Selected quad for the lemma: land_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
land_n	estate_n	life_n	tenant_n	4,234	5	10.2032	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A51618	Rites of funeral ancient and modern in use through the known world written originally in French by Monsieur Muret ; and translated into English by P. Lorrain.	Muret, Pierre, ca. 1630-ca. 1690.; Lorrain, P. (Paul), d. 1719.	1683 (1683)	Wing M3098_VARIANT; ESTC R27516	105,782	322

case it happen that for a long time they receive no news from their Relations abroad insomuch as they have reason to suspect their death if after they have advised with Soothsayers and made all possible enquiries they can't procure their Bodies being Dead then they make an Image of Plaster and pay to it the same Honours which they would have paid to the Corps it self AS soon as these Feasts are over the Bonzes which are their Priests are call'd in to rehearse the usual Prayers which they do in so sad and mournful a tune and withal so extreamly harsh and frightful that one would rather think it to be the howling of Devils than the singing of Priests This done they appoint the day and hour of the Burial after which every body being withdrawn they leave the Corps in the hands of such who are to take care of preparing it in order to its Interment THESE do wash it with sweet waters dress it in his finest Cloaths and put it up in a Coffin with several precious things which are given to the Deceased by his Relations And to the end that neither Devils nor Men should dare meddle with them they also put into the Coffin some horrid and frightful shapes which they say are very sure Guardians and scarecrows against all manner of Robbers How great Riches are consum'd and spent in these Funerals is almost incredible for besides that these Coffins are often of Gold or Silver many Jewels and precious Stones of great value are together enclosed with them NOR do they ever bury their Dead in those Years where the last number is the same with that of the Year of their birth For example if the Party were born in one thousand six hundred and five or fifteen if you will and he happen to dye in the Year one thousand six hundred thirty five forty five or in any of a like denomination they keep the Corps all that Year over being in continual expectation that as his Soul came first into his Body in a Year of that number so may it the same Year return and be re-united again with it And this foolish belief doth so far prevail with them that when ever it happens so they dare not inter the Body but the year after WITH a like ridiculous and vain Opinion do they entertain their fancies concerning the return of the Dead into their Houses once a Year which they imagine comes to pass in the very last Night of the Year and to the end their deceas'd Friends and Relations may without any more ado enter-in as soon as they come they leave their Doors open all that Night In the mean time they make their Beds ready for them and set a Bason full of Water in the Chamber to wash their feet and whatsoever else they may have occasion for Thus with great stilness and silence they expect their coming till Midnight when supposing them arrived they complement them by telling them how glad they are of their Company and thereupon light several Wax-Tapers that are placed on an Altar which they have for that use on which they burn a composition of sweet-scented Drugs with a thousand like Perfumes then they with great reverence bow themselves to them praying them to remember their Children Nephews or other Relations that Year that by their means they may obtain of the Gods health strength and a long and prosperous Life with plenty of worldly Goods Now though this may seem a ridiculous custom yet the neglecting or omitting of the same is reck'ned amongst them a most high and unpardonable crime and of which if any should be guilty they would not fail to lye under a continual apprehension that the Dead would some time or other avenge that impiety and severely punish them for the same BUT to return from this digression we 'l now speak of the end and upshot of their Funeral Ceremonies The day on which the Corps is to be Buried they early in the Morning give publick notice of the Hour when it is to be carried to its Grave to have the greater concourse of People to attend it In the front of all this Procession march Colours and Standards which are followed by Men playing on Instruments some on Drums others on Ho-boys others on Bag-pipes and others on Trumpets after these come up a Company of Dancers who are drest in mighty strange and antick habits like Stage-players leaping and dancing all the way in a very ridiculous manner After this third Company comes another that is no less singular in its kind They are a number of Men armed with several sorts of Weapons some with Symetars others with large Shields and Bucklers and others with Clubs whose massy end is stuck full of Iron-spikes these are seconded by others that carry Fire-arms which they continually discharge and the Priests who come next after them do cry and bawl as loud as ever they can which noise though very great is still encreas'd by the sad and sonorous lamentations both of the Relations and People attending insomuch that if there ever was a mad concert this may well be call'd so besides that this antick mixture of Players Dancers Souldiers Musicians and Mourners makes it the most ridiculous show in the World AS to the Bodies of the Rich they are most commonly carried into the Country every one of them making choice of a place of Burial for himself in his own ground by reason they hope to enjoy their Estates in another life and accordingly take possession of the same by their being Buried there Upon which account it is that when a Grave is once made in any Land or Possession the Kindred of the Dead are from that time forward devested of the liberty to dispose of it to others And as during their Lives they spend much time and money towards the preparing of those Graves which after their Death are yet further inrich'd and embellish'd by their Friends and Relations so are they the most magnificent and stately structures that can ever be seen BESIDES all this the Relations of the Dead do put themselves to other great expences to supply them with goods in the other world In the midst of some publick place they erect vast Buildings whose Fabrick is both curious and costly and having written the Name of the Deceased upon them they burn them to ashes being of that belief that the same pass to the other world and that their departed Friends take possession of them as if they were made over to 'em by a Letter of Attorney IT remains yet that we speak of two sorts of Burials which are in use among them viz. of the meaner sort and of their Kings The former of which are interred in publick Burying-places without much ceremony or expence their belief being that they must be poor in the other World as they have been in this AS for their Kings though they

abandon themselves to sorrow but when Death has cut off all these their pleasing hopes and expectations But that which makes others give the reins to tears and lamentations doth afford to these Islanders matter of joy and solace who are as merry and chearful at the Death of any of their Friends as they were sad and afflicted during his sickness And indeed they commonly exceed in both these for as they with an extraordinary dejected countenance and grief of heart lament him when sick sparing neither care nor charge to endeavour his recovery when in danger of losing his life so on the other side when he hath lost it they frame to themselves a thousand pleasing and flattering Ideas to his advantage omitting nothing that may express their joy and comfort on that occasion IF the sick Party be a Person of great Quality if he possess Lands and be invested with Offices all his Domesticks and Vassals or Tenants are bound to put themselves in Mourning to keep long Fasts and tedious abstinences and a thousand other expressions of sorrow to declare the share they take in his misery and how sensibly they are afflicted for his sickness His Relations also would be look'd upon as infamous and unworthy Persons should they during the whole time of his illness take any the least pleasure or diversion they being by the custom of the Country oblig'd to abstain from all manner of dainties and some of 'em lye all that time upon the bare ground whilst others are watching with and attending upon him and to the end that nothing may divert them from this duty of waiting upon the sick they cast off the care of all their other affairs WHEN the sick Person is of an ordinary condition or of the common sort of People his Shop is presently shut up so as nothing of his Trade is driven all that while and his whole Family are so sad and comfortless that they even neglect themselves in their necessary repasts They are always in tears and wander up and down the Streets enquiring for Remedies that may give him some ease They aggravate his sickness to those of his acquaintance they meet with in their way They curse a thousand times the Malady which is the cause of his sufferings they accuse it of injustice and endeavour to prove from the actions of his life that the never deserved to be so severely handled For they fancy all Diseases are invisible Officers of a Soveraign Judge whom they adore Upon which account they very often present Petitions against them in the Temples consecrated to that Supreme Judge Which Petitions are generally answered with good success and such as gives them all the satisfaction imaginable For if the sick recover they doubt not but that the said Officer hath been turn'd out of his Place since he can no more exercise his cruelties by sickness upon their Friend and if he dye as they are perswaded that he is presently receiv'd into the rank and number of the Gods they comfort themselves in hopes that he will highly revenge himself upon that petty fellow who has been so bold to make him suffer unjustly whilest he was in this life And therefore as soon as their Friend hath closed his Eyes their grief is at an end and kneeling down they adore him HAVING performed this Ceremony they go and publish the good news of his Death throughout the City and the Bonzes which are their Priests upholding them in these errors do from that hour dispose themselves to come and take the Corps away and with great pomp carry it to their Burying-places the Priests at their own charges providing a great number of Torch-lights with a decent Coffin for to lay the dead Body in and dressing themselves in their best and richest Ornaments the better to grace the Solemnity For all which trouble and cost they desire no reward from the Relations of the Deceased because they would have the People believe that there is not a dead Body but is to them an holy Relick and for which they stand highly oblig'd to the Family THE Inhabitants of the Maldives being Mahometans do observe the Law of Mahumet but by reason their Country is far remote from Persia and Turky which are the two most civiliz'd Nations of that Sect it happens that not having the opportunity of being furnished with able Men who might fully instruct them in the Doctrine contain'd in the Alcoran they mix with it several inventions and particular Ceremonies of their own But I shall here only mention such of them as relate to Funerals these alone being the subject of my present Discourse THEY have in every one of their Cities publick Officers that are appointed to bury the Dead viz. six Men and six Women who meddle with none but those of their own Sex Which Office they buy of the King and at their enterance upon it they give besides what it cost them a Sum of Money to be distributed among their Brethren or Fellow-Officers Their Duty consisteth in washing the Body very well and laying it up in a Coffin made of some sweet-scented Wood with the usual Circumstances which are First the laying his right Hand upon his Ear and his left all along his Thigh to intimate that if he has contracted any sin by his birth he has made it his business to purge and repent himself of it by listning to the Voice and observing the Commandments of God Secondly the preparing a Cotton-bed for him which represents the sweet and pleasant rest that he is to enjoy in the other World Thirdly the sowing him to this Bed by means of a strong double Linnen-cloth wrapt about him to signifie that the Rest he is gone to take possession of cannot be shaken and that nothing thenceforth can disturb or interrupt it Lastly the making him lean on his right side to shew that he has not deserved to enter into this Rest upon any other account but because he has supported all his actions with justice and equity and has never taken pleasure in any unjust thing THEY esteem this duty of burying the Dead of so great importance that it is the first thing they take care of as soon as they are come to an Age in which they are capable of minding their own affairs Wherefore when they are become their own Masters and from under the tuition of their Fathers either by being sent forth to shift for themselves or by Marriage their first business is to look out a place where they intend to be Buried and the next to prepare a Stone on which their Epitaph containing a short account of their Life is to be engraven as likewise to lay up in some Trunk or Chest the Garments and other necessaries for their Funerals together with such a summ of money as they think fitting to allow for the charges thereof which money is by them esteemed so sacred that they dare not