patriotic sumptuary tax has diminished the number of dogs, we have
still 'thousands too manie.' [This may with truth be said even still.]
However, as Lent now makes little difference in the mode of living,
which it certainly did in the earlier period of the Reformation, our
dogs are not driven by our meagre fare to prey on the lambs; and
therefore need not be particularly watched on this account.--M. Mastif
is derived from O. Fr. _mestif_ = a mongrel (Cotgrave). In the Craven
dialect a great dog is still called a _masty_. See note E35.
[E274] By "hooke or by crooke" occurs in Spenser, Faery Queene, Bk. v.
Canto 2, stanza 27; also in Heywood's Works, 1562, reprint 1867, p. 35.
[E275] No trees appear preferable to willows for fencing hop grounds;
and none are said to be worse than elms, as they attract mildews.--M.
[E276] "What better to skilfull," etc., that is, what can be more
profitable to the experienced farmer than to know when to be bold, that
is, to venture the early sowing of barley?
[E277] The Mayweed (_Anthemis cotula_) is common in corn-fields and
hedgerows. "May-weed or stinking camomile."--T.R. "Resembling cammomil
but of a stinking savour and odious to bees." Coles' Dict. 1676.
[E278] Cockle or _Cokyl_ was used by Wycliffe and other old writers in
the sense of a weed generally, but in later works has been confined to
the _gith_ or _corn-pink_.
[E279] Our author's meaning is, sow barley, oats and pease above
furrows and harrow them in; while rye is best ploughed in with a
shallow furrow.
[E280] "Without cost," that is, on which no expense has been incurred.
[E281] Watering is necessary in dry seasons for what is fresh _set_ or
planted, but not for what is newly sown.
[E282] It is to be lamented, both on account of the health and the
finances of the poor, that they are so much attached, either to solid
food, or to watery infusions of tea. Herbs, pulse and roots might often
supersede more expensive articles of diet. Spoonmeat, in this part of
the island at least, is in no high request at this period, though it
appears to have been indispensable formerly.--M.
[E283] "There remaineth yet a third kinde of meats, which is neither
fish nor flesh, commonly called _white meats_, as egges, milk, butter,
cheese, which notwithstanding proceede and come of flesh, as egges from
the henne, and milk from the cowe. Yet because they are not plainely
flesh, they are permitted to be eaten upon the fish daies."--Cogan's
Haven of Health, ed. 1612, p. 149.
"But how soeuer this case standeth, _white meats_, as milke, butter
and cheese, which were neuer so deere as in my time, and woont to be
accounted of as one of the chiefe staies throughout the Iland, are now
reputed as foods appertinent onelie to the inferiour sort, whilest such
as are more wealthie, doo feed vpon the flesh of all kinds of cattell
accustomed to be eaten, all sorts of fish taken vpon our coasts and in
our fresh rivers, and such diuersitie of wild and tame foules as are
either bred in our Iland or brought ouer vnto vs from other countries
of the maine."--Harrison, Descript. of England, ed. Furnivall, Part
I. p. 144. _White meats_ in Lincoln now mean the flesh of lamb, veal,
rabbits, chickens, pheasants, etc.
[E284] "Count best the best cheape": "For it doth the buyer more credit
and service."--Ray. We still say "Cheap and nasty;" and in the Towneley
Mysteries, p. 102, there is the same sentiment:
"Men say lyght chepe
letherly for yeeldys,"
equivalent to our English proverb: "Light cheap, litter yield."
[E285] It is always advisable to pay carpenters their fair wages,
without any allowance of chips, which is a great temptation for them
to waste timber.--M. In hewing timber, if the workman hews square, the
seller of the timber loses all the gain of the _Wane edges_, which gain
in short is a cheat, although a very customary one.--T.R.
[E286] "Within these fortie yeeres we shall haue little great timber
growing aboue fortie yeeres old; for it is commonlie seene that those
yong _staddles_ which we leaue standing at one and twentie yeeres
fall, are vsuallie at the next sale cut downe without any danger of
the statute, and serue for fire bote, if it please the owner to burne
them."--Harrison, Part I. p. 345. "There is a Statute made, 35 Henry
the 8, and the 1 Eliz. for the presentation of timber trees, Oake,
Ash, Elme, Aspe, and Beech: and that 12 storers and _standils_ should
bee left standing at euery fall, vpon an acre."--Norden's Surveyor's
Dialogue, 1607, p. 213. On the decrease in woods, etc., in England,
see Harrison's Description of England (New Shakspere Soc. edit. F. J.
Furnivall, Part I. p. 344) and Norden's Surveyor's Dialogue, 1607, p.
214, in the latter of which one cause is stated to be the large number
of hammers and furnaces for the manufacture of iron, and the quantity
of charcoal used in the glass-houses; there being, as he says: "now
or lately in Sussex, neere 140 hammers and furnaces for iron, and in
it, and Surry adjoyning 3,400 glasse houses: the hammers and furnaces
spend, each of them, in every 24 houres 2, 3 or foure loades of
charrcoale."--p. 215. "There is a Law in Spaine, that he that cuts down
_one Tree_, shall plant _three_ for it."--A Treatise of Fruit Trees, R.
A. Austin, Oxford, 1657, p. 128.
[E287] "Leaue oxen abrode," etc. The Author of Tusser Redivivus is
supported in his reading of this line by the edition of 1597, which has
"leaue _not_ oxe abrode." The sense, however, may possibly be, "keep
oxen at a distance, for fear of injuring the young shoots." "_Springe_
or ympe that commeth out of the rote."--Huloet's Abcedarium, 1552.
"Keep from biting, treading underfoot, or damage of beasts ... whereby
mischief may be done to the _Springs_, during the time limited by the
statute for such kind of wood."--Brumby Lease, 1716, in Peacock's
Glossary, E. Dial. Soc.
[E288] "Meet with a bootie," etc., that is, as we say, find something
which was never lost.
[E289] Wanteth = is without, does not keep.
[E290] "Waine her to mee." Perhaps = waggon, that is, "drive, carry her
to me," but it is a forced expression.
[E291] "Such maister such man." Another form of the proverb is, "Trim,
Tram; like master, like man." "Tel maître, tel valet" (Fr.).
[E292] Compare with Tusser's description of the faults to be avoided in
the making of cheese the following extracts on the same subject:
"Now what cheese is well made or otherwise may partly be perceiued by
this old Latine verse:
Non nix, non Argos, Methusalem, Magdaleneve,
Esaus, non Lazarus, caseus ille bonus.
That is to say, Cheese should not be white as Snowe is, nor full of
eyes as Argos was, nor old as Methusalem was, nor full of whey or
weeping as Marie Magdalen was, nor rough as Esau was, nor full of spots
as Lazarus. Master Tusser in his Booke of husbandrie addeth other
properties also of Cheese well made, which who so listeth may read.
Of this sort for the most part is that which is made about Banbury
in Oxfordshire: for of all cheese (in my judgement) it is the best,
though some preferre Cheshire Cheese made about Nantwich: and other
also commend the Cheese of other countries: But Banbury Cheese shall
goe for my money: for therein (if it be of the best sort) you shall
neither tast the renet nor salt, which be two speciall properties of
good Cheese. Now who so is desirous to eate Cheese, must eate it after
other meat, and in little quantitie. A pennyweight, according to the
old saying, is enough."--Cogan's Haven of Health, ed. 1612, pp. 158-9.
Andrew Boorde, in his Dyetary already referred to, p. 266, mentions 5
kinds of cheese, namely: "grene chese, softe chese, harde chese and
spermyse. Besyde these iiij natures of chese, there is a chese called
a rewene chese, the whiche, yf it be well orderyd, doth passe all
other cheses, none excesse taken." ... "Chese that is good oughte not
be to harde nor to softe, but betwyxt both; it shuld not be towgh nor
brultell; it ought not to be swete, nor tarte, nor to salt, nor to
fresshe; it must be of good savour and taledge, nor full of iyes, nor
mytes, nor magottes."
"Yf a chees is drie,
Hit is a vyce, and so is many an eye
Yf it see with, that cometh yf sounyng brendde,
Or moche of salt, or lite of presse, it shende."
---Palladius on Husbondrie, E. E. Text Soc. ed. Lodge, p. 154.
With these extracts showing the essentials of good cheese, compare
the following description of Suffolk Cheese, locally termed _Bang and
Thump_, and made of milk several times skimmed:
"Unrivall'd stands thy county cheese, O Giles!
Whose very name alone engenders smiles;
Whose fame abroad by every tongue is spoke,
The well-known butt of many a flinty joke,
Its name derision and reproach pursue,
And strangers tell of 'three times skimm'd skye blue.'"
--Blomfield.
Its toughness has given rise to a number of local illustrations. In one
the cheese exclaims:
"Those that made me were uncivil,
For they made me harder than the devil;
Knives won't cut me; fire won't sweat me;
Dogs bark at me, but can't eat me."
"Hunger will break through stone walls, or anything except Suffolk
cheese," is a proverb from Ray. Mowbray says "it is only fit to be cut
up for gate latches, a use to which it is often applied." Other writers
represent it as most suitable for making wheels for wheelbarrows.
[E293] "Argusses eies." The mythical Argus, surnamed Panoptes (the
All-seer), had a hundred eyes; he was placed by Juno to guard Io, and
at his death his eyes were transplanted to the peacock's tail.
[E294] To fleet or skim the cream is a verb still in use in
East Anglia, and the utensil used for the purpose is termed a
_fleeting-dish_. "I flete mylke, take away the creame that lyeth above
it whan it hath rested."--Palsgr. "_Esburrer_, to fleet the creame
potte; _laict esburré_, fleeted milk; _maigne_, fleeted milke or
whaye."--Hollyband's Treasurie. "Ye _floted_ too nie" = you skimmed off
too much of the cream.
[E295] If cheeses are full of eyes, it is a proof that the curd was not
properly worked.
[E296] Hoven cheese is occasioned by negligence in breaking the curd;
and therefore Cisley deserves to be driven to _creeks_, or holes and
corners, for her idleness and inattention.--M.
[E297] Tough or leathery cheese may arise from its being set too hot,
or not worked up, and the curd broken in proper time.--M.
[E298] Various causes may bring on corruption in cheese, such as the
use of beastings, or milk immediately after calving, moisture, bruises
and such like.
[E299] Hairs in cheese can only arise from inexcusable carelessness, or
from Cisley's combing and decking her hair in the dairy.
[E300] Magget the py = the magpie, a pun on the word magget, in its two
meanings of 1. a maggot, 2. a magpie, commonly called in Prov. Eng.
_magot-pie, maggoty-pie_, from _mag, maggot = Meg, Maggie = Margery,
Margaret_, and _pie_; Fr. _margot_, old dimin. of _Marguerite_,
and common name of the magpie. The line, therefore, reads, "If
maggots be crawling in the cheese, fetch magget the py." "_Pie_,
meggatapie."--Cotgrave. Cf. Shakspere, Macbeth, Act iii. sc. 4, 125.
[E301] "Cisley, in running after the Bishop in passing, as was the
practice in former times, in order to obtain his blessing, might
accidentally leave her milk on the fire; and on her return, finding
it burnt to the pan, might probably curse the prelate for her mishap,
which conduct deserved correction, or a left-handed blessing from her
mistress." So Dr. Mavor. Mr. Skeat remarks in reference to it: "That
stupid story makes me cross; it is such an evident invention, and no
soul has ever adduced the faintest proof of any such practice. The
allusion is far less circuitous, viz. to the bishops who burnt people
for heresy. That they did so is too notorious." The following extract
appears strongly to bear out Mr. Skeat's view: "When a thynge speadeth
not well we borowe speach and say '_the byshope hath blessed it_,'
because that nothynge speadeth well that they medyll withall. If the
podech be burned to, or the meate over rosted, we say '_the byshope has
put his fote in the potte_,' or '_the byshope hath played the coke_,'
because the byshopes burn who they lust, and whosoever displeaseth
them."--Quotation from Tyndale's Obedyence of a Chrystene Man, 1528, p.
166, in Brockett, North Country Glossary, 1825, page 16. If we consider
that these verses were written while the memory of the numbers who had
suffered death at the stake for their religion was still fresh in the
minds of the people, Mr. Skeat's view, borne out, as it is, by the
foregoing extract, certainly appears the more reasonable and probable.
[E302] "Here reede": we may take this as meaning either "here read,"
or, adopting the older meaning of the word _reede_ (A.S. _ræd_ =
advice, warning), as "hear my advice or warning."
[E303] "Take nothing to halues," that is, do nothing by halves.
[E304] "Tell fagot and billet," etc.; count your faggots and fire-wood,
to prevent the boys and girls from pilfering it, so that when you come
to fetch it you find "a quarter be gone." So also in the next stanza,
watch the coal men filling the sacks, lest you should get short weight;
and, when the coals are delivered, see the sacks opened, for fear the
coal dealer and the carman should be 'two in a pack,' or 'harp on one
string,' and between them you be defrauded.
[E305] "Philip and Jacob," that is, St. Philip and St. James' Day, May
1st. "When flocks were more uniform as to breed and management, lambs
used to be separated from their dams on this day, for the purpose of
tithing as well as milking."--M. "Requiem æternam," a portion of the
Roman Catholic Service for the dead, hence "least _requiem æternam_ in
winter they sing" = lest they die in the winter from not having been
allowed to become sufficiently strong before being taken from their
dams, and thus being incapable of enduring the severity of the weather.
[E306] "Barberlie handled," that is, "_secundum artem_, as a barber
surgeon would do, by first cutting away extraneous substances, and
then rubbing the part with dust."--M. Tusser Redivivus calls the
lumps of dirt and worms which gather on the wool under a sheep's tail
"_treddles_."
[E307] During the summer season, hollow and decayed pollards in
particular, or woodsere, cannot be lopped without danger. Ivy, however,
is to be removed; or it will, by the closeness of its embraces, prevent
trees from _addling_, that is, growing or increasing in size.--M.
[E308] The Thrasher serves the Cattle with fresh Straw, the Hogs with
Risk (offal, corn and weeds, and short knotty straw).--T.R. (May).
[E309] "A weede hooke, a crotch, and a gloue." Fitzherbert (Boke of
Husbandry, 1586) enumerates, as "ye chyef instrumentes for weeding,
a paier of tonges made of wood and in the farther end it is nicked
to hold ye wede faster ... yf it be drye wether then must ye have a
_wedying hoke_ with a socket set upon a lytle staffe a yard longe. And
this hoke wolde be wel steled and grounde sharpe bothe behynde and
before. And in his other hande he hath a _forked stycke_ a yarde long."
The whole account of weeding in the "Boke" is very quaint. In former
days thistles were gathered from the corn for the feeding of cattle,
and the left hand of the reaper was guarded with a leathern glove:
there is an entry among the expenses of the Priory of Holy Island for
1344-5 of "gloves for 14 servants when they gathered the tythe corn,
2_s._ 8_d._" See Johnston's "Botany of the Eastern Borders."--Note by
Mr. J. Britten, F.L.S.
[E310] "The May weed doth burn" (_Anthemis cotula_, L.). The juice of
this plant is possessed of an acrid blistering property which renders
it extremely noxious to reapers. The irritating effects are produced in
a still greater degree by the seed when ripe, and are mostly manifested
in the lower extremities, from the close adhesion of the seeds by
their rough surface, aided by the friction of the shoe, causing first
abrasion, then active inflammation, and even ulceration. Dr. Bromfield
(Flora Vectensis) says: "I have been repeatedly assured by the
peasantry that they have known men incapacitated for work, and laid up,
from the injurious operation of this noxious weed, for days together in
harvest time."
[E311] "The thistle doth fret." Fitzherbert (Boke of Husbandry) says:
"The thystell is an yll wede rough and sharpe to handle, and _freateth
away the cornes_ nyghe it."
[E312] "The fitches pul downward." The hairy tare, _Vicia hirsuta_, L.
Fitch = vetch.
[E313] "The cockle," _Lychnis Githago_, L. "_Cockole_ hath a large smal
[_sic_] leafe and wyll beare v or vi floures purple colloure as brode
as a grote, and the sede is rounde and blacke."--Fitzherbert, Boke of
Husbandry.
[E314] "Boddle." The corn marigold, _Chrysanthemum segetum_, L., more
usually called boodle or buddle in the East of England; in Kent, yellow
bottle; in Scotland, gools, gules, or goolds, in allusion to the colour
of the flower. This is a very noxious weed, the non-extirpation of
which in Scotland was formerly a punishable offence: certain persons
(hence called "gool-riders") were appointed to ride through the fields
on a certain day, and impose a fine of three shillings and fourpence,
or a wether sheep, for every stalk of the plant found growing in the
corn. The custom is of great antiquity, and exists in a modified form
at the present day, the fine being reduced to a penny. Linnæus states
that a similar law exists in Denmark.--Note by Mr. J. Britten, F.L.S.
[E315] Buckwheat, Dutch _boekweit_, Ger. _buckwaitzen_, from the
resemblance of its triangular seeds to beech-nuts, a name adopted with
its culture from the Dutch.--It is a tender plant, and must be sown
late.--M. It is also very proper to sow it (bucke) before wheat, the
ground is made clean and fine by it, and it sufficing itself with a
Froth leaves the solid Strength for the Wheat.--T.R. (May). _Polygonum
Fagopyrum_, Linn.
[E316] "Brank" = buckwheat, from a Latin word, _brance_, that occurs
in Pliny lib. xviii. cap. 7, where it seems rather to mean a barley.
"Galliæ quoque suum genus farris dedere, quod illic _brance_ vocant,
apud nos sandalam, nitidissimi grani." The word will be identical
with _blanc_, white, Port. _branco_, and equivalent to _wheat_, which
properly means "white."--Popular Names of British Plants, Dr. R. A.
Prior, 1870, p. 28. Pancakes are made of it in Holland.--T.R.
[E317] Pidgeons, Rooks, and other Vermine, about that time begin to be
scanted, and will certainly find them [peas] out, be they in never so
by a Corner.--T.R. (May).
[E318] Fimble, or Female Hemp, so called, I suppose, because it falls
to the Female's share to _tew-taw_ it, that is, to dress it and to spin
it, etc. The Fimble Hemp is that which is ripe soonest and fittest for
spinning, and is not worth above half as much as the _Carle_ with its
seed.--T.R. "The male is called _Charle Hempe_, and _Winter Hempe_;
the Female _Barren Hempe_ and _Sommer Hempe_."--Gerard's Herball, p.
572. "Hemp was much cultivated here until the end of the great war with
France. The _Carl_ or male hemp was used for ropes, sackcloth, and
other coarse manufactures: the _fimble_, or female hemp, was applied
to making sheets and other domestic purposes."--Peacock's Gloss. of
Manley, etc., E. D. Soc.
It is curious that the Karl or male hemp should be in reality the
female plant, but other authors use the names in the same way. "The
femell hempe ... beareth no sede."--Fitzherbert, "Boke of Husbandry."
See also 55. 8. Gerard says the female hemp is "barren and without
seede, contrarie to the nature of that sexe."--Note by Mr. J. Britten,
F.L.S.
[E319] The fact of the Hop being one of the plants which twine from
left to right had thus been observed as early as Tusser's time.--Note
by Mr. J. Britten, F.L.S.
[E320] The tine tare ["a tare that _tines_ or encloses and imprisons
other plants, _Vicia hirsuta_."--Prior] is now seldom attempted to be
raked out, for fear of greater mischief from the practice than from its
neglect. The safest way is certainly to cut the tine near the root, but
the operation is extremely tedious.--M.
[E321] "The Fawy riseth in Fawy moore in a verie _quaue mire_, on the
side of an hill."--Harrison, ed. 1587, Bk. i. c. 12.
Cf. "The wal wagged and clef, and al the worlde _quaved_."
--Piers Plowman, ed. Skeat, B Text, Passus xviii. 61.
"Quave of a myre (quaue as of a myre), _Labina_. Quavyn, as myre,
_Tremo_."--Prompt. Parv. Horman, in his chapter _de re edificatoriâ_,
observes that "a _quauery_ or a maris and unstable foundation must
be holpe with great pylys of alder rammed downe, and with a frame
of tymbre called a crossaundre (_fistucâ_)." In Caxton's Mirrour of
the World, Part II. c. 22, it is said, "understande ye how the erthe
quaueth and shaketh, that somme peple calle an erthe quaue, by cause
they fele the erthe meue and quaue vnder their feet." "Quaue myre,
_foundriere crouliere_."--Palsgrave. Forby gives Quavery-mavery =
undecided, hesitating.--Way, Note in Prompt. Parv., _s.v._ Quave.
[E322] The meaning is, make your dunghill on the headland, especially
where shaded with trees and bushes, as they will prevent the moisture
from exhaling.--M.
"I see in some meddowes _gaully_ places where little or no grasse at
al groweth, by reason (as I take it) of the too long standing of the
water, for such places are commonly low, where the water standeth,
not hauing vent to passe away, and therefore meanes must be first
made for the evacuation of the water: for the continual standing of
the water consumeth the grasse, and makes the place bare, and sinketh
it. In such a place, therefore, sow in the Spring-time some hay-seed,
especially the seed of the claver grasse, [clover] or the grasse
hony-suckle [trefoil], and other seeds that fall out of the finest and
purest hay: and in the sowing of it, mingle with it some good earth;
but sow not the hony-suckle grasse in too moist a ground, for it liketh
it not."--Norden's Surveyor's Dialogue, 1607, pp. 201-2. Gauls are void
spaces in Coppices which serve for nothing but to entice the Cattel
into it, to its great Damage.--T.R.
[E323] If the land is overstocked in summer, you may, perhaps, be
obliged to assist your cattle to rise in winter; or, in other words,
"to lift at their tails."--M. Cf. 21. 14.
[E324] It appears to have been the custom formerly to allow, in warm
weather, sleep for an hour or two. In Norfolk we are told the practice
is not quite obsolete on churning days when the mistress and maids get
up early; and likewise among the ploughmen, where two journies a day
are performed with their teams, and an interval allowed for rest.--M.
Compare the expression in the Paston Letters, i. 390, "Writan in my
slepyng tyme at after none, on Wytsonday."
[E325] "Patch." Cf. Shakspere, Mid. Night's Dr., Act iii. sc. 2; and
Merchant of Venice, Act ii. sc. 5.
[E326] "Growthed" = grout-hed = thick head, fat head. Cf. _growtnoul_ =
a blockhead. "_Growte nowle_ come to the King."--Promos and Cassandra,
p. 81.
[E327] Stilling, or distilling, may be a "pretty feat," but we doubt
if it is very profitable, and if it does not furnish a temptation to
dram-drinking, under the mask of simple and medicinal _waters_.--M.
[E328] See note E69.
[E329] "Swinge brembles and brakes," this is, cut down with a sweeping
instrument somewhat resembling a scythe.
[E330] "Sheep-shearing takes place only once, viz. in the month of
June; the heaviest wethers weigh sixty pounds, others from forty to
fifty pounds: they bear at the most not more than six, others four or
five pounds of wool; one of the best wethers (notwithstanding that
they are very abundant) sells for about twenty shillings, that is, ten
French francs or five thalers; the inferior sort about ten shillings,
or five francs; and the worst about six or eight English shillings.
The skin of the best wether and sheep is worth about twelve pence,
that is, four and a half German batzen; the worst about eight pence or
three batzen; a pound of wool about twelve pence, or four and a half
batzen."--Rathgeb, 1602, Rye, p. 51 (quoted in Harrison's Description
of England, ed. Furnivall, Part I. p. lxxxiii). "Running Water is best,
... but then it is oft-times very sheer and cold."--T.R. (June).