Early English Meals and Manners Part 49

The Operacion.

The Lam{m}e that soucketh his dam{m}e hath his flesshe very slymie, & nat lowable / and it will nat be disgested, princ.i.p.ally of them that haue cold stomakes. la{m}mes of a yere olde be better & lighter to disgest / & they make G.o.de blode / and specyally they be G.o.de for theym that be hote & drye of complexcyon & dwell in a hote & drye lande / la{m}mes flesshe is very G.o.de for one that is hole & l.u.s.ti, but for theim {tha}t be seke it is very euyll: though it lightely disgest and descende out of the man / yet it is euyll for other partes of the body, for it maketh slimy humours. sign. b. i.

l. 808, _Cony._ "The coney is a lytel beste dwellynge in an hole of the erthe / & th.o.r.e as he vseth he encreaseth very moche, and therfore he is profitable for man, for he casteth oftentymes in the yere ... Ysaac sayth. That conys flesshe hath properli {th}e vertue to strengen {th}e mawe and to dissolue the bely / and it ca.s.seth moche vryne." _The n.o.ble Lyfe_, sign. e. i.

l. 811. _Mead_ or _Meath_, a drink made of Ginger, Sugar, Honey and Spring water boiled together. R. Holme.

_Metheglin_, a drink made of all sorts of wholesome Herbs boiled and strained with Honey and Water, and set to work with Bearm, as Ale or Beer. _R. Holme._ Dan. _miod._

l. 811. _Braggot._ This drinke is of a most hot nature, as being compos'd of Spices, and if it once scale the sconce, and enter within the circ.u.mclusion of the _Perricranion_, it doth much accelerate nature, by whose forcible atraction and operation, the drinker (by way of distribution) is easily enabled to afford blowcs to his brother. In Taylor. _Drink & Welcome_, 1637, A 3, back.

l. 812. Mussels (_Mityli_, _Chamae_) were never in credit, but amongst the poorer sort, till lately the lilly-white Mussel was found out about Romers-wall, as we sail betwixt Flushing and Bergen-up-Zon, where indeed in the heat of Sommer they are commonly and much eaten without any offence to the head, liver, or stomach: yea my self (whom once twenty Mussels had almost poisoned at Cambridg, and who have seen sharp, filthy, and cruel diseases follow the eating of English Mussels) did fill my self with those Mussels of the Low Country, being never a whit distempered with my bold adventure. _m.u.f.fett_, p. 159.

l. 824, _Samon._

Also sumtyme where samons vsen for to haunte, Lampreys, luces, or pykkes plesaunte, wenyth the fyscher suche fysche to fynde.

_Piers of Fullham_, ll. 11-13.

l. 835, 4 [Footnote 235 in this e-text] _Torrentyne._ The pa.s.sage before that quoted from Aldrovandi, de Piscibus, p. 585, in the note, is, "Trutta, siue ut Platina scribit Truta, siue Trotta Italicu{m} nome{n} est, a Gallis, quibus Troutte vel potius Truette, vel ab Anglis quib{us} a Trute, vel Trovvt appella{n}t, acceptum. Rhaeti qui Italica lingua corrupta vtuntur, Criues vocant, teste Gesnero." The special fish from the Tarentine gulf is the "Tarentella, Piscis genus. Tract. MS. de Pisc.

cap. 26 ex Cod. reg. 6838. C.: _Magnus thunnus, is scilicet qui a nostris_ Ton _vocatur ... dicitur Italis Tarentella, a_ Tarentino, _unde advehitur, sinu_." Ducange, ed. 1846.

l. 845. _Hake. Merlucius_ (or _Gadus_) _vulgaris_ Y. ii. 258, 'the Seapike ... It is a coa.r.s.e fish, not admitted to the tables of the wealthy; but large quant.i.ties are anuually preserved both by salting and drying, part of which is exported to Spain.' 'Fish, samon, _hake_, herynge' are some of the commoditees of Irelonde mentioned in the _Libelle_ (A.D. 1436), p. 186.

l. 839, _reffett._ In the following extract _refete_ has the _Promptorium_ meaning:

eteth of the [full grown] fysche, and be not so lykerous, Let the yong leve that woll be so plenteous; ffor though the bottomles belyes be not ffyllyd with such _refete_, Yet the saver of sauze may make yt good mete.

_Piers of Fullham_, ll. 80-3, _E. Pop. P._, v. 2, p 5.

l. 842. _breme._

... y schall none pondes with pykes store, _Breme_, perche, ne with tenche none the more.--_Ibid._ ll. 51-2.

l. 843, _flowndurs._

But now men on deyntees so hem delyte, To fede hem vpon the fysches lyte, As _flowndres_, perches, and such pykyng ware; Thes can no man gladly now-a-day spare To suffyr them wex vnto resonable age.--_Ibid._ ll. 74-8.

l. 867. _Hose._ For eight pair of _hosen_ of cloth of divers colours, at xiij s. iiij d. the pair; and for four pair "of sokks of fustian" at iij d. the pair (p. 118) ... for making and lyning of vj pair of _hosen_ of puke lyned with cloth of the goodes of the saide Richard, for lynyng of every pair iij s. iiij d. xx s. Wardrobe Accounts of Edw. IV. (ed.

Nicolas) p. 120.

l. 879. Combing the head was specially enjoined by the doctors. See A. Borde, Vaughan, &c., below.

l. 915. _Fustian._ March, 1503, 'for v yerdes _fustyan_ for a cote at vij d. the yerd ij s. xj d.' Nicolas's Elizabeth of York, p. 105. See A. Borde, below. 'Coleyne threde, _fustiane_, and canvase' are among the 'commodites ... fro Pruse ibroughte into Flaundres,' according to the _Libelle_, p. 171,

But tha Flemmyngis amonge these thinges dere In comen lowen beste bacon and bere: Thus arn thy hogges, and drynkye wele staunt; Fare wele Flemynge, hay, horys, hay, avaunt.

(See _n._ p. 131, below.)

A. Borde, in his _Introduction_, makes one of the Januayes (Genoese) say,

I make good treacle, and also _fustian_, With such thynges I crauft with many a pore man.

l. 941-5. See the extracts from Andrew Borde, W. Vaughan, &c., below.

l. 945. The Motte bredethe amonge clothes tyll that they have byten it a sonder / & it is a maniable worm, and yet it hydeth him in y^e clothe that it can scantly be sene / & it bredethe gladly in clothes that haue ben i{n} an euyll ayre, or in a rayn or myst, and so layde vp without hanging in the sonne or other swete ayre after.

The Operacyon.

The erbes that be bitter & well smelli{n}ge is good to be layde amo{n}ge suche clothes / as the baye leuis, cypres wode. _The n.o.ble Lyfe_ (i. 3.) Pt. i. Cap. c.xlij. sign. i. 3.

l. 969. _Catte._ The mouse hounter or catte is an onclene beste, & a poyson ennemy to all myse / and whan she hath goten [one], she playeth therwith / but yet she eteth it / & y^e catte hath lo{n}ge here on her mouthe / and whan her heres be gone, than hathe she no boldnes / and she is gladli in a warme place / and she licketh her forefete & wa.s.sheth therwith her face. Laurens Andrewe, _The n.o.ble Lyfe_ (g. iv.), Part I.

cap. c.i.

l. 970, _dogge._ Here is the first part of Laurens Andrewe's Chapter.

Of the dogge. ca. xxiiij.

The dogge is an onclenly beste / {tha}t eteth so moche that he vomyteth it out & eteth vp agayne / it is lightly angry, and byteth gladly strau{n}ge dogges / he barketh moche / he kn[oweth] his name well / he is hered [all over his b]ody, he loueth his mast[er, and is eselye]

lerned to many games / & be night he kepeth the house. There be many hou{n}des {tha}t for the loue of theyr maister they wyll ro{n}ne in their owne dethe / & whan the dogge is seke / he seketh gra.s.se or other erbes / & that he eteth, and heleth himselfe so / and there be many maner of dogges or hou{n}des to hawke & hunt, as grayhou{n}des / braches / spanyellis, or suche other, to hunt hert and hynde / & other bestes of chace & venery, &c. and suche be named ge{n}tyll hou{n}des. The b.i.t.c.he hath mylke .v. or vij. dayes or she litter her whelpes / and that milke is thicker tha{n} any other mylke excepte swynes mylke or hares mylke.

fol. c. iv.

l. 970, _Catte._ L. Andrewe says

"Of the Catte. ca. xxv.

The catte is a beste {tha}t seeth sharpe, and she byteth sore / and scratcheth right perylously / & is princ.i.p.all ennemye to rattis & myce / & her colour is of nature graye / and the cause {tha}t they be other wyse colowred, that co{m}methe through chaunge of mete, as it is well marked by the house catte, for they be selden colored lyke the wylde catte. & their flesshe is bothe nesshe & soffte." _n.o.ble Lyfe_, Part II.

c. iv.

l. 983. Bathe. 'Bathing is harmful to them [who are splenitie] chiefly after meat, and copulation (following) on surfeit ... Let him also bathe himself in sweet water. Without, he is to be leeched and smeared with oil of roses, and with onlayings (or poultices made of) wine and grapes, and often must an onlay be wrought of b.u.t.ter, and of new wax, and of hyssop and of oil; mingle with goose grease or lard of swine, and with frankincense and mint; and when he bathes let him smear himself with oil; mingle (it) with saffron.' _Leechdoms_, v. 2, p. 245.

l. 987. _Scabiosa_, so named of old tyme, because it is giuen in drinke inwardly, or ointmentes outwardly, to heale scabbes, sores, corrupcion in the stomacke, yea, and is most frend emong all other herbes in the tyme of the Pestilence, to drinke the water with Mithridatum a mornynges ... the flowers is like a Blewe or white thrummed hatte, the stalk rough, the vpper leaues ragged, and the leaues next the grose rootes be plainer. Under whom often tymes, Frogges will shadowe theim selues, from the heate of the daie: hoppyng and plaiyng vnder these leaues, whiche to them is a pleasaunt Tente or pauillion, saieth Aristophanes, whiche maie a plade (= made a play), wherein Frogges made pastime. _Bullein's Bulwarke_, 1562, or, _The booke of Simples_, fol. xvj. b.

[Transcriber's Note: The following note was originally labeled "67/991" (page 67, line 991) and was printed between the notes for l. 280 and l. 300.]

l. 991. Rosemary is not mentioned among the herbs for the bath; though a poem in praise of the herb says:

Moche of this herbe to seeth thu take In water, and a bathe thow make; Hyt schal the make ly?t and joly, And also lykyng and ?owuly.

_MS. of C. W. Los...o...b.., Esq., in Reliquiae Antiquae_, i. 196.

l. 995. _Bilgres._ Can this be _bugloss_? I find this, as here, in juxtaposition with _scabiose_, in Bullein's _Bulwarke of Defence_, Book of Simples, fol xvj. b. G. P. Marsh.

l. 1004. For Selden's Chapter on Precedence, see his _t.i.tles of Honour_, ch. xi. Rouge Dragon (Mr G. Adams) tells me that the order of precedence has varied from time to time, and that the one now in force differs in many points from Russell's.

l. 1040. _Nurrieris._ I find no such name in Selden's chap. ix., Of Women. Does the word mean 'foster-mothers or fathers,' from the Latin "Nutricarii, Matricularii, quibus enutriendi ac educandi infantes projectos cura inc.u.mbebat: _Nourissiers._ Vita S. Goaris cap. 10: _Haecque consuetudo erat, ut quando aliquis h.o.m.o de ipsis infantibus projectis misericordia vellet curam habere, ab illis, quos_ Nutricarios _vocant, matriculariis S. Petri compararet, et illi Episcopo ipsum infantem praesentare deberent, et postea Episcopi auctoritas eumdem hominem de illo_ Nutricario _confirmabat_. _Id clarius explicatur a Wandelberto in Vita ejusdem Sancti_, cap. 20." Ducange, ed. 1845.

The following list of Names of Fish, from Yarrell, may be found convenient for reference.