The Babees' Book: Medieval Manners for the Young: Done into Modern English
Part 11
There is considerable difference between the editions of 1550 [?] and 1568, and that of 1577. H. Jackson, the printer, or some unknown editor either worked from a very imperfect copy or wilfully altered the meaning in many cases; and further, broke up the long rhyming couplets of the original into stanzas of four short lines, the second and fourth rhyming. Naturally, the first and third contain the greatest number of changes. I have used the oldest edition, only modernising the spelling, herein departing from Dr. Furnivall, who printed from that of 1577.
_The Book of Nurture_, which forms the main body of the work, is preceded by _The Duties of Parents and Masters_, _The Manner of Serving a Knight, Squire, or Gentleman_, and _How to Order your Master’s Chamber at Night to Bedward_, all in prose, and is followed by a poem _For the Waiting Servant_, which I have omitted as more adapted to grown serving-men than to children, and by various rules and maxims.
From the colophon we learn that the author was Hugh Rhodes of the King’s Chapel, who early in the poem declares himself “born and bred in Devonshire,” as his language showed. However, I can discover no traces of dialect.
Nothing further is known of him. The probabilities are that he was Master of the chapel children, whose duty it was to direct their singing, and generally look after them and order their behaviour; but his name does not seem to appear on any royal household list, as far as I have observed.
p. 127. _Briefs and longs._ Expressed in musical terms, perhaps because Rhodes was a music-master.
p. 128. _You ... thee ... thy._ These pronouns seem throughout to be used indiscriminately, referring to the same antecedent, and so I have retained them.
p. 135. _Phantasy._ Here _taste_, _inclination_. Obsolete. See N.E.D., _Fantasy_ 7.
p. 136. _Stick._ Probably toothpick. Erasmus wrote of them twenty years before. Cf. _Introduction_, p. xxvii. But indeed we read in Old English of a “tooth-spear.”
p. 138. _Checkmate._ Perhaps the meaning is: done for, as far as manners are concerned. But later editions read _Jack-mate_, of which the sense seems to be: that, you think yourself as good as he, _i.e._, your action shows too great familiarity.
FRANCIS SEAGER’S SCHOOL OF VIRTUE
The title continues: _and Book of Good Nurture for Children and Youth to Learn their Duty by. Newly perused, corrected and augmented by the first Auctor, F.S. With a brief declaration of the duty of each degree._ Anno 1557, &c.
This indicates plainly that there had been an earlier edition. Seager was a poet and translator who flourished 1549-63. He seems to have come of a Devonshire family, and was perhaps the Francis Nicholson, _alias_ Seager, who was made free of the Stationers’ Company in 1557. Among other things, he translated from Alain Chartier, and also made a rendering of the Psalms. His _School of Virtue_ shows as little originality as poetic merit, but it seems to have been popular in his day and long after, as it was revised by Robert Crowley and extended by Richard Weste during the seventeenth century.
RICHARD WESTE’S SCHOOL OF VIRTUE
This was printed in 1619, and about fifty years later was added to an edition of Seager, revised and extended by Robert Crowley; hence, the sub-title, “the Second Part.” Weste’s treatise is believed to be unique. Of its contents, Dr. Furnivall published only _Demeanour in Serving at the Table_, from Bensley’s reprint, 1817.
p. 161. _Gellius._ Flourished in the second century A.D., and wrote the famous commonplace book, _Noctes Atticæ_.
p. 163. _Serve God_, &c., alludes perhaps to serving at table.
p. 164. _Glumly._ Text: _glouting_.
p. 164. _Hedgehogs’ right_, _i.e._, be not bristling with frowns.
p. 164. _Nor imitate with Socrates._ From this it would seem that Socrates, like Vergil, was roughly handled in the Middle Ages.
p. 165. _Stork ... elephant._ The idea seems to be: don’t make outlandish noises.
p. 166. _Like an image pictured_, &c. Sixteenth-century pictures of the winds are commonly so drawn.
p. 167. _The lips set close_, &c. The idea seems to be merely that pouting lips are not mannerly.
p. 168. _Clitipho._ A comic character in _Heautontimoroumenos_.
Printed by BALLANTYNE, HANSON & CO. Edinburgh & London
FOOTNOTES
Footnote 1:
Since listed as _Early English Meals and Manners_.
Footnote 2:
“The Book of the Polite Man, teaching manners for men, especially for boys, as a supplement to those which were omitted by the most moral Cato.”
Footnote 3:
Described and in part translated in an appendix to _Queene Elizabethes Achademy_.
Footnote 4:
Lust, _i.e._, pleasure.
Footnote 5:
Reached.
Footnote 6:
Mirth.
Footnote 7:
So Ascham: “It is pity, that commonly more care is had, yea, and that among very wise men, to find out rather a cunning man for their horse than a cunning man for their children.”
Footnote 8:
See p. 11, below.
Footnote 9:
_The Grammar Schoole._ 1612.
Footnote 10:
But Erasmus was a Dutchman. Oddly enough, about a century later, Pepys alludes to “these dirty Dutch fellows.”
Footnote 11:
_Liber Faceti._ See note.
Footnote 12:
See note.
Footnote 13:
Ask. Still used in Scotland.
Footnote 14:
Behave.
Footnote 15:
See note.
Footnote 16:
Chatter.
Footnote 17:
Fruitful, _i.e._, useful.
Footnote 18:
Brief and to the point.
Footnote 19:
Decorously.
Footnote 20:
See note.
Footnote 21:
See note.
Footnote 22:
Blame.
Footnote 23:
Bourd = jest.
Footnote 24:
Dreadful = full of dread.
Footnote 25:
Melancholy. See note.
Footnote 26:
“Superior,” _i.e._, haughty.
Footnote 27:
Jealousy.
Footnote 28:
Ostentatious.
Footnote 29:
Chattering.
Footnote 30:
Joke.
Footnote 31:
Particular.
Footnote 32:
Obstinate.
Footnote 33:
In the confidence of.
Footnote 34:
Please.
Footnote 35:
Literally, be lewd (ignorant).
Footnote 36:
_Of Politeness._
Footnote 37:
Bow.
Footnote 38:
Four lines omitted.
Footnote 39:
Worthy.
Footnote 40:
Be cast down.
Footnote 41:
See note.
Footnote 42:
Hinder.
Footnote 43:
Reach out.
Footnote 44:
Defile.
Footnote 45:
Chattering.
Footnote 46:
Honour.
Footnote 47:
See note.
Footnote 48:
Known. See note.
Footnote 49:
Make known.
Footnote 50:
Reward.
Footnote 51:
See note.
Footnote 52:
Deprive.
Footnote 53:
See note.
Footnote 54:
Enclosed.
Footnote 55:
Ready.
Footnote 56:
See note.
Footnote 57:
Churls.
Footnote 58:
Seemly.
Footnote 59:
Belch.
Footnote 60:
Churl; German, _kerl_, French, _carle_.
Footnote 61:
Loud; literally, strong.
Footnote 62:
See note.
Footnote 63:
See note.
Footnote 64:
See note.
Footnote 65:
Know.
Footnote 66:
See note.
Footnote 67:
See note.
Footnote 68:
Ready, anxious.
Footnote 69:
Jackdaw.
Footnote 70:
See note.
Footnote 71:
_The Boy Standing at the Table._
Footnote 72:
See note.
Footnote 73:
Making faces.
Footnote 74:
With mouth full of food.
Footnote 75:
Stained with food.
Footnote 76:
Offences.
Footnote 77:
Harl. MS., meek.
Footnote 78:
Revengeful.
Footnote 79:
Harl. MS., forgiving.
Footnote 80:
Harl. MS., With an apple the parties be made at one.
Footnote 81:
Heart.
Footnote 82:
See note.
Footnote 83:
Harleian MS., sauce.
Footnote 84:
See note.
Footnote 85:
See note.
Footnote 86:
Dear.
Footnote 87:
See note.
Footnote 88:
Shrew. See note.
Footnote 89:
Quiet his wrath.
Footnote 90:
Giddy girl.
Footnote 91:
Shake or shrug.
Footnote 92:
See note.
Footnote 93:
Wonder? See note.
Footnote 94:
Coarse brown stuff, homespun, frieze.
Footnote 95:
A-going.
Footnote 96:
See note.
Footnote 97:
A giggling girl, expressively spelled.
Footnote 98:
Curtly.
Footnote 99:
Another reason.
Footnote 100:
Gift.
Footnote 101:
Quickly.
Footnote 102:
Done betimes.
Footnote 103:
See note.
Footnote 104:
See note.
Footnote 105:
Offer.
Footnote 106:
Moderate means.
Footnote 107:
See note.
Footnote 108:
Scold.
Footnote 109:
Creature.
Footnote 110:
Truth, literally.
Footnote 111:
In spite of yourself.
Footnote 112:
Judge.
Footnote 113:
Strife.
Footnote 114:
Move house (Scotch still).
Footnote 115:
Buried.
Footnote 116:
Graves.
Footnote 117:
See note.
Footnote 118:
See note.
Footnote 119:
Lack of hope, _i.e._, despair.
Footnote 120:
Evil—help.
Footnote 121:
Ill-bred.
Footnote 122:
See note.
Footnote 123:
See note.
Footnote 124:
See note.
Footnote 125:
See note.
Footnote 126:
See note.
Footnote 127:
A cupboard in which were kept the jugs (ewers) and basins used in washing, before and after meals.
Footnote 128:
See note.
Footnote 129:
See note.
Footnote 130:
Bread-carrier, apparently a sort of tray, _lintheum panarium_, an ell long and a yard wide.
Footnote 131:
Text: _glowting_.
Footnote 132:
See note.
Footnote 133:
See note.
Footnote 134:
Used up.
Footnote 135:
Duty.
Footnote 136:
Dwelling.
Footnote 137:
On the office, see p. 106 below.
Footnote 138:
_Sideboard_ is perhaps the nearest equivalent.
Footnote 139:
See note.
Footnote 140:
See note.
Footnote 141:
Tunic or shirt, lit. _petticoat_.
Footnote 142:
Short stockings, that covered the feet, and reached to the ankle, just above the shoe (_avant-pied_).
Footnote 143:
Cap or cape to wear in the house.
Footnote 144:
A kind of silk.
Footnote 145:
Scarlet cloth.
Footnote 146:
Crimson cloth.
Footnote 147:
See note.
Footnote 148:
Sheet at the head of the bed.
Footnote 149:
First, carpets; second, tapestries. The _Book of Courtesy_ has _tapetis_, Fr. _tapis_.
Footnote 150:
See note.
Footnote 151:
See note on these various herbs.
Footnote 152:
See note.
Footnote 153:
Head of a monastic order for a province.
Footnote 154:
Chief clerk (ecclesiastical office).
Footnote 155:
Compare Chaucer’s Pardoner in his _Prologue_.
Footnote 156:
_Nurrieris_; Latin, _nutricarii_?
Footnote 157:
Sceptre. See note.
Footnote 158:
See note.
Footnote 159:
Property, wealth.
Footnote 160:
Worthy of reverence.
Footnote 161:
See note.
Footnote 162:
See note.
Footnote 163:
See note.
Footnote 164:
Text, _gardevyan_; Fr. _gardeviande_.
Footnote 165:
Fealty.
Footnote 166:
See note.
Footnote 167:
Hear.
Footnote 168:
Give.
Footnote 169:
Afterwards.
Footnote 170:
Courteous.
Footnote 171:
Upper deal, _i.e._, part.
Footnote 172:
See note.
Footnote 173:
Altogether.
Footnote 174:
Trick or turn. See note.
Footnote 175:
Done for.
Footnote 176:
Turn out?
Footnote 177:
Table-cloth.
Footnote 178:
Polite.
Footnote 179:
See note.
Footnote 180:
[First]?
Footnote 181:
See note.
Footnote 182:
So in text.
Footnote 183:
Last of all.
Footnote 184:
Share.
Footnote 185:
Flattery.
Footnote 186:
On a pilgrimage.
Footnote 187:
Way.
Footnote 188:
Promised.
Footnote 189:
Enclosed. See note.
Footnote 190:
Misleading(?) See note.
Footnote 191:
Mad.
Footnote 192:
See note.
Footnote 193:
Wicked man.
Footnote 194:
Destroy.
Footnote 195:
Strife.
Footnote 196:
In straits.
Footnote 197:
See note.
Footnote 198:
Fellow.
Footnote 199:
See note.
Footnote 200:
Text: _hethyng_, scorn.
Footnote 201:
Stop. See note.
Footnote 202:
Glade.
Footnote 203:
Side by side.
Footnote 204:
See note.
Footnote 205:
Text: _menskly_, _i.e._, in its original sense, like a human being.
Footnote 206:
See note.
Footnote 207:
Fair words.
Footnote 208:
Falsified.
Footnote 209:
See note.
Footnote 210:
Cast about.
Footnote 211:
Silly fool.
Footnote 212:
Fight for. Text: _with win_, which may mean “with pleasure.”
Footnote 213:
A section of a poem, commonly of a ballad.
Footnote 214:
_Of the Officers in Lords’ Halls._
Footnote 215:
Fr. _mestiers_.
Footnote 216:
Thick.
Footnote 217:
Of a yard or ell.
Footnote 218:
_Of the Porter._
Footnote 219:
See note.
Footnote 220:
See note.
Footnote 221:
Proclamation.
Footnote 222:
_Of the Marshal of the Hall._
Footnote 223:
Burn.
Footnote 224:
February 2nd.
Footnote 225:
_For how long Squires shall have Liveries, and Fire Burn in Hall._
Footnote 226:
See note.
Footnote 227:
Shere-Thursday, _i.e._, Thursday before Easter.
Footnote 228:
_Of the Butler, Panter and Cooks as Servants to him_ (the marshal).
Footnote 229:
More.
Footnote 230:
See note.
Footnote 231:
Quickly.
Footnote 232:
_Of the Butler’s Office._
Footnote 233:
Without being compelled.
Footnote 234:
Text: _in fine_, _i.e._, together. See note.
Footnote 235:
Text: _tent_ (Scotch).
Footnote 236:
_Of the Usher and his Servants._
Footnote 237:
See note.
Footnote 238:
_Of the Grooms’ Office._
Footnote 239:
Text: _wyn_, joy.
Footnote 240:
Wraps or fastens.
Footnote 241:
Text: _knop_.
Footnote 242:
See note.
Footnote 243:
_tapets_—(1) carpets, (2) hangings.
Footnote 244:
Scandinavian, _stor_, great.
Footnote 245:
Text: _clof_, Dr. Furnivall conjectures “cloth.”
Footnote 246:
Heater.
Footnote 247:
Big candles, Paris candles.
Footnote 248:
The board and trestles. See note.
Footnote 249:
Turn back, or fold.
Footnote 250:
Text: _tortes_, _i.e._ taper.
Footnote 251:
Manchet, white bread.
Footnote 252:
Cheat-bread, of whole meal.
Footnote 253:
A cake or lump, perhaps shaped especially to serve as a night-light.
Footnote 254:
Probably, crust of soot.
Footnote 255:
Scotch, fastens, secures.
Footnote 256:
A spike on which a candle was thrust instead of being placed in a socket.
Footnote 257:
See note.
Footnote 258:
_Of the Steward._
Footnote 259:
See note.
Footnote 260:
_Of the Controller._
Footnote 261:
So much received.
Footnote 262:
So much spent.
Footnote 263:
Unaccountable, _i.e._ not responsible to a higher officer(?)
Footnote 264:
_Of the Surveyor._ See note.
Footnote 265:
_Of the Clerk of the Kitchen._
Footnote 266:
Book.
Footnote 267:
_Of the Chancellor._
Footnote 268:
_Of the Treasurer._
Footnote 269:
Fines.
Footnote 270:
Park-keeper.
Footnote 271:
_Of the Receiver of Rents._
Footnote 272:
Rents.
Footnote 273:
Receipt.
Footnote 274:
_Of the Avener._ The office is explained.
Footnote 275:
As much as a pitchfork could cast.
Footnote 276:
Bar before the hayrack.
Footnote 277:
_Of the Baker._
Footnote 278:
Bread of finely sifted flour.
Footnote 279:
Wholemeal bread.
Footnote 280:
_Of the Huntsman and his Dogs._
Footnote 281:
Handfuls, lit., throws.
Footnote 282:
Keeper of greyhounds.
Footnote 283:
Profit in kind.
Footnote 284:
_Of the Ewerer._
Footnote 285:
“_Who ought to wash hands, and in whose houses._”
Footnote 286:
See note.
Footnote 287:
Scotch, for _broad_.
Footnote 288:
_Of the Panter._
Footnote 289:
In its place.
Footnote 290:
_Concerning the Lord’s Knives._
Footnote 291:
Wholemeal loaf.
Footnote 292:
Covering, towel.
Footnote 293:
Text: _shiver_, _i.e._, sliver.
Footnote 294:
Text: _quere_.
Footnote 295:
None the less.
Footnote 296:
Empties.
Footnote 297:
_Of the Almoner._
Footnote 298:
Upper part.
Footnote 299:
_Of the Sewer._ Literally, food-bearer.
Footnote 300:
Cut bread.
Footnote 301:
Line unfinished.
Footnote 302:
Cut.
Footnote 303:
Cold. See note.
Footnote 304:
Less.
Footnote 305:
Simply.
Footnote 306:
See note.
Footnote 307:
Great.
Footnote 308:
_Of the Chandler._
Footnote 309:
Paris, _i.e._, large candles.
Footnote 310:
See note.
Footnote 311:
Fence. See note.
Footnote 312:
Whiner.
Footnote 313:
Tricks.
Footnote 314:
Doff.
Footnote 315:
Ill-bred.
Footnote 316:
See note.
Footnote 317:
Metrical quantities. See note.
Footnote 318:
Know.
Footnote 319:
Nature.
Footnote 320:
See note.
Footnote 321:
According to thy station.
Footnote 322:
Soberly.
Footnote 323:
Praise (1550), prease (1568, 1577).
Footnote 324:
Defile.
Footnote 325:
Soberly.
Footnote 326:
Don’t cross thy fellow.
Footnote 327:
Tricks.
Footnote 328:
Jest.
Footnote 329:
The sweat may be due to disease.
Footnote 330:
Thou dost sin against moderation.
Footnote 331:
Stolen.
Footnote 332:
Smoke; here, breath.
Footnote 333:
Gas.
Footnote 334:
See note.
Footnote 335:
Ed. 1577, or.
Footnote 336:
See note.
Footnote 337:
The sense is apparently: soil ... your wristband.
Footnote 338:
Drink. Later editions have _drunkenness_.
Footnote 339:
Four pints of ale.
Footnote 340:
Ed. 1577.
Footnote 341:
Void = cast-off; avoid = empty; voider = receptacle to take cast-off morsels.
Footnote 342:
Annul, _i.e._, object to it.
Footnote 343:
Unpleasant.
Footnote 344:
Scratch.
Footnote 345:
Gnaw.
Footnote 346:
See note.
Footnote 347:
Your square of trencher-bread, together with the scraps upon it.
Footnote 348:
Outrageous.
Footnote 349:
Use.
Footnote 350:
Smoothly.
Footnote 351:
Blamed.
Footnote 352:
See note.
Footnote 353:
See note.
Footnote 354:
See note.
Footnote 355:
See note.
Footnote 356:
Caterwauling.
Footnote 357:
See note.
Footnote 358:
See note.
Footnote 359:
Stammering.
Footnote 360:
See note.
● Transcriber’s Notes: ○ Footnote 23 on page 10 is linked to from the word “Babble” but the word in the footnote is “bourd,” which also means “talk nonsense or jest.” Perhaps this was a substitution for the sake of meter? ○ Missing or obscured punctuation was silently corrected. ○ Typographical errors were silently corrected. ○ Inconsistent spelling and hyphenation were made consistent only when a predominant form was found in this book. ○ Text that was in italics is enclosed by underscores (_italics_).
End of Project Gutenberg's The Babees' Book, by Frederick James Furnivall