15th Century children’s etiquette book tells kids not to be greedy with cheese

Apparently, nose picking is (s)not just a bad habit of modern kids.

Medieval children also needed to be warned not to go digging for gold, not to mention not to hog the cheese and, of course, burp like you have a bean in your throat.

A 15th-century guide to children’s etiquette has just been digitized for everyone to enjoy — and it seems kids then weren’t much different than kids now.

The conduct book, The Lytille Childrenes Lytil Boke, intended to teach table manners, is available online at the British Library, and, according to The Guardian, exhorts children to “pyke notte thyne errys nothyr thy nostrellys” (don’t pick your ears and nose); to “spette not ovyr thy tabylle” (don’t spit at the table); “Bulle not as a bene were in thi throote,” (don’t burp like you had a bean in your throat); “And chesse cum by fore the, be not to redy,” (don’t be greedy with cheese); and “‘Loke thou laughe not, nor grenne / And with moche speche thou mayste do synne.” (don’t laugh, grin talk too much).

The book is online, according to the Guardian “as part of a new children’s literature website bringing together original manuscripts, interviews, and drafts” by authors from Lewis Carroll to Jacqueline Wilson.

The medieval text is part of the British Library’s own collection, and by listing all the many things that medieval children should not do, it also gives us a hint of the mischief they got up to.”