Mercurialis grant, _consil. 25_, in that case, if the temperature be cold,
as to most melancholy men it is, wine is much commended, if it be
moderately used.

_Cider, Perry._] Cider and perry are both cold and windy drinks, and for
that cause to be neglected, and so are all those hot spiced strong drinks.

Beer.] Beer, if it be over-new or over-stale, over-strong, or not sodden,
smell of the cask, sharp, or sour, is most unwholesome, frets, and galls,
&c. Henricus Ayrerus, in a [1381]consultation of his, for one that laboured
of hypochondriacal melancholy, discommends beer. So doth [1382] Crato in
that excellent counsel of his, _Lib. 2. consil. 21_, as too windy, because
of the hop. But he means belike that thick black Bohemian beer used in some
other parts of [1383]Germany.

------"nil spissius illa
Dum bibitur, nil clarius est dum mingitur, unde
Constat, quod multas faeces in corpore linquat."

"Nothing comes in so thick,
Nothing goes out so thin,
It must needs follow then
The dregs are left within."

As that [1384]old poet scoffed, calling it _Stygiae monstrum conforme
paludi_, a monstrous drink, like the river Styx. But let them say as they
list, to such as are accustomed unto it, "'tis a most wholesome" (so [1385]
Polydore Virgil calleth it) "and a pleasant drink," it is more subtle and
better, for the hop that rarefies it, hath an especial virtue against
melancholy, as our herbalists confess, Fuchsius approves, _Lib. 2. sec. 2.