nature aswell whiles the creature hath been in the mothers womb as after the same was borne wherof the histories are full but some haue held them only for fables because this is mentioned in the Poets yet the thing carrieth meere truth for diuers times nature hath made a female child and she hath so remained in her mothers belly for the space of one or two months and afterwards plentie of heat growing in the genitall members vpon some occasion they haue issued forth and she become a male To whom this transformation hath befallen in the mothers womb is afterwards plainly discouered by certain motions which they retaine vnfitting for the masculin sex being altogither womanish their voice shrill sweet And such persons are enclined to perform womens actions and fall ordinarily into vncouth offences Contrariwise nature hath sundrie times made a male with his genetories outward and cold growing on they haue turned in ward and it became female This is knowen after she is borne for she retaineth a mannish fashion aswell in her words as in all her motions and workings This may seem difficult to be prooued but considering that which many authenticall historians affirme it is a matter not hard to be credited And that women haue been turned into men after they were borne the verie vulgar doe not much maruell to heare spoke of for besides that which sundrie our elders haue laid downe for trueth It befell in Spain but few yeares since and that wherof we find experience is not to be called in question or argument What then the cause may be that the genitall members are engendred within or without and the creature becommeth male or female will fall out a plain case if we once know that heat extendeth and enlargeth all things and cold retaineth and closeth them vp Wherthrough it is a conclusion of all Philosophers and Phisitions that if the seed be cold and moist a woman is begotten and not a man and if the same be hot and dry a man is begotten and not a woman Whence we apparently gather that there is no man who in respect of a woman may be termed cold nor woman hot in respect of a man Aristotle saith it is necessarie for a woman to be cold and moist that she may be likewise fruitfull for if she were not so it would fall out impossible that her monthly course should flow or she haue milke to preserue the child nine months in her belly and two yeares after it is borne but that the same would soone wast and consume All Philosophers and Phisitions auouch that the belly holdeth the same proportion with mans seed that the earth doth with corne and with any other graine And we see that if the earth want coldnesse and moisture the husbandman dareth not sow therein neither will the seed prosper But of soils those are most fruitfull and fertile in rendering fruit which partake most of cold and moist As we see by experience in the regions towards the North As England Flanders and Almaine whose abundance of all fruits worketh astonishment in such as know not the reason thereof And in such countries as these no married woman was euer childlesse neither can they there tell what barrennesse meaneth but are all fruitfull and breed children through their abundance of coldnesse and moisture But though it is true that the woman should be cold and moist for conception Yet she may abound so much therin that it may choke the seed euen as we see excesse of raine spoileth the corne which cannot ripen in ouermuch coldnesse Whereon we must conceiue that these two qualities ought to keep a certaine measurablenesse which when they exceed or reach not vnto the fruitfulnesse is spoiled Hippocrates holdeth that woman for fruitfull whose womb is tempered in such sort as the heat exceedeth not the cold nor the moist the drie VVherethrough he saith that those women who haue their belly cold cannot conceiue no more than such as are very moist or verie cold and dry But so for the same reason that a woman and her genitall parts should be temperat it were impossible that she could conceiue or be a woman For if the seed of which she was first formed had been temperat the genitall members would haue issued forth and she haue been a man So should a beard grow on her chin and her floures surcease and she become as perfect a man as nature could produce Likewise the womb in a woman cannot be predominatly hot For if the seed whereof she was engendred had been of that temperature she should haue been born a man and not a woman This is past all exception that the qualities which yeeld a woman fruitfull are cold and moisture for the nature of man standeth in need of much nourishment that he may be able to vse procreation and continue his kind Wherethrough we see that amongst all the females of brute beasts none haue their monthly courses as a woman Therefore it was requisite to make her altogether cold and moist and that in such a degree as that she might breed much flegmatick bloud and not be able to wast or consume the same I said flegmaticke bloud because this is seruiceable to the breeding of milke by which Hippocrates and Galen auouch the creature is releeued all the time it remaineth in the mothers belly Now if the same should be temperat it would produce much bloud vnfit for the engendring of milke and would wholly resolue as it doth in a temperat man and so nothing be left for nourishing the babe Therefore I hold it for certain and verily it is impossibie that a woman can be temperat or hot but they are all cold and moist And if this be not so let the Philosopher or Phisition tell me for what cause all women are beardlesse and haue their sicknesse whiles they are healthful for what cause the seed of which she was formed being temperat or hot she was borne a woman not a man Howbeit though it be true that they are alcold moist yet it followeth not that they are all in one degree of coldnesse and moisture For some are in the first some in the second and some in the third and in ech of these they may conceiue if a man answere them in proportion of heat as shall hereafter be expressed By what tokens we may know these three degrees of coldnesse and moisture in a woman and likewise weet who is in the first who is in the second and who in the third there is no Philosopher or Phisition that as yet hath vnfolded But considering the effects which these qualities do worke in women we may part them by reason of their being extended and so we shall easily get notice hereof The first by the wit and habilitie of the woman The second by her maners and conditions The third by her voice big or small The fourth by her flesh much or little The fifth by her colour
hot and dry but if the flesh appeareth white and well coloured it argueth little heat and much moisture The haire beard are a marke also not to be ouerslipped for these two approch very neere to the temperature of the cods And if the haire be very blacke and big and specially from the ribs down to the nauell it deliuereth an infallible token that the cods partake much of hot and dry and if there grow some haire also vpon the shoulders the same is so much the more confirmed But when the haire and beard are of chesse-nut colour soft delicat and thin it inferreth not so great plenty of heat and drinesse in the cods Men very hot and dry are neuer faire saue by miracle but rather hard-fauored and ill shaped for the heat and drinesse as Aristotle affirmeth of the Ethiopians wrieth the proportion of the face and so they become disfigured Contrariwise to be seemly and gratious prooueth a measurable hot and moist for which cause the matter yeelded it selfe obedient whereto nature would employ it Whence it is manifest that much beautie in a man is no token of much heat Touching the signes of a temperat man we haue sufficiently discoursed in the chapter foregoing and therefore it shall not be needfull to reply the same againe It sufficeth only to note that as the Phisitions place in euery degree of heat three degrees of extention so also in a temperat man we are to set down the largenesse and amplenesse of three other And he who standeth in the third next to cold and moist shalbe reputed cold and moyst for when a degree passeth the meane it resembleth the other and that this is true we manifestly find for the signs which Galen deliuereth vs to know a man cold and moist are the selfe same of the temperat man but somewhat more remisse so is he wise of good conditions and vertuous he hath his voice cleare sweet is white skinned of flesh good and supple without haire and if it haue any the same is little and yellow such are very well fauoured and faire of countinaunce but Galen affirmeth that their seed is moist and vnfit for generation these are no great friends to women nor women vnto them What women ought to marrie with what man that they may haue children §. 2. TO a woman who beareth not children when she is married Hippocrates commaundeth that two points of diligence be vsed to know whether it be her defect or that it grow because the seed of her husband is vnable for generation The first is to make her suffumigations with incense or Storax with a garment close wrapped about her which may hang downe on the ground in sort that no vapour or fume may issue out and if within a while after she feele the sauour of the incense in her mouth it yeeldeth a certaine token that the barrennesse commeth not through her defect in as much as the same found the passages of the bellie open wherethrough it pearced vp to the nosthrils and the mouth The second is to take a garlicke head clean pilled and put the same into the bellie what time the woman goeth to sleepe and if the next day she feele in her mouth the sent of the garlicke she is of her selfe fruitful without any default But albeit these two proofs performe the effect which Hippocrates speaketh of namely that the vapour pierce from the inner part vp to the mouth yet the same argueth not an absolute barrennesse in the husband nor an intire fruitfulnesse in the wife but an vnapt corrispondence of both wherethrough she proueth as barren for him as he for her which we see to fall out in dayly experience for the man taking another wife begetteth children and which encreaseth the maruell in such as are not seene in that point of naturall Philosophie is that if these two separat each from other vpon pretence of impotencie and so he take another wife and she another husband it hath bene found that both haue had children And this groweth because there are some men whose generatiue facultie is vnable and not alterable for one woman and yet for another is apt and begetteth issue Euen as we see by experience in the stomacke that to one kind of meat a man hath great appetite and to another though better it is as dead What the correspondence should be which the man wife ought to beare each to other to the end they may bring forth children is expressed by Hippocrates in these words If the hot answer not the cold and the drie the moist with measure and equalitie there can be no generation as if he should say that if there vnite not in the womans wombe two seeds the one hote the other cold and the one moist and the other drie extended in equall degree they cannot beget children For a worke so maruellous as is the shaping of a man standeth in need of a temperature where the hot may not exceed the cold nor the moist the drie For if a mans seed be hot and the womans seed hot likewise there will no engendring succeed This doctrine thus presupposed Let vs now fit by way of example a woman cold and moist in the first degree whose signes we said were to be wily ill conditioned shrill voiced spare fleshed and blacke and greene coloured hairie and euill fauoured she shall easily conceiue by a man that is ignorant of good conditions who hath a well sounding and sweet voice much white and supple flesh little haire and well coloured and faire of countenance She may also be giuē for wife to a temperat man whose seed following the opinion of Galen we said was most fruitfull and answerable to whatsoeuer woman Prouided that she be sound and of age conuenient but yet with all their incidents it is verie difficult for her to conceiue child and being conceiued saith Hippocrates within two months the same miscarieth for she wanteth bloud wherwith to maintain her self and the babe during the 9 months Howbeit this will find an easie remedie if the woman do bath her selfe before she companie with her husband and the baigne must consist of water fresh and warme the which by Hippocrates righteth her temperature to a good sort For it looseneth and moistneth her flesh euen as the earth ought to be alike disposed that the graine may therin fasten it self and gather root Moreouer it worketh a farther effect for it encreaseth the appetite to meat it restraineth resolution causeth a greater quantitie of naturall heat wherthrough plenty of flegmaticke bloud is increased by which the little creature may those nine months haue sustenance The tokens of a woman cold and moist in the third deree are to be dull witted well conditioned to haue a very delicat voice much flesh and the same soft and white to want haire and downe and not to be ouer faire Such a one should be wedded to a man hot and dry in the third
eateth little and yeeldeth store of excrements wherethrough the woman conceiued of a girle is ill fauoured and full of spots and a thousand sluttishnesses sticke vnto her and at the time of her deliuerie she must tarrie so many more daies to purge her selfe than if she had brought a man child to the word On the naturall reason wherof God grounded himselfe when he commanded Moses that the woman who brought forth a male should remain in her bed a weeke and not enter into the temple vntill 33 daies were expired And if she were deliuered of a female she should be vncleane for the space of two weeks and not enter into the temple vntill after 66 daies in sort that when the birth is of a female the time is doubled VVhich so falleth out because in the nine moneths during which the child remained in the mothers wombe through the much cold and moist of her temperature she doubly encreased excrements and the same of verie malignant substance and qualitie which a male infant would not haue done Therfore Hippocrates holdeth it a matter verie perillous to stop the purgation of a woman who is deliuered of a wench All this is spoken to the purpose that we must well aduise our selues of the last day of the moneth to the end the seed may find sufficient nourishment wherwith to relieue itselfe For if the act of procreation be committed so soone as the purgation is finished it will not take hold through defect of bloud VVheron it behooueth the parents be done to vnderstand that if both seeds ioine not togither at one selfe time namely that of the woman and of the man Galen saith there will ensue no conception although the seed of the man be neuer so apt for procreation And hereof we shall render the reason to another purpose This is very certaine that all the diligences by vs prescribed must also be performed on the womans behoofe otherwise her seed euill emploied will mar the conception Therefore it is requisit they attend ech to other so as at one selfe instant both their seedes may ioyne togither This at the first cōming importeth very much for the right cod and his seed vessell as Galen affirmeth is first stirred vp and yeeldeth his seed before the left and if the generation take not effect at the first comming it is a great hap hazard but that at the second a female shalbe begotten These two seeds are knowen first by the heat and coldnesse then by the quantitie of being much or little and finally by the issuing forth speedily or slowly The seed of the right cod commeth forth boiling and so hot as it burneth the womans belly is not much in quantitie and passeth out in hast Contrariwise the seed of the left taketh his way more temperat is much in quantitie and for that the same is cold and grosse spendeth longer space in cōming forth The last consideration was to procure that both the seeds of the husband the wife fall into the right side of the womb for in that place saith Hippocrates are males engēdred females in the left Galen alleageth the reason hereof saying that the right side of the womb is verie hot through the neighbourhood which it holdeth with the liuer with the right side of the raines and with the right seed vessell which members we haue affirmed and approoued to be verie hot And seeing all the reason of working that the issue may become male consisteth in procuring that at the time of conception it partake much heat it falleth out certaine that it greatly importeth to bestow the seed in this place Which the woman shall easily accomplish by resting on her right side when the act of generation is ended with her head down and her heels vp but it behooueth her to keepe her bed a day or two for the womb doth not straightwaies embrace the seeed but after some houres space The signes wherby a woman may know whether she be with child or no are manifest and plain to euery ones vnderstanding for if when she ariseth vpon her feet the seed fall to the ground it is certain saith Galen that she hath not cōceiued albeit herein one point requireth consideration that al the seed is not fruitful or apt for issue for the one part therof is very waterish whose office serueth to make thin the principal seed to the end it may fare through the narrow passages and this is that which nature sendeth forth and it resteth when she hath conceiued with the part apt for issue It is knowen by that it is like water and of like quantitie That a woman rise vp straightwaies on her feet so soon as the act of generation hath passed is a matter verie perillous Therfore Aristotle compelleth that she beforehand make euacuation of the excrements and of her vrine to the end she may haue no cause to rise The second token whereby we may know the same is that the next day following the woman will feele her belly empty especially about the nauell Which groweth for that the womb when it desireth to conceiue becommeth verie large and stretched out for verely it suffereth the like swelling vp and stiffnesse as doth a mans member and when it fareth thus-wise the same occupieth much roome But at the point when it conceiueth saith Hippoorates sodainly the same draweth togither and maketh as it were a purse to draw the seed vnto it and will not suffer it to go out and by this meanes leaueth many emptie places the which women do declare saying that they haue no tripes left in their belly as if they were sodainly become leane Moreouer forthwith they abhorre carnall copulation and their husbands kindnesse for the belly hath now got what it sought but the most certain token saith Hippocrates is when their natural course faileth their breasts grow and when they fall in loathing with mear What diligence is to be vsed that children may prooue wittie and wise §. 4. IF we doe not first know the cause whence it proceedeth that a man of great wit and sufficiencie is begotten it is impossible that the same may be reduced to art for through conioyning and ordering his principles and causes we grow to attaine this end and by none other meanes The Astrologers hold that because the child is borne vnder such an influence of the starres he commeth to be discreet wittie of good or ill maners fortunat and of those other conditions and properties which we see consider euery day in men Which being admitted for true it would follow a matter of impossibilitie to frame the same to any art for it should be wholly a case of fortune and no way placed in mens election The natural Philosophers as Hippocrates Plato Aristotle and Galen hold that a man receiueth the conditions of his soule at the time of his forming and not of his birth for then the starres do superficially alter the child giuing him heat coldnesse moisture and drouth
concocted Therefore nature prouided that in the engendring of a creature two seedes should concurre which being mingled the mightier should make the forming and the other serue for nourishment And this is seen euidently so to be for if a blackamore beget a white woman with child a white man a negro woman of both these vnions wil be borne a creature partaking of either qualitie Out of this doctrin I gather that to be true which many authenticall histories affirm that a dog carnally companying with a woman made her to conceiue and the like did a beare with another woman whom he found alone in the fields And likewise an ape had two yong ones by another We read also of one who walking for recreation alongst a riuers side a fish came out of the water and begat her with child The matter herein of most difficulty for the vulgar to cōceiue is how it may be that these women should bring forth perfect men and partakers of the vse of reason seeing the parents who engendred them were brute beasts To this I answer that the seed of euery of these womē was the agent former of the creature as the greaterin force whence it figured the same with his accidents of mans shape The seed of the brute beast as not equall in strength serued for aliment for nothing els And that the seede of these vnreasonable beasts might yeeld nourishment to mans seed is a matter easie to be conceiued For if any of these women had eaten a peece of bears flesh or of a dog boiled or rosted she should haue receiued nourishment thereout though not so good as if she had eaten mutton or partridges The like befalleth to mans seed that his true nourishment in the forming of the creature is another mans seed but if this be wanting the seed of some brute beast may supply the roome but a thing which these histories specifie is that children borne of such copulations giue token in their maners and conditions that their engendring was not naturall Out of the things already rehearsed though we haue somewhat lingered by the way therein we may now gather the answere to that principall probleme vz that wise mens children are wel-neere alwaies formed of their mothers seed for that of the fathers for the reasons alreadie alleaged is not fruitfull for generation and in engendring serueth only for aliment And the man who is shaped of the womans seed cannot be wittie nor partake abilitie through the much cold and moist of that sex Whence it becommeth manifest that when the child prooueth discreet and prompt the same yeeldeth an infallible token that he was formed of his fathers seed And if he shew blockish and vntoward we inferre that he was formed of the seed of his mother And hereto did the wise-man allude when he said The wise sonne reioyceth the father but a foolish child is a griefe to his mother It may also come to passe vpō some occasion that the seed of a woman may be the agent and form-giuer that of the woman serue for nourishment but the son so begotten will prooue of slender capacitie for put case that cold and dry be two qualities whereof the vnderstanding hath need yet it behooueth that they hold a certaine quantitie and measure which once exceeded they doe rather hurt than good Euen as we see men very aged that by occasion of ouermuch cold and dry we find them become children a new and vtter many follies Let vs then presuppose that to some old man there yet remaine ten yeares of life with conuenient cold and dry to discourse in such sort as these being expired he shall then grow a babe againe If of such a ones seed a son be engendred he shall till ten yeares age make shew of great sufficiencie for that til then he enioyeth the conuenient cold and drouth of his father but at eleuen yeares old he will sodainly quaile away for that he hath out-passed the point which to these two qualities was behooffull VVhich we see confirmed by daily experience in children begotten in old age who in their childhood are verie aduised and afterwards in mans state prooue verie dullards short of life And this groweth because they were made of a seed cold and dry which had alreadie out run the one half of his race And if the father be wise in the works of the imagination and by means of his much heat drinesse take to wife a woman cold and moist in the third degree the sonne born of such an accouplement shalbe most vntoward if he be formed of his fathers seed for that he made abode in a belly so cold and moist was maintained by a bloud so distemperat The contrary betideth when the father is vntoward whose seed hath ordinarily heat and excessiue moisture The sonne so engendred shalbe dull til 15 yeares of age for that he drew part of his fathers superfluous moisture But the course of that age once spent it giueth firmnesse in asmuch as the foolish mans seed is more temperat and lesse moist It aideth likewise the wit to continue nine moneths space in a belly of so little coldnesse and moisture as is that of a woman cold and moist in the first degree where it endured hunger and want All this ordinarily befalleth for the reasons by vs specified but there is found a certaine sort of men whose genitories are endowed with such force and vigour as they vtterly spoile the aliments of their good qualities and conuert them into their euill and grosse substance Therefore all the children whom they beget though they haue eaten delicat meats shall prooue rude and dullards Others contrariwise vsing grosse meats and of euill temperature are so mightie in ouercomming them that though they eat or porcke yet they make children of very delicat wit Whence it prooueth certain that there are linages of foolish men races of wise men and others who of ordinarie are borne blunt and void of iudgement Some doubts are encountred by those who seeke to pearce into the bottom of this matter whose answer in the doctrin forepassed is very easie The first is whence it springeth that bastard children accustomably resemble their fathers and of a 100 lawfull 90 beare the figure and conditions of the mother The second why bastard children prooue ordinarily deliuer couragious and very aduised The third what the cause is that if a common strumpet conceiue she neuer looseth her burden though she take venomous drenches to destroy the same or be let much bloud whereas if a married woman be with child by her husband vpon euery light occasion the same miscarrieth To the first Plato answereth saying that no man is nought of his owne proper and agreeable will vnlesse he be first incited by the vitiousnesse of his temperature And he giues vs an example in lecherous men who for that they are stored with plentifull and fruitfull seed suffer great illusions and manie
combers and therefore molested by that passion to driue the same from them doe marrie wiues Of such Galen saith that they haue the instruments of generation very hot and dry and for this cause breed seed verie pricking apt for procreation A man then who goeth seeking a woman not his owne is replenished with this fruitfull digested and well seasoned seed Whence it followeth of force that he make the generation for where both are equall the mans seed carrieth the greatest efficacie and if the son be shaped of the seed of such a father it ensueth of necessitie that he resemble him The contrarie betideth in lawfull children who for that married men haue their wiues euer couched by their sides neuer take regard to ripen the seed or to make it apt for procreation but rather vpon euery light enticement yeeld the same from them vsing great violence and stirring whereas women abiding quiet during the carnall act their seed vessels yeeld not their seed saue when it is well concoct and seasoned Therfore married women do alwaies make the engendring and their husbands seed serueth for aliment But somtimes it comes to passe that both the seeds are matched in equall perfection and cumbat in such sort as both the one and the other take effect in the forming and so is a child shaped who resembleth neither father nor mother Another time it seemeth that they agree vpon the matter part the likenesse between them the seed of the father maketh the nosthrils and the eies and that of the mother the mouth and the forehead And which carrieth most maruell it hath so fallen out that the sonne hath taken one eare of his father and another of his mother and so the like in his eies But if the fathers seed do altogither preuaile the childe retaineth his nature and his conditions and when the seed of the mother swaieth most the like reason taketh effect Therefore the father who coueteth that his child may be made of his owne seed ought to withdraw himselfe for some daies from his wife and stay till all his seed be concocted and ripened and then it will fall out certain that the forming shall proceed from him and the wifes seed shall serue for nourishment The second doubt by meanes of that we haue said already beareth little difficultie for bastard children are ordinarily made of seed hote and dry and from this temperature as we haue oftentimes prooued heretofore spring courage brauerie and a good imagination whereto this wisdome of the world appertaineth And because the seed is digested and well seasoned nature effecteth what she likes best and pourtraieth those children as with a pensill To the third doubt may be answered that the conceiuing of lewd women is most commonly wrought by the mans seed and because the same is drie and verie apt for issue it fasteneth it selfe in the woman with verie strong rootes but the childe breeding of married women being wrought by their own seed occasioneth that the creature easily vnlooseth because the same was moist and watry or as Hippocrates saith full of mustinesse What diligences are to be vsed for preseruing the childrens wit after they are formed §. 5. THe matter wherof man is compounded prooueth a thing so alterable and so subiect to corruption that at the instant when he beginneth to be shaped he like wise beginneth to be vntwined and to alter and therin can find no remedy For it was said so soon as we are born we faile to be Wherthrough nature prouided that in mans body there should be 4 natural faculties attractiue retētiue concoctiue expulsiue The which concocting altering the aliments which we eate returne to repaire the substance that was lost ech succeeding in his place By this we vnderstand that it little auaileth to haue engendred a child of delicat seed if we make no reckoning of the meates which afterwards we feed vpon For the creation being finished there remaineth not for the creature any part of the substance wherof it was first composed True it is that the first seed if the same be well concocted and seasoned possesseth such force that digesting altering the meats it maketh them though they be bad and grosse to turne to his good temperature and substance but we may so far forth vse contrary meats as the creature shall loose those good qualities which it receiued from the seed wherof it was made therefore Plato said that one of the things which most brought mans wit and his manners to ruine was his euill bringing vp in diet For which cause he counselled that we should giue vnto children meats and drinks delicat and of good temperature to the end that when they grow big they may know how to abandon the euil to embrace the good The reason hereof is very cleere For if at the bginning the braine was made of delicat seed and that this member goeth euerie day impairing and consuming and must be repaired with the meats which we eat it is certaine if these being grosse and of euill temperature that vsing them many daies togither the braine will become of the same nature Therefore it sufficeth not that the child be borne of good seed but also it behooueth that the meat which he eateth after he is formed and borne bee endowed with the same qualities What these be it carrieth no great difficultie to manifest if you presuppose that the Greekes were the most discreet men of the world and that enquiring after aliments and food to make their children witty and wise they found the best and most appropriat For if the subtile and delicate wit consist in causing that the braine be compounded of partes subtile and of good temperature that meate which aboue all others partaketh these two qualities shalbe the same which it behooueth vs to vse for obteining our end Galen and all the Greeke Phisitions say that Goats milke boiled with honny is the best meat which any man can eat for besides that it hath a moderate substance therein the heat exceedeth not the cold nor the moist the drie Therefore we said some few leaues past that the parentes whose will earnestly leadeth them to haue a childe wise prompt and of good conditions must eat much Goats milke boiled with honny 7 or 8 daies before the copulationut-Balbeit this aliment is so good as Galen speaketh of yet it falleth out a matter of importance for the wit that the meate consist of moderate substance and of subtile partes For how much the finer the matter becommeth in the nourishment of the braine so much the more is the wit sharpened For which cause the Greekes drew-out of the milke cheese and whey which are the two grosse aliments of his composition and left the butter which in nature resembleth the aire This they gaue in food to their children mingled with honny with intention to make them witty and wise And that this is the trueth is plainly seen by that which Homer recounteth
The sixth by her haire The seuenth by her fairenesse or foulnesse As touching the first we may know that though it be true as tofore we haue prooued that the wit and abilitie of a woman followeth the temperature of the brain and of none other member yet her womb and cods are of so great force and vigour to alter the whole body that if these be hot and dry or cold and moist or of whatsoeuer other temperature the other partes saith Galen will be of the same tenour but the member which most partaketh the alterations of the belly all Phisitions say is the brain though they haue not set down the reason wheron they ground this correspondencie True it is Galen prooueth by experience that by speying a Sow she becommeth faire and fat and her flesh verie sauory and if she haue her cods she tasteth little better than dogs flesh VVherby we conceiue that the belly and the cods carrie great efficacie to communicat their temperature to all the other parts of the body especially to the brain for that the same is cold moist like themselues Between which through the resemblance the passage is easie Now if we conclude that cold and moist are the qualities which worke an impairement in the reasonable part and that his contraries namely hot and drie giue the same perfection and encreasement we shall find that the woman who sheweth much wit and sufficiencie partaketh of cold and moist in the first degree and if she be verie simple it yeeldeth a signe that she is in the third the partaking between which two extreames argueth the second degree for to thinke that a woman can be hot and drie or endowed with a wit and abilitie conformable to these two qualities is a verie great error because if the seed of which she was formed had been hot and dry in their domination she should haue been born a man and not a woman But in that it was could and moist she was born a woman and not a man The truth of this doctrine may cleerely be discerned if you consider the wit of the first woman who liued in the world for God hauing fashioned her with his own hands and that very accomplished and perfect in her sex it is a conclusion infallibly true that she was possessed of much lesse knowledge than Adam which the diuell well weeting got him to tempt her and durst not fall in disputation with the man fearing his great wit and wisdome Now to say that Eue for her offence was reft that knowledge which she wanted cannot be auouched for as yet she had not offended So then this defect of wit in the first woman grew for that she was by God created cold and moist which temperature is necessarie to make a woman fruitfull and apt for childbirth but enemy to knowledge and if he had made her temperat like Adam she should haue been very wise but nothing fruitful nor subiect to her monthly courses saue by some supernaturall meanes On this nature S. Paul grounded himselfe when he said Let a woman learne in silence with all subiection neither would he allow the woman to teach or gouerne the man but to keep silence But this is true when a woman hath not a spirit or greater grace than her own naturall disposition but if she obtaine any gift from aboue she may wel teach and speake for we know that the people of Israel being oppressed and besieged by the Assirians Iudith a very wise woman sent for the Priests of the Cabeits and Carmits and reprooued them saying How can it be endured that Osias should say if within fiue daies there come no succour he will yeeld the people of Israel to the Assirians see you not that these words rather prouoke God to wrath than to mercie how may it be that men should point out a limited time for the mercy of God and in their mind assigne a day at which he must succour and deliuer them And in the conclusion of this reproofe she told them in what sort they might please God and obtaine their demand And no lesse Elbora a woman of no lesse wisdome taught the people of Israel how they should render thanks vnto God for the great victories which she had attained against their enemies But whilst a woman abideth in her naturall disposition all sorts of learning and wisdome carrieth a kind of repugnancie to her wit And for this cause the Catholicke Church vpon great reason hath forbidden that no woman do preach confesse or instruct for their sex admitteth neither wisdome nor discipline It is discouered also by the maners of a woman and by her condition in what degree of cold and moist her temperature consisteth for if with a sharp wit she be froward curst wayward she is in the first degree of cold and moist it being true as we haue proued tofore that an ill condition euermore accompanieth a good imagination She who partaketh this degree of cold moist suffereth nothing to escape her hands noteth all things findeth fault with all things and so is insupportable Such are accustomably of amiable conuersation and feare not to looke men in the face nor hold him ill mannered who maketh loue vnto them But on the other side to be a woman of good conditions and to be agreeued at nothing to laugh vpon euery small occasiō to let things passe as they come and to sleep soundly descrieth the third degree of cold and moist for much pleasantnesse of conceit is ordinarily accompanied with little wit She who partaketh of these two extreams standeth in the second degree A voice hoarse big and sharp saith Galen is a token of much heat and drouth and we haue also prooued it heretofore by the opinion of Aristotle wherthrough we may gain this notice that if a woman haue a voice like a man she is cold and moist in the first degree and if very delicat in the third And partaking betwixt both the extreames she shall haue the naturall voice of a woman and be in the second degree How much the voice dependeth on the temperature of the cods shall shortly hereafter be prooued where we entreat of the tokens appertaining to a man Much flesh also in women is a signe of much cold and moist for to be fat and big say the Phisitions groweth in liuing creatures from this occasion And contrariwise to be leane and dry is a token of little coldnesse moisture To be meanly fleshed that is neither ouermuch nor verie little giueth euidence that a woman holdeth her selfe in the second degree of cold and moist Their pleasantnesse and curtesies sheweth the degrees of these two qualities much moisture maketh their flesh supple and little rough and hard The meane is the commendablest part The colour also of the face and of the other parts of the body discouereth the extended or remisse degrees of these two qualities When the woman is verie white it boadeth saith Galen much cold
and moist and contrariwise she that is swart and browne is in the first degree therof of which two extreames is framed the second degree of white and well coloured To haue much haire and a little shew of a beard is an euident signe to know the first degree of cold and moist for all Phisitions affirme that the haire and beard are engendred of heat and drinesse and if they be blacke it greatly purporteth the same A contrary temperature is betokened when a woman is without haire Now she whose complexion consisteth in the second degree of cold and moist hath some haire but the same reddish and golden Foulnesse moreouer and fairenesse help vs to iudge the degrees of cold and moist in women It is a miracle to see a woman of the first degree very faire for the seed whereof she was formed being dry hindereth that she cannot be fairely countenanced It behooueth that clay be seasoned with conuenient moisture to the end vessels may be well framed and serue to vse But when that same is hard dry the vessell is soule and vnhandsom Aristotle farther auoucheth that ouermuch cold and moist maketh women by nature foule for if the seed be cold and very moist it can take no good figure because the same standeth not togither as we see that of ouer soft clay ill shaped vessels are fashioned In the second degree of cold and moist women prooue verie faire for they were formed of a substance well seasoned and pleasant to nature which token of it selfe alone affordeth an euident argument that the woman is fruitfull for it is certain that nature could do it and we may iudge that she gaue her a temperature and composition fit for bearing of children Wherethrough she answers in proportion welneer to al men and all men do desire to haue her In man there is no power which hath tokens or signes to descry the goodnesse or malice of his obiect The stomacke knoweth the meat by way of tast of smelling and of sight wherethrough the diuine scripture saith That Eue fixed her eies on the tree forbidden and her seemed that it was sweet in tast The facultie of generation holdeth for a token of fruitfulnesse a womans beautie and if she be foule it abhorreth her conceiuing by this signe that nature erred and gaue her not a fit temperature for bearing of children By what signes we may know in what degree of hot and dry euery man resteth § 1. A Man hath not his temperature so limited as a woman for he may be hot drie which temperature Aristotle Galen held was that which best agreed with his sex as also hot and moist and temperat but cold moist and cold and drie they would not admit whilst a man was sound and without impairment for as you shall find no woman hot and drie nor hot and moist or temperat so shall you find no man cold and moist nor cold and drie in comparison of women vnlesse in case as I shal now expresse A man hot and drie and hote and moist and temperat holdeth the same degrees in his temperature as doth a woman in cold and moist and so it behooueth to haue certain tokens whereby to discerne what man is in what degree that we may assigne him a wife answerable vnto him in proportion We must therefore weet that from the same principles of which we gathered vnderstanding what woman is hot and drie and in what degree from the selfe we must also make vse to vnderstand what man is hote and drie and in what degree and because we sayd that from the wit and manners of a man we coniecture the temperature of his cods it is requisit that we take notice of a notable point mentioned by Galen namely that to make vs vnderstand the great vertue which a mans cods possesse to giue firmnesse and temperature to all the parts of the body he affirmeth that they are of more importance than the heart and he rendereth a reason saying that this member is the beginning of life nought else but the cods are the beginning of liuing soundly and without infirmities How much it endammageth a man to be depriued of those parts though so small there need not many reasons to prooue seeing we see by experience that forth with the haire and the beard pill away and the big and shrill voice becommeth small and herewithall a man leeseth his forces and naturall heat and resteth in far woorse and more miserable condition than if he had bene a woman But the matter most worth the noting is that if a man before his gelding had much wit and habilitie so soone as his stones be cut away he groweth to leese the same so far foorth as if he had receiued some notable dammage in his very braine And this is a manifest token that the cods giue reaue the temperature from all the other parts of the body and he that will not yeeld credit hereunto let him consider as my selfe haue done oftentimes that of 1000 such capons who addict themselues to their booke none attaineth to any perfection and euen in musicke which is their ordinarie profession we manifestly see how blockish they are which springeth because musick is a worke of the imagination this power requireth much heat whereas they are cold and moist So it falleth out a matter certaine that from the wit and habilitie we may gather the temperature of the cods for which cause the man who showeth himselfe prompt in the works of the imagination should be hot and drie in the third degree And if a man be of no great reach it tokeneth that with his heat much moisture is vnited which alwaies endammageth the reasonable part and this is the more confirmed if he be good of memorie The ordinarie conditions of men hot and dry in the third degree are courage pride liberalitie audacitie and cheerefulnesse with a good grace and pleasantnesse and in matter of women such a one hath no bridle nor ho. The hote and moist are merry giuen to laughter louers of pastime faire conditioned very courteous shamefast and not much addicted to women The voice and speech much discouereth the temperature of the cods That which is big and somwhat sharp giueth token that a man is hot and dry in the third degree and if the same be pleasant amiable and very delicat it purporteth little heat and much moisture as appeareth in the gelded A man who hath moist vnited with heat will haue the same high but pleasant shrill Who so is hot and drie in the third degree is slender hard and rough fleshed the same composed of sinews and arteries and his veines big contrariwise to haue much flesh smooth and tender is shew of much moisture by means wherof it extendeth and enlargeth out the naturall heat The colour of the skin if the same be brown burned blackish greene and like ashes yeeldeth signe that a man is in the third degree of
degree for his seed is of such furie and feruency as it behooueth the same to fall into a place very cold and moist that it may take hold and root This man is of the qualitie of Cresses which will not grow saue in the water and if he partaked lesse hot and dry his sowing in so cold a belly were nought els than to cast graine into a poole Hippocrates giueth counsell that a woman of this sort should first lessen her selfe and lay aside her flesh and her fat before she marrie but then she need not to take to husband a man so hot and dry for such a temperature would not serue nor she conceiue A woman cold and moist in the second degree retaineth a meane in all the tokens which I haue specified saue onely in beauty which she enioyeth in an high degree Which yeeldeth an euident signe that she will be fruitfull and beare children and prooue gratious and cheerfull She answereth in proportion wel-neer to all men First to the hot and dry in the second degree and next to the temperat and lastly to the hot moist From all these vnions and conioynings of men and women which we haue here laid down may issue wise children but from the first are the most ordinary For put case that the seed of a man encline to cold and moist yet the continuall drinesse of the mother and the giuing her so little meat correcteth amendeth the defect of the father For that this maner of philosophizing neuer heretofore came to light it was not possible that all the naturall Philosophers could shape an answere to this probleme which asketh Whence proceedeth it that manie fools haue begotten wise children Whereto they answer that sottish persons apply themselues affectionatly to the carnall act and are not carried away to any other contemplation But contrarily men verie wise euen in the copulation go imagining vpō matters nothing pertinent to that they haue in hand and therethrough weaken the seed and make their children defectiue aswell in the powers reasonall as in the naturall In the other conioynings it is requisit to take heed that the woman be clensed and dried by a ripe age and marry not ouer yong for hence it commeth that children prooue simple and of little wit The seed of yong parents is verie moist for it is but a whiles since they were borne and if a man be formed of a matter endowed with excessiue moisture it followeth of force that he prooue dull of capacitie What diligence ought to be vsed that children male and not female may be borne §. 3. THose parents who seeke the comfort of hauing wise children and such as are towards for learning must endeuour that they may be borne male for the female through the cold and moist of their sex cānot be endowed with any profound iudgment Only we see that they talke with some apparence of knowledge in slight and easie matters with termes ordinary and long studied but being set to learning they reach no farther than to some smacke of the Latine tongue and this only through the help of memorie For which dulnesse themselues are not in blame but that cold and moist which made them women and these selfe qualities we haue prooued heretofore gainsay the wit and abilitie Salomon considering how great scarcitie there was of wise men and that no woman came to the world with a wit apt for knowledge said in this maner I found one man amongst 1000 but I haue not found one woman amongst the whole rout As if he should say that of 1000 men he had found one wise but throughout the race of women he could neuer light vpon one that had iudgment Therfore we are to shun this sex and to procure that the child be borne male for in such only resteth a wit capable of learning It behooueth therfore first to take into consideration what instruments were ordained by nature in mans body to this effect and what order of causes is to be obserued that we may obtaine the end which we seeke for We must then vnderstand that amongst many excrements and humours which reside in a mans bodie nature saith Galen vseth only the seruice of one to worke that mankind may be preserued This is a certain excremēt which is termed whey or wheyish bloud whose engendring is wrought in the liuer and in the veins at such time as the foure humours bloud fleagme choler and melancholy do take the forme and substance which they ought to haue Of such a licour as this doth nature serue her selfe to resolue the meat and to worke that the same may passe through the veins and through the strait passages carrying nourishment to all the parts of the body This work being finished the same nature prouideth the veins whose office is nought els but to draw vnto them this whey and to send it through their passages to the bladder and from thence out of the body and this to free man from the offence which an excremēt might breed him But she aduising that he had certain qualities cōuenient for generation prouided two veins which should carry part therof to the cods and vessels of seed togither with some small quantitie of bloud whereby such seed might be formed as was requisit for mankind Wherethrough she planted one veine in the reins on the right side which endeth in the right cod and of the same is the right seed vessell framed and another on the left side which likewise taketh his issue at the left cod and of that is shaped the left seed vessell The requisit qualities of this excrement that the same may be a conuenient matter for engendring of seed are saith Galen a certaine tartnesse and biting which groweth for that the same is salt wherethrough it stirreth vp the seed vessels moueth the creature to procure generation and not to abandon this thought And therfore persons very lecherous are by the Latinists termed Salaces that is to say men who haue much saltnesse in their seed Next to this nature did another thing worthy of great consideration namely that to the right side of the reines and to the right cod she gaue much heat and drinesse and to the left side of the reines to the left cod much cold and moisture wherthrough the seed which laboureth in the right cod issueth out hot and drie and that of the left cod cold and moist What nature pretended by this variety of temperature aswell in the reins as in the cods seed vessels is verie manifest we knowing by histories very true that at the beginning of the world and many yeares after a woman brought forth two children at a birth wherof the one was born male the other female the end wherof tended that for euery man there should be a wife that mankind might take the speedier increase She prouided then that the right side of the reines should yeeld matter hot and drie to the right cod and that
but not his substance wherin the whole life relieth as do the foure elements fire aire earth and water who not only yeeld to the party composed heat cold moisture and drinesse but also the substance which may maintain and preserue the same qualities during all the course of life Wherethrough that which most importeth in the engendring of children is to procure that the elements wherof they are compounded may partake the qualities which are requisite for the wit For these according to the waight and measure by which they enter into the composition must alwaies so indure in the mixture and not the alterations of heauen What these elements are and in what sort they enter into the womans wombe to forme the creature Galen declareth and affirmeth them to be the same which compound all other natural things but that the earth commeth lurking in the accustomed meates which we eate as are flesh bread fish and fruits the water in the liquors which we drinke The aire and fire he saith are mingled by order of nature and enter into the body by way of the pulse and of respiration Of these foure elements mingled and digested by our naturall heat are made the two necessarie principles of the infants generation to weet the seed and the monthly course But that whereof we must make greatest reckoning for the end which we enquire after are the accustomable meats whereon we feed for these shut vp the foure elements in themselues and from these the seed fetcheth more corpulencie and qualitie than from the water which we drinke or the fire and aire which we breath in VVhence Galen saith that the parents who would beget wise children should read three books which he wrot of the facultie of the alements for there they should find with what kinds of meat they may effect the same And he made no mention of the water nor of the other elements as materials and of like moment But herein he swarued from reason for the water altereth the body much more than the aire much lesse than the sound meats wheron we feed And as touching that which concerneth the engendring of the seed it carrieth as great importance as all the other elemēts togither The reason is as Galen himself affirmeth because the cods draw from the veines for their nourishment the wheyish part of the bloud and the greatest part of this whey which the veins receiue partaketh of the water which we drinke And that the water worketh more alteration in the bodie than the aire Aristotle prooueth where he demandeth what the cause is that by changing of waters we breed so great an alteration in our health wheras if we breath a contrarie aire we perceiue it not And to this he answereth that water yeeldeth nourishment to the body and so doth not the aire But he had little reason to answer after this maner for the aire also by Hippocrates opinion giueth nourishment and substance aswell as the water Wher-through Aristotle deuised a better answer saying that no place nor country hath his peculiar aire for that which is now in Flanders when the North wind bloweth passeth within two or three daies into Affricke and that in Affricke by the South is carried into the North and that which this day is in Hierusalem the East wind driueth into the VVest Indies The which cannot betide in the waters for they do not all issue out of the same soile wher-through euery people hath his particular water cōformable to the Mine of the earth where it springeth and whence it runneth And if a man be vsed to drinke one kind of water in tasting another he altereth more than by meat or aire In sort that the parents who haue a will to beget verie wise children must drinke waters delicat fresh and of good temperature otherwise they shall commit error in their procreation Aristotle saith that at the time of generation we must take heed of the South-west wind for the same is grosse and moistneth the seed so as a female and not a male is begotten But the west wind he highly commendeth and aduanceth it with names and titles very honourable He calleth the same temperat fatter of the earth and saith that it commeth from the Elisian fields But albeit it be true that it greatly importeth to breath an aire verie delicat and of good temperature and to drinke such waters yet it standeth much more vpon to vse fine meats appliable to the temperature of the wit for of these is engēdred the bloud and the seed and of the seed the creature And if the meat be delicat and of good temperature such is the bloud made and of such bloud such seed and of such seed such braine Now this member being temperat and compounded of a substance subtile and delicat Galen saith that the wit will be like therunto for our reasonable soule though the same be incorruptible yet goeth alwaies vnited with the dispositions of the brain which being not such as it is requisit they should be for discoursing and philosophizing a man saith and doth 1000 things which are verie vnfitting The meats then which the parents are to feed on that they may engender children of great vnderstanding which is the ordinarie wit for Spaine are first White bread made of the finest meale and seasoned with salt this is cold and dry and of parts verie subtile and delicat There is another sort made saith Galen of reddish graine which though it nourish much and make men big limmed and of great bodily forces yet for that the same is moist and of grosse parts it breedeth a losse in the vnderstanding I said seasoned with salt because none of all the aliments which a man vseth bettereth so much the vnderstanding as doth this minerall It is cold and of more drinesse than any other thing and if I remember well the sentence of Heraclitus he said after this maner A drie brightnesse a wisest minde Then seeing that salt is so drie and so appropriat to the wit the scripture had good reason to terme it by the name of Prudence and Sapience Partridges and Francolini haue a like substance and the selfe temperature with bread of white meale and Kid and Muskadel wine And if parents vse these meats as we haue aboue specified they shall breed children of great vnderstanding And if they would haue a child of great memorie let them eight or nine daies before they betake themselues to the act of generation eat Trouts Salmons Lampries and Eeles by which meat they shall make their seed verie moist and clammie These two qualities as I haue said before make the memorie easie to receaue and verie fast to preserue the figures a long time By Pigions Goats Garlicke Onions Leekes Rapes Pepper Vinegar White-wine Honny and al other sorts of spices the seed is made hot and drie and of parts verie subtile and delicat The child who is engendred of such meat shalbe of great imagination but not of
the creature is not formed al so soon as the mans seed falleth into the womans wombe but affirmeth that thirtie or fortie daies are requisit ere the same can be accomplished And if this be so what auaileth it that the father go imagining of diuers things in the carnall act when as the forming beginneth not vntill some daies after especially when the forming is not made by the soule of the father or the mother but by a third thing which is found in the seed it selfe And the same being only vegetatiue and no more is not capable of the imagination but followeth only the motions of the temperature and doth nothing els After my mind to say that mens children are borne of so diuers figures through the variable imaginations of the parents is none other than to auouch that of grains some grow big and some little because the husband-man when he sowed them was distraught into sundry imaginations Vpon this so vnsound opinion of Aristotle some curious heads argue that the children of the adulterous wife resemble her husband though they be none of his And the reason which leadeth them is manifest for during the carnall act the adulterers settle their imagination vpon the husband with feare least he come and take them napping And for the same consideration they conclude that the husbands children resemble the adulterer though they be not his because the adulterous wife during the copulation with her husband alwaies busieth her selfe in contemplation of the figure of her louer And those who say that the other woman brought forth a blacke sonne because she held her imagination fixed on the picture of a blacke man must also graunt this which by these queint braines is inferred for the whole carrieth one selfe reason and is in my conceit a starcke leasing and very mockerie though it be groūded on the opinion of Aristotle Hippocrates answered this probleme better when he said that the Scythians are all alike conditioned and shaped in visage and rendereth the reason of this resemblance to be for that they all fed of one selfe meat and dranke of one selfe water went apparrelled after one selfe maner and kept one selfe order in all things For the same cause the brute beastes engender yong ones after their particular resemblance because they alwaies vse the same food and haue there-through an vniforme seede But contrariwise man because he eateth diuers meates euerie day maketh a different seed aswell in substance as in temperature The which the naturall Philosophers doe approoue in answering to a probleme that saith What is the cause that the excrementes of brute beastes haue not so vnpleasant a verdure as those of mankind And they affirme that brute beastes vse alwaies the selfe meates and much exercise there withall but a man eateth so much meate and of so diuers substance as he cannot come away with them and so they grow to corrupt Mans seed and that of beasts hold one selfe reason and consideration for that they are both of them excrements of a third concoction As touching the varietie of meats which man vseth it cannot be denied but must be graunted that of euery aliment there is made a different and particular seed VVhere it falleth out apparent that the day on which a man eateth beefe or bloudings he maketh a grosse seed of bad temperature and therefore the sonne begotten therof shalbe disfigured foolish blacke and ill conditioned And if he eat the carcas of a capon or of a henne his seed shall be white delicat and of good temperature VVherthrough the sonne so engendred shalbe faire wise and verie gentle conditioned From hence I collect that there is no child born who partaketh not of the qualities and temperature of that meat which his parents fed vpon a day before he was begottē And if any would know of what meat he was formed let him but consider with what meat his stomacke hath most familiaritie and without all doubt that it was Moreouer the naturall philosophers demand what the cause is that the children of the wisest men do ordinarily prooue blockish and void of capacitie To which probleme they answer verie fondly saying that wise men are verie honest and shamefast and therefore in companying with their wiues doe abstaine from some diligences necessarie for effecting that the child prooue of that perfection which is requisite And they confirme this by example of such parents as are foolish and ignorant who because they employ all their force and diligence at the time of generation their children doe all prooue wise and wittie but this answer tokeneth they are slenderly seene in naturall Philosophy True it is that for rendering an answere conuenient it behooueth first to presuppose and prooue certaine points one of which purporteth that the reasonable facultie is contrarie to the wrathfull and the concupiscible in sort that if a man be verie wise he cannot beverie couragious of much bodily forces a great feeder nor verie able for procreation for the naturall dispositions which are requisite to the end the reasonable soule may performe his operations carrie a contrarietie to those which are necessarie for the wrathfull and the concupiscible Aristotle saith and it is true that hardinesse and naturall courage consist in heate and Prudence and Sapience in cold and drie VVhence we see by plaine experience that the valientest persons are void of reason spare of speach impatient to be ieasted withall and verie soone ashamed for remedie whereof they straightwaies set hand on their sword as not weeting what other answer to make But men endowed with wit haue many reasons and quicke answeres and quippes with which they entertaine the time that they may not come to blowes Of such a manner of wit Salust noteth that Cicero was telling him that he had much tongue and feet verie light wherein he had reason for so great a wisedome in matters of armes could not end but in cowardise And hence tooke a certaine nipping prouerbe his originall which saith He is as valiant as Cicero and as wise as Hector Namely when we will note a man to be a buzzard and a cow-babie No lesse doth the naturall faculty gainsay the vnderstanding for if a man possesse great bodily forces he cannot enioy a good wit and the reason is for that the force of the arms and the legges springeth from hauing a braine hard and earthly and though it be true that by reason of the cold and drie of the earth he might partake a good vnderstanding yet in that it hath his composition of a grosse substance it ruinateth and endammageth the same For through his coldnesse the courage and hardinesse are quenched wherethrough we haue seene some men of great forces to be verie cowardes The contrarietie which the vegetatiue soule hath with the reasonable is most manifest of all others for his operations namely to nourish and engender are better performed with heat and moisture than with the contrarie qualities Which experience cleerely manifesteth considering
also to eat to drinke and to sleepe and if a will take him to send foorth anie excrement he dares not say it or do it but with cumber shamefastnesse and so gets him to some secret place out of sight Yea we find men so shamefast as though they haue a great will to make water yet cannot do it if any looke vpon them whereas if we leaue them alone straight-waies the vrine taketh his issue And these are the appetites to send foorth the superfluous things of the body which if they were not effected men should die and that much sooner than with forbearing meat or drink And if there be any saith Hippocrates who speaketh or actuateth this in the presence of another he is not maister of his sound iudgement Galen affirmeth that the seed holdeth the semblable proportion with the seed-vessels as the vrine doth with the bladder for as much vrine annoieth the bladder so much seed endammageth the seed vessels And the opinion which Aristotle held in denieng that man and woman incur no infirmitie or death by retaining of seed is contrarie to the iudgement of all Phisitions and especially of Galen who saith and auoucheth that many women remaining widowes in their youth haue therthrough lost their sense motion breathing and finally their life And the selfe Aristotle reckoneth vp many diseases whereunto continēt persons are subiect in that behalfe The true answer of this probleme cannot be yeelded in naturall Philosophie because it is not marshalled vnder her iurisdiction for it behooueth to passe to an higher namely Metaphisicke wherein Aristotle saith that the reasonable soule is the lowest of all the intelligences and for that it partaketh of the same generall nature with the Angels it shameth to behold it selfe placed in a body which hath fellowship with brute beasts wherethrough the diuine scripture noteth it as a mysterie that the first man being naked was not ashamed but so soone as he saw himselfe to be so forthwith he got a couering At which time he knew that through his owne fault he had lost immortality and that his body was become subiect to alteration and corruption and those instruments and parts giuen him for that of necessitie he must die and leaue an other in his roome and that to preserue himselfe in life that small space which rested it behooued him to eat and drinke and to expell those noisome and corrupt excrements And principally he shamed seeing that the Angels with whom he had competence were immortall and stood not in need of eating drinking or sleeping for preseruation of their life neither had the instruments of generation but were created all at once without matter and without feare of corrupting Of all these points were the eies and the eares naturally done to ware Wherethrough the reasonable soule groweth displeased and ashamed that these things giuen man to make him mortall and corruptible are thus brought to his memory And that this is a well fitting answere we euidently perceiue for God to content the soule after the vniuersall iudgement and to bestow vpon him intire glory will cause that his body shall partake the properties of an Angell bestowing therupon subtlenesse lightnesse immortalitie and brightnesse for which reason he shal not stand in need to eat or drink as the brute beasts And when men shall thus-wise dwell in heauen they will not shame to behold themselues clothed with flesh euen as Christ our redeemer and his mother nothing shamed thereat But it will breed an accidentall glory to see that the vse of those parts which were wont to offend the hearing and the eies is now surceased I therefore making due reckoning of this naturall modestie of the eare haue endeuoured to salue the hard and rough termes of this matter and to fetch certain not ill pleasing biasses of speech and where I cannot throughly performe it the honest reader shall affoord me pardon For to reduce to a perfect maner the art which must be obserued to the end men may proue of rare capacities is one of the things most requisit for the common-wealth Besides that by the same reason they shal proue vertuous prompt sound and long lyued I haue thought good to seuer the matter of this chapter into foure principall parts that thereby I may make plaine what shalbe deliuered and that the reader may not rest in confusion The first is to shew the naturall qualities and temperature which man woman ought to possesse to the end they may vse generation The second what diligence the parents ought to employ that their children may be male and not female The third how they may become wise and not fooles The fourth how they are to be dealt withall after their birth for preseruation of their wit To come then to the first point we haue alreadie alleaged that Plato laieth downe how in a well ordered common-wealth there ought to be assigned certain surueiors of marriages who by art might skill to looke into the qualities of the persons that are to be married and to giue ech one the wife which answereth him in proportion to euery wife her cōuenient husband In which matter Hippocrates and Galen began to take some pains and prescribed certain precepts and rules to know what woman is fruitful and who can beare no children and what man is vnable for generation and who able and likely to beget issue But touching all this they vttered verie little and that not with such distinction as was behooffull at least for the purpose which I haue in hand Therefore it falleth out necessarie to begin the art euen from his principles and briefly to giue the same his due order and concert that we so may make plaine and apparant from what vnion of parents wise children issue and from what fools and do-noughts To which end it behooueth first to know a particular point of Philosophy which although in regard of the practises of the art it be verie manifest and true yet the vulgar make little reake therof And from the notice of this dependeth all that which as touching this first point is to be deliuered and that is that man though it seem otherwise in the composition which we see is different from a woman in nought els saith Galen than only in hauing his genitall members without his body For if we make anotomie of a woman we shall find that she hath within her two stones two vessels for seed and her belly of the same frame as a mans member without that any one part is therin wanting And this is so very true that if when nature hath finished to forme a man in all perfection she would conuert him into a woman there needeth nought els to be done saue only to turne his instruments of generation inwards And if she haue shaped a woman and would make a man of her by taking forth her belly and her cods it would quickly be performed This hath chanced many times in