Selected quad for the lemma: woman_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
woman_n	breast_n	child_n	milk_n	2,381	5	10.1992	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A23301	Hæc homo wherein the excellency of the creation of woman is described, by way of an essay. By William Austin Esquire.	Austin, William, 1587-1634.	1637 (1637)	STC 974; ESTC S100237	46,771	198

and winnes the eyes of all men Therfore it cannot chuse but be very beautifull I will but even touch the hands and breasts and then proceed to the beauty vocall The instrument of instruments the Hand as it is of singular use in the body sodeserves it in Women as singular observation commendation For nature delivering man nacked into the world neither armed with hoofe or tooth for his defence gave him yet two things wherein he is armed far more excellently then any other creature that is to say the mind and the hand The one to advise the other to execute And indeed if we curiously advise with the Palmisters we shall finde the Minde written in the Hand For in the lines and circles thereof like our nativity in the Starres is set downe the manner of our dispositions bee they good or bad Moreover as the minde is written in the hand so is it a fit companion of the mind For we may observe it to bee the chiefe agent and best interpreter of our words and meaning which with lively action it sets forth and expresses in such sort that if the tongue were missing it would most aptly supply the place For with it we call unto us we give leave to depart wee command wee intreat wee threaten wee promise wee salute wee strike wee give wee receive wee make wee destroy wee defend wee offend so that it is in the morall of a building like the guard for defence the Vsher for entertainment the servant for imploment the Cater for the provision and the Cooke of the provision This excellent and necessary part is in Women much more delicate then in man and hath qualities equall to all his and some farre above them For she doth not only such grosser workes and actions of meaner estimation as well as he but expresseth all musicke with as swift motion and performance together with such arts and works of curicsity by reason of the slender softnesse and nimblenesse of her hand as are too hote for his fingers But one thing more I will observe out of Agrippa from the hand for the greater commendation of this creatures purenesse and innocency a gift given unto them inseparable even in nature that let men wash their hands never so often they shall still foule and trouble the water But let a Woman wash them but once cleane and she shall after foule it no more To conclude this point the hand among the Aegyptians was a Hieroglyphick of fortitude And therefore they that require auxilium helpe tooke hold of the right hand not of the left which was a figure and pledge of faith to which may be alluded that as Woman was made auxilium commodum a fit faithfull and right hand help for man in all his vocation So it is even expressed in her by nature For as Plin● and Hippocrates observe though many men are often times wholly left-handed women are very seldome so or never at all For the last I meane the breasts As in medio consistit virtus so between the head and hands of this building remaines to bee spoken of the Breasts the beautifull and vertuous springs and fountaines that not only adde beauty but utility to the whole aedifice The best commendation of a house is that it stand in a good aire and be well watered The first of these is observed to bee in this building out of the etymology of her name by Bartholdus Mulier quasi mollis aer propter puritatem a sweet and pure aire And the second is made good in the office of her brests which are the springs and conduit heads which are commended in their forme their place and their use First for their forme they are round a figure most capable of all others and fittest for them seeing they must containe like fountaines moysture for nourishment And they resemble in making two little hills or mounts pleasantly garnished with disparted and streaming veines on whose tops arise the conduit heads in hew like Strawberries from whence proceed the streames so much commended both for food and physick This forme imitating the world is very beautifull From the observation of which the skilfull beholder shall not only distinguish the difference of Sex but also of age and health in women as Laurentius noteth Secondly for the place they are not set in the lower parts of the body as in other creatures but to preserve modesty and for comelinesse sake in the very breast nere the head and right against the heart For this cause as Plutarch saith that women being most loving and tenderly affected to their children might at their greater ease in the earnestnesse of their love both feed with their milke imbrace with their armes and kisse with their lips their children at one time together which they could not doe were they placed elsewhere Lastly for their use First they are to feed and to that end they are indeed with milke and such as no other creature hath For there is no milke whatsoever so nourishing and cherishing in effect nor so sweet and honied in taste as that of a Woman Which milke it is possible for them to have without the help of man as Hippocrates affirmes So that seeing shee is compared in Ecclesiasticus to a possession and in the Proverbs preferred before a possession she may well be likened to that holy habitation and possession the land of Promise which flowed with milke and hony or with honied milke which was promised to those that feared God For shee also being so indued is both the gift and promise of God Whose breasts have the properties of a Possession also First to feed as I have said Secondly to Defend for with their round fleshinesse they protect and preserve the Heart from outward stormes more safely then those in m●n Thirdly they do adorne the habitation And therein not only give delight but satisfaction to man So that as a man content with his owne possession which he hath obtained from the Lord he neither can or ought desire more Which is well advised by Solomon in the Proverbs Rejoyce with the wife of thy youth c. Let her breasts satisfie thee at all times and delight in her love continually So that both delight profit and satisfaction proceeds from this forme others as is declared sufficiently in the description of the beauty of her face hands and breasts And thus much for the beauty Corporall For the beauty Vocall which is in Women It is such as makes them no whit inferiour but rather superiour to men And it is of good consequence for their commendation First then in generall for the voyce Though it have neither dimensions proportion or substance whereby it may be seen or felt yet is it like another face and visage in man and hath many of the same properties For it not only like the face distinguishes man from beast But man from man and man from woman who