"He that fast spendeth must need borrow,
But when he must pay again, then is all the sorrow."
—MS. of 15th cent. in Rel. Antiqua, vol. i. p. 316.
[E70] September is the month when the annual labours of agriculture begin their round, and it is therefore, justly, put first in the Calendar of farming. Some, indeed, take their bargains from Lady-day; but this is by no means so convenient as Michaelmas.—M.
[E71] The off-going tenant of champion or open field, as is still customary, allows the in-coming tenant to summer fallow that portion of the ground which is destined for wheat. But the occupier of woodland or inclosures holds the whole till the expiration of his term, unless certain stipulations are made by lease; and without a lease, neither the real interest of the tenant nor the landowner can be consulted.—M.
[E72] "Buieng or selling of pig in a poke," i.e. making a blind bargain.
"A good cochnay coke,
Though ye loue not to bye the pyg in the poke,
Yet snatche ye at the poke, that the pyg is in,
Not for the poke, but the pyg good chepe to wyn."
—Heywood's Dialogue (1546), ed. 1562, part ii. cap. 9.
See also Hazlitt's Handbook of English Proverbs, p. 413.
[E73] A gofe is a mow (rick); and the gofe-ladder is for the thresher to ascend and descend, in order to throw down the sheaves with the assistance of the short pitch-fork, while the long was probably for pitching the straw. The straw-fork and rake were to turn the straw from off the threshed corn, and the fan and wing to clean it. A cartnave might be required to stand on in this operation. A casting shovel, such as maltmen use, enables the farmer to select the best and heaviest grain for seed, as they always fly farthest if thrown with equal force.—M.
[E74] A skep is a small basket or wooden vessel with a handle, to fetch corn in and for other purposes.—M.
[E75] "Aperne is an old provincial pronunciation, adopted from a still older napern or nappern; and Halliwell observes, that nappern is still the pronunciation in the North of England. This word is interesting as illustrating two points: (1) the shifting of r, so that the various pronunciations of apern and apron correspond to the variations brid for bird, and burd for bride; and (2) the loss of the initial n; for apron is for Fr. naperon, a large napkin; see Roquefort and Wedgwood. Naperon, without n and e, is apron; without n and o, it is apern."—Rev. Walter W. Skeat in N. & Q. 1869.