Early English Meals and Manners Part 90

EXPLICIT T{RA}CTUS VRBANITATIS.

[Sidenotes: [a] When you come before a lord [b] take off your cap or hood, [c] and fall on your right knee twice or thrice. [d] Keep your cap off till you're told to put it on; [e] hold up your chin; [f] look in the lord's face; [g] keep hand and foot still; [h] don't spit or snot; [i] get rid of it quietly; [k] behave well. [l] When you go into the hall, [m] don't press up too high. [n] Don't be shamefaced. [o] Wherever you go, good manners make the man.

[p] Reverence your betters, but treat all equally whom you don't know. [q] See that your hands are clean, and your knife sharp.

[r] Let worthier men help themselves before you eat. [s] Don't clutch at the best bit. [t] Keep your hands from dirtying the cloth, and don't wipe your nose on it, [v] or dip too deep in your cup. [x] Have no meat in your mouth when you drink or speak; and stop talking when your neighbour is drinking. [y] Scorn and reprove no man. [z] Keep your fingers from what would bring you to grief. [aa] Among ladies, look, don't talk. [ab] Don't laugh loud, or riot with ribalds. [ac] Don't repeat what you hear.

[ad] Words make or mar you. [ae] If you follow a worthier man, let your right shoulder follow his back, and [af] don't speak till he has done. [ag] Be austere (?) in speech; [ah] don't stop any man's tale. [ai] Christ gives us all wit to know this, [ak] and heaven as our reward. Amen!]

[Text notes: A Marg. has _gre_ for insertion.

B _repraue_ is written above the line.

C _not_ put in by a later hand.]

The Boris hede furst.

[_Porkington MS. No. 10, fol. 202; ? ab. 1460-70 A.D._]

Hey, hey, hey, hey, e borrys hede is armyd gay![1]

The boris hede i{n} hond I bryng W{i}tt garlond gay in porttoryng.

[Sidenote: [Fol. 202b.]]

I pray yow all w{i}tt me to synge W{i}tt hay.

---- Lordys, kny?tt{is}, and skyers, Persons, prystis and wycars, The boris hede ys e fur[s]t mes, W{i}tt hay.

---- The boris hede, as I yow say, He takis his leyfe, & gothe his way Son aft{ur} e xij theylffyt day, W{i}tt hay.

---- The{n} co{m}mys i{n} e secund kowrs w{i}th mekyll pryde, e crann{is} & e heyrrou{n}s, e bytt{ur}is by e syde, e p{ar}trychys & e plowers, e wodc.o.k{is} & e snyt, W{i}tt hay.

---- Larkys i{n} hoot schow,[2] ladys for to pyk, Good drynk {er}to, lycyvs and fyn, Blwet of allmayn,[3] ro{m}nay and wyin, W{i}tt hay.

---- Gud[4] bred, alle & wyin, da{er} I well say, ^e boris hede w{i}tt musterd armyd soo gay,

---- furma{n}te to po^tdtage,[5] w{i}tt we{n}nissu{n} fyn, & ^e ho{m}buls of e dow, & all {a}t eu{er} co{m}mis in,

---- Cappons I-bake w{i}tt ^e pesys of ^e roow, Reysons of corrans, w{i}tt odyr{e} spysis moo,

[_incomplete._]

[Footnote 1: "When you print I recommend that the first line of the MS. 'Hey, hey,' &c. should stand alone in two lines. They are the burthen of the song, and were a sort of accompaniment, or under-song, sung throughout, while an upper voice sang the words and tune. You will see numbers of the same kind in Wright's Songs and Carols printed by the Percy Society. It was common in the 14th and 15th centuries." --WM. CHAPPELL.

This Carol is printed in _Reliq. Antiq._, vol. ii., and is inserted here--copied from and read with the MS.--to fill up a blank page. The t.i.tle is mine.]

[Footnote 2: ? sewe, stew.]

[Footnote 3: ? the name of a wyne. Recipes for the dish _Brouet of Almayne_ (H. O.), _Brewet of Almony_, _Breuet de Almonde_, are in Household Ordinances, p. 456; Forme of Cury, p. 29, and Liber Cure Cocorum, p. 12.]

[Footnote 4: ? MS. End.]

[Footnote 5: Recipe for _Potage de Frumenty_ in Household Ordinances, p. 425.]

[po^tdtage: small "t" printed above "o"]

Errata (noted by transcriber):

_The Babees Book_ _In the printed book, some line numbers were shifted to avoid collision with the pilcrow symbol at the beginning of the stanza.

For this e-text, numbers have been restored to multiples of 4._

[Transcriber's Note:

The following two selections, _The Lytylle Childrenes Lytil Boke or Edyllys be_ and _The Young Children's Book_, were printed on facing even/odd pages. They are here presented one after the other, with sidenotes grouped at the end of each selection.

_Edyllys Be_ is given twice: first with all collations and line numbers, then with sidenotes only.]

The Lytylle Childrenes Lytil Boke or Edyllys be.

[_Harl. MS. 541, fol. 210; and Egerton MS. 1995; ab. 1480 A.D._]

[Text with collations: see Transcriber's Note above.

Numbered footnotes give readings from the alternative MS, Egerton 1995. Footnotes 9 (three references) and 23 each read: "The parts between square brackets [] are from the Egerton MS."

This explanation is also given in an unnumbered note on a later page.

Readings in [[double brackets]] are taken from the Collations section immediately after the Preface, with the MSS. abbreviated here as Adv.: "... part of the Advocates Library MS., fol. 84, back", and Cam.: "... the Cambridge University MS. ... _Hem_ is always written for _him_ in this MS., and so with other words."]

Lytyll{e} children{e}, here ye may lere]

Moche curtesy {a}t is wrytyn{e} here; For clerk{is} that the vij arte? cunne, Seyn[1] {a}t curtesy from hevyn come 4 Whan Gabryell{e} oure lady grette, And Eli?abeth with mary mette.

l. 1: [[Adv. childur]

l. 2: [[Adv. _dele_ at]]

[[Cam. _for_ wrytyne _read_ brekeyd]]

l. 3: [[Adv. _dele_ For]]