courteous reader aristotle in his metaphysicks writing of the nature of
man hit the nail on the head when he said that man is naturally enclined
to and desirous of knowledg and indeed it is palpable and apparent that
as pride is the first visible sin in a child whereby we may gather that
it was the first sin of adam so knowledg being the first vertue a child
minds as is apparent to them that do but with the eye of reason heed
their actions even whilst they are very yong even before they are a yeer
old even by natural instinct whereby a man may more than guess that
knowledg was the greatest loss or at least one of the greatest we lost
by the fall of adam knowledg saith aristotle is in prosperity an
ornament in adversity a refuge and truly there is almost no greater
enemy to knowledg in the world that pride and covetousness excellently
said juvenal and again some men are so damnable proud and envious withal
that they would have no body know any thing but themselves the one i
hope will shortly learn better manners and the other be a burden too
heavy for the earth long to bear the subject which i here fixed my
thoughts upon is not only the description and nature of herbs which had
it been all i had authority sufficient to bear me out in it for solomon
employed part of that wisdom he asked and received of god in searching
after them which he wrote in books even of all herbs plants and trees
some say those writings were carried to babylon by nebuchadnezzar being
kept in the temple at jerusalem for the publick view of the people but
being transported to babylon in the captivity alexander the great tyrant
at the taking of babylon gave them to his master aristotle who committed
them to the mercy of the fire but since the daies of solomon many have
those famous men been that have written of this subject and great
encouragements have been given them by princes of which i shall quote an
example or two mathiolus his greediness was such to finish his comment
upon dioscorides which book is yet in use in the famous universities in
leyden in holland & mountpilier in france that he forgot to count what
the charges of it might amount to although i rather comend him for his
dilligence in studie and care of the worlds good than harbor the least
ill thought of him for not counting the middle and both ends before he
began the work i say when he came to count the charges of printing and
cutting the cuts it far surmounted his estate in this he was abundantly
furnished by ferdinand the emperor and diverse other princes of germany
as himself confessed furnished him with great sums of money for
perfecting that so great so good a work the prince elector of saxony
sent him much money towards his charge as also joachim marquess of
brandenburg who as he was neighbor to saxony in place so was he in
affection to so good a work frederick count palatine of the rhine the
cardinal prince of trent the arch bishop of saltzberg the dukes of
bavaria and cleveland and the free state of norimberg together with many
others so that he had the help of the emperor of arch dukes dukes
electors cardinals princes happie is that nation whose magistrates
countenance such as mind and study their good i might instance in many
more and thereby give you a glimps how magistrates formerly favored this
art and which is more how studious they were in it bellonius a man that
soared high in the nature of herbs also professed he had the helping
hand of kings and cardinals to maintain him in his studies and more than
this kings themselves were studious in it amongst which solomon excepted
mithridates that renowned king of pontus seems to bear away the bell his
writings after his death were found in his country mannor by pompey the
great but never a roman of them all had the honesty to print them with
his name in the frontispiece so that we have nothing of them but what is
quoted by some honest authors especially by plutarch mesue king of
damascus avicenna and evax king of arabia labored much in this study and
i could well have afforded to have mentioned dioclesian the roman
emperor had he not washed out his vertues and defiled them with a purple
stain in a most bloody persecution of christians it is quoted in virgil
that when a famous prince was proffered by apollo to be taught his arts
physick musick augury and the art of shooting in the bow he made choice
of physick and to know the nature of herbs so precious hath the knowledg
of the vertues of herbs been in former times to men of quality and
indeed happy is that nation whose rulers mind knowledg as solomon saith
on the contrary wo to that nation whose king is a child and indeed in
ancient times people need little other physick than such herbs as grew
neer them some footsteps of which and but a few only are now in use with
us to this day as people usually boyl fennel with fish and know not why
they do it but only for custom when indeed the original of it was
founded upon reason because fennel consumes that flegmatick quality of
fish which is obnoxious to the body of man fennel being an herb of
mercury and he so great an enemie to the sign pisces in this art the
worthies of our own nation gerard johnson and parkinson are not to be
forgotten who did much good in the studie of this art yet they and all
others that wrote of the nature of herbs gave not a bit of a reason why
such an herb was apropriated to such a part of the body nor why it cured
such a disease truly my own body being sickly brought me easily into a
capacitie to know that health was the greatest of all earthly blessings
and truly he was never sick that doth not beleeve it then i considered
that all medicines were compounded of herbs roots flowers seeds and this
first set me awork in studying the nature of simples most of which i
knew by sight before and indeed all the authors i could reade gave me
but little satisfaction in this particular or none at all i cannot build
my faith upon authors words nor beleeve a thing because they say it and
could wish every bodie were of my mind in this to labor to be able to
give a reason for every thing they say or do they say reason makes a man
differ from a beast if that be true pray what are they that instead of
reason for their judgment quote old authors perhaps their authors knew a
reason for what they wrote perhaps they did not what is that to us do we
know it truly in writing this work first to satisfie my self i drew out
all the vertues of vulgar herbs plants and trees out of the best and
most approved authors i had or could get and having done so i set my
self to studie the reason of them i knew well enough the whol world and
every thing in it was formed of a composition of contrary elements and
in such a harmony as must needs shew the wisdom and power of a great god
i knew as well this creation though thus composed of contraries was one
united body and man an epitome of it i knew those various affections in
man in respect of sickness and health were caused naturally though god
may have other ends best known to himself by the various operations of
the macrocosm and i could not be ignorant that as the cause is so must
the cure be and therefore he that would know the reason of the operation
of herbs must look up as high as the stars i alwaies found the disease
vary according to the various motion of the stars and this is enough one
would think to teach a man by the effect where the cause lay then to
find out the reason of the operation of herbs plants by the stars went i
and herein i could find but few authors but those as full of nonsense
and contradictions as an egg is full of meat this being little pleasing
and less profitable to me i consulted with my two brothers reason and
experience by whose advice together with the help of dilligence i at
last obtained my desires and being warned by honesty a stranger in our
daies to publish it to the world i have done it but you will say what
need i have written of this subject seing so many famous and learned men
have written so much of it in the english tongue nay much more than i
have done to this i answer all that have written of herbs either in the
english or not in the english tongue have no waies answered my intents
in this book for they have intermixed many nay very many outlandish
herbs and very many which are hard nay not at all to be gotten and what
harm this may do i am very sensible of once a student in physick in
sussex sent up to london to me to buy for him such and such medicines
and send them down which when i viewed they were medicines quoted by
authors living in another nation and not to be had in london for love
nor money so the poor man had spent much pains and brains in studying
medicines for a disease that were not to be had so a man reading gerards
or parkinsons herbal for the cure of a disease so may as like as not
light on an herb that is not here to be had or not without great
diffuculty if possible but in mine all grow neer him my last though not
the least of my reasons is neither gerard nor parkinson nor any that
ever wrote in the like nature ever gave one wise reason for what they
wrote and so did nothing els but train up yong novices in physick in the
school of tradition and teach them just as a parrot is taught to speak
an author saith so therefore 'tis true and if all that authors say be
true why do they contradict one another but in mine if you view it with
the eye of reason you shall see a reason for every thing that is written
whereby you may find the very ground and foundation of physick you may
know what you do and wherefore you do it and this shall call me father
it being that i know of never done in the world before i have now but
two things more to write and then i have done the profit and benefits
arising from it or that may acrue to a wise man from it are many so many
that should i sum up all the particulars the epistle would be as big as
the book i shall only quote some few general heads first the admirable
harmony of the creation is herein seen in the influence of stars upon
herbs and the body of man how one part of the creation is subservient to
another and all for the use of man whereby the infinite power and wisdom
of god in the creation appears and if i do not admire at the simplicity
of the ranters never trust me who but viewing the creation can hold such
a sottish opinion as that it was from eternity when the mysteries of it
are so cleer to everie eye but that scripture shall be verified to them
the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are cleerly
seen being understood by the things that are made even his eternal power
and godhead so that they are without excuse and a poet could teach them
a better lesson this indeed is true god hath stamped his image upon
every creature and therefore the abuse of the creature is a great sin
but how much more doth the wisdom and excellencie of god appear if we
consider the harmony of the creation in the vertue and operation of
every herb this is the first secondly hereby thou maist know what
infinite knowledg adam had in his innocencie that by looking upon a
creature he was able to give it a name according to his nature and by
knowing that thou maist know how great thy fall was and be humbled for
it even in this respect because hereby thou are so ignorant thirdly here
is the right way for thee to begin the study of physick if thou art
minded to begin at the right end for here thou hast the reason of the
whol art i wrote before in certain astrological lectures which i read
and printed intituled semeiotica uranica what planet caused as a second
cause every disease and how it might be found out what planet caused it
here thou hast what planet cures it by sympathy and antipathy and this
brings me to my last premise and herein let me promise a word or two
many herbs plants are not in the book apropriated to their propper
planets the reason was want of time or some other thing else which many
that know me will easily guess at at last the book hanging longer in the
press that i imagine it would i took the time and pains though i could
ill have spared either to apropriate them all and have for thy benefit
courteous reader inserted them in order after the epistle now then for
thy instruction first consider what planet causeth the disease that thou
maist find in my semeiotia secondly consider what part of the body is
afflicted by the disease and whether it lie in the flesh or blood or
bones or ventricles thirdly consider by what planet the afflictd part of
the bodie is governed that my semeiotica will inform you in also
fourthly you have in this book the herbs for cure apropriated to the
several diseases and the diseases for your ease set down in the margin
whereby you may strengthen the part of the bodie by its like as the
brain by herbs of mercury the breast and liver by herbs of jupiter the
heart and vitals by herbs of the sun fifthly you may oppose diseases by
herbs of the planet opposite to the planet that causeth them as diseases
of jupiter by herbs of mercury and the contrary diseases of the
luminaries by herbs of saturn and the contrary diseases of mars by herbs
of venus and the contrary sixthly there is a way to cure diseases
somtimes by sympathy and so every planet cures his own diseases as the
sun and moon by their herbs cure the eyes saturn the spleen jupiter the
liver mars the gall and diseases of choller and venus diseases in the
instruments of generation seventhly there was a small treatise of mine
of humane vertues printed at the latter end of my ephemeris for the yeer
i suppose it would do much good to yong students to peruse that with
this book eighthly yong students would do themselves much good and
benefit themselves exceedingly in the study of physick if they would tak
the pains to view the vertues of the herbs in the book and compare them
to these rules they shall to their exceeding great content find them all
agreeable to them and shall thereby see the reason why such an herb
conduceth to the cure of such a disease ninthly i gave you the key of al
in the herb wormwood which if because of the volubility of the language
any think it would not fit the lock i will here give it you again in
another herb of the same planet which in the book either through my own
forgetfulness or my amanuensis was omitted and here i shal give it you
plainly without any circumstances