It seems that the practice was to cut up, if not to slaughter16, the animals used for food in the kitchen, and to prepare the whole carcase, some parts in one way and some in another. We incidentally collect from an ancient tale that the hearts of swine were much prized as dainties.
Besides a general notion of the appointments of the cooking department, we are enabled to form some conception of the aspect of the early kitchen itself from extant representations in the “Archaeological Album,” the “Penny Magazine” for 1836, and Lacroix [Footnote: “Moeurs, Usages et Costumes au Moyen Age,” 1872, pp 166, 170, 177]. The last-named authority furnishes us with two interesting sixteenth century interiors from Jost Amman, and (from the same source) a portraiture18 of the cook of that period.
The costume of the subject is not only exhibited, doubtless with the fidelity19 characteristic of the artist, but is quite equally applicable to France, if not to our own country, and likewise to a much earlier date. The evidences of the same class supplied by the “Archaeological Album,” 1845, are drawn20 from the Ms. in the British Museum, formerly21 belonging to the Abbey of St. Albans. They consist of two illustrations — one of Master Robert, cook to the abbey, as elsewhere noticed, accompanied by his wife — unique relic22 of its kind; the other a view of a small apartment with dressers and shelves, and with plates and accessories hung round, in which a cook, perhaps the identical Master Robert aforesaid, is plucking a bird. The fireplace is in the background, and the iron vessel6 which is to receive the fowl23, or whatever it may really be, is suspended over the flame by a long chain. The perspective is rather faulty, and the details are not very copious24; but for so early a period as the thirteenth or early part of the following century its value is undeniable.
Master Robert plucking a bird
Master Robert plucking a bird
The “Penny Magazine” presents us with a remarkable exterior25, that of the venerable kitchen of Stanton-Harcourt, near Oxford26, twenty-nine feet square and sixty feet in height. There are two large fireplaces, facing each other, but no chimney, the smoke issuing atthe holes, each about seven inches in diameter, which run round the roof. As Lamb said of his Essays, that they were all Preface, so this kitchen is all chimney. It is stated that the kitchen at Glastonbury Abbey was constructed on the same model; and both are probably older than the reign27 of Henry IV. The one to which I am more immediately referring, though, at the time (1835) the drawing was taken, in an excellent state of preservation28, had evidently undergone repairs and structural29 changes.
It was at Stanton-Harcourt that Pope wrote a portion of his translation of Homer, about 1718.
A manufactory of brass30 cooking utensils was established at Wandsworth in or before Aubrey’s time by Dutchmen, who kept the art secret. Lysons states that the place where the industry was carried on bore the name of the “Frying Pan Houses” [Footnote: A “Environs of London,” 1st ed., Surrey, pp. 502-3].
In the North of England, the bake-stone, originally of the material to which it owed its name, but at a very early date constructed of iron, with the old appellations31 retained as usual, was the universal machinery33 for baking, and was placed on the Branderi, an iron frame which was fixed34 on the top of the fireplace, and consisted of iron bars, with a sliding or slott bar, to shift according to the circumstances.
The tripod which held the cooking-vessel over the wood flame, among the former inhabitants of Britain, has not been entirely35 effaced36. It is yet to be seen here and there in out-of-the-way corners and places; and in India they use one constructed of clay, and differently contrived37. The most primitive38 pots for setting over the fire on the tripod were probably of bronze.
The tripod seems to be substantially identical with what was known in Nidderdale as the kail-pot. “This was formerly in common use,” says Mr. Lucas; “a round iron pan, about ten inches deep and eighteen inches across, with a tight-fitting, convex lid. It was provided with three legs. The kail-pot, as it was called, was used for cooking pies, and was buried bodily in burning peat. As the lower peats became red-hot, they drew them from underneath39, and placed them on the top. The kail-pot may still be seen on a few farms.” This was about 1870.
The writer is doubtless correct in supposing that this utensil2 was originally employed for cooking kail or cabbage and other green stuff.
Three rods of iron or hard wood lashed40 together, with a hook for taking the handle of the kettle, formed, no doubt, the original tripod. But among some of the tribes of the North of Europe, and in certain Tartar, Indian, and other communities, we see no such rudimentary substitute for a grate, but merely two uprights and a horizontal rest, supporting a chain; and in the illustration to the thirteenth or fourteenth century Ms., once part of the abbatial library at St. Albans, a nearer approach to the modern jack41 is apparent in the suspension of the vessel over the flame by a chain attached to the centre of a fireplace.
Not the tripod, therefore, but the other type must be thought to have been the germ of the later-day apparatus42, which yielded in its turn to the Range.
The fireplace with a ring in the middle, from which is suspended the pot, is represented in a French sculpture of the end of the fourteenth century, where two women are seated on either side, engaged in conversation. One holds a ladle, and the other an implement7 which may be meant for a pair of bellows43.
In his treatise44 on Kitchen Utensils, Neckam commences with naming a table, on which the cook may cut up green stuff of various sorts, as onions, peas, beans, lentils, and pulse; and he proceeds to enumerate45 the tools and implements which are required to carry on the work: pots, tripods for the kettle, trenchers, pestles47, mortars48, hatchets50, hooks, saucepans, cauldrons, pails, gridirons, knives, and so on. The head-cook was to have a little apartment, where he could prepare condiments51 and dressings52; and a sink was to be provided for the viscera and other offal of poultry53. Fish was cooked in salt water or diluted54 wine.
Pepper and salt were freely used, and the former must have been ground as it was wanted, for a pepper-mill is named as a requisite55. Mustard we do not encounter till the time of Johannes de Garlandia (early thirteenth century), who states that it grew in his own garden at Paris. Garlic, or gar-leac (in the same way as the onion is called yn-leac), had established itself as a flavouring medium. The nasturtium was also taken into service in the tenth or eleventh century for the same purpose, and is classed with herbs.
When the dish was ready, it was served up with green sauce, in which the chief ingredients were sage17, parsley, pepper, and oil, with a little salt. Green geese were eaten with raisin57 or crab-apple sauce. Poultry was to be well larded or basted58 while it was before the fire.
I may be allowed to refer the reader, for some interesting jottings respecting the first introduction of coal into London, to “Our English Home,” 1861. “The middle classes,” says the anonymous59 writer, “were the first to appreciate its value; but the nobility, whose mansions60 were in the pleasant suburbs of Holborn and the Strand61, regarded it as a nuisance.” This was about the middle of the thirteenth century. It may be a mite9 contributed to our knowledge of early household economy to mention, by the way, that in the supernatural tale of the “Smith and his Dame” (sixteenth century) “a quarter of coal” occurs. The smith lays it on the fire all at once; but then it was for his forge. He also poured water on the flames, to make them, by means of his bellows, blaze more fiercely. But the proportion of coal to wood was long probably very small. One of the tenants62 of the Abbey of Peterborough, in 852, was obliged to furnish forty loads of wood, but of coal two only.
In the time of Charles I., however, coals seem to have been usual in the kitchen, for Breton, in this “Fantasticks,” 1626, says, under January:—“The Maid is stirring betimes, and slipping on her Shooes and her Petticoat, groaps for the tinder box, where after a conflict between the steele and the stone, she begets64 a spark, at last the Candle lights on his Match; then upon an old rotten foundation of broaken boards she erects65 an artificiall fabrick of the black Bowels66 of New-Castle soyle, to which she sets fire with as much confidence as the Romans to their Funerall Pyles.”
Under July, in the same work, we hear of “a chafing67 dish of coals;” and under September, wood and coals are mentioned together. But doubtless the employment of the latter was far less general.
In a paper read before the Royal Society, June 9, 1796, there is an account of a saucepan discovered in the bed of the river Withain, near Tattersall Ferry, in Lincolnshire, in 1788. It was of base metal, and was grooved68 at the bottom, to allow the contents more readily to come within reach of the fire. The writer of this narrative69, which is printed in the “Philosophical Transactions,” considered that the vessel might be of Roman workman-ship; as he states that on the handle was stamped a name, C. ARAT., which he interprets Caius Aratus. “It appears,” he adds, “to have been tinned; but almost all the coating had been worn off. . . . The art of tinning copper70 was understood and practised by the Romans, although it is commonly supposed to be a modern invention.”
Neckam mentions the roasting-spit, elsewhere called the roasting-iron; but I fail to detect skewers71, though they can hardly have been wanting. Ladles for basting73 and stirring were familiar. As to the spit itself, it became a showy article of plate, when the fashion arose of serving up the meat upon it in the hall; and the tenure74 by which Finchingfield in Essex was held in capite in the reign of Edward III. — that of turning the spit at the coronation — demonstrates that the instrument was of sufficient standing75 to be taken into service as a memorial formality.
The fifteenth century vocabulary notices the salt-cellar, the spoon, the trencher, and the table-cloth. The catalogue comprises morsus, a bit, which shows that bit and bite are synonymous, or rather, that the latter is the true word as still used in Scotland, Yorkshire, and Lincolnshire, from the last of which the Pilgrims carried it across the Atlantic, where it is a current Americanism, not for one bite, but as many as you please, which is, in fact, the modern provincial76 interpretation77 of the phrase, but not the antique English one. The word towel was indifferently applied78, perhaps, for a cloth for use at the table or in the lavatory79. Yet there was also the manuturgium, or hand-cloth, a speciality rendered imperative80 by the mediaeval fashion of eating.
In the inventory81 of the linen82 at Gilling, in Yorkshire, one of the seats of the Fairfax family, made in 1590, occur:—“Item, napkins vj. dozen. Item, new napkins vj. dozen.” This entry may or may not warrant a conclusion that the family bought that quantity at a time — not a very excessive store, considering the untidy habits of eating and the difficulty of making new purchases at short notice.
Another mark of refinement83 is the resort to the napron, corruptly85 apron84, to protect the dress during the performance of kitchen work. But the fifteenth century was evidently growing wealthier in its articles of use and luxury; the garden and the kitchen only kept pace with the bed-chamber and the dining-hall, the dairy and the laundry, the stable and the out-buildings. An extensive nomenclature was steadily86 growing up, and the Latin, old French, and Saxon terms were giving way on all sides to the English. It has been now for some time an allowed and understood thing that in these domestic backgrounds the growth of our country and the minuter traits of private life are to be studied with most clear and usurious profit.
The trencher, at first of bread, then of wood, after a while of pewter, and eventually of pottery87, porcelain88 or china-earth, as it was called, and the precious metals, afforded abundant scope for the fancy of the artist, even in the remote days when the material for it came from the timber-dealer, and sets of twelve were sometimes decorated on the face with subjects taken from real life, and on the back with emblems89 of the purpose to which they were destined90.
Puttenham, whose “Art of English Poetry” lay in Ms. some years before it was published in 1589, speaks of the posies on trenchers and banqueting dishes. The author of “Our English Home” alludes91 to a very curious set, painted in subjects and belonging to the reign of James I., which was exhibited at the Society of Antiquaries’ rooms by Colonel Sykes.
It is to be augured93 that, with the progress of refinement, the meats were served upon the table on dishes instead of trenchers, and that the latter were reserved for use by the guests of the family. For in the “Serving-man’s Comfort,” 1598, one reads:—“Even so the gentlemanly serving-man, whose life and manners doth equal his birth and bringing up, scorneth the society of these sots, or to place a dish where they give a trencher”; and speaking of the passion of people for raising themselves above their extraction, the writer, a little farther on, observes: “For the yeoman’s son, as I said before, leaving gee56 haigh! for, Butler, some more fair trenchers to the table! bringeth these ensuing ulcers95 amongst the members of the common body.”
The employment of trenchers, which originated in the manner which I have shown, introduced the custom of the distribution at table of the two sexes, and the fashion of placing a lady and gentleman alternately. In former days it was frequently usual for a couple thus seated together to eat from one trencher, more particularly if the relations between them were of an intimate nature, or, again, if it were the master and mistress of the establishment. Walpole relates that so late as the middle of the last century the old Duke and Duchess of Hamilton occupied the dais at the head of the room, and preserved the traditional manner by sharing the same plate. It was a token of attachment96 and a tender recollection of unreturnable youth.
The prejudice against the fork in England remained very steadfast97 actual centuries after its first introduction; forks are particularised among the treasures of kings, as if they had been crown jewels, in the same manner as the iron spits, pots, and frying-pans of his Majesty98 Edward III.; and even so late as the seventeeth century, Coryat, who employed one after his visit to Italy, was nicknamed “Furcifer.” The two-pronged implement long outlived Coryat; and it is to be seen in cutlers’ signs even down to our day. The old dessert set, curiously99 enough, instead of consisting of knives and forks in equal proportions, contained eleven knives and one fork for ginger100. Both the fork and spoon were frequently made with handles of glass or crystal, like those of mother-of-pearl at present in vogue101.
In a tract94 coeval102 with Coryat the Fork-bearer, Breton’s “Court and Country,” 1618, there is a passage very relevant to this part of the theme:—“For us in the country,” says he, “when we have washed our hands after no foul103 work, nor handling any unwholesome thing, we need no little forks to make hay with our mouths, to throw our meat into them.”
Forks, though not employed by the community, became part of the effects of royal and great personages, and in the inventory of Charles V. of France appear the spoon, knife, and fork. In another of the Duke of Burgundy, sixty years later (1420), knives and other implements occur, but no fork. The cutlery is described here as of German make. Brathwaite, in his “Rules for the Government of the House of an Earl,” probably written about 1617, mentions knives and spoons, but not forks.
As the fork grew out of the chopstick, the spoon was probably suggested by the ladle, a form of implement employed alike by the baker104 and the cook; for the early tool which we see in the hands of the operative in the oven more nearly resembles in the bowl a spoon than a shovel105. In India nowadays they have ladles, but not spoons. The universality of broths106 and semi-liquid substances, as well as the commencement of a taste for learned gravies107, prompted a recourse to new expedients108 for communicating between the platter and the mouth; and some person of genius saw how the difficulty might be solved by adapting the ladle to individual service. But every religion has its quota109 of dissent110, and there were, nay111, are still, many who professed112 adherence113 to the sturdy simplicity114 of their progenitors115, and saw in this daring reform and the fallow blade of the knife a certain effeminate prodigality116.
It is significant of the drift of recent years toward the monograph117, that, in 1846, Mr. Westman published “The Spoon: Primitive, Egyptian, Roman, Mediaeval and Modern,” with one hundred illustrations, in an octavo volume.
The luxury of carving-knives was, even in the closing years of the fifteenth century, reserved for royalty118 and nobility; for in the “Privy Purse Expenses of Henry VII.,” under 1497, a pair is said to have cost ￡1 6s. 8d. of money of that day. Nothing is said of forks. But in the same account, under February 1st, 1500-1, one Mistress Brent receives 12s. (and a book, which cost the king 5s. more) for a silver fork weighing three ounces. In Newbery’s “Dives Pragmaticus,” 1563, a unique poetical119 volume in the library at Althorpe, there is a catalogue of cooking utensils which, considering its completeness, is worth quotation120; the author speaks in the character of a chapman — one forestalling121 Autolycus:—
“I have basins, ewers72, of tin, pewter and glass.
Great vessels of copper, fine latten and brass:
Both pots, pans and kettles, such as never was.
I have platters, dishes, saucers and candle-sticks,
Chafers, lavers, towels and fine tricks:
Posnets, frying-pans, and fine puddingpricks . . .
Fine pans for milk, and trim tubs for sowse.
I have ladles, scummers, andirons and spits,
Dripping-pans, pot-hooks. . . .
I have fire-pans, fire-forks, tongs122, trivets, and trammels,
Roast-irons, trays, flaskets, mortars and pestles. . . . ”
And among other items he adds rollers for paste, moulds for cooks, fine cutting knives, fine wine glasses, soap, fine salt, and candles. The list is the next best thing to an auctioneer’s inventory of an Elizabethan kitchen, to the fittings of Shakespeare’s, or rather of his father’s. A good idea of the character and resources of a nobleman’s or wealthy gentleman’s kitchen at the end of the sixteenth and commencement of the seventeenth century may be formed from the Fairfax inventories123 (1594-1624), lately edited by Mr. Peacock. I propose to annex124 a catalogue of the utensils which there present themselves:—
The furnace pan for beef.
The beef kettle.
Great and small kettles.
Brass kettles, holding from sixteen to twenty gallons each.
Little kettles with bowed or carved handles.
Copper pans with ears.
Great brass pots.
Dripping-pans.
An iron peel or baking shovel.
A brazen125 mortar49 and a pestle46.
Gridirons.
Iron ladles.
A laten scummer.
A grater.
A pepper mill.
A mustard-quern.
Boards.
A salt-box.
An iron range.
Iron racks.
A tin pot.
Pot hooks.
A galley126 bawk to suspend the kettle or pot over the fire.
Spits, square and round, and various sizes.
Bearers.
Crooks127.
In the larders128 (wet and dry) and pastry129 were:—
Moulding boards for pastry.
A boulting tub for meal.
A little table.
A spice cupboard.
A chest for oatmeal.
A trough.
Hanging and other shelves.
Here follows the return of pewter, brass, and other vessels belonging to the kitchen:—
Pewter dishes of nine sizes (from Newcastle).
Long dishes for rabbits. — Silver fashioned.
Saucers. — Silver fashioned.
Chargers. — Silver fashioned.
Pie plates. — Silver fashioned.
Voider. — Silver fashioned.
A beef-prick.
Fire shoves and tongs.
A brig (a sort of brandreth).
A cullender.
A pewter baking-pan.
Kettles of brass.
A skillet.
A brandeth.
A shredding130 knife.
A chopping knife.
An apple cradle.
A pair of irons to make wafers with.
A brass pot-lid.
Beef-axes and knives. — For Slaughtering131.
Slaughter ropes. — For Slaughtering.
Beef stangs. — For Slaughtering.
In the beef-house was an assortment132 of tubs, casks, and hogsheads. Table knives, forks, spoons, and drinking-vessels presumably belonged to another department.
The dripping-pan is noticed in Breton’s “Fantasticks,” 1626: “Dishes and trenchers are necessary servants, and they that have no meat may go scrape; a Spit and a Dripping-pan would do well, if well furnished.” Flecknoe, again, in his character of a “Miserable old Gentlewoman,” inserted among his “Enigmatical Characters,” 1658, speaks of her letting her prayer-book fall into the dripping-pan, and the dog and the cat quarrelling over it, and at last agreeing to pray on it!
But this is a branch of the subject I cannot afford further to penetrate133. Yet I must say a word about the polished maple-wood bowl, or maser, with its mottoes and quaint134 devices, which figured on the side-board of the yeoman and the franklin, and which Chaucer must have often seen in their homes. Like everything else which becomes popular, it was copied in the precious metals, with costly135 and elaborate goldsmith’s work; but its interest for us is local, and does not lend itself to change of material and neighbourhood. The habits of the poor and middle classes are apt to awaken136 a keener curiosity in our minds from the comparatively slender information which has come to us upon them; and as in the case of the maser, the laver which was employed in humble circles for washing the hands before and after a meal was, not of gold or silver, as in the houses of the nobility, but of brass or laten, nor was it in either instance a ceremonious form, but a necessary process. The modern finger-glass and rose-water dish, which are an incidence of every entertainment of pretension137, and in higher society as much a parcel of the dinner-table as knives and forks, are, from a mediaeval standpoint, luxurious138 anachronisms.
In Archbishop Alfric’s “Colloquy,” originally written in the tenth century, and subsequently augmented139 and enriched with a Saxon gloss140 by one of his pupils, the cook is one of the persons introduced and interrogated141. He is asked what his profession is worth to the community; and he replies that without him people would have to eat their greens and flesh raw; whereupon it is rejoined that they might readily dress them themselves; to which the cook can only answer, that in such case all men would be reduced to the position of servants.
The kitchen had its chef or master-cook (archimacherus), under-cooks, a waferer or maker142 of sweets, a scullion or swiller143 (who is otherwise described as a quistron), and knaves144, or boys for preparing the meat; and all these had their special functions and implements.
Even in the fifteenth century the appliances for cookery were evidently far more numerous than they had been. An illustrated145 vocabulary portrays146, among other items, the dressing-board, the dressing-knife, the roasting-iron, the frying-pan, the spit-turner (in lieu of the old turn-broach147), the andiron, the ladle, the slice, the skummer; and the assitabulum, or saucer, first presents itself. It seems as if the butler and the pantler had their own separate quarters; and the different species of wine, and the vessels for holding it, are not forgotten. The archaic148 pantry was dedicated149, not to its later objects, but to that which the name strictly150 signifies; but at the same time the writer warrants us in concluding, that the pantry accommodated certain miscellaneous utensils, as he comprises in its contents a candlestick, a table or board-cloth, a hand-cloth or napkin, a drinking bowl, a saucer, and a spoon. The kitchen, in short, comprised within its boundaries a far larger variety of domestic requisites151 of all kinds than its modern representative, which deals with an external machinery so totally changed. The ancient Court of England was so differently constituted from the present, and so many offices which sprang out of the feudal152 system have fallen into desuetude153, that it requires a considerable effort to imagine a condition of things, where the master-cook of our lord the king was a personage of high rank and extended possessions. How early the functions of cook and the property attached to the position were separated, and the tenure of the land made dependent on a nominal154 ceremony, is not quite clear. Warner thinks that it was in the Conqueror’s time; but at any rate, in that of Henry II. the husband of the heiress of Bartholomew de Cheney held his land in Addington, Surrey, by the serjeantry of finding a cook to dress the victuals155 at the coronation; the custom was kept up at least so late as the reign of George III., to whom at his coronation the lord of the manor156 of Addington presented a dish of pottage. The tenure was varied157 in its details from time to time. But for my purpose it is sufficient that manorial158 rights were acquired by the magnus coquus or magister coquorum in the same way as by the grand butler and other officers of state; and when so large a share of the splendour of royalty continued for centuries to emanate159 from the kitchen, it was scarcely inappropriate or unfair to confer on that department of state some titular160 distinction, and endow the holder161 with substantial honours. To the Grand Chamberlain and the Grand Butler the Grand Cook was a meet appendage162.
The primary object of these feudal endowments was the establishment of a cordon163 round the throne of powerful subjects under conditions and titles which to ourselves may appear incongruous and obscure, but which were in tolerable keeping with the financial and commercial organisation164 of the period, with a restricted currency, a revenue chiefly payable165 in kind, scanty166 facilities for transit167, and an absence of trading centres. These steward168-ships, butler-ships, and cook-ships, in the hands of the most trusted vassals169 of the Crown, constituted a rudimentary vehicle for in-gathering the dues of all kinds renderable by the king’s tenants; and as an administrative170 scheme gradually unfolded itself, they became titular and honorary, like our own reduced menagerie of nondescripts. But while they lasted in their substance and reality, they answered the wants and notions of a primitive people; nor is it for this practical age to lift up its hands or its voice too high; for mediaeval England is still legible without much excavation171 in our Court, our Church, nay, in our Laws. There lurk172 our cunning spoilers!
Mr. Fairholt, in the “Archaeological Album,” 1845, has depicted173 for our benefit the chef of the Abbey of St. Albans in the fourteenth century, and his wife Helena. The representations of these two notable personages occur in a Ms. in the British Museum, which formerly belonged to the Abbey, and contains a list of its benefactors174, with their gifts. It does not appear that Master Robert, cook to Abbot Thomas, was the donor175 of any land or money; but, in consideration of his long and faithful services, his soul was to be prayed for with that of his widow, who bestowed176 3s. 4d. ad opus hujus libri, which Fairholt supposes to refer to the insertion of her portrait and that of her spouse177 among the graphic178 decorations of the volume. They are perhaps in their way unique. Behold179 them opposite!
Master Robert and wife
Master Robert and wife
Another point in reference to the early economy of the table, which should not be overlooked, is the character of the ancient buttery, and the quick transition which its functionary180, the butler, experienced from the performance of special to that of general duties.
He at a very remote period acted not merely as the curator of the wine-cellar, but as the domestic steward and storekeeper; and it was his business to provide for the requirements of the kitchen and the pantry, and to see that no opportunity was neglected of supplying, from the nearest port, or market town, or fair, if his employer resided in the country, all the necessaries for the departments under his control. We are apt to regard the modern bearer of the same title as more catholic in his employments than the appellation32 suggests; but he in fact wields181, on the contrary, a very circumscribed182 authority compared to that of his feudal prototype.
One of the menial offices in the kitchen, when the spit came into use, was the broach-turner, lately referred to. He was by no means invariably maintained on the staff, but was hired for the occasion, which may augur92 the general preference for boiled and fried meats. Sometimes it appears that any lad passing by, or in want of temporary employment, was admitted for this purpose, and had a trifling183 gratuity184, or perhaps only his dinner and the privilege of dipping his fingers in the dripping, for his pains.
Warner cites an entry in some accounts of the Hospital of St. Bartholomew at Sandwich, under 1569:—“For tournynge the spytte, iiijd.“ and this was when the mayor of the borough63 dined with the prior. A royal personage gave, of course, more. The play of “Gammer Gurton’s Needle,” written about 1560, opens with a speech of Diccon the Bedlam185, or poor Tom, where he says:—
“Many a gossip's cup in my time have I tasted,
And many a broach and spit have I both turned and basted.”
The spit, again, was supplanted186 by the jack.
The “History of Friar Rush,” 1620, opens with a scene in which the hero introduces himself to a monastery187, and is sent by the unsuspecting prior to the master-cook, who finds him subordinate employment.
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utensils
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| 器具，用具，器皿( utensil的名词复数 )； 器物 | |
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utensil
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| n.器皿，用具 | |
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specimens
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| n.样品( specimen的名词复数 )；范例；（化验的）抽样；某种类型的人 | |
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antiquity
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| n.古老；高龄；古物，古迹 | |
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vessels
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| n.血管( vessel的名词复数 )；船；容器；（具有特殊品质或接受特殊品质的）人 | |
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vessel
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| n.船舶；容器，器皿；管，导管，血管 | |
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implement
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| n.(pl.)工具，器具；vt.实行，实施，执行 | |
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implements
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| n.工具( implement的名词复数 )；家具；手段；[法律]履行（契约等）v.实现( implement的第三人称单数 )；执行；贯彻；使生效 | |
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mite
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| n.极小的东西；小铜币 | |
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paucity
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| n.小量，缺乏 | |
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disappearance
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| n.消失，消散，失踪 | |
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12
humble
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| adj.谦卑的，恭顺的；地位低下的；v.降低，贬低 | |
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13
civilisation
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| n.文明，文化，开化，教化 | |
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14
salvage
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| v.救助，营救，援救；n.救助，营救 | |
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15
remarkable
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| adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的 | |
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16
slaughter
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| n.屠杀，屠宰；vt.屠杀，宰杀 | |
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17
sage
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| n.圣人，哲人；adj.贤明的，明智的 | |
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18
portraiture
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| n.肖像画法 | |
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19
fidelity
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| n.忠诚，忠实；精确 | |
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20
drawn
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| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
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21
formerly
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| adv.从前，以前 | |
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22
relic
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| n.神圣的遗物，遗迹，纪念物 | |
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23
fowl
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| n.家禽，鸡，禽肉 | |
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24
copious
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| adj.丰富的，大量的 | |
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25
exterior
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| adj.外部的，外在的；表面的 | |
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26
Oxford
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| n.牛津（英国城市） | |
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27
reign
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| n.统治时期，统治，支配，盛行；v.占优势 | |
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28
preservation
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| n.保护，维护，保存，保留，保持 | |
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29
structural
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| adj.构造的，组织的，建筑（用）的 | |
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30
brass
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| n.黄铜；黄铜器，铜管乐器 | |
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31
appellations
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| n.名称，称号( appellation的名词复数 ) | |
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32
appellation
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| n.名称，称呼 | |
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33
machinery
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| n.(总称)机械，机器；机构 | |
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34
fixed
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| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
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35
entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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36
effaced
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| v.擦掉( efface的过去式和过去分词 )；抹去；超越；使黯然失色 | |
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37
contrived
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| adj.不自然的，做作的；虚构的 | |
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38
primitive
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| adj.原始的；简单的；n.原(始)人，原始事物 | |
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39
underneath
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|
| adj.在...下面，在...底下；adv.在下面 | |
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40
lashed
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| adj.具睫毛的v.鞭打( lash的过去式和过去分词 )；煽动；紧系；怒斥 | |
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41
jack
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| n.插座，千斤顶，男人；v.抬起，提醒，扛举；n.（Jake）杰克 | |
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42
apparatus
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| n.装置，器械；器具，设备 | |
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43
bellows
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|
| n.风箱；发出吼叫声，咆哮（尤指因痛苦）( bellow的名词复数 )；（愤怒地）说出（某事），大叫v.发出吼叫声，咆哮（尤指因痛苦）( bellow的第三人称单数 )；（愤怒地）说出（某事），大叫 | |
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44
treatise
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| n.专著；(专题)论文 | |
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45
enumerate
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| v.列举，计算，枚举，数 | |
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46
pestle
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| n.杵 | |
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47
pestles
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| n.（捣碎或碾磨用的）杵( pestle的名词复数 ) | |
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48
mortars
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| n.迫击炮( mortar的名词复数 )；砂浆；房产；研钵 | |
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49
mortar
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| n.灰浆，灰泥；迫击炮；v.把…用灰浆涂接合 | |
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50
hatchets
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| n.短柄小斧( hatchet的名词复数 )；恶毒攻击；诽谤；休战 | |
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51
condiments
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| n.调味品 | |
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52
dressings
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| n.敷料剂；穿衣( dressing的名词复数 )；穿戴；（拌制色拉的）调料；（保护伤口的）敷料 | |
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53
poultry
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| n.家禽，禽肉 | |
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54
diluted
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| 无力的，冲淡的 | |
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55
requisite
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| adj.需要的，必不可少的；n.必需品 | |
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56
gee
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|
| n.马；int.向右！前进！，惊讶时所发声音；v.向右转 | |
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57
raisin
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| n.葡萄干 | |
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58
basted
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| v.打( baste的过去式和过去分词 )；粗缝；痛斥；（烤肉等时）往上抹[浇]油 | |
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59
anonymous
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| adj.无名的；匿名的；无特色的 | |
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60
mansions
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| n.宅第，公馆，大厦( mansion的名词复数 ) | |
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61
strand
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| vt.使（船）搁浅，使（某人）困于（某地） | |
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62
tenants
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| n.房客( tenant的名词复数 )；佃户；占用者；占有者 | |
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63
borough
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| n.享有自治权的市镇；(英)自治市镇 | |
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64
begets
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| v.为…之生父( beget的第三人称单数 )；产生，引起 | |
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65
erects
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| v.使直立，竖起( erect的第三人称单数 )；建立 | |
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66
bowels
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| n.肠，内脏，内部；肠( bowel的名词复数 )；内部，最深处 | |
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67
chafing
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|
| n.皮肤发炎v.擦热（尤指皮肤）( chafe的现在分词 )；擦痛；发怒；惹怒 | |
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68
grooved
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| v.沟( groove的过去式和过去分词 )；槽；老一套；（某种）音乐节奏 | |
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69
narrative
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| n.叙述，故事；adj.叙事的，故事体的 | |
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70
copper
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| n.铜；铜币；铜器；adj.铜(制)的；(紫)铜色的 | |
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71
skewers
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| n.串肉扦( skewer的名词复数 )；烤肉扦；棒v.（用串肉扦或类似物）串起，刺穿( skewer的第三人称单数 ) | |
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72
ewers
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| n.大口水壶，水罐( ewer的名词复数 ) | |
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73
basting
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| n.疏缝；疏缝的针脚；疏缝用线；涂油v.打( baste的现在分词 )；粗缝；痛斥；（烤肉等时）往上抹[浇]油 | |
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74
tenure
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| n.终身职位；任期；(土地)保有权，保有期 | |
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75
standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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76
provincial
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|
| adj.省的，地方的；n．外省人，乡下人 | |
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77
interpretation
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| n.解释，说明，描述；艺术处理 | |
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78
applied
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|
| adj.应用的；v.应用，适用 | |
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79
lavatory
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| n.盥洗室，厕所 | |
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80
imperative
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|
| n.命令，需要；规则；祈使语气；adj.强制的；紧急的 | |
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81
inventory
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| n.详细目录，存货清单 | |
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82
linen
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|
| n.亚麻布，亚麻线，亚麻制品；adj.亚麻布制的，亚麻的 | |
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83
refinement
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| n.文雅；高尚；精美；精制；精炼 | |
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84
apron
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| n.围裙；工作裙 | |
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85
corruptly
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| 腐败（堕落）地，可被收买的 | |
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86
steadily
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| adv.稳定地；不变地；持续地 | |
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87
pottery
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| n.陶器，陶器场 | |
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88
porcelain
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|
| n.瓷；adj.瓷的，瓷制的 | |
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89
emblems
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| n.象征，标记( emblem的名词复数 ) | |
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90
destined
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|
| adj.命中注定的；(for)以…为目的地的 | |
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91
alludes
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| 提及，暗指( allude的第三人称单数 ) | |
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92
augur
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| n.占卦师；v.占卦 | |
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93
augured
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|
| v.预示，预兆，预言( augur的过去式和过去分词 )；成为预兆；占卜 | |
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94
tract
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|
| n.传单，小册子，大片(土地或森林) | |
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95
ulcers
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|
| n.溃疡( ulcer的名词复数 )；腐烂物；道德败坏；腐败 | |
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96
attachment
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|
| n.附属物，附件；依恋；依附 | |
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97
steadfast
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|
| adj.固定的，不变的，不动摇的；忠实的；坚贞不移的 | |
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98
majesty
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|
| n.雄伟，壮丽，庄严，威严；最高权威，王权 | |
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99
curiously
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| adv.有求知欲地；好问地；奇特地 | |
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100
ginger
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| n.姜，精力，淡赤黄色；adj.淡赤黄色的；vt.使活泼，使有生气 | |
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101
Vogue
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| n.时髦，时尚；adj.流行的 | |
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102
coeval
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| adj.同时代的；n.同时代的人或事物 | |
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103
foul
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| adj.污秽的；邪恶的；v.弄脏；妨害；犯规；n.犯规 | |
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104
baker
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| n.面包师 | |
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105
shovel
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|
| n.铁锨，铲子，一铲之量；v.铲，铲出 | |
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106
broths
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| n.肉汤( broth的名词复数 )；厨师多了烧坏汤；人多手杂反坏事；人多添乱 | |
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107
gravies
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| n.肉汁( gravy的名词复数 )；肉卤；意外之财；飞来福 | |
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108
expedients
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| n.应急有效的，权宜之计的( expedient的名词复数 ) | |
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109
quota
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| n.（生产、进出口等的）配额，（移民的）限额 | |
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110
dissent
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| n./v.不同意，持异议 | |
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111
nay
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| adv.不；n.反对票，投反对票者 | |
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112
professed
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| 公开声称的，伪称的，已立誓信教的 | |
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113
adherence
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| n.信奉，依附，坚持，固着 | |
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114
simplicity
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| n.简单，简易；朴素；直率，单纯 | |
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115
progenitors
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| n.祖先( progenitor的名词复数 )；先驱；前辈；原本 | |
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116
prodigality
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| n.浪费，挥霍 | |
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117
monograph
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| n.专题文章，专题著作 | |
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118
royalty
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| n.皇家，皇族 | |
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119
poetical
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| adj.似诗人的；诗一般的；韵文的；富有诗意的 | |
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120
quotation
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| n.引文，引语，语录；报价，牌价，行情 | |
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121
forestalling
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| v.先发制人，预先阻止( forestall的现在分词 ) | |
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122
tongs
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| n.钳；夹子 | |
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123
inventories
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| n.总结( inventory的名词复数 )；细账；存货清单（或财产目录）的编制 | |
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124
annex
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| vt.兼并，吞并；n.附属建筑物 | |
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125
brazen
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| adj.厚脸皮的，无耻的，坚硬的 | |
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126
galley
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| n.（飞机或船上的）厨房单层甲板大帆船；军舰舰长用的大划艇； | |
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127
crooks
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| n.骗子( crook的名词复数 )；罪犯；弯曲部分；（牧羊人或主教用的）弯拐杖v.弯成钩形( crook的第三人称单数 ) | |
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128
larders
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| n.（家中的）食物贮藏室，食物橱( larder的名词复数 ) | |
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129
pastry
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| n.油酥面团，酥皮糕点 | |
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130
shredding
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| v.撕碎，切碎( shred的现在分词 )；用撕毁机撕毁（文件） | |
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131
slaughtering
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| v.屠杀，杀戮，屠宰( slaughter的现在分词 ) | |
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132
assortment
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| n.分类，各色俱备之物，聚集 | |
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133
penetrate
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| v.透(渗)入；刺入，刺穿；洞察，了解 | |
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134
quaint
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| adj.古雅的，离奇有趣的，奇怪的 | |
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135
costly
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| adj.昂贵的，价值高的，豪华的 | |
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136
awaken
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| vi.醒，觉醒；vt.唤醒，使觉醒，唤起，激起 | |
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137
pretension
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| n.要求；自命，自称；自负 | |
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138
luxurious
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| adj.精美而昂贵的；豪华的 | |
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139
Augmented
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| adj.增音的 动词augment的过去式和过去分词形式 | |
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140
gloss
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| n.光泽，光滑；虚饰；注释；vt.加光泽于；掩饰 | |
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141
interrogated
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| v.询问( interrogate的过去式和过去分词 )；审问；（在计算机或其他机器上）查询 | |
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142
maker
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| n.制造者，制造商 | |
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143
swiller
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| 溶胀剂，膨胀剂 | |
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144
knaves
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| n.恶棍，无赖( knave的名词复数 )；（纸牌中的）杰克 | |
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145
illustrated
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| adj. 有插图的，列举的 动词illustrate的过去式和过去分词 | |
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146
portrays
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| v.画像( portray的第三人称单数 )；描述；描绘；描画 | |
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147
broach
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| v.开瓶，提出(题目) | |
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148
archaic
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| adj.(语言、词汇等)古代的，已不通用的 | |
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149
dedicated
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| adj.一心一意的；献身的；热诚的 | |
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150
strictly
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| adv.严厉地，严格地；严密地 | |
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151
requisites
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| n.必要的事物( requisite的名词复数 ) | |
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152
feudal
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| adj.封建的，封地的，领地的 | |
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153
desuetude
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| n.废止，不用 | |
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154
nominal
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| adj.名义上的；(金额、租金)微不足道的 | |
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155
victuals
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| n.食物；食品 | |
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156
manor
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| n.庄园，领地 | |
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157
varied
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| adj.多样的，多变化的 | |
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158
manorial
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| adj.庄园的 | |
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159
emanate
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| v.发自，来自，出自 | |
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160
titular
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| adj.名义上的，有名无实的；n.只有名义（或头衔）的人 | |
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161
holder
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| n.持有者，占有者；(台，架等)支持物 | |
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162
appendage
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| n.附加物 | |
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163
cordon
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| n.警戒线，哨兵线 | |
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164
organisation
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| n.组织，安排，团体，有机休 | |
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165
payable
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| adj.可付的，应付的，有利益的 | |
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166
scanty
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| adj.缺乏的，仅有的，节省的，狭小的，不够的 | |
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167
transit
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| n.经过，运输；vt.穿越，旋转；vi.越过 | |
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168
steward
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| n.乘务员，服务员；看管人；膳食管理员 | |
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169
vassals
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| n.奴仆( vassal的名词复数 )；（封建时代）诸侯；从属者；下属 | |
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170
administrative
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| adj.行政的，管理的 | |
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171
excavation
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| n.挖掘，发掘；被挖掘之地 | |
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172
lurk
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| n.潜伏，潜行；v.潜藏，潜伏，埋伏 | |
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173
depicted
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| 描绘，描画( depict的过去式和过去分词 )； 描述 | |
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174
benefactors
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| n.捐助者，施主( benefactor的名词复数 )；恩人 | |
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175
donor
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| n.捐献者；赠送人；(组织、器官等的)供体 | |
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176
bestowed
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| 赠给，授予( bestow的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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177
spouse
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| n.配偶(指夫或妻) | |
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178
graphic
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| adj.生动的，形象的，绘画的，文字的，图表的 | |
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179
behold
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| v.看，注视，看到 | |
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180
functionary
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| n.官员；公职人员 | |
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181
wields
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| 手持着使用（武器、工具等）( wield的第三人称单数 )； 具有； 运用（权力）； 施加（影响） | |
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182
circumscribed
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| adj.[医]局限的：受限制或限于有限空间的v.在…周围划线( circumscribe的过去式和过去分词 )；划定…范围；限制；限定 | |
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183
trifling
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| adj.微不足道的；没什么价值的 | |
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184
gratuity
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| n.赏钱，小费 | |
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185
bedlam
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| n.混乱，骚乱；疯人院 | |
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186
supplanted
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| 把…排挤掉，取代( supplant的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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187
monastery
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| n.修道院，僧院，寺院 | |
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