“Than [let the surveyor who is surveying property go] to the second howse on the same east side in lyke maner, and so to _peruse_ from house to house tyll he come to St. Magnus churche;” Book of Surveying (1767), chap. xix. “Begyn to plowe a forowe in the middes of the side of the land, and cast it downe as yf thou shulde falowe it, and so _peruse_ both sydes tyl the rygge be cast down,” etc.; Book of Surveying (1767); chap. xxiv. The special application to a book may be seen in Baret’s Alvearie: “To ouerlooke and _peruse_ a booke againe, _Retractare librum_.” And accordingly it need not surprise us that Levins, in 1570, translated _to peruse_ by _peruti_. There is just one more suggestion which I venture to make, though I fear, like most conjectures which are made with respect to Shakespeare, it is probably valueless. When King Lear appears, in Act iv. sc. 4-- “Crowned with rank fumiter and furrow-weeds, With _hor-docks_, hemlock, nettles, cuckoo-flowers, Darnel, and _all the idle weeds that grow In our sustaining corn_”-- I cannot help being reminded of Fitzherbert’s list of weeds in sect. 20 (p. 29), in which he includes _haudoddes_, _i.e._ corn blue-bottles, as is obvious from his description; see also Britten and Holland’s English Plant-names. It is certainly remarkable that the _haudod_ is precisely one of “the idle weeds that grow in corn,” and that its bright colour would be particularly attractive to the gatherer of a wild garland. We must not, however, overlook the form _hardhake_, which Mr. Wright has found in a MS. herbal as a name for the knapweed; see his note upon the passage. The two results do not, however, greatly differ, and it is conceivable that the same name could be applied at different times to _both_ these flowers, the latter being _Centaurea nigra_, and the former _Centaurea Cyanus_. We also find the term _hardewes_, occurring as a name for the wild succory; see _Hawdod_ in the Glossarial Index, p. 156. In any case, the proposal of Dr. Prior to explain _hordock_ by the burdock (_Arctium lappa_), merely because he thinks the burs were sometimes entangled with flax, and so formed lumps in it called _hards_, is a wild guess that should be rejected. _Hards_ are simply the coarse parts of flax, without any reference to burdocks whatever. The wood-cut on the title-page is copied from the edition of 1598. The longer handle of the plough is on the left. See the description on p. 128. FOOTNOTES: [1] “And [I give] to euery of my seruentes that be used to Ryde with me,” etc.; Sir A. Fitzherbert’s Will, quoted below at p. xviii. [2] “Of late by experience I contriued, compyled, and made a Treatyse, ... and callyd it the booke of husbandrye;” Prol. to Book of Surveying. [3] _I.e._ the Books on Husbandry and Surveying. [4] Read _thus_. [5] The date is 1539; the words here quoted appear also in Berthelet’s edition of 1546.