This, for example, was the duty of young people
who wished to behave prettily four hundred years
ago, as set forth in two or three little books of
etiquette. The disciples are those youths of
gentle blood who were usually placed as pages
in great houses. When they first enter their
lord's place in the morning, let them come in,
not with a rush, but at an easy pace, say "God
speed," hold up their heads, salute their lord on
one knee, and look straight into the face of any
one who speaks to them, until he has done
speaking; then answer shortly and to the
point; for many words are right tedious. The
youth must stand upright, without scratching
himself or leaning against a post, till he is asked
to sit; then cross his mouth before eating,
converse cheerfully and quietly without ill talk, and,
if any one command him, let him stand up and
return his thanks. Let the page be prompt to
carry the cup or hold lights to his lord or lady,
hold clean water and napkin for his lord to wash
before he goes to dinner. He is to keep his
knife sharp, and, when he dines himself, to cut
his bread, not break it, and to put none in his
pocket; let him also, without noise, eat his
soup with a spoon, not sup it with his mouth,
and see that he do not leave his spoon in the
dish. He is not to lean on the tablecloth so as
to dirty it, nor to wipe his nose on it, nor to
hold his head over his dish, nor pick his ears,
nose, nails, or teeth, nor scratch his head, at
meals, nor fill his mouth with more than he can
hold in it while speaking.

He is to wipe his mouth and hands on a cloth
before drinking, that he may not make the cup
dirty; and he is to take salt with his knife, not
dip his meat into the saltcellar; nor put his knife
into his mouth, nor blow on his food. Let him
taste with his fingers of every dish that is set
before him, and when one is removed he must
not ask for it again. He must not throw his
bones on the floor, but lay them neatly on his
trencher. Let him have also a clean trencher
and a clean knife for his cheese, and when the
meal is over let him clean his knives and put
them up, keep his seat till he has washed, and
wash without spitting in the basin; then go and
stand before his lord till grace is said; after
which one fetches for his lord the basin, one the
cloth, and one pours water over his hands.
Among several things noticeable enough to need
no comment, we may find in these directions the
origin of the horror still felt in all good society
at sight of a man who puts his knife into his
mouth. It comes down from the time when a
man used his own knife in the dish that might
be passed to others, and dipped it at will into
the common saltcellar.

Now, let us hear what counsel a good woman,
who lived in the polite world of four hundred
years ago, or more, gave to her daughter.
"Daughter," she said, "if you would be a wife,
don't stay away from church when it rains, say
your prayers, and don't gossip or laugh scornfully
at old people or young. If any man offer
to wed you, do not scorn him, whatsoever he
be, but ask advice of your friends. Love,
honour, and be meek to the man you marry,
and you shall be his dear darling. Don't
laugh too loudly, or walk too fast, or toss about
your head, and do not be apt to swear; and
when you have taken your cloth to market, do
not spend the money it brings at the tavern.
Drink moderately where good ale is being served;
it will be a shame to you if you are often
drunk. For they that be often drunk, thrift is
from them sunk, my dear child. Do not
frequent wrestlings, or shootings at the cock;
encourage no chance greetings, take no gifts; be
not too bitter or too bonny with the people of
your household; make them work, and treat
them as they do well or ill, and, when time
presses, work with your own hands. Keep your
own keys, pay wages punctually; neither mock
nor be jealous if you see your neighbour's wife
in rich attire. If your children do amiss, don't
scold,

But take a smart rod, and beat 'em in a row
Till they cry mercy, and be of their guilt aknowe.
The dear child must have love,
And ever the dearer the more,
My dear child."

As soon as you have a daughter born, begin to
gather fast for her dower; and marry her as
soon as you are able, for maidens are unstable,
my dear child."

But the fullest and most interesting book of
the etiquette of our forefathers is that written, or
adapted and endorsed, by John Russell, who
was Usher in Chamber and Marshal in Hall to
the good Duke Humphrey, of Gloucester,
brother of King Henry the Fifth, and Protector
of England, in the minority of his nephew,
Henry the Sixth. After much suffering in
those latter days from strife of faction and feud
with his uncle, Cardinal Beaufort, Duke
Humphrey was at last arrested for high treason, and
two days afterwards found dead in his prison.
John Russell tells us nothing of this; but only
how his lord went to bed and got up, washed,
dressed, and breakfasted, and gives us a good
notion of what it would have been to dine with
this Duke Humphrey.

As Mr. Russell rhymes his counsel, he must
needs begin in the conventional fashion of his
time with a May morning, and a rising out of
bed and going to a forest. There he met a sad
young idler, stalking deer. "Whom do you
serve?" said Mr. Russell. "No one," said the
sad young man, "and I wish myself out of the
world; for when I sought service, because I
could do nothing, every man said me nay."
"Will you learn, if I teach you? Now, what
would you like to be?" "A butler, sir, a
chamberlain, or a good carver." Whereupon
Mr. Russell begins instantly to tell him that a
butler must love God, be true to his master,
and have three sharp knives in his pantry.
One is to chop loaves, one to pare them, and
the third to scrape and smooth the trenchers.
He is to give to his lord new bread, to the
others at his table bread a day old, and have
"all household bread three dayës old, so it is
profitable." Four-day old bread is most
convenient when it is to be used as a trencher.