M R CULPEPER'S GHOST, Giving Seasonable ADVICE to the LOVERS OF HIS WRITINGS. Before which is prefixed, Mris. Culpepers EPISTLE in Vindication of her Husband's Reputation. LONDON: Printed for Peter coal, and are to be sold at his Shop, at the sign of the Printing-Press in cornhill, near the Royal Exchange. 1656. Mris. Culpepers EPISTLE IN VINDICATION Of her Husbands REPUTATION. Courteous Reader, SO great are the Afflictions wherewith our Heavenly Father hath been pleased to exercise me his poor Hand-maid, that I have not only lived to see my dear Husband,( the Stay and Solace of my Life) taken from me: but it hath been my hard hap also to see his Reputation, and Memory( which will be dear to all Posterity, for the Works he hath written for the Common Good of this Nation) blemished, and Eclipsed, by the covetous and unjust Forgeries of one, Who, though he calls himself Nathaniel, is far from being an Israelite in whom there is no guile; who was not content to publish a Hodg-podg of indigested Collections, and Observations of my dear Husband deceased, under the Title of Culpeper's last Legacy; but to make the Deceit more taking, he steeled his Forehead so far, and brased it so hard, as not to be ashamed to forge two Epistles, one in mine, and the other in my Husbands Name; of the penning of which, he nor I never so much as dreamed: And yet he impudently affirmeth in my Name, that my Husband Laid a severe Injunction on me to publish them for the general Good, after his decease; and that they are his last Experiences in physic and chirurgery. And in the Title of his Book, he saith, They are the choicest, and most profitable Secrets, resolved never to be published till after his Death. All which Expressions in the Title and Epistles, are as false as the Father of lies; and every word in them, forged and feigned. And he knew well enough, that no discreet, honest man, that was a friend to my Husband, or me, would ever have agreed to such infamous and dishonest Practices; and therefore I desire all Courteous Readers of the Writings of my Husband, to take notice of this Deceit, and to assure themselves that it never entred into his head, to publish such an undigested Gallimoffery, under the promising and solemn Name of his Last Legacy, and that whereby he gained his Reputation in the World, as the impostor makes him speak in his forged Epistle. And I desire any indifferent Reader, that hath observed my Husbands lofty, and Masculine manner of expressing himself in his Prefaces, and Epistles, Dedicatory, whether in case he had been minded or disposed to take so solemn a farewell of the world, as the Forger makes him to do; whether, I say, he would have done it in such a whining fashion, and so in the style of a Ballade-maker, as to say, And now, if it please Heaven to put a period to my Life, and Studies, that I must bid all things under the Sun farewell: farewell to my dear Wife and Child, sarewel Arts and Sciences, farewell all worldly Glories, adieu Readers. Certainly my Husband would have been far more serious, and material, in such a case, as any discreet man will judge. Neither can it be thought, that in such a solemn Valediction, he could possibly forget his wonted respects to the college of Doctors, to whom he did so frequently address himself, in divers of his Writings. Courteous Readers, I shall say no more touching the abuse of the Book-seller, only to prevent( as much as concerns me) thy being abused for the future, know, That my Husband left seventy-nine Books of his own making, or Translating, in my hands, and" I have deposited them into the hands of his, and my much honoured Friend, Mr. Peter coal, Book-seller, at the Printing-Press, near the Royal Exchange( for the good of my Child) from whom thou mayest expect to receive in Print, such of them as shall be thought fit to serve thee in due season, without any Disguises or Forgeries, unto which I do hereby give my attestation. Also my Husband left seventeen Books completely perfected, in the hands of the said Mr. coal, for which he paid my Husband in his life-time: And Mr. coal is ready and willing( on any good occasion) to show any of the said seventy nine Books, or the seventeen, to such as doubt thereof. And if any Person shall question the Truth of any part of this Vindication, or Epistle; if they will take the pains to come to me, I will face to face, justify the truth of every word thereof, as I have subscribed my Hand thereunto in the presence of many Witnesses. I profess in the Presence of the great God, the Searcher of all hearts, before whom Mr. Brooks and I must one day give an account of all our Actions; That I have not published this Epistle or Vindication, out of any dis-respect to Mr. Brooks( for I much respect the man, and would he glad to serve him to my power) but only to clear my Husband from the folly and weakness cast upon him by the means above expressed. And out of tenderness to Mr. Brooks, I first tried other means of keeping, and afterwards of repairing my Husbands Credit, and then stayed long to see if he would repair( in any measure) the wrong done to my Husband, and myself. I desire to be Your Servant( in, and for the Truth) Alice Culpeper. From my House, next door to the read lion in Spittle-fields, October, 18. 1655. Mris. Culpeper did the 18. of October, subscribe this Epistle in Vindication of her Husband's Reputation, before Ten Witnesses, as she had done another Epistle on the ninth of October, almost in the same words with this, except near the Conclusion. The Printer to the Reader. Courteous Reader, THough that Ingenious and Active, Charitable Soul or Ghost of Dr. Culpeper, hath left this World; yet Care of his Friends, and such as have been, or are his Schollers,( for being dead, he Teacheth in the never-dying Monuments of his Learning, Wit, Industry, and Humanity; I mean his Writings) hath not left his Soul, as appears by this following Discourse. Whether any person brought it from the Elysian Fields( where it seems by this Relation, his Ghost at present is) or whether he delivered all this in an Apparition; or whether Spirits can writ, and so he wrote it to some Friend of his, that will not be known, for fear he should be counted a Conjurer, and one that had familiarity with Spirits? I will not determine. Perhaps his good Angel might receive it from him, and discover it to the Good Angel of his Wife, or Dr. Harrington, and the one or other of them, receiving it from their Tutelary Angel, might privately communicate the same to some Friends for fear of the ill Speeches of People. However, being it hath been my good hap to get a Copy( though it may be, not so perfect as were to be wished, for the Connexion seems in some places faulty, and sometimes the Ghost speaks as to one, and other whiles as to many; sometimes as to a Messenger that should carry word to his Friends, and sometimes as if himself were present, speaking to them) I could not be so forgetful of my old Friend, and unfaithful to thee, whom I take to be his Friend, as to let it sleep in Oblivion, and miss of the good, that Charitable Soul intended thee by it. Such a Comportance would not at all have become that Man, who is, and professeth himself to be Thy Real Friend to his Power, PETER coal. The Names of Mr. Culpepers eight several Books of physic, that thou art advised in this Discourse to buy. 1 The practise of physic, containing seventeen several Books. Wherein is plainly set forth, The Nature, Cause, Differences, and Several Sorts of Signs; Together with the Cure of all Diseases in the Body of Man. Being chiefly a Translation of the The Works of that Learned and Renowned Doctor, Lazarus Riverius, Now living; councillor and physician to the present King of France. Above fifteen thousand of the said Books in Latin have been Sold in a very few Yeers, having been eight times printed, though al the former Impressions wanted the Nature, Causes, Signs, and Differences of the Diseases, and had only the Medicines for the Cure of them; as plainly appears by the Authors Epistle. 2 The Anatomy of the Body of Man, Wherein is exactly described, the several parts of the Body of Man, illustrated with very many larger Brass Plates than ever was in English before. 3 A Translation of the New Dispensatory, made by the college of Physitians of London. Whereunto is added, The Key to Galen's Method of physic 4 The English physician Enlarged; being an Astrologo-Physical Discourse of the vulgar Herbs of this Nation; wherein is shewed how to cure a mans self of most Diseases incident to Mans Body, with such things as grow in England, and for three pence charge Also in the same Book is shewed, The time of gathering al Herbs, both Vulgarly & Astrologically. 2 The way of drying, and keeping them and their juices. 3 The way of making & keeping al manner of useful Compounds, made of those Herbs. 5 A Directory for Midwives, or a Guide for Women. Newly enlarged by the Author in every sheet, and Illustrated with divers new Plates. 6 Galen's Art of physic, with a large Comment. 7 A New Method both of studying and practising physic. 8 A Treatise of the Rickets, being a Disease common to Children; wherein is shewed, 1 The Essence, 2 The Causes, 3 The Signs, 4 The Remedies of the Disease. M R CULPEPER'S GHOST, Giving Seasonable ADVICE to the LOVERS OF HIS WRITINGS. I Do most seriously and hearty advice all my loving Friends, that accept kindly of my labours and endeavours, and delight in the Studies of physic in their Mother Tongue, that they would make Hay while the Sun shines, viz. Whiles the Liberties of a free Common-wealth last among them. For let them assure themselves, That( if ever God, for their Unthankfulness, and Unworthy Walking under his Mercies) shall cast again the Tyrannical yoke of King-ship upon the Neck of the English Nation, they will be deprived of all those blessed Opportunities they now enjoy, to improve their Understandings in this Art. For King-ship,( like the Devil cast out) will returning, bring SEVEN DEVILS worse than itself, and the Bondage of the Nation will be worse than ever, and ten-fold more egyptian. And as the Tyranny of King-ship hath always been, and ever will be, attended with a Luxurious and debauched Court; so will the Debaucheries be increased seven fold by the Instigation of those seven other Devils. And then ( Friends) the prime Factors of physic, of the monopolising upstart London college, will be called to secret Court-Ministries, and to be of the Cabinet Council of some Court-Nimrods, sick of such Diseases that punish, as well by the shane, as pain which attends them. Then will the Factors of physic so employed, dare without much blushing to beseech their Debauched and Frenchified Lordships, to become earnest Solicitors to the Kings most Excellent majesty; that for the Profit of his Majesties Realms, undone by knowledge, and to increase the Gain of the college Factors, that they may be able to attend the Court, when called, in a splendid Equipage; and as a remuneration of their Fidelity and secrecy in their Court Services; That all Books of physic in the English Tongue, may by express and speedy Order of his most excellent Majesty, be burnt by the Hand of the Hang-man at the usual places of such Martyrdoms, but especially at the Royal Exchange, over against Pestilent Peters own Shop; and that al Persons be enjoined from City and Country to bring in all their physic Books to the college at Amen-Corner; and that all chirurgeons, country Practitioners, Apothecaries, Gentlemen, and Ladies, may be strictly enjoined under a severe Penalty to be expressed, to blot out of their Remembrance all the knowledge of physic gained from such Books, and never to think thereof, so much as in a Dream; and that all sick Persons may be enjoined from all Parts of the Nation, and from aboard the Ships of the Commonwealth, to repair in Person, or by their Agents, with their Waters, to the college of London for physic, just as they do to Westminster for Law( for if his Majesty please, they may do one as well as the other) and that it may be a Star Chamber Case, for any man to print and publish such Books, or to red and inform themselves thereby. Now their Lordships must be Judges in the Star-Chamber, and they will be zealous in this Cause so nearly concerning their private Friends, the college Factors, who had lately healed them from those Brandmarks made with a BURNING-HOT-MISTRIS, which they received by Sentence given against their Lordships in the Court of Sun-Chamber in Heaven; not upon their Cheeks, Foreheads, or Ears, where their Lordships were wont to brand men, but upon their PRIAPEIAN UTENSILES, for the sweet Sin of Lechery, the Fruit of their Tyrannical Pride and luxury. Think ( Friends) how the poor Printers, and Publishers of physic Books in the English Tongue, will be Sentenced by their Frenchified Lordships, assure yourselves the Censures of Laton, Prin, Bastwick, and Burton, were but Fleabitings to the Penalties that shal be decreed by that High Court, against such heinous offenders against the Crown and Dignity of the college. A word to the wise is sufficient, Buy these * The Names of the Books I advice you to buy, thou mayest find after the end of the Epistle to this Discourse. Books while you can get them, study them well, and keep them warily when you have them, and by this means you will cause more to be published in this kind, and likewise by great dispersion of Copies far & wide transmit this knowledge to al your posterity, Maugre the Beards of al future Tyrants, and their Factors of physic. And I would have my Country-men to be very thankful to Almighty God for the present Liberty of the Nation, and to pray continually for their Sober, Honest, and Generous Governors, that care not to oblige any Man or Fraternity of men, by unrighteous and wicked Acts, which highly disoblige the Commonwealth. And( friends) if any of the college cry down the Authors by me Published, and I hear some are so impudent as to disparaged Riverius( which is al one, as if a Civilian should through dirt in the Face of Justinian) Laugh at them and Pity them( for it is the last Game they have to play) but believe them not; know rather assuredly, that in the Books by me composed or translated, the principal of which is the renowned Riverius( since my unbodying, completely published) there are the best Rules of physic in a Galenical way that are, or ever will be extant, for we know what those Principles can produce. And as for chemistry, of which I had a mighty high opinion in my Life time: I must confess, though I stil acknowledge the Art to be very ingenious and useful, to search into the mysteries of Nature, and the best key of Natural Philosophy, & that by help thereof some very useful Medicaments are daily made, as my Aurum Potabile, of which I left a Treatise; yet I do now much doubt whether a General supply of Medicaments for al Cases obvious in practise, can by Chymistrie be afforded better than the often-approved and by experience confirmed Galenical and Hyppocratical Remedies. The occasion that made me first incline to this opinion, was thus. I met here in the Elysian Fields accidentally with Factor Wright junior, who first lived with Doctor flood in Fan-church street, being a Youth and gave out his physic( as his House-Apothecary) who told me that his Mr. flood, though a Trismegistian-Platonick-Rosy-crucian Doctor, gave his Patients the same kind of Galenical Medicaments, which other Physitians in the Town ordinarily appointed, and when himself was sick, he had no chemical Elixars or Quintessential Extracts to rely upon, but after he had caused himself to be let blood( an ordinary Galenical Remedy) he sent for Doctor Gulstone, & relied upon his advice for the Cure of his disease, who was a pure Galenist. And I well remember in one of his Folio Books treating of Preservation of Health, his only physic he recommends, is a mastic Pill, with a drop of oil of Time, than which the Apothecaries Shop knows no more common Medicine. And therefore he being so great, and so sublime a Doctor, as to have written many volumes in Folio, full of Mathematical, Mystagogical, Chymical-Rosicrucean Speculations, which Books are highly esteemed by many beyond Seas, and by some at home: If all his Skill in chemistry( of which the Rosie-Crucian Seraphical illuminated Fraternity, are the chief Masters) or other Mysterious Arts, had furnished him with any more effectual Medicaments than the Galenical, such as are in the London Dispensatory, I cannot doubt but he would have used them, if not for Conscience sake, yet for to advance his Reputation, by the quickness, safeness, and pleasantness of the Cure, which is that the chemists boast of. After the foresaid Relation of Factor Wright Junior, I happened to meet with Old Dr. flood, walking very musefully, and communicating with the Ghosts of Raimundus Lullius, and Van Helmont; I took old Dr. flood aside, and asked him if the Relation of his Servant Robert Wright were true. Hereupon the old man ingenuously confessed the thing, and said there were no better Medicaments in the whole world than the Galenical; and so left me to return to his Company, they being( as I over heard) in a great Dispute about the Weapon-Salve, and plotting together about a rare Invention, viz. How to invent an Universal Magnetick Medicine for fevers, which being put into the Urine of a sick Patient, the quantity of a few drops, should Sympathetically work the same Operation in the Cure of the fever, as the Weapon-salve being anointed upon the Weapon, does upon the wound. For Dr. flood said, if the Spirits in the Blood sticking upon a Sword, when it is anointed, do by Sympathy fly unto the Body whence they came, and carry along with them the virtue of the salue, as I have clearly demonstrated in my Book against Hoplocrisma-spongos, or my Squeezing of person Fosters sponge: why may not the virtues of a Magnetick Medicament, dropped into the Patients Urine, especially the Urine remaining warm, be carried into the inmost Bowels of the Body, especially the Liver, Spleen, Kidneys, and Bladder, by the Spirits of those parts which came away in the Urine, and when the Urine becomes could, do retire into the Body whence they came, by a virtual Attraction caused by the Emanation of the invisible atoms that come from those parts in the sick Body, through the air into the chamber-pot or Urinal, to visit their fellow Spirits there imprisoned. Truly( replied Van Helmont) this may very well be done; for the Fermentative odour of the Gas Aquae in conjunction with the Blas Meteoron, impregnated with the Magnum Oportet, which lies riveted in the Centre of the Magnetick Spirit, dropped into the Urine, may in a moment, and like lightning, penetrate the sick Patient, and meeting with the Faber Archeus( who is now so enraged, and blows his Bellows with such Bedlam fury, that al his shop is afire about his Ears) so charm and pacify him, and pierce into the Individual punctuality of his Central Essence, so tickle him( as men are wont to tickle the Trouts, and other Fish, when they intend with their hands to throw them out of the Water) that he shall become as gentle as a Lamb, and recovering his wits, quench the fire he hath made, and put all in Tune again. This was the Discourse of these three chemical Grandees, but they could not well agree; for Raimundus Lullius, and Dr. flood varied from Min here Van Helmont( who said they were not Adepti) so that they agreed to choose Arbitrators; Raimund and Robert choose Trismegistus, and John Baptist choose Paracelsus: But what was the Conclusion of this Consult, I have not yet learned. And so farewell. Hola! dost thou hear Friend, I will tell thee a Tale before thou go, which will confirm what I formerly said. Word is newly come to the Elysian Fields, that a Learned Doctor and Factor of physic, independent upon the college of London, was lately dealt with by a pragmatic college Factor, who would needs persuade him to come into the college. But the said Independent Factor, said to the Presbiterian, or college Factor, That he knew no reason why he should desire to be of the college, but divers against it, as loss of his Liberty in many respects, and being subjected and made inferior to those that are his Inferiors in standing in the University, and perhaps in all other things save Mountebankry, &c. overdoing, that to seek a thing out of design of advancing a Mans self, which will really debase him, is the greatest Folly in the world. To which the Presbiterian, or college Factor answered, You had best for al that join yourself to the college, because YOU KNOW NOT WHAT TIMES ARE COMING: Intimating that he the said college Factor, hath hopes that Kingly Tyranny shall be restored, and that the Illegal and Tyrannical Usurpation of the monopolising college( who since the Commonwealth hath been established in opposition to King-ship, have drawn in their Horns) shall again flourish, and play Rex, as in daies of old, when they had the Impudence to afflict by Imprisonment, and other ways, men as well Educated, and as Learned as themselves( contrary to their Charter, which gives them no power derogating from, and disannulling the ancient privilege of Oxford, and Cambridg, and other Universities, which Authorize men to practise in all Christendom) because they would not bow the Knee to Haman that sate in the Kings Gate, nor submit themselves and the Dignity of the Universities to the monopolising Conventicle at Amen Corner, so as to become their Subjects, and vassals to their Usurped Prerogative. And since that, a Reverend old college Factor who by practise of physic &c. hath scraped together a BARONS Estate, & may likely be a Star-chamber Lord, when the Tyranny is restored, told one that brought an English physic Book to him to Licence, that he would neither Approve nor Licence it, but THE TIME WAS COMING, THAT A COURSE SHOULD BE TAKEN AGAINST AL SUCH BOOKS AS THOSE. Remember this story Country men, and pray for the Continuance of your Liberties and the just managers of the same, for with the revival and reduction of Kingly Tyranny, by a necessary and Natural consequence, Lords Tyranny, Bishops Tyranny, Star-chamber Tyranny, Courts of Honor and of Amen Corner &c. will revive and show themselves as Brisk as Body-Lice. farewell. Hola! one word more. Good honest friend commend me hearty to the Author of that Epigram Printed with Riverius, at the end of his Epistle, and thank him for informing me what a Doctor of physic is indeed and intruth, and what a mere Factor of physic. I confess I never considered how that FACERE MEDICINAM is to practise physic; and DOCTOR and QUI DOCET are Convertible terms of the same Synonymal import: and that a Man can be no more a Doctor without Disciples or Scholars then a Father without Children, a Master without Servants, or a Prince without Subjects. Whereas he that teaches any Art is a Doctor of that Art in spite of al that al the colleges in the world shal be able so say or do to the daies of Eternity, unless they can bereave men of their understandings, and change the common Speech of Man-kind. So that a Man may be a Doctor or Teacher of physic and no Factor or Practiser; or a Practiser, or Factor( which is the true word) and no Teacher thereof; or he may be both a Teacher and Factor, as I was when I lived in the Body. And verily it is a most ridiculous thing, that he which intends onely to Practise the Art of Healing, should not think himself qualified thereunto until with much labour and expense he has purchased the idle name of a Teacher of physic: as if a Barrister or counsellor at Law, should not think himself fitly qualified to pled at the Bar, unless he should with great travil and expense at Court procure himself the Empty name of a judge, or a Doctor of the Laws of England. I confess I am fully enlightened and convinced in this point, and if I were to live again in your world, I would writ myself Doctor of physic instead of Nich. Culpeper, Gent. For besides al the Reason in the world on my side( for I dare say I have been a greater Teacher of physic, and have had incomparably more Disciples in that Art, than al the Fellows of Amen college since old King Harry gave them their Charter( which in al probability dropped out of his great Codpiece) not foreseing what ill use they would make of it) I would justify myself by the Testimony of Doctor John Collins, the Kings Professor of physic in Cambridg, who in his Commendatory Epigram to Mr. Ralph Winterton, who Versified Hippocrates aphorisms in Greek Verses, thus * At the end of Hippocrates Aphorisms in Greek and Latin Verse, printed at Cambridg. speaks. Non Toga, Pileolús ve, nec Oscula, Dactylius ve Verè Doctorem, néve Cathedra facit: Doct●ris quamvis hec sint Insignia facti. His sine, Doctorem te facit ipse Liber. Nor Gown, nor Cap, nor Kiss, nor Golden Ring Nor Chair a Doctor makes, nor no such thing. These may adorn, but can no Doctor make, Without al which thou for thy Poems sake A Doctor art. And if Ralph Winterton who then had no other university degree then of a Master of Arts was by the Kings professor of physic pronounced a Doctor of physic, the said Professor acknowledging that his Book had made him so, which notwithstanding was no more than an ingenious turning of Hippocrates Aphorisms into Greek verse, whereby the sense indeed of the Author was illustrated and made more intelligible: who shal deny me to have been a Doctor of physic, that have not only translated but composed divers Books of my own, to teach the said Art. So that I could wish that Peter coal would hereafter Print me NICH. CULPEPER DOCTOR OF physic and leave out GENT. For al the world must needs of themselves know that a Doctor of physic is a Gentleman in the Superlative Degree. So farewell. Commendations to my Wife and my noble friend Factor Harrington, whom I desire to be good unto my Wife and to supply my Absence as much as he possibly can. Commendations also to al friends and honest Doctors and Factors of physic, and Ingenious booksellers, saving him that abused me by Printing my Notes( partly collected in the Infancy of my studies, but many of them with an intent to refute the same, some of which refutations I did Print) under the name of Culpepers last legacy of rare secrets &c. whereby he makes me contradict myself in my own writings( To the hazard of the Lives of many of the good people of this Nation) which is the highest injury can be done to a Man. If he leave not off such tricks, I would advice him to pull down the sign of the Angel and hang up the Devil, or the sign of his Cloven foot, instead thereof: that people may Guess by the sign what Commodities he deals in, and Know where to have them, without seeking any further about the Town. For when they see the Father of Lies and Impostures, or his MITRED Foot hang up, they may be sure that love Lies and Sophisticated Forgeries( as too many do) where to have their turn served. VALE. FINIS.