> as lemmas

a1275 St. Margaret (Trin. Cambr.) l. 179 in A. S. M. Clark Seint Maregrete & Body & Soul (Ph.D. diss., Univ. of Michigan) (1972) 62 Sclawen was þe dragun þoru þe uertu of þe rod.

c1300 Holy Cross (Laud) 346 in C. Horstmann Early S.-Eng. Legendary (1887) 11 (MED) Þoruȝ vertue of þe holie croiz he ouer-cam alle is fon.

c1380 Sir Ferumbras (1879) l. 5053 Þe barouns..prayede god þorw vertue of hem Schold sauye hem thar fro heþe men.

c1400 Brut (Rawl. B. 171) 237 (MED) He come to þe Gildehall of London, and axede þe keies of þe ȝates of þe citee þrouȝ vertue and strengh of his commission.

1432 Charter Edinb. Reg. House No. 285 Throw uertu of a letter of baileȝere ȝifin to me.

1595 T. Bedingfield tr. N. Machiavelli Florentine Hist. ii. 28 In the old time we see, that through vertue of these Collonies, Citties were often made new.

a1658 J. Durham Heaven upon Earth (1685) 361 To flee to Jesus Christ, and through virtue of his satisfaction and blood..to rest on him for pardon.

1793 Gentleman's Mag. Nov. 1014/2 The forts, harbours, &c. were theirs, not through virtue of their territorial possessions, but purchased.

1871 Once a Week 2 Dec. 489/2 She holds the crown through virtue of succession through her sister.

1923 Pop. Mech. June 29 Vital organs function through virtue of the contracting power of the muscles.

1955 Washington Post 10 Nov. 38/3 A tight-lipped man is he and only through the virtue of its well-known beneficence has CARE prevailed on him to face the public.

1989 O. Sacks Seeing Voices ii. 60 Nor are we, as parents, called on to ‘teach’ our children language; they acquire it, or seem to, in the most automatic way, through virtue of being children.