Health are easily procurable of small Charge soon made ready and with very little Trouble they are in most places ready and familiar to be obtained with ease and pleasure without violating Justice or hazarding either your Conscience or your Liberty Furthermore Temperance is a strong Bullwark against that pernicious Enemy of Mankind viz. Despair or suspicion of the divine Hand of Providence against the Frowns and Causalties of this World What cares that man if he have not Money to buy Wine who by use finds Water no less pleasant and more wholsom Why should one bemoan not having half a score Dishes when one will serve him not only as well but better Sobriety makes a man Superior to those vain fearful repining Imaginations whereunto most or indeed all superfluous intemperate People are subject and when Poverty comes upon them they are doubly miserable because they had inur'd themselves to Unnecessaries before the absence of which more torments them than any real Wants that they lie under But he that gives the government of himself to Wisdom and has the true knowledg of Gods Love and the eternal Principle of Light in himself and admits it to have its Operation in the Soul and Body and who sees with an inward Eye the great Virtue and Fortitude there is in every simple Grain Fruit and Herb and who hath also bounded his desires to the necessities of Nature there is no such great reason that such a man should trouble his head with care and suspicion and tire his Body with over-labouring for Fruits Herbs Milk Bread and Water are easily procured And what sober man in the World is reduced to that extremity as to want such things except in universal Calamities Every man ought to understand that heavyness oppression of Nature and dulness proceed from the abundance of thick putrid Humours which stop up the Passages and cloy the Joynts filling them with gross moisture so that the course of the Spirits is hindered and they as it were suffocated which causes various Distempers in the Body that men would give all the World if they had it to be cured of but no Physick can help them unless the excellent Lady Sobriety be their Doctress for it must be a clean simple well-ordered Diet only that can fine the Blood by degrees out of which pure Spirits are generated in the goodnss of which all Health and the whole prosperity of the Body and Mind doth consist whereas surplusage of Nourishment destroys the Spirits and damnifies all the Senses as that of Seeing is hurt by gross Humours that obstruct the Optick Nerves And therefore those that are subject to weak Eyes ought to abstain from all such things as replenish the Head with Fumes such are all sorts of fat Meat Butter and the like taken in too great a quantity as also strong thick Drinks especially such wherein Wormwood or any strong bitter Herbs are infused for all such things are very hurtful to the Eyes as experience shews Likewise such superfluous matter offends the organs of Hearing and marrs the sense of Tasting by breeding Cholerick salt Humors so that those who accustom themselves to Excess generally have their Palates debaucht and cannot give a true judgment of the state of things Now the sorts of Food and Drinks that breed the best Blood and finest Spirits are Herbs Fruits and various kinds of Grains also Bread and sundry sorts of excellent Food made by different preparations of Milk and all dry Food out of which the Sun hath exhaled the gross Humidity by which all sorts of Pulses and Grains become of a firmer substance so likewise Oyl is an excellent thing in Nature more sublime and pure than Butter And if you do eat fat flesh let it be sparingly and not without good store of Bread and Herbs There are two things in the practise of Temperance chiefly to be regarded viz. QUANTITY and QUALITY the later ought to be considered by every one that is desirous to preserve Nature but Eror in the former does generally the most mischief For if Meats and Drinks be of a raw gross Nature and not so well prepared as they ought to be yet if a man eat and drink but sparingly with a perfect Appetite the Stomach Nature's Laboratory will make better Nourishment thereof than it can of the best Food when too great Quantities are cram'd into the Belly for the natural Heat of the Stomach is of a wonderful Nature when free from these burdensom gross Humours it can as it were digest and kill the poysonous Juices of unclean Food and by an innate power cast off the malignancy thereof if the Quantity be not too great In this case Abstinence hath been found by experience to cure most Diseases that have proceeded from Superfluity if not gon too far Therefore Quantity is more dangerous to destroy Health than Quality tho' they are both very bad and often meet together and then Health is destroyed with a winged speed which is the chief cause that there are so few either Men Women or Children in perfect Health Where can you find a Man or Woman among such as are Intemperate who have attained to the Age of forty Years that are in perfect Health The best of them being afflicted with windy and scorbutick Diseases which are bred by eating too much in quantity and of an evil unclean quality These windy Diseases are also much increased by the continual eating of their Food too hot that is before the sulpherous moist Vapours which are of a fierce and sharp Nature are evaporated for this sulpherous Heat which goes away in the moist steem or vapours does contain the Spirits of the Fire as also two Qualities viz. A windy moist dulling Nature and a fierce sharp fiery one the first of these is the cause of most windy Diseases and the second does generate in the Blood a hot sharp Humour which causeth an itching and breaking out in the flesh with spots of various colours as also a weariness and indisposedness through the whole Body this likewise is the grand cause of many Leprous and Mangy Diseases especially when the Food is gross and not well prepared and too much in Quantity which Maladies do often happen altogether All Food that is prepared by fire should not be eaten till those thick sulpherous and moist steems be evaporated herein many are mistaken and even Nature it self is little understood for the generality of People account hot Food best and most profitable for Health and the good Dame will be angry if her Servants delay to eat their Food whilst Hot. But the continual eating of Hot Food from the Womb has depraved their Stomachs and natural Heat so that if they eat their Food cold it will not give them satisfaction although hot Food is contrary to the pure simple Nature and the health of the Body nevertheless the continual use of such things have awakened their Similes in the Stomach and that requires their continuation and
no Drink made of Malt so wholsom pleasant and proper to preserve Health as that It is a great Custom and general Fashion now-a-days to bottle Ale but the same was never invented by any true Naturalist that understood the in-side of things For tho' Ale be never so well wrought or fermented in the Barrel yet the Botling of it puts it on a new motion and fermentation which wounds the pure Spirits and Balsamick Body therefore such Ale out of Bottles will drink more cold and brisk but not so sweet and mild as the same Ale out of a Cask that is of a proper Age Besides the Bottle tinges or gives it a cold hard Quality which is the nature of Glass and Stone and being the Quantity is so small the cold Saturnine Nature of the Bottle has the greater Power to tincture the Liquor with its Quality Furthermore all such Bottle Drinks are infected with a yeasty furious foaming matter which no Barrel-Ale is guilty of This is chiefly caused by the second motion or fermentation and this yeasty substance being then excited and finding no vent as it hath in Barrels which are always open at bungs when the Drink works but here being confined and without any evacuation it grows mad and furious so that presently it awakens the internal keen harsh Properties of Nature which keep it as it were in a continual motion and fermentation and those cold keen original Qualities do in some degree devour the sweet balsamick Body and cause it to become more cold sharp and hungry than the same Ale in Barrels and also indue it with a more flatuous Windy Nature for which Reasons Bottle-Ale or Beer is not so good nor wholsom as that drawn out of the Barrel or Hogshead and the chief thing that can be said for Bottle-Ale or Beer is that it will keep longer than that in Barrels which is caused by its being kept as it were in continual motion or fermentation Of Tobacco Tobacco is an Herb of Mars and Saturn from the first it derives its hot tart Quality and owes its strong fulsom poysonous Nature to the latter It makes a most excellent Oyntment and is much safer being applied outwardly than inwardly taken 'T is one of Nature's Extreams and there is no way known or Preparation found out that can destroy its poysonous Qualities or reconcile and make it friendly to mans Nature but only the continual use and custom of taking it for this cause at the first taking it disagrees with all sorts of Complexions with some more and others less according to the degree of Antipathy it bears to each mans peculiar Nature having a nearer affinity to some than others It being extream hot in Operation 't is therefore good taken in Pipes against all cold windy and phlegmatick Humours but the constant and common whiffling it does not only destroy and render invalid all its Physical Vertues but heats and drys up Nature and powerfully consumes the Radical Moisture causing most that use it to spit up the moist matter which ought not to be drawn out of the Stomach by such forcible Attractions it being a general mistake for People to think that the more thin phlegmy matter they spit up the better 't is for them when in truth 't is altogether the contrary for if the healthiest and soundest of men take Tobacco it will cause as great Evacuations and spittings in them as in the most unhealthy for this cause the much taking of it dulls the Stomach and takes away the edge of the Appetite whatever matter is superfluous in the Stomach Nature will expel by vertue and power of the inward Heat if Temperance be observed but the constant taking of Tobacco is nothing else but the constuat taking of Physick though through Custom and Use the same as likewise the highest Poysons may be made familiar to Nature For Man as we have already told you is a little World and in him are contained all the Properties and Qualities of the great World as well of Poysons as of Vertues The nature of Man hath Affinity more or less with all things else Custom could never cause such poysonous things to become agreeable yet ought not any to imagin the common use of such extreams to be the more proper or profitable unto their Health because by violence to Nature at first and continual practice afterwards they can better endure them and they seem more agreeable than they did at first I doubt not but some may find benefit by taking Tobacco in Pipes but then there must not be a constant taking of it for then the Physical Vertue will not continue for by habit and use such things become like common Food in the Stomach Most People that smoke Tobacco in the beginning forced Nature and made her bow to their Inclinations not for any Distemper but of a vain wanton Humour because of late 't is grown the fashion and many Thousands have strained and hurt their Health and brought many Inconveniences upon themselves meerly to follow this bruitish Mode Some others there are who first learnt to take it for some manifest Distemper which have so far been excusable tho yet not one of an hundred of this sort have found it a Remedy for tho Tobacco hath been of so universal an use yet 't is no Universal Medicine Indeed it hath and is indued with its particular Physical Vertues as all other Herbs are and when 't is properly apply'd and meets with such Diseases then it proves effectual otherwise not there is as much reason that any other Physical Herb should be made universal as this but few men hearken to Reason for most like Brutes are carried away by Custom and look on the Multitude and make their uncircumcised ways their Rules childishly saying Sure if there were not many excellent Vertues and Benefits to be found in the use of such things as the common taking of Tobacco viz. five six ten or twenty Pipes a day and as much strong Drink in one day as might well sustain five or six men a week such abundance of Wise and Learned Men would never practise the same for say they we see our Physitians and Apothecaries and the best of our Gentry such as have been bred in the Universities and Inns of Court. But it had been much better they had been of that most excellent Imployment Iacob's Sons wereof tho now despised Nay some of our Reverend Divines themseves will smoke as intemperately as any of the Vulgar But all this is still but a fools Argument to do a thing because he sees others to do it tho Reason and Experience tells him 't is prejudicial It is not above sixty or seventy years ago since that only Gentlemen and but a few of those took Tobacco and then so moderately that one Pipe would serve four or five for they handed it from one to another and it seems were then so honest as not to fear infecting one another with any French
fine and many of their Creatures have hardly any Wool or Hair on them The wonderful and wise Creator hath endued every Country and Climate with such a permanent Nature even in the beginning as brings forth Herbs Fruits and Grains which are proper and most agreeable to the Natures and Constitutions of the People born in that place And as the cold Countries produce abundance of Cloth and Furs so on the contrary hot Climates afford Silks and find Calicoes and the like which are not proper nor useful for us neither are ours for them How contrary to Reason and Nature it is for men in cold Countries to cloath themselves with Silk and fine Calico And so on the contrary for those in hot Countries to cloath themselves with our strong thick Woolen Cloth and Furs But mens Health is not so much endangered by outward Garments as by too great an Indulgence of Nature in the use of Meats and Drinks the one being External and the other Internal It is known by Experience that the mixing of the East and West-Indian and Spanish Fruits with our Food and Drinks have encreased Diseases and made the People more sickly than in former Ages with many new Distempers which had not any existence among us for most or all those things that are brought from those Countries are not proper for Food and are also endued with contrary Natures to the Fruits and Grains our own Country produceth as all sorts of Spices Nutmegs Cloves Mace Cinnamon Pepper and Ginger they are all extream hot and dry and are not proper to be used but in a Physical way and indeed we do not need them in that way neither for we have Herbs and Roots that grow in our own Climate more proper for that use though the Physicians have been as willing to deceive the People as the Merchants by telling them the many excellent Vertues contained in them Yet it cannot be denied but that those Spices are Excellent in their Nature and Operation though not proper for our Constitutions nor to be mixed among our Food and Drinks for that Food in which such things are mixed does by degrees destroy the Natural Heat of the Stomach drying up the Radical Moisture and those cool Vapours which would otherwise refresh the whole Body keeping of it pleasant making the Spirits brisk and full of Life this pleasant Quality is destroyed by Eating and Drinking such things in which Spices Sugars and Spanish Fruits are mixed it makes the Blood also of a hot sharp keen quality and causes thick hot Fumes to ascend into the Head making the Head Hands and Feet and all the external parts to glow with an unnatural Heat it deadens and dulls the Action of the Stomach and takes away the sharpness of the Appetite this may be known to every one if they would observe the operation of such things for they are unequal in their parts the heat bearing a predominacy in them they do by Similes cause all sorts of Foods and Drinks with which the are mixed to become like themselves viz. Unequal if great care be not taken And the worst of all is after our Stomachs are accustomed to such things we cannot be well satisfied without them for they are in some degree like Wine whereof if a man drink frequently he cannot without a great deal of Trouble and some Hazard as to his Health refrain from it the like is true in drinking of Brandy and taking of Tobacco which Customs are far more dangerous than the former For every sort of Food and Drink in which Nature is in its Properties Unequal does powerfully stir up and beget its likeness in the Stomach causeth Nature to be unequal in her Operations for no sorts of Meats or Drinks do more destroy the Health and Welfare of Nature than those that contain too much Nourishment and whose predominant quality is too hot which generally is the effects of all such Foods and Drinks in which the above-mentioned Ingredients are mixed When I consider the strange and unnatural mixture and the variety of Meats and Drinks that are too commonly used I cannot admire the Unhealthiness of our Age And certainly if this Nation do continue and encrease their eating and drinking the improper Fruits Spices Wines and other things that are the Products and Growths of other Countries as has been done for these forty or fifty years last past we shall be corrupted in our Radixes as too many are already all those things being now commonly used which have greatly encouraged other Nations to make such quantities of them as that they are become so Cheap that it is scarcely worth the Merchants while to bring them over for where there was one pound of Sugar spent forty or fity years ago now there is a Thousand and where there was then one quart of Wine drunk there is now Ten Thousand The use of Tobacco and Brandy a hundred years since was hardly known nay the use of our Ale and Beer has hardly been above two hundred years which now we account most Natural there is somewhat may be said against Beer but because it is made of our own Grain I shall not say any thing here of its Nature or Operation having treated of it in another place Great hath been the Increase of those Foreign Ingredients of late years insomuch that they are esteemed good to be mixed among common Food and Drinks as also to be taken Physically for you may hear many say that Tobacco is good to prevent Fumes and Vapours from flying into the Head and so make it their constant practice to take it Now if this had any such operation as they say the constant use of it would destroy its Vertues the same may be alledged of Brandy Wine Spices c. It is to be noted and pitied that Aged People do not only eat and drink such things as are hurtful but they mix Spices Sugars and Fruits among all their Childrens Food and between whiles give them Wine and strong Drink which must be very Injurious to their Health for all Children are tender both as to their Spirits and Bodies and because they are growing their Nature requires great store of moisture which can be no otherways maintained but by a simple and mean Food and Drink If you mix their Food with Sugars Wine Spices and Spanish Fruits they will certainly over-heat the Body stop the Pores dry up the Radical Moisture hinder the pure moist Vapours of the Air that they cannot penetrate the Body These destroy the Stomach blunt the edg of the Appetite contracting the Vessels of their Stomachs making them lean or Consumptive and in others breed abundance of gross Phlegmatick Humors all according to the Nature of each Child's Constitution It causeth likewise all their external parts to burn and glow with unnatural Heat generating many Windy and Watery Diseases and Evil Juices in their Joynts All these Maladies are much augmented by other indulgent ways Women use towards
avoid on peril of their Healths 2. It is to be noted when the Sweet Quality is strong and incorporateth with the Bitter and hath an equal share in the government of the Life then the fierceness of this Quality is allayed by the friendly Influences of the Sweet so that such Persons are of more human meek Dispositions and Inclinations tho' they have Fire enough and sometimes too much because such are apt to be troubled for their Passions more than the former and are generally of better evener Tempers and at times apt to be perswaded against their own Reason and Understanding more temperate Livers of excellent Apprehensions both in the doing and learning of any thing of healthy strong Constitutions as free from Diseases as any sort of People but they cannot endure Intemperances so well as the former also all sorts of strong Drinks compounded sugared spiced hot Food are injurious unto them But on the contrary all sorts of Food of a middle or mild Nature are very agreeable to them and make healthy strong brisk and airy fit both for the action of the Body and Mind This sort of People are of the Cholerick and Sanguin Complexion which is a commendable Temperature 3. But when it shall fall out that the Sour Quality is joyned in government with the Bitter and the Sweet Quality weak or underneath then such People are of harsh four envious Tempers being inclined to all kinds of rude robustick Exercises unmerciful to Men and Beasts of cruel fierce Inclinations being of quick Apprehensions but in general they are ill-governed People caring for nothing so much as Drinking Gluttony and vain Company very passionate in their love and hate great part of the rude Multitude are made up with this sort of People the Diseases they are subject to are Fevers Gout stoppage of the Breast Stone Convulsions Dropsies and the like according to what sort of Intemperances they give themselves unto being great lovers of their Bellies it being their chief Study and Philosophy how they may have wherewith to gratifie their Paunches often cutting off their Lives by heady Disorders and Superfluities this sort of People are of the Cholerick Phlegmatick Complexion But if they shall incline to fear the Lord and understand the principles of their own Nature being guided by the divine Voice of Wisdom which continually cries out against and condemns all the fore-mentioned Inordinances this divine Wisdom is sufficient to abate all kinds of Intemperances 4. But if the Astringent or Saltish Quality be joyned in the government of the Life with the Bitter and the Sweet impotent then all is poisoned such People being for the most part of hot-headed harsh cruel violent envious Dispositions their Looks are fierce angry and poisonous they often hurt and wound the Healths of such who are under their dominion by their Looks Wishes and Words great Swearers Liars Back-biters Deflowrers of Women Gluttons and Drunkards being often cut off by violent Deaths and by the sentence of the Judge if they do not adhere to the counsel of the love of God which being obeyed will regulate all the fore-mentioned Intemperances 5. All Beasts and Cattle as Horses Cows and the like if they shall be dignified with the Bitter Quality are strong well-set big boned hardy of great Spirits and fierce quick of motion but not very handsom fit for labour But if Cows happen to have this Quality predominant then they are dogged and mischievous not very free of Milk neither will they give much Milk But when this Quality doth predominate in any Herb or Vegetation then the Body is rather short than tall strong and full of knots and brushy the Leaves harsh cut or dented of an unpleasant Taste but hot and of a warming Quality good Herbs in Physical operations if the Physician hath skill to correct the Poysons of Mars and Saturn they being great openers and movers of Obstructions For the chief motion of Nature doth arise and proceed from the bitter Quality and if it be not too violent in a thing then it is the pleasure of every Life for when this Quality doth move with a gentle motion it shakes and makes the whole Body to tremble whence proceeds Laughter and all Mirth It is a most pleasant quality when the sweet quality doth incorporate it self with it and hath an equal share in the government of the Life But on the contrary when it doth predominate in any Creature it is a fierce furious raging Quality as is mentioned before viz. a proud lofty Spirit and Power endeavouring to bring all in subjection unto its self Of the Sweet Quality 1. In what Person soever this Quality doth predominate it indues them with a meek friendly Life and Disposition of a handsom tall slender Body of a smooth soft Skin the Complexion White and Red the Body not very strong Hair soft and fine of kind courteous Words and Behaviour their Fire burns but gently their Spirits will not endure much labour care nor trouble all kinds of Intemperances are apt to inflame them The Diseases they are subject to are Acute Fevers Quinsies fumes and vapours flying into the Head on every occasion of trouble or little Intemperance also several Distempers are caused through superfluity of Blood which is apt to abound in this sort of People also Boyls Scabby Pocky and Leperous Diseases which do proceed from the inflammation of the Sweet Quality This sort of People ought to observe the Rules of Temperance and Order in Meats Drinks Cares and Exercises their Food ought to be neither hot nor cold but of a middle Nature so also their Drink ought to be such as will suit the temperature of this sort of People which I shall say some-what of in the Description of the Sanguine Complection pag. 26 27 c. 2. But when the Bitter Quality is in equal strength then it doth as is mentioned before abate somewhat of the friendly Dispositions and Inclinations of this quality and such People are of stronger and harder Natures and of sharper Understandings 3. When this Sweet Quality doth predominate in any Beast then they are of a gentle mild Dispositition of a friendly Temper of a handsom well shap'd Body not very strong But when it doth predominate in any Herb or Tree then the Body or Stalk is tall slender smooth and handsom of white yellow ruddy Colours of a fragrant smell and full of Virtue such Herbs and Fruit may be eaten without further preparation and also they may be used Physically without any correction if gathered under their proper Constellations and ordered according to our directions in the Chapter of the preserving of Herbs Of the Sour Quality 1. Those that have this Quality predominant in them are of middle Stature rather short then tall large Visages fleshy and corpulent slow in motion of dull heavy Spirits not apt to learn great drinkers subject to gross phlegmatick Humors and dropsical Diseases not very strong nor healthy their Fire and
if a man does leave them at the first Nature seems to want them the like effect is produced by other unnatural Customs as in taking Tobacco it being a strong Martial and Saturnine Herb of a loathsom poysonous Nature and Operation whose predominant Quality is of a contrary Nature to the Stomach and natural Heat therefore the first taking of it in Pipes is both difficult and troublesom to Nature and there is no Preparations known that will make this Herb friendly or familiar to Nature but only the continual Custom of taking it which does awaken and strengthen its own Quality in the Stomach which in the beginning was weak but by custom is become strong so great is the power of every thing in increasing its likeness and it becomes as though it were natural and there is as much difficulty to leave the use of such things if not more as there was at first to make them familiar the like is true in Brandy c. for the more unnatural and greater the extream is the more troublesom it is to leave it As for those who are used to eat hot Food and are not satisfied to eat cold a little custom will bring them to a liking of it for man being a compleat Image of the whole Nature of this World and being endued with the true nature of all Elemental things therefore Custom will make every thing whether good or evil familiar to his Nature As for my own part I have not been troubled with windy Diseases since I left eating of hot Food which formerly I was afflicted with likewise the same Quantity of any sort of Food eaten Cold when a man is a little used to it will be much easier and pleasanter to the Stomach than Hot for this swells the Body sends Fumes into the head and causeth a heavy indisposedness through the whole Body but there is such a sottishness and ignorance possesses most People that they will not go out of their old Path following their false Prophets Custom and Tradition esteeming themselves to be sufficient Judges in these things Now these windy Diseases and fiery thin salt Humours that are occasioned by the afore mentioned Intemperances are very rarely or seldom ever cured for what Medicines have power to cure when the same Superfluities are continued which were the Original of the Diseases Pray where is the Medicine that will cure the French Disease if the Person infected goes on in his old way of Wantonness The very same is to be understood in all other Distempers therefore Temperance and Sobriety are Vertues that are absolutely necessary not only to help and cure Diseases when they have invaded the Body but also to prevent the Generation of them for most Distempers with a little help of Physick might be mitigated if a sober temperate Life were observed so that by degrees little or no inconveniency would be felt but what hopes are there so long as People prefer Supersluity and the pleasure of the Taste beyond Health eating and drinking of various sorts of rich Food and cordial Drinks to the full satisfaction of their Appetites which break the bounds of Temperance the Stomach not being able to make a perfect Concoctiion so that every such Meal sows the seeds of some gross Matter and evil Juice which by degrees stops the Passages obstructs the Veins corrupts the Blood and from thence flows various indispositions according to the nature of each mans Constitution and the degree of matter There are but few that think that those Oppressions and Diseases proceed from a disordered Life and a too great Quantity of Nourishment but most will be apt to believe themselves alledging That they got Cold by leaving off a Coat or by Accidental Sweating or some other act of carelesness Which must be a mistake for such things have little or no power to hurt the Health if there be not matter before-hand for you may be sure if leaving off a Coat do occasion a Cold or any kind of stoppage there was some part obstructed before and the radical Spirits of that part were weakened by some disorder or else outward Colds would not have had any power to seize that part of the Body You may also observe that if any Member or part of the Body be weakened by any accident that part will first complain when either Cold seizes it or when there is any change of Weather from whence you may conclude that the Root of all or most Diseases is first some inward Contraction of matter caused by Superfluity or other Disorder which have weakened the pure essential Spirits and the Balsamick Oyl and Virtues in that part become as it were sower or sharp wich infects the Blood and then presently ariseth a loathing and the Palate cannot distinguish the pure Relish nor taste the goodness of any Food the Attractive Quality and also the Natural Heat of the Stomach lose their strength and power then also the Reâ—â—ntive and Digestive Faculties do cease from their natural Operations for when there does happen any Violence to the pure Volatile Spirit and Balsamick Body then presently the action of the Stomach ceases and there begins a loathing and the original Poysons and central Heats are awakened which set the whole Body into a flame which poysonous Fire lay as it were hid so long as the pure Spirit and Balsamick Body were strong and this continual fiery or brimstony Spirit was only a cause of motion giving strength and vigour to the Oyl of Life which Oyl does mix and incorporate with this sulpherous fierce Fire and makes it more gentle and friendly for this Oyl is generated from this sulpherous poysonous Spirit and is as it were its Sun and shines back thereinto and does cause it to burn more gently but if this pure Spirit and Oyl be by any kind of Intemperance wounded or suffocated by overcharging Nature then the Original Poysons and sulpherous Fires do manifest themselves in their own Forms which were captivated and moderated so long as the pure Spirits and essential Oyl were strong for this essential Oyl is the true Life of Nature and the Moderator of the original Fire even as it is in the Fire of Wood so long as the Wood remains intire and no Violence done to the pure Spirits and essential Oyl this Fire gives a most pleasant and friendly refreshing heat and light it sends forth a bright shine and wholsom smell very ageeable to the Pure Spirits of those that are near it but you will find the contrary if you offer any violence to the Pure Spirits and essential Oyl whence the bright shine and friendly nature of Wood Fire does proceed as is done in making of Wood Fire into Charcoal for these pure Spirits and sweet Water or Oyl are suffocated in all Charcoal For this cause the Fire of Chorcoal is not only stronger than the Fire of Wood but it sends forth Sulpherous Fumes which will stupifie and suffocate the pure Spirits and dull
the gross Body or phlegmy Matter in Food is in part digested then presently the spirituous parts appear externally which did not only lie hid but also the Body of the Phlegm before the preparation did keep the Spirits from Evaporation which all Corporeal Bodies do for the Body is the House of the Spirits Therefore great Care ought to be taken in all preparation of Food both for Man and Beast and this is to be understood that the pure Spirituous Parts and Balsamick Body cannot be preserved in the preparation of any Food neither for Man or Beast except that most friendly Element the Air hath its free Influences because it is the Life and gives the Power and Vertue to the Spirit Also this is to be minded that when your gross Body in the Food is by your preparation digested whether it be by the heat of the Sun or by the common Fire then ought you to proceed no further nor continue your Preparation no longer for when the pure Spirituous Part becomes Volatile the same Air which did keep and preserve the Spirit from Suffocation in the Preparation will now cause it to evaporate which every Country Husbandman knows in the making and preparing of his Hay which neither the House-wife does understand nor consider in her Preparations of her Food nor the Physitians in the Preparations of their Physick these things are of greater Consequence as to Health than most do imagine I do not desire any to give Credit to me but I would have them so Noble as to Try whether it be so or not Health being the best Treasure in this World and all those that want it do esteem and desire it more than any other thing tho' few do take Right Measures when they enjoy it to continue it Thus much for the Right and most Natural Way of preparing Food by Boyling and whosoever shall observe the afore mentioned Rules and Observations shall find great Benefit and Pleasure The very same Rules ought to be observed in the Preparation of All Pottages green Herbs and Pulses except dry-Pulses which will admit of a slower and more gentle Fire than the Green Of Roasting of Flesh. The Roasting of flesh is a good commendable way of Preparation and is rather sweeter than Boyling it affords a good dry firm Nourishment but it is some-what harder of Concoction but very sweet and pleasant by reason that the friendly influences of the Air hath its Free Egress and regress not being any ways inclosed so that the pure spirituous parts are kept living which do render it brisk and lively There are two things to be observed in the flesh you Roast 1st That you have your flesh if Beef as soon as it is throughly cold and then to give it some Salt and to keep it in a cool place a day or two for if you salt it much the Salt being of a fiery hot nature when the flesh comes to the fire it does as it were scorch or burn it destroys the Spirits and sweet Oyl insomuch that it becomes in its nature and operation hot and unpleasant causing great thirst in the Eater In Roasting it is also to be considered that you have a good clear strong and equal fire and that your flesh be placed at a convenient distance not too near because it will burn or scorch and so harden the out-side that the Heat shall not be able to penetrate into the middle thereof so that the out-side will be too much and the in side too little neither is your flesh to be too far off for then it flattens the Spirits such flesh loseth its pure sweetness with its colour and fragrant smell being dull on the Pallate and heavy on the Stomach in comparison of that which is placed at a convenient distance having a continued brisk fire The next thing that you ought to observe is That it be neither over nor under done but of the two it is better that it be under-done the point of time when the Preparation is at the hight is difficult and it can be no other way known but by its colour smell and taste which by a little Custom every House-Wife may understand for that Pallate that is used to eat and drink things well and properly prepared can presently distinguish the contrary and so on the other side those that do accustom themselves to either Foods of Drinks ill prepared cannot distinguish the good from the evil or the right from the wrong The same is in the sense of smelling as all such that do use to kill Beasts and to be much in Slaughter-Houses amongst the dead Carkasses the terrible Fumes and stupified Stinks are hardly smelled or perceived by them the same is to be understood of Tallow-Chandlers and other stinking Trades for every particular thing has power to strengthen and awaken its simile therefore there are but few that have their perfect Taste or Smell only those that do accustom themselves to the eating and drinking such things as are well prepared their Pallates are made the more perfect thereby But of all the ways of Preparing Flesh boyling is the easiest if the Rules be followed set down in the fore-going Paragraph Of the Baking of Flesh This Preparation is neither so wholsom nor healthful as either Boyling or Roasting for these following Reasons First Most sorts of Food that are baked are deprived both of the Element of Water and also of the Air which are not only the Purgers and Cleansers of all Food but the support and life of the Spirit 2dly The Air in Ovens becomes sulpherous and deadly by reason of the stopping of it that the reviving and refreshing Influences of this Element has not its free egress and regress so that the pure spirituous parts become as it were suffocated Nor can such flesh be supplied with convenient quantities of Water which in all preparations of flesh is a great cleanser and upholder of the Spirits so that it boyls in its own gross Humidity which all flesh does plentifully afford Also the heat of Ovens is fiercer and more sulpherous than the heat of other Fires where the Air has its Influences the Air also being confined is of a deadly poysonous nature and operation it also destroys the natural Colour Therefore flesh baked does no ways look like that which is boyl'd or roasted besides it is of a strong fulsom Taste in comparison of the former and a less quantity will cloy and fill the Stomach more especially if such flesh shall be eaten hot which renders it much more wholsom than cold for those sulpherous Fumes and Vapours that do proceed from baked Food are much more hurtful to the Health than that which is either boyl'd or roasted for there are but few Vessels in which Food is boyled that are or can be kept so close as Ovens This way of Preparation is chiefly followed in Summer especially in August September and October the Air in this season being sulpherous and fainty and the
the digestive Faculty of the Stomach dulls the edg and sharpness of the Appetite causes Sweating and a general weariness in the whole Body and disables it to perform all its Labours and Exercises The cause of so great Inconveniencies proceeds from warm Clothes c. which hinder the most friendly Element of the Air from penetrating the body whereby the Spirits become weak and fainty For as nothing hurts the Body more than hot sulpherous Airs so there can be nothing that does more cheer and refresh the Spirits than cold pleasant Airs which is known by every mans Experience 3dly Warm and close Houses c. are attended with these evil Effects the Air which is the Life of the Spirit is hindred from having its free egress and regress by the close drawing of the Window-Shutters Hangings and Curtains which suffocates the pure volatile spirit of the Air benums and stupifies the Senses and causes an Indisposition from external heat to possess the whole Body besides it is pernicious to the vital Spirits dulls the Appetite weakens the Stomach and depraves the senses of Tasting and the digestive Faculty 4thly Soft and Warm Beds with Curtains drawn before the Windows and about the Beds produce these following bad Consequences both to the body and mind the Air being as it were pen'd up becomes hot and sulpherous because the pure thin vapours and spirits thereof are suffocated and so consequently must needs be very injurous to them that lie thus in their Beds Moreover the Air cannot penetrate the Body and so being destitute of Motion the Stomach and natural Heat is deprived of its free operation and this is the Reason that Suppers are not so well digested but oftimes become Noxious causing an unnatural kind of Sleep creating an Aptitude in the external parts to glow with a burning and unnatural kind of Heat this ill custom is too frequently used by those who are sick but especially those that lie in Child-bed to whom often the consequence is more dangerous The Chambers of most sick People are kept so very close that it will disorder a Healthy Person to continue there three or four hours and if so what detriment then do you think must of necessity attend the sick by reason of such hot sulpherous Airs And indeed considering how low and weak their Spirits are nothing can be more hurtful to them than this is under these Circumstances For these pure thin vapours and spirits being destroyed by those sulpherous ones the poysonous and deadly Vapours are stirred up which have a powerful influence upon the Body by way of simile and wound the pure Spirits in the Body causing an unnatural Heat in all the external parts with a fainty kind of weakness This becomes as offensive as the Heat and Air which proceeds from Charcoal and is of the same nature and operation for in the making of Charcoal the pure Spirits in the Wood which is its true Life or that sweet Water or Oyl whence the Light hath its bright shining Quality is suffocated and in a manner destroyed for the Spirits are the Life of the Oyl and the Oyl is the house and pleasant habitation of the Spirits and in all Preparations where the one is destroyed the other dieth as in this of making of Wood into Charcoal where both the pleasant Qualities are destroyed the free Influences of the Air being hindered the Spirits and Oyl which are of a friendly nature and operation become thereby suffocated The fire that Wood sends forth has a bright shining Light its heat is friendly and refreshing but Charcoal tho it has the same Foundation and is Wood in the original yet these two friendly Qualities being destroyed and suffocated in the making thereof it comes to be of another nature and operation as if it had not been Wood. For these Reasons Charcoal will not flame nor give a bright light but its flames are of a sulpherous Colour for having lost its Moderator or friendly Life the original Poysons take place and its Fire becomes much stronger than that of Wood and the heat and fumes thereof burdensom to the pure Spirits of those that are near such Fires the dark wrathful Vapours do awaken their simile in the Body If this were rightly understood by a delicate sort of People in the World I am perswaded they would not fear every small blast of wind neither would they deprive themselves of the most pleasant and benign Influences of the Air which keeps the essential Spirits living in every Creature and is indeed the excellent support of the whole nature of all Beings giving to them Life and Vigour And therefore you dainty Dames that are so nice that you will not endure this pleasant Element to blow upon you unless it be in a hot and sulpherous day in which it has not half that power and vertue that it has in cooler Weather you I say who are so Curious do but consider a little seriously what is said and your own experience may convince you that there is nothing better than pure and clear Airs to cheer and comfort Nature and to make the Spirits brisk and lively Are there any more healthy than those whose Imployments and Exercises are in the open Air Are there any who can endure Labour with less Prejudice Are there any who are generally more Robust Any that have better and sharper Appetites than they Likewise those that use the Country-Air much enjoy in a great measure the abovementioned advantages It will be very convenient then to use a Medium in reference to Clothes Houses and Beds and of the two Coolness is much safer from ones Birth to the Grave than Heat both inwardly and outwardly Pleasant and gentle Airs shut the Pores that the Radical Moisture and Spirits cannot evaporate they strengthen Nature give an edg to the Appetite the thinner and meaner a man's Clothes are the stronger and brisker he is and his natural Heat and digestive faculty is also the stronger besides thin Clothing except in cold Weather makes People fitter for Labour and less burdensome preserves the natural Heat and keeps it more Central Therefore it is that all Creatures that are born and bred in cold Climates are stronger and better able to endure Hardship and toilsom Labour than those that live in hot Climates and are greater Eaters and Drinkers of Strong Food and Drinks for this cause most People in cold Countries are inclined to the Intemperances of Gluttony and Drunkenness more than in hot so great is the power and operation of open cold Air it does wonderfully strengthen Nature and nothing can be a greater injury to Health than for People to accustom themselves to Tenderness the more they do wear the more they may so that at last they may have need to carry their Beds on their backs for by degrees it weakens the Body and causes so great a tenderness that they find it very troublesom to have the fresh cool Air to blow upon
digestive Quality and there is as great a necessity of the one as the other for the support of Health that which is accounted the worst is as good and benefical to Nature as the best for when the finest Flour is separated from the coursest and branny parts neither the one nor the other have the true Operations of the Flour of Wheat This may be illustrated by the Example of Milk which of it self is mild and nutritive but when it is turned into a Curd or thick Substance there remains a thin and wheyey part both which has not the true Nature Quality and Operation of Milk the Curd being of a hard tough and obstructing Nature and the Whey of a cleansing cold Nature affording but a little Nourishment By what has been said we may gather that the eating of fine Bread is inimical to Health and contrary both to Nature and Reason and was at first invented to gratifie Wanton and Luxurious Persons who are ignorant both of themselves and the true Vertue and Efficacy of natural things But there is a great deal of Care and Skill to be observed in making of Bread that Bread which is Leavened provided it be not too much is the best for the sower Quality that is in it does much help Digestion and sharpens the Appetite and is altogether as pleasant to those that are used to it as Bread made with Yest it is both Wholsomer and of greater Antiquity and more agreeable to the Stomach likewise that Bread is best that is light and full of small Eyes as they call it being well kneaded and throughly baked for the good working of Bread does not only make it pleasant to the Pallat but also renders it easier of Concoction smooth and free from crumbling some make it with warm others with cold Water it matters not which is used for good Bread may be made with either but it is to be noted that after you have wetted and kneaded your Dough you should let it lie an hour or two then work it up into Loaves this way of doing it will make it more light and pleasant but let not your Loves be too big nor too little for your Bread both bakes and eats best when the Loaves are of a middle Size In some Countries they make their Bread with Leaven and the mixture of the Lees of Wine and this makes excellent Bread but care must be taken that your Oven be not too hot nor your Fire too quick but it should be heated gradually and if your Oven chance to be too hot let it stand a while until the fierceness of the Heat be gone or else your Bread will not only be scorched and burned on the outside but will be also unbaked in the in-side if it is not baked enough then it is offensive to the Stomach heavy and unpleasant to the Pallat if over-baked then it is dry and does not afford good Nourishment moreover it is to be baked with a good brisk Heat and not to stand long in the Oven for thereby it will lose that brave Colour wherein it resembles that which it is made of viz. Wheat Bread is one of the best sorts of Food free from Corruption and other evil qualities yet it is made better and worse according to the Judgment of those that make it and according to the kneading and baking thereof that which is not well-wrought will neither bake so well nor so soon as the other Wheaten Bread bakes sooner without than with Rye or Barley Barley is of a Saturnine Grain and of a courser and colder quality than Wheat and affords less Nourishment if the branny parts be not separated from the Flour thereof then it makes excellent Bread and is as well Physick as Nourishment for those that are afflicted with Obstructions of the breast especially such as have proceeded from superfluous and frequent eating of Fat Meats and excessive drinking of strong Liquors the Bread being of a drying and apperitive operation helps Concoction and cleanses Nature and is to be preferred before fine Wheaten Bread Our Citizens and others that live at ease and feed too plentifully on rich and fat Meats have their Stomachs made so slippery by the oily kind of quality of the things they eat that the Retentive faculty of the Stomach cannot long retain the Nourishment but letting it slip out of the Stomach as it were half Concocted causeth griping Pains in the Bowels and flatuous gouty Humours in the Joynts Barley Bread and other mean Food with drinking moderately and using Field Labour and Exercises are excellent Antidotes against these and many other Diseases Rie also is an excellent Grain of a cooling opening Quality it makes some of the best Bread if it be mixed with Wheat for it is not so apt to obstruct Nature as Bread made of Wheat alone 'T is true this Bread at first will not be very toothsome and pleasant to those that are accustomed to eat and drink of the best and richest things neither will it appear to be so wholsom for it is apt to gripe a little but this proceeds from the Nature of the Grain which is to open and cleanse And I dare affirm that they who use it will attribute many good Vertues to it such as these It cools the Body it opens and frees the Passages from Obstructions and prepares and sharpens the Appetite but it is to be supposed that the branny parts be used with the flour otherwise it is not so wholsom yet the coursest of the Bran is to be separated from the other I have more than once told you that the purest and finest of the Flour of most Grains is of a glutinating clamming and obstructing Nature But on the contrary this Grain contains within it a certain slippery and moist Quality which helps Concoction and sharpens the Appetite therefore they are not to be separated for as the one has a Nutrimentive Quality and Operation so the other has a Digestive and opening Quality the Qualities of Nature standing as it were in equal weight and measure there can be no supervacuous and unnecessary Property in this or any other sort of Bread for when once the sweet Harmony and Concord of the parts are broken the Nature of the thing is changed and contrary operations must needs follow in one and the same body That the branny and husky part is good in any Grain it will further appear by this one familiar Example If you give to Horses that commonly eat Oates Wheat Barley c. wherein is more flour and less brau than in the other it will heat the Blood and cause Diseases for as the latter is stopping and obstructive and over-heats the body so the other is cooling and cleansing but the better way of feeding this kind of Animals is to give them the Corn in the Straw which upon trial will be found to be excellent strengthening and nourishing Food and that from the Straw and Chaffy part mixed with their
Flesh sparingly as most Nations do England excepted In France Spain and Portugal and other Countries a pound of Flesh with Herbs and Roots will make a Dinner for four or five People But an English man will eat at one Meal a Pound or two of fat Flesh and scarcely a bit of Bread with it there are but too many in this Nation that follow this dangerous and noxious custom Turnips being a very good and wholsom Root I recommend them to every Bodies use especially to those that eat Flesh plentifully I confess when they are eaten by themselves they afford but weak Nourishment and are a Phlegmatick kind of Food you must have a care what Ground you sow them in for all sorts of Ground will not bear good Turnips Doctors say that they are a Physical Root and an Antidote and Remedy against Consumptions and several other Diseases but I know no such Vertue in them yet they are good for weak Stomachs being easie of Concoction for always weak heats should have a proportionate quantity of Food And I cannot think as some imagin that they are so proper for languishing Diseases because they are of a watry cold Nature in themselves and do breed but unfirm Nourishment besides they seldom come to Maturity until the declining part of the Year viz. September and October c. at which time the central heat of the Earth being weak all its Productions are also weak and endowed with gross phlegmy and cold Juices for the Sun being in its Declension brings all things under the like Circumstance Therefore all things viz. Herbs and Roots which are brought forth in this Season are of a sainty and weak Nature neither are they so good for Food or Physick besides Roots are not so good in cold Countries as Fruits and Herbs are being generally more cold and earthy because they want the friendly Influences of the Sun and Air Therefore Roots have not that pleasant fragrant Smell and Taste which Herbs Fruits c. have But Turnips Potatoes c. that grow almost in the top and surface of the Earth are better than other Roots and more familiar to our Natures than such as grow deeper in the Ground because they participate more of the Influences both of the Air and Sun than the other when they are boyled in good Water and eaten with Butter Salt and Bread they are good food both for the Sick and the Healthy The Carrot is a Root next in Goodness and Vertue to this the best sort of them are those which are of the deepest Red Colour when they are eat in their proper season they are a pleasant wholsom Root which is from the Month of July to the Month of December or thereabout after that time they are not so wholsom especially those that are taken out of the Ground and kept all the Winter and Spring This Root being eaten presently after it is pulled up out of the Ground and when it is well ordered is not much inferiour to Turnips they being of an opening and cleansing Nature easie of Concoction and may with safety be eaten plentifully either without or with Flesh. The Colour of Carrots do declare that there is an excellent Vertue in them Next to this is a Parsnip which is a good hearty Root yet not so good a Friend to Nature as the other two for they are harder of Concoction and being eaten are much apter to create Obstructions in the Stomach and breed a grosser kind of Nourisâ—ment and consequently a thicker and grosser Blood It is not good to keep this Root above a day or two before 't is used for then they 'll prove dull upon the Pallat strong in their taste and smell heavy and hard of Digestion and this proceeds from the evaporation of the spirituous parts as well before as in their preparation for the Spirit is the Life of the oily body and the oily body is the House of the Spirit and the one cannot subsist without the other the eating of them immediately after they are plucked up out of the Ground must then be the fittest time That the Fruits Herbs and Grains which our own Climate produceth are more Natural and Proper to maintain Strength and preserve Health than those that come from other Countries especially from hot Every Country and Climate does by God's Divine Appointment and good Providence bring forth such Herbs Fruits and Grains as are proper and most agreeable to the Constitutions of the People born in that place both for Food and Physick as the Lord in the beginning did tell Adam That every green Herb and Seed should be for Food Do we not see that those that are born and bred in Spain or Italy and they that dwell in Turkey do differ much from us both in their Complexions Manners and also in their Customs every Country differing from another in their distinct Inclinations and Fashions according to the Nature of that place and the Elevation of the Pole they are under And as each Country has distinct Languages which cannot be understood by People born in other Climates so have they likewise different Constitutions Inclinations and Complexions their Herbs Fruits and Grains differing in their Quality and Operation These great differences both of Languages and of all other things that is between each Country is not caused by the Sea which divides each Country from another but from the differences of places for every Hundred Miles through the whole Universe the People differ and their Speech so that if a man Travel five Hundred Miles he shall not be capable to understand one Word of an Hundred Do we not see this in our own Country where those that live in the North cannot understand those of the West which is caused from the differing Elevations of the Pole and Influences of the Sun with concurring Constellations which also causes all other things to differ both in their Nature and Operations for this Reason one place is more famous than another in respect of divers things and if our own Country doth vary and differ so much in the compass of three or four hundred Miles what do those remote parts that are distant from us many thousand Miles as the East and West-Indies The People of those places in all particulars do much differ from us in their Complexions Constitutions Religions Inclinations Governments Shapes and Languages their Animals such as their Beasts Birds Fishes c. are all of them of a different Nature Shape and Form from ours so also are their Herbs Fruits and Grains both those that are proper for Food and also for Physick Do not the Northern cold Climates give all the beasts of the Field hardy Constitutions and Natures and warm Cloathing From whence come your brave thick Furs Do not the Creatures in cold Countries produce them And do not the Sheep in cold Climates afford abundance of strong Wool Whereas the Sheep in hot Countries produce but a little Wool and that which is very
also of Beasts and Herbs and to what Virtues Vices and Diseases each of them are most subject and what food is most agreeable to Persons of every Constitution page 1. Of the Bitter Quality p. 3. Of the Sweet Quality p. 6. Of the Sour Quality p. 7. Of the Astringent or Saltish Quality p. 8. Of the Cholerick Complexion p. 11. Of the Phlegmatick Complexion p. 15. Of the Sanguine Complexion p. 19. Of the Melancholy Complexion p. 24. Chap. II. Of the excellency of Temperance the Knowledge of a Mans self and the mighty Benefits of Abstinence and Sobriety p. 33. which prepare the Body to be the Temple of the Lord 36 37. Of the Prophet Daniel's refusing the dainties that came from the King's Table p. 38. The Abstemious lives of the Rechabites a reproach to the Israelites Also of Sampson's drinking Wine c. p. 39. The cause of Leprous and Maingy Diseases c. p. 52. The cause of catching Cold p. 54. Of Fevers p. 56. Chap. III. A Discourse of the several sorts of Flesh viz. Of the Nature and Complexion of Oxen and Cows p. 59 60. Of their Flesh p. 63. The excellency of Butter Cheese and Milk-Pottage p. 62. Of Sheep their Complexions and Nature and of their Flesh p. 64. How to know whether the Mutton be perfectly good or not p. 68. Of Lamb. p. 69. Of the Flesh of Calves or Veal p. 71 72. Of the Flesh of Swine and their Nature and Complexion p. 72. Of the Flesh of Fowls p. 75. Chap. IV. The Proper and most Natural way of preparing viz Boyling Roasting Baking Stewing Frying and Broyling of Flesh and other Food from p. 78. to 89. Chap. V. The seasons of the year in which most People are liable to Diseases and Mortality and the Reasons why so many are sick and die more at one time than another Also what Food is best to preserve health at that time shewing also the Seasons of the year in which most sorts of Flesh are unclean and aptest to contract Diseases and what times Men may eat Flesh with least danger to their Health And of the Nature of Summer Fruits how they are good and the contrary from p. 94. to 106. Chap. VI. Of Waters Ale Beer and Tobacco To which is added the consideration of Clothing Houses and Beds and what great benefits arise from Moderation and Temperance in those things p. 106. Of Water in general both internal and external p. 108 109. Of Rain-Water and its Nature p. 110. Of River-Water and the Reasons why Vallies are so fruitful and Hills so barren p. 112. Of Spring or Fountain-Water p. 113. Of Pump or Well-Water p. 114. Of Ponds or standing Waters p. 115. Of Ale and its nature and operation as also of Beer and the most proper and natural way to Brew p. 116 117. How to extract the vertue of Hops p. 122. Of Tobacco its nature and operation p. 124 125. Of Clothing Bedding c. p. 133 134. Of particular Trades as Carpenters Joyners and particularly of Sea-men c. p. 142. The evil effects of the Liquor called Punch p. 144. Chap. VII Of Grains Herbs and Fruits viz. Of Wheat p. 145. Of Barley p. 149. Of Rye p. 150. Of Pease and Beans p. 151. Of Kidney or French Beans p. 153. Of Herbs raw and boyled p. ibid Of Colworts Cabbage and Collyflowers p. 156. Of Turnips p. 158. Of Carrots and Parsnips p. 159. That the Fruits Herbs and Grains which our own Climate produceth are more natural and proper to maintain Strength and preserve Health than those that come from other Countries p. 160. The Nature and Property of Spices Nutmegs Cloves Mace Cinnamon Pepper Ginger c. p. 162. The ill consequence of their being mixed among Childrens Food p. 164. Of Fish p. 168. Chap. VIII The Mischief of Variety of Meats and Drinks and the inconveniences of improper Mixtures and on the other side what Foods are fit to be compounded p. 169. A Digitation of the seven perfect Colours shewing how there being mixed two three or four of them together produce their several Complexions contrary to their own Colours p. 170 c. Of Plum-cakes which are composed of about ten disagreeing Ingredients p. 173. Of Bread-Puddings p. 174. Of Broth or Pottages that are heat a second time p. 175. The Reasons why boyled Water will not keep so well as Water newly taken from the Spring p. 177. Of Syrups p. 178. The fatal consequence sick People are confined to p. 179. Of Mince-Pyes c. p. 180. Several sorts of Food that are proper to be compounded as bearing a simile with each other p. 182. Chap. IX The Reasons in Nature why Cities and great Towns are subject to the Pestilence and other Diseases more than Country Villages The excellency of Solitude and Advantages of a retired Country-Life p. 184. That Mens Actions awaken the like Property in the Coelestial Bodies whether they be good or evil Shewing also what Violences they be that cause Wars Famine Pestilential Poysons Botches Byles Veneral Diseases Fevers Plagues Scabs Leprosies Spots in the Flesh Tumults Burning of Towns and Cities c. p. 186 c. The excellency of a retired Country Life p. 190. Chap. X. Of Infection or Catching-Diseases and how they are transferred from one to another p. 193. Chap. XI Of Women their Natures Complexions and Intemperances c. p. 200. The original cause of Vapours or Wind and Agues p. 201. The Evils that attend Wantonness in Women p. 202. The ill consequences of putting Women to hard robustick Labores and Cares p. 205. Particular Directions for Meats and Drinks that are proper and natural for Women p. 206 207. What causes the Scurvy p. 209. The cause of Fevers and Convulsions p. 211. What makes Travail in Child bearing burdensom p. 212. The Inconveniences of Men and Women lying always together p. 215 216. The Evils of hard swathing and binding their Children p. 217. 218. Food proper for Children p. 219. To prevent Convulsions and griping pains in the Stomachs of Children Also of Water-Pap p. 220. Of Melted-Butter p. 221. Of the Quantity of Childrens Food p. 222. Chap. XII The cause of Surfeits and how to prevent them and keep the Body in Health p. 226. The danger of Drinking after superfluous Meals p. 229. Of Suppers and what sort of People may use them without prejudice to their health p. 233 Chap. XIII Of Windy Diseases the Reasons thereof in Nature and why English People especially Women are so much troubled there-with c. p. 237. The Evils of eating and drinking Food too hot p. 238. The Mischief of eating and drinking between Meals p. 241. Of Fatness and what sort of People are subject thereto as also how to prevent Fatness p. 246. Chap. XIV Of FLESH and its operation on the Body and Mind That the common eating thereof does awaken the wrathful Nature in Mankind c. p. 249. Of the Children of Israels eating flesh in the Wilderness p. 251. A
brisk and they do not only afford a greater quantity of Spirits when separated but much stronger and fiercer than any other Vegetables that are of a lean Hungry Nature Therefore People of this Complexion tho' they are strong and brisk yet if they commit Intemperances that are beyond the power of the natural heat to throw off then they are in far greater danger than those that are of a much weaker Nature and Complexion for the Reason before assigned which daily Examples do confirm as when such healthy People fall into Diseases what terrible sharp Fevers do attend most of them which destroy the Life in a few days Therefore the strongest natur'd People ought to be sober and not lay heavier Burthens than Nature can bear for he that hath the healthiest and strongest Constitution may easily oppress it neither is it safe to put too much Confidence in their strength nor to boast of it or commit such out-rages against their own Natures as many young People do in the way of Pride to out-do their Fellows and then glory in it For the strongest Castle will quickly yield by continual Batteries Of the Phlegmatick Complexion Those in whom this Complexion is predominant are not so quick and active either in the doing or apprehending of things as the Cholerick but more slow and of a fofter Nature their central Heats are but weak in comparison of the former and if they incline to inordinate living either in Meats or Drinks or Idleness they are apt to grow Fat and their Bodies swell with gross phlegmatick Humours because their natural heat is but weak and the digestive faculty of the Stomach cannot make so perfect a Concoction as the Cholerick Complexion so that great part of their Food is turned into gross Juices which fret the Body and make it heavy and dull All sorts of strong spirituous Drinks do agree better with this Complexion than with the Cholerick and if they do not exceed in quantity will not so soon precipitate them into Fevers but if they drink much it will swell their Bodies and Members to a wonderful bigness as we see some both Men and Women are which great drinking doth destroy the edge of the Appetite and increases their desire to drink for their natural Heats and Stomachs are not able to make any profitable Concoction nor separation of such quantities of Drink as they swallow down whence are generated abundance of raw Humors that do not only swell the Body as aforesaid but load the Joynts with windy and watry Diseases and also obstruct the passage of the Breast for all fat People have narrower passages than those that are lean and spare and fetch their Breath with more difficulty because the Vessels of the Stomach and Breast are contracted thro' the drinking of too much strong Drink and eating too little Food and what they do eat too rich in Quality Yet is it very easie for this Complexion and all others to prevent Fatness and heavy Dropsical Humors which many of this sort of People are subject to if Order and Temperance be but observed with regard to both quality and quantity of Meats and Drinks with proper exercise especially in the open Air and walking by River-sides and running Waters which do wonderfully open the Passages and beget and sharpen Appetite and cause good Digestion For tho' one Complexion is more apt to grow Fat than others yet Experience teaches that it is Idleness and Superfluity that is the grand cause thereof look amongst ordinary working-people in Country-Towns and you shall very rarely see any of the Husband-men or Field-workers very Fat though in such places are People of all Complexions but Cities and great Towns are the Nurseries of fat Punchinello's where there is good store of Strong Drink and Wine rich Food with ease and idleness I am not ignorant that fat People have an Apology for themselves viz. That they eat and drink less than many lean Folks This is true but lean spare rawbon'd People have for the most part great Heats which do digest and throw off all superfluous matter their Appetites are sharp and piercing also they are generally of active Spirits given to Labour and Action which destroys all matter for Fatness But most that are inclinable to the Phlegmatick Complexion are of contrary and colder Nature as aforesaid their Appetite not so sharp nor digestive faculty so strong and if discretion care and order with proper exercise be not observed great part of their Food and Drinks for want of heat is turned into gross raw Humours which cause an heaviness on the Spirit the Oyl from whence their Light of Life does shine becomes of a watrish Nature therefore such People ought to have understanding in the ordering of their Lives for want whereof many do by various sorts of Intemperances destroy their Healths Also many will take and follow the Paths and Examples of others which they ought not to do for what may be good Food for one may be the contrary for another therefore every one ought to learn the degrees and power of his own Nature For the differences of mens Constitutions are such and their Natures so contrary that 't is impossible to give any particular rule to fit every ones Conveniency so that there isa necessity for every one to see with his own Eyes and in this respect the Proverb is punctual truth Every man to himself is either a Fool or a Physician A man may speak somewhat that may be useful in a general way and helpful to many if minded but the power of doing is in a man's self and if one do but in any tolerable degree know his own composition and the power of his own nature he may very easily help himself for man's Will is free and if he be well informed and his Faith his own and he do not make the ways of the Multitude to be his Rule and their Faith his as many do then he may and hath power by wisdom to alter his Complexion for the better One of the chief causes why so many run themselves into Error and Diseases and Death it self is because they never look into themselves nor observe the operations of their own Nature but look what others do that do they and take the advice of every fool especially if he be a learned Fool without any examination whether it be proper or not Meats and Drinks good for this Complexion are all sorts of drying warming things as Bread eaten with Oyl let Butter be eaten sparingly Cheese is good not new but old also all Gruels and Pottage that are made with quick Fires and not too much boyled but thin brisk and lively for such things are easie to be concocted and quick on the Stomach likewise all spicy Herbs both boyled and raw in their Seasons that is betimes in the Spring and again after Michaelmas viz. in October and November but Flesh they ought to eat sparingly especially from Iune to the last of
all the Senses and send dark Fumes into the Head the truth of this all People are sensible of and it is for no other Reason but because the pure Spirits and sweet Water or Oyl in the Wood is totally suffocated in making it into Charcoal and then the Original Poysons and fierce Fire is no longer moderated but does burn and manifest it self in its own Nature and Form this makes the difference between the Fire of Wood and Charcoal the one being pleasant and wholsom the other the contrary and yet they have but one Foundation the very same is to be understood in the Humane Nature and in all other Creatures and in every thing according to its Nature For this cause when a man has through any kind of Intemperance or Superfluity over-charged Nature by which the pure essential Spirits are either evaporated or suffocated and the Oyl whence the natural Life hath its true being becomes as it were sower'd and made keen and sharp then immediately follow Fevers for all Fevers do proceed from the awakened Poysons which is the Original of every Life which should not be stirred or awakened For this cause most People when sick are afflicted either with Internal or External Fevers some greater others less according to the Age or Strength of each mans Nature and when men dye in the strength of their Lives and especially such as have strong Fires what terrible Fevers will such have which burn and consume Nature in a moments time But those that dye or are sick in Age and are of weaker Heats their Fevers are more gentle if People understood this they would not be so guilty of Intemperance and so over-charge Nature for the meek friendly Life will not indure any Violence or Inequality without prejudice to the Health for as soon as the pure Spirits are wounded or evaporated Nature falls into an unequal motion and then the wrathful fierce Fires are stirred up and then Nature is in danger Take what Creature or thing you will if you wound the pure Spirits the Balsamick Body presently turns sower for one cannot subsist without the other and when this is done then in a moments time the poysonous fierce Fire does of its own accord manifest it self which it could not do so long as the pure Spirits and Balsamick Body were strong and did predominate which does moderate and cause this Fire to burn more gentle For this cause all wise and seeing men have advised to Temperance and have commended all simple and mean Food and Drinks especially those things in which the Qualities of Nature stand nearest Equality for all such Food and Drinks do distribute and administer due and moist Nourishment to both Body and Spirits in an Harmonial way which is very agreeable to Nature for all things desire Concord and Unity it being the highest degree that Nature can attain to also all sorts of Food and Drinks that do chiefly consist of Equality do powerfully beget and maintain its Likeness in the Body and also in the Mind And so on the contrary high rich Foods which consist of many Ingredients and of disagreeing Natures and Drinks in which the Fire burns too fierce do often prove dangerous to Health because such things are unequal in themselves and except they be taken very sparingly they awaken their Likenesses in the Body causing Nature to be unequal in her Operations Therefore after eating and drinking such things there follows Indispositions the Veins glowing with Heat Fumes and Vapours flying up into the Head with a dull Heaviness which is caused by the Inequality of the Food and the greatness of the Qantity which do for a time until the natural Heat hath overcome the Food and made seperation suffocate the pure Spirits and the Oyl of Life by its gross Juices and affording too much Nourishment and if such Food and Drinks be continued there are but few Constitutions that can withstand the Inconveniencies that attend such a Life but Abstinency and a sober Diet with Exercise are the only means to abate all superfluous matter and indeed it hinders the Generation of all offensive Humours ABSTINENCY is the only Physitian that a man can make use of for it secretly does digest all kind of Obstructions and that with great ease and pleasure to the Patient far beyond the common and gross Drugs which Physitians administer Also ABSTINENCY is the most skilful Cook giving a most pleasant taste to every mean thing by which a simple Person becomes skilful for he can distinguish the Taste and the inward Sweetness of each thing and he is thereby stirred up with an inward inclination to praise and admire God in the use of all his Blessings ABSTINENCY does weaken and abate the Fury of the most Cholerick complexioned People that they become more Sanguine it openeth the Gate of Humility and is a Friend to Charity it encourageth Hope and is the only Enemy of that base and cruel Spirit Suspicion the universal Fomentor of mankind ABSTINENCY is a sure Counsellor and a Conductor of all the observers thereof in the way of Truth encreasing Faith and causeth them to eye and follow the divine Hand of Providence giving Peace and Tranquility to the Mind and Health to the Body many are the Vertues and Benefits thereof it also gives the advantage of Time and Opportunity and is the fore-runner of Wisdom it openeth the hidden and secret Doors of Nature in a mans self and renders him capable of all Discipline and is the only Enemy to all Evil and a Friend to all Vertue The Wise and Prudent in all Ages have accounted her their chief Friend and Guide by her Vertues they have overcome the inward Enemies of their Members ABSTINENCY also preventeth the Generation of all superfluous matter whence Diseases in the Body do proceed she abateth the desires because a small matter will suffice a regular Appetite resisting Pride and careth not for Estimation she conquereth all her Enemies and maketh no noise she beats â—o Drums nor dischargeth no Guns she punisheth â—ot the Body with Labour nor burdeneth the Mind with Care she wearieth not the Life by Sea nor by Land to obtain that which will not stand her in stead she will not admit of any Controversies nor Law-suits she will not contend for much because a little supplies her Wants she standeth still and is silent and yet obtaineth all things CHAP. III. A Discourse of the several sorts of Flesh commonly Eaten THough I have before shewn the inconveniencies of the feeding upon Flesh so commonly and in such excess as is now-a-days practised and rather recommended the Lovers of Wisdom and Health to the more innocent use of Grains Fruits and Herbs yet since there is no stemming the Tide of Popular Opinion and Custom and People will still gorge themselves with the Flesh of their Fellow-Animals I have thought fit here to give a particular account of each sort of Flesh that at least you may chuse that which is
the pure Spirits and Radical Moisture be by any disorders hurt or wounded whether it be before they are killed or after the Salt cannot incorporate therewith as aforesaid nor purge out and destroy the humid gross parts in the Flesh whence all Putrifaction arises whereas when the strong powerful and sweet Spirits in Salt which are the inward Life thereof do joyn with and embrace the essential spirituous parts it does tye or hold the corruptive parts of the Flesh captive that they cannot proceed to Putrifaction and for a season it will remain as a fixed Body till by length of time those pure Essential spirituous parts both in the Flesh and Salt become either suffocated or evaporated through the great store of gross humidity which Flesh does contain tending always to Putrifaction and when any Flesh does begin to putrify or stink a second salting nor any other Art cannot recover it to its first state of Sweetness but if the second Salting be whilst the Putrifaction is but yet in the Bud and not too far gone then such Flesh may continue a little longer In a word If this sort of Flesh be free from the afore-mentioned Disorders and their natural Uncleannesses being seasonably seasoned with Salt not keept too long and well prepared by the House-wife and moderately eaten it is as sound and healthy Food for strong and working People as any Flesh whatsoever none excepted Of Sheep their Complexions and Nature and of their Flesh. Sheep are Creatures of great use and benefit to the Sons of men their Nature and Complexion is Sanguine Phlegmatick with a little mixture of Melancholy but the Sanguine Nature does predominate over all the other Qualities They are dignified with a meek humble Nature mild and friendly and wherein all the Properties and Elements do seem to stand in equal accord whence doth proceed those harmless innocent Inclinations hardly any Creature in the World to be compared to them they have as it were a glance of the divine Light shining in them for if Equality and Concord had not abounded in them our Saviour Iesus Christ would not so often have compared good and holy men unto them but it was no doubt to shew their Meekness Innocence and desires of doing good For this Creature is not only to be esteemed for their Natural Vertues but also for the manifold Benefits which they afford unto mankind both living and dead The Flesh of Sheep viz. Mutton is of a clean simple Nature of easier Concoction than the Flesh of Oxen it generates a good clean nourishment their Fat is the whitest of all Flesh which proceeds from the equal temperament of their Body and Spirits and the predominancy of the sweet Quality and because the Spirits are pure and undefiled For the white clear bright Gleam in every Creature be they what they will does arise and proceed from the divine Principle which made all things and is the essential Vertue and Power that does sustain and radically dwell in every Creature and all things in this World in each according to its Nature and also according to what degree it is in each Creature they become of a more friendly gentle Nature or the contrary For in what Creature soever this Vertue or Gleam of Light is predominant that Creature is of a most sweet Composition or Nature be it either Animal Vegetable or Mineral for of the pure white Colour in all things the Root is the divine Principle its Radix is clean Therefore in former Ages when any would declare their Innocency they cloathed themselve in white Garments because it proceeded from the innocency in Nature Also the Saints and Prophets in several places of the Scriptures by way of Simile compare Whiteness with the divine Power and Virtue being that the Saints and Angels are said to be cloathed in White which was not spoken without a divine understanding of the Nature of things which I shall forbear to speak further of in this place though to the intelligent Reader it would be no unuseful Digression But to return to the present subject The Flesh of Sheep is made better or worse according to the Accidents that do attend them no Flesh to be preferred before this if they are free from Surfeits and Diseases which this Creature is much subject to by reason of their tender Nature for all Creatures in whom the four Humours and Elements of their Bodies and Spirits stand nearest Equality are soonest wounded if any Violence be offered For this Creature cannot endure any violent motion without manifest prejudice and little over-driving will put them into such Heats as they cannot recover under a considerable time and at last they will break out with a Mainge or Scab if they are folded a little too close it will fret and corrupt their Blood give them the Scab and hinder them from growing over-wet Weather will corrupt them and cause them to Rot in moist low Grounds and in the best and highest Pasturage hinder them from proving so well as they would otherwise the very driving of Sheep and Lambs from the Market to the Slaughter-Houses especially in London where they are much hurried by their unmerciful drivers and other Accidents that they meet with in the Streets will give them the Mainge or the Scab were they to be turn'd back to their Pastures Therefore there is required the greatest understanding and care to preserve this Creature sound and free from these Disorders and Accidents which nothing can do but a tender gentle usage and government which suits their Tempers and hath unity with their Natures Their Flesh is far better and more healthy in the Winter season than in the Summer especially when the Summer proves Wet for as nothing more destroys and corrupts their Flesh more than wet Weather so in great Heats their tender Spirits on every Accident are apt to be Evaporated also they are apt to sweat much whence proceeds a fainty Indisposition especially when the Sun and Year declines the Grass being then more gross and full of Phlegmatick Juices therefore the Flesh of Sheep and Lambs ought to be sparingly eaten all the Summer especially the latter part thereof for this and indeed most other sorts of Flesh is best in the Winter and Spring viz. from December to Iune or thereabouts for cold Weather causeth the natural Heat to be much stronger and also more Central sharpens the Appetites of both Men and Beasts causeth a good Digestion because then Nature is able to make a perfect separation of the Food whence is generated good Blood and pure Spirits which renders the Flesh hard and firm besides the Food of most sorts of Cattel is then dry viz. Hay which does always breed a better and firmer nourishment than Grass or any green Food If Sheep be killed with any of the before-mentioned Inconveniences upon them then their flesh thereby loseth its pure sweetness and good Relish becomes of a gross dull heavy Nature and Operation generates abundance
often violently loosens the Belly and causeth Griping Pains especially in fat and phlegmatick People and likewise in young Children That Veal is best that is five or six Weeks old and which sucks its own Dam and does run with her two or three days in a Week for no flesh is so good and free from gross phlegmatick matter as those Creatures that have the benefit of Motion in the open Air Indeed such will not fat so soon as others that are kept up close yet the one is much firmer and harder than the other and affords a firmer and harder nourishment for that which is pen'd up and kept from the benefit of Motion and Air great part of the food turns into a kind of phlegmy substance especially in Calves whose Food is all of a moist Nature What is the reason that most Veal is so unfirm and like a Jelly and dissolves and melts away like Grease It is because this is a tender Creature and will not admit of driving their Spirits being so weak and Flesh so soft by reason as is above-said of their moist food that they quickly tire and their Flesh will alter from a white to a red colour which all Veal naturally inclines to tho' Milk is a cleanly and wholsom Food nevertheless all Creatures that live wholly on it without the mixture of other things of a firmer substance as the flower of Corn or the like their flesh and spirits are but weak especially when such Creatures shall be hindered from motion then their flesh becomes of a gross soft and phlegmatick nature and operation and the frequent eating of such flesh proves too often of a bad consequence especially to all cold phleg matick gross People who have weaker heats but to others who have strong and hot Constitutions this sort of flesh if not eaten to excess agrees well with them and is wholsom Indeed every one ought to know their own Constitutions by which they shall be able to distinguish between those things that are proper for them and their contraries and he that is ignorant of this is always subject to err and to lay heavier burdens on Nature than she can bear whence does proceed so many Diseases and Disorders which afflicts some almost all their days Of the Flesh of Swine and their Nature and Complexion Swine are under the dominion of Saturn and Mars and are of Complexion Melancholy and Cholerick their predominant Quality stands in the fierce savage and unclean Nature as their shapes forms crys and inclinations do abundantly manifest by reason of which they would be frightful to behold if they were not made familiar to us The Ancient Wise Men accounted them Unclean Creatures of Prey destructive to the Creation neither profitable living nor dead and did also esteem their Flesh to be of a gross fulsom and unclean Nature subject to Putrifaction their Fat is of a soft greasie nature The Uncleanness of this Creature does further appear if you burn their Fat it does send forth a gross fulsome smell also its flame is not clear and bright as the flame of other Flesh but of a dimmish Brimstone colour which does arise from the dark Poysons in nature as is further manifest in Charcoal and also in Brandy and other distilled Liquours when the sweet Oyl or Balsamick Body with the pure subtle Spirits are by any violence suffocated and destroyed then the dark original Forms of Nature appear such things being burned the flame is not bright and clear but of a duskish dim and Brimstone colour as I have particularly shewn in another place where I treat of the nature of Brandy But in England the Flesh of Swine is of great use but not wholsom to be eaten fresh especially in August September or October nor indeed in any hot Season this Flesh where it is frequently eaten does generate a gross Nourishment but the way that English People use for ordering it makes it much better than otherwise it would be That Bacon and Pork which is fed with Corn and Acorns and have their liberty to run is much sweeter and wholsomer easier of digestion and breeds better Blood than that which is shut up in the Hog-sties such Bacon for want of Motion becomes of a more gross phlegmatick Nature insomuch that the House-wife is put to all her shifts to make it take Salt for where in any thing the Phlegm does predominate the pure Spirits are weak and as it were fainty and dull and when this doth happen in flesh as often it does such flesh will not take Salt but by halves where the Spirit is weak the Salt cannot penetrate nor incorporate for Salt cannot make the dead body living but such Bacon as is fed with Corn and not over-fat especially if they have egress and regress such will take Salt greedily because it is lively brisk and full of spirits which are a pleasant habitation for the spirit of the Salt to incorporate its self This sort is to be preferred before all others Also all Swine ought to be killed in cold weather and after it is well salted it ought to be rusted a convenient time with the smoke of Wood-fire or Straw which will make it look of a brisk lively Red Colour which does much correct that gross Quality that is contained in their flesh And altho' Swine naturally are the uncleannest of all Creatures that are so much eaten nevertheless if they be fed with Corn and are singed and killed in the pro perest Season then well Salted and rusted a considerable time they are made thereby a firmer and wholsomer food than several other sorts of clean flesh that is killed in hot seasons and eaten fresh and many People in Summer time had better eat Bacon that is killed in Winter and well ordered than to eat fresh Meat especially those that live in Cities by reason most Cattel receive prejudice by long driving and other accidents But small Bacon or Pork killed in Summer or in a hot season is of ill consequence as to Health for then the fat is so gross and full of phlegmy matter that it will not take salt as it ought besides it obstructs Nature and causeth Fluxes and an internal Fever Those that do accustom themselves to the frequent eating of Bacon it does generate a gross strong Nourishment and dull and heavy Spirits therefore such People are not so brisk and airy but duller of Apprehension than others that eat more airy and thinner food for every sort of Food does by a simpathetical Operation strengthen and awaken its Likeness Therefore it was that the most illuminated Prophet Moses did prohibit the Children of Israel from eating this sort of flesh because the humane Nature should not be made more Bestial Man being the Image and Likeness of all things a little World out of the great in all particulars which was in all Ages the chief reason why the Wise Men and Prophets made distinctions and separations in Meats Drinks Exercises
so long without corrupting as at other times of the Year but on the contrary in other seasons and when the Flesh is free from the afore-mentioned Inconveniences their Blood being thin and well tempered with brisk and lively Spirits such Flesh being salted as soon as it is cold the Salt will greedily Penetrate it and incorporate it self with the well-tempered Blood and pure Supirits so that it does hold the corrupt Phlegmy part of the Flesh captive that the humidity thereof cannot turn to Putrifaction untill those brisk lively Spirits both in Flesh and Salt be through length of time wasted or suffocated which comes to pass in six eight or twelve Months more or less according to the goodness of it and well ordering and other Accidents and then it will fall into corruption and there is no recovery for it but if the Salt had cleansed and purged the Flesh from its gross humid parts as some say it does then such Flesh would have kept a longer time as all other gross Bodies will when the Sun and Elements have dryed away and exhaled the Phlegmy gross parts and left remaining the more firm and Spirituous which will continue sound and good many Years as many sorts of Corn Fruits and Hay which are altogether as subject to Corruption as Flesh when green and full of Phlegmy Juices but their Putrifaction is not so loathsom nor so offensive to Nature neither will such things generate such pernicious Vermin as Flesh will the matter in Flesh being grosser It was not without great Reason Wisdom that the Ancients commanded that Flesh should be eaten sparingly that there should be a particular care not only taken about the good state of the Bodies of such Cattel but also in the killing and preparing of it the dressing and preparing of all other sorts of Food being left to every ones discretion But the learned Prophet Moses was sensible that the common and frequent eating of Flesh was very dangerous as to the health of the Body and also of the Mind if care and understanding be not used in the Preparation thereof therefore he gave Laws and particular Directions for the ordering and preparing of Flesh but no mention made of other Food therefore Flesh in its best state and otherwise well ordered if much eaten is apt to load the Body with gross Humours and evil Juices but much more in the fore-mentioned seasons 7thly In this season all men do find themselves more subject to Indispositions the Spirits dull and heavy apt to faintness and sooner wearied with Labour than at any other time the Appetite not so quick and lively therefore all sorts of People ought to have double the care as to their Health at this time both in Meats Drinks and Labours also in Quality and Quantity for Intemperances are not so dangerous in the Winter or Spring Nature being then strong and able to bear with less Prejudice This is the time of the Year in which also most sorts of Cattel are subject to Sickness as Sheep to the Rot and other Cattel to Murrains And do not almost the double Number of People sicken and die in this season And is not the flesh of all sorts of Fowls in hot weather lean and poor altho they have more plenty of Food than in Winter But it lies not in the Quantity of Food but in the season of the Year and the Weather for all Heat when it does exceed the Medium evaporates and spends the Spirits and then Nature does presently Languish and the sweet Oyl in the Body turns as it were sower so that there is a general weakness and fainty Indisposition in all Creatures and their Flesh is rendered thereby the more unwholsom and apt to breed Diseases in the Eaters thereof If Sobriety and Temperance were observed and other Circumstances belonging to Health a little Physick would serve But in this Age men may speak and write of Temperance until they are weary for there is not one of an hundred that is willing to observe and conform to its safe and healthful Rules though it cannot be denied but that It is one of the Principal things which puts a delectable sweetness on all our other Enjoyments But few in Health consider these things most being rather of an approving and admiring than a Practising Temper especially of those things they are not in Possession of many men also slight and have no esteem for those things they do or may enjoy letting go the substance and eagerly Pursuing after shadows But seeing that in this Intemperate Age most Persons do live irregular Lives few or none being willing to observe the Rules of Health in their Meats Drinks and Exercises therefore it is convenient for the continuation of Health to take Proper Purgative Medicines both at Spring and Fall tho they are not sensible of any manifest Indisposition by which means they may easily prevent the generation of matter for when Sickness and Distempers have invaded the Body then it will be a difficult point to get such Medicines as are suitable to the Disease and can by their Vertue cure them when the Spirits are wounded and the Distempers and Obstructions in the Body have gotten great power over Nature in such cases the best Medicines do often fail most Diseases being generated gradually as the Intemperances are committed for Nature ever hides the Evil Matter whence Distempers do Proceed as long as she is able but when once the Diseases do manifest themselves with any kind of Violence then there is danger at hand most People being mistaken in Nature for they generally attribute the cause of their Diseases to the least Intemperance or taking Cold or the like never considering how many Disorders and Intemperances they have formerly committed every Act of Intemperance does in some degree obstruct Nature and by degrees sows the seeds of future Diseases not but that outward Colds and the like do hurt Nature and oft-times awaken the matter which lies in the inward Parts and bring it to manifestation but on the contrary when the in-side is clean and free from Obstructions and other Evils the body doth then very rarely receive any injury by such outward Accidents for Nature still endeavours to overcome and withstand the evil matter in the Body and makes several Essays to throw such Disorders off but if Irregularities in Meats Drinks and Labours be continued the Evil at last grows so great that then Nature must bow and Distempers take place This is always to be noted that if any Member or Part of the Body be weakened either by inward Obstructions or outward Accidents as Falls Bruises broken Bones c. and the Person be guilty of any Intemperance or disorderly Living the weak or hurted part first feels it according to the old Proverb The Weakest goes to the Wall It will be convenient if any upon particular occasions be excessive in Meats and Drinks to observe the following Rules which they 'l find to
and sink away they leave behind them the Saline or Spiritual Quality that does Muck such Ground as though it had been over-spread with substantial Dung. And indeed the very same is to be understood when a Man dungs his Land it is not altogether the gross substance or matter that enricheth the Land but it is the before mentioned fat Saline Quality which the moisture of the Earth receives and the Rains wash out of the Dung for if you lay a load of Dung in a heap and let it lie a Week two or three and then remove it clean away from that place and spread it thick in another place yet that spot which the Dung lay on two or three Weeks will be more enriched than where the gross substance is spread for the Earth with the help of the Rains and Dews sucked into it self the Salintral Vertue of the Dung Therefore in most Fields where such heaps of Dung do lie for a while before they are spread both the Grass and Corn is not only greener but also much stronger and more in quantity than in other places of the Field 4thly River-Water for the Reasons aforesaid is better for Men and Beasts to drink of than Springs or Pump-Water it boyls all sorts of Herbs Fish and Flesh better and makes better and wholsomer Pottages it brews Beer and Ale to more Advantage both in Quality and Quantity and washes all sorts of Linnen and Woollen with less Pains Charge and Damage to the things This Water seems to be pretty equal in its parts having no manifest Taste but a certain friendly mild sweetness predominates and there is as much difference between the Nature and Operation of River-Water and Pump or Well-Water as there is between Beer and Ale and the Excellency of the latter above the former I shall demonstrate in its proper place Of Spring or Fountain VVater There are various sorts of this Water some Better some Worse according to the Nature of the Earth it passes through If Springs or Fountains proceed from a Chalky Earth or some sorts of hot Sands or run near the surface of the Earth they are thereby endued with a meek soft friendly nature and operation without any manifest harshness but those that run in the deep Bowels of the Earth and through cold hungry stony places are more hard and Saturnine neither so wholsome for Man or Beast to drink nor to be used in Housewifery But though it be thus at the Fountain-Head yet if the same run long afterwards through various soils in the open Air c. it may become very good for all uses as aforesaid And Note Whereas some River-Water will look of a wheyish whitish Colour caused either by its long running without being fed by plenty of Springs or else by Land-floods yet in either case is not the worse to be liked but rather the better for all such Water is of great vertue of a very mild fat opening Quality caused by the saline vertue which People not understanding do often refuse either to drink or use in Housewifery calling it dirty muddy Water whereas the whiter any Waters look the better they are for most uses especially when Land-floods shall be the occasion of it as appears by the Instances of Valleys and Meadows thereby enricht which I mentioned but now Of Pump or Well-Water These likewise are capable of several degrees better or worse according to the nature of the Earth from whence they arise but they are generally of a cold hungry hard Nature nothing so good as the former and such Springs as lie deepest in the Bowels of the Earth are of a lean Saturnine Quality in comparison of that Water which runs near the surface being deprived of that saline nature which irritates Vegetation for most Earths after you come two or three yards deep are of a hard cold hungry Quality and if a quantity of such Earth be exposed to the open Elements and laid two or three foot thick there will hardly any sort of Vegetable grow on it until the Sun and Coelestial Influences have endued it with a Salnitral Vertue and as the Earth is so is the Water viz. of the same nature Cold and Hungry 2. Such Waters want the Coelestial Influences and Air nor have the benefit of Motion or but in a very small degree hence they are more unwholsom than the others before treated of and generally bind the Body and are subject to obstruct Nature neither will they perform the like good Offices in Housewifery Of Ponds or Standing VVaters Such standing-Waters as are in a kind of springy Grounds are the best but still much inferior to running-Waters because they have not the benefit of Motion nor the like advantage of passing through various Soils Such Pools or Waters as are chiefly maintained by Rain or Land floods are better or worse according as the season is wet or dry for in dry seasons they not only become thick and slimy but awaken a gross fulsome Saturnine Quality in the muddy Earth that suffocates the pure thin spirituous parts so that such Waters become of a strong gross Earthy taste and smell which is altogether contrary to the Nature of Water and such Waters are not wholsome for Men nor Beasts Some Husband-men do suppose these Waters to be very good for Cattle to drink having no other reason but that they will rather drink them than others which is no reason at all for this came through Custom and Use which makes any sort of Water familiar to nature and those Cattle that are used to drink Pond-Water will refuse better Water for that for two Reasons 1st Because their Stomachs and Pallates are adulterated and made familiar to it so that they cannot distinguish the evil taste from the good 2dly Because such Pond-Waters are of an hotter warmer Nature than oâ—hers and Cattle used to them will for that very cause refuse others just as men that accustom themselves to warm Beer cannot drink cold without some trouble to the Mouth and Teeth though cold Beer and Ale is warmer in operation and will more cheer the Stomach and make the Spirits more brisk than the hot because no fermented Liquors whether they be Beer Ale Syder or Wine will admit of the heat of fires without violence to the pure spirituous parts they are so volatile that they will presently evaporate therefore warm Beer or Ale will sooner become flat than that which has not been warmed for when the spirituous parts are evaporated or suffocated the sweet brisk Balsamick Vertue dyes But this hot sulpherous Quality in Pond-Water which through custom most Cattle like is of an evil nature and operation because the spirituous vapours of the Air cannot so easily penetrate through its gross thickness whence it dulls the edge of the Appetite and Stomach breeds gross thick Blood often is the occasion of many Diseases and very injurious to the Milk of Cows Besides do not Pools and standing Waters generate various sorts
or awakened above and beyond its proper degree if any quantity be drunk during the time of its operation but afterwards it leaves Nature with fewer Spirits than it found in her for all Meats and Drinks and whatsoever else goes into the Body that is unequal in its parts does too violently awaken or kindle the Central Heats and raise them from their several Centers and brings Nature into an unequal Operation consumes the Radical Moisture and as it were burns up the sweet Oyl and evaporates the pure Spirits for this cause after the operation of such unequal things most People are possest with an heavy Dulness and Indisposition Fumes and Vapours besieging the Crown the Senses stupified or disorder'd the Stomach and Appetite furr'd and dull'd By which effects all Men may be sensible that Nature does perfectly hate all Extreams and Inequality But on the contrary if Meats or Drinks be of a simple or middle Nature and there be in them no manifest Quality predominant then they gently insinuate their Vertues into all parts of the Body administring both dry and moist Nourishment and with silence and concord support the Body in Health The Vertue of Tobacco taken in Pipes is extracted from the Smoke thereof now Smoke is unusual to Nature and a fulsom Steem or Vapour full of dark Sulpherous Saturnal Excrements which the Fire and Light casts forth as an abomination being void of all real Vertue it contains a gross Humidity and a fierce keen Quality very pernicious to the pure Spirits For Smoke proceeds from the poysonous Juices and Liquor which the Fire and Air separates and casts forth it being a thing that all People endeavour to avoid and how inimical it is to Nature is further manifested by that black sutty Substance which it leaves behind it and by its destroying Vegetation for it contains two poysonous Qualities a strong Bitter one from Mars and a fulsom Astringent one from Saturn its black Colour shews that its predominant Quality is from the venomous Center of Saturn and hence when Tobacco is burned it sends forth a strong fulsom scent or smell offensive to most that are not used to it nay do not the very Breaths of those that take Tobacco perfectly stink And does not the smoking of it so defile the common Air that a Man may know where one hath been that takes Tobacco they leave such a fetid Vapour behind them Do not all or most of our English Herbs when burned send forth a far better Scent or Fume than Tobacco does And I am sure many of them would not only be less offensive but produce better effects as to the Cure of Diseases When any Herb Wood or other thing is set on fire you may presently perceive by the scent what Quality was therein predominant for the Fire powerfully awakens all the hidden Qualities which could not be perceived whilst the thing remained intire If the chief quality of the Herb or thing burnt stand in the friendly Nature then it sends forth and is manifested by two Qualities viz. a most pleasant sweet Smell or Vapour chearing and delightful to the Senses and also it sends forth a burthensom Fume or Vapour which incorporates it self with the Air and flies away in a Smoke or Steem which is from the poysonous Root the Original of every Life But on the contrary if you burn any Herb or other thing the predominant Quality whereof stands in the Martial or Saturnine Poysons then all such things send forth also two Qualities viz. a very unpleasant Scent or Fume offensive and burthensom to Nature dulling the pure Spirits and as it were suffocating the pleasant thin Vapours of the Air and also it sends forth a gross humid poysonous matter that incorporates it self with the thickest part of the Air and evaporates in a Saturnine Smoke for if there lie hid any Verrue or Vice in any thing Fire will unlock all the Gates and discover it and if there be any Aromatick or Balsamick Vertue in the Herbs of Vegetables so burnt it will appear by sending forth odoriferous and pleasant Smells As on the contrary ill Smells are an evident Testimony of Saturnine and Martial Poysons being predominant which is the very Nature of Tobacco and therefore not to be so wantonly used as commonly it is Lastly I would not have People imagin that there is the more Vertue in Tobacco because the Fumes and Smoke of it will open the Body and loosen the Belly for it is the nature of all Smoke to open being of a fierce keen penetrating quality that arises from the Original Poysons in Nature whence it has also a sharp fierce humid quality that is exceeding offensive to the Eyes like the Fumes that Onions send forth when cut And we must likewise note that when Tobacco was first brought into England it was ten-fold more offensive to the Takers thereof than it is now because their Fore-Fathers were not acquainted with the use of it so that they could not entail any desire of it on their Posterity For the Children that are begot by Persons that have accustomed themselves to the common use of these unnatural things contract a kind of unsensible Affinity with such things as proceeding from the like matter and Essences so that thereby there are Foundations laid for Inclinations towards the use of them The same is to be understood in other things as those whose Parents live much on Flesh or Fish do lay such Foundations for an Inclination thereunto in the very Radix of their Children that it would prove a very difficult thing for them to refrain there-from So that every succeeding Age doth more easily and familiarly and with the less difficulty receive these evil Customs and Habits till in time they become almost Natural and thence humane Nature in general becomes weaker and decayed and Diseases come into the World with Children as part of their Essence and Scurveys and other Diseases grow almost Universal and all this for want of Temperance and Discretion in their Progenitors A sad Inheritance to leave our Off-spring when we bequeath them our Follies and intail upon them Miseries that are but the just Punishments and natural Consequences of them Of Clothing Bedding c. As Moderation and a frugal Restraint free from Superfluity or Delicacy in Clothes Bedding c. does much conduce to the Health of the Body as well as of the Mind which is observed but by a few so all over-warm Cloathing soft Feather-Beds and close Houses render Nature so nicely tender that upon every small Accident the Body is subject to various Injuries First such usage makes all the external parts so obnoxious that every little Cold penetrates and seizes the Body which being by these means obstructed there follows Coughs Wheesings Shortness of Breath and innumerable other Inconveniencies 2dly It opens the Pores by which there is an evaporation of the heat and spirits causing a hot faintness to attend the whole Body it hurts also
ill Customs willingly deprive themselves of its singular benefits therefore those that regard their Healths ought not to make strong Bulwarks and Fences from the free visits of so good a friend but rather court its Familiarity by motion in the open Fields airy Houses c. I know it is a Custom in many places of the Country to plant Trees before their Houses but I am of opinion that they are not convenient nor profitable in respect of Health for it hinders the fresh breezing Gales of Wind to enter into and sweeten their Houses also Trees Woody places and Vallies do by simile attract the Clouds and moist Vapours which are injurious to some Constitutions of men It is likewise convenient that all sorts of People do not accustom themselves to sit by Fires especially those made of Cole or any other of the like Nature because they do as it were by a natural simile dry up a Radical Moisture exhale and suffocate the Spirits and with too great violence open the Pores of the whole Body and as it were chill the whole-Body making it thereby incapable to endure the Air without trouble and danger of taking cold it also dulls the edge of the Appetite and sends dark thick Fumes into the Head weakens the Eyes and causes a general indisposition through the whole body Besides that heat and warmth which is procured by Fires heavy Clothes c. is very troublesom in comparison of that pleasant natural Heat that is awakened by Motion and Action in airy and open places and there is as much difference both in the Appetite and the whole state of the Body and Spirits between the one and the other as there is between Light and Darkness the one being lightsom airy pleasant strong and lively with a sharp and perfect Appetite the other being unpleasant cold on one side and hot on the other dull and heavy of little Appetite and that not good and so the body being feeble and tender the man knows not what to eat nor what to drink nor what to wear he finds every Room too cold for him he is indisposed therefore he must have this and the other dainty Bit and this and the other Cordial Drink but all to little purpose so long as they drive their old Trade of Superfluities in the above mentioned things A Cup of cold Water or small Drink and a piece of brown Bread to a well-prepared Stomach is above all Dainties Therefore it is a very uncomfortable thing for a man to be ignorant of himself for such never use things that are friendly to Nature and the good Health both of Body and Mind but on the contrary are diligent to procure such things as are inimical and hurtful to it Wisdom which is certainly great Riches teaches a man to put an high Estimation upon mean and simple Things and to use them all with a thankful Heart to the Glory of God Of particular Trades and particularly of Seamen The last Consideration of the great Benefit of the open Air leads us to observe what Callings and Imployments may be esteemed the most wholsom or best accommodated for the preservation of Health touching which we are in the first place to note that all sorts of Trades that work in Wood as Carpenters Ioyners and other Trades of the like Nature are all of them wholsom Imployments as well because their Labour consists of sundry motions of the Body as for that the various sorts of Woods they work in send forth most pleasant and fragrant Smells which must needs be very refreshing to Nature and if those men were Temperate and Careful of themselves not to lift pieces of Timber beyond their strength c. they might enjoy their Health and Strength even to a good old Age. Also those Trades and Imployments that belong to the Water such as Sea-men and Barge-men Skullers c. are healthful Imployments for the pleasant and wholsom Vapours which the Water always sends forth being mixed with the friendly and gentle Breezes of the sweet Air does powerfully penetrate all the parts of the Body and cleanses all the passages of the Breast makes the Lungs sound sharpens the Stomach giving it a good Appetite and an easie Concoction it makes men lively and hardy and the Bones and Nerves strong for they being still in the fresh Air it is no wonder that they find such good Effects of it I know no Imployment men could spend their time about with more Vigour Health and Pleasure than This if the Rules of Sobriety were strictly observed But they are a fort of People whom no bounds of Sobriety can limit such as use no Medium or Equality in their Meats Drinks and Exercises for the greater part they are excessive drinkers of strong Drinks such as Brandy and other adulterated Spirits which not only weaken the Natural Heat but awaken the Original Fires and fierce Poysons in Nature which does cause fiery Passions and Head-strong Humors in the Mind and indeed they living on salt Flesh and Fish can hardly be free from doing Violence to Nature because the Spirituous Parts and Balsamick Body is almost destroyed in that kind of Food and the Quality which is predominant is of a hot sharp and fierce Nature and this Nourishment being commonly taken does heat and dry up the Radical Moisture and cools the refreshing Vapours which proceed from the Elements of Air and Water from whence also proceeds unnatural Droughts and the Generation of the Disease called the Scurvy and innumerable other Distempers But these friendly Elements the Water and the Air give them often great Relief for otherwise they could not as they do eat and drink to such an Excess Many men of this imploy ruin their Health by indulging too much their Appetites for they eating and drinking beyond measure and without exception when they come into hot Climates viz. the East and West-Indies where the Beams of the Sun are so powerful that their Pores are opened and they sweat continually and their pure Spirits and Radical Moisture so much exhaled and evaporated that they presently feel an inward Weakness and a Decay in the Natural Heat and in the Stomach accompanied with cloudy Fumes in the Head causing an Indisposition and Weariness through the whole Body and rendring Nature incapable to bear such a burthen of Intemperances as they lay upon her without manifest Prejudice Their eating I say of salt Flesh and Fish and their drinking of hot and inflaming Liquors and observing of no fit Season nor due proportion of time for taking of Rest which in hot Countries should be from twelve of the Clock to three in the Afternoon These and other Extravagances bring upon them Fluxes griping Pains of the Bowels and Acute Fevers their drinking of that Liquor called Punch is also very Inimical to Health For the Lime-Iuice which is one of the Ingredients they commonly use in it is in its Nature fierce sharp and Astringent apt to create griping Pains
in the Belly These and many other Diseases are the direful Effects of their Intemperance in eating drinking c. But still 't is certain none would be more Healthy than Sea-faring men if they keep within the bounds of Moderation and would be but content with the more simple and mean sorts of Food and Drink as Bread Cheese Butter Gruels various Grains and Fruits which are both mild and friendly and would with little use and custom sufficiently supply Nature with a Nourishment both dry and moist and that much better than the various sorts of Food which is generally allotted for Sea-men salt Flesh and Fish may do well between whiles if it be sparingly and seldom eaten but I would advise such People not to eat too freely of the various Fruits such Countries afford and to eat sparingly also of Flesh Fish c. For all sudden Alterations and Extreams prove very noxious and dangerous to Nature especially to such who have in their long Voyages accustomed themselves to the forementioned things CHAP. VII Of Wheat and other Grains Beans Pease Herbs Colworts and Colly-Flowers and that the Fruits Herbs and Grains of our own Country are better and more agreeable to our Bodies than any brought from abroad To which is added some Remarks on Fish OF all sorts of Bread that made of Wheat is the finest and best some Astrologers think that this sort of Grain is under the Dominion of the Planets Iupiter and Venus As there are several kinds of Wheat the best is that which is hard thick and heavy clear smooth and of the colour of Gold and which grows in fat and Limy Ground and afterwards has heat in the Mow three or four Months by which that raw kind of Quality that is in all Grains may be fully digested the like usuage in Hay c. will not be inconvenient This Grain is not only the strongest but of all sorts of Bread the Qualities and Properties of its Nature stand in the best Equality only the sweet and Balsamick Quality does a little predominate which gives it that pleasant Relish and kindly Operation far beyond all other sorts of Bread there is scarcely to be found any Grain Herb or Fruit in the whole Creation so highly graduated in Nature as Wheat or where the Forms and Qualities of Nature stand in more exact and perfect Equality therefore it does justly challenge the first place and preheminence of all sorts of Bread or Food it is the Foundation of all good Nourishment called by the wise Man The Staff of Life and our Saviour Christ compares the Heavenly and Spiritual Food of the Soul to Bread which does not a little Illustrate the excellency thereof Wheat ought not to be ground at Mill above a day or two before it be made into Bread for when the Body is broken the pure Volatile Spirituous Parts and oily Balsamick Body will more or less evaporate according to the time it has lain ground unless the Flour be packed up hard and close in Casks as Sea-men and Merchants do when they carry it to Sea by which means the Spirituous and Oily Quality will be some-what longer preserved but still when it comes to be used they 'l find it to be much drier and the Bread made of that Flour is not to be compared in goodness to that made of Wheat newly ground it is neither so sweet nor so moist as the other This Grain is so sound and firm in its Nature that if it be not ground it will endure to be kept for several Years but if once broken the Volatile Spirit which is the preserver of all things will evaporate and then the sweet friendly oily Quality is quickly destroyed and it loses its natural Smell Colour and Taste and generates Worms but when the other lively and pleasant Qualities are preserved no Vermin will breed in it I confess it is very hard to hit the proper Season of Reaping this and other Grains the Medium between the time of standing too long and cutting too soon is to be regarded but of these Evils or Extremities the lesser which is the later is to be chosen for if it be cut down three or four days before it comes to its full Ripeness it will gain what was wanting by lying in the Sheaf and heating in the Mow by which means you shall not only preserve it in its natural Colour but it will also be heavier and fuller yielding more and better Flour If you let it stand too long until it be over-ripe then it will scarce recover its self for when this or any other Grain comes to its full strength and ripeness and it be not then cut down the pure Volatile Spirit and oily Body begins to evaporate as the gross phlegmy matter in any Body is exhaled and digested by the Influences of the Sun so also the Spirituous Parts and Oily Body will be exhaled and evaporated by vertue of the same Influences after the drying up of the former gross matter by which the Balsamick Body is as it were captivated for the Sun works first in the phlegmy and gross Body which when it is exhaled the pure Essential Spirits and Balsamick Vertues being set at liberty the Sun also will immediately work on them too and dry them up to that degree as 't will be beyond the Power and Efficacy both of Nature and Art to retrive an example we have often of this in Hay c. Your Wheat by too long standing grows as I have already said not only lighter and loses its natural Colour and will not afford so good nor so much Bread but it also is harder of Concoction and creates Obstructions in the Stomach the wise Man says there is a proper Season for all things under the Sun which without doubt is to be principally regarded in Reaping and Gathering of the Fruits of the Earth If you set any value on Health and have a mind to preserve Nature you must not separate the Finest from the Coursest Flour because that which is Fine is naturally of an obstructive and stopping Quality But on the contrary the other which is Course is of a Cleansing and Opening Nature therefore that Bread is best which is made of both together for in the inward Bran and Skin of the Wheat is contained an oily Quality which is of a sweet friendly Nature by reason whereof the Bread which is made of fine and course together will not only be sweeter and keep longer Moist but is also more wholsom easier of Concoction and does gently loosen the Belly and if plentifully eaten it will cleanse and free the Passages from gross phlegmy Matter it will strengthen also more than the other Bread made of the finest Flour it will be harder and appear staler at three days old than the other will be at six or seven It must be confessed that the Nutrimentive Quality is continued in the fine Flour yet in the branny part is contained the opening and
saith Every Green Herb shall be unto you for Food And in the first Age of the World though their Food was scarcely any thing else but Green Herbs and pure Water yet when was there any Generation since that time who has lived in so perfect Health and to so great and flourishing an Age The great and illuminated Prophet Moses did endeavour to wean as it were the Children of Israel from eating of Flesh in their forty years Journey in the Wilderness and gave them Laws to distinguish between the Clean and Unclean Creatures but you could never read of any Laws forbidding the use of green Herbs Now the best Ingredients to mix and eat with Raw Sallets are Oyl Salt Vinegar Verjuice Oranges c. These make them warm in the Stomach and pleasant to the Taste but you are not to use these Ingredients when you eat at the same with them Flesh Butter and Cheese for so many Mixtures are not agreeable to Nature Some love Sugar in their Sallets which is better left out if you eat Flesh c. with them for Sugar does not well agree with fat Meats nor with Oyl except in way of Medicine As to Boyling of Herbs or Sallets I shall give you an account of the best way of their Preparation and how they shall be most conduceable to Health which will appear by the Observation of these following things First Your Herbs and Pulses must be fresh gathered for if they be kept two or three days before they are used or if they lie too close together the pure Spirits which are very tender in them will be destroyed and exceedingly diminished the evaporation of the Spirits make them dull and heavy affording little or no Nourishment and that none of the best Secondly The Vessel or Pot in which such things are boyled ought to be large that it may contain a good quantity of Water for Water is an Element so friendly and clean that it helps to preserve the Spirituous Parts and Balsamick Body and to digest the gross phlegmatick Substance it is the Sweetner Preserver and Purifier of all things Thirdly You should have a quick Fire and are not to put in your Herbs into the Pot until the Water boyl and then increase your Fire not suffering it to stand too long before your Pot boyl again when that is done let there be no Intermissions in the boyling for there is nothing that does more deaden and flat the Spirits especially in green Herbs than slack Fires and such Intermissions Fourthly So soon as your Pot or Vessel boyls then you should presently uncover it that these Sulphurous Fumes and Vapours may evaporate which are awakned and forced into the Food by the Fire and also that the fresh and friendly Influences of the Air may have its free egress and regress for the Air is the essential Life of the Spirit No Food can be well prepared if the Vessel be covered Fifthly Your Herbs and Pulse should not be over-boyled for then the spirituous parts and balsamick body will instantly evaporate and your Food will become flat and heavy losing its pure natural Colour Smell and Taste and is nothing so pleasant and wholsom it were better that it be under than over done because of the tenderness of the green Herbs If these fore-mentioned Rules in boyling be not observed then such Food will lose its proper Vertue and lively Tincture and will afford but a very dull thick and gross Nourishment and begets bad Blood and many other ill Effects but if they be thus prepared you may the more boldly venture on eating of Flesh with them for they will purge and cleanse the Stomach and help the digestive faculty to concoct that Food which appears more difficult to be digested Of Colworts Cabbage and Colly flowers Colworts are the best of the three being of a more lively opening and cleansing Nature and Operation than the other two because they grow open so that the Air with the Sun has its free Influences upon them and this is also the Reason that they look of a greener and fresher Colour than many other Vegetables they are also more wholsom If you boyl green fresh Colworts and keep them till next day and do the like with a Cabbage keeping it likewise till the next day your Cabbage shall smell more gross and fulsomer than your Colworts Also the Juice of green Colworts is of a thiner Substance and more penetrating than that of Cabbages Cabbages are so close compacted that the Air cannot penetrate them neither can the Sun have so free and powerful Influences upon them as on Colworts so that they become of a grosser thicker Substance fuller of Phlegm and gross Juices and more subject to Putrifaction for the Air is the true Life of the Spirit in all Vegetables By this and the Saline Quality in the Earth they are preserved in their greeness and freshness but that which is earthed up and hid from the Air cannot be so wholsom and is more fading where the Saline Power is strong the Vegetables are also lively and strong For Example lay a heap of Dung in the Field and let it lie a Week in the Rain and then move it and leave no Dung on that place and you shall presently see that the Grass in that place where it did lie will be strong and of a deep green fresh Colour far beyond the Grass in the place where the Dung was spread and the Reason is very apparent for the Rain did wash a salt oily kind of Liquor into the Earth The same Reason will hold in other things as in your low Grounds that lie between Hills and River-sides which are more fruitful than other Fields because the Rain does wash a certain Fat and Saline Quality from the Hills which drains down to the lower Grounds and Vallies also the Rivers sometimes over-flowing their Banks and reaching the adjacent Grounds do leave when the Water retires back a certain fat saline Quality behind which makes it more fruitful than otherwise it would be Colliflowers are somewhat of the Nature of Cabbage only they are a little sweeter they afford but very gross Nourishment to the Body they generate abundance of windy and flatulent Humors and send a great many Fumes up to the Head our Soil commonly is not Rich enough for them they are more forced by Art and Dung than they grow naturally they being a Phlegmatick kind of Food or rather more subject to Putrifaction than Cabbage yet both the one and the other should be eaten very sparingly But as for fresh green Colworts they may be eaten liberally especially by those that eat fat Flesh plentifully Of ROOTS Turnips are a Root of a very innocent and mild Nature it has several good Properties it removes Obstructions which lie in the Passages makes the Belly soluble and mightily helps Concoction by its moist and slippery kind of Quality one may eat plentifully of this with a great deal of safety but of
their Children as keeping them over-warm especially at night and feeding of them too often and too plentifully insomuch that their Stomachs are always fouled and furred with gross and Phlegmy Matter their Food being too much in Quantity and too rich in Quality which makes the Children uneasie apt to cry and froward and puts their Nurses to abundance of trouble which would be in a great measure prevented if Temperance was observed and Women would be content to give their Children that kind of Food that were proper for their Ages and Constitutions and which does grow under and by the Vertue of our own Constellations for every Country or Climate does furnish the Natives thereof with all things both for Food and Physick proper to preserve Nature having more agreement and unity with our Constitutions Is there any sort of thing brought from the West or East-Indies from Spain or any other Country that is to be compared to our Bread Cheese or Butter Have we not a great multitude of excellent Herbs and Roots which make good wholsom Food And have we not also excellent Water which is not only the best of Drinks it self but by the help of our own Grains and Fruits makes various sorts of Drinks as strong as Wine And do we not make excellent Drink of Apples more proper for our Bodies and more suitable to our Nature than any of the Spanish Wines What is it that English People want either for the Belly or the Back if Wantonness or superfluity was set aside Are not all the sorts of Food that are of our own Growth more suitable and friendly to our Natures than those that come from other Countries Are not those that live in the most remote parts of England and far from Cities and Sea-Ports where Mony is scarce and such things dear that the common People cannot buy them most healthful and freest from Diseases But now those Out-landish Ingredients begin to be so much admired that the good Dame viz. the Farmers Wife will sell her Eggs Butter Cheese and Wheat to buy Sugar Spice and Tobacco which stand them in no stead only to increase Intemperance and Distempers The very Plough-men and Shepherds defile their most pleasant Air with the fulsom Fumes of Tobacco Likewise the common use of these things have made way for various Trades and Employments so that a great part of the People are imployed to bring them over and to distribute them here so that there is small hopes of leaving off these Superfluities they are become as it were Essential to the Nature of the Users but the chief Happiness of English People is that their own Country does abound with all things that are needful for the support and preservation of Nature and that every one is left to his free choice Therefore a Wise Man may in the midst of those various Superfluities live soberly and temperately to his own comfort and the praise of his Creator 2. It is to be observed that most of the Fruits and Spices that come from those hot Countries are not only disagreeable to our Natures but even the Natives of those places do very moderately and sparingly use them esteeming them not fit to mix with their common Food the same is likewise true of their Moderation in the use of Wines for they do not drink it as we do in that abundance but sparingly and mixed with Water besides the frequent use of the fore-mentioned Ingredients do make English men too Effeminate and do in no wise agree with their Constitutions for cold Countries do make hardy strong and Martial People as also Food of that Nature does by its simile maintain and preserve the Health of the Body and Mind far beyond what is brought from those hot Climates But if the Natives of those Countries should eat and drink those Spices and Wines in that Quantity as we do it would as it were destroy the very Radix of Health which is one main cause why our English are so unhealthy when they travel and live in such hot Countries for they continuing the same Intemperances which they accustom'd themselves unto in their own Countries which those places will not admit of their Bodies and Natures do much alter and change when they alter the Climate and not only our Bodies but also our Dispositions and Inclinations are thereby much changed Therefore all People ought strictly to observe such degrees of Temperance in such places as are most suitable and profitable to preserve Health for not only all sorts of their Fruits and Food but their Drinks also do much differ from ours the predominant Quality whereof standing chiefly in the Nature of Sol and Venus and if such Fruits and Wines be not taken sparingly they will quickly awaken their Centers and Natures in the Body and cause the pure subtle Spirits to evaporate as most do find after drinking plentifully of Wine or strong Drink and eating Food in which those Rich Fruits are compounded how indisposed will Nature be how heavy and dull the senses and as it were stupified And this is caused not only by overcharging of Nature with the Quantity but with the Quality also of the Food which doth so violently open the Solar and Venerial Properties of the Body by a sympathetical operation and does evaporate the pure Spirits and consumes the sweet Oyl whence the pleasant Life burns after such Intemperance in eating and drinking you find great alterations in the state of your Body Some think That the stronger the Liquor and the Richer their Food is the more Vertue and Strength is in it but the contrary is too apparent for nothing is more hurtful to Nature than that which contains much Nourishment for this cause many People are out of order their natural strength decaying by degrees and occasioning many Diseases to reign which had no being in former Ages when the use of such things were not known In remote parts where such Fruits and Wines cannot be procured they are happily freed from many grievous Distempers with which we are afflicted But all that I can say will not convince such as are Wise in their own Conceits nor prevent them from boyling two Quarts of Ale to one with good store of Oatmealand Spice and then sweetning it well with Sugar give two or three Quarts a day hot to Child-bed-Women Of Fish Fish generally are cold and moist of them some are easie others hard of Digestion The frequent and plentiful eating of this begets Phlegm and a kind of cold moist matter in the Body likewise we are to account some of them unclean and unwholsom others clean and wholsom the first sort are such that are bred in muddy stinking Waters as Ponds c. where the Water has no motion or in Rivers which receive the Excrements of Cities or Towns such Fish produce bad Nourishment corrupt the Blood and cause Obstructions Scabs Leprous Diseases c. If People were sensible of the hurt they do they would no more
eat them than they would Frogs Snails yea Snakes for they all have one and the same Original and are generated from a like matter These Creatures or rather Vermin for so I may call them are produced from Putrifaction gross and unclean matter and would be abominable to Humane Nature if they were known to be such besides the Diseases they cause they also defile the Spirits by awakning their Similies they prove frequently to be of Ill Consequence both to the Body and Mind These Fish that have no Scales are unclean and the Nourishment they afford are of a moist and slimy Nature But on the contrary those that have both Scales and Fins are wholsomer and are of a dryer Substance and easier of Concoction those that are bred in clear gravelly running Waters and Rivers are sweet pleasant and wholsom if taken in their proper Seasons Both the Seller and Buyer of Fishes are guilty of great mistakes about them the Fisher-man does commonly let them dye of themselves or by throwing one upon another causes one rather to suffocate another this way does a great deal of harm to the Fish as well as to other Creatures viz. Cows Sheep c. But the better way is to give them a wound so soon as you take them out of their proper Element rather than to suffocate them for by this the pure Essential Spirits and Balsamick Body suffers Violence There is a custom among some to keep Fish alive until they have a mind to eat them this is chiefly practised among the Dutch Though it be a very good Custom yet a great many commit Errors in this particular for they are oft-times kept in a small quantity of thick standing Water until they languish and grow weak fainty and poor But if you have a mind to keep them let them be put where there is plenty of good Water Do not put any great quantity together neither keep them too long before you use them CHAP. VIII Of the Mischief of Variety of Meats and Drinks and the Inconveniences of Improper Mixtures and on the other side what Foods are fit to be Compounded THE mixture of several things of disagreeing Natures is common in this wanton Age to most sorts of People except such as are constrained through pure Necessity to live on simple Meats and Drinks but in this adding of divers sorts of Food together so as to render them Wholsom or not very Prejudicial to the Health there is required a greater Understanding than ordinary House-wives are endued with or indeed the best Cooks for their business is to gratifie the Extravagant Fancies and Liquorish Pallates of those they belong to rather than to study to prepare what is agreeable to Nature For when you mix two three or four things together if the predominant Quality in each be of contrary Natures then such Food will produce a disagreeing Nourishment in the Stomach whence must arise an inward Strife and Contention for mastery so that oft-times the pure Vertues and Spirits suffer violence and become suffocated This is manifest in all sorts of Herbs Woods Earths and Drugs which Dyers and Painters use two of which being mixt produce a third of a kind and nature contrary to both and if you add a third Ingredient of a Nature contrary to those two it will become a fourth Species The same thing happens in Eatables As you alter the Taste of any simple Food by adding one or more Ingredients So you vary its Nature so that it becomes not only of another Taste but a quite different Operation for this cause there ought to be great Caution and Discretion used in Mixing of Food or else you bring all into Confusion We ought to understand the Nature of each Ingredient and what Iuices and Nourishment two or more things conjoyned will produce for each particular makes some Variation either for the better or the worse for all Tasts in Food have the very same Original as Colours and Cooks ought to be as skilful as Painters in their Mixtures which if well observed most People would be free from desiring such Compounded Dishes most Men through ignorance of the Nature and Operation of things imagining that the more both mean and rich Ingredients are mixed together the greater and better the Nourishment The contrary whereof is true for such things do generally produce a Nourishment of a contrary Nature to most of the Ingredients as is evident in Painting for Example take Indigo Ultramarine or any Blew and mix it with White and it makes a Skie to what degree you please but then put a third viz. mix a Pink Colour and makes a Green which is a fourth Colour of a contrary Nature to both the first second and third also mix Verdigrease and Pink and it makes a Green take Lake and Ultramarine and it gives a deep Purple mix Lake and White together and you have a Pink Colour and if you would have the deepest Black take the whitest Ivory you can get and burn it and the Ashes will perform your desire so likewise Copporas Gauls and Logwood dye a Black though none of them are so Furthermore it is to be noted that there are but Seven perfect Colours in the World which have their Original from the seven Constellations viz. Black Red Yellow Blew Lake Green and White each of which does contain the true Nature of all the seven but that Quality that predominates denominates the Colour and all the other lie as it were hid or captivated but when another or contrary Colour is mixt or incorporated therewith then both those Colours lose their right in Nature and thro' an inward strife and contention there is a Third awakned which before the mixture lay hid and captivated and this third is of a contrary Nature to both the first and so you may by continual Additions of other Colours alter it into a fourth a fifth a sixth and so on for from an apt Commixture of these seven Colours an ingenious Artist in Painting can imitate and represent the Colours of all things in the whole Universe The like is to be understood of Tastes and the nature of Food mixing of two things of contrary Qualities produces a third Iuice different from each of them and if you add a third Ingredient that is in nature contrary to both the first it will awaken another Nature which lay hid or captivated and so there arises a fourth thing and this it performs by Simile making that propriety in Nature strong which was weak and causing that to become manifest that before did disappear As in the before mentioned Instance of mixing Blew and White that produces a Sky-colour which is one degree of Variation but then mix Pink-colour with these two and it makes a Green which is quite contrary to both the first and second Now before the Pink was so added this same Green was essentially in both the Colours but not manifest till the Pink captivated both the first and second
of Life and Spirits of a pleasant Smell and brisk Taste grateful to the Stomach and easie of Concoction but when they have been at the Fire the second time the spirituous Qualities that in the first preparation were set at liberty and rendred Volatile are evaporated and they become of a strong dull Taste and Smell For all sorts of Food over-prepared or twice prepared are hurtful For this cause Water-Pap that is made of Bread is not an wholsom Food and no way proper for sick People or Children and so much the worse when it is made fulsom and strong by the various Ingredients they add to it The same may be said of fermented Liquors as Beer Wine c. if they be committed to the fire they become of a dull fiat heavy Nature void of Spirit and Life or if such be put into Food and that same Food afterwards prepared by fire then also they lose all their pure Vertues and there does only remain the strong original Quality which is a Death rather than Life This should be well noted by all House-wives and by Nurses especially among sick People and not make them as much Posset-drink or Broth as will serve them twenty four Hours and when occasion is heat it again and again thereby destroying all its pure spirituous Parts and Vertues till it becomes as sick and fainty as those that are to eat and drink it for such things are burthensom to a well-Stomach and what then must they be to such as are sick and out of order whose Spirits are few and those-weak and languishing 6. There is another Trick of Nurses which even the learned do often advise viz. when People are sick to boyl their Drink with a Crust of Bread in 't Now both these have been prepared before even to the highest degree so that by this boyling them together again as well the Drink as the Bread lose their Vertues and the Drink becomes as flat and dull as Pond-Water in a hot Summer day and then the Wise Nurse adds a lusty Quantity of Sugar to hide its gross dull fulsom Taste which renders it still duller and heavier on the weak Stomach of the sick Now all such Drinks are nauseous to Nature even in times of Health so that if a well man should drink constantly of such Perboyled dulcified stuff it would disturb Nature and send dulling Fumes into the Head destroy his Appetite and cause an unpleasant heat in his Stomach with a clammy Droughtiness nor would it give Nature any satisfaction And if its effects be such on the sound what mischief must it need do those that are already Diseased If a sottish Ignorance did not possess many of them that pass in the World for Learned men great Rabbies and profound Doctors they would certainly never act so contrary to Reason and Nature as they do Nor do I know any Reason why good Ale or Beer should be esteemed Raw as 't is by most even Physicians themselves has it not passed thro' several Digestions as boyling by Fire and Fermentation which are the highest Preparations it will admit of so that neither Nature nor Art can advance it For if such Liquors be committed to the fire a second time the spirituous parts do either evaporate or are suffocated they are so pure and volatile and stand so external that they will not endure any violent Motion or harsh Fire to touch them without manifest Injury therefore all common Beer and Ale well brewed and of a proper Age being brisk and full of Life is abundantly to be preferred before Drink again boyled either by it self or with a crust of Bread This may somewhat be illustrated even in Common-Water which is crude in comparison of Beer and Ale and has never passed thro' any Digestion to unlock its spirituous parts yet if you take such Water from the Spring and boyl it 't will open the crude Body and cause the pure spirituous parts to become so volatile that they will evaporate so that 't will be good for little or nothing if it be not used presently If you would know whether this be true or no do but walk into the House of Dame Experience Take Common-Water boyl it put it into a good sweet Vessel or Barrel then fill a like Barrel with Water from the same Spring unboyled and keep them for further use as Sea-faring men do for their Voyages then observe what follows The Water that was boyled will stink and never be sweet again but the other tho' it stink or rather ferment as some Water will do twice or thrice yet it will become good and sweet again for all Uses Again if you boyl Water in cold Weather or Frost it will afterwards freeze sooner and be colder than such as has not been boyled Now there must be some Reason for this which is no other than that the boyled Water has lost its inward spirituous or warming Nature so that 't is become more Saturnine cold and earthy whence the Air has the greater Influence upon it and causeth a quicker Congelation So likewise it is to be observed that if you boyl Water an hour or any considerable time before you put in your Flesh Herbs or what else you would dress in it such Food will not be so sweet nor wholsom as what is put into the Vessel as soon as the Water boyls or if you boyl Water an hour and then let it stand till 't is cold and afterwards boyl any Food in it it will give it a strong fulsom Smell and Taste make it hard of Concoction affording but a bad Nourishment All which shews the Fire has power to open the body of the Water causing the spirituous parts to become volatile and makes them capable of being evaporated on a second boyling much more than of Beer Ale c. 7. There are many other Improper Mixtures that are common in time of Sickness as well as Health as mixing several sorts of Syrups with their Drink and making up Cordials with Syrups which Nature doth loath for no Syrups are so grateful to the Stomach as White Sugar they being naturally of a dull heavy flat Quality they are a broken body the pure spirituous parts are suffocated and so have not that briskness on the Pallat and Stomach as Sugar For tho' Syrups be made of White Sugar yet they are nothing so good being mixed with any Drink or Food nor so grateful as the same Sugar for every time Sugar is melted down the spirituous parts are flattened and it cannot attain its proper natural Goodness except it be cured again and such an order observed as follows in Refining for then there is a separation made and it obtains a purer and finer Body which is not done in Syrups and therefore if in Health you drink them in Beer or Wine the Stomach doth not so well like them nor will they be so pleasant especially if often drunk much more nauseous must they needs be to the sick
And especially most burthensom to weak Natures are such Syrups when mixt with improper Ingredients and Liquors as with cold distilled Waters of various Herbs of disagreeing Natures and then to add as most do that which they call Epidemick Water which makes a Cordial sicker than the Patient that takes it I would have any moderate Person consider and judge whether a man in good Health can without great violence to his Stomach and disorder sup off such Cordials and other compounded Slip-slops as the Sick are forced continually to swallow down And if so what a deplorable condition are the Sick in when most of the things both for Food and Physick that are ordered and prescribed by Physicians and Apothecaries are generally nauseats to Nature So that when we would describe a filthy abominable Taste we say it tastes like Physick or like a Medicine 'T is enough in all Conscience to make a well Person Heart-sick to be confined but two or three Weeks to the Circumstances a sick Body is subjected unto by these Men of Method and their Tutor'd Creatures the Nurses For First he must have all his Drink boyled forsooth with a Crust of Bread in it This too he must drink as hot as may be endured and Mistress Nurse for pure Laziness will make at Once as much fulsom slip-slop as will serve a whole Day and Night and so the poor languishing Creature must take it heated again and again Then Gaffer Doctor enjoyns him every two hours a quantity of his sick Cordial and to compleat the Tragedy of his Martyrdom there must be a rouzing Fire in the Room tho' it be at Midsummer the Curtains must be drawn close and a Cloth before the Windows so that there can scarce come the least Breeze of Wind or pure Air into the Room whence the imprisoned Air therein becomes sulpherous and so noxious that such Chambers send forth such strong fulsom Scents and Fumes as will disorder the most healthy if they continue there but a while These are some of the abominable I had almost said Murderous courses the poor sick are confined unto which is much to be pitied and deserves to be remedied And therefore tho' this Discourse may seem a Digression I am confident the Judicious will pardon it 8. Another very improper Mixture is when People eat several sorts of Flesh and Fish at one and the same Meal for these two Creatures are of different Radixes therefore being eaten together make an unwholsom Nourishment in the Body of a contrary Nature to them both especially when the various sorts of Sawces and Ingredients of that kind are intermingled There are some foolish Epicures that stow so many various Kinds and Natures in their Paunches as if they would eat up all the fraight of Noah's Ark at a Mouthful and cannot Dine without as many different Ingredients as an Apothecary puts into the Composition of Mithridate which is said to consist of about Two Hundred But so far were the Wise Antients from this extravagant Gluttony and Uncleanness that such of them as did admit the eating of clean Flesh and Fish would not use the same Vessels is preparing the one as they did with the other but had distinct Kettles and Platters for each to keep them apart 9. There is another sort of Food much eaten by the English and more than by any other Nation viz. Pies which are many times compounded of Ten or Twenty several Ingredients many of them of contrary Natures and Radixes as first there is the finest Wheat-flour the course or branny part which contains the most opening cleansing digestive faculty being unhappily taken away and so curiously separated that the fine Flour thereby becomes of a stopping glutinating or glewing Nature 2dly There is good store of Butter mixt with it And 3dly Flesh and several sorts of Spices and Spanish Fruits and many other things which are all baked together and there they boyl in the deadly sulphurous Airs of the Ovens without the Influences of pure Air and without sufficient Liquor to help the Digestion or cleanse and purifie the grossness of such things but they lie suffocated in their own Juices the Good and Evil all jumbled together whence the whole becomes Naught the Nourishment such Food yields is neither proper nor wholsom for the Inequality of the Ingredients have destroyed all the simple Vertues of each so that there is Confusion and Discord awakened which in the Body irritate their Likenesses and thence Diseases and Disorders follow Therefore the more Wise and well-minded Persons in all Ages whose desire was to know and fear the Lord and assist his Hand-maid Nature have always chose the most simple innocent Meats and Drinks knowing that such had near Affinity to Harmony and had not power to beget or excite any quality or property in Nature but what was like themselves Peaceable and Harmless for the nearer the Equality and Concord any sort of Food or Drink is the greater Power it has to preserve the Body and Mind in the like sweet Temper and Unity which cuts off all Diseases in the Bud and prevents their very Seeds For this cause Water throughout the World in Primitive Times and in most Countries to this very day has been and is esteemed the best Drink for that it gives to such as drink it a full satisfaction whereas all other sorts of Drinks especially those that exceed in any particular quality do leave some desire behind after a man has drank them to drink more though perhaps already he hath exceeded in Quantity the very same is in superfluous Food only men cannot eat so long nor so much as they can Drink because Food is heavy and hard of Concoction and requires time to digest whereas drink is thin and Spirituous and therefore it quickly makes separation and finds many ways to pass away which Food cannot do Therefore over-charged Meals of sumptuous Food do often prove more dangerous to the Health of the Body than a debauch of Drinking tho both are worse than bruitish and very hazardous But on the contrary those that accustom themselves to simple Meats and Drinks do not only highly satisfie and gratifie Nature and preserve themselves in perfect Health which is the reward the Lord has ordained for the Temperate but they cut off all Superfluities the Seminaries of Diseases in the very Bud whereas the Gluttonous and Intemperate are liable to a thousand Snares and Inconveniencies which makes their Bodies unhealthful and unserviceable and beclouds their Minds and Intellectuals so that they can neither know themselves nor their Creator in any other thing as they ought But still there are some sorts of Food that may be properly Compounded as bearing a Simile with each other As 1. Bread Butter and Herbs either Boyled or Raw as also several sorts of Roots 2. Bread and several sorts of Fruits 3. Bread and Milk or Milk and Flour boyled together with some Water and Oat-meal and Milk and Water
is not so to be understood but that Nature in Women does remain in a possibility of being awakened as by the ardent desires of the Mind which if kindled can easily stir up the sleeping Powers of Nature and by many other wanton ways which are used to provoke Nature beyond the proper degree or what is Natural which is not only a Sin but tends to Corrupting of mankind in the Root Which Wantonnesses and Unnatural Courses of Life are much furthered by sundry sorts of Meats and Drinks exciting Nature to her damage and corrupt the Seed as the great number of gross adulterated Foods and strange Mixture of Flesh Fish Herbs Fruits c. and the too frequent drinking of Wine and strong Drinks which heats the Seed and provokes Nature and make her lose her way which is very pernicious and dangerous to all sorts of People but more especially to WOMEN and therefore the Ancients did direct those of that Sex to observe an higher degree of Temperance and Order than they prescribed to Men as knowing that the whole Wellfare and Preservation of Mankind did chiefly depend on their good or ill Constitution The Food therefore appointed to them was Simple and Natural as various sorts of Herbs Fruits Grains and pure Water for Drink which are endued with simple and equal Natures and have Affinity with the Feminine Nature having no manifest Quality that does too violently predominate therefore have no unequal Operation but do administer both dry and moist Nourishment far beyond all high prepared Foods and strong Drinks For all sorts of Meats and Drinks do beget their Likenesses and for that Reason mean simple things have in all Ages been Commendable especially for WOMEN What we have said of Diet the same is to be understood of Exercises and therefore the Philosophical Ancients did not count it proper or suiting their Nature to put Women ordinarily upon any share or care of the Government or hard Labours because of their weak Spirits and Heats for on all occasions of Difficulty Labour and Trouble they are subject to be either too Cholerick or too Sanguine which their Nature cannot bear for all Inequality be it what it will proves Injurious to them and Children Besides it is very unseemly to see Women dirty and imployed in hard slavish Drugdery and such of them as are forced thereunto through the bad Husbandry of their Parents or Husbands do they not by following such robustick Labours become bold rude and uncivil and seem to have to put off the Womanish Nature both in Words and Works Now this Rudeness is bad in the Males but an Hundred times worse in the Females For if their sweet courteous friendly Tempers and Natures be destroyed and wounded the Generation of Mankind is thereby corrupted in the Root Therefore Men ought not to put Women to such robust Imployments and hard Labours as many do except pure Necessity compels them to it It is a common Opinion That WOMEN are more Salacious and Unchast than Men but the same is a great mistake and built only on this Ground because many Women are found easily to comply with Mens Insinuations and Temptations which does not proceed from any natural desires of Lust or Unchastity but from their friendly Tempers and sweet Sanguine Dispositions many of them being naturally so Sanguine that the very shew of Love and Friendship will presently awaken the Love-Principle in them even before they themselves are sensible of it so that if a Man do but carry himself fair courteous and kindly to them he may command them beyond what is convenient which many wicked Fellows knowing make it their Business to betray them which proves the Ruin of many Now Men finding them thus to comply they being ignorant of their Natures and also of themselves judge that of Women which they find true in themselves And to this Scandal some vile Women have also given a further occasion by prostituting themselves to all Unchastity but those Abominations do not proceed from their simple natural Inclinations and Dispositions but through their depraved Free-wills and lewd Customs whereby they have forced Nature out of her simple way and then such become worse and far more detestably Impudent than the most debauched of Men. But still Women as Women and according to their simple natural Dispositions ought by all Men to be highly esteemed and honoured and if they themselves were but in the least sensible of or understood the noble Excellency of their own Complexions Natures and Compositions they would scorn any such base Actions and loath themselves for their depraved state and condition especially some of them who have precipitated themselves into all kinds of Intemperances and superfluous Courses and evil Customs whereby they have abused their Natures destroyed their Healths and intailed Diseases and many Miseries to Posterity which is much to be pitied But to descend to more particular Directions touching Women 1. Their Food ought to be well prepared neither too much nor too little but according to the Rules in our Chapter of preparations for Food well prepared is not only of easier Concoction but breeds better Blood and finer Spirits than which nothing brings more advantage to Females by reason of their weak Hearts also such good Blood breeds most excellent Milk 2. They ought to eat and drink so moderately that the natural Heat of the Stomach may overcome and digest it without any difficuly so that there may no superfluous Dregs remain as are always wont to do where Nature is over-charged which fills the Vessels full of sharp crude matter of a griping Nature for a small quatity of Meat and Drink when well concocted affords not only a better Nourishment but also greater Strength than abundance gorged down more than Nature can manage It being a gross Error for People to imain that a great quantity must be thrust into the Belly or else they cannot subsist never consulting the strength of the natural Heat Nothing destroys the Health and breeds evil Juices in the Body more than this Intemperance which most People are subject to more or less and from hence are generated Windy Diseases and Griping Pains in the Stomach and Fumes in the Head which miserably afflict many of these Gluttonous People 3. They ought as much as in them lies to forbear all sorts of rich fat Foods that do consist of various Natures and disagreeing among themselves all such Foods are heavy of Concoction fur the Passages dull the edg of the Appetite and breed bad Blood But on the contrary all simple innocent Foods which for the most part are easie and light on the Stomach are most agreeable to the Foeminine Constitution and also for their Children as Bread Butter a little Cheese Milk Herbs variously ordered Flesh but in its proper Seasons and simply and well prepared 4. But much Flesh and the frequent eating thereof does prove injurious to Women especially those of gross Phlegmatick Complexions whose Heats are so
weak that they are not able to make a perfect Concoction or Separation for such Food is apt to fur the Passages and breed abundance of evil Juices which fills the whole with gross Phlegmatick Humours that makes it dull heavy and indisposed 5. Women ought not to drink Wine or strong Drink which are bad for Men but an hundred fold worse for Women especially Brandy and all distilled Liquors and Spirits for all such Drinks do not only destroy the natural Heat causing the Stomach to become cold and attended with a sick qualmishness but also send Fumes into the Head weaken the whole Body and giveoccasion for the Generation of Windy Diseases and Vapours and indeed all strong Drinks if not very sparingly taken destroy the Health of the Female Sex being contrary to their Tempers for their Heats being weak in comparison of Mens and their Spirits few therefore every inequality is harmful to them and their Children Besides they are subject to various Diseases which cannot happen to Men and of all these strong Liquor is an especial promoter and therefore the Philosophical Ancients alotted only Water for Womens drink And if our Women were but sensible of the ill Consequences of their frequent Sipping of strong Drinks they would be as far from doing it as those in other Countries there being hardly any Women in the known World that are such great Drinkers and lovers of strong Liquors as the English neither are any so turbulent fiery and Masculine Spirited as accordingly they are troubled with various Diseases to which the Women in other Countries are strangers Furthermore strong Drinks if not sparingly taken heat the Blood causing sharp salt Humours to possess it which also makes their Milk hot and windy very prejudicial to Children for whatever Inconveniences the Mother suffers the Child partakes thereof both in the time of Pregnancy or breeding and whilst it sucks Therefore Moderation and Temperance both in quantity and quality is highly necessary for them because the whole preservation of mankind does in an especial manner depend on their prudent living 6. If Women have regard to their own Health and the Preservation of their Children they ought not to eat any Food hotter than their Blood but after their Food is prepared let it stand open that the fiery sulpherous Vapours may freely pass and fly away for those Steems are very prejudicial to all Peoples Heath but more especially to the Females And this ought to be observed in Flesh above all other Food and also in Puddings and the like things that are of a gross strong Quality and so have the greater power to retain those fiery Steams which are of an hot griping windy Nature and causing a Mank or Scurvy in the Blood and makes the Milk windy and sharp which violently gripes the poor young tender Babe that sucks it 'T is true Use not only Familiarizes the most unnatural things but renders them as it were Natural and in some respects almost Necessary witness Tobacco-smoaking to such as are besotted to it so that often times the leaving off those ill Habits do prove very hard and difficult nay sometimes the abrupt leaving them is as dangerous as the Evils that flow from the constant use of them so easily is Nature depraved and turn'd out of her simple way Thus such as have long used themselves to hot Foods if at any time they miss them and are forc'd to make shift with cold then their Stomach seems empty and unsatisfied only because 't is depraved and for want of a little Custom of eating cold Hence many believe that there is good Nourishment and Vertue in hot Food viz. better than in the same Food cold or as warm as the Blood nay many are so fond of this fiery sulpherous Steam or pernicious Vapour that the good Dame will be angry with her Maid if by any neglect she let this precious Steam fly away calling all the Family to come quickly lest the Meat be cold and as she calls it gâ—â—d for nothing Whereas in truth it will be then much the more wholsom for those pernicious sulpherous Fumes ought to be separated from the Meat before it be received into the Body And a little use of eating cold Food would remove all such ill Habits and make cold Meats and Drinks more friendly and satisfactory to Nature and help to prevent the Generation of all windy Diseases Furthermore as cold Food does sharpen the Appetite so neither will the same quantity thereof swell the Body or indispose Nature so much as the like quantity of hot Victuals will and the Body will feel it self more airy and lightsomer 'T is true hot Food will heat the Body especially all the external parts but then it is an unnatural heat which is more burthensom than pleasant for the fiery sulpherous Steems that remain in Food after 't is prepared are of the very same Nature and Operation as the heat of Charcoal and so Experience will teach you that 't is very unwholsom to hold ones Head over the Steems that proceed either from boyld or baked Foods or over Furnaces or Pots or which proceed from Ovens for they take away the Complexion and make People look Pale and Weakly now if their Operations externally have such a visible ill effect how much more Prejudicial will they be when internally received and with the Food swallowed into the Body Possibly in some strong Constitutions those Inconveniences may not be felt till Age comes on but few then are free from them tho insensibly from what causes they proceed Also it is to be noted that this fiery heat Food does retain after 't is prepared is contrary unto the natural Heat both of the Food and the Stomach too and will no longer remain than whilst 't is forced by the constant heat of the Fire and then of its own accord will separate and fly away as soon as 't is removed from the Fire in an humid Vapour which Fumes if they be stopt by covering such Foods so that they cannot separate and fly away then they will re-enter and â—â—use the Meat to eat strong and fulsom In a word 't is nothing but Custom that makes hot Foods easie and agreeable but all the Custom in the World can never make them so natural and friendly as Cold after a little use 7. They ought to accustom themselves to moderate Exercises in open Airs which is profitable for all People but especially for those of the fair Sex for it hardens and strengthens Nature begets a good Appetite prevents Obstructions breeds good Blood and pure Spirits which renders the whole Body lightsom and pleasant nothing next Temperance in Meats and Drinks being more profitable than moderate Motion and Airy Houses and Rooms and not to pen up themselves as many do in close hot Rooms with great Fires which prevents the most pleasant and friendly Element the Air that it cannot have its free Influencies and so what Air does remain in
time Our Friends Abstinence Temperance and Cleanness do continually shew us the vanity of such things and spur us on and hasten us towards the Land of Peace We do not look back for fear we should awaken the Centre the original Poisons and then our sweet Water would be in danger of being dried up as it came to pass in Lucifer and his Legions there being but nine Figures or degrees of Wisdom attainable by mortal Men the tenth Number viz. o is the highest and those that have gradually passed through the Nines must stand still in silence and leave off all numbering and suffer God's Holy Spirit to work the Will and the Deed in him as he pleaseth We have no Butchers Fowlers nor any that belong to the Trade of Killing Violence or Oppression amongst us most of them revolted and join'd themselves to Pharaoh before they came out of Egypt and were destroyed with his Troops in the Sea of Blood or Wrath and those of them that passed through the Red Sea were cut off in the Wilderness for finding their Trade very bad and low and the nearer they came to the Land of Peace the worse it grew so they began to tumult and complain and murmur against the Lord that he dealt so hardly with them Which awaken'd the Centre of Wrath and destroyed them so that none of this sort of People enter'd the holy Land that flows with Milk and Honey and not with the Blood of the humane nor bestial Nature Neither have we any Billings-gates all that sort of People are our Hewers of Wood and Drawers of Water And but very few Inns of Court-Gentlemen or Templers all of them that escaped the Egyptian Plagues were destroyed with Corah Dathan and Abiram in the wild Nature of this World or Wilderness Neither have we many Churches and yet have a great number of Temples in which we worship the Lord but there be no Bells in them that are compounded of imperfect Metals therefore we have no need of those robustick Musicians viz. Ringers to call the People to worship such Musick is too Saturnine and Martial for us No every one of us hath his own Bell and none can ring or make Musick of it but himself which being skilfully handled makes a more sweet soft and pleasing Harmony than the Egyptian Bells who are loud harsh and penetrating and all the Ringers are rude cruel and inhumane Our young People do not learn to ring any Bells but their own which when well learned calls them to the Worship of God in the proper Times and Seasons even as the good Spirit of God shall teach them as the Scripture saith The holy Men of God taught and spoke as the Holy Spirit moved in them We do not admit any to be Magistrates or Governours over us but only those that by Industry Prayer and Meditation have attained to a more excellent Understanding of God Nature and Themselves than their Neighbours which doth render them fit to govern We account none capable to govern others that have not first learned in all particulars to govern themselves It is contrary to our Philosophy to mix or compound our Food with things of disagreeing natures We use no double Preparations the more simple our Food is the more agreeable it is to our Nature and best sustains our Healths It is not a Custom for our Women to give or suffer their Children to drink any kind of Beer or Syder whilst their Food is chiefly Milk there being nothing more contrary to Milk than such sharp Liquors Milk being of a sweet gentle mild friendly Nature and Operation having no manifest Quality that doth too violently predominate there being a certain Harmony between the Properties of Nature in Milk and therefore it hath always been found by Experience to be the best Food for Children and all young People administring proper Nourishment in Equality to all Parts But on the contrary all sorts of Beer Syder and other fermented Drinks are of a sowr keen or sharp Quality and for this cause being mixed with Milk it turns or separates the wheyish part from the thick the same is to be understood if Children or others drink after eating of Milk if they do not forbear a convenient time till the Stomach hath made separation and alter'd the Property of it Besides the constant drinking of such Liquors do sowre the Stomach and generate a keen or sharp Quality which is apt to turn the Milk into an hard tough substance and thereby puts Nature to great difficulty to concoct or make Separation Doth not our daily Experience shew us that all Curd of Milk is hard of Concoction and burthensome to the Stomach For this Cause many having used themselves to drink plentifully of strong Drinks and to the eating of compounded Food which have so sowr'd the Stomach and alter'd it from its simplicity that the eating of this friendly harmless Food becomes offensive to them and disagreeing especially to some particular People whose Stomachs are as it were naturally inclined to generate a sowre Matter For this cause if any shall drink immediately after eating of Milk it will cause them to puke up the thin wheyish parts whilst the hard substance remains in the Stomach which doth foul and hinder Concoction For these Reasons it is much better for all Children and young People whose Food is chiefly Milk to drink Water it being the most like Milk of any Drink of a mild gentle friendly Nature and Operation which is farther manifested by its being mixed with Milk they mix or incorporate themselves as one entire Body making no variation or separation as other Liquors will and therefore it hath been found by Experience in all Ages to be the best and most natural Drink for all People but more especially for Women and Children who are endued with tender Spirits and gentle Heats and if their Meats and Drinks have not a near Affinity both in quality and quantity to their Natures it will quickly put them out of Tune and cause them to fall into Diseases and then Nature will become unequal in her Operations Every like doth with highest diligence endeavour to beget its Simile both in the Body and Mind Water being in its own nature so clean simple and innocent that it doth not only wash and cleanse the Mouth throughly and all the Vessels of the Stomach from such gross thick Matter that doth stick and furr them but it doth distil its moist Nourishment into all parts of the Body without making any noise or causing an unequal Motion cooling and refreshing Nature strengthens Concoction thins the Blood causing it to circulate freely makes the natural parts brisk and lively For this cause those Women and Children that do constantly drink Water are not subject to so many Diseases as others whose practice is to drink strong Liquors We have but one sort of Bread which is neither coarse nor fine We never change the Fashions of our Garments nor deck them
is certain that most or all Beds do perfectly stink not only those in Inns and Houses of Entertainment but others not but that every ones Bed does smell indifferent well to himself but when he lies in a strange Bed let a man put his Nose into the Bed when he is thorowly hot and hardly any common Vault is like it Now this sort of Uncleanness which does proceed from old Beds is not only the greatest but also the most injurious to the Health and Preservation of Mankind and the least care is taken to prevent it Every one that can will have plentiful Changes both of Linnen and Woollen Garments for if they have not experience does shew that the Excrements and Breathings of the Body will generate Vermin Also do not most people take care that their Furnitures are daily brushed and rubbed and their very Floors washed as tho they were to eat their Food on them But all this while they lie on Beds that have not been changed or hardly aired in several years Let an indifferent person judge which is most pleasurable and healthful to have a clean Floor to tread on which costs many a hard days labour to keep so and is dirtied in a moments time or to have a clean sweet Bed to lie on There is no comparison to be made the difference is so great the one being essential either to health or sickness the other an indifferent thing If there was but the tenth part of the care taken to keep Beds clean and sweet as there is of Clothing and Furniture then there would be no Matter for the getting of Diseases nor for the generation of Bugs I woutd have all Housewives and others consider the Reasons of these things Are not Lice that troublesome Vermin bred from the breathings of the Body for want of often change both of Linnen and Woollen And will not Fleas breed from the very Dust of Chambers where people lie Also any Woollen that hath been used about Beds although the cold Winter have destroyed them yet if these Clothes lie in any close place where the Air hath not its free egress and regress these very Garments will generate Fleas the Summer following but if these Clothes had never been used about Men and Women they would never have bred Fleas for there is no matter of Element in Wool or Cloth for the generation of such Creatures but Wool Cloth Furs and Hair are chiefly the Element of Moths and sometimes of small Worms that is if such are kept in places where the refreshing Influences of the Air have not their free egress for all such places do contract great store of Moisture which when hot Weather comes causeth Putrefaction whence all such Vermin do proceed But if those things be in daily use and exposed to the open Element they never breed any Vermin so that the generation of those things are generally caused by Accidents not but that there is matter in the Radixes of such things for the generation of such Vermin 2. From the pernicious Smells and putrified Vapours that do proceed from old Beds are generated the Vermin called Bugs of which neither the Ancients nor the Modern Writers of this Age have taken notice according to the degrees of Uncleanness Nature of the Excrements and the closeness of the Places where Beds stand for some Peoples Excrements are not so unclean as others Also in all close places especially in Cities and great Towns the Spirits and thin Vapours of the Air are suffocated which makes the same Air sulpherous and humid whence does proceed Putrefaction Therefore it is not to be thought a general Rule That all Old Beds should breed Bugs as some who are ignorant of the Operation of Nature will be apt to say If one Bed do breed them why not all No it is according to the nature of the uncleanness and other accidents that do happen for where as is said before the thin pure Air with the refreshing Influences of the Sun and Elements have their free egress and regress all such matter is destroyed whence such Vermin are produced The Original of these Creatures called Bugs is from Putrefaction occasioned by stinking Scents and Vapours which do proceed from the Bodies and Nature of Men and Women and the mixing or incorporating of these Vapours with moist and sulpherous Airs for where there is no heat nor humidity there can begin no Putrefaction Therefore all that have attributed the generation of this Vermin to Wood as Bedsteads and the like are grosly mistaken in the productions of Nature for there is no matter in Wood that can generate such a Vermin it being productive only or chiefly of two Creatures in England viz. of Wood-Lice and a small Worm These Wood-Lice are never generated but in places where the Sun and Air have not their free influences so that there is store of humidity contracted and when the Sun comes to such Degrees of the Zodiack this Creature is generated which is of as different a Nature from Bugs as Sweet-wood is from a stinking Bed Also Wood does breed a certain small Worm but never till the Salts Nature and Power is decayed through length of time then the Air enters it which does presently cause it to contract a humid Quality from whence proceeds Putrefaction whereof when the Sun is powerful this Worm is bred But so long as Wood continues sound and is kept dry the Air having its free influences on it I affirm That no sort of Wood ever breeds any kind of Vermin 3. There are many also that attribute the generation of this Creature to Hogs-Hair which being mixed with Lime and Houses plaistered with it does occasion say they the Generation of Bugs Now it is most certain that there is no possibility in Nature for this Production for no kind of Hair ever breeds any Living Creature except it be put into Water or Mud when the Sun is powerful and then this Creature thus generated retains its first Species viz. a Hair with a live Head which was its Element whence it proceeded but if you take it out of the Water it presently dies so also it doth when the Sun declines in heat as most sorts of Vermin that are bred through Heat and Moisture do But Hair being mixed with Lime all Matter of generation is thereby totally destroyed For Lime does chiefly contain a harsh fiery keen sharp corroding Quality it is so sharp that it does destroy all Life and is as contrary to it as Light is to Darkness the predominant Qualities in it is the Salts Nature from which no Living Creature can be produced Besides if there were never so much matter in Hair for the generation of such Vermin Lime would destroy it for in Lime there is only a Salnitral fiery Virtue 4. If the Reasons before mentioned be not sufficient to convince the ignorant of their erroneous Opinions in this particular then I hope the following one will which is more familiar
from what Cause those Disturbances arise Thus many that were brave healthy Virgins are no sooner Married and become Child-bearers but they grow weak feeble and full of Diseases and Disorders which is the more remarkeable since the same or the like is not to be instanced in any other Creature This should teach Men to behave themselves friendly and with as Even and Pleasant a Temper as possible they can to their young Wives because nothing does so much Injury to Women especially when Pregnant or great-with-Child as a cross surly Carriage from those from whom they expect Indulgence and a pleasant Humour For let us complain never so much of Shrews and Scolds yet I must do Truth that Justice as to avow That the Crosness and Ill-carriage of the Wives has not the hundredth part of that power to hurt and wound the Healths of Men as the unkindness and ill deportment of Husbands have to prejudice the Women for that Sex being of a weak tender Nature their Fires burn but weak and their predominant Quality stands in the meek Element of Water so that every little Affront from those they Love wounds them to the very Heart and does very often awaken even the very Central Spirits whereby Nature is put into an agonious trembling Condition whence proceed Suffocations of the Spirits and Stoppages of the due Circulations and thence variety of Diseases Futhermore Married People ought not by any kind of Arts of compounding or preparing of Meats or Drinks endeavour to heighten and strain Nature whereby they may be the better able to gratify their Lusts and Extravagant Wantonness for all such things are an Affront to Nature and force her out of her simple way and tho for the present by such Arts the Party seems more vigorous yet he shall soon find that the same decays and renders him much more weak and impotent than if he had never medled with such Abominations Nor ought any to suffer their Imaginations Wills or Desires to enter too violently into the Venereal Properties for the Imagination of Mankind is so strong and powerful that it can kindle and awaken all the Central Properties whereby many particular Persons tho by their Constitutions cold and but weakly do yet through Imagination and strong Desires stir up Nature to a great height even to the ruin of their Healths for Nature never ought to be spurred or strained but suffered gently to go on in her own Pace and her own Way The lawful use of the Marriage-Bed is never hurtful to mature Age if Nature be not stimulated on by some unnatural Course or Superfluity either of Imagination Meat Drinks Idleness or the like but rather makes People more lightsome and pleasant as being a thing purely Natural but if raised or forced on by Art then there is no Intemperance or Superfluity does so soon wound the Health or bring so many Inconveniences on both Body and Mind 4thly The most proper Age for Men to Marry at is from Twenty six Years of Age to Thirty or thereaabouts for then Nature has attained to the highest degree of Maturity so that the moderate use of Lawful Sheets will not hurt besides at those years it is to be supposed Persons will if ever be come to some degrees of Discretion Understanding Staidness and Moderation to know their Duties and how to behave themselves to their Wives and Families There is nothing more injurious to the Health of the Body than a too early Acquaintance with Venus or immoderate use of her in Youth whilst Nature is a growing it does in some Constitutions weaken the Spermatick Vessels and the retentive Faculty so that Nature is never able to out-grow it For the Female Sex from Eighteen to Twenty six is a very proper time to alter their Condition and of Virgins commence Women 'T is a very ill custom People have got to Match their Daghters almost as soon as they are out of their Hanging-Sleeves and I know no excuse for it but the Licentiousness of the Age which is such that if Parents do not provide Husbands for their Daughters at Fourteen they are ready to provide them themselves or do worse The Proverb is certainly true and in more Senses than one He that Marries a Girl marrs a Woman it spoils their Growth hastens on Diseases causes a breed of small sickly puling Children makes her a Mistress before she understands her self whence ill management of the Family and forty other Mischiefs too tedious to enumerate 5thly As Nature Reason and the Law of God require Women to separate themselves when their Uncleanness or Monthly Visits are upon them for Conception at such times is unnatural and fails not to intail Leprous and Filthy Diseases on the Children then begot as Boils Botches Kings-Evil c. so it will be also convenient for Men sometimes to lye alone for the lying of Man and Wife together always in the same Bed is apt to decrease Love and make it cold and also destroys the Health and Courage of Man whereas their separating provided it be done freely and prudently and not in discontent or sullenness and lying alone sometimes for a season encreaseth the strength of the Body and makes the mind more vigorous and renders their coming together again more desirable and pleasant it being an hard thing for many Men to have such esteem as they ought to have for those things they over-tharge themselves withal tho they be the best of Enjoyments And this lying alone is the rather to be urged because Women have no natural Inclination to Venereal Actions after Conception setting aside their depraved Desires and Imaginations arising from the provocations Men may use which do kindle and violently stir up the hidden or sleeping Properties of Venus and strain and force Nature out of her Way and Operation therefore no Woman ought to know her Husband after known Conception till after they be delivered and well again All the Creatures of the Field even the whole Creation may be Examples either to teach or upbraid Mankind in this particular yet few there be that are sensible of the greatness of this Sin nor of the evil Consequences that attend Mankind by the Practice thereof Indeed Custom makes the greatest Evils easy and familiar and even excusable in the Eyes of most People but not in the sight of God and Nature For this cause Mankind is afflicted with many and great Perturbations and Distempers which no other Creatures are subject unto because Men break the good Law of God in Nature and turn the natural use of things into Wantonness which cannot pass unretaliated for the Divine Eye and Providence takes notice of all the Good and Evil Works of Mankind and Rewards every one according to its Intrinsick Nature which we ought to regard and not esteem a thing Good or Lawful meerly because Customary and because the multitude do it but rather for that very Reason we ought to suspect it for there is scarce a