FIUE HUNDRED POINTES
OF
GOOD HUSBANDRIE.
BY
THOMAS TUSSER.
THE EDITION OF 1580 COLLATED WITH THOSE OF 1573 AND 1577.
TOGETHER WITH A REPRINT, FROM THE UNIQUE COPY IN THE BRITISH
MUSEUM, OF "A HUNDRETH GOOD POINTES OF HUSBANDRIE," 1557.
EDITED (WITH INTRODUCTION, NOTES, AND GLOSSARY) BY
W. PAYNE, ESQ., AND SIDNEY J. HERRTAGE, ESQ., B.A.
LONDON:
PUBLISHED FOR THE ENGLISH DIALECT SOCIETY
BY TRÜBNER & CO., 57 AND 59, LUDGATE HILL.
1878.
PREFACE.
While for all who take an interest in the customs and life of our
ancestors Tusser's writings must always possess considerable interest,
to the Members of the English Dialect Society they are especially
valuable for the large number of dialectic words and forms which they
contain. The Glossary has therefore been made very full, possibly,
in the opinion of some, too full; but as this is the most important
portion of the work to the Society, I have thought it better to err, if
at all, on the right side.
With regard to the preparation of this Edition a few words may be
necessary. As the Members of the Society are aware, the task was
originally undertaken by Mr. W. Payne. Ill-health unfortunately
prevented him from carrying the work to a completion, but to him the
Society is indebted for the supervision of the reprint of the Edition
of 1580, which he collated most carefully with the editions of 1557 and
1577, and to which he added several pieces from those editions, thus
making the present reprint more complete than any yet published. Mr.
Payne also compiled a very complete Index of Words, which has been of
great assistance to me for purposes of reference, and in preparing the
Glossary. The notes also from Tusser Redivivus (marked T.R.) were for
the most part extracted by Mr. Payne.
A reprint of the First Edition of 1557 was not included in the original
programme, but after the work came into my hands an opportunity was
presented through the kindness of Mr. F. J. Furnivall, who lent for the
purpose his copy of the reprint of 1810, of exhibiting the work in its
original form of "One hundreth Points" side by side with the extended
edition of 1580, the last which had the benefit of the author's
supervision. The proof-sheets have been collated with the unique copy
in the British Museum by Miss Toulmin-Smith, to whom I return my thanks
for her kindness, and the correctness of the reprint may consequently
be relied on. From Mr. F. J. Furnivall I have received numerous hints,
and much valuable help, while to Mr. J. Britten, F.L.S., I am indebted
for his kindness in revising and supplementing the notes on the Plants
named in Tusser. But my chief obligations are due to the Rev. W. W.
Skeat, whose uniform kindness has considerably lightened my labours,
and from whom both directly and indirectly (through the notes in his
numerous publications), but more particularly in his noble edition of
Piers Plowman, I have derived the greatest assistance.
S. J. H.
May 14th, 1878.
[Transcriber's note: The original print edition has both page footnotes
and an end section of 'Notes and Illustrations.' In this digital edition,
the page footnotes are grouped at the end of each chapter and renumbered
accordingly: [1], [[2], etc. References to the endnotes are numbered [E1],
[E2], etc. The html version also links words in the main text to their
reference points in the Glossary.
The 'Erratum' on p. xxxii of the print edition has been silently corrected
within the text, and the 'Additional Notes' on p. 317 are now incorporated
within the preceding 'Notes and Illustrations.']
CONTENTS.
PAGE
PREFACE v
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF THE AUTHOR xi
TUSSER'S WILL xxix
Fiue hundred pointes of good husbandrie 1
A lesson how to confer euery abstract with his month, &c. 2
A Table of the Pointes of Husbandrie 3
1. Epistle to Lord W. Paget 5
2. Epistle to Lord T. Paget 7
3. To the Reader 11
4. Introduction to the Booke of Husbandrie 13
5. Preface to the Buier of this Booke 14
6. The Commodities of Husbandrie 15
7. A Riddle 15
8. The Description of Husbandrie 16
9. The Ladder to thrift 17
10. Good husbandlie lessons 18
11. An habitation inforced better late than neuer 27
12. The fermers dailie diet 27
13. Description of the properties of windes at all seasons 29
14. Of the Planets 30
15. Septembers Abstract 31
16. Septembers husbandrie 34
17. A digression to husbandlie furniture 35
18. Octobers abstract 43
19. Octobers husbandrie 47
20. Nouembers abstract 53
21. Nouembers husbandrie 55
22. Decembers abstract 59
23. Decembers husbandrie 61
24. A digression to hospitalitie 65
25. Description of time and the yeare 65
26. Description of life and riches 66
27. Description of housekeeping 67
28. Description of Christmas 67
29. Description of apt time to spend 68
30. Against fantasticall scruplenes 69
31. Christmas husbandlie fare 69
32. A Christmas Caroll 70
33. Januaries abstract 72
34. Of trees or fruites to be set or remooued 76
35. Januaries husbandrie 76
36. Februaries abstract 85
37. Februaries husbandrie 87
38. Marches abstract 91
39. Seedes and herbes for the Kitchen 93
40. Herbes and rootes for sallets and sauce 94
41. Herbes and rootes to boile or to butter 95
42. Strowing herbes of all sortes 95
43. Herbes, branches, and flowers, for windowes and pots 95
44. Herbes to still in Sommer 96
45. Herbes for Physick, etc. 97
46. Marches husbandrie 97
47. Aprils abstract 102
48. Aprils husbandrie 103
49. A lesson for dairie maid Cisley 107
50. Maies abstract 109
51. Maies husbandrie 111
52. Junes abstract 116
53. Junes husbandrie 117
54. Julies abstract 121
55. Julies husbandrie 122
56. Augusts abstract 124
57. Augusts husbandrie 128
58. Corne Haruest equally deuided into ten partes 136
59. A briefe conclusion, each word beginning with the letter T 137
60. Mans age deuided into twelue seauens 138
61. Another diuision of mans age 138
62. Comparison between good and bad husband 139
63. Comparison betweene Champion countrie and seuerall 140
64. Description of an enuious neighbour 146
64.* To light a candell before the Deuill 148
65. A sonet against a slanderous tongue 150
66. Sonet upon the Authors first seuen yeeres seruice 151
67. Dialogue on wiuing and thriuing 152
68. The Authors Epistle to the Ladie Paget 159
69. The Authors Epistle to the Reader 161
70. The Author's Preface to his booke of Huswiferie 162
71. The praise of Huswiferie 163
72. A description of Huswife and Huswiferie 163
73. Instructions to Huswiferie 163
74. A digression to cockcrowing 165
75. Huswiferie morning workes 167
76. Huswifelie breakefast workes 168
77. Huswifelie admonitions or lessons 168
78. Brewing 170
79. Baking 171
80. Cookerie 171
81. Dairie 172
82. Scouring 172
83. Washing 173
84. Malting 173
85. Dinner time huswiferie 174
86. Huswifelie afternoone workes 175
87. Huswifelie euening workes 177
88. Supper time huswiferie 178
89. After Supper workes of huswiferie 179
90. The ploughmans feasting daies 180
91. The good huswifelie Physicke 182
92. The good motherlie nurserie 183
93. A precept of thinking on the poore 183
94. A comparison betweene good huswiferie and euill 184
95. The meanes for children to attaine to learning 185
96. A description of womans age 187
97. The Inholders posie 187
98. Certain Table Lessons 188
99. Lessons for waiting seruants 189
100. Husbandly posies for the hall 190
101. Posies for the parler 190
102. Posies for the gests chamber 191
103. Posies for thine owne bed chamber 192
104. A Sonet to the Ladie Paget 193
105. Principall points of Religion 193
106. The Authors beleefe 194
107. Of the omnipotencie of God and debilitie of man 199
108. Of Almes deedes 200
109. Of malus homo 201
110. Of two sortes of people 201
111. Of what force the deuill is if he be resisted 201
112. Eight of Saint Barnards verses in Latine and English 202
113. Of the Authors departing from the Court 204
114. The Authors life of his own penning 205
115. Of Fortune 216
A hundreth good pointes of husbandrie 219
Epistle to Lord Paget (1557) 220
_Concordia parvæ res crescunt_ 221
Augusts husbandrie 222
Septembers husbandrie 223
Octobers husbandrie 223
Nouembers husbandrie 224
Decembers husbandrie 225
On Christmas 225
Januaries husbandrie 226
Februarys husbandrie 228
Marches husbandrie 229
A digression to huswifrie 229
Aprils husbandrie 229
Mays husbandrie 230
Junes husbandrie 231
Julys husbandrie 232
NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS 235
GLOSSARY 319
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF THE AUTHOR.
Thomas Tusser, the Author of the "Five Hundred Points of Good
Husbandry," was born at Rivenhall,[1] near Kelvedon and Witham, in
the County of Essex, about the year 1525. The exact date of his birth
is uncertain, Warton[2] placing it in 1523, and Dr. Mavor in 1515, in
which he is supported by the inscription on the mural tablet erected to
the memory of Tusser in the church of Manningtree, where he is stated
to have been sixty-five years of age at the time of his death, which
took place in 1580.
Tusser, however, appears to have been elected to King's College,
Cambridge, in 1543, and as he would have become ineligible at nineteen,
his birth cannot have taken place earlier than 1523, and, most
probably, did not take place before 1524 or 1525.
It appears from the pedigree recorded by his nephew, John Tusser, the
son of his eldest brother Clement, at the Herald's Visitation of Essex
in 1570, which is the only record we have of the family, that "William
Tusser, the father, had five sons, Clement, Andrew, John, THOMAS,
and William, and four daughters; the marriages of the daughters are
set down, but no wives assigned to the sons, except to Clement, who
married Ursula Petts, and had issue John (who entered the pedigree),
Edward, and Jane, all three unmarried in 1570. The mother of THOMAS was
[Isabella], a daughter of Thomas Smith, of Rivenhall, in Essex, Esq.,
whose elder brother, Hugh, was ancestor of Smith, Lord Carrington (not
the present lord), sister of Sir Clement Smith, who married a sister of
the Protector Somerset, and first cousin of Sir John Smith, one of the
Barons of the Exchequer in the reign of Edward the Sixth. This match
with Smith I take to have been the chief foundation of gentility in the
Tussers, for I can find no traces of them or their arms before this
connexion."[3]
At a very early age, and notwithstanding his mother's tears and
entreaties, he was placed by his father as a singing-boy in the
Collegiate Chapel of the Castle of Wallingford, in Berkshire, which,
according to Warton,[4] consisted of a dean, six prebendaries, six
clerks, and four choristers, and was dissolved in 1549. He has himself
recorded[5] in his homely and quaint style the hardships which he had
to endure at this school, the bare robes, the college fare, the stale
bread, and the penny ale. The excellence of his voice appears to have
attracted the notice of some of those persons to whom at that time
"placards" or commissions were issued, authorizing them to impress
singing-boys for the King's Chapel.[6] Afterwards, by the good offices
of some friend, he was admitted into the choir of St. Paul's Cathedral,
where he acquired a considerable proficiency in music under the tuition
of John Redford, the organist and almoner, of whom he speaks in terms
of the highest praise. From St. Paul's he was sent to Eton, probably
in 1540 or 1541, "to learn the Latin phrase," and was for some time
a pupil of Nicholas Udall,[7] the author of "Roister Doister," who
appears to have been a second Orbilius, and by whom he was unmercifully
thrashed, receiving on one occasion, "for fault but small, or none at
all," no fewer than fifty-three stripes.
From Eton he passed on to Cambridge, and, as already stated, was
elected to King's College in 1543,[8] but afterwards removed to
Trinity Hall, of which he appears to have retained pleasant memories.
Being obliged by a long illness to discontinue his studies, he left
the University, and joined the Court as a retainer of William, Lord
Paget,[9] by whom he was probably employed as a musician, and of whom
he speaks in terms of praise and affection. In this manner the next ten
years were passed, and during this time his parents died. At the end of
this period, either from disgust at the vices of the Court, or finding,
to use his own words, "the Court began to frown," he retired into the
country, married,[10] and settled down as a farmer at Cattiwade,[11]
a hamlet in the parish of Brantham, in Suffolk, and on the borders of
Essex, where he composed his "Hundredth Good Pointes of Husbandrie,"
the first edition of which appeared in 1557.
In consequence of his wife's ill-health, he removed to Ipswich, "a
town of price, like Paradise." Here his wife died, and he married Amy,
daughter of Edmond Moon, and settled down at West Dereham in Norfolk.
On leaving this town, on account of the litigious character of his
neighbours, he became, probably through the influence of his patron,
Sir Robert Southwell,[12] a lay-clerk or singing-man in the Cathedral
at Norwich, the Dean of which, John Salisbury, appears to have
befriended him in every way.
From Norwich a painful illness caused him to remove to Fairsted, about
four miles from Witham, in Essex, the tithes of which parish he farmed;
becoming involved in "tithing strife," he left that village, and once
more returned to London, where we find him living in St. Giles's,
Cripplegate, in 1572.[13] The plague, however, breaking out,[14] he
returned to Cambridge, where he at last found "a resting plot" in his
favourite College, Trinity Hall, in the choir of which he appears to
have been employed, as he was matriculated as a servant of the College,
probably on May 5th, 1573.[15]
His death, as appears from a paper read before the London and Middlesex
Archæological Society, took place in London, on the 3rd May, 1580, in
the fifty-fifth or fifty-sixth year of his age. His will,[16] which is
dated 25th April of that year, was proved by his son on the 8th August
following.
He was buried in the Church of St. Mildred, in the Poultry, where was
formerly, according to Stow,[17] a monument to his memory, inscribed as
follows:
"Here Thomas Tusser, clad in earth doth lie,
That sometime made the Poyntes of Husbandrie;
By him then learne thou maist, here learne we must,
When all is done we sleepe and turne to dust,
And yet through Christ to heaven we hope to go,
Who reades his bookes, shall find his faith was so."
This inscription is perfectly in character with the man, and was
probably written by Tusser himself.
A mural tablet to his memory has been erected in Manningtree Church in
Essex, with the following inscription: "Sacred to the memory of Thomas
Tusser, Gent., born at Rivenhall, in Essex, and occupier of Braham
Hall[18] near this town, in the reign of King Edward the Sixth, where
he wrote his celebrated poetical treatise, entitled, _Five Hundred
Points of Good Husbandry, etc._ His writings show that he possessed a
truly Christian spirit, and his excellent maxims and observations on
rural affairs evince that he was far in advance of the age in which he
lived. He died in London in 1580, at the age of 65, and was interred in
the parish church of St. Mildred in the Poultry, where the following
epitaph, said to have been written by himself, recorded his memory;"
then follows a copy of the epitaph already given.
The statement in this inscription that he wrote the "Five Hundred
Points" at Braham Hall is incorrect; what he did write there was the
"One Hundred Points of Good Husbandrie," afterwards enlarged to "Five
Hundred Points."
It has been a very generally received opinion that Tusser died in great
poverty. Fuller, in his "Worthies of Essex," p. 334, says, "Whether
he bought or sold, he lost, and when a renter impoverished himself,
and never enriched his landlord; he spread his bread with all sorts of
butter; yet none could stick thereon." Warton also says:[19] "Without
a tincture of careless imprudence, or vicious extravagance, this
desultory character seems to have thrived in no vocation."
Again, in Peacham's "Minerva," a book of emblems printed in 1612, there
is a device of a whetstone and a scythe, with these lines:--
"They tell me, Tusser, when thou wert alive,
And hadst for profit turned every stone,
Where'er thou camest, thou could'st never thrive,
Though hereto best thou could'st counsel every one,
As it may in thy Husbandry appear;
Wherein afresh thou liv'st among us here.
So like thy self, a number more are wont,
To sharpen others with advice of wit,
When they themselves are like the whetstone blunt."[20]
These statements, however, appear to be scarcely borne out by Tusser's
will. By it we find that, at the time of his death, his brother William
owed him £330, a large sum in those days, and, further, that he was
the owner of two small copyhold and leasehold farms. Had he been so
unfortunate in all his undertakings, and been, as Fuller terms him, "a
stone which gathers no moss," Tusser would hardly have been able to
lend his brother such a sum of money. If, however, it be true that he
lived and died poor, we may, in all probability, attribute it to his
love of hospitality, a prominent feature in his character, as well as
to a roving and unsteady disposition.
Dr. Mavor states in the introduction to his edition of 1810, p. 11,
that "it may be inferred from his [Tusser's] own words, that his
happiness was not permanently promoted by this match [his second
marriage]. He seems to complain of the charges incident 'to a wife in
youth,' and had she transmitted her thoughts to posterity, we should
probably have heard some insinuations against an old husband." I fail,
however, to see sufficient grounds for this assertion: on the contrary,
Tusser's words on the only occasion on which he speaks of his second
wife seem to bear an opposite construction:--
"I chanced soon to find a Moon
of cheerful hue;
Which well a fine me thought did shine
And never change--(a thing most strange)
Yet kept in sight her course aright,
And compass true."----Chapt. 114, stanza 19.
It is true that in several passages he speaks of the increased
expenses and responsibilities incident to a married life, but only,
as it appears to me, with the view of deterring others from entering
into that state without carefully considering beforehand the cost and
probable consequences of such a step.
By his first wife Tusser had no children, but by the second, who
survived him, he had three sons, Thomas, John and Edmond, and one
daughter Mary.
His will, which is exceedingly characteristic, is given in full at
the end of this introduction, from a copy in the British Museum,[21]
privately printed in 1846 by Mr. Charles Clark, of Great Totham, Essex,
from a transcript furnished to him by Mr. E. Ventris, of Cambridge, by
whom the original was discovered in the Registry at Ely.[22] At the
end of the will were printed Tusser's metrical Autobiography, and a
few notices from nearly contemporary authors. Mr. Clark also printed
in 1834 a few copies of the original edition of 1557 of the "Hundredth
good Poyntes of Husbandrie."
Tusser was, as may be seen from his writings, a man of high religious
principles, good-natured and cheerful, of a kindly and generous
disposition, and hospitable to a fault. Although he constantly
inculcates economy, he was entirely free from the meanness and pitiful
spirit, which, according to Stillingfleet, made farmers of his time
starve their cattle, their land and everything belonging to them;
choosing rather to lose a pound than spend a shilling. "Mirth and good
cheer," seems to have been his motto, and although he may have been
imprudent in allowing his love of hospitality to be carried to such
an excess as to keep him from independence, yet we cannot help loving
the man, and admiring the justness of his sentiments on every subject
connected with life and morals. Strict as he appears to have been
in all matters connected with religion, he was far from being what
he terms "fantastically scrupulous," or, as we should now say, of a
puritanical disposition. He prefers a merry fellow to a grave designing
villain:--
"Play thou the good fellow! seeke none to misdeeme;
Disdaine not the honest, though merie they seeme;
For oftentimes seene, no more verie a knave,
Than he that doth counterfeit most to be grave."[23]
How strongly, too, does he support the keeping up of the old
"feasting-daies," "Olde customes that good be let no man dispise," the
festivities of Christmas,[24] the Harvest Home, etc. His maxims on the
treatment of servants and dependents are conceived in a truly Christian
spirit, as when he says:--
"Once ended thy harvest, let none be beguil'd,
Please such as did help thee--man, woman, and child;
Thus doing with alway such help as they can,
Thou winnest the praise of the labouring man."
"Good servants hope justly some friendship to feel,
And look to have favour, what time they do well."
And again, such as these--
"Be lowly, not sullen, if aught go amiss,
What wresting may lose thee, that win with a kiss."
"Remember the poor that for God's sake do call,
For God both rewardeth and blesseth withall.
Take this in good part, whatsoever thou be,
And wish me no worse than I wish unto thee."
The versification of Tusser does not call for any lengthened remarks.
The greater portion of his work is written in the same anapæstic metre,
which, though rough, is well adapted for retention in the memory. There
are, however, two exceptions worthy of special notice: firstly, the
"Preface to the Buier" (ch. 5) and the "Comparison between Champion
Countrie and Severall" (ch. 63), which are the first examples of a
metre afterwards adopted by Prior and Shenstone, and generally believed
to have originated with the latter: secondly, the "Author's linked
verses" (ch. 113), a species of what Dr. Guest calls Inverse Rhime
in the following passage from his "History of English Rhythms":[25]
"Inverse Rhime is that which exists between the last accented syllable
of the first section, and the first accented syllable of the second.
It appears to have flourished most in the fifteenth and sixteenth
centuries. I do not remember any instance of it in Anglo-Saxon, but it
is probably of native growth.[26] A kindred dialect, the Icelandic,
had, at an early period, a species of rhime closely resembling the
present--the second verse always beginning with the last accented
syllable of the first. It is singular that the French had in the
sixteenth century a rhime like the Icelandic, called by them _la rime
entrelassée_. The present rhime differed from it, as it was contained
in one verse.... Thus:--
"'These steps| both _reach_|| and _teach_| thou shalt|
To come| by _thrift_|| to _shift_| withal|.'----Tusser.
"'The pi|pers _loud_|| and _loud_|er blew|,
The dan|cers _quick_|| and _quick_|er flew|.'----Burns."
The following are Tusser's principal peculiarities:--
1. The use of a plural noun with a verb singular. This very frequently
occurs. "_Some_," too, is almost invariably treated thus.
2. His omissions and elliptical phrases, such as [while]
_plough-cattle_ [are] _a-baiting_ (85/2); _thy market_ [having been]
_despatched_, 57/45; _a small_ [income] 62/11; in the mottoes of
the months, [work] _forgotten_ [in the] _month past_; and in such
expressions as "_fault known_" 47/22, "_that done_" 55/2, "_who
living_" 26/1, etc.
3. Peculiarities of rime. Tusser appears to have attributed far more
importance to the _outward appearance_ of his riming words, than to
the _reality_ of the rimes. So long as they _appeared_ to rime, it
seems to have mattered little that in _pronunciation_ they were widely
different. We thus find them constantly (_a_) changing the spelling of
words in order to make them _look like_ others; and again (_b_) using
as rimes words which, though similarly spelt, are totally unlike in
pronunciation. The following examples will suffice. In alterations of
orthography we find _weight_ (for wait) to rime with _eight; raies_
(for raise); _mutch_ to rime with _hutch; thease_ to rime with _ease;
ise_ (for ice) to rime with _device; flo_ (for flow) to rime with _fro;
feere_ (for fire or fier) to rime with _Janiveere; tought_ (for taught)
to rime with _thought; cace_ (for case) to rime with _place; waight_
(for wait) to rime with _straight; bilde_, to rime with _childe; thoes_
(for those) to rime with _sloes_, etc.
On the other hand, we find such rimes as the following: _plough, rough;
shew, few; have, save; have, crave; feat, great; overthwart, part;
shal, fal;_ and a very curious instance in Chapter 69, stanza 1, where
_thrive_ is made to rime with _atchive_.
* * * * *
If the number of editions through which an author's works pass be a
proof of merit, as it certainly is of popularity, few writers of his
time can enter into competition with Tusser. During the forty years
from the appearance of the first edition of the "One Hundreth Poyntes"
in 1557 to the end of the sixteenth century, no fewer than _thirteen_
editions of his work are known to have been published. Yet all are
scarce, and few of those surviving are perfect; a proof that what was
intended for practical use had been sedulously applied to that purpose.
"Some books," says Mr. Haslewood, in the "British Bibliographer," No.
iii., "become heir-looms from value; and Tusser's work, for useful
information in every department of agriculture, together with its
quaint and amusing observations, perhaps passed the copies from father
to son, till they crumbled away in the bare shifting of the pages,
and the mouldering relic only lost its value by the casual mutilation
of time." Subjoined is a list of all the various recorded editions,
extracted from Mavor's introduction and other sources.
1557. A Hundreth Good Pointes of Husbandrie. Reprinted here from the
unique copy in the British Museum.
1561. Thomas Hacher had licence for a "dyalogue of wyuynge and
thryuynge of Tusshers, with ij lessons for olde and yonge." Ritson,
though improperly, considers this as a different work from the piece
which appears under the same title in later editions.[27]
1562. It appears probable that this edition, though its existence
is disputed by some, contained the original germ of the Book of
Huswifery, as we find, on the authority of Warton, that in the
preceding year Richard Totell had licence to print "a booke entituled
one hundreth good poyntes of housbondry lately maryed unto a hundreth
poyntes of huswiffry, newly corrected and amplyfyed."[28]
1564. The existence of an edition of this date rests on the authority
of Otridge's Catalogue, 1794. It is probably a misprint for 1562.
1570. A hundreth good pointes of husbandry, lately maried unto a
hundreth good poynts of huswifery: newly corrected and amplified, with
dyuers proper lessons for householders, as by the table at the latter
ende more plainly may appeare. Set foorth by Thomas Tusser, gentleman,
servant to the right honorable lorde Paget of Beudesert. In ædibus
Richardii Tottyli, cum privilegio, Anno 1570.
1573. Five hundreth pointes of good husbandry united to as many of
good huswifery, first devised and more lately augmented, with divers
approved lessons, concerning hopps and gardening and other needful
matters, together with an abstract before every moneth, containing the
whole effect of the sayd moneth, with a table and a preface in the
beginning, both necessary to be reade, for the better understanding
of the booke. Set forth by Thomas Tusser, gentleman, servant to the
honorable lorde Paget of Beudesert. Imprinted at London in Flete
Strete within Temple Barre, at the signe of the hand and starre, by
Richard Tottell. Anno 1573. Cum privilegio.[29]
1577. A reprint of the above, by the same person [but with some
alterations, W.P.].
1580. The edition here reprinted, 4to.
1585. Five hundred pointes, etc. Newly set foorth by Thomas Tusser,
gentleman. At London, printed in the now dwelling house of Henrie
Denham, in Aldersgate Street, at the signe of the Starre.[30]
1586. By Denham, as before. 4to., pp. 164.
1590. By the assignees of Serres.[31]
1593. By Yardley. 4to. (in the Bodleian Library, M.)
1597. By Peter Short. 4to.
1599. Again by Peter Short.[32] Also by Waldegrave in Scotland. 4to.
1604. Printed for the Companie of Stationers. Five hundreth points of
good husbandrie: as well for the Champion or open countrie, as also
for the Woodland or Severall, mixed in every Month with Huswiferie,
over and besides the booke of Huswiferie. Corrected, better ordered
and newly augmented to a fourth part more, with divers other lessons,
as a diet for the farmer, of the properties of winds, plants, hops,
herbs, bees, and approved remedies for sheepe and cattell, with manie
other matters both profitable and not unpleasant for the Reader. Also
two tables, one of husbandrie, and the other of Huswiferie, at the
end of the booke; for the better and easier finding of any matter
contained in the same. Newlie set foorth by Thomas Tusser, gentleman,
etc. (Public Library, Cambridge, M.).
1610. Printed for the Company of Stationers. 4to.[33]
1614. id. id. 4to.
1620. id. id. The orthography in the title in some respects
more obsolete than in earlier impressions: thus we have _moneth_ for
_month_, and _hearbs_ for _herbs_. 4to. In British Museum.
1638. For the Company of Stationers. 4to.[34]
1672. Printed for T. R. and M. D. for the Company of Stationers. 146
pp., exclusive of the tables, closely printed.[35]
1692. Bibliotheca Farmeriana, No. 7349. Haslewood.
All the foregoing editions are in small 4to. black-letter [with roman
and italic headlines and occasional verses, W.P.].
1710. Tusser Redivivus. The Calendar of the twelve months with notes,
published in as many numbers, by Daniel Hilman, a Surveyor of Epsom in
Surry. 8vo. Lond. pp. 150.
1744. The same with a new title-page only. Printed for M. Cooper,
in Paternoster Row; and sold by J. Duncan, in Berkley Square, near
Grosvenor Gate. The title runs thus: Five Hundred points of Husbandry:
directing what grass, corn, etc., is proper to be sown; what trees
to be planted; how land is to be improved; with whatever is fit to
be done for the benefit of the FARMER, in every month of the YEAR.
By Thomas Tusser, Esq. To which are added notes and observations,
explaining many obsolete TERMS used therein, and what is agreeable
to the present practice in several counties of this kingdom. A work
very necessary and useful for gentlemen, as well as occupiers of land,
whether wood-ground or tillage and pasture.
1810. A very correct reprint of the First Edition of 1557 was issued
by R. Triphook and William Sancho.
1812. Five Hundred Points of good Husbandry, as well for the champion
or open country, as for the woodland or several; together with a Book
of Huswifery. Being a Calendar of rural and domestic Economy, for
every month in the year; and exhibiting a Picture of the Agriculture,
Customs, and Manners of England, in the Sixteenth Century. By Thomas
Tusser, Gentleman. A New Edition, with notes, Georgical, Illustrative
and Explanatory, a Glossary, and other Improvements. By William Mavor,
LL.D.,[36] Honorary Member of the Bard of Agriculture, etc.
"Multa renascentur, quæ jam cecidêre, cadentque,
Quæ nunc sunt in honore."---_Hor._
London, printed for Lackington, Allen & Co., Temple of the Muses,
Finsbury-Square, 8vo. 1812. Dedicated to the President and Members of
the Board of Agriculture, pp. 36, xl., and 338.
1834. Mr. Charles Clark of Great Totham, Essex, printed at his private
press a few copies of the original edition of 1557.
1848. A Selection was published at Oxford with the following title:
Five Hundred Points of Good Husbandry, by Thomas Tusser. Now newly
corrected and edited and heartily commended to all true lovers of
country life and honest thrift. By H. M. W. Oxford, 1848, 16mo.
The work is also included in Southey's Select Works of the British
Poets, 143-199.
_Extracts from the Registers of the Stationers' Company._
1557. John Daye had licence to print "the Hundreth poyntes of good
'_Husserie_.'" Regist. Station. A. fo. 23_a_.
1559-60. June 20. T. Marshe had licence "to print the boke of
Husbandry." Ibid. fo. 486. This last title occurs in these registers
much lower.
1561. Richard Tottell was to print "A boke intituled one hundreth good
poyntes of husboundry lately maryed unto a hundreth good poyntes of
Huswiffry newly corrected and amplyfyed." Ibid. fo. 74_a_.
1565. A licence to Alde to print "An hundreth poyntes of evell
huswyfraye," probably a satire or parody on Tusser. Ibid. fo. 131.
[1] The name of Tusser does not appear in the parochial registers at
Rivenhall, which only extend back to 1634. According to Dr. Mavor, the
name and race have long been extinct.
[2] History of English Poetry, 1840, vol. iii. p. 248.
[3] Letter from J. Townsend, Esq., Windsor Herald, to Dr. Mavor, quoted
in his edition of Tusser, p. 7.
[4] History of English Poetry, 1840, vol. iii. p. 248.
[5] See chapter 114, stanza 5.
[6] Dr. Rimbault, in his Cheque Book of the Chapel Royal, quotes the
following from _Liber Niger Domini Regis_ (temp. Edward VI.): "The
children of the Chappelle were 8 in number, with a Master of Songe to
teach them. And when any of the children comene to be xviij yeares of
age, and their voices change, ne cannot be preferred in this Chappelle,
the nombere being full, then, yf they will assente, the kyng assynethe
them to a College of Oxford or Cambridge of his fundatione, there to be
at fynding and studye both suffycyently, tylle the king may otherwise
advanse them."--Query, was Tusser assigned in this way to King's
College, Cambridge?
[7] Nicholas Udall took his degree of M.A. at Oxford in 1534.
[8] Hatcher, MSS. Catalog. Præpos. Soc. Schol. Coll. Regal. Cant.
[9] Of this nobleman, the ancestor of the Earl of Uxbridge, a very
full account is given in Dugdale, from which it appears that he was
born at Wednesbury in Staffordshire, his father being one of the
Serjeants-at-Mace of the city of London. Under Henry VIII. he was
Ambassador to France, and Master of the Post. In 1549 he obtained
a grant of the fee of the house without Temple Bar, first called
Paget House, then Leicester House, and lastly Essex House. Two years
afterwards he was Ambassador to the Emperor Charles V., and in the
same year was called by writ to Parliament by the title of Lord Paget
of Beaudesert, _Com. Salop._, and soon after sent to treat for peace
with France. On the fall of the Duke of Somerset, he was charged
with designing the murder of several noblemen at Paget House, and in
consequence was sent to the Tower, deprived of his honours and offices,
and fined £6000, one-third of which was remitted. On the death of
Edward VI. he joined the Earl of Arundel, the chief champion of Queen
Mary, and gained her favour by his activity. Soon after her marriage
with Philip, he was sent Ambassador to the Emperor at Brussels, to
consult Cardinal Pole respecting the restoration of Popery. In this
reign he was made Lord Privy Seal. Lord Paget died very aged, in 1563,
and was buried at Drayton in Middlesex. He left issue by Anne, daughter
of ---- Prestin, Esq., _Com. Lanc._, three sons and five daughters. His
eldest son Henry succeeded him in the title; but dying in 1568, the
peerage descended to his next brother, Thomas, whom Tusser claims also
for a patron. Thomas being zealously affected to Popery, and implicated
in the plots in favour of Mary Queen of Scots, fled and was attainted
1587, and died three years after at Brussels, leaving one son, Thomas,
who succeeded him.
[10] Of the name and family of his first wife we are entirely ignorant.
[11] In later editions printed Ratwade, and transferred to Sussex, a
mistake into which Warton has fallen.
[12] Tusser is generally supposed to have addressed Sir _Richard_
Southwell as "Thou worthy wight, thou famous knight," but it is clear
that Sir _Robert_ Southwell is intended, for in 1573 Tusser alludes to
Southwell's death as having occurred some years before, but Sir Richard
Southwell did not die till 1579, while Sir Robert died twenty years
previously.--Cooper, Ath. Cant.
[13] His second son, Edmond, was baptized at St. Giles's, Cripplegate,
13th March, 1572-3.
[14] The plague to which Tusser evidently alludes (in stanza 31 of
Autobiography), according to Maitland, raged in London in 1573 and 1574.
[15] Cooper, Ath. Cantab. vol. i. p. 422.
[16] See p. xxix.
[17] Survey of London, ed. 1618, p. 474. The church of St. Mildred was
destroyed in the Great Fire.
[18] Braham Hall was in 1460 the residence of Sir John Braham, and
is about a mile and a half from Manningtree, and in the parish of
Brantham, where Tusser first introduced the culture of barley;
"In _Brantham_ where rye but no barley did grow,
Good barley I had, as a many did know.
Five seam of an acre, I truly was paid,
For thirty load muck of each acre so laid."
--Chapt. 19, st. 9.
The field where barley first grew at Brantham is still pointed out by
tradition.
[19] Hist. of Eng. Poetry, vol. iii. p. 249.
[20] Thus altered in "Recreations for ingenious Head Pieces; or a
pleasant Grove for their Wits to walk in, etc.," 8vo. 1644:--
"Tusser, they tell me, when thou wert alive
Thou, teaching thrift, thyself could'st never thrive:
So, like the whetstone, many men are wont,
To sharpen others, when themselves are blunt."
[21] Shelf-mark, 10817, g.
[22] Notes and Queries, 1st Ser. vol. xii. p. 193.
[23] Chapter 30, stanza 3.
[24]
"What season then better of all the whole yeere
Thy needie poor neighbour to comfort and cheere?"
[25] Vol. i. pp. 136, 7.
[26] A very curious example is printed from Harl. MS. 913 in "Early
English Poems," ed. Furnivall, pp. 21, 2.
[27] This was probably a broadside edition of the Dialogue found in the
Book of Husbandry.
[28] No copy of this date is known to be extant, though it is mentioned
both in Weston's and King's Catalogues.
[29] This is the first edition of "Five Hundred Points."
[30] Differing very little from the preceding. It is probable that
Tusser might have left, before his death, some corrections on the ed.
of 1580, which were introduced into this. After this edition, errors
seem to have multiplied in every successive issue.
[31] In White's Catalogue, 1788; Mr. Ashby saw a copy in possession of
Dr. Lort.
[32] Extremely incorrect. Reprinted in "Somers' Tracts" by Sir W.
Scott, vol. iii. p. 403.
[33] An edition little known, but certainly existing.
[34] Payne's Catalogue, 1773; Deck's, 1792, little known.
[35] In this edition some errors are corrected, and the orthography is
considerably modernized.
[36] Rector of Woodstock.
THE LAST WILL OF THOMAS TUSSER.
In the name of God, Amen, the xxv of Aprill 1580. I, Thomas Tusser,
of Chesterton, in the Countye of Cambridge, Gentleman, being feeble
in bodye, but perfecte in memorie, thanks be to God, doe make and
ordaine this my Last Will and Testament in manner and forme following,
revokinge all other Wills heretofore made. That is to say, Ffirst
and principallye I give and betake my sowle to Allmightie God the
Father (my maker) and to his son Jesus Christ (my onelye Redeemer) by
whose merites I most firmelye beleve and trust to be saved and to be
partaker of lyef everlastinge, and to the Holye Gost (my Comforter)
Three personnes in one ever Godheade, whome I doe most humblye thanke
that he hathe mercifullye kepte me untill this tyme, and that he hathe
given me tyme and space to confesse and bewaile my sinnes, and that he
hathe forgiven me them all, thorough the merites of our Savioure Jesus
Christ, which I doe undoubtedlye beleve, because he hathe mercifullye
promised yt, to whome be praise for ever and ever, Amen.
_Item._ I give and bequeathe unto Thomas Tusser, my eldest Sonne, to
be delivered unto to him within one yere next after my decease Fyftye
Pounds of goode and lawful monye of England, parcell of the Three
Hundrethe and Thirtie Pownds which William Tusser my Brother dothe owe
unto me uppon one recognisaunce wherein he standethe bounde unto me
for the true paiment thereof; and my will is, That suche trustye Frend
or Frends, as shall be hereafter in this my last Will and Testament
named, shall have the use of the said Fiftie Pounds for and duringe
the nonage of my said Sonne Thomas, and untill suche time as he shall
accomplishe and come to the Age of xx and One Yeres, putting in
sufficient suerties for the true paiment thereof unto the said Thomas
my Sonne, and alsoe to paye for and towards the bringinge up of my
said Sonne Thomas, yerelye, the summe of Fyve Pownds untill he shall
accomplish and come to the Age of Twentye and One Yeres; and when my
said Sonne Thomas shall accomplishe his said Age of Twentye and One
Yeres, I will that the said summe of Fyftye Pownds shalbe, within one
monethe next ensueing after the said accomplishment of Twentye and One
Yeres unto him well and trulye contented and paid at one whole and
entire paiment, &c. &c. THOMAS TUSSER.
_Item._ I give unto John Tusser my second Sonne other Fyftie Pownds
of lawfull monye of England due unto me by the foresaid recognisance,
and to be bestowed and employed to his use duringe his minoritie, and
likewise to be paid unto him in suche and as lardge manner and forme
to all constructions and purposes as is before declared of the other
Fyftie Pownds before devised unto my Sonne Thomas Tusser; and also
Fyve Pownds to be paid yerely during his minoritie in manner and forme
before rehersed. THOMAS TUSSER.
_Item._ I give and bequeathe unto Edmond Tusser, my Sonne, and to
Marye Tusser, my daughter, and unto either of them the Summe of Fyftye
Pownds, due to me by force of the foresaid recognisaunce, and to be
bestowed and employed to the seuerall uses and benefitts of them and
either of them duringe their minorities, and likewise to be paid to
either of them in suche and as lardge manner and forme in everie
respect, to all constructions and purposes, as is before declared of
the Fyftye Pownds devised before to my Sonne Thomas Tusser; and also
Fyve Pownds a peece yerelye duringe their minorities, in manner and
forme before rehersed. THOMAS TUSSER.
_Item._ I give and bequeathe unto Amy Tusser, my Wyef, the summe of
Foure score Pownds of lawful monye of England dewe to me by force of
the said recognisaunce, and to be paid unto her within one whole yere
next ensewinge after my decease. THOMAS TUSSER.
_Item._ My will and intent is, That yf my brother William Tusser doe
accordinge unto the intent and true meaninge of this my last Will and
Testament well and truelye pay the foresaid severall summes of monye
before given and bequeathed, unto Amye, my Wyef, to Thomas my Sonne,
and to the rest of my children before named, and alsoe doe from tyme
to tyme and at all times hereafter save and kepe harmles my Heires,
Executors, and Administrators, and everie of them, of and from all
trobles, chardges, and excumbrances, which maye at anye time hereafter
come, rise, or growe for or by reason of any manner of Bonds wherein
I stande bounde for or with him as suertie, That then I give and
bequeathe unto him the summe of Fyftie Pownds being the residue of the
said Summe due unto me by the force of the said recognisance before
rehersed; and yf he doe not well and trulye performe the same, then I
give the said Fiftie Pownds unto my Executors of this my last Will and
Testament. THOMAS TUSSER.
_Item._ I will that yf anye of my children dye before they come to
and accomplishe theire foresaid severall Ages of xxi Yeres that then
I will that his or theire parts or portions shalbe destributed and
equallye divided to and amongst the rest of my other children then
survyveinge. THOMAS TUSSER.
_Item._ I give and bequeathe unto the afore-named Thomas Tusser, my
Sonne, and his Heires, all those seven Acres and a Roode of Copy
holde, which I nowe have lyinge in the Parish or Feilds of Chesterton;
to have and to holde the same, after the deathe of Amye, my Wyef, to
him his Heires and Assignes for ever. THOMAS TUSSER.
_Item._ I give also to the said Thomas Tusser, my Sonne, all suche
Estate and Tearme of Yeares as I have yet to come in a certain Close
called Lawyer's Close, lyinge and beinge in the Parish of Chesterton,
which said Close I have demised unto one William Mosse for the tearme
of one whole Yere begininge at the Feast of St. Gregorye last past,
yeldinge and payeinge for the same xxxvs. Rente, which said Rente
I doe also gyve to my said Sonne Thomas towards his bringinge up in
learninge. THOMAS TUSSER.
_Item._ I give also to the said Thomas my Bookes of Musicke and
Virginalls. THOMAS TUSSER.
_Item._ The residue of all my Bonds, Goods and Chattells, moveable
and immovable in Chesterton aforesaid or ellswhere, beinge in this
my last Will and Testament unbequeathed, I give to Amye, my Wyef,
dischardging all my debts and Funerall Expenses, not amountinge unto
above the summe of Twentye Marckes. And of this my last Will and
Testament I constitute my said Sonne Thomas Tusser my full and whole
Executor; and yf he happen to dye before he accomplishe his full Age
of Twentye and One Yeres, then I doe constitute and make John Tusser,
my second Sonne, my Executor. And yf yt fortune the said John to dye
before he accomplish the Age of xxi Yeares, I constitute and make
Edmond Tusser, my Sonne, my whole Executor; and yf yt happen the said
Edmond do dye before he dothe accomplish and come to the Age of xxi
Yeres, I do then make and constitute Amye Tusser, my Wyef, my full and
whole Executor of this my last Will and Testament. THOMAS TUSSER.
_Item._ I doe constitute ordaine and make one Edmond Moon, Gentleman,
Father to the said Amye, my Wyef, and Grandfather to my forenamed
Children, my said trustie Frend before mentioned in this my said last
Will and Testament, Guardian and Tutor unto my forenamed Children and
Supervisor and Overseer of this my last Will and Testament, unto whome
I doe next under God comitte bothe my Wyef and my forenamed Children
trustinge assuredlye that he will take a fatherlye care over them as
fleshe of his fleshe and bone of his bones. THOMAS TUSSER.
Those whose names be hereunder written beinge Witnesses to this
present last Will and Testament.
JOHN PLOMMER Of Barnard's Inne, in the Countye of Middlesex, Gentleman.
RICHARD CLUE.
THOMAS JEVE.
JAMES BLOWER.
WILIAM HYGEART.
_Mem._ That William Hygeart dwellethe in Southwerke, with Mr. Towlye,
Copper Smith; Richard Clue in St. Nicholas Lane, free of the Merchant
Taylers; Thomas Jeve, Ironmonger; James Blower, Servant, free of
Clotheworkers.
Sealed and delivered in the presence of the parties above named.
JOHN BOOTES.
FRANCIS SHACKELTON, the Parson of St. Myldred's in the Poultrie,
JOHN PLOMMER.
Proved in the Prerogative Court of the Archbishop of Canterbury, the
8th day of August 1580, by his Son, Thomas Tusser.
Fiue hundred pointes of good Husbandrie, as well for the Champion, or
open countrie, as also for the woodland, or Seuerall, mixed in euerie
Month with Huswiferie, ouer and besides the booke of Huswiferie,
corrected, better ordered, and newly augmented to a fourth part more,
with diuers other lessons, as a diet for the fermer, of the properties
of winds, planets, hops, herbes, bees, and approoued remedies for
sheepe & cattle, with many other matters both profitable, and not
vnpleasant for the Reader. Also a table of husbandrie at the beginning
of this booke: and another of huswiferie at the end: for the better and
easier finding of any matter conteined in the same.
Newly set foorth by Thomas Tusser Gentleman, servant to the honorable
Lorde Paget of Beaudesert.
Imprinted at London, by Henrie Denham, dwelling in Paternoster Row, at
the signe of the Starre.
1580.
_A Lesson.
A lesson how to confer euery abstract with his month, & how to finde
out huswiferie verses by the Pilcrowe, and Champion from Woodland._
In euerie month, er[1] in aught be begun,[E1]
Reade ouer that month, what auailes to be dun.
So neither this trauell[2] shall seeme to be lost:
Nor thou to repent of this trifeling cost.
The figure of abstract and month doo agree,
Which one to another relations bee.[E2]
These verses so short, without figure that stand,[3]
Be points of themselues, to be taken in hand.
¶[4]
In husbandrie matters, where Pilcrowe[E3] ye finde,
That verse appertaineth to huswiferie kinde.
So haue ye mo lessons, (if there ye looke well),
Than huswiferie booke doth vtter or tell.