A Goodly Gallery, Book 1
A GOODLY GALLERY ¶ The first Booke.
FOr as muche as we entend in this treatise, to declare ye causes of all those bodyes, that are generatede in the earthe, called Fossilia, as well as thos other Impressiones, named of ther height, Meteora (which no wryter hetherto hath done, yt we hauehave sene) the comen definicion gyuen by most wryters, in no wyse wyll serue vsus, & whether we maye borowe ye name of metcoron to comprehende the whole subiect of oure woorke we are not all together out of doubt, all thoughe ye philosopher, deryuinge it from doutfullnes, geueth vsus som collore so to take it, and paduenture we myght be as wele excused to aplye it to mineralls, as other auters ar to vse it for earthequakes: yet to auoyde all occasions of cauellynge at wordes, we shall bothe defyne and also describe the subiect of oure matter on thys manner: yt is a body compounde with out lyfe naturalle: and yet to stoppe one hole, because heare wanteth ye name of ye thinge to be destinede, yt is no newe thinge, to theim that hauehave redde Aristoteles workes to fynde a diffinition,Aristotles. of that whereof ther is no name. But what nede you be so precise (wil some man say) mean you so to proceade in all your discourse? no verely, but because many of quicke iudgement not cō sidering the stile to be attempered, to the capacitie of the Readers, will impute the plaines to the ignoraunce of the authors, we thought good in ye beginning to pluck that opinion out of their mindes (that as the cōmon saying is) they may know we hauehave skill of good maners though we litle vse them.
These meteors are deuided after thre maner of ways, first into bodies ꝑfectly & imꝑfectly mixed. Secondly into moist impressiōs & drie. Thirdly into fiery, aery, watery and earthly. According to this last diuisiō, we shall speake of them in fowre bookes followyng. But first, we must be occupied a litle in the general descriptiō of the same, yt afterward shalbe particularly intreated of.
¶ Why they be called vnperfectly mixed.
THey are called vnperfectly mixed, because they are very sone chaūged into another thing, and resolued into their proper elementes of whiche they do moste consist, as do all impressious, fyrie, ayrie, watrie, as snowe into water, cloudes into waters. &c.
¶ Why they be called perfectly mixed.
The last sort namely earthly, Meteores are called perfectly mixed, because they wil not easely be chaunged and resolued from that forme which they are in, as be stones, metalles and other mineralles.
According to the qualitie of the matter, they are diuided into moist & drie impressions, consisting either of vapores or exhalations. vapores are called moist, and exhalations drie, whiche termes must be well noted, because they must be much vsed.
¶ Of the general cause of al Meteores and first of the materiall cause.
The mater whereof the moste part of Meteores dooth consiste,The material cause. is either water or earth, for out of ye water, proceade vapors, and out of the earth come exhalations.
Vapor as the Philosopher sayeth,What be vapors & what exhalations. is a certain watrie thing, and yet is not water, so exhalation hath a certain earthly nature in it, but yet it is not yearth.
For the better vnderstanding of vapors, vnderstande that they be as it were fumes or smokes, warme & moist, whiche will easely be resolued into water, muche like to the breath that proceadeth out of a mans mouth, or out of a pot of water standing on ye fiere. These vapors are drawen vp from the waters and warry places, by the heate of the Sunne, euen vntounto the midle region of the ayre,What the midle region is shalbe tolde afterward. and there after diuerse maner of meating with coldnes, many kynde of moist Meteors are generated, as sometime cloudes and rayne, sometime snowe and hayle, and that suche vapors are so drawen vp by the Sunne, it is playne by experiēce: for if there be a plash of water on a smothe and hard stoone, standing in the heate of the sunne, it wyl soone be drye, whiche is none otherwyse, but yt the sonne draweth vp the water in thinne vapores, for no man is so fonde to saye, that it can sinke into stoone or metall, and it is as greatfoly to thinke, it is consumed to nothyng: for it is a general rule,A generall rule. that that whiche is once a thing, can not by chaunging become nothyng, wherefore it followeth that the water on the stoone, as also on the earth, is for the moste part drawen vp, when the stoone or earth is dried
Exhalations, What exhalations bee.are as smokes that be hoat and drie, whiche because they be thinne, & lygther then vapors, passe the lowest and midle region of the ayre, and are caried vp euen to the highest region, where for the excessiue heat, by nearenes of the fier, they are kindled, and cause many kinde of impressions. They ar also sometimes viscose ▪ that is to say clāmy, by reason wherof, thei cleuing together & not being dispersed, are after diuerse soortes set on fier, and appeare somtims like Dragōs, somtim like Goats somtime like cādels somtime like speares.
By yt which is spokē of vapors & exhalations, it is euidēt yt out of ye fier & the ayer no matter wherof meteores shold consist can be drawē, because of their subtiltie & thinnes. For al exhalatiō is by making a grosser body more thinne, but ye fier (we mean ye elemētal fier, & not the fire of the kitchē chimney) is so subtil & thin, yt it cannot be made thinner: likewise the ayre is so thin, yt if it be made thinner, it is chāged into fire, & as the fire if it wer made thicker, wold becom aire, so the aire, being made grosser, wold be turned into water. Wherfor to cōclude this part, ye great quantitie of matter, that causeth these meteores, is takē out of ye earth and the water. As for ye aire & the fire, they ar mixed with this matter as with al other things, but not so abundauntly, that they may be sayd the material cause of any Meteore, though without them none can be generated. The efficient cause of all Meteores is that cause,The efficiēt cause whiche maketh them, euen page missing they are not to nyghe to the direct beames, nor to farre of from them: there is a moderate heate, drawyng out great aboundaunce of matter, so that in those contries, many Meteores of many sortes as generated, as in the farre North partes are few, but watrie impressions. Also in Autumne & Sprynge, are oftener Meteores séen, then in Sommer and Wynter, except it be in such places, where the Sommer and Wynter are of the temper of Spryng and Autūne. Let this be sufficient, for the efficient causes of impressions, as well first and principall, as second and particular. Concerning the formall and finall cause, we hauehave litle to saye because the one is so secret, that it is knowen of no mā, ye other so euidēt yt it is playne to all men The essentiall forme of all substaunces, Gods wisdome comprehendeth, the vniuersall chiefe and last end of all thinges, is the glory of God. Mydle endes (if they may be so called) of these impressions are manifold profites, to Gods creatures, to make the earth fruitfull, to purge the ayre, to sett forth his power, to threathen his vengeaunce, to punyshe the worlde, to moue to repentaunce: all the which are referde to one end of Gods eternall glory, euer to be praysed. Amen.
¶ Of the places, in whiche they are generated.
THe places in whiche Meteors are caused, be either the ayre or the earth, in ye aire be generated rayne, hayle, snow, dew, blasing starres, thonder, lightning &c. In the earth be welles, springs, earthquakes, metalls minerals, &c. made, and as it were in their mothers belly begotten & fashioned. But for the better vnderstanding hereof, such as hauehave not tasted ye principles of Philosophie, must cōsider ye ther be iiij. elemēts, Earth, water, Ayre, & Fire, one cōpassing another round about, sauing yt the waters by Gods cōmaundement ar gathered into one place, yt the land might apeare. The highest is ye spere of the fire, which toucheth the hollownes of the Moones heauen, the next is the ayre, whiche is in the hallownes of the fyer, the ayre within his hollownes, comprehendeth the water and the earth, whiche bothe make but one Spheare or Globe, or as the commen sort may vnderstande it one Bal. So eche elemēt is wcin another as ye skales of a perle, ar on aboue another, or (to vse a grosse similitude) as ye pieles of an oniō, ar one wc in āother, after ye same sort frō ye highest heuē to ye earth, yt is lowest, one part yt is greater compasseth roūd about another that is lesser. But for this present purpose it is to be knowen, yt the ayer is diuided into thre regions,What the regions of the aire be ye hyghest, the midle, and the lowest. The hyghest, because it is next to the region of ye fier, is exceading hoate, the lowest beinge next the earth and the waters, is temperat, and by repercussion or striking back of the sunne beames waxeth hoate, and by absence of them is made colde, being subiect to Wynter and Sommer. The midle region of ye ayre, is always exceading cold, partly because ye sonne beames, can not be cast back so highe, and partly because the cold that is there, betwene ye heate aboue and the heate beneath it, is so kept in that it can not get out, so that it must nedes be excessiuely colde. For the water and the earthe being both colde elementes, after the sunnesetting in the nighte season dooe coole ye aire, euen to the midle regiō. But in the morning the sunne rysing warmeth ye ayre, so farre as his beames whiche are beaten back from the earth & the water, can extende and reache, whiche is not so highe as the midle region, and by heate on both sides, is inclosed and kept, sauing that a litle thereof falleth downe in the night, which the next day with much more is driuen backe againe. Wherefore this region being so colde, is darke and cloudye, in so much that some doting Diuines hauehave imagined, purgatorie to be there in the mydle region of the ayre.
In the hyghest region, be generated Cometes or blasing starres, and suche lyke of diuerse sortes.
In the midle region cloudes, rayne, stormes, wyndes. &c. In the lowest region, dewe, frost, horefrost, mistes, bryght rods, candels burning about graues, & gallowses, where ther is store of clamy fatty or oyly substaunce, also lightes and flammyng fiers, séene in fieldes, &c.
¶ And thus muche for the generall causes of all Meteores.