CHAP. III.
How one may so alter his face that not so much as his friends shall know him.
SUch as are taken prisoners, or shut up close and desire to escape, and such as do business for great men, as spies, and others that would not be known, it is of great moment for them to know how to change their Countenances: I will teach them to do it so exactly, that their friends and wives shall not know them. Great men do not a little enquire for such secrets, because those that can dissemble theirown persons, have done great matters, and lovers have served their Mistresses, and Parents Page 399 have not suspected it. Ulisses attempting to know what the Trojans did, clothed in counterfeit garments, and his face changed, did all he would, and was not discover∣ed. Homer.
And when he desired to know what Penelope and her suters did, he transformed him∣self again. I shall shew how this may be done many ways, by changing the Gar¦ments, Hair, Countenance, Scars, Swellings; we may so change our Faces, that in some places it may rise in bunches, in other places it may sink down. And first,
How to dye the Flesh.
But to begin with the colouring of the Flesh. The Flesh may be dyed to last so long, or to be soon washed out. If you will have it soon wash'd off, Steep the shells of Walnuts, and of Pomegranates in Vinegar, four or five days; then press them forth by a Press, and dye the face; for it will make your face as black as an Ethiopian, and this will last some days. Oyl of honey makes a yellow colour, and red, and it will last fourteen days or more. The fume of Brimstone will discolour the face, that it will shew sickly, as if one had long kept his bed, but it will be soon gone. But if you will have it last many days firm, and very hardly to come off: Use water of De∣part, that seperates Gold from Silver, made of Salt-Peter and Vitriol, and especially if it have first corroded any Silver; this will last twenty days, until the skin be chan∣ged. But if you will
Change the Hair,
I taught elsewhere how to do this: yet I will take the pains to do it again. Oyl of honey dyes the Hair of the head and beard, of a yellow or red colour; and this will hold a moneth. But if they be hoary, white, or yellow, we may dye them black with a strong Lixivium, wherein Litharg is boiled. Also, it will notably alter the Countenance,
To adde or take off Hair,
An Unguent used in Stoves and Hot-houses, is good for that purpose, made of Or∣piment and quick Lime; for this will presently make the part bald, so the eyelids and eyebrows being made smooth, will strangely metamorphise a man. We can al∣so make the Hair grow suddenly, with water of honey, and the fat of an eel and horse, as I said. One may thus
Make his face swelled, pressed down, or full of scars,
Nothing doth more deform the visage then the stinging of Bees. We can make scars with caustick Herbs, by applying them, and letting them lye on for a little time. Tu∣mours and Cavities are made by using to the part milk of Tithymal, as to the Mouth, Nose, Eyes, especially where the skin is off, that by this remedy alone the face is deformed; so you may do the Cods and Testicles: water of Cantharides smeered on, doth presently cause bladders and humours. Turbith beaten, and boiled, and anointed on, makes all swell where it toucheth, chiefly the Testicles. The powder of the Yew, doth so exulcerate the skin, that the people will think the man is most miserable, and in a sad condition. The remedy is the juyce of the Poplar, or the oyl of Poplar. The fume of Brimstone and burnt straw, will discolour the face, as Hypocrites do, who by such means alter their countenance. Mingle together the feces of Aqua fortis one ounce, Pickle and Curcuma, of each one drachm, with Oyl to the form of an unguent, and anoint your face, it will make it black. When you will wash it with cold water, it will come to its former complection. Comedians and Tragedians, when they Act on the Stage, they smeer their faces with lees of Oyl to change them, that such as are their acquantance may not know them. Because the stinging of Bees, Wasps, Hornets, do so change the face, making the Nose, Mouth, Page 400 and other parts to stand awry, and to be full of swellings and depressions: If any man wash his skin with the decoction of Hornets or Wasps, the place will so swell, that it will make men suspect some disease, yet it is without pain. The remedy is Theriot drank, or smeered on the part: and this is the fraud that false women use to counterfeit themselves to be with child. Beat together Oyl-lees, coles of a Vine and Pomegranate Pills; and mingle them, and if you touch your face with this lini∣ment, you shall make it exceeding black: but the juyce of sowre Grapes or Milk will wash it off.
