379. _for the nones_ = _for the nonce_; this expression, if grammatically
written, would be _for then once_, M. E. _for þan anes_, for the once,
i. e. for the occasion; where the adv. _anes_ (orig. a gen. form) is used
as if it were a sb. in the dat. case. Cf. M. E. _atte_ = _atten_, A. S. _æt
þ[=a]m_.
381. _poudre-marchaunt tart_ is a sharp (tart) kind of flavouring powder,
twice mentioned in Household Ordinances and Receipts (Soc. Antiq. 1790) at
pp. 425, 434: 'Do therto _pouder marchant_,' and 'do thi flessh therto, and
gode herbes and _poudre marchaunt_, and let hit well stew.'--Notes and
Queries, Fourth Series, iii. 180. See _Powder_ in the Glossary to the
Babees Book.
'_Galingale_, which Chaucer, pre-eminentest, economioniseth above all
junquetries or confectionaries whatsoever.'--Nash's Lenten Stuff, p. 36,
ed. Hindley. _Galingale_ is the root of sweet cyperus. Harman (ed.
Strother) notices three varieties: _Cyperus rotundus_, _Galanga major_,
_Galanga minor_; Babees Book, ed. Furnivall, pp. 152, 216. See also Marco
Polo, ed. Yule, ii. 181; Prompt. Parv., p. 185, note 4; Rogers, Hist. of
Agriculture and Prices, i. 629; &c. And see Dr. H. Fletcher Hance's and Mr.
Daniel Hanbury's Papers on this spice in the Linnæan Society's Journal,
1871.
382. _London ale._ London ale was famous as early as the time of Henry
III., and much higher priced than any other ale; cf. A. 3140.
_Wel coude he knowe_, he well knew how to distinguish. In fact, we find, in
the Manciple's Prologue (H. 57), that the Cook loved good ale only too
well.
384. _mortreux_ or _mortrewes_. There were two kinds of 'mortrews,'
'mortrewes de chare' and 'mortrewes of fysshe.' The first was a kind of
soup in which chickens, fresh pork, crumbs of bread, yolks of eggs, and
saffron formed the chief ingredients; the second kind was a soup containing
the roe (or milt) and liver of fish, bread, pepper, ale. The ingredients
were first stamped or brayed in a _mortar_, whence it probably derived its
name. Lord Bacon (Nat. Hist. i. 48) speaks of 'a _mortresse_ made with the
brawne of capons stamped and strained.' See Babees Book, pp. 151, 170, 172;
Liber Cure Cocorum, ed. Morris, pp. 9, 19; and the note to P. Plowman, C.
xvi. 47. This line, like ll. 371 and 391, is deficient in the first foot.
386. _mormal_, a cancer or gangrene. Ben Jonson, in imitation of [38] this
passage, has described a cook with an 'old _mortmal_ on his shin'; Sad
Shepherd, act ii. sc. 2. Lydgate speaks of 'Goutes, _mormalles_, horrible
to the sight'; Falls of Princes, bk. vii. c. 10. In Polit. Religious and
Love Poems, ed. Furnivall, p. 218, we are told that the sin of Luxury 'ys a
lyther _mormale_.' In Skelton's Magnificence, l. 1932, Adversity is made to
say--'Some with the _marmoll_ to halte I them make'; and it is remarkable
that Palsgrave gives both--'_Mormall_, a sore,' and '_Marmoll_, a sore';
the latter being plainly a corrupt form. See also Prompt. Parvulorum, p.
343, note 5. In MS. Oo. i. 20, last leaf, in the Camb. Univ. Library, are
notices of remedies 'Por la maladie que est apele _malum mortuum_.' The MS.
says that it comes from melancholy, and shows a broad hard scurf or crust.
387. _blank-manger_, a compound made of capon minced, with rice, milk,
sugar, and almonds; see Liber Cure Cocorum, ed. Morris, p. 9. Named from
its white colour.