and with one of the five several mixtures next following in this Chapter, fill up the other half of those pottes: This done, cover the mouth of every pot with a piece of canvass bound hard about the mouth of the pot, and well imbued in melted brimstone. Also tie round about the middle of every pot a packthreed, and then hang upon the same packthreed round about the pot so many Gunmatches of a finger length as you will, & when you wil throe any of these pottes among enemies, light the same gun-matches that they may so soone as the pot is broken with his fall uppon the ground, fire the mixture of the potte. Or rather put fire to the mixture at the mouth of the pot, & by so doing make the same to burn before you doe throe the potte from you, because it is a better and more surer way than the other: I meane than to fire the said mixture after the pot is broken with burning gunmatches. Moreover this is to be noted, that the small pottes do serve for to be throne out of one ship into an other in fight upon the sea, and that the great pots are to be used in service upon the land for the defence of towns, fortes, walls, and gates, and to burn such things as the enemies shall throe into ditches for to fill up the same ditches, and also to destroy enemies in their trenches and campes" By the mid-17th century, fire pots had largely been replaced by shells filled with explosives, which may be seen as the direct descendants of military fire pots. Religion and the arts There is an element of mystery in fire, which at times has led to fire worship. Fire pots have been used in religious ceremonies for thousands of years . It would be inappropriate, and probably impossible, to cover all religious uses of fire pots in this article, but a few examples are relevant. Censers A Censer is any type of vessel made for burning incense. They range from simple earthenware bowls to intricately carved silver or gold vessels, small table top objects a few centimetres tall to as many as several metres high. In many cultures, burning incense has spiritual and religious connotations, and this influences the design and decoration of the censer. Before