stiring or lading it on the Fire half a quarter of an hour and so it is done only season it with Salt and let it stand till it be cool and by that time the Oatmeal viz. the bigger parts thereof will be settled to the bottom then drink a pint or a quart as you think convenient either before or after your Food or in a Morning and in such case Fast till Dinner It is also very good to be Drank after Labour Travel Sweating or the like to prevent Surfeits no sort of strong Drink being comparable to it in that respect for whilest People do endeavour by drinking Wine and strong Drink to allay Heat and Drought or Extinguish it frequently encrease it but this Gruel by its friendly Nature quallifies all such disorders and presently brings Nature into a state of Harmony and as it is commendable and beneficial at all seasons of the Year so more especially in Spring and Summer for it allays Heat and Drought far beyond any Beer or Ale and performs it in Natures own way Another very commendable way of making Water Gruel TAke what quantity of Water you please make it just Boyle up then put in your Herbs and let it stand till it begins to boyle again then take it off and let it stand two or three minuits with the Herbs in it then take the Herbs out and having some Oatmeal ready tempered with cold Water put that into it and so brew it too and fro out of one Pot into another as you do Buttered-Ale a dozen or twenty times without putting it any more on the Fire but if you desire to eat Butter in it then let the Butter and Salt be brewed too and fro in the Gruel and the Oatmeal will give forth its vertue and incorporate with the water so as to make it the sweetest best colour and wholsomest of all other Gruels if you would have it plain without Herbs brew only the boyling Water and Oatmeal togather and it is done adding a little Salt thus likewise you may make Milk Pottage by putting your Milk and Water on your fire together and when it boyles up take it off and brew that and your tempered Oatmeal as aforesaid and the like of Flowered-milk Of the best and most Natural way of making Water-Gruel compounded of Various Ingrediences TAke a Quart of good Water into which put half a quarter of a Pound of Currans washed ser it on the Fire till it be ready to boyl then move it to a more moderate heat for three or four Minuits then in another Vessel have a Quart of the like Water made to a boyling then have your tempered Spoonful of Oatmeal ready brew your Oatmeal and Water together as you were taught before very well then take your infused Currans out of the hot Water and put them into your brewed Gruel with some Sugar Butter and Salt throwing your Water the Currans was infused in away then brew it again as you did before the Butter Salt Currans and Crums of Bread altogether very well and if you think convenient to add Spice to it then put it into the water you make your Gruel off when you set it on the fire for it is best to put both the Currans and Spice into the water when cold the water does then draw out the vertue of them best this way of making of it is far before any others that is in practice amongst the Houswives the Currans will be soft and eat much more pleasent then when boyled this Gruel will have a curious white brisk lively colour Fragrant smell and curious Cordial Taste affords a better Nourishment and easier of Concoction then any made the common way for this way is far more Natural and does draw forth the fine spirituous friendly quallity of the Ingrediences and the brewing of it does keep and preserve the brisk lively spirits of the Butter which gives a curious flaver to the whole and makes all incorporate as one Body also the Infusing of the Currans in the water does wash away a foul gross quality which cold water cannot do which renders them more Homogenial and easier of Digestion you are also to take notice by the way that your brewing or mixing of it off the fire in the pleasant sweet Air does not only give Life and a curious Colour but of better Taste and Smell more agreeable to the stomach and easier of digestion not so apt to obstruct the Vessels of the Stomach as that which is done otherwise for the boyling and stiring those fine thin Gruels or Pottages on the fire does give great advantage ro the thick gross smooky poysonous Vapours which the Coles or Wood when stired sends forth which fulsome Vapours are by the Air drawn forth up the Chimny which are so very pernicious that if any Persons should hold their Heads over them it would stifle or destroy them in a little time for the fire is not only the opener of all Bodies but the separating power of Nature and penetrates to the very Root of each thing and manifests the vertues and vices of each thing therefore forthese and many other reasons too tedious for this place the mixing or brewing these Gruels and Pottages off the fire are highly commendable and they do as far exceed the common Preparation as Light does Darkness but Practice is the best Master and Experience the best Doctor Of purging Gruel TAke Water what quantity you please make it boyling hot then put into it a good quantity of any of these Herbs following or others that you shall best like viz. Scurvy-Grass Spinnage Corn-Sallet Parsly Smalage Elder-Buds Take your Water off your Fire cover it and let them infuse one hour then take your Liquor from your Herbs and brew it with some tempered Oatmeal you may drink it with Salt or without from a Quart to three Quarts in a Morning and fast till Dinner this is a brave Cordial Gruel it will move gentily to stool more natural then most sorts of Physick and wash and cleanse the Stomach from all superfluous matter thins the Blood and open all the Passages by which the Humours will freely circulate carrying away all Windy Watery or Flatulent Juces this sort of Gruel is not only good in the Spring but at all Seasons of the Year when the Herbs can be procured if the natural and proper use of Herbs were known and practised there would be but little need of Physick especially if Order and Temperance were observed How Herb-Gruels for the Spring ought to be made and their Respective Vertues and first of Elder-buds in Gruel TAke Water what quantity you have occasion for make it boyling hot then have your Oatmeal ready tempered with cold Watter and your Elder-buds and put both into your boyling Water and keep it stirring letting it be as it were on the boyl but not boyl up a little while then take it off the fire and let it stand two or three minuits more then take
Meats and Drinks ought not to be taken together that are of a contrary Nature in themselves or disagreeable to any Mans particular Constitution because such Foods do secretly yet powerfully wound simple Nature with many Diseases and Infirmities before she is aware or can arm her self against their Assaults but let them be simple in their kind agreeable to the Complection and as near as may be equal in their parts which will breed good Blood and pure brisk Spirits and they always make the Body Lightsome and Agile 9. Forbear the frequent eating of Flesh and Fish without distinction and regard had to the Season and to their Cleanness or Unclaenness at that time and to the manner of their being killed after they are taken whether it be a Wound which may cause the free Evacuation of the original Properties of Saturn and Mars which is seldom done especially in Fish and Fowles but the same are for the most part Suffocated or Strangled or Die themselves whereby the pure Spirits and sweet Vertues by the Agony the poor Creatures are at the departure of their dear Lives are fixt or overcome for the orginal Venoms in which al Life consists are then so terribly agitated that they immediately suffocate and swallow up the pure Spirits and sweet Oyle if there be not a Wound made whereby those raging Poysons may freely pass away in the vehicle of the Blood for this reason experience shews that all Flesh as of Fowles or Fish or the like that are Strangled will not eat so Sweet and Pleasent as others that have a Wound made and Bleed plentifully but will have a stronger and grosser Taste and Smell nor will it breed so good Blood or Nourishment as the other but the best of them is much inferior to that of Vegatations which are more easily and more friendly obtained 10. Let your ordinary Drinks be mild and friendly to Nature neither Strong Stale Hard or Sour nor yet too new nor such as most of the small or nine Shilling Beer is that is Brewed in London viz. that runs off those Grains that the strong Ale and Beer has drawn forth all the sweet Qualities and good Vertues and there remains only a Sharp Sour Astringent Stinking Quality behind which the hot Water or Liquour extracts and then to give it a Taste they Boyle it Lustily with the Hops that have been boyled several hours in the strong Beer which have drawn forth all wholsome qualities and there are no better Vertues Extracted from them then the Water or Liquor did from the Graines and tho they do put some Ale amongst this small Beer to help it or to hide the ill Taste or Qualities but when such Drinks come into the Stomach those Sharp Sour Stinking Properties cannot be hid from Nature nor their pernicious opperations the frequent use of such Drinks do hurt the Blood and Generate the Scurvy and many other Diseases that are breed by improper and unnatural Drinks especially taken in too great quanties for it not only heats the Blood when strong but it keeps it as it were in a continual firment precipitating People into Feavors Dropsies Griping pangs of the Bowels and it also contracts the Vessels of the Stomach and Passages dulling the Appetite by weakening the Natural heat as woofull experience doth daily testifie to the great ruin of the Body Soul Estate and Reputation and many times Starving a Wife and poor innocent Children Of all Drinks Water hath the first place even as Bread of Foods the Creator of all beeings having endued this Element with many secret and admirable Vertues it being pure and clean in its own Nature and the chiefe thing by which all Exterial things are Purified Purged and Cleansed and tho Weak as Water be a vulgar Proverb yet I must tell you that Water is more strong sublime then most imagin for it contains a most Ravishing and Excellent Spirituous Balsamick Vertue whence proceeds that pure sweet refreshing quality whereby it hath power by its innate Vertue to digest and purifie all sorts of Foods Likewise in Preparations it is so innocent and friendly that it dissipates the gross flegmatick Bodies and preserves and keeps living the more essential spiritous parts it is not only the most plentiful and truly pleasant of all Drinks but supplies with its friendly Moysture and relieves Thirst beyond all other Liquors or Juces it is simple and endued with such equallity that it insinuates its Virtues into all parts of the Body in an insensible way it makes no noise nor causes any Tumults in the Brain nor awakens any Inequallity in the Body but imparts its meek Life as it were in Silence and may deserve the Name of Concord a thing that God and his Hand-Maid Nature have befriended with all the united Vertues both in the Vegitable and Animal Kingdoms it being the Radix of all moist Nourishment which mixt or incorporated with any kind of Juces renders them fit and profitable for Mankind The best and most agreeable sorts of Water for common use and Drinking are Rain River and Spring but especially the two first because they are not only impregnated with the sweet Influences of the Celestials and airry motions of the Elements but their running through and upon the Surface of the Earth does thereby draw forth a saline Vertue of a mild opening Quality which renders it more Homogenial then Pump-Water or such as stand without motion and altho it be our custom to drink Beer Ale Wine and other strong Liquors yet it would be very beneficial and Profitable to most People to accustom themselves to the drinking of a Pint or half a Pint at Night a little before going to Bed and likewise in the Morning it is good to cool wash and refresh Nature it is also good for some Complexions to drink after Meals especially for those that are subject to Fumes and Vapours if Bread be tosted hard and put into it letting it stand a quarter of an hour and then drunk off there being no sort of Drink made by Art so friendly and capable to digest and cleanse the Passages from Obstructions as Water and I am confident if People use themselves every Morning to drink half a Pint a Pint or a Quart of good Water such as each Person shall find most agreeable because Waters have various opperations on several Constitutions they would find as much Benefit if not more then by going to the various Wells so much cried up for their Vertues 11. Bad Air does further and increase all Distempers for that being an Element which we continually Suck and Feed on when it is corrupt conveys unwho some fumes into the Body impairs the Longs those Bellows of Life and infects the whole Mass of Blood therefore proper and good Airs are of great benefit to Health I say Proper as well as Good for every sort of Air tho in its self good is not healthfull for some People because there is as great a
variety Air as there is in Complexions and what is profitable for one is not so for an other and to find out this Secret there is no better way then for such as want agreable Air to Travel out of one place into an other by which they may be capable to find out that which is most sutable for them for as in the best Airs some People Languish under various Diseases for want of a change so in the worst of Airs many are very Healthful and perhaps better then they would be in finer or thinner Airs as many that Live in the thick Sulpherous steems of London are very Healthy and Live to great Ages And as every bad Air is not prejudicial to all Persons so on the other side all good Airs are not profitable to some sorts of Constitutions but change of Airs to most People proves beneficial And therefore Travelling is very Healthful and good especially for some People whose qualifying Properties and Spirits of Nature are unequal but this not being known many remove out of one Air into an other in vain or to their Prejudice 12. Forget not to use proper Exercises in open Airy places which will prevent many Diseases and Weaknesses especially in Fat Corpulent Phlegmatick Persons that are for the most part troubled with Coughs and Stoppages of their Breasts and Lungs Let such walk as much as they can by running Rivers two or three hours Morning and Night for the Air by such running Water is more penetrating discipating and digesting all superfluities then elsewhere nor are there any Persons more Strong Healthly or of better Stomachs then those whose Imployments are near Flowing Streams especially if the Banks and Ground adjacent be dry and somewhat elevated as in many places it is Let the fattest Punchenelloes but use to exercise themselves as aforesaid and eat clean Foods with middle Ale or Bear and once or twice a day drink a good draft of Water especially Morning and Night and it will in a little time level their Mountainous Paunches and waste all superfluous offending matter so great is the power of clean simple natural Meats Drinks Exercises and Airs 13. When you eat any sorts of strong Fat Foods as Bread and Cheese Bread and Butter Pudden Pancake or any solid Foods especially Flesh remember that you eat Herbs with them simply without either Salt Vinegar or Oyl only wash them viz. Parsly Sorrel Spinage Sage Corn-Salet the Leaves of young Colworts you may mix two or three sorts together or any one of them they mightily cleanse and help Concoction warm the Stomach and cheer the Spirits much better then if you put Oyl Salt and Vineger to them a little custom will render them pleasant and delightful Of which clean simple Foods we come now to Discourse of more particularly and since those that are Liquid commonly call'd Spoon-meats are chiefly to be regarded I shall here set down such of them as are most proper for the Spring-Season viz. in the Months March April and May of all Liquid Clensing Foods or Spoon-meats Water-Gruel deservedly claims the first place and is without doubt the best of all others either simple or compounded with any particular Herb or Herbs at this time or season it hath the most powerful Opperation because the Sun now increases in Strength and Power and endues all things not only with a brisk lively Motion but great Vertue and Life The Winter is the Rest or Sabbath of the Earth in which time she recovers Strenght and Vertue because she does then as it were cease from all her Labours and the Vegetative Quality stands as it were still This is manifested by the goodness and great increase of all Herbs Fruits and Grains being all filled with a brisk lively Spirit and Vertue therefore in the first Spring and Rising of the Sun every thing rejoyceth and becomes very Fragrant by Vertue of the sweet Influences of this Celestial Body and the Power of the Earth so that at this time all things seems to strive with a most lively motion to manifest its most inward Vertue this is the time for most People to eat Herbs both Boyl'd and Raw Salats and Pottages made thereof such Food at the rising of the Sun are endued with a brisk lively Vertue and Strength and of an opening and clensing Nature Purging the Blood and are good against all the Obstructions which the Intemperances of the Winter have occasioned Diseases being easier cured at this time then any other especially if Temperance and Sobriety be observed Of plain Water-Gruel PLain Water-Gruel is in its own Nature of a sweet mild and friendly Opperation and as Bread hath the first place of all dry Food and may justly be called Concord being befriended with all the good Vertues of the Vegetable Kingdom so this fine thin Gruel is the King of all Spoon-meats and the Queen of Pottages for it gratifies Nature beyond all others being most equal in its parts it stands nearest the Unity for this cause the frequent or daily Eating or Drinking of it will not weary nor tire Nature 't is both Food and Physick Nourishes and withal opens and cleanseth and serves both for Victuals and Liquor for you may either Eat or Drink it and at the same time that it satisfies your Hunger it allays your Thirst you may for need with Bread make a good Meal of it or you may Drink it before or after Meals without Bread or with after or before any sort of Foods whatsoever it has a universal tendency for let your Food be Sweet or Sour or Salt or Bitter Plain Gruel shall be agreeable to each of them being of an allaying softning dissolving and digesting Quality and that Complection is rare either in Young or Old that it does not agree with and tho it be of a moyst Nature yet it is not at all Phlegmatick but the contrary it being easie of Digestion opens Obstructions expells and hinders Fumes from flying into the Head it powerfully begets Appetite makes the Blood thin causing a free Circulation and thereby Cheers and Comforts the Spirits 'T is the best Spoon-Meat Women can Drink when they Ly-in for it breeds curious Milk keeps the Body Cold and free from Feavors and Vapours which other compounded Hetrogeneous Spoon-meats do occasion it is likewise admirable for Young Sucking Children for it Washes and Cleanseth the Passages which many sorts of Milk and sweet Spoon-meats do Fur and Obstruct and prevents Windiness the great Torture of the tender Age by opening the all Salliports of Nature that the airy matter may pass away freely in their right Channels In a Word nothing can be more friendly if it be made as followeth Take Water as you please for quantity make it boiling hot then have ready some ground Oatmeal which first temper with a little cold Water and then put it into your Vessel stir it about and let it stand on the Fire till it rises up or begins to boyl then keep
the Herbs out or strain it and add only a little salt and when cold drink a Pint or a Quart as your Stomach serves a little use will make it familiar this Gruel is a great cleanser and opener of all sorts of obstructions that offends the Breast and Passages and moves gentlel to Stole 't is very good for Fat Pussy People especially if they joyn Exercise therewith But probably some may object What good can there be in such poor Watery slip-slop give me Pottage made of Cocks-Combs and Knucles of Veal and Necks of Mutton and Shins of Beef Boyled three or four hours till it becomes thick as a Ielly and then put in Plums Suger Spice and twenty other good things and this is like to be somewhat Nourishing and Comfortable indeed Well let the Objector enjoy his fancy and his Rich chargeable Slop still I will not change my Plain Water Gruel with him for I must tell him were he capable of hearing Reason all such mighty compounded Pottages how much soever they may be cry'd up as Nutritive and Restorative and indeed Destructive for they obstruct Nature stagnate the Blood becloud the Spirits and ruin the Appetite Moreover the much Boyling of Pottages and especially Gruels made of Flowre does in a manner destroy all the wholsome cleansing opening cooling exhilerating Vertues because it too violently opens the Body of the water and sends the fine spirits flying to Iapan or else suffocates them for this Reason Water once boyled and then put into a Vessel and kept will Stink and never be sweet nor good for any use afterwards whereas Water that has never been at the fire being put into a like Vessel will indeed stink as well as the other but then it will recover its self and be sweet again afterwards and as good as ever this shews that in boyling Water loses its fine Spirituous preservative quality nor does the boyling less impair the lively vertues of the Flowre therefore we conclude it not fit nor convenient to boyl Pottages or Gruels after the common manner such being good neither for Food nor Physick whereas one main end of Gruels is to fit and prepare Nature for Food that is to wassi cleanse and free the Passages of gross obstructive matter Others may say How is it possiblh that this infusion or small boyling can draw forth or endue the Gruel with the Vertues of such Herbs as shall be put into it for we they will say have been taught otherwise viz. to boyl them an hour or two at least Now this is as great an error as the former for boyling of Herbs especially in this particular case does as it were totally extinguish and destroy those fine pleasant opening Cordial Vertues which all Men seek to obtain in all preparations either of Food or Physick if your Reason be too weak to apprehend this yet you cannot blind your Nature viz. your Palate and Stomach for will not all Pottages and Gruels wherein various sorts of Herbs are long boyled taste strong and fulsome and do not they lie gross and heavy on the stomach and do not you find that they are hard of Concoction besides you are to know that in all hot infusions the hot or boyling Water does first seize or draw forth the milde sweet cleansing pleasant Vertues and if such Liquors are drawn off from the ingredients in a convenient time they shall be endued with all the good pleasant Vertues of the Vegetation infused but if they lie too long in the hot Liquor then those good properties first extracted becomes suffocated for the boyling Liquor continuing still its opperation on the things Infused after it has suckt out the sweet friendly Properties does awaken the Harsh Bitter Stinking Poysonous Sharp Astingent Qualities and draws forth that too whereby the former becomes spoyled or turned into the foremention'd evil qualities thus Brewers or any good Houswives will tell you that the best vertues of the Mault is first drawn forth by the hot Liquor and the oftner they put up the meaner is their Wort and if they let their first infusion stand too long before they draw it off it will become of a strong sharp keen sowre quality not fit to make either Beer or Ale of for by long standing the hot Liquor continuing its opperation does penetrate even to the Center and stirs up the harsh bitter sowre properties of the Mault which evil Juces does in a moments time swallow up or turn all the sweet pleasant mild friendly Vertues into its own Nature for which Evils there is no cure or bringing of it back again but it will still continue its progress into the harsh bitter Astingency or its original Properties Note also that the better or more Skilful Brewers will not boyl their Liquor or Water at all whatever Custom and Vulgar noise may clamour to the contrary but only heat it to a convenient degree because they are taught by Doctor Experience that boyling does not only fix or harden the Liquor but causeth it to lose its opening soft quality so that it will not so kindly draw forth the good vertues of the Mault but if these Reasons backt by Experience which are truly Natural will not satisfie you you have Liberty to follow your old blind Guide Ignorance and Tradition There still remains an other Objection viz. What Vertue can there be in one simple herb alone we are advised by the Learned that for Spinnage Gruel or Pottages we must put into the same Mess Elder-buds Nettle-tops Clivers Brook-lime Water-cresses and as many more as we can think off that it may cleanse us bravely But let me tell you and I will tell you nothing but naked natural Truths that wherever such a multiplicity of Ingredients are jumbled together you may be sure there are as many various Natures and Qualities and 't is more then probable that some of them at least are contrary to each other so that their distinct Vertues are thereby confounded and you have neither the true Vertue of one nor the other but a meer Gallimaufry which will be irksome for nature to receive and burdensome unto the Stomach to digest being both of an ill Taste and Savour therefore the surest and most natural way is to take such a simple Herb as you conceive most proper for that infirmity you are subject unto and such simple Gruels will prove more pleasant to the pallate Secondly more agreeable to the Stomach Thirdly they do to a better degree Answer the end for which they are taken Of Gruel with that gallant Herb Balm The making of this Gruel as to the manner of preparation is exactly the same with what we taught you of Elder-buds and so it is of all the other Herbs herein after mentioned or any other that you please to make use of and therefore we refer you back thereunto being as unwilling to write unnecessary repetitions as you can be to Read them The Vertues of Balm-Gruel are that it cleanses
bravely and is very profitable for all People both Young and Old but especially for those that have but weak heats and tender Spirits or are subject to Wind and Vapours as also for Fat Gross Dropsical People it mightily removes Obstructions that lies in the Passages and cheers the Natural Spirits making them fine which all such People want I recommend it therefore to be drank every Morning during the Spring viz. in March April and May. The Vertues of Scurvy Grass Gruel This being made as before directed I may safely Affirm is more Effectual against all the Distempers which this universal Herb is appropriated unto then either the Spirits of it which are so much cry'd up for their manifold vertues or the Gross Juces of it which some force forth of the Herb and put into Ale which way is not at all to be approved of because the terrene Gross fulsome quality comes out with the more fine it will gallantly correct and refines the Blood begets Appetite purge by Urin and sometimes by Stool being a great Evacuator of those gross heavy dull Humours which indispose both Body and Mind Gruel made of Alehoof or Ground Ivy. This is a great Cleanser of the Stomach and Bowels wholsom for all Ages and for those that are Healthy as well as those that are Infirm Smallage Gruel Purifies the Blood and powerfully opens Obstructions begets Appetite and is profitable against Shortness of Breath Sage Gruel Is a Noble useful preparation and good against the infirmity which the Antients have appropriated that Herb unto So is Gruel made of Penny-Royal or Spinage respectively each in its kind after the same manner you may use what other Herbs you have occasion for this being one of the best and most natural ways to draw forth the fine spirituous vertues of any Herbs Only remember to make your Gruel of any sort thin and let your fire be clear and brisk else you will fail of your ends There are many other Pottages proper to be Eaten in the Spring as Milk-Pottage Milk and Flowre Milk and Rice and the like but remember that Milk-Pottage ought to be made after the same manner with small ground Oatmeal viz. put in your Water and Milk together make it almost boyling hot on a clear brisk fire then temper your Oatmeal with a little cold Milk or Water and add that and stir it about and let it stand till it begins to boyle up but then stir or lade it to keep it from boyling half a quarter of an hour and then take it of the fire and when it is cool eat it with Bread or without as you like best the like is to be observed in making flowred milk There are many other brave wholsome foods far better then either Flesh or Fish to be eat in the Spring as Sallads both Boyled and Raw this being the principal time of the Year for the eating of Herbs viz. in the Month of March April and May for by the Approach of the Sun and the sweet Influences he now scatters through our Hemisphere all the vegitations are endued with lively and powerful vertues more then at any other time of the Year and it would be the happiness of English people if they did eat more of them and less Flesh and Fish nor is it to be doubted but the first Instituters of Lent might probably amongst other things have this in their eye to appoint a time of Abstenance and Temperance from gross succulent Foods in the Spring to remove and Remedy the mischiefs that might arise to their Healths from the too large Feeding on such Victuals all the fore-going Winter during which time what through their gross Foods strong Drinks and the uncertain Weather viz. sometimes close rainy and cold and then presently warm again together with their broyling themselves by Cole or Turf-fires whence arises thick sulpherous Airs and smoky Vapours their lying over-long in Bed neglecting due proper exercises they cannot but have Treasured up a vast fund for future Diseases and Calamities no way to be so happily prevented as by a strait and spare Diet in the beginning of the returning Year for in these Three Months the Sun which is the Fountain of central heat in all things has a powerful Influence and gives a lively motion to all being capable thereof so that if we will but put to our helping Hand and observe the good Rules of Temperance Cleanness and Order in Meats Drinks and Exercises many great Evils and Diseases may by the blessing of the Lord be avoided The Foods most proper for this season are the Gruels and spoon-meats before mentioned with Bread Butter and Cheese but the two fast ought to be eaten sparingly because they are Fat Strong Bodies too great quantities thereof may do injury to many Constitutions I have as little occasion as inclination to advise English People to the eating of Flesh and Fish for that they are already too apt to indulge themselves therein but this I must say that this is the best Season because the Food of most sorts of Cattel that are now killed by the Butchers having been for some time past either Hay or Corn which does generate better Blood in the Creatures and firmer Flesh besides the Season is brisk and cool which drives the natural heat more central and gives great strength to the digestive faculty whereby their Foods is better separated and the Creatures becomes stronger of good Heart and full of brisk airy Spirits add to this that they are not so subject to be surfeited by over driving which renders their Flesh better in all respects and more healthful An other way of making water Gruel without being put on the Fire which is a Summer Gruel Take one spoonful of good Oatmeal temper it with a little Watter then take a quart more of Water put the Oatmeal into the other quart and brew it very well together in too Pots that are fit for that purpose and then it is done the Oatmeal will mixt or incorporate with the Water of this sort you may drink a pint or a quart at a time it is very good at all times of the Year but more especially in Summer and hot weather it is so friendly and Homogenial that it allays Thurst the best of any others by refreshing the Spirits bedewing the Body with a most pleasant and more natural moysture then either Beer or Ale or any fermented drinks the common use thereof in hot Seasons does strengthen the Body and all the Members thereof begets a natural Cheerfulness extinguisheth all kinds of inward flushings and vapours that comes for want of a strong natural Heat and large passages it opens and frees the Stomach from gross matter that obstruct the digestive Faculty purges by Urine as all sorts of Gruel do if made as we have Taught the frequent eating of this and other sorts before-mentioned do mightly assist Nature in all her opperations in particular it is profitable