FIUE HUNDRED POINTES

OF

GOOD HUSBANDRIE.

BY

THOMAS TUSSER.

The Edition of 1580 collated with those of 1573 and 1577. Together with a Reprint, from the Unique Copy in the British Museum, of "A Hundreth Good Pointes of Husbandrie," 1557.

EDITED (WITH INTRODUCTION, NOTES, AND GLOSSARY) BY

W. PAYNE, ESQ., AND SIDNEY J. HERRTAGE, ESQ., B.A.

LONDON:

PUBLISHED FOR THE ENGLISH DIALECT SOCIETY

BY TRÜBNER & CO., 57 AND 59, LUDGATE HILL.

1878.

[PREFACE.]

While for all who take an interest in the customs and life of our ancestors Tusser's writings must always possess considerable interest, to the Members of the English Dialect Society they are especially valuable for the large number of dialectic words and forms which they contain. The Glossary has therefore been made very full, possibly, in the opinion of some, too full; but as this is the most important portion of the work to the Society, I have thought it better to err, if at all, on the right side.

With regard to the preparation of this Edition a few words may be necessary. As the Members of the Society are aware, the task was originally undertaken by Mr. W. Payne. Ill-health unfortunately prevented him from carrying the work to a completion, but to him the Society is indebted for the supervision of the reprint of the Edition of 1580, which he collated most carefully with the editions of 1557 and 1577, and to which he added several pieces from those editions, thus making the present reprint more complete than any yet published. Mr. Payne also compiled a very complete Index of Words, which has been of great assistance to me for purposes of reference, and in preparing the Glossary. The notes also from Tusser Redivivus (marked T.R.) were for the most part extracted by Mr. Payne.

A reprint of the First Edition of 1557 was not included in the original programme, but after the work came into my hands an opportunity was presented through the kindness of Mr. F. J. Furnivall, who lent for the purpose his copy of the reprint of 1810, of exhibiting the work in its original form of "One hundreth Points" side by side with the extended edition of 1580, the last which had the benefit of the author's supervision. The proof-sheets have been collated with the unique copy in the British Museum by Miss Toulmin-Smith, to whom I return my thanks for her kindness, and the correctness of the reprint may consequently be relied on. From Mr. F. J. Furnivall I have received numerous hints, and much valuable help, while to Mr. J. Britten, F.L.S., I am indebted for his kindness in revising and supplementing the notes on the Plants named in Tusser. But my chief obligations are due to the Rev. W. W. Skeat, whose uniform kindness has considerably lightened my labours, and from whom both directly and indirectly (through the notes in his numerous publications), but more particularly in his noble edition of Piers Plowman, I have derived the greatest assistance.
S. J. H.
May 14th, 1878.

Transcriber's note: The original print edition has both page footnotes and an end section of 'Notes and Illustrations.' In this digital edition, the page footnotes are grouped at the end of each chapter and renumbered accordingly: [1], [2], etc. References to the endnotes are numbered [E1], [E2], etc. This html version also links words in the main text (dotted underline) to their reference points in the Glossary. The 'Erratum' on p. xxxii of the print edition has been silently corrected within the text, and the 'Additional Notes' on p. 317 are now incorporated within the preceding 'Notes and Illustrations.'

CONTENTS.

[BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF THE AUTHOR.]

Thomas Tusser, the Author of the "Five Hundred Points of Good Husbandry," was born at Rivenhall,[1] near Kelvedon and Witham, in the County of Essex, about the year 1525. The exact date of his birth is uncertain, Warton[2] placing it in 1523, and Dr. Mavor in 1515, in which he is supported by the inscription on the mural tablet erected to the memory of Tusser in the church of Manningtree, where he is stated to have been sixty-five years of age at the time of his death, which took place in 1580.

Tusser, however, appears to have been elected to King's College, Cambridge, in 1543, and as he would have become ineligible at nineteen, his birth cannot have taken place earlier than 1523, and, most probably, did not take place before 1524 or 1525.

It appears from the pedigree recorded by his nephew, John Tusser, the son of his eldest brother Clement, at the Herald's Visitation of Essex in 1570, which is the only record we have of the family, that "William Tusser, the father, had five sons, Clement, Andrew, John, Thomas, and William, and four daughters; the marriages of the daughters are set down, but no wives assigned to the sons, except to Clement, who married Ursula Petts, and had issue John (who entered the pedigree), Edward, and Jane, all three unmarried in 1570. The mother of Thomas was [Isabella], a daughter of Thomas Smith, of Rivenhall, in Essex, Esq., whose elder brother, Hugh, was ancestor of Smith, Lord Carrington (not the present lord), sister of Sir Clement Smith, who married a sister of the Protector Somerset, and first cousin of Sir John Smith, one of the Barons of the Exchequer in the reign of Edward the Sixth. This match with Smith I take to have been the chief foundation of gentility in the Tussers, for I can find no traces of them or their arms before this connexion."[3]

At a very early age, and notwithstanding his mother's tears and entreaties, he was placed by his father as a singing-boy in the Collegiate Chapel of the Castle of Wallingford, in Berkshire, which, according to Warton,[4] consisted of a dean, six prebendaries, six clerks, and four choristers, and was dissolved in 1549. He has himself recorded[5] in his homely and quaint style the hardships which he had to endure at this school, the bare robes, the college fare, the stale bread, and the penny ale. The excellence of his voice appears to have attracted the notice of some of those persons to whom at that time "placards" or commissions were issued, authorizing them to impress singing-boys for the King's Chapel.[6] Afterwards, by the good offices of some friend, he was admitted into the choir of St. Paul's Cathedral, where he acquired a considerable proficiency in music under the tuition of John Redford, the organist and almoner, of whom he speaks in terms of the highest praise. From St. Paul's he was sent to Eton, probably in 1540 or 1541, "to learn the Latin phrase," and was for some time a pupil of Nicholas Udall,[7] the author of "Roister Doister," who appears to have been a second Orbilius, and by whom he was unmercifully thrashed, receiving on one occasion, "for fault but small, or none at all," no fewer than fifty-three stripes.

From Eton he passed on to Cambridge, and, as already stated, was elected to King's College in 1543,[8] but afterwards removed to Trinity Hall, of which he appears to have retained pleasant memories. Being obliged by a long illness to discontinue his studies, he left the University, and joined the Court as a retainer of William, Lord Paget,[9] by whom he was probably employed as a musician, and of whom he speaks in terms of praise and affection. In this manner the next ten years were passed, and during this time his parents died. At the end of this period, either from disgust at the vices of the Court, or finding, to use his own words, "the Court began to frown," he retired into the country, married,[10] and settled down as a farmer at Cattiwade,[11] a hamlet in the parish of Brantham, in Suffolk, and on the borders of Essex, where he composed his "Hundredth Good Pointes of Husbandrie," the first edition of which appeared in 1557.

In consequence of his wife's ill-health, he removed to Ipswich, "a town of price, like Paradise." Here his wife died, and he married Amy, daughter of Edmond Moon, and settled down at West Dereham in Norfolk. On leaving this town, on account of the litigious character of his neighbours, he became, probably through the influence of his patron, Sir Robert Southwell,[12] a lay-clerk or singing-man in the Cathedral at Norwich, the Dean of which, John Salisbury, appears to have befriended him in every way.

From Norwich a painful illness caused him to remove to Fairsted, about four miles from Witham, in Essex, the tithes of which parish he farmed; becoming involved in "tithing strife," he left that village, and once more returned to London, where we find him living in St. Giles's, Cripplegate, in 1572.[13] The plague, however, breaking out,[14] he returned to Cambridge, where he at last found "a resting plot" in his favourite College, Trinity Hall, in the choir of which he appears to have been employed, as he was matriculated as a servant of the College, probably on May 5th, 1573.[15]

His death, as appears from a paper read before the London and Middlesex Archæological Society, took place in London, on the 3rd May, 1580, in the fifty-fifth or fifty-sixth year of his age. His will,[16] which is dated 25th April of that year, was proved by his son on the 8th August following.

He was buried in the Church of St. Mildred, in the Poultry, where was formerly, according to Stow,[17] a monument to his memory, inscribed as follows:

"Here Thomas Tusser, clad in earth doth lie,
That sometime made the Poyntes of Husbandrie;
By him then learne thou maist, here learne we must,
When all is done we sleepe and turne to dust,
And yet through Christ to heaven we hope to go,
Who reades his bookes, shall find his faith was so."

This inscription is perfectly in character with the man, and was probably written by Tusser himself.

A mural tablet to his memory has been erected in Manningtree Church in Essex, with the following inscription: "Sacred to the memory of Thomas Tusser, Gent., born at Rivenhall, in Essex, and occupier of Braham Hall[18] near this town, in the reign of King Edward the Sixth, where he wrote his celebrated poetical treatise, entitled, Five Hundred Points of Good Husbandry, etc. His writings show that he possessed a truly Christian spirit, and his excellent maxims and observations on rural affairs evince that he was far in advance of the age in which he lived. He died in London in 1580, at the age of 65, and was interred in the parish church of St. Mildred in the Poultry, where the following epitaph, said to have been written by himself, recorded his memory;" then follows a copy of the epitaph already given.

The statement in this inscription that he wrote the "Five Hundred Points" at Braham Hall is incorrect; what he did write there was the "One Hundred Points of Good Husbandrie," afterwards enlarged to "Five Hundred Points."

It has been a very generally received opinion that Tusser died in great poverty. Fuller, in his "Worthies of Essex," p. 334, says, "Whether he bought or sold, he lost, and when a renter impoverished himself, and never enriched his landlord; he spread his bread with all sorts of butter; yet none could stick thereon." Warton also says:[19] "Without a tincture of careless imprudence, or vicious extravagance, this desultory character seems to have thrived in no vocation."

Again, in Peacham's "Minerva," a book of emblems printed in 1612, there is a device of a whetstone and a scythe, with these lines:—

"They tell me, Tusser, when thou wert alive,
And hadst for profit turned every stone,
Where'er thou camest, thou could'st never thrive,
Though hereto best thou could'st counsel every one,
As it may in thy Husbandry appear;
Wherein afresh thou liv'st among us here.
So like thy self, a number more are wont,
To sharpen others with advice of wit,
When they themselves are like the whetstone blunt."[20]

These statements, however, appear to be scarcely borne out by Tusser's will. By it we find that, at the time of his death, his brother William owed him £330, a large sum in those days, and, further, that he was the owner of two small copyhold and leasehold farms. Had he been so unfortunate in all his undertakings, and been, as Fuller terms him, "a stone which gathers no moss," Tusser would hardly have been able to lend his brother such a sum of money. If, however, it be true that he lived and died poor, we may, in all probability, attribute it to his love of hospitality, a prominent feature in his character, as well as to a roving and unsteady disposition.

Dr. Mavor states in the introduction to his edition of 1810, p. 11, that "it may be inferred from his [Tusser's] own words, that his happiness was not permanently promoted by this match [his second marriage]. He seems to complain of the charges incident 'to a wife in youth,' and had she transmitted her thoughts to posterity, we should probably have heard some insinuations against an old husband." I fail, however, to see sufficient grounds for this assertion: on the contrary, Tusser's words on the only occasion on which he speaks of his second wife seem to bear an opposite construction:—

"I chanced soon to find a Moon
of cheerful hue;
Which well a fine me thought did shine
And never change—(a thing most strange)
Yet kept in sight her course aright,
And compass true."——Chapt. 114, stanza 19.

It is true that in several passages he speaks of the increased expenses and responsibilities incident to a married life, but only, as it appears to me, with the view of deterring others from entering into that state without carefully considering beforehand the cost and probable consequences of such a step.

By his first wife Tusser had no children, but by the second, who survived him, he had three sons, Thomas, John and Edmond, and one daughter Mary.

His will, which is exceedingly characteristic, is given in full at the end of this introduction, from a copy in the British Museum,[21] privately printed in 1846 by Mr. Charles Clark, of Great Totham, Essex, from a transcript furnished to him by Mr. E. Ventris, of Cambridge, by whom the original was discovered in the Registry at Ely.[22] At the end of the will were printed Tusser's metrical Autobiography, and a few notices from nearly contemporary authors. Mr. Clark also printed in 1834 a few copies of the original edition of 1557 of the "Hundredth good Poyntes of Husbandrie."

Tusser was, as may be seen from his writings, a man of high religious principles, good-natured and cheerful, of a kindly and generous disposition, and hospitable to a fault. Although he constantly inculcates economy, he was entirely free from the meanness and pitiful spirit, which, according to Stillingfleet, made farmers of his time starve their cattle, their land and everything belonging to them; choosing rather to lose a pound than spend a shilling. "Mirth and good cheer," seems to have been his motto, and although he may have been imprudent in allowing his love of hospitality to be carried to such an excess as to keep him from independence, yet we cannot help loving the man, and admiring the justness of his sentiments on every subject connected with life and morals. Strict as he appears to have been in all matters connected with religion, he was far from being what he terms "fantastically scrupulous," or, as we should now say, of a puritanical disposition. He prefers a merry fellow to a grave designing villain:—

"Play thou the good fellow! seeke none to misdeeme;
Disdaine not the honest, though merie they seeme;
For oftentimes seene, no more verie a knave,
Than he that doth counterfeit most to be grave."[23]

How strongly, too, does he support the keeping up of the old "feasting-daies," "Olde customes that good be let no man dispise," the festivities of Christmas,[24] the Harvest Home, etc. His maxims on the treatment of servants and dependents are conceived in a truly Christian spirit, as when he says:—

"Once ended thy harvest, let none be beguil'd,
Please such as did help thee—man, woman, and child;
Thus doing with alway such help as they can,
Thou winnest the praise of the labouring man."

"Good servants hope justly some friendship to feel,
And look to have favour, what time they do well."

And again, such as these—

"Be lowly, not sullen, if aught go amiss,
What wresting may lose thee, that win with a kiss."

"Remember the poor that for God's sake do call,
For God both rewardeth and blesseth withall.
Take this in good part, whatsoever thou be,
And wish me no worse than I wish unto thee."

The versification of Tusser does not call for any lengthened remarks. The greater portion of his work is written in the same anapæstic metre, which, though rough, is well adapted for retention in the memory. There are, however, two exceptions worthy of special notice: firstly, the "Preface to the Buier" (ch. [5]) and the "Comparison between Champion Countrie and Severall" (ch. [63]), which are the first examples of a metre afterwards adopted by Prior and Shenstone, and generally believed to have originated with the latter: secondly, the "Author's linked verses" (ch. [113]), a species of what Dr. Guest calls Inverse Rhime in the following passage from his "History of English Rhythms":[25] "Inverse Rhime is that which exists between the last accented syllable of the first section, and the first accented syllable of the second. It appears to have flourished most in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. I do not remember any instance of it in Anglo-Saxon, but it is probably of native growth.[26] A kindred dialect, the Icelandic, had, at an early period, a species of rhime closely resembling the present—the second verse always beginning with the last accented syllable of the first. It is singular that the French had in the sixteenth century a rhime like the Icelandic, called by them la rime entrelassée. The present rhime differed from it, as it was contained in one verse.... Thus:—

'These steps| both reach|| and teach| thou shalt|
To come| by thrift|| to shift| withal|.'——Tusser.

'The pi|pers loud|| and loud|er blew|,
The dan|cers quick|| and quick|er flew|.'——Burns."

The following are Tusser's principal peculiarities:—

1. The use of a plural noun with a verb singular. This very frequently occurs. "Some," too, is almost invariably treated thus.

2. His omissions and elliptical phrases, such as [while] plough-cattle [are] a-baiting ([85/2]); thy market [having been] despatched, [57/45]; a small [income] [62/11]; in the mottoes of the months, [work] forgotten [in the] month past; and in such expressions as "fault known" [47/22], "that done" [55/2], "who living" [26/1], etc.

3. Peculiarities of rime. Tusser appears to have attributed far more importance to the outward appearance of his riming words, than to the reality of the rimes. So long as they appeared to rime, it seems to have mattered little that in pronunciation they were widely different. We thus find them constantly (a) changing the spelling of words in order to make them look like others; and again (b) using as rimes words which, though similarly spelt, are totally unlike in pronunciation. The following examples will suffice. In alterations of orthography we find weight (for wait) to rime with eight; raies (for raise); mutch to rime with hutch; thease to rime with ease; ise (for ice) to rime with device; flo (for flow) to rime with fro; feere (for fire or fier) to rime with Janiveere; tought (for taught) to rime with thought; cace (for case) to rime with place; waight (for wait) to rime with straight; bilde, to rime with childe; thoes (for those) to rime with sloes, etc.

On the other hand, we find such rimes as the following: plough, rough; shew, few; have, save; have, crave; feat, great; overthwart, part; shal, fal; and a very curious instance in [Chapter 69, stanza 1], where thrive is made to rime with atchive.

If the number of editions through which an author's works pass be a proof of merit, as it certainly is of popularity, few writers of his time can enter into competition with Tusser. During the forty years from the appearance of the first edition of the "One Hundreth Poyntes" in 1557 to the end of the sixteenth century, no fewer than thirteen editions of his work are known to have been published. Yet all are scarce, and few of those surviving are perfect; a proof that what was intended for practical use had been sedulously applied to that purpose. "Some books," says Mr. Haslewood, in the "British Bibliographer," No. iii., "become heir-looms from value; and Tusser's work, for useful information in every department of agriculture, together with its quaint and amusing observations, perhaps passed the copies from father to son, till they crumbled away in the bare shifting of the pages, and the mouldering relic only lost its value by the casual mutilation of time." Subjoined is a list of all the various recorded editions, extracted from Mavor's introduction and other sources.

1557. A Hundreth Good Pointes of Husbandrie. Reprinted here from the unique copy in the British Museum.

1561. Thomas Hacher had licence for a "dyalogue of wyuynge and thryuynge of Tusshers, with ij lessons for olde and yonge." Ritson, though improperly, considers this as a different work from the piece which appears under the same title in later editions.[27]

1562. It appears probable that this edition, though its existence is disputed by some, contained the original germ of the Book of Huswifery, as we find, on the authority of Warton, that in the preceding year Richard Totell had licence to print "a booke entituled one hundreth good poyntes of housbondry lately maryed unto a hundreth poyntes of huswiffry, newly corrected and amplyfyed."[28]

1564. The existence of an edition of this date rests on the authority of Otridge's Catalogue, 1794. It is probably a misprint for 1562.

1570. A hundreth good pointes of husbandry, lately maried unto a hundreth good poynts of huswifery: newly corrected and amplified, with dyuers proper lessons for householders, as by the table at the latter ende more plainly may appeare. Set foorth by Thomas Tusser, gentleman, servant to the right honorable lorde Paget of Beudesert. In ædibus Richardii Tottyli, cum privilegio, Anno 1570.

1573. Five hundreth pointes of good husbandry united to as many of good huswifery, first devised and more lately augmented, with divers approved lessons, concerning hopps and gardening and other needful matters, together with an abstract before every moneth, containing the whole effect of the sayd moneth, with a table and a preface in the beginning, both necessary to be reade, for the better understanding of the booke. Set forth by Thomas Tusser, gentleman, servant to the honorable lorde Paget of Beudesert. Imprinted at London in Flete Strete within Temple Barre, at the signe of the hand and starre, by Richard Tottell. Anno 1573. Cum privilegio.[29]

1577. A reprint of the above, by the same person [but with some alterations, W.P.].

1580. The edition here reprinted, 4to.

1585. Five hundred pointes, etc. Newly set foorth by Thomas Tusser, gentleman. At London, printed in the now dwelling house of Henrie Denham, in Aldersgate Street, at the signe of the Starre.[30]

1586. By Denham, as before. 4to., pp. 164.

1590. By the assignees of Serres.[31]

1593. By Yardley. 4to. (in the Bodleian Library, M.)

1597. By Peter Short. 4to.

1599. Again by Peter Short.[32] Also by Waldegrave in Scotland. 4to.

1604. Printed for the Companie of Stationers. Five hundreth points of good husbandrie: as well for the Champion or open countrie, as also for the Woodland or Severall, mixed in every Month with Huswiferie, over and besides the booke of Huswiferie. Corrected, better ordered and newly augmented to a fourth part more, with divers other lessons, as a diet for the farmer, of the properties of winds, plants, hops, herbs, bees, and approved remedies for sheepe and cattell, with manie other matters both profitable and not unpleasant for the Reader. Also two tables, one of husbandrie, and the other of Huswiferie, at the end of the booke; for the better and easier finding of any matter contained in the same. Newlie set foorth by Thomas Tusser, gentleman, etc. (Public Library, Cambridge, M.).

1610. Printed for the Company of Stationers. 4to.[33]

1614. id. id. 4to.

1620. id. id. The orthography in the title in some respects more obsolete than in earlier impressions: thus we have moneth for month, and hearbs for herbs. 4to. In British Museum.

1638. For the Company of Stationers. 4to.[34]

1672. Printed for T. R. and M. D. for the Company of Stationers. 146 pp., exclusive of the tables, closely printed.[35]

1692. Bibliotheca Farmeriana, No. 7349. Haslewood.

All the foregoing editions are in small 4to. black-letter [with roman and italic headlines and occasional verses, W.P.].

1710. Tusser Redivivus. The Calendar of the twelve months with notes, published in as many numbers, by Daniel Hilman, a Surveyor of Epsom in Surry. 8vo. Lond. pp. 150.

1744. The same with a new title-page only. Printed for M. Cooper, in Paternoster Row; and sold by J. Duncan, in Berkley Square, near Grosvenor Gate. The title runs thus: Five Hundred points of Husbandry: directing what grass, corn, etc., is proper to be sown; what trees to be planted; how land is to be improved; with whatever is fit to be done for the benefit of the Farmer, in every month of the Year. By Thomas Tusser, Esq. To which are added notes and observations, explaining many obsolete Terms used therein, and what is agreeable to the present practice in several counties of this kingdom. A work very necessary and useful for gentlemen, as well as occupiers of land, whether wood-ground or tillage and pasture.

1810. A very correct reprint of the First Edition of 1557 was issued by R. Triphook and William Sancho.

1812. Five Hundred Points of good Husbandry, as well for the champion or open country, as for the woodland or several; together with a Book of Huswifery. Being a Calendar of rural and domestic Economy, for every month in the year; and exhibiting a Picture of the Agriculture, Customs, and Manners of England, in the Sixteenth Century. By Thomas Tusser, Gentleman. A New Edition, with notes, Georgical, Illustrative and Explanatory, a Glossary, and other Improvements. By William Mavor, LL.D.,[36] Honorary Member of the Board of Agriculture, etc.

"Multa renascentur, quæ jam cecidêre, cadentque,
Quæ nunc sunt in honore."—Hor.

London, printed for Lackington, Allen & Co., Temple of the Muses, Finsbury-Square, 8vo. 1812. Dedicated to the President and Members of the Board of Agriculture, pp. 36, xl., and 338.

1834. Mr. Charles Clark of Great Totham, Essex, printed at his private press a few copies of the original edition of 1557.

1848. A Selection was published at Oxford with the following title: Five Hundred Points of Good Husbandry, by Thomas Tusser. Now newly corrected and edited and heartily commended to all true lovers of country life and honest thrift. By H. M. W. Oxford, 1848, 16mo.

The work is also included in Southey's Select Works of the British Poets, 143-199.

Extracts from the Registers of the Stationers' Company.

1557. John Daye had licence to print "the Hundreth poyntes of good 'Husserie.'" Regist. Station. A. fo. 23a.

1559-60. June 20. T. Marshe had licence "to print the boke of Husbandry." Ibid. fo. 486. This last title occurs in these registers much lower.

1561. Richard Tottell was to print "A boke intituled one hundreth good poyntes of husboundry lately maryed unto a hundreth good poyntes of Huswiffry newly corrected and amplyfyed." Ibid. fo. 74a.

1565. A licence to Alde to print "An hundreth poyntes of evell huswyfraye," probably a satire or parody on Tusser. Ibid. fo. 131.

[1] The name of Tusser does not appear in the parochial registers at Rivenhall, which only extend back to 1634. According to Dr. Mavor, the name and race have long been extinct.

[2] History of English Poetry, 1840, vol. iii. p. 248.

[3] Letter from J. Townsend, Esq., Windsor Herald, to Dr. Mavor, quoted in his edition of Tusser, p. 7.

[4] History of English Poetry, 1840, vol. iii. p. 248.

[5] See [chapter 114, stanza 5].

[6] Dr. Rimbault, in his Cheque Book of the Chapel Royal, quotes the following from Liber Niger Domini Regis (temp. Edward VI.): "The children of the Chappelle were 8 in number, with a Master of Songe to teach them. And when any of the children comene to be xviij yeares of age, and their voices change, ne cannot be preferred in this Chappelle, the nombere being full, then, yf they will assente, the kyng assynethe them to a College of Oxford or Cambridge of his fundatione, there to be at fynding and studye both suffycyently, tylle the king may otherwise advanse them."—Query, was Tusser assigned in this way to King's College, Cambridge?

[7] Nicholas Udall took his degree of M.A. at Oxford in 1534.

[8] Hatcher, MSS. Catalog. Præpos. Soc. Schol. Coll. Regal. Cant.

[9] Of this nobleman, the ancestor of the Earl of Uxbridge, a very full account is given in Dugdale, from which it appears that he was born at Wednesbury in Staffordshire, his father being one of the Serjeants-at-Mace of the city of London. Under Henry VIII. he was Ambassador to France, and Master of the Post. In 1549 he obtained a grant of the fee of the house without Temple Bar, first called Paget House, then Leicester House, and lastly Essex House. Two years afterwards he was Ambassador to the Emperor Charles V., and in the same year was called by writ to Parliament by the title of Lord Paget of Beaudesert, Com. Salop., and soon after sent to treat for peace with France. On the fall of the Duke of Somerset, he was charged with designing the murder of several noblemen at Paget House, and in consequence was sent to the Tower, deprived of his honours and offices, and fined £6000, one-third of which was remitted. On the death of Edward VI. he joined the Earl of Arundel, the chief champion of Queen Mary, and gained her favour by his activity. Soon after her marriage with Philip, he was sent Ambassador to the Emperor at Brussels, to consult Cardinal Pole respecting the restoration of Popery. In this reign he was made Lord Privy Seal. Lord Paget died very aged, in 1563, and was buried at Drayton in Middlesex. He left issue by Anne, daughter of —— Prestin, Esq., Com. Lanc., three sons and five daughters. His eldest son Henry succeeded him in the title; but dying in 1568, the peerage descended to his next brother, Thomas, whom Tusser claims also for a patron. Thomas being zealously affected to Popery, and implicated in the plots in favour of Mary Queen of Scots, fled and was attainted 1587, and died three years after at Brussels, leaving one son, Thomas, who succeeded him.

[10] Of the name and family of his first wife we are entirely ignorant.

[11] In later editions printed Ratwade, and transferred to Sussex, a mistake into which Warton has fallen.

[12] Tusser is generally supposed to have addressed Sir Richard Southwell as "Thou worthy wight, thou famous knight," but it is clear that Sir Robert Southwell is intended, for in 1573 Tusser alludes to Southwell's death as having occurred some years before, but Sir Richard Southwell did not die till 1579, while Sir Robert died twenty years previously.—Cooper, Ath. Cant.

[13] His second son, Edmond, was baptized at St. Giles's, Cripplegate, 13th March, 1572-3.

[14] The plague to which Tusser evidently alludes ([in stanza 31 of Autobiography]), according to Maitland, raged in London in 1573 and 1574.

[15] Cooper, Ath. Cantab. vol. i. p. 422.

[16] See p. [xxix].

[17] Survey of London, ed. 1618, p. 474. The church of St. Mildred was destroyed in the Great Fire.

[18] Braham Hall was in 1460 the residence of Sir John Braham, and is about a mile and a half from Manningtree, and in the parish of Brantham, where Tusser first introduced the culture of barley;

"In Brantham where rye but no barley did grow,
Good barley I had, as a many did know.
Five seam of an acre, I truly was paid,
For thirty load muck of each acre so laid."
—Chapt. 19, st. 9.

The field where barley first grew at Brantham is still pointed out by tradition.

[19] Hist. of Eng. Poetry, vol. iii. p. 249.

[20] Thus altered in "Recreations for ingenious Head Pieces; or a pleasant Grove for their Wits to walk in, etc.," 8vo. 1644:—

"Tusser, they tell me, when thou wert alive
Thou, teaching thrift, thyself could'st never thrive:
So, like the whetstone, many men are wont,
To sharpen others, when themselves are blunt."

[21] Shelf-mark, 10817, g.

[22] Notes and Queries, 1st Ser. vol. xii. p. 193.

[23] [Chapter 30, stanza 3].

[24] "What season then better of all the whole yeere
Thy needie poor neighbour to comfort and cheere?"

[25] Vol. i. pp. 136, 7.

[26] A very curious example is printed from Harl. MS. 913 in "Early English Poems," ed. Furnivall, pp. 21, 2.

[27] This was probably a broadside edition of the Dialogue found in the Book of Husbandry.

[28] No copy of this date is known to be extant, though it is mentioned both in Weston's and King's Catalogues.

[29] This is the first edition of "Five Hundred Points."

[30] Differing very little from the preceding. It is probable that Tusser might have left, before his death, some corrections on the ed. of 1580, which were introduced into this. After this edition, errors seem to have multiplied in every successive issue.

[31] In White's Catalogue, 1788; Mr. Ashby saw a copy in possession of Dr. Lort.

[32] Extremely incorrect. Reprinted in "Somers' Tracts" by Sir W. Scott, vol. iii. p. 403.

[33] An edition little known, but certainly existing.

[34] Payne's Catalogue, 1773; Deck's, 1792, little known.

[35] In this edition some errors are corrected, and the orthography is considerably modernized.

[36] Rector of Woodstock.

[THE LAST WILL OF THOMAS TUSSER.]

In the name of God, Amen, the xxv of Aprill 1580. I, Thomas Tusser, of Chesterton, in the Countye of Cambridge, Gentleman, being feeble in bodye, but perfecte in memorie, thanks be to God, doe make and ordaine this my Last Will and Testament in manner and forme following, revokinge all other Wills heretofore made. That is to say, Ffirst and principallye I give and betake my sowle to Allmightie God the Father (my maker) and to his son Jesus Christ (my onelye Redeemer) by whose merites I most firmelye beleve and trust to be saved and to be partaker of lyef everlastinge, and to the Holye Gost (my Comforter) Three personnes in one ever Godheade, whome I doe most humblye thanke that he hathe mercifullye kepte me untill this tyme, and that he hathe given me tyme and space to confesse and bewaile my sinnes, and that he hathe forgiven me them all, thorough the merites of our Savioure Jesus Christ, which I doe undoubtedlye beleve, because he hathe mercifullye promised yt, to whome be praise for ever and ever, Amen.

Item. I give and bequeathe unto Thomas Tusser, my eldest Sonne, to be delivered unto to him within one yere next after my decease Fyftye Pounds of goode and lawful monye of England, parcell of the Three Hundrethe and Thirtie Pownds which William Tusser my Brother dothe owe unto me uppon one recognisaunce wherein he standethe bounde unto me for the true paiment thereof; and my will is, That suche trustye Frend or Frends, as shall be hereafter in this my last Will and Testament named, shall have the use of the said Fiftie Pounds for and duringe the nonage of my said Sonne Thomas, and untill suche time as he shall accomplishe and come to the Age of xx and One Yeres, putting in sufficient suerties for the true paiment thereof unto the said Thomas my Sonne, and alsoe to paye for and towards the bringinge up of my said Sonne Thomas, yerelye, the summe of Fyve Pownds untill he shall accomplish and come to the Age of Twentye and One Yeres; and when my said Sonne Thomas shall accomplishe his said Age of Twentye and One Yeres, I will that the said summe of Fyftye Pownds shalbe, within one monethe next ensueing after the said accomplishment of Twentye and One Yeres unto him well and trulye contented and paid at one whole and entire paiment, &c. &c. Thomas Tusser.

Item. I give unto John Tusser my second Sonne other Fyftie Pownds of lawfull monye of England due unto me by the foresaid recognisance, and to be bestowed and employed to his use duringe his minoritie, and likewise to be paid unto him in suche and as lardge manner and forme to all constructions and purposes as is before declared of the other Fyftie Pownds before devised unto my Sonne Thomas Tusser; and also Fyve Pownds to be paid yerely during his minoritie in manner and forme before rehersed. Thomas Tusser.

Item. I give and bequeathe unto Edmond Tusser, my Sonne, and to Marye Tusser, my daughter, and unto either of them the Summe of Fyftye Pownds, due to me by force of the foresaid recognisaunce, and to be bestowed and employed to the seuerall uses and benefitts of them and either of them duringe their minorities, and likewise to be paid to either of them in suche and as lardge manner and forme in everie respect, to all constructions and purposes, as is before declared of the Fyftye Pownds devised before to my Sonne Thomas Tusser; and also Fyve Pownds a peece yerelye duringe their minorities, in manner and forme before rehersed. Thomas Tusser.

Item. I give and bequeathe unto Amy Tusser, my Wyef, the summe of Foure score Pownds of lawful monye of England dewe to me by force of the said recognisaunce, and to be paid unto her within one whole yere next ensewinge after my decease. Thomas Tusser.

Item. My will and intent is, That yf my brother William Tusser doe accordinge unto the intent and true meaninge of this my last Will and Testament well and truelye pay the foresaid severall summes of monye before given and bequeathed, unto Amye, my Wyef, to Thomas my Sonne, and to the rest of my children before named, and alsoe doe from tyme to tyme and at all times hereafter save and kepe harmles my Heires, Executors, and Administrators, and everie of them, of and from all trobles, chardges, and excumbrances, which maye at anye time hereafter come, rise, or growe for or by reason of any manner of Bonds wherein I stande bounde for or with him as suertie, That then I give and bequeathe unto him the summe of Fyftie Pownds being the residue of the said Summe due unto me by the force of the said recognisance before rehersed; and yf he doe not well and trulye performe the same, then I give the said Fiftie Pownds unto my Executors of this my last Will and Testament. Thomas Tusser.

Item. I will that yf anye of my children dye before they come to and accomplishe theire foresaid severall Ages of xxi Yeres that then I will that his or theire parts or portions shalbe destributed and equallye divided to and amongst the rest of my other children then survyveinge. Thomas Tusser.

Item. I give and bequeathe unto the afore-named Thomas Tusser, my Sonne, and his Heires, all those seven Acres and a Roode of Copy holde, which I nowe have lyinge in the Parish or Feilds of Chesterton; to have and to holde the same, after the deathe of Amye, my Wyef, to him his Heires and Assignes for ever.

Thomas Tusser.

Item. I give also to the said Thomas Tusser, my Sonne, all suche Estate and Tearme of Yeares as I have yet to come in a certain Close called Lawyer's Close, lyinge and beinge in the Parish of Chesterton, which said Close I have demised unto one William Mosse for the tearme of one whole Yere begininge at the Feast of St. Gregorye last past, yeldinge and payeinge for the same xxxv^s. Rente, which said Rente I doe also gyve to my said Sonne Thomas towards his bringinge up in learninge. Thomas Tusser.

Item. I give also to the said Thomas my Bookes of Musicke and Virginalls. Thomas Tusser.

Item. The residue of all my Bonds, Goods and Chattells, moveable and immovable in Chesterton aforesaid or ellswhere, beinge in this my last Will and Testament unbequeathed, I give to Amye, my Wyef, dischardging all my debts and Funerall Expenses, not amountinge unto above the summe of Twentye Marckes. And of this my last Will and Testament I constitute my said Sonne Thomas Tusser my full and whole Executor; and yf he happen to dye before he accomplishe his full Age of Twentye and One Yeres, then I doe constitute and make John Tusser, my second Sonne, my Executor. And yf yt fortune the said John to dye before he accomplish the Age of xxi Yeares, I constitute and make Edmond Tusser, my Sonne, my whole Executor; and yf yt happen the said Edmond do dye before he dothe accomplish and come to the Age of xxi Yeres, I do then make and constitute Amye Tusser, my Wyef, my full and whole Executor of this my last Will and Testament. Thomas Tusser.

Item. I doe constitute ordaine and make one Edmond Moon, Gentleman, Father to the said Amye, my Wyef, and Grandfather to my forenamed Children, my said trustie Frend before mentioned in this my said last Will and Testament, Guardian and Tutor unto my forenamed Children and Supervisor and Overseer of this my last Will and Testament, unto whome I doe next under God comitte bothe my Wyef and my forenamed Children trustinge assuredlye that he will take a fatherlye care over them as fleshe of his fleshe and bone of his bones.

Thomas Tusser.

Those whose names be hereunder written beinge Witnesses to this present last Will and Testament.

John Plommer Of Barnard's Inne, in the Countye of Middlesex, Gentleman.

Richard Clue.

Thomas Jeve.

James Blower.

Wiliam Hygeart.

Mem. That William Hygeart dwellethe in Southwerke, with Mr. Towlye, Copper Smith; Richard Clue in St. Nicholas Lane, free of the Merchant Taylers; Thomas Jeve, Ironmonger; James Blower, Servant, free of Clotheworkers.

Sealed and delivered in the presence of the parties above named.

John Bootes.

Francis Shackelton, the Parson of St. Myldred's in the Poultrie,

John Plommer.

Proved in the Prerogative Court of the Archbishop of Canterbury, the 8th day of August 1580, by his Son, Thomas Tusser.

Fiue hundred pointes of
good Husbandrie, as well for
the [Champion], or open countrie,
as also for the woodland, or [Seuerall],
mixed in euerie Month with Huswiferie,
ouer and besides the booke of Huswiferie,
corrected, better ordered, and newly augmented
to a fourth part more, with diuers other lessons,
as a diet for the fermer, of the properties of
winds, planets, hops, herbes, bees, and approoued
remedies for sheepe & cattle, with many other
matters both profitable, and not vnpleasant for
the Reader. Also a table of husbandrie at the
beginning of this booke: and another
of huswiferie at the end: for the
better and easier finding of
any matter conteined
in the same.

Newly set foorth by Thomas Tusser
Gentleman, servant to the honorable
Lorde Paget of
Beaudesert.

Imprinted at London, by Henrie
Denham, dwelling in Paternoster
Row, at the signe
of the Starre.

1580.

A Lesson.

A lesson how to [confer] euery abstract with his month,& how to finde out huswiferie verses by the [Pilcrowe], and Champion from Woodland.

In euerie month, er[1] in aught be begun,[E1]
Reade ouer that month, what [auailes] to be dun.
So neither this [trauell][2] shall seeme to be lost:
Nor thou to repent of this trifeling cost.

The figure of abstract and month doo agree,
Which one to another relations bee.[E2]
These verses so short, without figure that stand,[3]
Be points of themselues, to be taken in hand.

¶[4]
In husbandrie matters, where Pilcrowe[E3] ye finde,
That verse appertaineth to huswiferie kinde.
So haue ye mo lessons, (if there ye looke well),
Than huswiferie booke doth vtter or tell.

Of Champion husbandrie now doo I write,
Which heretofore neuer this booke did recite.
With lessons approoued, by practise and skill:
To profit the ignorant, buie it that will.

The Champion differs from Seuerall much,
For want of [partition], [closier] and such.
One name to them both doo I giue now & than,
For Champion countrie, and Champion man.

[1] yer. 1585.

[2] travail. 1577.

[3] The lessons that after those figures so stand. 1577.

[4] The edition of 1577 contains only the first two verses.

The Table of Husbandrie.

A Table of the pointes of husbandrie mentioned in this booke.

* * * Roman words in [ ] are wanting in 1577 edition; italics in [ ] are additions in the edition of 1577, in which y is substituted for ie, and accented é is unused.

The Epistle to the Lord William Paget deceased, and the occasion first of this booke.

The Epistle to the Lord Thomas Paget, second sonne, and now heire to the Lord William Paget his father.

[The Epistel] To the Reader.

[An Introduction to the booke of husbandrie.]

[A Preface to the buier of this booke. The preface.]

The commoditie of husbandrie.

The praise of husbandrie [by a [redele]].

The description of [husband &] husbandrie.

The ladder [of xxxiiij steps] to [thrift].

Good husbandlie lessons worthie to be followed of such as will thriue.

An habitation inforced, [aduisedly] better late than neuer; [made] upon these wordes, Sit downe Robin and rest thée.

[The farmers dailie diet.

A description of the properties of winds all y^e times of the yere.

Of the Planets.]

Septembers abstract.

[Other short remembrances for September.]

Septembers husbandrie [with the nedeful furnyture of y^e barne stable, plough, cart, yard, & field, togither with the manner of gathering hops, drying & keping them].

[A digression to husbandlie furniture.

The residue of Septembers husbandrie, agréeing with his former abstract.]

Octobers abstract.

[Other short remembrances for October.]

Octobers husbandrie.

[A digression to the vsage of diuers countries concerning tillage.

The residue of Octobers husbandrie, agréeing with his former abstract.]

Nouembers abstract.

[Other short remembrances for Nouember.]

Nouembers husbandrie [agréeing with his former abstract].

Decembers abstract.

[Other short remembrances for December.]

Decembers husbandrie [agréeing with his former abstract].

A digression [directing] to hospitalitie.

A description of time, and the yere.

A description of life & riches.

A description of houskéeping.

A description of [the feast of the birth of Christ, commonlie called] Christmas.

A description of apt time to spend.

Against fantastical [scruplenes].

Christmas husbandlie fare.

A Christmas caroll [of the birth of Christ, vpon the tune of king Salomon].

Ianuaries abstract [and at the end thereof diuers sorts of trees and frutes to bee then set or remoued, following the order of y^e alphabet or [crosserowe]].[E4]

[Other short remembrances for Ianuarie.

Of trées or fruites to be set or remooued.]

Ianuaries husbandrie [agréeing with his former abstract].

Februaries abstract.

[Other short remembrances for Februarie.]

Februaries husbandrie [agréeing with his former abstract].

Marches abstract [and at the ende therof, the names of the seedes, herbes, flowers & rootes than to be sowen or set, unles the time be otherwise noted by expresse wordes, as wel for kitchin herbes, strowing herbes & flowers, as herbes to stil & for phisick, set after the order of the alphabet or crosserowe].

[Other short remembrances for March.

Seedes and hearbes for the kitchen.

Herbes and rootes for sallets and sauce.

Herbs or rootes to boile or to butter.

Strowing herbs of all sorts.

Herbes, branches and flowers for windowes and pots.

Herbs to still in Summer.

Necessarie herbes to growe in the garden for Physicke not rehersed before.]

Marches husbandrie [agréeing with his former abstract with the maner of setting of hops].

Aprils abstract.

Aprils husbandrie [agréeing with his former abstract with a lesson for dairy maide Cisseley and of x toppings gests in hir whitmeat, better lost then found.]

[A digression to dairie matters.

A lesson for dairie maid Cisley of ten toppings gests.]

Maies abstract.

[Two other short remembrances for Maie.]

Maies husbandrie [agréeing with his former abstract].

Junes abstract.

[A lesson of hopyard.]

Junes husbandrie [agréeing with his former abstract, with a lesson to chuse a meete plot for hopps and howe then to be doing with the same.]

[A lesson where and when to plant good hopyard.]

Julies abstract.

Julies husbandrie [agréeing with his former abstract and hay harvest].

Augusts abstract.

[Workes after haruest.]

Augusts husbandrie [agréeing with his former abstract & corne haruest].

[Corne haruest equally diuided into ten partes.]

[The conclusion of the whole booke set out in 12 verses euery word beginning with a T y^e first letter of the Authors name.]

[A briefe conclusion in verse, euerie word beginning with a T.]

Mans age [divided into xij prentiships, from seuen yeares to fourescore and foure].

[A briefe description of thenclinations of mans age by the similitude of the Ape, Lion, Foxe, & the Asse.]

[Another diuision of the nature of mans age.]

A comparison betwéene good husband[rie] and [bad euill].

A comparison betwéene [woodland & Champion] countrie and Seuerall.

[The description of an enuious and naughtie neighbour.]

[A Sonet howe to set a candle afore the Deuill.]

A Sonet against a slaunderous tongue.

A Sonet [to his Lord & Master of his first vij yeres seruice vpon the Authors first seuen yeres seruice].

[The Authors A] dialogue betweene two Bachelers [batchillers], of wiuing & thriuing, by affirmation & negation [& the maryed mans iudgment thereof].

[The wedded mans iudgement taking vp the matter of wiuing and thriuing.

How ewes should be vsed that are néere lambing.

How lambes should be vsed when they are yoong.

What times are most méete for rearing of calues.

How to cure the wrigling of y^e taile in a shéepe or a lambe.

Of gelding horsecolts.

A waie how to haue large bréede of hogs.

A medicine for faint cattle.

Howe to fasten loose téeth in a bullocke.

How to preuent the breeding of the bots in horses.

A medicine for the [cowlaske].[E5]

Of burieng dead cattle.

A waie how to preserue bées.

What is to be done with measeled hogs.

What times are most méete for letting of horses blood.]

The Table of Huswiferie you shall finde at the ende of the booke.

FINIS.

* * * Tusser's references to pages are omitted.

[1.]

¶ The Author's Epistle to the late Lord William Paget, wherein he doth discourse of his owne bringing vp, and of the goodnes of the said Lord his master vnto him, and the occasion of this his booke, thus set forth of his owne long practise.

Chap. 1.

1[E6]
T Time trieth the [troth],[E7] in euerie thing,
H Herewith let men content their minde,[1]
O Of works, which best may profit bring,
M Most rash to iudge, most often blinde.
A As therefore troth in time shall craue,
S So let this booke iust fauor haue.

2
T Take you my Lord and Master than,
U Vnlesse mischance mischanceth me,[E8]
S Such [homelie] gift, of me your man,
S Since more in Court I may not be,
A And let your praise, wonne heretofore,
R Remaine abrode for euermore.[E9]

3
M My seruing you, (thus vnderstand,)
A And God his helpe, and yours withall,[E10]
D Did cause good lucke to take mine hand,
E [Erecting] one most like to fall.

M My seruing you, I know it was,
E Enforced this to come to pas.

4
Since being once at Cambridge taught,
Of Court ten yeeres I made [assaie],
No Musicke then was left vnsaught,
Such care I had to serue that waie.
When ioie gan [slake], then made I change,
[Expulsed][2] mirth, for Musicke strange.

5
My Musicke since hath bene the plough,
Entangled with some care [among],
The gaine not great, the paine ynough,
Hath made me sing another song.
Which song, if well I may auow,
I craue it iudged be by yow.

Your seruant Thomas Tusser.

[1] How euery man doth please his mind. 1577.

[2] Expelled. 1585.

[2.]

¶ To the Right Honorable and my speciall good Lord and Master, the Lord Thomas Paget of Beaudesert, sone and heire to his late[1] father deceased.

Chap. 2.

1
My Lord, your father looued me,
and you my Lord haue prooued me,
and both your loues haue mooued me,
to write as here is donne:
Since God hath hence your father,
such flowers as I gather,
I dedicate now rather,
to you my Lord his sonne.

2
Your father was my founder,
till death became his [wounder],
no subiect euer sounder,
whome Prince aduancement gaue:
As God did here defend him,
and honour here did send him,
so will I here commend him,
as long as life I haue.

3
His neighbours then did [blisse] him,
his seruants now doe misse him,
the poore would gladlie kisse him,
aliue againe to be:
But God hath wrought his pleasure,
and blest him, out of measure,
with heauen and earthlie treasure,
so good a God is he.

Ceres the Goddesse of husbandrie.

4
His counsell had I vsed,
and Ceres art refused,
I neede not thus haue mused,
nor droope as now I do:
But I must plaie the farmer,
and yet no [whit] the warmer,
although I had his [armer],
and other comfort to.

Æsops fable.

5
The Foxe doth make me minde him,
whose glorie so did blinde him,
till taile cut off behinde him,
no [fare] could him content:
Euen so must I be proouing,
such glorie I had in loouing,
of things to plough [behoouing],
that makes me now repent.

Salust.

6
[Loiterers] I kept so [meanie],
both Philip, Hob, and [Cheanie],
that, that waie nothing [geanie],
was thought to make me thriue:
Like Iugurth, Prince of Numid,[E11]
my gold awaie consumid,
with losses so perfumid,[E12]
was neuer none aliue.

7
Great fines so neere did [pare] me,
great rent so much did [skare] me,
great charge so long did [dare] me,
that made me at length crie creake:[E13]
Much more[2] of all such fleeces,[E14]
as oft I lost by [peeces],
among such wilie geeces
I list no longer speake.

8
Though countrie health long [staid] me,
yet [lesse][3] expiring [fraid] me,
and ([ictus sapit][E15]) praid me
to seeke more steadie staie:
New lessons then I noted,
and some of them I [coted],[4]
least some should think I [doted],
by bringing naught awaie.

Pallas, Goddesse of wisdome and cunning.

9
Though Pallas hath denide me,
hir learned pen to guide me,
for that she dailie [spide] me,
with countrie how I stood:
Yet Ceres so did [bold] me,
with hir good lessons told me,
that [rudenes] cannot hold me,
from dooing countrie good.

10
By practise and ill [speeding],
these lessons had their [breeding],
and not by [hearesaie], or [reeding],
as some abrode haue [blowne]:
Who will not thus beleeue me,
so much the more they greeue me,
because they grudge to geeue me,
that is of right mine owne.

11
At first for want of teaching,
at first for trifles [breaching],
at first for [ouer reaching],[5]
and lacke of taking [hid],[6]
was cause that [toile] so [tost] me,
that practise so much cost me,
that rashnes so much lost me,
or hindred as it did.

12
Yet will I not despaier
thorough Gods good gift so faier
through friendship, gold, and praier,
in countrie againe to dwell:
Where rent so shall not paine me,
but paines shall helpe to gaine me,
and gaines shall helpe maintaine me,
New lessons mo to tell.

13
For citie seemes a [wringer],
the [penie] for to finger,
from such as there doe linger,
or for their pleasure lie:
Though countrie be more [painfull],
and not so [greedie gainfull],
yet is it not so [vainfull],
in following [fansies] eie.

14
I haue no labour wanted
to prune this tree thus planted,
whose fruite to none is [scanted],
in house or yet in feeld:
Which fruite, the more ye taste of,
the more to eate, ye haste of,
the lesse this fruite ye waste of,[7]
such fruite this tree doth yeeld.

15
My[8] tree or booke thus [framed],
with title alreadie named,
I trust goes forth vnblamed,
in your good Lordships name:
As my good Lord I take you,
and neuer will forsake you,
so now I craue to make you
defender of the same.

Your seruant Thomas Tusser.

[1] In the edition of 1575 the word Thomas, and the words following Beaudesert, do not occur, and the whole Epistle precedes that to Lord William Paget.

[2] mort. 1620.

[3] lease. 1585 and 1620.

[4] quoted. 1585 and 1620.

[5] reacing. 1599.

[6] hede. 1577.

[7] Which fruite to say (who hast of)
though nere so much they taste of
yet can they make no waste of. 1577.

[8] this. 1573. 1577.

[3.]

¶ To the Reader.

Chap. 3.

1
I have been praid
to shew mine aid,
in taking [paine],
not for the gaine,
but for good will,
to shew such skill
as shew I could:
That husbandrie
with huswiferie
as cock and hen,
to countrie men,
all [strangenes] gone,
might ioine in one,
as louers should.

2
I trust both this
performed is,
and how that here
it shall appere,
with iudgement right,
to thy delight,
is brought to passe:
That such as wiue,
and faine would thriue,
be plainly taught
how good from naught
may [trim] be tride,
and [liuely spide],
as in a glasse.

3
What should I win,
by writing in
my losses past,
that ran as fast
as running streame,
from [reame] to reame
that flowes so swift?
For that I could
not get for [gould],
to teach me how,
as this doth yow,
through daily gaine,
the waie so plaine
to come by thrift.

4
What is a grote
or twaine to note,
once in the life
for man or wife,
to saue a pound,
in house or ground,
ech other weeke?[E16]
What more for health,
what more for wealth,
what needeth lesse,
run Iack, helpe Besse,
to staie amis,
not hauing this,
far off to seeke?

5
I do not craue
mo thankes to haue,
than giuen to me
alreadie be,
but this is all
to such as shall
peruse this booke:
That for my sake,
they gently take,
where ere they finde
against their minde,
when he or she
shall minded be
therein to looke.

6
And grant me now,
thou reader thow,
of termes to vse,
such choise to chuse,
as may delight
the countrie [wight],
and knowledge bring:
For such doe praise
the countrie phraise,
the countrie acts,
the countrie facts,
the countrie toies,
before the ioies
of anie thing.

7
Nor looke thou here
that euerie [shere][E17]
of euerie verse
I thus reherse
may profit take
or [vantage] make
by lessons such:
For here we see
things seuerall bee,
and there no [dike],
but champion like,
and sandie soile,
and claiey toile,
doe suffer[1] much.

8
This[2] being waid,
be not afraid
to [buie] to proue,
to reade with loue,
to followe some,
and so to come
by practise true:
My paine is past,
thou warning hast,
th' experience mine,
the vantage thine,
may giue thee choice
to crie or reioice:
and thus [adue].

Finis T. Tusser.

[1] differ. 1573; suffer. 1577.

[2] Thus. 1577.

[4.]

¶ An Introduction to the Booke of Husbandrie.[1]

Chap. 4.

1
Good husbandmen must [moile] & toile,
to laie to liue by laboured feeld:
Their wiues at home must keepe such [coile],[E18]
as their like actes may profit yeeld.
For well they knowe,
as shaft from bowe,
or chalke from snowe,
A good round rent their Lords they giue,
and must keepe touch in all their paie:
With [credit crackt] else for to liue,
or trust to legs and run awaie.

Ceres, Goddesse of husbandry.

2

Though fence well kept is one good point,

[1] This Introduction is not in the editions of 1573 or 1577.

[5.]

¶ A Preface to the buier of this booke.

Chap. 5.

1
What lookest thou herein to haue?
Fine verses thy fansie to please?
Of many my betters that craue,
[Looke] nothing but rudenes in thease.[E19]

2
What other thing lookest thou then?
Graue sentences many to finde?
Such, Poets haue twentie and ten,
Yea thousands contenting the minde.

3
What looke ye, I praie you shew what?
Termes [painted] with Rhetorike fine?
Good husbandrie seeketh not that,
Nor [ist] any meaning of mine.

4
What lookest thou, speake at the last?
Good lessons for thee and thy wife?
Then keepe them in memorie fast,
To helpe as a comfort to life.

5
What looke ye for more in my booke?
Points needfull and meete to be knowne?
Then dailie be suer to looke,
To saue to be suer thine owne.

* * * Mason remarks that this metre was peculiar to Shenstone.[E20]

[6.]

The commodities of Husbandrie.

Chap. 6.

1
Let house haue to fill her,
Let land haue to till her.
No dwellers, what profiteth house for to stand?
What goodnes, vnoccupied, bringeth the land?

2
No labor no bread,
No host we be dead.
No husbandry vsed, how soone shall we sterue?
House keeping neglected, what comfort to serue?

3
Ill father no gift,
No knowledge no thrift.
The father an [vnthrift], what hope to the sonne?
The ruler vnskilfull, how quickly vndonne?

[7.]

Chap. 7.

As true as thy faith,
This riddle thus saith.

The praise of husbandrie.

I seeme but a [drudge], yet I passe any King
To such as can vse me, great wealth I do bring.
Since Adam first liued, I neuer did die,
When [Noe] was shipman, there also was I.
The earth to susteine me, the sea for my fish:[E21]
Be readie to [pleasure] me, as I would wish.[1]
What hath any life, but I helpe to preserue,
What wight without me, but is ready to sterue.
In woodland, in Champion, Citie, or towne
If long I be absent, what falleth not downe?
If long I be present, what goodnes can want?
Though things at my comming were neuer so scant.
So many as looue me, and vse me aright,
With treasure and pleasure, I richly acquite.
Great kings I doe succour, else wrong it would go,
The King of al kings hath appointed it so.

[1] The earth is my storehouse, the sea my fishpond,
What good is in either, by me it is found. 1577.

[8.]

¶ The description of Husbandrie.

Chap. 8.

1
Of husband, doth husbandrie challenge that name,
of husbandrie, husband doth likewise the same
Where huswife and huswiferie, ioineth with thease,
there wealth in abundance is gotten with ease.

2
The name of a husband, what is it to saie?
of wife and the houshold the band and the staie:
Some husbandlie thriueth that neuer had wife,
yet scarce a good husband in goodnes of life.

3
The husband is he that to labour doth fall,
the labour of him I doe husbandrie call:
If thrift by that labour be any way caught,
then is it good husbandrie, else it is naught.

4
So houshold and housholdrie I doe define,
for folke and the goodes that in house be of thine
House keeping to them, as a refuge is set,
which like as it is, so report it doth get.

5
Be house or the furniture neuer so rude,
of husband and husbandrie, (thus I conclude:)
That huswife and huswiferie, if it be good,
must pleasure togither as cosins in blood.

[9.]

¶ The Ladder to thrift.

Chap. 9.

1
To take thy [calling] thankfully,[E22]
and shun[1] the path to beggery.

2
To grudge in youth no drudgery,
to come by knowledge perfectly.

3
To count no trauell slauerie,
that brings in penie [sauerlie].

4
To folow profit earnestlie
but meddle not with [pilferie].

5
To [get] by honest [practisie],
and kéepe thy [gettings] [couertlie].

6
To [lash] not out too [lashinglie],
for feare of [pinching] [penurie].

7
To get good [plot] to occupie,
and store and vse it husbandlie.

8
To shew to landlord [curtesie],
and kéepe thy couenants [orderlie].

9
To hold that thine is lawfullie,
[for] [stoutnes] or for flatterie.

10
To wed good wife for companie,
and liue in wedlock honestlie.

11
To furnish house with [housholdry],
and make prouision skilfully.

12
To ioine to wife good familie,[E23]
and none to kéepe for [brauerie].

13
To suffer none liue idlelie,
for feare of idle [knauerie].

14
To courage wife in huswiferie,
and vse well dooers [gentilie].

15
To keepe no more but [néedfullie],
and count excesse [vnsauerie].

16
To [raise] betimes the [lubberlie],
both [snorting] Hob and Margerie.[2]

17
To walke thy pastures vsuallie,
to spie ill neighbours [subtiltie].

18
To hate [reuengement] hastilie,
[for] loosing loue and [amitie].

19
To loue thy neighbor neighborly,
and shew him no [discurtesy].

20
To answere stranger ciuilie,
but shew him not thy [secresie].

21
To vse no friend deceitfully,
to offer no man [villeny].

22
To learne how foe to pacifie,
but trust him not too [trustilie].

23
To kéepe thy touch [substanciallie],
and in thy word vse [constancie].

24
To make thy [bandes] aduisedly,
& com not bound through [suerty].

25
To meddle not with vsurie,
nor lend thy monie foolishlie.

26
To hate to liue in infamie,
through craft, and liuing [shiftingly].[3]

27
To shun all kinde of [treachery],
for treason endeth horribly.

28
To learne to eschew ill cōpany,
and such as liue dishonestly.

29
To [banish] house of blasphemie,
least [crosses] [crosse] vnluckelie.[E24]

30
To stop mischance, through policy,
for [chancing] too vnhappily.

31
To beare thy crosses patiently,
for worldly things are slippery.

32
To laie to kéepe from miserie,
age comming on so [créepinglie].

33
To praie to God continuallie,
for aide against thine enimie.

34
To spend thy Sabboth holilie,
and helpe the needie pouertie.[4]

35
To liue in conscience quietly,
and kéepe thy selfe from malady.

36
To ease thy sicknes spéedilie,
er helpe be past recouerie.

37
To séeke to God for remedie,
for witches prooue vnluckilie.

[38]
These be the steps [vnfainedlie]:
to climbe to thrift by husbandrie.

[39]
These steps both reach, and teach thee shall:
To come by thrift, to [shift] withall.

* * * Stanzas 25, 27, 28, 32, 37 are not in the edition of 1577. After 31 the edition of 1577 has:—