ABSTRACT
Having spoken of the savages' garments, deckings, ornaments, and paintings, it hath seemed good unto me to marry them, to the end the generation of them be not lost and that the country remain not desert. For the first ordinance that ever God made was to increase and multiply, and every creature capable of generation to bring forth fruit according to his kind. And to the end to encourage young folks that do marry, the Jews had a custom anciently to fill a trough with earth, in the which, a little before the wedding, they did sow barley, and, the same being sprung, they brought it to the bridegroom and the bride, saying: “Bring forth fruit and multiply as this barley, which brings forth sooner than all other seeds” [This is in the gloss of the Talmud in the Treatise of Idolatry.]
