IF this may in some good measure bee performed, then I doubt not but that the bulke and body of our meale and flower will be much increased and multiplied [Page] at the least for the poore mannes Table: then receive mine owne experience therein. Boile your beanes, pease, beech mast, &c. in faire water, and if they be not yet pleasing inough, change your water againe, and at the second or third boyling, you shall finde a strange alteration in taste, for the water hath sucked out & imbibed the greatest part of their ranknesse, then muste you drie them (and if you thinke good, you may also hull them, according to the maner set down hereafter in the Abstract of Anchora Famis, &c.) or else you may grinde them unhulled, & then make bread thereof, either simplie of it selfe, or with the addition of some third or fourth part of other wheat flower; or else for better expedition at the least in drinke, if not in bread, you may take ye ground meale of them, and infuse warme water thereon, and as it beginneth to coole, dreyne the same away, and reinfuse fresh warme water till the taste please you: then drie up the meale, and make bread thereof either simplie, or compounded as before. And as concerning the Chestnuts, we have the experience of France therein already, where in great abunda[n]ce they are spent and consumed in their usuall bread in divers partes of that Country.

The beech mast doth yeeld a most sweet and delicate oile, and every waie comparable with the nut it selfe, and therfore it is very probable that it wil make an excellent bread with a very smal correction: & if there might be some easie waie or maner found out for the ready husking or hulling of them (which seemeth no matter of any great difficulty) then I durst promise a most rich & plentiful oile of our own growing and serviceable for many necessarie uses. But [Page] if notwithstanding my former preparation of beans, pease, &c. the meale thereof do not yet content you, then worke it into paast, with a liquor first strengthened with some brused Annis seedes, licoras, or sweet Fennell seedes, or with the seedes themselves incorporated in the paast, or for the avoiding of charge with pepperwort, Thime, wintersavery, penniroyal, &c. For if you can but deceive the taste, you shall find the bread very harty, wholsome, & nourishing. And whatsoever is here spoken of beanes, pease, &c. may bee generally understoode of all other graine, seedes, plants, pulse, rootes, &c. And that which is serviceable for bread, wil be much more tollerable in drinke: for the making wherof in some more cheap maner then as yet is known or usuall amongst us you shal find some few notes of mine upon the Abstract following, in their several places.

THese as I dare not warrant, so yet because I have received them either from good Authors, or fro[m] the credible report of men of woorth, I will deliver them as faithfully as I have received them.

1. And first of al Paracelsus himselfe affirmeth, that a fresh turfe or clod of earth, applyed every daie unto the stomach of a man, will preserve him from famishing for some smal number of daies.
2. I have heard many travailers deliver of their own knowledge and experience, that a man may live 10. or 12. daies by sucking of his owne bloud.
3. Bapt. Port. telleth us of a poor fellow upon whom a ruinous house fel, and the man so hedged in with [Page] the floores and timber that fel upon him, as that not being able to get out, he was forced to relieve himselfe with his owne urine for 9. or ten daies, making his hand his cup to drinke in.
4. But the strangest and most incredible of all the rest, is that story which Parson Bateman, sometime Parson of Newington, had by relation of that reverend father D. Grindal then Archbishop of Canturbury, from the mouth of two English captives, yt were imprisoned in Turky, and for their offence condemned to bee famished to death, and escaped by this means. The keeper affecting his prisoners for those good parts which he found in them, having received an oth of their secrecie, delivereth unto each of the[m] a smal peece of Allom, which hee willed them five or six times a day to rowle uppe and downe in theyr mouthes. Howe at tenne daies ende, the great Turk sending to know if the christians were dead or alive, and being informed of their lives, he commaunded that uppon paine of death no manne should dare to relieve them with any maner of food. Now when 10 daies more were expired, and the like inquirie & returne made as before. Wel, qd. the Turk, if they can continew yet 10. daies more without food, I will say yt the God of the christians wil have them preserved, and they shalbe enlarged. The last 10. daies expiring, and the prisoners lives certified unto the Turke, they were forthwith delivered out of prison, and returned for their own countrey, and here discovered the secret. The reason, and probabilitie hereof I will leave for better Magitians then my selfe. For though we might suppose that the salt of nature might receive some strength or vigour from this minerall salt, yet howe the guts should bee filled with so small a proportion [Page] I cannot gesse much lesse determine.
5. ¶ A fift foode but receiving some helpe from come was commended by Mendozza himselfe, wherewith he assured me upon his honor that he had relieved a Spanishe towne, in an extreame dearth, and scarcity of victual, and therewithall shewed mee a loafe of that composition, which was of wheate straw, chopt into short peeces, and grounde with som proportion of wheat into meale. But since I have beene farther informed, that the same practise hath beene usuall in harde yeares in some partes of England, and for mine owne better satisfaction, I caused some of the same flower to bee kneaded into bread, but it was verie browne in colour, and verie grettie in the mouth, and therefore it shoulde seeme that our stones be not so apt for the grinding of it, & I have heard some affirme, that the same cannot wel be ground but in a steele mill, or hand mil.
6. And the East Indians, as I have read, do use to make little balles of the juice of the hearbe Tabaco, and the ashes of cockle shels wrought up together, and dryed in the shadowe, and in their travaile they place one of these balles betweene their neather lip, and their teeth, sucking the same continually, and letting downe the moysture, and it keepeth them both from hunger and thirst for the space of three or foure daies.
7. The seventh and last of this kind, is that sweet root called Licoras, which beeing chewed onely (if we may beleeve Pliny) doth in small quantitie satisfie both thirst and hunger, and yet maintaine sufficient strength in the body.

THe making thereof is set downe by a late writer in this manner. First, the rootes that are large must be clensed from all skin and filth, and then cut into small and thin slices, the thinner you make them the sooner they are prepared, seeth them in boyling water, so long as you finde the water hot and biting, and til the roots begin to waxe sweet. Then change your water, and poure fresh water unto them, and so continue boyling untill the water become sweet, and that the roots have lost al their acrimony. Then take them out, and lay them abroad upon Canvas, supported with frames, and being drie grinde them with hand mils, and they make a most white & pure meale, which either of it selfe, or by the mixture of one thirde of wheate meale with it, maketh a most faire & savory bread. This carieth some good sence and likelihood of truth with it, for we finde by dailie experience, yt it maketh as faire, if not a fairer starch, then our wheat. And therfore it were to be wished, that some good husbandry were used in the planting, and multiplying of these rootes, observing the nature of such soile and place wherein they most delight. And though it should faile us in this kind, yet we shall finde our labor richlie requited, if wee convert them into starch only. But here it is to be remembred, that the root must be gathered whe[n] it is plump full, and in his pride, which is about the latter end of March, and April al: for when it beginneth once to spire, and that the sap is run up into the leaves, then the root shrinketh, & also loseth much of his vertue. Here a just occasion is offered to practise the like upon the Turnep, whereof there are both good store [Page] and the price of them likewise very reasonable.

THis fruit being both cheape, and great, doth also make a very savorie bread, if a little meale bee mixed therewith, yeelding food to a great number with a smal charge. And if you bestowe sugar, and other sauce uppon it, it may also passe for a delicate dishe. The maner of making the same is thus discribed by Porta: Choose the greatest and ripest Pompions, cut them into thinne slices, and take away the hard crust or coat, and the inner marrowe or softnes, seeth them in boyling water, & bring them to a pulp or pap, and then streine it, adding therto a third part of meale or flower, and make it up into bread, the fresher you eate the same, the more pleasant & delicate you shal esteeme it. But with mine Authors favor: I thinke you wil find it in his best forme, and of farthest extention, when it is in his pap or pulpe, for his body is exceeding waterish, and vanisheth away to a small substance if you seeke to dry it. This I write by mine owne triall, yet peradventure the Goord of Naples, which he calleth Cucurbita, may bee of a differing nature from our Pompions.

IF I teach the Miller so to grinde his wheat, as that neither the starchmaker (if I be not deceived) shal have stuffe to make his starch with, except he grinde for himselfe after the ancient maner; nor the brown Baker any bran to make horsebread withall, I hope [Page] that my fault will be pardonable at this time, because I hold it much better to want flower about our necks then in our bellies, and that horses should starve before their maisters. The conceit is short, and easie, and I hope without controlment. Let everie Mill that grindeth corne, have also a boulting mil annexed unto it, that the same mover may play upon both, and by shaking of the boulter make a division of the bran from the flower. This bran as soone as it is divided from the flower must be returned againe into the hopper amongst the rest of the wheat that is unground, and so as fast as you gather any branne, you must mixe it with more corne: and by this meanes you shal have much lesse bran, and also more flower, thogh you would notwithstanding this course, passe the same through a fine boulter againe. It is an usual maner in the higher part of Germany to boult with these milles, but not to grinde over their bran againe in the first mill, for ought that I know, or as yet can learne.

IT is wel knowne that those Aaron rootes before mentioned, wil make a white and delicate starche. You must gather them in March or Aprill, washing them cleane, and paring away all the filthe, or foule skinnes from them, and after slicing them into thin slices, and so leaving them in faire cleere water, and changing your water every 12. houres, for the space of foure or five daies, till they become exceeding white and cleane; then stampe them, and force them through a strainer with cleane water, and when the substance of the starch is setled in the bottom, which [Page] will be in a few houres, then dreine away al the cleere water that fleeteth on the top, very gently, and expose the rest being in flat earthen pans or cleane tubs to the Sun, which will attract or drawe up all the water, and leave a hard cake in the bottome. But in the winter time, when you cannot have the Sunne of a sufficient force for this purpose, then set your stone pannes, or pewter basons wherein you have strained out your starch upon a pot with scalding water, and so you may drie the same in a sufficient quantity for your own use all the yere long. And if you wold harden the same without charge, then place your pan upon your biefe pot, & so you shall make one fire to performe severall actions at once. But because these rootes are not to be had in all places, nor at all times of the yeeare, therefore for a second supplie I have thought good to set downe this receit following.

Take of the whitest Gumme Arabique that you can buy at the Grocers, let them beat the same into peeces for you as big as hafell nuttes in their great morters, then take 3. ounces of this gumme, & first wash it in faire conduit water, in a stone bason, stirring it up and downe with your hands to take the filth from it; then wash it againe with some more water, and powre that also away, and then to every 3. ounces so washed put a wine pint of faire conduit water, stirring it up and downe 3. or 4. times a daie to procure a speedie solution or dissolving of the gumme: then cover your pan, and when all the gum is dissolved, streine the water through a cleane and thin linnen cloth, and reserve the same in glasses well stopt, till you have cause to use it. It will last sweete at the least three weekes after it is made. When you would use [Page] this starch, if you desire to have your ruffes to carie a pure & perfect white colour, you must mingle some blew with the water, stirring it up and downe with your finger in a porrenger, and before the blewe settle to the bottome, wet your ruffe therein, and presentlie wring it out againe; then pat it till it be cleare, and after set it, as you doe in your common starch, I doe finde by experience, that halfe the time that is lost in ye other maner of starching, is here gained: for by reason that your starch is in a thinne water, the Lawne & Cambricke wil be soone cleared, and with much lesse beating. And I think that a second profit will here likewise fall out by the way, viz. that your Lawne and Cambricke wil last much longer: for (if I be not deceived) the continuall patting, or beating thereof betweene the hands in our usuall starching, worketh a great fretting and wearing of the same. And I doubt not, but that there be many other sortes of graine, pulse and rootes, which wil make as good starch as wheate, which at this time I leave unto the studious indevours of those that are carefull for the common good. It may bee that at my better leisure I may handle this subject more at large, but now the present times inforce me, to deliver that knowledge which I have. And thus much for starch.

SLice great and sweete parsnep rootes (such as are not seeded) into thin slices, and having washed & scraped them cleane, dry them, and beat them into powder (here a mil would make a greater dispatch) [Page] searcing the same through a fine searce, then knead two partes of fine flower with one part of this pouder and make the same into cakes, and you shal find them to tast very daintily. I have eaten of these cakes divers times in mine owne house Quaere, what may be done in carots, turneps, and such like rootes after this maner.

Here I thinke it not impertinent to the purpose, which I have in hand, to wish a better survey to bee made of my booke of Husbandry, being a parcell of the Jewel house of Art and Nature, printed an. 1594. Wherin sundry new sorts of Marle are familiarlie set down, and published for the good of our English farmers: amongst the which, those waste ashes of the Sopeboilers (for such as dwel neer unto the Citie of London, or may by easy water cariage convey them unto their hungry and leane grounds) have a principal place for ye inriching of al cold, moist & weeping grounds. The book is to be had at the Greyhound in Paules churchyard. And if there were such plenty as I could wish of those shavings or cuttings of horne, wherof those yt work for lanthorns only make ye greatest store, I would the[n] in respect of the infinit extention therof, co[m]mend that before any other manuring of ground whatsoever, & for the only garden doung yt I know, although for arable ground I must needes confes, that I have one secret, not as yet made knowen or common to the world, that wold prove more general, & more easie of price then any other whatsoever that I as yet have either heard, or read of, but for som reasons best knowne unto my selfe, I doe as yet forbeare the discovery therof.

There is also a certaine victuall in the forme of hollow pipes, or wafers, wherewith, as also with a [Page] defensative oile for his armours, peeces, and other weapons, I furnished sir Frances Drake in his laste voyage, which hath beene well approved and commended by sundry of his folowers upon their return for England, whereby I was the more encouraged to make a second triall thereof in the Beare which went latelie for CHINA. This foode I am bold to commende in this place, both bicause it argueth ad propositum, and for that I knowe that if the maisters, owners, or Mariners of ships, would advisedlie looke into it, they shoulde finde it one of the moste necessarie, and cheape provisions that they could possibly make, or carie with them. The particular commendation whereof, resteth uppon these few branches following:

1. ¶ First, it is very durable, for I have kept the same both sweet and sound, by the space of 3. yeares, and it agreeth best with heat, which is the principal destroyer of Sea victuall.
2. It is exceeding light: for which qualitie Sir Frances Drake did highly esteeme thereof, one man may carie upon any occasio[n] of land service, so much thereof, as will be sufficient to relieve two hundred men a day.
3. It is speedily dressed, for in one halfe houre, it is sufficientlie sodden, by which property it may also save much fewell and fiering, which occupieth no small roome in a ship.
4. It is fresh, and thereby very pleasing unto the Mariner in the midst of his salt meats.
5. It is cheape, for in this dearth of corne, I dare undertake to feed one man sufficientlie, for 2. pence a meale.
6. [Page]It serveth both in steede of bread and meate, whereby it perfourmeth a double service.
7. Not being spent it may be laide up in store for a second voyage.
8. It may be made as delicate as you please, by the addition of oyle, butter, sugar, and such like.
9. There is sufficient matter to bee hadde al the yeare long, for the composition thereof.
10. And if I might once finde any good incouragement therein, I would not doubt but to deliver the same prepared in such sort, as that without anye farther dressing thereof, it should bee both pleasing, and of good nourishment unto a hungry stomach.

¶ Al those which are willing to victual their ships therewith, if they repaire unto me, I wil upon reasonable warning, furnish them therewith to their good contentment.

TAke a quart of faire water, put thereto five or six spoonfuls of good Aqua composita, which is strong of the Annis seedes, and one ounce of Sugar, and a branch of Rosemary, brew them a prety while out of one pot into another, and then is your drinke prepared. Or if you leave out sugar, it wil bee pleasing enough. I have beene crediblie informed that divers Gentlemen of good credit, when they travail abroad, and cannot like the taste or relishe of theyr drinke, that they use no other then the aforsaid composition, and find the same both to refresh and coole [Page] them very well, neither are they troubled with the rawnesse of cold water, by reason that it hath received some correction by the Aqua composita, & that the Annis seedes doe give a delicate taste unto it. It were not amisse for all Seaman to cary some store of Aquavitae with them, that when their wine, Cider, Perry, and beer are spent, they may transmute theyr water into the saide drinke.

IF a poore man in the time of flowring, doe gather the toppes of Heath with the flowers, which is usually called and knowne by the name of Linge in the Northerlie partes of this Realme, and is that plant whereof our common heath brushes are made, and laie uppe sufficient store thereof for his own provision being well dried and carefully kept from putrefying or molding, he may at all times make a very pleasing and cheape drinke for himselfe, by boiling the same in faire water, with such proportion thereof, as may best content his owne taste. And this liquor is commended unto mee, by one of the most sufficient professours of Physicke of our times, and that upon his owne and often experience, for a most wholesome and medicinable drinke, as well for the Liver as the Spleene. It may be graced with a little licoras in the decoction, if he see cause.

¶ I have also heard Sir Frances Drake affirme, that faire water and vinegar mixed in a due proportion, doth make a fine cooling and refreshing drinke [Page] in hot wether, which he esteemed for a rare secret at the Sea. And I have also knowne them that have made a voluntary drinke thereof on the lande, when they have hadde sufficient choice of others before them.

SInce my profession in this booke, is in some sorte to anatomize both Art and Nature, without anie regard of private mens profits, whom it either may essentiallie or accidentallie touch, I am bolde therefore, without craving any leave to doe good: to renue, or rather to confirme and ratifie an ancient opinion & practise, which long since in the great dearth and scarsitie of hops, many brewers of this land have beene inforced to put in use for the better suportation of their weake and declining estates. But bicause they failed in proportion (without the which there can be nothing compleat or absolute) they suffered a good conceit to die in the birth. And no marvell then, if wormwood notwithstanding it bee a simple so highly commended of all the ancient and newe Herbarists, for his great and singular effects in Physicke, be in a maner utterly abandoned of al the bruers in our time (except a fewe that can make a difference betweene five shillinges, or 5. pound charge, when hops are solde for 50. s. an hundred) seeing as yet not any one of them hath so clerkly wrought upo[n] this simple, as to cover and hide the tast therof, from the wel mouthed ale-cunners of our commonwelth, which weaknes of theirs, bicause it co[n]sisteth wholy in [Page] the want of a due proportion between the mault and other beere corne, in respect of wormwood, I have thought good to set downe a sufficient direction for those that are wise, and willing to doe good both to themselves, and to their countrey, wherby they may easilie even in one daies practise attaine to the full perfection therof. Supposing then that your wormwood is either cut down in the leafe before it be seeded, or being seeded that it is cut into short peeces, whereby there may be made an equal mixture of the whole bulke together (for you muste note that the seedie tops are much stronger and much more oylie then the rest of the leaves or stalkes) make first a decoction of 4. ounces of hoppes with nine gallons of water (which is the proportion which some Bruers in some sorts of drinke doe use) and when you have gotten out by ebulition or boyling, the full strength and vertue of them, keepe the same, and begin likewise with some small proportion of wormewoode to the like quantitie of water as before; and when you have bestowed as much time and fire therein, as you did about the hops, then taste each of them by it selfe, and if you finde the same to exceede the first in bitternesse, then beginne with a lesse proportion of Wormewood, and so reiterate your worke, till you have equally matched the one with the other: then may you safely proceed by the rule of proportion to a barrell, and from thence to a tun, and so to a whole bruing. Neither let the bitternesse of Wormwood in his present taste any thing dismay you, for if you did but taste the decoction of hoppes onelie before the mixture of ground malt (which doth wonderfully sweeten the same) you would thinke it a very unapt [Page] licour to be wrought up into so pleasing a drinke as our ordinary beere doth shew it selfe to bee: for it is the hop onely which maketh the essential differe[n]ce betweene beere and ale, and that by alaying the exceeding lusciousnes of malt by his bitternes, whereby both uniting themselves togither, become a savourie and wholsome drinke for mans bodie: which may be in every respect as well performed in wormwood, as in the hop, yea, & peradventure with Centaury, artichoke leaves, or Aloes hipatique, as some work maisters have confidentlie affirmed unto mee. And though the hop bee usuallie in drinke, and the wormewood onely in medicine, wherby some may happilie be perswaded, that it is inconvenient for men that are in health to drinke a medicine continuallie to their meate: yet let this be a sufficient answer to that objection, that it is the dose only that maketh the difference heerein. For I can assure you in mine owne experience, and by the experience of one of the best experienced Bruers in London, who yet liveth, that if you give a double or treble quantitie of English hoppes to an ordinarie guile of strong beere, you shall finde the same to bee a sufficient preparative to your body for the best purgation that shall be ministred after. And this is the reason whie Venice Turpentine, which being ministred in a smal dose, is given for the strengthening of the back, and to stay the running of the reynes: yet if it be taken in the quantitie of an ounce at once, it will purge sufficientlie in divers bodies. So then either let there be no more taste of wormewood, then there is of hops in our drinke, and we shall finde no difference in effects, but such as shall commend and grace ye wormwood [Page] beyond the hoppe; or let beere bee advanced with the hop to the bitternes of wormwood wine, & so we shal find the hop far to exceed the wormwood in his maligne qualitie.

Thus much I have thought good to publishe, for the credit of wormwood and for the benefit of this Iland in sundry respectes, which I shall not neede to particularize at this time, because they are so commonlie knowne to all men. And though I knowe I may be overweyed either with the Flaunders Merchants, or with the great hop maisters of Englande, whose foundation is so deeply laide, that a fewe loose lines can neither shake nor stir the same: yet eyther knowing or at the least perswading my selfe to maintaine the truth, before I give it over, I will crave the libertie of the schooles, quòd fiat controversia. And in the meane time, those which will not bee satisfied of the wholsom and rare medicinable helps of the one, togither with the weake and feeble vertues of the other (which was but a hedgebird the other daye, thogh now it be perking so proudlie upon his poles) I wil refer them to the learned Herbals of Dioscorides Matheolus, Doctor Turner, Dodoneus, Turnizerus, and the rest.

1. FIrst, for the avoiding of all putrefaction, aswell in bread, as in corne, it is very requisite that they bee perfectly dried, or gentlie parched, either in the sun, or by the warmth of the ayre, or else in the want of these two, in some apt oven, or rather in a Stove, but with such care, as they doe not burne, or savour of adustion.
2. After the baking of your bread, it is necessarie that the same be left in the oven, wel closed, for some reasonable time, the heate thereof being lessened by degrees, for so the bread being thoroughly baked, & suffered to coole of it selfe again, will satisfie the hunger of a man in double proportion to that which otherwise it would.
3. Each kind or sort of bread being a little tosted over the coales, and afterwards sopped in wine, will fil or glut exceedingly: such a breakefast as this taken in the morning, is a sufficient repast for the whole daie after.
4. The meale of parched corne doth fill the gutte exceedinglie.
5. Bread may bee made of Rice, Indian millet, or Turkish wheat, either by decocting the whole grain in water, and so bringing it to the forme of a pulteis, and after baking the same, or else by grinding it into meale, but the latter way maketh the fairer bread. [Page] This may as sufficientlie bee performed with our ordinarie wheat, for ought that I can imagine.
6. All maner of pulse, as Lentils, vetches, beanes, & such like, if they be first rubbed over in Lee, & then hulled and after ground, they will yeelde both fayrer meale, and better bread.
7. Paast, or dowe is soone baked upon thin plates of iron or brasse.
8. Those which ride poste, are oftentimes content both to bake their bread, and also to rost their meate under the seates of their saddles, here I think that our climate will prove too cold.
9. Men must be brought by degrees, and not too sodainlie from their usual and natural food and drinke, into these artificiall diets.
10. A pulteis or hochpot, made of flower or meale sodden amongst apples, peares, plums, and such like fruite, or of some bread and water, or the broath of fleshe that hath beene tosted in the smoke, or with milke wel boiled togither, doth fil the stomack more then thrice so much of dry bread eaten alone, especiallie, if the same be high boiled to a stifnes, or consistencie.
11. Such like compositions do also extend farther in the satisfieng of hungry mawes, being made of Biskets, or dry, hard, or stale grated bread. And by this meanes one loafe wil go as far as two new loaves.
12. All sortes of good cakebread, or spicebread steeped a convenient time in faire water, will convert the water into a most pleasant or wholsome drinke, the bread notwithstanding being very wholsome to be eaten.
13. Pound your pepper, ginger, and such like spices, [Page] and having steeped them in water, place the same well covered over a gentle fire, and then worke your paast with the imbibition, or decoction therof. And by this meanes your spice will extend much farther in cakebread. And the same spice also being newe pounded or beaten, may bee afterward wrought up in paast for cakebread. Here you may practise upon these plants, which be hot and wholsome withall: as the wilde Cresses, otherwise called Pepperwort, Galingale, Thime, Orrace, Isop, Wintersavery, Penniroyall, and such like hearbes instead of spices.
14. Some of these artificiall kinds of bread & drinke, if there be any left that may be wel spared, will serve for the feeding and fatning of cattel, geese, Hennes, Hogs, &c.
15. The smell or sent of bread (I thinke hee meaneth that, which is new and hot from the Oven) doth nourish the body, and refresh the spirits greatly. Some commend the spirites of bread extracted by distillation, as a most soveraign preservative in the consumption, and other pining diseases.
16. If any of these artificial foods or drinkes doe happen to offend, either in colour, tast, or savor, they may be helped with hony, sugar, saffro[n], wine, annis seeds, Coriander seedes, sweet Fenel, Cinamon, and such like.
17. In the time of necessity, even greene corne taken as it groweth of it selfe, or a little parched or dryed against the fire, or steeped, or boiled in wine, or water, affoordeth a reasonable kind of sustenance.
18. The distilled water of oats, doth so warme ye stomach, as it doth overcome the senses. It is wel known that many do brue a verie strong & mightie drink with [Page] malted oates, and howe profitable the same might bee to all our English Brewers (if there might bee sufficient store of them had) in a dearth of wheat and barlie, the same being rightlie matched, or rather mastered a little with the hop, to alter their tast: they can best tell that have made their private experience and profit of them, when others very inconsideratly have runne on in their common, and chargeable course of brewing.
19. The licour of the Birch tree is both wholesome, and saverie, and deserveth to be recommended in his kind.
20. There may bee an excellent extraction made of ale, which you may terme either a spirit, or a quintessence, and that in a smal dose, far more excellent then all the tartareous, sulphureous, or mercuriall preparations. If the Authour do heere meane any philosophicall course, it will bee both too curious and costly for the common sort of people: if onely a well rectified Aquavitae, or an evaporation of the phlegmaticke parte to a thicke body, I cannot see how we shal raise any store, or quantity of matter to furnish the subject which we have in hand. If he meane physically, we will reserve the strict examination thereof, till a fitter occasion bee offered.
21. The meale of such corne as is ground in the month of August, is remembred amongest the writers of best credit, to keepe and last best all the yeare after.
22. Such bread as is made up of the flower of dry beanes is most strong in nourishment, and may bee corrected of his taste by the addition of Cominseed. And it is also a usuall matter in Germanie to make drinke of Beanes. Our English Brewers doe also [Page] find good use of them amongst other corne in a smal proportion, wherin they have a special care not to surcharge the rest of their beere corne, with too great a quantitie of Beanes, least they should give a bad smacke or farewell to their beere: but I am verely perswaded that if either beanes, or pease were artificially handled according to the maner before expressed, that they would not onelie prove serviceable, and that in a large maner for Beere only, but also for the making of wholsome, sweet, and delicate bread.
23. Of Veches first hulled, and of the hearbe Aphace, which receiveth divers translations, and is called Dandelion, Priestes crowne, Swines snowt, Monks head, Dogs teeth, or common Cicory, may be made a bread so as it be mixed with a convenient proportion of other usual meale, for it yeeldeth a verie faire and saverie flower, as the Authour testifieth of his owne experience: the same may bee corrected with Annis seede, Fenell seede, Coryander seede, &c.
24. Both bread, and drinke may also bee made of Lentils.
25. Breade may bee made of Pannicke, as also of Millet, whose seede even in a small quantity doth arise greatly both in bulcke, and substance.
26. A solid, and wholsome bread may be made of wheat starch. But such bread, by reason of his price, will have no fit place heere except every private man do make his own provision.
27. A decoction of Annis seede, Fennell seede, Caraway seede, and such like, either in wine, or water, is a most wholesome drinke. Hereunto may be added a decoction also of Licoras with Annis seedes together [Page] in faire water in a dew proportion.
28. Of Beechmast, Acorns, and the barkes or raping of trees that are wholsome, a convenient drinke may be had.
29. Mushroms will spring aboundantly if you slit the barkes of the blacke, and white Poplar, and burie them in furrowes wel dou[n]ged. So likewise the white Poplar being cut off close by the ground, and watered with warme water well seasoned with leaven, in foure daies space will bring forth most pleasant, and delicate Mushroms. These being dressed in their kinds are accompted amongst the most lusty, & stirring meats with the Italians.
30. A good bread may be made of the Rape, or Navew, being first scorched, and after sodden, and then baked.
31. A breade may bee made of the powdred, or ground leaves of the peare tree, apple tree, beech & oake, and so likewise of drinke.
32. Dow may be kneaded up with wine, vineger, or ale, if you would make the same hot, and harty. But I thinke the new must of wine, or the best wurt of ale, or beere much better, for that we may wel doubt, or rather assure our selves that the whole spirit of wine, or ale wil flie away in the baking, because the same had first wrought it selfe into a bodie, whereas in wurt that never came to workemanship, the fire or spirit doth as yet lie close, and couched within it.
33. A dronken breade may bee made with spirit of wine and flower. But I thinke that common Aquacomposita would prove overchargeable.
34. A paast consisting of meale, and the oyle of Olives, [Page] or other fruit, or seeds mixed together may be made into bread.
35. Mizaldus reporteth of a certaine Travailer, who undertaking a long journey did relieve himsefe with one pound of the oile of Violets, and soft grease mixed togither, and therewith he preserved himselfe by the space of ten daies. The like effect hath also beene found in the oile of Almonds mixed with the grease of a Cow, and that by reason of the clammines thereof.
36. A bread made of Egges is both wholesome, and more filling then other ordinary bread, but especially if the same bee kneaded up with the yeist of the strongest beere or ale.
37. Those egs are most carefully to be gathered, and kept, which are laid from the new moone in August, others do rather commend the waine, and the time of both the Sunsteads. And newe laid egs will keepe long in dry chaffe, or bran.
38. An excellent bread may be made with milke either leavened, or unleavened, and of exceeding nourishment being taken but in a smal quantity, but they fill more if resty bacon being fried bee also incorporated therewith.
39. A man may live with milke only, and it wil serve insteed of meat, and drinke, and medicine.
40. A glutting kind of bread may bee made of newe cheese, and likewise of olde being grated; mixed, and wrought up with meale. For it commeth all to one ende whether we eate breade and cheese severally, or both mixed together.

HEère I have thought good (Gentle Reader) to intreat thus much favor at thy hands, that seing my new fire of Coleballes, togither with some other fewe inventions, first mentioned in mine Apology, do as yet attend some courtly favours, wherby they cannot so presently as I wish, breake foorth into the publike service of this land: that thou wouldest for a little time (which I hope is now drawing to his period) intertain them with a good conceipt and kind opinion, not regarding the censures of those ignorant, or malicious spirits of our age, who presuming to know the simples of my fire, may happily range into base and offensive matter, and thereby labor to discredite that secret, whose composition they could never yet reach unto, nor, if they had the particulars, were they able to combine & knit them with their lefthanded workmanship.

And for the better satisfaction of my welwishing friends, & the full confutation of mine undeserved foes, I would have them to understand, that seeing the premised secrets, have not onlie bin seen, and allowed, but at this present are also countenanced by those which are right Honorable in their places: that from hencefoorth they will scorne the malice both of viperous tongues, as also of slanderous pens, if any man should happen to bee so extreamlie, or desperatelie mad, as to take upon him to argue upon that project, whereof he can neither finde a medium, nor communes terminos, and therfore impossible to conclude Sillogisticè sinon in Bocardo against it.

ANd if I shal heere discover a secret both newe and profitable for our English Maltsters, whereof as yet there is not so much as any model extant, and that I could fal into M. Ajax veine, and had some of his glib paper, & gliding pens, I might soon scribble ten sheets, and sell everie sheet for two pence, towarde necessarie charges: and in the end conclude the expectation of manie leaves, in a few sweeter lines then he hath done before me: but because I wil bind my selfe to no such privy presidents, I will deliver my conceipt in as plain and naked tearmes as I may.

INstead of those spars which support the hearcloth place a few single quarters, sawed in equall partes, here and there scatteringly, or make what other devise you shall thinke best, to beare a floore or platforme of lead, which (for the avoiding of charge) may be made of sheet lead thinlie driven: and if you meane to use Seacole, then must you have a grate of yron bars to lay your coles on, and let there be foure vents within a foot of the floore, made in equall distance each from other, both to draw up the heate and steame of the fire, as also to convey the smoake by smal leaden pipes into some woodden trunke or tunnel of brick or plaister: and if you find the lead too hot for the barley, you may either lessen your fire till you have attained a true degree thereof, or else you may spread a hearecloth upon the lead, and so avoid the danger of hastie malting, peradventure ye steame of boiling water, issuing out of a great copper vessell [Page] being placed over the fire, may give a sufficient heat for this purpose. And heere I hope, that both the bad sent and tast which is usuallie found in wood dried-malt, as also the continuall attendance uppon a straw fire will be much avoided: besides that saving which wil fall out in such shires, as affoord either wood or Seacole in any plentifull manner. I have beene also crediblie informed, that a fire of beane stalkes, maintained in an usual kill, will defraye his owne charge, by reason of the ashes, which are more worthe then the fewell it selfe. But whether they serve best for the making of glasse, sope, or salte Peter, I cannot determine, onely I know them to be full of a strong and sharpe salt, and such as serveth the Surgeon to make his Cawsticke withall.

ANd because the multiplying of corn is not greatly abhorring from our purpose, and seeing the greatest part of Dearth, must of necessitie begin fro[m] scarsitie of graine, I will here (without praying in aide of M. AJAX, or of his stale marginal notes, whose reformation hath already more offended the eares of Honorable persons, then his first salts could ever offende their noses) make a publike offer to all those Gentlemen and Farmers of England, whoe dwell in such partes of this Realme, as doe neither yeeld any store of Marle, or other common and ordinarie dung or soile, how they shall bee sufficientlie furnished, with a newe and plentifull Compost, and whereof there have beene already sundrie [Page] and rich trials made, whose quantitie shall not exceede eight bushels, whose yearelie charge shal not amount to xviii. pence the acre communibus Annis, one year with another, and whose nature is so transmuted and disguised, as that one neighbor, yea M. Ajax himselfe, though he were present at the disposing or scattering thereof, shall not be able to discerne what his next neighbour hath doone to his ground. In which secret, all those whome the author shal finde willing and worthie of the same, may uppon reasonable composition, become owners of the skill, aswell for their owne as for the good of their countrey. Neither doe I know any just objection, why the same should not inrich aswell pasture ground as arable.