De morbo Gallico·

¶What diseases this remedy hath taken from me. Cap. xxv. (Book 25)

BY this one chaunce hit is knowen, that we ought not to dispeire in ani bodily dis∣ease; though we be brought neuer so nere to deathes dore. For howe many were

we, after the phisitions had gyuen vs vppe, that were restored to helth through the so∣deine and (as a man wolde say) the heuenly helpe of Guaiacum?

¶I knewe one / my very sure frende / whi∣che whan he saw me so bytterly vexed with this siknes, that for pein I could nother rest by nyght, nother eate by day, aduysed me to kylle my selfe, seinge there coulde no reme∣dy be founde, and my body semed to droppe awaye in fylthy matter, to my great peyne and sorowe / and no hope at all of recoue∣rye: sayinge to me, It becommeth the to be delyuered frome this euyll, whether hit wyll or not. But he hadde forgotten, that we were christians, and remembred to wel, that we were frendes and louers. For hit is our parte to beholde all thynges in them that wytnessed in tymes past, whom we now calle martyrs, vnto the worlde, our sauiour Christe manfully sufferynge for his sake great tourmentes and peynes: Howe be it if any thyng maye cause a man to longe for dethe, truely it is the tourment of this syck∣nes. For I vtterly deny, that euer the fa∣ther of Licinius Cecine, suffered any suche sorowe or peyne, whan he flewe hym selfe with the iuise of Papauers, Or that euer

any other, whiche dyd lykewyse, felt so in∣tollerable euyls, as this syckenes causeth. For this pestilence besydes all his vexatiōs and tourmentes, (whiche passe farre all o∣ther) onely with his fowlenes and lothely∣nes is able to make one wery of his lyfe.

¶Whan Speusippus the philosopher was ones plucked and drawen with the palsey, that he dispeyred to escape, and then mette with Diogenes, and bad hym well to fare and good helthe: Diogenes (they say) an∣swered, sayinge: And thou lykewyse fare∣well in no meanes, seinge thou art such one and canst be content to lyue.

¶The same Diogenes, that was wont to be so styffe a philosofer, what trow ye wold he haue sayd, if he had beholde & sene me, whā I was lykewyse vexed, as they y^t had the palsey: and besydes that was so lothe som both in 〈◊〉〈◊〉 & sauour, that al were gre¦ued with me, & som did hate me? And yet I dyd lyue and had som hope / although I had ben oftētimes deluded and mocked through the gret promysis of the phisitiōs. And left any man shulde thynke that my disease was eyther lyght, or in one parte onely: I wyll shew in what takyng I was. Fyrst I could do nothynge with my lefte foote, for there

had this euyll dwelled .viii. yeres and more, and in the mydlegge, where the shynne is couered with fleshe very thynne, there were soores inflamed through the inflamation of the flesshe, rottynge with greatte ache and bournynge, and as soone as one waxed hoole, an other brake vp. For there were many, here some and there somme / whiche could by no help of the phisitiōs be brought to gether in one. Ouer them was a knobbe so harde, that a man wolde haue thought it a bone, and in that was excedynge peyne and ache, beatynge and pryckynge without ceassyng. There was also very nygh to the ryghte ancle aboue, a certayne swellynge and gatherynge / whiche was also harde like a bone, and was the oldest of all / wher in remayned the remenantes of this pesti∣lence fresshe and newe rysen.

¶Whan the phisition went about this with yron, with fyre, with hotte yrons, or with any other instrumēt, they profited nothing: somtyme it was swollen very vehemently, with great peyne and akynge, somtyme it aswaged and was gentyller. And it greued me lesse whan my foote was holde towarde the fyre / and yet wold it not suffre to be co∣uered with moche geare: it ranne so that a

man wolde haue thoughte hit wolde neuer haue ben stopped. And as often as I wolde reste or stonde vppon my foote, my peyne was intollerable: than vpwarde the calfe and the knee were meruayllous colde, and as thynges deed. The thygh was cleane worne away & cōsumed to extreme lennesse, and the skynne was so thynne, that there semed nothynge els lefte to couer the boone with. Moreouer the ioyntes were so louse, that longe tyme I had moch adoo to stonde hilone: and to be shorte: the one of my but∣tockes was but a thynge wethered awaye. In my lefte shulder there was suche peyne that I coulde not lyfte vp myn arme: the extreme partes of my shulders were weke and woxen verye styffe: in the myddes of the brawne of myn arme there was a swel∣lynge as moche as an egge, and as for the reste of myn arme euen to the verye hande, was cleane worne away. And on the ryght syde a lyttell vnder the lowest rybbe, there had I a sore, whiche was not in dede peyn∣full / but it boyled out certayne fowle and stynkynge matter / and issued very fylthyly after the maner of a fistule with a narowe mouthe outwarde, and inwarde it was of a large holownes. And aboue hym there was

also an other as though a bone hadde bene bredde there vpon a rybbe. And to conclude I dyd playnly feele a streme and issue come downe behynde from the toppe of my heed vnto all these. And where it began the leeste touche in the worlde made my heed to work as though the brayn panne had ben broken•• nother myghte my face be tourned backe∣warde, but as it was tourned with the hole bodye. This one thynge yette wolle I not passe, wher from if Guaiacum had delyue∣red me, and done nothynge els, yet oughte I to haue lauded and preysed his vertue greatly, and that is noone slepe, whiche I coueyted so deedly, and was so moche gy∣uen therevnto, that almooste in .vi. yeres space there scaped not one daye / whan the phisitions cryed out vppon me, sayinge: that was the cause of all my diseases, and yet I coulde not refrayne my selfe from it. But nowe is that gone so far from me, that I trowe if I shuld enforce my selfe to slepe in the daye tyme, I coulde not. With all these, and so great euyls all though I was so maystred, that all men dispeyred my helth yet my good angell (I beleue) wylled me to tary and loke for somwhat. And lo through the helpe of Guaiacum I am bolde nowe to

••yne / and to drawe brethe agayne. Whiche mynde god gyue to all good men, that they neuer ceasse to hope and truste. As for me I repent my selfe in nothyng: and if by any meanes longe lyfe myght be graunted vnto me, I haue greatte hope that I shulde lyue hoole, sounde, and lusty. And of this disese, and of the remedy of Guaiacum / I haue wryttē these thynges that cam to my minde very faythfully, truely, and as my lernyng wolde suffre me: and here wolde I make an ende, if I thought it not necessary to admo∣nysshe them, that shall rede these thynges, howe after this cure, the sicke muste be or∣dered, as touchynge the order and maner of theyr lyuynge, which thyng I wyll per∣forme and that breuely.