Chronicles (1 of 6): The Description of Britaine

by Raphael Holinshed; William Harrison; John Hooker

Primus iucundus, tollerabilis estq; secundus,
Tertius est vanus, sed fetet quatriduanus.

Bread. The bread through out the land is made of such graine as the soile yéeldeth, neuerthelesse the gentilitie commonlie prouide themselues sufficientlie of wheat for their owne tables, whilest their household and poore neighbours in some shires are inforced to content themselues with rie, or barleie, yea and in time of dearth manie with bread made either of beans, peason, or otes, or of altogither and some acornes among, of which scourge the poorest doo soonest tast, sith they are least able to prouide themselues of better. I will not saie that this extremitie is oft so well to be seene in time of plentie as of dearth, but if I should I could easilie bring my triall. For albeit that there be much more ground eared now almost in euerie place, than hath beene of late yeares, yet such a price of corne continueth in each towne and market without any iust cause (except it be that landlords doo get licences to carie corne out of the land onelie to kéepe vp the peeces for their owne priuate gaines and ruine of the common-wealth) that the artificer and poore laboring man, is not able to reach vnto it, but A famine at hand is first séene in the horsse manger when the poore doo fall to horssecorne. is driuen to content himselfe with horsse-corne, I meane, beanes, peason, otes, tares, and lintels: and therefore it is a true prouerbe, and neuer so well verified as now, that hunger setteth his first foot into the horsse manger. If the world last a while after this rate, wheate and rie will be no graine for poore men to feed on, and some caterpillers there are that can saie so much alreadie.

Of bread made of wheat we haue sundrie sorts, dailie brought to the table, whereof the first and most excellent is the mainchet, which we Primarius panis. commonlie call white bread, in Latine Primarius panis, wherof Budeus also speaketh, in his first booke De asse, and our good workemen deliuer commonlie such proportion, that of the flower of one bushell with another they make fortie cast of manchet, of which euerie lofe weigheth eight ounces into the ouen and six ounces out, as I haue béene informed. Cheat bread. The second is the cheat or wheaton bread, so named bicause the colour therof resembleth the graie or yellowish wheat, being cleane and well dressed, and out of this is the coursest of the bran (vsuallie called Rauelled bread. gurgeons or pollard) taken. The raueled is a kind of cheat bread also, but it reteineth more of the grosse, and lesse of the pure substance of the wheat: and this being more sleightlie wrought vp, is vsed in the halles of the nobilitie, and gentrie onelie, whereas the other either is The size of bread is verie ill kept or not at all looked vnto in the countrie townes and markets. or should be baked in cities & good townes of an appointed size (according to such price as the corne dooth beare) and by a statute prouided by king Iohn in that behalfe. The raueled cheat therfore is generallie so made that out of one bushell of meale, after two and twentie pounds of bran be sifted and taken from it (wherevnto they ad the gurgeons that rise from the manchet) they make thirtie cast, euerie lofe weighing eightéene ounces into the ouen and sixteene ounces out: and beside this they so handle the matter that to euerie bushell of meale they ad onelie two and twentie or thrée and twentie pound of water, washing also in some houses there corne before it go to the mill, whereby their manchet bread is more excellent in colour and pleasing to Browne bread. the eie, than otherwise it would be. The next sort is named browne bread of the colour, of which we haue two sorts, one baked vp as it cōmeth from the mill, so that neither the bran nor the floure are anie whit diminished, this Celsus called Autopirus panis, lib. 2. and putteth it in the second place of nourishment. The other hath little or no floure Panis Cibarius. left therein at all, howbeit he calleth it Panem Cibarium, and it is not onlie the woorst and weakest of all the other sorts, but also appointed in old time for seruants, slaues, and the inferiour kind of people to féed vpon. Herevnto likewise, bicause it is drie and brickie in the working (for it will hardlie be made vp handsomelie into loaues) some adde a portion of rie meale in our time, whereby the rough drinesse or drie roughnes therof is somwhat qualified, & then it is named miscelin, that is, bread made of mingled corne, albeit that diuerse doo sow or mingle wheat & rie of set purpose at the mill, or before it come there, and sell the same at the markets vnder the aforesaid name.

Summer wheat and winter barleie verie rare in England. In champeigne countries much rie and barleie bread is eaten, but especiallie where wheat is scant and geson. As for the difference that is betwéene the summer and winter wheat, most husbandmen know it not, sith they are neither acquainted with summer wheat, nor winter barleie: yet here and there I find of both sorts, speciallie in the north and about Kendall, where they call it March wheat, and also of summer rie, but in so small quantities as that I dare not pronounce them to be greatlie common among vs.

Drinke. Our drinke, whose force and continuance is partlie touched alreadie, is made of barleie, water, and hops, sodden and mingled togither, by the industrie of our bruers, in a certeine exact proportion. But before our barleie doo come vnto their hands, it susteineth great alteration, and Malt. is conuerted into malt, the making whereof, I will here set downe in such order, as my skill therein may extend vnto (for I am scarse a good malster) chiefelie for that forreine writers haue attempted to describe the same, and the making of our beere, wherein they haue shot so farre wide, as the quantitie of ground was betwéene themselues & their marke. In the meane time beare with me, gentle reader (I beséech thée) that lead thee from the description of the plentifull diet of our countrie, vnto the fond report of a seruile trade, or rather from a table delicatelie furnished, into a mustie malthouse: but such is now thy hap, wherfore I praie thée be contented.

Making of malt. Our malt is made all the yeare long in some great townes, but in gentlemens and yeomens houses, who commonlie make sufficient for their owne expenses onelie, the winter halfe is thought most méet for that commoditie: howbeit the malt that is made when the willow dooth bud, is commonlie worst of all, neuerthelesse each one indeuoureth to make it of the best barleie, which is steeped in a cesterne, in greater or less quantitie, by the space of thrée daies and three nights, vntill it be throughlie soked. This being doone, the water is drained from it by little and little, till it be quite gone. Afterward they take it out, and laieng it vpon the cleane floore on a round heape, it resteth so vntill it be readie to shoote at the root end, which maltsters call Comming. When it beginneth therefore to shoot in this maner, they saie it is come, and then foorthwith they spread it abroad, first thicke, and afterward thinner and thinner vpon the said floore (as it commeth) and there it lieth (with turning euerie daie foure or fiue times) by the space of one and twentie daies at the least, the workeman not suffering it in anie wise to take anie heat, whereby the bud end should spire, that bringeth foorth the blade, and by which ouersight or hurt of the stuffe it selfe the malt would be spoiled, and turne small commoditie to the bruer. When it hath gone or béene turned so long vpon the floore, they carie it to a kill couered with haire cloth, where they giue it gentle heats (after they haue spread it there verie thin abroad) till it be drie, & in the meane while they turne it often, that it may be vniformelie dried. For the more it be dried (yet must it be doone with soft fire) the swéeter and better the malt is, and the longer it will continue, whereas if it be not dried downe (as they call it) but slackelie handled, it will bréed a kind of worme, called a wiuell, which groweth in the floure of the corne, and in processe of time will so eat out it selfe, that nothing shall remaine of the graine but euen the verie rind or huske.

The best malt is tried by the hardnesse & colour, for if it looke fresh with a yellow hew, & thereto will write like a péece of chalke, after you haue bitten a kirnell in sunder in the middest, then you may assure your selfe that it is dried downe. In some places it is dried at leisure with wood alone, or strawe alone, in other with wood and strawe togither, but of all the strawe dried, is the most excellent. For the wood dried malt when it is brued, beside that the drinke is higher of colour, it dooth hurt and annoie the head of him that is not vsed thereto, bicause of the smoake. Such also as vse both indifferentlie doo barke, cleaue, and drie their wood in an ouen, thereby to remooue all moisture that shuld procure the fume, and this malt is in the second place, & with the same likewise, that which is made with dried firze, broome, &c: whereas if they also be occupied gréene, they are in maner so preiudiciall to the corne, as is the moist wood. And thus much of our malts, in bruing whereof some grinde the same somewhat groselie, and in séething well the liquor that shall be put vnto it, they adde to euerie nine quarters of mault one of headcorne, which consisteth of sundrie graine, as wheate, and otes groond. But what haue I to doo with this matter, or rather so great a quantitie, wherewith I am not acquainted. Neuerthelesse, sith I haue taken occasion to speake of bruing, I will exemplifie in such a proportion as I am best skilled in, bicause it is the vsuall rate for mine owne familie, and once in a moneth practised by my wife & hir maid seruants, who procéed withall after this maner, as she hath oft informed me.

Bruing of beere. Hauing therefore groond eight bushels of good malt vpon our querne, where the toll is saued, she addeth vnto it halfe a bushell of wheat meale, and so much of otes small groond, and so tempereth or mixeth them with the malt, that you cannot easilie discerne the one from the other, otherwise these later would clunter, fall into lumps, and thereby become vnprofitable. The first liquor which is full eightie gallons, according to the proportion of our furnace, she maketh boiling hot, and then powreth it softlie into the malt, where it resteth (but without stirring) vntill hir second liquor be almost readie to boile. This doone she letteth hir mash run till the malt be left without liquor, or at the leastwise the greatest part of the moisture, which she perceiueth by the staie and soft issue thereof, and by this time hir second liquor in the furnace is ready to séeth, which is put also to the malt as the first woort also againe into the furnace wherevnto she addeth two pounds of the best English hops, and so letteth them seeth togither by the space of two houres in summer, or an houre and an halfe in winter, whereby it getteth an excellent colour, and continuance without impeachment, or Charwoort. anie superfluous tartnesse. But before she putteth hir first woort into the furnace, or mingleth it with the hops, she taketh out a vessel full, of eight or nine gallons, which she shutteth vp close, and suffereth no aire to come into it till it become yellow, and this she reserueth by it selfe vnto further vse, as shall appeare herafter, calling it Brackwoort or Charwoort, and as she saith it addeth also to the colour of the drinke, whereby it yeeldeth not vnto amber or fine gold in hew vnto the eie. By this time also hir second woort is let runne, and the first being taken out of the furnace and placed to coole, she returneth the middle woort vnto the furnace, where it is striken ouer, or from whence it is taken againe, when it beginneth to boile and mashed the second time, whilest the third liquor is heat (for there are thrée liquors) and this last put into the furnace, when the second is mashed againe. When she hath mashed also the last liquor (and set the second to coole by the first) she letteth it runne, and then séetheth it againe with a pound and an halfe of new hops, or peraduenture two pounds as she séeth cause by the goodnesse or basenesse of the hops, & when it hath sodden in summer two houres & in winter an houre & an halfe, she striketh it also and reserueth it vnto mixture with the rest when time dooth serue therefore. Finallie when she setteth hir drinke togither, she addeth to hir brackwoort or charwoort halfe an ounce of arras, and halfe a quarterne of an ounce of baiberries finelie powdered, and then putting the same into hir woort with an handfull of wheat flowre, she procéedeth in such vsuall order as common bruing requireth. Some in stéed of arras & baies adde so much long pepper onelie, but in hir opinion and my liking it is not so good as the first, and hereof we make thrée hoggesheads of good beere, such (I meane) as is méet for poore men as I am to liue withall, whose small maintenance (for what great thing is fortie pounds a yeare Computatis computandis able to performe) may indure no déeper cut, the charges whereof groweth in this manner. I value my malt at ten shillings, my wood at foure shillings which I buie, my hops at twentie pence, the spice at two pence, seruants wages two shillings six pence with meat and drinke, and the wearing of my vessell at twentie pence, so that for my twentie shillings I haue ten score gallons of béere or more, notwithstanding the losse in seething, which some being loth to forgo doo not obserue the time, and therefore spéed thereafter in their successe, and worthilie. The continuance of the drinke is alwaie determined after the quantitie of the hops, so that being well hopped it lasteth longer. For it féedeth vpon the hop, and holdeth out so long as the force of the same continueth, which being extinguished the drinke must be spent or else it dieth, and becommeth of no value.

In this trade also our bruers obserue verie diligentlie the nature of the water, which they dailie occupie; and soile through which it passeth, for all waters are not of like goodnesse, sith the fattest standing water is alwaies the best: for although the waters that run by chalke or cledgie soiles be good, and next vnto the Thames water which is the most excellent, yet the water that standeth in either of these is the best for vs that dwell in the countrie, as whereon the sunne lieth longest, and fattest fish is bred. But of all other the fennie and morish is the worst, and the cléerest spring water next vnto it. In this busines therfore the skilfull workeman dooth redeeme the iniquitie of that element, by changing of his proportions, which trouble in ale (sometime our onelie, but now taken with manie for old and sickmens drinke) is neuer séene nor heard of. Howbeit as the beere well sodden in the bruing, and stale, is cleere and well coloured as muscadell or malueseie, or rather yellow as the gold noble as our potknights call it: so our ale which is not at all or verie little sodden, and without hops, is more thicke, fulsome, and of no such continuance, which are thrée notable things to be considered in that liquor. But what for that? Certes I know some aleknights so much addicted therevnto, that they will not ceasse from morow vntill euen to visit the same, clensing house after house, till they defile themselues, and either fall quite vnder the boord, or else not daring to stirre from their stooles, sit still pinking with their narrow eies as halfe sleeping, till the fume of their aduersarie be digested that he may go to it afresh. Such flights also haue the alewiues for the vtterance of this drinke, that they will mixe it with rosen and salt: but if you heat a knife red hot, and quench it in the ale so neere the bottome of the pot as you can put it, you shall sée the rosen come foorth hanging on the knife. As for the force of salt, it is well knowne by the effect, for the more the drinker tipleth, the more he may, and so dooth he carrie off a drie dronken noll to bed with him, except his lucke be the better. But to my purpose.

In some places of England, there is a kind of drinke made of apples, Cider.
Perrie. which they call cider or pomage, but that of peares is named pirrie, and both are groond and pressed in presses made for the nonce. Certes these two are verie common in Sussex, Kent, Worcester, and other stéeds, where these sorts of fruits doo abound, howbeit they are not their onelie drinke at all times, but referred vnto the delicate sorts of drinke, as Metheglin. metheglin is in Wales, whereof the Welshmen make no lesse accompt (and not without cause if it be well handled) than the Gréekes did of their Ambrosia or Nectar, which for the pleasantnesse thereof, was supposed to be such as the gods themselues did delite in. There is a kind of swish swash made also in Essex, and diuerse other places, with honicombs and water, which the homelie countrie wiues, putting some pepper and a Mead. little other spice among, call mead, verie good in mine opinion for such as loue to be loose bodied at large, or a little eased of the cough, otherwise it differeth so much frō the true metheglin, as chalke from cheese. Truelie it is nothing else but the washing of the combes, when the honie is wroong out, and one of the best things that I know Hydromel. belonging thereto is, that they spend but little labour and lesse cost in making of the same, and therefore no great losse if it were neuer occupied. Hitherto of the diet of my countrimen, & somewhat more at large peraduenture than manie men will like of, wherefore I thinke good now to finish this tractation, and so will I, when I haue added a few other things incident vnto that which goeth before, whereby the whole processe of the same shall fullie be deliuered, & my promise to my fréend in this behalfe performed.