The Best of the Bureau/The_Best_of_the_Bureau_Bureau_Development_Inc._1992.iso/dp/0077/00774.txt

Text File | 1992-08-07 | 21KB | 307 lines

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$Title{Description Of Elizabethan England
Chapter XII}
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$Author{Harrison, William}
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$Subject{unto
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$Date{1577}
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Title:       Description Of Elizabethan England
Author:      Harrison, William
Date:        1577

Chapter XII

Of Cattle Kept For Profit
[1577, Book III., Chapter 8; 1587, Book III., Chapter. I.]

     There is no kind of tame cattle usually to be seen in these parts of the
world whereof we have not some, and that great store, in England, as horses,
oxen, sheep, goats, swine, and far surmounting the like in other countries, as
may be proved with ease. For where are oxen commonly made more large of bone,
horses more decent and pleasant in pace, kine more commodious for the pail,
sheep more profitable for wool, swine more wholesome of flesh, and goats more
gainful to their keepers than here with us in England? But, to speak of them
peculiarly, I suppose that our kine are so abundant in yield of milk, whereof
we make our butter and cheese, as the like any where else, and so apt for the
plough in divers places as either our horses or oxen. And, albeit they now and
then twin, yet herein they seem to come short of that commodity which is
looked for in other countries, to wit, in that they bring forth most commonly
but one calf at once. The gains also gotten by a cow (all charges borne) hath
been valued at twenty shillings yearly; but now, as land is enhanced, this
proportion of gain is much abated, and likely to decay more and more, if
ground arise to be yet dearer - which God forbid, if it be His will and
pleasure. I heard of late of a cow in Warwickshire, belonging to Thomas Breuer
of Studley, which in six years had sixteen calves, that is four at once in
three calvings and twice twins, which unto many may seem a thing incredible.
In like manner our oxen are such as the like are not to be found in any
country of Europe, both for greatness of body and sweetness of flesh or else
would not the Roman writers have preferred them before those of Liguria. In
most places our graziers are now grown to be so cunning that if they do but
see an ox or bullock, and come to the feeling of him, they will give a guess
at his weight, and how many score or stone of flesh and tallow he beareth, how
the butcher may live by the sale, and what he may have for the skin and
tallow, which is a point of skill not commonly practised heretofore. Some such
graziers also are reported to ride with velvet coats and chains of gold about
them and in their absence their wives will not let to supply those turns with
no less skill than their husbands: which is a hard work for the poor butcher,
sith he through this means can seldom be rich or wealthy by his trade. In like
sort the flesh of our oxen and kine is sold both by hand and by weight as the
buyer will; but in young ware rather by weight especially for the steer and
heifer, sith the finer beef is the lightest, whereas the flesh of bulls and
old kine, etc., is of sadder substance, and therefore much heavier as it lieth
in the scale. Their horns also are known to be more fair and large in England
than in any other places, except those which are to be seen among the Paeones,
which quality, albeit that it be given to our breed generally by nature, yet
it is now and then helped also by art. For, when they be very young, many
graziers will oftentimes anoint their budding horns or tender tips with honey,
which mollifieth the natural hardness of that substance, and thereby maketh
them to grow unto a notable greatness. Certes it is not strange in England to
see oxen whose horns have the length of a yard or three feet between the tips,
and they themselves thereto so tall as the height of a man of mean and
indifferent stature is scarce equal unto them. Nevertheless it is much to be
lamented that our general breed of cattle is not better looked unto; for the
greatest occupiers wean least store, because they can buy them (as they say)
far better cheap than to raise and bring them up. In my time a cow hath risen
from four nobles to four marks by this means, which notwithstanding were no
great price if they did yearly bring forth more than one calf a piece, as I
hear they do in other countries.

     Our horses, moreover, are high, and, although not commonly of such huge
greatness as in other places of the main, yet, if you respect the easiness of
their pace, it is hard to say where their like are to be had. Our land doth
yield no asses, and therefore we want the generation also of mules and somers,
and therefore the most part of our carriages is made by these, which,
remaining stoned, are either reserved for the cart or appointed to bear such
burdens as are convenient for them. Our cart or plough horses (for we use them
indifferently) are commonly so strong that five or six of them (at the most)
will draw three thousand weight of the greatest tale with ease for a long
journey, although it be not a load of common usage, which consisteth only of
two thousand, or fifty foot of timber, forty bushels of white salt, or
six-and-thirty of bay, of five quarters of wheat, experience daily teacheth,
and I have elsewhere remembered. Such as are kept also for burden will carry
four hundred-weight commonly without any hurt or hindrance. This furthermore
is to be noted, that our princes and the nobility have their carriage commonly
made by carts, whereby it cometh to pass that when the queen's majesty doth
remove from any one place to another, there are usually 400 carewares, which
amount to the sum of 2400 horses, appointed out of the countries adjoining,
whereby her carriage is conveyed safely unto the appointed place. Hereby also
the ancient use of somers and sumpter horses is in manner utterly
relinquished, which causeth the trains of our princes in their progresses to
shew far less than those of the kings of other nations.

     Such as serve for the saddle are commonly gelded, and now grew to be very
dear among us, especially if they be well coloured, justly limbed, and have
thereto an easy ambling pace. For our countrymen, seeking their ease in every
corner where it is to be had, delight very much in those qualities, but
chiefly in their excellent paces, which, besides that it is in manner peculiar
unto horses of our soil, and not hurtful to the rider or owner sitting on
their backs, it is moreover very pleasant and delectable in his ears, in that
the noise of their well-proportioned pace doth yield comfortable sound as he
travelleth by the way. Yet is there no greater deceit used anywhere than among
our horsekeepers, horsecoursers, and hostlers; for such is the subtle knavery
of a great sort of them (without exception of any of them be it spoken which
deal for private gain) that an honest-meaning man shall have very good luck
among them if he be not deceived by some false trick or other.

     There are certain notable markets wherein great plenty of horses and
colts is bought and sold, and whereunto such as have need resort yearly to buy
and make their necessary provision of them, as Ripon, Newport Pond, Wolfpit,
Harboro', and divers others. But as most drovers are very diligent to bring
great store of these unto those places, so many of them are too too lewd in
abusing such as buy them. For they have a custom, to make them look fair to
the eye, when they come within two days' journey of the market to drive them
till they sweat, and for the space of eight or twelve hours, which, being
done,they turn them all over the backs into some water, where they stand for a
season, and then go forward with them to the place appointed, where they make
sale of their infected ware, and such as by this means do fall into many
diseases and maladies. Of such outlandish horses as are daily brought over
unto us I speak not, as the jennet of Spain, the courser of Naples, the hobby
of Ireland, the Flemish roile and the Scottish nag, because that further
speech of them cometh not within the compass of this t