stiring or lading it on the Fire half a quarter of an hour and so it is done only season it with Salt and let it stand till it be cool and by that time the Oatmeal viz. the bigger parts thereof will be settled to the bottom then drink a pint or a quart as you think convenient either before or after your Food or in a Morning and in such case Fast till Dinner It is also very good to be Drank after Labour Travel Sweating or the like to prevent Surfeits no sort of strong Drink being comparable to it in that respect for whilest People do endeavour by drinking Wine and strong Drink to allay Heat and Drought or Extinguish it frequently encrease it but this Gruel by its friendly Nature quallifies all such disorders and presently brings Nature into a state of Harmony and as it is commendable and beneficial at all seasons of the Year so more especially in Spring and Summer for it allays Heat and Drought far beyond any Beer or Ale and performs it in Natures own way Another very commendable way of making Water Gruel TAke what quantity of Water you please make it just Boyle up then put in your Herbs and let it stand till it begins to boyle again then take it off and let it stand two or three minuits with the Herbs in it then take the Herbs out and having some Oatmeal ready tempered with cold Water put that into it and so brew it too and fro out of one Pot into another as you do Buttered-Ale a dozen or twenty times without putting it any more on the Fire but if you desire to eat Butter in it then let the Butter and Salt be brewed too and fro in the Gruel and the Oatmeal will give forth its vertue and incorporate with the water so as to make it the sweetest best colour and wholsomest of all other Gruels if you would have it plain without Herbs brew only the boyling Water and Oatmeal togather and it is done adding a little Salt thus likewise you may make Milk Pottage by putting your Milk and Water on your fire together and when it boyles up take it off and brew that and your tempered Oatmeal as aforesaid and the like of Flowered-milk Of the best and most Natural way of making Water-Gruel compounded of Various Ingrediences TAke a Quart of good Water into which put half a quarter of a Pound of Currans washed ser it on the Fire till it be ready to boyl then move it to a more moderate heat for three or four Minuits then in another Vessel have a Quart of the like Water made to a boyling then have your tempered Spoonful of Oatmeal ready brew your Oatmeal and Water together as you were taught before very well then take your infused Currans out of the hot Water and put them into your brewed Gruel with some Sugar Butter and Salt throwing your Water the Currans was infused in away then brew it again as you did before the Butter Salt Currans and Crums of Bread altogether very well and if you think convenient to add Spice to it then put it into the water you make your Gruel off when you set it on the fire for it is best to put both the Currans and Spice into the water when cold the water does then draw out the vertue of them best this way of making of it is far before any others that is in practice amongst the Houswives the Currans will be soft and eat much more pleasent then when boyled this Gruel will have a curious white brisk lively colour Fragrant smell and curious Cordial Taste affords a better Nourishment and easier of Concoction then any made the common way for this way is far more Natural and does draw forth the fine spirituous friendly quallity of the Ingrediences and the brewing of it does keep and preserve the brisk lively spirits of the Butter which gives a curious flaver to the whole and makes all incorporate as one Body also the Infusing of the Currans in the water does wash away a foul gross quality which cold water cannot do which renders them more Homogenial and easier of Digestion you are also to take notice by the way that your brewing or mixing of it off the fire in the pleasant sweet Air does not only give Life and a curious Colour but of better Taste and Smell more agreeable to the stomach and easier of digestion not so apt to obstruct the Vessels of the Stomach as that which is done otherwise for the boyling and stiring those fine thin Gruels or Pottages on the fire does give great advantage ro the thick gross smooky poysonous Vapours which the Coles or Wood when stired sends forth which fulsome Vapours are by the Air drawn forth up the Chimny which are so very pernicious that if any Persons should hold their Heads over them it would stifle or destroy them in a little time for the fire is not only the opener of all Bodies but the separating power of Nature and penetrates to the very Root of each thing and manifests the vertues and vices of each thing therefore forthese and many other reasons too tedious for this place the mixing or brewing these Gruels and Pottages off the fire are highly commendable and they do as far exceed the common Preparation as Light does Darkness but Practice is the best Master and Experience the best Doctor Of purging Gruel TAke Water what quantity you please make it boyling hot then put into it a good quantity of any of these Herbs following or others that you shall best like viz. Scurvy-Grass Spinnage Corn-Sallet Parsly Smalage Elder-Buds Take your Water off your Fire cover it and let them infuse one hour then take your Liquor from your Herbs and brew it with some tempered Oatmeal you may drink it with Salt or without from a Quart to three Quarts in a Morning and fast till Dinner this is a brave Cordial Gruel it will move gentily to stool more natural then most sorts of Physick and wash and cleanse the Stomach from all superfluous matter thins the Blood and open all the Passages by which the Humours will freely circulate carrying away all Windy Watery or Flatulent Juces this sort of Gruel is not only good in the Spring but at all Seasons of the Year when the Herbs can be procured if the natural and proper use of Herbs were known and practised there would be but little need of Physick especially if Order and Temperance were observed How Herb-Gruels for the Spring ought to be made and their Respective Vertues and first of Elder-buds in Gruel TAke Water what quantity you have occasion for make it boyling hot then have your Oatmeal ready tempered with cold Watter and your Elder-buds and put both into your boyling Water and keep it stirring letting it be as it were on the boyl but not boyl up a little while then take it off the fire and let it stand two or three minuits more then take
the Herbs out or strain it and add only a little salt and when cold drink a Pint or a Quart as your Stomach serves a little use will make it familiar this Gruel is a great cleanser and opener of all sorts of obstructions that offends the Breast and Passages and moves gentlel to Stole 't is very good for Fat Pussy People especially if they joyn Exercise therewith But probably some may object What good can there be in such poor Watery slip-slop give me Pottage made of Cocks-Combs and Knucles of Veal and Necks of Mutton and Shins of Beef Boyled three or four hours till it becomes thick as a Ielly and then put in Plums Suger Spice and twenty other good things and this is like to be somewhat Nourishing and Comfortable indeed Well let the Objector enjoy his fancy and his Rich chargeable Slop still I will not change my Plain Water Gruel with him for I must tell him were he capable of hearing Reason all such mighty compounded Pottages how much soever they may be cry'd up as Nutritive and Restorative and indeed Destructive for they obstruct Nature stagnate the Blood becloud the Spirits and ruin the Appetite Moreover the much Boyling of Pottages and especially Gruels made of Flowre does in a manner destroy all the wholsome cleansing opening cooling exhilerating Vertues because it too violently opens the Body of the water and sends the fine spirits flying to Iapan or else suffocates them for this Reason Water once boyled and then put into a Vessel and kept will Stink and never be sweet nor good for any use afterwards whereas Water that has never been at the fire being put into a like Vessel will indeed stink as well as the other but then it will recover its self and be sweet again afterwards and as good as ever this shews that in boyling Water loses its fine Spirituous preservative quality nor does the boyling less impair the lively vertues of the Flowre therefore we conclude it not fit nor convenient to boyl Pottages or Gruels after the common manner such being good neither for Food nor Physick whereas one main end of Gruels is to fit and prepare Nature for Food that is to wassi cleanse and free the Passages of gross obstructive matter Others may say How is it possiblh that this infusion or small boyling can draw forth or endue the Gruel with the Vertues of such Herbs as shall be put into it for we they will say have been taught otherwise viz. to boyl them an hour or two at least Now this is as great an error as the former for boyling of Herbs especially in this particular case does as it were totally extinguish and destroy those fine pleasant opening Cordial Vertues which all Men seek to obtain in all preparations either of Food or Physick if your Reason be too weak to apprehend this yet you cannot blind your Nature viz. your Palate and Stomach for will not all Pottages and Gruels wherein various sorts of Herbs are long boyled taste strong and fulsome and do not they lie gross and heavy on the stomach and do not you find that they are hard of Concoction besides you are to know that in all hot infusions the hot or boyling Water does first seize or draw forth the milde sweet cleansing pleasant Vertues and if such Liquors are drawn off from the ingredients in a convenient time they shall be endued with all the good pleasant Vertues of the Vegetation infused but if they lie too long in the hot Liquor then those good properties first extracted becomes suffocated for the boyling Liquor continuing still its opperation on the things Infused after it has suckt out the sweet friendly Properties does awaken the Harsh Bitter Stinking Poysonous Sharp Astingent Qualities and draws forth that too whereby the former becomes spoyled or turned into the foremention'd evil qualities thus Brewers or any good Houswives will tell you that the best vertues of the Mault is first drawn forth by the hot Liquor and the oftner they put up the meaner is their Wort and if they let their first infusion stand too long before they draw it off it will become of a strong sharp keen sowre quality not fit to make either Beer or Ale of for by long standing the hot Liquor continuing its opperation does penetrate even to the Center and stirs up the harsh bitter sowre properties of the Mault which evil Juces does in a moments time swallow up or turn all the sweet pleasant mild friendly Vertues into its own Nature for which Evils there is no cure or bringing of it back again but it will still continue its progress into the harsh bitter Astingency or its original Properties Note also that the better or more Skilful Brewers will not boyl their Liquor or Water at all whatever Custom and Vulgar noise may clamour to the contrary but only heat it to a convenient degree because they are taught by Doctor Experience that boyling does not only fix or harden the Liquor but causeth it to lose its opening soft quality so that it will not so kindly draw forth the good vertues of the Mault but if these Reasons backt by Experience which are truly Natural will not satisfie you you have Liberty to follow your old blind Guide Ignorance and Tradition There still remains an other Objection viz. What Vertue can there be in one simple herb alone we are advised by the Learned that for Spinnage Gruel or Pottages we must put into the same Mess Elder-buds Nettle-tops Clivers Brook-lime Water-cresses and as many more as we can think off that it may cleanse us bravely But let me tell you and I will tell you nothing but naked natural Truths that wherever such a multiplicity of Ingredients are jumbled together you may be sure there are as many various Natures and Qualities and 't is more then probable that some of them at least are contrary to each other so that their distinct Vertues are thereby confounded and you have neither the true Vertue of one nor the other but a meer Gallimaufry which will be irksome for nature to receive and burdensome unto the Stomach to digest being both of an ill Taste and Savour therefore the surest and most natural way is to take such a simple Herb as you conceive most proper for that infirmity you are subject unto and such simple Gruels will prove more pleasant to the pallate Secondly more agreeable to the Stomach Thirdly they do to a better degree Answer the end for which they are taken Of Gruel with that gallant Herb Balm The making of this Gruel as to the manner of preparation is exactly the same with what we taught you of Elder-buds and so it is of all the other Herbs herein after mentioned or any other that you please to make use of and therefore we refer you back thereunto being as unwilling to write unnecessary repetitions as you can be to Read them The Vertues of Balm-Gruel are that it cleanses
bravely and is very profitable for all People both Young and Old but especially for those that have but weak heats and tender Spirits or are subject to Wind and Vapours as also for Fat Gross Dropsical People it mightily removes Obstructions that lies in the Passages and cheers the Natural Spirits making them fine which all such People want I recommend it therefore to be drank every Morning during the Spring viz. in March April and May. The Vertues of Scurvy Grass Gruel This being made as before directed I may safely Affirm is more Effectual against all the Distempers which this universal Herb is appropriated unto then either the Spirits of it which are so much cry'd up for their manifold vertues or the Gross Juces of it which some force forth of the Herb and put into Ale which way is not at all to be approved of because the terrene Gross fulsome quality comes out with the more fine it will gallantly correct and refines the Blood begets Appetite purge by Urin and sometimes by Stool being a great Evacuator of those gross heavy dull Humours which indispose both Body and Mind Gruel made of Alehoof or Ground Ivy. This is a great Cleanser of the Stomach and Bowels wholsom for all Ages and for those that are Healthy as well as those that are Infirm Smallage Gruel Purifies the Blood and powerfully opens Obstructions begets Appetite and is profitable against Shortness of Breath Sage Gruel Is a Noble useful preparation and good against the infirmity which the Antients have appropriated that Herb unto So is Gruel made of Penny-Royal or Spinage respectively each in its kind after the same manner you may use what other Herbs you have occasion for this being one of the best and most natural ways to draw forth the fine spirituous vertues of any Herbs Only remember to make your Gruel of any sort thin and let your fire be clear and brisk else you will fail of your ends There are many other Pottages proper to be Eaten in the Spring as Milk-Pottage Milk and Flowre Milk and Rice and the like but remember that Milk-Pottage ought to be made after the same manner with small ground Oatmeal viz. put in your Water and Milk together make it almost boyling hot on a clear brisk fire then temper your Oatmeal with a little cold Milk or Water and add that and stir it about and let it stand till it begins to boyle up but then stir or lade it to keep it from boyling half a quarter of an hour and then take it of the fire and when it is cool eat it with Bread or without as you like best the like is to be observed in making flowred milk There are many other brave wholsome foods far better then either Flesh or Fish to be eat in the Spring as Sallads both Boyled and Raw this being the principal time of the Year for the eating of Herbs viz. in the Month of March April and May for by the Approach of the Sun and the sweet Influences he now scatters through our Hemisphere all the vegitations are endued with lively and powerful vertues more then at any other time of the Year and it would be the happiness of English people if they did eat more of them and less Flesh and Fish nor is it to be doubted but the first Instituters of Lent might probably amongst other things have this in their eye to appoint a time of Abstenance and Temperance from gross succulent Foods in the Spring to remove and Remedy the mischiefs that might arise to their Healths from the too large Feeding on such Victuals all the fore-going Winter during which time what through their gross Foods strong Drinks and the uncertain Weather viz. sometimes close rainy and cold and then presently warm again together with their broyling themselves by Cole or Turf-fires whence arises thick sulpherous Airs and smoky Vapours their lying over-long in Bed neglecting due proper exercises they cannot but have Treasured up a vast fund for future Diseases and Calamities no way to be so happily prevented as by a strait and spare Diet in the beginning of the returning Year for in these Three Months the Sun which is the Fountain of central heat in all things has a powerful Influence and gives a lively motion to all being capable thereof so that if we will but put to our helping Hand and observe the good Rules of Temperance Cleanness and Order in Meats Drinks and Exercises many great Evils and Diseases may by the blessing of the Lord be avoided The Foods most proper for this season are the Gruels and spoon-meats before mentioned with Bread Butter and Cheese but the two fast ought to be eaten sparingly because they are Fat Strong Bodies too great quantities thereof may do injury to many Constitutions I have as little occasion as inclination to advise English People to the eating of Flesh and Fish for that they are already too apt to indulge themselves therein but this I must say that this is the best Season because the Food of most sorts of Cattel that are now killed by the Butchers having been for some time past either Hay or Corn which does generate better Blood in the Creatures and firmer Flesh besides the Season is brisk and cool which drives the natural heat more central and gives great strength to the digestive faculty whereby their Foods is better separated and the Creatures becomes stronger of good Heart and full of brisk airy Spirits add to this that they are not so subject to be surfeited by over driving which renders their Flesh better in all respects and more healthful An other way of making water Gruel without being put on the Fire which is a Summer Gruel Take one spoonful of good Oatmeal temper it with a little Watter then take a quart more of Water put the Oatmeal into the other quart and brew it very well together in too Pots that are fit for that purpose and then it is done the Oatmeal will mixt or incorporate with the Water of this sort you may drink a pint or a quart at a time it is very good at all times of the Year but more especially in Summer and hot weather it is so friendly and Homogenial that it allays Thurst the best of any others by refreshing the Spirits bedewing the Body with a most pleasant and more natural moysture then either Beer or Ale or any fermented drinks the common use thereof in hot Seasons does strengthen the Body and all the Members thereof begets a natural Cheerfulness extinguisheth all kinds of inward flushings and vapours that comes for want of a strong natural Heat and large passages it opens and frees the Stomach from gross matter that obstruct the digestive Faculty purges by Urine as all sorts of Gruel do if made as we have Taught the frequent eating of this and other sorts before-mentioned do mightly assist Nature in all her opperations in particular it is profitable