because the spirits both in regard of their copiousnesse and subtilty doe make a sweete harmony of the soule body and are the notes of a rare wit and a good crasis we mean now to treat of theÌ succinctly Cap. 8. Of the Spirits THe poets Arachne doth neuer weaue her entangling webbe neare the Cypresse tree the Em bleame is well knowne of the Scarabee that liues in noisome excrements but dies in the middle of Venus rose so the Owle shuns the splendent rayes of Phoebuâ delighting more in the darke some night the worst we see do euer affect the worst our groueling base affections our dull conceits blind-folded ignorance our aguish iudgements timorous cowardize slownesse and dulnes in contemplation our inhability of inuention and whatsoeuer grand capitall fomen to reason there bee doo neuer take vp their lodgings in any beautious Inne I mean in a body happely attempered where the spirits are subtile and of a pure constitution but haue their mansion in a smoky tenament or some baser cottage that is in a polluted sickely and corrupted body which is both plethoricuÌ pneumapht hiricum caâochymicum wher there is a fulnesse repletion of infected and malignant humours where the subtile spirits be not only tainted but euen corrupted with puddle humours with grosser fuming vapours whose pitchy company the cleare chrystalline and rarified spirits can in no wise brooke as being disturbers of their noblest actions These spirits the more attenuated and purified they be the more that coelestiall particle of heauens flame our reason that immoueable pole-star by the which wee ought to direct the wandring course of all our affections yea far more it doth beare dominion and shewe forth her noble and surmounting excellency in this masse of ours The more aboundant they are all our internall gifts are more inhaunced florish the more where the spirits are appareled with their owne nature and not attired or rather tired by any extraordinary ill means which will neuer be accordant to their seemely decency the soule of man is as it were in a âhessali'n Tempe of delight which groue for faire florishing meades for the pleasant shade of bushy Pânes for pirhling brooks gliding streams of âolsom water for a sweete odoriferous ayre for the melodious harmony and chiâping of vocall birds for the fragrancy of medicinable flowers and hearbs for all pleasures that moâe feast delight the senses and draw the very soule into an admiration of the place of all other did surpasse as the Topographer makes mention But now wee meane to relate of the diuersity of spirits both in a generall and speciall acceptation â A spirit is taken for our breath in respiration as Galen saies first prognostic if saith he far from treatable it implies a paine and an inflamation about the disaphragma T is often among the poets taken for wind among the philosophers for an abstract forme pro Damone vel bono vel malo it is vsed for a sauour and for lofty courage in none of these senses we are to take it in this place But for a subtile pure aery substance in the body of man and thus it may be defined Spiritus est subtilessima aeria dilucidaque substantia ex tenuissima parte sanguims producta cuiuâ adminiculo proprios valeat anima producere actus A spirit is a most subtile aery and lightsome substance generated of the purest part of bloud whereby the soule can easily performe her functions in the naturall body They haue their originall and ofspring from the heart not from the braine as some hold For they being so pure and elaborate into the nature of aire cannot bee generated in the braine beeing by nature cold where nothing is product but that which is very vaporous Againe cerebrum est exangâe the braine is bloodless as it is euident by Anatomy neither hath it any veines to make a conueiance for that humour therfore it is most probable that where their is the intensest heate to extract these spirits from the blood and to rarifie them conuerting them into an aery substance that from thence they should haue their efficient cause for the spirits in speciall they be of three sorts vital natural and animall vital in the heart naturall in the liuer animal in the braine Vital because they giue power of motion pulsion vnto the arteries which motion any liuing creature hath so long as it hath a being and that being extinct the life is also extinct 2. Naturall in the liuer in that they yeelde hability of executing such actioÌs as chiefly concerne not ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã but ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã as nutricioÌ and the generation of the like 3. Animall in the braine and though the spirits proceed from the heart yet are they diffused through the whol body in the arteries and veines and there in the braine they are termed animale because they impart a faculty to the nerues of sence and real motion which are pecâliar to euery liuing creature The conduits of the spirits are the arteries and veins the arteries carry much spirits little blood the veines much blood and little spirit yet are each of them the receptacle of both For the cherishing and stirring vppe of the spirits these things ensewing are greatly auailable First an illuminated pure aire purged from all grosser qualities secondly a choice of fragrant smels thirdly musicall harmony and meriment as Ludouicus Cael. Rodig doth write a necessary fourth may be annexed that is nutriment for it rouses vppe and lightens the spirits therfore the philosopher in his problems saith that homo pransus multo leuior est agiliâr jeiuno after meat a man is farre more light and nimble then whiles he is fasting so a mery pleasant man is more light theâ one that is sad and a man that is dead it farre heauier then one aliue There beâ other thing also very coÌmodious as inteâ mission of meditation a due regard of motion that it be neither too vehement and so consume or too slacke and so corrupt the spirits now mean we to speake in order of the complections Cap. IX Of a cholerick complection CHoler is tearmed of the greeke word ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã of the Latins bilis it is not onely taken for the humour but somtimes for anger as iâ Thâocritus ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Bitter anger appeard in his face or in his nostrilles So the latin word is as much as anger Plaut fames mora bilâm in nasum coÌciunt for anger first appeares in the face or nose therefore the Hebrues haue the same word for ira and nasus that is aph ãâã which is agreeable to that of Theocr. afore mentioned and that of Persius Ira cadit naso rugosaque sanna So we say in our english prouerb when a man is teasty and anger wrinckles his nose such a man takes pepper in the nose but yel low choler is an humour contained in
vpon Fuscus in his Epigrames of all men they haue most leadeÌ conceits and drossy wits caused especially by their excessiue intemperance which thickneth their blood corrupteth their spirites and other organons wherein the soule shoulde cheefely shew her operation Giue mee leaue to speake a little of the ayre how it receaued into the body doth either greately aduantage or little availe the mind It is certaine that the excellency of the soule followes the purity of the heauens the temperature of the ayre therefore because Boeotâa had aâery * rennish soyle a grosse and vnrefined ayre the ancient writers to decypher and shaddow out a dull witt in any one were wont to say Boeoticum hic habit ingeâium this man is as wise as a woodcock his wits in a consumption his conceit is as lancke as a shotten Herrin I doe not coÌcord with the Poet in that triuial verse but I doe carry the comma a little further and say Câlum non ãâã mutant qui ãâã ãâã At least if I must needes take coelum for aire I will say The aire to vary is not onely found But wit 's a forreiner in fârreine ground The ayre hath his etymologie from the greeke worde ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã to breath it consistes of ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã and ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã because the learned say that it is the beeginning and ending of mans life for when wee begin to liue wee are sayd to inspire when we die to expire as the priuation of the aire deprives vs of our being and the aire being purged and clensed from his pestilent qualities causeth our well-beeing so the infection of the aire as in the extinguishing of some blazing comet the eructation of noysome vapours from the bosome of the earth the disastrous constellation or bad aspect of some maleuolent planet the vamping fumes that the Sun eleuates from boggs and fennish grounds the inflammation of the ayre by the intense heate of the sunne as when in Homers Iliad Phaebus is fained to send forth his direfull arrowes among the Grecians and âo bring in the pestilence vppon them this infection causeth our bodyes first to bee badly qualified and tainted with a spice of corruption and so by consequent our very soules to be ill affected AEneas Syluius in his Cosmography writing of the lesser Asia records a strange thing concerning the ayre beeing putrified hee sayes that hard by the cittie Hierapolis there is a place tearmed Os PLVTONIVM in the vally of a certaine mountaine where Strabo witnesseth that he sent sparrowes in which forth with as soone as they drew in the venemous noysome ayre they fel downe dead no doubt but the corrupted ayre would haue had his operation vppon other more excellent creatures theÌ were those little birds if they durst haue attempted the entrance in But to a question what reason can be alleag'd that those who won vnder the pole neare the frozen zone and in the septentrionall climate should haue such gyantly bodies and yet dwarfish wits as many authors doe report os them and wee fee by experience in trauaile the rudenes and simplicitie of the people that are seated far north which no doubt is intimated by a vulgar speach when wee say such a man hath a borrell wit as if wee said boreale ingenium Whereof that old-english prophet of famous memory whome one fondly âearm'd Albionâ ballade maker the cunnicatcher of time and the second dish for fooles to feede their splenes vpon G. Chaucer tooke notice when in his prolog to the Frankleines taile he saies But Sirâ because I am a âorrell man At my beginning first I yow beseach Haue me excusd of my rude speach The Philosophers to this question haue excogitated this reason to wit the exceeding chilnes of the aire which doth possesse the animall spirits the chiefe attendants of the soule to exequute the function of the agent vnderstanding with contrary qualities the first being cold and drie the last hote and moiste though this reason most auaile for our purpose speaking how the minde can bee affected with the ayre yet I must needs say I thinke they are beside the cushian others affirme and with more reason that they are dul-witted especially by the vehement heat which is included in their bodies which doth inflame their spirits thickân their blood and therby is a cause of a new grosse more then ayry substance conioynd with the spirits for extreame heat doth generate a grosse adust choler which comes to be mixed with the blood in the veines and that brings a condensation and a coagulation to the blood for their extraordinary heat it is apparant by their speedy concoction and by the externall frigidity of the ayre that dams vp the pores of their bodies so greatly that hardly any heat can euaporate this also by deep wels which in winter time be lukâ warme and in summer season exceeding cold now to proue that where the blood is thickned and the spirits inflamed there vsually is a want of wit the great peripateâ him selfe affirmeth it to bee a truth where he saith that buls such creatures as haue this humor thick are commonly deuoid of wit yet haue great strength and such liuing thinges as haue an attenuated blood and very fluid doe excell in wit and pollicy as instance is giuen in Aristotle of bees We must note here that this is spoke of the remoter parts neare vnto the pole lest we derogate any thing from the praise of this our happy Ileland another blisfull Eden for pleasure all which by a true diuision of the climes is situated in the septentrional part of the world wherein there are and euer haue beene as praegnant wits as surpassing politicians as iudicious vnderstandings as any clime euer yet afforded vnder the cope of heauen But I doe here passe the limits of laconisme where as I should in wisdome imitate the Aegyptian dogs in this whole tractate who doe drinke at the riuer Nilus ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã in haste and by stealth lest the Crocodile should pray on them and who doth fitly cary the name and conditions of the Crocodile no writer is ignorant of I will therefore end with the iteration of the Thesis that the soule followes the temper of the body and that whiles it is inherent in the body it can nâuer partake so pure a light of vnderstaÌding as when it is segregated and made a free denizen in the heauenly citty and free holde of the saintes Corporis in gremiâ dâm spiritus c. when our imprisoned soule once more being free Gins scale the turret of eternitie From whence it once was raught captiue ãâã By this vsurping tyrant corps heâ bane Which subiugates her vnto sâttish will And schooles her vnder passions want of skill Then shall our soulâ now chock't with fenny care With Angelâ frollicke in apârer aire This low NADIR of darknes must it sheâde Till is aloft toth'radiant ZENITH wende Cap. 3.
body the blood in the blood the spirits in the spirits soule Thirdly because it is a nutriment for all and singular parts of what qualities soeuer It is tearmed in Hebrue ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã sanguis for his nutrition and sure it is as it were the dam or nurse from whose teats the whole body doth suck out and draw life Fourthly in that this humor being speÌt our life also must needs vanish away therfore some philosophers as it is wel known to the learned did not onely surmise but constantly auer that the soule was blood because it being effused the soule also doth flit from the body but that was a madde dreame no doubts if the sound of iudge ment had awoke them they woulde haue confessed themselues to haue been enwrap ped in a clowdy errour They also that affirme men of this constitution to be dullards and fooles to haue a pound of folly to an ounce of pollicy they themselues do seeme not to haue so much as a dram of discretion and do erre the whole heauens I confesse a sanguine complection may be so as any other in their discrasie yet not as it is a pure sanguine complection but as there is mixed with the blood either the grosse sediments of melancholy or the lenta materies pituitae tough phleume when the blood is also ouerheated by reason of hot choler or any other accidentary cause that generates a surplussage of blood or endues the spirits with a grosenes and too hot a qualitie more then their nature can well sustaine with keeping their perfection and puritie From whence the blood hath his originall it is apparently knowne especially to them which are skild in the autopsie of Anatomie the seat or fountaine head of it is vena caua a great hollow veine which strikes through the liuer from whence it is conueighed by many cesterns passages and conduit pipes throughout the whole body like spraies and branches from the stemme of a tree It hath his esseÌce from the chymus or juice of our aliment concocted his rednesse is caused by the vertue of the liuer assimilating it vnto his owne colour To speake more of the externall habit and demeanour of man that hath this complection he euer hath an amiable looke a flourishing fresh visage a beautiful color which as the poet saith doth greatly commend one if all other thinges be wanting Nâe minor his aderat subliâis gratia formae Quae vel si desint coetera cuncta placet With vertues grac'd full debonaire was I Which all defac'd more highly dignifie They that are of this complection arâ very affable in speach and haue a gracious faculty in their deliuery much addicted to witty conceits to a scholerlike ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã being facâtosi not acâtosi quipping without bitter taunting hardly taking any thing in dogeon except they be greatly moued with disgrace especially wisely seeming eyther to take a thing some times more offensiuely or lesse greiuously then they do âloaking their true passion they bee liberally minded they carry a constant louing affection to them chiefly vnto whom they be endeared and with whom they are intimate and chained in the links of true amitie neuer giuing ouer till death such a conuerst freind except on a capitall discontent they are very hairy their head is commonly a ãâã or amber-coloured so their âeards they are much delighted with a musicall consent and harmony hauing so swâe a sâpathy themselues of soule and body And but for one fault they are âainted with they more well be tearmed Heroeâ hominum and that is ãâã reason of that liuely abounding humour they are somewhat too prone to Venery which greatly alters their blessed state of coÌstitutioÌ drinks vp their huâdum radâle enfeebleth the diuinest powers consumes their pith and spends the substance of the braine for sperma is ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã as many philosohhers not without great reason affeuere not ter âncoctus sanguis therefore as Macrobius saith Hippocrates cals ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã that coitus est paruus morbus comitialis and but for this they were superemineÌt aboue all men but their rare qualities and admirable vertues do more then couÌterpoize this naturall fault For his resolutioÌ he is like the center immoueable neuer caried away with the heady streame of any base affection but lies at the anchor of confidence and boldnes he is neuer lightly variable but beeing proudly harnest with a steely hart he wil run vpoÌ the push of great danger yea hazard his life against all the affronts of death it selfe if it stand ether with the honour of his soueraigne the welfare and quiet of his own country the after fame and renowne of himselfe els is he chary and wary to lay himselfe open to any daunger if the finall end of his endeauour and âoile bee not plausible in his demur ring judgement Cap. 11. Of the Phlegmaticke humour THis humour is called of the Graecians ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã and of the Latines vsually Pituita which as Aetius noteth is so tearmed quasi petens vitam by reason of the extreame cold moi sture it hath being correspondent to the watry element whereby it doth extinguish the naturall heate in man and being caried with the blood by his grosse substance doth thicken it and stop the currents passages of the blood at least doth taint it with a coÌtrary passiue destructiue qualitie Yet of al the humors the phisicions say and it is not improbable this commeth nearest vnto the best for it is a dulcet humour which being concocted is changed into the essence of blood and serues especially for the nutriment of the Phlegmaticke parts as the braine the Nuchâ or soft pappe and marrow of the chein bone but this is naturall which of al these humors doth sonest digres into another grosse cold nature which will in processe of time proue that pernicious humor wherof AEtius speaks their is theÌ to be noted phlegma naturale wherof we spok eueÌ now non naturale of which these proceed Phlegmâ 1. Crassum 2 Gypseum 3 Falsum 4 Acetosum 5 Tenue some others For the first that which is thicke is a crude substanee by multiplication in the ventricle the bowels or the braine or the blood whereof Hippocrates aduiseth men to euacuate themselues by vomit euery moneth in his booke de victus ratione priuaârum But for the bowels it needes not so much as for the braine and ventricle for nature hath so ordained that the yellow choler that flowes from the gall into the duodânum should purge the entralls and wash away these Phlegmaticke superfluities and this in time will turne to the nature of Gypseum phlegma which is of a slimier and in time of a more obdurate nature insomuch it will grow as hard as plaister with long remaining in one place like fen water that turns into the nature of mudde and this is it that staies in the ioints and causeth
Iamin the right hand of the minde because it makes any conceit dexterical one of the two things for which a pregnant Poet as imagine of Homer Naso or any other especially is to be admired as Aristo saith who brings in Aeschilus asking of Eurâpides why a Poet ought to be had in so high esteeme who answered ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã That is for his dexterity of wit and his taxing and displing the worlde with his al-daring Satyricall pen it makes him right eloquent and speake with aliuely grace O quantum debes dulci facundia Baccho Ipse vel epoto Nectare Nestor ero How much doth wit to Dithyrambus owe Since after wine the ebbingst wit doth flow It makes a Poet haue a high straine of inuention in his works faâ beyond the vulgar vaine of Aquapotores-waterdrinkers This inuested Hoâer with a laudibus arguitur c. The Muses are commended for a vina oluerunt c. Cato had his Sâpe mero incaluit virtus This made the Castalianist or Poet of yore to bee esteemed and tearmed the A perse A of all Artistes the Summa totalis of witte the second dish the marmalade and sucket of the Muses the Gods Nepenthâ of a soule halfe-deade with melancholie the seauen mouth'd Nilus or seauen-flowing Euripus offacultie the loade-stone of liuely con ceite the paragon darling and one eye of Minerua as Lipsius tearmes him yet moderation is presupposed for there is no thing whose eminence may not haue an inconuenience as the Linx hath a quicke eye but a dull memory so the Polypus is suauis ad gustum but difficilis adsomnum much more in thinges is there inconuenience whose eminence is made inconuenience so much wine rauisheth the taste but bewitches and stupefies all th' other senses and the soule it selfe Take it sparingly and it rapts one vp into an Elysium of diviner contemplation not inthralling the minde as excesse is wont but endenizing it into a happy freedome and ample liberty An Apostroph to the Poet translated Then quench thy thirst in Heliconian spring Vnloose the fetters of thy prisoned braine To let inuention caper once aloft In a leuoltoes imitation With Ariostâes nimble geniâ Beyond a vulgar expectation Then mount to th' highest region of conceite And there appeare to th'gazing multitude A fierie meteor or a blazing starre Which hap may cause a penury of wit To those that happily do gaze on it Nothing elaborates our concoction more then sleepe exercise and wine say the Philosophers but the wine must be generosum not vappa it must not haue lost his head Three thinges note the goodnes of Wine Color Odor Sapor Si haectria habe at tum Cos dicitur ex prioribus literis harum praecedentium vocum then is it pure and the whetstone of a mans wit when it hath a fresh colour a sweet fuming odour and a good relishing taste That there is a great helpe in it against melancholy it may appeare by Zeno the crabbetree-fac'd Stoicke who was ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã moued with no affectioÌ almost but as soon as hee had tasted a cuppe of Canarye hee became of a powting Stoicke a mery Greeke merum moerorem adimit Bacchus is a wise Collegian who admits meriment and expels dreriment sorrow carries too pale a visage to consort with his claret deity but howsoeuer I haue spoken largely of the praise of it and somewhat more merily then perhaps grauity requireth I wish all as in all drinkes so in wine especially to obserue a diet for the age the complexion time of the yeare quantitie and euery circumstance There is also a dyet in sleepe wee must not reake our selus vpoÌ our beds of down and snortso long Indomitum quod despumare falernum Sufficit quinta à um linâa ãâã vmbra as would suffice vs to sleepe out our surfet till hie nowne Wee must not imitate Cornelius Agrippaes dormouse of whome hee reports that she should not beawoke till being boylde in a leade the heat caused her to wake out of her sleepe hauing slept a whole winter We must not sleepe with Salomons foole who will neuer haue enough till hee come to his long sleepe rather must we take the Delphin to be our patterne who dooth in sleeping alwayes moue from the vpper brim of the waters to the bottome like the Lion which alway moues his taile in sleeping Aristotle as Marsus affirms as others both AlexaÌder the great also Iulian the Apostata were wont to sleepe with a brazen ball in their fistes their armes âtretcht out of bedde vnder which there was plac'd a brazen vessell to the end that wheÌ through drowsines they gan to fall a sleepe the ball of brasle falling out of their handes on the same mettall the noyse might keepe them froÌ sleepe immoderately taken which men of renown and fame doe so greately detest as being an vtter enemy to all good exploites and to the soule it selfe The Poet Iul. Scalliger thus speakes of sleepe in the dispraise of it Promptas hebetat somniculosa vita mentes Vivum sepelit namque hominem haec mortis imago Sleepe duls the sharpest conceite this image of death buries a man quicke How we ought to demeane our selues for sleep what beds are most fitte to repose our lims vpon what quantitie of repast wee must receiue as also the inconuenience that redoundes vnto our bodies by immoderate sleepe excellent is that Chapter of Clemens in the 2. of his Pedagog First hee aduiseth vs to shunne ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã beds softer then sleepe it selfe affirming that it is daungerous and hurtfull to lie on beds of downe our bodies for the softnes thereof ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã as falling and sinking downe into them as into a vaste gaping and hollow pit these beds are so farre from helping concoction that they enflame the natiue heate and putrifie the nourishment Againe for sleep it must not be a resolution of the body but a remission and as he saith ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã wee must so sleep that wee may easily be awaked which may easily be effected if we doe not ouerballise our stomachs with superfluity and too delitious viands The maner also of sleepe must be duly regarded to sleepe rather open mouth'd theÌ shut which is a great help against inter nall obstructions which more ensweeteneth the breath recreateth the spirits com forteth the braine and more cooleth the vehement heat of the heart Sleeping on our backe is very dangerous and vnholsome as all Physicions affirme because it begetteth a superaboundance of bad humors generates the stone is the cause of a Lethargy in the backe part of the heade procureth the running of the reines especially if a man lye hot as vpon feathers which greatly impaires mans strength affect him with a vitious kinde of soaking heate it is also the meanes to bring the Ephialtes which the
wordes according to the vulgar eye there be nine temperatures are blazond out among the phisicions 4. simple according to the foure first qualities heat drines moiâture coldnes the other 4. be compound as hot and drie hot moist cold and moist c. the contrarieties bee in no body according to their eminencie and valour but onely comparatiuely as hot and cold is agreeable to no nature according to their predominancies drie moist competent to none not in the height of their degrees for as in political affairs one kingdome or seat cannot brooke 2. Monarchs or compeers as Lucan saith Omnisque potestas Impatiens consortis erit c. No PoteÌrate admits an equal yea through ciuil garboils and mutinies their eger contention ruinates and often dissolues the sinewes of the common weale So happens it in the naturall body where the qualities are equaliz'd in strength there must needs be action and reaction a bustling and strug ling together so long till there be a conquest of the one which no doubts wil soon diâeuer the partes and rend a sunder the whole compound yet these twaine may I meane drines and moisture or cold and hot bee competent to the same subiect by comparing them with others in other subiects as man is both hot and cold hot in re gard of such bodies as are of a colde constitution as in regard of the femall sex which abounds with moisture hotte in compare with an Asse which is reported among the Philosophers to be of an exceeding colde constitution which may euidently appear by his slow pace by shoes made of his skin by that chill water of th' Arcadian Mâacris which for the extreame coldnes cannot be contained in any vessell saue the hoofe of an Asse Man is hot in comparing him with the Salamander the Torpedo and the Pirausta Could in respect of the Lion the Struthio-camell or O Estridge which will con coctiron or Leather the Sparrow Cock Pigâon and Dog and these are rather to be tearmed distemperaments The ninth and the last is called temperamentum ad pondus of which wee spake erst not in any but onely in conceit But how euery temperature is good or bad how their mixtures implye an excellent and healthfull or a diseased estate as if in mans body the chiefe valour of fire concur with the tenuity of water or the grossest substance of water with the purest tenuity of fire be conioind or the strength and quintescence of sire with the thickest part of humour ruling in one or the purest and ra rest parts of fire with the thinnest and clea rest substance of water what temperature all these import looke Hippoc. in his booke de victus ratione lib. 1. sect 4. A temper also as it is vsually taken may be referred to the equall proportion of radicall heate to inbred moisture when they are like aegeo powerfull to the excellency and purity of the blood to the subtilty of the spirits to asupple soft and tender skin to mollified and smooth haires to the amiable and beautifull feature to affability and gratious deliuery of speech to a buxome pliable refined wit to a wise moderation of anger to the vassalizing of the rebellious affections all which when we see to iumpe together in one or the most of them we say that man or that body hath a most happy teÌper a rare composition a sweet complection Cap. 7. Of diuersities of wit and most according to tempers PLinie makes mention of king Pirrhus that he had a little pretious pearle of diuers respleÌdent coulors commonly tearmed the Achates of our skilfull Lapidaries Wherin were admirably coadunated the nine Helicanian Ladies and Apollo holding his golden harpe Our soulâ that princely ' Pirrhus or ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã that ignâus vigor quintessence or vertue of heauens fire as the poet cals it hath this rate gemme as an Achates dayly to consort with it wherein is not only a boure for the Muses to disport themselues in but also a harbor for wise Apollo to lodge in to wit ouâ acute pleasant and actiue wit which can apparrell it selfe with more variable coulours and sute it selfe with more resemblances then either the Camelion or Polypus and like an industrious Bee taking her flight in to the fragrant fieldes of Minerua can gather such honnisuckle from the sweeteâ flowers as may feast with delicious dainties the hungry eares of the attentiue auditours if they deigne but to let their eares as once diuine Platoes mouth was bee the hiues or celles wherein to store vp their honny combes if they will suffer them to be as vessels ready to receiue and intertaine the Nectar-flowing words of wit It is caled among the Grecians ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã hethat's âossessed of it is tearmed ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã excelling ân actiue nature acute hauing a quicke inâight into a thing a liuely coÌceit of a thing âhat can inuent with ease such witty polâcies quirks and stratagems as hee that is âot of so sharpe a wit would eueÌ admire ne euer can compasse It hath his sate in intelâctu agente in the actiue vnderstanding which doth offer the species and idaeas of ob âects to the passiue there to bee discerned iudged of according to their real esseÌce As diuers and the most are indowed with wits so most wits are diuers in nature Ther âs a Simian or apish wit an Arcadâan wit a ãâã wit a Scurril wit an Aenigmatical wit ân Obscene wit an Autolican or embezel'd wit a Chance medlay wit and lastly there is âsmirke quick dextericall wit They that âaue the first do onely imitate do apishly counterfeit and resemble a poet or an oratour or any man of excellence in any thing yet can they neuer climbe vp to the top of poetry whither his wit saspired whoÌ they do imitate and as it was once said that it is impossible to get to the top of Pythagras his letter without Craesus golden ladder intimating that Haud facile em ergunt quorum virtutibus obstat res angusta domi No Eagle proues he but a silly Wren That soares without an Angels golden pen. that learnnig cannot climbe without golden steps so they can neuer attaine to his hie straine with their base leaden inuentions but are constrained either foolishly to go on vnto the Catastrophe or with disgrace and infamie being tired in the race of their owne fansies to make a full period long before the Catastrophe Thus Accius Labeo was an apish imitatou ãâã Homer An Arcadiâ an wit is meant of hiâ cum sono intempestiâo rudit a sellus when a man imagins hee singes harmoniously oâ the nightingales sugred notes or like âe of Camus swans when in deed he prouâ no swan but rather a silly swaine Ledaos stâepit anser vt inter olores He is liâe aloud sack but intermedled with still musicke he brayes like an Arcadian asse he is conceited without reason as he was who among the
the incurable knotty goute wherof the po et speakes Solâre nodâsam nâscit medicina podagram Nec formidatis auxiliatur aquis This was also in a woman whereof Cael. Rodiginus makes meÌtion I read saith hee among the Learned of a certaine kind of Phleume like vnto plaister bruised into water which in a short space abiding in the ioints of the members growes as harde as plaister stone it selfe we haue saith he an exaÌple of a woman which was greiuously vexed with an itch in the spondles or ioints of the back-bone reines which shee rubbing very vehemeÌtly racing the skin small mammocks of stone fel from her to the number of eighteene of the bignesse of dice the colour of plaister There is salsum of a saltish nature by the admixtion of brackish humours of choler which being in the ventricle causeth an hydropicall thirst and somewhat excoriates the entralls Plato in his Timaeus speaketh of this ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã c. for phleum being by nature sharp of a brinish nature is the ofspring of all diseases which coÌsists of a fluxile humoure and according to the diuersity of places whither this brackish humour doth insinnuate it selfe the body is teend and accloid with diuers and manifold maladies So Hippocrates speakes of this ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Bitter salt phleume whersoeuer it fals into vnwonted places it doth exulcerate There is also Acetosum Phleg. sharp and tart which almost is of the same nature with the former caused cheifly of the mixture of melacholy indued with the same quallity the last is called Tenue which is very waterish and thin of substance which we ordinarily tearme rheume which comes of the word ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã to flow there be three kinds of it the first is called Branchus which hath his current from the head into the iawes the second is called coriza or ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã which runs from the nostrils wee call it the pose thereupon blennus is vsed for a foole homo obesa âaris as contrariwise homo âctae naris for a wise man the last is called catarrus of ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã and ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã whose matter hath the passage downward into the aspera arteria the breast and the roomes that are coÌtiguous which vsually is a cause of the cough for the humours makes an oppilation in the lungs and stoppe the pores wheÌce our brething aire doth euaporate and whither it being drawn in doth pierce and be take it selfe thereupon there is made a resâltation and a strugling with the humour and the ayre which causeth the cough though it may happen also the cause being in the aspera arteria as it is wel knowne to them that are but initiated in Physicke though Hippocrates seemes to say all cough breeds in the mid-way of the arterie not in the lungs these are his words for the spirit which we attract saith hee is caried to the lungs and is sent backe by an ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã or regurgitation and when the rhâume distilling downe doth meete the spirit ascending in the arterie the cough is caused and the phlegmaticke matter cast vp which causeth an exasperation in the artery by the humour which lies in the internall hollowes of the extuberances of our artery which causeth a greate heate to bee ingendered ther by the coughing motioÌ which heat draws a succedent phleum from the braine still more procuring an extreame cough All phleume is generated of cruditie though it do attract some bad accidentary quality wherof it hath the denominatioÌ the phisicioÌs are of that opinioÌ that natural phleuÌe concocted will turne to bloud Suidas saith of it ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã phleume is not engendred the first after meate but the first afâe our aliment is blood phleume is the first after incoction For the place or receptacle of phleume it is not determinate but â is euident that it hath his mansion in thâ braine and the ventricle and the blood Where in the first if it be not euacuated in time but still be suffred to accrue clung together it will breede a dysodia and will indaunger the whole nature by damming vp the poores of the braine and there generating an epilepsie apolexie lethargie vertigo or any such disease that proceeds froâ such cold qualities and badde humoures which Fucshius speaks of at large as also for the latter in the ventricle and blood if it be not purged forth it will grow to such a passe that most of our nourishment will be conuerted into phleume our veines will be possessed with a clammy humor which may hinder the course of the bloud corrupting the spirits and bringing a mortifying cold ouer al the body or it wil grow in the ventricle to such a masse that it will at the receit af any hot moisture send vp such an ascending some that it will bee ready to quirken and stifle vs instance mote be giuen of many that haue beene troubled with the mater of it aboue measure One latelie was so cloied with this humor that as he sat in his chayre he was suddenly surprised of the surging some who swooned as he satte and hauing oile of Synemon which is a souerainge help for it ministred vnto him at the length caÌ to himself by the heat of the oile which reuiued him and voided a great aboundance of roped phleume by the loosening vertue of the same for the intimates of this complection they by nature are alwaise pale coloured slow pac'd drowsie headed of a weake constitution for the debility of naturall heate they be alwaies dull of conceit of no quicke apprehension faint hearted most subiect to impostums mild of nature seldom inceÌsed with anger vexed much with wrinching and griping in the bowels sore tormented with the grieuous paine of the wind cholicke Cap. 7. Of a me lancholicke complection THe melancholick man is said of the wise to be aut Deus aut Daemon either angel of heauen or a fiend of hell for in whoÌsoeuer this humour hath dominion the soule is either wrapt vp into an Elysium and paradise of blesse by a heauenly contemplation or into a direfull hellish purgatory by a cynicall meditation like vnto a huge vessell on the rowling sea that is either hoist vp to the ridge of a maine billow or eât hurried down to the bottom of the sea valley a man is euer lightly cast into a trance or dead slumber of cogitatioÌs by reason of his sad heauy humor alwaies stoically visaged like grout headed Archesilas them of whom the Poet speakeâ Aerâmnosique Solones Obstipo capite figentes lumine terram Murmura cum secum rabiosa silentia roduâ Atque exporrecto trutinantur verba labello Aegroti veteris meditantes somnia gigni De nihilo nihil in nihilum nil posse reuerti Lâke pumpion headed Solonists they looke The dull earth is their contemplation
nutrition as of these parts which be proportionable vnto it in qualities hot drie and this is disper sed into the veines and flowes throughout the whole body mixed with blood the other is excremeÌtall vnfit to nourish which purged as a superfluous humour from the blood is receiued into the vesicle or vessel and bladder that is the receptacle of choler entearmed the gall And this vsually when the vessell is surcharged distils from thence into the duodenum first theÌ into the other intrals c. that which is not naturall is of four sorts ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã The first is vitelliâ bilis of thâ coulour of an egge yolke generated of palew choler ouerheated with the acrimony of vnnaturall caliditie The second is porrâ cea of a leeky nature or greene coulour The third cârulea of a blewish or azure colour The last aeruginosa of a rusty colâr And all these be generated in the ventricle bâ sharp tart and sweet nutriments as leeks mullard burnt meats honny so fat meatâ and all such as engender noysomnes vpoâ the stomach Whereupon coms our common disease called ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã for sorroâ and vehement exercise cause the yelloâ choler to flow in the ventricle by whicâ men being griped and pinched with painâ within do labor of this euill which indeed hath a wrong name giuen it for it is onely an affection or passion of the orifice of the ventricle the mouth of the stomack not of the heart as Galen witnesseth Now to discerne a man of a cholerick complection he is alwaies either oringe or yellow visag'd because hee is most inclined to the yellow iaundice or a little swarthy reddehaird or of brownish coulour very megeâ and thin soon prouokt to anger soon appeasd not like the stone asbestos which once being hot cannot be quenched he is lean-fac'd sleÌder bodied like Brutus Cassius He is according to his predominant element of fire which is most full of leuity most inconstant and variable in his determinations easily disliking that which hee before approued and of al natures in that this complectioÌ is counted to surpasse the cholericke man for changeablenes is repu ted among the wise to bee most vndiscreet and vnwise And indeed mutablenes and inconstancy are the intimates and badges whereby fooles are knowne ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Wise men be like vnto quadrangled stones But fooles like turning Globes are fickle ones And if at any time he prooue constaÌt and sted fast it is as Fortune is coÌstans in leuitate sua stable in his instability Let vs now discend from fire to aire Cap. X. Of a sanguine temperature THe purple rose whose hiâ encomium that witty Poetresse Sappho in a sweete Odânce sang did not meriâ to bee adornd with such beauteous titles of wordes to be lim'd out in so liuely colours of Rhetorick nor to be invested with such a gorgeous and gallant sute of poetry as this goldeÌ crasis this happy temperature and choise complection this sanguine humor is worthy of a panegyrical toung and to be lim'd out with the hand of art it selfe Sappho thus speaketh of the rose ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã c. Which we may turne and change for our vse on this manner if there were a mo narch or prince to be constituted ouer all temperatures this purple sanguine complection should no doubts aspire to that hie preheminence of bearing rule for this is the ornament of the body the pride of humors the paragon of complections the prince of all temperatures for blood is the oile of the lampe of our life If we doe but view the princely scarlet robes he vsually is inuested with his kingly throne seated in the mids of our earthly citty like the Sun amid the wandring Planets his officers I mean the veines and arteries which are spred throughout this whole Politeia yea disperst in euery angle to execute his command and carry the liuely influence of his goodnesse reuiuing those remote parts which without his influence woulde otherwise be frettish with a chilnes and in a short time be mortified If we do but cast our eies vpon these glorious mansions the sumptuous pallaces wherein he doth inhabit the Dadalian costly Labyrinths where in he takes his turnes If wee consider his wise subtle counsailours which dayly consort with him for the good estate of his whole kingdome the ãâã spirits the very seate of diuine reason it selfe the fountaines of pollicy If we marke this that his departing is the procurer of a ciuill mutinie and dissension between our soule and body and that his meere absence bringeâ in a dissolution of our temperate political state if we waigh his excellent qualities he is endowed with wherein consists the vnion of the parts of the whole I meane heaâ and moisture If we note his delicat viand his delicious fare he feedes vpon in his purity his maiesty in aspiring so hie his humlitie in as it were debasing himselfe so low as to take notice of his lowest subiect the most inferiour part to kisse euen our toâ as it is in the prouerbe to do vs good If we note the mighty potentates that rebeâ and wage warre against him to ruinate his kingdome as Acrasia Angor Inediâ all inâ continence and intemperance of Bacchâ Cerâs and Venus Care Famine and the like If we poise all these together many mâe we cannot but imagin that the blood is either a caelestiall maiesty or a terrestriall deity that among all the humors it doth farre excell all and that hee which is possessed with a sanguine pure complection is graced with the princeliest and best of all For the externall habit of body for rare feature they go beyond al that haue this temper being most deckt with beautie which consists in a sweet mixture of these two colours white and redde and for the gifts of the minde it is apparent likewise to our vnderstaÌding that they do surpasse al hauing such pure tempered refined spirits neither do I thinke that either melancholick men according to Aristotle or cholericke men according to the opinion of Petrus Crinitus are inriched with a greater treasury of wit for if the soule do follow the teÌperature of the body as certainely it doth they then must needs excell for inuention who haue this best complectioÌ Their spirits sure haue the most exact temper of all wherwith the soule as being in a paradise is cheefly delighted Among all the humors the sanguine is to be preferd saith the Antiquâry first because it coms nearest vnto the principles grouÌd works of our life which stands in an attempered heat moisture Secondly because it is the matter of the spirits where of chiefly dependes our life the operation of our vegetatiue animall vertue yea it is the chiefe instrument wherewith our reasonable soule doth operate for this is the philosophers climax In the elements consists the body in the