desire it Likewise its true Colour is lost or in some degree destroyed as is most manifest by all Fry'd Flesh it does send forth a strong fulsom smell in comparison of either Boyled or Roasted its Taste is stronger and its natural Colour is chang'd by reason the pure Spirits and sweet Body are as it were suffocated by that fiery harsh heat the Pan does contain this Heat is more poysonous than the common heat of fire which is caused by the Metal whether it be Brass or Iron for the Fire does not only awaken the poysonous Nature that such Metal does contain but the present Quality or oily Body in the Fire whence it hath its bright shining friendly Quality is suffocated therefore all such Heat that proceeds from Pans is of a harsh fierce nature and operation The truth of this is further manifested by those that shall be Burned or scalded by such Pans which is more poysonous and the Flesh is harder to be Cured than what is burned by common Fire and often proves more dangerous the very same matter does cause any kind of Food to have such a strong smell for in all Preparations that cause the smell to become strong it is a sure sign that some Violence is done to the pure Spirits and Balsamick Body which doth awaken the Center of the dark wrathful Nature The very same is to be understood in all other things and that is the reason why Fryed Baked and Stewed Food does send forth a stronger and fulsomer scent than other Preparations and all such Food will sooner cloy and dull both Pallate and Stomach except in some few whose Natures and Stomachs have a Simile with such Food It is also to be noted that the Fat which is used in Frying that lies or runs between the thing Fryed and the Pan is by this sulpherous Heat and the want of the free Influences of Air and the benefit of a convenient quantity of Water turn'd into a stinking Oyl which does neither retain its Colour Smell nor Taste but is of a contrary Nature to what it was when it was put into the Pan. For these Reasons all Fryed Food is of a stronger fulsomer Nature than either Boyled Roasted or Broyled Meat harder of Concoction and does cloy the Stomach Therefore all House-Wives and others that do prepare Food if they regard the Health of the Body and true pleasure of the Pallate ought to understand the possibility of Nature in all Preparations that they may digest the raw gross Body of Food without offering any violence to the pure Spirits and balsamick Body and then all such Food would be of a most pleasant Smell Colour and Taste for if the pure Spirits be kept free and not suffocated in the Preparation such Food becomes friendly to Nature affording good firm and wholsom Nourishment easie of Concoction the frequent eating of such Food makes a man Airy full of lively Spirits and of a good Complexion So on the contrary if they be suffocated then presently the sweet Oyl is turned sower or into a stinking Quality then such Food so Prepared will have as is mentioned before a strong Smell and Taste not retaining its natural Colour for in all sorts of Food in which the Spirituous Parts and Balsamick Body is strong their Smell Colour and Taste is Pleasant and Friendly Also it is to be noted that most Preparations of Food the quicker they are performed provided there be no violence done to the Spirit the better and more friendly such Food will prove for slow and intermitting Fires in either Boyling or other Preparations do flatten and dull the Spirituous Parts Therefore no Baker can preserve the pure white Colour in his fine small Bread if he be not quick about it for if any Preparation be continued too long the volatile Spirits become in a degree suffocated then Venus Sol and Iupiter grow weak and according to the length of time and degrees of heat so the natural Colours do alter and change for the Colours of all sorts of Food when Prepared do arise by degrees one after another gradually and when the gross Body is digested then the inward virtue which lay hid and captivated in the Body of Phlegm appears in its own friendly Form with a most lively and pleasant Colour Smell and Taste this is the point of Time all Preparers of Food ought to understand for if their Preparation be continued any longer the operation of Nature goes backward towards the center of the Original Fire then Saturn and Mars and their properties are presently awakened which do cause the Colour Smell and Taste of such Food to change The first degree the Colour alters to is a dusky Yellow and if the Preparation be continued by degrees it turns blackish till at last it will become Black or deep Red or of a mixed streaked Colour all according to the Property which does predominate in the Original or dark Fire also all such Food is of a gross and fulsom Smell and Taste unpleasant both to the Pallate and Stomach Preparing of Food is a greater Art and Mystery than many House-wives and others do think and if it be well and properly performed it adds much to the preservation of the Health both of Body and Mind for every thing has Power to awaken its Simile in the Body Therefore every one ought to use that care and understanding in the Preparations of all sorts of Food that the meek and most friendly Life be preserved from suffering violence Of Broyled Flesh. Broyled Flesh was much used in former Ages but now it is little in Fashion in comparison of the aforementioned Preparations Flesh dressed this way is much sweeter and fuller of Life and Spirit than Baked or Fry'd by reason it does not boyl in its own fat as the other two do also it is quickly Prepared and the gross Humidity in the flesh does freely purge and run into the Fire it has likewise the free Egress and Regress of the Air the Fire being full of lively brisk Spirits which in Ovens and Frying-Pans are destroyed by which means the heat becomes more gross and sulpherous like the heat of Charcoal which does suffocate the pure Spirits and then the Fat becomes of a heavy gross and Oily Quality with a strong Taste and Smell which gross matter in Boyled Flesh is destroyed therefore it does not only eat sweeter but breeds better Nourishment if the Fire be clear and done as it ought the Fire of Wood does prepare all sorts of Food sweeter and better than Cole and renders it much wholsomer for in all Preparations in which the Food does boyl in its own Fat or in Fat put to it if it hath not plenty of Water and the free influences of the Air the gross Humidity in the Fat does suffocate the pure Spirits and then the sweet Body which all Fat does afford great store of becomes gross and fulsom in Smell Taste and Operation which will quickly cloy the
and preserves the more essential Parts and Vertues and keeps the Spirituous Parts living It is not only the most plentiful and truly pleasant of all Drinks but it supplies Nature with its friendly Moisture and relieves Thirst beyond all other Liquors or Juices It is so Simple and endued with such Equality that it insinuates its Vertue into all parts of the Body in an insensible way it makes no Noise nor causes any Tumults in the Brain nor awakens any in equality in the Body but imparts its meek Life as it were in silence And as Bread hath the first place of all Food and may justly be called Concord or a thing which God and his Hand made Nature hath befriended with all the united good Vertues both of the Vegetable and Animal Kingdoms and therefore no sort of Food is comparable thereunto nor will gratifie Nature to that degree as it ought without the help and mixture of Bread though yet it is not the strongest of all Foods nor hath the greatest Nourishment but it is the most equal in its parts and stands nearest the Unity for which cause it is so much desired and justly esteemed the Staff of Life and we are taught to Pray for all outward Accommodations needful for our Bodies under that significant denomination of Our daily Bread it being besides its own nutritive faculty a proper Ingredient to qualifie the Inequality of most other sorts of Food and is the Foundation to all good Nourishment The like is to be understood of Water that being the Radix of all moist Nourishment which mixt or incorporated with any kind of Juices renders them fit and profitable for Mankind Nay if we may fly our Contemplations to an higher pitch there is a Sympathetical agreement or some Analogy between this External Water and that Internal of which our Saviour Christ told the Woman of Samaria that if she did drink she should never thirst This Internal Super essential Water sustaineth every Being and is the Radix and Life of the outward Water which contains some Shadows of the secret Influences of the Water Internal for which reason the Prophets and good Men of old have frequently compared the one with the other and expressed the one by the other and also have made use of Water in Religious Mysteries as a sign of Cleansing and Purifying the Soul from Sins and for curing Diseases c. as the Scriptures do testifie Thus much I thought fit to say of Water in general to stir up men to praise and admire the Goodness and Wisdom of the All-Creator for the manifold Uses Vertues and Benefits wherewith he hath endued this Element But now let us consider the several sorts of Water Of Rain-Water and its Nature I name this Water first because for several Reasons it is the best of all if not defiled by Accidents as by Tiles of Houses or the Vessels 't is kept in For 1st It is a light pure thin Water 2dly It is drawn up into the Clouds by the power and vertue of the sweet Influences of the Sun Beams 3dly Being carried to and fro with the Clouds by Gods divine power it hath thereby had the greater benefit of Motion 4thly 'T is endued with wonderful Vertue from the Element of Air and the sweet Influences of the Coelestial Bodies whereby it is made more Spirituous than other Waters and of a fat unctious Quality of a light friendly mild Nature and Operation Thus it mollifies the harsh Earth making it light and tender and causes all Plants to multiply and grow far better than any Artificial Watrings can do Rain-Water being among its other Vertues like Afferment or Leaven that makes the hard compacted Earth more spirituous and penetrable giving Life and Motion to all the Vegetable Kingdom 5thly rain-Rain-Water is not only exhaled by the Beams of Heaven from the most clear and subtle Fountains and impregnated with the Coelestial Influences but also is as it were strained with the Airy Motions and Winds which fill it with a Saline and Balsamick Vertue when it descends like the Tears of a repenting Sinner in gentle reviving Showers that give Vertue and Power to all Vegetables and restore the gasping parched Earth and languishing Nature to the briskness of the Spring and joys of Autumn 6thly This is the lightest of all Waters it cools and heats quickly it oppresses not the Stomach or any other part of the Body but passeth suddenly into the Ureters having neither in Colour Smell nor Taste any manifest Quality it bindeth not the Belly as some other Waters do and is the best to be used in all Physical Operations if it be well received and afterwards kept from defilement 7thly It is to be preferred before all other Waters in House-wifery for it Boyls all sorts of Meats better and sooner and makes them easier of Concoction as likewise it Brews and Washes to greater advantage than others Of River Water This is next in Goodness whose Original is Fountain or Spring-Water and yet there is rarely any Spring-Water so good for common and general use at the Fountain-Head as in the River For 1st Rivers or running Waters have great advantages by passing through various Soils and sorts of Earth from whence it drains or sucks in a certain Unctious Vertue or Saline Fatness which the surface of the Earth does plentifully contain and from which Vegetation does chiefly proceed 2dly This sort of Water has the benefit of Motion with the benevolent Influences of the Sun and the Element of the Air which purge it from its harsh earthy Qualities and as it were open its Body enduing it with a pure Spirituous Airy and Balsamick Vertue of a warming friendly Nature and Operation This is the chief reason why River-Water is of a softer milder Nature and will perform all Preparations in House-wifery to more advantages than Spring-Water taken from the Fountain Head for there most Waters retain a Saturnine earthy Quality which the Influences of the Sun and Air with the help of Motion do destroy 3dly The New-River that supplies London is some of the best Water in England except Thumes Water it being a cut or made River that runs on the Surface of the Earth for above twenty Miles and is not fed or increased by hungry Springs as many other Rivers are that run through Vallies which is their own Natural way but Land-Floods sometimes fall into it which augment its Vertue and Goodness for they are the richest of Waters draining and sucking into themselves the fat Saline Vertue of the Earth For this reason most Vallies that lie between the Hills are so fruitful for the Waters that run off the Hills do wash or carry away the Salintral Vertue into them and there it centers and thus Hills come not to be so fruitful as Valleys or Plains by reason of such disadvantages Whereas on the contray do not Land-Floods and the overflowing of Rivers make Meadows fruitful from the same causes For when the Waters retire
of Vermin and Insects which is caused through the Contraction of gross thick fulsom Matter for want of Motion all which running Waters are not subject to But although Water be Natures common drink for Man as well as Beasts yet since now a-days Men generally betake themselves to other Liquors we shall briefly treat of them likewise Of Ale and its Nature and Operation as also of Beer Ale hath the first place of all Drinks made with Malt and is of greatest Antiquity That Ale is best that is made after this manner 1st That the Liquor or Water that you put to your Malt be made boiling-hot but not boyl and then put it into your Mash-Tub or Vessel and let it stand a little while before you put your Malt to it which will somewhat moderate the fierce heat of the Water thereby rendring it more capable to receive the Vertues and sweet Quality of the Malt which violent hot Water will not do so well for it doth not only hurt the pure Spirituous Parts of the Malt but will six or harden the Malt so that the Sweetness and good Vertues will not so easily give it self forth into the Water also if you put the Malt into the Water very hot then it will Tinge or cause the Wort to become of a red Martial Colour but on the contrary the cooler the Water is when you put in the Malt the Paler or more Venerial will the Colour of your Wort be which is the best Colour of the two for all Ale that does look Clear and White is to be preferred before that which hath a high Martial Red Colour And in some parts of England there is such Ale made which is much liked but this commendable White Colour depends also upon the well making of the Malt viz. in the Fewel and degrees of the Fire they dry or fix it with for if the Heat be too strong or fierce or if the egress or regress of the Air be hindred or any other Accident happen of the like nature then such Malt will make Ale and Beer to look of a Reddish Martial Colour which is not to be commended though some ignorantly cry it up For the predominant Quality in all sorts of Corn stands in the White and all the pure Water and sweet Body of it proceeds from the predominant Quality of Venus therefore the more gentle mild and natural the Preparation is from the beginning to the end the more wholsom and Balsamick will the Ale be If the Malt be dryed with too hot or fierce a Fire whence the Colour happens to the Ale it shews Violence done to the essential Spirits which also happens in Brewing when the Malt is put to the Water too hot or by overmuch boyling of the Wort which is not commendable in Ale for good Ale may be made with little or no boyling and indeed there is not much reason for the much boyling of any sort of Drink made of Malt except you design to keep it a great while For the boyling of Ale doth cause a too great Evaporation of the Volatile Spirit and Balsamick Vertues which will not endure the harsh Fire for this cause strong Wort will wast and evaporate as much in quantity in one Hour as Small shall in three and more Besides boyling these Liquors destroys their mild gentle cleansing Qualities and fixes them making them hotter and fiercer in Operation for the more you evaporate or destroy the sweet Body of any thing the stronger and fiercer the Original Qualities become and appear more external but so long as the pure Volatile Spirit and sweet Balsamick Body predominates the strong fiery Original Spirit of Saturn and Mars lies as it were hid and seeing all the friendly and wholsom Vertues of Ale reside in the sweet Body you ought not to destroy That by over-much boyling Nay I will add that the best and most wholsom Ale may be made and not boyled at all as some in this Nation do which does but wast it in Quantity and make it worse in Quality so that it becomes hotter in Operation and a friend to the generation of the Stone Every one knows or may know by experience that Beer heats the Body more than Ale the reason is the Balsamick Vertues in Beer are in part destroyed by boyling so that it becomes more like a Spirit and therefore it will keep longer and because of its lasting most People imagin it the best which is a great mistake for they might as well say that the best Sack drawn off by Distillation into a Spirit is better to drink than the Sack was whereas I think the contrary is known to every body of common sense The nearer you bring any thing to its Original by destroying the balsamick Vertues and middle Qualities or vegetative Vertue the longer that thing will keep sound this is manifest in all Spirits drawn from any Wines or other balsamick Liquors for this reason Beer that is boyled most will longest keep from turning sour or flat but still this is no Argument that it is therefore the best and wholsomest for the predominant Quality in all strong Beer especially if it be kept to be â—tale is of a fierce harsh Martial and Saturnine Heat of a hard greedy Nature which infects the blood with fretting eating Humours very prejudicial to Health also it generates the Stone not so much from the Hops which many accuse as the chief cause but for that the pure sweet body is in so great a measure destroyed in the boyling it to such an height that it might keep not but that the Hops do help to heat the body and cause the Stone and other Diseases but not purely and meerly as they are Hops but this comes to pass from the Preparation For Hops in their own Nature have no such operation to cause the Stone but altogether the contrary for Hops are of an opening cleansing Nature and they powerfully purge by Urine and make excellent Medicines against the Stone Dropsical Diseases but all their natural medicinal Vertues are destroyed in their being boyled in the Beer and then there remains in them chiefly the Martial harsh fiery Property which helps to preserve the Beer from growing flat or eager but it augments its heat and makes it of a harsher operation And as the boyling of Ale destroys the sweet cleansing purging Quality and causes it to evaporate just so it does by Hops and so much the more because in them the volatile Spirit stands as it were external for the Sun and Elements have exhaled the gross Phlegmy substance and thereby sets the spirituous at liberty only being close stuffed into bags preserves them from evaporating whilst there they continue but as soon as they come into the fierce boyling Liquor or Wort these essential Vertues and good Qualities are destroyed and flee away but still there remains the original strong bitter Quality which cannot be destroyed by boyling except they be annhilated for it is
Oates which opens unstops and cleanses the Passages from all kind of Obstructions This is further confirmed if we look into the Country where the Peasant that has no better than course Bread and other hard and mean fare is healthier stronger and more agile and sprightful than the City-Cormorant whose bruitish Appetite cannot be satisfied with any other thing than the costliest and richest Varieties that Nature can afford These latter sort of People accustoming themselves to the highest and finest Preparations of Food and Cordial Drinks are certainly the most unhealthful Men in the World because this sort of Food being in its own nature too Spirituous does prey upon the natural Heat causing either a suffocation or evaporation of the Spirits and contracting the Vessels of the Stomach whereby the whole body seems to languish Every sort of Food has its various operations upon the body and spirit of a Man and that by way of simile Therefore all Meats and Drinks ought to be equally compounded of a body and spirit as most things are in themselves before the Artist makes the separation the Food as the Man should be compounded both of body and spirit And to conclude I know of no separation that should be made of the one from the other but what is done inwardly by the act of the Stomach and natural Heat Of Pease and Beans Beans and Pease are Mars's Grains being drier and courser than the former Pease of the two are the finest and easiest of Concoction they are both of a Windy Quality yet being eaten when they are dryed are not only wholsomer than the Green but also afford a better and finer Nourishment not so apt to generate Crudities in the Body when they are boyled in plenty of Water the Winter-season is the most proper time for eating of them for then the natural Heat being more central the Stomach is much the stronger they are a good Food for young healthy People But Green-Pease and Beans are indued with a gross Phlegmatick Nature and being frequently eaten generate many gross raw Humours in the Body but in the declining part of the year when the Sun and Elements have consumed and dryed away the gross humid parts they thereby become firmer and wholsomer Food and will continue good and sound for several years but if they be cut down before the Sun has acted its part in extracting the gross Juices they will presently corrupt Therefore the frequent eating of such green Pease is of evil Consequence and detrimental to the Health they afford not only unfirm Nourishment but also cause Obstructions Fevers and Pains in the Bowels with Fluxes and a great many other Maladies That this kind of Nourishment is not good will further appear by giving you an Example from Cattle which when they are fed with green Food as Grass or the like their flesh and fat is soft greasy and full of phlegmy gross Matter neither will it take Salt nor keep half the time as that which is fed with Hay Corn and the like nay they are fainter and weaker and more apt to tire in their Labour and to take Surfeits than those that feed with Hay c. I do not say but green Pease may be eaten now and then for they are in their Nature opening and slippery which is caused by the great Quantity of Phlegmy Matter that is in them Yet these Rules should be observed in the dressing of them boyl them in good store of River-Water let your Fire be quick and your Pot open all the time of their boyling and they are to be put in when the Water begins to seeth and not before By this way of Preparation they are made wholsomer than otherwise they would be There is a sort of Bean called by the French English Bean but we commonly call them Kidney or French Beans they run upon sticks like Hops these are mostly eaten when Green they are of an opening and cleansing Nature purge by Urine and help Concoction the usual way of dressing them is to boyl them in the Shells and to eat them together They far exceed and are much better than other Pulses that are eaten green being in their nature and operation more mild and gentle Of Herbs Raw and Boyled The best raw Sallets are made of Spinage Parsley Sorrel Sage Pepper-grass with a small quantity of the Tops of Penny-Royal and Mint for all these have a chearing and warming Quality but Lettice and Onions should be sparingly put in because they are endowed with a gross thick Juice and are of a poysonous Nature sending Fumes into the Head whence proceeds a dull kind of Drowsiness and propensity to sleep which is offensive to the Eyes and Brain There are other Herbs made use of in Raw Sallets but the fore-mentioned are the best and most material Ingredients The proper season for eating them is from the beginning of February to the middle of Iune the earlier in the Spring so much the better and the more frequently they are eaten at this season so much the wholsomer for they are opening and cleansing powerfully the Blood is purified the natural Heat is tempered and encreased the Spirits are made brisk and lively the Appetite is quickned and Concoction facilitated Raw Herbs are a sublime kind of Food and are to be preferred before that which is boyled for the pure Volatile Spirit in the Herbs whence the Animals fragrancy proceeds cannot endure the violence of the fire but in boyling a great part of it is evaporated for this cause boyled Herbs lie heavier and colder in the Stomach than Raw which is scarcely credited by any for they that love boyled Herbs do generally eat much Flesh with them and so cannot discern the operation they have The strength and comforting Quality of every thing consists principally in the spirituous parts which are lost in the boyling and so they become just of another Nature that lively Tincture and spirituous part which it had whilst raw can never be retriv'd by all the Ingredients Nature or Ar 〈…〉 can afford Do not all Creatures eat their Herbs raw and are they not sustained by them to admiration They are powerful Preservers of Life and Health far beyond all the contriv'd Preparations of other Food In most Countries of this World the Inhabitants thereof do eat England excepted their Herbs Raw both in hot and cold Climates This kind of Food is preferrable to the great Quantities of Flesh Butter Cheese c. which are too often eaten among us these latter not only affording too great store of Nourishment but being naturally hot they over-heat the Blood and are heavy to be digested by reason of the oyly fat matter all such things do plentifully contain they dull the Appetite and obstruct and as it were fur the Passages Besides the Vertues we have ascribed to Raw Herbs God Almighty has created them for the use of Man and they were the first Food which was allotted him after the Fall where he
of Life and Spirits of a pleasant Smell and brisk Taste grateful to the Stomach and easie of Concoction but when they have been at the Fire the second time the spirituous Qualities that in the first preparation were set at liberty and rendred Volatile are evaporated and they become of a strong dull Taste and Smell For all sorts of Food over-prepared or twice prepared are hurtful For this cause Water-Pap that is made of Bread is not an wholsom Food and no way proper for sick People or Children and so much the worse when it is made fulsom and strong by the various Ingredients they add to it The same may be said of fermented Liquors as Beer Wine c. if they be committed to the fire they become of a dull fiat heavy Nature void of Spirit and Life or if such be put into Food and that same Food afterwards prepared by fire then also they lose all their pure Vertues and there does only remain the strong original Quality which is a Death rather than Life This should be well noted by all House-wives and by Nurses especially among sick People and not make them as much Posset-drink or Broth as will serve them twenty four Hours and when occasion is heat it again and again thereby destroying all its pure spirituous Parts and Vertues till it becomes as sick and fainty as those that are to eat and drink it for such things are burthensom to a well-Stomach and what then must they be to such as are sick and out of order whose Spirits are few and those-weak and languishing 6. There is another Trick of Nurses which even the learned do often advise viz. when People are sick to boyl their Drink with a Crust of Bread in 't Now both these have been prepared before even to the highest degree so that by this boyling them together again as well the Drink as the Bread lose their Vertues and the Drink becomes as flat and dull as pond-Pond-Water in a hot Summer day and then the Wise Nurse adds a lusty Quantity of Sugar to hide its gross dull fulsom Taste which renders it still duller and heavier on the weak Stomach of the sick Now all such Drinks are nauseous to Nature even in times of Health so that if a well man should drink constantly of such Perboyled dulcified stuff it would disturb Nature and send dulling Fumes into the Head destroy his Appetite and cause an unpleasant heat in his Stomach with a clammy Droughtiness nor would it give Nature any satisfaction And if its effects be such on the sound what mischief must it need do those that are already Diseased If a sottish Ignorance did not possess many of them that pass in the World for Learned men great Rabbies and profound Doctors they would certainly never act so contrary to Reason and Nature as they do Nor do I know any Reason why good Ale or Beer should be esteemed Raw as 't is by most even Physicians themselves has it not passed thro' several Digestions as boyling by Fire and Fermentation which are the highest Preparations it will admit of so that neither Nature nor Art can advance it For if such Liquors be committed to the fire a second time the spirituous parts do either evaporate or are suffocated they are so pure and volatile and stand so external that they will not endure any violent Motion or harsh Fire to touch them without manifest Injury therefore all common Beer and Ale well brewed and of a proper Age being brisk and full of Life is abundantly to be preferred before Drink again boyled either by it self or with a crust of Bread This may somewhat be illustrated even in Common-Water which is crude in comparison of Beer and Ale and has never passed thro' any Digestion to unlock its spirituous parts yet if you take such Water from the Spring and boyl it 't will open the crude Body and cause the pure spirituous parts to become so volatile that they will evaporate so that 't will be good for little or nothing if it be not used presently If you would know whether this be true or no do but walk into the House of Dame Experience Take Common-Water boyl it put it into a good sweet Vessel or Barrel then fill a like Barrel with Water from the same Spring unboyled and keep them for further use as Sea-faring men do for their Voyages then observe what follows The Water that was boyled will stink and never be sweet again but the other tho' it stink or rather ferment as some Water will do twice or thrice yet it will become good and sweet again for all Uses Again if you boyl Water in cold Weather or Frost it will afterwards freeze sooner and be colder than such as has not been boyled Now there must be some Reason for this which is no other than that the boyled Water has lost its inward spirituous or warming Nature so that 't is become more Saturnine cold and earthy whence the Air has the greater Influence upon it and causeth a quicker Congelation So likewise it is to be observed that if you boyl Water an hour or any considerable time before you put in your Flesh Herbs or what else you would dress in it such Food will not be so sweet nor wholsom as what is put into the Vessel as soon as the Water boyls or if you boyl Water an hour and then let it stand till 't is cold and afterwards boyl any Food in it it will give it a strong fulsom Smell and Taste make it hard of Concoction affording but a bad Nourishment All which shews the Fire has power to open the body of the Water causing the spirituous parts to become volatile and makes them capable of being evaporated on a second boyling much more than of Beer Ale c. 7. There are many other Improper Mixtures that are common in time of Sickness as well as Health as mixing several sorts of Syrups with their Drink and making up Cordials with Syrups which Nature doth loath for no Syrups are so grateful to the Stomach as White Sugar they being naturally of a dull heavy flat Quality they are a broken body the pure spirituous parts are suffocated and so have not that briskness on the Pallat and Stomach as Sugar For tho' Syrups be made of White Sugar yet they are nothing so good being mixed with any Drink or Food nor so grateful as the same Sugar for every time Sugar is melted down the spirituous parts are flattened and it cannot attain its proper natural Goodness except it be cured again and such an order observed as follows in Refining for then there is a separation made and it obtains a purer and finer Body which is not done in Syrups and therefore if in Health you drink them in Beer or Wine the Stomach doth not so well like them nor will they be so pleasant especially if often drunk much more nauseous must they needs be to the sick
Therefore let none think themselves unworthy because they have not the Learning of Babel or because they are simple for such as are unlearned and empty if they come to the Lord in Humility and Faith he will abundantly teach them and plentifully fill them with all good things The most natural and proper way of making of Cordials with any kind of Herbs Seeds Flowers Spices and Drugs either simple or compound Take any sort of Herbs Seeds Flowers Spices or Drugs either simple or compound but the first is to be preferred before the latter the Drugs and Seeds are to be bruised or cut what Quantity you think convenient infuse them in Ale Beer Cyder Wine or Spirit of Wine but remember that they do not continue above one hour in your Liquor but if the Quantity of Seeds Herbs Drugs or Flowers be great and but little Liquor then half an hour will be a sufficient time for you to continue your Infusion the same is to be understood if your Herbs or ingredients be of a strong bitter Quality as Wormwood Featherfew Tansie and the like your Vessel ought to be close stopt all the time of your Infusion then strain out your Liquor putting it into Bottles and when 't is setled sweeten it to what degree you think fit with Refined-Sugar which is to be preferred before any kind of Syrups for they are broken flat Bodies like any sort of Food that is prepared twice and therefore when mixed with any kind of Liquor or Drink they give it a sickish fainty Taste being dull heavy and unpleasing to the Stomach Which of you that prefer the use of Syrups so much if you were to have your Drink sweetned when you are in health would chuse Syrups to do it with I believe scarce one man of an hundred but rather White-Sugar with which when you have sweetened your Infusion or Liquor prepared as aforesaid you have a Cordial far more friendly to Nature and more impregnated with the real and natural Virtues of the Herbs Seeds Drugs c. which you have made choice of to use than any that is or can be drawn by Distillation for the Reasons beforementioned But if you let your Ingredients lie soaking two three four five Days or a Week more or less as is usual for most people to do then the pure Volatile balsamick Virtues and Tinctures will become either suffocated or evaporated for all sorts of Menstrums or Liquors do first extract or receive the pure subtle spirituous Qualities especially of all such Herbs Seeds Grains or Flowers as have already passed through any kind of Digestion or Fermentation as all dry Herbs have that are prepared according to our Rules and also all green Herbs that are Spicy and Aromatick do the same therefore if continued too long in such Liquors the pure Virtues and sweet spirituous parts become suffocated by degrees and then presently appears the strong gross bitter sower and astringent Qualities which poysonous Properties do prey upon and devour the sweet Body and pure Spirits for which cause all such Infusions or Cordials have a strong fulsome smell and taste and equally unpleasant to the Nose the Pallate and the Stomach Many Examples I could instance to demonstrate this but I shall only name one which is very plain familiar and material viz. in Brewing Alc and Beer First you make your Liquor boiling hot then put the Mault to it and stir it letting it stand together one hour or thereabouts and then you let that Liquor run off and so have a brave friendly Sweet Wort. But should you have done as most Physicians Apothecaries and others do viz. have let your Mault and Liquor stood infusing five or six Hours a Day a Week or the like I appeal to your selves if your Wort would not have turned sower sharp keen and of no use or virtue except for Stilling whereby 't is evident that all Infusions that are continued beyond their proper time do lose all their good Virtues more especially if they be such things as have already passed through any kind of Fermentation or Digestion the gross Bodies of all such things being in a Degree opened whereby the Balsamick Virtues become as it were volatile which before lay hid or captivated in the Body of Phlegm as is most manifest in all Grass or Herbage Take an handful of Grass and smell to it does it not send forth a gross fulsome earthy smell and scent but if you expose the same Grass two or three Days to the Sun and open Air which will exhale and destroy the fulsome phlegmy parts and more earthy substance opening the Body and then the Spirituous parts become so volatile that it will perfume the whole Field And if this Preparation be not discontinued the same Sun and Elements will exhale and destroy the good Virtues also and for this cause I told you that dryed Herbs Seeds and Grains are to be preferred before Green except some Spicy Herbs whose pure Virtues stand a degree more external than others and such are best to be used Green But others when infused green impart their gross phlegmy Substance to the Liquor Dryed Herbs Seeds Grains and the like when committed to any proper Liquor do more freely give forth their good Virtues than the Green for the Spirituous Qualities and sweet Body is more ready to infuse it self than other the astringent bitter or sower Qualities but they follow close at the heels of the good Virtues and if the Infusion or Preparation be not rightly timed then these fierce original strong Qualities will suffocate the Supple spirits and in a moment the sweet Body turns sower eager and astringent and the use of all such things proves very destructive to the Health of the Body and are very unpleasant to the Pallate and Stofor as there is a most pleasant sweet friendly Power and Virtue in all Herbs Seeds and Grains so on the contrary there is a strong gross poysonous fulsom Quality there being nothing so good but it hath an evil in it nor any thing so evil but there is an essential good in it therefore there is required Wisdom and Understanding in all Preparations whether for Food or Physick The Proper Natural way of making Physical Decoctions Posset-Drink c. with Herbs and Seeds so as they may not lose their Virtues The most essential way to make Decoctions of either Herbs or Seeds is after this manner First Take what Quantity of good River-water you shall think fit making it boyling hot or you may boyl it a little but the former is best viz. to make it as hot as good House-wives and Brewers make their Liquor into which they put their Mault for the much boyling of Water does not only evaporate the spirituous Qualities thereof but it fixeth it so that it hath not that power to draw or extract the Virtue and good Properties of such Ingredients as shall be added for which cause few Brewers will suffer their Liquor to boyl or
their Mault to be put in too hot when your Water is thus hot then take it off the Fire and put what Herbs Seeds or other Ingredients you please and let them lie in it about an hour and then strain your Liquor from the Herbs c. and let it stand until it be throughly cold then add to it either Ale Beer White or Rhenish-wine or any other Wine you shall think most convenient for your particular use so as to make it either strong or weak as you please and then sweeten it with good Sugar but if you would sweeten it with Spanish Fruits then you are to add the Fruit bruised at the same time as you put the Herbs into the Liquor and let them infuse together and it will do very well and when it is strained and cold add your Wine as aforesaid and put it into Bottles for your use and it will keep 2 3 4 5 6 7 or 8 weeks or more as you make it in strength and drink very pleasant and delightful being endued with all the good Virtues of the Ingredients Physical Decoctions made after this manner will be as welcome to the Pallates and Stomachs of the Sick as good Wine Beer or Ale for there will be no sick fainty gross strong taste nor smell in them as there always is in those made after the common way for all sorts of Beer Ale and Wines have already passed through Fermentation and Digestions which have opened the gross Body of Phlegm whereby the spirituous parts are set at liberty or become Volatile and External so that such Liquors or fermented Drinks will not admit of any other or further Preparation especially by Fire for so soon as they approach it the said Volatile Spirits become either evaporated or suffocated and then presently the sweet Balsamick Body dieth and turneth of an evil sower heavy taste and smell and of a dead heavy Nature and Operation having in it neither true Virtue nor Power therefore the Learned have no reason to oppose me in this Particular for let us both appeal to Experience Take you the best Beer Ale or Wine and warm or boyl it and let it stand till 't is cold and then tell me what 't is good for Verily for as much as Salt is when it hath lost its Savour Nay will not the very standing of such fermental Liquors open to the Air cause the spirituous parts to evaporate and the sweet Body to die and become sower and eager It is therefore no Paradox but a Natural Truth that the boyling of Herbs Seeds c. in Beer Ale or Wine does totally destroy both their Natural and Physical Vertues and such Decoctions are a meer loathing to Nature a Death instead of Life In making of Posset-drink you are to observe when your Milk boyls to turn it with Ale Beer or Wine then strain it and set it again upon the Fire and make it boyling hot but let it not boyl then take it off and add what Herbs Seeds or Flowers you please but if Seeds they must be bruised and let them infuse half a quarter of an hour or thereabouts and then strain it and your Posset-drink will taste and smell and retain the pure essential Virtues and lively Tinctures which the Herbs Seeds or other Ingredients were endued with and be an hundred times more pleasant to the Pallate and agreeable to the Stomach and also much more beneficial against the Disease such Ingredients are appropriated unto than those commonly made wherein the Ingredients are boyled Try and then judge It is to be noted That all sorts of Cordials that are compounded with various sorts of Distilled-waters and Syrups or with Strong-Water as that they call Epidemick-water are an abomination to Nature even in perfect Health when the Pallate and Stomach are strong sharp and powerful and what are they then to weak sick People and Languishing Natures For first the Natural Physical Vertues are destroyed by ill management and unnatural Preparation of each Ingredient before they are mixt And secondly the jumbling together such various things most of which are of contrary and disagreeing Natures is sufficient to destroy the good Virtues of the best of things and therefore 't is certain such Medicines and Cordials have not power to help or cure the least of Distempers not but many thousands after taking great quantities of their Slops may recover and then many people slander the Doctor with a Cure and ascribe to his Medicines mighty Virtues whereof indeed neither the one nor the other was ever guilty They have just cause rather to acknowledge the divine hand of God and his Hand-maid Nature and thereunto attribute the Recovery of their Health and not to those sick fainty Medicaments which generally do abundance more hurt than good Likewise their Epidemick-water is in its own Nature of a fierce hot Quality and Operation and tho it be made of the best of Wine viz. Sack yet the Limbeck does totally destroy its pure volatile spirits and balsamick virtues and also the Opening Cleansing Quality of all the Herbs or Drugs that are distilled with such Liquors or Wine so that there does remain or run off only a strong sulpherous brandish Spirit that has no other Operation than Common-Brandy or Spirit of Wine 'T is true they do allay this hot fiery Nature and Quality by adding to it Sugar or the like which renders it more tolerable to the Pallate and Stomach but the Operation is the very same as Brandy sweetned or any other Spirits If a strong healthy person should be confined to the Cordials Iulips daubing Electuaries and great number of sick Potions boyled Drinks and variety of sweet Slops and nothing more hurts and obstructs the Stomach than sweet things to the close Rooms lusty Fires drawn Curtains and other torturing Circumstances wherewith Doctors and Nurses torment those whose Nature is already wounded and languishing it would no doubt in a very short time destroy the Health of the strongest of men Therefore I would have every Intelligible Person consider the same and the Reasons of things and not be led away by Ignorant Sots who are meer Pretenders and not Physicians for Physicians ought 1st to be born with a Natural Genius and suitable Gifts rendring them capable of understanding natural things 2ly They ought to apply themselves to the Knowledge of God Nature and Themselves 3ly They ought to apply themselves to the Oracle of God in themselves to be taught by the Voice of Wisdom which crys in the Gates of every mans City For he that has not Eyes of his own and Understanding of his own tho he be the greatest of Scholars in outward Learning can never distinguish between Good and Evil but is always uncertain and all his Administrations as vain and presumptuous as a blind mans Judgment is of Colours 4ly They ought to have the fear of the Lord which is the beginning of wisdom always before their Eyes and not make Money and
most proper for your Constitution and least prejudicial to your Health Of Oxen and Cows their Nature and Complexion Oxen and Cows are dignified with a Sanguine Melancholy Nature a little inclinable to the Phlegmatick therefore much moisture is an Enemy to these Creatures in whom the four Humours are pretty well mixt yet the Sanguine does predominate As they are of an indifferent equal Temâ—erature so they are indued with harmless Propertiâ—â— and innocent Inclinations They are clean in their Radixes and therefore refuse all filthy Food and the same is likewise manifest by their sweet breathings and the Dung that proceeds from them whereas on the contrary those Beasts and Creatures that are unclean in their Root do always desire and most rapinously feed on a proportionable unclean Food as Swine Bears Dogs c. which is further demonstrated by their Shapes Tones or Cries frightful and displeasing as also in the fierceness of their Spirits and cruel wrathful Natures all such Creatures are highly gratified with unclean Food viz. Flesh Blood and the like But Cows and Oxen do afford many excellent sorts of Food no Creature being more useful or profitable unto Mankind not only in labouring and dressing the Earth by which it becomes fruitful but how many sorts of most excellent Food are made of Milk And so natural and proper no Fruit that proceeds from any Creature is of so great use Milk in its own nature being so simple and innocent and having no manifest Quality that does too violently predominate but is indued with equality and concord easie of Concoction especially Raw as it comes from the Cow it gently cleanseth and frees the Passages from Obstructions which strong Fat Food does generate it has a sympathetical Union with the Stomach and natural Heat it silently and without making any disturbance insinuates its Vertues and Nourishment into all parts of the Body Milk also being mixt with Flour does make some of the most healthy and wholsomest Food that can be eaten for all sorts of People and Ages especially Children it being heretofore their almost only Food boiled with some Flour and a little Water without any other Ingredients which then in the Country was called Pap but of late Years in and about the City they call that Pap which is made of Bread and Water which is nothing near so good and since the frequent use of Spanish Fruits and Spices the aforesaid simple wholsom Food has much been laid aside which is one cause why our Children in this Age are so much troubled with Distempers in the Ioynts viz. Rickets and the like hardly known in former times Milk likewise altered and Manufactur'd if I may call it so by the good House-Wives Art and Industry yields many other sorts of good Food as Cheese and Butter and many more innocent as Milk-Pottage which I especially recommend there being such an agreement in the Ingredients viz. Milk Water and Oatmeal being boiled together briskly and not too long as it not only affords a good Nourishment but opens the Passages and is of a cleansing healing Nature and therefore those that do frequently use it do seldom want a good Appetite Cheese is a wholsom healthy Food a great strengthener of the Stomach affording a strong firm Nourishment and such People as eat much Bread and Cheese and do not want good Beer or Ale are generally the strongest of men abler to endure Labour and Travel than those that feed on Flesh there is as much difference between the one and the other as there is between Horses that are fed with Corn and Hay and those that are fed with Grass Most men being mistaken in Nature do believe that Flesh of all other sorts of Food affords the greatest and strongest Nourishment because 't is full of matter and Iuices the very same may be supposed of Grass compared with Hay But the Husbandman will tell you that those Cattel that feed on Grass are weak and faintish in comparison of those that are fed with Hay and Corn for the Grass contains too much gross Moisture which causeth the Nourishment to be unfirm whence doth proceed dull heavy Spirits the Flesh and Fat being soft and greazy which in case of Labour will waste and such Cattel are apt to tire But those that are fed with dry Food whereby the gross Humidity and Phlegm is dryed away or exhaled by the Sun and Elements are strong and lively of great Spirits quick and active little Bellies and clean Limbs The very same is to be understood of the Food of Men and if men could be as well satisfied as to their Minds with eating Bread Cheese Butter flour'd Milk Gruels Pottages Herbs in their Seasons and the like they would find by Experience how wonderfully such things support Nature beyond all the Flesh in the World for most of that matter which People suppose to be Nourishment in Flesh is a gross Iuice which turns to Putrifaction as the gross phlegmy part of Grass does in Cattel Butter does afford a good Nourishment but it ought not to be eaten in too great quantity for then it generates Choler oyls and furs the Passages dulls the edg of Appetite but moderately taken is of good use and healthy especially to such as are accustomed to it Of the Flesh of Oxen and Cows The Flesh of Oxen is to be preferred before that of Cows it being naturally clean and wholsom if such Cattel be free from Diseases and Surfeits it generates a strong firm Nourishment having a greater affinity with mans Nature than with any other and therefore more People love it and will be longer before they are cloy'd therewith than with any one particular sort whatsoever yet it is somewhat hard of Concoction therefore ought to be eaten sparingly except by strong working People it fills the Stomach and for the most part gives better satisfaction than any other It ought not to be eaten until it be well seasoned with Salt or if eaten fresh there ought to be good store of Salt eaten with it and boiled in plenty of Water which will sweeten and cleanse it from its grossness it likewise ought to be salted as soon as 't is throughly cold after 't is killed for the longer the Flesh is kept the harder 't is to take Salt because by keeping the pure spirituous parts evaporate and then the Salt cannot incorporate it self with the Flesh for 't is with the pure Spirits that it delights to joyn it self and thereby preserves them from Evaporation and consequently keeps the Meat sweet and sound and therefore Meat so salted will eat much sweeter and keep longer and generate better Blood and Nourishment and is easier of Concoction If Cattel of any kind receive damage by driving or any kind of Sickness attend them and they be killed before they have time to recover such Injuries all such Flesh is not only unwholsom but it will not take Salt to keep as others will the Reason is this because if
and sink away they leave behind them the Saline or Spiritual Quality that does Muck such Ground as though it had been over-spread with substantial Dung. And indeed the very same is to be understood when a Man dungs his Land it is not altogether the gross substance or matter that enricheth the Land but it is the before mentioned fat Saline Quality which the moisture of the Earth receives and the Rains wash out of the Dung for if you lay a load of Dung in a heap and let it lie a Week two or three and then remove it clean away from that place and spread it thick in another place yet that spot which the Dung lay on two or three Weeks will be more enriched than where the gross substance is spread for the Earth with the help of the Rains and Dews sucked into it self the Salintral Vertue of the Dung Therefore in most Fields where such heaps of Dung do lie for a while before they are spread both the Grass and Corn is not only greener but also much stronger and more in quantity than in other places of the Field 4thly River-Water for the Reasons aforesaid is better for Men and Beasts to drink of than Springs or Pump-Water it boyls all sorts of Herbs Fish and Flesh better and makes better and wholsomer Pottages it brews Beer and Ale to more Advantage both in Quality and Quantity and washes all sorts of Linnen and Woollen with less Pains Charge and Damage to the things This Water seems to be pretty equal in its parts having no manifest Taste but a certain friendly mild sweetness predominates and there is as much difference between the Nature and Operation of River-Water and Pump or Well-Water as there is between Beer and Ale and the Excellency of the latter above the former I shall demonstrate in its proper place Of Spring or Fountain VVater There are various sorts of this Water some Better some Worse according to the Nature of the Earth it passes through If Springs or Fountains proceed from a Chalky Earth or some sorts of hot Sands or run near the surface of the Earth they are thereby endued with a meek soft friendly nature and operation without any manifest harshness but those that run in the deep Bowels of the Earth and through cold hungry stony places are more hard and Saturnine neither so wholsome for Man or Beast to drink nor to be used in Housewifery But though it be thus at the Fountain-Head yet if the same run long afterwards through various soils in the open Air c. it may become very good for all uses as aforesaid And Note Whereas some River-Water will look of a wheyish whitish Colour caused either by its long running without being fed by plenty of Springs or else by Land-floods yet in either case is not the worse to be liked but rather the better for all such Water is of great vertue of a very mild fat opening Quality caused by the saline vertue which People not understanding do often refuse either to drink or use in Housewifery calling it dirty muddy Water whereas the whiter any Waters look the better they are for most uses especially when Land-floods shall be the occasion of it as appears by the Instances of Valleys and Meadows thereby enricht which I mentioned but now Of Pump or Well-Water These likewise are capable of several degrees better or worse according to the nature of the Earth from whence they arise but they are generally of a cold hungry hard Nature nothing so good as the former and such Springs as lie deepest in the Bowels of the Earth are of a lean Saturnine Quality in comparison of that Water which runs near the surface being deprived of that saline nature which irritates Vegetation for most Earths after you come two or three yards deep are of a hard cold hungry Quality and if a quantity of such Earth be exposed to the open Elements and laid two or three foot thick there will hardly any sort of Vegetable grow on it until the Sun and Coelestial Influences have endued it with a Salnitral Vertue and as the Earth is so is the Water viz. of the same nature Cold and Hungry 2. Such Waters want the Coelestial Influences and Air nor have the benefit of Motion or but in a very small degree hence they are more unwholsom than the others before treated of and generally bind the Body and are subject to obstruct Nature neither will they perform the like good Offices in Housewifery Of Ponds or Standing VVaters Such standing-Waters as are in a kind of springy Grounds are the best but still much inferior to running-Waters because they have not the benefit of Motion nor the like advantage of passing through various Soils Such Pools or Waters as are chiefly maintained by Rain or Land floods are better or worse according as the season is wet or dry for in dry seasons they not only become thick and slimy but awaken a gross fulsome Saturnine Quality in the muddy Earth that suffocates the pure thin spirituous parts so that such Waters become of a strong gross Earthy taste and smell which is altogether contrary to the Nature of Water and such Waters are not wholsome for Men nor Beasts Some Husband-men do suppose these Waters to be very good for Cattle to drink having no other reason but that they will rather drink them than others which is no reason at all for this came through Custom and Use which makes any sort of Water familiar to nature and those Cattle that are used to drink Pond-Water will refuse better Water for that for two Reasons 1st Because their Stomachs and Pallates are adulterated and made familiar to it so that they cannot distinguish the evil taste from the good 2dly Because such Pond-Waters are of an hotter warmer Nature than oâ—hers and Cattle used to them will for that very cause refuse others just as men that accustom themselves to warm Beer cannot drink cold without some trouble to the Mouth and Teeth though cold Beer and Ale is warmer in operation and will more cheer the Stomach and make the Spirits more brisk than the hot because no fermented Liquors whether they be Beer Ale Syder or Wine will admit of the heat of fires without violence to the pure spirituous parts they are so volatile that they will presently evaporate therefore warm Beer or Ale will sooner become flat than that which has not been warmed for when the spirituous parts are evaporated or suffocated the sweet brisk Balsamick Vertue dyes But this hot sulpherous Quality in Pond-Water which through custom most Cattle like is of an evil nature and operation because the spirituous vapours of the Air cannot so easily penetrate through its gross thickness whence it dulls the edge of the Appetite and Stomach breeds gross thick Blood often is the occasion of many Diseases and very injurious to the Milk of Cows Besides do not Pools and standing Waters generate various sorts
And especially most burthensom to weak Natures are such Syrups when mixt with improper Ingredients and Liquors as with cold distilled Waters of various Herbs of disagreeing Natures and then to add as most do that which they call Epidemick Water which makes a Cordial sicker than the Patient that takes it I would have any moderate Person consider and judge whether a man in good Health can without great violence to his Stomach and disorder sup off such Cordials and other compounded Slip-slops as the Sick are forced continually to swallow down And if so what a deplorable condition are the Sick in when most of the things both for Food and Physick that are ordered and prescribed by Physicians and Apothecaries are generally nauseats to Nature So that when we would describe a filthy abominable Taste we say it tastes like Physick or like a Medicine 'T is enough in all Conscience to make a well Person Heart-sick to be confined but two or three Weeks to the Circumstances a sick Body is subjected unto by these Men of Method and their Tutor'd Creatures the Nurses For First he must have all his Drink boyled forsooth with a Crust of Bread in it This too he must drink as hot as may be endured and Mistress Nurse for pure Laziness will make at Once as much fulsom slip-slop as will serve a whole Day and Night and so the poor languishing Creature must take it heated again and again Then Gaffer Doctor enjoyns him every two hours a quantity of his sick Cordial and to compleat the Tragedy of his Martyrdom there must be a rouzing Fire in the Room tho' it be at Midsummer the Curtains must be drawn close and a Cloth before the Windows so that there can scarce come the least Breeze of Wind or pure Air into the Room whence the imprisoned Air therein becomes sulpherous and so noxious that such Chambers send forth such strong fulsom Scents and Fumes as will disorder the most healthy if they continue there but a while These are some of the abominable I had almost said Murderous courses the poor sick are confined unto which is much to be pitied and deserves to be remedied And therefore tho' this Discourse may seem a Digression I am confident the Judicious will pardon it 8. Another very improper Mixture is when People eat several sorts of Flesh and Fish at one and the same Meal for these two Creatures are of different Radixes therefore being eaten together make an unwholsom Nourishment in the Body of a contrary Nature to them both especially when the various sorts of Sawces and Ingredients of that kind are intermingled There are some foolish Epicures that stow so many various Kinds and Natures in their Paunches as if they would eat up all the fraight of Noah's Ark at a Mouthful and cannot Dine without as many different Ingredients as an Apothecary puts into the Composition of Mithridate which is said to consist of about Two Hundred But so far were the Wise Antients from this extravagant Gluttony and Uncleanness that such of them as did admit the eating of clean Flesh and Fish would not use the same Vessels is preparing the one as they did with the other but had distinct Kettles and Platters for each to keep them apart 9. There is another sort of Food much eaten by the English and more than by any other Nation viz. Pies which are many times compounded of Ten or Twenty several Ingredients many of them of contrary Natures and Radixes as first there is the finest Wheat-flour the course or branny part which contains the most opening cleansing digestive faculty being unhappily taken away and so curiously separated that the fine Flour thereby becomes of a stopping glutinating or glewing Nature 2dly There is good store of Butter mixt with it And 3dly Flesh and several sorts of Spices and Spanish Fruits and many other things which are all baked together and there they boyl in the deadly sulphurous Airs of the Ovens without the Influences of pure Air and without sufficient Liquor to help the Digestion or cleanse and purifie the grossness of such things but they lie suffocated in their own Juices the Good and Evil all jumbled together whence the whole becomes Naught the Nourishment such Food yields is neither proper nor wholsom for the Inequality of the Ingredients have destroyed all the simple Vertues of each so that there is Confusion and Discord awakened which in the Body irritate their Likenesses and thence Diseases and Disorders follow Therefore the more Wise and well-minded Persons in all Ages whose desire was to know and fear the Lord and assist his Hand-maid Nature have always chose the most simple innocent Meats and Drinks knowing that such had near Affinity to Harmony and had not power to beget or excite any quality or property in Nature but what was like themselves Peaceable and Harmless for the nearer the Equality and Concord any sort of Food or Drink is the greater Power it has to preserve the Body and Mind in the like sweet Temper and Unity which cuts off all Diseases in the Bud and prevents their very Seeds For this cause Water throughout the World in Primitive Times and in most Countries to this very day has been and is esteemed the best Drink for that it gives to such as drink it a full satisfaction whereas all other sorts of Drinks especially those that exceed in any particular quality do leave some desire behind after a man has drank them to drink more though perhaps already he hath exceeded in Quantity the very same is in superfluous Food only men cannot eat so long nor so much as they can Drink because Food is heavy and hard of Concoction and requires time to digest whereas drink is thin and Spirituous and therefore it quickly makes separation and finds many ways to pass away which Food cannot do Therefore over-charged Meals of sumptuous Food do often prove more dangerous to the Health of the Body than a debauch of Drinking tho both are worse than bruitish and very hazardous But on the contrary those that accustom themselves to simple Meats and Drinks do not only highly satisfie and gratifie Nature and preserve themselves in perfect Health which is the reward the Lord has ordained for the Temperate but they cut off all Superfluities the Seminaries of Diseases in the very Bud whereas the Gluttonous and Intemperate are liable to a thousand Snares and Inconveniencies which makes their Bodies unhealthful and unserviceable and beclouds their Minds and Intellectuals so that they can neither know themselves nor their Creator in any other thing as they ought But still there are some sorts of Food that may be properly Compounded as bearing a Simile with each other As 1. Bread Butter and Herbs either Boyled or Raw as also several sorts of Roots 2. Bread and several sorts of Fruits 3. Bread and Milk or Milk and Flour boyled together with some Water and Oat-meal and Milk and Water
of their Blood obstructed which occasions many Infirmities as loss of Appetite stoppages of the Breast and Generation of that universal Disease the Wind which is a mortal Enemy to Children Also this hard binding does often deform the Body and destroy the Proportions of the Limbs and Joynts which are easily forced out of due place in those tender Years which brings a great deal of uneasiness and torture to them and proves of very evil consequence as to Health as many of our fine-Citizens Wives and others may know by woful Experience Indeed these preposterous ways are so contrary and disagreeing to Nature that thereby is destroyed the chief pleasure and delight of young Children but to make them amends for such their hard Usage and Deformities if they happen with difficulty to out-live Childhood their Parents being much concerned at the crookedness and disproportions of their Children which themselves have chiefly occasioned must needs send for the Iron or Steel-Bodice-maker which rarely doth any good but generally the contrary putting Youth to unspeakable Misery to no purpose and this conceited Remedy proves of as dangerous consequence to many as the first Original Evil Therefore these Courses ought to be avoided for they bring many Distempers on the Body which Nature is never able to out-grow especially in weak Constitutions for they infeeble the whole Body cause the Contusion of the Breast lay Foundations for Consumptions and cause many to have pale thin Complexions weak Joynts c. Of Food fit for Children and the contrary Also of Quantity and Quality The best Food for young Children next their Mothers Milk is good Cows Milk raw with some crumbs of Bread in it always observing that it first stand till it be cold after 't is milkt before you give it them For 't is a great Error in Physicians and others to advise consumptive People to drink Milk hot from the Cow for that Heat is of a Windy Quality that swells the Body and sends Fumes into the Head and is harder of concoction than the same Milk is when 't is cold Touching which I desire not that any Body should take my bare Word in opposition to the Learned but it being so easie and familiar a thing let them try and then they shall know by Experience Therefore I say in Summer your Children may eat it Cold but in the Winter you may warm it as hot as your Blood or if you have a desire to alter it the best way is to boyl it adding some Water to it with a little Flour and sometimes Oat-meal but remember that it do not boyl too long nor too thick for that makes it of a grosser Nature and harder of Digestion and breeds thicker Blood which is of ill consequence to Children I know Mistress Nurse will be offended that I talk of giving Children Raw Milk But I must tell her that properly the same ought not to be called Raw because it hath passed through several Digestions and Fermentations even to the highest degree so that it is not inferior to Womens Milk and much better than most of theirs because of their Infirmities and improper Foods and Drinks And Womens Milk may as properly be counted Raw as the Cows to whom I know no Creature comparable for Sweetness Cleanness and Wholsomness their breathing is an excellent Perfume and their very Excrement is little less and yet our good Dames would think it a sad business if they should give their Children unboyled Milk whereas the boyling thereof destroys the wheyey part of it and fixes it and makes it thicker and harder of Concoction but on the contrary Raw Milk as they call it that is unboyled is of a cleansing Quality easie of Digestion carries away downwards all windy matter out of the Stomach and Vessels and causeth it to pass away freely there being no sort of Food or Physick like it so that 't is an excellent Remedy to prevent all Convulsions and griping Pains of the Stomach attending windy Diseases in Children And when Children begin to be capable to eat harder Food then Bread and Butter and Bread and Cheese will be good Food for them provided that the Cheese be not too old nor too stale and strong for such Cheese is very injurious to Children heating the Blood and causing too great a Drought But most Foods that are in use in this wanton superfluous Age are improper for Children one of which is much in use among the richest sort and indeed most People now-a-days feed their Children with it viz. Water-Pap that is Bread and Water supposing that sort of Food to be light of Concoction which is a great mistake for Bread the chief Ingredient therein has already passed through the highest Preparation it is capable of for the first preparation in all sorts of Food does digest and destroy the crude Body of Phlegm and sets the spirituous parts at liberty which by a second Preparation must be destroyed and then such Foods and Drinks become dull and heavy and lie hard upon the Stomach yielding but a bad Nourishment breeding thick gross Blood whence proceed Stoppages and many Infirmities of the Breast and are so contrary to Nature that those that do prepare any sort of Food a second time are forced to add some predominating strong Ingredients that are rich as Sugar Spice and Spanish Fruits to hide the Qualities of the first and grand Ingredients for who could indure to eat Bread and Water boyled together alone or Bread and Ale or Bread and Wine And yet all these in themselves and without any alteration are very pleasant and wholsom Furthermore all fat Flesh is very hurtful to Children for it furs and oyls the Stomach and Passages and in some Children whose retentive and digestive Faculties are weak and the Expulsive strong it quickly slips out of the Stomach into the Bowels and loosens the Belly too violently causing griping Pains especially when Flesh is not good and at some certain seasons of the Year Likewise all kinds of strong Drinks are Abomination unto the Natures of Children it drys and heats them infects the Blood with sharp mangy Humours and Diseases evaporates the pure volatile Spirits c. But of all sorts of Drinks the most fit and proper for Children is Water the next is small Beer that is well brewed All kind of melted Butter and fryed Food be they what they will are hurtful to the Health of all People if not very sparingly taken but more especially to Children for Butter has passed through several Digestions and Fermentations that have opened the gross body and made the spirituous parts flying or volatile and therefore if Butter stand open a little while in the Air it destroys the goodness and pure brisk taste of it but if it be committed to the Fire then the pure Vertue is immediately suffocated or evaporated and then it turns into a gross strong Oyl which is very offensive to Nature but many to prevent its running into Oyl will
but they are never the better satisfied nor eased but rather increase the Pain thereby I am confident abundance of People can witness this to be true from their own Experience and yet will not consider or regard the true Reason or Causes of it For it is a gross Mistake when any shall feel their Stomachs gnaw or gripe in this manner to run presently to the Cupbord and think thereby to cure that defect which for the most part does but increase it and no longer gives ease than the Food or Drink is in the Mouth for this evil habit of the Stomach does not proceed from want of Food or Nourishment but through sharp crude superfluous Matter which dulls and disables the Natural Heat that it cannot perform its due Office of Digestion for where Food is thus too frequently cramm'd in the digestive Faculty has not power to make separation which does as it were suffocate the pure Spirits and then presently the sweet Oyl or Juices of such Food turns either of a keen sowr or bitter Quality according to the disorder or nature of each man's Stomach and Constitution which depraved Juices disperse themselves into several parts of the Body enfeebling the Joynts and Members wounding the Spirits and making room for outward Colds and the like Accidents to take place for Colds do rarely seize any part of the Body provided the Accident be not too extream except first there be some inward defect or weakness as may appear by those that are troubled with stoppages of the Breast whom every petty Accident nay even the alteration of the Air shall sensibly afflict But as Nature abhors all Extreams so on the other side over-long Fasting does help to generate windy Diseases especially in infirm People whose natural Heats are weak and Spirits few for they will soon grow fainty and Fumes and Vapors will be apt to fly up into their Heads and when they come to eat a small matter makes them sick for too long fasting does spend and evaporate the Spirits and waste the Radical Moisture and hurt the digestive Faculty so that after eating and drinking the Senses seem to be stupified and the whole Body sleepy and indisposed and besides after such long Fasting People are apt to strain Nature by taking more Meat and Drink than she can bear Therefore a Mean is safest in all things for if any refrain from Food too long the Action of the Stomach is so vigorous and its attractive Faculty so powerful that it preys on the natural Spirits and radical Moisture so that you shall then find a very imperfect Appetite whence comes that common Saying I have out-fasted my self or My Stomach is gone For the strength and perfection of the Palate and Stomach consists in the strength and vigor of the Spirits and radical Moisture therefore both superfluous eating and drinking and also immoderate fasting do generate Diseases and cause Indispositions both in the Body and Mind Therefore it is not so commendable nor so healthy to make but one Meal in twenty four hours as to make two moderate Meals in that space for otherwise there is apt to be too great an Emptiness and too eager an Hunger which makes People give themselves such a freedom of eating as thereby the Vessels aâ—e stretched by the great quantities of Food which makes such have great Bellies and prove fat and gross But though they will eat but once a day yet many of them that are able to come by it do give themselves the liberty of drinking lusty Evening-draughts which do so stupifie the Senses and heat the Blood and furr the Passages so that it is no wonder that they are not prepared for a Breakfast In a word there is nothing so safe nothing so pleafant as Temperance and to observe proper times and feasons for eating and drinking and keeping within the bounds of what is necessary both in quantity and quality And this we must aver That as the world goes few there are that hurt their Health with Fasting in comparison of those Multitudes that destroy themselves by Superfluities nor is it so dangerous a consequence if any competent care be taken It is also to be observed That all kinds of Food ill prepared is hurtful and apt to forward those Windy Distempers for any Food that is too much or too little drest or under or over-prepared is prejudicial to the Health but over-prepared is the more hurtful of the two unless where it is very much too little done for over-preparation be it of what you will does in a great measure destroy the brisk lively Spirits which renders such Food of a heavy dull gross Nature and Operation so that it cannot administer such proper Nourishment nor can the natural heat of the Stomach draw such pure Spirits from it as otherwise it would yield for it cannot give what it has not 'T is therefore a great Error as to Health to overprepare Food as the custom of some is viz. to boil Flesh so long till 't is ready to fall to pieces which many do because the Broth should draw forth all the strength and vertue also they boil it in but small quantity of Water with the Pot or Vessel covered by which means the Broth loseth its proper and natural Complexion and becomes of a dull reddish Colour mixt with black which is very pernicious both to those that are in health and such as are already sickly but especially for weak consumptive people whom Physicians generally order to eat of such Pottages for their natural Heats being weak and Spirits low these unnatural Preparations gross Foods do further the growth of their Distempers for all such Pottages have lost their pure spirituous parts and volatile vertues in the preparation and are loathsom to Nature especially to weak people because by the small quantity of Water long boiling and the grosness of such Flesh the lively Vertues and Tiuctures are destroyed and therefore such Goods lose their natural Colour and fragrant Sent and become strong and fulsome for no preparation ought to be continued any longer than the crude body be opened and the gross matter digested for if it be continued longer then the pure spirituous parts will evaporate The Intention of kinds of Preparation is to digest the phlegmatick gross Parts that thereby the spiritual Vertues may he set at liberty but then if the Preparation be continued your Fire will serve you as the Celestial Fire viz. the Sun and Elements do the Husband-man when he makes his Hay or the Malster his Malt for first the Sun exhales the gross Body and phlegmatick Parts of the Grass or Herbs and sets the Spirit at liberty which perfumes the whole Field with most delectable Odors but if this Hay be continued too long in the Sun and open Air its spirituous Quality will also be exhaled and then it will become like Salt that hath lost its savour good for little but the Dunghil The very same is to be
understood in all Preparations of Food for it hath rarely been known that any such gross over prepared Broths ever did any good to such consumptive People but rather the contrary for all Flesh ought to be boiled in plenty of good Water and River-Water is best and quickly done even to a point and the Broth ought to be thin with a brisk pleasant smell and taste and the Flesh of a whitish colour such Broths if well prepared and the Flesh be good will perfume the whole Room where they are The very same is to be understood in all other boiled Foods as Herbs Roots or Grains be they of what sort they will being thus naturally ordered they will in their kind be brisk and acceptable to the Stomach easie of Concoction and breed good Blood and pure Spirits but the common Food and ways of Preparation which most prescribe for sick or weakly People are so fulsome and strong that the frequent eating of them is enough to make well-people sick it being no unusual thing for Physicians and others to order such Food for weak or sickly People as they themselves or any others that are in perfect Health cannot endure to eat or drink so that the Change is much for the worse which is much to be pitied That Ignorance and Blindness should so possess Peoples Hearts This I speak and write from that Understanding which the Lord of all things hath given me in discharge of my Duty to my Brethren and Fellow-Creatures Of Fatness Fatness is very comely in Men and Women when it doth not exceed the Medium nor proceed from Idleness and Intemperance in Meats Drinks or Exercises Some Men are from their natural Constitutions more apt to be Fat than others especially those in whom the sweet Quality is strong such as are the Sanguine-Flegmatick Sanguine-Cholerick Sanguine-Melancholy and who are of pleasant merry Dispositions much inclined to Delights but not so much to Action as those that have the astringent or bitter Qualities predominant nor are their Spirits so vigorous or natural Heats so sharp and therefore their Meats and Drinks make more Humors because the Action of the Stomach is not so strong neither is its attractive Faculty so powerful so that a smaller quantity of Food does sustain them than does others But as these sort of People are apt to increase in Flesh and Fatness so also do their Inclinations increase to Drink which seems more grateful to them than others because their Heats are not so strong to concoct Food as other men's are hut Drink being of an easie concoction and of a pleasant chearing Quality which such People delight in having a Simile with their Natures they take more delight in drinking than in eating especially after they are arrived to a mature Age and also they are very inclinable to Laughter and Merriment by reason of the abundance of sweet Oyl in their Constitution But fat People do much differ some are more lively strong active and long-liv'd than others for where the Phlegmatick Property of Nature is strong and joyned in the Government with the Sanguine or Sweet Quality they are apt to grow very fat and corpulent being slow of motion and of dull heavy disposition inclined to an easie soft Life and to drink much their Fires and natural Heats being but weak there is not a perfect Concoction made of the Food and Drinks but every thing tends to generate abundance of gross Phlegmatick Iuices which swell all the Body and Members thereof If the bitter Quality be powerful and share in Dominion with the Sanguine it makes Persons merry and brisk but not so cumbersomly Fat and Phlegmy as the former because here the Natural Heats are stronger consequently they have greater Stomachs better Appetites and are given more to Action esteemed good jolly Companions many of them will speak well and boldly they are of strong Constitutions but great Drinkers which oft-times wounds their Health When the Astringent Quality is Co-partner with the Sweet it gives People full-bodied and fleshy but not fat of healthy Constitutions but not so pleasant-humour'd or merry as the former Many of this sort are both great Drinkers and Eaters too being inclined to Intemperances But if Temperance Cleanness and proper Exercises were observed with due Food and Drinks there would be but very few People over-fat let them be of what Constitution or Complexion they will it being an easie Matter in the beginning to prevent it but after Persons are grown very fat it is more difficult to contract Nature and the Vessels yet it may well be done but not without some Trouble The best way to prevent Fatness in the beginning and also to abate it are 1. Instead of Morning-Draughts of strong Drink to drink or eat a Pint or more of thin brisk Water-Grewel light-boiled or such as some call half-boyl'd with only a little Butter Bread and Salt but not too much Butter and then to walk or use some proper Exercise for several hours 2. Be sure let your Dinner be moderate not to gratifie the pleasure of the Palate 3. Such People ought not to drink between Meals 4. Then at Night return again to your Water-Grewel 5. Instead of your strong Drink and Wine let your Drink at Meals be no stronger than Nine Shillings Beer 6. They ought to exercise themselves in the open cold Air which will wonderfully sharpen the Appetite and strengthen the Stomach and extend the Passages thereof which in most fat People are too narrow for through the abundance of gross Phlegm they are apt to be furr'd and stopp'd Therefore fat People cannot eat such Quantities as lean will do They are also more short-breath'd and sooner sweat and are tired for where there is such superfluity of Flesh the Spirit becomes weak and more impure beside so much Flesh is of it self heavy and burthensome For all which Inconveniencies overmuch Fatness is to be avoided as much as in one lies which is best and indeed can only be done by these Rules of Temperance just now recited Suppose a Man were to seek for Fat Men and Women would he go into Country Villages and poor small Towns among Plough-men and Shepherds Scoggin sought more wisely when he look'd for an Hare on the top o' th house No no such a Man's Errand would lie in great Cities and Market-Towns where there is store of strong Liquors and Idleness This all fat People ought to consider and not to excuse themselves as many of them do by saying 'T is all one we may eat drink and do what we will we shall be fat and such like silly Tattle having no more understanding of themselves or the Nature of things than Swine have who are bathing themselves in the Mire and eating themselves fat in the Sty CHAP. XIV Of Flesh and its operation on the Body and Mind That the common eating thereof does awaken the wrathful Nature in Mankind c. THough we have before in several places of this
at first it will send forth a strong fulsome musty Steam or Fume And if this will do so what will Feathers do that in the Boot of Nature are unclean fulsom Excrements of a hot strong Quality Therefore they have the greater power not only to attract and suck into themselves the fulsom Excrements that are breathed forth of the Body by Sweatings and the like but they have also power to retain such evil Vapours and when others come to lye on them and are throughly hot it awakens those pernicious Steams which often bring many Inconveniencies on the Body Besides it is very unpleasant to lye in such Beds a Man must always be forced to keep his Nose above-board Indeed each Mans own Bed does not stink or smell strong to himself because he is accustomed to it neither does a Tallow-Chandler smell those horrible Scents and pernicious Fumes that old Tallow sends forth when it is melted But let any other Person that is not accustomed to it be near such things and it will be very offensive to him Even so it is in all other stinking Trades and things of this nature so that the greatest Slut in the World does hardly smell her own House or Bed stink For in Man is contained the true Nature and Property of all things both of Good and Evil therefore he is both liable and also apt to receive all Impressions and to be wrought on by all things he shall either communicate with or joyn himself to whether it be Cleanness or the contrary Also by Meats Drinks and Communication all things have power by a Sympathetical Operation to work on Man because he is like unto all bearing a proportionable Nature unto all things If People did understand this they would prefer Sobriety and Temperance with Cleanness far beyond what they do and then Men would not be subject to so many Diseases as now they are 9. Heat and Moisture is the Root of all Putrefaction and therefore Bugs are bred in Summer but they live all the Winter tho they are not then so troublesome They harbour in Bedsteads Holes and Hangings Nitting and breeding as Lice do in Cloaths But all Men know that Woollen and Linnen are not the Element of Lice but they are bred from the fulsome Scents and Excrements that are breathed forth from the Body The very same Radix have Bugs and if there be any difference they are from a higher Putrefaction and therefore they are a more noisome stinking Creature Several Receipts to destroy Bugs and Fleas TAke a convenient quantity of unslaked Lime and put it into some Water and let it stand three or four days then pour off your Water and add to it a quantity of common Salt more or less as you think good but the stronger the Water is made both of Lime and Salt the better it will perform the Cure then take this Liquor and wash the Floor and the Sides of the Wall and the Bedstead very well two or three times a Week for a Month or two together not forgetting to give your Room as much Air as you can by setting your Windows open most part of the day this Liquor will destroy both Bugs and Fleas if other Circumstances of good Housewifery and Cleanness be observed Another Take Colliquinto Seeds a sufficient quantity to make Water strong boyl them one quarter of an hour in Water and wash the Walls Floot and Bedstead with this Water two or three times in a Week in the hottest Season for a Month or as you see occasion This will also prevent the breeding both of Bugs and Fleas But do not forget to let into your Rooms your Friend the Air. Another Take Wormwood in its proper Season dry it according to our Directions and slip it from the stalks and put it into White Paper Bags made flat and prick Holes in them to let the Fumes out and put some of these Bags between your Bed and the Sacking Mats or Boards and some of them under your Boulster and also under your Bed on the Floor and some of the same Wormwood loose on the Tester of your Bed The Fumes and Scents of this Herb doth not only prevent the Generation of all kinds of Vermin but it makes the Air of such Rooms where it lies wholsome Another Take Wormwood and Rue a good quantity boyl them a quarter of an hour in Water then take common Salt and add to this Water what quantity you please the stronger the better then wash the Sides of the Wall Floor and Bedstead with this Water two or three times a Week and it will kill both Bugs and Fleas Another Take the Rinds or Outsides of Green Wall-nuts bruise them and steep them in Water three or four days and wash your Rooms and Bedstead with it two or three times a Week and it will work the same effect Another Take Wormwood and Mustard-Seed bruised boyl them in Water a quarter of an hour then add Salt to the Water and wash the Wall Floor and Bedstead with it which will prevent the Generation of all kinds of Vermin if the sweet Influences of the Sun and Air be not prevented Another Take the Lees of Sope after you have done washing and boyl Onions in it then add a little Salt to it and wash your Room and Bedstead with it Another Take strong Vinegar and mix some Salt to it and sprinkle your Room this doth not only prevent and kill Bugs and Fleas but it is otherways wholsome A Fume Take Brimstone and burn it on a Chafing-dish of Coles in the middle of your Room but remember to shut your Windows this do two or three times a Week or as often as you please the oftner you do it the sooner will the Cure be performed Another Take three or four Ounces of Genny-Pepper more or less burn it on a Chafing-dish of Coles in the middle of your Chamber shut your Windows and Doors and go out or else it will serve you as it will the Bugs and Fleas If you do thus two or three times a Week for a Month or two in the hot Seasons it will destroy all kind of Vermin in the bud Another To conclude There is nothing better to prevent the Generation of Bugs and Fleas and to keep your Bed sweet than every Morning when you rise to set open your Windows and lay open your Bed-cloths and so let it continue four or five hours in which time the excrementitious Fumes and gross humid Steems which the Body breathed forth in the foregoing Night will Evaporate by the help of the Air this is a very good way to keep the Bed sweet and to prevent the breeding of Vermin it being impossible for any to keep their Bed sweet if they do not more or less observe this Rule CHAP. XVIII A short Discourse of the Pain in the Teeth shewing from what Cause it does chiefly proceed and how to prevent it THe terrible Pains and Diseases of the Teeth do chiefly