RURAL ECONOMY IN YORKSHIRE IN 1641. 79 



dayes, and the shai-pnesse of the weather will make them eate 

 anythinge : that fother which is given to goods last att night is 

 sayd to bee given them to lye on, for after they have eaten 

 a while, they will lye them downe and rest them, and after that 

 arise and fall to theire fother againe ; wliearefore they allwayes 

 give theii'e goods theire coursest fother to lye on, partly because 

 of the length of the nights that they have more time to eate it, 

 and allsoe, the nights beinge darke, they are not so choise of 

 theire fother as they are when they can see, but eate whatsoever 

 they first light on. 



Other shorte Remembrances. 

 If (in summer time) one sheepe chance to pisse on another 

 as they he in the folde togeather, and then the fly come and 

 blowe in it afore it bee dry ; in what part of the woll soever it 

 bee, there will malkes breede immediately, which will not bee 

 vanquished without pulHnge or chppinge of the woll wherein 

 they are bredd. It is usuaU with sheepe, and especially with 

 hogges and lambes, to fall blinde by reason of an humour that 

 falleth out of the head into the eye, whearby groweth (as it 

 weare) a scumme over the stive of the eye ; many shepheards 

 will undertake to cure this by bleedinge them in the wykes of 

 the eye with a penne-knife, but the onely way is to take grownd- 

 ivy-leaves, and to chewe them in the mouth, and take out the 

 leafe with the finger after yow have sucked the juice from it, 

 this juice yow are to spurte into the eye morninge and even- 

 inge, or if yow wiU thrice a day ; and duringe the time of the 

 blindnesse, if it bee in summer time, yow are to putte into some 

 httle place wheare it can neyther hang itselfe in briars nor runne 

 into any water ; if it bee in winter-time, yow are [to putte] 

 to some hey-mowe, and in a fortnight or three weekes it will 

 eate of the scumme and the sheepe wiU see againe. When the 

 shepheard bringeth hoame his first lambe, hee expecteth some- 

 what, wliearefore theire masters will usually give them Sd. or 

 perhapps Qd. Many ewes when they drawe towards lamminge 

 will (if another ewe have lammed hard before her) beate her 

 from her lambe, and then lyinge downe and lambinge her selfe, 

 will take both the lambes if shee bee not minded. Many ewes 

 will (with rainginge) turne her lambe in her beUy, and then 

 commeth the lambe with the tayle foremost ; wherefore if shee 

 bee longe in lambinge and presuspeckted, yow must gette 

 some body that hath a small hande to see if they can tm-ne the 

 lambe aright in her beUy ; or otherwise if shee bee just at 

 lambinge yow are (if yow can) [to] gette holde on the lambes 

 tayle, and soe to see if yow can drawe it gently from her : allsoe 



