Advice books for children and young people were common types of literature in the Renaissance and Reformation The following selection comes from the advice book of Elizabeth Grymeston, written for her son and published in London about 1600

To her loving son, Berme Grymeston

My dearest son, there is nothing so strong as the force of love, there is nothing so forcible as the love of an affectionate mother to her natural child, then n o mother can either more affectionately show her nature, or more naturally manifest her affection, than in advising her children out of her own experience to eschew evil and incline them to do that which is good . leave thee this portable veni mecum for thy counsellor in which thou maist see the true portraiture of thy mother's mind, and find something either to resolve thee...