note these insuing at the request of one, who required me to touch a
few of them with whatsoeuer breuitie I listed. Therefore our saffron
(beside the manifold vse that it hath in the kitchin and pastrie, also
in our cakes at bridals, and thanksgiuings of women) is verie
profitably mingled with those medicins which we take for the diseases
of the breast, of the lungs, of the liuer, and of the bladder: it is
good also for the stomach if you take it in meat, for it comforteth
the same and maketh good digestion: being sodden also in wine, it not
onelie kéepeth a man from droonkennesse, but incorageth also vnto
procreation of issue. If you drinke it in sweet wine, it inlargeth the
breath, and is good for those that are troubled with the tisike and
shortnesse of the wind: mingled with the milke of a woman, and laied
vpon the eies, it staieth such humors as descend into the same, and
taketh awaie the red wheales and pearles that oft grow about them: it
killeth moths if it be sowed in paper bags verie thin, and laid vp in
presses amongst tapistrie or apparell: also it is verie profitablie
laid vnto all inflammations, painefull aposthumes, and the shingles;
and dooth no small ease vnto deafnes, if it be mingled with such
medicins as are beneficiall vnto the eares: it is of great vse also in
ripening of botches and all swellings procéeding of raw humors. Or if
it shall please you to drinke the root thereof with maluesie, it will
maruellouslie prouoke vrine, dissolue and expell grauell, and yéeld no
small ease to them that make their water by dropmeales. Finallie,
thrée drams thereof taken at once, which is about the weight of one
shilling nine pence halfepenie, is deadlie poison; as Dioscorides
dooth affirme: and droonke in wine (saith Platina) lib. 3. cap. 13.
"De honesta voluptate," dooth hast on droonkennesse, which is verie
true. And I haue knowne some, that by eating onelie of bread more than
of custome streined with saffron, haue become like droonken men, & yet
otherwise well known to be but competent drinkers. For further
confirmation of this also, if a man doo but open and ransake a bag of
one hundred or two hundred weight, as merchants doo when they buie it
of the crokers, it will strike such an aire into their heads which
deale withall, that for a time they shall be giddie and sicke (I meane
for two or three houres space) their noses and eies in like sort will
yéeld such plentie of rheumatike water, that they shall be the better
for it long after, especiallie their eiesight, which is woonderfullie
clarified by this meanes: howbeit some merchants not liking of this
physike, muffle themselues as women doo when they ride, and put on
spectacles set in leather, which dooth in some measure (but not for
altogither) put by the force thereof. There groweth some saffron in
manie places of Almaine, and also about Vienna in Austria, which later
is taken for the best that springeth in those quarters. In steed of
this some doo vse the Carthamus, called amongst vs bastard saffron,
but neither is this of anie value, nor the other in any wise
comparable vnto ours. Whereof let this suffice as of a commoditie
brought into this Iland in the time of Edward 3. and not commonlie
planted till Richard 2. did reigne. It would grow verie well (as I
take it) about the Chiltern hils, & in all the vale of the White
horsse so well as in Walden and Cambridgeshire, if they were carefull
of it. I heare of some also to be cherished alreadie in
Glocestershire, and certeine other places westward. But of the
finenesse and tincture of the chiue, I heare not as yet of anie
triall. Would to God that my countriemen had beene heretofore (or were
now) more carefull of this commoditie! then would it no doubt haue
prooued more beneficiall to our Iland than our cloth or wooll. But
alas! so idle are we, and heretofore so much giuen to ease, by reason
of the smalnesse of our rents, that few men regard to search out which
are their best commodities. But if landlords hold on to raise the
rents of their farms as they begin, they will inforce their tenants to
looke better vnto their gains, and scratch out their rent from vnder
euerie clod that may be turned aside. The greatest mart for saffron is
at Aquila in Abruzo, where they haue an especiall weight for the same
of ten pounds lesse in the hundred than that of Florens and Luke: but
how it agréeth with ours it shall appéere hereafter.
OF QUARRIES OF STONE FOR BUILDING.
CHAP. IX.
Quarries with vs are pits or mines, out of which we dig our stone to
build withall, & of these as we haue great plentie in England, so are
they of diuerse sorts, and those verie profitable for sundrie
necessarie vses. In times past the vse of stone was in maner dedicated
to the building of churches, religious houses, princely palaces,
bishops manours, and holds onlie: but now that scrupulous obseruation
is altogither infringed, and building with stone so commonlie taken
vp, that amongst noble men & gentlemen, the timber frames are supposed
to be not much better than paper worke, of little continuance, and
least continuance of all. It farre passeth my cunning to set downe how
manie sorts of stone for building are to be found in England, but much
further to call each of them by their proper names. Howbeit, such is
the curiositie of our countrimen, that notwithstanding almightie God
hath so blessed our realme in most plentifull maner, with such and so
manie quarries apt and meet for piles of longest continuance, yet we
as lothsome of this abundance, or not liking of the plentie, doo
commonlie leaue these naturall gifts to mould and cinder in the
ground, and take vp an artificiall bricke, in burning whereof a great
part of the wood of this land is dailie consumed and spent, to the no
small decaie of that commoditie, and hinderance of the poore that
perish oft for cold.
Our elders haue from time to time, following our naturall vice in
misliking of our owne commodities at home, and desiring those of other
countries abroad, most estéemed the cane stone that is brought hither
out of Normandie: and manie euen in these our daies following the same
veine, doo couet in their works almost to vse none other. Howbeit
experience on the one side, and our skilfull masons on the other
(whose iudgement is nothing inferiour to those of other countries) doo
affirme, that in the north and south parts of England, and certeine
other places, there are some quarries, which for hardnesse and beautie
are equall to the outlandish greet. This maie also be confirmed by the
kings chappell at Cambridge, the greatest part of the square stone
wherof was brought thither out of the north. Some commend the veine of
white frée stone, slate, and méere stone, which is betwéene Pentowen,
and the blacke head in Cornewall, for verie fine stuffe. Other doo
speake much of the quarries at Hamden, nine miles from Milberie, and
pauing stone of Burbecke. For toph stone, not a few allow of the
quarrie that is at Dreslie, diuerse mislike not of the veines of hard
stone that are at Oxford, and Burford. One praiseth the free stone at
Manchester, & Prestburie in Glocestershire; another the quarries of
the like in Richmont. The third liketh well of the hard stone in Clee
hill in Shropshire; the fourth of that of Thorowbridge, Welden, and
Terrinton. Whereby it appeareth that we haue quarries inow, and good
inough in England, sufficient for vs to build withall, if the péeuish
contempt of our owne commodities, and delectations to inrich other
countries, did not catch such foolish hold vpon vs. It is also
verified (as anie other waie) that all nations haue rather néed of
England, than England of anie other. And this I thinke may suffice for
the substance of our works. Now if you haue regard to their ornature,
how manie mines of sundrie kinds of course & fine marble are there to
be had in England? But chieflie one in Staffordshire, an other neere
to the Peke, the third at Vauldrie, the fourth at Snothill (longing to
the lord Chaindois) the fift at Eglestone, which is of blacke marble,
spotted with graie or white spots, the sixt not farre from Durham. Of
white marble also we haue store, and so faire as the Marpesian of
Paris Ile. But what meane I to go about to recite all, or the most
excellent? sith these which I haue named alredie are not altogether of
the best, nor scarselie of anie value in comparison of those, whose
places of growth are vtterlie vnknowne vnto me, and whereof the blacke
marble spotted with greene is none of the vilest sort, as maie appeare
by parcell of the pauement of the lower part of the quire of Paules in
London, and also in Westminster, where some péeces thereof are yet to
be séene and marked, if anie will looke for them. If marble will not
serue, then haue we the finest alabaster that maie elsewhere bée had,
as about saint Dauids of Wales; also neere to Beau manour, which is
about foure or fiue miles from Leicester, & taken to be the best,
although there are diuerse other quarries hereof beyond the Trent, as
in Yorkeshire, &c: and fullie so good as that, whose names at this
time are out of my remembrance. What should I talke of the plaister of
Axholme (for of that which they dig out of the earth in sundrie places
of Lincolne and Darbishires, wherewith they blanch their houses in
stead of lime, I speake not) certes it is a fine kind of alabaster.
But sith it is sold commonlie but after twelue pence the load, we
iudge it to be but vile and course. For my part I cannot skill of
stone, yet in my opinion it is not without great vse for plaister of
paris, and such is the mine of it, that the stones thereof lie in
flakes one vpon an other like plankes or tables, and vnder the same is
an excéeding hard stone verie profitable for building, as hath often
times béene prooued. This is also to be marked further of our plaister
white and graie, that not contented with the same, as God by the
quarrie dooth send and yéeld it foorth, we haue now deuised to cast it
in moulds for windowes and pillers of what forme and fashion we list,
euen as alabaster it selfe: and with such stuffe sundrie houses in
Yorkshire are furnished of late. But of what continuance this deuise
is like to proue, the time to come shall easilie bewraie. In the meane
time sir Rafe Burcher knight hath put the deuise in practise, and
affirmeth that six men in six moneths shall trauell in that trade to
sée greater profit to the owner, than twelue men in six yeares could
before this tricke was inuented.
If neither alabaster nor marble doeth suffice, we haue the touchstone,
called in Latine _Lydius lapis_, shining as glasse, either to match in
sockets with our pillers of alabaster, or contrariwise: or if it
please the workeman to ioine pillers of alabaster or touch with
sockets of brasse, pewter, or copper, we want not also these mettals.
So that I think no nation can haue more excellent & greater diuersitie
of stuffe for building, than we maie haue in England, if our selues
could so like of it. But such alas is our nature, that not our own but
other mens do most of all delite vs; & for desire of noueltie, we oft
exchange our finest cloth, corne, tin, and woolles, for halfe penie
cockhorsses for children, dogs of wax or of chéese, two pennie tabers,
leaden swords, painted feathers, gewgaws for fooles, dogtricks for
disards, hawkeswhoods, and such like trumperie, whereby we reape iust
mockage and reproch in other countries. I might remember here our pits
for milstones, that are to be had in diuerse places of our countrie,
as in Angleseie, Kent, also at Queene hope of blew gréet, of no lesse
value than the Colaine, yea than the French stones: our grindstones
for hardware men. Our whetstones are no lesse laudable than those of
Creta & Lacedemonia, albeit we vse no oile with them, as they did in
those parties, but onelie water, as the Italians and Naxians doo with
theirs: whereas they that grow in Cilicia must haue both oile and
water laid vpon them, or else they make no edge. These also are
diuided either into the hard greet, as the common that shoemakers vse,
or the soft gréet called hones, to be had among the barbars, and those
either blacke or white, and the rub or brickle stone which husbandmen
doo occupie in the whetting of their sithes.
In like maner slate of sundrie colours is euerie where in maner to be
had, as is the flint and chalke, the shalder and the peble. Howbeit
for all this wée must fetch them still from farre, as did the Hull men
their stones out of Iseland, wherewith they paued their towne for want
of the like in England: or as sir Thomas Gresham did, when he bought
the stones in Flanders, wherwith he paued the Burse. But as he will
answer peraduenture, that he bargained for the whole mould and
substance of his workemanship in Flanders: so the Hullanders or Hull
men will saie, how that stockefish is light loding, and therfore they
did balasse their vessels with these Iseland stones, to keepe them
from turning ouer in their so tedious a voiage. And thus much brieflie
of our quarries of stone for building, wherein oftentimes the workemen
haue found strange things inclosed, I meane liuelie creatures shut vp
in the hard stones, and liuing there without respiration or breathing,
as frogs, todes, &c: whereof you shall read more in the chronologie
following: also in Caius Langius, William of Newburie, Agricola,
Cornelius of Amsterdam, Bellogius de aquatilibus, Albert the great,
lib. 19. cap. 9. "De rebus metallicis," and Goropius in Niloscopio,
pag. 237, &c. Sometime also they find pretious stones (though seldome)
and some of them perfectlie squared by nature, and much like vnto the
diamond, found of late in a quarrie of marble at Naples, which was so
perfectlie pointed, as if all the workemen in the world had
c[=o]sulted about the performance of that workemanship. I know that
these reports vnto some will séeme incredible, and therefore I stand
the longer vpon them; neuerthelesse omitting to speake particularlie
of such things as happen amongst vs, and rather séeking to confirme
the same by the like in other countries, I will deliuer a few more
examples, whereby the truth hereof shall so much the better appeare.
For in the middest of a stone not long since found at Chius, vpon the
breaking vp thereof, there was séene _Caput panisci_ inclosed therin,
very perfectlie formed as the beholders doo remember. How come the
grains of gold to be so fast inclosed in the stones that are & haue
béene found in the Spanish Bætis? But this is most maruellous, that a
most delectable and sweet oile, comparable to the finest balme, or
oile of spike in smell, was found naturallie included in a stone,
which could not otherwise be broken but with a smiths hammer. Goropius
dooth tell of a pearch perfectlie formed to be found in Britaine: but
[Sidenote: * [_Sic._]]
as then [*] committed into hard stone, vpon the top of a crag.
Aristotle and Theophrast speake of fishes digged out of the earth,
farre from the sea in Greece, which Seneca also confirmeth, but with
addition that they are perillous to be eaten. In pope Martins time, a
serpent was found fast inclosed in a rocke, as the kernell is within
the nut, so that no aire could come to it: and in my time another in a
coffin of stone at Auignion, wherein, a man had béene buried, which so
filled the roome, and laie so close from aire, that all men woondered
how it was possible for the same to liue and continue so long time
there. Finallie I my selfe haue séene stones opened, and within them
the substances of corrupted wormes like vnto adders (but far shorter)
whose crests and wrinkles of bodie appeared also therein, as if they
had bene ingraued in the stones by art and industrie of man. Wherefore
to affirme; that as well liuing creatures, as pretious stones, gold,
&c: are now and then found in our quarries, shall not hereafter be a
thing so incredible as manie talking philosophers, void, of all
experience, doo affirme, and wilfullie mainteine against such as hold
the contrarie.
ON SUNDRIE MINERALS.
CHAP. X.
With how great benefits this Iland of ours hath béene indued from the
beginning, I hope there is no godlie man but will readilie confesse,
and yéeld vnto the Lord God his due honour for the same. For we are
blessed euerie waie, & there is no temporall commoditie necessarie to
be had or craued by anie nation at Gods hand, that he hath not in most
aboundant maner bestowed vpon vs Englishmen, if we could sée to vse
it, & be thankefull for the same. But alas (as I said in the chapter
precedent) we loue to inrich them that care not for vs, but for our
great commodities: and one trifling toie not woorth the cariage,
c[=o]ming (as the prouerbe saith) in thrée ships from beyond the sea
is more woorth with vs, than a right good iewell, easie to be had at
home. They haue also the cast to teach vs to neglect our owne things,
for if they see that we begin to make anie account of our commodities
(if it be so that they haue also the like in their owne countries)
they will suddenlie abase the same to so low a price, that our gaine
not being woorthie our trauell, and the same commoditie with lesse
cost readie to be had at home from other countries (though but for a
while) it causeth vs to giue ouer our indeuours, and as it were by and
by to forget the matter wherabout we went before, to obteine them at
their hands. And this is the onelie cause wherefore our commodities
are oft so little estéemed of. Some of them can saie without anie
teacher, that they will buie the case of a fox of an Englishman for a
groat, and make him afterward giue twelue pence for the taile. Would
to God we might once wax wiser, and each one indeuor that the
common-wealth of England may flourish againe in hir old rate, and that
our commodities may be fullie wrought at home (as cloth if you will
for an example) and not caried out to be shorne and dressed abroad,
while our clothworkers here doo starue and beg their bread, and for
lacke of dailie practise vtterlie neglect to be skilfull in this
science! But to my purpose.
We haue in England great plentie of quicke siluer, antimonie, sulphur,
blacke lead, and orpiment red and yellow. We haue also the finest
[Sidenote: The lord Mountioy.]
alume (wherein the diligence of one of the greatest fauourers of the
common-wealth of England of a subiect hath béene of late egregiouslie
abused, and euen almost with barbarous inciuilitie) & of no lesse
force against fire, if it were vsed in our parietings than that of
Lipara, which onlie was in vse somtime amongst the Asians & Romans, &
wherof Sylla had such triall that when he meant to haue burned a tower
of wood erected by Archelaus the lieutenant of Mithridates, he could
by no meanes set it on fire in a long time, bicause it was washed ouer
with alume, as were also the gates of the temple of Jerusalem with
like effect, and perceiued when Titus commanded fire to be put vnto
the same. Beside this we haue also the naturall cinnabarum or
vermilion, the sulphurous glebe called bitumen in old time for morter,
and yet burned in lamps where oile is scant and geason: the
chrysocolla, coperis, and minerall stone, whereof petriolum is made,
and that which is most strange the minerall pearle, which as they are
for greatnesse and colour most excellent of all other, so are they
digged out of the maine land, and in sundrie places far distant from
the shore. Certes the westerne part of the land hath in times past
greatlie abounded with these and manie other rare and excellent
commodities, but now they are washed awaie by the violence of the sea,
which hath deuoured the greatest part of Cornewall and Deuonshire on
either side: and it dooth appéere yet by good record, that whereas now
there is a great distance betweene the Syllan Iles and point of the
lands end, there was of late yeares to speke of scarselie a brooke or
draine of one fadam water betwéene them, if so much, as by those
euidences appeereth, and are yet to be séene in the hands of the lord
and chiefe owner of those Iles. But to procéed.
Of colemines we haue such plentie in the north and westerne parts of
our Iland, as may suffice for all the realme of England: and so must
they doo hereafter in deed, if wood be not better cherrished than it
is at this present. And to saie the truth, notwithstanding that verie
manie of them are caried into other countries of the maine, yet their
greatest trade beginneth now to grow from the forge into the kitchin
and hall, as may appéere alreadie in most cities and townes that lie
about the coast, where they haue but little other fewell, except it be
turffe and hassocke. I maruell not a little that there is no trade of
these into Sussex and Southampton shire, for want whereof the smiths
doo worke their iron with charcoale. I thinke that far carriage be the
onelie cause, which is but a slender excuse to inforce vs to carrie
them vnto the maine from hence.
Beside our colemines we haue pits in like sort of white plaster, and
of fat and white and other coloured marle, wherewith in manie places
the inhabitors doo compest their soile, and which dooth benefit their
land in ample maner for manie yeares to come. We haue saltpeter for
our ordinance, and salt soda for our glasse, & thereto in one place a
kind of earth (in Southerie as I weene hard by Codington, and sometime
in the tenure of one Croxton of London) which is so fine to make
moulds for goldsmiths and casters of mettall, that a load of it was
woorth fiue shillings thirtie yeares agone: none such againe they saie
in England. But whether there be or not, let vs not be vnthankefull to
God for these and other his benefits bestowed vpon vs, whereby he
sheweth himselfe a louing and mercifull father vnto vs, which
contrariewise returne vnto him in lieu of humilitie and obedience,
nothing but wickednesse, auarice, meere contempt of his will, pride,
excesse, atheisme, and no lesse than Iewish ingratitude.
OF METTALS TO BE HAD IN OUR LAND.
CHAP. XI.
All mettals receiue their beginning of quicksiluer and sulphur, which
are as mother and father to them. And such is the purpose of nature in
their generations: that she tendeth alwaies to the procreation of
gold, neuerthelesse she sildome reacheth vnto that hir end, bicause of
the vnequall mixture and proportion of these two in the substance
ingendered, whereby impediment and corruption is induced, which as it
is more or lesse, dooth shew it selfe in the mettall that is
producted. First of all therefore the substance of sulphur and
quicksiluer being mixed in due proportion, after long and temperate
decoction in the bowels of the earth, orderlie ingrossed and fixed,
becommeth gold, which Encelius dooth call the sunne and right heire of
nature: but if it swarue but a little (saith he) in the commixtion and
other circumstances, then dooth it product siluer the daughter, not so
noble a child as gold hir brother, which among mettall is worthilie
called the cheefe. Contrariwise, the substances of the aforesaid
parents mixed without proportion, and lesse digested and fixed in the
entrailes of the earth, whereby the radicall moisture becommeth
combustible and not of force to indure heat and hammer, dooth either
turne into tin, lead, copper, or iron, which were the first mettals
knowne in time past vnto antiquitie, although that in these daies
there are diuerse other, whereof neither they nor our alchumists had
euer anie knowledge. Of these therfore which are reputed among the
third sort, we here in England haue our parts, and as I call them to
mind, so will I intreat of them, and with such breuitie as may serue
[Sidenote: Gold.]
[Sidenote: Siluer.]
the turne, and yet not altogither omit to saie somewhat of gold and
siluer also, bicause I find by good experience how it was not said of
old time without great reason, that all countries haue need of
Britaine, and Britaine it selfe of none. For truelie if a man regard
such necessities as nature onelie requireth, there is no nation vnder
the sunne, that can saie so much as ours: sith we doo want none that
are conuenient for vs. Wherefore if it be a benefit to haue anie gold
at all, we are not void of some, neither likewise of siluer:
whatsoeuer Cicero affirmeth to the contrarie, Lib. 4. ad Atticum epi.
16. in whose time they were not found, "Britannici belli exitus (saith
he) expectatur, constat enim aditus insulæ esse munitos mirificis
molibus: etiam illud iam cognitum est, neque argenti scrupulum esse
vllum in illa insula, neque vllam spem prædæ nisi ex mancipijs, ex
quibus nullos puto te litteris aut musicis eruditos expectare." And
albeit that we haue no such abundance of these (as some other
countries doo yéeld) yet haue my rich countrimen store inough of both
in their pursses, where in time past they were woont to haue least,
bicause the garnishing of our churches, tabernacles, images, shrines
and apparell of the préests consumed the greatest part, as experience
hath confirmed.
Of late my countriemen haue found out I wot not what voiage into the
west Indies, from whence they haue brought some gold, whereby our
countrie is inriched: but of all that euer aduentured into those
parts, none haue sped better than sir Francis Drake whose successe
1582 hath far passed euen his owne expectation. One Iohn Frobisher in
like maner attempting to séeke out a shorter cut by the northerlie
regions into the peaceable sea and kingdome of Cathaie, happened 1577
vpon certeine Ilands by the waie, wherein great plentie of much gold
appeared, and so much that some letted not to giue out for certeintie,
that Salomon had his gold from thence, wherewith he builded the
temple. This golden shew made him so desirous also of like successe,
that he left off his former voiage, & returned home to bring news of
such things as he had seene. But when after another voiage it was
found to be but drosse, he gaue ouer both the enterprises, and now
keepeth home without anie desire at all to séeke into farre countries.
In truth, such was the plentie of ore there séene and to be had, that
if it had holden perfect, might haue furnished all the world with
abundance of that mettall; the iorneie also was short and performed in
foure or fiue moneths, which was a notable incouragement. But to
proceed.
[Sidenote: Tin.]
[Sidenote: Lead.]
Tin and lead, mettals which Strabo noteth in his time to be carried
vnto Marsilis from hence, as Diodorus also confirmeth, are verie
plentifull with vs, the one in Cornewall, Deuonshire (& else-where in
the north) the other in Darbishire, Weredale, and sundrie places of
this Iland; whereby my countriemen doo reape no small commoditie, but
especiallie our pewterers, who in time past imploied the vse of pewter
onelie vpon dishes, pots, and a few other trifles for seruice here at
home, whereas now they are growne vnto such exquisit cunning, that
they can in maner imitate by infusion anie forme or fashion of cup,
dish, salt, bowle, or goblet, which is made by goldsmiths craft,
though they be neuer so curious, exquisite, and artificiallie forged.
Such furniture of houshold of this mettall, as we commonlie call by
the name of vessell, is sold vsuallie by the garnish, which dooth
conteine twelue platters, twelue dishes, twelue saucers, and those are
either of siluer fashion, or else with brode or narrow brims, and
bought by the pound, which is now valued at six or seuen pence, or
peraduenture at eight pence. Of porringers, pots, and other like I
speake not, albeit that in the making of all these things there is
such exquisite diligence vsed, I meane for the mixture of the mettall
and true making of this commoditie (by reason of sharpe laws prouided
in that behalfe) as the like is not to be found in any other trade. I
haue béene also informed that it consisteth of a composition, which
hath thirtie pounds of kettle brasse to a thousand pounds of tin,
whervnto they ad thrée or foure pounds of tinglasse: but as too much
of this dooth make the stuffe brickle, so the more the brasse be, the
better is the pewter, and more profitable vnto him that dooth buie and
purchase the same. But to proceed.