The Sweating Sickness: A boke or counseill against the disease commonly called the sweate or sweatyng sicknesseCaius, John
History
The Sweating Sickness: A boke or counseill against the disease commonly called the sweate or sweatyng sicknesse
Caius, John
Medicine -- Early works to 1800; Sweating-sickness -- Early works to 1800
[_The preseruacion_] Infection by the aier, and impure spirites
by repletion thus founde and declared to be the causes of this
pestilente sweate or Englishe _ephemera_, lette vs nowe see howe
we maye preserue our selues from it, and howe it may be
remedied, if it chaunce, wythe lesse mortalitie. I wyll begynne
wyth preseruation. That most of all dothe stande in auoidyng the
causes to come of the disease, the thinges helping forward the
same, and remouyng that whiche is alredy had & gotten. Al be
done by the good order of thynges perteynyng to the state of the
body. Therfore I will begin with diete wher I lefte, & then go
furth with aier where I beganne in treatyng the causes, and
declare the waie to auoide infection, and so furthe to the reste
in order. Who that lustethe to lyue in quiete suretie, out of
the sodaine danger of this Englishe _ephemera_, he aboue all
thynges, of litle and good muste eate & spare not, the laste
parte wherof wyl please well (I doubt not) vs Englishe men: the
firste I thinke neuer a deale. Yet it must please theim that
entende to lyue without the reche of this disease. So doyng,
they shall easely escape it. For of that is good, can be
engendred no euill: of that is litle, can be gathered no great
store. Therfore helthful must he nedes be and free from this
disease, that vsethe this kinde of liuynge and maner in
dietynge. An example hereof may the wise man _Socrates_ be,
which by this sorte of diete escaped a sore pestilence in
Athenes, neuer fleynge ne kepyng close him selfe from the same.
Truly who will lyue accordynge to nature and not to lust, may
with this diete be well contented. For nature is pleased with a
litle, nor seketh other then that (22) [= (21)] the mind voide
of cares and feares may be in quiete merily, and the body voide
of grefe, maye be in life swetly, as _Lucretius_ writeth. Here
at large to ronne out vntill my breth wer spent, as vpon a
common place, against y^e intemperãce or excessiue diete of
Englande, thincommodities & displeasures of the same many waies:
and contrarie, in commẽdation of meane diete and temperance
(called of _Plato_ _sophrosyne_, for that it cõserneth wisdome)
and the thousande commodities therof, both for helthe, welthe,
witte, and longe life, well I might, & lose my laboure: such be
our Englishe facions rather then reasones. But for that I
purpose neither to wright a longe worke but a shorte counseill,
nor to wery the reders with that they luste not to here, I will
lette that passe, and moue thẽ that desire further to knowe my
mynde therin, to remember that I sayd before, of litle & good
eate and spare not, wherby they shall easely perceiue my
meanyng. I therefore go furth with my diete, wherin my counseill
is, that the meates be helthfull, and holsomly kylled, swetly
saued, and wel prepared in rostyng, sethyng, baking, & so furth.
The bred, of swet corne, wel leuened, and so baked. The drinke
of swete malte and good water kyndly brued, without other drosse
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