Working Life of Women in the Seventeenth Century — John Shaqi
Working Life of Women in the Seventeenth CenturyClark, Alice
History
Working Life of Women in the Seventeenth Century
Clark, Alice
Women -- Employment -- Great Britain -- History -- 17th century; Women -- Great Britain -- History -- 17th century
“What workes a wyfe should do in generall. First in the mornyng when
thou art wakéd and purpose to rise, lift up thy hãd & blis the & make a
signe of the holy crosse ... and remembre thy maker and thou shalte
spede muche the better, & when thou art up and readye, then firste swepe
thy house; dresse up thy dyscheborde, & set al thynges in good order
within thy house, milke yᵉ kie, socle thy calues, sile up thy milke,
take up thy children & aray thẽ, & provide for thy husbandes
breakefaste, diner, souper, & for thy children & seruauntes, & take thy
parte wyth them. And to ordeyne corne & malt to the myll, to bake and
brue withall whẽ nede is. And mete it to the myll and fro the myll, & se
that thou haue thy mesure agayne besides the tole or elles the mylner
dealeth not truly wyth the, or els thy corne is not drye as it should
be, thou must make butter and chese when thou may, serue thy swine both
mornyng and eueninge, and giue thy polen meate in the mornynge, and when
tyme of yeare cometh thou must take hede how thy henne, duckes, and
geese do ley, and to gather up their egges and when they waxe broudy to
set them there as no beastes, swyne, nor other vermyne hurte them, and
thou must know that all hole foted foule wil syt a moneth and al clouen
foted foule wyl syt but three wekes except a peyhen and suche other
great foules as craynes, bustardes, and suche other. And when they haue
brought forth theyr birdes to se that they be well kepte from the gleyd,
crowes, fully martes and other vermyn, and in the begynyng of March, of
a lytle before is time for a wife to make her garden and to get as manye
good sedes and herbes as she can, and specyally such as be good for the
pot and for to eate & as ofte as nede shall require it muste be weded,
for els the wede wyll ouer grow the herbes, and also in Marche is time
to sowe flaxe and hempe, for I haue heard olde huswyues say, that better
is Marche hurdes then Apryll flaxe, the reason appereth, but howe it
shoulde be sowen, weded, pulled, repealed, watred, washen, dried, beten,
braked, tawed, hecheled, spon, wounden, wrapped, & ouen. It nedeth not
for me to shewe for they be wyse ynough, and thereof may they make
shetes, bord clothes, towels, shertes, smockes, and suche other
necessaryes, and therfore lette thy dystaffe be alwaye redy for a
pastyme, that thou be not ydell. And undoubted a woman cannot get her
livinge honestly with spinning on the dystaffe, but it stoppeth a gap
and must nedes be had. The bolles of flaxe whan they be rypled of, muste
be rediled from the wedes and made dry with the sunne to get out the
seedes. How be it one maner of linsede called lokensede wyll not open by
the sunne, and therefore when they be drye they must be sore bruien and
broken the wyves know how, & then wynowed and kept dry til peretime cum
againe. Thy femell hempe must be pulled fro the chucle hẽpe for this
beareth no sede & thou muste doe by it as thou didest by the flaxe. The
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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