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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
truth_n	word_n	write_v	young_a	121	3	6.1746	4	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A42668	The history of four-footed beasts and serpents describing at large their true and lively figure, their several names, conditions, kinds, virtues ... countries of their breed, their love and hatred to mankind, and the wonderful work by Edward Topsell ; whereunto is now added, The theater of insects, or, Lesser living creatures ... by T. Muffet ...; Historie of foure-footed beasts	Topsell, Edward, 1572-1625?; Topsell, Edward, 1572-1625? Historie of serpents.; Gesner, Konrad, 1516-1565. Historia animalium Liber 1. English.; Gesner, Konrad, 1516-1565. Historia animalium Liber 5. English.; Moffett, Thomas, 1553-1604. Insectorum sive minimorum animalium theatrum. English.; Rowland, John, M.D.	1658 (1658)	Wing G624; ESTC R6249	1,956,367	1,026

for her number is sometimes twenty at last the other impatient of delay gnaw out her guts and belly and so come forth destroying their mother And here is no great difference for in the sum and destruction of Father and Mother they all agree and Saint Jerom Saint Basill and Horus do agree and subscribe to the truth of these opinions Thus we have shewed the opinions of the Ancient and first Writers now it followeth that we should likewise shew the opinions of the latter Writers which I will performe with as great brevity and perspicuity as I can Pierius therefore writeth that in his time there were Learned men desirous to know the truth who got Vipers and kept them alive both Males and Females by shutting them up safe where they could neither escape out nor do harme and they found that they engendred brought forth and conceived like other Creatures without death or ruine of Male and Female Amatus Lusitanus also writeth thus The Male and Female Viper engender by wreathing their tails together even to the one half of their body and the other half standeth upright mutually kissing one another In the Male there is a genital member in that part beneath the Navel where they embrace which is very secret and hidden and against the same is the Females place of conception as may appear manifestly to him that will look after the same and therefore all the Philosophers and Physitians have been deceived that have wrote they have conceived at their mouth or that the Male perished at the time of engendering or the Female at the time of her delivery Thus saith Amotus Theophrastus he likewise writeth in this manner The young Vipers do not eate out their way or open with their teeth their Mothers belly nor if I may speak merrily make open their own passage by breaking up of the doors of their Mothers womb but the womb being narrow cannot contain them and therefore breaketh of it own accord and this I have proved by experience even as the same falleth out with the fish called Acus and therefore I must crave pardon of Herodotus if I affirm his relation of the generation of Vipers to be meerly fabulous Thus sar Theophrastus Apollonius also writeth that many have seen the old Vipers licking their young ones like other Serpents Thus have I expressed the different judgements of sundry Authors both new and old touching the generation of Vipers out of which can be collected nothing but evident contradictions and unreconcileable judgements one mutually crossing another So as it is unpossible that they should be both true and therefore it must be our labour to search out the truth both in their words and in the conference of other Authors Wherefore to begin thus writeth Aristotle The Viper amongst other Serpents almost alone bringeth forth a living creature but first of all she conceiveth a soft egge of one colour above the egges lieth the young ones folded up in a thin skin and some-times it falleth out that they gnaw in sunder that thin skin and so come out of their mothers belly all in one day for she bringeth forth more then twenty at a time Out of these words of Arstotle evilly understood by Pliny and other ancient Writers came that errour of the young Vipers eating their way out of their mothers belly for in stead of the little thin skin which Aristotle saith they eat thorough other Authors have turned it to the belly which was clean from Aristotles meaning And another error like unto this is that wherein they affirm that the Viper doth every day bring forth one young one so that if she hath twenty young ones in her belly then also she must be twenty dayes in bringing of them forth The words of Aristotle from whence this error is gathered are these Tectei de en mia emera kathon Tictei de pleo he eikosi which are thus translated by Gaza Parit enim singulos diebus singulis plures quam viginti numero That is to say she bringeth forth every day one more then twenty in number But this is an absurd translation and agreeth neither with the words of Aristotle nor yet with his mind for his words are these Parit autem una die singulos parit autem plus quam viginti numero That is to say in English she bringeth forth every one in one day and she bringeth forth more then twenty so that the sense of these words shall be that the Viper bringeth forth her young ones severally one at a time but yet all in a day But concerning her number neither the Philosopher nor yet any man living is able to define and set it down certain for they vary being sometimes more and sometimes fewer according to the nature of other living creatures And although the Viper do conceive egges within her yet doth she lay them after the manner of other Serpents but in her body they are turned into living Vipers and so the egges never see the sun neither doth any mortal eye behold them except by accident in the dissection of a female Viper when she is with young I cannot also approve them that do write that one namely the Viper among all Serpents bringeth forth her young ones alive and perfect into the world for Nicander and Grevinus do truly affirm with the constant consent of all other Authors that the horned Serpent called Cerastes of which we have spoken already doth likewise bring forth her young ones alive And besides Herodotus writeth of certain winged-Serpents in Arabia which do bring forth young ones as well as Vipers and therefore it must not be concluded with apparent falshood that onely the Viper bringeth her young ones perfect into the world The like fable unto this is that general conceit of the copulation together betwixt the Viper and the Lamprey for it is reported that when the Lamprey burneth in lust for copulation she forsaketh the waters and cometh to the Land seeking out the lodging of the male Viper and so joyneth herselfe unto him for copulation He againe on the other side is so tickled with desire hereof that forsaking his own dwelling and his own kind doth likewise betake himselfe unto the Waters and Rivers sides where in an amorous manner he hisseth for the Lamprey like as when a young man goeth to meet and call his Love so that these two creatures living in contrary elements the earth and the water yet meet together for the fulfilling of their lusts in one bed of fornication Upon which Saint Basill writeth in this manner Vipera infestissimum animal eorum quae serpunt cum muraena congreditur c. that is to say the Viper a most pernicious enemy to all living creeping things yet admitteth copulation with the Lamprey for he forsaketh the Land and goeth to the water-side and there with his hissing voyce giveth notice to the other of his presence which she hearing instantly forsaketh the deep waters and coming to

which is expressed in the former treatise of an Oxe The Ancients called Victoria by the name of the Goddess Vitula because they sacrificed unto her Calves which was tearmed a Vitulation and this was usual for victory and plenty as is to be seen at large in Giraldus Macrobius Nonius Ovid and Virgil but the Heathens had this knowledge that their Gods would not accept at their hands a lame Calf for a Sacrifice although it were brought to the Altar and if the tail of the Calf did not touch the joynts of his hinder legs they did not receive him for Sacrifice And it is said of Aemilius Paulus when he was to go against the Macedonians he sacrificed to the Moon in her declination eleven Calves It is very strange that a Calf being ready to be sacrificed at the Temple of Ierusalem brought forth a Lamb which was one fore-shewing sign of Ierusalems destruction But Aristotle declareth that in his time there was a Calf that had the head of a childe and in Luceria a Town of Helvetia was there a Calf which in his hinder parts was a Hart. When Charles the fifth went with his Army into Africk and arrived at Largherd a Noble City of Sardinia there happened an exceeding great wonder for an Oxe brought forth a Calf with two heads and the woman that did owe the Oxe presented the Calf to the Emperor and since that time I have seen the picture of a more strange beast calved at Bonna in the Bishoprick of Colen which had two heads one of them in the side not bigger then a Hares head and two bodies joyned together whereof the hinder parts were smooth and bald but the tail black and hairy it had also seven feet whereof one had three hoofs this Monster lived a little while and was brought forth in Anno 1552. the 16. day of May to the wonder and admiration of all them who either knew the truth or had seen the picture Butchers are wont to buy Calves for to kill and sell their flesh for in all creatures the flesh of the young ones are much better then the elder because they are moist and soft and therefore will digest and concoct more easily and for this cause Kids Lambs and Calves are not out of season in any time of the year and are good from fifteen days to two months old being ornaments to the Tables of great Noble men which caused Fiera to make this Distichon Assiduos habeant vitulum tua prandia in usus Cui madida sapida juncta tepore caro est And principally the Germans use the chawthern the head and the feet for the beginning of their meals and the other part either roasted or baked and sometime sod in broath and then buttered spiced and sauced and eaten with Onyons The Medicines arising from this beast are the same that come from his Sires before spoken of and especially the flesh of a Calf doth keep the flesh of a new wound if it be applyed thereunto from swelling and being sodden it is precious against the bitings of a mans teeth and when a mad Dog hath bitten a man or a beast they use to pare the wound to the quick and having sodden Veal mingled with the sewet and heel they lay some to the wound and make the patient drink of the broath and the same broath is soveraign against all the bitings of Serpents The horns of a Calf sod soft are good against all intoxicate poyson and especially Hemlock The powder of a Calves thigh drunk in Womans Milk cureth all filthy running Ulcers and out of the brains of a Calf they make an Oyntment to loosen the hardness of the belly The marrow softneth all the joynts driveth away the bunches arising in the body having an operation to soften fill dry and heat Take Oyl Wax Rust and the marrow of a Calf against all bunches in the face and Calves marrow with an equal quantity of Whay Oyl Rose-cake and an Egge do soften the hardness of the cheeks and eye-lids being laid to for a plaister and the same mixed with Cummin and infused into the ears healeth the pains of them and also easeth the Ulcers in the mouth The marrow with the sewet composed together cureth all Ulcers and corruptions in the Secrets of Men and Women The Fat pounded with Salt cureth the Louzy evill and likewise the ulcerous sores in the head The same mixed with the fat of a Goose and the juyce of Basil or wilde Cummin and infused into the ears helpeth deafness and pains thereof The fat taken out of the thigh of a Calf and sod in three porringers of water and supped up is good for them that have the Flux and the dung of a Calf fryed in a pan laid to the Buttocks and Secrets doth wonderfully cure the Bloodyflix also laid to the reins provoketh Urine and fod with Rue cureth all the inflamations in the seat of a man or woman The Sewet of a Calf with Nitre asswageth the swelling of the cods being applyed to them like a plaister and the Sewet alone doth cure the peeling of the Nails The Liver with Sage leaves cut together and pressed to a liquor being drunk easeth the pain in the small of the Belly The gall mingled with powder of a Harts-born and the Seed of Marjoram cureth Leprosies and Scurfs and the gall alone anointed upon the head driveth away nits The milt of a Calf is good for the milt of a man and for Ulcers in the mouth and glew made of his stones as thick as Hony and anointed upon the seprous place cureth the same if it be suffered to dry thereupon With the dung of Calves they perfume the places which are hurt with Scorpions and the ashes of this dung with Vinegar stayeth bleeding Marcellus magnifieth it above measure for the cure of the Gout to take the fime of a Calf which never eat grass mixed with lees of Vinegar and also for the deafness of the ears when there is pain withall take the Urine of a Bull Goat or Calf and one third part of Vinegar well fod together with the herb Fullonia then put it into a flagon with a small mouth and let the neck of the Patient be perfumed therewith Of the supposed Beast CACUS THere be some of the late Writers which take the Cacus spoken of by Virgil in his eight Book of Aeneids to be a wilde beast which Virgil describeth in these words Hic spelunca fuit vasto submota recessu Semihominis Caci facies quam 〈…〉 tegebat Solis inaccensam radiis semperque recenti Caede tepebat humus foribusque affixa superbis Ora virum tristi pendebant pallida tabo Huic monstro Vuloanus erat pater illius atros Ore vomens ignes magna se mole ferebat Nequeunt expleri corda tuendo Pectora semiferi atque extinctos faucibus ignes That is Cacus was half a beast and half a man

Amulets which are used to be bound to the arms necks and breasts as the Canine-tooth bound up in a leaf and tyed to the arm a Worm bred in the dung of Dogs hanged about the neck the root of Gentian in an Hyaenaes skin or young Wolfs skin and such like whereof I know no reason beside the opinion of men The inward compound potions or remedies against the bitings of Dogs may be such as these Take Sea-crabs and burn them with twigs of white Vines and save their ashes then put to them the powder of Gentian root well cleansed and small beaten and as oft as need requireth take two spoonfuls of the first and one of the second and put them into a cup of pure and unmixed Wine and so drink it for four days together being well beaten and stirred so as the Wine be as thick as a Cawdle and there is nothing more forcible then Sea-crabs Hiera Diascincum powder of Walnuts in warm rain Water Triacle Castoreum Pills Spurge-seed and a decoction of Indian thorn with Vervine given in water These may serve for several compound inward remedies against these poysons and now sollow the simple First eating of Garlike in our meat drinking of Wormwood Rams flesh burned and put into Wine so drunk There is an Herb called Alysson by reason of the power it hath against this evill which being bruised and drunk cureth it The liver of a Boar dryed and drunk in Wine hath the same operation Jews lime drunk in water Leeks and Onyons in meat Dogs bloud the head the vein under the tongue commonly supposed to be a worm and the liver of the Dog which hath done the hurt are also prescribed for a remedy of this evill but especially the liver or rennet of a young Puppey the rinde of a wilde Fig-tree a dram of Castoreum with Oyl of Roses Centaury or Chamaeleon the root of a wilde Rose called Cynorrhodon and Cynosbaton Ellebor the brain of a Hen drunk in some liquor Sorrel Honey Mints and Plantaine but Pimpinella Germanica is given to all Cattel which are bitten by a mad Dog Besides many other such like which for brevity sake I omit concluding against all superstitious curing by Inchantments or supposed Miracles such as is in a certain Church of S. Lambert in a City of Picardy where the Mass Priests when a man is brought unto them having this evill they cut a cross in his forehead and lay upon the wound a piece of S. Lamberts stole burning which they say though falsly is reserved to this day without diminution then do they sow up the wound again and say another plaister upon it prescribing him a dyet which is to drink water and to eat hard Egs but if the party amend not within forty days they binde him hand and foot in his bed and saying another bed upon him there strangle him as they think without all sin and for preventing of much harm that may come by his life if he should bite another This story is related by Alysius and it is worth the noting how murther accompanieth superstitious humane inventions and the vain presumptuous confidence of Cross-worshippers and thus much of the madness of Dogs and the cure thereof in men and beasts In the next place the conclusion of this tedious discourse followeth which is the natural medicines arising out of the bodies of Dogs and so we will tye them up for this time Whereas the inward parts of men are troubled with many evils it is delivered for truth that if little Melitaean Dogs or young sucking Puppies be laid to the breast of a childe or man that hath infectious passions or pains in his entrails the pain will depart from the man into the beast for which cause they burned them when they were dead Serenus doth express this very elegantly saying Quin etiam catulum lactentem apponere membris Convenit omne malum transcurrere fertur in illum Cui tamen extincto munus debetur humandi Humanos quia contactus mala tanta sequuntur Et junctum vitium ducit de conjuge conjux If a Whelp be cut asunder alive and laid upon the head of a mad melancholike woman it shall cure her and it hath the same power against the Spleen If a woman grow barren after she hath born children let her eat young Whelp-flesh and Polypus fish sod in Wine and drink the broath and she shall have ease of all infirmities in her stomach and womb Water distilled out of Whelps causeth that pieled or shaven places shall never have more hair grow upon them With the fat of whelps bowelled and sod till the flesh come from the bones and then taken and put into another Vessel and the weak resolute or paralytike members being therewith anointed they are much eased if not recovered Alysius saith he made experience of Puppies sod alive in Oyl whereby he cured his Gowty legd Horses and therefore it cannot chuse but be much more profitable for a man The skin of a Dog held with the five fingers stayeth Distillations it hath the same operation in gloves and stockins and it will also ease both Ach in the belly head and feet and therefore it is used to be worn in the shoes against the Gowt The flesh of mad Dogs is salted and given in meat to them which are bitten by mad Dogs for a singular remedy The bloud is commended against all intoxicating poysons and pains in the small guts and it cureth scabs The fat is used against deafness of the ears the Gowt Nits in the head and incontinency of urine given with Alum A plaister made of the Marrow of a Dog and old Wine is good against the falling of the fundament The hair of a black Dog easeth the Falling sickness the Brains of a Dog in Lint and Wool laid to a mans broken bones for fourteen days together doth consolidate and joyn them together again which thing caused Serenus to make these excellent verses Infandum dictu cunctis procul absit amicis Sed fortuna potens omen convertat in hostes Vis indigna novo si parserit ossa fragore Conveniet cerebrum blandi Canis addere fractis Lintea deinde super que inductu nectere lanas Saepius succos conspergere pinguis olivi Bis septem credunt revale scere cuncta diebus The brain-pan or skull of a Dog clove asunder is applyed to heal the pain in the eyes that is if the right eye be grieved thereunto apply the right side of the skull if the left eye the left side The vertues of a Dogs head made into powder are both many and unspeakable by it is the biting of mad Dogs cured it cureth spots and bunches in the head and a plaister thereof made with Oyl of Roses healeth the running in the head it cureth also all tumors in privy parts and in the fear the chippings in the fingers and many other diseases The powder of the teeth of Dogs

see perfectly down into the earth and what was done in Hell Plutarch saith that he could see through trees and rocks Pausanias writeth that he was a King and raigned after Danaovita Pyndarus writeth that Ida and Lynceus were the sons of Aphareus and that a contention growing betwixt Ida and Castor and Pollux at the marriage of Helena because they twain would have ravished Phoebe and Illayra the wives of Ida and Lynceus Ida did therefore slay Castor and afterwards Lynceus slew Pollux when he spyed him lie under an Oake from the mountain Taygetus Wherefore Jupiter slew Ida with lightning and placed Castor and Pollux in heaven among the stars There was another Lynceus husband of Hypermnestra Daughter of Danaus which Danaus having commanded all his Daughters in the night time to kill their Husbands she only spared her husband Lynceus But the truth is that Lynceus of whom there is so many fables of his eye-sight was the first that found out the mines of Gold Silver and Brasse in the earth and therefore simple people seeing him bring Gold and Silver out of the earth and coming now and then upon him while he was digging deep for it using the light of Candles which he never brought out of the pits they foolishly imagined that by the sight of his eyes he was first of all led to seek for those treasures and from hence came the common proverb Lynceo perspicacior for a man of excellent eye-sight And to conclude others say that Lynceus could see the new Moon the same day or night that she changed and that therefore the fame of his eye-sight came so to be celebrated because never any mortall man saw that sight himself excepted And from these fables of Lynceus came the opinion of the singular perspicacity of the Beast Linx of whom as I said before as the sight is very excellent and so far excelling men as Galen saith like as is also the sight of Eagles so I do not hold any such extraordinary and miraculous sense to be in this beast after any other manner then the Poets did faign it to be in Lynceus except as before said Omnes imbecilliore sumus cernendi potestate si aquilarum Lyncis acuminibus conferamur And therefore the proverb before spoken of may as well be applyed metaphysically to the Beast Linx as Poetically to the man Lynceus and so much may suffice for the sight It is reported also that when they see themselves to be taken they do send forth tears and weep very plentifully Their urine they render all backwards not only the female but the male also wherein they differ from all other Beasts and it is said of them that they knowing a certain virtue in their urine do hide it in the Sand and that thereof cometh a certain pretious stone called Lyncurium which for brightness resembleth the Amber and yet is so congealed and hardned in the sand that no Carbuncle is harder shining like fire wherewithal they make sealing Rings which caused Ovid to write thus Victa racemifero Lyncas dedit India Baccho Equibus ut memorant quicquid vesica remisit Vertilur in lapid●s congelat aere tacto But they say that of the male cometh the fiery and yellow Amber and of the female cometh the white and pale Amber In Italy they call it Langurium and the Beast Languria and Lange This Lyncurium is called of some Electrum Pterygophoron and they say it is the same which will draw unto it leaves straw and plates of Brasse and Iron according to the opinions of Diocles and Theophrastus and that being drunk out of water is good for the stomach and very convenient for the flux of the belly according to Dioscorides and that it cureth the pains of the reins and healeth the Kings evill according to Solinus And Theophrastus goeth about to establish this opinion by reason and laboreth to perswade it as probable that the urine of a Linx should congeal into a stone among sand as well as the urine of a man to ingender a stone in the reins or in the bladder And of this opinion is Pliny Theophrastus Hesychius Varinus Zenothimis Plutarch and Aristotle But in my opinion it is but a fable For Theophrastus himself confesseth that Lyncurium which he calleth Lyngurion and Amber Hualos is digged out of the earth in Lyguria Sudines and Metrodorus say that there is a certain tree in Lyguria out of which Amber is taken and this tree is the black Popler and it is also very probable that seeing this Amber was first of all brought into Greece out of Lyguria according to the denomination of all strange things they called it Lyngurium after the name of the Countrey whereupon the ignorant Latins did faign an etymology of the word Lyncurium quasi Lyncis urinam and upon this weak foundation have they raised that vain building and for further demonstration of this truth Dioscorides saith in his discourse of the Popler that it growing about the River Eridanus sendeth forth a certain humor like tears which groweth hard whereof they make that which is called Electrum being rubbed it smelleth sweet and for that it hath not only power to draw unto it Brasse Iron and such things but also Gold it is also called Chrysophoton unto this Lucianus subscribeth and whereas it was said that in Italy this Amber-stone is begotten neer the River Padus where stand many white Poplers my conjecture is that some such like humor may issue out of them and not only by accident but through affinity of nature and condensate into a stone which the people finding covered in the sand under the trees and through their former perswasion might easily take it for the stone engendred by the urine of the Linx Hermolaus also writeth this of the Lyncurium that it groweth in a certain stone and that it is a kind of Mushrom or Padstoole which is cut off yearly and that another groweth in the room of it a part of the root or foot being left in the stone groweth as hard as a flint and thus doth the stone encrease with a natural secundity which admirable thing saith he I could never be brought to believe untill I did eat thereof in mine own house Euax as it is recited by Sylvatious saith that the urine of the Linx d●mi servatus generat optimos fungos suprase quotannis reserved at home in ones house bringeth forth every year the best Mushroms This is also called Lapis Litzi and Lapis prasius which is divided into three kindes that is Jaspis Armeniacus and Lapis phrygius called also Belemintes wherewithal the Chirurgians of Prussia and Pomerania cure green wounds and the Physitians break the stone in the bladder But the true Lyxcurium which is extant at this day and currant among the Apothecaries is as light as the Pumice-stone and as big as filleth a mans fist being of a blackish colour or of a russet the russet is more solid

devoureth more then needeth for he is never so tamed that he forgetteth his old ravening being tamed on the land he is very full of sport and game I marvail how it came into the Writers heads to affirm that the Beaver constraineth the Otter in the Winter time to trouble the water about her tail to the intent it may not frieze which opinion we have confuted already in the discourse of the Beaver for herein I agree with Albertus Fiber sortior est lutra acutissimis dentibus quepropter eam vel expellit vel occidit The Beaver is much stronger then the Otter having also most sharp teeth and therefore either expelleth her out of the waters because they live both upon one kinde of food or else destroys her wherefore it is unreasonable to believe that he preserveth her to keep his tail from friezing The flesh of this Beast is both cold and filthy because it feedeth upon stinking fish and therefore not fit to be eaten Tragus writeth that this notwithstanding is dressed to be eaten in many places of Germany and I hear that the Carthusian Fryers or Monks whether you will which are forbidden to touch all manner of flesh of other four-footed Beasts yet they are not prohibited the eating of Otters These Otters are hunted with special Dogs called Otter-hounds and also with special instruments called Otter-speares having exceeding sharp points for they are hardly taken and Beasts do not willingly set upon them specially in the waters when they feel themselves to be wounded with the spear then they come to land where they fight with the Dogs very irefully and except they be first wounded they forsake not the waters for they are not ignorant how safe a refuge the waters are unto them and how unequal a combate they shall sustain with Men and Dogs upon the land yet because the cold water annoyeth their green wounds therefore they spin out their lives to the length of the thread chusing rather to die in torments among Dogs then to die in the waters There is a kinde of Assa called Benioyn a strong herb which being hung in a lionen cloth near fish-ponds driveth away all Otters and Bevers The hair of the skin is most soft neither doth it leese his beauty by age for which cause as also for that no rain can hurt it when it is well dressed it is of great price and estimation and is sold for seven or eight shillings thereof also they make fringes in hems of garments and face about the collars of men and womens garments and the skin of the Otter is far more pretious then the skin of the Beaver and for this cause the Swetian Merchants do transport many into Muscovia and Tartaria for clokes and other garments Thereof also in Germany they make caps or else line other caps with them and also make stocking-soles affirming that they be good and wholesome against the Palsie the Megrim and other pains of the head The bloud of an Otter is prescribed against the swelling of the Nerves The Liver dryed in an Oven against the Bloudy-flix and against the Colick being drunk in Wine The stones are also prescribed to be given against the Falling-sickness and all pains in the belly And thus much for the Otter There be certain beasts which are kindes of Otters which because they live in the waters and yet being unknown to us in England I have thought good to express them in this place by their Greek and Latine names In the first place that which the Graecians call Latax broader and thicker then an Otter and yet liveth in the waters or else goeth to the waters for his food yet breatheth air and not water like Otters The hair of this Beast is very harsh betwixt the similitude of a Sea-calf and a Hart and it hath also strong and sharp teeth wherewithall in the night season they shear asunder small boughs and twigs It is called also Fast●z Lamyakyz and Noertza There is another called Satyrium and Fassuron and Chebalus whose skin is black and very pretious and very much used for the edging of the best garments these live also in ponds lakes and still waters There is a third kinde called Satherium Kacheobeon and Kachyneen and Martarus having a white throat and being as big as a Cat and finally unto these may be added Porcos a four-footed beast living in the waters in the River Isther And Maesolus another four-footed beast living in some Rivers of India being as big as as a Calf Of the Panther commonly called a Pardal a Leopard and a Libbard THere have been so many names devised for this one beast that it is grown a difficult thing either to make a good reconciliation of the Authors which are wed to their several opinions or else to define it perfectly and make of him a good methodical History yet seeing the greatest variance hath arisen from words and that which was devised at the first for the better explication and description of it hath turned to the obscuration and shadowing of the truth I trust it shall be a good labour to collect out of every Writer that which is most probable concerning this Beast and in the end to express the best definition thereof we can learn out of all First of all therefore for as much as all the question hath arisen from the Greek and Latine names it is most requisite to express them and shew how the different construction began The Graecians do indifferently call Pordalis Pardalis and Panther the Latines Panthera Pardalis Pardus and Leopardus and these names are thus distinguished by the learned Pordalis they say signifieth the male and Pardalis the female and also Panther● among the Latines for the female and Pardus for the male and these are understood of a simple kinde without commixture of generation Leopardus the Leopard or Libbard is a word devised by the later writers compounded of Leo and Pardus upon opinion that this Beast is generated betwixt a Pardal and a Lion and so indeed it ought properly to be taken if there be any such Pliny is of opinion that Pardus differeth from Panthera in nothing but in sex and other say that betwixt the Lions and the Pardals there is such a confused mixed generation as is betwixt Asses and Mares or Stallions and Asses as for example when the Lion covereth the Pardal then is the Whelp called Leopardus a Leopard or Libbard but when the Pardal covereth the Lioness then is it called Panthera a Panther 〈…〉 In this controversie the Hebre● and Arabian names which are generally indifferently translated Panthers or Libbards do take up the strife and almost end the controversie for Name● in Hebrew and Alph 〈…〉 or Al●hed in Ara●●●k are so translated both in holy Scripture and also in Avicen as may appear by these places following Esa 11. Habitabit Lupus cum agno Name● Pardus cum ●●do de 〈◊〉 That is to say The Wolf shall

in the fifth moneth as it were in the seventeenth week For so is this beast enabled by nature to bear twice in the year and yet to suck her young ones two moneths together And there is no cloven-footed beast that beareth many at a time except the Sow except in her age for then she beginneth to lose her Apria or purgation and so many times miscarryeth and manny times bear but one Yet this is marvailous that as she beareth many so she engendereth them perfect without blindness lamenesse or any such other distresse although as we have said before that in some places you shall see Swine whole hoofed like a Horse yet most commonly and naturally their feet are cloven and therefore is the wonder accounted the greater of their manifold multiplication and the reason thereof may arise from the multitude and great quantity of their food for the humor cannot be so well avoided and dispersed in so little a body as Swine have as in Mares and Cowes and therefore that humour turneth to multiply nature and natural kinde and so it cometh to pass that by overmuch humour turned into a natural seed it breedeth much young and for little humor it bringeth forth a fewPigs and those also are not only perfect but also she is sufficiently furnished with milk to nourish them till they be able to feed themselves For as a fat ground or soil is to the plants that groweth on it even so is a fruitful Sow to the Pigs which she hath brought forth Their ordinary number which they bring forth and can nourish is twelve or sixteen at the most and very rare it is to see sixteen brought up by one Sow Howbeit it hath been seen that a Sow hath brought forth twenty but far more often seven eight or ten There is a story in Festus of a Sow that brought forth thirty at a time his words be these The Sow of Aeneas Lavinus did bring forth thirty white Pigs at one time wherefore the Lavinians were much troubled about the signification of such a monstrous farrow at last they received answer that their City should be thirty years in building and being so they called it Alba in remembrance of the thirty white Pigs And Pliny affirmeth that the images of those Pigs and the Sow their dam were to be seen in his days in publick places and the body of the Dam or Sow preserved in Salt by the Priests of Alba to be shewed to all such as desired to be certified of the truth of that story But to return to the number of young Pigs which are ordinary and without miracle bred in their dams belly which I finde to be so many as the Sow hath dugs for so many she may well nourish and give suck unto and not more and it seemeth a special work of God which hath made this tame beast so fruitful for the better recompence to man for her meat and custody By the first farrow it may be gathered how fruitful she will be but the second and third do most commonly exceed the first and the last in old age is inferior in number to the first Juvenal hath a comparison betwixt a white Sow and an Heifer Scropha foecundior alba more fruitful then a white Sow but belike the white Sowes do bring more then any other colour Now the reason of the Poets speech was because that there was an Heifer in the days of Ptolmy the younger which at one time brought forth six Calves whereupon came the proverb of Regia Vacca for a fruitful Cow for Helenus telleth this to Aeneas Upon the Sow and thirty Pigs there is this answer of the Oracle to the Lavinians concerning Alba Cum tibi sollicito secreti ad fluminis undam Littoreis ingens inventa sub ilicibus sus Triginta capitum foetus enixa jacebit Alba solo recubans albi circum ubera nati Is locus urbis erit requies ea certa laborum And Juvenal saith thus of it Conspicitur sublimis aper cui candida nomen Scropha dedit laetis Phrygibus mirabile sumen Et nunquam visis triginta clara mamillis When the young one cometh forth of the dams ●belly wounded or imperfect by reason of any harm therein received it is called Metacherum and many times Swine engender Monsters which cometh to pass oftner in the little beasts then in the greatest because of the multitude of cels appointed for the receipt of the seed by reason whereof sometimes there are two heads to one body sometimes two bodies and one head sometime three legs sometime two before and none behinde such were the Pigs without ears which were farrowed at that time that Dionysius the Tyrant went to war against Dion for all their parts was perfect but their ears as it were to teach how inconsiderately against all good counsel the Tyrant undertook that voyage such are commonly found to be bred among them also now and then of an unspeakable smalness like Dwarfs which cannot live having no mouth nor ears called by the Latines Aporcelli If a Sow great with Pig do eat abundantly of Acorns it causeth her to cast her farrow and to suffer abortment and if she grow sat then is she less fruitful in Milk Now for the choice of a Pig to keep for store it must be chosen from a lusty and strong dam bred in the Winter time as some say for such as are bred in the heat of Summer are of less value because they prove tender small and overmoist and yet also if they be bred in the cold Winter they are small by reason of extreme cold and their dams forsake them through want of milk and more over because they through hunger pinch and bite their dugs so as they are very unprofitable to be nourished and preserved in the Winter time rather they are fit to be killed and eaten young But this is to be observed for reconciliation of both opinions namely that in hot Countries such Hogs are preferred that be bred in the Winter but in cold such as are bred in Maich or April within ten days after their farrowing they grow to have teeth and the Sow ever offereth her fore-most Dug to the Pig that cometh first out of her belly and the residue take their fortune as it falleth one to one and another to another for it seemeth she regardeth the first by a natural instinct not so much to prefer it as that by the example thereof the residue may be invited to the like sucking by imitation yet every one as Tzetzes saith keepeth him to his first choice And if any of them be taken away from his Dug that is killed or sold that dug presently dryeth and the milk turneth backward and so until all be gone one excepted and then it is nourished with no more then was ordained at the beginning for it If the old Sow want milk at any time the supply must be made by giving the young ones fryed or