Anonymous

“ Q. Amongst what sorts of creatures will you observe most of a natural law?
A. The hart and the hind meet at one certain day in the year; the broad goose lays her first egg on Fasterns Even, old stile; the crows begin to build their nest the first of March, old stile; the swans observe matrimony, and if the female died the male dares not take up with another, or the rest will put him to death; all the birds in general, join in pairs, and keep so; but the dove resembles the adulterer, when the shoe one, turn old, he pays her away, and takes another ”

“ The second is, because in old times the chapmen used to buy dogs and kill them for their skins. The third, when a chapman was quartered in a farmer's house, that night the dog lost his property the licking of the pot.
Q. What creature resembles most a drunken piper?
A. A cat when she sips milk; she always sings and so does a piper when he drinks good ale. ”

“ A. The married women turn their back-sides about to the good-man's belly: virgins, and those going mad for marriage, the heat of their maiden-head keeps them warm, old matrons, whirl'd o'er maidens, widows and widows bewitch'd, hold uP their coldest parts to the fire.
Q. And what remedy does the poor dog take for his cold nose?
A. Stops it below his tail, the hottest bit in his body.
Q. What is the reason the dogs are worse on chapmen, than on other strange people? ”