It is no matter of iape to write rimes on that persone in whose handes it lieth to write a man out of all that euer he hath ... ... ... ... ... ... "A man owith to beware to assocyate hym self with his bettyrs, for he shall euyer be put to the worse parte, as it is sayde in a commune prouerbe. I counsell not seruauntis to ete Churyes with ther bettyrs. Fer they wyl haue the Rype and leue them the harde."-Dialogues of Creatures, xx. Songe of the Frere and the Nunne with other semblable 273 merie iests" sang at Weddings and other feastynges 274 Perhaps the coarseness of manner in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries was nowhere more conspicuous than at weddings. The rough horse-play and brutal jests then indulged in are thus alluded to by Coverdale : "Early in the morning the wedding people begin to exceede in superfluous eating and drinking, whereof they spit, untill the half sermon be done. And when they come to the preaching, they are halfe dronken; some altogether; therefore regard they not the preaching nor prayer, but stand there only because of the custome. Such folks also do come into the church with all maner of pomp and pride, and gorgeousness of raiment and jewels. They come with a great noyse of basons and drooms, wherewith they trouble the whole church. . . . And even as they come to the church, so go they from the church again; light, nice, in shamefull pompe and vaine wantonnes." Fol. 58, rev.-9. "After the banket and feast, there beginneth a vaine, mad, and unmanerly fashion; for the bride must be be brought into an open dauncing place. Then there is such a running, leaping and flinging among them; . . . . . . that a man might think all these dauncers had cast all shame behinde them, and were become starke mad and out of their wits, and that they were sworne to the devil's daunce. Then must the poore bride keepe foote with all dauncers, and refuse none, how scabbed, foule, dronken rude, and shameles soever he be! Then must she oft tymes heare and see much wickednes, and many an uncomly word. And that noyse and romblyng endureth even tyll supper." "As for supper, looke how much shamles and dronken the evening is more then the morning, so much the more vice, exces, and misnurture is used at the supper. After supper, must they begin to pipe and daunce again of anew. And though the young persons (being weary of the babling noyse and inconvenience,) come once towards their rest, yet can they have no quietness! For a man shall find unmanerly and restles people that wyll first go to their chamber doore, and there syng vicious and naughty balates-that the devil may have his whole triumphe now to the uttermost ! " Fol. 59 rev. 60.-Coverdale's Christian State of Matrimony (1575). The words of the Friar and the Nun are now lost, which probably is something to be thankful for, as from various allusions to it by writers of the period, it was evidently a most abominable filthy song. A proverbial saying which may still be heard occasionally, in the country, although trenchers have almost entirely disappeared. A new trencher, neatly turned out of sycamore wood, had a particularly clean and wholesome appearance. Got by chance, or out of the ordinary way. Square and disagree ... ... 276 Although "out of square means to disagree (see p. 428), دو square up to him are pugilistic terms. Hasten faire and softely ... 284 squaring" and "to Be lusty, fre, persevere in thy servise, Chaucer, Troylus and Cryseyde, Bk. 1, p. 50. Enbraked and Hampered ... ... ... 286 "Enbraked here evidently means fastened or shut up in a strait place. The following passage from the Paraphrase of Erasmus seems to prove that a brake" was not only a place full of bushes and shrubs, but also enclosed or fenced round : 66 "As touchying myne owne stile in this present weorke, if I should be so streightly examined, I am (as the Greke prouerbe saieth) in lyke case as a man yt should hold fast a woulf by both eares. For if he hold him still, he hath a shrewe in handleyng & cannot so continue euer: if he leat hym goe, he is in ieoperdie so should I in this matter stande in a streight brake, either to incur suspicion of arrogancie if I maintaine myne owne. . .. or els must I be driuen to graunte an errour where perchaunce none is.”—6th leaf of Preface to Luke. "Against ye philosophie Evangelicall beeyng yet but tendre and euen but newely spryngyng vp, the world arose at the first chop with all his force and power."-Erasmus' Paraphrase, 5th leaf of Preface to Luke. Ruling the roste, & bearyng all the stroke ... ... 294 "Bearing the stroke" has been explained, p. 445. Ruling the roast is, it is hardly necessary to say, the chief seat at the dinner table. A quaint figure of speech for shedding tears "Water your cheekes" is used in Latymer's Sermons (1578) 4th page of Introductory Epistle. A beggerie little toun of cold roste in the mountaine : ... This is a very unusual comparison for anything mean or contemptible as mean as cold meat or broken victuals. Fulius Cæsar would rather be the first man in a small town than the second man in Rome So Milton: ... "Better to reign in Hell than serve in Heaven." 297 ... 297 He would cast no more peniworthes in the matter ... 298 That is, he would spend no more time in counting the cost; he would no longer calculate or hesitate. To be a man or a mouse... Yet a very common phrase. To set all on sixes and seuens ... ... ... He would trust to chance, as a man does who plays at dice. "I may breake a dish there. And sure I shall Spare, slender skragges Skraggy" is yet a common term for leanness. With their five Eggs ... ... This was rather a common Proverb in the 16th century, and has never been explained, but it evidently means a silly rumour, equivalent to "mare's nest." "Will you take eggs for money?" belongs to the same family. "Whyles another gyeuth counsell to make peace wyth the kynge of Arragone, and to restore vnto hym hys owne kyngdome of Nauarra as a full assurance of peace. An other cummeth in wyth hys v. egges, and aduyseth to howke in the kynge of Castell."-Raphe Robynson's trans. More's Utopia, 1551, sig. E, vi. "One sayd; a well favoured olde woman she is ; Heywood's Proverbs, Pt. ii., cap. i. "Mine honest friend eggs for money? Winter's Tale, i. 2. Simon Fish in his Supplication for the Beggars, written about 1530, and ably edited by Mr. Furnival for the Early English Text Society, mentions six proverbs relating to the injuries caused by keeping so many sheep, the last of which is: "The more shepe, the fewer egges for a peny.-By reason cottages go downe in the contre, where as pultrye was wont to be breade and fedde, nowe there is nothynge kept there but shepe, which cause the egges to be solde for fower a penny." So it is very likely they had been previously sold five for a penny. "Do you want a pen'orth of eggs to-day?" or "Do you want five eggs to-day?" would be a regular and constant cry. And the "bit o' gossip" between buyer and seller no less regular; and who so full of silly tales and tittle-tattle as the ignorant woman, going from door to door, chatting with the servants, and gathering all the floating rumours and scandal? until "to come in with five eggs" became a figure of speech for doubtful rumours or busy medlers. 66 "Will you take eggs for money?" is another allusion to the habits of the poultry-women or farmers' wives. There has been a wonderful change in this class the last 40 or 50 years. It is in the memory of many when well-to-do farmers' wives and daughters lent a helping hand at busy seasons-at haytime, and harvest, and when the poultry-yards and dairies were almost entirely attended to by them. When they went to market, a basket of eggs was one of their most frequent charges and in making their purchases at various shops the tradesman would often be asked "to take eggs for money to a certain extent; especially when the sum to pay left an oddment," such as 4d. or 8d. In such cases there would be a dialogue something like the following: "What did you say the markettings' (shopkeepers' goods) come to? ""Twelve shillings and eightpence, if you please." "Well, there's twelve shillings; you'll take eggs for the oddment? Yes, I don't mind." So the woman not only got rid of her eggs, but often made a little more than the market price of them. Small purchases often were, and are now, made entirely with eggs. "You'll take eggs for money? was not always a pleasant remark to a shopkeeper's ears: because he frequently had to take them above their market value, and when he did not want them, or risk offending a good customer. Cry creake... ... ... ... ... 66 As a duck, when alarmed or hurt ;-equivalent to the modern "Great fines so near did pare me, Great charge so near did dare me, That made me at length cry creak.” Tusser (1812 Reprint) p. vi. "Make maid to be cleanly, or make her cry creak; Gradually, little by little, as water "soaks" into the ground. Tyme of weapon and lawes is not al one ... ... 309 That is, in time of war, it is sometimes necessary "to stretch a point." (By-the-bye, is the "point" in this familiar saying |