or fulsome Mixture; but of Ingredients not
altogether so cheap perhaps. _Honoratus Faber_ (no mean _Philosopher_)
shews us another Method by sowing the Seeds steep'd in _Vinegar_,
casting on it a good quantity of _Bean-Shell_ Ashes, irrigating them
with _Spirit of Wine_, and keeping the Beds well cover'd under dry
Matts. Such another Process for the raising early _Peas_ and _Beans_,
&c. we have the like [74]Accounts of: But were they practicable and
certain, I confess I should not be fonder of them, than of such as
the honest industrious Country-man's Field, and Good Wife's Garden
seasonably produce; where they are legitimately born in just time,
and without forcing Nature.

But to return again to _Health_ and _Long Life_, and the Wholesomness
of the Herby-Diet, [75]_John Beverovicius_, a Learn'd Physician (out of
_Peter Moxa_, a _Spaniard_) treating of the extream Age, which those of
_America_ usually arrive to, asserts in behalf of Crude and Natural
Herbs: _Diphilus_ of old, as [76]_Athenaeus_ tells us, was on the other
side, against all the Tribe of _Olera_ in general; and _Cardan_ of late
(as already noted) no great Friend to them; Affirming Flesh-Eaters to
be much wiser and more sagacious. But this his [77]Learned Antagonist
utterly denies; Whole Nations, Flesh-Devourers (such as the farthest
_Northern_) becoming Heavy, Dull, Unactive, and much more Stupid than
the _Southern_; and such as feed much on Plants, are more Acute, Subtil,
and of deeper Penetration: Witness the _Chaldaeans_, _Assyrians_,
_AEgyptians_, &c. And further argues from the short Lives of most
_Carnivorous_ Animals, compared with Grass Feeders, and the Ruminating
kind; as the _Hart_, _Camel_, and the longaevous _Elephant_, and other
Feeders on Roots and Vegetables.

I know what is pretended of our Bodies being composed of _Dissimilar_
Parts, and so requiring Variety of Food: Nor do I reject the Opinion,
keeping to the same _Species_; of which there is infinitely more Variety
in the _Herby_ Family, than in all Nature bessides: But the Danger is in
the _Generical_ Difference of _Flesh_, _Fish_, _Fruit_, &c. with other
made Dishes and exotic Sauces; which a wanton and expensive Luxury has
introduc'd; debauching the Stomach, and sharpening it to devour things
of such difficult Concoction, with those of more easie Digestion, and of
contrary Substances, more than it can well dispose of: Otherwise Food of
the same kind would do us little hurt: So true