Early English Meals and Manners Part 70

[Footnote 57: Pryket, of a candylstykke, or other lyke. _Stiga_, P. Parv. Candlesticks (says Mr Way) in ancient times were not fashioned with nozzles, but with long spikes or _prykets_....

(See wood cut at the end of this book.) In the Memoriale of Henry, prior of Canterbury, A.D. 1285, the term _prikett_ denotes, not the candlestick, but the candle, formed with a corresponding cavity at one end, whereby it was securely fixed upon the spike.

p. 413, n. 1. Henry VIII.'s allowance 'unto our right dere and welbilovede the Lady Lucy,' July 16, 1533, included 'at our Chaundrye barr, in Wynter, every night oon _preket_ and foure syses of Waxe, with eight Candells white lights, and oon Torche.'

_Orig. Letters_, ed. Ellis, Series I., vol. ii. p. 31.]

[Footnote 58: See note 1, p. 189. [[16]] ]

NOTES TO THE BOOK OF CURTASYE.

[Transcriber's Note:

This section originally appeared near the end of the volume, immediately before the General Index.]

p. 188, l. 377-8, _Statut._ The only Statute about horse-hire that I can find, is 20 Ric. II. cap. 5, A.D. 1396-7, given below. I suppose the _Foure pens_ of l. 376 of the _Boke of Curtasye_ was the price fixed by "the kyngis crye" or Proclamation, l. 378, or by the sheriff or magistrates in accordance with it as the "due Agreement to the party"

required by the Statute.

"_Item._ Forasmuch as the Commons have made Complaint, that many great Mischiefs Extortions & Oppressions be done by divers people of evil Condition, which of their own Authority take & cause to be taken royally Horses and other Things, and Beasts out of their Wains Carts and Houses, saying & devising that they be to ride on hasty Messages & Business, where of Truth they be in no wise privy of any Business or Message, but only in Deceit & Subtilty, by such Colour and Device to take Horses, and the said Horses hastily to ride & evil entreat, having no Manner of Conscience or Compa.s.sion in this Behalf, so that the said Horses become all spoiled and foundered, paying no manner of Thing nor penny for the same, nor giving them any manner of sustenance; and also that some such manner of people, changing & altering their Names, do take and ride such Horses, and carry them far from thence to another Place, so that they to whom they belong, can never after by any mean see, have again, nor know their said Horses where they be, to the great Mischief Loss Impoverishment & Hindrance of the King's poor People, their Husbandry, and of their Living: Our Lord the King willing, for the Quietness and Ease of his People, to provide Remedy thereof, will & hath ordained, That none from henceforth shall take any such Horse or Beast in Such Manner, against the Consent of them to whom they be; and if any that do, and have no sufficient Warrant nor Authority of the King, he shall be taken and imprisoned till he hath made due Agreement to the Party."

That this seizing of horses for the pretended use of the king was no fancied grievance, even in much later times, is testified by Roger Ascham's letter to Lord Chancellor Wriothesley (? in 1546 A.D.) complaining of an audacious seizure of the horse of the invalid Master of Peterhouse, Cambridge, on the plea that it was to carry the king's fish, whereas the seizer's own servant was the nag's real burden: "tentatum est per hominem apud nos valde turbulentum, nomine Maxwellum."

_Ascham's Works_, ed. Giles, v. 1, p. 99. In vols. ix., x., and xi. of Rymer, I find no Proclamation or Edict about horse-hire. In 1413 Henry V.'s _Herbergeator_ is to provide Henry le Scrop, knight, with all that he wants "Proviso semper qud idem Henricus pro hujusmodi Fnis, Equis, Carectis, Cariagiis, & aliis necessariis, per se, seu Homines & Servientes suos praedictos, ibidem capiendis, fideliter solvat & satisfaciat, ut est justum." _Rymer_, ix. 13.

The general rule shown by the doc.u.ments in Rymer is that reasonable payments be made.

_De Equis pro Cariagio Gunnorum Regis capiendis._

A.D. 1413 (1 Sept.), An. 1. Hen. V. Pat. 1, Hen. V. p. 3, m. 19. Rex, Dilectis sibi, _Johanni Sp.r.o.ng_, Armigero, & _Johanni Louth_ Clerico, Salutem.

Sciatis quod a.s.signavimus vos, conjunctim & divisim, ad tot Equos, Boves, Plaustra, & Carectas, quot pro Cariagio certorum Gunnorum nostrorum, ac aliarum Rerum pro eisdem Gunnis necessarium, a Villa Bristolliae usque Civitatem nostram Londoniae, indiguerint, tam infra Libertates, quam extea (Feodo Ecclesiae dumtaxat excepto) pro Denariis nostris, in hac parte rationabiliter solvendis Capiendum & Providendum.

_Rymer_, ix. p. 49.

So in 1417 the order to have six wings plucked from the wing of every goose (except those commonly called _Brodoges_--? brood geese--) to make arrows for our archers, says that the feathers are _rationabiliter solvendis_. See also p. 653.

p. 188, l. 358. _The stuarde_ and his _stafe_. Cp. Cavendish's Life of Wolsey (ed. Singer, i. 34), "he had in his hall, daily, three especial tables furnished with three princ.i.p.al officers; that is to say, a Steward, which was always a dean or a priest; a Treasurer, a knight; and a Comptroller, an esquire; _which bare always within his house their white staves._

"Then had he a cofferer, three marshals, two yeomen ushers, two grooms, and an almoner. He had in the hall-kitchen two clerks of his kitchen, a clerk comptroller, a surveyor of the dresser, a clerk of his spicery."

See the rest of Wolsey's household officers, p. 34-9.

p. 190, l. 409. _Ale._ See in _Notes on the Months_, p. 418, the Song "Bryng us in good ale," copied from the MS. song-book of an Ipswich Minstrel of the 15th century, read by Mr Thomas Wright before the British Archaeological a.s.sociation, August, 1864, and afterwards published in _The Gentleman's Magazine_. P.S.--The song was first printed complete in Mr Wright's edition of _Songs & Carols_ for the Percy Society, 1847, p. 63. He gives Ritson's incomplete copy from Harl.

MS. 541, at p. 102.

Bryng us in good ale, and bryng us in good ale; For owr blyssyd lady sak, bryng us in good ale.

Bryng us in no browne bred, fore that is made of brane, Nor bryng us in no whyt bred, for therin is no game; But bryng us in good ale.

Bryng us in no befe, for there is many bonys; But bryng us in good ale, for that goth downe at onys, And bryng us in good ale.

Bryng us in no bacon, for that is pa.s.sing fate; But bryng us in good ale, and gyfe us i-nought of that, And bryng us in good ale.

Bryng us in no mutton, for that is often lene, Nor bryng us in no trypes, for thei be syldom clene; But bryng us in good ale.

Bryng us in no eggys, for ther ar many sch.e.l.les; But bryng us in good ale, and gyfe us no[th]yng ellys, And bryng us in good ale.

Bryng vs in no b.u.t.ter, for therin ar many herys Nor bryng us in no pygges flesch, for that will make us borys; But bryng us in good ale.

Bryng us in no podynges, for therin is al G.o.des-good; Nor bryng us in no venesen, for that is not for owr blood; But bryng us in good ale.

Bryng us in no capons flesch, for that is ofte der; Nor bryng us in no dokes flesche, for thei slober in the mer; But bryng us in good ale.

See also the other ale song at p. 81 of the same volume, with the burden

Doll thi ale, doll; doll thi ale, doll; Ale mak many a mane to have a doty poll.

p. 191, l. 435, _Gromes._ "the said four groomes, or two of them at the least, shall repaire and be in the King's privy chamber, at the farthest between six and seven of the clock in the morning, or sooner, as they shall have knowledge that the King's highnesse intendeth to be up early in the morning; which groomes so comen to the said chamber, shall not onely avoyde the pallets, but also make ready the fire, dresse and straw the chamber, purgeing and makeing cleane of the same of all manner of filthynesse, in such manner and wise as the King's highnesse, at his upriseing and comeing thereunto, may finde the said chamber pure, cleane, whollsome, and meete, without any displeasant aire or thing, as the health, commodity, and pleasure of his most n.o.ble person doth require." _Household Ordinances_, p. 155, cap. 56, A.D. 1526.

Errata (noted by transcriber):

de Worde, _Boke of Keruynge_

M.CCCC.xiij. [_text unchanged: end of selection has "CCCCC"_]

[Sidenote: _ewynge of_]

[_text shown as printed: probably "Sewynge of Flesshe"

with printing defect_]

[Sidenote: _Keruynge of Flesshe._]

[_editor's spelling; the same sidenote is used in the "Seruyce"

section, following_]

[Sidenote: _Rittern._ Salt, the sauce.]

[_text unchanged: error for "Bittern"?_]

[Sidenote: Carp, Trout, Conger, Thornback]

[_comma after "Carp" added_]

The Marshall and the vssher muste knowe ...

[_in the list following, line-final punctuation is as in the original_]

all these may svt two or thre [_text unchanged: printing error for "syt"?_]

Sa?a?? [Sa????]

_Sele turrentyne_, p. 166, l. 8 [l, 8]

_Boke of Curtesye_

l. 201 [Sidenote: Go on the pilgrimages (?) ....]

[_"pilgrim / ages" at line break with room for hyphen_]

[_question mark in original_]