ever applied to Melancholy men, A fabis abstinete, Eat no Pease, nor Beans; yet to such as will needs eat them, I would give this counsel, to prepare them according to those rules that Arnoldus Villanovanus, and Frietagius prescribe, for eating, and dressing, Fruits, Herbs, Roots, Pulse, &c. Spices.] Spices cause hot and head melancholy, and are for that cause forbidden by our Physitians to such men as are inclined to this malady, as Pepper, Ginger, Cinnamon, Cloves, Mace, Dates, &c. Honey and Sugar. Some except Hony; to those that are cold, it may be tolerable, but Dulcia se in bilem vertunt, they are obstructive. Crato therefore forbids all Spice, in a consultation of his, for a Melancholy Schoolmaster, Omnia aromatica, & quicquid sanguinem adurit: So doth Fernelius, consil. 45. Guianerius, tract. 15. c. 2. Mercurialis, cons. 189. To these I may adde all sharpe and sowre things, luscious, and over-sweet, or fat, as Oyl, Vineger, Verjuice, Mustard, Salt; as sweet things are obstructive, so these are corrosive. Gomesius in his Books, De sale, l. 1. c. 21. highly commends Salt; so doth Codronchus in his Tract, De sale Absynthii, Lemn. l. 3. c. 9. de occult. nat. mir. yet common experience findes Salt, and Salt-meats, to be great procurers of this disease. And for that cause belike those Egyptian Priests abstained from salt, even so much, as in their bread, ut sine perturbatione anima esset, saith mine Author, that their souls might be free from perturbations. i Bread.] Bread that is made of baser grain, as Pease, Beans, Oats, Rye, or over-hard baked, crusty, and black, is often spoken against, as causing melancholy juyce and wind. Joh. Mayor, in the first Book of his History of Scotland, contends much for the wholsomness of Oaten Bread: It was objected to him then living at Paris in France, That his Countrymen fed on Oats, and base grain, as a disgrace; but he doth ingenuously confess, Scotland, Wales, and a third part of England, did most part use that kinde of Bread, that it was as wholsom as any grain, and yielded as good nourishment. And yet Wecker out of Galen calls it horse-meat, and fitter for juments then men to feed on. But read Galen himself, Lib. 1. De cibis boni &mali succi, more largely discoursing of Corn and Bread. Wine.] All black Wines, over-hot, compound, strong thick drinks, as Muscadine, Malmsie, Allegant, Rumney, Brownbastard, Metheglen, and the like, of which they have thirty several kindes in Muscovy, all such made drinks are Bright, c. 6. excepts Hony. b Hor. apud Scoltzium consil. 186. comedas crustam, choleram quia gignit adustam. Schol. Sal. hurtful in this case, to such as are hot, or of a sanguine cholerick complexion, young,, or inclined to head-melancholy. For many times the drinking of Wine alone causeth it. Arculanus, c. 16. in 9. Rhasis, puts in Wine for a great cause, especially if it be immoderately used. Guianerius, Tract. 15. c. 2. tells a story of two Dutchmen, to whom he gave entertainment in his house, " That in one moneths space were both melancholy by drinking of Wine, one did naught but sing, the other sigh. Galen, l. de causis, morb. c. 3. Matthiolus on Dioscorides, and above all other Andreas Bachius, l. 3. c. 18, 19, 20. have reckoned upon those inconveniences that come by Wine: Yet notwithstanding all this, to such as are cold, or sluggish melancholy, a cup of Wine is good Physick, and so doth Mercurialis grant, consil. 25. in that case, if the temperature be cold, as to most melancholy men it is, Wine is much commended, if it be moderately used. Cider, Perry.] Cider and Perry are both cold and windy drinks, and for that cause to be neglected, and so are all those hot spiced strong drinks. Beer.] Beer, if it be over new or over stale, over strong, or not sod, smell of the cask, sharp, or sowre, is most unwholsom, frets, and gauls, &c. Henricus Ayrerus in a "consultation of his, for one that labored of Hypocondriacal melancholy discommends Beer. So doth " Crato in that excellent counsel of his, Lib. 2. consil. 21. as too windy, because of the Hop. But he means belike that thick black Bohemian Beer used in some other parts of Germany, nil spissius illa n Dum bibitur, nil clarius est dum mingitur, unde Nothing comes in so thick, As that old Poet scoffed, calling it Stygie monstrum conforme paludi, a monstrous drink, like the River Styx. But let them say as they list, to such as are accustomed unto it, "'Tis a most wholesome (so Polydor Vergil calleth it) and a pleasant drink," it is more subtil and better for the Hop that rarifies it, hath an especial vertue against melancholy, as our Herbalists confess, Fuchsius approves, Lib. 2. sec. 2. instit. cap. 11. and many others. Vinum turbidum. mense melancholici facti sunt. sum generat sanguinem. Henricus Abr.ncensis. m 'Ex vini patentis bibitione, duo Alemani in uno • About Dantzick in Spruce, Hamburg, Lypsick. Waters.] Waters.] Standing Waters, thick and ill coloured, such as come forth of Pools, and Motes, where Hemp hath been steeped, or slimy fishes live, are most unwholsom, putrified, and full of mites, creepers, slimy, muddy, unclean, corrupt, impure, by reason of the Sun's heat, and still standing; they cause foul distemperatures in the body and minde of man, are unfit to make drink of, to dress meat with, or to be used about men inwardly or outwardly. They are good for many domestical uses, to wash horses, water cattle, &c. or in time of necessity, but not otherwise. Some are of opinion, that such fat standing waters make the best Beer, and that seething doth defecate it, as Cardan holds, Lib. 13. subtil. "It mends the substance, and savor of it," but it is a Paradox. Such Beer may be stronger, but not so wholsom as the other, as Jobertus truly justifieth out of Galen, Paradox dec. 1. Paradox 5. that the seething of such impure waters doth not purge or purifie them, Pliny, lib. 31. c. 3. is of the same Tenent, and P. Crescentius agricult. lib. 1. & lib. 4. c. 11. & c. 45. Pamphilius Herilachus, l. 4. de nat. aquarum, such waters are naught, not to be used, and by the testimony of "Galen, "breed Agues, Dropsies, Pleurisies, Splenetick, and melancholy Passions, hurt the Eyes, cause a bad temperature, and ill disposition of the whole body, with bad colour." This Jobertus stifly maintains, Paradox, lib. 1. part. 5. that it causeth bleer eyes, bad colour, and many loathsome diseases to such as use it: This which they say, stands with good reason; for as Geographers relate, the water of Astracan breeds worms in such as drink it. *Axius, or as now called Verduri, the fairest river in Macedonia, makes all Cattle black that taste of it. Aleacman now Peleca, another stream in Thessaly, turns Cattle most part white, si potui ducas. L. Aubanus Rohemus refers that Struma or Poke of the Bavarians and Styrians to the nature of their waters, as z Munster doth that of the Valesians in the Alps, and Bodine supposeth the stuttering of some families in Aquatania ahout Labden, to proceed from the same cause, "and that the filth is derived from the water to their bodies." So that they that use filthy, standing, ill-coloured, thick, muddy water, must needs have muddy, ill coloured, impure, and infirm bodies. And because the body works upon the a Galen, 1. 1. de san. tuend. Cavendæ sunt aquæ quæ ex stagnis hauriuntur, & que turbide and malè olentes, &c. Contendit hæc v.tia coctione non emendari. • Innoxium reddit & bene olentem. dropem auget, febres putridas, splenem, tusses, nocet oculis, malum habiu Lib. de bonitate aquæ, hytum corporis & colorem. Aquæ ex nivibus coactæ strumosos faciunt. Mag. Nigritatem inducit si pecora biberint! Method. hist. cap. 5. balbutiunt Labdoni in Aquitania ob aquas, atque hi morbi ab aquis in corpora derivantur. 2 Cosmog. I. 3. cap. 36. minde, they shall have grosser understandings, dull, foggy, melancholy spirits, and be really subject to all manner of infirmities. To these noxious simples, we may reduce an infinite number of compound, artificial, made dishes, of which our Cooks afford us a great variety, as Taylors do fashions in our apparel. Such are Puddings stuffed with blood, or otherwise composed, Baked meats, sowced, indurate meats, fryed, and broyled, buttered meats, condite, powdred, and over-dryed, all Cakes, Simnels, Buns, Cracknels made with Butter, Spice, &c. Fritters, Pancakes, Pies, Salsages, and those several sawces, sharp, or over sweet, of which Scientia popine, as Seneca calls it, hath served those Apician tricks, and perfumed dishes, which Adrian the sixt Pope so much admired in the accounts of his predecessor Leo decimus; and which prodigious riot, and prodigality, have invented in this age. These do generally ingender gross humors, fill the stomack with crudities, and all those inward parts with obstructions. Montanus, consil. 22. gives instance in a melancholy Jew, that by eating such tart sawces, made dishes, and salt meats, with which he was overmuch delighted, became melancholy, and was evil affected. Such examples are familiar and common. SUBSECT. II. Quantity of dyet a cause. HERE is not so much harm proceeding from the substance it self of meat, and quality of it, in ill dressing and preparing, as there is from the quantity, disorder of time and place, unseasonable use of it, intemperance, overmuch, or overlittle taking of it. A true saying it is, Plures crapula quàm gladius, This gluttony kills more than the sword, this omnivorantia & homicida gula, this al-devouring and murdering gut. And that of Pliny is truer, "Simple Dyet is the best, heaping up of several meats, is pernicious, and sawces worse, many dishes bring many diseases." Avicen cryes out, "That › Cupedia vero, Edulia ex sanguine & suffocato parta. Hildesheim. placenta, bellaria, commentaque alia curiosa pistorum & coquorum, gustui servientium conciliant morbos tum corpori tum animo insanabiles. Philo Ju dæus lib. de victimis. P. Jov. vita ejus. <As Lettice steeped in Wine, Birds fed with Fennel and Sugar, as a Pope's Concubine used in Avignion, Stephan. Animæ negotium illa facessit, & de templo Dii immundum stabulum facit. Peletius, 10. c. * Lib. 11. c. 52. Homini cibus utilissimus simplex, acer vatio ciborum pestifera, & condimenta perniciosa, multos morbos multa fercula ferunt. 31. Dec. 2. c. Nihil deterius quam si tempus justo longius comedendo protrahatur, & varia ciborum genera conjungantur; inde morborum scaurigo, quæ ex repugnantia humorum oritur. VOL. I. nothing nothing is worse than to feed on many dishes, or to protract the time of meats longer than ordinary; from thence proceed our infirmities, and 'tis the fountain of all diseases, which arise out of the repugnancy of gross humors." Thence, saith Fernelius, come crudities, wind, oppilations, Cacochymia, Plethora, Cachexia, Bradiopepsia, * Hinc subitæ mortes, atque intestata senectus, sudden death, &c. and what not. As a Lamp is choaked with a multitude of Oyl, or a little fire with overmuch wood quite extinguished; so is the natural heat with immoderate eating, strangled in the Body. Pernitiosa sentina est abdomem insaturabile: One saith, An insatiable paunch is a pernicious sink, and the fountain of all diseases, both of Body and Minde. h Mercurialis will have it a peculiar cause of this private disease; Solenander, consil. 5. sect. 3. illustrates this of Mercurialis, with an example of one so melancholy, ab intempestivis commessationibus, unseasonable feasting. Crato confirmes as much, in that often cited Counsel, 21. lib. 2. putting superfluous eating for a main cause. But what need I seek farther for proofs? Hear * Hippocrates himself, Lib. 2. Aphoris. 10. "Impure bodies the more they are nourished, the more they are hurt, for the nourishment is putrified with vicious humors." i And yet for all this harm, which apparently follows surfetting and drunkenness, see how we luxuriate and rage in this kinde, read what Johannes Stuckius hath written lately of this subject, in his great Volumn De Antiquorum Conviviis, and of our present age; Quàm 'portentosa cœnæ, prodigious suppers, Qui dum invitant ad cœnam, efferunt ad sepulchrum, what Fagos, Epicures, Apetios, Heliogables our times afford? Lucullus ghost walks still, and every man desires to sup in Apollo: Æsop's costly dish is ordinarily served up. ם " n Magis illa juvant, quæ pluris emuntur." The dearest Cates are best, and 'tis an ordinary thing to bestow twenty or thirty pound on a dish, some thousand Crowns upon a dinner: Mully-Hamet, King of Fez and Morocco, spent three pound on the sawce of a Capon: It is nothing in our times, we scorn all that is cheap. "We loathe the very Plight (some of us, as Seneca notes) because it comes free, and Path 1. 1. c. 14. *Juv. Sat. 5. Nimia repletio ciborum facit melancholicum. iComestio superflua cibi, & potus quantitas nimia. k Impura corpora quanto magis nutris, tanto magis lædis: putrefacit enim alimentum vitiosus humor. Vid. Goclen. de portentosis coenis, &c. puteani Com. Amb. lib. de Jeju. cap. 14. "Juvenal. • Guiccardin. P Na. quæst 4. ca. ult. fastidio est lumen gratuitum, dolet quod sole, quod spiritum emere non possimus, quòd hic aër non emptus ex facili, &c. adeo nihil placet, nisi quod carum est. we |