shop, wherein are all remedies for all infirmities of mind, purgatives,
cordials, alteratives, corroboratives, lenitives, &c. Every disease of
the soul, saith [3356]Austin, hath a peculiar medicine in the
Scripture; this only is required, that the sick man take the potion
which God hath already tempered. [3357]Gregory calls it a glass wherein
we may see all our infirmities, ignitum colloquium, Psalm cxix. 140.
[3358]Origen a charm. And therefore Hierom prescribes Rusticus the
monk, [3359]continually to read the Scripture, and to meditate on that
which he hath read; for as mastication is to meat, so is meditation on
that which we read. I would for these causes wish him that, is
melancholy to use both human and divine authors, voluntarily to impose
some task upon himself, to divert his melancholy thoughts: to study the
art of memory, Cosmus Rosselius, Pet. Ravennas, Scenkelius' Detectus,
or practise brachygraphy, &c., that will ask a great deal of attention:
or let him demonstrate a proposition in Euclid, in his five last books,
extract a square root, or study Algebra: than which, as [3360]Clavius
holds, in all human disciplines nothing can be more excellent and
pleasant, so abstruse and recondite, so bewitching, so miraculous, so
ravishing, so easy withal and full of delight, omnem humanum captum
superare videtur. By this means you may define ex ungue leonem, as the
diverb is, by his thumb alone the bigness of Hercules, or the true
dimensions of the great [3361]Colossus, Solomon's temple, and
Domitian's amphitheatre out of a little part. By this art you may
contemplate the variation of the twenty-three letters, which may be so
infinitely varied, that the words complicated and deduced thence will
not be contained within the compass of the firmament; ten words may be
varied 40,320 several ways: by this art you may examine how many men
may stand one by another in the whole superficies of the earth, some
say 148,456,800,000,000, assignando singulis passum quadratum
(assigning a square foot to each), how many men, supposing all the
world as habitable as France, as fruitful and so long-lived, may be
born in 60,000 years, and so may you demonstrate with [3362]Archimedes
how many sands the mass of the whole world might contain if all sandy,
if you did but first know how much a small cube as big as a
mustard-seed might hold, with infinite such. But in all nature what is
there so stupendous as to examine and calculate the motion of the
planets, their magnitudes, apogees, perigees, eccentricities, how far
distant from the earth, the bigness, thickness, compass of the
firmament, each star, with their diameters and circumference, apparent
area, superficies, by those curious helps of glasses, astrolabes,
sextants, quadrants, of which Tycho Brahe in his mechanics, optics
([3363]divine optics) arithmetic, geometry, and such like arts and
instruments? What so intricate and pleasing withal, as to peruse and
practise Heron Alexandrinus's works, de spiritalibus, de machinis
bellicis, de machina se movente, Jordani Nemorarii de ponderibus
proposit. 13, that pleasant tract of Machometes Bragdedinus de
superficierum divisionibus, Apollonius's Conics, or Commandinus's
labours in that kind, de centro gravitatis, with many such geometrical
theorems and problems? Those rare instruments and mechanical inventions
of Jac. Bessonus, and Cardan to this purpose, with many such
experiments intimated long since by Roger Bacon, in his tract de
[3364]Secretis artis et naturae, as to make a chariot to move sine
animali, diving boats, to walk on the water by art, and to fly in the
air, to make several cranes and pulleys, quibus homo trahat ad se mille
homines, lift up and remove great weights, mills to move themselves,
Archita's dove, Albertus's brazen head, and such thaumaturgical works.
But especially to do strange miracles by glasses, of which Proclus and
Bacon writ of old, burning glasses, multiplying glasses, perspectives,
ut unus homo appareat exercitus, to see afar off, to represent solid
bodies by cylinders and concaves, to walk in the air, ut veraciter
videant, (saith Bacon) aurum et argentum et quicquid aliud volunt, et
quum veniant ad locum visionis, nihil inveniant, which glasses are much
perfected of late by Baptista Porta and Galileo, and much more is
promised by Maginus and Midorgius, to be performed in this kind.
Otocousticons some speak of, to intend hearing, as the other do sight;
Marcellus Vrencken, a Hollander, in his epistle to Burgravius, makes
mention of a friend of his that is about an instrument, quo videbit
quae in altero horizonte sint. But our alchemists, methinks, and
Rosicrucians afford most rarities, and are fuller of experiments: they
can make gold, separate and alter metals, extract oils, salts, lees,
and do more strange works than Geber, Lullius, Bacon, or any of those
ancients. Crollius hath made after his master Paracelsus, aurum
fulminans, or aurum volatile, which shall imitate thunder and
lightning, and crack louder than any gunpowder; Cornelius Drible a
perpetual motion, inextinguishable lights, linum non ardens, with many
such feats; see his book de natura elementorum, besides hail, wind,
snow, thunder, lightning, &c., those strange fireworks, devilish
petards, and such like warlike machinations derived hence, of which
read Tartalea and others. Ernestus Burgravius, a disciple of
Paracelsus, hath published a discourse, in which he specifies a lamp to
be made of man's blood, Lucerna vitae et mortis index, so he terms it,
which chemically prepared forty days, and afterwards kept in a glass,
shall show all the accidents of this life; si lampus hic clarus, tunc
homo hilaris et sanus corpore et animo; si nebulosus et depressus, male
afficitur, et sic pro statu hominis variatur, unde sumptus sanguis;
[3365]and which is most wonderful, it dies with the party, cum homine
perit, et evanescit, the lamp and the man whence the blood was taken,
are extinguished together. The same author hath another tract of Mumia
(all out as vain and prodigious as the first) by which he will cure
most diseases, and transfer them from a man to a beast, by drawing
blood from one, and applying it to the other, vel in plantam derivare,
and an Alexi-pharmacum, of which Roger Bacon of old in his Tract. de
retardanda senectute, to make a man young again, live three or four
hundred years. Besides panaceas, martial amulets, unguentum armarium,
balsams, strange extracts, elixirs, and such like magico-magnetical
cures. Now what so pleasing can there be as the speculation of these
things, to read and examine such experiments, or if a man be more
mathematically given, to calculate, or peruse Napier's Logarithms, or
those tables of artificial [3366]sines and tangents, not long since set
out by mine old collegiate, good friend, and late fellow-student of
Christ Church in Oxford, [3367]Mr. Edmund Gunter, which will perform
that by addition and subtraction only, which heretofore Regiomontanus's
tables did by multiplication and division, or those elaborate
conclusions of his [3368]sector, quadrant, and cross-staff. Or let him
that is melancholy calculate spherical triangles, square a circle, cast
a nativity, which howsoever some tax, I say with [3369]Garcaeus,
dabimus hoc petulantibus ingeniis, we will in some cases allow: or let
him make an ephemerides, read Suisset the calculator's works, Scaliger
de emendatione temporum, and Petavius his adversary, till he understand
them, peruse subtle Scotus and Suarez's metaphysics, or school
divinity, Occam, Thomas, Entisberus, Durand, &c. If those other do not
affect him, and his means be great, to employ his purse and fill his
head, he may go find the philosopher's stone; he may apply his mind, I
say, to heraldry, antiquity, invent impresses, emblems; make
epithalamiums, epitaphs, elegies, epigrams, palindroma epigrammata,
anagrams, chronograms, acrostics, upon his friends' names; or write a
comment on Martianus Capella, Tertullian de pallio, the Nubian
geography, or upon Aelia Laelia Crispis, as many idle fellows have
essayed; and rather than do nothing, vary a [3370]verse a thousand ways
with Putean, so torturing his wits, or as Rainnerus of Luneburg,
[3371]2150 times in his Proteus Poeticus, or Scaliger, Chrysolithus,
Cleppissius, and others, have in like sort done. If such voluntary
tasks, pleasure and delight, or crabbedness of these studies, will not
yet divert their idle thoughts, and alienate their imaginations, they
must be compelled, saith Christophorus a Vega, cogi debent, l. 5. c.
14, upon some mulct, if they perform it not, quod ex officio incumbat,
loss of credit or disgrace, such as our public University exercises.
For, as he that plays for nothing will not heed his game; no more will
voluntary employment so thoroughly affect a student, except he be very
intent of himself, and take an extraordinary delight in the study,
about which he is conversant. It should be of that nature his business,
which volens nolens he must necessarily undergo, and without great
loss, mulct, shame, or hindrance, he may not omit.
Now for women, instead of laborious studies, they have curious
needleworks, cut-works, spinning, bone-lace, and many pretty devices of
their own making, to adorn their houses, cushions, carpets, chairs,
stools, (for she eats not the bread of idleness, Prov. xxxi. 27.
quaesivit lanam et linum) confections, conserves, distillations, &c.,
which they show to strangers.
[3372]Ipsa comes praesesque operis venientibus ultro
Hospitibus monstrare solet, non segniter horas
Contestata suas, sed nec sibi depertisse.
Which to her guests she shows, with all her pelf,
Thus far my maids, but this I did myself.
This they have to busy themselves about, household offices, &c., [3373]
neat gardens, full of exotic, versicolour, diversely varied,
sweet-smelling flowers, and plants in all kinds, which they are most
ambitious to get, curious to preserve and keep, proud to possess, and
much many times brag of. Their merry meetings and frequent visitations,
mutual invitations in good towns, I voluntarily omit, which are so much
in use, gossiping among the meaner sort, &c., old folks have their
beads: an excellent invention to keep them from idleness, that are by
nature melancholy, and past all affairs, to say so many paternosters,
avemarias, creeds, if it were not profane and superstitious. In a word,
body and mind must be exercised, not one, but both, and that in a
mediocrity; otherwise it will cause a great inconvenience. If the body
be overtired, it tires the mind. The mind oppresseth the body, as with
students it oftentimes falls out, who (as [3374]Plutarch observes) have
no care of the body, but compel that which is mortal to do as much as
that which is immortal: that which is earthly, as that which is
ethereal. But as the ox tired, told the camel, (both serving one
master) that refused to carry some part of his burden, before it were
long he should be compelled to carry all his pack, and skin to boot
(which by and by, the ox being dead, fell out), the body may say to the
soul, that will give him no respite or remission: a little after, an
ague, vertigo, consumption, seizeth on them both, all his study is
omitted, and they must be compelled to be sick together: he that
tenders his own good estate, and health, must let them draw with equal
yoke, both alike, [3375] that so they may happily enjoy their wished
health.
MEMB. V.
_Waking and terrible Dreams rectified_.
As waking that hurts, by all means must be avoided, so sleep, which so
much helps, by like ways, [3376]must be procured, by nature or art,
inward or outward medicines, and be protracted longer than ordinary, if
it may be, as being an especial help. It moistens and fattens the body,
concocts, and helps digestion (as we see in dormice, and those Alpine
mice that sleep all winter), which Gesner speaks of, when they are so
found sleeping under the snow in the dead of winter, as fat as butter.
It expels cares, pacifies the mind, refresheth the weary limbs after
long work:
[3377]Somne quies rerum, placidissime somne deorum, Pax animi, quem
cura fugit, qui corpora duris
Fessa ministeriis mulces reparasque labori.
Sleep, rest of things, O pleasing deity,
Peace of the soul, which cares dost crucify,
Weary bodies refresh and mollify.
The chiefest thing in all physic, [3378]Paracelsus calls it, omnia
arcana gemmarum superans et metallorum. The fittest time is [3379]two
or three hours after supper, when as the meat is now settled at the
bottom of the stomach, and 'tis good to lie on the right side first,
because at that site the liver doth rest under the stomach, not
molesting any way, but heating him as a fire doth a kettle, that is put
to it. After the first sleep 'tis not amiss to lie on the left side,
that the meat may the better descend; and sometimes again on the belly,
but never on the back. Seven or eight hours is a competent time for a
melancholy man to rest, as Crato thinks; but as some do, to lie in bed
and not sleep, a day, or half a day together, to give assent to
pleasing conceits and vain imaginations, is many ways pernicious. To
procure this sweet moistening sleep, it's best to take away the
occasions (if it be possible) that hinder it, and then to use such
inward or outward remedies, which may cause it. Constat hodie (saith
Boissardus in his tract de magia, cap. 4.) multos ita fascinari ut
noctes integras exigant insomnes, summa, inquietudine animorum et
corporum; many cannot sleep for witches and fascinations, which are too
familiar in some places; they call it, dare alicui malam noctem. But
the ordinary causes are heat and dryness, which must first be removed:
[3380]a hot and dry brain never sleeps well: grief, fears, cares,
expectations, anxieties, great businesses, [3381]In aurum utramque
otiose ut dormias, and all violent perturbations of the mind, must in
some sort be qualified, before we can hope for any good repose. He that
sleeps in the daytime, or is in suspense, fear, any way troubled in
mind, or goes to bed upon a full [3382]stomach, may never hope for
quiet rest in the night; nec enim meritoria somnos admittunt, as the
[3383]poet saith; inns and such like troublesome places are not for
sleep; one calls ostler, another tapster, one cries and shouts, another
sings, whoops, halloos,
[3384]———absentem cantat amicam,
Multa prolutus vappa nauta atque viator.
Who not accustomed to such noises can sleep amongst them? He that will
intend to take his rest must go to bed animo securo, quieto et libero,
with a [3385]secure and composed mind, in a quiet place: omnia noctes
erunt placida composta quiete: and if that will not serve, or may not
be obtained, to seek then such means as are requisite. To lie in clean
linen and sweet; before he goes to bed, or in bed, to hear [3386]sweet
music, which Ficinus commends, lib. 1. cap. 24, or as Jobertus, med.
pract. lib. 3. cap. 10. [3387]to read some pleasant author till he be
asleep, to have a basin of water still dropping by his bedside, or to
lie near that pleasant murmur, lene sonantis aquae. Some floodgates,
arches, falls of water, like London Bridge, or some continuate noise
which may benumb the senses, lenis motus, silentium et tenebra, tum et
ipsa voluntas somnos faciunt; as a gentle noise to some procures sleep,
so, which Bernardinus Tilesius, lib. de somno, well observes, silence,
in a dark room, and the will itself, is most available to others. Piso
commends frications, Andrew Borde a good draught of strong drink before
one goes to bed; I say, a nutmeg and ale, or a good draught of
Muscadine, with a toast and nutmeg, or a posset of the same, which many
use in a morning, but methinks, for such as have dry brains, are much
more proper at night; some prescribe a [3388] sup of vinegar as they go
to bed, a spoonful, saith Aetius Tetrabib. lib. 2. ser. 2. cap. 10.
lib. 6. cap. 10. Aegineta, lib. 3. cap. 14. Piso, a little after meat,
[3389]because it rarefies melancholy, and procures an appetite to
sleep. Donat. ab Altomar. cap. 7. and Mercurialis approve of it, if the
malady proceed from the [3390]spleen. Salust. Salvian. lib. 2. cap. 1.
de remed. Hercules de Saxonia in Pan. Aelinus, Montaltus de morb.
capitis, cap. 28. de Melan. are altogether against it. Lod. Mercatus,
de inter. Morb. cau. lib. 1. cap. 17. in some cases doth allow it.
[3391]Rhasis seems to deliberate of it, though Simeon commend it (in
sauce peradventure) he makes a question of it: as for baths,
fomentations, oils, potions, simples or compounds, inwardly taken to
this purpose, [3392] I shall speak of them elsewhere. If, in the midst
of the night, when they lie awake, which is usual to toss and tumble,
and not sleep, [3393] Ranzovius would have them, if it be in warm
weather, to rise and walk three or four turns (till they be cold) about
the chamber, and then go to bed again.
Against fearful and troublesome dreams, Incubus and such
inconveniences, wherewith melancholy men are molested, the best remedy
is to eat a light supper, and of such meats as are easy of digestion,
no hare, venison, beef, &c., not to lie on his back, not to meditate or
think in the daytime of any terrible objects, or especially talk of
them before he goes to bed. For, as he said in Lucian after such
conference, Hecates somniare mihi videor, I can think of nothing but
hobgoblins: and as Tully notes, [3394] for the most part our speeches
in the daytime cause our fantasy to work upon the like in our sleep,
which Ennius writes of Homer: Et canis in somnis leporis vestigia
latrat: as a dog dreams of a hare, so do men on such subjects they
thought on last.
[3395]Somnia quae mentes ludunt volitantibus umbris,
Nec delubra deum, nec ab aethere numina mittunt,
Sed sibi quisque facit, &c.
For that cause when Ptolemy, king of Egypt, had posed the seventy
interpreters in order, and asked the nineteenth man what would make one
sleep quietly in the night, he told him, [3396]the best way was to have
divine and celestial meditations, and to use honest actions in the
daytime. [3397]Lod. Vives wonders how schoolmen could sleep quietly,
and were not terrified in the night, or walk in the dark, they had such
monstrous questions, and thought of such terrible matters all day long.
They had need, amongst the rest, to sacrifice to god Morpheus, whom
[3398] Philostratus paints in a white and black coat, with a horn and
ivory box full of dreams, of the same colours, to signify good and bad.
If you will know how to interpret them, read Artemidorus, Sambucus and
Cardan; but how to help them, [3399]I must refer you to a more
convenient place.
MEMB. VI.
SUBSECT. I.—_Perturbations of the mind rectified. From himself, by
resisting to the utmost, confessing his grief to a friend, &c._