Chapter 20.. ¶ of Goates and Their Profit or Vse.

¶ Of Goates and their profit or vse.

Thus hauing sufficiently debated touching the choosing, cherishing, and curing of sheep, I thinke it good a little to speake of Goates and their vse: a kinde of Cattell which albe heere in England we estimate not to his worth, yet in other places they be of highest valuation: and the excellent poet Virgill in his Countrey muse, draweth them and sheepe to march in one euen equipage. Thus comparing them, the Goate (saith he) yeeldeth in milke three times the quantity a sheepe doth, theyr young ones are more plentifull, for they will haue two or three, and sometimes more, and their beards yearely being shorne and spunne, haue made an excellent during stuffe, which for the continuance, hath made Marriners desirous onely to weare it in their garments, so that though their beards cannot in quantity and fineness be equall with the fleece of the sheepe, yet ioyning their milke and their young ones to their beards, there is no wonderfull difference.

Their manner of keeping, both wintering and sommering, is in the Poets rules the same that the Sheepe hath, onely theyr foulding and feed excepted: for the foulding they are not needfull, and for their feede, Woods are the best, or the toppes of Mountaines: bushie and thorny grounds vnprofitable for any other vse, for the feede of Goates is most excellent. They will obserue custome much better than Sheepe, for beeing but once or twice vsed there-vnto, they will duely euery morning and euening come home, to pay theyr due debt or tribute to the milke-paile. Theyr milk is excellent, and a great restoratiue, principally for a consumption, of what nature soeuer. The fourth howre after the Sun rise, is the best time for Goates to drinke in. For the weaning of young Kidds from their Dams, vse the meanes that you doo with Ewes and Lambes.

Of all Goates that are, Virgil most commends the Cinyphian Goates, bred by the Towne Cinyps, as Cattell of wondrous great commoditie: their disprofit is onely amongst young springs or plants, for they wil crop any young thing that groweth, and hinder the springing thereof, also they wil pill away the barke of Trees, to the spoyle of the trees: yet no more then fallow Deare, or redde Deare will, wherfore where the one is suffered, the other may be tollerated. Cf. Virg. Georg. iii. 306-317.

=56.= 4. and fools] foales, and pigs.

7. kye] Kine. And so in l. 2 above.

9. After wel I. R. inserts--let thy Cowe be beetle-browed, and sterne of looke, her head and necke big, and from her throate hanging downe to her shanks a large and long dew-lappe; let her sides be proportionlesse and great, and euery part of her, euen her very foote, so bigge as bigge may be. Let her eares be large and hairie, and her taile long, euen to the grounde, and bushie: if she be spotted with white, or shrewd or wicked with her horne, it is an error, but no fault, for it shewes mettle and goodnes; in generall, the more bull-like a Cow is, the better she is. Let thy Cowe be foure yeeres old ere she take the Bull, and at tenne yeeres sell her off, for then is her best caluing-time past. And thus much for thy Kine whose profit must goe to thy paile.

17. I. R. adds--because he is hyde-bound, which is a foule infirmitie.

=57.= 1. kye] fatte Kine.

2. fore-croppe] fore-crops.

4. hucbone] huckle-bone. nache] natch.

5. I. R. inserts a after cowe; this is an improvement.

=58.= 20. husbandes] antient Husbandmen. That is, I. R. repudiates the notion as erroneous.

32. I. R. adds--then giue him in a horne to drinke, olde Ale, Saffron, Treakle, and Diascordion, boyled together.

34. by goddes leue] as writeth Chyron, Phillyrides, and Melampus. A singular variation.

=59.= 11. feitergrasse] Fetter-grasse.

=60.= 1. dewbolne] dew-boulne. Bolne = bollen, swollen.

14. I. R. adds--and then with a little Tarre and fresh Butter to cure the wound.

=61.= 4. ronne on water] runne and water. The substitution is needless; to run on water means to run with water.

15. and this, &c.] to chafe him [i.e. to warm him]: and this cure is failelesse, so God be pleased.

=62.= Rubric. The turne] Of the turne, otherwise called the sturdy.

3. for] of (this use of for being obsolescent).

18. for perysshynge, i.e. to avoid piercing. Perish for pierce occurs in the various readings to P. Plowman, B. xvii. 189, and Wycliffe, Job xl. 19.

24. I. R. inserts--and anoynt it eyther with fresh butter or clarified Hoggs greace.

=65.= 3. Starkely] stakely (a misprint). Starkly is stiffly.

5. I. R. adds--yet if a poore man shall haue such a beast & cannot spare his worke: if he will euery morning or euening bathe his legs with Lynseede Oyle: it shall make him indure his worke, and keepe the beast from any great paine or swelling.

Here I. R. inserts two chapters, as follows.