☞ The fyrste Chapyter dothe shewe where a man shulde cytuate for set his mancyon place or house for the health of hys bodye.
WHat mā of honour or wor¦shyp, or other estate, the which dothe pretēde to buylde a house or any mansyon place to inha∣byte hym selfe. Or els doth pre¦tende to aulter hys house, or to aulter olde buyldynge in to cōmodyous and pleasaunt buyldynge, nat onely for his owne proper cōmodyte, welth, and health, but also for other men the which wyll resorte to him: hauynge also a respect to hys posteryte.
¶ Fyrste it is necessary and expedyent for him to take hede, what counsel god dyd gyue to Abraham, and after that to take hede what councell god dyd gyue to Moyses, and to the chyldren of Israel, as it appereth in the. xiii. chapyter of Exodi. & the. xx. chapyter of Nu∣meri, & the. vi. chapyter of Deutro. And also in the boke of Leuites, sayinge fyrst to Abra∣ham. Go thou forth of thy coūtre & from thy cognacion or kynred. And come thou into the countrey the which I wyll shewe to the, a countrey abundynge or plentyfull of mylke and hony. ¶ Here is to be noted that where there is plenty of mylke, there is is plenty of pa¦sture Page [unnumbered] and no skarsite of water, & where there is plentye of hony there is no skarsyte but plentyfulnes of woodes, for there be mo bees in woddes, and so consequently abundaunce of hony, than there be bees, or hony, or waxe in the hyues in gardyns or orchardes, wher∣fore it appereth that whosoeuer wyl buylde a mansyon place or a house, he must cytuate and set it there where he must be sure to haue both water and woode, except for pleasure he wyll buylde a house in or by some Cytye or greate towne the whiche be nat destytute of such cōmodytes. But he the which wyll dwel at pleasure, and for profyte. and helth of hys body he must dwell at elbowe rome hauynge water & woode anexed to his place or house, for yf he be destituted of any of the pryncipal les, that is to say fyrst of water for to wasshe and to wrynge, to bake and to hrewe, and dy∣uers other causes specyally for parrel yt whi∣che myght fall by fyre were a great discōmo∣dyous thynge. And better it were to lacke woode than to lacke water the premysses cō∣sydered, althoughe that woode is a necessa∣rye thynge, nat onely for fewell, but also for other vrgent causes, specyally concernynge buyldynge and reparacyons.
