Children of Tudor Times

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Meghan Cox Gurdon, Thou Are a Blab, He Said; In Tudor times, the young played with rattles and spinning tops, said their prayers, made cheeky remarks, and were not always kind to animals. Wall Street Journal, Apr 27, 2023, at page A17
https://www.wsj.com/articles/tud ... ab-he-said-28b2ebe1
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/w ... he-said/ar-AA1aoliG
(Book review on Nicholas Orme, Tudor Children. Yale University Press, April 11, 2023)

Note:
(a) " 'The child is father of the man,' wrote Wordsworth * * * Nicholas Orme's 'Tudor Children,' a history of English childhood in the turbulent era between the medieval and Stuart monarchs"
(i)
(A) "The child is father of the man" simply mean a child will become a man.
(B) William Wordsworth
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Wordsworth
(1770 – 1850; an English poet; section 11 Major works: The poem "My Heart Leaps Up" contains the sentence "The child is father of the man")
(ii)
(A) House of Tudor
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/House_of_Tudor
(1485-1603; Henry VII to Elizabeth I)
, whose "final ruler" (table in the Wiki page) was "Anne, Queen of Great Britain," who was also childless (but married, unlike Elizabeth I).

Name of Henry VII, father of Henry VIII, was Henry Tudor -- hence the name of the House.
(B) House of Stuart
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/House_of_Stuart
("originally spelt Stewart [as surname] * * * The family name comes from the office of High Steward of Scotland * * * Mary, Queen of Scots, was brought up in France where she adopted the French spelling of the name Stuart")

Mary was daughter of James V of Scotland, and mother of James VI of Scotland -- the latter would become James I of England in 1603 (after Elizabeth I dies childless). The six-day-old Mary inherited the throne of her father; Scotland would be governed by regents. In 1547, "King Henry II of France proposed to unite France and Scotland by marrying the young queen [the 4-year-old Mary] to his three-year-old son [in 1548] five-year-old Mary was sent to France to spend the next thirteen years at the French court." en.wikipedia.org for "Mary, Queen of Scots."

(b) "Mr Orme, a professor emeritus at Exeter University * * * A schoolbook from 1500 allows us to 'eavesdrop,' as the author puts it, on youthful remarks such as 'Thou art a blab' and 'He is the veriest coward that ever pissed.' * * * Children bowled and batted and whacked tennis balls."
(i)
(A) University of Exeter
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Exeter
(1838- ; public; in Exeter, Devon, England)
(B) Exeter
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exeter
(county town of Devon; section 1 Name)
(ii) English dictionary:
* blab (n):
"1: archaic : one that blabs : TATTLETALE
2: idle or excessive talk : CHATTER"
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/blab
* very (adj; verier, veriest): "ABSOLUTE, UTTER  <the veriest fool alive>|
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/veriest

Please read all definitions of very as an adjective.
* The verb piss has had only one definition in UK and US, ancient and presently: urinate.
(iii) bowl (vt, vi): "to roll (a ball) in bowling"
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/bowl

(c) "The lives of Tudor children and adolescents were necessarily touched by these changes—and others, such as the disappearance of boys from altar service"

I fail to find anything about "disappearance of boys from altar service" in Church of England.


(d) " 'Tudor Children' is the first general study of the subject. It is crisp and factual and, with lots of enlivening illustration (prints, portraiture and pages of illuminated manuscript), beautiful to regard. In his long career, Mr Orme has written numerous works of English history. He's done a yeoman's job here of sleuthing out the details of childhood"
(i) crisp (adj):
"2a: notably sharp, clean-cut, and clear  <a crisp illustration>
        also : concise and to the point  <a crisp reply>
* * *
   e: BRISK, LIVELY  <a crisp tale of intrigue>"
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/crisp
(ii) The "regard" in "beautiful to regard"
(v): "3: to look at"
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/regard
(iii)
(A) yeoman (n): "one that performs great and loyal service  <did a yeoman's job in seeing the program through>"
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/yeoman
(B) yeoman
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yeoman
(photo)