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 sat° 7 =

*{scire} ..*{=} 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 =

*{ad} ..*{=} 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 viz° physick musick augury and
the art of shooting in the bow he made choice of physick and to know the
nature of herbs =

*{ipse} ..*{=} 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 &c° 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 &c° 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 &c° 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 dr° reason and
dr° experience by whose advice together with the help of dr° dilligence
i at last obtained my desires and being warned by mr° 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 =

1 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 =

2 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 =

*{1} ..*{=} 1 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 rom° i° 20 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 =

*{excideret} ..*{=} 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 viz° =

*{instructions} ..*{=} and herein let me promise a word or two many
herbs plants &c 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 &c° =

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 1651 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 &c° 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 =