Early English Meals and Manners Part 54

Cap. lx.x.xiij.

[Sidenote: Siren. Siren is like an eagle below, sings sweet songs to mariners, and tears them to pieces.]

++Syrene, the mermayde is a dedely beste that bringeth a man gladly to dethe / frome the nauyll vp she is lyke a woman w{i}t{h} a dredfull face / a long slymye here, a grete body, & is lyke the egle i{n} the nether parte / haui{n}ge fete and tale{n}tis to tear asonder suche as she geteth / her tayl is sealed like a fisshe / and she singeth a maner of swete song, and therwith deceyueth many a G.o.de mariner / for wha{n} they here it, they fall on slepe co{m}monly / & than she co{m}meth, and draweth them out of the s.h.i.+ppe, and tereth them asonder / they bere their yo{n}ges in their armes, & geue them souke of their papis whiche be very grete, ha{n}ginge at their brestis / but {th}e wyse maryners stoppe their eares whan they se her / for whan she playth on the wat{er}, all they be in fear, & than they cast out an empty to{n}ne to let her play w{i}t{h} it tyll they be past her / this is specifyed of the{m} {tha}t haue sene it. Ther be also in

[Sidenote: +Sirens, serpents.+]

some places of arabye, serp{n}tis named sirenes, that ronne faster than an horse, & haue wynges to flye.

[Cap. lx.x.xv.]

[Sidenote: Solaris.]

++Solaris is a fishe so named because it is gladly be the londes syde in the so{n}ne / he hathe a great hede, a wyde mouth, & a blake skine, & slipper as an ele / it waxeth gret, & is G.o.de

[Sidenote: _Sole._]

to be eten. Solea is the sole, that is a swete fisshe and holsom for seke people.

Cap. lx.x.xvi.

[Sidenote: Solopendria.]

++Solope{n}dria is a fisshe / whan he hathe swalowed i{n} an angle, than he spueth out al his guttes till he be quyt of

[Sidenote: Sea-Scorpion.]

the hoke / and than he gadereth i{n} all his guttes agayne. The[A]

Scorpion of the see is so named because wha{n} he is taken in any mannys handes he p.r.i.c.keth him w{i}t{h} his stinge of his tayle. Plini{us} saith that the dede creuyce that layeth on the drye sonde be the see syde, beco{m}meth scorpyons.

[Text note: [A _orig._ Tge]]

Cap. lx.x.xix.

[Sidenote: _Sturgeon._ Eats no food, has no mouth, grows fat on east wind. Has no bones in his body.]

++Sturio / the sturgio{n} is a gret fisshe in the ro{n}ninge waters / and he taketh no fode i{n} his body, but lyueth of {th}e styl and swete ayres therfore he hathe a small bely / w{i}t{h} a hede and no mouthe, but vnder his throte he hathe a hole {tha}t he closeth whan he wyll / he openeth it whan it is fayre weder / & with an east wynde he waxeth fat / and whan that the north winde bloweth, than falleth he to the grou{n}de / it is a fisshe of ix. fote longe whan he is ful growen / he hath whyte swete flesshe & yolow fatte / & he hathe no bone in all his body but only in his hede.

Cap. xcij.

[Sidenote: _Tench._]

++Tecna is a tenche of the fresshe water, and is fedde in the mudde lyke {th}e ele / & is moche lyke of colours: it is a

[Sidenote: Tintinalus.]

swete fisshe, but it is euyll to disiest. -- Tintinalus is a fayre mery fisshe, & is swete of sauour, & well smellinge lyke the

[Sidenote: Torpedo.]

tyme, where of it bereth the name. -- ++Torpido is a fisshe. but who-so handeleth hym shalbe lame & defe of ly{m}mes / that he shall fele no thyng / & it hathe a maner of Squitana {tha}t is spoke{n} of in {th}e lx.x.xiiii. chapter[1], and his nature.

Cap. xciij.

[Sidenote: _Trout._]

[Textnotes: [A _for_ Trutta]

[B ? flesshe]]

... -- ++Trncka[A] / the trowte is a fisshe of the ryuer, & hathe scales, & vpo{n} his body spottys of yelow and blodye coloure. & his fisshe[B]

is rede frome {th}e monthe of July to the monthe of Noue{m}ber / and is moche sweter than {th}e fresshe samo{n}; and all the other part of the yere his fisshe[B] is whyte.

Cap. xcv.

[Sidenote: Testudo.]

++Testudo is a fysshe in a sh.e.l.le / & is in {th}e se of Inde / & his sh.e.l.le is very great & like a muskle / & be nyght they go out for theyr mete / & whan they haue eten theyr bely full / tha{n} they slepe swy{m}mi{n}g vpon the wat{er}. tha{n} ther come iij. fisshers botes / of {th}e wiche .iij. twayn take one of these muskles. Solinus sayth. {tha}t this muskle hathe his vppermest sh.e.l.l so brode that it may couere a howse / where many folke may hyde them vnder / And it gothe out the wat{er} vpon the londe / & there it layth an hondred egges as grete as gose eggis / and couer the{m} w{ith} erth / & oftentymes be night it gothe to the eggys & layeth vpo{n} the{m} w{i}t{h} her brest, & than become they yo{n}ges.

[This copy of Admiral Swinburne's _Andrewe_ ends with the next column of this page, sign. v. i. back, with an ill.u.s.tration not headed, but which is that to Cap. xcvij.]

[Footnote 1: Squatin{us} is a fisshe in {th}e se, of fiue cubites longe: his tayle is a fote brode, & he hideth him in the slimy mudde of {th}e se, & marreth al other fisshes that come nigh him: it hath so sharpe a ski{n}ne that in som places they shaue wode with it, & bone also / on his ski{n}ne is blacke short here. The nature hathe made him so harde that he can nat almoste be persed with nouther yron nor stele.]

[Note to _Balena_, p. 115. ar [in e se of Brytain] bu ofte ytake dolphyns & se-calves, & _balenes_, (gret fysch, as hyt were of whaales kinde) & dyvers manere schyl-fysch, among e whoche schyl-fysch bu moskles at habbe wiynne ham margey perles of al manere colour of hu?, of rody & red, of purpre & of blu?, & specialych & moost of whyte. Trevisa's Higden, in Morris's _Specimens_, p. 334. For 'the c.o.c.ke of Balena' see Musculus, p. 119, above; and for its 'mortal ennemye,' Orchun, p. 120.]

Erratum:

Cap. xl. [xv]

Contents of this Section [added by transcriber]

Wilyam Bulleyn on Boxyng and Neckeweede 124 Andrew Borde on Sleep, Rising, and Dress 128 William Vaughan's Fifteen Directions to preserve Health 133 The Dyet for every Day (from Sir John Harington's Schoole of Salerne) 138 On Rising, Diet, and Going to Bed (from the same) 140 Recipes (for Fritters, Jussell, and Mawmeny) 145 Recipes (for Hares and Conies in Civeye, and for Doucettes) 146