over-aw'd

Updated: August 6, 2026

These poor Men having lain a long while in Prison, for little or no Crime, at last were advis'd to apply themselves to the Law for Discharge; the Law would fairly have Discharg'd them; for in that Country, no Man may be Imprison'd, but he must in a certain Time be Tryed, or let go upon pledges of his Friends, much like our giving Bail on a Writ of Habeas Corpus; but the Judges, whether over-aw'd by the Feathers, or what was the Cause, Authors have not determin'd, did not care to venture Discharging them.

Daniel Defoe - The Consolidator : or, Memoirs of Sundry Transactions from the World in the Moon