Batman vppon Bartholome his booke De proprietatibus rerum, newly corrected, enlarged and amended: with such additions as are requisite, vnto euery seuerall booke: taken foorth of the most approued authors, the like heretofore not translated in English. Profitable for all estates, as well for the benefite of the mind as the bodie. 1582.

¶Of a childe. Cap. 6.

A Childe that is betwéene vii. yeare and xiiii. is called Puer in Latine, and hath that name of Puritas, clean∣nesse, as sayth Isidore. And the childe is properly called Puer, when he is way∣ned from milke, and departed from the breast, and knoweth good and euill ••and therefore he is able to receiue chastising and learning, and then he is put and set to learning vnder tutours, and compel∣led to take learning and chastising: Chil∣dren of this age be hot & moyst of com∣plection: and in such children for strayt∣nes of veynes, mouing of Venus hath no great masterie, till they cou••e to the yere of Puberte, that is when y^e nether beard haire groweth first in the flesh, and ther∣fore for purenesse of kinde innocencie, such children be called Pueri, as saith I∣sidore. Then such children are softe of flesh, lythie and plyant of body, able and lyght to mouing, wittie to learne, & leade their liues without thought & care, and set their courages onelye on mirth and lyking, and dread no perills more than beating with a rod, and they loue an ap∣ple more than golde. In the time of Pu∣berte when the haire groweth on the neather beard, they be not ashamed to be séene naked and bare, when they be prai∣sed, or shamed, or blamed they set lyttle thereby. Through stirring and mouing of the heate of the flesh and of humours, they be lightly and soone wroth, & soone pleased, and lyghtly they forgiue: and for tendernesse of body they be soone hurt & grieued, and may not well endure harde trauayle. For ••••uing of hot humours which haue y^e mastrie in thē, they mooue lightly, and be vnstedfast and vnstable. Through great and strong heat, they de∣sire much meate: and so by reason of superfluitie of meate and of drinke,* 1.1 they fal oft and many times into diuers sick∣nesses & euills. And those children which be gono••éd and gotten of corrupt father and mother take corruption of them, as it fareth in children of leprous men, and of those men which haue the sicknesse called P••dagre, which of a corrupt hu∣mour of the father and mother, are cor∣rupted with leprosie and with gout. By voyce y^t la••e, we perceiue betwéene chil∣dren and men of full age. Therefore li∣bro. 3. Aristotle saith, that in children the voyce chaungeth not, vntill the de∣siring of Venus come: For when chil∣drens voyce chaungeth it is a token of Puberte, and then they be able to gen∣der and get children Sith all children be tached with euill manners, and thinke onely on things that be, and regard not of things that shall be, they loue playes, game, and vanitie, and forsake winning and profite: and things most worthye they repute least worthy, and least wor∣thy most worthye. They desire things that be to them contrary and grieuous, and set more of the image of a childe; than of the image of a man, and make more sorrow and woe, and weepe more for the losse of an apple, than for the losse of their heritage, and the goodnesse that is done for them, they let it passe out of minde. They desire all thinges that they sée, and praye and arke with voyce and with hande: They loue talking and counsayle of such children as they be, and auoyd companye of olde men: they kéepe no counsayle, but they tell all that they heare or see. Sodainly they laugh, and sodainly they wéepe. Al∣way they crye, iangle, scorne & disdaine, that vnneth they be still while they sleep. When they are washed of filthe, anone they ••efile themselues againe. When the mother washeth and kometh them, they kicke and s••rall, and put with feete and with hands, and withstandeth with all their might. For they thinke one∣lye on wombe ioye, and knowe not the measure of theyr wombes:* 1.2 They de∣sire to drinke alwaye, vnneth they are out of bedde, when they crye for meat canone.

Notes

• * 1.1

  It is very expedient for yoūg people to take heed that they mach not vvith those that come of a corrupt or leprous stocke.
• * 1.2

  Or euer they be re¦die cloa∣thed.