THE BOOK OF Pretty Conceits: Taken out of Latin, French, Dutch and English. Very merry, and very pleasant and good to be read of all such as do delight in new and merry Conceits. Newly enlarged, corrected, and amended. LONDON, Printed by Miles Flesher. 1628. To the Reader. Who so is bound for another mane debt, doth bring himself in care: And is compelled to pay the same, though he be poor and bare. In every degree love honesty, be shamefaced to do evil: Ill company see that thou fly, as members of the Devil. A word once spoke it can return no more, But flies away, and oft thy bane doth breed, A wiseman sets a hatch before the door, And whilst he may doth frame his words with heed. The bird in hand we may at will restrain, But being flown we call her back in vain. An easy way to procure Fire speedily. TAke a round Glass, and fill it with fair water, and set it against the Sun, so that it may stand fast: then take something that is very dry and hold it near the Glass, (between the glass and the Sun) and it will set the thing so holden on fire: which is very firange to behold, the rather, because Fire which is an hot and dry Element, is procured out of Water, which is a cold and moist Element. A speedy remedy for the prick of a thorn in ones foot, or elsewhere. TAke the Gall of a beast, chaulk scraped, Honey and Aquivite, of each of them a reasonable quantity, & boil them well together, then make a plaster thereof, a lay it to the place grieved as hot as may be suffered. Another way to draw out any Thorn, stub, or Iron, in any place whatsoever. TAke the gall of an hog, bean flower, Lavender, and Bacon-grease, and mingle these well together, and fry them well & lay the same to the place grieved lukewarm, use it every day till it be come forth and whole. Another way to draw out a thorn. Take bark of Hawthorne tree and stamp it well in a mortar with red wine, and seeth them well for a long time, and then take it and lay it plasterwise to the place grieved, as hot as the patient may suffer it, and it will take away the swelling and rankling of it, and then the thorn will come forth. To light a Candle at the mouth of an Image painted on the wall. Take & put some Brimstone to the mouth as an Image, & then take a burning candle and blow it out: and before the week of the candle be clean out, set it to the mouth of the Image and it will burn. So you may do, if you think good against Glass. To take fish by night. Take a Lantern of glass, and put a burning candle in it, and set the Lantern on the water, and the fish will come to the light. Or else take Nettles and Housléeke, and make suice thereof, and put it into a Pond, and all the fished will gather thither, & if your hands be anointed therewith, you may at your pleasure take them. To make that no Dog shall Bark at you. Take an herb that is called Serpertine, and they shall not bark at you. To make Birds come to your Culuer-house. Cast Barley steeped in Honey where they do use to feed, and they will gather to the Culuer-house. To put an Apple into a Vial. Hang the vial on the twig of an Appletrée and put a young Apple in the mouth of the Vial, and it will grow therein, and so you may do with grapes and other fruit. To put an Egg into a Vial. Steep the Egg two days and two nights in vinegar, and roll it on a table softly, and it will stretch as wax, and then you may put it in the Vial, or draw it through a ring. To make folk seem black. Put Oil Olive into a Lamp, and put therein fine powder of ground glass, & light it, and all those that been about it will seem black as Egyptians. To prove if a Maiden be clear. Burn Mother-wort, and let her take the smoke at her nose, and if she be corrupt she shall piss, or else not. Other wise take grey Nettles whilst that they be green, and then let her piss on them, and if she be no Maiden they will whither forthwith, or else not. To keep Ink from freezing. Take Aquavite and mix it with writing Ink, and the same will never freeze, To write a letter with such Ink as cannot be perceived, unless it be holden before the fire. Take a shéet of fair white paper, and write thereon with the juice of a red Onion, well mixed or tempered with the white of an egg and then dry it well, and then it cannot been perceived to be any other then plain white paper without any writing on it: but if you hold it betwixt you and the fire, you may the more eastly read it, and perfectly perceive the letters or contents thereof. Another way to write Letters that cannot be read but in this sort. Take Allom and beat it into fine powder, and then put it into fair water, and whatsoever you writ therewith, neither that writing nor letters will appear, except you put the said paper in water and then you may read it perfectly. To cause a dog to cease barking Take a Dog's tongue and lay it under your great Toe (within your shoe) and the dog will cease barking as long as you wear the same. To cause a Pike to follow one. Take the juice of Mugwort, and the juice of red Fennel, of each of them a little quantity, and the crumbs of Rye-bread, and mingle them together with a good quantity of Sal armoniac, & grind them well together and scrape a good quantity of Asaphetida to them, and then rub your line next the hook very well therewith. An easy way to take Eels. Take new Hay that is sweet, and make a bottle thereof, and as you make it up, shake upon it some new Calf's blood, with the liver shred therein, & for want of calf's blood take the blood of a Bull, Ox or Cow, with the liver as aforesaid, and then bind up your bottle as hard as you can with some ropes of the same Hay, & cast it into a river or pond where Eels are, so tie it to a cord to pull it up at your own pleasure again. Note, the chiefest time for the taking of Eels and other running fish, is at the dark of the moon. in the beginning of May, at the shooting of Oats, and in the month of September and October, when all waters turn white after and in the juice of herb Ben●e● and Hemlock, and then cast them to the birds, and a● many as do eat thereof will be so amazed, that they cannot fly away, To take birds Put Barley in the ivies of Rue and Vinegar, and cast it there as the Birds do haunt or come, and as soon as they have eaten it they cannot fly, and then poe may take them. To make silk worms. Take the brain of a Calf, and put it in to a pit of Madder, and let it lie three weeks, and they will breed of the brain, and ye may séed them with Mulberries, and Mulberry leaves. To take away hairs Anoint the rough place that is shaved, with the blood of a black Otter, and hair shall never grow there. To fat Hens and Capons. Make a deep pit in the earth, and make sherrin a bed of Dung, and a bed of Nettles, and do so till it be full, and there keep your Pullen till the herbs begin to grow, and then let them out, and within a short while they will be very fat. Certain notes to be observed in Fishing. viz. In the Spring time of the year when fish do give themselves to the act of generation, take some of the little kind of Fish from ●ome muddy or filthy Pool, into a very large bow-net, whereunto you may draw them by a small and easy Lamp, made and wrought in the bottom of a clean glass with clay, and feed it with Oil, but the glass must be vented with some device of a Trunk of Swans quill, and you shall see great ranks of fish gather into the nets, make your stilts for sanouring of the same, if you can get no strange fish, then tie in the midst of your net either some mother of peacle, or else some fair Oyster shell, or for want of them make a posy ' of diverse coloured flowers, and smear them well with Parmasity, mixed with the yolk of a new laid Egg and so use it; but when you are disposed to make trial of these things, let it be in your own Pond, whereby it may be persormod at pleasure: this last receipt will draw a Pickrell into a loon, in the end of Aurill or May. An easy way to take a Pickerel. Take a Pickerel immediately after she hath spaund, then take the white of 3 or 4 Eggs, and beat them into an oyie, and put thereto some Parmasity well bruised, & incorporate them together, as a dow past: and then make a flood: and for want of Hay take Osters, and seeth them in blood as a foresaid, and make your purpose therewith. Another way to take Eels. Take a good long wisp of hay and make it hard up, & boil the same well in new calf's blood, and then put it into the midst of a bigger truss of new hay, the same being hard made up with the curdled blood, & some of the liver. Make ten or twelve of the bundles, and lay them ne'er to the bank side in the deepest place of the tiver or pond, and put them a quoits cast asunder, in the dark night after a drought: and if the weather been somewhat inclined to rain, it will been the better: and put to your bundles either some shining night-wormes, or the pieces of some rotten wood, or the skins, of Herrings or Sprats, or else so much like shining things, whereby you may perceive where to take them up at your pleasure, as well in the night as in the day. To know if a sick person shall die, or not. Take grey Nettles while they been green and put them in the patient's urine, and if they remain green: he shall live: and if they whither, not. To make salt water fresh. Take Day, and put it into a bag, and strain it through till it be clear, and it will be fresh. To kindle a candle at the Sun. Take a bright Basin, and put a new looking glass therein, and set the Basin in the bottest of the Sun, and lay about it very dry Tow chopped small, and the Tow will take fire with the heat of the Sun. To make a candle that it cannot be blown out. Take a quill of Hemp stalk, and fill it all with Brimstone, and make it warm, and fire it, and it will never go forth with flowing. To heal the biting of a mad dog. Take white Nettles, and the innermost thin skin of a great red angry Onion, with a little running water & honey, and bathe it. To see by night as by day. Anoint your eyes with the blood of a bat. To make flesh cleave to the pot. Take dwall of Nightshade and stamp it well, and put it in the pot with meat, and the meat will cleave together. To take Birds quick. Take Pease and keep them in wine lées, and a paste with as many coloured flowers a● you can get and smear the post with the aforesaid dough, and hang it in the midst o● a Bow net, and put the Pickrell into the ne● also, then hang the net in some clear place in the midst of a Pond or River, and so let it remain there all night, and in the morning you shall see the experience thereof. To take a Pickrell in Winter or Summer, Take a green Hearne in the full of the Moon, and take the marrow out of his leg, and put it into a Tin Box, and when you list to take a Pickrell, bait your hook either with a Roch, Dace, or Gudgien, & anoint the bait with the same Oil, and you shall presently speed. An easy way to take fish with ones hands. Take Henbane, Wormwood and Vervin, and stamp them all together, and then bang the same in three Canvas bags, and put them in three several places of the Pond, and all the fish will gather thereunto. Another way. Take Housléeke and Nettle roots, of each of them a good quantity, and stamp & strain them, and then wash your hands in the juice thereof, and then pour it into the Pond, and then the fish will gather to the same place in such sort as you may take then up at ●our pleasure with your hands. Another way. Take an ounce of Honey, two ounces of Cheese, four and twenty grain of Oculus ●n diae and two-peny-worth of Castor, stamp all these together in a mortar, and make it in ●orme of a paste, and make it in small pieces, and then cast them where the fish be, and you shall quickly speed. Another way. Take a Pewter Bason, and let it be made as bright as may be, and hold it toward the water, and the fish will come to the bright, nesse of the Basin. To take Roches. Take Oculus Indiae, Henbane seed, the yolk of an Egg, English Honey, and wheated flower, & mingle them all together, and make a paste thereof. To take Tench both in March and April. Take small crumbs of household bread moistened with tar, & cast the same into the water where you purpose to fish: then three nights after bait a large bownet with toasts of like bread well tarred and tied fast in the miost of the net: & if you can get a breeder or two out of rank soils, and tie in the net, y●● should try a rare conclusion. That one shall not be drunk. Drink the juice of Yerrow fasting, and ye shall not be drunks, for no drink; and it you were drunk it will make you sober: of else tate the marrow of pork fasting, and ye shall not be drunk; and if you be drunk an 'noint your privy members in vinegar, and ye shall wax sober. To make a good bait for fish at all times of the year. Take wheat flower and tallow of a new slain sheep, and the glaire of an Egg, and beat them all together, and bait your hooks therewith. To make an Egg go up to a Spears end. Empty the Egg at a little hole, and fill it full of May dew, and stop the hole close with a little wax & parchment glued, that the dew go not out, then stick a spear in the earth in the heat of the Sun, and lay the Egg by the Spear, and it will mount up to the top thereof by the heat of the Sun. To make a candle burn in the water. Take Wine, Oil, Salt, Brimston, quicksilver, Wax and honey, and put them together and make a Candle thereof, and the same will burn in water. To make flesh or fish seem raw. Take the blood of a Wat or Kid, and dry it, and keep it from the air, than cast it on fish or flesh that is hot and it will seem raw. To make worms to seem to be in meat. Take Harp strings, and cut them in small péetes, and cast them but on meat, and they will stir like worms. To make pottage run out of the pot. Take and cast Soap in the pot, and it will run over. A good Medicine for Poultry that have the pip. Take Rue and put it into their troughs of water, where the Prultry do use to driuke and the same will help them presently: To kill hens and Ducks. Cast them the séed of Henbane, and they will fall down as they were dead. Make powder of Saint john's wort, and when that the coals are wasted, and the strenere out, cast it thereon and it will lie. That a man shall not be weary of going. Drink the juice of Mugwort, and bear the herb itself about you, with the herbs Pedelion and Crowsoot. Another way ●O ●n●id weariness. Take Mugwort and carry it about you, and you shall not been weary, neither shall there any wicked spirit come near you, having it about you. A present remedy to assuage both hunger and thirst. Take the quantity of a massy nut of Roch Allom (that is both fine and pure) and when you seel either hunger or thirst to oppress you, put it into your mouth, and suck it for a little space, and use it oftentimes in the day, and it will presently assuage your hunger and thirst: use this as often as need shall require, one penny worth of Allom will serve almost a whole week. To write without Ink. Take fine white paper, and with the juice of a red Onion, well mixed and the tempered with the yolk of an Egg, you may write, which being very dry will show as though it ware only plain paper, without any writing at all; but if you hold it against the ●ire, you may then easily read it, and perceive the letters. Another way to cause writing not to be perceived. Take powder of Allome, and put into water, & whatsoever you writ therewith: neither the writing, nor the letters will appear, except you put the same paper in wather, and then you may read it perfectly. To keep Ink from freezing. Take a little Aquavitae (some sew drops) and mix it with writing ink, and the same will never freeze at all. A present remedy to destroy a Carbuncle. Take Coriander seed, and beat it to powder, and mingle it with Honey, and make a plaster thereof, and lay it on the carbuncle or other grievous biles, and the same will speedily destroy them. A ready and easy way to cry whether a Maid be a pure Virgin or not. Take roots of red Nettles, and stamp them small: and mix the juice thereof, with Ale, and let her drink thereof, and if it do remain with her, than she is a Maid, otherwise she is not. To try if a woman (being with child) be with child of a man child or a woman-child Take fair Well-water, and put it into a clean basin, and let the woman with child milk a drop or two of her milk into the wate● 〈◊〉 if the milk sink to the bottom, 〈◊〉 is a man child, and if it float on the top about the water, than it is a woman child. To make yarn and linen clothe white. Take a herring barrel, and fill it nigh full of good Ale-dregs, and stop it fast, but you must have a good dishfull of parched Beans, and put them in a linen bag, and very hot put them to the dregs till they cool, and shut it fast the space of a quarter of an hour, then take two pounds of Allom, ground to small powder, and cast it thereon, and let it lie four days natural, well closed, and then wash your yarn. To make that a Horse may not go through a street. Take the guts of a Wolf, and lay them overth wart the street, and cover them with earth or sand, and he will not go that way as long as the guis covered lie there. Proved. To take Coneys with one's hand. Take a Coney that is full of young Rabbits, and kill her, and put her all whole into a pottle of Oil Olive, and put thereto some A safetida, and so boil them together from a pottle to a pint, and then make a pair of Gloves of Calue-skins fit for your hands, and boil the Cloves in the suine liquor with the coney, and let it boil from a pottle to a pint, and when the gloves be well boiled, let them been safe kept until you come where store of Coneys are, then put on thy gloves, and stand on the wind side of the conie-berries, and the coneys will cowl forth to thee. Another. Take a quantity of juy-leaves, and lay them to stéep in Aquavitée for the space of three or four days, and then cast the same leaves near to the conie holes. An easy way to catch Moales. If you will catch Moales or Wants, take Garlic, Léekes & Onions, and put them in the mouth of the holes, or entrance into the ground where they are, and you shall see them come leaping out of the ground as if they were amazed. Another way to catch Moales. Take the quantity of a Nut of Asafetion and two spoonfuls of cummin-séed, and beat them together into powder, & make dough with flower of it, then work it well, and make it into balls as big as a pease, and then put them into the Moale-holes, in every hole. But first scrape away the earth clean from the holes; and the Mole will come forth of the earth, thereso. watch them well. Use this in the moveth of March when they go a clickerting. To ripen Nuts. Take Nuts at Midsummer, & delve them well in the ground, and coner them well, and they will be as ripe as those that you shall gather when they be ripe upon the free. To drive away Rats. Take the hoof of a floned horse, sliced in pieces, and put it on a chafingdish of coals, and the very sent or smell thereof being well perfumed, will drive away all the Rats from the house. Ad capiendum pisces. Recipe luce Mullage, vel scolares tortes, collectum circa medium Maii quando Luna sit plena; distemperata comminge sape, serua in olla terrea, & quando vis occupare unge manus tuas eclava sita ni aqua, vel loco ubi sunt Pisces. To take Rats. Take a quick Rat, and put her in a pot, and make a soft fire about it and under it. and when sh● feeleth the heat she will cry, and the Rats that hear her will come to help her, and then they may take them. And in like manner you may do with moles. To take Moles. Take a couple of quick Moles, and put them in a déepke pot, and set the pot in the earth to the brim, and when they cannot get out, they will peep, and all the other Males will come and fall into the pot to them. To make a light for ever. Take the worms that shine commonly in the night, and gather the liquor of them, and mingle it with a quartrens of Quicksilver, and put it in a Vial, and then you shall see all the night long by it. To put one's hand into any hot seething thing. Anoint thy haunts with herb Mercury, and put it in a see thing thing, and it will do thee no harm at all. To kill Lice. Make a good fire, and put Quicke-filuer therein, and hang the that are troubled with Rice over the fire in the smoke, and then assure yourself no vermin will breed or come in them. To kill Lice and Nits. Take the powder or scraping of a Heart's horn, and let the party that is troubled with them drink often thereof, and there will neither Lice nor Néets breed either in his head or body. Also it you strew the same powder other upon his head, or on his , all the Lice and Nits will presently dye. An easy way to kill Fleas. Take the herbé Coriander and seethe it wenl in water, and then sprinkle the same water in your Chambers and rooms, and it will destroy all the Fleas. Another way. Take Wormwood and Rue, and stamp them together, then mingle them well with good wine, and put them all together in a linen cloth, and rub all thy body well with it before thou goest to bed, and the Fleas will not come near thee.