304 Mediaeval Lore. 



corner of the world"; but unfortunately it cannot 

 now be said at all events in the author's sense 

 to be " so rich, a land that unneth it needeth help 

 of any land, and every other land needeth help of 

 England " ; nor perhaps would it be strictly true 

 to say of the England of our day that it is " full 

 of mirth and of game, and men oft times able to 

 mirth and game, free men of heart and with 

 tongue, but the hand is more better and more 

 free than the tongue." 



In our opinion, the most amusing part of the 

 whole book is Chapter iv., on "Mediaeval 

 Manners." The worthy friar was evidently a 

 keen observer, and who shall say that he knew 

 nothing of the ways of children when, in the 

 chapter " Of a Child," we find the following: 

 " They dread no perils more than beating with 

 a rod; and they love an apple more than gold 

 . . . and make more sorrow and woe, and 

 weep more for the loss of an apple than for the 

 loss of their heritage. . . . They desire all 

 that they see, and pray and ask with voice and 

 with hand . . . they keep no counsel, but 

 they tell all that they hear or see. Suddenly they 

 laugh, and suddenly they weep. Always they cry, 

 jangle, and jape ; that unneth they be still while 

 they sleep. When they be washed of filth, anon 

 they defile themselves again. When their mother 

 washeth and combeth them, they kick and 

 sprawl, and put with feet and with hands, and 

 withstand with all their might." In the chapter 



