2i 8 SHAKESPEARE'S [OATS. 



in such moist places, the more hard they be. And so for 

 hard and durable matter and kind of such tree, misbelieved 

 men made thereof images, and maumets [Mahomets] of 

 false gods. Bartholomew (Berthelet], bk. xvii. 84. 



THE Oak-apples, being broken in sunder about the time 

 of their withering, do foreshew the sequel of the year, as 

 the expert Kentish husbandmen have observed, by the living 

 things found in them ; as if they find an ant, they foretell 

 plenty of grain to ensue if a spider, then (say they) we 

 shall have a pestilence or some such like sickness to follow 

 amongst men if a white worm like a gentle or maggot, 

 then they prognosticate murrain of beasts and cattle. These 

 things the learned also have observed and noted. 



Gerard's " Herbal," s.v. 



[So Lupton, bk. iii. 7 : "If [the little worm in the oak- 

 apple] doth fly away, it signifies wars ; if it creep, it betokens 

 scarceness of corn ; if it turn about, then it foreshews the 

 plague. This is the countryman's astrology, which they have 

 long observed for truth."] 



V. Gall. 

 Oats. 



TEMPEST, iv. i, 61. 



OATS are used in many countries to make sundry sorts 

 of bread, as in Lancashire, where it is their chiefest bread- 

 corn for Jannocks [Oat-cakes], Haver-cakes, Tharf-cakes 

 [Oat-cakes, unleavened], and those which are called generally 

 Oaten-cakes ; and for the most part they call the grain 

 Haver, whereof they do likewise make drink for want of 

 barley. Oatmeal is good for to make a fair and well- 

 coloured maid to look like a cake of tallow, especially if 

 she take next her stomach a good draught of strong vinegar 



after it. Gerard's "Herbal," s.v. 



Oil. 



OIL is the juice of herbs of olive, and' the more fresh 

 it is, the more noble it is, and the more slyly it cometh 

 out of the hulls, the better it is and the more noble. If 

 a man be under water with Oil in his mouth and spouteth 



