Chapter 23

[E55]"That flesh might be more plentifull and better cheaper, two daies in the weeke, that is Fryday and Saturday, are specially appointed to fish, and now of late yeares, by the prouidence of our prudent Princesse, Elizabeth, the Wednesday also is in a manner restrained to the same order, not for any religion or holinesse supposed to be in the eating of fish rather than of flesh, but onely for the ciuill policie as I haue said. That as God hath created both for man's use, so both being used or refrained at certaine seasons, might by that entercourse be more abundant. And no doubt, if all daies appointed for that purpose were duly obserued, but that flesh and fish both would be much more plentifull, and beare lesse price than they doe. For accounting the Lent season, and all fastingdaies in the yeare together with Wednesday and Friday and Saturday, you shall see that the one halfe of the yeare is ordeined to eate fish in."—Cogan's Haven of Health, ed. 1612, p. 138."It is lawfull for euerie man to feed vpon what soeuer he is able to purchase, except it be vpon those daies whereon eating of flesh is especiallie forbidden by the lawes of the realme, which order is taken onelie to the end our numbers of cattell may be the better increased, and that aboundance of fish which the sea yeeldeth, more generallie receiued. Beside this, there is great consideration had in making of this law for the preseruation of the nauie, and maintenance of conuenient numbers of sea faring men, both which would otherwise greatlie decaie, if some meanes were not found whereby they might be increased."—Harrison, Descript. of Eng. part i. p. 144.The following menu for a fish day is given in the Liber Cure Cocorum, p. 54, ed. Morris:"For a servise on fysshe day.Fyrst white pese and porray þou take,Cover þy white heryng for goddys sake;Þen cover red heryng, and set abufe,And mustard on heghe, for goddys lufe;Þen cover salt salmon on hast,Salt ele þer wyth on þis course last.For þe secunde course, so god me glad,Take ryse and fletande fignade,Þan salt fysshe and stok fysshe take þou schalle,For last of þis course, so fayre me falle.For þe iii cours sowpys done fyne,And also lamprouns in galentyne,Bakun turbut and sawmon ibakeAlle fresshe, and smalle fysshe þou takeÞerwith, als troute, sperlynges, and menwus with al,And loches to horn sawce versance shal."See also the Babees Book, ed. Furnivall, p. 50.

"It is lawfull for euerie man to feed vpon what soeuer he is able to purchase, except it be vpon those daies whereon eating of flesh is especiallie forbidden by the lawes of the realme, which order is taken onelie to the end our numbers of cattell may be the better increased, and that aboundance of fish which the sea yeeldeth, more generallie receiued. Beside this, there is great consideration had in making of this law for the preseruation of the nauie, and maintenance of conuenient numbers of sea faring men, both which would otherwise greatlie decaie, if some meanes were not found whereby they might be increased."—Harrison, Descript. of Eng. part i. p. 144.

The following menu for a fish day is given in the Liber Cure Cocorum, p. 54, ed. Morris:

"For a servise on fysshe day.

Fyrst white pese and porray þou take,Cover þy white heryng for goddys sake;Þen cover red heryng, and set abufe,And mustard on heghe, for goddys lufe;Þen cover salt salmon on hast,Salt ele þer wyth on þis course last.For þe secunde course, so god me glad,Take ryse and fletande fignade,Þan salt fysshe and stok fysshe take þou schalle,For last of þis course, so fayre me falle.For þe iii cours sowpys done fyne,And also lamprouns in galentyne,Bakun turbut and sawmon ibakeAlle fresshe, and smalle fysshe þou takeÞerwith, als troute, sperlynges, and menwus with al,And loches to horn sawce versance shal."

See also the Babees Book, ed. Furnivall, p. 50.

[E56]"Setteth his soule vpon sixe or on seauen," that is, risks his life on the cast of a die.

[E57]"Sit downe Robin and rest thee." I was inclined to think that this was the burden of some ballad, but Mr. Chappell, to whom I applied, is of opinion that it was not."An habitation inforced," etc.,i.e.it is better to settle down, even late in life, than not at all. Comp.chap. 10, stanza 8, p. 19.

[E57]"Sit downe Robin and rest thee." I was inclined to think that this was the burden of some ballad, but Mr. Chappell, to whom I applied, is of opinion that it was not.

"An habitation inforced," etc.,i.e.it is better to settle down, even late in life, than not at all. Comp.chap. 10, stanza 8, p. 19.

[E58]For a great portion of the year the only animal food eaten was in a salted state. In the autumn as much meat was cured as would last the winter; and until the pastures had been for some time abundant, that is, not until Midsummer, there were no means of fattening cattle. After the winter months, veal and bacon were welcomed as the precursors of fresh beef; and those who livednear the sea-coast enjoyed the addition of fresh fish; but the state of the roads prevented the inland parts of the country partaking of this benefit. The consumption of fish during Lent and on other fast-days, comprising a great part of the year, being expressly directed by statute, the people, even after the abolition of the old religion, provided themselves at several large fairs held almost expressly for the sale and distribution of salt-fish.

[E59]"Veale and Bakon is the man,"i.e.is the proper food, or is in season.

[E60]"Martilmas beef," beef killed at Martinmas, and dried for winter use. "Biefe salted, dried up in the chimney, Martlemas biefe."—Hollyband's Dict. 1593. See note to l. 383 of Wallace, in Specimens of Eng. Literature, ed. Skeat, p. 391."Beefe is a good meate for an Englysshe man, so be it the beest be yonge, and that it be not kowe-flesshe; for olde beefe and kowe-flesshe doth ingender melancolye and leporouse humoures. Yf it be moderatly powderyd, that the groose blode by salte may be exhaustyd, it doth make an Englysshe man stronge, the education of hym with it consyderyd. Martylmas beef, whiche is called 'hanged beef' in the rofe of the smoky howse, is not laudable; it maye fyll the bely, and cause a man to drynke, but it is euyll for the stone, and euyll of dygestyon, and maketh no good iuce. If a man haue a peace hangynge by his syde, and another in his bely, that the whiche doth hange by the syde shall do hym more good, yf a showre of rayne do chaunse, than that the which is in his bely, the appetyde of mans sensualyte notwithstandynge."—Andrew Boorde's Dyetary, E. E. Text Soc. edit. F. J. Furnivall, chap. xvi."In a hole in the same Rock was three Barrels of nappy liquour; thither the Keeper brought a good Red-Deere Pye, cold Roast Mutton, and an excellent shooing-horn of hang'dMartimasBiefe."—1639, John Taylor, Part of this Summers Travels, p. 26."Baconis good for carters, and plowe men, the which be euer labouryng in the earth or dunge; but and yf they haue the stone and vse to eate it, they shall synge 'wo be to the pye!' Wherefore I do say that coloppes and egges is as holsome for them as a talowe candell is good for a horse mouth, or a peece of powdred Beefe is good for a blere eyed mare."—A. Boorde, Regyment, fo. K iii. b."As forbaconit is in no wise commended as wholsome, especially for students, or such as haue feeble stomacks. But for labouring men it is conuenient according to that Latine prouerbe, grosse meate for grosse men."—Cogan's Haven of Health, p. 116.

"Beefe is a good meate for an Englysshe man, so be it the beest be yonge, and that it be not kowe-flesshe; for olde beefe and kowe-flesshe doth ingender melancolye and leporouse humoures. Yf it be moderatly powderyd, that the groose blode by salte may be exhaustyd, it doth make an Englysshe man stronge, the education of hym with it consyderyd. Martylmas beef, whiche is called 'hanged beef' in the rofe of the smoky howse, is not laudable; it maye fyll the bely, and cause a man to drynke, but it is euyll for the stone, and euyll of dygestyon, and maketh no good iuce. If a man haue a peace hangynge by his syde, and another in his bely, that the whiche doth hange by the syde shall do hym more good, yf a showre of rayne do chaunse, than that the which is in his bely, the appetyde of mans sensualyte notwithstandynge."—Andrew Boorde's Dyetary, E. E. Text Soc. edit. F. J. Furnivall, chap. xvi.

"In a hole in the same Rock was three Barrels of nappy liquour; thither the Keeper brought a good Red-Deere Pye, cold Roast Mutton, and an excellent shooing-horn of hang'dMartimasBiefe."—1639, John Taylor, Part of this Summers Travels, p. 26.

"Baconis good for carters, and plowe men, the which be euer labouryng in the earth or dunge; but and yf they haue the stone and vse to eate it, they shall synge 'wo be to the pye!' Wherefore I do say that coloppes and egges is as holsome for them as a talowe candell is good for a horse mouth, or a peece of powdred Beefe is good for a blere eyed mare."—A. Boorde, Regyment, fo. K iii. b.

"As forbaconit is in no wise commended as wholsome, especially for students, or such as haue feeble stomacks. But for labouring men it is conuenient according to that Latine prouerbe, grosse meate for grosse men."—Cogan's Haven of Health, p. 116.

[E61]The farmers in old times were greater economists than now. "Old crones and such old things," it seems, fell commonly to their own share, while the best meat was probably sold.—M. Compare also21. 1.

[E62]"All Saints doe laie," etc. All Saints' Day expects or lays itself out for pork and souse, sprats and smelts for the household."When it [the bore] is killed, scalded, and cut out, of his former parts is our brawne made, the rest is nothing so fat, and therefore it beareth the name of sowse onelie, and is commonly reserved for the serving-man and hind, except it please the owner to have anie part ther of baked, which are then handed of custome after this manner. The hinder parts being cut off, they are first drawne with lard, and then sodden; being sodden, they are sowsed in claret wine and vineger a certeine space and afterward baked in pasties, and eaten of manie in steed of the wild bore, and trulie it is very good meat. The pestles [legs] may be hanged up a while to drie before they be drawne with lard if you will, and thereby prove the better."—Harrison, Descrip. of Eng. part ii. p. 11."Spurlingsare but broadSprats, taken chiefly on our Northern coast; which being drest and pickled as Anchovaes be in Provence, rather surpass them than come behind them in taste and goodness.... As for Red Sprats andSpurlings, I vouchsafe them not the name of any wholesome nourishment, or rather of no nourishment at all; commending them for nothing, but that they are bawdes to enforce appetite and serve well the poor man's turn to quench hunger."—Muffett, p. 169, quoted in The Babees Book, ed. Furnivall. "Smelt = Spirling or Sparling in Scotland, Salmo Sperlanus."—Yarrell, Names of British Fishes. "A Sperlynge,ipimera, sperlingus."—Catholicon Anglicum. See also Glossary to Specimens of Early Eng., ed. Morris and Skeat.

[E62]"All Saints doe laie," etc. All Saints' Day expects or lays itself out for pork and souse, sprats and smelts for the household.

"When it [the bore] is killed, scalded, and cut out, of his former parts is our brawne made, the rest is nothing so fat, and therefore it beareth the name of sowse onelie, and is commonly reserved for the serving-man and hind, except it please the owner to have anie part ther of baked, which are then handed of custome after this manner. The hinder parts being cut off, they are first drawne with lard, and then sodden; being sodden, they are sowsed in claret wine and vineger a certeine space and afterward baked in pasties, and eaten of manie in steed of the wild bore, and trulie it is very good meat. The pestles [legs] may be hanged up a while to drie before they be drawne with lard if you will, and thereby prove the better."—Harrison, Descrip. of Eng. part ii. p. 11.

"Spurlingsare but broadSprats, taken chiefly on our Northern coast; which being drest and pickled as Anchovaes be in Provence, rather surpass them than come behind them in taste and goodness.... As for Red Sprats andSpurlings, I vouchsafe them not the name of any wholesome nourishment, or rather of no nourishment at all; commending them for nothing, but that they are bawdes to enforce appetite and serve well the poor man's turn to quench hunger."—Muffett, p. 169, quoted in The Babees Book, ed. Furnivall. "Smelt = Spirling or Sparling in Scotland, Salmo Sperlanus."—Yarrell, Names of British Fishes. "A Sperlynge,ipimera, sperlingus."—Catholicon Anglicum. See also Glossary to Specimens of Early Eng., ed. Morris and Skeat.

[E63]"Embrings." Ember days or weeks, set apart for consecrating to God the four seasons of the year, and for imploring his blessing by fasting and prayer. They were settled by the Council of Placentia A.D. 1095.—M.Embringis a more correct form, being nearer to A.S.ymbren. A connexion with Ger.quatemberis out of the question.

[E64]See as to the law relating to fasting and fish days, noteE55on 10. 51.

[E65]"Leaue anker in mud,"i.e.drift, and break away from their anchorage.

[E66]"It is an ill winde turnes none to good,"i.e.turns to good for none."An yll wynd that blowth no man good,The blower of whych blast is she;The lyther lustes bred of her broodeCan no way brede good propertye."—Song against Idleness, by John Heywood,circa1540."Ah! Sirra! it is an old proverb and a trueI sware by the roode!It is an il wind that bloues no man to good."—Marriage of Wit and Wisdom, 1570.Quoted in Hazlitt's Handbook of Proverbs, p. 240.

[E66]"It is an ill winde turnes none to good,"i.e.turns to good for none.

"An yll wynd that blowth no man good,The blower of whych blast is she;The lyther lustes bred of her broodeCan no way brede good propertye."—Song against Idleness, by John Heywood,circa1540.

"Ah! Sirra! it is an old proverb and a trueI sware by the roode!It is an il wind that bloues no man to good."—Marriage of Wit and Wisdom, 1570.

Quoted in Hazlitt's Handbook of Proverbs, p. 240.

[E67]"If great she appereth,"i.e.if seen through a dense atmosphere, which causes her to appear much larger, it is an indication of approaching rain. The reverse is the case when the atmosphere is rare, and the orb of the moon appears small.

[E68]"Tyde flowing is feared," etc. "The Spaniards think that all who die of chronic diseases breathe their last during the ebb."—The Doctor, p. 207. Compare also in David Copperfield, "Mr. Barkis going out with the tide." Tusser, however, seems to mean that it was the flow and not the ebb which was dangerous to sick persons.

[E69]"He that fast spendeth must need borrow,But when he must pay again, then is all the sorrow."—MS. of 15th cent. in Rel. Antiqua, vol. i. p. 316.

[E69]

"He that fast spendeth must need borrow,But when he must pay again, then is all the sorrow."—MS. of 15th cent. in Rel. Antiqua, vol. i. p. 316.

[E70]September is the month when the annual labours of agriculture begin their round, and it is therefore, justly, put first in the Calendar of farming. Some, indeed, take their bargains from Lady-day; but this is by no means so convenient as Michaelmas.—M.

[E71]The off-going tenant of champion or open field, as is still customary, allows the in-coming tenant to summer fallow that portion of the ground which is destined for wheat. But the occupier of woodland or inclosures holds the whole till the expiration of his term, unless certain stipulations are made by lease; and without a lease, neither the real interest of the tenant nor the landowner can be consulted.—M.

[E72]"Buieng or selling of pig in a poke," i.e. making a blind bargain."A good cochnay coke,Though ye loue not to bye the pyg in the poke,Yet snatche ye at the poke, that the pyg is in,Not for the poke, but the pyg good chepe to wyn."—Heywood's Dialogue (1546), ed. 1562, part ii. cap. 9.See also Hazlitt's Handbook of English Proverbs, p. 413.

[E72]"Buieng or selling of pig in a poke," i.e. making a blind bargain.

"A good cochnay coke,Though ye loue not to bye the pyg in the poke,Yet snatche ye at the poke, that the pyg is in,Not for the poke, but the pyg good chepe to wyn."—Heywood's Dialogue (1546), ed. 1562, part ii. cap. 9.

See also Hazlitt's Handbook of English Proverbs, p. 413.

[E73]Agofeis amow(rick); and thegofe-ladder is for the thresher to ascend and descend, in order to throw down the sheaves with the assistance of theshort pitch-fork, while thelongwas probably for pitching the straw. Thestraw-forkandrakewere to turn the straw from off the threshed corn, and thefanandwingto clean it. Acartnavemight be required to stand on in this operation. Acasting shovel, such as maltmen use, enables the farmer to select the best and heaviest grain for seed, as they always fly farthest if thrown with equal force.—M.

[E74]Askepis a small basket or wooden vessel with a handle, to fetch corn in and for other purposes.—M.

[E75]"Aperneis an old provincial pronunciation, adopted from a still oldernapernornappern; and Halliwell observes, thatnappernis still the pronunciation in the North of England. This word is interesting as illustrating two points: (1) the shifting ofr, so that the various pronunciations ofapernandaproncorrespond to the variationsbridforbird, andburdforbride; and (2) the loss of the initialn; forapronis for Fr.naperon, a large napkin; see Roquefort and Wedgwood.Naperon, withoutnande, isapron; withoutnando, it isapern."—Rev. Walter W. Skeat in N. & Q. 1869.

[E76]"To make whyte lethyre. Take halfe an unce of whyte coperose and di. ȝ. of alome, and salle-peter the mowntance of the yolke of an egge, and yf thou wolle have thy skynne thykke, take of whetmele ij handfulle, and that is sufficient for a galone of water; and if thou wolle have thy skynne rynnyng, take of ry mele ij handfulle, and grynd alle thyes saltes smale, and caste hem into lewke warme water, and let heme melt togedyre, and so alle in ewene warme water put therein thy skynne. And if hit be a velome skynne, lett hit be thereinne ix days and ix nyȝtes ... and if hit be a parchement skyne, let hit ly thereinne iv days and iv nyȝtes; ... thanne take coperose of the whyttest the quantité of ij benys for j skynne and the yolke of j egge, and breke hit into a dysse, and than put water over the fyre, and put thereinne thy coperas, and than put thy yolke in thy skyne, and rub hit alle abowte, and thanne ley thy skynne in the seyde water, and let hit ly, ut dictum est."—From the Porkington MS. 15th cent.

[E77]A Pannel and Ped have this difference, the one is much shorter than the other, and raised before and behind, and serves for small burdens; the other is longer and made for Burdens of Corn. These are fastened with a leathern Girt, called a Wantye.—T.R. Miss Mitford, in her "Recollections," writes that her father, who used to ride a favourite gentle blood-mare, had apadconstructed, perched and strapped upon which, and encircled by his arm, she used to accompany him.

[E78]A cart or wagon whose wheels are hooped and clouted with iron is called in Lincoln ashod-cartorshod-wain. In the Paston Letters, ed. Gairdner, vol. ii. p. 245, we have "clot shon" = boots tipped with iron. "Clowte of a shoo,pictasium."—Prompt. Parv. Cf. Milton, Comus, l. 634:"The dull swainTreads on it daily with his clouted shoon."In Lancashire a "Clout-nail" is a large nail used for fixing ironcloutson the wooden axle-trees of carts.

"The dull swainTreads on it daily with his clouted shoon."

In Lancashire a "Clout-nail" is a large nail used for fixing ironcloutson the wooden axle-trees of carts.

[E79]"Ten sacks," each holding a coome or four bushels, are only sufficient for a single load of wheat; but farms were not so large, nor the produce so great when Tusser wrote.

[E80]Apulling hookis a barbed iron for drawing firing from the wood stack.—M.

[E81]"A nads" = an adze, an instance (like a nall = an awl, above) of thenof the article being joined to the following vowel.Similarly we have "atte nale" = at the ale-house, a corruption of A.S. æt þan ale.—See Piers Plowman, ed. Skeat, B. Text, Prologue, l. 43. So in Sir Thomas More's Workes, 1557, p. 709, we have "A verye nodypollnydyote" foridiot. Other instances of the prefixednare "nonce, a nother, nagares (= augers)." Cf. "One axe, a bill, iiijnagares, ij hatchettes, an ades," etc.—Shakspereana Genealogica, 1869, p. 472.

[E82]"A Douercourt beetle" is explained by Dr. Mavor as "one that is large (like the rood of Dover once so celebrated) and capable of making a great noise," and he adds that "there is an old proverb 'A Dover Court: all speakers and no hearers.'" But this explanation is entirely erroneous: there is no reference whatever toDover, but, as the following extract will show, a Dovercourt beetle simply means one made of the wood of the elms of Dovercourt in Essex, which were celebrated for their soundness and lasting qualities: "Of all the elms that euer I saw, those in the south side ofDouer court, in Essex neere Harwich, are the most notable, for they growe, I meane, in crooked maner, that they are almost apt for nothing else but nauie timber, great ordinance, andbeetels; and such thereto is their naturall qualitie, that being vsed in the said behalfe, they continue longer, and more long than anie the like trees in whatsoeuer parcell else of this land, without cuphar [cracking], shaking or cleauing, as I find."—Harrison, Descr. of Eng. part i. p. 341.

[E83]In the Hist. of Hawsted, Suffolk, by Sir J. Cullum, 2nd ed. p. 216, we are told that there, in the 14th century, oxen were as much used as horses; and, in ploughing heavy land, would go forward where horses would stop. "A horse kept for labour ought to have every night the 6th part of a bushel of oats; for an ox, 3½ measures of oats, 10 of which make a bushel, are sufficient for a week."

[E84]"The ploughstaff is alluded to by Strutt (Manners and Customs, ii. 12): 'The ploughman yoketh oxen to the plough, and he holdeth the plough-stilt [i.e.principal hale or handle] in his left hand, and in his right hand theploughstaffto break the clods.' See plate 32 (vol. i.) in Strutt, and the picture of a plough at work prefixed to Mr. Wright's edition of Piers the Plowman, copied from MS. T. [MS. R. 3. 14, Trin. Coll. Camb.]."—Piers Plowman, ed. Skeat, B. vi. 105.

[E85]"Moether" [and "mother",16. 14.]. This word is derived by Sir H. Spelman from Danishmoer= an unmarried girl. "Puera, a woman chylde, callyd in Cambrydgeshyre amodder." "Pupa, a yonge wenche, a gyrle, amodder."—Elyot's Lat. Dict. 1538. "Fille, a maid, girle,modder, lasse."—Cotgrave. Ben Jonson uses the word in his "Alchymist": "Away, you talk like a foolishmauther."—Act iv. sc. 7. Richard Brome also has it in the Eng. Moor, Act iii. sc. i.:P."I am amother, that do want a service.Qu.O, thou'rt a Norfolk woman (cry thee mercy,)Where maids aremothers, andmothersare maids.""I have been informed by an intelligent friend, who is a native of Norfolk, that on a certain trial in that county, it was asked who was the evidence of what had been stated. The answer was, 'Amatherplaying on a planchard.' The Judge was nonplussed, till the meaning was explained, namely, 'A girl playing on the floor.'"—M.

P."I am amother, that do want a service.

Qu.O, thou'rt a Norfolk woman (cry thee mercy,)Where maids aremothers, andmothersare maids."

"I have been informed by an intelligent friend, who is a native of Norfolk, that on a certain trial in that county, it was asked who was the evidence of what had been stated. The answer was, 'Amatherplaying on a planchard.' The Judge was nonplussed, till the meaning was explained, namely, 'A girl playing on the floor.'"—M.

[E86]"Hoigh de la roy," that is, excellent or proper; but why, I cannot say.

[E87]Acradleis a three-forked instrument of wood, on which the corn is caught as it falls from the scythe, and thus is laid in regular order. It is heavy to work with; but is extremely useful for cutting barley or oats, which are intended to be put into sheaves.—M.

[E88]Tar was the common salve for all sores in cattle. "Twopounds of tar to a pound of pitch," is a good composition for sheep marks.—M. "Every shepherd used to carry atar-box, called atarre-boystein the Chester Plays, p. 121, or aterre-powghe(= tar pouch) in P. Pl. Crede, l. 618. It held a salve containing tar which was used for anointing sores in sheep. Compare"Heare is tarre in a potteTo heale from the rotte."—Chester Plays, p. 120.See also History of Agriculture and Prices in England, by J. E. Thorold Rogers, vol. i. p. 31. Note to P. Plowman, ed. Skeat, C. x. 262-264.

"Heare is tarre in a potteTo heale from the rotte."—Chester Plays, p. 120.

See also History of Agriculture and Prices in England, by J. E. Thorold Rogers, vol. i. p. 31. Note to P. Plowman, ed. Skeat, C. x. 262-264.

[E89]"Sealed and true,"i.e.certified and stamped as correct. In Liber Albus, ed. Riley, p. 233, we read: "No brewster or taverner shall sell from henceforth by any measure but the gallon, pottle, and quart; and that these shall besealedwith the seal of the Alderman," etc. See also the Statute of Sealed Measures,id.p. 290.

[E90]Strikingis the last ploughing before the seed is committed to the ground; previously to which the ridges are to be harrowed.

[E91]"Sowe barlie and dredge." In the 13th century the grain crops chiefly cultivated in England were wheat, "berecorn,"dragg, or a mixture of vetches and oats, beans and pease. The regulations for the brewers of Paris in 1254 prescribe that they shall brew only "de grains, c'est à savoir d'orge de mestuel, et dedragèe." "Dredgemault, malt made of oats, mixed with barley malt, of which they make an excellent quick sort of drink."—Bp. Kennett's Gloss. "A mixture of oates and barley; and at present used very seldom in malting."—T.R. "Dragéeaux chevaux, provender of divers sorts of pulse mixed together."—Cotgrave. From Way's Notes in Prompt. Parv. s. v. Dragge.

[E92]Forby (Vocab. 1830) says: "Crow-keeper, a boy employedto scare crows from new sown land. Lear, in his madness, says: 'That fellow handles his bow like a crow-keeper.' Besides lustily whooping, he carries an old gun, from which he cracks a little powder, and sometimes puts in a few stones, but seldom hits, and still seldomer kills a crow." Cf. Romeo and Juliet, Act i. sc. 4: "Scaring the ladies like a crow-keeper."

[E93]A Marsh Wall is a Sea bank, made with considerable slope to sea-ward, which is called a Break or Breck; it is faced with Turf which sometimes is worn by the sea, or Holes made in it by Crabs, etc. The Foreland is a piece of Land that lies from the foot of the Bank to Sea-ward, and must be well look'd after, that it wear not away or come too near the Bank (as the Workmen term it).—T.R.

[E94]A brawner should be kept cool and hard, which encreaseth his shield, as the skin of the shoulder is called.—M.

[E95]Measles in hogs are small round globules or pustules that lie along the muscles; and are occasioned by uncleanness and want of water.—M.

[E96]The retting of hemp, as it is called, should be done with care. It should be taken out of the water as soon as it begins to swim. The smell left by hemp and flax is extremely unpleasant, as travellers in the flax districts of the North of Ireland well know.

[E97]"In time of plenty of mast, our red and fallow deere will not let to participat thereof with our hogs, more than our nete: yea, our common pultrie also, if they may come vnto them. But as this abundance dooth prooue verie pernicious vnto the first, so the egs which these latter doo bring foorth (beside blackenesse in color and bitternesse of tast,) haue not seldome beene found to breed diuerse diseases vnto such persons as haue eaten of the same."—Harrison, Descrip. of Eng. part i. p. 339.

[E98]If your dog sets chaunting (crying) these lawless hogs, haunting (or frequenting) your fields so often, he does you a benefit.

[E99]Shakentimber is such as is full of clefts and cracks.Bestoweandstickit, is to lay the boards neatly on each other, with sticks between, to admit the air.

[E100]Thehook and lineis a cord with a hook at its end to bind up anything with, and carry it away.—M.

[E101]"Flaies," probably a misprint in the edition of 1580 forflails, which is the reading of the other editions.

[E102]Cotgrave has: "Hastiveau, ahastingapple or peare;" and "Hastivel, as Hastiveau; or a soon-ripe apple, called the St. John's apple." Lacroix (Manners, Customs, etc., during the Middle Ages, p. 116) mentions "hastiveau, an early sort of pear."

[E103]"Vergis and perie." "Verjuice is well known to be the juice of Crabs, but it is not so much taken notice of, that for strength and flavour it comes little short if not exceeds lime-juice."—T.R. "Verjuice, or green juice, which, with vinegar, formedthe essential basis of sauces, and is now extracted from a species of green grape, which never ripens, was originally the juice of sorrel; another sort was extracted by pounding the green blades of wheat."—Lacroix, Manners, Customs and Dress, during the Middle Ages, p. 167.

[E104]Make up your hedges with brambles and holly. "Set no bar" = put no limit, do not leave off planting quicksets while the months have an R in their names. Seechap. 35, stanza 6, p. 77, and noteE112, for 19. 33.

[E105]Laying up here signifies the first plowing, for Barley it is often plow'd, so as that a Ridge-balk in the middle is covered by two opposite furrows.—T.R.

[E106]By Fallow is understood a Winter-fallow, or bringing Ground to a Barley Season.—T.R.

[E107]"Brantham" parish, in Essex, in which Cattiwade is situated, and the place where Tusser first commenced farming. The average yield of corn in his time was, on each acre well tilled and dressed, twenty bushels of wheat, thirty-two of barley, and forty of oats and pulse.

[E108]Wheat does not thrive well either on very poor or very rich land. If the land ispeeledor poor, the grain isburntorsteelie, and ifproud(too heavily manured), the grain is apt to run to straw.

[E109]"There grows in several parts of Africa, Asia, and America, a kind of corn called Mays, and such as we commonly nameTurkey wheat. They make bread of it, which is hard of digestion, heavy in the stomach, and does not agree with any but such as are of a robust and hail constitution."—A Treatise on Foods, by Mons. L. Lemery, London, 1704, p. 71.

[E110]Breadcorneanddrinkcornmean wheat and barley, the first being used for the making of bread, the second for malting purposes. Mr. Peacock, in his Glossary of Manley, etc., has: "Breadcorn, corn to be ground intobreadmeal(i.e.flour with only a portion of the bran taken out, from which brown bread is made); not to be used for finer purposes. It is a common custom of farmers, when they engage a bailiff, to give him a certain sum of money per annum, and to allow him also hisbreadcornat 40s.per quarter." Cf. Piers Plowman, C. Text, Passus ix. 61: "A boussel ofbredcorne."

[E111]Hazlitt gives as a proverb: "To play the devil in the bulmong." An acre of bullimong land was worth 33s.4d.; see noteE370.

[E112]According to Norden (Surveyor's Dialogue, 1607, p. 239) the best mode of making a quickset hedge is as follows: "The plants of whitethorne, mixed here and there with oke and ash"; if the plants are not easily procured, then "the berries of the white or hawthorne, acornes, ash keyes mixed together, and these wrought or wound up in a rope of straw, wil serve, but they will be somewhatlonger in growing. Make a trench at the top or in the edge of the ditch, and lay into it some fat soyle, and then lay the rope all along the ditch, and cover it with good soile also, then cover it with the earth, and ever as any weedes or grasse begins to grow, pull it off and keepe it as cleane as may be from all hindrances, and when the seeds begin to come, keepe cattle from bruising them, and after some two or three yeares, cut the yong spring by the earth, and so will they branch and grow thick, and if occasion serve, cut them so again alwayes, preserving the oake and ashe to become trees." The best time to lay the berries in this manner is "inSeptemberorOctober, if the berries be fully ripe."

[E113]A "porkling" was worth 28d.at the time. See noteE370.

[E114]With reference to the "daintiness" of the Flemings, many of whom were settled on the East coast, compare the following:"Now bere andbaconbene fro Pruse ibroughtInto Flaundres, as loved and fere isoughte;Osmonde [a kind of iron], coppre, bowstaffes, stile [steel], and wex,Peltre-ware [hides], and grey, pych, terre, borde, and flex,And Coleyne threde, fustiane, and canvase,Corde, bokeram; of olde tyme thus it wase.But theFlemmyngis, amonge these thinges dere,In comen lowen [love] bestebaconand bere.Thus arre they hogges; and drynkyn wele ataunt [so much];Farewel, Flemynge! hay, harys, hay, avaunt!"—Wright's Political Songs, ii. 171.

[E114]With reference to the "daintiness" of the Flemings, many of whom were settled on the East coast, compare the following:

"Now bere andbaconbene fro Pruse ibroughtInto Flaundres, as loved and fere isoughte;Osmonde [a kind of iron], coppre, bowstaffes, stile [steel], and wex,Peltre-ware [hides], and grey, pych, terre, borde, and flex,And Coleyne threde, fustiane, and canvase,Corde, bokeram; of olde tyme thus it wase.But theFlemmyngis, amonge these thinges dere,In comen lowen [love] bestebaconand bere.Thus arre they hogges; and drynkyn wele ataunt [so much];Farewel, Flemynge! hay, harys, hay, avaunt!"—Wright's Political Songs, ii. 171.

[E115]Light fire, as it is termed, is still used in Norfolk.—M.

[E116]"Bowd eaten malt." "The more it be dried (yet must it be doone with soft fire) the sweeter and better the malt is, and the longer it will continue, whereas if it be not dried downe (as they call it), but slackelie handled, it will breed a kind of worme, called awiuell, which groweth in the floure of the corne, and in processe of time will so eat out it selfe, that nothing shall remaine of the graine but euen the verie rind or huske."—Harrison, Description of England, part i. pp. 156-7. R. Holme says that "the Wievell eateth and devoureth corn in the garners; they are of some people calledbowds."—Acad. of Arm. Bk. ii. p. 467. "Bruk is a maner of flye, short and brodissh, and in a sad husc, blak hed, in shap mykel toward a goldebowde, and mykhede[size] of twyis and þryis atte moste of a goldbowde, a chouere, oþer vulgal can y non þerfore."—Arundel MS. 42, f. 64. The namegold bowdeprobably denotes a species ofChrysomela, Linn. Way, in Prompt. Parv.

[E117]See noteE5on "A Medicine for the Cowlaske." Sloes gently baked in an oven are best preserved. They are anexcellent and cheap remedy for laxity of the bowels, in men or cattle, if judiciously used.—M.

[E118]Dr. Mavor suggests that as Tusser is pretty correct in his rhymes, he probably wrotebeastyoriginally. In Pegge's Forme of Cury, 1780, p. 111, are given two recipes for the prevention ofRestyngin Venisoun.

[E119]"Stouer."Stoveris the term now applied to the coarser hay made of clover and artificial grasses, which is kept for the winter feed of cattle. But in Shakespeare's time the artificial grasses were not known in England, and were not introduced till about the middle of the seventeenth century. In Cambridgeshire I am informed that hay made in this manner is not called "stover" till the seeds have been threshed out. In the sixteenth century the word was apparently used to denote any kind of winter fodder except grass hay. Compare"Thy turfy mountains, where live nibbling sheep,And flat meads thatch'd withstover, them to keep."—Shakspere, Tempest, Act iv. sc. I;and Drayton, Polyolbion, xxv. 145,"And others from their Carres, are busily about,To draw out Sedge and Reed, for Thatch andStoverfit.""Stover" is enumerated by Ray among the South-and East-Country words as used in Essex, and is to be found in Moor's Suffolk Words and Forby's Vocabulary of East Anglia.

"Thy turfy mountains, where live nibbling sheep,And flat meads thatch'd withstover, them to keep."—Shakspere, Tempest, Act iv. sc. I;

and Drayton, Polyolbion, xxv. 145,

"And others from their Carres, are busily about,To draw out Sedge and Reed, for Thatch andStoverfit."

"Stover" is enumerated by Ray among the South-and East-Country words as used in Essex, and is to be found in Moor's Suffolk Words and Forby's Vocabulary of East Anglia.

[E120]See noteE61.

[E121]In cleaning corn forseed, castingor throwing it with acasting shovel(see17. 1) from one heap to another, in order to select the heaviest grains, which will always go farthest, is an excellent practice: but inmalting, this is not necessary, as the light grains and seeds of weeds may be skimmed off in the cistern.—M.

[E122]Wheat is well known to work better in grinding and baking after it has undergone a natural heat in the rick or mow. Wheat that is threshed early keeps with difficulty.—M.

[E123]"Rauening curres" seem to have been as great a nuisance in Tusser's time as at present, in spite of what Dr. Mavor terms one of the "few patriotic taxes which we have to boast of."

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