Part 50 (2/2)

Table of fish names:

Venprides l. 820 [821]

[Transcriber's Note:

Andrewe on Fish, listed in the Contents as part of the linenotes to the Boke of Nurture, is a separate text.

Boldface initials are marked with a double ++ before the letter.

Further details about the transcription are at the beginning of the Preface.]

Extracts about Fish from ”The n.o.ble lyfe & natures of man, Of bestes / serpentys / fowles & fisshes y^t be moste knowen.”

A very rare black-letter book, without date, and hitherto undescribed, except perhaps incorrectly by Ames (vol. 1, p. 412, and vol. 3, p. 1531), has been lent to me by Mr Algernon Swinburne. Its t.i.tle is given above: ”The n.o.ble lyfe and natures of man” is in large red letters, and the rest in smaller black ones, all surrounded by woodcuts of the wonderful animals, mermaids, serpents, birds, quadrupeds with men's and women's heads, a stork with its neck tied in a knot, and other beasts ”y^t be most knowen.” The ill.u.s.trations to each chapter are wonderfully quaint. The author of it says in his Prologus ”In the name of ower sauiour criste Iesu, maker & redemour of al ma{n}kynd / I Lawre{n}s A{n}drewe of {th}e towne of Calis haue translated for Joh{an}nes doesborrowe, booke prenter in the cite of Andwarpe, this p{re}sent volume deuyded in thre partes, which were neuer before in no maternall langage prentyd tyl now /” As it is doubtful whether another copy of the book is known, I extract from the Third Part of this incomplete one such notices of the fish mentioned by Russell or Wynkyn de Worde, as it contains, with a few others for curiosity's sake:--

here after followeth of the natures of the fisshes of the See whiche be right profitable to be vndersta{n}de / Wherof I wyll wryte be {th}e helpe and grace of almighty G.o.d, to whose laude & prayse this mater ensueth.

CAP. PRIMO.

[Sidenote: _Abremon_, ? not _Bream_ (see Cap. xiii; p. 115 here)]

A Bremon[*] is a fruteful fisshe that hathe moche sede / but it is nat through mouynge of the he / but only of the owne proper nature / and than she rubbeth her belly upon the grou{n}de or sande / and is sharpe in handelinge / & salt of sauour / and this fisshe saueth her yonges in her bely whan it is tempestius weder / & when the weder is ouerpast, than she vomyteth them out agayne.

[Footnote *: ??a??, a fish found in the sea and the Nile, perhaps the _bream_, Opp. Hal. i. 244. Liddell & Scott.]

Cap. ij.

[Sidenote: _Eel_ (Russell, l. 719). Is of no s.e.x; is best roasted.]

++Anguilla / the Ele is lyke a serpe{n}t of fascyon, & may leue eight yere, & without water vi. dayes whan the wind is in the northe / in the wint{er} they wyll haue moche water, & that clere / amo{n}ge them is nouther male nor female / for they become fisshes of {th}e slyme of other fisshes / they must be flayne / they suffer a longe dethe / they be best rosted, but it is longe or they be ynouge / the droppi{n}ge of it is G.o.de for paines in the eares.

Cap. iij.

[Sidenote: _Herring_ (Russell, l. 722). Is delicious when fresh, (Russell, l. 748) or salted. Dies when it feels the air.]

++Alec, the heringe, is a Fisshe of the see / & very many be taken betweene bretayn & germaia / & also i{n} denmarke aboute a place named schonen / And he is best from thebegi{n}nynge of August to december / and when he is fresshe take{n} / he is a very delicious to be eten. And also wha{n} he hath ben salted he is a specyall fode vnto man / He can nat leue w{i}t{h}out wat{er}, for as sone as he feleth the ayre he is dede / & they be taken in gret hepis togeder / & specially where they se light, there wyll they be, than so they be taken with nettis / which commeth be the diuyne Prouydens of almighty G.o.d.

Cap. v.

[Sidenote: _Whale?_ (Russell, l. 582). s.h.i.+pmen cast anchor on him, and make a fire on him. He swims away, and drowns them.]

+A+ Spidochelo{n} / as Phisiolog{us} saith, it is a mo{n}strous thinge in the see, it is a gret whale fisshe, & hath an ouer-growe{n} rowgh ski{n}ne / & he is moste parte w{i}t{h} his bake on hye aboue the water in such maner that some shypmen {tha}t see him, wene that it is a lytell ylande / & whan they come be it, they cast their ankers upo{n} him / & go out of theyr s.h.i.+ppes & make a fyre upon hym to dresse theyr metys / and as sone as he feleth the hete of the fyre / tha{n}ne he swy{m}meth fro the place, & drowneth them, & draweth the s.h.i.+ppe to the grounde / And his proper nature is, whan he hath yonges, {tha}t he openeth his mouthe wyde open / & out of it fleeth a swete ayre / to {the} which the fisshes resorte, and tha{n} he eteth them.

[Sidenote: _Goldenpoll?_]

++Aauratais a fysshe in the see {tha}t hathe a hede s.h.i.+nynge lyke golde.

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