THE LITTLE CHILDREN’S LITTLE BOOK
LITTLE children, draw ye near
And learn the courtesy written here;
For clerks that well the Seven Arts know,[[53]]
Say Courtesy came to earth below,
When Gabriel hailed Our Lady by name,
And Elizabeth to Mary came.[[53]]
All virtues are closed[[54]] in courtesy,
And vices all in villainy.[[53]]
Look thy hands be washéd clean,
That no filth on thy nails be seen.
Take thou no meat till grace be said,
And till thou see all things arrayed.[[55]]
Look, my son, that thou not sit,
Till the ruler of the house thee bid.
And at thy meat, in the beginning,
Look on poor men that thou think;[[56]]
For the full stomach ever faileth
To understand what the hungry aileth.
Eat not thy meat too hastily;
Abide and eat thou easily.
Till thou have thy full service,
Touch thou no mess[[56]] in no wise.
Carve thou not thy bread too thin,
Nor break it not in twain.
The morsels thou beginnest to touch
Cast them not into thy pouch.
Put not thy fingers in thy dish,
Neither in flesh, neither in fish.
Put not thy meat into the salt,
Into the cellar, that is a fault;[[56]]
But lay it fairly thee before,
Upon thy trencher, that is good lore.
Pick not thine ears nor thy nostrils;
If thou do, men will say thou come of churls.
And while thy meat in thy mouth is,
Drink thou not—forget not this.
Eat thy meat by small morsels too,
Fill not thy mouth, as brothels[[57]] do.
Pick not thy teeth with thy knife.
In no company begin thou strife.
And when thou hast thy pottage done,
Out of thy dish thou put thy spoon.
Nor spit thou not over the table,
Nor thereupon—that is nothing able.[[58]]
Lay not thy elbow nor thy fist
Upon the table whiles thou eat’st.
Bulk[[59]] not, as a bean were in thy throat,
As a carl[[60]] that comes out of a cot.
If thy meat be of great price,
Beware of it, or thou art not wise.
Speak no word, nor still nor stark,[[61]]
And honour and courtesy look thou work.[[62]]
And at the table look thou make good cheer;
Look thou whisper not in no man’s ear.
With thy fingers[[62]] thou touch and taste
Thy meat, and look thou do no waste.
Look thou laugh not neither grin;
And with much speech thou may’st do sin.
Meat nor drink look thou not spill,
But set it down, both fair and still.
Keep thy cloth clean thee beforn,
And bear thee so thou have no scorn.
Bite not thy meat, but carve it clean,
Be well aware no drop be seen.[[63]]
When thou eatest gape not too wide,
That thy mouth be seen on ilk a side.
And son, beware, I rede, of one thing:
Blow neither in thy meat nor in thy drink.
And if thy lord drink at that tide,
Drink thou not, but him abide;
Be it at even, be it at noon,
Drink thou not till he have done.
Upon thy trencher no dirt must be;
It is not honest as I tell thee.
Nor drink behind no man’s back;[[63]]
For if thou do, thou art to lack.
If cheese come forth, be not too greedy,
Nor to cut thereof too speedy.
Cast not thy bones unto the floor,
But on thy trencher thee before.
Keep clean thy cloth before thee all,
And sit thou still, whatso befall,
Till grace be said unto the end,
And till thou have washen with thy friend.
Let him that worthier is than thou art,
Wash before thee; that is thy part.
And spit thou not in thy basin
My sweet son, that thou washest in.
And arise then up, full soft and still,
And jangle neither with Jack nor Jill.[[64]]
But take thy leave of the head lowly,
And thank him with thine heart highly,
And all the gentles together the same,[[64]]
And bare thee so thou have no blame.
Then will men thereafter say:
“A gentleman was here to-day.”
And he that despiseth this teaching,
He is not worthy, without leasing,
Neither at good man’s table to sit,
Nor of no worship for to wit.[[65]]
And therefore, children, for charity,
Love this book though it little be,
And pray for him that made it thus,
That he may be helped by sweet Jesús,
To live and die among his friends,
And never to be cumbered with no fiends.[[66]]
And give us grace in joy to be,
Amen, Amen, for charity!
Explicit.
Learn or be Lewd,
quoth Whytyng.
Here endeth the Book of Courtesy that is full necessary unto young children that must needs learn the manner of courtesy.