I Do most seriously and hear­tily Advise all my loving Friends, that accept kindly of my Labors and Endea­vors, and delight in the Stu­dies of Physick in their Mo­ther Tongue, that they would make Hay while the Sun shines, viz. Whiles the Liber­ties of a free Common-wealth last among them. [Page 2]For let them assure themselves, That (if e­ver God, for their Ʋnthankfulness, and Ʋnwor­thy Walking under his Mercies) shall cast again the Tyrannical Yoak of King-ship upon the Neck of the English Nation, they will be de­prived of all those blessed Opportunities they now enjoy, to improve their Understan­dings in this Art. For King-ship, (like the Devil cast out) will returning, bring SEVEN DEVILS worse than it self, and the Bon­dage of the Nation will be worse than ever, and ten-fold more Aegyptian. And as the Tyranny of King-ship hath alwaies been, and ever will be, attended with a Luxurious and debauched Court; so will the Debaucheries be encreased seven fold by the Instigation of those seven other Devils. And then (Friends) the prime Factors of Physick, of the Monopoli­zing upstart London Colledg, will be called to secret Court-Ministries, and to be of the Ca­binet Council of some Court-Nimrods, sick of such Diseases that punish, as well by the shame, as pain which attends them. Then will the Factors of Physick so employed, dare without much blushing to beseech their De­bauched and Frenchified Lordships, to become earnest Solicitors to the Kings most Excellent Majestie; that for the Profit of his Majesties Realms, undone by Knowledg, and to en­crease [Page 3]the Gain of the Colledg Factors, that they may be able to attend the Court, when called, in a splendid Equipage; and as a re­muneration of their Fidelity and secrecy in their Court Services; That all Books of Physick in the English Tongue, may by express and speedy Order of his most excellent Maje­sty, be burnt by the Hand of the Hang-man at the usual places of such Martyrdoms, but especially at the Royal Exchange, over a­gainst Pestilent Peters own Shop; and that al Persons be enjoyned from City and Coun­try to bring in all their Physick Books to the Colledg at Amen-Corner; and that all Chyrur­geons, Countrie Practitioners, Apothecaries, Gen­tlemen, and Ladies, may be strictly enjoyned under a severe Penalty to be expressed, to blot out of their Remembrance all the Know­ledg of Physick gained from such Books, and never to think thereof, so much as in a Dream; and that all sick Persons may be enjoyned from all Parts of the Nation, and from aboord the Ships of the Common­wealth, to repair in Person, or by their A­gents, with their Waters, to the Colledg of London for Physick, just as they do to West­minster for Law (for if his Majesty please, they may do one as well as the other) and that it may be a Star Chamber Case, for any [Page 4]man to print and publish such Books, or to read and inform themselves thereby.

Now their Lordships must be Judges in the Star-Chamber, and they will be zealous in this Cause so neerly concerning their pri­vate Friends, the Colledg Factors, who had lately healed them from those Brandmarks made with a BURNING-HOT-MISTRIS, which they received by Sentence given a­gainst their Lordships in the Court of Sun-Chamber in Heaven; not upon their Cheeks, Foreheads, or Ears, where their Lordships were wont to brand men, but upon their PRIAPEIAN UTENSILES, for the sweet Sin of Lechery, the Fruit of their Tyrannical Pride and Luxurie. Think (Friends) how the poor Printers, and Publishers of Physick Books in the English Tongue, wil be Sentenced by their Frenchified Lordships, assure your selves the Censures of Laton, Prin, Bastwick, and Burton, were but Fleabitings to the Penalties that shal be decreed by that High Court, against such heinous offenders against the Crown and Dignity of the Colledg. A word to the wise is sufficient, Buy these The Names of the Books I advise you to buy, thou may­est find after the end of the Epistle to this Discourse. Books while you can get them, study them wel, and keep them warily when you [Page 5]have them, and by this means you wil cause more to be published in this kind, and like­wise by great dispersion of Copies far & wide transmit this knowledg to al your posterity, Maugre the Beards of al future Tyrants, and their Factors of Physick. And I would have my Country-men to be very thankful to Almighty God for the present Liberty of the Nation, and to pray continually for their Sober, Honest, and Generous Governors, that care not to oblige any Man or Fraternity of men, by unrighteous and wicked Acts, which highly disoblige the Commonwealth. And (Freinds) if any of the Colledg cry down the Authors by me Published, and I hear some are so impudent as to disparage Rive­rius (which is al one, as if a Civilian should through dirt in the Face of Justinian) Laugh at them and Pity them (for it is the last Game they have to play) but beleeve them not; know rather assuredly, that in the Books by me composed or translated, the principal of which is the renowned Riverius (since my unbodying, compleatly publi­shed) there are the best Rules of Physick in a Galenical way that are, or ever wil be ex­tant, for we know what those Principles can produce. And as for Chymistry, of which I had a mighty high opinion in my Life [Page 6]time: I must confess, though I stil acknow­ledg the Art to be very ingenious and use­ful, to search into the Misteries of Nature, and the best key of Natural Philosophy, & that by help thereof some very useful Medica­ments are daily made, as my Aurum Potabi­le, of which I left a Treatise; yet I do now much doubt whether a General supply of Medicaments for al Cases obvious in Practice, can by Chymistrie be afforded bet­ter than the often-approved and by experi­ence confirmed Galenical and Hyppocratical Remedies. The occasion that made me first incline to this opinion, was thus. I met here in the Elysian Fields accidentally with Factor Wright junior, who first lived with Doctor Flud in Fan-church street, being a Youth and gave out his Physick (as his House-Apothecary) who told me that his Mr. Flud, though a Trismegistian-Platonick-Rosy-crucian Doctor, gave his Patients the same kind of Galenical Medicaments, which other Physitians in the Town ordinarily appointed, and when himself was sick, he had no Chymical Elixars or Quintessential Extracts to relie upon, but after he had cau­sed himself to be let blood (an ordinary Ga­lenical Remedy) he sent for Doctor Gulstone, & relied upon his advise for the Cure of his [Page 7]disease, who was a pure Galenist. And I wel remember in one of his Folio Books treating of Preservation of Health, his only Physick he recommends, is a Mastich Pill, with a drop of Oyl of Time, than which the Apothecaries Shop knows no more common Medicine. And therefore he be­ing so great, and so sublime a Doctor, as to have written many Volums in Folio, full of Mathematical, Mystagogical, Chymical-Rosicruce­an Speculations, which Books are highly esteemed by many beyond Seas, and by some at home: If all his Skill in Chymistry (of which the Rosie-Crucian Seraphical illumi­nated Fraternity, are the chief Masters) or other Mysterious Arts, had furnished him with any more effectual Medicaments than the Galenical, such as are in the London Dis­pensatory, I cannot doubt but he would have used them, if not for Conscience sake, yet for to advance his Reputation, by the quickness, safeness, and pleasantness of the Cure, which is that the Chymists boast of. After the foresaid Relation of Factor Wright Junior, I happened to meet with Old Dr. Flud, walking very musefully, and communica­ting with the Ghosts of Raimundus Lullius, and Van Helmont; I took old Dr. Flud aside, and asked him if the Relation of his Servant [Page 8] Robert Wright were true. Hereupon the old man ingenuously confessed the thing, and said there were no better Medicaments in the whol world than the Galenical; and so left me to return to his Company, they being (as I over heard) in a great Dispute about the Weapon-Salve, and plotting toge­ther about a rare Invention, viz. How to invent an Ʋniversal Magnetick Medicine for Feavers, which being put into the Ʋrine of a sick Patient, the quantity of a few drops, should Sympathetically work the same Ope­ration in the Cure of the Feaver, as the Weapon-salve being anointed upon the Wea­pon, does upon the wound. For Dr. Flud said, if the Spirits in the Blood sticking up­on a Sword, when it is anointed, do by Sym­pathy fly unto the Body whence they came, and carry along with them the vertue of the Salve, as I have cleerly demonstrated in my Book against Hoplocrisma-spongos, or my Squeezing of Parson Fosters Spunge: why may not the vertues of a Magnetick Medica­ment, dropped into the Patients Urine, espe­cially the Urine remaining warm, be carri­ed into the inmost Bowels of the Body, especially the Liver, Spleen, Kidneys, and Bladder, by the Spirits of those parts which came away in the Ʋrine, and when the [Page 9] Ʋrine becomes cold, do retire into the Bo­dy whence they came, by a Vertual Attracti­on caused by the Emanation of the invisible Atomes that come from those parts in the sick Body, through the air into the chamber-pot or Urinal, to visit their fellow Spirits there imprisoned. Truly (replyed Van Helmont) this may very well be done; for the Fer­mentative Odor of the Gas Aquae in conjuncti­on with the Blas Meteoron, impregnated with the Magnum Oportet, which lies ri­vetted in the Centre of the Magnetick Spirit, dropped into the Urine, may in a moment, and like Lightening, penetrate the sick Pa­tient, and meeting with the Faber Archeus (who is now so inraged, and blows his Bel­lows with such Bedlam fury, that al his shop is afire about his Ears) so charm and pacifie him, and pierce into the Individual punctu­ality of his Central Essence, so tickle him (as men are wont to tickle the Trouts, and other Fish, when they intend with their hands to throw them out of the Water) that he shall become as gentle as a Lamb, and recovering his wits, quench the fire he hath made, and put all in Tune again. This was the Discourse of these three Chymical Grandees, but they could not well agree; for Raimundus Lullius, and Dr. Flud varied from Min Heere Van Helmont (who said they [Page 10]were not Adepti) so that they agreed to chuse Arbitrators; Raimund and Robert chose Trismegistus, and John Baptist chose Paracelsus: But what was the Conclusion of this Consult, I have not yet learned. And so farewel. Hola! Doest thou hear Friend, I will tell thee a Tale before thou go, which will confirm what I formerly said. Word is newly come to the Elysian Fields, that a Learned Doctor and Factor of Physick, independent upon the Colledg of London, was lately dealt with by a Pragma­tick Colledg Factor, who would needs per­swade him to come into the Colledg. But the said Independent Factor, said to the Pres­biterian, or Colledg Factor, That he knew no reason why he should desire to be of the Colledg, but divers against it, as loss of his Liberty in many respects, and being subje­cted and made inferior to those that are his Inferiors in standing in the Ʋniversity, and perhaps in all other things save Mounteban­kry, &c. subjoyning, that to seek a thing out of design of advancing a Mans self, which will really debase him, is the greatest Folly in the world. To which the Presbiterian, or Colledg Factor answered, You had best for al that joyn your self to the Colledg, because YOU KNOW NOT WHAT TIMES [Page 11]ARE COMING: Intimating that he the said Colledg Factor, hath hopes that King­ly Tyranny shall be restored, and that the Il­legal and Tyrannical Ʋsurpation of the Mono­polizing Colledg (who since the Common­wealth hath been established in opposition to King-ship, have drawn in their Horns) shall again flourish, and play Rex, as in daies of old, when they had the Impudence to afflict by Imprisonment, and other waies, men as well Educated, and as Learned as themselves (contrary to their Charter, which gives them no power derogating from, and disa­nulling the ancient Priviledg of Oxford, and Cambridg, and other Universities, which Authorize men to Practice in all Christen­dom) because they would not bow the Knee to Haman that sate in the Kings Gate, nor submit themselves and the Dignity of the Ʋniversities to the Monopolizing Conventicle at Amen Corner, so as to become their Subjects, and Vassels to their Usurped Prerogative. And since that, a Reverend old Colledg Factor who by Practice of Physick &c. hath scraped together a BARONS Estate, & may likely be a Star-chamber Lord, when the Ty­ranny is restored, told one that brought an English Physick Book to him to Licence, that he would neither Approve nor Licence it, but [Page 12]THE TIME WAS COMING, THAT A COURSE SHOULD BE TAKEN A­GAINST AL SUCH BOOKS AS THOSE. Remember this story Country men, and pray for the Continuance of your Liberties and the just Mannagers of the same, for with the revival and reduction of Kingly Tyranny, by a necessary and Natural consequence, Lords Tyranny, Bishops Tyranny, Star-chamber Tyranny, Courts of Honor and of Amen Corner &c. wil revive and shew themselves as Brisk as Body-Lice. Farewel.

Hola! one word more. Good honest freind commend me heartily to the Author of that Epigram Printed with Riverius, at the end of his Epistle, and thank him for in­forming me what a Doctor of Physick is indeed and intruth, and what a meer Factor of Phy­sick. I confess I never considered how that FACERE MEDICINAM is to practice Physick; and DOCTOR and QUI DOCET are Convertible terms of the same Synonymal import: and that a Man can be no more a Doctor without Disciples or Scholars then a Father without Children, a Master with­out Servants, or a Prince without Subjects. Whereas he that teaches any Art is a Doctor of that Art in spight of al that al the Colledges in the world shal be able so say or do to the [Page 13]daies of Eternity, unless they can bereave men of their understandings, and change the common Speech of Man-kind. So that a Man may be a Doctor or Teacher of Physick and no Factor or Practiser; or a Practiser, or Factor (which is the true word) and no Teacher thereof; or he may be both a Teacher and Factor, as I was when I lived in the Body. And verily it is a most ridiculous thing, that he which intends onely to Practise the Art of Healing, should not think himself quali­fied thereunto until with much Labor and expence he has purchased the idle name of a Teacher of Physick: as if a Barrister or Coun­celler at Law, should not think himself fitly qualified to plead at the Bar, unless he should with great travil and expence at Court procure himself the Empty name of a Judg, or a Doctor of the Laws of England. I con­fess I am fully inlightened and convinced in this point, and if I were to live again in your world, I would write my self Doctor of Physick instead of Nich. Culpeper, Gent. For besides al the Reason in the world on my side (for I dare say I have been a greater Teacher of Physick, and have had incomparably more Disciples in that Art, than al the Fellows of Amen Colledg since old King Harry gave them their Charter (which in al probability dropt [Page 14]out of his great Codpiece) not foreseeing what ill use they would make of it) I would justifie my self by the Testi­mony of Doctor John Collins, the Kings Professor of Physick in Cam­bridg, who in his Commendato­ry Epigram to Mr. Ralph Winter­ton, who Versified Hippocrates Aphorismes in Greek Verses, thus At the end of Hippocrates Aphorisms in Greek and Latin Verse, printed at Cambridg. speaks.

And if Ralph Winterton who then had no other university degree then of a Master of Arts was by the Kings professor of Physick pronounced a Doctor of Physick, the said Professor acknowledging that his Book had made him so, which notwithstanding was no more than an ingenious turning of Hip­pocrates [Page]Aphorisms into Greek verse, whereby the sence indeed of the Author was illustrated and made more intelligible: who shal deny me to have been a Doctor of Physick, that have not only translated but composed divers Books of my own, to teach the said Art. So that I could wish that Peter Cole would here­after Print me NICH. CULPEPER DO­CTOR OF PHYSICK and leave out GENT. For al the world must needs of themselves know that a Doctor of Physick is a Gentleman in the Superlative Degree.

So farwel. Commendations to my Wife and my noble freind Factor Harrington, whom I desire to be good unto my Wife and to supply my Absence as much as he possibly can. Commendations also to al freinds and honest Doctors and Factors of Physick, and In­genious Book-sellers, saving him that abused me by Printing my Notes (partly collected in the Infancy of my studies, but many of them with an intent to refute the same, some of which refutations I did Print) under the name of Culpepers last Legacie of rare secrets &c. whereby he makes me contra­dict my self in my own writings (To the hazard of the Lives of many of the good people of this Nation) which is the highest Injurie can be done to a Man. If he leave [Page]not off such tricks, I would advise him to pul down the sign of the Angel and hang up the Devil, or the sign of his Cloven foot, in­stead thereof: that people may Guess by the sign what Commodities he deals in, and Know where to have them, without seek­ing any further about the Town. For when they see the Father of Lies and Impo­stures, or his MITRED Foot hang up, they may be sure that love Lies and Sophisticated Forgeries (as too many do) where to have their turn served. VALE.