God shall please to send us For as for Books he is for want of money so moderately furnish'd that except it be a small Geneva-Bible so small as it will not be desired to lie open of it self together with a certain Concordance thereunto belonging as also a Book for all kind of Latin Sentences called Polyanthaea with some Exposition upon the Catechism a portion of which is to be got by heart and to be put off for his own and perhaps Mr. Caryl upon Pineda Mr. Dod upon the Commandments and Mr. Clark's Lives of famous men both in Church and State such as Mr. Carter of Norwich that uses to eat such abundance of Pudden Besides I say these there is scarce any thing to be found but a boudget of old stitch'd Sermons hung up behind the door with a few broken Girts two or three yards of Whipcord and perhaps a Saw and a Hammer to prevent dilapidations Now what may not a Divine do though but of ordinary parts and unhappy education with such learned helps and assistances as these No vice surely durst stand before him nor Heresie affront him And furthermore Sir it is to be considered that he that is but thus meanly provided for it is not his only infelicity that he has neither Time Mind nor Books to improve himself for the inward benefit and satisfaction of his people but also that he is not capable of doing that outward good amongst the needy which is a great Ornament to that holy Profession and a considerable advantage towards the having his Doctrine believed and practised in a degenerate world And that which augments the misery whether he be able or not it is expected from him If there comes a Brief to Town for the Minister to cast in his Mite will not satisfie unless he can create six pence or a shilling to put into the Box for a stale to decoy in the rest of the Parish Nay he that has but twenty or thirty pounds per annum if he bids not up as high as the best in the Parish in all acts of Charity he is counted carnal and earthly-minded only because he durst not coin and cannot work Miracles And let there come never so many Beggars half of these I 'll secure you shall presently enquire for the Ministe'rs house For God say they certainly dwells there and has laid up for us sufficient relief I know many of the Laity are usually so extremely tender of the spiritual wellfare of the Clergy that they are apt to wish them but very small temporal goods lest their inward state should be in danger A thing they need not much fear since that effectual humiliation of Henry the Eighth For say they the great Tithes large Glebes good Victuals and warm Cloths do but puff up the Priest making him fat foggy and useless and fill him with pride vain-glory and all kind of inward wickedness and pernicious corruption We see this plain say they in the Whore of Babylon To what a degree of Luxury and Intemperance besides a great deal of false Doctrine have Riches and Honour raised up that Strumpet How does she strut it and swagger it over all the world terrifying Princes and despising Kings and Emperors The Clergy if ever we would expect any edification from them ought to be dieted and kept low to be meek and humble quiet and stand in need of a pot of Milk from their next Neighbour and always be very loth to ask for their very right for fear of making any disturbance in the Parish or seeming to understand or have any respect for this vile and outward World Under the Law indeed in those old times of darkness and eating the Priests had their first and second dishes their Milk and Honey their Manna and Quails their outward also and inward Vestments But now under the Gospel and in times of Light and Fasting a much more sparing Diet is fitter and a single Coat though it be never so ancient and thin is fully sufficient We must now look say they if we would be the better for them for a hardy and labouring Clergy that is mortified to a Horse and all such pampering vanities and that can foot it five or six miles in the dirt and preach till star-light for as many shillings as also a sober and temperate Clergy that will not eat so much as the Laity but that the least Pig and the least Sheaf and the least of every thing may satisfie their Spiritualship And besides a Money-renouncing Clergy that can abstain from seeing a penny a month together unless it be when the Collectors and Visitationers come These are all Gospel-dispensations and great instances of Patience contentedness and resignation of affections to all the emptinesses and fooleries of this life But cannot a Clergy-man chuse rather to lie upon Feathers than an Hardle but he must be idle soft and effeminate May he not desire wholesome Food and fresh Drink unless he be a cheat a Hypocrite and an Impostor And must he needs be void of all Grace though he has a shilling in his Purse after the Rates be cross'd And full of pride and vanity though his House stands not upon crutches and though his Chimney is to be seen a foot above the Thatch Oh how prettily and temperately may half a score children be maintained with almost Twenty pounds per annum What a handsome shift a poor ingenious and frugal Divine will make to take it by turns and wear a Cassock one year and a pair of Breeches another What a becoming thing is it for him that serves at the Altar to fill the Dung-cart in dry weather and to heat the Oven and pill Hemp in wet And what a pleasant sight is it to see the man of God fetching up his single Melancholy Cow from a small rib of Land that is scarce to be found without a Guide Or to be seated upon a soft and well grinded pouch of Meal Or to be planted upon a Pannier with a pair of Geese or Turkies bobbing out their heads from under his Canonical Coat as you cannot but remember the man Sir that was thus accomplish'd Or to find him raving about the Yards or keeping his Chamber close because the Duck lately miscarried of an Egg or that the never-failing Hen has unhappily forsaken her wonted Nest And now shall we think that such Employments as these can any way consist with due reverence or tolerable respect from a Parish And he speaks altogether at a venture that either says that this is false or at least it need not be so notwithstanding the mean condition of some of the Clergy For let any one make it out to me which way it is possible that a man shall be able to maintain perhaps eight or ten in his Family with twenty or thirty Pounds per annum without a most intollerable dependence upon his Parish and without committing himself to such vileness as will in all likelihood render him
with those unpleasant tasks and drudgeries something that in probability might not only take much better with them but might also be much easier obtained As suppose some part of time was allotted them for the reading of some innocent English Authours where they need not go every line so unwillingly to a tormenting Dictionary and whereby they might come in a short time to apprehend common sence and to begin to judge what is true For you shall have Lads that are arch knaves at the Nominative Case and that have a notable quick Eye at spying out the Verb who for want of reading such common and familiar Books shall understand no more of what is very plain and easie than a well educated Dog or Horse Or suppose they were taught as they might much easier be than what is commonly offered to them the principles of Arithmetick Geometry and such alluring parts of Learning As these things undoubtedly would be much more useful so much more delightful to them than to be tormented with a tedious story how Phaeton broke his Neck or how many Nuts and Apples Tityrus had for his Supper For most certainly Youths if handsomely dealt with are much inclinable to Emulation to a very useful esteem of Glory and more especially if it be the reward of Knowledge and therefore if such things were carefully and discretely propounded to them wherein they might not only earnestly contend amongst themselves but might also see how far they outskil the rest of the World a Lad hereby would think himself high and mighty and would certainly take great delight in contemning the next unlearned Mortal he meets withal But if instead hereof you diet him with nothing but with Rules and Exceptions with tiresome Repetitions of Amo's and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 setting a day also apart to recite verbatim all the burdensom task of the foregoing week which I am confident is usually as dreadful as an old Parliament Fast we must needs believe that such a one thus managed will scarce think to prove immortal by such performances and accomplishments as these You know very well Sir that Lads in the general have but a kind of ugly and odd conception of Learning and look upon it as such a starving thing and unnecessary perfection especially as it is usually dispens'd out unto them that Nine-pins or Span-counter are judged much more heavenly employments And therefore what pleasure do we think can such a one take in being bound to get against breakfast two or three hundred Rumblers out of Homer in commendation of Achilles's Toes or the Grecians Boots Or to have measured out unto him very early in the morning fifteen or twenty well laid on Lashes for letting a syllable slip too soon or hanging too long upon it Doubtless instant execution upon such grand miscarriages as these will eternally engage him to a most admirable opinion of the Muses Lads certainly ought to be won by all possible Arts and Devices and though many have invented fine Pictures and Games to cheat them into the undertaking of unreasonable burdens yet this by no means is such a lasting temptation as the propounding of that which in it self is pleasant and alluring For we shall find very many though of no excelling quickness will soon perceive the design of the Landskip and so looking through the veil will then begin to take as little delight in those pretty contrivances as in getting by heart three or four leaves of ungay'd nonsence Neither seems the stratagem of Money to be so prevailing and catching as a right down offering of such Books which are ingenious and convenient there being but very few so intolerably careful of their Bellies as to look upon the hopes of a Cake or a few Apples to be a sufficient recompense for cracking their Pates with a heap of independent words I am not sensible that I have said any thing in disparagement of those two famous Tongues the Greek and Latin there being much reason to value them beyond others because the best of humane Learning has been delivered unto us in those Languages But he that worships them purely out of honour to Rome and Athens having little or no respect to the usefulness and excellency of the Books themselves as many do it is a sign he has a great esteem and reverence of Antiquity but I think him by no means comparable for happiness to him who catches Frogs or hunts Butter-flies That some Languages therefore ought to be studied is in a manner absolutely necessary unless all were brought to one which would be the happiest thing that the World could wish for but whether the beginning of them might not be more insensibly instilled and more advantagiously obtained by reading philosophical as well as other ingenious Authours than Ianua Linguarum's crabbed Poems and cross-grain'd Prose as it hath been heretofore by others so it ought to be afresh considered by all well-wishers either to the Clergy or Learning I know where it is the fashion of some Schools to prescribe to a Lad for his Evening refreshment out of Commenius all the terms of Art belonging to Anatomy Mathematicks or some such piece of Learning Now is it not a very likely thing that a Lad should take most absolute delight in conquering such a pleasant Task where perhaps he has two or three hundred words to keep in mind with a very small proportion of sence thereunto belonging whereas the use and full meaning of all those difficult terms would have been most insensibly obteined by leisurely reading in particular this or the other Science Is it not also likely to be very savoury and of comfortable use to one that can scarce distinguish between Virtue and Vice to be tasked with high and moral Poems For example It is usually said by those that are intimately acquainted with him that Homer's Iliads and Odysses contain mystically all the Moral Law for certain if not a great part of the Gospel I suppose much after that rate that Rablais said his Garagantua contained all the Ten Commandements but perceivable only to those that have a Poetical discerning Spirit with which gift I suppose few at School are so early qualified Those admirable Verses Sir or yours both English and others which you have sometimes favoured me with a sight of will not suffer me to be so sottish as to slight or undervalue so great and noble an Accomplishment But the committing of such high and brave senc'd Poems to a School-boy whose main business is to search out cunningly the Antecedent and the Relative to lie at catch for a spruce phrase a Proverb or a quaint and pithy sentence is not only to very little purpose but that having gargled only those elegant Books at School this serves them instead of reading them afterward and does in a manner prevent their being further lookt into So that all the improvement whatsoever it be that may be reap'd out of the best and choicest Poets is for
the most part utterly lost in that a time is usually chosen of reading them when discretion is much wanting to gain thence any true advantage Thus that admirable and highly useful Morality Tully's Offices because it is a Book commonly construed at School is generally afterwards so contemn'd by Academicks that it is a long hours work to convince them that it is worthy of being look'd into again because they reckon it as a Book read over at School and no question notably digested If therefore the ill methods of Schooling does not only occasion a great loss of time there but also does beget in Lads a very odd opinion and apprehension of Learning and much disposes them to be idle when got a little free from the usual severities and that the hopes of more or less improvement in the Universities very much depend hereupon it is without all doubt the great concernment of all that wish well to the Church that such care and regard be had to the management of Schools that the Clergy be not so much obstructed in their first attempts and preparations to Learning I cannot Sir possibly be so ignorant as not to consider that what has been now offer'd upon this argument has not only been largely insisted on by others but also refers not particularly to the Clergy whose welfare and esteem I seem at present in a special manner solicitous about but in general to all learned Professions and therefore might reasonably have been omitted which certainly I had done had I not call'd to mind that of those many that propound to themselves Learning for a Profession there is scarce one of ten but that his lot choice or necessity determines him to the study of Divinity Thus Sir I have given you my thoughts concerning the orders and customs of common Schools A consideration in my apprehension not slightly to be weighed being that to me seems hereupon very much to depend the Learning and Wisdom of the Clergy and the Prosperity of the Church The next unhappiness that seems to have hindred some of our Clergy from arriving to that degree of understanding that becomes such an holy Office whereby their company and discourses might be much more than they commonly are valued and desired is the inconsiderate sending of all kind of Lads to the Universities let their parts be never so low and pitiful the instructions they have lain under never so mean and contemptible and the Purses of their Friends never so short to maintain them there If they have but the commendation of some lamentable and pitiful Construing-Master it passes for sufficient evidence that they will prove persons very eminent in the Church That is to say if a Lad has but a lusty and well-bearing Memory this being the usual and almost only thing whereby they judge of their abilities if he can sing over very tunably three or four stanza's of Lilly's Poetry be very quick and ready to tell what 's Latin for all the Instruments belonging to his Fathers Shop if presently upon the first scanning he knows a sponde from a dactyl and can fit a few of those same without any sence to his fingers ends if lastly he can say perfectly by heart his Academick Catechism in pure and passing Latin i. e. What is his name Where went he to School and What Author is he best and chiefly skill'd in A forward Boy cries the School-Master a very pregnant Child ten thousand pities but he should be a Scholar He proves a brave Clergy-man I 'l warrant you Away to the University he must needs go then for a little Logick a little Ethicks and God knows a very little of every thing else and the next time you meet him it is in the Pulpit Neither ought the mischief which arises from small Country-Schools to pass unconsidered the little Governours whereof having for the most part not suck'd in above six or seven mouths full of University Air must yet by all means suppose themselves so notably furnished with all sorts of Instructions and are so ambitious of the glory of being counted able to send forth now and then to Oxford or Cambridge from the little House by the Church-yard's side one of their ill educated Disciples that to such as these oft-times is committed the guidance and instruction of a whole Parish whose parts and improvements duely considered will scarce render them fit Governours of a small Grammar-Castle Not that it is necessary to believe that there never was a learned or useful Person in the Church but such whose education had been at Westminster or S. Paul's But whereas most of the small Schools being by their first Founders design'd only for the advantage of poor Parish-Children and also that the stipend is usually so small and discouraging that very few who can do much more than teach to write and read will accept of such Preferment for these to pretend to rig out their small ones for an University Life prove oft-times a very great inconvenience and dammage to the Church And as many such dismal things are sent forth thus with very small tackling so not a few are predestinated thither by their Friends from the foresight of a good Benefice If there be rich Pasture profitable Customs and that Henry the Eighth has taken out no Toll the Holy Land is a very good Land and affords abundance of Milk and Honey Far be it from their Consciences the considering whether the Lad is likely to be serviceable to the Church or to make wiser and better any of his Parishioners All this may seem at first sight to be easily avoided by a strict examination at the Universities and so returning by the next Carrier all that was sent up not fit for their purpose But because many of their Relations are oft-times of an inferiour Condition and who either by imprudent Counsellors or else out of a tickling conceit of their Sons being forsooth an University Scholar have purposely omitted all other opportunities of a livelihood to return such would seem a very sharp and severe disappointment Possibly it might be much better if Parents themselves or their Friends would be much more wary of determining their Children to the Trade of Learning And if some of undoubted knowledge and judgment would offer their advice and speak their hopes of a Lad about thirteen or fourteen years of Age which I 'll assure you Sir may be done without conjuring and never omit to enquire whether his relations are able and willing to maintain him seven years at the University or see some certain way of being continued there so long by the help of Friends or others as also upon no such conditions as shall in likelihood deprive him of the greatest parts of his Studies For it is a common fashion of a great many to complement and invite inferiour Peoples Children to the University and there pretend to make such an all-bountiful provision for them as they shall not fail of coming to a very