Vinegar and Water put into the Milk instead of Beer or Ale Or else this which is most excellent without heating of the body or hurting of the purse Take Crabs eyes one ounce burnt Harts-horn half an ounce the black tops of Crabs claws an ounce and a half make them all into a powder and take of it one dram or two drams in a glass of posset-drink when you go to bed and drink another draught of posset-drink after to wash it down Or else you may drink a draught of Oxymel Posset-drink made as followeth Boil a quarter of a pint of English Honey with a quart of water and skum it then put to it one pint of vinegar and let it boil nine or ten walmes then let it cool and boil a quart of Milk and turn it with a sufficient quantity of the Oxymel and put away the curd and drink the posset-drink when you go to bed Or else take a dose or quantity of the Antipestilential Vinegar of which hereafter Of Observation of Diet. Although you defend your self never so safely from the evil air and retain your Blood as the treasure and maintain your Spirits as the guard of your life though you purge out vicious humors and sweat out bad vapours yet if you by any neglect disorder excess or defect do recruit those humors corrupt your blood or spend your spirits it will be to no more purpose than if you had washt your cloths never so clean and yet afterwards should tumble them in the dirt or trample them in the mire By Observation of Diet Physicians understand the well ordering of a mans self in those six things which they call Non-Natures the Air Sleep and Watching the Passions of the Mind Labour and Rest Repletion and Evacuation Meat and Drink which some have called the six strings of Apollo's Harp wherein consists the harmony of health If these be in tune the body is sound but if any of these be skrewed up too high by any excess or slackened too low by any defect or intemperately used then is the body put out of tune and made subject to diseases 1. For the Air let it not be too cold nor too hot and choose rather to wear by day and to be covered at night with too many cloths than too few and let your apparel be rather stuff then cloth which will soonest catch and longest hold Infection but take heed of too great heat Mercurialis tells of many Smiths and Glass-men that died in the Plague at Venice who by the heat of fire had made their bodies too open and apt to receive Infection 2. As for Sleep let it be moderate and take heed of too much watching 3. Let your Passions be calm'd and your mind serene and as much as possible refrain Anger and banish Fear 4. Let your Exercise be moderate and forbear over-heating your body whereby you will be necessitated to draw in more air and it hath been observed that many hard Labourers have not onely been infected but died of the Plague 5. For Repletion and Evacuation take heed of Excess and keep your body neither too loose nor costive Look upon Venus to be as great a friend to the Plague as Mars or Saturn and the Venereal Marks and Swellings no preservative against the Spots and Botches of the Pestilence It is no lesse unfortunate and wretched than devillish and wicked advice for any to get the Pox to avoid the Plague for Experience which is the Mistriss of Fools hath taught some that have no care of their souls that it is as dangerous for the body to go into some other Houses as into a Pest-House Lastly For Meat and Drink you are to have respect not onely to the Quality that it be good and wholesome and take heed of surfetting on any Summer fruit but also to the Quantity of what you take As the body is not to be weakened nor the Spirits spent with Fasting so is it not to be overcharged with Surfetting They that will eat till they can feel the meat with their fingers and drink till they can paddle with the liquor in their throats and be ready to shed it out of their mouths are in the way of cutting their throat with their tongue and digging their grave with their teeth Mercurialis saith of his own knowledge They are much deceiv'd who think to preserve themselves by eating and drinking and tells of many great drinkers both at Padua and at Venice that died of the Plague from which they thought to preserve themselves by drinking Wine It was the Saying of a Politician that Maxima pars frugalitatis est bene domatus venter so it may be the Aphorisme of a Physitian Maxima pars sanitatis est bene domatus venter As he that loveth pleasure will not be quickly rich so he that is given to excess will not be long well Temperance and Abstinence as they are not onely remedies against most diseases as Lessius treats at large in his Spare Diet and Cornaro made experiment by a little and very wholesom food so are they also a great corrector of any inconvenience that comes by evil nourishment When the impregnable City of Carlile under the government of the most invincible and resolute Governour Sir Thomas Glenham in the late Wars was besieged by an Army of Warlike English and hardy Scots there was great scarcity of Provision the besieged did eat all the Dogs and Cats never Roast-beef was sold so dear as Horse-flesh of which when Horses were kill'd and sold in the Market no Family for their money might have above their allowance the best provision that an Officers wife could procure whil'st she lay in Child-bed was a young Colt the Souldiers were allowed but two meals a week and that was a quantity of beans and the water they were boil'd in and yet so couragious as to say Give us but a Bean a Day and we will keep the Town Though the City was full of Inhabitants and Garrison Souldiers and many of the Loyal Gentry and divers Valiant Knights and delicate and tender Ladies came to live there to defend and be defended in the place yet during all that Siege of above forty weeks as I have been credibly inform'd there was not one person sick or died except one Woman who surfeited upon Bread made of Hemp-seed And if you would know what an excellent Antidote Temperance doth furnish you with against the Plague Histories will tell you that in the most grievous Plague at Athens described by Thucidydes Socrates the Phylosopher lived free and not infected To conclude sleep when you are drowsie rest when you are weary drink when you are dry and eat when you are hungry and mixe with your Diet something that is cordial as Vinegar and Nutmeg where it is agreeable and rise from the Table with an appetite Of Issues Seeing it may easily come to pass that in unhealthy times notwithstanding the most exact Observation of Diet some bad humours
perswade them to the submitting thereto and have not in my Practise been unfortunate therein but have seen Diseases that have been exasperated by other Medicines beyond expectation cured thereby and do think it most commonly so excellent a remedy that many Patients admitting thereof would much shorten the time and lessen the cost and trouble of their Sickness and not stand-in need of one quarter of those Medicines and Antidotes those Preparatives and Corroboratives those Infusions and Decoctions those Pills and Potions Purges and Vomits Cordials and Bolus Juleps and Emulsions Extracts and Juices Waters and Spirits Salts and Oils Syrups and Conserves Electuaries and Powders Plaisters and Ointments Blisters and Glisters they are made to take and though there be many Medicines that will purge Flegme Choler and Melancholy yet none are yet known that will safely purge bloud or lessen it yet I cannot in this case of Preservation from the Pestilence advise any one to open a Vein but rather disswade them from it And because it may take better from another of more authority than my self I have gotten Iacob Sylvius in his Book of the Blague to deliver his opinion in plain English As for Blood-letting saith he it is no way profitable for the preventing of this Disease because the bloud being diminished the body is made more open and lyable to external injuries and the strength decayes by the loss of blood the food and treasure of life Of the same mind also is the most excellent Physitian Sennertus who though in the cure of most other Diseases he begins with Phlebotomy yet in this forbids it and the most learned Riverius is of opinion that bleeding causeth one to be infected the more easily as also to escape the more hardly it being in this venemous Disease as in those that have taken poyson who by bleeding draw the poyson inward and very difficulty are recovered and therefore upon the very suspition of being poyson'd most skilful Physitians abstain from letting blood Nevertheless they conclude that if there be any notable fulness of blood or necessary evacuation suppressed a vein may be opened upon 〈◊〉 account and then very sparingly but not in reference to the Pestilence And as to the present time of the year Galen forbids to let bloud in a hot and dry season of the Air. Of Purging and Vomiting Although as Hyppocrates saith in his Aphorismes That Those which are of sound and perfect health do quickly faint and grievously endure a purging 〈…〉 nor superfluous humor to draw out and work upon doth first dissipate the Spirits and then dissolves those parts of the body which are humid and moist and afterwards corrupts those which are solid and although as Crato saith there be no purging or vomiting Medicines which are primarily and directly opposite to the venom of the Plague yet because foul bodies are more subject to Infection than those which are pure and clean and the humours they abound with may disturb Nature and interpose themselves and take off and dull the Operation of any Cordials or Antidotes and being agitated by the Disease might flow and settle to some noble part and bring the party into a most grievous Fever Frenzy or some other Inflamation whereby he may be endangered as much as by the Plague There have been several purging medicines directed by Physitians and I shall prescribe these The Pills of Ruffus otherwise called the Common or Pestilential Pills are very excellent you may take of them once or twice a week when you go to bed the dose of them is half a dram for an ordinary constitution or a whole dram for a strong man You may have them at any Apothecaries or else make such like yourself Take fine Aloes two ounces fine Myrrhe one ounce English Saffron half an ounce make them into powder and with Venice Turpentine make them into pills and take half a dram or a whole dram as aforesaid The Aloes clears the Stomach from bad humors and the belly from worms the Myrrhe preserves the body from Putrefaction the Saffron cheers the Spirits and the Turpentine is good against the Pestilence Or else take this Dissolve an ounce and a half of Manna in six ounces or a little draught of spring water and one spoonful of vinegar warmed together on the fire then strain it and take an ounce of Venice Turpentine and put to it the yolke of a new laid egge and stir it about and mixe it and it will look like cream then by little and little put to it the liquor being first quite cold wherein the Manna was dissolved and stir it about and drink it up and keep warm ordering your self as is usual in other purges or vomits when it works upwards you may take posset drink and downwards broth If it had a pleasant taste those that know the vertue of it would never take any other medicine It is strong enough for any of the strongest constitution and for those that are weaker six drams or half an ounce of Turpentine is dose enough Women with child may use this Infuse a dram of Rubarb slieed six hours in six ounces or a little draught of Endive or Succory-water or Spring-water then strain it and put to the liquor one ounce or else two ounces of Manna and dissolve it over the fire and strain it and drink it up Children may take an ounce or two ounces or half an ounce of Manna dissolved in Succory of Endive-water or in Spring-water or Barly-water or Broth or Posset-drink But beware of strong purges and vomits which will sooner bring the Plague upon you than preserve you against it especially at this time when it is more probable that the Sickness is occasioned by the Corruption of the air than by the putrefaction of humors there having been no scarcity of provision whereby the poorer sort might have been necessitated to feed on unwholsome diet and therefore no necessity of taking any purging Physick I remember about four years since many were sick of a malignant Fever and the discontented party did attribute the cause to the keeping of Lent and eating of Fish what would they have said now if Lent had been strictly observed Of Sweating As purging vomiting and bleeding do draw in the humors and vapours from the circumference and outside of the body to the center and inside of the heart so medicines that cause Sweat expel them from the heart to the outside of the body and rarifie those humours into light and thin vapours which turn into a watery sweat as soon as they come out of the skin into the air and thereby drive out those humors and vapours which breed the Pestilence For which purpose it would not be inconvenient to take one or two drams of London or Venice-Treacle or of Mithridate or Diascordium or Confection of Iacynth according to the age or strength of the party or one dram of Electuary de Ov◠in White-wine Vinegar or a draught of Posset-drink made of
noisom smell which spreads it self over all the room Now in this case you must be as careful as you can to avoid the parties breath and some Physitians advise to put a piece of hot bread before his mouth to receive the Infection and afterwards be sure to burn it Some counsel to put a pail or two of hot water in the Chamber Some also put in a handful of green Copperas in the water and afterwards throw in three or four hot burning bricks But in the mean time you must be sure to take Antidotes Vinegar either simple or compound as you were before directed against the infectious Air. Also for your preservation this Antidote is very excellent Take Diascordium two ounces Venice Treacle three drams Confection of Iacynth two drams Nutmeg Seeds of Rew Root of Angelica Zedoary and Elicampane of each two drams powdered Vinegar two ounces Oil of Sulphur twenty four drops Syrup of the Juice of Citron or Gilly-flowers enough to make it into a moist Electury and very often or six or eight times a day take of it as much as a pease and let it dissolve in your mouth and swallow it down Or else use the tincture of Roses hereafter mentioned Or if you are hot and drie and have a desire to drink you may take as much Conduit or Spring-water as you please and drop into it as many drops of Oyl of Sulphur or Oyl of Vitriol or Spirit of Vitriol as will make it as sharp as you desire to drink it and the sharper it is the better then sweeten it with Sugar and drink it up You will find the excellent vertues of Vitriol in the directions how to make Tincture of Roses If sometimes you cannot be without strong waters you may drink Aqua Petasitis Composita or Angelica or Imperial-water or Aqua Mirabilis or Treacle-water at the Apothecaries or some of that water that goes by the Name of the Lady Allens Water If you must needs have Wine you may put to a quart of Wine a dram of Angelica root or of Contrayerva root or Virginia Snakeweed and one Nutmeg bruised You may sometimes eat this breakfast sprinkle Vinegar on toasted bread then spread it with butter and put on it the powder of a Nutmeg and eat it fasting Or else this Toast a Nutmeg till it sweat then powder it and put to it as much salt as you would eat with one bit of meat and mixe it with two spoonfulls of Vinegar and eat it Or else this Take twenty leaves of Rew one grain of Salt two Figgs and two Walnuts eat these sometimes in a morning fasting Wallnuts have a strange vertue against the Plague and Worms and Droetus tells of one that was executed for spreading of the Plague that confest he took nothing to preserve himself but a Wallnut roasted and a little burnt Women with-child may eat Angelica stalks candied or Citron peel candied or preserved or drink a little Zedoary and Nutmeg with Sugar in a Glasse of Wine Beer or Ale If there be any infants that can take nothing wash their bodies all over with Vinegar at Night when they go to Bed once or twice a week you may do so to elder children and use it your self If you have neglected to make an Issue you must lay one or two blistering plaisters broader than a five shilling piece to the in-side of one of your arms between the Elbow and Shoulder and when it hath raised a great Blister which will be in about twelve hours you may take it off and lay on the place some Melilot plaister or else a Plantain or Colewort Leaf and change it twice a day and when that Blister is heal'd begin to make another in the other arm or thigh and keep one sore all the while you fear the Infection You may have plaisters at the Apothecaries or else make one your self thus Take six Spanish Flies shread them very small and mixe them with a little Mustard and Wheat Flowre or Dough or Leaven moistened with a little Vinegar spread it on leather and apply it Let care be taken how Bread is brought home from the Bakers because it will draw to it any infection and therefore you may do well to cover it with a cloth and put on that cloth another wet in Vinegar Be careful that your victuals stand not neer the infected and if you want room cover it with a cloth wet in Vinegar Again remember what I told you of Socrates to be very spare and moderate in your Diet discreet Abstinence is as good a Medicine as can be bought at the Apothecaries Of Preservation from the Plague when it may be caused by Fear and Imagination The learned Galenists in the method of their Cure teach that Diseases are to be help'd by contraries Drowth is cured by Moisture Heat with Coolers Consumptions with Restoratives Poysons with Antidotes so Fear must be cured by its contrary Hope The Industrious Chymists in their undertakings observe some resemblance and agreement between the Agent and Patient the Disease and the Remedy Aqua Fortis will melt Silver but not Brimstone Myrrhe and Frankincense will not dissolve in water so will Gum Dragon and Arabick because they are of a watery Nature Sulphureous Diseases must be removed with Sulphur Medicines Salt Diseases dissolv'd with Salts Mercurial Maladies with Mercurial Remedies Tartareous pains eas'd with Tartar and the Stone is best cured with Stones such as are Lapis Lincis Spongiae Iudaicus c. so Imagination must be cured with Imagination one Fancy by another and Conceit is the best Receit for an Opinion Thus Trallianus tells of one that imagined he had a Snake in his Belly who was cured by conveying a Snake into the Bason when his vomit wrought Another thought he had Sparrows in his Head and was cur'd by one that brought some in his sleeve who fumbling about his Ears made him believe he took them out from thence One fancied that he had so big a Nose that he could not go abroad for fear of peoples treading on it in the Streets and was cured by a Physitian who coming to the Chamber Door seem'd to be stopt for making further entrance and being askt why he came not in desired the Patient to put aside his Nose that he might get by it without treading on it the Patient did so with his hand the Doctor gravely enters by the wall and seem'd very careful of his staffe and steps the Patient is well pleased at the Doctors plain dealing with him in acknowledging he had that Disease which his Friends and Family did deny and said He was sure he was the man that of all others must do the Cure and desires his help The Doctor scarifies his Nose and let 's run upon and from it a great quantity of bloud that he had brought with him enclosed in an empty gut and clapt a plaister to it and in a few dayes he grew well Imagination directs and moves the spirits and
for use Or else Take Tormentil and Celendine of each four ounces Scabius and Rew of each two handfuls Boil them in two quarts of White-wine Vinegar in an earthen glased vessel for a quarter of an hour and let it cool and bottle it up Note that the most compounded are the best Now take any of these Vinegars or else if you can get no other plain White-wine Vinegar twelve spoonfuls more or less but as much as you can well drink down and mixe with it two drams of London Treacle or Venice Treacle or Mithridate or Diascordium or Confection of Iacynth stir it about and drink it up and go to Bed and sweat Two drams of any of these is a sufficient ordinary dose or quantity for an ordinary person to take at once they that are stronger than ordinary may take more those that are weaker may take lesse If you cast or vomit it up take presently within a quarter of an hour another dose or quantity and if you cast or vomit up that also take another and less quantity for it may well be that your stomach being loaden with corrupt humors being a little assisted with the Medicine may rise up and strive to exclude them and that with fortunate success and hopes of future and more speedy recovery Remember that the saving of your life consists in sweating out the poyson of the Disease and therefore you must endeavour to sweat as long as possibly you can endure it whether it be three six or twelve hours the longer the better and avoid sleeping and let the sweat be wiped off with hot cloths All the time you sweat and afterwards you may sustain Nature and keep up your spirits by eating some preserv'd or candied Citron peel or candied Angelica stalks or preserv'd Raspices or Syrup of Citron or Clove-Gilly-flowers now and then drinking a spoonful or more of Vinegar or taking some posset-drink made with Vinegar you may afterwards eat some Harts-horn Gelly or drink some Almond Milk made with distill'd waters or Barley-water putting into it a few drops of Oyl of Vitriol to make it sharp Remember also that you drink not any liquor whatsoever unless you first make water though never so little and then you may drink without danger During the time of Sweating the Sick should be comforted with sweet perfumes and odors that refresh the spirits and some rose-Rose-water and Vinegar is convenient to be cast on a hot shovel or else sprinkled on a Napkin and laid neer his Nose Also whilest the Sick doth sweat it would be good to apply to the Navel a hot Loaf with a hole made in it and two drams of Treacle put therein that the bread may draw the venome Some apply to the heart the pith of a Manchet dipt in Vinegar and some apply onely a cloth dipt in Vinegar Some bruise radishes and lay them to the feet When you have done Sweating if you can be perswaded you are to forbear the changing of your Linnen but if you must needs change it as you tender and regard your life put on no fresh linnen though never so well dried and aired by the fire but put on some linnen that hath been worn by your self or some body else for if you put on fresh linnen whether it be by reason of the sope that hath some malignity in it or for some other cause it hath been often observed that the Sick have relaps'd into great anxiety and bad symptomes the forerunners of Death have quickly return'd upon them Some do highly commends this Take of Bezar-stone and Emerald powdered of each seven grains Iacynth powdered three grains It is best to put them in a spoonful of Vinegar and swallow it down and drink some more Vinegar after it Sennertus commends this Take Bezar-stone twelve grains the bone of a Staggs heart one scruple Emerald and Iacynth of each seven grains powder them very small and take them with Vinegar But because true Bezar-stone is hard to be gotten and there be those in the World that have done as great matters as counterfeit them that you cannot know the true from the false and because the fragments of those precious stones which be commonly sold are but the spare and crust of them I would be loath to venture my life on their operation neither do I perswade others to relie upon them The root of Virginia Snakeweed and Contrayerva are most excellent and you may take the weight of half a dram of each of them in powder or a dram of any one of them in powder in a spoonful of Vinegar drinking a draught of Vinegar after it For young children that can take nothing let them be wrapped in a cloth that hath been used before and dipped in Vinegar and put the child in the cloth so wet and let him sweat Elder persons may sweat the same way also being wrapped in a sheet dipt in Vinegar In the Works of several Physitians there is often mention of taking Vinegar as it were by the By in a small inconsiderable quantity not for its own sake but with other Medicines as if it were onely a thing to help them down the better and make them pallatable they will tell you that Vinegar is good with Cucumbers and gives a pleasing relish to a Sallet whereas in truth neither one nor the other are good but onely with Vinegar It is a thing which is not onely wholesome in it self but also makes other things wholsome and takes away their hurtfulnesse When you speak of this singular liquor away with cold commendations which argue rather a willingness to dispraise than a readiness to commend If it did whet ones wit as much as sharpen ones stomach there could nothing dull or flat be spoken of it It is Food and Physick Meat and Medicine Drink and Julep Cordial and Antidote Did you formerly taste it but as a common Sawce do you now eat it as a common Remedy When you are well 't is a Preservative from Sicknesse when you are sick 't is a Restorative to Health 'T is like Apparel which you put on not onely for comeliness to hide shame but also for warmth to keep out cold 'T is like the Swords which Gallants wear not onely for Ornament when they walk but also for defence to fright a Thief when they travail and slay an Enemy when they fight 'T is Relish for Sawce 't is Sawce for Meat 't is Medicine for Diseases 't is cordial for the heart not onely a Cordial for the Spirits but an Antidote against Poyson not onely an Antidote against Poyson but against the Plague the chief of poysons so Vinegar is the chief of Antidotes as the Sword is the King of Weapons If you look upon the Plague as caused by the Corruption of the Air you may take notice that the Air which deadeneth and sowreth other liquors doth not hurt Vinegar but rather exalt its vertue 'T is something to preserve it self but that 's not all its vertue
a friend intreated him If he was innocent that he would free him for his own sake but if he was guilty that he would yet free him for his sake but however he must free him If Vinegar be simple and uncompounded take it for its own 〈◊〉 mixed with other Antidotes take it for 〈◊〉 but however take Vinegar Pliny finds fault with Physitians 〈◊〉 his time for not knowing its excellent vertue Vinegar being contrary to most other liquors in distillation may well have something more than ordinary in operation The Spirits of Wine and Beer and other liquors presently exhale and flie away and have nothing but flegme but when Vinegar is distill'd the flegme rises first and the Spirits stay behind Now as Galen saith of Poysons the hundredth part of a Cantharides doth not hurt nor one spark of fire burn to any purpose so it is in Cordials too little will do little good there must be a considerable quantity and sufficient dose you cannot in reason think one spoonful of Vinegar enough to quench such a heat as the Plague brings 'T is for the vertue of Vinegar that I wrote this Book I would be loath to present you a Glo-worm instead of a Diamond or put a Bulrush instead of a Spear into your hand when you are to fight with such an Enemy Imagine well and think highly of this Medicine I value my own life as much as another man doth his I had rather take Vinegar by it self than many other nay then any other single medicine without it Despise it not because 't is easie to be had neither let it be contemn'd because familiar It is the more excellent because common the more precious because cheap the vertues of it so many they will hardly be believed and therefore the greater because incredible But because the pestilent venome hath a power to corrupt putrifie and inflame the humours and oftentimes the Sicknesse is accompanied with a Fever which sometimes may be almost as dangerous as the Plague there must be care taken thereof so that as you may not by too cold things strike in the Plague so by too hot you may not exasperate the Fever but have respect to both for which purpose you may take cordial and cooling Juleps made of distill'd waters of Sorrel Endive Cichory Borage Bugloss Meadow sweet Angelica Dragons Dandelyon Betony Scabius Balme Fumitory to which you may put as much oyl of Brimstone or Vitriol as will make it very sharp to your taste and to every quart thereof about half a dram of Lapi◠Prunella or Sal Niter or Sal Peter and afterwards sweeten it with any Cordial Syrups as of Gilly-flowers Citrons Lemons Violets adding to it if you please Alchermes and when you are hot and dry you may drink as much as you please and as often as you will As thus Take of Meadowsweet and Cichory water of each one pint of Borage and Buglosse water half a pint of Dragon and Angelica water of each four ounces put to it as much Oyl of Vitriol as will make it very sharp then adde to it a dram of Lapis Prunella powdered Syrup of Gilly-flowers four ounces Alchermes two drams and drink as much and as often as you please Or else you may make the Tincture of Roses thus Boil four quarts of spring-Spring-water then let it cool till it be but about scalding hot then put it into a glased earthen pot and put to it two good handfuls or two ounces of dried Red-Rose leaves and stir them in the water that they may be all wet then put to them one Silver spoonful of Oil of Brimstone or Oil of Vitriol or as much as will make the liquor very sharp stir it all about and presently the Roses and the liquor will be of a delicate red colour then let it stand covered about four hours then strain it gently without squeezing into an earthen pan and sweeten it with a pound or two of Loaf-Sugar more or lesse as you please and with more Oil of Vitriol make it very sharp for your taste and keep it in Glass-bottles and when you are hot and dry drink as much as you please and if you list you may put any Cordial Syrup to it as Gilly-flowers juice of Citron Lemons Poppies or the like Or else you may take some Spring-water and put it fresh into a Glass and drop some Oil of Vitriol or Brimstone into it to make it sharp and sweeten it with Sugar and drink it both as a Preservative against a Fever or the Plague and as a Medicine and Julep in time of Sicknesse and let me tell you that plain Spring-water and Oil of Vitriol or Brimstone is a better Julep in the Plague Pestilent Malignant and other burning Fever than almost any other distill'd water without it Note that it is a vain and scrupulous error to take when you are dry and burning hot but two or three spoonfuls of Julep at a time I never denied my Patients drink in the heat of a Fever but let them drink Julep as much as they please for a little Julep doth but little good and rather encreaseth the heat as the powring of a little Water on a Smiths fire doth make it flame the more and burn the hotter whereas a great deal doth quite extinguish it and put it out And because this Oil of Vitriol is so excellent and useful a remedy mixt with water in this and all hot Diseases I should advise every ingenuous person that lives in the Country never to be without it These Oils you must understand cannot be taken by themselves but with spring or distilled waters and you must be careful of spilling any drop on your cloths for then it will fret and make a hole in them Now if you refuse to meddle with them for fear of receiving any hurt you may as well do so by fire which you must not sit by least a spark light on your apron neither must men take Tobacco for fear of burning their faces And yet I must tell you that 't is better to have a spot on your gown or a hole in your cloths which the negligent slabbering of it may occasion than a Purple in your Skin or a Botch or Carbuncle in your Flesh which the discreet taking of it will hinder I have heard of a Norwegian that coming out of his frozen Country into the South parts of the World saw some Damask Roses growing in a Garden and said Well may the weather be so hot when fire grows upon the Trees at which the hearers fell a-laughing and told him they were most sweet and fragrant flowers as pleasing to the smell as delightful to the eye and gather'd him one and bid him smell to it but he refus'd neither would he take it into his hands for fear of burning his fingers nor smell to it least he should fire his beard or singe his furr'd cap. To perswade you not to fear but use this Oil of Vitriol let me
in the Streets unburied that the Carrion smell might expel the venom of the putrid air and perhaps for this reason that poysons have not onely an Antipathy to their Antidotes but also sometimes to one another it being no more unusual for one poyson than for one heat to drive out the other Moreover seeing that everything doth work upon its like and there ought to be something agreeable and suitable between the Agent and the Patient as we see that oylwill presently mixe incorporate with grease or wax but not with vinegar and many gums will dissolve in vinegar that will not melt nor mix with oil it might be probable that in an extraordinary Infection those odious scents being somewhat of the same nature with those poysonous vapours that caus'd the Pestilence might incorporate with them and carry them away whereas delightful and better odors and perfumes by reason of the contrariety of their Nature might have no effect upon them Rodericus a Castro would have Kine and Oxen driven up and down the Streets that the impurity of the air might be cleansed by the sweet smell of their breath and I have heard the smell of Sheep very much commended and some have also suspected it least their flesh afterwards when they come to be kill'd should poyson the eaters But as the same Plague and Murrain that kills Sheep and Beasts will not hurt men so will not the Plague that kills men hurt Sheep or Cattel The particular air is that in our own private houses and which we breath into us and this is purified by Smells or Fumes of both which as well simple as compound there are a very great number prescribed by Physitians I shall commend this Take White-Wine Vinegar and smell to it and wash your mouth and nostrils with it or mixe it with water that you wash your face and hands with or wet your face and hands with it after you have washt them with water and let the vinegar dry in without wiping of it off Or else use it thus Take Sage and Rew of each a handful steep it in a quart of White-wine Vinegar and use it as aforesaid Or else use this Take Nutmegs the roots of Contrayerva Virginia Shakeweed Pestilence Wort Angelica Elicampane Zedoary Master-wort Lovage of each an ounce bruised infuse them in three quarts of White-wine Vinegar close stopped in a bottel and use it as aforesaid and smell to some of the Root and Nutmeg and carry some about you in an ivory or other box with holes in it or wet a piece of a sponge in the liquor and carry it about you and put a piece of any of the ingredients in your mouth Rhasis a costly Physitian would have linnen cloths dipt in Vinegar and hang'd about the room instead of hangings Some do commend Pomanders and sweet perfumes and others dispraise them that they onely recreate the Spirits but being no Antidotes-resist not poyson but Vinegar is a thing without exception and any or all of those ingredients do exalt the vertue of it and make it admirable And if you cannot get all the aforesaid roots get as many as you can and abate a proportionable quantity of Vinegar Also The Vrine of a Goat is much commended by the Arabian Physitians Avenzoar and Averroes as having in its smell a specifick and appropriate quality to help the infection of the ayre And Mercurialis tells that he went to Vienna to medicine Maximilian the Emperour of Germany one day when he dined with the Chancellor of Hungary he espied a great Goat and asking the reason why it was there kept they told him for an Antidote against the Plague And there is as good reason for it as the smell of a Fox should be a defensative against the Palsie and it is not for nothing that Physitians prescribe the burning of Goats Horn as a good Fume against pestilential and infected Air. For as the air is corrected by Smells so is it also by Fumes of which there are multitudes prescribed and I shall commend this Take either some plain White-wine Vinegar or compounded as aforesaid and put it into a perfuming pot either by it self or with Rose water or any other sweet water or with any perfume or put it on a hot Fire-shovel and let it smoke about the House Also The American Silver-weed or Tobacco is very excellent for this purpose and an excellent defence against bad air being smoked in a pipe either by it self or with Nutmeg shred and Rew Seeds mixed with it especially if it be nosed for it cleanseth the air and choaketh suppresseth and disperseth any venemous vapour it hath singular and contrary effects it is good to warm one being cold and will cool one being hot All Ages all Sexes all Constitutions Young and Old Men and Women the Sanguine the Cholerick the Melancholy the Phlegmatick take it without any manifest inconvenience it quencheth thirst and yet will make one more able and fit to drink it abates hunger and yet will get one a good stomach it is agreeable with mirth or sadness with feasting and with fasting it will make one rest that wants sleep and will keep one waking that is drowsie it hath an offensive smell to some and is more desirable than any perfume to others that it is a most excellent preservative both experience and reason do teach it corrects the air by Fumigation and it avoids corrupt humours by Salivation for when one takes it either by chewing it in the leaf or smoaking it in the Pipe the humors are drawn and brought from all parts of the body to the stomach and from thence rising up to the mouth of the Tobacconist as to the helme of a Sublimatory are voided and spitten out There is also a fume made of Brimstone and Saltpetor but of this in the latter end of the Book Lastly To guard your self from the corrupted air you may do well not to walk abroad till the Sun hath drawn up and disperst all foggy vapours and to be within doors at Noon and the heat of the day when the pores being more open are apter to receive Infection and not to be abroad in the Moon-shine whose beams are hurtful nor at Night when noisom things may be thrown out of doors or windows into the Streets or when the diseased persons with sores about them either by their own craft or contrivency of their Keepers obtain liberty to go abroad The Second Cause of the Pestilence is the Corruption of the Humors which you must be as careful to defend your self from as against the Putrefaction of the Air And how that may be done by Bleeding Purging Vomiting Sweating and Observation of Diet comes next to be considered Of Bleeding Concerning Bleeding though I beleeve that it is an effectuâ—l means not onely to prevent but also to cure most Diseases and though none be more free and ready to comply with the inclination of any Patients desirous thereof nor more earnest to
humours to such parts the fancy runs upon if one mind eating the spirits run to the Stomach and help digestion if venereal things the spirits are sent to those parts that serve for generation if one be studious they have recourse to the brain to help the memory and further invention in one that is a coward they descend to the feet and help the legs in running in one that is quarrelsome they flie to his hands and his fingers itch to be a fighting and in the sick that think well of Cordials the spirits passe presently from the Speculum or Septum Lucidum which is the Seat of Fancy in the Head by a Nerve which Anatomists observe to reach to the very substance of the Heart where it begets hope and this hope makes confidence and confidence brings joy and joy excites heat which reviveth the spirits whereby they better digest their Medicine and as it were joyn forces to overcome the Malady This hope makes them obey the Doctors precepts and think highly of his Medicines and those Medicines that conceited persons think well of the Stomach desires more earnestly keeps them the more closely and digests them perfectly whereas the best Medicine that they are averse to doth do them little good and it is for nothing that people desire a fortunate Physitian Think well then of your Doctor and oblige him whilest you are in health to venture his life to preserve you when you are sick and think gold ill saved from Apothecaries to procure you and and your Houshold the richest Medicines if it must be laid out on Mercers and Taylors to provide your Family mourning This Electuary is very excellent both against Fear and a good preservative against the Plague Take Conserve of Roses Gilly-flowers Borage and Bugloss Flowers of each two ounces Candied Orange-flowers Candied Citron of each two ounces Powder of Laetificans Galeni half an ounce Cinnamon Zedoary Roman Doronicum of each two drams Saffron one dram make those things into powder that are to be powdered and with syrup of the rinds of Citron make an Electuary of which you are to take the quantity of a great Nutmeg Morning and Evening Of the Cure of the Pestilence It was the direction of a wealthy Citizen when he took an Ingenious Youth an Apprentice into his House that by reason of the badnesse of the times he should think every one that he did not know which came into the Shop to be a thief Now in these dangerous and contageous times when all Diseases are so apt to turn into the Plague you may do well to suspect every Disease to be the same and though it come like some old Customer disguised like the Head-ach which you have formerly had after too liberal drinking or like some pain about the Stomach which hath opprest you after excessive feeding or some old Fever or Ague that you have formerly been acquainted with yet suspect it to be the Plague and trust not to your own strength in hope that you shall grow better for fear you should grow worse for he that delayes to take Medicines before his strength fails is almost in as bad or worse case than he that would not make use of a ladder till after he had broke his Neck In this case the opinion of the most judicious Sennertus is very considerable lib. 4 of Fevers cap. 6. I think saith he so many men do die of the Plague because most of them take Antidotes too late who might have been recover'd if they had took them sooner before the venome of the Disease had corrupted the humours of the Body I have sometimes observed in Pestilential Seasons that some as soon as ever they have perceived themselves infected have presently taken some Antidote and put themselves in a sweat and presently after have recovered and the day following have gone about their wonted occasions whereas if they did delay 8. or 12. hours before they took some medicine scarce one of a hundred did escape As that is a happy Nation which provides in times of Peace and Plenty for things useful in War and Famine and as it becomes good Souldiers to have their arms ready and fix'd before the Enemy enters the Town and not have them then to buy at the Gun-smiths so should you be furnished with some Medicines ready made and not lose so much time whilest you get a Physitian to prescribe and an Apothecary to compound them and it were far better that the Medicine were lost for want of taking than you lost for want of a Medicine and it were far safer to cure any Disease as the Plague than to neglect or cure the Plague as any other Disease First then As soon as ever you feel your self ill without further staying for or expecting the Signs or Symptomes the Spots Botch Blain or Carbuncle having called upon God for pardon favour and assistance betake your self to remedies such as are Cordials and Antidotes to defend the heart against poyson The Simple are White-wine Vinegar the Roots of Virginia Snakeweed Contrayerva Pestilence Wort Angelica Elieampane Zedoary Tormentil Valerian Lovage Divilsbit Dittany Master-wort c. The Leaves of Sage and Rew Berries of Ivy and Iuniper Wallnuts Nutmegs Bole Armenick Terra Sigillata Fragments of Iacynth Emerald and Saphire Bezar Bone in a Staggs Heart Harts-horn Horn of a Rhinoceros Vnicorns Horn Crabs Eyes and Tips of Crabs Claws c. The Compound are Venice and London Treacle Mithridate Diascordium Confection of Iacynth Electuary de Ovo Pulvis Saxonicus Species Liber antis Gascoygne Powder the Lady Kents Powder Compound water of Pestilence-wort Compound angelica-Angelica-water bezar-Bezar-water treacle-Treacle-water treacle-Treacle-vinegar Troches of Vipers Oyl of Sulphur and Vitriol and a thousand others as the Physitian can direct as he sees occasion all which do serve for Cure and Preservation As soon then as ever you feel your self sick take some Antidote to make you sweat for which purpose This Contra-pestilential Vinegar is excellent Take Nutmegs the Roots of Virginia Snakeweed Contrayerva Pestilence-wort Angelica Elicampane Zedoary Tormentil Master wort Devilsbit Ivy Berries Iuniper Berries of each one ounce bruised Sage and Rew washt in Vinegar of each one handful Saffron one dram Juice or Syrup of Elder Berries two ounces To every ounce of the roots put half a pint of White-wine Vinegar stop them close in a Glass Bottle and let them stand infused till you use them Or else Take Nutmegs the Roots of Contrayerva Virginia Snakeweed Pestilence-wort Angelica Elicampane Tormentil Zedoary of each one ounce bruised Sage and Rew of each one handful washt in Vinegar To every ounce put in half apint of White-wine Vinegar and stop it close in a Bottle and let it stand for your use Or else Take Nutmegs Angelica and Elicampanâ— Root of each one ounce Sage and Rew washt in Vinegar of each one handful put to them for every ounce half a pint of White-wine Vinegar and stop it close in a Bottle and keep it