in Astronomy, denotes a hollow globe or sphere.

ORB, in tactics, is the disposing of a number of soldiers in circular form of defence. The orb has been thought of consequence enough to employ the attention of the famous Marshal de Puysegur in his Art of War, who prefers this position to throw a body of infantry in an open country, to resist cavalry, or even a superior force of infantry; because it is regular, and equally strong. strong, and gives an enemy no reason to expect better success by attacking one place than another. Cæsar drew his whole army in this form, when he fought against Labienus. The whole army of the Gauls was formed into an orb, under the command of Sabinus and Cotta, when fighting against the Romans. The orb was generally formed six deep.

**Orbit**, in Astronomy, the path of a planet or comet, or the curve that it describes in its revolution round its central body; thus, the earth's orbit is the curve which it describes in its annual course round the sun, and usually called the **ecliptic**. See Astronomy, passim.

**Orkades**, the Orkney Islands. See Orkney.

**Orchard**, a garden department, consigned entirely to the growth of standard fruit-trees, for furnishing a large supply of the most useful kinds of fruit. For the particular management of the orchard, see Gardening.

In the orchard you may have, as standards, all sorts of apple-trees, most sorts of pears and plums, and all sorts of cherries: which four species are the capital orchard fruits; each of them comprising numerous valuable varieties. But to have a complete orchard, you may also have quinces, medlars, mulberries, service-trees, filberts, Spanish nuts, blackberries; likewise walnuts and chestnuts; which two latter are particularly applicable for the boundaries of orchards, to screen the other trees from the insults of impetuous winds and cold blasts. All the trees ought to be arranged in rows from 20 to 30 feet distance, as hereafter directed.

But sometimes orchards consist entirely of apple-trees, particularly in the cider-making counties, where they are cultivated in very great quantities in large fields, and in hedge rows, for the fruit to make cider for public supply.

And sometimes whole orchards of very considerable extent are entirely of cherry-trees. But in this case, it is when the fruit is designed for sale in some great city, as London, &c., for the supply of which city, great numbers of large cherry orchards are in some of the adjacent counties, but more particularly in Kent, which is famous for very extensive cherry-orchards; many of which are entirely of that sort called Kentish cherry, as being generally a great bearer; others are stored with all the principal sorts of cultivated cherries, from the earliest to the latest kinds.

A general orchard, however, composed of all the before-mentioned fruit-trees, should consist of a double portion of apple-trees or more, because they are considerably the most useful fruit, and may be continued for use the year round.

The utility of a general orchard, both for private use and profit, stored with the various sorts of fruit-trees, must be very great, as well as afford infinite pleasure from the delightful appearance it makes from early spring till late in autumn: In spring the various trees in blossom are highly ornamental; in summer, the pleasure is heightened by observing the various fruits advancing to perfection; and as the season advances, the mature growth of the different species arriving to perfection, in regular succession, from May or June, until the end of October, must afford exceeding delight, as well as great profit.

**Of the Extent, Situation, and Soil for the Orchard.**

As to the proper extent of ground for an orchard, this must be proportioned, in some measure, to the extent of land you have to work on, and the quantity of fruit required either for private use or for public supply; so that an orchard may be from half an acre to 20 or more in extent.

With respect to the situation and aspect for an orchard, we may observe very thriving orchards both in low and high situations, and on declivities and plains, in various aspects or exposures, provided the natural soil is good: we should, however, avoid very low damp situations as much as the nature of the place will admit; for in very wet soils no fruit trees will prosper, nor the fruit be fine: but a moderately low situation, free from copious wet, may be more eligible than an elevated ground, as being less exposed to tempestuous winds; though a situation having a small declivity is very desirable, especially if its aspect incline towards the east, south-east, or southerly, which are rather more eligible than a westerly aspect; but a north aspect is the worst of all for an orchard, unless particularly compensated by the peculiar temperament or good quality of the soil.

And as for soil, any common field or pasture that produces good crops of corn, grass, or kitchen-garden vegetables, is suitable for an orchard; if it should prove of a loamy nature, it will be a particular advantage: any soil, however, of a good quality, not too light and dry, or too heavy, stubborn, or wet, but of a medium nature, of a soft, pliant temperature, not less than one spade deep of good staple, will be proper for this purpose.

**Preparation of the Ground.**—The preparation of the ground for the reception of trees, is by trenching; or, if for very considerable orchards, by deep ploughing; but trench-digging, one or two spades, as the soil will admit, is the most eligible, either wholly, or only for the present in the places where the lines of trees are to stand, a space of six or eight feet wide, all the way in each row, especially if it be grass-ground, and intended to be kept in the sward; or if any under-crops are designed to be raised, the ground may be wholly trenched at first; in either case trench the ground in the usual way to the depth of the natural soil; and if in grass, turn the sward clean to the bottom of each trench, which, when rotted, will prove an excellent manure.

In planting orchards, however, on grass grounds, some only dig pits for each tree, capacious enough for the reception of the roots, loosening the bottom well, without the labour of digging any other part of the ground.

The ground must be fenced securely against cattle, &c., either with a good ditch and hedge, or with a pal ing-fence, as may be most convenient.

**Method of Planting the Trees.**—The best season for planting all the sorts of fruit-trees is autumn, soon after the fall of the leaf, from about the latter end of October until December; or indeed it might be performed any time in open weather from October until March.

Choose principally full standards, with straight clean stems, six feet high; each with a branchy well-formed head, of from two or three to four or five years growth; and let several varieties of each particular species be chosen, that ripen their fruit at different times, from the earliest to the latest, according to the nature of the different... Orchard. ferent sorts, that there may be a proper supply of every sort regularly during their proper season. Of apples and pears in particular, choose a much greater quantity of the autumnal and late ripening kinds than of the early sorts, but most of all of apples; for the summer-ripening fruit is but of short duration, only proper for temporary service; but the later ripening kinds keep sound some considerable time for autumnal use; and the latest sorts that ripen in October, continue in perfection for various uses all winter, and several sorts until the season of apples come again.

Having made choice of the proper sorts, and marked them, let them be taken up with the utmost care, so as to preserve all their roots as entire as possible; and when taken up, prune off any broken or bruised parts of the roots, and just tip the ends of the principal roots, in general, with the knife on the under side with a kind of slope outward.

If the trees have been already headed, or so trained as to have branched out into regular shoots to form each a proper head, they must be planted with the said heads entire, only retrenching or shortening any irregular or ill-placed shoot that takes an awkward direction, or grows across its neighbours, or such as may run considerably longer than all the rest, &c.

The arrangement of the trees in the orchard must be in rows, each kind separate, at distances according to the nature of the growth of the different sorts; but for the larger growing kinds, such as apples, pears, plums, cherries, &c., they should stand from 25 to 30 or 40 feet every way asunder, though 25 or 30 feet at most is a reasonable distance for all these kinds.

Each species and its varieties should generally be in rows by themselves, the better to suit their respective modes of growth: though for variety there may be some rows of apples and pears arranged alternately, as also of plumbs and cherries; and towards the boundaries there may be ranges of lesser growth, as quinces, medlars, filberts, &c., and the outer row of all may be walnut-trees, and some chesnuts, set pretty close to defend the other trees from violent winds.

According to the above distances, proceed to stake out the ground for making the holes for the reception of the trees, which if made to range every way, will have a very agreeable effect, and admit the currency of air, and the sun's influence, more effectually.

But in planting very extensive orchards, some divide the ground into large squares or quarters, of different dimensions, with intervals of 50 feet wide between; serving both as walks, and for admitting a greater currency of air; in different quarters planting different sorts of fruit, as apples in one, pears in another, plums and cherries in others, &c., and thus it may be repeated to as many quarters for each species and its varieties as may be convenient.

As to the mode of planting the trees: A wide hole must be dug for each tree, capacious enough to receive all the roots freely every way without touching the sides. When the holes are all ready, proceed to planting, one tree in each hole, a person holding the stem erect, whilst another trims in the earth, previously breaking it small, and casting it in equally all about the roots, frequently shaking the tree to cause the mould to settle in close about all the smaller roots and fibres, and so as to raise the tree gradually up, that the crown of the roots may lie but two or three inches below the general surface; and when the hole is filled up, tread it gently, first round the outside, then near the stem of the tree, forming the surface a little hollow; and then, if on the top of all be laid some inverted turf to the width of the hole, forming it with a sort of circular bank, three or four inches high, it will support the tree, and guard the roots from drying winds and the summer's drought: observing that each tree stand perfectly upright, and that they range exactly in their proper rows.

Method of improving the Fruit.—The following method is said to have been successfully employed, by a German clergyman, in promoting the growth of young trees, and increasing the size and flavour of the fruit in orchards. Having planted several young plum trees in an orchard, he covered the ground, for some years, around the trunks, as far as the roots extended, with flax-shows, or the refuse of flax when it is scutched or heckled; by which means these trees, though in a grass-field, increased in a wonderful manner, and far excelled others planted in cultivated ground. As far as the shows reached, the grass and weeds were choked; and the soil under them was so tender and soft, that no better mould could have been wished for by a florist.

When he observed this, he covered the ground with the same substance, as far as the roots extended, around an old plum-tree, which appeared to be in a languishing state, and which stood in a grass-field. The consequences were, that it acquired a strong new bark, produced larger and better tasted fruit, and that those young shoots, which before grew up around the stem, and which it was every year necessary to destroy, were prevented from sprouting forth, as the covering of flax-shows impeded the free access of air at the bottom of the trunk.

In the year 1793, he transplanted, from seed-beds, into the nursery, several fruit-trees; the ground around some of which he covered, as above, with flax-shows. Notwithstanding the great heat of the summer, none of those trees where the earth was covered with shows died or decayed, because the shows prevented the earth under them from being dried by the sun. Of those trees, around which the ground was not covered as before mentioned, the fourth part miscarried; and those that continued alive were far weaker than the former.

The leaves which fall from trees in autumn may also be employed for covering the ground in like manner; but stones, or logs of wood must be laid on them, to prevent their being dispersed by the wind. In grass land, a small trench may be made around the roots of the tree, when planted, in order to receive the leaves. If flax-shows are used, this is not necessary; they lie on the surface of the ground so fast as to resist the force of the most violent storm. The leaves which our author found most effectual in promoting the growth and fertility of fruit trees, are those of the walnut-tree. Whether it is, that, on account of their containing a greater abundance of saline particles, they communicate manure to the ground, which thereby becomes tender under them; or that they attract nitrous particles from the atmosphere; or that, by both these means, they tend to nourish the tree both above and below.

Those who are desirous of raising tender exotic trees from the seed, in order to accustom them to our climate, may, may, when they transplant them, employ flax-shows with great advantage. This covering will prevent the frost from making its way to the roots; and rats and mice, on account of the sharp prickly points of the flax-shows, will not be able to shelter themselves under them.

**ORCHESTRA,** in the Grecian theatres, was that part of the *proscenium* or stage where the chorus used to dance. In the middle of it was placed the *Aeolus* or *pulpit*. The orchestra was semicircular, and surrounded with seats. In the Roman theatres it made no part of the *scena*, but answered pretty nearly to the pit in our playhouses, being taken up with seats for senators, magistrates, vestals, and other persons of distinction. The actors never went down into it. See **THEATRE**.

**ORCHIA LEX,** instituted by Orchius the tribune in the year of Rome 566. Its intention was to limit the number of guests that were to be admitted in an entertainment; and it is also enforced, that during supper, which was the chief meal among the Romans, the doors of every house should be left open.

**ORCHIS, Foolstones;** a genus of plants belonging to the gynandria class, and in the natural method giving name to the seventh order *Orchidea*. See **BOTANY Index**.

**ORCUS,** god of the infernal regions, the same with Pluto, so called from the Greek word *oikei*, signifying a "tomb or sepulchre," or from *oikei*, "an oath by the river Styx." The ancients gave this name to all the divinities of the infernal regions, even to Cerberus. There was a river of the same name in Thessaly, which took its rise from the marshes of the Styx, and the waters of which were so thick, that they floated like oil upon the surface of the river Peneus, into which they discharged themselves. This river probably suggested to the poets the idea of the infernal abodes, which they denominated Orcus. This deity has been confounded with Charon. He had temple at Rome.

**ORDEAL,** an ancient form of trial. See **TRIAL**.

—It was an appeal to the immediate interposition of divine power, and was particularly distinguished by the appellation of *judicium Dei*; and sometimes *vulgaria purgatio*, to distinguish it from the canonical purgation, which was by the oath of the party. There were two sorts of it more common than the rest, at least in Europe; fire-ordeal, and water-ordeal. The former was confined to persons of higher rank, the latter to the common people. Both these might be performed by deputy; but the principal was to answer for the success of the trial; the deputy only venturing some corporal pain, for hire or perhaps for friendship.

That the purgation by ordeal, of some kind or other, is very ancient, admits not of a doubt; and that it was very universal in the times of superstitious barbarity, is equally certain. It seems even to have been known to the ancient Greeks; for in the Antigone of Sophocles, a person suspected by Creon of a misdemeanor, declares himself ready "to handle hot iron and to walk over fire" in order to manifest his innocence; which the scholiast tells us was then a very usual purgation. And Grotius gives us many instances of water-ordeal in Bithynia, Sardinia, and other places. It seems, however, to be carried to a greater height among the Hindoos, than ever it has been in any nation or among any people, however rude or barbarous; for in a paper of the Asiatic Researches communicated by Warren Hastings, Esq. we find that the *trial by ordeal* among them is conducted in nine different ways: first by the balance; secondly, by fire; thirdly, by water; fourthly, by poison; fifthly, by the Cosha, or water in which an idol has been washed; sixthly, by rice; seventhly, by boiling oil; eighthly, by red-hot iron; ninthly, by images.

I. Ordeal by the balance is thus performed. The beam having been previously adjusted, the cord fixed, and both scales made perfectly even, the person accused and a Pandit fast a whole day; then, after the accused has been bathed in sacred water, the *homa*, or oblation, presented to fire, and the deities worshipped, he is carefully weighed; and when he is taken out of the scale, the Pandits prostrate themselves before it, pronounce a certain *mentra* or incantation, agreeably to the Sastras, and, having written the substance of the accusation on a piece of paper, bind it on his head. Six minutes after, they place him again in the scale; and, if he weigh more than before, he is held guilty; if less, innocent; if exactly the same, he must be weighed a third time; when, as it is written in the *Mitacshera*, there will certainly be a difference in his weight. Should the balance, though well fixed break down, this would be considered as a proof of his guilt.

II. For the fire-ordeal, an excavation, nine hands long, two spans broad, and one span deep, is made in the ground, and filled with a fire of pippal wood: into this the person accused must walk barefooted; and, if his foot be unhurt, they hold him blameless; if burned, guilty (A).

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(A) In Europe fire-ordeal was performed either by taking up in the hand, unhurt, a piece of red-hot iron, of one, two, or three pounds weight; or else by walking, barefoot and blindfold, over nine red-hot ploughshares, laid lengthwise at unequal distances; and if the party escaped being hurt, he was adjudged innocent; but if it happened otherwise, as without collusion it usually did, he was then condemned as guilty. However, by this latter method Queen Emma, the mother of Edward the Confessor, is mentioned to have cleared her character, when suspected of familiarity with Alwyn bishop of Winchester. The first account we have of Christians appealing to the fire-ordeal, as a proof of their innocence, is that of Simplicius, bishop of Autun, who lived in the fourth century. This prelate, as the story is related, before his promotion to the episcopal order, had married a wife, who loved him tenderly, and who unwilling to quit him after his advancement continued to sleep in the same chamber with him. The sanctity of Simplicius suffered, at least in the voice of fame, by the constancy of his wife's affection; and it was rumoured about, that the holy man, though a bishop, persisted, in opposition to the ecclesiastical canons, to taste the sweets of matrimony: upon which his wife, in the presence of a great concourse of people, took up a considerable quantity of burning coals, which she held in her clothes, and applied to her breasts, without the least hurt to her person or her garments, as the legend says; and her example being followed by her husband with the like III. Water-ordeal is performed by causing the person accused to stand in a sufficient depth of water, either flowing or stagnant, to reach his navel; but care should be taken that no ravenous animal be in it, and that it be not moved by much air; a brahman is then directed to go into the water, holding a staff in his hand; and a soldier shoots three arrows on dry ground from a bow of cane; a man is next despatched to bring the arrow which has been shot farthest; and, after he has taken it up, another is ordered to run from the edge of the water; at which instant the person accused is told to grasp the foot or the staff of the brahman, who stands near him in the water, and immediately to dive into it. He must remain under water, till the two men who went to fetch the arrows are returned; for, if he raise his head or body above the surface before the arrows are brought back, his guilt is considered as fully proved. In the villages near Benares, it is the practice for the person who is to be tried by this kind of ordeal, to stand in water up to his navel, and then, holding the foot of a brahman, to dive under it as long as a man can walk 50 paces very gently; if, before the man has walked thus far, the accused rise above the water, he is condemned; if not, acquitted (B).

IV. There are two sorts of trial by poison; first, the pandits having performed their homa, and the person accused his ablution, two rettis and a half, or seven barley-corns of vishanaga, a poisonous root, or of sauchya, that is, white arsenic, are mixed in eight mashas, or 64 rettis, of clarified butter, which the accused must eat from the hand of a brahman; if the poison produce no visible effect, he is absolved; otherwise condemned. Secondly, the hooded snake, called maggga, is thrown into a deep earthen pot, into which is dropped a ring, a seal, or a coin; this the person accused is ordered to take out with his hand; and, if the serpent bite him, he is pronounced guilty; if not, innocent.

V. Trial by the cosha is as follows: the accused is made to drink three draughts of the water, in which the images of the sun, of Devi, and other deities, have been washed for that purpose; and if, within 14 days, he has any sickness or indisposition, his crime is considered as proved.

VI. When several persons are suspected of theft, some dry rice is weighed with the sacred stone called salgram, or certain stocas are read over it; after which the suspected persons are severally ordered to chew a quantity of it: as soon as they have chewed it, they are to throw it on some leaves of pippal, or, if none be at hand, on some b'harja patra, or bark of a tree, from Nepal or Cashmire. The man, from whose mouth the rice comes dry or stained with blood, is holden guilty; the rest is acquitted.

VII. The ordeal by hot oil is very simple: when it is heated sufficiently, the accused thrusts his hand into it; and, if he be not burned, is held innocent (c).

VIII. like success, the silly multitude admired the miracle, and proclaimed the innocence of the loving pair. A similar trick was played by St Brice, in the fifth century. Mosh. Eccl. Hist. vol. ii.

(B) A very peculiar species of water-ordeal is said to prevail among the Indians on the coast of Malabar. A person accused of an enormous crime is obliged to swim over a large river abounding with crocodiles; and if he escapes unhurt, he is esteemed innocent.

At Siam, besides the usual methods of fire and water-ordeal, both parties are sometimes exposed to the fury of a tiger let loose for that purpose; and if the beast spares either, that person is accounted innocent; if neither, both are held to be guilty; but if he spares both, the trial is incomplete, and they proceed to a more certain criterion.

In Europe water-ordeal was performed, either by plunging the bare arm up to the elbow in boiling-water, and escaping unhurt thereby, or by casting the person suspected into a river or pond of cold water; and if he floated therein without any action of swimming, it was deemed an evidence of his guilt; but if he sunk, he was acquitted. It is easy to trace out the traditional relics of this water-ordeal, in the ignorant barbarity still practised in many countries to discover witches, by casting them into a pool of water, and drowning them to prove their innocence. And in the eastern empire the fire-ordeal was used for the same purpose by the emperor Theodore Lascaris; who, attributing his sickness to magic, caused all those whom he suspected to handle the hot iron: thus joining (as has been well remarked) to the most dubious crime in the world, the most dubious proof of innocence.

(c) This species of trial by ordeal is thus performed: The ground appointed for the trial is cleared and rubbed with cow-dung, and the next day at sunrise the Pandit worships Ganesa or the Hindoo Janus, presents his oblations, and pays adoration to other deities, conformably to the Sāstra: then having read the incantation prescribed, he places a round pan of gold, silver, copper, iron, or clay, with a diameter of sixteen fingers, and four fingers deep, and throws into it one sēr, or eighty sicca weight, of clarified butter or oil of sesamum. After this a ring of gold, or silver, or iron, is cleaned and washed with water, and cast into the oil; which they proceed to heat, and when it is very hot put into it a fresh leaf of pippala, or of bilwa: when the leaf is burned, the oil is known to be sufficiently hot. Then, having pronounced a mantra over the oil, they order the party accused to take the ring out of the pan; and if he take it out without being burned, or without a blister in his hand, his innocence is considered as proved; if not, his guilt. It is reported that this custom, with some slight variations, still prevails among the Indians on the coast of Malabar. The process there is said to begin after the accused person has been thoroughly washed in the presence of the prince of the country, the priests, &c.;—the pot is filled with boiling lead; and the accused must take the ring out three times successively. On the Malabar coast, this ordeal seems only to be used when the person is accused of a capital crime; for after the process the arm is bound with cloth and sealed; and after several days, being brought out publicly, and the arm inspected, if it is found burnt he is instantly put to death; if not, his accuser undergoes the same trial, and being burnt, forfeits his life. VIII. In the same manner they make an iron ball, or the head of a lance, red hot, and place it in the hands of the person accused; who, if it burn him not, is judged guiltless.

IX. To perform the ordeal by dharmach, which is the name of the scales appropriated to this mode of trial, either an image, named Dharmas, or the genius of justice, is made of silver, and another, called Adharmas, of clay or iron, both of which are thrown into a large earthen jar; and the accused having thrust his hand into it, is acquitted if he bring out the silver image, but condemned if he draw forth the iron; or, the figure of a deity is painted on white cloth, and another on black; the first of which they name dharmas, and the second adharmas: these are severally rolled up in cow-dung, and thrown into a large jar without having ever been shown to the accused; who must put his hand into the jar, and is acquitted or convicted as he draws out the figure on white or on black cloth.

Though we have proceeded thus far, we have not exhausted Mr Hastings's communication. He goes on to show (to greater extent than our limits permit us to follow him) the manner in which each ordeal above mentioned was executed, giving examples, and unfolding other particulars of some importance in developing the nature of these barbarous customs. For these particulars, however, we must refer to the book itself. But as this subject unquestionably occupies an important department in the history of human superstition, we shall give the Indian law of ordeal from the same paper; when we shall introduce some further particulars concerning this extraordinary custom, which are not to be found in the above account, but which deserve to be noticed.

1. The balance, fire, water, poison, the idol—these are the ordeals used here below for the proof of innocence, when the accusations are heavy, and when the accuser offers to hazard a mulet, (if he should fail):

2. Or one party may be tried, if he please, by ordeal, and the other must then risk an amercement; but the trial may take place even without any wager, if the crime committed be injurious to the prince.

3. The sovereign having summoned the accused while his clothes are yet moist from bathing, at sunrise, before he has broken his fast, shall cause all trials by ordeal to be conducted in the presence of Brahmans.

4. The balance is for women, children, old men, the blind, the lame, Brahmans, and the sick; for the Suddra, fire or water, or seven barley-corns of poison.

5. Unless the loss of the accuser amount to a thousand pieces of silver, the accused must not be tried by the red-hot ball, nor by poison, nor by the scales; but if the offence be against the king, or if the crime be heinous, he must acquit himself by one of those trials in all cases.

6. He who has recourse to the balance must be attended by persons experienced in weighing, and go down into one scale, with an equal weight placed on the other, and a groove (with water in it) marked on the beam.

7. 'Thou, O balance, art the mansion of truth; Ordeal, thou wast anciently contrived by deities: declare the truth, therefore, O giver of success, and clear me from all suspicion.'

8. 'If I am guilty, O venerable as my own mother, then sink me down, but if innocent raise me aloft.' Thus shall he address the balance.

9. If he sink he is convicted, or if the scales be broken: but if the string be not broken, and he rise aloft, he must be acquitted.

10. On the trial by fire, let both hands of the accused be rubbed with rice in the husk, and well examined: then let seven leaves of the Aswattha (the religious fig-tree) be placed on them, and bound with seven threads.

11. 'Thou, O fire, pervadest all beings: O cause of purity, who givest evidence of virtue and of sin, declare the truth in this my hand.'

12. When he has pronounced this, the priest shall place in both his hands an iron ball, red-hot, and weighing fifty palas (D).

13. Having taken it, he shall step gradually into seven circles, each with a diameter of sixteen fingers, and separated from the next by the same space.

14. If, having cast away the hot ball, he shall again have his hands rubbed with rice in the husk, and shall show them unburned, he will prove his innocence. Should the iron fall during the trial; or should a doubt arise (on the regularity of the proceedings), he must be tried again.

15. 'Preserve me, O Varuna, by declaring the truth.' Thus having invoked the god of waters, the accused shall plunge his head into the river or pool, and hold both thighs of a man, who shall stand in it up to his navel:

16. A swift runner shall then hasten to fetch an arrow shot at the moment of his plunging; and if, while the runner is gone, the priest shall see the head of the accused under water, he must be discharged as innocent.

17. 'Thou, O poison, art the child of Brahmā, steadfast in justice and in truth: clear me then from this heavy charge, and if I have spoken truly, become nectar to me.'

18. Saying this, he shall swallow the poison Sārnga, from the tree which grows on the mountain Himālaya; and if he digests it without any inflammation, the prince shall pronounce him guiltless.

19. Or the priest shall perform rites to the image of some tremendous deity; and, having bathed the idol, shall make the accused to drink three handfuls of the water that has dropped from it.

20. If in fourteen days after he suffers no dreadful calamity from the act of the deity or of the king, he must indubitably be acquitted."

The superstitious weakness of mankind, when left to themselves, is astonishing. There is indeed nothing so absurd but they may be made most firmly to believe, nor so impious but they will do. Nor can a more notorious instance of the truth of this assertion be

(D) A pala is four carshas, and a carsha eighty raticas or seeds of the gunga creeper, each weighing above a grain and a quarter, or correctly, 1 1/6 gr. The gross absurdity as well as impiety of pronouncing a man guilty unless he was cleared by a miracle, and of expecting that all the powers of nature should be suspended by an immediate interposition of Providence to save the innocent, when it was even presumptuously required, is self-evident. Yet the origin of it may be traced as well to necessity as to superstition. At the time in which it originated in England, as well as in other countries of Europe, it was no easy matter for an innocent person, when accused of guilt, to get himself cleared by the then established mode of trial. (See Trial.) It was therefore natural for superstition to fly to Heaven for those testimonies of innocence which the absurdity of human laws often prevented men from obtaining in the ordinary way; and in this way doubtless did the trial by ordeal commence; and thus begun by necessitous superstition, it was fostered by impious priestcraft and unjust power. There was during all the processes great room for collusion and deceit; and there can be no question but it was often practised: it could not therefore on any account, or in any case, be a sign of innocence or of guilt.

Besides those particular methods of trial which we have already mentioned, there were some few more common in European countries; as the judicial combat—the ordeal of the cross—the ordeal of the corns.

The judicial combat was well suited to the genius and spirit of fierce and warlike nations, and was, as we may reasonably expect, one of the most ancient and universal modes of trial. We know that it was exceedingly common in Germany in very remote ages. It was also used in some countries on the continent at pretty early periods: it is not, however, mentioned in any of the Anglo-Saxon laws; and it does not appear to have been much used in England till after the Conquest. There are, however, two remarkable instances of it upon record, which we shall give in the words of Dr Henry: "Henry de Essex, hereditary standard-bearer of England, fled from a battle in Wales, A.D. 1158, threw from him the royal standard, and cried out, with others, that the king was slain. Some time after, he was accused with having done this with a treasonable intention, by Robert de Montfort, another great baron, who offered to prove the truth of his accusation by combat. Henry de Essex denied the charge, and accepted the challenge. When all preliminaries were adjusted, this combat was accordingly fought, in the presence of Henry II. and all his court. Essex was defeated, and expected to be carried out to immediate execution. But the king, who was no friend to this kind of trial, spared his life, and contented himself with confiscating his estate, and making him a monk in the abbey of Reading."

"The priory of Tinmouth, in Northumberland, was a cell of the abbey of St Alban's. One Simon of Tinmouth claimed a right to two corrodies, or the maintenance of two persons in the priory, which the prior and monks denied. This cause was brought before the abbot of St Alban's and his court-baron, who appointed it to be tried by combat on a certain day, before him and his barons. Ralf Gubion, prior of Tinmouth, appeared at the time and place appointed, attended by his champion, one William Pegun, a man of gigantic stature. The combat was fought, Pegun was defeated, and the prior lost his cause; at which he was so much chagrined, that he immediately resigned his office. This judicial combat is the more remarkable, that it was fought in the court of a spiritual baron, and that one of the parties was a priest."

We need scarcely add, that this detestable form of trial was the foundation of the no less detestable crime of duelling, which so much disgraces our age and nation; which is defended only by ignorance, false honour, and injustice; which is a relick of barbarous superstition; and which was absolutely unknown to those brave and generous nations, the Greeks and Romans, which it is so much the fashion to admire, and who in this particular so well merit our imitation. See Duel.

It was so much the custom in the middle ages of Christianity, to respect the cross even to superstition, that it would have been indeed wonderful if the same ignorant bigotry had not converted it into an ordeal; accordingly we find it used for this purpose, in so many different ways as almost to preclude description. We shall, however, transcribe, for the satisfaction of our readers, Dr Henry's account of it, and of the corns: "In criminal trials, the judgment of the cross was commonly thus conducted. When the prisoner had declared his innocence upon oath, and appealed to the judgment of the cross, two sticks were prepared exactly like one another: the figure of the cross was cut on one of these sticks, and nothing on the other: each of them was then wrapped up in a quantity of fine white wool, and laid on the altar, or on the relics of the saints; after which a solemn prayer was put up to God, that he would be pleased to discover, by evident signs, whether the prisoner was innocent or guilty. These solemnities being finished, a priest approached the altar, and took up one of the sticks, which was uncovered with much anxiety. If it was the stick marked with the cross, the prisoner was pronounced innocent: if it was the other, he was declared guilty. When the judgment of the cross was appealed to in civil causes, the trial was conducted in this manner: The judges, parties, and all concerned, being assembled in a church, each of the parties chose a priest, the youngest and stoutest that he could find, to be his representative in the trial. These representatives were then placed one on each side of some famous crucifix; and, at a signal given, they both at once stretched their arms at full length, so as to form a cross with their body. In this painful posture they continued to stand while divine service was performing; and the party whose representative dropped his arms first lost his cause.

"The corns, or the consecrated bread and cheese, was the ordeal to which the clergy commonly appealed when they were accused of any crimes; in which they acted a very prudent part, as it was attended with no danger or inconvenience. This ordeal was performed in this manner: A piece of barley bread, and a piece of cheese, were laid upon the altar, over which a priest pronounced certain conjurations, and prayed with great fervency, that if the person accused was guilty, God would send his angel Gabriel to stop his throat, that he might not be able to swallow that bread and cheese. These prayers being ended, the culprit approached the altar," altar, took up the bread and cheese, and began to eat it. If he swallowed freely, he was declared innocent; but if it stuck in his throat, and he could not swallow (which we may presume seldom or never happened), he was pronounced guilty."

There were besides these a variety of other ordeals practised in Christian countries, many of which retain the same names as among Pagans, and differ only in the mode of execution. In all nations of Christians where those trials were used, we find the clergy engaged in them. Indeed, in England, so late as King John's time, we find grants to the bishops and clergy to use the judicium ferris, aquae, et ignis. And, both in England and Sweden, the clergy presided at this trial, and it was only performed in the churches or in other consecrated ground: for which Stermbrook gives the reason, Non definit illis operæ et laboris pretium; semper enim ab ejusmodi judicio aliquid lucri sacerdotibus obveniebat. But, to give it its due praise, we find the canon law very early declaring against trial by ordeal, or vulgaris purgatio, as being the fabric of the devil, cum sit contra praecipuum Domini, Non tentabis Dominum Deum tuum. Upon this authority, though the canons themselves were of no validity in England, it was thought proper (as had been done in Denmark above a century before) to disuse and abolish this trial entirely in our courts of justice, by an act of Parliament in 3 Hen. III. according to Sir Edward Coke, or rather by an order of the king in council.

It may still perhaps be a postulatum with some of our readers how the effects of these trials were evaded, and how it was possible to appear to do, what we know could not be really done, without material injury to the persons concerned: on this subject the learned historian whom we have already quoted, observes with regard to the ordeals in ancient Britain, which, mutatis mutandis, will answer for others, that, "If we suppose few or none escaped conviction who exposed themselves to those fiery trials, we shall be very much mistaken. For the histories of those times contain innumerable examples of persons plunging their naked arms into boiling water, handling red-hot balls of iron, and walking upon burning ploughshares, without receiving the least injury. Many learned men have been much puzzled to account for this, and disposed to think that Providence graciously interposed, in a miraculous manner, for the preservation of injured innocence. But if we examine every circumstance of those fiery ordeals with due attention, we shall see sufficient reason to suspect that the whole was a gross imposition on the credulity of mankind. The accused person was committed wholly to the priest who was to perform the ceremony, three days before the trial, in which he had time enough to bargain with him for his deliverance, and give him instructions how to act his part. On the day of trial, no person was permitted to enter the church but the priest and the accused till after the iron was heated, when twelve friends of the accuser, and twelve of the accused, and no more, were admitted, and ranged along the wall on each side of the church, at a respectful distance. After the iron was taken out of the fire, several prayers were said; the accused drank a cup of holy water, and sprinkled his hand with it, which might take a considerable time if the priest was indulgent. The space of nine feet was measured by the Ordeal, accused himself with his own feet, and he would probably give but scanty measure. He was obliged only to touch one of the marks with the toe of his right foot, and allowed to stretch the other foot as far towards the other mark as he could, so that the conveyance was almost instantaneous. His hand was not immediately examined, but wrapped in a cloth prepared for that purpose three days. May we not then, from all these precautions, suspect that these priests were in possession of some secret that secured the hand from the impressions of such a momentary touch of hot iron, or removed all appearance of these impressions in three days; and that they made use of this secret when they saw reason? Such readers as are curious in matters of this kind may find two different directions for making ointments that will have this effect, in the work here quoted*. What greatly strengthens these suspicions is, that we meet with no example of any champion of the church who suffered the least injury from the touch of hot iron in this ordeal: but when any one was so fool-hardy as to appeal to it, or to that of hot water, with a view to deprive the church of any of her possessions, he never failed to burn his fingers, and lose his cause."

To this we shall add what the learned Beckmann has said concerning the imposition that was probably practised in the ordeal by fire. "I am not acquainted with every thing that concerns the trial by ordeal, when persons accused were obliged to prove their innocence by holding in their hands red-hot iron; but I am almost convinced that this was also a juggling trick of the popes, which they employed as might best suit their views. It is well known that this mode of explication was allowed only to weak persons, who were unfit to wield arms, and particularly to monks and ecclesiastics, to whom, for the sake of their security, that by single combat was forbidden. The trial itself took place in the church, entirely under the inspection of the clergy; mass was celebrated at the same time: the defendant and the iron were consecrated by being sprinkled with holy water; the clergy made the iron hot themselves; and they used all these preparations, as jugglers do many motions, only to divert the attention of the spectators. It was necessary that the accused person should remain at least three days and three nights under their immediate care, and continue as long after. They covered his hands both before and after the proof; sealed and unsealed the covering: The former, as they pretended, to prevent the hands from being prepared any how by art; the latter, to see if they were burnt.

Some artificial preparation was therefore known, else no precautions would have been necessary. It is highly probable, that during the three first days the preventive was applied to those persons whom they wished to appear innocent; and that the three days after the trial were requisite to let the hands resume their natural state. The sacred sealing secured them from the examination of presumptuous unbelievers; for to determine whether the hands were burnt, the three last days were certainly not wanted. When the ordeal was abolished, and this art rendered useless, the clergy no longer kept it a secret. In the 13th century, an account of it was published by Albertus Magnus, a Dominican monk If his receipt be genuine, it seems to have consisted rather in covering the hands with a kind of paste than in hardening them. The sap of the *althea* (marshmallow), the slimy seeds of the *fica-bane*, which is still used for stiffening by the hat-makers and silk-weavers, together with the white of an egg, were employed to make the paste adhere. And by these means the hands were as safe as if they had been secured by gloves.

"The use of this juggling trick is very old, and may be traced back to a Pagan origin. In the Antigone of Sophocles, the guards placed over the body of Polynices, which had been buried contrary to the orders of Creon, offered, in order to prove their innocence, to submit to any trial. We will, said they, take up red-hot iron in our hands, or walk through fire."

**ORDER**, in Architecture, is a system of the several members, ornaments, and proportions of columns and pilasters; or a regular arrangement of the projecting parts of a building, especially the column, so as to form one beautiful whole. See Architecture.

Order is also used for a division or class of anything: thus the tribe of animals called birds is subdivided into six orders. See Ornithology.

Order, in Rhetoric, is the placing of each word and member of a sentence in such a manner, as will most contribute to the force, beauty, or evidence of the whole; according to the genius and custom of different languages.

With regard to order, we may observe in general, that, in English, the nearer we keep to the natural or grammatical order, it is generally the best; but in Latin, we are to follow the use of the best writers; a joint regard being always had to the judgment of the ear, and the perspicuity of the sense, in both languages.

Order is also used for a class or division of the members of the body of a state; with regard to assemblies, precedence, &c.

In this sense, order is a kind of dignity, which, under the same name, is common to several persons; and which, of itself, does not give them any particular public authority, but only rank, and a capacity of arriving at honours and employments.

To abridge this definition, order may be said to be a dignity attended with an aptitude for public employ. By which it is distinguished from an office, which is the exercise of a public trust.

In this sense, nobility is an order, &c. The clericalate is also an order, &c.

Order is also the title of certain ancient books, containing the divine office, with the order and manner of its performance.

Roman order is that wherein are laid down the ceremonies which obtain in the Romish church. See Ritual.

Order, in Botany, is a name given to a subdivision of plants in the Linnæan system. See Botany.

Orders, by way of eminency, or Holy Orders, denote a character peculiar to ecclesiastics, whereby they are set apart for the ministry. See Ordination.

This the Romanists make their sixth sacrament.

In no reformed church are there more than three orders; viz. bishops, priests, and deacons. In the Romish church there are seven, exclusive of the episcopate, all which the council of Trent enjoins to be received, and believed, on pain of anathema.

They are distinguished into petty, or secular orders; and major, or sacred orders.

Orders, the petty, or minor, are for; viz. those of doorkeeper, exorcist, reader, and acolyth.

Those in petty orders may marry without any dispensation; in effect, the petty orders are looked on as little other than formalities, and as degrees necessary to arrive at the higher orders. Yet the council of Trent is very serious about them; enjoins that none be admitted into them without understanding Latin; and recommends it to the bishops, to observe the intervals of conferring them, that the persons may have a sufficient time to exercise the function of each order; but it leaves the bishops a power of dispensing with those rules; so that the four orders are usually conferred the same day, and only make the first part of the ceremony of ordination.

The Greeks disavow these petty orders, and pass immediately to the subdeaconate; and the reformed to the deaconate.

Their first rise Fleury dates in the time of the emperor Justinian. There is no call nor benefice required for the four petty orders; and even a bastard may enjoy them without any dispensation; nor does a second marriage disqualify.

Orders, sacred, or major, we have already observed, are three: viz. those of deacon, priest, and bishop.

The council of Trent, retrieving the ancient discipline, forbids any person being admitted to the major orders, unless he be in peaceable possession of a benefice sufficient for a decent subsistence; allowing no ordinations on patrimonies or pensions, except where the bishop judges it for the service of the church.

A person is said to be promoted to orders per solutum, when he has not before passed the inferior orders. The council of Constantinople forbids any bishop being ordained without passing all the degrees; yet church-history furnishes us with instances of bishops consecrated, without having passed the order of priesthood; and Panormus still thinks such an ordination valid.

Military Orders, are companies of knights, instituted by kings and princes, either for defence of the faith, or to confer marks of honour, and make distinctions among their subjects.

Religious Orders, are congregations or societies of monastics, living under the same superior, in the same manner, and wearing the same habit. Religious orders

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(a) In his work *De Mirabilibus Mundi*, at the end of his book *De Secretis Mulierum*, Amstelod. 1702, 12mo, p. 100. Experimentum mirabile quod facit hominem ire in ignem sine lesione, vel portare ignem vel ferrum ignitum sine lesione in manu. Recipe succum bismalvae, et albumen ovi, et semen psylli et calcem, et pulverizza, et confice cum illo albumine ovi succum raphani; commisce; ex hac confectione illueas corpus tuum vel magnum, et dimitte siccarri, et postea iterum illueas, et post hoc poteris audacter sustinere ignem sine nocimento. orders may be reduced to five kinds; viz. monks, canons, knights, mendicants, and regular clerks. See Monk, Canon, &c.

Father Mabillon proves, that till the ninth century, almost all the monasteries in Europe followed the rule of St Benedict; and that the distinction of orders did not commence till upon the reunion of several monasteries into one congregation: that St Odo, abbot of Cluny, first began this reunion, bringing several houses under the dependence of Cluny: that, a little afterwards, in the 11th century, the Camaldulans arose; then, by degrees, the congregation of Vallombrosa; the Cistercians, Carthusians, Augustines; and at last in the 12th century, the Mendicants. He adds, that Lupus Servatus, abbot of Ferrieres, in the ninth century, is the first that seems to distinguish the order of St Benedict from the rest, and to speak of it as a particular order.

White Order denotes the order of regular canons of St Augustine. See Augustines.

Black Order denoted the order of Benedictines.

These names were first given these two orders from the colour of their habit; but are disused since the institution of several other orders, who wear the same colours.

Gray Order was the ancient name of the Cistercians; but since the change of the habit, the name suits them no more.

Orders, religious military, are those instituted in defence of the faith, and privileged to say mass; and who are prohibited marriage, &c.

Of this kind are the knights of Malta, or of St John of Jerusalem. Such also were the knights Templars, the knights of Calatrava, knights of St Lazarus, Teutonic knights, &c. See Malta, Templar, &c.

Father Putignani accounts those military orders where marriage is not allowed, real religious orders. Papebroch says, it is in vain to search for military orders before the 12th century.

Orders, in a military sense, all that is lawfully commanded by superior officers. Orders are given out every day, whether in camp, garrison, or on a march, by the commanding officer; which orders are afterwards given to every officer in writing by their respective sergeants.

Ordinal, a book containing the order or manner of performing divine service. See Ritual.

Ordinal Numbers, those which express order, as 1st, 2d, 3d, &c.

Ordinance or Ordonnance, a law, statute, or command of a sovereign or superior; thus the acts of parliament are sometimes termed ordinances of parliament, as in the parliament rolls. Though in some cases we find a difference made between the two; ordinances being only temporary things, by way of prohibition; and capable of being altered by the commons alone; whereas an act is a perpetual law, and cannot be altered by king, lords, and commons.

Coke asserts, that an ordinance of parliament differs from an act, as the latter can only be made by the king, and the threefold consent of the estates; whereas the former may be made by one or two of them.

Ordinance of the Forest, is a statute made in the 34th year of Henry I. relating to forest-matters.

In the French jurisprudence, ordinances are such laws as are established by the king's authority alone. All ordinances begin with, à tous présens, et à venir salut.