Selected quad for the lemma: woman_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
woman_n	blood_n	child_n	womb_n	2,043	5	9.7787	5	true

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A16282	The manners, lauues, and customes of all nations collected out of the best vvriters by Ioannes Boemus ... ; with many other things of the same argument, gathered out of the historie of Nicholas Damascen ; the like also out of the history of America, or Brasill, written by Iohn Lerius ; the faith, religion and manners of the Aethiopians, and the deploration of the people of Lappia, compiled by Damianus a ̀Goes ; with a short discourse of the Aethiopians, taken out of Ioseph Scaliger his seuenth booke de emendatione temporum ; written in Latin, and now newly translated into English, by Ed. Aston.; Omnium gentium mores, leges, et ritus. English. 1611	Boemus, Joannes, ca. 1485-1535.; Góis, Damião de, 1502-1574.; Nicolaus, of Damascus.; Léry, Jean de, 1534-1611. Histoire d'un voyage fait en la terre du Brésil.; Scaliger, Joseph Juste, 1540-1609. De emendatione temporum.; Aston, Edward, b. 1573 or 4.	1611 (1611)	STC 3198.5; ESTC S102777	343,933	572

execute those offices of the court the women likewise by the commandement and decree of the same Maqueda be circumcised shee being induced therevnto by this reason that euen as men haue a fore-skinne that couereth their yards in like manner haue women a certaine kernelly flesh which is called Nympha arysing vp in the middle of their priuy partes which is very fit to take the character of circumcision and this is done both to males and females vpon the eight day and after circumcision the men children be baptised vpon the fortieth day and the women children vpon the eighteeth day vnlesse any sicknesse or infirmity hapneth which may cause it to bee done sooner but if any children be baptised before the time appointed it is not lawfull to giue them sucke of their mothers milke but onely of their nurses vntill their mothers bee purified and the water wherein they bee baptised is consecrated and blessed with exorcismes and that very same day wherein children bee baptised they receiue the blessed bodie of our Lord in a little forme of bread wee receiued baptisme almost before all other Christians from the Eunuch of Candace Queene of Aethiopia whose name was Indich as it is said in the Acts of the Apostles which together with circumcision which wee had at that time as before is sayd wee obserue most holily and Christian like and by Gods assistance euer shall obserue nor doe we obserue or admit of any thing but of those onely which are expressed in the law and the prophets and in the Gospell and in the bookes of the councels of the Apostles and if wee receiue any things besides those they bee onely obserued for the time for that they seeme to appertaine to the gouernment and peace of the Church and that without any bond of sinne Wherefore our circumcision is not vncleane but the law and grace is giuen to our father Abraham which hee receiued of God as a signe not that either he or his children should be saued through circumcision but that the children of Abraham should be known from other nations And that which is inwardly vnderstood by the signe or mistery of circumcision wee doe highly obserue that is that wee may bee circumcised in our hearts neither doe wee boast of circumcision nor therefore thinke our selues more noble then other Christians nor more acceptable vnto God with whom is no acception of persons as Paul saith who also sheweth vs that wee bee not saued through circumcision but by faith because in Christ Iesus neither circumcision nor the cutting off the foreskinne preualeth but the new creature but Paul preached not to destroy the law but to establish it who was also baptised and beeing of the seed of Beniamin hee also circumcised Tymothy who was become a Christian his mother beeing an Hebrew and his father a Gentile knowing that God doth iustifie circumcision by faith and the fore-skinne by faith and as he himselfe was made all to all that hee might saue all To the Iewes hee was as a Iew that thereby hee might winne the Iewes and to those which were vnder the law hee was as one vnder the law although hee was not vnder the law to the end hee might gaine those which were vnder the lawe and to those which were without the law hee was as one without the law although hee was not without the law of GOD but vnder the law of Christ that hee might get those which were without the law and hee became weake that hee might gaine those which were weake which he did to shew that we bee saued not by circumcision but by faith And therefore when he preached to the Hebrewes hee spake vnto them in diuers speeches like an Hebrew saying God heretofore spake many waies and in many manners to our fathers in the prophets shewing vnto them out of the same prophets that Christ was of the seed of Dauid after the flesh Moreouer he preached vnto them that Christ was with our fathers in the tents in the Desert and that he led them into the Land of promise by the hand of Iosua And Paul also testifieth in the same place that Christ was the chiefe of priests and that hee entred into a new tent which is the Sanctum sanctorum The holy of holies and that with the sacrifice of his bodie and bloud hee abolished the bloud of goates and bulles whereby none that killeth them shall bee iustified and so hee spake sundry waies to the Iewes and also suffering himselfe to bee worshipped of his people by many ceremonies in a holy and vncorrupted faith Moreouer those children with vs bee accounted halfe Christians which here I vnderstand in the Romane Church bee called Paganes who because they die without baptisme ought to bee called halfe Christians because they be children of the sanctified bloud of parents baptised and of the holy Ghost and of the bloud of our Lord Iesus Christ by which three Testimonies all Christians bee so reputed because there bee three things which giue testimony in earth the spirite water and bloud as Saint Iohn witnesseth in his first canonicall Epistle the Gospell also saith a good tree bringeth forth good fruite and an euill tree bringeth forth euill fruite and therefore the children of Christians are not like vnto the children of the Gentiles and of the Iewes and of the Moores which bee withered trees without any fruit but the Christians bee elected in their mothers wombes as holy Ieremias the prophet and Saint Iohn Baptist were Furthermore the children of Christian women are elected and consecrated by the communication and imparting of the body bloud of our Lord Iesus Christ for when women great with child do take the most blessed body of our Lord and Sauiour Iesus Christ the infant in the wombe receiuing nutriment is thereby sanctified for euen as the child in the mothers wombe conceiueth either sorrow or ioy according as the mother is affected so also is it nourished by the mothers norishment and as our Lord saith in his holy Ghospell if any one eate my body and drinke my bloud hee shall not tast of eternall death and againe if any one eate of my body and drinke my bloud hee shall remaine with mee and Paul the teacher of the Gentiles saith the vnbeleeuing husband is iustified by the beleeuing wife the vnbeleeuing wife is sanctified by the beleeuing husband otherwise your children should be vncleane but now they bee sanctified which if it bee so that the children of an vnbeleeuing mother bee sanctified by the saithfulnesse of the father then be they much more holy that bee borne of faithfull fathers and mothers for which cause it is farre more holy to call children before they bee christned halfe Christians then Pagans and the Apostles also haue said in their bookes of councels that al which beleeue and be not baptised may iustly bee termed halfe Christians who also say in the said bookes if Iew Moore or Gentile will receiue the faith hee is

losse of both their hands for they thought it fit that that part of the body should suffer punishment during life that was cheefe instrument in the offence and that others also being warned by their miseries and calamities might abstaine from the like lewdnesse There were very sharpe punishments inflicted vpon those that had abused any woman for he which defloured a free woman had his members cut off for that vnder one fault hee had comitted three hanous offences which were iniury corruption of bloud and confusion of children he that was taken in wilfull adultery had a thousand stripes with rods and the adulterous woman had her nose cut off by which disgrace her beauty was blemished and shee punished in that part of her face which did most addorne it It is reported that Bocchoris was the maker of those lawes which partaind to ciuill conuersation amongst men which lawes allow that if one lend mony without specialty and the debitor deny that hee borrowed any the creditor must stand to the debiters oath for an oath is held of great moment as being a religious act and certaine it is that those which often sweare doe abrogate their faith and credits and therfore they will sweare but seldome least they loose their reputations and names of honest men moreouer the same lawe-maker concluding all faithfulnesse in vertue iudged that men ought by good meanes to accustome themselues to honesty that they may not bee thought vnworthy of trust for hee thought it wrong to those to whome mony was lent with-out oath not to performe their faith by swearing whether the goods be their owne or noe The vsury which was agreed vpon by writing forbad that the double forfeture of the thing lent should be exacted and all payments were satisfied by the debitors goods but his body might not be deliuered to the creditor for they thought fit that onely their goods should be subiect and lyable to their debts and their bodies addicted to the Citties whose ayde and assistance they had neede of both in warres and peace neither was it thought fit that the souldiors which ventured their liues for their countries safty should bee thrust in prison for interest which law is supposed to bee translated by Solon to the Athenians and by him called Sisachthia prouiding that men should not loose their liues for the Cittizens vsury more-ouer the particular law and toleration for theeues amongst the Aegiptians was that those that did steale should bring their names in writing to the cheefe Preest and instantly disclose the theft or robbery vnto him In like sort they which had their goods taken from them must write vnto the cheefe Priest the time day and houre that hee was robbed by which meanes the theft being easily found out and discouered he which was robbed should loose the fourth part of that which was stolne which fourth part shall bee giuen to the theefe and the rest restored to the owner For the lawgiuers opinion was that seeing it was vnpossible that theft should altogether bee prohibited men should loose rather some portion of their substance then all that was taken from them The manner of their marriages is not all alike with the Aegiptians for it is lawfull for the Preests to marry but once but the rest may marry as oft as they will according to their desire and ability and there are no children accounted bastards noe though they be begotten of such bond-seruants as be bought with mony for they hold that the father is the onely author of their childrens birth and the mother to be but the receptacle and to yeeld norrishment to the infant It is most incredible to see with what small and easie cost the Aegiptians bring vp their children for the norish them with the roots of bulrushes other like roots raked and roasted in hotte embers and with hearbes growing in fennes and moorish grounds some-times boyld sometimes broyld on the coales and some-times rawe They neuer wore shooes but goe for the most part naked by reason of the temperature of the country so as all the cost that a father bestoweth vpon his childe till hee bee of full age exceedeth not twenty Drachmas The Priests instruct children both in that learning which they call holy and in the other which appertained to knowledge and common instruction and they bee very intentiue and exceedingly bent to the study of Geometry and Arithmatick They suffer them not to vse eyther wrestling or musick supposing the dayly vse of wrestling to be vnsure and dangerous and that thereby their bodyes are made more feeble and weake and musicke they condemned as vtterly vnprofitable and hurtfull in making their mindes effeminate They cure their diseases eyther by fasting or vomitting which they vse eyther dayly or euery third day or fourth day for they are of opinion that all diseases had theyr beginning from surfetting and that therefore that is the best physicke to recouer health which taketh away the cause of the disease Souldiers and trauellers are cured for nothing for the Phisitians liue of the reuenews of the common-wealth and therefore are forced by the law to cure the diseased after the strict forme set downe by the best Phisitians and most approoued writers And the Physition that followeth the rule of that sacred booke though hee cannot cure his patient yet is hee blamelesse but if he cure him by any other meanes then is set downe in that booke hee shall dye for it for the maker of that law was of opinion that there could not a better course of curing bee found out then that which was inuented and obserued for long time by ancient Physitions The Aegiptians worship diuerse creatures beyond all measure not onely while they be liuing but when they be dead also as Cattes Rattes Dogges Hawkes the birds called Ibis Wolues and Crocadiles and many more of like kinde neither be they ashamed to professe open honour vnto them but account it as commendable and lawdable for them to doe it as to doe their seruice to the gods in so much as they will goe about into citties and other places carrying with them Images of those beasts vaunting and glorying what creatures they haue adored at the sight whereof all men in manner of supplyants doe reuerence vnto the Images When any of these beasts die they wrappe the carcase in linnen cloth and annoynt it with Salt beating their brests with bitter exclamations and annoynting it againe with the Iuise of Cedar tree and other odoriferus oyntments that it may keepe the longer they bury it in their hallowed places Hee that willingly killeth any of those creatures shall haue iudgment of death for it but if a man kill the Ibis or the Cat either willingly or at vnawares the whole multitude fall vpon him tormenting and killing him without mercy or iudgment The terror whereof inforceth the beholders to lament his death and to auerre that the beast

and wonderfull as yeelding to the husbandman in some places a hundred fould increase It is strange that is reported of the fruitfulnes of Mauritania in Affricke that there be Vines bigger then two men can fatham and clusters of Grapes of a cubite in compasse that there be stalkes of wilde Parsley wilde Fennell and thistles of twelue cubits in length and of a wonderfull thicknesse much like vnto the Indian Cane the knots or ioynts whereof will fill eight bushels there are also herbes called Sperage of no lesse notable bignesse Their Cipres trees about the hill Atlas be of an exceeding height without knots and with a bright leafe but of all their Cytron tree is the most noble and of the Romaines accounted most daintie Affricke breedeth Elephants and Dragons which lying in waite for other beasts kill all they can catch as Lyons Libards Bufles Goates and Apes whereof there bee great store in many places There bee also beasts like Camels and Panthers and beasts called Rhizes which bee like vnto Bulls And according to the opinion of Herodotus that country breedeth horned Asses besides Dragons Hyaenaes Porcupines wilde Rammes and a kinde of beast begotten betwixt the Hyaena and the Wolfe which is some-what bigger then the ordinary kinde of Wolues Panthers Storckes Egles Estridges and sundry kinds of Serpents but especially the Cerastes which hath a little body and hornes like a Ramme and the Aspe which is little likewise but very venimous against whose mischiefe the Ratte a very little creature is by nature opposed for a remedy Of Aethiopia and the ancient customes of that Country CAP. 4. EThiopia is deuided into two regions whereof one lyeth in Asia the other in Affricke That in Asia is now called India and is washed on the East with the red and Barbarian Sea and lieth Northward next vnto Libia and Aegipt vpon the west it hath the inner Libia and vpon the south it ioyneth to the other Aethiopia which is bigger and more southward This Aethiopia in Affrick is so called of Aethiops the sonne of Vulcan who gouerned there as Plinie is of opinion or else of the Greeke word aitho which signifieth to burne and ops which is the countenance because that country is parched and burned by reason of the neerenesse of the sunne for the heat there is exceeding great and continuall as being directly vnder the Meridian line Towards the west it is mountanous full of sand and grauell in the middle and desert in the east It containeth many sorts of people of diuerse and monstrous countenances and horrible shapes They were thought to bee the first people that liued and that they being in that country naturally bred continued free-men and were neuer subiect to slauery the gods were there first honoured and sacred ceremonies ordained they had a double vse of letters for some letters were called holy and were only known to the Priests the other serued for the common people nor were there formes of letters such as thereof could sillables bee framed but either like some liuing creature or the outward parts of mens bodies or resembling sundry instruments of worke-men and euery figure or forme of letter had his proper signification as by the Hawke was signified swiftnesse mischiefe and craft by the Crocadile watchfulnesse by the eye and so like-wise of other things Who-so-euer of their Priests was most troubled with vaine visions him they accounted the most holiest and creating him for their King adored him as though he were either a God or at the least giuen them by diuine prouidence and yet his supreame authority exempted him not from the obedience of their lawes but that hee was to doe all things according to their ancient customes and not to reward or punish any man himselfe but vpon whome soeuer he intended to take punishment to him hee sent the executioner to present him with the signe of death which was no sooner viewed by him to whome it was sent but forthwith who euer he were hee would goe home to his owne house and there procure his owne death for so great honour and affection did the subiect beare to his soueraigne that if it happened at any time by an accident the King to bee weakned or faint in any one part of his body all his friends and followers would of their owne accord weaken that part in themselues accounting it an odious thing that their King should be lame or blind of one eye and all his friends not to bee in like manner blind and lame also Their custome was also as is reported that their King being dead all his friends would willingly depriue themselues of life accounting that death most glorious and the surest testimony of true frindshippe The people by reason of the neerenesse of the heauens went for the most party naked couering onely their priuities with sheeps tayles and some few clothed them-selues with skinnes some of them also wore breeches made of haire their greatest imployments were about their Cattell their sheepe bee very little and of a hard and rough fleese their Dogges bee little likewise but very sharpe and eager Millet and Barley are their cheefest graines which serueth them both for bread and drinke and they haue no kinde of fruites vnlesse it be Dates and those be very rare also Many of them liued with hearbes and the slender rootes of reedes they eate also flesh milke and cheese The Isle of Meroê was once the head of the kingdome the forme thereof is like vnto a sheeld and it lyeth along by the riuer of Nylus for the space of three thousand stadia The Sheapheards that Inhabited that Ile were great huntsmen and the husbandmen had mines of gold Herodotus saith that those people of Aethiopia which be called Macrobij esteemed more of brasse than of golde for their gold they put to such base and vile vses as the Embassadors of Cambyses King of Persia being sent thether saw diuerse offenders fettered in prison in chaines of gold Some of them sowe their ground with a kinde of pulse and some others plant the Lote tree they haue Hebon wood and Pepper in great aboundance Elephants they hunt and eate they haue also Lyons Rhinocerots which bee enemies to the Elephant Basilisks Libbards and Dragons which winding and intangling themselues about the Elephants destroy them by sucking out their bloud There is found the Iacint stone and the Chrisophrasus which is a greene stone mixt with a golden brightnesse there is Cynamon gathered likewise Their weapons were bowes made of wood that was parched in the fire and foure cubits in length their women were good warriors the most of them hauing their lips thrust through with a ring of brasse Some of the Aethiopians worshipped the Sunne at his rising and inueighed bitterly against him at his going downe many of them cast their dead bodies into riuers some other put them into earthen

now of the residue of the people of Affricke Of the Carthaginians and other people of Affricke CAP. 6. OF the Carthaginians there bee many and sundry nations The Adrimachidae which bee a people of middle Libia border vpon Aegypt and vse the same customes the Aegiptians doe they are attired like other Carthaginians the wiues weare vpon each of their legges a bracelet of brasse and suffer their locks to grow long They take the vermine from out their heads and kill them with their teeth and then throw them away which no other Carthaginians doe but they onely There is none but Vergins giuen to the King in marriage and of those which like him best he taketh his pleasure The Nasamons a great and stout nation and spoylers of such shippes as they finde intangled in the sands in the Summer time leaue their flocks by the sea-side and goe abroad to gather dates at places where be great store of date trees and those very faire and fruitefull where plucking off the fruits from the trees before they be ready they dry them and ripen them at the Sunne and then steep them in milke and eate them They haue many wiues a peece with whom they lye openly in all mens sight almost in the same maner that the Massagetae doe which bee a people of Scythia in Asia The manner of the Nasamons is that when one first marrieth a wife the Bride lyeth with all her guests one after another to performe the act of generation and euery one as they play their part present her with some reward or other which they bring with them for that purpose Their swearing and diuination which they vse is by those men which were accounted the best iustest among them while they liued and when they swere the tuch the tombes of those men and diuine nere vnto their monuments wher when they haue finished their prayers they fall a sleepe and what vaine dreame soeuer is represented vnto them in there sleepe that they firmely beleeue to bee reuealed vnto them by those men and so put it in practise accordingly When the plyght their trothes one to another each one taketh a Cuppe from the others hand and drinketh all that is in it vppe but if they haue no drinke then they take dust from the ground and lick that vp The Garamantes which be people of middle Lybia also and dwell aboue the Nasomons abandon the sight and conuersation of all other people weapons for warre haue they none neither are they so hardy as to defend them-selues if they bee assaulted and about the sea coast towards the sunne setting dwell the Macae which bee a people in Arabia-foelix and border vpon the Nasomans these people shaue the crownes of their heads round and suffer all the rest of the hayre to growlong And in their warres in steed of Armor they weare the skinnes of such Estridges as keepe in caues vnder ground The Gnidanes be a people bordring vpon the Macae the women whereof haue the skirts of their garments garded and trimmed with welts made of beasts skinnes which as is reported are giuen vnto them by those men which haue laine with them for euery one which lyeth with a woman there must giue her one of those gardes and she which hath the most welts vpon her garment is accounted the best woman as beeing beloued of most men The Machliae which bee a people inhabiting about the Moore in Affricke called Triton weare long haire vpon the hinder parts of their heads and the people called Auytes vpon the forepart The Virgins of this country vpon the yearly feast of Minerua and in honor of that goddesse deuide themselues into two parts and fight one side against the other without any cause at all giuen with stones and clubs alledging that in so doing they obserue their country guise in honor of her whom we call Minerua and those virgins which dye of their wounds they call false virgins but shee that best bestowed her selfe in the fight is preferred before all the other virgins and adorned with Greekish armor and a crest or plume made of mettal of Corinth and so placed in a Charriot and carried in triumph round about the fenne The men accompany with women confusedly like beasts without respect of kindred or bloud and when a woman hath nourished her child that hee is lusty and strong with whome he dwelleth and is maintayned for the men meete together euery third month to choose their children his sonne he is euer after reputed The Atlantes so called of the hill Atlas neere which they dwell haue none of them any proper names They curse the sonne at his vprising blaming and reprehending it because his heate destroyeth both them and their country they eate no flesh nor are troubled with any dreames or visions The people of Affricke called Pastoritij liue of flesh and milke and yet abstaine from the flesh of kine because the Aegiptians doe nether eate swines flesh nor reare any kine And the women of Cyrene thinke it vnlawfull to strike them by reason of Isis the God of Aegipt in whose honor they Celebrate both fasting feasting daies but the women of Barcas do not only abstaine from flesh of kine but from swines flesh also these women when their children be of the age of foure yeares singe the vaynes vpon the crownes of their heads and their temples with wooll that is new shorne to the end that they should bee neuer after offended with fleme or rume descending from their heads by which meanes they say they bee very healthful when they sacrifice for their first fruites they cut off the eare of a beast and cast it to the top of a house and after breake his necke and of al the Gods they only do sacrifice to the Sun and Moone All the people of Affricke bury their dead as the Graetians doe the Nasomones excepted who bury them sitting for there when one beginneth to yeeld vp the ghost they cause him to sit least he should die with his face vpright Their dwelling-houses are made of young sprouts or sprigs of lentish trees wound and wrethed one about another The Maxes weare their heare vpon the right side of their heads long and shaue the left side They paint their bodies with red lede or vermilion alleadging that they had their beginning from the Troyans The women of Zabices which border vpon the Maxes play the wagonners in the warres The Zigantes where Bees make great abundance of honny and much more is reported to be made by art be all of them dyed with red leade and eate Apes and Munckies of which they haue great store liuing vpon hills All these people of Libia liue a rude and Sauage kind of life and for the most part without dores like beasts contented with such foode as they finde abroad eating nothing that is tame and bred at

to marry whom he pleased That they should bewaile and lament for the dead for the space of thirty daies and no more which time he thought sufficient for a wise man to lament the losse of his friends That the sonne which was iniurious to his parents should be hanged without the Cittie That the enemy that was slaine in battaile should not want buriall That if a creditor receiue a pledge or pawne of a poore man hee should restore it againe before night That if one buy one of his kindred as a slaue the bond-seruant shold be free the sixth yeere after That hee that found gold or siluer should make proclamation thereof by the mouth of the Crier That if cattell went astray they should either be brought backe to the right owner or else kept till the right owner were knowne That no Israelite should make or temper any poyson nor buy any that was made elsewhere And that he which mingled poyson to the end to poyson an other beeing conuicted of the offence should drinke the same poison himselfe That he which wilfully and wrongfully pulleth out an other mans eye should bee punished with the losse of an eye That if a bull kill a man with his horne he should bee stoned to death and his flesh cast a-away and not eaten That a thing committed to an other to keepe should be kept warily as a thing holy That the sonne should not bee punished for the fathers offence nor the sonnes offence be imputed as a fault in the father And these were the domesticall lawes ordained by Moses and in warfare these following That before warre were offerred the goods wrongfully taken away should be demanded againe by Ambassadors and Heralds and if they were not restored that then if they pleased they might warre lawfully That the whole charge and gouernment of the warres should be committed to him that most excelled others in strength and wisdome that the strongest souldier of all the campe should be sent as Ambassador That if the enemie were besieged their fruite trees should be spared for the trees themselues if they could speake would certainely reprehend and reproue him that destroied them That the conqueror might kill all such as were rebels but the rest which he ouercame vanquished should be made tributary and pay yeerely pensions That during the time of war no woman should touch her husbands priuities nor no man his wiues that it should be vtterly prohibited for the Israelites to eate bloud That those which were either infected with leaprosie or which had caused any fluxure of their natural seed should be expelled the city Menstruous women in like manner were kept out of the city for seauen daies after the beginning of their disease and might returne in the eight and so many daies were they forced to absent themselues that had their houses defiled and polluted with any dead body That the Priest should sacrifice tow evve Lambs for him whose naturall seed flovved from him in his sheepe and that the party should be washed in cold water and by the same sacrifice was he purged and hallowed that had laine with his wife at vnlawfull and prohibited times That a woman after she was deliuered of a child if it were a man child should be restrained from comming to the Church for the space of forty daies and if it were a woman child for the space of eighty daies That he that supposed his wife to be vnchast should for a certaine measure of barley meale called assarim and that then the wife being placed at the postes of the temple should sweare after the Priest whether shee had defiled her chastitie or no and if she swore false shee should dye for it hauing her right hamme disioynted and her wombe putrified but if shee were chaste and swore truly she should bee deliuered of her childe in the tenth month without harme of her wombe and that then the Priest of God blotting out her name from out the scedule should giue her drinke out of a potte with a wide mouth That the paines of death should bee inflicted for adultery incest and the sinne of Sodome That the Priest that was lame or weakned in his body should be forbidden to ascend the Altar and that hee should be maintained notwithstanding with the holy oblations That if the Iewes attained to the land of Chanaan they should suffer their grounds to lye lea and vnplowed euery seuenth yeare that such fruites as the earth did naturally produce should euery fortith yeare which was called the yeare of Iubily be common as well to strangers and forreners as to their owne kindred and that in that yeare money which was owing should be released and forgiuen slaues and bondmen made free and infranchised and possessions gotten with small cost restored to their first owners With these institutions and ordinances both for home and abroade did Morses instruct the Israelites not long before his death adding more-ouer a solemne prayer for the good successe of those that obserued and fulfilled his lawes and ordinances rightly and as they ought and bitter execrations and curses against the transgressors and offenders thereof And last of all hee bound the people with an oath that they should for euer obserue and keepe those diuine and humaine lawes which he had instituted and ordained and that if any one did violate them they should not suffer him to goe vnpunished And now seeing it is manifest that there was neuer any people more ceremonious and religious then the Israelites I thinke it worth while briefly to expresse the manner of their sacrificing as it was first ordained The Iewes had two sorts of sacrificing from the beginning the one whereof was done by the better sort of people and that they called Holocaustus that is a sacrifice layde whole on the Altar and was done in this manner hee which intended to doe sacrifice eyther with Oxe or Lambe or what thing else hee meant to offer for the beast which hee sacrificed must bee a male beast and of one yeare old brought the beast to the Altar and then the Priest powring forth and sprinkling the bloud of the sacrifice vppon the Altar and cutting the oblation in peeces burned it whole vpon the Altar The other sort of sacrificing was for the common people wherein they offered beasts of aboue a yeare old the bloud whereof beeing shedde and the kidnees fatte and suet set on fire on the Altar the hearts and right legges were giuen to the Priests and the residue they for whom the sacrifice was solemnized did eate within two dayes after Those which were poore might offer two Pigions or two Turtle Doues whereof the one serued for a whole burnt sacrifice and for the other the Priests did cast lottes Hee which offended vnawares did sacrifice for satisfaction of that sinne a Yew Lambe of an yeare old or else a Kidde and those which were guilty of any secret fault in them-selues were by the very letter of the

they had a very prouident care and extraordinary regard for doing any thing that should be a touch or debasement to their stockes or against their honours holding it a staine and pollution to their bloud to marry with women of other nations or with any inferior to themselues and indeuouring their vttermost to make themselues a people proper and naturall without mixture of other nations and onely like vnto themselues whereof insued that though the number of them were great yet in their externall habites in the stature and proportion of their bodies and collour of their haire they were almost all alike The Saxons were deuided into foure sorts or differences of people which were noble men freemen libertines that is such as had beene slaues and obtained their freedome and manumission and bound-men or slaues and to the end that each of these orders might remaine in his owne Estate it was established by a law that no man of one estate should marry or take to wife a woman of an other but that the Nobility should match with nobility the free-men with free-men the manumitted with those which were manumitted and the slaues with slaues the penalty for the transgressing of which law was present death They had many good and holesome lawes for the punishment of malefactors They were vpright in condition sincere in life and of vncorrupted and irreprehensible manners doing nothing but what was profitable honest and agreeable to the lawes of nature all which had beene sufficient for their saluations if withall they had knowne and beleeued in the true and euerliuing God But they were great Idolaters worshipping trees and fountaines of water but more especially a huge stock of wood set vp an end which they accounted for a god calling it in their language Irminsaul that is to say a vniuersall and generall piller or colume whereby all other things are sustained held vp Mercury also they obserued and honoured as a god offring vnto him vpon certain daies humaine sacrifices nor did they hold it fit or lowable by reason of the great dignity and diuinity of their gods to include them in Temples and Churches nor to figure them in the proportion of men but they consecrated vnto them woods groues calling them after their names and they neuer perused those secret and misticall places but with great deuotion and reuerence Witchcraft and socery was much in practice amongst them Their manner of taking aduise whether a thing were to bee done or not done was thus first they would cut from a fruite tree diuers little sprigs or young sprouts marking and distinguishing them each from other with certaine notes or differences and so cast them sodainely and at aduentures vpon a white garment And then if the consultation were general for them al the priest if priuate the goodman of the house-hold lifting vp his eyes towards heauen and praying to their gods taketh vp those branches one by one and layeth them downe againe three sundrie times and euer as hee taketh them vp he expoundeth and interpreteth what is to be done according to the note or imprese written vpon them and then if the priest or good men of the house forbid it to bee done they aduise no more of the matter that day but if they allow it the people were so stronge of beleefe as they would put the proiect in practise what euer they euent proued they gathered and coniectured of many things by the chirping and flying of birds and oftentimes made experiment of forewarnings and admonitions of horses which to presage of things to come were nourished and kept in those woods and groues dedicated to their gods These horses were white and neuer did any manner of worke and beeing coupled together and set before the holy Chariot they were attended and followed either by the priest the King or chiefe ruler of the city who diligently marcked and obserued their neying whynying and stoming and this manner of prediction or foreshewing of things to come was of all others in greatest credit and estimation both by the Princes priests and people for they held them to bee the ministers of the gods and partakers of their diuine councels They vsed also an other sort of sooth-saying or witchcraft whereby to know aforehand what successe they should haue in the warres which was in this manner when they tooke a captiue of any nation against whom the waged battaile they compelled him to fight with one of their owne people and as the victory went betwixt them two so would they iudge of the insuing warres The Emperour Charles the Great was the first that by continuall warres compelled this impious people to admit the Christian religion which both they and all other Germaines doe now most religiously adore In Saxonie be many sumptuous and Princely palaces and magnificent and stately Temples Churches and Monasteries as one in Alberstandium consecrated to our blessed Ladie whereinto neuer entreth any prophane or vnhallowed person but onely such as bee professed in Religion and to the seruice of God except vpon Ashwednesday and then is there one of the people brought into the Church who must euer bee such a one as in the eye of the world is of most wicked and abhominable life and conuersation this man beeing brought into the Church all in blacke and his head couered is placed where hee may heare masse which beeing duely solemnised hee is cast out of the Temple and inforced to wander vp and downe the citie bare-footed all the time of Lent visiting all the Churches one after an other during which time he is maintained by the priests and by them brought againe into the Church vpon Easter-day where hauing first an almes giuen him which he offerreth with great deuotion to the Church after the consecration of the oyle he is expiated and hallowed by the whole Clergie and so dismissed This man they commonly called Adam comparing him for his innocency vnto Adam our first father and founder who was voide of all sinne and by him they suppose their city to be purged and purified The soile of Saxony is very fruitfull of all things but wine and hath diuers mines of siluer and basse toward Gosleria and in many places besides be brine-pits and fountaines of salt water whereof they make a fine white and most delicate sault which yeeldeth them a large commodity yeerely They haue great store of barley and wheate whereof they make very fine white bread and a kinde of ale or beere to supply the want of wine which they drinke so immoderatly and out of measure as when they bee at their feasts and bankettings and that their ordinary cups and drinking glasses will not hold sufficient for them to carouse at one draught those which doe giue attendance at the table will set before them a great paile full of that drinke with a dish in it wishing euery one to bee their owne skinkers and so to drinke what they please and

three or foure other Barons which be called Barons of the Exchequer Besides these three Courts of the common law and the court of the Councell for the Marches of Wales whereof I haue spoken before there is a Court for the North part of England which is likewise called the Councell hauing a President Iustices and assistants as in the Councell of Wales and the same forme of proceeding And for the more ease and quiet of the subiect the King by his commission sendeth the Iudges and Barons of the Exchequer twise a yeare into euery seuerall County of the countrie as well to see the lawes executed against malefactors as for the triall and determining of causes depending betwixt partie and party These two Sessions are vsually called the Assises or Goale deliuery and their manner of proceedings is by Iurors who are to giue their verdicts according to euidēce And for because the time of these Iudges commission is ouer short to determine all matters that may arise in halfe a yeare the Iustices of peace in their seuerall Counties haue their Sessions likewise which be kept foure times in the yeare and be therefore called the quarter Sessions in which Sessions are heard and determined all pettie causes for the more ease of the Iudges in their circuits And for the better maintenance of peace in euery part of the Realm there be diuers other petty Courts as county Courts hundred Courts towne Courts Leets Court Barons and such like all which hold plea according to the course of the common law Next vnto these Courts of common law is the Court of Star-chamber which is the court of the kings Councell therin sit as Iudges the L. Chancelor as chiefe the L. Treasurer and the rest of the priuy Councel both spirituall and tēporall to gether with the chiefe Iustices of both benches And in this court be censured all criminall causes as periurie forgerie cousenage ryots maintenance and such like The court of Wards and Liueries is next which is a court of no long continuance being first ordained by Henry the 8. the matters that are determinable in that court are as touching wards and wardships and the Iudges are the Master of the wards and liueries the Atturney of the court of wards and other officers and assistants Then is there the Admirals court which is only for punishment of misdemeanors done at sea the Iudges of which court be the Lord high Admirall of England and a Iudge with other officers The Duchie court which is a court for the determining of matters depending within the Duchy of Lancaster wherein be Iudges the Chancelor of the Duchie and the Atturney And a late erected court called the court of the Queens reuenues for the deciding of controuersies amongst the Queenes tenants Next vnto these are the courts of Equity which are the Chancery and the court of Requests The court of Chancery which is commonly called the court of conscience is chiefly for the mitigation of the rigor of the cōmon lawe wherein the Lord high Chancelor of England is chiefest Iudge and moderator to whom are ioyned as assistants the M. of the Rolles and certaine graue Doctors of the ciuill law which are vsually called Masters of the Chancery The court of Requests is much like to the Chancery and is chiefly for the kings seruants the Iudges wherof are the Masters of Requests which bee alwaies reuerent men and well seen in the ciuill law and one of them is euer attendant on the King to receiue supplications and to answer them according to the Kings pleasure Hauing thus passed ouer the seueral courts of common law the courts of Equity and those which are of a mixt nature betwixt the common ciuill law I wil only name the spirituall courts the chiefest wherof are these The first and most principal is the conuocation of the Clergy which is a Synod of the chiefest of the Clergie of the whole Realme held only in Parlament time in a place called the Conuocation house where cannons are ordained for church-gouernment And this court may be called a generall Councell next vnto which are the particular Synods of both Prouinces Canterbury and York and are called prouinciall Synods Then is there the Archb. of Cāterburies court called the Arches the court of Audience the Prerogatiue court the court of Faculties the court of Peculiars with many other courts in each seuerall Dioces In all which courts what matters are there handled their Iudges and assistants and all their whole manner of proceedings I leaue to the report of such as are better acquainted in those courts And thus much may suffice for the present estate of our country as it is now in the ninth yeare of the raigne of our dread Soueraign Lord K. Iames the first whome God graunt long to rule and raigne ouer vs. OF IRELAND HIBERNIA an Iland bordering vpon Brittaine on the North and West side and much about halfe as big as Brittaine was so called according to some ab hyberno tempore that is to say of the winter season The ground there is so exceeding rancke and the grasse so pleasant and delicious withall that their beasts in Sommer time will kill themselues with feeding and supersluosly grazing if they be not driuen from pasture some part of the day This Island breedeth neither spider nor toade nor any other venimous or infectious creature nor will any liue that are brought thither out of other Countries but dye instantly as soone as they do but touch this Countries soyle Bees there be none the aire is very temperate and the earth fruitfull and yet be the people exceeding barbarous vnciuill and cruell For those which prooue vanquishers in their battels swill and drinke vp the bloud of their slaine enemies and then defile and gore their owne faces with it And whether they do right or wrong it is all one vnto them When a woman is deliuered of a male child the first meate she giueth him shee putteth into his mouth with her husbands sword point signifying by that manner of feeding and also praying after her countrey fashion that the child may dye no other death but in the field amongst his enemies Their greatest gallants adorne the hilts and pummels of their swords with beasts teeth which bee as white as Iuorie and brought thither out of other countreys And their chiefest delight and greatest glorie is to be souldiers Those which inhabite the hilly and mountainous part of the countrie liue vppon milke and apples and are more giuen to hunting and sporting then to husbandrie The Sea betwixt England and Ireland is very raging vnquiet and troublesome all the yeare long and but in summer hardly nauigable Yet do they sayle ouer it in boates or whirries made of Ozier twigs and couered with Oxe hides or buffe skins they abstaine from meate all the while they are vpon the seas And this sea according to the opinion of the best writers is in breadth one hundred and twenty