Dogs of the homelie kind, are either shepheards curs, or mastiffes.
The first are so common, that it néedeth me not to speake of them.
Their vse also is so well knowne in keeping the heard togither (either
when they grase or go before the sheepheard) that it should be but in
vaine to spend anie time about them. Wherefore I will leaue this curre
[Sidenote: Tie dogs.]
vnto his owne kind, and go in hand with the mastiffe, tie dog, or
banddog, so called bicause manie of them are tied vp in chaines and
strong bonds, in the daie time, for dooing hurt abroad, which is an
huge dog, stubborne, ouglie, eager, burthenous of bodie (& therefore
but of little swiftnesse) terrible and fearfull to behold, and
oftentimes more fierce and fell than anie Archadian or Corsican cur.
Our Englishmen to the intent that these dogs may be more cruell and
fierce, assist nature with some art, vse and custome. For although
this kind of dog be capable of courage, violent, valiant, stout and
bold: yet will they increase these their stomachs by teaching them to
bait the beare, the bull, the lion, and other such like cruell and
bloudie beasts, (either brought ouer or kept vp at home, for the same
purpose) without anie collar to defend their throats, and oftentimes
thereto they traine them vp in fighting and wrestling with a man
(hauing for the safegard of his life either a pike staffe, club,
sword, priuie coate) wherby they become the more fierce and cruell
vnto strangers. The Caspians made so much account sometime of such
great dogs, that euerie able man would nourish sundrie of them in his
house of set purpose, to the end they should deuoure their carcases
after their deaths, thinking the dogs bellies to be the most
honourable sepulchers. The common people also followed the same rate,
and therfore there were tie dogs kept vp by publike ordinance, to
deuoure them after their deaths: by means whereof these beasts became
the more eger, and with great difficultie after a while restreined
from falling vpon the liuing. But whither am I digressed? In returning
[Sidenote: Some barke and bite not.]
[Sidenote: Some bite and barke not.]
therefore to our owne, I saie that of mastiffes, some barke onelie
with fierce and open mouth but will not bite, some doo both barke and
bite, but the cruellest doo either not barke at all, or bite before
they barke, and therefore are more to be feared than anie of the
other. They take also their name of the word mase and théefe (or
master théefe if you will) bicause they often stound and put such
persons to their shifts in townes and villages, and are the principall
causes of their apprehension and taking. The force which is in them
surmounteth all beleefe, and the fast hold which they take with their
téeth excéedeth all credit: for thrée of them against a beare, foure
against a lion, are sufficient to trie mastries with them. King Henrie
the seauenth, as the report goeth, commanded all such curres to be
hanged, bicause they durst presume to fight against the lion, who is
their king and souereigne. The like he did with an excellent falcon,
as some saie, bicause he feared not hand to hand to match with an
eagle, willing his falconers in his owne presence to pluck off his
head after he was taken downe, saieng that it was not méet for anie
subiect to offer such wrong vnto his lord and superiour, wherein he
had a further meaning. But if king Henrie the seauenth had liued in
our time, what would he haue doone to one English mastiffe, which
alone and without anie helpe at all pulled downe first an huge beare,
then a pard, and last of all a lion, each after other before the
French king in one daie, when the lord Buckhurst was ambassador vnto
him, and whereof if I should write the circumstances, that is, how he
tooke his aduantage being let lose vnto them, and finallie draue them
into such excéeding feare, that they were all glad to run awaie when
he was taken from them, I should take much paines, and yet reape but
small credit: wherefore it shall suffice to haue said thus much
thereof. Some of our mastiffes will rage onelie in the night, some are
to be tied vp both daie and night. Such also as are suffered to go
lose about the house and yard, are so gentle in the daie time, that
children may ride on their backs, & plaie with them, at their
pleasures. Diuerse of them likewise are of such gelousie ouer their
maister and whosoeuer of his houshold, that if a stranger doo imbrace
or touch anie of them, they will fall fiercelie vpon them, vnto their
extreame mischéefe if their furie be not preuented. Such an one was
the dog of Nichomedes king sometime of Bithinia, who séeing Consigne
the quéene to imbrace and kisse hir husband as they walked togither in
a garden, did teare hir all to peeces, mauger his resistance, and the
present aid of such as attended on them. Some of them moreouer will
suffer a stranger to come in and walke about the house or yard where
him listeth, without giuing ouer to follow him: but if he put foorth
his hand to touch anie thing, then will they flie vpon him and kill
him if they may. I had one my selfe once, which would not suffer anie
man to bring in his weapon further than my gate: neither those that
were of my house to be touched in his presence. Or if I had beaten
anie of my children, he would gentlie haue assaied to catch the rod in
his teeth and take it out of my hand, or else pluck downe their
clothes to saue them from the stripes: which in my opinion is not
vnworthie to be noted. And thus much of our mastiffes, creatures of no
lesse faith and loue towards their maisters than horsses; as may
appeare euen by the confidence that Masinissa reposed in them, in so
much that mistrusting his houshold seruants he made him a gard of
dogs, which manie a time deliuered him from their treasons and
conspiracies, euen by their barking and biting, nor of lesse force
than the Molossian race, brought from Epiro into some countries, which
the poets feigne to haue originall from the brasen dog that Vulcan
made, and gaue to Iupiter, who also deliuered the same to Europa, she
to Procris, and Procris to Cephalus, as Iulius Pollux noteth, lib. 5.
cap. 5: neither vnequall in carefulnesse to the mastiffe of Alexander
Phereus, who by his onelie courage and attendance kept his maister
long time from slaughter, till at the last he was remooued by policie,
and the tyrant killed sléeping: the storie goeth thus. Thebe the wife
of the said Phereus and hir three brethren conspired the death of hir
husband, who fearing the dog onelie, she found the means to allure him
from his chamber doore by faire means, vnto another house hard by,
whilest they should execute their purpose. Neuerthelesse, when they
came to the bed where he laie sléeping, they waxed faint harted, till
she did put them in choise, either that they should dispatch him at
once, or else that she hir selfe would wake hir husband, and giue him
warning of his enimies, or at the least wise bring in the dog vpon
them, which they feared most of all: and therefore quicklie dispatched
him.
The last sort of dogs consisteth of the currish kind méet for manie
toies: of which the whappet or prickeard curre is one. Some men call
them warners, bicause they are good for nothing else but to barke and
giue warning when anie bodie dooth stirre or lie in wait about the
house in the night season. Certes it is vnpossible to describe these
curs in anie order, bicause they haue no anie one kind proper vnto
themselues, but are a confused companie mixt of all the rest. The
second sort of them are called turne spits, whose office is not
vnknowne to anie. And as these are onelie reserued for this purpose,
so in manie places our mastiffes (beside the vse which tinkers haue of
them in carieng their heauie budgets) are made to draw water in great
whéeles out of déepe wels, going much like vnto those which are framed
for our turne spits, as is to be séene at Roiston, where this feat is
often practised. Besides these also we haue sholts or curs dailie
brought out of Iseland, and much made of among vs, bicause of their
sawcinesse and quarrelling. Moreouer they bite verie sore, and loue
candles excéedinglie, as doo the men and women of their countrie: but
I may saie no more of them, bicause they are not bred with vs. Yet
this will I make report of by the waie, for pastimes sake, that when a
great man of those parts came of late into one of our ships which went
thither for fish, to see the forme and fashion of the same, his wife
apparrelled in fine sables, abiding on the decke whilest hir husband
was vnder the hatches with the mariners, espied a pound or two of
candles hanging at the mast, and being loth to stand there idle alone,
she fell to and eat them vp euerie one, supposing hir selfe to haue
béene at a iollie banket, and shewing verie plesant gesture when hir
husband came vp againe vnto hir.
The last kind of toiesh curs are named dansers, and those being of a
mongrell sort also, are taught & exercised to danse in measure at the
musicall sound of an instrument, as at the iust stroke of a drum,
sweet accent of the citharne, and pleasant harmonie of the harpe,
shewing manie trickes by the gesture of their bodies: as to stand bolt
vpright, to lie flat vpon the ground, to turne round as a ring,
holding their tailes in their teeth, to saw and beg for meat, to take
a mans cap from his head, and sundrie such properties, which they
learne of their idle rogish masters whose instruments they are to
gather gaine, as old apes clothed in motleie, and coloured short
wasted iackets are for the like vagabunds, who séeke no better liuing,
than that which they may get by fond pastime and idlenesse. I might
here intreat of other dogs, as of those which are bred betwéene a
bitch and a woolfe, and called _Lycisca_: a thing verie often séene in
France saith Franciscus Patricius in his common wealth, as procured of
set purpose, and learned as I thinke of the Indians, who tie their
sault bitches often in woods, that they might be loined by tigers:
also betweene a bitch and a fox, or a beare and a mastiffe. But as we
vtterlie want the first sort, except they be brought vnto vs: so it
happeneth sometime, that the other two are ingendered and seene at
home amongst vs. But all the rest heretofore remembred in this
chapter, there is none more ouglie and odious in sight, cruell and
fierce in déed, nor vntractable in hand, than that which is begotten
betwéene the beare and the bandog. For whatsoeuer he catcheth hold of,
he taketh it so fast, that a man may sooner teare and rend his bodie
in sunder, than get open his mouth to separate his chaps. Certes he
regardeth neither woolfe, beare, nor lion, and therfore may well be
compared with those two dogs which were sent to Alexander out of India
(& procreated as it is thought betwéene a mastiffe and male tiger, as
be those also of Hircania) or to them that are bred in Archadia, where
copulation is oft seene betweene lions and bitches, as the like is in
France (as I said) betwéene shée woolfes and dogs, whereof let this
suffice; sith the further tractation of them dooth not concerne my
purpose, more than the confutation of Cardans talke, "De subt." lib.
10. who saith, that after manie generations, dogs doo become woolfes,
and contrariwise; which if it were true, than could not England be
without manie woolfes: but nature hath set a difference betwéene them,
not onelie in outward forme, but also in inward disposition of their
bones, wherefore it is vnpossible that his assertion can be sound.
OF OUR SAFFRON, AND THE DRESSING THEREOF.
CHAP. VIII.
As the saffron of England, which Platina reckneth among spices, is the
most excellent of all other: for it giueth place neither to that of
Cilicia, whereof Solinus speaketh, neither to anie that commeth from
Cilicia, where it groweth vpon the mount Taurus, Tmolus, Italie,
Ætolia, Sicilia or Licia, in swéetnesse, tincture, and continuance; so
of that which is to be had amongst vs, the same that grows about
Saffron Walden, somtime called Waldenburg, in the edge of Essex, first
of all planted there in the time of Edward the third, and that of
Glocester shire and those westerlie parts, which some thinke to be
better than that of Walden, surmounteth all the rest, and therefore
beareth worthilie the higher price, by six pence or twelue pence most
commonlie in the pound. The root of the herbe that beareth this
commoditie is round, much like vnto an indifferent chestnut, & yet it
is not cloued as the lillie, nor flaked as the scallion, but hath a
sad substance "Inter bulbosa," as Orchis, hyacinthus orientalis, and
Statyrion. The colour of the rind is not much differing from the
innermost shell of a chestnut, although it be not altogither so
brickle as is the pill of an onion. So long as the leafe flourisheth
the root is litle & small; but when the grasse is withered, the head
increaseth and multiplieth, the fillets also or small roots die, so
that when the time dooth come to take them vp, they haue no roots at
all, but so continue vntill September that they doo grow againe: and
before the chiue be grounded the smallest heads are also most
esteemed; but whether they be great or small, if sheepe or neat may
come to them on the heape, as they lie in the field, they will deuoure
them as if they were haie or stuble, some also will wroot for them in
verie eager maner. The leafe or rather the blade thereof is long and
narrow as grasse, which come vp alwaies in October after the floures
be gathered and gone, pointed on a little tuft much like vnto our
siues. Sometimes our cattell will féed vpon the same; neuerthelesse,
if it be bitten whilest it is gréene, the head dieth, and therefore
our crokers are carefull to kéepe it from such annoiance vntill it
begin to wither, and then also will the cattell soonest tast thereof:
for vntill that time the iuice thereof is bitter. In euerie floure we
find commonlie thrée chiues, and three yellowes, and double the number
of leaues. Of twisted floures I speake not; yet is it found, that two
floures grow togither, which bring foorth fiue chiues, so that alwaies
there is an od chiue and od yellow, though thrée or foure floures
should come out of one root. The whole herbe is named in Gréeke
_Crocos_, but of some (as Dioscorides saith) _Castor_, _Cynomorphos_,
or Hercules blood: yet in the Arabian spéech, (from whence we borow
[Sidenote: Occasion of the name.]
the name which we giue thervnto) I find that it is called _Zahafaran_,
as Rembert dooth beare witnesse. The cause wherefore it was called
Crocus was this (as the poets feigne) speciallie those from whome
Galen hath borowed the historie, which he noteth in his ninth booke
"De medicamentis secundum loca," where he writeth after this maner
(although I take Crocus to be the first that vsed this comoditie.) A
certeine yong gentleman called Crocus went to plaie at coits in the
field with Mercurie, and being héedlesse of himselfe, Mercuries coit
happened by mishap to hit him on the head, whereby he receiued a wound
that yer long killed him altogither, to the great discomfort of his
freends. Finallie, in the place where he bled, saffron was after found
to grow, wherevpon the people seeing the colour of the chiue as it
stood (although I doubt not but it grew there long before) adiudged it
to come of the blood of Crocus, and therefore they gaue it his name.
And thus farre Rembert, who with Galen, &c: differ verie much from
Ouids Metamorphos. 4. who writeth also thereof. Indéed the chiue,
while it remaineth whole & vnbrused, resembleth a darke red, but being
broken and conuerted into vse, it yéeldeth a yellow tincture. But what
haue we to doo with fables?
The heads of saffron are raised in Iulie, either with plough, raising,
or tined hooke; and being scowred from their rosse or filth, and
seuered from such heads as are ingendred of them, since the last
setting, they are interred againe in Iulie and August by ranks or
rowes, and being couered with moulds, they rest in the earth, where
they cast forth litle fillets and small roots like vnto a scallion,
vntill September, in the beginning of which moneth the ground is
[Sidenote: Paring.]
pared, and all wéeds and grasse that groweth vpon the same remooued,
to the intent that nothing may annoie the floure when as his time
dooth come to rise.
[Sidenote: Gathering.]
These things being thus ordered in the latter end of the aforesaid
moneth of September, the floure beginneth to appeere of a whitish
blew, fesse or skie colour, and in the end shewing it selfe in the
[Sidenote: Sée _Rembert_.]
owne kind, it resembleth almost the Leucotion of Theophrast, sauing
that it is longer, and hath in the middest thereof thrée chiues verie
red and pleasant to behold. These floures are gathered in the morning
before the rising of the sunne, which otherwise would cause them to
welke or flitter. And the chiues being picked from the floures, these
are throwne into the doonghill; the other dried vpon little kelles
couered with streined canuasses vpon a soft fire: wherby, and by the
weight that is laied vpon them, they are dried and pressed into cakes,
and then bagged vp for the benefit of their owners. In good yeeres we
gather foure score or an hundred pounds of wet saffron of an acre,
which being dried dooth yeeld twentie pounds of drie and more.
Whereby, and sith the price of saffron is commonlie about twentie
shillings in monie, or not so little, it is easie to sée what benefit
is reaped by an acre of this commoditie, towards the charges of the
setter, which indeed are great, but yet not so much, as he shall be
thereby a looser, if he be anie thing diligent. For admit that the
triple tillage of an acre dooth cost 13 shillings foure pence before
the saffron be set, the clodding sixtéene pence, the taking of euerie
load of stones from the same foure pence, the raising of euerie
quarter of heads six pence, and so much for clensing of them, besides
the rent of ten shillings for euerie acre, thirtie load of doong which
is woorth six pence the load to be laid on the first yéere, for the
setting three and twentie shillings and foure pence, for the paring
fiue shillings, six pence for the picking of a pound wet, &c: yea
though he hire it readie set, and paie ten pounds for the same, yet
shall he susteine no damage, if warme weather and open season doo
happen at the gathering. This also is to be noted, that euerie acre
asketh twentie quarters of heads, placed in ranks two inches one from
an other in long beds, which conteine eight or ten foot in breadth.
And after thrée yeeres that ground will serue well, and without
compest for barleie by the space of eightéene or twentie yéeres
togither, as experience dooth confirme. The heads also of euerie acre
at the raising will store an acre and an halfe of new ground, which is
a great aduantage, and it will floure eight or ten daies togither. But
the best saffron is gathered at the first; at which time foure pounds
of wet saffron will go verie neere to make one of drie; but in the
middest fiue pounds of the one will make but one of the other, because
the chiue waxeth smaller, as six at the last will doo no more but
yéeld one of the dried, by reason of the chiue which is now verie
leane and hungrie. After twentie yeeres also the same ground may be
set with saffron againe. And in lieu of a conclusion, take this for a
perpetuall rule, that heads comming out of a good ground will prosper
best in a lighter soile; and contrariwise: which is one note that our
crokers doo carefullie obserue.
[Sidenote: Raising.]
The heads are raised euerie third yeare about vs, to wit, after
Midsummer, when the rosse commeth drie from the heads; and commonlie
in the first yéere after they be set they yéeld verie little increase:
yet that which then commeth is counted the finest and greatest chiue,
& best for medicine, and called saffron Du hort. The next crop is much
greater; but the third exceedeth, and then they raise againe about
Walden and in Cambridge shire. In this period of time also the heads
are said to child, that is, to yéeld out of some parts of them diuerse
other headlets, whereby it hath béene séene, that some one head hath
béene increased (though with his owne detriment) to three, or foure,
or fiue, or six, which augmentation is the onlie cause wherby they are
sold so good cheape. For to my remembrance I haue not knowne foure
bushels or a coome of them to be valued much aboue two shillings eight
pence, except in some od yéeres that they arise to eight or ten
shillings the quarter, and that is when ouer great store of winters
water hath rotted the most of them as they stood within the ground, or
heat in summer parched and burnt them vp.
In Norffolke and Suffolke they raise but once in seuen yéeres: but as
their saffron is not so fine as that of Cambridgeshire and about
Walden, so it will not cake, ting, nor hold colour withall, wherein
lieth a great part of the value of this stuffe. Some craftie iackes
vse to mix it with scraped brazell or with the floure of Sonchus,
which commeth somewhat neere indeed to the hue of our good saffron (if
it be late gathered) but it is soone bewraied both by the depth of the
colour and hardnesse. Such also was the plentie of saffron about
twentie yeeres passed, that some of the townesmen of Walden gaue the
one halfe of the floures for picking of the other, and sent them ten
or twelue miles abroad into the countrie, whilest the rest, not
thankfull for the abundance of Gods blessing bestowed vpon them (as
wishing rather more scarsitie thereof because of the kéeping vp of the
price) in most contemptuous maner murmured against him, saieng that he
did shite saffron therewith to choake the market. But as they shewed
themselues no lesse than ingrat infidels in this behalfe, so the Lord
considered their vnthankfulnesse, & gaue them euer since such
scarsitie, as the greatest murmurers haue now the least store; and
most of them are either worne out of occupieng, or remaine scarse able
to mainteine their grounds without the helpe of other men. Certes it
hath generallie decaied about Saffron Walden since the said time,
vntill now of late within these two yeares, that men began againe to
plant and renew the same, because of the great commoditie. But to
procéed. When the heads be raised and taken vp, they will remaine
sixteene or twentie daies out of the earth or more: yea peraduenture a
full moneth. Howbeit they are commonlie in the earth againe by saint
Iames tide, or verie shortlie after. For as if they be taken vp before
Midsummer, or beginning of Iulie, the heads will shrinke like a rosted
warden: so after August they will wax drie, become vnfruitfull, and
decaie. And I know it by experience, in that I haue carried some of
them to London with me; and notwithstanding that they haue remained
there vnset by the space of fortie dais and more: yet some of them
haue brought foorth two or thrée floures a peece, and some floures
thrée or fiue chiues, to the greeat admiration of such as haue
gathered the same, and not béene acquainted with their nature and
countrie where they grew. The crokers or saffron men doo vse an
obseruation a litle before the comming vp of the floure, and sometime
in the taking vp at Midsummer tide, by opening of the heads to iudge
of plentie and scarsitie of this commoditie to come. For if they sée
as it were manie small hairie veines of saffron to be in the middest
of the bulbe, they pronounce a fruitfull yeare. And to saie truth, at
the cleauing of ech head, a man shall discerne the saffron by the
colour, and sée where abouts the chiue will issue out of the root.
Warme darke nights, swéet dews, fat grounds (chéeflie the chalkie) and
mistie mornings are verie good for saffron; but frost and cold doo
kill and keepe backe the floure, or else shrinke vp the chiue. And
thus much haue I thought good to speake of English saffron, which is
hot in the second and drie in the first degrée, and most plentifull as
our crokers hold, in that yéere wherein ewes twin most. But as I can
make no warrantize hereof, so I am otherwise sure, that there is no
more deceit vsed in anie trade than in saffron. For in the making they
will grease the papers on the kell with a little candle grease, to
make the woorst saffron haue so good a colour as the best: afterwards
also they will sprinkle butter thereon to make the weight better. But
both these are bewraied, either by a quantitie thereof holden ouer the
fire in a siluer spoone, or by the softnesse thereof betwéene the fore
finger and the thumbe; or thirdlie, by the colour thereof in age: for
if you laie it by farre worse saffron of other countries, the colour
will bewraie the forgerie by the swartnesse of the chiue, which
otherwise would excell it, and therevnto being sound, remaine crispe,
brickle, and drie: and finallie, if it be holden néere the face, will
strike a certeine biting heat vpon the skin and eies, whereby it is
adiudged good and merchant ware indéed among the skilfull crokers.