English recipe book, 17th century and later

Collection of medical and culinary recipes in several hands.

The recipes are written into a volume that was originally designed for recording classical exempla, epigrams, or extracts from Roman authors; a few entries have been made under such headings as 'Ars', 'Clementia', and 'Crudelitas'. However the volume was seemingly soon repurposed as a recipe compendium. The earliest and largest number of recipe entries are in a later 17th century hand that is also responsible for the index at the start of the volume; a few entries were made by later contributors, the latest apparently in the later 18th or even early 19th century (f. 41).

Various authorities for the recipes are cited. Among the the medical ones are 'Doctor Pridgeon' [? Francis Prigeon] (f. 10); 'Doctor Lower' [Richard Lower, 1631-1691] (ff. 11, 99); 'Dr Butler' (f. 23); 'Doctr Bucanon' (f. 30); 'Docr Smith of Portsmouth' (f. 31); 'Docter Pechey' [John Pechey, d.1718] (f. 33); 'Doctor Colebatch' (f. 40); 'Dct Hunt' (f. 41); 'Doctor Windebank' [John Windebanke MD, fl.1654-1680] (f. 47); 'Doctor Dover' [Thomas Dover, d.1742] (f. 49); 'Doct Nisbit' (f. 140); 'Doctor Speers' (f. 141); 'Doctr Ross' (f. 154); 'Doctr Rosewel' [? John Rosewell] (f. 155); 'Doctor Coladin' (f. 158); and 'Dr Ridgley' [?Thomas Ridgley, d. 1656] (f. 163). Lay authorities include the Countess of Arundel [Anne Howard, nee Dacre,countess of Arundel, 1557-1630] (f. 24); Sir William Temple [1628-1699] (f. 50); and 'Sir Edward Tencil' (f. 134). There are also extensive extracts from Gerard's Herbal (ff. 170-74). An 18th century contributor has inserted a copy of a verse aphorism that seems to have been something of a commonplace at the time: 'spare not, nor spend too much, be this thy care, spare but to spend, and only spend to spare, Who spends too much, may want and so complain, but he spends best, that leaves to spend again' (f. 22). Cf. MS.7849.

The language of the volume is English, with parts in Latin.