ecifics_, and upon
whose Performance we may as safely depend, as we may on such as
familiarly we use for a Crude _Herb-Sallet;_ discreetly chosen, mingl'd,
and dress'd accordingly: Not but that many of them may be improv'd, and
render'd better in Broths, and Decoctions, than in _Oyl_, _Vinegar_,
and other Liquids and Ingredients: But as this holds not in all, nay,
perhaps in few comparatively, (provided, as I said, the Choice, Mixture,
Constitution, and _Season_ rightly be understood) we stand up in Defence
and Vindication of our _Sallet_, against all Attacks and Opposers
whoever.

We have mentioned _Season_ and with the great _Hippocrates_, pronounce
them more proper for the Summer, than the Winter; and when those Parts
of Plants us'd in _Sallet_ are yet tender, delicate, and impregnated
with the Vertue of the Spring, to cool, refresh, and allay the Heat and
Drought of the Hot and _Bilious_, Young and over-_Sanguine_, Cold,
_Pituit_, and Melancholy; in a word, for Persons of all Ages, Humours,
and Constitutions whatsoever.

To this of the _Annual Seasons_, we add that of _Culture_ also, as of
very great Importance: And this is often discover'd in the taste and
consequently in the Goodness of such Plants and _Salleting_, as are
Rais'd and brought us fresh out of the Country, compar'd with those
which the Avarice of the _Gardiner_, or Luxury rather of the Age, tempts
them to force and _Resuscitate_ of the most desirable and delicious
Plants.

It is certain, says a [71]Learned Person, that about populous Cities,
where Grounds are over-forc'd for Fruit and early _Salleting_, nothing
is more unwholsom: Men in the Country look so much more healthy and
fresh; and commonly are longer liv'd than those who dwell in the Middle
and Skirts of vast and crowded Cities, inviron'd with rotten Dung,
loathsome and common Lay Stalls; whose noisome Steams, wafted by the
Wind, poison and infect the ambient Air and vital Spirits, with those
pernicious Exhalations, and Materials of which they make the _Hot Beds_
for the raising those _Praecoces_ indeed, and forward Plants and Roots
for the wanton Palate; but which being corrupt in the Original, cannot
but produce malignant and ill Effects to those who feed upon them. And
the same was well observ'd by the _Editor_ of our famous _Roger Bacon's_
Treatise concerning the _Cure of Old Age_, and _Preservation of Youth_:
There being nothing so proper for _Sallet Herbs_ and other _Edule
Plants_, a