Fiue hundred pointes of good husbandrie
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