Memb. 5. Waking and terrible dreams rectified.

As waking that hurts, by all means must be avoided, so sleep which so much helps, by like waies, must be procured, by nature or art, inward or outward medicines, and be protracted longer then ordinary, if it may be, as being an especiall help.

It moystens and fattens the body, concocts, and helps digestion (as we see in Dormice, and those Alpine Mice that sleep all Winter) which Gesner speaks of, when they are so found sleeping under the snow in the dead of Winter, as fat as butter. It expels cares, pacifies the minde, refresheth the weary limbs after long work;

Somne quies rerum, placidissime somne deorum, Pax animi, quem cura fugit, qui corpora duris Fessa ministeriis mulces reparasque labori.

Sleep rest of things, O pleasing Deity, Peace of the Soul, which cares dost crucifie, Weary bodies refresh and mollifie.

The chiefe thing in all Physick Paracelsus calls it, omnia arcana gemmarum superans & metallorum. The fittest time is two or three hours after supper, when as the meat is now setled at the bottome of the stomach, and ’tis good to lie on the right side first, because at that site the liver doth rest under the stomach, not molesting any way, but heating him as a fire doth a kettle, that is put to it. After the first sleep, ’tis not amiss to lie on the left side, that the meat may be better descend: and sometimes again on the belly, but never on the back.

Seven or eight hours is a competent time for a melancholy man to rest, as Crato thinks; but as some do, to lie in bed and not sleep, a day, or half a day together, to give assent to pleasing conceits and vain imaginations, is many wayes pernicious. To procure this sweet moistning sleep, ’tis best to take away the occasions (if it be possible) that hinder, and then to use such inward or outward remedies, which may cause it.

Constat hodie (saith Boissardus in his Tract de magiâ cap. 4.) multos ita fascinari ut noctes integras exigant insomnes, summâ inquietudine animorum & corporum; many cannot sleep for witches and fascinations, which are too familiar in some places; they call it, dare alicui malam noctem.

But the ordinary causes are heat and dryness, which must first be removed; a hot and dry brain never sleeps well: grief, fears, cares, expectations, anxieties, great business, In aurem utramque otiose ut dormias, and all violent perturbations of the mind must in some sort be qualified, before we can hope for any good repose.

He that sleeps in the day time, or is in suspense or fear, any way troubled in minde, or goes to bed upon a full stomack, may never hope for quiet rest in the night; nec enim meritoria somnos admittunt, as the Poet saith; Innes and such like troublesome places are not for sleep; one calls Ostler, another Tapster, one cryes and shouts, another sings, whoupes, hollows,

—— absentem cantat amicam, Multa prolutus vappâ nauta atque viator.

Who not accustomed to such noyses can sleep amongst them? He that will intend to take his rest must go to bed animo securo, quieto & libero, with a secure and composed minde, in a quiet place: omnia noctis erunt placidâ composta quiete: and if that will not serve, or may not be obtained, to seek then such means as are requisite.

To lye in clean linnen and sweet; before he goes to bed, or in bed to hear sweet Musick, which Ficinus commends lib. 1. cap. 24. or as Iobertus med. pract. lib. 3. cap. 10. to read some pleasant Author till he be asleep, to have a bason of water still dropping by his bed side, or to lie near that pleasant murmure, lene sonantis aquæ, Some floud-gates, arches, falls of water, like London Bridge, or some continuate noise which may benumme the senses, lenis motus, silentium & tenebræ, tum & ipsa voluntas somnos faciunt:

as a gentle noyse to some procures sleep, so, which Bernardinus Tilesius lib. de somno well observes, silence, in a darke roome, and the will it self, is most available to others. Piso commends frictions, Andrew Borde a good draught of strong drink before one goes to bed; I say, a nutmeg and ale, or a good draught of muscadine, with a tost and nutmeg, or a posset of the same, which many use in a morning, but me thinks for such as have dry brains, are much more proper at night;

some prescribe a sup of vineger as they go to bed, a spoonfull saith Ætius Tetrabib. lib. 2. ser. 2. cap. 10. lib. 6. cap. 10. Ægineta lib. 3. cap. 14. Piso, a little after meat, because it rarifies melancholy, and procures an appetite to sleep. Donat. ab Altomar. cap. 7. and Mercurialis approve of it, if the malady proceed from the Spleen. Salust. Salvian. lib. 2. cap. 1. de remed. Hercules de Saxoniâ in Pan. Ælianus Montaltus de morb. capitis, cap. 28. de Melan. are altogether against it. Lod. Mercatus de inter. Morb. cau. lib. 1. cap. 17. in some cases doth allow it.

Rhasis seems to deliberate of it, though Simeon commend it in sawce (peradventure) he makes a question of it: as for baths, fomentations, oyls, potions, simples or compounds, inwardly taken to this purpose, I shall speak of them elsewhere. If in the midst of the night when they lie awake, which is usuall to toss and tumble, and not sleep, Ranzovius would have them, if it be in warme weather, to rise and walk three or four turnes (till they be cold) about the chamber, and then go to bed again.

Against fearfull and troublesome dreams, Incubus and such inconveniences, wherewith melancholy men are molested, the best remedy is to eat a light supper, and of such meats as are easie of digestion, no Hare, Venison, Beef, &c. not to lye on his back, not to meditate or think in the day time of any terrible objects, or especially talke of them before he goes to bed.

For as he said in Lucian after such conference, Hecates somniare mihi videor, I can think of nothing but Hobgoblins: and as Tully notes, for the most part our speeches in the day time, cause our phantasy to work upon the like in our sleep; which Ennius writes of Homer:

Et canis in somnis leporis vestigia latrat:

As a dog dreams of an Hare, so do men, on such subjects they thought on last.

Somnia quæ mentes ludunt volitantibus umbris, Nec delubra deûm, nec ab æthere numina mittunt, Sed sibi quisque facit, &c.

For that cause when Ptolomy King of Egypt had posed the 70 interpreters in order, and asked the nineteenth man, what would make one sleep quietly in the night, he told him, the best way was to have divine and celestiall meditations, and to use honest actions in the day time.

Lod. Vives wonders how Schoolmen could sleep quietly, and were not terrified in the night, or walke in the darke, they had such monstrous questions, and thought of such terrible matters all day long. They had neede amongst the rest to sacrifice to God Morpheus, whom Philostratus paints in a white and black coat, with a horn and Ivory box full of dreams, of the same colours, to signifie good and bad.

If you will know how to interpret them, read Artemidorus, Sambucus and Cardan; but how to help them, I must refer you to a more convenient place.