THE KING'S MIRROR 165 



XXV 



THE IMPORTANCE OF COURTESY IN THE ROYAL SERVICE 



Son. It would be most profitable both for me and 

 for all others who are interested in unfamiliar subjects, 

 whether good breeding or other knowledge, to learn 

 what is best and most useful. For there are but few 

 masters who can teach such things, and they are all 

 more difficult to grasp than those subjects which are of 

 but slight value or wholly worthless. Now since I hear 

 that there are differences both in the duties of men and 

 in the customs of the court, I shall ask you to inform 

 me as to the regulations there and to explain how the 

 services differ and what belongs to each; also to point 

 out the customs which seem good to you and which are 

 surely needful to learn, if one wishes to serve a king 

 with honor, as well as those which one who wishes to 

 be reputed a moral man should shun and beware of. I 

 have this reason, too, for seeking this information so 

 earnestly, that/J have seen men come from a king's 

 household, whose conduct I have noted carefully, most L 

 of whom seemed only about as well bred as those who j 

 had never been at court, or even less than theyJNowy 

 I do not know which is the more likely, whether I do 

 not understand what good breeding means, or that the 

 facts are as they seemed to me. 



Father. If it should be your fate to serve at court and 

 you wish to be called courtly and polite, you will need 

 to beware of what happens to those who come to court 

 without manners and leave without refinement. But 

 since you have asked how the services and the usages 



