The Irish Poet and the Natural World: An Anthology of Verse in English from the Tudors to the Romantics

Ambrose White (fl.1665)

112 These introductory verses appear next to the general title. Subsequent verses are printed 1 before each month’s entry. AMBROSE WHITE (fl.1665) Almanacs were very popular in seventeenth-century Ireland, though they were so heavily used that few have survived. The astronomical information they contained was calculated for the town in which they were printed, and the body of the almanac contained information likely to be useful to those living in the area – the phases of the moon and the dates of fairs, for instance. Ambrose White was the first significant publisher of almanacs in Restoration Dublin (Doctor Whalley and Andrew Cumsty being the others). White’s ‘Astrological Almanack’ for Dublin for 1665 is packed with useful advice that reminds one how rural Dublin was at the time: ‘To preserve thy health, rise early and walk the fields, especially by running waters. Breakfast: Clarified Whey, Scurvey Grass,Ale and Wormwood Beer’; and ‘Cut down timber in the Old of the Moon, and it will not be so subject to rend, nor crack, nor be Worm-eaten’. It is also clear that astrological and astronomical prognostications were as important, for the husbandmen of the day, as long-range weather forecasts. Each month of the almanac’s advice was preceded by an appropriate verse. Verses for the year and for each month of 1665 from: An Almanack and Prognostication for the year of our Lord 1665 ... calculated according to Art and referred to the Horizon of the Ancient and Renowned City of DUBLIN ’Tis you bright Stars, that in the fearful Sea1 Do guide the Pilot through his purpos’d way; ’Tis your direction that doth commerce give With all those Men that through the World do live. January 1665 Make much of them that labour sore. Love well thy Wife, relieve the poor To bed betimes, for being there, It will both Wood and Candle spare. February 1665 Spend not thy time in fruitless wooing, Be sure to keep the Plough a going, 10 For thou wilt find they self more able, By a Plough going than a Cradle. 113 Ambrose White March 1665 Now Sea and Land do will and wish, For sparing Flesh to feed on Fish,2 If Fish be scant and fruit of trees, Supply that want with Butter and Cheese. April 1665 Let Cisley look well to her Dairy, That Cheese be not tough nor Butter hairy3 For though some count her office meanly, It is a fine thing to be cleanly. 20 May 1665 Rise early now this Month of May And walk the fields that be so gay, To hear the Cuckow chant his lay, The Nightingale and popping Jay.4 June 1665 Whilst husband looks abroad what lacks, Let Wife at home be mending sacks, Though Ladies they may tear and rend, Good Huswives make shift and mend.5 July 1665 July thou art guilty of much evil, Thy Hea-cocks make Men & Maids uncivil, 30 Better no Hay were, yea, nor no Horses, Than that Maids should be Whores, and after turn nurses.6 The eating of meat was forbidden during Lent. 2 There are several references to the finding of hairs in butter in texts from seventeenth3 century Ireland; this verse suggests that hairs might fall from the heads of dairymaids during the long and tedious business of churning butter by hand. (Irish butter churns were often held firm between the thighs). The popinjay or green woodpecker. 4 The distinction is between fine rich ‘ladies’who destroy clothes and hardworking, lower5 class ‘housewives’ who mend them, and know how to make do with what they have. The references are to sexual encounters in the fields during the season of hay-making. 6 114 August 1665 Now with all hands your Harvest ply, Cut down your Oats, reap Wheat & Rie, Hook up your Pease, Mow down your Barly, And ply thy work both late and early. September 1665 Let Wife not gad, but keep at home, For gadding Wife is worse than none, Though man the best Husband be alive, If Wife be bad, he scarce can thrive. 40 October 1665 If weather serve, thy business ply, Be sure let not Plough idle lie, For to get wealth is not amiss, To use all means that lawful is. November 1665 To quicken thy spirits and make thy self merry, Drink now and then a cup of sherry, But do not...