And euere be waare of _had-y-wist_."
--Babees Book, ed. Furnivall, p. 264, l. 72.
[E437] See note E52.
[E438]
"Beware that ye geue no persone palled drynke, for feere
Hit mygtt brynge many a man in disese durynge many a yere."
--John Russell's Boke of Norture, in Babees Book, p. 13.
"Sowre ale, and dead ale, and ale the whiche doth stande a tylte is
good for no man."--Andrew Boorde, Regimen of Health.
"Of ale and beer, as well as of wine, we find various kinds mentioned.
There were single beer, or small ale, which could do little more than
quench thirst,--and double beer, which was recommended as containing a
double quantity of malt and hops,--and double-double beer, which was
twice as strong as that,--and dagger-ale, which, as the name implies,
was reckoned particularly sharp and dangerous,--and bracket, a kind
of ale which we are unable distinctly to describe. But the favourite
drink, as well as the chief article of vulgar debauch, was a kind of
ale commonly called huffcap, but which was also termed 'mad dog,'
'angel's food,' 'dragon's milk,' and other such ridiculous names, by
the frequenters of ale-houses: 'and never,' says Harrison, 'did Romulus
and Remus suck their she-wolf with such eager and sharp devotion as
these men hale at huffcap, till they be as red as cocks, and little
wiser than their combs.' The higher classes, who were able to afford
such a luxury, brewed a generous liquor for their own consumption,
which they did not bring to the table till it was two years old. This
was called March ale, from the month in which it was brewed. But the
servants had to content themselves with a more simple beverage that
was seldom more than a month old. A cup of choice ale was often as
richly compounded with dainties as the finest wines. Sometimes it was
warmed, and qualified with sugar and spices; sometimes with a toast;
often with a roasted crab or apple, making the beverage still known
under the name of Lambs'-wool; while to stir the whole composition with
a sprig of rosemary, was supposed to give it an additional flavour.
The drinks made from fruit were chiefly cider, perry, and mum. Those
that had formerly been made from honey seem to have fallen into disuse
in consequence of the general taste for stronger potations; metheglin
being now chiefly confined to the Welsh. A simple liquor, however,
was still used in Essex, called by Harrison, somewhat contemptuously,
'a swish-swash,' made of water with a little honey and spice, but
'as differing,' he says, 'from true metheglin as chalk doth from
cheese.' He informs us, moreover, that already the tapsters of
England had learned to adulterate their ale and beer with pernicious
compounds."--Pict. Hist. of England, ii. 883.
"In the parish of Hawsted, Suffolk, the allowance of food to the
labourer in harvest was, two herrings per day, milk from the manor
dairy to make cheese, and a loaf of bread, of which fifteen were made
from a bushel of wheat. Messes of potage made their frequent appearance
at the rustic board."--Knight, Pict. Hist. of England, i. 839.
[E439] Harrison gives an account (pp. 153-4) of the following kinds of
bread made in England: 1. Mainchet, "commonlie called white bread, in
Latine _Primarius panis_." 2. Cheat "or wheaton bread, so named bicause
the colour therof resembleth the graie [or yellowish] wheat [being
cleane and well dressed,] and out of this is the coursest of the bran
(vsuallie called gurgeons or pollard) taken. The raueled is a kind of
cheat bread also, but it reteineth more of the grosse, and lesse of
the pure substance of the wheat." 3. Brown bread, of which there were
two kinds, viz. (_a_) of whole meal unsifted, (_b_) pollard bread,
with a little rye meal, and called Miscelin or Meslin. "In champeigne
countries much rie and barleie bread is eaten, but especiallie where
wheat is scant and geson."
[E440] "Baies." Halliwell prints this word as _baics_ in his
Dictionary, defining it as "chidings, reproofs," and giving as his
authority Hunter's Additions to Boucher.
[E441] "Droie." See Note in Prompt. Parv., s.v. _Dryvylle_ and _Deye_.
Probably a corruption of _droile_; a scullion, kitchen-boy, or servant
of all-work.--M. Droie also occurs in Stubbes' Anatomie of Abuses, 1583.
[E442] "In some places it [the malt] is dried at leisure with wood
alone, or strawe alone, in other with wood and strawe togither; but
of all, the strawe dried is the most excellent. For the wood dried
malt when it is brued, beside that the drinke is higher of colour,
it dooth hurt and annoie the head of him that is not vsed thereto,
bicause of the smoake. Such also as vse both indifferentlie, doo
barke, cleaue and drie their wrood in an ouen, thereby to remooue all
moisture that shuld procure the fume, and this malt is in the second
place, and with the same likewise, that which is made with dried firze,
broome, etc.; whereas, if they also be occupied greene, they are in
maner so preiudiciall to the corne, as is the moist wood."--Harrison,
Description of England, ed. F. J. Furnivall, Part I. p. 157.
[E443] See Note E116.
[E444] "The husbandmen dine at high noone as they call it, and sup at
seuen or eight."--Harrison, Part I. p. 166.
[E445] Though all the standard editions read "chaps walking," may it
not be a misprint for "chaps wagging," that is, mouths craving?--M.
[E446] "Enough is a plentie." Cf. "Mesure is medcyne þouȝ þow moche
ȝerne."--Piers Plowman, Passus i. 35. "But mesure is a meri mene, þouȝ
men moche ȝerne."--Richard the Redeles, E.E. Text Soc., ed. Skeat, ii.
139. "Measure is treasure."--Dyce's Skelton, ii. 238, 241. "Enough is
as good as a feast."--Gascoigne's Posies, 1575.
[E447] "Chippings." The "Chippings of Trencher-brede" in Lord Percy's
household were used "for the fedynge of my lords houndis."--Percy
Household Book, p. 353. "Other ij pages ... them oweth to _chippe_
bredde, but too nye the crumme."--Household Ordin. pp. 71-2. In the
_Regimen Sanitatis Salerni_, ed. 1634, p. 71, we are warned against
eating crusts, because "they ingender a dust cholor, or melancholly
humours, by reason that they bee burned and dry."
[E448] "Call quarterly seruants to court and to leete," that is, call
to account.
[E449] "Lurching," cf. footnote 1, p. 64.
[E450] "Bandog," cf. note E35.
[E451] "Guise."
"For he was laid in white Sheep's wool
New pulled from tanned Fells;
And o'er his Head hang'd Spiders webs
As they had been Bells.
Is this the _Country Guise_, thought he?
Then here I will not stay."
--Ballad, K. Alfred and the Shepherd.
"'Tis thy _Country Guise_, I see,
To be thus bluntish still."
--Ibid.
"The Norman _guise_ was to walke and jet up and downe the
streets."--Lambert's Peramb. of Kent, 1826, p. 320.
[E452] "Plough Monday." "The Monday next after Twelfth-day, when our
Northern plow-men beg plow-money to drink; and in some places if the
plowman (after that day's work) come with his whip to the kitchin
hatch, and cry 'cock in pot' before the maid says 'cock on the
dung-hill,' he gains a cock on Shrove-Tuesday."--Coles' Dict. 1708.
"Among the rural customs connected with the anniversary of Christmas
were those of Plough-Monday, which fell on the first Monday after
Twelfth-day. This was the holiday of the ploughmen, who used to go
about from house to house begging for plough-money to drink. In the
northern counties, where this practice was called the fool-plough (a
corruption perhaps of _yule_-plough), a number of sword-dancers dragged
about a plough, while one of the party, called the Bessey, was dressed
for the occasion like an old woman; and another, who was the fool of
the pageant, was almost covered with skins, and wore the tail of some
animal dangling down his back. While the rest danced, one of these odd
personages went among the spectators, rattling a box, and collecting
small donations; and it is said that whosoever refused to pay had the
plough dragged to his door and the soil of his threshold ploughed
up."--Pict. Hist. of England, ii. 894.
[E453] The Skreene was a wooden settee or settle, with a high back
sufficient to screen the sitters from the outward air, and was in the
time of our ancestors an invariable article of furniture near all
kitchen fires, and is still seen in the kitchens of many of our old
farm-houses in Cheshire. The meaning of the two lines:
"If ploughman get hatchet or whip to the skreene,
maides loseth their cock if no water be seene,"
is, "if the ploughman can get his whip, ploughstaff, hatchet, or
anything he wants in the field to the fireside (_screen_ being here
equivalent to _fireside_) before the maid has got her kettle on, then
she loses her Shrove-tide cock, which belongs wholly to the men."
[E454] "Shroftide." The Hen is hung at a Fellow's back who has also
some Horse Bells about him, the rest of the Fellows are blinded, and
have Boughs in their Hands, with which they chase this Fellow and his
Hen about some large Court or small Enclosure. The Fellow with his
Hen and Bells shifting as well as he can, they follow the sound, and
sometimes hit him and his Hen, other times, if he can get behind one
of them, they thresh one another well favour'dly; but the Jest is, the
Maids are to blind the Fellows, which they do with their Aprons, and
the cunning Baggages will endear their Sweet Hearts with a peeping
hole, while the others look out as sharp to hinder it. After this the
Hen is boil'd with Bacon, and store of Pancakes and Fritters are made.
She that is noted for lying a Bed long or any other Miscarriage, hath
the first Pancake presented to her, which most commonly falls to the
Dog's share at last, for no one will own it their due.--T.R.
"Let glad Shrove Tuesday bring the pancake thin
Or fritters rich with apples stored within."
--Oxford Sausage.
[E455] "Wake Day." The Wake-day is the day on which the Parish Church
was dedicated, called So, because the Night before it, they were used
to watch till Morning in the Church and feasted all the next day.
Waking in the Church was left off because of some abuses, and we see
here it was converted to wakeing at the Oven.--T.R. "Similar to the
church-ales, though of a still more ancient origin, were the Wakes. It
had been the custom, on the dedication of a church, or the birth-day
of a saint, for the people to assemble on the night previous, to hold
a religious vigil in the open air; and, as they remained all night
occupied in devotional exercises, this practice was called a wake.
Such a method of spending the night, however, soon gave place to very
different employments; and feasting, riot, and licentiousness became
the prevailing characteristics of these vigils. These concourses,
also, from every neighbouring town and parish, naturally suggested the
expediency of improving such opportunities for the purposes of traffic;
and hence the wakes gradually became fairs, which in some places they
still continue to be."--Pict. Hist. of England, ii. 897.
[E456] "Flawnes;" a kind of pancake was also so called. Nettleham
feast at Easter is called the _Flown_, possibly from _flauns_ having
been formerly eaten at that period of the year: but see Babees Book,
p. 173, where Flawnes are stated to be "_Cheesecakes_ made of ground
cheese beaten up with eggs and sugar, coloured with saffron, and baked
in 'cofyns' or crusts."
"Bread an chese, butere and milk,
Pastees and _flaunes_."
--Havelok, ed. Skeat, 644.
_For flaunes._
"Take new chese and grynde hit fayre,
In morter with egges, without dysware;
Put powder þerto of sugur, I say,
Coloure hit with safrone ful wele þou may;
Put hit in cofyns þat ben fayre,
And bake hit forthe, I þe pray."
--Liber Cure Cocorum, ed. Morris, p. 39.
[E457] A goose used formerly to be given at harvest-home, to those who
had not overturned a load of corn in carrying during harvest.--M.
[E458] "Fyrmente is made of whete and mylke, in the whiche, yf flesshe
be soden, to eate it is not commendable, for it is harde of dygestyon;
but whan it is dygested it doth nowrysshe, and it doth strength a
man."--Andrew Boorde's Dyetary, E.E. Text Soc. ed. F. J. Furnivall, p.
263. The following recipe for making Furmenty is from the Liber Cure
Cocorum, ed. Morris, p. 7:
_Furmente._
Take wete, and pyke [pick] hit fayre (and clene)
And do hit in a morter shene;
Bray hit a lytelle, with water hit spryng [sprinkle]
Tyl hit hulle, with-oute lesyng.
Þen wyndo [winnow] hit wele, nede þou mot;
Wasshe hit fayre, put hit in pot;
Boyle hit tylle hit brest, þen
Let hit doun, as I þe kenne.
Take now mylke, and play hit up
To hit be thykkerede to sup.
Lye hit up with yolkes of eyren [eggs],
And kepe hit wele, lest hit berne [burn].
Coloure hit with safron and salt hit wele,
And servys hit forthe, Syr, at þe mele;
With sugur candy þou may hit dowce,
If hit be served in grete lordys howce.
Take black sugur for mener menne;
Be ware þerwith, for hit wylle brenne [burn].
The following recipes for the manufacture of Furmenty are given
in Pegge's Forme of Cury, pp. 91 and 121: 1. For to make Furmenty,
"Nym [Take] clene wete, and bray it in a morter wel that the
holys [hulls] gon al of and seyt [seethe] yt til it breste and nym yt
up, and lat it kele [cool] and nym fay re fresch broth and swete mylk
of Almandys or swete mylk of kyne and temper yt al, and nym the yolkys
of eyryn [eggs], boyl it a lityl and set yt adoun and messe yt forthe
wyth fast venyson and fresch moton." 2. For to make Formenty on a
Fische-day, "Tak the mylk of the Hasel Notis, boyl the wete wyth the
aftermelk til it be dryyd, and tak and colour yt wyth Saffroun, and
the ferst mylk cast therto and boyle wel and serve yt forth." In Mr.
Peacock's Glossary of Manley, etc., we have: "Frumerty, a preparation
of creed-wheat [wheat simmered until tender] with milk, currants,
raisins and spices in it."
[E459] To make Aqua Composita, chap. 223: "Take of Sage, Hysope,
Rosemarie, Mynt, Spike or Lauender leaues, Marioram, Bay leaues, of
each like much, of all foure good handfulles to one galon of liquour.
Take also of Cloues, Mace, Nutmegs, Ginger, Cinnamon, Pepper, Graines,
of each a quarter of an ounce, Liquorice and Annise, of each halfe a
pound: beat the spices grosse [not fine, coarse], and first wash the
herbes, then breake them gently betweene your hands. Scrape off the
barke from the Liquorice, and cut it into thin slices, and punne [beat,
pound] the Annise grosse, then put altogether into a gallon or more of
good Ale or Wine, and let them steepe all night close couered in some
vessell of earth or wood, and the next morning after distill them with
a Limbecke or Serpentine. But see that your fire be temperate, and that
the head of your Limbecke be kept colde continually with fresh water,
and that the bottom of your Limbecke bee fast luted with Rye dough,
that so Ayre issue out. The best Ale to make Aqua Composita of is to be
made of Wheate malte, and the next of cleane Barley malte; and the best
Wine for that purpose is Sacke."--Cogan's Haven of Health, ed. 1612,
pp. 222-3.
[E460] A Cockney, the derivation of which word has been much disputed,
appears to me clearly to come from the verb to _cocker_, to _cock_, by
contraction, as in this passage. A _cockney_, therefore, is one who
has been brought up effeminately, and spoilt by indulgence, whether a
native of the city or of the country.--M.
"The original meaning of _cockney_ is a child too tenderly or
delicately nurtured, one kept in the house and not hardened by
out-of-doors life; hence applied to citizens, as opposed to the
hardier inhabitants of the country, and in modern times confined
to the inhabitants of London. The Promptorium Parvulorum, and the
authorities cited in Mr. Way's note, give '_Coknay_, carifotus,
delicius, mammotrophus'; 'To bring up like a _cocknaye_, mignoter.'
'Delicias facere, to play the _cockney_.' Cf. 'Puer in deliciis
matris nutritus, Anglice, a _cokenay_.'--Halliwell. '_Cockney_,
niais, mignot.'--Sherwood. The Fr. _coqueliner_, to dandle, cocker,
fedle, pamper, make a wanton of a child, leads us in the right
direction."--Wedgwood, Etymol. Dict. "A _cockney_, a childe tenderly
brought up; a dearling. _Cockering_, mollis ilia educatio quam
indulgentiam vocamus."--Baret's Alvearie, 1580.
[E461] In chapter 62 of the First Part of this work, p. 139, we had a
comparison between good and bad husbandry, and we are here presented
with a contrast between good and bad huswifery.
[E462] Compare Taming of the Shrew, Act iv. sc. 3, 57:
"With scarfs and fans and double change of _bravery_."
[E463] "Good huswiferie _canteth_." The ed. of 1573 reads "_franteth_"
the meaning of which is "to be careful, economical."
[E464] For boys the practice of music would be degrading, except as a
profession; and even for girls, however fashionable it may be, it is
generally worse than useless, as it occupies that time which ought to
be devoted to much more important purposes.--M.
[E465] "Least homelie breaker," etc., that is, lest an inexperienced
teacher ruin the mind of the pupil, as an unpractised horse-breaker
will spoil a promising colt.
[E466] "Well a fine," a phrase meaning to a good purpose, a good result.
[E467] "Cocking Mams," that is, over-indulgent mothers. "A father to
much _cockering_, Pater nimis indulgens."--Baret's Alvearie, 1580. See
Note E460.
[E468] "Shifting Dads," that is, fathers who are constantly shifting
their children from one school to another.
[E469] "Assone as a passenger comes to an Inne the Host or Hostesse
visit him; and if he will eate with the Host or at a common table with
others, his meale will cost him sixe pence, or in some places but foure
pence (yet this course is lesse honourable and not used by gentlemen);
but if he will eate in his chamber he commands what meate he will,
according to his appetite, and as much as he thinkes fit for him and
his company."--Fynes Moryson's Itinerary, 1617, Part III. p. 151.
[E470] "To purchase linne." To purchase Lynn, by petty savings, seems
to have been a proverbial mode of expression, used in ridicule of
stinginess.
[E471] "You are on the high way to Needham."--Ray.
[E472] The braggadocios and coxcombs of the day would use their
daggers to carve with, which were perfectly harmless for any other
purpose. Forks were yet strangers to an English dinner-table. Knives
were first _made_ in England, according to Anderson, in 1563. A
meat-knife of Queen Elizabeth's, mentioned in Nichols's "Progresses,"
had "a handle of white bone and a conceyte in it." In the same work
we read of "a dozen of horn spoons in a bunch," as the instruments
"meetest to eat furmenty porage with all;" also of "a folding spoon of
gold," and "a pair of small snuffers, silver-gilt."--Pictorial History
of England, ii. 856.
[E473] "Go toie with his nodie." The edition of 1573 reads "go toy
with his noddy, with ape in the street," and more recent editions
read "go toy with his noddy-like ape in the street." This reading has
been adopted by Dr. Mavor. Peacock's Gloss. gives "Noddipol a sillie
person. 'Whorson _nodipol_ that I am!'--Bernard's Terence, 43. 'A verye
_nodypoll_ nydyote myght be ashamed to say it.'--The Workes of Sir
Thomas More, 1557, p. 209."
[E474] "Fisging." The Rev. W. Skeat, in his note to Piers Plowman,
C. Text, Passus x. l. 153, "And what frek of þys folde _fiskeþ_ þus
a-boute," remarks: "_Fisketh_, wanders, roams. As this word is scarce,
I give all the instances of it that I can find. In Sir Gawayne and the
Grene Knight, ed. Morris, l. 1704, there is a description of a foxhunt,
where the fox and the hounds are thus mentioned:--
'& he fyskez hem by-fore · þay founden hym sone'--_i.e._
and he (the fox) runs on before them (the hounds); but they soon found
him. 'Fyscare abowte ydylly; Discursor, discursatrix, vagulus vel
vagator, vagatrix.'--Prompt. Parv. p. 162. 'Fiskin abowte yn ydilnesse;
Vago, giro, girovago.'--Ibid.
'Such serviture also deserveth a check,
That runneth out _fisking_, with meat in his beck [_mouth_].'
--Tusser, Five Hundred Points, etc., ed. Mavor, p. 286.
'Then had every flock his shepherd, or else shepherds; now they do not
only run _fisking about_ from place to place, ... but covetously join
living to living.'--Whitgift's Works, i. 528. 'I _fyske_, ie fretille.
I praye you se howe she _fysketh_ about.'--Palsgrave. '_Trotière_, a
raumpe, fisgig, _fisking_ huswife, raunging damsell.'--Cotgrave.
'Then in cave, then in a field of corn,
Creeps to and fro, and _fisketh_ in and out.'
--Dubartas (in Nares).
'His roving eyes rolde to and fro,
He _fiskyng_ fine, did mincyng go.'
--Kendalls's Flower of Epigrammes, 1577 (Nares).
'Tom Tankard's cow....
Flinging about his halfe aker, _fisking_ with her tail.'
--Gammer Gurton's Needle, i. 2.
'_Fieska_, to _fisk_ the tail about; to _fisk_ up and down.'--Swedish
Dictionary, by J. Serenius. '_Fjeska_, v.n. to fidge, to fidget, to
_fisk_.'--Swed. Dict. (Tauchnitz)."
[E475] In the Rolls of Parliament, at the opening of the Parliament of
2 Rich. II. in the year 1378, we find--"Qui sont appellez _Bacbyters_
sont auxi come chiens qi mangeont les chars crues," etc. In the Ancren
Riwle (Camden Soc. ed. Morton), p. 86, are described two kinds of
_backbiters_, who are defined generally as "Bacbitares, þe biteð oðre
men bihinden"; the two kinds are 1. those who openly speak evil of
others, and 2. those who under the cloak of friendship slander others.
The latter is stated to be far the worse. In an Old Eng. Miscellany (E.
E. Text Soc. ed. Morris), p. 187, we are told that "Alle _bacbytares_
heo wendeþ to helle."--Rev. W. W. Skeat, note to P. Plowman, B. v. 89.
[E476] "The friend doth hate." The edition of 1585 reads, evidently by
a misprint, _fiends_.
[E477] "Roinish," lit. scurvy, hence coarse, rough. "_Rongneux_,
scabbie, mangie, scurvie."--Cotgrave. It occurs twice in the "Romaunt
of the Rose," ll. 988 and 6190. In the form _rinish_, signifying
"wild, jolly, unruly, rude," it is found among the Yorkshire words in
Thoresby's Letter to Ray, reprinted by the Eng. Dial. Soc. "Rennish,"
in the sense of "furious, passionate," which is in Ray's collection of
North-country words, is, perhaps, another form of the word.
[E478] "Still presently," _i.e._ always as close at hand.
[E479] "In vsing there his will," that is, in doing so he acted of his
own free will.
[E480] "Seene" = appeared, showed himself.
[E481] "Do show" (to who thou wouldst to know). The meaning is
perfectly clear, but the manner in which it is expressed is very
curious. We may paraphrase it thus: "doth show to him whom thou wishest
to teach."
[E482] Compare Psalm ciii. 15, 6.
[E483] "Let gift no glorie looke," that is, in giving alms look for
(expect) no praise or earthly reward for so doing.
[E484] "Provoke" = urge.
[E485] In the edition of 1577 the arrangement of this chapter is
somewhat different. The Latin verses are first printed by themselves,
and headed "Sancti Barnardi dicta," and after comes the English
version, with the following title: "Eight of Saint Barnardes verses,
translated out of Latin | into english by this Aucthor for one kind |
of note to serue both ditties." The translation in the "Paradise of
Dainty Devices," mentioned by Mason, is by Barnaby Rich, under the
signature of "My Luck is Loss." The following is the first verse,
transcribed for comparison with Tusser's version:
"Why doth each state apply itself to worldly praise?
And undertake such toil, to heap up honour's gain,
Whose seat, though seeming sure, on fickle fortune stays,
Whose gifts are never prov'd perpetual to remain?
But even as earthen pots, with every fillip fails:
So fortune's favour flits, and fame with honour quails."
[E486] "Carle." M. Licinius Crassus, surnamed Dives, or the Rich, one
of the first Roman Triumvirate, and celebrated for his avarice and love
of the table.
[E487] "O thou fit bait for wormes!" In the Treatise of Vincentio
Saviolo, printed in 1595 with the title "Vincentio Saviolo his
Practise. In two Bookes. The first intreating of the use of the Rapier
and Dagger. The second of Honor and Honorable Quarrels," the printer's
device has the motto: "O wormes meate: O froath: O vanitie: why art
thou so insolent." Compare "As you Like it," Act iii. sc. 2, 59, "Most
shallow man! thou worm's meat!"