M. keep the water that ye draw from thence in a glass close stopped it may be serviceable to Queens and Empresses Take rose water three quarts assa dulcis poudred one ounce storax cloves wood of aloes camfre of each one dram musk and civet of each one scruple put all these into a glasse bottle close stopped which boile for the space of four houres in water then take the vessel wherein the water is and let it cool by degrees when it is cold streine it through a thick cloth then put it into another glasse vessel with fifteen graines of musk stop it close and set it in the Sun five dayes This perfume is so strong that if you mix one part thereof with twelve of water t wil be exceeding sweet Take Lavender flowers seven handfuls rosemary flowers clove July flowers orange peel of each three handfuls mint sage bay leaves elder flowers pennyroyall of each one handful cloves four ounces galingale nutmegs calamus aromaticus ginger cinnamon of each one ounce the best sented white wine three quarts powder all the spices and steep them in white wine put all into a glasse vessel stopped set it in the Sun eight dayes then put it into a glasse alembick with musk and distill all in B. M. Whether it be distilled or not it is a very sweet water excellent to wash the hands if ye mix one drop of it with a hundred of common water if it be applyed to the face it will free it from spots and freckles Take twenty graines of musk nutmegs cloves galingale spikenard grains of paradise mace cinnamon of each one ounce powder all very small and put them all into a pinte bottle of rose water let them steep four daies then pour on more rose water and after distil them in B. M. Or tye in a very fine rag musk and civet of each one dram put the bag into a three quart bottle fild with rose water expose it some days to the sun and ye shall have a rich sented water Take the purest Benzoin twelve ounces powder it very fine then take liquid styrax as much as will suffice to make it into a past when it is well mixt put it into a glasse alembick with a glasse head which ye must set in ashes or sifted sand and cement a receiver to the nose of the alembick with potters clay and the whites of egs very close that the vapours may have no vent forth which if they have they 'l be so strong that to most they 'l seem a stink rather then a perfume and to some persons may be very prejudicial when things are thus fitted kindle fire under it by degrees afterwards make the fire stronger at first ye shall draw a yellow water in a small quantity and worth little but presently after there will arise a vapour white as snow that will stick to the alembick when ye perceive that this rises no more then make the fire stronger but not too violent then will an oile ascend that is sweeter then the former and according to the colour of your oiles remember to change your receivers your last oile wil be an excellent Balsame But to make an exact perfume take an ounce and a half of the white snow oile of sweet almonds newly drawn four ounces melt both over a gentle fire stirring it continually with a spattula till the snowie part be dissolv'd and to give it a reddish colour put in a small piece of the root of alkanet so ye may have a perfume of an excellent sent Is you would have this oyl of a richer odour ye may dissolve therein one scruple of amber greece The black oile that remains at the bottome of your alembick is of a very strong smel but mixt with liquid styrax will make excellently sented pomanders if ye keep it by it self ye were best to keep it open that so the strong sent may evaporate CHAP. IV. Sweet Candles and Perfumes to burn YE are much beholding Ladies to ordinary Candles for when the sooty night would be-friend your Chamber-maids and make them seem as handsome as your selves that which discovers the cheat and makes ye be prefer'd before them is the friendly light those Candles lend they shew the difference betwixt a beauty and the foiles that usually attend her But if those common ones do ye much service these will more for if ye can once procure these ignes fatui to lead them ye may be sure to make fools of men and never fear but ye shall have servants after ye have got such enamouring flames Take Labdanum two ounces Storax one ounce Benjamin and Cloves of each half an ounce Mace a quarter of an ounce beat all to a pouder in a brasen mortar and when they are finely poudred set the mortar over a gentle fire and work them well together then take rosewater eight spoonfuls dissolve therein musk and civet of each three grains afterward put it with the rest of the ingredients into the mortar when ye have mixed all throughly together make the whole mass into small long roles when they are dry you may put them into a silken bag and lay them amongst linnen or burn them in your chamber or any where else at your pleasure They are a pleasing Perfume and will last good seven years Take Labdanum two drams Styrax calam a dram and a half benjamin frankincense white amber wood of aloes red roses wood of cypress cinnamon cloves of each two scruples amber musk of each five grains make them up into small cakes with gum tragaganth dissolved in spirit of roses one whereof cast upon the coals sents your chamber with a delightful vapour Take Labdanum one ounce and a half dryed charcoal made of willow one ounce myrrhe wood of aloes styrax calam of each one ounce and a half amber musk of each seven grains dissolve half an ounce of gum tragant in rose-rosewater with a little spirit of wine and make them up into roles like small candles Take gum styrax calam benjamin of each equal quantities dissolve them in the best rose-rosewater as soon as they are dissolved strein them hard thorough a thick cloth afterwards dry them and pouder them and keep the pouder for your use Take of this pouder thus prepared one ounce the weightiest wood of aloes poudred two drams red roses dryed ambergreece of each one dram zibet musk of each half a dram sweet balsame of Perâ— oyle of Rhodium of each one scruple ivory burnt till it be black as much as will suffice powder what is to be powdred then mix all with rose water and work them together into a kind of black paste make it into small bals which you must wrap in rose leaves and dry them in the shade then keep them well stopt in glasses This is a perfume for Persons of quality One or two of them cast upon coals or put into a quantity of rose water that is set over the coals will fill the room with a ravishing and coelestiall vapour that refreshes the braine and vitall spirits and corrects the malignity of any contagious aire Take Styrax calam prepared as before benzoin of each half an ounce your best wood of aloes two drams Zibet that is not adulterate one dram Gallia moscata one scruple oile of roses and of cloves of each half a scruple mix them according to art and with damask rose water make them into little bals They are of the same virtue with the former and used in the same manner CHAP. V. How to perfume Gloves TO adde the roses sweetness to the lillied loveliness of your snowie hands sent your gloves with these perfumes and they who take ye by the hand shall find all pleasures graspt in a handfull wherein all ravishing objects are that can convey those charming delights to the admiring fancy that both please the sight and feast the other senses too First then perfume your gloves thus Take a pair of smooth new Cordavan gloves wash them well for two or three daies once a day in good white wine pressing them well and smoothing them after every washing after the last washing when they are almost dry wash them in rose water wherein musk hath been dissolved let them lye in that water for one day then pull one of the gloves on your hand and with your other hand smooth and dry it then do the same to the other glove When this is done steep in water for four or five daies four ounces of gum tragagant the whitest you can get musk amber dryed marjoram of each one scruple boil them gently altogether and in the boiling add half a scruple of Zibet put these into a coverd vessel till they are cold then chaff and rub it well into the gloves afterward lay them in some place to dry Or wash those gloves ye intend to perfume first well in white wine then dry them in the shade after wash them in a pint of rose water sented with oile of cloves jasmine nutmegs labdanum of each half a scruple then take musk zibet ambergreece of each five graines beat them together in a mortar with a little oile of spike and mucilage of gum tragagant dissolv'd in rose water chaff this composition into the washt gloves before the fire FINIS
presents an inventory of of its best directions so often prov'd that I presume any course skin'd Ladie who will be so much her own friend to use them may soon be freed from doing pennance in natures sackcloth Take peeld Almonds six pound mastick prepard ceruse and gum dragant of each four ounces the whites of 4 eggs pound all together very carefully let it stand 5 or 6 days pounding it every day once then put them in a presse and keep the oile that comes forth to anoint the skin withall Take hempseed pound it small moisten it with a little aqua vitae then heat it in a frying pan made very clean so hot that you cant endure to touch afterward put it into a bag and presse it the oile that comes from it is exceeding good for the roughnesse of the skin Anoint any part that is too rough with oile of rape seed or bitter almonds or oile of wheat Or take sweet almonds cleansed and peeled foure pound moisten them with the spirit of wine rose water mixt together of each one ounce beat them together and fry them when they begin to smoke put them in a bag so presse them and there will come forth an oile very cleare which you must put into a pot of raine water and beat it together til it become exceeding white then keep it as a rare secret to smooth and pollish the skin CHAP. VI. How to cleans the sweatie and sluttish Complexion THE microcosme through the sordid sluttishnesse of some is often drownd in a nastie deluge of sweat out a designe perhaps to take Cupid captive and birdlime his wings with such clammie excrements but if they have no other tempting bait then the greasie pomatum which their own ill stuff'd bodies supply them with I am afraid though being blind he cannot see them he 'l smell them a mile off and so keep his distance They would doe much better to break off this petty plot upon Cupid and scour their bodies well with these abstersives Take bryony roots half a handfull serpentary the lesse or friars Coule pellitory of the wall elecampane of each three ounces whole beanes rice white vetches French barly of each two ounces and a half flowers of camomile melilot of each one handfull Boile all these together in raine water receive the fume up in the face If you would have it for your whole body double the quantities boile them powre them forth into a bath set a stoole in the bath cast a sheet over you and so receive the vapoure Vnguentum Citrinum is of great efficacy to help this distemper if you adde thereto a little sublimate carefully prepared or a little white hellebore finely powdred The fumes of the decoction of the shavings of Guajacum is exceeding good Take bean meale white vetches sweet almonds blanched gum dragant bryony roots of each half an ounce pound them a part then mix them and incorporate them with whites of egs make them up into little balls When you have occasion to use them dissolve them in barly water and bath the skin therewith going to bed next day wash with water wherein the finest flower hath been steept Take the roots of serpentary sliced dry them in the sun powder and sift them next incorporate them with rose water into a past dry them againe in the sun and powder them then adde a third part of ceruse prepared so as is directed in the 2. part c. 1. then worke all together with rose water dry them in the sun and at last bring it with beating it in a morter to a very fine powder When you would use it mix it with the juice of limmons and so make it into a liniment for a sweatie part Take barly half ripe two pound goats milke three pints the whites of a dozen eggs mix and distil them in balneo maris then use it Or take sifted bran the best leaven two pound as much vinegar as shall be requisite the whites of eight eggs mingle them and make it into a paste then distil it in B. M. Take thirty Snails prepared a quart of Goats milk hogs suet three ounces camfre poudred two drams beat them together and distil them in an Alembick The sluttishness and sweat of the skin may proceed either from an external cause as negligence to wipe and cleanse the face from that filth and ordure which may be ingendred by the aire or any other accident and then there needs no more to beautifie it than a constant washing and rubbing it Or from an internal as fuliginous vapours dâ—â—ain'd betwixt the Cutis and Epidermis by reason of its density This is the more frequent cause and for the more general cure of it the body must throughly be purged of those humors which produce such excrements and for topical applications you are to use such things as are set down in this Chapter Or you may scour and cleanse the body with water wherein fine wheat flower or the crum of white bread hath been infus'd adding to it a small quantity of the juyce of limmons Or with the decoction of mallow roots or lillies As also with the infusion of the roots of briony with the juyce of the roots of sowbread or wild cucumers incorporated with bean meal with the oyle of sulphur or tartar mixt either with clear fountain water or else with any of the former decoctions Thus far concerning the nasty sweat of the skin the next inconvenience that damages the beauty and which we intend to give remedies how to correct are itch and scabs CHAP. VII How to repair the beauty of an itchy or scabby skin I Am afraid Ladies that whilst I prescribe remedies for so loathsome a skin-defiling malady you will think I have forgot ye and am now addressing my self to your kitchin maids I must confesse these fretting exulcerations are more frequently incident to such as are forced to content themselves with courser commons as amongst the fleecy troops those are soonest scabby that feed in unwholsome pasture Yet the highest and best fed are not alwaies exempted from the infection nor are the most delicate Ladies especially if any thing irregular or intemperate wholly secured that they shall be no fuller of ill humors than their skins can hold If ever then your ill disposed humors grow so strong to break their way through the inclosing skin it will do you no harm to have something in readiness that may check their presumption Take Fumitory water an ounce and a half succory water three ounces syrup of fumitory and succory of each one ounce mix altogether and take it for your mornings draught use it for five dayes together then use this excellent medicine Take Sena two drams rhubarb one scruple annis seeds half a scruple white wine half a pint put all into an earthen bottle stopit close and set it over warm embers all night in the morning strain it out and drink it if the stomack be weak
sometime been dried on wash with rose water Or often bath the face with rose water camphorated It is exceeding good to prevent those inconveniencies which may happen from the use of such things as too much dry and parch the face Slice four oranges and as many limmons take white sugar and rock allum of each one ounce infuse them three or four hours in a quart of milk then distil them in B. M. and wet some fine cloth in the water to lay over the face when you go to bed Or take Goats milk one quart juyce of citrons one pint white wine vinegar half a pint the flowers of beans water lillies fumitory of each three handfuls the whites of half a dozen eggs camphire two drams distil and use them as the other Oyle of myrrhe is singular good to preserve the beauty if when you go to bed you wash your face with the distilled water of bean flowers and afterwards anoint it with that oyle It is thus prepared Take new laid eggs and boyl them hard slit them and take out the yolks then fill them up with poudred myrrhe close them together lay them in a moist cool place and the myrrhe will dissolve into a water which is the oyle After the same manner you may prepare oyle of Tartar if you calcine and put it into the eggs it is an exceeding good Cosmetick Take Unguentum Citrinum three ounces sperma coeti an ounce and a half salt of Ceruse half an ounce oyle of eggs as much mash them together and make a liniment To make salt of Ceruse you must pouder the ceruse very fine and mix it with some distilled vinegar so that to one ounce of ceruse there may be four ounces of vinegar let it infuse three or four dayes then draw it off by filtration and and set that which is drawn off over the fire in an earthen pot well glaz'd and dried till it become a salt as they make their cauteries Take prepared snails that is drawn out of their shels and washt so long in salt and water till they loose their slime then pound them and lay one bed of them in the bottom of an Alembicke and on them make an other bed of sal gem allum frankincense borace camphire of each pounded two drams then poure on so much juice of limmons as may cover them two fingers so let them macerate 5 or 6 hours together and then distill them in Bal. Maris Take twelve limons as many hen egs halfe a pound of turpentine well washt put the turpentine in the bottome of the alembick boile the egs hard and distill all in B. M. this water is excellent to whiten the skin and change the complexion if you wash wish spring watar and dry the face and after wash with this without wiping This bath is very good Take two handfulls of sage leaves the like quantity of lavender flowers and roses a little salt boile them in spring water and therewith bath your body remembring that you are never to bath after meals for it will occasion many infirmities bath therefore two or three hours before dinner it will cleare the skin revives the spirits and strengthens the body the same effects hath this following Take rose water vineger salt boile all together in faire water take thereof a pint mix some bran with it and wash the body all over with it let it dry on then wash it off nothing can be better to mundifie the body Some Ladies delight much in sweet baths therefore into half a pint of water they put 5 or 6 drops of oile of spickenard some beside this adde musk amber civet lignum aloes benjamin storax myrrh cloves roses limmon and orange flowers rosemary lavender mint penny-royall But your chymicall extracts far excell all these if you mix but halfe a dozen drops with your bath such are the oile of oranges cloves mace nutmegs and the like When your bath is provided remember if you prise your health or beauty that it be not too hot for then it scorcheth the skin and makes it rough and causes very many untoward infirmities Thus much for the meanes to gaine a good complexion I come in the next place to give some speciall remedies how to correct the more particular vices of an ill complexion as a pale and swarthy colour a rough harsh grosse or sluttish skin sweat spots itch scab leprosie scurf and the like CHAP. IV. How to beautifie a white and pallid complexion Such colours when they annoy the complexion principally proceed from ill humours which abound in the body are expelled forth to the externall superficies of the skin wherefore those that desire to correct any vitious colour that offends their bodies must in the first place by some purgation evacuate that humour whereto their distemper ows its originall Now the palenesse of the complexion in women is principally occasioned by obstructions of the spleen and liver which cause in them a suppression of their monthly purgations which cause being by an orderly course of physick removed the body must be replenisht by a good and commendable dyet If this doe not recover their decaying beauty they may proceed to externall applications and to make their cheeks and lips ruddie and lively with good success use these things following Dissolve the shavings of Brasil and Orkanet in allum water wherewith after you have sufficiently cleansed the face with water of lillies or bean flowers bath the cheeks and lips letting it dry on Or else bath the cheeks lips or any other part that is too pale and white with allum water wherein a pciee of red turnsoile hath been often steeped or rub those parts with a peece of shipskin coloured red To chafe the parts often with the hand or a course cloth makes them look red and lively for such frictions draw the blood and spirits outward Or in case of necessity use Pomatum and Vermilion made of cinnaberis Or Take red Saunders bruise and steep it for 3 dayes in Aqua Vitae then boile it for an hour over a gentle sire adding a little allum and gum arabick than strein it and bath the parts therewith Take rock allum unc 1. boile it in a pinte of running water when it is dissolved take it off from the fire let it cool then adde to it Vermilion finely powdred one ounce boile them againe to a consumption of half streine the decoction and keep it for your use Take Brasil one ounce Cloves halfe a score grains of Paradise two scruples boile them with a pint of rectified Aqua vitae in a covered vessel use it when it is cold CHAP. V. To smooth a rough and uneven Skin THe skin is the bodies native shirt which if it be of a courser thread it is some of Natures homespun houswifry carelesly hudled up when she was in hast to finish a finer peece To smooth such rugged canvas and bring it to a pleasing evennesse that may vie with the polisht Alablaster art here