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).

[E331] "Grote." "In this yere [1349] the kynge caused to be coyned grotes and half grotes, the whiche lacked of the weight of his former coyne, ii s. vi d. in a li [_libra_, pound] Troy."--Fabyan, p. 461. The _groat_ was only equal to about three and a half silver pennies instead of four.

[E332] "The Pie will discharge thee," etc., that is, the magpie will save you the trouble, etc., alluding to birds eating vermin on sheep's backs.

[E333] "Ouercome" = overtake, or keep up with; don't mow more than you can easily make, not too much at once, lest part of it be spoiled for want of hands.

[E334] "Cock apace." Cf. Piers Plowman, C. Text, Passus vi. 12, 13 (ed. Skeat).

"Canstow seruen, he seide, oþer syngen in a churche, Oþer _coke for my cokers_, oþer to þe cart picche?"

_i.e._ put hay into cocks for my harvest men. Mr. Skeat quotes in his note to this passage: "Bee it also prouided, that this act, nor anything therein contained, doe in any wise extende to any _cockers_ or haruest folkes that trauaile into anie countrie of this realme for haruest worke, either corne haruest, or hay haruest, if they doe worke and labour accordingly."--Rastall, Statutes; Vagabonds, etc., p. 474.

[E335] To employ your labourers in ploughing, or in performing other parts of husbandry, till the dew is off the grass, is unquestionably a saving of time, and essentially forwards the business of the farm.--M.

[E336] He who is constantly borrowing tools and other things which he ought to have of his own, lays himself under obligation to the lender, who expects twice as much in return.

[E337] "Woodsere" here means the proper season for felling wood.

[E338] "Fieing." "Feigh, Fey, vb. to clean out a drain, gutter or cesspool. 'Paid to John Lavghton in haruest for _feighinge_ the milne becke.'--Kirton in Lindsey Ch. Acc. 1582. George Todd's _feyin'_ out the sink hole."--Peacock's Glossary, E. Dial. Soc. 1877. To _fey_ a ditch or pond is to empty and clean it; and the mud taken from such places, if mixed with lime or chalk, forms an excellent compost for pasture grounds.--M. Cf. Icel. _fægja_, to cleanse, whence our word is derived.

[E339] "Of late yeares also we haue found and taken vp a great trade in planting of _hops_, whereof our moorie hitherto and vnprofitable grounds doo yeeld such plentie and increase that there are few farmers or occupiers in the countrie, which haue not gardens and hops growing of their owne, and those farre better than doo come from Flanders vnto vs. Certes the corruptions vsed by the Flemings, and forgerie dailie practised in this kind of ware, gaue vs occasion to plant them here at home; so that now we may spare and send manie ouer vnto them. And this I know by experience that some one man by conuersion of his moorie grounds into hopyards, wherof before he had no commoditie, dooth raise yearelie by so little as twelue acres in compasse two hundred markes; all charges borne toward the maintenance of his familie. Which Industrie God continue! Though some secret freends of Flemings let not to exclaime against this commoditie, as a spoile of wood, by reason of the poles, which neuerthelesse after three yeares doo also come to the fire, and spare their other fewell."--Harrison, Descript. of Eng., 1587, p. 206. "Lowe and spungie grounds trenched is good for hopps, as Suffolke, Essex, and Surrie, and other places doe find to their profit."--Norden, p. 206. Evelyn, Sylva, pp. 201, 469, ed. Hunter, asserts that there was a petition against them temp. Henry VI., but no record of it appears on the rolls of Parliament. Brewing with hops was not introduced here till the reign of King Henry VIII. (Stow, Hist. p. 1038.) _Bere_, however, is mentioned in 1504. (Leland, Coll. vi. p. 30, and see Dr. Percy on Northumberland Book, p. 414.)--Pegge's Forme of Cury, ed. 1780, p. xxiii. See a long note in Prompt. Parv., _s.v._ Hoppe; and also "Pharmacographia," p. 496.

[E340] For wanting at will = for fear of having none when you really want it.

[E341] Hay for neat cattle may be made with less labour, and more expeditiously than for horses; because, if it is a little mow burnt, it will not be the less acceptable to them; and besides, the fermentation it undergoes, if not carried too far, has a natural tendency to mellow coarse grass.--M.

[E342] _Avise auouse_ is French jargon for _take precautions_. Ill-made hay is apt to take fire; if much wetted with rain, to become mouldy. Hard and fine hay is best for horses; soft and coarse hay will be more acceptable to cattle; while short hay is coveted by sheep.--M.

[E343] Thry fallowing, or the third plowing, should be performed pretty early in the summer, in order that the ground may acquire sufficient hardness to resist the seeds of thistles and other weeds, even at the risk of requiring another stirring.--M.

[E344] This can only refer to garden beans, but the practice is now obsolete.

[E345] See note E318.

[E346] "Wormwood, a word corrupted from A.S. _wermod_, Ger. _wermuth_, O.S. _weremede_, words which seem to be compounded with Ger. _wehren_, A.S. _werian_ = to keep off, and _mod_ or _made_ = maggot, but which, by an accidental coincidence of sound, have been understood as though the first syllable were _worm_. L. Diefenbach would prefer to derive it from a Celtic root that means "bitter," Welsh _chwerw_, Cornish _wherow_. Be its origin what it may, it was understood in the Middle Ages as meaning a herb obnoxious to maggots, and used to preserve things from them, and was also given as an anthelmintic or worm medicine. _Artemisia Absinthium_, L."--Dr. R. A. Prior, Pop. Names of Brit. Plants. "Two sorts of _Wormewood_ are well knowen of many, that is, our common Wormewood, and that which is called _Ponticum_, now sowen in many gardens, and commonly called French-wormewood. And while it is yong, it is eaten in Salats with other herbes, to the great commoditie of the stomacke and Liuer. For it strengthneth a weake stomacke, and openeth the Liuer and Splene. For which purpose there is to be had in the Stilliard at London a kind of wine named Worme-wood wine, which I would wish to be much used of all such Students as be weake of stomacke. They may easily haue a rundlet of three or foure gallons or lesse, which they may draw within their owne chambers as need requireth. I was woont when appetite failed to steepe a branch or two of common Wormewood in halfe a pint of good white wine, close couered in some pot all night, and in the morning to straine it through a clean linnen cloth, and put in a little sugar and warme it, and so drinke it. Or sometime to burne a little quantitie of wine with sugar, and a branch or two of Wormewood put into it. Wherein I have found many times marvellous commoditie, and who so shall vse it now and then, shal be sure of a good stomacke to meat, and be free from wormes."--Cogan's Haven of Health, p. 55. "_Wormwood_, centaury, pennyroyal, are likewise magnified and much prescribed, especially in hypochondrian melancholy, daily to be used, sod in whey."--Burton, Anat. of Melancholy, p. 432.

[E347] "As many doo more," _i.e._ as many others do. Cf. 63. 18.

[E348] There is a proverb: "One scabb'd sheep's enough to spoil a flock."

[E349] In Lincolnshire corn affected by the smut is called _Parson corn_, the reason assigned being that when tithes were paid in kind, the sheaves that had the most smuts in them were always given to the _parson_, if he could be seduced into taking them.--See Peacock's Gloss. of Manley, etc., E. Dial. Soc. 1877.

[E350] _Mow-burn_ is occasioned by the Hay being stack'd too soon, before its own juice is thoroughly dried, and by Norfolk people is called the _Red Raw_; not such as is occasioned by stacking it when wet with Rain, which is a nasty musty and stinks.--T.R.

[E351] Hentzner, p. 79 (quoted in Harrison's Description of England, ed. F. J. Furnivall, p. lxxxiv), says: "As we were returning to our inn (at Windsor, Sept. 14), we happened to meet some country people celebrating their Harvest-home; their last load of corn they crown with flowers, having besides an image richly dressed, by which, perhaps, they would signify Ceres; this they keep moving about, while men and women, men and maid servants, riding through the streets in the cart, shout as loud as they can till they arrive at the barn."

[E352]

"Tis merie in hall, When beards wag all."

This proverb is of great antiquity. It occurs in the Life of Alexander (formerly, but erroneously, attributed to Adam Davie), written in 1312, where the words are:

"Swithe mury hit is in halle, When burdes wawen alle." --Weber's Met. Rom.

It occurs also in Shakspere, 2 Henry IV. Act v. sc. 3, and is quoted in the _Merie Tales of Skelton_, 1567. See also Ray's Proverbs.

[E353] "For Mihelmas spring," that is, "for fear of injuring the young plants, etc., at Michaelmas."

[E354] In Harrison's Descript. of England, Part II. p. 50 _et seq._, there is a long chapter on the cultivation and uses of Saffron in England, from which I extract the following: "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 upon the mount _Taurus, Tmolus, Italie, Ætolia, Sicilia_ or _Licia_, in sweetnesse, tincture and continuance; so of that which is to be had amongst us, 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 Glocestershire and those westerlie parts, which some thinke to be better than those of Walden, surmounteth all the rest, and therefore beareth worthilie the higher price, by sixpence or twelue pence most commonlie in the pound.... The heads of saffron are raised in Julie, 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 Julie and August by ranks or rowes, and being couered with moulds, they rest in the earth, where they cast forth little fillets and small roots like vnto a scallion, until September, in the beginning of which moneth the ground is pared and all weeds and grasse that groweth vpon the same remooved, to the intent that nothing may annoie the floure when as his time dooth come to rise. 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 itselfe in the owne kind, it resembleth almost the _Leucotion_ of _Theophrast_, sauing that it is longer, and hath in the middest thereof three chines 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 chines being picked from the floures, these are throwne into the doong-hill; 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 see what benefit is reaped by an acre of this commoditie.... For admit that the triple tillage of an acre dooth cost 13 shillings foure pence before the saffron be set, the clodding sixteene 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 cleansing of them, besides the doong which is woorth six pence the load to be laid on the first yeere, for the setting three and twentie shillings and foure pence, for the paring fiue shillings, six pence for the picking of a pound wet, etc.; 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." Harrison then describes fully the culture of saffron, and the adulterations and tricks practised by the dealers, and afterwards describes the virtues of it: "Our saffron (beside the manifold vse that it hath in the kitchin and pastrie, also in our cakes at bridals, and thanksgivings of women) is verie profitably mingled with those medicines which we take for the diseases of the breast, of the lungs, of the liuer, and of the bladder; it is good also for the stomach if you take it in meat, for it comforteth the same, and maketh good digestion: being sodden also in wine, it not onelie keepeth a man from dronkennesse, but incorageth also unto procreation of issue. If you drinke it in sweet wine, it inlargeth the breath, and is good for those that are troubled with the tisike and shortnesse of the wind: mingled with the milke of a woman, and laied vpon the eies, it staieth such humors as descend into the same, and taketh away the red wheales and pearles that oft grow about them: it killeth moths if it be sowed in paper bags verie thin, and laid vp in presses among tapistrie or apparrell: also it is verie profitable laid vnto all inflammations, painefull aposthumes, and the shingles, and doth no small ease vnto deafnes.... Three drams thereof taken at once, which is about the weight of one shilling nine pence halfe penie, is deadlie poison."

[E355] "The two S. Maries daies," _i.e._ July 22nd, St. Mary Magdalene's Day, and August 15th, the feast of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary.--M. Mr. Skeat suggests that the days meant are August 15th and September 8th, the Nativity of the Virgin Mary.

There is no doubt Mr. Skeat is right; compare "Centory must be gotten betweene our Lady dayes."--Langham's Garden of Health. The date is not uncommon in Herbals.--Note by Mr. J. Britten, F.L.S.

[E356] Mustard-seed is very apt to shed, and therefore should be gathered before it becomes too ripe. After dressing it is to be laid in a soller or garret. "Soller, a lofte, _garnier_."--Palsgrave. "Garytte, hay solere."--Prompt. Parv.

[E357] Though all the editions which I have seen read as printed in the text, it is evident that Tusser meant exactly the opposite, viz.:

"By day will deceiue thee, etc. By great will dispatch, etc."

Men who take work by the great, that is, by the job or contract, are, as experience tells us, naturally anxious to get the work done as soon as possible, while those who are engaged by the day as naturally try to spin out the work as long as they can. According to Carr's _Craven Glossary_, a Day-work is three roods of land. "Four perches make a day-worke; ten daysworks make a roode or quarter." (Twysden MS. quoted by Halliwell.) The latter agrees with Norden's statement: "You must know (says he), that there goe 160 perches to one acre; 80 perches to halfe an acre; 40 perches to one roode, which is ¼ of an acre; ten _daies worke_ to a roode, foure perches to a daies worke; 16 foote and a halfe to a perche." (_Surveior's Dialogue_, 1610.) In Cowel's _Interpreter_ we read "_Day-werc of Land_, as much arable ground as could be ploughed up in one day's work, or one journey, as the farmers still call it."

[E358] "Harvest lord," the principal reaper who goes first and regulates the movements of the rest; _Harvest-Lady_, the second reaper in the row, called in Cambridgeshire the _Harvest-Queen_. The rate at which the _Harvest-lord_ reaped of course regulated that of the others, and therefore Tusser recommends that he should have a penny or two extra in order to encourage him to have an eye to the loiterers, and to keep all up to the mark. Cf.:

"At heighe pryme Peres lete the plowe stonde, To ouersen hem hymself, and who-so best wrouȝte He shulde be huyred therafter whan heruest tyme come." --Piers Plowman, ed. Skeat, E. E. Text Soc. B Text, Passus vi. 114.

The following particulars as to the farmer's expenses at harvest time are quoted by Mr. Skeat in his notes to Piers Plowman, C. Text, Passus ix. 104, from Sir J. Cullum's Hist. of Hawsted, Suffolk, 2nd ed.: "The outgoings [in harvest] were called the costs of autumn, and are thus stated. In 1388, [we find] the expences of a ploughman, head reaper, baker, cook, brewer, _deye_, 244½ reapers (_sic_) hired for 1 day; 30 bedrepes (days of work performed in harvest-time by the customary tenants, at the _bidding_ of their lord), the men [being] fed, according to custom, with bread and herring; 3 qrs. 3 bu. of wheat from the stock; 5 qrs. 3 bu. of malt from the stock; meat bought, 10_s._ 10_d._; 5 sheep from the stock; fish and herrings bought, 5_s._; herrings bought for the customary tenants, 7_d._; cheese, milk, and butter bought (the dairy being let), 9_s._ 6_d._; salt, 3_d._; candles, 5_d._; pepper, 3_d._; spoons, dishes, and faucets, 5_d._ 30 bedrepes, as before; 19 reapers, hired for 1 day, at their own board, 4_d._ each; 80 men, for 1 day, and kept at the lady's board, 4_d._ each: 40½ men (_sic_) hired for 1 day, at 3_d._ each; the wages of the head reaper, 6_s._ 8_d._; of the brewer, 3_s._ 4_d._; of the cook, 3_s._ 4_d._ 30 acres of oats tied up by the job (_per taskam_), 1_s._ 8_d._; 6 acres of bolymong cut and tied up by the job, 3_s._ 4_d._; 16 acres of pease, cut by the job, 8_s._; 5 acres of pease and bolymong, cut and tied up by the job, 2_s._ 6_d._; 3 acres of wheat, cut and tied up by the job, 1_s._ 11_d._" [Here follow similar details for 1389, including a mention of 5 pairs of harvest-gloves, 10_d._] "What a scene of bustling industry was this! for, exclusive of the baker, cook, and brewer, who, we may presume, were fully engaged in their own offices, here were 553 persons employed in the first year; in the second, 520; and in a third, 538; yet the annual number of acres, of all sorts of corn, did not much exceed 200. From this prodigious number of hands, the whole business must have been soon finished. There were probably 2 principal days; for two large parties were hired, every year, for 1 day each.... These ancient harvest-days must have exhibited one of the most cheerful spectacles in the world. One can hardly imagine a more animated scene than that of between 200 and 300 harvest-people all busily employed at once, and enlivened with the expectation of a festivity, which perhaps they experienced but this one season in the year. All the inhabitants of the village, of both sexes, and all ages, that could work, must have been assembled on the occasion; a muster that, in the present state of things, would be impossible. The success of thus compressing so much business into so short a time must have depended on the weather. But dispatch seems to have been the plan of agriculture at this time, at least in this village. We have seen before, that 60 persons were hired for 1 day, to weed the corn. These throngs of harvest-people were superintended by a person who was called the head-reaper (_supermessor_ or _præpositus_), who was annually elected, and presented to the lord, by the inhabitants; and it should seem that, in this village at least, he was always one of the customary tenants. The year he was in office, he was exempt from all or half of his usual rents and services, according to his tenure; he was to have his victuals and drink at the lord's table, if the lord kept house (_si dominus hospitium tenuerit_); if he did not, he was to have a livery of corn, as other domestics had; and his horse was to be kept in the manor-stable. He was next in dignity to the steward and bailiff. The hay-harvest was an affair of no great importance. There were but 30 acres of grass annually mown at this period. This was done or paid for by the customary tenants. The price of mowing an acre was 6_d._"

By an "Assessment of the Corporation of Canterbury," made in 1594, the following were the rates of wages declared payable:--"Every labourer from Easter to Michaelmas, with meat and drink, 4_d._ per day; finding himself, 10_d._; and from Michaelmas to Easter, with meat and drink, 4_d._; without, 8_d._ Mowers per day, with meat and drink, 8_d._; finding themselves, 14_d._ By the acre, with meat and drink, 4_d._; without, 8_d._ Reapers per day, with meat and drink, 6_d._; finding themselves, 12_d._; by the acre, with meat and drink, 14_d._; without, 28_d_. Plashing and teeming of a quick hedge, 2_d._ per rod. Laying upon the band and binding and copping of oats, 8_d._, barley, 10_d._ Threshers by the quarter with meat and drink, for the quarter and making clean of wheat and rye, 5_d._, oats and barley, 3_d._; without meat and drink, for the quarter and making clean of wheat and rye, 12_d._, oats and barley, 6_d._ Making talewood, the load, 4_d._; billets, per 1000, 12_d._ A bailiff, with livery, £3 per annum; without livery, £3 6_s._ 8_d._"--Hasted's Antiquities of Canterbury, 1801, vol. ii. Appendix.

[E359] "Larges," "usually a shilling" (says Major Moor in his Suffolk Glossary). "For this the reapers will ask you if you 'chuse to have it hallered.' If answered, yes, they assemble in a ring, holding each other's hands, and inclining their heads to the centre. One of them, detached a few yards apart, calls loudly, thrice, 'Holla Lar!--Holla Lar!--Holla Lar!--j e e s.' Those in the ring lengthen out o-o-o-o with a low sonorous note and inclined heads, and then throwing the head up, vociferate 'a-a-a-ah.' This thrice repeated for a shilling is the established exchange in Suffolk." "Largesse bounty, handfuls of money cast among the people."--Cotgrave. "Crye a larges when a rewarde is geven to workemen, _stipem vociferare_."--Huloet's Dict. 1552. The phrase "crie a largesse" occurs in Piers Plowman, B Text, xiii. 449. As to the gloves given to harvest-men see above and note E309.

[E360] Though barley is generally mown, it is a slovenly practice, unless when performed with a cradle scythe.--M. See note E87.

[E361] "Dallops," patches of barley which have run to straw.--M.

[E362] Tidie means _neat, proper,_ and _in season_.--M.

[E363] "There finding a smack," _i.e._ finding a pleasant repast.

[E364] "Doo perish," _i.e._ cause to perish, ruin: the use of "do" in this sense is very common in Early English.

[E365] "Lengthen" here is equivalent to increase the extent or produce of.

[E366] "Fill out the black boule," etc. I am quite unable to explain this line; the "boule of bleith" is evidently the "merry bowl," but the epithet _black_ I do not understand.

[E367] "Thrifts ladder may clime," _i.e._ may prosper. Cf. ch. 9.

[E368] "_That_ many doo hate," in edd. of 1573, 1580, 1585, etc., the reading is "_as_ many do hate."

[E369] "Ling perhaps looks for great extolling, being counted the beefe of the sea, and standing every fish-day (as a cold supporter) at my Lord Maior's table: yet it is nothing but a long cod: whereof the greater sised is called Organe Ling, and the other Codling, because it is no longer then a Cod, and yet hath the taste of Ling: whilst it is new it is called green-fish: when it is salted it is called Ling, perhaps of lying, because the longer it lyeth ... the better it is, waxing in the end as yellow as a gold noble, at which time they are worth a noble a piece."--Muffett, pp. 154-5, quoted in the Babees Book, ed. Furnivall.

[E370] The following prices of various articles in Suffolk will be interesting:--1566. A lode of straw IIII_s._--1582. A capon VI_d._; a calfe V_s._; a firkin of butter VII_s._ VII_d._; a capon and a pullet VI_d._; a cocke (to fight) IIII_d._ (5 cockes bought to fight); a pullett III_d._ 5 pullets, 5 capons, 5 cockes, 1 calfe, were provided on the reckninge day and "these are allowed in the Churchwardens' accompte to be paide by them."--1590. To Coke for IIII combes of w otes whh he served to the Quene VI_s._ VIII_d._; 14 rod of ditching cost V_s._ IIII_d._--1596. Makinge a surplis for the church was II_d._; a payer of hoose was XII_d._ another XIII_d._; makyng this boke of accts (a single sheet written on two sides) VI_d._--1599. Three days work ditchynge 2_s._; a hard day's work was therefore 8_d._ per day, and a usual day's 4_d._ or 6_d._; three days thatchinge (Thos. Garrarde) II_s._ IIII_d._; wode was II_s._ the lode.--1587 or 8. A capon vi_d._; a calfe v_s._; a firkin of butter vii_s._ viii_d._; two capons and one pullett vi_d._; a cocke iiii_d._; one cocke and one pullett vi_d._; one pullett iii_d._--1583 No. 5. One short spurred cocke ii_d._; one chycken ii_d._; one hene ii_d._--1583 No. 4. Fower combes and too bushell of ottes at iv_s._ iv_d._ the combe; thre henes att thre pence a pece; bowes and arrowes IIII_d._; ten milch kine 30_s._ each; seven bullocks 7_s._ each; six calves 5_s._ each; six horses together £7; one acre of wheat, xx_s._; one acre of Bullimong land 33_s._ 4_d._; a new carte £11; a porkling 28_d._

Increased facilities of communication, and the numerous means that farmers now possess, through the press, of obtaining information as to prices of produce, etc., render _riding about_ almost unnecessary.

[E371] Tusser again sets out the advantages of ready money transactions, and of _keeping touch_, that is, punctuality and faithful regard to engagements. He buys at first hand who pays ready money from his own pocket; at second hand who pays ready money, but who, in order to enable him to do so, has to borrow a portion of the amount, because he has not so much money as he requires with him; at third hand who buys on credit.

[E372] "Stourbridge or Sturbich, the name of a common field extending between Chesterton and Cambridge, near the little brook Sture, for about half a mile square, is noted for its fair which is kept annually on September 19th, and continues a fortnight. It is surpassed by few fairs in Great Britain, or even in Europe, for traffic, though of late it is much lessened. The booths are placed in rows like streets, by the name[s] of which they are called, as Cheapside, etc., and are filled with all sorts of trades. The Duddery, an area of 80 or 100 yards square, resembles Blackwell Hall. Large commissions are negotiated here for all parts of England in cheese, woolen goods, wool, leather, hops, upholsterers' and ironmongers' ware, etc., etc. Sometimes 50 hackney coaches from London, ply morning and night, to and from Cambridge, as well as all the towns around, and the very barns and stables are turned into inns for the accommodation of the poorer people. After the wholesale business is over, the country gentry generally flock in, laying out their money in stage-plays, taverns, music-houses, toys, puppet-shows, etc., and the whole concludes with a day for the sale of horses. This fair is under the jurisdiction of the University of Cambridge."--Walker's Gazetteer, ed. 1801. See also index to Brand's Antiquities.

Camden says it was anciently called Steresbrigg, from the little river Stere or Sture that runs by it (in his Britannia, under Cambridgeshire). There have been many guesses at the name and origin of this fair, _e.g._ that of Fuller in his History of the University, p. 66, concerning the clothier of Kendal. The truth of the matter is this: King John granted Sturbridge fair for the benefit of the hospital of lepers which stood there (_v. decretum Hubert. Arch. Cantuar. in Concil. Londinen. An._ 1200. _Regn. Johann._; Spelman, ii. 127): in the certificatorium we are told that the keeper of the hospital holds twenty-four and a half acres of land in the county of Cambridgeshire to maintain these lepers. The Vice Chancellor has the same power in this fair that he has in the town of Cambridge. The University is always to have ground assigned for a booth by the mayor. Midsummer Fair was granted to the Prior and Convent of Barnwell, for much the same reason that Sturbridge was to the Lepers,--_ad eorum sustentationem_. In the reign of Henry the Sixth the Nuns of St. Radegund had the grant of Garlick Fair for the same reason.

"Sturbridge Fair was formerly proclaimed by both the Corporation and the University authorities. Originally lasting six weeks, in 1785 it lasted only three weeks, and now it lasts but one week. A very amusing account of its proclamation by the Vice Chancellor will be found in Gunning's 'Reminiscences of Cambridge.'"--S. N. in Notes and Queries, Aug. 25, 1877.

"When th' fair is done, I to the Colledg come, Or else I drinke with them at Trompington, Craving their more acquaintance with my heart, Till our next _Sturbridg Fair_; and so wee part." --Brathwaite's Honest Ghost, 1658, p. 189.

[E373] "When it [the malt] hath gone, or beene turned, so long [21 days] vpon the floore, they carrie it to a kill, couered with _haire cloth_, where they giue it gentle heats (after they haue spread it there verie thin abroad) till it be drie, and in the meane while they turne it often, that it may be vniformelie dried."--Harrison, Description of England, ed. F. J. Furnivall, Part I. p. 156.

[E374] Cf. September's Husbandry, ch. 16 st. 1.

[E375] One part in ten is far below the present average value of land. If the whole produce will clear _four_ rents, the industrious farmer would have no reason to complain, though he is now subject to heavy taxes, which, it is to be remarked are not included in the list of outgoings.--M.

[E376] "Well fare the plough." On a flyleaf of a MS. of Piers Plowman (MS. R. 3, 14, in Trinity Coll. Camb.) is written,

"God spede the plouȝ & sende vs korne I-now."

See print in beginning of Wright's ed. of Piers Plowman.

[E377] The advice given in this short piece, the most difficult, perhaps, that Tusser had written, is very good, but he has strained alliteration to an extravagant pitch.

[E378] In the reign of Elizabeth an Act was passed, requiring a seven years' apprenticeship to enable a person to set up in business or trade; and hence the idea arose of dividing human life into periods of seven years.--M. The idea is much older; for, in Arnold's Chronicle (edition 1811), page 157, we find:--"The vij Ages of Mā liuing ī the World. The furst age is infance and lastith from ye byrth vnto vij yere of age. The ij is childhod and endurith vnto xv yere age. The iij age is adholocencye and endurith vnto xxv yere age. The iiij age is youth and endurith vnto xxxv yere age. The v age is manhod and endurith vnto l yere age. The vj age is [elde] and lasteth vnto lxx yere age. The vij age of mā is crepill and endurith vnto dethe."

See Prompt. Parv. p. 7, for another version of the above, the limits assigned to the several stages being different, and the seventh stage beginning at the resurrection.

[E379] "Foxe, Ape with his toieng," etc. Dr. Mavor's edition reads, "For Ape with his toieng," etc.

[E380] "The tone from the tother;" the tone = that one, the tother = that other; where the _t_ is the sign of the neuter gender, as in tha-_t_, i-_t_; compare the Latin _d_ in i-_d_, quo-_d_, illu-_d_.--In ch. 110, p. 201, we have the curious forms "_thon_" and "_thother_."

[E381] "To him and to hur," that is, to every one, or to any one. Cf. 94. 3, and

"The white lambe þat hurte was with the spere Flemere of feendes out of hym and here." --Chaucer, Man of Law's Tale, l. 460, Six-Text ed.

[E382] "Daieth" = dayeth, that is, appoints a _day_ on which he promises to pay.

Gervase Markham, in the First Part of the English Husbandman, ch. 6, remarks:--"You may by these usuall observations, and the helpe of a better judgement, imploy the fruits of your labours to the best profit, and sell everything at the highest price, except you take upon you to _give day_ and sell upon trust, which if you doe, you may then sell at what unconscionable reckoning you will." Cf.

"When drapers draw no gaines by _giving day_." --Gascoigne, The Steel Glass, 1094.

[E383] "By that and by this;" that is, by anything, or by chance. Compare stanza 6, and chap. 67, stanza 5, p. 153.

[E384] "A tode with an R" is an elegant euphemism for _torde_; the meaning being that a bad husbandman is more likely to receive insults and refusals, than compliance with his requests. Compare Wycliffe's translation of Luke xiii. 8, as given at p. 365 of Dr. Bosworth's edit. of the Gothic and Anglo-Saxon Gospels, with the Versions of Wycliffe and Tyndale, London, 1865.

[E385] "Experience should seeme to proue playnely, that Inclosures should be profitable and not hurtfull to the common weale; for we see the countryes where most Inclosiers be, are most wealthy, as _Essex, Kent, Northamptonshyre,_ etc. And I have hearde a Ciuilian once say, that it was taken for a Maxime in his lawe (this saying), 'that which is possessed of many in common, is neglected of all;' and experience sheweth that Tenaunts in common be not so good husbandes, as when euery man hath his parte in seueralty; also, I have heard say, that in the most countreyes beyonde the Sea, they knowe not what a common grounde meaneth."--Stafford's Examination of Complaints, New Shakspere Soc., ed. Furnivall, p. 40.

[E386] Fitzherbert shows how a township that is worth twenty marks a-year may be made worth £20, and the ground-work of his plan is to enclose the land. "By enclosing," he says, "a farmer shall save meat, drink, and wages of a shepherd; the wages of the swineherd, the which may fortune to be as chargeable as his whole rent; and also his corn shall be better saved from eating or destroying by cattle."

[E387] Harman, 1567 (E. E. Text Soc., ed. Furnivall, p. 82), speaks of "lewtering lusks and lazy _lorrels_," and in Pierce Plowman's Crede we find in line 750, "lordes sones lowly to þo _losells_ aloute," and in l. 755, "and leueþ swiche _lorels_ for her lowe wordes."--See Note in Prompt. Parv. _s.v._ Lorel. Levins (Manip. Vocab. 1570) translates _lorel_ by _nebulo, scurra_.

[E388] Courts for presenting nuisances are generally the greatest nuisances themselves. Under the semblance of justice, they often retard its execution. The members, or jury who compose them, do not want the power, but they want the independence to act right.--M.

[E389] "In Bridewell a number be stript," etc. Although all the editions I have been able to examine read "lesse worthie than _theefe_ to be whipt," I suspect the correct reading to be "lesse worthie than _theese_ to be whipt." The mistake might easily occur through the similarity of the old _s_ and _f_. The meaning, as the lines read at present, is not very clear, but if we adopt the suggested reading, the sense becomes at once apparent:--"In Bridewell many are stripped for flogging who do not deserve it so much as these."

[E390] "Take them" = arrest them.

[E391] "Mo," lit. = more; but also used in the sense of others. "This use of _mo_ is not common, but there are a few examples of it. Thus in Specimens of English, ed. Morris and Skeat, we have at p. 47, l. 51,

"'Y sike for vnsete Ant mourne ase men doþ _mo_.'

"_i.e._ 'I sigh for unrest, and mourn as _other_ men do.' And on the next page (48, l. 22) we have

"'Mody meneþ so doþ _mo_, Ichot ycham on of þo,'

"_i.e._ 'The moody moan as _others_ do; I wot I am one of them.' Somewhat similar is the expression _oþer mo_, where we should now say _others as well_, Piers Plowman, C. Text, Passus v. 10."--Rev. W. Skeat, in note to l. 1039 of Chaucer, Clerke's Tale, Clarendon Press Series. _Mo_ is also used in the same sense in 67, 11, p. 154.

[E392] "Verlets," originally a servant to a knight, below page or squire, though often used in French Romance as equivalent to a squire. "Pages, _varlets_, ou damoiseaux: noms quelquefois communs aux _ecuyers_."--Cotgrave. Ducange (Gloss. M. et I. Lat.) has: "_Valeti valecti_ appellati vulgo magnatum filii, qui necdum militare cingulum consecuti erant: vassallorum filii _vassaleti_ dicti." Levins (Manip. Vocab.) says: "Varlett, _verna_." See Wedgwood, Dict. Eng. Etymology, _s.v._ Valet.

[E393] "Ruleth the roste;" to _rule_ the _roast_ is to preside at the board, to assign what share one pleases to the guests; hence it came to mean to domineer, in which sense it is commonly used in our old authors. See Nares, s.v.

[E394] With this description of an envious neighbour compare Langland's picture of _Invidia_ (Envy) in Piers Plowman, B. Text, E. E. Text Soc., ed. Skeat, Passus v. l. 76.

[E395] "His hatred procureth," etc., his hatred takes pains to bring bad to worse, his friendship is like that of Judas who, etc., _i.e._ is selfish.

[E396] "His lips out of frame," _i.e._ are out of order, are not kept in order. Cf. the expression "loose in the haft."

[E397] "Spials;" so Spenser, Faery Queene, i. 4:

"And privie spials plast in all his way,"

Levins (Manip. Vocab.) has "Spyall, _arbiter_."

[E398] "Would'st thou not be glad to have the niggardly rascally _sheepbiter_ come by some notable shame."--Shakspere, Twelfth Night,