We have for our purpose a very serviceable
relic of the old time, called “A Merry Jest,
how the Ploughman learned his Paternoster.”
The scene purports to be laid in France, and
the general outline may have been taken from
the French ; but it is substantially English,
with allusions to Kent, Robin Hood, and so
forth, and it certainly illustrates the theme
upon which we are. This ploughman was
in fact a farmer or husbandman, and the
account of his dwelling and garden-stuff is
very interesting. We are told that his hall-
roof was full of bacon-flitches, and his store-
room of eggs, butter, and cheese. He had
plenty of malt to make good ale —
“ And Martlemas beef to him was not dainty ;
Onions and Garlic had he enough,
And good cream, and milk of the cow.”
But in “Vox Populi Vox Dei,” written
about 1547, and therefore apparently not
from the pen of Skelton, who died in 1529,
and the Poor.
189
it is said that the price of an ox had risen to
four pounds, and a sheep without the wool to
twelve shillings and upwards, so that the poor
man could seldom afford to have meat at his
table. This evil the writer ascribes to the
exactions of the landlord and the lawyer.
The former charged too highly for his pastures,
and the latter probably advanced money on
terms. The old poem depicts in sad colours
the condition of the yeoman at the same
period, that had had once plenty of cows and
cream, butter, eggs, cheese, and honey; all
which had gone to enrich upstarts who throve
by casting-counters and their pens. The
story of the “King and a poor Northern
Man,” 1640, also turns upon the tyranny of
the lawyers over ignorant clients.
The “Serving-man’s Comfort,” 1598, draws
a somewhat gloomy picture of the times.
The prices of all provisions, among other
points, had trebled since the good old days,
when his father and grandfather kept house.
Then people could buy an ox for 20 s., a
sheep for 3^., a calf for 2 s., a goose for 6d.,
a capon for 4 d., a hen for 2 d., a pig for
190 Diet of the Yeoman
the same, and all other household provi-
sions at a like rate. The reason given by
the farmer was that the landlords had raised
their rent. Let them have the land on the
old terms, and the former prices would pay.
This plea and demand have come back home
to us in 1886.
The tradition is, that when Queen Eliza-
beth received the intelligence of the defeat
of the Armada, she was dining off a goose —
doubtless about eleven o’clock in the morn-
ing. It was an anxious moment, and perhaps
her majesty for the moment had thrown
ceremony somewhat aside, and was “keeping
secret house.”
The author of the “ Serving-man’s Com-
fort,” 1 5 98, also laments the decay of hospi-
tality. “ Where,” he inquires “ are the great
chines of stalled beef, the great, black jacks
of double beer, the long hall-tables fully
furnished with good victuals?” But he
seems to have been a stickler for the solid
fare most in vogue, according to his com-
plaint, formerly ; and he represents to us that
in lieu of it one had to put up with goose-
and the Poor . 19 1
Page 60
Presented as published in 1886. Historical recipes may not meet modern food-safety standards. Cook from the modern interpretation, not the original instructions.
AI-modernized reading of the original text
We have for our purpose a very serviceable relic of the old time, called “A Merry Jest, how the Ploughman learned his Paternoster.” The scene purports to be laid in France, and the general outline may have been taken from the French ; but it is substantially English, with allusions to Kent, Robin Hood, and so forth, and it certainly illustrates the theme upon which we are. This ploughman was in fact a farmer or husbandman, and the account of his dwelling and garden-stuff is very interesting. We are told that his hallroof was full of bacon-flitches, and his storeroom of eggs, butter, and cheese. He had plenty of malt to make good ale —
“ And Martlemas beef to him was not dainty ;
Onions and Garlic had he enough,
And good cream, and milk of the cow.”
But in “Vox Populi Vox Dei,” written about 1547, and therefore apparently not from the pen of Skelton, who died in 1529,
and the Poor.
it is said that the price of an ox had risen to four pounds, and a sheep without the wool to twelve shillings and upwards, so that the poor man could seldom afford to have meat at his table. This evil the writer ascribes to the exactions of the landlord and the lawyer. The former charged too highly for his pastures, and the latter probably advanced money on terms. The old poem depicts in sad colours the condition of the yeoman at the same period, that had had once plenty of cows and cream, butter, eggs, cheese, and honey; all which had gone to enrich upstarts who throve by casting-counters and their pens. The story of the “King and a poor Northern Man,” 1640, also turns upon the tyranny of the lawyers over ignorant clients.
The “Serving-man’s Comfort,” 1598, draws a somewhat gloomy picture of the times. The prices of all provisions, among other points, had trebled since the good old days, when his father and grandfather kept house. Then people could buy an ox for 20 s., a sheep for 3^., a calf for 2 s., a goose for 6d., a capon for 4 d., a hen for 2 d., a pig for
190 Diet of the Yeoman
the same, and all other household provisions at a like rate. The reason given by the farmer was that the landlords had raised their rent. Let them have the land on the old terms, and the former prices would pay. This plea and demand have come back home to us in 1886.
The tradition is, that when Queen Elizabeth received the intelligence of the defeat of the Armada, she was dining off a goose — doubtless about eleven o’clock in the morning. It was an anxious moment, and perhaps her majesty for the moment had thrown ceremony somewhat aside, and was “keeping secret house.”
The author of the “ Serving-man’s Comfort,” 1 5 98, also laments the decay of hospitality. “ Where,” he inquires “ are the great chines of stalled beef, the great, black jacks of double beer, the long hall-tables fully furnished with good victuals?” But he seems to have been a stickler for the solid fare most in vogue, according to his complaint, formerly ; and he represents to us that in lieu of it one had to put up with goose-
and the Poor . 19 1