Meats and Drinks ought not to be taken together that are of a contrary Nature in themselves or disagreeable to any Mans particular Constitution because such Foods do secretly yet powerfully wound simple Nature with many Diseases and Infirmities before she is aware or can arm her self against their Assaults but let them be simple in their kind agreeable to the Complection and as near as may be equal in their parts which will breed good Blood and pure brisk Spirits and they always make the Body Lightsome and Agile 9. Forbear the frequent eating of Flesh and Fish without distinction and regard had to the Season and to their Cleanness or Unclaenness at that time and to the manner of their being killed after they are taken whether it be a Wound which may cause the free Evacuation of the original Properties of Saturn and Mars which is seldom done especially in Fish and Fowles but the same are for the most part Suffocated or Strangled or Die themselves whereby the pure Spirits and sweet Vertues by the Agony the poor Creatures are at the departure of their dear Lives are fixt or overcome for the orginal Venoms in which al Life consists are then so terribly agitated that they immediately suffocate and swallow up the pure Spirits and sweet Oyle if there be not a Wound made whereby those raging Poysons may freely pass away in the vehicle of the Blood for this reason experience shews that all Flesh as of Fowles or Fish or the like that are Strangled will not eat so Sweet and Pleasent as others that have a Wound made and Bleed plentifully but will have a stronger and grosser Taste and Smell nor will it breed so good Blood or Nourishment as the other but the best of them is much inferior to that of Vegatations which are more easily and more friendly obtained 10. Let your ordinary Drinks be mild and friendly to Nature neither Strong Stale Hard or Sour nor yet too new nor such as most of the small or nine Shilling Beer is that is Brewed in London viz. that runs off those Grains that the strong Ale and Beer has drawn forth all the sweet Qualities and good Vertues and there remains only a Sharp Sour Astringent Stinking Quality behind which the hot Water or Liquour extracts and then to give it a Taste they Boyle it Lustily with the Hops that have been boyled several hours in the strong Beer which have drawn forth all wholsome qualities and there are no better Vertues Extracted from them then the Water or Liquor did from the Graines and tho they do put some Ale amongst this small Beer to help it or to hide the ill Taste or Qualities but when such Drinks come into the Stomach those Sharp Sour Stinking Properties cannot be hid from Nature nor their pernicious opperations the frequent use of such Drinks do hurt the Blood and Generate the Scurvy and many other Diseases that are breed by improper and unnatural Drinks especially taken in too great quanties for it not only heats the Blood when strong but it keeps it as it were in a continual firment precipitating People into Feavors Dropsies Griping pangs of the Bowels and it also contracts the Vessels of the Stomach and Passages dulling the Appetite by weakening the Natural heat as woofull experience doth daily testifie to the great ruin of the Body Soul Estate and Reputation and many times Starving a Wife and poor innocent Children Of all Drinks Water hath the first place even as Bread of Foods the Creator of all beeings having endued this Element with many secret and admirable Vertues it being pure and clean in its own Nature and the chiefe thing by which all Exterial things are Purified Purged and Cleansed and tho Weak as Water be a vulgar Proverb yet I must tell you that Water is more strong sublime then most imagin for it contains a most Ravishing and Excellent Spirituous Balsamick Vertue whence proceeds that pure sweet refreshing quality whereby it hath power by its innate Vertue to digest and purifie all sorts of Foods Likewise in Preparations it is so innocent and friendly that it dissipates the gross flegmatick Bodies and preserves and keeps living the more essential spiritous parts it is not only the most plentiful and truly pleasant of all Drinks but supplies with its friendly Moysture and relieves Thirst beyond all other Liquors or Juces it is simple and endued with such equallity that it insinuates its Virtues into all parts of the Body in an insensible way it makes no noise nor causes any Tumults in the Brain nor awakens any Inequallity in the Body but imparts its meek Life as it were in Silence and may deserve the Name of Concord a thing that God and his Hand-Maid Nature have befriended with all the united Vertues both in the Vegitable and Animal Kingdoms it being the Radix of all moist Nourishment which mixt or incorporated with any kind of Juces renders them fit and profitable for Mankind The best and most agreeable sorts of Water for common use and Drinking are Rain River and Spring but especially the two first because they are not only impregnated with the sweet Influences of the Celestials and airry motions of the Elements but their running through and upon the Surface of the Earth does thereby draw forth a saline Vertue of a mild opening Quality which renders it more Homogenial then Pump-Water or such as stand without motion and altho it be our custom to drink Beer Ale Wine and other strong Liquors yet it would be very beneficial and Profitable to most People to accustom themselves to the drinking of a Pint or half a Pint at Night a little before going to Bed and likewise in the Morning it is good to cool wash and refresh Nature it is also good for some Complexions to drink after Meals especially for those that are subject to Fumes and Vapours if Bread be tosted hard and put into it letting it stand a quarter of an hour and then drunk off there being no sort of Drink made by Art so friendly and capable to digest and cleanse the Passages from Obstructions as Water and I am confident if People use themselves every Morning to drink half a Pint a Pint or a Quart of good Water such as each Person shall find most agreeable because Waters have various opperations on several Constitutions they would find as much Benefit if not more then by going to the various Wells so much cried up for their Vertues 11. Bad Air does further and increase all Distempers for that being an Element which we continually Suck and Feed on when it is corrupt conveys unwho some fumes into the Body impairs the Longs those Bellows of Life and infects the whole Mass of Blood therefore proper and good Airs are of great benefit to Health I say Proper as well as Good for every sort of Air tho in its self good is not healthfull for some People because there is as great a
against griping pains of the Bowels helps Concoction disburthening the Stomoch of superfluous Juces and cleanseth the vessels which are generally stopt and furred by Intemperance either in Meats or Drinks for all Gruels and Pottages do naturally prevent fumes and vapours by carrying the offending windy matter into the Bowels causing it to pass away with case its proper way neither shall those whether Young or Old that often eat this Gruel be subject to shortness of Breath or other ill habits of the Stomach and Breast and if Children do eat frequently of it in quantities it will prevent those evil sharp windy Juces that falls into their Joynts which do cause the Disease called the Rickets it hath also a powerful opperation against the Scurvy and Dropsie by opening the obstructions of the Liver and Spleen begets appetite it cheers and comforts the Spirits it is in every respect friendly to Nature and assists her in all her Opperations for as most distempers are contracted by excess and Inordinate living so on the other side nothing hath so much power not only to prevent Diseases but also to throw them off when they have invaded Nature neither can the best of of Medicines prove Effectual when disorders and the same intemperance in Meats Drinks Beds and Exercises are continued that was the original of the Diseases it is also very profitable to Woman in Child-Bed the frequent use thereof would prevent those feavorish indispositions vapours windy fuming Humors that most are subject to in that conditions which is for the most part occasioned by their ill conduct and by their hot thick compounded Spoon-Meats but I do not call them hâ—â— from the firy heat they are tenged with in their preparation which also is injurious to Nature if not cool before it be taken into the Body it being a contrary heat both to the natural heat of the food and Stomach too but from the innate heat the ingrediences of those Spoon-meats are endued with also those Gruels are very profitable for all Children especially those that suck for many Womens Milk is defective besides Milk naturally furs the passages and stomach and often heats the Blood whence Feavers and indispositions proceeds which generally is attributed to the breeding of Teeth but many are mistaken now this Gruel does cool and cleanse all the passages and refresh the Spirit and thin the Blood. Of moyst Airs WHen the Fountains of water in the upper Chambers of Nature are stirred or awakened by the motions of the Elements and Celestial Configurations all things presently become dewy or fill'd with humidity for heat and moisture naturally opens all Bodies exerting their inward qualities and makes them defusive whether they be Good or Evil and renders them capable to mixt or incorporate with the Air for so great is the power and efficacy of this Element of Water that all or most productions are attributed thereunto as that whereby they are Generated Nourished and increased so that it seems a prime natural cause of all things that grow in the Earth and when it obtains the Goverment or Dominion over the other Elements it opens the Gates of nature then all properties do breathe or send forth their innate qualities intermingling with the Air of that place which if it happens to be low morish fenny Ground near Lakes Ponds Jakes Close Towns or great Citties as London where various sorts of Filth and Uncleanness are heaped up then the Air is fill'd with foul fulsome vapours of pernicious qualities but on the other side when the Air is humid if the Ground be dry or amongst Gardens Corn Fields open Heaths Running Rivers or where Springs trickle down from the Breasts of a rising Plain or Hills where Hedges and Trees do not stand too thick all such places do naturally exhale pleasant and fragrant Smells which Impregnating the Air renders it both delightful and wholsome Hence it appears that Water is the great Menstrum of the World the opener of all bodies and the aawakener of Qualities making all things penetrable whence Motion vegetation doth arise so that when Water and Air are incorporated the latter is rarified and it becomes more penetrating moystening digesting and cooling for when the sweet dews of Heaven are withheld all things are lockt up in the hot harsh astringent Chamber which threatens all things with death the Air becoming Sultry and Sulpherous which consumes the radical moisture in all Creatures and so renders them not only more unfit for Labour or Exercise but also more subject to Diseases then in moyst Seasons making them droughty hot and feavorish by stopping up the pores which frets all the inwards parts both of Men and Beasts and parches up the Earth but where Water and Air do kindly embrace or inbibe each other that place or Climate gains a brisk spiritous refreshing property that it sucks in on all parts of the Body for the pure natural and Animal Spirits in man are not altogether a terrene thing or Body nourrished only by gross Alement received through the Organs by the Concoction of Meats and Drinks only but draw in a more refined nourishment like spunges at every pore of the Body from the thin vapours that encompass and penetrate it on all sides for the Air being plentifully endued with a salnitral vertue does furnish and refresh Nature with a curious brisk Airy Spirit and for that reason Rain Water being Impregnated with a greater quantity of that Good vertue does naturally advance Vegetations beyond all other sorts enriching the Earth and making it hollow or Plumplike a ferment or leven whereas other Waters bind and close-up the Pores thereof but still the moyst Air of Woods are not commendable as to health because such places do naturally attract Humidity and retain it so as it became thick hot and sulpherous because the Sun Wind c. has not free passage to refine it but all Airs by or near Springs or running-Water are more commendable in the Summer then in the Winter and wonderfully refreshes the natural Spirits and therefore Imployments or Exercises near unto or on the Waters are both pleasant and healthful so that its a very vain Apprehension in many People so much to fear the dwelling near Rivers tho possibly the same may not agree with all Constitutions And as moyst Airs are most wholsome and healthful in hot Seasons of the Year The like is to be understood of our Homogenial Water-Gruel and other Pottages tho the contrary is practised by most Gruels and Pottages being mostly eaten in Winter but they are far more agreeable in Summer or hot Seasons for our Winters are for the most part cold and moyst which does naturally drive the heat more central which does strengthen the Stomach and digestive faculty that Nature can the better dispose and digest stronger fatter harder drier Foods and Drinks then in Summer or hot Weather besides Airs then are cold humid and dewy which do powerfully penetrate the Body and the
stiring or lading it on the Fire half a quarter of an hour and so it is done only season it with Salt and let it stand till it be cool and by that time the Oatmeal viz. the bigger parts thereof will be settled to the bottom then drink a pint or a quart as you think convenient either before or after your Food or in a Morning and in such case Fast till Dinner It is also very good to be Drank after Labour Travel Sweating or the like to prevent Surfeits no sort of strong Drink being comparable to it in that respect for whilest People do endeavour by drinking Wine and strong Drink to allay Heat and Drought or Extinguish it frequently encrease it but this Gruel by its friendly Nature quallifies all such disorders and presently brings Nature into a state of Harmony and as it is commendable and beneficial at all seasons of the Year so more especially in Spring and Summer for it allays Heat and Drought far beyond any Beer or Ale and performs it in Natures own way Another very commendable way of making Water Gruel TAke what quantity of Water you please make it just Boyle up then put in your Herbs and let it stand till it begins to boyle again then take it off and let it stand two or three minuits with the Herbs in it then take the Herbs out and having some Oatmeal ready tempered with cold Water put that into it and so brew it too and fro out of one Pot into another as you do Buttered-Ale a dozen or twenty times without putting it any more on the Fire but if you desire to eat Butter in it then let the Butter and Salt be brewed too and fro in the Gruel and the Oatmeal will give forth its vertue and incorporate with the water so as to make it the sweetest best colour and wholsomest of all other Gruels if you would have it plain without Herbs brew only the boyling Water and Oatmeal togather and it is done adding a little Salt thus likewise you may make Milk Pottage by putting your Milk and Water on your fire together and when it boyles up take it off and brew that and your tempered Oatmeal as aforesaid and the like of Flowered-milk Of the best and most Natural way of making Water-Gruel compounded of Various Ingrediences TAke a Quart of good Water into which put half a quarter of a Pound of Currans washed ser it on the Fire till it be ready to boyl then move it to a more moderate heat for three or four Minuits then in another Vessel have a Quart of the like Water made to a boyling then have your tempered Spoonful of Oatmeal ready brew your Oatmeal and Water together as you were taught before very well then take your infused Currans out of the hot Water and put them into your brewed Gruel with some Sugar Butter and Salt throwing your Water the Currans was infused in away then brew it again as you did before the Butter Salt Currans and Crums of Bread altogether very well and if you think convenient to add Spice to it then put it into the water you make your Gruel off when you set it on the fire for it is best to put both the Currans and Spice into the water when cold the water does then draw out the vertue of them best this way of making of it is far before any others that is in practice amongst the Houswives the Currans will be soft and eat much more pleasent then when boyled this Gruel will have a curious white brisk lively colour Fragrant smell and curious Cordial Taste affords a better Nourishment and easier of Concoction then any made the common way for this way is far more Natural and does draw forth the fine spirituous friendly quallity of the Ingrediences and the brewing of it does keep and preserve the brisk lively spirits of the Butter which gives a curious flaver to the whole and makes all incorporate as one Body also the Infusing of the Currans in the water does wash away a foul gross quality which cold water cannot do which renders them more Homogenial and easier of Digestion you are also to take notice by the way that your brewing or mixing of it off the fire in the pleasant sweet Air does not only give Life and a curious Colour but of better Taste and Smell more agreeable to the stomach and easier of digestion not so apt to obstruct the Vessels of the Stomach as that which is done otherwise for the boyling and stiring those fine thin Gruels or Pottages on the fire does give great advantage ro the thick gross smooky poysonous Vapours which the Coles or Wood when stired sends forth which fulsome Vapours are by the Air drawn forth up the Chimny which are so very pernicious that if any Persons should hold their Heads over them it would stifle or destroy them in a little time for the fire is not only the opener of all Bodies but the separating power of Nature and penetrates to the very Root of each thing and manifests the vertues and vices of each thing therefore forthese and many other reasons too tedious for this place the mixing or brewing these Gruels and Pottages off the fire are highly commendable and they do as far exceed the common Preparation as Light does Darkness but Practice is the best Master and Experience the best Doctor Of purging Gruel TAke Water what quantity you please make it boyling hot then put into it a good quantity of any of these Herbs following or others that you shall best like viz. Scurvy-Grass Spinnage Corn-Sallet Parsly Smalage Elder-Buds Take your Water off your Fire cover it and let them infuse one hour then take your Liquor from your Herbs and brew it with some tempered Oatmeal you may drink it with Salt or without from a Quart to three Quarts in a Morning and fast till Dinner this is a brave Cordial Gruel it will move gentily to stool more natural then most sorts of Physick and wash and cleanse the Stomach from all superfluous matter thins the Blood and open all the Passages by which the Humours will freely circulate carrying away all Windy Watery or Flatulent Juces this sort of Gruel is not only good in the Spring but at all Seasons of the Year when the Herbs can be procured if the natural and proper use of Herbs were known and practised there would be but little need of Physick especially if Order and Temperance were observed How Herb-Gruels for the Spring ought to be made and their Respective Vertues and first of Elder-buds in Gruel TAke Water what quantity you have occasion for make it boyling hot then have your Oatmeal ready tempered with cold Watter and your Elder-buds and put both into your boyling Water and keep it stirring letting it be as it were on the boyl but not boyl up a little while then take it off the fire and let it stand two or three minuits more then take
the Herbs out or strain it and add only a little salt and when cold drink a Pint or a Quart as your Stomach serves a little use will make it familiar this Gruel is a great cleanser and opener of all sorts of obstructions that offends the Breast and Passages and moves gentlel to Stole 't is very good for Fat Pussy People especially if they joyn Exercise therewith But probably some may object What good can there be in such poor Watery slip-slop give me Pottage made of Cocks-Combs and Knucles of Veal and Necks of Mutton and Shins of Beef Boyled three or four hours till it becomes thick as a Ielly and then put in Plums Suger Spice and twenty other good things and this is like to be somewhat Nourishing and Comfortable indeed Well let the Objector enjoy his fancy and his Rich chargeable Slop still I will not change my Plain Water Gruel with him for I must tell him were he capable of hearing Reason all such mighty compounded Pottages how much soever they may be cry'd up as Nutritive and Restorative and indeed Destructive for they obstruct Nature stagnate the Blood becloud the Spirits and ruin the Appetite Moreover the much Boyling of Pottages and especially Gruels made of Flowre does in a manner destroy all the wholsome cleansing opening cooling exhilerating Vertues because it too violently opens the Body of the water and sends the fine spirits flying to Iapan or else suffocates them for this Reason Water once boyled and then put into a Vessel and kept will Stink and never be sweet nor good for any use afterwards whereas Water that has never been at the fire being put into a like Vessel will indeed stink as well as the other but then it will recover its self and be sweet again afterwards and as good as ever this shews that in boyling Water loses its fine Spirituous preservative quality nor does the boyling less impair the lively vertues of the Flowre therefore we conclude it not fit nor convenient to boyl Pottages or Gruels after the common manner such being good neither for Food nor Physick whereas one main end of Gruels is to fit and prepare Nature for Food that is to wassi cleanse and free the Passages of gross obstructive matter Others may say How is it possiblh that this infusion or small boyling can draw forth or endue the Gruel with the Vertues of such Herbs as shall be put into it for we they will say have been taught otherwise viz. to boyl them an hour or two at least Now this is as great an error as the former for boyling of Herbs especially in this particular case does as it were totally extinguish and destroy those fine pleasant opening Cordial Vertues which all Men seek to obtain in all preparations either of Food or Physick if your Reason be too weak to apprehend this yet you cannot blind your Nature viz. your Palate and Stomach for will not all Pottages and Gruels wherein various sorts of Herbs are long boyled taste strong and fulsome and do not they lie gross and heavy on the stomach and do not you find that they are hard of Concoction besides you are to know that in all hot infusions the hot or boyling Water does first seize or draw forth the milde sweet cleansing pleasant Vertues and if such Liquors are drawn off from the ingredients in a convenient time they shall be endued with all the good pleasant Vertues of the Vegetation infused but if they lie too long in the hot Liquor then those good properties first extracted becomes suffocated for the boyling Liquor continuing still its opperation on the things Infused after it has suckt out the sweet friendly Properties does awaken the Harsh Bitter Stinking Poysonous Sharp Astingent Qualities and draws forth that too whereby the former becomes spoyled or turned into the foremention'd evil qualities thus Brewers or any good Houswives will tell you that the best vertues of the Mault is first drawn forth by the hot Liquor and the oftner they put up the meaner is their Wort and if they let their first infusion stand too long before they draw it off it will become of a strong sharp keen sowre quality not fit to make either Beer or Ale of for by long standing the hot Liquor continuing its opperation does penetrate even to the Center and stirs up the harsh bitter sowre properties of the Mault which evil Juces does in a moments time swallow up or turn all the sweet pleasant mild friendly Vertues into its own Nature for which Evils there is no cure or bringing of it back again but it will still continue its progress into the harsh bitter Astingency or its original Properties Note also that the better or more Skilful Brewers will not boyl their Liquor or Water at all whatever Custom and Vulgar noise may clamour to the contrary but only heat it to a convenient degree because they are taught by Doctor Experience that boyling does not only fix or harden the Liquor but causeth it to lose its opening soft quality so that it will not so kindly draw forth the good vertues of the Mault but if these Reasons backt by Experience which are truly Natural will not satisfie you you have Liberty to follow your old blind Guide Ignorance and Tradition There still remains an other Objection viz. What Vertue can there be in one simple herb alone we are advised by the Learned that for Spinnage Gruel or Pottages we must put into the same Mess Elder-buds Nettle-tops Clivers Brook-lime Water-cresses and as many more as we can think off that it may cleanse us bravely But let me tell you and I will tell you nothing but naked natural Truths that wherever such a multiplicity of Ingredients are jumbled together you may be sure there are as many various Natures and Qualities and 't is more then probable that some of them at least are contrary to each other so that their distinct Vertues are thereby confounded and you have neither the true Vertue of one nor the other but a meer Gallimaufry which will be irksome for nature to receive and burdensome unto the Stomach to digest being both of an ill Taste and Savour therefore the surest and most natural way is to take such a simple Herb as you conceive most proper for that infirmity you are subject unto and such simple Gruels will prove more pleasant to the pallate Secondly more agreeable to the Stomach Thirdly they do to a better degree Answer the end for which they are taken Of Gruel with that gallant Herb Balm The making of this Gruel as to the manner of preparation is exactly the same with what we taught you of Elder-buds and so it is of all the other Herbs herein after mentioned or any other that you please to make use of and therefore we refer you back thereunto being as unwilling to write unnecessary repetitions as you can be to Read them The Vertues of Balm-Gruel are that it cleanses