With Simon Halliday ;
And the good God keepit them both from bale,
As the worthie paire did pray.
' Three sonnes had they, lustie, strong ;
The elder at the sea,
The mid one for a prentis bond,
Youngest at mother's knee,
" Too young is he to earn his bredde,
And I wonna spare all three,"
Quoth she.
' The Christmasse-tyde goes by apace,
And Lenten time is here ;
Bob-crabbes are forbidden taste,
The jollie boule goes drere.
" Cheere thee, good gaffer," then sayd Nell ;
"It is but once a year :
* " A sennight and sen days are past,
Another sennight in —
And now draws on the rorie feste
Ycleped Motherin,
When the bairn draws nere to the mother deare,
And when festing is no sin,"
Quoth she.
* Walcott(Bodl.), No. 173.
CAKES AND PUDDINGS 55
" Full long for the Mid-Lent time, I ween,
Hath thy stomach, Simon, cryde.
Our good ladye will bless the feste
We shall hold upon this tyde ;
With our sailor ladde, and our prentis eke,
And the bairnie by my syde.
" The rorie pastie, and baken pie,
The flytche of bacon broil,
And the lustie boule with the roasten crabbe
Shall glad the bairnies' oyle ;
For my laddies' sake a callant callant cake
On the weeke's end will I boil,"
Quoth she.
" Ye be daft, good woman, your boarde to spoil :
What faerie doth ye take ?
Your flytche ye may broil, but your cake not boil —
A clout for a boilen cake !
A brawer good wife am I than ye,
In the ovenne let it bake,"
Quoth he.
1 " A braw good wife ! now, by Lordie's life ."
"Now, by Lordie's death," quoth he,
1 ' Ye shall bake your cake, or no cake I take,
When the ladde comes home from sea. "
They wrangled so that the gossips gaped
To see what thing might be.
' Then uppe and spake the youngest ladde,
That stood by his mother's knee,
" Nay, father, were it awell that strife
The good God here shoulde see.
When Motherin Sunday draws anear
Each home at peace shoulde be.
' " The mother dear the cake shall boil,
And the father bake it dree ;
And not Simon's cake be the baken cleped,
Nor the boilen Nellie's be,
56 OUR VIANDS
But the virtues twain of the boil and bake
In the cake of Simonellie,"
Quoth he.
' Then ho, ho, ho, for the rarie showe,
When gaffer and gammer agree ;
And boil and bake the Motherin cake —
The cake of Simonellie.'
It would, however, appear that this is a modern tradition
to account for a very ancient name, which is found in
French as well as in English, and in mediaeval Latin, and
which is supposed to be derived from simila, fine flour ; and
we find the name given to the finest white bread in mediaeval
times.* Herrick the poet, writing early in the seventeenth
century, speaks of the custom of young people in Gloucester
carrying simnels to their parents on Mid-Lent or Mothering
Sunday —
' I'll to thee a simnel bring
'Gainst thou go a-mothering ;
So that when she blesses thee,
Half that blessing thou'lt give me.'
These simnels were usually marked with the figure of
Christ or the Virgin Mary, showing that they had some
religious significance. The poem quoted above places the
origin of the simnel legend at Girlith, on Morecambe Bay ;
but Shrewsbury has long been famous for the cakes, although
until lately they were hardly known except in the western
counties, now, however, they can be bought in London,
and not only at Mid-Lent but at Christmas.t
* See Chambers's 'Book of Days,' p. 336.
Our viands
1893Page 24
Presented as published in 1893. 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
A modernized reading is not available for this page yet. You are seeing the original text.
With Simon Halliday ;
And the good God keepit them both from bale,
As the worthie paire did pray.
' Three sonnes had they, lustie, strong ;
The elder at the sea,
The mid one for a prentis bond,
Youngest at mother's knee,
" Too young is he to earn his bredde,
And I wonna spare all three,"
Quoth she.
' The Christmasse-tyde goes by apace,
And Lenten time is here ;
Bob-crabbes are forbidden taste,
The jollie boule goes drere.
" Cheere thee, good gaffer," then sayd Nell ;
"It is but once a year :
* " A sennight and sen days are past,
Another sennight in —
And now draws on the rorie feste
Ycleped Motherin,
When the bairn draws nere to the mother deare,
And when festing is no sin,"
Quoth she.
* Walcott(Bodl.), No. 173.
CAKES AND PUDDINGS 55
" Full long for the Mid-Lent time, I ween,
Hath thy stomach, Simon, cryde.
Our good ladye will bless the feste
We shall hold upon this tyde ;
With our sailor ladde, and our prentis eke,
And the bairnie by my syde.
" The rorie pastie, and baken pie,
The flytche of bacon broil,
And the lustie boule with the roasten crabbe
Shall glad the bairnies' oyle ;
For my laddies' sake a callant callant cake
On the weeke's end will I boil,"
Quoth she.
" Ye be daft, good woman, your boarde to spoil :
What faerie doth ye take ?
Your flytche ye may broil, but your cake not boil —
A clout for a boilen cake !
A brawer good wife am I than ye,
In the ovenne let it bake,"
Quoth he.
1 " A braw good wife ! now, by Lordie's life ."
"Now, by Lordie's death," quoth he,
1 ' Ye shall bake your cake, or no cake I take,
When the ladde comes home from sea. "
They wrangled so that the gossips gaped
To see what thing might be.
' Then uppe and spake the youngest ladde,
That stood by his mother's knee,
" Nay, father, were it awell that strife
The good God here shoulde see.
When Motherin Sunday draws anear
Each home at peace shoulde be.
' " The mother dear the cake shall boil,
And the father bake it dree ;
And not Simon's cake be the baken cleped,
Nor the boilen Nellie's be,
56 OUR VIANDS
But the virtues twain of the boil and bake
In the cake of Simonellie,"
Quoth he.
' Then ho, ho, ho, for the rarie showe,
When gaffer and gammer agree ;
And boil and bake the Motherin cake —
The cake of Simonellie.'
It would, however, appear that this is a modern tradition
to account for a very ancient name, which is found in
French as well as in English, and in mediaeval Latin, and
which is supposed to be derived from simila, fine flour ; and
we find the name given to the finest white bread in mediaeval
times.* Herrick the poet, writing early in the seventeenth
century, speaks of the custom of young people in Gloucester
carrying simnels to their parents on Mid-Lent or Mothering
Sunday —
' I'll to thee a simnel bring
'Gainst thou go a-mothering ;
So that when she blesses thee,
Half that blessing thou'lt give me.'
These simnels were usually marked with the figure of
Christ or the Virgin Mary, showing that they had some
religious significance. The poem quoted above places the
origin of the simnel legend at Girlith, on Morecambe Bay ;
but Shrewsbury has long been famous for the cakes, although
until lately they were hardly known except in the western
counties, now, however, they can be bought in London,
and not only at Mid-Lent but at Christmas.t
* See Chambers's 'Book of Days,' p. 336.