Selected quad for the lemma: heaven_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
heaven_n	earth_n	high_a	place_n	6,761	5	4.5017	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A61047	An epitome of Mr. John Speed's theatre of the empire of Great Britain And of his prospect of the most famous parts of the world. In this new edition are added, the despciptions of His Majesties dominions abroad, viz. New England, New York, 226 Carolina, Florida, 251 Virginia, Maryland, 212 Jamaica, 232 Barbados, 239 as also the empire of the great Mogol, with the rest of the East-Indies, 255 the empire of Russia, 266 with their respective descriptions.	Speed, John, 1552?-1629.	1676 (1676)	Wing S4879; ESTC R221688	361,302	665

88 France 98 Belgia 109 Spain 120 Italy 131 Hungary 142 Denmark 151 Poland 161 Persia 175 Turkish Empire 180 Kingdom of China 189 Tartaria 198 LONDON Printed by W. G. 1675. A NEW AND ACCVRAT MAP OF THE WORLD Drawne according to y e truest Descriptions latest Discoveries Pe. Kaerius Caelavit 1646. The General Description of the WORLD HEaven was too long a reach for Man to recover at one step And therefore God first placed him upon the earth that he might for a time contemplate upon his inferiour works magnifie in them his Creator and receive here a hope of a fuller bliss which by degrees he should at last enjoy in his place of rest For this end was the lower World created in the beginning out of a rude Mass which before had no Form And that it might be made habitable the Lord separated the dry Land from the Waters upon the third day Yet so as still they make but one Globe whose center is the same with the middle World and is the Point and Rest as it were of all heavy Bodies which naturally apply themselves to it and there are supported by their own weight and equal poise 2 It hath seemed incredible to such as measure the Wonders of God by Mans Wisdom that this m●ssie part of the World should subsist by it self not bo●n up by any outward Prop encompast only with 〈◊〉 and fleetingAir such as can neither help to sustain nor r●sist the fall cou●d the earth be moved from her duce place But the wonder will ce●●e if we remember that the Lord sitteth upon the circle of the earth Isa. 40. He set it upon her foundations so that it shall never move He covered it with the Deep as much a Garment The Waters would stand above the Mountains but at his rebuke they fled Yet he set them a bound which they should not pass 3 Thus ordered by Divine Providence the Earth and Sea composed themselves into a Spherical Figure as is here described And is caused by the proper inclination of each part which being heavy falls from ever● point of the Circumference and claps about the center there settles as near as it may towards his place of rest We may illustrate both the figure and situation by a familiar similitude to an ingenious apprehension Suppose we a knot to be knit in the midst of a cord that hath many ends and those to be delivered to sundry men of equal strength to be drawn several ways round from every part above and below and on each side questionless whilest every man draws in the boes of the knot it must needs become round and whilest they continue to pluck with equal strength it must rest immoveable in the middle betwixt them since every strength that would destory hath a strength equal to resist it So it is in the bosom of the earth where every part meets upon equal priviledge of na●ure nor can any press farther than the center to destroy this compacted figure for it must meet there with a body that will oppose it Or if not yet could it not pass since every motion from the middle were to ascend which Nature will not permit in a body of weight as the earth is 4 Now though in a Sphere every cross line which way soever drawn if it run through the middle must needs be of equal quantity and therefore admits no difference of length or bredth yet the Geographers for their purpose have conceived and but conceived a Longitude and Latitude upon the earth The Longitude they reckon from the first Meridian in the Azores and so Eastward round number the degrees upon the Aequator The Latitude from the Aequator to each Pole and number the degrees upon the outward Meridional circle This inkling may suffice to instruct the ignorant in the search of any place that shall be hereafter mentioned in my Discourse 5 The compass of the whole is cast by our latest and most learned to be 21600 English miles which though none ever yet so paced as to measure them by the foot yet let not the ignorant reject this account since the rule by which they are led cannot fail For we see by continual experience that the Sun for every degree in the Heavens gains 60 miles upon the earth towards his circuit round and after 360 degrees returneth to the same point in respect of us as before it was Repeat the number of sixty so oft and you will find the account just And so by proportion of the circumference to the Diameter which is tripl● s●squi septim● the same which 22 hath to 7 we may judge likewise of the earths thickness to the Center The whole Diameter must by rule be somewhat lesser than a third part of the circuit that in proportion to 21600 will be 6872 half the number will reach● the middle of the world and that is 3436. In this report both of the quantity and form of the earth we must not require such exactness as cannot vary a hairs bredth for we see the mountains of the earth and oftentimes the waves of the Sea make the superficies unequal It will be sufficient if there be no difference sensible to be reckoned in so great a bulk for let us rudely hew a ball out of rough stone still it is a ball though not so smooth as one of Crystal Or suffer a mote to fall upon a Sphere of glass it changeth not its figure far less are the mountains which we see in respect of the whole lump For other rules or terms Geographical I refer them to a peculiar tract that will afford me more room and time 6 When the Earth and Sea were thus prepared with a due figure a just quantity and convenient ●eat both in respect of the Heavens and themselves Nature began at command of the most High to use her Art and to make it a fit dwelling place for the Image of God for so was man created and so indeed was the Earth no other than the picture of Heaven The ground brought forth her plants and fruits the Skies were filled with the Fowl of the Air the waters yielded their fish and the fields their Cattel No sooner his house was thus finish't but man enters upon his possession the sixth day And that shall be our tract to find out the worlds first Inhabitants where it was peopled in the beginning and how it was over-spread with Countries and Nations as now it is 7 In the first Age there was little need of skill to measure the whole Earth A garden plot might suffice and so for a time it did It was planted in Ed●n But where that was I may not peremptorily determine nor indeed dare I be so curious in the search The hidden things belong to th● Lord the revealed to us Deut. 29. God himself in the beginning set a Cherubion and the blade of a sword shaken to keep the re-entry from our first parents and we may affirm hath

those Countries but what may be dispatcht in a few words The Inhabitants are not many in either and those barbarous In the Terra Magellanica they go naked In the Land del ●eugo there is much smoak In 〈◊〉 Region there are great Parrats In B●ach Gold In Maletur Spices 25 Of the rest severally I shall nor need here to enlarge my discourse since the particular Map of every Region may justly challenge is their proper right and will be I hope very shortly extant for my Reader to peruse ASIA The Description of ASIA THe method propounded in our general Description of the World gives Asia the prerogative as well for worth as time Europe shall not want her due in her due place It will suffice her if she be at this day most famous for the acts of men and so it is allowed by most But in Asia did God himself speak his miraculous work of the Creation There was the Church first collected there was the Saviour of the World born crucified and raised again indeed the greatest part of Divine History was there written and acted And if we should as well compare her to the rest in that earthly glory of Kingdoms Empires and Nations which sounds fairest to mans sense she would still keep her rank For was not the first Monarchs and Monarchies of the World in Assyria Persia Babylonia Media Did not the first People of the World receive their Being in Mesopotamia And had not the several Tongues of the World their original in Babylonia These are parts of Asia and were in the first Ages blest with Gods own holy pre●ence Exod. 3. and the footing of Angels Exod. 14. however now it is left for her infidelity to the punishment of a Prophetical curse that long before past upon her and is delivered up into the hands of T●rks and Nations that blaspheme their Creator and therefore doth not ●ourish in that height as heretofore Consider that Gods hand is now upon her and the rest will follow without much wonder 2 In respect of both Europe and Africa it is situated Eastward But if we compare it to the Aequator it lieth almost wholly in the N●rthern Henisphere I need except none of the main Continent only a few Islands which are as it were retainers to Asia and lie partly Southward beyond the Line It is divided on the West from Europe 〈◊〉 the River Tanais Pontus Euxinus and part of the Mediterraneum Sea From Africa by that 〈◊〉 which divides the Red-Sea from the Mediterraneum and is above 72 miles long On the other three sides it is begirt with the vast Ocean which in the East is called Pontus River on the North Mare Scithicum the Tartarean Sea and in the South the Indian Sea Through the middle runs the Mount Taurus at full length with the whole Continent of Asia and divides it toward the North and South into Asiam Exteriorem and Interiorem with so many windings that the length is reckoned by G●adus to be 58060 stadia by Maginus 45000 stadia and that is 5625 Italian miles those of our own Nation account it 6250 English miles The breadth as Strabo reports it is in most places 3000 stadia as our own Geographers 375 miles From the North-shore cometh the Mountain Imaus directly South almost and divideth it toward the East and West into Scythia intra Imaum and Scythia extra Imaum By these bounds the length is set to be 5200 and the breadth 4560 miles 3 Now add together that this Region was at fi●st the Paradise of the World and indeed still enjoyeth a fertile Soil and temperate Air and that it exceeds in compass the two other parts of the old World to which she was the Mistre●s for Arts and Sciences yet is not at this day so well peopled in proportion as this little Europe which came after many hundred years For this we need search no farther cause than Gods just anger 〈…〉 he not exercised upon her only by miraculous and immediate punishment from Heaven but hath ●uffered as it were her own creatures over which at first Man had the rule to turn head upon ●heir Lords and possess their habitation For it is so over-run with Wild Beasts and cruel Serpents that in 〈◊〉 places they live not without much danger 4 In this though the Nation suffer for their monstrous irreligion yet the Earth which did not offend reserves her place and abounds with many excellent Commodities not elsewhere to be had Myrrhe Frankincense Cinnamon ●loves Nutmeg Mace Pepper Musk Iewels of great esteem and Minerals of all sorts it breeds Elephants Camels and many other Beasts Serpents Fowls wild and ●ame and some have added such monstrous shapes of men as pass all belief 5 And thus from the general view of Asia we will glance upon her several Regions Kingdo●s and Provinces as it hath been heretofore divided In this we find difference of Authors that follow their several placita all perhaps true enough in their own sense though not alike if they be compared These we will not so much as name but insist upon one that may best fit my short Description Her parts are Asia the less and Asia the greater and the Islands near about 6 Asia the less is that that lieth next to Europe and began East-ward from thence it was called by the Geographers there residing by a special name Anat●lia corruptly Natolia 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 On the west therefore and toward the North is Greece full West is the Archipelagius on the East is the River Euphrates on the North the Pontus Euxinus and on the South the Mediterraneum It is included betwixt the Meridians of the 51 degree of Longitude and the 72. so Maginus and in the Latitude it is ●eated almost betwixt the same parallels with Italy 7 A Countrey it was once of singular fertility exceeding rich in fruits and pasture auratisque omnibus and indeed all things else that either mans necessity commodity or pleasure could requite It was mother to many of our learned Ancients The Dorica Ionica and Aeoli●a Dialects of the Greek Tongue had here their Originals It was the Seat of the Trojane Kingdom and many other Nations famous in Histories as well Christians as Ethnicks though now there remains no face of so excellent a Region Cyrus first began the spoil then the Macedonians and Alexanders Captains 〈◊〉 them the Romans and last of all the Turks miserably rent in pieces and have left the ruines to shew of four thousand Towns and Cities The residue have lost both their names and memory of their Predecessors And the people are fallen from the Knowledge Industry and Religion of their Fore-fathers For before Christ when they were at worst that Histories report of them they were for the most 〈◊〉 learned and laborious in ordering of their Soil to the best advantage Afterward they became good Christians for with them were the seven Churches which Saint Iohn mentioneth in the

Cambaia a spacious Land it is and contains from East to West 38 degrees and about 20 from the North to South 11 This variety of distance in respect of the Heavens must needs cause as much difference in the qualities of her several Regions In some places there is that fertility which makes her equal to any part of Asia in others again she is so barren unfruitful and unprofitable that the Land is left waste as being not able to nourish an Inhabitant Ora maritima saith Quadus aestuosa est ac ventosa fructuum inops praeterquam palmarum mediterranea regio Campestris est omnium ferax pecorumque optima nutrix stuminibus lacubus plena Maxime autem suppeditat Araxes plurimas commoditates It abounds much with metals and stones of great price 12 The ancient Persians were warlike and ambitious of rule for not content with their own which they freely posses in Asia they attempted the nearest parts of Africa and Europe which cost them the first fall from their Monarchy Nec enim petituri Macedones Persidem vide bantur in priores Persae Graeciam provocassent faith Vadianus Their customes are most of them superstitious but they held nothing almost in so great reverence as water it might not lawfully be soyled so much as with a soul hand but to piss or cast rubbish or a dead carcass into the Rivers was a kind of Sacriledge They had many Wives and more Concubines for they were exceeding desirous of increase and great rewards were appointed by their King himself for him that could most augment the number of his subjects in one year They seldome entred into any consultation of State till they had well armed themselves with drink for then they thought they should be more free to speak what they most thought To spit or laugh before their Prince was a crime well nigh unpardonable some say that they bury not their dead but cast them forth to be devoured by wild beasts and thought him most happy which was soonest torn to mammock the rest their friends bewailed as such who had lived impurely and were therefore by this sign declared worthy of hell only without any redemption 13 Their Philosophers were called Magi and studied principally the art of fore-telling things to come from whence we have our tearm of Magick and usurp the word only in the worse sense whereas questionless it was no other with them than the Greeks Philosophy Philosophi or Sapientes with the Latines for it is by most thought that such were those good Magi which came from the East to worship Christ and Saint Chrysostome directly names Persia to be that East from whence they were led by the Star 14 They have now put off most of their antique barbarism and are become good Politicians excellent Warriour sgreat Scholars especially in Astrology Physick and Poetry Those which apply themselves to Mechanick trades are not inferiour to any almost in our quarter they deal most in making of Silks which they send into all the Eastern Countries in great abundance They are mild and courteous to Strangers yet jealous of their Wives which for the most part are very fair and richly attired not withstanding their affection to them usque ad insanam Zelotypiam yet are they much addicted to that beastly sin of the Turks and have their Stews on purpose whither they resort without controul or shame Their language is elegant and in use in most of those Eastern Countries The Christian Religion was once planted here both by Saint Thomas and Saint Andrew yet are they now fallen to Mahametism and differ but as Schismaticks from the Turks which occasioneth much hatred and perpetual war betwixt them 15 The Regions which belong to the Empire of Perfia are 1 Persii 2 Media 3 Assyria 4 Sus●ina 5 Mesopotamia 6 Parthia 7 Hyrcania 8 Bactriana 9 Parapomissus 10 Aria 11 Drangiana 12 Gedrosia 13 Carmania and 14 Ormus 16 Persis had her name from Perseus which came hither out of Greece and this gives it to the whole Empire It is now called Fa●st or Fars●st●n and was heretofore Panchaia It lieth betwixt Media on the North and the Sinus Persicus on her South on her West Susiana and East Carmania Her Metropolis is Siras once Persepol●s and is built toward the mid land near the River Araxis it was surprized by Alexander and many thousand talents of gold sent into Greece with other rich spo●l and trophies of Victories which the Persians had before gotten from most parts of the then known world Upon the Sea-coast stands Cyrus a City which was built by their first absolute Monarch and called by the Inhabitants Grechaia It was the Bishop seat of the learned Theodoret who lived here about the year 450 and in this Region is Laodicea built by Antiochus and Passagarda where Cyrus had his Sepulchre 17 2 Media now Servania on the North of Persis and South of the Caspian Sea hath Armenia major and Assyria on her West and on her East Parthia and Hyrcania It was before Cyrus the seat of the Empire and mother to a warlike potent Nation Their Kings had many wives seldome fewer than seven and their women thought it a great calamity to have less than five husbands In this stands the Territory of Tauris which was called by our ancients Erbathana and doth stand some eight dayes journey from the Hyrcinian Sea it is rich and populous and was the seat of the Sophies till it was removed to Casbin which lieth somewhat more South Betwixt both stands the City Turcoman and elsewhere in this Province are many others dispersed of good note especially Suliana Symmachia Nassinum Ardovil Marant and Saucazan c. 18 3 Assyria now Arzeram on the West of Media South of Armenia North of Susiania and East of Mesopotamia it was the seat of Ninus his Kingdome lost by Sardanapalus and here stands the most famous City Nineveh near the River Tigris larger than Babylon containing full threescore miles in compass for the community which the Babylonians had with them in course of government they were oft times promiscuously used by Historians both had this custome to sell their Virgins which were fair and most desired and tender the price into the common treasury The homelier sort were placed in marriage with that money to those which would accept of them for gain at least if not for beauty They were much addicted to Astrology and were questionless led to it by the opportunity of their situation which gives them a more perfect view of the Heavens and several course of the Planets than any other part of the world besides 19 4 Susiana now Cuceston seems to have her name from Cus upon the South of Assyria West of Persia East of Babylonia and North of the Persick bay It is severed by Pliny from Elemauss the great by the River Euleus of whose waters only the Persian Kings were wont to drink as being more sweet and pure than any other

of tributary Christians which are called Ianizaries and their Captain Agu besides ten thousand others dispersed under several Commanders through divers parts of the Empire and fifteen thousand Hersemen in ordinary pay In these numbers I ●eckon not those multitudes of Timariotae which are assigned to several of the Turkish States and deliver incredible sums of money into his Treasury As his wealth is great so is his life luxurious fifteen hundred women are cloystered up ●or his pleasure and out of them one hundred and fifty c●lled as choice for his daily lust so Maginus The offices within the Court are performed by Eunuchs such as he will be sure shall not partake with him in his unsatiate and bruitish pleasures 6 The Ministers of State are 1 Mu●ti who interprets their Law and laies open their Alcoran with the like Authority as the Pope among the Roman Catholicks 2 Cadilesche●i who are the supream Iudges to determine of their causes controverted and these are three the one for Enrope whose residency is in Romania another for Asia in Natolia and the third set up by Selimus the first to judge such offences as are brought to him fr●m Aegypt Syria Arabia and part of Armenia These Cadilescheri have under them peculiar Iudges of every Province which are called Cadi and are chosen at their pleasure but confirmed by the Emperour himself 3 The third rank are Vizer Passa their Emperours Council their chief is Vizer Azem a man of great power through all the dominions of the Turk and for the most part present at his treaties of State 4 The fourth order are the Beglerb●gs whose office answers almost to our Generals and as the Iudges were so are these placed in the three several quarters of the Empire one in Greece for Europe a se●ond in Anatolia for Asia and the third is an Admiral of the Seas and commands those parts which are left by the other two all of equal respect and place with Vizer bassa Those of inferiour rank and pet●y employments in the Common-wealth are almost innun erable many of them not natives but apostate Christians and in conditions differ as the Countries from whence they first sprang 7 The multitude I mean the born Turks savour still of their barbarous Ancestors and carry the marks in their fore-heads and l●mbs of Scythians and Tartars They are for the most part broadaced strong-boned well-proportioned dull and heavy-headed of gross understanding idely disposed and yet greedy of wealth luxurious in their diet and beastly in their lustful affections without distinction of kindred or sex base minded slaves to themselves and their superiours in their own Country yet ignorantly proud and contemptuous of other Nations which they take in soul scorn should be compared with their lubberly Inhabitant They pass not to couzen a Christian in their course of traffique nor do they think they are bound to keep promise unless it make for their advantage The greatest part they have by due desert is their strict obedience to the discipline of war no sedition no tumult no chat in their Camp or March insomuch that oft-times many thousands on a sudden surprize their enemies unawares with so very little noise as not to be heard in their approach No difficulty can be demanded which they are not ready to perform without any respect at all had to the danger be it to pass Rivers top Mountains scale Walls stand Centinel In brief they are not to eat or sleep in War but at full leisure and are the truest military men upon earth 8 No great marvel then if with so great multitudes so well ordered they daily improve their Empire upon the Christians who are not so zealous in defence of their true faith as these mis believers bold and fool-hardy to uphold their false god But the truth is their superstitious credulity of fate which they think hath immutably prefixed every mans hour for life or death which he can neither defer nor hasten makes them fearless to incur dangers and careless for their own security 9 Divers Schools they have where their chief study is the imperial Laws from thence some are preferred to secular some to Eccl●s●astick O●●●ces Their Religion is a meer couzenage thrust upon the silly people by the impious subtilty of one Mahomet whose story is well worth our knowledge and may cause us to commiserate the desperate state of those ignorant yet perverse and bloo●y Antichristians 10 His place of birth is questioned whether he were a Cyrenaick an Arabian or Persian it is not yet fully decided certain ●no●gh he was of base parents his father some say a worshipper of Devils and his Mother a faithless Iew. Betwixt them they sent into the world a pernicious deceiver which none but two such Religions could have made up in the year five hundred ninety seven When he had been for a while thus instructed by his distracted Parents poverty and hope to improve his Fortunes perswaded him from his Native soyl to live for another while among true professed Christians where he received so much knowledge of the world and light of the Gospel as to pervert it to his destruction and ruin of many millions of souls 11 In his first adventurous travels abroad he fell into the hands of theevish Sarazens which sold him to a Iewish Merchant and he employed him to drive his Camels through Egypt Syria Palestine and other Forein Countries where he still gathered ●arther instructions of that truth which he intended to abuse His wickedness first brake forth into fraud open theft and rapine and other sins of highest rank in which he continued and seduced others till the death of his Master and after married his aged but rich mistress 12 He had means now to act his malicious purposes and wealth to countenance his exceeding pride which would not be satisfied with any lower ambition than to be called a Prophet of God This he began to practise by the counsel of one Sergius a Monk who being cast out for Heresie from Constantinople betook himself into Arabia and joyned in with Mahomet to make up this mischief perfect see now their juggling There wanted not craft betwixt them to make use of his worst actions to gull the simple For when by his debaucht drinking and gluttony he was fallen into an Epilepsie and in his fits lay Bear-like groveling and foaming upon the earth as one without sense he pretended an extatick swound wherein his soul was rapped from his body whilst he converst with Gabriel an Angel from Heaven To make this familiarity with God the more to be believed he had bred up a Dove to take her meat from his ear which he most blasphemously professed to be the holy Ghost which at such times and in that shape infused the Prophecies which he was to preach Lastly what they in their wicked fancies had conceived and meant to propagate they digested into a Volume and called it the Alcoran 13 For this too they

the temperature of the Air it must needs be supposed that in a Territory of so vast an extent all parts cannot be alike some being so very distant from others In Moscow and the adjacent Provinces the Air is so sharp and p●ercing cold that sometimes no Furr is able to protect the nose and ears of those that venture forth into the Air yet the earth being kept very warm with the snow at the first approach of Spring which is almost as soon as in Germany the face of Heaven puts on a pleasant and most serene aspect and the earth a most lively verdure In Winter they travel for the most part in Sledges which being low and covered over with Canvas and the Passengers wrapt warm in Sheepskins they feel no cold but travel as it were in moving Stoves and in Summer the heat is very near as intollerable as the cold in Winter Among their Plants there is one peculiar sort which they call Boranez from its form or shape resembling a Lamb upon a stalk which seems to be its navel-string as far as which stalk permits it changes place and makes the gr●ss wither as it turns about This fruit is clothed with an hairy rind which they say is dressed in stead of Furr and Scaliger writes that no beast will feed on it but the Wolf whom to intrap it is often set as a bait Their Melons of which there is plenty are commended as singularly well-tasted and of an extraordinary large size The frequency of Wood and Forest furnishes this Countrey with store of Venijon and all those kinds of beasts whose Furrs are in highest price besides one of a very peculiar kind and proper to these parts called the Reen by the Modern Latins Rangifer and thought to be the same with the Tarandius of the Ancients With the skin of this beast the Samoides cloath themselves it is in shape and bigness and horns partl● like a Stagg partly an ●lk but with long rough and white hair a cloven foot whose horn strikes so far into the ice that it never slips it is frequently made use of in the drawing of their Sleds upon any occasion of expedition for it is reported to run 30 German leagues a day Of Fish none is here wanting but the Carp Of Fowl none but the Stork The Moscovites are strong and active of body of a middle stature but square-set and brawny arm'd of a natural ingenuity and subtilty which they make use of to cheat with in their bargains and contracts being false treacherous and perfidious withal very lazy and wholly unaddicted to Learning and Ar●s only necessity obliges them to follow Husbandry they are malicious quarrelsome and scurrilous in company yet their choler seldom advances to farther violence than can be managed with the stick fist or foot which saves many a murther the Sword or Gun would be guilty of They are generally lascivious and beastly drinkers both men and women when occasion offers for all their great Solemn●ies and Feastivals are so many drunken Bacchanals in which they walow one among another like Swine at other times if they are sober it is for want of what they love above all things strong liquor for their ordinary drink is but a pitiful poor sort of tiff and though the Countrey affords wherewith to fare delicately enough yet the best of them scarce know how to feed elegantly and the meaner sort eat like what they are poor slaves and lodge as ill that is like the wild Irish or b●rbarous Indians the whole Family man woman and beast lie higgledy-piggledy altogether in a room upon straw or mats and in Summer-time upon benches or tables And no wonder their manner of life is so animal and uncultivated since they live subordinately in most wretched slavery the common People to the Nobles the Nobles to the Czar whose grand Maxim it is as generally in Monarchies so very absolute to proscribe Learning well knowing that the necks of the ignorant most ●amely subject themselves to the yoke of tyranny The Religion they profess is according to the Greek-Church which they are said to have received from the Patriarch of Constantinople Ann. 987 though in the Moscovi●ish Annals their first Conversion is boasted to have been from St. Andrew the Apostle others say that Duke Wolodomirus received Baptism in the year 987 upon his Marriage with Anna the Daughter of the Emperor Basilius but the most received opinion is that Leo coming out of Greece and planting the Christian Faith among the Russians became their first Patriarch and fix'd his Seat at Kiovia whence after some time the Patriarchal Seat was removed to Volodimiria and lastly to Mosco where it continues The Patriarch who till about 100 years since could not be confirmed but by the Patriarch of Con●tantinople but hath ever since been chosen and confirmed only by the Czar or Great Duke though with the consent of the generality of the Clergy hath subservient to him two Metropolitans or Arch-Bishops the Arch-Bishop of Novogrode and the Arch-Bishop of Rostow and under these there are 18 Bishops enjoying very large Revenues and therefore the largest contributers to the Great Duke when he hath occasion to raise an Army Of the Rivers of this Countrey the chief are the Dni●per or Borysthenes of the ancients whose Fountain though unknown to Herodotus hath been since found to be near Dnieperko a' Village of Moscovia in the Wood Wolskonski and which flowing Southward by the Cities Smolensko and Kiovian after having taken in many lesser Rivers dischargeth it self at last into the Euxin or Black Sea 2 Ducina concluded to be the Turuntus of Ptolemy which springing not far from the Fountains of Bory●thenes in the same Wood and flowing by Riga the Capital City of Livonia falls at last into the Baltick Sea 3 Volga the Rha of Ptolemy and now called Edel which springing from a Lake of the same name being about 25 miles from Mosco and flowing with a long course and many windings after the taking in of many lesser streams disburtheneth it self with no less than 70 mouths into the Caspian Sea not far from the the City citracham 4 Don or Tanais by the Italians called Tuna which dividing Europe from Asia hath its source as some are of opinion from the Riphae●n Mountains in a certain Wood out of a vast Lake not far from the City Tulla and flowing with a long course beyond the Confines of Russia Southward makes the Lake M●otis 5 Occa which springing out of the Province Mo●ceneck which it semi-circles after a long course enters the Volga beneath Inferior Novogrod The most noted Lakes are the Ilmen or Ilmer 12 German miles in length and 8 in bredth The Ladoga whose length is 25 German miles the bredth 15 and containing divers Islands The White Lake called by the Inhabitants Bielcyesero twelve miles in length and as many in bredth and into which 360 Rivers small streams or rivulets doubtless are said to empty