ifiiore, 
¥ lit ear ms. 
Bar (hot* Anil. 
Hortusjanitat. 
Her mot. Barb. 
Jderc.Virg. 
Ubn, Rut Him; 
Vtho Brunfel. 
Uirrott.Ttagvs. 
LeonbtriTuch» 
< To < Thi Reader. 
thod in his preface, which is (when he comes to particulars) firft of medicines temperate, 
then of thole that are hot and drie in the firft degree : tben thofe cold and drie in thi fame 
degree : after that, thofe hot and dry in the fecond degree, &c. and in each of thefe trails 
he followes the order ofthe Arabicke Alphabet. 
In or after the times of the Arabians vntill about theyeare 1400. There were diuers 
obfeure and barbarous writers, whoby light knewlittle whereoftheywrit,buttookeouc 
ofthe Greekes, Arabians, and one another,all that they writ, giuing commonly rude fi- 
gures, feldome fet ting downe any descriptions : I will only name the chiefe of them that 
Ihauefeene.andasneareas I can gueft’e in that order that one of them fucceeded ano- 
ther. For the particular times of their lining is fomewhat difficult to be found out. One 
ofthe ancienteft of them feemes tobe Ifidore-^ then Plateanue vvhofe vvorke is Alphabeti- 
cal and intituled Circa inflans: the next Matthaus Syluaticiisyv ho flourifhed about the yere 
13 1? .his vvorke is called Panic tt<e : a little after him was Bartholomews jivglus vvhofe 
vvorkes(as that of Ifidon, and molt of the reft of thofe times) treat of diuers other things 
befides Plants, as Beafts, Birds, Fifties, &c. Hisworkeis called Degropnetatihus rerum . the 
Authors name was Bartholmcw Gianni /l, who was defeended of* the Noble Family of the 
Earles of Suffolke ; and he wrote this vvorke in Edward the thirds time, about the yearc 
of our Lord, 1397. After all thefe, and much like them is th eHsrtus fanitatis whofe Au- 
thor I know not. But to leaue thefe obfeure men and their writings,let me reckon fome 
oflater time,whowith much more learning and iudgementhaue endeuoured toilluftrat 
this part of Phyficke. 
About fome 200 yeare agoe learning againe beginning to flourilh, diuers begunne to 
leaue and loath the confufed and barbarous writings of the middle times, and to haue re- 
courfe to the Antients,from whence together with ptiritie of language, they might ac- 
quire amorecertaineknowledgeof the things treated of, which was wanting in the o- 
ther. Oneofthe firft that tooke paines in thiskindc was Hermolaus Barb A rus Patriarch 
of Aquileia,who not onely Mandated Diofcondcs, but writ a Commentarie vponhim in 
fine bookes, which he calls his Corollarium ■ in thisworke heehath fhewed himfelfeboth 
iudicious and learned. 
After him MancllusV irgilius Sectetaric to the State of Florence, a man of no leffe lear- 
ning and indgement than the former, fct forth Diofcorides in Greekcand Latine with a 
Comment vponhim. ( 
Much about their time alfo lolm Ruclltus a French Phyfition,who fiouriihed in the yere 
i48o,tranllated Diofcorides into Latine, whofe tranflationhath been the mod followed 
ofall the reft. Moreouer he fet forth a large worke,De tut nr a Shrpimn, diuided into three 
bookesjvvherein he hath accurately gathered all things out of ftmdry writers, efpccially 
the Greekesand Latines,. for firft hauing (after the manner of Theofhrajlus) deliuered 
fome common precepts and Aduertifements pertaining to the forme, life, generation, or- 
dering, and other fuch accidents of plants ; he then comes to the particular handling of 
each Jfecies. t 6 
Much about this time, the Germanes began tobeautifie thisfo neceflary part of 
Phyficke; and amongft them 0 1 ho Brttnfdjius, aPhyhtion of good account, writ ofplants 
and was the firft that gaue theliuely figuresof them-, but he treated notinall ofaboue 
288 Plants. He commonly obferues this method in his particular chapters : Firft the fi- 
gme (yet he giues not the figuies of all he writes of ) then the Grecke, Latine, and Ger- 
mane names ; after that, the defeription and hiftorie out ofmoft former Authors. then the 
temperature and vertues .and laftly.the Authours nafnes that had treated of them. His 
worke is in three parts or tomes, the firft was printed in 1 5jo.the fecond in 1 53 i.and the 
third in 1536. 
Next after him was Hieronymus Tragus a learned, ingenious, and honeft writer, who fet 
forth his workes in the German tongue,which were fhortly after tranflated into Latine 
by Dan id Kilter. He treats of moft ofthe Plants commonly growing in Germany, & I can 
obferue no generall method he keepes,but his particular one is commonly this : hee firft 
giues the figure with the Latine and high Dutch name; then commonly a gooddeferip- 
tion ; after that the names, then the temperature, and laftly the vertues, firft inwardly, then 
outwardly vfed. He hath figured fome 56y,anddefcribed fome Sco.his figures are <xood 
(and fo are moft of the reft that follow.) His workes were fet forth in Latine , An. r'yy ?. 
In his time lined Leonhartus Fuchfus,z German Phyfition.beingalfoa learned and di- 
ligent writer, but he hath taken many ofhisdefcriptionsas alfo vertues word for word out 
of the Antients,and to them hath put figures ; his generall method is after the Greek Al- 
phabet, and his particular one thus: Firft the names in Greckeand Latine, togetheroft- 
times 
