[E60] "Martilmas beef," beef killed at Martinmas, and dried for winter use. "Biefe salted, dried up in the chimney, Martlemas biefe."—Hollyband's Dict. 1593. See note to l. 383 of Wallace, in Specimens of Eng. Literature, ed. Skeat, p. 391.
"Beefe is a good meate for an Englysshe man, so be it the beest be yonge, and that it be not kowe-flesshe; for olde beefe and kowe-flesshe doth ingender melancolye and leporouse humoures. Yf it be moderatly powderyd, that the groose blode by salte may be exhaustyd, it doth make an Englysshe man stronge, the education of hym with it consyderyd. Martylmas beef, whiche is called 'hanged beef' in the rofe of the smoky howse, is not laudable; it maye fyll the bely, and cause a man to drynke, but it is euyll for the stone, and euyll of dygestyon, and maketh no good iuce. If a man haue a peace hangynge by his syde, and another in his bely, that the whiche doth hange by the syde shall do hym more good, yf a showre of rayne do chaunse, than that the which is in his bely, the appetyde of mans sensualyte notwithstandynge."—Andrew Boorde's Dyetary, E. E. Text Soc. edit. F. J. Furnivall, chap. xvi.
"In a hole in the same Rock was three Barrels of nappy liquour; thither the Keeper brought a good Red-Deere Pye, cold Roast Mutton, and an excellent shooing-horn of hang'd Martimas Biefe."—1639, John Taylor, Part of this Summers Travels, p. 26.
"Bacon is good for carters, and plowe men, the which be euer labouryng in the earth or dunge; but and yf they haue the stone and vse to eate it, they shall synge 'wo be to the pye!' Wherefore I do say that coloppes and egges is as holsome for them as a talowe candell is good for a horse mouth, or a peece of powdred Beefe is good for a blere eyed mare."—A. Boorde, Regyment, fo. K iii. b.
"As for bacon it is in no wise commended as wholsome, especially for students, or such as haue feeble stomacks. But for labouring men it is conuenient according to that Latine prouerbe, grosse meate for grosse men."—Cogan's Haven of Health, p. 116.
[E61] The farmers in old times were greater economists than now. "Old crones and such old things," it seems, fell commonly to their own share, while the best meat was probably sold.—M. Compare also [21. 1].
[E62] "All Saints doe laie," etc. All Saints' Day expects or lays itself out for pork and souse, sprats and smelts for the household.
"When it [the bore] is killed, scalded, and cut out, of his former parts is our brawne made, the rest is nothing so fat, and therefore it beareth the name of sowse onelie, and is commonly reserved for the serving-man and hind, except it please the owner to have anie part ther of baked, which are then handed of custome after this manner. The hinder parts being cut off, they are first drawne with lard, and then sodden; being sodden, they are sowsed in claret wine and vineger a certeine space and afterward baked in pasties, and eaten of manie in steed of the wild bore, and trulie it is very good meat. The pestles [legs] may be hanged up a while to drie before they be drawne with lard if you will, and thereby prove the better."—Harrison, Descrip. of Eng. part ii. p. 11.
"Spurlings are but broad Sprats, taken chiefly on our Northern coast; which being drest and pickled as Anchovaes be in Provence, rather surpass them than come behind them in taste and goodness.... As for Red Sprats and Spurlings, I vouchsafe them not the name of any wholesome nourishment, or rather of no nourishment at all; commending them for nothing, but that they are bawdes to enforce appetite and serve well the poor man's turn to quench hunger."—Muffett, p. 169, quoted in The Babees Book, ed. Furnivall. "Smelt = Spirling or Sparling in Scotland, Salmo Sperlanus."—Yarrell, Names of British Fishes. "A Sperlynge, ipimera, sperlingus."—Catholicon Anglicum. See also Glossary to Specimens of Early Eng., ed. Morris and Skeat.