"What age are they of?"

"The eldest son is in his seventeenth year, the second in his
sixteenth, the others several years younger; but beside these my Lord
has several young gentlemen brought up with his own sons, two of which
are his nephews; he keeps in his house a learned clerk to teach them
languages; and as for all bodily exercises, none come near them; there
is a fletcher to teach them the use of the cross-bow; a master to teach
them to ride; another the use of the sword; another learns them to
dance; and then they wrestle and run, and have such activity in all
their motions, that it does one good to see them; and my Lord thinks
nothing too much to bestow on their education."

"Truly," says Sir Philip, "he does the part of a good parent, and I
honour him greatly for it; but are the young gentlemen of a promising
disposition?"

"Yes indeed, Sir," answered the servant; "the young gentlemen, my
Lord's sons, are hopeful youths; but yet there is one who is thought to
exceed them all, though he is the son of a poor labourer."

"And who is he?" said the knight.

"One Edmund Twyford, the son of a cottager in our village; he is to be
sure as fine a youth as ever the sun shone upon, and of so sweet a
disposition that nobody envies his good fortune."

"What good fortune does he enjoy?"