The History of Four-Footed Beasts, Serpents and Insects: Describing at Large Their True and Lively Figure, Their Several Names, Conditions, Kinds, Virtues (Both Natural and Medicinal) Countries of Their Breed, Their Love and Hatred to Mankind, and the Wonderful Work of God in Their Creation, Preservation

By Edward Topsell

Edward Topsell's "The History of Four-Footed Beasts, Serpents and Insects", is a medieval exposition on Zoology. Published in 1658, nearly 30 years after Topsell's death, his book explores the history and legends of real and mythical animals.

Topsell was not a naturalist but a clergyman, and he used scriptures and poetry as sou

• Language: English
• Publisher: Left Of Brain Onboarding Pty Ltd
• Release date: Oct 6, 2021
• ISBN: 9781396320767

Book preview

TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE THE LORD MARQUESSE OF DORCHESTER

EARL OF KINGSTONE, VICOUNT NEW ARKE, &C.

My very Noble LORD,

Your Lordship well knows that Honour attends upon Virtue, as the shadow doth upon the substance; there is such a magnetick force in Goodness, that it draws the hearts of men after it. The world observes that Your Honour is a great Lover of the works of Learned Writers, which is an infallible argument of an excellent mind residing in You. Wherefore I here humbly offer unto Your Noble Patronage the most Famous and Incomparable History of CONRADUS GESNER, a great Philosopher and Physitian, who by his vast expences, and indefatigable pains, Collected and Digested into two Volums, what ever he found scattered here and there in almost infinite Authors, concerning Fourfooted-Beasts and Serpents, adding also what he could possibly attain to by his own experience, and correspondence held with other famous Scholars every where. After him Mr. Edward Topsel a Learned Divine, Revised and Augmented the same History; as it is not altogether so difficult to add something to what is first begun, and to build upon such a foundation which was before so artificially laid. He hath deserved well of our English Nation in so doing; and the more, that he doth with so much modesty attribute the praise of the whole work to the Master-workman to whom it was chiefly due. The same Gesner, after Mr. Edward Wotton had begun, undertook to compose the History of Insects; which as it is a business of more curiosity and difficulty to write exactly of; so all things considered, they serve as much to set forth the Wisdom and Power of God as the greatest Creatures he hath made, and are as beneficial to Mankind, not only for dainty Food, but for the many Physical uses that arise from them. John Baptist fed upon Locusts and wilde Honey, and we read that our Saviour eat a piece of a Honey comb. These little Insects are not so contemptible as the World generally thinks they are, for they can do as much by their multitudes, as the other can by their magnitude, when as one Hornet shall be able suddenly to kill a Horse, and Gnats, Ants and Wasps to bid resistance to Bears, Lions and Elephants, and to depopulate whole Countries. The Frogs, Locusts, and Lice, were none of the least Judgements in the Land of Egypt. Mr. Thomas Pennius, another Physitian, lighting his Candle by the former lights, succeeded them in this great undertaking. But all these vigilant and painful Men never could bring it to perfection, being every one of them prevented by death. And indeed, things of deep search, and high concernment, are very seldom begun and ended by the same persons. Hippocrates gives the reason for it, that Art is long, Life short, Experience difficult, occasion precipitate, Judgement uncertain. I may say farther, which he also comprehends in the close of that Aphorism, that all must perform their several offices; which is not often done, but ingenious men frequently labour under the want of means, and find small encouragement to proceed in their great designs, especially in this latter age of the World. Gesner makes a sad complaint in behalf of himself, and Topsel doth the like, and so do all the rest who spent their Estates, and wasted their Spirits for the common good. Which is sufficient proof to convince many rich men of blindness and ingratitude, and confirms that truth the Poet speaks;

Haud facilè emerguunt, quorum virtutibus obstat

Res angusta domi —— ——

Good and well meaning men cannot proceed,

Virtue is crusht by want, opprest by need.

After the death of the forementioned four Worthies of their times, Mr. Thomas Muffet a noted English Physitian undertook the same task, and compleated it; whose Encomium is excellently well penned by the late Honourable Doctor of Physick Sir Theodore Mayerne, in his Epistle to Doctor William Paddy of famous memory, premised to this Book; wherein to his own immortal praise, he hath so Anatomically dissected many of the chiefest Insects, even to admiration, that he hath let the World understand by it, that he was a deep Philosopher, and a most accurate searcher into the secrets of Nature, and worthy of those places of Honour he enjoyed in Great Princes Courts. This large History is not, nor could possibly be the production of one Age; both able Divines, and Physitians contributed what they had, and employed their Talents, and greatest studies, for many years in their severall generations, to bring it forth; whereby it may appear how necessary this Work is for the souls and bodies of Men, to teach them to know the Wisdom and Omnipotence of God in the Creation of these Creatures, and Goodness to bestow them upon Man, both for profit and delight; and though many of them be Dangerous and Venomous, yet they were not so when God first made them. For the Wiseman saith, That God made not death, neither takes he pleasure in the destruction of the living, for he created all things that they mighe have their being, and the Generations of the World were healthful, and there was no poison of destruction in them, no Kingdom of death upon the earth, but ungodly men by their wicked works and words, called it to them. This Book will plentifully furnish us with Remedies against most of these inconveniences, which is no small occasion to put us in mind how much we stand obliged to the memories of the learned Authours of it; who spared no cost nor pains that they might prove beneficial to the then present, and to succeeding Ages. And the same reason is very strong in behalf of those who now have been at this vast charge to Reprint and to perfect the same, that it never should be lost by time or casualties, which consume all things; and to supply the whole Work with a double Physical Index, to ease the Readers labour, that he might not wander up and down, and lose himself in this great wilderness of Beasts and Insects, searching after that he stands in need of, but may in an instant be provided with all those known remedies these several Creatures can afford him. Should such a Fabrique as this decay and come to ruine, the dammage were unspeakable and irreparable; the Mausolean Sepulchre, the Colossus of Rhodes, or the Pyramids of Egypt might sooner be renewed and built again. Wherefore Men are bound in conscience, by the Laws of God, of Nature, and of Nations, to consider of the great Expence and Pains now taken in it, and to promote the Work to the best advantage of the present undertakers for the publick good, who have now brought it to this perfection, that they may say of it, what Ovid did of his Metamorphosis;

Jamque opus exegi, quod nec Jovis ira, nec ignis,

Nec poterit ferrum, nec edax abolere vetustas.

The Work is ended, which can envies fume,

Nor Sword, nor Fire, nor wasting time consume.

Never was there so compleate a History of the Creatures as this is since the daies of Solomon, who writ the story of Beasts and Creeping things: and indeed it requires a Kingly Treasure and Understanding to accomplish it. And Petrus Gillius writes, that in former Ages, all the Histories of Creatures were compiled by Kings, or Dedicated to them; who are best able to bear the charge of it, and most fit be honoured with it. What would the World now give for that Book of Solomons, which by the negligence of ungrateful men and length of time is utterly lost? How highly then ought we to esteem of this History of Gesner and Muffet, which is inferiour to none but that? For what Aristotle set forth upon this subject at the appointment of Alexander the Great, and for which he received from him 400 Talents as a Kingly reward, is all comprehended in this, with the addition of many hundreds more that have travelled in the same way. Orpheus, whom the Poets so much magnifie for drawing the Beasts after him, could do no more with all his melodious harmony, then these famous and ingenious Men have done. And because I cannot but think, what the Poets fancied concerning him, was but an Hieroglyphical representation (according to the dim light they had) of all the Creatures coming to Noah into the Ark, this History seems to me to be like another Ark of Noah, wherein the several kinds of beasts are once again met together, for their better preservation in the understanding of Man; & however there were multitudes of Birds in the Ark which are not here (it may be because Aldrovandus and others have written largely to that purpose) yet here are abundance of Insects that never were in Noahs Ark, and whereof we never had, or we can find extant, any compleate History untill this was made; which is like to another Paradise, where the Beasts, as they were brought to Adam, are again described by their Natures, and named in most Languages; which serves to make some reparation for the great loss of that excellent knowledge of the Creature, which our first Parents brought upon their posterity when they fell from God. We read in the 10th of the Acts, that when a vessel was let down from heaven, wherein there were all manner of Fourfooted-Beasts and Creeping things, that St. Peter wondered at it: who then can choose but admire to see so many living Creatures that Nature hath divided and scattered in Woods, Mountains and Vallies, over the face of the whole earth, to come all together to a general muster, and to act their several parts in order upon the same Theater? I confess there are many Men so barbarous, that they make no account of this kind of learning, but think all charge and pains fruitless that is imployed this way; shewing themselves herein more unreasonable and brutish then the irrational Beasts. For next unto Man are these Creatures rankt in dignity, and they were ordained by God to live upon the same earth, and to be Fellow-commoners with Man; having all the Plants and Vegetables appointed them for their food as well as Man had; and have obtained one priviledge beyond us, in that they were created before Man was; and ever since they are obnoxious to the same casualties, and have the same coming into the World, and going out that we have; For that which befals the Sons of Men befals Beasts, even one thing befals them both, as the one dyeth, so dyeth the other; so that Man hath no preeminence above the Beasts. All go unto one place, all are of the dust, and all return to dust again: Eccles. 3, 19, 20. And the Prophet David doubts not to compare Man being in honour, and having no understanding, unto the Beasts that perish. As for Minerals, they are yet another degree below Beasts, all the Gold, Jewels, and Diamonds in the World, are not comparable to any one of the meanest Creatures that hath within it the breath of life. God hath bountifully bestowed them all on Man, whom he hath advanced above them all, for food, and raiment, and other necessary uses; also for his pleasure and recreation: and so long as we use them with Sobriety and Thankfulness, we shall finde an infinite benefit and advantage by them; but when we prove ungratefull unto God, they become so many Instruments of his vengeance against sinners, to make up that fourfold Judgement, with the Sword, Famine, and Pestilence, the Prophet threatens the Jews with. I fear to be tedious, therefore I beseech Your Honour to accept this History in good part from him who humbly prayeth for Your Lordships temporal and eternal happiness, and who is

Your Honours most affectionately

humble Servant

JOHN ROWLAND.

TO THE REVEREND AND RIGHT WORSHIPFUL RICHARD NEILE, D. OF DIVINITY

DEAN OF WESTMINSTER, MASTER OF THE SAVOY, AND CLERK OF THE KING HIS MOST EXCELLENT MAJESTIES CLOSET; ALL FELICITY TEMPORAL, SPIRITUAL, AND ETERNAL.

The Library of English Books, and Catalogue of Writers, (Right Worthy and Learned DEAN, my most respected PATRON) have grown to the height, not only of a just number, but almost innumerable: and no marvel, for God himself hath in all ages preserved Learning in the next place to Life; for as Life is the Ministerial Governor and Mover in this World, so is Learning the Ministerial Governor and Mover in Life: As an Interpreter in a strange Countrey is necessary for a Traveller that is ignorant of Languages (or else he should perish,) so is Knowledge and Learning to us poor Pilgrims in this our Perigrination, out of Paradise unto Paradise; whereby confused BABELS tongues are again reduced to their significant Dialects, not in the builders of BABEL to further and finish an earthly Tower, but in the builders of JERUSALEM, to bring them all to their own Countrey which they seek, and to the desired rest of souls. Literæ obstetrices artium, quarum beneficio ab interitu vindicantur. As Life is different and divers, according to the Spirit wherein it is seated, and by which it is nourished as with a current; so also is Learning, according to the tast, use, and practise of Rules, Canons, and Authors, from whom as from a Fountain it taketh both beginning and encrease: even as the spirit of a Serpent is much quicker then the spirit of an Ox; and the Learning of Aristotle and Pliny more lively and lightsome then the knowledge of other obscure Philosophers, unworthy to be named, which either through Envy or Non-proficiencie durst never write. Si cum hac exceptione detur sapientia, ut illam inclusam teneam, nec enuntiem, rejiciam. Nullius boni sine socio jucunda est possessio. And therefore I say with Petrus Blesen: Scientiarum generosa possessio in plures dispersa, non perditur, & distributa per partes, minorationis detrimentum non sentit: sed eo diuturntus perpetuata senescit, quo publicata fœcundius se diffundit.

The greatest men stored with all helps of Learning, Nature and Fortune, were the first Writers, who as they did excell other men in Possessions and Worldly dignity, so they manifested their Virtues and Worth in the edition of excellent parts of knowledge, either for the delight or profit of the World, according to the Poets profession:

Aut prodesse volunt, aut delectare Poetæ,

Aut simul & jucunda & idonea dicere vitæ.

Omne tulit punctum, qui miscuit utile dulci,

Lectorem delectando, pariterque monendo.

Yet now of late daies this custom hath been almost discontinued to the infinite prejudice of sacred inviolable Learning and Science, for Turpis sæpe fama datur minoribus, (as Ausonius wrote in his time) for indeed the reason is pregnant:

Haud facile emergunt, quorum virtutibus obstat

Res angusta domi. —— ——

But yet the great Rector and Chancellor of all the Academies in the World Jesus Christ, in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, the Master of that Colledge wherein he was but a Servant or Steward, that was learned in all the learning of the Egyptians, (I mean Moses) the first writer, the first Author, the first commender of knowledge, and the first ordainer of a lawful Common-wealth, and Ruler of Church and State, hath not left our age without some monuments of great Princes, Earls, Lords, Knights, for the ornament and honour of Learning, who for general and particular causes and benefits have added their Names to the society of Writers, and divulged their works in Print, which are likely to be remembred till the Worlds end. Such are our most Temperate, Just, Wise, and Learned King and Soveraign. The Right Noble, and Honourable Earl of Surry, long ago departed out of this earthly Horizon. The now living Earls of Dorset, Northampton, Salisbury; and many Knights, Sir Philip Sidney, Sir George Moore, Sir Richard Bartlet, Sir Francis Hastings, and others. But of Aarons, and such as sit at the Helme of the Church, or are worthily advanced for their knowledge in Learning and State, I mean both Bishops and Doctors, almost innumerable, of all whom I can say no more, if I were worthy to say any thing, then apply unto them particularly that which was said of one of the greatest Scholars and Divines that ever England had:

—— —— Dic obsecro sancta

Posteritas, nec enim mibi fas est dicere: tantum

De tantis tacitum, aut tantos audire juvabit.

Then why should I presume, being every way the least and meanest of all other, now the third time to publish any part of my conceived studies for the age present and succeeding, and so to have my Name inrolled amongst the benefactors and Authors of Learning?

—— —— Non omnia grandior ætas

Quæ fugiamus habet; seris venit usus ab annis.

Alas Sir, I have never abounded in any thing, except want and labour, and I thank God that one of these hath been prepared to feed the other, therefore I will not stand upon any mans objections, who like Horses as it is in the Fable being led empty, well fed, and without burden, do scorn the laden Asse, adding misery to his load, till his back was broke, and then was all laid upon the pampred disdainful Horse: even so these proud displeasing spirits are eased by the labors of us that bear the burthens, and if they content not themselves with ease, but will also sit in the seat of the scornful, let them remember, that when our backs be broak, they must take up the carriage. But pardon me (I beseech you) if by way of Preface I open my heart unto your Worship, who is better able then ten thousand of the Momus’s, and more charitably generous in receiving such gifts with the right hand (as these are) although they were given with the left; for seeing I have chosen you the Patron of this Work, I will briefly declare and open my mind unto you concerning the whole Volum, sparing any other praises of your demerits then those which by Martial are ascribed to Regulus, which I will without flattery or fear of the envious thus apply unto you:

Cum sit Sophiæ par fama & cura deorum,    [SSS. Trinitatis]

Ingenio pietas nec minor ipsa tuo.

Ignorat meritis dare munera, qui tibi librum

Et qui maratur [Neiile] Thura dari.

So then leaving these perorations, I will endevor to prove unto you that this Work which I now publish and divulge unto the world, under the Patronage of your Name, is Divine, and necessary for all men to know; True, and therefore without slander or suspicious scandall to be received; and that no man ought rather to publish this unto the World, then a Divine or Preacher. For the first, that the knowledge of Boasts, like as the knowledge of the other creatures and works of God, is Divine, I see no cause why any man should doubt thereof, seeing that at the first they were created and brought to man as we may read Gen. I. 24, 25. and all by the Lord himself, so that their Life and Creation is Divine in respect of their Maker; their naming Divine, in respect that Adam out of the plenty of his own divine wisdom, gave them their several appellations, as it were out of a fountain of Prophesie, foreshewing the nature of every kind in one elegant and significant denomination, which to the great losse of all his children was taken away, lost and confounded at Babel. When I affirm that the knowledge of Beasts is Divine, I do mean no other then the right and perfect description of their Names, Figures; and Natures, and this is in the Creator himself most Divine, and therefore such as is the Fountain, such are the streams issuing from the same into the minds of men. Now it is most clear in Genesis how the Holy Ghost remembreth the creation of all living creatures, and the Fourfooted next before the creation of Man, as though they alone were appointed the Ushers, going immediately before the race of Men. And therefore all the Divines observe both in the Hebrew, in the Greek and Latin, that they were created of three several sorts or kinds. The first Jumentum, as Oxen, Horse, Asses and such like, Quia hominum juvamenta. The second, Reptile, quia hominum medicina. The third, Bestia, i. à vastando, for that they were wilde and depopulators of other their associates, rising also against Man, after that by his fall he had lost his first image and integrity. Now were it not a knowledge Divine, why should the holy Scriptures relate it, and divide the kinds? Yea, why should all holy Men take examples from the natures of Beast, Birds, &c. and apply them to heavenly things, except by the ordinance of God they were both allowed and commanded so to do? and therefore in admiration of them the Prophet David cryeth our, Quam magnifica sunt opera tua Domine! omnia in sapientia fecisti. The old Manichees among other blasphemies accused the creation of hurtful, venomous, ravening, and destroying Beasts, affirming them to be made by an evil God, and also they accused the creation of Mice and other unprofitable creatures, because their dulness was no kinder to the Lord, but like cruel and covetous Misers, made no account of those Beasts, which brought not profit to their purse. You know (Right Learned Dean) how that grave Father answered that calumny, first affirming that the same thing which seemed idle to Men, was profitable to God; and the same that appeared ugly to them, was beautiful to him, Qui omnibus utitur ad gubernationem universi. He therefore wisely compareth a fool that knows not the use of the creatures in this world, to one ignorant that cometh into the workhouse of a cunning Man, viewing a number of strange tools, and having no cunning but in an Axe or a Rake, thinketh, that all those rare inventions of a wise workman are idle toies: and whilst thus he thinketh, wandring to and fro, not looking to his feet, suddenly falleth into some furnace in the same Work-house, or chance to take up some sharp tool whereby he is wounded, then he also thinketh that the same are hurtful and dangerous. Quorum tamen usum quia novit artifex, insipientiam ejus irridet, & verba inepta non curans officinam suam constanter exercet. But we that are ashamed to deny the use of instruments in the shops of rare Artisans, but rather admire their invention, yet are not afraid to condemn in Gods storehouse sundry of his creatures, which are rare inventions, although through folly we be wounded or harmed by them, and therefore he concludeth that all Beasts are either utilia, and against them we date not speak; or perniciosa, whereby we are terrified that we should not love this perilous life; or else they are superflua, which to affirm were most ridiculous: for as in a great house all things are not for use, but some for ornament, so is it in this World, the inferiour Palace of God. Thus far Austin.

Therefore I will conclude this first part, that not only the knowledge of the profitable creature is divine, and was first of all taught by God, but also of the hurtful: For a wise Man, saith Solomon, seeth the Plague (by the revelation of God) and hideth himself from it. And John Baptist, Quis ves docuit ab ira ventura fugere? These things have I principally laboured in this Treatise, to shew unto Men what Beasts are their friends, and what their enemies, which to trust, and which avoid, in which to find nourishment, and which to shun as poison. Another thing that perswadeth me in the necessary use of this History, that it was divine, was the preservation of all creatures living, which are ingendred by copulation (except Fishes) in the Ark of Noah, unto whom it pleased the Creator at that time to insuse an instinct, and bring them home to man as to a fold: surely it was for that a man might gain out of them much Divine knowledge, such as is imprinted in them by nature, as a type or spark of that great wisdom whereby they were created. In Mice and Serpents a foreknowledge of things to come, in the Ant and Pismire a providence against old age: in the Bear the love of young; in the Lion his stately pace; in the Cock and Sheep, change of weather; as S. Basil in his Hexameron, Etiam in Brutis quidem futuri sensus est, ut nos praesenti vitæ non addicti simus, sed de futuro saculo omne studium habemus.

For this cause there were of beasts in holy Scripture three holy uses, one for Sacrifice, another in Vision, and a third for Reproof and Instruction.

In Sacrifices were the clean beasts, which Men were bound first to know, and then to offer; for it is unreasonable that those things should be sacred at the Lords altar, which are refused worthily at private mens Tables. Now although we have no use of Sacrificing of Beasts, Nam sicut bruta pro peccatis immolabantur, ita jam vitia pro corporibus; yet we have use of clean Beasts for food and nourishment, and therefore for the inriching of the minds and tables of men, it is necessary to know not only the liberty that we have to eat, but also the quality and nutriment of the Beast we eat, not for any Religion, but for health and corporal necessity. This point is also opened in this story, and the other of Sacrifice, wherein I have not omitted to speak of the Divine use of every Beast, both among the Jews and among the prophane Gentiles.

Now for the second holy use of Beasts in Visions, the Prophet Daniels Visions, and Ezekiels, and S. Johns in the Revelation do testifie of them, whereby the most Divines have observed how great Princes and Kingdoms after they have shaken off the practise of Justice and Piety, turn Tyrants and ravening Beasts. For so Man being in honour understandeth not, but becometh like the Beasts that perish, and so as Dionysius saith by Visions of Beasts, Infima reducuntur pur media in suprema. Now there were, as S. Augustine saith, three kinds of visions, Sensibiles, intellectuales, & imaginariæ: the first were most pregnant, because to the understanding and conceiving, a Man never lost his senses, and therefore God did suddenly create savage Beasts both of natural and extraordinary shapes, whereby he shewed to his servants the Prophets, the ruine or uprising of beastly States and Kingdoms. And not only thus, but also in heaven (as St. John saith) there are 4 Beasts ful of eyes before the throne of God; both which must needs magnifie the knowledge of these Quadrupedes; for seeing God hath used them as Sacraments or Mysteries to contain his will, (not only in monstrous treble-headed, or seven-horned shapes, but also) in pure, ordinary, natural limbs and members; how shall we be able to ghesse at the meaning in the secret, that do not understand the revealed? And what use can we make of the invisible part of that Sacrament, where we know not the meaning of the visible? Doth the Lord compare the Devil to a Lion; evill Judges to Bears; false Prophets to Wolves; secret and crafty persecutors to Foxes; open enemies in hostility to wilde Boars; Heretickes and false Preachers to Scorpions; good men to the Fowles of heaven, and Martyrs to Sheep, and yet we have no knowledge of the natures of Lions, Wolves, Bears, Foxes, wilde Boars, or Scorpions? Surely when Solomon saith to the sluggard, Go to the Pismire, he willeth him to learn the nature of the Pismire, and then according thereto reform his manners: And so all the World are bid to learn the natures of all Beasts, for there is alway something to be learned in them, according to this saying of St. Basil, A deo nibil non providum in natura rebus est, neque quicquam pertinentis ad secura expert, & si ipsas animalium partes consideraveris, inventes quod ineque superstuum quid conditor opposuit, neque necessaria detraxit. Then it being clear that every Beast is a natural Vision, which we ought to see and understand, for the more clear apprehension of the invisible Majesty of God, I will conclude that I have not omitted this part of the use of Beasts, but have collected, expressed, and declared, what the Writers of all ages have herein observed.

Now the third and last holy use that is made of Beasts in Scripture, is for Reproof and Instruction; so the Lord in Job 38, & 39. mentioneth the Lion, the Raven, the wilde Goats, the Hinds, the Hind-Calves, the wilde Asses, the Unicorn, the Ostrich, the Stork, the puissant Horse, the Hawke, the Eagle, the Vulture, the Whale, and the Dragon, that is, the Fowles, Fishes, Serpents, and Four-footed Beasts: All which he reckoneth as known things to Job, and discourseth of as strange things in their natures as any we have inserted for truth in our History, as may appear to any man whatsoever, that will look studiously into them.

Shall I add hereunto how Moses, and all the Prophets, St. John Baptist, our most blessed Saviour, St. Paul, and all the Writers since his time (both ancient and later) have made profession of this part of Divinity; so that he was an unskilful Divine and not apt to teach, which could not at his fingers speak of these things: for (saith our Saviour) If I tell you earthly things and ye believe not, how shall ye believe when I tell you heavenly things?

Solomon, as it is witnessed in holy Scripture, wrote of Plants, of Birds, of Fishes, and Beasts, and even then when he stood in good favour with God, therefore it is an exercise of the highest Wisdom to travel in, and the Noblest minds to study in: for in it as I will shew you (with your good patience, for I have no other Preface) there is both the knowledge of God and Man. If any man object, Multa multi de musca, de apicula, de vermiculo, pauca de Deo: I will answer with the words of Theodorus Gaza, Permulta enim de Deo is tractat, qui doctrina rerum conditarum exquisitissima, conditorem ipsum declarat, neque musca, neque vermiculus omittendus est ubi de mira solertia agitur. Whereunto St. Austin agreeth when he saith, Majestatem divinam æque in formicæ membris atque magno jamento tranante fluvium. And for the knowledge of man, many and most excellent rules for publick and private affaires, both for preserving a good conscience, and avoiding an evill danger, are gathered from Beasts: It were too long to run over all, let me (I beseech you) be bold to reckon a few which descend from Nature our common parent, and therefore are neither strained, counterfeit, inconstant, or deceitful; but free, full of power to perswade, true, having the seal of the Highest for their evidence; constant and never altred in any age; faithful, such as have been tryed at fire and touch-stone.

Were not this a good perswasion against murder, to see all Beasts so to maintain their natures, that they kill not their own kind? Who is so unnatural and unthankful to his Parents, but by reading how the young Storkes and Wood-peckers do in their parents old age feed and nourish them, will not repent, amend his folly, and be more natural? What man is so void of compassion, that hearing the bounty of the Bone-breaker Bird to the young Eagles, will not become more liberal? Where is there such a sluggard and drone, that considereth the labours, pains, and travels of the Emmet, little Bee, Field-mouse, Squirrel, and such other that will not learn for shame to be more industrious, and set his fingers to work? Why should any man living fall to do evill against his Conscience, or at the temptation of the Devill, seeing a Lion will never yeeld? Mori scit, vinci nescit; and seeing the little Wren doth fight with an Eagle, contending for Soveraingty? Would it not make all men to reverence a good King set over them by God, seeing the Bees seek out their King if he lose himself, and by a most sagacious smelling sense, never cease till he be found out, and then bear him upon their bodies if he be not able to flie, but if he die they all forsake him? And what King is not invited to clemency, and dehorted from tyranny, seeing the King of Bees hath a sting, but never useth the same?

How great is the love & faithfulness of Dogs, the meekness of Elephants, the modesty or shamefastness of the adulterous Lioness, the neatness and politure of the Cat and Peacock, the justice of the Bee, which gathereth from all flowers that which serveth their turn, and yet destroyeth not the flower; the care of the Nightingale to make her voice pleasant, the chastity of a Turtle, the canonical voice and watchfulness of a Cock, and to conclude, the utility of a Sheep? All these and ten thousand more I could recite, to shew what the knowledge of the nature of brutish creatures doth work or teach the minds of men; but I will conclude this part with the words of S. Jerom against Jovinian. Ad Herodem dicitur propter malitiam, Ite & dicite vulpi huic, Luk. 13. ad Scribas & Pharisæos genimina viperarum, Mat. 23. ad libidinosos equi hinmentes in proximorum faminas, Jer. 5. de voluptuoso, Nolite mittere margaritas vestras ante porcos. De impudentibus, neque sanctum date canibus, Mat. 7. de infidelibus, Ephesi cum bestiis pugnavi in similitudine hominum. And thus far S. Jerom. Whereby we may boldly aver by way of induction, that wherein the knowledge of God, the knowledge of Man, the precepts of Virtue, the means to avoid evill are to be learned, that Science is Divine and ought of all men to be inquired and sought after: and such have I manifested in this History following.

Now again the necessity of this History is to be preferred before the Chronicles and Records of all ages made by Men, because the events and accidents of the time past, are peradventure such things as shall never again come in use; but this sheweth that Chronicle which was made by God himself, every living Beast being a word, every Kind being a sentence, and all of them together a large History, containing admirable knowledge and learning, which was, which is, which shall continue, (if not for ever) yet to the Worlds end.

Et patris, & nostras, nonumque prematur in annum,

Membranis intus positis delere licebit

Quod non edideris —— ——

The second thing in this discourse which I have promised to affirm, is the truth of the History of Creatures, for the mark of a good Writer is to follow truth and not deceivable Fables. And in this kind I have passed the straightest passage, because the relation of most things in this Book are taken out of Heathen writers, such as peradventure are many times superstitiously credulous, and have added of their own very many rash inventions, without reason, authority, or probability, as if they had been hired to sell such Fables: For, Non bene conducti vendunt perjuria testes. I would not have the Reader of these Histories to imagine that I have inserted or related all that ever is said of these Beasts, but only so much as is said by many, For in the mouth of two or three witnesses standeth every word: and if at any time I have set down a single Testimony, it was because the matter was clear and needeth not farther probation, or else I have laid it upon the Author with special words, not giving the Reader any warrant from me to believe it.

Besides, I have taken regard to imitate the best Writers, which was easie for me to do, because Gesner relateth every mans opinion (like a common place or Dictionary, as he professeth;) and if at any time he seemed obscure, I turned to the Books which I had at hand to ghesse their meaning, putting in that which he had left out of many good Authors, and leaving out many magical devises. Now although I have used no small diligence or care in collecting those things which were most essential to every Beast, most true without exception, and most evident by the Testimony of many good Authors; yet I have delivered in this Treatise many strange and rare things, not as Fictions, but Miracles of nature, for wisemen to behold and observe to their singular comfort, if they love the power, glory, and praise of their maker, not withholding their consent to the things expressed, because they intreat of living things made by God himself. Si ergo quærimus quis fecerit, Deus est: Si per quod, dixit, Fiat, & facta sunt: Si quare fiat, quia bonus est. Nec enim autor est excellentior Deo, nec ars efficacior Dei verbo, nec causa melior, quam ut bonum crearetur a Deo beno; and this Plato said was the only cause of the worlds creation, ut a Deo bono opera bona fierent.

Now I do in a sort challenge a consent unto the probability of these things to wise and learned men, although no belief. For Fides, is credere invisibilia; but consensus is a cleaving or yeelding to a relation untill the manifestation of another truth; and when any man shall justly reprove any thing I have written for false and erroneous, I will not stick to release the Readers consent, but make satisfact on for usurpation. But for the rude and vulgar sort (who being utterly ignorant of the operation of Learning, do presently condemn all strange things wch are not ingraven in the palms of their own hands, or evident in their own herds and flocks) I care not, for my ears have heard some of them speak against the History of Sampson, where he tied fire-brands to the tails of Foxes, and many of them against the miracles of Christ. I may remember you (R. W.) of a Countrey tale of an old Masse-Priest in the daies of Henry the eight, who reading in English after the translation of the Bible, the miracles of the five Loaves and two Fishes, and when he came to the verse that reckoneth the number of the ghests or eaters of the banquet, he paused a little, and at last said, they were about five hundred: The Clerk, that was a little wiser, whispered into the Priests ears that it was five thousand, but the Priest turned back and replyed with indignation, Hold your peace sirrah, we shall never make them believe they were five hundred.

Such Priests, such People, such persons I shall draw upon my back, and although I do not challenge a power of not erring, yet because I speak of the power of God, that is unlimitable, I will be bold to aver that for truth in the Book of Creatures (although first observed by Heathen men) which is not contrary to the book of Scriptures.

Lastly, that it is the proper office of a Preacher or Divine to set forth these works of God, I think no wiseman will make question, for so did Moses, and David, and Solomon, and Christ, and S. Paul, and S. John, and S. Ireney, S. Gregory, S. Basil, S. Austin, S. Jerom, S. Bernard in his enarrations or Sermons upon the Canticles, and of latter daies Isidorus; The Monks of Messuen, Geminianus, and to conclude, that ornament of our time Jeronimus Zanchius. For how shall we be able to speak the whole Counsel of God unto his people, if we read unto them but one of his books, when he hath another in the world, which we never study past the title or outside; although the great God have made them an Epistle Dedicatory to the whole race of Mankind?

This is my indevour and pains in this Book, that I might profit and delight the Reader, whereinto he may look on the Holiest daies, (not omitting prayer and the publick service of God) and passe away the Sabbaths in heavenly meditations upon earthly creatures. I have followed D. Gesner as neer as I could, I do profess him my Author in most of my Stories, yet I have gathered up that which he let fall, and added many Pictures and Stories as may appear by Conference of both together. In the names of the Beasts, and the Physick I have not swarved from him at all. He was a Protestant Physician, (a rare thing to finde any Religion in a Physitian) although St. Luke a Physician were a writer of the Gospell. His praises therefore shall remain, and all living Creatures shall witnesse for him at the last day. This my labor whatsoever it be, I consecrate to the benefit of all our English Nation under your Name and Patronage, a publick Professor, a learned and reverend Divine, a famous Preacher, observed in Court and Countrey; if you will vouchsafe to allow of my Labors, I stand not upon others, and if it have your commendation, it shall incourage me to proceed to the residue, wherein I fear no impediment but ability to carry out the charge, my case so standing that I have not any accesse of maintenance, but by voluntary benevolence for personal pains, receiving no more but a laborious wages, and but for you, that had also been taken from me: Therefore I conclude with the words of St. Gregory to Leontius, Et nos bona quæ de vobis multipliciter praedicantur addiscentes, assidue pro gloria vestræ incolumitate omnipotentem valeamus Dominum deprecari.

Your Chaplain in the Church of

St. Botolph Aldersgate,

EDWARD TOPSEL.

THE HISTORY OF FOUR-FOOTED BEASTS

The Antalope.

Immagine che contiene testo, libro Descrizione generata automaticamente

THE Antalope called in Latin Calopus, and of the Grecians Analopos, or Aptolos: of this beast there is no mention made among the Ancient Writers, except Suidas, and the Epistle of Alexander to Aristotle, interpreted by Cornelius Nepotius. They are bred in India and Syria, neer the River Euphrates, and delight much to drink of the cold water thereof: Their body is like the body of a Roe, and they have horns growing forth of the crown of their head, which are very long and sharp; so that Alexander affirmed they pierced through the shields of his Souldiers, and fought with them very irefully: at which time his company slew as he travelled to India, eight thousand five hundred and fifty; which great slaughter may be the occasion why they are so rare, and seldom seen to this day, because thereby the breeders and means of their continuance (which consisted in their multitude) were weakned and destroyed. Their horns are great and made like a saw, and they with them can cut asunder the branches of Osier or small trees, whereby it cometh to passe that many times their necks are taken in the twists of the falling boughs, whereat the Beast with repining cry, bewrayeth himself to the Hunters, and so is taken. The virtues of this Beast is unknown, and therefore Suidas saith, an Antalope is but good in part.

Of the Ape.

AN Ape called in Latin Simia, and sometimes Simius and Simiolus; of the Greek word Simos (viz.) signifying the flatnesse of the Nostrils: for so are an Apes: and called of the Hebrews Koph, and plurally Kophim; as it is by S. Jerom translated, 1 King. 10. 22. From whence it may be probably conjectured, came the Latin words Cepi and Cephi, for Apes that have tails. Sometimes they are called of the Hebrews Boglah, and of the Chaldees Kokin. The Italians Saniada Majonio, and Bertuccia, and a Munkey Gatto Maimone. The ancient Grecians Pithecos and the later Mimon, and Ark bizanes, by reason of his imitation. The Moors Bugia, the Spaniards Mona, or Ximio, the French Singe, the Germanes Aff, the Flemish Simme or Schimmekell, the Illyrians Opicze, and generally they are held for a subtill, ironicall, ridiculous and unprofitable Beast, whose flesh is not good for meat, as a sheep, neither his back for burden, as an Asses; nor yet commodious to keep a house, like a Dog; but of the Grecians termed Gelotopoios, made for laughter.

1Anacharsis the Philosopher, being at a banquet wherein divers Jesters were brought in to make them merry, yet never laughed, among the residue; at length was brought in an Ape, at the sight whereof he laughed heartily; and being demanded the cause why he laughed not before, answered, that men do but faign merriments, whereas Apes are naturally made for that purpose. Moreover Apes are much given to imitation and derision, and they are called Cercopes, because of their wicked wasts, deceits, impostures and flatteries: wherefore of the Poets it is faigned, that there were two brethren most wicked fellows, that were turned into Apes, and from their seat or habitation came the Pithecusan Islands, which Virgil calleth Inarime: for Arime was an old Hetrurian word for an Ape, and those Islands being the seats of the2 Giants (who being by God overthrown for their wickedness) in derision of them, Apes were planted in their rooms. Apes have been taught to leap, sing, drive Wagons, reigning and whipping the horses very artificially, and are very capable of all humane actions, having an excellent memory either to shew love to his friends, or hateful revenge to them that have harmed him, but the saying is good, that the threatning of a flatterer, and the anger of an Ape, are both alike regarded. It delighteth much in the company of Dogs and young Children, yet it will strangle young Children if they be not well looked unto. A certain Ape seeing a Woman washing her Child in a bason of warm water, observed her diligently, and getting into the house when the Nurse was gone, took the Child out of the cradle, and setting water on the fire, when it was hot, stripped the Child naked, and washed the Child therewith untill it killed it.

The Countreys where Apes are found, are Lybia and all that desert Woods betwixt Egypt, Æthiopia and Lybia, and that part of Caucasus which reacheth to the red Sea. In India they are most abundant, both red, black, green, dust-colour, and white ones, which they use to bring into Cities (except red ones, who are so venereous that they will ravish their Women) and present to their Kings, which grow so tame, that they go up and down the streets so boldly and civilly, as if they were Children, frequenting the Market places without any offence: whereof so many shewed themselves to Alexander standing upright, that he deemed them at first to be an Army of enemies, and commanded to joyn battel with them, untill he was certified by Taxilus a King of that Countrey then in his Campe, they were but Apes.

In Caucasus there are trees of Pepper and Spices whereof Apes are the gatherers, living among those trees: for the Inhabitants come, and under the trees make plain a plat of ground, and afterward cast thereupon boughs and branches of Pepper, and other fruits, as it were carelesly; which the Apes secretly observing, in the night season, they gather together in great abundance all the branches loaden with Pepper, and lay them on heaps upon that plat of ground, and so in the morning come the Indians and gather the Pepper from those boughs in great measure, reaping no small advantage by the labor of Apes, who gather their fruits for them whiles they sleep: for which cause they love them and defend them from Lions, Dogs, and other wild Beasts. In the region of Basman, subject to the great Cham of Tartaria, are many and divers sorts of Apes, very like mankind, which when the Hunters take, they pull of their hairs all but the beard and the hole behind, and afterward dry them with hot spices, and poudering them, sell them to Merchants, who carry them about the world, perswading simple people that there are men in Islands of no greater stature. To conclude, there are Apes in Troglodytæ which are maned about the neck like Lions, as big as great Bel-weathers. So are some called Cercopitheci, Munkies, Chœropitheci, Hog Apes, Cepi, Callitriches, Marmosits, Cynocephali, of a Dog and an Ape, Satyres, and Sphinges, of which we will speak in order, for they are not all alike, but some resemble men one way, and some another: as for a Chymæra, which Albertus maketh an Ape, it is but a figment of the Poets. The same man maketh Pigmeys a kind of Apes, and not men, but Niphus proveth that they are not men, because they have no perfect use of Reason, no modesty, no honesty, nor justice of government, and although they speak, yet is their language imperfect; and above all they cannot be men, because they have no Religion, which (Plato saith truly) is proper to every man. Besides, their stature being not past three, four, or five spans long, their life not above eight years, and their imitation of man, do plainly prove them rather to be Apes then Men: and also the flatness of their Noses, their combats with Cranes and Partridges for their egges, and other circumstances I will not stand upon, but follow the description of Apes in general. Apes do outwardly resemble men very much, and Vesalius sheweth, that their proportion differeth from mans in more things then Galen observed, as in the muscles of the breast, and those that move the armes, the elbow and the ham, likewise in the inward frame of the hand, in the muscles moving the toes of the feet, and the feet and shoulders, and in the instrument moving in the sole of the foot, also in the fundament and mesentery, the lap of the liver, and the hollow vein holding it up, which men have not; yet in their face, nostrils, ears, eye-lids, breasts, armes, thumbes, fingers and nails, they agree very much. Their hair is very harsh and short, and therefore hairy in the upper part like men, and in the neather part like beasts: they have teeth before and behind like men, having a round face, and eye-lids above and beneath, which other Quadrupedes have not. Politianus saith, that the face of a Bull or Lion is more comely then the face of an Ape, which is like a mans. They have two Dugs, their breasts and armes like men, but rougher, such as they use to bend, as a man doth his foot. So their hands, fingers and nails, are like a mans, but ruder and nimbler; and nature having placed their Dugs in their breast, gave them armes to lift their young ones up to suck them. Their feet are proper, and not like mans, having the middle one longest, for they are like great hands, and consist of fingers like hands, but they are alike in bigness, except that which is least to a man, is greatest to an Ape, whose sole is like the hand but that it is longer, and in the hinder part it is more fleshy, somewhat resembling a heel, but put backward it is like a fist.

They use their feet both for going and handling; the neather parts of their armes, and their thighes are shorter then the proportion of their elbows and shins: they have no Navel, but there is a hard thing in that place; the upper part of their body is far greater then the neather, like other Quadrupedes, consisting of a proportion between five and three: by reason wereof they grow out of kind, having feet like hands and feet. They live more downward then upward, like other four-footed Beasts, and they want Buttocks, (although Albertus saith they have large ones) they have no tail, like two legged creatures, or a very small signe thereof. The genitall or privy place of the female is like a Womans, but the Males is like a Dogs: their nourishment goeth more forward then backward, like the best Horses, and the Arabian Seraph, which are higher before then behind; and that Ape whose meat goeth forward by reason of the heat of heart and liver, is most like to a man, in standing upright: their eyes are hollow, and that thing in men is accounted for a signe of a malicious mind, as little eyes are a token of a base and abject spirit. Men that have low and flat Nostrils are Libidinous as Apes that attempt women, and having thick lips, the upper hanging over the neather, they are deemed fools, like the lips of Asses and Apes. Albertus saith, he saw the heart of a Male Ape, having two tops or sharpe ends, which I know not whether to term a wonder or a Monster. An Ape and a Cat have a small back, and so hath a weak hearted man, a broad and strong back signifieth a valiant and magnanimous mind. The Apes nails are half round, and when they are in copulation, they bend their Elbowes before them, the sinews of their hinder joynts being turned clean about, but with a man it is clean otherwise. The veins of their armes are no otherwise dissected then a mans, having a very small and ridiculous crooked thumb, by reason of the Muscles which come out of the hinder part of the leg, into the middle of the shin, and the fore muscles drawing the leg backward, they cannot exactly stand upright, and therefore they run and stand, like a man that counterfeits a lame mans halting.

And as the body of an Ape is ridiculous, by reason of an indecent likeness and imitation of man, so is his soul or spirit; for they are kept only in rich mens houses to sport withall, being for that cause easily tamed, following every action he seeth done, even to his own harme without discretion. A certain Ape after a shipwrack swimming to land, was seen by a Countrey-man, and thinking him to be a man in the water, gave him his hand to save him, yet in the mean time asked him what Countreyman he was, who answered, he was an Athenian: well, said the man, dost thou know Piræus? (which was a port in Athens) very well said the Ape, and his wife, friends, and children, whereat the man being moved, did what he could to drown him. They keep for the most part in Caves and hollow places of hils, in rocks and trees, feeding upon Apples and Nuts, but if they find any bitterness in the shell, they cast all away. They eat Lice, and pick them out of heads and garments. They will drink wine till they be drunk, but if they drink it oft, they grow not great, specially they lose their nails, as other Quadrupedes do. They are best contented to sit aloft, although tied with chains. They are taken by laying for them shoos and other things, for they which hunt them will anoint their eyes with water in their presence, and so departing, leave a pot of lime or hony in stead of the water, which the Ape espying, cometh and anointeth her eyes therewith, and so being not able to see, doth the hunter take her. If they lay shoos, they are leaden ones, too heavy for them to wear, wherein are made such devises of gins, that when once the Ape hath put them on, they cannot be gotten off without the help of man: So likewise for little bags made like breeches, wherewithal they are deceived and taken. They bring forth young ones for the most part by twins, whereof they love the one and hate the other; that which they love they bear in their armes, the other hangeth at the damns back, and for the most part she killeth that which she loveth, by pressing it too hard; afterward she setteth her whole delight upon the other.

The Egyptians when they describe a Father leaving his inheritance to his Son that he loveth not picture an Ape with her young one upon her back. The male and female abide with the young one, and if it want any thing, the male with fist, and ireful aspect punisheth the female. When the Moon is in the wane, they are heavie and sorrowful, which in that kind have tails; but they leap and rejoyce at the change: for as other Beasts, so do these, fear the defect of the Stars and Planets. They are full of dissimulation, and imitation of man, they readilyer follow the evill then the good they see. They are very fierce by nature, and yet tamed forget it, but still remain subject to madness. They love Conies very tenderly, for in England an old Ape (scarse able to go) did defend tame Conies from the Weasel, as Sir Thomas More reported. They fear a shell fish and a Snail very greatly, as appeareth by this History.

In Rome, a certain Boy put a Snail in his hat and came to an Ape, who as he was accustomed, leaps upon his shoulder and took off his hat to kill Lice in his head, but espying the Snail, it was a wonder to see with what haste the Ape leaped from the Boys shoulder, and in trembling manner looked back to see if the Snail followed him. Also when a Snail was tied to the one end of another Apes chain, so that he could not chuse but continually look upon it, one cannot imagine how the Ape was tormented therewith, finding no means to get from it, cast up whatsoever was in his stomach, and fell into a grievous Fever till it was removed from the Snail, and refreshed with wine and water. Cardane reporteth, that it was an ancient custom in former time when a Parricide was executed, he was (after he was whipped with bloudy stripes) put into a sack, with a live Serpent, a Dog, an Ape and a Cock: by the Serpent was signified his extreme malice to mankind in killing his Father, by the Ape that in the likeness of man he was a Beast, by the Dog how like a Dog he spared none, no not his own Father, and by a Cock his hateful pride, and then were they all together hurl'd headlong into the Sea. That he might be deemed unworthy of all the Elements of life, and other blessings of nature.

A Lion ruleth the Beasts of the Earth, and a Dolphin the Beasts of the Sea; when the Dolphin is in age and sickness, she recovereth by eating a Sea-ape: and so the Lion by eating an Ape of the earth, and therefore the Egyptians paint a Lion eating an Ape, to signifie a sick man curing himself. The heart of an Ape sod and dryed, whereof the weight of a groat drunk in a draught of stale Hony, sod in water, called Melicraton, strengthneth the heart, emboldneth it, and driveth away the pulse and pusillanimity thereof: sharpeneth ones understanding, and is