diseases at sea is the iuyce of â—emons At my being in Hungarie I saw the fiery Feauer a disease infectious in that Country cured onely by salt niter prepared with sulphur and giuen in water as drinke to the patient a thing very strange that fire should quench fire Shew me particularly how the Aire may be corrected for the recouerie of sicke folkes according to the diuersities of places times and seasons Art may moderate all this by accommodating the Aire in respect of the sick For if it be in Sommer that the Aire be too hot and sultrie as the vulgar say and that the patient is affected with some ague or with some other burning disease hee must be placed in some lower roome or some coole chamber where the heat of the Sunne comes not so forcibly In Winter time let fire correct the raw and cold aire specially for them that be afflicted with cold sicknesses For such a close warme roome must be prepared secured from winds where a good fire may be made Aduise me how I should build mee an house for pleasure health and profit First you must choose out a fine soile which hath water and wood annexed vnto it and forecast in your minde whether the prospect too and fro be decent and pleasant to the eye For I am of this opinion that if the eye be not satisfied the minde cannot be pleased if the minde be not pleased nature doth abhorre and if nature doth abhorre death at last must consequently follow Next you must marke whether the ayre which compasseth the situation of your house be of a pure substance and that shortly after the Sunne is vp groweth warme and contrarily groweth cold after the Sunne is set Thirdly you must make your foundation vpon a grauell ground mixt with clay vpon a hill or a hils side Fourthly looke that your windowes be Northward or Eastward Lastly when your house is finished you must prepare a Garden replenished with sundry kindes of hearbs and flowers wherein you may recreate and solace your selfe at times conuenient Doth the nature of places alter the quality of the Aire Yea doubtlesse Either by reason of marshes as I said before which commonly are corrupted with rotten vapours and exhalations or else of Churchyards subiect likewise to the same mutations we see by experience that the aire which compasseth vs about doth change his temperature As also when it becomes eyther excessiuely hot or colde dry or moist we doe finde our selues in much trauell and alteration Doth the nature of the time of the yeare alter the Ayre The like mutations doth the aire inferre vnto vs in the foure seasons of the yeare according to the course of the Sunne for in the Spring time the Aire is neerer vnto his owne nature to wiâ— reasonably hot and moist in Sommer further heated by the Sunne it becomes hot and dry in Haruest colde and dry in Winter colde and moist And not onely the Sunne in the foure seasons of the yeare brings such alterations in the aire but likewise the Moone in her foure quarters causeth foure differences for the first seauenth day from the new Moone vntill the next seauenth day is like the Spring time being hot and moist The second seauenth day vntill the full of the Moone is like Sommer The third day the Moone decreasing is correspondent vnto the Autumne And the fourth and last quarter is like the Winter Euen so againe the morning is hot moist like the Spring time noone is compared to Sommer the Euening to Autumne and the night to the Winter What sicknesses doth the Aire cause The aire causeth sicknesses according to the variety of the climate In colde Countries I meane from the fiftieth degree to the Pole Northward or Southward few sicknesses abound except they happen through excesse or distemperature of diet or vnwholesomnesse of the aire as aboue written In hot Countries specially betweene the both Tropickes the aire is more intemperate and pestilent Here-hence spring plagues Callenturaes and Lues Venerea insomuch as a certaine Writer affirmeth by experience that an Europaean can hardly liue in Aethiopia or vnder the Equinoctiall line aboue fiue yeares whereas on the contrary wee heare that men liue in Swethland in the North parts of Ireland and in other colde places where the aire is pure and Notherly till they attaine to a hundred or sixe score yeares Of Water CHAP. 2. What is water WAter is an Element colde and moyst and doth not nourish but helpe digestion How many kindes of waters be there To discerne good waters from bad you must learne that there be foure differences of waters namely Raine water Riuer water fountaine water and stange water By Raine water I meane all that falls from the Region of the aire vpon the earth in forme of water And this is either sweet when if falls without a storme or else troublesome when it falls with stormes and tempests Is not Snow water as good as Raine water Snow waters albeit they be counted among those waters which are light as hauing beene sublimed purified and as it were distilled yet notwithstanding they be not so good For they ingender feauers and morphewes What is the nature of fountaine water Fountaine water is the best water for preseruation of health But you must obserue of what side it springs for if it comes from the East it excels the rest as well in moisture and thinnesse of substance as in pleasant smel and it doth moderately comfort the spirits Contrariwise those fountaines which spring out of rockes towards the North and which haue the Sunne backward are of a hard digestion and nothing so pure as the other Whether water being drunke doth nourish And whether the same be wholesome for sicke persons Surely water cannot nourish because of it selfe it is of no substance to fortifie or encrease the vitall faculties For which cause the wisest Phisitians aduised men to drinke it honied which they called Oximell Hodromel or with wine or with suger or with white wine vinegar Being drunke alone it neuer quencheth the drowth nor heat of the lungs but rather hindereth the spetting vp of phlegme Yet notwithstanding at meales in Sommer time it may be drunke of hot complexioned people rather to helpe digestion then to nourish the body How shall I know good water By the clearenesse of it That water is best which runneth from an higher to a lower ground and that water which runneth vpon clay is better clarified then that which goeth vpon the stone VVhen is water wholesomest In Sommer time it is most wholesome yet notwithstanding seldome to be drunke But if at any time you be compelled to drinke it see first that you seeth your water gently for by seething the grosse substance of it is taken away How shall I reuiue waters that begin to putrifie This is performed by the addition of some small proportion of the oyle of Sulphur or else of Aqua vitae well rectified incorporating
and lustfull thoughts touching the fruit in Paradise but to tel how at what time that is a secresie neuer disclosed to any creature Such as the mans life is such is his death A Righteous man dieth righteously But a wicked man hath a wicked end dying without repentance Death is a so daine and a sullen guest neuer thought on before hee apprehendeth vs as his slaues When we think our selues safely mounted on the pinacle of worldly felicity he vnawares suppresseth vs rudely and smiteth vs deadly For which consideration O mortall men lead your liues vprightly hearken not vnto the counsels of the vngodly nor like greedie Cormoraunts snatch vp other mens rights Rather know your selues contentedly which done be vigilant well armed in Christ Iesus and alwaies meditating on your deaths VVhich be the most dangerous yeares in mans life The auncient Sages by curious notes haue found out that certaine yeares in mans life be very perillous These they name climactericall or stayrie yeares for then they saw great alterations Now a climactericall yeare is euery seauenth yeare The reason is because then the course of the planets returne to Saturne who most commonly is cruell and noysome vnto vs. And euen as the Moone which is the next planet vnto vs and swiftest of course passeth almost euery seauenth day into the contrary signe of the same qualitie from whence she came forth and there-hence bringeth the criticall daies so Saturne which is the planet furthest from vs and slowest of course for hee resteth in one signe so many yeares as the Moone doth dayes bringeth these climactericall yeares and causeth sundry mutations to follow Hence is it that in the seauenth yeare children doe cast and renew their teeth In the fourteenth yeare proceedeth their strippling age And betwixt that and the fifteenth yeare there falles out in the body a tumultuous whurly-burly or wambling commotion of humours which in some breakes out into scabs or hote watry issues in others into kindes of agues In the one and twentieth youth And when a man hath past seauen times seauen yeares to wit nine and forty yeares hee is a ripe and perfect man Also when he attaineth to tenne times seauen yeares that is to the age of threescore and ten his strength and chiefest vertue begins to fall away And againe euery seauenth yeare was by Gods owne institution pronounced hallowed And in it the Israelites were prohibited to manure their grounds or to plant vineyards Aulus Gellius mentioneth that the Emperour Octauian sent a Letter vnto his step-sonne to this effect Reioyce with mee my Sonne for I haue past ouer that deadly yeare and enemie to olde age threescore and three In which number the seauenths and ninths doe concurre The sixe and fiftieth yeare is very dangerous to men borne in the night season by reason of the doubled coldnesse of Saturne And the threescore and third yeare is very perillous to them that be borne in the day time by reason of the drinesse of Mercurie and Venus It is also obserued that the nine and fortieth yeare composed of seauen times seauen is very dangerous Others againe of our late Criticks collect by experience that in the seauenth yeare more vnnaturall ill humours are ingendred then the true and naturall constitution of the bodie can possibly digest because the liuer and heart being the radicall Fountaines of the bloud by little and little are so corrupted within the compasse of sixe or seauen yeares which cannot chuse but at the last breake out like the Paroxismes or fits of an ague tertian or quartane in some kinde of bodies at the seauenth yeare and in others of a stronger ability at the ninth yeare So when these steps are past the liuer heart do prepare humours for the yeares or steps following vntill it burst out into a remarkeable euent Finally whensoeuer any man entreth into these climactericall yeares if certaine tokens of imminent sicknesse doe appeare as wearisomnesse of the members griefe of the knees dimnesse of sight buzzing of the eares loathsomnesse of meate sweating in sleepe yawning or such like then let him incessantly pray and beseech God to protect and guide his heart let him be circumspect and curious to preserue his health and life by Art nature policy and experiments Or if no eminent cause appeare let him purge aforehand the better to preuent the encrease of humours Which be the criticall daies The critical daies are the first and seauenth of Ianuary The third and fourth of February The first and fourth of March The eigth and tenth of April The third and seauenth of May. The tenth and fifteenth of Iune The tenth and thirteenth of Iuly The first and second of August The third tenth of September The third and tenth of October The third fift of Nouember The seauenth and tenth of December VVhich humors are predominant in the night season and which in the day time Euery one humour raigneth sixe houres Bloud is predominant from nine a clocke in the night vntill three a clock in the morning Choler from three a clock in the morning till nine Melancholy ruleth from nine a clock in the morning till three in the euening Likewise flegme gouerneth from three in the euening vntill nine a clock at night So that flegme and melancholy doe raigne at night and bloud and choler in the day time Also bloud hath his dominion in the Spring time choler in the Sommer melancholy in Autumne and flegme in Winter For which respects I aduise you if perchance you fall into a disease to marke well in the beginning of your sicknesse the houre and humour then raigning that thereby you may the sooner finde out remedy In conclusion you must consider of the Critical daies in which great alterations either towards your recouerie or towards your further sicknesse willensue Most commonly the criticall day happeneth the seauenth the fourteenth the one and twentieth or the eight and twentieth day from the beginning of your sicknesse Notwithstanding according to the course of the Moone the fourth day the eleauenth the seauenteenth and the foure and twentieth day from the beginning of your sicknes will foretell you whether you shall amend or waxe worse Of the foure Humours CHAP. 4. What is an Humour AN humour is a moist and running body into which the meate in the Liuer is conuerted to the end that our bodyes might be nourished by them VVhat is the nature of the sanguine humour The sanguine humour is hot moist farty sweet and seated in the liuer because it watereth all the body and giueth nourishment vnto it out of which likewise issue the vitall spirits like vnto small and gentle windes that arise out of riuers and Wels. VVhat is the flegmaticke humour The flegmatick humour is of colour white brackish like vnto sweat and properly placed in the kidnyes which draw to themselues the water from the bloud thereby filling the veines in stead of good and pure bloud What is the Cholericke The
of Cider either pressed from Peares or from sweet Apples such Cider therefore as is sweet because of his sweetnesse which commeth of temperate heat heateth in a meane and indifferent manner but cooleth least of all and againe it is the most nourishing of all Ciders and the most profitable to be vsed of such as haue cold and dry stomacks and on the contrarie but smally profiting them which haue a hot stomack whether it be more or lesse or stomacks that are full of humidity very tender and queasie and subiect vnto chollerick vomits so that in such complexions as are hot and chollerick it is needfull as with wine so with Cider to mixe water in a sufficient quantitie with sweet Cider when they take it to drinke especially when such persons haue anie ague withall or and if it be the hot time of Sommer fore-seene that hee that shall then drinke it thus be not subiect to the paynes of the belly or collicke because that sweet Cider pressed new from sweet apples is windy by nature as are also the sweet apples themselues This is the cause why Phisitions counsell and aduise that sweet apples should be rosted in the ashes for them that shall eate them that so their great moystnes and watrishnes which are the originall fountaine of windinesse may be concocted by the meanes of the heate of the fire Of Flesh. CHAP. 5. What Flesh is best to be eaten BEfore your bee resolued if this I must declare vnto you the sorts of flesh and the natures of it There be two sorts of flesh the one foure-footed and the other that of Fowle Among those that be foure-footed some are young some are of middle age others are old the young are moyst and doe commonly cause excrements and loosenes in the belly old flesh is dry of small nourishment and of hard digestion therefore I take that flesh to be best which is of middle age if not to the tast yet at the least to nourish soundly and profitably according to the French Prouerbe Hee that loues young flesh and old fish loues contrary to reason Qui veut ieune chair et vi eux poisson Se troue repugner a raison Certainely that of the male doth far excell the flesh of the female as for example the Oxe flesh is better then the Cowes flesh a fat Wether is better then a fat Ewe but this is to be vnderstood of those males which are gelt for I cannot deny but Bull beefe and Ramme mutton is far worse then the flesh of the Cow and the Ewe and to them which obserue dyet I must needs say that all flesh whatsoeuer be it Beefe Mutton or other that is bred on dry places or mountainous where ther is any reasonable pasture is alwaies better and more wholsome then that which is bred in valleyes or on low and marshie grounds where there grow bulrushes and other weeds and hearbs cold moist and of little substance To conclude this flesh of foure-footed beasts I haue found that Mutton Beefe Kid Lambe Veale Pigges and Rabbets are meats easie to be digested and doe engender good bloud whereas on the contrary I finde that Martlemasse Beefe Bacon Venison together with the kidneyes liuers and the entrals of beasts doe breede raw humours in the stomack and flâ—xes In like manner fat meate is fulsome and takes away a mans stomack Among fowle we count the Capon the yong Pigeon the Partridge the Woodcocke the Peacocke and the Turkie cocke to be meates of an excellent temperature and fit to continue the body in health and contrariwise that Hares Duckes Geese young Goselings onely excepted and Swans doe dispose the body to Melancholy Shew me a way to preserue flesh and fowle sound and sweet for one month notwithstanding the contagiousnesse of the weather Master Plat whose authoritie not onely in this but in all other matters I greatly allow of counselleth Huswiues to make a strong brine so as the water be ouer-glutted with salt and being scalding hot to perboyle their mutton veale venison fowle or such like and then to hang them vp in a conuenient place with this vsage they will last a sufficient space without any bad or ouersaltish tast some haue holpen tainted venison by lapping the same in a course thin cloth couering it first with salt and then burying it a yard deepe in the ground What is the use of our common meates Yong mutton boyled and eaten with opening and cordiall hearbs is the most nourishing meate of all and hurteth none but only flegmatick persons and those which are troubled with the dropsy Yong beefe bredde vp in fruitfull pasture and other whiles wrought at plow being powdred with salt foure and twenty houres and exquisitly sodden is naturall meat for men of strong constitutions It nourisheth excedingly and stoppeth the fluxe of yellow choler Howbeit Martlemas beefe so commonly called is not laudable for it ingendereth melancholick diseases and the stone Veale yong and tender sodden with yong pullets or capons and smallage is very nutritiue and wholesome for all seasons ages and constitutions The leane of a yong fatte Hog eaten moderately with spices and hot things doth surpasse all manner of meate except Veale for nourishment it keepeth the paunch slipperie and prouoketh vrine but it hurteth them that be subiect to the Gout and Sciatica and annoyeth old men and idle persons A young Pig is restoratiue if it be flayed and made in a ielly To be short Bacon may be eaten with other flesh to prouoke appetite and to break flegme coagulated and thickned in the stomacke The hinder part of a young Kid roasted is a meate soone digested and therefore very wholesome for sicke and weake folkes It is more fit for young and hot constitutions then for old men or flegmatick persons Young fallow Deere very well chased hangd vp vntill it be tender and in roasting being throughly basted with oyle or wel larded is very good for them that be troubled with the rheume or palsy Yet notwithstanding it hurteth leane folkes and olde men it disposeth the body to agues and causeth fearefull dreames Some say that venison being eaten in the morning prolongeth life but eaten at night it bringeth sodaine death The hornes of Deere being long and slender are remedies against poysoned potions and so are the bones that grow in their hearts Hare and Conies flesh perboyled and then rosted with sweet hearbs Cloues and other spices consumeth all corrupt humours and flegme in the stomack and maketh a man to looke amiably according to the prouerb He hath swallowed vp a Hare But it is vnwholesome for lazie and melancholick men What is your opinion of Fowle A fat Capon is more nutritiue then any other kind of fowle It encreaseth venerie and helpeth the weaknesse of the braine But vnlesse a man after the eating of it vse extraordinarie exercise it will doe him more hurt then good As for chickens they are fitter to be eaten of sicke men then of
that butter is best which is made in May. What is the vse of Cheese Cheese being the thickest part of the milk is most nourishing but it makes the body bound and stipticke Olde cheese all mouldy brayed and mixed with the decoction of a salt gamon of bacon and applied in forme of a Cataplasme doth soften all the hard swellings of the knees What is the vse of Egges There are three things worthy of consideration to be marked in egges the first is their proper substance and qualitie for egges of some fowles are better than of some others Hen egges are the best and of better nourishment then the egges of Duckes Geese or other fowle the second thing remarkeable in egges is the time to wit whether they be fresh or stale whether they be layed of a young Hen or of an olde Hen for experience teacheth vs that these last doe quickly corrupt within the stomacke and be nothing so good to nourish Likewise it hath beene noted that egges layed after the new of the Moone in the moneth of August or in the wane of the Moone in the moneth of Nouember as those likewise which are laved on Christmasse day or on Whitsonday are lasting and durable and not easily corrupted Whereof there cannot be deuised any other reason than that in some of them the shel is made hard and not to be pierced through of the aire by the coldnesse of the time and in the other there is a most quicke exhaling and expending of that which might be corrupted within the egge by the heat of the time season then being The third and last obseruation is the dressing and making ready of egges some are sodden or rosted hard which the French men cal Dursis and the Greekes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is Egges boiled till they be very hard some are boyled to a meane to wit neither soft nor hard which the Latins call Iremula Others be but warme onely or soft and supping Egs which the Latines call Oua sorbilia Aboue all Egges poached with Parsly are the most wholesome Shew me a way to make Hens to lay good and great Egges Though this receit be homely yet because it makes for our bodies nourishment and contentment I will not conceale it from good Huswiues Hens will lay great egges if you pound bricks mixe them with bran and wine bray them all very wel and giue them to the Hens to eat or els make a fine powder of brick mixe it with barley bran and giue it them to eate some for the very same purpose doe mollifie the Fullers earth that is red and mixe it among the Hens meat The Hen will sit all Winter as well as in Sommer if shee haue meat made of bran mixt with the leaues and seed of dry Nettles Shew me how Egges are to be prepared for Physicke The yolk of an egge swallowed alone stayeth the cough and such other distillations as fall downe vpon the lungs and other parts of the breast The white of an egge beaten and with the powder of Frankincense Mastick and Galles applied to the browes doth stay the bleeding at the nose A Cataplasme made of the yolke and white of an egge well beaten the iuyce or water of Plantaine and Nightshade applyed vnto burnings doth quench and extinguish them A hard rosted egge eaten with vinegar stayeth the fluxe of the belly if you mixe with it the powder of Harts-horne Of Sauces CHAP. 8. What be the best and sauory sauces for our meates FOr the seasoning of such meats both flesh and fish as we haue spoken of before and to make them agreeable as wel for our health as for our nourishment and appetites we must vse now and then sauces with our meats And these in perticular are salt Sugar Pepper Cynamon Ginger Cloues Nutmegs Saffron Honey Oyle Vinegar and Veriuice Salt is of a hot and dry quality endued with a purging cleansing and a seasoning facultie most fit to preserue meate from putrifaction and to consume their moyst excrements and superfluities And for this cause wee are aduised of the ancient Physitians not to eate Beefe Venison or any other meate strong of digestion before the same be seasoned with salt two or three dayes at the least Sugar is of a hot qualitie and is quickly conuerted into choler for which cause I cannot approue the vse therof in ordinary meats specially to young men or to them which are of hot complexions for it is most certain that they which accustome themselues vnto it are commonly thirsty and dry with their bloud burnt and their teeth blackned and corrupted In medicine wise it may be taken eyther in water for hot feauers or in syrops for some kinde of diseases Pepper is the best and wholsomest of all spices as being of least heate in operation though in tast it seeme ouer hot being taken I meane three or foure graines of it swallowed downe with a fasting stomack it preserueth a man from the palsie and from griefes in the stomack the oyle of it extracted and taken with some conuenient liquor is a most ready and soueraigne remedie against the tertian and quartaine agues by reason that the said oyle dissolueth and rooteth out the seminary causes of such feuers and doth cause the same to be euacuated by sweates vrine or owise Cynnamon is of a very thinne substance yet notwithstanding very cordiall comfortable and corroboratiue there is a water distilled from it knowne by the name of Cynnamon water which is exceeding good for women in childbed for weake stomackes for the falling sicknesse Apoplexies and all windie collickes Ginger approacheth somewhat nigh to the nature of Pepper but it is of a thicker substance and doth not penetrate so soone as the Pepper which hath a sustance more thin it auaileth against obstructions and Feuer quartains Cloues are seldome vsed alone but with other spices they serue for the interlarding of Turkycocks and Salmon alone without any other spice Nutmegs and Mace are spices of a most temperate nature and may be vsed in winter time with moist meates Saffron reioyceth the heart comforteth the stomacke and procureth sleepe but you must looke that you take not too much of it for according to the vulgar French Prouerb La qualitè ne nuit pas ains la quantitè Exceeding one or two drachmes his narcotique smell doth offend the braine in such wise that it maketh it dull and stupied Oyle is more wholsome and necessary then butter as well for a mans health as for the preparing of sundry meates and sallades and better resisteth corruptions then butter wee see another difference in this that oyle is of it selfe reserued for a long time without change whereas butter is nothing worth if it be not fresh eaten or salted being applyed outwardly it hath a singular vertue as appeares by the answere of an auncient Philosopher who being asked of the meanes to continue a man in perfect health and to liue long said that it was
Cholericke humour is hot and fiery bitter and like vnto the flower of wine It serueth not onely to cleanse the guts of filth but also to make the Liuer hot and to hinder the bloud from putrifaction What is the Melancholicke humour The Melancholick humour is black earthly resembling the lees of bloud and hath the Spleene for a seat assigned vnto it Howbeit Physitians say that there be three kindes of melancholy the first proceedeth from the annoyed braine the second commeth when as the whole constituion of the body is melancholicke the third springeth from the bowels but chiefly from the Spleen and liuer Shew me a diet for melancholicke men First they must haue lightsome chambers and them often perfumed Secondly they must eate young and good meat and beware of Beefe Porke Hare wilde beasts Thirdly let them vse Borrage and Buglosse in their drinke Fourthly Musicke is meet for them Fiftly they must alwayes keepe their bellies loose and soluble Of the restauration of health The sixt Section Of the foure parts of the yeare CHAP. 1. What is the nature of Spring time THe Spring time beginneth when the Sunne entereth into the signe of Aries which is the tenth day of March. At this time the daies and nights are of equall length the cold weather is diminished the pores of the earth being closed and congealed with cold are opened the fields waxe greene hearbes and flowers doe bud beasts rut the birds chirp and to be briefe all liuing Creatures doe recouer their former vigour in the beginning of the spring Now a man must eate lesse and drink somwhat the more The best meates to be eaten are Veale Kid yong Mutton Chickens dry fowle potched egges figs raisins and other sweet meate and because the Spring is a temperate season it requires temperature in all things Vse competent Phlebotomy purgation or such like Venery will doe no great harme As the Sunne by steps and degrees makes his power manifest abroad so within our bodyes hee workes strange and meruailous effects after his cloudy absence Sweet meat must haue soure sauce after our gurmundise and gluttonous fare let vs now likewise imitate these degrees and by little and little weane our bodies from such luxurious cheer Wee see Nurses annoint their teates with Wormwood iuyce to terrifie and withdraw their froward Children from their auncient sustenance so in like manner let vs in this season beginne to sequester our wanton wils being the bodies rulers from persisting in their former lauishnesse for which purpose I aduise the temperate to abstaine from immoderate drinking of wine from immoderate spiced meate specially towards the midst of this season and if they be cholericke hot and dry of constitutions I aduise them to coole themselues now and then with waters of Endiue and Succory or with fountaine water together with a little Comfits to expell inflamation and windie pestilent humours In any case let them which regard their health take heede of salt Herrings and slimy Fish as a meate fitter for labourers then for tender natures Or if their longing wantonnesse be such that they must needs eate them let them exercise or omit their next meale whereby those ill humours may be spent or digested which were caused by reason of the vnwholsome nutriment For assuredly the bloud of idle people will be quickly tainted and corrupted so that the bad excrements will break out into itch tetters the small pockes or meazels or else they will descend from the head into the eyes teeth or lungs and there engender a fearefull cough In old persons these brackish viscous and salt humours will congeale and harden into the stone of the bladder or reines What is the nature of Summer Summer begins when the Sunne entereth the Signe of Cancer which is the twelfth day of Iune In this time Choler is predominant heat encreaseth the windes are silent the sea calme fruits doe ripen and Bees doe make honey Now a man must drinke largely eate little and that sodden for rost meate is dry It is dangerous taking of Physicke and specially in the Dog dayes To heale wounds is very difficult and perillous All these inconueniences happen because of the dog dayes to last for the space of those fortie dayes wherein that Constellation called the Dog meeting with the Sunne in our Meridian doubleth his heate by whose burning influence Frenzies the Pestilence Calenturaes and other hot cholericke sicknesses are bred in our bodies What is the nature of Autumne Autumne beginneth when the Sunne entreth the first degree of Libra which is the thirteenth day of September Then it is Equinoctiall Meteors are seene the times doe alter the Ayre waxeth cold the leaues doe fall corne is reaped the earth loseth her beautie and melancholy is engendered For which cause such things as breede Melancholy are to be auoyded as Feare Care Beanes olde Cheese salt Beefe broath of Coleworts and such like You may safely eate Mutton Lambe Pigges and young pullets Take heede of the morning and euening cold What is the nature of Winter Winter beginneth when the Sunne entereth the Signe of Capricorne which is commonly the twelfth day of December Now the dayes are shortned and the nights prolonged Windes are sharpe Snow and sodaine inundations of waters arise the Earth is congealed with frost and Ice and all liuing creatures doe quiuer with colde Therefore a man must vse warme and dry meates for the cheerefull vertues of the body are now weakened by the colde ayre and the naturall heate is driuen into the inward parts of the body to comfort and maintaine the vitall Spirits VVee must expell the colde ayre with warme drinkes wines braggot metheglin malmesie and such like and aboue all with warme clothes which I wish to be of wooll rather then of any other stuffes In this season wee may feede liberally on strong meates as Beefe barren Does gelt Goats and on spiced or baked meates for whose better digestion and to shut the orifice or mouth of the stomacke some vse to eate Comfits of Anise-seedes presently after meales some other hauing weake stomackes take digestiue pouders made of sweet Fenell seedes Coriander seed Corrall prepared a little masticke Sinnamon and Rose suger within the conserues of Roses Others againe content themselues with a pouder composed of Rose Suger Annise-seede Sage and a crust of fine bread whereof they take a spoonefull in a cup of drinke At nights be sure to keep your selfe warme and specially your head and feet In this case I cannot but commend the Dutchmens prouidence aboue our owne who continually in colde weather weare furres about their necks and couer their feete with wollen sockes Now Wardens Apples and Peares may be vsed with wine or with salt for swelling or with comfits for windinesse To vse carnall copulation is expedient if the weather be moist and not very cold Astronomers auerre that if the first day of December be foule and tempestuous it will not be calme thirty dayes after