Chronicles (1 of 6): The Description of Britaine

by Raphael Holinshed; William Harrison; John Hooker

Now if it please you to heare of anie of the vertues thereof, I will note these insuing at the request of one, who required me to touch a few of them with whatsoeuer breuitie I listed. Therefore our saffron (beside the manifold vse that it hath in the kitchin and pastrie, also in our cakes at bridals, and thanksgiuings of women) is verie profitably mingled with those medicins which we take for the diseases of the breast, of the lungs, of the liuer, and of the bladder: it is good also for the stomach if you take it in meat, for it comforteth the same and maketh good digestion: being sodden also in wine, it not onelie kéepeth a man from droonkennesse, but incorageth also vnto procreation of issue. If you drinke it in sweet wine, it inlargeth the breath, and is good for those that are troubled with the tisike and shortnesse of the wind: mingled with the milke of a woman, and laied vpon the eies, it staieth such humors as descend into the same, and taketh awaie the red wheales and pearles that oft grow about them: it killeth moths if it be sowed in paper bags verie thin, and laid vp in presses amongst tapistrie or apparell: also it is verie profitablie laid vnto all inflammations, painefull aposthumes, and the shingles; and dooth no small ease vnto deafnes, if it be mingled with such medicins as are beneficiall vnto the eares: it is of great vse also in ripening of botches and all swellings procéeding of raw humors. Or if it shall please you to drinke the root thereof with maluesie, it will maruellouslie prouoke vrine, dissolue and expell grauell, and yéeld no small ease to them that make their water by dropmeales. Finallie, thrée drams thereof taken at once, which is about the weight of one shilling nine pence halfepenie, is deadlie poison; as Dioscorides dooth affirme: and droonke in wine (saith Platina) lib. 3. cap. 13. "De honesta voluptate," dooth hast on droonkennesse, which is verie true. And I haue knowne some, that by eating onelie of bread more than of custome streined with saffron, haue become like droonken men, & yet otherwise well known to be but competent drinkers. For further confirmation of this also, if a man doo but open and ransake a bag of one hundred or two hundred weight, as merchants doo when they buie it of the crokers, it will strike such an aire into their heads which deale withall, that for a time they shall be giddie and sicke (I meane for two or three houres space) their noses and eies in like sort will yéeld such plentie of rheumatike water, that they shall be the better for it long after, especiallie their eiesight, which is woonderfullie clarified by this meanes: howbeit some merchants not liking of this physike, muffle themselues as women doo when they ride, and put on spectacles set in leather, which dooth in some measure (but not for altogither) put by the force thereof. There groweth some saffron in manie places of Almaine, and also about Vienna in Austria, which later is taken for the best that springeth in those quarters. In steed of this some doo vse the Carthamus, called amongst vs bastard saffron, but neither is this of anie value, nor the other in any wise comparable vnto ours. Whereof let this suffice as of a commoditie brought into this Iland in the time of Edward 3. and not commonlie planted till Richard 2. did reigne. It would grow verie well (as I take it) about the Chiltern hils, & in all the vale of the White horsse so well as in Walden and Cambridgeshire, if they were carefull of it. I heare of some also to be cherished alreadie in Glocestershire, and certeine other places westward. But of the finenesse and tincture of the chiue, I heare not as yet of anie triall. Would to God that my countriemen had beene heretofore (or were now) more carefull of this commoditie! then would it no doubt haue prooued more beneficiall to our Iland than our cloth or wooll. But alas! so idle are we, and heretofore so much giuen to ease, by reason of the smalnesse of our rents, that few men regard to search out which are their best commodities. But if landlords hold on to raise the rents of their farms as they begin, they will inforce their tenants to looke better vnto their gains, and scratch out their rent from vnder euerie clod that may be turned aside. The greatest mart for saffron is at Aquila in Abruzo, where they haue an especiall weight for the same of ten pounds lesse in the hundred than that of Florens and Luke: but how it agréeth with ours it shall appéere hereafter.

OF QUARRIES OF STONE FOR BUILDING.
CHAP. IX.

Quarries with vs are pits or mines, out of which we dig our stone to build withall, & of these as we haue great plentie in England, so are they of diuerse sorts, and those verie profitable for sundrie necessarie vses. In times past the vse of stone was in maner dedicated to the building of churches, religious houses, princely palaces, bishops manours, and holds onlie: but now that scrupulous obseruation is altogither infringed, and building with stone so commonlie taken vp, that amongst noble men & gentlemen, the timber frames are supposed to be not much better than paper worke, of little continuance, and least continuance of all. It farre passeth my cunning to set downe how manie sorts of stone for building are to be found in England, but much further to call each of them by their proper names. Howbeit, such is the curiositie of our countrimen, that notwithstanding almightie God hath so blessed our realme in most plentifull maner, with such and so manie quarries apt and meet for piles of longest continuance, yet we as lothsome of this abundance, or not liking of the plentie, doo commonlie leaue these naturall gifts to mould and cinder in the ground, and take vp an artificiall bricke, in burning whereof a great part of the wood of this land is dailie consumed and spent, to the no small decaie of that commoditie, and hinderance of the poore that perish oft for cold.

Our elders haue from time to time, following our naturall vice in misliking of our owne commodities at home, and desiring those of other countries abroad, most estéemed the cane stone that is brought hither out of Normandie: and manie euen in these our daies following the same veine, doo couet in their works almost to vse none other. Howbeit experience on the one side, and our skilfull masons on the other (whose iudgement is nothing inferiour to those of other countries) doo affirme, that in the north and south parts of England, and certeine other places, there are some quarries, which for hardnesse and beautie are equall to the outlandish greet. This maie also be confirmed by the kings chappell at Cambridge, the greatest part of the square stone wherof was brought thither out of the north. Some commend the veine of white frée stone, slate, and méere stone, which is betwéene Pentowen, and the blacke head in Cornewall, for verie fine stuffe. Other doo speake much of the quarries at Hamden, nine miles from Milberie, and pauing stone of Burbecke. For toph stone, not a few allow of the quarrie that is at Dreslie, diuerse mislike not of the veines of hard stone that are at Oxford, and Burford. One praiseth the free stone at Manchester, & Prestburie in Glocestershire; another the quarries of the like in Richmont. The third liketh well of the hard stone in Clee hill in Shropshire; the fourth of that of Thorowbridge, Welden, and Terrinton. Whereby it appeareth that we haue quarries inow, and good inough in England, sufficient for vs to build withall, if the péeuish contempt of our owne commodities, and delectations to inrich other countries, did not catch such foolish hold vpon vs. It is also verified (as anie other waie) that all nations haue rather néed of England, than England of anie other. And this I thinke may suffice for the substance of our works. Now if you haue regard to their ornature, how manie mines of sundrie kinds of course & fine marble are there to be had in England? But chieflie one in Staffordshire, an other neere to the Peke, the third at Vauldrie, the fourth at Snothill (longing to the lord Chaindois) the fift at Eglestone, which is of blacke marble, spotted with graie or white spots, the sixt not farre from Durham. Of white marble also we haue store, and so faire as the Marpesian of Paris Ile. But what meane I to go about to recite all, or the most excellent? sith these which I haue named alredie are not altogether of the best, nor scarselie of anie value in comparison of those, whose places of growth are vtterlie vnknowne vnto me, and whereof the blacke marble spotted with greene is none of the vilest sort, as maie appeare by parcell of the pauement of the lower part of the quire of Paules in London, and also in Westminster, where some péeces thereof are yet to be séene and marked, if anie will looke for them. If marble will not serue, then haue we the finest alabaster that maie elsewhere bée had, as about saint Dauids of Wales; also neere to Beau manour, which is about foure or fiue miles from Leicester, & taken to be the best, although there are diuerse other quarries hereof beyond the Trent, as in Yorkeshire, &c: and fullie so good as that, whose names at this time are out of my remembrance. What should I talke of the plaister of Axholme (for of that which they dig out of the earth in sundrie places of Lincolne and Darbishires, wherewith they blanch their houses in stead of lime, I speake not) certes it is a fine kind of alabaster. But sith it is sold commonlie but after twelue pence the load, we iudge it to be but vile and course. For my part I cannot skill of stone, yet in my opinion it is not without great vse for plaister of paris, and such is the mine of it, that the stones thereof lie in flakes one vpon an other like plankes or tables, and vnder the same is an excéeding hard stone verie profitable for building, as hath often times béene prooued. This is also to be marked further of our plaister white and graie, that not contented with the same, as God by the quarrie dooth send and yéeld it foorth, we haue now deuised to cast it in moulds for windowes and pillers of what forme and fashion we list, euen as alabaster it selfe: and with such stuffe sundrie houses in Yorkshire are furnished of late. But of what continuance this deuise is like to proue, the time to come shall easilie bewraie. In the meane time sir Rafe Burcher knight hath put the deuise in practise, and affirmeth that six men in six moneths shall trauell in that trade to sée greater profit to the owner, than twelue men in six yeares could before this tricke was inuented.

If neither alabaster nor marble doeth suffice, we haue the touchstone, called in Latine Lydius lapis, shining as glasse, either to match in sockets with our pillers of alabaster, or contrariwise: or if it please the workeman to ioine pillers of alabaster or touch with sockets of brasse, pewter, or copper, we want not also these mettals. So that I think no nation can haue more excellent & greater diuersitie of stuffe for building, than we maie haue in England, if our selues could so like of it. But such alas is our nature, that not our own but other mens do most of all delite vs; & for desire of noueltie, we oft exchange our finest cloth, corne, tin, and woolles, for halfe penie cockhorsses for children, dogs of wax or of chéese, two pennie tabers, leaden swords, painted feathers, gewgaws for fooles, dogtricks for disards, hawkeswhoods, and such like trumperie, whereby we reape iust mockage and reproch in other countries. I might remember here our pits for milstones, that are to be had in diuerse places of our countrie, as in Angleseie, Kent, also at Queene hope of blew gréet, of no lesse value than the Colaine, yea than the French stones: our grindstones for hardware men. Our whetstones are no lesse laudable than those of Creta & Lacedemonia, albeit we vse no oile with them, as they did in those parties, but onelie water, as the Italians and Naxians doo with theirs: whereas they that grow in Cilicia must haue both oile and water laid vpon them, or else they make no edge. These also are diuided either into the hard greet, as the common that shoemakers vse, or the soft gréet called hones, to be had among the barbars, and those either blacke or white, and the rub or brickle stone which husbandmen doo occupie in the whetting of their sithes.

In like maner slate of sundrie colours is euerie where in maner to be had, as is the flint and chalke, the shalder and the peble. Howbeit for all this wée must fetch them still from farre, as did the Hull men their stones out of Iseland, wherewith they paued their towne for want of the like in England: or as sir Thomas Gresham did, when he bought the stones in Flanders, wherwith he paued the Burse. But as he will answer peraduenture, that he bargained for the whole mould and substance of his workemanship in Flanders: so the Hullanders or Hull men will saie, how that stockefish is light loding, and therfore they did balasse their vessels with these Iseland stones, to keepe them from turning ouer in their so tedious a voiage. And thus much brieflie of our quarries of stone for building, wherein oftentimes the workemen haue found strange things inclosed, I meane liuelie creatures shut vp in the hard stones, and liuing there without respiration or breathing, as frogs, todes, &c: whereof you shall read more in the chronologie following: also in Caius Langius, William of Newburie, Agricola, Cornelius of Amsterdam, Bellogius de aquatilibus, Albert the great, lib. 19. cap. 9. "De rebus metallicis," and Goropius in Niloscopio, pag. 237, &c. Sometime also they find pretious stones (though seldome) and some of them perfectlie squared by nature, and much like vnto the diamond, found of late in a quarrie of marble at Naples, which was so perfectlie pointed, as if all the workemen in the world had cōsulted about the performance of that workemanship. I know that these reports vnto some will séeme incredible, and therefore I stand the longer vpon them; neuerthelesse omitting to speake particularlie of such things as happen amongst vs, and rather séeking to confirme the same by the like in other countries, I will deliuer a few more examples, whereby the truth hereof shall so much the better appeare. For in the middest of a stone not long since found at Chius, vpon the breaking vp thereof, there was séene Caput panisci inclosed therin, very perfectlie formed as the beholders doo remember. How come the grains of gold to be so fast inclosed in the stones that are & haue béene found in the Spanish Bætis? But this is most maruellous, that a most delectable and sweet oile, comparable to the finest balme, or oile of spike in smell, was found naturallie included in a stone, which could not otherwise be broken but with a smiths hammer. Goropius dooth tell of a pearch perfectlie formed to be found in * [Sic.] Britaine: but as then * committed into hard stone, vpon the top of a crag. Aristotle and Theophrast speake of fishes digged out of the earth, farre from the sea in Greece, which Seneca also confirmeth, but with addition that they are perillous to be eaten. In pope Martins time, a serpent was found fast inclosed in a rocke, as the kernell is within the nut, so that no aire could come to it: and in my time another in a coffin of stone at Auignion, wherein, a man had béene buried, which so filled the roome, and laie so close from aire, that all men woondered how it was possible for the same to liue and continue so long time there. Finallie I my selfe haue séene stones opened, and within them the substances of corrupted wormes like vnto adders (but far shorter) whose crests and wrinkles of bodie appeared also therein, as if they had bene ingraued in the stones by art and industrie of man. Wherefore to affirme; that as well liuing creatures, as pretious stones, gold, &c: are now and then found in our quarries, shall not hereafter be a thing so incredible as manie talking philosophers, void, of all experience, doo affirme, and wilfullie mainteine against such as hold the contrarie.

ON SUNDRIE MINERALS.
CHAP. X.

With how great benefits this Iland of ours hath béene indued from the beginning, I hope there is no godlie man but will readilie confesse, and yéeld vnto the Lord God his due honour for the same. For we are blessed euerie waie, & there is no temporall commoditie necessarie to be had or craued by anie nation at Gods hand, that he hath not in most aboundant maner bestowed vpon vs Englishmen, if we could sée to vse it, & be thankefull for the same. But alas (as I said in the chapter precedent) we loue to inrich them that care not for vs, but for our great commodities: and one trifling toie not woorth the cariage, cōming (as the prouerbe saith) in thrée ships from beyond the sea is more woorth with vs, than a right good iewell, easie to be had at home. They haue also the cast to teach vs to neglect our owne things, for if they see that we begin to make anie account of our commodities (if it be so that they haue also the like in their owne countries) they will suddenlie abase the same to so low a price, that our gaine not being woorthie our trauell, and the same commoditie with lesse cost readie to be had at home from other countries (though but for a while) it causeth vs to giue ouer our indeuours, and as it were by and by to forget the matter wherabout we went before, to obteine them at their hands. And this is the onelie cause wherefore our commodities are oft so little estéemed of. Some of them can saie without anie teacher, that they will buie the case of a fox of an Englishman for a groat, and make him afterward giue twelue pence for the taile. Would to God we might once wax wiser, and each one indeuor that the common-wealth of England may flourish againe in hir old rate, and that our commodities may be fullie wrought at home (as cloth if you will for an example) and not caried out to be shorne and dressed abroad, while our clothworkers here doo starue and beg their bread, and for lacke of dailie practise vtterlie neglect to be skilfull in this science! But to my purpose.

We haue in England great plentie of quicke siluer, antimonie, sulphur, blacke lead, and orpiment red and yellow. We haue also the finest alume The lord Mountioy. (wherein the diligence of one of the greatest fauourers of the common-wealth of England of a subiect hath béene of late egregiouslie abused, and euen almost with barbarous inciuilitie) & of no lesse force against fire, if it were vsed in our parietings than that of Lipara, which onlie was in vse somtime amongst the Asians & Romans, & wherof Sylla had such triall that when he meant to haue burned a tower of wood erected by Archelaus the lieutenant of Mithridates, he could by no meanes set it on fire in a long time, bicause it was washed ouer with alume, as were also the gates of the temple of Jerusalem with like effect, and perceiued when Titus commanded fire to be put vnto the same. Beside this we haue also the naturall cinnabarum or vermilion, the sulphurous glebe called bitumen in old time for morter, and yet burned in lamps where oile is scant and geason: the chrysocolla, coperis, and minerall stone, whereof petriolum is made, and that which is most strange the minerall pearle, which as they are for greatnesse and colour most excellent of all other, so are they digged out of the maine land, and in sundrie places far distant from the shore. Certes the westerne part of the land hath in times past greatlie abounded with these and manie other rare and excellent commodities, but now they are washed awaie by the violence of the sea, which hath deuoured the greatest part of Cornewall and Deuonshire on either side: and it dooth appéere yet by good record, that whereas now there is a great distance betweene the Syllan Iles and point of the lands end, there was of late yeares to speke of scarselie a brooke or draine of one fadam water betwéene them, if so much, as by those euidences appeereth, and are yet to be séene in the hands of the lord and chiefe owner of those Iles. But to procéed.

Of colemines we haue such plentie in the north and westerne parts of our Iland, as may suffice for all the realme of England: and so must they doo hereafter in deed, if wood be not better cherrished than it is at this present. And to saie the truth, notwithstanding that verie manie of them are caried into other countries of the maine, yet their greatest trade beginneth now to grow from the forge into the kitchin and hall, as may appéere alreadie in most cities and townes that lie about the coast, where they haue but little other fewell, except it be turffe and hassocke. I maruell not a little that there is no trade of these into Sussex and Southampton shire, for want whereof the smiths doo worke their iron with charcoale. I thinke that far carriage be the onelie cause, which is but a slender excuse to inforce vs to carrie them vnto the maine from hence.