Take a Pissle of a Hart, and temper it in Vinegar.

The Preface pronounced by the Hart.

I am the Hart, by Greeks surnamed so,
Because my head doth with their terms agree,
For stately shape few such on earth do go,
So that by right they have so termed me.
For kings' delight, it seems I was ordained,
Whose huntsmen yet pursue me, day by day,
In forest, chase and park I am constrained
Before their hounds, to wander many a way.
Wherefore who list to learn the perfect trade
Of venery, and there withal would know
What properties and virtues nature made
In one (poor Hart, oh harmless Hart) to grow,
Let him give ear to skillful Trystram's lore,
To Phoebus, Fowylloux and many more.

Chapter 15.

Of the Virtue and Properties of the Hart.

There is a bone found in the heart of a Hart, the which is very medicinable against the trembling of the heart, and especially for women great with child.

Again, take the pissle of a Hart, and temper it in vinegar the space of four-and-twenty hours, and afterwards dry it, then beat it into powder. Drink the weight of a French crown thereof in plantain water, and it shall heal either man or woman of the bloody flux.

Likewise, take a Hart's head when it is half shot out and is yet bloody, and cut it in small morsels and put it in a great vial or glass. Then, take the juice of a herb called Spanish pepper or otherwise cassis; you shall put the juice of all these herbs to the gobbets of the Hart's head, and lute and stop very close your vial or glass, suffering all these drugs to stand together the space of two days. That done, you shall distill them in a lembick of glass, and the water that comes thereof will be excellent against all venoms or poisons, as well of the bitings of serpents as others.

Also, the Hart's horn burnt and beaten into powder will kill worms both within the body and without, and will drive serpents out of their holes and dens. The gatherbag or mugwet of a young Hart, when it is in the Hind's belly, is very medicinable also against the biting of serpents.

The marrow or grease of a Hart is very good for the gout proceeding of a cold cause, melting it and rubbing the place where the pain is therewith.

Also, the Hart first taught us to find the herb called dyctamus, for when he is stricken with an arrow or dart, he seeks out that herb and eats thereof, the which makes the dart or arrow to fall out, and heals him immediately.

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Paul Summers Young

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