Thomas Moffet was a distinguished physician, natural historian, and man of letters attached to the literary circle of Mary Herbert, Countess of Pembroke, at Wilton House. As a scientific author, chiefly in Latin, he was influential in the early development of pharmacology and entomology; his lively arguments and style exemplify the manner of pre-Baconian scientific rhetoric. He successfully championed Paracelsian chemical medicine in the College of Physicians of London, secured an international reputation by collecting and embellishing the entomological studies of his friend Thomas Penny, and in recording his dietary recommendations wrote a highly entertaining commentary on Elizabethan dining habits and attitudes. His connection with the well-known courtier and poet Sir Philip Sidney led to patronage and eventually a pension from Sidney's brother-in-law, Henry Herbert, second Earl of Pembroke, and the composition of one of the earliest biographies of the poet. The Silkworms and Their Flies (1599), written in...