StNicholas [serial] . at length of most things, from theHigh Court of Parliament to the brewing ofbeer, scarcely mentions boys and girls. Hemight so easily have given us a chattychapter on them, and he so evidently thinksit not worth while, for he pads his book nowand then with far less interesting matter. He does complain that the poorer sort ofwomen do not sufficiently correct their chil-dren, wherein their husbands are also to beblamed, says the old canon, very fairly, and by means whereof very manie of them . .doo oftentimes come to confusion . . which might have proved good members of the
StNicholas [serial] . at length of most things, from theHigh Court of Parliament to the brewing ofbeer, scarcely mentions boys and girls. Hemight so easily have given us a chattychapter on them, and he so evidently thinksit not worth while, for he pads his book nowand then with far less interesting matter. He does complain that the poorer sort ofwomen do not sufficiently correct their chil-dren, wherein their husbands are also to beblamed, says the old canon, very fairly, and by means whereof very manie of them . .doo oftentimes come to confusion . . which might have proved good members of theircommonwealthe and countrie. This sameHarrison whipped his own children conscien-tiously until his mastiff essaies to catch therod in his teeth for the preventing of furtherpunishment, which, in his masters opinion, isnot unworthie to be noted. That kindly mastiff should be known andremembered of all children, though the yearsbe so many since, moved by his big, lovingheart, he interceded for the little Certainly lack of discipline was not a failingof the sixteenth century, and we know that chil- ELIZABETHAN BOYS. 20I dren were brought up austerely and made tostudy hard, whether they had tutors at homeor were sent to the excellent grammar-schoolsof the time, where such a quantity of Latinwas crammed into them, for they profitedmuch, and were packed off to the universitiesearly indeed, as we shall see. They were carefully trained in all courtesyof speech and hearing, but repressed and keptin the background in a way that would be been much esteemed for all men, and Harri-son tells us with pride of the great silencethat is used at the tables of the honourable andwiser sort, generallie all over the realm. The fathers of that time sent their sons totravel on the Continent when they could, forthey believed that home-keeping youth haveever homely wits, and that he cannot be aperfect man, not being tried and tutord in theworld. So let him go, said these wise fathers,
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