layed on to both the soles of the feet, will
helpe an ague."

Also, "suales which bee in shells, beat
together with bay salt and mallowes, and
laid to the bottomes of your feet, aud to the
wristes of your hands, before the fit commeth,
appeaseth the ague." "Twenty garden snales,
beaten shelles aud all, in a morter, until you
perceive them to be come to a salue, will both
heale a bile and drawe it." "A drop or two
of the iuyce of a black snale, dropped on a
corne, with the powder of sandphere (samphire),
will take it away speedilie."

A wine of earthworms, with a little scraped
ivory and English saffron will do a man who
has the iaundice "maruellous much good."
Earthworms are also an infallible test in the
diagnosis of king's euil. "Take a ground
worme, and lay it aliue upon the place grieued,
then take a greene dock-leafe or two, and lay
them upon the worme, and then binde the
same about the necke of the partie diseased,
at night when hee goeth to bed, and in the
morning when hee riseth take it off againe,
and if it bee the king's euil the worme will
turne into a powder or duste; otherwise the
worme will remaine dead in his own former
forme, as it was before aliue." For the cure
of hooping-cough, "take a mouse and flea
it, and drie it in ouen, and beate it to
powder, and let the partie grieued drinke
it in ale, and it will help him." For the
cure of deafness, "take an hedgehog, and
flea him and roste him, and let the patient
put some of the grease that commeth
from him, into his eare, with a little liquid
storax mingled therewith, and he shall recover
his hearing in a short space. This hath holpen
some that could not heare almost any thing
at all for the space of twentie yeares, and yet
were holpen with this medicine." Or, "Take
a goode siluer eele (if possibly shee may bee
gotten) or else some other bright eele, and
roste her upon a spitte, aud let the dripping
of her be kept very cleane in some earthen
vessell, and when you do goe to bed put the
quantitie of a quarter of a spoonfulle thereof
at a time into your eare, and then stop it up
with a little of the wooll that groweth betwixt
the two eares of a black sheepe, and
the next night following use the contrary
eare, as afore is said, and so continue this for
the space of nine or ten dayes, and it will
helpe you."

The marrow of swine's feet is a cosmetic if
applied with the juice of a lemon, cow's milk,
and rose-water. Master Blower shows also,
how by the use of compounds similar to these
already described, "to take away the pimples
and high colour out of one's face, be it never
so farre spent and gone"—"to make one's
face faire, cleare, and to shine"—"to cause
one to looke with a faire and goode colour,
be hee never so pale-faced and wanne."
Gout is cured by an oil got from moles
that have been potted and buried for a
month. This, too, is " An excellent goode
oyntment for the gowt.—Take a fat goose
aud plucke her, and dresse her as if shee
should be eaten: then stuffe the belly of her
with 3 or 4 youuge cats, well chopped into
small pieces, with a haudfulle of bay salt,
and 20 snales, and then sewe up her belly
againe, and roste her at a small fire, and saue
all the dripping of her, and keepe it for a
precious oyntment." The use of young cats
"well chopped into small pieces," certainly
is not extinct among the ,"poorer sorte of
people," but they belong now to food rather
than medicine, being not seldom supplied in
the form of saveloys.

"A very good medicine to stanch bloud,
when nothing else will doe it, by reason the
veine is cut, or that the wound is great:—
Take a toad and drie him very well in the
sunne, and then put him into a linnen bagge,
and hang him about the necke of him that
bleedeth with a string, and let it hang so low
that it may touch his brest on the left side
neere unto his heart; and commonly this will
stay all manner of bleeding at the mouth,
nose, wounde, or otherwise whatsoever."

Ralph Blower, who finds "the poorer sort
of people" able to surfeit upon claret, sack,
and capons, is a man able to get blood out of
a stone. "Take," he says, "a stone that is
white, and hath red veines in it, and boyle it
in a quart of new milke, untill one halfe of the
milke be consumed, and then let the patient
drinke often thereof and hee shall find great
virtue therein." A wine made of flint stones
he recommends also as a good thing to drink
in case of gout.

Potable gold was still remembered as a
medicine in those days. This is a "sovereign
drink for any infected person," in R. B.'s
opinion. "Take a piece of fine gold, and put
it into the iuyce of lemmons, for the space of
foure and twentie houres, and put to it a
little powder of angelica-roots, mingled with
white-wine, and let the patient drinke a
goode draught thereof. This is a most
precious drinke, and it is greatly to be wondered
at what helpe and remedie some that vsed
this drinke have had thereby, although it
hath beene supposed by many learned physicians
that sicke persons were past all hope of
remedie; yet by God's providence they have
recovered againe. That was a remedy
as good as gold against infection. But,
infection being taken, here we are told of an
"experienced medicine for the plague."—
"Take a cocke, a chicken, or a pullet, and
pull off all the feathers cleane off the taile,
so that the pumpe may be bare, and then
hold the bare place to the sore, and immediately
you shall see the cocke, chicken, or
pullet gape aud labour for life, and in the
end it will dye: then take another cocke,
chicken, or pullet againe, and doe the like,
and if the same dye, then take another, and
so doe as aforesaid, and let the party grieued
be applyed therewith as aforesaid, as long as
any of them doe dye."