The history of four-footed beasts and serpents describing at large their true and lively figure, their several names, conditions, kinds, virtues ... countries of their breed, their love and hatred to mankind, and the wonderful work by Edward Topsell ; whereunto is now added, The theater of insects, or, Lesser living creatures ... by T. Muffet ...

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 preser∣ved Learning in the next place of 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. Literae 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-preficiencie durst never write. Si cum hac exceptione detur sapientia, ut illam inclusam teneam, nec enuntiem, rejiciam. Nullius boni sine socio jucunda est possessio. And there∣fore I say with Petrus Blesen: Scientiarum generosa possessio in plures dispersa, non per∣ditur, & distributa per partes, minoration is detrimentum non sentit: sed eo diuturntus per∣petuata senescit, quo publicata foecundius 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 digni∣ty, 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 Poetae, Aut simul & jucunda & idonea dicere vitae. 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 saepe fama datur minoribus, (as Auso∣nius 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 know∣ledge, 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 li∣ving 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 know∣ledge in Learning and State, I mean both Bishops and Doctors, almost innume∣rable, 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 * 1.1 that ever England had:

—Dic obs••cro 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 aetas Quae 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 bur••hens, and if they content not them∣selves with ease, but will also sit in the seat of the scornsul, 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 gists 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 Sophiae 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 know∣ledge 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. 1. 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 con∣founded 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 un∣profitable 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 guber∣nationem 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 Arti∣sans, 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 a∣gainst 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 prin∣cipally laboured in this Treatise, to shew unto Men what Boasts 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 copula∣tion (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 future sensus est, us no•• praesenti vitae 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 under∣standeth not, but becometh like the Beasts that perish, and so as Dionysius saith by Visi∣ons of Beasts, Infima reducuntur pur media in suprema. Now there were, as S. Augustine saith, three kinds of visions, Sensibiles, intellectuales, & imaginariae: 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 know∣ledge 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 apprehen∣sion 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 bles∣sed 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 know∣ledge 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 Goza, 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 aeque in formicae 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 there∣fore 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 al∣tred 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 Pa∣rents, 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 con∣sidereth 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 tem∣ptation 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 di∣citur propter malitiam, Ite & dicite vulpi huic, Luk. 13. ad Scribas & Pharisaeos genimina viperarum, Mat. 23. ad libidinosos equi hinmentes in proximorum foeminas, Jer. 5. de vo∣luptuoso, 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 where∣in 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 Chro∣nicle 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 admirabl•• 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, with∣out 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 month 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 co〈…〉〈…〉on place or Dictionary, as he pro∣fesseth;) and if at any time he seemed obscure, I tu〈…〉〈…〉 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 ex∣ception, 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 quaerimus quis fecerit, Deus est: Si per quod, dixit, Fiat, & facta sunt: Si quare fiat, quia bonus est. Nec enim autor est ex∣cellentior 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 clea∣ving 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 con∣demn all strange things w^ch 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, whispe∣red 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 unli∣mitable, 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. Jerem, S. Bernard in his ••••arrations or Sermons upon the Canticles, and of latter daies Isidorus; The Monks of Messuen, Geminianus, and to conclude, that ornament of our time Jeroni∣mus 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 Phy∣sick 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 re∣verend Divine, a famous Preacher, observed in Court and Countrey; if you will vouch∣safe to allow of my Labors, I stand not upon others, and if it have your commendation, it shall incourage me to proceed to t〈…〉〈…〉 residue, wherein I fear no impediment but ability to carry out the charge, my case so st〈…〉〈…〉ing that I have not any accesse of maintenance, but by voluntary benevolence for per〈…〉〈…〉l 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 quae de vobis multipliciter praedicantur addiscentes, assidue pro gloria vestrae incolumitate omnipotentem valeamus Dominum deprecari.

Your Chaplain in the Church of St. Botolph Aldersgate, Edward Topsel.

Notes

• * 1.1

  Bish. Juel.