%60 The liintli Booke of 



inended above all other. But the Tyrians make their decpe red purplcjby dipping the wool] firft G 

 in the liquor of the Pelagian purples onely, whiles it is not throughly boiled to the hcigth^ but 

 as it were greene yet and unripe;and thereof they let it take what it can drinke. Soone after they 

 change it into another caudron or Icad^where the colour of the fca Cornets alone is boiled. And 

 then is it thought to have a moft comnncndable and excellent die, when it is as deepc a red as 

 bloud that is cold and fetled^ blackifh at the firft fightj but looke betweene you and the light, it 

 catietha bright and fhining luftre. And hereupon itis,tliat Homer calleth bloudjPurplc. 



Chap* xxxix. 

 ^ Wkn they began at Rometomare Vurfle frji, 



I Find in Chroniclcsjthat Purple hath ben ufcd in Rome time out of mind. Howbeit,king 

 never ware it but in his roiall habite or mantell of cftatCjCalled TrabeaAnd well known 

 it Isftullui HoftHim was the firft Romane king, who after he had fubdued the TulcaneSjput on 

 the long purple robe named Pretexta^-Sindi the caflbck broched and ftudded with fcarlet in broad 

 ^mid$,Nepos Cormlim who died in the dales of Augujlm Cafir the Emperour5VVhen(quoih he) 

 I was ayong manjihelightvioletpurple was rife and in great requeft, and a pound of it was Ibid 

 *i U.i fiju/d. for a ^hundred deniers : and not long after the Tarentine red purple or skarlet was much called 

 fhti. fotjand of the fame price. But after it, came the fine double died purple of Tyros, called Diba- 



*3 1 Lb. <; fljii. pba : and a man could not buy a pound of it for a -^thoufand deniers, which was the price of ten 



pound of the other. PXentulm Spimher in his iEdilefhip of the chaire, firft ware a long robe I 

 embrodered with it^and was checked and blamed therefore. But now adaies (quoth liefos) what 

 / is he that will not hang his parlour and dining chamber therewith^and have carpetsjcufhinsjand 

 Gup-bord clothes thereof? And it is no longer agoe when S pint her was ^dile, than in the (even 

 hundreth year after the foundation of RomCjeven when Cicero was Confull.This purple in thofe 

 daies was called Dibaphaj^twice died and that was counted a matter of great coft;,&: very ftate- 

 ly withall and magnificent. But now yee (hall have no purple cloths at all of any reckoning, but 

 they have their double die* As for the cloth died with the purple of the fbell-filli Conchy lia, the 

 manner of making the colour^and dying in ailrefpcds is the fame,fave that there be no fca Cor- 

 nets ufed thereto. Moreover, the juice or liquor for that coloutjis tempered with water in fteed 

 of the filthie pifle and urine of a man^altogether ufed in the other : and therein is foddcn but K 

 the halfe proportion ofcolours to the forclaidtindures. And thus is made that light pale ftam- 

 mell fo highly commended^for being fliort of the decpe rich colour : and the leffe while that the 

 wooll was fuffered to drinke the fill^themore bright and frcfh it feemeth. 



Chap, xl. 



The prices of rvooll^died rviththefe colours, 



AS for thefe coIours,thcy are valued deerer or cheaper, according to the coafis where thefe 

 fifhcs are gotten more or lefle.Howbeit3it was never knowne that in any place_, a pound of 

 the right purple wooll, died with the Pelagian colour, or of the colour it felfc,was more ^ 

 *3 iib,i% [hii, worth than^five hundred Seftcrces : nor a pound of the Cornets purple coft above one hundred* *^ 

 1 d. ok I would they knew fo much that pay fodeere for thefe wares byretale here at home, and cannot 

 have them,but at an exceifive rate.But here is not all,neiiher is this an end of expence that way, 

 for one ftili draweth on another : and men have a delight to fpend and lay on ftill one thing aftec 

 another 2 to make mixtures and mixtures againjand fo to fophilHcate the fophiftications of Na- 

 ture:as namely to paint and die their feelings,even the very embowed roufes and arches in bulk 

 ding: to mixe and temper gold and filver together, therewith to make an artificiall mettall Ele- 

 drum j and by adding brafTe or copper thereto^o have another mettall, counterfeiting the Co- 

 rinthian veffels, , 



ChXp^ XLi. ^ 

 ^ The mmmr of dying thi Afiiethjfl j^tolet,or Purple^the Chrymfin and Scarlet in ^ 

 ^ -^rainCj^a^nd • V 



IT would not fufficc'our prbdigall (pendthrifts to rob the precious ftonc Amethyft of his namc^ 

 and to applie it to a colour ; but when they had a perfcd Amethyft die^thcy muft have it to bee 



drunken 



