Youth
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Notes in order of appearance on this page
27. Middleton, Act 2, Scene 3; Act 3, Scene 2
22. Janeway, p.15
IT'S YOUR BIRTHDAY: INFANCY AND CHILDHOOD
Welcome to your infancy! After nine comfortable months in the womb, you have entered the world in an undisclosed location in England. In the literature of the time, there is not much distinction between the raising of an infant in the country and its upbringing in the city. The distinction between the two areas arises when the individual reaches the point in his or her life when it is time to begin to take on a role of labor.
In both the literature of the city and country, however, a heavy emphasis is placed on the role of religion in the raising of a child. In Thomas Middleton's A Chaste Maid in Cheapside, a Puritan offers hope for a new father, Allwit, in London in the following manner:
1 Pur. Give you joy of your fine girl, sir:
Grant that her education may be pure
And become one of the faithful (27).
In the context of the play, this quote falls into line with the omnipresent sentiment of religion but this scene continues and takes on an entirely different feel to it. Allwit continues:
Allw. Thanks to your
Sisterly wishes, Mistress Underman.
2 Pur. Are any of the brethren’s wives yet come?
Allw. There are some wives within, and some at home.
1 Pur. Verily, thank, sir. Exeunt [Puritans].
Allw. Verily, you are an ass, forsooth:
I must fit all these times, or there’s no music (27).
Suddenly, when the Puritans exit, Allwit drops his false politeness and allows his true feelings toward the traditions surrounding religion and infancy to show through. He mocks the Puritans by repeating the word “verily” and by calling one of them an ass. These last few lines demonstrate Allwit’s resentment about having to speak in the same manner as the Puritans when he is in their presence (“I must fit all these times, or there’s no music”) and perhaps even his bitterness toward the practices of Puritanism in general. It is likely that Allwit goes along with the christening of his newborn simply because it is the socially normal thing to do. In fact, he cannot enjoy or even appreciate the ceremony because he is so preoccupied with how much it is costing him. The newborn is christened amongst a gathering of people including a midwife, the mother, two Puritans, and five gossips. The conversation below illustrates Allwit’s feelings toward the activity going on around him:
[Nurse takes round wine.]
1 Pur. I’ll answer for them.
They wish all health and strength, and that you may
Courageously go forward, to perform
The like and many such, like a true sister,
With motherly bearing. [Drinks.]
Allw. [Aside] Now the cups troll about
To wet the gossips’ whistles. It pours down, i’faith;
They never think of payment.
1 Pur. Fill again, nurse. [Drinks.]
Allw. [Aside] Now, bless thee, two at once! I’ll stay no longer;
It would kill me and if I paid for ‘t.— (27).
Although emphasis is certainly placed on religion in the upbringing of a child, it seems in Allwit’s case to be more for the sake of custom than it does for any religious devotion or fear of God. Nevertheless, in your case, just to make sure, you ought to go ahead and be christened to cover any social or religious bases that you would not want to leave open.
The overall importance to the individual of christening is disputable but it is nevertheless apparent that at least in society, being a Christian (or at least putting on a Christian front) had a great impact on how you were perceived by others. Had you not been christened immediately following your birth like Allwit's baby, society might have looked down upon you. This claim is exemplified in the following discourse in regards to what path your life might have taken if your unchristened self had wandered up to the house of a devout and kind-hearted stranger:
“A very poor Child of the Parish of Newington-Butts, came to the Door of a Friend of mine, in a very lamentable Case, it pleased GOD to raise in the Heart of my Friend, a great Pity and Tenderness towards him; so that he took him out of the Streets, who had nothing at all to commend him to anyone’s Charity, but his Misery. My Friend eying the Glory of GOD, discharged the Parish of the Child, and took Him as his own, yet there seemed to be little hopes of doing good upon him, for he was a very Monster of Wickedness, and a thousand times more miserable by his Sin, than by his Poverty. He was running to Hell as soon as he could go, and was old in Vice when he was young in Years; one shall scarce hear of one so like the Devil in his Infancy, as this poor Child was. What Sin was there (that his Age was capable of) that he did not commit? What by the Corruption of his Nature, and the abominable Example of little Beggar-boys, he was arrived to a strange Pitch of Impiety. He would call Names, take GOD’s Name in vain, Curse and Swear, and do almost all Kind of Mischief; and, as to any thing of GOD, was worse than an Heathen” (22).
The excerpt above shows an attitude toward an unruly child as being “worse than an Heathen,” meaning that Heathen children must have been seen as very bad indeed if they were a means of measuring just how bad a child was. If you were not as fortunate as to run into a well-meaning Christian like the one above, you might have resigned yourself to a life of crime. But as this is a guidebook for how to be a goodly child, let this tragic idea pass from your mind and instead be pleased to explore the ways in which a child was to be educated in order to avoid such a life.