It was written by Thomas Tusser, the “Suffolk Blomfield” of the 16th. century. After being a chorister in St. Paul’s Cathedral, and employed in some office at Court, he retired into the country and took a farm at Cattiwade on the Stour. His occupation provided him with material for his muse, but did not improve his fortune.
A plot set down for farmer’s quiet, As time requires, to frame his diet: With sometimes fish, and sometimes fast, That household store may longer last.
Let Lent, well kept, offend not thee, For March and April breeders be. Spend herring first, save salt fish last, For salt fish is good, when Lent is past.
When Easter comes, who knows not than, { 67a} That veal and bacon, is the man, { 67b} And Martinmas beef doth bear good tack, When country folks do dainties lack.
When macrell ceaseth from the seas, John Baptist brings grass-beef and pease, Frosh herring plenty, _Michell_ { 67c} brings, With fatted crones, and such old things.
All Saints do lay for Pork and souse, { 67d} For sprats and spurlings for their house. At Christmas play and make good cheer, For Christmas comes but once a year.
Though some then do as do they would, Let thrifty do, as do they should. For causes good so many ways, Keep emberings { 67e} well, and fasting days
_What law commands_ we ought t’obey, For Friday, Saturn, and Wednesday. The land doth will, the sea doth wish, Spare sometimes flesh and feed of fish. Where fish is scant, and fruit of trees, Supply that want by butter and cheese.
To return to our register, the 200 persons said to be dependent on the herring fishery, in 1595, must have included a great many of the persons entered in our list as mariners. They would embrace all classes from the skipper to the cook—sea captains like the Allens and Ashbys, and Utbers of the next century, and fighting Jack Tars, who had helped to man the ships under Howard and Drake, when they drove the Spaniards past Lowestoft in their flight to the north. Many of them would be long-shoremen, gaining a livelihood by fishing near shore, as now, and occasionally finding very profitable employment in connection with the wrecks, which were far more frequent then than now.
OTHER TRADES CONNECTED WITH THE FISHERIES.