the very first cause to these inferiours deriving her force into them like as it were a cord platted together and stretched along from heaven to earth in such sort as if either end of this cord be touched it will wag the whole therefore we may rightly call this knitting together of things a chain or link and rings for it agrees fitly with the rings of Plato and with Homers golden chain which he being the first author of all divine inventions hath signified to the wise under the shadow of a fable wherein he feigneth that all the gods and goddesses have made a golden chain which they hanged above in heaven and it reacheth down to the very earth But the truth of Christianity holdeth that the Souls do not proceed from the Spirit but even immediately from God himself These things a Magician being well acquainted withal doth match heaven and earth together as the Husband-man plants Elmes by his Vines or to speak more plainly he marries and couples together these inferiour things by their wonderful gifts and powers which they have received from their superiours and by this means he being as it were the servant of Nature doth bewray her hidden secrets and bring them to light so far as he hath found them true by his own daily experience that so all men may love and praise and honour the Almighty power of God who hath thus wonderfully framed and disposed all things CHAP. VII Of Sympathy and Antipathy and that by them we may know and find out the vertues of things BY reason of the hidden and secret properties of things there is in all kinds of creatures a certain compassion as I may call it which the Greeks call Sympathy and Antipathy but we term it more familiarly their consent and their disagreement For some things are joyned together as it were in a mutual league and some other things are at variance and discord among themselves or they have something in them which is a terror and destruction to each other whereof there can be rendred no probable reason neither will any wise man seek after any other cause hereof but only this That it is the pleasure of Nature to see it should be so that she would have nothing to be without his like and that amongst all the secrets of Nature there is nothing but hath some hidden and special property and moreover that by this their Consent and Disagreement we might gather many helps for the uses and necessities of men for when once we find one thing at variance with another presently we may conjecture and in trial so it will prove that one of them may be used as a fit remedy against the harms of the other and surely many things which former ages have by this means found out they have commended to their posterity as by their writings may appear There is deadly hatred and open enmity betwixt Coleworts and the Vine for whereas the Vine windes it self with her tendrels about every thing else she shuns Coleworts only if once she come neer them she turns her self another way as if she were told that her enemy were at hand and when Coleworts is seething if you put never so little wine unto it it will neither boil nor keep the colour By the example of which experiment Aâ—drocides found out a remedy against wine namely that Coleworts are good against drunkennesse as Theophrastus saith in as much as the Vine cannot away with the savour of Coleworts And this herbe is at enmity with Cyclamine or Sow-bread for when they are put together if either of them be green it will dry up the other now this Sow-bread being put into wine doth encrease drunkennesse whereas Coleworts is a remedy against drunkennesse as we said before Ivy as it is the bane of all Trees so it is most hurtful and the greatest enemy to the Vine and therefore Ivy also is good against drunkennesse There is likewise a wonderful enmity betwixt Cane and Fern so that one of them destroyes the other Hence it is that a Fern root powned doth loose and shake out the darts from a wounded body that were shot or cast out of Canes and if you would not have Cane grow in a place do but plow up the ground with a little Fern upon the Plough-shear and Cane will never grow there Strangle-tare or Choke-weed desires to grow amongst Pulse and especially among Beans and Fetches but it choaks them all and thence Dioscorides gathers That if it be put amongst Pulse set to seethe it will make them seethe quickly Hemlock and Rue are at enmity they strive each against other Rue must not be handled or gathered with a bare hand for then it will cause Ulcers to arise but if you do chance to touch it with your bare hand and so cause it to swell or itch anoint it with the juice of Hemlock Much Rue being eaten becometh poison but the juice of Hemlock expels it so that one poison poisoneth another and likewise Rue is good against Hemlock being drunken as Dioscorides saith A wilde Bull being tyed to a Fig-tree waxeth tame and gentle as Zoroaster saith who compiled a book called Geoponica out of the choice writings of the Antients Hence it was found out that the stalks of a wilde Fig-tree if they be put to Beef as it is boiling make it boil very quickly as Pliny writeth and Dioscorides ministreth young figs that are full of milky juice together with a portion of water and vinegar as a remedy against a draught of Bulls blood The Elephant is afraid of a Ram or an engine of war so called for as soon as ever he seeth it he waxeth meek and his fury ceaseth hence the Romans by these engines put to flight the Elephants of Pyrrhus King of the Epyrotes and so got a great victory Such a contrariety is there betwixt the Elephants members and that kind of Lepry which makes the skin of a man like the skin of an Elephant and they are a present remedy against that disease The Ape of all other things cannot abide a Snail now the Ape is a drunken beast for they are wont to take an Ape by making him drunk and a Snail well washed is a remedy against drunkennesse A man is at deadly hatred with a Serpent for if he do but see a Serpent presently he is sore dismaid and if a woman with child meet a Serpent her fruit becometh abortive hence it is that when a woman is in very sore travel if she do but smell the fume of an Adders hackle it will presently either drive out or destroy her child but it is better to anoint the mouth of the womb in such a case with the fat of an Adder The sight of a Wolfe is so hurtful to a man that if he spie a man first he takes his voice from him and though he would fain cry out yet he cannot speak but if he perceive that the man hath first espied him he
produce Monsters by another way then that which we spake of before for even after they are brought forth we may fashion them into a monstrous shape even as we list for as we may shape young fruits as they grow into the fashion of any vessel or case that we make for them to grow into as we may make a Quince like a mans head a Cucumber like a Snake by making a case of that fashion for them to grow in so also we may do by the births of living Creatures Hippocrates in his book of Air and Water and Places doth precisely set down the manner hereof and sheweth how they do it that dwell by the River Phasis all of them being very long-headed whereas no other Nation is so besides And surely Custom was the first cause that they had such heads but afterward Nature framed her self to that Custome insomuch that they esteemed it an honourable thing to have a very long head The beginning of that Custome was thus As soon as the child was new born whiles his head was yet soft and tender they would presently crush it in their hands and so cause it to grow out in length yea they would bind it up with swathing bands that it might not grow round but all in length and by this custom it came to passe that their heads afterward grew such by nature And in process of time they were born with such heads so that they needed not to be so framed by handling for whereas the generative seed is derived from all the parts of the body sound bodies yielding good seed but crazie bodies unsound seed and oftentimes bald fathers beget bald children and blear-eyed fathers blear-eyed children and a deformed father for the most part a deformed childe and the like also cometh to passe concerning other shapes why should not also long-headed fathers generate long-headed children But now they are not born with such heads because that practise is quite out of use and so nature which was upheld by that custom ceaseth together with the custom So if we would produce a two-legged Dog such as some are carried about to be seen we must take very young whelps and cut off their feet but heal them up very carefully and when they be grow to strength join them in copulation with other dogs that have but two legs left and if their whelps be not two-legged cut off their legs still by succession and at the last nature will be overcome to yield their two-legged dogs by generation By some such practise as you heard before namely by handling and often framing the members of young children Mid-wives are wont to amend imperfections in them as the crookednesse or sharpnesse of their noses or such like CHAP. XIX Of the wonderful force of imagination and how to produce party-coloured births PLutark in his rehearsal of the opinions of Philosophers writes that Empedocles held that an infant is formed according to that which the mother looks upon at the time of conception for saith he women were wont to have commonly pictures and images in great request and to bring forth children resembling the same Hippocrates to clear a certain womans honesty that had brought forth children very unlike their parents ascribed the cause of it to a certain picture which she had in her chamber And the same defence Quintilian useth on the behalf of a woman who being her self fair had brought forth a Black-moor which was supposed by all men to be her slaves son Damascen reports that a certain young woman brought forth a child that was all hairy and searching out the reason thereof he found the hiary image of Iohn Baptist in her chamber which she was wont to look upon Heliodorus begins that excellent history which he wrote with the Queen of Aethiopia who brought forth Chariclea a fair daughter the cause whereof was the fable of Andromeda pictured in that chamber wherein she lay with the King We read of some others that they brought forth horned children because in the time of their coition they looked upon the fable of Actaeon painted before them Many children have hare-lips and all because their mothers being with child did look upon a Hare The conceit of the mind and the force of Imagination is great but it is then most operative when it is excessively bent upon any such thing as it cannot attain unto Women with child when they long most vehemently and have their minds earnestly set upon any thing do thereby alter their inward spirits the spirits move the blood and so imprint the likenesse of the thing mused upon in the tender substance of the child And surely all children would have some such marks or other by reason of their mothers longing if this longing were not in some sort satisfied Wherefore the searchers out of secrets have justly ascribed the marks and signes in the young ones to the imagination of the mother especially that imagination which prevails with her in the chiefest actions as in coition in letting go her seed and such like and as man of all other living creatures is most swift and fleeting in his thoughts and fullest of conceits so the variety of his wit affords much variety of such effects and therefore they are more in mankind then in other living creatures for other creatures are not so divers minded so that they may the better bring forth every one his like in his own kind Iacob was well acquainted with this force of imagination as the Scriptures witnesse for endeavouring To bring forth party-coloured Sheep he took that course which I would wish every man to take that attempts any such enterprize He took certain Rods and Poles of Popler and Almond-tree and such as might be easily barked and cut off half the rine pilling them by white strakes so that the Rods were white and black in several circles like a Snakes colour Then he put the Rods which he had pilled into the gutters and watering-troughs when the Sheep came to drink and were in heat of conception that they might look upon the Rods. And the Sheep conceived before the Rods and brought forth young of party-colours and with small and great spots A delightful sight it was Now afterward Iacob parted these Lambes by themselves and turned the faces of the other Sheep towards these party-coloured ones about the time of conception whereby it came to passe that the other Sheep in their heat beholding those that were party-coloured brought forth Lambs of the like colour And such experiments might be practised upon all living Creatures that bear wool and would take place in all kinds of beasts for this course will prevail even in Generating party-coloured Horses A matter which Horse-keepers and Horse-breeders do practise much for they are wont to hang and adorn with tapestry and painted clothes of sundry colours the houses and rooms where they put their Mares to take Horse whereby they procure Colts of a bright Bay colour or of
a dapple Gray or of any one colour or of sundry colours together And Absyrtus teacheth the same in effect counselling us to cover the Mares body with some stuff of that colour which we would have the Colt to be of for look what colour she is set forth in the same will be derived into the Colt for the horse that covers her will be much affected with the sight of such colours as in the heat of his lust he looketh on and will beget a Colt of the same hue as the example then before his eyes doth present unto him Oppianus in his first book of Hunting writes the same argument Such is saith he the industry and practisednesse of mans wit that they can alter the colour of the young ones from the mother and even in the wombe of their Dam procure them to be of divers colours for the Horse-breeder doth paint the Mares back with sundry colours even such as they would procure to be in the Colt against the time that both she desires horse the Stallion is admitted to cover her So the Stallion when he cometh and sees such goodly preparation as it were for his wedding presently begins to some at the mouth and to neigh after her and is possessed with the fire of raging lust throughout his whole body raving and taking on that he cannot forthwith satisfie himself upon his bride At length the Horse-breeder takes off their fetters and lets them loose together and the Mare admits him and afterward brings forth a Colt of as many colours as she beheld in the time of her copulation for as she conceives the Colt so withal she conceives those colours which she then looks upon How to procure white Pea-cocks Informer times white Pea-cocks were such a rare sight in Colen that every one admired them as a most strange thing but afterward they became more common by reason that merchants brought many of them out of Norway for whereas black or else party-coloured Peacocks were carried into that Country to be seen presently as they came thither they waxed white for there the old ones sit upon their eggs in the air upon the tops of very high mountaines full of snow and by continual sitting there it causeth some alteration in their own colour but the young which they hatch are white all over And no doubt but some such courses will take good effect in all kinds of birds for if we take their Cages or Coops wherein they are kept and their nests wherein they sit and white them on the inside with some plastering work or else cover them all over with white clothes or curtains and so keep them in with grates that they may not get out but there couple and sit and hatch their egges they will yeeld unto us white broods So if you would Procure Pigeons of party colours you must take that course which Oppianus hath set down At such time as they fall to kissing their mate and are desirous of copulation let him that keeps them lay before their eyes sundry clothes of the bravest colours they can get but especially purple for the pigeons will in their heat of lust be much affected and delighted with the sight thereof and the young ones which they bring forth shall resemble the same colours The subtil Fowler saith he that gives himself to take and to bring up birds is well acquainted with and is wont to practise such experiments and very artificially procures fine colours in young Pigeons he casteth before their sparkling eyes fine wrought tapestry and red coverlets and purple garments and so whiles he feeds their eyes with pleasing sights he steals away their imagination to the colours which they look upon and thereby derives the very same colours into the young ones How to procure a shag-hair'd Dog In â—aâ—ting time you must strew their kennels and the places where they lie and couple and usually haunt with the fleeces and hides of beasts and so while they continually look upon those sights they will beget shag whelps like Lions This we heard came to passe by chance and without any such intended purpose that a little Bitch lying continually in a Rams fleece when she came to be with whelp she brought forth puppies of the like hair as the fleece was How to procure Swine and other beasts to be white Swine-herds and Keepers of beasts when they would have white litters are wont to beautifie and to build the stables and places whither the beasts resort to lye with white roofs and white eaves and the Swine which were brought forth in such white sties and the other beasts likewise that were brought forth in such whited places became thereby white all over CHAP. XX. How it may be wrought that Women should bring forth fair and beautiful children BY this which hath been spoken it is easie for any man to work the like effects in mankind and to know how to procure fair and beautiful children Nay Writers make mention that these things which we speak of have oftentimes fallen out by chance Wherefore it was not here to be omitted The best means to produce this effect is to place in the bed-chambers of great men the images of Cupid Adonis and Ganymedes or else to set them there in carved and graven works in some solid matter that they may alwayes have them in their eyes whereby it may to passe that whensoever their wives lie with them still they may think upon those pictures and have their imagination strongly and earnestly bent thereupon and not only while they are in the act but after they have conceived and quickned also so shall the child when it is born imitate and expresse the same form which his mother conceived in her mind when she conceived him and bare in her mind while she bare him in her wombe And I know by experience that this course will take good effect for after I had counselled many to use it there was a woman who had a great desire to be the mother of a fair Son that heard of it and put it in practise for she procured a white boy carved of marble well proportioned every way and him she had always before her eyes for such a Son it was that she much desired And when she lay with her Husband and likewise afterward when she was with child still she would look upon that image and her eyes and heart were continually fixed upon it whereby it came to passe that when her breeding time was expired she brought forth a Son very like in all points to that marble image but especially in colour being as pale and as white as if he had been very marble indeed And thus the truth of this experiment was manifestly proved Many other women have put the like course in practise and their skill hath not failed them Oppianus mentions this kind of practise that it is usual amongst the Lacedaemonians for they saith he when they perceive that their wives are
Pliny hath gathered into his books many things out of the Antients works that were extant in his time We will relate some of them He saith That an herb which grows in the head of an Image being wrapt in a cloth is good for the Head-ach Many men have written of Holy-wort it hath a flie-beetle in the stalk that runs up and down in it making a noise like a Kid whence it receives the name and this herb is passing good for the voice Orpheus found out by his wit the properties of Stones The stone Galactites in colour like milk if you cast the dust of it upon the back of a Goat she will give milk more plentifully to her young if you give it a nurse in her drink it encreases her milk Christal is like unto water if one sick of an Ague keep it and roul it in his mouth it quenches his thirst The Amethist is in colour like wine and it keeps from drunkenness In the stone Achates you may see fruits trees fields and medows the powder of it cast about the horns or shoulders of Oxen as they are at plough will cause great encrease of fruits The stone Ophites resembleth the speckles and spots of Serpents and it cures their bitings If you dash the stone Galcophonos it sounds like brass stage-players are wont to wear it because it makes one have an excellent voice The stone Hematites being rubbed is like blood and is good for those that bleed and for blood-shot eyes and the stone Sinoper is of the same both colour and vertue The residue I will not here set down because I have handled them more at large in that which I have written of the knowledge of Plants CHAP. XII How to compound and lay things together by this likeness WE have shewed how that Nature layes open the likenesse of vertues and properties now let us shew how to compound and lay those things together for this is a principle of most use in this faculty and the very root of the greatest part of secret and strange operations Wherefore here thou must imitate the exact diligence of the Antients studying to know how to apply and lay things together with their likes which indeed is the chief matter wherein the most secrecies do consist It is manifest that every kind of things and every quality can incline and draw and allure some things to it and make them become like it self and as they are more active so they more easily can perform it as for example fire being very active doth more easily convert things into it self and so water into water Avicenna saith That if any thing stand long in salt it will become wholly salt if in an unsavory vessel it will become unsavory he that converses with a bold man shall be bold if with a fearful man he shall be fearful and look what living creature converses among men the same will be tame and gentle Such positions are usual in Physick as All parts of the body are nourished by their like the brain by brains teeth by teeth lights by lights and the liver by the liver A mans memory and wit is holpen by a Hens brain and her skull if it be put into our meat whilst it is new helps the falling-sicknesse and her maw if you eat it before supper though you hardly digest it yet is it good to strengthen the stomack The heart of an Ape takes away the palpitation of a mans heart and encreaseth boldnesse which is seated in the heart A wolfs yard broiled and minced is good to eat for the procuring of lust when strength begins to fail The skin of a Ravens heel is good against the Gout the right-heel-skin must be laid upon the right-foot if that be gouty and the left upon the lest and finally every member helps his like But these things Physitians write of whose sayings it is not our purpose here to rehearse Furthermore we must consider and be well advised what things such or such a quality is in and whether it be there onely after a common sort or else in some great measure and whether it be an affection or perturbation and whether it come by chance by art or by nature as for example heating cooling love boldnesse barrennesse fruitfulnesse sadnesse babling or such like and whether it can cause any such matter as we would work thereby for examples sake If you would make a woman fruitful you must consider with your self the most fertile living-creatures and amongst the rest an Hare a Cony or a Mouse for an Hare is bigge even after she hath brought forth she genders every month and brings not forth all her young at once but now and then one upon sundry daies and presently goeth to buck again and so conceives while she gives suck and carries in her womb at once one young that is ripe another that hath no hairs and a third that is but lately conceived Again you must consider the parts and members where that property lyeth and minister them to your Patient as to make a woman fruitful you must give her the womb and curd of an Hare and to the man the stones of an Hare In like manner any particular creature that was never sick is a help against all diseases If you would have a man become bold or impudent let him carry about him the skin or eyes of a Lion or a Cock and he will be fearlesse of his enemies nay he will be very terrible unto them If you would have a man talkative give him tongues and seek out for him water-frogs wilde-geese and ducks and other such creatures notorious for their continual noise-making the tongues whereof if you lay under the head or side of a woman as she is sleeping because they are most clamorous in the evening they will make her utter her night-secrecies Other things we omit as being superfluous and unprofitable here seeing we have largely handled them in our books of plants CHAP. XIII That particular creatures have particular gifts some in their whole body others have them in their parts PArticular creatures are not destitute of excellent and strange properties but are very powerful in operation more then ordinarily their kind yields and this is by reason either of some hidden property or rather of the heavenly aspects and influences working diversly in divers particulars as Albertus supposeth and in one particular more then in most other of the same kind These sundry effects and inclinations of such particulars a Magician must also be well acquainted with that knowing sundry ways whereby to work he may make choice of the fittest and such as may best serve his present use and need for this is our task to reach the way and method of searching out and applying of secrecies which done no further thing can be required of us Therefore to our purpose Albertus saith That there were once two twins one of them would open doors and gates if he did but touch them
all their corn wasted And as these mice are generated suddenly so they are suddenly consumed in a few dayes the reason whereof cannot be so well assigned Pliny could not find how it should be for neither could they be found dead in the fields neither alive within the earth in the winter time Diodorus and Aelianus write That these field-mice have driven many people of Italy out of their own Countrey they destroyed Cosas a City of Hetruria many came to Troas and thence drove the inhabitants Theophrastus and Varro write That mice also made the inhabitants of the Island Gyarus to forsake their Country and the like is reported of Heraclea in Pontus and of other places Likewise also Frogs are wonderfully generated of rotten dust and rain for a Summer showre lighting upon the putrified sands of the shore and dust of high-wayes engenders frogs Aelianus going from Naples in Italy to Puteoli saw certain frogs that their fore-parts moved and went upon two feet while yet their hinder parts were unfashioned and drawn after like a clot of dirt and Ovid saith one part lives the other is earth still and again mud engenders frogs that sometimes lack feet The generation of them is so easie and sudden that some write it hath rained frogs as if they were gendred in the Air. Phylarchus in Athenaeus writes so and Heraclides Lembus writes that it rained frogs about Dardany and Poeonia so plentifully that the very wayes and houses were full of them and therefore the inhabitants though for a few daies at the first they endured it killing the frogs and shutting up their houses yet afterward when they saw it was to no purpose but they could neither use water nor boil meat but frogs would be in it nor so much as tread upon the ground for them they quite forsook their countries as Diodorus and Eustathius write The people Autharidae in Thesprtaia were driven out of their Country by certain imperfect frogs that fell from heaven But it is a strange thing that Red Toads are generated of dirt and of womens flowers In Dariene a Province of the new world the air is most unwholesome the place being muddy and full of stinking marishes nay the village is it self a marish where Toads are presently gendred of the drops wherewith they water their houses as Peter Martyr writes A Toad is likewise generated of a duck that hath lyen rotting under the mud as the verse shews which is ascribed to the duck When I am rotten in the earth I bring forth Toads happily because they and I both are moist and foul creatures Neither is it hard to generate Toades of womens putrified flowers for women do breed this kind of cattel together with their children as Celius Aurelianus and Platearius call them frogs toads lyzards and such like and the women of Salerium in times past were wont to use the juice of Parsley and Leeks at the beginning of their conception and especially about the time of their quickening thereby to destroy this kind of vermin with them A certain woman lately married being in all mens judgement great with child brought forth in stead of a child four Creatures like to frogs and after had her perfect health But this was a kind of a Moon-calf Paracelsus said that if you cut a serpent in pieces and hide him in a vessel of glasse under the mud there will be gendred many worms which being nourished by the mud will grow every one as big as a Serpent so that of one serpent may be an hundred generated and the like he holds of other creatures I will not gainsay it but only thus that they do not gender the same serpents And so he saith you may make them of a womans flowers and so he saith you may generate a Basilisk that all shall die which look upon him but this is a stark lie It is evident also that Serpents may be generated of mans marrow of the hairs of a menstruous woman and of a horse-tail or mane We read that in Hungary by the River Theisa Serpents and Lyzards did breed in mens bodies so that three thousand men died of it Pliny writes that about the beginning of the wars against the Marsi a maid-servant brought forth a serpent Avicenna in his book of deluges writes that serpents are gendred of womens hairs especially because they are naturally moister and longer then mens We have experienced also that the hairs of a horses mane laid in the waters will become serpents and our friends have tried the same No man denies but that serpents are easily gendred of mans flesh especially of his marrow Aelianus saith that a dead mans back-marrow being putrified becomes a serpent and so of the meekest living Creature arises the most savage and that evil mens back-bones do breed such monsters after death Ovid shews that many hold it for a truth Pliny received it of many reports that Snakes gendred of the marrow of mens backs Writers also shew How a Scorpion may be generated of Basil. Florentinus the Grecian saith That Basil chewed and laid in the Sun will engender serpents Pliny addeth that if you rub it and cover it with a stone it will become a Scorpion and if you chew it and lay it in the Sun it will bring forth worms And some say that if you stamp a handful of Basil together with ten Crabs or Crevises all the Scorpions thereabouts will come unto it Avicenna tells of a strange kind of producing a Scorpion but Galen denies it to be true But the body of a Crab-fish is strangely turned into a Scorpion Pliny saith that while the Sun is in the sign Cancer if the bodies of those fishes lie dead upon the Land they wil be turned into Scorpions Ovid saith if you take of the Crabs arms and hide the rest in the ground it will be Scorpion There is also a Creature that lives but one day bred in vineger as Aelianus writes and it is called Ephemerus because it lives but one day it is gendred of the dregs of sowre wine and as soon as the vessel is open that it comes into the light presently it dies The River Hippanis about the solstitial daies yields certain little husks whence issue forth certain four-footed birds which live and flie about till noon but pine away as the Sun draws downward and die at the Sun-setting and because they live but one day they are called Hemerobion a daies-bird So the Pyrigâ—nes be generated in the fire Certain little flying beasts so called because they live and are nourished in the fire and yet they flie up and down in the Air. This is strange but that is more strange that as soon as ever they come out of the fire into any cold air presently they die Likewise the Salamander is gendred of the water for the Salamander it self genders nothing neither is there any male or female amongst them nor yet amongst Eeels nor any kind else which doth not generate of
divers kinds of beasts For Pliny writes and Solinus writes the same That the Hyaena and the Lionesse of Aethiopia gender the beast Crocuta Likewise the Panther is a most lustful beast and she also couples with beasts of divers kinds with a Wolf especially of both which the Hycopanther or beast called Thoes is gendred for the Panther when her sacoting is come goeth up and down and makes a great noise and thereby assembles many both of her own kind and of other kinds also And amongst the rest the Wolf oft-times meets and couples with her and from them is generated the beast Thoes which resembles the Dam in the spots of his skin but in his looks he resembles the Sire Oppianus saith That the Panther and the Wolfe do gender this Thoes and yet he is of neither kinde for saith he oft-times the Wolfe cometh to the Panthers Den and couples with her and thence is generated the Thoes whose skin is very hard and is meddled with both their shapes skinned like a Panther and headed like a Wolfe There is also a Thoes gendred of a Wolf and a female Hyaena This medley Hesychius and Varinus have described That of them comes this Thoes as the Greeks call it The Scholiast upon Homer saith That it is like to the Hyaena and some call it Chaos Pliny saith That this Chaos which by the French is called Raphium was first set forth for a shew in the games of Pompey the Great and that it hath spots like a Leopard but is fashioned like a Wolf But the Greeks make mention of a very strange adultery that The Bactrian Camel is gendred of a Camel and a Swine for Didymus in his workes called Geoponica reporteth that in certain Mountaines of India Boares and Camels feed together and so fall to copulation and gender a Camel and this Camel so gendred hath a double rising or two bunches upon his back But as the Mule which is generated of a Horse and an Ass is in many qualities like the Sire so the Camel which is begotten of a Boar is strong and full of stiffe bristles like a Boar and is not so soon down in the mud as other Camels are but helps himself out lustily by his own force and will carry twice so great a burthen as others But the reason of their name why they are called Bactrian Camels is this Because the first that ever was so generated was bred in the Country of Bactria CHAP. XII Of sundry copulations whereby a man genders with sundry kinds of Beasts I Am much ashamed to speak of it that Man being the chief of all living Creatures should so foully disparage himself as to couple with bruit beasts and procreate so many half-savage Monsters as are often seen wherein Man shews himself to be worse then a beast I will relate some few examples hereof thereby to make such wicked wretches an obloquie to the World and their names odious to others Plutark saith That bruit beasts fall not in love with any but of their own kinde but man is so incensed with lust that he is not ashamed most villanously to couple himself with Mares and Goats and other Beasts for Man is of all other Creatures most lecherous at all seasons fit and ready for copulation and besides agrees with many living Creatures in his time of breeding all which circumstances make much for the producing of monstrous and half-savage broods And howsoever the matter we speak of is abominable yet it is not fruitlesse but helps much to the knowledge of some other things in the searching out of the secrecies of nature Plutark in his Tract which he calls the Banquet of the wise men sheweth that a shepherd brought into the house of Periander A Babe gendred of a Man and a Mare which had the hands and neck and head of a Man but otherwise it was like a Horse and it cried like a young child Thales as soon as he saw it told Periander that he did not esteem it as a strange and monstrous thing which the gods had sent to portend and betoken the seditions and commotions likely to ensure as Diocles thought of it but rather as a naturall thing and therefore his advice was that either they should have no Horse-keepers or if they had they should have wives of their own The same Author in his Parallels reporteth out of Agesilaus his third book of Italian matters that Fulvius Stella loathing the company of a woman coupled himself with a Mare of whom he begat a very beautiful maiden-maiden-child and she was called by a fit name Epâ—na And the same Plutark reporeth also of A maiden that was generated of a Man and an Ass for Aristonymus Ephesius the Son of Demonstratus could not away with a womans company but made choice of an Asse to lie with and she brought him forth after a certain time a very comely maiden and in shew exceeding beautiful she was called Onoscelis that is to say one having Asses thighes and this story he gathered out of Aristotle in the second of his Paradoxes But Galen cannot think this possible nay it is scarce possible in nature seeing a Man and an Asse differ so much as they do for if a man should have to do with an Asse her wombe cannot receive his seed because his genitories are not long enough to convey it into her place of conception or if it were yet she would presently or at least not long after marte his seed Or if she could so conceive and bring her birth to perfection how or by what food should it be nourished after the birth But though this can hardly be yet I do not think it altogether impossible seeing all men are not of a like complexion but some may be found whose complexion doth not much differ from a horses and some men also have longer and larger genitories then others as also some Mares and Asses have lesse and shorter genitories then others have and it may be too that some celestial influence hath a stroke in it by enliving the seed and causing the Dam to conceive it and bring it forth in due time And because all these things do very seldom concur together therefore such births are very seldom seen Aelianus writeth another story That there was once generated A half-beast of a Man and a Goat There was a certain young man in Sybaris who was called Crachis a luster after Goats and being over-ruled by his lust coupled himself with a fair Goat the fairest he could light upon and lived with her as his Love and Concubine bestowing many gifts upon her as Ivy and Rushes to eat and kept her mouth very sweet that he might kisse her and laid under her soft grasse that she might lie easie and sleep the better The He-goat the Ring-leader of the Herd espying this watcht his time when the young man was on sleep and fell upon him and spoiled him But the She-goat when her time was come brought
wouldst bring forth any monsters by art thou must learn by examples and by such principles be directed as here thou mayest find First thou must consider with thy self what thing are likely and possible to be brought to passe for if you attempt likely matters Nature will assist you and make good your endeavours and the work will much delight you for you shall see such things effected as you would not think of whereby also you may find the means to procure more admirable effects There be many reasons and wayes whereby may be generated Monsters in Man First this may come by reason of inordinate or unkindly copulations when the seed is not conveyed into the due and right places again it may come by the narrownesse of the wombe when there are two young ones in it and for want of room are pressed and grow together again it may come by the marring of those thin skinnes of partition which nature hath framed in a womans wombe to distinguish and keep asunder the young ones Pliny writes that in the year of Caius Laelius and Lucius Domitius Consulship there was born a maid-child that had two heads four hands and was of double nature in all respects and a little before that a woman-servant brought forth a child that had sour feet and four hands and four eyes and as many ears and double natured every way Philostratus in the life of Apollonius writes that there was born in Sicily a boy having two heads I my self saw at Naples a boy alive out of whose breast came forth another boy having all his parts but that his head only stuck behind in the other boyes breast and thus they had sticken together in their mothers wombe and their navils also did cling each to other I have also seen divers children having four hands and four feet with six fingers upon one hand and six toes upon one foot and monstrous divers other wayes which here were too long to rehearse By the like causes may Monsters be generated in Beasts We shewed before that such beasts as bring forth many young ones at one burthen especially such as have many cells or receits in their wombe for seed do oftenest produce Monsters Nicocreon the Tyrant of Cyprus had a Hart with four horns Aelianus saw an Oxe that had five feet one of them in his shoulder so absolutely made and so conveniently placed as it was a great help to him in his going Livy saith that at Sessa-Arunca a City in Italy there was eaned a Lambe that had two heads and at Apolis another Lambe having five feet and there was a kitling with but three feet Rhases reports that he saw a Dog having three heads And there be many other like matters which I have no pleasure to speak of But it may seem that Monsters in Birds may be more easily produced both in respect that they are more given to lust and because also they bear in their bodies many egges at once whereby they may stick together and easily cleave each to other and besides this those birds that are by nature very fruitfull are wont to lay egges that have two yelkes For these causes Columella and Leontinus the Greek give counsel to air and purge the houses where Hennes are and their nests yea and the very Hennes themselves with Brimstone and pitch and torches and many do lay a plate of iron or some nailes heads and some Bay-Tree boughs upon their nests for all these are supposed to be very good preservatives against monstrous and prodigious births And Columella reports farther that many do strew grasse and Bay-Tree boughs and heads of Garlick and iron nails in the Hens nests all which are supposed to be good remedies against thunder that it may not marre their egges and these also do spoil all the imperfect chickens if there be any before ever they grow to any ripenesse Aelianus reporteth out of Apion that in the time of Oeneus King of the South there was seen a Crane that had two heads and in another Kings daies another bird was seen that had four heads We will shew also how to hatch A chicken with four wings and four feet which we learn out Aristotle Amongst egges some there are oft-times that have two yelkes if the Hennes be fruitful for two conceptions cling and grow together as being very near each to other the like whereof we may see in the fruits of Trees many of them being twins and growing into each other Now if the two yelks be distinguished by a small skinne then they yield two perfect chickens without any blemish but if the yelks be meddled one with another without any skinne to part them then that which is produced thereof is a Monster Seek out therefore some fruitful Hennes and procure some of the perfectest egges that they lay you may know which are for your purpose by the bignesse of them if not then hold them against the Sun and you shall discern both whether there be in them two yelks and also whether they be distinguished or no and if you finde in them such plenty of matter that you see they are for your turn let them be sitten upon their due time and the chickens will have four wings and four legges but you must have a special care in bringing them up And as some egges have two yelkes so there are some that have three but these are not so common and if they could be gotten they would yield chickens with six wings and sixs legges which be more wonderful There hath been seen a small Duck with four feet having a broad thin bill her fore-parts black her hinder-parts yellow a black head whitish eyes black wings and a black circle about her neck and her back and tail black yellow feet and not standing far asunder and she is at this day kept to be seen at Torga No question but she was generated after the same manner as we spake even now of chickens So they report of a Pigeon that was seen which had four feet And many such monsters we have oft-times hatcht at home for pleasure sake So also are Serpents generated having many heads and many tailes Aristotle writes of certain Serpents that they may be generated after the same manner to have many heads The Poets and the ancient devisers of Fables do speak much of that Hydra Lâ—rnaea which was one of Hercules labours to overcome which Fiction was without all question occasioned by these kinds of Monsters And whilst I was imployed about the writing of this present work there was in Naples a Viper seen alive which had two heads and three cloven tongues and moved every one of them up and down I my self have seen many Lizards that had two or three tails which the common people most foolishly esteem to be a jest and it cannot be but these were generated of such egges as had two yelks CHAP. XVIII Of certain other waies how to produce monstrous births WE may also
breeding young bones hang up fine pictures and place goodly images in their sight some of the most beautiful and handsome young men that ever mankind afforded as of Nireus Narcissus and valiant Hyacinthus and of other young lusty gallants that were most comely and beautiful in face and very sightly for all the parts of their body and some of such excellent gods as was Apollo crowned with a garland of fresh coloured Bay and Evan that had a Diadem of Vine-leaves about his head and goodly hair hanging down under it and this they did that while their Wives stood gazing continually upon such brave pictures and comely portraitures they might breed and bring forth children of the same comlinesse and beauty CHAP. XXI How we may procure either males or females to be generated EMpedocles was of opinion That males or females were generated according to the heat or cold that was in them and thence it is saith he that the first males are reported to have been generated in the Eastern and Southern parts of the earth but the first females in the Northern parts But Parmenides quite contrary affirmed That males were especially generated towards the North as having in them more solidity and thicknesse and females especially towards the South as being more loose and open according to the disposition of the place Hipponax held That males and females are generated according as the seed is either strong and solid or fluid weak and feeble Anaxagoras writes that the seed which issueth out of the right parts of the body is derived into the right parts of the wombe and likewise that which issueth out of the left parts of the body falleth into the left parts of the wombe but if they change courses and the right seed fall into the left cell or receit in the wombe or the left seed into the right cell then it generates a female Leucippus held That there was no cause either in the seed or heat or solidity or place that they should be different sexes but only as it pleases nature to mark the young ones with different genitories that the male hath a yard and the female a wombe Democritus affirms that either sex in every part proceeds indifferently from either parent but the young one takes in sex after that parent which was most prevalent in that generation Hipponax saith if the seed whereof the young is begotten prevail most then it is a male but if the nourishment which it receives in the breeding prevail more then the seed then it is a female But all Physitians with one consent affirm that the right side hath most heat in it wherefore if the woman receive and retain the generative seed in the right side of her wombe then that which she conceives is a male but if in the left side it is a female The experience whereof may be evidently seen in such living Creatures as bring forth many at one burthen for if you cut open a Sow that is great with Pig you shall find the Boar-pigs lying in the right side and the Sow-pigs in the left side of her wombe And hence it is that Physitians counsel women as soon as they have taken in mans seed to turn them presently on their right side And hence it is that if you knit up a Rams right stone he begets Ewe-lambs only as Pliny writeth A Bull as soon as he hath rid a Cow gives evident signs to any man to conjecture whether he hath begotten a Cow-calf or a Bulchin for if he leap off by the right side it is certain that he hath begotten a Bulchin if by the left side then a Cow-calf Wherefore the Aegyptians in their Hieroglyphicks when they would signifie a woman that hath brought forth a daughter they make the character likeness of a Bull looking toward the left side but to signifie the birth of a son they make his character as looking toward the right side But if you desire to have a male generated Africanus Columella and Didymus counsel you to knit up the left stone of the Sire if a female then to knit up his right stone at such times as he is to be coupled for generation But because this would be too muchto do where there is great store of cattel we may assay it by another means Northern blasts help much to the conception of a male and Southern blasts to the conception of a female as Pliny reporteth the force of the Northern air is such that those beasts which are wont to procreate females only this will cause to bring forth males also The Dams at the time of their copulation must be set with their noses into the North and if they have been used to coition still in the morning you must not put them to it in the afternoon for then they will not stand to their mate Aristotle a man most subtile and exquisitely seen in the works of nature willeth us that about the time of gendering we should wait for some Northern blasts in a dry day and then let the flock feed against the winde and so let them fall to copulation if we would procure females to be generated then we must so wait for Southern blasts and let them stand with their heads towards the South as they are in copulation for so not only Aristotle counselleth but Columella and Aelianus also for it is a rule that Aelianus Pliny Africanus and Didymus do all give that if the cattel as soon as they have been covered do turn themselves toward the Southern winde then certainly they have conceived females There is also some cause of the procreation of a male or of a female in the begetters themselves nay further some cause thereof may be the force and operation of some waters for sometimes the waters cause that a male or female be generated There is not far from the City Pana a certain River called Milichus and not far from that another River called Charadius whereof if the beasts drink in the Spring-time they commonly bring forth all males for which cause the Shepherds there drive away their flocks at that time and feed them in that part of the Country which lieth farthest off from that River as Pausanias writeth in his Achaica CHAP. XXII Of divers experiences that may be and have been practised upon divers living Creatures THere remain now certain experiments of living Creatures both pleasant and of some use which we have thought good here to set down to save a labour of seeking them any further And first How to make Horses have white spots on them It is a thing required in the art of trimming of Horses to be able to cause white spots to grow in some parts of them for crafty Horse-coursers are wont to counterfeit white spots in the forehead or left thigh or right shoulder of an Horse thereby to deceive such men as are wont to gesse at the goodnesse and qualities of a horse by the conjecture of such marks And
this the onely bawd to procure him an executorship They smoke themselves with Cumine who disfigure their faces to counterfeit holiness and mortification of their body There is an experiment also whereby any one may know how To cause Sores to arise Take Perwinckle an herb of an intolerable sharpness that is worthily named Flammula bruise it and make it into a plaister and it will in a short space ulcerate and make blisters arise Cantharides beaten with strong water do also raise watry blisters and cause ruptures CHAP. XIV Of Fascination and Preservatives against inchantments NOw I will discourse of inchantment neither will I pass over in silence who they are whom we call Inchanters For if we please to look over the Monuments of Antiquity we shall finde a great many things of that kind delivered down to posterity And the tryal of later ages doth not altogether explode the fame of them neither do I think that it derogateth from the truth of the stories that we cannot draw the true causes of the things into the streight bonds of our reasons because there are many things that altogether impede the enquiry but what I my self judge of others opinions I thought fit here to explicate You may find many things in Theocritus and Virgil of this kind whence that verse arose There 's same I know not whose unlucky eye Bewitcheth my yong Lambs and makes them die Isigonus and Memphodorus say There are some families in Africa that bewitch with their tongue the very Woods which if they do but admire somewhat earnestly or if they praise fair trees growing corn lusty children good horses or fat sheep they presently wither and die of a suddain from no other cause or harm which thing also Solinus affirmeth The same Isigonus saith there are amongst the â—riballians and Illyrians certain men who have two pupils in each eye and do bewitch most deadly with them and kill whatever they look earnestly on especially with angry eyes so pernicious are they and yong children are most subject to their mischief There are such women in Scythia called Bichiae saith Apollonides Philarchus reporteth of another kind called Thibians in Pontus who had two pupils in one eye and in the other the picture of a horse of which Didymus also maketh mention Damon relateth of a poyson in Ethiopia whose sweat would bring a consumption in all bodies it touched and it is manifest that all women which have two pupils in one eye can bewitch with it Cicero writeth of them so Plutarch and Philarchus mention the Paletheobri a Nation inhabiting in part of the Pontick Sea where are Inchanters who are hurtful not onely to children that are tender and weak but to men of full growth who are of a strong and firm body and that they kill with their looks making the persons languish and consume away as in a consumption Neither do they infect those onely who live among them but strangers and those who have the least commerce with them so great is the power and witchcraft of their eyes for though the mischief be often caught in copulation with them yet it is the eyes that work for they send forth spirits which are presently conveyed to the heart of the bewitched and so infect him Thus it cometh to pass That a yong man being full of thin clear hot and sweet blood sendeth forth spirits of the same nature for they are made of the purest blood by the heat of the heart and being light get into the uppermost parts of the body and flye out by the eyes and wound those who are most porous which are fair persons and the most soft bodies With the spirits there is sent out also a certain fiery quality as red and blear-eyes do who make those that look on them fall into the same disease I suffered by such an accident my self for the eye infecteth the air which being infected infecteth another carrying along with it self the vapors of the corrupted blood by the contagion of which the eyes of the beholders are overcast with the like redness So the Wolf maketh a man dumb so the Cockatrice killeth who poysoneth with looking on and giveth venimous wounds with the beams of his eyes which being reflexed upon himself by a looking-glass kill the Author of them So a bright Mirror dreadeth the eyes of an unclean women saith Aristotle and groweth cloudy and dull when she looketh on it by reason that the sanguine vapour is contracted by the smoothness of the glass into one place so that it is spotted with a kind of little mist which is plainly seen and if it be newly gathered there will be hardly wip'd off Which thing never happeneth on a cloth or stone because it penetrateth and sinketh into the one and is dispersed by the inequality of parts in the other But a Mirror being hard and smooth collecteth them entire and being cold condenseth them into a dew In like manner almost if you breath upon a clear glass it will wax moist as it were with a sprinkling of spettle which condensing will drop down so this efflux of beams out of the eyes being the conveyers of spirits strike through the eyes of those they meet and flye to the heart their proper region from whence they rise and there being condensed into blood infect all his inward parts This stranger blood being quite repugnant to the nature of the man infects the rest of him and maketh him sick and there this contagion will continue as long as he hath any warm blood in his body For being a distemper in the blood it will cast him into a continual feaver whereas if it had been a distemper of choler or flegme it would have afflicted him by intervalls But that all things may be more distinctly explained you must know first that there are two kind of Fascinations mentioned by Authors One of Love the other of Envy or Malice If a person be ensnared with the desire of a fair and beautiful woman although he be caught at a distance yet he taketh the poyson in at his eyes and the Image of her beauty settleth in the heart of this Lover kindleth a flame there which will never cease to torment him For the soft blood of the beloved being strayed thither maketh continual representations of her she is present there in her own blood but it cannot settle or rest there for it continually endeavoureth to flye homeward as the blood of a wounded person spirts out on him that giveth the blow Lucretius describeth this excellenty He seeks that body whence his grief he found For humors always flow unto a wound As bruised blood still runs unto the part That 's struck and gathers where it feels the smart So when the murtheress of his heart 's in place Blushes arise and red orespreads his facee But if it be a Fascination of Envy or Malice that hath infected any person it is very dangerous and is found most often in old women
Neither can any one deny but that the diseases of the minde do distemper the body and that the good disposition of it doth strengthen and corroborate the same and it doth not work this alteration onely in its own body but on others also by how much it stirreth up in the heart inward desires of love and revenge Doth not covetousness grief or love change the colour and disposition Doth not envy cause paleness and meagerness in the body Doth not the longing of the mother imprint the mark of what she desired upon the tender Embryo So when Envy bends her fierce and flaming eyes and the desire of mischief bursts thereout a vehement heat proceedeth from them which infecteth those that stand nigh especially the beautiful they strike them through as with a sword set their entrails on fire and make them wast into a leannness especially if they be of a cholerick or sanguine complexion for the disease is easily fed where the pores are open and the humors thin Nor is it the passions of the mind onely that affecteth the body thus but the body it self as Avicenna proveth may be endued with venimous qualities many are so by Nature so that it cannot seem a wonder if sometimes some are made so by Art The Queen of India sent to Alexander a very beautiful maid anointed and fed with the poyson of Serpents as Aristotle saith and Avicenna from the Testimony of Rufus Galen Writeth of another who eat Henbane without any harm and another Woolf-bane so that a Hen would not come near her And Mithridates as old Histories deliver it to us King of Pontus had so strengthened himself against poyson that when he would have poysoned himself lest he should fall into the hands of the Romans nothing would do him any hurt If you give a Hawk a Hen fed with snakes or lizards flesh or with barly boiled in the broth of them it will make him mew his feathers betimes and many other such things are done which are too long to be recounted So many men are of such a nature that they will cure some diseases onely with their stroaking Many eat Spiders and wilde Olives and care not for the biting of Serpents nor suffer any wasting or consumption if they be of such a nature that their looks or breath will not onely blast men but plants and herbs and any other thing and make them wither away and oftentimes where such kind of creatures are you may find blasted corn poysoned and withered meerly by the contagion of their eyes the breath that cometh from them Do not women in the time of their courses infect cucumbers and melons by touching or looking on them so that they wither Are not children handled with less prejudice by men then women And you will find more women then men witches by reason of their complexion for they are farther distant from a right temper and eat more unwholesome food so that every moneth they are filled with superfluities and purge forth melancholy blood from whence vapors arise and flie out through their eyes poysoning those that stand nigh them and filling them with the same kind of blood Hence sanguine complexioned men and somewhat cholerick who have large shining gray eyes and live chastly for too often copulation exhausteth the moisture who by frequent glances and continual imagination encounter point to point beams to beams eyes to eyes do generally stir up love But why a man is taken by this Fascination with one and not another appeareth by the former and this reason for it happeneth from the intention of the Inchantor who by those spirits or vapors is transmitted into the bewitched person and he receiving them is made like unto him For the infection seizing on his mind and fixing in his imagination becomes a permanent habit and maketh the spirits and blood obedient to it and so bindeth the imagination and inflameth them with the thing beloved Although the mind which opinion is fathered upon Avicen neither doth it want his authority can of its own will and power produce such passions Musaeus will have the eyes to lay the foundation of Love and to be the chief allurements of it And Diogenianus saith That Love is begotten by looks affirming that it is impossible for a man to fall in love unawares So Juvenal placeth that Lover among prodigies Who burnt with Love of her he never saw For the bright glances of the eyes driveth the Object into a kind of madness and teach the rudiments of Love The other parts are scarce any cause of Love but provoke and entice the beholder to stay and gaze a while upon their beauty whilst the eyes wound him for there they say Cupid lieth in ambush with his bowe ready to shoot his arrows into the beholders eyes and set his heart on fire For thy eyes slide in through my eyes saith Apuleius and raise a cruel fire within my heart Now I have discovered the original of it unto you unless you are quite mad you may many ways fortifie your self against it But many one may well wonder considering those diseases which come by infection as the itch scabbiness blear-eyes the plague do infect by sight touching or speaking and presently cause putrefaction why Love's contagion which is the greatest plague of all doth not presently seize upon men and quite consume them Neither doth it infect others onely but sometimes it returneth upon it self and the persons will be ensnared in their own charms It is reported by the Antients of Eutelides that he bewitched himself by reflection in water looking-glasses or fountains which returned his own shadow upon him So that he seemed so beautiful unto himself that falling in love with that wherewith he used to entrap others he lost his former complexion and died a Sacrifice unto his own Beauty So children oftentimes effascinate themselves when their parents attribute it to haggards and witches Now take Some Preservatives against Love There are many prescribed by wise antiquity If you would endeavor to remove the â—charms of love thus you may expel them Turn your face away that she may not asten her eyes on yours nor couple rays with you for you must remove the cause from the place where it useth to make its impression forsake her company avoid idleness employ your mind in business of concernment evacuate blood sweat and other excrements in a large quantity that the infection may also be voided with them A Preservative against Envy If it be the witchcraft of Envy you may know it thus The infected loseth his colour hardly openeth his eyes always hangeth his head down sighs often his heart is ready to break and sheddeth salt and bitter tears without any occasion or sign of evil To disencharm him because the air is corrupted and infected burn sweet persume to purifie the air again and sprinkle him with waters sweetned with cinnamon cloves cypress lignum aloes musk and amber Therefore the old custome is continued
until this day and observed by our women to smoke their children and rowl them about in frankincense Keep him in an open air and hang Carbuncles Jacinthes or Saphires about his neck Dioscorides accounteth Christs Thorn wilde Hemp and Valerian hung up in the house an amulet against witchcraft Smell to Hyssope and the sweet Lilly wear a ring made of the hoof of a tame or wilde Ass also Saâ—vâ—ion the male and female are thought the like Aristotle commendeth Rue being smelt to All these do abate the power of witchcraft THE NINTH BOOK OF Natural Magick How to adorn Women and make them Beautiful THE PROEME SInce next to the Art of Physick follows the Art of Adorning our selves we shall set down the Art of Painting and how to beautifie Women from Head to Foot in many Experiments yet lest any man should think it superfluous to interpose those things that belong to the Ornaments of Women I would have them consider that I did not write these things for to give occasion to augment Luxury and for to make people voluptuous But when God the Author of all things would have the Natures of all things to continue he created Male and Female that by fruitful Procreation they might never want Children and to make Man in love with his Wife he made her soft delicate and fair to entice man to embrace her We therefore that Women might be pleasing to their Husbands and that their Husbands might not be offended at their deformities and turn into other womens-chambers have taught Women how by the Art of Decking themselves and Painting if they be ashamed of their foul and swart Complexions they may make themselves Fair and Beautiful Something 's that seemed best to me in the Writings of the antients I have tried and set down here but those that are the best which I and others have of late invented and were never before in Print I shall set down last And first I shall begin with the Hairs CHAP. I. How the Hair may be dyed Yellow or Gold-colour SInce it is the singular care of Women to adorn their Hair and next their Faces First I will shew you to adorn the Hair and next the Countenance For Women hold the Hair to be the greatest Ornament of the Body that if that be taken away all the Beauty is gone and they think it the more beautiful the more yellow shining and radiant it is We shall consider what things are fit for that purpose what are the most yellow things and will not hurt the Head as there are many that will but we shall chuse such things as will do it good But before you dye them Preparing of the Hair must be used to make them fit to receive a tincture Add to the Lees of White-wine as much Honey that they may be soft and like some thin matter smeer your Hair with this let it be wet all night then bruise the Roots of Celandine and of the greater Clivers Madder of each a like quality mingle them being bruised very well with Oyl wherein Cummin-Seed Shavings of Box and a little Saffron are mingled anoynt your Head and let it abide so twenty four hours then wash it with Lye made of Cabbage-Stalks Ashes and Barley-Straw but Rye-Straw is the best for this as Women have often proved will make the Hair a bright yellow But you shall make A Lye to dye the Hair thus Put Barley-Straw into an Earthen-pot with a great mouth Feny-Graec and wilde Cummin mingle between them Quick-lime and Tobacco made into Powder then put them upon the Straw beforementioned and pour on the Powders again I mean by course one under the other over till the whole Vessel be full and when they are thrust close pour on cold water and let them so stand a whole day then open a hole at the bottom and let the Lye run forth and with Sope use it for your Hair I shall teach you Another To five Glasses of Fountain-water add Alume-Foeces one Ounce Sope three Ounces Barley-Straw one Handful let them boyl in Earthen-pots till two thirds be boyled away then let it settle strain the Water with the Ashes adding to every Glass of Water pure Honey one Ounce Set it up for your use You shall prepare for your Hair An Oyntment thus Burn the Foeces of Wine heaped up in a Pit as the manner is so that the fire may go round the Pit when it is burnt pown it and seirce it mingle it well with Oyl let the Woman anoynt her Head with it when she goes to Bed and in the morning let her wash it off with a Lye wherein the most bitter Lupines were boyled Other Women endeavour To make their Hair yellow thus They put into a common Lye the Pills of Citrons Oranges Quinces Barley-Straw dried Lupines Foeny-Graec Broom-Flowers and Tartat coloured a good quantity and they let them there lie and steep to wash their Hair with Others mingle two parts Sope to one part Honey adding Ox-Gall one half part to which they mingle a twelfth part of Garden-Cummin and wilde Saffron and setting them in the Sun for six weeks they stir it daily with a wooden-staff and this they use Also of Vinegar and Gold Litharge there is made a decoction very good to dye the Hair yellow as Gold Some there are that draw out a strong VVater with fire out of Salt-Peter Vitriol Salt-Ammoniac and Cinaber wherewith the Hairs dyed will be presently yellow but this as wont to burn the Hair those that know how to mingle it will have good effects of it But these are but ordinary the most famous way is To make the Hairs yellow draw Oyl from Honey by the Art of Distillation as we shall shew First there will come forth a clear VVater then a Saffron-colour then a Gold-colour use this to anoynt the Hair with a Spunge but let it touch the Skin for it will dye it Saffron-colour and it is not easily washed off This is the principal above others because the Tincture will last many dayes and it will dye Gray-Hairs which few others will Or make a Lye of Oak-Ashes put in the quantity of a Bean of Rheubarb as much Tobacco a handful of Barley-Straw and Foeny-Graec Shells of Oranges the Raspings of Guaiacum a good deal of wilde Saffron and Liquorish put all these in an Earthen-pot and boyl them till the water sink three fingers the Hairs will be washt excellently with this Hold them in the Sun then cast Brimstone on the Coals and fume the Hairs and whilst it burns receive the smoke with a little Tunnel at the bottom and cover your Head all over with a cloth that the smoke flie not away CHAP. II. How to dye the Hair bed BEcause there are many men and women that are ruddy Complexions and have the Hair of their Heads and Bearbs Red which should they make yellow-coloured they would not agree with their Complexions To help those also I set down these Remedies The
the spots be gone See Another Take two ounces of Turpentine-Rosin Ceruss as much mingle them with the white of an Egg and stirring them well besmeer Linen-cloths with them And when you go to bed let them stick to the spots in the morning wash the place and do the same again till all the spots be gone If you please here is Another The distilled water of Pimpernel mingled with Camphire and laid to the Face will make women that desire to be beautiful have a cleer Skin very sightly to behold and will take off the spots Distil the Mulberry-Leaves let the water stand ten dayes in the Sun add to this Mercury sublimate Verdigrease artificial Chrysocolla called Borax and a good quantity of the Powder of Sea-Cockle-shells finely beaten Set it so many dayes in the Sun and then use it If you will rub off the wan colour of your cheeks do thus especially for women when they are in their courses Anoynt the place with Ceruss and Bean-flower mingled with Vinegar or yelks of Eggs mingled with Honey The same may be done with Bean-meal and Feny-Greek smeered on with Honey But we wipe away Black and blew marks thus If you wash the black and blew places with the juice of the Leaves and Roots of Thapsia made into Cakes in the Sun but one night they will be taken away Nero Caesar made his Face white from the strokes he had received in his Night-walks with Wax and Frankincense and the next day his Face was clear against all reports Or Oyl pressed from the Seeds of Flowers when it is thick will do it rarely Or the Root mingled with equal quantities of Frankincense and Wax but let it â—ay on but two hours at most then foment the place with Sea-water hot Also Wal-nuts bruised or smeered on will take away black and blew spots Vinegar or Honey anoynted will take away the same So doth Garlick rubbed on and brings black and blew to the right colour Or the Ashes of it burnt smeered on with Honey The juice of Mustard-Seed anoynted on but one night is good for the same or it is anoynted on with Honey or Suet or a Cerate If a Briony-root be made hollow and Oyl put into it and it be boyled in hot Embers if that be anoynted on it will blot out black and blew spots Marks that are noted upon Children by Women great with-child when they long exceedingly are taken away thus Let her first eat of that Flesh or Fruit her belly full then let her binde on that Flesh alive or the green Fruit to the part till it die or corrupt and they will be gone Or else let her wash the place with Aqua Fortis or Regia and the Skin grows very black so it will take the marks away Do it again For spots and beauty I will not omit Aelian's Experiment of a Lion which is a kinde of Locust For in some Membranes where the Testes are bound together under which there are some soft Carbuncles and tender that are called the Lions fat This will help people to make ill Faces look comely mingled with Oyl of Roses and made into an Oyntment it will make the Face look fair and shining CHAP. XXI How we may take off red Pimples BEcause red Pimples use to deform the Face and specially the whitest therefore to take them off use these Remedies I often to take off Pimples used Oyl of Paper namely extracting it from burnt Paper I shall shew the way elsewhere because I will not disturb the Order where I shall speak of the Extraction of Oyls and Waters Wherefore anoynting that on the red spots will soon blot them out For the same Rear Eggs are good twenty of them boyled hard cut in the middle and the yelks taken forth fill up the hollow places in the whites with Oyl of sweet Almonds and Turpentine-Rosin extract the Liquor in a Glass Vessel use it Another Beat two Eggs well together add as much juice of Lemmons and as much Mercury sublimate set it in the Sun and use it Another to polish the Face Take Sow-bread-Roots three parts cleansed Barley six parts Tartar calcined one part Roots of wilde Cucumers powdered two parts Wheat-Bran two handfuls let them all boyl in Water till a third part be consumed then wash your Face with it CHAP. XXII How Tetters may be taken from the Face or any other part of the Body RIng-worms will so deform the Face that nothing can do it more sometimes they run upon other parts of the Body as the Arm-pits and Thighs there drops forth of them a stinking water that will foul the cloths I found these Remedies Against Tetters Distil water from the Roots of Sowredock and add to every pound of these of Pompions and Salt-Peter half an ounce Tartar of white-Wine two ounces let them soak for some days then distil them and wash your Face in the morning therewith and at night smeer it with Oyl of Tartar and of Almonds mingled Oyl of Eggs is good also to anoynt them with Yet sometimes these Tetters are so fierce that no Remedies can cure them I shall set down Another that I have used with admirable success when they were inveterate In a Glass of sharp red-Wine boyl a drachm of Mercury sublimate then wash the place with it morning and evening let it dry of it self Do this three or four times and the Tetters will away and never come again Another Take Salt-Peter three ounces Oyl of bitter Almonds two pound of Squils half a pound one Lemmon without the Pills mingle them and let them ferment three days then with Chymical Instruments extract the Oyl and anoynt your Tetters therewith and they will be gone though they seem to turn to a Leprosie CHAP. XXIII How Warts may be taken away WArts use to possess the Fore-head Nose Hands and other open places so doth hard Flesh and other foulness of the skin women cannot endure them I found out Remedies against these deformities of the skin Against Warts The Ancients used the greater Spurge whose juice anoynted on with Salt takes them away and therefore they called it Warts-Herb There is also a kinde of Succory called Verrucaria from the effect for if one eat it but once in Sallets all the Warts will be gone from any part of the Body or if you swallow one drachm of the Seeds Another This one and so no more There is a kinde of Beetle that is Oyly in Summer you shall finde it in Dust and Sand in the way if you rub that on the Warts they will be presently gone and not be seen You may finde these and keep them for your use CHAP. XXIV To take away wrinkles from the Body MAny parts of the Body use to be wrinckled as the Hands Face Belly after Child-bearing and the like To contract the Skin therefore do thus For a wrinckled Forehead the Dregs of Linseed-Oyl is good or Lees of Oyl of Olives putting unto it a little Gum-Arabick
untwine themselves again put one of these into the mouth of each Glass to binder the Herbs from falling out when the Glasses are turned downwards Then thurst the necks through the holes of the Form into the Receivers which are placed underneath and admit them into their bellies fasten them together with linen bands that there may be noâ—vent and place the Receivers in dishes of water that the vapor may the sooner be condensed All things being thus provided expose them to most violent heat of Sun-beams they will presently dissolve them into vapors and slide down into the Receivers In the evening after Sun-set remove them and fill them with fresh Herbs The Herb Polygonum or Sparrows-tongue bruised and thus distilled is excellent for the inflammation of the eyes and other diseases Out of S. Johns-wort is drawn a water good against cramps if you wash the part affected with it and others also there are too long to rehearse The manner of Distilling this Figure expresseth CHAP. V. How to draw Oyl by Expression VVE have treated of Waters now we will speak of Oyls and next of Essences These require the industry of a most ingenious Artificer for many the most excellent Essences of things do remain in the Oyl as in the radical moysture so close that without the greatest Art wit cunning and pains they cannot be brought to light so that the whole Art of Distillation dependeth on this The cheifest means is by Expression which though it be different from the Art of Distillation yet because it is very necessary to it it will not be unnecessary to mention here The general way of it is this Take the Seeds out of which you would draw Oyl blanch them and strip them of their upper Coats either by rubbing them with your hands or picking them off with your nails When they are cleansed cast them into a Marble-Morter and beat them with a wodden Pestle then sprinkle them with Wine and change them into a Leaden-Morter set them on the fire and stir them with a wooden-Spoon When they begin to yield forth a little Oyliness take them from the fire and prepare in readiness two plates of Iron of a fingers thickness and a foot-square let them be smooth and plain on one side and heated so that you can scarce lay your finger on them or if you had rather that they may hiss a little when water is cast upon them wrap the Almonds in a linen-cloth being wetted squeeze them between these plates in a press save the Expression and then sprinkle more Wine on the pressed Almonds or Seeds allow them some time to inbibe it then set them on the fire stir them and squeeze them again as before until all their Oyl be drawn out Others put the Seeds when they are bruised and warmed into a bag that will not let the Oyl strain thorow and by twining two sticks about press them very hard and close then they draw the Oyl out of them when they are a little settled To draw Oyl out of Nutmegs Beat the Nutmegs very carefully in a Morter put them into a Skillet and warm them and then press out the Oyl which will presently congeal Wherefore to make it fluide and apter to penetrate distil it five or six times in a Retort and it will be as you desire or else cast some burning Sand into it and mix it and make it into Rolls which being put into the neck of a Retort and a fire kindled will the first time remain liquid To extract Oyl out of Citron-seed we must use the same means Blanch and cleanse them an Oyl of a Gold-colour will flow out they yield a fourth part and it is powerful Antidote against Poyson and Witchcraft and it is the best Menstruum to extract the sent out of Musk Civet and Amber and to make sweet Oyntments of because it not quickly grow rank Oyl of Poppy-Seed is extracted the same way and yields a third part of a Golden-colour and useful in dormitive Medicines Also thus is made Oyl of Coloquintida-Seeds The fairest yield a sixth part of a Golden-colour it killeth Worms and expelleth them from Children being rubbed on the mouth of their Stomach Also Oyl of Nattle-Seed An ounce and a half may be extracted out of a pound and a half of Seeds being picked and blanched it is very good to dye womens Hair of a Gold-colour Oyl of Eggs is made by another Art Take fifty or sixty Eggs boyl them till they be hard then peal them and take out the yelk and set them over warm Coals in a tinned Posnet till all their moysture be consumod still stirring them with a wooden-spattle then encrease the fire but stir them uncessantly lest they burn You will see the Oyl swet out when it is all come forth take away the fire and skim off the Oyl Or when the Oyl beginneth to swet out as I said put the Eggs into a press and squeeze then very hard they will yield more Oyl but not so good CHAP. VI. How to extract Oyl with Water NOw I will declare how to extract Oyl without Expression and first out of Spices Seeds Leaves Sticks or any thing else Oyl being to be drawn out onely by the violence of fire and very unapt to ascend because it is dense considering also That Aromatick Seeds are very subtile and delicate so that if they be used too roughly in the fire they will stink of smoak and burning therefore that they may endure a stronger fire and be secure from burning we must take the assistance of water Those kinde of Seeds as I said are endued with an Airy thin volatile Essence and by the propriety of their Nature elevated on high so that in Distillation they are easily carried upward accompanied with water and being condensed in the Cap of the Stillatory the oyly and the waterish vapours run down together into the Receiver Chuse your Seeds of a full ripeness neither too new not too old but of a mature age beat them and macerate them in four times their weight of water or so that the water may arise the breadth of four fingers above them then put them into a Brass-pot that they may endure the greater fire and kindle your Coals unto a vehement heat that the Water and Oyl may promiscuously ascend and flow down separate the Oyl from the Water as you may easily do As for example How to draw Oyl out of Cinnamon If you first distil Fountain-water twice or thrice you may extract a greater quantity of Oyl with it for being made more subtile and apt to penetrate it pierceth the Cinnamon and draweth the Oyl more forcibly out of its Retirements Therefore take CXXXV pound of Fountain-water distil it in a Glass-Alembick when forty pound is drawn distil that until fifteen flow out then cast away the rest and draw five out of those fiftteen This being done macerate one pound of Cinnamon in five of Water and distil them in a