ye oughte to doe, but while they lyve so sinfully as they doe, we have no dread[3] on them, for theyr God shall not helpe them. And then I asked him how that he knew the state of Chrysten men in that maner, & he sayde that he knewe well both of lordes and of commons, by his messengers which he sent through all the countreys as it were merchants with precious stones & other marchandise to know the manner of euery countrey. And then he did call againe all the lordes into his chamber to us & then shewed he unto me iiii persons that were great lordes of that countrey, that shewed me the maner of my countrey, and of all Christendome, as though they had bene men borne in the same partes, and they speak french right well and the Soudain also, and then I had greate marvaile of this slaunder of our faith and so they that should bee turned by our good examples to the fayth of Jesu Christe, they are drawen away through our evyl living, and therefore it is no wonder if that they call us evyll, for they saye soth, but the Sarasins are true for they kepe truly the commaundements of their Alkaron that God sent them by his messenger Machomet, to whome they say, Gabryell the Aungell spake often, and tolde to him the will of God. [Footnote 1: Spirit.] [Footnote 2: Turning.] [Footnote 3: Fear of.] CAP. XLVI. _Of the byrth of Machomet._ AND ye shall understande y^t Machomet was borne in Araby, and that he was first a pore drudge & kept horse & went after marchaundise. And so he came once into Egipt with marchaundise & Egipt was the same time Christen, & there was a chappell besyde Araby, & there was an hermite & when he came to the chappell y^t was but a lyttle house and a lowe, as sone as he entered, it began to be as great as it were of a palas gate and that was the first miracle that the Sarasyns saye that he did in his youth. After began Machomet to be wise and rich and became a great Astronomer, and sithen was he keper of the lande of the prince Corodan and governed it full well, in such maner that when the prince was dead he maryed the lady y^t men call Quadryge.[1] And Mahomet fell often in the falling evill,[2] wherefore the lady was wroth that she had taken him unto hir husband, & he made hir to understande that every tyme that he fell so, he said that Gabriel the aungell spake to him, and for the great brightnesse of the aungell he fell downe. This Machomet raigned in Araby the yeare of our Lord, vi hundred and xx[3] and he was of the kinde of Ismael that was Abrahams son that he begat of Agar, and other are called Sarasins of Sara, but some are called Moabites and some Amenites after the two sons of Loth. And also Machomet loved well a good man an hermite that dwelled in the wildernesse a myle from Mounte Sinay in the way as men go from Araby to Caldee, and a dayes journey fro the sea where marchaunts of Venice come, and Machomet went so often to this hermyte that all his men were