NATURAL
MAGICK
BY
John Baptista Porta,
A NEAPOLITANE:
IN
TWENTY BOOKS:

1 Of the Causes of Wonderful things.
2 Of the Generation of Animals.
3 Of the Production of new Plants.
4 Of increasing Houshold-Stuff.
5 Of changing Metals.
6 Of counterfeiting Gold.
7 Of the Wonders of the Load-stone.
8 Of strange Cures.
9 Of Beautifying Women.
10 Of Distillation.
11 Of Perfuming.
12 Of Artificial Fires.
13 Of Tempering Steel.
14 Of Cookery.
15 Of Fishing, Fowling, Hunting, &c.
16 Of Invisible Writing.
17 Of Strange Glasses.
18 Of Statick Experiments.
19 Of Pneumatick Experiments.
20 Of the Chaos.



Wherein are set forth All the RICHES and DELIGHTS Of the NATURAL SCIENCES.

LONDON,

Printed for Thomas Young, and Samuel Speed; and are to be

sold at the three Pigeons, and at the Angel in St.

Paul's Church-yard.

1658.

The Preface to the READER.

COURTEOUS READER,

IF this Work made by me in my Youth, when I was hardly fifteen
years old, was so generally received and with so great applause,
that it was forthwith translated into many Languages, as Ita∣lian,
French, Spanish, Arabick; and passed through the
hands of incomparable men: I hope that now coming forth
from me that an fifty years old, it shall be more dearly enter∣tained.
For when I saw the first fruits of my Labours recei∣ved
with so great Alacrity of mind, I was moved by these good
Omens; And therefore have adventured to send it once more forth, but with an
Equipage more Rich and Noble.

From the first time it appeared, it is now thirty five years, And (without any de∣rogation
from my Modesty be it spoken) if ever any man laboured earnestly to dis∣close
the secrets of Nature, it was I: For with all my Minde and Power, I have
turned over the Monuments of our Ancestors, and if they writ anything that was
secret and concealed, that I enrolled in my Catalogue of Rarities. Moreover, as I
travelled through France, Italy, and Spain, I consulted with all Libraries, Learn∣ed
men, and Artificers, that if they knew any thing that was curious, I might un∣derstand
such Truths as they had proved by there long experience. Those places and
men, I had not the happiness to see, I writ Letters too, frequently, earnestly de∣siring
them to furnish me with those Secrets, which they esteemed Rare; not failing
with my Entreaties, Gifts, Commutations, Art, and Industry. So that whatsoever
was Notable, and to be desired through the whole World, for Curiosities and Excel∣lent
Things, I have abundantly found out, and therewith Beautified and Aug∣mented
these, my Endeavours, in NATURAL MAGICK, wherefore by
most earnest Study, and constant Experience, I did both night and day endeavour to
know whether what I heard or read, was true or false, that I might leave nothing
unassayed: for I oft thought of that Sentence of Cicero, It is fit that they who
desire for the good of mankinde, to commit to memory things most profi∣table,
well weighed and approved, should make tryal of all things. To
do this I have spared no Pain nor Cost, but have expended my narrow Fortunes in a
large magnificence.

Nor were the Labours, Diligence, and Wealth, of most famous Nobles, Potentates,
Great and Learned Men, wanting to assist me; Especially (whom I name for his
Honour) the Illustrious and most Reverend Cardinal of Estings: All which did
afford there Voluntary and Bountiful Help to this Work. I never wanted also at


my House an Academy of curious Men, who for the trying of these Experiments,
chearfully disbursed their Moneys, and employed their utmost Endeavours, in assi∣sting
me to Compile and Enlarge this Volume, which with so great Charge, Labour,
and Study, I had long before provided.

Having made an end thereof, I was somewhat unwilling to suffer it to appear to
the publike View of all Men (I being now old, and trussing up my Fardel) for there
are many most excellent Things fit for the Worthiest Nobles, which should ignorant
men (that were never bred up in the sacred Principles of Philosophy) come to know,
they would grow contemptible, and be undervalued; As Plato saith, to Dionysi∣us,
They seem to make Philosophy ridiculous, who endeavour to prosti∣tute
Her Excellence to prophane and illiterate Men.

Also here are conceived many hurtful and mischievous things, wherewith wicked
and untoward men may mischief others; What then must I do? let Envy be driven
away, and a desire to benefit Posterity, vanquish all other thoughts: The most Ma∣jestick
Wonders of Nature are not to be concealed, that in them we may admire the
Mighty Power of God, his wisdom, his Bounty, and therein Reverence and Adore
him. Whatsoever these are, I set them before you, that you may discern my Diligence
and Benevolence towards you; Had I withheld these Things from the World, I fear
I should have undergone the reproach of a wicked man; for (Cicero derives this
from Plato) we are not born for our selves alone, but our Countrey will
challenge a part, our Parents and our Friends require their parts also from
us. Wherefore such Things as hitherto lay hid in the Bosome of wondrous Nature, shall
come to light, from the Store-houses of the most ingenious Men, without fraud, or
deceit.

I Discover those Things that have been long hid, either by the Envy or Ignorance
of others, Nor shall you here finde empty Trifles, or Riddles, or bare Authorities
of other men.

I did not think fit to omit any thing by erring Honestly, or following the best Lea∣ders,
But such as are Magnificent and most Excellent, I have veil'd by the Artifice
of Words, by Transposition and Depression of them; And such Things as are hurt∣ful
and mischievous, I have written obscurely; yet not so, but that an ingenious
Reader may unfold it, and the wit of one that will throughly search may comprehend it.

I have added some things that are Profitable, and rarely Known, because they are
most true. Sometimes from Things most Known, and meanly esteemed, we ascend to
Things most Profitable and High, which the Minde can scarce reach unto: One's
Understanding cannot comprehend High and Sublime Things, unless it stand firm
on most true Principles. The Mathematical Sciences, rise from some trivial and
common Axioms, to most Sublime Demonstrations. Wherefore I thought it better to
Write true Things and Profitable, than false Things that are great. True Things be
they never so small, will give occasions to Discover greater things by them. The in∣finite
multitude of Things is incomprehensible, and more than a man may be able to
contemplate.

In our Method I shall observe what our Ancestors have said; Then I shall shew
by my own Experience, whether they be true or false, and last of all my own Inven∣tions,
That Learned Men may see how exceedingly this later Age hath surpassed
Antiquity.

Many men have written what they never saw, nor did they know the Simples that
were the Ingredients, but they set them down from other mens traditions, by an in∣bred
and importunate desire to adde something, so Errors are propagated by succes∣sion,
and at last grow infinite, that not so much as the Prints of the former remain.


That not onely the Experiment will be difficult, but a man can hardly reade them
without laughter.

Moreover, I pass by many men, who have written Wonders to be delivered to
Posterity, promising Golden Mountains, yet Write otherwise then they thought.
Hence most ingenious men, and desirous to learn, are detained for a very long time
(and when they despair of obtaining what they seek for, they finde that they spent their
time, pains, and charge in vain) and so driven to desparation, they are forced to
repent by leisure: Others grown wise by other mens harms, learn to hate those Things
before they know them.

I have divided these Secrets into several Classes, that every man may finde what
he likes best.

Lastly, I should willingly pass by the offending of your Ears, if I had no care to re∣fell
the Calumnies of detractors and envious men, that most immo••esily wound me,
calling me a Sorcerer, a Conjurer, which names from my tender Youth I have ab∣horr'd.
Indeed I always held myself to be a man subject to Errors and Infirmities;
therefore desired the assistances of many Learned men, and that if I had not faith∣fully
interpreted, they would reprove me; But what I always feared came to pass,
that I should fall into the hands of some vile and hateful men, who by doing injury to
others, justly or unjustly, labour to win the popular and base Approbation, and Ap∣plause
of the Vulgar, by whose venom'd Teeth, those that are wounded do not con∣sume,
but by retorting the venome back upon them, they overthrow their own Honor.

A certain Frenchman in his Book called Daemonomania, Tearms me a Magi∣cian,
a Conjurer, and thinks this Book of mine, long since Printed, worthy to be burnt,
because I have written the Fairies Oyntment, which I set forth onely in detestation
of the frauds of Divels and Witches; That which comes by Nature is abused by their
superstition, which I borrowed from the Books of the most commendable Divines.
What have I offended herein, that they should call me a Conjurer? But when I en∣quired
of many Noble and Learned Frenchmen, that were pleased to Honour me
with their Visits; what that man was, they answered that he was an Heretick, and
that he had escaped from being cast headlong from a Tower, upon Saint Bartholo∣mew
his day, which is the time appointed for the destruction of such wicked men.
In the mean time I shall desire the great and good God (as it becomes a Noble and
Christian man to do) that he may be converted to the Catholike Faith, and may not
be condemned whilst he lives.

Another Frenchman who unworthily reviled all the Learned men of his Age,
joyns me amongst them, and holds, that onely three Physitians, that are his Friends,
are Praise-worthy, as the most Learned of all men of our Times; and amongst them
he reckons up himself; for the Book is published in his Name, it is a wonder what
Inventions that man hath found out to win praise, who having no man to commend
him, nor is he worthy commendations, yet he hath undertaken to commend him∣self.
I pass over other men of the same temper, who affirm that I am a Witch and
a Conjurer, whereas I never Writ here nor elswhere, what is not contain'd within
the bounds of Nature.

Wherefore, Studious Readers, accept my long Labours, that cost me much Study,
Travel, Expence, and much Inconvenience, with the same Minde that I pub∣lish
them; and remove all Blindness and Malice, which are wont to dazle the sight
of the Minde, and hinder the Truth; weigh these Things with a right Judgement,
when you try what I have Written, for finding both Truth and Profit, you will (it
may be) think better of my Pains. Yet I am assured there will be many ignorant
people, void of all serious Matters, that will Hate and Envy these Things, and


will Rashly pronounce, That some of these Experiments are not only false, but impossible
to be done; And whilst they strive by Arguments and vain Disputes, to overthrow
the Truth, they betray there own ignnorance: Such men, as vile, are to be driven from
the Limits of our NATURAL MAGICK: For they that believe not
Natures Miracles, do, after a manner, endeavour to abolish Philosophy. If I have
over-passed some Things, or not spoken so Properly of them, as I might; I know
there is nothing so Beautiful, but it may be Adorned; Nor so Full, but it may
be Augmented.

J. B. P.

Page 1

The FIRST BOOK OF Natural Magick: Wherein are searched out the Causes of things which pro∣duce wonderful Effects.

CHAP. I.

What is meant by the name of Magick.

POrphyry and Apuleius, great Platonicks, in an Oration made in
the defence of Magick, do witness, that Magick took her name
and original from Persia. Tully, in his book of Divination,
saith, that in the Persian language, a Magician is nothing else
but one that expounds and studies divine things; and it is the
general name of Wise-men in that country. S. Jerome writing
to Paulinus, saith that Apollonius Tyanaeus was a Magician, as the
people thought; or a Philosopher, as the Pythagoreans esteem∣ed
him. Pliny saith, that it is received for a certainty among
most Authors, that Magick was begun in Persia by Zoroastres the son of Orimasius; or,
as more curious Writers hold, by another Zoroastres, surnamed Proconnesius, who li∣ved
a little before. The first Author that ever wrote of Magick, was Osthanes, who
going with Xerxes king of Persia in the war which he made against Greece, did scatter
by the way as it were the seeds and first beginnings of this wonderful Art, infecting
the world with it wheresoever he came; insomuch that the Grecians did not onely
greedily desire this knowledge, but they were even mad after it. So then Magick
is taken amongst all men for Wisdom, and the perfect knowledge of natural things:
and those are called Magicians, whom the Latines call Wise-men, the Greeks call
Philosophers, of Pythagoras onely, the first of that name, as Diogenes writes: the
Indians call them Brackmans, in their own tongue; but in Greek they call them Gy∣mnosophists,
as much to say as naked Philosophers: the Babylonians and Assyrians
call them Chaldeans, of Chaldaea a county in Asia: the Celtes in France call them
Druids, Bards, and Semnothites: the Egyptians call them Priests; and the Cabalists
call them Prophets. And so in divers countries Magick hath divers names. But we
finde that the greatest part of those who were best seen into the nature of things, were
excellent Magicians: as, amongst the Persians, Zoroastres the son of Orimasius, whom
we spake of before; amongst the Romanes, Numa Pompilius; Thespion, amongst the
Gymnosophists; Zamolxis, amongst the Thracians; Abbaris, amongst the Hyperbo∣reans;
Hermes, amongst the Aegyptians: and Budda, amongst the Babylonians. Be∣side
these, Apuleius reckons up Carinondas, Damigeron, Hismoses, Apollonius, and 〈◊〉danus, who all followed Zoroastres and Osthanes.

CHAP. II.
What is the Nature of Magick.

THere are two sorts of Magick: the one is infamous, and unhappie, because it hath
to do with foul spirits, and consists of Inchantments and wicked Curiosity; and
this is called Sorcery; an art which all learned and good men derest; neither is it
able to yeeld any truth of Reason or Nature, but stands meerly upon fancies and
imaginations, such as vanish presently away, and leave nothing behinde them; as
Jamblichus writes in his book concerning the mysteries of the Aegyptians. The other

Page 2

Magick is natural; which all excellent wise men do admit and embrace, and worship
with great applause; neither is there any thing more highly esteemed, or better thought
of, by men of learning. The most noble Philosophers that ever were, Pythagoras,
Empedocles, Democrites, and Plato, forsook their own countries, and lived abroad as
exiles and banished men, rather then as strangers; and all to search out and to attain
this knowledge; and when they came home again, this was the Science which they
professed, and this they esteemed a profound mysterie. They that have been most
skilfu• in dark and hidden points of learning, do call this knowledge the very high∣est
point, and the perfection of natural Science; insomuch that if they could find
out or devise amongst all natural Sciences, any one thing more excellent or more
wonderful then another, that they would still call by the name of Magick. Others
have named it the practical part of natural Philosophy, which produceth her effects
by the mutual and fit application of one natural thing unto another. The Platonicks,
as Plotinus imitating Mercurius, writes in his book of Sacrifice and Magick, makes it
to be a Science whereby inferiour things are made subject to superiours, earthly
are subdued to heavenly; and by certain pretty allurements, it fetcheth forth the
properties of the whole frame of the world. Hence the Aegyptians termed Nature
her self a Magician, because she hath an alluring power to draw like things by their
likes; and this power, say they, consists in love: and the things that were so drawn
and brought together by the affinity of Nature, those (they said) were drawn by
Magick. But I think that Magick is nothing else but the survey of the whole course
of Nature. For, whilst we consider the Heavens, the Stars, the Elements, how they
are moved, and how they are changed, by this means we find out the hidden secre∣cies
of living creatures, of plants, of metals, and of their generation and corrupti∣on;
so that this whole Science seems meerly to depend upon the view of Nature,
as afterward we shall see more at large. This doth Plato seem to signifie in his Alci∣biades,
where he saith, That the Magick of Zoroastres, was nothing else, in his opinion,
but the knowledge and study of Divine things, wherewith the Kings Sons of Persia, amongst
other princely qualities, were endued; that by the example of the Common-wealth of the
whole world, they also might learn to govern their own Common-wealth. And Tully, in
his book of Divinations, saith, That amongst the Persians no man might be a King, un∣less
he had first learned the Art of Magick: for as Nature governs the world by the
mutual agreement and disagreement of the creatures; after the same sort they also might
learn to govern the Common-wealth committed unto them. This Art, I say, is full of
much vertue, of many secret mysteries; it openeth unto us the properties and quali∣ties
of hidden things, and the knowledge of the whole course of Nature; and it
reacheth us by the agreement and the disagreement of things, either so to s•nder
them, or else to lay them so together by the mutual and fit applying of one thing
to another, as thereby we do strange works, such as the vulgar sort call miracles, and
such as men can neither well conceive, nor sufficiently admire. For this cause, Ma∣gick
was wont to flourish in Aethiopia and India, where was great store of herbs and
stones, and such other things as were fit for these purposes. Wherefore, as many of
you as come to behold Magick, must be perswaded that the works of Magick are no∣thing
else but the works of Nature, whose dutiful hand-maid Magick is. For if she
find any want in the affinity of Nature, that it is not strong enough, she doth supply
such defects at convenient seasons, by the help of vapours, and by observing due
measures and proportions; as in Husbandry, it is Nature that brings forth corn and
herbs, but it is Art that prepares and makes way for them. Hence was it that Anti∣pho
the Poet said, That we overcome those things by Art, wherein Nature doth overcome
us; and Plotinus calls a Magician such a one as works by the help of Nature onely,
and not by the help of Art. Superstitious, profane, and wicked men have nothing
to do with this Science; her gate is shut against them: neither do we judge them
worthy to be driven away from this profession onely, but even out of Cities, and
out of the world, to be grievously punished, and utterly destroyed. But now, what
is the 〈◊〉, and what must be the learning of this professor, we purpose to 〈◊〉 in
that which floweth.

Page 3
CHAP. III.
The Instruction of a Magician, and what manner of man a Magician ought to be.

NOw it is meet to instruct a Magician, both what he must know, and what he must
observe; that being sufficiently instructed every way, he may bring very strange
and wonderful things to pass. Seeing Magick, as we shewed before, is a practical
part of Natural Philosophy, therefore it behoveth a Magician, and one that aspires
to the dignity of that profession, to be an exact and a very perfect Philosopher. For
Philosophy teaches, what are the effects of fire, earth, air, and water, the principal
matter of the heavens; and what is the cause of the flowing of the Sea, and of the
divers-coloured Rain-bowe; and of the loud Thunder, and of Comets, and firy lights
that appear by night, and of Earth-quakes; and what are the beginnings of Gold and
of Iron; and what is the whole witty force of hidden Nature. Then also he
must be a skilful Physician: for both these Sciences are very like and neer together;
and Physick, by creeping in under colour of Magick, hath purchased favour amongst
men. And surely it is a great help unto us in this kinde: for it teaches mixtures and
temperatures, and so shews us how to compound and lay things together for such
purposes. Moreover, it is required of him, that he be an Herbalist, not onely able to
discern common Simples, but very skilful and sharp-sighted in the nature of all
plants: for the uncertain names of plants, and their neer likeness of one to another,
so that they can hardly be discerned, hath put us to much trouble in some of our
works and experiments. And as there is no greater inconvenience to any Artificer,
then not to know his tools that he must work with: so the knowledge of plants is so
necessary to this profession, that indeed it is all in all. He must be as well seen also
in the nature of Metals, Minerals Gems and Stones. Furthermore, what cunning he
must have in the art of Distillation, which follows and resembles the showers and
dew of heaven, as the daughter the mother; I think no man will doubt of it: for
it yeelds daily very strange inventions, and most witty devices, and shews how to
finde out many things profitable for the use of man: As for example, to draw out of
things dewy vapours, unsavoury and gross sents or spirits, clots, and gummy or slimy
humours; and that intimate essence which lurks in the inmost bowels of things, to
fetch it forth, and sublimate it, that it may be of the greater strength. And this he
must learn to do, not after a rude and homely manner, but with knowledge of the
causes and reasons thereof. He must also know the Mathematical Sciences, and espe∣cially
Astrologie; for that shews how the Stars are moved in the heavens, and what
is the cause of the darkning of the Moon; and how the Sun, that golden planet,
measures out the parts of the world, and governs it by twelve Signes: for by the
sundry motions and aspects of the heavens, the celestial bodies are very beneficial to
the earth; and from thence many things receive both active and passive powers, and
their manifold properties: the difficulty of which point long troubled the Platonicks
mindes, how these inferiour things should receive influence from heaven. More∣over,
he must be skilful in the Opticks, that he may know how the sight may be de∣ceived,
and how the likeness of a vision that is seen in the water, may be seen hang∣ing
without in the air, by the help of certain Glasses of divers fashions; and how to
make one see that plainly which is a great way off, and how to throw fire very far
from us: upon which sleights, the greatest part of the secrecies of Magick doth de∣pend.
These are the Sciences which Magick takes to her self for servants and help∣ers;
and he that knows not these, is unworthy to be named a Magician. He must
be a skilful workman, both by natural gifts, and also by the practise of his own hands:
for knowledge without practice and workmanship, and practice without knowledge,
are nothing worth; these are so linked together, that the one without the other is but
vain, and to no purpose. Some there are so apt for these enterprises, even by the gifts
of Nature, that God may seem to have made them hereunto. Neither yet do I
speak this, as if Art could not perfect any thing: for I know that good things may
be made better, and there are means to remedy and help foward that which lacks
Page 4

perfection. First, let a man consider and prepare things providently and skilfully,
and then let him fall to work, and do nothing unadvisedly. This I thought good to
speak of, that if at any time the ignorant be deceived herein, he may not lay the fault
upon us, but upon his own unskilfulness: for this is the infirmity of the scholar, and
not of the teacher: for if rude and ignorant men shall deal in these matters, this
Science will be much discredited, and those strange effects will be accounted hap∣hazard,
which are most certain, and follow their necessary cause. If you would
have your works appear more wonderful, you must not let the cause be known: for
that is a wonder to us, which we see to be done, and yet know not the cause of it:
for he that knows the causes of a thing done, doth not so admire the doing of it; and
nothing is counted unusual and rare, but onely so far forth as the causes thereof are
not known. Aristotle in his books of Handy-trades, saith, that master-builders frame
and make their tools to work with; but the principles thereof, which move admi∣ration,
those they conceal. A certain man put out a candle; and putting it to a stone
or a wall, lighted it again; and this seemed to be a great wonder: but when once
they perceived that he touched it with brimstone, then, saith Galen, it ceased to seem
a wonder. A miracle, saith Ephesius, is dissolved by that wherein it seemed to be a
miracle. Lastly, the professor of this Science must also be rich: for if we lack mo∣ney,
we shall hardly work in these cases: for it is not Philosophy that can make us
rich; we must first be rich, that we may play the Philosophers. He must spare for no
charges, but be prodigal in seeking things out; and while he is busie and careful in
seeking, he must be patient also, and think it not much to recal many things; neither
must he spare for any pains: for the secrets of Nature are not revealed to lazie and
idle persons. Wherefore Epicharmus said very well, that men purchase all things at
Gods hands by the price of their labour. And if the effect of thy work be not
answerable to my description, thou must know that thy self hast failed in some one
point or another; for I have set down these things briefly, as being made for wrt∣ty
and skilful workmen, and not for rude and young beginners.

CHAP. IV.
The opinions of the antient Philosophers touching the causes of strange operations; and first, of the Elements.

THose effects of Nature which oft-times we behold, have so imployed the antient
Philosophers minds in the searching forth of their causes, that they have taken
great pains, and yet were much deceived therein; insomuch that divers of them
have held divers opinions: which it shall not be amiss to relate, before we proceed
any farther. The first sort held that all things proceed from the Elements,
and that
these are the first beginnings of things; the fire, according to Hippasus Metaponti∣nus,
and Heraclides Ponticus; the air, according to Diogenes Apolloniates, and Anaxi∣menes;
and the water, according to Thales Milesius. These therefore they held to
be the very original and first seeds of Nature; even the Elements, simple and pure
bodies (whereas the Elements that now are, be but counterfeits and bastards to
them; for they are all changed, every one of them being more or less medled with
one another) those, say they, are the material principles of a natural body, and
they are moved and altered by continual succession of change; and they are so
wrapt up together within the huge cope of heaven, that they fill up this whole space
of the world which is situate beneath the Moon; for the fire being the lightest and
purest Element, hath gotten up aloft, and chose it self the highest room, which they
call the element of fire. The next Element to this is the Air, which is somwhat more
weighty then the fire, and it is spread abroad in a large and huge compass; and pas∣sing
through all places, doth make mens bodies framable to her temperature, and
is gathered together sometimes thick into dark clouds, sometimes thinner into
mists, and so is resolved. The next to these is the water; and then the last and
lowest of all, which is scraped and compacted together out of the purer Elements,
Page 5

and is called the Earth; a thick and grosse substance, very solid, and by no means
to be pierced through: so that there is no solid and firm body but hath earth in it,
as also there is no vacant space but hath air in it. This Element of earth is situate in
the middle and centre of all, and is round beset with all the rest; and this only
stands still and unmoveable, whereas all the rest are carried with a circular motion
round about it. But Hippon and Critias held that the vapours of the Elements were
the first beginnings: Parmenides held that their qualities were the principles; for
all things (saith he) consist of cold and heat. The Physitians hold that all things consist
of four qualities, hear, cold, moisture, drouth, and of their predominancy when
they meet together; for every Element doth embrace as it were with certain armes
his neighbour-Element which is next situate to him; and yet they have also contrary
and sundry qualities whereby they differ: for the wisdom of nature hath framed
this workmanship of the world by due and set measure, and by a wonderful fitnesse
and conveniency of one thing with another; for whereas every Element had two
qualities, wherein it agreed with some, and disagreed with other Elements, nature
hath bestowed such a double quality upon every one, as finds in other two her like,
which she cleaves unto: as for example, the air and the fire; this is hot and dry,
that is hot and moist: now dry and moist are contraries, and thereby fire and air
disagree; but because either of them is hot, thereby they are reconciled. So the
Earth is cold and dry, and the water cold and moist; so that they disagree, in that
the one is moist, the other dry; but yet are reconciled, in as much as they are both
cold; otherwise they could hardly agree. Thus the fire by little and little is changed
into air, because either of them is hot; the air into the water, because either of
them is moist; the water into the earth, because either of them is cold; and the
earth into fire, because either of them is dry: and so they succeed each other after
a most provident order. From thence also they are turned back again into themselves,
the order being inverted, and so they are made mutually of one another: for the
change is easie in those that agree in any one common quality; as fire and air be ea∣sily
changed into each other, by reason of heat: but where either of the qualities
are opposite in both, as in fire and water, there this change is not so easie. So then,
heat, cold, moisture and drouth, are the first and principal qualities, in as much as
they proceed immediately from the Elements, and produce certain secondary ef∣fects.
Now two of them, namely heat and cold, are active qualities, fitter to be do∣ing
themselves, then to suffer of others: the other two, namely moisture and drouth,
are passive; not because they are altogether idle, but because they follow and are pre∣served
by the other. There are certain secondary qualities, which attend as it were
upon the first; and these are said to work in a second sort; as to soften, to ripen, to
resolve, to make lesse or thinner: as when heat works into any mixt body, it
brings out that which is unpure, and so whilst it strives to make it fit for his purpose,
that it may be more simple, the body becometh thereby smaller and thinner: so
cold doth preserve, binde, and congeal; drouth doth thicken or harden, and
makes uneven; for when there is great store of moisture in the utter parts, that
which the drouth is not able to consume, it hardens, and so the utter parts become
rugged; for that part where the moisture is gone, sinking down, and the other
where it is hardened, rising up, there must needs be great roughnesse and rugged∣nesse:
so moisture doth augment, corrupt, and for the most part works one thing
by it self, and another by some accident; as by ripening, binding, expelling, and
such like, it brings forth milk, urine, monethly flowers, and sweat; which the Phy∣sitians
call the third qualities, that do so wait upon the second, as the second upon
the first: and sometime they have their operations in some certain parts, as to
strengthen the head, to succour the reins; and these, some call fourth qualities. So
then, these are the foundations, as they call them, of all mixt bodies, and of all
wonderful operations: and whatsoever experiments they proved, the causes hereof
rested (as they supposed) and were to be found in the Elements and their qualities.
But Empedocles Agrigentinus not thinking that the Elements were sufficient for this
purpose, added unto them moreover concord and discord, as the causes of genera∣tion
Page 6

and corruption: There be four principal seeds or beginnings of all things; Ju∣piter,
that is to say, fire; Pluto, that is to say, earth; Juno, that is to say, air; and
Nestis, that is to say, water: all these sometimes love and concord knits together
in one, and sometimes discord doth sunder them and make them flie apart. This
concord and discord, said he, are found in the Elements by reason of their sundry
qualities wherein they agree and disagree: yea, even in heaven it self, as Jupiter and
Venus love all Planets save Mars and Saturn, Venus agrees with Mars, whereas no
Planet else agrees with him. There is also another disagreement amongst them,
which ariseth from the oppositions and elevations of their houses: for even the
twelve signs are both at concord and at discord among themselves, as Manilius the
Poet hath shewed.

CHAP. V.
That divers operations of Nature proceed from the essential forms of things.

ALl the Peripatericks, and most of the latter Philosophers could not see how
all operations should proceed from those causes which the Antients have set
down; for they find that many things work quite contrary to their qualities, and
therefore they have imagined that there is some other matter in it, and that it is the
power and properties of essential formes. But now that all things may be made
more plain, we must consider that it will be a great help unto us, for the making and
finding out of strange things, to know what that is from whence the vertues of any
thing do proceed: that so we may be able to discern and distinguish one thing from
another, without confounding all order of truth. Whereas one and the same com∣pound
yeelds many effects of different kinds, as we shall find in the processe of
this Book, yet every man confesseth that there is but one only original cause there∣in
that produceth all these effects. And seeing we are about to open plainly this ori∣ginal
cause, we must begin a little higher. Every natural substance (I mean a com∣pound
body) is composed of matter and form, as of her principles: neither yet do
I exclude the principal qualities of the Elements from doing their part herein; for
they also concur, and make up the number of three principles: for when the Ele∣ments
meet together in the framing of any compound, the same compound retains
certain excellent and chief qualities of theirs; whereof though all help together to
bring forth any effects, yet the superiour and predominant qualities are held to do
all, because they make the power of their inferiour; to become theirs: for unlesse
some were stronger then other, their vertues could not be perceived. Neither yet
is the matter quite destitute of all force: I speak here, not of the first and simple
matter, but of that which consists of the substances and properties of the Elements,
especially the two passible elements, the Earth and the Water: and those which
Aristotle calleth sometimes secondary qualities, sometimes bodily effects, we may
term them the functions and powers of the matter; as thinnesse, thicknesse, rough∣nesse,
smoothnesse, easinesse to be cleft, and such like, are altogether in the power of
the matter, howbeit they proceed all from the Elements. Therefore to avoid con∣fusion,
it is better to hold that the effects of the qualities come of the temperature
or mixture of the Elements, but the effects of the matter from the consistence or
substances of them. But the Form hath such singular vertue, that whatsoever effects
we see, all of them first proceed from thence; and it hath a divine beginning: and be∣ing
the chiefest and most excellent part, absolute of her self, she useth the rest as
her instruments, for the more speedy and convenient dispatch of her actions: and
he which is not addicted nor accustomed to such contemplations, supposeth that the
temperature and the matter works all things, whereas indeed they are but as it were
instruments whereby the form worketh: for a workman that useth a graving Iron in
the carving of an Image, doth not use it as though that could work, but for his own
furtherance in the quicker and better performance thereof. Therefore whereas
there are three efficient and working causes in every compound, we must not suppose
Page 7

any of them to be idle, but all at work, some more and some lesse; but above all
other, the form is most active and busie strengthening the rest; which surely would
be to no purpose if the form should fail them, in as much as they are not capable
of heavenly influences. And though the form of it self be not able to produce such
effects, but the rest also must do their parts, yet are they neither confounded toge∣ther,
not yet become divers things; but they are so knit among themselves, that
one stands in need of anothers help. He that scans these things well by the search
of reason, shall find no obscurity herein, nor confound the knowledge of the truth.
Wherefore that force which is called the property of a thing, proceeds not from
the temperature, but from the very form it self.

CHAP. VI.
Whence the Form cometh; and of the chain that Homer faigned, and the rings that Pla∣to mentioneth.

So then, the form, as it is the most excellent part, so it cometh from a most ex∣cellent
place; even immediately from the highest heavens, they receiving it from
the intelligences, and these from God himself: and the same original which the
Form hath, consequently the properties also have. Zeno Citticus holds two begin∣nings,
God and Matter; the one of them active or efficient, the other the passive
principle. For God, as Plato thinks, when by the Almighty power of his Deity he
had framed in due measure and order the heavens, the stars, and the very first prin∣ciples
of things the Elements, which wast away by reason of so many generations
and corruptions, did afterwards by the power of the Heavens and Elements, or∣dain
the kinds of living creatures, plants, and things without life, every one in
their degree, that they might not be of the same estate and condition as the hea∣vens
are; and he enjoyned inferiour things to be ruled of their superiours, by a set
Law, and poured down by heavenly influence upon every thing his own proper
Form, ful of much strength and activity: and that there might be a continual encrease
amongst them, he commanded all things to bring forth seed, and to propagate and
derive their Form wheresoever should be fit matter to receive it. So then, seeing
that formes come from heaven, they must needs be counted Divine and heavenly
things: for such is the pattern and the most excellent cause of them, which Plato, that
chief Philosopher, calls the soul of the World, and Aristotle universal Nature, and
Avicenna calls it the Form-giver. This Form-giver doth not make it of any thing,
as though it were but some frail and transitory substance, but fercheth it meerly out
of himself, and bestows it first upon intelligences and stars, then by certain
aspects informeth the Elements, as being fit instruments to dispose the matter. See∣ing
therefore this Form cometh from the Elements, from heaven, from the intelli∣gences,
yea from God himself; who is so foolish and untoward, as to say that it
doth not savour of that heavenly nature, and in some sort of the Majesty of God
himself? and that it doth not produce such effects, as nothing can be found more
wonderfull, seeing it hath such affinity with God? Thus hath the providence of
God linked things together in their rankes and order, that all inferiour things might
by their due courses be derived originally from God himself, and from him receive
their Operations. For God the first cause and beginner of things, as Macrobius
saith, of his own fruitfulnesse hath created and brought forth a Spirit, the Spirit
brought forth a Soul, (but the •••th of Christianity saith otherwise) the Soul is fur∣nished
partly with reason, which it bestows up Divine things, as heaven and the
stars (for therefore are they said to have Divine Spirits) and partly with sensitive and
vegerative powers, which it bestows upon frail and transitor• things. Thus much Vir∣gil
well perceiving, calleth this Spirit, The soul of the World; The Spirit, saith he,
cherisheth it within, and conveying it self through the inmost parts, quickens and
moves the whole lump, and closeth with this huge body. Wherefore seeing Ma•∣stands
as it were in the middle, betwixt eternal and those trans•ory things, and is not
Page 8

altogether so excellent as heaven, and yet, because of his reason, more excellent then
other living creatures; and he hath also the sensitive power: therefore the other
living creatures, as it were degenerating from man, are indued onely with the two
powers that remain, the sensitive and vegetative powers. But the Trees or Plants,
because they have neither sense nor reason, but do onely grow are said to live on∣ly
in this respect, that they have this vegetative soul. This the same Poet doth ex∣presse
a little after. Seeing then the Spirit cometh from God, and from the Spirit
cometh the soul, and the soul doth animate and quicken all other things in their or∣der,
that Plants and bruit beasts do agree in vegetation or growing, bruit beasts
with Man in sense, and Man with the Divine creatures in understanding, so that the
superior power cometh down even from the very first cause to these inferiours, de∣riving
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 Ho∣mers
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, be∣ing
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, pre∣sently
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 poste∣rity,
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 ten∣drels
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, A•∣drocides
found out a remedy against wine, namely, that Coleworts are good against
Page 9

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 o∣ther:
now this Sow-bread being put into wine, doth encrease drunkennesse, where∣as
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 enmi∣ty
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 quick∣ly.
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, a∣noint
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 com∣piled
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 mini∣streth
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 reme∣dy
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 ha∣tred
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 makes no ado, but
his savage fury ceaseth, and his strength failes him. Hence came that proverb, Lu∣pus
in fabula, the Wolf cometh in the nick; which Plato speaks of in his Poli∣ticks.
The Wolf is afraid of the Urchin; thence, if we wash our mouth and
throats with Urchines blood, it will make our voice shrill, though before it were
hoarse and dull like a Wolves voice. A Dog and a Wolfe are at great enmity; and
therefore a Wolves skin put upon any one that is bitten of a mad Dog, as∣swageth
the swelling of the humour. An Hawk is a deadly enemy to Pigeons,
but they are defended by the Kastrel, which the Hawk cannot abide either to
hear or see: and this the Pigeons know well enough; for wheresoever the Kastrel
remains, there also will the Pigeon remain, thinking themselves safe because of
their protector. Hence Columella saith, That there is a kind of Hawks which the
common-people call a Kastrel, that builds her nest about houses, that is very good
to keep away hawks from a Pigeon-house: If you take the Kastrels young ones and
put them in divers earthen pots, and cover the pots close, & plaister them round about,
and hang them up in sundry corners of a Pigeon-house, the Pigeons will be so far
Page 10

in love with the place, that they will never forsake it. Hither belongeth that no∣table
Disagreement that is betwixt Garlick and the Load-stone: for being smeared
about with Garlike, it will not draw iron to it; as Plutark hath noted, and after
him Ptolomaeus: the Load-stone hath in it a poisonous vertue, and Garlick is good
against poison: but if no man had written of the power of Garlick against the Load-stone,
yet we might conjecture it to be so, because it is good against vipers, and
mad dogs, and poisonous waters. So likewise those living creatures that are ene∣mies
to poisonous things, and swallow them up without danger, may shew us that
such poisons will cure the bitings and blows of those creatures. The Hart and the
Serpent are at continual enmity: the Serpent as soon as he seeth the Hart, gets him
into his hole, but the Hart draws him out again with the breath of his nostrils, and
devours him: hence it is that the fat and the blood of Harts, and the stones that
grow in their eyes, are ministred as fit remedies against the stinging and biting of
serpents. Likewise the breath of Elephants draws Serpents out of their dens,
and they fight with Dragons; and therefore the members of Elephants burned,
drives away Serpents. The Storks drive out of the Countreyes where they are, Ly∣zards,
and sundry kinds of Serpents, and other noisome things in the fields: and
the intrails of them all are good against the Storks. The same is done also in Egypt
by the bird Ibis. That Indian Rat, called Ichneumon, doth harnsse himself with
some of the Lote-tree, and so fights against the Asp. The Lamprey fights with Ser∣pents,
and with her biting, kills the Basilisk, which is the most poisonous serpent
that is. So also the crowing of a Cock affrights the Basilisk, and he fights with Ser∣pents
to defend his hens; and the broth of a Cock is a good remedy against the
poison of serpents. So the Snail and the Eagle. The Stellion, which is a beast like
a Lyzard, is an enemy to the Scorpions; and therefore the oyle of him being pu∣trified
is good to anoint the place which is stricken by the Scorpion. The Barbel eats
up the Sea-hare, and is good against the poison thereof. A Swine eats up a Salaman∣der,
without danger, and is good against the poison thereof. The Hawk is an enemy
to the Chamaeleon, and his dung drunken in wine, is good against the poison
of the Chamaeleon. Likewise out of the Sympathies of plants, we may gather some
secret, which is helpful against some kind of hurt. The herb Corruda, whereof
Sperage comes, is most fitly planted where Reed grows, because they are of much
likenesse and neernesse; and both of them are inciters to lust. The Vine and the
Olive-tree do joy in each others company, as Africanus writes: both of them are
very commodious for mens uses. In like manner the Morehenne loves the Hart,
which is given to lust; both of their members are inciters to venery. The Goat
and the Partridge love each other; and both these are goo• for one and the same re∣medy.
So the fish Sargus and the Goat. A Dog is most 〈◊〉 to a man; and if
you lay him to any diseased part of your body, he takes away the disease to himself;
as Pliny reporteth.

CHAP. VIII.
That things receive their force and power from Heaven, and from the Stars; and that thereby many things are wrought.

I Suppose that no man doubts but that these inferiour things serve their superiours,
and that the generation and corruption of mutable things, every one in his due
course and order, is over-ruled by the power of those heavenly Natures. The
Aegyptians, who first proved and found out the effects of the heavens, because
they dwelt in the open Champion-fields, where they had continually fair wea∣ther,
and there were no vapours sent up from the earth which might hinder
their contemplation of heaven, so that they might continually behold the
Stars in their brightnesse, did therefore wholly bestow themselves in the know∣ledge
of heavenly influences: and whereas others that were not so diligent
as they, stood amazed at the causes of things, these men referred all to the
heavens and the Stars, that all things took their destiny from them, and that the
influence of heaven bare great sway in all generations and corruptions; and thus
observing the motions of the stars to and fro, they wrought many wonderful things;
Page 11

for this was their resolution, that to certain hours and set times, there were an∣swerable
certain aspects of superiour powers, whereby all things were effected,
Ptolomy was of the same minde, who reduced the heavenly influences to a certain
order, and thereby did progno••icate many things: and he thought the matter so
clear, that it need not much proof: and moreover, that the increase and decrease
of all plants, and all living creatures, more or lesse, did proceed from the power
and stroke of the stars. Aristotle, finding that the highest motion was the cause
and beginning of all things, (for if that should cease, these must needs presently de∣cay)
saith, that it was necessity for this world to be placed very neer and close to the
sup•••our motions, that all power might be thence derived; and he saw that all this
force of inferiour things was caused from the Sun, as he himself fitly shews: The
winding course of the Sun, saith he, in the oblique circle of the Zodiak, causeth
the generation and corruption of all transitory things; and by his going to and fro,
distinguisheth times and seasons. Plato saith, that the circular motions of the hea∣vens
are the causes of fruitfulnesse and barrennesse. The Sun is the Governour of
time, and the rule of life. Hence J•m•lichus following the doctrine of the Aegyp∣tians,
saith, that every good thing cometh certainly from the power of the Sun; and
if we receive any good from any thing else, yet the Sun must perfect and finish it.
Heraclitus calls the Sun, the Fountain of heavenly light; Orpheus calls it the light
of life; Plato calls it a heavenly Fire, an everliving Creature, a star that hath a Soul;
the greatest and the daily star: and the natural Philosophers call it the very heart of
heaven. And Plotinus shews, that in antient times the Sun was honoured in stead of
God. Neither yet is the Moon lesse powerful, but what with her own force, and
what with the force of the Sun which she borrows, she works much, by reason of her
neernesse to these inferiours. Albumasar said, That all things had their vertue from
the Sun and the Moon: and Hermes the learned said, that the Sun and the Moon are
the life of all things living. The Moon is nighest to the Earth of all Planets; she
rules moist bodies, and she hath such affinity with these inferiours, that as well things
that have souls, as they that have none, do feel in themselves her waxing, and her
waining. The Seas and Flouds, Rivers and Springs, do rise and fall, do run some∣times
swifter, sometimes flower, as she rules them The surges of the Sea are tost
to and fro, by continual succession; no other cause whereof the Antients could find
but the Moon only: neither is there any other apparent reason of the ebbing
and flowing thereof. Living creatures are much at her beck, and receive from her
great encrease: for when she is at the full, as Lucilius saith, she feeds Oysters, Crabs,
Shelfish, and such like, which her warm light doth temper kindly in the night sea∣son;
but when she is but the half or the quarter light, then she withdraws her nou∣rishment,
and they wast•▪ In like manner, Cucumbers, Gourds, Pompons, and such
like, as have store of 〈◊〉 juice, feel the state of the Moon: for they wax as she
doth; and when she 〈◊〉, they waste, as Athenaeus writes. Likewise the very
stems of plants do follow the state of the heavens; witnesse the Husband-man,
who finds it by experience in his graffing: and skilful Husbandmen have found the
course and season of the year, and the monethly race of the Moon so necessary for
plants, that they have supposed this knowledge to be one chief part of Husbandry.
So also, when the Moon passeth through those signs of the Zodiak which are most
peculiar to the earth, if you then plant trees, they will be strongly rooted in the
earth: if you plant them when she passeth through the signs of the Air, then the
tree so planted, will be plentiful in branches and leaves, and encreaseth more up∣ward
then downward. But of all other, the most pregnant sign hereof is found in
the Pome-granate; which will bring forth fruit just so many years, as many daies
as the Moon is old when you plant it. And it is a report also, that Garlick, if it
be set when the Moon is beneath the earth, and be also plucked up at such a time,
it will lose its strong savour. All cut and lopped Woods, as Timber and Fewel, are full
of much moisture at the new of the Moon; and by reason of that moisture, they wax
soft, and so the worm eats them, and they wither away. And therefore Democritus
counselleth, and Vitruvius is also of the same minde, to cut or lop trees in
Page 12

the waining of the Moon, that being cut in season, they may last long without rot∣tennesse.
And that which is more, as her age varies, so her effects vary according
to her age; for in her first quarter, she maketh hot and moist, but especially moist;
from thence all moist things grow and receive their humidity in that time: from that
time to the full of the Moon, she gives heat and moisture equally, as may be seen in
Trees and Minerals: from that time to the half Moon decaying, she is hot and moist,
but especially hot, because she is fuller of light; thence the fishes at that time com∣monly
are wont to swim in the top of the water; and that the Moon is in this age
warm, appears by this, that it doth extend and enlarge moist bodies; and thereby
the moisture encreasing, it causeth rottennesse, and maketh them wither and w••te a∣way.
But in her last quarter, when she loseth all her light, then she is meerly hot;
and the wises of Chaldea hold that this state of heaven is best of all other. So they
report that there is a Moon-herb, having round twirled leaves of a blewish colour,
which is well acquainted with the age of the Moon; for when the Moon waxeth,
this herb every day of her age brings forth a leaf; and when she waineth, the same
herb loseth for every day a leaf. These variable effects of the Moon, we may see
more at large, and more usually in tame creatures and in plants, where we have dai∣ly
sight and experience thereof. The Pismire, that little creature, hath a sense of the
change of the Plantes: for she worketh by night about the full of the Moon, but
she resteth all the space betwixt the old and the new Moon. The inwards of mice
answer the Moons proportion; for they encrease with her, and with her they also
shrink away. If we cut our hair, or pair our nailes before the new Moon, they
will grow again but slowly; if at or about the new Moon, they will grow again
quickly. The eyes of Cats are also acquainted with the alterations of the Moon, so
that they are sometimes broader as the light is lesse, and narrower when the light
of the Moon is greater. The Beetle marketh the ages and seasons of the Planets:
for he gathering dung out of the mixen, rounds it up together, and covereth
it with earth for eight and twenty daies, hiding it so long as the Moon goeth about
the Zodiak; and when the new Moon cometh, he openeth that round ball of dirt,
and thence yields a young Beetle. Onions alone, of all other herbs, (which is most
wonderful) feels the changeable state of the Planets, but quite contrary to their
change frameth it self; for when the Moon waineth, the Onions encrease; and
when she waxeth, they decay; for which cause the Priests of Egypt would not eat
Onions, as Plutark writes in his fourth Commentary upon Hesiode. That kinde of
spurge which is called Helioscopium, because it follows the Sun, disposeth of her
leaves as the Sun rules them; for when the Sun riseth, she openeth them, as being
desirous that the morning should see them rise; and shutteth them when the Sun
setteth, as desiring to have her flower covered and concealed from the night. So
many other herbs follow the Sun, as the herb Turn-sole 〈◊〉 when the Sun riseth,
she holds down her head all day long, that the Sun may never so much as writhe any
of her (there is such love as it were betwixt them) and she stoops still the same way
which the Sun goeth: so do the flowers of Succory and of Mallows. Likewise the
pulse called Lupines, still looks after the Sun, that it may not writhe his stalk; and
this watcheth the Suns motion so duly, that like a Dial it shews the Husband-man
the time of the day, though it be never so cloudy; and they know thereby the
just time when the Sun setteth: and Theophrastus saith, that the flower of the herb
Lotum, is not onely open and shut, but also sometimes hides, and sometimes shews
her stalk from Sun-set to midnight; and this, saith he, is done about the River Eu∣phrates.
So the Olive-tree, the Sallow, the Linden-tree, the Elm, the white Po∣ple-tree,
they declare the times of the Suns standing, when it turns back again from
the Poles; for then they hide their leaves, and shew only their hoar-white backs.
In like manner winter-Cresses or Irium, and Penyrial, though they begin to wither
being gathered, yet if you hang them upon a stick about the time of the Solstice,
they will for that time flourish. The stone Selenites, (as much as to say, the Moon-beam)
called by others Aphroselinon, contains in it the Image of the Moon, and
shews the waxing and waining of it every day in the same Image. Another stone
Page 13

there is, that hath in it a little cloud that turns about like the Sun, sometimes hiding, &
sometimes shewing it self. The Beast Cynocephalus rejoiceth at the rising of the
Moon, for then he stands up, lifting his fore-feet toward heaven, and wears a Roy∣al
Ensign upon his head: and he hath such a Sympathy with the Moon, that when she
meets with the Sun (as betwixt the old and new Moon) so that she gives no light,
the male, or He-Cynocephalus, never looks up, nor eats any thing, as bewailing the
losse of the Moon; and the female, as male-content as He, all that while pisseth
blood: for which causes, these beasts are nourished and kept in hallowed places, that
by them the time of the Moones meeting with the Sun may be certainly known, as
Oru• writes in his Hieroglyphicks. The star Arcturus, at his rising causeth rain. Dogs
are well acquainted with the rising of the Canicular star; for at that time they are
commonly mad; and so are vipers and serpents; nay, then the very standing pools
are moved, and wines work as they lye in the Cellar, and other great and strange ef∣fects
are wrought upon earth: when this star riseth, Basil-gentle waxeth whiterish,
and Coriander waxeth dry, as Theophrastus writeth. The rising of this star was
wont to be diligently observed every year; for thereby they would prognosticate,
whether the year following would be wholesome or contagious, as Heraclides Pon∣ticus
saith: for if it did rise dark and gloomy, it was a sign that the Air would be
thick and foggy, which would cause a pestilence: but if it were clear and lightsome,
it was a sign that the Air would be thin and well purged, and consequently health∣ful.
In ancient times they much feared this Star, so that they ordained a dog to be
offered in sacrifice to it, as Columella saith, that this star is pacified with the blood
and entrails of a sucking whelp; and Ovid likewise saith, that a dog bred on the
earth, is sacrificed to the Dog-star in Heaven. The Beast or wilde Goat, which
in Egypt is called Oryx, hath a sense or feeling of this Star before it riseth; for then
he looks upon the Sun-beams, and in them doth honour the Canicular star. Hip∣pocrates
saith, it is good either to purge or let blood, before or after this star
riseth; and Galen shews that many very necessary operations of this Star must be
observed in Critical dayes; and likewise in sowing and planting. Moreover, the
greater stars and constellations must be known, and at what time they go out of the
signs, whereby are caused many waterish and fiery impressions in the Air. And
whosoever is rightly seen in all these things, he will ascribe all these inferiours to
the stars as their causes; whereas if a man be ignorant hereof, he loseth the grea∣test
part of the knowledge of secret operations and works of nature. But of this
argument, we have spoken in our writings of the knowledge of Plants.

CHAP. IX.
How to attract and draw forth the vertues of superiour Bodies.

WE have shewed before, the operations of celestial bodies into these inferiours,
as also the Antipathy and Sympathy of things: now will we shew, by the
affinity of Nature, whereby all things are linked together as it were in one com∣mon
bond, how to draw forth and to fetch out the vertues and forces of superior
bodies. The Platonicks termed Magick to be the attractions or fetching out of one
thing from another, by a certain affinity of Nature. For the parts of this huge
world, like the limbs and members of one living creature, do all depend upon one
Author, and are knit together by the bond of one Nature: therefore as in us, the
brain, the lights, the heart, the liver, and other parts of us do receive and draw
mutual benefit from each other, so that when one part suffers, the rest also suffer
with it; even so the parts and members of this huge creature the World, I mean
all the bodies that are in it, do in good neighbour-hood as it were, lend and borrow
each others Nature; for by reason that they are linked in one common bond, there∣fore
they have love in common; and by force of this common love, there is amongst
them a common attraction, or tilling of one of them to the other. And this in∣deed
is Magick. The concavity or hollownesse of the Sphere of the Moon, draws
up fire to it, because of the affinity of their Natures; and the Sphere of the fire
Page 14

likewise draws up Air; and the centre of the world draws the earth downward,
and the natural place of the waters draws the waters to it. Hence it is that the
Load-stone draws iron to it, Amber draws chaff or light straws, Brimstone draws
fire, the Sun draws after it many flowers and leaves, and the Moon draws after it
the waters. Plotinus and Synesius say, Great is nature everywhere; she layeth
certain baits whereby to catch certain things in all places: as she draws down hea∣vy
things by the centre of the earth, as by a bait; so she draws light things upward
by the concavity of the Moon; by heat, leaves; by moisture, roots; by one bait or
another, all things. By which kind of attraction, the Indian Wisards hold that
the whole world is knit and bound within it self: for (say they) the World is a li∣ving
creature, everywhere both male and female, and the parts of it do couple to∣gether,
within and between themselves, by reason of their mutual love; and so
they hold and stand together, every member of it being linked to each other by a
common bond; which the Spirit of the World, whereof we spake before, hath incli∣ned
them unto. For this cause Orpheus calleth Jupiter, and the Nature of the
World, man and wife; because the World is so desirous to marry and couple her
parts together. The very order of the Signs declareth, that the World is every∣where
male and female; for the former is the male, the latter is the female: so
also Trees and Herbs have both sexes, as well as living creatures: so the fire is to
the Air, and the water to the Earth, as a male to the female: so that it is no mar∣vel,
that the parts of the World desire so much to be matcht together. The Pla∣nets
are partly male, and partly female; and Mercury is of both sexes it self. These
things the Husband-man perceiving, prepares his field and his seed, for heavenly
influences to work upon: the Physician likewise observes the same, and works ac∣cordingly,
for the preservation both of our bodies, and of universal Nature. So
the Philosopher who is skilful in the Stars (for such is properly a Magician) works by
certain baits, as it were, fitly matching earthly and heavenly things together, and
platting them as skilfully one within another, as a cunning Husband-man planteth
an old gr•ffe into a young stock: nay, he layeth earthly things under heavenly
things, and inferious so fitly for their superiours everywhere to work upon, as if
a man should lay iron before the Load-stone to be drawn to it, or Christal before
the Sun to be enlightened by it, or an Egge under a Hen to hatch it. Furthermore, as
some can so cherish egges, that even without the help of living creatures, they will
make them live; yea and oftentimes they will prepare such matter, so cunningly,
that even without egges, or any apparent seeds, they will bring forth living creatures,
(as they will bring forth Bees, of an Ox; and a Scorpion, of Basil) working toge∣ther
by the help of universal Nature upon the vantage of fit matter, and a season∣able
or convenient time: even so the Magician, when once he knows which and
what kinds of matters Nature hath partly framed, and partly Art hath perfected,
and gathered together, such as are fit to receive influence from above; these matters
especially doth he prepare and compound together, at such a time as such an influence
raigneth; and by this means doth gain to himself the vertues and forces of heaven∣ly
bodies: for wheresoever there is any matter so directly laid before superiour bo∣dies,
as a looking-glasse before ones face, or as a wall right before ones voice; so doth
it presently suffer the work of the Superiours, the most mighty Agent, and the admi∣rable
life and power of all things shewing it self therein. Plotinus in his Book of
Sacrifice and Magick, saith, That the Philosophers considering this affinity and bond
of Nature, wherewith all natural things are linked each to other, did thence frame
the Art of Magick, and acknowledged both that the superiours might be seen in
these inferiours, and these inferiours in their superiours; earthly things in heavenly,
though not properly, but in their causes, and after a heavenly sort; likewise heaven∣ly
things in earthly, but yet after an earthly sort. For whence should we suppose it
to be, that the plants called Sun-followers, should still follow the Suns motion? and
likewise the Moon-followers, the Moons motion? Wherefore surely even in earth
we may behold both the Sun and the Moon; but yet by reason of their quality up∣on
earth; and so in heaven we may behold all plants, and stones, and living creatures,
but yet as following the heavenly natures: which things the Antients perceiving,
Page 15

did apply and lay some earthly things to some heavenly, and thence brought down
the celestial forces into these inferiours, by reason of their likeness one with
the other; for the very likenesse of one thing to another, is a sufficient bond to
link them together. If a man do heat a piece of paper, and then lay it a little under
the flame of a candle, though they do not touch each other, yet he shall see the pa∣per
presently burn, and the flame will still descend till it have burned all the paper.
Let us now suppose the paper thus heated, to be that affinity which is betwixt su∣periours
and inferious; and suppose we also, that this laying of the paper to the
candle, to be the fit applying of things together, both for matter, and time, and
place: let us suppose yet farther, the flame taking hold of the paper, to be the o∣peration
of some heavenly body into a capable matter; and last of all, we may sup∣pose
the burning of the paper, to be the altering of that matter into the nature
of the celestial body that works upon it, and so purifies it, that in the end it flieth up∣ward
like burning flax, by reason of some heavenly seeds and sparks which it hath
within it self.

CHAP. X.
How the knowledge of secrecies dependeth upon the survey and viewing of the whole World.

WE are perswaded that the knowledge of secret things depends upon the con∣templation
and view of the face of the whole world, namely, of the motion,
state and fashion thereof, as also of the springing up, the growing and the decaying
of things: for a diligent searcher of Natures workes, as he seeth how Nature doth
generate and corrupt all things, so doth he also learn to do. Likewise he learns of
living creatures; which though they have no understanding, yet their senses are far
quicker then ours; and by their actions they teach us Physick, Husbandry, the art
of Building, the disposing of Houshold affairs, and almost all Arts and Sciences: the
like may be observed in Metals, Gems, and Stones. The beasts that have no rea∣son,
do by their nature strangely shun the eyes of witches, and hurtful things: the
Doves, for a preservative against inchantments, first gather some little Bay-tree
boughs, and then lay them upon their nests, no preserve their young; so do the
Kites use white brambles, the Turtles sword-grasse, the Crows Withy, the Lap∣wings
Venus-hair, the Ravens Ivy, the Herns Carrot, the Patridges Reed-leaves,
the Black-birds Myrtle, the Larkes grasse, the Swans Park-leaves, the Eagle useth
Maiden-hair, or the stone Ae•ites for the same purpose. In like manner they have
shewed us preservatives against poysons: the Elephant having by chance eaten a
Chamaeleon, against the poyson thereof, eats of the wilde Olive; whence Solinus ob∣serves,
That the same is a good remedy for men also in the same case. The Panthers,
having swallowed up the poisonous herb Aconitum, wherewith the Hunters be∣smear
pieces of flesh so to destroy them, against the poyson thereof seek out mans
dung. The Tortoise, having eaten a serpent, dispels the poyson by eating the herb
Origan. When Bears have tasted the fruit of the Mandrakes, they eat Pismires a∣gainst
the poyson thereof. There is a kind of Spider which destroyeth the Harts,
except presently they eat wilde Ivy; and whensoever they light upon any poyso∣nous
food, they cure themselves with the Artichoke; and against Serpents they pre∣pare
and arm themselves with wilde Parsneps; so do the Ring-doves, Choughs, and
Black-birds use Bay-leaves. The little worm Cimex is good against the biting of
Aspes; as Pliny shews by Hens, who, if they eat that worm, are all day after, free
from the hurt of Aspes. Goats care not for Basil-gentle, because it brings a Lethar∣gy,
as Chrysippus writes. The same Beasts have also shewed us what herbs are
good to cure wounds. When the Harts are wounded by the Cretians, they seek out
the herb Dittany, and presently the darts fall out of their bodies. And so do the
Goats. The Elephant being wounded, seeks out the juice of Aloes, and thereby is
cured. The same Beasts have also found our purgations for themselves, and thereby
taught us the same. An Asse eats the herb Asplenum to purge his melancholy; of
Page 16

whom the Physitians have learned to Minister the same herb for the same purpose.
The Hinde purges her self with large Cummin, before she bringeth forth, that
her birth may come the more easily from her. Aristotle saith, That Boars feed upon
the herb Aram, or Wake-robin, to keep them soluble. Pigeons and Cocks feed
upon Pellitory, for the sharpening of their stomack. Dogs eat grasse to purge all
their noisome humours, which otherwise would make them mad. Of all these,
men have learned to use such Medicines against the like diseases. A Lion being
sick of a quartane Ague, eats and devours Apes, and so is healed: hence we know
that Apes blood is good against an Ague. The griping of the belly and guts, is
healed by looking upon Geese and Ducks, and Vegetius writes; and Columella saith,
that if a Duck do but look upon a sick horse, she heals him: and Pliny saith, that if
you lay a Duck to the griping of ones belly, she takes away the disease, and dies of
it her self; and Marcellus writes, That it is good for one that is so troubled, to
eat the flesh of a Duck. Goats and Does are never purblind, because they eat certain
herbs. Hawks, as soon as they feel their sight dim, they eat Sow-thistle. Elephants,
against the diseases of their eyes, drink milk. Serpents have caused Fennel to be
very famous; for as soon as they taste of it, they become young again, and with
the juice thereof repair their sight; whence it is observed, that the same is good to
repair a mans sight that is dim. Hares feed upon herbs that have juice like milk, and
therfore in their bellies they have a cream; whence Shepherds have learned to make
cream of many such herbs pressed together. Partridges eat leeks, to make their voi∣ces
clear, as Aristotle writes; and according to their example, Nero, to keep his
voice clear, eat nothing but oyle of leeks, certain dayes in every moneth. These
Beasts have likewise found out many instruments in Physick. The Goats, when their
eyes are blood-shotten, let out the blood; the She-goat by the point of a bull-rush,
the He-goat by the pricking of a thorn, which lets out the evil humour, and yet ne∣ver
hurts the eye, but restores him his perfect sight: hence, men learned by such
means to cure the eyes. The Aegyptians say, they never learned of men to minister
clysters, but of the bird Ibis, which useth it to her self for the loosnesse of her bo∣dy.
And of the same bird also they learned their diet, to eat largely at the waxing,
and sparingly at the waining of the Moon. Bears eyes are oft-times dimmed; and
for that cause they desire hony-combs above all things, that the Bees stinging their
mouths, may thereby draw forth, together with the blood, that dull and grosse
humour: whence Physitians learned to use letting blood, to cure the dimnesse of
the eyes. The Gullie-gut, when he is full of meat, he pitcheth himself betwixt two
trees, so to force out excrements.

CHAP. XI.
That the likeness of things sheweth their secret vertues.

WHo so looks into the writings of the Ancients, namely, Hermes, Orpheus, Zoro∣astres,
Harpocration, and other such like skilful men as have invented and regi∣stred
the secrecies of this Art, shall find that they gathered all from that likenesse of
seeds, fruits, flowers, leaves and roots, as also of the stats, metals, gems, and
stones; that likenesse, I say, which these things have to the diseases and parts of a mans
body, as also of other living creatures: and out of those Writers, afterward Hip∣pocrates,
Dioscorides, Pliny, and the rest, c•lled out as many such secrecies as they
found to be true, and recorded them in their own books, except some certain things,
which they thought were no secries, but either of folloy or of envy, accounted them
to be ordinary and plain matters. I will relate two or three examples of those
former secrecies. Theophrastus speaking of those herbs that resemble the Scorpion
and the Polypus, saith, That some herbs have a peculiar kind of form, as the root of
the herb Scorpius, called by some Walwort, and the root of Polypody: for that it
is like a Scropion, and is good against the sting of him; and this is rough, and full of
hollow partitions like the Polypus, and is of force to kill him. And in another place
he saith, That many things are written of the force of plants, not without just cause;
Page 17

as for example, to make fruitful and barren; both which, the herb Ragge-wort is
forcible unto; for they grow double, a greater and a smaller; the greater helps ge∣neration,
the smaller hinders it. And this herb is called Testiculus. Some herbs are
good for procreation of a male, and some of a female; as the herb which is called
Marifica, and Foeminipara; both are like each other: the fruit of the Foeminipara is
like the moss of an Olive-tree; the fruit of the Maripara is double like a mans stones.
The fruit of white Ivy will make seed barren, but the fruit of Arsemery will make it
fertile; which fruit is a small grain, like to Millet. The leaves of the herb Harts-tougue
will make a man quite barren, if the herb it self be barren; for there is Harts-tongue
that bears fruit, and this will make a man fruitful. It is a thing to be noted
in a Bur, that a flower grows within the roughnesse and prickles of it, which doth
not shew it self, but conceives and brings forth seed within it self; much like as
Weasils and Vipers do: for they bring forth egges within themselves, and soon
after bring forth young ones; so the Bur contains, and cherishes, and ripens the
flower within it self, and afterward yeelds fruit. But these things have both the
active and passive parts of generation. Dioscorides writeth, That the herb Scorpius
resembleth the tail of the Scorpion, and is good against his bitings. So he saith, that
the herb Dragon, both the greater and the less, is full of speckles like a Serpents
hackle, and is a remedy against their hurts: so the herb Arisaron in Egypt, and
Wake-robin, and Garlick, bear seeds like a Snakes head; and so Bugloss and Or∣chanet
bear seeds like a Vipers head; and these are good to heal their venemous
bitings. Likewise Stone-crop and Saxifrage are good to break the stone in a mans
bladder: and many other such things he there sets down. Galen saith, That the
Lark hath a crested crown, of the fashion of the herb Fumi•ory, and that either of
them is good against the Cholick, 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. Or∣pheus
found out by his wit, the properties of Stones. The stone Galactites, in co∣lour
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 to∣gether:
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
Page 18

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 final∣ly,
every member helps his like. But these things, Physitians write of, whose say∣ings
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 sun∣dry
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 ut∣ter
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 hea∣venly
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
Page 19

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 se∣crecies;
which done, no further thing can be required of us. Therefore to our pur∣pose.
Albertus saith, That there were once two twins, one of them would open
doors and gates if he did but touch them with his side; and the other would shut
them as fast when they were open. Some cannot away to look upon a Cat, a Mouse,
and such like, but presently they swoon. So, many have the gift from heaven to heal
the Kings-evil, and divers other sores: and that which hath troubled much, many
Surgeons, and they could not heal it, hath at length been healed only with spittle.
Again, we must well consider, what kinds of qualities are incident to what kinds of
parties; as, commonly queans are impudent, ruffians are luxurious, theeves are fear∣ful;
and such like passions, as Writers everywhere mention. Moreover, some natural
things have not only such properties in themselves, but they are apt also to commu∣nicate
them unto others. A Harlot is not only impudent in her self, but she also
naturally infects therewith, all that she touches and carries about her; so that if a
man do often behold himself in her glasse, or put on her garments, it will make him
impudent and lecherous as she is. The Load-stone doth not only draw to it self
that iron which it touches, but also all iron things neer it; the same ring which the
Load-stone draws to it self, will draw many rings if they be neer, so that it will
be like a chain; the vertue of the Load-stone passing out of one ring into another.
And the like may be observed in other things. We must note also, that the vertues
of some things are seated in their whole substance; of other things, in some of their
parts. The Sea-Lamprey stayeth a Ship, not principally with any one part, but
with her whole body. And there be many like examples. On the other side, ma∣ny
things work by some of their parts; as the Cockatrice and the Basilisk, by their
eyes; likewise Pismires shun the wings of a Rere-mouse, but her head and heart they
do not shun; so they shun the heart of an Houpe, but neither the head, nor yet the
wings. The like may be observed in other things.

CHAP. XIV.
Of those properties and vertues which things have while they live; and of such as remain in things after death.

WE must consider that almost all those vertues which are found to be excellent
in things while they are alive, do quite perish in death, and seldom are of
any force afterward. If the wolf espy us, his eyes make us dumb; the eyes of
the Cockatrice and Basilisk will kill us forth-right; the Sea-lamprey staies the course
of a Ship; the Struthio-camelus can digest iron: but none of all the these being
dead, worketh ought; for when they perish, their vertues also perish with them. Ther∣fore
it is a wise rule in natural Magick, that if a man will work any thing by living
creatures, or by any of their parts or properties, he must take the benefit of them
while they be alive; for if they die, their vertue dies also. For the soul, saith Al∣bertus,
is a chief help, and strikes a great stroke in those qualities which are in living
creatures; so that they being alive, are endued with many operative vertues, which
their death, (especially if it be natural, that their humours are quite wasted) takes
from them, as Physitians do much observe. Draw out a frogs tongue, take away from
the Ray or Fork-fish his dart, the eyes or stones out of any creatures head, or any such
operative things, not after they are dead, but while they are yet alive, and throw them
into the water again, that if it be possible they may live still, lest their vertue should
decay, but rather that by their living they might quicken those their natural
properties, and so you may work better thereby. And thus we must do in all
things else, which I spare to speak of any further. Sometimes yet the proper∣ties
of things are operative, yea, and that more forcibly, after death. The
Page 20

Wolf is hurtful and odious to sheep after he is dead: for if you cover a drum with
a wolfs skin, the sound of it will make sheep afraid, when most other creatures will
not be afraid; nay, sheep will make a heavy noise, whereas it contrariwise causeth
such clamorous creatures as hear it, to hold their peace: so if you cover it with a
bears skin, the sound thereof will make horses run away: and if you make harp∣strings
of all their guts severally, and put them together upon the instrument, they
will alwayes jar, and never make any consort. The beast Hyaena, and the Panther,
are naturally at variance; hence the skin of a dead Hyaena makes the Panther run a∣way;
nay, if you hang their severall skins one against the other, the Panthers skin
will lose the hairs. So a Lions skin wasteth and eateth out the skins of other beasts;
and so doth the wolfes skin eat up the Lambs skin. Likewise, the feathers of other
fowles, being put among Eagles feathers, do rot and consume of themselves. The
beast Florus, (it may be the Ass) and the bird Aegithus are at such mortal enmity,
that when they are dead, their blood cannot be mingled together. The Pigeon loves
the Kastrel so well, that she loves the Dove-house much the better, where a dead
Kastrel is. In like manner, herbs, and other simples, retain many operative qualities,
even after they are dried up. These things must be well considered by a Magi•ian,
lest peradventure he be deceived in their working.

CHAP. XV.
That all Simples are to be gotten and used in their certain seasons.

SEeing all inferiours, especially plants, receive their vertue from the heavens,
therefore we must have a special care to take them in their due seasons: for as
heaven varies the constitutions of the year, so doth it vary plants, they being much
nourished by the temperature of the Air; and the time of the year, as Theophrastus
saith, is all in all from them. Whence that proverb was justly fetcht, That it is the year,
and not the field, which brings forth fruit. Which may be understood two wayes;
either as the vulgar sort mean, or after a more peculiar manner. Concerning the
vulgar understanding thereof, Dioscorides shews, that we must have a special care both
to plant, and to gather all things in their right seasons; for they are operative onely,
as their reason is observed, but otherwise of no force. The time of gathering, must
be a calm and fair time. If we gather them either too soon or too late, they loose
their best vertue. Roots must be plucked up in the fall of the leaf, for then they are
fullest, both of moisture and vertue; their force hiding it self within them when
their leaves fall, which lasts long in them, being at that season gathered. Flowers
must be gathered in the Spring, because then they have most vertue: and
Leaves must be gathered in the Summer. The like we must observe in other things.
Know also, that some things lose their vertue quickly, others keep it along time, as
experience and the rules of Physick teach us; that some things may be kept many
years, others being long kept, are good for nothing. Whence it cometh, that many
experiments prove false, because that which we work by, happily hath lost his ver∣tue,
being kept too long. But there are certain peculiar times to gather them in
(which the vulgar sort observeth not) wherein the heavenly constellations bestow
upon them some singular vertue, proceeding from the most excellent nature and
quality of the stars: in which times if they be gathered, they are exceedingly ope∣rative.
But there can be no set and just time assigned, by reason of the divers situations
of divers places in respect of the Sun; for as the Sun-beams come neerer or further
off, so the earth fructifies sooner or later: yet we will give some general observations.
Roots are to be gathered betwixt the old Moon and the new; for then the moi∣sture
is fallen into the lower parts, and that in the Evening; for then the Sun hath
driven in the moisture, and by the stalk it is conveyed down into the root. The
time serves well to gather them, when their wrinkles be filled out with moisture, and
they chap because they have so much juice, as if they were about to break in pieces.
Leaves are then to be gathered, as soon as they have opened themselves out of the
sprigs; and that in the morning about Sun-rising; for then they are moister then in
Page 21

the evening, the Suns heat having drunk up their moisture all day long. Flowers are
then to be gathered, when they begin to seed, while their juice is in them, and be∣fore
they wax limber. Stalks are then to be gathered, when the flower is withered;
for then especially are they profitable. And seeds must be then gather•d, when they
are so ripe that they are ready to fall. There are some more peculiar observations.
Hot and slender herbs should be gathered when Mars and the Sun are Lords of the
celestial houses; moist herbs, when the Moon is Lord; but you must take heed that
you gather them not in the falling houses thereof. These things well observed in ga∣thering
plants, will make them very profitable for Physical uses.

CHAP. XVI.
That the Countries and places where Simples grow, are chiefly to be considered.

MAny are deceived in plants, and metals, and such like, because they use them
that come next hand, never heeding the situation of the place where they
grow. But he that will work soundly, must well consider, both the aspect of the
heavens, and the proper nature and situation of the place; for the place works di∣versly
in the plants, according to his own divers temperatures; and sometimes cau∣seth
such an alteration in the vertues of them, that many, not onely young Ma∣gicians,
but good Physitians and Philosophers too, have been deceived in searching
them out. Plato makes mention hereof: God (saith he) hath furnished the places of
the earth with divers vertues, that they might have divers operations into plants and
other things according to their kind. And so Porphyry saith, that the place is a prin∣ciple
of a generation, as a father is. Theophrastus would have Hemlock gathered and
fetch'd from Susa, because Thrasias was of opinion, that there it might safely be ta∣ken,
and in other very cold places: for whereas in Athens the juice of it is poison,
odious amongst the Athenians, because it is given to kill men in common executi∣ons;
and Socrates there taking it, died presently; yet here it is taken without dan∣ger,
and beasts feed upon it. The herb called Bears-foot, that which grows on the
Hill Oeta and Parnassus, is very excellent; but elsewhere, of small force: there∣fore
Hippocrates, when he would cure Democritus, he caused it to be fetch'd from
the Hills. And in Achaia, especially about Cabynia, there is a kind of Vine, as
Theophrastus saith, the wine whereof causeth untimely births; and if the dogs eat
the grapes, they will bring forth abortives: and yet in the taste, neither the wine,
nor the grape, differ from other wines and grapes. He saith also, that those Physi∣call
drugs which grow in Euboea, neer unto Aege, are good; but neer to Telethri∣um,
which is a shadowed and waterish place, they are much worse and drier. In
Persia there grows a deadly tree, whose apples are poison, and present death: there∣fore
there it is used for a punishment: but being brought over to the Kings into E∣gypt,
they become wholesome apples to eat, and lose their harmfulnesse, as Columel∣la
writes. Dioscorides saith, That the drugs which grow in steep places, cold and
dry, and open to the winde, are most forcible; but they that grow in dark, and
waterish, and calm places, are lesse operative. Wherefore if we find any difference
in such things, by reason of the places where they grow, that they have not their
right force, we must seek them out there where the place gives them their due
vertue.

CHAP. XVII.
Certain properties of Places and Fountains, which are commodious for this work.

DIfference of places, works much in the different effects of things. For the
place of the waters, and also of the earth, hath many miraculous vertues, which
a Magician must needs be well acquainted with: for oft-times we see, that some
things are strangely operative, onely by reason of the situation of the place, the dis∣position
of the Air, and the force of the Sun, as it cometh nearer or further off. If
Page 22

one ground did not differ from another, then we should have odoriferous reeds,
rushes, grasse, frankincense, peper, and myrth, not only in Syria and Arabia, but
in all other Countries also. Likewise many properties are derived out of Waters
and Fountains; which otherwise could not be made, but that the waterish humor
in the earth, conveys his scent and such like properties, into the root of that which
there groweth, and so nourisheth up that matter which springs out, and causeth
such fruit as savours of the place, according to his own kind. Zama is a City in A∣frica,
and Ismuc is a Town twenty miles from it: and whereas all Africk besides, is
a great breeder of beasts, especially of serpents, about that Town there breed
none at all; nay, if any be brought thither, it dies: and the earth of that place al∣so
killeth beasts, whithersoever it is carried. In the great Tarquine Lake of Italy,
are seen Trees, some round, some triangle, as the wind moves them; but none
four-square. In the Country beyond the River Po, that part which is called Mon∣sterax,
there is a kind of Corn called Siligo, which being thrice sown, makes good
bread-corn Neer to Harpasum a Town of Asia, there is a huge Rock, which if you
touch with one finger, will move; if with your whole body, it will not move.
There are some places of the earth that are full of great fires, as Aetna in Sicily, the
Hill Chimaera in Phaselis; the fire whereof Ctesias writes, will be kindled with wa∣ter,
and quencht with earth. And in the Country of Megalopolis, and the fields
about Arcia, a coal falling on the earth, sets it on fire. So in Lycia, the Hills Ephe∣sti
being touched with a Torch, flame out, insomuch that the stones and sands there
do burn in the waters; wherein if a man make a gutter with a staff, he shall see Ri∣vers
of fire run therein. The like things are reported of waters. For seeing they
passe under the earth, through veins of allum, pitch, brimstone, and such like;
hence it is that they are sometimes hurtful, and sometimes wholsome for the body.
There are also many kinds of water, and they have divers properties. The River
Himera in Sicily, is divided into two parts: that which runs against Aetna, is very
sweet, that which runneth through the salt vein, is very salt. In Cappadocia, betwixt
the Cities Mazaca, and Tuava, there is a Lake, whereinto if you put reeds or timber,
they become stones by little and little, and are not changed from stones again, nei∣ther
can any thing in that water be ever changed. In Hierapolis, beyond the River
Maeander, there is a water that becomes gravel, so that they which make water∣courses,
raise up whole banks thereof. The Rivers Cephises and Melas in Boeotia,
if cattel drink of them, as they do continually to make them conceive, though the
dams be white, yet their young shall be russet, or dun, or coal-black. So the sheep
that drink of the River Peneus in Thessaly, and Astax in Pontus, are thereby made
black. Some kinds of waters also are deadly, which from the poisonous juice of
the earth become poisonous; as the Well of Terracina called Neptunius, which kills
as many as drink of it; and therefore in old times it was stopt up. And the Lake
Cychros in Thracia, kills all that drink of it, and all that wash themselves with it. In
Nonacris, a Country of Arcady, there flow very cold waters out of a stone, which
are called the water of Styx, which break to pieces all vessels of silver and brasse;
and nothing can hold them but a Mules hoof, wherein it was brought from Antipa∣ter,
into the Country where Alexander was, and there his Son Jolla killed the King
with it. In the Country about Flascon, the way to Campania, in the field Cornetum,
there is a Lake with a Well in it, wherein seem to lie the bones of Snakes, Lysards,
and other Serpents; but when you would take them out, there is no such thing. So
there are some sharp and sowre veins of water, as Lyncesto, and Theano in Italy;
which I sought out very diligently, and found it by the way to Rome, a mile from
Theano; and it is exceeding good against the Stone. There is a Well in Paphlago∣nia,
whosoever drinks of it, is presently drunken. In Chios is a Well, that makes
all that drink of it, sottish and senslesse. In Susa is a Well, whoso drinks of it, lo∣seth
his teeth. The water of Nilus is so fertile, that it makes the clods of earth to
become living creatures. In Aethiopia is a Well, which is so cold at noon, that you can∣not
drink it; and so not at midnight, that you cannot touch it. There are many other
like Wells, which Ovid speaks of: Ammons Well is cold all day, and warm both
morning and evening: the waters of Athamas, set wood on fire, at the small of the
Page 23

Moon: there is a Well where the Cicones inhabit, that turneth into stones all that
toucheth it, or drinks of it; Crathis and Sybaris make hair shew like Amber and
Gold; the water of Salmax, and the Aethiopian Lakes, make them mad or in a
trance that drink of it; he that drinks of the Well Clitorius, never cares for wine
after; the River Lyncestius makes men drunken; the Lake Pheneus in Arcady, is
hurtful if you drink it by night; if by day, it is wholesome. Other properties there
are also of places and fountains, which he that would know, may learn out of Theo∣phrastus,
Timaeus, Possidonius, Hegesias, Herodotus, Aristides, Meirodorus, and the
like, who have very diligently sought out, and registred the properties of places;
and out of them, Pliny, Solinus, and such Writers have gathered their books.

CHAP. XVIII.
That Compounds work more forcibly; and how to compound and mix those Simples which we would use in our mixtures.

NOw we will shew how to mix and compound many Simples together, that the
mixture may cause them to be more operative. Proclus in his book of Sacri∣fice
and Magick, saith, That the antient Priests were wont to mix many things toge∣ther,
because they saw that divers Simples had some property of a God in them, but
none of them by it self sufficient to resemble him. Wherfore they did attract the hea∣venly
influences by compounding many things into one, whereby it might resemble
that One which is above many. They made images of sundry matters, and many o∣dors
compounded artificially into one, so to expresse the essence of a God, who
hath in himself very many powers. This I thought good to alleadge, that we may
know the Ancients were wont to use mixtures, that a compound might be the more
operative. And I my self have often compounded a preservative against poison, of
Dragon-herbs, the Dragon-fish, Vipers, and the stone Ophites; being led therein
by the likenesse of things. The herb Dragon-wort, both the greater and smaller,
have a stalk full of sundry-coloured specks: if any man eat their root, or rub his hands
with their leaves, the Viper cannot hurt him. The Dragon-fish being cut and open∣ed,
and laid to the place which he hath stung, is a present remedy against his sting,
as Aetius writes. The Viper it self, if you flay her, and strip off her skin, cut off her
head and tail, cast away all her intrails, boil her like an Eele, and give her to one that
she hath bitten, to eat, it will cure him: or if you cut off her head being alive,
and lay the part next the neck, while it is hot, upon the place which she hath bitten,
it will strangely draw out the poyson. Many such compound medicines made of crea∣tures
living on the earth, in the water, in the air, together with herbs and stones,
you may find most wittily devised, in the books of Kirannides and Harprocration. But
now we will shew the way and manner how to compound Simples, which the Phy∣sitians
also do much observe. Because we would not bring forth one effect only, but
sometimes have use of two or three, therefore we must use mixtures, that they may
cause sundry effects. Sometime things will not work forcibly enough, therefore to
make the action effectual, we must take unto us many helps. Again, sometime they
work too strongly, and here we must have help to abate their force. Oft-times we
would practice upon some certain member, as the head, the heart, or the bladder;
here we must mingle some things which are directly operative upon that part, and
upon none else; whereby it falleth out, that sometimes we must meddle contraries
together. But to proceed. When you would do any work, first consider what is the
chief thing which your simple or compound should effect; then take the ground or
foundation of your mixture, that which gives the name to your compound, and let
there be so much of it, as may proportionably work your intent; for there is a just
and due quantity required for their working: then put in the other ingredients, as
sauce and seasoning, to help the principal to work more easily and in due time. So we
mingle sweet things with unsavory, and with bitter, that it may smell and taste well:
for if we should mingle onely unsavoury and bitter receits, they that we give it un∣to
would loath it, and their animal spirits would so abhor it, that though they took
Page 24

it, yet it could not work in them. So we meddle soft and hard things together,
that they may go down more pleasantly. Sometimes there is so little in a receit, that
the heat of the body wastes it before it can work; here then is required a greater
quantity: for, this doth not hinder the working, but gives the natural heat some∣what
to feed upon, that in the mean space the receit may have fit time to work. As
for example: If we would catch birds by bringing them to sleep, here we must take
the Nut Methella, which is of that force, as to cause sleep and heaviness of brain;
and let this be the ground of our mixtion: then to make it more lively in work∣ing,
put thereto the juice of black Poppie, and the dregs of wine: If it be too
hard, and we would have it more liquid, that so it may fill out the pulse or other
baites which we lay for them; put thereto the juice of Mandrakes, and Hemlock,
and an Ox gall: and that it may not be bitter or unsavoury, put hony, cheese or
floure amongst it, that so it may be fitter to be eaten: and when once the birds have
tasted of it, they lie down to sleep on the ground, and cannot flie, but may be ta∣ken
with hands. The like must be observed in other things.

CHAP. XIX.
How to find out the just weight of a mixture.

WE must also have a special care to know the right ministring of a compound, and
how to find out the just proportion of weight therein; for the goodness of the
operation of things, consists chiefly in the due proportion and measure of them:
And unless the mixtion be every way perfect, it availeth little in working. Where∣fore
the Antients were wont to observe not only in compounds, but also in Simples
due weight and measure; and their experience hath left it unto us. If then then
bestowest thy pains in this faculty, first thou must find out the weight of a simple
Medicine, how much of it would serve such a purpose as thou intendest; and to
that, thou must proportionably frame thy compound, observing a due proportion,
both in the whole and every part thereof. Let thy chief Simple, the ground of thy
mixture, be half the weight, and the other ingredients altogether must be the other
half; but how much of each of these other ingredients, that thou must gather by
thy own conjecture: So then, thy whole compound must be but as much as if it were
onely a simple receit; for we do not compound things, to make the receit grea∣ter,
either in quantity or in vertue, but only because it should be more speedy in
operation: It must also be considered, that the weights of mixtures and medicines
must vary proportionably, as the Countries and Climates vary: for this alters their
operation, as we shewed before. Thou must therefore work advisedly; and as the
operation of the Simples altereth, so thou must alter their weight, by putting to,
and taking from, and wittily fitting all things, that they may effect that which
thou wouldest. This is the reason, why in our experiments which we have set
down hereafter, we have described the parts thereof by their several weights: and
lest the divers names of weights should hinder thy working, we have used those
weights and names which Cornèlius Celsus used before us: for so it is fittest for all
mens satisfaction.

CHAP. XX.
How to prepare Simples.

HAving shewed the way how to compound and find out the just weight of our
composition, it now remains we teach how to prepare Simples; which is a
matter chiefly necessary for this work; and greatest skill is seen in it. For the ope∣rations
of Simples, do not so much corsist in themselves, as in the preparing of
them; without which preparation, they work little or nothing at all. There be
many wayes to prepare Simples, to make them fitter for certain uses. The most u∣sual
wayes are, Steeping, Boiling, Burning, Powning, Resolving into ashes, Distil∣ling,
Drying, and such like. To macerate or steep any thing, is to drench and to
Page 25

soak it in liquor, that it may be throughly we both within and without, so that the
more subtil and intimate part of it may be drained and squeezed out, and
the grosser and earthly part be left behind, to receive that humour in the very
middle, which we would have in it. Boiling we then use, when we cannot other∣wise
well get out the juice of any thing: for by boiling we draw out of the centre
into the circumference, when we cannot do it by steeping; though thereby the
slighter vapours may be resolved. So we use to burn, to roste, to pown things, that
we may take away all their moisture from them; for by this means, they may the
more easily be resolved, and the sooner converted into liquor, and the better
mingled with other things to be put to them. So we roste or broil things when o∣therwise
we cannot break them, that they might become dust; yet alwayes we
must take heed that we do not so burn them, as they may lose their strength; nor so
boil things but only as they may be fitter to receive that subtil humor and quality,
which we would convey into them. Distillation of things is used, as well to get out
water that may be of greater strength, therby to work more easily & handsomly; as also
because the slighter and more subtile parts of Medicines are fittest for us, the gros∣ser
parts must be cast away, as being an hindrance to our purpose: and the like we
must conceive of other operations. These things I thought fittest for this work. He
that would be instructed more at large herein, let him look into the books of Phy∣sitians.
But let us now proceed to further matters.

Page 26

THE SECOND BOOK OF Natural Magick: Shewing how living Creatures of divers kinds, may be mingled and coupled together, that from them, new, and yet profitable kinds of living Creatures may be generated.

The PROEME.

HAving wandred beyond my bounds, in the consideration of Causes and their Acti∣ons;
which I thought fit to make the Subject of my first book: it will be time to speak
of those Operations, which we have often promised, that we may not too long keep off from
them those ingenious men that are very desirous to know them. Since that we have said,
That Natural Magick is the top, and the compleat faculty or Natural Science, in han∣dling
it, we will conclude within the compass of this Volume, whatsoever is High, Noble,
Choice, and Notable, that is discovered in the large field of Natural History. But that
we may perform this, I shall reduce all those Secrets into their proper places; and that no∣thing
may be thrust out of its own rank, I shall follow the order of Sciences. And I shall
first divide them into Natural and Mathematical Sciences; and I shall begin with the Na∣tural;
for I hold that most convenient, that all may arise from those things that are sim∣ple,
and not so laborious, to Mathematical Sciences. I shall from Animals first proceed to
Plants, and so by steps to Minerals, and other works of Nature. I shall briefly describe
Fountains, also whence flow Springs; and I shall annex thereto the Reasons, and the Causes;
that Industrious men made acquainted with this, may find out more of themselves. And
because there are two generations of Animals and Plants, one of themselves, the other by
copulation: I shall first speak of such as are bred without copulation; and next, of such as
proceed from copulation one with another, that we may produce new living Creatures, such
as the former ages never saw. I shall begin therefore with Putrefaction, because that is the
principle to produce new Creatures; not onely from the variety of Simples, but of mixed
Bodies. I thought fit to leave none out, though they be of small account, since there is no∣thing
in Nature, appear it never so small, wherein there is not something to be admired.

CHAP. I.
The first Chapter treateth of Putrefaction, and of a strange manner of producing li∣ving Creatures.

BEfore we come to shew that new living Creatures are
generated of Putrefaction, it is meet to rehearse the opini∣ons
of antient Philosophers concerning that matter. Whereof
though we have spoken elsewhere, in the description of
Plants, yet for the Readers ease, we will here rehearse some
of them, to shew that not onely imperfect, but perfect li∣ving
Creatures too, are generated of Putrefaction. P•rphy∣ry
thought that Living creatures were begotten of the bowels
of the Earth soaked in water, and quickned by the heat of the Sun. Of the same
mind were Archelaus the Athenian, Anaxagoras Clazomenius, and Euripides his Sco∣lar.
Cleodemus, and after him Theophrastus, thought that they came of putrified wa∣ter
Page 27

mixt with earth; and the colder and fouler the water was, the unfitter it was for
their generation. Diodorus, and many other good Philosophers hold, that all living
Creatures did arise of putrefaction. For whereas in the beginning of the world,
the Heavens, and Earth, and Elements were setled in their natural places, the earth
being left slimy and soft in many places, and then dried and stricken with the heat
of the Sun, brought forth certain tumors and swellings in the surface and upper∣most
parts: in these tumors were contained and cherished many putrefactions and
rotten clods, covered over with certain small skins; this putrified stuff, being
moi••ened with dew by night, and the Sun heating it by day, after a certain season
became ripe; and the skins being broken, thence issued all kinds of living Crea∣tures;
whereof, they that had quickest heat, became birds; the earthy ones be∣came
creeping beasts; the waterish ones became fishes in the Sea; and they
which were a mean, as it were, betwixt all these, became walking-creatures. But
the heat of the Sun still working upon the earth, hindered it from begetting
and bringing forth any more such creatures; but then, the creatures before generated
coupled together, and brought forth others like themselves. Avicenna, in that work
of his which he made of deluges and flouds; holds, that after the great flouds that
drowned the Earth, there was no mans seed; but then, man, and all living Crea∣tures
else, were generated of rotten carcases, only by the vertue of the Sun: and
therefore he supposeth, that the womb, and such needful places framed by nature,
for the better fashioning of the infant, are not needfull to the procreation of man.
He proves his assertion by this, that mice, which arise of putrefaction, do couple
together, and beget store of young; yea, and serpents are generated chiefly of
womans hair. And in his book of living Creatures, he tels of a friend of his,
that brought forth Scorpions after a strange manner, and those did beget other
Scorpions, not imperfect, or unlike to themselves, but such as did also procreate
others. Averroes held, that the stars were sufficient to generate imperfect creatures;
as mice, bats, moules, and such like, but not to generate Men, or Lions. And dai∣ly
experience teacheth us, that many living creatures come of the putrified matter of
the earth. And the Ancients supposing all things to be produced out of the earth, cal∣led
it the mother of all; and the Greeks called it Dimitera. Ovid hath very ele∣gantly
set down this generation of putrefaction, under the fable of Pytho; that
the earth brought forth of its own accord, many living creatures of divers forms,
the heat of the Sun enliving those moistures that lay in the tumors of the earth, like
fertile seeds in the belly of their mother; for heat and moisture being tempered to∣gether,
causeth generation. So then, after the deluge, the earth being now
moist, the Sun working upon it, divers kinds of creatures were brought forth, some
like the former, and some of a new shape.

CHAP. II.
Of certain earthly Creatures, which are generated of putrefaction.

PLants and living Creatures agree both in this, that some of them are generated
of seed, and some of them Nature brings forth of her own accord, without
any seed of the same kind; some out of putrified earth and plants, as those
Creatures that are divided between the head and the belly; some out of the
dew that lies upon leaves, as Canker-worms; some out of the mud, as shel-creatures;
and some out of living Creatures themselves, and the excrements
of their parts, as lice. We will onely rehearse some which the Ancients have
set down, that so we may also learn how to procreate new creatures. And first,
let us see, how

Mice are generated of putrefaction.

Diodorus saith, that neer to the City Thebais in Egypt, when Nilus overflowing is
past, the Sun heating the wet ground, the chaps of the earth send forth great store
of mice in many places; which astonisheth men to see, that the fore-part of the mice
should live and be moved, whereas their hinder parts are not yet shapen. Pliny saith,
that after the swaging of Nilus, there are found little mice begun to be made of
earth and water, their fore-parts living, and their hinder parts being nothing but
earth. Aelianus saith, that a little rain in Egypt, engenders many mice, which be∣ing
scattered everywhere in their fields, eat down their corn, and devour it: And so
it is in Pontus; but by their prayers to God, they are consumed. Macrobius and
Avicenna say, that the mice so generated, do encrease exceedingly by coupling to∣gether.
Aristotle found out, that a kind of field-mice encreased wonderfully; so
that in some places they did suddenly eat up whole fields of corn: insomuch that
many Husband-men appointing to reap their corn on the morrow, when they came
with their reapers, found all their corn wasted. And as these mice are generated
suddenly, so they are suddenly consumed, in a few dayes; the reason whereof can∣not
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 Ita∣ly
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 Athe∣naeus
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 coun∣tries,
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
Page 29

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 ser∣pents.
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 be∣ginning
of the wars against the Marsi, a maid-servant brought forth a serpent. Avi∣cenna
in his book of deluges, writes, that serpents are gendred of womens hairs e∣specially,
because they are naturally moister and longer then mens. We have expe∣rienced
also, that the hairs of a horses mane laid in the waters, will become ser∣pents:
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 be∣come
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 Cre∣vises,
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-set∣ting;
and because they live but one day, they are called Hemerobion, a daies-bird.
So the

Pyrig•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

Page 30

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 themselves either egge or young, as Pliny noteth. But now we will speak of a
most excellent generation, namely, how

Bees are generated of an Ox.
Aelianus writes, That Oxen are commodious many wayes; amongst the rest, this
is one excellent commodity, that being dead, there may be generated of them a
very profitable kind of Creatuers, namely Bees. Ovid saith it, that as all putrified
bodies are turned into some small living Creatuers, so Oxen putrified do generate
Bees. Florentinus the Grecian saith, that Jubas King of Africa, taught how to make
Bees in a wodden Ark. Democritus and Varro shew a cruel manner of making Bees
in a house: but it is a very ready way. Chuse a house ten cubits high, and ten cu∣bits
broad, square every way: but let there be but one entrance into it, and four
windows, on each side one. Put in this room an Ox, about two or three years old;
let him be fat and fleshy: then set to him a company of lusty fellows, to beat him
so cruelly, that they kill him with their cudgels, and break his bones withal: but
they must take great heed that they draw no blood of him, neither must they
strike him too fiercely at the first: After this, stop up all the passages of the Ox, his
nostrils, eyes, mouth, and necessary places of evacuation, with fine linen clouts
besmeared with pitch: Then cast a great deal of honey under him, being laid with
his face upwards, and let them all go forth, and daube up the door and the windows
with thick lome, so that no wind, nor Air can get in. Three weeks after, open
the room, and let the light and the Air come in, except there where the wind
would blow in too violently. And when you see that the matter is through cold,
and hath taken air enough, then shut up the door and windows as before. About
eleven daies after, open it again, and you shall find the room full of Bees clotted to∣gether,
and nothing of the Ox remaining, beside the horns, the bones and the
hair. They say that the Kings of the companies are generated of the brain, the o∣ther
of the flesh, but the chief Kings of all, of the marrow; yet those that come
of the brain, are most of them greater, handsomer, and better-coloured then the
rest. When you open the room first, you shall find the flesh turned into small, white,
and unperfect creatures, all of the same shape, but as yet only growing, and not
moving. Afterward; at the second opening, you may see their wings grown, the
right colour of Bees in them, and how they sit about their Kings, and flutter about,
especially toward the windows, where they would enjoy their desired light. But
it is best to let them light by the windows every other day. This same experiment,
Virgil hath very elegantly set down in the same manner. Now as the best kind of
Bees are generated of a young Ox, so a more base kind of them is brought forth
of the dead flesh of baser creatures; Aelianus saith,

That Waspes are generated of an Horse;
when his carcase is putrified, the marrow of him brings forth Waspes; a swift kind
of fowl, from a swift kind of beast. Ovid saith, that Hornets are thence generated;
and Isiodore derives crabronem à cabo, id est caballo, a hornet of a horse, because they
are brought forth of horses. Pliny and Virgil say, that waspes and hornets both, are
generated of the flesh of dead horses. In like manner

Drones come of Mules,
Page 31

as Isiodore affirmeth: and the Drone is called Fucus quasi Fagos, because he eats
that which he never laboured for. But others hold that Locusts, and not Drones, are
generated of Mules flesh. So also, of the basest beast cometh the basest fowl:

The Beetle is generated of the Ass,
as Pliny writes. Isiodore saith, they come of swift dogs: Aelianus saith, they have
no female, but lay their seed in a clot of earth for 28 dayes, and then bring forth
young out of it.

CHAP. III.
Of certain Birds, which are generated of the Putrefaction of Plants.

Olaus Magnus, in the description of the North-countries of Europe, reports, that
about Scotland, there be certain birds generated of the fruit of a Tree. Munster
saith, there be certain Trees which bring forth a fruit covered over with leaves;
which, if it fall into the water under it, at the right season, it lives, and becomes
a quick bird, which is called Avis arborea. Neither is this any new tale; for the
antient Cosmographers, especially Saxo Grammaticus mentions the same Tree. Late
Writers report, That not onely in Scotland, but in the River of Thames also by
London, there is a kind of Shel-fish in a two-leaved shell, that hath a foot full of
plaits and wrinkles: these fish are little, round, and outwardly white, smooth and
brittle shelled, like an Almond shell; inwardly they are great bellied, bred as it
were of moss and mud: they commonly stick on the keel of some old Ship, where
they hang together like Mushrome-stalks, as if they were thereby nourished. Some
say, they come of worms, some of the boughs and branches of Trees which fall in∣to
the Sea; if any of these be cast upon shore, they die; but they which are swal∣lowed
still into the Sea, live, and get out of their shell, and grow to be ducks or such
like birds. Gesner saith, that in the Islands Hebrides, the same

Birds are generated of putrified wood.

If you cast wood into the Sea, first after a while there will certain worms breed in it,
which by little and little become like ducks, in the head, feet, wings and feathers;
and at length grow to be as big as Geese: and when they are come to their full
growth, they flie about in the Air, as other birds do. As soon as the wood begins
first to be putrified, there appears a great many wormes, some unshapen, others be∣ing
in some parts perfect, some having feathers, and some none. Paracelsus saith; As
the yelk and white of an egge, becomes a chick by the heat of an Hen; so a bird
burnt to ashes, and shut up in a vessel of glass, and so laid under the mixen, will
become a slimy humour; and then, if it be laid under a Hen, is enlived by her
heat, and restored to her self like a Phoenix. Ficinus reporteth, and he had it out of
Albertus, That there is a certain bird, much like a Black-bird, which is generated of
the putrefaction of Sage; which receives her life and quickning from the general
life of the whole world.

CHAP. IV.
Of Certain fishes which are generated of putrefaction.

HAving first spoken of earthly Creatures, and then of Fowles; now we will
speak of Fishes so generated. And first how

Eeles are generated.
Amongst them there is neither male or female, nor egges, nor any copulation; nei∣ther
Page 32

was there ever seen in any of them, any passage fit to be a womb. They have bred
oft-times in certain muddy pools, even after all the water and mud hath been gone;
only by rain-water: neither indeed do they ever breed without rain, though they
have never so much water otherwise; for it is the rain, both that begets and nou∣rishes
them, as Aristotle writes. They are also generated of putrified things. Ex∣perience
hath proved, that a dead horse thrown into a standing pool, hath brought
forth great store of Eeles; and the like hath been done by the carcases of other
creatures. Aristotle saith, they are generated of the garbage of the earth, which he
saith, ariseth in the Sea, in Rivers, and in pools, by reason chiefly of putrefaction; but
it arises in the Sea by reason of reeds; in Pools and Rivers, it arises by the banks∣side,
for there the heat is more forcible to cause putrefaction. And a friend of mine
filled certain wooden vessels with water, and Reeds, and some other water-herbs,
and set them in the open Air, having first covered them with a weighty stone, and so
in short time generated Eeles. Such is the generation of

Groundlings out of some and froth,
which fish the Greeks call Aphya, because rain breeds it. Many of them breed of
the fome that rises out of the sandy chanel, that still goes and comes at all times,
till at last it is dissolved; so that this kind of fish breeds all times of the year, in sha∣dowy
and warm places, when the soyl is heated; as in Attica, neer to Salamnia,
and in Marathon, where Themistocles got his famous victory. In some places, this
fish breeds of fome by the help of the rain; and swims on the top of the water in
the fome, as you see little wormes creep on the top of mud. Athenaeus saith, This
fish is consecrated to Venus, because she also comes of the froth of the Sea, whence
she is called Aphrodites. Aelianus saith, These fishes neither do beget, nor are be∣gotten,
but only come of mud: for when dirt is clotted together in the Sea, it
waxes very black and slimy, and then receives heat and life after a wonderful man∣ner,
and so is changed into very many living Creatures, and namely into Ground∣lings.
When the waves are too boistrous for him, he hides himself in the clift of some
rock; neither doth he need any food. And Oppianus makes the very same descri∣ption
of them, and of their generation. There is a kind of these fishes, called a
Mullet-Groundling, which is generated of mud and of sand, as hath been tried
in many marish places, amongst the rest in Gindus; where in the Dog-daies, the
Lakes being dried up, so that the mud was hard; as soon as ever they began to be
full of rain-water again, were generated little fishes, a kind of Mullets, about
the bigness of little Cackrels, which had neither seed nor egge in them. And in
some parts of Asia, at the mouth of the Rivers into the Sea, some of a bigger size are
generated. And as the Mullet-groundling comes of mud, or of a sandy lome, as
Aristotle writes; so it is to be thought, that the Cackrel-groundling comes thereof
also. It seems too, that

A Carpe is generated of putrefaction,
Especially of the putrified mud of sweet water: for it is experienced, that in cer∣tain
Lakes, compassed about with Hills, where there is no Well, nor River, to moisten
it, but only the rain, after some few showers, there hath been great store of fish,
especially Carps: but there are some of this kind generated by copulation. There
are also in certain particular Lakes, particular kinds of fishes, as in the Lemane, and
the Benacian Lakes, there be divers kind of Carpes, and other such fishes. Likewise
there are certain

Earthly fishes generated of putrefaction.

Pliny reports, that in Paphlagonia, they dig out of deep ditches, certain earthly
fishes very good to be eaten; and it is so in places where there is no standing wa∣ter;
and he wonders that they should be generated without copulation: but sure∣ly
Page 33

it is by vertue of some moisture, which he ascribes to the Wells, because in some
of them fishes are found. Likewise

Shel-fish are generated of the forthy mud,
or else meerly of the salt-water; for they have neither seed, nor male, nor female;
the hardnesse and closenesse of their shels, hindering all things from touching or rub∣bing
their inward parts, which might be fit for generation. Aristotle saith, they
breed all of themselves; which appears by this, that oft-times they breed in Ships,
of a forthy mud putrified: and in many places, where no such thing was before, many
shel-fishes have bred, when once the place waxed muddy, for lack of moisture. And
that these fishes emit no seed or generative matter, it appears, because that when the
men of Chios had brought out of Lesbos many Oysters, and cast them into Lakes
neer the Sea, there were found no more then were cast in; onely they were some∣what
greater. So then Oysters are generated in the Sea, in Rivers and in Lakes, and
therefore are called Limnostrea, because they breed in muddy places. Oppianus
writes also, that they have neither male nor female, but are generated of themselves
and their own accord, without the help of any copulation. So the fish called Orti∣ca,
and the Purple, and Muscles, and Scallops, and Perwinkles, and Limpins, and
all Shel-fish are generated of mud: for they cannot couple together, but live only
as plants live. And look how the mud differs, so doth it bring forth different
kinds of fishes: durty mud genders Oysters, sandy mud Perwinkles, the mud in the
Rocks breedeth Holoturia, Lepades, and such-like. Limpins, as experience hath
shewed, have bred of rotten hedges made to fish by; and as soon as the hedges were
gone, there have been found no more Limpins.

CHAP. V.
That new kinds of living Creatures may be generated of divers beasts, by carnal copulation.

WE have shewed that living Creatures are generated of putrefaction: now we will
shew, that sundry kinds of beasts coupling together, may bring forth new kinds
of Creatures, and these also may bring forth others; so that infinite monsters may
be daily gendred: for whereas Aristotle saith, that Africk alwayes brings forth some
new thing; the reason thereof is this, because the Country being in most places dry,
divers kinds of beasts come out of sundry quarters thither, where the Rivers were,
and there partly for lust, and partly by constraint, coupled together, and so gendred
divers monstrous Creatures. The Antients have set down many such generations,
and some are lately devised, or found out by chance; and what may be hereafter, let
men of learning judge. Neither let the opinions of some Philosophers stay us, which
hold that of two kinds divers in nature, a third cannot be made, unlike to either
of the parents; and that some Creatures do not gender at all, as Mules do not: for
we see, that, contrary to the first of these their positions, many Creatures are gene∣rated
of kinds divers in nature, and of these are generated others, to the perpetual
conservation of this new kind; as hath been tried in many Villages, that divers kinds
coupling together, have brought forth other new kinds, differing from their proge∣nitors
every day more and more, as they multiply their copulations, till at length
they are scarce in any thing like the former. And against their second Position, we
must not think that the one example of Mules not gendring, should prejudice the
common course of other creatures. The commistions or copulations, have divers
uses in Physick, and in Domestical affairs, and in hunting: for hereby many proper∣ties
are conveyed into many Creatures. First, we will rehearse those experiments,
which the Antients have described, and then those which new Writers have recor∣ded,
and our selves have seen in divers Countries. And by this, the ingenious Rea∣der
may find out others. But first I will relate certain observations, which Aristo∣tle
and others have prescribed, that this kind of generation may be more easily
Page 34

wrought. First, the creatures thus coupled, must be of an equal pitch; for if there
be great oddes in their bignesse, they cannot couple: a dog and a wolf, a Lion
and a Panther, an Asse and a Horse, a Partridge and a Hen, are of one bignesse, and
therefore may couple together; but a Horse and a Dog, or a Mare and an Elephant,
or a Hen and a Sparrow cannot. Secondly, they must have one and the same space to
bring forth in: for if one of them bring forth in twelve moneths, and the other
in six, then the young will be ripe by one side, when it is but half ripe by the other.
A dog must have two moneths, and a horse must have twelve: and the Philosopher
saith, no creature can be born, except he have his full time. So then a dog cannot
be born of a man, nor a Horse of an Elephant, because they differ in the time of
their bearing. Again, the creatures which we would thus couple, must be one as
lustful as the other: for a chaste creature, that useth coition but once a year, if he
have not his female at that time, he loseth his appetite before he can fancy any other
mate: but those which are full of lust, will eagerly couple with another kind as well
as their own. Among four-footed beasts, a dog, a goat, a swine, an ass, be most la∣scivious;
among birds, partridges, quailes, doves, sparrows. Moreover, they must be
coupled at such a time as is fit for generation: for Nature hath prescribed certain
times and ages fit for that work. The common time, is the Spring; for then almost
all Creatures are prone to lust. The ages of them must likewise be fit: for the ge∣nerative
power comes to creatures, at a set age. Neither of them must be barren, nor
weak, nor too young; for then their seed is unfit for generation: but both of them,
if it may be, in the prime of their best age and strength. If any creatures want appe∣ti•e
thereunto, there be many slights, whereby we may

Make them eager in lust.
And if the female do cast out the seed, there be means to make her hold in it. Pro∣vokements
to lust there are many set down by Writers, and some usual with us. Ae∣lianus
writes, that keepers of sheep, and goats, and Mares, do besmear their hands
with salt and nitre, and then rub the generative parts of them in the time of their
coition, for their more lustful and eager performance of that action. Others be∣smear
them with pepper, others with nettles seed, others with myrrh and nitre; all
of them kindle the appetite of the female, being well rubbed therewith, and make
her stand to her male. The He-goats, if you besmear their chin, and their nostrels
with sweet ointment, are thereby much enclined to lust; and contrariwise, if you tie
a thred about the middle of their tail, they are nothing so eager of copulation. Ab∣syrtus
sheweth, that if you wipe off some nature of seed of a mare, and therewith
besmear the nostrils of a Stallion horse, it will make him very lustful. Dydimus saith,
that if Rams, or any other beasts, feed upon the herb Milk-wort, they will become
both eager to lust, and stronger for the act of copulation. Pliny sheweth, that Onions
encrease desire of copulation in beasts, as the herb Rotchet doth in men. The She-ass,
holds the seed within her the better, if presently after copulation she be well
beaten, and her genitories besprinkled with cold water, to make her run after it.
Many such helps are recorded by those who have written the histories of living
creatures.

CHAP. VI.
How there may be Dogs of great courage, and divers rare properties, generated of divers kinds of Beasts.

WE will first speak of Dogs, as being a most familiar creature with us, and suiting
with many beasts, in bignesse, in like time of breeding; and besides, being al∣wayes
ready for copulation, and very lecherous, oft-times coupling with beasts of a
far divers kind, and so changeth his shape and fashion, leaveth the bad qualities of
his own kind, and is made fitter to hunt, to keep any thing from spoil, to play or make
sport, and for divers other uses. And first, how
Page 35

A strong Indian-dog may be generated of a Tygre.
This is called by some, a Mastive; by others a Warrior, or a Hircan-Dog. Aristotle
calls them Indian-dogs, and saith, they are generated of a Dog and a Tygre; and
elsewhere, of a dog and another wilde beast, but he names it not. Pliny writes,
that the Indians intending to generate dogs of Tygres, tie the She-tygres in the
woods about rutting time; and dogs coupling with them engender young: but the
first and second births they care not for, as being too fierce; but the third they
bring up, as being milder and fitter fot their uses. Aelianus relates the story of this
kind of Dogs, out of Indian Writers: that the stoutest Bitches, and such as are
swiftest to run, and best to hunt, are by the shepherds tied to certain Trees within
the Tygres walk: as soon as the Tygres light upon them, if they have not before
met with their prey, they devour them; but if they be full of meat, and hot in lust,
then they couple with the Bitches; and so generate, not a Tygre, but a dog, their seed
degenerating into the mothers kind. And these dogs thus gendred, scorn to hunt
a Boar, or an Hart; but a Lion they will set gallantly upon. A Noble man of In∣dia
made trial of the valor of these dogs, before Alexander the Great, on this
manner: first, he set an Hart before him; but the Dog scorning the Hart, stir∣red
not at him; next, a Boar, but neither stirred he at the Boar; after that a Bear,
but he scorned the Bear too: last of all, a Lion; then the Dog seeing that he had an
even match in hand, rose up very furiously, and run upon the Lion, and took him
by the throat, and stifled him. Then the Indian that shewed this sport, and knew
well this Dogs valour, first cut off his tail; but the Dog cared not for his tail, in
comparison of the Lion which he had in his mouth: next, he cut off one of his
legs; but the Dog held fast his hold still, as if it had been none of his legs: after
that, he caused another of his legs to be broken; but the Dog still kept his hold:
after that, his third leg, and yet still he kept his hold: after that, his fourth leg, and
yet the Dog was still as fierce upon the Lion, as at the first: Nay, when last of all
his head was cut off from his body, yet still it stuck fast by the teeth in the same place,
where he took his first hold. Alexander seeing this, was much grieved for the
Dogs death, and greatly amazed at his valour, that he would rather suffer his life,
then his courage to be taken from him. The Indian perceiving that, gave to Alex∣ander
four such Dogs; and he received them as a great Present, and accepted them
gladly and thankfully: and moreover, rewarded the Indian that gave them, with
a Princely recompence. This same story Philes also writes. But Diodorus Siculus
and Strabo, say that Sopithes a King, gave Alexander an hundred and fifty of these
Dogs, all very huge and strong, and usually coupling with Tygres. And Pollux
writes the same. And Plutark describes the Indian-dog, and his fight before Alex∣ander,
as it is before related: Pliny writes, that the King of Albania gave Alexan∣der
a great Dog, wherewith he was much delighted: but when he brought the Dog,
first Bears, then Boars, and then Deer, and saw he would not touch them, being
much offended that so great a body should have so little courage, he caused him to
be killed. The King that gave him, hearing this, sent him another, and withal char∣ged
the Messenger, that he should not be tryed in small matches, but either with a
Lion or an Elephant. So then, Alexander caused a Lion to be set before him, and
presently the Dog killed him: afterward he tried him with an Elephant; and the
Dog bristled and barked at him, and assaulted him so artificially every way, till the
Elephant was giddy with turning about, and so fell down and was killed. Gratius
writes of this kind of dogs, thus generated of a Bitch and a Tygre. There is also
another kind of Dogs
Page 36

Generated of a Lion.
And these are strong Dogs, and good Hunters. Pollux saith, that Arcadian Dogs
first came of a Dog and a Lion, and are called Lion-dogs. And Coelius writes the
same: and Oppianus commends the Arcadian Dogs, and those of Tegea, which is a
Town of Acadia. This is also

A strong and swift Dog, gendred of a kind of Wolf called Thos,
which, as Aristotle writes, is in all his entrails like a Wolfs; and is a strong
beast, swift, and is wont to encounter the Lion. Pliny saith, it is a kind of Wolf;
Hesychius saith, it is like a Wolf; Herodotus, that it is gendred in Africa: Solinus
calls them Ethiopian Wolves: Nearchus calls these beasts Tygres, and saith there be
divers kinds of them. Wherefore Gratius saith, that dogs generated of these Thoes,
are strong, and fit to hunt; and calls them half-savage, as coming of a tame Dog,
and a savage kind of Wolf. There is also a

Dog called Crocuta, gendred of a Dog and a Wolf.
Pliny saith, that these Dogs break all things with their teeth, and presently devout
them. As the Indians join Tygres, so do the Gaules join Wolves and Dogs together;
every herd of Wolves there, hath a Dog for their Ring-leader. In the Country
of Cyrene in Libya, Wolves do couple with Dogs, as Aristotle and Pollux write.
Galen in his book concerning the use of Parts, writes, that a Bitch may conceive by
a He-wolf, and so the She-wolf by a Dog, and retain each others seed, and ripen it
to the bringing forth of both kinds. Diodorus saith, that the dog which the Aethiopi∣an
calls Crocuta, is a compound of the Nature of a Dog and a Wolf. When Ni∣phus
was hunting, one of his dogs eagerly pursued a she-wolf, and overtaking her,
began to line her, changing his fiercenesse into lust. Albertus saith, that the great
Dog called a Mastive, is gendred of a Dog and a Wolf. I my self saw at Rome, a
dog generated of a wolf; and at Naples, a she-wolf of a dog. Ovid saith, that
the dog Nape was conceived of a Wolf; and Ovid and Virgil both, mention the
dog Lycisca, which, as Isiodore writes, are generated of wolves and dogs coupling
together. Coelius calls these dogs Chaonides; being gendred of a kind of wolf
called Chaos, as some suppose, whence they have that name. But if we would ge∣nerate
swift dogs, as Grey-hounds, we must join dogs with some swift beasts. As,
couple dogs and foxes together, and they will

Gender swift Dogs, called Lacedamonian Dogs.
Aristotle, and out of him Galen, report, that beasts may couple together, though
they be of a divers kind; so that their nature do not much differ, and they be of a
like bignesse, and thereby sutable for their times of breeding and bringing forth,
as it is betwixt dogs and wolves; of both which, are gendred swift dogs, called
Lacedaemonian dogs: the first births are of both kinds; but in time, after sundry
interchangeable generations, they take after the dam, and follow the kind of the
female. Pollux saith, These are called Alopecidae, fox-dogs; as Xenoph•• also
writes of them, and makes them to be hunting dogs: and surely the best and
swiftest hunting dogs, as Grey-hounds, are long-headed, and sharp-snou•ed, as
foxes are. Hesychius and Varinus call them Dog-foxes. But now, if we would gene∣rate
a kind of

Swift Dogs, and strong withal,
we must make a medley of sundry kinds of dogs together; as a Mastive and a Grey-hound
gender a swift, and withal a strong dog, as Aristole writes: or else couple a dog
with a wolf, or with a Lion; for both these mixtions have Hunts-men devised; the
Page 37

former, to amend certain natural defects in one kind; and the latter, to make their
dogs stronger for the game, and craftier to espie and take advantages; as commonly, to∣gether
with the properties of the body, the qualities of the mind are derived into the
young ones. Ovid mentions such mungrels amongst Actaeons dogs: and Oppianus
in his book of Hunting, counsels to join in the Spring-time, divers dogs together, if
we desire to have any excellent parts in any; as the dogs of Elis, with them of Arca∣dia;
the dogs of Crete, with them of Pannonia; Thracians, with them of Caria;
Lacedaemonians, with them of Tuscia; and Sarmatian dogs, with Spanish dogs. Thus
we see, how to generate a dog as stomackful as a Lion, as fierce as a Tygre, as craf∣ty
as a fox, as spotted as a Leopard, and as ravenous as a Wolf.

CHAP. VII.
How to generate pretty little dogs to play with.

BEcause a dog is such a familiar creature with man, therefore we will shew
how to generate and bring up a little dog, and one that will be play-full. First
of the generation

Of little Dogs.
In times past, women were wont to esteem little dogs in great price, especially such
as came from Malta the Island situate in the Adriatical Sea, neer to Ragusius. Cal∣limachus
terms them Melitean dogs. And Aristotle in his Problems, shews the
manner of their generation; where he questioneth, Why amongst living creatures
of the same kind, some have greater, and some have smaller bodies; and gives
thereof a double reason: one, is the straightnesse of the place wherein they are
kept; the other, is the scarcenesse of their nourishment: and some have attempted
to lessen the bodies of them, even after their birth; as they which nourish up lit∣tle
whelps in small cages: for thereby they shorten and lessen their bodies; but
their parts are prettily well knit together, as appears in Melitaean dogs: for nature
performes her work, notwithstanding the place. Athenaeus writes, that the Syba∣rites
were much delighted with Melitaean dogs, which are such in the kind of dogs,
as Dwarfes are among men. They are much made of, and daintily kept, rather
for pleasure then for any use. Those that are chosen for such a purpose, are of the
smallest pitch, no bigger at their best growth then a mouse, in body well set, having
a little head, a small s•out, the nose turning upward, bended so for the purpose when
they were young; long ears, short legs, narrow feet, tail somewhat long, a shagged
neck, with long hair to the shoulders, the other parts being as it were shorn, in co∣lour
white; and some of them are shagged all over. These being shut up in a cage,
you must feed very sparingly, that they never have their fill; and let them couple with
the least you can find, that so lesse may be generated; for so Hippocrates writes, that
Northern people, by handling the heads of dogs while they be young, make them
lesse then, and so they remain even after they are come to their full growth: and in
this shape they gender others, so that they make, as it were, another kind. But if
you would know the generation of a

Dog that will do tricks and feats,
one that will make sport of himself, and leap up and down, and bark softly, and
〈◊〉 without biting, and stand upon his hindermost legs, holding forth his other
legs like hands, and will fetch and carry; you must first let them converse and com∣pany
with an Ape, of whom they will learn many sportful tricks; then let them
line the Ape; and the young one which is born of them two, will be exceeding
practised to do feats, such as Juglets and Players are wont to shew by their dogs.
Albertus saith, that these kind of dogs may very well be generated of a dog and
a fox.

Page 38

CHAP. VIII.
How to amend the defects and lacks that are in dogs, by other means.

WE may also supply the lacks that are in dogs, by other means, and teach them
new qualities, even by their food and nourishment: for we have shewed oft-times,
that qualities are drawn in together with the milk and nourishment where∣by
we live. Columella shews how

to make Dogs strong and swift:
If you would have them full of stout spirits, you must suffer them to suck the breasts
of some other beasts; for alwayes the milk, and the spirits of the nurse, are much
available, both for the quality of the body, and the qualities of the soul. Oppia∣nus
bids us to keep hunting dogs from sucking any ordinary Bitches, or Goats, or
Sheep; for this, saith he, will make them too lazy and weak; but they must suck a
tame Lionesse, or Hart, or Doe, or Wolf; for so they will become swift and strong,
like to their nurses that give them suck. And Aelianus gives the very same precept,
in the very same words: for, saith he, when they shall remember that they had such
strong and swift nurses, nature will make them ashamed not to resemble their quali∣ties.
Pollux saith, that for a while, the Dams milk is fittest meat for whelps; but after,
let them lap the blood of those beasts which dogs have caught, that by little and
little they may be acquainted with the sweetnesse of hunting. Ctesias in his book
of Indian matters, writes, that the people called Cynamolgi, do nourish and feed
many dogs with Bulls blood, which afterward being let loose at the Bulls of India,
overcome them and kill them, though they be never so fierce: and the people
themselves milk their Bitches, and drink it, as we drink Goats or Sheeps milk, as
Aelianus reports: and Solinus writes, that this is supposed to make that people
flap-mouthed, and to grin like dogs. We may also make

an Ass become couragious,
if we take him as soon as he is brought forth into the world, and put him to a Mare
in the dark, that she may not discern him; for her own Colt being privily taken
from her, she will give suck to the Asse as to her own foale: and when she hath
done thus for the space of ten daies, she will give him suck alwayes after wil∣lingly,
though she know him to be none of hers. Thus shall he be larger, and bet∣ter
every way.

CHAP. IX.
How to bring forth divers kinds of Mules.

WE will speak of the commixtion of Asses, Horses, and such like: though it be a
known matter, yet it may be we shall adde something which may delight the
Reader. Aelianus writes out of Democritus, that Mules are not Natures work, but
a kind of theft and adultery devised by man: first committed by an Asse of Media,
that by force covered a Mare, and by chance got her with foal; which violence men
learned of him, and after that made a custom of it. Homers Scholiast saith, that
Mules were first devised by the Venetians, a City of Paphlagonia. It is writ•••Genesis, chap. 36. v. 24. that Anah, Esau's kinsman, feeding his fathers Asses in the
wildernesse, found out Mules. Now

A Mule cometh of a Mare and an Ass.
They have no root in their own kind, but are graffed as it were, and double kin∣ded,
Page 39

as Varro saith. If you would have a strong and a big Mule, you must chuse a
Mare of the largest affize, and well-knit joints, not regarding her swiftnesse, but her
strength. But there is another kind of mule called Hinnus, that cometh

of a Horse and a She-ass.
But here special choice must be made of the Asse, that she be of the largest affize,
strongly jointed, and able to endure any labour, and of good qualities also; for howso∣ever
it is the Sire that gives the name to the young one, and it is called Hinnus, of the
Horse; yet it grows altogether like the Dam, having the main and the tail of an
Asse, but Horses ears; and it is not so great of body as the Mule is, but much slow∣er,
and much wilder. But the best She-mules of all, are generated

of a wilde Ass, and of a She-ass,
and these are the swiftest too; for though the Mule that is begotten by the He-asse,
be both in shape and qualities very excellent in his kind, yet that which is begotten of
the wilde Asse, cometh nothing behind the other, but only that it is unruly and stub∣born,
and somewhat scammel, like the Sire. These Mules thus gendred of a wilde Asse,
and a She-asse, if they be males, and put to cover a Mare, beget excellent young
ones, which by little and little wax tame, resembling the shape and mildnesse of their
Sire, but the stomack and swiftnesse of their Grand-sire; and they have exceeding
hard feet, as Columella writes. These happily are the Mules which Aristotle writes,
are only in Syria, swift, and fertile, called by the common name of Mules, because
of their shape, though their kind be of a wild Asse. But there is a more common
kind of

Strong Mules gendred of a Bull and an Ass,
which is a fourth sort of Mules, found in Gratianopolis, and called by a French name,
Jumar. Gesner reports, that at the foot of the Hill Spelungus in Rhetia, was seen a
Horse gendred of a Mare and a Bull. And I my self saw at Ferraria, certain beasts
in the shape of a Mule, but they had a Bulls head, and two great knobs in stead of
horns; they had also a Bulls eyes, and were exceeding stomackful, and their colour
was black: a spectacle, wherewith we were much delighted. I have heard, that in
France, they be common; but I could see none there, though I passed through the
whole Country.

CHAP. X.
How to mingle the Sheep and Goats together, by generation.

IF we would better any qualities in a Ram, we must effect it by coupling them
with wild beasts, such as are not much unlike, either in quantity or in kind. There
is a beast called

Musinus, gendred of a Goat and a Ram.
Pliny saith, that in Spain, but especially in Corsica, there are beasts called Musimones
not much unlike to Sheep, which have Goats hair, but in other parts, Sheep: the
young ones which are gendred of them, coupling with Sheep, are called by the
Antients, Umbri: Strabo calls them Musimones. But Albertus calls them Musini
or Musimones, which are gendred of a Goat and a Ram. I have heard that in Rhe∣tia,
in the Helvetian confines, there are generated certain beasts, which are Goats in
the hinder parts, but in the former parts, Sheep or Rams; but they cannot live
long, but commonly they die, as soon as they are born: and that there the Rams be∣ing
grown in years, are very strong and lustful, and so oft-times meeting with goats,
Page 40

do run over them: and that the young ones which wilde Rams beget of tame Sheep,
are in colour like the Sire, and so is their breed after them; and the wool of the
first breed is shaggy, but in their after-breed soft and tender. On the other side,
there is a beast called

Cinirus, generated of a He-goat, and an Ewe,
as the same Albertus writeth. But the best devised adultery is, to couple in gene∣ration,
and thereby to procreate young ones, of

A wilde and a tame Goat.
Writers affirm, that whatsoever kind hath some wilde, and some tame, the wilde∣nesse
of them, if they couple with the tame of the same kind, is altered in the suc∣ceeding
generations; for they become tame. Columella writes, that many wilde
Rams were brought out of Africa into Cales, by some that set out games before
the people; and Columella, the Uncle of this Writer, bought some of them, and
put them into his grounds; and when they were somewhat tame, he let them co∣ver
his Ewes: and these brought lambs that were rough, and had the colour of
their Sire: but these then afterward coupling with the Ewes of Tarentum, begot
lambs that had a thinner and a softer fleece. And afterward, all their succeeding
generations resembled the colour of their Sires, and Grand-sires, but the gentle∣nesse
and softnesse of their Dams. The like is experienced in Swine: for we may
bring forth

Of a wild and a tame Swine, the beast called Hybrides:
for a Boar is exceeding hot in lust, and wonderfully desires coition; insomuch, that
if the female refuse to couple with him, either he will force her, or kill her. And surely
howsoever, some wilde beasts being made tame, are thereby unfit for generation,
as a Goose, a Hart brought up by hand from his birth; and a Boar is hardly fruit∣full
in such a case: yet there is no kind so apt for generation, the one being wilde,
and the other tame, as the kind of Swine is. And those which are thus gendred,
these half-wilds, are called Hybrides, happily because they are generated in re∣proachful
adultery: for Hybris signifies reproach.

CHAP. XI.
Of some other commixtions, whereby other beasts of divers kinds are generated.

WE will speak yet farther of the commixtion of divers beasts differing in kinde;
as also of other mixtions derived from these, so to find out all such kinds: and
moreover we will shew, that of their young, some take after the Sire most, and some
after the Dam. And first, that

A Leopard is gendred of a Libard and a Lioness.
The Lionesse is reported to burn in lust; and because the Lion is not so fit for copu∣lation,
by reason of his superfluity of heat, therefore she entertains the Libard in∣to
the Lions bed: but when her time of bringing forth draws neer, she gets away
into the Mountains, and such places where the Libards haunt: for they bring forth
spotted whelps, and therefore nurse them in thick woods very covertly, making
shew to the Lions, that they go abroad only to seek some prey; for if the Lions at
any time light upon the whelps, they tear them in pieces, as being a bastard brood,
as Philostratus writes. In the wilde of Hircania, there are Leopards, as it were, ano∣ther
kind of Panthers, which are known well enough, which couple with the Lio∣nesse,
and beget Lions; but they are but base Lions, as Solinus writes. Isiodore saith,
Page 41

that the Libard and the Lionesse coupling together, procreate a Leopard, and so
make a third kind. Pliny saith, That those Lions which are generated of Li∣bards,
do want the mones of Lions. And Solinus saith, that the Lion can find
out by his smell, when the Lionesse hath played the Harlot; and seeks to re∣venge
it upon her with all his might: and therefore the Lionesse washes her
self in some River, or else keeps aloof from him, till the scent be wasted.
Now as there are two sorts of Mules, one of a Horse and an Asse, the other
of an Asse and a Mare; so there are two sorts of Leopards, one of a Li∣bard
and a Lionesse, the other of a Lion and a Panther, or She-libard: that is
in body like a Lion, but not in courage; this is in body and colour like a Libard,
but not in stomack: for all double-kinded creatures, take most after their
mother, especially for shape and quantity of their bodies. Claudianus saith,
that there is a kinde of Libard, which he calls a Water-libard, that is gene∣rated
of a mingled seed, when a strong and vigorous Libard meeteth with a
Lionesse, and happily coupleth with her: and this kinde of Libard is like the
Sire for his spots, but his back and the portraiture of his body is like his Dam.
Now there is another copulation of the Lionesse, when the

Hyaena and the Lionesse gender the beast Crocuta;
for the Lionesse is very furious in lust, (as we shewed before) and couples
with divers kinds of beasts: For Pliny writes, and Solinus writes the same,
That the Hyaena and the Lionesse of Aethiopia, gender the beast Crocuta. Like∣wise
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 o∣ther
kinds also. And amongst the rest, the Wolf oft-times meets and cou∣ples
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 fa∣shioned
like a Wolf. But the Greeks make mention of a very strange adul∣tery,
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 co∣pulation,
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
Page 42

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 Crea∣tures,
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 leche∣rous,
at all seasons fit and ready for copulation; and besides, agrees with ma∣ny
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 na∣ture.
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-child; and she was called by a fit name,
Ep•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 exceed∣ing
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
Page 43

after, marte his seed. Or, if she could so conceive, and bring her birth to per∣fection,
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 genito∣ries
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, there∣fore
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 Concu∣bine,
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
forth an infant that had the face of a man, but the thighs of a Goat. The same
Author writes, That

Women lie with He-goats, and with the Cynocephali;
for the He-goats are so lecherous, that in the madnesse of their lust, they will set
upon Virgins, and by force ravish them. Herodotus in his second book, writeth
of a He-goat, that had to do with a woman openly, and in the sight of many
men standing by. Strabo saith, that in the Mediterranean Sea, a little without the
mouth of a River neer to Sebenis and Pharnix, there is an Island called
Xoas, and a City within the Province of Sebenis, and the Cities Hermopo∣lis
and Mendes, where Pan is honoured for a God, and with him is likewise
honoured a He-goat; and there, as Pindarus reports, He-goats have to do
with women: In the utmost corner of the winding of the River Nilus, saith
he, are fed certain Herds of Goats; and there the lecherous He-goats are
mingled with women. Aelianus also writes of the Indians, that they will not
admit into their Cities any red Apes, because they are oft-times mad in lust towards
women; and if at any time they find such Apes, they hunt and destroy them, as be∣ing
adulterous beasts. Pliny writes also, That

Man couples with divers kinds of beasts:
for some of the Indians have usual company with bruit beasts; and that which
is so generated, is half a beast, and half a man.

CHAP. XIII.
That divers kinds of birds may be generated of divers birds coupling together.
BEfore we come to speak of the commixtion of birds, it is meet to pre∣scribe
certain observations for the more easie effecting thereof; that if
we have need to supply any defects in any birds, we may be the better
Page 44

instructed how to perform it readily, to make them fitter for our uses. Se shewed
before out of Aristotle, that if we would mingle Creatures of divers kinds, we must
see that they be of like bignesse, of a like proportion of time for their breeding,
of a like colour; but especially, that they be very lecherous; for otherwise they
will hardly insert themselves into a strange stock. If a Falconer be desirous to pro∣duce
fighting Hawks, or Cocks, or other birds, he must first seek our good lusty
males, such as be strong and stomackful, that they may derive the: same qualities in∣to
their young ones. Next, they must procure strong and couragious females: for
if but one of them be stomackful, the young ones will rather take after the dulnesse
and faint-heart of the one, then after the quicknesse and courage of the other.
When you have thus made choice of the best breeders, before their copulation,
you must keep them together within doors, and bring them by little and little ac∣quainted
with each other; which you may best do, by causing them to feed and to
live together. Therefore you must prepare a pretty little cottage, about ten foot
long, and ten foot broad; and let all the windows be made out toward the South,
so that there may good store of light come in at the top of the house. In the mid∣dle
you must make a partition with lattises or grates, made of Osiers: and let the
rods stand so far asunder, as that the birds head and neck may go in between them:
and in one side of the room, let that bird be alone by her self, which you would
make tame; in the other side, put the other birds which you purpose to join in co∣pulation
with the strange bird. So then, in the prime of the Spring, (for that is the
time wherein all Creatures are most eager in lust) you must get you fruitful birds,
and let them be of the same colour, as is the bird which you desire to become tame.
These you must keep certain daies at the same boord as it were, and give them their
meat together, so that the strange bird may come at it through the grate: for by this
means she will learn to be acquainted with them, as with her fellows, and will live
quietly by them, being as it were kept in prison from doing them any wrong:
whereas otherwise she would be so fierce upon them, that she would spare none,
but it she could, destroy them all. But when once by tract of time, and continu∣al
acquaintance with his fellows, this male-bird is become somewhat gentle, look
which of the females he is most familiar with, let her be put in the same room where
he is; and give them both meat enough. And because commonly he either kills,
or doth not care for the first female that is put unto him, therefore, lest the keeper
should lose all his hope, he must keep divers females for supply. When you perceive
that he hath gotten the female with young, presently you must divorce one of them
from the other, and let him in a new mate, that he may fill her also: and you must feed
her well till she begin to sit upon her egges, or put the egges under some other that
sits. And thus shall you have a young one, in all respects like the Cock: but as
soon as the young ones are out of the shell, let them be brought up by themselves,
not of their mother, but of some other Hen-bird. Last of all, the females of this
brood, when they be come to ripenesse, that they stand to their Cock, their first
or their second brood will be a very exact and absolute kinde.

CHAP. XIV.
Divers commixtions of Hens with other Birds.
WE will begin with Hens, because they are in great request with us, and are
houshold-birds, alwayes before our eyes; and besides, they may be very pro∣fitable
and gainful, if we can tell how to procreate and bring up divers kinds of
them. Cocks are of all other most lecherous; and they spend their seed, not only
at the sight of their Hens, but even when they hear them crake or cackle; and to
represse their lust, they are oftentimes carved. They tread and fall to their sport,
almost all the year long. Some Hens are very lusty, and withal very fruitful; inso∣much
that they lay three-score egges before they sit to hatch them: yea, some that
are kept in a pen, do lay twice in one day; and some bring forth such store
Page 45

of egges, that they consume themselves thereby, and die upon it. We will
first shew

How to couple a Partridge with a Hen.
Partridges are much given to lust, and very eager of coition, and are mingled with
other birds of divers kinds, and they couple betwixt themselves, and so have young
ones; as first with Hens, of whom they procreate certain birds, which partake of
both kinds in common, for the first brood; but in processe of time, when divers
generations have successively passed, they take meerly after the mother in all respects,
as Aristotle writeth. The field-cocks are usually more lustful then houshold-cocks
are, and they tread their Hens as soon as ever they are off the roust; but the Hens
are more inclinable to coition, about the middle of the day, as Athenaeus writes, out
of Aelianus and Theophrastus: of which circumstances we may take our best advan∣tage
in coupling them with Partridges. After the same manner

A Hen and a Pheasant may gender together;
for, as Florentius writes, the Pheasant and the Hen agree both in their time of lay∣ing,
either of them bringing forth egges one and twenty daies after conception.
And though she be not so wanton as other birds are, yet in their treading time they
are glad of coition, and not very wilde, especially those that are of the smaller
sort: for these may easily be made tame, and suffered to go amongst Hens; but at their
first taking they are very fierce, insomuch that they will not only kill Hens, but
even Peacocks too. Some men bring up Pheasants to make a game of them: but
some breed them for delight and pleasure, as I saw at Ferraria in the Princes Court,
where was brought up very great store, both of Hens and Pheasants too. And this
hath been an old practice: for in Athenaeus we find a saying of Ptolomy, that not on∣ly
Pheasants were sent for out of Media, but the Country Hens, they also afforded
good store of them, the egges being conceived in them by the treading of a Cock∣pheasant.
First then, you must take a Cock-pheasant, and be very careful in keeping
of him tame amongst your Hens: after that, you must seek our Country-hens of di∣vers
colours, as like the colour of the Hen-Pheasant as you can, and let them live
with the Cock-Pheasant, that in the Spring-time he may tread the Hens; and they
will bring forth speckled egges, everywhere full of black spots, far greater and good∣lier
then other egges are. When these are hatched, you must bring up the chicken
with barly-flour, and some leaves of smallage shred in amongst it; for this is
the most delightful and nourishing food that they that they can have. There
is also

A Chick gendred of a Pigeon and a Hen:
the Pigeon must be young, for then he hath more heat and desire of copulation,
and much abundance of seed; for if he be old, he cannot tread: but young Pigeons
do couple at all times, and they bring forth both Summer and Winter. I had my
self at home a single Pigeon, & a Hen that had lost her Cock: the Pigeon was of a large
size, and wanton withal; the Hen was but a very small one: these lived together,
and in the Spring-time the Pigeon trode the Hen, whereby she conceived, and in
her due season laid egges, and afterward hatched them, and brought forth chicken
that were mixt of either kind, and resembled the shape of them both. In greatnesse
of body, in fashion of head and bill, they were like a Pigeon; their feathers very
white and curled, their feet like a Hens feet, but they were overgrown with fea∣thers;
and they made a noise like a Pigeon: and I took great pleasure in them;
the rather, because they were so familiar, that they would still sit upon the bed, or
nuzzle into some womans bosom. But there is, yet another mixture, when
Page 46

A Cock, and a Pea, gender the Gallo-Pavus;
which is otherwise called the Indian-hen, being mixt of a Cock and Pea, though
the shape be liker to a Pea then to Cock. In body and greatnesse it resembles
the Pea, but it hath a combe and chackels under the chin like a Cock: it hath the
voice of a Pea, and spreads forth her tail, and hath such varietie of colours as she
hath. The taste of her flesh relishes like a compound of them both; whereby it ap∣pears,
that both kinds are not unfitly matcht together. But afterward, when the
she Gallo-pavus and the Pea-cock were brought up tame together, we had of
them very fruitful egges, which being hatcht, yeelded very goodly chickens, whose
feathers were of a most orient and glistering colour: and these young ones after∣ward
growing bigger, were mingled in copulation with Pea-cocks and Pea-hens,
and the brood which was so generated of them, were in a manner all of the kind
and fashion of the Pea. The like a man may conjecture of other kinds of birds.

CHAP. XV.
How to generate Hawkes of divers properties.
WE will shew some commixtions of Hawks, by the example whereof, you may
imagine of your self the like in other birds: and hereby it shall appear how we
may amend divers faults and defects in Hawks, and engraffe in them some new qua∣lities
to be derived from their sundry progenitets. And first, how

The bird Theocronus is gendred of a Hawk and an Eagle.
Hawks are exceeding hot in lust; and though there be divers kinds of them, yet they
all couple together among themselves without any difference, as Aristotle writeth:
they couple with Eagles, and thereby engender bastard Eagles. Eagles are most le∣cherous:
and whereas among other creatures, the famale is not alwayes ready and
willing to yeeld to the male for coition; yet the Eagles never refuse it: for though
they have been trod never so oft, yet still, if the male desire copulation, the female
presently yeelds unto him. Aelianus accounts ordinary and common Hawks in the
kind of Eagles. Oppianus in his Ixeutica saith, that there is a bird known well
enough, called Theocronus, which is generated of a male Hawk, and a female Ea∣gle.
There is a kind of Hawks so wholly given over to lust, that in the Spring-time
they lose all their strength, and every little bird snaps at them; but in the Summer,
having recovered her strength, she is so lusty, that she flies up and down to revenge
her self upon those little birds; and as many of them as she catches, she devours. If
the male of this kind do but hear the voice of the female Eagle, presently he flies to
her, and they couple together: but the egges which she conceives by this base copu∣lation,
she scorns to hatch and sit upon▪ and that she may not be known of it to the
male Eagle, she flies far away from him: for the male Eagle, if once he perceive
that she hath played the harlot, divorces her from him, and is throughly revenged
upon her. These birds are now commonly called Sea-eagles. There is also a com∣mixtion,
whereby the Hawk mingles himself

with a Faulcon, and with a Buzzard, and the Eagle Nisus;
for Hawks do not only couple with their own kind, but with Faulcons, Buzzards,
and Eagles of divers kinds, as also with most of those fowles that live upon the
prey and spoil of other birds; and according to the diversity of those kinds, divers
kinds of Hawks are generated. Besides, they couple with strange Faulcons of
other Countries, and other kinds: for as soon as they be hatcht and Pen-feather∣ed,
if their parents see that they are not right Faulcons, presently they beat them a∣way;
and so partly because they cannot endure their parents rage, and partly to
Page 47

get their living, they flie away into strange places; and there finding no mates of
their own kind, they seek out a mate of another kind, the likest to her own kind
that the can meet with, and couples with them. So then, if you have Hawks that
descend from the right and best kind, art may more easily work upon them, then
upon such as come of the baser sort. In like manner there may be generated of divers
kinds of Eagles divers fowles, as

The Osprey, the fowl called Ossifragus, and Ravens also.
Pliny discoursing of the Osprey, saith, That they have no proper kinde of their own,
but are descended from divers sorts of Eagles mingled together: and that which
cometh of the Osprey, is of the kind of Ossifragi: and that which cometh of the
Ossifragi, is a kind of little Ravens, and of these afterward is generated a kind of
great Ravens, which have no issue at all: the Author of which assertions before
Pliny, was Aristotle in his book of Wonders. Oppianus saith, that Land-eagles are
a bastard brood, which their parents beat out of their nests, and so they are for a
while nourished by some other fowles, till at length they forsake the Land, and
seek their living in the Sea.

CHAP. XVI.
Of the commixtion of divers kinds of fishes.
IT is a very hard thing for a man to know, whether divers kinds of fishes be min∣gled
together or no; because they live altogether under the waters, so that we
cannot observe their doings; especially such as they practise against the ordinary
course of nature. But if we rightly consider that which hath been spoken, before, we
may easily effect their commixtion, namely, if we take such fishes as are much given
to venery, and match those together which are alike in bigness; in time of breed∣ing,
and in other such conditions as were before required. Aristotle in his book
of living Creatures, saith, that divers fishes in kind never mingle their seeds to∣gether:
neither did ever any man see two fishes of divers kinds couple in generati∣on,
excepting only these two,

The Skate and the Ray, which engender the Rhinobatos;
which is so called of both his parents names compounded together. And out of
Aristotle, Pliny reporteth, that no fishes of divers kinds mingle their seeds, save
only the Skate and the Ray; of both which is gendred the fish Rhinobatos, which
is like the Ray in all his former parts, and hath his name in Greek answerable to
his nature; for it is compounded of the names of both his parents. And of this
kind of fish I never read nor heard any thing besides this. Theodorus Gaza translates
the word Rhinobatos into Squatin•-raia in Latine, that is, a Skate-ray: and though
some deny that there is any such fish, yet surely it is found in the Sea about Naples;
and Simon Portus, a very learned Philosopher of Naples, did help me to the sight
of one of them; and the picture thereof is yet reserved, and it is to be seen.

CHAP. XVII.
How we may produce new and strange Monsters.
STrange and wonderful monsters, and aborsements, or untimely births, may be
gendred of living Creatures, as by those wayes of which we spake before, name∣ly,
the commixtion of divers kinds; so also by other means, as by the mixture of
divers seeds in one wombe, by imagination, or such like causes. Concerning Ima∣gination,
we will speak hereafter. Now at this time let us see the wayes of en∣gendring
such monsters, which the Ancients have set down, that the ingenious Rea∣der
Page 48

may learn by the consideration of these wayes, to invent of himself other wayes
how to generate wonderful monsters. Democritus, as Aristotle saith, held that the
mixture of many seeds, when one is received into the wombe before, and another
not long after, so that they are meddled and confounded together, is the cause of
the generation of many Monsters, that sometimes they have two heads, and more
parts then the nature of their kinde requires. Hence it is that those birds which
use often coitions, do oftentimes bring forth such births. But Empedocles, having
forecast all scruples and doubts within himself, seems to have attained the truth
in this case: for he saith, that the causes of the generation of monstrous Creatures,
are these; either if the seed be too much, or if it be too little, or if it light not in
the right place, or if it be scattered into many parts, or if the congredients be not
rightly affected to procreate according to the ordinary course of nature. And Stra∣ton
assignes many reasons, why such monsters are generated; as, because some new
seed is cast upon the former, or some of the former seed is diminished, or some parts
transposed, or the wombe puffed up with winde. And some Physitians ascribe it
principally to the place of conception, which is oft-times misplaced, by reason of
inflations. Aristotle saith, that such Creatures as are wont to bring forth many
young ones at one burthen, especially such as have many cells or receipts for seed
in their wombe, do most commonly produce monsters: for in that they bring forth
some that are not so fully perfect, thereby they degenerate more easily into mon∣sters:
especially of all other, the Pigs that are not farrowed at their due time, but
some certain dayes after the rest of the litter; for these cannot chuse but be mon∣sters
in one part or other; because whatsoever is either more or less then that which
the kind requires, is monstrous, and besides Nature. And in his book of Problems
he saith, that small four-footed Creatures bring forth monsters: but Man, and the
greater sorts of four-footed beasts, as Horses and Asses, do not produce them so of∣ten.
His reason is, because the smaller kinds, as Bitches, Sows, Goats, and Ewes,
are far more fruitful then the greater kinds are; for, of those, every one brings
forth at least one, and some bring forth for the most part, many at once. Now
Monsters are wont to be produced then, when there is a commixtion or confusion of
many seeds together, either by reason of sundry copulations, or because of some
indisposition in the place of conception. Hence it is, that birds also may bring
forth monsters; for they lay egges sometimes that have a double yelk: and if there
be no small skin that keeps both the yelks asunder, then the confusion of them
causeth the breed to become monstrous. Nature is earnest in the fashioning of a
living Creature; and first shapes out the principal parts of the body: afterwards
she worketh sometimes more, sometimes lesse, as the matter can afford which she
works upon, still framing her self thereunto: whereby it cometh to passe, that if the
matter be defective, then she cannot have her forth; if it be overmuch, then is na∣ture
overcome, and so both wayes hindered of her purpose, and thereby brings
forth monstrous broods, as in artificial births hath been often seen; some being
defective, as having but one leg, or but one eye; some exceeding the ordinary course,
as having four eyes, or four arms, or four feet, and sometimes having both sexes in
them, which are called Hermaphrodites: and so, look how your art disposes and
layes things together, and after the same manner, Nature must needs accomplish her
work, and finish your beginnings. But whosoever wouldst bring forth any mon∣sters
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
Page 49

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 ma∣ny
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, ha∣ving
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 of∣tenest
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 re∣ports,
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, Co∣lumella
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
Page 50

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 med∣dled
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, yel∣low
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 ma∣ny
tailes. Aristotle writes of certain Serpents, that they may be generated
after the same manner, to have many heads. The Poets, and the ancient de∣visers
of Fables, do speak much of that Hydra L•rnaea, which was one of
Hercules labours to overcome: which Fiction was without all question occa∣sioned
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 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 ma∣king
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 Cu∣stome;
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 pre∣sently
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
Page 51

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 generati∣on.
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. Hippo∣crates,
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 Aethi∣opia,
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 be∣fore
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 sa∣tisfied.
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
Page 52

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 en∣deavouring

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 co∣lour.
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 concep∣tion:
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 sun∣dry
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 co∣lours,
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 pra∣ctisednesse
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 to∣gether;
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
Page 53

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 spark∣ling
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 co∣lours
which they look upon, and thereby derives the very same colours into the
young ones.

How to procure a shag-hair'd Dog.
In •a•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 whi∣ted
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 pro∣duce
this effect, is to place in the bed-chambers of great men, the images of Cu∣pid,
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,
Page 54

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 eve∣ry
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. Ma∣ny
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 Lace∣daemonians:
for they, saith he, when they perceive that their wives are 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 affirm∣ed,
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 so∣lid,
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 ge∣nerates
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 wri∣teth.
A Bull, as soon as he hath rid a Cow, gives evident signs to any man to con∣jecture
Page 55

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 signi∣fie
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 cha∣racter
as looking toward the right side. But if you desire to have a male generated, A∣fricanus,
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 Chara∣dius;
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 Crea∣tures.
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 seek∣ing
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 coun∣terfeit
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 their counterfeit practise hath
been derected by this chance; that the hair of a horses skin being galled off in any
place, after a while hoary hairs have grown up there of themselves; and it is not
unlikely but that this chance taught them that practise. The manner of the doing
it, is, first to shave off the hair in that place where you would have a white spot;
and then rub off, or cut the upper skin, and so you shall there have a white patch.
But Oppianus speaking of the same experiment, shews that it is to be done by fire.
There be some Horses, saith he, that are full of white round spots intermingled
Page 56

with their black colour: it cometh by the industry of the Horse-breeder, who
when they are yet tender and young, cunningly burns off their hair with an hot iron.
But on the contrary, if you would have

The hairs of a wounded or galled place, to grow up of the same colour, as the other hair is of,
Tiberius hath taught the way how to do it. You must knead three pints of bruised
or ground barley, and put to it the froth of nitre and a little salt, and make it into
loaves; then you must put them into an Oven till they are burned to coals; after∣ward
crush them, and beat them to powder, and then mix them with oyle, and
anoint the sore or the scar therewith; and this you must do for twenty daies. But
what should be the reason that this barley ashes should cause, not white hairs, but
the like in colour to the rest, to grow upon the scars or sores of horses whereupon it
is cast, that, Alexander Aphrodisaeus ascribes to this, because barley hath in it a purga∣tive
and cleansing force, and so wasteth and expelleth the humors, and all the naughty
stuff, that was gathered by the sore into that part, because it was maimed, and con∣sequently
not so well able to relieve it self. Neither yet will I here omit that toyish
experiment whereby we may

Procure in Oxen a counterfeit shew of fatnesse.
If you take an Oxe well grown in years, and make a hole into his thigh, and blow
wind thereby into him, and afterward give him meat, he will shew fat, though
indeed he be very lean. We may also, by giving them some kind of water to
drink

Cause the fleeces and hides of cattel to be of divers colours,
as Aelianus sheweth. The River Crathis affords one channel that makes beasts
white: for Oxen and Sheep, and all four-footed beasts, as Theophrastus saith, as
soon as they drink of it, become white, though before they were red or black. In
Euboea, all for the most part, are white Oxen by nature. Sheep, by reason of the
diversity of mater which they drink, do diversly change their colour; the force and
nature of the Rivers working this change in them, especially at every ramming time.
Some are turned from black to white, and contrariwise, some are turned from white
to black: these alterations are commonly seen neer to the River Antandrus, and
neer also to a certain River in Thracia. The River Scamander, which is neer unto
Troy, makes as many Sheep as drink of the water thereof, to become yellow.
We may also conjecture and foresee by certain outward bodily signs in the Dam
or Sire,

What colour their young ones will be of.
To foreknow the colour of young Mules, we must take special example of the hairs
of their Dams ears and eye-lids: for howsoever the rest of their body is of one
and the same colour, yet in those two parts we may discern so many and such co∣lours
as the foal shall have, as Columella writeth. So if you look under the Rams
tongue, you shall there find certain veins; which if they be black, then will the
Lambs be black also; but if they be white, then he hath begotten white Lambs: for
look what colour these veins are of, with the same colour will the fleece of the
Lambe be overspread; insomuch that if there be sundry colours in them, there will
be also sundry like colours upon the Lambes, as Aristotle, Democritus and Didymus
do witnesse. Now, how we may

Know by the egge, whether the chick when it is hatcht, will be a Cock or a Hen,
Aristotle teacheth us: for, saith he, if the egge be exactly round, then it will yield
Page 57

a Cock-chicken; but if it be somewhat long, then it yields an Hen-bird: the rea∣son
is, because in things that are round, the natural heat is more kindly and strongly
compacted together.

How to make a bird sociable and familiar with thee.
Now we will speak of the sociablenesse and familiarity which a certain Pie had with
a friend of mine: who by this pretty device did make the Pie so well acquainted
with him, and so serviceable to him, that she would flie unto him, not only for the
supplying of her daily wants, but as it were for love, never forsaking him night or
day. The device was this. While she was yet unfeathered in the nest, he broke
off her lower beak, even to her very jaws, that the poor wretch could not eat any
meat but that which was put into her mouth with hands; and he himself gave her
with his own hands all the meat she did eat. After that, she would flie to his tren∣cher
at dinner and supper, and would prate and chat unto him very flippant; inso∣much
that nothing could be spoken in the house, but she would imitate it, and speak
it again; and not only frame her tongue to their words, but her body also to the
imitating and resembling of their actions. And he was wont still to leave her loose at
home, and she would flie about everywhere; but still at dinner and supper times she
would return home. It fell out that the man had occasion to go from home fifteen or
sixteen days journey: she would alwayes bear him company, now and then flying a
great way before him, and would sit still upon a bough till he came at her; and then
she would leap upon his cap and his shoulders, frisking about him for very joy; and
sometimes staying behind him; and then when he was gone a great way before, she
would in all haste flie away after to overtake him: and she was also his continual bed-fellow;
and yet to this day he hath her, and enjoyeth her familiar company. But,
concerning the general transmutation and change of living creatures, let these things
be sufficient which we have already spoken.

Page 58
THE THIRD BOOK OF Natural Magick: Which delivereth certain precepts of Husbandry; and sheweth how to intermingle sundry kinds of Plants, and how to produce new kinds.
The PROEME.
WE have rehearsed concerning divers kinds of new living Creatures; now shall I speak
of Plants, which ravish with admiration the eyes and minds of those that contem∣plate
on them, with their abundant pleasantnesse, and wonderful Elegancy. These bring
more profit, and by these a natural Philosopher may seem more admirable. For use made
with the earth, is more honest and honourable then with other things▪ and the ground never
grows old or barren, but is everywhere naturally rank to receive new seed, and to pro∣duce
new; and is ever unsatisfied in fruitfulnesse, and brings perpetual increase: and if
nature be alwayes admirable, she will seem more wonderful in Plants. Copulation was but
of one kind, here it is almost infinite; and not onely every Tree can be ingrafted into
every Tree, but one Tree may be adulterated with them all. Living Creatures of divers
kinds were not easily produced, and those that come from other Countries were hard to
get: here is no difficulty at all; grafts are fetcht and sent, if need be, to any part of the
world. And if diversity of Creatures are made in Africa, by their copulating when they
meet at the Rivers, that so new creatures are alwayes produced; here in Italy, where the
Air is alwayes calme, and the Climate very indulgent, strange and wilde plants find a good
harbour, and ground to grow in, which is the mother and nourisher of all, and so fruitful
to produce new and diversity of plants, that it can hardly be exhausted. And we can bet∣ter
write of them, and know the truth more then others, because we have them still before
our eyes, and an opportunity to consider of their effects. And if our Ancestors found ma∣ny
new things, we by adding to theirs, have found many more, and shall produce more
excellent things overpassing them, because daily by our art, or by chance; by nature, or new
experience, new plants are made. Diodorus writes, that the Vine at first was but one,
and that was wilde; but now by the help of Bacchus alone, from the quality of the ground,
the nature of the climate, and the art of planting, it is varied into many kinds, that it
were madnesse to number them up, and not worth our time. Nature brought forth but one
kind of Pear-tree: now so many mens names are honoured by it, that one is called Decuma∣na,
another Dolabelliana, and another is named from Decumius and Dolabella. The
same thing is observed in Figges, of Livy and Pompey. Quinces are of many kinds;
some called Mariana from Marius, Manliana from Manlius, Appiana Claudiana from
Appius Claudius, Cestiana from Cestius: their varieties have made the Authers names
immortal. What shall I say of Laurel cherries, found in Pliny his time? what of Citrons?
which as Athenaeus saith, were too sharp to eat in the days of Theophrastus, and the ance∣stors
of Plutark and Pliny; but Palladius made them to become sweet. What of the Peach,
and Almond-peach Nuts, fruits our fore-fathers knew not, yet now are they eaten, being
pleasant and admirable? what of Clove-gilliflowers, that the Gardrers Art hath made so
dainty and sweet scented? and so of other plants I have everywhere set down in this work?
Our Naples abounds so with them, that we would not go forth to see the Orchards of the
Hesperides, Alcinus, Semiramis, and at Memphis, that were made to hang above ground.
But I shall briefly and plainly relate the History.

Page 59
CHAP. I.
How new kinds of Plants may be generated of putrefaction.
AS we have shewed before, that new kinds of Living Creatures
may be generated of putrefaction; so, to proceed in the
same order as we have begun, we will now shew that
new kinds of Plants may grow up of their own accord,
without any help of seed or such like. The Antients question∣less
were of opinion, that divers plants were generated of
the earth and water mixt together; and that particular
places did yield certain particular plants. We rehearsed
the opinion of Diogenes before, who held that plants are generated of water pu∣trified
in it self, and a little earth tempered therewith. Theophrastus held, that
the rain causeth much putrefaction and alteration in the earth, and thereby plants
may be nourished, the Sun working upon it with his heating, and with his drying
operation. They write also, that the ground when it is stirred, brings forth such
kinds of Plants alwaies, as are usuall in the same place. In the Isle Creta, the
ground is of that nature, that if it be stirred anywhere, and no other thing sown
or planted in it, it will of it self bring forth a Cypresse-tree: and their tilled
lands, those that are somewhat moist, when they lie fallow, bring forth thi∣stles.
So the herb Laser in Africa, is generated of a kind of pitchy or clammy
rain and thick dirt; and the herb will shew it self out of the earth presently
after the rain is fallen. Pliny said, that the waters which fall from above,
are the cause of every thing that grows upon the earth, nature shewing therein
her admirable work and power: and many such things they report, which
we have spoken of in the books of the knowledge of Plants. And I my self
have oft-times by experience proved, that ground digged out from under the
lowest foundations of certain houses, and the bottom of some pits, and laid
open in some small vessel to the force of the Sun, hath brought forth divers
kinds of Plants. And whereas I had oftentimes, partly for my own pleasure, and
partly to search into the works of Nature, sought out and gathered together
earths of divers kinds, I laid them abroad in the Sun, and watered them of∣ten
with a little sprinkling, and found thereby, that a fine light earth would
bring forth herbs that had slight stalkes like a rush, and leaves full of fine lit∣tle
ragges; and likewise that a rough and stiff earth full of holes, would
bring forth a slight herbe, hard as wood, and full of crevises. In like man∣ner,
if I took of the earth that had been digged out of the thick woods, or
out of moist places, or out of the holes that are in hollow stones, it would
bring forth herbs that had smooth blewish stalkes, and leaves full of juice and
substance, such as Peny-wort, Purslane, Senegreek, and Stone-croppe. We
made trial also of some kinds of earth that had been farre fetcht, such as
they had used for the ballast of their Shippes; and we found such herbs ge∣nerated
thereof, as we knew not what they were. Nay further also, even out
of very roots and barks of Trees, and rotten seeds, powned and buried, and
there macecrated with water, we have brought forth in a manner the very
same herbs; as out of an Oken root, the herb Polypody, and Oak-fern, and
Splenewort, or at least such herbs as did resemble those, both in making and
in properties. What should I here rehearse, how many kinds of toad-stools and
puffs we have produced? yea, of every several mixture of putrified things, so
many several kinds have been generated. All which I would here have
set down, if I could have reduced them into any method; or else if such
plants had been produced, as I intended: but those came that were never
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sought for. But happily I shall hereafter, if God will, write of these things,
for the delight, and speculation, and profit of the more curious fort: which
I have neither time nor leisure now to mention, seeing this work is ruffled up in
haste. But let us see

How Toad-stools may be generated.
Dioscorides, and others have written, That the bark of a white Poplar-Tree, and
of a black, being cut into small pieces, and sowed in dunged lands or furrows,
will at all times of the year bring forth mushromes or toad-stools that are good
to be eaten. And in another place he saith, that they are more particularly gene∣rated
in those places, where there lies some old rusty iron, or some rotten cloth:
but such as grow neer to a Serpents hole, or any noisome Plants, are very hurt∣ful.
But Tarentinus speaks of this matter more precisely. If, saith he, you cut the
stock of a black Poplar peece-meal into the earth, and pour upon it some leaven
that hath been steeped in water, there will soon grow up some Poplar toad-stools.
He addeth further; If an up-land or hilly field that hath in it much stubble and ma∣ny
stalks of corn, be set on fire at such time as there is rain brewing in the clouds,
then the rain falling, will cause many toad-stools there to spring up of their own
accord: but if, after the field is thus set on fire, happily the rain which the clouds
before threatned doth not fall; then, if you take a thin linnen cloth, and let the
water drop through by little and little like rain, upon some part of the field where
the fire hath been, there will grow up toad-stools, but not so good as otherwise they
would be, if they had been nourished with a showre of rain. Next we will
shew

How Sperage may be generated.
Dydimus writes, That if any man would have good store of Sperage to grow, he
must take the horns of wilde Rams, and beat them into very small powder, and
sow them in eared ground, and water it, and he shall have his intent. There is one
that reports a more strange matter; that if you take whole Rams horns not powned
into small pieces, but only cut a little, and make a hole in them, and so set them,
they will bring forth Sperage. Pliny is of Didymus opinion, that if the horns be
powned and •igged into the earth, they will yield Sperage; though Dioscorides thinks
it to be impossible. And though I have made often trial hereof, but could not find
it so to be, yet my friends have told me of their own experience, that the same ten∣der
seed that is contained within the Rams horn, hath produced Sperage. The
same my friends also have reported

That Ivy doth grow out of the Harts horn;
and Aristotle writes of an Husband-man that found such an experiment; though
for my own part I never tried it. But Theophrastus writes, that there was Ivy found
growing in the Harts horn; whereas it is impossible to think how any Ivy seed could
get in there: and whereas some alledge, that the Hart might have rubbed his horn
against some Ivy roots, and so some part of the horn being soft and ready to putrifie,
did receive into it some part of the root, and by this means it might there grow;
this supposal carries no shew of probability or credit with it. But if these things
be true, as I can say or see nothing to the contrary, then surely no man will deny
but that divers kinds of plants may be generated of divers kinds of living Creatures
horns. In like manner, may plants be generated of the putrified barks and boughs
of old Trees: for so is

Polypody, and the herb Hyphear generated;
for both these, and divers other plants also, do grow up in Firre-trees, and Pine-trees,
and such other: for in many Trees, neer to the bark, there is a certain flegmatick or
moist humour, that is wont to putrifie; which, when it abounds too much with∣in,
breaks forth into the outward shew of the boughs and the stock of the Tree;
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and there it meets with the putrified humour of the bark; and the heat of the Sun
working upon it there, quickly turns it into such kinds of herbs.

CHAP. II.
How Plants are changed, one of them degenerating into the form of the other.
TO work Miracles, is nothing else (as I suppose) but to turn one thing into ano∣ther,
or to effect those things which are contrary to the ordinary course of Na∣ture.
It may be done by negligence, or by cunning handling and dressing them,
that plants may forsake their own natural kind, and be quite turned into another
kind; wholly degenerating, both in taste, and colour, and bignesse, and fashion:
and this I say may easily be done, either if you neglect to dresse or handle them ac∣cording
to their kind, or else dresse them more carefully and artificially then their
own kind requires. Furthermore, every plant hath his proper manner, and peculiar
kind of sowing or planting▪ for some must be sowed by seed, others planted by the
whole stem, others set by some root, others graffed by some sprig or branch: so that
if that which should be sowed by seed, be planted by the root, or set by the whole
stock, or graffed by some branch; or if any that should be thus planted be sowed by
seed; that which cometh up will be of a divers kinde from that which grows usually,
if it be planted according to its own nature, as Theophrastus writes. Likewise if you
shall change their place, their air, their ground, & such like, you pervert their kind; and
you shall find that the young growing plant will resemble another kind, both in co∣lour
and fashion; all which are clear cases by the books of Husbandry. Some ex∣amples
we will here rehearse. If you would change

A white Vine into a black, or a black into a white;
sow the seed of a white Garden-Vine, and that which cometh of it, will be a black
Wilde-vine; and so the seed of a black Garden-vine will bring forth a white Wilde-vine,
as Theophrastus teacheth. The reason is, because a Vine is not sowed by seed,
but the natural planting of it is by sprigs and roots. Wherefore if you deal with
it otherwise then the kind requires, that which cometh of it must needs be unkind∣ly.
By the like means

A white Fig-tree may degenerate into a black.
for the stone of a Fig, if it be set, never brings forth any other but a wilde or a
wood Fig-tree, and such as most commonly is of a quite contrary colour; so that of a
white figtree it degenerates into a black, and contrariwise a black fig-tree degene∣rates
into a white. Sometimes also, of a right and noble Vine is generated a ba∣stard
Vine, and that so different in kind oftentimes, that it hath nothing of the
right garden-vine, but all meerly wilde. In like manner also are changed

The red Myrtle and the red Bay-tree into black,
and cannot chuse but lose their colour: for these likewise degenerate, as the same
Theophrastus reports to have been seen in Antandrus; for the Myrtle is not sowed by
seed, but planted by graffing; and the Bay-tree is planted by setting a little sprig
thereof that hath in it some part of the root, as we have shewed in our discourse of
Husbandry. So also are

Sweet Almonds and sweet Pomegranates changed into sowre ones.
for the stones or kernels of the Pomegranates are changed from their right blue, in∣to
a baser colour; and the Pomegranate it self, though it be never so good, degene∣rates
into a hard, and commonly a sharp fruit. The Almond degenerates likewise
both in taste, and also in feeling; for of a soft one cometh a harder: therefore we are
counselled to graffe him when he is prettily well grown, or else to change him, and
shift him oft. An Oak likewise will become worse: and therefore whereas the
best grows in Epyrus, and many have planted the same elsewhere, yet they could
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never produce the like of that. In like manner, of the kernel of the natural
Olive cometh a wilde Olive; (and they that say that the male Cypresse-tree for the
most part degenerates into a female;) and in processe of time there is such a change,
that it agreeth in nothing with the natural Olive, but is so stark wilde, that some∣times
it cannot bring forth fruit to any perfection. Varro saith that

Coleworts are changed into Rape, and Rape into Coleworts.
Old seed is of so great force in some things, that it quite changeth the nature; for
the old seed of Coleworts being sowed, brings forth Rape; and contrariwise, old
Rape-seed degenerates into Coleworts. By labour also and dressing

The Corn Typha, and Spelt, are changed into Wheat, and Wheat into them;
for this may be done, if you take them being of a thorough ripenesse, and knead
them, and then plant them; but this will not so prove the first nor the second year;
but you must expect the proof of it in the third year, as Theophrastus sheweth. Pliny
writeth, that the Corn Siligo is changed into Wheat the second year. So all seeds,
either by reason that they are neglected, or because there is some indisposition either
in the earth, or the air where they are, do oft-times degenerate from the excellen∣cy
and goodnesse of their kind, and become worse. Virgil hath observed it: I have
seen, saith he, the best and choicest things that were most made of, at length yet to
degenerate, unlesse mans industry did yearly supply them with his help: so fatal
it is for all things to wax worse and worse, and still to have need to be renewed.
Galens father, a man very studious of Husbandry, especially in his old age, bestow∣ed
great pains and diligence to find out, whether the annoyances of fruits, that
which mars their pure goodnesse, did spring up of it self, or arise out of any seeds
of the fruits themselves, which did degenerate into other kinds. Wherefore he
took the purest, and the cleanest Wheat and Barley that he could get, and having
picked out all other seed whatsoever, sowed them in the ground: and when he found
much Tares growing in the Wheat, but very little in the Barley, he put the same
experiment in other grain in practice; and at last found in Pulse a hard and round
Fetch; and moreover, that the herb Axesceed did grow among Pulse, by a kind of
degeneration of the Pulse into Axesceed. So, unlesse it be prevented by skill
and pains,

The herb Ballamint will turn into a Mint.
Wherefore it must be often shifted and translated from place to place, lest it so de∣generate,
as Theophrastus counselleth; for when a man doth not look to it and
dresse it, the roots thereof will grow very large, and thereby the upper part being
weakned, loseth the ranknesse of his savour; and that being lost, there remains in
it but a weak smell, the very same in a manner that is in a common Mint. I my self
have sowed Mint seed, and it hath been changed into wilde Peny-roial; I mean,
in savour onely: for the fashion of the Mint remained still in it. Martial writes,
That

Basil-royal degenerates into-wilde Betony,
if it be laid open to the Suns hotest and greatest force: for then it will bring forth
sometimes purple flowers, sometimes white, and sometimes of a Rosie colour. And
it will not only degenerate into Betony, but into Ballamint also. Likewise the
boughs of the shrub Casia, as Galen reporteth, will degenerate into Cinamon.
Likewise

Cloves, Roses, Violets, and Gilli-flowers, of purple, will become white,
either by reason that they are old, or else if they be not well looked unto. For
Theophrastus records, that Violets, Roses, and Gilli-flowers, if they be not well
heeded, in three years will wax white; and the experience thereof I my self have
plainly seen. Neither yet will Plants degenerate one into another, only in such
case as where there is a kind of vicinity and likenesse of nature, but also where
Page 63

there is no such vicinity, one plant may be changed into another of a quite diffe∣rent
kind: for

An Oak may be changed into a Vine.
Albertus reporteth, (if the thing be as true as it is strange; but let the truth there∣of
lie upon his credit) he reports, I say, that Oaken or Beechen boughs being in∣graffed
into the Tree Myrica, is quite changed into it; and so into the Tree called
Tremisca, which is a baser kind of wood: and likewise if Oaken boughs be set in
the ground of Alummum, a place so called, they will be quite altered into right
Vines, such as their grapes yeeld good wine; and sometimes the old Oaks, if they
be pared, degenerate into Vines. But we must not think that this change is made
while those Trees or boughs last; but when once they are putrified, then the nature
of the ground works into them, and changeth them into Vines.

CHAP. III.
How to make one fruit compounded of many.
AS we heard before of divers living Creatures, that they might be mingled in∣to
one, by copulation; so now we will shew also how to contrive divers
kinds of fruits, by graffing into one fruit: for graffing is in plants the same that co∣pulation
is in living creatures: yet I deny not, but there are other means where∣by
this may be effected, as well as by graffing. But above all other, graffing is most
praise-worthy, as being the best and fittest means to incorporate one fruit into
another, and so of many to make one, after a wonderful manner. And whereas
it may be thought a very toilsome, and indeed impossible matter, here the excel∣lent
effect of the work must sweeten all thy labour, and thy painful diligence will
take away the supposed impossibility of the thing, and perform that which a man
would think were not possible to be done. Neither must thou suffer thy self to be
discouraged herein by the sayings of rude Husband-men which have attempted this
thing, but for want of skill could not perform it, seeing experience teacheth thee
that it hath been done. Wherefore against such discouragements, thou must arm
thy self with a due consideration of such experiments as the Antients have recorded:
as for example, that the Figge-tree may be incorporated into the Plane-tree, and
the Mulberry-tree; and likewise the Mulberry-tree into the Chestnut-tree, the
Turpentine-tree, and the white Poplar, whereby you mayest procure white Mulber∣ries;
and likewise the Chestnut-tree into a Hasel, and an Oak; and likewise the
Pomegranate-tree into all Trees, for that it is like to a common whore, ready and
willing for all Comers; and likewise the Cherry-tree into a Turpentine-tree: and
to conclude, that every Tree may be mutually incorporated into each other, as
Columella supposeth. And this is the cause of every composition of many fruits into
one, of every adopted fruit which is not the natural child, as it were, of the Tree
that bare it; and this is the cause of all strange and new kinds of fruits that grow.
Virgil makes mention of such a matter, when he saith, that Dido admired certain
Trees which she saw, that bare new kinds of leaves, and apples that naturally
were not their own. And Palladius saith, that Trees are joined together as it were,
by carnal copulation, to the end that the fruit thereof might contain in it, all the
excellencies of both the parents: and the same Trees were garnished with two sorts
of leaves, and nourished with two sorts of juices, and the fruit had a double relish,
according to both the kinds whence it was compounded. But now, as we did in
our tract of the commixtion of divers kinds of living Creatures; so here also it is
meet to prescribe certain rules, whereby we may cause those divers plants which
we would intermingle, to join more easily, and to agree better together, for the
producing of new and compounded fruits. First therefore, we must see that either
of the Trees have their bark of one and the same nature: and both of them must
have the same time of growing and shooting out of their sprigs; as was required
in living creatures, that both of them should have the same time of breeding their
Page 64

young ones: for if the graffe have a dry or a hard bark, and the stock have a moist
or soft bark, or that they be any way contrary each to other, we shall labour in
vain. Then we must see that the ingraffing be made in the purest and soundest
place of the stock, so that it neither have any tumors or knobs, or any scars, nei∣ther
yet hath been blasted. Again, it is very material, that the young graffes or
shoots be fetcht from the most convenient place or part of the Trees; namely,
from those boughs that grow toward the East, where the Sun is wont to rise in
the Summer-time. Again, they must be of a fruitful kind, and be taken off from
young plants, such as never bare fruit before. They must also be taken in their prime,
when they are beginning first to bud, and such as are of two years growth, and
likely to bear fruit in their second year. And the stocks into which they are to be en∣graffed,
must likewise be as young as may be graffed into; for if they be old, their
hardnesse will scarce give any entertainment to strange shoots to be planted upon
them. And many such observations must be diligently looked into, as we have
shewed in our book of Husbandry. But we must not here omit to speak of the lome,
or that clammy morter, which makes

The Graffe and the stock to close more easily together;
for it is very helpful to glew or fasten the skins of both the barks one into the o∣ther:
and if the barks be of a divers nature, yet by this lome they may be so bound
into one, that they will easily grow together. And surely it is commodious in ma∣ny
respects. First, because, as in mans body, the flesh being wounded or pierced
into, is soon closed up again with stiffe and clammy plaisters applyed thereunto;
so the bark or the boughs of Trees being cut or rent, will close together again very
speedily, by the applying of this morter. For if you pill the bark off from a
Tree, or slip off a little sprig from a bough, unlesse you close it up so cunningly,
that it may stick as fitly every way in the graffing as whilst it grew, it will soon
wither, and fade, and lose the natural juice and moisture; which inconvenience
this lome will prevent, and fit them one into another. Moreover, if there be
any open chink betwixt the bark and the Tree, presently the air getteth in, and
will not suffer them to close; therefore to make it sure that they may close without
fail, this lome is needful. And whereas there are some Trees which cannot away
to be harboured in any of another kind, this lome knit them so strongly into
the stock, that they cannot but bud and blossom. But here we must observe, that
this glue or morter must be as neer of the nature of the thing engraffed as may
be; for then it will perform this duty more kindly. If you be diligent herein,
you may do many matters. We will give you a taste of some, that by these
you may learn to do the like. Pill off the bark of Holly, and make a pit in
some moist ground, and there bury your Holly rines, and let them there pu∣trifie,
which will be done in twelve daies: then take them forth, and stamp
them till you see they are become a clammy slime. This is also made of the fruit Se∣besten
in Syria; and likewise it may be made of ordinary birdlime: but the best of
all is made of the rines of Elm-roots stamped together; for this hath a special quali∣ty,
both to fasten, and also to cherish. But let us return to graffing, which is of
such great force, that it hath caused a new kind of a bastard fruit that was never
heard of before, namely

An Apple compounded of a Peach-apple, and a Nut-peach;
which kind of compound generation, was never seen, nor heard of, nor yet thought
upon by the Ancient. This is to be done by a kind of graffing which they call
emplastering. Take off two young fruitful sprigges, one from a Peach-apple
Tree, and the other from the Nut-peach Tree; but they must be well grow∣en,
and such as are ready to budde forth. Then pare off the bark of them
about two fingers breadth in compasse, so that the budde to be graffed may
Page 65

stand fitly in the midst betwixt them both; but you must do it charily, lest
you perish the wood. Then cleave them thorough the middle a little way, that
they may be let one into another, and yet the cleft not seen, but covered with the
bud. Then take off a bud from one of those Trees, with the bark round about
the bud, and set it into the midst of the boughs which we spake of before; and
so engraffe them together into the other Tree, having first cut out a round fit place
for them therein. They must be engraffed in that part of the Tree, which is
most neat and fresh-coloured; the sprigs that grow about that place must be cut off,
lest they withdraw the nourishment from the graffe, which requires it all for it self.
And when you have so done, binde it about gently, that you hurt it not; and cover
it with somewhat, lest the rain fall down upon it; but especially take heed to the
cleft, and the place where you pilled off the bark, that you plaister it up well with
morter. Thus if you do, the graffe will very kindly prosper, and the bud grow
forth into a fruit that is compounded of both kinds, and it shall carry the hue both
of the Peach-apple and the Nut-peach by equal proportion, such as was never seen
before. By this means also we may procure the bringing forth

Of a Figge halfe white and half black;
for if we take the buds of each of them, paring them off together with the bark
round about them, and then cut them in the middle, and put the half of one, and
the half of the other together, and so emplaister them into the Tree, as we
spake before, the fruit thereof will be a Figge half white and half black.
So also

Pomegranates may be brought forth, which will be sweet on the one side, and sowre on the other;
If you take either the shoots or the buds of each of them, and after you have divi∣ded
them in the midst, put the half of each together, as before was spoken. But
this may be done best upon the shoots or sprigs; for the bud can hardly be pared
off, nor well divided, because the bark is so weak, and so thin, and slender, that it
will not endure to be much or long handled. Likewise

Orenges compounded of divers kinds, and such as are half Limons; as also Limons half sweet, and half sowre, may be produced,
if we mix them after the same manner as we spake before; for these are very fit to
be graffed by emplastering; and these kinds of compound Orenges and Limons are
very commonly to be seen in many Orchards in Naples▪ In like manner we may
mingle and compound

A Peach of the white and the red Peach,
if we put those two kinds together, by such emplastering: for there are of this
compound fruit to be sold in Naples at this day. Likewise we may procure

A grape that hath a kernel or stone half black, and diversly coloured.
We must deal by the shoots of Vines, as we shewed before was to be done by the
buds of other Trees; cleave them in the middle, and binde two shoots or more
of divers sorts of Vines handsomely together, that they may grow up in one, and graff
them into a fruitful Vine of some other kind. And the same which we have shewed
concerning fruits, may be as well practised also upon flowers. As for example;
If we would produce

Roses that are half white and half red;
we must take the sprigs of white Rose, and of a red, and pare off the buds of each
of them; and having cut them asunder in the middle, put the halfs of each together,
as we spake before, and engraffe them artificially into the bark, and then have a dili∣gent
care still to cherish them, the compound bud wil in due season bring forth Roses
which will be white of the one side, and red of the other. But if you would
Page 66

make trial hereof in Clove-gilli-flowers, and desire

To produce some that are half red,
seeing they have no buds at all, you must practise this experiment upon their root;
you must take two roots of them, and cleave them in the middle, and match them
fitly together, that they may grow each to other; and binde them up well, and then
will they yeeld compound Clove-gilli-flowers: of which kind we have great store,
and they are common amongst us everywhere; and they do not onely bring
forth party-coloured flowers, but the very same bough, and one and the same
sprig, will bear white ones and red ones, and such as are wrought and as
it were embroidred with divers goodly colours, most pleasant to be seen.

CHAP. IV.
Of a second means whereby fruits may be mingled and compounded together.
THere is also a second way of compounding divers kinds of fruits together;
namely, by another manner of graffing. As for example; If we would
produce

Pomegranates compounded of divers kinds,
Theophrastus sheweth us how to do it. We must take the young slips or branches
of divers kinds, and bruise them with a Beetle, so that they may stick and hang
together; and then binde them up very hard each to other, and set them in the
ground: and if they be well laid together, all those slips will grow up jointly into
one Tree; but so, that every one of them retains his own kind, and receives his
several nourishment by it self, and severally digests it: and the chief community
which they have all together, is their mutual embracing each of other. The same
Theophrastus teaches us in the same place,

How one and the same Vine-branch may bring forth a black and a white grape both toge∣ther; and how in the same grape may be found a white and black stone hanging together.
Take the branch of a white Vine, and another of the black, and the uppermost half
of either of them must be bruised together; then you must match them equally,
and binde them up together, and plant them: for by this means they will grow
up both into one joint; for every living thing may be matcht with another, espe∣cially
where one is of the same or the like kind with the other: for then if they be
dissolved, as these are in some sort when they are bruised, their natures will easily
close together, and be compact into one nature: but yet either of these branches
hath his several nourishment by it self, without confusion of both together; where∣by
it cometh to passe, that the fruit arising from them is of a divers nature, accor∣ding
as either of the sprigs requireth. Neither ought this to seem strange, that both
of them concurring into one, should yet retain each of them their severall kind,
seeing the like hereof may be found in certain Rivers which meet together by con∣fluence
into one and the same channel, and yet either of them keeps his own seve∣ral
course and passage; as do the Rivers Cephisus and Melas in Boeotia. Columella
teacheth us to do this thing on this manner. There is, saith he, a kind of engraffing,
whereby such kind of grapes are produced, as have stones of divers kinds, and sun∣dry
colours; which is to be done by this means. Take four or five, or more (if
you will) Vine-branches of divers kinds, and mingle them together by equal pro∣portion,
and so binde them up. Afterward put them into an earthen pipe or a horn
fast together; but so, that there may be some parts of them seen standing out at
both ends; and those parts so standing forth, must be dissolved or bruised: and
when you have so done, put them into a trench in the ground, covering them with
muck, and watering them till they begin to bud. And when the buds are grown
fast together, after two or three years, when they are all knit and closed into one,
Page 67

then break the pipe, and neer about the middle of the stalk beneath the sprouts,
there where they seem to have most grown together, cut off the Vine, and heal
that part where it is so cut, and then lay it under the ground again about three fin∣gers
deep: and when that stalk shall shoot up into sprigs, take two of the best of
them, and cherish them, and plant them in the ground, casting away all the other
branches; and by this means you shall have such kinds of grapes as you desire. This
very same experiment doth Pliny set down, borrowing it of Columella. But Didy∣mus
prescribes it on this manner. Take two Vine-branches of divers kinds, and
cleave them in the middle; but with such heedful regard, that the cleft go as far as
the bud is, and none of the pith or juice be lost; then put them each to other, and
close them together, so that the bud of either of them meet right one with the
other: and as much as possibly may be, let them touch together, whereby both those
buds may become as one: then binde up the branches with paper as hard together
as you can, and cover them over with the Sea-onion, or else with some very stiff clam∣my
earth; and so plant them, and water them after four or five daies, so long till
they shoot forth into a perfect bud. If you would produce

A Fig, that is half white, and half red;
Leontinus teacheth you to do it after this manner. Take two shoots of divers kinds
of Fig-trees; but you must see that both the shoots be of the same age, and the
same growth as neer as you can: then lay them in a trench, and dung them, and wa∣ter
them. And after they begin to bud, you must take the buds of each, and binde
them up together, so that they may grow up into one stalk: and about two years
after, take them up, and plant them into another stock, and thereby you shall have
Figs of two colours. So then by this means

All fruits may be made to be party-coloured;
and that not onely of two, but of many colours, accordingly as many kinds of
fruits may be compounded together. And surely these experiments are very true,
though they be somewhat hard to be done, and require a long times practice, as I
my self have had experience. The like experiment to these is recorded by Palla∣dius,
and by other Greek Writers, who shew the way

How a Vine may bring forth clusters of grapes that are white, but the stones of the grapes black.
If white and black Vines grow neer together, you must shred the branches of each,
and presently clap them together so, that the bud of either may meet right toge∣ther,
and so become one: then binde them up hard in paper, and cover them with
soft and moist earth; and so let them lie three dayes or thereabouts: after that, see
that they be well and fitly matcht together, and then let them lie till a new bud
come forth of a fresh head: and by this means you shall procure in time, divers
kinds of grapes, according to the divers branches you put together. I my self have
made choice of two shoots of two divers Vines growing one by another; I have
cleft or cut them off in that place where the buds were shooting forth, leaving the
third part of the bud upon the branch; I fastened them together, and bound them
up into one very fast, lest when the buds should wax greater, one of them might flie
off from the other: I fitted them so well, branch with branch, and bud with bud, that
they made but one stalk; and the very same year they brought forth grapes that had
cloven kernels or stones. This shoot so springing up, I put to another; and when
that was so sprung up, I put that also to another; and by this continual fitting of
divers sprigs one to another, I produced clusters of divers-coloured and divers-na∣tured
grapes: for one and the same grape was sweet and unsavoury; and the stones
were some long, some round, some crooked; but all of them were of divers co∣lours.
Pontanus hath elegantly shewed

How Citron-trees may bear divers kinds;
namely, by joining two sundry boughs together, after the bark hath been pared a∣away,
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and fastning each to other with a kind of glue, that they may grow up one
as fast as the other; and when they are engraffed into one stock, they must be very
carefully covered and looked unto, and so one and the same branch will bring forth
fruit of divers kinds. So you may procure

An Orenge-tree to bring forth an Apple half sweet and half sowre.
And this kind of commixtion was invented by chance; for there were graffed two
boughs of Orenge-trees, one brought forth a sweet, and the other a sharp fruit.
When occasion served to transplant and remove the Tree, it was cut off in the
middle, according as Husband-men are wont to do when they plant such Trees af∣ter
they are grown old; and by great chance, it was cut off there where the two
boughs had been before engraffed: and so when the stock budded afresh, there
arose one bud out of the sharp and sweet branches both together as they were left
in the stock; and this one bud brought forth Apples or fruit of both relishes.
Wherefore no question but such a thing may be effected by art, as well as
it was by chance, if any man have a minde to produce such kind of fruits.

CHAP. V.
Of a third way, whereby divers kinds of fruits may be compounded together.
WE will also set down a third way, whereby we may mingle and compound
divers kinds of fruits together. A way which hath been delivered unto
us by the Ancients, though for my own part I think it to be not onely a very
hard, but even an impossible matter. Notwithstanding, because grave An∣cient
Writers have set it down, I cannot scorn here to rehearse it: and
though I have put it in practice, but to no purpose, for it hath not so fallen
out as they write, yet I will not discourage any man that hath a mind to
make trial hereof; for it may be that fortune will second their endeavours
better then she did mine. The way is this; to gather many seeds of sundry
Trees and fruits, and wrapping them up together, so to sow them: and when
they are grown up into stalks, to bind all the stalks together, that they may
not flie asunder, but rather grow up all into one Tree; and this Tree will
bring forth divers kinds of fruits, yea and one and the same fruit will be min∣gled
and compounded of many. It should seem that the Authors of this experi∣ment,
learned it first out of Theophrastus, who writes, that, If you sow two
divers seeds neer together within a hands breadth, and then sow two other
divers seeds a little above them, the roots which will come of all these seeds
will lovingly embrace and winde about each other, and so grow up into one
stalk or stock, and be incorporated one into another. But special care must be had
how the seeds be placed; for they must be set with the little end upward, be∣cause
the bud cometh not out of the low and hollow parts, but out of the highest.
And there are four seeds required, because so many will easily and fitly close toge∣ther.
A matter, which if it were true, it might be a very ready means which would
produce exceeding many and wonderful experiments. By such a means

Berries that are party-coloured may be produced.
If you take a great many berries, white, and black, and red, one amongst another,
and sow them in the earth together; and when they are shot up, bind all their
stalks into one, they will grow together, and yeeld party coloured berries. Pliny
writes, that this way was devised from the birds; Nature, saith he, hath taught how
to graffe with a seed: for hungry birds have devoured seeds, and having moistened
and warmed them in their bellies, a little after have dunged in the forky twistes of
Trees, and together with their dung excluded the seed whole which erst they had
swallowed: and sometimes it brings forth there where they dung it, and sometimes
the wind carries it away into some chinks of the barks of Trees, and there it brings
forth. This is the reason why many times we see a Cherry-tree growing in a Wil∣ow,
Page 69

a Plane-tree in a Bay-tree, and a Bay in a Cherry-tree; and withal, that the
berries of them have been party-coloured. They write also, that the Jack-daw
hiding certain seeds in some secret chinks or holes, did give occasion of this Inven∣tion.
By this self-same means we may produce

A Fig that is partly white and partly red.
Leontius attempts the doing of this, by taking the kernels or stones that are in a
Fig somewhat inclinable to this variety, and wrapping them up together in a linnen
cloth, and then sowing them, and when need requires, removing them into ano∣ther
place. If we would have

An Orenge or Citron-tree bear divers Apples of divers relishes;
Pontanus our Country-man, in his work of Gardening, hath elegantly taught us
how to do it. We must take sundry seeds of them, and put them into a pitcher,
and there let them grow up: and when they come forth, bind the sprigs together,
and by this means they will grow up into one stock, and shrowd themselves all un∣der
one bark: but you must take heed that the wind come not at them to blow
them asunder, but cover them over with some wax, that they may stick fast toge∣ther;
and let them be well plaistered with morter about the bark: and so shall you
gather from them in time very strange Apples of sundry relishes. Likewise we
may procure

A Damosin, and an Orenge or Limon to be mixt together.
In our books of Husbandry, we shewed at large, by many reasons alledged to and
fro, that sundry seeds could not possibly grow into one; but all that is written in
favour of this practice, is utterly false, and altogether unpossible. But this expe∣riment
we our selves have proved, whereby divers kinds of Damosins are mixt to∣gether.
While the Damosin-trees were very tender and dainty, we fastened two
of them together, which were planted neer to each other, as Sailers plat and tie
their Cables: but first we pared off the bark to the inmost skin, in that place where
they should touch together, that so one living thing might the more easily grow to
the other: then we bound them up gently with thin lists, made of the inner bark
of Elm, or such like stuff that is soft and pliable for such a purpose, lest they should
be parted and grow asunder; and if any part of them were so limber that it would
not stick fast, we wedged it in with splents; yet not too hard, for fear of spoiling it.
Then we rid away the earth from the upper roots, and covered them with muck,
and watered them often, that by this cherishing and tilling on, they might grow up
the better: and thus after a few years that they were grown together into one
tree, we cut off the tops of them about that place where they most seemed
to be knit together; and about those tops there sprung up many buds; whereof,
those which we perceived had grown out of both Trees, we suffered to grow still,
and the rest we cut away; and by this means we produced such kind of fruit as we
speak of, very goodly, and much commended. And concerning Limons, I have
seen some in the Noble-mens Gardens of Naples, which, partly by continual wa∣tering
at seasonable times, and partly by reason of the tendernesse and the rank∣nesse
of the boughs, did so cling and grow together, that they became one tree;
and this one Tree brought forth fruit compounded of either kind. We may also
effect this featly by earthen vessels; for the plants that are set therein, we may very
conveniently cherish up with continual watering, and perform other services to∣wards
them which are necessary for their growth. And as it may be done by Limons,
so we have seen the same experiment practised upon Mulberry-trees, which grow∣ing
in moist and shadowed places, as soon as their boughs closed one with another,
presently they grew into one, and brought forth berries of sundry colours. If we
would procure that

A Lettice should grow, having in it Parsley, and Rotchet, and Basil-gentle,
or any such like commixtion, we must take the dung of a Sheep or a Goat; and
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though it be but a small substance, yet you must make a shift to bore the Truttle
through the middle, and as well as you can, get out the inmost pith, and in stead
thereof put into it those seeds which you desire to have mingled together, packing
them in as hard as the Truttle will bear it: and when you have so done, lay it in
the ground about two handful deep, with dung and hollow geer, both under it,
and round about it; then cover it with a little thin earth, and water it a little and a
little; and when the seeds also are sprung forth, you must still apply them with wa∣ter
and dung; and after they are grown up into a stalk, you must be more diligent
about them; and by this means at length there will arise a Lettice, mixed and
compounded with all those seeds. Palladius prescribes the same more precisely. If
you take, saith he, a Truttle of Goats dung, and bore it through, and make it
hollow cunningly with a bodkin, and then fill it up with the seed of Lettice, Cres∣ses,
Basil, Rotchet, and Radish, and when you have so done, lap them up in more
of the same dung, and bury them in a little trench of such ground as is fruitful and
well manured for such a purpose, the Radish will grow downward into a Root, the
other seeds will grow upward into a stalk, and the Lettice will contain them all,
yeelding the several relish of every one of them. Others effect this experiment
on this manner. They pluck off the Lettice leaves that grow next to the root,
and make holes in the thickest substance and veins thereof, one hole being a rea∣sonable
distance from the other; wherein they put the forenamed seeds, all but
the Radish seed, and cover them about with dung, and then lay them under the
ground, whereby the Lettice grows up, garded with the stalks of so many herbs as
there were seeds put into the leaves. If you would procure

Party-coloured flowers to grow;
you may effect it by the same ground and principle. You must take the seeds of
divers kinds of flowers; and when you have bound them up in a Linen cloth, set
them in the ground, and by the commixtion of those seeds together, you shall
have flowers that are party-coloured. By this means, it is thought that Daisies of
divers kinds were first brought forth, such as are to be seen with golden leaves,
reddish about the edge; nay some of them are so meddled with divers colours,
that they resemble little shreds of silk patcht together.

CHAP. VI.
How a double fruit may be made, whereof the one is contained within the other.
THere is also another way of Composition, whereby fruits may be so meddled
together, not as we shewed before, that one part of it should be of one fruit,
and the other part of another kinde; nor yet that one and the same bough shall at
once bear two or three several kinds of fruits; but that one and the same fruit shall
be double, containing in it self two several kinds, as if they were but one; where∣of
I my self have first made trial. But let us see how the Ancients have effected this:
and first

How to make an Olive-grape.
Diophanes sheweth that the Olive being engraffed into the Vine, brings forth a fruit
called Elaeo-staphylon, that is to say, an Olive-grape. But Florentinus in the ele∣venth
book of his Georgicks, hath shewed the manner how to engraffe the Olive
into a Vine, that so it shall bring forth not only bunches or clusters of grapes, but
an Olive fruit also. We must bore a hole through the Vine neer to the ground, and
put into it the branch of an Olive-tree, that so it may draw and receive both from
the Vine, sweetnesse; and also from the ground, natural juice and moisture, where∣by
it may be nourished: for so will the fruit taste pleasantly. And moreover, if,
while the Vine hath not yet born fruit, you take the fruitful sprigs thereof, and
plant them elsewhere, these sprigs will retain the mixture and composition of the
Page 71

Vine and the Olive-tree together, and bring forth one fruit that shall have in it
both kinds, which therefore is called by a name compounded of both their names,
Eleo-staphylus, an Olive-grape. He reports that he saw such a tree in the Orchard
of Marius Maximus; and tasting the fruit thereof, he thought with himself that he
felt the relish of an Olive-berrie and a grape kernel both together. He writes also
that such plants grow in Africa, and are there called by a proper name in their
Country language Ubolima. But we must set props under them, to bear up the
weight and burden of the boughs: though if we engraffe them any other way but
this, we shall need no polls at all. I suppose also that by this self-same means it
may be effected,

That a Grape should have Myrtle in it.
Tarentinus writes, that the Vine may be engraffed into the Myrtle-tree, and the
Vine-branches thereon engraffed, will bring forth grapes that have Myrtle-berries
growing underneath them. But the manner of this engraffing he hath not set
down. If you engraffe the Vine-branches in the higher boughs or arms of the
Mrytle, then they will bring forth grapes after their ordinary manner, not having
any Myrtle in them: but if you engraffe them as she shewed before, neer to
the ground, as the Olive-tree must be into the Vine, then you may pro∣duce
Myrtle-grapes, though not without some difficulty. We may likewise
produce

Damosins that shall be of the colour of Nuts;
for such kind of fruit were produced by the Ancients, and called Nucipruna, that
is, Nut-Damosins, as Pliny reporteth. It is a peculiar property of these fruits that
are engraffed into Nut-trees, that they are in colour like to their own kinde, but in
taste like unto Nuts; being therefore called by a mixt name, Nuci-pruna. So there
may be produced, as the same Pliny writes,

Damosins that have sweet Almonds within them.
There is, saith he, in this kind of fruit an Almond-kernel, neither can there be any
prettier double fruit devised. The same Pliny reports also, that there is a kind of

Damosin that hath in it the substance of an Apple,
which of late was called by the Spaniards Malina, which cometh of a Damosin
engraffed into an Apple-tree. There is also a kind of fruit called by the Apotheca∣ries
Sebesten, or

Mixa, which hath in it a sweet Almond.
This same Mixa is a kind of Damosin, which differs from all others; for whereas
others have a bitter Almond or kernel within their stone, this only hath a sweet ker∣nel.
It is a plant peculiar to Syria and Egypt, though in Plinies time it was com∣mon
in Italy, and was engraffed in the Service-tree, whereby the kernel was the
pleasanter. They engraffed it into the Service-tree, likely for this cause, that where∣as
the fruit of it self would make a man laxative, the sharp taste of the Service
being mixed with it, might cause it to be more binding. But now we will
shew

How to produce an Almond peach, which outwardly is a Peach, but within hath an Al∣mond-kernel.
The former means producing double fruits, which the Ancients have recor∣ded,
are but vain fables; not only false matters, but indeed impossible to be so
done: for, we shewed in the book of Husbandry, if you engraffe the Vine into the
Myrtle, there will be no such fruit brought forth after that manner. Besides, it is
impossible to engraffe the Olive-tree into the Vine; or if it were engraffed, yet
Page 72

would it not bring forth any such grapes. Pliny speaks of Apple-damosins, and Nut-damosins;
but he sheweth not the manner how they may be produced; happily,
because it was never seen nor known. But we will demonstrate the manner of it to
the whole world, by this example: this fruit is called an Almond-Peach by the late
Writers, because it bears in it self the nature, both of the Almond and the Peach
compounded together. And it is a new kind of Adultery or commixtion, wrought
by skill and diligence used in graffing; such a fruit as was never heard of in former
ages, partaking both of the shape, and also of the qualities of either parent: out∣wardly
it resembles the Peach both in shape and colour; but inwardly it hath a
sweet Almond within the kernel, that both looks and tastes like an Almond; and
so is the Tree also a middle betwixt the Almond-tree and the Peach-tree, outwardly
like the Peach-tree, and inwardly like the Almond-tree. The manner of engraffing is,
by clapping the bud of one upon the bud of another; either upon one of the trees
that bare one of the buds, or else setting them both into a third tree, as we have
done when the Trees have been old. We may also go farther, and upon that branch
wherein those two buds grow up together, we may set a third bud, and so the fruit
will be threefold. These trees we had growing in our own Orchards many years
together. By this self-same means we may produce a very strange Apple; the won∣derfulnesse
whereof will ravish our senses and our thoughts; namely

A Citron that hath a Limon in the inner parts:
and this, I say, we may produce by laying the bud of a Citron upon the bud of a
Limon. And the most of those kinds are to be found among the Brutii, a people
dwelling neer Naples, and the Surrentines in Campania; and these fruits proceed
from the tart juice that is within the branch. In like manner

A double Orenge may be produced;
which kind of fruit is common with us, wherein are double ranks of kernels in
such rare proportion, that you would wonder and be amazed to see.

CHAP. VII.
Of another device, whereby strange fruits may be generated, and made either better or worse.
COncerning the praises and excellency of engraffing, we have spoken elsewhere
more at large: Here it shall suffice onely to shew, that by engraffing, new fruits
may be produced, some better, and some worse then their ordinary kinds. We
will relate some experiments of our own, and some which the Antients have found
out. And first

How to produce a Chest-nut of the best.
There is one rare example hereof not to be omitted. Corellius, a Noble-man of
Rome, born at the City Ateste, engraffed a Chest-nut upon a Chest-nut branch, in
the Country of Naples, and so produced a Chest-nut called Corelliana, after his
name. After that, his Heir, whom he made a Free-man, graffed the same Co∣relliana
upon another Tree: the difference betwixt them both is this, that the for∣mer
is a larger Chest-nut, but this latter is a better fruit. These things have been
done by the Ancients: and the good that cometh by engraffing is such, as that if
any thing be engraffed into a stock or branch of its own kind, the fruit will there∣by
be made better. The Cherry-tree is very kindly to be engraffed: and you shall
scarce ever have a good and a sweet Cherry, unlesse it be by engraffing upon some
other Tree, as Pamphilus reporteth. By the president of this example, we have en∣deavoured
to change

The Barbery-Tree into the Tree called Tuber:
fo• I take it, that the Oxyacantha, or the Barbery-tree, is nothing else but a bastard,
Page 73

or a wild Tuber: and therefore if a man follow that example of Corellius, and en∣graffe
the Oxyacantha oftentimes into the own branch or stock, it will be much
bettered, and become the Tuber-tree: as also on the other side, the Tuber-tree, if
it be not dressed and looked unto, doth degenerate into the Barbery-tree. I my
self have engraffed it three or four times into the branches of its own kind, in my
own Orchard; and if I live so long, I will still engraffe it so, till it do bring forth
Tubers; for I find that it brings forth already, both greater and sweeter berries.
Now we will speak of such fruits, as are engraffed not into their own branches, but
into branches of another kind, which contain in them both the fashion and the
properties of either kind: and we will teach the manner how to compound a new
kind of fruit lately devised, namely

A Peach-nut, mixed of a Nut and a Peach.
There is a kind of Peach called a Peach-nut, which the Ancients never knew of,
but hath lately been produced by pains taken in graffing, as I my self have seen.
It bears the name and the form also of both the parents whereof it is generated,
having a green colour like a Nut, and hath no mossie down on the out-side, but ve∣ry
smooth all over; the taste of it is sharp and somewhat bitter; it is long ere it be
ripe, and is of a hard substance like a Peach. That part of it which lies against the
Sun is reddish; it smells very well; it hath within, a rough stone, and hard like a
Peach-stone; it hath a pleasant relish; but the apple will not last so long as the Nut,
or kernel within. Which kind of fruit cannot be supposed to have been otherwise
brought forth then by divers engraffings of the Peach into the Nut-tree, one year
after another. We may also better the fruits by engraffing them into better Trees.
Diophanes produced

Citron-apples compounded of an Apple and a Citron.
for he engraffed an Apple into the Citron-tree, and that oftentimes; but it wither∣ed
as soon as ever it did shoot forth: howbeit, at length it took fast hold, and be∣came
a Citron-apple-tree. Anatolius and Diophanes made a compound fruit called

Melimela, of an Apple and a Quince mixt together;
for if we engraffe an Apple into a Quince-tree, the Tree will yield a very goodly
apple, which the Athenians call Melimelum, but we call it a St. Johns Apple. Pliny
writes, that an ordinary Quince, and a Quince-pear being compounded,

Produce a fruit called Milviana.
The Quince, saith he, being engraffed into a Quince-pear, yieldeth a kind of fruit
called Milvianum, which alone of all other Quinces is to be eaten raw. Now as we
have shewed how to make fruits better by engraffing, both for shew and for pro∣perties,
we will declare also, how by engraffing

Fruits may be made worse.
We will shew it first by a Pear. Marcus Varro saith, that if you engraffe a very good
Pear into a wilde Pear-tree, it will not taste so well as that which is engraffed into
an Orchard Pear-tree. If you engraffe a Peach into a Damosin-tree, the fruit of it
will be much less: if into a bitter Almond-tree, the fruit will have a bitter relish.
Likewise if you graffe a Chest-nut into a Willow, and be somewhat a latter fruit,
the taste of it will be more bitter. And so if you graffe an apple into a Damosin-tree,
the fruit which it yields, will neither be so great, nor yet so good, as it is in the
own kind.

CHAP. VIII.
How to procure ripe fruits and flowers before their ordinary season.
ARt being as it were Natures Ape, even in her imitation of Nature, effecteth
greater matters then Nature doth. Hence it is that a Magician being fur∣nished
with Art, as it were another Nature, searching throughly into those
Page 74

works which Nature doth accomplish by many secret means and close operations,
doth work upon Nature, and partly by that which he sees, and partly by that
which he conjects and gathers from thence, takes his sundry advantages of Na∣tures
instruments, and thereby either hastens or hinders her work, making things
ripe before or after their natural season, and so indeed makes Nature to be his
instrument. He knows that fruits, and flowers, and all other growing things that
the world affords, are produced by the circuit and motion of celestial bodies;
and therefore when he is disposed to hinder the ripening of any thing, or else to
help it forward, that it may be more rare and of better worth, he effects it by
counterfeiting the times and seasons of the year, making the Winter to be as the
Summer, and the Spring-time as the Winter. Amongst other means, engraf∣fing
is not a little helpful hereunto. Wherefore let us see, how we may by
engraffing

Produce Grapes in the Spring-time.
If we see a Cherry-tree bring forth her fruit in the Spring-time, and we desire to
have Grapes about that time, there is fit oportunity of attaining our desire, as
Tarentinus writeth. If you engraffe a black Vine into the Cherry-tree, you shall
have Grapes growing in the Spring-time: for the Tree will bring forth Grapes
the very same season, wherein it would bring forth her own fruit. But this en∣graffing
cannot be without boring a hole into the stock, as Didymus sheweth. You
must bore the Cherry-tree stock through with a wimble, and, your Vine grow∣ing
by it, you must take one of the next and goodliest branches thereof, and put
it into the a•ger-hole; but you must not cut it off from the Vine, but place it in
as it grows: for so the branch will live the better, both as being nourished by
his own mother the Vine, and also as being made partaker of the juice of that
Tree into which it is engraffed. This sprig within the compasse of two years, will
grow and be incorporated into the Cherry-tree: about which time, after the skar
is grown over again, you must cut off the branch from the Vine, and saw off the
stock of the Cherry-tree wherein it is engraffed, all above the boring place, and
let the Vine-branch grow up in the rest: for so shall neither the Vine be idle, but
still bring forth her own fruit, and that branch also which was engraffed doth
grow up together with it, being nothing hurt by that engraffing. We may also by
the help of engraffing procure

A Rose to shew forth her buds before her time.
If we pluck off a Rose-bud from the mother, and engraff by such an emplastering
as we spake of before, the same into the open bark of an Almond-tree, at such
time, as the Almond-tree doth bud, the Rose so engraffed, will bring forth her
own flowers out of the Almond bark. But because it is a very hard matter to en∣graffe
into an Herbe, and therefore we can hardly produce flowers sooner
then their time by that means, we will shew another means hereof; And
namely,

How Cucumbers may hasten their fruits.
Columella found in Dolus Mendesius an Aegyptian, an easie way whereby this may
be done. You must set in your Garden in some shadowy place well dunged, a
rank of Fenel, and a rank of Brambles one within another; and after the aequi∣noctial
day, cut them off a little within the ground; and having first loosed the
pith of either of them with a wooden puncheon, to convey dung into them, and
withal to engraffe in them Cucumber-seeds, which may grow up together with the
Fenel and the Brambles: for by this means the seeds will receive nourishment
from the root of the stalk into which they are engraffed, and so you shall have Cu∣cumbers
very soon. But now let us shew how we may accomplish this thing by
counterfeiting as it were the seasons of the year: and first, how we may pro∣cure
that
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Cucumbers shall be ripe very timely.
The Quintiles say you must take panniers or earthen pots, and put into them some
fine •••ed earth mixed with dung, that it may be somewhat liquid, and preven∣ting
the ordinary season, you must plant therein Cucumber-seeds about the be∣ginning
of the Spring, and when the Sun shines, or that there is any heat
or rain, they bring the panniers forth into the Air, and about Sun-setting
they bring them into a close house; and this they do daily, still watering
them as occasion serveth. But after that the cold and the frost is ceased, and
the Air is more temperate, they take their panniers and digge a place for
them in some well-tilled ground, and there set them, so that the brims there∣of
may be even with the earth; and then look well to them, and you shall
have your desire. The like may be done by Gourds. Theophrastus sheweth,
that if a man sow Cucumber seeds in the Winter-time, and water them with
warm water, and lay them in the Sunne, or else by the fire, and when
seed-time cometh, put whole panniers of them into the ground, they will
yield very timely Cucumbers, long before their ordinary season is to grow.
Columella saith, that Tiberius the Emperour took great delight in the Cucum∣bers
that were thus ripened, which he had at all times of the year; for his
Gardners every day drew forth their hanging Gardens into the Sun upon wheels,
and when any great cold or rain came, they straightwayes carried them in
again into their close hovels made for the same purpose. Didymus sheweth

Roses may bud forth, even before Winter be past,
if they be used after the like manner; namely, if you set them in hampers or earthen
vessels, and carefully look unto them, and use them as you would use Gourds and
Cucumbers, to make them ripe before their ordinary season. Pliny sheweth

How to make Figs that were of last years growth, to be ripe very soon the next year after;
and this is by keeping them from the cold too, but yet the device and practice is
not all one with the former. There are, saith he, in certain Countries, as in Mae∣sia,
Winter Fig-trees, (a small tree it is, and such as is more beholding to Art then
to Nature) which they use on this manner. After the Autumn or Fall, they lay
them in the earth, and cover them all over with muck, and the green Figs that grew
upon them in the beginning of Winter are also buried upon the Tree with them.
Now when the Winter is past, and the Air is somewhat calmer the year following,
they dig up the Trees again with the fruit upon them; which presently do embrace
the heat of a new Sun as it were, and grow up by the temperature of another year,
as kindly as if they had then new sprung up: whereby it cometh to passe, that though
the Country be very cold, yet there they have ripe Figs of two years growth as it
were, even before other Fig-trees can so much as blossom. But because we cannot
so well practise these experiments in the broad and open fields, either by hindering,
or by helping the temperature of the Air, therefore we will assay to ripen fruit and
flowers before their time, by laying warm cherishers, as lime, or chalk, and nitre,
and warm water, to the roots of Trees and herbs. If you would have

A Cherry ripe before his time,
Pliny saith, that you must lay chalk or lime to the root of the Tree before it begin to
blossom; or else you must oftentimes pour hot water upon the root; and by either
of these means you may procure the ripening of Cherries before their time: how∣beit
afterward the Trees will be drie and wither away. If you would procure
the ripening

Of a Rose before his time;
Dydimus saith you may effect it by covering the Rose-bush with earth, a foot a∣bove
the root of it, and there pour in wam water upon it, whilst the slippe
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beginneth to shoot up, and before any blossom appeareth. Likewise if you
would have

A Vine to bring forth before her time,
you must take nitre, and pown it, and mix it with water, so that it be made of the
thicknesse of hony; and as soon as you have pruned the Vine, lay good store of
your nitre upon the Vine-buds, and so shall your buds shoot forth within nine days
after. But to procure the Grapes to be timely ripe, you must take the mother of
the wine before it is become sowre, and lay the same upon the root of the plants
when you set them; for at that time it is best so to use them, as Tarentinus and
Florentinus both affirm. Moreover, if you would have any thing to bud forth very
timely, Theophrastus saith you may procure it by setting the same

Into the Sea-onion:
for if a Fig-tree be set but neer it, it will cause the speedy ripening of Figs. And
to be brief, there is nothing set in the Sea-onion, but will more easily and speedily
shoot forth, by reason of the strong inward heat which that herb is endued with∣al.
Democritus sheweth another means, whereby you may cause

The Fig-tree to bring forth hasty Figs,
namely, by applying the same with pepper, and oyle, and Pigeons dung. Florenti∣nus
would have the du•g and the oyle to be laid upon the Figs when they be raw
and green. Palladius counselleth, that when the Figs begin to wax somewhat red,
you should then besmear them with the juice of a long Onion mixed with pepper
and oyle; and so the Figs will be the sooner ripened. Our practice is this; when
the Figs begin to wax ripe, we take a wooden needle, and anoint it over with oyle,
and so thrust it through both ends of the Figs; whereby in few dayes the fruit is
ripened. Others effect this, by heaping up a great many Rams horns about the root
of the Tree. Pliny shews

How to make Coleworts branch before their time;
and this is by laying good store of Sea-grasse about it, held up with little props; or
else by laying upon it black nitre, as much as you can take up with three fingers, or
thereabouts; for this will hasten the ripening thereof. We may also cause

Parsley to come up before his time.
Pliny saith, that if you sprinkle hot water upon it, as it begins to grow, it will shoot
up very swiftly. And Palladius saith, that if you pour vineger upon it by little and
little, it will grow up; or else if you cherish it with warm water as soon as ever
it is sown. But the mind of man is so bold to enter into the very secret bowels
of Nature, by the diligent search of experience, that it hath devised to bring
forth

Parsley exceeding timely.
It grows up easily of it self; for within fifty or fourty daies it is wont to appear out
of the earth, as Theophrastus and others affirm, as by their writings may be seen.
Our Country-men call it Petroselinum. In the practising of this experiment, you
must shew your self a painful workman; for if you fail, or commit never so small an
error herein, you will misse of your purpose. You must take Parsley seeds that are
not fully one year old, & in the beginning of Summer you must dip them in the vine∣ger,
suffering them to lie a while in some warm place: then wrap up the seeds in some
small loose earth, which for this purpose you have before meddled with the ashes
of burned bean-straw: there you must bedew them oftentimes with a little warm
water, and cover them with some cloth, that the heat get not from them▪ so will
they in short time appear out of the earth: then remove the cloth away, and water
them still, and thereby the stalk will grow up in length, to the great admiration of
the beholders. But in any case, you must be painful and very diligent; for I have
Page 77

assayed it; and by reason of some error and negligence, I obtained not my de∣sire:
howbeit, many of my friends having made diligent trial hereof, found it to be
a very true experiment. Likewise may

Lentiles be hastened in their growth,
if they be smeared over with dry Ox-dung, a little before they are sown; but
they had need lie in that dung four or five daies before they be cast into the
ground. So

Melons may be hastened in their fruit;
for if in the Winter-time you lay a parcel of earth in mixens that are made of hot
dung, and in the same earth sow Melon-seeds, the heat of the dung will cause them
soon to sprout forth: you must keep them warm with some covering, from the snow,
and the cold of the night; and afterward when the Air is more calm, you must
plant them in some other place: for by this means we have hastened the fruit
hereof. And by this same device of preventing their seed-time, we may
cause

Cucumbers to hasten their fruit.
But Theophrastus setteth down another practice. Cucumber-roots, if they be care∣fully
lookt into, will live long. Therefore if a man cut off a Cucumber close by the
ground, after it hath brought forth fruit, and then cover the roots over with earth,
the very same roots the year following will bring forth very timely fruit, even be∣fore
others that were most seasonably sown. Theophrastus also sets down an∣other
way

Of hastening Cucumbers,
and that is by macerating the seed before it be sown; or else by supplying it with
continual moisture after it is sown. So also we may procure

Pease or Vitches to be timely ripe;
If we sow them before their ordinary season in Barley time, as Florentinus sheweth.
But Theophrastus saith this may be done by macerating them in the water before
seed-time, but especially if you macerate them shales and all: for there is but a
little of it will turn to putrefaction; and the shale feeds the kernel well at the first,
howsoever afterward it turn to nothing. The same Theophrastus sheweth also

How the Rape-root may be hastened in growth.
If the Gardner, saith he, do hide the same in an heap of earth, it will cause it to
bring forth very timely fruit the year following. There may other fruits also be
timely ripened; as

A Quince may be hastened in ripening,
if you daily bedew them with continual moisture, as Palladius sheweth. And De∣mocritus
saith, you may have

Roses growing in the moneth of January,
if you water the slip twice a day in the Summer-time. We may likewise pro∣cure
that

Gourds shall bring forth very timely,
by underpropping and holding up their young tender sprigs. In like manner we
may cause

The forward Fig-tree to hasten her fruit,
by renting or scarifying the body of the Tree, that the milky juice may there swell
and find issue out of it, that when the superfluous humor is gone forth, that which is
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left behind, may be the more easily concocted, and so the fruit will be sooner ripened.
To be short, we may procure

The timely ripening of all kind of fruit.
If we sow or plant them in some place where they may lie still opposite against the
Sun, or if we put them into certain vessels made for the same purpose, and still
water them with warm water, and let them lie continually in the Sun. And if
we would have them to hasten their fruit very speedily, we should have an Oven
made under those vessels, that so by reason of a double warmth, one from above,
and the other from beneath the fruit may more speedily be produced. And surely
this is the only cause, why fruits and flowers are more forward and sooner ripe in
the Country Puteoli, and the Island Inatime, then in all other places of Campa∣nia,
because there they hasten the concoction and ripening of them, by cherish∣ing
the roots thereof with fire and heat within the earth.

CHAP. IX.
How we may have fruits and flowers at all times of the year.
BY these wayes of procuring fruit to be timely ripe, it may be effected, that we
shall have fruits and flowers at all times of the year, some very forward that
come before their ordinary season, and some late-ward that come after: as for their
own time, then, Nature of her self affords them unto us. Aristotle in his Pro∣blems
sheweth

How we may have Cucumbers all the year long,
both in season and out of season. When they are ripe, saith he, you must put them
into a waterish ditch, neer the place where they grew, and cover it over: for by
this means the heat of the Sun cannot come at them to dry them, and the water∣ishnesse
of the place will keep them supple and moist, so that they will still be fresh
and green. And Theophrastus after him saith the like; that Gourds and Cucumbers
must be taken when they are small, and in their tender growth, and must be hidden
in some ditch, where the Sun cannot come to waste and consume their moisture,
nor the wind to dry them, which two things would ma• and hinder their growth,
as we see it falleth out in Trees, that are so situate, as both the winde and the Sun
have their full scope upon them. If you would have

Citron trees bear fruit all the year;
to have Citrons still growing fresh upon the Tree, you must observe that manner
and custom which was first peculiar in Assyria, but is now usual in many places.
When their season is to be gathered, you must cut off some of the fruit from the
Tree, and prune those parts well where you have left no fruit; but you must leave
some behinde, upon some other parts of the Tree: so shall you find a new supply
of fresh fruit there where you cut off the former; and when these be ripe, then cut
off those which you left upon the Tree before, and so fresh fruit also will come up
in their stead. Pontanus hath set down the same experiment in verse; that
part of the fruit is to be gathered, and the rest left hanging upon the Tree; for so
it will come to passe, that the Tree will bud forth a fresh in those parts where it
finds it self destitute of fruit, grieving as it were that one bough should be beauti∣fied
with fruit, and the other should have none at all. We may also effect this
by the help of engraffing: for if we desire

To have Apples all the year,
Dydimus in his Georgicks saith, that if we engraffe an Apple into a Citron-tree,
it will bring forth for the most part continual fruit. And if we would
have
Page 79

Artichockes grow continually,
we may learn to do it out of Cassianus, who following the Authority of Varro, saith,
that Artichocks always bring forth fruit about the same season that they are set in, and
therefore it is easie to have them all the year long. The ordinary season of planting
Artichocks is in November & September, and commonly they bear fruit in July and
August: but they will bring forth also in March and April, if they be planted ac∣cordingly;
for by that time they will have as perfect a soul, as at any time else. If
you practise it three years together, to plant them in the moneths of November,
December, January, February, and March, you shall have Artichockes of that
kind, as will bring forth fresh fruit almost all the year long. Likewise, if you desire
to have

Sperage alwayes growing fresh,
and fit to be eaten, you must take this course: as soon as you have gathered the fruit,
you must dig round about the roots as they lie in their own place under the earth,
and by this means they will shoot up into new stalks. In like manner, if you de∣sire
to have

Roses growing all the year long,
you must plant them in every moneth some, and by dunging them, and taking good
heed unto them, you shall have fresh Roses continually. By the like practice, you
may also have

Lillies all the year long;
for if you take the roots or cloves of Lillies, and set them in the ground, some four∣teen,
some twelve, some eight fingers deep, you shall by this means have Lillies all
the year long, and so many several flowers of them as you have planted several
roots. And as this may be done by Lillies, so Anatolius thinks the same pra∣ctice
will take like effect in all other flowers. Theophrastus saith, that we
may have

Violets alwayes growing,
if we set them in well-fenced places, and such as lie open to the force of the Sun:
for commonly fruits and flowers will grow there, when they will grow no where
else: but they must be very carefully lookt unto, and then they will come on the
better. The best way is, to set them in earthen vessels, and keep them from vehe∣ment
cold and heat, bringing them forth still when the Air is calm and temperate,
and applying them with moisture, and muck, and carefull dressing. So we may pro∣cure
also that

The Herbe Oenanthe shall flourish all the year;
for Theophrastus writes, that if we deal thereby, as in the procuring of Violets, we
shall have flowers upon it continually.

CHAP. X.
How to produce fruits that shall be later and backward.
WE have already shewed how to produce forward fruits that will be very timely
ripe; now it remaineth that we set down such cunning sleights and devices, as
whereby we may procure fruit to grow very later, not to be ripe before the lowest
of Winter. And this we may learn to effect by contrary causes to the former; and
whereas we were to heat that which we would have to be timely ripe, we must here
use coolers to make things ripen slowly; and whereas before we were to engraffe
later fruits into forward Trees, here we must engraffe forward fruits into later
Trees. Likewise we must sow or plant late, that we may receive later fruit: for as
Page 80

beasts that are long ere they be perfectly bred, are long before they have their hair,
and do not change their hair before the same time of the year come again, in which
they were brought forth; so also in plants it cometh to passe, that if they be set late,
they will grow late, and bring forth backward fruits. To begin with engraffing,
we will shew how thereby

To produce later Cherries.
There is a kind of Tree that brings forth a very bitter fruit, so bitter that it is cal∣led
Amarendula, that is to say, a bitterling; a branch of this Tree being engraffed
into a Cherry-tree, after three or four several engraffings will bring forth at length
Cherries that will be very later: and howsoever the fruit of its own kind be very
bitter, yet in time it will forget the former relish, and yeeld a more pleasant taste.
We may effect this also by that kinde of engraffing which we spoke of in the eighth
Chapter; but that will be longer in working. Likewise we may procure that

A Pear shall grow exceeding later,
if we engraffe the same into a Willow; for we have declared before, that such an en∣graffing
there may be; and certain it is, that thereby a very latter fruit may be pro∣duced.
But we must see that the Willow grow in such a place, as where it may be
nourished with continual moisture; and this engraffing must be done about the last
dayes of the Moons last quarter; and it must be graffed betwixt the Tree and the
bark. If any man would have

Roses grow later;
Florentinus shews how it may effected. When you have engraffed the Vine-branch
into a Cherry-tree, as soon as ever the fruit cometh forth, you must set the bud of
a Rose into the bark or pill thereof: for growing in another body, look what time
the Tree wherein it is set, will fructifie, and at the same time will the Rose open it
self, yielding a very excellent savour, and besides will be very pleasant to behold.
To be short, all kinds of fruits may be made to grow later, by this kind of engraf∣fing.
Now there is another way whereby we may procure the backward growth of
fruits: and this is by shaking or plucking off the buds or blossoms that grow first
upon the Tree; for while new buds are growing up in the room of the first, time
wears away, and yet if the Air be seasonable, these latter buds will be good fruit,
and well ripened, though they be slow. Thus we may produce

Figs that are very backward,
as Columella sheweth. When the green Figs are very small, shake them off, and
the Tree will bring forth others that will not be ripe before the latter end of
Winter. And Pliny following his authority, saith, that Figs will grow latter, if
the first Green ones be shaken off when they are about the bigness of a bean; for
then others will come up in their stead, which will be long a ripening. And by this
means it is, that Tarentinus shews how to produce

Latter Grapes,
We must take away the bunches that grow first, and then others will grow up in
their stead: but we must have an especiall care still to look to the Vine, that other
clusters may grow, and at length be ripened. By this means likewise we may
cause

Roses to open or blow very latter,
If we tuck off the buds that grow first, at such time as the flower begins to appear
and shew forth it self. This practise will take best effect, if it be used upon
musk-roses, especially such as are wont to be fullest of leaves; for thus we have in
the Country store of Roses growing all the Winter long, as they stand in earthen
vessels, and are set up in Windows. So if you would have
Page 81

Clove-gilliflowers blow later;
you must tuck off the first stalks and slips about that time as they are ready to bud,
and set them in the heat of the Sun all the Summer long; but you must water them
continually, that they lose not all their moisture: for by this practice we have pro∣cured
other stalks, and other slips which have yeelded flowers all the Winter long
even to the Spring, so that we have continual Winter-gilliflowers, both at home
and in the Country abroad. There is also another device whereby we may cause
fruit to ripen very late; not by shaking or cutting off the buds, but by planting
them late, and keeping away the cold from them. As for example, If we would

Produce later Cucumbers,
because we know that this kind of fruit cannot endure any frost, or showers, or cold
storms, therefore we must sow the seeds in the Summer-time; and when the Win∣ter
draws on, we must lay heaps of muck round about them, whereby no cold may
come at them to destroy them, and they may be ripened through the heat and fat∣ness
thereof. But the best way to have later Cucumbers, is, as we shewed before,
either to set thereof into great Fennel stalks, or else to cast the Cucumbers into a
pit for a certain season. If we would have

A Rose blow in the Winter;
we must watch the time when the tops of the sets begin to shoot up, as they grow
on their beds; and then take away the sets, and plant them in another place, where
the root afterward wil take, & so yeeld us a winter-rose. Likewise if we desire to have

Straw berries in the Winter or Spring,
as we have in the Summer, we must take them whiles they are white, before they
are grown to their reddish hiew, and put them leaves and all into reeds or canes,
stopping up the mouth thereof with some fat soil, and burying them in the earth till
Winter come; and then if we would have them to be red of their own natural co∣lour,
let them lie a while in the Sun, and we shall obtain our purpose. By the like
device as this is, we may reserve

Lettice for a Winter sallet.
When she hath brought forth her leaves, that they grow up round together, you
must bind the tops of them about with a little string, and keep them growing in an
earthen vessel, in such a place as they may alwayes receive fit nourishment; and by
this means you shall have them still white and tender. In like manner

Endive may be kept till Winter,
to have it still fresh for any use. Others take other courses that are less chargeable;
as to cover them only with earth, or with straw and leaves. Gardeners with us co∣ver
them in their Gardens with sand or such like earth, whereby they keep them
very white and tender, and yet enjoy them all the Winter long.

CHAP. XI.
How we may cause fruit to grow bigger then their ordinary kinde.
IT remaineth now that we set down certain rules and wayes whereby fruit may be
made greater, and far exceed the ordinary bigness of their own kind: and this may
be effected divers wayes; for it may be done either by engraffing only (for indeed
this is the chief priviledge that engraffing hath, to procure bigger fruit); or else by
planting upon those Trees which bring forth greater fruit of their own kind; or else
by gathering of the fruit here and there some, if the Tree be overladen, that so the
juice may more plentifully bestow it self upon the fruit that is left behind; or else
by dressing and trimming them; or by other devices, as hereafter shall be shewed.
We will first begin with engraffing, and shew how we may procure thereby

That Apples or other like fruit shall grow bigger then they are wont.
A tree that is planted with a graffe of her own kinde, will alwayes bring forth greater fruit, then if it
were not so planted. We brought an example hereof out of Pliny, that Corellius took a Scion of a
Chestnut-tree, and engraffed the same into the tree again, and thereby produced a greater and a bet∣ter
Chestnut. And for my own part; I have oft-times made the like proof in many other fruits, and
by experience have found that all fruits may be made greater by engraffing, and caref•• looking
unto, but especially Citrons. Secondly, we may procure fruits to be greater then ordinary, by graf∣fing
upon another Tree, whose kind is to bear bigger fruit. As for example, if we would produce

Pears that should be greater then ordinary,
Page 82

especially the least sort of Pears called Myrapia, or Musk-pears, we may effect it by
engraffing them into a Quince-tree; because the Quince tree, of all other, bears
the greatest fruit: and thereby the least Pears that are may be so augmented, that
they will become a very goodly fruit; experience whereof, we have in many places
in our Country. So we may cause

The Medlar-tree to bear huge Medlars,
greater then any man would imagine, if we engraff it into the Quince-tree: the
proof whereof both I have made my self, and seen it tried by many others; and the
oftener we so engraff it, the greater Medlars we shall procure. Likewise

The small Apricock may be made greater,
whereas they are the smallest kinde of Peaches that are. I have oftentimes engraf∣fed
it upon that kind of Damosin-tree which bears a Plum like a Goats stone both
in shape and greatness, (it may be it is our Scag-tree) and by this means I procured
great Apricocks: but if you ingraff it into any other Damosin-tree, it will yeeld
but a bastard fruit: for the Apricock doth not endure kindly, to be engraffed into
any other trees besides. In our Naples and Surrentine orchards, there is excellent
fruit of this kinde; and I never saw any elsewhere. We may also

augment the fruit of the Myrtle-tree.
The Pomegranate-tree and the Myrtle-tree are each delighted with others compa∣ny,
as Didy••us writeth in his Georgicks; where he saith plainly, that the Pomegra∣nate-tree
being engraffed into the Myrtle-tree, and likewise the Myrtle-tree into
the Pomegranate-tree, do each of them bring forth a greater fruit. But I am per∣swaded
that the Myrtle-tree brings forth greater fruit in proportion to her body
when it is engraffed upon the Pomegranate-tree, because the kinde of this is greater
then the kinde of that, then the Pomegranate-tree doth when it is engraffed upon
the Myrtle-tree. By such a kinde of means we may also procure

Mulberries greater then ordinary,
if we engraff a Mulberry into a Fig-tree: for so Palladius hath written, That if the
Mulberry be engraffed into a Fig-tree, the Fig-tree will cause it to change his colour,
and will fill up the fruit thereof with a fat juyce, so that they shall be greater Mul∣berries
then ordinarily their kinde is wont to yeeld. A third means whereby Ap∣ples
or such-like fruit may be augmented, is, by plucking off some of the fruit here
and there, and leaving some few upon the trees: for so shall the juyce of the tree be∣stow
it self more liberally upon the fruit that is left, and make it greater: as a mother
doth more bountifully feed one childe with her milk, then she can feed twain.
Wherefore if we would procure

Citrons greater then their kinde,
Florentinus counselleth us, that when the fruit beginneth to weigh down the boughs,
we should pluck off here and there some, and leave but a few behinde; so shall
they that are left be thicker and bigger every way. P•ntanus also saith the same. If,
saith he, you would have great Citrons, big enough to fill your hand, you must shake
off a great many from all the boughs, onely leaving some few, (but you must leave
both the greatest, and those also that grow in the chiefest and likeliest parts of the
tree•) for, saith he, the heir which is left, will make himself merry and fat with his
brothers milk, and thrive much the better. Palladius shews

How to make Apples greater then ordinary,
and it is by this same means. For when they hang thick upon the bough•, you must
gather away the worst, that so the nourishing juyce may be converted to the best,
and the fairest may thereby be the better augmented. There is yet another means
whereby we may cause fruit to be the greater; and this by dressing and trimming,
when we dig about them, and water them, and lay muck about them. And first, by
this means

Citrons may be made greater:
for, as Palladius saith, they are much holpen and delighted with continual digging
about them. And

Quince-pears may be augmented,
as the same Author sheweth, by watering them continually. And

Peaches may be augmented much,
Page 83

if we plant them in moist places, and supply them with continual watering. But if
you would have the Peach-trees

Bring forth very great ones,
you must watch the time when they blossom, and suckle them three days together
with three pintes of Goats milk, as Palladius sheweth. We have practised to cause

The Pomegranate-tree to bear a mighty fruit;
and that by this means. We took a good portion of fat muck, whereunto we put an
equal portion of Swines dung, and the lees of Wine and Barley-bran; and we kept
all this in a dry place for a year together, every month manging them again one with
another; and at last we put Vineger to it, and made it like an Ointment. Afterward
in October and November, we digged away the earth from about some parts of the
Pomegranate-tree-roots, and there wrapt in this Ointment round about them, and
at length covered them again with earth; and by this Device I had greater Pome∣granates
then ever the tree bare before. But now if you would go forward, and
practise the same upon it the two next years following, questionless you might pro∣duce
very huge Pomegranates, wonderful to be seen, as big as Gourds. Likewise
we have caused

Beans to bring forth great cods,
by anointing them with this same ointment, and afterward sowing them in the earth:
whereby we had great increase, both for the bigness of the Bean, and also of
the cod. Also

Leeks and roots of Radish may be made greater;
if we translate them out of one place, and set them in another, as Theophrastus
sheweth. If you would have

A Rape grow bigger and rounder,
you must sow it assoon as ever it is ready to be taken out of the husk: for by the ad∣vantage
and benefit of the season wherein it is sowed, it will be the more augmented;
because the root will thereby be the better filled, and the larger grown. Likewise
Florentinus sheweth, how to make

Pease of a bigger growth.
If, saith he, you take Pease, and steep them in warm water the day before you sow
them, they will grow the greater. Some men take more pains then needeth; who,
because they would have a greater Pease growing, they steep them shells and all, and
put Nitre into the water wherein they are steeped, and sow them in their shells.

Vitches may be made bigger,
if they be set with a little pole, to grow up thereby: for this will cause them to
thicken, as Theophrastus saith. So also

Onions may be thickned,
as Sotion sheweth. About some twenty days before you translate them from the
place where they first grew, you must dig away the earth about them, and let them
lie a drying, that all moisture may be kept from them; and then plant them again,
and they will grow much bigger. But if withal you pill of the top-skin, and so
plant them, they will be far greater. Likewise we may cause

Artichocks to bear a fuller fruit,
as Varro sheweth. If you plant them in a well-soiled place, and cover them with old
dung, and water them often in the summer-time, you shall by this means have a
fuller and a more tender Artichock. We may also practise another Device whereby
to make greater fruit, which Theophrastus hath set down; and he brings an Example,
how to make

Pomegranates to grow greater then ordinary:
for Art may cause the greatness of Fruit. When the first buds be formed upon
the boughs, they must be put into an earthen vessel that is made with a hole
quite thorow; and the bough whereon they grow, must be swayed downward with∣out
hurting it: then cover the pot with earth, and so you shall have exceeding great
Pomegranates. The reason whereof is this: The pot preserves the fruit from the va∣pours
that would otherwise annoy it: and besides, the earth ministreth some moi∣sture
unto it; so that the bigness thereof is increased by the store of nourish∣ment.
It receives no more help from the tree, then if it were out of the earth;
and therefore the kernels are no greater then ordinary; but the pill is much
Page 84

thicker: the proper juice of it is somewhat wasted and consumed; for which cause
the taste of this fruit so handled, is waterish and worse then others: but the rine
receives outward nourishment, and spends none; for which cause that is much
thicker. The like practise Palladius and Martial use, thereby to procure

A great Citron.
They take a Citron when it is young, and shut it up fast in an earthen vessel: for the
Citron will increase continually, till it come to be of the bigness and fashion of the
vessel wherein it is put: but there must be a hole made thorow the vessel, whereby
the air may get in unto it. By the like device, Theophrastus assays to produce

Cucumbers and Gourds greater then ordinary,
by hiding them while they are young, both from Sun and from Winde, that nothing
may come at them to hinder their growth. Like to this Device, is the setting of
them in Fennel-stalks, or in earthen Pipes; whereby the natural Juyce and Nou∣rishment
is kept in, to the increasing of their growth. We will also shew, out of
Theophrastus, a like Device, whereby the Herb

Alisander or Parsley may be made greater.
You must dig the Alisander round about the root, and cover it with Cachryl, and
then heap earth upon it. For the roots spend all the moisture themselves, and suffer
no nourishment to ascend into the buds. This Cachryl is hot and thick: and as
by the thickness it draws nourishment to it, so by vertue of the heat it doth con∣coct
and digest that which it hath attracted: and therefore seeing this doth both
draw more nourishment to the Alisander, and also concoct it, there must needs be
a greater augmentation of that herb. This practice he borrowed of Aristotle. This
herb may also be made bigger by another means, namely, if when you plant it, you
make a hole for it in the ground with a great stake: for the root will at length fill
up the hole. So there is a means to make

A Radish-root grow bigger,
if it be planted in a cold ground, as Pliny sheweth. For Radishes are much cherish∣ed
and delighted with cold; as in some cold places of Germany there be Radishes
growing as big as a little childe. Some have reported, that if you drive a stake into
the ground six inches deep, and put chaff into the pit which the stake hath made, and
then put in the Radish-seed, covering it over with earth and muck, the Radish will
grow up to the bigness of the pit. By a Device not much unlike to this, Florentinus
sheweth how to

Make great Lettise.
You must remove them, and water them well; and when they are grown half a
handful high, you must dig round about them, that the roots may be seen: then wrap
them in Ox-dung, and cover them over again, and water them still; and when they
are waxen bigger, cut the leaves cross with a sharp knife, and lay upon them a little
barrel or tub that never was pitc•ed, (for Pitch will hurt the herb) that so it may
grow not in height, but onely spread forth in breadth. So the herb

Beet may be made greater,
as Sotion sheweth. To make Beet grow in bigness, saith he, thou must cover the
roots over with some fresh Ox-dung, and divide the leaves or buds, and lay a broad
stone or a tyle upon it, to cause it to spread forth in bredth. You may also make

Leeks greater,
by removing them, and laying a great stone or a broad tyle upon them: but in no
case must they be watered. By the very same Device, Anatolius sheweth how to make

Garlick greater,
Page 85

by laying tyles upon the roots thereof, as upon Leeks. Theophrastus sheweth ano∣ther
kinde of Device, whereby to make

Radishes greater;
and he saith that the Gardeners of his time were wont to practise it. They took
away the leaves in the Winter-time, when they flourish most, and cast the Radishes
into the ground, covering them over with earth; and so they lasted and grew till
Summer came again, never shooting forth either into buds or leaves, except it were
where the earth was gone, that they lay uncovered. The like Experiment doth Pal∣ladius
teach, concerning the Rape-root, whereby to make

Rape-roots greater.
Assoon as you have plucked them up, you must strip off all the leaves, and cut off
the stalk about half an inch above the root: then make certain furrows for them in
the ground, for every one of them a several furrow; and there bury them asunder,
about eight inches deep: and when you have cast earth upon them, tread it in; and
by that means you shall have great Rape-roots. By the like means, Theophrastus
thinks, we may procure

The herb Wake-robbin to grow greater.
When it is most full of leaves, and when the leaves be at the broadest, we must
bow them downward, winding them round about the root within the earth, that so
the herb may not bud forth, but all the nourishment may be converted to the head of
the herb. So may we make

Onions to grow bigger,
as Theophrastus supposeth, if we take away all the stalk, that the whole force of the
nourishment may descend downwards; lest if it should be diffused, the chief vertue
thereof should spend it self upon the seeding. Sotion saith, that if a man plant Oni∣ons,
he must cut off both the tops and the tails thereof, that so they may grow to a
greater bigness then ordinary. Palladius saith, that if we desire to have great-head∣ed
Onions, we must cut off all the blade, that so the juyce may be forced down to
the lower parts. In like manner, if we would have

Garlick-heads greater then common,
we must take all the greenish substance thereof, before it be bladed, and turn it
downward, that so it may grow into the earth. There is yet another Device,
whereby to make herbs and roots grow bigger then ordinary; but yet I like not so
well of it, howsoever many ancient Writers have set it down: and first,

How to make Leeks grow greater.
Columella hath prescribed this course: you must take a great many Leek-seeds, and
binde them together in thin linen clouts, and so cast them into the ground, and
they will yeeld large and great leeks. Which thing Palladius also confirms by his
authority, in the very same words. But both of them had it out of Theophrastus,
who putteth it for a general Rule, That if a man sowe many seeds bound up toge∣ther
in a linen cloth, it will cause both the root to be larger, and the buds to be
larger also; and therefore in his time they were wont to sow Leeks, Parsly, and other
herbs after the same manner: for they are of more force when there be many seeds
together, all of them concurring into one nature. Moreover, it makes not a little to
the enlarging of fruits, to take the seeds which we would sow, out of some certain
part of the former fruit. As for example: we shall procure

A Gourd of a greater or larger growth,
if we take the seed out of the middle of a Gourd, and set it with the top down∣ward.
This course Columella prescribes, in his Hortulus: Look, saith he, where the
Gourd swells most, and is of the largest compass, thence, even out of the middle
Page 86

thereof, you must take your seed, and that will yeeld you the largest fruit. And this
is experienced not in Gourds onely, but also in all other fruits: for the seeds which
grow in the bowels or belly, as it were, of any fruit, are commonly most perfect, and
yeeld most perfect fruit; wheras the seeds that grow in the outward parts, produce for
the most part weak & unperfect fruit. Likewise the grains that are in the middle of
the ear, yeeld the best corn; whereas both the highest and the lowest are not so per∣fect:
but because Gourds yeeld great increase, therefore the experience hereof is
more evidently in them then in any other. Cucumbers will be of a great growth,
as the Quintiles say, if the seeds be set with their heads downward; or else if you
set a vessel full of water under them in the ground, that so the roots may be drench∣ed
therein: for we have known them grow both sweeter and greater by this De∣vice.

CHAP. XII.
How to produce fruit that shall not have any stone or kernel in it.
IT is a received thing in Philosophy, especially amongst those that have set forth
unto us the choicest and nicest points of Husbandry, that if you take Quicksets,
or any branches that you would plant, and get out the pith of them with some ear∣picker,
or any like instrument made of bone, they will yeeld fruit without any stone,
and without any kernel: for it is the pith that both breedeth and nourisheth the
substance of the kernel. But the Arcadians are of a quite contrary opinion: for,
say they, every tree that hath any pith in it at all, will live; but if all the pith be
taken out of it, it will be so far from yeelding any stoneless fruit, that it cannot
chuse but die, and be quite dried up. The reason is, because the pith is the moistest
and most lively part of any tree or plant: for the nourishment which the ground
sends up into any plant, is conveyed especially by the pith into all the other parts:
for Nature hath so ordained it, that all the parts draw their nourishment, as it were
their soul and their breath, thorow the marrow or pith of the stock, as it were tho∣row
a Squirt or Conduit-pipe. Which may appear by experience, seeing any bough
or stalk, so soon as the marrow is gone, returns and crooks backward, till it be quite
dried up, as the Ancients have shewed. But I for my part must needs hold both
against Theophrastus, and against others also that have written of Husbandry, both
that trees may live after their marrow is taken from them, and also that they will
bring forth fruit having stones or kernels in them, though there be no pith in the
trees themselves, as I have shewed more at large in my books of Husbandry. Not∣withstanding,
lest I should omit any thing belonging to this argument, I have thought
good here to set down the examples which those Ancients have delivered in writing,
that every man that lists may make trial hereof; and haply some amongst the rest
using greater diligence in the proof hereof then I did, may finde better success here∣in
then I have found. There be many means, whereby Plants may be depri∣ved
of kernels; as namely, by engraffing, by taking out their pith, by soiling with
dung, or by watering, and by other Devices. We will first begin, as our wonted
manner is, with engraffing; and will shew how to produce

A Peach-apple without a stone.
Palladius saith he learned this new kinde of engraffing of a certain Spaniard, which
he saith also he had experienced in a Peach-tree. Take a Willow-bough about the
thickness of a mans arm; but it must be very sound, and two yards long at the least:
bore it thorow the middle, and carry it where a young Peach-tree grows: then strip
off all the Peach-tree-sprigs all but the very top, and draw it thorow the hole of
the Willow-bough: then stick both ends of the Willow into the ground, that it
may stand bending like a bowe; and fill up the hole that you bored, with dirt and
moss, & bind them in with thongs. About a year after, when the Peach-tree and the
Willow are incorporated into each other, cut the plant beneath the joyning place,
and remove it, and cover both the Willow-bough and the top of the plant also with
Page 87

earth; and by this means you shall procure Peaches without stones. But this must
be done in moist and waterish places; and besides, the Willow must be relieved
with continual watering, that so the nature of the wood may be cherished, (as it
delights in moisture) and it may also minister abundant juyce to the plant that is
engraffed in it. By the like experiment we may procure, as Avicenna shews, that

A Citron shall grow without any seed in it:
for, saith he, if we engraff it into a Quince-tree, it will yeeld such a fruit. Albertus
promiseth to produce

A Medlar without any stones,
by engraffing it into an Apple-tree, or a Service-tree. But experience proves this
to be false; yet surely, if it be so engraffed, it will have a softer kernel a great deal.
The reason which brought the Ancients to think and write thus, was this: They saw
that such fruits as have in them the hardest stones, do grow upon such trees as have
in them the hardest pith; as the Dog-tree, the Olive-tree, the Damosin-tree, the
Myrtle-tree, and the like: they saw also, that such trees as have a soft and a spungie
kind of pith in them, as the Fig-tree, the Alder-tree, and such-like, bring forth fruit
without any stones in them at all: and from hence they gathered and concluded,
that it is the pith which nourishes the kernel. Which thing howsoever it hath some
little shadow of truth in it, yet they should not have extended it generally to all
plants, seeing experience proves it to fail very often. Now let us come to the se∣cond
means whereby fruit may be prevented of their kernels; and this is by taking
forth the pith or marrow. As for example: if you would procure the growing of

A Grape without any stone in it,
Democritus counselleth you to take a branch or twig of a Vine, and cleave it just in
the middle, and either with a stone, or some instrument made of bone, fetch out all
the pith, in that part which you will plant within the earth, or at least as far as you
can hollow it without spoil: then presently bind up the parts together again with pa∣per
stiffly and tightly wrapped about them, and make a trench for them in some moist
and very fertile soil, where you must plant them in one, and fasten it to some sure
prop, that it may not be wreathed nor bowed; so will they soon grow up together
into one, as they were before: but it would be much better, if you would put the
clove or head of a Sea-onion into that part which you have robbed of the pith: for
this is as good as glue to fasten them together; and the moisture hereof will keep
them supple, as also the heat hereof will cherish them much. Theophrastus saith, that
you may procure Grapes without any stones in them, if you rob the Vine-branch of
the pith that is in it, whereof the stones are wont to be gendred. And Columella
saith, that if you would have Grapes without stones, you must cleave the Vine-branch,
and take out all the pith; but so, that the buds be not hurt thereby: then
joyn it together, and binde it up again, so that you crush not the buds; and so plant
it in a well-soiled ground, and there water it often: and when it beginneth to shoot
up into slips, you must dig deep about it oftentimes; and when it cometh to bear,
it will yeeld you Grapes with our any stones. Palladius saith, there is a goodly kinde
of Grape which hath no kernels in it, so that it may be swallowed down easily, and
that with no small pleasantness, as if it were many Grapes stoned and supped up to∣gether.
The manner of the procuring it is, as the Greeks record, by Art assisted with
Nature, on this wise: The set which we would plant, must be cleft in the midst, so
far as we mean to set it within the ground; and when we have picked and clean
scraped out all the pith of those parts, we must close them togethe• again; and when
we have bound them hard up, set them in the earth: but the bond wherewith they
are tied up, must be made of Paper or Parchment; and the ground where they are
set, must be a moist place. Some go to work more precisely, and put the plant so
〈◊〉 and made up again, into a Sea-onion, so far as the plant was cloven: for by the
help thereof, all plants do sooner and easier take root. Pliny likewise saith, there is 〈◊〉
new•invented kinde of Grapes, when the Vine-branch that is to he planted, is
Page 88

cloven in the middle, and all the pith scraped out, and the pieces knit up together
again, with a special care that the buds receive no harm any way: then they set the
Vine-branch in a well-soiled ground; and when it beginneth to shoot forth, they
pru•e it, and dig often about it: the Grapes which it afterwards bears, will have no
hard kernels in them, as Columella writes; howbeit, it is great marvel that there
can be in them any kernels at all, though never so soft, seeing all the pith, which is
the mother of the kernel, is quite taken away. But surely I for my part marvel at
those who think it strange that a tree should live when this pith is gone, & are per∣swaded
that a Vine-branch can bear fruit without kernels when the pith is taken out
of it; seeing many men in the Country are eye-witnesses that there do many plants
live without any pith in them; and seeing also it is impossible almost that any tree
should bear fruit without kernels, because the kernel carries it self the very seed
whereby one fruit may be generated of another. Likewise you may procure, as
Democritus also sheweth,

Pomegranates and Cherries without any stones;
if in like manner you pick out the pith of the young plants that you set. And Afri∣canus
saith, If you deal with these as with Vine-branches, plucking out the pith af∣ter
you have cleft them, and then plant them; and after a while cut off the upper
parts of the plants when they have budded forth, then the Pomegranate set, will
yield fruit without any kernels. Palladius borrows this same experiment of Africa∣nus,
and sets it down word by word as he doth. Likewise that

A Cherry-tree may bring forth fruit without any stone within;
Martial sheweth more distinctly. Cut off a young plant about two foot long, and
cleave it as it stands in the ground, down to the root, and then fetch out the pith
on both sides, and presently tie them up again fast, and cover the whole cleft both
on the top, and on both sides, with muck; so shall they grow fast together again
in one year: then engraffe some young sprigs of a Cherry-tree, such as never bare
any fruit before into this stock, and by this means you shall procure Cherries with∣out
any stones at all. Others, that they might accomplish their purpose more spee∣dily,
did not cleave such tender young Cherry-trees, but bored a great hole tho∣rough
Trees of good growth, so that it might pierce the whole pith, and cross it in
the middle of the Tree; then they put a stake or a wedge into it, which might stop
the passage of the pith, that none might be ministred into the upper parts. In like
manner Africanus teacheth how to procure

A Peach without any stone.
You must, saith he, bore a hole beneath through the body of the Tree, and having
so cut off the pith from passing upward, you must fill up the hole with a stake of
Willow or Prick-wood; so shall you intercept the pith from ascending out of the
root into the branches. Some Writers there are, which shew how to procure stone∣less
fruit by diligence in dressing and trimming of plants. It is held for a rule in
Husbandry, that soft, fat, and moist nourishment doth alter all wilde and unkindly
fruit into that which is milder and more natural: It is a kind of mildeness in fruits,
to have a little, soft and sweet kernel; as on the contrary, it is wildenesse to have
a great and a hard kernel, for it cometh by reason of a kind of harsh and dry nou∣rishment
that the earth sends up into them. Wherefore no doubt but we may pro∣cure
the kernel of a fruit to be smaller and more tender, by diligence and skill in
dressing them. To begin with a Vine:

How a Vine may bring forth grapes without a harsh and stony kernel.
At such time as Vines are pruned, you must take a fruitful sprig, somewhat neer the
top as you can, and there, as it grows, you must pick out the pith at the highest
end, never cleaving it, but hollowing it with some fit instrument as well as you
can, and there uphold it with a prop that it bow not down: then take some Cyre∣nian
juice, as the Greeks call it, and pour it into the place that is hollow; but first
Page 89

you must steep this juice in water, to the thickness of sodden wine: and this you
must do for eight dayes together every day once, till the vine-branch sprout forth
again. Columella saith the very same; that the vine-branch as it grows upon the
Vine must be cut, and the pith of it fetched out with some fit instrument, as well
as you may, out of the top without the cleaving of the branch, but the branch be∣ing
whole, and still growing on the Vine, you must put into it some Benjamin or
Cyrenian juice steeped in water, as was shewed before, and set it upright with a
prop, that the juice may not run forth; and this is to be done for eight dayes to∣gether.
So if we would procure

A Myrtle without a kernel,
Theophrastus teacheth us how to do it. If you water the Myrtle-tree with hot wa∣ter,
then, saith he, the fruit will be the better, and without any kernel. Some
affirm, that this experiment was found out by chance: for whereas there stood
neer to a Bath, a Myrtle-tree which no man regarded, the Commers by took off
some of the fruit by chance, and found them without any kernels; then they car∣ried
some home, and set them, and so this kind of fruit began first in Athens. Di∣dymus
also saith, that if the Myrtle-tree be often watered with warm liquor, it
will yeeld berries without any stones or kernels within. Theophrastus sheweth yet
another way whereby this may be effected; take, saith he, the filth or shavings of
skins, and put them in Urine, and so lay them about the root of the Myrtle-tree
at such time as the buds begin to shew themselves, and so shall you have berries
that have either none at all, or else very small kernels in them. Likewise the Pome∣granate
may be produced without any kernels within it, if you lay good store of
Swines-dung about the root of the Pomegranate-tree.

CHAP. XIII.
How fruit may be produced without any outward rines or shels.
THe very same helps and devices which we prescribed for the producing of fruits
without their inner kernel, we may likewise use in the practice of producing
Nuts, & such like fruits as are wont to grow in shells and rines, that they may grow
naked as it were without any shel at all. And first this may be effected by taking away
the pith out of the plants that bear them so.

A Nut without a shell,
may be produced, as Damageron teacheth. If you bore a hole quite thorough the
Nut-tree, and put into it a stake of Elm to fill it up, you shall thereby stop the
pith from ascending into the upper parts▪ and so no shells can grow because it is
the pith only that causeth them. Palladius counselleth you to bore the hole through
the root, and stop it up with a stake of box, or some wedge made of iron, or of cop∣per.
But Theophrastus sheweth, how to procure

Almonds and Chest-nuts with a soft shell,
and this is by skill in dressing the Trees. If you would soften and alter the fruit, we
must apply the root with Swins-dung: for this is a very forcible worker; likewise
often digging will cause both the plants to prosper better, and the fruit to become
better also: for the kernels will be smaller, in such fruit as have any stones in
them; and such fruit as grow in shells or rines, as Almonds, and Chest-nuts,
will have the softer shell without, and the larger kernel within: for the grea∣ter
store of nourishment there is applyed to the Tree, the moister it is, and
the substance of the fruit is so much the more encreased. But Palla∣dius
would perswade us, that if we rid away the earth from the rootes
Page 90

of the Almond-tree some certain daies before it begin to blossom, and all that
while apply them with warm water, we shall hereby procure the Almond-shels
to be very tender. If we would procure

That kinde of Nut which is called Nux Tarentina,
the same author Damageron hath shewed us how to do it. Every Nut and Almond
will yeeld a mild fruit with a tender shell, if we continually apply the body and
root of the tree with pouring ashes upon them; and likewise all other kind of
fruits that grow in any shell or rine, may be so wrought upon, and will suffer the
like alteration by the like means practised upon them. If you would procure a
Tarentine Nut, Palladius saith, you must water the Tree with Lye thrice a moneth
throughout a whole year, and so you may obtain your purpose. Others effect
such alterations by correcting the plants; as, by cutting off the tops of the roots.
If the Nut be too hard shelled, you may also remedy it by cutting and paring off
the bark of the Tree, as Damageron sheweth; for by this means you draw down
that harsh and wilde humour: The reason whereof is, because the bark of the
Tree answereth to the shell of the fruit, as the pith of the Tree answereth to the
kernel of the fruit: and therefore, as to amend the inner kernel we abated the
pith, so to soften or amend the utter shell or rine of the fruit, we must abate the ut∣ter
bark of the Tree. A thing which we have observed by another like example:
for a Peach being engraffed upon a bitter Almond-tree, the pill of the fruit thence
growing was so bitter, that it could not be eaten till the pill were pared off. This
secret may stead you in many other experiments of the like kind. But this kind of Nut
which we now speak of, I have growing in my own Orchard, and it hath such a
tender shell, and so thin, that as soon as ever it is but touched, the shell falls off, and
the fruit is bare and naked. Florentinus assayed to produce

An Almond without a shell,
on this manner: He break the shell very charily, so that the kernel was kept whole;
then he took wool, and sometimes green leaves of the Vine or of the Plane-tree,
and wrapt about the kernel, lest if he should have set it without my covering about
it, the Emots or such like vermine should have gnawn it. Columella sheweth another
device whereby we may procure

A Filberd to become a Tarentine Nut.
When you have made your pit wherein you purpose to set your Nut, put into it a
little earth, about half a foot deep, and there plant the feed of Fennel-gyant; and
when the Fennel is come up, cleave it, and within the pith of it put your Filberd
without any shell upon it, and so cover it all over with earth: this if you practise
before the Calends of March, or betwixt the Nones and the Ides of March, you
shall have your purpose. They prescribe likewise another device, whereby

Gourds may bring forth fruit without any seeds within them:
The Gourd, say they, will grow seedless, if you take the first branch or sprig of a
Gourd when it is a little grown up, and bury it in the earth as they use to deal by
Vines, so that onely the head thereof may appear; and so soon as it is grown up
again, to bury it so again: but we must have a special care that the slips which grow
up out of the stalk be cut away, and none but the stalk left behind; so shall the fruit
that grows upon it, whether it be Gourds or Cucumbers, be destitute of all seed
within. Likewise they will grow without seeds in them, if the seeds which are
planted, be macerated or steeped in Sea-famine oyle, for the space of three dayes
before they be sowed.

Page 91
CHAP. XIIII.
How to procure fruits, to be of divers colours, such as are not naturally incident to their kinde.
NOw we will shew how to colour fruits: to the effecting whereof there have
been divers means devised; as waterings, and engraffings which can never be
sufficiently commended or spoken of, and other like practises. To begin with en∣graffing;
If we would colour any fruit, we must engraffe it upon a plant that flou∣rishes
with the same colour which we would borrow. As for example, If we
would produce

Red Apples,
we must engraffe them upon a Plane-tree, and the fruit will be red, as Dio∣phanes,
Didymus, and Palladius affirm. So we may procure that the fruit

Rhodacen shall grow red,
if we engraffe it upon a Plane-tree, as Africanus witnesseth. Of whom Palladius
learned that the way to make Rhodacens look red, is to engraff them into a Plane-tree.
If you would have

Citrons of a red scarlet-colour,
Avicenna shews you may effect it by engraffing them into a Pomegranate-tree;
for we shewed before that such an engraffing may well be made. But if you
would have

Citrons to be blood-red,
Florentinus sheweth that you may effect this by engraffing them into a Mul∣berry-tree;
which experiment Deophanes approveth. Likewise he that desires
to have

Red Pears,
must engraffe them into a Mulberry-tree; for by this means the Pears will
grow red, as Tarentinus and Diophanes do witnesse. So also you may pro∣cure

A white Fig to become red,
by engraffing it upon a Mulberry-tree, as the same Diophanes witnesseth. By the
same means

Apples may be of a blood-red colour,
if they be engraffed into a Mulberry-tree, as Avicenna sheweth. But Beritius and
Diophanes write, that the Mulberry-tree it self, which makes all other Apple-fruit
to become red, may be caused to bring forth

White Mulberries,
if it be engraffed into a white Poplar tree; for this will alter the colour of the fruit.
But Palladius procures this effect by another means; not by engraffing the Mulber∣ry
into a white Poplar, but into the Fig-tree; for this also will alter their colour,
and cause

White Mulberries,
as he shews in his verses; wherein he saith, that the Fig-tree doth perswade Mul∣berries
to change their own colour and to take hers; whereof I my self have seen
the experience. Likewise, of

A white Vine may be made red Wine,
Page 92

if we engraffe a white Vine into a black: for the stock into which it is engraffed,
will alter the colour much, as I have seen by experience in hony-grapes, those which
we call Greek-grapes; for the Vines which have been engraffed upon those Greek-Vines,
have yeelded a blackish juice or wine; and the oftner such engraffing hath
been made, the blacker juice was yeelded. In the places about the Hill Vesuvius
the white-wine grape, which grows upon her own stalk that is engraffed into the
Greek-vine yeelds a more high-coloured wine then others do. Another way
to make

Apples grow red,
is by diligent and cunning dressing, even by applying them with hot and fat receipts;
for there are two chief Elements or principles of colours; white, and black, or dark
coloured; now by dressing them, and applying fat things unto them▪ we may pro∣cure
every flower or fruit that is blackish, to become brighter and fresher colour∣ed;
whereas on the other side, if they be neglected, that we do not bestow pains and
care in trimming them, their colour will not be so lively, but degenerate into a
whiterish hew; for all colours that begin to fade, wax somewhat whitish. Beritius
therefore, endeavouring to make Apples grow red, watered them with Urine, and
so obtained his purpose. But Didymus

To procure red Pomegranates,
watered the Tree with Bath-waters sodden into Lye, and some other water mixed
therewith. But there is yet another device, whereby we may procure

Apples to grow red,
by opposing them directly to the greatest force of the Sun-beams; for this will
make them red. Beritius, that •e might cause the reflex of the Sun-beams to be
more forcible upon the fruit, used this sleight. He fastened certain stakes into the
ground, and weighing down the boughs that had fruit upon them, he bound them
charily without hurting the fruit to those stakes; and neer thereunto he digged
certain ditches filling them with water, or else would place some other vessels full
of water neer the boughs; casting this in his conjecture, that surely the heat of the
Sun lighting upon the water, would cause hot vapours, which being reflected toge∣ther
with the heat of the Sun into the places neer adjoyning where the fruit hangs,
and so reflected upon the fruit, would procure them to be of a reddish and a goodly
colour. Beritius assayed to procure

Red Apples,
by another devise, by a secret kind of operation. Under the Tree he was wont to
set Roses, which did lend their goodly hew to the Apples that grow upon the Tree
above them. Democritus practised the like device not upon Apples, but upon Rho∣dacens,
and made

Red Rhodacens,
by planting Roses underneath the Tree, round about the roots. Likewise we may
colour fruit by colouring the seeds of them; for look what colour we procure in
the seed, either by steeping it in some coloured liquor, or by any other means, the
fruit will grow to be of the same colour which the seed is, when it is set or sown. As
for example, we may colour

Peaches,
with Sanguinary or Vermillion; If we bury a Peach-stone in the ground, and take
it up again seven dayes after (for in that time the stone will open of it self) and then
put into it some Vermillion, and bury it in the earth again, and afterward look care∣fully
unto it, we shall thereby procure Vermillion-peaches. And Dsmocritus is per∣swaded,
that if we should put into it any other colour after the same manner, the
Peach would be of that other colour. It is a thing commonly reported among us,
and it is not unlike to be true, that
Page 93

Peaches may be of a sanguine-colour,
by another means. You must take a Peach-stone, and put it into a Carrot that is
then growing, and the stalk which grows of that stone in the Carrot, if it be care∣fully
nourished and preserved, will bring forth Peaches of a sanguine colour. In like
manner, If you would have

White kernels growing in a Pomegranate,
Palladius sheweth how to do it, by the authority of Martial. If you take chalk and
white clay, and with them mingle a quarter so much plastering, and apply the Pome∣granate-tree
roots with this kind of soilage or dunging, for the space of three whole
years together, you shall obtain your purpose. Likewise, if you desire

Mellons of a Sanguine colour,
you must take Mellon-seeds, and steep them in sanguine liquor for three or four
daies together before you set them, you may easily have your desire. Or else, if you
open a little the skin of the seed, and put within it the juice of red Roses, Clove∣gilliflowers,
and Black-berries that grow upon Brambles, or of any other like
thing, so that it be not hurtful to the seed, you may effect your purpose. And I
suppose that the sanguine-coloured Mellons which are seen in these Countries, are
thus used, that they may be of this colour. Consequent upon these devices is that
sleight whereby

A Peach may grow with any writing upon it.
The Greeks affirm, that a Peach may be made to grow with a writing upon it, if
you take out the stone and bury it in the earth for seven dayes; and then when it
begins to open, pluck out the kernel, and write in it what you will, with Vermil∣lion-juice:
then binde up the kernel into the stone again, and set it so into the
ground, and you shall have growing a written fruit. Now as the Sun doth colour the
herbs that it may well come at, as we have shewed; so by keeping the force of the
Sun away from them, we may whiten them; for so

A Lettice may be made white,
as Florentinus sheweth. If you would, saith he, procure goodly white Lettice, then
must you bind together the tops of the leaves, two dayes before they be gathered;
for so they will be fair and white. Likewise you may whiten them by casting sand
upon them. And with us

Artichocks are made white,
by the very same means which we speak of. And if you would cause

Beets to become whiter then ordinary,
you must cover the roots over with Cow-dung, and as we spoke before concerning
Leeks, so here you must cleave the bud, and lay a broad stone or a tile upon it, as
Sotion sheweth. So Columella teacheth how to make

Endive to grow white,
when the leaves are shot forth, you must tie them about the tops with a small
string, and cover them over with an earthen vessel set fast into the ground, and the
herb will be white. Others are at less charges, and cover them over with some
earth our Gardeners lay them in sand, and so make them very white. If you
would procure

White Sperage,
you must put the slips as soon as ever they appear out of the earth, into a broken
reed; and there let them grow for a while, and afterward when you take away the
cane or reed, the Sperage will be whiter then ordinary.

Page 94
CHAP. XV.
How the colour of Flowers may also be changed.
IN transforming and meddling the colours of flowers together, we may procure
such strange medleys, as nothing can be more delightful to be seen. Those which
are of a •eep purple colour may be meddled with azure blue; those which are as
white as milk, may be meddled either with a duskish hew, or with a green, or
crimson, or some other compound colours; in the beholding whereof, the minde
cannot chuse but be affected with great delight, and be ravished with admiration,
and as it were quite overcome with the excellent beauty of them. Wherefore we
will set down certain Rules, whereby we may be able to alter the colour of flowers,
as we prescribed certain rules before, whereby we shewed how to alter the colour
of fruits. And first we will shew, how by engraffing

Gilliflowers that are of themselves purple, or else white, may become azure blue,
You must cut off (somewhat neer the root) a stalk of Endive or Blue-bottle, or Bug∣loss,
but the old wilde Endive is best for this purpose, and let it be grown to an
inch in thickness; then cleave that in the middle which is left growing in the
ground, and plant into it a Gilliflower new pluckt up out of the earth, root and
all; then bind up the stalks or slips with some sl•ght bond, and lay good store of
earth and dung round about it: so shall it yield you a flower, that is somewhat blu∣ish,
of a most delightful colour to behold. This, many of my friends will needs
perswade me, though for my own part, I have often made trial of it, and yet never
could see it effected. But this I have seen, that a white Gilliflower slip being en∣graffed
into a red Carrot made hollow for the same purpose, and so buried in the
earth, hath yeelded a Sea-coloured flower. Likewise you may procure the white
Gilliflower to be of a skarlet-colour, if after the same manner you engraffe it into
the root of Orchanet: by which means also you may turn a purple Gilliflower into
a skarlet. If you would have

A Rose, as also the flower Jasmine to be of a yellow-colour,
you may procure it by engraffing either of them into a broom-stalk: for of all o∣ther,
the broom-flower is most yellow: and though we cannot do it so well, by
clapping the leaf or the bud of the one upon the leaf or bud of the other, yet it
may be effected by boring into the stalk after this manner. You must set a Rose or
a Jasmine neer to the broom, and when they are somewhat grown, take them up to∣gether
with the earth that is about them; (for they will prove better when they are
set again, with their own earth which is about them, being as it were their mother,
then with any other earth that shall be as it were their step mother,) then
bore a passage into the broom-stalk, and when you have cleansed the passage,
prune the rose-stalk and plant it into the broom: and there cover them
with •oam where the engraffing was made, and so bind it up. Afterward when the
set is grown into the stock, you must cut off all the head somewhat above the engraf∣fing
place; so shall you have a Rose or a Jasmine there growing, of a lovely yellow∣ish
colour. Which kind of flowers are very usual with us, and this their borrow∣ed
colour is so orient and bright, that the eye is scarce able to endure the brightness
thereof. There is another means also whereby we may colour flowers, and that is
by pouring some colouring into the roots. If you would have

Lillies to be red,
we will shew how to do it, as Florentinus hath shewed us. Take a Lillie-clove or
head, and when you have opened it well, pour into it some Sinoper, or any other
colouring, and the Lillie-flower that grows out of the clove so dressed, will be of the
same colour. But you must be very careful that you hurt not the clove or head,
when you so open it; and besides, you must be sure to cover it with fat and well-soiled
earth. By the like means you may procure
Page 95

Lilly-flowers of a purple colour.
The manner whereof, Anatolius sheweth to be this. You must take ten or twelve
Lilly-stalks, about such time as they be ready to yeeld flowers, bind them all to∣gether
and hang them up in the smoak: then will there spring out of them some
small roots, like unto a Scallion. Therefore when the time of the year serves to set
them, you must steep the stalks in the Lees of red Wine, till you see they be
throughly stained with that colour: then you must take them asunder, and set every
one of them by it self, watering them still with the same Lees; and so you shall
have Lillies that bear a purple flower. Cassianus attempted by the very like
means

To produce white Ivy:
He steeped it in white Marle, and covered the roots of it with the same morter for
eight dayes together, and it brought forth white berries. We may effect the like
matters by careful manuring and dressing of fruits; for if we apply them with fat
and fertile muck, the flowers will be a great deal the better coloured, and may
be made blackish; as we have often proved in Clove-gilliflowers, which we have
procured to be so deep coloured, that they have been even black. And on the
contrary

Roses, Clove-gilliflowers, and Violets will wax of a whiterish colour,
if they be not carefully lookt unto, that either you do not water them well, nor
transplant them, nor dig about them, nor feed them with muck; for by this means
Theophrastus writeth, not only these kinds of flowers, but almost all other, that
grow in Woods and Forrests unregarded, do become whiterish. But Didymus hath
devised another kind of sleight divers from these, whereby to make Roses and
Clove-gilliflowers to become white very suddenly; and this is, by smoaking and
perfuming them with brimstone about the time that they begin to open.

CHAP. XVI.
How fruits and Flowers may be made to yeeld a better savour then ordinary.
AS it is pretty and delightsome to see fruits and flowers wear a counterfeit co∣lour;
so it is worth our labour to procure in them a more fragrant smell, then
their ordinary kind is wont to afford: which thing we may effect by divers wayes,
by planting, by watering, and by other devices. And for example sake, we will
first shew, how to make

Limons to become very odoriferous.
If we take that least kind of Limons which is called Limoncellum picciolu•, and
engraff into a Citron-tree, the stock will inspire the fruit with a very goodly
smell; and the oftner that you so engraffe it, the sweeter smell it will afford, as
by daily experience we have tried in our Naples Gardens. So also we may procure

Very odoriferous Pears,
by engraffing them upon a Quince-tree, for the •tock thereof will lend the fruit a
grateful savour. Diophanes avoucheth, that

Apples may be made more odoriferous,
if they be engraffed into a Quince-tree; and that hereby are procured those good∣ly
Apples which the Athenians call Melimela. And I suppose that the Apple cal∣led
Appium malum, was produced by the often engraffing of an Apple into a
Quince-tree: for the smell of it is somewhat like a Quince; and it is not unlike
that Appius Claudius found it out, and first procured it by the same means. Likewise
we have with us great red Apples, and some of them of a m•rry colour, which
Page 96

yield the same smell; and questionless could never be produced but by the same
means. So we have procured

The Centifole Rose to be more odoriferous.
If you would do so too, you must engraffe it into that kind of Rose, which, by
reason of the sweet smell of Musk that it carries with it, is called Moschatula; but
you must oftentimes reiterate the engraffing of it again and again: so shall it be more
beautiful, and fuller of leaves, and smell sweeter. But it is best to engraffe it by
Inoculation, by clapping the bud of the one upon the bud of the other; for so it
will take soonest, and prove best. By a sleight not much unlike to this we may
procure

Vines to smell of sweet ointments,
as Paxamus sheweth. If you would have the Vine to smell sweetly, and the place
where it groweth, you must take the branches and cleave them, and pour in sweet
ointments into them when you are about to plant them. But your labour will
take the better effect, if you first steep the branches in sweet oyle, and then plant
or engraffe them. I have practised an easier and slighter way, besmearing the bran∣ches
that are to be engraffed, with Musk, or else steeping them in Rose-water, if
the Musk did not stay upon them. So also we could make

Limons to be as odoriferous as Cinnamon,
by taking the sprigs that are to be planted, and besmearing them with oyle or the
water of Cinnamon, and dressing them with much industry and diligence: And this
kind of Limons is usual amongst us; and is termed by the common-people Limon∣cellum
incancellatum. There is also another device whereby fruits may be made odo∣riferous,
and to smell of Spices; and this is, by taking the seeds of them, and steep∣ing
them in sweet water before they be sowed. As for example: If we would
procure

Odoriferous Artichocks,
Cassianus hath declared out of Varro, the manner how to effect it. You must take
Artichock-seeds, and steep them for the space of three dayes in the juice of Roses,
or Lillies, or Bayes, or some other like, and so to set them in the ground. Also
you may make Artichocks smell like Bayes, if you take a Bay-berry, and make a
hole in it, and put therein your Artichock-seed, and so plant it. Palladius records
out of the same Author, that if you steep Artichock-seeds for three dayes together
in the oyle of Bayes, or Spikenard, or Balme-gum, or the juice of Roses, or of Ma∣stick,
and afterward set them when they are dry, that then the Artichocks that grow
out of those seeds, will yeeld the smell and savour of that which the seeds were be∣fore
steeped in. Florentinus makes

Mellons of the fragrant smell of Roses,
after this manner▪ by taking Mellon-seeds, and laying them up amongst dry Roses,
and so planting them one amongst another. I have procured Mellons to smell like
Musk, by opening that part whereby the seed sprouts out, and steeping them in
Rose-water wherein some Musk was distilled also, and so planting them after two
dayes steeping. So we have procured

Odoriferous Lettice,
by taking the seed of Lettice, and putting it into the seed of a Citron, and so plan∣ting
it. After the same manner, you may learn to make

Flowers grow that shall smell of Cloves;
if you take the seeds of those flowers, and lay them in Clove-powder, or the oyle
of Cloves, or Clove-water distilled, and so set them: for by this means, the flowers
will entertain the smell and savour of the Cloves. And this I take it, was the cun-ning
Page 97

the cunning sleight whereby our ordinary Clove-gilliflowers were first produced;
for questionlesse Gilliflowers do grow everywhere of themselves without any such
pleasant smell; and besides, they are of a smaller assize, and of their own kinde
somewhat wilde. But it should seem, that Gardeners did by their industry and
trimming, bestow the smell of Cloves upon them, by steeping their seeds in Clove-water,
or by suppling them with the oyle of Cloves, or else by sticking Cloves in
the roots of them, and so planting them. We may adde to these sleights another
device,

How to make Garlick grow that shall not smell rankly and unsavourily.
Sotion hath taught us the way. If, saith he, you do set Garlick, and pluck it up again,
both, when the Moon is underneath the earth, it will not have any bad savour. And
Theophrastus hath taught us a means

How we may procure Roses to yield a more odoriferous smell,
namely, if you take Garlick, and plant it neer your Roses.

CHAP. XVII.
How to procure fruits to be sweeter and pleasanter for taste.
THere are some trees, which cannot away with any scar, but if you cut their stock
never so little, or make any other scar in them, presently the Air and the extrin∣secal
heat get in, and so the Trees perish; for the corruption will fall downward to
the root, and so make the Trees presently to wither and fade away. Now there are
other Trees, which will abide not only a scar, but also to have their stock cleft,
and to be bored into; yea, and by this means too, they will bear fruit more plen∣tifully;
as doth the Pomegranate-tree, the Almond-tree, and the Apple-tree; of
all which there is very great use. The reason hereof is this: Their nature and
kinde is, to receive so much nourishment as is sufficient for them, and to void away
hurtful and superfluous humours: for as those living creatures which sweat most, or
have some other issue in their bodies, are most healthful and wont to live longest;
so when these Trees have a cut or a scar in them whereby they sweat out, as it were,
their hurtful and superfluous moisture, they do more easily digest that moisture which
is left behind within them; and the better that the moisture is digested, the sweeter
and pleasanter is their juice. And besides, they will live, if the parts have any
continuation at all, though it be never so little, only if they may but hang together:
and therefore they will easily defend themselves from any harm that may happen
unto them by the cutting or mangling of any of their parts. We will shew how
to procure fruits that shall be sweter in taste then ordinarily their kind is wont to
afford, first by engraffing, secondly by boring or cutting, and last of all by other
means. And first, by engraffing we may procure

Cherries that shall have in them the relish of Bayes,
For as we have shewed before, engraffing may amend those defects that are in plants
and endue them with better qualities: so that if you have any fruit that is loath∣some,
because it is too sweet, do but engraffe it into a bitter Tree, and there will
be such a medley, that your fruit shall have a very savoury relish. Pliny saith, that
if you engraffe a Cherry upon a Bay-tree, you shall have Cherries thence growing,
that will have the smatch of the Bay. Palladius saith the same, engraffe a Cherry
upon a Bay-tree, and the fruit that grows thence, will have the relish of the Bay.
In my time, there have been seen certain Cherries in Naples, which they called
Bay-cherries, somewhat bitter, but yet pleasant withal; a most excellent kinde of
fruit, far better then any other cherries, of a very large assize, full of juice, of a very
sanguine colour, that have a bitter-sweet taste, so that they are neither loathsome
for their overmuch sweetnesse, nor yet to be refused for their overmuch bitterness.
So likewise may be procured
Page 98

Sweeter Apples by engraffing them into a Quince
For if you do engraffe an Apple into a Quince, the Apple will have a relish like
honey: which kinde of fruit the Athenians do therefore call Melimela, because
they taste like honey, as Diophanes sheweth. Now we will shew also, how by hus∣bandry
and skilful dressing, fruits may be made sweeter in taste; namely, by pier∣cing
or boring the stock, or scarrifying it round about, or by some other chastise∣ments,
as the Husband-men are wont to call them; for by these means, the trees
may purge themselves of their superfluous moisture, and so they will bear the swee∣ter
fruit. As for example: If you would learn,

How to procure the Almond-tree to yield fruit without any bitterness.
Aristotle hath taught you the way. You must knock a great nail into the body of the
Almond-tree, that the gum of the Tree, which causeth the bitternesse of the fruit,
may drop out by that passage. And this is such a sleight that hereby you may tame,
as it were, wilde Trees, and alter their nature into a milder kind. Theophrastus
saith, that if you dig round about the stock of the Almond-tree, and bore thorough
it about nine inches above the ground, the gum will thereby drop out, and so the
fruit will become the sweeter by that chastisement. If you cut off a bough, or an
arm of it, so that the gum may have egresse that way, and if you wipe away the
gum still as it cometh forth, and observe this for two or three years together, you
may by this means alter a bitter Almond-tree into a sweet one. For the bitternesse
proceeds from no other cause, but onely from the superfluity of nourishment and
moisture, which is abated by boring into the stock: and when once that which is
superfluous is evacuated, then that which is left, is more easily concocted, and so
the tree becomes fertile in bringing forth a sweeter and a better fruit. Africanus
likewise affirmeth, that if you dig about the stock of a bitter Almond-tree, and
make a hole into it some four inches above the root, whereby it may sweat out the
hurtful moisture, it will become sweet. Pliny saith the same; If you dig round a∣bout
the stock, saith he, and bore thorough the lower part of it, and wipe away
the humour which there issueth forth, a bitter Almond-tree will become sweet.
Some there are, who after they have made that hole, do presently put honey into it,
that it may not be quite empty; for they are of opinion, that the relish of the ho∣ney
is conveyed up into the fruit, through the pith, as thorough a Conduit-pipe. As
for example sake; If we would procure

Sweet Citrons;
(for that kind of fruit was not wont to be eaten in Theophrastus time, nor in Athenae∣us
time, as himself reports, nor yet in Plinies time:) Palladius hath shewed, how
to alter the bitter pith of a Citron-tree into sweet. His words are these. It is re∣ported
that the bitter pithes of Citrons may be made sweet, if you take the Citron-seeds,
and steep them in honey-water, or else in Ewes milk, (for this is better) for
the space of three dayes before you set them. Some do bore a hole sloaping into
the body of a Tree, but not quite thorough it; by which passage the bitter humour
drops away: This hole they make in it the about February, and leave it so, till the fruit
is fashioned; but after the fruit is fashioned, then they fill up the hole with morter;
and by this device the pith is made sweet. This hath Pontanu• set down in his book
called, The Gardens of Hesperides. What is it, saith he, that Art will not search into?
Cut a thick Vine, and make it hollow on the the top, about thy hand breadth; but
so, that the brims of the hole be brought round and something close together, so that
the sides be about an inch thick and no more. Pour into it and fill it up with liquefied
honey, and cover it with a broad stone that the Sun may not come at it. And when
the Vine hath drunk in all that, then fill it up again with the like: and when that is
soaked in too, then open the concavity wider, and let the Vine grow: but you must
continually water the tender roots thereof with mans water: and you must be sure
that you leave no buds or leaves upon the stock, that so there may be no other moi∣sture
let into it, but the whole Vine may grow up as it were in a spring of honey.
Palladius shews also
Page 99

How to make sweet Almonds of bitter ones,
even by boring a hole in the middle of the stock, and putting into it a woodden
wedge besmeared over with honey.

Sweet Cucumbers
may be procured, by steeping Cucumber seeds in sweet waters, till they have drunk
them up: for they being planted, will produce sweet Cucumbers. Theophrastus
shews how to make sweet Cucumbers, even by the same sleight; by steeping their
seed in milk, or else in water and honey sodden together, and so planting them.
Columella saith, that a Cucumber will eat very tender and sweet, if you steep the
seed thereof in milk before you set it. Others, because they would have the Cucum∣ber
to be the sweeter, do steep the seed thereof in honey-water. Pliny and Palla∣dius
do write the same things of the same fruit, out of the same Authors. Cassianus
hath declared out of Varro, how to procure

Sweet Artichocks growing.
You must take the Artichock-seeds, and steep them in milk and honey, and after you
have dryed them again, then set them, and the fruit will relish of honey. So you
may procure

Sweet Fennel growing,
For if you steep Fennel-seeds in sweet wine and milk, then will the fruit
that grows of those seeds, be much sweeter. Or else if you put the seeds thereof in
dry figs, and so plant them, the like effect will follow. So you may procure

Sweet Melons,
as Palladius shews; even by steeping the seeds thereof in milk and sweet wine for
three dayes together: for then if you dry them, and set them being so dryed, there
will grow up a very sweet fruit. Likewise you may procure

Sweet Lettice;
for if you water them in the evening with new sweet wine, and let them drink for
three evenings together as much of that liquor as they will soak up, it will cause
sweet Lettice, as Aristoxenus the Cyrenian hath taught out of Athenaeus. So

A sweet Radish may be procured,
by steeping the Radish-seeds for a day and a night in honey, or in sodden wine, as
both Palladius and Florentinus have recorded. So you may procure the same, by
steeping the seeds in new sweet wine, or else in the juice of Raisons. There is also
another device, whereby to make sharp or bitter fruits to become sweet; and this
is by art and cunning in dressing them; as, by pouring hot water, or the Lees of oile,
or casting soil and such like about their roots. As for example: when we would
make

A bitter Almond to become sweet,
we cast some sharp piercing matter upon the root, that by vertue of their heat, the
Tree may the more easily concoct her moisture, and so yield a sweeter fruit. Theo∣phrastus
saith, that if we apply hot and strong soil, as Swines-dung, or such like, to
the root of the bitter Almond-tree, it will become sweet: but it will be three
years before the Tree be so changed, and for all that time you must use the same
husbanding of it. Africanus saith; If you uncover the roots, and apply them still
with Urine, or with Swines dung, then will the fruit be the sweeter. The Quintils
report of Aristotle, that, by covering the Almond-tree root with Swines-dung, in
March, of a bitter one it becometh sweet. And Palladius useth the very same pra∣ctise.
By the same device
Page 100

Sharp and sowre Pomgranate-trees may be made to bring forth a sweet Pomegranate:
for these also may be changed from sharp and sowre into sweet. Aristotle shews in
his book of plants, that Pomegranate-trees, if their roots be applyed with Swins-dung,
and watered with soom cool sweet liquor, the fruit will be the better and
the sweeter. Theophrastus saith, that the roots of a Pomegranate-tree must be ap∣plyed
with Urine, or with the offals and refuse of hides, yet not in too great a
quantity: for the roots of this kind of Tree have need of some sharp matter to
knaw upon them, and most of all, every third year, as we said before of the Al∣mond-tree;
but indeed the Pomegranate-roots are more durable. The reason is,
because of a kind of softnesse in the roots, which is peculiar unto them alone. Now
Swines-dung, saith he, or somewhat that is of the like operation, being cast upon
the roots, doth sweeten the juice of the Tree: as also if you pour on good store
of cold water, it will work some kind of change thereof. Paxamus prescribes
this course, to dig round about the root of the Tree, and to lay Swins-dung upon it,
and then when you have cast earth upon that, water it with mans Urine. Columella
saith; If you have a Pomegranate-tree that bears a sharp and a sowre fruit, this is
your way to amend it: You must cover the roots with Swins-dung and mans ordure,
and water them with mans Urine that hath stood long in some vessel; and so it will
yield you for the first years a fruit that tastes somewhat like wine, and afterward
a sweet and pleasant Pomegranate. Pliny reporteth the very same thing out of the
very same Authors. Anatolius shews

How to make an Apple-tree become sweeter;
and that is, by watering it continually with Urine, which is a thing very comfor∣table
to an Apple-tree. Some do use Goats-dung and the Lees or dregs of old wine,
applying them to the roots of the Apple-tree, and thereby cause it to bear a swee∣ter
fruit. Theophrastus saith; If you water an Apple-tree with warm water in the
Spring time, i• will become better. The like applications being used to Herbs,
will make them sweeter also. As for example sake; we may procure

Sweet Endive.
There be many things, which being watered with salt liquors, do forsake their bit∣ternesse,
and become sweet. Of which sort Endive is one: and therefore if we
would have sweet Endive, Theophrastus willeth us, to water it with some salt li∣quor,
or else to set it in some salt places. The like practise will procure

Sweet Coleworts.
And therefore the Aegyptians do mix water and Nitre together, and sprinkle it up∣on
Coleworts, that they may be sweet: And hence it is that the best Coleworts
are they which are planted in salt grounds: for the saltnesse, either of the ground
where it is set, or of the liquor wherewith it is watered, doth abate and take a∣way
the tartnesse and natural saltnesse of the Coleworts. In like manner, if you
would procure

Sweet Betony,
Theoph•astus counselleth you to water them with salt liquor, and so they will be bet∣ter.
Which very same things Pliny reporteth out of the same Author. Likewise you
may procure

Sweet Rochet,
such as will yeeld leaves that shall be more toothsome, if you water it with salt li∣quor.
There is another sleight in husbanding of Pot-herbs, whereby they may be
produced fitter to be eaten; and this is by cropping the stalks of them,

Basil will grow the sweeter,
if you crop the stalk of it: for at the second springing, the stalk will be sweeter
Page 101

and pleasanter; a most evident reason whereof is assigned by Theophrastus. So

Lettice will be the sweeter
at the second springing. Theophrastus saith, that the sweetest Lettice springs up after
the cropping of the first tops; for the first tops of their first springing, are full of a
milky kind of juice, which is not so pleasant, because that it is not throughly con∣cocted;
but they which grow at the second springing, if you take them when they
are young and tender, will be far sweeter. He shews also, how

Leeks may be made sweeter;
by cropping them once or twice, and afterward let them grow: the cause whereof
he hath assigned in his book of causes, namely, that their first shooting up is the
weakest and the most unperfect. The like is to be thought and practised in other Pot-herbs:
for the cropping or cutting off, doth make the second sprouts to be the swee∣ter,
almost in all herbs. There are also divers other sleights in husbanding and dres∣sing
of such Pot-herbs, whereby they may be made sweeter to be eaten. As for
example,

Garlick may be made sweeter,
for Sotion is perswaded, that, if you break the Cloves of Garlick before you set
them, or else supple them with the Lees of oyle, when you do set them, they
will gather and yield a far sweeter relish. By another sleight far differing
from this,

Onions may be made sweeter;
for we must consider, that divers things do exercise a mutual discord or agreement &
concord of natures toward each other; whereby they either help one another, if their
natures agree; or, if their natures dissent, they hurt and destroy one another. Nuts
and Onions have a sympathy or agreement of nature; and therefore if you lay up
Nuts amongst Onions, the Onions will cause the Nuts to last the longer: in liew of
which kindness, Nuts do gratifie Onions with another good turn, for they ease the
Onions of their sharpnesse, as Palladius hath observed.

CHAP. XVIII.
How fruits that are in their growing, may be made to receive and resemble all figures and impressions whatsoever.
MAny things do fall out by chance, and hap-hazard, as they say, which an in∣genious
man lighting upon, doth by his great industry, and often experiments
that he makes of them, turn and apply to very good use. Whence it is that the
Poet saith, manifold experience, and much labour and practice, sets a broach to the
world many new arts and rare devices. And because the most part are not acquainted
with the cause of such things, thence it is, that they are esteemed to be miraculous,
and to come to passe besides Natures rule. We have oftentimes seen in Citrons, di∣vers
kinds of stamps and impressions, which were made there by chance; as by the
hitting of some carved matter, or any stick, or such like, which hath caused the same
impressions: whence, the wit of man hath devised to cause divers kinds of fruits, to
grow up with divers kinds of figures on them. If you take an earthen vessel, and put-into
it an apple that is very young, as it hangs upon the Tree growing, the Apple will
grow to fill up his earthen case, and will be of any form whatsoever you would de∣sire,
if you make the case accordingly. Also if you pown any colours and bray
them together, and dispose of them in places convenient on the fruit, on the inside
of the case, the fruits will wear and expresse the same colours, as if they were natu∣ral
unto them. Whence it cometh to passe, that oftentimes the yellow Quince is
made to grow like a mans head, having in it the lively resemblance of white teeth,
purple cheeks, black eyes, and in all points expressing the form and colour of a
Page 102

mans head, without any greenesse at all, which is the natural colour of that fruit
whiles it is in growing. And this is the sleight that Africanus prescribes, whereby

A Citron may be made to grow in the likenesse of a mans head, or the head of an horse, or any other living Creature.
You must take some Potters clay, or soft morter, and fashion it to the bignesse of a
Citron that is at his full growth: but you must cleave it round about with a sharp
instrument, so that the fruit may be taken out of it handsomly; and yet in the
mean space the sides of the case must be so closely and firmly joyned together, that
the fruit growing on, may not break it open. If the counterfeit or case which you
make, be of wood, then you must first make it hollow within; if it be of clay,
you may clap it on, as it is, so that it be somewhat dry. But then when the fruit
comes to be of a greater and stronger growth, you must prepare earthen vessels
made for the purpose, with a hole in them at the lower end, that the stalk of the
fruit may there be let in: Into these earthen vessels you must enclose the fruit, and
binde them about with a strong band, for otherwise the growth of the fruit will
break them open: And when you have procured the fruit to grow up into his
counterfeit, or sheath as it were, that it is come to the just bignesse of a fruit of
that kinde, it will bear the same shape and figure which you would have in it. The
like we have shewed before out of Florentinus. Pontanus also speaks of the same
device. If, saith he, you would have a Citron to grow in divers shapes, you must
cover it being young, with some counterfeit of clay, or wood, or earth, wherein
it may be swadled; as a tender infant in his Nurses bosom: and that counterfeit
will fashion the fruit into any form; and when it is taken out, it will resemble any
image that you have carved within the counterfeit. So also you may deal by

Pomegranates, Pears, or any kind of Apples, making them to receive any kinde of form,
for the same Author writes, that if you bestow the same pains and diligent care
upon any other sort of Apples, you may frame them to every fashion; for so it is
in brief, saith he, that all Apple-fruits may be made to grow up to the shape of any li∣ving
creature, if you first carve the same shape into a counterfeit of wood or earth, and
let the fruit be shut up into that counterfeit, that it may grow up within it. So may
you make

A Quince grow in the shape of living Creatures,
as Democritus affirmeth, by putting them into some counterfeit that is carved within
to the same proportion, and so let the Quince grow in it. But it is easiest
to make

Cucumbers grow to any form;
for if you take earthen vessels of any fashion, and therewith cloath the Cucumbers
when they are very young, and binde them very fast about, they will receive any
shape or impression very easily, If you take a Cane, and make it hollow all along,
and bind it fast about, and then put into it a young Cucumber or a young Gourd, it
will grow so pliable within it, that it will fill up the whole length of the Cane.
Pliny saith, Cucumbers grow to any fashion that you would frame them unto; inso∣much
that you may, if you will, make a Cucumber grow in the shape of a Dra∣gon,
winding himself many wayes. Likewise, a Gourd will be made to grow pick∣ed
and sharp by many means, especially if it be put into a case that is made of such
pliant twigs as Vines are bound withal; so that this be done as soon as it hath cast
the blossom. But if you lay a Gourd betwixt two platters, or dishes, it will grow
to the same plainnesse and roundnesse; and of all other fruit, this is the easiest and
fittest to be formed to any fashion. You may make them to grow like a Flagon, or
like a Pear, great at the one end, and small at the other, if you tye it hard in that
part which you would have to be the lesse: afterward when it is come to full growth,
dry it, and take out all that is in it, and when you go abroad, carry it about you, it
Page 103

will serve for a cup to drink in. Hence we learn how it may be effected,
that

An Almond should grow with an inscription in it.
Take an Almond, and steep it for two or three dayes; and then break the shell of
it very charily, that the kernel receive no harm: then you must write in the ker∣nel
what you will, but write it as deep in as you safely may: then winde it up in
some paper, or some linen cloth, and overlay it with morter, and soil it with dung;
and by that device, when the fruit cometh to be of full growth, it will shew you
your handy work, as Africanus recordeth. So may you make

A Peach to grow with an inscription in it,
as Democritus sheweth. After you have eaten the fruit, you must steep the stone
of it for two or three dayes, and then open it charily, and when you have opened
it, take the kernel that is within the stone, and write upon it what you will, with a
brazen pen, but you must not print it too deep, then wrap it up in paper, and so
plant it; and the fruit which that will afterward bear, will shew you what was
written in the kernel. But

A Fig will grow with an inscription in it,
if you carve any shape upon the bud, the fig will expresse it when it is grown: or
else if you carve it into the fig when it is first fashioned: but you must do it either
with a wooden pen, or a bone pen, and so your labour shall be sure to take effect. I
have printed certain characters upon the rine of a Pomegranate, and of a Quince∣pear,
having first dipped my pensil in morter; and when the fruit came up to the just
magnitude, I found in it the same impressions. Now it remains that we shew how
we may

Fashion Mandrakes,
those counterfeit kind of Mandrakes, which couzeners and cony-chatchers carry a∣bout,
and sell to many instead of true Mandrakes. You must get a great root of Brio∣nie,
or wilde Nep, and with a sharp instrument engrave in it a man or a woman, gi∣ving
either of them their genitories: and then make holes with a puncheon in∣to
those places where the hairs are wont to grow, and put into those holes Millet,
or some other such thing which may shoot out his roots like the hairs of ones
head. And when you have digged a little pit for it in the ground, you must let it
lie there, until such time as it shall be covered with a bark, and the roots also be
shot forth.

CHAP. XIX.
How fruits may be made to be more tender, and beautiful, and goodly to the eye.
NOw at length, that nothing may passe us, we will set down divers kinds of
of sleights in husbanding and trimming of herbs and fruits, whereby they may
be made not onely tenderer, sweeter, larger, and better relished, but also fresher
coloured, and more sightly to the eye. And first

How an Apple-tree and a Myrtle-tree may be bettered,
we may learn out of Theophrastus, who counselleth to water their roots with warm
water, and promiseth the bettering of the fruit by that means; nay it will cause
the Myrtle fruit to be without any kernel at all. And this, saith he, was found
out by chance, in certain of these Trees growing neer unto a hot Bath. If you
would procure

Goodlier Figs then ordinary,
Columella shews, how you make them to grow more plentifully, and to be a soun∣der
Page 104

fruit. When the tops of the Fig-tree begin to be green with leaves, you mu••
cut off the tops of the boughs with an iron tool; and still as the leaves begin to bu•
forth, you must take red chalk, and blend it with Lees of oyle and mans dung•
and therewithal cover the roots of the Tree: and by this means, the Tree wil•
bear more store of fruit, and besides the fruit will be a fuller and better fruit. Pli∣ny
and Palladius record the same experiment out of the same Author. When the
Fig-tree begins to shew her leaves; if you would have it yeeld you more and bet∣ter
fruit, you must cut off the very tops of them when the bud begins to shew it
self; or, if not so, yet you must besure at the least to cutoff that top which grow∣eth
out of the midst of the Tree. Palladius writes, that some have reported,
that the

Mulberry-tree will bear more and better fruit,
if you bore thorough the stock of the Tree in divers places, and into every hole
beat in a wedge; into some of the holes, wedges made of the Turpentine-tree,
and into some of them, wedges made of the Mastick-tree. Didymus saith
that

The Palm, or Date-tree, and the Damosin tree will grow to be of a larger and good-lier assize,
if you take the Lees of old Wine, and after you have strained them, water the
roots therewith. And he saith, that it will take the better effect, if you cast up∣on
it a little salt ever now and then. So

The Myrtle-tree will have a goodlier leaf,
and also yield a better fruit, if you plant it among Roses: for the Myrtle-tree de∣lighteth
to be consorted with the Rose, and thereby becomes more fruitful, as Di∣dymus
reporteth. So

Rue will grow tenderer, and more flourishing,
if it be engraffed into a Fig-tree: you must only set it into the bark somewhat neer
the root, that you may cover it with the earth, and so you shall have excellent good
Rue. Plutark in his Sympo•iakes, commends no Rue but that only which grows
very neer the Fig-tree. Aristotle in his Problems, demanding the cause of this, at
length concludes, that there is such a sympathy and agreement betwixt the Fig-tree
and the herb Rue, that Rue never grows so fast, nor flourishes so well, as when it
grows under the Fig-tree. If you would have

Artichocks grow without sharp prickles,
Varro saith, that you must take the Artichock-seed, and rub it upon a stone, till you
have worn it blunt at the top. You may cause also

Lettice to grow tenderer and more spreading,
as Palladius shews, and Columella. Palladius saith, that if your Lettice be somewhat
hard, by reason of some fault either in the seed, or place, or season, you must pluck
it out of the earth and set it again, and thereby it will wax more tender. Columella
shews, how you may make it spread broader. Take a little tile-sheard, and lay
it upon the middle of the Lettice when it is a little grown up; and the burden or
weight of the tile-sheard will make it spread very broad. Pliny saith, that it is
meet also to besmear the roots with dung when they set them, and as they grow
up, to rid away their earth from them, and to fill up the place with muck.
Florentinus saith, when you have a Lettice growing that hath been transplanted,
you must rid away the earth from the root after it is grown to be a handful long, and
then besmear it with some fresh Oxe-dung, and then having cast in earth upon it a∣gain,
water it; and still as the bud or leafe appears out of the earth, cut it off till
it grow up stronger, and then lay upon it a tile-sheard that hath never been season∣ed
with any pitch, and so you shall have your purpose. By the like device you may
procure
Page 105

Endive to be tenderer and broader.
When it is grown up to a pretty bignesse, then lay a small tile-sheard on the mid∣dle
of it, and the weight of that will cause the Endive to spread broader. So also
you procure

Coleworts to be more tender,
if you bedew them with salt water, as Theophrastus writes. The Aegyptians, to make
their Coleworts tender, do water them with Nitre and Water mixt together. So

Cucumbers will be tenderer,
if you steep the seeds in milk before you set them, as Columella reporteth. If you
would have

Leeks to grow Cloven,
the Antients have taught you, that first you must sow them very thick, and so let
them alone for a while; but afterward when they are grown, then cut them, and
they will grow cloven. Or else, you must cut it about some two moneths after it was
set, and never remove it from the own bed, but help it still with water and muck,
and you shall have your purpose, as Palladius saith. Now we will speak of some
monstrous generations; as of the generation of the herb Dragon, and of a cloven
Onion. And first

How to produce the herb Dragon.
It is a received opinion amongst Gardeners, that if you take Hemp-seed or Line-seed,
and engraffe it into an ordinary Onion, or else into a Sea-onion as it grows neer the
Sea, or else into the Radish root, thence will grow the herb Dragon, which is a no∣table
and famous Sallet-herb. But surely, howsoever they boast of it that this hath
been of entimes done, yet I have made sundry trials hereof, and still failed of my
purpose. By the like setting of seeds, they shew

How to produce cloven Onions,
by making a hole into an Onion, and putting into it a clove of Garlick, and so plan∣ting
it; for that will grow to be an Ascalonian, or a cloven Onion. Now let us see,
how to make

Parsley to grow frizled or curled.
Theophrastus writes that Parsley will grow frizled, if you pave the ground where you
have sowed it, and ram it in with a roller; for then the ground will keep it in so hard,
that it it must needs grow double. Columella saith; If you would have Parsley to
bear curled leaves, you must put your Parsley-seed into a morter, and pown it with
a Willow pestle, and when you have so bruised it, wrap it up in linen clouts, and so
plant it. You may effect the same also without any such labour; even by rolling
a cylinder or roller over it after it is a little grown up, wheresoever or howsoever
it is sowed. Palladius and Pliny record the same experiment out of the same Au∣thor.
I have often-times seen

Basil growing with a kind of brush like hairs upon it.
The seed of withy-winde being planted neer to Basil, as soon as it shoots up, will
presently winde it self round about the stalks of the Basil, and by often winding a∣bout
them, will wrap them all into one. The like will be effected also, if the wi∣thy-winde
grow elsewhere, and a twig of it be brought and planted neer to Basil:
for by either of these means, the Basil will grow so bushy and so thick of hair, and
that in a very short time, that it will be most pleasant to be lookt upon. So you
may make the

Ivy to bear very sightly berries,
if you burn three shell-fish, especially of that kind which is called Murex,
and when you have powned them together, cast the ashes thereof upon the Ivy-berries;
Page 106

or else, if you cast upon them beaten Alome, as Cassianus teacheth. Theo∣phrastus
mentions an experiment that is very strange, whereby to make

Cumin grow flourishingly,
and that is by cursing and banning of the seeds when you sow them; and Pliny
reporteth the same out of Theophrastus: and he reporteth it likewise of Basile, that
it will grow more plentifully and better, if it be •owed with cursing and banning. If
you desire to produce long

Cucumbers, and such as are not waterish,
you may effect it by this means. If you take a morter or any other like vessel filled
with water, and place it neer the Cucumbers, about five or six inches distant from
them, the Cucumbers will reach the vessel within a day or two, and extend them∣selves
to that length; The reason is, because Cucumbers have such a great delight
in moisture: so that, if there be no water in the vessel, the Cucumbers will grow
backward and crooked. To make them that they shall not be waterish; when
you have digged a ditch to plant them in, you must fill it up half full with chaffe,
or the twigs of a Vine, and then cover them, and fill up the pit with earth; but
you must take heed you do not water them when they are planted. By all these
things which have been spoken, we may learn to procure

A Tree, which of it self may yield you the fruit of all Trees.
A thing which I have seen, and in merriment have oft-times called it, the Tree of
Garden-dainties. It was a goodly height and thickness, being planted within a ves∣sel
fit for such a purpose, the mould which was about it, being very fa•, and moist,
and fruitful, that so every way, as well by the liveliness and strength of the plant
it self, as also by the moistness and thriftiness of the ground, all things that were
engraffed into it, received convenient nourishment. It was three-forked; upon
one bough or arm, it bare a goodly grape, without any kernels in it, party colou∣red,
very medicinable; for some of the grapes were good to procure sleep, and o∣ther
some would make the belly loose. The second bough or arm, carries a Peach,
a middle kind of fruit differing both from the ordinary Peach, and the Peach-nut,
without any stone in it; and the smaller branches thereof bearing here a Peach, and
there a Peach-nut. If at any time there were any stone in the fruit, it was com∣monly
as sweet as an Almond; and it did resemble sometimes the face of a man,
sometimes of other living creatures, and sundry other shapes. The third arm
carries Cherries, without any stone, sharp, and yet sweet withal, and Orenges also
of the same relish. The bark of this Tree was every where beset with flowers
and Roses: and the other fruits, all of them greater then ordinary, and sweeter both
in taste and in smell, flourishing chiefly in the Spring-time; and they hung upon the
Tree, growing even after their own natural season was past: but there was a con∣tinual
succession of one fruit after another, even all the year long, by certain de∣grees,
so that when one was ripe, there was another budding forth, the branches
being never empty, but still clogged with some fruits or other; and the temperate∣ness
of the air served every turn so well, that I never beheld a more pleasant and de∣lightful
fight.

CHAP. XX.
How divers kinds of fruits, and likewise Wines may be made medicinable.
THe Ancients have been very careful and painful in seeking out, how to mix
Wine with divers kinds of Antidotes or preservatives against poison, and how
to use it best in such receipts, if need should be. A thing that might very
well be practised; for indeed there is nothing more convenient for that pur∣pose.
And therefore they have tried and set down more curiously then need re∣quired,
many things concerning this argument, strang to be reported, & yet easie to be
Page 107

effected; which Theophrastus hath copiously set down. About Heraclia in Arcady,
there is a kind of wine, which makes the men that drink of it to become mad, and
the women to become barren. And the like Athenaeus recordeth of that wine
which they have in Troas, a place in Greece. And in Thrasus there is a kind of
wine which if it be drunk, will procure sleep; and there is another kind of wine
made in that sort, that it will cause a man to be watchful: and there are divers con∣fections
of wines which you may read of in the most exact Writers of Physick, and
of matters of Husbandry, which are easie both to be learned, and also practised by
those that are well acquainted with the operations of Simples; and they are such
as a mans own conjecture may well lead him unto; and indeed they are nothing
else almost, but such qualities operative as the property of the place where their
Simples grow, doth endue them withal. And surely I would counsel that these kinds
of confections should be ministred to those that are timorous and queazie in the ta∣king
of any medicinal receipts, that so they may be swallowed down pleasantly,
before they should seem loathsom. And first,

How a Vine may be made to bring forth grapes that shall be medicinal against the biting of venemous beasts.
Florentinus bids you in the first and second book of his Georgicks, to set a Vine-branch,
and to cleave it in the lower part about the root, that the cleft may be
some four inches long; there you must pluck out the pith, and istead of the pith
put Hellebore into it, and binde it fast about with some pliant twig, and so cover
it with earth; and by this means it will yeeld you grapes that being eaten, will
make your body soluble. Or, if you would have the grapes to be more operative
in this kind, you must supple the Vine-branches in some Antidote or counter-poy∣son,
and then set them in the head of a Sea-onion, and so cover them with earth;
but you must still poure upon it the juice of that counter-poyson, that the sets may
drink their fill of it, and so the strength and vertue of the grape will last a great deal
longer. If you would have a Vine to yield the grapes whereof the confections
called Propomata are made, Palladius shews you. You must take the Vine-bran∣ches
and put them in a vessel that is half full of Hippocras, or else of Conserves
of Roses, or Violets, or worm-wood; and the earth that grows about the root,
you must resolve into a kind of Lye as it were made of Ashes; then when the branch
that grows up out of the bud beginneth to bear a leaf, you must take it away, & set it
as you set other Vines, in any other place, and the fruit will be such a grape as you
desire. Pliny saith, that if you plant Hellebore about the roots of the Vine,
it will yield a grape fit for such a purpose. Cato saith, that the herb Scam∣mony
hath a wonderful quality in drawing into it self the juice of the Vine.
Pliny shews

How to make that kind of wine which is called Phthorium, and kills children in their mo∣thers wombes.
That Hellebore which grows in Thassus, as also the wilde Cucumber, as also Scam∣mony,
are good to make Phthorian wine, which causeth abortives. But the Scam∣mony
or black Hellebore must be engraffed into the Vine. You must pierce the
Vine with a wimble, and put in certain withie-boughes, whereby you may binde up
unto the Vine the other plants that are engraffed into it: so shall you have a grape
full of sundry vertues. So you may procure

Figs that shall be purgative,
if you pown Hellebore and Sea-Lettice together, and cast them upon the Fig-tree
roots: or else if you engraffe them into the same roots, for so you shall have Figs
that will make the belly loose. Florentinus saith, that you may make a Fig to grow
which shall be good against the biting of venemous beasts, if you set it after it hath
been laid in triacle. So we may procure

Purgative Cucumbers.
Page 108

You must take the roots of the wilde Cucumber, and pown them, and steep them
in fair water two or three dayes; and then water your Cucumbers with that liquor
for five dayes together; and do all this five several times. Again, you may make
them purgative, if, after they are blossomed, you dig round about their roots, and
cast some Hellebore upon them and their branches, and cover them over with earth
again. So you may procure

Purgative Gourds,
if you steep the seeds of them in Scammony-water nine dayes before you set them,
as the Quinti•es report. Now if you would procure a man to be loose bellied and
sleepy withal, you may cause

Purgative Damosins that be good also to cause sleep.
You must bore thorough a bough, or through the whole stock of a Damosin-tree,
and fill it up with Scammony or the juice of black Poppy wrapt up handsomely in
paper, or some such covering: and when the fruit is ripe, it will be operative both
for sleep and purgation. Cato shews also, how you may cause

A Vine to be purgative.
After the Vintage, at such time as the earth is used to be rid away from the roots
of Vines, you must uncover the roots of so many Vines as in your opinion will
make wine enough to serve your turn: mark them, and lop them round about, and
prune them well. Then pown some Hellebore roots in a morter, and cast them
about your Vines, and put unto them some old rotten dung and old ashes, and
twice of much earth amongst them, and then cover the Vine-roots with mould,
and gather the grapes by themselves. If you would keep the juice of the grape
long that it may last you a great while for that purpose, you must take heed, that the
juice of no other grapes do come neer it. When you would use it, take a cup full
of it, and blend it with water, and drink it before supper, and it will work with
you very mildely without any danger at all. Late Writers have taken another course:
they rid and cleanse the Vine-roots, and then poure upon the juice of some purga∣tive
medicine to water them withal; and this they do for many dayes together, but
especially at such time as the bud beginneth to fill out: when they have so done,
they cast earth upon the roots again, and they take special regard, that the roots
never lie naked and open when the Northern winde bloweth; for that would draw
forth and consume the juice of the medicine that is poured upon the roots. This
if you diligently perform, you shall have grapes growing upon your Vines, that are
very operative for loosing of the belly. I have effected

The same by another means;
I pierced the Vine with a wimble, even unto the very marrow, and put into it cer∣tain
ointments fit for such an effect; (it will suffice, if you put them within the rine;)
and this I did in divers parts of the Vine, here and there about the whole body of
the Vine, and that about graffing time by Inoculation; for then the Vine is full of
moisture; whereby it cometh to pass, that the moisture it self ascending at that
time into the superior parts, doth carry up with it the vertue of the ointments, and
conveys it into the fruit, so that the fruit will be operative either for purgation or
for childe-bearing, either to hurt or help, either to kill or preserve, according as the
nature and quality of the ointment is, which was poured upon the roots of
the Vine.

CHAP. XXI.
How to plant Fruits and Vines, that they may yield greatest encrease.
THat we may conclude this whole book, with a notable and much desired ex∣periment,
we will now shew in the last place, how we may receive a large en∣crease
Page 109

from the fruits, and pulse, and Vines which we have planted. A matter
surely that must needs be exceeding profitable, for a man to receive an hundred
bushels in usury as it were, for one bushel that he hath sowed. Which yet I would
not have to be so understood, as if a man should still expect to receive an hun∣dreth
for one, precisely or exactly so much; for sometimes the year, or the air and
weather, or else the ground, or else the plants may not perform their parts kindly;
and in this case, the encrease cannot be so great; (but yet it shall never be so little,
but that it shall be five times more then ordinary;) but if those things do perform
their parts kindly together, you shall receive sometimes for one bushel, an hun∣dred
and fifty by encrease. This may seem a paradox to some, and they will think
that we promise impossibilities; but surely if they would consider all things rightly,
they should rather think it a paradox, why half a bushel well sown or planted, should
not yield two hundred bushels encrease, seeing that one grain or kernel that is
planted and takes kindly, doth oft-times spread his root, as we see, and fructifie in∣to
sundry and many stems, sometimes into fifteen, and in the ear of every one of
those stalks, are contained sometimes threescore grains? I spare to mention here
the ground that lies in Byzatium in Africa, whereof Pliny speaks, which, for one
grain that was planted in it, did yield very neer four hundred stalks, and the Gover∣nour
of that Country sent unto Nero three hundred and fourty stems growing out of
one grain. But let us search out the cause whereby this comes to pass. Some think
that the encrease commonly falls out to be so little, because the greater part of the
fruit which is cast into the ground, is eaten up of worms, or birds, or moles, and
of other creatures that live in the earth. But this appears to be false, because one
bushel of Pulse being planted, never yields above fifteen. Now the Pulse or Lu∣pines,
is of it self so bitter, that none of those devouring creatures will taste of it,
but let it lie safe and untouched: and when they are grown up, you shall common∣ly
finde about an hundred grains in the cods of every stalk. Others referre the
cause hereof unto the weather, as if the fruit were annoyed with over much cold,
or heat, or rain, so that the fields are sometimes frozen with cold, and sometimes
parched with heat, whereby they are sometimes more fruitful, and sometimes more
barren. But this cannot be the true reason, because that though the weather be
never so kindly, ye that cannot make one encrease into thirty. But not to wan∣der
or range any further about, we must know that all grains that grow within
the ear or the husk, are not prolifical, that is, they are not all fit to yield encrease;
for God hath appointed some of them for the food and sustenance of living crea∣tures,
and others for seed. There are some grains in an ear, which are as it were
abortives, such as degenerate from their natural kind, and will not fructifie at all,
but rot and waste away into putrefaction. There are other grains in an ear, such
as are easier to be stript out of their husk, which are fitter for propagation, and are
better enabled by nature thereunto. Besides that, sometimes it falls out, that seeds
or grains are not planted in due season; or if they be, yet sometimes the Husband∣man
doth not bestow that due labour and industry in looking unto them, which the
kind of the fruit requires. Wherefore if we can meet with all these impedi∣ments,
we may procure encrease according to our hearts desire. For the seeds will
be larger in the roots, and when they have spread their roots under the earth of a
good length, then will they send up a greater number of stems, and bring forth
good store of ears. Therefore you must make choice of your seeds or grains, not
of the forwardest, nor yet of the backwardest, because they commonly are
weakest, but of the middle sort: then wash them and cleanse them from all o∣ther
seeds; and besmear them with fat ointments, and with the grease of old
Goats; and let them be continually supplied with sufficient heat, and sufficient
moisture; then lay them in soft and warm mould carefully manured; for the live∣lier
that the heat of the mould is, the better will the seeds close with it,
and become more eager to propagation, and emorace it more sweetly, as the
male would do by this female. So shall your your seeds be more enlived, and
bring forth a more legitimate and a larger encrease. Let them be planted in
Page 110

the full of the Moon or thereabout; for the larger the Moon is, the more bounti∣ful
encrease she will procure. Concerning the Vine, you must see that her leaves be
not wanting, if you would have good store of Wine; for, if the leaves be away,
the Vine hath little heart to bear; and besides, she should be without an issue for
her superfluities, which commonly the leaves do receive into themselves: onely
you must pare off those twisted curles that are wont to grow upon it; for so, her
pride being taken away from her, the juice will be more delightful, and more
pleasant.

Page 111
THE FOURTH BOOK OF Natural Magick: Which teacheth things belonging to House-keeping; how to prepare domestical necessaries with a small cost; and how to keep them when they are procured.
The PROEME.
FRom Animals and Plants, we are come to Houshold-affairs; there we provided di∣verstty
of new fruits fit for our use: now we shall seem to have sowed nothing, and produ∣ced
nothing, unless we shew how, & what we sowed and produced at great charge and pains,
may be preserved against the cold, and injuries of the outward air, that they may come
forth in their seasons. It were the part of a wicked and slothful man carelessly to let that
dye and come to nothing, which he had provided with so much care and pains: wherefore as
you were witty to produce them, you must be as diligent to preserve them. And the Hus∣band-man
that stores up fruit, shall have good provision for the Winter. For saith Marcus
Varro, they serve for several meats, and no man stores them up but to produce them when he
hath need of them, to defend, or use, or sell them. I shall first set down the inventions of
our Ancestors, who were very diligent herein, for they found sundry things by divers
means, and faithfully delivered the knowledge of them to posterity. Then I shall relate what
I know to be true, intermixing some of my own inventions, and such as I think to be of
greatest concernment, and that I have often tried. I shall besides add some considerations of
bread, wine, and oyle, and such as are of great profit for the Husband-man to provide for
his family with the lesser cost, alwayes setting down the natural causes; that they being per∣fectly
known, a man may easily invent and make them. But to proceed to the work.

CHAP. I.
How Fruits may be long preserved upon their Trees.
WE will begin with Fruits: And whereas fruits and flowers both
may be preserved either upon their own mother Tree which
bear them, or else being pluckt off from it, we will first shew,
how fruits may be preserved upon their own Tree, and first
rehearse those things which the Ancients have set down con∣cerning
this matter, and next, what we our selves have
found out by our own experience. Our Ancestors, when
they would have fruit to last long upon the Tree, were wont
first of all to bind them to the stock or to the boughs, lest any tempest should strike
them off, or toss them up and down. Besides, they did intercept that juice from
them, which should ripen them: for there are some kinds of fruits, which, as soon
as ever they be ripe, will stay no longer upon the Tree, but fall down of them∣selves,
though they are not so much as shaken: other fruits there are that will stick
longer and faster to their hold. Besides, they were wont to cover them with cer∣tain
cases or shells as it were; thereby guarding them from the injuries of the wea∣ther,
both hot and cold, and also from the mouths of devouring birds. Where∣fore
to make
Page 112

Pomegranates hang long upon their Trees;
Some have wreathed and platted about the fruit the smaller boughs that grow hard
by, that the rain may not come forcibly upon it to break it or chop it, for if it be
once bruised, or that it do but gape and have any chops in it, it will soon perish: and
when they have so done, they tye them fast to the stronger boughs, that they may
not be shaken; and then they bind the Tree about with a kind of broom withes,
that the Daws, or Crows, or other birds may not come at the fruit to gnaw it.
Some do frame earthen cases fit for the fruit, and cover the same with strawie mor∣ter,
and let the fruit hang still upon the Tree in them. Others do wrap up every
one of the Pomegranates in hay or holm, and then daube it thick over with mor∣ter
which hath chopt straw in it, and so fasten them to the stronger boughes, that
the winde may not shake them. But all these practises must be used when the wea∣ther
is fair, and there is neither rain nor dew stirring, as Columella teacheth. But
Beritius useth this means to make them stay long on their Tree. He takes the blos∣soms
of the Tree when they begin to wither, and wraps in them every Pomegra∣nate
by it self, and then binds them about with bonds; thereby preventing their
putrefaction, and their chawns and chops which otherwise would be in them. O∣thers
put them in earthen pots every one by it self, and cover them well, and settle
them fast, that they may not be broken by knocking against the stock or arms of
the Tree, not by hitting one against the other: for by this means you shall have
them alwayes better grown then by any other. Varro saith, that if you take Pome∣granates
before they be ripe, as they stick upon their stalks, and put them into a
bottomless pot, and cover them, boughs and all, in the ground, so that no winde
may come at them, you shall not only finde them whole when you take them out,
but they will be greater also then if they had hung still upon the Tree. Palla∣dius
shews,

Citrons may be preserved upon the Tree;
even by shutting them up in certain earthen vessels fit for such a purpose▪ for so you
may keep them upon their Tree almost all the year long. If you would have

Grapes hang upon the Vine, fresh and good, even till the Spring of the year,
Beritius prescribes you this course. You must dig a pit in a very shadowy place neer
to the Vines, about a yard deep, and fill it up with sand, and set up some props
in it: then you must loosen the joints of the Vine-branches, and winde them in to∣gether
with the clusters of grapes to be tied to the props, and then cover them,
that no water may come at them. You must take heed also that the grapes do not
touch the ground. A thing which I have oft-times put in practise, but it fell not
out to my expectation: for still the grapes were half rotten, and their colour quite
faded. Columella saith, There is no surer way then to prepare certain earthen vessels
which may hold each of them a cluster of grapes, so that they may have scope e∣nough;
and they must have every one four handles, whereby they may be tied to
the Vine, and their lids or coverings must be so framed that the middle may be the
place of closing, where both sides of the cover may fall close together when the clu∣sters
are in, and so meeting may hide the grapes. But you must see that both the
vessels themselves, and also their coverings be well pitched both within and with∣out;
for the pitch will do good service herein. When you have thus covered and
shut up your grapes, then you must lay good store •f morter with straw chopt in it
upon the vessels. But in any case, look that the grapes be so placed in the vessels,
that they touch no part thereof. Tarentinus gives this counsel. The clusters that
first grow, you must pluck off, and then others will come up in their steads, if you
look carefully to the Vine: now these later clusters will be very backward and long
ere they be ripe: take some earthen vessels, and let them be somewhat open be∣low▪
put into them your later clusters, and let the upper part of them be very close
covered, and then bind your vessels fast unto the Vine, that so the wind may not
shake them. Palladius saith; If you be desirous to keep grapes upon the Vine till
Page 113

the Spring-time, you must take this course. Neer unto a Vine that is laden with
grapes, you must make a ditch about three foot deep and two foot broad in a very
shadowy place; and when you have cast sand into it, stick up certain props, and
winde the bunches daily towards them, and when you have wrought them to stand
that way, bind them to your props without hurting the grapes, and then cover them
to keep them from the rain. The Graecians likewise counsel you to shut up your
grapes into certain earthen vessels which are somewhat open beneath, but very
close and fast shut above, and so you may preserve them long upon the Tree.
If you would preserve

Grapes upon the Vine till new come again, so that upon one and the same Vine-branch, may be seen old and new grapes both together,
you may effect it by this device, which I my self have used: for, all the former
experiments are the inventions of Antiquity, and, because there is great difficul∣ty
in working them, and small profit when they are wrought, therefore I esteem
them as toyes and matters of little worth. But this I have experienced my self, and
preserved good grapes upon a Vine until May and June, and so have seen both new
grapes, and grapes also of the former year together upon one and the same
branch. When Vintage time is past, you must take the tops and pliant twigs of such
Vines as grow by the house side, and winde them in at the window into the house,
and binde them fast to the summers or beams with the sprigs of Broom, as with
strings or thongs, that they may be surely stayed from wagging up and down: but
you must let them in handsomely that the windows may be opened and shut con∣veniently.
By this means you shall keep them safe from the injury both of the
cold weather, and also of the devouting birds. When there is any frosts or winds
abroad, keep the windows close shut, and open them again when the air is waxed
any thing calm and warm; and so deal by them till the Spring come. And when the
Vine begins to bear new buds and new leaves, then let your twigs out of prison,
and bring them back again into the open air, and there let them take the comfort
of the warm Sun. So shall there grow new grapes upon the same twigs where the
old grapes are. I have also effected the same

By another means.
Because it was a great trouble, and a very irksome piece of work, to take that course
every year, I have thought of another device whereby the same effect may be at∣tained
both more prettily and miraculously. About the time wherein they are
wont to prune Vines, make choice of two special branches upon the Vine, such as
are most likely to bear fruit. Cut off the tops of either of them, but leave the
branches still growing upon the Vine, and leave two or three buds upon either
branch. Then take a vessel made of chalk or white clay, and let there be a hole bored
quite thorough the bottom of it, and so place it, that it may stand fit for the
branches to be drawn thorough it, so that they may stand a little out above the
brims thereof. When your branches are so seated, then fill up the vessel with earth;
and, that you may work more surely and speedily too, you must set over your ear∣then
vessel another vessel full of water, all the Summer long, which must be stopt
toward the bottom with a clout somewhat loosely, that the clouts end hanging
down into the earthen vessel, may bedew the earth that is in it continually by little
and little; so shall your sprigs or branches bring forth both fruit and leaves, and
moreover shall take root within the vessel that will shoot out into new twigs. Af∣ter
Vintage-time, cut off the branches from the Vine a little beneath the earthen
vessel, and so carry them into a close house that is situate in a dry place where no
tempests can come at it, as in Wine-cellars, or such like: Let the windows be net∣ted
over, that the birds may not come at them: In the Winter-time, if there
come any fair dayes, bring them forth into the Sun: and, when the weather is ex∣tream
cold, keep them in so much the closer and warmer rooms. If you preserve
them thus until August, you shall have old and new grapes both together upon o•e
branch, and each of them will be quick and well-coloured.

Page 114
CHAP. II.
How Flowers may be preserved upon their own stalk.
By the like devices as those were, we may also preserve flowers upon their own
stalk; yet not so easily as fruits may be preserved upon their own Trees: Nei∣ther
yet can they be made to last so long as fruits, because fruits are of an harder
substance, but flowers are soft and tender. First therefore we will shew

How Roses may be preserved upon their own stalks.
If you take a Reed or Cane, and cleave it when it is green as it grows by the Roses,
and put in the Rose-bud as it is upon the stalk, within the Reed, and then binde
some paper about the Reed somewhat loosely, that it may have as it were a breath∣ing
place; your Roses will thereby be well preserved upon their stalk, as Dydimus
reporteth. Palladius saith; If you shut up your Rose-buds as they grow upon their
stalk, into a growing Reed which you have cleft for that purpose, and close up the
Reed again, that the cleft do not gape, you shall have fresh Roses when you will, if
you open your Reed again. I have tried this device, and found it in some sort to be
true, and answerable to my intendment: I took the Rose-buds before they were
blown, and shut them up into a Reed (for the Roses and the Reeds must be planted
neer together) and the cleft which I had made in the Reed, being but slender, I
bound it up again that it might not stand gaping, (onely I left a fit passage for the
Rose stalk to stand in) and so I preserved them a great while. The like device
I used

To preserve Lillies upon their stalks for a long time.
I cleft the Cane betwixt the joints, and put the Lillies into it as they grow upon
their stalk before they were blown, and so the joint of the Cane closing upon them
beneath, and the cleft above being stopt with wax, the Lillies were thereby long
preserved upon their stalk. The very same experiment I practised upon Clove-gil∣liflowers,
and so I had them growing upon their stalk a great while: And whensoever
I would use them, I brake up their cases wherein they were preserved, and so by the
comfort and force of the Sun, they were blown and opened themselves.

CHAP. III.
How to make Fruit safes, or places wherein fruits may conveniently be preserved.
NOw we will shew how you may preserve fruits when they are taken off from
the Trees whereon they grow. Wherein because our chiefest care and labour
is, to keep them from putrefaction, therefore, that we may so do, we must first know
the causes of their putrefaction. The Philosophers hold, that the temperature of the
air being of it self exceeding variable by reason of the variety of celestial in∣fluences
which work upon it, is also of that force, that it causeth every thing
which it cometh at, even whatsoever is contained under the cope of the Moon, to
hasten towards an end, and by little and little to decay continually. For the air
which is apt to search every thing when it lights upon any fruit, finds in it a certain
natural heat somewhat like to its own heat; and presently closes with it, and enti∣ces
as it were the heat of the fruit to come into the air: and the fruit it self, ha∣ving
a natural coldness as well as heat, is very well content to entertain the heat
of the circumstant air, which exhausteth the own heat of the fruit, and de∣voureth
the moisture of it, and so the fruit shrinks, and withereth, and consumes
away. But man is not of such a dull sense, and of such a blockish wit,
but that he can tell how to prevent these inconveniences, and to devise sun∣dry
kinds of means, whereby the soundnesse of Fruits may be maintained
against the harms and dangers both of cold, and of heat. And first we will
Page 115

speak of Fruit-safes, or artificial places, whereby the danger of heat may be avoi∣ded.
Then we will shew that there is especial choice to be made of times, wherein
heat shall be of small force. And then we will prescribe the manner of gathering
fruits, lest happily they might be bruised with handling or falling, which if they
should, it would be their bane, and the beginning of their putrefaction. And last
of all, we will teach you how to lay them up in divers and sundry places, where∣by
you may prevent the heat and moisture of the air, from doing them any harm.
First therefore, that we may prepare cold and dry places, wherein we may lay up
such fruits as we would have to last long, and so to keep away the extrinsecal heat
and moisture, we must understand that there are places, some general, and some
particular. We will speak of some peculiar places of the world, which are excel∣lent
good to preserve fruits in. Theophrastus saith, that some fruits will last the lon∣ger,
because they are laid up in some certain places. Wherefore, in a certain place
of Cappadocia, which is called Petra, fruits may be preserved fourty years, and
yet they are all that time fertile, and very fit to be sown: nay, saith he, if they be
kept threescore years, or threescore and ten, they will still be very good for meat to
be eaten, though not so good for seed to be sown. The place he reports to be a high
place, and open for the winds, and to stand lower towards the North then to the
other three quarters of the world. It is reported likewise, that fruits are preserved
in Media, and other high Countries, longer and better then in other places. But
these are the properties of some peculiar places onely. But generally for all
Fruit-safes, it is the judgement and counsel of all the best and learnest Husband-men,
that they must be so situate, that they may have windows towards the North,
which must lye open in the Spring-time, and every fair day, that the Northern
wind may blow into them. But in any case there must no windows be made to∣wards
the South, because the Southern winde will make your fruit full of wrinkles.
Let us see therefore

What places are fittest to lay up Quinces in.
Marcus Varro saith, that they will be preserved well if they be laid up in some
place that is cold and dry. Columella also layes them up in a cold floor or loft where
there cometh no moisture. Palladius likewise would have them laid up in some cold
and dry place, where there cometh no winde. So if you would

preserve Apples well,
Columella teaches you to lay them up in a very cold and a very dry loft, where nei∣ther
smoak, nor any noisome savour can come at them. Palladius would have them
laid up in some close and dark places, where the winde cannot come at them. And
Pliny would have them laid very thin one by another, that so the air may come e∣qually
at every side of them. So

Pomegranates may be preserved,
as Columella reporteth out of Mag• the Carthaginian, if first you warm them in Sea-water,
and then besmear them with some chalk, and when they be dry, hang them
up in some cold place. And Palladius out of Columella, prescribes the very same
course. In like manner you may

Preserve the fruit called Ziziphum,
if you hang them up in a dry place, as the same Author is of opinion. If you
would have

Figs to last a great whole,
Columella teacheth you, that as soon as they be thoroughly dry, you must lay them up
in a very dry room, and thereby you shall preserve them for a long time. So

Damosins may be long preserved,
Page 116

If you lay them upon hurdles or grates in some dry place, where the Sun may come
at them. Palladius shews, that

Chest-nuts may be long preserved,
if they be raked up in the earth, where they may lie dry. And I my self have seen in
Barry;

Almonds preserved sound a great while,
three years or four years together, shells and all, being laid up in a dry place. If you
would have

Wheat long preserved;
Varro saith, that you must lay it up in high Garners which have a thorough air on
the East-side and on the North-side: But in any case there must no moist air come
at them from any waterish places thereabouts. Some have their Garners under the
ground, as Caves, as it is in Cappadocia and Thracia; others have their Garners in
pits and ditches, as it is in the neerer part of Spain: only they lay the chaffe under
it, and take special care that no moisture nor air may come at it, except it be when
they take it out to use some of it: for if the air be kept from it, the worm cannot
breed in it to devour it. By this means they keep their wheat good and sweet, fif∣ty
years; and they preserve their Millet above an hundred years, as Theophrastus re∣cordeth.
If you lay up your wheat with any dust in it, it will putrifie: for the ex∣trinsecal
heat of the dust, doth as it were lay siege to the natural heat of the grain,
and so choaks it up, because it hath not as it were a breathing place; and by this
means it is over-heated, and so putrifies. Florentinus reporteth out of Varro, that
Corn may be very well preserved above ground, if it be laid up in such places, as
have the Eastern light shining into them: they must also be so situate that the Nor∣thern
and the Western winds may come at them moderately; but they must be
safe from all Southerly winds: and you must make in them a great many of channels,
whereby both the warm vapours may have issue forth, and also the cooling air may
have access in. The best way whereby you may

Preserve Beans.
is, to parch them reasonably well; for so there will be less store of moisture in them,
which will cause them to last the longer. Theophrastus writes, that in Apollonia and
〈◊〉, they preserve Beans long without any parching at all. Pliny makes men∣tion
of certain Beans that were laid up in a certain Cave in Ambracia, which la∣sted
from the time of King Pyrrhus, until the war which P••pey the great wage•
against the Pirates. The same Theophrastus writes also, that

Pease may be long preserved,
if you lay them up in high places where the wind hath his full force, as in Media
and the like Countries: but the Bean will be kept there much longer, So
also the

Pulse called Lupines, may be long preserved,
if you lay them up in a loft where the smoak may come at them, as Columella wri∣teth:
for if any moisture do settle upon them, presently the worm breeds in them;
and if once the worm have eaten •ut the navel as it were of the Pulse, that which
is in them like a little mouth, then cannot the other part which is left, be over fit
for seed. Palladius likewise saith, that this kind of Pulse will last very long, if it be
laid up in dry Garners, where no moisture can come at it; especially if it may be
continually perfumed as it were with smoak. But now let us shew how to do that
which is the most difficult thing of all in this kind, namely,

How to preserve flesh and fish,
I have seen flesh and fish preserved from putrefaction, for a whole moneth toge∣ther
Page 117

in very cold place, without any other art at all besides the coldness of the
place. In rooms that are made under the ground, and very cold, where there com∣eth
neither heat nor any Southerly winde, but that they are continually cold and
dry, almost every thing may be preserved without putrefaction. In a certain mo∣nastery
that is upon the Hill Parthenius, neer unto Naples, I saw the carcases of
men kept whole and sound for many years together. The Hill is covered over with
snow almost continually: and in the tops of the Mountains, where the snow lies
in ditches and pits, conveyed thither of purpose to keep it, look what Pears, and
Cervices, and Apples, and wilde Chest-nuts have been gathered up by chance toge∣ther
with the snow, and put into the same pits; after the space of a year that the
snow was consumed away, we have there found the same fruits, so moist, and fresh,
and goodly to the eye, as if they had been but then pluckt off from their Trees.
To conclude, there is nothing better and more available for the preservation of
any thing, then is the dryness and the coldness of such places as they are laid up
in, to be kept.

CHAP. IV.
What special time there must be chosen for the gathering of such fruits, as you mean to lay up in store for a great while after.
THe principal matter which I would have to be observed in this case, is the choo∣sing
of your time wherein to gather all such fruits as you would lay up in store,
that they might last long. For if we desire to defeat that heat and moisture which
will mar our fruit, and cause it to putrifie, we cannot take any better course against
them, then by making choice of such a time to gather our fruits in, as when those
planets and stars, which are the principal Authors of that heat & moisture, are them∣selves
become cold and dry, or at the least not hot and moist in any high degree.
The Moon when she is in the waining, is cold and dry: If there be any fruits ga∣thered
when the Moon aboundeth with heat and moisture, the very same qualities
will also the fruit abound withal, and so they will very soon be putrified, as every
man of any wit will easily judge: and therefore all those that have written of Hus∣bandry,
with one consent do give it for a precept, that fruits are to be gathered in
the decaying of the Moon. Moreover, the night and the day, the morning and the
evening, do bestow their moisture and their dryness upon fruits, accordingly as they
themselves are either moist or dry. The day, by reason of the presence of the Sun,
is hot and dry. The night, by reason of the absence of the Sun, is cold and moist:
The evening, by reason that it hath a little of the Sun, is partly warm; and yet
withal by reason of the approaching night, is partly moist: The morning, is partly
cold, by reason of the tail of the night; and partly warm, by reason of the Sun
approaching: So then, let two or three hours of the day be spent, and then the
time will be somewhat dry, because it hath begun to be a little acquainted with the
Sun; and withal somewhat cold, because it hath not yet quite forgotten and shaked
off the night; and this is in all mens judgement the best and the fittest time wherein
to gather fruits. But least we should make the matter too hard and difficult, by gi∣ving
such Astrological precepts, we will frame our selves to the plainest, and yet a
very exact rule; namely, that the situation and aspect of the Planets is to be regar∣ded,
whereby the air becometh colder and dryer then at other times, and so con∣sequently
the fruit may last the longer. And, because we will not be too tedious,
we will spare to alledge authorities and experiments which might be brought for the
proof hereof, seeing all living creatures that are gendred in the full of the Moon,
or somewhat before, do grow much more then they that are gendred when she is in
the waining. But let us come to examples. If you would know

The time, wherein Citrons are to be gathered,
Palladius teaches you in his book of the preserving of Citrons. If you would ga∣ther
Citrons to keep, saith he, you must pluck them with their boughs and leaves from
Page 118

the Tree in the night time, when there is no Moon-light stirring. Pontanus a Coun∣try-man
of ours hath elegantly set down this matter. If you desire, saith he, to keep
Citrons long without any harm or loss of their vigor, you must take this course: Pluck
off the fruit together with the branches & leaves as they were upon the Tree, in the
night time when the Moon shines not at all: Then hang them up upon some hook or
tack in some dark and close place; see that you touch them but very softly, and let
not any winde come at them; or else lay them up amongst chaffe and cry straw;
So shall you keep the fruit sound and good, and the leaves also green for a great
while together. There is also

An appointed time wherein Quince-pears are to be gathered.
I have found no better or surer way to preserve Quince-pears, saith Columella, then
by gathering them that were very ripe and sound, and without any blemish, at
such time as the air was temperate, and the Moon in the waining. Likewise the
same Author prescrbing unto us

A time wherein Apples are to be gathered that they may last the longer,
biddeth us to do thus. About August, choose, saith he, the sweetest Apples, such
as be not over ripe, and they will be kept long. Pliny counselleth us to gather them
after the Aequinoctial in Autumne, but never before the Moon be fifteen dayes old,
nor yet before one of the clock. And Palladius shews,

What time Pears are to be gathered in, that they may last long.
In a calm day, when the Moon is in the waining, and that also toward the latter
end, betwixt the two and twenty and eight and twenty day of the Moon, you
must take them off the Tree with your hand, at such time of the day as the Sun is
in some strength of heat, that is, either betwixt seven and ten in the morning, or
else betwixt two and five of the clock in the after-noon: and the Pears which
you so gather, must be somewhat hard and green. Pamphilus an Husband-man
prescribes

A certain time wherein to gather Cherries, that they may last long,
Cherries are a kinde of fruit that will soon wither; and yet if you gather them be∣fore
the rising of the Sun, and so lay them up, they will be fresh and good a great
while. Palladius prescribes

A certain time wherein to gather Medlars, that they may last long.
They are to be gathered, saith he, in a fair day about Noon-tide; and they must
not be thorough ripe. Columella saith, that

The time wherein you gather Pomegranates to be laid up and preserved,
must be a fair day when the air is temperate. Pliny would have you to let them be
well dryed in the Sun, that there be none of the nights dew left upon them. Di∣dymus
chooseth

A certain time wherein Grapes are to be gathered, that they may last long.
If you would lay up Grapes that they may last all the Winter long, you must, saith
he, gather them after the full of the Moon, when the air is clear and calm, about
four of the clock after-noon, when all the dew is quite dryed off from them: you
must gather them when they be at the best, even in their full strength, so that
they be neither raw, nor yet past their ripest strength. Authors likewise do
prescribe

A certain time wherein Corn is to be gathered and laid up.
When you have reaped your Wheat or Barley, you must let it lye abroad in the
field one or two dayes, or at the least one wh•le night, and carry it away before
the rising of the Sun, that so it may be throughly cold when it is laid into the bar••
Page 119

for it is that which will cause the Corn to last much the longer. Columella shews,
and he teaches it of his own experience

What time Beans are to be gathered, and layed up to be long preserved,
You must fell your Beans, saith he, when the Moon is in the very last of her last
quarter, and you must fell them before Day-light; then, when they are waxed dry
upon the floor, presently you must thresh them out before the Moon is renewed;
and when you have laid them on cooling, then carry them into your Garner to be
laid up: for if you deal thus with them, you shall be sure to preserve them from
the worms, which otherwise will breed in them. The very same experiment doth
Palladius record out of the very same Author. Likewise

Garden Pease may be preserved for a whole year;
if you lay them on drying in the Sun, and when you have fetched out all their moi∣sture,
take them out of their shells, and lay them up: for by this means shall you
preserve them from putrefaction.

CHAP. V.
Of the manner how to gather fruits; as also how to help and dresse the stalk that grows into them, whereby we may prevent the first original, and the occasion of their putre∣faction.
WHereas our Ancestors did perceive that the first beginning of putrefaction in
fruits did arise from the little stalk that grows into them, or from that part of
the fruit where the stalk is entertained into it; (for it is requisite, that the begin∣ning
of the spoil, and destruction of them should arise in the very same part, where∣in
they began first to live and receive their nourishment) they have therefore de∣vised
sundry means whereby to prevent all such mischief and harm, as the stalk
might bring upon the fruit, Moreover, fruits are very carefully to be gathered,
especially those which we would lay up for store, that they be not knockt and hit one
against the other; for the hitting of them together will cause their putrefaction.
Besides, we must see that they be in their best estate when we gather them, that they
be not perfectly ripe; for as they must not be altogether sharp and green when they
are gathered, so neither must they be come to their full ripenesse. Furthermore, the
fruits that you would lay up, you must take a diligent view of them, and see that
they be sound, without any bruise, or speckednesse, or worm in them. But let
come to examples. And first

How we must gather Apples, and how we must dress their stalks.
Columella would have such Apples to be preserved, which have a good relish, and are
gathered when they are reasonable ripe: and he would have them to be so disposed
and placed when they are laid up, that the blossome-end should stand upward, and
the stalk-end downward, even so as they grow upon the Tree: but they must not
be laid to touch one another: neither must they be thoroughly ripe when they are
gathered, but somewhat sharp and sowre. Besides, you must see that every several
kind of Apples must be laid up in a several room or cell by themselves: for when sun∣dry
kinds are laid together in one cell, there will be a disagreement amongst them,
and so they will the sooner putrifie. Experience whereof we have in wine; which
if it be made of sundry kinds of grapes, it will not be so durable, as when it is made
onely of one kinde. Palladius saith, If you keep Apples in store, you must gather
them very charily, that they be taken off from the Tree without any blemish; and
you must drench their stalks in scalding pitch, and so place them upon a boarded
loft, with the stalk-end downward; and you must take heed that you do not
touch them, nor meddle with them till we take them out as being fit for our use.
Pliny likewise sheweth, that Apples must be placed upon their stalk-ends. Apuleius
the Greek counselleth us to gather our Apples when they are in their full strength;
Page 120

and we must take special regard, that they be gathered by hand without any bruise;
and then laid up in such sort that they may not touch one another: but in any case
they must be sound, and not thoroughly ripe. He saith moreover, that if you be∣smear
the tops of the Apples with the juice of green Rag-wort, it will preserve
them from putrefaction. If you would have

Citrons to last long,
Palladius counselleth you to gather them with their boughs which they grow upon,
and lay them up in several, as we shewed before out of Pontanus. Columella
shews

How Pears must be gathered that they may endure long;
namely, if you gather them before they be thoroughly ripe: and Palladius saith,
that they must be gathered charily by hand, that they may not be bruised; and you
must diligently cull out from them, all such as have fallen from the Tree, and lay
up none but those that are very sound, and somewhat hard and green, and such as
are gathered with their stalks upon them. Democritus saith that those Pears will
keep best, which are besmeared with pitch about the stalk, and so hung up. We will
also shew the manner how to gather▪

Cervices, that they may last.
Marcus Varro saith that Cervises are to be gathered even while they are very sowre,
and so to be hung up, that they may ripen but slowly, and that also within doors:
for if you lay them up when they are grown to some ripenesse, they will not last so
long. Theophrastus by this means procured Cervices to defer their ripening even
until Winter. Columella saith, they must be charily gathered with your hand. Pliny
saith, they must be hanged up as they are upon their boughs. Palladius saith, they
must be gathered when they are hard, and so hanged up together with their stalks
in some close and dark place. So

Figs are to be laid up as they are upon their boughs,
as Africanus teaches; but, saith he, they must be gathered before they be ripe: for
when once they are come to be ripe, they will hang no longer upon their Tree, as
other fruits do, but fall off presently. They are also to be gathered and laid up
with their stalk or their navel upon them, that is, the part which they hold by, and
depend upon their mother: for if they be so gathered, they will last the longer
sound and good. Palladius also would have them to be gathered while they be
green and unripe, and that with their stalks upon them, and so to be laid up. Cato
saith, that the boughs of the Fig-tree whereon the figs grow, are to be preserved to∣gether
with their fruit; and those figs that you would keep, must be gathered some∣what
green and sowre. Columella saith, that Figs, if we would keep them long, must
be gathered, neither when they are very ripe, nor yet when they are too green. Pal∣ladius
saith, that if you would have

Peaches well kept,
you must fill up the navel of the Peach, that is, that part of the Peach whereby it
closeth with the stalk, with one drop of scalding pitch. I for my part have pre∣served

Damosins a great while together,
by hanging them up with their stalks, upon the rafters of an house; but there is none
so good to be kept, as those that are of a purple colour. Palladius would have them
to be gathered while they are unripe, yet he would not have them too raw; but in
any case they must be very sound, and without any worm, or bruise, or any other
blemish. So also the fruit called

Ziziphum may be preserved,
Page 121

if it be gathered with the boughs that it grows upon, and folded or wrapt up in his
own leaves, and so hung upon the beams of an house, as Palladius sheweth. So

Medlars may be kept long,
if you gather them when they are but half-ripe, and hang them up with their boughs
in some house. Beritius shews,

How Pomegranates are to be gathered and laid up to last.
You must gather them, saith he, with a very chary hand, lest if you touch them
somewhat roughly, they should be hurt or bruised; and that would be an occasion
of their putrefaction. Columella saith, that Pomegranates are to be gathered with
their stalks, and the stalks to be put into an Elder-tree; because the Elder-tree is
so full of pith, that it may easily entertain the Pomegranate stalks. The same Au∣thor
reports out of Mago the Carthaginian, that all fruits, which you would lay
up in store, must be gathered with their stalks upon them; yea, and if it may be
without the spoil or hurt of the Tree, they must be gathered with their boughs
too; for this will be very helpful to cause the fruit to last the longer. Palladius
saith, that Pomegranates may be preserved best, if you gather them sound, and lay
pitch upon their stalks, and hang them up in due order: nay, they will keep so
much the better, the longer the boughs are, which are pluckt off from the Tree
with them. Pliny saith, that they are to be gathered with their boughs, and the
boughs to be stuck into the Elder pith, and so to be preserved. Cato shews, how
we may preserve

Myrtle twigs with their berries upon them.
They must be taken from the Tree when the berries are somewhat sowre, and so
bound up with their leaves about them. Didymus hath taught us, how we must
gather

Grapes that they may last long.
We must take special heed that every grape be perfect and sound; and for this cause
we must have a very sharp knife or hook, to cut of those grapes that are unsound
easily and without any stroke, even with one touch as it were. When you gather
your grapes, they must be in their full strength, neither too raw, nor yet past their
best liveliness. Some cut off the branches together with the clusters; and when
they have so done, they espy out all the grapes that are either putrified, or dryed
away, or unripe, and pluck them off with a pair of nippers, lest they should infect
their fellows; and after this, they take the branches whereon the cluters grow,
and that end which was cut, they dip into scalding pitch, every one by it self. O∣thers
hold, that grapes must be hanged up in some high roof, where the air may
have full scope at them; but the grapes must be none of those which grow toward
the tops of the branches, but they must be the lower clusters. Palladius saith; If
we would have grapes to last, we must see that we gather such as are without ble∣mish;
they must not be too harsh and sowre, neither must they be over-ripe, but it
must be a very clear grape to the eye, and somewhat soft to be felt, and yet it must
have a reasonable tough skin. If there be any amongst them that is bruised, or hath
any other blemish, we must cut it way; neither must we suffer amongst them any
one that is over hard, which the Sun hath not in some sort overcome with his heat:
After all this, we must drench the cut ends of the stalks in scalding pitch, and so
hang them up.

Page 122
CHAP. VI.
In what grounds those fruits should grow and be gathered, which we would lay up.
WE must not omit to speak of another necessary observation in this matter;
namely, in what ground, in what air, under what Climate, it is best that
those fruits, which we should lay up, should grow and be gathered. Whatsoever
fruits do grow i• moist and waterish, in hollow and low grounds; as also those
which grow in such grounds as are much soiled and manured with fat muck; they
are much subject to putrefaction; for, in as much as they grow with great store of
moisture and heat in them, they have the occasion and original of their own bane
within their own bosome. But in wilde fruits, and such as grow upon the tops of
mountains, in dry grounds, and such as are not manured at all, and such as the
Southern heat doth continually beat upon, it falleth out clean otherwise: for the
fruits that grow in such places, are for the most part, dry, and very solide, not aboun∣ding
either with heat or moisture. Hesiodus in his book of Husbandry, never
makes any mention of muck or soiling, and questionless, he would never have o∣mitted
such a necessary part of Husbandry as this is, but that he saw the inconveni∣ence
of it in this respect, that it makes the fruit more subject to putrefaction, and
many infirmities. Fruits that grow in wilde and stony grounds, where the winde
hath his full force, will preserve themselves without any skill and device practised
upon them: wherefore, if other sleights be added, which are helpful to their pre∣servation,
they will surely last much the longer. But let us see whether Antiquity
hath made any mention of this matter; and first let us hearken to Theophrastus,
who shews

In what ground there grow the best Dates or Palms to be preserved for store.
If you preserve and lay up any Dates or Palms, saith he, you must make choice of
those which grow in sandy grounds, as in that Country which is called Syria cava:
and there are in all that Country but three sandy places where they do grow, and
these are excellent good to be preserved; those which grow in other places, are
not durable, but presently wax rotten. Of all those Palms which Syria yeelds, it
is held by some, that none are good to last, but those only which grow in the Palme-valley,
a place so called there. But those which grow in Aegypt, and Cyprus, and
elsewhere, they are all very soon putrified. And Pliny reports out of the same Au∣thor,
that those Palms which grow in salt and sandy grounds, as in Judaea, and Cy∣reni•n
Africa, may be preserved: but not those which grow in Cyprus, Aegypt,
Syria, and Seleucia of Assyria. The same Theophrastus speaking of Beans,
shews

In what ground there grow the best Beans to be preserved for store.
One Country, saith he, differs from another, and one Climate differs also from ano∣ther,
in respect of the fruits that grow in them, either to be good to lay up, or to
be subject to putrefaction. And therefore the Beans that grow in Apollonia which is
neer to the Ionian Sea, are not subject at all to any worms or rottennesse, so that they
are best of all other to be preserved. Likewise the Beans that grow about Cizicum
are very durable.

CHAP. VII.
How fruits must be shut up and kept close that the air come not at them.
WE have shewed before, that, if we would preserve fruit long, we must keep
away both heat and moisture from them; both which qualities are found in
Page 123

the air. Wherefore we will first set down the devices of Antiquity in this behalf;
and then our own devices and experiments. And first

How to keep Apples close without putrifying.
We will begin with Aristotle, who saith, that fruits are to be kept in bottles full of
air, that so the extrinsecal air may be excluded; for thus he speaks in his Problems.
Whence cometh it, that the fruits of Trees, and flesh, and such like, do last with∣out
putrefaction, when they are shut up in bottles full of air, or in other vessels
that are well covered, and closed up on every side? It is because all things are
wont to be corrupted when they are stirred or removed, but when things are filled,
they stand unmoveable? for it cannot be, that any thing should be moved, unless
there be some vacant space to be moved in: now those things which are so shut up,
are every way full, and therefore are preserved without corruption. As if he
should say; the air which is so enclosed, cannot so soon procure putrefaction, by
reason that it is not so subject to the daily alterations of the circumstant air. Or,
if the fruit could send forth their heat and moisture which is in them, yet it should
be kept in upon them by the fulness of the bottles. But let us see what the Ma∣sters
of Husbandry do teach concerning this matter. As for example

How to preserve Citrons close without putrifying.
Palladius doth thus preserve them from the air. He shuts up every Citron in a seve∣ral
vessel by it self, and plaisters them up, and sets them orderly in a fit place pre∣pared
for that purpose. Sotion saith, that the Pome-Citron must be very well plai∣stered
over with stampt morter, that so it may keep one whole year together, with∣out
any harm or blemish. So have others taught us the way

How to keep Apples shut up close.
Columella saith, that every several kind of Apples is to be placed in a several cell
by themselves; for when divers kinds are shut up in one and the same cell, they
will not agree so well together, but will soon putrifie: But when you have dis∣posed
of your Apples that they are set in good order, then shut up the lids of the
coffer or cell upon them; and plaister the lids over with lome, that hath straw
chopt in it, lest the air get in. Palladius would have every apple placed by it self
in a several earthen vessel, which must be pitched within, and plaistered over with
morter, or else they may be lapt up in clay, and so preserved. Pliny saith, that the
custom in his time was, to make choice of the goodliest apples, and to plaister
them over with morter or wax, that it may be like a crust upon them: but, saith
he, they must be fully ripe first; for otherwise they will grow and wax bigger, and
so break out of their houses. Others put every several Apple or Pear into a several
earthen vessel, and besmear the vessels all over with pitch, and then put the vessels
with the fruit in them, into a barrel or tub, and so preserve them. Apuleius was
wont to preserve them in an earthen pot laid all about on the inside with wax.
Some preserve them by lapping them up in Reits or Sea-weed, and so shutting them
up into earthen pitchers: but they must be every one wrapt up severally by it self,
and so laid, that they may not touch each other; and besides, the pitchers must be
very well and close covered. Columella prescribes this course whereby

Quinces are to be shut up, that they may last.
They must be wrapt up in Fig-leaves; and you must take some Potters white earth
and put in Wine-lees to it, to make morter of them, and with that morter be∣smear
the Quinces: then you must put them into some new vessels, and cover them
all over with some dry plaistering that they may not touch one another. Palla∣dius
puts them between two tile-sheards, and closes them up with Lome
round about; and then covers them over with dry plaistering, and so
Page 124

layes them up in a New pot or basen, that they may be kept asunder. Democritus
doth first cover them over with leaves, and then he makes morter of clay or of
some Potters chalk with hair chopt into it, wherewith he besmears the Quinces;
and when he hath dryed them in the Sun, he layes them up: and whensoever he
would use any of them, he breaks up their case, and there finds his Quinces in the
same taking as they were, when he put them in. But Pliny teacheth us very briefly,
that if we would keep Quinces long, we must shut them up so close, that no air
may come at them. By the like means, you may preserve

All things close exceeding well,
Mago, when he would preserve any fruit close, he covers them all over very careful∣ly
with Potters chalk, and then dries it in the Sun; and if there happen to be any
chap in the mould, he stoppeth it up with lome, and so when it is drie, layes it
up. Others take a new earthen pitcher, and strew it with the dust or shavings of
Poplar, or else of the Holm-tree; and then they place the fruit in it, in such sort
that there lies some of the dust betwixt every fruit: then they boord that space, and
make a floor over that stoary; and having so done, they strew the second stoary with
the like dust, and there also dispose of their fruit as in the other stoary: then they
boord that space too, and make a third stoary, and so a fourth, and so for∣ward
till the pitcher be filled up: and when it is full, they lay a covering upon it,
and plaister it over very carefully with thick lome. Others put their fruit into a bar∣rel,
but they place them in such order, that the one may not touch the other; and
then they close up the barrel again, as Palladius reporteth. Africanus teacheth a way
whereby

Figs may be shut up to be preserved long,
You must take a green Gourd, and make in it certain cells or hollow places of re∣ceipt,
for every several fig a several cell; Into these cells you must put your figs,
and wrap the gourd about with a swathe of cloath or leather, and then hang up the
gourd in a dark place where neither fire nor smoak may come at them: But you
must see that the figs which you would thus preserve, have their tails ar stalks upon
them. Others take a cup of glasse, or some other cup that you may see thorough,
and set it upon the figs with the mouth downward, and stop up with wax every place
round about, that no air may come within the cups mouth; and so the figs are
preserved without any corruption. Palladius rehearseth the very same experiment
out of the same Author, Likewise

Cervises may be shut up in barrels,
and thereby be preserved a great while. You must take Cervices presently as they are
gathered, and make choice of those that are not bruised nor blemished any way:
These you must put into a barrel, and shut up the mouth of the barrel very close,
and plaister it over with morter. Or else you may take clay morter, that is well
made, and beaten together, that it may be about the thickness of honey, and
drench your Cervises in it, and then hang them up: so you may preserve them sound
a while; and afterward you must wash them, that the morter which sticks upon
them, may fall off. So, the fruit

Ziziphum may be shut up in earthen vessels
to be long preserved, as Palladius sheweth. But they must be gathered by hand,
and that not before they be ripe; and you must shut them up in long earthen ves∣sels,
and plaister them over, and so lay them up. He sheweth also that

Medlars, and the fruit Tuber may be shut up in pitchers, so to be preserved.
You must put your Medlars into pitchers, that are besmeared with pitch on the in∣side;
but the pitchers wherein you put your Tubers, must not only be pitched on
the in-side, but also daubed over on the out-side. So Didymus sheweth, that
Page 125

Myrtle-berries may be very well kept
to last long, if you gather them when they are green, and put them into a vessel,
that is not pitched, and so cover it close, and lay them up. Others lay them up
with tails or stalks upon them. Palladius sheweth, that

Nuts may be long preserved,
if you shut them up close in coffers; but the coffers must be made of Nut-tree.
The same Palladius shews, that

Chest-nuts may be long preserved,
if you put them in wicker baskets, and plaister up the baskets round about: but the
rods which the baskets be made of must be Beechen-rods; and they must be made
up so close, that no air may come at that fruit which is in them. Likewise

Roses may be shut up to be preserved,
if you take green Barley being pluckt up by the roots, and put them into a barrel
that is not pitched, and lay Roses in amongst it before they be blown: for by this
means you may keep them long. So also you may shut up

Lillies, to make them last a whole year.
You must gather them with their boughs, as they grow, before they be blown, and put
them into new earthen vessels that were never pitched, and when you have cover∣ed
the vessels, lay them up; and so shall you have Lillies of a year old. But if you
have use for any of them in the mean time, bring them forth into the Sun, and by
the heat thereof they will be opened and blown. We will shew also out of Didy∣mus,
how

Grapes may be shut up to last long,
Some take certain cases that are pitched all within, and when they have strewed
them with the dust or dry powder of the Pitch-tree, or the Firre-tree, or the black
Poplar-tree, or else with the dry flower of Millet, then they put in their grapes,
and so they last long: but they take their grapes presently after the time of Vin∣tage,
and make special choice of those grapes that are without any bruise or ble∣mish,
and they shut up the mouth of the vessels very close, and overlay them with
morter. Or else they may be drenched in clay-morter, that is well beaten, and
somewhat liquid, and then be hanged up, and so kept for a while, and afterward
when you would use them, wash them over, that the morter may fall off. Columel∣la
saith; you must take the great Teat-grape, or else the hard-skinned grape, or else the
fair purple-grape, from the Vine, and presently pitch their stalks with hard pitch:
then take a new earthen Vatt, and fill it with dry chaffe well sifted, that it be with∣out
dust, and so hang up your grapes upon it: then take another Vat, and cover
therewith the former, grapes and all: and when you have laid the brims of both
vatts together, then daube them up with more that is made with chopped straw;
and when you have so done, place them in a very dry loft, and cover them all over
with dry chaffe•

Wheat may be laid up close to be preserved,
by putting it into caves or pits of the earth, as we have shewed out of Varro; for
the Cappadocians and Thracians put their Corn into Caves and Dens; the Spani∣ards
put it into certain pits, and make special provision that the moisture and air
may not come at them; except it be when they take cut any for their use; for if
the air do not breath upon it, it will be free from the mice and such like vermine:
and it is known, that Corn being thus laid up, hath been kept clean and sweet fifty
years together. Marcus Varro saith, that

Beans and Pulse have been laid up in vessels, and so preserved for a long time:
Page 126

but they must be oyle-vessels, and they must be covered over with ashes. Pliny writes
the very same experiment out of Varro; that Beans and Pulse being laid up in oyle∣buts,
and covered over with ashes, have lasted a great while; and being laid up
in some hole of the earth, they have lasted an hundred and twenty years. So the
Pulse called

Lintels, have been preserved long,
as Columella sheweth: for if you put them into oyle-vessels, or else into salting-tubs,
that they may be full, and so plaister them over with morter, whensoever you take
them forth again for your use, you shall find your Lintels sweet and good.

CHAP. VIII.
How the Ancients, when they had put their fruit into certain vessels, and so shut them up close, did put them also into some other vessels full of liquor.
HOwsoever the Ancients, by making up their vessels close, did shut out and keep
away the air as being the Author of all putrefaction, so that it could not come
in to the fruit: yet they did not by this means keep away the air out of those places
where the vessels were laid, but that as the circumstant air was changed, either being
disposed to heat, or cold, or drouth, or moisture, to the air also that is within, mustneeds
be changed, and consequently, the fruit also must be affected with the same change.
Wherefore, for the avoiding of all inconveniences which this way might ensue,
after they had plaistered their fruit-vessels, and so made them up fast, they did drown
these vessels in divers and sundry kinds of liquors. And surely not without great
reason, as experience shews. For I have oft-times observed it, being seriously im∣ployed
in these affairs, that if the air be uniform, and without alteration, the fruits
and flowers that have been shut up in vessels of glass, have lasted long without any
putrefaction: but when once they felt any alteration in the air, presently they began
to putrifie. For this cause are those vessels to be drowned in Cisterns, or ditches,
o• some places underneath the ground, that so the variable alterations of the air
may not be felt by the fruit. And, to descend to experiments, we will first
shew,

How Quince-pears being shut up close, may be drowned for their better preservation.
An experiment which Democritus hath set down. You must put your Quince-pears
into a new earthen-vessel, and then cover it, and pitch it all over, and so put it into
a but of wine; but so, that they may have scope to swim upon the top of the Wine:
for by this means shall you keep your fruit fresh and good for a long time; and
besides, the wine wherein they float, will have a very fragrant savour. Likewise

Apples being shut up close, and then put into Cisterns, will last long,
As Palladius sheweth. You must put your apples, saith he, into earthen vessels, well
pitched and made up close: and when you have so done, drown those vessels in a
Cistern, or else in a pit. Pliny putteth apples in earthen Basons, and so lets them
swim in wine; for, saith he, the wine by this means will yield a more odoriferous
smell. Apuleius saith, that Apples are to be put into a new pot, and the pot to be
put into a Hogs-head of wine that there it may swim, and play on the top of the
wine; for so, the Apples will be preserved by the wine, and the wine will be the
better for the Apples. So

Figs being shut up close, may be drowned for their better preservation,
As Africanus affirmeth. They take figs, saith he, that are not very ripe, and put
them into a new earthen vessel; but they gather them with their tails or stalks up∣on
them, and lay them up every one in a several cell by it self: and when they
have so done, they put the vessel into an Hogs-head of wine, and so preserve their
figs. I have also proved it by experience, that
Page 127

Peaches being shut up in wooden Cisterns, have been well preserved by drowning.
And I have proved 〈◊〉 also in other kinds of Apples, that if they be shut up in a
small vessel that is very well pitched on the utter side, and so drowned in the bot∣tom
of a Cistern of water, and kept down by some weights within the water, that
it may not float, they may be preserved many moneths without any putrefaction.
By a sleight not much unlike to this,

Pomegranates may be preserved in a Pipe or But that is half full of water,
as Palladius sheweth. You must hang up your Pomegranates within the But; yet
so, that they must not touch the water; and the But must be shut up close, that the
wind may not come in. And as fruit may be thus preserved, if the vessels be
drowned in water or other liquor; so there are some of opinion, that, if you hide
those vessels underneath the ground, you may by this means also eschew the danger
of the alterations that are in the air. Columella sheweth, that

Cervises being shut up close, and so laid under ground, will thereby last the longer.
When you have gathered your Cervises charily by hand, you must put them into
vessels that are well pitched, and lay also pitched coverings upon them, and plai∣ster
them over with morter: then make certain ditches or trenches about two foot
deep in some dry place within doors; and in them so place your pitchers, that the
mouth may be downward: then throw in the earth upon them, and tread it in some∣what
hard. It is best to make many trenches, that the vessels may stand asunder,
not above one or two in a trench; for when you have use of them, if you would
take up any one of the vessels, none of the rest must be stirred; for if they be, the
Cervises will soon putrifie. Pliny reports the like out of Cato: that Cervises are
put into earthen vessels well pitched, the covering being plaistered over with mor∣ter,
and then put in certain ditches or pits about two foot deep; the place being
somewhat open, and the vessels set with the mouth downward. And Palladius
writes out of those two Authors, that Cervises must be gathered while they be some∣what
hard, and laid up even when they begin to be ripe; they must be put in earthen
pitchers, so that the vessels be filled up to the top, and covered over with morter,
and laid in a ditch two foot deep, in a dry place where the Sun cometh; and the
mouths of the vessels must stand downward, and the earth must be trodden in upon
them. The same Author writeth that

Pears being shut up in vessels, and so laid under the ground, will last the longer.
You must take those pears which are hard both in skin, and in skin and substance:
These you must lay upon an heap; and when they begin to wax soft, put them into
an earthen vessel which is well pitched, and lay a covering on it, and plaister it
over with morter. Then the vessel must be buried in a small ditch, in such a place
as the sun doth daily shine upon. Others as soon as the pears are gathered, lay
them up with their stalks upon them in pitcht vessels, and close up the vessels
with morter or else with pitch; and then lay them abroad upon the ground, co∣vering
them all over with sand. Others make special choice of such pears as are ve∣ry
sound, somewhat hard and green; and these they shut up into a pitcht vessel,
and then cover it and set the mouth of it downward, and bury it in a little ditch
in such a place as the water runs round about it continually. In like manner also

Apples being shut up close, may be hidden within the ground for their better preser∣vation,
As Pliny sheweth. You must dig a trench in the ground about two foot deep, and
lay sand in the bottom of it, and there put in your apples; then cover the pit first
with an earthen lid, and then with earth thrown upon it. Some put their apples in
earthen basons, and then bury them. Others put them into a ditch that hath sand
cast into the bottom of it, and cover it onely with dry earth. The like device it is
whereby
Page 128

Pomegranates are preserved in small Buts which have sand in them.
You must fill a small But up to the middle with sand, and then take your pomegra∣nates,
and put the stalk of them every one into a several cane, or into the bough
of an Elder-tree; and let them be so placed asunder in the sand, that the fruit may
stand some four fingers above the sand: but the vessel must be set within the ground
in some open place. This also may be done within doors, in a ditch two foot
deep. Others fill up the But half full of water, and hang the pomegranates within
the But, that they may not touch the water; and shut up the But close that no air
may come in. Cato sheweth how

Filberds may be preserved within the ground,
You must take them while they be new, and put them into a pitcher, and so lay
them in the ground; and they will be as fresh when you take them forth, as when
you put them in. In like manner Palladius sheweth that

Chestnuts may be preserved,
if you put them in new earthen vessels, and bury them in some dry place within the
ground. He saith also that

Roses being shut up, may be buried in the ground for their better preservation,
if they be laid up in a pot, and well closed, and so buried in some open place. But
now we will shew

How all things that are shut up, may be preserved for many years.
Fruits are to be laid up in vials of glass, as we shewed before: and when the pipe
or neck of the glass is stopt close up, then they are to be drowned in cisterns, and
they will last good for certain whole years. Likewise, flowers are to be closed up
in a vessel that is somewhat long, and the neck of it must be stopt up, as we shewed
before, and then they must be cast into the water: for by this means they may be
kept fresh for a long time. I have also put new wine into an earthen vessel that
hath been glazed within, and have laid it in the water with a waight upon it to
keep it down; and a year after, I found it in the same taste and goodness, as when I
put it into the vessel. By the like device as this is, we may preserve

Things that are shut up, even for ever,
if we wrap them up in some commixtion with other things, so that the air may not
pierce them through; but especially, if the commixtion it self be such, as is not sub∣ject
to putrefaction. I have made trial hereof in Amber; first reducing it to a con∣venient
softness, and then wrapping up in it that which I desired to preserve: For
whereas the Amber may be seen thorow, it doth therefore represent unto the eye
the perfect semblance of that which is within it, as if it were living, and so sheweth
it to be sound, and without corruption. After this manner I have lapped up Bees
and Lyzards in Amber, which I have shewed to many, and they have been per∣swaded
that they were the Bees and the Lyzards that Martial speaks of. We see eve∣ry
where that the hairs of beasts, and leaves, and fruits, being lapped up in this juice,
are kept for ever; the Amber doth eternize them. Martial speaks thus of the Bee,
A Bee doth lie hidden within the Amber, and yet she shines in it too; as though
she were even closed up within her own honey: A worthy reward she hath there
for all her labours; and, if she might make choice of her own death, it is likely she
would have desired to die in Amber. And the same Author speaks thus of the Vi∣per,
being caught as it were in the same juice: The Viper comes gliding to the drop∣ping
Pine-tree, and presently the Amber juice doth overflow her: and while she
marvails at it, how she should be so entangled with that liqour, upon the sudden
it closeth upon her, and waxeth stiff with cold. Then let not Cleopatra boast her
self in her Princely Tomb, seeing the Viper is interred in a Nobler Tomb then she.
But if you desire to know how to make Amber soft, though there be divers ways
Page 131

whereby this may be effected, yet let this way alone content you, to cast it into hot
boiling wax that is scummed and clarified: for, by this means it will become so
soft and pliant, that you may easily fashion it with your fingers, and make it frama∣ble
to any use. Onely you must bee sure that it be very new.

CHAP. IX.
How Fruits may be drenched in Honey, to make them last for a long time.
THe Antients finding by experience, that the shutting up of fruits in vessels, and
the drenching of those vessels in water, was a notable preservative against cor∣ruption,
did thence proceed farther, and began to drench the fruits themselves in
divers kinds of liqours; supposing that they might be the longer preserved, if they
were sowsed in honey, wine, vineger, brine, and such like, in as much as these li∣quors
have an especial vertue against putrefaction: For honey hath an excellent force
to preserve, not fruits onely, but also even the bodies of living creatures from being
putrefied, as we have elsewhere shewed that Alexanders body, and the carkass of
the Hippocentaur were preserved in honey. Meer water they did not use in this
case; because, that being moist in it self, might seem rather to cause putrefaction. But
of all other liquors, honey was most in request for this purpose, they supposing it to
be a principal preserver against corruption. Columella saith

That Quinces may be preserved in honey without putrefaction;
We have nothing more certain by experience, saith he, then that Quinces are well
preserved in honey. You must take a new flagon that is very broad brimmed, and
put your Quuinces into it, so that they may have scope within, that one may not
bruise another; then when your pot is full to the neck, take some withy twigs, and
plat them over the pots mouth, that they may keep down the Quinces somewhat
close, least when they should swell with liquor, they should float too high: then fill
up your vessel to the very brimme with excellent good liquefi'd honey, so that the
Quinces may be quite drowned in it. By this means, you shall not onely preserve
the fruit very well, but also you shall procure such a well relished liquor, that it will
be good to drink of. But in any case take heed, that your Quinces be through ripe
which you would thus preserve: for if they were gathered before they were ripe,
they will be so hard, that they cannot be eaten. And this is such an excellent way,
that though the worm have seized upon the Quinces before they were gathered, yet
this will preserve them from being corrupted any farther: for such is the nature of
honey, that it will suppress any corruption, and not suffer it to spread abroad: for
which cause it will preserve the dead carkass of a man, for many years together,
without putrefaction. Palladius saith, that Quinces must be gathered when they
are ripe, and so put into honey, whole as they are, and thereby they will be
long preserved. Pliny would have them first to be smeared over with wax,
and then to be sowsed in honey. Apitius saith, Quinces must be gathered with
their boughes and leaves, and they must be without any blemish, and so put into
a vessel full of honey and new wine. The Quinces that were thus dressed, were
called Melimela, that is to say, Apples preserved in honey: as Martial witnesseth,
saying, Quinces sowsed in pure honey, that they have drunk themselves full, are cal∣led
Melimela. Likewise Columella sheweth that

Other kind of Apples may be so preserved,
Not onely the Melimela, but also the Pome-paradise, and the Sestian Apples, and
other such dai•ties may be preserved in honey: but because they are made sweeter
by the honey, and so lose their own proper relish which their nature and kind doth
afford, therefore he was wont to preserve them by another kind of practise. Palla∣dius
saith, That

Pears may be preserved in Honey,
Page 130

if a hey be so laid up therein, that one of them may not touch another. So Africa∣nus
reporteth, That

Figgs may be long preserved in Honey,
if they be so disposed and placed in it, that they neither touch each other, nor yet
the vessel wherein they be put; and when you have so placed them, you must make
fast the lid of the vessel upon them, and there let them lie without troubling them.
And Palladius reports the same: Green Figs, saith he, may be preserved in Honey,
if you place them so that they may not touch each other. Florentinus also sheweth,
That

Cherries may be preserved in Honey,
if you put them into a vessel that is strawed in the bottom with Savory, and so cast
some honey upon them; but your honey must be somewhat sharpe. So likewise

Medlars may be preserved in Honey,
to last a great while without rotting, as Palladius sheweth: but then they must be
gathered before they be throughly ripe. Martial sheweth also, That

Nuts may be preserved in Honey,
to be green all the year long; and he speaks it of his own trial and experience. You
must take green Nuts, and pluck them out of their shells, and so let them be sowsed
in honey: and the honey wherein they are sowsed, will become very medicinable,
insomuch that if you make a potion of it, it will be very helpful to cure the Arte∣ries,
and the Jaws. Palladius saith, That

Peaches may be preserved in Honey,
if you take out the stone before you sowse them; and besides that they will last long,
this will also make them to be very well relished. He saith also that they may be
well preserved in the liquor Oxymel. To be brief, Columella saith plainly that
there is no kind of fruit but may be well preserved in honey. But he prescribes it
for a general rule in this case, that every kind of fruit should be preserved in several
by it self: for if you lay up divers kinds of fruits together, one of them will corrupt
and marre the other. So also

Grapes may be preserued in Honey,
and they will last long without any blemish in them, if they be so preserved, as Di∣dymus
writeth. But we will shew now,

What kinds of fruits are best preserved in Honey.
For, I have endeavoured my self in this Practise, how to keep fruits without putre∣faction,
and for this cause, I laid up all kinds of fruits in vessels of glass filled with
honey, that so I might prove, which might be preserved longest: and I found great
difference among them, some kinds lasting long and some but a little while. For,
the fruits that were by their own kind, full of moisture, did attaint the honey; so
that the honey being it self attainted, was not possibly able to preserve the fruit
from putrefaction. Grapes, Figgs, and Peaches are soon putrified by reason of their
moistness; Quinces, Apples, and Pears do last longer uncorrupted; but Nuts will
will last green and sound a whole year together.

Page 131
CHAP. X.
How fruits may be long preserved in ordinary wine, or sodden wine, or new wine, or else in wine-lees.
THe Ancients likewise perceiving, that wine would keep all things, and that
grapes-stones lighting into the wine as it was barrelled up, did continue whole
in the barrels for the space of a whole year; thence they gathered, that those fruits
which were laid up in wine, would be well preserved from putrefaction. Neither
did they stay there, but also proceeded to use sodden wine, new wine, vinegar, and
wine-lees, for that purpose, because all these have a smatch of the substance of wine
it self. But we considering that there may be a very pure and durable liquour ex∣tracted
out of the substance of wine (for wine, as it is of it self, will sooner be cor∣rupted)
have therefore used the help of that extraction, whereby to preserve things
sound and good time out of mind. But to return to them, and set down their ex∣amples.
Palladius sheweth, That

Quinces may be preserved in wine.
For, if we lay them up in vessels filled with very good wine, half with ordinary wine,
and half with new wine, we shall by this means preserve Quinces a great while.
Others sowse them in barrels of new wine onely, and so close them up; whereby
they cause the wine to yield a very fragrant smell. So Democritus makes choice of
the fairest and soundest quinces, and putteth them into barrels of new wine, and
thereby doth preserve his quinces and better his wine. So

Apples may be preserved floating in wine,
as the same Author sheweth. You must put some few apples into a barrel of wine
that they may float up and down, and so shall you also better the wine. Democri∣tus
would have them to be put into earthen pots; but Apuleius would have them
put into barrels, and so closed up; and thus, saith he, shall you procure an admirable
sweetness and pleasantness in the wine. Others would have them put into a new
pot, and the pot to be drenched into a barrel of wine, so that they may there swim,
and then the barrel to be made up close; for this will be best both for the wine and
also for the apples. Likewise

Figgs may be long preserved in wine,
as Africanus sheweth. You must make a new earthen pot, not altogether round,
but rather somewhat square, having a good sound bottom; then you must gather your
figs with their sprigs and stalkes, and that before they be through ripe; then put
them fresh into your vessel, and place them so that they may lie from each other
a pretty distance; and so put them in a barrel full of wine, and there let them swim;
but the barrel must be very well closed up, that the air get not in: and until the wine
change and become sowrish, the figs will never change, but continue in the same
estate as when they were put in. Palladius doth report the very same experiment
out of the very same Author. Beritius sheweth, That

Mulberries may be preserved in wine:
But it must be such wine as is made of Mulberries; and the vessells wherein they are
put, must be made up very close. Likewise Pamphilius sheweth, That

Damosins may be preserved in wine,
if they be put into Hogsheads either of sweet wine, or else new wine, there to swim
up and down, and the Hogsheads well covered. Palladius also teacheth, That the
fruit▪
Page 132

Ziziphum may be preserved in wine.
so that it shall not have any screwls or wrinkles: for, if it be fresh gathered, and sup∣pled
with drops of new wine, it will continue plumpe and full without any wrin∣kles.
Didymus sheweth

How Grapes may be preserved in wine,
You must take a barrel that is half full of new wine, and therein hang up your
grapes in such sort, as the clusters may not touch each other, nor any of them touch
the wine: for by this means they will continue as sound as they were upon the
Vine. Some do preserve them in wine that is alayed with water. Grapes thus
preserved in wine, have been in great request among the Ancients. Athenaeus makes
mention of them out of Eubulus in Agglutinat•: you must, saith he, minister unto
him good store of grapes preserved in wine: And Pherecrates, among other things
that are to be eaten, makes mention of grapes that were taken out of wine. Cato
sheweth, That

Pears may be long preserved in sodden wine,
especially the Tarentine-pears, and the Must-pears, and the Gourd-pears. Varro
saith, That the pears called Anciana, and Sementina are to be preserved in sodden
wine. Pliny saith, That the Tarentine-pears, and the Anciana are so preserved.
Palladius saith, That they may be preserved either in sodden wine or else in new wine;
but, saith he, The vessels which they are put into, must be filled up with that liquor
wherein they are to be preserved; which very same precept he learned out of Demo∣critus.
Columella sheweth how to make this kind of sodden wine of that sweet wine
which is called Mustum. Palladius sheweth also, how that kind of

Peaches, which hath the hardest stone, may be preserved long in sodden wine,
You must fill up the Navel of the Peach (or that place wherein the stalk was fastned)
with a drop or two of scalding pitch, so that the wine may not get into the peach by
that passage; and then shut up the vessel very close, that the air may not get in.
Columella saith, That

Cervises may be long preserved in new wine,
if you plat some dry fennel above them, to keep them under, that still the liquor
may overflow them: but the coverings or lids of the vessels must be well pitched,
and plaistered over with morter, that the air may have no access unto them. Pliny
saith, That Cervises are to be preserved in sodden wine, by the judgement of Cato.
Palladius also saith, That Cervises may be preserved long in sodden wine. Columella
sheweth

That Grapes may be preserved in new wine,
You must take a barrel that is well pitched, and put into it a certain quantity of
new wine; then make a hurdle as it were, of good stiff rods platted together, a lit∣tle
above the liquor: then place upon those hurdles, certain new earthen ves∣sels,
and therein so dispose your grapes that they may not touch each other; then
cover your vessels and stop them up, after that, make another such a loft of hurdles,
and then another, and so forward, as far as the greatness of the barrel will give you
leave; and in every one of those rooms place your grapes, as in the first: then take
the pitched cover of your barrel, and smear it all over with good store of new wine,
and when you have laid it upon the barrel, make it up close, and lay ashes upon it.
Others make no more ado, but onely put their new wine into the barrel, and make
certain hurdles over the wine, and there hang their grapes out of the reach of
the wine, and so cover the barrel and stop it up. The same Author likewise report∣eth,
That
Page 133

Damosins may be long kept in new Wine.
About harvest time, you must gather Damosins not being throughly ripe, nor yet too
green, (but they must be wilde Damosins, such as are in colour like to the Onix∣••one)
and you must dry them in some shadowy place, the third day after they were
gathered: then you must mingle vineger with new Wine, or else with sodden
wine, in equal portions, and so put your Damosins into it. But they will be pre∣served
the better, if you make your medley of a certain quantity of vineger, blen∣ded
with twice so much water. Or else you may take the purple-coloured Damo∣sins,
and lay them up in an earthen vessel well pitched, and then fill it either with
new, or else with sodden wine, so that the whole fruit may lie under the liquor;
and then lay the covering upon the vessel, and plaister it up. We may also pre∣serve

Cucumbers in the Lees of Wine,
as the Quintiles are of opinion. You must, say they, put your Cucumbers into the
Lees of White-wine, before it be sowre, and see that your vessel be top-full; for
by this means your Cucumbers will last fresh and good a great while. Didymus
writes, that

Olives and Grapes may be kept together.
You must take Grapes while they be fresh, and new, and whole, and lay them up
in a vessel amongst Olives, so placed, that every Olive may stand betwixt two
Grapes, and so every Grape betwixt two Olives; and thus, the vessel being
well closed up, they will preserve each other. Columella saith, that

Corneile, or Hamberry may be kept in Lees;
and if it be well preserved so, it will serve to be used in the stead of Olives. Ovid
declares this in the eighth book of his Metamorphosis. Columella shews that

Grapes may be preserved fresh and green in the Lees of wine.
You must gather your grapes when they are of a reasonable ripeness, and then lay
them upon certain hurdles, so that one cluster may not touch the other: then bring
them within doors, and tuck away the dry, and withered, and rotten grapes with
a pair of tuckers: and when they have lyen a while cooling out of the Sun, take three
or four clusters according as the bigness of your pot is, and put them into it amongst
the Lees; and let the lid be made up fast with pitch, that the liquor may not
break forth. Then you must take a great many of Vine-stalks, and squeeze or press
them well, with their grapes upon them: then lay the stalks and husks in the bot∣tom
of a barrel, and therein place your pots that you have filled with Lees and
Grapes, and let their mouths stand downward, and let them stand in distance each
from other, so that you may ram in good store of Grape-kernels betwixt them:
and when you have filled the room with Grape-stones stuff• in hard about the pots;
you must make a second room like the first, and fill it up in the same manner: like∣wise
you must make a third room and so forward, till the barrel be thoroughly fil∣led
even to the very brim, with pots, and Grape-stones crammed in fast and thick
about them; then straightway cover the barrel and make it up close, and lay ashes
upon it. But you must look to it, when you take forth any of the pots, that you
take out a whole row together: for the Grape-stones being stamped in thick toge∣ther
must not be stirred; if they be, they will become sowrish very soon, and so
they will marre the grapes. The Quintiles say, that

Cucumbers may be preserved in vineger;
and that very fresh and in their natural strength, if you hang them up in a vessel
that hath some vineger in it, that they may not touch the vineger, and then close up
the vessel fast, that the air may not pass into it; for by this means you may have
green and new Cucumbers in the Winter-time. So all other fruits may be preser∣ved
Page 134

in vineger: but because vineger doth mar the taste of them, therefore we will
not speak of such preservings. But hereby we have learned to preserve, time out
of mind,

All things with distilled wine:
for wine is of it self subject to putrefaction many wayes: but when it is often di∣stilled,
that the quintessence be extracted from it, this extraction is free from all
putrefaction whatsoever: wherefore all things that are drenched in this kind of li∣quor,
if the vessel be carefully closed up, must needs last unputrified even for a
whole age, nay for all eternity. At Rome, I saw a fish that was drenched in the
water that had been distilled out of the Vine, and she was preserved five and
twenty years, as fresh as while she was alive: and at Florence, I saw the like of
fourty years continuance: the vessel was made of glass, and made up with the seal
of Hermes. And I make no question, but that all things that are sowced in this
kind of liquor, will last sound and good for many ages. How many sorts of things
I have preserved by this one means, it were too long here to rehearse.

CHAP. XI.
That fruits may be very well preserved in salt-waters.
NExt after wine, salt-water is of special use for preserving from putrefaction:
for such things as have been drenched therein, have lasted long very sound
and good. The Ancients saw that whatsoever was preserved in salt, was kept
thereby from putrifying: wherefore, that they might preserve fruits from corrupti∣on,
they have used to drench them in salt-waters. Homer calls salt a divine thing,
because it hath a special vertue against putrefaction, and by it, bodies are preserved
to all eternity. Plato calls it the friend of God, because no sacrifices were welcome
to him, without salt. Plutark saith that the Antients were wont to call it a divine
influence, because the bodies of creatures that were seasoned with salt from above,
were thereby acquitted from corruption. Salt binds, and dries, and knits together,
and doth priviledge bodies from putrefaction, that in their own nature must needs
putrifie: as the Aegyptians custome manifestly sheweth, who were wont to season
their dead bodies with salt, as Herodotus writeth. But let us come to examples. Be∣ritius
saith, that

Pomegranates are preserved in salt-waters.
You must take sea-water, or else brine, and make it boil, and so put your Pome∣granates
into it; and afterward when they are thorough cold, dry them, and hang
them up in the Sun; and whensoever you would use them, you must steep them in
fresh-water two dayes before. Columella rehearses the opinion of a certain Cartha∣ginian
touching this matter. Mago would have, saith he, that Sea-water should be
made very hot, and Pomegranates being tied together with thread or broom-twigs,
to be drenched in it till they change their colour, and then to be taken forth and
dried in the Sun for three dayes, and afterward to be hanged up: and when you
would use them, you must steep them in fresh and sweet water for the space of four
and twenty hours before, and so they will be fit for your use. Pliny also reports
out of the same Author, that Pomegranates are first to be hardened in hot Sea-water,
and then to be dried in the Sun three dayes, and so to be hung up, that the
evening dew come not at them; and when you would use them, to steep them first in
fresh-water. Palladius writes the same out of Pliny; and he sheweth also, that

Damosins may be preserved in salt-waters.
They must be fresh gathered, and then drenched either in brine, or else in sea-water
scalding hot, and then taken forth, and dried either in the Sun, or else in a
warm Oven. Columella would have them drenched in new wine, sodden wine, and
vineger; but he gives a special charge also to cast some salt amongst them, lest the
Page 135

worm or any other hurtful vermine do grow in them. Palladius likewise sheweth,
that

Pears will last long in salt-water:
first the water is to be boiled, and when it begins to rise in surges, you must skim
it; and after it is cold, put into it your Pears which you would preserve: then af∣ter
a while take them forth and put them up in a pitcher, and so make up the mouth
of it close, and by this means they will be well preserved. Others let them lie one
whole day and night in cold salt-water, and afterward steep them two dayes in
fresh-water, and then drench them in new wine or in sodden wine, or in sweet
wine to be preserved. Others put them in a new earthen pitcher, filled with new
wine, having a little salt in it, and so cover the vessel close to preserve them.
Likewise

Modlars may be preserved in salt-water:
They must be gathered when they are but half ripe, with their stalks upon them, and
steeped in salt-water for five dayes, and afterward more salt-water poured in upon
them, that they may swim in it. Didymus sheweth also, that

Grapes may be preserved long in salt-water.
You must take some sea-water, and make it hot; or, if you cannot come at that, take
some brine, and put wine amongst it, and therein drench your clusters of grapes,
and then lay them amongst Barley straw. Some do boil the ashes of a Fig-tree, or
of a Vine, in water, and drench their clusters therein; and then take them out to
be cooled, and so lay them in Barley straw. The grape will last a whole year toge∣ther,
if you gather them before they be thorough ripe, and drench them in hot wa∣ter
that hath Allome boiled in it, and then draw them forth again. The Antients
were wont

To put salt to Wine, to make it last the longer,
as Columella sheweth. They took new wine, and boiled it till the third part was
wasted away; then they put it into vessels, there to preserve it for their use the year
following: they put a pinte and a half of this liquor thus boiled, into nine gallons
of new wine unboiled; and after two dayes, when these liquors are incorporated
together, they wax hot, and begin to spurge; then they cast into them half an ounce
of salt beaten small, and that made the wine last till the next year. Theophrastus and
Pliny write, that

The fruits of those Palm-trees which grow in salt places, are fittest to be preserved;
as those which grow in Judaea, and Cyrenian Africk, because those Countries especi∣ally
do afford salt and sandy grounds: for salt is a great nourisher of these kinds of
fruits, and they are preserved long, even by their own saltnesse; so that the salter
the places are where they grow, the better will the fruit be preserved. So likewise
that kind of Pulse which is called

Cicer, is preserved by its own saltness,
without any other dressing; for the nature thereof is, to have a saltish juice with∣in
it; whereby it cometh to pass that whereas all other Pulse are subject to corrup∣tion,
and have some vermine or other breeding in them, onely this kind doth not
engender any at all, because of the bitter and sharp saltish juice that is in it, as
Theophrastus writeth. Didymus likewise writeth, that

Beans will last long in salt-water:
for, if they be sowced in sea-water, they will continue long without any blemish.
Pliny also sheweth, that

Garlick may be preserved in salt-water;
Page 136

for if you would have Garlick or Onions to last long, you must dip the heads there∣of
in warm salt-water; so will they be of longer continuance, and of a better
taste. So

Cucumbers are preserved in brine,
as the Quintiles affirm; for if you preserve either Gourds or Cucumbers in brine,
they will last long. So

Apples and Myrtles may be preserved,
by lapping them up in Sea-weed one by one, so that they may be covered all over
with it, and not touch one another, as Apuleius sheweth. If you have no Sea-weed,
then you must lay them up close in Coffers. Aristotle is of opinion, that the fruits
of the Myrtle-tree need not to be lapped up in Sea-weed, thereby to keep them
from falling off from the Tree, because they will stick on of themselves till they be
thoroughly ripe; but the blades of them are preserved by wrapping Sea-weed a∣bout
them: and the vapour of the Sea-weed thus wrapped about the blades, will
keep the juice of the fruit from being changed to any further maturity, and cause
it to continue long at one stay; and this is by reason of the saltness of the Sea-weed,
whereby it doth intercept and dry up that moisture which should be derived
into the fruit, to ripen it. We may learn also to preserve

Olives in brine, to have them good a year after▪
Marcus Cato saith, that those kinds of Olives which are called Orchites, may be
well preserved, if they be laid up in brine while they are green; or else, if they be
powned with M•stick. Columella saith, that the Olives which are called Orchites,
and those which are called Pansiae, and the little round Olive called Radiolus, are
to be knocked and beaten, and so cast into brine, and then to be taken out of the
brine and squeezed, and so cast into a vessel together with the blanched seeds of
Mastick and Fennel; then take a good quantity of new wine, and half so much
strong brine or pickle, and put it into the vessel, and so the fruit will be preserved.
Or else, you may cast your Olives whole into a vessel, and put in strong brine a∣mongst
them till the vessel be brim-full, and so take them out for your uses when oc∣casion
serveth. There are a certain kind of black Olives, called also Orchites, which
Cato saith, are thus to be preserved. When they be dry, cast them into salt, and there
let them lie for the space of two dayes; afterward take them forth and shake off
the salt, and set them in the Sun two dayes together, and so they will be preserved.
Marcus Varro reports the very same experiment out of Cato. Columella saith; while
Olives be yet black and unripe, you must tuck them off the Tree with your hand
in a fair Sun-shining day; and cull out the sound ones from those that have any ble∣mish;
and into every peck and and an half of Olives, put a quart and somewhat
more of whole salt; then put them into wicker baskets, and there let them lie in
salt thirty dayes together, that the Lees or dregs may be still dropping forth: after∣ward
put them into some trey or such like vessel that you may wipe away the salt
with a spunge; and when you have done so, barrel them up into a Hogs-head full of
new wine or else of sodden wine, and by this means they will be long preserved.
Didymus teacheth to make condite or preserved Olives on this manner. When O∣lives
are almost ripe, you must gather them with their stalks and all: then wash or
steep them a whole day in cold water, and afterward lay them a drying upon wicker
Lattises, handling them very gently; then put them in the bottom of a vessel, and
cast good store of salt amongst them: and into five pecks of Olives, you must put
in four gallons and two quarts of brine, and two pints and a half of vineger: And
when you have filled up the vessel, shake them together, that the liquor may swim
on the pot. Columella, Palladius and divers others do cast the Olives into Sea-water,
and there steep them seven dayes together, and when they have taken them forth,
they condite them with brine, and so put them up into some other vessel.

Page 137
CHAP. XII.
That things may be specially well preserved in Oyl and Lees of Oyl.
OYl, and especially Lees of Oyl, do excellently conserve things, defending them
both from the injuries of the Air and of Animals. Cato doth in short enume∣rate
the faculties of Lees of Oyl, he subacts the Barn-flores with Lees of Oyl, that
Mice may not eat his Corn. That also

He may preserve his Grain in his Garner,
he dawbes the Pavement and Walls thereof with clay, confected with Lees of Oyl.
That also

Moths may not eat his clothes,
he be sprinkles them with Lees of Oyl: as also that

Seed, Corn, lying in the fields may be kept from erosion by Animals,
if it be steeped in Oyl lees, as also Whetstones, Shoes, Brazen-vessels from rust, all
Woodden-houshold-stuff, Potters-vessels and the like. The same Cato also saith,

That Myrtle branches may be preserued with their Berries on, in Lees of Oyl.
Bind these or any of the like Nature into bundles, put them into a vessel of Oyl-lees,
so that the Oyl cover them, then cover the vessel. Didymus saith,

That roses may be kept in Oyl-lees
fresh and vigorous, if they be covered over with this liquor.

If you would preserve Figtree-branches with their fruits in Oyl-lees,
bundle them up with their leaves and all, and put them in a vessel of Oyl-lees, as
we said of Myrtle; but if you would keep dry Figs from corruption, lay them up in
a Potters vessel wet with Lees of Oyl decocted.

Olives may be preserved in Oyl,
for when they have lost their colour they may be gathered with their stalks preser∣ved
in Oyl, and a year after they will represent their green colour; and if you be∣sprinkle
them with common salt they will pass for new ones.

CHAP. XIII.
How Apples may belong conserved in Sawdust with leafs and Chaff or straw.
THe Ancients have invented many Trees, whose fruits may be long preserved in
their own saw dust because of its dryness. Now every fruit is best kept in its
own leaves dust, and the like, as we have said of Olives which are best kept in Oyl,
Grapes in wine, &c.

Orenges may be kept in Cedar-dust.
As Palladius asserts, who avers that many have experienced it, in the like manner▪

Quinces may be long kept in dust,
because as Democritus avers the dryness of the dust preserves them from putrefaction,
they may be also kept long in Wooll, fine Tow, or the like in Chests.
Page 138

The fruits of the Fir-tree may be long kept in dust.
Many diffuse the saw-dust of the Poplar, or Fir-tree, amongst their fruits for their
preservation. Apuleius saith, You may lay them involved in fine Tow into a vimine∣ous
basket, and they will keep.

Pomegranates may be kept from putrefaction in Oak-dust.
Columella would have the dust first steeped in vinegar, and then they laid in it. Ma∣go
would have us first strew a new potters vessel with the dust, then lay in the ap∣ples,
then strew another layer of dust, and another of apples, till the vessel be full,
which we must shut and dawb close up. Beritius would have the dust first infused in
vinegar.

Grapes may be kept in dust.
Some keep green Grapes in dry poplar, or firre-dust. Didymus would have them
reposed in boxes overlaid with pitch, in the dry dust of the pitch or black
poplar-tree. some preserve fruits in chaff, which by its innate frigidity, either
keeps the frosty rigor unmelted, or by its genuine dryness keeps all things from pu∣tritude;
or by being void of all qualities keeps fruits in their proper quality. And
first

Orenges may be kept in Chaff,
As Palladius avers, or in small straw. And the same saith, That

Quinces may be preserved in Chaff.
As also in small straw, as Pliny attests, who asserts also, That

Apples may be kept in Chaff,
or straw, they being laid upon and in it. Palladius saith, That

Pears will keep long in Chaff, and Medlars also,
if they be gathered on a clear day, half covered with chaff, and not again touched
Palladius saith, That

Pomegranates may be kept in Chaff,
if they be not moved, or touched after their reposure.

Grapes may be kept in Chaff.
The clusters should be severally laid along the pavement, so that they touch not
each other, with lupin-straw under them if possible, for it is dryer and hardest, and
an enemy to Mice; but if not then Bean-straw, or such pulse: but if none of these,
then dry hay cut small. Palladius saith, That

Nuts will keep in straw,
if Almonds cannot be easily excoriated, cover them with chaff and straw, and you
may effect it. Sotion avers, That

Onyons may be kept from putrefaction in Barley-straw.
First put them into hot-water, dry them in the Sun, that done, lay them so in
straw that they touch not each other. Palladius saith, That

Chesnuts may be preserved
in small Barley-straw, or in their own leafs: As also

Quinces in Fig-leaves.
Page 139
Democritus would have them involved in leaves, and dawbed up with clay. Palla∣dius
saith, Apples may be kept from putretude in fig-leaves, who also avers,

That Orenges may be preserved,
in their own leaves, if they be laid severally. He also saith,

That Apples may be kept long in nut-leaves,
And Apuleius saith, Their colour, odour, and grace; will be hereby preserved,
and that best if they be layed in fresh, not falling leaves: As also

That pears may be kept well in wallnut-leaves.
Democritus saith, The leaves must be dry, and the pears will be green at a years end.
Pliny saith,

Figs may be kept in the leaves of Vervine without putretude.
Palladius would have them put in an Oven, and whil'st hot imposed in their own
leaves and reconded in a pot. Columella would have dry Figs cast into a pitched
vessel with dry hay in it and upon them. We may also

Preserve Cherries in the leaves of Winter-savory,
if we first cast the leaves, then the Cherries into a vessel, and so by course, or if we
after the same manner lay Cherries in Reeds-leaves: thus also

May Jujubees be kept in their own leaves,
or else they may be cut of with their boughs and suspended. Thus also

May the Myrtle and its Berries be preserved,
either in a close vessel, or in Lees of Oyl. Thus also may

Quince-pears be long kept in their own leaves, and Nuts in their leaves, but the leaves must be dry, Wheat may be kept in herbs.
Tarentinus would have it imposed upon dry Wormwood and Semper-vive; but dry
Quince leaves and small sand are better, which must be layed in layers among the
Grain. It is best to cover the flore with Coniza, add after ten measures of Grain,
to lay another layer of Coniza till all be deposed; for thus the whole will not be
onely free from putretude for many years, but keep its due weight.

Barley may be kept safe in dry Bay-leaves,
Dry Grass with Mint mixed with Bran, preserve Barley special well. Some bray
cummin and salt together, and make them into dry Masses for the preservation of
Barley.

CHAP. XIV.
How fruits may be mixed with many things for their better preservation.
ANd now that we may not further protract our speech, we shall from ancient
Examples shew how fruits by immersion into several things, may be long kept
from putretude: and first

Orenges in Barley putrefie not,
But if you lay them on hot Barley-bread, they putrefie quickly. Palladius saith,

That Quinces laid in Millet-seed, endure long,
for he thinks that Millet-seed corrupts not in many years, and so what is repo∣sed
in it cannot speedily putrefie. Democritus saith, Barley is better, being dry;
but always provided that they be not laid near tender and fugacious fruits,
Page 140

for they will vitiate them by their acid sapour, and putrefie grapes if they be near
them.

Apples may be also kept in the same seed,
As Pliny is of mind. But Apuleius saith a heap of Barley is better. But you must
always mind to repose each kind in its proper continent and place, because if di∣vers
kinds be occluded together, they vitiate sooner: wherefore the wine that is ex∣pressed
out of several kinds of grapes, is not so firm as the simple and sincere.

Pears will keep amongst corn,
For as Palladius saith, The Siccity thereof is notably preservative.

Mushrooms may be kept in Millet-seed.
The Vesuvians also keep them in dry sand, till new ones come.

Pomegranates may be kept lay in Wheat,
if they be first dipped into hot waters, then reconded in Wheat, till they become
rugous. Varro and Cat• would have them put in a heap of sand for preservation.
Dydimus saith,

That Grapes may be kept well and long,
if they be suspended in a Garner, for the dust that rises up of the corn when moved,
causes long duration in grapes.

How Corn may be long preserved,
Tarentinus saith, The ashes of Oaks; others dry Beasts dung, strewed on corn pre∣serve
it; but small sand sub•cted with Lees of Oyl is better, for this corrupts all ver∣mine
and keeps the corn more dense and solid. Perfrigerated Argil is best of all, for
it will keep corn thirty or forty years from corruption, you may let it through a
strait seive when you use it.

Pulse will keep long,
if they be sprinkled with vinegar mixed with the juice of Laser.

CHAP. XV.
How other things may be preserved from putrefaction.
WE shall here recite what other things, though vile, may be preserved, and so
make way for further inquisitions.

Quick-silver will preserve all things from putretude.
As fruits and the like, for we have often put fruits into a fit vessel, and cast quick∣silver
upon them, and so preserved them long and well.

Flesh hanged on a Brasen-nail will keep long,
For Brass is so styptical and exiccative, that the flesh it passes throw putrefies
not.

How a dead Carcase may be preserved.
First let •he side of the Body be opened, and the Carcase exenterated; let the Skull
be opened and the brains taken out, let the papills be substracted, as also the privi∣ties
with the pith of the Back-bone, then hang up the Body by the feet for three or
four hours, then wash it with a spung dipped in vinegar and aqua vitae, then let it
dry, which done; strew it with unquenched Lime, Alome and Salt; let it hang
so two days in the smoak of Myrrhe, Bay, Rosemary, and Cypress in a dry
and open place. Then make a mixture of unquenched Lime five pound, of burnt
Page 141

Alome one pound, good Salt two pound, of Aloes and Myrrhe half a pound, of
Aloes-wood half a pound, of the Oyl of Spicknard three onces, of the powder of
Rosemary-flowers five, of burnt Green-brass and Calcanthum two, of the best The∣riack
four, of the dust of Cypress half a pound, of dryed Saffron one once, of the
seeds of Coloquintida three and a half, of Antimony beaten to powder one and
an half, of the ashes of Wine-lees five and a half, of Musk half a dragm, of Amber
two. Let all be diligently brayed and mixed together, and strewed upon the Body
which must be for three days together strongly rubbed, in an open and dry place.
This also we admonish, that in fat Bodies the fat of the Abdomen, Buttocks, Hips,
Muscles of the Leggs, thighs; and all other places must be first abstracted.

Things may be also preserved by Balsom.
But seeing we can compass no true Balsom; or if there be any, it is exceeding dear
we are glad to make artificial Balsoms, as we shall shew in due place.

CHAP. XVI.
How divers sorts of Bread may be made.
WE have spoken of preserving fruits and other things: It remains to shew how
we may use those we have kept. Amongst the rest, we shall teach you con∣cerning
those things that are most necessary for dayly use, as for many kinds of
Bread, Wine, Vinegar, and Oyls; that not onely the Housholder may provide
for his family with small cost: but when provision is dear, he may provide for him∣self
with small pains in Mountains and Desarts, of all those things almost we have
spoken of. But we will begin with Bread, and see what our fore-fathers used in
case of necessity. I shall let pass those common things, as Spilt, and Bean-corn,
Amel-corn, Typh-wheat, Panick, Sesamum; being all well known. But first

To make Bread of Wall-nuts,
Dioscorides saith there is a kind of Thistle commonly found in the waters, that one∣ly
in Rivers brings forth a certain seed as big as a Ches-nut, with three points, mem∣branous,
full of white pith, that tastes like Ches-nuts; they call them water ches-nuts
vulgarly, and the Inhabitants use them in meats, as they do Ches-nuts. Pil∣grims
make Chapelets of them. The Thracians that dwell by the River Strimon,
fat their horses with this Thistle when it is green, and of the same seed they make
Bread to eat. Moreover, in places where they grow amongst us, the Inhabitants
when provision is dear make Bread of them; as at Ferrara they do of Ches-•uts,
and the Brutii rost them in the embers and eat them for juncates. Almost in the same
manner.

To make Bread of the Lote tree.
Theophrastus teacheth it. The Lote-tree grows in plain ground, where the Coun∣tries
are overflowed with water. The fruit is like a Bean naturally, but less and
more slender. That which grows on the head comes forth promiscuously, as Beans
do many and very thick together: When the Sun sets, it closeth, and opens when he
riseth, and springs up above the water. The head is as great as a Poppy-head,
where it grows in Euphrates. The Egyptians lay those heads on heaps to putrefie;
and when the shells are putrefied, they wash them in a River, and part the fruit
from them, and dry it, and break it and make bread of it, and eat it. Pliny, There
is also bread made of the seed of it, like to Millet seed, in Egypt by the Shepherds,
and they knead it with water especially, or with milk. They say that nothing is
more wholesom then that bread, or lighter whil'st it is hot, but cold it is harder to
digest and becomes heavy. It is certain, that those who live upon that are never
troubled with Dysenteries, Tenasmus, or any diseases of the belly. And therefore it
is one of their remedies. For it was of old a custom;
Page 142

To make bread of Dates,
which Pliny writes of, Dates that are very dry of Thebes and Arabia, that are slen∣der
and very lean, with a continual vapour they are terrified, and are covered ra∣ther
with a Shel then a Skin. In Ethiopia it is crumbled (so great is the draught)
and like meal it is made into bread.

Bread of the Mulberry-figtree.
In Caria and Rhodes there is a great Fig of Egypt, or increase of the Sycamore-tree,
and in the neighbouring places where there is little wheat, the people for want of
corn use it for bread, and for all bread corn. So great and continual plenty is there
of that Apple, and abundance of bread is made of it pleasing to the stomach; but it
affords but little nutriment, and we might make the same if we would. We find it
in Writers of husbandry,

How we may make bread without leaven,
Out of Didymus some adde Nitre, for Nitre makes bread more crumbly, as it doth
flesh also. Some the day before they make their bread, cast Grapes into the water,
and the next day when they will make their bread they take them away, for they
swim above the water, and they press them out, and use the moisture pressed forth
for leaven, and so they make their bread more pleasing. If you would have leaven
last you all the year, when the new wine hath boiled in the vessels, Skim off the froth
that boils on the top, and mingle with it Millet-meal, and work it well together, and
make morsels of it, which dry in the Sun, and lay up in a moist place; and you may
take a sufficient quantity and use it for leaven.

CHAP. XVII.
Divers sorts of Bread made of Roots and fruits.
NOw we shall proceed to other kinds of bread, found out in our days, that are
no small profit to us when corn is dear.

How to make bread of the Roots of Cuckow-pint,
the root of Wake-Robin, when it is not too acrimonious is eaten and desired
in meats. Dioscorides saith, The decoction was drank, as not being over
sharp. Galen, That it was eaten as Rape-roots, and in some Countries it grows
more corroding. To prepare it rightly, pour out the water of the first boyling, and
presently cast it into other hot water. In Cyrene those Roots are otherwise then
amongst us, for there it is no Physical root, and is not acrimonious at all, so that
it is more profitable then a Rape-root. Also our forefathers, when Corn was dear
used this Root in meats with great profit. Caesar de bello civili, Also there is a kind
of Root, found by them that were with Valerius, which is called Chara, which
mingled with milk releived a Souldier that was hungry, and it was made up like
to bread. There was great plenty of this Root, and of it bread was made, when
those of Pompey his side objected to our Souldiers that they wanted food, they would
commonly throw these at them, that they might deceive their expectation. And
a little after the Army used this and were very healthful. And in Dioscorides in the
false names of simples, Cuckow-pint was of old called Chara, with us it is so acri∣monious
that we scarce can endure to touch it with our tongues. But I shall open
the reason how excellent bread may be made of it, and if I may say so, better then
Wheat-bread. The great Roots are made clean, and they are cut into small thin plates,
for the thinner they are cut, the sooner will they become pleasant, and they
must boil in vessels of hot water, until you perceive the water grow sharp
and the Roots somewhat sweet; pour out the former water, and pour in fresh,
Page 143

then boil them again, till the water become sweet, and the root when it is cheweded
hath no acrimony left. Then take them out of the water, and put them upon lin∣nen
cloths, extended and hanging up until they be dry, then grind them in hand∣mils
and the meal will be exceeding white, which by it self a with a third part of
wheat-meal added to it, will make most pure bread and well rasted: There are
other ways to make it sooner; when you have obtained this art, you will be exceed∣ing
glad I am very certain of it. For with great pleasure

Bread of Asphodils is eaten.
This is so fruitful of round-heads with us, that no Plant hath more, for oftimes 80
heads will be heaped together. Moreover, Mountains and Sea-shores are full of
them, that it may be truly thought to be made for mans meat. Pliny, The Daffo∣dil
is eaten with the seed and head terrified. But this rosted in the embers as Hesi∣od
affirms, is eaten with oyle also braied with figs, it is eaten with great pleasure.
These Round-heads are like to Navews of moderate bigness. So saith Galen also.
But with us they are so unpleasant, and acrimonious in tast, that a man cannot eat
them; and Sowes digging them up with their snowts, will hardly feed on them,
no not when we want corn can we eat this in our greatest hunger, it was the poor
fair of frugal antiquity. But by boiling, the sharpness of it becomes more mild, and the
heat of it more tolerable, as we said of Cuckow-pint. It will be sufficient to satis∣fie
a mans hunger, as of old it was used: As Pliny saith, We have made most whole∣som
bread of these mingled with meal, especially for men wasted and in consump∣tions,
also

Bread is made of Rape-roots, Turneps, and Skirworts.
For of those boil'd and cooked, first cleansed from all excrements, a most com∣mendable
bread may be made, as I have tried: But meal must be mingled with
them to a third part, or else half as much of one, and the other as we shall shew a lit∣tle
after. And not to be tedious, the same way-bread to eat, may be made of all
Navews, Roots, or Bulbous-heads. Also there is made

Excellent bread of Gourds,
For Gourds may be had very cheap, and they make savoury bread with meal, and so
the bread is greater, for this is the greatest of all fruits; for with a very little meal
in time of Famine we may feed many men, and not onely use it for need, but for
dainties also: for seasoned with Sugar, and prepared for mens pallats, and to quench
feaverish heats, they are carried about every where to be sold. The way to make
them up is this, Take great round Gourds, and fully ripe, and cut into many pieces
the dry skin, and the pith must be taken from them with a knife; put them into a
kettle of boiling water, and boil them, for by long boiling the grassy greenness, and
the rank smell and loathsom taste are taken away, and they will smell better and taste,
and nourish better, and will last as long as bread. Being now brought to the form
of an ointment, press it through a linnen strainer with your hands, that if any parts
of it be not well boiled or any woddy pieces be there, they may be kept back by
the narrowness of the strainer. To this Mass, adde a third part of meal, and make
them into bread together, which will be pleasant to eat daily, I will not have
you to eat your fill of it, but if you eat it moderately it will profit much. When it is
new it is excellent, but stale, it is not so sightly nor dainty. I have shew'd you the
way how you must use such things of superfluous moisture, now do you learn wisely
to do it.

Page 144
CHAP. XVIII.
Divers ways to make bread of all sorts of Corn and Pulse.
ANtiently they made Bread of divers kinds of Corn and Pulse, it would be
needless to repeat them, for you may find them in the Books of the Antients,
and there can be no error in making them. In Campania very sweet bread is made
of Millet: Also the people of Sarmatia are chiefly fed with this bread, and with the
raw meal tempered with Mares-milk, or blood drawn out of the veins of their legs.
The Ethiopians know no other Corn then Millet and Barley. Some parts of France
use Panick, but chiefly Aquitane: But Italy about Po, adde Beans to it, without
which they make nothing. The people of Pontus prefer no meat before Panick. Pa∣nick
meal now adays is neglected by us and out of use, for it is dry and of small
nourishment; of Millet bread and cakes are made, but they are heavy and hard of
digestion and clammy to eat. Unless they be eaten presently when they are newly
baked, or not, else they become heavy and compact together. Of the Indian Mais,
heavy bread is made and not pleasant at all, very dry and earthly next to Millet: like
to this is bread called Exsergo, that is also void of nutrimental juice. There was
also of old bread called Ornidos, made of a certain seed of Ethiopia, so like Sesamum
that it is hard to know them asunder. Also

Bread is made of Lupins,
The best kind was known also to the Antients; For Didymus teacheth how Lupins
will grow sweet, being three days infused in River or Sea-water, and when they
grow mild they must be dried and laid aside, and then the meal of them mingled
with Barley-meal or Wheat-meal is fit to make bread. But we make it thus, First
the Lupins are ground in mills, and are made into flower: fifty pound of these are
put into a wooden vessel, and fair water is cast upon them, that it may swim four
fingers breadth above them; and it must be often stirred with a woodden stick,
then let it settle till the water grow clear, and the meal sink down, then strain the
water well, that no meal be lost; and pour on water the second time, and stir it
as before; do so the third time till the meal and water be come sweet, which will
be done in one day if the water be often changed. As that is done, put the meal
into a linnen cloth laid abroad, that the meal may be seperated with a wooden
slice, and the water may run away through the cloth, and the meal may dry the
better upon the cloth. In the mean time boil two pound of Rice, and being boil'd
mingle them with the Lupins, divide the whole into two parts, and mingle one
with the leaven and a hundred pound of wheat-meal, and make bread of it; let
the other be set by with the leven till the next day, which being mingled again
with wheat-meal, will make excellent bread, and will not taste of Lupins. But you
must use all diligence in the making of it, for if you make it not of the best meal,
the bread will be naught, wherefore the work lies in the right preparation of it:
For the worse Corn or Pulse you make it of, the more Corn must be taken to pre∣pare
it. After this manner it may be made of Tares and Vetches, and the favour
of them is dulcified with water and mingling meal with them. Bread is made also of
Peason, Chiches, Tarses, Lentils, Beans, and chiefly of Acorns. But it is not un∣profitable
to make

Bread of Herbs,
If a man cut the Herb Clot-bur small and grind it in a mill to very fine powder, and
adde as much or a third part of wheat-meal to it, it will make good bread, that
may be eaten when there is a famine; and I have heard that the poor eat it in some
places, and it hurts them not, and that some in a siege have lived a moneth with
such bread.

Page 145
CHAP. XIX.
How bread may be increased in weight.
NOw I shall shew how bread may be augmented; a thing very strange and pro∣fitable,
not onely to help in time of need, but it is good for the Housholder,
for with little meal he may nourish many, and fill their bellies; and that three
wayes: For there be things that added to Corn, will increase the substance of the
bread; other things are dry, and of a clammy nature, that will thicken the Ele∣ment
by refraction into the substance of bread. The last way is the life of the heat
of it, whereby it waxes and grows as if it were alive. As much as is lost by the
bran taken from it, is added to it, by casting water on it when it is ground, and in
the other workmanship. Moreover, the baking of bread takes away a tenth part
and a half of the weight. Let us see how our Ancestors did by some Earth or

Chalk make their bread more weighty and white.
Pliny teacheth that Spelt will grow white by a kind of chalk, thus. Let this Spelt
be of Beer-corn, which he called a seed; the corns of it are bruised in a wooden
morter, for it will be spoiled and consumed by the hardness of a stone: the best as
it is well known, is made by those that are condemned to bray in morters for their
punishment. For the best there is an iron box, the hulls being then beaten off;
again, with the same instruments the marrow of it being made bare, is broken; so
are there made three kinds of this Spelt-meal, the finest, the second sort, and the
third that is the coursest. But yet they are not white, which makes them excellent,
yet now are these preserved at Alexandria; after this, (it is very strange) chalk is
mingled with them, that passes both into the body and the colour of them, and
makes them tender. You shall find this between Puteoli and Naples, on the Hill
called Leucogaeum. And there is extant a decree of Divus Augustus, wherein he
commanded to pay them at Naples yearly 20000 Sestertia out of his Treasury,
drawing his Colony to Capua, and he assigns the cause, by reason that they of Cam∣pania
affirmed that Spelt-meal could not be made without that stone.

Rice makes bread weigh.
It neither corrupts the taste or goodness of the bread, but increaseth both, and it
brings it closer by one eighth part, for by a continual turning it, it will retaineth
volatil meal; and from hence you shall see it coagulate, and when it is coagulated
put leaven to it; but it must first grow cold, lest the force of the coagulation should
be hindred. To binde this fugitive servant fast, adde so much Wheat-meal as may
fasten it well together, till you see there is enough, and you shall find it increased
to the weight desired. By this example

You may increase the weight of bread with Millet.
This is easily done, for it is dry, ctumbles, and will not hang together, and is weak;
let it be bruised with a wooden pestle, and sifted through a sieve till the hulls be par∣ted,
as we see it done at Rome and at Florence; by this we hold it, that it flie not,
away by its hungry driness; then we mingle it with Wheat, and the air reflects back,
and it will be converted into the substance of Alica, that you will think nothing
taken from the taste, colour or goodness, nor yet added to it. Nor will it be un∣pleasant
to see

Bread weigh more by adding milk to it.
This is an experiment of great profit and praise-worthy; for it adds weight and
Page 146

whitenesse to bread, and makes it short, being put in instead of water whilst it is
hot. I never tasted any thing more pleasant or tender. I thought fit to adde this
for the singular vertue of it, adding also such things as we knew to be necessary for
this art. But truly that is admirable; by the same

Wheat to increase the weight of Wheat.
This is done without any addition, for if we would, we could do this with many
and almost infinite things, with any small addition; but in this a leaven is drawn
forth of the very substance of the Wheat, which being strained, cleansed and
added to the same again, either by increasing the substance of it, or by retracting
the air into its substance, it will be much augmented: giving you this warning
before-hand, that the augmenting heat must not be diminished, but preserved
and increased, that all may depend on this. But an admirable work of Nature,
and full of wonder it is, how it may be that

Wheat may increase out of it self.
I cannot discover this, how it came into my mind, lest it should be made publike
to every common fellow, and ignorant Animal. Yet not to conceal it from in∣genious
men, I shall hide it from these, and open it to those. That our fore-fa∣thers
knew it not is clear, because there is no such thing mentioned in all their
works of making bread. The whole businesse consists in this, that the Wheat∣meal
may be managed with the life of its heat, which is the off-spring of celestial
fire. By nature it is of such renuity, that being raised with its heat, it will make the
lump swell so much, that it will come up to the top of the vessel; the next day
cast it into a Hutch, and adde more meal to it, which again being raised by its heat,
and coming back again by the same, and meeting with the lump, as flowing
back again, it joins into the refracted Elements, and so into clotters of meal.
Do this thrice or four times, and so you may increase it continually, and this
must be done in a stove, that the dewy spirit may be fostered. I thought good to
tell you also before, that you must not prick the lump, lest the generative blast
should breath forth, and flie into the air, for so you will lose your labour; and
there must not want presently a dewy vapour, which being carried into the air,
and made to drop, may moisten the lump, so you will rejoice at the wonderful
increase: but you must be cunning in the manual application. Pray do not destroy
by your negligence, what was invented by the careful ingenuity of those that
tried it.

CHAP. XX.
How we may long endure hunger and thirst.
THe Antients had some compositions to drive away hunger and thirst, and they
were very necessary both in times of Famine, and in wars. Pliny saith, some
things being but tasted, will abate hunger and thirst, and preserve our forces, as
Butter, Licoris, Hippace; and elsewhere, Scythia first produced that root which
is called Scythia, and about Baeotia it grows very sweet. And another, that is ex∣cellent
against Convulsions, also it is a high commendation of it, that such as have it
in their mouths fell nor hunger nor thirst; Hippace amongst them doth the same,
which effects the same in horses also. And they report that with these two herbs
the Scythians will fast twelve dayes, and live without drink also; all which he tran∣slated
out of Theophrastus first book. The Scythian Hippace is sweet also,
and some call it Dulcis; it grows by Maeotis. Amongst other properties, it
quencheth thirst also, if it be held in the mouth. For which cause both with
Page 147

both with that, and with the other called equestris, men say, the Scythians will endure
hunger and thirst twelve dayes. Hence it appears that Pliny translated all this out
of Theophrastus. But I think he erred, for Hippace signifies Cheese made of Mares
milk, and is no herb. Theodorus translated it Equestrem, as it were a root like Li∣coris,
fit to drive away hunger and thirst. For Hippocrates saith, the Scythian shep∣herds
eat Hippace, but that is Mares Cheese: and elsewhere, The Scythians pour
Mares milk into hollow vessels of wood and shake it, and that froths with churm∣ing,
and the fat of it they call butter, which swims on the top, that which is hea∣vy
sinks to the bottom, they separate this and dry it, when it is dry, they call it Hip∣pace:
the reason is, because Mares milk nourisheth exceedingly, and is as good as
Cows milk. Dioscorides, The west Indians use another composition also

To endure hunger and thirst.
Of the herb called Tobacco, namely of the juice thereof, and the ashes of Cockle
shells they make little balls and dry them in the shade, and as they travel for three
or four dayes they will hold one of them between their under lip and their teeth,
and this they suck continually, and swallow down what they suck, and so all the
day they feel neither hunger, thirst, nor weariness; but we will teach another com∣position,
which Heron mentions, and it was called

The Epimenidian composition, to endure hunger and thirst.
For it was a medicament that nourished much, and abated thirst, and this was the
food the besiegers of Cities and the besieged also lived on. It was called the Epi∣menidian
composition, from the Sea-onion called Epimendium, that is one of the
ingredients of that composition; it was made thus, The squil was boiled and washt
with water, and dryed, and then cut into very small pieces, then mingle sesamum a
fift part, poppy a fifteenth part, make all these up with honey, as the best to make
up the mass, to mitigate it: divide the whole, as into great Olives, and take one
of these about two of the clock, another about ten; and they felt no hurt by hun∣ger,
that used it. There is another composition of the same, that hath of Athenian
sesamum half a Sextarius, of honey a half part, of oyle a Cotyle, and a Chaenice of
sweet Almonds mundified: the sesamum and Almonds must be dried, and
ground, and winowed, then the squil must have the outsides taken off, and the
roots and leaves must be cut into small pieces, and put into a morter and bruised,
till they be well mollified, then you must make up the squils with the like quantity
of honey and of oyle, and put all into a pot, and set them in cold, and stir them
well with a wooden ladle, till they be well mingled, when the lump is firm, it is
good to cut it into little morsels, and he that eats one in the morning, another at
night, hath meat enough. This medicament is good for an Army, for it is sweet,
and so fills a man and quencheth thirst: we had this in an old Scholiast, a Manu∣script
upon the book of Heron, in the Vatican Library. I saw the same composition
in Philo, in his fifth book of wars, where he describes such like other things.

CHAP. XXI.
Of what fruits wines may be made.
NOw we shall speak of fruits, of which wines may be made. And first our An∣cestors
did do thus, but they had two wayes; for some were for Physicks,
which are found plentifully in Physick books: others again were for ordinary use,
and they were divers, and almost infinite, according as the differences of places
and Nations are: for what is granted to one is denyed to another. First

Page 148
Wine of Dates.
Pliny saith that in the East they make wine of Dates, and he reckons up fifty kinds of
Dates, and as many different wines from them; Cariotae are the chief, full of juice,
of which are made the principal wines in the East, they are naught for the head, and
thence they have their name. The best are found in Judaea, chiefly about Jericho,
yet those of Archelaiis are well esteemed, and of Phaselis, and of Libias, valleyes
of the same Country. The chiefest property they have is this, they are full of a
white fat juice, and very sweet, tasting like wine with honey. The wine will make
one drunk, and the fruit also eaten largely. Dioscorides teacheth thus; Put ripe
Dates called Chydeae, into a pitcher with a hole at bottom, and stopt with a pitched
reed; shut the hole with linnen, and to fourty Sextarii pour on three gallons of
water. If you would not have it so sweet, five gallons will be sufficient to pour on;
after ten dayes take away the reed with the linnen, take the thick sweet wine and
set it up. Also wine is made

Of Figs.
Sotion relates it thus. Some make wine of green figs, filling half the vessel with
them, and the other half to the brim they fill with fair water, and they try still
by tasting; for when it tasts like wine, they strain it and use it. It is made, faith
Dioscorides, of ripe figs, and it is called Catorchites or Sycites, Chelidonian or
Phaenician figs called Caricae, are steeped in a pot with a hole in the bottom with a
pitched reed, and the hole stopt with flax: to fourty Sextarii you must pour on three
gallons of water, and if you will not have the wine so sweet, pour on five gallons
and it will do. After ten dayes the liquor is taken, and again the third time also the
same measure of water wherein the figs were infused, is poured on; and in the like
manner, after four or five dayes it is drawn off. Some to six Amphorae thereof adde
ten Sextarii of salt, that it may not early corrupt: others put Fennel and Thyme
in the bottom, and the Caricae on the top, and so in order, till the vessel be full:
also men make

Wine of Pears,
which from the Greek word for Pears is called Apyres, and from the Latin Piery
Palladius saith it was thus. They are bruised and put in a very course bag of Can∣vas,
and pressed with weights, or in a Press. It lasts in the Winter, but in Sum∣mer
comes it sowrer. Dioscorides will not have the Pears too ripe; the same way
is made

Wine of Pomegranates.
Sotion makes wine of the grains of the Pomegranate, taking away what is in the mid∣dle
of the grains. Palladius put the ripe grains well purged into a Date pail, and
press them out with a scrue press, then boil them gently to half; when it is cold,
put it into vessels that are pitched or plaistered with Gipsum. Some do not boil the
juice, but to every Sextarius they mingle one pound of honey, and put all in the
said vessels and keep it. There is made

Wine of the Lote-tree fruit.
There is a kind of Lote without any inward kernel, which is as hard as a bone in
the other kind: wine is pressed also out of it like Mead, that will not last above
ten dayes; Nepos saith the same from Pliny, Athenaus from Polybius. Wine is made
of the Lote steeped in water and bruised, very pleasant to the taste as the best Mead
is; it is drunk pure without water also, but it will not last above ten dayes, where∣fore
they make but little for use to last onely so long. Vineger is made also of it.
And yet not much or good enough, yet there is made

Wine of Myrtles berries and Cornels,
Page 149

Out of Sotion, who of the berries of Myrtles and Cornels when they are fresh,
pounded and pressed our, made wine. Now I shall shew how we may make

Wine of Corn.
Drink is made of Corn. Dioscorides teacheth to make Beer of Barley, also a drink
is made of Barley called Curmi, they use that drink oft-times for wine; the like
drinks are wont to be made of Wheat. In Hiberia toward the west and in Britany;
whence Pliny, of Corn drink is made: Beer in Egypt, called Zythum, in Spain Cae∣lia
and Ceria, Beer in France and other Provinces. In Aristotles book of drun∣kenness,
those that drink wine made of Barley till they be drunk fall upon their
backs, they call that wine 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, but those that are drunk with any other kind of
drinks fall any way, on the right, or left hand, forward or backward, but those that
drink Pinum, fall onely upon their backs. Wine made of Barley they call Brytum.
Sophocles in Triptolemo, and Aeschylus in Lycurgo. But Hellanicus saith, that Bry∣tum
is made in Farms out of roots. Hecateus saith, that the Egyptians grinde Bar∣ley
to make drink, and that the Macedonians drink Brytum made of Barley, and
Parabia made of Millet, and Rice, saith Athenaeus. Also wine is made of Rice;
for saith Aelianus, when an Elephant fights in war, they give him not onely wine of
grapes, but of Rice also. Now the same drink is made in the Northern Climates
of Corn, and they call it Biera, but they put hops to it, for it cannot be made
without; Barley and Wheat are infused in the decoction of it. We see that of Bar∣ley
and Wheat steeped in water a drink is made that tastes like wine, and of them I
have made the best aqua vitae. But these drinks of old were Physical, rather then to
use as wine. But I shall shew how some drinks that are so like wine in taste, that
you would think they were wine indeed. And first

Wine of Honey.
To nine vessels of water put eighteen pounds of Honey, into brass Caldrons co∣vered
with Tin, and let them boil a long time, stirring all with wooden ladles, and
wiping away the froth that riseth with little brushes, pour it out, & put it into a wine
vessel, then take two pounds of red wine Tartar, and boil them in water till they
be dissolved, to which add an eighth part of a vessel of vineger, that the loath∣some
and unpleasing taste of the sweetnesse of Honey may be lost, let these be min∣gled;
then pour on two vessels of the best wine, then let it settle; after some days
strain it through a hair-cloth strainer, or one of cloth to cleanse it from the filth
and excrements. A liquor will run from this that will serve for sparing, and to a∣bate
charge in a family, and it is good to drink in health and sickness: cover it
close, and drink it. I shall shew you another way to make

Wine of Raisins.
Pour into a brass Caldron seven vessels of water, put in two pounds of Raisins, let
them boil till they be wasted in the water, and the water be sweet as Mead; if
your kettle be too small, do it at several times: then take your kettle from the
fire, and when the liquor grows cold, strain it gently forth; put up the strained li∣quor
in a wine vessel, and pour into it a measure of the sharpest red wine vineger
to abate the sweetnesse of the Raisins, then add nine pound of Tartar finely powder∣ed
unto it, and pouring on a fourth part of the best wine, stop the vessel close
when it is full, after one week use it. Another

Wine of Quinces.
Put into brass Caldrons glazed with Tin a vessel of new wine, and put thereto a∣bout
fifty wild Quinces, namely such as are full of streeks and wrinkled, take out
their kernels, cut the Quinces in peices like as you do Rape Roots, boil all at a gentle
fire; when they have boild a while, take them off, and let them cool, pound
the Quinces in a morter with a wooden pestle, press them out with a press, put
the juice pressed forth of them the new wine, and set it up in a glazed earthen vessel
for a whole year. When wine is scarce and you have occasion to use this, put
Page 150
•nto a vessel four parts of water, two of new wine, and one fourth part of the
aforesaid mixture, cover the vessel and let it boil, and when it is clear; use it. Of all
these an amphora of vineger, a pound of honey, as much Tartar in powder, let
them boil a while in a pot glazed with Nitre, and mingle them, and for every ves∣sel
of water pour on an Amphora of wine, and cover all, and after twenty dayes
use it: or take honey one pound, as much red wine Tartar, half a pound of Rai∣sins,
two Amphoras of Vineger, let them boil in a pot, adde wine also to them,
and it will be for drink. I shall adde the Northern drink

Wine called Metheglin.
The drink in Pannonia, Poland and England is more pleasant and wholesome then
many wines are; it is made of twenty pound of good honey, and of water one
hundred and twenty pound, skimming it till all comes to eighty pound, which be∣ing
cold and tunned up into a wine vessel, put in leaven of bread six ounces, or as
much as will serve to make it work, and purifie it self, and withal put into a bag,
that hangs and may be put into the liquor, and not touch the bottom, of Cinna∣mon,
granes of Paradise, Pepper, Ginger, Cloves two drams, one hand full of El∣der
flowers: let them stand in a wine Cellar all the Winter, in Summer set them
fourty dayes in the Sun, till they taste like wine, and the unpleasant taste of the
honey be gone. But it will be more pleasant if you add a third part of wine.

CHAP. XXII.
How vineger may be made divers wayes, and of what.
AFter wine it follows to speak of vineger: First, how our forefathers made it;
then how of late years, that it may be made extream sowre, which is not on∣ly
good for a family, but is necessary for many Arts. Also there are some Countries
where wine, and so vineger is scarce. Therefore in those places divers men have u∣sed
their wits to make it: wherefore to begin, we say that

Vineger may be made of the Fig-tree.
Out of Columella; A green fig must be taken very betimes, and also if it have rain∣ed,
and the figs fall to the earth beaten down with showres, gather those figs and
put them up in Hogs-heads or Amphora, and let them ferment there; then when
it grows sharp, and hath sent out some liquor, what vineger there is strain it out di∣ligently,
and pour it into a sweet pitched vessel. This yields the best sharp vineger,
and it will never grow musty or hoary, if it be not set in too moist a place. Some
to make more quantity, mingle water with the figs, and then they adde to them
the ripest new figs, and they •et them consume in that liquor, until it tast sharp e∣nough
like vineger, then they strain all through rushy baskets, or withie bags;
and they boil this vineger till they have taken off all the froth, and filth from it.
Then they adde some terrefied salt, and that hinders worms and other vermine to
breed in it. Cassianus makes it thus: Put into a vessel old figs, terresied Barley, and
the internal parts of Citrons. Stir it often and diligently, and when they are pu∣trified
and soaked, strain them out, and use them. Apuleius, They make vineger of
figs, wet upon the Trees, and cast into water to putrifie, Dioscorides, The liquor
of figs steeped grows sharp as vineger, and is used for it. There is made also

Vineger of Dates.
To Date wine we speak of, some adde water, and receive it again; and they do this
three, four, five or six times, and at last it grows sowre. From the same, Pliny teach∣eth
to make

Vineger of honey.
You must wash your honey vessels, or hives in water, with this decoction is made
the most wholesome vineger. Palladius teacheth the way to make
Page 151

Vineger of Pears.
wild Pears are such as are sharp and ripe, are kept three dayes in a heap, then they
are put into a vessel, and fountain or river water is put to them, the vessel is left
covered thirty dayes, then as much vineger as is taken out for use, so much water is
put in to repair it. Cassianus makes

Vineger of Peaches.
Put soft delicate Peaches into a vessel, and adde parched Barley to them, let them
putrifie for one day, then strain them out, and use it. We may from Cassianus
make

Vineger without wine.
If you boil Gypsum and sea-water, and then mingle it with River water, and use it
being strained. But if you will

Turn wine into vineger, and contrarily vineger into wine,
Cassianus hath it. He puts Beet roots bruised into wine, it will be vineger when
three hours are over. But if he would restore it again as it was, he puts in Cabbage
roots. So also

To make the same.
We may do it another way and quickly: Cast into wine, Salt, Pepper and sowre
leaven, mingle them and they will soon make it vineger. But to do it more quick∣ly,
quench in it often a red hot brick or piece of steel; also provide for that unripe
Medlars, Cornels, Mulberries and Plums. But Sotion shews to make

Sharp vineger of new wine.
Dry the mother of wine of grapes at the Sun, and put them into new wine, adding
a few sowre grapes thereto and it will make sharp vineger that will be for use after
seven dayes; or put in pellitory of Spain and it will be sharp. Moreover, if you
boil a fourth or fifth part of vineger at the fire, & put that to the rest, and set all eight
days in the Sun, you shall have most sharp and pleasant wine. The roots of old
grass, and Raisins, and the leaves of a wild Pear-tree bruised, and the root of the
bramble, and whey of milk, burnt Acorns, Prunes rosted, and the decoctions of
Chiches, and pot-sheards red hot, all of these put severally into vineger, will make
it tart. Apuleius teacheth

To double the quantity of vineger.
Take a good measure of Vineger, about a Metreta, and to that adde one Metreta
of Sea-water boiled to half, mingle them and set them aside in a vessel. Some steep
Barley, and strain it, and of that juice they mingle one Metreta, and they stir them
together, and they cast in torrefied salt when it is yet hot, a good quantity, then
they cover the vessel, and let it stand eight dayes. But I use to make it thus,

Vineger of clusters of grapes pressed forth.
After the Vintage, we cast in the clusters when the wine is pressed forth into a woo∣den
vessel, and we pour upon them a quantity of water, and it will be vineger
when a week is over. Moreover, we cut the tendrels from Vines, and bruise them,
and put water to them, and it will be vineger. Also thus,

Ill wine is turned to vineger.
When the bunches of grapes are pressed forth, lay them between two wooden
bowls, not very thick together, let them grow hot for four days; then pour on them
so much naughty wine as may cover them, let them alone 24 hours, then strain
them into another wooden bowl, and after so many hours, put them into another
bowl, and do so til it be turned into most sharp white vineger; and if you would make
more of the same clusters, pour on upon them some sharp vineger, and let them a∣lone
till they be extream sharp and sowre, then take that out and pour on ill wine,
and do as you did. Lastly press those clusters out in a press, and you shall recover
as great quantity as of the wine that was spent.

Page 152
CHAP. XXIII.
How the defects of wine may be managed and restored.
OUr forefathers found out many remedies to preserve wine, and in our dayes
we have taken no less pains. For wine is easily corrupted, and takes to it
self many strange qualities. Paxamus saith, wine either grows sowre or dead a∣bout
the Solstices, and when the seven stars set, or when the dog star causeth heat,
and when it is extream cold, or hot, or rainy, or windy, or when it thunders. We
shall shew remedies for all these; First, we shall lay down out of Africanus, the signs
to know wines that will last, or will corrupt. When you have put your wine into
a vessel, after some time change the vessel, and look well on the Lees, for thence
shall you know what the wine is, proving it by smelling to it, whether it corrupt,
or weevils breed in it, these are signs it putrifies. Others take wine out of the
middle of the vessel, they heat it, and when it is cold they taste of it, and they
judge of the wine by the favour, some by the smell of the cover; a strong taste is
the best sign, a watry the worst, sharpness of duration, weakness of corrupting. The
signs must be taken at the times to be feared, we mentioned. But to come to the re∣medies,
we shall shew how

To mend weak wine.
The wine will be weak, when it begins to breath forth that force of heat; fot
when the soul of it is breathed forth, the wine grows immediately sowre: vineger
is the carcasse of wine. Then we may presently prevent it by adding aqua vitae to
it, for by that it may put on a new soul: the measure will be the fourth part of a
pound for a vessel. Another remedy will be

That wine may not grow hot.
In the Summer Solstice wine grows hot by the hot weather, and is spoiled: then
put quick-silver into a glass-viol well stopt, and hang it in the middle of the vessel,
and the coldness of it will keep the wine from heating. The quantity is two
pound for great vessels; for when the air is hot, the external heat draws forth the
inward heat, and when that is gone, it is spoiled. We

That wine may not exhale
use this remedy. The vessel being full, we pour oyle upon it, and cover it, for oyle
keeps the spirits from evaporating, which I see is now used for all liquors that they
may not be perverted. Wines sometimes are troubled: But

To clear wines,
Fronto bids us do thus. Cast three whites of egges into a large earthen dish and beat
them, that they may froth; put some white salt to them, that they may be exceed∣ing
white, and pour them into a vessel full of wine, for salt and the white of an
egge will make all thick liquors clear, but as many Dolia or such measures as there
are in the vessel, so many whites of egges must you have, to be mingled again with
so many ounces of salt, but you must stir the mixture with a stick, and in four dayes
it will grow clear. Also it is done

That wines may not corrupt.
I said that salt keeps all things from corrupting: wherefore for every Dolium, pow∣der
one ounce of Allome, and put it into the wine vessel with the wine,
for it will keep it from corrupting. The same is done if you put in one
ounce of common salt, or half one, half the other: Also brimstone
hinders putrefaction. Wherefore if you shall adde to eight ounces of Allome or of
Page 153

Salt, four ounces of brimstone, you shall do well. The Antients were wont to
peserve wine, by adding Salt or sea-water to it, and it would continue along time.
Columella teacheth thus, when the winds are quiet you must take water out of the
deep sea: when it is very calm, and boyl it to thirds, adding to it, if you please,
some spices. There are many ordinary things, but we let them pass.

CHAP. XXIV.
How Oyl may be made of divers things.
IT is an excellent thing to shew the diversity of ways to make Oyl. That if
Olives should ever be scarce, yet we might know how to draw Oyl from ma∣ny
kinds of fruits and seeds. And some of these ways that came from the Antients,
yet onely the best and such as are our inventions. Wherefore to begin, We say
that

Oyl may be made of Ricinus, call'd Cicinum.
Dioscorides makes it thus. Let ripe Ricini as many as you please, wither in the
hot Sun, and be laid upon hurdles: let them be so long in the Sun, till the out∣ward
shell break and fall off. Take the flesh of them and bruise it in a morter di∣ligently,
then put it into a Caldron glazed with Tin that is full of water: put fire
under and boil them, and when they have yielded their inbred juyce, take the
vessel from the fire, and with a shell skim off the Oyl on the top, and keep it.
But in Egypt where the custom of it is more common: for they cleanse the Ricini and
put them into a Mill, and being well grownd, they press them in a press through
a basket. Pliny saith, They must be boiled in water, and the Oyl that swims on
the top must be taken off. But in Egypt where there is plenty of it, without fire,
and water sprinkled with Salt, it is ill for to eat, but good for Candles. But
we collected them in September, for then is the time to gather them, with it
parts from a prickly cover and a coat that holds the seed in it; it is easily cleansed
in a hot Caldron: The weight of Oyl is half as much as the seed, but it must be
twice knocked, and twice pressed. Palladius shews how

Oyl of Mastick is made,
gather many Grains of the Mastick-tree, and let them lye in a heap for a
day and a night: Then put a basket full of those Berries into any vessel, and
pouring hot water thereto, tread them and press them forth. Then from that hu∣mour
that runs forth of them, the Oyl of Mastick that swims on the top is poured
off. But remember lest the cold might hold it there, to pour hot water often on.
For thus we see it made with us, and all the Country of Surrentum: also, so is
made

Oyl of Turpentine,
as Damageron teacheth. The fruit of Turpentine is grownd in a Mill, as the Olives
are, and is pressed out, and so it sends forth Oyl. The kernels serve to feed hogs
and to burn. Likewise

Oyl of Bays,
Boil Bay-berries in water, the shels yield a certain fat, it is forced out by cru∣shing
them in the hands, then gather the Oyl into horns. Palladius almost as
Dioscorides, in January boil many Bay-berries, that are ripe and full, in hot water,
and when they have boy'ld long, the watry oyl that swims on the top that comes
Page 154

from them, you shall gently pour off into vessels, driving it easily with feathers. The
Indians make as it is said

Oyl of Sesamon.
It is made as we said before, it sends forth excellent Oyl abundantly. There is made

Oyl of the Plane-Tree.
Pliny, For want sometimes they are forced to make Oyl for candles, of the Plane-tree
berries soaked in water and salt, but it is very little as I proved. Pliny saith
the Indians make

Oyl of Ches-nuts,
which I think very difficult, for but a little will come from them, as you shall find
if you try. He said also, That Gallia Cisalpina made

Oyl of Acorns of the Oak
to serve for lights; but we can make very little. Also the Ancients used to make

Oyl of Wallnuts,
that they pressed from the Wallnuts, unsavoury and of a heavy taste: for if there
be any rottenness in the kernel, the whole manner is spoil'd. Now Gallia Cisalpina
makes it for to eat, and for lights also. For lights, by parting the naughty Nuts from
the sound; but the best serves for to eat at second courses. These therefore are to
eat, and those for lights, they burn cleer, and there is nothing that yields more Oyl.
For it turns almost all to Oyl, for one pound of cleansed Nuts will yield almost
ten ounces of Oyl. Now follows

Oyl of sweet Almonds.
Oyl of sweet Almonds is best for food, and of bitter, for Physick, and of old it was
made with great diligence. Dioscorides shews the way how half a bushel of bitter
Nuts cleansed and dried, are pounded in a morter with a wooden pestle into
lump•, then a sextarius of seething water is poured on, and when for half an hour
the moisture is drunk in, they are beaten more violently then before; then is it
pressed between boards, and what sticks to the fingers is collected with shells.
The Nuts being pressed again, a Hemina of water is sprinkled on them, and when
they have drank that up, they do as before; every bushel yields an Hemina. With
us it is commonly drawn out the same way. These are the Oyls of the Antients.
Now we shall proceed with our Oyls: Next follows

Oyl of small Nuts.
They yield abundance of sweet sented excellent Oyl, which all may use also for
meats: one pound of the cleansed Nuts will yield eight ounces of Oyl, which for∣mer
times were ignorant of.

Oyl of Pistaches
serve for Meat and Physicks. Out of

Pine kirnels Oyl is made
They are cull'd, and the naughty ones serve for lights; but the Oyl that comes from
the best, is for to eat, and for Physick; very much is extracted. I saw it at Ravenna.
But

Oyl of Beech,
The best of all is pressed out in abundance, for meats and for lights. It burns very
cleer, and tastes as sweet Almonds, and the whole Nut almost goes into Oyl,
Page 155

as the Wallnut doth. The elder the Mast is, the more Oyl it yields and the Lees
of the Oyl is excellent to far Oxen and Hogs. They are soon gathered, cleansed,
bruised and pressed: We pressed also

Oyl from the bastard Sycomore,
as they call it; for it is abundant in seed, and in winter the boughs of it are seen
loaded with seed onely. In February we collected it and crumbled it, the shell is
broken into six or seven parts, the kernels are like a Pear, they are bruised and heat∣ed
in a pan, then put into a press, and they yield their Oyl: They make clear light
in lamps, and the seed yields a fourth part of Oyl. There is drawn

Oyl out of the Sanguine-Tree
for lights. About the middle of September the ripe berries are taken forth of the
clusters, let them dry a few days, bruise them, and let them boyl in water in a
brass kettle for one hour, then put them into the press, you shall have green colour∣ed
Oyl, about a seventh part of the seed. The Mountainous people use it. There
is pressed

Oyl out of the Grapes or Raisins,
The Greeks call'd these Gigarta: Cisalpina Gallia makes oyl of them, bruised, heat,
and pressed in a press, but it is very little fit for lights, because it burns exceeding
cleer. There is much in Egypt

Oyl of Radish-seed
made: they use it to season their meats, and boil it with them. But Cisalpina Gallia
presseth Oyl out of Radish-seed, and Rape-seed: Rapes are pulled up onely in No∣vemb•r,
but they are covered with sand together with their leaves. They are plan∣ten
in March, that they may seed in May. For unless they be pulled up, they freeze
with winter cold. But there is another kind of Rape that is sowed in July; it is
weeded, it comes forth in the spring, in May it yields seed: out of a quarter of a
bushel of it, eighteen pounds of Oyl are drawn; it is good for lights, and for com∣mon
people to eat. If you sow a whole Acre with this seed, you shall have five load
of seed, and of every load you may make two hundred pounds of Oyl: it is onely
plow'd and weeded. Also

Oyl is made of the seed of Cameline.
It is made for lights, but those of Lombardy make great plenty of a golden-coloured
Oyl of a seed like to this, called Dradella. It hath plaited leaves as wild Rochet,
which they sowe amongst Pulse. The same may be said of the seeds of Nettles, Mu∣stard,
Flax, Rice.

CHAP. XXV.
How a Housholder may provide himself with many sorts of Thread.
NOw shall I speak of many sorts of Yarn, because this may much help the House∣hold,
for the Houswife hath always need thereof. Our Ancestors used Hemp
and Flax; for thus they made

Yarn of Flax:
yet there needs no example, the Thread is so common. I will speak of those
that follow, and of other inventions. Pliny. Flax is known to be ripe two
ways, when the seed smells, or looks yellow; then it is pulled up and bound
in handfuls, and dried in the Sun, letting it hang with the roots upwards
for one day: Then five of these bundles standing with their tops one
against another, that the seed may fall in the middle. Then after Wheat-harvest,
Page 156

the branches are laid in the water that is warm with the Sun, they are kept down
by some weight and soaked there, and again, as before, turn'd up-side down they
are dried in the Sun. Then being dried, they are bruised on with a flax-hammer;
that which was next the rind is call'd hard, or the worst flax, and it is fit for to make
weiks for Candles, yet that is kemmed with hackes, till all the membrans be
pilled clean. The art of kembing and making of it, is, out of fifty pound of Flax-bundles,
to make fifteen pound of Flax. Then again it is polished in Thread, it is
often beat upon a hard stone with water, and when it is woven it is bruised again
with Beetles, and the more you beat it, the better it is. Also there is made

Thread of Hemp,
Hemp is excellent for ropes. Hemp is plucked up after the Vintage, but it is clean∣sed
and pill'd with great labour. There are three sorts of it, that next the rind is
the worst, and that next the pith, the middlemost is the best, which is called Mesa:
Another

To make Thread of Broom,
It is broken and pull'd from the Ides of May, until the Ides in June, this is the time
when it is ripe. When it is pull'd, the bundles are set in heaps for two days to take
the wind; on the third day it is opened and spread in the Sun, and is dried, and then
again it is brought into the house in bundles. Afterwards it is well steep'd in sea-water,
or other water where that is wanting. Then being dried in the Sun again,
it is watered▪ if we have presently need of it, if it be wet with hot water in a vessel,
it will be the shorter way. But it must be heat to make it good, for the fresh nor
sea-water cannot soften it enough. Ropes of Hemp are preferred when they are
dry, but Broom is preserved wet, to make good the dryness of the ground it grows
on. The upper part of Egypt toward Arabia, makes linnen of Cotten. Asia makes
Flax of Spanish Broom, especially for Fishers nets to last long; the Shrub must be
soaked for ten days. And so every Countrey hath its Thread made of divers Plants
and Shrubs. We know that there is made

Thread of Nettles,
amongst the Northern people, and it is very fine and white: also there is made

Thread of Aloes in America,
it is hard, white, and most perfect. I shall describe it by their relation, because the
extream parts are full of prickles, we strike them off that they may not hinder us,
and we cut the branches into long pieces long ways, that the substance under the
rind may be the better taken away; then two Poles of wood are fastned in the
earth, crossing one the other in the middle like a cross; these are held fast with the
left hand, to make them hold fast together, and with the right the foresaid pieces or
fillets are taken by one end and drawn over the cross, that the inward part may part
from the wooddy part, and the Flax from the substance, and then they are kembed
so often, till they become white, pure, nervous, as Fiddle or Harp-strings, then
are they washed, dried, and laid up. In thirteen years after that it is planted, the
leaves grow very long even twenty foot, the stalk riseth in the middle forty foot
long. Then the top is adorned with flowers and bears fruit: I saw this at Rome,
and I never remember that I saw any thing more beautiful. I shall now speak of Flax
call'd Asbestinum. Pliny saith there is Flax also found, That fire will not consume;
they call it live-Flax, and I have seen Napkins and Table-clothes burning in the fire,
at Feasts, and they were better cleansed of filth with the fire, then they could be by
water: Wherefore of this they made Coats for Kings funerals, to keep the ashes of
the Body from other ashes. It grows in India in the desarts and scorched places with
the Sun, where no rain falls; but there are terrible creatures and serpents, and this is
preserved by burning; it is hard to be found, and difficult to wear, because it is so
short: when it is found it is as dear as the most precious Pearls. The Greeks call it
Asbestinum from the nature of it, So saith Pliny, out of which words it is plain that
Page 157

he knew not the Stone Asbestinum, when he said that it was hard to find; and dif∣ficult
to wear for the shortness of it, for it is kembed and spun by every w•man al∣most,
if she be not ignorant of it, as I saw at Venice, a woman of Cypr• and
another of Valentia, that shewed me it in great abundance in the Arsenel or Hos∣pital.
It is an excellent secret, very rare and profitable, thou•h few knew it of our
times: but I have freely communicated it, though it cannot be had, but at great •ates.

CHAP. XXVI.
To hatch Eggs with out a Hen.
NOw shall I shew how without a Hen, Eggs of Hens and other Birds may
be hatcht in summer or winter, so that if any sick people desire to eat Chickens
then, they may have them. Birds Eggs are hatched with heat, either of the same
Birds or of others, as the heat of man, of the Sun, or fire; for I have seen Hens
sit on Geese, Ducks, and Peacocks Eggs, and Pigeons sit on Hen Eggs, and a Cuc∣kow
to sit upon any of them. And I have seen women to foster and hatch Eggs be∣tween
their brests in their bosoms, and under their arm-pits. Livia Augusta when
she was young and great with childe of Nero, by Caesar Tiberius, because she earnest∣ly
desired to bring first a boy, she made use of this Omen to try it by, for she foster∣ed
an Egge in her bosom, and when she must lay it aside, she put it into her nurses
bosom, that the heat might not abate, Pliny. But Aristotle saith that Birds Eggs,
and Eggs of forefooted Beasts are ripened by the incubation of the dam; for all these
lay in the earth, and their Eggs are hatched by the warmth of the earth. For if
forefooted Beasts that lay Eggs came often where they are, that is more to preserve
and keep them then otherwise. And again, Eggs are hatcht by sitting. It is Na∣tures
way, but Eggs are not onely so hatched, but of their own accord in the earth,
as in Egypt covered with dung they will bring Chickens. Diodorus Siculus de Egyptiis.
Some are found out by mans industry, by those that keep Birds and Geese; besides,
the ways that others have to produce them, that they may have Birds that are
strange, and great numbers of them: for Birds do not sit upon their Eggs, but they
by their skill hatch the Eggs themselves. At Syracuse a certain drunken compani∣on
put Eggs under the earth in mats, and he would not leave off drinking till the Eggs
were hatcht. In Egypt about grand Cayro, Eggs are artificially hatcht; they make
an Oven with many holes, into which they put Eggs of divers kinds, as Goose eggs,
Hen Eggs, and of other Birds; they cover the Oven with hot dung, and if need be
they make a fire round about it, so are the Eggs hatcht at their due times. Paulus
Jovius in his Book of his Histories. In Egypt there is abundance of Hen Chickens:
For Hens do not there sit on their Eggs, but they are hatcht in Ovens by a gentle
heat, that by a an admirable and compendious art, Chickens are hatcht in very
few days and bred up, which they sell not by tale, but by measure. They make the
measure without a bottom, and when it is full they take it away. And in the Island
of Malta in Sicily, they make an Oven, where into they put Eggs of divers Fowls▪
as of Hens, Geese, then they make a fire round about, and the Eggs grew ripe at
times. But let us see how our Ancestors hatched their Eggs, Democritus teacheth

If a Hen do not sit, how she may have many Chickens,
The day you set your Hen upon Eggs, take Hens dung, pound it and sist it, and put
it into a hollow vessel with a great belly, lay Hens feathers round about. Then lay
your Eggs upright in it, so that the sharp end may be uppermost; and then of the
same dung, sprinkle so much on them till the Eggs be covered. But when your Eggs
have lain so covered for two or three days, turn them afterwards every day, let not
one touch the other, that they may heat alike. But after the twenty day when the
Chickens begin to be hatcht, you shall find those that are in the bottom to be crackt
round, for this reason you must write down the day they were set, lest you mi∣stake
the time: Wherefore on the twentieth day, taking of the shell, put the Chic∣kens
into a pen and be tender of them. Bring a Hen to them which is best to order
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it: yet I tried this most diligently, and it took no effect, nor can I tell how it should
be done. They that commend the Oven, do not teach the manner how it should
be done. But what I have done my self, and I have seen others do, I shall briefly
relate, that with little labour and without Hens, any one may

Hatch Eggs in a hot Oven.
Make a vessel of Wood like a Hogshead, let it be round, and the Diameter so long
as your arm is, that you thrust in, that you may lay and turn the Eggs, let it be four
foot in Altitude. This we divide by three boards within into four parts: Let the first
be a foot and half, the second little above a foot, the third a foot, and the fourth
least of all. Let every concavity divided with boards have a little door thereto, so
large as you may thrust in your arm, and its shut to open and shut at pleasure. Let
the first and second loft be made of thin boards, or wrought with twigs, let the
third be of brass arched, and the fourth of solid wood. Let the first and second
stage have a hole in the centre three fingers broad, through which must pass a bra∣zen
or iron pipe tinned over, that must come half a foot above the second story,
and so in the lower most, but in the bottom the orifice must be wider, like a Pyramis
or funnel, that it can fitly receive the heat of the flame of a candle put under it; in the
second story let the pipe be perforated about the top, that the heat breathing forth
thence, the place may be kept warm, and the Eggs may be hot in the upper part,
as they are under the Hen. Above these three rooms strew saw-dust, which I
thinks is best to cover them: Let the saw-dust be highest about the sides of the
Hogshead, but less in the middle; in the bottom where the pipe is lower, that the
Eggs that lye upon it may receive the heat that comes from the pipe every way: In
the third story where the pipe ends, let it be pressed down about the sides, and
higher in the middle about the pipe, let a linnen cloth cover the saw-dust, a fine
cloth, that if it be foul'd it may be washt again, and the Chicken hatcht may go up∣on
it. Lay upon every story a hundred Eggs, more or less, let the great end of the
Eggs lye downwards, the sharp end upwards. The walls of the Hogshead that are
above the saw-dust within the concavities, and the upper part of the story must be
covered with sheep skins, that their warmth may keep in the heat: In the lower
concavity under the Tunnel, must a light lamp be placed, at first with two weiks, in
the end with three, in summer; but at beginning of winter, first with three, and
last with four or five: Let the light fall upon the middle of the Tunnel, that the
heat ascending by the pipe, the rooms may heat all alike. The place where this ves∣sel
stands must be warm and stand in a by place; in the lower part where the lamp
is lighted, you must lay no Eggs, for that heat there will not hatch them. But
where the Chickens are wet when they are first hatched, shut them in here to dry
them by the warm heat of the lamp, marking twice or thrice every day whether the
heat abate, be warm or very hot. We shall know it thus, take an Egg out of the
place, and lay it on your Eye, for that will try it well: if it be too hot for you, the
heat is great, if you feel it not, it is weak; a strong heat will hatch them, but a weak
will make them addle. So you must adde or take away from your lamp, to make the
light adequate & proportionable: after the fourth day that the Eggs begin to be war∣med,
take them out of the cells, and not shaking them hard, hold them gently
against the Sun beams or light of a candle, and see whether they be not addle, for
if you discern any fibres or bloody matter run about the Egg, it is good; but if it be
clear and transparent, it is naught, put another Egg in the place of it: All that are
good must be daily turned at the lamp heat, and turn them round as the Hen is wont
to do. We need not fear spoiling the Eggs, or if any man do handle them gently;
in summer after nineteen or twenty days, or in winter after twenty five or twenty
eight days, you shall take the Eggs in your hand, and hold them against the Sun,
and see how the Chickens beak stands, there break the shell, and by the hole of
the Egg take the Chicken by the beak and pull out its head; then lay it in its place
again, for the Chicken will come forth it self, and when it is come out, put it in the
lower cell as I said: But let the lamp stand something from the parement, lest the
Chickens allured by the light, should pick at it and be burnt by it: And if you do
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work diligently as I have shewed you, in three hundred Eggs you shall hardly lose
ten or twenty at most. But because they are hatcht without the dam, I must shew
how to make

A Cock foster Chickens as the Hen doth,
For they would die, if none did keep them. But a Cock or Capon will perform what
the Hen should; do but shew him the Chicken, and stroke him gently on the back,
and give him meat out of your hands often, that he may become tame. Then pull
the feathers off of his brest, and rub him with Nettles, for in a few hours, not to say
days, he will take care of the Chickens so well and give them their meat, that no
Hen did ever do it, as he will.

Page 160
THE FIFTH BOOK OF Natural Magick: Which treateth of Alchymy; shewing how Metals may be altered and transformed, one into another.
THE PROEME.
WE are now come (according to that order which we proposed unto our selves in the be∣ginning)
to those experiments which are commonly called by the name of Alchymy
matters, wherein not onely a great part of the world is much conversant, but also every one
is very desirous to be a practitioner in them, and doth thirst after them with an unquench∣able
lust. Wherefore we are constrained to speak something concerning this Subject the
rather, because many rude and unskilful men, being drawn on, partly by the hope of gain,
which they looked for by it, and partly by the pleasure and delight which they did take in it,
have bestowed themselves in these experiments to the great slander both of the Art it self,
and also of the professors thereof; so that now adays, a man cannot handle it without the
scorn and obloquy of the world, because of the disgrace and contempt, which those idiots
have brought upon it. For whilst they, being altogether ignorant of the Principles of these
things, have labored to make sophistical and counterseit gold, they have utterly miscarri∣ed
in their endeavours, and wasted all their substance, and quite undone themselves, and
so were deluded by that vain hope of Gold, which set them on work. Demetrius Phalere∣us
said very well of these men, That which they should have gotten, saith he, they did not
get, & that which they had in their own possession, they lost; and so, whereas they hoped to work
a metamorphosis or alteration in the Metals, the alteration and change hath lighted heavily
upon themselves, in respect of their own estate: and when they have thus overthrown them∣selves,
they have no other comfort left them but onely this, to broach many lies and coun∣terfeit
devices, whereby they may likewise deceive others, and draw them into the very
same lurches which themselves have before fallen into. And surely the desire partly of the
Art it self, and partly of the great gain which many men hoped after by the same, hath
filled the world with so many Books, and such an infinite number of lies, that there is
scarce any other matter in the like request; so that it was very well done of Dioclesian the
Emperour, and it was high time for him so to do, to establish a Decree, that all such lying
Books that were written concerning that matter, should be cast into the fire and burnt to
ashes. Thus was an excellent good Art discredited and disgraced by reason that they abu∣sed
it; which falls out also in many other better things then this is. The Art of it self is not
to be fet at nought, but rather to be embraced and much to be sought after; especially by
such as apply their minds to Philosophy, and to the searching out of the secrecies of Nature:
for they shall find in it many things which they will wonder at, and such as are exceeding
necessary for the use of men: and when they shall behold the experience of many kinds of trans∣mutations
and sundry effects, it will be no small delight unto them; and besides, it will shew
them the way to profounder and worthier matters, such as the best and soundest Philosophers
have not been ashamed to search into, and to handle in their writings. I do not here pro∣mise
any golden mountains, as they say, nor yet that Philosophers stone, which the world
hath so great an opinion of, and hath been bragged of in many ages, and happily attained unto
by some; neither yet do I promise here that golden liquor, whereof if any man do drink, it
is supposed that it will make him to be immortal; but it is a meer dream, for seeing that the
world it self is variable and subject to alteration, therefore it cannot be but that whatsoever
the world yields, should likewise be subject to destruction; so that to promise or to under∣take
Page 161

any such matters as these are, it were but rashness and meer foolis•ness. Put the
things which we purpose to discourse of and to deliver, are these which here•fter follow;
and I would request the Readers to take them in good part, and to conte•t themselves •ith
these; lest if they attempt to proceed to further experiments herein, they prove themselves
as foolish and as mad as those which we have spoken of before. These things which here you
shall find, I my self have seen, and proved by experience, and therefore I am the bolder to
set them abroach to the view of the whole world.

CHAP. I.
Of Tin, and how it may be converted into a more excellent Mettal.
TInne doth counterfeit and resemble Silver; and there is great
amity and agreement betwixt these two Mettals in respect of
their colour. The Nature and the colour of Tinne is such, that
it will whiten all other Mettals; but it makes them brickle and
easie to be knapt in sunder: onely Lead is free from this power
of Tinne: but he that can skilfully make a medley of this Met∣tal
with others, may thereby attain to many pretty secrecies.
Wherefore, we will endeavor to counterfeit Silver as ne•r as
we can: A matter which may be easily effected, if we can tell how to abolish and
utterly destroy those imperfections which are found in Tinne, whereby it is to be
discerned from Siver. The imperfections are these: First, it is wont to make a crea∣king
noise, and crasheth more then Silver doth: Secondly, it doth not ring so plea∣santly
as Silver, but hath a duller sound: Thirdly, it is of a more pale and wanne co∣lour:
And lastly, it is more soft and tender; for if it be put into the fire, it is not
first red hot before it be melted, as Silver will be; but it clings fast to the fire, and
is soon overcome and molten by the heat thereof. These are the qualities that are
observed to be in Tinne; not the essential properties of the Nature thereof, but one∣ly
accidental qualities, and therefore they may be more easily expelled out of their
subject. Let us see therefore how we may rid away these extrinsecal accidents: and
first,

How to remedy the softness of Tin, and the creaking noise that it makes.
You must first beat it into small powder, as you shall hereafter be instructed in the
manner how to do it; and when you have so done, you must reduce it into one
whole body again. And if it do not lose its softness at the first time as you deal so
by it, use the same course the second time, and so likewise the third time rather
then fail, and by this means you shall at length obtain your purpose: for, by so do∣ing,
the Tin will wax so hard, that it will endure the fire till it be red hot, before ever
it will melt. By the like practice we may also harden all other soft bodies, to make
them red hot before they shall be melted: but the experience hereof is more clear
in Tinne then in any other Mettals whatsoever. We may also take away the crea∣king
noise of Tinne, if we melt it seven several times, and quench it every time in
the urine of children; or else in the Oyl of Wall-nuts: for this is the onely means
to expel that quality and imperfection out of it. Thus then we have declared the
manner how to extract these accidents from it: but all this while we have not shew∣ed
how it may be transformed into Silver: which now we are to speak of, as soon
as ever we have shewed the manner

How to bring Tin into Powder,
which we promised to teach. Let your Tinne boil in the fire; and when it is very
liquid, pour it forth into a great morter; and when it beginneth to wax cold, and
to be congealed together again, you must stir it and turn it round about with a
wooden pestle, and let it not stand still in any case; thus shall you cause it be con∣gealed
into very small crums as little as dust: and when you have so done, put it in∣to
a very fine ranging sieve, and sift out the smallest of it; and that which is left
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behinde in your sieve, because it is too great and not broken well enough, you
must put it into the fire again, and use the very same course with it to break it into
smaller dust, as you used before; for unless it be throughly broken into powder,
it is not serviceable, nor fit for your purpose. Having therefore shewed you how to
break your Tin into small crums, as also how to expel out of it those imperfections
whereby it is most manifestly discerned from Silver; both which things are very ne∣cessary
preparatives as it were to the main matter which we have in hand, let us
now come to the principal experiment it self, namely

How to alter and transform Tin, that it may become Silver,
You must take an earthen vessel somewhat wide-mouthed; but it must be very
strongly and firmly made, that it be throughly able to endure the vehemency of the
fire, even to be red hot: Into this vessel put your Tin broken into such small crums
as have been spoken of, and therein you must with an iron ladle stirre it up and
down continually without ceasing, till it be all on a light fire, and yet none of the
Metal to be melted: when you have so done, that you have given it over, and it
gathereth together into one body or lump again, you must bestow the very same
labour upon it the second time, so long as it may stand in small crums all on a fire
for the space of six hours together, without melting. But if some part of the Me∣tal
be melted by the vehement heat of the fire, and some other part of it remain not
melted, then you must take away that which is melted, and when it is congealed,
you must break it into small powder once again, and you must run over your whole
labour again with it, even in the same vessel and with the same instrument as before.
After this, when you have brought all your Metal to that perfection that it will en∣dure
the fire without melting, then you must put it into a glass-fornace where glass
is wont to be made, or else into some Oven that is made of purpose to reflex the
heat of the fire to the best advantage, and there let it be tormented and applied with
a very great fire for the space of three or four days together, until such time as it is
made perfectly white as snow: for the smaller that it is broken and beaten into
powder, the more perfectly it will take white, and be the fitter for your purpose,
and more exactly satisfie your expectation. After all this, you must put it into a
vessel that shall be almost full of vinegar, and the vinegar must cover all the Tinne,
and swim about three inches above it. There you must distil it, and let the vinegar
boil with it so long, till the Tinne hath coloured it, and made it of his own hue, and
thickened it into a more gross substance. Then let it stand a while; and when it is
throughly settled, pour out that vinegar and put in new, and temper it well with
those ashes or crums of Tinne: and this you must do again and again, till all your
Tinne be dissolved into the vinegar. If by this often repetition of this labour, you
cannot effect such a dissolution, then you must put it once again to the fire in such
a fornace, or else into such an Oven as we spake of before, that so it may be reduced
into white ashes more exactly and perfectly, whereby it may be the more easily
dissolved into vinegar. After this, you must let the vapour of the vinegar be exha∣led,
and strained out, and the Tinne that is left behinde must be put into a certain
vessel where ashes have been wont to be put, and then melt some fine Lead and put
amongst it: and because the Lead that is put in will bear up the Tinne aloft, there∣fore
you must make certain little balls or pills compounded of Soap and Lime, or else
of Salt-peter and Brimstone, or some other like fat earthy stuff, and cast them in
amongst the Lead and Tinne, and they will cause the Tinne to drench it self with∣in
the Lead: and by this means, all your Tinne that doth take the Lead, and is
incorporated into it by a just proportion and equal temperature, doth become very
excellent good Silver. But this is a marvellous hard labour, and not to be atchie∣ved
without very great difficulty. You may like wise alter and transform

Tinne into Lead,
An easie matter for any man to effect, by reducing Tinne into ashes or powder often
times: for the often burning of it will cause the creaking noise which it is wont
to make, to be voided from it, and so to become Lead without any more
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ado; especially, if you use a convenient fire, w•en you go about to reduce it into
powder.

CHAP. II.
Of Lead, and how it may be converted into another Metal.
THe Antient Writers that have been conversant in the Natures of Metals,
are wont to call Tinne by the name of white Lead; and Lead, by the name
of black Tinne: insinuating thereby the affinity of the Natures of these two
Metals, that they are very like each to another, and therefore may very easily be
one of them transformed into the other. It is no hard matter therefore, as
to change Tinne into Lead, which we have spoken of in the former Chapter,
So also

To change Lead into Tinne.
It may be effected onely by bare washing of it: for if you bath or wash Lead
often times, that is, if you often melt it, so that the dull and earthy substance
of it be abolished, it will become Tinne very easily: for the same quick-silver,
whereby the Lead was first made a subtil and pure substance, before it contract∣ed
that soil and earthiness which makes it so heavy, doth still remain in the Lead,
as Gebrus hath observed; and this is it which causeth that creaking and gnashing
sound, which Tinne is wont to yield, and whereby it is especially dicerned from
Lead: so that when the Lead hath lost its own earthy lumpishness, which is ex∣pelled
by often melting; and when it is endued with the sound of Tinne,
which the quick-silver doth easily work into it, there can be no difference put be∣twixt
them, but that the Lead is become Tin. It is also possible to transform

Antimony into Lead:
For, that kind of Antimony which the Alchymists are wont to call by the name of
Regulus, if it be oftentimes burned in the fire, and be first throughly boiled, it
turneth into Lead. This experiment is observed by Dioscorides, who saith, That if
you take Antimony and burn it exceedingly in the fire, it is converted into Lead.
Galen sheweth another experiment concerning Lead, namely,

How to procure Lead to become heavier, then of it self it is:
For, whereas he had found by his experience, that Lead hath in it self an aethereal or
airy substance, he brings this experiment. Of all the Mettals, saith he, that I have
been acquainted with, only Lead is encreased both in bigness and also in weight for,
if you lay it up in sellars or such other places of receipt that are under the ground,
wherein there is a turbulent and gross foggy air, so that whatsoever is laid up in such
rooms shall straightways gather filth and soil, it will be greater and weightier then
before it was. Yea, even the very clamps of Lead which have been fastened into
carved Images to knit their parts more strongly together, especially those that have
been fastened about their feet, have been divers times found to have waxed bigger;
and some of those clamps have been seen to swell so much, that whereas in the ma∣king
of such Images the leaden plates and pins were made level with the Images
themselves, yet afterwards they have been so swoln, as that they have stood forth
like hillocks and knobs very unevenly, out of the Christal stones whereof the Images
were made. This Lead, is a Mettal that hath in it great store of quick-silver, as may
appear by this, because it is a very easie mastery,

To extract Quick-silver out of Lead.
Let your Lead be filed into very small dust, and to every two pounds of L•ad thus
beaten into powder, you must put one ounce of Salt-Peter, and one ounce of ordi∣nary
common Salt, and one ounce of Antimony. Let all these be well beaten and
powned together, and put into a sieve; and when they are well sifted, put them in∣to
Page 164

a vessel made of glass, and you must fence and plaister the glass round about on
the outward side with thick loam tempered with chopt straw, and it must be laid on
very fast; and that it may stick upon the vessel the better, your glass must not be
smooth, but full of rigoles, as if it were wrested or writhen. When your vessel is
thus prepared, you must settle and apply it to a reflexed fire, that is, to a fire made
in such a place, as will reflect and beat back the heat of it with great vehemency to
the best advantage: and underneath your vessels neck, you must place a large pan,
or some other such vessel of great capacity and receipt, which must be half full of cold
water: then close up all very fast and sure, and let your fire burn but a little, and give
but a small heat for the space of two hours; afterward make it greater, so that the
vessel may be throughly heated by it, even to be red hot; then set a blower on
work, and let him not leave off to blow for the space of four whole hours together,
and you shall see the quick-silver drop down into the vessel that is half full of water,
being flighted, as it were, out of the Mettal by the vehement force of the fire.
Commonly the quick-silver will stick to the sides of the vessels neck, and therefore
you must give the neck of the vessel a little jolt or blow with your hand, that so the
quick-silver may fall downward into the water-vessel. By this practice I have ex∣tracted
oftentimes out of every pound of Mettal almost an whole ounce of quick-silver;
yea, sometimes more then an ounce, when I have been very diligent and
laborious in performing the work. Another experiment I have seen, which drew
me into great admiration,

Lead converted into quick-silver:
A counterfeiting practice, which is the chief cause that all the quick-silver almost
which is usually to be had, is but bastard stuff, and meerly counterfeit; yet it is
bought and sold for currant, by reason of the neer likeness that it hath with the best.
Let there be one pound of Lead melted in an earthen vessel, and then put unto it
also one pound of that Tinny mettal which is usually called by the name of Marcha∣site:
and when they are both melted together, you must stirre them up and down,
and temper them to a perfect medley with a wooden ladle: In the mean space you
must have four pounds of quick-silver warmed in another vessel standing by, to cast
in upon that compounded Mettal; for unless your quick-silver be warm, it will not
close nor agree well with your Mettals: then temper your quick-silver and your
Mettal together for a while, and presently after cast it into cold water; so shall it
not congeal into any hard lump, but flote on the top of the water, and be very
quick and lively. The onely blemish it hath, and that which onely may be except∣ed
against it, is this, that it is somewhat pale and wan, and not all things so nim∣ble
and lively as the true quick-silver is, but is more slow and slimy, drawing as it
were a tail after it, as other viscous and slimy things are wont to do. But put it in∣to
a vessel of glass, and lay it up for a while; for the longer you keep it, the quicker
and nimbler it will be.

CHAP. III.
Of Brass; and how to transform it into a worthier Mettal.
WE will now alledge certain experiments concerning Brass; which though they
are but slight and trivial, yet we will not omit to speak of them, because we
would fain satisfie the humour of those, who have a great desire to read of and be
acquainted with such matters. And here we are to speak of such things as are good
to stain the bodies of Mettals with some other colour then naturally they are endued
withal. Yet I must needs confess that these are but fained and counterfeit colour∣ings,
such as will not last and stick by their bodies for ever; neither yet are they able
to abide any trial, but as soon as ever they come to the touchstone, they may easily
be discerned to be but counterfeits. Howbeit, as they are not greatly to be desired,
because they are but deceivable, yet notwithstanding they are not utterly to be re∣jected
as things of no value. And because there are very few Books extant which
Page 165

Treat of any Argument of like kind as this is, but they are full of such experiments
and sleights as here offer themselves to be handled by us (for they are very common
things, and in every mans mouth) therefore we will in this place speak onely of
those things which are easily to be gotten, and yet carry with them a very goodly
shew, insomuch that the best and sharpest censure may be deluded and mistaken by
the beautiful gloss that is cast upon them; and it may gravel the quickest and skilful∣lest
judgement, to define upon the suddain whether they are true or counterfeit.
Yet let them be esteemed no better then they deserve. But this you must know,
that as slight and trivial as they are, yet they require the handling of a very skilful
Artificer: and whosoever thou art that goest about to practice these experiments, if
thou be not a skilful and well experienced workman thy self, be sure to take the
advice and counsel of those that are very good Artists in this kind; for otherwise
thou wi•t certainly miscarry in them, and be defeated of thy purpose. The chief and
especial things which are of force to endue Brass with a whiter colour, are these:
Arsenick or Oker; that kind of quick-silver which is sublimated, as the Alchymists
call it; the scum or froth of silver, which is called by the Greeks Lithargvron; the
Marchasi•e or fire-stone; the Lees of wine; that kind of Salt which is found in A∣frick
under the sand, when the Moon is at the full; which is commonly called Salt
Ammoniack; the common and ordinary Salt which the Arabians call by the name
of Al-hali; Salt-peter, and lastly Alome. If you extract the liquor out of any
of these, or out of all these, and when it is dissolved, put your Brass, being red hot,
into it to be quenched, your Brass will become white: Or else, if you melt your
Brass, and assoon as it is molten, put it into such liquor, your Brass will become
white: Or else, if you draw forth into very small and thin plates, and pown those
bodies we now speak of, into small powder, and then cast both the brass that is to be
coloured, and the bodies that must colour it, into a melting or casting vessel, and
there temper them together to a good med•ev, and keep them a great while in the
fire, that it may be thoroughly me•ted, the brass will become white. Or else, if
you melt your brass, and then cast upon it some of that colouring in small
lumps, (for if you cast it in powder and dust, it is a doubt that the force
and rage of the fire will utterly consume it, so that it shall not be able to
infect or Pain the mettal) but if you cast good store of such colouring upon the mol∣ten
brass, it will endue your brass with a strange and wonderful whiteness, inso∣much
that it will seem to be very silver indeed. But that you may learn the better,
how to work such experiments, and beside, that you may by occasion of those
things which are here set down, learn how to compound and work other matters,
we will now set forth unto you certain examples, how we may make

Brass to counterfeit Silver;
for when once you are trained up a little in the practice of these matters, then they
will sink more easily into your understanding, then by all your reading they can do:
therefore as we have spoken of such things as will do this seat, so also we will reach
you how to work artificially. Take an earthen pot, and set it upon the fire with
very hot coals heaped round about it; put lead into it, and when you see that your
lead is molten by the force of the fire, take the third part of so much silver as there
was lead, and pown it into small powder, and pu• it to the lead into the pot; but
you must sprinkle it in onely by little and little, that it may be scorched, and even
burned as it were by the heat of the fire, and may float like as it were oyle on the
top and surface of the lead; and some of it may be so wasted by the vehemency of
the heat, that it vanish away into the smoak. Then let them rest a while, so long
as there be any remainders of the coa•s left. After you have so done, break the ves∣sel
into pieces, and take away the scum and dross of the mettal; and whereas
there will stand on the top of the mettal a certain oyle as it were, or a kind of gel∣ly,
you must take that, and bray it in a morter, and cast it into a vessel by little and
little where there is brass melted; and though the brass be three times so mu•h in
weight as that gelly is, yet the gelly will endue all that brass with a white silver co∣lour;
Nay, if there be more then three times so much melted brass put into that metal,
it will make it all like unto silver. But if you would have your brass endued with a
Page 166

perfect white colour, and not discernable from silver, you must melt some silver
and some brass together, and then throw them into the fire, and so take them out
again after some short time; for the longer you suffer them in the fire, the worse will
your experiment succeed. Which is a matter most worthy to be observed in these
cases: for if your work continue any longer in the fire then need requires, it will
fade in colour, and the violence of the fire will countermand the operation and ef∣fect
of your skil and labour in tempering the mettals together, and so the brass will
recover his former colour in his first estate. Wherefore let your mettals be kept in
the fire as little while as you can, that you may make your brass the whiter, and in
colour most like unto silver: howbeit, though you have made it never so white, yet
in time it will wax blackish and dim again; for the Arsnick that is naturally incor∣porated
into the brasse, will alwayes strive to restore it to the former du•kish and
dim colour which it is by nature endued withal. We will now also teach you an∣other
way how to make

Brass to counterfeit Silver;
and this is a more excellent and notable experiment then the former. Take six
ounces of the Lees of wine, eight ounces of Cristal Arsnick, half an ounce of
quick-silver that hath been sublimated, two ounces of Salt-peeter, one ounce and
an half of glass; beat all these together in a morter, and see that they be broken
into the smallest powder and dust that may be. After this, take three pounds of
Copper, that which is commonly called Banda Mediolanensis; this you must have
to be drawn out into small thin and slender plates; and when you have thu• pre∣pared
your mettals and ingredients, you must take of that powder, and sprinkle it
into an earthen pot by little and little, and withal put into the same pot your slen∣der
plates of Copper; and these things you must do by course, first putting in
some of your powder, and then some of your Copper, and afterward some pow∣der
again, and afterward some of your little plates again, and so by turns one af∣ter
another, till the pot be brim-full: then set a cover upon your pot, and plaister
it all over singularly well with good stiffe morter that is tempered with chopped
straw; then binde it round about with bands and clamps of iron; and truss it
up very hard and stiffe together, and then cover it over again with such morter as
before. Afterward let the pot be made hot with a great fire round about it. The
manner of the heating of your pot must be this; set the pot in a Centre as it were,
that the fire may lye as it were in the circumference round about it, to the distance
of one foot from the Centre; a little after this, move you fire neerer to the pot,
that there may not be above the distance of half a foot betwixt them; then with∣in
a while lay the fire a little neerer, and so by little and little let the fire be brought
close to the pot, yea and let the pot be covered all over with hot burning coals,
within the space of one hour, and so let it stand hidden in the fire for the space of
six whole hours together. And after the six hours, you must not take away the
coals, but let them go out and die of themselves, and let the pot so stand under
them until it be stark cold: and when it is thoroughly cold, break it into pieces,
and there you shall find your little thin plates so brittle, that if you do but touch
them somewhat hard with your fingers, they will soon be crumbled into dust. When
you have taken them out of the pot, you must afterward put them into some ca∣sting
vessel that is very hard, and durable; and there within half an hour it will
be melted: then put into it some of your powder by little and little, till all of it
be molten together; then cast it all forth into some hollow place, into some form
or mould, that it may run along into rods; and the metal will be as brittle and as
easie to be broken into small crumbs, as any Ice can be. After all this, you must
melt two pounds of brass; but you must first purifie it and cleanse it a little, by
casting upon it some broken glass, and Lees of wine, and Salt-ammoniack, and
Salt-peeter, every one of them by turns, and by little and little. When you have
thus cleansed it, you must put unto it one pound of that metal which you made of
the Copper and powder before spoken of; and you must still sprinkle upon the•
some of that powder; and after all this, you must take half so much of the best
Page 167

silver that may be gotten, and melt it amongst the metals before spoken of and
cast them all toge•her into some hollow place like a mould, and so you shall obtain
your purpose. But that the surface and the utmost out-sides of the metal may ap∣pear
whi•e, you must throw it into the fire, that it may be burning hot, and then
take it forth, and cast it into that water wherein the Lees of wine and ordinary
salt have been liquefied and dissolved; and there let it boil for a certain time, and
so shall you make it very white, and moreover so pliant and so easie to be framed and
wrought to any fashion, that you may draw it thorough any little hole, yea even
thorough the eye of a needle. Furthermore, this is not to be omitted nor buried
in silence, for it is a matter of great use, and special force in the colouring of metals,
that they be inwardly cleansed and purged of their dross, that they may be tho∣roughly
washed and rid of all such scum and •ffals, as are incident unto them; for
being thus handled, they will be more serviceable and operative for all experiments.
As for example; let brass be molten, and then quenched in vineger, and then redu∣ced
into powder with salt, so that the more gross and infectious parts thereof be
extracted from it; and let it be so handled oftentimes, till there be nothing of its
natural uncleanness remaining within it, and so shall it receive a deeper dye, and
be changed into a more lively colour. Let the vessel wherein you melt your me∣tals
to prepare and make them fit for your turn, be bored thorough in the bottom
with sundry holes, that the metal being melted may strain thorough, but the dross,
and scum, and offals of it may be left behind, that there may be nothing but pure
metal to be used in your experiments: for the less drosse and offals that your me∣tal
have, they are so much the more serviceable for your use in working. Let this
therefore be a general rule alwayes to be remembred and observed, that your me∣tals
be throughly purged and rid from their dross as much as may possibly be, before
ever you entertain any of them into your service for these intendments. There is
yet also another way whereby we may bring to pass that

Brass should resemble silver,
and this by Arsnick Orpine, which is an effectual means to accomplish this matter:
and whereas in tract of time the metal will somewhat recover it self to its own
former paleness and dim colour, we will seek to remedy it and prevent it. Take
the best Arsnick Orpine that may be gotten, such as yawns and gapes as though it
had scales upon it; it must be of a very orient golden colour; you must meddle this
Orpine with the dust of brass that hath been filed from it, and put into them some
Lees of wine; but they must be each of them of an equal weight and quantity
when you drench them together within the liquor, and so shall it bear a continual
orient colour, and glister very brightly without ever any fading at all. After this,
take you some silver, and dissolve with that kind of water which is called Aqua-for∣tis▪
but it must be such as hath in it very little store of moisture; for the most wa∣terish
humour that is in it, must be evaporated in some scalding pot or other such
vessel, which you must fill up to the brim six or seven several times, with the same
water, after the vapours of it have been extracted by the heat of the fire that is un∣der
the vessel: when you have thus done, you must mingle your silver that is so
dissolved, with the brass filings, and the Arsnick Orpine which we spake of before;
and then you must plain it and smooth it all over with the red marble-stone, that the
clefts or scales before spoken of, may be closed up; and withal, you must water it by
little and little, as it were drop after drop, with the oyle that hath been exprest or
extracted out of the Lees of wine, or else out of the firmest Salt-ammoniack that
may be had. And when the Sun is gotten up to any strength, that it shews forth it
self in very hot gleams, you must bring forth this confection, and let the force of
the heat work upon it, even till it be thorough dry: afterward you must supple it
with more of the same oyle again, and then let it be dryed up again so long, till
that which is remaining do weigh just so much as the silver weighed before it was
dissolved Then clos• it up in a vessel of glass, and lay it under some dunghil till
it be dissolved again, and after the dissolution be gathered together into a Gelly; then
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cast into it ten or eight pieces of brass, and it will colour them all, that they shall
most lively counterfeit silver. But if you desire

To make brass shew it self of a silver colour, by rubbing it betwixt your hands,
as boyes and cozening companions are oftentimes wont to do, that if they do but
handle any vessels of brass, they will make them straightways to glitter like Silver,
you may use this devise. Take Ammoniack-salt, and Alome, and Salt-peeter, of each
of them an equal weight, and mingle them together, and put unto them a small
quantity of Silver-dust, that hath been filed off; then set them all to the fire, that
they may be thoroughly hot; and when the fume or vapour is exhaled from
them, that they have left reaking, make a powder of them; and whatsoever
brass you cast that powder upon, if you do withal, either wet it with your
own spittle, or else by little and little rub it over with your fingers, you
shall find that they will seem to be of a silver colour. But if you would
whiten such brass more handsomely and neatly, you must take another course:
You must dissolve a little silver with Aqua fortis, and put unto it so much
Lees of wine, and as much Ammoniack-salt; let them so lie together till
they be about the thickness of the filth that is rubbed off from a mans bo∣dy
after his sweating: then roul it up in some small round balls, and so let
them wax dry: when they are dry, if you rub them with your fingers upon
any brass or other like metal, and still as you rub them moisten them with a
little spittle, you shall make that which you rub upon to be very like unto silver.
The very like experiment may be wrought by Quick-silver; for this hath a
wonderful force in making any metal to become white. Now, whereas we
promised before, to teach you, not onely how to endue brase or such other
metal with a silver colour, but also how to preserve and keep the bodies so
coloured from returning to their former hiew again, you must beware that these
bodies which are endued with such a silver colour, do not take hurt by any
sharp or sowre liquor; for either the urine, or vineger, or the juice of limons, or
any such tart and sowre liquor, w•ll cause this colour soon to fade away, and so
discredit your work, and declare the colour of those metals to be false and coun∣terfeit.

CHAP. IV.
Of Iron, and how to transform it into a more worthy metal.
NOw the order of my proceedings requires, that I should speak somewhat al∣so
concerning Iron; for this is a metal which the Wizards of India did highly
esteem, as having in it self much goodness, and being of such a temperature, that it
may easily be transformed into a more worthy and excellent metal then it self is.
Notwithstanding, some there are, which reject this metal as altogether unprofi∣table,
because it is so full of gross earthly substance, and can hardly be melted in
the fire, by reason of that firm and setled brimstone which is found in it. But if
any man would

Change Iron into Brass,
so that no part of the grosse and earthly substance shall remain in it, he may easily
obtain his purpose by Coppresse or Vitriol. It is reported that in the mountain
Carpatus an Hill of Pannonia, at a certain Town called Smolinitium, there is a
Lake, in which there are three channels full of water: and whatsoever Iron is put
into those channels, it is converted into brass: and if the Iron which you cast in∣to
them be in small pieces or little clamps, presently they are converted into mud
or dirt; but if that mud be baked and hardened in the fire, it will be turned into
perfect good brass. But there is an artificial means whereby this also may be affect∣ed▪
and it is to be done on this wise. Take Iron, and put into a casting vessel;
and when it is red hot with the vehement heat of the fire, and that it beginneth to
melt, you must cast upon it by little and little some sprinkling of quick brimstone: then
Page 169

you must pour it forth, and cast into small rods, and beat it with hammers: it is
very brittle, and will easily be broken: then dissolve it with Aqua-fortis, such as is
compounded of vitriol and Alome tempered together: set it upon hot cinders till
it boil, and be dissolved into vapours, and so quite vanish away; and the subsi∣dence
thereof, or the rubbish that remains behind, if it be reduced into one solid
body again, will become good brass. If you would

Make Iron to become white,
you may effect it by divers and sundry sleights; yet let this onely device content
you in this matter. First, you must cleanse and purge your Iron of that dross and re∣fuse
that is in it, and of that poysoned corruption of rust that it is generally infe∣cted
withal: for it hath more earthly substance and parts in it then any other me∣tal
hath, insomuch that if you boil it and purge it never so often, it will still of it self
yield some new excrements. To cleanse and purge it this is the best way: Take
some small thin plates of Iron, and make them red hot, and then quench them in
strong lye and vineger which have been boiled with ordinary Salt and Alome; and
this you must use to do with them oftentimes, till they be somewhat whitened:
the fragments or scrapings also of Iron, you must pown in a mor•er, after they
have been steeped in salt; and you must bray them together till the salt be quite
changed, so that there be no blackness left in the liquor of it, and till the Iron
be cleansed and purged from the dross that is in it. When you have thus prepared
your Iron, you must whiten it on this manner: Make a plaister as it were, of quick-silver
and lead tempered together; then pown them into powder, and put that
powder into an earthen vessel amongst your plates of Iron that you have prepared
to be whitened: close up the vessel fast, and plaister it all over with morter, so
that there may be no breathing place for any air either to get in or out: then put it
into the fire, and there let it stay for one whole day together, and at length en∣crease
your fire, that it may be so vehement hot as to melt the Iron; for the plai∣ster
or confection which was made of lead and Quick-silver, will work in the Iron
two effects; for first, it will dispose it to melting, that it shall soon be dissolved;
and secondly, it will dispose it to whitening, that it shall the sooner receive a glit∣tering
colour. After all this, draw forth your Iron into small thin plates again, and
proceed the second time in the same course as before, till you find that it hath ta∣ken
so much whitenesse as your purpose was to endue it withal. In like manner, if
you melt it in a vessel that hath holes in the bottom of it, and melt with it lead, and
the Marchasi•e or fire-stone, and Arsnick, and such other things as we spake of be∣fore
in our experiments of brass, you may make Iron to become white. If you
put amongst it some silver, though it be not much, it will soon resemble the
colour of silver: for Iron doth easily suffer it self to be medled with gold or silver;
and they may be so thoroughly incorporated into each other, that by all the rules of
separation that can be used, you cannot without great labour, and very much ado
separate the one of them from the other.

CHAP. V.
Of Quick-silver, and of the effects and operations thereof.
IN the next place it is meet that we speak something concerning Quick-silver, and
the manifold operations thereof: wherein we will first set down certain vulgar
and common congelations that it makes with other things, because many men do
desire to know them; and secondly, we will shew, how it may be dissolved into wa∣ter,
that they which are desirous of such experiments, may be satisfied herein. First
therefore we will shew

How Quick-silver may be congealed and curdled as it were with Iron.
Page 170

Put the quick-silver into a casting vessel, and put together with it that wa∣ter,
which the Blacksmith hath used to quench his hot Iron in; and put in also
among them Ammoniack Salt, and Vitriol, and Verdegrease, twice so much of
every one of these, as there was quick-silver: let all these boil together in
an exceeding great fire, and still turn them up and down with an Iron slice
or ladle; and if at any time the water boil away, you must be sure that you have
in a readiness some of the same water through hot to cast into it, that it may sup∣ply
the waste which the fire hath made, and yet not hinder the boiling; thus will
they be congealed all together within the space of six hours. After this, you must take
the congealed stuff when it is cold, and binde it up hard with your hands in leather
thongs, or linnen cloth, or osiers, that all the juice and moisture that is in it, may
be squeesed out of it; then let that which is squeesed and drained out, settle it self,
and be congealed once again, till the whole confection be made: then put it into
an earthen vessel well washed, and amongst it some spring-water, and take off as neer
as you can, all the filth and scum that is upon it and is gone to waste; and in that
vessel you must temper and diligently mix together your congealed matter with
spring-water, till the whole matter be pure and clear: then lay it abroad in the
open air three days and three nights, and the subject which you have wrought upon
will wax thick and hard like a shell or a tile-sheard. There is also another congela∣tion
to be made with quick-silver,

Congeailng of Quick-silver with balls of Brass,
thus: make two Brass half circles, that that may fasten one within the other, that
nothing may exhale: put into them quick-silver, with an equal part of white Arse∣nick
and Tartar well powdred and searced; lute the joynts well without, that nothing
may breathe forth, so let them dry, and cover them with coles all over for six hours:
then make all red hot, then take it out and open it, and you shall see it all coagu∣lated
and to stick in the hollow of the Brass ball; strike it with a hammer, and it
will fall off; melt it, and project it, and it will give an excellent colour like to Sil∣ver▪
and it is hard to discern it from Silver. If you will, you may mingle it with
three parts of melted Brass, and without Silver; it will be exceeding white, soft and
malleable. It is also made another way: Make a great Cup of Silver, red Arsenick
and Latin, with a cover that sits close, that nothing may exhale: fill this with quick-silver,
and lute the joynts with the white of an Egg, or some Pine-tree-rosin, as it
is commonly done: hang this into a pot full of Linseed Oyl, and let it boil twelve
hours; take it out, and strain it through a skin or straw; and if any part be not co∣agulated,
do the work again, and make it coagulate. If the vessel do coagulate it
slowly, so much as you find it hath lost of its weight of the silver, Arsenick and Al∣chymy
make that good again, for we cannot know by the weight: use it, it is
wonderful that the quick-silver will draw to it self out of the vessel, and quick-sil∣ver
will enter in. Now I shall shew what may be sometimes useful,

To draw water out of Quick-silver.
Make a vessel of potters earth, that will endure the fire, of which crucibles are made
six foot long, and of a foot Diameter, glassed within with glass, about a foot broad
at the bottom, a finger thick, narrower at the top, bigger at bottom. About the
neck let there be a hole as big as ones finger, and a little pipe coming forth, by
which you may fitly put in the quick-silver; on the top of the mouth let there be a
glass cap, fitted with the pipe, and let it be smeered with clammy clay, and bind it
above that it breathe not forth. For this work make a furnace, let it be so large
at the top, that it may be fit to receive the bottom of the vessel, a foot broad and
deep. You must make the grate the fire is made upon, with that art, that when
need is you may draw it back on one side, and the fire may fall beneath. Set there∣fore
the empty vessel into the furnace, and by degrees kindle the fire: Lastly, make
the bottom red hot; when you see it to be so, which you may know by the top, you
must look through the glass cap; presently by the hole prepared pour in ten or fif∣teen
pounds of quick-silver, and presently with clay cast upon it stop that hole, and
Page 171

take away the grate that the fire may fall to the lower parts, and forthwith quench
it with water. Then you shall see that the water of quick-silver will run forth at
the nose of the cap, into the receiver under it, about an ounce in quantity: take the
vessel from the fire, and pour forth the quick-silver, and do as before, and always
one ounce of water will distil forth: keep this for Chymical operation. I found
this the best for to smug up women with. This artifice was found to purifie quick-silver.
I shall not pass over another art, no less wonderful than profitable for use,

To make quick-silver grow to be a Tree.
Dissolve silver in aqua fortis, what is dissolved evaporate into thin air at the fire, that
there may remain at the bottom a thick unctious substance; Then distil fountain-water
twice or thrice, and pour it on that thick matter, shaking it well▪ then let it
stand a little, and pour into another glass vessel the most pure water, in which the
silver is: adde to the water a pound of quick-silver, in a most transparent crystalline
glass that will attract to it that silver, and in the space of a day will there spring up a
most beautiful tree from the bottom, and hairy, as made of most fine beards of corn,
and it will fill the whole vessel, that the eye can behold nothing more pleasant. The
same is made of gold with aqua regia.

CHAP. VI.
Of Silver.
I Shall teach how to give silver a tincture that it may shew like to pure gold; and
after that, how it may be turned to true gold.

To give Silver a Gold-colour,
Burn burnt brass with stibium, and melted with half silver, it will have the per∣fect
colour of gold; and mingle it with gold, it will be the better colour. We boil
brass thus: I know not any one that hath taught it: you shall do it after this manner:
melt brass in a crucible, with as much stibium: when they are both melted, put in
as mu•h stibium as before, and pour it out on a plain Marble-stone, that it may
cool there, and be fit to beat into plates. Then shall you make two bricks hol∣low,
that the plates may be fitly laid in there: when you have fitted them, let them
be closed fast together, and bound with iron bands, and well luted: when they
are dried put them in a glass fornace, and let them stand therein a week, to burn ex∣actly,
take them out and use them. And

To tincture Silver into gold,
you must do thus: Make first such a tart lye, put quick lime into a pot, whose bot∣tom
is full of many small holes, put a piece of wood or tilesheard upon it, then by
degrees pour in the powder and hot water, and by the narrow holes at the bottom,
let it drain into a clean earthen vessel under it: do this again, to make it exceeding
tart. Powder stibium and put into this, that it may evaporate into the thin air;
let it boil at an easie fire: for when it boils, the water will be of a purple colour: then
strain it into a clean vessel through a linnen cloth; again, pour on the lye on the
powders that remain, and let it boil so long at the fire, till the water seems of a
bloody colour no more: Then boil the lye that is colour'd, putting fire under, till
the water be all exhaled; but the powder that remains being dry, with the oyl of
Tartar dried and dissolved, must be cast again upon plates made of equal parts of gold
and silver, within an earthen crucible; cover it so long with coles, and renew your
work, till it be perfectly like to gold. Also I can make the same

Otherwise.
If I mingle the congealed quick-silver that I speak of with a cap, with a third part
of silver, you shall find the silver to be of a golden colour: you shall melt this with
the same quantity of gold, and put it into a pot: pour on it very sharp vinegar,
Page 172

and let it boil a quarter of a day, and the colour will be augmented. Put this to the
utmost trial of gold, that is, with common salt, and powder of bricks, yet adding Vi∣triol,
and so shall you have refined gold. We can also extract

Gold out of Silver,
And not so little but it will pay your cost, and afford you much gain. The way is
thi•: Put the fine filings of Iron into a Crucible that will endure fire, till it grow red
hot, and melt: then take artificial Chrysocolla, such as Goldsmiths use to soder with,
and red Arsenick, and by degrees strew them in: when you have done this, cast in
an equal part of Silver, and let it be exquisitely purged by a strong vessel made of
Ashes: all the dregs of the Gold being now removed, cast it into water of separation,
and the Gold will fall to the bottom of the vessel, take it: there is nothing of many
things that I have found more true, more gainful or, more hard: spare no labour, and
do it as you should, lest you lose your labour: or otherwise, let the thin filings of
Iron oak for a day in sea-water, let it dry, and let it be red hot in the fire so long in
a •rucible, till it run, then cast in an equal quantity of silver, with half brass, let
it be projected into a hollow place: then purge it exactly in an ash vessel: for the
Iron being excluded and its dregs, put it into water of separation, and gather what
falls to the bottom, and it will be excellent Gold. May be it will be profitable to

Fix Cinnaber.
He that desires it, I think he must do thus, break the Cinnaber into pieces as big
as Wall-nuts, and put them into a glass vessel that is of the same bigness, and the
pieces must be mingled with thrice the weight of silver, and laid by courses, and the
vessel must be luted, and suffer it to dry, or set it in the Sun; then cover it with
ashes, and let it boil so long on a gentle fire, till it become of a lead colour and
break not, which will not be unless you tend it constantly till you come so far.
Then purge it with a double quantity of lead; and when it is purged, if it be put to
all tryals, it will stand the stronger, and be more heavy and of more vertue: the more
easie fire you use, the better will the business be effected: but so shall we try to re∣pair
silver, and revive it when it is spoil'd. Let sublimate quick-silver boil in distil'd
vinegar, then mingle quick-silver, and in a glass retort, let the quick-silver evapo∣rate
in a hot fire, and fall into the receiver: keep it: If you be skilful, you shall
find but little of the weight lost. Others do it with the Regulus of Antimony. But
otherwise you shall do it sooner and more gainfully thus: Put the broken pieces of
Cinnaber as big as dice, into a long linnen bag, hanging equally from the pot sides;
then pour on the sharpest venegar, with alom and tartar, double as much, quick
lime four parts, and as much of oaken ashes, as it is usual to be made; or you must
make some. Let it boil a whole day, take it out and boil it in oyl, be diligent about
it, and let it stay there twenty four hours: take the pieces of Cinnaber out of the
oyl, and meer them with the white of an egge beaten, and role it with a third
part of the filings of silver: put it into the bottom of a convenient vessel, and lute
it well with the best earth, as I said: set it to the fire three days, and at last increase
the fire, that it may almost melt and run: take it off, and wash it from its faeces that
are left, at the last proof of silver, and bring it to be true and natural. Also it will be
pleasant

From fixt Cinnaber to draw out a silver beard.
If you put it into the same vessel, and make a gentle fire under, silver that is pure,
not mixed with lead, will become hairy like a wood, that there is nothing more
pleasant to behold.

Page 173
CHAP. VII.
Of Operations necessary for use.
I Thought fit to set down some Operations which are generally thought fit for our
works: and if you know them not, you will not easily obtain your de••re. I have
set them down here, that you might not be put to seek them elswhere: First,

To draw forth the life of Tinne.
The filings of Tinne must be put into a pot of earth, with equal part of salt-peter,
you shall set on the top of this seven, as many other earthen pots with holes bored
in them, and stop these holes well with clay: set above this a glass vessel with the
mouth downwards, or with an open pipe, with a vessel under it: put fire to it, and
you shall hear it make a noise when it is hot: the life flies away in the f•me, and you
shall find it in the hollow pots, and in the bottom of the glased vessel compacted to∣gether.
If you bore an earthen vessel on the side, you may do it something more
easily by degrees, and you shall stop it. So also

From Stibium
we may extract it. Stibium that Druggists call Antimony, is grownd small in hand∣mills,
then let a new crucible of earth be made red hot in a cole fire; cast into it pre∣sently
by degrees, Stibium, twice as mu•h Tartar, four parts of salt-peter, finely pow∣dred:
when the fume riseth, cover it with a cover, lest the fume rising evaporate: then
take it off, and cast in more, till all the powder be burnt: then let it stand a little
at the fire, take it off and let it cool, and skim off the dregs on the top, and you shall
find at the bottom what the Chymists call the Regulus; it is like Lead, and easily
changed into it. For saith Dioscorides, should it burn a little more, it turns to Lead.
Now I will shew how one may draw a more noble Metal

To the out-side,
As foolish Chymists say, for they think that by their impostures they do draw forth
the parts lying in the middle, and that the internal parts are the basest of all; but they
erre exceedingly: For they eat onely the outward parts in the superficies, that are
the weakest, and a little quick-silver is drawn forth, which I approve not. For they
corrode all things that their Medicament enters, the harder parts are left, and are
polished and whitened: may be they are perswaded of this by the medals of the
Antients, that were within all brass, but outwardly seemed like pure silver; but
those were sodered together, and beaten with hammers, and then stamp'd. Yet it
is very must to do it as they did, and I think it cannot be done. But the things
that polish are these, common Salt, Alom, Vitriol, quick Brimstone, Tartar; and for
Gold, onely Verdigrease, and Salt Ammoniack. When you would go about it, you
must powder part of them, and put them into a vessel with the metal. The cruci∣ble
must be luted with clay, and covered: there must be left but a very small hole for
perspiration: then set it in a gentle fire, and let it burn▪ and blow not, lest the metal
melt: when the powders are burnt they will sink down, which you shall know by
the smoke, then take off the cover and look into them. But men make the Metal
red hot, and then when it is hot they drench it in: or otherwise; they put it in vine∣gar
till it become well cleansed, and when you have wrapt the work in linnen∣rags,
that was well luted, cast it into an earthen vessel of vinegar, and boil it long,
take it out and cast it into urine, let it boil in salt and vinegar, till no filth almost
rise, and the foul spots of the ingredients be gone; and if you find it not exceed∣ing
white, do the same again till you come to perfection: Or else proceed other∣wise
by order: Let your work boil in an earthen pot of water, with salt, alom, and
tartar: when the whole superficies is grown white, let it alone a while; then let them
boil three hours with equal parts of brimstone, salt-peter, and salt, that it may hang
in the middle of them, and not touch the sides of the vessel; take it out, and rub it
Page 174

with sand, till the fume of the sulphur be removed again: let it boil again as at first,
and so it will wax white, that it will endure the fire, and not be rejected for coun∣terfeit;
you shall find it profitable if you do it well; and you will rejoyce, if you do
not abuse it to your own ruine.

CHAP. VIII.
How to make a Metal more weighty.
IT is a question amongst Chymists, and such as are addicted to those studies, how it
might be that silver might equal gold in weight, and every metal might exceed
its own weight. That may be also made gold, without any detriment to the stamp
or engraving, and silver may increase and decreas• in its weight, if so be it be made
into some vessel. I have undertaken here to teach how to do that easily, that others
do with great difficulty. Take this rule to do it by, that

The weight of a Golden vessel may increase,
without hurting the mark, if the magnitude do not equal the weight. You shall
rub gold with thin silver, with your hands or fingers, until it may d•ink it in, and
make up the weight you would have it, sticking on the superficies. Then prepare a
strong lixivium of brimstone and quick lime, and cast it with the gold into an earthen
pot with a wide mouth: put a small fire u•der, and let them boil so long, till you see
that they have gain'd their colour; then take it out, and you shall have it: Or else
draw forth of the velks of eggs and the litharge of gold, water with a strong fire, and
quench red hot gold in it, and you have it.

Another that is excellent.
You shall bring silver to powder, either with aqua fortis, or calx; the calx is after∣wards
washt with water, to wash away the salt, wet a golden vessel or plate with
water or spittle, that the quantity of the powder you need may stick on the outward
superficies: yet put it not on the edges, for the fraud will be easily discovered by
rubbing it on the touch stone. Then powder finely salt one third part, brick as
much, vitriol made red two parts: take a brick and make a hole in it as big as the
vessel is, in the bottom whereof strew al•m de plume: then again pour on the
powder with your work till you have filled the hole, then cover the hole with
another brick, and fasten it with an Iron pin, and lute the joynts well with clay:
let this dry, and let it stand in a reverberating fire about a quarter of a day; and
when it is cold, open it, and you shall find the gold all of a silver colour, and more
weighty, without any hurt to the stamp. Now to bring it to its former colour, do
thus: Take Verdi rease four parts, Salammoniack two parts, salt-peter a half part,
as much brick, alom a fourth part; mingle these with the waters, and wash
the vessel with it: then with iron tongs put it upon burning coles, that it may be
red hot: take it off, and plunge it in urine, and it will regain the colour. If it shine
too much, and you would have it of a lower colour, the remedy is to wet it in urine,
and let it stand on a plate red hot to cool. But thus you shall make vitriol very red;
put it into a vessel covered with coles, and boil it till it change to a most bright red:
take it out and lay it aside, and do not use it for an ill purpose. We may with the
fragments of brass

Do this business otherwise:
That shall supply the place of silver, and it shall become too weighty: Or otherwise,
melt two parts of brass with silver, then make it into small thin plates; in the mean
while make a powder of the dregs of aqua fortis, namely of salt-peter and vitriol,
and in a strong melting vessel, put the plate and the powder to augment gold, fill
the vessel in a preposterous order. Then lure the mouth of it, and set it in a gentle
fire half a day: take it off, always renewing the same till it come to the desired
weight. We have taught how to increase the weight, and not hurt the fashion
Page 175

or stamp. Now I shall shew how without loss in weight, nor yet the stamp being
hur•,

Gold and Silver may be diminished:
Some use to do it with aqua fortis, but it makes the work rough with knots and holes;
you shall do it therefore thus: Strew powder of brimstone upon the work, and put
a candle to it round about, or burn it under your work, by degrees it will con∣sume
by burning; strike it with a hammer on the contrary side, and the superficies
will fall off, as much in quantity as you please, as you use the brimstone. Now
shall I shew how

To separate gold from silver Cups that are gilded:
For it is oft-times a custome for Goldsmiths, to melt the vessels and cast them away,
and to make new ones again; not knowing how without great trouble, to part the
gold from the silver, and therefore melt both together. To part them, do thus:
Take salt Ammoniack, brimstone half a part: powder them •ne, and anoint the
gilded part of the vessel with oyl: then strew on the powder, and take the ves∣sel
in a pair of tongs, and put it into the fire: when it is very hot, strike it with an
iron, and the powder shaken will fall into the water, in a platter under it, and the
vessel will remain unaltered. Also it is done

Another way
with quick-silver: Put quick-silver into an earthen vessel with a very wide mouth,
and let it heat so long at the fire, that you can endure the heat of it with your finger,
put into it: put the gilt plate of silver into it, and when the quick-silver sticks to
the gold, take it out and put it into a Charger, into which the gold, when it is
cold, will fall with the quick-silver. Going over this work again, until no more
gold appears in the vessel. Then put the gold with the quick-silver that was sha∣ken
into the Charger, into a linnen clout, and press it out with your hands, and let
the quick-silver fall into some other receiver, the gold will stay behind in the rag; take
it and put it into a cole made with a hole in it, blow till it melt, make it into a lump,
and boil it in an earthen vessel with a little Stibium, and pour it forth into ano∣ther
vessel, that the gold may fall to the bottom, and the Stibium stay atop. But
if you will

Part Gold from a vessel of Brass,
wet the vessel in cold water, and set it in the fire: when it is red hot, quench it in
cold water; then scrape off the gold with latin wire bound together.

CHAP. IX.
To part Metals without aqua fortis.
BEcause waters are drawn from salts with difficulty, with loss of time and great
charges; I shall shew you how to part gold from silver and brass, and silver from
brass, without aqua fortis; but by some easie operations, with little cost or loss of
time: And first I shall shew how

To part Gold from Silver.
Cast a lump of gold mixt with silver into an earthen vessel, that will hold fire, with
the same weight of Antimony, thus: when the vessel is red hot, and the lump is
melted, and turned about with the force of the fire; cast a little Stibium in, and in a
little time it will melt also; and when you see it, cast in the rest of the Stibium, and
cover the vessel with a cover: let the mixture boil, as long as one may repeat the
Lords-prayer: take away the vessel with a pair of tongs, and cast it into another
iron Pyramidal vessel red hot, called a Crucible, that hath in the bottom of it rams
fat; shaking it gently, that the heavier part of gold separated from the silver, may
Page 176

fall to the bottom: when the vessel is cold it is shaken off, and the part next the
bottom will be gold, the upper part silver; and if it be not well parted, refuse not
to go over the same work again, but take a less quantity of Stibium. Let therefore
the gold be purged again, and let the Stibium be boiled, and there will be always
at the bottom a little piece of gold. And as the dregs remain, after the same man∣ner
purge them again in the copple, and you shall have your silver, without any loss of
the weight, because they are both perfect bodies; but the silver onely will lose a lit∣tle.
But would you have your silver to lose less, do thus: adde to two pound and
half of Stibium, wine-lees two pounds, and boil them together in an earthen vessel,
and the mass will remain in the bottom, which must be also boil'd in a copple; then
adding pieces of lead to it, purge it in a copple, wherein the other things being con∣sumed
by the fire, the silver onely will remain: but if you do not boil your Stibium
in wine-lees, as I said, part of the silver will be lost, and the copple will draw the sil∣ver
to it. The same may be done

Another way.
Take three ounces of brimstone, powder them, and mingle them with one ounce of
common oyl, and set them to the fire in a glazed dish of earth: let the fire be first
gentle, then augment it, till it run, and seem to run over: take it from the fire, and
let it cool, then cast it into sharp vinegar, so the oyl will swim above the vinegar,
the brimstone will fall down to the bottom; cast away the vinegar, and let the brim∣stone
boil in strong vinegar, and you shall see the vinegar coloured: you shall strain
the vinegar through a wisp into a glased vessel, to which adde more brimstone, boil
it again, and again strain out the lye into the vessel: doing this so oft,
till the Lixivium comes forth muddy, or of a black colour. Let the Lixivium settle
one night: again strain it through a wisp, and you shall find the brimstone almost
white at the bottom of the vessel: adde that to what you had before, and set it again
to boil with three parts as much distilled vinegar, till the vinegar all evaporate and
dry the brimstone: take heed it burn not: when it is dry, put it again into distilled
vinegar, working the same way so often, until putting a little of it upon a red hot
plate of iron, it will melt without flame or smoke. Then cast it on a lump of gold
and silver, and the gold will sink to the bottom presently, but the silver will remain on
the top. For if brimstone be boil'd in a Lixivium so strong, that it will bear an egg,
until it will not smoke, and will melt on a fire-cole: if it be projected on a mass of
gold and silver mingled, when they are melted, it will part the gold from the sil∣ver.
Also there is an ingenious and admirable way

To part silver from brass
with certain powders. The best are those are made of powdred lead, half so much
quick brimstone, and arsenick, and common salt double as much, salt-peter one
half; powder those fine each by themselves, then mingle them. Take the mixt me∣tal,
with half so much more of the powder, and in a vessel that will endure fire, strew
it in by turns, and set the vessel fil'd at a strong fire, till all melt; take it out and
cast it into another vessel, that is broad atop, narrow at bottom, and hot, as we said,
and smeered with ram or sowes grease clarified: let it cool, for you shall find the
silver at the bottom, and the brass on the top: part one from the other with an
iron rasp, or file: if you will, you may purge your silver again in a copple. But the
silver must be made into thin plates, that when it is strewed interchangeably with
the powders, they may come at it on all sides: then cover the vessel with its cover,
and lute it well. But the salt must be decrepitated that it leap not out, and the
brimstone prepared and fixed. But we may thus

Part gold from brass:
Make salt of these things that follow, namely, Vitriol, Alom, Salt-peter, quick Brim∣stone,
of each a pound, Salt-ammoniack half a pound. Powder them all, and boil
them in a lye made of ashes, one part, as much quick lime, four parts of beech-ashes:
melt them at the fire, and decant them, and boil them till the Lixivium be gone; then
Page 177

dry it, and keep it in a place not moist, lest it melt; and mingle with it one pound
of powder of lead, and strew on of this powder six ounces for every pound of brass
made not in a melting vessel, and let them be shaken, and stirred vehemently with
an iron thing to stir it with: when the vessel is cold, break it, you shall find a
lump of gold in the bottom. Do the rest as I said.

CHAP. X.
A compendious way to part gold or silver from other Metals with aqua fortis.
WE shall teach thus compendiously to part gold from silver, and silver from other
metals; and it is no small gain to be got by it, if a man well understood what
I write: for I have known some by this art that have got great wealth. For example,
take a mixture of brass and silver, dissolve it in common aqua fortis: when it is con∣sumed,
cast fountain-water into it, to remove the sharpness of the water, and that
it can no more corrode the metal. Put the water into a great mouthed earthen ves∣sel,
and plunge plates of brass therein; for the silver will stick to them like a cloud,
the brass is best in the water: put the water into a glass retort with a large belly, and
make a soft fire under, and the fountain-water will distil forth by degrees. When
you know that the whole quantity of fountain-water is distilled out, or the belly of
the retort looks of a yellow colour, and the sent of the salts pierceth your nostrils:
take away the receiver, and put another that is empty to it, and lure it well that no∣thing
break forth. Augment the fire, and you shall draw off your aqua fortis as
strong as before, and the brass will be at the bottom of the retort: The aqua fortis
will be as good as it was, and you may use it oft-times.

Page 178
THE SIXTH BOOK OF Natural Magick: Of counterfeiting Precious Sones.
THE PROEME.
FRom the adulterating of Metals, we shall pass to the counterfeiting of Jewels. They are
by the same reason, both Arts are of kin, and done by the fire. And it is no fraud, saith
Pliny, to get gain to live by: and the desire of money hath so kindled the firebrand of luxury,
that the most cunning artists are sometimes cheated. They are counterfeited by divers ways,
either by cutting Jewels in the middle, and putting in the colours, and joyning them toge∣ther;
or else by giving a tincture to Crystal that is all one piece, or counterfeiting Crystal
by many ingredients; or we shall attempt to make true Jewels to depart from their proper
colour, and all of them to be so handsomly coloured, that they may shew like natural Jewels.
Lastly, I shall shew how to make Smalt of divers colours.

CHAP. I.
Of certain Salts used in the composition of Gems.
WE wil first set down certain operations, which are very necessa∣ry
in the making of Gems, lest we be forced to repeat the same
thing over again: And first,

How to make Sal Soda.
The herb Kali or Saltwort is commonly called Soda: grinde
this Soda very small, and sift it into powder: put it into a brass
Cauldron and boil it, pouring in for every pound of Soda, a fir∣kin
of water. Let it boil for four hours, till the water be consumed to a third part.
Then take it from the fire, and let it stand twelve hours, while the dregs settle to
the bottom, and the water becomes clear: then drain out the water with a linnen
cloth, into another vessel, and pour fresh water into the Cauldron: Boil it again,
and when it is cold, as before, and all the dross setled, filtrate the clear water out
again: Do as much the third time, still having a care to try with your tongue, whe∣ther
it be still salt. At last, strain the water, and set it in an earthen vessel over the
fire, keeping a constant fire under it, until the moisture being almost consumed, the
water grow more thick, and be condensed into salt; which must presently be taken
out with an iron ladle; and of five pound of Soda, you will have one pound of salt.

How to make Salt of Tartar.
Take the lees of old wine, and dry it carefully; it is commonly called Tartar: put it
into an Alimbeck, made in such sort, that the flame may be retorted from the top,
and so augment the heat. There let it burn, you will see it grow white; then turn
it with your iron tongs, so that the upper part which is white may be at bottom,
and turn the back up to the flame: when it hath ceas'd smoaking, take it out, and
break part of it, to see whether it be white quite through, for that is an argument
of the sufficient burning; because it oftentimes happens, that the outside onely is
burned, and the rest of it remaineth crude. Therefore, when it hath gained the co∣lour
Page 179

of chalk, it must be taken out; and when it is cold, grinde it, and lay it in wa∣ter
in some wide-mouth'd vessel a quarter of a day. When the water is grown clear,
filtrate it, and strain it into another vessel, and then pour water again unto the
settlement, observing the same things we spoke before, until the water have taken
out all the salt, which will come to pass in the third or forth time. Pour your wa∣ters
which you saved, into a vessel of glass; and all things being ready, put live coles
under it, and attend the work until the water be consumed by the force of the fire,
which being done, the salt will stick to the bottom: it being thus made, preserve
it in a dry place, lest it turn to oyl.

CHAP. II.
How Flint, or Crystal is to be prepared, and how Pastils are boiled.
THe matter of which Gems are made, is either Crystal or Flint, from whence we
strike fire, or round pebbles found by river sides: those are the best which are
taken up by the river Thames, white, clear, and of the bigness of an egge; for of
those are made best counterfeit Gemms, though all will serve in some sort. Some
think that Crystal is the best for this purpose, because of the brightness and transpa∣rency
of it; but they are deceived. The way of making Gems, is this: Take river∣pebbles
and put them into a fornace, in that place where the retorted flame is most
intense; when they are red hot, take them out and fling them into water: then
dry them, and powder them in a mortar, or a hand-mill, until they are very fine;
put them into a wide-mouthed vessel, full of rain water, and shake it well in your
hands, for so the finest part will rise to the top, and the grossest will settle to the
bottom: to that which swims at top pour fresh water, and stir the dust again: and
do this oftentimes, until the gross part be quite separated and sunk down. Then
take out the water, and let it settle, and in the bottom there will lie a certain slimy
matter; gather together, and reserve the refined powder. But whil'st the stone is
ground, both the morter and the mill will lose somewhat of themselves, which
being mixt with the powder will foul the Gem: wherefore it will be worth the la∣b•r
to wash that away: to which end, let water be often poured into the lavel, and
stirred about; the dust of the morter will rise to the top, by reason of its levity, and
the powder of the pebbles will retire to the bottom by reason of its weight; skim
the lavel, and separate them with a spoon, till all that sandy and black dust be taken
off; then strain out the water, and reserve the powder dry. These being done, we
must teach

How Pastils are boiled.
Artificers call those pellets which are made of the salts, and the forenamed powder
and water, Pastils. Take five parts of salt of Tartar, as many of salt of Soda▪ dou∣ble
the quantity of these of the forespoken powder of pebbles, and mix them very
well in a stone morter: sprinkle them with water & wet them, so that they may grow
into a past, and make Pastils of them in bigness of your fist; set them in the sun, and
dry them well. Then put them into a fornace of reverbaration, the space of six
hours, encreasing the fire by degrees, that at last they may become red hot, but not
melt; wherefore use no bellows: when they are baked enough, let them cool, and
they will become so hard, that they will endure almost the hammer.

CHAP. III.
Of the Fornace, and the Parts thereof.
NOw the Fornace is to be built, which is like to that of glass-makers, but less
according to the proportion of the work. Let your fornace be eight foot high,
and consist of two vaults; the roof of the lower must be a handful and a half thick: the
vault it self must have a little door, by which you may cast in wood to feed the fire
Page 180

there. Let it also have on the top, and in the middle of its roof, a hole about a
foot in breadth, by which the flame may penetrate into the second vault, and reach
to the upper roof; whence the flame being reverberated, doth cause a vehement
heat. In this upper vault there must be cut out in the wall small holes of a handful
in breadth, which must open and shut, to set the pots and pans in on the floor, and
to take them out again. Artificers call these pots Crucibles; they are made of clay,
which is brought from Valencia, and doth very strongly endure fire: They must be a
finger thick, and a foot and a half deep, their bottom somewhat thicker, lest they
should break with the force of the fire. All things being thus provided, cast in your
wood and fire, and let the fornace heat by degrees, so that it may be perfectly
hot in a quarter of a day. Your workmen must be diligent to perform their duty;
then let the Pastils, being broken into pieces about the bigness of a wall-nut, be
put into crucibles, and set in the holes of the fornace built for that purpose, with
a pair of iron tongs to every pot. When they melt, they will rise up in bubbles, and
growing greater and greater, must be pricked with sharp wires; that the vapor pas∣sing
out, the bubbles may sink down again, and not run over the mouth of the cru∣cibles.
Then let other pieces be put in, and do as before, until the pots be filled
to the top: and continue the fire for a whole day, until the matter be concocted.
Then put an iron hook into the pots, and try whether the matter have obtained a
perfect transparency: which if it have, take it out of the pots with iron instruments
for that purpose, and cast it into clear water, to wash off the filth and stains, and to
purge out the salt: for when the Gems are made; on a suddain the salt breaks forth,
as it were spued out, and overcast them like a cloud. Yet there must be a great
deal of diligence used, whil•st you draw out this vitrified matter, lest it touch the
sides of the fornace; for it will cleave thereto like bird•ime, hardly to be pulled
off without part of the wall: as also lest it fall into the vessels: for it is very difficult
to separate it, and it prejudices the clearness of the glas•. When it is cold, put it
again into the crucibles, and let it glow for two days, until it be concocted into
perfect glass. When this vitrified matter hath stood so for two days, some, to make
it more fine and bright, lest it should be specked with certain little bubbles (to which
glass is very subject) put into the crucible some white lead, which presently grow∣eth
red, then melts with the glass and becomes clear and perspicuous. Make your
tryal then with an iron hook; for if it be clear of those bubbles, it is perfected, and
so will be a perfect mass of Gems. Now we will teach the several Colours, Yellow,
Green, or Blue, wherein we will cast our Gems.

CHAP. IV.
To make Colours.
WHile the Crystal is preparing in the fornace, by the same fire the Colours may
be also made: And first,

How to make Crocus of Iron:
Take three or four pounds of the limature of Iron, wash it well in a broad vessel;
for by putting it into water, the weight of the iron will carry that to the bottom;
but the straws and chips, and such kind of filth, will swim on the top; so you will
have your filings clean and wash'd. Then dry it well, and put it into an earthen gla∣zed
pot with a large mouth, and pour into it three or four gallons of the best and
sharpest vinegar: there let it macerate three or four weeks, stirring it every day se∣ven
or eight times with an iron rod: then giving it time to settle, pour out the vine∣gar
into another pot, and put fresh vinegar into the iron; and do this, till the vine∣gar
have consumed all the filings. Then put all the vinegar into an earthen vessel,
and set it on the fire, and let it boil quite away: In the bottom there will remain a
slimy durty mattter, mixt with a kind of fatness of the iron, which the fire by conti∣nuance
will catch hold of: let it burn, and the remaining dust will be Crocus. O∣thers
file your rusty nails, and heating them red hot, quench them in vinegar; then
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strain them, and dry the rust, and set it again to the fire, till it be red hot, then
quench it again with vinegar; this they do three or four times: at length they boil
the vinegar away, and take the remaining Crocus from the bottom. Next remains
to shew

How to reduce Zaphara into Powder.
A lit•le window is to be made out of the side of the fornace, nigh to which must
be built a little cell or oven, so joyned to the mouth of the oven, that the flame may
be brought in through a little hole. Let this cell have a little door without, to ad∣mit
the workmans hand upon occasion. Let this cell be a foot in length and breadth.
Set the Saffron upon a Potters tile, into the cell and shut the door: let it be red hot,
and after six hours take it out and put it into water, so will it cleave into pieces; let
it be dryed, stamped, and so finely seirced, that it may scarce be felt. But if it can∣not
be effected with a pestle and morter; pour water upon the powder, and stir it
with your hands, and let it settle for a while; then strain it into another vessel, and
pour fresh water into the powder; and reiterate this so often, till that which set∣leth,
being beat and brayed, do pass through with water: then dry it, and it will
become very fine powder.

How to burn Copper.
Set the filings of Copper, with an equal quantity of salt mixt in an earthen pot, over
the fire, and turn it about three or four hours with an iron book, that it may be
burned on all sides: There let it burn a whole natural day: then take it out, and di∣vide
it into two parts; lay the one part aside, and set the other with salt on the fire
again, for an artificial day: do the same three or four times, that it may be more per∣fectly
calci•ed, always having a care that it be as hot as may be, but that it melt not.
Waen it is burnt, it is black.

CHAP. V.
How Gems are coloured.
ALl things being thus prepared; there is nothing more, I think, remaineth to
make an end of this work, but to know how to colour them. And we will
begin with the way

How to dye a Saphire.
Artificers begin with a Saphire: for when it is coloured, unless it be presently re∣moved
from the fire, it loseth the tincture; and the longer it remains in the fire,
the brighter it groweth. Put a little Zaphara, as they call it, into a pot of glass,
two drachms to a pound of glass; then stir it continually from top to bottom with an
iron hook: when it is very well mixed, make tryal whether the colour please you
or no, by taking a little out of the pot. If it be too faint, adde some more Za∣phara;
if too deep, put in more glass, and let it boil six hours. Thus you may

Colour Cyanus,
or sea-water, another kind of Saphire. Beat your calcined brass into very fine pow∣der,
that you may scarce feel it; for otherwise it will mix with the Crystal, and
make it courser: the quantity cannot be defined▪ for there are lighter and deeper of
that kind: for the most part, for one pound one drachm will be sufficient.

How to counterfeit the colour of the Amethist:
To a pound of Crystal, put a dram of that they call Manganess, and so the colour is
made. If the Gem be great, make it the paler; if small, make it deeper: for they use
such for rings, and other uses.

To counterfeit the Topaze.
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To every pound of glass, adde a quarter of an ounce of crocus of Iron, and three
ounces of red-lead, to make it of a brighter red. First put in the lead, then the
crocus.

The Chrysolite.
When you have made a Topaze, and would have a Chrysolite, adde a little more
Copper, that it may have a little verdure: for the Chrysolite differeth from the To∣paze
in nothing, but that it hath a greater lustre. So we are wont

To counterfeit an Emerald.
This shall be the last: for we must let our work be as quick as possible, because the
copper being heavy, when it is mixed with the Crystal, doth presently sink down to
the bottom of the pots, and so the Gems well be of too pale a colour. There∣fore
thus you must do: when you give the tincture to a Cianus, you may easily turn
it into Smaragde, by adding crocus of iron, in half the quantity of the copper or
brass, viz. if at first you put in a fourth part of copper: Now you must adde an eighth
part of crocus, and as much copper. After the colours are cast in, let it boil six
hours, that the material may grow clear again: for the casting in the colours will
make them contract a cloudiness. Afterwards let the fire decrease by degrees, un∣til
the fornace be cold: then take out the pots and break them, wherein you shall
find your counterfeit precious Stones.

CHAP. VI.
How Gems may otherwise be made.
THe manner which I have set down, is peculiar and usual to our Artificers, and
by them is also accounted a secret. But I will set down another way, which I
had determined always to keep secret to my self; for by it are made with less charge,
less time, and less labour, much more refulgent, bright, and livelier Gems, whose
superficies and lustre, the salt shall not deface in a much longer time. Although
those old counterfeits which are found at Puteoli, in the mortar of ruined houses,
and on the shores, are yet very bright, and of a perfect clearness, so that they
seem beyond the imitation of our age: Yet I will endeavour by this way, not one∣ly
to equal them, but to make much better. Wherefore give ear, and believe: the
materials are thus made: Take the comb of a Cock, and cutting his gullet in two,
keep the head and the neck. Put it into a pot, and set it in a hard fire; stop i• close that
no coles or ashes arising with the smoke, or soote, fall in, and spoil the lustre of it.
When the fire is kindled, you will hear it hiss: when it is red hot, take it up with
an iron tongs, and quench it in clear water, and dry it: Do this three times, changing
the water▪ lest there should be any filth; then grinde it on a marble till it be so fine
that you may blow it about, and reserve it for use. Thence have you the Philosophers
Stone, most fragrant in fire, and chief in the triplicity. If thou art ignorant of the
Philosophers Stone, learn it from these verses, which I found in an old Manuscript.

Arctus est hominis, qui constat sex elementis.
Cui p si addideris, s. in. m. mutare si bene scis.
Hoc erit os nostrum constans lapis Philosophorum.
Now we have advertis'd you of the materials: let us advise also about the colour.
And first of all, I will shew you

How to counterfeit a Topaze.
Put your material into a pot, and cover it with a lid, full of holes; over which there
must be laid another, that it may exhale, and yet receive no hurt from the smoke:
let it stand in its fornace to the middle the space of a whole day, and it will be a To∣paze.
Now
Page 183

To counterfeit a Chrysolite,
cram the Cock, and for every ounce give him to eat two grains of the beloved flow∣er
of Venus: stroak him, and in due time thou shalt see.

To make an Emarald.
Feed the Cock again, and for every ounce, give him four grains of wheat, and he will
shine with a most bright lustre. But

To make a Jacinth,
give the Cock graines of the bloody Stone, instead of wheat, and he will easily lay
hold of them.

CHAP. VII.
Of Several Tinctures of Crystal.
I Have declared divers tinctures of glass, and those no vulgar and common ones,
but such as are rarely known, and gained, and tried with a great deal of labour.
Now I will relate some ways of staining Crystal, and especially those that are choice,
and known to very few; if not onely to my self.

To stain Crystal with the colour of a Jacinth, or a Ruby, without breaking, or wearing it.
Take six parts of Stibium, four of Orpin, three of Arsenick, as much of Sulphur, two
of Tutty; beat them all asunder, and sift them through a fine seirce: put them into
a pot: hang your Crystal by wires, or cover it over with the powders, and so set it
on the fire, that it may be hot, four or five hours; but use no bellows, lest it break
in pieces, or melt. It is a certain sign of being perfectly coloured, if you take out
a piece, and that be of a bright and shining colour▪ otherwise deliver it to the fire
again, and after some time try it again. But you must have a great care, lest it
cool too suddenly when you take it off the fire, for it will crumble and fall to pieces.
If a violet-colour pleaseth you, take it soon from the fire: if you would have a
deep purple, let it stand longer: we can make a violet with Orpin onely.

To turn a Saphire into a Diamond.
This stone, as all others, being put in the fire, loseth his colour: For the force of
the fire maketh the colour fade. Many do it several ways: for some melt gold, and
put the Saphire in the middle of it; others put it on a plate of iron, and set it in the
middle of the fornace of reverberation; others burn it in the middle of a heap of
iron dust. I am w•nt to do it a safer way, thus: I fill an earthen pot with unkill'd
lime, in the middle of which I place my Saphire, and cover it over with coals; which
being kindled, I stop the bellows from blowing, for they will make it flie in pieces.
When I think it changed, I take a care that the fire may go out it self: and then ta∣king
out the stone, I see whether it hath contracted a sufficient whiteness; if it have,
I put it again in its former place, and let it cool with the fire; if not, I cover it a∣gain,
often looking on it, until the force of the fire have consumed all the colour,
which it will do in five or six hours; if you find that the colour be not quite vani∣shed,
do again as before, until it be perfect white. You must be very diligent, that
the fire do heat by degrees, and also cool; for it often happeneth, that sudden cold
doth either make it congeal, or flie in pieces. All other stones lose their colour,
like the Saphire; some sooner, some later, according to their hardness. For the Ame∣thist
you must use but a soft and gentle fire; for a vehement one will over-harden it,
and turn it to dust. This is the art we use, to turn other precious stones into Dia∣monds,
which being cut in the middle, and coloured, maketh another kind of adul∣terating
Gems; which by this experiment we will make known: And it is

How to make a stone white on one side, and red or blew on the other.
Page 184

I have seen precious stones thus made, and in great esteem with great persons, be∣ing
of two colours: on one side a Saphire, and on the other a Diamond, and so of
divers colours. Which may be done after this manner: For example, we would have
a Saphire should be white on one side, and below on the other; or should be white
on one side, and red on the other: thus it may be done. Plaister up that side which
you would have red or blew, with chalk, and let it be dryed; then commit it to the
fire, those ways we spoke of before, and the naked side will lose the colour and turn
w•ite, that it will seem a miracle of Nature, to those that know not by how slight an
art it may be done.

How to stain glass of divers colours.
I will not pass by a thing worth the relation, which happened by chance, while we
were making these experiments. The flower of Tinne taketh away the perspicuity of
Crystal glass, and maketh it of divers colours: for being sprinkled upon Crystal glasses
that are polished with a wheele, and set to the fire, it doth variously colour them,
and maketh them cloudy; so that one part will look like a stone, and another like
an Opale of divers colours. But you must often take it out from the fire, and order
it rightly, till it be according to your desire. I have before told you how to make
flour of Tinne for the purpose. I will adde somewhat more, indeed no secret, nor
very necessary, but that nothing may be omitted by us in this work, viz.

How to make a Jacinth
beautiful enough, and not much unlike a true one. Put lead into a hard earthen pot,
and set it on the fire in a glass-makers fornace, there let it remain for some days, till
the lead be vitrified, and it will be of the colour of a Jacinth.

To counterfeit an Emerald.
You may do this almost in the same manner; and it will resemble the colour of a
pleasant green corn. Dissolve silver with strong water, then casting into the water
some plates of Copper, as I told you, it will cleave to them. Gather it together,
and dry it, and set it into a glass-makers fornace in an earthen pot, within a few
days it will become an Emerald. To do the same with other metals, I will leave to
the trial of others; it is enough for me to have found out and discovered the way.

To counterfeit Carbuncles.
This we do with Orpin, and use it in some ornaments, for they are brittle, and of
a most flagrant colour, have much of the scarlet blush, and cast forth red sparkles.
Take four ounces of Orpin, and grinde it small: then put it into a glass vessel, whose
bottom you must fortifie against the force of the fire with mortar made with straw,
and stop the mouth of it gently. The fire being kindled, the smoke flieth up, and
the thinnest part of the material will rise to the top: and you will see it stick to the
sides of the glass, and the neck: it will grow bigger by degrees, and new parts still
flying up, will make it grow thicker; and like boyling water gather into bubbles,
which at last will encrease so big, that they will fall down: Some will stick in the neck
of the glass, all of a most flagrant colour, but brittle and small. Break the glass, and
take off with a sharp point of a knife, those red congealed bubbles which stick to the
glass, and use them. If you would make one great one of those little bubbles; lay
a great many little ones upon a piece of glass, and melt them, and they will run into
one: a most pleasant sight to see.

CHAP. VIII.
Of making smalt or Ennamel.
AFter Gems we will endevour to make Smalt or Ennamel. It is a work almost
of the same nature, and of the same mixture and colours; this onely difference
is between them, that in Gems the glass is transparent, in this it is more dense and
Page 185

solid. In antient times they made their Checker or Mosaique work of it: and Gold-smiths
do use it in colouring and enammeling gold. It is Tinne that gives it a body
and solidity.

To make white Enammel,
Take two ounces of Lead ashes, four of Tinne; and make it into a body, with double
the quantity of glass: role it into round balls, and set it on a gentle fire all night:
take heed it stick not to the sides of the pot, but stir it about with an iron spattle, and
when it is melted, increase the fire, and the business is done.

To make black Smalt.
To a pound of glass, you must adde a drachm of Manganess, for so it will be of the co∣lour
of a Lyon: then adde a drachm of Zaphara, and the mixture will turn black: make
often tryal, if it be of a dark purple or violet-colour: for the Tin that giveth it the
body, will make it blacker.

To make Smalt of a deep yellow.
You may put to every pound of Crystal a little Crocus Martis, and three ounces of
Jalloline, as they call it, which engravers use: at last, Lead and Tin. But if you desire

To make Smalt of a paler yellow,
Instead of Jalloline, adde Jaletto, and you will have your desire.

To make green Smalt,
Adde burned Copper, and so it will be of a deeper colour: but if you desire it a
paler, adde the flakes of Copper, which flie off, while the smith hammereth it, be∣ing
red hot.

To make red Smalt,
Adde the rust of iron, very finely beaten: but when you would make

Smalt dark on one side, and transparent on the other,
Make your Pastils of earth, and double as much glass; set it a whole night in the fire
of reverberation, and let it melt in a convenient vessel, stirring it with an iron rod:
so you shall perceive both transparent and opacous parts in the same little Orb. So

To make Smalt of the colour of an Amethist.
It is done with nothing but Manganess: and if you would have it of a deeper co∣lour,
adde more of the body, that is, of the flower of Lead and Tin.

To make Smalt of skie-colour.
It may be effected with Zaphara, by adding somewhat more of the body.

To make speckled Smalt,
which being full of small specks, shall seem to be compounded of a great many lice,
very pleasant to behold. The opacous Smalt being made, pour it upon marble, and
then presently sprinkle some Crocus upon it, or drop some pale colour in specks, all
over it, and you shall have your desire.

To make Smalt of two colours,
cast Smalt first of one colour upon a marble, as before; and presently after, some of
another colour upon that: then with an iron rod press them close, and joyn them
together.

To make the best kind of Smalt,
such as Goldsmiths use; to every pot allow two roles of Sal Soda, and some sand, of
which glass is made, and it will be much more perfect.

Page 186
CHAP. IX.
To make Smalt of a clear rose-colour.
THe most skilful glass-makers do labour very much, in colouring Smalt of a rose-colour;
which is commonly called Rossiclere: seeing that in former times they
did it most beautifully and artificially. I will set down what both I my self have dore
in it, and what I have received from other friends: I have performed the best I could,
to shew others an opportune way of making better. The manner is this: cast ten
pounds of Crystal in a pot, and when you know it to be well melted, adde a pound of
the best red lead, by half at a time, stirring it with an iron rod as fast as you can, for the
weight of it will make it sink to the bottom: when it is well mixed, take it out of the
pot with iron instruments fit for the purpose, and cast it into water: do this thrice: then
mix with it five ounces of Tin calcined, and Cinnabaris of a most bright colour; and so
stirring them about for three hours, let them stand a while. When this is done, adde
moreover three ounces of vitrified Tin, and beat them together without any inter∣mission,
and you will see a most lively rose-colour in the glass, which you may use in
enamelling Gold.

To make Glass of Tin.
Set a pound of Tinne in a strong earthen pot, into the fire: let it heat and melt; then
remove it with iron tongs into the hottest flames of the glass-makers fornace, for
three or four days. Afterwards, the pot being taken out, and cold; break it, and
in the top you will find glass of a saffron colour, not clear: but the longer it stand∣eth
in the fire, the perfecter it will grow; neither have I known better in this kind,
of those many that I have tryed. It must be reduced into fine powder: for the
which not onely a morter and mills will be requite, but also a Porphyrian stone. If
it be too florid, you may make it of a more faint colour, by adding glass to it.

Another way to make it.
This is onely for friends: Take nine parts of burnt Tinne, seven of Lead, two of
Cinnabaris; of Spanish-soder and Tartar, one part and a half; of the Blood-stone one
part, of Painters red a fourth part. And do with it, as in the former.

CHAP. X.
Of leaves of Metal to be put under Gems.
THere are certain leaves of Metal laid under Gems, which being perspicuous, are
thereby made paler or deeper, as you will: for if you would have them of a fain∣ter
colour, you must put under them leaves of a more clear brightness: if of a deeper,
leaves of a darker hue. Moreover, Gems being transparent, are seen quite through,
and discover the bottom of the ring; which taketh much of their beauty off. This is
an invention of later times, who by terminating the transparency of stones, with
leaves of a most bright and pleasant colour, do fit and make up, and mend the co∣lour
of the stones. I have been very much delighted in this kind of work, and
therefore will deliver it particularly. The leaves are to be made either of Copper
alone, or of Copper, Gold, and Silver, mixt together. I will speak of those which
are made of Copper alone: You must buy at the Brasiers-shops some thin plates of
Copper, of the thickness of strong paper, that they may be the easier made thinner,
which you must cut into pieces of three fingers in length, and two in breadth; so
that a sheet of two pound, will be divided into a hundred and thirty parts: these
we must divide again into two parts, that they may be hammered more easily: Take
fourty and heat them, as Artificers do gold, when they beat it out into thinne rays.
Let the anvile and hammer be smooth and polished, lest the heavy stroaks should
make dents in the Copper, and break it. Discontinue your work by turns, so that
you may hammer the Copper while it is hot, and prepared by the fire; and put it
Page 187

into the fire, when it is cold: for if you do otherwise, it will break in pieces; which
you must presently remove from the rest; for those that are broken, will break others.
But that they may be the more easier prepared, when they begin to be ex•eruated,
I make use of this invention. There must be prepared two plates of iron, of a
hand square, and the thickness of paper. Double one of them, that it may receive
the other within the folds of it: so that they may receive the plates of Copper in the
middle, and enclose them on all sides, that they can neither slip out▪ nor any dust
or ashes fall in, so stick to them. When you have thus enclosed the Copper plates,
put them into the fire, and heat them; then take them out with iron tongs, and
shaking off the ashes, beat them with your hammer till they are cold, and so they
will become thin and fine rays. But while you are beating one, set others to heat:
and do this eight times over, until you have hammer'd them very thin, and made them
fit for your purpose. It will be worth your labor to look often upon them, to see if
any be broken in the working, for they will break their fellows. But because they
are wont to grow black in the working, and foul, so that they oftentimes deceive
the eye; therefore it is fit, that you have a pot of water ready, with an equal quan∣tity
of Tartar, and salt in it, and let it boil over the fire: Put into it your rays, and
stirre them about continually, till they be boiled white. Then take them out, and
wash them in a pot of clear water, till they be very clean: then dry them with
a linnen cloth, and then heat them, and beat them on the anvile again, as before,
until they spread into rays, as thin as leaf-gold▪ When this work is to be done, the
hammer and anvile must be as smooth, and polished, and bright, as a looking-glass;
which you may effect in this manner. First of all, hold them to the grinde-stone,
wherewith they grinde knives, until they be smoothed and planed▪ then rub them
with fine sand, and Pumice-stone; afterwards glaze them with a wheele, and polish
them with a plate of lead, and powder of emerald: if you use any other art, you
will but lose your labour. Thus in two days your work will be finished, that is, by
heating your plates, eight or ten times, and preparing them, and by whiting them
four times at least: Finally, examine them all, whether they be whole, and of a suf∣ficient
thinness: so that if any remain too thick, they may again be brought to the
hammer and perfected. But I must advertise you, that the thinner they grow, the
less time they must lye in the fire, because they will presently melt: and so also in
the water, because the salt will eat into them. At last, cut them with sheares into
square pieces, that they may be more convenient for use.

CHAP. XI.
How leaves of Metals are to be polished.
THe plates being thus thinned and finished, we will fall to polishing of them. But
first we must provide tools, wherewith to perform it. Take a plate of Copper
of a foot in length, and a hand in breadth, most exquisitely burnished, that it may be
as smooth as a looking-glass: bow it either with your hand, or a hammer, by little
and little, into the form of a semicylinder. Then turn a piece of wood, so that it may
be equal, and fit for it in every part, and be received into the convexity of it, where
being fastned with four nails at the corners of the plate, it may remain stedfast. Fix
this wood upon a little frame, with two bars of a foot height, fastned to the ends of
it. Now we will begin to burnish the plates; which must be thus done: provide
chalk made into fine powder, after this sort; take some beaten clay, wrap it in a clean
and indifferently fine cloth, and put it into a washing-bowl full of water; stirre it
about here and there, in the water, that the finest part may be washed through, and
the courser remain in the cloth: then put the new chalk into the cloth again; stirre it
and strain it till it all pass through the cloth, and then suffer the water to settle, and
seirce it through a strainer; onely changing the water, until no gross settlement re∣main:
Then lay the cloth over the mouth of the vessel, which must receive it, and tie
it slack on: so strain it, that you may be the more sure, that nothing but what is very
fine can pass through: then press cut the water, and reserve the chalk. Lay this
Page 188

clay, thus prepared, upon the Copper, and rub it with a poplar stick, till it shine
like gold: then wash it with water, over a wide-mouthed pan, that may receive the
water. After this, have a blood-stone ready, very well polished, upon a plate of
lead, with the dust of Emerald, it will become most exquisitely smooth: therefore,
lay your rays of copper upon the copper, and spread it abroad with the thumb of
your left hand; then cast on the clay, and pour water on to wash it, and then wipe
it off, and let onely the water remain to fasten them upon the copper. Then take in∣to
your hands the stone, being fastened to a stick; and polish the plates with it, ha∣ving
a great care that they do not run into wrinkles; for then they are quite spoiled:
but when they begin to move, pour on some of the water, and that will fix them
again: Continue this, till you have made it all over as bright and smooth as a look∣ing-glass.
A token of their perfect polishing is, when no marks of the running of
the stone, is seen upon them. Then taking them off from the wood, cast them in∣to
a pot of water, until the rest are all finished; and then wrap them in a clean lin∣nen
cloth: dry them, and lay them up in boxes, free from all dust, and filth: but
bend them like a half-pillar, so that the polished side may be inward; and tie them so
with a string.

CHAP. XII.
Of building a fornace for the colouring Plates.
NOw we will shew how to colour them: but first, let us describe the fornace,
wherewith it must be done. Therefore let a Fornace be made of iron plates
of a convenient thickness: let it be a foot in height, and as much in the diameter of
the length; let it be covered on the top, with a circular plate: In the centre of the
roof of it, cut a round hole, a handful in breadth; and set another fornace upon it,
of the same length and breadth, and make a hole in that also, which must be set
against the other, and joyn them close together. Make a little door in the lower
fornace, close to the ground; let it be made with an arch, four fingers wide, and
jet out half a foot, like the mouth of an oven, and be joyned in the same manner to the
great fornace. Then kindle your coals in another place, until they cease moking,
and with iron tongs cast them into the foresaid fornace: Heat it very well, and
let the outward fornace or mouth of the oven be fill half way with live coals. These
being thus disposed, fall to colouring the plates. And first, I will teach you

How to colour plates with a purple colour.
Take the plates tyed about with thread, as I told you, and fit them upon a pair of
iron tongs, which you must fasten at the fore-end with an iron ring, that they may not
open: hold them upon the hole of the upper fornace, that they may receive the
ascending smoak; and turn them about, until by degrees you shall perceive them
gather a purple colour, without any other smoak then what ariseth from the heat of
the coals: when you think them coloured enough, remove them from the smoke,
and lay them aside.

How to make them of a Saphire colour.
It is done much after the same way: for taking the rays in an iron tongs, and hold∣ing
them over the hole of the fornace, cast upon the coals through the low arched
door, the feathers of a goose, which grow upon her brest, and then lay upon them
a red hot iron rod. For the smoke of the feathers, arising through the tunnell of the
fornace, will beat upon the rays, and make them of a sky-colour: when the iron rod
groweth cold, take another and put in. It is very admirable, how on a suddain
these copper rays will change into several colours: wherefore, when they have ob∣tained
the colour which you desire, take them off the fornace presently, for other∣wise
they will alter into another.

How to make them of a silver colour.
Take a little silver, and dissolve it with aqua fortis: then pour some fountain-water
Page 189

into it, and your copper rays: presently the water will be troubled, and will stick
upon the copper like silver fleeces: cast away the water, and wash the silver, and
dry it in the Sun; and when it is dry, lay it upon a marble, and mix with it an ounce
of Tartar, and as much ordinary salt; grinde them together, till they be well mix∣ed.
This being made into powder, lay it on copper, and rub it with your fingers,
and it will make it shine like silver: then spread the rays upon the round wood, and
the copper; wet them with the water, lay the powder on them, and rub them
with your thumbs, that they may become of a silver colour; steep them in water,
and levigate them with the blood-stone upon the foresaid copper; then set them in
the smoke, and they will shine with a sky-colour.

How to make them of the colour of an Emerald.
It is very difficult, and there scarce is one of very many that will prove right. First,
make your rays of a sky-colour, as before; then take those which have not took
that colour rightly, and lay two of them upon the hole of the fornace; and through
the vault of the little door, fling some leaves of Box upon red hot plates of iron,
where they will crackle like day-leaves, and send up a smoke through the hole,
which will colour the rays. But before they come to be of a green colour, they must
pass through many other colours, as yellow, red, and sky-colour; but they must con∣tinue
some time before they obtain a perfect green.

How to make them red, like a Ruby.
Fling some flocks of Scarlet upon the live coles, and lay the thin plates over the hole,
and the arising smoke will colour them red.

How to make them of the colour of the Amethist.
When it is made of a sky-colour, it passeth through the colour of the Amethist; take
it therefore off in time, and you have your wish.

CHAP. XIII.
How rays are to be coloured by a mixture of Metals.
I will now shew how rays may be coloured by mixture with other metals; which
is of more difficulty, but of longer continuance. The former cost but little labour,
but they easily lose their colour: these are harder to be made; but keep their co∣lour
longer. Take half a pound of copper, and melt it in a melting pot, put there∣unto
half a crown of gold; and when it is well melted, and mixed, adde some tar∣tar,
that when it cooleth, the top of it may be plain and smooth; after it is cold, set
it aside. Then take another half pound of copper, and melt it in the same manner;
mix a drachm of silver with it, and let it cool: take it out of the pot, and file the
out-side of it smooth; for the least crack, or chap, would spoil the work. You may
know whether there be any crack within side or without, by this sign; place it in
an even poise upon a piece of iron, and strike it with another piece; if it sound equal∣ly,
and ring clearly, it is whole; if it do jar, it is cracked somewhere. Let your
pieces of metal be about a finger in bigness; beat them gently upon the anvile, lest
they break somewhere: set them in the fire and season them, and when they are cold,
beat them with the hammer into thin rays, as I have said before: if they chance to
crack, file off the flaws; and when they have been seasoned twice or thrice, in the fire,
have your pot of water ready, prepared with salt and tartar, to whiten them, that you
may more exactly find out the craks.

To make them of the colour of a Ruby.
The plates being finished, if you would make them of a ruby colour, do it with flocks
of scarlet, as before; but then the rags must be of the mixture of copper and gold.

To make them of the colour of a Saphire or Emerald.
Let the plates be of copper and silver: the Saphire colour is made with goose feathers,
but the Emerald with box-leaves, holding them somewhat longer over the fire. And
these are the experiments which I have made concerning Gems.

Page 190
THE SEVENTH BOOK OF Natural Magick: Of the wonders of the Load-stone.
THE PROEME.
WE pass from Jewels to Stones: the chief whereof, and the most admirable is the Load-stone,
and in it the Majesty of Nature doth most appear: and I undertake this work the
more willingly, because the Ancients left little or nothing of this in writing to posterity. In a
few days, not to say hours, when I sought one experiment, others offered themselves, that I
collected almost two hundred of principal note; so wonderful is God in all his works. But what
wiser and learneder men might find out, let all men judge. I knew at Venice R. M.
Paulus the Venetian, that was busied in the same study: he was Provincial of the Order of
servants, but now a most worthy Advocate, from whom I not onely confess, that • gained
something, but I glory•• it, because of all the men I ever saw, I never knew any man more
learned, or more ingenious, having obtained the whole body of learning; and is not onely
the Splendor and Ornament of Venice or Italy, but of the whole world. I shall begin from
the most known experiments, and pass to higher matters, that it may not repent any man of
his great study and accurate diligence therein. By these, the longitude of the world may be
found out, that is of no small moment for Saylors, and wherein the greatest wits have been
employed. And to a friend that is at a far distance from us, and fast shut up in prison, we
may relate our minds; which I doubt not may be done by two Mariners Compasses, having
the Alphabet writ about them. Upon this depends the principles of perpetual motion, and
more admirable things, which I shall here let pass. If the Antients left any thing of it, I shall
put that in by the way: I shall mark some false reports of some men, not to detest their pains
and industry, but lest any man should follow them in an error, and so errors should be perpe∣tual
thereby. I shall begin with the Name.

CHAP. I.
What is the Name of this Stone, the kind of it, and the Countrey where it grows.
PLato in Ione writes, that Empedecles called this stone 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉,
but Lucretius from the countrey Magnesia.

The Greeks do call it Magnes from the place,
For that the Magnets Land it doth embrace.
And the same Plato saith, some call it Heraclius. Theophrastus
in his book of Stones calls it 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, that is Herculeum, be∣cause
he found it about the city Heraclea. Others think it denominated from Her∣cules:
for as he conquered and subdued all beasts, and men; so this stone conquers
iron, which conquers all things. Nicander thinks the stone so called, and so doth
Pliny from him, from one Magnes a shepherd; for it is reported that he found it by
his hobnail'd shooes, and his shepherds-crook that it stuck to, when he fed his flocks
in Ida, where he was a shepherd. But I think it is called Magnes, as you should say
Magnus, onely one letter changed. Others call it Siderites from 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, that in
Page 191

Greek signifies iron, and the Latine call it Magnes, Heraclius, and Siderites. Hes•hi∣us
makes the stone Siderites to be different from Herculeus; for he saith, one hath
an iron colour, and the other a silver colour. Also Pliny from Sotacus makes five
kinds of it. The Ethiopian, the Magnesian from Magnesia neer Macedonia, as the
way lies to the Lake Boebis, on the right hand; the third in Echium of Boeo•ia, the
fourth about Alexandria at Troaderum; the fifth in Magnesia of Asia. The first dif∣ference
is, whether it be male or female, the next in the colour: for those that are
found in Macedonia and Magnesia, are red and black; but the Boeotian is more red
then black: That which is found in Troas is black, and of the female kind, and hath
no force therefore. But the worst sort is found in Magnesia, of Asia; it is white, and
attracts not iron, and is like a Pumice stone. It is certain, that the bluer they are,
the better they are. The Ethiopian is highly commended, and it costs the weight
in silver. It is found in Ethiopia at Zimirum; for so is the sandy country called.
It is a token of an Ethiopick stone, if it will draw another Loadstone to it. There is al∣so
a mountain in Ethiopia, not far off, that produceth a stone called Theamedes, that
drives away all iron from it. Dioscorides describes it thus. The best Loadstone is
that which easily draws iron, of a bluish colour, thick, and not very weighty. P•sau∣rensis
makes three sorts of them; one that draws iron, another flesh, another that
draws and repels iron; very ignorantly: for the fleshy Loadstone is different from
this, and one and the same stone draws & drives iron from it. Marbodeus saith, it grows
amongst the Proglodites and Indians. Olaus Magnus reports, that there are moun∣tains
of it in the North, and they draw so forcibly, that they have ships made fast to
them by great spikers of wood, lest they should draw out the iron nails out of the
ships that pass between these rocks of Loadstone. There is an Island between Corsica
and Italy, call'd Ilva, commonly Elba, where a Loadstone may be cut forth: but it
hath no vertue. It is found in Cantabria in Spain, Bohemia, and manyother places.

CHAP. II.
The natural reason of the Loadstones attraction.
BEcause some have written whole Books, of the reason of the Loadstones attract∣ing
of iron: lest I should be tedious, which I purpose not to be, I think fit to
pass over other mens opinions, especially, because they depend onely upon words
and vain cavils, that Philosophers cannot receive them; and I shall set down my
own, founded upon some experiments: yet I shall not pass by the opinion of Anax∣agoras,
set down by Aristotle in his Book De Anima, who by a similitude calls it a li∣ving
stone, and that therefore it draws iron; and for some other peculiar forces,
which might be properly said to proceed from the soul, as you shall see. Epicurus
would fain give a reason for it, as Galen and Lucretius report. For, say they, the
Atoms that flew out of the iron, and meet in the Loadstone in one figure, so that
they easily embrace one the other; these therefore, when they light upon both the
concretes of the stone and iron, and then flie back into the middle, by the way they
are turned between themselves, and do withall draw the iron with them. Galen
inveighs against this; for he cannot believe, as he saith, that the small atoms that flie
from the stone, can be complicated with the like atoms that come from the iron, and
that their embracing can draw such a heavy weight. Moreover, if you put another iron
to that which hangs, that will fasten also, and another to that, and so a third and fourth:
& the atoms that result from the stone, when they meet with the iron, they flie back,
and are the cause that the iron hangs: and it is not possible that those atoms should pe∣netrate
the iron, & through the empty pores should rebound unto the former atoms,
and embrace others, whereas he saw five iron instruments hang one by the other. And
if the atoms be diffused straight forward through the iron, why then do other iron
nails stick, fastned but on the sides? for the vertue of it is spread every way: Where∣fore
if a very little Loadstone should touch many small bodies of iron, and these
others, and those others again, and the Loadstone must fill them all; that small stone
would even be consumed into atoms. But I think the Loadstone, is a mixture of
Page 192

stone and iron, as an iron stone, or a stone of iron. Yet do not think the stone is
so changed into iron, as to lose its own Nature, nor that the iron is so drowned in the
stone, but it preserves it self; and whilst one labours to get the victory of the other,
the attraction is made by the combat between them. In that body, there is more of
the stone, then of iron; and therefore the iron, that it may not be subdued by the
stone, desires the force and company of iron; that being not able to resist alone, it
may be able by more help to defend it self. For all creatures defend their being:
Wherefore, that it may enjoy friendly help, and not lose its own perfection, it wil∣lingly
draws iron to it, or iron comes willingly to that. The Loadstone draws not
stones, because it wants them not, for there is stone enough in the body of it; and
if one Loadstone draw another, it is not for the stone, but for the iron that is in it.
What I said, depends on these Arguments. The pits of Loadstone are where the
veins of iron are: these are described by Galen, and such as deal in Minerals, and
in the confines of them both; of the stone and the iron they grow, and the Load∣stones
are seen, wherein there is more stone, and others in which there is more
iron. In Germany a Loadstone is digged forth, out of which they draw the best
iron; and the Loadstone, whilst it lies in the filings of iron, will get more strength;
and if it be smeered or neglected, it will lose its forces. I oft saw with great delight
a Loadstone wrapt up in burning coles, that sent forth a blue flame, that smelt of
brimstone and iron; and that being dissipated, it lost its quality of its soul that was
gone, namely, its attractive vertue. It is the stink of iron and brimstone, as such
who destroy iron by reducing it to a Calx, or use other Chymical operations, can easi∣ly
try. And I thought that the same soul, put into another body, must necessarily
obtain the same faculty.

CHAP. III.
That the Loadstone hath two opposite Poles, the North and South, and how they may be known.
BEcause the effects of the Loadstone are many and divers, I shall begin to distin∣guish
from the effects of it, that the Readers may receive more benefit and dire∣ction.
The effects of the Loadstone, are of the stone onely, or of the iron touched
with the stone, or of them both, the iron and the stone. The simple effects of the stone,
are to draw the stone, to respect the Poles of the world, and such like: also they are
mixt and compounded. We say therefore first, that the stone hath two points, that stand
opposite one to the other, be it in a great or small stone, which we call the Poles: one
of them is directed to the North, the other to the South: For if the stone be at li∣berty,
and hangs that it may play, without any impediments from its weight, one
part turns freely to the North, and the contrary part to the South. The way to try it is
thus: Take a little piece of Cork, or Fennel gigant, or some other light wood, and
make it like a Boat, that it may serve to bear up the weight of the stone. Put the
stone into this vessel, that it may be equi-distant from the bottom. Put the Boat into
a vessel full of water, that it may move here and there, and find no impediment; let
it so alone, and the Boat will never rest, until the point of the stone stand full North,
and the opposite point full South. When the Boat stands still, turn it about twice or
thrice with your finger, and so it will come again to rest, and return to the same po∣sture;
and this shall make you more certain of the North and South Poles of it. There
are many more ways to prove it, for letting it hang equally, as in the Mariners Com∣pass;
for where it can move of it self freely, it still directs to the same points: and you
may do the same if you hang it by a small thread. Hence we may easily learn,

To know which Loadstone is the more perfect.
Which a man may easily do by the former trial, and find out what Loadstone is void
of vertue, or most forcible. For that Loadstone that doth soonest bring about the
Boat to the points, and having found the north Pole, stands still, is certainly the most
forcible stone. But that which slowly works, and comes softly about to its place, and
stops oft, is more weak and feeble. Also we may be certified another way: for that
which can turn about the greater piece of wood, or boat, not slowly, but quickly, is
the best stone. And though there be more ways to try it, yet let these suffice at pre∣sent:
we shall speak of the rest in other places.

Page 193
CHAP. IV.
The force of the stone is sent by a right line from North to South, through the length of it.
BUt the two points we speak of, are the end of the right line, running through
the middle of the stone from North to South; if any man break the stone, and
break this line, those ends of the division will presently be of another property
and vertue, and will be enemies one to the other: which is a great wonder:
for these two points, when they were joined together, had the same force of
turning to the pole; but now being parted asunder, one will turn to the North,
the other to the South, keeping the same posture and position they had in the Mine
where they were bred: and the same happens in the least bits that are seen in the
greatest load-stone.

[illustration]
For example: let the rock of Load-stone be ABCD, and let the line from North to South be AB: if we shall cut the stone AB out of the rock, the very line AB in the stone will repre∣sent the polar line from North to South. But if we break the stone broad-wayes, every little piece will keep its line. Cut the stone AB broad-ways, as CF, there will be two stones; ACD, and EFB: I say, the stones cut through the line CD, each of them will have its poles of the world. In the stone AGD, the North-pole will be A, the South G. In the stone EFB, the North will be H, the South B; and that is beyond all ad∣miration, that the points GH whilst the stone was but one, were but one: as being agreed together, they had the same forces; but when the stone is divided, each part will hold its vertue, and be quite contra∣ry and at enmity: for G alwayes turns to the South, and H to the North, and eve∣ry bit will have its poles: and if you fit the divided stones with boats, A and H will turn to the North, G and B to the South: and the same will fall out, if you di∣vide AG and HB into many small pieces; and if you afterwards join all these pieces together as they were, their mutual discord of nature will be presently reconciled. Wherefore Cardanus said false, that the Load-stone draws where it hath but a thin cover, and more in one part then another: for it attracts onely from one certain point, as it had its position before in the mines.
CHAP. V.
That the polar line in the Loadstone is not stable, but moveable.
BUt the like wonder of nature cannot but be admired amongst many that God
hath made, and therefore I would have no man ignorant thereof. This polar
line spoken of, is not alwayes certain in the same place, nor doth it stand alwayes
firm; but changes, and takes the contrary positions: but this is constant in it, that
it alwayes runs through the middle of the stone, like a King that hath alwayes his
Court or fort in the midst of his Country: for consisting in the centre from whence
the extream parts are as it were the circumference, it can easily send its forces to
all parts, and defend it self. But an example shall clear this.

Page 194

[illustration]
Let the stone be AECF, and let the line AC running through the length of it, be the polar line we speak of, wherein the force of it resides, which runs from the North to the South-pole; I say, if you divide the stone in two pieces by the line AC, that one piece may be AED, the other BCF, if they be taken asunder, that the force of it doth not re∣side in the extream part of the line AD or BC; but being divided in the middle, the force is received in the middle of each stone, and in the stone AED, it will be GH, and in BCF, it will be IL: which cannot be spoken without admiration, that in a dead stone there should be a living vertue to move it self: who is there, unless he try it, that will believe these things? For as the line that stretch∣eth from North to South was in the prime, so if you divide the stone into a thou∣sand parts, that force is sent into all those parts, each of them holding its own line in the middle of it; so if we shall divide the part AED into other parts, and shall part the smallest of them, what part soever is parted from its confines, it will have that same lively force running long-ways through the middle of it: and so it will be, if you divide the stone into the smallest sand: but the greater wonder is, that if you joit all the parts together again as they were at first, they will all have the same force united, and that will retire into the middle of the stone.
CHAP. VI.
That the force of North and South is vigorous in the points.
BUt what is more wonderful? Though the force retreats to the middle of the
stone, yet it doth not send it self forth by the middle, but by the extream parts of
the stone, and lies still in the middle, as if it were asleep; but it is awake in the end,
and there it comes forth: But if a man break the stone, he shall see it more perfect∣ly.
I shall give an example for such that are curious, to search out the vertue of the
Load-stone.

[illustration]
Let the Load-stone be AB, and A the North pole, B the South; I say that in AB the end of the stone, the force is greater, and in the middle of the line ILN, it is more weak and drowsie, unless there be any vertue un∣known in the right and left side CD: but the neerer it is to the North or South, the more it augments; but the far∣ther off it is, the more it faints. Break the stone in C and G, wherein there lay hid a vertue unperceived, but it will appear when the stone is broken, and shew its pro∣perties, and one point will shew forth the North, the other the South. And if these things seem superfluous, yet are they necessary, as the grounds of what I must say.
CHAP. VII.
That by the touching of other stones, those points will not change their forces.
ANd because I said that the Load-stone doth not always hold its forces equal, but
that one stone is more powerful in operation then another, for some are faint
and weak; I shall put the first question, whether by rubbing and touching the weaker
stones with the stronger, those forces will be changed, or stay as they were; as, if a
Page 195

Load-stone is sluggish in pointing out the pole, whether in a stronger stone
rubbed with the North point upon the North point of the weaker, can help it
at all; or if we shall rub the South point of the other on the North point
of this, whether the North point rubbed on will be gone and become the
South point, or continue in its former vertue? Where we have not reason to
direct us, experience shall prove it. For let a Loadstone be of what forces and
properties it may be, by rubbing it against a Loadstone of less vertue, it will never
lose any thing, but continues immutable; and being left at liberty in its boat, it
will turn voluntarily to its own pole, and decline the contrary part. And though
we cannot find the cause of it, yet it seems not against reason; I say, that in stones
of the same kind, the greater stones have the greatest forces; and when one Load∣stone
i• rubbed against another, it will leave certain hairs, which are but the bruised
small parts of the stone, that stick like hairs, and these are they that lend force to i∣ron
and other things to attract, and to turn to the pole; but if the stone that is rub∣bed
and receives it be greater then those hairs, it can never be that the gre•ter ver∣tue
should be conquered by the less, alwayes the stones being of the same kind,
since the hairs have as it were no proportion to the magnitude of it. And as the
hairs to the stones magnitude are insensible, so it is impossible that they can wrest the
force of it to the contrary pole.

CHAP. VIII.
That a Loadstone will draw a Loadstone, and drive it from it.
I Shall speak of the other operation of it, which is of its attracting and repelling.
This is both admirable, and delightsome to behold with our eyes, and to consider
in our mind, that the part of one Loadstone should so carefully search out another,
allure and attract it, to enjoy its company, and to foster it in its bosom and again,
another should be such an enemy to it, that they are at mutual discord, so that put∣ting
their contrary ends together, the one will be so contrary to the other, and hate
as it were the force of it, that it will turn the contrary way: namely, the North
part of the one doth not indifferently draw any part of every other stone, but a di∣stinct
and certain part, nor doth it drive every part from it, but that part it natural∣ly
abhors, and cannot endure, as being contrary unto it. The North part of the one
will draw the South part o• the other, and drive away from it the North part of the
same; and the South part of this is not an enemy to the North part of the other,
but to the South part of it. The same will appear better by an example.

[illustration]
Let there be two stones ACD, and EBF: in the first stone let A be the North pole, and the point G the South; in the stone EFB let the North part be H, the South B: I say, if you put the South part G. of the stone CAD, to the South part B, of the stone EFB, it will presently drive it from it; and the same will happen if you put the North pole A to the North pole G A∣gain, if you shew the North point A to the South point H, or the South point B to the North point A, as being mutually a∣greed, it will draw the part to it that is not against it. The rea∣son of it I know; for since that the South part G, had formerly been fast to the North part H, when the parts are divided they alwayes seek to unite again, to preserve the same body, as Phi∣losophers say. But if the South point G had been fast with the South point B of another stone, B•flies off presently, and departs from it; or if you shew the North point A, to the North point H, the same will come to pass: for they refuse one the other, because they did not so stand in their Mine. Here I shall confute the error of Pliny, and of his followers, who think that no other Load∣stone hath this vertue but the stone of Ethiopia; but it is common to all Loadstones. Also, it is a sign, saith he, of the Ethiopian stone, because that will draw another
Page 196
whole Loadstone to it. Also Cardanus falsly affirms that one Loadstone will not draw another; but it will draw it, because the iron is concealed in it that it had first drank in. In brief, the poles that are unlike, will join together, by reason of the similitude of their substance, and likeness of inclination; but the poles that are the same, by a contrary inclination are at enmity: that is, the North point seeks the South point, and the South the North point; so shall the South and North points re∣ject South and North points. Yet we must tell you by the way, that when we try the stones, let them not be both great and vast stones, that being hindered by their weights cannot perform their office: but let one be great, and the other small; or both small, that they may be mutually repulsed or drawn on. The trial is easie, if they be hanged by a thread, or put into their boats, or if they play equally balanced upon the needle.
CHAP. IX.
A sport of the Loadstone.
I Will not pass by a merry conceit of the Loadstone, that I have oft-times made
my friends sport with, for the good of those that are curious in the search of the
reasons of things. How in a short time two kinds of sands mingled, and said on a
heap, may be parted one from the other very suddenly: for the standers by, that
cannot sound the reason of it will, think it impossible. The trick is this: Pown a
Loadstone into very fine sand, and put some white sand, or some other sand together
with it, and mingle them, and make a heap of them: for if you put a Loadstone to
it, either uncovered, or covered with linen (that the standers by may not know it)
presently the sand of the Loadstone, as in league with it, will run like small hairs
joined together, and will stick fast to the stone; which you may brush off and lay a∣side,
then come again, and what is behind will run to the stone, till you have drawn
it all out; and it will cause no little wonder, that when the Loadstone comes to
the heap, the sands that were mingled should be parted asunder. But the more easily
to powder the Loadstone, do thus. Put the Loadstone into an iron morter, lay a
blanket or some other soft thing upon it, for it will thus yield to hand-strokes, and
presently crumble; if not, you must beat hard on the bottom of the morter, and
batter the pestle. Also the same thing befals us in a certain sand that is brought to
us out of an iron Mine from Porchys, for it hath the colour and shining that iron
hath; and by the proximation of the Loadstone, it is soon parted from the other, to
the admiration of those that are present. It may be this experiment was made, be∣cause
the antients report that the Loadstone will draw iron, sand, oyle, and all
things.

CHAP. X.
The greater the Loadstone is, the greater is the force of it.
ANd you must know, that the bigger Loadstone will cast forth its force at a far∣ther
distance, and brandish it, and attract the opposite Loadstone with more
violence, and draw it to it, and that in the same sort of stone; as if a Loadstone
be a pound weight, and another Loadstone be a good distance from it, it will pre∣sently
leap, and meet the other that draws it. If we cut off half that stone, the
force of it will decay, and be dull as if it were dead, and the vigor of it is taken
away by the proportion of the part taken from it. If any man will not believe it,
let a stone be fetcht for trial; for a part being taken away, part of the vertue is lost
also: join the part taken away as it was, and the force will be restored, and be∣come
more lively, and will be as powerful as formerly, that it will leap at a Load∣stone
that meets it at a great distance, and presently embrace it. This argument
confirms it, that the greater the stone is, the greater force it hath, even in the same
sort of stones: for I have seen divers Loadstones, brought from divers parts of the
Page 197

world, to have divers properties. I saw at Rome, a Loadstone weighed an Ounce,
that drew two Ounces of Iron, and held it so fast as it drew, that it could scarce be
pulled from it. I have seen others of forty Pound weight, that were so feeble, that
they would scarce stir an Ounce. But that I may the more oblige the curiosity of
Students in this matter, I shall teach in the following Chapters, how the Vertue of
the Stone may be tried and equally balanced.

CHAP. XI.
That the force of this Stone will pass into other Stones, that sometimes you may see as it were a rope of Stones.
THe Stone with us is commended for another property; for when it hath taken
hold of another Stone, it not only holds that fast, but it sends into the Body
of it an effluxion of its forces; and that having got more forces, draws another, and
gives it the like faculty: the third made to partake of the same vertue, draws others
that are neer or far off, and cast forth and brandisheth the same vertue; and this
draws another: and so, by a reciprocal ejaculation, by the same force it is held, by
the same it holds others; and from each of them to the other, are their darts flying,
as it were endowed with the vertue of them: and if you lift them up on high, they
seem to hang in links like a Chain, that they will not easily be drawn one from the
other; that we must needs wonder exceedingly, how that internal and invisible
force can run from one to the other, and pass through them: and the more vertue
it hath, to the more it doth communicate it. Yet I thought fit to forewarn
you that you fail not in your trial, that the Stones must stick the one to the other by
the parts that agree, and not by contrary parts; for so would not one impart his
vertues to another, but by the meeting with an opposite part, would be held back,
and cease from doing its Office; namely, that the North point of the one, must stick to
the South point of the other, as I said; and not contrarily: for the South point ap∣plied
to the South, and the North point to the North point, is contrary and the fa∣culty
will faint and decay at the presence of its Adversary. Nor yet will we omit to
remember those that are curious to try this, that the Stones must successively be pro∣portionable,
that the great one must draw a less, and a little one must draw one less
then it self: for so they will hang the faster, and not be so easily pulled asunder.

CHAP. XII.
That in the Loadstone that hairyness is contused.
HEnce comes that hairiness of little Hairs, that we mentioned before, that
sticks so fast to the Stone, that it can hardly be pulled off: for when one is
rubbed against the other, or is beaten off with a light blow of the Hammer, those
small pieces being rubbed one against another, do not fall to the Earth by their
own weight, but are held up by the force of the Stone: and that one may stick
fast to the other, turning its friendly countenauce to it, it can by no other means
commodiously fasten to its sympathizing part, nor be joyned with it, but like a Hair
or small Threed; and if you rub one Stone long against another, that heap of Sand
will so augment, that it will appear all hairy, or like the down on a mans chin, or as it
were beset round with a heap of pricks. Nor is this to be passed without admiration,
That if any man puts another Loadstone to it, or neer it, that is greater then i•, and
more powerful; they will appear presently to turn about, and to direct their friendly
parts to the like parts in the Stone that is put neer them, and to strive to come to it;
and if they cannot do it, for want of strength, they will fall to the ground.

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CHAP. XIII.
The attractive part is more violent then the part that drives off.
WE must tell the Reader of another thing before-hand, that having laid the foun∣dation
of what we shall say, we may proceed to greater matters. The part
that attracts, draws more vehemently; and that which drives away, doth it more
faintly; namely, the part opposite to it: for if the South part of the Stone, stick to
the North part of the other, it will draw at greater distance and more force: but con∣trarily,
if you turn the disagreeing parts together, namely, the South parts to the
South, and the North parts to the North parts, the natural force is made dull, and as
though it were feeble and weak, it loseth its force, that it cannot so well perform its
Office; and if they be not very neer, the force is stopped, and can do very little. If any
man desires to try, let him hang them up with threads, or balance them on a pin, or
put them in Boats, and he shall finde their readiness to draw, and their feebleness
and sluggishness to drive off from them.

CHAP. XIV.
The contrary parts of the Stones are contrary one to another.
THe parts we speak of, if they be joyned friendly together, they will as it
were, enter a league, and help one the other, and will gain more force
and vertue. But if they be contrary, they are at such opposition by their
Nature, and such secret hatred there is between them, that being put toge∣ther
by their disagreeing points, as if their Adversary were present, they will
cease from all their attraction, and lose all their force. As, if you have
Loadstones in your hands, that have the opposite parts united, the North
and South together; if another stone be put to them, neither of these stones
will move or get the Victory; for they neither draw to, nor drive from; e∣specially,
if both their forces be equal. But if one be stronger then another,
the stone that is put to it, will move and stir, and will either come forward or go back∣ward.
But if you take up his contrary Companion, he will either be drawn
after, or will flie from it willingly; for it will either go along with the part
it agrees with, or will go from that part it is contrary to: by which Reason
you may know, that one hinders the other. We may also by another Experi∣ment,
be made more certain of the same thing: If you draw one Loadstone
with another, and let it hang in the Air; if to the place where they joyn, you
apply the contrary force of another Loadstone; by this meeting with their E∣nemy,
both their forces will fail and faint: and if the same be of a great force,
the stone that drew will let the other go, and falls from it. And also, not
without mirth and admiration, you shall see a Chain of many pieces of Load∣stones
hanging together; and if you apply the contrary side to the third or
fourth stone, the Chain is presently broken, and the part falls off, and will
not hang fast: but the other parts, whither the force of it comes not, will
yet stick fast together in a Link, unless you put the end of the contrary part
to them.

CHAP. XV.
How to know the Polar points in the Loadstone.
VVE may know by another and more certain way then that I set down before,
which are the vertical points in the Loadstone, which turn to the North,
which to the South; and especially, that point that sends forth the attractive ver∣tue,
will be discovered. Thus: That point that most vehemently draws unto it
Page 199

the South point of another stone, and sticks fast to it, that is the North point; and that
point the North part of another stone willingly joyns with, is the South point. The
same also may be known by the driving off: That point that drives off from it, and
refuseth the North part of the stone put against it, is the North point; and the 〈◊〉
point, that drives from it the South point. And he that would have the true pole
more exactly demonstrated, let him do thus: Put a little bit of a Loadstone, not much
greater or lesser then a Millet-Seed, to the Loadstone; and if it presently draw it at a
distance, and when it is drawn, it sticks fast and is hardly taken from it, it is an
Argument of the true end whence that force proceeds. You may also draw about
a little bit about that point, to see if it will draw weakly or strongly, and whether
it will part from that place of it self, or unwillingly. Briefly, That point that draws
with most force, and will hardly let loose what it hath attracted, is the true point of
attraction; giving you to understand,

That the Pole sends its force to the Circumference.
I have known it so, as from the Centre to the Circumference. And as the light
of a Candle is spread every way, and enlightens the Chamber; and the farther
it is off from it, the weaker it shines, and at too great a distance is lost; and the
neerer it is, the more cleerly it illuminates: so the force flies forth at that point;
and the neerer it is, the more forcibly it attracts; and the further off, the
more faintly: and if it be set too far off, it vanisheth quite, and doth nothing.
Wherefore for that we shall say of it, and mark it for, we shall call the length of its
forces the compass of its vertues.

CHAP. XVI.
That the force of drawing and driving off, can be hindred by no hindrance.
BUt this is above all wonder, that you can never wonder so much as you
should, That the force of the stone for attraction and repelling, can be in∣cluded
in no bounds, can be hindered by nothing, or held back; but it will pene∣trate
invisibly, and will move and stir those stones that are sympathizing with it,
if they be put to it, and will exercise its forces, as if there were nothing be∣tween:
but this must be within the compass of its vertue: for if you hang
some Loadstone fitly upon a Table of wood, stone, or metal, or lying equally
balanced, and you shall put your Loadstone under the Table, and stir it there, the
vertue of it will pass from this body like a Spirit penetrating the solid Table, and
move the stone above it, and stir it as it self is moved; as this moves, so moves that;
and when this rests, that doth the same. But if the Table be made of Loadstone
or Iron, the vertue is hindred, and can do nothing: we shall shew the reasons of it
in their proper places. Of so many strange miracles in Nature, there is none more
wonderful then this.

CHAP. XVII.
How to make an Army of Sand to fight before you.
ANd it is as pleasant as wonderful, that I shewed to my Friends, who beheld
on a plain Table an Army of Sand divided into the Right and Left Wings,
fighting, to the wonder of the Spectators: and many that were ignorant of
the business, thought it was done by the help of the Devil. I pouned a Load∣stone
into powder, some very small, some somthing gross: and I made some of little
bits, that they might better represent Troops of Horse, or Companies of Foot: and
so I set my Army here and there. The Wings were on the Right and Left, and
the main Body was in the middle, accompanied with Troops of Horse: under a
smooth Table I put a very principal Loadstone with my Hand. When this was put
there, the Left Wing marched; and on the Right Hand, with another stone, the
Page 200

Right Wing marched: when they drew neer together, and were more neer the
Loadstone, the Sands trembled; and by degrees, they seemed like those that take
up their Spears; and when the Loadstone was laid down, they laid down
their Spears, as if they were ready to fight, and did threaten to kill and slay:
and the better the Loadstone was, the higher would these hairs stretch forth them∣selves:
and as I moved my Hands by little and little, so the Army marched on:
and when the stones came neer to one the other, they seemed to fight, and
run one within the other; so the other Wings and Troops came on, and shew∣ed
the form of a Battle; and you might see them sometimes retreat, some∣times
march forward; sometimes to conquer, and sometimes to be conquered;
sometimes to lift up their Spears, and lay them down again, as the Load∣stone
was put neer to them, or farther off; and the more force there was
to send forth every way. But this is the greater wonder, because what is
done on a plain Board, may be done hanging in the Air, that you may see
them like the Antipodes in Battel: for stretching out a Paper, or setting a Ta∣ble
aloft, the Loadstones moved above the Table, will do the same thing we
speak of, and shew it to the Spectator. But if one that is ingenious do the
business, he will do more and greater Feats then we can write of.

CHAP. XVIII.
The Situation makes the Vertues of the Stone contrary.
IT cannot want wonder, as it doth reason, That the position should shew
the Vertues contrary to all that we have said: for the stone put above the
Table will do one thing, and another thing if it be put under the Table: for
if you fit the stone by equally poising it to make it move freely, or put it
into a Boat, and put a stone above it, it will attract it, or reject it, as we said
before: but if you put it under the stone, it will work contrarily; for that part
that drew above, will drive off beneath; and that will draw beneath, that
drove off above: that is, if you place the stone above and beneath in a perpen∣dicular.
By which Experiments, one may see cleerly, That the situation will
work contrary operations, and change the forces of it by turns. Wherefore in
the operations of it, you must chiefly mark the position, if you put the Loastone a∣bove
or beneath.

CHAP. XIX.
How the attractive force of the Loadstone may be weighed.
WE can also measure that attracting or expelling vertue of the Loadstone, or
poise it in a balance: which will be of no small consequence in the following
considerations; and especially, for a perpetual motion, and to make Iron hang
pendulous in the Air, when the true and certain attractive Vertue is found our
from the Circumference to the Centre. The Art is this: Put a piece of a Load∣stone
into a balance, and in the other scale as much weight of some other matter,
that the scale may hang equal: then we apply a piece of Iron lying on a Table, that
it may stick to the Loadstone that is in the scale: and that they may stick fast by
their friendly points, you shall by degrees cast some sand into the other scale, and
that so long, till the scale and iron part; so by weighing the weight of the sand, we
have the Vertue of the Loadstone we sought to finde. We may also put the iron into
the scale, and lay the Loadstone on the Table.

Page 201
CHAP. XX.
Of the mutual attraction, and driving off of the Loadstone, and of Iron.
NOw are we come to the other part of our Treaty, wherein we discourse of the
mutual union of Loadstones, and of their differences one with the other: the
effects whereof are so known, that they are in the mouths of all men, nor will any
man almost say that he knows them not. The operation is this: Because there is
such a Natural concord and sympathy between the iron and the Loadstone, as if they
had made a League; that when the Loadstone comes neer the iron, the iron present∣ly
stirs, and runs to meet it, to be embraced by the Loadstone. And that embraceth
it so fast, that with tossing of it up and down, you can scarce part them. And the
Loadstone runs as fast to the iron, and is as much in love with that, and unity with
it; for neither of them will refuse to be drawn. But the weaker still runs willingly
to meet the other. That you may believe this, you shall try it thus: Either hang them
both by a thread, or put them in boats, or balance them on the needle. Pliny speaking
of this, saith, For what is more wonderful? or wherein is Nature more wanton? what
is more sluggish than a cold stone? yet Nature hath given this both sense and hands.
What is more powerful than hard iron? yet it yields and submits: for the Loadstone
draws it; and that matter that conquers all things, runs after I know not what;
and as it comes neer, it stops, and lays fast hold, and stays constantly to be embraced.
Lucretius, seeking the cause of this effect,

How it should be that Loadstone Iron draws:
And Orpheus in his Verses relates, that iron is drawn by the Loadstone, as a Bride
after the Bridegroom, to be embraced; and the iron is so desirous to joyn with it
as her husband, and is so sollicitous to meet the Loadstone: when it is hindred by
its weight, yet it will stand an end, as if it held up its hands to beg of the stone, and
flattering of it, as if it were impatient that it cannot come at it by reason of its
ponderosity; and shews that it is not content with its condition: but if it once kist
the Loadstone, as if the desire were satisfied, it then is at rest; and they are so mutu∣ally
in love, that if one cannot come at the other, it will hang pendulous in the air.
Wherefore Albertus very ignorantly told Frederick the Emperour, that a friend of his
shew'd a Loadstone that did not attract iron, but was attracted by it: since the light∣er
of these two will stir, when the heavier approaches neer it.

CHAP. XXI.
The Iron and Loadstone are in greater amity, then the Loadstone is with the Loadstone
THe exceeding love of the Iron with the Loadstone, is greater and more effectual
and far stronger, then that of the Loadstone with the Loadstone; and this is easi∣ly
proved: For lay on a Table, pieces of iron, and Loadstone of the same weight;
and let another Loadstone be brought neer; when it comes to a fit distance, the iron
will presently stir, and runs toward the Loadstone and embraceth it. And it is pro∣ved
better thus: Let a Loadstone embrace a Loadstone, and be set softly neer the iron;
when the force of its circumference comes to the iron, the Loadstone will presently
let fall the Loadstone, and lay hold on the iron: but let iron and that be joyned,
no Loadstone can ever take them asunder to stick there.

CHAP. XXII.
The Loadstone doth not draw on all parts, but at certain points.
YEt we must not think that the Loadstone draws the iron with every part, but at a
set and certain point; which is to be searched out, with great reason, care, and
Page 202

diligence. You shall find it thus: either hang up the iron, or balance it on a Ta∣ble,
that it may presently leap to be embraced from them: then carry your Load∣stone
round about it; and when you see the iron tremble, and run toward the Load∣stone,
touching it, that is the very point of attraction, and the beams of its vertue
are sent round about from that point: wherefore, the farther from that point the
iron is, the more faintly and weakly will it move; for the more forcible vertue nests
in the Centre, as in its Throne.

CHAP. XXIII.
That the same Loadstone that draws, doth on the contrary point drive off the iron.
THat no man might be deceived, thinking the Loadstone that draws iron, to be
different from that stone that drives it off; I tell him of it beforehand, and I
shall by experiments dissipate this cloud. Pliny saith, the Loadstone that draws iron
to it, is not the same with that which drives iron from it. And again, In the same
Ethiopia, there is a mountain that produceth the stone Theamedes, that drives off
iron, and rejecteth it. Pliny not knowing this, erred exceedingly, thinking that they
were two stones that had these contrary operations; whereas it is but one and the
same stone, that by sympathy and similitude, draws the willing iron to it; but with
the opposite part, by antipathy of Natures, it drives it off. And you may be easily
assured of this: for let iron be balanced equally, and let one end of the Loadstone
draw it, if you turn the other end to it, it will fly back, and turn to the contrary
part: these points run in a right line through the middle of the stone. Yet observe
this, that the iron which is drawn by one point of the Loadstone, or is within the
compass of its vertue for a while, obtains presently this vertue: that what is drawn
by the one end of it, will be driven off by the other. You shall know these differ∣ences
of attraction more clearly by the following experiment.

CHAP. XXIV.
How iron will be made leap upon a Table, no Loadstone being seen.
BY reason of this consent and discord of the Loadstone, I use to make pretty sport
to make my friends merry. For casting the iron on the Table, and not putting
any Loadstone neer it, that the spectators can see, the iron will seem to move it self:
which is very pleasant to behold. I do it thus: divide a needle in the middle, cast
one half of it upon the Table, but first rub the head of it with one end of the Load∣stone.
Put your hand with the Loadstone privately under the Table, and there where
the head of the needle lyeth, the Loadstone will stick, and the needle will presently
stand upright: and standing so, to the wonder of the beholders, will walk over the
Table, and follow the motion of the hand that guides it: when it hath gone thus a
while, presently turn the stone upside down, and put the contrary part of the Load∣stone
to the needle; and (which is strange) the needle will turn about: and if it went
on the head before, it will now go on the point; and draw your hand which way you
will, the needle will follow it: and if you turn the stone three or four times, putting
sometimes the south point, sometimes the north point of the stone to it, the needle
will turn as often, and sometimes stand on the head, sometimes on the point upright,
or walk so as you please; and sometime it will go with that part it stood upon, some∣times
it will stand on the part it went. I can present my friends with the same sight,
in a more strange manner: for if you put the two pieces of a needle upon a paper or
Table, whereof one hath touched the north point, the other the south point of the
stone, I can so place two stones, that one of the needles shall go upon the head, the
other upon the point; and sometimes one shall turn, then both at once, or they shall
dance orderly, and move when any musick is playd on. And this is a pretty sight to
shew your friends, that cannot but admire it.

Page 203
CHAP. XXV.
That the vertue of the Loadstone, is sent through the pieces of Iron.
THat vertue that is imparted to the iron, by the Loadstone, doth not stay in the
iron, but is sent from one to another. For if you draw a •eel needle by the
touch of the Loadstone, and put another needle to the end of that needle, that part
will draw the needle, and hold it hanging in the air; and if you apply another nee∣dle
to that, it will do the same.

You may do this with as many needles, as the force of the Loadstone can reach
unto; but when it grows faint, the needle will let the other needle fall, as not ha∣ving
strength enough to bear its weight. And thus you may hang a great many nee∣dles
in a chain in the air. Plato knew this vertue, for he speaks of it in Ione:
which stone, not onely draws iron rings, but infuseth vertue into the rings them∣selves,
that they can do the same, and attract rings as the one doth: whence some∣times
you shall see a long concatenation of iron rings, and all the vertue of them is
attracted from that stone. Lucretius knew it also.

A Stone there is that men admire much,
That makes rings hang in chains by touch.
Sometimes five or six links will be
Fast joyn'd together, and agree.
All this vertue from the Stone ariseth,
Such force it hath—
Pliny speaking of the same vertue, saith, Onely this matter receives strength from
another stone, and holds it a long time; laying hold of another iron, that some∣times
you shall see a chain of rings, which the ignorant vulgar call Live iron. Galen.
You may see in the Loadstone, that when it toucheth iron, it will ••ick to it, without
any bands: and if that was first touched, touch another, that will ••ick as the first
doth; and likewise a third to the second. Augustine de civitate Dei, speaking of this
wonder, said, We know that the Loadstone will wonderfully draw iron; which when
I first saw, I trembled at it exceedingly. For I saw an iron-ring drawn by the stone,
that hung in the air by it, that communicated the same force to others: for another
ring put to the first, made that hang also; and as the first ring hung by the stone,
so the second ring hung by the first ring. In the same manner was there a third and
fourth ring applied, and fastned; and so their rings hung together by the outsides,
not fastned inwardly, like to a chain of rings. Who would not admire at the vertue
of this stone? that was not onely within it, but ran through so many rings, that
hung by it, and held them fast with invisible bands. But the greater the vertue of
the Loadstone is, the more rings it will hang up: I have hang'd ten needles with a
stone of a pound weight. But he that would draw many needles, let him rub the
heads onely against the Loadstone, and they will all hold the heads by their points.

CHAP. XXVI.
The Loadstone within the sphere of its vertue, sends it forth without touching.
ANd the Loadstone doth not onely impart its vertue to the iron, by touching it,
but, which is wonderful, within the compass of its vertue, it will impart vertue
to the iron, if it be but present, to draw another iron. For if you put your Load∣stone
so neer to the iron, that it may have it onely within the circumference of its
vertue, and you put another iron neer to that iron, it will draw it to it; and if ano∣ther
touch that which is drawn, it will draw that also: that you shall see a long chain
of rings or needles, hanging in the air. But when they hang thus together, if you
Page 204
•emove the Loadstone a little farther off, the last ring will fall; and if yet you remove
• farther, the next will fall, until they all fall off: whence it is clear, that without
touching, it can impart its vertue to the iron.

CHAP. XXVII.
How the Loadstone can hang up iron in the air.
I Have a long time endeavoured much to make iron hang in the air, and not touch
the Loadstone, nor yet tied beneath: and now I think it almost impossible to be
done. Pliny saith it: Dinocrates the Architect began to vault the Temple of Arsinoe
with Loadstone, that therein her Image of iron might seem to hang in the air: both
he and Ptolomy died, who commanded this to be made for his sister; so that what
he began, he did not finish. The Greeks say, that in the Temple of Serapis, that is
vaulted at Alexandria, there was a Load-stone set, that held a statue of brass in the
air; for it had a piece of iron in the head of it. But that is false, that Mahomets chest
hangs by the roof of the Temple. Petrus Pellegrinus saith, he shewed in another
work how that might be done: but that work is not to be found. Why I think it
extream hard, I shall say afterwards. But I say it may be done, because I have now
done it, to hold it fast by an invisible band, to hang in the air; onely so, that it be
bound with a small thread beneath, that it may not rise higher: and then striving to
catch hold of the stone above, it will hang in the air, and tremble and wag it self.

CHAP. XXVIII.
The forces of the Loadstone cannot be hindred, by a wall or table coming between.
AS I said before of the Loadstone, the vertue of that and iron, can be hindred
by no body coming between; but it will do its office. For whilst the Load∣stone
is moved under a Table of wood, stone, or any metal, except iron; the needle
in the Mariners Compass will move above, as if there were no body between them.
St. Augustine Lib. de civitate Dei, knew this experiment. But that is much more
wonderful that I have heard: that if one hold a Loadstone under a piece of silver, and
put a piece of iron above the silver, as he moves his hand underneath that holds the
stone, so will the iron move above; and the silver being in the middle, and suffer∣ing
nothing, running so swiftly up and down, that the stone was pull'd from the hand
of the man, and took hold of the iron.

CHAP. XXIX.
How a man of wood may row a little Boat; and some other merry conceits.
THe fraud here is notable; for women shall see a man of wood rowing a little
boat well waxed, in a large vessel full of water, and they can counterfeit here∣by,
as impostors do divination by water. The fraud is thus began: the vessel is fil∣led
with water, a little ship of Wax is put into it, or else of wood; in the middle sits
a little man of wood, fastned through the middle with a hogs-bristle, so equall ba∣lanced,
that with every light motion he may easily stir himself: let him have oars in
his hands, and under his feet a piece of iron. Let the Alphabet be made on the brim
of the vessel, round about: wherefore a woman coming to enquire of some doubtful
matter, the little man of wood, as if he would give a true answer, will row to those
letters that may signifie the answer: for he that holds the Loadstone in his hand, un∣der
the Table, can draw the boat which way he will, and so will answer by joyning
these letters together. Or put a boy of cork into a glass viol, with a broad mouth,
that turns himself about the needle equally balanced; and about the glass vessel, make
the Alphabet, that the man turning round about may give answers. But I made my
friends wonder exceedingly to see
Page 205

A paper go up a wall, and come down of it self.
For I glew'd a piece of iron on the backside of the paper, and I gave it my friends
to hold to the wall; but behinde stood a boy with a Loadstone, and the paper that
was left there, stood still: my friend commanded it to go up two foot: the boy that
heard what was commanded, moved the Loadstone against it, to that place: and the
paper moved thither also, and so downwards, or side-ways: they that knew not the
reason were astonished at it. But, which exceeds all, when he moved the Load∣stone
over his head by an arch of wood, it drew the paper after it whereupon the
paper hung over our heads and moved: but all that saw it, believed the Divel was
the cause of it.

CHAP. XXX.
A Loadstone on a plate of iron, will not stir iron.
WE said that there is nothing coming between, can hinder the force of iron, but
iron onely: so that if you lay a needle on a plate of iron, and shall bring your
Loadstone to it, above or beneath, it hath no vertue to attract it, or do its office: and
the reason is easie. For it stands by reason, that if iron lye upon iron, they are the
same body, as a part is of the whole: and when the plate of iron, or piece, is bigger,
and too heavy for the Loadstone to draw, it moves not. So that if you put the filings
of iron upon a plate of iron, and with your hand underneath, you carry the Load∣stone,
the filings will not stir, but stand still upon the plate. Nor if iron or a Load∣stone
be upon a Table of iron, will they come to the stone that is put to them, but
will lye as if they were asleep, and void of all vertue, or changed in their Natures.
Also, if you put flat iron to a Load stone, if on the other side iron be equally balan∣ced,
it will not stir, nor move to meet it; as if all the force of the Loadstone were
hindred by it. Lucretius saith, that it will happen so, not when iron, but brass is
between them: but I rather think he writ so by hear-say, then by his sight, if we
understand his meaning.

Pieces of iron I have seen,
When onely brass was put between
Them and the Loadstone, to recoil:
Brass in the middle made this broil.
CHAP. XXXI.
The position of the Iron, will change the forces.
VVHat the Loadstone can do, the iron touched by the Loadstone, will do the
same. I said, that the Loadstone equally balanced, by putting the south part
of the Loadstone above, it will draw the north part, and the north part will drive
off the north part; but on the lower part, the Nature being changed, that which
drew before, drives off now; and that which drove off, draws to it. The same I
judge of iron touched with the Loadstone. For iron in the Mariners Compass touch∣ed
with the Loadstone, that part of the Loadstone that draws and drives off in the
upper part, being put under, expels what it drew before, and draws what it expelled.
I would not omit, that amongst its admirable properties, the position should cause such
alteration. Whence we may conjecture, that as the stone hath a pole-arctick and an∣tarctick;
so it hath an east and west part, and its upper and nether part, as the heavens
have: and therefore it is reasonable, that whereas the north and inferiour part from
above, drew the south and inferiour part of the iron; now the position being chan∣ged,
the upper part of the stone will draw the nether part of the iron.

Page 206
CHAP. XXXII.
That the iron rubbed with the northern point of the Loadstone, will turn to the south, and with the south point to the north.
I Come to the third part, that is, to the iron touched with the Loadstone, and they
are all wonderful, I say then, that when we know the north point of the stone,
and we have rubbed one end of the iron with it, if it be equally balanced, or hung
by a thread, or lie freely in a boat, it will turn of it self to the south. And that stands
with reason: for the Loadstone imparts its force to the iron. For it is the natural
force of the Loadstone, that being balanced equally, it should turn its north point
to the north, and his south point to the south. But when it is rubbed on the iron,
the upper part of the Loadstone is fastned to the iron; but the lower part that is neer
to it, is free'd: wherefore, if you rub the iron with the north part, which fastneth
to the iron, and toucheth its external superficies, it will be northern that seems to
to be southern, and this south part will turn freely to the north. But contrarily, if
you rub the south point against the iron, the south point is fastned to the iron, and
the north point is let loose that turns to the north. Wherefore Cardanus speaks
false, that the iron touched by the north point, will turn to the north, and that
which was touched by the south point, will turn south; for we see the contrary.
Yet the iron must be touched with one point, either the north or south point: for
if one part bend northward, the other will tend southward; by the use whereof,
so large seas are sail'd over, that being the conductor. Our Ancestors sailed, by
seeing the sun by day, and the stars by night. For in the middle of the sea, as they
wandred, they could no otherwise see the coasts of the world. But we cannot one∣ly
discover what coast we are in, but we can avoid the rocks under the waters; and
in cloudy days and dark nights, we can at all times know the poles of the world.
Flav•us saith, an Italian found it out first, whose name was Amalphus, born in our
Campania. But he knew not the Mariners Card, but stuck the needle in a reed,
or a piece of wood, cross over; and he put the needles into a vessel full of wa∣ter,
that they might flote freely: then carrying about the Loadstone, the needles
would follow it; which being taken away, as by a certain natural motion, the points
of the needles would turn to the north pole; and having found that, stand still.
Wherefore, knowing the place before they steer'd their course thither. Now the
Mariners Compass is made, and a needle touched with the Loadstone, is so fitted
to it, that by discovering the pole by it, all other parts of the heavens are known.
There is made a rundle, with a Latin-navel upon a point of the same metal, that it
may run roundly freely. Whereupon, by the touching onely of one end, the nee∣dle
not alone partakes of the vertues of it, but of the other end also, whether it
will or not: For if you rub the needle with the north point of the stone presently
that part will turn to the south, and the opposite part to the north; and one vertue
cannot be imparted without the other. So the needle touched by the south point
of the stone, will turn to the north, and the other part to the south; so that the
part of the needle that is touch'd, receives a contrary force, from that the stone
hath.

CHAP. XXXIII.
That iron touched by the Loadstone, will impart that force to other iron.
IRon touched by the Loadstone, by that touch receiveth the vertue of the Load∣stone,
that it will do almost as much by attracting, and effecting, and turning it
self to the pole. So the iron hanging freely, touched with the south point of the
Loadstone, will turn freely to the north: if you apply the south part of the stone to
the same, it will turn to the south presently. But if you touch another iron with the
iron that was touched, that will turn to the south; and do but point at it with the
Page 207

said point of the iron, it will turn to the north. And this force is not onely sent
into the second iron, but to a third and fourth, as the force of the Loadstone is.
For if it be a strong stone, it will send its vertue through eight or ten needles.

CHAP. XXXIV.
The vertue received in the iron, is weakned by one that is stronger.
YEt this I must tell you, that the vertue received by the iron, is not fixt and cer∣tain,
but is taken off by a stronger that takes it from it. As an iron touched
by a weak northern point of the Loadstone; if you rub the same part of the iron with
a south point of a stronger Loadstone, it will vanish, and that former force of turn∣ing
it self to the south, is taken away, and it takes a southern vertue, and will turn
to the north without resistance. But if the Loadstones be of equal force, they are so
astonished and blunted, that they will neither receive both, nor either.

CHAP. XXXV.
How in a stone the south or north point is discerned.
AMongst those ways I shewed before, I shall set down this also; and perchance
this is the best, how to know the true northern and southern points. Let the
Loadstone be turned round, by the wheel of the Jewellers, and polished. Then
make a slender iron, as long as the axeltre of that round ball, and lay that upon
the stone: for it will turn it self upon that line, that points just north and south.
Mark the line upon the stone, with some delible paint: do the same on the other∣side
of the stone; and where it rests upon the ball, draw the same line: do the
same the third and fourth time, upon the middle of it: and where those lines cross
one the other and meet, those are the polar points. We may also find it out thus:
Break a small needle, and put the smallest piece upon the same ball, and stir it;
for when it comes to the just northern point, the needle will stand upright, that
will make standers by admire, and will stand perpendicularly upon it: and till it do
rise thus, be not weary of moving it up and down; for when you have found it, you
will be glad of it.

CHAP. XXXVI.
How to rub the iron needle of the Mariners Compass.
I Know that some are troubled how to rub the needle in the Compass with the
Loadstone, that it may get force to turn it self to the north Pole. It must be done
thus: When you have found the points in the stone, as I said before; strike the
points lightly with a hammer, and the plates will be full of stiff hairs: upon which
if you rub an iron needle, it will presently get vertue to turn it self to the Poles.
Yet observe this, that if you would have your needle turn to the north, you must
rub it on the south point; but if to the south, rub it with the north part: For when
it is equally balanced, it will turn to these points in the heavens. But that it may
do it more forcibly, and do its office more exactly, I shall lay down some rules fit
to instruct you. If you strike both ends of the stone with the hammer, that hairs
may appear on both parts, that you touch the needle at both ends, for so the needle
will sooner do its office. Moreover, you must observe very carefully, that when
the iron rub'd against the Loadstone, hath received these hairs, that you touch it
with no other iron or Loadstone, but keep it far distant from them, and lock it up
in a box; for by touching of others the iron will grow dull, and lose its vertue, that
it will never point out the parts of heaven perfectly. For the iron coming within
the Compass of the vertue of another Loadstone, will receive that, as we said. So
the needle must be proportionable to the stone. For from a little Loadstone, a great
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iron will not receive much vertue, nor shew the pole: also, a little piece of iron can∣not
receive much vertue; for it consumes by the great force of the Loadstone. More∣over,
the point that shews the pole, must not be sharp, but f•at a little, that it may
receive those vertues of the Loadstone exactly, and hold them; for in a very sharp
point, scarce any vertue will abide. Iron, the purer it is, the better will it hold the
vertue. For it will hardly take upon foul and rusty iron: wherefore Mariners make
it of pure steel; for steel is made of the best iron. If you observe this, iron once
rubbed, will hold the vertue a hundred years; and will certainly, without failing,
point exactly at the poles in the heavens, for so long time.

CHAP. XXXVII.
Of the divers uses of Mariners Compasses.
ANd the needle touched, doth not onely shew the poles for the Mariners use,
but almost it serves for infinite uses; as all men know that it is dayly spoken of
every where. I shall speak of some of the chief. The use of the Loadstone upon the
needle, is well known in Sun-dials: for when the needle stands still over the line
that is made from north to south, we are so directed by it, to know the hours
by the shadow falling from the Gnomon. Also, those that work in Mines use the
needle, to find the veins of the metals, which way they run: for in caves under
ground, in that posture the needle stands that is touched with the Loadstone, they
know the veins of the metals run on that side of the heavens. Also, it doth serve ve∣ry
much for those that describe platforms of buildings, cities, countries, whilst the si∣tuation
of the corners are taken and described upon the paper. We use it also in
making passages, for to bring water under ground, in digging pits, in making Mines
and Trenches, wherewith they use, with great skill, to blow up Forts, Castles,
Rocks and Walls, by putting Gunpowder into them, and stopping all places of
vent: the Compass guides them how to go on. Lastly, how to level the discharging
of Canon, both by night and day, it is of singular vertue, and for many other uses, too
tedicus to relate here.

CHAP. XXXVIII.
How the Longitude of the world, may be found out by help of the Loadstone.
I Will not omit, that amongst the principal uses of the Loadstone, by the help of it
the Longitude of the world may be found out. Which notable work hath em∣ployed
the wits of the most knowing men. It hath been observed a long time by
our men, that the needle touched with the Loadstone, will not always rest upon the
Meridian line, but sometimes will decline nine degrees from it to the east; nor
will it hold the same posture in all places; but in divers places, it hath divers decli∣nations.
But this errour seems to follow this order, that the neerer it is to the east,
the more it will decline from the Meridian line, toward the east; and the neerer
it comes to the west, the point of the needle will decline the more to the west. For
finding the Meridian line, as Ptolomy and other Geometricians teach how, and
setting up a point thereon, that the steel needle may turn freely upon the top of it, in
Italy it declines toward the east nine degrees, of which there is ninety in a quadrant
of a circle, as it is observed in Sun-dials that are brought out of Germany, and it is so
described. Moreover, many famous travellers report, that amongst the Fortunate
Islands, one is called the Azores, where the needle set in the Compass, will rest
directly upon the Meridian line, without any variation at all. Also, they that sail
to the west-Indies observe, that the point of the needle will decline to the west.
Therefore, laying down these for true Maxims, we may easily know the longitude
of the world: for if we make a very great Compass, about five foot diame∣ter,
and divide the degrees and minutes, into seconds and thirds, &c.
Page 209

and sailing under the Equator, we do observe the chief motions of the Needle, and
the declinations of it, and shall accommodate the same to the proportion of our Voy∣ages;
we shall easily know the Longitude of the World, beginning from the Fortunate
Islands. Whence both Longitude and Latitude in dark nights, and the greatest Tem∣pests
may be certainly discovered Wherefore it is false that Cardanus saith, That the
Needle in the Compass declines from the Meridian Line, because it inclines to the
Pole Star in the little Bears Tail: whereas, the Needle declines nine Degrees, and
the Polar Inclination is not so much.

CHAP. XXXIX.
If the Mariners Needle stand still, and the Loadstone move, or contralily, they will move contrary ways.
IF the Loadstone lie on the Table, and you put the North point of the Mari∣ners
Needle to the South point of the stone, and shall carry it round about by
the right hand, the Needle will draw to the left: but moving the Box to the left
hand, the Needle will run to the right; and it will go so far, until it stand in the
middle between those two opposite points. The same will be seen in a Sun-Dial,
if that stand, and the Loadstone be carried about: for if you decline to the right
hand, the Needle will follow the same part; and likewise, if you turn to the left.
Hence it is apparent, That the Needle in the Compass is drawn by the North-Pole:
for those that sail toward the East, have it turned toward the East; and so contra∣rily
to the West, it will move to the same point of the Heaven: and if the Load∣stone
be turned about, the Iron will turn about also, as a pair of Compasses about
the Centre.

CHAP. XL.
The Loadstone imparts a contrary force to the Needle.
NOw I will speak of the Needle touched with the Loadstone, and of the won∣derful
operations of it. The first is; That when the Iron is touched by
the Northern point of the Loadstone, and equally balanced; if you put that
part to it from which it received its force, it will not endure it, but drives
it from it, and draws to it the contrary and opposite part; namely, the Southern
part: the reason whereof, I set down before. The same falls out if you touch
the Needle with the South part of the Loadstone: for if you presently put the
same to it, it will resist it, and draw to it the North point. Hence the parts
that are alike, are at enmity, and rejected as Adversaries; and the parts that
are unlike do agree as Friends. Whence it is apparent, That the Loadstone im∣parts
to the Iron a contrary force from what the end it self is, and the Steel
receives the force of that point of the Loadstone which it toucheth not. And I
prove it thus: Take two Needles, and put them in Boats, or hang them by
Threeds; that being touched with the Loadstone, they may move freely:
they are contrary one to the other, and they will joyn in the parts that
were touched with contrary ends of the Loadstone, and will not endure the
ends that are alike.

CHAP. XLI.
Two Needles touched by the Loadstone, obtain contrary Forces.
I Will relate a strange thing, yet not far from Reason. If you touch two Needles
with a Loadstone together, and set them on the same point of it; the other
parts that hang on the Loadstone, will abhor and flie one from the other: and if
you force them together with your hands, so soon as you let them alone, they
Page 210

will presently return to their postures, and depart as far as they can from one
another. The reason is this: That if two Needles stick fast to one Northern
point of the Loadstone, with their points: you must imagine, that they did re∣ceive
a Southern vertue; and because they are of the same similitude, they will
not endure one the other; and because they are fastened to the Loadstone, they
cannot get off being compelled by a greater force: but the opposite points of the
Needle, because they are both alike Northerly, they must needs abhor one
the other: and when they are free, one will part from the other. And when
they are so hanging on, if you put to them the Southern part of another Load∣stone,
they will presently let go their hold, and go as far off as they can, that
sometimes they are pulled off from the Loadstone, being forced by an invisible vapor.

CHAP. XLII.
That the force of the Iron that draws, will drive off Iron by diversity of Situation,
THat, as I said of the Loadstone alone, is true of the Iron that is touched with
it: for if you put a Needle touched with a Loadstone by a Boat, swimming in
the Water, or hanged by a Threed, or turning on a point equally balanced: if you
put upon this a Needle touched with a Loadstone, it will draw it: and that part
that attracted the Iron above, will put underneath, drive it away; and the part
that drives off above, will draw to it, put underneath: where you may observe, that
the position will work contrary operations.

CHAP. XLIII.
The Needle touched by the Loadstone on one part, doth not alwayes receive Vertue on both parts.
IF the Needle be touched at one end by the Loadstone, it receives Vertue at that
end; and at the other end, the contrary vertue: But that must not be under∣stood
absolutely, but of that Needle that is of a proportionable length: for if it
be too long, the vertue will not come to the other end. But would we know how
far the vertue is come, we must know how far reached the Circumference of the
Vertue, as I said. Therefore if the Circumference of it be a foot, the force will
go a foot-long into the Needle. If we would try this: Touch a long Needle three
foot long with a Loadstone at one end, if it touch the Iron at the other end, the
Iron touched will not move from its place; but if you touch it a foot or two long,
namely, as far as the Circumference of the Loadstones Vertue will reach, and then
touch the Needle, it will presently move and be drawn by it.

CHAP. XLIV.
The Needle touched in the middle by the Loadstone, sends forth its Force at both ends.
IF the Needle be somewhat too long, and we rub it with the stone in the middle
of it, the forces of the stones part are diffused to both ends of it; but very ob∣scurely;
for you shall not know which is the end: but if you touch it something farther
from the middle, the neerer part will receive the forces of the part that touched
it, be it the Northerly or Southerly part.

Page 211
CHAP. XLV.
An Iron Ring touched by a Loadstone, will receive both Vertues.
BUt if we rub an Iron Ring on the one side with a Loadstone, then the part that
is touched, will receive the vertue of the part of the Loadstone that touched it▪
and the opposite part will receive the contrary: and therefore the middle of the
Iron Ring will be capable but of half the force of it, as if it were straight. But if
we make a Pin round as a Ring; and the part joynted together with a joynt, be rub∣bed
with a Loadstone; and being rubbed, be stretched straight again, the ends
shall receive the same vertue, be it Northern or Southern. But by degrees that
force will grow feeble; and in a short time become Northerly, and the other
Southerly, or will receive more vertue then it first had, may be when it was
touched farther from the end. But if you would, that of these a Chain of Iron
should hang in the Air, so soon as one ring touched on one side with the Load∣stone,
hath received force on the other side by it, we may hang a Chain of Rings in
the Air, as we may of Loadstones: so then, if the Rings be laid in order upon a
Table, that they may one touch the other, though they do not fasten, put the
Loadstone to them, and not onely the first will be drawn, but the next, and the third,
that they will hang like links of Rings: and not only will it be so, if the Loadstone
touch the first, that the rest will follow; but if the stone be but neer, it will do the
same without touching them.

CHAP. XLVI.
An Iron Plate touched in the middle, will diffuse its forces to both ends.
WHat I said of a long Needle, I say also of an Iron Bar: for if you touch it in
the middle, the Beams of it are spread like the Beams of the Sun, or light of
a Candle, from the Centre to the Circumference, and extream parts. But if we
touch an Iron Morter, being the force is feeble, where it is touched about
the superficies, some vertue may be be perceived; but it is very weak in the ex∣tream
parts.

CHAP. XLVII.
How filings of Iron may receive force.
IF you wrap up filings of Iron in a paper, as Druggists do, like a Pyramis; and put
a Loadstone neer it, all the filings together will receive the same force, as a long
piece of Iron doth: but if you stir the filings, and put them into an open paper,
that force is lost, and confounded, and can do nothing, as if it had never been
touched, by reason of so many different pieces.

CHAP. XLVIII.
Whether Garlick can hinder the vertues of the Loadstone.
NOw I shall pass on to other properties of the Loadstone: and first, whether the
Loadstones attraction can be any ways hindred. Plutarch saith, That Gar∣lick
is at great enmity with the Loadstone; and such antipathy and hatred there is
between these insensible Creatures, that if the Loadstone be smeered with Gar∣lick,
it will drive away Iron from it. Ptolomy confirms the same, That the Load∣stone
will not draw Iron, if it be anoynted with Garlick; as Amber will no more
draw straws, and other light things to it, if they be first steeped in Oyl. It is a com∣mon
Opinion amongst Sea-men, That Onyons and Garlick are at odds with the
Page 212

Loadstone: and Steers-men, and such as tend the Mariners Card are forbid to eat
Onyons or Garlick, lest they make the Index of the Poles drunk. But when I tried
all these things, I found them to be false: for not onely breathing and belching
upon the Loadstone after eating of Garlick, did not stop its vertues: but when it
was all anoynted over with the juice of Garlick, it did perform its office as well as if
it had never been touched with it: and I could observe almost not the least diffe∣rence,
left I should seem to make void the endeavors of the Ancients. And again,
When I enquired of Mariners, whether it were so, that they were forbid to eat
Onyons and Garlick for that reason; they said, They were old Wives fables, and
things ridiculous; and that Sea-men would sooner lose their lives, then abstain from
eating Onyons and Garlick.

CHAP. XLIX.
How a Loadstone astonished may be brought to it self again.
IF a Loadstone be drunk, and do not its office, not as we said, by being breathed
on by Garlick, but rather by reason of some other parts of the Loadstone that
had touched it, so that the vertue of it is decayed and gone; we shall restore it to
its former vertue, by covering it over with the filings of Iron many dayes, until, by
the vapors or company of the Iron, it can perform its office as it should.

CHAP. L.
How to augment the Loadstones vertue.
THere are many learned men that have attempted to augment the Loadstones
vertue, and that divers wayes, that having got more forces, it might serve
for very great uses. Alexander Aphrodiseus in the beginning of his Problems, en∣quires
wherefore the Loadstone onely draws Iron, and is fed or helped by the fi∣lings
of Iron; and the more it is fed, the better it will be: and therefore it is con∣firmed
by Iron. But when I would try that, I took a Loadstone of a certain weight,
and I buried it in a heap of Iron-filings, that I knew what they weighed; and when
I had left it there many months, I found my stone to be heavier, and the Iron-filings
lighter: but the difference was so small, that in one pound I could finde no sensible
declination; the stone being great, and the filings many: so that I am doubtful of
the truth. Paracelsus, being skilled in distillation, tried to do it another way: For
(saith he) if any man shall quench often in Oyl of Iron, a Loadstone red hot, it will
by degrees recover force, and augment so much, that it will easily pull a Nail forth
that is fast in a Wall: which conceit pleased me well; and thereupon I made
the stone red hot, and quenched it often in Oyl of Iron: but it was so far from
getting more strength, that it lost what it had: and fearing I had not done it right,
I tried if often; so I found the falsity of it, and I warn others of it also. For a
Loadstone made red hot in the fire, will lose all its vertue, as I shall shew after∣wards.

CHAP. LI.
That the Loadstone may lose its vertue.
I Found out, That this is the onely true way, amongst many that are set down by
Writers, by heaping Fire-coals upon the Loadstone: for once made red-hot, it
presently loseth all its vertue, and a vapor flies from it that is blewish black, or
Brimstone-like, smelling strong, as Coals do; and when that flame and vapor ceaseth
to exhale, if you take it out of the fire, all the force of it is breathed forth: and I
always thought, that that was the Soul of it, and the cause of its attraction of iron;
whenas iron is made of Brimstone not perfect: as I read in •ebar and other
Page 213

Writers that treat of Metals: which is the cause that it runs so swiftly to the Load∣stone,
and desires so much to be imbraced by it: and when that vapour is gone from
the stone, it loseth all its vertue; and then it is but a dead carcass, and it is in vain to
endeavour to revive it.

CHAP. LII.
How the Iron touched with the Loadstone loseth its force.
THe same way the Loadstone doth, the iron loseth its force also: for though
it have been excellently well touched by the Loadstone, if you heart it red-hot
in the fire, it will lose its forces: and the reason is; because that part of the Load∣stone
that cleaves to the iron, loseth its forces in the fire; and therefore the iron
deprived of that, loseth the force also. Wherefore in the Mariners Compass, or in
other uses, when the iron is stupified by the touch of other things, and hath not its
due forces to free it from this imperfection, we put it into the fire. Hence we
finde the error of many men, who when they put the Needle into the Compass,
they first make it red-hot, and then they rub it with the Loadstone, supposing it will
by that means, take in the Loadstones vertue the more: but they do not onely by
contraries, but they so make void the Loadstones vertues, that it cannot do its of∣fice,
but that force is driven out of the iron by the fire; and it is just as it was before
it was touched with the Loadstone. Wherefore, as often as that force is driven a∣way
with the fire, we may touch it again, and give it the same force.

CHAP. LIII.
It is false, That the Diamond doth hinder the Loadstones vertue.
VVE shewed that it was a false report, that the Loadstone anoynted with Gar∣lick,
loseth its vertues. But it is more false, that it loseth its vertue by the
presence of the Diamond. For, say some, there is so much discord between the qua∣lities
of the Loadstone and the Diamond, and they are so hateful one against the o∣ther,
and secret enemies, that if the Diamond be put to the Loadstone, it presently
faints and loseth all its forces. Pliny. The Loadstone so disagreeth with the Dia∣mond,
that if Iron be laid by it, it will not let the Loadstone draw it; and if the
Loadstone do attract it, it will snatch it away again from it. St. Augustine. I will say
what I have read of the Loadstone: How that if the Diamond be by it, it will not
draw iron; and if it do, when it comes neer the Diamond, it will let it fall. Mar∣bodeus
of the Loadstone:

All Loadstones by their vertue Iron draw;
But of the Diamond it stands in awe:
Taking the Iron from't by Natures Law.
I tried this often, and found it false; and that there is no Truth in it. But there are many Smatteres and ignorant Fellows, that would fain reconcile the ancient Writers, and excuse these lyes; not seeing what damage they bring to the Common-wealth of Learning. For the new Writers, building on their ground, thinking them true, add to them, and invent, and draw other Experiments from them, that are falser then the Principles they insisted on. The blinde leads the blinde, and both fall into the pit. Truth must be searched, loved and professed by all men; nor must any mens authority, old or new, hold us from it. But to return from whence those Reconcilers idleness drew me: I took a piece of a Loadstone to try by; it was hardly four Grains in weight: I fastned the filings of iron very fast to it; then I put the Diamond that was three or four times bigger then them both; but that would not make the Load∣stone forsake the iron: then I took off the filings of iron from the Loadstone,
Page 214
and set them at a just distance, and it drew the filings to it, though the Diamond were by. I say this, lest they should think I failed in the trial, and to have taken a Loadstone of twenty or thirty pound weight, and fastened an ounce of iron to it, and then to have taken a very small Diamond, and put it to them to make trial with.
CHAP. LIV.
Goats blood doth not free the Loadstone from the inchantment of the Diamond.
I Said, That from false Principles, are drawn most false Conclusions. Also I said,
That it is related that the juice of Garlick smeered on the Loadstone, will take
away its attraction of iron; and, That when the Diamond is by, it will not draw
iron, or will let it fall. But because (say some) Goats blood will break the Dia∣mond,
if the Loadstone be anoynted with Goats blood, it will recover. Castianus
in Geoponic. Graec. The Loadstone draws iron to it, and again drives it away from it,
if it be annointed with Garlick: but that the force almost lost may be restored, it
must be washed in Goats blood. Rhennius the Interpreter of Dionysius.

'Gainst which, nor fire, nor steel ever won;
Goats blood if warm, can break the Diamond:
Nor strokes o' th' Hammer can consume this Stone,
Which from the Loadstone doth the Iron take,
That it would still embrace it, let alone:
Diamonds, Loadstones vertues empty make.
Marbodeus of the same.
A Diamond is mighty hard: a Stone
That on the Anvil never can be broke;
Nor steel, nor fire hurt it, yet 'tis known,
It crumbles in Goats blood, if laid to soak.
Since therefore there is an Antipathy between the Diamond and the Loadstone; and there is as great Antipathy between the Diamond and Goats blood, as there is sympathy between Goats blood and the Loadstone; We are from this Argument proceeded thus far, that when the vertue of the Loadstone is grown dull, either by the presence of the Diamond, or stink of Garlick, if it be washed in Goats blood it will then recover its former force, and be made more strong: but I have tried that all the reports are false. For the Diamond is not so hard as men say it is: for it will yield to steel, and to a moderate fire: nor doth it grow soft in Goats blood, or Ca∣mels blood, or Asses blood: and our Jewellers count all these Relations false and ridiculous. Nor is the vertue of the Loadstone, being lost, recovered by Goats blood. I have said so much, to let men see what false Conclusions are drawn from false Principles.
CHAP. LV.
The Iron touched with a Diamond will turn to the North.
BUt this is most true, that I found out by chance when I made trial, whether
the Diamond had any forces to weaken the Loadstones vertue, as I said: for
if you rub a steel-Needle on a Diamond, and then put it into a Boat, or thrust it
through a reed, or hang it up by a Threed, it will presently turn to the North, al∣most
as well as if it had been touched with the Loadstone; but something more
faintly. And, what is worth noting, the contrary part will turn the iron to the
Page 215

South: and when I had tried this in many steel-Needles, and put them all into the
Water, I found, that they all stood equi-distant, pointing to the North. And
if they that write, That the Loadstone is weakned by the presence of the Diamond,
had written thus▪ ••ey had said more Truth: for a Needle rubbed on a Diamond,
and stuck in a 〈◊〉•nd put into the water, that it may turn freely; being turned
with your finger, when it stands still, it will turn North, and point at it exactly.

CHAP. LVI.
The forces and remedies of the Loadstone.
OUr Ancestors invented many things, by reason of this admirable attractive o∣peration
of the Loadstone, and found out many remedies that are worth ob∣serving.
From this drawing quality that it allures iron to it, and that they mutu∣ally
attract the one the other; they did attribute unto it an understanding of vene∣rious
actions, and that they are one in love with the other; nor will their mad love
abate, till they imbrace each one the other: and when they turn their backs, they
hate one the other, and drive one the other off; and that they contain in them also
the Principles of hatred. Marbodeus.

This Stone doth reconcile the man and wife,
And her recal that from her husband goes:
If one would know her leads a whorish life,
Under her head, when that she sleeps, it shows:
For she that's chast, will presently imbrace
Her husband whilst she sleepeth; but a whore
Falls out o' th' bed, as thrown out with disgrace,
With stink o' th' Stone, which shows this, and much more.
And for this cause, our Ancestors to signifie as much, did oft-times engrave the pi∣cture of Venus upon the Loadstone. Hence Claudian writes,
The Loadstone Venus oft-times represents.
I remember also, that many of the Ancients reported, That if a Loadstone were
beat into powder, and were strewed into burning Coles, about the corners of the
house, that the smoke might flie up; those that are in the house, will presently run
out for fear the house will fall; and frighted with these phantasmes, would run, for∣saking
all their houses: and thus Thieves may steal all their Goods. Marbodeus.

If that a Thief can creep into a House
That's full of wealth, and Treasure hath good store;
Let him on burning Coles, before he rowse
The people, strew the Loadstone dust all ore,
That so the Smoke may at each corner rise,
And that will make the people wake, and think
The house will fall, and run out with great cries,
Then may he take away their Gold and chink.
The reason is, Because the Loadstone is melancholick, as you may conjecture by the
colour of it; the fumes whereof, rising into the brain, will cause those that are a sleep
to have melancholick phantasms presented unto them: and Coles will do the like.
The weight Davic, with Serpents fat, and juice of Metals, given to one to drink,
will make him mad, and make him run out of his House, Country and Nation: and
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this is doth by exaggeration of black Melancholy: or it will make people lunatick and
melancholick if they do but hold it in their mouths: and by its drawing out of iron,
Physitians think it will help well to draw an Arrow-head out of ones body.

But we use the Loadstone in making Glass. Pliny. After Glass was found out,
as it is a very cunning invention, men were not content to mingle Nitre; but they be∣gan
to add the Loadstone thereunto, because it is supposed, that it will attract the li∣quor
of the Glass into it self, and into iron also. Hence it is, that in making Glass,
we add a little piece of Loadstone to it, for that singular vertue is confirmed by our
times, as well as former times: it is thought so to attract into it self the liquor of
the Glass, as it draws iron to it; and being attracted, it purgeth it; and from green
or yellowish Glass, it makes it white: but the fire afterwards consumes the Load∣stone.
Out of Agricola. We read also, That a Loadstone laid to ones head, will
take away all the pains. Galen saith, It hath purging faculties; and therefore it is
given to drink for the Dropsie: and it will draw forth all the water in the Belly. Lastly,
I shall not pass by the error of Hadrian, concerning the Loadstone: for he saith, That
the iron by its weight makes the Loadstone never the heavier. For the Naturalists
report, That if a great Loadstone were weighed in a Scale▪ and after that, should draw
iron to it, it would be no heavier then it was when it was alone, though they be
both together; so the weight of the iron is as it were consumed by the Loadstone,
and hindred by it from any effect or motion: which I finde to be false. It is like that
jear in Aristophanes, of a Clown that rid upon an Ass, and carried his Coulter at his
back, that he might not load the Ass too much.

Page 217
THE EIGHTH BOOK OF Natural Magick: Of Physical Experiments.
THE PROEME.
I Intended to pass by these following Experiments in Physick, because I have everywhere
mentioned them in my History of Plants; and we have not omitted any thing, that was
certain and secret in them that we knew, unless i• be such things as could not be brought
into that rank. And though other things shall be described in my Book of Distillations,
yet that this place of Physick be not left empty, I changed my opinion, and have set down
some of them here.

CHAP. I.
Of Medicines which cause sleep.
THat we may in order set down those Experiments, of which we
intend to speak, we will begin with those Diseases which hap∣pen
in the Head; and first, with Sleep: for Soporiferous Re∣ceits
are very requisite to be placed amongst these Arcana, and
are of very great esteem amongst Physitians, who by Sleep
are wont to cheat their Patients of pain: and not of less, a∣mongst
Captains and Generals, when they practice Stratagemes
upon their Enemies. Soporiferous Medicines do consist for
the most part of cold and moist things. Plutarch in Simpos.
saith, That Sleep is caused by cold; and therefore Dormitives have a cooling quality.
We will teach, first, how

To cause Sleep with Mandrake.
Dioscorides saith, That men will presently fall asleep in the very same posture where∣in
they drink Mandrake, losing all their senses for three or four hours after; and
that Physitians do use it, when they would burn or cut off a member. And skilful
men affirm, That Mandrake growing by a Vine, will transmit its Soporiferous qua∣lity
into it▪ so that those who drink the Wine that is made thereof, shall more
easily and readily fall asleep. Here we will relate the pleasant stories of the Man∣drake
out of Authors of Stratagems. Junius Frontinus reports, That Hannibal being
sent by the Charthagenians, against some Rebels in Africa; and knowing they were
a Nation greedy of Wine, mixed a great quantity of Mandrake with his Wines;
the quality of which, is between poysonous and sleepy: then beginning a light Skir∣mish,
he retired on purpose; and in the middle of the Night, counterfeited a flight,
leaving some Baggage in his Camp, and all the infected Wine. Now when those
Barbarians had took his Camp, and for joy, had liberally tasted of that treacherous
Wine; he returned, took and slew them all, as they lay dead as it were before. Po∣linaeus
the same. And Caesar sailing towards Nicomedia, was taken about Malea by
some Cilician Pirates: and when they demanded a great Ransome for his Liberty,
he promised them double what they asked. They arrived at Miletum: the people
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came out of the Town to see them. Caesar sent his Servant, being a Milesian, named
Epicrates, to those of the Town; desiring them to lend him some money; which
they presently sent to him: Epicrates, according to Caesar's command, brought the
money; and with it, a sump•uous, Banquet, a Water-pot full of Swords, and Wine
mixed with Mandrake. Caesar paid to the Pirates the promised sum, and set the
Banquet before them; who, being exalted with their great Riches, fell freely to
it; and drinking the infected Wine, fell into a sleep: Caesar commanded them to
be killed sleeping, and presently repaid the Milesians their own money. Demosthe∣nes,
intending to express those who are bitten as it were by a sleepy Dragon, and are
slothful, and so deprived of sense that they cannot be awakened; saith: They seem
like men who have drunk Mandrake. Pliny affirmeth, That smelling to the Leaves
of it, provoketh sleep.

For the same, with Nightshade.
We may make the same of Nightshade, which is also called, Hypnoticon, from the
effect of it: a Drachm of the Rinde, drank in Wine, causeth sleep, but gently and
kindely. This later Age, seemeth to have lost the knowledge of Solanum Ma∣nicon:
for in the very description of it, Dioscorides seems to be mad. But in my
judgement, (as I have elsewhere said) he describes two several Plants in that place:
Fuschius his Stramonium, and the Herb commonly called Bell a Donna whose qualities
are wonderfully dormitive: for they infect Water, without giving it either taste or
sent; so that the deceit cannot be discovered, especially, considering it must be
given but in a very small quantity. I prepared a Water of it, and gave it to a Friend
for certain uses; who, instead of a Drachm, drank an Ounce; and thereupon lay
four days without meat or motion; so that he was thought dead by all; neither
could he be awakened by any means, till at last, when the vapours were digested,
he arose: although Dioscorides threatneth nothing but death from the immoderate
use of it. The same may be made also

Of Poppy
In a Lohoch. Take the Heads of Poppy, and cut them cross-ways, with a tender
hand, lest the knife enter too deep: let your nail direct the issuing juice into a Glass;
where let it stand a while, and it will congeal. The Thebane Poppy is best.
You may do the same with Nightshade, Henbane. Of all these together, you
may make

A Sleeping Apple.
For it is made of Opium, Mandrake, juice of Hemlock, the Seeds of Henbane;
and adding a little Musk, to gain an easier reception of the Smeller: these being made
up into a ball, as big as a mans hand can hold, and often smelt to, gently close the eyes,
and binde them with a deep sleep. Now shall be shown

A wonderful way to make one take a sleeping Medicine in his sleep.
Those things which we have already spoken of, are easily discovered after sleep,
and bring a suspicion along with them. But ou• of many of the aforenamed dormi∣tive
menstrues, there may be extracted a Quintessence, which must be kept in Leaden
Vessels, very closely stop'd, that it may not have the least vent, lest it should flie out.
When you would use it, uncover it, and hold it to a sleeping man's Nostrils, whose
breath will suck up this subtile essence, which will so besiege the Castle of his senses,
that he will be overwhelmed with a most profound sleep, not to be shook of with∣out
much labour. After sleep, no heaviness will remain in his Head, nor any
suspicion of Art. These things are manifest to a wise Physitian; to a wicked One,
obscure.

Page 219
CHAP. II.
To make a Man out of his senses for a day.
AFter these Medicines to cause sleep, we will speak of those which make me•
mad: the business is almost the same: for the same Plants that induce sleep, if
they be taken in a larger proportion, do cause madness. But we will not tell those
things which breed it for ever, onely which may make us sport for a day, and after∣wards
leave no harm. We will begin with,

How to make men mad with Mandrake.
We have told you, That a small dose brings sleep; a little more, madness; a larger,
death. Dioscorides saith, That a Drachm of Morion will make one foolish: we
will easilier do it with Wine, which is thus made: Take the Roots of Mandrake,
and but put them into new Wine, boyling and bubling up: cover it close; and let
them infuse in a warm place for two months. When you would use it, give it to some∣body
to drink; and whosoever shall taste it after a deep sleep, will be distracted,
and for a day shall rave: but after some sleep, will return to his senses again, with∣out
any harm: and it is very pleasant to behold. Pray make trial. We may do the
same

With Stramonium, or Solanum Manicum:
The Seeds of which, being dried and macerated in Wine, the space of a night, and
a Drachm of it drank in a Glass of Wine, (but rightly given, lest it hurt the m•n)
after a few hours will make one made, and present strange visions, both pleasant and
horrible; and of all other sorts: as the power of the potion, so doth the madness
also cease, after some sleep, without any harm, as we said, if it were rightly admini∣stred.
We may also infect any kinde of meat with it, by strowing thereon: three
fingers full of the Root reduced into powder, it causeth a pleasant kinde of madness
for a day; but the poysonous quality is allayed by sleep, or by washing the Temples
and Pulses with Vinegar, or juice of Lemmon. We may also do the same with ano∣ther
kinde of Solanum, called

Bella Donna.
A Drachm of the Root of which, amongst other properties, hath this; that it will
make men mad without any hurt: so that it is a most pleasant spectacle to behold
such mad whimsies and visions; which also is cured by sleep: but sometimes they
refuse to eat. Nevertheless, we give this praecaution, That all those Roots or
Seeds which cause the Takers of them to see delightful visions, if their Dose be in∣creased,
will continue this alienation of minde for three days: but if it be quadru∣pled,
it brings death. Wherefore we must proceed cautiously with them. I had a
Friend, who, as oft as he pleased, knew how

To make a man believe he was changed
into a Bird or Beast; and cause madness at his pleasure. For by drinking a certain
Potion, the man would seem sometimes to be changed into a Fish; and flinging out
his arms, would swim on the Ground: sometimes he would seem to skip up, and
then to dive down again. Another would believe himself turned into a Goose, and
would eat Grass, and beat the Ground with his Teeth, like a Goose: now and then
sing, and endeavour to clap his Wings. And this he did with the aforenamed
Plants: neither did he exclude Henbane from among his Ingredients; extracting
the essences by their Menstruum, and mix'd some of their Brain, Heart, Limbs, and o∣ther
parts with them. I remember when I was a young man, I tried these things
on my Chamber-Fellows: and their madness still fixed upon something they had
eaten, and their fancy worked according to the quality of their meat. One, who
had fed lustily upon Beef, saw nothing but the formes of Bulls in his imagination,
Page 220

and them running at him with their horns; and such-like things. Another man also
by drinking a Po•ion, flung himself upon the earth, and like one ready to be drowned,
struck forth his legs and arms, endeavouring as it were to swim for life: but when
the strength of the Medicament began to decay, like a Shipwrack'd person, who had
escaped out of the Sea, he wrung his Hair and his Clothes to strain the Water out of
them; and drew his breath, as though he took such pains to escape the danger.
These, and many other most pleasant things, the curious Enquirer may finde out: it
is enough for me only to have hinted at the manner of doing them.

CHAP. III.
To cause several kindes of dreams.
NOw we will endeavour to shew how to cause pleasant, sad, or true dreams. But
that we may more certainly effect it, it will be good first to know the causes.
The meat in concoction must be corrupted, (this must be taken for granted) and
turned into vapors; which, being hot and light, will naturally ascend, and creep
through the Veins into the Brain; which being always cold, condenseth them into
moisture, as we see Clouds generated in the greater World: so by an inward reci∣procation,
they fall down again upon the Heart, the principal seat of the senses. In
the mean while, the Head grows full and heavy, and is overwhelmed in a deep
sleep. Whence it comes to pass, that the species descending, meet and mix with
other vapors, which make them appear preposterous and monstrous; especially, in
the quiet of the night. But in the morning, when the excrementitious and foul
Blood is separated from the pure and good, and become cool and allayed; then
pure, and unmixed, and pleasant visions appear. Wherefore I thought it not irra∣tional,
when a man is overwhelmed with drink, that vapors should arise partici∣pating,
as well of the Nature of what he hath drank or eat, as of the humours which
abound in his body, that in his sleep he should rejoyce or be much troubled: that
fires and darkness, hail and putrefactions, should proceed from Choler, Melancholy,
co•d and pu•rid humors. So to dream of killing any one, or being besmeared with
Blood, shews an abundance of Blood: and Hippocrates and Galen say, We may judge
a man to be of a sanguine Complexion by it. Hence those who eat windy meats,
by reason thereof, have rough and monstrous dreams: meats of thin and small va∣pours,
exhilarate the minde with pleasant phantasms. So also the outward applica∣tion
of simples, doth infect the species while they are a going to the Heart. For
the Arteries of the body, saith Galen, while they are dilated, do attract into them∣selves
any thing that is next them. It will much help too, to anoynt the Liver: for
the Blood passeth upward out of the Stomack by evaporation, and runneth to the
Liver; from the Liver to the Heart. Thus the circulating vapors are infected, and
represent species of the same colour. That we may not please the Sleepers onely,
but also the Waking, behold

A way to cause merry dreams.
When you go to bed, to eat Balm, and you cannot desire more pleasant sights then
will appear to you; Fields, Gardens, Trees, Flowers, Meadows, and all the Ground
of a pleasant Green, and covered with shady Bowers: wheresoever you cast your
eyes, the whole World will appear pleasant and Green. Bugloss will do the same,
and Bows of Poplar; so also Oyl of Poplar. But

To make dark and troublesome dreams,
we eat Beans; and therefore they are abhorred by the Pythagoreans, because they
cause such dream. Phaseoli, or French Beans, cause the same: Lentiles, Onyons,
Garlick, Leeks, VVeedbine, Dorycnium, Picnocomum, new red VVine; these in∣fuse
dreames, wherein the phantasms are broken, crooked, angry, troubled: the
person dreaming will seem to be carried in the Air, and to see the Rivers and Sea
flow under him: he shall dream of misfortunes, falling, death, cruel tempests,
Page 221

showers of Rain, and cloudy dayes; the Sun darkned, and the Heavens frowning,
and nothing but fearful apparitions. So by anointing the aforesaid places with
Soo•, or any adust matter, and Oyl, (which I add onely to make the other enter the
easier into the parts) fires, lightnings, flashings, and all things will appear in darkness.
These are sufficient: for I have already shewed in my Book Phytognom, how to
procure true dreams.

CHAP. IV.
Excellent Remedies for the Eyes.
HEretofore, being much troubled with sore Eyes, and become almost blinde;
when I was given over by Physitians of best account, a certain Empyrick
undertook me; who, putting this VVater into my Eye, cured me the very same
day: I might almost say, The same hour. By Gifts, Entreaties, Cunning and
Money, I gained the Secret, which I will not think much to set down, that
every one may use it at their pleasure. It is good for Inflammations, Blearness,
Mists, Fistula's, and such-like; and cureth them certainly the second day; if not the
first. If I should set down all those whom I have cured by it, I should be too tedi∣ous.
Take two Bottles of Greek-VVine, half a Pint of White-Rose-Water; of
Celendine, two Ounces; of Fennel, Rue, Eye-bright, as much; of Tutty, half an
Ounce; of Cloves as much; Sugar-Candy of Roses, one Drachm; Camphire,
half a Drachm; and as much Aloes. Tutty is prepared after this manner:
Let it be heat and extinguished six times in Rose-water, mixed with Greek-Wine;
but let the water at last be left out: powder what are to be powdered finely; and
mix them with the waters. Aloes is incorporated with waters thus: because it
will not be powered, let it be put into a Mor•ar with a little of the forementioned
waters, and beat together until it turn to water, and swim about in ropings, and
mix with the waters: then put it to the rest. Set them all in a Glass-Bottle, close
covered, and waxed up that it do not exhale abroad in the Sun and Dew for forty
dayes, still shaking them four times in a day: at last, when it is well sunned, set it
up and reserve it for your use. It must be applied thus

In Inflammations, Blood-shots and Fistula's,
let the Patient lie flat on his back; and when a drop of this water is put upon his
Eye, let him open and shut his Eye-lids, that the water may run through all the ca∣vities
of his Eve. Do this twice or thrice in a day, and he shall be cured. But thus
it must be used for

A Pearl in the Eye.
If the Pearl be above or beneath the Cornea, make a Powder of Sugar-Candy of
Roses, burnt Allome, and the Bone of a Cuttle-Fish, very finely beat and searched
exactly; and when the Patient goeth to Bed, sprinkle a little of this Powder upon
his eye, and by and by drop some of this water into it, and let him shut his Eyes and
sleep: for he will quickly be cured.

CHAP. V.
To fasten the Teeth.
I Could finde not any thing in all this Physical Tract of greater value then this
Remedy for the Teeth: for the water gets in through the Gumms, even to the
very Nerves of the Teeth, and strengthens and fasteneth them: yea, if they are
eaten away, it filleth them with Flesh, and new cloaths them. Moreover, it
maketh them clean, and white, and shining like Pearls. I know a man, who by
this onely Receit, gained great Riches. Take therefore three handfuls of Sage,
Page 222

Ne•tles, Rosemary, Mallows, and the rinde of the Roots of Wall-nut; wash them
well, and beat them: also, as much of the Flowers of Sage, Rosemary, Olive and
Plantaine Leaves; two handfuls of Hypocistis, Horehound, and the tops of Bram∣ble;
one pound of the Flower of Mirtle; half a pound of the Seed; two handfuls
of Rose-Buds, with their Stalks; two drachms of Saunders, Coriander prepared,
and Citron-Pill: three drachms of Cinnamon in powder; ten of Cypress Nuts;
five green Pine-Apples; two drachms of Bole-Armenick and Mastick. Powder
them all, and infuse them in sharp black Wine, and let them macerate three dayes:
then, slightly pressing the Wine out, put them into an Alembick, and still them with
a gentle fire: then boyl the distilled water, with two ounces of Allome till it be
dissolved, in a V•ssel close stopt. When you would use it, suck up some of the
water, and stir it up and down your mouth until it turn to Forth: then spit it out,
and rub your Teeth with a Linen-cloth. It will perform what I have promised:
for it fasteneth the Teeth, and restoreth the Gums that are eroded. Now we will
deliver other Experiments

To fasten the Teeth.
Macerate the Leaves of Mastick, Rosemary, Sage, and Bramble; in Greek-Wine:
then distil it with a gentle fire through a Retort: take a mouthful of this, and stir
about, till it turn to Spittle; it fasteneth the Teeth, maketh them white, and re∣storeth
the Gums. The Root of Pellitory bruised, and put into the Teeth, takes
away the pain: so doth the Root of Henbane. For the bleeding of the Teeth, I
have often made trial of Purslaine, so much commended.

For the swelling of the Gums,
beat the Roots and Leaves of Plantaine, and lay them to the swelling when you go
to bed; and in the morning you shall finde your Gums well.

CHAP. VI.
For other infirmities of Mans Body.
I Will heap together in this Chapter, some Remedies not to be passed over, which
I know to be certain, by continual Experience made; and although some of them
are common, yet are they true. And first,

For the Head-ach,
There is a certain Essence, of the colour of Blood, extracted out of Roses, of a
wonderful sweetness and great strength. Wet a cloth in this Liquor, and lay it to
your Fore-head and Temples; and if sometimes it doth not quite take away a pain
of long continuance, yet it will mollifie it. If the cloth be dried before your pain
cease, wet it again. I have often known the Ophites, or Serpentine Marble appli∣ed
to the Head, both to take away, and mollifie the pain. The Vertigo, I have seen
it cured also, by applying the Hoof of an Elk, and by a Ring of it worn on the
Finger.

Against the chopping of the Lips
the Seeds of Henbane are good: for being cast upon live Coles, if you receive
the rising vapor through a Paper-Tunnel, upon the chopping of your Lips, as hot as
you can endure, it appeaseth the swelling presently, and healeth the Clefts, that they
will never more trouble you.

Against the clefts of the Fingers.
It is a most admirable Experiment, which I learned of Paracelsus; but have often
practiced it my self: for it taketh away the swelling and pain, and cureth the
Nail. Take a Worm, which creepeth out of the Earth; especially, in moyst
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Grounds: for if you search and dig there, you may easily 〈◊〉 them▪ winde him,
being alive, about your Finger, and there hold him 〈…〉 be dead, which will be
within an hour. The pain will presently cease, the matter dry away, and in a short
time be cured: Indeed I do not know a more admirable Remedy.

For a Pleurisie.
I found ou• a most powerful Remedy made of the Flowers of wilde Poppy. Ga∣ther
them in the Month of May, before the rising of the Sun, and their opening:
for, being thin Leaves, they are easily dried with a little heat, and shed: dry them
in the shade, and lay them up for your use. Or else, still the Flowers, and keep
the water. If any one taketh a drachm of the powder in Wine, and some of the
water; or in the water alone: or shall apply a Plaister of the Powder to the place,
the pain will presently cease, to the admiration of the Beholders. Missleto of the
Oak infused in Wine, and drunk, doth the same. There is a Stone also brought
out of the West-Indies, called in Spanish, Della Hijada; much like an Emerald:
which being worn in Silver, upon the Arm, is accounted a preservative against this
Disease.

Against the Colick
Civet is most excellent in this Disease: for the quantity of a Pease, applied to the
Navil, and a hot Loaf out of the Oven clapt over it, presently easeth the pain: the
Patient must ly on his Belly upon the Bread before it be cold.

Against Crab lice.
The Dust which falls from the Curry-Combs, while the Ostler dresseth Horses, or
such kinde of Beasts, cureth them without any pain. Or the Powder of Lithargy,
Aloes, Frankincense, Verdegreese, and Alome, beaten and mixed together with Oyl
of Mastick, and anoynt the place. The Powder of Mercury praecipitate, is best by
far, being applied.

To bring away the Stone,
Take Saxifrage, Maiden-hair, Pellitory of the wall, Parsely, Pimpernel and Cete∣rach;
distil them in Balneo Mariae, and let the Patient drink of it every other day:
for it corrodes and eats away the Stone, though never so great; and by daily experi∣ence,
you will see in his Urine, Gravel and Fragments of the Stone voided out.
Moreover, the Fruit and Leaves of the Mulberry gathered before Sun-rising, and
distilled or dried in the shade, if it be drank in Wine, or a proper water, early in
the morning, doth wonderfully remove the Stone. Mushromes growing on a Rock,
reduced into Powder, or dried in the shade, or a warm Oven, and drank with Wine
in a morning, is very Soveraign against the Stone. If the Kernels of a Peach-Stone
be bruised, and macerated two dayes in the distilled water of Bean-Cods, and then
distilled again, and drunk, bring down the Stone. The Hedge-Sparrow, which
Aetius mentioneth, I know to be good against the Stone in the Kidney or Bladder.
It is the least of all Birds, liveth in Hedges, carrieth his Tail upright; on the top
of his Wings, there are some streaks of Ash-colour; of a short flight; and lastly,
much like a Wren. He hath a vertue against the Stone beyond all the rest, eaten
either raw or boyled, or dried or salted, or taken any way; also reduced into Pow∣der,
being made up close in a Pot covered and clayed up, that the vertue may not ex∣pire;
and so set over the fire. I have also tried a water against this Disease, running
out of a certain Vein, described by Vitruvius: which when I had diligently sought
after, and found out, made me exceedingly rejoyce. The words of Vitruvius are
these: There are also some Veins of acide Springs, as at Lyncestum; and in Italy, at
Theano in fertile Campania; and many other places: which being drunk, have a
vertue to dissolve Stones which breed in the Bladders of men. And this seems to
be naturally done, because there lieth a sharp and acide juice under the Earth,
through which, these Veins passing, receive a tincture of sharpness; and so, when
they come into the Bodies of Men, they dissolve whatever they finde there
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congealed or setled. But wherefore acide things should dissolve them, we may
thus guess the Reason: An Egg laid in any Vinegar some time, will wax soft, and
his shell will dissolve. Also Lead, which is the toughest and heaviest, if it be laid
in a Vessel of Vinegar, and closed up, will dissolve, and become Ceruss. By the same
means, Copper, which is of a more solid Nature, if it be ordered as the former,
will melt, and become Verdegreese. Likewise Pearl, as hard as Flint, which nei∣ther
iron or fire can dissolve of themselves, when they are heat by the fire, and
then sprinkled with Vinegar, break and dissolve. Therefore, when we see these
things done before our eyes, we may infer by the same Reasons, that the Stone may
naturally be dissolved by acide things, through the sharpness of their juice. Thus
far Vitruvius. The place where the Vein is now to be found, is called com∣monly
Francolise, about a mile from Theano, and runneth along the way to∣ward• Rome.

To strengthen the Stomach.
We will not omit a wonderful Oyl, which helpeth concoction, and taketh away the
inclinations to vomit: it is thus made: Pour half a Pint of the best Oyl into a brass
Pot, tinned within, and of a wide mouth: then take fifteen pound of Romane-Mint,
and beat it in a Marble-Morter, with a VVooden-Pestle, until it come to the
form of an Oyntment; add as much more Mint and VVormwood, and put them
into the O•l: mingle them, and stir them well: but cover the Pot lest any durt should
fall in; and let them stand three dayes, and infuse: then set them on a gentle fire,
and boyl them five hours for fifteen dayes together, until the Oyl have extracted all
the vertue of the infused Herbs: then strain them through a Linen-cloth in a press,
or with your hands, till the Oyl be run cleer out: then take new Herbs, beat them,
and put them into the strained Oyl; boyl it again, and strain it again: do the same
the third time; and as often as you renew it, observe the same course until the Oyl
have contracted a green colour: but you must separate the juice from the Oyl very
carefully; for if the least drop do remain in it, the Oyl will have but small operati∣on,
and the whole intent is lost. A certain sign of perfect decoction, and of the
juice being consumed, will be, if a drop of it, being cast upon a plate of iron red-hot,
do not hiss. At last, Take a pound of Cinnamon, half a pound of Nutmegs, as much
Mastick and Spikenard, and a third part of Cloves: poun them severally▪ and be∣ing
well seirced, put them into the Oyl, and mix them with a VVooden-stick. Then
pour it all into an Earthen Vessel glazed within, with a long Neck, that it may ea∣sily
be shut, and stoot close; but let it be of so great a capacity, that the third part
of it may remain empty. Let it stand fifteen days in the Sun, alwayes moving, and
shaking it three or four times in a day. So set it up for your use.

CHAP. VII.
That a Woman may conceive.
THere are many Medicines to cause Conception spread abroad, because they
are much desired by Great Persons. The Ancients did applaud Sage very
much for this purpose: And in Coptus after great Plagues, the Egyptians that
survived, forced the Women to drink the juice of it, to make them conceive, and
bring forth often. Salt also helpeth Generation: for it doth not only heighten the
Pleasures of Venus, but also causeth Fruitfulness. The Egyptians, when their Dogs
are backward in Copulation, make them more eager by giving them Salt-meats.
It is an Argument also of it, That Ships in the Sea, as Plutarch witnesseth, are al∣wayes
full of an innumerable company of Mice. And some affirm, That Female-Mice
will conceive without a Male, onely by licking Salt. And Fish-wives are in∣satiably
leacherous, and alwayes full of Children. Hence the Poets feigned venus to
be born of Salt or the Sea. The Egyptian Priests (saith the same Author) did most
Religiously abstain from Salt and Salt-meats, because they did excite to lust, and
cause erection.
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A remedy to procure conception.
This I have tryed and found the best; when a womans courses are just past, let her
take a new-laid egge, boil it, and mix a grain of musk with it, and sup it up when she
goes to bed. Next morning take some old beans, at least five years old, and boil
them for a good space in a new pipkin, and let the woman when she ariseth out of
her bed, receive the fume into her privities, as it were through a tunnel, for the
space of an hour: then let her sup up two eggs, and go to bed again, and wipe off
the moisture with warm clothes: then let her enjoy her husband, and rest a while;
afterwards, take the whites of two eggs, and mix them with Bole-armenick and San∣guis•draconis,
and dip some flax into it, and apply it to the reins; but because it will
hardly stick on, swathe it on from falling: a while after, let her arise, and at night re∣new
the plaister. But when she goeth to sleep, let her hold ginger in her mouth.
This she must do nine days.

CHAP. VIII.
Remedies against the Pox.
SInce this disease hath raged so cruelly amongst men, there have been invented a
multitude of most excellent remedies to oppose it. And although many have
set out several of them, yet I will be contented with this one only, which we may
use, not onely in this disease, but almost in all other: and I have seen many experi∣ences
of it. It is easily made, and as easily taken. Take a pound of lingnum Guaiacum,
half a pound of Sarsaperilla beaten small, five ounces of the stalks and leaves of Sena,
one handful of Agrimony and Horse-tail, a drachm of Cinnamon, and as much
cloves, and one nutmeg: Poun them all, and put them into a vessel which con∣taineth
twenty gallons of Greek wine; let it stand a day, and then let the patient
drink it at meals, and at his pleasure: for it purgeth away by degrees all maladies,
beside the French-pox. If the patient groweth weak with purging, let him intermit
some days. In the summer time leave out the cinnamon, and the nutmeg. I have
used it against continual head-aches, deafness, hoarsness, and many other diseases.

A preservation against the Pox,
which a man may use after unclean women. Take a drachm of hartwort and gen∣tian,
two scruples of sanders and lignum-aloes, half a drachm of powder of coral,
spodium, and harts horn burnt, a handful of sowthistle, scordium, betony, scabious, and
tormentil; as much of roses, two pieces of Guaiacum, two scales of copper, a drachm
and a half of Mercury precipitate; a pint of malmesey, a quart of the waters of sow∣thistle,
and scabious: mix the wine and waters, and lay the Guaiacum in it a day, and
then the rest; then boil them, till half be consumed; strain them, and lay a linnen-cloth
soaking in the expression a whole night; then dry it in the shade: do this
thrice, and after copulation, wash your yard in it, and lay some of the linnen on,
and keep it close.

CHAP. IX.
Antidotes against Poyson.
IT is the common opinion of all Physitians, that those herbs, stones, or any other
thing, which being put into a Serpents mouth, doth kill him, is an Antidote
against his poyson. We read in Dioscorides of the herb Alkanet, which is very effi∣cacious
against the poyson of Serpents; and being chewed and spit out upon a Ser∣pent,
killeth him. Upon this, I thrust half a drachm of treacle or mithridate, mixt
with Aqua vitae, into a vipers mouth, and she died within half an hour. I made a wa∣ter-serpent
swallow the same, but she received no hurt by it, onely lay a small time
••upified: wherefore I pressed some oyl out of the seeds of citron, and orange or
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lemons, and dropt it into the serpents mouth, and she died presently. Moreover,
a drachm of the juice of Angelica-roots will kill a serpent. The Balsame, as they
call it, which is brought from the west-Indies, is excellent against them; for when
I anointed their mouth and jaws with it, they died in half an hour. Balsame of the
east, is a present remedy against poyson by oyntments, or the biting of a serpent,
saith Aetius. In Arabia, where it groweth, there is no fear of poyson, neither doth
any one dye of their bitings; for the fury of this deadly poyson, is allayed by the
feeding of the serpents upon this pretious Balsame. But I have found nothing more
excellent than the earth which is brought from the Isle of Malta: for the least dust
of it put into their mouths, kills them presently. I have tried the same vertue in
Lithoxylon, which Physitians use for the worms in children. There is a stone called
Chelonites, the French name it Crapodina, which they report to be found in the head
of a great old Toad; and if it can be gotten from him, while he is alive, it is soveraign
against poyson: they say it is taken from living Toads, in a red cloth, in which co∣lour
they are much delighted; for whilst they sport and open themselves upon the
scarlet, the stone droppeth out of their head, and falleth through a hole made in
the middle, into a box set under for the purpose, else they will suck it up again. But
I never met with a faithful person, who said that he found it: nor could I ever find
one, though I have cut up many. Nevertheless, I will affirm this for truth, that those
stones which are pretended to be taken out of Toads are minerals; for I remember
at Rome I saw a broken piece of stone, which was compacted of many of those stones,
some bigger, some less, which stuck on the back of it like limps on a rock. But the
vertue is certain: if any swallow it down with poyson, it will preserve him from
the malignity of it; for it runneth about with the poyson, and assawageth the power
of it, that it becometh vain and of no force.

A most perfect oyl against poyson,
often tryed in repressing the violence of it. Take three pound of old oyl, put into
it two handfulls of the flower of St Johns wort, and let them macerate in it for two
months in the sun. Then strain out the flowers, and put into the oyl two ounces
of the flowers of the same herb, and set it to boil in Balneo Mariae a quarter of a day.
Stop the bottle close, that it may have no vent, and set it a sunning for fifteen days.
In the moneth of July, take three ounces of the seed, stamp it gently, and steep it
in two glasses of the best white-wine, with gentian, tormentil, white dittany, zedoary,
and carline gathered in August; red sanders, long aristolochie, of each two drams: Let
all these mecerate in the wine for three days; then take them out, and put them in
the oyl, and boil them gently in Balneo for six hours; then strain them in a press.
Adde to the expression an ounce of saffron, myrrhe, aloes, spikenard, and rubarb, all
bruised, and let them boil in it for a day in B. M. at last treacle and mithridate, of
each two ounces, and let them also boil in it six hours as before: then set it forty
days in the sun. It must be used thus: In the plague-time, or upon suspition of poy∣son,
anoint the stomach and wrists, and the place about the heart, and drink three
drops of it in wine. It will work wonders.

CHAP. X.
Antidotes and preservatives against the Plague.
I Have spoken of poysons, now I will of the plague, being of the same nature, and
cured almost by the same Medicines. I will set down onely them, which in our
time have been experimented by the Neapolitanes, Sicilians, and Venetians (whilst
the plague was spread amongst them) to resist the contagion of that epidemical plague,
and preserve their bodies from infection.

A confection of Gillyflowers against the plague, of wonderful operation.
Gather some clove-gilliflowers in the moneth of May, of a red and lively colour,
because they are of the greater vertue; pull them out of their husks, and clip off the
Page 227

green •nd, then beat them in a marble mortar with a wooden pestle, until they be∣come
so fine as they may hardly be felt. In the mean while, take three pound of su∣gar
for one of the flowers; melt it in a brass skillet, and boil it with a little orange-flower
water, that may quickly be consumed. When it is boiled sufficiently, put
in some whites of egges beaten, enough to froth and clarifie it, still stirring it, and
skimming off the froth with a spoon, until all the dregs be taken out. Then put in
the due weight of flowers, and stir it with a wooden slice, till i• turn red: when it is
almost boiled, adde thereunto two drachms of cloves beaten with a little musk, the
mixture of which will both add & excite a sweet sent and pl•asantness in the flowers.
Then put it into earthen pots, and set it up: if you add a little juyce of lemon, it will
make it of a more lively blood-colour. We may also make Lozenges and round
Cakes of it, by pouring it on a cold marble. If any would do i• after the best man∣ner,
they must extract the colour of the flowers, and boil their sugar in that infusi∣on,
for so it will smell sweeter. Some never bruise the flowers, but cut them very
small with sizers, and candy them with sugar; but they are not very pleasant to eat.
This confection is most grateful to the taste, and by reason of the sent of the cloves,
very pleasant. The vertues of it are these, as I have found by experience: it i• good
for all diseases of the heart, as fainting, and trembling thereof; for the megrum and
poyson, and the bitings of venimous creatures, and especially against the infe∣ction
of the plague. There may be made a vinegar, or infusion of it, which being
rub'd about the nostrils, is good against contagious air, and night-dews, and all effects
of melancholy.

Against the Plague.
Gather Ivy-berries in May, and wilde Poppies before the sun rise, lest they open;
In April gather goats rue: dry them in the shade, and make them into powder. One
drachm of it being drank in wine, is excellent against infectious diseases. The Be∣zoar
stone, brought from the west-Indies, being hung about the neck nigh to the
heart; or four grains of it in powder▪ being taken in wine, is good against the plague,
and the infection of all pestilential feavors, as I can testifie: And taketh away
soundings, and exhilarateth the heart. The water or oyl, extracted from the seeds
of Citron, is a very strong Antidote against the plague. Apparitius Hispanus, his
oyl is also approved against the same.

CHAP. XI.
Remedies for wounds and blows.
THere are some remedies for wounds and blows, which shall not be omitted,
for I have found some of them to be of wonderful vertue.

The oyl of Hispanus for wounds and other things.
Take two pound of new wax, four ounces of wax, as many of linseed, two ounces
of rosemary-flowers, and bay-berries, as many of betony; of chamomil-flowers,
or the oyl of it, three ounces; of cinnamon an ounce and a half, as much of St Johns
wort, or the oyl of it, two ounces of old oyl. Dry the flowers and herbs in the
shade; and when they are withered, beat them, and seirce them through a sieve.
Melt the wax on the fire, then pour in the oyls, next the powders, still stirring
them with a stick. At length, pour it on a marble, and cut it into small slices, and
put it into a glass retort; stop it close with straw-mortar, and set it on the fire with
his receiver; stop the joynts, and give the inclosed no vent, lest the virtue flye out
and vanish away. First, by a gentle fire draw out a water; then encreasing it, and
changing the glass, draw a red oyl; stop them close, and keep them for use: the qua∣lities
of it are heating; by anointing the neck, it cureth all creeks that are bred by
cold; it healeth wounds, helpeth the contraction of the nerves caused by cold; it
mo•lifieth cold gouts, and taketh away the trembling of the hands; It may be drank
for the Sciatica, taken in wine; it helpeth the quinsie: by anointing the reins of the
Page 228

back, and the belly, or by drinking the water or oyl in wine, it will break the
stone and bring it down, and asswageth poyson. For deafness, you must steep some
wool in it, and stop the ears with it: anoint the belly and back in any pain there.
Being drunk in vinegar, it cureth the falling sickness, and restoreth lost memory; it
provoketh the menstrues in women, by anointing their privities with it, or by drink∣ing
some drops of it in wine; taken in the same manner, it provoketh appetite, being
taken early in the morning; and is good against the bitings of Scorpions: Drink it
going to bed, or when you arise in the morning, and it will cure a ••inking breath.

For cold aches.
Oyl of Herns is excellent to allay and remove all cold aches, the gout, sciatica,
griefs of the sinews, convulsions, pain in the joynts, cold defluctions, and other dis∣eases
of moisture and cold. In the Diomedian Isles, now called Tremi•y, in the Adri∣atique
Sea, there are birds, commonly called Hearns, who breed there, and con∣tinue
there, and are to be found nowhere else: they are a kind of Duck, feeding
on fish, which they catch in the night: they are not to be eaten, though they be ve∣ry
fat, because they savour of the rankness of fish. Kill these birds, and pluck off their
feathers; draw them, and hang them up by the feet, there will drop from them a
certain black yellowish oyl, very offensive to the nose, being of a noisome fishy smell.
This oyl being applied to any place, as much as you can endure, will do the effects
before mentioned, and more: but it is very hurtful for any hot maladies. There is
a water also

For old Sores.
Take lime unkilled, and dissolve it in water; stir it three or four times in a day; then
when it is settled and cleared, strain it and keep it; wet a linnen cloth in it, and ap∣ply
it to a wound or sore, and it cureth them. I will not omit

The vertues of Tobacco.
Out of the seeds of it is expressed an oyl, three ounces out of a pound, which al∣lays
the cruel tortures of the gout: the juyce clarified and boiled into a syrup, and
taken in the morning, maketh the voyce tunable, clear and loud; very convenient
for singing Masters. If you bruise the leaves, and extract the juyce, it killeth lice in
childrens heads, being rubbed thereon. The leaves cure rotten Sores and Ulcers,
running on the legs, being applied unto them. The juyce of this herb doth also pre∣sently
take away and asswage the pain in the codds, which happeneth to them who
swimming do chance to touch their codds.

CHAP. XII.
Of a secret Medicine for wounds.
THere are certain Potions called Vulnerary Potions, because, being drunk, they
cure wounds: and it seemeth an admirable thing, how those Potions should
penetrate to the wounds. These are

Vulnerary Potions.
Take Pirole, Comfrey, Aristolochy, Featherfew of each a handful; of Agrimony two:
boil them in the best new Wine: digest them in horse-dung. Or take two handfuls
of Pirole, of Sanicle, and Sowe-bread one, of Ladies Mantel half one. Boil them
in two measures of Wine, and drink it morning and evening. Binde the herbs,
which you have boiled, upon the wound, having mixt a little salt with them: and in
the mean while use no other Medicine.

The Weapon-Salve
Given heretofore to Maximilian the Emperor, by Paracelsus, experimented by him,
and always very much accounted of by him while he lived: It was given to me by a
Page 229

noble man of his Court. If the Weapon that wounded him, or any stick dipt in his
blood be brought, it will cure the wound, though the Patient be never so far off.
Take of the moss growing upon a dead man his scull, which hath laid unburied, two
ounces, as much of the fat of a man, half an ounce of Mummy, and man his blood:
of linseed oyl, turpentine, and bole-armenick, an ounce; bray them all together in
a mortar, and keep them in a long streight glass. Dip the Weapon into the oynt∣ment,
and so leave it: Let the Patient in the morning, wash the wound with his own
water; and without adding any thing else, tye it up close, and he shall be cured with∣out
any pain.

CHAP. XIII.
How to counterfeit infirmities.
IT hath been no small advantage to some, to have counterfeited sicknesses, that they
might escape the hands of their enemies, or redeem themselves for a small ransom,
or avoid tortures; invented by former ages, and used by these latter. I will first teach
you

How to counterfeit a bloody Flux.
Amphiretus Acantius, being taken by Pirates, and carried to Lemnos, was kept in
chains, in hope that his ransom would bring them a great sum of money. He abstain∣ed
from meat, and drank Minium mixt with salt water. Therefore, when he went to
stool, the Pirates thought he was fallen into a bloody Flux, and took off his irons,
lest he should dye, and with him their hopes of his ransom. He being loose, escaped
in the night, got into a Fisher-boat, and arrived safe at Acantum: so saith Poliaenus.
Indian Figs, which stain the hands like ripe Mulberries, if they be eaten, cause the
urine to be like blood: which hath put many into a fright, fearing they should dye
presently. The fruit of the Mulberry, or Hoggs blood boiled and eaten, maketh
the excrements seem bloody. Red Madder maketh the urine red, saith Dioscorides.
We may read also, that if you hold it long in your hand, it will colour your urine. I
will teach you also

To make any one look pale.
Cumine taken in drink causeth paleness: so it is reported, That the Followers of
Portius Latro, that famous Master of Rhetorick, endeavored to imitate that colour
which he had contracted by study. And Julius Vindex, that assertor of liberty from
Nero, made this the onely bawd to procure him an executorship. They smoke them∣selves
with Cumine, who disfigure their faces, to counterfeit holiness and mortificati∣on
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 Flam∣mula;
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 Monu∣ments
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, be∣cause
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:
Page 230

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 •riballians and
Illyrians, certain men, who have two pupils in each eye, and do bewitch most dead∣ly
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 Inchant∣ers
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 bewitch∣ed,
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 up∣permost
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 look∣ing-glass,
kill the Author of them. So a bright Mirror dreadeth the eyes of an un∣clean
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 disper∣sed
by the inequality of parts in the other. But a Mirror being hard and smooth, col∣lecteth
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
Page 231

Malice. If a person be ensnared with the desire of a fair and beautiful woman, al∣though
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 thi∣ther,
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 in∣ward
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, wch 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 veni∣mous
qualities: many are so by Nature; so that it cannot seem a wonder, if some∣times
some are made so by Art. The Queen of India sent to Alexander a very beau∣tiful
maid, anointed and fed with the poyson of Serpents, as Aristotle saith, and Avi∣cenna
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, meer∣ly
by the contagion of their eyes, the breath that cometh from them. Do not wo∣men
in the time of their courses, infect cucumbers and melons, by touching or look∣ing
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 un∣wholesome
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
Page 232

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 Fas∣cination
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 perma∣nent
habit, and maketh the spirits and blood obedient to it; and so bindeth the ima∣gination,
and inflameth them with the thing beloved. Although the mind (which opi∣nion
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 pro∣voke
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 con∣sume
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 hag∣gards
and witches. Now take

Some Preservatives against Love.
There are many prescribed by wise antiquity. If you would endeavor to remove the
•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 idle∣ness,
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 co∣lour,
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 per∣sume
to purifie the air again, and sprinkle him with waters sweetned with cinna∣mon,
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 Sa•v•ion, the male and female, are thought the like. Aristotle commendeth Rue,
being smelt to. All these do abate the power of witchcraft.

Page 233
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. Some∣things
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 a∣way,
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 yel∣low.
But you shall make
Page 234

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 Pow∣der:
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, Bar∣ley-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; where∣with
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 Li∣quorish:
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.

Page 235
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 Ancients used the decoction of the Lote-Tree raspt,
which we call Melo Fiocco: and so they made their Hair Red. Or else, by burning
me Foeces of the old Wine, as I said, they added Oyl of mastick thereto, which they
provided thus to the purpose. They heaped up the ripe Berries of the Mastick-Tree
for some dayes, till they might wither: the they poured on water, and boyled
them so long in Brazen Kettles until they brake: they put them in Bags, and pres∣sed
out the Oyl with a press. With this Oyntment, they kept their Head anoynted
all the night, and so made them Red. But how we may

Dye the Hair Red
I shall teach you. There is a Powder brought to us from Africa, they commonly
call Alchena: if we boyl it in a Lye till it be coloured, and anoynt our Hair with
it, it will dye them red for many days, that is indelible: but whilst you handle it,
take heed you wet no your Nails therewith: for they will be so died, you cannot
easily make them clean. So also we dye the Tails and Mains of white Horses red.
But I can easily do it with Oyl of Honey; for when the clear and Saffron-coloured
waters are drawn off, increase the fire, and the Oyl will come forth, the red.
This is exellent to make the Hairs red, and it will dye white Hairs red for many
dayes; and when that tincture is worn off, the Hairs will shine of a golden colour.
But when we anoynt our Heads with a Lye, we take a wet sponge with nippers, that
we may not stain our Hands or skin of our Heads.

With Herbs a woman dy'd her hoary Head:
Arts Colours better'd Natures, as 'tis said.
CHAP. III.
How the Hairs are dyed Black.
IT is worth the while, to shew such as are ashamed to seem old, how to dye their
hoary Hairs black, as if they might grow young again by it. And if we provide
for young women, we must do as much for aged Matrons; especially, if it fall out
that they grow hoary too soon. Of old, they made a decoction of Sage-Leaves,
the green Husks of Walnuts, Sumacts, Myrtle-berries, Black-berries, Cypress-nuts,
Rindes of the Roots of Halm-Tree, and such-like: for the Rinde of the Root of
Halm-Tree, boyled till it be sort, and consumed, and then smeered on all night, blacks
the Hair, first made clean with Fullers Earth. Learn therefore

How Gray Hairs and dyed Black.
Anoynt your Hair in the Sun with Leeches that have lain to corrupt in the blackest
Wine sixty daies, and they will become very black. Or else, Let a sextary of
Leeches stand in two sextaries of Vinegar in a Leaden Vessel to corrupt, for sixty daies:
and as I said, anoynt your Hair. Pliny saith, It will dye so strongly that unless they
hold Ovl in their mouths, when they dye the Hair, it will make their Teeth black
also. But if you would have

Long and Black Hair,
Take a green Lizard, and cutting off the Head and Tail, boyl it in common Oyl, and
anoynt your Head with it. You shall have also
Page 236

Another.
Yet you may thus dye your Hair and Beard handsomely, if they be grown Gray:
Froth of Silver, burnt Brass, must be mingled with four times the quantity of strong
Lye: and when it bubbles on an easie fire, wash your Hair with it; and when they
are dry, wash them with hot water. I used this as the Ancients taught it: and I
made a Lye of Quick-Lime and Oak-Ashes, that they commonly call the Capitel;
in that I boyled Litharge of Silver: then I tried it on white Wool; for if it be dyed
black, as I would have it, then I took it from the fire; or else, I boyled it longer.
If it burnt the Wool, I put water to it; or else, dyed with it. Add Lytharge. Wash
your Hair or Beard with this, and it will dye them with a shining black colour, and it
will not be discerned: for the more you wash it, the better it will shine.

CHAP. IV.
To make Hairs part smooth.
BEcause sometimes a part is deformed with abundance of Hair, or for lack of
Hair, I shall shew how to make a smooth part thick with Hair, and a hairy part
smooth, by depilatories.

A common Depilatory,
which men use commonly in Baths. It consists of Quick-Lime, four parts made
into Powder, Orpiment one part: boyl them. Try with a Hens Feather; when
that is made bare with it, it is boyl'd: take heed you boyl it not too much, or that it
stay not too long upon your skin, for it will burn: but if it chance to burn your
skin, take Populeum and Oyl of Roses or Violets, and anoynt the place, and the
pain will be gone. This must be done in a Bath; but if you cannot have one, let
the Woman be covered with cloths very well, and let it be cast on burning Stones
or Tiles, that she may receive the fume of it, and swear. After she hath sweat, let
her wash her self with her water, and wipe it off: then let her anoynt her self all
over; for the parts anoynted thus, will presently grow smooth. And thus may all
parts be kept free from Hair. The Ancients used these, as Saserna, as Varro reports,
teacheth in his Book of Husbandry. If (saith he) you would make any one smooth
from Hair, cast a pale Frog into water, and boyl it to a third part; and with that
anoynt the Body. But by pale Frog we must understand a Toad: for a Frog hath
no such faculty. A Salamander soaked in Oyl, will pull out the Hair. Dioscorides.
But it will be stronger, if you steep it long in Oyl, and dissolve it. The filthy mat∣ter
that is white as Milk, and is vomited up at the mouth by the Salamander, if it
touch any part of the Body, all the Hair will fall off. Dioscorides saith, That the
Sea-Scolopendra boyled in Oyl, and smeered on the part, will pluck off the Hair by
the Roots. But

To make Hair grow slowly,
If you press Oyl out of Henbane-Seed with a Press, or do often anoynt the places
with the juice of it, they will grow again very slowly. The same is done with the
juice of Hemlock. Or to take off the Hairs, men added to Ants Eggs, red Orpiment,
and Ivy-Gum, with Vinegar; and they rubbed the place where the Hair was taken a∣way.
In former times, they rubbed the down-parts of children with the Roots of
Hyacinthus, and the Hair would never grow there. And therefore it is well known in
trimming Medicaments sold here and there, that being smeered on with sweet Wine,
keeps back the Bread, and will not let it break forth. But if you would

That Hair should never grow again,
In which business I have taken great pains; and tried many things that I found to be
false; First, foment the part with hot water, and pull out the Hairs one by one
Page 237

with womens nippers: then dissolve Salt-Peter in water, and anonynt the holes
where the Hairs grew. It will be better done with Oyl of Brimstone, or of Vi∣triol:
and so they will never grow again; or if they do, after one yeer, they will
be very soft: do then the same again, and the parts will be bare alwayes. So I have
made womens Fore-heads longer, and have taken off Hair from parts hotter then
the rest.

CHAP. V.
How Hair may grow again.
BUt for those that would have Hair grow where it should, these Remedies will
do it: sometimes womens temples use to be deformed for want of Hair, I
shall teach you how

Hair falling off before old age, may be held fast.
And if any Hair hath fallen off, to make it grow again, torrifie Gith upon the
Coals; when it is torrified, powder it, sift it, and mingle it with water; and anoynt
your Head. The Ancients made their Hair grow again with these Remedies: with
the Ashes of a Land Hedge-hog, or of burnt Bees or Flies, or the Powder of them
deied; also with Man's Dung burnt, and anoynted on with Honey, to which they
added well the Ashes of Small-nuts, Wall-nuts, Ches-nuts, and other Bean-like sub∣stances:
for by all these mingled together, or by them single, Hair will be made to
grow. But if you will

That Hair shall grow quickly,
I know that by often washing the place with that water that first distils from Honey
by the fire, much Hair will soon grow; or if you do but moysten the place with wet
cloths, and not wipe it, but let it alwayes continue wet. Also Noble Matrons
may use this

To make the Hairs grow softer.
Augustus was wont to burn his Legs with a burning Nut, that the Hair might grow
softer. But

That Hair may grow longer and quickly,
Bruise Marsh-Mallow Roots with Hogs-grease, and let them boyl long in Wine:
then add Cummin-Seed well bruised, Mastick, and yelks of Eggs well boyled: first,
mingle them a little, and then boyl them: strain all through a Linen-clout, and let
it stand and settle; then take the fat that swims on the top and anoynt the Head, first
wash. But to make them grow quickly, take Barley-Bread with Salt and Bears
Grease: burn the Bread; and with such a mixture anoynt the place. Some besmeer
a glazed Pot with the fat of a Horse Neck, and they boyl a River-Eel that is fat, and
cut into pieces in it, till it dissolve into Oyl, and they anoynt the part with it.

CHAP. VI.
To take away Sores and Worms that spoil the Hair.
THere is a certain plague of the Hair that befals them, and breaks, cuts, and
takes the Hair quite off from the Head. I will add the Remedies presently,
whereby to take them away. It is healthful, in these Diseases, to apply bitter things
to kill these Worms called Tiners or Syrens: take the Flowers of Myrtle-Trees,
Broom-clary; boyl them in Vinegar, till the Vinegar be consumed, and then rub the
ends of the Hair continually with it. Also grinde bitter Lupines into fine Meal; boyl
them in Vinegar, and then rub the Hairs between your hands: for this will kill
these Sirens, and drive them away. But I used very hot Bread, newly taken forth of
the Oven, cut in the middle, and putting the Hair between them till they grow
•old.

Page 238
CHAP. VII.
How to make Hair Curl.
CUrl'd Hair seems to be no small Grace and Ornament to the Head: and women
that use painting do all they can to curl the Hair. If you will know how

To Curl the Hair,
Boyl Maidenhair with Smallage-Seed in Wine, adding a good quantity of Oyl: for
this wil make the Hair curl'd and thick. Pliny. Moreover, if you put the Roots
of Daffidils into Wine, and pour this often on the Head, being shaved, it will make
the Hair curl the more, as the same Author saith: or else, bruise the Root of Dwraf-elder,
with Oyl, and anoynt the Head therewith, and binde the Leaves of the same
upon the Head. Some say that Camels Dung will curl the Hair: or else, poun the
Ashes of a Rams Horn, with Oyl; and with that anoynt the Head often, being first
shaved. So also, will the Ashes of Chef-nuts or Hedge-hogs do, if you with Honey
smeer the Head with it.

CHAP. VIII.
Remedies to make the Eye brows black.
BEfore we leave off to speak of Hair, I shall shew how to make the Eye-brows
black, because women are as desirous of this as of the rest. The Greeks call
them Calliblephara, that is, Fair Eye-brows: wherefore the Antients used

To dye the Eye-brows
with black Earth like Bitume or Sea-Cole: being burnt, it is a very fine black: and
it is added to those Remedies that serve to dye the Eye-brows and the Hair
black: or else the Marrow of an Ox bone taken out of the Right-Leg before, and
beaten with Soot, is good to dye the Hair, and faulty Eye-brows, and the corners
of the Eyes. Also, Soot is tempered for this purpose, with the smoak of Paper,
and Oyl of Sesama, the smoot being wiped off of a new Vessel with a Feather.
The Kernels of Dates burnt in a new earthen Pot, and the Ashes washed, serve
instead of Spodium; and they are mingled with Eye-salves, and they make Calli∣blephara;
adding Spikenard thereunto. And if they be not well burnt, burn them
again. Also Rose-Leaves are fit burn for the same use. Also, you may amend your
Eye-brows thus; Take Labdanum, and beat it with Wine, and mingle Oyl of Myr∣tles
with it, and make a very thick Oyntment: or infuse in Oyl the black Leaves of
the Myrtle-Tree, with a double quantity of Galls bruised, and use that. I use this.
Galls are fried in Oyl, and they are ground with a little Salt-Ammoniac; and then
mingled with Vinegar, wherein the Pills of the Mulberry and Bramble have been
boyled: with these anoynt the Eyebrows, and let it abide on all night; then wash it
off with water. But if you would

Change the colour of childrens Eyes,
you shall do it thus: anoynt the fore part of their Heads with the Ashes of the
shells of Hazel-nuts and Oyl, it will make the white eyes of children black, if you
do it twice. There are many Experiments to make white and gray Eyes black, and
to alter the colours. But I shall let them pass, because those that want them will
not so lightly endanger their Eyes; nor do they answer the expectation, as some
have tried them.

Page 239
CHAP. IX.
How to make the Face white.
I Taught formerly in my Book of Plants, That with white cleer Silver-coloured
Herbs, Shel-Fish, and Stones, the Face might be made white, polished and Silver-coloured.
I shall now set down some examples, by which you may invent many
more. I shall first speak of Simples, then of Compounds: Simples that are white,
make the face white. The Lilly is a complete white colour: the bulbous tops of it,
like Onyons boyled in water, or the distilled water of them, will make the Faces
of Maides white, if they wash them therewith, morning and evening. With∣wind
bears a Flower like to the Lilly, without any smell; but within like Saffron:
it is onely white, and is as it were the Rudiments of Nature, when she goes about
to frame a Lilly. The distilled water from the flowers will wonderfully make the
Face whole. Also with the decoction of Ivory, one may make the Face like Ivory.
Melanthinm makes the Face beautiful. Dioscorides. But it shews its excellency
when it is thus prepared: Pown it, and sift out the finest of it, take the juice of Lem∣mons,
and let the Meal of Gith lie wet in it twenty four hours; take it out, and
let it dry: then break an Egg with the Shell, and mingle it with it: then dry it in the
shade, and sift it once more. In the morning, when the woman riseth out of her
bed, let her put this into a white Linen-clour, that is not too fine, and wet it with
water or spittle; and let her rub her Face with the clour, that the moysture alone,
and not the Meal, may come on the Face. If you will have

Your Face white,
it may be made as white as Milk many ways, and chiefly with these that follow: Let
Litharge of Silver, half an ounce, boyl in a Glazed Earthen Pot, with strong
Vinegar, until the thinner part be evaporated: set it up for use. Then, in another
Pot, let half a pound of clear water boyl: then mingle both these waters together,
and shake them; and it will become like Milk, and sink to the bottom: when it
is settled, pour it off; water being plentifully poured in: and leaving it a while to
settle, pour it off again, and pour on fresh; shake it, and leave it to settle a short
time, and so forbear. That which is settled, set in the Sun and when it is grown
stiff, as thick pap, make small balls of it, and lay them up. You may use these with
water to make the Face white. Or else powder Lytharge of Silver, eight ounces,
very fine: pour on the Powder, of the strongest Vinegar five pints: distil them, and
keep them for your use. Then take Allome de Plume, Salt Gemma, one drachm;
Frankincense, one ounce and a half; Camphire, two drachms; Oyl of Tartar, six
ounces; Rose-water, one pound: powder what must be powdered, and pour it in:
distil the water in Chymical Vessel, and set it up. When you would use them,
mingle a little of both waters in the palm of your hand, and it will be like Milk:
rub your Face with it, and it will be white. Or else take off the Pills of about
twenty Cirton Lemmons; infuse the Pills in one pound of the best Wine, and one
pint and an half of Rose-water, for six days: then add one ounce of white Lilly and
Mallow-Roots, and let them stay as many days: then add Rosin of Turpentine, four
ounces; white Mercury sublimate, two ounces; Boxan, half an ounce; ten whites
of Eggs made hard at the fire: and mingle all these together: let them stay one night.
The next day, put a cap upon the Vessel, and luting the joynts well, that nothing may
breath forth, let the water drop into a Vessel to receive it: set it aside for use. I
me this, that is easie to make, and doth the business completely: Take the white
of an Egg, and stir it so long with an Iron, that it froth well: let it stand to turn to
water: then take half an ounce of the best Honey, and beat with that water, and
•ingle them until they unite: add to them the quantity of two Corns of Wheat,
Mercury sublimate, finely powdered; when you go to bed, take some of the water
in the palm of your hand, and wash your Face; and so let it dry in, that it may not
slick to the Linen: in the morning, wash it off with Fountain-water, and you shall
have your Face cleer and white.

Page 240
CHAP. X.
How women shall make their Faces very clean to receive the Colour.
BEfore any thing be used to make the Face beautiful, it must be made very clean
and fit to receive it: for oft-times women have excellent Waters and Re∣medies
brought them, but they have no operation: wherefore the matter is, that they
must first prepare their Face. This is the best

Preparation of the Face.
Bind Barley-Meal-Bran in a Linen-cloth, and let it down into a Pot full of water, and
let it boyl till a third part be remaining, and press out the juice: with this decoction
wash your face, and let it dry: then bruise Myrrh, and mingle it with the white of an
Egg, and burn it on hot Fire-sticks, or red hot Tiles, and receive the fume by a tunnel:
let the narrow part of it be toward the Face, and the broad to the fire: cover the head
with a Napkin that the smoak flie not away; and when you have received sufficient of
the smoak, rub your Face with a Linen-cloth: then use your Remedy to anoynt your
Face. I shall shew you

One that is stronger.
When the skin must be cleansed or made white, you must cleanse some parts of your
Face from skins that will not let your painting Oyntment stick. Powder an ounce
of Sublimate very finely: put it into a Pot that is glazed, and cast into it fix whites
of Eggs, so beaten, that they are turned into water: then boyl them on hot Embers,
till they grow thick: put them into a Linnen-cloth that is loosly weaved, and press
the water out of them with your hands, and wash your Face with it: then mingle Ho∣ney,
whites of Eggs, and the aforesaid water together, equal parts: put some in your
palm, and rub the place you would make white, with the palms of your hands: then
boyl spelt; and when it is boyl'd, take the fume of it by a tunnel: then rub your Face
with a course Linnen-cloth. Others wash their Face with water, wherein fine flour
is boyled.

CHAP. XI.
How the Face may be made very soft.
THe next Beauty of the Face and Hands, is Tenderness, which is procured by fat
things; and chiefly by Milk, and principally of Asses: for it takes off wrinkle▪
and makes the skin white and soft. And therefore, it was not for nothing, that Poppaea
Sabina, Nero's wife, had always five hundred Asses with her: and in a Bath with a
•ear, she soaked all her body with that Milk. Wherefore if you would have

Tour Face made soft and white,
Steep crums of Bread in Whey or in Milk; then press it out, and with that water wash
your Face; for it will wonderfully white your Face, and make the skin fair. Or,
take six Glasses of Milk, steep crumbs of Bread in it five hours: take ten Lem∣mons,
make clean the Pills, and cut the Body of them into thin slices: then shake
ten whites of Eggs; bruise an ounce of Camphire, Allom Sauharinum, two ounces;
mingle them all, and distil them, and set it in a glazed Vessel close covered, in the
Sun; and then set it up for your use. Here is one stronger

For the same purpose.
Boyl two Calfs Feet in water; first make them clean: then boyl the water till half be
consumed; put it in Rice one pound, and boyl it well: let crums of Bread steep
in Asses Milk or Goats Milk, with ten whites of Eggs bruised with their Shells: di∣stil
all at a gentle fire; add to the water a little Camphire and Borax: put into a glazed
vessel, two yong naked Pigeons, with their guts taken forth, and put in as much Milk
as will cover them; and add one ounce of Borax; Turpentine, three ounces; Ca•∣phire,
one ounce; five whites of Eggs: put on the cover, and distil them; for it is fat
things that make the Face soft. I shall say more, when I come to speak of making the
hands white and soft: the reason is the same for both.

Page 241
CHAP. XII.
How to make the face clear and shining like silver.
THe face is not onely made clear, but white as silver, by those things that I said
were white as silver; yet not exactly as silver, but they shine as clear as silver.
There is an herb commonly called Argentaria, or Argentina, or wilde Tansey, whose
leaves are green above, but on the backside they shine of a silver colour: the distil∣led
water of it is drank by women against spots in their faces, and to make them
white as silver. The snails that are found in moist places, and leave behind them, as
they creep, a silver cord (Dioscorides saith, will cure the spots in the face) women
much desire them: for they put them in a still and draw out water from them, that
polisheth the skin exceedingly, and makes it contract a silver gloss. And the sea∣shell-fish,
like an ear, whose shell is of a silver colour within, or pearl colour, and ma∣ny
kinds of shells; that being steeped in vinegar, will grow pure, casting off the out∣ward
crust; as the Oystershel doth that brings forth pearl. There are also shells,
we call the Mothers of pearl, that inwardly are shining, and of a silver colour,
like pearls: all which women use for their art of beautifying themselves; for they
make the face smooth, and to shine as white as silver. But pearls do it best of all
things, when they are dissolved in sharp juyces, and soaked in rotten dung, till they
send forth a clear oyl, that is the best thing to beautifie the face, as I shall shew else∣where.
For the same use, is a glass-stone used, that shines like silver. But no better wa∣ter
is prepared, then from Talk, or Quick-silver, as I shall shew in that which follows.

CHAP. XIII.
How to dissolve Talk for to beautifie women.
THough I shall speak in a work, on purpose, more at large, how Talk may be dis∣solved
into water or oyl; We shall here onely set down, how it may be fitted
for womens use. Of all such ways as are used, I shall set forth such as I have tried to
be good. Beat Talk in a mortar of metal; then put it into a pot of the strongest clay,
and cover it, and bind it in with strong iron wyer; lute it well all cover, and stop the
joynts that nothing breathe out; and set it in the Sun to dry. Then put this stone
in an oven, that flames strongly, or in some other place, where the fire is most vehe∣ment.
When the fire of the oven is out, take it forth and break the vessel; and
if it be well calcined, it is enough: Otherwise do the same again, until the calx of
it be as white as it ought to be. When the calcined body of it, is white, as it must be▪
grind it on a porphyry-stone, and put it into a little bag, or upon a marble in a very
moist place, or deep well, or cistern; and let it lie there long, and with much moi∣sture
it will drop forth at last: It will more easily and perfectly dissolve into water,
if it were burnt long enough, and turned into a calx. For the parts being turn'd to
lime, and made exceeding dry by force of fire, they attract moisture. It is also
done

Another way
that is good. Calcine the Talk, and put it in an earthen pot, and set it in the hot∣test
part of a potters oven, to stay there six days. When the Talk is thus turn'd to
a calx, put it into a gourd-glass, which you shall first make clean, and make a hole
at the bottom of it: and setting a vessel under it, you shall have the moisture of it
drop forth, and the calx will resolve into water: put this into a glass vial, and let
the water evaporate in Bal•eo: take the sediment out for your use. I use also

Another way:
Put snails in an earthen vessel, in the open air, that they may be kept hungry three
days, and pine for want of meat, and be purged; then take a silver Loadstone, or
Talk, most finely powdred, mingle it with the white of an egge, and make an oint∣ment;
anoint the earthen vessel with it, and put the snails into it, for they will eat
up all the Talk: When they have eaten all, and voided their excrements, bruise
Page 242

the snails with their shells; and putting them into a retott, draw out their
moisture with a gentle fire; the humour that drops forth, will exceedingly
adorn the face.

CHAP. XIV.
The preparation of Sublimate.
I Said, that there was nothing better than quick-silver for womens paints, and to
cleanse their faces, and make them shine. Wherefore▪ I shall set down many ways to
Prepare it, that you may have the use of it to your desire. Take one ounce and half
of pure quick-silver, not falsified with lead: for if there be lead mingled with it, all
your labour is lost. How it must be purged and known, I taught elsewhere. Min∣gle
this with half a pound of Mercury sublimate, and put it into a marble mortar,
and with a new wooden pestle, stir it well, turning it round about. First, it will
be black, in six hours it will grow white, if you cease not to beat it. Then adde
one ounce and half of white salt, always turning it about with the p•stle; for the
more you grind it, the perfecter it will be. When it is very well ground, it must
be washt. Sprinkle boiling clear water into the mortar, and stir it; and then stay
a while, until the muddy part may sink down, and the filth that was lighter, and
swims on the top: laying the vessel on one side, pour out the water gently, and pour
in fresh; do this five or six times in the same manner, until the pure and onely
powder remain without dregs: make little cakes of it, and dry it in the sun. Some
whilst they bruise it, sprinkle water on, lest the powder by grinding should be made
so small, that it should fly away into the air. The chief business is to purge it, and
grind it well, that it be not troubled when it is strain'd forth: that which is gone to
the bottom, and so part of it be lost; some open a hole in the belly of a pot, that
when it is settled, the hole being opened, the water with the dregs may run forth.
Others to sublimate, adde a third part of quick-silver, and grind it in a wooden mor∣tar;
and in the ••an while they chew four grains of mastick in their mouths, and
they spit the clammy spittle out of their mouths into the mortar, until it be white, as
I said: then they boil it in one pound of the distilled water, of Bryony-root, till it
be consumed: then they put a linnen cloth, to receive it at the mouth of the vessel,
and so they strain it forth, and set it in the sun: they make •roches of it with gum
Traganth; others to sublimate, add a sixth part of quick-silver, bruising it round about:
then they adde camphir, borax, and ceruss, half as much, and mingle all together.
The principal matter is, it is the best way to sprinkle it with water whilst you grind
it, lest by grinding it, the powder become so light, that it fly away: also, when the
water is poured on, all the filth will come on the top, and more easily be poured off:
then when the sublimate is washed, it is left to settle down: then again pouring off
the former water, they pour on fresh, and they wash it oft, till they see it is enough,
and no black swims on the top. But there is no better, as we said, than

Water of quick-silver.
But some will not away with quick-silver, by reason of the hurt it commonly doth to
the teeth: but they use other water. Yet there is no better water, then that which
is extracted from quick-silver; it is so clear and transparent, and the face anointed
with it, shines like silver: it draws the skin handsome, and makes it soft by and by;
and I never saw a better: the manner was shewed before.

CHAP. XV.
How white-lead is prepared for the face.
BEcause sublimate is so dangerous, there is a private way to do it with ceruss,
but not the usual way, that women may have their desire, without hurting their
skin or their teeth. I am now come to the business of ceruss. Take of swines grease
Page 243

well washed and cleansed in common water, at least ten times: put it in to a lye of
sweet water, and after fifteen days, into a pot, or earthen vessel, with a broad mouth;
pouring in the sharpest vinegar, put in your swines grease, that the vinegar may swim
three fingers above it: then fasten a plate of lead on the mouth of the pot, well lu∣ting
the joynts with linnen cloths, that the vinegar may not evaporate. Every fif∣teen
days take off the cover, and see how it is, if the lead be dissolved, and scrape the
cover of all that hangs upon it, and put in the cover; anoint it all about, and let it stand
so long, till all the rest be performed, as I said before, and the whole lead be turned
to ceruss. Ceruss must be washt thus: Pour water into a vessel, put the ceruss into
it; stir it up and down, that what dregs there is may swim on the top: the ceruss
is heavy, and will sink to the bottom: Pour forth what swims above in the vessel,
and pour on fresh water; and do this so often, until the pure ceruss be found with∣out
dregs: dry it, and lay it up. If you will do it

Another way,
Take two handfuls of cleansed barley, let it steep all night in fair water; then dry it
on a linnen cloth, spread abroad in the sun. When it is dried, poun it in a marble
mortar; when it is bruised, put it into a glazed vessel, which is full of vinegar, and
cast upon this four whole eggs, with their shells: then stop the vessel with a plate of
lead, that is arched, or not very even, and let there be no place that gives vent. Set
it half in the sand, and let it stand in the open sun; after ten days, take off the cover∣ing
of the vessel, that you stopt it with; strike down the ceruss that is in it with a
feather, and scrape it off: then take the eggs out, and put in new, and do as you
did; and after so many days scrape it off, until the whole plate be consumed. Let
down the ceruss you have stricken off, into a vessel full of water, bound up in a linnen
cloth that is clean, and moderately fine; and stir it in the water, carrying it about here
and there, until the muddy part of it run forth, and the sediment remain in the cloth:
let the water settle, and strain it, and pour it forth, changing the water so long, until
no dregs remain. Lastly, strain forth the water, and lay up the powder when it is dry.
This alone with fountain water, will make the face white, mingled with the white of
an egge, and will make it shine. Some

Another way
wash ceruss, and make it pure. Mingle hards of hemp, with whites of eggs well
stirr'd: role up the ceruss in the middle of it: and wrapping a cloth about it, boil it
one hour in a new earthen pot, putting water to it: as it boils, take off the skum:
then take it from the fire; and if any Lead be sunk down, cast it forth: afterwards
make Troches of it with Gum-Traganth, that it may keep the better. Some bid boyl
in water of white Lillies, Ceruss very finely powdered, tied up in a skin, and fast∣ned
in a Linen-cloth over it to the handle of the Vessel. The manner of boyling is
the same as I first shewed. Then pour it forth into an earthen dish, and strain it gently
from all its moysture: dry it fifteen days in the Sun, and keep it.

CHAP. XVI.
The best Sopes for women.
I Shewed in particulars how you might procure whiteness, lustre, and softness to
the Face: now shall I speak of waters made of these, that will at the same time
make, if it be first rub'd clean,

The Face white, clear, ruddy and soft.
These I speak of can do it, being composed together, and distilled. Take Ceruss
ready washed, one ounce; half as much Mercury sublimate; Gum-Traganth as much;
Tartar, one ounce: powder all these, and put them into a young Pigeon washed
and unbowelled, and sow them in: put it into a new Earthen Pot full of water,
distilled by a Retort: boyl it till the flesh part from the bones; then distil it: when
Page 244

you go to bed, wash you Face; and in the morning wash it with Fountain-water:
so you shall have it white, clear, soft, and well-coloured. Also you may do it

Another way.
Bruise three pound of Bean-Cods, the shells; add two pounds of Honey, and one
of Rosin of Turpentine: put them into a Vessel, and close it that nothing vent
forth; and let it ferment eight days in dung: then add four pound of Asses milk:
and in the Vessel draw forth Oyl at the fire; use this water morning and evening.
If you will have

Another way,
do it thus. Distil all these severally; Elder-flowers, and Flowers of wilde Roses,
Broom, Honey-sn•kles, Solomons-seal, and Briony-Roots, sowre Grapes, and Sarco∣colla:
mingle equal parts of each, or distil them again, and set them in the Sun. This
will be the best. I shall shew

Another for the same.
Pull of a Hens Feathers without water, take out her Entrals, cut her in pieces, let
infuse one night in white-Wine: in the morning wash her in it, and press her be∣tween
your hands that no Wine remain; and then adding two Cups of white-Wine,
distil her in a Chymical Vessel: then distil the Flowers of Bindeweed, Ci∣trons,
Oranges together; and keep this water by it self. Then open Lemmons, and
press out the juice. And, also take water of Bean-flowers; then distil six cups of
Asse• milk, and as many of Cows-milk. You shall do the same with water of Gourds,
and of Milk well boyled, and of water of Bean-flowers, and of Rosin of Turpen∣tine.
Then provide a glazed Vessel, put into it, Camphire two drachms, four
ounces of Ceruss finely powdered: mingle them with the aforesaid waters, and set
it in a soft Vessel in the open Air fifteen days and nights. When you would use it,
wet a Linen-rag in it, and wash your Face.

CHAP. XVII.
How to make the Face Rose-coloured.
I Have made the Face white, now I will make it red, that the wise may be made
wholly Beautiful for her husband. And first,

To make a pale Face purple-coloured.
And to adorn one that wants colour, use this Remedy. Take Vinegar twice di∣stilled,
and cast into it the raspings of red Sanders, as much as you please: boyl it
at a gentle fire, adding a little Allom, and you shall have a red colour most perfect
to dye the Face. If you would have it sweet-smelling, add a little Musk, Civet,
Cloves, or any Spices. Now

Another,
Take Flowers of Clove-Gilliflowers, bruise the ends of the sprigs, and draw forth
the juice; if they be so ripe that they are black, add juice of Lemmons, that they may
shine with a more clear red. With this paint your Face, and you shall have a plea∣sant
red colour without any stinking smell; or wet the sprigs of Clove-gilliflowers
in juice of Lemmons, and set them in the Sun. Take away the old, and put in fresh,
until it be as red as you would have it: let the juice dry, and the color will be most glo∣rious.
But I draw a quintessence from Clovegill flowers, Roses, Flower-gentle, with
Spirit of Wine; then I add Allom, and the juice of a Citron, and I made an excellent
colour to beautifie the Face. Take

Another.
If you add to the best Wine one tenth part of Honey, and one ounce of Frankinsence•
Page 245

and then distil it, and steep in it the raspings of red Saunders until it is coloured to
your minde; and then wash your Face with it: it will make your Face white and
well-coloured. Also,

A Fucus that cannot be detected:
And it is so cunningly made, that it will delude all men; for a cleer water makes
the Cheeks purple-coloured, and it will last long; and the cleerer the part will be,
the more your wash it with it, and rub it with a cloth of Woolen. You shall draw
out a water from the Seeds of Cardamom, (which the Apothecaries call Grains of
Paradise) Cubebs, Indian Cloves, raspings of Brasil and Spirit of Wine distilled:
when they have been infused some time, draw forth the water with a gentle fire,
or corrupt Dung, and wet your Face often with this. There are also Experi∣ments

To colour the Body.
If you boyl Nettles in water, and wash your Body with it, it will make it red-co∣lored,
if you continue it long. If you distil Straw-berries, and wash your self with the
water, you shall make your Face red as a Rose. But the Ancients dyed their bo∣dies
of divers colours; partly, for ornament; partly, for terrour: as Caesar writes
of the Britans going to war; for they painted themselves with wood. Theophrastus
calls it Isatis, and we call it Guado. The Grecian-women painted themselves
with wood, as Zenophon writes. And in our days the West-Indians crush out in
Harvest-time a blood-red juice from the Roots of wilde Bugloss: which the wo∣men
know well enough, whereby they cover their pale colour with a pleasant red:
and so change their over-white colour with this Experiment.

CHAP. XVIII.
To wash away the over-much redness of the Face.
I Have shewed you how to colour the Face, now I shall shew how to uncolour
it: when the Face is too red, and women that are very red desire this. The
way is:

To wash away the too-much redness of the Face,
Take four ounces of Peach-Kernels, and Gourd-Seed two ounces; pown them, and
crush them out strongly, that you may draw forth an oyly Liquor: with this, morning
and evening, anoynt the red Carbuncles of your face, and by degrees they will vanish
and be gone.

Another.
Take Purple-Violets, Egg-shells, Saunders Camphire mingled with water: set the
water in the open Air, and wash the redness therewith. Also, I know that the di∣stilled
water of white Lillies will take away the redness.

CHAP. XIX.
How to make a Sun-burnt Face white.
WHen women travel in the open Air, and take journeys in Summer, the Sun in
one day will burn them so black, that it is hard to take it off. I found out this

Experiment.
Beat about ten whites of Eggs till they come to water: put them in a glazed
Vessel, adding one ounce of Sugar-Candy to them: and when you go to bed, a∣noynt
your Face, and in the morning wash it off with Foutain-water. Pliny also
saith thus.
Page 246

Another.
If the Face be smeered with the white of an Egg, it will not be Sun-burnt. With
us, women that have to do in the Sun, to defend their Faces from the heat of it, that
they may not be black, they defend it with the white of an Egg beaten with a little
Starch, and mingled; and when the Voyage is done, they wash off this covering with
Barley-water. Some do it

Another way:
rubbing their foul Skin with Melon-Rindes; and so they easily rub off Sun-burnings,
and all other spots outwardly on the Skin. The Seed also bruised and rubbed on,
will do it better. Also, a Liquor found in little bladders of the Elm-Tree, when
the Buds first come forth, makes the Face clear and shining, and takes away Sun-burnings.

CHAP. XX.
How Spots may be taken from the Face.
OFt-times fair women are disgraced by spots in their Faces; but the Remedy
for it, is this: to use Abstergents and Detergents in whiting of their Faces.
Therefore,

To take off spots from the Face,
anoynt the Face with Oyl of Tartar, and let it dry on, and wash it not at all: do
this for ten days: then wash it with a Lixivium, and you shall see the spots no more.
If the part be not yet clean enough, do it once more. If this please you not, take

Another.
Put Quick-Lime into hot water; mingle them, and stir them for ten days. After
two days, pour forth the clear water into a Brazen Vessel: then take Salt-Ammoniac
between your Finger-tops, and rub it so long at the bottom of the Vessel, until
you see the water become of a blew-colour; and the more you rub it, the better
colour it will have, and it will turn into a Skie-colour or Purple-colour, very pleasant
to behold. Wet Linen-cloths in this water, and lay them on the spots, till they be
dry; and wet them again, till 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
Page 247

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 •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 peo∣ple
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 Extra∣ction
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.

Page 248
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 Tet∣ters
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,
Page 249

the Dregs of Linseed-Oyl is good: or Lees of Oyl of Olives; putting unto it a
little Gum-Arabick, Traganth, Mastick and Champhire: it is good also for flagging
Brests.

For a wrinkled Face.
When Eggs are boyled hard in water, cut them in the middle, fill the holes where
the yelks were, with Powder of Myrrh: then cover one with the other half, and
binde them with a Thread, that they come not asunder: then take a glazed earthen
Vessel, with a broad mouth, and lay sticks across it, that the Eggs may lie upon them
hanging neer the bottom: let the cleft of the Eggs hang toward the bottom: put
the earthen Vessel into a chest of Osiers, and set it in a Well; let it hang one foot
from the water; by the moysture whereof, the Myrrh will dissolve into Oyl of
water: anoynt your Face with it. The juice of the green Canes of the Pine-Tree,
but it is weaker then the distilled water, being applied to the Face, with
a Linnen-cloth wet therein, will take away all wrinkles from the Face excellently
well. You have

Another.
Steep Kidney-Beans in Malmsey, one day; then take away the black whence they
sprout, and distil them with Lemmons and Honey. Take a quantity of old Cow-Beef,
and distil that also; mingle the waters, and set them in the open Air, in a
Glass-Vessel in the Sun for fifteen days, and wash your Face morning and evening
therewith.

Another.
Crop in the morning the Flowers of Mullens, and steep them in Greek-Wine, with
the Roots of Solomons-Seal: then receive the water distilled in Glass-stills: and if
a woman, when she riseth out of her bed, wash her face with this, she will be very
fair; and if you would take off the wrinkles with the same water, add distilled
water of Lemmons thereunto, and it will make you glad to see the effect. But
this is the best

Water to whiten, plain, and beautifie the Face.
Take equal parts of the Root of Solomons Seal, greater Dragons and lesser, Spara∣grass,
Bryony, and white Lillies, as much as you please: bruise them a little, and cast
them into an earthen pot with a large mouth; let it be glazed: pour on Greek
Wine that may cover all: add to these juice of Lemmons a fourth part, ten new
Eggs bruised with their shells, and Land-Snails without shells; let them infuse a while:
then distil them at a gentle fire, and keep the first water a part: then augment the
fire, and keep the second: that will be stronger: for this wipes all spots and red pim∣ples
from the Face. Some mingle with this, water of Bean-Flowers, Elder, Pop∣py,
Honey-Suckles, and the like; so do they take away all wrinkles and spots coming
from the Sun, and all the rest. But you may thus take off

The wrinkles of the Belly after child-birth.
Untipe Services are long boyled in water: with these mingle whites of Eggs, and
water wherein Gum-Arabick is dissolved: wet a Linen-cloth in such water,
and lay on the Belly; or mingle the Powders of Harts Horn burnt, the Stone
Amiantus, Salt-Ammoniac, Myrrh, Frankincense, Mastick, with Honey; and it
takes away all wrinkles.

CHAP. XXV.
Of Dentifrices.
DEntifrices are used amongst things to beautifie women: for there is nothing held
more ugly then for a woman to laugh or speak, and thereby to shew their
Page 250

rugged, rusty, and spotted Teeth: for they all almost, by using Mercury sublimate,
have their Teeth black or yellow: and because they stand in the Sun when they
would make their Hair yellow, their Teeth are hurt thereby, and grow loose, ready
to fall out; and do oft-times. I shall shew first how to make black Teeth white
as Pearls; then how to make flesh grow about such as are weak and bare of Gums,
and to make them strong. But of old were made

Dentifrices
of the shells of Purples, and others like trumpets burnt. The Arabian-stone it is like
the spotted Ivory; burned, it is good for Dentifrices. Also, of Pumex-Stone very
profitable Dentifrices were made. Pliny. So with the Powder of Ivory rubbed on,
the Teeth were made as white as Ivory. Ovid.

That Teeth may not grow black forborn,
With Fountain-water wash them every morn.
I shall add

Another
that I use. The Crums of Barley-Bread burnt with Salt sprinkled on, and Honey,
will not onely make the Teeth white, but makes the Breath sweet. Also, with red
Coral, Cuttle bone, Harts Horn, and such-like, whereof every one will well polish
and wipe the Teeth clean: so doth also the Grains of Cochinele. Also, there is
made a water of Allom and Salt distilled, that whiteneth the Teeth exceedingly, and
confirms them; but the Oyl of Sulphur doth it best: for it smooths them and wipes
away all spots: and if any one think it is too strong, it may be qualified with the
water of Myrtle flowers. Make a Tooth-scraper after the fashion of a Tooth,
and pour on Oyl, and rub the spots therewith: but he careful it touch not the Gums,
for it will whiten and burn them: rub so long till the spots be gone, and they be very
white. I have now described the most perfect Remedy.

CHAP. XXVI.
To hinder the brests from augmenting.
AMongst the Ornaments of women, this is the chief, to have after Child-bear∣ing,
round, small, solid, and not flagging or wrinkled Brests. So we may

Hinder the augmenting of the Brests,
if we will. Bruise Hemlock, and lay a Cataplasm thereof with Vinegar to womens
Brests, and it will stay them that they shall not increase; especially, in Virgins: yet
this will hinder milk, when it should be seasonable. But if you will

Curb soft and loose Brests,
Powder white Earth, the white of an Egg, sowre Galls, Mastick, Frankincense;
and mingle them in hot Vinegar, and smeer the Brests therewith: let it stay on all
night. If it do not effect it, do the same again. The Stones of Medlars are good
for this also; unripe Services, Sloes, Acacia, Pomegranate Pills, Balanstia, unripe
Pine-nuts, Wilde Pears, and Plantain; if they all boil in Vinegar, and be laid to
the Brests, or some of them. The Antients commended for this purpose a Whet∣stone
of Cypress, that we sharpen Iron upon, to restrain Virgins Brests, and not let
them grow big. Dioscorides. But Galen saith, That it not onely stops the encrease
of the Brests, but will hinder childrens Testicles from growing: but I use the juice of
Ladies Mantle from the Leaves of it, and I wet Linen in it, and lay it on the Brests,
and renew it; for it will not onely hinder Virgins Brests from increasing, but will
fallen the loose Brests of Matrons, and make them firm. It is more effectual to
use the decoction of the Herb; and if you joyn any of the forementioned thing•
Page 251

therewith, as Hypocistis, Pills of Pomegranates, and the like. So water distilled
from green Pine-Apples, will draw in loose Brests, and make them like the round,
hard, solid Brests of Virgins.

CHAP. XXVII.
How the Hand may be made white.
THe Hands must not be forgotten, but we must make them white also, smooth,
and soft, that are Ornaments of the Hands to be desired. But how whiteness
and smoothness may be obtained, I have shewed already; softness remains, which is
onely given to fat Hands.

To make the Hands as white as Milk.
Take things that are Milk-White, as Almonds, Pine-Kernels, Melon and Gourd-Seeds,
and the like. Therefore bruise bitter Almonds, Pine-Kernels, and Crums
of Bread: then make Cakes of them with Barley-water, wherein Gum Traganth
hath been soaked. You may use this for Sope, when you wash your Hands; for
they scowre them, and make them white. I

For the same,
use oft-times bitter Almonds, half a pound: put them in hot water to blanch them:
then beat them in a Marble-Morter. Afterwards, take the lesser Dragons, two
ounces; Deers Suet and Honey, of each as much: mingle them all in an earthen
Pot with a large mouth: set them at the fire, and let them be stirred gently with a
wooden-stick that they mingle well: put it up in Boxes for your use. If you will have

Your hands white,
wash fresh Butter nine times in sweet water, and last of all, in sweet-sented Rose-water,
to take off the ill smell; and that it may look as white as Snow, then
mingle white wax with it, and a good quantity of Oyl of sweet Almonds. Then
wash your gloves in Greek-Wine as the manner is, and smeer on the foresaid mix∣ture:
put on these when you go to bed, that all night they may grow soft by the
help of fat things. Then take Peach-Kernels, with the skins picked off, Seeds of
Gourds, Melons, white Poppy, Barley-meal, of each one ounce and half; the juice
of two Lemmons, rosted in the Embers: mingle these with as much Honey as will
make them thick as an Oyntment: and to make them smell well, you may add a
little Musk or Civet, when you go to bed; but in the morning wash them with
Fountain-water; and for Sope, use the Lees of Oyl of Nuts well pressed forth, or
Lees of Oyl-Olive. Others use this Liniment onely. Press the Cream out of
Lemmon-Seeds; with two ounces of it, mingle one ounce of Oyl of Tartar, and
as much Oyl of Almonds. When at night you go to bed, wash your Hands in
Fountain-water; dry them, and anoynt them with this Liniment, and put on your
Gloves. Take

Another.
For one weeks-time, infuse the Marrow of Ox-bones in cold water; but change
the water four or five times a day; and for every pound of Marrow, take six excel∣lent
Apples, and cut them in the middle, and cast forth the Seeds and Core: then
beat them small in a Marble-Morter, and put them into a new Morter, that they may
smell the sweeter: adding a few Cloves, Cinnamon, Spikenard; let them boyl in
Rose-water. When they are all very soft, take them forth and strain them, and again
add a sharp Lixivium, and let them boyl at a gentle fire, until all the water be washed.
Then set them up in a Glass-Vessel for your use, or make them into morsels. That
which follows is good

For the same.
Make a hole in a Lemmon, and put into it Sugar-Candy and Butter, and cover it
Page 252

with the Cover: wet Hards of Hemp, and wrap it up in, and boyl it in hot Embers,
and that it grow soft by rosting: when you go to Bed, anoynt your hands with it, and
put on your Gloves.

CHAP. XXVIII.
How to correct the ill sent of the Arm-pits.
THe stink of the Arm-holes makes some women very hateful; especially, those
that are sat and fleshy. To cure this, we may use such kinde of Experiments.
The Ancients against the stink of the Arm-pits, used liquid Allome with Myrrh to
anoynt them: or the Secrets and Arm-holes were strewed with the dry Leaves of
Myttles in powder. The Roots of Artichoaks smeered on, doth not onely cure the
ill sent of the Arm-pits, but of the whole Body also. But Zenocrates promiseth by
Experiment, That the faultiness of the Arm-pits will pass forth by urine; if you
take one ounce of the pith of the Root boyled in three Lemina's of Muskadel to
thirds; and after bathing, fasting, or after meat, drink a cup thereof. But I am con∣tent
with this. I dissolve Allome in waters, and I wash the Feet and Arm-pits with
it, and let them dry: so in some days we shall correct the strong smell of those parts.
But it will be done more effectually thus. Pown Lytharge of Gold or Silver, and
boyl it in Vinegar; and if you wash those parts well with it, you shall keep them a
long time sweet: and it is a Remedy, that there is none better.

CHAP. XXIX.
How the Matrix ovar-widened in Child-birth, may be made narrower.
TRotula saith, we may honestly speak of this, because Conception is sometimes
hindred by it, if the Matrix be too open; and therefore it is fit to lend help for
such an impedient. For some women have it stand wide-open by reason of their
hard labour in Child-birth; and if their Husbands be not content with it, that the
men may not abhor the women, it is thus remedied▪ Take Dragons-Blood, Bole-Armeniac,
Pomegranate-shells, white of an Egg, Mastick, Galls, of each one ounce:
powder them, and make them all up with hot water. Put some of this Confection
into the hole that goes into the Matrix. Or, Galls, Sumach, Plantain, great Com∣frey,
Allome, Chamaelaea: take equal parts of them all, and boyl them in Rain-water,
and foment the Privities. Or, beat sowre Galls very finely: mingle a little
of the Powder of Cloves with them. Let them boyl in sharp red Wine: wet a
woollen cloth in it, and apply to the part. Or thus may you restrain that part of
common whores, with Galls, Gums, whites of Eggs, Dragons Blood, Acacia, Plan∣tain,
Hypocistis, Balanstia, Mastick, Cypress-nuts, Grape-skins, Akorn-cups. Or,
in that hollow part where the Glans breaks forth; and gaping, shews the Nucleus,
with Mastick and Terra Lemnia. If all these be boyled in red Wine or Vinegar, and
the Matrix be often wet therewith, it will come very close, and be much straighter.
Or else powder all these, and cast them in through a Reed, or make a fume under
them Great Comfrey will be excellent for this purpose: for flesh boyl'd with it,
will grow together. And the other also, if it be boyl'd, will very well glew together
fresh Wounds. The Decoction of Ladies Mantle, or the juice, or distilled water of
it, cast into the Matrix, will so contract it, that Whores can scarce be known from
Maids: or, if they sit in the Decoction of it; especially, if we mingle other astrin∣gent
things with it, and wet the Secrets therewith. The distilled water of Starwort,
being often injected into the Matrix, will make one scarce know which is corrupted,
and which is not. But if you will have.

A woman deflowred made a virgin again,
Make little Pills thus: Of burnt Allome, Mastick, with a little Vitriol and Orpi∣ment:
make them into very fine Powder, that you can scarce feel them: when you
Page 253

have made them Pills with Rain-water, press them close with your fingers; and let
them dry, being pressed thin, and lay them on the Mouth of the Matrix, where it
was first broken open: change it every six hours, always fomenting the place with
Rain or Cistern-water, and that for twenty four hours, and it will here and there
make little Bladders; which being touched, will bleed much blood, that she can
hardly be known from a Maid. Midwives that take care of this, do it another way.
They contract the place with the Decoction of the forementioned things, then they
set a Leech fast on upon the place, and so they make a crusty matter or scab; which
being rub'd will bleed. Others when they have straightned the part, inject the dried
Blood of a Hare or Pigeon; which being moistned by the moysture of the Matrix,
shews like live fresh Blood. I found out this noble way: I powder Litharge very fine∣ly,
and boyl it in Vinegar, till the Vinegar be thick; I strain out that, and put in more,
till that be coloured also: then I exhale the Vinegar at an easie fire, and resolve it into
smoak.

CHAP. XXX.
Some sports against women.
THus far I have shewed how to beautifie women, now I shall attempt some things
against their decking of themselves, and make some merriment after those things
that I seriously discovered to adorn them.

To make a painted Face look pale.
If you would know a painted Face, do thus: Chew Saffron between you Teeth, and
stand neer to a woman with your mouth: when you talk with her, your breath will
foul her Face, and make it yellowish; but if she be not painted, the natural colour will
continue. Or burn Brimstone in the room where she is: for if there be Ceruss or Mer∣cury
sublimate on her Face, the smoak will make her brown, or black. The painted
Women that walk at Puteoli, in the Mountains of Phlegra, are made so black, as
Silver-money is, shut up in bags. We may also know thus,

Whether she be painted with red.
Chew Grains of Cummin, or a Clove of Garlick, and speak close by her; if it be
natural, it will remain; but counterfeit with Ceruss or Quick-silver, it presently de∣cays.

To make a woman full of red pimples.
Of a Stellio is made an ill Medicament: for when he is dead in Wine, all the Faces
of those that drink of it, will be red-spotted Wherefore, they that would disfigure
Whores, kill him in an Oyntment. The Remedy is, the yelk of an Egg, Honey
and Glass. Pliny.

To make the Face green.
Avicenna saith, That the Decoction of Chamaeleon, put into a bath, will make him
green-coloured that stays long in that bath; and then by degrees he will recover
his former colour.

To make the Hair fall off the Head and Beard.
Touch any part of mans body with a matter white as milk, that the Salamander
vomits up out of its mouth, and the Hairs will fall off; and what is touched is
changed into the Leprosie. Pliny.

Page 254
THE TENTH BOOK OF Natural Magick: Of Distillation.
THE PROEME.
NOw I am come to the Arts, and I shall begin from Distillation, an Invention of later
times, a wonderful thing, to be praised beyond the power of man; not that which the
vulgar and unskilful men use: for they do but corrupt and destroy what is good: but that
which is done by skilful Artists. This admirable Art, teacheth how to make Spirits, and
sublime gross Bodies; and how to condense, and make Spirits become gross Bodies: and to
draw forth of Plants, Minerals, Stones and Jewels, the Strength of them, that are in∣volved
and overwhelmed with great bulk, lying hid, as it were, in their Chests: and to
make them more pure, and thin, and more noble, as not being content with their common
condition, and to lift them up as high as Heaven. We can by Chymical Instruments, search
out the Vertues of Plants, and better then the Ancients could do by tasting them. What
therefore could be thought on that is greater? It is Natures part to produce things, and
give them faculties; but Art may ennoble them when they are produced, and give them
many several qualities. Let one that loves Learning, and to search Natures Secrets,
enter upon this: for a dull Fellow will never attain to this Art of Distilling. First, we shall
extract Waters and Oyls: then, the Essences, Tinctures, Elixirs, Salts, and such-like: then
we shall shew how to resolve mix'd Bodies into the Elements, and make them all more pure, to
separate their divers and contrary qualities, and draw them forth, that we may use them at
pleasure: and other things, that will never repent us to know and do.

CHAP. I.
What Distillation is, and of how many sorts.
WHether the Art of Distillation were known to the Learned
Ancients, or no, I will not undertake to dispute; yet there
is another kinde of Art to be read in Dioscorides, then what
we use. He saith thus: There is an Oyl extracted out of
Pitch, by separating the watry part, which swimmeth on the
top, like Whey in Milk? and hanging clean flocks of Wool,
in the vapor arising from it while the Pitch boyls; and when
they are moyst, squeezing them into some Vessel. This must
be done as long as it boyleth. Geber defineth it thus: Distilla∣tion
is the Elevation of moist vapors in a proper Vessel: but we will declare the true
definition of it elsewhere. He maketh three sorts of it; by Ascent, by Descent, and
by Filtration. But I cannot but confess, that Filtration is not properly a species of
Distillation. But I say, by Ascent, by Descent, and by Inclination, which is a mid∣dle
between both, and is very necessary: for when a thing is unwilling to ascend,
we teach it by this to rise by degrees, by inclining the Vessel; and raise it by little
and little, until it become thinner, and know how to ascend. The Instructions for
Distillation shall be these: First, Provide a Glass or Brazen Vessel, with a Belly
swelling out like a Cupping-Glass, and sharpened upward like a Top or a Pear: fit
Page 255

it to the under-Vessel like a Cap; so that the neck of that lower Vessel may come
into the belly of the upper. A Pipe must run about the Bottom of the Cap, which
must send forth a Beak; under which, there must stand another Vessel, called the
Receiver, from receiving the distilling water. Stop all the vents close with Staw∣mortar,
or rags of Linen, that the spirituous Aery matter may not pass out. The
fire being put under this Stillatory, the inclosed matter will be dissolved by the heat
of the fire into a dewy vapor, and ascendeth to the top; where, meeting with the
cold sides of the Head, it sticketh there; being condensed by the cold, swelleth in∣to
little bubbles, bedeweth the roof and sides, then gathereth into moyst pearls,
runneth down in drops, turneth into water, and by the Pipe and Nose is conveyed
into the Receiver. But both the Vessels and the Receiver must be considered, accor∣ding
to the Nature of the things to be distilled. For if they be of a flatulent vaporous
Nature, they will require large and low Vessels, and a more capacious Receiver:
for when the Heat shall have raised up the flatulent matter, and that finde it self
straitned in the narrow cavities, it will seek some other vent, and so tear the Vessels
in pieces, (which will flie about with a great bounce and crack, not without enda∣maging
the standers by) and being at liberty, will save it self from further harm.
But if the things be hot and thin, you must have Vessels with a long and small
neck. Things of a middle temper, require Vessels of a middle size: All which
the industrious Artificer may easily learn by the imitation of Nature, who hath
given angry and furious Creatures, as the Lion and Bear, thick bodies, but short
necks; to shew, that flatulent humours would pass out of Vessels of a larger bulk,
and the thicker part settle to the bottom: but then, the Stag, the Estrich, the Ca∣mil-Panther,
gentle Creatures, and of thin Spirits, have slender bodies and long
necks; to shew that thin, subtile Spirits, must be drawn through a much longer and
narrower passage, and be elevated higher to purifie them. There is one thing which
I must especially inform you of, which is, that there may be a threefold moysture ex∣tracted
out of Plants: The Nutritive, whereby they live, and all dried Herbs want;
it differeth little from Fountain or Ditch-water: The Substantial, whereby the parts
are joyned together; and this is of a more solid Nature: And the third is the Ra∣dical
humor, fat and oyly, wherein the strength and vertue lieth. There is another
thing, which I cannot pass over in silence, it being one of the Principles of the
Art, which I have observed in divers Experiments; which is, that some mixt bo∣dies
do exhale thin and hot vapors first, and afterwards moyst and thick: on the
contrary, others exhale earthy and phlegmatick parts first, and then the hot and fiery;
which being fixed in the inmost parts, are expelled at last by the force of the fire. But
because there can be no constant and certain Rule given for them, some I will mark
unto you; others, your own more quick ingenuity must take the pains to observe.

CHAP. II.
Of the Extraction of Waters.
THe Extraction of Waters, because it is common, I will dispatch in a few words.
If you would extract sweet Waters out of hot Plants, and such as are earthy,
and retain a sweet savour in their very substance; these being cast into a Stillatory,
without any Art, and a fire made under them, yield their odors: as you may draw
sweet Waters out of

Roses, Orange-flowers, Myrtle and Lavender, and such-like,
either with Cinders, or in Balneo Mariae; but onely, observe to kindle the fire by
degrees, lest they burn. There are also in some Plants, sweet Leaves, as in Myrtle,
Lavender, Citron, and such-like; which, if you mix with the Flowers, will no way
hinder the savour of them, but add a pleasantness to the Waters: and in places
where Flowers cannot be gotten, I have seen very sweet Waters extracted out of
the Tendrils of them: especially, when they have been set abroad a sunning in a
close Vessel for some dayes before. There is a Water, of no contemptible sent,
Page 256

drawn out of the Leaves of Basil gentle, (especially, being aromatized with Citron
or Cloves) by the heat of a gentle Bath, heightened by degrees, and then exposing
it to the Sun for some time. There is an odoriserous Water extracted out of the
Flowers of Azadaret, or bastard Sicamore, very thin and full of savor. The way to
finde out whether the odor be settled in the substance of a Plant, or else in the su∣perficies
or outward parts, is this: Rub the Leaves of Flowers with your fingers;
if they retain the same sent, or cast a more fragrant breath, then the odour lieth in
the whole substance. But on the contrary, if after your rubbing, they do not onely
lose their natural sent, but begin to stink, it sheweth that their odour resideth onely
in their superficies, which being mixed with other ill savoured parts, are not onely
abated, but become imperceptible. In distilling of these, we must use another Art.
As for example,

To extract sweet Water out of Gill•flowers, Musk, Roses, Violets, and Jasmine, and Lillies.
First draw the juice out of some wilde Musk Roses, with a gentle heat in Balneo;
then remove them, and add others: for if you let them stand too long, the sent
which resid•th in the superficies is not onely consumed, but the dull stinking vapour
which lieth in the inward parts is drawn forth. In this water, let other Roses be
infused for some hours, and then taken out and fresh put in, which the oftner you
do, the sweeter it will smell: but stop the Vessel close, lest the thin sent flie out and
be dispersed in the Air; and so you will have a most odoriferous Water of Musk-Roses.
The same I advise to be done with Jasmine, Gilliflowers, Lillies, and Vio∣lets,
and Crows-toes, and the like. But if you are not willing to macerate them in
their own waters, the same may be done in Rose-water. By this Art, I have made
Waters out of Flowers of a most fragrant smell, to the admiration of Artists of no
small account. But because it happeneth sometimes by the negligence of the Ope∣rator,
that it is infected with a stink of burning, I will teach you

How to correct the stink of burning.
Because that part which lieth at the bottom f•eleth more heat then the top, whence
it cometh to pass, that before the one be warm, the other is burnt, and oftentimes
stinketh of the fire, and offendeth the nose; Therefore distil your Waters in Balneo
with a gentle fire, that the pure clear Water may ascend, and the dregs settle in the
bottom with the Oyl, a great cause of the ill savour.

How to draw a great quantity of Water by Distillation.
Fasten some Plates of Iron or Tin round the top of the Stillatory; set them upright,
and let them be of the same height with it, and in the bottom fasten a Spigget.
When the Stillatory waxeth hot, and the elevated vapors are gathered into the Cap,
if that be hot, they fall down again into the bottom, and are hardly condensed into
drops: but if it be cold, it presently turneth them into Water. Therefore pour
cold Water between those plates, which by condensing the vapours, may drive
down larger currents into the Receiver. When the Cap, and the Water upon it
begin to be hot, pull out the Spigget, that the hot Water may run out, and fresh cold
Water be put in. Thus the Water being often changed, that it may always be cold,
and the warm drawn out by the Spigget, you will much augment the quantity of your
Water.

CHAP. III.
Of extracting Aqua Vitae.
IT is thus done: Take strong rich Wine growing in dry places, as on Viseuvius,
commonly called Greek-wine, or the tears or first running of the Grape. Distil
this in a Glass-Retort with Cinders, or in Balneo, or else in a long necked Still.
Draw out the third part of it, and reserve the rest; for it is turned into a perfect
Page 257

sharp Vinegar; there remaining onely the carcase of the Wine: for the life and
tenuous part is taken out. Then distil the same again, an the third time; alwayes
drawing off but a third part. Then prepare a Vessel with a longer and straighter neck,
of three cubits, and distil it again in this: at last, put it into the mouth of the
Vessel, cover it with Parchment, and set on the Cap of the Stillatory, and kindle
the fire: the thin spirits of the Wine, will pass through all, and fall down into the
Receiver; and the phlegm, which cannot get passage, will settle to the bottom.
The note of perfect deputation from phlegm, will be, if a rag being dipt in it, and
set on fire, do burn quite away: or, if some of it, being dropt on a plain boa••, be
kindled into flame, doth leave no moysture or mark of it. But all the work de∣pendeth
on this, that the mouth of the Vessel be exactly stopped and closed▪ so that
the least Spirit may not finde vent and flie into Air. The fittest thing to stop them
with, is an Ox's Bladder, or some other Beasts; for being cut into broad fi••ets,
and while they be wet, rolled and tied about where the mouths of the Vessels meet;
it will alone keep in the expiring vapors. You may observe this in the Distillation
of it. The Coals being hot, the Vessel boyleth, and a most burning Spirit of the
Wine, ascendeth through the neck of the Vessel: it is hot below, and cold on the
top, till it getteth up into the Cap, then, encountring with cold, it turneth into wa∣ter,
and runneth down by the nose into the Receiver: and what was a long time
ascending, then, in a small interval of time, flows down again to the under-placed
Glass. Then, the Cap being cold, sendeth down that quality through the neck into
the very belly of the Stillatory, until the Spirit, being separated from the phlegm,
worketh the same eff•ct again. I use to suffer the Wine to ascend, so long as the
Spirit runneth invisible into the Receiver: for when the phlegm ascendeth, there
will appear bubbles in the Cap, and streams, which will run into the water through
the nose. Then I take away that dead carcase of the Wine, and pour in fresh VVine,
and extract the Spirit out of the same way.

To do the same a more compendious way.
Those who desire to do this in a shorter time, must make a Brass Vessel, of the bigness
of an ordinary Barrel, in the form of a Gourd; but the nose of the Cap must be made
of Glass, or Brass of fifteen or twenty foot, winding about with circling Revolutions,
or mutual crossings, or as it were with the circling of Snakes, which they must set
in wooden Vessels, full of cold water, that passing through, it may be received
into the Receiver. For when it hath distilled the third part of the VVine in three
hours, they must cast out the residue, and put that which is distilled into the Stillatory
again; and the second time di••ill out a third part: so also the third time in the same
day. At length, they put it into a Stillatory with a longer neck, and separate the
phlegm from it, Some make the Cap with three or four heads, setting one upon
another, all being pervious but the uppermost: and every one having his nose, and
his particular Receiver. They fit them to the Vessel with a long neck, set them on,
binde them and lute them, that they have no vent: the water which distilleth out
of the uppermost head, is cleerest and most perfect: that out of the lowest, more
imperfect, and must be reserved asunder; for they will be of different estimation:
the highest will be cleere from all phlegm, the lower full of it, the middle in a mean
between both.

How to make Aqua Vitae of new Wine.
It may be done without the charge of Coals and VVood: for it may worthily be cal∣led
〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 neither doth it require the attendance of a learned Artist, but of
an ignorant Clown, or a woman: for this Spirit is drawn out meerly by the vehe∣ment
working of Nature, to free her self without any other help whatever. When
the VVine is run out of the press into the Ho, shead, and other Vessels, and begin∣neth
to purge, place an earthen neck, or one of wood, being two cubits in length,
upon the bung-hole of the Vessel: set the Cap upon the neck, and lute the joynts
very close, that there may be no vent: set the Receiver under the nose to take the
Water which floweth down. Thus thine exhaltations being elevated by the working
Page 258

Spirits of the Wine, are converted into Water, meerly for the work of Nature, with∣out
the help of fire, which therefore hath his particular vertues, which we will pass
over now, and mention them in another place.

CHAP IV.
How to distil with the heat of the Sun.
WE may distil not onely with fire, but with the Sun and Dung. But the last
tainteth the distilled Waters with a scurvy sent. The Sun extracteth the best
Water, and very useful for many Medicines. The heat of the fire changeth the
Nature of things, and causeth hot and fiery qualities in them. Wherefore in all
Medicines for the eyes, we must use Waters extracted from the Sun: for others do
fret and corrode the eye, these are more gentle and soft. The Sun extracteth more
Water then the fire, because the vapours do presently condense and drop down;
which they do not over the fire, because they are driven up with a force, and stick
to the sides of the Stillatory, and fall down again into the bottom. There are
other advantages which shall be explicated in their proper places. Besides, it is
good Husbandry: for the work is done without wood, or coals, or labour. It is
but filling the Vessels with the Ingredients, and setting them in the Sun, and all the
pains is past. Therefore to explain the manner in a few words: Prepare a Form of
three foot in height, two in breadth, and of a length proportionable to the number
of the Vessels you intend to set to Work: if many, make it longer; if a few, let it
be shorter. Board up that side of the Form next the Sun, lest the heat do warm the
Receivers, and make the Water ascend again. In the middle of the upper plank of
the Form, make several holes for the necks of the Glasses to pass down through.
When the Sun hath passed Gemini, (for this must be performed in the heat of Sum∣mer
only) set your form abroad in the Sun. Gather your Herbs before Sun-rise, pick
them and cleanse them from dust and durt of mens feet, from the urine and ordure
of Worms and other Creatures, and such kind of fi•th and pollutions. Then, lest
they should foul and soil the Water, shake them, and wipe them with clothes; and
lastly, wash your hands, and then, them, and dry them in the shade: when they are
dried, put them into the Glasses, take some wire-Cittern strings, and winde them into
round clues; so that being let go, they may 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 no•vent: and

[illustration]
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 va∣pors, 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 in∣flammation 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.
Page 259
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
Page 260

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 Pos∣net,
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: con∣sidering
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 as∣sistance
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 promiscuous∣ly
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 Retort or Alembick. First, a Milky water will
flow out with Oyl, next cleer Water: cast the Water in over the Oyl, and separate
them as we shall teach you. Of a pound of Cinnamon, you will scarce receive a
drachm of Oyl.

How to draw a greater quantity of Oyl out of Cinnamon.
I do use to do it in this manner, to the wonder of the best and subtillest Artists: Pro∣vide
a Descendatory out of the Bath, (the making of which, I will shew hereafter)
and put your Cinnamon, being grossly beaten into a Glass-Retort: set it in its pro∣per
place, and put water into the Bath; the heat of the fire by degrees, will draw a
little water in many days: receive it careful, and pour it again into the Cinnamon
that it may re-imbibe its own water; so let it remain a while: afterwards, kindle
the fire, and you shall receive a little Water and Oyl. Do this third and fourth time,
and you will gain an incredible quanity. You may try the same in other things.

Oyl of Cloves
may be extracted in the same manner: To every pound of Cloves, you must add
ten of Water; distil them as before: so shall you have both Water and Oyl. It
will yield a twelfth part, The Oyl is good for Medicines, and the VVater for
Sawces. So also is made
Page 261

Liquid Oyl of Nutmegs.
If you bruise them, and put them with the VVater into a Vessel, and distil them as
before, they will yield a sixth part.

Oyl of Mace and Pepper
is drawn in the same manner, much stronger, but in less quantity.

Oyl of Aniseed
may be thus extracted; an ounce out of a pound. It congealeth in VVinter like
Camphire or Snow: in the Summer it dissolveth. Let the Seeds be macerated in
the VVater for ten days at least: for the longer they lie there, the more Oyl they
will yield.

Oyl of Fennel
is extracted in the same quantity: when the Seeds are ripe and fresh, they have most
Oyl; for they yield as much more.

Oyl of Coriander
yieldeth but a small quantity, and is of very hard extraction: there is scarce one
drachm drawn out of a pound: new Seeds yield most. And to be short; in the same
manner are extracted the Oyls out of the Seeds of Carrot, Angelica, Marjoram,
Rue, Rosemary, Parsely, Smallage and Dill, and such-like.

Oyl of Rosemary and Lavender-flowers, and
such-others, which being dried, afford no Oyl, may be thus extracted: Put the
Flowers into a Receiver, and set it close stopt in the hot Sun for a month: there will
they dissolve into Liquor, and flie up to the sides of the Glass: then being con∣densed
again, fall down and macerate in themselves: at a fit time, add VVater to them
and distil them, as the former: so shall you draw forth with the VVater a most excel∣lent
sweet Oyl.

Oyl of Juniper and Cypress-Wood
may de drawn out by the same Art, if you macerate the dust of them in their own
or in Fountain-water for a month, and distil them in the same manner: the Oyl
will come out by drops with the water, of a strong sent, and excellent vertue. These
I have tried, the rest I leave to thee.

CHAP. VII.
How to separate Oyl from Water.
VVHen we extract Oyls, they run down into the Receiver together with the
VVater: wherefore they must be separated, left the flegm, being mixed
with the Oyl do weaken the vertue of it: that it may obtain its full vigour, it must
be purified by Distillation and Separation: for being put into a Retort or broad
Still, over a gentle fire, the VVater will run out, & the remaining Liquor will be clear
Oyl. This work of Separation is very laborious: yet there are very artificial Ves∣sels
invented, by the help of which, all the VVater may be drawn off, and the flegm;
onely pure Oyl will remain. Prepare a Glass-Vessel: let it be broad and grow nar∣rower
by degrees downwards, until it come to a point, like unto a Tunnel. Put the
distilled VVater, which consisteth of the flegmatick VVater and Oyl into this Ves∣sel;
let it stand a while: the Oyl will swim on the top, and the VVater will sink
down to the bottom. But stop the mouth of it with your finger; so that removing
it away, the VVater may first run out, and the Oyl sink down by degrees. VVhen
it is descended into the narrow part, so that the Oyl becometh next to your finger;
stop the hole, and let the Orifice be but half open for the VVater to pass out: when
Page 262

it is all run out, empty the Oyl into another small Vessel. There is another very
ingenious Instrument found out for to separate Oyl, with a great belly and a narrow
neck, which a little nose in the middle. Pour the Oyl mixed with Water into
the Vessel, the Water will possess the bottom, the Oyl the neck. Drop Water gent∣ly
into it, until the Oyl ascend up unto the nose: then encline the Vessel downward,
and the Oyl will run out pure and unmix'd. When you have emptied out some, drop
in more Water, until the Oyl be raised again unto the nose: then stop it down, and
pour out the rest of the Oyl. But if the Oyl settle to the bottom, and the Water
swim on the top, as it often hapneth, filtrate it into a broad dish, or any other Vessel
with a cotten-cloth: the Water will run out, and the Oyl will remain in the bottom
very pure.

CHAP. VIII.
How to make an Instrument to extract Oyl in a greater quantity and without danger of burning.
VVE may with several sorts of Instruments, use several kindes of Extractions:
among the rest, I found out one, whereby you may draw Oyl with any the
most vehement fire, without any danger of burning; and a greater quantity, then
by any other: and it is fit for many other uses also. Prepare a Vessel in the form of
an Egg, of the capacity of half an ordinary Barrel: let the mouth of it, be of a con∣venient
bigness to receive in your arm, when there shall occasion to wash it, or to fill
it with several sorts and degrees of things to be distilled. Let it be tinned within;
then set a brass head upon it of a foot high, with a hole in the bottom fit to receive
the neck of the lower Vessel, and stop the mouth of it exactly. Out of the top of
the head, there must arise a pipe of Brass, fifteen or twenty foot long, bended into
several angles, that it may take up less room, and be more convenient to be carried.
The other end of this Pipe, must be fastened into the belly of another Vessel, which
must be of less capacity then the former, but of the same figure. Fix a head upon
this also, with a Pipe of the same length, and bended like the former; whose lower
end shall be received into another straight Pipe, which passing through the middle of a
Barrel, at last falls into the Receiver. The manner of using it is this: Put your Leaves,
Stalks, or Seeds, being beaten small, into the Brass-pot, and pour as much Foun∣tain-water

[illustration]
on as will cover them a hand∣ful or five large fingers over; then set on the head, and stop the joynts very close. Put the other end of the Pipe into the o∣ther Pot, and joynt them exactly: then set on the other head, and fasten the lower end of its crooked Pipe into that straight one; which passing through the Barrel, runneth into the Receiver. If the joynts be anywhere faulty, stop them with Flax, and paste them with Wheat-flour, and the white of an Egg; then rowl them about and tie them close with Fillets, cut out of a Bladder: for when the vapors are forced by the heat of the fire, they are so attenu∣ated, that they will break forth through the least rime or chink, in spite of all your endeavors. Fill the Barrel with cold wa∣ter, and when it beginneth to grow hot, draw it out through a Cock at bottom, and supply fresh water, that the Pipe may al∣ways be kept cool. At length, make the Pot boyl, at first with a gentle fire; then
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encrease it by degrees, until the vehemency of the heat, doth make the vapors hiss, as it were ready to break the Pipes, as they run thorow them; so they will be ele∣vated thorow the retorted Pipes, and leave the phlegmatick water in the lower Ves∣sel; till passing through the cold Pipe, they be condensed into Liquor, and fall down into the Receiver. If the water do consume away in the boyling, pour in more being first warmed, thorow a little Pipe which the Pot must have on one side with a Spigget to it, for this purpose: but be sure to stop the Spigger in very close, that there may be no vent. Afterwards, separate the Oyl from the Water, sublime and purifie it in another Vessel. Of all the Instruments that ever I saw, not any one extracteth a greater quantity of Oyl, and with less labour and industry then this. Thus you may without any fear of burning, draw Oyl out of Flowers, Leaves, Spices, Gums, and VVood with the vehementest fires; as also out of Juniper and Laurel-Berries.
CHAP. IX.
The Description of a Descendatory, whereby Oyl is extracted by Descent.
I Cannot refrain from discovering here an Instrument found out by my own pri∣vate
experience, which I hope will be of no small profit to the Ingenious, by
which they may draw Oyl out of any the least things without any fear of burning.
For there are many tenuous, oyly Flowers, as of Rosemary and Juniper, and other
things, as Musk, Amber, Civet, Gum, and such-like: out of which may be drawn Oyls
very sweet and medicinable: but they are of so thin a substance, that there is a
great hazard of burning them, when they are forced by the heat of the fire, without
which, neither fat things will be elevated, nor Oyl extracted. Therefore