handle them both to the helping of both In the meane while for the entring time thus much The witte must be first wayed how it can conceiue and then the bodie considered how it can beare labour and the consorte of their strength aduisedly maintained They haue both their peculiar functions which by mediocrities are cherished by extremities perished hast doing most harme euen to the most and lingring not but some sometimes to the best And yet haste is most harmefull where so euer it setts foote as we that teache alwaie finde and they that learne sometimes feele For the poore children when they perceiue their owne weaknesse whereof most commonly they maye thanke haste they both faint and feare and very hardly get forward and we that teach do meet with to much toile whē poore young babes be committed to our charge before they be ripe Whom if we beat we do the children wrong in those tender yeares to plant any hatred when loue should take roote learning grow by liking And yet oftimes seueritie is to sowre while the maister beateth the parentes folly and the childes infirmitie with his owne furie All which extremities some litle discretion would easely remoue by conference before to forecast what would follow and by following good counsell when it is giuen before Which will then proue so when the parent will do nothing in placing or displacing of his childe without former aduise and communicating with the maister and the maister likewise without respecting his owne gaine will plainely and simply shew the parent or freind what vpon good consideration he thinketh to be best Wherein there wilbe no error if the parent be wise and the maister be honest Chapter 5. What thinges they be wherin children are to be trained eare they passe to the Grammar That parentes and maisters ought to examine the naturall abilities in their children wherby they become either fit or vnfit to this or that kinde of life The three naturall powers in children Witte to conceiue by Memorie to retaine by Discretion to discerne by That the training vp to good manners and nurture doth not belong to the teacher alone though most to him next after the parent whose charge that is most bycause his commaundement is greatest ouer his owne child and beyond appeale Of Reading Writing Drawing Musick by voice and instrument and that they be the principall principles to traine vp the minde in A generall aunswere to all obiections which arise against any or all of these NOw that I haue shewed mine opinion concerning the time when it were best to set the child to schoole the next two questions seeme to be what he shall learne and how he shalbe exercised when he is at schoole For seeing he is compound of a soule and a bodie the soule to conceiue and comprehend what is best for it selfe and the bodie to The bodie to waite and attend the commaundement and necessities of the soule he must be so trained as neither for qualifying of the minde nor for enabling of the bodie there be any such defecte as iust blame therfore may be laide vpon them which in nature be most willing and in reason thought most skilfull to preuente such defaultes For there be both in the body and the soule of man certaine ingenerate abilities which the wisedom of parentes and reason of teachers perceiuing in their infancie and by good direction auancing them further during those young yeares cause them proue in their ripenesse very good and profitable both to the parties which haue them and to their countries which vse them Which naturall abilities if they be not perceiued by whom they should do condemne all such either of ignoraunce if they could not iudge or of negligence if they would not seeke what were in children by nature emplanted for nurture to enlarge And if they be perceiued and either missorted in place or ill applyed in choice as in difference of iudgementes there be many thinges practised which were better vnproued to the losse of good time let of better stuffe they do bewray that such teachers and trainers be they parentes be they maisters either haue no sound skill if it come of infirmitie or but raw heades if it spring of fansie If they know the inclination and do not further it rightely it is impietie to the youth more then sacrilege to the state which by their fault be not suffered to enioy those excellent benefits which the most munificent God by his no niggardishe nature prouided for them both If they found them and followed them but not so fully as they were to receiue if for want wherwith it deserues pardon if for want of will exceeding blame and cryeth for correction of the state by them hindred and small thankes of the parties no more furthered Wherfore as good parentes and maisters ought to finde out by those naturall principles whervnto the younglings may best be framed so ought they to follow it vntil it be complete and not to staie without cause beyond staie before it come to ripenesse which ripenesse while they be in learning must be measured by their ablenes to receiue that which must follow their forebuilding but when they are thought sufficiently well learned and to meddle with the state then their ripenesse is to be measured by vse to themselues and seruice to their countrey in peace as best and most naturall in warre as worse and most vnnaturall and yet the ordinarie ende of a disordered peace For when the thinges which be learned do cleaue so fast in memorie as neither discontinuaunce can deface them nor forgetfulnesse abolishe them then is abilitie vpon ascent and when ascent is in the highest and the countrey commaundes seruice then studie must be left and the countrey must be serued Seeing therfore in appointing the matter wherin this traine must be employed there is regard to be had first to the soule as in nature more absolute and in value more precious and then to the bodie as the instrument and meane wherby the soule sheweth what is best to be done in necessity of fine force in choice of best shew I will remitte the bodie to his owne roome which is peculiarly in exercises sauing where I cannot meane the soule without mention of the bodie and in this place I wil entreat of the soule alone how it must be qualified And yet meane I not to make any anatomie or resolution of the soule his partes properties a discourse not belonging to this so low a purpose but onely to pick out some natural inclinatiōs in the soule which as they seeme to craue helpe of education and nurture so by education and nurture they do proue very profitable both in priuate and publicke To the which effect in the litle young soules first we finde a capacity to perceiue that which is taught them and to imitate the foregoer That witte to learne as it is led and to follow as it is foregone would be well
yet by the way least any man either dispaire of the good therefore spare the prouing because the forme of exercise doth seeme so intricate and there with all to much or if he be entred in triall and thinke he shall faile if he misse in some litle bycause the charge is giuen so precisely to keepe al that is enioyned I wish him not to thinke either the errour vnpardonable to regard or the thing vnauailable to health if either all or any one of these circumstaunces be not absolutely hyt For as a perfit healthfull body is not to be found by enquirie which is not to be hoped for in nature bycause in so continuall a chaunge such a perfitnes cannot chaunce our bodyes being subiect to so many imperfections so is it no wonder for men to do what they may to wish for the best though still beyond their reach If any can come neare them he breakes no right of vse though he misse the rule of art which alwaye enioyneth in the precisest sort but yet resteth content with that which falleth within compasse of ordynarie circumstance The reason is art weyeth the matter abstracte and free from circumstaunce and therefore hauing the whole obiect at commaundemet she may set downe her precept according to that perfitnes which she doth conceiue but the execution being chekt with a number of accidentarie occurrences which art cannot comprehend as being to infinite to collect must haue one eye to her precept an other to hir power and aske consideration counsell how to performe that with a number of lettes and thwartings which art did prescribe either without any or at the lest with not so many Chapter 29. The nature and qualitie of the exercise THe nature of the exercise which we vse either to recouer health strength if they be feebled or to preserue them that they feeble not as it is verie forcible to worke this healthfull effect so it deserueth verie circumspect consideration in applying and fitting it to the effect that the exercise in his degree of motion may aunswere the partie in his kinde of constitution least by iarring that way too farre they fall into a greater discord Galene examining the thinges which do please the displeased infantes findes out that all their naturall vnquietnesse is appeased by three naturall meanes which the nurse vseth the pappe to feede the voice to still the arme to moue Whervpon he concludeth that meat to nourish Musicke to delite motion to exercise be most naturall which being so then for the preseruation of nature she must needes haue her owne motion which agreeth best with her owne disposition For as some exercises go before the maine to prepare the bodie and some follow to retourne it by degrees into his former state temper so some be verie vehement strong and strainable other verie gentle curteous and remisse which must haue echone their application according vnto the qualitie and state of the bodie wherunto they are to be applyed They be also as far distinct different as particular circunstance can worke alteration in any respect as their particular titles before did shew in their particular braunching and diuision And yet therein they swarue not from the generalitie of Physicke which leaning vpon some vnfallible groundes yet lighteth still vpon some fallible euentes which make the whole profession to seeme coniecturall though in the best and surest kinde of coniecture if the professour haue studied to sufficiencie and obserued so long till discretion haue saide the thing is thus I will not therfore spend any more labour about a matter of so great confusion but as they shall fall out so will I apply them that by their proper vse their propertie maye appeare Chapter 30. Of the bodies which are to be exercised IN the bodie which is to take good of exercise there be three pointes to be considered for either it is sickly hauing his operations tainted and weake or it is healthy and without any extraordinarie and sensible taint or it is valetudinarie neither pure sicke nor perfit whole To speake first of the weake and sickish bodie it is to be noted as hath bene already in parte marked before that sicknesse assaileth vs three wayes By distemperature when either the whole bodie or some parte therof is anoyed with vnproportionate heat cold drynesse or moysture or by misfashioning when either the whole bodie or some parte therof wanteth his due forme his iumpe quantitie his iust number his naturall seat or by diuision when any part of the bodie being naturally vnited vpon some weaknesse is dissolued and sundred And as diseases come by one or all these three wayes so health doth defend it selfe by the contrarie good temperature good forme good vniting of partes It is graunted by the best though contraried by some of the soryest Physicians that sicke bodies may be put to exercise so it be well considered before what kinde of weaknesse the body is in and what kinde of helpe may be hoped for by the exercise As for example in sicknesse which commeth by distemperature if a bodie be distempered with to much heat it may not be put to any great or earnest exercise for ouer heating If it be to drie and withered it must forbeare much exercise for feare of ouerdrying If it be to hoat and dry both or to hoat and to moyste both it must quite abandon exercise as in the first kinde enflaming in the second choking If it be cold and drie it must either neuer be exercised or verie gently If it be cold or moyst then exercise can do it no harme If it be cold and moyst it maye boldly abide exercise which variety commeth vpon the effectes that are wrought by exercises either in augmenting heat and stirring humours or auoiding superfluities Whervpon the generall conclusion is that no distempered bodie may vse any great or vehement exercise though some there be which may venture vp on some meane and gentle kinde of stirring whether the infirmitie concerne the whole bodie or be so in some parte as it shake not the whole If the infirmitie in fashion be casuall and come by late misfortune for in this kinde naturall weaknesse is euer excepted exercise maye do good bycause it will make that streight which was croked that smooth which was rugged lay that which was swollen raise that which was layd emptie that which was full fill that which was emptie open that which was close and shut and so forth still working the contrarie to the defect and thereby the amendment If the fault be in quantitie great and swift exercises will abate and pull downe the flesh small and slow will fat and thicken it If the fault be in number exercise helpeth as vehement mouing driueth the stone and grauell from the straite passages of the kidneyes to the broader and from thence downe into the bladder If the fault be in seat no exercise is good bycause till the part be restored
the parties which are to be exercised and what they are to obserue nowe must I saye somwhat of him and to him which is to direct the exercise and how he may procure sufficient knowledge wherby to do it exceeding well And yet the trainers person is but a parcell of that person whom I do charge with the whole For I do assigne both the framing of the minde and the training of the bodie to one mans charge whose sufficiencie may verie well satisfie both being so neare companions in linke and not to be vncoupled in learning The causes why I medle in this place with the training maister or rather the training parte of the common maister be these first I did promise in my methode of exercises so to do secondly the late discours of exercise will somwhat lighten this matter and whatsoeuer shall be said here may easely be reuiued there where I deale with the generall maister Beside this exercise being so great a braunche of education as the sole traine of the whole bodie maye well commaunde such a particular labour though in deede I seuer not the persons where I ioine the properties For in appointing seuerall executions where the knowledge is vnited and the successe followeth by the continuall comparing of the partes how they both maye or how they both do best proceede in their best way how can that man iudge wel of the soule whose trauell consisteth in the bodie alone or how shall he perceiue what is the bodies best which hauing the soule onely committed to his care posteth ouer the bodie as to an other mans reckening In these cases both fantsie workes affection and affection ouerweyneth either best liking where it fantsieth most or most following where it affecteth best as it doth appeare in Diuines who punish the bodie to haue the soule better and in Physicians who looke a side at the soule bycause the bodie is there best Where by the way I obserue the different effectes which these two subiectes being seuered in charge do offer vnto their professours For the health of the soule is the Diuines best both for his honest delite that it doth so well and for his best ease that himselfe faires so well For an honest vertuous godly and well disposed soule doth highly esteeme and honorably thinke of the professour of diuinitie and teacher of his religion bycause vertuous dealinges godly meditations heauently thoughtes which the one importeth be the others portion and the best food to a well affected minde Whervpon in such a healthy disposition of a well both informed and reformed soule the Diuine can neither lacke honor for his person nor substance for his purse Now to the contrarie the health of the bodie which is the Physicians subiect is generally his worst though it be the ende of his profession which though he be glad of his owne good nature as he is a man or of his good conscience as he is a Christian that the bodie doth wel yet his chymny doth not smoke where no pacient smartes For the healthfull bodie commonly careth not for the Physician it is neede that makes him sought And as the Philosopher sayeth if all men were freindes then iustice should not neede bycause no wrong would be offered so if all bodies were whole that no distemperature enforced or if the Diuine were well and duetifully heard that no intemperance distempered Physick should haue small place Now the contrary dealinges bycause the diuine is not heard and distemperature not auoided do enforce Physick for the healing parte of it as the mother of the professours gaine where as the preseruing part neither will be kept by the one neither enricheth the other In these two professions we do generally see what the seuering of such neare neighbours doth bring to passe like two tenantes in one house belonging to seuerall lordes And yet the affections of the one so tuch the other as they cause sometimes both the Diuine to thinke of the body for the better support of the soule and the Physician to thinke of the soule to helpe him in his cure with comfort and courage The seuering of those two sometime shew vs verie pitifull conclusions when the Diuine diliuers the desperate sicke soule ouer to the secular magistrate and a forcible death by waye of punishement and the Physician deliuereth the desperate sicke bodie to the Diuines care and a forced ende by extremitie of disease I dare not saye that these professions might ioyne in one person and yet Galene examining the force which a good or ill soule hath to imprint the like affections in the bodie would not haue the Physiciā to tarie for the Phylosopher but to play the parte himselfe Where to much distraction is and subalterne professions be made seuerall heads there the professions make the most of their subiectes the subiectes receiue least good though they parte from most And seuerall professing makes the seuerall trades to swell beyond proportion euerie one seeking to make the most of his owne nay rather vanting his owne as simply the highest though it creepe very low And therefore in this my traine I couch both the partes vnder one maisters care For while the bodie is committed to one and the soule commended to an other it falleth out most times that the poore bodie is miserably neglected while nothing is cared for but onely the soule as it proueth true in very zealous Diuines and that the soule it selfe is but sillyly looked to while the bodie is in price and to much borne with as is generally seene and that in this conflicte the diligent scholer in great strength of soule beares most what about him but a feeble weake and a sickish bodie Wherefore to haue the care equally distributed which is due to both the partes I make him but one which dealeth with both For I finde no such difficultie but that either for the cunning he may compasse it or for the trauell he maye beare it hauing all circunstances free by succession in houres Moreouer as the temperature of the soule smelleth of the temperature of the bodie so the soule being well affected will draw on the bodie to her bent For will a modest and a moderate soule but cause the body obey the rule of her temperance or if the soule it selfe be reclaymed from follie doth it not constraine the bodie forth with to follow So that it were to much to sunder them in charge whose dispositions be so ioyned and the skill of such facilitie as may easely be attained and so much the sooner bycause it is the preseruing parte which requireth most care in the partie and but small in the trainer as the healinge part of Physicke requireth most cunning in the professour and some obedience in the patient I do make great account of the parties skill that is to execute matters which besides diligence require skill for if he be skilfull himselfe it almost needes not to giue precept If he be not
said before the greatest part and the best to be plaid consisteth vsually in the trainers distretion to apply thinges according to the circunstances of person place and time To conclude we must be content with those places which be already founded and vse those houres which be already pointed to the best that we can and yet prepare our selues towardes the better when soeuer it shall please God to send them And by perswasion some maisters maye well enough bring wise parentes to yeelde vnto this note and to giue it the triall In the meane time some excellent man hauing the commoditie of a well situate house and being able to commaund his owne circunstance neither depending of other mens helpe wherof he cannot iudge and so that way leasing some authoritie in direction may put many excellent conclusions in triall Chapter 41. Of teachers and trainers in generall and that they be either Elementarie Grammaticall or Academicall Of the Elementarie teachers abilitie and entertaiment Of the Grammer maisters abilitie aud his entertaiment A meane to haue both excellent teachers and cunning professors in all kindes of learning by the diuision of colleges according to professions by sorting like yeares into the same roumes by bettering the studentes allowance and liuing by prouiding and maintaining notable well learned readers That for bringing learning forward in his right and best course there would be seuen ordinarie ascending colleges for Toungues for Mathematikes for Philosophie for Teachers for Physicians for Lawyers for Diuines and that the generall studie of Lawe would be but one studie Euery of these pointes with his particular proofes sufficient for a position Of the admission of teachers ALTHOVGH I deuided the traine of education into two partes the one for learning to enrich the minde the other for exercise to enable the body yet I reserued the execution of both to one and the same maister bycause neither the knowledge of both is so excessiue great but it may easely be come by neither the execution so troublesome but that one man may see to it neither do the subiectes by nature receiue partition seeing the soule and body ioyne so freindly in lincke and the one must needes serue the others turne and he that seeth the necessitie of both can best discerne what is best for both As concerning the trainers abilitie whereby he is made sufficient to medle with exercises I haue already in my conceit sufficiently enstructed him both for the exercises themselues and for the manner of handling them according to the rules and considerations of Physick and Gymnastick besides some aduertisements giuen peculiarly to his owne person wherin I dwelt the longer and delt the larger bycause I ment not to medle with that argument any more then once and for that point so to satisfie the trainer wheresoeuer he dwelt or of what abilitie soeuer he were as if he listed he might rest vpō my rules being painfully gathered from the best in that kinde If he were desierous to make further search and had oportunity of time and store of bookes I gaue him some light where to bestow his studie Now am I to deale with the teaching maister or rather that propertie in the common maister which concerneth teaching which is either Elementarie and dealeth with the first principles or Grammaticall and entreth to the toungues or Academicall becomes a reader or tutour to youth in the vniuersity For the tutour bycause he is in the vniuersitie where his daily conuersation among a number of studentes and the opinion of learning which the vniuersitie hath of him wil direct choice and assure desire I haue nothing to saye but leaue the parentes to those helpes which the place doth promise For the Elementarie bycause good scholers will not abase themselues to it it is left to the meanest and therfore to the worst For that the first grounding would be handled by the best and his reward would be greatest bycause both his paines and his iudgement should be with the greatest And it would easily allure sufficient men to come downe so lowe if they might perceaue that reward would rise vp No man of iudgement will contrarie this pointe neither can any ignorant be blamed for the contrarie the one seeth the thing to be but low in order the other knoweth the ground to be great in laying not onely for the matter which the child doth learne which is very small in shew though great for proces but also for the manner of handling his witte to harten him for afterward which is of great moment But to say somwhat concerning the teachers reward which is the encouragement to good teaching what reason is it though still pretended and sometimes perfourmed to encrease wages as the child waxeth in learning Is it to cause the maister to take more paines and vpon such promise to set his pupille more forward Nay surely that cannot be The present payment would set that more forward then the hope in promise bycause in such varietie and inconstancie of the parentes mindes what assuraunce is there that the child shall continue with the same maister that he maye receiue greater allowance with lesse paines which tooke greater paines with lesse allowance Besides this if the reward were good he would hast to gaine more which new and fresh repare of scholers would bring vpon report of the furthering his olde and his diligent trauell What reason caryeth it when the labour is lesse then to enlarge the allowance the latter maister to reape the benefit of the formers labour bycause the child makes more shew with him why It is the foundacion well and soundly laid which makes all the vpper building muster with countenaunce and continuaunce If I were to strike the stocke as I am but to giue counsell the first paines truely taken should in good truth be most liberally recompensed and lesse allowed still vpward as the paines diminish and the ease encreaseth Wherat no maister hath cause to repine so he maye haue his children well grounded in the Elementarie Whose imperfectiō at this day doth marueilously trouble both maisters and scholers so that we can hardly do any good nay scantly tell how to place the too too raw boyes in any certaine forme with hope to go forward orderly the ground worke of their entrie being so rotton vnderneth Which weaknes if the vpper maister do redresse when the child commeth vnder his hand he cannot but deserue triple wages both for his owne making and for mending that which the Elementarie either marred with ignoraunce or made not for haste which is both the commonest the corruptest kinde of marring in my opinion For the next maisters wages I do conceiue that the number in ripenesse vnder him will requite the Elementarie allowance be it neuer so great For the first maister can deale but with a few the next with moe and so still vpward as reason groweth on and receiues without forcing For the
pallida iuris Omine spem laedit deteriore suam Sed sine sole nequit viui prodire necesse est Curaque quod peperit publica iura vocant Fortunae credenda salus quam prouida virtus Quam patris aeterni dextera magna regit Sic sua Neptuno committit vela furenti Spem solam in medijs docta phaselus aquis Sed mihi spes maior cui res cum gēte Deorum Quae certo dubijs numine rebus adest Perge igitur sortique tuae te crede parentis Tessera parue liber prima future tui Et quia quà perges hominum liberrima de te Iudicia in medijs experiere vijs Quidnam quisque notet quidnam desideret in te Quo possim in reliquis cautior esse refer Interea veniam supplex vtrique precare Nam meus error erat qui tuus error erit Qui neutrius erit cum quis sit sensero quippe Nullum in correcto crimine crimen erit Ergo tuae partes quae sint errata referre Emendare mei cura laboris erit Namque rei nouitas nulli tentata priorum Hac ipsa qua tu progrediere via Vtrique errores multos lapsusque minatur Quos cum resciero num superesse sinam Cui tam chara mei lectoris amica voluntas Vt deleta illi displicitura velim R. M. THE ARGVMEMTES HANDLED IN EVERY PARTICVLAR TITLE Cap. 1. THe entrie to the Positions conteining the occasiō of this present discourse and the causes why it was penned in English Cap. 2. Wherfore these Positions serue what they be and how nrcessarie it was to begin at them Cap. 3. Of what force circunstance is in matters of action and how warily authorities be to be vsed where the contemplatiue reason receiues the check of the actiue circunstance if they be not well applyed Of the alledging of authours Cap. 4. What time were best for the childe to begin to learne What matters some of the best writers handle eare they determine this question Of lettes and libertie whervnto the parentes are subiect in setting their children to schoole Of the difference of wittes and bodies in children That exercise must be ioyned with the booke as the schooling of the bodie Cap. 5. What thinges they be wherein children are to be trained eare they passe to the Grammar That parentes and maisters ought to examine the naturall abilities in children whereby they become either fit or vnfit to this or that kinde of life The three naturall powers in children Witte to conceiue by Memorie to retaine by Discretion to discerne by That the training vp to good manners and nurture doth not belong to the teacher alone though most to him next after the parent whose charge that is most bycause his commaundement is greatest ouer his owne childe and beyond appeale Of Reading Writing Drawing Musicke by voice and instrument and that they be the principall principles to traine vp the minde in A generall aunswere to all obiections which arise against any or all of these Cap. 6. Of exercises and training the body How necessarie a thing exercise is What health is and how it is maintained what sicknesse is how it commeth and how it is preuented What a parte exercise playeth in the maintenaunce of health Of the student and his health That all exercises though they stirre some one parte most yet helpe the whole bodie Cap. 7. The braunching order and methode kept in this discourse of exercises Cap. 8. Of exercise in generall and what it is And that it is Athleticall for games Martiall for the fielde Physicall for health preparatiue before postparatiue after the standing exercise some within dores for foule whether some without for faire Cap. 9. Of the particular exercises Why I do appoint so manie and how to iudge of them or to deuise the like Cap. 10. Of lowd speaking How necessarie and how proper an exercise it is for a scholer Cap. 11. Of lowd singing and in what degree it commeth to be one of the exercises Cap. 12. Of lowde and soft reading Cap. 13. Of much talking and silence Cap. 14. Of laughing and weeping And whether children be to be forced toward vertue and learning Cap. 15. Of holding the breath Cap. 16. Of daunsing why it is blamed and how deliuered from blame Cap. 17. Of wrastling Cap. 18. Of fensing or the vse of the weapon Cap. 19. Of the Top and scourge Cap. 20. Of walking Cap. 21. Of running Cap. 22. Of leaping Cap. 23. Of swimming Cap. 24. Of riding Cap. 25. Of hunting Cap. 26. Of shooting Cap. 27. Of the ball Cap. 28. Of the circumstances which are to be considered in exercise Cap. 29. The nature and qualitie of the exercise Cap. 30. Of the bodies which are to be exercised Cap. 31. Of the exercising places Cap. 32. Of the exercising time Cap. 33. Of the quantitie that is to be kept in exercise Cap. 34. Of the manner of exercising Cap. 35. An aduertisement to the training master Why both the teaching of the minde and the training of the bodie be assigned to the same master The inconueniences which ensue where the bodie and the soule be made particular subiectes to seuerall professions That who so will execute any thing well must of force be fully resolued in the excellencie of his owne subiect Out of what kinde of writers the exercising maister maie store himselfe with cunning That the first groundes would be laide by the cunningest workeman That priuate discretion in any executour is of more efficacie then his skill Cap. 36. That both yong boyes and yong maidens are to be put to learne Whether all boyes be to be set to schoole That to many learned be burdenous to few to bare wittes well sorted ciuill missorted seditious That all may learne to write and reade without daunger The good of choice the ill of confusiō The childrē which are set to learne hauing either rich or poore freindes what order choice is to be vsed in admitting either of them to learne Of the time to chuse Cap. 37. The meanes to restraine the ouerflowing multitude of scholers The cause why euery one desireth to haue his childe learned and yet must yeilde ouer his owne desire to the disposition of his countrie That necessitie and choice be the best restrainers That necessitie restraineth by lacke and law Why it may be admitted that all may learne to writ and reade that can but no further What is to be thought of the speaking and vnderstanding of latine and in what degree of learning that is That considering our time and the state of religion in our time law must needes helpe this restraint with the aunswere to such obiections as are made to the contrarie That in choice of wittes which must deale with learning that wit is fittest for our state which aunswereth best the monarchie and how such a wit is to be knowne That choice is to helpe in schooling in admission into colledges in proceding to degrees in
would haue his child begin to learne at such a time circunstance sayes no. He would haue him learne with such a man some cause contrarieth In such a place in such a sorte his power is to poore to compasse that he coueteth Be not all these lettes and what so euer is so laid to stop will of his will where neither counsell can giue precept nor the parent can execute being so strongly ouercharged It is euen like as if one should saye the freeman and the bond be not both in one case Preceptes be for freemen which maie do as ye bid them but circunstance bindes and wilbe obeyed Wherfore I must once for all warne those parentes which may not do as they would vpon these same lettes which I haue recited or any other like that they take their oportunitie when so euer it is offered bycause occasion is verie bald behinde and seldome comes the better And seeing circunstance is their bridle when they feele the raine loose course it on a maine and take the benefit of time the oportunitie of place the commoditie of the teacher the equitie of the maner and what so euer condition else wherin the freedom of circunstance doth seeme to befreind them For sauing with such a note as this is I cannot direct them which can giue no counsell but where necessitie is in ward and libertie keepes the keyes But if the parent want nothing necessary for his childes bringing vp neither a place both conuenient for receit and commodious for distaunce wherin to haue him taught nor a teacher sufficient for cunning and considerate for either curtesie or correction who can traine him vp well nor fit companions as so fit a place and so good a maister may picke out of choice which will throng vnto him And if the child also himselfe haue a witte apte to conceiue what shalbe put vnto him and a body able to beare the trauell which belonges vnto learning me thinke it were then best that he began to be doing when he maie well perceiue without trauelling his braine thorough the hardnes of the thing and neede not be toiled to the wearines of his bodie thorough the wise handling of his aduised maister For being in the schoole he may do somwhat very well though not very much wheras roming about he might hap to do ill and that very much At what yeares I cannot say bycause ripenes in children is not tyed to one time no more then all corne is ripe for one reaping though most what about one Some be hastinges and will on some be hardinges and draw backe some be willing when their parentes will some but willing when they will them selues as either will to do well vpon cherishing wisely or pleasure to play still vpon cokkering fondly hath possessed their mindes But he that deserueth to be a parent must dispose himselfe to be also a iudge in all these cases and who is so ill freinded as he hath not one with whom to conferre to learne by aduise the towardnes and time of his young sonnes schooling if he be not able to looke into it himselfe They that limitte the beginning to learne by some certaine yeares haue an eye to that knowledge which it were pitie were loste say they and may easely be gayned in those young yeares I agree with them that it were great pitie to lease any thing that neede not be loste without great negligence and may be well gotten with very small diligence not endammaging the child But more pitie it were for so petie a gaine to forgoe a greater to winne an houre in the morning and lease the whole daie after as those people most commonly do which starte out of their beds to early before they be well awaked or knowe what it is a clocke and be drousie when they are vp for want of their sleepe If the childe haue a weake bodie though neuer so strong a witte let him grow on the longer till the strength of his bodie do aunswere to his witte For experience hath taught me and calleth reason to record that a sharp young witte hastened on to wounder at for the quiknesse of his edge hath therby most commonly bene hastened to his graue thorough the weaknesse of body to the greife of the freindes whose delite is cut of and some wite of their witte for ouerhasting their child Nay what if it hath pleased God to lend him longer life he neuer sinketh deepe but fleeteth still aboue with some quicknesse of conceit continuing that wonder which he wanne in his childhood neuer burdened with much to ballase his head but still aunswering at reboundes the fairest crop of so hasty an haruest Sometime his witte will grow worse the wonder will vanishe the bodie will proue feeble and soone after perishe But now if he liue with all these infirmities of decaying witte decreasing wonder puling bodie he liues with small comfort in such a world of weaknesse which vsually commeth of to much moisture the corrupter of such carcasses the most vile and violent massacrer of the most and best studentes generally for want of trauell sauing onely to their braine which the more it is occupyed the sorer it stilleth and the sorer it stilleth the sooner it killeth the moe the more pitie Wherfore I could wishe the wittier child the lesse vpon the spurre and either the longer kept from learning for turning his edge as a to sharp knife or the sklenderer kept at it for feare of surfait in one hungring to haue it Yet must not this quickling be suffered to do nothing at all for feare he grow reasty if that nothing be dumpishe and heauie or passe beyond reclaime if it be dissolute and wanton The meane conceiuer in some strength of bodie is the best continuer and as he serues all places best in his height of learning so in all respectes ye may venture on his schooling when it shall please you with but ordinarie regard A dull witte in a strong body if ye like to haue it learne as by learning ye finde it so till some degree it may well learne for necessarie seruice in the rest of his life and may be hastened on boldly For the bodie can beare labour it is so well boaned and the witte will not cloye it so hardly receiueth The sharpenesse of witte the maister will sound by memorie and number the strength of the bodie the mother will marke by complaint and cause A weake witte and as weake a bodie is much to be moaned for the great infirmity and can hardly be helpt bycause nature is to weake and therfore it must be thought on as in a case of despaire againe against hope if any thing be goten a greife to the freindes which cannot amend it small ioye to him selfe which cannot auoide it A strong witte in as strong a bodie is worthy the wishing of the parentes to bring foorth of the teacher to bring vp For as it is a thing of it selfe not
ordinarie so where it lighteth it giues vs the gaze and bides all beginninges but that which is to soone bycause God hath prouided that strength in nature wherby he entendes no exception in nurture for that which is in nature Such spirites there be and such bodies they haue if they will and may so keepe them with orderly regard which is extreme hard vnto them For that oftimes they will not do so but distemper their bodies with disordinate doinges when pleasures haue possessed them and rashenesse is their ruler Oftimes they maie not thorough varietie and weight of important affaires which commaundeth them too farre in some kinde of calling But where so euer they light or what so euer waye they take they shewe what they be and alwaye proue either the verie best or the most beastly For there can scantly be any meane in those constitutions which are so notably framed and so rarely endued And therefore those parentes which haue such children must take great heede of them as the tippes of euill if they chuse that waye or the toppes of good if they minde that is best For the middle and most moderate wittes which commonly supplie eche corner in eche countrey and serue most assaies some ordinary meane will serue to order them but where extraordinarie pointes begin to appeare there common order is not commonly enough This is my opinion concerning the time when the child shall begin to learne which I do restraine to the strength of witte and hardnes of body the one for to receiue learning the other not to refuse labour and therfore I conclude thus that the parent himselfe ought in reason to be more then halfe a iudge of the entrie to schooling as being best acquainted with the particular circunstance of his owne child Yet I do not allow him to be an absolute iudge without some counsell vnlesse he be a very rare father and well able to be both a rule to himselfe and a paterne to others Bycause most where men be most blinded where they should see best I meane in their owne such a tyrant is affectioÌ„ when she hath wonne the field vnder the conducte of nature and so imperious is nature when she is disposed to make affection her deputie But now for so much as in setting our child to schoole we consider the strength of his bodie no lesse then we do the quicknesse of his witte it should seeme that our traine ought to be double and to be applyed to both the partes that the body may aswell be preserued in his best as the minde instructed in that which is his best that the one may still be able to aunswere the other well in all their common executions As for the training vp of the minde the waye is well beaten bycause it is generally entreated on in euery booke and beareth the honour and title of learning But for the bettering of the body is there not any meane to maintaine it in health and cheifly in the student whose trade treads it downe Yes surely A very naturall and a healthfull course there is to be kept in exercise wherby all the naturall functions of the body be excellently furthered and the body made fit for all his best functions And therfore parentes and maisters ought to take such a waie euen from the beginning as the childes diet neither stuffe the bodye nor choke the conceit which it lightly doeth when it is to much crammed That his garmentes which oftimes burden the bodie with weight sometimes weaken it with warmth neither faint it with heat nor freese it with cold That the exercise of the body still accompanie and assist the exercise of the minde to make a dry strong hard and therfore a long lasting body and by the fauour therof to haue an actiue sharp wise and therwith all a well learned soule If long life be the childes blessing for honoring his parentes why should not the parentes then which looke for that honour all that in them lyeth forsee in youth that their children may haue some hope of that benefit to ensue in their age which cannot take effect vnlesse the thing be begon in their youth Which if it be not by times looked vnto they afterwardes become vncapable of long life and so not to â—nioye the reward of their honour for any thing that their parentes helpe to it though God will be true and perfourme that he promiseth how so euer men hault in doing of their duetie And yet tempting is pernicious where the meane to hit right is laid so manifest and the childes honour to his parentes beginnes at obedience in his infancie which they ought to reward with good qualities for honour and may worke them like waxe bycause they do obey This negligence of the parentes for not doing that which in power they might and in duetie they ought giues contempt in the children some colour of iustice to make their requitall with dishonour in their age were it not that the Christian religion doth forbid reuenge which in presidentes of prophanisme we finde allowed where both curtesie to such parentes as failed in education of their children is countercharged by lawe and dissolute parentes by entreating ill are well entertained of their neglected children the vnfortunate childreÌ„ much moaned for their chaunce that they came to so ill an ende and the vndiscrete parentes more rated for their charge which they looked so ill to wherby themselues did seeme to haue forced such an ende The minde wilbe stirring bycause it stirres the body and some good meane will make it to furnish very well so the choice be well made wherin the order well laid wherby and both well kept wherwith it shalbe thought best trained The body which lodgeth a restlesse minde by his owne reste is betrayed to the commoÌ„ murtherers of a multitude of scholers which be vnholesome and superfluous humors needelesse and noysom excrementes ill to feele within good to send abroad Neither is it enough to saye that children wilbe stirring alwaie of themselues and that therefore they neede not any so great a care for exercising their bodies For if by causing them learne so and sitting still in schooles we did not force them from their ingenerate heat and naturall stirring to an vnnaturall stilnesse then their owne stirring without restraint might seeme to serue their tourne without more adoe But stilnesse more then ordinarie must haue stirring more then ordinarie and the still breding of ill humours which stuffe vp the body for want of stirring must he so handled as it want no stilling to send them away Wherfore as stilnesse hath her direction by order in schooles so must stirring be directed by well appointed exercise And as quiet sitting helpes ill humors to breede and burden the bodie so must much stirring make a waie to discharge the one and to disburden the other Both which helpes as I most earnestly require at the parent and maisters hand so I meane my selfe to
thinges will follow thee more swifte to the good then the other to the bad being capable of both as thinges of vse be and yet bending to the better Mans faulte makes the thing seeme filthie Applie thou it to the best the choice is before thee It is the ill in thee which seemeth to corrupte the good in the thing which good though it be defaced by thy ill yet shineth it so cleare as it bewraieth the naturall beautie euen thorough the cloude of thy greatest disgracing Musick will not harme thee if thy behauiour be good and thy conceit honest it will not miscary thee if thy eares can carie it and sorte it as it should be Appoint thou it well it will serue thee to good purpose if either thy manners be naught or thy iudgement corrupt it is not Musick alone which thou doest abuse neither cannest thou auoide that blame which is in thy person by casting it on Musick which thou hast abused and not she thee And why should those people which can vse it rightly forgoe their owne good or haue it with embasing to pleasure some peuishe which will not yet be pleased or seeke to heale sores which will festure still and neuer skinne though ye plaster them daily to your owne displeasure But am I not to tedious This therfore shall suffise now that children are to be trained vp in the Elementarie schoole for the helping forward of the abilities of the minde in these fower things as commaunded vs by choice and commended by custome Reading to receiue that which is bequeathed vs by other and to serue our memorie with that which is best for vs. VVriting to do the like thereby for others which other haue done for vs by writing those thinges which we daily vse but most of al to do most for our selues Drawing to be a directour to sense a delite to sight and an ornament to his obiectes Musick by the instrument besides the skill which must still encrease in forme of exercise to get the vse of our small ioyntes before they be knitte to haue them the nimbler and to put Musicianes in minde that they be no brawlers least by some swash of a sword they chaunce to lease a iointe an irrecouerable iewell vnaduisedly cast away Musick by the voice besides her cunning also by the waye of Phisick to sprede the voice instrumentes within the bodie while they be yet but young As both the kindes of Musick for much profit more pleasure which is not voide of profit in her continuing kinde All foure for such vses as be infinite in number as they know best which haue most knowledge the parentes must learne to lead their children to them and the children must beleue to winne their parentes choice which may be in all if they themselues liste if they liste not in no more then they like their restraining conceite neither bridling nor abbridging any other mans entent which seeketh after more And though all young ones be not thus farre trained yet we may perceiue that all these be vsed in particular proofes and not to be refused in generall trade where all turnes be serued by setting foorh of all thinges that be generally in vse though not generally vsed Thus much of these thinges at this time which I do meane by Gods grace to handle in their owne Elementarie as precisely and yet as properly as euer I can Chapter 6. Of exercises and training the body How necessarie a thing exercise is What health is and how it is maintained what sicknesse is how it commeth and how it is preuented What a parte exercise playeth in the maintenaunce of health Of the student and his health That all exercises though they stirre some one parte most yet helpe the whole bodie THe soule and bodie being coparteners in good and ill in sweete and sowre in mirth and mourning hauing generally a common sympathie a mutuall feeling in all passions how can they be or rather why should they be seuered in traine the one made stronge and well qualified the other left feeble and a praye to infirmitie will ye haue the minde to obtaine those thinges which be most proper vnto her and most profitable vnto you when they be obtained Then must ye also haue a speciall care that the bodie be well appointed for feare it shrink while ye be either in course to get them or in case to vse them For as the powers of the soule come to no proofe or to verie small if they be not fostered by their naturall traine but wither and dye like corne not reaped but suffered to rotte by negligence of the owner or by contention in chalenge euen so nay much more the bodie being of it selfe lumpishe and earthy must needes either dye in drowsinesse or liue in loosenesse if it be not stirred and trained diligently to the best And though the soule as the fountaine of life and the quickner of the body may will beare it out for some while thorough valiauntnesse of courage yet weaknesse will not be alwayes dissembled but in the ende will and must bewraie her owne want euen then perauenture when it were most pittie Many notable personages for stomacke and courage many excellent men for learning and skill in most and best professions haue then left their liues thorough the plaine weaknesse of their contemned bodies when they put their countries in most apparent and gladsome hope of rare and excellent effectes the one of valiantnesse and manhood the other of knowledge and skill Seing therfore there is a good in them both which by diligent endeuour may be auaunced to that for which it was ordained and by negligent ouersight doeth either decaye quite or prouâ—s not so well as otherwayes it might I maye not slightly passe ouer the bodies good being both so neare and so necessarie a neighbour vnto the soule considering I haue bestowed so much paines already and must bestow much more in the seruice of the soule nay rather considering I deale with the bodie but once and that onely here wheras I entreat of the soule and the furniture therof in what so euer I shall medle with in my whole course hereafter If common sense did not teach vs the necessitie of this point and extreme feeblenes did not force men to confesse how great feates they could do and how actiue they would proue if their weake limmes and failing ioyntes would aunswere the lusty courage and braue swinge of their fierie and fresh spirites I would take paines to perswade them by argumentes both of proofe in experience and of reason in nature that as it is easie so it were needefull to helpe the body by some traine not left at randon to libertie but brought in to forme of ordinarie discipline generally in all men bycause all men neede helpe for necessarie health and ready execution of their naturall actions but particularly for those men whose life is in leasure whose braynes be most busied
and their wittes most wearied in which kinde studentes be no one small part but the greatest of all which so vse their mindes as if they cared not for their bodies and yet so neede their bodies as without the strength and soundnesse wherof they be good for nothing but to moane themselues and to make other maruell why they take no more heede how to do that long which they do so well being a thing within compasse of their owne care and knowledge For who is so grosse as he will denie that exercise doth good and that so great as is without comparison seing olde Asclepiades is by Galene confuted and stawled for an asse as Erasistratus also his dissembling freind or who is so sore tied either to studie or to stocks as he cannot stirre himselfe if he will or ought not if he may But the matter being confessed euen by the most idle and vnweildy to be healthfull and good I shall neede no more reason to procure assent and allowaunce for exercise My whole trauell therfore must be to finde out and set foorth what shalbe requisite to the perfourmaunce of this point concerning the traine and exercising of the body that it may proue healthy liue long and be ready to assist all the actions of the minde Wherein therfore consisteth the health of the bodie and how is it to be maintained vntill such time as nature shall dismantle and pull it downe her selfe To aunswere this question and withall to declare how great an officer to health exercise is I will first shew wherin health doth consiste and how diseases do come then how health is maintained and disease auoided Last of all how great a parte is appointed for exercise to plaie in the perfourmaunce therof bycause I saye and not I alone but Galen also that great Physician neither Galen onely though sufficient alone but all that euer liued were cheife of that liuerie that who so can applie the minde well with learning and the bodie with exercise shall make both a wise minde and a healthfull bodie in their best kinde Wherefore seing I haue set downe wherein the traine of the minde doth consist so much as the Elementarie course doth admit and must perfourme and so farre as these my Positions require at this time whose profession is not to tary though it tuche them I wil now handle that other part of exercise wherwith the bodie is either to be kept in health or to be helpt to health and that not onely in the Elementarie to whom this treatise should seeme to aunswere but also in the generall student during his whole life which must alwaye rule himselfe by those circunstances which direct the application of exercise according to time age c. and shalbe handled herafter There be in the bodie of man the force of foure elementes fire and aire water and earth and the pith of their primitiue principall qualities heat and couldnesse moysture and drynesse which the Physicians call the similarie partes of the similitude and likenesse that they haue not the one to the other but the partes of eche to their owne whole bycause euerie least part or degree of these great ones beare the name of the whole as euerie part or parcell of fier is called fier no lesse then the whole fier of water water of aier aier of earth earth and euerie degree of heat is heat of cold is cold of moysture is moysture of drynesse is drynesse though greater and smaller lesse and more be epithetes vnto them as either their quantitie or qualitie doth sprede or close There be also in the same bodie certaine instrumentall partes compounded and consisting in substance of the similarie which the bodie doth vse in the executing of the naturall functions and workinges therof Now when these similarie partes be so tempered and disposed as no one doth excede any other in proportion to ouerrule but all be as one in consent to preserue and the instrumentall partes also be so correspondent one to an other in composition and greatnesse in number and measure as nature thorough the temperature of the first may absolutely vse the perfectnesse of the last to execute and perfourme without let or stoppe what appertaineth to the maintenaunce of her selfe it is called health and the contrarie disease both in the whole bodie and in euery part therof In the whole bodie by distemperature of the whole in some part by composition out of place and disioynted by greatnes being to bigge or to small by measure being misshapen and fashionles by number being to many and needlesse or to few and failing This health whether it be in the middle degre wherin all executions be complete without any sensible let and no infirmitie appeareth that the bodie feeles with any plaine offence Or if it be in the perfectest degree which is so seldom as neuer any saw bycause of great frailty and britlenesse in our nature it neuer continueth in one estate but altereth still and runnes to ruyne without both speedy and daily nay without hourely reparation The causes which alter and chaunge it so be somtime from within the bodie and were borne with it sometime from without and yet not without daunger From within the verie propertie and pithe of our originall substance and matter whence we grew altereth vs first which as it beginneth and groweth in moysture so it endeth and stayeth in drynesse and in the ende decayeth the bodie with to much drynesse which extreame though naturall withering we call olde age which though it come by course and commaundement of nature yet beareth it the name and title of disease bycause it decayeth the bodie and deliuereth it to death From within also the continuall rebating and falling awaye of somwhat from the bodie occasioneth much chaunge nay that is most cause of greatest chaunge and killeth incontinent by meere defect if it be not supplyed To these two causes of inward alteration there aunswere two other forreine causes both vnholesome and perillous the aire which enuironneth vs and violence which is offered vs. The former of the two decaing our health with to much heat cold drynesse and moysture of it selfe or by noysomnesse of the soile and corruption in circunstance The second by strong hand brusing or breaking wounding or wiping awaie of some one part of the bodie or els killing the whole consort of the bodie with the soule and taking away life from it These foure ouerthrowes of our bodies and health olde age waste aire and violence finde by helpe of nature and arte certaine oppositions which either diuert them quite if they maye be auoided or kepe them of longer if they maye be differred or mittigate their malice when it is perceiued For forreine violence foresight will looke to where casualtie commaundes not and cannot be foreseene For infection by the aire that it do not corrupte and marre so much as it would wisedome will prouide and defende the bodie from
the iniuries and wronges therof That olde age grow not on to fast circunspectnes in diet consideration in clothes diligence in well doing wil easely prouide both for the minde not to enfect first it selfe and then the bodie and for the bodie not to enforce the minde by too impotent desires That waste weare not meat takes in chardge to supplie that is drye and decayeth drinke promiseth to restore moysture when it doth diminishe the breath it selfe and arteriall pulse looke to heating and cooling And Physick in generall professing foresight to preuent euills and offering redresse when they haue done harme so not incurable doth direct both those and all other meanes Now in all these helpes and most beneficiall aides of our afflicted nature which deuiseth all meanes to saue her selfe harmelesse and deliteth therin when she is discharged of infirmities to much stuffes and stiffles to litle straites and pines both vndoe the naturall To much meat cloyes to litle faintes both perishe the principall To much liquour drownes to litle dryes both corrupt the carcasse Heat burnes cold chilles in excesse both to much in defect both to litle and both causes to decaie Mediocritie preserueth not onely in these but in whatsoeuer els But now what place hath exercise here to helpe nature by motion in all these her workinges and wayes for health to encrease and encourage the naturall heat that it maye digest quickly and expell strongly to fashion and frame all the partes of the bodie to their naturall and best hauiour to helpe to rid needelesse and superfluous humours reffuse and reiected excrementes which nature leaues for naught when she hath sufficiently fed and wisheth rather they were seene abrode then felt within And be not these great benefites to defend the body by defeating diseases to stay the minde by strengthening of her meane to assist nature being both daily and daungerously assailed both within and without to helpe life to continue long to force death to kepe farre a loufe Now as all constitutions be not of one and the same mould and as all partes be not moued alike with any one thing so the exercises must alter and be appropriate to each that both the constitution may be continued in her best kinde and all the partes preserued to their best vse which exercises being compared among themselues one to an other be more or lesse but being applyed to the partie kepe alwayes in a meane when they meane to do good Concerning students for whose health my care is greatest the lesse they eate the lesse they neede to voide and therfore small diet in them best preuenteth all superfluities which they cannot auoide if their diet be great and their exercise small Their exercise must also be very moderate and not alter to much for feare of to great distemperature in that which must continue moderate and with all it should be ordinarie that the habit may be holesome and sudden chaunge giue no cause of greater inconuenience Wherfore to auoide distemperature the enemie to health and so consequently to life and to maintaine the naturall constitution so as it may serue to the best wherin her duetie lyeth and liue to the longest that in nature it can besides the diet which must be small as nature is a pickler and requires hut small pittaunce besides clothing which should be thin euen from the first swadling to harden and thick the flesh I do take this traine by exercise which I wishe to be ioyned with learning to be a marueilous furtherer But for diet to auoide inward daungers and clothing to auert outward iniuries and all such preuentions as are not proper to teachers though in communitie more proper then to any common man I set them ouer to parentes and other well willers which will see to them that they faile not in those thinges and if they do will fly to Physicians by their helpe to salue that which themselues may forsee For exercises I will deale which to commend more then they will commend them selues when I shall shew both what they be and the particular profites of euery one of them which I chuse from the rest were me thinke verie needlesse and cheifly to me which seeme sufficiently to praise them in that I do place them among principles of prerogatiue But as in the soule I did picke out certaine pointes whervnto I applyed the training principles so likewise in the bodie may I not also seuer some certaine partes whervnto my preceptes must principally be conformed that shall not neede For as in the soule the frute of traine doth better and make complete euen that which I tuched not and so consequētly the whole soule so in the bodie those exercises which seeme to be appointed for some speciall partes bycause they stirre those partes most do qualifie the whole bodie and make it most actiue Wherefore as there I did promise not to anatomise the soule as neither dealing with Diuines nor Philosophers so do I not here make profession to shew the anatomie of the bodie as medling neither with Physicians nor Surgeans otherwise then any of them foure can helpe me in exercise To the which effect and ende I will onely cull out from whence I can such speciall notes as both Philosophers and Phisicians do know to be most true and both the learned and vnlearned will confesse to be for them and such also as the training maisters may easely both helpe and encrease in their owne triall For both reason and rule do alwaye commaunde that the maister be by when exercise is vsed thorough whose ouerlooking the circunstance is kept which helpeth to health and the contrarie shunned which in exercise doth harme In the elder yeares reason at the elbow must serue the student as in these younger the maisters presence helpes to direct the child But to ioyne close with our traine What partes be they in our bodie vpon whom exercise is to shew this great effecte or what be the powers therof which must still be stirred so to stay and establish the perpetuitie of health not in themselues alone but in the whole bodie by them Where ioyntes be to bend where stringes to tye where synewes to stirre where streatchers to straine there must needes be motion or els stifnesse will follow and vnweildynesse withall where there be conduites to conuey the blood which warmeth canales to carie the spirite which quickneth pipes to bestow the aire which cooleth passage to dismisse execrements which easeth there must needes be spreding to kepe the currant large and eche waie open for feare of obstructions and sudden fainting Where to much must needes marre there must be forcing out where to litle must nedes lame there must be letting in where thickning threates harme there thinning fines the substance where thinning is to much there thickning must do much and to knit vp all in short all those offices whervnto our bodie serueth naturally either for inward bestowing of nurriture and maintenaunce
of health length of life though somtime all the three endes did concurre in one sometimes they could not For why might not an healthfull and a sound body both serue in the fielde for a soldiar and in the sand for a wrastler But we seldom reade that the athleticall constitution whose ende was gaming whose exercise was pastime whose diet was vnmeasurable for any mā to vse did either deliuer the world an healthfull body being strained beyond measure or a courageous soldiar being vnweildy to fight as one compounded made of fat and fog brawnie and burdenous The athleticall and gaming exercises were in generall assemblies to winne some wager to beare awaie the prise to be wondered at of the world or to set foorth the solemnities of their festiuall seruice and ceremonies in the honour of their idoles or in publike spectacle to adourne and set foorth the triumphant and victorious shewes the sumptuous and costly deuises of their princes and states Wherin we reade that particular men haue shewed such effectes of strength sturring by the helpe of exercise and traine as nature her selfe could neuer attaine vnto though she furthered the feat and got her selfe the worst both by empairing of health and hastning on of death thorough straining to much It is more then marueilous to thinke on and yet we finde it of verie good recorde what and how incredible weight both of liuing creatures and massier mettal one mans force hath bene noted to haue borne by being only vsed to that burthen Would any man beleue it if it were not of good writen credit that one Milo so strutted himselfe so pitcht his feet so peysed his bodie as he remained vnremoueable from his place being haled at and pulde by a number of people Actiuitie hath wrought wonders swiftnesse incredible thinges and what propertie what not where nature and ambition were backt with exercise and good will to do but one thing well For the vse of warre and defence it is more then euident that exercise beares the bell Can one haue a bodie to abide cold not to melte with heat not to starue for hunger not to dye for thirst not to shrinke at any hardnesse almost beyond nature and aboue common reache if he neuer haue it trained will nimblenesse of limmes awaie with all labour surpasse all difficulties of neuer so diuers and dangerous groundes pursue enemies to vanquish reskue freinds to saue retire from danger without harme thrust it selfe into daunger without daunger where no traine before made acquaintaunce with trauell Whervpon called the Romaines their whole armie Exercitus but bycause it consisted of a valiant number of exercised and trained men which were not to seeke at a sudden bycause they had vsed armes before how could common weales where the territory was but small and the enhabitantes few haue still deliuered themselues from mightier assailantes then they seemed defendantes or in continuall threates of ieleous neighbours how could they still haue kept their owne if that small territorie had not bene thoroughly employed and that petie paucitie gallantly trained wherby it was able for hardnesse and sufferance to abide what not For actiuitie and manhood to haue mastered whom not or at the least had good meanes not to receiue any foile where onely the huger number and the vntrained multitude were to trie the masterie in fielde against them For health it is most manifest that exercise is a mighty great mistresse whether it be to confirme that which we haue by nature or to procure that which we haue not by nature or to recouer that by industrie and diligence which we haue almost lost by misfortune negligence The exercises which do serue to this healthy end do best serue for this my purpose though an healthfull body be most apt and actiue both for gaming to get wagers and for warring to winne victories yet in my exercises I neither meane to dally with the gamester not to fight with the warrier but to marke which way I may best saue studentes who haue most neede of it being still assailed by those enemies of health which waxe more eager and hoar the more weake and cold that exercise is This exercise of ours by forme of definition is said to be a vehement a voluntarie stirring of ones body which altereth the breathing whose ende is to maintaine health and to bring the bodie to a verie good habit Doth not exercise at this her first entry offer to performe so much as I did vndertake for her health of the body an healthy habit of all the limmes which two effectes bycause they be good who doth not desire them and being got by exercise why is it not in price and being reducible to order why should it not be in traine They that write of exercise make three degrees in it wherof they call the first a preparatiue in Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the next simply by the name of exercise 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the third a postparatiue in Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The preparatiue serued not to passe rudely and roughly into the maine exercise without qualifying the bodie by degrees before bycause sudden alteration workes ill disposition The postparatiue or apotherapeutike followeth the maine exercise to reduce the body by gentle degrees to the same quietnesse in constitutiō wherin it was before it was so moued Which two pointes bycause they rest most in the maisters consideration which is to ouersee the traine I commit them to his care so to applie his cunning as he shall see cause in exercising his charge And yet herein I entend to helpe him when I shall handle the circunstances which direct exercises The third degree which is enclosed betwene these two is that same exercise which I praise so much and vpon whom the other two waite wherof as writers make to many and to finely minced distinctions so I make account but of one at this time wherof I do make two braunches or spieces the one to be vsed within dores and the other abroade that whether the weather be faire or fowle the exercise in some kinde may neuer faile Chapter 9. Of the particular exercises why I do appoint so manie and how to iudge of them or to deuise the like I will not here runne thorough all the kindes of exercises that be named either by Galene or any other writer wherof many be discontinued many be yet in vse but out of the whole heape I haue pickt out these for within dores lowd speaking singing lowd reading talking laughing weaping holding the breath daunsing wrastling fensing and scourging the Top. And these for without dores walking running leaping swimming riding hunting shooting and playing at the ball Wherof though the very most be vsed oftimes not in nature of exercises but either of pleasure or necessitie yet they be all such as will serue well that waie and be so made account of among the
layth claime vnto it Herof there be two kindes the one vsed after vehement exercises the other which beareth the name of the exercise it selfe Concerning the former of the two I haue but thus much to saye bycause the latter is my peculiar subiect That it commeth in place when other exercises are dismissed and finished after purgations ministred by counsell of Physick after great vomiting that it is good to refresh the wearied minde to alter and bring in order the spirites to loose that which is strayted to scoure the chest to make one fetch his breath at ease to strengthen the instrumentes of the senses to confirme the stomacke to cleare and fine the bodie and not to suffer it after trauaile to melt or decaie but to purge and cleanse it and that which is of most account to dissolue and bannish awaye all affections that procure any feeling of weariesomnes or disturbaunce to the bodie The second kinde of walking hath three sortes vnder him Wherof the first beareth his name of the kinde of motiō how The second of the place where The thrid of the time when the walking is vsed Which three also haue particular braūches vnder eche of them as hereafter shall appeare Walkinges which take their names of the motion how be either swift or slow vehement or gentle much or litle moderate or sore long and outright or short and turning now bearing vpon the whole feete now vpon the toes now vpon the heeles Of all these diuersities in walking the moderate is most profitable which alone of all that I rekened hath no point either of to much or of to litle and yet it is both much and strayning which be the two properties of an healthfull walke It is good for the head the eyes the throte the chest when they be out of frame so the partie spit not blood For distilling from the head for difficultie of breath for a moyste and and pained stomacke wherin the nurriture either groweth bitter or corrupteth for the iaundise costifnesse fleeting of the meat in the stomacke stopping of the vrine ache of the hippes and generally for all such as either neede to prouoke any superfluitie from the vpper partes downward or to send that packing which is already in waye to depart Now to the contrarie it is naught for agues bycause it encreaseth heat and so consequētly the disease for the falling euill for hauking vp of blood and in the time when one is making water Swift walking doth heat sore and abateth the flesh whervpon to ease the colicke and to take awaie grossenesse it is accounted a verie good meane Slow walking hath the same effectes that the apotherapeutike hath And therfore it is good for sickly weake olde men and those which delite in or neede walking after meate to setle it better in the bottome of their stomacke or that be newly awaked from sleepe or that prepare themselues to some greater exercise or that feele any ache in any part or that haue drie bodies When one hath the head ache it is good to walke first slowly and after a while a litle faster and stronger strutting out the legges Slow walking is also good against the falling sicknesse bycause without any shaking to the head it fetcheth the humours downward where it thinneth and disperseth them and warmes the whole bodie without endammaging it Finally in quartane agues when the fit is past in leprosies for tetters ringewormes cankars and to procure easie fetching of ones breath it is verie soueraine Vehement or to sore and to eager walking is best for cold folkes and therfore good to driue away trembling or quaking it encreaseth puffing and blowing and yet dissolueth and disperseth winde But it is ill for weake heades and feete and such as are in daunger of the gout For both the gout and the hippe ache do oftimes come of to much to sore walking As to the contrarie gentle walking vpon soft straw or grasse or vpon euen ground is good for any gout or inward exulceration before meat but not after For wearinesse is their principall enemie which heateth and enflameth their iointes to sore and thereby causeth them to draw stil more matter from the partes further of to feede their continuall fluxe Much and oft walking is good for them that haue a distempered bulk or head that perceiue small nurriture in their lower partes that in their exercises neede more vehement stirring Litle walking is good for them that vse no bathing or washing after exercise which must needes walke after meate to send it downe to the bottom of their stomacke and for those which finde some heauinesse in their bodies Long and outright walking is nothing so troublesome as the short that maketh many turnes It is good for the head and yet it sucketh vp humours and dryeth to fast Long and quicke walking is good to staye the hikup or yeaxing Short and soone turning wearyeth sooner and troubleth the head sorer Circular or walking round about maketh one disie and hurteth the eyes In walking to strout the legges and beare vpon the heeles is verie good for an ill head a moyst bulke a strayned bellie and for such of the lower partes as prosper not yea though the partie feede well and generally for all those in whome superfluities steeme vpward To beare vpon the toes hath bene proued good for ill eyes and to staye loose bellies Bearing vpon the whole feete is alwaye incident to some of the other kindes and therefore ioyneth with eche of them in effectes Walking which taketh the name after the place is either on hilles and high groundes or in valleies and lowe groundes againe the lowe ground is either euen or vneuen either vnder couert or abroad in the sunne or in the shade When one walketh vp against the hill the bodie is marueilously wearied bycause all the sway and poize of it presseth downe those partes which are first moued And for all that such motions be heauie and slow yet they cause one sweat sooner and sorer and staye the breath more then the walking downhill doeth bycause heauie thinges bearing naturally downward are forced vpward against nature Whervpon heat which beareth the bodie vp as in comming downe it trauelleth not of his owne nature so preasing vpward it is burthened with the bodie whereby it both encreaseth it selfe prouoketh sweat and stayeth the breath This kinde of walke afore meate is good for the bulke which hath not his breath at commandement Demosthenes strengthened his voice by it pronouncing his orations alowd as he walked vp against the hill whereby he gat the benefit of breathing to deliuer his long periodes without paine to himselfe or breach to his sentence The knees are most toiled in this kinde of walking being forced backward contrarie to their nature and therfore to their griefe Walking downhill draweth superfluity from the head more then the other doeth but withall it is
enemy to feeble thighes bycause they both moue the legges and support all the whole weight of the bodie aboue The change and varietie of the motion causeth that kinde of walking to be best liked which is sometime vphill sometime downhill When ye walke vpon euen or vneuen ground ye walke either in medowes or grassie places or in rowgh and brambly or in sandie and soft If ye walke in a medow it is without all contradictiō most for pleasure bycause nothing there anoyeth nothing offendeth the sense and the head is fed both with varietie of sweet odours and with the moysture of such humour as the medow yeeldeth Rough brambly and bushy groundes stuffe the head Sandie and cheifly if it be any thing deepe bycause the walking in it stirreth sore confirmeth and strengtheneth all the partes of the bodie and fetcheth superfluities mightily downward This was one of Augustus Caesars remedies as Suetonius writeth to helpe his haulting and weake legges For to cleare the vpper partes of that which cloyeth them there is nothing better then to trauell in deepe sande Walking in a close gallerie is not so good bycause the ayre there is not so fresh free and open but pent close and grosse and therfore stuffeth the bodie onelesse the gallerie be in the vppermost buildinges of the house where neither any vapour from the ground can come and the ayre that commeth is pure and cleare The close walkes which were called cryptoporticus were not of choice but of necessitie when extremitie of weather would not let them walke abroad Walking in an open place and cheifly greene is much better and more wholesome then vnder any couert First of all for the eyes bycause a fine and subtile ayre comming from the greene to the bodie which is more penetrable bycause of stirring scoureth awaye all grosse humours from the eyes and so leaueth the sight sine and cleare Further bycause the bodie in walking waxeth hoat the aire sucketh humours out of it disperseth what soeuer is in it more then it can well beare Now in walking abroad there is consideration to be had to the soile For walking by the sea side ye thinne drie vp grosse humours by riuers and standing waters ye moyst Howbeit both these two last be naught and specially standing waters Walking not neare any water as it is not so good as the walke by the sea so it is much better then walking neare any other water Walking in the dew moystes and harmes If ye walke in a place where birdes haunt it is of great efficacie to cleare by the breath and to disburden the bodie so as if ye did walke in some higher ground If there be no winde where ye walke it cleareth by breath it disperseth excrements it slakes and nippes not and is good for colicks that come of a cold cause If there be winde the Northern causeth coughing hurtes the bulke and yet confirmes the strength soundes the senses and strengthens the weake stomacke The Southwinde filles the head dulles the instrumentes of sense yet it looseth the bellie and is good to dissolue The Westwinde passeth all the rest both for mildenesse wholesomnesse The Eastwinde is hurtefull and nippes It is better walking in the shade then in the sunne as it is naught for the headache to walke either in the cold or in the heat And yet it is beter to walke in the sunne then to stand in it and better to walke fast then slowly Of all shades those be the best which be vnder walles or in herboures It is verie daungerous walking neare vnto dewye trees for feare of infectiō by the sappie dew bycause dew in generall is not so wholesome it abateth the flesh as wymen that gather it vp with wooll or linnen clothes for some purposes do continually trye Now if the dew come of any vnwholesome matter what may it proue to The best walking in shadowes simply is vnder myrtle and baye trees or among quicke and sweet smelling herbes as wilde basell penyroyall thyme and mynt which if they be wild and of their owne growing be better to wholesome the soile then any that be set by hande but if the better cannot be the meaner must serue Againe in this kinde of walke the faire and cleare aire lighteneth scoureth fineth procureth good breathing and easie mouing Darke and cloudie aire heauyeth scoureth not by breath and stuffeth the head Walking which is termed after the time is either in winter or summer in the morning or in the euening before meat or after The most of these differencies will appeare thē playnest when the time for all exercises is generally appointed in consideration of circunstance as shall be declared vnder the title of time In the meane while walking whether in the morning or euening ought still to go before meat The morning walke looseth the belly dispatcheth sluggishnes which comes by sleep thinneth the spirits encreaseth heat and prouoketh appetite It is good for moyst constitutions it nimbleth and quickneth the head and all the partes in it The euening walke is a preparatiue to sleepe it disperseth inflations and yet it is ill for a weake head Walking after meat is not good but only for such as are vsed vnto it Yet euen they maye not vse it to much It is good also for them which otherwise cannot cause their meat go downe to the bottome of their stomacke And thus much for walking both regarding the manner of the motion the place where and the time when Which circunstances though they be many and diuers yet to purchase the commodities which walking is confessed to be very full of they must needes be cared for considering our whole life is so delt with as if we hastened on death against the which this exercise may be rightly termed an antidote or counterreceit Chapter 21. Of Running THe manifest seruices which we receiue by our legges and feete in warre for glorie to pursue or saue in game for pleasure to winne and weare in Physick for health to preserue and heale do giue parentes to vnderstand that they do suffer their children to be more then halfe maymed if they traine them not vp in their youth to the vse and exercise therof To polishe out this point with those effectuall reasons which auaunce and set forth nature when she sayeth in plaine termes that she meanes to do good or with those argumentes wherwith the best authors do amplifie such places when they finde nature so freindly and forward as the anatomistes which suruey the workmanship of our bodie and histories which note the effectes of swiftnesse do wonder at nature wish exercise to helpe her for that which they see were to me nothing needefull considering my ende is not the praise but the practise of that which is praiseworthy neither to tell you what Alexander the Macedonian nor what Papyrius the Romain did by swift foote nor that Homere gaue
ribbes the back by reasō the legges are mightely stirred therby it is a great furtherer to strength it quickneth the eyes by looking now hither now thither now vp now downe it helpeth the ridgebone by stowping bending and coursing about it is verie good for bellies and stomakes that be troubled with winde or any paine which proceedeth from colde Now to the contrary it is not good for ill and bleare eyes raw stomakes vndigested meat which haue more neede of rest then stirring and for such as will soone be turnesicke which the oft turning about of the head and eyes cannot but cause The playing at tennyse is more coastly straining to aunswere an aduersary but the playing against the wall is as healthfull and the more ready bycause it needeth no aduersary yet practiseth euery kinde of motion euery ioynt of the body and all without danger Children vse this ball diuersly and euery way healthfully in regard of the exercise if accidentarie faultes fall out among children in the vse of the play the parties must beare the blame and not the play The second kinde I make the Footeball play which could not possibly haue growne to this greatnes that it is now at no◠haue bene so much vsed as it is in all places if it had not had great helpes both to health and strength and to me the abuse of it is a sufficient argumēt that it hath a right vse which being reuoked to his primatiue will both helpe strength and comfort nature though as it now cōmonly vsed with thronging of a rude multitude with bursting of shinnes breaking of legges it be neither ciuil neither worthy the name of any traine to health Wherin any mā may euidētly see the vse of the trayning maister For if one stand by which can iudge of the play and is iudge ouer the parties hath authoritie to commaunde in the place all those incōueniences haue bene I know wilbe I am sure very lightly redressed nay they will neuer entermedle in the matter neither shall there be complaint where there is no cause Some smaller nūber with such ouerlooking sorted into sides standings not meeting with their bodies so boisterously to trie their strength nor shouldring or shuffing one an other so barbarously and vsing to walke after may vse footeball for as much good to the body by the chiefe vse of the legges as the Armeball for the same by the vse of the armes And being so vsed the Footeball strengtheneth and brawneth the whole body and by prouoking superfluities downeward it dischargeth the head and vpper partes it is good for the bowells and to driue downe the stone and grauell from both the bladder and kidneies It helpeth weake hammes by much mouing beginning at a meane and simple shankes by thickening of the flesh no lesse then riding doth Yet rash running to much force oftētimes breaketh some inward cōduit bringeth ruptures The third kind I call the Armeball which was inuented in the kingdom of Naples not many yeares agoe and answereth most of the olde games with the great ball which is executed with the armes most as the other was with the feete be both very great helpers vnto health The arme in this is fensed with a wodden brace as the shin in the other with some other thing for meeting with a shrew The armeball encreaseth the naturall heate maketh way for superfluities causeth sound sleepe digesteth meat wel dispatcheth raw humors though it stuffe the head as all vehement exercises do It exerciseth the armes and backe chiefly next to thē the legges therfore it must needs be good for such as desire to haue those partes strong and perfit to digest their meate at will to distribute profitable iuice to the whole body and to avoide needelesse matter as well by sweate as by any other kinde of secret euacuation And yet it is very ill for a naughtie backe for hoat kidneyes for sharp vrine and generally for any that is troubled with infirmities diseases in those parts which are strained with stirring Thus much concerning the particular exercises which I haue pickt out from the rest as most reducible to our time and countrie wherein I haue not followed the ordinarie diuision which the training maisters Physicians do vse but I deuised such a one as I tooke to be fittest for myne owne purpose regarding our soyle and our seasons Neither haue I rekened vp the other antique exercises but haue let them rest with their friends fauorers which be long ago at rest For the tumbling Cybistike the thumping Pugillate the buffeting Cestus the wrastling Pancrace the quayting Discus the barlike Halteres the swinging Petawre and such old memorandums they are to auncient and to farre worne from the vse of our youth the cōsidering whereof may rather stirre coniecture then staie assurance what they were when they were And of these which I haue named many be farre beyond boyes plaie for whō alone I do not deale but for all studentes in generall neither yet do I exclude either any age or any person if I may profit any else beside studentes scholers Nether do I tie the trayne to these exercises alone but alway to some though not alway to one kinde The cause and consideration must leade all which may bring forth the like and why not the better vpon due and wel obserued circunstance For though the general cause do direct much yet the particular circūstāce directeth more being it self enformed in the generall iudgement The most of these notes which I haue alleaged were giuen in Italie Greece Spaine and that climate farre distant and much differing from our degree Wherefore our traine vpon consideration of the degrees in soyle in temperature in constitution and such like must appropriate it selfe where the difference is apparent Therefore both to vse these exercises which I haue named to the best and to deuise other by comparison and circumstance as cause shal offer I will runne thorough those particularities which either make by right or marre by wrong applying both all that I haue said or that cā be deuised in this kinde to preserue health Chapter 28. Of the circumstances which are to be considered in exercise THere be six circumstances which leade and direct all exercises and are carefully to be considered of by the trayning maister For either the missing or mistaking of any one of them may do harme to more then one and the vsing of them with circumspection and warynes doth procure that good to health which this whole discourse hitherto hath promised The sixe circumstances be these the nature of the exercise which ye entend to vse the person and body which is to be exercised the place wherin the time whē the quantitie how much the maner how whereof I do meane to giue some particular aduertisements so as I do finde the learned physicianes wise health maisters to haue handled them in their writings
it altogither bootes not If he be skillfull he will execute well bycause he can helpe the thing which he must execute if particuler occurrence pray aide at the sudden if he want skill he will lightly mangle that which is wel set downe if he be a medler Wherefore seing I wish the executors cunning and yet must be content to take him as I finde him I will do my best both to instruct infirmitie and to content cunning I must therefore haue him to thinke that there be two properties which he must take to be of most efficacie to make a cunning executor The one is to be rauished with the excellencie worthynes of the thing which he is to execute The other is if he may very easily attaine vnto some singuler knowledge in so noble a subiect which both concur in this present execution For graunting the soule simply the preheminēce both in substance of being and in traine to be bettered can there be any other single subiect which I say in respect of a communitie directed by diuine and humaine law that is compound and the principall subiect of any mans dealing can there be any single subiect I say of greater nobilitie and more worthy to be in loue with either by the partie that is to finde it or by him that is to frame it then healthfullnes of body which so toucheth the soule as it shakes it withall if it selfe be not sownd What a treasure health is they that haue it do finde though they feele it not till it faile when want bewrayes what a iewell they haue lost and their cost discouers how they mynde the recouerie The ende of our being here is to serue God and our country in obedience to persons and perfourmance of duties If that may be done with health of bodie it is effectuall pithie if not thē with sorow we must shift the soner let other succede with no more assurance of life then we had made vs without this healthful misterie in perpetuall change to let the world see that multitude doth supply with number the defect of a great deale better but to sone decaying paucity To liue and that long of whom is it not longed for as Gods blessing if he know God as the benefit of nature if he be but a naturall man The state of our bodie when we are in good health so liuely and lusty so comfortable and cleare so quicke and chearie in part and in hole doth it not paint vs and point vs the valew of so preciouse a iewell as health is to be esteemed The pitifull grones the lamentable shrikes the lothsome lookes the image of death nay of a pyning death yea in hope of recouery the rufull heauines the wringing handes the wayling friendes all blacke before blacke when health is in despaire do they not crie and tell vs what a goodly thing health is themselues being so griefly So many monuments left by learned men so much sumptuousnes of the mightiest princes so many inuentions of the noblest wittes bestowed vpō exercises to maintaine this diamōd are they not sufficient to enflame the executour being a partaker him selfe a distributer to others that the subiect wherein he dealeth is both massie most worth and most meruelous let him thinke it to be so bycause he seeth it is so and vpon that presumption proceede to his so healthfull and so honorable an execution In whom his owne iudgement is of speciall force to further his good speede For being well resolued in the excellencie of his owne subiect he will both himselfe execute the better and perswade other sooner to embrace that with zeale which he professeth with iudgement If you will haue me weepe for you saith the Poet then weepe you first he shall hardly perswade an other to like of that which is his owne choice who shall himselfe not seeme to set by it where himselfe hath set his choise The knowledge wherewith and how to deale therein is so much the easier bycause it is so generall and so many wayes to be wonne I will not seeme to raise vp the memorie which can neuer dye giuen to this traine by all both old and new histories which prayse those vertues and valiances which they found but had neuer had matter to praise nor vertues to finde if exercises had not made the personages praiseworthy whereby they did such thinges and of so great admiration as had bene vnpossible to any not so trained as they were What Philosopher describeth the fairest forme of the worthiest common weale either by patterne of one person as allowing that state best where one styrres all or by some greater multitude as preferring that gouernment where many make much stirre but he doth alwaye when he dealeth with the youth and first trayning of that state not onely make mention but a most speciall matter of exercise for health Who is it in any language that handleth the Paedagogicall argument how to bring vp youth but he is arrested there where exercise is enfraunchised As for the Physicians it is a principall parcell of their fairest patrimonie bycause it is naturally subiect and so learnedly proued to be by Galene in his booke intitled Thrasybulus to that parte of their profession which seeketh to preserue health and not to tarie till it come to ruine with their gaine to repare it though it still remaine ruinous and rotten which is so repared Therefore whensoeuer the maintenance of health is the inscription of the booke this title of exercise hath some euidence to shew Further in the discours of Exercises we finde ech◠where the names of diet of waking of sleeping of mouing of resting of distemperature of temperature of humours of elementes of places of times of partes of the bodie of the vses therof of frictions and chafings of lassitude and wearinesse and a number such which when the training maister meeteth with among the Physicians or naturall Philosophers what els say they vnto him but that where ye finde vs before the dore ye may be bold to come in As for naturall Philosophy the ground mistresse to Physik it must needes be the foundacion to this whole traine Hence the causes befet which proue eche thing either good or bad either noysome or needefull to health All naturall problemataries dipnosophistes symposiakes antiquaries warmaisters and such as deale with any particular occurence of exercise if ye appose them well you shall finde them yours freindes This terme Gymnastico which emplyeth in name and professeth in deede the arte of exercise is the verie seat wheron the trainer must builde And therefore all either whole bookes or particular discourses in any writer by the waie concerning this argument do will him to rest there In which kinde for the professed argument of the whole booke I know not any comparable to Hieronymus Mercurialis a verie learned Italian Physician now in our time which hath taken great paines to sift out of all writers what