"In leaste medlynge thou shalt most please" (Colwell), "In least medling thou shalt moste please" (Veale),

and the same may be said of the last lines of the 1557 edition, "He that doth haunt to wysdoms bowre

remaynes his countreys friend,"

beside those of the earlier texts,

"He that wyll not for wysdome seke / is not his owne frende" (Petit), "He that seketh wisdom, is his owne frende" (Colwell), "He that seeketh Wisdome is his owne freend" (Veale).

If the present reprint should call forth a copy of East's edition of 1568, which must surely be now standing on the shelves of some library, we shall know perhaps whether Rodes is answerable for the alterations of the original text. Of the 1577 edition I have only altered the stops, and the printer has numbered the lines. The sidenotes are added for convenience sake, not because the text is hard enough to want a running commentary.

Comparing it with the earlier and later treatises on like subjects, two points of manners may be noticed; first, that handkerchiefs for the nose were then coming into vogue; and secondly, that toothpicks had not appeared. How to blow the nose in a genteel way before company without a handkerchief, was evidently a difficulty with early writers on deportment. They could only treat it as so many authors and editors have done since with their difficulties, -shirk it as if they knew all about it, and trust to their readers' ingenuity. The writer of the Poem on Freemasonry that Mr Halliwell has printed from MS. Bibl. Reg. 17 A. says, p. 38, 1. 711-12, From spyttynge and snyftynge kepe pe also,

By privy avoydans let hyt go,

that is, get on as well as you can. At dinner also he tells his pupil,

1. 743-6,

Kepe pyn hondes fayr and wel
Fram fowle smogynge of þy towel;
peron pou schalt not þy nese snyte,
Ny at pe mete þy tope pou pyke.

The Boke of Curtasye, ab. 1460, 1. 89-92, says,
Yf þy nose pou clense, as may be-falle,
Loke by honde pou clense wythe-alle;

Priuely with skyrt do hit away,

Oper ellis thurghe thi tepet pat is so gay.

John Russell, likewise handkerchiefless, only says, 1. 283-4,

Pike not youre nose / ne þat hit be droppynge with no peerlis clere, Snyff nor snitynge hyt to lowd / lest youre souerayne hit here.

But by Rodes's time the handkerchief had partially come in', as witness lines 261-4,

Blow not your nose on the napkin

where you should wype your hande, But clense it in your handkercher, then passe you not your hand; 2

though the earlier method was still permitted, for we read at lines 289-92,

If thou must spit, or blow thy nose,

keepe thou it out of sight,

Let it not lye vpon the ground,

but treade thou it out right.3

The Schoole of Vertue, a.d. 1577, directs the nose to be cleaned
on a napkin once a day in the morning, like the shoes and teeth:
A napkin se that thou haue in redines
Thy nose to clense from all fylthynes.

Last comes The Booke of Demeanor, l. 45-52, in A.D. 1619,
Nor imitate with Socrates,

to wipe thy snivelled nose

1 Compare one of Henry VIII.'s New Year's gifts, ano xxxij, "Item, to ye kinges launder that gave ye king handkerchers xx s." MS. Arundel No. 97, fol. 167, back. The Duke of Somerset in the Tower, asks to have allowed him, among other things "ij. night kerchers; item vj. hande kerchers." The Duchess asks also for "vj. hand kerchers" besides "vj. froc kerchers, whereof iij. fyne." Ellis, Letters, series II. v. ii. p. 215.

2 Blow not your nose in ye napkyn, where ye wype your hande

Clense it in your handkercher, then passe ye not your bande. (Petit, &c.)

3 If thou muste spyt or blowe thy nose / kepe it out of syght

Let it not lye on the grounde / but treade it out ryght. (Petit, &c.) And yet in A.D. 1344-5 monks were expected to have handkerchiefs. Prof. Morley, abstracting chap. 17 of Richard de Bury's Philobiblon, says, “ Perhaps you will see a bull-necked youth sitting sluggishly at his study, and when the cold is sharp at winter-time, and his wet nose, at the pinch of frost, runs into drops, he does not condescend to use his handkerchief till he has wetted the book beneath with its vile dew. I would give such a one, instead of a book, a cobbler's apron."-English Writers, vol. ii. Pt. I. p. 55. The continuation of the passage should be read. Compare Rhodes, p. 73, 1. 70.

Vpon thy cap, as he would doe,
nor yet upon thy clothes.

But keepe it clene with handkerchiffe,
provided for the same,

Not with thy fingers or thy sleeve,

therein thou art too blame;

but still 'filthiness or ordure' may be cast on the floor so that it be trodden out with haste, 1. 105-8. Have not we cause to be grateful to Cotton and Silk?

With regard to the picking of teeth', some of the English and French books, like the Freemasonry one above, and the Boke of Curtasye, forbid it to be done at all at meals:

Clense not thi tethe at mete sittande,

With knyfe ne stre, styk ne wande.-B. of C. 1. 93.

Others only forbid picking with the knyfe, as The Lytylle Childrenes Lytil Boke, 1. 39,

Pyke not pi tethe with thy knyfe.

It was reserved for Rodes or his 1577 editor to reconcile the difficulties by a stroke of genius,

Pick not thy teeth with thy Knyfe

nor with thy fyngers ende;

But take a stick

(I hope the reader will think of a walking-stick as I did on first reading

the passage)

or some clene thyng,

then doe you not offende, 1. 248.2

Other details I must leave the reader to notice for himself.

3, St George's Square, N. W.

1st July, 1867.

P.S. By way of further illustrating the status, pay, and work of the Gentlemen and Children of the King's Chapel in Henry the Eighth's time, I add as an Appendix to this Preface, all the particu

See the note at the end of Rodes Various Readings.

2 Pycke not thy tethe with thy knyfe / nor fynger ende

But wt a stycke or some cleane thyng / then do ye not offen d. (Petit, &c.)

lars of the Earl of Northumberland's Chapel-Gentlemen and Children that I can gather from his Household Books as published by Bishop Percy, and afterwards reprinted. The particulars are put under these heads :

I. The Number of the Gentlemen and Children.

II. Their Food, Lights, and Fuel.

III. The Washing of their Surplices.

IV. Their Wages.

V. Their Beds, and the Carts for removing them.

VI. Their Extra Gratuities for Acting Plays, &c.

VII. The Kinds of Voices or Singers.

VIII. Their Arrangement and Days of Attendance, and their Keeping of the Orgayns.'

The bits about their sleeping two and three in a bed (p. xix), acting Miracle-Plays (p. xx), playing on the Orgaynes' (p. xxv), are interesting, as well as the allusion to the Boy-Bishop (p. xx).

THE FIFTH EARL OF NORTHUMBERLAND'S GENTLEMEN
AND CHILDREN OF THE CHAPEL:

2 AND 3 HENRY VIII., A.D. 1510-11.

. I. "In the iijth Yere of the reigne of oure Sovereigne Lord Kynge Henry the viijth" Algernon Percy, fifth Earl of Northumberland, had, "daily abidynge in his Household," Gentillmen of the Chapell— ix, Viz. The Maister of the Childre j-Tenors ij-Countertenors iiij The Pistoler j-and oone for the Orgayns. Childer of the Chapell-vj. (Percy or Northumberland Household Book, p. 44.) This was a variation on the number given in p. 40, for there we find Gentyllmen and Childeryn of the Chapell.

ITEM Gentyllmen and Childryn of the Chapell xiiij Viz. Gentillmen of the Chapell viij Viz. ij Bassys-ij Tenors-and iiij Countertenours-Yomen or Grome of the Vestry j-Childeryn of the Chapell v Viz. ij Tribills and iij Meanys [Altos]=xiiij.

II. Their food was, for 'Braikfast' daily every Lent, on 'Sonday, Tewisday, Thursday and Setterday.'

Braikfast for ij Meas of Gentilmen o'th' Chapel, and a Meas of Childeryn.

ITEM iij Loofs of Brede, a Gallon dimid of Bere, and iij Peces of Saltfisch, or ells iiij White Herryng to a Meas-iij. (ib. p. 74.)

6

At p. 75, in the 'Ordre of all suche Braikfasts that shal be lowable dayly in my Lordis hous thorowte the yere,' as well on Flesche Days as Fysch Days, in Lent and out of Lent.' 'Begynnynge on Sonday the second day of February, which was Candlemas day last past. In the secund Yere of the reign of our Sovereigne Lorde Kyng Henry the viijth' the allowance is:

Braikfasts for ij Meas of Gentylmen o' th' Chapel, and a Meas of Childer.

ITEM iij Loif of Houshold Breid, a Gallon dimid of Bere, and iij Peces of Beif boyled-j.

Among "Braikfastis of Fysche.. allowid" them "on Setterdays.. oute of Lent," at the same date, are

Braikfasts for ij Meas of Gentilmen o' th' Chapel and a Meas of Childer.

ITEM iij Loifs of Houshold Breid, a Gallon dimid of Bere, and a Pece of Saltfische-j.

Their "service of Meat and Drynk to be servyd upon the Scamlynge Days in Lent Yerely, as to say, Mondays and Setterdays," was for "x Gentilmen and vj Childre of the Chapelliiij Measse."

Service for Gentyllmen and Childeryn o' th' Chapell.

ITEM to every Meas a Loof of Breide, a Potell of Bere, iiij White Herrynge, and a Dysch of Stokfisch viij Dyschis.

=

On Rogation Days, from Tuesday May 27, 3 Henry VIII, the Meat and Drink allowed them for supper was:

Service for iiij Mease of Gentyllmen and Childre of the Chapell at Suppar upon Tewisday in the Rogacion days: Furst, x Gentylmen and vj Childre of the Chapell-iiij Meas.

ITEM to every Meas a Loof of Bred, a Pottell of Bere, Half a Dysch of Buttre, and a Pece of Saltt-fysche-viiij Dyschis.

Their daily extras, or "Lyverays of Breid, Bere, Wyne, WhiteLights and Wax," were "for Gentyllmen of the Chapell and Childer. . a Loof of Houshold Breid, a Gallon of Bere, and iij White Lyghtts."

1 Scambling-Days. Days in Lent, when no regular meals were provided, but every one scrambled and shifted for himself as he could. (Percy in) Halliwell's Gloss.