Among them is one by Francis Seager, published in London in 1557, entitled The Schoole of Vertue, and booke of good Nourture for Chyldren and youth to learne their dutie by. Another is The Boke of Nurture, or Schoole of good maners for men, servants, and children, compiled by Hugh Rhodes, of which at least five editions were printed between 1554 and 1577.
The Schoole of Vertue begins thus[2] (the spelling being modernized):—
"First in the morning when thou dost awake
To God for his grace thy petition then make;
This prayer following use daily to say,
Thy heart lifting up; thus begin to pray,"
A prayer of eighteen lines follows, with directions to repeat the Lord's Prayer after it. Then come rules "how to order thyself when thou risest, and in apparelling thy body."
The child is to rise early, dress carefully, washing his hands and combing his head. When he goes down stairs he is to salute the family:—
"Down from thy chamber when thou shalt go,