a place of no danger and with very little losse of blood died presently with the very feare of being killed But I should be too tedious if I should reckon vp more examples Now if these Passions could be so deadly in pure Aires and holsome seasons how much more thinke we are they pernicious in pestilentiall times But in respect of Contagion there is no Passion so dangerous as Feare For by it the Spirits are enforced to retire inward to the heart to guard that Prince of life from the danger feared By this retiring they leaue the outward parts infirme as appeareth plainely by the palenesse trembling of one in great feare So that the walls being forsaken which are continually besieged by the contagious Aire in come the enemies without resistance the Spirits which are the Souldiers that should repell them having cowardly sounded a Retrait And hereby there is not onely way made for the evill Aire to enter but also the Spirits wherein is all our heat being all drawne inward doe draw in such vapours after them as are about the body even as the Sunne draweth towards it the vapours of the earth And here-hence it is that Feare brings Infection faster and sooner then any other occasion Now for Remedie against these Passions we must know that they are diseases of the Soule and the cure of them belongeth chiefly to Divines They are the Phisitians to deale inwardly with these diseases To purge out the Loue of this World and the distrust of Gods Providence and Mercies as also to minister the Cordialls of Faith Hope Patience Contentednesse c. and to ordaine the strict diet of holy Exercises a good Conversation and Walking with God Wee that are Phisitians to the Body are but Chirurgians to the Soule wee can but talke of Topicall remedies as to apply Mirth Musicke good Company and lawfull Recreations such as may take away all time and occasions for carefull thoughts and passionate affections Thus haue I brought you through that part of the Definition wherein are the Causes of the Plague discovered Now we are to lay open the Qualities of it described before in the Definition thus Which at the very first Striketh to the Heart is Venomous Deadly and Infectious At the very first it striketh to the Heart Therefore it is called Morbus Cordis A disease of the Heart And that this is first stricken is apparent by this that at the first infection the vitall facultie sinkes and languishes the whole strength of the Body is suddainly turned to weaknesse the vitall Spirits are greatly oppressed and discouraged Whereas the Animall facultie commonly remaineth for a while in good plight and perfect in the vse of sense vnderstanding iudgement memorie and motion The Naturall facultie also is not so presently hurt but there is concoction and all other actions performed by the liver stomach reyns guts bladder and other parts as Nature requireth Though indeed in a little time these and the brayne also are overcome as appeareth by the Symptoms that follow as Lethargies Frenzies Vomitings Fluxes c. That it is Venomous is graunted of all both Physitians and Philosophers And it is apparent by his secret and insensible insinuation of himselfe into the vitall Spirits to which as soone as he is gotten he shews himselfe a mortall enemie with suddain violence choking and extinguishing them Therefore his subtle entrance his sly crueltie his swift destroying the vnfaithfulnesse of his Crisis and other Prognosticke Signes and the vehemencie grievousnesse and ill behaviour of his Symptoms are manifest proofes of his venomous Qualitie For in this disease the Seidge Vrine and Sweat haue an abhominable savour the Breath is vile and noysome evill coloured Spots Pustles Blisters Swellings and Vlcers full of filthy matter arise in the outward parts of the body such as no superfluitie or sharpnesse of humors nor no putrefaction of matter without a venomous qualitie ioyned with it can possibly produce It is Deadly This needs no proofe the weekly Bills argue it and our owne eyes witnesse it while we see continuall Burialls and some die in the very streets and while we finde also that few of those that are stricken doe recover againe But that It is Infectious is among many of the common ignorant sort more disputable then among the learned Yet is it apparent enough by much experience For Garments and Houshold-stuffe haue beene infected and haue infected many as I haue shewed alreadie in the examples of a Gowne and a Feather-bed Now though this Infection be not apparent to sense as indeed the deadliest Poysons haue neither taste nor smell yet their lurking qualitie may be plainely demonstrated by such as are sensible For we know that garments will a long time retaine any strong or sweete sent wherewith they haue beene fumed or with which they haue beene layd vp now the Sent is meerely a qualitie and his substance is the Aire which is the vehiculum or seat of the Sent wherein it is carried by which it is made permanent Other experiences we haue also as liue Pageons being laid to the soares are taken away dead having not beene wounded crushed nor hurt by any hand at all And lastly many that are infected can directly tell where and of whom they tooke it But say some againe then why is not one infected as well as another I haue eaten and drunke and lyen with them that haue had it and the soares running on them And yet I was not infected I say they haue the more cause to magnifie the Mercy of God to their particular and not to obscure it by saying it is not infectious This argument is not vnlike that of the Mountebanks who tell you that such and such haue beene cured by his Medicines but conceales how many haue died by the misapplication If one should aske this man I pray you how many haue so conversed with the infected and haue so escaped I am sure they cannot name one of twentie Yea but sayth Another I hold the Plague to be nothing els but the very Influence of the Striking Angell sent of God to destroy here one and there another as Hee hath particularly fore-poynted them out Such kindes of Plagues indeed we reade of in sacred Scripture as Exod. 12. Numb 11. v. 33. Numb 16. Numb 25. and 2 Sam. 24. But there is great difference betwixt those Plagues and these of ours For in those Great multitudes suddainly and all at once as one would say in a very short space of time were both smitten and slaine The longest time of Striking being but three dayes namely that for Davids numbering the people In those plagues therefore the cause was onely supernaturall for there was no time allowed for corruption and putrefaction of the Aire But in these of ours and in very many moe in all Countreys and Kingdomes and in all Ages of the World there hath beene sufficient time
delight in drinking and drinking in a Tunnell For the liues of many are so monstrous that a man might say of some among vs as Valerius Aurelianus the Emperour was wont to say of Bonosus a Spaniard That he was borne not to liue but to drinke These riotous abuses of Gods good gifts are a maine cause why the Lord at this time striketh this Land with Sicknesse and threatneth it with the Famine And if any of that Luxurious Sect be at this time sober let them but listen to the testimonies of learned experience who will tell them into what bodily dangers they plunge themselues by this detestable disorder Hippocrates hath an Aphorisme to this purpose that Meat or drinke immoderately taken causeth sicknesse Paulus Aegineta goes yet further saying That the veynes being filled too full are afflicted distended or els broken obstructed filled with winde and over-charged And of all diseases he affirmeth that the over-charging of the veines is the worst Galen affirmeth that Drunkennesse and Crudities which arise from intemperance doe breed new diseases And in another place he sayth Whereas wine moderately taken increaseth naturall heat as being his proper aliment by Drunkennesse commeth astonishment of the brayne the Falling sicknesse or some mayme either to Sense or Motion And so the best Meats which afford most nourishment being immoderately eaten ingender cold Diseases But Avicen more particularly layes downe the dangers that follow this over Repletion in these words Eating much nourisheth not but fills the body with crudities and raw humors stops the pores weakens the powers of nature causes putrefaction mixed feavors short breath Sciatica and ioynt-Aches Againe in another place he speakes of drinking thus Much drinking of Wine in sanguine and chollericke complexions overheats the bloud and causeth choller to superabound and by too much Repletion of the veynes and vessells there may follow a hot Apoplexie and suddain Death In cold Complexions it breeds Diseases of the sinews and that for two causes The first is the over moystening of the sinews the other the turning of the drinke into Vineager before it can passe through the body So the Nerves are by the former relaxed and by the latter corroded Whereupon follows the cold Apoplexie Astonishment Senslesnesse Lethargie Palsey Trembling of the limbs and convulsions of the mouth These are the fearefull mischiefs that befall their bodies besides the miserable wants that grow like eating Cankers into their Estates and the hideous Hell-torments which attend their Soules And note this also that what these haue said of Wine the same is true likewise of all other strong Drinkes Now to Cure this bruitish Disease there is no better way then Prevention and Gluttonie is prevented by Sobrietie Therefore againe hearken to Avicen who adviseth alwayes to rise from meate with some remainder of Appetite for within halfe an houre or as soone as the meate first eaten beginneth to digest our hunger ceaseth li. 1. Fen. 3. Doct. 2. cap. 7. And hence it is that some greedily following the sense of their appetite overcharge their stomachs even to vomiting before they feele themselues satisfied because though the vessell be over-full yet the Appetite is not appeased till Concoction haue begun her worke vpon some part of that which is already received These things are especially to be regarded in a contagious time For Repletion is the originall of all mischiefs that Crudities can produce and they can cause speedy putrefaction that speeds them with the Pestilence But as for a strict Quantitie of eating and drinking I cannot stint every mans stomach but must conclude with Hippocrates Aph. 17. li. 1. Concedendum est aliquid Tempori Regioni Aetatt et Consuetudini The Time Place Age and Custome must beare some sway in these things Onely in these times I would wish all men women and children to be so moderate as Avicen counselleth that they still keepe in the fire of their appetite and how sparing so â—ver they are wont naturally or customarily to be let them be now somthing more sparing Make sewer and shorter meales I would wish those that haue not very weake and windie stomachs to eat but twice a day that is Breakfast and Dinner to goe to bed without a Supper is very holsome thereby we giue Sleepe leaue to supply the evenings nourishment which it will better performe when neither the stomach troubles it with vapours nor it hinders the stomach from digestion Let your drinke also be lesse then your meat And drinke not betweene meales if you can forbeare Laertius li. 2. saith that Socrates liued in Athens in divers Plague times and was never sicke of it and the reason was his great temperance in diet In Winter and cold Weather eate your meat hot from the fire In Summer eat it for the most part cold Let the times of eating be for your breakfast two houres after you are vp and haue taken some Antidote And your dinner fiue houres after that againe Your Supper also if the weaknesse of your stomach craue it fiue houres after your dinner Frame not to your selfe an Antidote without skill but take advice of the Physition who will consider what will best agree with the particular temper of your body for Mithridate and Triacle are generally good for all but not particularly for every one But because every one will not be brought to breake their old customary times of meales as dinner at twelue and supper at seaven I am content to yeeld to custome in these cases Onely let them never goe forth without their breakfast that they may be armed against Winde and Emptinesse And their Antidote taken two houres before that they may be armed against evill Aires Now for those that must therfore make three meales a day let their breakfast if they be of a cold constitution be some bread and butter with Nutmeg grated and a little Citron pill powdered and strewed vpon it Or els bread and sallet Oyle for such as loue it spiced with the powder of Enula campane roote Or els especially in cold and moyst weather eate a few figs with a little Penniroyall and salt But for hot stomachs and chollericke complexions let such dip some bread in Beere and Vineager and eat it Or take good Wine Vineager steepe in it for three dayes together the powder of Brimston and a few Fennell-seeds soppe your bread in it and make it your break-fast And for those that must make three meales a day let their breakfast be little in quantitie At other meales eat the lightest meats first and then those that are more hard of digestion Eat no butter last and drinke not last after your meate Neither is Cheese so commonly to be eaten at these times for if it be full of Butter it is fuming if not it is binding and both these are faults except the inclination of the body require it at sometimes After dinner also if you haue a cold
to be expected Or if those two the most maleuolent be in opposition to the gentle Planet Iupiter the effect of that opposition is the Plague As the Poet singeth Coelitus imbuitur tabo difflatilis aura Mars quando obijâ—itur Falcitenensque Iovi I know there be many learned men that thinke the starres because they are good and pure creatures can bring forth no evill nor impure effects And amongst these Valeriola in Append. ad loc com cap. 2. thinks he hath so absolutely satisfied the point that no obiection may ever be made more yet I am of Mercurialis his opinion that though of themselues primarily they doe no evill yet accidentally they may and doe For the Sunne of it selfe being the purest of them all by drawing the vapours out of dunghills and other corrupt things causeth a noysome stench by accident But I intend not this Treatise for disputation If the Starres be pestilently bent against vs neither Arts nor Armes perfumes nor prayers can prevaile with them who haue neither pittie nor sense nor power to alter their appointed motion But He that commandeth their course and altereth them at his pleasure He that made the Sunne and Moone stand still for Iosuah yea drew the Sunne backe ten degrees for Hezekiah and caused the Starres to fight in their courses against Sisera He is able both to hinder and heale all Infections can arise from their Influences The cure of this cause therefore is the same with the former The third cause of the Pestilence is The corruption of the Aire Which corruption ariseth as well from sublinarie accidents as from the Influences of the Starres For noysome vapours arising from filthy sincks stincking sewers channells gutters privies sluttish corners dunghils and vncast ditches as also the mists and fogs that commonly arise out of fens moores mines and standing lakes doe greatly corrupt the Aire and in like manner the lying of dead rotting carrions in channels ditches and dunghills cause a contagious Aire As the Poet affirmeth Corpora foeda iacent vitiantur odoribus aurae And even without these vapours the Aire sometimes is corrupted by the vnseasonablenesse of the weather Quum tempestiva intempestivè redduntur as sayth Hippocrates when the weather is vnseasonable for the season of the yeare being hot when it should be cold moyst when it should be drie and contrarily These preposterous orders or rather disorders in the constitution of the Aire render it vnholesome and infectious And this is caused chiefly by the Aspects of the Planets and many times also by vnholesome Windes as especially the South winde who being of temperature moyst and warme fills the Aire with such a corrupt qualitie as is soone turned into putrefaction and many times doth easily transport a contagion from one coast to another Now for the Temperature of the Aire the whole streame of opinions runneth vpon hot and moyst as the fittest matter for infection because most apt to putrefaction So Hippocrates in the second of his Epidem saith that in Cranon a Cittie of Thessalie there arose putrid Vlcers Pustuls and Carbuncles through the hot and moyst constitution of the Aire And the same he vrgeth againe in the third Booke of the same Treatise And Galen in 1 de Temperam cap. 4. affirmeth that the hot and moyst constitution of the aire doth most of all breed pestilent Diseases And from these a multitude of later Writers haue learned to speak the same thing But for all this we know that the hot and dry weather also may cause a pestilent Aire And so saith Avenzoar in his third booke third tract and 1. chap. And Titus Livius in li. primo decad 4. recordeth that Rome was once infected with the Plague by a hot and drie distemper of the Aire And wee cannot forget what a hot dry parching Summer we had this last yeare most fit to be the vnfortunate forerunner of this yeares pestilence which now being seconded with such abundance of moyst weather all this Spring and Summer hitherto we may well doubt that a deluge of destruction is comming vpon vs. Hence we may see the misery of man that be the Aire never so corrupt he must draw it in with his breath continually for without it we cannot liue a moment for as meate and drinke are the nourishments of our bodies so is the Aire the nourishment of our Spirits As therefore by corrupt meats our bodies are corrupted and diseased so by corrupt Aire our Spirits are easily infected and soone extinguished Therefore we haue great cause to take heed that the Aire we draw be pure and wholesome And this may be effected two wayes either by flying into a good or by purifying the euill Aire The surest way to safetie is to flie from the impure into a pure Aire Those therefore that haue meanes and no speciall Calling to hinder them doe well to take hold of this counsell Which 1. Nature teacheth in giving Man two legs as well as two armes that if his enemy be too fierce for resistance he may escape by running Now Nature hath no worse enemy then Death nor Death a better 〈◊〉 then the Plague Secondly the holy Scripture teacheth it 〈…〉 verse Come my people enter into thy secret place shut thy dores about thee hide thy selfe as it were for a season vntill the indignation be over past So Pro. 22.3 The prudent man foreseeth the plague and hideth himselfe And David was this Prudent man for 1 Chron. 2â— last he durst not goe to the Tabernacle to offer at Gibeon because he feared the sword of the Angell And thirdly Physicke adviseth it For Hippocrates the Prince of Physitions in his Booke de Natura humana counselleth it in these words Providendum est vt quà m paucissimus Aeris influxus corpus ingrediatur et vt ille ipse quà m peregrinissimus existat Regionum etiam locos in quibus morbus consistit quantùm eius fieri potest permutare oportet By which he intendeth that a man must be carefull to let into his body as little Aire as can be possibly and that that Aire which he doth entertaine be a stranger to the Infected And this be interpreteth in the clause following where he saith He must as farre as he may change the place of the Region in which the Sicknesse raigneth for some other that is free from it And this is that which is meant by Citò Longè and Tardè Which Iordanus calleth an Antidote made of three Adverbs and thus versifieth vpon them Haec tria tabificam pellunt Adverbia Pestem Mòx longè Tardè cede recede redi I will be bold a little to Comment vpon these words in this wise Fly with speed from the infected place lest by a little lingering that infection which you would leaue behinde you goe along with you And nothing can be more dangerous then for one to travaile with his humors already corrupted by an infected Aire For with
Animall faculties Overmuch Watching also and want of Sleepe dries vp the good humors and sets them in a heat and which is most dangerous weakens the Naturall Forces Therefore obserue due Times for Sleepe Goe to bed betimes and rise betimes for that is holsomest Sleepe not vpon meate or after dinner especially if you haue fed any thing liberally and by no meanes giue way to sleepe at such times lying along but if you must needs take such repose sit in a Chaire vpright and doe but take him napping let not such a sleepe be aboue halfe an houre long for a little yeelding satisfieth and by further indulgence the head will grow the more dull and drowsie I counsell therefore rather to yeeld a little in this aforesayd manner then by striving too much against it to make the head ake But let some friend or servant within the time limited awake you gently not sodainly to make you fright or start for that would disturbe those spirits and humors which your nap had setled The night is the naturall time for Sleepe But let it be two houres at the soonest after Supper if you must sup that the stomach may haue made some good progresse in Concoction before Sleepe make holiday with the Functions of Nature And then Sleepe not aboue fiue or six houres at the most Let the Chamber wherein you lie be conveniently warme the dores and windows close shut to keepe out the evill aire of the night and before-hand perfumed to expell the Pestilent Sleepe not without dores neither sit nor lie vpon the ground or grasse in the fields or garden plots for the nearer the earth the more deadly is the Aire and the immediate stroke of the cold ground is very dangerous The sixt and last Poynt is the Passions of the Minde All kindes of Passions if they be vehement doe offer violence to the Spirits Yea though they be of the better and more naturall sort As Ioy and Laughter if they be vnbridled and too profuse doe exceedingly enervate and resolue both the Spirits and Body in so much as the breast and sides are pained the breath is streightened and many times the Soule it selfe is ready to depart So also Care Suspition Enuie Iealousie and such like vnquietnesses doe ouer-heat the Spirits and drie vp and consume the good humors But there be foure Passions more violent then the rest viz. Immoderate Ioy Sorrow Anger and Feare Immoderate Ioy by suddaine and violent dilatation of the heart le ts the Spirits fly forth so abundantly that naturall heat is left naked and so is sodainly extinguished If it breake forth into laughter the danger is as I haue alreadie said It is recorded of Chrysippus that onely vpon seeing an Asse eate figs he fell into such an vnmeasurable laughter that he fell downe and died And Zeuxis that excellent Paynter who made a most curious beautifull picture of the Spartan Helen vpon the sight of a very ill favor'd old woman burst out into such an vnmeasurable laughter that he laughed himselfe to death But somtimes this Immoderate Ioy killeth before it venteth it selfe in laughter For so Sophocles the Tragedian receiving a wonderfull applause of the people for the last Tragedy he writ was so over-ioyed at it that he fell downe and died presently And it is recorded of one Rhodius Diagoras who when he saw his three sonnes all at one time crowned with victory at the Olympian games ranne to meet them and while he embraced them in his armes and they set their garlands on his head he was so overcome with Ioy that he fell downe dead in the midst of them and so turned their Triumphs into a Funerall Sorrow on the other side afflicts the heart disturbs the faculties melts the brayne vitiates the humors and so weakens all the principall parts consumes the nourishments of the Spirits and naturall heate and somtimes brings sodaine death As Adrastus King of the Argiues being told of the death of his Sonne was taken with so sodain a Sorrow that he fell downe and died presently And so Iulia the daughter of Iulius Caesar and wife of Pompey when she heard the newes of her Husbands death fell downe also suddainly and died Anger is so furious a Passion that it worketh wonderfully vpon the spirits and faculties disturbing them exceedingly as appeareth by the shaking and tossing of the body too and fro the fiery sparkling of the eyes the colour comming and going now red now pale so that the humors appeare to be inflamed especially choller and the spirits hurried this way and that way somtime haled outward and presently driven inward againe By which violent motions an vnnaturall heat in the spirits and corruption in the humors are ingendred Hereupon many times follow Burning and cholericke Feavors Pulseys Iaundis Pleurisies and all kinds of Inflamations violent bleeding at the nose which can hardly be stanched and somtime death it selfe Nerva the Emperour being highly displeased with one Regulus fell into such a fury against him that he was stricken therewith into a Feavor whereof he died shortly after Wencestaus King of Bohemia in a furious anger conceived against his Cup bearer would needs kill him presently with his owne hand but in the endevour he was stricken with a Palsey whereof he died in few dayes after Valentinianus the Emperour in a great rage would needs destroy the whole Countrey of Sarmatia but he breathed forth his menaces with such vnbridled fury that he burst out into bleeding and died In the yeare of our Lord 1623. A poore olde Man in the North part of Devonshire dwelling in a part of a little Village called Little Poderidge came to the house of Sr Thomas Monck where I at that time was and standing at the Buttery dore to receiue some Beere which together with other victualls was every day given very liberally to all the poore thereabouts because the Butler did not presently fill his tanckerd the olde Man fell into such a furious rage against her that with the very Passion he presently fell downe was taken vp dead was with much adoe by me recovered to life and sense but never spake more and died within two dayes after Feare also gathers the Spirits to the heart and dissolues the Brayne making the humors thereof to shed and slide downe into the externall parts causing a chilnesse and shaking over all the body It abuseth the Phantasie and Senses brings a Lethargie vpon the organs of motion and depriues the heart of all spirit and vigour somtimes also it makes a Mans Will for him and vnkindly bequeaths his estate to Death As Cassander the Sonne of Antipater vpon sight of Alexanders statue fell into such a terror and trembling that he could hardly shift himselfe out of the place and had much adoe to recover his spirits againe I could relate a story of one who receiving but a slight wound in the arme in