Grains of Paradice, or de parys, 137. [110] are the greater cardamoms.
Noix muscadez, 191. nutmegs.
The caraway is once mentioned, No. 53. and was an exotic from Caria, whence, according to Mr. Lye, it took its name: 'sunt semina, inquit, carri vel carrei, sic dicti a Caria, ubi copiosissimè nascitur [111].'
Powder-douce, which occurs so often, has been thought by some, who have just peeped into our Roll, to be the same as sugar, and only a different name for it; but they are plainly mistaken, as is evident from 47. 51. 164. 165. where they are mentioned together as different things. In short, I take powder-douce to be either powder of galyngal, for see Editor's MS II. 20. 24, or a compound made of sundry aromatic spices ground or beaten small, and kept always ready at hand in some proper receptacle. It is otherwise termed good powders, 83. 130. and in Editor's MS 17. 37. 38 [112]. or powder simply, No. 169, 170. White powder-douce occurs No. 51, which seems to be the same as blanch-powder, 132. 193. called blaynshe powder, and bought ready prepared, in Northumb. Book, p. 19. It is sometimes used with powder-fort, 38. 156. for which see the next and last article.
Powder-fort, 10. 11. seems to be a mixture likewise of the warmer spices, pepper, ginger, &c. pulverized: hence we have powder-fort of gynger, other of canel, 14. It is called strong powder, 22. and perhaps may sometimes be intended by good powders. If you will suppose it to be kept ready prepared by the vender, it may be the powder-marchant, 113. 118. found joined in two places with powder- douce. This Speght says is what gingerbread is made of; but Skinner disapproves this explanation, yet, says Mr. Urry, gives none of his own.
After thus travelling through the most material and most used ingredients, the spykenard de spayn occurring only once, I shall beg leave to offer a few words on the nature, and in favour of the present publication, and the method employed in the prosecution of it.
[Illustration: Take þe chese and of flessh of capouns, or of hennes & hakke smal and grynde hem smale inn a morter, take mylke of almandes with þe broth of freysh beef. oþer freysh flessh, & put the flessh in þe mylke oþer in the broth and set hem to þe fyre, & alye hem with flour of ryse, or gastbon, or amydoun as chargeaunt as þe blank desire, & with zolks of ayren and safroun for to make hit zelow, and when it is dressit in dysshes with blank desires; styk aboue clowes de gilofre, & strawe powdour of galyugale above, and serue it forth.]
The common language of the formulæ, though old and obsolete, as naturally may be expected from the age of the MS, has no other difficulty in it but what may easily be overcome by a small degree of practice and application [113]: however, for the further illustration of this matter, and the satisfaction of the curious, a fac simile of one of the recipes is represented in the annexed plate. If here and there a hard and uncouth term or expression may occur, so as to stop or embarrass the less expert, pains have been taken to explain them, either in the annotations under the text, or in the Index and Glossary, for we have given it both titles, as intending it should answer the purpose of both [114]. Now in forming this alphabet, as it would have been an endless thing to have recourse to all our glossaries, now so numerous, we have confined ourselves, except perhaps in some few instances, in which the authorities are always mentioned, to certain contemporary writers, such as the Editor's MS, of which we shall speak more particularly hereafter, Chaucer, and Wiclif; with whom we have associated Junius' Etymologicon Anglicanum.
As the abbreviations of the Roll are here retained, in order to establish and confirm the age of it, it has been thought proper to adopt the types which our printer had projected for Domesday-Book, with which we find that our characters very nearly coincide.
The names of the dishes and sauces have occasioned the greatest perplexity. These are not only many in number, but are often so horrid and barbarous, to our ears at least, as to be inveloped in several instances in almost impenetrable obscurity. Bishop Godwin complains of this so long ago as 1616 [115]. The Contents prefixed will exhibit at once a most formidable list of these hideous names and titles, so that there is no need to report them here. A few of these terms the Editor humbly hopes he has happily enucleated, but still, notwithstanding all his labour and pains, the argument is in itself so abstruse at this distance of time, the helps so few, and his abilities in this line of knowledge and science so slender and confined, that he fears he has left the far greater part of the task for the more sagacious reader to supply: indeed, he has not the least doubt, but other gentlemen of curiosity in such matters (and this publication is intended for them alone) will be so happy as to clear up several difficulties, which appear now to him insuperable. It must be confessed again, thatthe Editor may probably have often failed in those very points, which he fancies and flatters himself to have elucidated, but this he is willing to leave to the candour of the public.