THE BOOK OF COURTESY

Here beginneth the First Book of Courtesy

WHOSO will of courtesy hear,

In this book it is made clear.

If thou be gentleman, yeoman or knave,

Thee needeth nurture for to have.

When thou comest to a lord’s gate,

The porter thou shalt find thereat;

Take[[168]] him thou shalt thy weapon to,

And ask him leave in to go,

To speak with lord, lady, squire or groom,

Thereof thou must bethink thee soon;

For if he be of low degree,

Then him falls to come to thee.

If he be gentleman of kin

The porter thee will lead to him.

When thou comest the hall door to,

Take off thy hood, thy gloves off do.

If the hall at the first meat be,

Forget not this lesson concerns thee:

The steward, controller and treasurer there,

Sitting at the daïs, hail thou fair.

Within the hall set on either side,

Sit other gentlemen, as falls that tide.

Incline thee fair to them also,

First to the right hand thou shalt go,

Sithen[[169]] to the left hand thine eye thou cast,

To them thou bowest full fast.

Take heed to yeomen on thy right hand,

And sithen before the screen thou stand,

Amid the hall upon the floor,

While marshal or usher come fro the door,

And bid thee sit or to board thee lead.

Be stable of cheer for manners, take heed.

If ye be set at a gentleman’s board,

Look thou be hend[[170]] and little of word.

Pare thy bread and carve in two

The overcrust from the nether through.

In four thou cut the overdole,[[171]]

Set them together as it were whole,

After, cut the nether crust in three,

And turn it down—learn this of me.

And set thy trencher thee before,

And sit upright for any sore.

Spare bread or wine, drink or ale,

Till thy mess from the kitchen be set in hall,

Lest men say thou art hunger-beaten,

Or all men know thee for a glutton.

Look thy nails be clean, in truth,

Lest thy fellow loathe them, forsooth.

Bite not thy bread and lay it down,

That is no courtesy to use in town.

As much as thou wilt eat, that break,

The remnant left the poor shall take.

In peace thou eat and ever eschew

To quarrel at board—that may thee rue.

If thou make mows in any wise

A villainy thou catchest or ever thou rise,

Let never thy cheek be great with meat,

Or morsel of bread that thou shalt eat.

An ape’s mow men say he makes

That bread and flesh in his cheek bakes.[[172]]

If any man speak that time to thee,

And thou shalt answer, it will not be

But wallowing,[[172]] and thou must abide;

That is a shame for all beside.

On both sides of thy mouth if thou eat,

Many a scorning shalt thou get.

Thou shalt not laugh nor speak nothing,

While thy mouth be full of meat or drink.

Nor sup thou not with great sounding,

Neither pottage, nor other thing.

Let not thy spoon stand in thy dish,

Whether thou be served with flesh or fish,

Nor lay it not on thy dish side,

But cleanse it honestly without pride.

Look that no dirt on thy finger be,

To defoul the cloth before thee.

In thy dish if thou wet thy bread,

Look thereof that nought be led

To drip again thy dish into;

Thou art ill-bred if thou so do.

Dry thy mouth ay well and fine,

Whether thou shalt drink ale or wine,

Nor call thou not a dish again

That is taken from the board in plain.[[173]]

If thou spit over the board or else on’t,

Thou shalt be holden courtesy to want.

If thine own dog thou scrape or claw

For a vice that is held as men know.

If thy nose thou cleanse, as may befall,

Look thy hand thou cleanse withal;

Privily with skirt do it away,

Or else thro’ thy tippet that is so gay.

At meat cleanse not thy teeth nor pick

With knife or straw or wand or stick.

While thou holdest meat in mouth, beware

To drink, that is an unhonest chare;[[174]]

And also physic forbids it quite,

And says thou may be choked at that bite,

If it go wrong thy throat into

And stop thy wind, thou art fordo.[[175]]

Nor tell thou never at board no tale

To harm or shame thy fellow in hall;

For if he then withhold his wrath,

Eftsoons he will forecast thy death.

Wheresoever thou sit at meat by the board,

Avoid[[176]] the cat, at a bare word;

For if thou stroke or cat or dog,

Thou art like an ape tied with a clog.

Also eschew, without strife,

To foul the board-cloth[[177]] with thy knife.

Nor blow not on thy drink or meat,

Neither for cold, neither for heat.

Nor bear with meat thy knife to mouth,

Whether thou be set by strong or couth.[[178]]

Nor with no board-cloth thy teeth thou clean

Nor eyen that run red, as may be seen.

If thou sit by a right good man

This lesson look thou think upon:

Under his thigh put not thy knee

Thou art full lewd if thou let this be.

Nor backward sitting give thou thy cup

Neither to drink, neither to sup.

Bid thy friend take cup and drink,

That is holden an honest thing.

Lean not on elbow at thy meat,

Neither for cold nor for heat.

Dip not thy thumb thy drink into;

Thou art uncourteous if thou it do.

In salt-cellar if thou put

Or fish or flesh that men see it,

That is a vice, as men me tells;

And great wonder it would be else.

After meat when thou shalt wash,

Spit not in basin nor water dash,

Nor spit not loosely for any meed

Before a man of God for dread.

Whosoever despises this lesson right

At board to sit he has no might.

Here endeth now our first talking.

Christ grant us all his dear blessing!

Here endeth the First Book of Courtesy

“If thou be a young Infant”