THE BOOK OF COURTESY

MS. Sloane 1986, about 1460. The text is either very corrupt, or the style is as rough as possible, lacking even the essentials of grammar. It contains many Scotch words, and has certainly suffered in its rhymes, and probably in its sense through English copyists. The author apparently remembered the institution of a custom at the court of John of Gaunt; hence it seems likely that he wrote before 1420.

p. [81]. Bakes. Perhaps rolls into a ball or moulds, as this is a stage of baking.

p. [81]. Wallowing, i.e., rolling the morsel about.

p. [83]. Chare. From the O. E. verb to turn; hence, a turn either at play as here (trick) or at work, as in the compound charwoman.

p. [85]. Cross-Christ thee speed. The same oath occurs in Sir Gawayne and the Green Knight, l. 762; but I do not remember it elsewhere. The order of the first two words is commonly Christ-cross, as in “Christ-cross-row” (alphabet). The inversion is possibly a sign of translation from the French.

p. [86]. On both knees. So in Liber Faceti.

“Quando Deo servis utrumque genu sibi flecte;

Ast homini solum reliquum teneas sibi recte.”

p. [88]. The adder. “The nedder,” as the text puts it quaintly, in the old, correct form. The serpent in Genesis.

p. [88]. Mysloset. Apparently from the root lose; hence, to lose amiss, i.e., to lead astray; but the form appears to be passive, not active. Perhaps the idea is that the serpent himself was lost for his wickedness; but this seems far-fetched.

p. [89]. Solace ... makes. One of the many traces of Scotch. The original rhyme must have been mas.

p. [90]. St. Ambrose. Archbishop of Milan, 340-97. He wrote an ethical treatise De Officiis Ministrorum, in imitation of Cicero’s De Officiis; but whether or not this injunction is found therein, it occurs in almost the same words in Liber Faceti:—

“Si videas aliquem casurum siue cadentem,

Non ride: sed ei te prebe compatientem.”

p. [90]. More and less. If at means that, the sense is, that everybody understands it; but the context seems to call for the meaning: that you yourself do not fully understand.

p. [91]. Opens his lip. Text:—

“Lest men say to gossip or couth (friend),

Yonder is a man without mouth.”

p. [91]. To staunch, &c. So in Liber Faceti:

“Si videas fratres inter se bella gerentes,

Neutri confer opem; sed eorum corrige mentes.”

p. [92]. Three oxen, &c. Another proverbial voicing of “Two’s company, three’s none.”

p. [93]. Red man, i.e., red-haired. Presumably this distrust of red-haired people as treacherous was based on the old tradition that Judas was red-haired.

p. [93]. His courtesy, &c. The meaning is: he must needs be discourteous who stirs fingers and toes, &c.

p. [96]. Stocks with him. Doubtless, because the castle gate would be the most conspicuous place of punishment.

p. [96]. What he will deem. What judgment he will pronounce by law.

p. [96]. Wesselle clothes. The meaning is not clear. Dr. Furnivall suggests vessel-cloths; but the phrase is still doubtful unless it alludes to ecclesiastical coverings, which, however, would not be in the porter’s keeping, and which would certainly not be sold. Possibly, wassail-clothes, i.e., garments kept perhaps for occasions of special revelry; or, it may be, the sense is that the porter must keep a look-out that vessels and clothes, in general, be not stolen and sold by servants or others.

p. [96]. Sits with him, &c., i.e., he chooses his own companions.

p. [97]. Four pence apiece. Dr. Furnivall found statutes against excessive prices, but no stipulation of the sum mentioned. Perhaps it was the fixed price in the author’s shire. It is cheap enough, only four shillings, at the outside.

p. [97]. Cupboard. Probably that in which the canopies and curtains were stored when not in use.

p. [98]. Liveries. Not uniforms, but deliveries, i.e., of rations, or, as in this case, fuel for their own rooms.

p. [98]. Holly keen, i.e., it filled the fireplace like an arbour from Good Friday until All Hallows Day.

p. [99]. On his yard score, i.e., make notes by a sort of tally on the wood.

p. [99]. Six pence, about five shillings to-day. According to Russell, four ordinary persons made up a “mess.”

p. [99]. The cause he has it in score, i.e., if the cook quarrels about the expense, or the panter wants extra bread (reward) brought on. In cases of dispute, the steward was referred to.

p. [100]. Shall harbour, i.e., the marshal has charge of all other officers, except the usher in the chamber. John Russell combined the two functions.

p. [100]. Gentleman, yeoman-usher, i.e., two, of different social standing.

p. [100]. Make litter. The making of a pallet-bed I understand as follows. The mattress is nine feet by seven, made of loose straw, for the most part; but with a sort of framework on all four sides, made of bundles (wisps) of straw to keep the sides firm and the great mass of straw in its place; and the whole is to be kept level. Text: On legh unsunken, which seems to mean, not in hills and dales.

p. [101]. As a man by the neck, i.e., the button was put into a loop resembling a noose. The end of the line is not clear. Perhaps (1) the man hangs light as the flesh drops from his bones on the gallows; (2) the button hangs light because it has no body; (3) the adjective was dragged in for the rhyme.

p. [102]. Boards, trestles, &c. For the chamber only, as I understand it, the hall having its own groom.

p. [104]. In strong stead (text, styd) on pallet he lay. The line is certainly corrupt, and I can make no sense of it. From the context I gather that lay is the present optative of the verb meaning to place, not the past tense of lie. He seems to refer to the servant, as in the next line, and not to the master who is already “winking.” In that case In (Sc., ane?) strong stead must represent something that he places on the pallet—what, I do not know.

p. [105]. Many are false. So often in the romances of the time.

p. [105]. Wax so green. Seemingly the steward’s accounts were kept first on tablets, and afterwards copied into books.

p. [106]. Surveyor. His duty was to examine the dishes and see that everything was right before it went to the table.

p. [112]. Duke John’s house. As his father was king, the man referred to must be John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, who died 1399.

p. [112]. [Wide]. The passage seems corrupt. The text says:—

“The selvage to the lord’s side within,

And down shall hang that other may win.”

p. [118]. Starven. Starved is still used, dialectically, to mean, nearly dying of cold.

p. [119]. Will eat. Russell, in his directions to the carver, specifies choice bits, as the wings (first left, then right) of capon or hen; the legs of quail, lark or pigeon; of fawn, kid, lamb, first the kidney, then the rib; shoulder, then rib of pork, sides of rabbit or hare, &c.

p. [119]. Lief and dear. This seems to mean only that he might, if he liked, keep a choice bit for a stranger.

SYMON’S LESSON OF WISDOM FOR
ALL MANNER CHILDREN

MS. Bodley 832, fol. 174, about 1500. It seems to be unique, and of the author or copyist I know nothing.

p. [123]. Wall. The passage suggests Lydgate’s poem, giving an account of his school-days, especially:—

“Ran into gardens, apples there I stole,

To gather fruits spared hedge nor wall,

To pluck grapes in other men’s vines

Was more ready than for to say matins.”

p. [124]. Schate. The context seems to demand the meaning fence; but the nearest to the form given here seems to be the Scotch skathie.

p. [125]. When he is passed. The allusion seems to be to a middle-class boy in a cathedral school, who, as a chorister perhaps, would be familiar with the bishop’s presence, to whom therefore the reference would be pertinent and vivid.