New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1898-12-18
OLD ENGLISH ETIQUETTE.
THE SAGE OBSERVATIONS OF MASTER
FRANCIS HAWKINS. AETAT SEVEN
pru,vIorfR. AND THE LIGHT Thrown
BY IT ON THE MANNERS OF TIE 'f'' ""
TENTH CENTURY

From Longman's Magazine LATHAM,
Outside the world Of the stage anu ia b' h,,t in
-, nrodigies have ceased to nourlsn "a NJ
inlan. ,s ~ "E,liza and our James anu 10
hoth the Martyr and the youhsel ,ninsd and
,orcipp house view Of education nracocious
nnnereclass England was a nest -. ~ ~ come.
upp,I list as soon as "httel 'oni,,.
cnrId go or speak ne was inltia'en M
ments' and had to apply ms MI eu, 1of-t the
scdulously to syntax. IL seelm 'aiu, Digby to
nav thing for a caOw boy ,kehe"" D's33 an
accomnany a political mission aproan 49, ann,
returning become-at the age ~ Nh In
gentleman commoner OF 'inuTe,S..., ,raa mar
a., manner the first Lady Falkland was ma.
riad at fifteen and her daughter Il, I'M aon
Individually as well as nationa'y, III" ,v.Ion-
teenth century was perlon oi tasc' .,ur;tv
ments and hasty harvcstng' "". .;nJ very
,,a, attained or assumed 10 BE- attaineu' We
much earlier than at present Juus'"s ~, ~
modern analogies. it would DE uiincu'. n, Sir
agine that only thirty years nau 80 pligio
Thomas Browne the philosophic mlhu oi ~
Medici" while the. bourgeois putsn''' "a
Pepvss tone Of thought wouin Sussu', ne
diarist being nothing under hity. thouSn. no.,
o,orv ono knows he was but thirty seven WIN
his deafness Contributor" W ''''
was complete A., o,,.epth CEN
fury reared-for who would car , SuJn Uaukins
children? none outvied little ftahcis ii""
a. tho sort of pathetic achievement IN With
the serious father and heavy uns'e 81 'h oha no
grotesduely gloricd. Born in l"-N, inns p" az r
horo he was eight years old. rendered ms IL
nowned "Youth's Behaviour from the frenV"
nf grave persons" Roughly descrbable as
seventeenth century Don't QUIZ ,e,
haviour. Decency in conversation ani,n,ne
Men" is probably unsurpassed as an opium. .
If contemporary etiquette. In its own 'iinr !.
was held in great esteem rea'hihs al ,, i,',
addition" in 1672 20 alm2s, ev or,5 n' han%s
fresh matter more or less germahe 10 'iie
primary themc-at one time turther h'ntS nn ~.
"Arrayng the Body. or on the nun 81 n.
sons AT another. "A Discourse Upon some III
az Habits and DRESSINGS, az an
other a glossary "of those words that pe uS,u
in naming of any Art or science ana ~ wi ID
In l652. "A Gentleman OF Lincoln : mn p Pnto
the book the complement Of turning II mo
Latin Finally one Robert CodTlnstoh' VINO
had been a rank parliamenteer cana was SUI, d
shocking bore) appended second volume u r%s
the Instructing of the Younger Hor' III N''''
and Boarders at schools. cha
We naturally pause - contemp.a,e III" :,
original putter-forth of Youth behayi"u,,
Tho small boy "at whose ste his bookseller
hogs the reader To "conniye on the plea 81
it's being wrought by an uncouth ana rouEh
file of il. green years. f""r niSr'o s
Sparke' Did his green years eaten 50 mucn ~
= glimpse Of the bliss Of childhood. irrcSponSi-
hiiitvp Was he ever once crimson with irollc
or unintclligible with laughter M ihlsr'a,
evidence points the other way. we see an
anernic little person seating himself Seddle an"
towardly at his desk Ia indlte hmm
Prccept ; Sing not within thy mouth. mum
ming to myself. unless thou he alone; III su'h
sort as thou canst not be heard by Others.
feet"
And afterward this.
When thou blowcst at thy Nose take me-"
thou blow not as children DO WI 'ic
further detailed instructions IN this branch
it is sufficient to say that they throw a lurd
light on seventeenth century pronenesses)
with an ascetic contravcntion of the IN
stincts of a real child the little Schoomaster
Francis presently eXh,rts:
Eat not in the streets principally in the
Town. bccst thou alone. nor m company nor IN
. hon mi Df
Of strangers
Maxims however comic. come so tragically
from lips but seven years Old, that 1t Is com,
forting to know that Francis Hawkins managed
to grow up. Considering youths BEHAVIOUR
he lived indeed. to a fair age
But what a pastiche the boys entire manual
is of the little ways and mannerisms Of our
potter ancestors, Here We may follow them
both 10 board and bed and watch their gongs-
out and their cOmings-in. with all the minute
perplexties OF ethic and punctilio therefrom de-
pending
Though hygiene was not unconsidered among
them. ii was with "anothergess' consideration
from ours. The following should provoke
Board School infants supercouS smile Let
not thy chamber thy table where thou
studiest be unhandsOme. especially in the sight
Of another. and if so be that thou hast one to
make thy bel leave it not uncovered when thou
goest out thence" An assertion that occurs
in Codrington's sequel should partially allay
Johnny Joness contempt for the seventeenth
century. though one notes that IT is cautiously
introduced as a remarkable observation to
wit. The Nurse and the NeOterick may pre-
tend what they please. but it much discour
ageth and deecteth the sick Person not to often
change his LINEN" Let us congratulate our
selves that later "Neotericks" have all come
round to the above remarkable opinion!
But beyond a warning against drinking when
hot the original Youths Behaviour" leaves its
readers sanitation pretty much in his own
hands. and in the hands Of the 'Galensts,"
whose business it The book certainly goes
far to lay down that lit is point of
wholsomeness to wash ones hands and face as
soon as one is up. and" (as il somewhat grudg-