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'd _Martimas_ Biefe."--1639, John Taylor,
Part of this Summers Travels, p. 26.
"_Bacon_ is 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 for _bacon_ it 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 also 21. 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.
"_Spurlings_ are but broad _Sprats_, 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 and _Spurlings_, 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. _Embring_ is a more correct form, being nearer to A.S.
_ymbren_. A connexion with Ger. _quatember_ is out of the question.
[E64] See as to the law relating to fasting and fish days, note E55 on
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 broode
Can no way brede good propertye."
--Song against Idleness, by John Heywood, _circa_ 1540.
"Ah! Sirra! it is an old proverb and a true
I 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.
[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.
[E73] A _gofe_ is a _mow_ (rick); and the _gofe_-ladder is for the
thresher to ascend and descend, in order to throw down the sheaves with
the assistance of the _short pitch-fork_, while the _long_ was probably
for pitching the straw. The _straw-fork_ and _rake_ were to turn the
straw from off the threshed corn, and the _fan_ and _wing_ to clean
it. A _cartnave_ might be required to stand on in this operation. A
_casting 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] A _skep_ is a small basket or wooden vessel with a handle, to
fetch corn in and for other purposes.--M.
[E75] "_Aperne_ is an old provincial pronunciation, adopted from
a still older _napern_ or _nappern_; and Halliwell observes, that
_nappern_ is still the pronunciation in the North of England. This word
is interesting as illustrating two points: (1) the shifting of _r_,
so that the various pronunciations of _apern_ and _apron_ correspond
to the variations _brid_ for _bird_, and _burd_ for _bride_; and (2)
the loss of the initial _n_; for _apron_ is for Fr. _naperon_, a large
napkin; see Roquefort and Wedgwood. _Naperon_, without _n_ and _e_, is
_apron_; without _n_ and _o_, it is _apern_."--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 a _pad_ constructed, 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 a _shod-cart_ or _shod-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 swain
Treads on it daily with his clouted shoon."
In Lancashire a "Clout-nail" is a large nail used for fixing iron
_clouts_ on 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] A _pulling hook_ is 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
the _n_ of 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 nodypoll
_nydyote_" for _idiot_. Other instances of the prefixed _n_ are "nonce,
a nother, nagares (= augers)." Cf. "One axe, a bill, iiij _nagares_, 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 to _Dover_, 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 of _Douer 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,
and _beetels_; 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 the _ploughstaff_ to 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 Danish _moer_ = an unmarried girl. "_Puera_, a woman
chylde, callyd in Cambrydgeshyre a _modder_." "_Pupa_, a yonge wenche,
a gyrle, a _modder_."--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 foolish _mauther_."--Act iv. sc. 7.
Richard Brome also has it in the Eng. Moor, Act iii. sc. i.:
_P._ "I am a _mother_, that do want a service.
_Qu._ O, thou'rt a Norfolk woman (cry thee mercy,)
Where maids are _mothers_, and _mothers_ are 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, 'A _mather_
playing 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] A _cradle_ is 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. "Two pounds of
tar to a pound of pitch," is a good composition for sheep marks.--M.
"Every shepherd used to carry a _tar-box_, called a _tarre-boyste_ in
the Chester Plays, p. 121, or a _terre-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 potte
To 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 be _sealed_ with the seal of the Alderman," etc.
See also the Statute of Sealed Measures, _id._ p. 290.
[E90] _Striking_ is 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 de _dragèe_." "_Dredge_
mault, 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.
"_Dragée_ aux 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 employed to 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] _Shaken_ timber is such as is full of clefts and cracks.
_Bestowe_ and _stick_ it, is to lay the boards neatly on each other,
with sticks between, to admit the air.
[E100] The _hook and line_ is 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 for
_flails_, which is the reading of the other editions.
[E102] Cotgrave has: "Hastiveau, a _hasting_ apple 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, formed the 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. See chap. 35, stanza 6, p. 77, and note E112, 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 is _peeled_ or poor, the grain is _burnt_ or
_steelie_, and if _proud_ (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 name _Turkey 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] _Breadcorne_ and _drinkcorn_ mean 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 into _breadmeal_ (_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 his _breadcorn_ at 40_s._ per quarter." Cf. Piers Plowman, C.
Text, Passus ix. 61: "A boussel of _bredcorne_."
[E111] Hazlitt gives as a proverb: "To play the devil in the bulmong."
An acre of bullimong land was worth 33_s._ 4_d._; see note E370.
[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 somewhat longer 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 "in _September_ or _October_, if the berries be fully ripe."
[E113] A "porkling" was worth 28_d._ at the time. See note E370.
[E114] With reference to the "daintiness" of the Flemings, many of whom
were settled on the East coast, compare the following:
"Now bere and _bacon_ bene fro Pruse ibrought
Into 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 the _Flemmyngis_, amonge these thinges dere,
In comen lowen [love] beste _bacon_ and 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 a _wiuell_,
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 called _bowds_."--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 golde _bowde_,
and mykhede [size] of twyis and þryis atte moste of a gold _bowde_, a
chouere, oþer vulgal can y non þerfore."--Arundel MS. 42, f. 64. The
name _gold bowde_ probably denotes a species of _Chrysomela_, Linn.
Way, in Prompt. Parv.
[E117] See note E5 on "A Medicine for the Cowlaske." Sloes gently
baked in an oven are best preserved. They are an excellent 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 wrote _beasty_ originally. In Pegge's Forme of
Cury, 1780, p. 111, are given two recipes for the prevention of
_Restyng_ in Venisoun.