By the wise and Moderate use whereof,
Health is preserved, Sicknesse
Diverted, and Cured, especially the
Plague of the Guts; vulgarly called
The New Disease; Fluxes, Consumptions,
& Coughs of the Lungs, with sundry
other desperate Diseases. By it
also, Conception is Caused,
the Birth Hastened and
facilitated, Beauty
Gain’d and continued.
By Capt. James Wadsworth.
LONDON,
Printed by J. G. for Iohn Dakins, dwelling
neare the Vine Taverne in Holborne,
where this Tract, together with the
Chocolate it selfe, may be had at
reasonable rates. 1652
Sirs,
The ensuing Tract, I, manyyeares since Translated out ofthe Originall Spanish, andDedicated to the Right HonorableEdward Lord Conway,&c. by whose Noble Patronage, theConfection whereof it Treats, together withit selfe, were first admitted into the EnglishCourt, where they received the Approbationof the most Noble and Iuditious those dayesafforded. Since which time, it hath beeneuniversally sought for, and thirsted afterby people of all Degrees (especially those ofthe Female sex) either for the Pleasuretherein Naturally Residing, to Cure, anddivert Diseases; Or else to supply someDefects of Nature, wherein it chalengesa speciall Prerogative above all otherMedicines whatsoever.
The Author thereof was one AntonioColmenero of Ledesma, who sometimeslived in the West Indies, where it is verymuch used, and held in great esteeme, untillthis day; as also in Spaine, Italy, andFlanders, and admired by the most learnedDoctors of all those Nations.
As for the Name [Chocolate] it is anIndian word, compounded of Ate (as somesay,) or (as others) Atle, which in theMexican Language, signifieth Water; AndChoco, the noise that the Water (whereinthe Chocolate is put) maketh, when it isstirred in a Cup, untill it Bubble and riseunto a Froth: And may be called inEnglish A Compounded, or Confectioneddrinke.
The Confection it selfe, consists of severallIngredients according to the differentConstitutions of those that use it: the Principallof which is called Cacao, [a kind ofNut, or kernell, bigger then a great Almond,which growes upon a tree called the...