> as lemmas

a1398 J. Trevisa tr. Bartholomaeus Anglicus De Proprietatibus Rerum (BL Add. 27944) (1975) I. vi. xviii. 318 A man..is not iset ouer resonabil beestis but ouer vnresona[b]le bestis.

c1400 tr. Aelred of Rievaulx De Institutione Inclusarum (Vernon) (1984) 30 (MED) Among alle resonable creatures þise beþ foles..in þe whyche..wyl and lust dureþ in hem of stench of synne.

?c1400 (c1380) G. Chaucer tr. Boethius De Consol. Philos. (BL Add. 10340) (1868) v. pr. iv. l. 4809 Man is a resonable t[w]o-footid beest.

c1475 ( Surg. Treat. in MS Wellcome 564 f. 81^v (MED) Among alle manere of beestis man is holden moost resonable and moost noble.

c1485 ( G. Hay Bk. Law of Armys (2005) 60 Or lang tyme be gane, thare sall men yat ar callit resonable, do mare bestly dedis.

1502 tr. Ordynarye of Crysten Men (de Worde) Prol. sig. a.i Every creature resonable vnto whome god hath gyuen mynde & understandynge.

1588 T. Kyd tr. T. Tasso Housholders Philos. f. 8^v Man, a reasonable creature, whose dignity doth come so neere the Angels.

1650 Bp. J. Taylor Rule & Exercises Holy Living i. 9 Let your imployment be such as may become a reasonable person.

1678 A. Seller Devout Communicant (ed. 4) App. 263 The distinguishing goodness of the great and holy God..in making me a reasonable Creature, his Servant, his Son.

1725 I. Watts Logick iii. ii. §5 If every Creature be reasonable, every Brute is reasonable.

1791 E. Burke Appeal New to Old Whigs 130 For man is by nature reasonable.

1852 H. B. Stowe Uncle Tom's Cabin I. xvi. 255 You ought to educate your slaves, and treat them like reasonable creatures.

1902 Carter-Higginson tr. Epictetus in W. James Varieties Relig. Experience xix. 474 But since I am a reasonable creature, it is my duty to praise God.

1988 T. Brown Ireland's Lit. ix. 139 The essentially Swiftian lesson that Man is less a reasonable creature than one capable of reason when the circumstances permit.