JOHN RUSSELL’S BOOK OF NURTURE
First printed by Dr. Furnivall from MS. Harl. 4011, fols. 171-89, dated about 1460. Other copies are in Sloane 1315, fols. 49-67 and 2027, fols. 1-15b, supposed to be slightly earlier in date; also, Royal 17 D xv., article 5.
Nothing is known of the author beyond what he himself says, that he was usher and marshal to Duke Humphrey of Gloucester (regent during the minority of Henry VI.). He was seemingly an old man and a widower before the death of Duke Humphrey, who was murdered in 1447. This seems to be suggested by the fact that he asks the reader’s prayers for Duke Humphrey (as the King is prayed for to-day) and then for the souls of his wife and his parents. If then he was forced to retire from court by old age (as he says in another place, see p. [77], above) some time before 1447, he might have been born even before 1360, and studied his courtesy under Edward III., or at the very latest under Richard ll.
The device of wandering in the country and there meeting with some one who furnishes the subject of the poem was extensively used by Chaucer and his school, derived by them in turn from French poets of the thirteenth century.
The long lines and pompous metre which he uses I have employed occasionally, where the subject permitted that form, to show the effect. The whole production done that way would become insufferably tedious.
p. [49]. “Is thy governance good?” Practically, “Do you behave well?”
p. [50]. Smooth and square the trenchers with. At this time, still made of stale wholemeal bread; later, of wood.
p. [51]. Linen clouts. To stop up holes?
p. [52]. Couleur de rose. A red wine, classified under malmsey (and therefore Greek?), mentioned in the Interlude of the Four Elements.
p. [52]. New ale is wasteful, i.e., people can drink so much of it because it is not intoxicating.
p. [52]. Stale drink. Perhaps an allusion to the lead poisoning which is known to result from drinking ale that has stood in a pewter pot for some time.
p. [52]. Cowche. Any sort of cover. Used perhaps as nowadays to lessen the noise and save the board.
p. [53]. Lay a second cloth. I understand this to mean that one linen cloth was not wide enough to cover the table and to hang down sufficiently; hence, that two were used, overlapping in the middle, and hanging down on each side. By following the directions, literally, it is possible to see what is meant. The outer edge, I take to be that nearest the centre of the room, the inner, next to the wall.
p. [53]. State. A fold or some other ornamental arrangement of the table-cloth. The usher or sewer seems to have twisted or curled it with his rod.
p. [53]. Put a towel round your neck. The achievement described in the following lines is quite possible, if the loaves are small, and makes quite a “mannerly” appearance.
p. [54]. Rennes cloth. Made at Rennes in Brittany, and frequently mentioned in the romances.
p. [54]. Fold it lengthwise, &c. This performance was possibly to give an appearance of cleanliness. The best way to understand the process is to take a towel and try; it is not so complicated as it sounds.
p. [55]. Surnape. This again becomes simple by experiment. The pleat or doubling about a foot from the end of the table, is probably to avoid letting the long cloth fall to the door. When the triple thickness of cloth has been pushed and pulled across the table by the butler and marshal, the pleat is smoothed out and the cloth hangs from eighteen to thirty inches over each end.
p. [55]. Sewer. Fr. esculier, Lat. scutellarius, whence also is derived scullery. The sewer’s office was practically to bring and arrange the dishes.
p. [57]. Winking and watering. More or less difficult in the days of primitive chimneys, or no chimneys at all.
p. [60]. Upper crust. In the old ovens, which were heated by faggots withdrawn before the bread was put in, this was even more distinctly the best part.
p. [60]. Carving of flesh, &c. This more properly belongs in a book given over to recipes and the like, as the description of the dishes is more interesting than the special knack of serving each one.
p. [62]. Need not fear, &c. Almost the only suggestion of any indignity in the service.
p. [63]. He ... and look you. The change of person is Russell’s.
p. [63]. As brown as a water-leech. Is the allusion possibly to shoes of dark-brown colour? Leeches are usually described as black.
p. [65]. Bankers. Translated bench-covers; but the context suggests rather bolsters. The bench-covers were doubtless cushions; hence the transition from the one meaning to the other is easy.
p. [67]. By the license of his estate. This seems to point to a Sumptuary Law. In 1483, it was decreed that none under the rank of a lord might wear cloth of gold, none under a knight, velvet, &c.
p. [67]. Wound. A sort of turban?
p. [67]. Paris-candle or percher. A big candle of the sort commonly used on altars.
p. [68]. Medicinable Bath. A sort of Turkish bath with herbs added. Some of those mentioned were known for their curative properties, even in Saxon times, as hollyhock, mallow, centaury, fennel, heyriff, daisy, brooklime, ribwort, flax, willow. Mallow was supposed to be good for wounds. Wall pellitory contains nitrate of potash. Fennel is still used as a home remedy. Heyhove is bitter and aromatic, abounding in a principle similar to camphor. Heyriff used to be applied externally for scurvy, and is said to be still used in France (taken internally) for epilepsy. Scabious was once thought valuable for various diseases, primarily the itch, but also coughs, pleurisy, &c. Danewort was traditionally thought to have sprung up whenever there had been an encounter between the English and the Danes; it is a dwarf elder valued for its purgative properties. Centaury was so named from the legend that by it Chiron the Centaur was cured. It is gentianaceous and valuable as a bitter. Herb-bennet, herba benedicta, the blessed herb, was supposed to be particularly efficacious in keeping away the devil. It was perhaps hemlock, or wild valerian. St. John’s wort seems to have been a neutral element, although it may have been added for some special reason. Bresewort or bruisewort is the common daisy, once highly valued for its general medicinal properties. Bugloss (text, bilgres) was valued as a blood-purifier. Camomile is still used in home medicine.
p. [70]. Mayor of Calais. Because this was the one French port that continued to be held by the English after the Hundred Years’ War until the reign of Queen Mary. This officer was also called “Mayor of the Staple,” because of the wool-trade carried on through Calais. See p. [71], above.
p. [71]. Golden royal rod. A prince who was crowned in his father’s life-time? In 1343, the Black Prince was invested with a gold circlet and ring, and silver rod, by Edward III.; so, likewise Henry V., in 1399, received a coronet, ring and golden rod.
p. [72]. Bishop of Canterbury, &c. This means only that neither archbishop had jurisdiction over the see of the other.
p. [73]. Groom, i.e., receive each as if he were one degree higher than his actual estate.
p. [74]. Queenborough. A small port near the mouth of the Thames, on the island of Sheppey.
p. [74]. Abbot of Westminster. The yearly rental, as quoted by Dr. Furnivall from Valor Ecclesiarum I., pp. 410-24, was £4470, 0s. 2d.; of Tintern, £258, 5s. 10d. (Val. Ecc. IV., 370-71).
p. [74]. Prior of Dudley. The value of this quoted by Dr. Furnivall was £34, 1s. 4d. over against Canterbury at £163, 1s. 9d. (Val. Ecc. III., pp. 4-5, and I., 27-32).
p. [75]. Whether the cook be lief or loth. A hint that the cook was not always duly subordinate.
p. [78]. “Go forth, little book,” &c. The Envoi presents a problem which at present I cannot solve. The question is, how much of the “copy” here is the same as the treatise used by Russell in his youth, and whether another writer adds an Envoi explaining how he has improved Russell’s work, while the latter is referring to a still earlier work. There is every probability that Russell’s own work ends with the request for prayers, which includes the mention of the author’s name, and concludes with Amen. And in support of this view is the fact that neither of the Sloane MSS., which seem earlier than the one translated, contains either the Envoi or Russell’s name. As I have not studied the relation of the MSS. I hesitate to conjecture; but from the facts at my disposal, I think it probable that the writer of the Envoi alludes to Russell as the “fore writer,” and casts the blame for whatever faults may be found, upon the treatise on which Russell himself declared his work to be based. It would appear also that the writer of the Envoi did not recognise Russell’s source. This may possibly have been the Book of Courtesy, which (especially in its third book) often corresponds to Russell. Moreover, as it was written by a man who talked familiarly of John of Gaunt (see p. [112], above), who died in 1399, it agrees well enough with the date of the book used by Russell in his youth; but, needless to say, there is no proof that they were the same.