RUBAL ECONOMY IN YORKSHIRE IN 1641. 15 



Att Lammas leave milkinge foi feare of a thinge 

 Least REQtriEM ^ternam in winter they singe. 

 To milke and to folde them is much to require, 

 Except you have pasture to fill theire desire : 

 Yett many by milkinge, such heede they doe take 

 Not hurtinge theire bodies, much profitt doe make ; 

 Five Ewes to a Co we, make proofe by a score, 

 Shall double thy dairy, else trust mee no more : 

 Yette may a goode huswife, that knoweth the skill, 

 Have mixtand unmixt att theire pleasure and will. 

 3f sheepe or thy lambe fall a wriglinge with tayle, 

 Goe by and by, search it, whiles helpe may prevale ; 

 That barbarey handled, I dare thee assure, 

 Cast dust in her arse, thou hast finish' d the cure. 



For Providing of Folde Barres. 



The best -wood for barres is the willow ; but such as have had 

 experience advise not to fell them till such time as they beginne 

 to budde and bee mouse-ear 'd" ; for then, the sappe being rumie 

 upwardes, they will peele more easily : many doe alsoe putte 

 them in water after they are cutte, which is also a meanes to 

 make them peele better, or at least to keepe them reeky and 

 moyst till such time as they can bee gotten peel'd : wee make 

 oiu- owne folkes peele them after that they come from the 

 plough, and soone as they are peel'd wee carry them into 

 some house because the sunne shoulde not checke and rive 

 them ; and then doe wee gette the biggest of them riven with 

 iron wedges into quarter-chffe. 



To a barre belongeth two heads, which shoulde bee 4 foote 

 high or very neare, into which the 4 spelles are to bee putte : 

 the secconde thinge belonginge to a barre is spelles, which are 

 4, unlesse by chance a 5th spelle or parte of a spell be nayled 

 on to tUl up some wide space ; the spelles are usually 6, 7, or 

 sometimes 8 foote in length : the third thinge belonginge to a 

 barre is a dagger which goeth straight downe the middle of the 

 spelles and is nayled to each spell with a single 8 or 10 pennie 

 nayle : the 4th thinge is swords, which are two, viz. : — the one 

 on the one side of the dagger, and the other on the other, meet- 

 inge togeather att the toppe of the dagger and then slauntinge 

 downewardes, the one towardes the bottome of the one heade, 

 and the other towardes the bottome of the other ; and these 

 are in length better then 4 foote ; the 5tli thinge belonginge to 

 a barre is cotterills, which are in number 4, and serve in steade 

 of pinnes, beinge somethinge hke mito wood-pinnes but that 



° A term still applied to the palms or catkins of the willow. As applied to corn 

 it means small, poor, little-eared. 



