Abstract
This section contains the complete transcription of Pw V90. We begin by laying out our transcription principles before providing the transcription with extensive scholarly notes.
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Notes
- 1.
Michael Hunter (2007), Editing Early Modern Texts: An Introduction to Principles and Practice (Basingstoke), 85.
- 2.
Written in pencil in the hand of an archivist.
- 3.
Early modern chymists often used the term “anima” to refer to an active principle of a medicine or medical ingredient that is separated from its origin through some chymical process (Robley Dunglison (1857), Medical Lexicon: A Dictionary of Medical Science (Philadelphia), 65).
- 4.
Théodore de Mayerne (1573–1655).
- 5.
Lest. Expressive of something to be prevented or guarded against (OED, conj. 1a).
- 6.
In her Philosophical Letters, Cavendish wrote that glysters/clysters “are a safe, speedy, easie and profitable medicine, and far more safe then Chymical Salts, Tartars, Spirits, or the like” (381). For a wider context, see Derek Doyle (2005), Per Rectum: A History of Enemata. The Journal of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh 35.4: 367–370. In addition, glysters were a fashionable subject of art (see Laurinda S. Dixon (1993), Some Penetrating Insights: The Imagery of Enemas in Art. Art Journal 52.3: 28–35).
- 7.
According to Culpeper, pellitory helps “the stone and gravel in the Kidnies, difficulty of Urine, sore throats, pains in the ears” (Culpeper, Pharmacopoeia, 19). Unless otherwise noted, all references to the Pharmacopoeia are to the 1653 edition.
- 8.
Culpeper claimed that melilot “provokes urine, breaks the Stone, clenseth the Reins and Bladder, cutteth and clenseth the Lungs of tough Flegm; the juyce dropped into the eyes, cleers the sight, into the ears, mitigates pain and noise there; the head bathed with the juyce mixed with Vinegar, takes away the pains thereof: outwardly in Pultisses, it asswageth swellings in the privities” (Culpeper, Pharmacopoeia, 21).
- 9.
Aniseed.
- 10.
Fennel.
- 11.
Dragme (or “drachm”) is the middle term for the apothecaries’ system of measurement, which was the primary system used for medicines (and sometimes precious stones or metals). Each term is also associated with a symbol, and these are used throughout this manuscript: Pound (℔; 12 ounces); Ounce (℥; 8 drams); Dram/Drachm/Dragme (ʒ; 3 scruples); Scruple (℈; 20 grains); Grain (gr). This system of measurement dates back to ancient Rome but has its roots in the Greek measure of the drachm, which was the name of the standard silver coin in Greece, and, as a measure of weight, likely meant something like “a handful”. The apothecaries’ system was widely used in England until the Medical Act of 1858, when the avoirdupois system was adopted. The latter system had, however, been unofficially used to measure most things, except medicines and some precious stones and metals, in England since at least the thirteenth century (see Chapter 3, 33–34). The avoirdupois system goes in the opposite direction of the apothecaries’ system: from drams, to ounces, to pounds, to stones, to quarters, to hundredweights, and finally tons.
- 12.
Lohoch.
- 13.
Culpeper argued that cassia, a kind of cinnamon, “strengthens the stomach, helps digestion, causeth a sweet breath, resists poyson, provokes urin, and the terms, causeth speedy delivety [sic] to women in travel, helps Coughs and Defluxions of humors upon the Lungs, Dropsies, and difficulty of Urin” (Culpeper, Pharmacopoeia, 11).
- 14.
Sugar.
- 15.
I.e. via a glyster.
- 16.
Purges, along with other bodily evacuations (like bleeding), were a core therapeutic tool of early modern physicians, in keeping with the ancient tradition of humoural medicine.
- 17.
Tamarinds were thought to “purge choller, cool the blood, stay vomiting, help the yellow Jaundice, quench thrist, cool hot stomachs, and hot livers” (Culpeper, Pharmacopoeia, 27).
- 18.
Walm. The bubbling and heaving of water, etc., in the process of boiling (OED, n. 3a). The meaning here is that after the mixture comes to a boil twice, one should proceed to the next step.
- 19.
“Manna of Calabre”, according to the lexicographer Randle Cotgrave, is “the best and most lasting Manna” (Randle Cotgrave (1611), A Dictionarie of the French and English Tongues (London), unpaginated).
- 20.
Basilic.
- 21.
Julep.
- 22.
Paring. A shaving or peeling (OED, n. I, 1).
- 23.
Culpeper held that (like “unicorn’s horn”) hartshorn “resists poyson and the pestilence, provokes urine, restores lost strength” (Culpeper, Pharmacopoeia, 31).
- 24.
According to Culpeper, gillyflower can “resist the pestilence, strengthen the heart, liver, and stomach, and provokes lust” (Culpeper, Pharmacopoeia, 26).
- 25.
Here “citrin” refers to a pale yellow or greenish-yellow. The reference is thus to “yellow sandalwood”. This common ingredient was thought to “cool the heat of Feavers, strengthen the heart, and cause cheerfulness” (Culpeper, Pharmacopoeia, 24).
- 26.
Rhenish wine. Wine produced in the Rhine region (OED, adj. A, 1).
- 27.
Funnel.
- 28.
The recipe for “Aqua Mariae” includes ingredients such as “Sugar Candy”, “Imperial water”, “Ambergreese”, and “Saffron”. As a result, Culpeper warned that it is “very costly, as far beyond the reach of a poor mans purse, as of his brains” (Culpeper, Pharmacopoeia, 67).
- 29.
Common.
- 30.
The division of ferns into “male” and “female” goes back at least to the sixteenth century (see e.g. Rembert Dodoens (1578), A Niewe Herball, or Historie of Plantes, trans. Henry Lyte (London), 400).
- 31.
According to Culpeper, succory “strengthens the Liver and Veins, it opens obstructions, stoppings of the Liver and Spleen” (Culpeper, Pharmacopoeia, 5). This herb, and, as we will see, many others in the manuscript, was meant to combat melancholy.
- 32.
Fennel.
- 33.
Bruscus was used to “provoke urine, break the stone, and help such as cannot piss freely” (Culpeper, Pharmacopoeia, 9).
- 34.
According to Culpeper, ceterach “wasts and consumes the spleen” and “is excellent good for melahcholly people, helps the strangury, provokes urine, and breaks the stone in the bladder” (Culpeper, Pharmacopoeia, 16).
- 35.
Tamarisk was deemed “profitable for the Rickets, and Burnings” (Culpeper, Pharmacopoeia, 12).
- 36.
Cowslip.
- 37.
Common.
- 38.
Four.
- 39.
Hours.
- 40.
While the spelling is off, this is most likely a reference to “syrup of meconium”, which, according to Culpeper, “prevails against dry Coughs, Phtisicks, hot and sharp gnawing Rhewms, and provokes sleep”, but he warns that it should only “be used with a great deal of caution” (Culpeper, Pharmacopoeia, 106).
- 41.
Mathew Boucheret (d. 1671/2).
- 42.
The “AR” here is a ligature, which may well stand for “apothecarius regius”. Many thanks to William Newman for this suggestion, but we have not been able to determine its exact meaning and provenance.
- 43.
The effect of antimony on the stomach was thought to be analogous to its use in the purification of gold. For a much fuller account, see R. Ian McCallum (1999), Antimony in Medical History: An Account of the Medical Uses of Antimony and Its Compounds Since Early Times to the Present (Edinburgh).
- 44.
On this disease, see Helen King (2004), The Disease of Virgins: Green Sickness, Chlorosis, and the Problems of Puberty (New York).
- 45.
Surfeit. Superabundance, superfluity; an excessive quantity or supply of anything. Also, an illness attributed to excessive eating or drinking (or, occasionally, to extremes of temperature or some other environmental factor); an instance of this (OED, n. 2 and 4a).
- 46.
Physick (i.e. medicine).
- 47.
Clear. “Clere ale” was a kind of diluted ale. In the (c.1485) A Litill Boke Necessarye [and] Behovefull A[g]enst the Pestilence (London), one Bengt Knutsson gives the instructions for making this drink as such: “Take a quātite of tryacle of a pese &. ij. sponeful of clere wyn or rosewater or ale dissolve the triacle in the cuppe & drynke hit” (unpaginated).
- 48.
Silver.
- 49.
Thomas Cademan (1590?–1653).
- 50.
William Cavendish (bap. 1593–1676).
- 51.
Ministry. A ministry, office, or some sort of service (OED, n. 2, 1a).
- 52.
Carriole. A small open carriage (OED, n. 1). While the first known English usage is from 1770, the French is “carriole”, from Old Provençal “carriola”, meaning a small two-wheeled carriage.
- 53.
King Charles I (1600–1649).
- 54.
Apothecaries’.
- 55.
Filings.
- 56.
Also known in English as “liver of antimony”; see, e.g. Nicolas Lémery and Walter Harris (1686), A Course of Chemistry (London), 217–222.
- 57.
Balm.
- 58.
According to Culpeper, carduus benedictus “helps swimming and giddiness in the head, deafness, strengthens the memory, helps griping pains in the belly, kills worms, provokes sweat, expels poyson, helps inflamation of the liver, is very good in pestilences, and the French-pocks; outwardly applied, it ripens Plague-sores, and helps hot swellings, the bitings of mad-dogs, and venemous beasts” (Culpeper, Pharmacopoeia, 16).
- 59.
Malaga sack.
- 60.
Margaret Cavendish [née Lucas] (1623?-1673).
- 61.
Henry Cavendish (1630–1691).
- 62.
In humoural medicine, the spleen is the seat of black bile (in Greek “µέλαινα χολή” or in Latin “melancholia”). It was associated with the disease of melancholy (also see Chapter 3, 26–27).
- 63.
Marshmallow was thought to “ease pains, help bloody fluxes, the stone and gravel” (Culpeper, Pharmacopoeia, 3).
- 64.
Stœchas was deemed “a great counterpoyson” that opens “obstructions of the Liver and Spleen, clenseth the matrix and bladder, brings out corrupt humors, provokes urine” (Culpeper, Pharmacopoeia, 24).
- 65.
Bays were reputed to “expel wind, mitigate pains”, cure “cold infirmities of the womb, and dropsies” (Culpeper, Pharmacopoeia, 27).
- 66.
Various waters made to treat epilepsy.
- 67.
“Sanguis draconis” (or “Dragon’s blood”) apparently “cools and binds exceedingly” (Culpeper, Pharmacopoeia, 29).
- 68.
According to Culpeper, castor “resists poyson, the bitings of venemous beasts, it provokes the terms, and brings forth both birth and after birth, it expels wind, easeth pains and aches, convulsions, sighings, lethargies, the smell of it allaies the fits of the mother” (Culpeper, Pharmacopoeia, 31).
- 69.
Vitriol was deemed to “asswageth thirst, allayeth the violent heat in feavers and pestilences, and a few drops of it gives a pleasant grateful tast to any medicine” (Culpeper, Pharmacopoeia, 184).
- 70.
Culpeper maintained that “Oxymel Julianizans” “cuts and divides humors that are tough and viscus” (Culpeper, Pharmacopoeia, 113).
- 71.
The “Oximel of Squils” was deemed “good against the Falling-sickness, Megrim, Head-ach, Vertigo” and to help “women not well clensed after labor” (Culpeper, Pharmacopoeia, 113).
- 72.
Hyssop was thought to combat “Coughs, shortness of Breath, Wheezing”, while it also “kils worms in the body, amends the whol colour of the body, helps the Dropsie and Spleen, sore Throats, and nois in the Ears” (Culpeper, Pharmacopoeia, 19).
- 73.
Culpeper deemed “Confectio Alkermes” to be a restorer of “consumptions, a resister of pestilences and poyson, a great relief to languishing nature” (Culpeper, Pharmacopoeia, 125).
- 74.
Ambergris. According to Culpeper, this “helps the fits of the mother” and “strengthens the brain and memory, the heart and vital Spirit, warms cold stomachs, and is an exceeding strengthener of nature to old people” (Culpeper, Pharmacopoeia, 49).
- 75.
“Double wallflower” is a thicker and larger variety of wallflower (see John Gerard (1633), The Herball or Generall Historie of Plantes (London), 457).
- 76.
Along with killing ulcers, Culpeper maintained that spermaceti “cleers the sight, provokes sweat”, “helps bruises, and stretching of the nerves, and therefore is good for women newly delivered” (Culpeper, Pharmacopoeia, 32).
- 77.
Styrax (or “storax”) was said to help “coughs and distillations upon the lungues, hoarsness, want of voice, hardness of the womb, but it is bad for headaches” (Culpeper, Pharmacopoeia, 29).
- 78.
Culpeper claimed that betony counteracts “the falling sickness, and all headaches coming of cold, clenseth the breast and lungs, opens stoppings of the Liver and Spleen, as the Rickets, &c. procures appetite, helps sour belchings, provokes urine, breaks the stone, mitigates the pains of the reins and bladder, helps Cramps and Convulsions, resists Poyson, helps the Gout, such as piss blood, madness and headach, kills worms, help bruises, and clenseth women after their labor” (Culpeper, Pharmacopoeia, 15).
- 79.
The “common tragea” was a mixture of various powders with sugar, which often included cinnamon, powdered nutmeg, flowering plants like carnations, and other herbal ingredients.
- 80.
According to Culpeper, fumitory “helps such as are Itchy, and Scabbed, cleers the skin, opens stoppings of the Liver and Spleen, helps Rickets, Hypochondriak Melancholly, madness, frenzies, Quartan Agues, loosneth the belly, gently purgeth Melancholly, and addust choler” (Culpeper, Pharmacopoeia, 18).
- 81.
When spina cervina was used in the “Syrup of Purging Thorn”, it was supposed to help “against the Dropsie”, but Culpeper advised to “let it alone, as an upstart Medicine” (Culpeper, Pharmacopoeia, 111).
- 82.
Cinnamon.
- 83.
Culpeper noted that sarsaparillas are “helpful against pains in the head, and joynts, they provoke sweat, and are used familiarly in drying Diet drinks” (Culpeper, Pharmacopoeia, 9).
- 84.
According to Culpeper, scorzonera root “strengthens the vital spirits, resists poyson, helps passions and tremblings of the heart, faintness, sadness, and melancholly, opens stoppings of the liver and spleen, provokes the terms, easeth women of the sits of the mother, and helps swimmings in the head” (Culpeper, Pharmacopoeia, 10).
- 85.
Chamaepitys apparently “helps the Jaundice, Sciatica, stoppings of the liver, and spleen, provokes the Terms, clenseth the entrails, dissolves congeled blood, resists poyson, cures wounds and ulcers” (Culpeper, Pharmacopoeia, 16).
- 86.
Ceterach.
- 87.
Culpeper doubted whether elder root had any healing properties (Culpeper, Pharmacopoeia, 9).
- 88.
Hypericon was considered “as gallant a Wound-herb as any” (Culpeper, Pharmacopoeia, 19).
- 89.
Pugil. A small handful, or a large pinch, of something (OED, n. 1).
- 90.
Turbith root was thought to “purgeth flegm” (Culpeper, Pharmacopoeia, 10).
- 91.
Like turbith, hermodactyl was said to “purge flegm” (Culpeper, Pharmacopoeia, 7).
- 92.
Probably a reference to “syrup of meconium”.
- 93.
Damask roses. A species or variety of rose, supposed to have been originally brought from Damascus; originally the Rosa gallica variant damascena (OED, “damask”, 2d).
- 94.
Pilulae cochiae minores were relatively common compositions that were mentioned as early as Jean Fernel’s 1567 Universa medicina, tribus et viginti libris absoluta (Paris), 429 and 464.
- 95.
Pills covered with a thin coating of gold, especially with gold leaf (OED, “gilded”, adj. 1). Also see Renzo Console (2013), Pharmaceutical Use of Gold from Antiquity to the Seventeenth Century. A History of Geology and Medicine, eds. Christopher Duffin, Richard T. J. Moody, and Christopher Gardner-Thorpe (London), 171–191 (171 and 189).
- 96.
According to Culpeper, elecampane “resists poyson, helps old Coughs and shortness of breath, helps Ruptures and provokes lust” (Culpeper, Pharmacopoeia, 6).
- 97.
Aristolochia was thought to be useful for problems related to childbirth, and was divided into two types: “long” and “round” (e.g. Dodoens, A Niewe Herball, 314). On the toxicity of birthwort, and the uses of Aristolochia in ancient medicine, see John Scarborough (2011), Ancient Medicinal Use of Aristolochia: Birthwort’s Tradition and Toxicity. Pharmacy in History 53.1: 3–21.
- 98.
Gentiana was upheld as “a notable counterpoyson” that also “clenseth the body of raw humors” (Culpeper, Pharmacopoeia, 7).
- 99.
Bryony was a purgative that was also thought to be “very good for dropsies”, for “the fits of the Mother”, and to “take away Freckles, Sunburning and Morphew from the face” (Culpeper, Pharmacopoeia, 4).
- 100.
Culpeper held that chamaedrys cuts through “tough humors, opens stoppings of the liver and spleen, helps coughs and shortness of breath, strangury and stopping of urine and provokes the terms” (Culpeper, Pharmacopoeia, 17).
- 101.
Culpeper maintained that, “outwardly applied”, agrimony “helps old sores, ulcers &c. Inwardly it helps the Jaundice and the spleen” (Culpeper, Pharmacopoeia, 13).
- 102.
According to Culpeper, southernwood not only “resists poyson, kils worms, provokes lust” but also “dissolves cold swellings, and helps the bitings of venemous beasts, makes hair grow” (Culpeper, Pharmacopoeia, 13).
- 103.
Rue was deemed to remedy “difficulty of breathing, and inflamations” (Culpeper, Pharmacopoeia, 23).
- 104.
Broom was meant to “open the Stomach, break the Stone in the Reins and Bladder, help the green sickness” (Culpeper, Pharmacopoeia, 18).
- 105.
Scorbutgrass.
- 106.
Lemons.
- 107.
Smith’s water. The trough of water used by a blacksmith to cool hot iron (see Culpeper, Pharmacopoeia, 174).
- 108.
Squills.
- 109.
Cloths.
- 110.
Dandylion.
- 111.
The reference is unclear, though Francis Bacon’s 1626 Sylva Sylvarum mentions “rings of sea-horse teeth” ((1862), The Works of Francis Bacon, Vol. 5, eds. James Spedding, Robert Ellis, and Douglas D. Heath (Boston), 149). Peter L. Simmonds’ dictionary gives this definition: “Sea-horse tooth, a name given to the teeth of the walrus, and of the hippopotamus, which yield ivory” ((1858), Dictionary of Trade Products (London), 334).
- 112.
Bugloss apparently “cheers the heart, helps drooping spirits” (Culpeper, Pharmacopoeia, 4).
- 113.
Chervils were said to “provoke urine, they stir up lust and desire of copulation, comfort the heart and are good for old people, help pleurisies and pricking in the sides” (Culpeper, Pharmacopoeia, 16).
- 114.
Tisane.
- 115.
Most likely cloves threaded together.
- 116.
There were many ways to prepare mithridate, but the College called for several expensive ingredients including saffron, frankincense, and roses (Culpeper, Pharmacopoeia, 131).
- 117.
Bezoars were deemed “good in feavers, pestilences, and consumptions” (Culpeper, Pharmacopoeia, 33).
- 118.
On “Gascoigne’s Powder”, see John K. Crellin (2019), Gascoigne’s Powder: A British Prescription and Home Medicine, 1600s to early 1900s. Pharmaceutical Historian 49.1: 1–15.
- 119.
Splenetic.
- 120.
Gum ammoniac was considered a great remedy “for infirmities of the spleen” and “all pains in the joynts” (Culpeper, Pharmacopoeia, 51).
- 121.
When it came to tacamahaca gum, Culpeper asserted that “whatsoever ach or swelling proceeds of wind or cold raw humors, I know no better Plaister coming from Beyond Sea” (Culpeper, Pharmacopoeia, 50).
- 122.
Caranna was thought to counteract “aches, and swellings”, especially “the tooth-ach” (Culpeper, Pharmacopoeia, 50).
- 123.
Laudanum was considered to “mitigate violent pains” and “stop the fumes that trouble the brain in feavers” (Culpeper, Pharmacopoeia, 143).
- 124.
Mollify. To make soft or supple; to make tender; to reduce the hardness of (OED, v. 1a).
- 125.
Used, in general, as a synonym for “balm”. Also conceived of by Paracelsus as a healthful preservative essence, of an oily and softly penetrative nature, that exists in all organic bodies (OED, n. 4). Thomas Browne used the term “balsum” in the latter sense in 1643 when he scoffed, for example, that they who “found themselves on the radicall balsome or vitall sulphur of the parts, determine not why Abel liv’d not so long as Adam” (Religio Medici (London), 96).
- 126.
Dandylion.
- 127.
Crab’s eyes were thought to break “the stone, and open stoppings of the bowels” (Culpeper, Pharmacopoeia, 31).
- 128.
According to Culpeper, “Pearls, are a wonderfull strengthner to the heart” and “both they and the red Corral preserve the body in health, and resist feavers” (Culpeper, Pharmacopoeia, 32). Coral was renowned more generally for its medical properties (especially in Antwerp) around this time (see Marlise Rijks (2019), ‘Unusual Excrescences of Nature’: Collected Coral and the Study of Petrified Luxury in Early Modern Antwerp. Dutch Crossing: Journal of Low Country Studies 43.2: 127–156 (134)).
- 129.
Pills of mastic were used as gentle purgatives and as strengthening medicines (Culpeper, Pharmacopoeia, 141).
- 130.
At an early hour (OED, adv. 2).
- 131.
Pastilles.
- 132.
Culpeper held that lily of the valley strengthens “the brain and all the sences” (Culpeper, Pharmacopoeia, 60).
- 133.
Hiera picra. This drug was thought to be “an excellent remedy for vicious juyces” and “idle fancies” (Culpeper, Pharmacopoeia, 136).
- 134.
Four.
- 135.
See Chapter 2, 21–22 and Chapter 6, 83–85.
- 136.
Leaven. Any substance that produces fermentation; a ferment; a causative agent of a zymotic disease (OED, n. 1b).
- 137.
Activity.
- 138.
Within the Aristotelian tradition, meteors were deemed to be affections of the earth (such as rainbows or volcanoes). Such phenomena might be understood, post-Paracelsus, as having to do not with elements (as was the case for Aristotle) but rather with salts, which were of course one aspect of the tria prima. The idea, then, seems to be that leaven produces changes in the body’s salts, causing medically relevant phenomena, like gas, bloating, indigestion, etc. On the backdrop, see Roos, The Salt of the Earth, especially 10–107.
- 139.
Importune. To trouble; to pester, harass (OED, v. 4).
- 140.
Diminution. The action of diminishing or making less (OED, n. 1a).
- 141.
The reference here is to the Galenic natural faculties or vital functions of the body: that is, those activities of a living creature necessary for its life, or what Aristotle would label a nature (physis).
- 142.
Beer.
- 143.
Cellar.
- 144.
I.e. a medicine; good for physic.
- 145.
Cistern.
- 146.
St. Germain. The reference is to the western suburb of Paris, Saint-Germain-en-Laye, which had a spa that exploited springs on St-Germain hill.
- 147.
Tisane.
- 148.
Liquorice.
- 149.
Marvellously.
- 150.
Gallon.
- 151.
Cinnamon.
- 152.
Pure.
- 153.
Philosophise.
- 154.
Ordain. To order (a thing) to be made, provided, or equipped (OED, v. 15).
- 155.
Smoking the leaves of tussilago was reputed to cure lung diseases and be “good for inflamations” (Culpeper, Pharmacopoeia, 25).
- 156.
Haemorrhoid veins.
- 157.
Horse.
- 158.
Chiefest.
- 159.
Likely Gorges du Verdon. A river canyon located in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur region of Southeastern France.
- 160.
Probably Pougues-les-Eaux. An old water town in the Nièvre department in central France.
- 161.
Likely a reference to “China-Root”.
- 162.
Miracles.
- 163.
Drug.
- 164.
The implication here is that there is nearly no equal to Epsom water.
- 165.
Hitch. To fasten, especially in a temporary way (and against force acting in one direction) (OED, v. II.5a). The point is that if the hitching fails, the horse will run amock, and, by extension, if her stomach fails, her health will be in turmoil.
- 166.
Courage.
- 167.
Waters of Bourgogne. The water was from Canal de Bourgogne, which is in Burgundy in east-central France.
- 168.
The Roman Baths of Bourbon-Lancy, which is a commune in the Saône-et-Loire department in the region of Bourgogne in eastern France.
- 169.
I.e. take it that the brain is not affected.
- 170.
Remedies.
- 171.
Metals that were considered less valuable than gold and silver (e.g. lead, tin, iron, or copper).
- 172.
William Davisson (1593–1669).
- 173.
Mark Anthony Benoist (active mid-seventeenth century), a longstanding Cavendish family retainer.
- 174.
While epilepsy was known to the ancients (see e.g. De morbo sacro in the Hippocratic corpus), the OED lists William Shakespeare’s (1608), King Lear (London), vii. 79, and Lewis Machin and Gervase Markham’s (1608), Dumbe Knight (London), iii. sig. E4v, as the earliest English uses of the adjectival form.
- 175.
It is not always clear what is meant by “worms”, especially those in the body related to diseases. At the time, a worm could (like today) refer to a slender, creeping, limbless animal of the genus Lumbricus. But it might also signify any animal that creeps or crawls, including crocodiles (OED, n. I, 1 and 2a). As far as we know, there is no full work on early seventeenth-century ideas of worms, though do see Alanna Skuse (2014), Wombs, Worms and Wolves: Constructing Cancer in Early Modern England. Social History of Medicine 27.4: 632–648 and Ian MacInnes (2012), The Political Worm: Invertebrate Life in the Early Modern English Body. The Indistinct Human in Renaissance Literature, eds. Jean E. Feerick and Vin Nardizzi (Basingstoke), 253–273. For a slightly later period, see Julie Grissom (2014), Parasitic Worms in Early Modern Science and Medicine, 1650–1810 (Dissertation, University of Oklahoma).
- 176.
Vend (to sell).
- 177.
Extenuate. To render thinner (the humours or concretions of the body) (OED, v. 3b).
- 178.
Muddy or slimy (OED, adj.).
- 179.
Feculent. Containing or of the nature of fæces or dregs; abounding with sediment or impurities; thick, turbid. Also, laden or polluted with filth; foul, fetid (OED, adj. A, 1).
- 180.
A reference to sulphurated potash, which is a narcotic when taken internally. This particular recipe is named after Johannes Hartmann (1568–1631), who was the first chair in Chymiatrica at the University of Marburg (see Appendix 8D.III). His Praxis Chymiatrica, which was first published in 1633 but revised and expanded throughout the century, contains a recipe for “narcotic sulphur” in a section titled “Laudanum sine opio” (laudanum without opium) (Praxis Chymiatrica, Chap. II, Sec. 14, 44–45 and 316–317). This is the “narcoticke Sulpher of Hartmannus” in Pw V90. The recipe can also be found in the English translation by an anonymous “lover of Chymistry” ((1670), Bazilica Chymica, & Praxis Chymiatricae, or Royal and Practical Chymistry (London), Bk. III, 16–17) and Hartmann (1635), Tractatus physico-medicus de opio (Wittenberg), Theorem VII.3, 70–75.
- 181.
Down.
- 182.
Sage.
- 183.
Serviceable, helpful (OED, adj.).
- 184.
According to Culpeper, peony “helps women not sufficiently purged after travail, it provokes the Terms, and helps pains in the Belly, as also in the Reins and Bladder, Falling-sickness, and Convulsions in children” (Culpeper, Pharmacopoeia, 8).
- 185.
Culpeper maintained that galangal “strengthens the stomach exceedingly, and takes away the pains thereof coming of cold or wind, the smel of it strengthens the brain, it releeves faint hearts, takes away windiness of the womb, heats the Reins, and provokes lust” (Culpeper, Pharmacopoeia, 7).
- 186.
Also known as “mummy”. Ingredients gathered from the dead were a constant feature of European medicine (see Richard Sugg (2011), Mummies, Cannibals, and Vampires: The History of Corpse Medicine from the Renaissance to the Victorians (London)).
- 187.
Cardamom.
- 188.
Saffron.
- 189.
While the exact date is unclear, this must have been before Cavendish left England in July 1644.
- 190.
Evil.
- 191.
Passages.
- 192.
Fumitory.
- 193.
The drooping branches of the sallow (or, more particularly, the willow tree), which are vine-like.
- 194.
Culpeper insisted that nenuphars “stop lust” (Culpeper, Pharmacopoeia, 8).
- 195.
Plantain.
- 196.
Romans.
- 197.
Immediately.
- 198.
Thirsty.
- 199.
Haemorrhoids.
- 200.
Repress. To control or counteract with a particular treatment or remedy (OED, v. 1 3b).
- 201.
Moistened.
- 202.
Dainty. There are various meanings to this word, but the most likely ones here are valuable, fine, handsome; choice, excellent. It might also imply being held in estimation, honour, favour; esteem, regard; affection, love (OED, adj. 1 and n. 1).
- 203.
Afraid.
- 204.
To live physically here means to live via physic: that is, according to the rules of medicine. While it was evidently an established aphorism by the time that Mayerne was writing, the earliest known print example of this phrase is in George Cheyne (1725), Essay on Health and Long Life (London), which was published over seventy years after Mayerne penned his letter. The 1818 edition of Samuel Johnson’s dictionary attributed the phrase to Cheyne (A Dictionary of the English Language, Vol. 4 (London), “Physically”, def. 2).
- 205.
Praised.
- 206.
By God. Expressing dependence upon or grateful recognition of God’s providence; after post-classical Latin gratia Dei (or “by the grace of god”) (OED, “god”, n. P1, a (a)).
- 207.
Sorrel roots were considered “profitable against the Jaundice” (Culpeper, Pharmacopoeia, 7).
- 208.
In terms of its medical virtues, Culpeper said that purslane “cools the blood, liver, and is good for hot diseases, or inflamations in any of these places, stops fluxes, and the terms, and helps all inward inflamations whatsoever” (Culpeper, Pharmacopoeia, 22).
- 209.
I.e. do not use so much sugar.
- 210.
The natural—also animal, or innate, or vital—heat is a common element of Renaissance and early modern physiology, which was often thought to correspond, in some way, to the heat of the stars (Aristotle, De generatione animalium II.4, 736b29–737a6). As such, it was invoked to help explain the ability of living bodies to perform their necessary and teleologically organised functions like generation and nutrition and was integral to any understanding of the vegetative soul. Throughout the seventeenth century, many of these vital processes, which often involved the transformation of one substance (like food) into another (like blood), began to be understood in chymical terms. Significant in the English context are thinkers influenced by Harvey (including Boyle and Charleton), who reinterpreted some of his ideas about the blood in chymical terms. The fullest account of this remains Robert Frank (1980), Harvey and the Oxford Physiologists: A Study of Scientific Ideas (Berkeley).
- 211.
While the spelling is clear, the meaning is less so. The most likely reading is “coats”, though the OED gives the first usage of “coat” to mean a layer of any substance covering a surface as 1663 (OED, n. II.9). Another possibility is “cuts”.
- 212.
Cassia.
- 213.
Clarified.
- 214.
Currants.
- 215.
Raisins of the sun are simply sun-dried grapes (see OED, “raisin”, n. P2).
- 216.
Inigo Jones (1573–1652), the great early modern English architect.
- 217.
Sour.
- 218.
Hodge-podge. It was sometimes used at this time (as now) to mean “A clumsy mixture of ingredients” (OED, n. 2).
- 219.
Tamarind.
- 220.
Robert Dudley (1574–1649).
- 221.
It is unclear what exactly Mayerne is referring to here, since Dudley was never confirmed as the Duke of Northumberland, let alone by a pope, though he was favoured by the Grand Dukes of Tuscany.
- 222.
This is (oddly spelt) Latin for “mountain labour”, which is a reference to Aesop’s fable “The Mountain of Labour”, wherein a mountain, after much ado, gives birth to a mouse. See Chapter 6, 95.
- 223.
Contentment.
- 224.
“Fin alla morte, e più, se più si puote” is an Italian phrase, which translates as “until death, and longer, if longer is possible”. This phrase can be found in many early modern texts, perhaps most famously in Ludovico Ariosto (1543), Orlando Furioso (Venice), 242.
- 225.
Haemorrhoids.
- 226.
Piles.
- 227.
According to Culpeper, scrophularia “helps the Piles or Hemorrhoids, and (they say) being hung about the neck preserves the body in health” (Culpeper, Pharmacopoeia, 24).
- 228.
Culpeper held that orpine “cleers the Skin; inwardly taken, it helps gnawings of the stomach and bowels, ulcers in the lungues, bloody flux, and Quinsie in the throat” (Culpeper, Pharmacopoeia, 17).
- 229.
Hound’s tongue was thought to fend off “Hemorrhoids” and to be “good against burnings” (Culpeper, Pharmacopoeia, 5).
- 230.
Fenugreek.
- 231.
Pad (shorthand for paddock). A toad; later also a frog (OED, n. 1, 1).
- 232.
Camphor.
- 233.
According to Culpeper, “Aparine” or “Goose-grass, or Clevers”, is useful for “the bitings of venemous beasts, keeps mens bodies from growing too fat, helps the yellow jaundice, staies bleeding, fluxes, and helps green wounds” (Culpeper, Pharmacopoeia, 14).
- 234.
Juice from elderberries.
- 235.
Pottle. In contrast to its standard usage as a synonym for a “pot” (as in Transcription, 110), here the reference is to a measurement for liquids.
- 236.
Dog days. The hottest part of the summer, associated in ancient times with the heliacal rising of the Dog Star in the Mediterranean area; formerly considered to be the unhealthiest period of the year and a time of ill omen (OED, n. 1a).
- 237.
The anus or rectum (OED, n. 2).
- 238.
Curiosities (i.e. delicacies).
- 239.
I.e. so long as it be seldom.
- 240.
Mediocrity. A middle course of action; moderation, temperance (OED, n. 2).
- 241.
Ferdinando II de’ Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany (1610–1670).
- 242.
℞. The initial letter of classical Latin recipe (recipere; to receive). In medical prescriptions, as the opening instruction, it means: “take” (OED, “R”, n. III, 15b).
- 243.
Mithridate. This recipe (like much from Dudley) is both impressive, because of the expense and rarity of its ingredients, and confusing, because its all-inclusive nature means that it contains, for instance, treacle and mithridate, which are expensive panaceas that serve the same purpose.
- 244.
Species Dianthus. According to Culpeper, this causes a “cheerful mind” and “strengthens such as have been weakned by long sickness” (Culpeper, Pharmacopoeia, 123).
- 245.
Latin for “oil”.
- 246.
I.e. having been treated with camphor.
- 247.
Culpeper relayed that yellow amber “prevails against moist diseases of the head, it helps violent Coughs, helps Consumptions of the lungues, spitting of blood, the whites in women, it helps such women that are out of measure unwealdy in their going with child, it stops bleeding at the nose, helps difficulty of urine” (Culpeper, Pharmacopoeia, 32).
- 248.
Medically, stag’s heart was reputed to be “as great a strengthner to the heart as any is” and to resist “pestilences and poyson” (Culpeper, Pharmacopoeia, 31).
- 249.
These are two different tinctures.
- 250.
Peony.
- 251.
“Porcospino” is Italian for “porcupine”, and porcupines are one of numerous herbaceous animals that produce stones, or bezoars, that have long been popular in both Western and Eastern medicine.
- 252.
Jacinth was thought to “stop loosness” (Culpeper, Pharmacopoeia, 7).
- 253.
Topazes.
- 254.
I.e. white (or cream of) tartar.
- 255.
An “inward” or “internal” medicine is taken internally (especially by ingestion), whereas an “outward” or “external” medicine is applied to the skin or wound as, say, a cream or ointment.
- 256.
The number “1” has been omitted. Since there is no evidence of missing pages, it may well have been skipped in the transcription process. Another possibility—which is suggested by the fact that several of the numbers are scratched out or purposely obscured—is that the scribe was innumerate (on innumeracy at this time, see Keith Thomas (1987), Numeracy in Early Modern England. Transactions of the Royal Historical Society 37: 103–132).
- 257.
Basin.
- 258.
A shallow ladle or sieve for removing scum or floating matter from the surface of a liquid (OED, n. 1).
- 259.
Turpentine was used as a purgative (Culpeper, Pharmacopoeia, 29).
- 260.
Gonnorhea.
- 261.
A caper.
- 262.
Dephlegmated.
- 263.
I.e. has.
- 264.
Lute. To coat with lute (clay or cement), especially to cover (a crucible, etc.) with lute as a protection against fire; to close or stop with lute (an orifice or joint); to stop with lute the cracks or joints of (a vessel). The coating or covering made of this clay (OED, v. 2, 1).
- 265.
Spatula.
- 266.
Porcelain.
- 267.
Phthisic. According to a section “Of the Tisike” in Stephen Batman’s translation of Anglicus Bartholomaeus’s De proprietatibus rerum (a thirteenth-century encyclopedia), “Tisike is consumption and wasting of kinde humour of the bodye, and commeth of whelkes and of botches of the lunges: and sometime of a reume dropping from the head into the lunges, and smiteth the lunges ofte, and thirleth them and maketh holes therein, and whelkes and botches, as dropping of raine perceth a stone” ((1582), Batman uppon Bartholome: His Book De proprietatibus rerum (London), unpaginated).
- 268.
Literally, drinkable gold.
- 269.
For a fuller discussion, see Chapter 6, 97–98.
- 270.
Also margin. The space on a page between its extreme edge and the main body of matter (OED, n. 1a). For the image in the margin, see Fig. 7.1.
- 271.
Threads.
- 272.
Mary’s bath.
- 273.
Soul.
- 274.
Suddenly.
- 275.
Culpeper warns that scammony gnaws patients’ “bodyes as fast as Doctors gnaw their purses” (Culpeper, Pharmacopoeia, 29).
- 276.
Mary’s bath.
- 277.
An extract obtained by distillation or otherwise from a plant, or from a medicinal, odoriferous, or alimentary substance, and containing its characteristic properties in a concentrated form. In pharmacy, it is chiefly applied to alcoholic solutions containing the volatile elements or “essential oil” to which the perfume, flavour, or therapeutic virtues of the substance are due (OED, n. 9a).
- 278.
Matter that settles as a deposit in a liquid; sediment (OED, n. 2, 1a).
- 279.
I.e. tested with obvious success.
- 280.
Grossly. Of grinding, pounding, etc.: coarsely (OED, adv. 4).
- 281.
Glazed.
- 282.
Porcelain.
- 283.
I.e. to keep/stop the melted opium from sticking.
- 284.
Unctuous. Of the nature or quality of an unguent or ointment; oily, greasy (OED, adj. 1a).
- 285.
A French coin, the twelfth of the sou; originally, like the Roman denarius and English penny, of silver; but, from the sixteenth century, a small copper coin (OED, n. 3, 1).
- 286.
Powder.
- 287.
Rare: that is, a lightly cooked egg, left soft.
- 288.
Availeth.
- 289.
Colic.
- 290.
Glyster.
- 291.
The alchemical symbol for silver.
- 292.
The process of boiling, or keeping a liquid at the boiling point by the application of heat; the state of bubbling agitation into which a liquid is thrown by being heated to the boiling point (OED, n. 1a).
- 293.
Pellicle.
- 294.
The alchemical symbol for copper.
- 295.
The alchemical symbol for vitriol.
- 296.
Depure. To free from impurity, cleanse, purify (OED, v.).
- 297.
The action of congealing or freezing; the process or state of being congealed (OED, n. 1a).
- 298.
The Italian “agro di cedro” (or “sour cedar”).
- 299.
To render dull (OED, v.).
- 300.
Kenelm Digby (1603–1665).
- 301.
Carabe. Another term for “yellow amber” (Cotgrave, A Dictionarie of the French and English Tongues, unpaginated).
- 302.
Piece.
- 303.
Deaner. A half-shilling (OED, n.).
- 304.
Pilulae cochiae.
- 305.
A professor at the University of Pisa, Marco Cornacchinio, who published a more simplistic version of Dudley’s powder, known as “Pulvis Warwicensis”, in a 1619 work titled Methodus qua omnes humani corporis affectiones ab humoribus copia (Florence), which was dedicated to Dudley.
- 306.
A paste.
- 307.
Dubious reading. It could be the Latin for “juice”.
- 308.
Comparably.
- 309.
Rome. Between 1645 and 1648, Digby spent considerable time in Rome, in a failed attempt to convince Pope Innocent X to support the Royalist cause.
- 310.
I.e. the troches of vipers.
- 311.
Countenance. Estimation; credit or repute (OED, n. 1, III.9).
- 312.
Colour.
- 313.
I.e. certain; fully assured (OED, adj. II).
- 314.
False.
- 315.
A collective term for articles of merchandise or manufacture; goods, commodities (OED, n. 3, 1).
- 316.
Were.
- 317.
Bead amber.
- 318.
Probably a reference to Marcus Aurelius Severinus’s 1650 treatise, Vipera Pythia, id est, de viperae natura, veneno, medicina, demonstrations (Padua). While this was ostensibly published a year after Digby penned his letter, the ambiguity of the Gregorian/Julian calendrical systems makes it likely that Severinus’s book had just been published (as Digby indicates) in 1649.
- 319.
I.e. marshy (OED, n. B, 1a).
- 320.
Eunuch. A castrated person of the male sex (OED, n. a).
- 321.
A Graeco-Roman god of procreation and fertility, usually represented as a small, deformed figure with an enormous phallus, and later taken as a tutelary god of gardens, vineyards, etc. (OED, n. 1).
- 322.
There is no number “5”.
- 323.
Threads.
- 324.
Opobalsamum was thought to be “excellent to take away a skar, and many other purposes: but it’s very dear, and hard to be gotten” (Anonymous, (1657), A Physical Dictionary (London), unpaginated).
- 325.
I.e. the last time that he will ever make them.
- 326.
Chargeable. Burdensome, troublesome (OED, adj. I.1).
- 327.
For the importation of recipes from Egypt, the Arabian Peninsula, and India during this period, see Jenner and Wallis, Medicine and the Market; also see Chapter 5, 75–77.
- 328.
To indicate one’s assent to; to support, favour, sanction, concur in (OED, v. I, 2c).
- 329.
Mithridate.
- 330.
Supplying. To make up a deficiency in (something) by providing or replacing what is missing; to supplement (OED, v. 1, I, 2b).
- 331.
“Antonio Manfredi” also features prominently in Baldi’s 1646 Del vero opobalsamo orientale, which, as the name suggests, was an apology for “opobalsamum”. This text was published in Rome around the time that Digby was there on behalf of King Charles I (see Chapter 6, 86–87). It must have either been Digby’s source, which seems likely since Baldi also dwells on the power of viper flesh, or he must have been in direct contact with Manfredi (Del vero opobalsamo, 99–100).
- 332.
I.e. they are antidotes to poison.
- 333.
Were.
- 334.
Off.
- 335.
This likely refers to the leaves of the aretnuß, which were often used medicinally.
- 336.
Else.
- 337.
Biscuit cakes.
- 338.
Sifted.
- 339.
Sieve.
- 340.
A quarter of a penny; the coin representing this value (OED, n. 1a).
- 341.
Touch.
- 342.
Coloured.
- 343.
Fevers.
- 344.
Rasp. To grate, file, or scrape with a rasp or other rough instrument (OED, v. 2a).
- 345.
Barberry was deemed to “purgeth Choller” and to be “a singular remedy for the yellow Jaundice” (Culpeper, Pharmacopoeia, 11).
- 346.
Latin for “syrup of pomegranate” (sirupus granati).
- 347.
Dissolved.
- 348.
Robert Fludd (bap. 1574–1637).
- 349.
Catholicon.
- 350.
Rhubarb.
- 351.
Vial.
- 352.
Unfortunately, we have not been able to find any information concerning this apothecary.
- 353.
Ladle. A pan with a handle, to hold molten metal for pouring (OED, n. 2b).
- 354.
Hepar Antimony.
- 355.
Tough.
- 356.
Flowing back; an instance of this (OED, n.). The phenomenon in question is what we call “acid reflux”.
- 357.
Cast.
- 358.
Lapis prunella was also thought to help bruises, “the Rickets and other stoppings of the Liver; outwardly it is of wonderful force in curing wounds and ulcers, though festered, as also gangreens and Fistulaes, it helps broken bones” (Culpeper, Pharmacopoeia, 15).
- 359.
Urine.
- 360.
Gargle.
- 361.
Cloths.
- 362.
Bere. To cry out, howl, roar (OED, v. 1). The implication here is that the green vitriol should calcine until the fire is roaring.
- 363.
I.e. block its flow.
- 364.
Wrapped.
- 365.
Lemons.
- 366.
I.e. made to purpose.
- 367.
Iron.
- 368.
Juice.
- 369.
Davisson.
- 370.
Since William Cavendish’s eldest son, Charles (1626?–1659), does not appear to have been knighted, the reference must be to the footmen of William’s brother, the mathematician Sir Charles Cavendish (1595?–1654).
- 371.
Culpeper thought that consolida maggiore counteracts “spitting of blood, Ruptures or Burstness, pains in the back, it strengthens the Reins, it stops the Terms, and helpeth Hemorrholds” (Culpeper, Pharmacopoeia, 5).
- 372.
Bugle.
- 373.
Sanicle was used to “clenseth wounds and ulcers” (Culpeper, Pharmacopoeia, 23).
- 374.
Scabious was upheld as a protection against skin diseases including “Scabs and Itch” and “the French-pocks” (Culpeper, Pharmacopoeia, 9).
- 375.
According to Gerard, the leaves of periwinkle “boiled in wine and drunken, stop the laske [laxness of the bowels] and bloudie flix [flux]” (The Herball, 895).
- 376.
Coltsfoot.
- 377.
According to Culpeper, pulmonaria (or lungwort) “helps infirmities of the Lungues” (Culpeper, Pharmacopoeia, 23).
- 378.
Agrimony.
- 379.
Plantain.
- 380.
Scum. To clear (the surface of a liquid) of impurities or floating matter (OED, v. 1a).
- 381.
Poultice.
- 382.
Flowers.
- 383.
Poultice.
- 384.
Lilies.
- 385.
Leaven.
- 386.
Anodyne. Having the power to assuage or lessen pain (OED, adj. A, 1).
- 387.
Crumbs.
- 388.
Aquapendente’s Pills, named after Fabricius ab Acquapendente (1533–1619).
- 389.
Dysentery.
- 390.
“It has been approved/demonstrated”. This common phrase signalled that a medicine has been tested and is effective (see Claire Jones (1998), Formula and Formulation: ‘Efficacy Phrases’ in Medieval English Medical Manuscripts. Neuphilologische Mitteilungen 99.2: 199–209.).
- 391.
Unknown. There were several Marys in Margaret Cavendish's family (see 8D.IV).
- 392.
I.e. to a shaving or peeling.
- 393.
Théodore Naudin (1616–1675).
- 394.
I.e. salty.
- 395.
Tile.
- 396.
Bole Armoniac.
- 397.
Retort.
- 398.
Most likely a reverb (or reverberatory) furnace, which has a flame that was meant to isolate the material being processed from the fuel, but not from combustion gases (see Christophe Glaser (1667), Traité de la chymie (Paris), 44).
- 399.
Their.
- 400.
Common lute.
- 401.
Abbreviation for “recipe”, which is the second singular present imperative of recipere (Latin for “receive” or “take”). While the reading is relatively clear, the abbreviations, aberrant spelling, and unknown ingredients make the following recipe difficult to decipher. After consulting numerous paleographers and Latinists, we were unable to determine all of the meanings, but we have endeavored here to recreate as closely as possible the exact spellings, and in the footnotes suggest various interpretations. Note that a full stop (“.”) usually indicates an abbreviation, while “x” is occasionally used to abbreviate endings for noun declensions.
- 402.
“Four ounces interior pulp of Indian nuts”, which is likely the coconut, but could be the areca nut.
- 403.
“Two ounces of pine-nuts cleaned in Madeira sack [and] poured into an equal amount of fresh pistachios”. Here “pistachios” probably refers to turpentine, from Pitacia Terebinthus; also called Chian or Cyprian turpentine. Alternatively, it might refer to the pistachio nut from the tree Pistacia vera. “a.” is an abbreviation for “ana”, meaning “of each” or “of an equal amount”.
- 404.
“Three ounces preserved satyrion roots”.
- 405.
“Seven pennyworth preserved ginger”.
- 406.
“Preserved nutmeg, each one ounce”.
- 407.
“Lumbor” might refer to “lumborum”, the genitive plural of “lumbus”, meaning “the loins”; or, less likely, it might refer to “lumbrici”, or earthworms, which were often used in medical recipes.
- 408.
The “sim” is blotted by ink, and could be crossed out. If the “sim” is crossed out, the “cor”, combined with the letters on the next line, could render a strange spelling of “corium”, which referred to leather, skin, or perhaps a peel: “corimeum”. How to make sense of what ingredient is being referred to here, however, is not easy.
- 409.
“[...] half an ounce”.
- 410.
“[…] the plucked inner seeds of cinnamon […] each three drams”. This is a dubious interpretation; the first word (“uebtar”) is clear, but the meaning is not; the last word, “erueá”, might be a form of “eruo-eruere”, meaning “to dig up, to pluck”. The cinnamon tree has a berry with tiny, black dicot seeds and has many of the same properties as the bark, which is more commonly used in food and medicine.
- 411.
It might read “cotic”.
- 412.
“Take two and a half drams […] exterior and stir […]”.
- 413.
“Ground everything diligently by stirring in a mortar”.
- 414.
“Four drops oleum sanctum [dubious interpretation] and syrup of cinnamon”, assuming that “S” means “stillae” for “liquid drops”. “S” could also stand for “semicochleare”, which means a half-spoonful.
- 415.
“[and] let this be made into the form of an electuary”, assuming that “mosct. Ft.” is “miscreant fiat”.
- 416.
“Serve to/according to use”, assuming that “Opeatx” is an abbreviation of “Operatum”.
- 417.
A castrated cock (OED, n. 1a).
- 418.
Pheasants.
- 419.
The reading is reasonably clear, but the reference is not. Given the context, however, it is likely “geese”.
- 420.
French for “quails”.
- 421.
Girofle (French for “clove”).
- 422.
Cinnamon.
- 423.
Coney.
- 424.
Neat’s tongue.
- 425.
I.e. shellfish.
- 426.
Toast.
- 427.
Venation. The action or occupation of hunting wild animals (OED, n. 1). The suggestion is that hunting is the best form of exercise.
- 428.
Forbear. To abstain or refrain from (some action or procedure); to cease, desist from (OED, v. 5). The implication is that the patient should abstain from staying awake for too long.
- 429.
Lazy.
- 430.
Prentice: that is, an apprentice.
- 431.
Bezoar-water.
- 432.
Culpeper held that “Angellica water the greater” “comforts the heart, cherisheth the vital Spirits, resisteth the pestilence, and al corrupt airs” (Culpeper, Pharmacopoeia, 63).
- 433.
Temperately.
- 434.
Incident. Apt to fall into; liable to; subject to (adj.1, I, 4).
- 435.
Lungs.
- 436.
The retentive faculty, which was one of Galen’s natural faculties, was deemed central to nutrition insofar as it was thought to keep consumed food in its proper place during the process of assimilation (see e.g. Galen De facultatibus naturalia, III.1).
- 437.
A fit or seizure; a faint (OED, n. 4b).
- 438.
Any.
- 439.
Travail. The effort and pain of childbirth; labour (OED, n. 1, 2).
- 440.
Prevalent. Having great power or force; effective, powerful; influential, potent (OED, adj. A.1).
- 441.
Vertigo.
- 442.
Lungs.
- 443.
Adrian Gilbert (1541–1628).
- 444.
Colic.
- 445.
The meaning here is obscure; perhaps the medicine helps women with their menstrual cycle, or with delivering babies.
- 446.
Digest. To divide and dispose, to distribute (OED, v. 1a). The meaning seems to be that the cordial helps to dispose of the decayed nature.
- 447.
Dose.
- 448.
Samuel Bispham (1612/13–1664).
- 449.
Spattle. A spatula (OED, n. 2, 1).
- 450.
Pap.
- 451.
Roman.
- 452.
I.e. the scab.
- 453.
Women’s lining seems to have been used to wrap wounds. In this context, “lining” probably means underclothing (OED, n. 1, 1b).
- 454.
Sweet marjoram was considered “an excellent remedy for cold diseases in the brain” that “helps such as are given to much sighing, easeth pains in the belly, provokes urine” (Culpeper, Pharmacopoeia, 13).
- 455.
Xylaloes (also “lign-aloes”).
- 456.
Suet.
- 457.
Angel water. According to Culpeper, this “comforts the heart, cherisheth the vital Spirits, resisteth the pestilence, and al corrupt airs” (Culpeper, Pharmacopoeia, 63).
- 458.
Pastilles.
- 459.
Benjamin.
- 460.
Richard Farrar (active mid-seventeenth century).
- 461.
Thomas Glemham (1595–1649).
- 462.
Possibly.
- 463.
Endymion Porter (1587–1649).
- 464.
Apt. To make fit, adapt (to), prepare suitably (for) (OED, v. 1a).
- 465.
Scorbute.
- 466.
Requisite.
- 467.
Curtsy. To make a curtsy; to do reverence to (OED, v. 1a).
- 468.
Interim.
- 469.
Write.
- 470.
Horehound was also used as a purgative (Culpeper, Pharmacopoeia, 107).
- 471.
Pie.
- 472.
To pierce (a cask, etc.) to draw out the liquor; to tap (OED, v. 1, 4a).
- 473.
Thyme.
- 474.
Currants.
- 475.
Sour.
- 476.
Porringer. A small bowl or basin, typically with a handle, used for soup, stews, or similar dishes (OED, n. 1).
- 477.
Unclear meaning, though the reading is clear. It perhaps refers to the top of a kiln; less likely, it might refer to a bodkin, which is a long, sharp implement.
- 478.
A young domestic hen (OED, n. 1).
- 479.
High nourishment (i.e. very nourishing).
- 480.
“Sic itur ad astra” is a famous phrase from Virgil’s Aeneid, Book IX, line 641, which translates as “thus one journeys to the stars”. Here it means something like “with difficulty and suffering, immortality (or perhaps health) can be achieved”.
- 481.
I.e. provide the relevant weights.
- 482.
Viz. (short for “videlicet”).
- 483.
Perhaps “feel”.
- 484.
The phraseology and grammar are odd, but the meaning seems relatively clear: when you are close to going to stool, do not eat anything, but rather take the decoction.
- 485.
Coarse.
- 486.
Cookmaid.
- 487.
Apparent.
- 488.
The menstrual discharge, catamenia, menses (OED, “course”, n. IV, 28).
- 489.
Long space in original.
- 490.
Stew.
- 491.
Plump. To make plump; to cause to swell (especially in early use, with water) (OED, v. 3, 1a). The method involved covering fruit in boiling water.
- 492.
I.e. 17 pennies’ worth.
- 493.
The meaning of “Devices” here is obscure, but note that Farrar refers to taking the medicine “before she exspects them” and that, if it does not work in the first month, it “must be taken agayne ye second Month”. Moreover, in the prior letter, Farrar refers to the “want of her courses”, stating that he would provide instructions for “an orderly (& not over hasty) bringing of them downe”. Given Farrar’s advice and the context of this recipe, “Devices” may refer to menstrual pains and discomfort.
- 494.
Quantity.
- 495.
In this context, “well hunted upon” means “tired out” (see Charles Etienne (1616), Maison Rustique, or, The Countrey Farme, trans. Gervase Markham (London), 459).
- 496.
Pennyworth. As much as can be bought or sold for a penny (OED, n. 1a).
- 497.
The idea here is that the dung and saffron are put in a loosely tied cloth and steeped in the white wine.
- 498.
Stir. Movement, considered in contrast to or as an interruption of rest or stillness (OED, n. 1, 1).
- 499.
Office. That which is done, or is intended or expected to be done, by a particular thing (OED, n. 4a).
- 500.
Nauseous.
- 501.
Various plants that are common in herbals contain the term “hispanicum” (i.e. Spanish). In his Herball, Gerard listed, for instance, “Pseudospartum Hispanicum” (Spartium junceum, Spanish broom) (1318); “Origanum Hispanicum” (Oregano vulgare, Spanish thyme) (667); and “Dorychinium Hispanicum” (Lotus dorycnium, prostrate Canary clover) (1308).
- 502.
Syringe.
- 503.
Latin for the “centre of man”. From ancient Greece through to the Middle Ages and Renaissance, much was written about the “primary” areas of the body, and their importance in understanding physiology. The point here is that rubbing ointment at the centre of the body will make it work faster and more effectively.
- 504.
Literally, a quarter of a bushel, or, figuratively, a considerable quantity or number; a great deal, a heap, a lot (OED, n. 1, 2a and 4).
- 505.
To steep or boil in an alkaline lye as an initial process in buck-washing, or bleaching (OED, v. 1, 1).
- 506.
I.e. more than twice.
- 507.
Four-square. Having four equal sides; square (OED, adj. a). In this case, the reference is to the cut of the diamond (for a similar usage, see Elias Ashmole (1672), The Institution Laws and Ceremonies of the Most Noble Order of the Garter (London), 204).
- 508.
Cheese.
- 509.
Frankincense.
- 510.
I.e. reasonably.
- 511.
The reference is unclear. “Fugitus” is Latin for “to flee” or “fly away”, and it likely refers to a volatile syrup such as the “syrupus volatilis” that George Bate mentions ((1694), Pharmacopœia Bateana: or, Bate’s Dispensatory, Vol. 1 (London), 784). There is also a long tradition, starting with Paracelsus, of using volatile salts in medicine, and these were sometimes called “fugitivus” and discussed in English as “fugitive” salts (see, for instance, Robert Boyle (1661), The Sceptical Chymist (London), 72–73 and 419).
- 512.
Bruise. To grind or break down (especially foodstuff) completely or partially with a pestle, millstone, or another implement; to pound, to crush (OED, v. 3).
- 513.
Calixt Rust (d. 1658/1659).
- 514.
According to the English physician Thomas Cogan, almond milk was good for hot diseases, while almond butter, which “cunning cookes” and the “learned Physitian” alike should know how to make, was “good for a stuffed breast” ((1636), The Haven of Health (London), 112). Agreeing with this evaluation, Margaret opined in a section “Of Coughs” in The World’s Olio that “I should think Almond-milk should be very good; for the French barley, that is boyled in the Water, is both cooling and clensing, and quenches out the Fiery Heat; and Almonds are healing and smothering” (193).
- 515.
Blanch. To whiten almonds, or the like, by taking off the skin; as is usually done by throwing them into boiling water (OED, v. 1, 2a).
- 516.
According to Culpeper, “The four greater cold Seeds” are “Gourds, Cittuls, Cucumber, Melons” while “The four lesser cold Seeds” are “Endive, Succory, Lettice, Purslain” (Culpeper, Pharmacopoeia, 79). Which of the two is being referred to here is unclear.
- 517.
Elizabeth Egerton [née Cavendish] (1626–1663).
- 518.
A fine variety of almond, now coming chiefly from Malaga; also, simply Jordan (OED, n.).
- 519.
Fair skillet.
- 520.
Loaf Sugar. Sugar refined and moulded into a loaf or conical mass (OED, n.).
- 521.
Height. There are several such phrases in this manuscript, which do not refer to a strict measurement, but rather to the quality of a liquid: that is, to its viscousness (OED, n. I, 8). Philemon Holland, for instance, wrote in his 1601 The Historie of the World, Commonly called, The Naturall Historie of C. Plinium Secundus that a decoction must be “Suffered to seeth gently and leisurely to the height or consistence of honey” (Vol. 2 (London), 276).
- 522.
Philip Stanhope (1583/4–1656).
- 523.
Terra Lemnia was supposed to stop the flow of blood (Culpeper, Pharmacopoeia, 149).
- 524.
Emeralds.
- 525.
Rubies.
- 526.
Sapphires.
- 527.
Citron peels.
- 528.
Ivory.
- 529.
Rasped ivory: that is, ivory that has been scoured with a sharp implement.
- 530.
Afforded (i.e. as described in the preceding recipe).
- 531.
Defailance. Failing; failure (OED, n.).
- 532.
The reference is presumably to one of Stanhope’s daughters, Sarah or Elizabeth.
- 533.
Elizabeth Talbot Grey (1582–1651).
- 534.
White.
- 535.
Aletheia Talbot Howard (c. 1585–1654). On Gascoigne’s powder, see John K. Crellin (2019), Gascoigne’s Powder: A British Prescription and Home Medicine, 1600s to early 1900s. Pharmaceutical Historian 49.1: 1–15.
- 536.
Bragget.
- 537.
I.e. that an egg can float on the liquid.
- 538.
Yeast.
- 539.
I.e. one should drink it quickly.
- 540.
I.e. if you want to drink it right away.
- 541.
Metheglin.
- 542.
Strengthening or refreshing to the bodily faculties or organs; sustaining (OED, adj. I, 3).
- 543.
Having.
- 544.
Pewter.
- 545.
Penide.
- 546.
Unknown. Active mid-seventeenth century.
- 547.
Scabious.
- 548.
According to Culpeper, “Five-leaved, or Five-fingered grass” is “admirable against all Fluxes, and stops blood flowing from any part of the body, it helps infirmities of the Liver and Lungues, helps putrified ulcers of the mouth, the Root boyled in Vinegar is good against the Shingles, and appeaseth the rage of any fretting sores” (Culpeper, Pharmacopoeia, 8).
- 549.
Hyssop.
- 550.
Thyme.
- 551.
Michaelmas. The feast of St Michael, one of the quarter days in England, Ireland, and Wales; the date of this, 29 September. Also, a period or season around this date (OED, n.).
- 552.
John King (bap. 1614–1681).
- 553.
Tune. To put into a proper condition for producing some effect; to adapt to a particular purpose (OED, v. 2, 2c).
- 554.
Impostume.
- 555.
Catarrh.
- 556.
Their.
- 557.
Valliant. Having or possessing courage; especially acting with or showing boldness or bravery in fight or on the field of battle; bold, brave, courageous, stout-hearted (OED, adj. 2a).
- 558.
To accord with, agree with, be suitable to; to befit (OED, v. III, 7).
- 559.
Covent Garden.
- 560.
Unknown. Active mid-seventeenth century.
- 561.
Belly.
- 562.
Thyme.
- 563.
The recipe calls for the mixture to have the consistency of a caudle.
- 564.
Flakes.
- 565.
Fish semen (OED, n. 2).
- 566.
Strew. To scatter (rushes, straw, flowers, etc.) over the surface of something; to sprinkle (something granulated or in powder) over a surface (OED, v. 1a).
- 567.
Tea.
- 568.
Antwerp measure. This is a measure of length (and occasionally the volume of liquid) that is expressed in “ells”. The measurement varies in different countries, but the Antwerp ell is probably the same (or very similar) to the Flemish ell, which is 27 inches (OED, n. 1, 1a and c).
- 569.
Villemagne. A commune in the Aude department in southern France, probably where the cure originated. The French chymist Nicolas Lémery mentioned a similar “Plaister of Villemagne made upon soft Leather” ((1685), Recueil de curiosités rares et nouvelles (London), 249).
- 570.
Elemi was used in plasters, ointments, and the manufacture of varnish, and deemed to be “good for fractures of the skul, as also in wounds” (Culpeper, Pharmacopoeia, 29).
- 571.
Charge. To load; to cause to bear, hold, or receive (OED, v. I, 1a); in this case ointment is to be “loaded” on an injured horse.
- 572.
Founder. Chiefly of a horse or its rider. To stumble violently, fall helplessly to the ground, collapse; to fall lame (OED, v. 4).
- 573.
Burgundy pitch was regarded as excellent “against old aches coming of former bruises or dislocations” (Culpeper, Pharmacopoeia, 49).
- 574.
Bole Armoniac Stones.
- 575.
Culpeper held that Dwarf Elder “wasts hard swellings, being applied in form of a pultis; the hair of the head being anointed with the juyce of it turns black; the leaves being applied to the place, help inflamations, burnings, scaldings, the bitings of mad-dogs” (Culpeper, Pharmacopoeia, 18).
- 576.
Broken wind. An incurable disease of the organs of respiration in horses, caused by the rupture of the air-cells, which disables them from bearing fatigue (OED, n.).
- 577.
The reading is reasonably clear, although the meaning is not. It could perhaps be “chemise”: that is, a kind of undergarment worn by women that could have been used as a filter (camis is an old spelling, from the Latin “camisia”) (OED, n. 1a).
- 578.
Put out. To drive, force; to expel (OED, “put”, v. 5a). I.e. nature drives the substance out of Margaret’s stomach.
- 579.
Aniseeds.
- 580.
Digesture. The process or faculty of digesting (OED, n.).
- 581.
Minced.
- 582.
Elizabeth Throckmorton, Lady Raleigh (1565–1647).
- 583.
Gall. The gallbladder and its contents (OED, n. 1, I, 2a).
- 584.
Scum. To clear (the surface of a liquid) of impurities or floating matter (OED, v. 1a).
- 585.
I.e. smaller.
- 586.
Robert Atkyns (bap. 1621–1710).
- 587.
Isinglass.
- 588.
Grot. A fragment, particle, atom (OED, n. 1). The meaning seems to be that one should take the smallest fragment of thunderbolt-stone.
- 589.
The reference is to two members of the Chiffinch family of Staplehurst in Kent: Thomas Chiffinch (1600–1666), a confidant of Charles I and Charles II and a painting connoisseur, and his younger brother, William Chiffinch (c. 1602–1691), a courtier and Royal official. The Chiffinches, who followed Charles II to the Continent, would likely have been acquainted with the Cavendishes.
- 590.
Walter Raleigh (1554–1618).
- 591.
Receive.
- 592.
Peso.
- 593.
Aqua Benedicta Rulandi is a purgative described by Hartmann. For the recipe itself, see Praxis Chymiatrica, Chap. II, Sec. 14, 6, and, for an English translation, Royal and Practical Chymistry, Bk III, 2.
- 594.
To simmer (OED, v. 1, 1).
- 595.
I.e. coarse.
- 596.
Thyme.
- 597.
I.e. with lots of meat.
- 598.
Alexander Fraizer (1607?-1681).
- 599.
Centaury.
- 600.
Celandine.
- 601.
Mirabelle. A small, sweet, yellow plum, eaten chiefly in France (OED, n. 1a).
- 602.
Diarrhodon abbatis.
- 603.
Scabious.
- 604.
Tamarinds.
- 605.
Cinnamon.
- 606.
As its name suggests, aloes rosata is aloes “washed with juyce of roses” (Culpeper, Pharmacopoeia, 29). According to Culpeper, these aloes are “a gallant gentle purger of choller, frees the stomach from superfluous humors, opens stoppings, and other infirmities of the body proceeding from choller or flegm, as yellow Jaundice &c.” (Culpeper, Pharmacopoeia, 140).
- 607.
Pills of Mastic.
- 608.
While the reading of “crystal of barbarum” is clear enough, the exact reference is not; it may refer to rhubarb (Rheum rhaponticum), as this shrub does leave behind a calcium oxalate phytolith when burned.
- 609.
Edward Conway (bap. 1594–1655).
- 610.
Stonecrop is interpolated in a different hand; probably William Cavendish’s.
- 611.
According to Culpeper, “Gromwell-seed, provokes urine, helps the chollich, breaks the stone, and expels wind” (Culpeper, Pharmacopoeia, 28).
- 612.
I.e. in a heap.
- 613.
“drink” is interpolated in a different hand; again, probably William Cavendish’s.
- 614.
Stitch. For “stitch” as a synonym for “colic” at this time, see Hannah Woolley (1677), The Compleat Servant-Maid; or, The Young Maidens Tutor (London), 55.
- 615.
Strew.
- 616.
Cumin seed.
- 617.
Saxifrage.
- 618.
Filipendula was deemed to “provoke Urine, case pains in the bladder, and are a good preservative against the Falling sickness” (Culpeper, Pharmacopoeia, 6–7).
- 619.
Acorns.
- 620.
In terms of temperament, wine was considered hot (see, for example, Batman, Batman uppon Bartholome, 328–329).
- 621.
Artichoke.
- 622.
Samphire.
- 623.
Liquorice.
- 624.
Pods (OED, “bean”, n. C2).
- 625.
Probably “samphire”.
- 626.
Peck.
- 627.
Genitor.
- 628.
Loose.
- 629.
Thomas Aylesbury (1579/80–1658). The name appears to have been added later.
- 630.
Culpeper distinguished “Diacalaminthe Simple” from “Diacalaminthe Compound”, the latter of which he maintained “heats and comforts cold bodies, cuts thick and gross flegm, provokes urin & the terms in women” (Culpeper, Pharmacopoeia, 121).
- 631.
John Mennes (1599–1671).
- 632.
Quartan Ague.
- 633.
Hellebore.
- 634.
Wrist.
- 635.
Unknown. Active mid-seventeenth century.
- 636.
Likely “suet”.
- 637.
Cold.
- 638.
George Morley (1598?–1684).
- 639.
True amomi, or substitute aniseeds.
- 640.
Mastic.
- 641.
Ginger.
- 642.
Sweet Flag.
- 643.
Zedoary.
- 644.
Mace.
- 645.
Nutmeg.
- 646.
Saffron.
- 647.
Cubebs.
- 648.
Lignum aloes.
- 649.
Cassia lignum.
- 650.
Five myrobalan.
- 651.
Carduus sanctus (another name for Carduus benedictus).
- 652.
Water germander, Teucrium scordium. According to Culpeper, “it provokes urine and the terms, opens stoppings of the liver, spleen, reins, bladder, and matrix, it is a great counterpoyson, and easeth the breast oppressed with flegm” (Culpeper, Pharmacopoeia, 9 and 23).
- 653.
With syrup of roses solutive. Culpeper held that this “loosneth the belly, and gently bringeth out choller and flegm, but leaves a binding quality behind it” (Culpeper, Pharmacopoeia, 110).
- 654.
Made into a mass for pills.
- 655.
Francis Prujean (bap. 1597–1666).
- 656.
Hiera picra.
- 657.
Culpeper maintained that the imperial pill “clenseth the body of mixt humors, and strengthens the stomach exceedingly, as also the bowels, liver, and natural spirit” (Culpeper, Pharmacopoeia, 141).
- 658.
On.
- 659.
Culpeper held that imperial water “comforts and strengthens the heart against faintings and swoonings, and is held to be a preservative against consumptions and apoplexies” (Culpeper, Pharmacopoeia, 66).
- 660.
It was thought that aqua mirabilis “heats cold stomachs”, prevents “apoplexies, and restores lost speech” (Culpeper, Pharmacopoeia, 67).
- 661.
According to Culpeper, diamber “heats and strengthens the brain, causeth mirth, helps concoction, cherisheth the Animal, Vital, and Natural Spirit, it strengthens the heart and stomach, and resists all cold diseases” (Culpeper, Pharmacopoeia, 122).
- 662.
The juice of the so-called “kermes-berry” (or “alkermes”).
- 663.
Under correction. Subject to correction; a formula expressing deference to superior information, or critical authority (OED, “correction”, n. 1b).
- 664.
Through.
- 665.
“A Glister” appears to have been added later.
- 666.
Mastic pills.
- 667.
An abundance.
- 668.
Remassed. To come together again in a mass or masses; to reassemble (OED, v. 1).
- 669.
Adjacent.
- 670.
I.e. the choler.
- 671.
Ague.
- 672.
Choler.
- 673.
Gripe. To affect with “gripes”; to produce griping pains in; more specifically, to produce pain in the bowels as if by constriction or contraction (OED, v. 1, 8a and b).
- 674.
Growth.
- 675.
Limbs.
- 676.
Symptoms.
- 677.
Descendant.
- 678.
Lest.
- 679.
I.e. the glyster will work as well as a medicine that is taken orally.
- 680.
Perhaps a reference to the Strand in London. This would make sense since (as shown in Appendix 8D, “Biographies”) Rust appears to have been based around St Martin in the Fields—where he wanted to be buried—which is on the northern side of the western extremity of the Strand.
- 681.
May.
- 682.
Whey.
- 683.
Spinach.
- 684.
Stewed.
- 685.
Bedward. Towards bedtime; just before going to bed (OED, adv. 2).
- 686.
“De bonne grâce” (French for “with good grace”).
- 687.
A “melancholicus succus”, which was another name for a “scirrhus” (see Alexander Read (1636), The Chirurgicall Lectures of Tumors and Ulcers (London), 75–80).
- 688.
Confinity. The position of bordering on something else; neighbourhood, contiguity, adjacency (OED, n.).
- 689.
Paul of Aegina, the seventh-century Byzantine Greek physician.
- 690.
To collect, gather (OED, v. 1, 1a).
- 691.
Verdigris.
- 692.
According to Culpeper, there are two ways to make “Mercurius dulcis”: “Mercurius dulcis Sublimatus” (sublimated through fire) and “Mercurius dulcis precipitated” (precipitated in aquafortis and water) (Culpeper, Pharmacopoeia, 186). The exact method used here is unclear.
- 693.
Whereof.
- 694.
The administration of a remedy (OED, n. II, 4).
- 695.
Dolours. Physical suffering, pain; also (with plural), a painful affection, a disease (OED, n. 1).
- 696.
I.e. which often accompany fits.
- 697.
Do.
- 698.
Culpeper warns that coloquint causes one to purge “violently, and therefore are not rashly to be medled withal” (Culpeper, Pharmacopoeia, 46).
- 699.
Spur. To stimulate (OED, v. 1, I, 2a).
- 700.
Unfortunate.
- 701.
Long space in original.
- 702.
Cautions.
- 703.
Transported.
- 704.
Perhaps Trowbridge, the county town of Wiltshire, England.
- 705.
Unclear reference; perhaps the market and spa town of Knaresborough in Yorkshire, England.
- 706.
Semi cupium. The first word looks more like “sepui”; it is quite possible the scribe did not know this term nor the Latin from whence it originated.
- 707.
From Ovid’s Remedia amoris I.131: “Temporibus medicina valet: data tempore prosunt, Et data non apto tempore vina nocent” [“Medicine is healthy at the right time: given at the proper time, wine is beneficial, otherwise, given at the wrong time, it does harm”].
- 708.
Unction. The action of anointing or rubbing with an ointment or oil as a lubricating or preserving substance (OED, n. 4).
- 709.
Culpeper held that galbanum “hastens both birth and afterbirth, applied to the navel it staies the strangling of the womb, commonly called the fits of the mother, helps pains in the sides, and difficuty [sic] of breathing, being applied to it, and the smel of it helps the vertigo or dissiness” (Culpeper, Pharmacopoeia, 29).
- 710.
Perhaps “parcelly”, which refers to something being divided “by parcels, parts, or portions” (OED, adv.). But it most likely indicates a portion (or parcel) of the galbanum. This use of “parcel” is quite common (see, e.g., Gerard’s Herball, 366 and 545).
- 711.
Qualify. To bring into, or keep in, a normal or proper condition; to control, regulate, modulate (OED, v. II, 13).
- 712.
He hath.
- 713.
This is most likely meant in terms of the Galenic idea of the faculties: that is, the various powers and parts of the body that sustain life.
- 714.
Long space in original.
- 715.
Thought.
- 716.
Guaiacum.
- 717.
Powdered.
- 718.
I.e. bottled beer gives no benefit or reward.
- 719.
Cold.
- 720.
Aulus Cornelius Celsus, the Roman encyclopaedist.
- 721.
I.e. one should only put one’s head in cold water in the summer because, when it is hot, the hair (and face) dries quicker.
- 722.
This is a Latin translation of a quotation from the Hippocratic corpus, the full version of which is: “Ars longa, vita brevis, occasio praeceps, experimentum periculosum, iudicium difficile” (Hippocrates, Aphorisms, I.1). While it roughly translates as “life is short, the art is long; opportunity fleeting, experiment dangerous, judgment difficult”, the exact meaning of this passage has been much debated. For some of the medical aspects of the experimental part, see Evan R. Ragland (2017), “Making Trials” in Sixteenth- and Early Seventeenth-Century European Academic Medicine. Isis 108.3: 503–528.
- 723.
I.e. Mayerne counselled her to take the second water.
- 724.
Malaga.
- 725.
I.e. eat.
- 726.
I.e. juniper berries with liquor strengthen or refresh the body.
- 727.
Issues.
- 728.
Acquaint.
- 729.
Simple present indicative form of “void”. It means, in this context, to rid, to make free or clear, of (or from) some quality or condition (OED, v. 1b).
- 730.
Through.
- 731.
Subpoena. On pain of (OED, adv.).
- 732.
I.e. claret (a French wine) is better than the stronger wines from other places.
- 733.
Long space in original.
- 734.
Long space in original. Likely “dation”, which is a word for “dose”.
- 735.
Diuretic.
- 736.
Diabetic. Characterised by an excessive outpouring or effusion (OED, adj. B, 1). A “Diabetic passion” led to one “almost insensibly evacuating all” (Richard Allestree (1673), The Ladies Calling (Oxford), I.i.11).
- 737.
Pistacia lentiscus (or “Pills of Mastic”).
- 738.
Lignum nephriticum (or “Nephritic Wood”).
- 739.
This could mean either “in season” or “early enough; not too late” (OED, “time”, n. P3, k, a.i and a.ii).
- 740.
A piece or mass of hard or rough stone (OED, n. 1, 1a).
- 741.
This encounter occurred during Margaret’s return trip to England between late 1651 and early 1653.
- 742.
Here.
- 743.
Sedentary.
- 744.
A number of words are blacked out to the point of illegibility here.
- 745.
“Fly drugs” means, in this context, to “stay away from drugs”. This is reinforced by the Latin, which is an inverted version of the English quotation used by Mayerne above: “one lives miserably, who lives by the physician” (Transcription, 135).
- 746.
According to some at the time, this balsam “cures most diseases in human Bodies, particularly helps, all Pains coming from cold, chiefly pains in the Stomach, want of Appetite, corroborating and strengthning the whole Body” (R.B. (1680), The Life of Oliver Cromwel (London), unpaginated).
- 747.
“Often the best medicine is not to use [any] medicine”. The provenance of this aphorism is not entirely clear, though some late nineteenth-century authors attributed it not to Hippocrates but Celsus (see William Hamilton (1866), Discussions on Philosophy and Literature, Education and University Reform (Edinburgh), 254 and J. Warburton Begbie (1875), Address in Medicine. The British Medical Journal 2.762: 164–171). We have not been able to confirm this attribution independently.
- 748.
There is an insignia at the end of this letter, for which see Fig. 7.2.
- 749.
A reference to Celsus.
- 750.
Tartar.
- 751.
Ureter.
- 752.
I.e. it is inexpensive.
- 753.
Lest.
- 754.
Aniseeds.
- 755.
Galangal.
- 756.
I.e. until a third of the liquid evaporates.
- 757.
Cinammon.
- 758.
Strew.
- 759.
Unknown. Active mid-seventeenth century.
- 760.
Two.
- 761.
Almost certainly the fruit of the balsam tree, which Gerard described as “hollowed like the palme of an hand, two inches long, halfe an inch thicke, covered with a thicke smooth rind, of the colour of a drie Oken leafe; wherein is contained a kernell (of the same length and thicknesse, apt to fill the said shell or rinde) of the substance of an Almond” (Gerard, The Herball, 1527; emphasis added).
- 762.
To put up. To place in a receptacle for safe keeping or for future use (OED, v. 1a, a).
- 763.
This is almost certainly a strangely spelt reference to the avoirdupois system of weights (see Transcription, n. 11).
- 764.
Weigh.
- 765.
For more on the systems of “Troyo weight” and “Venice weight”, see Chapter 3, 33–34.
- 766.
Avoirdupois.
- 767.
Gob. A mass, lump, or heap (OED, n. 1, 1a).
- 768.
This sentence is in a different hand, probably William Cavendish’s.
- 769.
Margaret Boswell (1595–1682).
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Begley, J., Goldberg, B. (2022). The Transcription. In: The Medical World of Margaret Cavendish. Palgrave Studies in Medieval and Early Modern Medicine. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-92927-5_7
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