THE BABEES’ BOOK
MS. Harleian 5086, fols. 86-90, about 1475, ends, “Learn or be lewd.” First printed by Dr. Furnivall. Nothing is known of the author. Written in rhyme royal, five-stress lines in seven-line stanzas, arranged ababbcc. The treatise is noteworthy chiefly in that it seems to be addressed to young princes, and the MS. dates from the time when Edward V. and Richard of York were boys. As it is more tedious than quaint in the original, it has been rendered into prose.
p. [1]. Facet. For author and title, see Introduction, p. [xii]. It was printed very frequently in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, both separately and in connection with seven similar works, two of them also attributed to John Garland, under the title: Auctores Octo Opusculorum cum commentariis, &c.; Videlicet Cathonis, Theodoli, Faceti, Cartule alias de Contemptu Mundi, Thobiadis, Parabolarum Alani, Fabularum Esopi, Floreti. The English author seems to have borrowed little besides the name and the introduction,
“Cum nihil utilius humane credo saluti
Quam rerum nouisse modos et moribus uti.”
p. [2]. Babies. Children much older than those we associate with the word. Apparently it was used like the Spanish menino (French menin, introduced from Spain, 1680) to mean, “young man of good family.”
p. [2]. Ease in learning, i.e., because it was in verse.
p. [2]. Lady Facetia. Apparently the author’s feminine of Facetus (perhaps through confusion with facetiæ, jokes), because courtesy was usually personified as a woman. In the Tesoretto, the chief virtue is Larghezza (liberality), upon whom Courtesy attends, together with Good-Faith and Valour, over against the masculine qualities, Prudence, Temperance, Fortitude, Justice.
p. [3]. Bele. Fr. belle, beautiful. Not common in English (see N.E.D.) until the seventeenth century.
p. [6]. Trencher. Originally, a slice of wholemeal bread, four days old, upon which food was served. Later, it was made of wood.
p. [8]. Where they ought to be. In a knife-rack or case? See Wright, Domestic Manners and Customs, p. 464.