marvell if it helpe Tertian Agues for it openeth the Liver Spleene and avoideth choller For which purpose this decoction may greatly helpe Take a quart of white Wine and boile therin an handfull of Germander halfe an ounce of Seane a quarter of an ounce of Fennell seeds and if you put as much Persley seed thereto it doth not onely open the stopping of the Liver and Milt but also helpeth the Strangury Stone Boile it to the halfe straine it and drinke it fasting in two mornings and abstaine two houres after Also one Medicine I have read of this Herb which is very profitable for students The Herbe being made in powder and put in a linnen bagge and applied hot to the head is a speciall remedy against the rheume CHAP. 46. Of Blessed Thistle CArdnus Benedictus or Blessed Thistle so worthily named for the singular vertues that it hath It is hot and dry of temperature and may bee used sundry wayes either in the greene leafe eaten with bread and butter as wee use Sage and Persly in a morning or it may bee boiled in Pottage among other Herbs or it may be used in the juice strained with Wine or Ale or the Herb may be boyled in Wine or Ale and strained and a little Sugar put in to make it sweet or it may bee drunke with Ale or Wine being made in powder or it may be used in the distilled water drunke by it selfe alone or with white Wine before meat or with Sacke after meat or you may use it in a decoction on this wise Take a quart of running water seethe it and scum it then put in a good handfull of the Herb and let it boile untill the better part of the liquour be consumed then drinke it with Wine and if you list with Sugar to make it the more pleasant Howsoever it be used it strengthneth all the principall parts of the body it sharpneth both the wit and memory quickneth all the senses comforteth the stomacke procureth appetite and hath a speciall vertue against poyson and preserveth from the pestilence and is excellent good against any kind of Feaver being used in this manner Take a dram of the powder put it into a good draught of Ale or Wine warme it and drinke it a quarter of an houre before the fit come then goe to bed cover you well with clothes and procure swear which by the force of the Herbe will easily come forth and so continue untill the fit be past Or else you may take the distilled water after the same manner By this meanes you may recover in short time yea if it were a pestilentiall Feaver so that this remedy bee used before twelve houres be past after the disease felt For which notable effects this Herbe may worthily be called Benedictus or Omnimorbia that is a salve for every sore not knowne to Physitians of old time but lately revealed by the speciall providence of Almighty God CHAP. 47. Of Wormwood WOrmwood is hot in the first degree and drie in the third Two sorts of wormwood are well knowne to many that is our common wormwood that which is called Ponticum now sowen in many gardens and commonly called French wormwood And while it is young it is eaten in Sallads with other hearbs to the great commoditie of the stomacke and Liver for it strengtheneth a weake stomack and openeth the liver and spleene which vertues are chiefe for the preservation of health as Galen witnesseth Iecoris â—â—atus per quos fertur alimentum apertos esse non aegrotis modo sed sanis etiam est tutissimum For which purpose there is to bee had in the stillyard at London a kinde of wine named wormwood wine which I would wish to be much used of all such Students as be weake of stomacke they may easily have a Rundlet of three or foure gallons or lesse which they may draw within their owne chambers as need requireth I was wont when appetite failed to steep a branch or two of common wormwood in halfe a pinte of good white wine close covered in some pot all night and in the morning to streine it through a cleane linnen and to put in a little Sugar and warme it and so drinke it or sometime to burn the like quantity of wine with sugar and a branch or two of wormwood put into it wherin I have found many times marvellous commodity and who so shall use it now and then shall be sure of a good stomack to meat be free from worms I read yet another way to make wormwood wine prescribed by Eâ—â—mus as followeth Take of Aqua vitae and Malmsey of each like much put it in a glasse or bottle and put to it a few leaves of wormwood especially when it is dried let it stand certaine dayes and when you list straine out a little spoonfull and mixe it with a draught of Ale or wine it may be long preserved CHAP. 48. Of Sothernwood SOthernwood is hot and drie in the third degree it is not used in meats the smell of it is so strong that it will make some mens heads to Ake yet the hearbe something dried and put in a linnen bagge and laid as a Stomacher next the skinne comforteth a cold Stomack well That which is commonly called Sothernwood after Matthiolus is the male kinde of this hearbe and that which we call Lavendercotten is the female named in Latine Cypressus and Santâ—lina and are both of like temperature yet Lavender Cotten beside the beautie that it beareth in a Garden is commonly given of women to young children for the wormes being first punned and strained with milke and taken fasting warmed which effect it surely worketh as I have prooved by often experience which it doth through the bitternes For this is a generall rule that all bitter things kill wormes as Centory wormwood and such like But the setting of Sothernwood or Lavender Cotten within the house in flower pots must needs bee very wholesome for Dioscorides writeth that Sothernwood Serpentes substraâ—u nidore fugat in vino potum exitialium venenorum 〈◊〉 CHAP. 49. Of Artichokes ARtichokes reckoned of Matth. among the number of Thistles is hot and dry in the second degree It is called of Galen Cinaâ—a and thought to make evill juice especially when the flowers begin to shed they have beene used to be eaten raw but our use is to boyle them and so they are best by the witnesse of Galen in the same place They are now proved to be restorative being well sodden and eaten with Vineger and Pepper they doe not onely strengthen the stomack but also they procure a more earnest desire both of man and woman to the venereal act They that eate them onely for that purpose I would they might eate the innermost part onely and not those leaves which bee 〈◊〉 off round about nor yet the bottome which groweth
wholesome also let him take a gallon or two of good Vineger in some little barell or glasse and put into it for every quart of Vineger one handfull of Rose leaves gathered before they be fully budded forth and withered halfe a day before upon a faire boord put them into the Vineger and stop up the barrell or glasse very close with corke and clay and set it so that the sunne may have power upon it but yet defended from the rayne and let it stand so a moneth or six weekes or longer and at the end of Sommer straine the Vineger from the Roses and keepe it for your use Or if you would have it stronger of the Roses straine forth the old Roses and put in fresh oftentimes or if you suffer the Rose leaves to remaine all the yeare in the vineger it is not amisse for they will not putrifie After the same manner you may make Vineger of Giloflowers which I have spoken of before where I intreated of that flower Likewise of Violets and such like but the Vinegar of Roses and Giloflowers is best and is indeed of great vertue aswell in meats as in medicines specially against the Pestilence And if a man cannot abide to drinke it yet to drench an Handkerchiefe or such like cloth in it and to smell to it is a good preservative or to heate a slate stone or other stone in the fire and to powre vineger upon it and to receive the smoke or fume thereof with open mouth Verjuice which is made of Crabbes pressed and strained is like to Vineger in operation saving that it is not so strong A posset or Selibub made of Verjuice is good to coole a cholerick stomacke and I have knowne some to use them in hot Fevers with good successe With Vineger also is made Oximel which is very good to open obstructions of the inner parts of the body wherby Fevers may bee prevented which commonly proceed of obstructions It is to be made in this manner Take a quart of faire water and a pinte of pure Hony boyle them both together leasurly alwayes scumming as froth ariseth And when they are boyled to the third part that is to a pint then put in of strong white Vineger if you can get it halfe a pinte boyle them againe a little and scumme it cleane with a Fether then take it off and use it at your pleasure This is named Oximel simplex Some put in Rosemary at the first boyling and so they make it more pleasant But if you put in roots of Persely Fenel and their seeds it is then Oximel compositum and is more effectuall in opening obstructions Fernelius prescribeth asmuch Honie as water Weckerus appointeth a pottle of Hony a quart of water and another of Vineger to be made as afore is said so that you may follow whether author you will CHAP. 201. Of Mustarde THe third sauce which is in common use is Mustard which as it procureth appetite and is a good sauce with sundry meates both flesh and fish so is it medicinable to purge the braine as I have shewed in the treatise of herbes which effect may easily be perceived by that if the Mustard bee good if a man licke too deepe it straightway pierceth to the braine and provoketh neesing which extremity maybe soon holpen by holding bread at your nose so that the smell thereof may ascend up to the head for that killeth immediatly the strength of the Mustard The best Mustard that I know in all England is made at Teuksbery in Glocester shire and at Wakefield in Yorkeshire Of the three foresaid sauces Salt and Mustard are hot but Mustard much hotter than Salt and Vineger is cold which difference must bee applyed to seasons of the yeare for in hot seasons we should use cold sauces and in cold seasons contrariwise CHAP. 202. Of a Common sauce IN Scho. Sal. is set forth a common sauce to be made with six things that is to say with Sage Salt Wine Pepper Garlicke Percely as appeareth by these verses Salvia Sal vinum piper Allia Petrocelinum Ex his fac salsa ne sit commixtio falsa But I doe not thinke that all these together should be made in one sauce for that were a mingle mangle indeed and a sweet sauce for a sicke Swine but I take it that all these are good to be used in common sauces especially for the Winter season because they be hot Yet I know one sauce which is common and very good for divers sorts of meates and that is Onions sliced very thinne faire water and grosse pepper for this sauce will serve wel for Capon Hen Fesant Partrich Woodcocke The Onions will doe the lesse harme if they be boyled in water untill they be in a manner dry then may you put some of the dripping to them and Pepper grosse beaten for so it will serve also for a Turkye But I will enter no further into the art of Cookery lest some cunning Cooke take me tardy and say unto me as the Tayler said to the Shoomaker Ne sutor ultra crepidam Wherefore of the goodnesse or substance of meates this much It followeth now that I speak of the quantity of meates CHAP. 203. Of the quantity of meates THe second thing that is to be considered in meats as appeareth by my division is the quantity which ought of all men greatly to bee regarded for therein lyeth no small occasion of health or sicknesse of life or death For as want of meat consumeth the very substance of our flesh so doth excesse and surfet extinguish and suffocate naturall heat wherein life consisteth So that the word Mediocre which Hippocrates applyeth to all those five things spoken of in this booke must especially bee applyed to meats that is to say that the quantity of meate be such as may be well digested in the stomacke That it be according to the nature of him that eateth and not alwayes according to appetite For the temperate stomacke only which is rare to bee found desireth so much as it may conveniently digest Contrariwise the hot stomacke doth not desire so much as it may digest The cold stomacke may not digest so much as it desireth Wherefore the surest way in feeding is to leave with an appetite according to the old saying and to keepe a corner for a friend Which also is approved by Hippocrates where hee saith Sanitatis studium est non satiari cibis impigrum esse ad laborem The same also is taught in Ecclesiasticus after this manner How little is sufficient for a man well taught and thereby he belcheth not in his chamber nor feeleth any paine A wholsome sleepe commeth of a temperate belly he riseth up in the morning and is well at ease in himselfe but paine in watching and cholericke diseases and paines of the belly are with an unsatiable man This rule although it be very hard for
Sugar two ounces Muske a grayne use it as before CHAP. 233. Sugredwine for such as be in a consumption TO three pintes of good wine take two pounds of Sugar let it boyle untill it come to the thicknesse of Live Hony the use whereof is with liquid meates or drinkes It may stand in stead of meat and drinke and will refresh nature sufficiently Or else take one pound of the best Sugar to three pintes of wine let them be so sod with a soft fire in manner of a syrupe keepe it and use it with two parts of water or otherwise as need requireth It is good for old persons cold and feeble and in whom naturall moysture and heate are diminished CHAP. 234. Hippocraâ— made with water TAke of chosen Cinamom two ounces of Ginger scraped halfe an ounce long Pepper Greynes Galingale of each a dramme Nutmegs Cloves Mace of each halfe a dramme Spring water three quarts let it boyle to the halfe or to one quart then straine it hard through a cloth and put to it halfe a pound of Sugar boyle it a little againe and skimme it then put it into some close pot and use it To make Hippocras of Aquavitae excellent for one that is very weake Take a quart of Aqua vitae and put it in a glasse then take two ounces of Cinamom one ounce of Ginger two pennyworth of Cloves as much of Greynes a peny worth of Nutmegges beat them all grosse and put them to the Aqua vitae and shake it together every day often for nine daies together then drinke it with wine or ale halfe a spoonefull or a quarter with halfe a pinte of Ale CHAP. 235. Hippocrat to preserve in time of pestilence TAke of the best wine a pottle halfe an ounce of Angelica Nutmegs two drams Galingale â—â—ng Pepper Coriander Ginger Bole Armoniacke of each a dram Cinamom three quarters of an ounce Sugar halfe a pound use them as before is said and drinke thereof alwayes fasting a good draught CHAP. 236. Hipocrat laxative for any fever TAke of Sena an ounce of Rubarb and Agaricke of each two drams Cinamom halfe an ounce Cloves Mace Greynes of each a quarter of an ounce Ginger Aâ—ise Coriander Nigella Romana of each a dram Sugar halfe a pound white wine or claret a pottle make it as before is said CHAP. 237. To make wormewood wine upon the sodaine to comfort a weake stomacke TAke Aqua vitae and Malmsey like much and steep in it some leaves of wormewood dryed Of this you may take a little spoonefull and so mixe it with a draught of wine and so give it to drinke CHAP. 238. To make Bragget TAke three or foure galons of good Ale or more as you please two dayes or three after it is clensed and put it into a pot by it selfe then draw forth a pottle thereof and put to it a quart of good English Hony and set them over the fire in a vessell and let them boyle faire and softly and alwayes as any froth ariseth skumme it away and so clarifie it and when it is well clarified take it off the fire and let it coole and put thereto of Pepper a penny worth Cloves Mace Ginger Nutmegs Cinamom of each two penny-worth beaten to powder stir them well together and set them over the fire to boyle againe a while then being milke warme put it to the rest and stirre all together and let it stand two or three daies and put barme upon it and drink it at your pleasure CHAP. 240. To make Buttered Beere which is good for a cough or shortnesse of winde TAke a quart or more of double Beere and put to it a good peece of fresh Butter Sugar Candie an ounce of Liquerise in powder of Ginger grated of each a dramme and if you would have it strong put in as much long Pepper and Greynes let it boyle in the quart after the manner as you burne wine and who so will drinke it let him drinke it as hot as hee may suffer Some put in the yolke of an egge or two toward the latter end and so they make it more strengthfull CHAP. 241. Of sleepe THe fourth thing to be regarded in preserving of health is Somnus Sleepe which after Aristotle is defined to be Impotentia sensuum Because in sleep the senses be unable to execute their office as the eye to see the eare to heare the nose to smell the mouth to tast and all sinowy parts to feele So that the senses for a time may seeme to be tyed or bound and therefore Sleepe is called of some ligamentum sensuum And for this imbecillity for that Sleepe after a sort maketh a man senselesse and as it were livelesse it is called in Latine Mortis imago as Ovid writeth Stulte quid est somnus gelidae nisi mortis imago Longa quiescendi tempora fata dabunt And in Seneca in Hercule Furente Sleepe is said to be the Son of Astrea that is to say of Iustice and the brother of death as Volucer matris genus Astreae Frater durae languidae mortis And the holy Scripture in sundry places doth call death by the name of sleepe which is meant in respect of the resurrection for as after sleep we hope to wake so after death wee hope to rise againe But that definition which Paulus Aegineta maketh of sleepe in my iudgement is most perfect where hee saith Somnus est animalium facultatum quies ab utili humore cerebrum malefaciente proveniens for here is shewed by what meanes sleepe is caused That is by vapours and fumes rising from the stomacke to the head where through coldnesse of the braine they being congealed do stop the conduits and wayes of the senses and so procure sleepe which thing may plainly be perceived hereby for that immediately after meate wee are most prone to sleepe because then the vapours ascend most abundantly to the braine and such things as bee most vapourous do most dispose us to sleepe as Wine Milke and such like The benefit of sleepe or the necessity rather needeth no proofe for that without it no living creature may long endure according to that saying of the Poet Ovid. Quod caret alterna requie durabile non est For sleepe helpeth digestion and maketh it perfect it recovereth strength it refresheth the body it reviveth the mind it pacifieth anger it driveth away sorrow finally if it be moderate it bringeth the whole man to good state and temperature Wherefore Ovid in another place calleth sleepe a god as Somne quies rerum placidissime somne deorum Paxanimi quem cura fugit tu pectora duris Fessa ministeriis mulces reparasque labori But that I may fully declare the order of sleep how it is to bee used in preserving of health foure things are to be observed therein First the time secondly the place thirdly the lying of the body and fourthly the quantity of sleepe
if they be old they be hot in the first degree and drie in the second if they bee ripe they doe least harme of any fruits or almost none Yet beeing much eaten they make ill bloud whereof lice are ingendred By reason of their sweetnesse they anoy the liver and spleen inflamed and they fill the belly with winde but by their quicke passage the winde is soone dissolved In Sch. Sal. are set forth two operations of figges as followeth Vermiculos veneremque facit sed culibet obstat After Avicen figges are best eaten fasting with nuts or almonds for so they breed better juice in the body and open and prepare the way for meat And he more commendeth the eating of them with nuts than with almonds But our use is to eat figges and almonds together which in my judgement is better For so they may better clense the brest and lungs which is a speciall vertue that figges have And though wee eat them commonly after other meats or upon fasting daies for want of other meats yet as it appeareth by Galen Physitians were wont to give them longe ante cibum with ginger or pepper or powder of Time or peniroyall to such as had oppilations of the liver or spleene or had any hard congealed matter in the inward parts of the body or any distillations or rheums falling into the breast and stomacke for in all these cases figges doe profit much beside that they make the belly soluble and do clense the reins of the back And one easie medicine I wil set downe for the comfort of such students as be short winded taken out of Math. Caricas du â— aut tres nocte una in aqua vitae maceratas asth maticos juvare qui mane eas devoraverint Also in Sch. Sal. it is shewed that a plaster made of figges first sodden in water and a little vineger and after beaten smal in a morâ—ar are good for the swines evill for kernels for swellings as appeareth in the verses following Scrofa tumor glandes ficus cataplasmate cedunt CHAP. 111. Of Almonds ALmonds be hot and moist in the first degree they doe extenuat and clense without binding Wherfore they purge the brest and lungs and bee good to be eaten with figges of such as be short winded As for bitter Almonds I omit because they are not used to be eaten though in medicines they be of great vertue Of sweet Almonds is made by skill of Cookes Almond milke a very temperate meat in hot diseases Also cawdales of Almonds both comfortable to the principall parts of the body and procuring sleepe also almond Butter very delicate and good for a stuffed breast The making of which things I referre to cunning cookes or to the learned Physitian who is oâ— ought to be a perfect cooke in many points Yet because all students be not of habilitie to have a cooke or a Physitian at their pleasure I will set downe an easie way which I was wont to use my selfe in making of almond milke Take a pottle of faire water boile in it two handfuls of violet leaves or if you list one handfull of violet and another of strawberrie leaves or the like quantitie of Endive and Succorie or other cooling herbes take also an ounce of good Liquorice cut in thin slices if you would make it for flegme let the herbs and Liquorice boyle in the water leasurely untill halfe be wasted then straine it and let the liquor coole Then take a quarter of a pound of almonds and blanch them that is to say put them into water boyling hot and let them steepe therein a while then get off the huskes as you shale nuts that done punne them small in a morter of Marble if you have it until they waxe moist then put the Almonds into the liquor and stir and blend both together with a spoone after that draw the liquor and all through a streiner pressing the Almonds well with the back of a spoone And of that which is strained when you will occupie more or lesse you may put in sugar and set it over the fire untill it boyle then take it off and use it as please you Some draw their almonds after they be blanched and strained with faire water onely making it neither too thick nor too thinne which way also is good or to draw them with any distilled water as rose-water Endive or Succory water As for Almond Cawdales are made with ale strained with almonds blanched and brayed as before then lightly boiled and spiced with Nutmeg Sugar as before is said or otherwise as pleaseth the party CHAP. 112. Of Dates DAtes new gathered are hot and moist in the first degree but if they be old they be hot and drie in the first degree Dates being much eaten and not well digested annoy the head and cause gnawing in the stomack and make grosse iuice and somtime cause obstructions or stoppings in the liver and spleene wherefore they are not wholesome for students Yet they are commonly used at delicate feasts to set forth other meats and are counted restorative But their chiefe vertue is that if they be well digested and temperatly used they nourish and make the flesh firme and binde the belly And for this last property they are much used in medicines when it is requisite to binde or restraine and so saith Diosc Decoctum Palmarum per se potu gargarizatione magnopere astringâ—t cohibet Good therefore in any laske or waste in man or woman And for that purpose they may be used sodden in milke or in Muskadine Yea the very stones of Dates beeing beaten to powder and used together with sanguis Draconis in Raspis or red wine is passing good in the sayd cases as by experience I have often proved CHAP. 113. Of Pomegranates POmegranates be of good juice and profitable to the stomack especially they which are sweet But in hot fevers they that are soure bee more expedient and wholesome for then the sweet doe incend heat and puffe up the stomacke They are found by experience to be very comfortable and restorative in long sicknesse and specially they are good in any consumption or flixe Because as Galen saith Malum granatum omâ—e adstringentem qualitatem obtinet Insomuch that the very pill of a Pomegranate being made into powder and druâ—ke in red wine or Raspis together with a little Cinnamom is a singular remedie for any laske or flixe as I have often proved Yet Matthiolus prescribeth the whole Pomegranate to be used as followeth Punicum malum â—ictili vase inclusum cooperculo argilla circumlito in fuâ—no combustum dysentericos â—orminosos praesentaneâ— remedio juvat ubi ipsius sesquidrachmamâ— in pulverem contritâ— ex vino potandum propinabis And as for the kernels of soure pomegranates hee writeth in the same place that Ossiculi punicorum malorum acidorum uncia una cum thuâ—is drâ—chmâ—
and salt And the marrow of Biefe is best to bee eaten If it bee of a Deere it is good to annoint any place where ach is This also is one of the twelve things that maketh fat as appeareth in the verses aforesaid The Marrow that commeth downe the backe bone is of like nature to the braine CHAP. 153. Of the Fat. THe fat of flesh alone without leane is unwholesome and cloyeth the stomack and causeth lothsomenes better is leane without fat than fat without leane Yet have I known a countryman that would feed onely of the fat of Bacon Beefe or Pork without leâ—â—e but that is not to bee marvelled at considering that many of them have stomackes like the bird that is called an Ostridge which can digest hard Iron CHAP. 154. Of the Feet THe feet being well boyled and tender in a whole stomacke digest well and doe make good iuice and passe forth easily Galen commendeth the feet of Swine But I have proved saith M. Eliot that the feet of a young Bullocke tenderly sodden and laid in souce two dayes or three eaten cold in the evening have brought a cholericke stomacke into a good digestion and sleep and therwith hath also expulsed salt flegme and choler And this I have found in my selfe by often experience alway foreseene that it be eaten before other meat without drinking immediately after it All this I have taken out of M. Eliot because hee hath written most pithily of this part Yet one thing will I note of mine owne experience that the fat which is left upon the water of the seething of Netes feet called commonly foot seame is passing good for the stiffenesse or starkenesse of the Synewes or joynts for the Crampe and such like And if you mix a little Aqua vitae withall it is a very good oyntment for any ache for the Sciatica or cold goute as I have often proved CHAP. 155. The Preface to Foule HItherto I have spoken of the flesh of Beastes and their parts usually eaten Now I will intreat of Birds and their parts concerning dyet And if comparison bee made between both generally whether is lighter of digestion I say that the flesh of birds is much lighter than the flesh of beasts And again that the flesh of those foules which trust most to their wings and doe breed in high countries is lighter then the flesh of such as seldome or never flye and be bred at home Yet the tame birds as Isaack saith do nourish more than the wylde and be more temperate CHAP. 156. Of Capons Hennes and Chickins THe Capon being fat and young is praised above all other foules because as it is easily digested so it maketh little ordure and much good nourishment The flesh will bee more tender if it be killed a day or two before it bee eaten it is commodious to the brest and stomacke Hens in winter are almost equall to the Capon but they doe not make so strong nourishment The flesh of them is without superfluity as Haly and Mesues write and is soone turned into bloud And they have a marveilous property to temper mans complection and humours and their broth is the best medicine that can bee for Leapers And Avicen affirmeth that the flesh of young Hens augmenteth understanding and cleareth the voice and encreaseth the seed of generation That hen is best which as yet never layed egge And a fat hen ful of egges is not the worst The Poet Horace in the person of the Epicure setteth forth a way to make a hen tender upon the sodaine in this wise Si vespertinus subito te oppresserit hospes Ne gallina minus responset dura palato Doctus eris vivam misto mersare Falerno Hoc teneram faciet If guestes come to thee at unwares In water mixt with wine Souce thou thy henne she will become short tender nesh and fine Chickins in Sommer especially if they be cocktels are very convenient for a weake stomacke and nourish well neither is there any flesh lighter of digestistion than a chicken or more agreeable with all natures as well in sicknesse as in health yet would I wish those that bee in good health not to use themselves much to such fine meats but rather accustome to feed on grosser meates til need require As for chickens upon sops they are no meat for poore schollers unlesse they can get them CHAP. 157. Of Cocke THe flesh of a Cock especially if it be old is hard of digestion but the broth wherein it is boyled looseth the belly and if you boyle therewith Polipodium or Cartamus it purgeth ill humours Galen saith Galliâ—arumius simplex retinendivim possidet vti gallorum veterum subducenilâ— If you list to still a Cocke for a weak body that is in a consumption through long sicknesse or other causes you may doe it well in this manner Take a red cocke that is not old dresse him and cut him in quarters and bruse all the bones then take the rootes of Fennell Darcely and Succory Violet leaves and Borage put the Cocke into an earthen pot which is good to stew meates in and betweene every quarter lay of the rootes and herbes Corans whole Mace Annise seeds liquorise being scraped and slyced and so fill up your pot Then put in halfe a pint of Rose water a quart of white Wine or more two or three Dates made cleane and cut in peices a few prunes and raysons of the Sunne and if you put in certaine peeces of Gold it will be the better and they never the worse and so cover it close and stop it with dough and set the pot in seething water let it seeth gently for the space of twelve houres with a good fire kept still under the brasse pot that it standeth in and the pot kept with liquor so long When it hath stilled so many houres then take out the earthen pot open it streine out the broth into some cleane vessell and give thereof unto the weake person morning and evening warmed and spiced as pleaseth the patient In like manner you may make a coleyse of a capon which some men like better CHAP. 158. Of Fesaunt FEsaunt exceedeth all foules in sweetnes and wholsomenesse and is equall to a Capon in nourishing but is somewhat dryer and is of some men put in a meane betweene a henne and a partrich It is a meate for Princes and great estates and for poore schollers when they can get it CHAP. 159. Of Partrich PArtrich of all foules is most soonest digested and hath in him much nourishment It driveth away the dropsie it comforteth the stomacke it maketh seed of generation and encreaseth carnall lust and it is said that customable eating of this flesh comforteth the memory Wherefore it were a convenient meat for students such as be weak and I would that every good student twise in a weake instead of his commons might have a
not baked in an Oven but upon irons or hot stones or upon the hearth or under hot ashes are unwholsome because they are not equally baked but burned without and raw within And of such loaves as are baken in an Oven the greatest loaves doe nourish most after Master Eliot because the fire hath not consumed the moisture of them But whether bread be made in forme of Manchet as is used of the Gentility or in great loaves as it is usuall among the Yeomarie or betweene both as with the Franklings it maketh no matter so it be well baked Burned bread and hard crusts and Pasticrusts doe engender adust choller and melancholy humours as saith Schola Salerni Non comedas crustam choleram quia gigâ—it adustam Wherfore the utter crusts above and beneath should be chipped away Notwithstanding after Arnold the crusts are wholesome for them that bee whole and have their stomacks moist and desire to beâ— leane but they must eat them after meat for they must enforce the meat to descend and doe comfort the mouth of the stomacke Browne bread made of the coarsest of Wheat flower having in it much branne and that bread which Galen calleth Autopyros that is when the meale wholly unsifted branne and all is made into bread filleth the belly with excrements and shortly descendeth from the stomacke And beside that it is good for labourers Crassa enim crassis conveniunt I have knowne this experience of it that such as have beene used to fine bread when they have beene costive by eating browne bread and butter have beene made soluble But Wheat is not only used in bread but being sodden is used for meat as I have seene in sundry places of some is used to be buttered And Galen himselfe as he writeth travelling into the Countrey for want of other food was faine to eate sodden wheat in an husband mans house but the next day after he and his mates that had eaten with him were much grieved thereby both in the stomacke and head Whereby hee concludeth that it is heavy and hard of digestion but being well digested nourisheth strongly and strengthneth a man much wherefore it is good for labourers Of wheate also is made Alica and Amylum mentioned of Galen things not usuall among us Yet Amylum is taken to be Starch the use whereof is best knowne to Launders And Alica Saccharata is taken for Frumentie a meat very wholsome and nourishing if it be well made yet in digestion much like to sodden Wheat As for Turkie Wheat French Wheat and such like strange graine I will over-passe them because they bee not usuall in our Countrey of England Yet of French Wheat I can say thus much by experience that in some parts of Lancashire and Cheshire they use to make bread thereof for their houshold being mingled together with Barley but for the Winter time only For when the heat of the yeare increaseth it waxeth ranke of savour Also therewith they fat their Swine for which purpose it is greatly commended and in my judgement it is more fit to feed Swine than Men. More of bread shall bee spoken hereafter when I intreat of other graine CHAP. 5. Of Rye SEcale commonly called Rye a graine much used in bread almost thorowout this Realm though more plentifull in some places than in other yet the bread that is made thereof is not so wholesome as wheate-bread for it is heavy and hard to digest and therefore most meet for labourers and such as worke or travaile much and for such as have good stomacks There is made also of Rie mixed with Wheate a kind of bread named misseling or masseling bread much used in divers Shires especially among the family Which being well made after the order prescribed in the Treatise of Wheate is yet better than that which is made of cleane Rie but that which is halfe Rie and halfe Barly is worse Rie laid outwardly to the body is hot and drie in the second degree after Dodonaeus whose authoritie I alledge because Galen hath written little or nothing thereof except Typha be Rie as Master Eliot judgeth it then is it in a meane betweene Wheat and Barley CHAP. 6. Of Barly HOrdeum Barlie whereof also bread is used to bee made but it doth not nourish so much as wheat and after Matthiolus troubleth the stomack maketh cold and tough juice in the body nourisheth little and ingendreth winde yet some affirme that it is good for such as have the Gout Barlie is cold and drie in the first degree and as Galen saith howsoever it be used in bread or pâ—isan or otherwise it is of cooling nature and maketh thinne juyce and somewhat cleansing And in the tenth Chapter of the same book he saith that Barley bread passeth very soone from the bellie As of Wheate so likewise of Barley there is great choice to bee had for some is better and some is worse Yet all Barley generallie considering the nature thereof is more meet for drink than bread and thereof is made the best Malt to make Ale or Beere And though Barly be cold yet it maketh such hot drinke that it setteth men oftentimes in a furie CHAP. 7. Of Oates AVena Oates after Galen have like nature as Barlie for they drie and digest in a meane and are of temperature somewhat cold also something binding so that they helpe a laske which I my selfe have proved in Cawdales made with Oatemeale Yet Galen affirmeth that Oates are Iumentorum alimentum non hominum whose opinion in that point must be referred to the Countrey where hee lived For if he had lived in England especially in Lankashire Chesshire Cumberland Westmerland or Cornwale hee would have said that Oates had beene meat for men For in these parts they are not onely Provender for Horses but they make Malt of them and therof good Ale though not so strong as of Barly Malt. Also of Oates they make bread some in Cakes thicker or thinner as the use is some in broad Loaves which they cal Ianocks of which kinde of bread I have this experience that it is light of digestion but something windie while it is new it is meetly pleasant but after a few dayes it waxeth drie and unsavorie it is not very agreeable for such as have not been brought up therewith for education both in diet all things else is of great force to cause liking or misliking In Lankashire as I have seene they doe not onely make bread and drinke of Oats but also divers sorts of meats For of the greats or groats as they call them that is to say of Oats first dried and after lightly sâ—aled being boiled in water with salt they make a kind of meat which they call water-Pottage and of the same boyled in Whey they make Whey-pottage and in Ale Ale-potage meats very wholsome and temperate and light of
digestion and if any man be desirous to have a taste of them let him use the advise of some Lankashire woman CHAP. 8. Of Beanes FAba Beane in cooling and drying is very neare in a mean temperature Green Beans before they be ripe are cold moyst but when they be drie they have power to binde and restrain The substance of Beanes is something cleansing and the Huske is somewhat binding Pythagoras the Philosopher gave forth this saying Faba abstineto as some interpret abstaine from Beanes because they make the sight dull and raise up ill dreames as Plinie saith But howsoever Pythagoras meant it true is that saying of Galen Flatulentus est cibus etiamsi elixatus diutissime fuerit ac quovis modo paratus And againe he saith Faba ut ed ulium flatulenta est ac coctu difficilis si quid aliud Wherefore they are meate for Mowers as the Proverbe is and for Ploughmen but not for Students Being sodden they are used to bee eaten as well greene as drie the greene Beanes they use to butter the other they eate with salt unbuttered Of greene beanes Galen giveth his judgement Si virides priusquam maturae â—iâ—t atque exiccatae edantur idem eis accidet quod fructibus omnibus quos ante perfectam maturitatem mandimus humidius scilicet alimentum corpori praebebunt obidque excrementosius non in intestinis modo sed in toto etiam habitu Also of Beanes in Leycester shire they make bread I meane not hors-bread which is commonly done throughout England but for their family but it can in no wise bee wholesome because it filleth the body full of winde Notwithstanding I know that such as have beene brought up therewith doe like it well Adeo a teneris assuescere multum est CHAP. 9. Of Pease PIsum Pease after Galen are like in substance to Beanes and eaten after the same manner yet they differ in two things First in that they are not so windie as Beanes and next because they bee not so abstersive or clensing and therefore they passe more slowly from the belly There bee three sorts of Pease common among us in England The first Garden Pease or hasty Pease The second sort is called Gray Pease The third greene pease both growing in the fields The two first sorts are used to bee eaten greene before they bee full ripe First they are sodden then buttered salted and peppered But if any student list to eate greene Beanes or greene Pease let him spare no pepper upon them for this is a generall rule in Galen for meats that be windie Quicquid in omnibus cibabariis inest flatulentum id per calfacientia tenuantia corrigitur Pease are commended in Schola Salerni on this wise Pisam laudandam delegimus ac reprobandam Pellibus ablatis sunt bona pisa satis Sunt inflativa cum pellibus atque nociva That is they be wholsome to eate when the Husks be taken away for if they be eaten in the Husks they be hurtfull and doe inflate But how they should bee eaten without the huske I doe not know except it be in pottage for they are not wont to bee blanched as Almonds but there is made of them a kinde of broth or pottage called Pease-pottage Some make it with Pease boyled whole but that is not good Other strein the pease after they bee boyled and that is best And this kinde of pottage is commended of Arnoldus upon the said verses for it maketh saith hee the belly laxative and procureth urine and unstoppeth the veines wherefore it is wholesome at such times as folkes use grosse and oppilative meates as on fasting dayes and in England it is used accordingly for commonly pease pottage is most eaten in Lent If pease be unwholesome then the bread which is made of them is unwholsome yet it is much used in Leicester shire But I leave it to rusticks who have stomacks like Ostriges that can digest hard yron and for students I allow no bread but that which is made of wheat as before is mentioned CHAP. 10. Of Rice O Risa Rise after Galen is something binding and therefore stoppeth or bindeth the belly And againe he saith All men use this graine to stop the belly and they boyle it as Alica yet is it more hardly digested and nourisheth lesse and is not so pleasant in eating But we use to make a kinde of Pottage with Rise called Rise-pottage which being wel made with good Milke and spiced with Sugar and Cinamon is verie pleasant and easie of digestion and restorative For thus writeth Matthiolus Sunt qui Orisâ—m quoque dicunt genitale augere â—emeâ— in bubulo lacte decoctam additis Saccaro 〈◊〉 And in the same place he saith that it is very good to be eaten in any kinde of laâ—k or flixe especially being first dryed and after boyled in Milke wherein hot stones have beene quenched But if any list to make Rise pottage properly for a flix they may be made in this maner Take a good handfull of Oaten barke and boyle it in a gallon of running water to the halfe or more then streine it and let it coole then take halfe a pound of Iorden Almonds and beate them in a Morâ—er with the hâ—lâ— and all on after streine them with the foresaid water so with Rice make Rice potage Rise may be eaten also with Almond Milk and so it doth restore and comfort nature Hitherto I have entreated of such graine as is usuall among us in bread and meates as for other sorts named of Galen legumina in English Poâ—â—se as Fitches â—ares Fengreeke and such like I overpasse them because they are not used as sustenance for man but for medicine or else as fodder for beasts And now shall I speake of hearbs and fruits I meane of those that appertaine to diet and as they be used pro alimentis and not pro medicamentis For that belongeth to another part of Physicke though I know that there may be as Hippocrates saith iâ— cibo medicamentum which thing as occasion shall serve I will brieflie touch for the behalfe of Students And of hearbs I shall declare first such as be hot and after those that be cold CHAP. 11. Of Sage OF all garden hearbs none is of greater vertue than Sage in so much that in Schola Salerni it is demanded Cur moriatur homo cui salvia crescit in horto As who should say such is the vertue of Sage that if it were possible it would make a man immortall It is hot and drie in the third degree and hath three speciall properties coÌ„teined in these verses following Salvia confortat â—ervos maâ—â—umque tremorem Tollit ejus ope febris acuta fugit Now because it is good against palsies and comforteth the sinewes and Braine it must needs bee good for Students who are commonly cumbred
that travaile over divers countries and use divers drinkes or if they happen to drinke naughty corrupt water as it is alleaged in the same place out of â—acer Allia qui mane jejuno sumpserit ore Hunc ignotarum non laedet potus aquarum Nec diversorum mutatio facta locorum Also Garlicke is named of Galen Theriaca rusticorum where he saith Est allium ex eorum ciborum genere qui flatum discutiant minime sitim inferant Ac si quis vel Thracâ—s vel Gallos vel denique qui frigidam regionem incolunt vesci alliis votuerit non leviter iis hominibus noeuerit and if Frenchmen may eate Garlicke because of the coldnesse of the Countrey then may English men much more eate it because they dwell in a colder Region as I have shewed in my description of Britaine Also in the same place Galen saith that to eate Garlicke and drinke Triacle as I gesse in Ale or wine is good for the Collick if it come without an Ague Quia omnium eduliorum maxime flatum discutit And one thing I reade in master Eliot very profitable for such as be troubled with a rhume falling down to the stomacke whereby their stomacks be over-moist as mine was many yeares together The medicine is thus to boile certaine Cloves of Garlick in Milke and to straine it and drinke it fasting for that dryeth up the moysture of the stomack The same medicine is also very good to kill Wormes as I have often proved CHAP. 53. Of Radish RAdish is hot in the third degree and drie in the second The rootes are much used to bee eaten with Mutton roasted at supper those are best that bee whitest as they crie in London white Radish white and the sweetest Radish say they doe grow in the sowrest places videlicet in Sterquiliâ—iis Master Eliot by his owne experience would disprove Galen touching the use of these roots for Galen findeth fault with those Physicians that eate Radish rootes raw after other meats to comfort digestion whereas all others following their example have beene by that meanes grieved So saith Galen though Master Eliot write the contrary whose opinion though it be ancient and grounded upon Dioscorides where hee saith Summo cibo sumi debet quo magis ejus distributionem adjuvet cum autem praesumitur cibum suspendit yet this proofe I have had in my selfe and I dare say not one among an hundred is otherwise but if they eate Radish rootes last they shall belch much by reason that they breake winde or rather breed it and they shall feele their stomacks oftentimes turned up And as before meales if they bee eaten first they let the meat that it may not descend so eaten after other meates they will not suffer the meate to rest in the stomack but as the Countryman said that had eaten fish fried with Lampe Oyle they will make the meat eftsoones to rejolt but our common manner in England is not to eate them before meate or after meate but together with meate as sawce And for that purpose they are not onely served whole but also sliced thinne and with salt strowed upon them beaten betweene two dishes untill they be somewhat soft and the salt hath pierced through them which indeed is the best way to use them but they are unwholesome any way especially for such as have weake stomacks and feeble digestion for they engender raw humours and cause lothsomenesse and breed such corruption in the stomacke that by much using them they make a stinking breath which qualitie is well declared by Alexander Aphrodissaeus where hee saith that they are deceived that thinke Radish by a naturall propertie to make the breath â—â—savorie for then saith hee Omnes qui eam edisseâ—t faetiâ—â—â—â—ructarent But this is the reason why it worketh it in some and not in others Quorum ventriculus non vitiosis excrementis maximeque pituitâ—sis redundat eorum eructus purior est quorum autem illis redundat impurus male olenâ— Radix enim vim calefaciendi incidendi extenuandiÌ„que materiaâ— obtinet Flatusque ex humoribus movet quos per ructum retruditaâ— rejicit The like reason is to bee given of Turneps and roasted Cheese why they should corrupt the breath CHAP. 54. Of Turneps TVrneps are of hot and moist temperature if they bee first well boiled in water and after in the fat broth of flesh and eaten with Porke or Beefe they nourish much they augment the seed of man and provoke carnall lust They bee windy wherefore they should be eaten with Pepper They breake flegme in the brest and cause one to spit easily but being much and often eaten they make raw juyce in the stomack and corrupt the breath the seed of it is put in Triacle as good against poyson CHAP. 55. Of Parseneps and Carets PArsenips and Carets are hot and drie but Carets are hot and drie almost in the third degree they both have vertue to breake winde and expell Vrine which properties be very profitable for such as be subject to the Cholick and stone The rootes are used to be eaten of both first sodden then buttered but especially Parsenips for they are common meat among the common people all the time of Autumne and chiefly upon fish dayes But they that abstaine from flesh and eate Parsenips or Carets meaning thereby partly to subdue their lust are deceived by the judgment of Matthiolus where he saith Pro â—ejunantium instituâ—o essent potius eorum cibis abdicandae venerem enim non obscure stimulant wherein hee agreeth with Diosc in the same Chapter for so Dios writeth of Parsenips Radix urinam pellit venerem stimulat And of Carets Galen writeth Radix flatuosum quiddam obtinet ac venereum Wherefore they are both good for such as bee weake and in a consumption And if students doe eate them I meane those that bee Students indeed which follow the lesson of Plinie Omne perire tempus quod studio non impertiaâ— except they use other provocation they need not greatly to feare Cupids force for Pythias said to Chremes in Terence Sine Cerere Baccho friget Venus But of Parsenips and Carets Galen writeth Vrinam ciâ—â—t si quis ipsis copiosius utatur vitiosum succum mediocriter gigneâ—t Câ—ritamen Radix melioris est succi quam Pastiâ—acâ— CHAP. 56. Of Capers and Sampere CApers be hot and dry in the second degree they are brought to us from beyond the Sea and as Galen writeth they nourish nothing after that they be salted but yet they make the belly loose and purge flegme which is therein contained Also stirreth appetite to meate and openeth the obstructions or stopping of the Liver and Spleene which is a speciall vertue in the preservation of health They should bee eaten with Oximell before other meate but our custome is to eate them with
take it off and keep it in a glasse or gally-pot Also of the roots of Elecampane is made a kind of Wine called Vinum Enulatum much used in Germany as Matthiolus writeth Quod vinum in potu sumptum mirifice visum acuit Beside that it hath like vertue as the conserve The best time to gather the roots is when the leaves fall Which time also is best to take all other roots that are to be used in Physicke except it be for present necessitie CHAP. 78. Of Setwall SEtwall or Capons-taile is hot and dry in the second degree Thereof bee two sorts commonly knowne and set in Gardens The one small which is called Valerian and is a good pot-herbe and beside that is very good to heale a cut as every Kitchin maid knoweth The other is named of some great Valerian whose vertues are very great and very many after Matthiolus where he saith Praestat Phu ad venenosorum ictus ex vinopotum adversus pestilentiam non modo haustum sed etiam olfactum valet ad stranguriam ejus decoctum potum Datur quoque utiliter anhelosis tussientibus praesertim si coquatur cum dulci radice uvis passis semine anisi Devorata radix flatus pellit Tota planta virens una cum radicibus conâ—usa capiti dolenti illita dolores punctiones mulcet Facit ad oculorum vitia ubi albo vino decoquatur deinde vinum in oculum instilletur Additur in potionibus vulnerum intrinsecâ—rum magno juvamento And one thing I will note of this Herbe for the pleasure of Students that the roots thereof being dried and laid among cloths they give a sweet smell to them CHAP. 79. Of Galingale GAlingale or rather Cipresse roots though it bee rare yet is it found in some Gardens and is hot and drie in the third degree Beside that the roots are good in Medicines if they be laid among cloths they make them to savour well Matth. setteth downe an easie Medicine to bee made of this root for the Dropsie in this manner Ciperi radicum farina addita â—accharum lauri eadem mensura urina impubis pueri excepta illita hydropicos mirifice juvat CHAP. 80. Of Skirwort SKirwort is hot and dry in the second degree The roots thereof are used of skilfull Cooks for Salads as Burre roots when they are young CHAP. 81. Of Prickmadem PRickmadem is one kinde of Sedum Another is Housleeke and the third is Stone crop All three doe grow commonly upon the slates of houses but Prickmadem is planted in Gardens and is used for a Pot herbe and is cold in the third degree CHAP. 82. Of Lettuse LEttuse is cold and temperately moist in the second degree The hearbe is much used in Sallads in the Summer time with vineger oyle and sugar or salt and is found both to procure appetite to meate and to temper the heate of the stomack and Liver But in one point we differ from the use of old time For wee eate Lettuse in the beginning of our meales whereas they were woont to be eaten last as the Poet Martial writeth Claudere quae coenas lactuca solebat avorum Dic mihi cur nostras inchoet illa dapes Galen giveth Lettuse this commendation that of all hearbs it breedeth lest evill juice it may bee eaten raw as I have said in Sallets yet because of it selfe it is waterish and cold as Galen writeth Non modo suavior sed utilior etiam redditur si acrium olerum quoddam assumpserit ob eam certe causam nonnulli Erucae ac porri follia alii Ocimi lactucae admiscent It may be also eaten being first boiled as we use in Broths or as Gal. used in clean water for so he saith Aetate juvenili cum mihi ventriculus bile assidue infestaretur lactuca quo ipsâ—m refrigerarem utebar cum vero ad aetatem declinantem perveni hoc olus fuit mihi adversus vigilias remedio tunc enim contra ac in Iuventute somnum mihi dedita opera conciliabam grave enim mihi erat praeter voluntatem vigilare quod mihi accidebat paâ—tim quod juventute meapte sponte vigiliis assueveram partim quod declinantium aetas ad insomnium est propâ—nsa Itaque lactuca vespere commansa unicum erat mihi insomniae 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Whose example I wish all Students to follow because they are commonly in youth and age even as Galen was Yet one thing I warne all men of out of Matth. Cavendus est lactucarum usus suspiriosis sanguinem excreantibus piâ—uitosisque sed iis maxime qui procreandis liberis dant operam And if any Student list to live honestly unmarried let him use oftentimes this medicine set forth by Dios Epotum semen lactucae libidinum imaginationes in somno compescit venerirefragatur And as Galen saith Geniturae profluvium cohibet sumi potest in Cervitia prius contritum mane vespere CHAP. 83. Of Endive and Succorie ENdive and Succory are cold drie in the second degree because they are much like in operation I joyne them both together The leaves especially of white Endive are not onely used in medicines but also in meates either raw in Sallads or boyled in Brothes Both Endive and Succorie any way used doe coole the heate of the liver and by a speciall property doe strengthen it and open the obstructions thereof For which vertues they are worthy to bee greatly esteemed For it is a great preservation of health to have the liver temperate and unstopped considering that it is the place where all the humours of the body are first wrought and therefore called Officina sanguinis Students that have hoate stomack or hoate livers may cause their Cookes to boile them in a broth with a chicken Or they may distill them in the Summer season and keepe the water and when they are disposed drink a good draught fasting with a little Sugar or else by the advise of some learned Physitian they may use the syrup of Endive or Succorie I was wont to lay certaine handfuls of the greene hearbs cleane washed in the bottome of a vessell and to tunne up new Ale to them not over strong and so to make Endive Ale after the manner of Sago Ale shewed before wherein I found great commodity being troubled with inflammation of the Liver Dandelion and Sowthistill are of much like effect to Endive and Succory for they are both cooling and very good to bee used in pottage or boyled whole in Broths or eaten in Sallads They have one good property very profitable for Students who for the more part have ill stomacks for of Sowthistill Matth. saith In vino decoctus stomachi fluxioribus medetur and of Dandelion he saith Cocta herba stomachum dissolutum adstringit CHAP. 84. Of Bleet BLeet is cold and moist in the second degree It is used
for a Pot-hearbe among others and is sometime eaten being first boiled in water and then fried with Oyle and Butter and after that seasoned with Salt and Vinegar or Verjuice yet the often eating of it is disallowed by Matth. Quia vomitiones movet ventriculi intestinorum tâ—rmina facit alui 〈…〉 excitatabile CHAP. 85. Of Spinage SPinage not mentioned in Galen is colde and moist in the first degree being used in brothes or pottage it maketh the belly soluble and easeth paines of the backe and openeth the breast and strengtheneth the stomack CHAP. 86. Of Orage ORage is moist in the second degree and cold in the first being used in pottage it doth both loose the belly ease the pain of the bladder The seed of Orage is a vehement purger as Matt. writeth Noviego Pharmocopolam quendam saith hee qui ad ructicos purgandos Atriplicis tantum semen exhibebat Quod iis non sine molestia magna abunde aluum ciebat atque etiam simul crebros provocabat vomitus CHAP. 87. Of Beets BEtes are cold in the first degree and moist in the second they be abstersive and looseth the belly But much eaten they annoy the stomacke yet are they right good against obstructions or stopping of the liver and doe greatly helpe the splene CHAP. 88. Of Violets VIolets the flowers are cold in the first degree and moist in the second Of them is made Conserva in this manner Take the flowers of Violets and pick them cleane from the stalke and cut off all that which is greene Punne them small and put to them double the weight of Sugar to the weight of Violet Flowers But to all other Flowers put three parts of Sugar to the weight of the Flowers incorporate well together the Violets and Sugar and keepe it in a glasse or Gallipot it will last one yeare it is very good to bee used of such as have hot Stomacks or hot Livers Also it cooleth the head and procureth sleepe it tempereth the heart all other parts of the body The leaves may be boiled in a broth with other cooling hearbs as Endive Succory Orage Beets Sorrell Strawberry Lettuce For so they make the belly soluble avoid choller and doe bring the parts inflamed to good temper CHAP. 89. Of Sorrell SOrrell is cold in the third degree and drie in the second the leaves being sodden do loose the belly In a time of Pestilence if one being fasting do chew some of the leaves and suck downe some of the juice it marvellously preserveth from infection as a new practiser called Guainerius doth write and I my selfe have proved in my houshold saith Master Eliot in his Castell of health Which practice proveth that greene sawce is not onely good to procure appetite but also wholsome otherwise against contagion The seeds thereof brayed and drunk with wine and water are very wholesome against the Collicke and fretting of the Guts it stoppeth the laske and helpeth the stomack annoyed with repletion If any bee grieved with heate of the stomacke or inflammation of the Liver they may easily make a good Conserva for the purpose in this manner Take the leaves of Sorrell wash them cleane and shake off the water or else tary untill the water be dried cleane then beaâ— them small in a marble Morter if you have it if not in some other and to every ounce of Sorrell put three ounces of Sugar and incorporate them well together putting in the Sugar by little and little then put it in a glasse or Gallipot and stop it close and so keepe it for one yeare After the same manner you may make conserva of any hearbe CHAP. 90. Of Rose ROse is cold in the first degree and drie in the second somewhat binding especially the white Rose but the red is lesse cold and more drie and binding as for the damask and musk rose is hot moyst withall Beside the beauty and fragrant savour of Roses which is very comfortable to all the senses of Rose leaves is made a conserva passing good to be used of Students not onely to coole but also to comfort the principall parts of the body namely the head heart stomack liver spleen reynes it may bee made thus Take the buds of red Rose somewhat before they bee ready to spread cut the red part of the leaves from the white then take the red leaves and beate them very small in a stone Morter with a pestell of wood or otherwise as you may conveniently and to every ounce of Roses put three ounces of Sugar in the beating after the leaves be smal and beat all together untill they be perfectly incorporated then put it in a glasse or Gallipot stop it close and set it in the Sunne for a season for so teacheth Iacobus Weckerus in all Conserves It my bee kept for a yeare or two Of Rose leaves likewise may be made a water of like operation to the conserva and may be drunk as other distilled waters either of it selfe with Sugar or mixed with wine The red Rose water pure without any other thing mingled is most commended for wholesomnesse but the damaske Rose water is sweetest of smell And the best way to distill Roses or any other flower or hearbe after Matth. is in a Stillatory of glasse set over a pot of boyling water which they call Balneum Mariae for those waters which be distilled in Lead or Brasse receive some smatch of the mettall and be not so wholesome for mens bodies But our common manner of distilling in England is in Lead or Tynne and so we draw very good waters which keep their strength for a yeare or two and if any list to draw a very sweet washing water he may draw it as followeth Take the buds of red Roses Spike flowers and Carnation Gilophers or others but most of the Roses let them dry a day and a night put to them an ounce of Cloves grosse beaten and so distill them after that Sunne the water certaine dayes close stopped and if you will yet make it more sweet take of Musk and Civet of each a graine or more tie it in a fine linneÌ„ cloth by a thred so that it may soke in the wares so let it stand in the Sun for a time Or else you may make a very sweet water thus Take of Cipresse roots of Calamus aromaticus of Aâ—â—is of Cloves of Storax Calamite of Benjamin of each a quarter of an ounce make them in powder and when you will distill your Roses fill your Still with Rose Leaves and a few Spike Flowers and upon the topp strow some of your Powders and so distill them These Rose-Cakes will bee very sweet to lay among clothes And if you list you may hang Muske and Civet in it and Sunne it as I have said before for twenty or thirty dayes and if you will not be at cost upon Spices
without all danger then may you preserve them after this manner Take a pynt of faire running water halfe a pinte of Rose-water halfe a pound of Sugar seeth all together upon a soft fire of coles till the one halfe be consumed then take it from the fire and when it leaveth boiling put therein your cherries or plummes if they be cherries cut off halfe the stalks and let your fruit bee the like weight as of the Sugar Set it againe on the fire and keepe it in the like heate till they be soft the space of an houre if need be Then put into it some Cloves bruised and when it is cold keepe it in a glasse or gallipot the stronger the syrrup is with sugar the better it will continue Some put to the syrrup Cinamon Sanders Nutmegs Cloves and a little Ginger Seeth them not hastily for feare of much breaking CHAP. 107. Of Quinces QVinces be cold in the first degree and dry in the beginning of the second They are not used to be eaten raw for so they are both unpleasant and unwholesome And in my judgement no better for a students stomacke than raw beefe but beeing rosted stewed or baked and eaten after meales they close and draw the stomacke together and helpe digestion and mollifie the belly if they be abundantly taken for this is Galen his rule Qui stomachum habent imbecillum ventrem iis dejici cum postrem is epulis astringentium quippiam sumpserint Wherefore students having commonly weake stomackes may if they be costive ease themselves by eating after meat something which doth binde and restraine the stomacke as Galen telleth of one Protas a Rhetoritian on whom the like practise was proved But Quinces may be otherwise used very wholesomly as being made in conserva or preserved in syrrup condite or made in Marmalade And because the making of Marmalade is a pretty conceit and may perhaps delight some painefull student that will bee his owne Apothecarie partly to spare cost and partly to be sure that it be rightly made I will here set it downe as plainly as I can Your Quinces beeing full ripe and very yellow as in Lent season or thereabout first pare them and take out the cores then seeth them untill they be tender and soft That done beat them small in a woodden mortar or marble with a pestill of wood then with some of the liquour wherein they were sodden draw them through a strainer as you would doe a tart then set it over the fire to seeth softly and in seething strew in by little little white Sugar made in powder the weight of the Quinces or more as your taste shall tell you stirre it continually and put therto some pure Rose-water or Damask-water let it seeth on height untill it bee wall standing Which thing ye may know by taking some of it upon a knife and letting it coole For if it be stiffe then take it off and box it while it is warm and set it in a warm and drie ayre And if you will not have your Marmalade so binding you may put some ripe Apples of good verdure among your Quinces when you boile them with Sugar The Apples must first be sodden or rosted and then drawne through a course boulter as a tart After the same manner you may make Marmalade of Wardens Peares Apples Medlars Cheries Strawberries yea of Prunes or Damasins or other plummes First to boyle them upon a soft fixe with a little faire water till they be soft then to draw them as yee doe a tart after to boyle them againe with sufficient sugar to dash them with sweet water and box them CHAP. 108. Of Grapes GRapes be divers in taste and so are they in qualitie for soure grapes are cold and moist and sweet grapes are hot and moist The like is to be said of other sorts All grapes if they be eaten newly gathered doe trouble the belly and fill the stomacke with winde But if they be kept two or three dayes after they bee gathered till the huske be somewhat asswaged they nourish the better and are lesse laxative neither doe they inflate so much as saith Arnoldus Ripe Grapes and sweet doe nourish much and make one fat as Galen proveth by experience of those which keepe vineyards who feeding two or three moneths upon grapes and figges onely become very grosse But the flesh so gotten soone weareth away againe because it is not firme and fast but loose and over-moist And Schola Salerni reckoneth grapes that be sweet for one of the twelve things that nourish and make fat And well I wote that who so eateth many of them they will make him fat with an R. you know what I mean Grapes are used to be eaten after meat as other fruits but Arnoldus saith upon the same chapter That if they be eaten upon a full stomacke they both bee corrupted in the stomacke and they corrupt other meat CHAP. 109. Of Raysons OF Grapes dried through the heat of the Sunne are made Raysons which bee therefore named in Latine uvae passae and they be hot in the first degree and moist in the second Among us in England they bee of two sorts that is to say great raysons and small raysons otherwise called Corans The greatest sort are called raysons of the Sunne the other are commonly to be had and be much used in meats and that for good cause for beside their pleasantnesse in taste they doe make the stomacke firme and strong and do provoke appetite and do comfort weak bodies being eaten before meales But some question is made of raisons whether they be binding or loosing which Galen himselfe doth answer where he saith that Raysons without kernels doe open the brest and liver but eaten with the stones they binde Whose opinion Matthiolus confirmeth in these words Vvae passae quae vinaciis carent vel quod ita natura producantur vel quod ii arte fuerint exempti si dulces sint adstringente facultate adeo privantur ut etiam mirifice leniant Quamobrem pectoris angustiae tussi exasperatis faucibus renum vesicaeque vitiis maxime conveniunt Beside this Raysons are Secundum totam substantiam visceri ipsi hoc est iocinori familiares ac propriae And they concoct raw humors and withstand putrifaction as Galen writeth and for this purpose they may well be eaten fasting the stones being first taken out And for cruditie or rawnesse of the stomacke master Eliot by his owne report never found any thing better than fine rubarbe chewed with raysons of Corans yet raysons of Corans by the judgement of Arnoldus doâ— cause opâ—ilations of the spleene though they be good for the brest and reins and so saith Schola Sal. Passula non spleni tussi valet bona reni But Rubarbe may be better eaten as I thinke with great raysons CHAP. 110. Of Figges FIgges if they be new are hot and moist
naturall propertie of the stomacke by reason of the temperature therof for that reason Galen yeeldeth Cuilibet corpori proprietas quaedam temperamenti est quae huic naturae consentit ab hac vero dissentit And againe Omnibus animalis partibus inest desiderium quoddam c. Hitherto of white meates CHAP. 198. Of Sauces NExt after meates I have thought good to speake somewhat of Sauces because weake stomacks as commonly of students doe need oftentimes to be provoked Yet I will not say much thereof because the making of Sawces doth belong to the Cooke and not to the Physician and divers meates require divers sawces and divers men have divers appetites so that it were an infinite matter to discourse fully therein But I will briefly set downe some things very profitable in this behalfe which if students shall follow they shall finde thereby great commodity touching their health Of all Sawces those two are the best which were commended by Socrates as Tully reporteth That is Cibi condimentumest fames potionis sitis And thereof Tully giveth two notable examples in the same booke which I will recite in Latine because my English is in no wise able to countervaile Tullies Latine First of hunger that it is the best sauce for meate hee proveth by Ptolomaeus king of Aegypt in this manner Ptolomaeo peragranti Aegyptum comitibus non consequutis â—uum cibarius in casa panis datus esset nihil visum est illâ— pane iucundius And that thirst is the best sauce for drinke he proveth by the example of Darius the great king of Persia as followeth Darius in 〈◊〉 cum aquam turbidam cadaveribus inquinatam bibisset negavit unquam se bibisse iucundius nunquam videlicet siticus biberat To these may be added that worthy apophthegme of Dionysius King of Sicilie mentioned by Tully in the said booke Cum Tyrannus coenavisset Dionysius negavit se iure illo quod cenae caput erat delectatum is qui illud coxerat minime mirum condimenta enim defuerunt Quae tandem in quit ille laboriâ— venatâ— sudor cursus ab Eurota fames sitis His enim rebus Lacedâ—moniorum epulae condiâ—â—tur So that hunger and thirst are the best sawces for meat and drinke and the meanes to get hunger and thirst are exercise and abstinence for a time This did Socrates well perceive the author of this golden sentence for as Tully writeth in the foresaid booke Quum usque ad vesperum contentius ambularet quaesitumque esset ex eo quare ita faceret respondisse quo melius caenaret obsonare ambulando famem But this kind of sauce is naturall and every man doth bring it with him to the table but there bee other sauces that be artificiall of which I will set down those that be most usuall CHAP. 199. Of Salt THe sauce most common of all other is Salt which is so necessary that we cannot well live without it and therefore it is the first thing that is to set on the Table should be last taken away according to those old verses mentioned by Arnoldus upon Schola Sal. Sal primo poni debet primoquerepoâ—â— Omnis mensa male ponitur absque sale The necessity of salt in seasoning of meates and preserving of meates is such that almost it is used with every kinde of meate The vertues thereof be chiefly two in the Chapter aforesaid The first is that salt resisteth venome by reason that it is a dryer The second is that salt maketh a mans meate savourie which needeth no proofe These two properties are thus expressed in meeter in the said Chapter Sal virus refugat recte insipidumque saporat Nam sapit esca male quae datur absque sale There bee two kindes of Salt in use among us in England that is Bay salt and whitesalt which is chiefely made in Cheshire at the townes called the Wiches where there be certaine pits or Wells of salt water whereof by boyling they make the white salt And the same water is as good to powder any kind of flesh as brine for as I have heard them say that dwell about the wiches within 24. houres it wil powder Biefe sufficiently A great blessing of God to raise up such Springs for our use so farre within the land There be also other sorts of salt used in Physicke but not used in meats wherefore I let them passe and although salt doe make the meat more savourie yet I advise all students not to eat much salt nor salt meats for much salt eaten as it is said of old will make one to looke old soone and salt meats breed the discommodities aforesaid in the Chapter of salt-fish and this experiment I have of my selfe which peradventure may doe others good that beeing troubled with an itch divers yeares at Oxford by forbearing salt altogether and salt meats I was cured thereof throughly within one yeare and I was so precise in that point that I would eat no salt with an egge which at the first I thought unsavoury but afterward by use it waxed pleasant enough CHAP. 200. Of Vineger THe second sort of sauce which is in common use is Vineger whose nature is to coole and binde as Dioscorides writeth It is good for the stomacke provoketh appetite and is very wholesome to bee used in time of pestilence For as Avicen saith to use Vineger with meat in time of pestilence is a good preservative In Scho. Sal. there bee five properties ascribed to vineger First that it dryeth Secondly that it cooleth Thirdly that it maketh leane Fourthly that it engendreth melancholy Fiftly that it diminisheth seed of generation all which properties are contained in the verses following Frigidat modicum Sed plus desiccat aceâ—um Frigidat emaceratque Melanch dat sperma minorat Siccos infestat nervos pinguia siccat The last verse sheweth that Vineger hurteth the sinewes and maketh one leane which is to be understood if it be taken fasting as I have knowne some maidens to drinke Vineger next their heart to abate their colour and to make them faire and sometime to eat â—ostes dipped in Vineger but if it be often used it will breed many inconveniences One spoonefull of Vineger mingled with three spoonefulls of Rose water or for want of Rose water with well water is a good lotion to cleanse the mouth and gummes from filth which corrupts the breath There bee two sorts of Vineger in common use that is to say white and red For the colour it maketh no matter so that it bee rightly made for some use to mingle Ale and Wine together and so to make Vineger and some make it of Ale onely giving it a colour afterward with Turnsall or such like but that is rather Aliger than Vinegar for right Vineger is made of Wine onely And if any list to make a perfect kind of Vineger that is not onely toothsome but
or a peece of a Quince rosted or baked or in a marmalade and after rest to amend the lacke of nature wiâ—h sleep moderate exercise and playsters provided for comforting of the stomacke This much generally of drinke and the use thereof Now I shall particularly handle all such sorts of drinkes as be commonly used with us in England which be as I Iudge seven in number to wit Water Wine Ale Beere Cyder Metheglin and Whey CHAP. 216. Of Water WAter is the chiefest of all liquors not onely because it is one of the foure Elements but also for that it was the very naturall and first drinke appointed by God to all manner of creatures And as it appeareth by the holy Scriptures in Genesis there was none other drinke used nor knowne but water from the creation of the world untill Noah his floud during which time men lived eight or nine hundred yeares Also after the floud of Noah both Princes and people in all ages dranke water especially in Asia and the East Countries as appeareth by the history of Moses and the children of Israel in Exodus And in Greece likewise it was used for a common drinke as Galen declareth in diverse places of his works but especially in the first booke where he affirmeth Aquam puram omni aetâ—ti utilissimam esse And that water to be best cujus ad orientem solem fons erumpit quaeque permeatu aliquem mundum aut puram colatur terram eademque calefit ac refrigeratur ocyssime But leaving Asia and Grecia aside and returning home to England if any shall demand whether or no it bee as wholsome for English men to drinke water as for them that dwell in other Countries M Eliot in his Castill saith that if men from their infancy were accustomed to none other drink but water onely moderately used it should bee sufficient to keepe naturall moysture and to cause the meat that is eaten to pierce and descend into the places of digestion which are the purposes which drinke serveth for As in Cornewall although that the country be in a very cold quarter yet many of the poorer sort which never or very seldome drinke other drink than pure water be notwithstanding strong of body and live and like well untill they be of great age Adeo a teneris assuescere multum est But otherwise except the custome of drinking of water I thinke as it is in S. Sal. Potuâ— aquae sumptus comedenti incommoda praestat Hinc friget stomachus crudus inde cibus That is to say the drinking of water with meate cooleth the stomacke over much and so letteth digestion and maketh the meat that is eaten to bee raw The like effect it hath if it be drunken after meat except it bee after a great surfet or when thirst happeneth after drinking of much wine For in these cases cold water drunken is a generall remedy and I have knowne many by drinking a good draught of cold water to bedward have thereby had quiet rest all night after and in the morning also it is right wholsome for him that dranke too much overnight to drinke fasting a cup of cold water especially if hee bee thirsty for that will cleanse the stomack and represse the vapours and fumes and dispose it to reteine new sustenance Some also have I knowne that would oftentimes in a morning fasting drinke a draught of cold water with a little white Sugar of purpose to cleare and coole the stomacke and have by that meanes as they thought avoided much flegme But herein alway respect must bee had to him that drinketh it for to young folks and them that bee hot of complection it doth lesse harme and sometime it profiteth But to them that are feeble old flegmaticke or melancholy it is not convenient for it destroyeth naturall heat it grieveth the brest and taketh away the appetite of the stomack and is very hurtfull to all the sinewy members and this caveat I will give to all such as be thirsty through great labour and travaile that they drinke not much cold water in their heat or thirst for thereby I have knowne many fâ—ll into sickenesse and I thinke it better to drinke a draught of Sacke or good wine or as they use in Lankashire a hot posset at such times than small drinke or cold water For though small drink or cold water seeme to quench thirst better than wine because it moystneth and cooleth more yet wine being more agreeable with nature and of more subtile substance operation is sooner drawne off the members and consequently sooner satiffies and fils the veines and so quencheth thirst without any great alteration of the body whereas water or small drinke by the great coldnesse thereof sodainely changeth the body from heat to cold which is a dangerous thing as Hip. testifieth Semel multum repente vel vacuare vel replere vel calefacere vel refrigerare aut alio quovis modo corpus movere periculosum omne si quidem nimium naturae inimicum And as Galen teacheth Si cum vino bibatur aqua sitim efficacius extinguit quam si sola scilicet vino ipsam ad distributionem promovente But whether you drinke water with wine or of it selfe you must alwayes provide that it be of the best sort which may be knowne by Galens description aforesaid and by these notes also First by the lightnesse for the lightest is best Secondly by little skim or froth in boyling Thirdly by drenching of linnen clothes in the water and laying the same to dry for that which is soonest dry sheweth the best water But how water may be drunke without any inconvenience aswell in sickenesse as in health Fâ—rnelius declareth Vt aqua tutius citra viscerum offensionem pro potu ac vice vini sumi possit in ea integrum hordeum coquitur dum crepuerit vel Glycyrrhiza vel pruna Damascena vel Saccharum cum praesertim ulla est pectoris affectio adiecto sub finem Sinamomi momento si ventriculi robur servandum est And in places where I have been the common people have used to cut liquorise very thinne and to lay it in cold water and after it had steeped a time to drink of the water in hot agues or in stuffing of the brest with flegme and this they call liquorise water and account it very wholesome CHAP. 217. Of Wine NExt to water in antiquity and use is wine which liquor as it is in Ecclesiast was made from the beginning to make men glad and not for drunkennesse Howbeit Noah as it appeareth who was the first that ever planted a vineyard soone after he had drunk of the fruit of the grape was drunken So that wine and drunkennesse that is to say the use and abuse began in a manner both together much like as Adam soone after he was placed in Paradise fell through
the chapter of Milke And thus much more I will adde that if it bee clarified it is passing good for such as have hot stomackes or hot Livers specially in May and for them that be costive And if you would use it to coole the Liver then boyle it in Endive Succory Violet leaves Harts tongue Sorrell Dandelion And if you would use it for an itch or breaking out then boyle in it Fumitory Scabious Liverwort Hop leaves Also Fumitory and Agrimony boyled in clarified Whey and often used do not onely kill an itch but also preserve the Liver from corruption You must boyle it to the halfe and then straine it and drinke it fasting and fast two houres after it CHAP. 221. Of Metheglin THe seventh kinde of drinke is Metheglin which is most used in Wales and in the Marches of Wales It is made of hot herbs Hony and Water And if any list to make it he may take of all sorts of garden herbs a handfull or two and let them boyle in twise so much water as hee would make Metheglin and when it is boyled to the halfe and cooled and strayned from the herbs then take to every two galons of the water one galon of Hony Let it boyle well and sâ—um it cleane then put it up into some vessel and put Barme upon it and let it stand three or foure dayes then clense it up as you doe Beere or Ale and put it into some barrell and so let it stand three or foure moneths then draw it and drinke it at your pleasure If it be perfectly made and not new it is a very good drinke for Winter season chiefely for old folks and such as be flegmaticke or have cold stomacks or be troubled with the cough It is best in a morning well spiced with ginger Mervaile it is to see how the Welchmen will lye sucking at this drinke sometime untill they bee as Chrâ—meâ— was in Terence Vt neque pes neque mens satis suum â—fficium faciat It is as naturall a drinke for them as Nectar for the gods And I haue heard some of that nation defend that it is the very Nectar which Iupiter and Iuno drank There is also another kinde of drinke like to Metheglin which is called Meade or Meath and is made of one part of Hony and fouretimes so much of pure water and boyled untill no skum doe remaine and is much commended of Galen drunke in Summer for preserving of health For if it bee well made it clenseth the brest and lungs causeth a man to spit easily pisse abundantly and purgeth the belly moderately This much concerning those seven sorts of drinkes which be in common use among us which may well bee called simple drinkes for of these sundry others are as it were compounded or made for our necessities but yet rather used as medicines than with meates such is Aqua viâ—ae Aqua composita Rosa Solis Doctor Stevens water Cinamom water Hippocras Bragger Butterd Beere and such like of which I shall speake particularly for the behalfe of students who need now and then such comfortable drinkes CHAP. 222. To make Aqua vitae TAke of strong Ale or strong Wine or the Lees of strong Wine and Ale together a gallon or two as you please and take halfe a pound or more of good Liquorise and as much Anis seeds scrape off â—he barke from the Liquorise and cut it into thinne slyces and Punne the Annis grosse and steepe al together close covered twelve houres then distill it with a Limbecke or Serpentine And of every galon of the liquour you may draw a quart of reasonable good Aqua vitae that is of two galons two quarts But see that your fire be temperate and that the head of your Limbecke be kept cold continually with fresh water and that the bottome of your Limbecke be fast luted with Rye dough that no aire issue out The best Ale to make Aqua vitae of is to be made of Wheat malt and the next of cleane Barly malt and the best Wine for that purpose is Sacke CHAP. 223. To make Aqua composita TAke of Sage Hisope Rosemary Mint Spike or Lavander leaves Maierom Bay leaves of each like much of all foure good handfulls to one galon of liquor Take also of Cloves Mace Nutmegs Ginger Cinamome Pepper Graynes of each a quarter of an ounce Liquorise and Anise of each halfe a pound beate the spices grosse and first wash the herbs then breake them gently betweene your hands Vse the Liquorise and Anise as is said in Aqua vitae then put all together into a Galon or more of good Ale or Wine and let them steep all night close covered in some vessell of Earth or Wood and the next morning after distill them as you doe Aqua vitae CHAP. 224. To make Rosa Solis FIrst because this drinke beareth the name of a certaine herbe called Rosa Solis which is not every where nor at all times to be found it shall be necessary to speake somewhat concerning the gathering of the same I finde by experience that it groweth most plentifully in marish grounds and fennes and is most flourishing in Iune Iuly and August In Lankashire in their mosse grounds where they dig their turnes there is great store of it and there the common people doe call it youth grasse they think that it rotteth sheep howsoever it preserveth men If it be gathered about noone you shall finde upon it like as it were an oyle or dew and if you touch it with your fingers they will be slymy When you would occupy it gather it in dry weather and about the mid time of the day and picke it cleane from dyrt and pelfe and cut off the rootes or if it be rancke you may cut it hard by the roots in gathering Now when you have prepared it in this order and would compound Rosa Solis take a pot of good Aqua vitae or Aqua composita and put into it two good handfulls or more of the herbe called Rosa Solis and halfe a pound of fine Sugar halfe an ounce of whole Mace of Ginger pared of Nutmegs of Cinamome of Anise seeds all grosse beaten in a morter of each halfe an ounce Liquorise an ounce first made cleane from the barke then cut in small peeces and a little punned Dates foure ounces cut small and the stones and the white skinne that is within taken out put all together into a large pot or bottle and stop it close and so let it stand for three moneths shaking it or stirring it together now and then afterward if you list you may straine away the stuffe or let it remaine in all the yeare and when you would occupy some of it cast a cloth over the mouth of the bottle to keep in the spices Some doe put in red rose leaves also in the making Another way to make Rosa Solis I Learned also another way to
make Rosa Solis of an honest Gentlewoman in this manner Take of strong Ale or wine two galons of Annis seeds and Liquorise of each halfe a pound beat them grosse Take also of Rosemary Sage Time Camamel Majerom Mint Avens Fenel Dyll Pelitory Lavander or Spike Hysope Roses of each a handfull of Rosa Solis three or foure handfull and put all into the Ale or wine then take of Cinamom Cloves Mace Nutmegs Ginger Graynes Long pepper Galingale of each a quarter of an ounce beat them grosse and put them to the other and let all steepe together twelve houres in some vessell of wood or earth close covered then distill them and of the two gallons you may well draw two quarts and it will be as Aqua composita which after you may colour in this wise put it into one glasse or two and put to it for either quart two ounces of browne Sugar Candy and as much of Dates dressed as I have shewed before and put in every weeke fresh Rosa Solis as much as may goe into the glasse untill it have the colour of the herbe and if they will have it quickely to receive colour you may set the glasse warily within a stillitory upon such things as you distill and still neverthelesse neither will the glasse lightly breake especially if it be full CHAP. 225. To make Cinamom water HOw Cinamom water should bee made I have partly declared before in the Treatise of Spices Notwithstanding I will here set forth other wayes to make it drawne out of Gesner Take of Cinamom one pound grossely beaten on the which poure a wine quart of pure water which being close covered let stand to steepe eighteene houres after distill it as ye doe Aqua vitae Another way TAke of the best Cinamom finely brought to powder in a morter but not searsed halfe a pound this so charily powre into the distillitory body that none cleave to the sides falling in on which powre three quarts of cleare conduit water then set on the head close to the body after distill it in the beginning with a very soft fire and encrease the fire by little and little as you see the drops come either quicke or slowly But the best way to make Cinamom water is that which I have shewed where I spake of Cinamom it selfe CHAP. 226. To make Doctor Stevens water TAke a galon of good Gascoyne wine then take Ginger Galingale Canel Cinamom Nutmegs greyns cloves mace annis seeds fenel seeds caraway-seeds of every of them a dram Then take Sage Mint red Roses Time Pellitory of the wall wilde Maierom Rosemary wild Time Camamel Lavander Avens of every of them one handfull beat the spices small and bruse the herbs and put all into the wine and let it stand 12. houres stirring it divers times then still it in a Limbecke and keepe the first pinte of the water for it is the best then will come a second water which is not so good as the first The sundry vertues and operations of the same many times proved THe vertues of this water be these It comforteth the spirits and preserveth greatly the youth of man helpeth inward diseases comming of cold against shaking of the palsey it cureth the contraction of sinewes and helpeth the conception of women that be barren it killeth wormes in the belly it helpeth the cold gout it helpeth the tooth ach it comforteth the stomacke very much it cureth the cold dropsie it helpeth the stone in the bladder and reynes of the backe it cureth the canker it helpeth shortly a stinking breath and who so useth this water now then but not too often it preserveth him in good liking shal make one seeme young very long You must take but one spoonfull of this water fasting but once in seven dayes for it is very hot in operation It preserved Doctor Stevens that he lived 98 yeare whereof twenty he lived bed-ridde CHAP. 227. A Censure upon Doctor Stevens water THis much I finde written both touching the making and touching the vertues of D. Stevens water But how true it is I referre to every mans owne experience I for my part having made it right according to the prescription found the water so weake of the wine so strong of the herbs so unpleasant in taste that I was faine to distill it againe and to make it after an other manner So taking double the spices aforesaid that is of every sort a quarter of an ounce and of every kinde of herbe but halfe a handfull and not Cascoyne wine but Sack or very strong Ale I made a water very strong in taste and as I suppose of great vertue in all the properties aforesaid This who so list to trie shall finde true and let no man condemne me untill he have proved CHAP. 228. To make Hipocras TAke of Cinamon two ounces of Ginger halfe an ounce of Graines a quarter of an ounce punne them grosse and put them into a pottle of good Claret or white wine with halfe a pound of Sugar let all steep together a night at the least close covered in some bottle of glasse peuter or stone and when you would occupy it cast a thinne linnen cloath or a piece of a boulter over the mouth of the bottle and let so much runne through as you will drinke at that time keeping the rest close for so it will keepe both the spirit odor and vertue of the wine and spices and if you would make but a quart then take but halfe the spices aforesaid CHAP. 229. Another way TAke a galon of wine an ounce of Cinamom two ounces of Ginger a pound of Sugar twenty cloves bruised a little in a morter twenty cornes of Pepper grosse beaten let all these steepe together a night or more in a bottle or pot close stopped as before To halfe the wine take halfe the stuffe CHAP. 230. Another way excellent for a weake stomacke TAke Cinamom halfe an ounce Ginger a quarter of an ounce Cloves long Pepper Nutmegs of each halfe a quarter of an ounce beate them all grosse and with halfe a pound of Sugar mix them together in a pottle of pure white wine or Claret Let all soke twelve houres or all night in a close pot or bottle and when you would occupy of it cast a cloth over the mouth of the pot and streine it and use it at your pleasure and if you list to make but halfe the quantity then take but halfe the spices and Sugar and use it as before CHAP. 231. Another TAke an ounce of Cinamom halfe an ounce of Ginger Galingale and Greynes of each a quarter of an ounce Cloves halfe a quarter beat them grosse White Sugar halfe a pound of the best wine a pottle use it as before CHAP. 232. To make Nectar after Arnold which is a notable restorative TO a pint of Malmsey or Muskadell take of Ginger pared Cloves Cinamom of each a quarter of an ounce of Greynes halfe a quarter