also a bird in Scithia about the bignesse of a Bustard which bringeth forth two at a time and keepeth them in a Hares skinne which she hangeth vpon a bough Hares were dedicated to loue because Xenophon saith there is no man that seeth a Hare but he remembred what he hath loued They say the citty Bocas of Laconia was builded by a signe of good fortune taken from a Hare for when the inhabitants were driuen out of their countrey they went to the Oracle to desire a place to dwell in from whom they receiued answer that Diana should shew them a dwelling place they going out of their countrey a hare met with them which they consented to follow and there to build where the Hare should lodge and they followed her to a myrtle tree where the hare hid her selfe in which place they builded their citty and euer afterwards retained with veneration a myrtle tree Pausanius And thus I will conclude this morrall discourse of hares with that Epigram of Martiall made vpon occasion of a hare that in sport passed through the mouth and teeth of a tame Lyon saying that she was ambitious in offering her life to the Lyons teeth in this wise Non facit ad saeuos cernix nisi prima leones Scilicet a magnis ad te descendere tauris Desperanda tibi est ingentis gloria fati Quid fugis hos dentes ambitiose lepus Et quae non cernunt frangere colla velint Non potes hoc tenuis praeda sub hoste mori The powder of a hare with oyle of mirtle dryueth away paine in the head and the same burned cureth the cough the powder thereof is good for the stone in the bladder The medicins of Hares Pliny also the blood and fime of a hare burnt in a raw pot to powder afterwards drunke fasting with Wine and warme water it cureth the stone and Sextus saith hee made triall of it by putting a spoonefull of the powder into Water wherein was a sand stone and the same stone did instantly melt and disolue so likewise a young hare cut out of the dams belly and burnt to powder hath the same operation A wastcoat made of hare skins straighten the bodies of young and old also the same dipped in oyle laide to the sore places of a horsses Legges where the skinne is off by ouer reatching it often cureth the sore the blood taken warme out of the body amendeth Sunne burning freckles pimples and many other faultes in skinne and face which Celsus prescribeth to bee doone first by washing the place many houres together in the morning with the blood and afterwardes annoynting it with oile the same vertue is in the fat of swannes mingled with oyle according to the saying of Serenus Cygnaeos adipes hilari miserto lyaeo Omne malum propere maculoso ex ore fugabis Sanguine vel leporis morbus delabitur omnis It also cureth and taketh away the thicke skin of the eie it adorneth the skinne produceth haire in able places and easeth the gout Or no cutim perduco pilos sedo podagrani Sanguine si fuerint membra perunctameo It being fried helpeth the bloody-flixe vlcers in the bowels an old laske and taketh away the poyson of an arrow It being annointed vpon a whot outward vlcer it ripeneth it After a bath it cureth a great leprosie by washing The rennet of a Hare staieth loosenesse the flesh is profitable for vlcers in the bowels it breaketh the stone being beaten and being decocted like a Fox easeth the gout and the shrinking vp of the sinnewes The fat with the flowers of beanes beaten together draweth thornes out of the flesh If naile sticke in the sole of the foote beat together the fat of a hare and a rawe sea-crab then lay it to the place and right against it vpon the same foote lay also two or three beane flowers and let it lie a day and a night and so it shal be cured and the same draweth a poisoned arrow out of a Horsse Andreas reporteth to Gesner that he hath often heard that the sewet of a Hare layed to the crowne of a womans head expelleth her secunds and a dead child out of the wombe The powder made of this wool or haire stauncheth bleeding if the haires be pulled off from a liue Hare and stopped into the nose The powder of the wooll of a Hare burned mingled with the oyle of Mirtles the gal of a Bull and Allum warmed at the fire and annoint it vppon the heade fasteneth the haire from falling off also the same powder decocted with Hony helpeth the paine in the bowels although they be broken being taken in a round ball the quantity of a beane together but these medicines must be vsed euery day Arnoldus prescribeth the haire to be cut short and so to be taken into the body against burstnesse A perfume made of the dung and haires of a Hare and the fat of a sea-calfe draweth forth womens flowers The seede of a wilde Cowcumber and an Oyster shell burned and put into Wine mingled with the haire of a Hare and wooll of a sheep with the flower of roses cureth inflamations of womens secrets after their child-birth Also Hipocrates prescribeth the shel of a Cuttle-fish to be beaten into wine and layed in sheeps wooll and Hares haire helpeth the falling downe of the wombe of a woman with child If a mans feete be scorched with cold the powder of a Hares Wooll is a remedy for it The head of a Hare burned and mingled with fat of Beares and vineger causeth haire to come where it is fallen off and Gallen saith that some haue vsed the whole body of a hare so burned and mingled for the foresaid cure being layed in manner of a plaister By eating of a hares head the trembling of the Nerues and the losse of motion and sence in the members receiueth singuler remedy These thinges also preserueth teeth from aking the powder of a hares head burned with salt mingled together rubbed vpon the teeth or if ye will put thereunto the whitest fennell and the dryed beanes of a Cutle fish The Indians burne together the hares head and mice for this purpose When ones mouth smelleth strong this powder with spicknard asswageth the smell The braine is good against poison The heart of a Hare hath in yt a theriacall vertue also The braine is proued to haue power in it for comforting and reparing the memory The same sod and eaten helpeth tremblings which hapeneth in the accessions of sicknesse such as one is in the cold shaking fit of an Ague It is to bee noted that all trembling hath his originall cause from the infirmitie or weakenesse of the Nerues as is apparant in olde age although the immediat causes may be some cold constitution as aboundance of cold humors drinking of cold drink and such like all which tremblings are cured by eating the braine of a hare roasted saith Dioscorides and Egineta It also
Salomon and Christ and S. Paule and S. Iohn and S. Ireney S. Gregory S. Basill S. Austen S. Ierom S. Bernard in his enarrations or Sermons vppon the Canticles and of later daies Isidorus The Monkes of Messuen Geminianus and to conclude that ornament of our time Ieronimus Zanchius For how shall we be able to speake the whole Counsell of God vnto his people if we read vnto them but one of his bookes when he hath another in the worlde which wee neuer study past the title or outside although the great God haue made them an Epistle Dedicatory to the whole race of mankind This is my endeauor and paines in this Booke that I might profit and delight the Reader whereinto he may looke on the Holyest daies not omitting prayer and the pubâ—icke seruice of God and passe away the Sabbaoths in heauenly meditations vpon earthly creatures I haue followed D. Gesner as neer as I could I do professe him my Author in most of my stories yet I haue gathred vp that which he let fal added many pictures and stories as may apeare by Conference of both together In the names of the Beasts and the Phâ—sicke I haue not swarued from him at all He was a Protestant Physitian a rare thing to finde any Religion in a Physitian although Saint Luke a Physitian were a writer of the Gospell His praises therefore shall remaine and all liuing creatures shall witnesse for him at the last day This my labor whatsoeuer it be I consecrate to the benefit of all our English Nation vnder your name and patronage a publique professor a learned reuerend Deuine a famous Preacher obserued in Court Country if you wil vouchsafe to allow of my labors I stand not vpon others if it haue your coÌ„mendation it shal incorage me to proceed to the residue wherin I feare no impediment but ability to carry out the charge my case so standing that I haue not any accesse of maintainance but by voluntary beneuolence for personall paines receiuing no more but a laborers wages but for you that had also been taken from me Therfore I conclude with the words of Saint Gregory to Leontius Et nos bona quae de vobis multipliciter praedicantur addiscentes assidue pro gloriae vestrae incolumintate omnipotentem valeamus dominum deprecari Your Chaplaine in the Church of Saint Buttolphe Aldergate EDVVARD TOPSELL THE FIRST EPISTLE OF DOCT. CONRADVS GESNERVS before his History of Foure-footed-Beastes concerning the vtility of this STORY ALL PHILOSOPHY most worthy accomplished men is in euery part excellent good most beautifull and most worthy of the loue and honor of all mortall men which are her Clyents and Loueâ—s as all wise and excellent men haue iudged in euery age But because the wits of men do differ as education conuersation custome and the profit of life and liuing and peraduenture many other causes do make many varieties of opinions in vs which do possesse humaine minds with very many preiudices not onely in learning and religion but almost in euery thing from hence therfore it commeth to passe that some do follow one part of learning which they altogether propounded to themselues or for the occasion and profit of the present estate of their affaires So is it with me that I euen from a child being brought vp of a kins-man practitioner of Physicke haue tasted from my youth the loue of that profession And although I had a little conceiued the knowledge of diuers things in the encrease of my age yet I left off the study of physicke more then was meete because I would not continue ouer long therein yet afterwards I returned again vnto the former study thereof the care of househould affaires requiring the same at my handes But when I considered the greate affinity of this Science with naturall Phylosophy and that not any one can be accounted an excellent or learned Physitian which hath not drawne as it were from a Fountaine his first instruction from bookes of nature I diligently began to peruse the writings of Philosophers which haue disputed or debated of things pertaining to nature In which those things did chiefely delight me which did handle or intreat concerning mettals plantes and liuing creatures and that for two causes First of all because there may bee had of those things a more true certain knowledge then of vnperfect or mixed bodies or Meteours and certaine other things too learned or curious or far remoued from sence or such like that a man can neuer hope for any sufficient knowledge of them by any reason or sence Afterwardes because their knowledge and contemplation did not onely pertaine to phisick but also to minister and to gouerne euery thing peculiar as other arts which were much more profitable and necessary Therefore I spent much time in this study so that in spared or borrowed houres and as often as I did desire to recreate my selfe from other studies or businesses I very desirously turned to them many yeares accepting them for my onely pleasures and ioyes which houres the common sort of men and euen very many learned men do idlely abuse in walking playing and drinking And although I haue considered and obserued very many thinges concerning Plants and other things not seene and considered before me or at least-wise brought to light of no man before therefore it would seeme lesse necessary at this present to write of them seeing that many do euen to this day write learnedly and profitably concerning plants Geor Agricola a man worthy of great praise hath most learnedly and profitably written concerning mettals wherefore I applyed my mind to the History of foure-footed-beastes handled lightly in our age and onely in partes But when that I saw I should profit but little except I should adioyn the Histories of those that haue trauailed in other countries to these priuate studies and gathering of our owne I went first of all to some points of the Germans but not many and by and by after I did adde thereunto mine owne trauailes into Italy not onely for this cause but for the honor of my Bybliothaeca that I might reckon vp all kind of writers therein for the further honor thereof But if I had met with any Mecoenas or had had further ability or my fortunes greater I had trauailed further both by Sea and land into far remote places for the enlarging of the story both of beasts and plants for the benefit of all posterity although I am in my selfe a very weake and sickly man But because that was not lawful by reason I wanted sufficient meanes I haue done that which I could and haue got also some friendes vnto me out of diuers regions or parts of Europe with whom after I communicated my purposes they returned vnto me sundry discriptions of strange beasts and the moderne names of vulgar beasts in many languages with their pictures and the true formes In the meane time I did not only sit still
what vse and commodity ariseth out of euery beast what remedies or Medicines what for garmentes what for meate what for carriage what for prognostication of euill weather what for pleasure and pastimes so as we shall not need to prosecute these parts in this present Epistle Also there want not instructions out of beasts by imitation of whose examples the liues and manners of men are to be framed to another and a better practise which thing is manifested by learned and wise men but especially by Theodorus Gaza who discourseth therof in his Praeface vpon the bookes of Aristotle of the partes of creatures whose wordes we will recite in the Epistle to our Reader But if I should shew at large and copiously how many things may be collected out of the knowledge of beasts for familiar and houshold affaires I might be infinite but seeing I haue already shewed how necessary they bee for husbandry for meat for carriage and such like it must be vnderstood that all those commodities belong to this part of Occonominall profit The like I may say of the pleasure in their contemplation for although all their vtilities cannot be knowne and in many thinges they are not beneficiall to men yet if a man be skilful and haue any vnderstanding he shal be much delighted by looking into the natures of beasts by consideration of the many and infinite differences among them whether he respect their body or their minds or their actions for what is more wonderfull then the voice or extemporall song of many Birdes who although they be far distant and remote from vs and will not abide our presence for natural fear of death yet is not the eleborate deuise of musicall and artificiall numbers measures and voyces of men comparable vnto them Pliny that Star and ornament of his time spendeth a great deale of labour in the admiration of the Nightingale And what man withall his witte can sufficiently declare and proclaime the wonderful industrious minds of the little Emmets and Bees moued almost with no bodies being silly things and yet indued with noble and commendable qualities in deformed members so that I might conclude that there is not any beast which hath not onely somthing in it which is rare glorious and peculiar to himselfe but also something that is deuine Wherefore I may seeme a foole to handle these things in a Praeface which are copiously discoursed in the whole worke Aristotle maketh it a true property of a Noble liberall and well gouerned mind to be more delighted with the rare plesant and admirable qualities of a beast then with the lucre and gaine that commeth thereby For it is a token of a filthy beastly illiberall and wretched mind to loue no more then we can reape commodity by There be very many things which do not yeald any profit to the possessors or owners but only please them allure their minds by outward form and beauty so do the most pretious stones as Adamants Topazyes Iacynthes Smaradgs Chrysolytes and many such other thinges by the wearing whereof no man is deliuered either from sicknesse or perill although some superstitious persons put confidence in them for such vertues but haue crept into the fauour and treasures of men onely because like earthly stars they shine and glitter in the eies of men resembling the resplendant glory and light of heauenly bodies and other vse they haue none and in the meane time he that should prefer free-stones fitted and squared for buildings or else Whet-stones or Mil-stones and such like which are most necessary for priuate vse and commodity yet doe they seeme vile in comparison of others and that should prefer all of them before one of the other he should be acounted no wiser then Aesops Cocke and if he should but equall them in price and estimation in like sort he should be iudged an egregious blocke or foole and yet the best of these are without life without spirit immoueable and vnworthy For this cause there is none of the creatures but deserue a far more admiration and esteeme and among liuing creatures all those which containe noble spirits in base and vile bodies without apt Organs and instrumentes for the better mouing of their bodies For as in clocks we admire the lesser more then the greater so ought we to admire the lesser narrow bodies indued with such industrious spirits more then the greater broader and larger beasts for all workemen do shew more art skill and cunning in the small and little price of worke then the greater Solinus writeth that Alexander the great had Homers Illiads writen in Parchment so close together that it might be contained in a Nut-shell The like admiration was there of the exile and curious small works of Myrmicidas the Milesian and Callicrates the Lacedemonian for they made Chariots so small that they might be couered with and vnder a flye and in the brim thereof they wrote two exameter verses in Golden letters And of Callicrates Solinus writeth that hee made little Emmets out of Iuory so artificially that it could not be discerned from the liue ones euen so nature hath stroue and strained to excell more in these vile creatures of no reputation then in greater and nobler creatures There is nothing that consisteth of matter and forme but that one of them is worthyer and the other vile and therefore the body and the soule in man haue the respect of matter and the soul is the form because of the power of mouing sences and actions wherefore when we see all these powers as it were predominant in a little creature that hath almost no body as the outward proportion of Emmets and Bees what shal we thinke but how admirably is it able to worke without the matter in the forme alone shewing it in a kind of visible nakednes to be seene without the help of corporall Organs and therefore they are not set before vs like sports pastimes to reioyce at but as honorable emblems of Diuine and supernaturall wisedome For if we admire the little body of a man because he beareth the most glorious ymage of all thinges in his proportion and the ymage of God in his soule and minde then certainely next to a man wee ought to admire these beasts which do so resemble man as man doeth the eternall and liuing God creator of them and him Pliny vnskilfully calleth nature the common parent of al creatures which indeed is the infinite maiesty of God yet he writeth effectually that there was no liuing creature made onely for this cause that it should eat or that it should satiate and satisfie other but also it was ordained to be bred and brought foorth for sauing Arts and therefore it is ingrafted euen in the bowels and intrals of deafe and dumbe things Now for the creatures which are profitable to men as sheep Oxen Horses and such like when we looke vppon them wee cannot onely admire the wisedome and power of God in their
creation but also we ought to giue hereby thanks to his maiesty for their creation and conseruation in their seuerall kinds and orders for the vse and behoofe of men And for those things which are altogither vnprofitable to men we ought to woonder as much at their vilenesse as they want of profitablenes For those admirable gifts and powers are not common to all little beasts as we see they are in Elephants Lyons Camels such other for then we should wonder at them the lesse but yet in som of the litle ones there are farre more excellent properties then in any of the greatest Consider with what art and indrustry the Bee frameth her Combe and the Emmet storeth her nest and tell me if the wit and eloquence of man be able sufficiently to expresse and praise it Beside their perpetuall concord dilligence and agreement in the administration gathring and spending of all their store inso much as eyther they seem to be deriued from nature or els from a deep reach of wit reason and vnderstanding neither are they the lesse admirable if we grant that these vertures are not natural and proper nor proceeding from reason wil for they are no lesse the strange or stranger worke of God For what a Diuine thing is it that these beasts attaine to that vpon a sudden without instruction and teaching and therefore by instinct and a kind of reuelation which men do not attaine in long exercise practise study These are assuredly euident testimonies of diuinity for the Lord is meruailous in al his works either in nature or reason wil or contrary to both without al interceeding mean for al these haue dependance vpon his pleasure For how can his Diuine power wisedome and goodnesse euer be absent from the world I meane from man the prince of the world when such excellent gifts are made visible in little beasts that euerie day perish and are corrupted easily and ingendered againe by their owne putrifaction so as they neuer faile in kind euen those that are so smal little in body that they can scarse be seen by the eies of man these things are to me vnanswerable argumēts of the presence and power of God for that they moue and bee in action it proceedeth of his power in that they vse their sences and there by follow and attaine those things which are profitable to them and avoyd al hurtful things contrary to their nature because they build them houses and places of habitation make prouision for their food and victuals it proceedeth of his wisedome but in that they nourish their young ones loue one another in al outward appearance liuing in flocks togither as if they had knowledge of society and consent vnanimously to their work and labour it is likewise a token and visible emblem of his goodnes The first cause therefore of these virtues or whatsoeuer you wil cal them Idea or Original must needs be the absolute example of God the Creator And wee must not suppose that his most excellent Maiesty hath proponed these patternes vnto vs by chance or rashly without purpose of this end that it should be to vs as cleare as the light Omnia diuinitatis esse plena that all things are full of his Diuinity seeing that a Sparrow lighteth not on the ground without his will And the poet saide God is in the middest of Beasts Men Markets and Sea And heere I cannot containe my selfe from relating the words of Aristotle for I trust that no man will blame me if I alledge and write any thing truely and fitly although it be in another mans words for it is not to be regarded who saith but what is sayed or spoken Thus therefore he writeth Among those creatures which are lesse acceptable to our sences nature which is the common mother of all hath ordained many delightes and pleasures in them for men which vnderstand their cause or can reason of their Natures liberally for this thing is absurd and farre from all reason that because we cannot looke vppon the ymages and vpper faces of creatures and naturall thinges painted and framed without we also behold in them the wit and Art of the Painter and that therefore we can take lesse pleasure in the worke for the Worke-mans sake For if we can attaine to the true causes we shall no lesse kisse and imbrace the contemplation of the very actions of naturall thinges with woonderfull diligence and alacrity and for this cause it is a base thinge to despise the nature and constitution of the smaller and viler beasts fit for Boyes and childish minds for there is not any work of nature wherein there is not some wonderfull thing therefore that is true which Heraclitus sayed to them that followed him vnto a hot-house wherein he sat to warme his body and when he perceiued that they were affraid to come in he cryed out vnto them that they should abstaine forbeare to enter boldly because Ne hinc quidem loco desunt dij immortalis That euen in this place you shall finde the immortall Gods And this rule must be followed in looking into the nature of Beasts for we ought to enter into their consideration without feare or blushing seeing the operation of nature is euery where very honest and beautifull for therein is nothing done inconsideratly and without a true end but all things aduisedly for a certain and determinat purpose and this purpose doth alway containe both goodnes and honesty But if any man be so Barbarous as to thinke that the beasts and such other creatures cannot affoord him any subiect woorthy of his contempaltion then let him thinke so of himselfe likewise for what ignoble basenesse is there in bloode flesh bones vaines and such like Doth not the body of man consist thereof And then how abhominable art thou to thy selfe that doest not rather looke into these which are so neere of kinde vnto thee And I may adde as much of them that reason of matter without forme or vse forme without matter as of a house without the sides or of a vessell without the best part and and so is he that looketh vppon one part of nature and not the whole or on those things which cannot be seuered from the substaunce Thus farre Aristotle whose wordes I haue expressed at large because as we haue borrowed all his substance and inserted it into our discourse so I thought it not good to omit his preface Seeing these thinges are thus we cannot but thinke that euery story of a beast is like a seuerall Hymne to praise the Diuine wisdome and goodnes from which as from a pure euer-springing-fountaine proceed and flow all good beautifull and wise actions First thorough the heauenly spirits and degrees of Angels and celestial bodies afterward thorough the minds of men beginning at the highest and so proceeding to the lowest for euen in men the giftes and graces of God differ and from men to other creatures that haue
biteth but eateth not the flesh When the Warriner setteth it downe to hunt Iâ—â—dorus Perâ—ttus Their drinking or bloud Agricola Their prouocation to huÌ„t hee first of all maketh a great noise to fray all the Conies that are abroad into their holes and so hauing frighted them pitcheth his nets then putteth his tame Ferret into the earth hauing a long string or cord with bels about hir necke whose mouth he muzzleth that so it may not bite the cony but onely terrifie her out of her borough and earth with her presence or clawes which being perfourmed she is by Dogs chased into the nets and there ouerwhelmed as is aforesaid in the history of the conies Theyr body is longer for the proportion then their quantity may affoord for I haue seen them two spans long but very thin and smal Their colour and eyes Their colour is variable somtime black and white on the belly but most commonly of a yellowish sandy colour like hermeline or wooll died in vrine The head little like a mouses and therefore into whatsoeuer hole or chinke she putteth it in all her body will easily follow after The eies small but fiery like red hot yron and therefore she seeth most clearely in the darke Her voyce is a whyning cry neither doth she chaunge it as a Cat She hath onely two teeth in the neather chap standing out and not ioyned or growing together The genital of the male is of a bony substance wherein Pliny and Scaliger agree with Cardan and Straho for the Ictys also therefore it alway standeth stiffe and is not lesser at one time then at other The pleasure of the sence in copulation is not in the yard or genital part but in the nerues muscles and tunicles wherein the said genitall runneth When they are in copulation the female lyeth downe or bendeth her knees and continually cryeth like a Cat either because the Male pincheth and claweth her skin with his sharpe nailes or else because of the rigidity of his genitall The number of their yong ones And when the female desireth copulation except shee bee with conuenient speede brought to a Male or he suffered to come to her she swelleth and dyeth They are very fruitfull in procreation for they bring foorth seauen or eight at a time bearing them in their littie belly not aboue fortie daies The young ones newly littered are blind 30. daies togither and within 40. daies after they can see they may be set to hunting The noble men of France keep them for this pleasure who are greatly giuen to hunt conies and they are sold ther for a French crown Young boies and schollers also vse them to put them into the holes of rockes and Walles to hunt out Birdes and likewise into hollow Trees where out they bring the Birds in the clawes of their feet They are nourished being tamed with milke Their food or with barlie breade and they can fast a very long time When they go they contract their long backe and make it stand vpright in the middle round like a bowle When they are touched they smell like a Martell and they sleepe very much being wilde they liue vpon the blood of conies Hennes Chickens Hares or other such things which they can finde and ouermaister In their sleepe also they dreame which appeareth by whyning and crying in their sleepe whereas a long fly called a Fryer flying to the flaming candels in the night is accounted among poysons the Antidote and resister thereof is by Pliny affirmed to be a Goats gall or liuer The medicines of Ferrets mixed with a Ferret or wilde Weasill and the gall of Ferrets is held pretious against the poison of Aspes although the flesh and teeth of a ferret be accounted poyson Likewise the gall of a Ferret is commended against the falling disease and not onely the gal saith Marcellus but the whole body if it be rosted dressed and eaten fasting like a young pig It is said by Rasis and Albertus that if the head of a wolfe be hanged vp in a doue-cote neither cat Ferret weasil Stoate or other noysomâ— beast dare to enter therein These ferrets are kept in little hutches in houses and there fed where they sleepe much they are of a very whottemperature or constitution and therefore quickly disgest their meate and being wild by reason of their fear they rather seeke their meat in the night then in the day time OF THE FITCH OR POVL-CAT THe difference of a Poul-cat from the wild-cat Isidorus The name the notation thereof is because of her strong stinking sauour and therefore is called Putorius of Putore because of his ill smell for al weasils being incensed and prouokt to wrath smell strongly especially the Poul-cat likewise when in the spring time they endeuour procreation for which cause among the Germans when they would expresse an infamous Whoore or whoore-maister they say they stinke like an Iltis that is a fitch or Poul-cat The French call this beast Putois and Poytois as it is to be found in Carolus Figulus the Sauoyens Pouttett the Illirians and Bohemians Tchorz and the Polonians Vijdra and Scaliger calleth it in Latine Catum fuinam by another name theÌ„ Putorius It is greater then an ordinary weasill but lesser then the wilde Martell The quantity and nature of this bâ—â—st Stumpsius Agricola and yet commonly fatter the haires of it are neither smooth and of one length or of one colour for the short haires are somewhat yellowish and the long ones blacke so as one would thinke that in many places of the body there were spottes of diuers colours but yet about the mouth it is most ordinarily white The skin is stiffe harsh and rugged in handling and therefore long lasting in Garments yet because the beast is alwaie fat the sauor of it is so rank The skins vse of them that it is not in any great request and moreouer it is said that it offendeth the heade and procureth ache therein and therefore it is sold cheaper then a Foxe skinne and the fattest is alway the worst of all The skinners approue the skins of fitches and Martils best which are killed in winter because their flesh and lust is much lower and therefore rendereth a lesse hurtfull smell then at other times The taile is not aboue two handes or palmes long and therefore shorter then is a Martilles In all other partes of the bodye it equalleth a Martill or exceedeth very little hauing thinner Neckes but larger and greater Bellies the Taile Legges and breast are also of a blacker colour but the belly and sides more yellow Some haue deliuered that the left legges thereof are shorter then the right legs but this is founde vntrue by daily experience They keepe in the toppes of houses and secret corners delighting to kil and eat hens and chickens whose craft in deuouring his prey is singular Iâ—â—lorus Their meate and subtletie not to
valiantly to turne him with the bridle which way soeuer he pleaseth to beate him when hee is stubborne to auoyde Ditches Gulfes and Whyrpooles when he rideth through Waters going vp a hill to lengthen the raines and to restraine and draw them in going down the hill now and then to stroke his haire and not alwaies to vse stripes Martial hath an excellent Epigrame vppon one Priscus a rash-headed-hunter who neither feared Hedges Hils Dales Ditches Rockes Riuers nor other perils vsing a bridle to his Horsse but none to his affections and therefore he telleth him that he may sooner break a Hunters necke then take away a Hares life for ther are deceits in the rocks hils and plaine fieldes to shake the rider from horsebacke to the earth Thus followeth the Epigram Parcius vtaris moneo rapiente veredo Prisce nec in leopores tam violentus eas Saepe satisfecit praedae venator acri Decidit excussus nec rediturus equo Insidias campus habet nec fussa nec agger Nec sint saxa licet fallere plana solent Non deerunt qui tanta tibi spectacula praestent Inuidia fatised leuiore cadunt Si te delectant animosa pericula Thuscis Tutior est virtus insidiemur apris Quid te frena iuuant temeraria Saeptus illis Prisce datum est equitem rumpere quam leporem The best place for riding is a barren and plaine Country It is reported of Claudius that when he had roade a great way in the Country vpon his enemies and met no body he returned backe againe into his owne Campe and blamed the sluggishnesse of his enemies because no one of them was seene abroad It is reported by Aristotle that the further a man rideth the more apt hee shall be to weepe and the reason is because of all the motions of the body riding is the wholsomest both for the stomach and for the hippes for a man must not sit on horsebacke as if hee were carried in a coach but rather keepe his backe-bone vpright not onely to be moued by his Horsse that beareth him but also by himselfe and therefore hee must sit close to the Horsses hips extending his Legges to the vttermost vsing not onely his eies to looke before him but also lifting vp his neck to help his sight for so the soft pace of the Horsse doth corroborate the spirit aboue al other exercises likewise the body and stomack also it purgeth the senses and maketh them sharp yet sometimes by the violent course of a Horsse the breast of a man or some other part about the raines receiue damage as some haue obserued yet is it not so much to be ascribed to the motion of riding as to the vneasie pace or rather to the vneasie seat of the rider The Scythians aboue all other Nations haue the loosest and broadest bodies and the reason is because they wrap not their children in swadling cloathes as other people and likewise because they haue no regard vnto their sitting vpon horseback and lastly for their continual sloath and easie for the men vse much to ride in Chariots and Litters before they get on horsebacke but after they are accustomed thereunto they ride so much that their hips and bones fal ful of ache and they are also thereby made vnfit for generation because in a iourney of an hundred Miles they neuer light to ease themselues and their beastes These men hereafter named were excellent riders tamers of Horsses Antomedon seruant of Achilles Idaeus seruant to Paraimus Metiseus seruant to Turnus Myrtilus seruant to Ocnomaus Ceberes seruant to Darius Anniceris seruant to Cyreneus Picus to Mesapus and Lausus Silius remembreth Cyrnus Durius Atlas and Iberus The instruments of Riding appertaining to a Horsse A Good rider must consider the hardnesse or softnesse of his Horsses mouth that so hee may temper his bit for a stiffe necked horsse is not so much to be guided by rod and Spur as by bit and bridle wherefore it must sometime be hard sometimes gentle The hard bits are called Lupati because they are vnequal and indented like to a wolues teeth wherevnto the Horsse being accustomed groweth more tractable and obedient to a gentle bit According to the saying of Ouid Tempore pareot equus lentis animosis habenis Et placido duros accipit ore lupos And Virgill againe speaketh to like effect prensisque negabunt Verbera lenta pati duris parere lupatis Asper equus duris contunditur ora lupatis And Silius saith Quadrupedem flectit non cedens virga lupatis There is also another instrument made of yron or Wood called Pastomis and englished Barnacles which is to be put vpon the horsses Nose to restraine his tenatious fury from biting and kicking especially at such time as he is to be shod or dressed The Indians wer wont to vse no bridles like the Graecians and Celts but only put vpon their horses mouth a piece of a raw Oxe skin fastened round about containing in it certaine yron pricks standing to the Horsses lips putting a long a round trench through his mouth to the edge whereof they fasten the raines wherewithall they guide the beast The Turkish Horsses and Spanish Iennets haue bits with open circles in the middle consisting of leather or Iron to restraine the Horsses fury The raines are called Habenae because they make the horsses Habeles that is tractable and rulable to be turned restrained or put forward at our pleasure according to the saying of Cilius Ferrato calce atque effusa largus habena Cunctantem impellebat equum And Virgill Ipse ter aducta circum caput egit habena Neither is there any Horsse swift or slow noble or vnnoble that can be guided without these which must be held continually in the hand of the rider they must not be vnequal one longer then another neither thicke neither weake nor brickle There was a certaine Golden chaine called Ampix wherewithall the fore-tops of Horses were wont to bee bound or tyed vp and thereupon Homer calleth the Horsse of Mars Crysampix and from hence came that custome of womens frontlets to be adorned with gold and pretious stones There are also other ornaments of Horses called trappings and in Latine Phalerae deriued from Phalon in Greeke signifying bright because they were wont to put a great deale of Gold and Siluer on them as Liuius saith which Horsses so trapped were presents for great Princes And there is a kind of Achates stone wherwithall the Indians do adorne their Horsse trappings and it was apparent in Homers time that they vsed little Bels or sounding pieces of Brasse to bee fastened to their horsses bridles and trappings they hanged likewise Iewels and pearles to the breast of their Horsses which Virgill expresseth in this manner Instratros ostro alipdes pictisque tapetis Aurea pectoribus demissa monilia pendent Tecti auro fuluum mandunt sub dentibus aurum A good horse-man must also haue a paring knife
Let him bloode aboundantly in the necke vaines and within fiue daies after let him blood againe in the temple vaines and let him stand in a warme and darke stable and annoint al his body with comfortable ointments and his head and eares with Oyle of Bay and liquid Pitch or Tar mingled together And also put some therof into his eares and and then make a Biggen for him of some soft warm skin as of a sheepes skin or els of canuas stuffed vnderneath with woll and make him this purging drink Take of Radish roots two ounces of the root of the herb called in Latine Panax or Panaces and of Scammony of each one ounce beate al these things together and boile them in a quart of Hony and at sundry times as you shal see it needefull giue him a good spoonefull or two of this in a quart of Ale lukewarme whereunto would be put three or foure spoonefuls of oyle It is good also to blow the powder of Motherwort or of Pyrethrum vp into his nostrils and if the disease do continue stil for al this then it shal be needeful to pearse the skinne of his forehead in diuers places with a hot iron and to let out the humors oppressing his braine of the night Mare THis is a disease oppressing either man or beast in the night season when he sleepeth so as he cannot drawe his breath and is called of the Latines Incubus It commeth of a continual crudity or raw digestion of the stomach from whence grosse vapors ascending vp into the head do oppresse the braine and al the sensitiue powers so as they cannot do their office in giuing perfect feeling and mouing to the body And if this disease chancing often to a man be not cured in time it may perhaps grow to a worse mischiefe as to the faling euil madnesse or Apopelexy But I could neuer learne that Horses were subiect to this disease neither by relation nor yet by reading but only in an old English writer who sheweth neither cause nor signes how to know when a horsse hath it but onely teacheth how to cure it with a fond foolish charme which because it may perhaps make you gentle Reader to laugh as wel as it did me for recreation sake I will heere rehearse it Take a flint stone that hath a hole of his owne kinde and hang it ouer him and write in a bill In nomine patris c. Saint George our Ladies Knight He walked day so did he night Vntill he her found He her beate and he her bound Till truely her troath she him plight That she would not come within the night There as saint George our Ladies knight Named was three times saint George And hang this scripture ouer him and let him alone with such proper charmes as this is the false Friers in times past were wont to charme the mony out of plaine folks purses Of the Apoplexy THe Apoplexy is a disease depriuing all the whole body of sense and mouing And if it depriue but part of the body then it is called of the Latines by the Greeke name Paralysis in our tongue a palsie It proceedes of cold grosse and tough humors Blundevile oppressing the braine all at once which may breed partly of crudities and raw digestion and partly by meanes of some hurt in the head taken by a fall stripe or otherwise As touching Apoplexy few or none writing of horsleach-craft do make any mention thereof but of the Palsie Vegetius writeth in this manner A Horsse saith he may haue the palsie as wel as a man which is knowne by these signes He will go grouelling and sideling like a Crab carrying his necke awry as if it were broken and goeth crookedly with his legs beating his head against the wals and yet forsaketh not his meate nor drink and his prouender seemeth moist and wet The cure Let him blood in the temple vaine on the contrary side of the wrying of his necke and annoint his necke with comfortable ointment and splent it with splents of wood to make it stand right and let him stand in a warme stable and giue him such drinks as are recited in the next chapter following But if all this profiteth not then draw his necke with a hot yron on the contrary side that is to say on the whole side from the neather part of the eare downe to the shoulders and draw also a good long strike on his temple on that side and on the other temple make him a little star in this sort * and from his raines to his mid backe draw little lines in a manner of a ragged staffe and that will heale him Of the Crampe or convulsion of the sinnewes and Muscles A Conuulsion or crampe is a forceable and painefull contraction or drawing together of the sinnewes and Muscles which doe happen sometime through the whole body and sometime but in one part or member only And according as the body may be diuersely drawne so do the Physitians and also mine Authors that write of horse-leach craft giue it diuers names For if the body be drawne forward then they call it in Greeke Emprosthotonos in Latine Tensio ad anteriora And if the body be drawne backe it is called in Greeke Opisthotonos in Latine Tensio ad pesteriora But if the body be starke and straite bowing neither forward nor backward then it is called simply in Greeke Tetanos in Latine Distensio or Rigor which names also are applied to the like conuulsions of the necke Notwithstanding Vegetius writing of this diease inâ—ituleth his chapters de Roborosis a strange terme and not to be found againe in any other Aâ—thor A conuulsion as I said before may chance as well to one part or member of the body as to the whole body as to the eie to the skin of the forehead to the rootes of the toâ—gue to the iawes to the lips to the arme hand or Legge that is to say whensoeuer the sinnew or muscle seruing to the moouing of that part is euill affected or grieued Of which conuulsions though ther be many diuers causes yet Hippocrates bringeth them all into two that is to say into fulnesse and emptinesse for when a conuulsion proceedeth either of some inflamation of superfluous eating or drinking or for lacke of due purgation or of ouermuch rest and lacke of exercise all such causes are to be referred to repleâ—ion or fulnesse But if a conuulsion come by means of ouermuch purging or bleeding or much watching extreame labor long fasting or by wounding or pricking of the sinnewes then al such causes are to be referred vnto emptinesse And if the conuulsion proceede of fulnesse it chanceth suddenly and all at once but if of emptynesse then it commeth by little and little and leisurely Besides these kindes of conuulsions there is also chancing many times in a mans singers Legges and toes another kind of conuulsion which may bee called a windye conuulsion for that it proceedes of
They liue not onely in the earth but also in trees which they climbe like Squirrils and therefore make prouision of Nuttes and meate against the Winter which they lodge in the earth The Countrymen finding in the Summer their caues and dens do wisely forbeare to destroy them knowing that they will bring into them the best Nuts and Fill-herds can bee gotten and therefore at one side they sticke vppe a certaine long rod by direction whereof in the Winter time they come and dig out the den iustly taking from them both their life and store because they haue vniustly gathred it together Some haue eaten it but they were deceiued taking it for the Dormouse OF THE LASCITT MOVSE THis Mouse is called by the Germans Lascitts and also Harneball because of the similitude it holdeth with the Ermeline Weasell The skinne of it is very pretious being shorter then the Ermeline two fingers breadth And for as much as else there is no difference between the Lascitt Mouse and the Lascitt Weasell except in the quantity My opinion is that they are all one and differ onely in age And I am rather led to affirme thus much because there are skinnes annually brought to the Mart of Frankford out of Polonia cald Lascett which are no other then the weasels of Nouo grodela whose white skins are intermixed with griffeld and thus much shall suffice to haue said of this Mouse OF THE SOREX Of the name and kind I Am of opinion that this kind of Mouse belongeth to the Hasell Mouse before spoken of because it is wilde hath a hairy taile and sleepeth in the Winter all which things are by Pliny ascribed to the Sorex onely this hindereth that he maketh the Sorex to haue rough hairy eares and the Sorex of Germany hath bald eares For answer whereof this shall suffice that the other 3. notes being so great pregnant there is no cause why the want of one and that so litle as the haires on the eares should depriue it of his naturall due and kind The Italians and the French vse this word Sorex Alunnus for a domesticall vulgar Mouse and so peraduenture did the ancients before them but it is greater then the domesticall mouse although Plinyes Sorex be neither greater nor lesser The Spaniards call a Sorex Sorace or Raton Pequenno The Illirians Viemegka Myss by which word also they vnderstand a Shrew-mouse The fibres of the intrals of this Sorex doe encrease and decrease with the Moone so that the number of them do alwaies answer the number of the daies of her age Her eares as we haue said are full of haires but in the lowest part or tip thereof The reason of her name is taken from the skreeching voice she maketh in gnawing For it is a very harmefull biting beast cutting asunder with her teeth like a sawe Some doe deriue the Greeke word from Huras which aunciently did signifie a mouse and therefore they call this Syrax and Saurex but I list not to stand any longer vppon the name seeing the beast it selfe affordeth little worthy matter to entreat of It is reported by Varro that in Arcadia there was a Hogge so fat that a Sorex did eate into her flesh and made her nest and brought forth young ones therein which may very well be for such is the nature of a fat Swine that he will hardly rise to eate his meate or ease himselfe of his excrements And besides fatnesse stoppeth sence burying both the Nerues and Arteries very deepe so that in the body of a man his fattest part is least sensible Lycinius the Emperor going about to restraine the insolency of the Eunuckes and Courtiers called them Ineas Sorisesque palatinos that is mothes and Sorexes of the court There was an auncient garment as Pliny writeth called Vestis soriculata Egnatius and this was very pretious in my opinion because it was garded or fringed with the skinnes of the Sorex If this beast fall into any Wine or Oyle she corrupteth the same and it is to be recouered by the same meanes as we haue formerly described in the vulgar Mouse It should seeme there was great store of them in the daies of Heliogabalus for he commanded as Iampridius writeth to be brought vnto him not onely a thousand of these beasts but also a thousand Weasels and ten thousand vulgar Mice as we haue shewed before in the story of the vulgar Mouse When the South-sayers were about their diuinatious Pliny writeth that if they heard the squeaking of a Sorex they brake off and gaue ouer their labour holding it vnprofitable to goe any further therein and it is also reported that the voice of this Mouse gaue occasion to Fabius Maximus to giue ouer his Dictatorship and vnto Caius Flaminnius to giue ouer the Mastership of the horsemen such feare of silly beastes was begotten in the minds of gallant and magnanimious spirits by the vnprofitable and foolish behauiour and doctrines of the Magitians It is said by Nigidius that these Sorises doe sleepe all the Winter hide themselues like the Dormouse They also when they eate any corne do screetch and make a greater noise then other Mice whereby they bewray themselues in the darke vnto their enemies and are killed which was the occasion of that prouerbial speech of Parmeno in Terrence Ego me◠meo iudicio miser quasi sorex perij Saint Austine and Saint Origine doe also make vse of this prouerbe the one in his booke of order the other in a Homily vpon Genesis which caused Erasmus to write in this manner Sed videber ipse meis iudicijs captus that is I haue ouerthrowne my selfe with my owne tale These Sorices doe make hollow the trees wherein Emets or Ants breed and there is perpetuall hatred betwixt the Bîttors and these one lying in waite to destroy the others yoong The medicines of the Sorex Serenus and Pliny say that if a woman with child doe eate the sinnewes of a Sorex if her eies be blacke so shall the infants be likewise Si praegnans artus captiui Sorices edit Dicuntur foetus nigrantia lumina fingi The fat of these beastes or of Dormice is very ptofitable against the Paulsie The powder of the heads and tailes annointed with Hony vppon the eies restoreth the clearenesse of sight and with hony atticke the powder and fat of a Sorex burned helpeth running eies and the same powder mingled with oile cureth bunches in the flesh There is another mouse called by Mathaeolus Mus Napelli that is a Wolfe-bainemouse so called because it feedeth vpon the roots of that Hearbe Of the mous called Mus Napelli although there bee some of opinion that it is not a creature but another little Hearbe growing neare vnto it for a counter poyson And Marcellus also maketh mention of Napellus and Antinapellus whereunto I should easily condescend but that the eye-sight of Mathaeolus leadeth me to the contrary For he writeth that he tooke one
giue them their belliful of drinke twice a day and generally we must not lead them to the waters as we do Goats and sheepe but when the heat of Summer is about the rising of the Dog-star we must keepe them altogether by water sides that so they may at their owne pleasure both drinke and lie downe to wallow in the mire and if the coasts be so dry that this cannot bee obtained or permitted then must they haue water set in troughes and vessels whereof they may tast at their owne pleasure for otherwise through want of water they grow liuer and lung sicke Columella The miery water doth most quickly make them fat and they will drink wine or beere vnto drunkennesse and in those countries where Grapes grow if the swine come into the vintage they grow drunke with eating of grapes Also if the Leeze of wine be mingled with their meat they grow fat aboue measure and sencelesse in their fat whereby it hath bin seene that a mouse hath eaten into the sides of a fat Hog without the resistance of the beast and the like is reported by Pliny of the sonne of L. Apronius who had bin a Consul for his bodie grew so fat that it was taken from him his body remaining immouable And in the spring time Swine of their owne accord grow so fat that many times they cannot stand on their legs their bodies be so heauy nor go any whit so that if they are to be remoued they are not to be drouen but to be carried in a cart Varro and Crescentiensis do report admirable things of the fatnes of swine For first Varro saith The great fatnes of swine that hee receiued knowledge from a credible honest man in Portugall of a Swine that there was killed the offall wherof with two ribbes was sent to Volumnius a Senatour which weighed twenty and three pounds and the fat betwixt the skin and the bone was a foot and three fingers thicke Vnto this he addeth the story of the Arcadian Sowe who suffered a mouse to eat into her fat and breed young ones therein after she made a nest which thing he likewise affirmeth of a Cow And Crescentiensis reporteth of an other Lusitenian Swine which after the death weighed fiue hundred seuenty and fiue pounds and the Lard of that Hogge was one foot and three fingers broad And the like may be said of a Hogge at Basill nourished by a certaine Oile-man in whose Larde or fatte after his death were found manie passages of mice too and fro which they had gnawed into his body without the sence of the beast The meat best manner to fatten Hogges Hogs growe fat in short time In auncient daies as Pliny writeth they put them vp to fatting threescore daies and first of all they made them fast three daies together after six daies they may senciblie be perceiued to grow fat There is not any beast that can better or more easilie be accustomed to al kinds of food and therefore doeth verie quicklie grow fat the quantitie and stature of their bodie considered for whereas an Oxe or Cowe or Hart and such like Beasts aske long time yet a Swine which eateth of all sorts of meate doth very quickely euen in a moneth or two or three at the most prooue woorthye the knife and also his maisters table although in some places they put them vppe to fatting a whole yeare together and how much they profit and gather in their feeding it is verye easie for them to obserue that daily keep and attend them and haue the charge and ouerseeing of them And there must be had great care of their drinke In Thracia after they put vp a Hog to fatting they giue him drinke the first daie and then let him fast from drink two daies and so giue him drinke by that proportion till the seuenth day afterwarde they obserue no more dyet for their Swine but giue them their fill of meat and drinke till the slaughter day In other Countries they diet them in this sort After Beanes and Pease they giue them drinke aboundantly because they are solide and harde but after Oats and such like as meale they giue them no drinke least the meale swimme vp and down in their belly and so be eiected into the excrements without any great profitte There is nothinge whereon it liueth but thereby it will grow fatte except grazing and therefore all manner of graine Millet seed Figges Acornes Nuttes Peares Apples Cucumbers Rootes and such things cause them to rise in flesh gratefully and so much the sooner if they bee permitted to roote now and then in the mire They must not be vsed to one simple or vnmingled or vncompounded meate but with diuers compounds for they reioyce in variety and change like other beastes for by this mutation of food they are not onely kept from inflamation and windinesse but part of it alway goeth into flesh and part into fat Some vse to make their stye wherein they are inclosed to be very darke and close Aelianus for their more speedy fatting and the reason is good because the beast is more apt to be quiet You shall haue Bakers that will fat their Hogges with bran and in Elsatia a country of Germany they fat them with Beane-meale for thereby they grow fat very speedily and some with barley meale wet with flat milke And in the Alpes they fat them with Whaye whereby their fat and flesh groweth more white and sweete then if they were fatted with Acorns yet whay is very dangerous for such is the rauening intemperancy of this beast to swil in whatsoeuer is pleasant to his taste that many times in drinking of Whaye their bellies growe extended aboue measure euen to death except that they bee dieted by a wife keeper and driuen vp and downe not suffered to rest till it flow foorth againe backeward Baâ—ly is very nourishable to them whether it be sod or raw and especially for Sowes with Pigge for it preserueth the young ones til deliuery and at the farrowing causeth an easie and safe pigging And to conclude this part Millers and Bakers fat with meale and bran brewers with Ale or Barley steeped in Ale Oyle-men with the refuse of Nuttes and Grapes Some again there be that grew fat with the rootes of Ferne. Alâ—ertus When a Sow is very fat she hath alway but little milke and therefore is not apte to make any good tidie pigs and yet as all other beasts grow leane when they giue sucke so also doth swine Al swine in hot regions by reason of a viscous humor groweth more fat then in the cold regions In that part of Frisia neer Germany they fat Oxen and swine with the same meate for there you shal haue in one stable an Oxe and a Hogge tyed behind him at his taile for the Oxe being tied to the rack eateth Barly in the straw chaffe which he swalloweth down without chewing and so
life or sence as to plants and inanimate bodyes so as the inferiors do alwaies so compose themselues to the imitation of the superiours euen as their shaddowes and resemblaunces And in these doth Diuinity descend first to supernaturall things and then to things naturall and we must turne saile and ascend first by things naturall before we can attaine and reach thinges supernaturall In the meane time Diuinity it selfe remaineth one and the same without change and alteration notwithstanding the manifold increasings and decreasings of all these creatures which it vseth but as Glasses and Organs and according to the diuersity both of matter and forme it shineth and appeareth in one and other more or lesse euen as we see in our owne bodies whose soule is disseminated into euery part and member yet is there a more liuely representation thereof in one part and member then in another and the faculties more visibly and sensibly appeare in the vpper then in the neather partes But yet with this difference that the soule is so ioyned to the body as with a kind of Sympathy it suffereth harme and ioy with the subiect wherein it is circumscribed but none of these things do happen to the Diuinity for it is so communicated to creatures as it neither is any part or matter or forme of them nor yet can be affected by any thing the creature suffereth nor yet included in the creature but yet is in all and ouer all and without all and aboue all compassing filling and surpassing heauen and earth infinite and impossible and concluding the whole World visible and inuisible And truely these thinges surpasse all the wit of man for we are not able with thought and much lesse with wordes to expresse it and yet we ought not to be deterred for any cause from the consideration and contemplation thereof but rather after we haue waded in the same with all humility to acknowledge his power and to view all the helps for our infirmitimes to admire his wisedome and endeuour thereby to amend our ignorance and encrease our knowledge and in conclusion to beate downe our pride and malice by praysing and extolling his grace and goodnesse For being thus affected and conuersant in beholding these neather and backer partes of God confessing with thankes giuing that all these thinges doe proceede from his Diuinity we cannot stay but ascend vppe higher to the worker himselfe vsing all thinges in this life but as Prickes and Spurres for occasion and admonitions to thinke vppon and reuerence the prime Author For we haue continuall neede in this World to be put in mind and incited to the study and contemplation of heauenly thinges and so we shall leaue all these things behind vs after this mortal life ended and by the help of our Lord and Sauiour Iesus Christ who by his onely death hath prepared for vs a way to the kingdome of ineffable glory where we shall partake with the forepartes and most cleare reuelation of the vnspeakeable maiesty of God for this is the end of our life for which we were created and also the scope and conclusion of all naturall knowledge of the works of God And least that any man should thinke that these thinges are ours or the heathen Phylosphers sayings and cannot be defended out of the sacred and supreme Testimony of holy Scriptures I will also adde some few sayings recorded in the booke of God First of all therefore when in the beginning of the World God was about to create man who was to vse al things and to behold them in this World as it were in a Theater he created all kind of Beastes and creatures before man that he might bring him into a house furnished and adorned with all thinges necessary and delectable Afterward he brought into his presence all the creatures to bee named by him which the Scripture recordeth for excellency sake for it is no doubt but he named all thinges that should continue to the Worldes end yet expressely there is no mention but of liuing creatures as Fishes Foules Cattell and creeping things that so they might be submitted and vassalaged to his Empire authority and gouernment which thing least it should seeme but a proud coniecture it is againe repeated in the blessing that God pronounceth to man and all his posterity and againe after the floud vnto Noah and his Childeren Euery beast saith God shall be afraid of you both the Beastes of the earth and the Foules of heauen and what soeuer is bred in the earth or brought forth in the Sea all are yours whatsoeuer liueth and moueth it is permitted to you for meate And before when the floud was at hand God commaunded Noah to suffer all beastes that could not liue in the Water to enter the Arke and of Foules and cleane Birds seuen of a kind of impure couples to the intent that as for man they were at first created and produced out of the earth so hee would that man should concerue their kindes without contempt of them that were vncleane beasts Furthermore in the booke of Kings we read of Salomon that God gaue him such wisedome that he excelled all the wise and learned men of the world and among other fruits and tokens of that wisedome there is remembred his parables three thousand his verses aboue fiue thousande his History of plantes from the high Caedar to the Hysope stalke and lastly his discourse of Beasts Birds Fishes and creeping things What is man sayth Dauid that thou shouldst so remember him or the sonne of man that thou shouldst visite him Thou hast set him ouer the works of thy hands and hast set all things vnder his feet Oxen sheep Foules Fishes and whatsoeuer moueth in the Waters And the same King and prophet in another place Psal 148. Praise the Lord Dragons and all deepes ye wilde beasts and creeping creatures But how can Beastes praise the Lord Or how could they vnderstand the Prophets exhortation Surely therefore we are commaunded to praise God for them confessing his goodnesse and wisedome in all these beastes which hee produced for the ornament of this present world And because of these creatures the works of God the Apostle S. Paule in the Epistle to the Romans Chapt. 2. telleth the Ethinckes that they are vnexcusable before God for that they knew him by the creatures of his works and yet did not glorifie him as God neither were gratefull For the inuisible thinges of God as his eternall power and wisedome are seene by the creation of the World And lastly in the History of Iob. Ch. 38 39. you shall find a large discourse to Iob from the Lords owne mouth concerning many beasts And these thinges may bee spoken concerning the excellency and dignity of the History of beasts whereunto I will adde some examples of the most famous men and Kings of the world to shew what account they made of this learning and so I will conclude this Praeface First what account heereof was