THE ENGLISH MAN'S DOCTOR. OR The School of Salerne. OR ●YSICALL OBSERVA●…ON FOR THE PERfect p●…sreuing of the body of Man in continual Health.  
●…ereunto 〈◊〉 adjoined Precepts for the p●…seruation of Health.  
Written by ●…NRICVS RONSOVIUS for 〈◊〉 private use of his Sons.  
And now p●…ed for all those that desire to 〈◊〉 their bodies in 〈◊〉 health.  
LONDON, 〈◊〉 by William Stansby, f●… the Widow Helme● 〈◊〉 are to be sold at her Shoope in Sa●… Dunstan's Churchyard in Fleetstreet. 1617.   

THE PRINTER TO the Reader.  
REader, the care that I have of thy health, appears in bestowing these Physical rules upon thee: neither needest thou be ashamed to take lessons out of this School: for our best doctor's scorn not to read the instructions. It is a little Academy, where every man may be a Graduate, and proceed Doctor in the ordering of his own body. It is a Garden, where all things grow that are necessary for thy health. This medicinal Tree grew first in Salerne; from thence it was removed, and hath borne fruit and blossoms along time in England. It is now replanted in a wholesome ground, and new earth cast about it by the hand of a cunning Gardiner, to keep it still in flourishing. Much good husbandry is bestowed upon it: yet whatsoever the cost be, thou reapest the sweetness of it for a small value. It came to me by chance, as a Jewel that is found, whereof notwithstanding am not covetous, but part the Treasu●…●…mongst my Countrymen. The Auth●… the pains, is to me unknown, and I p●… this Child of his into the open world without his consent. Bring it up therefore we●… I beseech thee, and hope (as I do) that he will not be angry, finding this a traveler abroad, when by this travel so many of his own Country are so manifoldly benefited.  
Farewell.   


Ad Librum.  
GO Book, and (like a Merchant) new 〈◊〉  
Tell in how strange a traffic thou hast 〈◊〉  
Upon the Country which the Sea-god saves  
And loves so dear; he binds it round with w●…  
Cast Anchor thou, and impost pay to him  
Whose Swans upon the breast of ISIS swim.  
But to the people that do love to buy,  
(It skills not for how much) each novelty  
Proclaim an open Mart, and sell good cheap,  
What thou by travel and much cost dost reap,  
Bid the gay Courtier, and coy Lady come,  
The Lawyer, Townsman, and the country groom  
'Tis ware for all: yet thus much let them know,  
There are no drugs here fetched from Mex●…o,  
Nor gold from India, nor that stinking smoke,  
Which English gallants buy, themselves to choke,  
Nor silks of Turkey, nor of Barbary,  
Those luscious Canes, where our rich Sugars lie.  
Nor those hot drinks that make our wits to dance  
The wild Canaries: nor those Grapes of France,  
●…ich make us clip our English, nor those wares  
〈◊〉 fertile Belgia, whose womb compares  
●…th all the world for fruit, though now with scars  
●…r body be all over defaced by wars:  
〈◊〉, tell them what thou bringst exceeds the wealth  
●f all these Countries for thou bringst them health   

In Librum.  
WIt, Learning, Order, Elegance of Phrase,  
Health, and the Art to lengthen out our day  
Philosophy, Physic, and Poesy,  
And that skill which death loves not, (Surgery)  
Walks to refresh us, Airs most sweet and clear,  
A thrifty Table, and the wholesom'st cheer,  
All sorts of grain, all sorts of flesh, of fish,  
Of Fowl, and (last of all) of fruits a sever all dish:  
Good Breakfasts, Dinners, Suppers, after-meals,  
The herb for Salads, and the herb that heals,  
physicians Counsel, Apothecary's pills,  
Without the summing up of costly bills,  
Wines that the brain shall ne'er intoxicate,  
Strong Ale and Beer at a more easier rate,  
Then Water from the Fountain: clothes (nor dear)  
For the four several quarters of the year,  
Meats both for Protestant and Puritan,  
With means sufficient to maintain a man.  
If all these things thou want'st, no farther look,  
All this, and more than this, lies in this Book.   

In Laudem Operis.  
THe Gods upon a time in counsel sitting,  
To rule the world what creature was most fitting,  
At length from God to God this sentence ran,  
●o form a creature like themselves (called Man)  
●…ng made, the world was given him built so rarely,  
〈◊〉 workman can come near it: hung so fairly,  
●hat the Gods viewing it, were overjoyed:  
〈◊〉 grieved that it should one day be destroyed:  
●ardens had Man to walk in, set with trees  
●hat still were bearing: But (neglecting these)  
〈◊〉 longed for fruits unlawful, ●ell to riots,  
〈…〉 body by ill diets.  
●pent (what was 〈◊〉 him) like a prodigal heir,  
And had of earth, of hell, or heaven no care,  
●or which the earth was cursed, and brought forth w●…ds,  
●oyson even lurking in our fairest s●…ds,  
〈◊〉 heaven was hid, and did in darkness m●…ne:  
whilst hell kept fires continual, that should burn  
〈◊〉 very soul, if still it w●nt ●…ry,  
And give it torments that should never die,  
〈…〉; How blessed is 〈◊〉 the Deities,  
Built up the School of Health, to make him wise.    

THE SALERNE School.  

THe Salerne School doth by these lines impa●…  
All health to England's King, and doth advise  
From care his head to keep, from wrath his heart,  
Drink not much wine, sup light, and soon arise,  
When meat is gone, long sitting breedeth smart  
And afternoon still waking keep your eyes.  
When moved you find yourself to Nature's Ne●…  
Forbear them not, for that much danger breeds,  
Use three Physicians still; first Doctor Quiet,  
Next Doctor Merry-man, and Doctor Diet.   

Rise early in the morn, and strait remember,  
With water cold to wash your hands and eyes,  
In gentle fashion retching every member,  
And to refresh your brain when as you rise,  
In heat, in cold, in july and December.  
Both comb your head, and rub your teeth likewis●…  
If bled you have, keep cool, if bathed keep warm●…  
If dined, to stand or walk will do no harm.  
Three things preserve the sight, Grass, Glass, & foūtain●…  
At Ene'n springs, at morning visit mountains.   

〈◊〉 R. be in the month, their judgements err,  
●…at think that sleep in afternoon is good:  
〈◊〉 R. be not therein, some men there are  
●…at think a little nap breeds no ill blood:  
●…t if you shall herein exceed too far,  
〈◊〉 hurts your health, it cannot be with stood:  
●ong sleep at afternoon's by stirring sums,  
●reeds Sloth, and Agues, Aching heads and Rheums,  
●he morsture bred in Breast, in jaws and Nose,  
Are ealed Catarrhs, or Tysique, or the Pose.   

Great harms have grown, & maladies exceeding,  
By keeping in a little blast of wind:  
So Cramps, & Dropsies, Colics have their breeding,  
And Mazed Brames for want of vent behind:  
Besides we find in stories worth the reading,  
A certain Remane Emperor was so kind,  
Claudius by name, he made a Proclamation,  
A Escape to be no loss of reputation.  
Great suppers do the stomach much offend,  
Sup light if quiet you to sleep intend.   

To keep good diet, you should never feed  
Until you find your stomach clean and void  
Of former eaten meat, for they do breed  
Repletion, and will cause you soon be cloyed,  
None other rule but appetite should need,  
When from your mouth a moisture clear dot● void  
All Pears and Apples, Peaches, Milk and Cheese,  
Salt meats, red Deer, Hare, Beef and Goat: all the●…  
Are meats, that breed ill blood, and Melancholy,  
If sick you be, to feed on them were folly.   

Eggs newly laid, are nutritive to eat,  
And roasted Rear are easy to digest,  
* Fresh Gascoigne wine is good to drink with mea●…  
Broth strengthens nature above all the rest,  
But broth prepared with flower of finest wheat,  
Well boiled, and full of sat fat for such are best.  
* The Priest's rule is (a Priest's rule should be true)  
Those Eggs are best, are long, and white and new  
Remember eating new laid Eggs and soft,  
For every Egg you eat you drink as oft.   

●ine Manchet feeds too fat, Milk fills the veins,  
New Cheese doth nourish, so doth flesh of Swine;  
●he Dowcets of some beasts, the marrow, brains,  
And all sweet tasting flesh, and pleasant wine,  
●oft Eggs (a cleanly dish in house of Swains)  
Ripe Figs and Raisins, late come from the Vine:  
choose wine you mean shall serve you all the ye●…  
Well-sauo●…d, tasting well, and coloured clear.  
●iue qualities there are, wines praise advancing,  
Strong, Beautiful, and Fragrant, cool and dancing.   

White Muskadel, and C●… wine, and Greek,  
Do make men's wits and bodies gross and fat;  
Red wine doth make the voice oft-time to seek,  
And hath a binding quality to that;  
canary, and Madera, both are like  
To make one lean indeed: (but wots you what)  
Who say they make one lean, would make one laugh  
They mean, They make one lean upon a staff.  
Wine, women, Baths, by Art or Nature warm,  
Used or abused do men much good or harm.   

Six things, that here in order shall ensue,  
Against all poisons have a secret power,  
Pear, Garlic, Reddish roots, Nuts, Rape, and Rue,  
But Garlic chief; for they that it devour,  
May drink, & care not who their drink do brew:  
May walk in airs infected every hour.  
Sith Garlic then hath power to save from death,  
Bear with it though it make unsavoury breath,  
And scorn not Garlic, like to some that think,  
If only makes men wink, and drink, and stink.   

Though all ill savours do not breed infection,  
Yet sure infection cometh most by smelling,  
Who smelleth still perfumed, his complexion  
Is not perfumed by Poet M●…tials telling,  
Yet for your lodging rooms give this direction,  
In houses where you mind to make your dwelling,  
That near the same there be no evil scents  
●f puddle-waters, or of excrements,  
●…t air be clear and light, and free from faults,  
●…at come of secret passages and vaults.   

〈◊〉 wine have over night a surfeit brought,  
● thing we wish to you should happen seld:  
●hen early in the morning drink a draft,  
●nd that a kind of remedy shall yield,  
●ut 'gainst all surfeits, virtues school hath taught  
●o make the gift of temperance a shield:  
●he better wines do breed the better humours,  
The worse, are causes of unwholesome tumours,  
In measure drink, let wine be ripe, not thick,  
But clear and well alaid, and fresh and quick,   

The like advice we give you for your Beer,  
We will it be not sour, and yet be stolen:  
Well boiled, of hearty grain, and old and clear,  
Nor drink too much nor let it be too stolen:  
And as there be four seasons in the year,  
In each a several order keep you shall.  
In Spring your dinner must not much exceed,  
In Summer's heat but little meat shall need:  
In Autumn ware you eat not too much fruit:  
With Winter's cold full meats do fittest suit.   

If in your drink you mingle Rew with Sage,  
All poison is expelled by power of those,  
And if you would withal Lusts heat assuage,  
Add to them two the gentle flower of Rose:  
● Would not be seasick when seas do rage,  
Sagewater drink with wine before he goes.  
* Salt, Garlic, Parsley, Pepper, Sage, and Wine,  
Make sauces for all meats both course and fine,  
Of washing of your hands much good doth rise,  
'tis wholesome, cleanly, and relieves your eyes.   

Eat not your bread too stolen, nor eat it hot,  
A little Levend, hollow-baked and light:  
Not fresh, of purest grain that can be got,  
The crust breeds choler both of brown & white,  
Yet let it be well baked or eat it not,  
How ere your taste therein may take delight.  
* Pork without wine is not so good to eat,  
As Sheep with wine, it medicine is and meat,  
though Entrails of a beast be not the best,  
●et are some entrails better than the rest.   

●…me love to drink new wine not fully fined,  
〈◊〉 for your health we wish that you drink none,  
〈◊〉 such to dangerous sluxes are inclined,  
●…sides, the Lees of wine do breed the stone,  
●…me to drink only water are assigned,  
●…t such by our consent shall drink alone.  
●…r water and small beer we make no question,  
●…e enemies to health and good digestion:  
●…d Horace in a verse of his rehearses,  
●…at Water-drinkers never made good verses.   

●he choice of meat to health doth much avail,  
●…rst Veal is wholesome meat, & breeds good blood  
〈◊〉 Capon, Hen, and Chicken, Partridge, Quail,  
●…e Pheasant, Woodcock, Lark, & Thrush be good,  
●he Heath-cocke wholesome is, the dove, the rail,  
●nd all that do not much delight in mud.  
●aire swans such love your beauties make me bear you,  
●hat in the dish I easily could forbear you.  
●ood sport it is to see a Mallard killed,  
●ut with their flesh, your flesh should not be filled,   

As choice you make of Fowl, so make of Fish,  
If so that kind be soft, the great be best,  
If firm, then small, and many in a dish:  
I need not name, all kinds are in request.  
Pike, Trout, and Perch, from water fresh I wish,  
From Sea, Base, Mullet, Brean, and Souls are best  
The Pike a ravening tyrant is in water,  
Yet he on land yields good fish ne'er the later,  
If Eels and Cheese you eat, they make you hoarse  
But drink apace thereto, and then no force.   

Some love at meals to drink small draughts and oft,  
But fancy may herein and custom guide,  
If Eggs you eat, they must be new and soft.  
In Pease good qualities and bad are tried,  
To take them with the skin that grows aloft,  
They windy be, but good without their hide.  
In great consumptions learned Physicians think,  
'Tis good a Goat or Camel's milk to drink,  
Cowes-milke and sheeps do well, but yet an Asses  
Is best of all, and all the other passes.   

Milk is for Agues and for Headache nought,  
●…t if from Agues fit you feel you free,  
●…eete-butter wholesome is, as some have taught,  
〈◊〉 cleanse and purge some pains that inward be.  
● Whey, though it be contemned, yet it is thought  
●o scour and cleanse, and purge in due degree:  
● For healthy men may Cheese be wholesome food,  
●ut for the weak and sickly 'tis not good,  
●heese is an heavy meat, both gross and cold,  
●nd breedeth Costinesse both new and old.   

Cheese makes complaint that men on wrong suspicions  
Do slander it, and say it doth such harm,  
That they conceal his many good conditions,  
How oft it helps a stomach cold to warm,  
How fasting 'tis prescribed by some Physicians,  
To those to whom the flux doth give alarm:  
We see the better sort thereof doth eat,  
To make as 'twere a period of their meat;  
The poorer sort, when other meat is scant,  
For hunger eat it to relieve their want.   

Although you may drink often while you dine,  
Yet after dinner touch not once the cup,  
I know that some Physicians do assign  
To take some liquor strait before they sup:  
But whether this be meant by broth or wine,  
A controversy 'tis not yet ta'en up:  
To close your stomach well, this order suits,  
Cheese after flesh, Nuts after fish or fruits.  
Yet some have said, (believe them as you will)  
One Nut doth good, two hurt, the third doth kill.   

Some Nut 'gainst poison is preservative:  
Pears wanting wine, are poison from the tree,  
But baked Pears counted are restorative,  
Raw Pears a poison, baked a medicine be,  
Baked Pears a weak dead stomach do revive,  
Raw Pears are heavy to digest we see,  
Drink after Pears, take after Apples order  
To have a place to purge yourself of ordure.  
Ripe Cherries breed good blood, and help the stone,  
If Cherry you do eat and Cherry-stone.   

●…ole Damsens are, and good for health, by reason  
●…ey make your entrails soluble and slack,  
●…t Peaches steep in wine of newest season,  
●uts hurt the teeth, that with their teeth they crack,  
●ith every Nut 'tis good to eat a Raison.  
●…r though they hurt the spleen, they help the back,  
● plaster made of Figs, by some men's telling,  
●s good against all kernels, boils and swelling,  
With Poppy joined, it draws out bones are broken,  
By Figs are lice engendered, Lust provoken.   

Eat Meddlers, if you have a looseness gotten,  
They bind, and yet your urine they augment,  
They have one name more fit to be forgotten,  
While hard and sound they be, they be not spent,  
Good Meddlers are not ripe, till seeming rotten,  
For meddling much with Meddlers some are shent.  
New Rhenish-wine stirs urine, doth not bind:  
But rather lose the Belly breeding wind,  
Ale humours breeds, it adds both flesh and force;  
'tis losing, cool, and urine doth enforce.   

Sharp vinegar doth cool, withal it dries,  
And gives to some ill humour good correction:  
It makes one melancholy, hurts their eyes,  
Not making fat, nor mending their complexion  
It lessons sperm, makes appetite to rise,  
Both taste and scent is good against infection,  
* The Turnip hurts the stomach, wind it breed●…  
Stirs urine, hurts his teeth thereon that feedet●…  
Who much thereof will feed, may wish our Nat●…  
Would well allow of Claudius' proclamation.   

It follows now what part of every beast  
Is good to eat: first know the Heart is ill,  
It is both hard and heavy to digest.  
The Tripe with no good juice our flesh doth fill:  
The Lites are light, yet but in small request:  
But outer parts are best in Physics skill.  
* If any brains be good, (which is a question)  
Hens brain is best and lightest of digestion.  
● In Fennel-seed, this virtue you shall find,  
Forth of your lower parts to drive the wind.   

〈◊〉 ●ennell, virtues four they do recite,  
〈◊〉 it hath power some poisons to expel,  
〈◊〉, burning Agues it will put to flight,  
〈◊〉 stomach it doth cleanse and comfort well:  
〈◊〉 four, it doth keep and cleanse the sight,  
〈◊〉 thus the seed and herb doth both excel.  
〈◊〉 for the two last told, if any seed  
●…h Fennell may compare, 'tis Annisseed:  
●…e Annisseed be sweet, and some more bitter,  
〈◊〉 pleasure these, for medicine those are fit.   

●…me Nature's reason, far surmounts our reading,  
●e feel effects the causes oft unknown,  
●ho knows the cause why Spodium stauncheth bleeding?  
●…podium but ashes of an Ox's bone)  
〈◊〉 learn herein to praise his power exceeding,  
●hat virtue gave to wood, to herbs, to stone;  
●he Liver, Spodium; Mace, the heart delights,  
●he brain likes Musk, and Lycoras the Lites;  
●he Spleen is thought much comforted with Capers,  
●n stomach, Gallingale, always ill vapours.   

Sauce would be set with meat upon the table,  
Salt is good sauce, and had with great facility:  
Salt makes unsavoury viands manducable,  
To drive some poisons out, Salt hath ability,  
Yet things too salt are ne'er commendable:  
They hurt the sight, in nature cause debility,  
The scab and itch on them are ever breeding,  
The which on meats too salt are often feeding:  
Salt should be first removed, and first set down  
At table of the Knight, and of the Clown.   

As tastes are divers, so Physicians hold  
They have as sundry qualities and power,  
Some burning are, some temperate, some cold,  
Cold are these three, the Tart, the Sharp, the sowr●…  
Salt, bitter, biting, burn as hath been told,  
Sweet, fat and fresh, are temperate every hour.  
* Four special virtues hath a sop in wine,  
It maketh the teeth white, it clears the eyen,  
It adds unto an empty stomach fullness,  
And from a stomach filled, it takes the dullness.   

〈◊〉 to an use you have yourself betaken,  
〈◊〉 any diet, make no sudden change,  
● custom is not easily forsaken,  
●…a though it better were, yet seems it strange,  
●…ng use is as a second nature taken,  
●ith nature custom walks in equal range,  
● Good diet is a perfect way of curing:  
●…d worthy much regard and health assuring.  
● King that cannot rule him in his diet,  
●ill hardly rule his Realm in peace and quiet.   

●…y that in Physic will prescribe you food,  
●…x things must note we here in order touch,  
●…rst what it is, and then for what 'tis good,  
●nd when and where, how often, and how much.  
●ho note not this, it cannot be withstood,  
●hey hurt, not heal, yet are too many such.  
● Col●…rts broth doth lose, the substance bind,  
●hus play they fast and lose, and all behind:  
●ut yet if at one time you take them both,  
●he substance shall give place unto the broth.   

In Physic Mallows have much reputation,  
The very name of Mallow seems to sound,  
The root thereof will give a kind purgation,  
By them both men and women good have found,  
To women's monthly flowers they give laxation,  
They make men soluble that have been bound.  
And lest we seem in Mallows praises partial,  
Long since hath Horace praised them and Martial  
* The worms that gnaw the womb & never stint,  
Are killed, and purged, and driven away with Mint.   

But who can write thy worth (O sovereign Sage!)  
Some ask how man can die, where thou dost grow,  
Oh that there were a medicine curing age,  
Death comes at last, though death comes ne'er so slow:  
Sage strengths the sinews, severs heat doth suage,  
The Palsy helps, and rids of much woe.  
In Latin (Salu●…) takes the name of safety,  
In English (Sage) is rather wise then crafty.  
Sith then the name betokens wise and saving,  
We count it nature's friend and worth the having.   

●…ke Sage and Primrose, Lavender and Cresses,  
●ith Walwort that doth grow twixt lime and stone,  
●…r he that of these herbs the juice expresses,  
●…d mix with powder of a Castor-stone,  
●ay breed their ease whom palsy much oppresses,  
●r if this breed not help, then look for none.  
● Rew is a noble herb to give it right,  
●o chew it fasting, it will purge the sight.  
●ne quality thereof yet blame I must,  
●t makes men chaste, and women fills with lust.   

Fair Ladies, if these Physic rules be true,  
That Rew hath such strange qualities as these.  
Eat little Rew, lest your good husband, (REW)  
And breed between you both a shrewd disease,  
Rew whets the wit, and more to pleasure you,  
In water boiled, it rids the room of fleas.  
I would not to you Ladies, Onions praise,  
Save that they make one fair (Aesclapius says)  
Yet taking them requires some good direction,  
They are not good alike for each complexion.   

If unto Choler men be much inclined,  
'Tis thought that Onions are not good for those,  
But if a man be phlegmatic (by kind)  
It does his stomach good, as some suppose:  
For Ointment juice of Onions is assigned,  
To heads whose hair falls faster than it grows:  
If Onions cannot help in such mishap,  
A man must get him a Gregorian cap.  
And if your hound by hap should bite his master,  
With Honey, Rew, and Onions make a plaster.   

The seed of Mustard is the smallest grain,  
And yet the force thereof is very great,  
It hath a present power to purge the brain,  
It adds unto the stomach force and heat:  
All poison it expels, and it is plain,  
With sugar 'tis a passing sauce for meat.  
She that hath hap a husband bad to bury,  
And is therefore in heart not sad, but merry,  
Yet if in show good manners she will keep,  
Onions and Mustardseed will make her weep.   

●hough Violets smell sweet, Nettles offensive,  
●et each in several kind much good procures,  
●he first doth purge the heavy head and pensive,  
recovers surfeits, falling sickness cures:  
●ho Nettles stink, yet make they recompense,  
●f your belly by the Colic pain endures,  
Against the Colic Nettle-seed and honey  
Is Physic: better none is had for money.  
It breedeth sleep stays vomits, fleams doth soften,  
It helps him of the Gout that eats it often.   

Clean Hyssop is an herb to purge and cleanse  
Raw flegmes, and hurtful humours from the breast,  
The same unto the lungs great comfort lends,  
With honey boiled: but far above the rest,  
It gives good colour, and complexion mends,  
And is therefore with women in request:  
With Honey mixed, Cinquefoyle cures the Canker,  
That eats out inward parts with cruel ranker,  
But mixed with wine, it helps a grieved side,  
And stays the vomit, and the lask beside.   

Ellecompane strengthens each inward part,  
A little looseness is thereby provoken,  
It suageth grief of mind, it cheers the heart,  
Allaieth wrath, and makes a man fair spoken:  
And drunk with Rew in wine, it doth impart  
Great help to those that have their bellies broken,  
Let them that unto choler much incline,  
Drink Pennyroyal steeped in their wine.  
And some affirm that they have found by trial,  
The pain of Gout is cured by Pennyroyal.   

To tell all Cress' virtues long it were,  
But divers patients unto that are debtor:  
It helps the teeth, it gives to bald men hair,  
With Honey mixed, it Ring worms kills and Tetter:  
But let not women that would children bear  
Feed much thereof, for they to fast were better.  
An herb there is takes of the Swallows name,  
And by the Swallows gets no little fame,  
For Pliny writes (●ho some thereof make doubt)  
It helps young Swallows eyes when they are out.   

green Willow though in scorn it oft is used,  
●et some are there in it not scornful parts,  
●t killeth worms, the juice in ears infused,  
With Vinegar: the bark destroyeth warts:  
But at one quality I much have mused,  
That adds and bats much of his good deserts.  
For writers old and new, both ours and foreign,  
Affirm the seed make women chaste and barren.  
Take Saffron if your heat make glad you will,  
But not too much for that the heart may kill.   

Green Leeks are good, as some Physicians say,  
Yet would I choose how ere I them believe,  
To wear Leeks rather on Saint David's day,  
Then eat the Leek upon Saint David's Eve,  
The bleeding at the nose Leeks juice will stay,  
And women bearing children much relieve.  
* Black Pepper beaten gross you good shall find,  
If cold your stomach be, or full of wind:  
White Pepper helps the cough, and phlegm it riddeth  
And Agues fit to come it oft forbiddeth.   

Our hearing is a choice and dainty sense,  
And hard to men, yet soon it may be marred,  
These are the things that breed it most offence,  
To sleep on stomach full and drinking hard,  
Blows, falls, and noise, and fasting violence,  
Great heat and sudden cooling afterward;  
All these, as is by sundry proofs appearing,  
Breed tingling in our ears, and hurt our hearing:  
Then think it good advice, not idle talk,  
That after Supper bids us stand or walk.   

You heard before what is for hearing nought,  
Now shall you see what hurtful is for sight:  
Wine, women, Baths, by art to nature wrought,  
Leeks, Onions, Garlic, Mustardseed, fire and light,  
Smoke, bruises, dust, Pepper to powder brought,  
beans, lentils, strains, Wind, Tears, & Phoebus' bright,  
And all sharp things our eyesight do molest:  
Yet watching hurts them more than all the rest;  
* Of Fennell, Vervin, Kellidon, Roses, Rew:  
Is water made, that will the sight renew.   

〈◊〉 in your teeth you hap to be tormented,  
〈◊〉 mean some little worms therein do breed:  
●hich pain (if heed be ta'en) may be prevented,  
●y keeping clean your teeth when as you feed,  
turn Frankincense (a gum not evil scented)  
●…t Henbane unto this, and Onion seed,  
●nd in a tunnel to the Tooth that's hollow,  
convey the smoke thereof, and ease shall follow.  
● By Nuts, Oil, Eels, and cold in head,  
●y Apples and raw fruits is hoarseness bred.   

To show you how to shun raw running Rheums,  
Exceed not much in meat, in drink, and sleep,  
For all excess is cause of hurtful fumes,  
Eat warm broth warm, strive in your breath to keep,  
Use exercise that vapours ill consumes:  
In Northern winds abroad do never peep.  
If Fistula do rise in any part,  
And so procure your danger and your smart,  
Take Arsenic, Brimstone, mixed with Lime and Soap,  
And make a tent, and then of cure there's hope.   

If so your head do pain you oft with aching,  
Fair water or small beer drink then or never,  
So may you scape the burning fits and shaking  
That wont are to company the Fever.  
* If with much heat your head be ill in aching,  
To rub your head and temples full persever,  
And make a bath of Morrell (boiled warm)  
And it shall keep your head from further harm,  
* A Flix dangerous evil is, and common,  
In it shun cold, much drink, and strain of women.   

To fast in Summer doth the body dry,  
Yet doth it good, if thereto you enure it,  
Against a surfeit vomiting to try,  
Is remedy, but some cannot endure it.  
Yet some so much themselves found help thereby,  
They go to sea a purpose to procure it.  
● Four seasons of the year there are in all,  
The Summer and the Winter, Spring and Fall:  
In every one of these, the rule of reason  
Bids keep good diet, suiting every season.   

●…e spring is moist, of temper good and warm,  
●hen best it is to bathe, to sweat, and purge,  
●hen may one open a vein in either arm,  
〈◊〉 boiling blood or fear of agues urge:  
●hen Venus' recreation doth no harm,  
●et may too much thereof turn to a scourge.  
●n Summers' heat (when choler hath dominion)  
●oole meats and moist are best in some opinion:  
●he Fall is like the Spring, but endeth colder,  
With Wines and Spice the Winter may be bolder.   

Now if perhaps some have desire to know,  
The number of our bones, our teeth, our veins,  
This verse ensuing plainly doth it show,  
To him that doth observe, it taketh pains:  
The teeth thrice ten, and two, twice eight a-row.  
eleven score bones save one in us remains:  
For veins, that all may vain in us appear,  
A vein we have for each day in the year:  
All these are like in number and connexion.  
The difference grows in bigness and complexion.   

Four humours reign within our bodies wholly,  
And these compared to four Elements,  
The Sanguine, Choler, Phlegm, and Melancholy,  
The latter two are heavy, dull of sense,  
Th'other two are more jovial, quick and jolly,  
And may be likened thus without offence,  
Like air both warm and moist, is Sanguine clea●…  
Like fire doth Choler hot and dry appear.  
Like water cold and moist is Phlegmatic,  
The Melancholy cold, dry earth is like.   

Complexions cannot virtue breed or vice,  
Yet may they unto both give inclination,  
The Sanguine game-some is, and nothing nice,  
Love Wine, and Women, and all recreation,  
Likes pleasant tales, and news, plays, cards & dice  
Fit for all company, and every fashion:  
Though bold, not apt to take offence, not ireful,  
But bountiful and kind, and looking cheerful:  
Inclining to be fat, and prone to laughter,  
loves mirth, & Music, cares not what comes after   

●…rpe Choler is an humour most pernicious,  
〈◊〉 violent, and fierce, and full of fire,  
〈◊〉 quick conceit, and therewithal ambitious,  
●…ir thoughts to greater fortunes still aspire,  
●…ud, bountiful enough, yet oft malicious,  
●…ight bold speaker, and as bold a liar,  
〈◊〉 little cause to anger great inclined,  
●…ch eating still, yet ever looking pined:  
〈◊〉 younger years they use to grow apace,  
〈◊〉 Elder hairy on their breast and face.   

●he Phlegmatic are most of no great growth,  
●…clining to be rather fat and square:  
Given much unto their ease, to rest and sloth,  
Content in knowledge to take little share,  
To put themselves to any pain most loath.  
So dead their spirits, so dull their senses are:  
Still either sitting, like to folk that dream,  
Or else still spitting, to avoid the phlegm:  
One quality doth yet these harms repair,  
That for the most part Phlegmatic are fair.   

The Melancholy from the rest do vary,  
Both sport and ease, and company refusing,  
Exceeding studious, ever solitary,  
Inclining pensive still to be, and musing,  
A secret hate to others apt to carry:  
Most constant in his choice, though long a choosing,  
Extreme in love sometime, yet seldom lustful,  
Suspicious in his nature, and mistrustful,  
A wary wit, a hand much given to sparing,  
A heavy look, a spirit little daring.   

Now though we give these humours several names  
Yet all men are of all participant,  
But all have not in quantity the same,  
For some (in some) are more predominant,  
The colour shows from whence it lightly came,  
Or whether they have blood too much or want.  
The watery Phlegmatic are fair and white,  
The Sanguine Roses joined to Lilies bright,  
The Choleric more red; the Melancholy,  
Alluding to their name, are swart and colly.   

●f Sanguine humour do too much abound,  
These signs will be thereof appearing chief,  
The face will swell, the cheeks grow red and round  
With staring eyes, the pulse beat soft and brief,  
The veins exceed, the belly will be bound,  
The temples and the forehead full of grief,  
Unquiet sleeps, that so strange dreams will make  
To cause one blush to tell when he doth wake:  
Besides the moisture of the mouth and spittle,  
Will taste too sweet, and seem the throat to tickle   

If Choler do exceed, as may sometimes,  
Your ears will ring, and make you to be wakeful,  
Your tongue will seem all rough, and oftentimes  
Cause vomits, unaccustomed and hateful.  
Great thirst, your excrements are full of slime,  
The stomach squeamish, sustenance ungrateful:  
Your appetite will seem in nought delighting,  
Your heart still grieved with continual biting,  
The pulse beat hard and swift, all hot extreme,  
Your spittle sour, of firework oft you dream.   

If Phlegm abundance have due limits past,  
These signs are here set down will plainly she●…  
The mouth will seem to you quite out of taste,  
And apt with moisture still to overflow:  
Your sides will seem all sore down to the waist,  
Your meat wax loathsome, your digestion slow:  
Your head and stomach both in so ill taking,  
One seeming ever gripping other aching:  
With empty veins the pulse beat slow and soft,  
In sleep, of Seas and rivers dreaming oft.   

But if that dangerous humour over-raigne,  
Of Melancholy, sometime making mad,  
These tokens than will be appearing plain,  
The pulse beat hard, the colour dark and bad:  
The water thin, a weak fantastic brain,  
False grounded joy, or else perpetual sad;  
Affrighted oftentimes with dreams like visions,  
Presenting to the thoughts ill apparitions,  
Of bitter belches from the stomach coming,  
His ear (the left especial) ever burning.   

●…inst these several humours overflowing,  
〈◊〉 several kinds of Physic may be good,  
〈◊〉 diet, drink, hot baths, whence sweat is growing  
●…th purging, vomiting, and letting blood:  
●…ich taken, in due time, not overflowing,  
●…ch maladies infection is withstood.  
●…e last of these is best, if skill and reason,  
●…spect age, strength, quantity, and season,  
●f seventy from seventeen, if blood abound,  
●he opening of a vein is healthful found.   

Of Bleeding many profits grow and great,  
The spirits and senses are renewed thereby:  
though these men slowly by the strength of meat,  
But these with wine restored are by and by.  
By bleeding, to the marrow cometh heat,  
It maketh clean your brain, relieves your eye,  
It mends your appetite, restoreth sleep,  
Correcting humours that do waking keep:  
All inward parts and senses also clearing,  
It mends the voice, touch, smell & taste, & hearing.   

Three special Months (September, April, May)  
There are, in which 'tis good to open a vein;  
In these 3 Months the Moon bears greatest swa●…  
Then old or young that store of blood contain,  
May bleed now, though some older wizards say  
Some days are ill in these, I hold it vain:  
September, April, May, have days a piece,  
That bleeding do forbidden, and eating Geese,  
And those are they forsooth of May the first,  
Of other two, the last of each are worst.   

But yet those days I grant, and all the rest,  
Have in some cases just impediment:  
As first, if nature be with cold oppressed,  
Or if the Region, I'll, or Continent  
Do scorch or freeze, if stomach meat detest:  
If Baths or Venus late you did frequent,  
Nor old, nor young, nor drinkers great are fit,  
No● in long sickness, nor in raging fit,  
Or in this case if you will venture bleeding,  
The quantity must then be most exceeding.   

●hen you to bleed intend, you must prepare  
●…me needful things both after and before,  
●arme water and sweet oil, both needful are,  
●…d wine, the fainting spirit to restore:  
●…e binding clothes of linen, and beware,  
●…at all the morning you do sleep no more:  
●…me gentle motion helpeth after bleeding,  
●…d on light meats a spare and temperate feeding:  
●o bleed doth cheer the pensive, and remove  
●he raging suries bred by burning love.   

●ake your incision large and not too deep,  
●hat blood have speedy issue with the fume,  
●o that from sinews you all hurt do keep,  
●or may you (as I touched before) presume  
〈◊〉 six ensuing hours at all to sleep,  
●est some slight bruise in sleep cause an aposteme:  
●ate not of milk, nor ought of milk compounded,  
Nor let your brain with much drink be confounded  
●ate no cold meats, for such the strength impairs,  
●nd shun all misty and v●…holesome airs.   

Besides the former rules for such as pleases,  
Of letting blood to take more observation,  
Know in beginning of all sharp diseases,  
'Tis counted best to make evacuation:  
To● old, to● young, both letting blood displeases.  
By years and sickness make your computation.  
First in the Spring for quantity, you shall,  
Of blood take twice as much as in the Fall:  
In Spring and Summer let the right arm blood,  
The Fall and Winter for the left are good.   

The Heart and Liver, Spring & Summer bleeding▪  
The Fall and Winter, hand and foot doth mend,  
One vein cut in the hand, doth help exceeding,  
Unto the spleen, voice, breast, and entrails lend,  
And swages griefs that in the heart are breeding.  
But here the Salerne School doth make an end:  
And here I cease to write, but will not cease  
To wish you hue in health, and die in peace:  
And ye our Physic rules that friendly read,  
God grant that Physic you may never need.   
FINIS.   

De valetudine conseruanda, OR ●HE PRESERVATION OF HEALTH, OR A DIET FOR THE HEALTHFUL man.. Collected out of HENRICUS RONSOVIUS, which he wrought for the use of his Sons: And now published for the help of all those, that desire their own HEALTHS.  
By S. H.  
LONDON, Printed by William Stansby, for the Widow helms. 1617.   

TO THE RIGHT Worshipful SIR EDWARD PIT, Knight, of Keere Court, one of his majesties justices of Peace, in the County of Worcester, etc. And to the right Worshipful SIR JAMES PIT, his Son.  
AMongst all the parts of physic (Right Worshipful) I suppose there is none to be preferred before that part, which preserveth health, and preventeth sickness, for as Tully saith, Health is the most perfect state of man's body in this life, and the only end and intention, whereunto the Physician diverteth all his doings, which state to continue and to enjoy, is much better than to hazard the recovery of a sickness, that by ill diet is taken, as it is better to stand fast, ●hen to fall, and rise again; and better to ●…epe still a Fortress or a Castle, then when we have suffered the Enemy to enter, to rescue it again, for as the Poet saith: 
Aegrius eijcitur quam non admittitur hospes.   
And because as Cornelius Celsus saith, that all medicines do in a manner hurt the stomach, and be of evil nutriment. And therefore Aesclipiades did endeavour most to cure his Patients by diet; which diet, Right Worshipful, I have here described and published to the view of the world, and have sheltered it under the title of your Name, praying you to accept the same with a willing mind, considering that I have no better thing to present you with: And as that Persian Monarch did deign to receive from a poor man a handful of cold water, so your Worship will accept this poor labour, which I now present you with, which shall encourage me hereafter to present you with some other labours of more worth. In the mean while, I humbly take my leave, committing both you and all yours unto the protection of the Almighty.  
Your Worship's most observant S. H.   

THE PRESERVATION OF HEALTH, OR A DIET FOR THE HEALTHFUL man..  

CHAP. I. The causes of corruption and destruction of our human bodies.  
THAT we may come to our purpose, the first and chiefest cause of corruption and destruction of our Bodies, of old Age, Death, and all other miseries, which do happen unto us in this life, is the fall of our first Parents, and the relics of Sin, remaining in our corrupt Nature, as the Apostle doth witness in the eighth Chapter of the Romans: Corpus nostrum, morti destinatum est propter pcccatum. For, even as death is the last of all evils, which may afflict us in this life; even so, by the name of Death we endure in this life all miseries and afflictions; Here-hence come our errors which lead us by our blind will, and through the persuasion of the Devil drive us to commit all wickedness and evil, whereby we accumulate and heap up the just wrath and indignation of God, to afflict us with every kind of disease, misery, and calamity.  
Another cause of diseases, destruction, and depravation of our bodies, is the sinister and malevolent influence of the celestial Planets, and the infelicity of our temperaments: for, as in every thing there are certain natural properties, which God from everlasting hath endued with natural effects; so every effect and virtue is incited in our bodies from Heaven, which God created not only in a certain order and greatness, that we should discern the Years, Days, and Months, but that there should be signs also from whence we might take certain Arguments of things to come.  
For the inferior bodies do depend upon the Superior, and are contained in a certain mutual knowledge amongst themselves; for the Superior doth infuse a certain secret force and virtue into the Inferior bodies, by which the humours of our bodies are changed, increased, and diminished according to the placing and quality of the Stars: and this is more clearly and evidently taught us by daily experience the Mistress of all things, then that it needeth farther demonstration. If no man will give credit to our words, let him consider the Moon which doth challenge unto herself the chief dominion in Humours, and they shall well perceive their error. Seeing then it is manifest, that the humours of our bodies are governed by the Superior bodies: And of the evil humours of our bodies to grow Diseases, and from disease death; therefore not unworthily of death: and the cause of other diseases to depend in some part upon the celestial bodies, is declared.  
Besides this there are two other kinds of causes, that do change and destroy our bodies, which do grow from the superior Planets.  
One kind is that, that is engendered with us, and is therefore said to be Intern, necessary, and inevitable, and they are in number three, that is, Dryness, which by the course of Age bringeth to death, a daily wasting of substance, or the great variety and mobility of the matter in our bodies, and the abundance of excrements.  
Another kind of them are, which happen outward, and therefore are called Extern, of which the reason is said to be twofold, for some of them are which doth not change or affect our bodies of necessity; for although when these things happen, their hurt may be by us avoided, notwithstanding, there are some of them that our life may be safe without them. They are such things which do bruise, hurt, and wound our bodies, which for the most part happeneth by some outward force, as in the wars, and other cases of Fortune, as either being drowned or made away with poison.  
There are other things also, which are said of necessity to alter Man's body, which although we may avoid particularly, yet generally we cannot, when we cannot live without them. These things, I say, do destroy and overthrow the temperature, constitution, and natural health of man, if they be not rightly used as necessity and the state of the body requireth. And those are those six things, which are called not natural, which we will consider in particular; which six things are placed in our power and election, and they are of six kinds.  

1.  The first is, Air, Water, and Fire.  

2.  The second is, Meat and Drink, and all those things which are given the body for nourishment.  

3.  The third is, Motion and Rest, both of the whole body, as of every part thereof.  

4.  The fourth is, Sleep and Watchfulness.  

5.  The fifth is, Excretion or Expulsion of excrements or retention, under which is contained the opening of a vein, Purgation, Vomit, avoiding of Urinal, Sweat, Bathing, the act of Generation, and such like.  

6  The sixth are, the Symptoms, Perturbations, Affections or Accidents of the mind, such as are Fear, Anger, Sorrow, Ioy, and such like, of which we will speak more afterwards.  
These things being duly and rightly used, do conserve man in good health, but used contrarily, they destroy; for, as health doth consist in a mean and a mediocrity, so also in a mean use of things necessary it is conserved.   

CHAP. II. General precepts to conserve the Health.  
I Have declared unto you the chief causes, through which the divers mutations, destructions, and corruptions of our bodies do arise. Now, on the contrary I will declare unto you also those things, which if we use them in right order and manner, do contain the safety of life, restore health lost, and diminish some kinds of diseases and expel them.  
For this thing it is first needful and requisite, that you know certainly and be sure of, that although the celestial bodies do exercise a certain force and admirable virtue, in the affairs of Man, yet notwithstanding, GOD Almighty, the Workman and Creator of all Nature and human things, being the Lord of Life and Death, who hath the government of all Inferior bodies that cannot be removed, but that he doth govern and rule the influence of all Stars and Planets, and remove the course and efficacy of them; and likewise doth moderate all inclinations that grow from the Planets, and oftentimes according to his great goodness, doth turn away diseases, and change them into better: sometimes also according to his secret and just judgement for our sins, to exasperate and turn them into worse.  
For the divine Majesty is not in the Stars, which the Godhead hath framed for the profit and conservation of mankind, neither is it enclosed within a certain fatal necessity, as it were shut up in prison, but doth work freely, and as the chief cause doth govern and moderate all other causes. This therefore eternal God, the most loving Father of our Lord jesus Christ, which prorogued the life of King Hazechias for fifteen years, is humbly to be prayed unto daily, that he would bestow upon us also a long and a safe life, with a right constitution as well of body as strength of mind, and to preserve the same: for rightly is it said: 
Astra valent aliquid, plus pia vota valent,  
Astra regunt mundum, sed regit astra Deus.  
Cedunt astra Deo, precibus Deus ipse piorum.  Next, when for our sins our bodies are affected with often and divers kinds of diseases, we must carefully strive that we govern the inclinations and wandering motions of our minds, and that we use a bridle to our outward members, and that we do not only fly wickedness, but that we avoid the occasions also thereof. It becometh you, my dear Sons, to use this diligence in the government of your life and manners, and chief to embrace true Religion, and due obedience and love to your Parents, which if you shall do, God will in like manner, as he hath promised in the Decalogue, give unto you happiness and long life: for as S. Paul saith truly in the 1. of Tim. 4. Pietas ad omnia utilis est, etc. Godliness is profitable unto all things, which hath the promise of the life present, and of that that is to come: the which in some manner was understood by an Ethnic, Zoroaster King of the Bactrians, where he saith, Qui mentem ardenum ad opus pietatis intenderit, labile corpus servabit: and Cicero saith, Pietatem esse matrem, & fundamentum omnium virtutum: That Godliness is the mother and foundation of all virtues. Secondly, when it is said, that the Stars be the working causes of destruction and mutation, and the causes of divers diseases in our bodies: and whereas the observation of the celestial effects is not forbidden, I will that you take this care, that as well the yearly directions, as the figures of your nativity be observed, which I have diligently and exactly computated, I leave to every one of you: which notwithstanding you shall examine without all superstition, and shall be advised by the judgement of the learned Astrologians and Physicians, that you may the better avoid the evil foreseen, and the good things shall be brought to their wished event, for that is true which some do affirm, that coelum esse fatalem picturam in coel●sti tabula; and very well was it said by Hipp. and Galen, the Princes of Physicians, that the Art of physic, without the supportation of the Heavens, to be oftentimes in vain, yea also oftentimes to be hurtful.  
This observation doth profit very much for the preservation of the health, and for the prevention of diseases; therefore you must regard the more your natural inclination, with the greater vigilancy, that you may be the better able to govern your manners, and the events of which we are admonished by Astrologers, & which we foreknow, we may the more easier bear. Avoid and decline them more wisely, that you may seem to pass them over providently and discreetly, without grief or tediousness: for, free-will and election is left to us, so farforth that by the help of God, a mind supported, may be able to resist the allurements of the Flesh and th● Devil, to rule and govern the affections▪ and if some great calamity against an● man may be presaged and declared by th● Stars, we may be able to fly and avoid it; notwithstanding in which matter ● would that you should regard the couns●… of honesty: for if we may fly and avoid the peril that hangeth over our heads, without shame, we shall not refuse it, for better is it with honesty to die quickly, then with shame to live long: therefore, we must think that Reason, and the best Intellect, to be governed by the Heavens, neither is the liberty of the mind, and our actions, restrained to the necessity of the Stars.  
Hitherto in general, we have briefly declared, by what means we may defend us from evils, and diseases of every kind: and to defend us from the other destructions of our bodies, which diligence, if the children of God shall diligently invocate him, they shall happily avoid them.  
Now, that we may follow our purpose, I will entreat of those things, which in some manner resteth in our industry, of which if we use them rightly and lawfully we shall nourish health, and conserve it, but otherwise we shall overthrow and destroy it.   

CHAP. III. Special precepts of preserving Health.  
THat we may begin from the definition, Health is a constitution of the body, in which we are neither tormented with griefs, nor hindered in the actions of our life, for if the body shall decline from that constitution, it is sickness: to preserve health, according to Rasis in Almansore, is in motion and rest, meat & drink, neither to observe a just measure in superfluities and expulsions, the house and other places wherein we live, to be made sweet with odours, according as reason requireth, and agreeing with the time, and to meet with evil accidents before they take their increase, and to refrain voluptuousness and delightful pleasures, and to conserve custom. Cicero saith, That health is preserved with the knowledge of a man's own body, as well in those things which are wont to profit as hurt, for in those things in which consisteth conservation, from them corruption springeth, for as conservation is made by the like thing, so curation is made by its contrary a little otherwise saith Isidore, where he saith, Eam esse integritatem corporis, & temperantiam naturae ex calido & humido, in quibus cum illa consistit. Sequitur, qui plurimum calidi & humidi habent, hos maximè esse longaevos: qui verò contrariae sunt naturae, frigidi & sirci, hos citius senescere & mori.  
For as healthful men are governed by the four Humours, so the infirm are hurt, and when humours increase more than of equity they should, they bring forth sickness: so those that are by nature only gross, do sooner die then thinner bodies, for they have little blood and spirits. But as the conservation of health doth consist in the order of every thing, being lawfully used, the just quality, quantity, and time being observed, we have spoken of: Now of the air that doth encompass our bodies, we will speak of.   

CHAP. FOUR Of the air.  

THe air by itself is hot and moist, and the attraction thereof is so necessary unto all living creatures, that if the ways of respiration be intercepted, and occluded, they presently die, and all of us have experience, that the constitution of the body is often changed, either by the temperature or distemperature of the air: therefore we must provide with all our study, to choose the best air, as much as may be.  
For that is the best air which to every one is native, for as the Philosopher saith, uniuscuiusque locus naturalis sui est locati conseruantius: beside, a temperate air, pure, clear, and thin, which lieth open, and is free from stinks, infection, or putrefaction; is to be chosen. And on the contrary, that air is most bad and hurtful, which is troublesome, cloudy, impure, stinking, showrie, putrid, close, which neither wind nor Sun doth penetrate, nor purge: in like manner, that is good air, which taketh neither venenosity, nor other malign● quality, through the standing waters which in the Summer time are corrupte● with a pestilent air, or with the vapour o● exhalations, or infected with feculent excretions: so that air is most malicious which springeth from dunghills, sincke●… and other pestiferous places, which dot● oppress the heart, and make a difficulty 〈◊〉 breathing, which is over hot, or over cold, for an hot air dissolveth the spirits, it generateth thirst, it diminisheth the vital faculties, and hindereth digestion. A cold air doth engender the Asthma and Catarrhs: and as this impure air doth vitiat the vital spirits, so must we be careful by all means to beware of it; so than we must draw an air that is pure and temperate, for except a good air be drawn in daily, whereby our natural heat may be ventilated, tempered and cooled, our health must needs be troubled and endangered, of which it appeareth, where it is said: 
Satius esse sub dio versari, quam  
Cubiculis undique clausis immorari.   
It behoveth also for us to observe this thing, that in cold seasons it shall be fit to use an hot air, or fire for hot things in a cold time: moist in a dry, and dry in a moist air, is chiefly fitting and agreeing: also in daily diseases, we see it is sometimes very profitable to change the air, for sometimes change of air and place doth recover health that is lost. But whereas the air oftentimes is moved and changed with the winds, and odours, for the wind is no other thing then the air moved with the stirring and provoking of vapours, of which, and of sweet smells, it shall not be amiss somewhat to speak of.   

Of winds, and sweet smelling savours.  
THe North-wind of all other is accounted the best and wholesomest, and the East doth challenge to itself the next place, and what wind soever doth moderately cool, doth dry and make clear our habitations: therefore it must be towards the North and East, for the temperature of the air and the wind; for too much wind is hurtful very much to the sense, both of the lungs, the eyes and ears: but that which attaineth to odoraments, and sweet smells: it is manifest, as it were, the air to be nourished by the spirits, but most quickly by odours the brain and heart is strengthened, and the mind refreshed; which refreshment the body also doth feel the pleasure and recreation.  
A naughty stinking air, is corrected and amended by odoraments and suffumigations; but there is a very great difference: for look what air we draw in, such and the like spirits go out from us.  
Odours and smells that are oner-hot, are not by me approved, because it filleth the head, and engendereth the catarrh, for the temperature itself of the brain, being a mean between hot and cold, doth chief rejoice in things that are temperate: and on the other side it is much offended and hurt by the contrary: therefore sometimes those odours are to be mixed and changed, as if cold doth reign, let the odours decline to heat; and if heat doth bear sway, than frame that they may be of cold operation.  
Of Roses therefore, Violets and Myrtels, Camphor, Sanders and Rose-water, which are cold things: on the other side, of Cinnamon, Citron rinds, Orange peels, Aloes, Amber, Musk, which are hot; of which you may use at your pleasure. Odours are not only drawn by the nostrils, but there must be application to the breast and stomach, Treacle, Mithridate, Frankincense, Amber, Angelica, and such like, which are thought to have virtue against venom: no less comfort to recreate your spirits, ariseth out of gardens, wherehence ariseth sweet smells and savours: also to use sweet smelling herbs, flowers and rushes at the time of the year, convenient to the constitution and state of the body, and to cast about the court, and in the chambers, the leaves of Withies, of Roses, Violets, Vine-leaves, Origanum, wild Time, Time, Lavender, myrtles, Quinces, Pears, the flowers of Oranges, Pomegranates, and other such like: and also to sprinkle the chamber with Rose-water, or the water of the flowers of Oranges, and other like: also to evaporate the place with vinegar, and sometimes also in your chambers to burn perfumes, fragrant and sweet smelling.  
What sweet smells, fumes or torches I am wont to use; I will here set down, that having a care to the temperature and state of the body, you may use also.   

A description of an odoriferous water.  
TAke an equal weight of Rose-water, with the best white wine, Rose-viniger the fourth part, Sugar-candy, a third part; dissolve it in those things; some add a little Saffron: with this water wash the hands and face, the joints and eyes, and therewith cleanse the teeth, and besprinkle the rest of the clothes.    

CHAP. V Of Meats and Drinks.  

IN meat and drink we must consider these six things, first, the Substance: then the Quantity: third, the Quality: fourth, Custom: fift, the Time: and lastly, Order. We must also understand, that it is best and most wholesome to use meats that be simple: for meats that be simple are most wholesome and profitable; but many and sundry sorts of meats are very unhealthful and hurtful to our bodies: our elders, which lived very long, and without sickness, were wont to eat at one meal flesh only, and at another bread only: yet would I not wish you (my sons) to accustom yourselves to one only meat, especially if you be young; for Galen expounding the Aphorism of Hipp. saith, That such things as we have of long time been used to, although they be not of the best nourishment, they are not so dangerous as other things which are far better, whereunto we have not been accustomed: we must therefore now and then alter our diet, and use to eat such meats as before we used not; neither must we bind ourselves to any one kind, lest we be driven at any time to change our custom, and so we fall sick presently thereupon. Cornelius Celsus, a good Physician, giveth counsel, that such as be in health, should use their ordinary fore, and plain usual diet: and to forbear much variety of meats, is best and wholesomest, because the stomach set a work, too too much laboureth, greatly in the digesture of sundry meats at one time. It is thought good to mix moist with dry things, cold with hot, and hot with cold; and those meats which are in the mean or mediocrity of all excess, to be most commendable: of which sort, is bread made of clean corn, sufficiently leavened and moderately baked. Also the flesh of Hens and Capons, Pheasants, Partridges, Woodcocks, young Pigeons, Blackbirds, Thrushes, Turtles, and such like small birds. In like manner Fish's bred amongst rocks and stones, or about the sea side, and such as in taste are neither unpleasant and unsavoury, nor yet clammy and unctuous, of the which we will speak particularly hereafter. Now in meats, nothing so well increaseth good blood, as when they are well digested, for thereby is ended more easily the second concoction, which is in the veins and liver, and also admitteth the third digestion, which is in the particular members & parts which be nourished. Also there be some meats, between whom there is but small difference of digestion, as is between a Hen and a sucking Calf, a Chicken and a Kid, the flesh of an old Calf and a young Bullock: in such respects as these, where the difference is so small, it skilleth not greatly, if they which be somewhat hard to digest, be eaten before that which is of lighter digestion. And this, I suppose, was the opinion of Galen, for heavy meats, and such as be slow of digestion, require a stronger and greater power digestive: therefore meats of easy digestion are first to be taken, before those which do differ so far from them in easiness of concoction.  
And also you must take heed of crude and raw meats, and that the same be both thoroughly boiled or roasted, but in any wise beware of stuffing of yourselves too much with meat and drink, nor to irritate and provoke your appetite with delicious sauces, for meats excessively eaten, although they be of good nourishment, commonly they do engender crudities, lasks, and vomits. Again, to take less than necessity and nature doth require, is the cause why the body is not nourished, but weakened and made unable to do his business: for even as repletum hindereth nourishment and hurteth nature, so all sorts of too much abstinence causeth vomits, hurteth the stomach, resolveth the powers of the body, and increaseth ill humours. And even as an ill diet bringeth heaviness to the body, and dullness to the senses, so a good diet refresheth the spirits and reviveth the mind, making it more able and active to know and practise virtues operations.   

Of Drink.  
COncerning drink at meals, it would not be taken before something hath been eaten, & at the beginning the drink would be strongest, and so towards the end more small, if it be Ale or Beer. And if it be Wine, more and more allayed with Water, and the best Physicians hold, the drink would rather be mixed with the meat by sundry small draughts, then with one great draft at the end of the meal, for the mixture tempereth well the meat without hindrance. A great draft drowneth the meat, and hurteth natural heat, that then worketh in concoction, and with the weight driveth down the meat over-hastily. Hot wines and sweet or confectioned with spices, or very strong Ale or Beer is not good at meals, for thereby the meat is rather corrupted then digested, and they make hot and stinking vapours to ascend up to the brains; thus I suppose, I have spoken enough of meat and drink: I will now end with the counsel of Cornelius Celsus, which saith, that a healthful man shall not bind himself to the rules of physic or diet, but a man whose stomach is feeble, there ought to be a greater regard that the meat be such, as that either in quality or quantity nature be not rebuked or to much oppressed.    

CHAP. VI Of Exercise and Labour.  
BEcause a great part of health doth consist in ● fit and convenient exercise of the body, as Avicen, Hypocrates, and Galen, do witness, it is therefore needful to have a diligent and careful consideration thereunto: labour then or exercise is a vehement moving, the end whereof is the alteration of the breath or wind of man: of exercise do proceed many commodities: And especially three, the first is hardness and strength of the members, whereby labour shall the less grieve, and the body be more strengthened to endure labour. And that exercise or labour doth strengthen the body, as Galen witnesseth in his book de Sanitate tuenda. It is proved by experience in labourers, who for the most part be stronger than men that live at ease, and can endure greater toil, as may be observed in the example of Milo Crotoniatos, who by the use of carrying a Calf every day certain furlongs, was able to carry the same being a Bull. The second commodity of labour is, the increase of heat, whereby happeneth the more alteration of things to be digested; also more quick alteration and better nourishment. The third is more violence of the breath or wind, whereby the pores are cleansed, and the excrements of the body naturally expelled. These things are so necessary to the preservation of health, that without them no man may long be without sickness: for as the flowing water doth not lightly corrupt, but that which standeth still, even so, bodies exercised are for the most part more healthful, and such as be idle more subject to sickness, according to the saying of the Poer Ovid, 
Cernis ut ignawm corrumpant otia corpus,  
 capiunt vitium ni moucantur aquae.  The which thing also Cornelius Celsus affirmeth, where he saith, Slothfulness dulleth the body, it is strengthened by labour, the one doth make us soon old, the other doth make us long young.  
Notwithstanding in exercise ought four things to be considered, that is to say, the Time, the things preceding the Quality, and the quantity of exercise. As concerning the time convenient to exercise in, there ought four things to be diligently considered, first, the time, the things preceding the quality, and the quantity of exercise. First, as concerning the time, that the stomach and bowels be overburdened, and the meat not digested, or the humours crude or raw, lest thereby peril might follow by their conveyance into all the members. Galen doth say, that the time most fit for exercise, is when both the first and second digestion is fulfilled, as well in the stomach as in the veins, and that a desire of eating doth draw near: for if the exercise be sooner or later, the body shall either be filled with raw and crude humours, or else yellow choler shall be increased. The knowledge of this time is well known by the colour of the Urine, for that which is like unto clear water, showeth that the juice which cometh from the stomach, is crude & raw in the veins: that which is well coloured, neither too high or too low, showeth that the second digestion is performed perfectly: where the colour is very high or red, it declareth the concoction is too much. Wherefore, when the Urine appeareth in a temperate colour, neither too red nor too pale, but as it were, gilt, then should we begin our exercise.   

CHAP. VII. Of Sleep and Watch.  
THe commodities of moderate sleep, do appear by this, that natural heat which is busied about the matter, whereof proceedeth nourishment, is comforted in the places of digestion, and so the digestion is made better and more perfect by sleep, the body is fatter, and the mind more quiet, the humours more temperate. But by much watch all things happen the clean contrary. The moderation of sleep must be measured by health and sickness, by age, time, emptiness, or fullness of the body, and by natural complexions: as first to a man in health, having no weakness of nature, and a perfect digesture of the meat he eateth, a little sleep is sufficient, but to them which have weak stomachs, the sleep may be the longer. In like manner, temperance is required both in youth and age at all seasons, winter and Summer. The body being full of ill humours, very little sleep is sufficient, except the humours be crude and raw, for then sleep is necessary, which digesteth them better than labour.  
In like manner, where the body is long empty, by long sickness or abstinence, sleep comforteth nature as well in the principal members, as in all the other. As for the length of sleep, all Authors do agree, that to strong bodies, seven hours in the night is sufficient, and to those that are weaker, eight hours is enough at the most. Plato in Timaeo, saith, When the world shutteth up her eye, we should also close up our eyes: the eye of the world is the Sun, therefore sleep is not long to be deferred after the Sun setting, neither presently after supper can sleep be wholesome, for as Galen saith in lib. Aphorismorum, à cibis ad som num conversis, caput impletur. Moreover, immoderate sleep maketh the body apt to Palsies, Apoplexies, Falling-sickness, Rheums and Apostumes: also it maketh a dull wit, and a slow body, and unapt to honest exercise: as also immoderate watch drieth too much the body, and doth weaken the Animal powers, hindereth digestion, and maketh the body apt to consumptions. Wherefore, in these two things, as well as all other, a diligent care is to be used, the moderation is best conjected (for it is hard perfectly to know it) by the sensible lightness of all the body, especially of the brain, the brows, and the eyes, the passage down of the meat from the stomach, the will to make Urine, and to go to the stool: contrariwise heaviness in the body, and also in the eyes, & savour of the mean before eaten, doth signify that the sleep was not sufficient. They that are in health, must first sleep on the right side, because the meat may come to the liver, which is to the stomach as a fire under the pot, and thereby is digested. To them which have but weak digestion, it is good to sleep prostrate on their bellies, or to have their  hands on their stomachs, and to lie upright on the back, is to be utterly abhorred.   

CHAP. VIII. Of Accidents and Affections of the mind.  
THose things being already declared, by the which the health of the body is to be preserved: I will now proceed to the Physic of the mind: for as the perturbations of the mind do follow the passions of the body, as we may see and behold in drunkards, as Horace saith, 
— nam corpus onustum  
Hesternis vitijs animum quoque praegravat ipsum  
Atque affligit humi aivinae particulam aurae.   
So on the other side, the body is affected from the passions of the mind, and is said therewith to consent, as is manifest in the affects of love and sorrow. And seeing therefore the passions of the mind, and body, are so conjoined and linked together with a natural band, we must as Avicen saith, have a diligent care to our mind, if we desire to avoid diseases, which also Galen held before him, saying, that we must abstain from the intemperance and deformity of all the passions and affections of the mind: anger and sorrow, furiousness and fear, envy and thought, do alienate and bring a man from the use of reason, and do greatly transform him from the state and order, that is according to nature, for moderate mirth helpeth very much to accomplish all the offices and functions of the mind, to further and make excellent the concoction. As on the contrary, sorrow and heaviness is the greatest hindrance and let to it: beware therefore of heaviness and desperation, for as Solomon saith, Spiritus tristis exiccat ossa: cor laetum exhilerat mentem. Therefore give yourselves to honest mirth and Christianlike joy: for as Avicen saith, the often use of mirth disposeth a man to be merry, and thereof cometh no small profit, but commodities very many. Sorrow also is so great an Enemy to nature and bodily health, that to resist the malice and the violence thereof, remedies as well out of the holy Scripture, as examples out of moral Philosophy are needful. Also there be certain herbs, fruits, and spices, that have the property to resist melancholy, and to comfort the lively spirits. Such are simples that do comfort the heart and spirits: as for example, the beholding of fair shows and things that are beautiful, the hearing of melodious music, smelling of sweet savours and fragrant odours, such as in the Summer, the smell of Rose-water; and in Winter with the smell of Lignum Aloes, which doth comfort the heart and the brain, and all the other senses very much. But beware of too hot and sharp savours, for they send vapours to the brain. The tasting, as that which is confected of Sugar, and the juice of Pomegranates, of Quinces, or some other of like temperature, being not harmful, neither exceeding in the excess of any quality.   

CHAP. IX. Of joy..  
Joy or gladness of heart doth prolong the life, it maketh the body fat, that is grown lean with care and trouble: And look what effect happeneth by sorrow, the same happeneth by sudden joy. And Valerius Maximus reporteth, that a Woman of Rome died with sudden joy. This being considered, we must avoid such extraordinary gladness and sudden joy. And we must remember that there is nothing in this world can rejoice us so much, but that some occasion or other may cause the same to be displeasant unto us.   

CHAP. X. Of Venus or the act of generation.  
NOw that I have spoken of Labour, Meat, Drink, and Sleep, it now resteth that I speak somewhat of the act of Generation, which delectation must be well measured by a mean: for if it do exceed and be used intemperately, it doth resolve the spirits and natural heat about measure, and drieth up the radical moisture, and so dangerous diseases happen to man sooner, than otherwise by nature they would: Therefore, seeing in the act of Generation there is so great resolution of Spirits, the excess thereof is carefully to be avoided, nevertheless great regard must be had of custom. The commodities that come by moderate evacuation are great, for it procureth appetite to meat, and helpeth digestion, it maketh the body more light and nimble, it purgeth phlegm, it quickeneth the mind, it refresheth the wit, reneweth the senses, and driveth away sadness, madness, anger, melancholy: finally, it doth deliver us altogether from lecherous imaginations, and nightly pollutions, which although some men suppose that there is no offence thereby, because of the abundance of nature, yet let us consider what is said in Deuter. cap. 23. If there be amongst you any that is unclean, by that which cometh from him by night, he shall go out of the Host, and shall not enter into the Host: but for this matter let every man use all honest and lawful means, to suppress the violent force and fury of his burning lust. Also if a man will abstain from meats that be hot and windy, and the drinking of sweet heady wines, and avoid the imaginations of Venus and such like, he shall not easily be much assailed and tempted with the desire of any carnal appetite; likewise if he earnestly apply himself to the study of the holy Scriptures, and moral Philosophy, banishing idleness, and fly the company of beautiful and amorous Women, he shall easily avoid the desire of lustful concupiscence.  
Moreover, there be also other means to overcome carnal lust, mentioned in Galen, as to anoint the reins with some cooling ointment made of wax, oil of Roses, and the juice of some cooling herb, as Houseleek, Lettuce, Purslane, Nightshade or plates of Lead, applied upon the reins, or else Agnus castus, or to eat daily the seed thereof, or the seed of Rue, or the herbs themselves. Also Arnoldus giveth counsel, If thou wilt quench the heat of lust, anoint the genitories with the juice of Rue or Persly, or drink the juice of those herbs. Also to smell oftentimes to Camphire, is good for the same purpose, & to sit upon the very cold earth 〈◊〉 or a cold stone, also to plunge the members in cold water or in strong vinegar, & therewith to wash the reins of the back and about the lower part of the belly.  
And to end this discourse of Venery, fly idleness, the greatest occasion of lechery, for as the Poet saith, with which I will end: 
Otia si tollas, periere cupidinis arcus,  
Contemptaeque jacent & sine luce faces.    

CHAP. XI. Certain precepts for diet to be observed every day.  

HItherto we have spoken of those things and their lawful use, which things, if they be not rightly used, they do alter and change the body, and overthrow the natural state thereof; I will now deliver certain precepts of the order of diet to be kept for every day, weeks, months, and years, and first I will begin with the diet for every day.  
In the beginning when you arise from the bed, extend forth all your members, for by this means the animal spirits are drawn to the outward members, the brain is made subtle, & the body strengthened. Then rub the whole body somewhat with the palms, the breast, back and belly gently, but the arms & legs with the hands, either with warm linen: next, the head is to be scrubbed from the fore part to the hinder part very lightly. After you are risen, I will that you defend with all care and diligence your head, neck, and feet from all cold in the morning; for there is no doubt, but in the morning and evening the cold doth offend more, than it doth about noon tide, by reason of the weakness of the Sunbeams. Put on your clothes neat and clean: in the Summer season, first wash with clean pure water, before described; but in the Winter season sit somewhat by the fire, not made with turf or stinking coal, but with oak or other wood that burneth clear, for our bodies are somewhat affected with our clothes, and as strength is increased by the use of meat and drink, and our life defended and preserved; even so our garments do conserve the heat of our bodies, and do drive away colds: so that as diet and apparel may seem alike, so in either of them a like diligence is to be preferred.  
In the Summertime I chief comme●… garments of Harts-skinnes, and calf-skins, for the Hart is a creature of long life, and resisteth poison and Serpents; therefore I myself use garments of the like sort for the winter season, also, nevertheless lined with good linen. Next, I do, judge it not to be much amiss to use garments of Silk or Bombace, or of purple; also of Martin or Wolfe-skinnes, or made of Fox skins, I suppose to be good for the winter; notwithstanding in the time of Pestilence, apparel of Silk and skins is condemned, because it doth easily admit and receive the contagious air, and doth retain it long. After the body is well clothed, comb your head well with an ivory comb from the forehead to the backpart, drawing the comb some forty times at the least, then wash all the instruments of the senses, as the eyes, the ears, the nostrils, the month, the tongue, the teeth, and all the face with cold water; and the eyes are not only to be washed, but being open plainly, immerged: and the gum and foulness of the eyelids that do there stick, to remove; sometimes also to besprinkle the water with rose-water or Fenel-water, also rub the neek well with a linen napkin somewhat course, for these things do confirm the whole body, it maketh the mind more cheerful, & conserveth the sight. In this place it pleaseth me to adjoin some dentifrices or clensers of teeth, waters not only to make the teeth white, but also to conserve them with some medicines, also to conserve the sight.   

A powder to preserve the whiteness of the teeth.  
TAke three egge-shels, three drams of red coral, two drams of white silk burnt to powder in a new earthen pot, Cinnamon two drams, Cloves one dram, Pellitory of Spain two drams. These being beaten to fine powder, rub the teeth every day evening and morning.   

The description of a Dentifrice, which Messelina Augusta used: ex scribonio largo.  
TAke hart's horn burnt in a new earthen pot, and reduced into powder one ounce and a half, Mastic one ounce and a half, Shall Armoniac six drams.   

To whiten the teeth, and to preserve them from heat, which was used by a woman of great name.  
TAke Aloes one ounce & a half, pearls one ounce, red Coral and white, Lignum Aloes, red Sanders, of every of them one ounce, Dragon's blood, fine Purslane one ounce and a half, Roch Alum washed so long in fair water, that it be as clear as crystal, one ounce, mastic, amber, Myrrh, of either half an ounce, the shells of water Crabs two drams: let every one be beaten by itself into fine powder: then take pure honey of Roses seventeen ounces, and with the powder aforesaid let it boil gently at the fire, except the Mastic, and the Myrrh, which afterwards mix therewith, and when it shall come to a conserve in thickness, let it be always stirred with a stick in the boiling: and when it shall be removed from the fire, let it rest till it wax cold; then add the Myrrh and the Mastic, than afterwards keep it to your use in a vessel of glass: with this Dentifrice if the teeth be rubbed in the morning with a piece of course linen, it doth comfort them, and make them very white.   

Another Dentifrice.  
TAke red and white Coral, of each one ounce, Pellitory, Mace, Mastic, of each one ounce, Pomis stone and Bolearmonick, of either one ounce; make these things into fine powder.   

A Medicine that doth comfort the sight.  
TAke pearls, which beat into fine powder, then strain them thorough a linen cloth with rose-water, then instill into the eyes certain drops of the same water: some in stead of the perls, do use of the finest Sugar with Rose-water, but I judge the use of Pearls to be the better. These things following do very much profit the eyes, if ye keep them from dust, smoke, remaining out of the air, the Sun, the cold, from strong winds, from beholding the Sun, also to avoid the multitude of Venery, and repletion of meat and drink, nor presently after dinner or supper to sleep; and as it is before said, to bathe and wash the eyes with cold clear water, although this Medicine following be very much approved.  
Take waters of vervain, Betony and Fenell, of every one, one ounce and a half, white wine one ounce, Tutla prepared one dram, Sugar-candy two drams, Aloes epatic one dram, woman's milk two drams, Camphire half a scruple: powder that that is to be powdered, and let it remain in infusion for four and twenty hours, then let them be strained, and therewith wash the eyes, being shut.   

Also to prosecute our former purpose, when you arise in the morning, to avoid all superfluities, as well by urine as by the belly, which do at the least once every day. Avoid also from the nostrils and the lungs all filthy matter, as well by cleansing, as by spittle, and cleanse the face, head and whole body; & love you to be clean and well appareled, for from our cradles let us abhor uncleanness, which neither nature or reason can endure. When you have done these things, remember to power forth your prayers unto God with a clear voice, that the day may be happy & prosperous unto you, that God may direct your actions to the glory of his name, the profit of your Country, & the conservation of your bodies. The walk ye gently, & what excrements soever do slip down to the inferior parts, being excited by natural heat, the excretion thereof shall the better succeed.  
As for your businesses, whether they be public or private, let them be done with a certain honesty, than afterwards let your hunting journeys be performed: apply yourselves to study and serious business the hours of the forenoon, and so likewise in the afternoon, till two or three hours before supper, always in your hands use either Coral or yellow Amber, or a Chalcedonium, or a sweet Pommander, or some like precious stone to be worn in a ring upon the little finger of the left hand; have in your rings either a Smaragd, a sapphire, or a Draconites, which you shall bear for an ornament; for in stones, as also in herbs, there is great efficacy and virtue, but they are not altogether perceived by us: hold sometime in your mouth either a Hyacinth, or a Crystal, or a Granat, or pure Gold, or Silver, or else sometimes pure Sugar-candy. For Aristotle doth affirm, and so doth Albertus Magnus, that a Smaragd worn about the neck, is good against the falling-sickness: for surely the virtue of an herb is great, but much more the virtue of a precious stone, which is very likely that they are endued with occult and hidden virtues.  
Feed only twice a day, when ye are at man's age; nevertheless to those that are subject to choler, it is lawful to feed often: begin always your dinner and supper with the more liquid meats, sometimes with drinks. In the time between dinner and supper, abstain altogether from cups, unless necessity or custom do require the same; notwithstanding the same custom being so vicious, must be by little and little changed.  
I would not that you should observe a certain hour, either for dinners or suppers, as I have sufficiently told you before, lest that daily custom should be altered into nature: and after this intermission of this custom of nature, hurt may follow; for custom doth imitate nature, and that which is accustomable, the very same thing is now become natural.  
Take your meat in the hot time of Summer in cold places, but in the Winter let there be a bright fire, and take it in hot places, your parlours or chambers being first purged and aired with suffumigations, which I would not have you to enter before the suffumigation be plainly extinct, lest you draw the fume by reason of the odour.  
And seeing one and the same order of diet doth not promiscuously agree with all men: take your meat in order, as is before said, and sometimes also intermit the use of meats for a whole day together, because through hunger, the faults of the stomach which have been taken either by much drinking or surfeiting, or by any other means, may be depelled and removed.  
By this means also your bodies shall be better accustomed to endure and suffer hunger and fasting, either in journeys or wars. Let your suppers be more larger than your dinners, unless nightly diseases or some distillations do afflict you.  
After meat taken, neither labour in body nor mind must be used, and wash the face and mouth with cold water, cleanse the teeth either with ivory, or of a Heart's horn, or some picker of pure silver or gold.  
After your banquets, pass an hour or two in pleasant talks, or walk ye very gently and soberly, neither use much watchings long in the night, but the space of two hours go to your bed; but if honest business do require you to watch, then sleep afterwards so much the longer, that your sleep may well recompense your former watchings. Before that you go to your bed, gently smooth down your head, arms, and shoulders, the back and all the body, with a gentle and soft rubbing, unless you mean to do it in the morning to move distribution, whose time is best to be done in the morning.  
In the Winter sitting by the fire, put off your garments and dry your feet by the sire, nevertheless avoid the heat and the smoke, because it is very hurtful both to the lungs and the eyes.  
In the Winter time warm well your garments at the fire, and warm the linings of the same, for it helpeth concoction, and removeth all humidity and moisture. But my father did not allow of this custom, warning men of strength, and those that are borne for the Commonwealth, not to accustom themselves to such kind of softness, which do weaken our bodies. Also when you put off your garments to go to bed, than put away all your weighty cogitations, and lay them aside, whether they 〈◊〉 public or private, for when all your members be free from all cares, you shal● then sleep the quieter, concoction and the other natural actions shall best be performed.  
But in the morning when you rise again, resume to yourselves your form days thoughts and cares, for this precep my Father had often in his mouth, therefore I deliver it unto you, as the mo●… worthy of your observation.   

Certain precepts against Heat and Dryness.  
Even as cold is hurtful to travailers, so is heat also, for thereby travailers be offended, for it happeneth by the want of moisture, and abundant heat, for when too much heat doth infested travailers, they do thereby oftentimes grow into sickness, and the natural moisture & strength is dissolved. Therefore my advice is, first when you travel, not to use much vociferation or talk, for thereby is wont to be drawn thirst and dryness, against which detain in the mouth crystal, coral, silver, sugar-candy, or a flintstone that lieth in cold water, the julep of Roses an● Violets with cold water, in like mann●… new stick of lickoras, taken fresh out of the earth and chawed, or the drinking of water quencheth the thirst, also new ligs do mitigate thirstiness, and cool the heat. Pine kernels, the leaves of Purslane held in the mouth, Strawberries, Pears, Prunes, Cherries, the seeds of Quinces, seeds of Lettuce and cucumbers, do very well diminish thirst.   

What Age is, and what difference in Age.  
IN Age there are five parts or differences: first, childhood from our birth to fifteen years, and is hot and moist. The second, adolescence from fifteen to five and twenty, a mean and perfect temperature: then youth, from five and twenty to five and thirty, and is hot and dry: then middle age, or man's state, from five and thirty to forty nine, declining to cold and dry: from nine and forty, the end of ●he life, all cold and dry: in all this course ●f the life, there is a continual change of 〈◊〉 body, but especially every seventh ●…re is called Annus criticus, the year of ●…ment. In which time we are in greatest danger, touching life and death. Therefore I would advise you, to have regard to the change of those times, and to use all means to preserve the shortness of life, as much as may be.    
FINIS.