The L I FE of the L I B. I monious Things ; eating abundanceof Muftard at every Meal, and drinking only Wormwood-beer, be. andMing fome Exercife, as much as time would give me leave. By this timedivers eminent Phyficians agreed that my Difeafe was the Hypo - condriack Melancholy, and not the Scurvy. To recite a Catalogue of my Symptomsand Pains, from Head to Feet , would be a tedious interruption to the Reader : I (hall therefore only fay this , that the Symptoms and Effeetsof my General Indifpofition were very terrible ; fuch as a flatulent Stomach, that turn'd all things into Wind ; a Rheumatick head to a ve- ry great degree; and great lharpnefs in my Blood, which occafioned me no fmall trouble by theexcoriation of my Fingers ends,which upon any heat I us'd, or Aro- matick thing I took, would be raw and bloody : and every Spring and Fall, orby any kind ofheating, my Nofe ßi11 fell a bleeding, and that with fuch a great vio. lence, and in fachexceflive quantities, as often threatned my Life : which I then afcribed to fuch Caufes as I have line liv'd to fee my felf miflaken in ; for I am now fully fatisfied that all proceeded from Latent Stones Inmy Reins, occafioned by unfuitableDiet inmy Youth. And yet two wonderful Mercies I had from God x. That I was never overwhelm'd with realMelancholy. My Diftemper never went fo faras to potters me with any inordinate Fancies, or damp me with finking Sadnefs, although the Phyficianscall'd it the Hypocoadriack Melancholy. I had at feveral times the Advice of no lefs than Six and thirty Phyficians, by whole order I us'd Druggs without number almoft, which God thought not fit to make fuc- cefsful for a Cure : and indeed all Authors that I read , acquainted me that my Difeafe was incurable; whereuponI at lair forfook the 10&ors for the molt part, except when the urgency of a Symptom, or Pain , confirained me to Peek fome prefent eafe. z. The fécond Mercy whichI met with, was, that my Pains, though daily and almoft continual -did not very much difable nie from my Duty; but I could Study, and Preach, and Walk almoft as well ifI had been free : (of which moreanon). At lait falling into a fudden and great decay and debility, I went to Sir Theodore Mayerne, who kept me in a long Courfe of Phyfick, which did me fomegood for the prefent and after that, riding much in the Army did me more good than a- ny thing : But having one Symptom onme (the confiant excoriation of my three formed Fingers ends on both Handsto theraw flefh) he lent me to Tunbridge. Waters, v:here I ßaid threeWeeks ; and after that my Defiu&ions and Agitation of the Serous Matter, much encreafed, (though the Excoriation ceafed at that time) and haftned my greater ruine. Efpecially one Errour of his did me hurt : Hevehemently perffwaded me to the eatingof Apples, which of all things in the World had ever been my mofi deadly Enemies fo that when it was too late , Dr. Mayerne perceived that though Acrimony difpofed the matter, yet meer .flatulency pumped up the Blood , and was the molt immediate Caufe of the Hæmorrbagie. Having taken cold with riding thin clothed in the Snow, and having but two days eatenApples before Meat, as he perfwaded me, I fell into fuch a bleeding as continued fix days, with fomefits of intermiffion ; fo that about aGallon of Blood that wenoted was loft, and what more I know not : Upon thisboth he andother Phyficians gave meup as hopelefi, through the weaknefs thereby occafioned,and concluding that all would end in a Drópfie, ( for myLeggs began to fwell3): By a Friend's perfwaion I wrote to Dr. George Bates, (Archiater to King Charles the Second, as Sir Theodore Mayerne was to King Charles the Firß) who concurred fo exa&ly inall points with Dr. Mayerne, as if they had confulted, (the Cafe and the Medicaments prefcribed being unufual) that 1 marvelled at their Concord : and by both their Counfels ( though neither of them had any confiderable hope of my Life), I wasnecef hated, betides otherRemedies, tobe oft in purging, for all my weaknefs, to prevent a Dropfie. Within a quarter of a year I was able weak- ly to Preach again ; but continued divers years in languifhing Pains and Weak- neffes, double or fourfold to what I had before : So that betides all my former In- firmities, ever after this Bleeding my chief Difeafe is a Preematura Senebtio, through the great Diminution of Nature's Stock : And jult the fame Symptoms as molt men haveabout Fourfcore years of Age, are added to thofe which I had be- fore. In fomefeemingNecefñties my latter Phyfcians, after all this, did four or five times take fame Blood from me ; and once a fpoon£ul in about (even Ouncesof Se- rum didcoagulate ; but at noother time would one jot of it ever coagulate or
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTcyMjk=