STANS PUER AD MENSAM
This must have been a popular form of the maxims, as many MSS. still exist. The translation is made from MS. Lambeth 853, fol. 150, about 1430, with occasional references to Harl. 2251, fol. 153 (148), about 1460(?). A much longer and more tedious (250 lines, instead of 99) version was printed by Dr. Furnivall in Queene Eliz. Achad., from MS. Ashmole 61. This last quotes Grostum Caput, i.e., Grossetete, and refers several times to “Dr. Palere,” of whom nothing seems to be known. The Ashmole version, however, contains several interesting points not mentioned in the other two:—
“Thy elbow and arms have in thy thought,
Too far on the table do them not lay.”
“And if thou see any man reading a letter,
Come not too nigh him for dread of blame.”
“And if thou go with any man in field or in town,
By wall or by hedge, by palace or by pale,
To go without (outside) him, look thou be bown (ready),
And take him betwixt thee and that same wall;
And if thou meet him, look thou be sure
That thou go without him, and leave him next the wall.”
“Stare not on a strange man too much, be thou ware.”
“Nor never mock an old man, though he be old.”
Various other MSS. are (1) Jesus College, Cambridge (Q.T. 8, printed by Wright & Halliwell, in Reliquiæ Antiquæ, I., 156-58), (2) Cotton Caligula A ii, Harl. 4011, Lansdowne 699, Additional 5467, &c. It was printed once by Caxton, and several times by Wynkyn de Worde.
The only reason for considering John Lydgate as the author lies in the attribution to him in the last stanza (see next page).
p. [27]. Indict. Text: edwite, modern, twit.
p. [30]. Ah, little ballad, &c. The Harl. text reads:
“Go, little bill, barren of eloquence,
Pray young children that thee shall see or read,
Though thou be compendious of sentence,
Of thy clauses for to take heed,
Which to all virtue shall their youth lead.
Of the writing, though there be no date,
If aught be amiss in word, syllable, or deed,
Put all the default upon John Lydgate.”