& 
of Plinies Naturall Hiftorie, 
A bytheirowne names, wherein verely men tooke rio {mall contentment: according as I purpofe 
to fhewby the example of certaine kings and princes,whofe names live and continue yet in their 
hearbes:{o honourable a thing it was thoughtin thofe daies to find and it were but an hearb that 
might doe good unto man, Whereas in this age wherein we nowlive, I doubt not but there bee 
fome who will mocke us for the pains taken in that behalfe,and thinke us very fimple for writing 
thus as wee doe of Simples; fo bafe and contemptible in the eyes of our fine fooles and delicat 
perfons,are even the beft things that ferve for the benefit & common utilitie of mankind. How- 
beit,for all that,good reafon it isand meet that the authours andinventours of them,as many as 
can be found, fhould be named and praifed with the beft;yea,and that the operations and effects 
of fuch hearbs fhould bee digefted and reduced into fome method, according as they be appro- 
B priarto everykind of difeafe.In the meditation whereof, I cannot chufe nor containe my felfe; 
but deplore and pitie the poore eftate and miferable café of man: who over and befides the ava- 
nifold accidents and cafualties which may befall unto him, is otherwife {abject to many thou- 
fands of maladies which we have much adoe to devife names fur,every houre of the day happe- 
ning as they doe,and whereof no man can account himfelfe free,but every one 1s for his part to 
feare them, Of thefe difeafes fo infinite as they bee in number, todetermine precifely and di- 
ftinétly which bee moft greevous; might feeme meere follic, confidering that every one whois 
ficke for the prefent,imagineth his owne ficknefle to bee worft and fulleftof anguith. And yet 
our forefathers have given their judgement inthis cafe, and by experience have found, That 
the moft extreame paine and torment that a mancan endure by any difeale,ts the Strrangurie 
C orpiffing dropmeale, occafioned by the ftone or gravel] in the bladder. The next is the grecfe, 
and anguifh of the Stomacke :and the third,Head-ach :for fetting chefe three maladies afide, 
- lightly there are no paines that can killa man or woman fofoone. And here by the way, I can- 
not for mine owne part but marvell much at the Greekes,who have publifhed in their writings 
venomous and peftilent hearbes, as well as thofe that bee good and holefome. Aind yet there is 
“an apparenceand fhew of reafon, why fome poyfons fhould bee knowne : for otherwhiles it 
falleth out that men live in fuck extremitie, as better it were to die, than fo to lie in anguifh and 
torment, infomuch, as death is the beft port and harbor of refuge thatthey have. Certes, Mar- 
- ews Varro reporteth of one Servius Clodius a gentleman or knight of Rome, who for the ex- 
teame paine of the gout, was forcedto announce his legs and feet all over with a narcoticke or 
D coldpoyfon,whereby he fo mortified the fpitits of the muskles and finewes,that hee became pa-_ 
ralyticke in that part : and ever after unto his dying day,was rid as well of all fence,as of the pain 
ofthe gout. Butfay, that in thefe cafesit might bee tollerable to fer downe in their bookesfome 
poyfons : what reafon,nay what leave had thofe Greekes to fhew the meanes how the brains arid 
underftanding of men fhould bee intoxicat and troubled ? What colour and pretence had they 
to fet downe medicines and receits to caufe women to flip the untimely fruit of their womb and 
athoufand fuch like cafts & devifes that may be pratifed by hearbs of their penning? For mine 
owne part, ] am not for them that would fend the conception our of the body unnaturally before 
the due time : they fhall learne nofuch receits ofme.Neither will I ceach any howto temper and 
fpice an amatorious cup, to draw either man or womaninto love, itis no part of my proteffion: 
E For well lremember,that Zaculls amoft brave Generall,and a captain of great execution, loft 
his life by fuch a love-potion. Much leffe then thall yee have me to write of Magicke, witchcraft, 
charmes,enchantments and forceries,unleffe it be co give warning that folke fhould not meddle 
with them,or to difprove thofe courfes for their vanities,and principally to give an Itrem,howlit- 
tle eruft and affurance there is to bee had in fuch tromperie, Itfufficeth mee andcontenteth my * 
mind, yea and I thinke thatI have done well for mankind, in recording thofe heatbes which bee 
goodand holefome,found out by men of wit and learning forthe benefit of pofteritie. 
Cuap. 1 
2 Of Moly,and Dodecasheos:0f Paonie,otherwife called Pentorobus or Glycyfide.Of Pa- 
nases, A{clepium,Heraclium,and Chirouum,.Of Panaces Centarium or P bar- 
nacexm, Of Heraclum,Siderium.0f Henbane,called Hyoftya- 
mus, Apollinaris,or Altercangenus. 
|“ Omer is of opinion, That the principall and foveraigne hearb of all others, is Moly;fo cal- 
led (as hee thinketh) by the gods themfelves. Theinvention or finding of care 
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