes which are very hurtfull to gardens if a man hang vp the panch of a sheepe and leaue for them a passage or hole into it they will all forsake the flowers and hearbs and gather into that ventrickle which being done two or three times together make a quit riddance of all their hurts if you please to make an end of them Ruellius The Swallowes take off from the backes of Sheepe flockes of Wooll wherewithal the prouident Birds do make their nestes to lodge their young ones after they bee hatched With the dung of Sheepe they compasse and fat the earth Of the dung of sheepe it beeing excellent and aboue all other dung necessary for the benifit and encrease of Corne except Pigeons and Hens dung which is whotter and the sandy land is fittest be amended with Sheeps dung also piants and trees if you mingle therewith ashes Now we are to proceed to the gentle disposition of Sheep and to expresse their inward quallities and morall vses The inward qualities of sheepe and their moral vses Hermolaus and first of all considering the innocency of this beast I maruaile
was a churlish vnpleasant meate The Lord vnderstanding a priuy Emphasis in that speech against himselfe for his name was written with those Letters and sillables aunswered her you say truth if the Bacon be a piece of an old Sow as peraduenture she seemed to be at that time The best opinion about the concoctiue quality of this flesh is that then it is best when it is in middle age neither a pig nor an old Hogge for a pigge is ouer moyst like the Damme which is the moystest of all other earthly Beastes and therefore cannot but engender much flegme and for this cause the fattest are reprooued for a good diet for that it cannot digest well through ouer much humidity And the olde Swine are most hard of concoction yea though they bee scorched or senged at the fire because therby is increased in their flesh much acrimony and sharpnesse which in the stomacke of man turneth into Choler for they bite all the vessels reaching to the stomacke making a deriuation of all those ill humours into the belly and other parts I do not like their opinion which thinke that it is better cold then hot for feare of inflammation this rule is good in the flesh of Goates which are exceeding whot but in Swyne where is no predominancy but of moysture it is better to eate them hot then cold euen as hot Milke is more wholesome then cold Hippocrates doth prescribe the eating of Swynes flesh in the sicknesse of the Spleene and Coelius Aurelianus forbiddeth the same in the palsie or falling sicknesse Galen is of opinion that Caro porcina potentissime nutrit nourisheth most strongly and potently whereof hee giueth an instance for a reason taken from Champions Combatants or Wrestlers if the day before they Wrestle or fight they feed on an equall quantity of any other flesh they feel themselues weak and feeble in comparison of that is gathered from Swyns flesh and this he saith may be tryed in labourers Myoners Diggers and Husbandmen which retaine their strength aswell if not better by eating of Swynes flesh or Bacon as any other meate For as Beefe in thicknesse and solidity of substance to the eyes appearance excelleth Porke or Bacon so Porke and Bacon excelleth and is preferred before Beefe for a clammy nourishing humour And this comparison betwixt Pork and Beefe Galen amplyfieth farther in these wordes Of Swines flesh those are best for men in their middle and ripe age which are of Hogges of aunswerable age and to other which are but growing to a ripenesse and perfection piggs Sheates and young growing Swyne are most nourishable And on the contrary young growing Oxen are most nourishable to men of perfect yeares and strength because an Oxe is of a far more dry temperament then a Hog A Goate is lesse dry then an Oxe and yet compared to a man or a Swyne it excelleth both of them for there is a great resemblance or similitude betwixt a mans flesh and Swines flesh which some haue proued in tast for they haue eaten of both at one Table and could find no difference in one from the other for some euill Inn-kepers and hoasts haue so deceiued men which continued a great while not descryed or punished vntill at last the finger of a man was mixed therewith and being found the Authours receiued their reward Swines flesh also is lesse excrementall then pigges flesh and therefore more nutrible for the moyster that the flesh is the sooner it is dispersed and the vertue of it auoided and olde swine notwithstanding their primitiue and naturall moisture yet grow very dry and their flesh is worst of al because in nature humidity helpeth the concoction thereof All swines flesh being concocted engendereth many good humors yet withal they ontaine a kind of glutinous humor which stoppeth the liuer and reins especially in those which by nature are apt to this infirmity And althogh some are of opinion that the wilde Bore is more norishable then the tame swine because of his laborous course of life and getting his prey yet it appeareth that the tame swine by their resty life and easie gathering of their meate are made more fit for nourishment of man for they are more moist and swines flesh without conuenient moisture which is many times wanting in wilde Bores is poison to the stomacke and yet for a man that hath propounded to himselfe a thin extenuating diet I would wish him to forbeare both the one and the other except he vse exercise and then he may eat the eares or the cheekes or the feet or the haslet if they be well sod or dressed prouided they be not fresh but sauced or powdred And it is no maruell that swines flesh shoulde so well agree with ours for it is apparant that they liue in dirt and loue to muddle in the same And if any man aske how it commeth to passe that swine which both feed and liue so filthily should be so norishable to the nature of man some make answere that by reason of their good constitution of body they turne ill nutriment to a good flesh for as men which be of a sounde perfect and healthy disposition or temperature are not hurt by a little euill meat which is hard of digestion euen so is it with well constituted and tempered swine by continuall feeding vpon euill things they grow not onely to no harme but also to a good estate because nature in processe of time draweth good out of euill But if men which haue moist stomackes do eat of swines flesh then do they suffer thereby great harme for as water powred vpon wet ground increaseth the dirt so moistnes put vpon a moist stomacke increaseth more feeblenesse but if a man of a dry and moist stomack do eate heereof it is like rain falling into a dry ground which begetteth and engendreth many wholesome frutes and hearbes And if a swine be fatted with dried figges or Nuts it is much more wholesome With wine all swines flesh is most nourishable and therefore the vniuersity of Salernum prescribed that in their verses to the king of England and also they commended their loynes and guts Ilia porcorum bona sunt mala sunt refequorum And Fiera describeth the eating of Hogs-flesh in this manner Sus tibi coenoso coena domesticus ore Grata ferat nobis mensa hyemalis aprum Ille licet currat de vertice montis aquosae Carnis erit pluri sed tamen aptacibo est Hinc feritas siluaeque domant inania saxa Post melius posita rusticitate sapit And whereas Hippocrates commended swines flesh for Champions or Combatants it is certaine that Bilis the Champion thorough eating of swines flesh fell to such a heighth of choller that he cast it vpwards and downwards When the wombe of a woman is vlcerated let her abstaine from all swines flesh especially the eldest and the youngest It is not good for any man to taste or eat this flesh in the Summer time
very sharpe and yet is it iustly condemned by Columella for no vse no not to fatten the earth and Vines also are burned therewithal except they be diligently watred or rest fiue yeares without stirring In Plinies time they studied to enlarge and make their Luttuce grow broad Theophrast and not close together which they did by slitting a little the stalke and thrusting gently into it some Hogs dung But for trees there is more especial vse of it for it is vsed to ripen fruit and make the trees more plentifull The Pomegranats and Almondes are sweetned herâ—by and the Nuts easily caused to fall out of the shell Likewise if Fennel be vnsauourie by laying to the root thereof eyther Hogs-dung or Pigeons dung it may be cured and when any Apple tree is affected and razed with wormes by taking of Swines dung mixed and made soft like morter with the vrine of a man layed vnto the root it is recouered and the wormes driuen away and if there bee any rentes or stripes visible vppon trees so as they are endangered to be lost thereby they are cured by applying vnto the stripes and wounds this dung of Swine When the Apple trees are loose poure vpon their roots the stale of Swine and it shall establish and settle them and wheresoeuer there are swine kept there it is not good to keepe or lodge horses for their smell breath and voice is hatefull to all magnanimious and perfect spirited horsses And thus much in this place concerning the vse of the seuerall parts of swine whereunto I may adde our English experiments that if swine be suffered to come into Orchards and digge vp and about the roots of the Apple trees keeping the ground bare vnder them and open with their noses the benefit that will arise thereby to your increase of frute will be verie inestimable And heere to saue my selfe of a labor about our English Hogges I will describe their vsage out of Maister Tussers husbandry Tus. husb in his own words as followeth and first of al for their breeding in the spring of the yeare he writeth in generall Let Lent well kept offend not thee For March and Aprill breeders be And of September he writeth thus To gather some mast it shall stand thee vpon With seruant and children yer mast be all gone Some left among bushes shall pleasure thy Swine For feare of a mischiefe keepe Acornes fro kine For rooting of pasture ring hog ye haue neede Which being well ringled the better doth feed Though young with their elders will lightly keepe best Yet spare not to ringle both great and the rest Yoke sildome thy swine while shacke time doth last For diuers misfortunes that happen too fast Or if you do fancy whole eare of the Hogge Giue eare to ill neighbor and eare to his Dogge Keepe hog I aduise thee from meddow and Corne For out alowd crying that ere he was borne Such lawlesse so haunting both often and long If Dog set him chaunting he doth thee no wrong And againe in Octobers husbandry he writeth Though plenty of Acornes the Porkelings to fat Not taken in season may perish by that If ratling or swelling get once in the throat Thou loosest thy porkling a Crowne to a groat What euer thing fat is againe if it fall Thou venterest the thing and the fatnesse withall The fatter the better to sell or to kill But not to continue make proofe if you wil. In Nouem he writeth again Let hog once fat loose none of that When mast is gone Hogge falleth anon Still fat vp some till Shroue-tide come Now Porke and sowce beares taske in a house Thus farre of our English husbandry about swine Now followeth their diseases in particular Of the diseases of swine HEmlocke is the bane of Panthers Swine wolues and all other beasts that liue vpon deuouring of flesh for the hunters mix it with flesh and so spreading or casting the flesh so poysoned abroad in bits or morsels to be deuoured by them The root of the white Chamaelion mixed with fryed Barly-floure Water and oyle is also poison to swine Pliny Aelianus The blacke Ellebor worketh the same effect vppon horses Oxen and swine and therefore when the beasts do eat the white they forbeare the blacke with all wearisomenesse Likewise Hen-bane worketh many strange and painfull conuulsions in their bellies therefore when they perceiue that they haue eaten thereof they run to the waters gather snailes or sea-crabs by vertue whereof they escape death and are againe restored to their health The hearb Goose foot is venemous to swine and also to Bees and therefore they will neuer light vpon it or touch it The blacke night-shade is present destruction vnto them and they abstaine from Harts tongue and the great bur by some certaine instinct of nature if they be bitten by any Serpents Sea-crabs or Snailes the most present remedy that nature hath taught them The swine of Scythia by the relation of Pliny Aristotle are not hurt with any poison except Scorpions and therefore so soone as euer they are stung by a scorpion they die if they drink and thus much for the poison of swine Against the cold of which these beastes are most impatient the best remedy is to make them warm sties for if it be once taken it will cleane faster to them then any good thing and the nature of this beast is neuer to eate if once he feele himselfe sicke and therefore the diligent maister or keeper of swine must vigilantly regard the beginnings of their diseases which cannot be more euidently demonstrated then by forbearing of their meat Of the Measils The Measilles are called in Greeke Chalaza in Latine Grandines for that they are like haile-stones spred in the flesh and especialy in the leaner part of the hog and this disease as Aristotle writeth is proper to this beast for no other in the world is troubled herwith for this cause the Graecians call a Measily hog Chaluros and it maketh theyr flesh verye loose and soft The Germaines call this disease Finnen and Pfinnen the Italians Gremme the French â—ursume because the spots appeare at the root of the tongue like white seeds and therefore it is vsuall in the buying of hogges in all Nations to pull out their tongue and looke for the Measils for if there appeare but one vpon his tongue it is certaine that all the whole body is infected And yet the Butchers do all affirme that the cleanest hog of al hath three of these but they neuer hurt the swine or his flesh and the swine may be full of them and yet none appeare vpon his tongue but then his voice will be altered and not be as it was wont These abound most of all in such Hogs as haue fleshy legs and shoulders very moyst and they be not ouer plentifull they make the flesh the sweeter but if they abound it tasteth like stocke-fish or meat ouer watered If there