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other beaſts, as the Lion & the Woulfe, & other ſuch: & ſome gather ſtore of meat & féeding, as the Irchin & the Ampt. And why euery beaſt néedeth meat & nouriſhing it is, as Auicen ſaith, Moiſture of ſubſtance, and heat that diſſolueth & waſteth moiſture, & hot aire that is about the heart. And ſo alwaye by working of heat, is waſting and loſſe of humour: & that that is loſt, is néedfull to be reſtored, and that by goodneſſe of meat and nouriſhing. And ſome beaſts ſéeke their meate by night, as ſoules that hate light, and ſome by day. And Ariſtotle and Auicen ſaye, that ſome beaſts be alwaye wilde, and ſome alwaye tame, as Man, Mule, & the Goate: and ſome be ſoone made tame, as the Elephant. Of all kinde of tamè beaſts, ſome be found wilde, as a wilde man, a wilde Foxe, wilde Horſes, wilde Hounds, & wild Swine. And ſome beaſts be full cruell, readye to réeſe and to fight, and namely in time of loue, & in all ſeruice of Venus. In all beaſts is appetite of loue liking, and then the males wooeth and pleaſeth the females, and fight for them. And ſome beaſts do ſlily & warily, that their hornes and tuſkes be hard and ſharpe in that time, as wild Swine frote themſelues againſt trées, and their tuſks whet, as Ariſt. ſaith. And ſome refraineth them much, and ſome be right wrathfull and angry & of great memory, as the hound, the Camell, & the Aſſe: and ſome haue but feeble memory, as the Eſtridge & Culuer. And onely man calleth to mind that that was forgotten, as Aui. ſaith. But many beaſtes holde in minde things yt they ſee & learne, as Ariſt. ſaith li. 1. And onely in man is mindfulnes, as the minde is obedient to reaſon. Therefore li. 11. de Ciuitate Dei, Auſten ſaith, yt in vnreaſonable beaſtes is wonderfull redineſſe & wit, but in them is no ſcience properly to ſpeake of ſcience: but in them likeneſſe of ſcience is found, for they haue readineſſe of wit, in bréeding & rearing of their brood, and in building and making of bowers and dens, in ſeeking and getting of meat and nouriſhing: In medicine and healing of woundes, in flight and voiding of harme, in boding or changing of time and weathers, of knowing of loue of their makes. For the Hart loueth the Hind, & the Lyon the Lioneſſe, and the male beare the female, and ſo of other.
Alſo Ariſtotle ſayeth, that in euerye beaſt is a radicall member, that is well & head of all the vertues natural and ſpirituall, and of feeling, and that member is the heart, or ſomewhat els in ſtéed of the heart, of the which roote or heart, as Auicen ſayth, beginneth creation, making and ſhape of all beaſts. When an unreaſonable beaſt is perfectly made & ſhapen, the face therof boweth toward the earth, that is the originall & materiall matter, whereof it commeth, and onely to man, kind ordeyneth & dſeth vpright ſtature, wherein mankinde is wonderfully made noble, and paſſing all other beaſts, as the Poet ſayth.
giuen to man an high mouth & vertue to looke on heaven. Therefore Baſilius ſayeth, that if a man be defiled with luſt & liking of fleſh in obeieng to lechery of the wombe, he is made pere to vnwiſe and vnreaſonable beaſtes, and is made like to them. Alſo Baſilius ſaith, that all beaſts of the earth be comforted and hearted to gender & to get broods of their owne kind, to multiply after them, by gendring heat that tickleth and pricketh, & that falleth moſt in ſpringing time, when the vertue of the heate of heauen beginneth to haue maſtrye of bodyes of beaſts. And in ſuch forme meaneth Ariſtotle. And alſo Auicen ſayth, that euery beaſt that hath Semen, gendereth another beaſt, which is lyke to it ſelfe. And therefore to euerye beaſt, which may not kéepe and ſaue alwaye kinde in it ſelfe, kind giueth it a member, by which it puteth out Semen, & another mēber, wherin it may be receiued, as the mother in the female taketh Semen: and this is general in all kinde of beaſtes, in the which is male and female. For the male is at it were a manner worker & ſhaper, and the female as it were matter to worke in. Therefore euery female beaſt hath ſuch a member, called the mother, or els ſomwhat els in ſtéede of the mother, wherin