Come, lusty Lyda, fill's a cup of sack,
And, sirrah drawer, bigger pots we lack,
And Scio wines that have so good a smack.
Μεθύοντα γαρ με κεῖσθαι
Πολὺ κρεισσον ἤ θανόντα.
I may say the same of the decoction of China roots, sassafras, sarsaparilla, guaiacum: China, saith Manardus, makes a good colour in the face, takes away melancholy, and all infirmities proceeding from cold, even so sarsaparilla provokes sweat mightily, guaiacum dries, Claudinus, consult. 89. & 46. Montanus, Capivaccius, consult. 188. Scoltzii, make frequent and good use of guaiacum and China, [4322]“so that the liver be not incensed,” good for such as are cold, as most melancholy men are, but by no means to be mentioned in hot.
The Turks have a drink called coffee (for they use no wine), so named of a berry as black as soot, and as bitter, (like that black drink which was in use amongst the Lacedaemonians, and perhaps the same,) which they sip still of, and sup as warm as they can suffer; they spend much time in those coffeehouses, which are somewhat like our alehouses or taverns, and there they sit chatting and drinking to drive away the time, and to be merry together, because they find by experience that kind of drink, so used, helpeth digestion, and procureth alacrity. Some of them take opium to this purpose.
Borage, balm, saffron, gold, I have spoken of; Montaltus, c. 23. commends scorzonera roots condite. Garcius ab Horto, plant. hist. lib. 2. cap. 25. makes mention of an herb called datura, [4323]“which, if it be eaten for twenty-four hours following, takes away all sense of grief, makes them incline to laughter and mirth:” and another called bauge, like in effect to opium, “which puts them for a time into a kind of ecstasy,” and makes them gently to laugh. One of the Roman emperors had a seed, which he did ordinarily eat to exhilarate himself. [4324]Christophorus Ayrerus prefers bezoar stone, and the confection of alkermes, before other cordials, and amber in some cases. [4325]“Alkermes comforts the inner parts;” and bezoar stone hath an especial virtue against all melancholy affections, [4326]“it refresheth the heart, and corroborates the whole body.” [4327]Amber provokes urine, helps the body, breaks wind, &c. After a purge, 3 or 4 grains of bezoar stone, and 3 grains of ambergris, drunk or taken in borage or bugloss water, in which gold hot hath been quenched, will do much good, and the purge shall diminish less (the heart so refreshed) of the strength and substance of the body.
℞. confect. Alkermes ℥ß lap. Bezor. ℈j. Succini albi subtiliss. pulverisat. ℈jj. cum Syrup, de cort. citri; fiat electuarium.
Diamargaritum frigidum, diambra, diaboraginatum, electuarium laetificans Galeni et Rhasis, de gemmis, dianthos, diamoscum dulce et amarum, electuarium conciliatoris, syrup. Cidoniorum de pomis, conserves of roses, violets, fumitory, enula campana, satyrion, lemons, orange-pills, condite, &c., have their good use.