Page:Hesiod, and Theognis.djvu/137

And after, at leisure, let this be his hire,
To beath them and trim them at home by the fire."^[1]
—Ix. 9.

Here again, in "June's Husbandry," is good provision for hay-making and hauling:—

"Provide of thine own to have all things at hand,
Lest work and the workman unoccupied stand:
Love seldom to borrow, that thinkest to save,
For he that once lendeth twice looketh to have.

Let cart be well searched without and within,
Well clouted and greased, ere hay-time begin:
Thy hay being carried, though carter had sworn,
Cart's bottom well boarded is saving of corn."
—p. 163.

And here sound practical counsel (sadly neglected too often) for insuring a safe corn-harvest:—

"Make suër of reapers, get harvest in hand:
The corn that is ripe doth but shed as it stand.
Be thankful to God for His benefits sent,
And willing to save it by honest intent."
—p. 182.

One would have liked to be able to think that so sound a counsellor had made a better trade of farming than he seems to have done. His ideas of being himself captain of every muster of his hands (p. 169), of encouraging them by extra wages at time of stress, and indeed all his suggestive hints, are fresh and pertinent even at this latter day; and if Thomas Tusser were more read, he would not fail of being oftener quoted.

1. To beath or bath is to set green wood by the heat of a fire.—Norfolk and Suffolk Dialect.